Warrior Ethos: 2

by 1054SS325MP

The sequel to Warrior Ethos, this is a retelling of ME2. It has ManShep x Tali and FemShep x Garrus, and is designed to be very realistic, etc. A little bit AU. You don't need to read the first story, but it helps. It uses Calinstel's ideas on the quarian culture. Focuses more on the relationships and less on the missions. The information page is a separate story of mine.

21. Bad Company

Thank you to my Beta TitanJC and here's a shout-out to the guy I beta for, Morgaur. Also a special thank you to those who review and Narcrotic, a good buddy of mine who knows his way around an ME fic.

First: You should read the latest chapter of WE:TR. It's plot relevance to the main story has become undeniable. In fact, go there and read it now before you even start this one.

Second: I'm trying a shorter chapter format. I'm going to keep them around 7k words instead of my normal 10k. We'll see how long that lasts.

Last time on Warrior Ethos 2: We found out that Ash and her husband, Kaidan, were going to meet up with the Normandy when they arrive at Tuchanka so Kaidan could get some help. Jack, Tali, and John went on a nice mission to Pragia, where John ordered Jack to blow away a guy they found there. Jane was out of commission for that one, for obvious reasons. John avoided talking to his mother about how Jane got shot in the head. Some major stuff got revealed in Warrior Ethos: Tabula Rasa, but I'm not so sure anyone caught it.

On with the show.

Chapter 21: Bad Company

"Shepard. First let me express my condolences over what happened to your sister. I was very glad to hear from Xen that she's expected to make a full recovery. How is Jane right now?"

The Spectre glanced up at the man when heard the question then resumed his pacing. He did so back and forth inside the briefing room, from one side to the other, as the quantum entanglement relay broadcast his every move to parts unknown. He had little desire for these periodic meetings with the Illusive Man. From his point of view they did nothing more than waste time. Anything important could be sent via message to his omni-tool or desk terminal and Kelly would make sure he never missed it. Anything that was not important, well, that's what delete buttons were for. For the time being though, he would endure and try to keep his temper in check.

"She's fine, recuperating in her quarters," he replied.

The Illusive Man nodded and managed the faintest hint of a smile, the kind of smile where one could tell it was an impression someone wanted to pass off, rather than being the genuine article. He wanted John to get comfortable before lambasting him. The older man killed the expression with a drag from his unending supply of cigarettes and followed that up with a sip of whatever fine Terran liquor he used to battle his sobriety.

"Good. Now onto other matters," The Illusive man said, "Like just what in the hell happened to my facility on Pragia."

"It was abandoned, Tim," Shepard replied too quickly. Yes, he had been expecting this. How could he not?

"Abandoned doesn't mean I don't own it anymore," Tim countered, using the manner of an assistant principal scolding a child who knew better, "It doesn't mean I won't use it again."

"That place was an abomination," John replied with a shrug, "You know what happened there."

"And that's why it was abandoned. That's why I shut it down." He sounded exasperated, going so far as to rub his forehead briefly with his cigarette laden hand. Ash sprinkled from the tip, falling into his drink. "What's left was a building… A very expensive building with very expensive equipment. I can't turn a blind eye to that kind of destruction."

John had to admit, there was a certain kind of logic to the other man's statements. Jack's psychological well-being aside, there was no real reason to level the place. He had little doubt that Tim had not authorized or condoned the actions taken there by those working under his auspices, that much had been confirmed by the classified Cerberus files currently in Jack's possession. That meant John could be forgiven for concluding that there was next to no possibility of such experiments happening again. From the standpoint of pure reason, he and his team were wrong and The Illusive Man was right. But he would take a running leap into the cold vacuum of space again before he admitted it to that billionaire autocrat asshole.

"How do you know it was me?" John asked, not as a method of deferring blame, but because he felt genuinely curious about what kind of intelligence gathering the man had at his disposal.

"Shepard. Please," The Illusive Man scoffed, "I doubt I'm one tenth as stupid as you seem to think I am. I'm more than capable of tracking the location of the Normandy to Pragia, where Miss Naught was unfortunately treated so harshly several years ago."

"Still doesn't prove anything, Timmy." At this point, even John had to admit that he sounded like a petulant child.

"Oh, but the surveillance cameras I activated do," he said, "We turned those on as soon as it was reported that you hit orbit."

"Surveillance cameras?" John could have sworn he had gotten rid of all of those.

"Yes. The ones l had installed in my facility when I started getting suspicious about the research going on there. They proved the case for shutting it down and, very recently, showed Miss Naught emplacing a miniature thermonuclear device- one of the very expensive ones I gave you- and setting the damned thing off. Care to review the tape?"

"No, I'm good, thanks."

"The whole area is now uninhabitable. What's left of it, anyway. Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Tim asked.

"Yes," he replied with his stock, prepared response, "The destruction of the facility was an operational necessity. The irradiation of the surrounding biosphere was collateral. My suggestion is that you build cleaner bombs."

"That's it?!" the older man replied, letting anger finally seep into his previously calm tirade, " You blow over a billion of my credits between that facility and the bomb you used to demolish it, and that's all you have to say for yourself?"

"Yup."

Tim sighed audibly, loud enough that John wasn't sure if he was genuine or making a show of it. "Please explain to me how this little display of misplaced aggression counts as 'operational necessity,'" he said.

"Jack is good, but I need her at her best," said John, "She suffered psychological trauma because of that facility-"

"Because of the people inside that facility," The Illusive Man interjected.

John continued, pretending not to notice the interruption, "-And destroying it gave her closure, a way to finally feel normal again."

"Really? Plenty of people get hurt and never get justice, and they do just fine," Tim said, "If this is even justice. I saw her get her 'closure' at an unarmed man on his knees. He was one of the children, not one of her tormentors."

Right. John had forgotten abut that little part of the mission. Unarmed or not, against his personal moral code and the Alliance Values or not, he still could not bring himself to feel bad about what had happened to the man. If anything, he felt far worse about ordering Jack to do it. He rationalized it by telling himself that if he had done it, or if Tali had sensed an impending failure to obey orders and done it, that might have made things worse. It had not been their fight. Either way, he was not about to defend his actions concerning a child killer to a terrorist mastermind like Tim. He kept silent, waiting for the man to continue.

"No, Shepard, this wasn't operation necessity or even some kind of justice or therapy," he said, gripping the armrests of his chair a little too tightly, "This was a psychotic felon doing what she does best, murdering destroying, nothing more. From now on, keep your dogs on a tighter leash and don't let them pull you so hard."

"No. No, no no, no. Wait a minute," The Spectre said, walking towards the sitting man, gesturing for him to back off, or cool down, or whatever one meant when they needed someone to shut up, "I want to respond, but I need a second to process what the fuck you just said." John paused for dramatic effect, "Okay, there we go. Murdering and destroying. Jack. Are you fucking serious?"

TIM did not seem to pick up on either the fine line he treaded or the fact that the Spectre's question had been rhetorical. "We knew she might be unstable and would have difficulty integrating into a military-style organization, but I never thought it would be this bad. I had serious reservations about including her on this team, and I did so against my better judgment. I can see I was wrong to doubt my initial assessment."

"You are serious, holy hell," John mumbled, shaking his head, "That's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. You do realize that she's the only ground team member, besides our quarians and Garrus, that isn't a cold-blooded killer right?"

"What exactly are you talking about, Shepard? I vetted those dossiers personally. If you're referring to your replacement krogan, well that's hardly our fault. We wanted Okeer-"

"Okeer?" John snorted for effect, "The Krogan warlord who worked with that nut-job Jedorrah? The guy who bred for the slaughter some four hundred of his own species?"

John shook his head and turned his back to the man. He had heard enough and some things needed to be said. His crew felt like an extended family of sorts, but that did not mean that his experiences with them could not be put into context. Jack was not a bad person in spite what circumstances had forced on her. Hopefully, the rest of his team would never find out what he was about to say. Telling them that he didn't really mean it was not going to piss them off any less.

"Well, maybe Okeer was a bit-" Tim started to reply.

"Or Dr. Solus," John asked, raising his voice, "Who I consider a good friend and mentor, despite the fact that he sees no moral distinction between murdering scared, confused batarians and healing other scared, confused batarians? And also helped maintain and renew the genophage when he could have been out curing it?"

"Well-"

"What about your protégé, Miranda?" the Spectre asked, "My first introduction to her was when she shot an unarmed, non-hostile man through the chest, not more than a few feet away from my sister." John emphasized his point by turning and pulling out his loaded pistol, pointing it a few centimeters away from, and just to the left of, Tim's chest. The older man looked uncomfortable even in the knowledge that it was just a very good hologram from where he sat. John continued, "Killing him may or may not have been right, I don't know, but he could easily have been captured. More importantly, she could have easily killed Jane if something had gone wrong with that shot. Reckless and stupid..."

"Shepard, enough. Put away the gun, I get the-"

John complied with the unfinished request, collapsing and holstering his weapon, but he did not think his point had quite been made. "And then there's Jacob. He might be great now, but he was a Corsair… We know the kinds of things they did. And whatever it was, it was bad enough to convince him to leave the Alliance and not look back."

Tim rolled his eyes and took a drink of his liquor. The commander could not hide a satisfied smile when the other man spat ash and booze on the floor in front of him.

"And Thane?" he continued, starting to pace again, "The guy whose actual job is to kill- to murder- people. Guilty or otherwise. The only reason he can sleep at night is because he thinks he's just a tool of his employer, as if that absolves him of morality or something. And even that isn't enough… He prays a dozen times a day because he knows what he's done is wrong. But at least he's better than Samara. Besides threatening my sister, probably one of the absolute stupidest things anyone can do in the history of ever, I remember she had her boot-heel on the back of an unarmed asari's head when I first met her. She spouted some nonsense about how this woman should be at peace with death before twisting and snapping her neck. Dying is the least peaceful thing ever from the point of view of the condemned. Sociopaths say that kind of thing. People who don't or can't empathize with those they're about to kill. That poor girl was crawling away, pleading for her life."

"Well, religious zealots can be like that."

"Or Zaeed, the founder of the Blue Suns?" John asked, still pacing in front of Tim, "He's done unimaginable things for money. Or Kasumi? She doesn't seem like she's in the same caliber of stone-cold killers as the rest of us, but she's really damn good at surprise-knifing people in the back. Like she's had a lot of practice. Heck, Garrus seems like he's about as upstanding a guy as you could hope to meet, not to mention being my best friend, and even that man has his issues after two years on the streets of Omega. If it hadn't been for Jane Shepard, the Butcher or freakin' Torfan, stopping him from carrying out a vendetta, he'd be a murderer right now."

"Fair points, Shepard, all of them. Your team members all have their issues, every one of them, with the possible exception of Miss Lia'Vael. Even Miss vas Normandy, she Ship's patron saint of compassion, has had serious stability concerns for some time, at least since you died and maybe even as early as the start of her pilgrimage."

"Oh, really? You don't say. You know what? You might be onto something," he admitted, keeping his mocking tone, "Getting shot through the stomach will do that to you. And then having to burn a man alive or get murdered. And running intense, bloody missions almost every day for six months straight, the kind of op-tempo that's enough to drive most hardened SF veterans insane. And then, to cap it all off, the person she'd bonded to dies." John shook his head in disbelief of what he was about to say. Tali had done everything short of shooting him in the leg two years ago. "And to this day she still thinks she could have somehow prevented it. Can you even imagine what that does to a quarian?"

"Yes, I think I can."

That came as a minor shock to John, so much that he had to pause to get his thoughts back on track. Tim was not in the habit of lying, exaggerating, or saying things he did not mean. He had the kind of power that allowed him to tell the absolute truth to even his enemies, comforted in the knowledge that there was nothing they could do to use that information against him.

The Spectre slowly nodded, "Alright then, so don't lump Tali in with the rest of us shit-heads, please."

"I wasn't," said the older man. He had somehow acquired without notice a fresh glass of strong drink and began swirling it around in place as he spoke. "I was simply pointing it out to illustrate a point of my own. In this profession, especially at the level you all operate, it's sometimes hard to find people with their heads screwed on completely tight."

"And then what about Jack? Why this business about having to control her?" John asked.

"It's because I don't like having my things destroyed, Shepard," he replied, looking grim, "I wasn't putting a value judgment on her actions. Or yours or Tali's or the other quarian or the other humans. Or even the aliens in your crew, for that matter. That man you ran into down there deserved what he got. He abducted a child, tortured and murdered him in my building after breaking and entering. Fine. I would have patted you on the back if it ended there. When it comes to destroying my property, well, that was wrong for the simple act that I could have used it at some point and now I can't and it's going to be expensive to replace. Don't let it happen again."

"I will take that under serious advisement," John said low enough that he wondered if Tim had heard him. He didn't mean for it to come off that way, he was simply detracted in thought, wondering if perhaps Tim knew something that he did not. People usually only told you not to do something again if they fully expected that it very well could happen again. The question was, what would it be next time?

Tim pointed a finger directly at John's face, "See that you do take it under advisement. Now where are you heading next?"

"Tuchanka."

"Really?" Tim asked, "I have little hope that you'll be able to convince Wrex to come with you. He, more than any of your old crew, has other priorities."

"We're not going there for him, except maybe to say 'Hello' and 'We're not dead anymore.'" John took a few steps back, increasing his comfort zone in the process. "We've got an issue to handle with Mordin. Something that can't wait. "

"Another personal errand? You need to focus on finding the collectors. Isn't the money I'm paying your people enough to keep them loyal?"

John had to admit, it should have been plenty enough, but aside from Zaeed and Kasumi, no one on the ship seemed to give a rat's ass about lining their pockets. And Kasumi appeared to be willing to go through the entire campaign for nothing more than the opportunity to steal from wherever they ventured. "How I manage my people is none of your concern. We'll be ready as soon as we hear of another collector attack. Grunt-"

"The replacement krogan has a name then, I take it?"

"Yes, that's his name," John said through gritted teeth, "He might have some kind of illness. We're taking him along to get checked out. Maybe leave him with Wrex if we have to."

"That might be for the best," Tim said with a sigh, "Despite appearances, we did go to a lot of trouble to vet your recruits and the tank-bred Krogan was not part of that process."

...

"Sis, how're you feeling?" Tali asked as Jane walked into the briefing room towards her customary seat at the head of the table. She looked fine as far as the quarian could tell, as if nothing about her had changed at all. Which, if the operation had been as successful as she had been led to believe, was to be expected.

"Fine, Lili- Tali. Sorry," the human mumbled as she took her seat, "I'm a little fuzzy-headed. I guess I'm just south of fine, but nothing to worry about."

"Right..." Tali cocked her head to the side. Something felt off about the human name that Jane had called her, or started to call her, anyway. How could she forget Tali's name? The other one sounded familiar, like she had heard it or read it before. She knew almost nothing of the human language, so things like names that had no translation were always difficult. Pulling up a dictionary on her visor, she replayed the brief recording and discovered that it was a kind of flower of the genus Lilium, and were sometimes purple. Blushing violet, she actually felt flattered by the verbal slip.

"It's good to see you up and about," Tali added.

"It's good to be up and about," Jane said back, smiling. "Everyone's here, I see. Before we get the coordination meeting started, let's get one thing out of the way... We all know the truth about me now. Does anyone find it too weird?"

The assembled ground team and select members of the flight crew exchanged glances. Everyone's hand went up, save one. Garrus sat with his arms folded and shrugged.

"Really, G?" Kasumi asked, "Not weird?"

Reluctantly, his too rose into the air.

"Not what I was expecting," Jane grumbled as the hands came back down. She gave a withering glare that shifted between Tali, and her brother. "Let me try this. Does anyone find it too weird to continue working with me? Or have a problem with it?"

This time not a single hand came up. Lia looked around the table, her fingers curling and uncurling mechanically. She might have wanted to speak up, but she chose to remain still and silent when no support was forthcoming. Tali couldn't blame her. Being quarian and realizing your captain may or may not be anything more than an artificial intelligence wearing a skin suit was tantamount to discovering that oxygen was poisonous and vorcha were the smartest species on the Citadel. Tali herself might have had a much bigger issue with it, were it not for the length of time she had to adapt to the idea through her suspicions.

Somehow, some way, she knew that Jane was here with them, seated at this table, and not with the ancestors.

"Good. Moving on, then," the captain said, "Next missions. We'll be over Tuchanka within the hour. Professor Solus will be checking on a student of his who seems to be in serious trouble. It's possible that rogue krogans have kidnapped him in an attempt to cure the genophage. When we arrive, we'll be rendezvousing with a clan leader- of clan Urdnot- who has managed to unify all the other clans."

Murmurs came from around the room, some from the news that the krogans had actually been unified, others, as in the case of Tali, came from hearing the name 'Urdnot.' Of two things Tali felt certain of. First, as one of the other lesser races sympathizing with another, it was about damn time the krogans made the Citadel races, humans not withstanding, poop their britches in fear for once. The last time that happened, they had asked that particular race to take a seat at their exclusive table. Second, a unified Tuchanka would be one hell of an asset when the reapers arrived.

"Alliance intel reports that this clan leader is none other than Urdnot Wrex," her human sister continued. "For those of you who don't know, Wrex served with us aboard the first Normandy, and he's one hell of a guy. We couldn't have done what we did without him. He's an ally, and is to be treated as such. He will help us."

Tali felt a rush of excitement. During her dark days on the fleet, her uncle Wrex had been one of the few people she had kept in contact with. It was sporadic at best; he was busy and she was dead to the galaxy, but whenever she got a message or call from him, it never failed to lift her spirits however insignificantly. He had been alive a long time and had known quarians with dead mates before, so he had know there was little he could do to puller her out of what she was going through. He also knew that it didn't mean he shouldn't try. She had been so antisocial then...

She owed him a lot, starting with an apology.

"Grunt is feeling a bit off," she continued. Everyone in the room turned to the grumpy krogan. At his growl, everyone turned back to Jane. "So the reserve element will see to it that he gets whatever he needs to help him."

She looked around the room to nods of assent.

"Right, then," the human continued, "Who wants on what mission?"

"Oh, we get to choose? Fantastic," Kasumi said, her smile breaching the shadow of her hood, "I say we do boys versus girls. First group finished, helping grunt or rescuing the apprentice, gets declared the superior gender."

Zaeed was the first to respond, "Daft woman. Whether the ladies stay with Grunt or go with the salarian, you're gonna have at least one bloke."

"I wasn't aware we had any ladies on this ship," Joker chortled to Jane's rolling eyes and Kasumi's glare.

Tali felt positively enraged at the self-absorbed, misogynistic human. As if he could ever know what a real woman was like. He was infatuated with an Ancestors-damned AI for Jebus' sake, even going so far as to turn down a proper woman like Lia, not that he could ever deserve her. Perhaps he had just spent a little too much time getting off in front of computers. The idea of being with EDI must have come naturally to him.

"Mr. Moreau, it seems the waste recyclers in your quarters are malfunctioning," the silently observing AI spoke up.

"Knock it off, EDI," Joker, "When I said there were no 'ladies,' I wasn't talking about you. You are the ship, you're not on the ship."

"Of course, Mr. Moreau," she said, mollified, "Your waste recyclers are back online."

"Good looking out for the rest of us, EDI," Tali sneered.

"You know, splitting up the team that way may no work for another reason," Samara, "I'm not technically a female."

"Well then I'm not technically straight," said Joker.

At that, John laughed. Tali kicked him in the leg, folding her arms across her chest afterwards. She thought it had been soft, a love-tap and nothing more, but apparently he felt differently. He let out a loud groan and bent double to rub his shin as if she had genuinely hurt him. Maybe it had been a bit harder than she thought.

"Tali! What was that for?" he asked, sounding pained.

"You deserved it," said Jane.

"That's a sensitive area on humans," said Mordin, "Just skin over bone. Nothing to cushion a blow."

"Sorry," the young quarian mumbled, unfolding her arms to rub John's shoulder.

"It doesn't hurt there," John mumbled back as the discussion on the team make-up continued around them.

"Sorry," Tali said, retracting her hand and interlacing her fingers in their customary worry-dance.

After a moment's thought, she bent down to reach John's shin and joined his hand in rubbing at it.

"Seriously guys?" asked Jane in disbelief, "Right here?"

John and Tali looked to her and then at each other. Both of them bent over, their hands moving up and down in unison underneath the table, the engineer had to admit it looked pretty bad. Both of them pulled away and sat back in their chairs.

"As I was saying," Jane continued, "We'll do boys versus girls for this one."

"Wait, what?" Tali asked, "Really?"

"Yes..." said Jane. "Problem?"

"Yes!" said Tali, "I'm with John. Period."

"Little Sis, come on," said Jane, "I thought it would be fun to do it this way. We're all equally capable. And besides, we took a vote just now while you were doing whatever it was you were doing."

"This isn't a democracy, Big Sis," she said before turning to John, "Is it, Commander Shepard?"

"Tali's with me," said John, leaving no uncertainty as to how this discussion would play out.

"Fine. Then Garrus is with me," added Jane.

"Hmmm..." John appeared to think it over, scratching his chin and eying Garrus, "Dunno, Jane. You know what they say, Bros Before-"

Whump.

Tali had kicked John in the shin again, eliciting a louder yelp of pain from the man. She may not have known the human language, but she knew what rhymed.

"Alright, it's agreed, then," said Jane, smiling, "And thank you Little Sis, for keeping our dear brother in check. John, Jacob, Zaeed, Grunt, Thane, and Tali will stay in reserve and see about Grunt's ailment. Garrus, Samara, Kasumi, Jack, Lia, and I will go with Mordin and take care of his apprentice. Miranda will stay aboard the ship and hold her down. Let's not forget that Ash and her husband should be docking with the Normandy at some point during all this."

"Wait," said John, holding up a palm, "Who said you guys get the good mission? We might spend hours sitting in the waiting room of some krogan therapist's office."

"Or they could just hand you a bottle of krogan antidepressants and you'll be on your way in five minutes," Jane said with a smirk.

"Or that could be the first of a year's worth of sessions, and we won't be finished with this wager until they're all done," countered John, leaning in and glaring at his sister, "I'm the ground team commander, and what I say goes."

"Flip a coin?" offered Kasumi.

"Sure," said John, far too quickly.

"Heads!" the smiling human woman called, tossing a shiny disc into the air.

Tali shook her head and mentally sighed as John planted a palm on his forehead. He must have realized too late the pointlessness of asking a professional thief to make a coin toss. The coin reached its apex and began to fall before Kasumi plucked out of the air. She slapped it on the back of her hand, predictably displaying a head.

"That's one point of discussion finished," said Miranda. She had appeared bored and generally displeased throughout the duration of the meeting. Nothing abnormal for her. "So I'll bring up the next. Why is the captain- no, the recently injured captain, going dirt-side at all? If you want someone from the ship's command team there, it should be me. No offense, Joker."

"None taken..." said the human.

Tali wished he would come. She might have a surprise waiting for him when he got there. Sometimes grenades rebounded in unusual directions. No, I shouldn't even joke like that. Friendly fire is serious. If I could talk him into some sparring on the other hand, like I did with Jack... Just enough to break a couple of femurs...

"You're right, Miranda," said Jane, surprising every single being in the room with the admission, "But I need to get back in the action. So... Captain's prerogative and you can deal with it?"

Miranda accepted the question-turned-order, nodding once. Tali could tell she was silently fuming. She could not blame her. There wasn't a soldier alive who wanted to be left behind the wire while the rest of the team went on mission.

"One other thing before we break," said Jane, "Some time while we're on mission, Ash and her husband are going to be docking with the Normandy. Ash has leave from the Alliance for the next six months and will be joining us from here on out. As part of the deal, her husband will be booking passage with a quarian pilgrim ship headed to the Fleet to get some work done. Heh. I don't even know the man's name."

She looked about the room, as if to ask if anyone at the meeting did. She was met with a series of shrugs and shaking heads. Tali, always perceptive on body language, noticed two in attendance did not move in the slightest. Miranda and Garrus knew more than they were letting on.

...

"Shepards? Shepards!"

John followed the sound of the all too familiar booming voice, a voice he hadn't heard in two years and one he could hardly forget. He saw Wrex getting up from the throne of the clan-leader, pushing his way through a crowd of supplicants as fast as he could. Given that it was Wrex, even when those being shoved aside like rag-dolls were adult male Krogan, the speed he moved could be very startling to the uninitiated. With the sight of the huge Krogan bearing down on them, Jack, Mordin, and most of the rest of the Normandy crew shrunk back several paces, Lia going so far as to let out a little squeal of fright as she retreated. The exceptions were the twins and Garrus, who simply stood and smiled, and Tali, who charged right back at him.

"Uncle Wrex!" she cheered, taking a flying leap at the behemoth storming up to them. She hit him with a thud, the tall quarian failing to impede his progress in the slightest. She would have bounced right off him had she not firmly locked him in a hug. He did the same, spinning her around in a circle before setting her down.

"Good to see you too, Kiddo," he bellowed, patting her firmly on the back, "How's my favorite niece?"

The other krogan in the clan leader's court, mildly surprised at the entrance of the crew, went to expressions of downright shock at the old battlemaster's exclamation. John figured that there couldn't be many Krogan alive out there who would claim another krogan as a relation, let alone a quarian. To a one of their race, that was tantamount to identifying Tali as his apprentice, someone who would carry on in the family business in some capacity. John wondered if it might have held even more symbolism, given that there were no heirs apparent to Wrex's throne as clan leader. Was Tali a krogan princess by default?

"Oh, you know, traveling the galaxy, fighting the good fight," she said in reply, steadying herself in the aftermath of Wrex's friendly gesture. She turned to him, grabbing a hold of each side of his jaw, and squealed, "Oh and my bondmate and sister totally came back from the dead!"

"Hm. You sound surprised," said the Battlemaster, "I knew the void couldn't hold them, I just didn't want to get your hopes up. "

"It didn't seem that way to me," said Tali, "You cried like everyone else at their funeral. And those times we talked, I could tell it affected you. Everyone I talked to was hurting. Well, except Liara. She was just... Obsessed. Wait a minute."

Something clicked in John's head as the quarian girl turned to face him. He cursed himself, realizing he should have been paying attention to this conversation. Replaying it in his head, his eyes turned wide in shock just as Tali made her way over to him. This is not good. This is absolutely the worst possible thing for Tali to be thinking about.

"John?" Tali asked in an overly sweet, far too innocent voice. Her head cocking to the side, her hands found their way onto his chest and then slid down, gripping his waist a little too firmly to be typical for her. "Liara found you, right? And took you to get fixed? When exactly did she find you?"

John could not think of a more detrimental line of questioning and he hardly had enough information to do any sort of damage control. The next time the team traveled to the Shadow Broker base there would be one very beaten and bloody asari as he doubted she would kill Liara. Tali would hardly leave her niece, Janie, without a mother. Okay, think. Do I know when Liara found me? No, but I have suspicions. Damn, I should have asked. It had to be pretty soon after Alchera. And that means that yes, Liara made a big mistake in not telling Tali that there was a chance Jane and I would be alive at some point.

"It had to be pretty early, wouldn't you say?" Tali said, a vision of tranquil fury, "Like right after it happened? Ice planet or not, you would have rotted if it wasn't soon. Bosh'tet. Why didn't I see it sooner?"

"Tali, I never asked when she found me-"

"Neither did I," added Jane, "I guess I never thought about it. A lot have things might have gone differently if people had known. Maybe Garrus wouldn't have..." she trailed off as the ex-C-Sec officer in question sidled up next to her.

"Don't think that way, Jane," the turian murmured in her ear.

"But I suspect you're right, Tali," said John, turning his attention back to the quarian, "Now is not the time, though."

"No, I, uh, Keelah, I just..." The quarian shook her head, looking away and tugging along her realk where it covered the sides of her head. "I just... Maybe I get it. Maybe she just didn't want to hurt me or anyone by giving us false hope. At least, I'm sure that's what she'll say just before I break her nose. And then it will be all 'bleh bleh bleh, Thali thu bloke my nothe!' But... Damn it Shepard, I could have helped! I would have joined Cerberus, for Ancestors sake!"

"I would have been right there with you, Tali," interjected Garrus.

"Right! You would have seen us there when you woke up, God damned Cerberus logo on my boob and all!" she yelled. Some of the krogan were smiling, anticipating a good fight. "Human Hell, I wouldn't have even been the first quarian to work for the bosh'tets either! Xen would have had someone to talk to at the Cerberus company picnics!"

John nodded and kept a tight lip. Tali was extremely pissed, to be sure, but she was not in any was mad at him. The humor she used to defray her anger proved as much. He was actually having a hard time not cracking up in laughter. She certainly had become a lot more comfortable expressing herself than she had been when they first met.

"I'm done... For now," said Tali, "We do have a mission, even if we're just the reserve element. I need to think on this. I also need to talk to Liara... give her a chance to explain herself before I kill that blue bastard son of a bitch."

John nodded and brought her in for a hug, kissing the top of her visor as she pressed her warm body against his. The way she melted against him, levying some of her weight onto him, told him that his affection had done its magic. She would be fine fore the rest of their time on Tuchanka.

He pulled away from her and walked over to the clan leader, embracing the battlemaster in his manliest hug before letting go.

"Listen Wrex, there's something wrong with my crewmember," said John, gesturing to the youngest member of his ground team. The newly minted krogan glowered back at the human, but kept his peace.

"Com'ere Whelp," said Wrex, barely sparing the young man a glance.

Grunt nodded and stepped forward for the battlemaster's inspection, showing a mixture of arrogance and awe. "I feel strange. Angrier than usual."

Wrex refused to acknowledge that the other krogan had even spoken. "There's nothing wrong with this one, Shepard, aside from being tank-bred," he said, "Do you or your sister vouch for him?"

"In what sense?" asked John.

Before he could get his reply, Jane chimed in. "I do."

"Well, good. So do I," said the old krogan, "And that means he can petition to take the rite."

Wrex looked around at the blank-faced crew. Something had failed to translate properly.

"It's like Tali's pilgrimage," he said, winking to the girl, "But more violent. And much shorter."

A chorus on 'ohs' and 'ahs' sounded from the team. John would not have suspected that krogan had such a thing or that it might have helped Grunt in any way, but the old battlemaster had brought it up for a reason. How an act of physical aggression could have helped him, John could not fathom. Would it be a one-time thing? Or would their resident krogan have to make his way back to Tuchanka annually to fight like a wild deer with an urge to defend his territory during the rutting season?

"Mine was pretty violent..." Tali murmured to John as the rest of the group talked amongst themselves.

"I know," Wrex said with a smile, answering for the Spectre.

"And this will fix me?" asked Grunt, refusing to waste time with polite conversation.

"Should. Unless you die," the older krogan smiled, "That would fix you too, I suppose."

"Good. I would like to stay here, then, once I'm better," said the young krogan. All eyes in the room fell on him, a few of the other krogan going so far as to chuckle.

Wrex looked shocked, then angry, his wizened eyes narrowing into slits and fists balling. He took a few giant steps toward Grunt, visibly breathing deeply in an effort to calm himself.

"Whelp... You've only been alive for what, a few days?" he asked.

"No. Including the time spent learning in the tank, several mon-"

"I don't care," he said. Though he was not raising his voice in any sense of the word, the seriousness he conveyed served as more than adequate to cut the younger man off, "The question was rhetorical. Point is, you need to understand that denying your battlemaster is a grave insult. Either one of them has every right to kill you where you stand and I have no doubt what so ever that they could do it."

"I did not take either of these humans as my battlemaster," he replied, "I said I would follow the female and she placed me under the male's command."

"Then they are your battlemasters!" Wrex replied, closing his face to within centimeters of the younger krogan. "What's the matter, not seeing enough action out there? Knowing the Shepard twins, I'm surprised you're still alive, so it's not that. You're not a racist are you?"

"No, Clan Leader," said Grunt, looking as distressed as John had ever seen him but refusing to retreat even half a step. "I only wish to follow you instead-"

"You're not good enough, Whelp!" Wrex shouted, coating the younger man in hot breath and spittle. "You're not good enough for the Shepards either! I would have left you in your tank or underneath whatever rock you crawled out of before I would have ever taken you along on a mission. You think you can run with the big varren?"

Wrex gestured to his crew as he said this, John having to repress a chuckle for the second time since arriving. Jane and Tali were as stone-faced and indecipherable, respectively, as ever, though he badly wanted to know how they were taking being called varren along with the rest of the ground team.

"You think you have any right to stand next to The Tali'Zorah or The Garrus Vakarian, let alone the Shepard twins?" he asked, "The rest of these aliens look like they're got some real world experience too. If you survive whatever they have in store for you, maybe you can come back here and help me rebuild... And fight a reaper or two when they arrive. Until then, just finish your Ancients-Damned rite!"

"Yes, Clan Leader. I did not intend any disrespect. I did not know..."

"Of course you didn't, whelp, cause Okeer was an ass who didn't know manners well enough to teach them. If I thought it was intentional on your part, I would have caved your skull in myself for disrespecting my battlemasters."

"I don't understand..." Grunt said, trailing off as understanding dawned on him with wide eyes and an open mouth. "You mean...?"

"Yeah. I'm sure Okeer programmed you to believe that I was in charge of the mission that took down Saren and that reaper. That's not quite true," Wrex chuckled.

"You mean it wasn't a krogan lead mission?" Grunt asked to the outright laughter of most of the rest of the krogans in audience.

"You mean you didn't even bother to ask your captain or commander?" asked Wrex. "Okeer again. Hm. You need to learn how to socialize. You can't fight alone, ever. Not even on your own rite. Seems like you need this more than most. Hopefully you'll learn here what that void-sucking bastard failed to teach. And when you're done here, you'll continue to learn from my niece."

Tali began bouncing on her toes and tapping her fingertips together, looking very awkward in the process. John suddenly realized that he could tell the difference between one of her genuine smiles and one of her false, polite ones. She gave the young krogan a little wave before suddenly finding herself distracted by a very sociable varren that had wandered up and curled itself about her feet.

...

For what must have been the twentieth time that day, Ashey thought about what she was going to say to the twins when they finally docked with the Normandy. At thirty seconds out, she was no closer to an answer than she had been when she first realized that neither Jane nor John were quite as dead as she and the rest of the galaxy had believed. How would one explain that a subordinate who was sent to his death had merely led everyone to believe that?

It should be fairly easy, it occurred to her. If Kaidan and Ashley could find understanding in anyone, it should be the Twins. Returning from the dead was still a very exclusive club.

There would be no long-winded explanations, then. That made things simple enough. She would tell the situation like it was and hope for the best. Jane would undoubtedly not care in the slightest. John was a different kettle of fish, to be sure, and far more 'by the books' than even Ashley herself, but she was confident that he would understand. Not that it mattered. Kaidan and Ash had no choice in the matter if they were going to take this shot in the dark at healing him. If worst came to worst, the operations chief was fully prepared to accept all responsibilities for Kaidan's decisions in a court of law, even if it was a bald-faced lie.

She looked down at her sleeping husband and smiled. Ten seconds to dock. Traveling with him sedated had always been easier than the alternative. She felt loath to admit it, but with him at one-hundred percent mental capacity, only far slower and uncoordinated than normal, he had become prone to overreaching and overextending himself when he got excited. The thought of seeing the twins again, and Tali and Garrus as well, had sent him into an hour-long, heavily medicated attempt at reminiscing through garbled and muffled speech, complete with constant drooling and narcolepsy.

Although she tried to remain interested, she had not caught a word of it. It had been pathetic in a way that was genuine and not in any way insulting. The whole thing had culminated in his attempt to walk aboard their craft under his own power, an attempt that she lacked the heart to foil, and it ended with his forehead smacking on the deck as soon as he climbed out of his wheelchair. Truly pathetic and sad.

Shortly after that, she had kissed him goodnight and upped his dosage of sedative against his futile protests. Hopefully, this would be the last time she had to see him like this.

Their craft docked with the new Normandy, issuing a gentle thud followed by an even softer hiss of air. On the other side would be their welcoming party, and just beyond them, the rest of the crew. As soon as the indicators on her hatch showed green, she tapped the interface and the door slid open. Trepidation crept into her stance as she waited for whoever would greet her to open the Normandy's matching hatch and allow her entrance into the ship. She tensed, steeling herself for hopefully the only verbal battle that was to come.

And just like that, the Normandy's hatch slid open.

A statuesque brunette in an fantastically tight Alliance uniform stood on the other side. Ashley was actually mesmerized by the size of the other woman's assets, along with her audacity in displaying them a way that left nothing but skin color and nipple size to the imagination, and her general disregard for Alliance regulations on personal appearance standards. She was not into girls, but she could certainly appreciate them. The woman looked to be about in her mid-to-late twenties, an age commensurate with the rank she wore, a staff lieutenant. Before her stood the ship's executive officer then, Miss Miranda Lawson.

Both women offered contrived smiles as Ashley saluted her superior officer, "Operations Chief Ashley Williams reporting for duty, Ma'am. Permission to come aboard?"

"Granted," Miranda replied, offering her hand, which the chief took, "And your husband? Where is he?"

"In our quarters, Ma'am," she said, "Shall I get him now?"

"No, no. We'll have some of the servicemen get him," Miranda said, gesturing to a few of the Alliance crew behind her.

As they made their way into her borrowed gig, they seemed to give Ashley a wide berth and a weary eye, one young man going so far as to press himself against a bulkhead as he passed, his shoulder brushing against it lightly. She furtively tried smelling hers armpits, wondering if perhaps she stank a bit after the long flight. She eyed them back, curiously discovering that their uniforms appeared to be a little nicer than they should have been. The fact that they were immaculate to the point of being new was not unusual, that was expected, but they seemed to be made of better, sturdier material and constructed with far more precision and workmanship. Their colors shown more vividly and there seemed to be a few more pockets and other thoughtful innovations as well. The Alliance was taking the Twins' mission seriously if they had the kind of money to blow on uniforms of this caliber.

"Be careful with him!" Ashley called after the group, "He's on the bed! Gently put him in his wheelchair! Support his head and don't let it drop. Be careful not to let his feet drag once he's in the chair. And use the seat straps. And-"

"Aye aye, Chief," one of them called back.

She shook her head, wondering if perhaps she should just go and supervise. She decided against it, realizing that not only would that look bad, not being able to trust her new crew with something as simple as this, but it was also completely unnecessary. It was hard, letting someone else care for the man, taking over after she had made it her life's mission for the last two years. On rare occasions she had felt that it had been a burden, but now the idea of leaving her husband with someone else made her realize just how wrong those thoughts had been. She turned and walked behind Miranda as the woman gestured for her to follow her into the Normandy.

Ashley looked to the left as soon as she entered, expecting to see Jeff in the cockpit. Instead, all she saw were a pair of empty chairs and a floating blue hologram of a sphere.

Miranda must have picked up on what she was thinking. "Staff Lieutenant Moreau is in the mess hall on a lunch break," she said, "We'll meet him shortly. The ship has a very capable VI autopilot."

"That blue globe thing?" Ashe asked, pointing to the thing that she could swear was looking right at her.

"No... That's the electronic warfare suite," Miranda explained in an oddly hesitant manner, "She has no access to the flight controls. I'll let one of the Shepards explain about her."

"Alright..."

They continued to make light conversation as Miranda took her on a tour of all the essential aspects of the ship, stopping to introduce her to a few of the crew, and reintroduce her in the cases of Joker and Karin Chakwas. When they were alone and seated in Miranda's office, ostensibly to brief the Ship's newest operations chief on the day-to-day running of the ship, the conversation turned to more immediate matters.

"So, the quarians will be here soon to take your husband to doctor Xen," the executive officer began, "But I don't anticipate either John or Jane's missions will be complete before that time. I'm sure they would be more than happy to wait aboard until the Twins return, or we can get your husband moving as soon as possible."

Ashley stroked her chin with a finger and gave the options some thought. The XO had just presented her with quite a furtive set of choices; either to let the Shepard twins meet Kaidan now, or let him undergo his operation first and then meet him. Neither one let her avoid the inevitable discussion that would follow, and delaying a confrontation had never been her style nor a good idea. On the other hand, with Kaidan all better, he could explain everything to them himself. It seemed like throwing him in front of an airbus, but the truth was that only he knew why he refused to go back to the Alliance for treatment.

When he had called her almost two years ago, she had asked once why he wanted to remain Killed In Action. 'Cause I just do,' he had said. She could sense something there, some bitterness in his voice and even something vaguely threatening. She had left it at that, only able to speculate.

"Who on the ship knows?" she asked Miranda.

"Just me and Staff Lieutenant Vakarian," the other woman replied, her face implacable as she waited for her decision.

Ashley furrowed her brow, the attention deficit that lingered from childhood could not be ignored. "Garrus in Alliance now?"

"Uh, no..." Miranda shook her head, "Field commission from John."

"Oh. I guess he probably gave them to his whole ground team," she chuckled, a broad smile showing pearly teeth, "What is Tali, a four-star admiral or something?"

"She's kept her Migrant Fleet rank, a first lieutenant. And others have received commissions as well, yes," she appeared reticent before getting the subject back on track, "So? Do you want Kaidan to meet the Twins now or later?"

"Well, I wouldn't have thought Garrus could keep anything from John... Let's get this surgery done as quickly as possible. Kaidan will be asleep for a while now and I've already said my goodbyes, you know, just in case... And I don't want to have to do that again, with the Twins involved this time no less. Better they not know if something does go wrong."

"I understand," said Miranda, nodding somberly.

And it looked like she did. Her eyes stared back at Ashley with a cold, intense emptiness, as if something was supposed to be there, but was taken from her, and she still mourned its loss. This woman had seen some terrible things, had her innocence ripped away. War will do that to a person. She went up a few notches in the senior NCO's eyes.

"And you don't think Garrus will tell John?" asked Ashley.

"No," the other woman replied, "If he was going to, he would have already. And it's Jane you should be more worried about him telling. Scuttlebutt has it that he's going to propose to her the next time we're at the Citadel."

"No friggin' way!" she yelled, her attention completely lost again.

"Yes," said Miranda, "He watched some romance vids, I think, on how humans get engaged. I heard he completely botched it. Or will botch it. Either way, it was supposed to be a surprise, and now it isn't."

"Dios mio, I never thought I'd see Jane settle down with anyone, ever. Like it wasn't even possible," she said, shaking her head, "And Garrus is such a great guy... I almost feel bad for the bird-bug turian."

"Jane has changed a lot," Miranda said.

"Clearly," muttered Ashley, "I guess dying will do that to you."

"I'd say that's an accurate assessment." Miranda leaned in a bit for a whisper, "But I would lay off the racial slurs a bit on this ship, even in private."

"Sorry," Ashley replied, not even realizing what she had said. She had worked hard for the latter half of her life to overcome such things, but sometimes that slipped out. Jane, back on the old Normandy at least, might have punched her for that. Ironic that the Butcher of Torfan had no place for those attitudes.

"John will want to fill you in when he gets back," said Miranda, getting up from her desk, "You'll be falling under him, just like last time. For the time being, try to relax. I'll show you to your quarters. This way please."

Next time on Warrior Ethos 2: More Tali/Shep fluff. Better hope it's mShep I'm talking about. Also, Janie and Liara will make some kind of appearance. Momma Shep might say hello. Fallout and debriefing from Grunt and Mordin's missions. Perhaps a preview of the next mission. We're getting close to the end here, you know? Not many left...

If you liked it, please go ahead and fav, follow, and most importantly review.