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Shepard's POV

Chapter Five

Worth A Thousand Words

He's… not shutting up, is he?

Despite what the rear admiral thought, Commander Shepard was aware of who he was. She was a commander and he an admiral; it wouldn't make sense for her not to know whose orders she had to obey. She knew his record; by-the-book and very Alliance first. Not human first, just Alliance. She knew the difference, as that's how she was as well. He may sound like it was aliens he doesn't trust, but anyone not in dress blues have been known to be on the receiving end of his ire.

So she was tolerant of his displeasure at first. She knew he meant no harm, he was doing his job; maybe with a bit more yelling than needed (okay, a lot more yelling than needed).

When requisitions officer Tonnels approached her and told her a shipment of supplies needed her authorization, she didn't run off, only walked briskly away from Admiral Mikhailovich. Yes, walked briskly.

She ran when she rounded the corner.

Wrex raised a brow as she hurried out of the elevator and to the lowered ramp. A delivery bot was hovering with a few boxes that all bore medical logos. She was happy to see the first shipments arrive; as she had a sneaky feeling Garrus and Liara were getting into some trouble with how long they had been gone. She gave her signature and the bot unloaded the crates before hovering away.

She began unloading the crates and, no, she wasn't stalling… she just wanted to make sure everything was correct before she left the Citadel.

She pulled open the second box and was certain Admiral Mikhailovich had driven her insane.

"What?" she muttered to herself as her brow furrowed together. She shook her head but still the image stayed the same.

On a pure white box, drawn with some kind of thick black marker, was a… doodle. Of two strangely familiar faces. Whoever had drawn it was not an artist, but they clearly sketch the image with affection, as a heart encased the smiling turian and asari heads (the former with a tiny visors and a thick line across its face, and the latter with eyebrows).

Just then, another delivery bot puttered up to the Normandy's cargo bay and Shepard felt her eyebrows rise at the bright mix of orange, blue, and red blood covering the boxes.

"What the hell are those two doing?" she mumbled, half afraid of what the content of the blood covered boxes would be.

Then, as if someone somewhere thought that that question was in dire need of an answer (it was) her omni-tool pinged. Shepard blinked as she pulled up her interface and saw it was a message from a branch of C-Sec.

"Spectre Shepard,

We are billing you for corpse disposable and damages sustained to merchant booths after an incident in the lower market at eleven-hundred galactic standard time today by two of your subordinates in the amount of," Shepard choked on a strangled cry as self-preservation won over and she mentally blocked out the clearly hiked up bill for the moment, "Enclosed is the surveillance footage of the incident, as to clear up any questions you may have. Please pay before leaving Citadel Space or we will directly bill the Council. Thank-you and have a pleasant day."

"What the hell are those two doing!"

Admiral Mikhailovich did not seem to care Shepard didn't stop as she passed him on her way out the airlock. He was muttering to himself as he hovered over an annoyed looking Joker.

She was going pull those two back by their hair, fringe, tentacles—uh, whatever! She was going to drag those two back and have them explain why she was being billed for their antics. Heading down the plank she figured looking at the surveillance footage might give her an idea of how to punish the two for failing a simple shopping trip.

The fuzzy orange of her tool had her squinting to make out the form of a salarian in the lower markets. She wanted to say she'd seen him before, but omni-tools weren't the best quality for vids and she could only make a guess.

She spotted Garrus the instant he waltzed into view. Shepard was a little amazed she knew his stride well enough to identify him by it, as she was guessing the hazy asari looking being next to him was Liara. They talked to the merchant and whatever the hell kind of discount the man was giving out must have pissed someone off, as next thing she knew they were in a fire-fight.

Shepard's tempered cooled as a bit of pride warmed her heart at seeing her team handled themselves so well. Her heart had stopped for a second as Garrus was open with no cover and a very large krogan was charging Liara.

Then a thing of pure beauty happened. In perfect sequence with each other, they moved and nimbly switched places with an ease that spoke of trust she didn't know the two had in each other. Liara proved herself to be a powerful biotic and a promising soldier and Garrus showed hand-to-hand combat skills she would have never guessed the sniper had. Yeah, she was skilled in that area too, but it was rare to find someone who didn't match, but exceeded, her skills. She wasn't sure she would had been able to take a charging krogan down like he did.

She wished she knew what they were saying, as Liara—Liara—made the krogan turn tail and near run.

Damn, she was having a hard time getting mad again.

But the price, her mind whined and she winced at the reminder.

This one time, she reasoned with herself, this one time.

But how did the doodle fit into all this?

Admiral Mikhailovich could talk, that's for sure. This time around her patience was at its end thanks to her team's recent actions. She ended up being short with the man without meaning to, but he didn't seem to take it personally. Shepard wondered what it would have been like serving under him, as she didn't mind his straight to point attitude like some people would. But she figured she would have died of old age before getting anything done with the amount of talking he did.

Garrus and Liara returned, creating noticeable tension, and, finally, Admiral Mikhailovich took his leave. He left with a warning she was being watched, which she knew already. The Normandy was fitted with a ridiculous amount of cameras, and she had been slowly frying them here and there. She didn't like being watched without her consent, so she only planned on leaving the assigned ones active.

Not being able to stop herself, she asked without looking at the two behind her, "Some shipments arrived. I assume everything went well?"

"Yes, Commander," Liara answered surprisingly even.

"I see." Her lips twitched as she glanced at them from the corner of her eyes and it was Garrus' nervous shifting that gave them away. "Would either you happen to know why C-Sec is billing me for corpse disposable and damages to several merchant booths?"

They both froze and she couldn't help but add.

"And why were half the cases covered in blood? And why did the medi-gel upgrade have a little heart drawn around a turian and asari face on it?" All things aside, that really made no sense to her.

Garrus swallowed and said, "Ah, that last one's Dr. Michel …" like she should know who 'Dr. Michel' was.

"Who?" She shook her head, not being able to place the name. "Know what? I think I'm better off not knowing." She turned to the Normandy, still curious but not willing to add to the mess they made in her head at the moment. "I think I need a nap." She would talk to them later.

Walking away she heard Garrus let out a 'damn' and she smiled to herself.