Chapter 30: Complications
Ella Shepard sighed, dropping her head onto the pillow of her arms folded on the table, her feet tucked under the bench. It was much too early to be awake, but not late enough it was worth forcing herself back down to the crew deck. Sleeping pods were well outside her ability to cope this particular AM.
And even the thought of coffee is making me slightly queasy. Damnitalltohellandback, I am never dealing with asari again. Stupid fucking mindmeld, stupider fucking nightmares, stupidest fucking idiot who thought up sleep-pods and is hopefully burning in hell for three eternities. Or four. OR five. Five's a nice round number.
I am awake before Lex. That's just not right on so many levels.
She closed her eyes with another sigh, pretending she was somewhere more comfortable than the mess-hall at almost 0400 in the damn morning.
Breathe in. Picture a nice big bed. By a nice big window. Open. With a sea breeze.
Breathe out. Oooh, it could be a canopy bed. Drifting fabric. Pretty as a vid-set.
Breathe in. Or one of those classy hotels that always seems slightly horrified to have marines in them. Those are fun to find on shore leave.
Breathe out. Shore leave. Too long in a damn tiny boat. Should've taken that Citadel detour after Feros. Gotten some air.
Breathe in. Air is good.
Breathe out. Shit, heading towards the bad thoughts again. Back to the pretty bed.
Breathe in. Fancy sheets to go with the fancy view.
Breathe out. Soft pillow. Salt and sun and gulls calling.
Gulls are remarkably expressive.
Almost like they're carrying on a conversation.
"My wave."
"Nice sun."
"Good breeze."
"Silly people."
"My fish."
"No, my fish!"
"Mine, mine."
Talking.
People calling. Shouting. Screaming. Shooting.
Silence.
Fingers slack, no longer holding hers, hadn't held hers for a long time, skin cold, ashy, not warm and brown to match her own. No noise, no movement. Could barely even smell the fires anymore. But there was, something, a tickle between her ears, an itch deep in her brain.
Someone was out there.
It was cold. Robert was too heavy, the wall collapsed on top of them having settled hours ago. No more creaking, no shifting. She couldn't feel her legs. She tried to move. Nothing. Again. Nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing.
It was getting harder to breathe. All she could think about was that wall, and night coming, and everyone being dead, and it might have been better to get taken than to have to lie here, under her brother, feeling his heart stop, his blood drying, the drips slowing as it got colder and darker and colder and quieter and...
Something had her! Blue everywhere, flames searing down her spine, standing on her feet, panting, a loud thud, a gasp, a shout, voices whispering, a rush of water through her brain, pouring down her nerves, cooling the fire, footsteps, growing louder, running towards her, ice and wind and rocks tumbling after, more water, cold and still, already waiting in the background.
"What the..." Ella whispered in confusion, blinking as she slowly realized she was awake. Not on Mindoir. Never again on Mindoir. Normandy. In the mess. With an audience.
Fuck. Fuckity fuck fuck fuck.
There was Quinn, head down, head down and breathing hard, back against the bulkhead, legs sprawled across the floor in front of her, hand to her forehead, Naismith crouched right next to her, hand on her shoulder, one nervous glare shooting in the Flight Commander's general direction before turning back to check on his nav officer. I'm so sorry, Quinn.
"Ma'am?" Alenko's voice, a cautious rasp behind her, caused her to close her eyes to suppress her own horrified reaction. I just... I don't know what... how... what did I do? What do I do now?
"I'm fine," now, "under control. Can you escort Lieutenant Quinn to sickbay, Lieutenant Alenko? Make sure I didn't accidentally damage anything?"
A singularly unhelpful pause. Ella could feel Alenko not wanting to walk away. She was afraid to turn and look at him. She might cry if he looked disappointed, or worried about what she'd do next. He wouldn't look scared, he was too good at his job. Even when said job was dealing with crazy superior officers, she bet.
She was afraid to open her eyes and look at anyone, to be honest. Honesty sucks. I'm a big fucking coward today.
"Please?" She tried not to wince as she heard her voice crack on the word.
"It's alright, Lieutenant." Lex. Calm and cool as always. Ridiculously grateful, for once, for her friend's iron control, she tried to pretend she had some herself, conveniently ignoring all the times she'd tried to get Lex to have a little less.
"We've got her." Meg. Stepping close enough Ella could feel the warmth of her body just past her elbow. "Nothing to see here, people!" Meg's command voice, carrying across the deck. Footsteps as Alenko moved past them. Soft whispers as he checked Quinn, soothed Naismith, maneuvered them towards med-bay.
A soft grunt. Wrex. Ella finally opened her eyes, head tilted toward the heavy sound of the alien vanguard's footsteps. He grunted again when he caught her fleeting gaze, nodding slightly, before turning and stomping away, scattering the few remaining crew who hadn't quite moved away yet. Ah well, the krogan still likes me. That's oddly comforting.
I have crossed the line into crazy-ville, haven't I?
Feeling slightly lightheaded, Ella forced herself to turn, following Lex and Meg into the CO's quarters without another word, avoiding glancing in the direction of the asari scientist still hovering in the background, clearly worried.
"What the hell?" Meg, tactful as always, shoving her towards a chair, making sure she was comfortable. Taking care of her. Love my girls.
Lex's fingers twitching oh-so-slightly, searching for piano keys, resisting the urge to run them through her hair, or offer a comforting touch. Has to be in charge. Always in control. Wasn't I just happy about that, and now I want to slap her? I'm extra bitchy. "Ella? What happened?
"I..." fuck, "I'm not completely sure?"
"Guess."
"I, well, I think I fell asleep at the table, and Quinn tried to wake me up, and uh, you both know how well I sleep, and well, worse than usual, and I flared, and apparently I threw," Ella stopped, suddenly realizing her bench had been against the wall too, trays scattered across the floor, napkins covering one of the other tables, one solitary mug still spinning around and around under Julia's console. "Apparently I flared through the entire fucking mess? Oh god..." Ella dropped her head into her hands with something approaching a whimper. "Aw, hell."
Lex's voice, whispering past her fingers to her ears. "Do you need a trip to med-bay too?"
Meg snorting in an odd combination of frustration, amusement, and worry, speaking up at the same time. "Shit, Ella. I thought I drew the crazy straw this cruise."
"Hey, I can be special too." Ella mumbled past her hands, before sighing and lifting her head, continuing in a more normal tone of voice, her brain finally settling back into her body, reality no longer feeling five steps off to the side. "Unfortunately. And unless Chakwas has the cure for asari telepathy shit, I doubt she'll help. It was just a particularly bad nightmare. In public. Fuck."
Meg stepped closer to Ella's chair, one hand dropping with a comforting squeeze onto her shoulder. "Deep breaths. Buy Quinn and Naismith several rounds of drinks on our next shore leave to make it up to them."
"Oh yes, they'll want to spend time with me. And alcohol." Something between a bitter laugh and a snort leaked past Ella's lips. "Cause they're already so impressed by my control when I'm sober."
"Well, when you fail to mention that you're having problems sleeping, and then decide to take a nap in the mess, things unfortunately become public." Brutally honest there, huh, Lex? And now you're disappointed in me. Damnit. No crying, that'll just make it worse. I know I'm supposed to make your life easier, not harder... damnit damnit damnit. I am better than this. WHAT THE HELL.
"I didn't say you should drink. And yes, why were you passed out in the mess?"
Ella paused, suddenly realizing Meg had been talking while she berated herself in her head, desperately trying to get her brain to figure out what the question had been. "Umm... damn tiny coffin-looking pods?" Oh yeah, that made sense.
Amazingly, it apparently had, as Meg didn't miss a beat, her eyebrows frowning down at her friend, worry apparent in the shadows of her eyes. "When did you become claustrophobic again?"
When the batarians tried to bury me in the tunnels of Torfan, I just usually hide it better... I swear that stone was possessed. It wanted to fall on us. "Well, trying really hard to hide the bad boxes in my brain in preparation for the creepy-mind-meld seems to have inspired my brain to be unable to think about anything else." Ella shrugged uncomfortably. "Especially while I'm sleeping. Ships are really fucking small. Even the hallways. The mess and the cargo bay? Two biggest rooms. And I already went for a run."
Ella tried to ignore the worried glance Meg and Lex shared over her head, staring down at her hands in her lap, listening to herself breathe. "Do you need the doctor to prescribe you something?" Lex's voice was warm, and worried. Not enough anyone else would notice, but Ella felt the slightest tinge of relief loosening the tightened muscles throughout her chest.
Shaking her head vehemently, Ella forced herself to look up at the acting-Captain. "Please no. Then I can't wake up from the bad ones."
"Need to spar more." Ella turned her head towards Meg when she spoke up behind her. "You haven't been down in the hold lately. I haven't kicked the crap out of you in a while."
"Ha! Wrex has been, actually. Biotic training." Violence, Meg's cure for everything. Works for her, at least.
"Uh, screw biotic training. This is to get the kinks out. And to fight the demons."
"Wasn't disagreeing," Ella laughed weakly. "Just... hadn't been avoiding you on purpose. Cause trust me. Wrex biotic sparring? As painful as you are."
"See to it that you take one of them up on their offer so you can work out whatever issues." And back to command voice. The woman's gonna give me frostbite. "And, about the sleep thing, find a cot and drag it in here if you can't take the pods for awhile." Was that a smile now? Screw frostbite, she's gonna give me whiplash. Where are you Lex, and what are you doing?
"Scuttlebutt will have you two dating in no time." Meg laughed, her worry disappearing with genuine amusement. "Think I'd rather sleep in the Mako."
"Coffin on wheels, yay." Ella shuddered slightly. "With a grouchy turian mechanic to wake you up first thing in the morning."
"I think I'd rather deal with the sordid gossip of having Ella bunk in here, then what you'd get sleeping in the Mako." Ooh, Ella. Not the Flight Commander. Apparently she isn't going to keelhaul me.
"I'm not going to go sleep with the cop, or try and smother him in his sleep." Meg rolled her eyes. "Look, Ella, you all right now?"
"Painfully embarrassed, but yeah, fine."
Ella held Meg's gaze steadily as the Marine Commander attempted to glare her down, ending with a slight nod when neither of them blinked. "Come pick a fight with me next time the walls start closing in. Got it?"
"You know that means I'll be waking you up at oh-dark-thirty, right?" Ella attempted to smile, slightly. Meg was not a morning person. "And you that early is hysterical. Thanks. We can be miserable together."
"I'll be in the proper mood to kick your ass then." Meg shrugged nonchalantly. "A fight that early is better than coffee. Got work. Things to see and people to do." She winked at Ella's involuntary snort, waving airily as she turned and strode out the door. The air seemed a bit thinner without Meghan crackling energy all over the place.
A moment of uncomfortable silence. Ella shifted in her chair again, before forcing herself to speak up. "Sorry, Shepard. For not being smart enough to notice there was a problem before, well, there was a problem. I really didn't plan on falling asleep at a table."
Lex stared at her silently for a moment, her gaze oddly opaque. "You're going to have to talk to Chakwas."
"I know that." Ella suppressed a sigh, tilting her head slightly as she tried to read Lex's lack of expression. "I do try not to be an idiot. Especially not twice in one day."
Lex stood completely still, obviously not fidgeting, even more obviously holding back whatever the fuck it was she was thinking. "I'll have the doctor come check on you once she is done in the med-bay. Consider yourself confined to quarters for the interim."
Biting back an urge to snarl, Ella forced up her own professional mask. "Yes, ma'am." I miss being your friend. Why won't you let anyone be your friend? Stupid promotion.
"I'm going to try and minimize this as much as possible." The slightest of pauses, a catch in her rhythm, quickly glossed over as she continued. "With luck, no one was actually injured, and this can be filed away without a major incident report." Another pause. A chink in the Shepard armor? "Try and get some actual rest in the meantime, okay?"
"Ma'am," Ella whispered softly, nodding in agreement, her eyes dropping to her lap yet again.
She listened to Lex's footsteps as she turned towards the door, but they stopped almost as soon as they started. "Look, Ella..." she stopped, coughing slightly. "I have to be the commander first, here. It sucks, but it's my job. I have to make sure everyone here is okay." But do you have to be The Commander to do it? Never thought you'd remind me of your mother. Oh god, I can't believe I just thought that. That is so out of line. Unfair, untrue, and extra bitchy. What is WRONG with me? "But remember," Lex's voice continued, mercilessly determined, "you told me not too long ago to not forget to ask for help. The same goes for you. We're all fighting our own horrors, and we've never been big on sharing, but all you need to do is ask. Ask me. Ask Meghan. Ask somebody." Ella could feel Lex waiting when she paused again, but couldn't make herself look up, speak up, do anything beyond the slightest of nods, yet again. "I'll come check on you later," Lex finished, voice impossibly soft before she slid out the door.
Aw, fuck. Ella sniffed once, hard, before throwing her head back against the chair with a thump. I didn't know I was being an idiot before I was an idiot, or of course I would've asked for help. You're the one who hides in her head all the time, not me.
Except, now I apparently do too. When the fuck did that start?
Somehow, I doubt I can blame Liara for that one.
Well, I could...
No.
I was avoiding dealing with my own brain after that damn meld went sideways, all proud I kept Mindoir and Torfan away from everyone else. 'Meg's too emotional, and Lex has too much self-control for her own good, so that makes me the sensible one!' Bullshit.
Pride. Fucking pride. Damnit, Mama, when did I turn into such an arrogant twit?
Scowling to herself, Ella stood, kicking off her boots before stomping in her stocking feet over to Lex's bed. Throwing herself face first onto the comforter, she buried her head under the pillow and tried to pretend this particular day had never started.
Dear Mama, please smack me upside the head if I am ever this stupid again. You're smart. You can figure out how to do that, even though you're dead. Thank you kindly, Eleanora Grace, who is not living up to her middle name, and apparently hasn't been for awhile now.
"Incoming message from Admiral Hackett for Flight Commander Shepard."
"Wha-huh?" Shoving desperately at a pillow, Ella tried to figure out why she was hearing voices in her sleep.
"What, did the doc give you the good drugs to combat the crazies? WAKE UP, Commander."
"Hell, Joker..." Ella could feel her hair standing pretty damn close to straight up, and her eyes didn't want to focus, and she was pretty sure her teeth had fur. "Fuck?" Where... am... sitting on Lex's bed?
"Anytime, Commander, just say the word." Damn pilot's laughing at me. "However, it is now 1300 ship time, and we just got a buoy bounce from Central, so it'll have to wait. Admiral Hackett wants to speak to you."
1300? Already, I slept til... wait? Hackett? "He wants, what, why? He's on the line?"
"Well, not literally. Figured I should make sure you weren't beating up some more innocent crew members before I cued him up for you." Joker's easy patter paused as she snarled slightly at him, but he continued undaunted. As usual. "Ready, ma'am? It's audio only, so you don't need to come up to the comm room."
"Um. Yeah? I mean, yes, patch him through. Thank you, Moreau."
"Commander." The Admiral's familiar rough tones filled the CO's quarter without leaving room for anything else. How does he do that? He's not even here. "We've got a situation here that requires your expertise." Well, hell, that means they need dead bodies, or they'd just call Lex and let her pick the team. Fuck. The Alliance is not making my crappy day better. "A group of fanatical biotics have kidnapped the Chairman of the Parliament SubCommittee on Transhuman Studies." Wait, who? Burns? That idiot who keeps stonewalling the bills for L2 reparations? Shit, they can have him. "Their freighter sustained heavy damage during their escape, and we've tracked their drive-trail to the Hades Gamma Cluster. Farinata System, to be exact. Get in there and take them down."
"Them being L2's, sir? Because of the bill?"
"Apparently they want the Chairman to... reconsider." So they turned themselves into kidnappers and terrorists? That's fucking brilliant. "Intel has the freighter as heavily loaded, so be prepared for traps and drones. Nothing you can't handle."
"And the Chairman?"
"Your top priority is to neutralize the biotics. We must make it clear that these tactics don't work, Commander."
In other words, someone wants me to clean up the mess, and would secretly prefer somecollateral damage. Probably lots of collateral damage. Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Ella swallowed a grunt of annoyance before forcing herself to speak up. "Understood, sir."
She heard the faintest breath of air. Did Hackett just sigh? "Good luck, Commander. Fifth Fleet out."
Silence surrounded Ella as she slumped on the mattress. Fuck politicians. Never admit that maybe there wasn't any better way to deal with a clusterfuck of four-eyes then what I did, but any time they need someone out of the way and don't want to admit it, they call the fucking Butcher. Well, they make The Admiral call the fucking Butcher, which I'm sure is just the bestest use of his time. Not like the head of the Fifth Fleet has anything better to do, nope, course not.
Hope he made them grovel. Or got a new ship out of them, or something.
"So, gonna tell me why I'm suddenly heading back to the last Relay to get us to Hades Gamma, Commander?" Joker piped up again. Incorrigible bastard.
"Ours is not to reason why, Moreau."
"Are you quoting poetry shit at me, Commander? I'm pretty sure someone made me read that one."
"Hell if I know, I'm quoting the Marine Commander at you. The Alliance wants us to kill some idiots. What else do you need to know?"
"Not a thing, ma'am."
"You see?" The bald angry man with the gun to Burns' head glanced around the room at his fellow kidnappers, trying to pretend he was giving a speech at a podium rather than hiding terror at the marines' quick assault through his stalled ship to reach his control room. Ella Shepard recognized the flicker in his eyes, though, the slight waver in his voice. He was scared shitless, and liable to do something stupid because of it. "Try to write letters, use the system, and they ignore you. Force is the only thing people appreciate."
"Are you sure you're prepared for that?" Ella spoke up, her voice cold. I can be a lot scarier than you, baldy. Hope it works before I have to kill you and all your friends. "I think we've got a bit more experience with force than you do." Unless someone in this room is smart enough to figure out the weakness in our position, the way that side wing is set up behind us...
"Maybe, but I can kill your back-up from here before any of you can turn to get me." The voice at 7 o'clock had a bit of a waver, but the hidden woman was right. Or would have been right, if the Lieutenant didn't have really good armor...
"What do you hear, LT?" Dear God, please let Lex have included our old code in their morning chats...
Ella glanced back just long enough to catch Alenko's eyes, noting the slight widening through his visor as he figured out what she was doing and replied, "Nothing but the rain." Abbreviating a normal mnemonic to the slightest shift in weight, his barrier lit up the room in flickering blue glory just as she pulled her trigger, her bullet flattened by opposing forces before it fell to the ground at his feet, her pistol continuing in its arc to take out the shooter perched on a crate behind him.
Who did not have good armor, or active shields, or anything like Alenko's remarkable control, and had dropped her protective stance while she watched Shepard shoot at her own back-up. Nothing slowed down the slug as it ripped through her chest, blood spraying as she was pushed down the far side of the crate by the bullet's force.
Ella spun the rest of the way around until she was facing the noticeably paler leader again, ignoring the Chairman's sputtered attempt to scream at her not to provoke them, to keep him alive goddamnit. "We're a lot harder to kill than you are. Unless you're dumb enough to think the battlemaster there," her head tilted towards Wrex, who grunted slightly in acknowledgment, "can't handle a bullet even better than us squishy humans? Do you really want to take the chance that somehow you'll make it out of this room alive?"
"You take us out, you'll lose Burns!" The poor L2 stuttered, his voice barely carrying over the politician's continued whimpering.
"Do you know who I am, Chairman?" Ella asked conversationally, ignoring the terrorist completely.
Burns stopped his whining long enough to scowl at her. "Yes."
"Will it shut you up if I tell you that Command requested me particularly? I wasn't just the closest Alliance officer they could throw at this ship. You know what it means when that happens. So maybe you should just be quiet, unless you want to be another red stain on the deckplates?"
Burns' shoulders slumped in defeat, a soft hiss whispering past his lips as he did, actually, miraculously, shut the fuck up.
A second soft grunt from the krogan behind her signified Wrex's amused appreciation of her tactics. Or his disappointment that she hadn't just shot the politician. Hard to tell. Either way, it made her oddly inclined to smile herself. The cell-leader, however, was not sharing her happy. His eyes were wide, his hands shaking. Oops. Think I scared him too much. Damnit. "You do realize, that if I have to kill you all, you won't be the only L2's getting their blood spilled?"
"What do you mean?" One of the biotics lining the walls spoke up, taking a tentative step towards her. And away from their panicking leader. Point for the Alliance.
"Thanks to you, ALL L2's will now be thought of as terrorists. How do you think most people are going to react to that one?"
"But he denied the reparations!" The head kidnapper spoke up, his hands steady again. "Some of us are crippled by the side-effects, and he gave us NOTHING! We don't have any thing else to live for! What were we supposed to do? Die quietly in the background so no one had to admit how badly they screwed us?"
"I'm sorry!" The idiot politician interrupted. "I'll bring it back up in committee, I promise. I didn't realize how desperate... " he trailed off as the entire room glared at him.
"Then you weren't doing your job," Ella snarled at Burns. She turned her glare towards the man still hovering behind him, though his gun wasn't pointing at anything in particular anymore. "And you can still salvage this if you surrender; you haven't killed anyone yet. Let the Fifth Fleet pick you up, and cooperate your bloody stupid biotic asses off."
"I..." The man closed his eyes, slowly. His arm lowered along with his breath as he sighed, and nodded. Wrex was somehow, silently, (how the fuck is the giant krogan always so damn quiet?) right behind him, sliding the pistol out of his now limp grasp.
"Alright then." Ella nodded briefly at Alenko, who stepped forward and helped Burns to his feet. "We'll deal with the Chairman, so no one's tempted with the killing again, and keep you company til the freighter gets here to drag you all back to Arcturus. Behave, so I don't have to come back aboard."
Wrex started a circuit of the room as she talked, collecting weapons and glaring at the few who looked inclined to protest until they wilted against the wall, the blue flicker of his own barrier a potent reminder not to try biotics on a big scary krogan who was probably older than the most of the rest of the people in the room all added together.
Well, hell. That worked. Now I just have to explain to Lex why I shot at her Lieutenant. That'll be fun. Good thing he's all perfect-2iC-borderline-psychic or I'd have to explain why I actually shot him. That would be bad.
"Well, Commander. I'm... surprised at the results. Certainly not disappointed, however. You should only need to continue guard duty for a few hours before the transport arrives to pick up the prisoners and shuttle the Chairman back home. Thank you, Shepard. Hackett out."
Was that approval hiding in The Admiral's gravelly voice? Not like he'll ever tell me, but I think it was. Huh.
Ella sighed slightly, leaning back on her heels in the comm room. That conversation had gone better than she'd had any right to expect, since she hadn't actually killed everyone. Only one person, in fact.
And they will all soon be safely on their way back to civilization, where they can be someone else's damned problem.
Idiots.
Ella turned around and paused, glaring at the comm room door. Flared in the mess. Got called on a Butcher job for Hackett. Shot Alenko. Can I just hide in here for the next month or so? No? Damn. Should probably go check on the LT. And apologize to our CO. Ella's feet refused to move, for a moment, before she forced out yet another sigh, and settled into her usual stomping stride out the room... and despite her best intentions, she was half-way to the cockpit before her brain realized she was going the wrong way to get to the crew deck.
And then she paused awkwardly at the realization they were talking about her up ahead, and hadn't apparently heard her approaching. Yet.
"SHE SHOT THE LT!" Well, Williams was yelling loudly enough to be heard down on the crew deck. Someone was going to turn and look at the noise and see the Flight Commander, and it was going to be horribly, horribly awkward at any moment.
"Brilliant, wasn't it?" Joker turned to grin at Williams, and Ella blinked slightly in surprise, as she was pretty sure he winked at her in the process. Well, shit, knew I wasn't sneaky. "Avoided a fire fight, brought everyone back in one piece. Thought you soldier types appreciated that?"
"She shot the LT, Joker! Who's she going to shoot next? Or sic her friendly pet krogan on?"
"Wrex is no one's pet," Ella spoke up. "And not that friendly. Wouldn't say anything like that in his hearing. Chief."
Williams stiffened, but turned to aim her angry glare at the Commander, her spine straight and her gaze direct, refusing to back down. "You shot your own second, Commander. And Wrex just chuckled when I asked him about it. What do you expect me to say?"
"That you never want to be on my ground team." Ella shrugged. "Just don't go antagonizing a Battle Master. Not good for your life expectancy, even when he's on our side."
"Is he? Are you?"
NCO with a spine of steel. Li would've loved you. Ella felt the familiar twinge of old sorrow, and sighed slightly. "I think he is, and I know I am, but you're perfectly entitled to disagree with me, Chief. As long as you still do your job."
"Which involves putting myself in your line of fire. Ma'am." Williams twisted the last word into a verbal jab, the usual formality an insult.
"Hell, she didn't even ding Alenko's armor," Joker interrupted. "Stop being so melodramatic, Williams."
"You don't shoot your own people, Joker!" Williams turned her glare back towards the pilot, obviously wondering how she'd gotten surrounded by crazy people who didn't understand this basic truth.
"I shot at him, Williams, to make a point, and to avoid wiping out an entire ship full of people who mostly had the shit kicked out of them their whole lives."
"So the bad guys lives are more important than ours?"
"Everyone's lives are more important than ours. That's what it means to be a Marine. Do or die. If you don't understand that, you deserved every shit groundside posting they ever gave you." Ella swallowed the growl growing in her throat. Do not lose temper with crew. Do not lose temper with crew.
Seemingly unaware of how much Ella wanted to shoot her too, now, Williams just snorted in disbelief. "You wouldn't have shot at one of the Commanders. You would've thought of a better way."
Ella leaned forward, trying desperately not to let the fire down her spine light up her fingertips. "I would shoot Meg or Lex between the eyes myself, if it meant the difference between success and failure, if it meant I kept one extra civilian alive." Course, I'd probably try and make sure I went out in a blaze of glory myself, as I doubt I'd want to live with that one... Suddenly oddly amused, she leaned back on her heels, her temper settling. "Just don't see any particular reason to shoot everyone cause some politician or three doesn't want to do his job."
"Well, yes, politicians suck." Joker interrupted Williams' wide-eyed stare. "That's not news. You up here to check on Alenko, Commander? He borrowed T'soni to help him baby-sit the L2s, as he figured Wrex'd just scare them into trying something stupid again, and non-biotics tend to have to shoot first, and since you went to the all the trouble of not shooting them in the first place..."
Holy Shit, Murphy left me alone. Thank you, Joker, for giving me an excuse to be up here beyond rambling feet and pissing off Meg's second favorite NCO ever. "That sounds like a spectacular idea."
"What, not shooting, not inviting Wrex, inviting T'Soni, or calling Alenko?"
"All of the above."
"You know how to work the comm, and the chair's even nice and empty for you. Or, you know, my lap's always open."
Ella snorted. "Here I thought you didn't actually like spending time in medbay on painkillers?"
"Hey, I can keep Quinn company. Medbay's boring on your own."
"Shut up, Moreau." Joker smirked at her scowl, which made it rather less than satisfying, so she grunted and turned towards the Nav station, ignoring the soft snarl of Williams swearing under her breath before stomping away. There goes someone about to file a complaint with the CO. Lex is gonna love me. Shooting her LT and giving her more paperwork. I am in deep shit. Bad Flight Commander. Though, hey, maybe they'll bond over mutual distate of my tactics, and I can be Williams' least favorite Shepard.
Shit.
"Are you gonna actually call Alenko, Commander, or just glare at the console all day?"
"Glaring usually works for me, Lieutenant." Except on you. And shit, I sound like a sulky teenager. Hell.
"I'm sure the Normandy is properly terrified, ma'am. But she needs you to actually push the button to work."
"How has no one strangled you to put you out of everyone else's misery yet?"
"Same reason you didn't get court-martialed after Torfan. Too good at my job to let go."
Clenching her fists, Ella shifted in her chair to yell properly at the Flight Lieutenant, only to be stopped by the sight of a glint of humor in his eyes, a smirk still hovering around his mouth.
"Trying to annoy me, are you Moreau?"
"Is it working?" The glint grew brighter, the smirk broadening into a grin.
"Apparently not," Ella admitted, her own lips twitching into an answering smile.
"Guess I'll have to keep practicing 'til I get better at it."
"Oh, it's not just a natural talent then?"
"Everything gets better with practice."
Snorting softly at the pilot's ability to turn every single conversation into something inappropriate, Ella shook her head and dinged the LT's comm.
"Alenko."
"LT. How are our guests?"
"Tired. Behaving. I think they calmed down when they realized I was an L2, and told them you really weren't going to come back and shut down the O2 on them, or something equally befitting your... earlier performance."
"About that... you do know I wouldn't have shot at you if you weren't prepared, right?"
"I hoped so, ma'am." He sounded slightly amused, under the formality, and Ella suppressed a slight sigh of relief. "I'd hate to think that my family would have to be informed of my death on account that my CO neglected to share the proper anecdote in passing."
Joker's smothered chuckle from behind her made it obvious he was eavesdropping. Not that she'd managed not to snicker at that one either. "Well, the Commander does talk to you more than just about anyone I've ever met. Figured there had to be useful intel in there somewhere." Crap, that was way too much info. Yet another reason for Lex to be pissed at me. Shit.
"Uh." Alenko paused, and Ella was suddenly tempted to slam her head against her console in frustration with her own rampant stupidity, but for the fact that the Lieutenants would both hear her and it would not help her already tenuous claim of sanity. "Thank you? Commander."
"You're welcome." In for a penny? Lex is going to murder me. Slowly. "If you turn out to be as much of an idiot as the asshole-of-a-fiance I never got a chance to shoot in the groin, I will deny ever encouraging you in the slightest. But I don't think you will, so, uh, good luck?"
She could almost feel it as the eavesdropper behind her froze in surprise, and was pretty sure she heard a strangled cough through the comms. "Fiance? I mean, thank you? I mean..." Ella could clearly imagine poor Alenko rubbing his forehead as he attempted to pretend there was a remotely professional way to respond to her. "Could we perhaps finish this conversation some other time, ma'am?"
"You mean face to face when we're not supposed to be on duty? No problem, LT. Thanks for baby-sitting so nicely, and thank T'Soni for me while you're at it, alright? Shepard out."
The fact that Moreau didn't say anything after the comm clicked off was perhaps a touch nerve-wracking. I will not be intimidated by my pilot. "Gotta problem, Moreau?" She slid her chair around to eye the Flight Lieutenant, whose face was disturbingly blank.
"I'm inappropriate, but you just fixed up the CO and the Marine 2iC?"
"I did no fixing."
"Um," Joker paused, for once apparently at a loss for a good way to contradict her.
"I've read the files, you and Alenko have served together three times, and you always eat together, so I'm quite sure you picked up on their careful little dance at least as early as I did, and seem even less inclined to turn them in than I am, so no, I don't think admitting it out loud was too inappropriate." She barely resisted the urge to glare, as the man obviously had a point, she, just, couldn't seem to keep the professional half of her brain working today.
Joker's mouth closed with a snap, his eyes tight as he stared at her in silence for a moment, and she could suddenly feel all the things he wasn't saying, and apparently hadn't been for a while, though she still had no clue what they were. Damnit, pilot's right. He is sneaky. When did I become such a lousy judge of character? Or his character, anyways...
"If you say so, Commander." She blinked at the surprising return of his rarely heard professional voice, and he turned back to his console, obviously finished talking to her.
"Well, then," she responded awkwardly, before shoving herself out of her chair. "Work to do. Later, Moreau."
"Ma'am," his voice whispered across her senses as she turned and walked away, boots uncomfortably loud against the cold, hard deckplates. Have I mentioned today sucks, Mama? Yes? Bears repeating. At least a few more times. Please let tomorrow be better. Just a little bit?
A/N: Thank you, Battlestar Galacticaand Finding Nemo.