"This is a fascinating prototype," Xen mused, pacing once around Legion.
Shepard's mouth compressed and she glanced at Tali, who discreetly twitched her shoulders. Shepard could almost see Tali's thoughts written over her head: it's your ship, your call.
"With some study, I might be able to use it to find a weakness in the geth Consensus."
The sound of her own blood still hissing in her ears over her conversation with Admiral Gerrel, Shepard forced herself not to give way to temper and take it out on all of the admirals. "Legion helped me against the Collectors," Shepard said delicately.
"So did your pistol. You might as well have feelings for your gun," Xen sneered.
Shepard, already irritated with the quarian admiralty in general, finally reached the end of her rope and let her temper get the better of her. "This is my weapon!" She barked, startling several people as she pulled out her sidearm, holding it slightly aloft as though her hands were a display rack.
As Shepard spoke, reciting the well-worn maxim ingrained into everyone who completed Alliance basic training, she was joined by Vega and Alenko in a show of marine solidarity the Admiral had not expected. "There are many like it but this one is mine!"
Even Garrus, Liara, and Tali, who didn't know the words, raised their firearms in similar fashion, expressions hard.
"Without me, my weapon is useless. Without my weapon, I am useless!" Sour-faced, Shepard re-holstered the weapon as the rest of her crew followed suit. "Thank you, ladies, gentlemen. Does that answer your question, Admiral?" she demanded sharply.
"I suppose you name the thing as well." Xen's snide remark fell short when Shepard smiled.
"I call my shotgun Buck," Shepard answered so innocently that she thought she could hear Xen's teeth grinding. Snickers from the crew ensued. Good. Shepard had never particularly liked Xen, and she would not lie that part of this dislike came from the woman's complete apathy during Tali's trial. That someone responsible for justice, for prevention the ruin an innocent life, would be so blasé in not caring what happened as long as she got what she wanted made Shepard sick. In fact, as it stood, two thirds of the Admiralty Board left her with a bad taste in her mouth.
More power to Tali for stepping up to fill the empty spot—Shepard just couldn't think of it as 'her father's spot,' when Tali was such a good pick based on her own merits. Shepard was not sure she could have quelled her own disgust long enough to work with them for a day, let alone on a daily basis. Or maybe it was just her current bad mood coloring her perceptions.
"Buck?" Vega asked, arching his eyebrows.
"As in 'buckshot.'" Shepard retorted, her smile becoming decided more natural. "I prefer a shotgun, but sometimes the spray…" she shrugged. "It's just not what you want."
"That admiral's—"
Tali cleared her throat, knowing Shepard had dropped the word to her crew: during on-duty hours, whatever those happened to be, Tali was a member of the quarian Admiralty Board. Off duty was something else entirely, but appearances had to be maintained.
"Now, so we all understand: Legion is my friend. Anything to which he does not willingly consent is so far off the table you're better off not trying to find it. Am I clear?"
"As crystal," Xen answered darkly.
"Good. Now, Admiral Zorah," Shepard began formally, "if it's agreeable to you, I'd like to limit the Admiralty Board's presence on this ship to you, as the geth expert and a member of this crew, and…Admiral Raan, I think. She seems to be the voice of reasoned argument and it won't benefit anyone if we continue having…problems."
Shepard knew she heard someone murmur 'good riddance,' but she pretended she had not. It was a shared opinion. She did not clamp down on the general buzz of ill-feeling towards the quarian admiralty at that moment—it would and did die down on its own in short order as professionalism reasserted itself among her crew.
The nasty looks, however, did not abate.
"It is your ship, Captain Shepard. I'm glad you see the necessity of avoiding infighting." Tali inclined her head, caught Alenko trying not to smile.
"Mr. Vega, I'm afraid you have more admirals to escort to the shuttle bay," Shepard declared.
"Aye-aye, ma'am. Admirals…?" Vega stepped aside enough for the quarians to pass unimpeded, but with the air of being a heavy door ready to slam closed behind her.
Xen—probably looking like she was sucking on a lemon—took a few paces forward. For a moment she seemed ready to balk or reopen the argument.
Koris didn't protest, simply complied.
"We are not willing to accompany Admiral Xen, Shepard-Captain," Legion announced.
Shepard resisted the urge to smirk: the comment had not been for Xen's benefit, but to speed her on her way. She waited until Vega had returned, still oddly stiff and proper. She suspected it was his way of commenting on who was in charge here and that if the quarians didn't like it they could leave.
"Captain, I understand that you're angry," Raan began hesitantly.
"Angry, Admiral?" Shepard asked, her tone finally returned to calmness. "Angry does not even begin to cover it. If I didn't need your fleet…" she shook her head, then held up a hand. "Ladies and gentlemen, good work. Ground team, go get mopped up and take care of yourselves. We're not out of the shit, yet."
They obeyed, even if she saw hints of grudging in their obedience, like children sent to bed early when they'd rather watch the household goings-on. They were a good crew, she thought, and utterly precious. It was the sort of thing she could never say aloud, but she felt it sharply at that moment.
"Now. Let's get on to business." Shepard indicated from Raan to Legion, glad she could count on geth pragmatism.