Garrus poked at the reconstituted dextro eggs on his plate. He wasn't a fussy eater, but this was… not ideal. He gazed down the table at the plates of sausage and biscuits his human crew members were enjoying and his shoulders drooped. After weeks of eating the field rations the Alliance requisition officer had procured to meet his particular dietary needs, Garrus was looking forward to the next time they docked at the Citadel and he could get some real food. At least the coffee was drinkable, he thought, taking a sip from his mug.
"I have to admit," Ashley said from the other side of the table, cheeking a considerable bite of sausage, "Shepard has really changed my mind about biotics."
"Wow, Chief," Kaidan said with a snort. "I'm sitting right here."
She shrugged. "No offense, LT, but most biotics are made of glass. You included. Hell, even Wrex. And the rest of us have to work our asses off to draw fire so you don't get smashed." She stabbed another bite of sausage with her fork. "Shepard can hold her own, though."
"Thanks a lot," Kaidan grumbled.
"Come on! You have to admit that Shepard is in another league. No biotic could do what she did on Elysium."
"I don't think anyone could do what she did on Elysium. I mean, do you really think she could have held off that many Batarians without biotic barriers and singularities?"
She swallowed her bite. "Alright, maybe. But that just makes it more impressive. Shepard is unbeatable. A class all her own."
"Yeah," Kaidan said, getting that starstruck look he always did when he talked about Shepard. "I can't say I've ever fought beside anyone like her. She takes some crazy risks but pulls it off every time. Like she's invincible or something."
The word "invincible" made Garrus bristle.
Ashley gestured at Kaidan with her raised fork. "God's watching over Shepard, that's for sure. No one can touch her. A one-woman army."
Garrus slammed his mug on to the table, making the flatware rattle. He pointed at Ashley. "And that kind of thinking will get Shepard killed."
Kaidan looked at him, baffled. "What?"
"If you go into a fight believing that Shepard is invincible, protected by divine influence, and that she doesn't need you to draw fire or watch her back… you might as well turn a gun on her yourself." He hadn't intended to put so much anger into his tone, but there it was.
Ashley rolled her eyes. "Jeeze, Garrus. Want some help pulling that stick out of your ass?"
"You don't think Shepard is an exceptional fighter?" Kaidan asked incredulously.
"Of course I do," Garrus scoffed. "She might even be the best I've ever fought beside. But she has weaknesses. And as the people watching her back, it's our responsibility to know those weaknesses and account for them in a fire fight."
Ashley leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. "Alright," she said, her voice laced with mocking contempt. "So what in your expert Turian opinion are her weaknesses?"
"To start, she wears feather-light armor."
"Right," Kaidan said. "She doesn't like the heavier stuff because it interferes with biotics."
Garrus leaned forward "Yeah, but when her barriers go down she might as well be wearing paper." He thought of the way his heart raced in his ears every time her barriers broke. "And Shepard tends to push her barriers past the limit with high risk maneuvers."
"You think she's reckless?" Kaidan said, unbelieving, contemptuous even.
Garrus slammed his palm into the table. "I think she does whatever it takes to complete the mission and protect people, her crew included, and she takes on a lot of personal risk in the process... It's only reckless if the people she's depending on to watch her back think that she can take heavy fire."
"Don't give me that crap," Ashley snapped. "We watch her back just as well as you do."
Kaidan held up his hands in a placating gesture. "It's just a little hero worship, Garrus. No one here is playing games with Shepard's life."
Garrus wasn't feeling particularly placated. He stood up, looming over them. "I hope not, because all it takes is one bullet, one instant of thinking she's unstoppable, and your hero joins the honored dead."
Ashley rolled her eyes again. "You need to chill out."
He fought the urge to kick her chair over and instead picked up his tray. "Yeah, I'll go do that." He walked away.
"Damn Turians," Ashley grumbled as he dumped his untouched breakfast in the trash. "They think they're the only ones who understand combat. We're trained soldiers just like he is. We know how to watch Shepard's back. Ass hole."
"Yet he's the one Shepard always brings into combat," Kaidan said. "It's something to think about."
Garrus' chest puffed up with pride at those words. Damn straight. At least Shepard understood who knew how to watch her back. As long as he was there, she'd be covered.
