survival of the fittest
chapter 11
Aki rolled over and sighed as her arm went around him, she pulled her body into his and kissed the back of his neck, "good morning"
"good morning" he replied sleepily as he took her hand and pressed it to his mouth.
"any regrets?" she murmured against his warm flesh feeling a flash of panic as she asked
"none about you" he chuckled turning to her, he lay facing her, his hand going to her cheek "only that we have to go back to the Normandy so soon"
"we have a couple of hours- do you want breakfast?"
"sure, do you want to go out?"
"you wouldn't mind?"
"no" he laughed "why would i?"
she arched an eyebrow "are you sure you're okay with this?" she had to ask because after last night she'd resigned herself to being absolutely committed to the turian in her bed.
he kissed her forehead "I'm more than okay"
"then yes" she grinned, "I would love to go out"
They sat in a café in the presidium that did a mix of foods including that of Dextro.
Aki smiled as Garrus scanned the menu before turning to the Asari waitress placing his food order, Aki ordered coffee for them both -one of the few things that Garrus could ingest- along with a plate of eggs, hash browns and toast for herself.
"how are you feeling Garrus?" she pressed softly
"don't worry" he smiled "I'm doing okay"
"I'm glad" she breathed, the food came relatively fast and they began to eat. Aki looked into his bowl, faintly the food resembled porridge but incredibly thick and topped with a dark watery substance.
"it's sweet" he explained to her inquisitive eyes "I've been told it tastes the equivalent of your syrup"
she nodded "so you have a sweet tooth?"
"I'd prefer meat" he admitted honestly "but their dextro options were a little limited"
"we'll go somewhere better next time" she promised
"it's fine, my mom used to make this dish back home"
"she did?"
"family favourite- my sister loves it"
she smiled wildly, "you don't talk about them much"
He cleared his throat, "okay- uhm" he ate a mouthful of the food and nodded, "my sister Solana is younger, she's ridiculously smart, top of her class always. My mom, Sera, she was a soldier back in her day before-" he stopped himself, her sickness had always been a tough subject for him. Aki noticed his brow furrowing, he cleared his throat again "before she got sick. She's the sweetest woman you could ever meet, and my dad, you already know about him"
She reached her hand across the table and placed it upon his, their fingers interlacing, "thank you"
He nodded, his mandibles clicking "your welcome"
The Asari waitress came back to place down another cup of coffee for Aki, she frowned lightly at the intertwined fingers before moving away.
Aki arched an eyebrow "turian/human relations it seems aren't a common occurrence"
Garrus squeezed her hand "who gives a damn"
Aki looked up to him and nodded "not me"
The crew arrived back at the Normandy at the allocated time.
Garrus and Aki entered in together, Jane stood at the airlock welcoming the crew back and counting numbers.
Garrus nodded to the elder sibling "commander"
"Garrus" she smiled "eventful night?"
Garrus cleared his throat, "i should go and check my calibrations" his go to line when things got awkward, he gave Aki's hand a tight squeeze before he did, "you know where to find me"
"yep" she smiled as she watched him leave, taking in the swagger of his hips as he sauntered away.
"later?" Jane pressed "my room"
"yeah Jane" Aki smiled walking away waving a hand.
The missions came thick and fast, the days seemed filled with endless fighting.
It seemed like every member of the crew had some unfinished business to take care of, Jack blew up a base, Grunt hit puberty and became a fully-fledged clan Urdnot member, Tali almost became exiled, Mordin's protégé going missing there was hardly time for a breather with that and Jacobs dad, Miranda's sister and numerous other side tracks.
"What's up with all this chop Joker?" Jane pressed with a frown; the Normandy wasn't used to this amount of resistance.
"Doing my best, Commander. The wind's gusting to 500 kph."
Shepard watched the concentration as Joker steered the ship through the turbulence- the jolting suddenly coming to a halt.
"what just happened?" she pressed
"The Reaper's mass effect fields are still active. We just passed inside their envelope."
The Normandy slowly pulled to dock with the wreck, "I don't fucking like this" she muttered heading to suit up.
"yeah, me neither" he replied to her back.
Aki looked around nodding to Thane who stood at her side, "you feel it too?" he husked
"hmm" she replied flicking a glance to Jane "be careful- this place feels just as off as the last"
"I'm getting fucking sick of traps" she snapped motioning them to follow.
The trio began to walk, the ship shook violently staggering the group "what the fuck is happening Joker?"
"ahw shit!" he grunted "The Reaper put up kinetic barriers. I don't think we can get through from our side."
"We'll have to take down the barrier generators from in here. Any idea where they are Joker?"
"At the moment of activation, I detected a heat spike in what is most likely the wreck's mass effect core. Sending the coordinates now. Be advised, the core is also maintaining the Reaper's altitude." EDI informed them.
"well nothings ever easy is it, Jane?" Aki laughed softly
"So, we take the barriers down to escape and the wreck falls into the planet below. Do you see a problem with that Joker?" Jane shook her head and exhaled sharply
"That means we all die. Yeah, I got it." He replied flatly.
"then I have one order for you, get us out of here alive" she smiled having the upmost faith in him.
"aye-aye Commander"
"Okay, we'll make a sweep for survivors and grab what we need. Stand by."
"Good hunting."
They explored further into the ship, the enemies came thick and fast, husks crawling out from under rafters like horror movie creatures. Aki shook her head sadly; these things were once people.
They continued along the darkened corridors, Jane saw more husks approaching, she went to fire her gun… they dropped to the ground perfect head shots Jane's hadn't fired a round.
"Sniper," Thane looked to the unknown shooter's direction
Aki motioned to Jane and stepped into the line of fire, friend or foe needed to be established, a shot didn't fire.
"Friend" Aki nodded to Jane, "be careful"
Jane walked down the corridor where the shots had come from, "Let's go find our friend then."
The fought with more enemies quickly clearing them out, they stopped at the end of the platform, Aki motioned to Jane, "Eden prime- Dragons teeth"
"let's just keep moving" she growled, they were nearing the heart of the ship, "quicker the better" Jane frowned nodding to her comrades.
There was a silence, thick and heavy, Aki turned hand on her sword ready to strike at the creeping husk, BANG BANG.
The shots were quick and precise the bodies hitting the floor, they stopped all guns on hands the friendly sniper stood, "Shepard Commander"
"it's a Geth" Aki arched an eyebrow, "what the fuck"
"I didn't know they were able to communicate"
"they don't- " Jane was cut off by his disappearance more husks advancing, "take them out and let's go find him"
Husks, abominations and scions came hard and fast as they continued deeper into the reaper, Jane approached a terminal quickly scanning it "Aki- I've found the IFF"
"good- we should keep moving"
They entered through and into a new room and came to the core noticing the Geth sniper being took down by a wave of enemies, "let's take that core down"
The room was swarmed, the core only exposed itself now and then they hit the core each time before the shutters closed repeating it every chance they got in a cycle, the core exploded the ship shaking wildly.
"Jane- we need to go" Thane nodded to her
"what about the Geth?"
"we've never had a one intact and it helped us, grab it, take it back to the Normandy"
The trio hauled it up and began to run, the ship shaking violently now, "open the airlock ready for us Joker!" Jane shouted as they ran to an opening in the hull.
The Normandy got in as close as it could, Aki inhaled deeply helping Shepard tossing the Geth over the space and into the airlock, "Thane- Jump"
Thane took a short run and jumped the distance between the collector ship and the Normandy, the swarms of enemies were approaching quicker now, way too many.
"let's go" Aki nodded grasping Jane's arm as they made the leap touching down safely, the airlock doors shutting behind them.
"by the way" Aki laughed softly "Tali, she is going to go fucking berserk"
Jane groaned "just another day"