Chapter Eleven
Shepard was a better liar than some people gave her credit for, though she supposed it was unkind of her to include Garrus in that 'some people'. They'd only just met a few days ago. He couldn't have any idea what she was and wasn't capable of.
In truth, she wasn't great. She hadn't lied about the civilians she saved, or the slavers she killed, or any of that. But she deliberately didn't mention the stab wound to her side.
People, as it turned out, didn't always rely purely on firearms. Shepard knew this. She was trained to know this. Yet for some reason, standing there and devoting herself to hand-to-hand against three armed and brutal slavers, she'd thought herself fine.
The slaver at her back had acted quickly, unsheathing his omni-blade and making to drive it into her back. Luck was the only thing that kept her alive: as he made to swing, she turned to throw the batarian at her front into the wall. The blade had cut through her shirt and had slid over her skin, but the wound wasn't deadly (yet). It was about a quarter of an inch deep, if she had to guess, and it would definitely need stitches.
Blood stained the floor where she stood, three batarians down and four more on their way, and she'd had to apply the medigel while she closed the maintenance shaft and ran the hell out of dodge. The medigel would seal the wound long enough so that she could fight, but she knew it would need medical attention the moment this was all said and done. And it would scar.
Garrus didn't have to know any of that, though. All he needed to know was that she was alive and capable of fighting a while longer.
She moved quickly and quietly through the maintenance shafts, following the moving dots on the map until she found herself right in line with them. She couldn't waist time here – either five of those dots were the missing engineers, or all seven were batarians. There was no winning if that were the case.
She took a deep breath before pressing her omnitool against the wall, letting the door slide open. The good news was: there really were only two batarians. The bad news was: they saw her as soon as she saw them.
Her weapon fired, slugs slamming into the batrian's armor as they raised their weapons to fire back. Shots flew past her, barely missing, and one successfully landed in her shoulder.
The slavers dropped two shots later, their shields and armor finally buckling under the pressure, and Shepard clutched at her wound with a curse. One of the engineers was by her side surprisingly quickly, turian hands offering support as she sagged unwittingly against him.
"Are you alright, miss?" he asked. Shepard nodded, wincing as she moved to carefully inspect her shoulder. She was bleeding – quite impressively – and with a murmured curse she reached for her last pack of medigel.
"Is there a first aid station here?" she asked, looking to the engineers.
"There are several," a salarian said, stepping forward. "I can mark them on your omni-tool."
"Where are you going next?" one of the three humans questioned, wringing her hands together anxiously as her eyes darted around the deck.
"We're trying to get all civilians away from the slavers," Shepard explained in measured tones, holding her omni-tool out for the salarian to program. "They haven't gotten in the maintenance shafts yet, and it looks like they're steering clear of storage levels. If we get the civilians out of the way then we can take out the slavers."
"Do you know how many are on the ship?"
Apparently these engineers were an inquisitive bunch. Shepard shook her head patiently. "Not exactly. But we aren't far from the shuttle bay – that's where they parked. However many shuttles we see, we can make a guess."
"I'll go with you," the asari offered, stepping forward with a confident expression. Her skin had a less-widely admired purple hue to it, and the markings on her face were a myriad of pink, black, and blue, the shapes faintly reminiscent of a tiger. The bridge of her nose was twisted, clearly the result of a poorly-healed break. "I'm former military. I can help."
"You don't have armor," Shepard reminded her, not dismissively.
"Neither do you," the asari retorted. Shepard didn't have an argument for that.
"I know where you can get some," the turian said, drawing the attention back to him. "There's a shipment of armor in the storage bay. You get there, you might be able to find some armor that fits."
"Then it looks like that's our next stop," Shepard murmured. She looked to the group as the asari came to stand beside her, face drawn in concentration. "You all can head back to engineering – my partners secured it. We're going to try and get back control of the ship. We'll need you there. The maintenance tunnels are safe."
"Thank you again," the salarian said. "We owe you everything."
"Just keep yourselves alive," she said firmly. "That's all I want."
The group dispersed and Shepard looked the the asari. "I don't have a spare headset for you."
"That's fine," she said. "I know where we can get one."
The asari moved to the dropped batarian, grabbing up his shotgun and his pistol (which she tucked in the back of her pants, making Shepard grimace disapprovingly) and yanking his helmet off his head. She dug out the comm. and placed it in her ear before looking to Shepard. "What channel?"
Shepard told her, and within moments she was linked in with Garrus and Shepard. She grinned successfully before finally asking the million dollar question: "What's your name?"
For a moment her tongue felt heavy in her mouth, unwilling to speak, but she forced her name out: "I'm Shepard. Former Alliance military."
The asari seemed to recognize the name, but said nothing. "I'm Mierin. Former commando. Who is your partner?"
"Garrus," she responded. She didn't offer his last name. "Former military."
Mierin gave a crooked grin, showing off a slight gap between her two font teeth (one of which looked to be slightly chipped). "Well it's a good thing we've got so many people here, isn't it? I was worried we wouldn't have a leg to stand on."
"You really think the three of us can make it through this?" she asked, a bit incredulously.
"That's a standard sized drop team, isn't it?" Mierin asked. "Look, we get some armor, and we're going to knock these bastards right off the ship. Until then, I've got enough biotics to keep a barrier up."
"I'm a sentinel," Shepard offered. "Our protection isn't all on you."
"Yeah?" Mierin raised a belligerent brow. "Then where was your barrier when you were getting shot at?"
Wincing, Shepard glanced away. That was a bit of a low blow. "Look, that doesn't matter. We just need to get going. I'm going to check on Garrus."
Mierin stayed at Shepard's back as the Commander moved, setting course for the shuttle bay. She lifted her hand to her comm. "You alright up there, Garrus?"
"Fine," he responded. "You were quiet for a while. What happened?"
Weighing her options for only a moment, Shepard made the executive decision to lie: "Got shot at a few times, nothing major. I'm on my way to the shuttle bay now. We can get an estimate of how many batarians are lurking around here that way."
"Good thinking," he praised. "I'm headed towards the rooms to see if I can get a few more people out."
"Be safe, Garrus," she cautioned. "They're going to notice us sooner rather than later."
"Don't worry about me," he said. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, actually," Shepard looked towards Mieran. "We have a volunteer. Asari commando. Name's Mieran. She was with the engineers I found."
"Hi there," Mieran introduced.
"Thanks for the help. That makes things easier," Garrus said. "Do you have a weapon?"
"Stole a shotgun and a pistol off the batarian that shot your girlfriend."
A beat of silence as Shepard inhaled sharply, shooting Mieran a glare that was deflected with a gap-toothed smile. "Shot?" Garrus demanded, completely overlooking the 'girlfriend' comment. "Shepard, you said you were fine."
"I am fine," she said shortly. "I've got medigel on it, and we'll get it looked at once we hit Omega. Until then I'm still good."
"If it makes you feel better, we're headed towards a shipment of armor now," Mieran spoke up. "It's not the greatest armor in the galaxy, but they have shields, and they'll get us through this."
Though she couldn't understand it, when she heard Garrus trill on the other end she could easily understand it was from irritation. "Stay safe, Shepard," he warned. "You've come to far to get shot down now."
Her throat closed up and she hardened her gaze to keep the punch of emotion that hit her. Damn. Just…damn.
Say what you wanted about Garrus Vakarian, but somehow he managed to see past the wall she held up and see who she was. See what she tried to be. If that didn't terrify you, then Shepard would have to call you a liar, because it scared the shit out of her.
...
A/N: Sorry it's been so long! I honestly had no idea so much time had passed since I updated - I can hardly believe it, honestly. I feel so badly. I'm trying, I really am, but college is...well. College.
I'm going to try and be more reliable with this from now on. Thank you everyone who stuck through with me this far.
B.E. Nomads