A/N: This is a chapter from my longer story, Moments In Between (shameless plug - and ffdotnet is being a pill and not letting me put a link in, so just check out my profile). I had written it to be just after Legion's loyalty mission and before the one to take out the Blue Sun's base where she took her entire crew. Ultimately, it added nothing to the plot narrative so I cut the entire chapter out, but I still think it has some great characterization (And Zaeed's a right bastard). So I'm putting it here just for fun and an excuse to write another fight scene.
Shepard's omni tool beeped, interrupting her never ending paperwork, and she breathed a sigh of relief. It was time for heavy armor training, one of her favorites. They rotated various types of training each day - weapons, biotics, hand to hand, armored - to keep everyone's skills up. She quickly changed into her white armor. The N7 logo was still there, glaring at her accusingly, but it was her favorite armor. She could ask Jacob to remove it, but Kasumi said that there still had been no gossip about her resigning from the Alliance. She knew that would change as soon as they got back in range of the relay and all the news and messages dropped.
The cargo bay was already bustling with participants and spectators. For safety reasons, only those who were accustomed to heavy and medium armor participated. Her other specialists watched from the sidelines. Off duty crewmen crowded the observation windows of the next deck up. She didn't have to look to know bets were being exchanged.
She was the last participant to arrive. Garrus, Grunt, Zaeed, and Jacob were already standing around the weapons counter, checking each other's' weapons to ensure they were in practice mode. Jacob was a rather unwilling participant. After an early mission where his flimsy leather armor hadn't stood up to a hail of bullets, she'd ordered him to upgrade to medium armor. He still wasn't comfortable in it, which was all the more reason to practice in her mind. She'd toyed with the idea of doing the same to Miranda, but she relied more on her biotics than Jacob did. Legion emerged from the lift and took up a spot on the far wall, opposite Tali. She wondered if it did that on purpose.
She took her turn checking weapons as Garrus and Zaeed looked over hers. "EDI, who's up first?" EDI was their official referee as well as responsible for assigning matches randomly.
"First match is Garrus and Grunt." Shepard chuckled at Garrus' pained expression. No one liked sparring Grunt, but he made a great stand in for Blood Pack mercs. They had to be careful around him though. His youth still made him a hot head, and if he got too worked up, he would forget he was in a practice match.
For Shepard, this would be the first time she had a chance to go full speed since being cleared by Miranda and Mordin after the reintegration surgery. They had been practically glowing with excitement at the neurological markers. As for Shepard, she felt fine but wasn't able to tell much difference from before the surgery. She hoped to push her limits today and see if she was capable of more than she had been.
Garrus settled his helmet onto his armor and pulled his Mattock assault rifle. Shepard and the others cleared out to the sides of the hangar bay. EDI had a barrier around the Kodiak, but the rest of the hangar was fair game. That was the other reason only specialists were allowed in here. Everyone had to be on their toes in case a half ton of armored krogan came at you suddenly. She glanced around and was amused to see Thane taking no chances. The assassin had found a perch on the equipment locker. She was surprised more of her specialists didn't do the same. No, wait, Kasumi was climbing up to sit next to him. Smart woman.
Grunt pounded his fists together in excitement as he stomped to the center of the floor. He was probably the only one who looked forward to this particular training exercise more than Shepard. He considered most of his squadmates too "squishy" and he was reluctant to get on his Battlemaster's bad side by accidentally squashing one against a wall. Jack was the only unarmored one willing to take him on, and Shepard made sure those matches were closely supervised. So far, though, they'd been surprisingly evenly matched.
A red light flashed, EDI's signal to start. As per usual, Grunt charged Garrus, not even bothering to fire his shotgun, simply wanting to connect and start pounding something. Garrus unloaded his AR on Grunt, lights marking direct hits. One of the downsides of this sort of training was that they couldn't realistically simulate the impact of bullets on armor, so Grunt ignored the hits, even as EDI was keeping score.
Garrus kept dodging and firing, using his superior speed to keep out of Grunt's grasp. EDI painted a deepening red light on Grunt's armor, showing the damage he was taking, but the youth ignored it, intent on nothing more than reaching his prey and pummeling it into paste. Finally Grunt connected. Garrus blocked him, the sound of armor on armor clanging loudly in the open metal space. Garrus attempted to throw him back to regain space to keep firing. He was close to a kill based on the red light, but Grunt kept pushing, and with his lower and more massive center of gravity, was able to topple the leaner turian to the ground. Grunt howled in presumed victory as he crashed down on top of his armored foe and started knocking Garrus' helmet against the floor.
EDI flashed a red light again, signaling the end of the match while calling out, "Victory, Grunt." Shepard and Zaeed were already separating the pair, but Grunt came away readily this time, grinning toothily. "Too easy," he crowed. "Skinny turians are no match for krogans!"
Shepard checked Garrus first. He nodded that he was okay as he climbed to his feet. She walked over and punched Grunt just under his beady eye. It didn't do more than get his attention. "You're an idiot, Grunt. EDI, estimate damage for Grunt."
"I estimate that Grunt would be severely injured from the gunfire, requiring immediate application of medigel or significant time spent regenerating. In a combat situation with multiple additional enemies, probability of Grunt's demise exceeds eighty two percent within the next sixty seconds."
Shepard smacked him again. "You didn't even fire your shotgun once, you imbecile! If you had thought to throw some firepower against your enemy, you might have injured or slowed him enough to take him down sooner, instead of letting him keep firing on you. You can't forget this is a simulation, Grunt! Next time, keep your head and use all your resources, including your weapon." He looked slightly chastened, but whether or not he would remember it remained to be seen.
"Next match, Zaeed and Jacob," EDI announced. Shepard grimaced. She was as keyed up as Grunt and just as ready to punch something, but she'd have to wait.
Zaeed sauntered to the middle of the room and spat on the floor as he smirked at his opponent. Jacob followed, unholstering his favorite weapon, his upgraded Carnifex. "You really think you can do any damage with that pea shooter, kid?" Zaeed asked.
"You really think you can take me, grandpa?" Jacob shot back. "Careful you don't throw out your back." Talking smack was an unofficial requirement for each match.
Zaeed turned his Locust over lazily as he shrugged. "It'll be over so fast I won't have to worry about it." So saying, he brought his AR up in a sudden move and fired at Jacob's head.
EDI flashed a red light. "Victory, Zaeed."
Jacob stood there stunned, pistol still held loosely in his hand. "What the fuck? The match didn't even start yet."
Zaeed laughed as he strolled back to Shepard's side. "You don't think I lived this long by playing by the rules, do you, kid?" Shepard didn't even try to hide her grin. Anything went in these sessions: physical assault, biotics, dirty tricks, below the belt. The theory was that if you couldn't handle your teammates in a controlled environment, you were much more likely to get dead in a firefight. The only rule was to stop when EDI or anyone else called a halt, and try not to inflict permanent damage.
Jacob scowled fiercely at Zaeed's back as he followed him off the floor. Shepard's own grin disappeared as EDI announced, "Next match, Shepard and Grunt." Well, she wanted a workout, and now she was going to get it. She locked her helmet into place and checked her new Locust. Grunt pumped his shotgun as he walked into the center. "Heh, finally. A challenge."
She rolled her shoulders and neck as she followed him. "A challenge for you, maybe," she taunted him. "More like a warmup for me," she laughed as she balanced lightly on her toes. Inside her helmet, she smirked as she saw him go from cocky to disgruntled in the space of two seconds. He was strong, fast and tough, but he had a lot of growing up to do when it came to keeping his cool.
Grunt learned from Zaeed and turned and brought his shotgun up while Shepard was still walking onto the floor and before EDI signaled the start of the match. Shepard spared a thought that red light starts were a thing of the past now as she rolled to the side and brought her own Locust up to fire. EDI marked them as head shots, but of course, Grunt ignored them as nothing more than the colored lights they were. Grunt unloaded five more times, but Shepard was quick. Still, he managed to tag her on the last shot, making her tech armor flare in warning.
The last thing she wanted to do was close with a krogan, so she brought her biotics into play, throwing Grunt backward followed by a reave to drain his strength. She grinned smugly; he might not feel the illusory bullets but he'd feel her biotic attacks hard enough. Still, he had a lot of mass, more than she could hold back easily. He bellowed and shrugged off her attack, gearing up for a charge. She jumped out of the way easily, gene mods and cybernetics giving her more than enough strength to handle her armor almost as if it were clothing.
The next time he charged, she waited until the last second to twist out of the way, patting him on the head as he passed and made a kissing noise. "Cute, Grunt, but just a little too slow," she taunted. He growled and his beady eyes narrowed in anger. He fired again, but she ran in a wide circle, making him even angrier as he failed to get a leading shot on her. "What's the matter, whelp? That big ol' shotgun too heavy for my baby boy?" She made sure she was standing with her back to the hangar wall and beckoned him forward. "You really think you can lay a hand on me? Just try it, slowpoke."
The last must have translated into something really insulting in krogan, because he roared, put his head down and charged straight at her like a freight train. She tensed, waiting for the last possible second. He undoubtedly expected her to go to one side or the other. In fact, his arms were out to the side to catch her and crush her against the wall. Instead, she went straight up and over his head. Only her strength mods allowed her to make such a move, and Grunt clearly wasn't expecting it. He crashed headfirst into the hangar wall as Shepard landed heavily behind him. She had a brief glimpse of Tali's silver and purple headscarf dashing away as she turned and grabbed Grunt's armor from the back and smashed him headfirst into the wall again.
He reeled and tried to turn to face her, but Shepard could see that he was stunned. She used that to her advantage as she hauled off and gave him a roundhouse punch to the jaw. This was not the little attention getting smack she'd used after his match with Garrus; this was a full strength, gauntleted punch designed to put down a krogan. She punched him twice more, but he was tougher than she initially gave him credit for. Unseen by her, he pulled his fist back and walloped her in the gut hard enough to send her flying backward a couple meters to land sprawling on her back. He'd knocked the wind completely out of her, and she could only lay there gasping for air.
"I am KROGAN!" he yelled as he ran forward and crashed on top of her, knocking her breathless again. He was going to try and knock her head into the ground like he did with Garrus. Once he found something that worked, he liked to stay with it. She reached up and jabbed her fingers into his nose, causing him to shy away and shift half off her. With his weight off balanced, she jammed her free leg and arm onto the deck plating and pushed with all her might. He was a heavy son of a bitch, but she was making progress in rolling him off her until he raised up a short distance and then collapsed his fully armored weight down on her again. She was never going to be able to breathe again, she thought for a second. Oh, he must have heard her wheezing for air over her suit speakers and decided to keep her gasping for air. Well, at least her baby boy had added a second trick to his skill set.
Still, he'd made a mistake that most men only make once in their lives. He'd left her knee unpinned and he was straddling her as he prepared to smack her helmet into the ground. Using every bit of her augmented strength and speed, she snapped her knee up into his groin. Even though he had armor, it was segmented to allow freedom of movement, and she stretched his armor connections to their limit as she smashed his codpiece into his quad. His eyes rolled up into his head and his breath rushed out in a gratifying whoosh. This time, when she pushed, he rolled onto his back fairly easily. She straddled him and started unloading punches onto his face. She was still having trouble breathing and her vision was blurry, but it was hard to miss a krogan face.
Suddenly something caught her arm and she looked up in surprise to see Garrus holding her arm. The red light was flashing over and over. "Hold up, Shepard," Garrus told her as EDI announced, "Victory, Shepard."
Shepard stared down at Grunt, but his face swam in and out of focus and she couldn't tell if his eyes were open. "Oh, Jesus, Grunt, are you okay?" Shepard gasped. Garrus hauled her to her feet, but when he let go of her, she staggered and nearly fell down. He grabbed her again as Chakwas came out to check on Grunt. Garrus tried to walk her to the edge, but she refused to leave Grunt's side. "Doctor?" she asked anxiously.
Chakwas pulled his eyelids open and checked his breathing. "He'll be fine, Shepard. You knocked him out, but he should be up and moving soon. How about you?" she asked as she stood and faced the commander. She motioned for Shepard to remove her helmet.
There was a pain in her gut that wouldn't let her stand completely upright as she unlocked her helmet, and she still couldn't catch her breath. The doctor held up a hand and asked, "How many fingers, Commander?"
"Seventeen," she replied flippantly. "I just got...the wind...knocked out of me. I'll be fine."
Chakwas looked at her carefully and nodded. "Take a rest, then."
"Hey, I can walk on my own," she complained as Garrus steered her toward one of the folding chairs by the side. Still, she was grateful to sink down and try to catch her breath. As long as she breathed in shallow breaths, she was okay.
Grunt rolled over and shook his head, then climbed slowly to his feet. He stopped in front of her and gave her a sideways look, mostly because one eye was swollen shut. "You are truly a most fearsome opponent, Battlemaster. I will gladly follow you into battle against any foes."
She held out her hand. He'd learned enough human customs that he reached out to take it. "And you are one tough opponent yourself, Grunt. Just learn to keep a handle on that temper of yours. Urdnot Wrex would have laughed his ass off at me and then blown me away with his shotgun. But you're getting better, Grunt. I'm damn glad to have you on this team."
Once both participants were back on the sidelines, EDI called, "Next match, Garrus and Jacob."
She was amazed that they both waited until EDI started the match with a red light. They both preferred to use weapons at first, but with no cover to hide behind, that was a losing strategy for both men. Garrus realized it first and covered the distance between them in two long strides. Before he could close with Jacob, the human used a biotic pull against Garrus, sending the turian floating helpless and ungainly in the air. Jacob took advantage of the lull to fire his pistol at the turian, but Garrus' armor was heavy enough to shrug it off until Jacob's biotics were exhausted. She could read in Garrus' body language that he was pissed about being made to float in the air. His arm came crashing down against Jacob's head, but the smaller man raised his arm to block it. Garrus used his superior speed and longer reach to rain blows against Jacob. The human tried his best to block and fall back, but Garrus never let up. It was obvious to Shepard that Jacob still wasn't comfortable in his heavier armor; he was slow to respond and never managed to reengage his biotics.
Eventually, EDI called an end to the match. "Victory, Garrus." Shepard could see the embarrassed and angry expression on the Cerberus operative's face as he tore his helmet off. She made a note to work with him one on one in private, where he wouldn't have to worry about getting publicly beat down in front of the entire crew.
"Next match, Shepard and Zaeed."
Shepard stood up and started to fasten her helmet, but Dr. Chakwas stood up and held out her hand. "No, Commander. You're done for the day. EDI, find another opponent for Zaeed."
"Zaeed and Grunt," EDI called out.
"God damn krogans," Zaeed muttered as he stomped onto the practice floor. Meanwhile, Shepard turned her attention to the doctor. "Karin, I can't let a little pain stop me in the middle of a battle."
"You're not in a battle, Commander," the doctor pointed out calmly. "You're practicing on a ship in the middle of space. There's no reason to push things when you don't need to." She stepped closer to speak quietly. "I want you to stop by the Med Bay after this."
"Fine," Shepard replied curtly, her attention on the two men facing each other. Strangely, they were measuring each other instead of attacking. They must have read something in each other that she missed, because they raised their weapons and started firing almost simultaneously. EDI painted both men's armor in increasingly deep shades of red, and they both ignored it. Finally, Grunt charged, raising his shotgun to use as a club. Zaeed moved to the side surprisingly fast, but then self-preservation had a way of making everyone move a little faster when faced with a charging krogan. He slipped something down Grunt's armor as he passed by. Shepard couldn't tell what it was until Grunt staggered and went rigid, then toppled onto the floor. "Grunt!" she yelled as she jumped off her chair.
Zaeed smirked. "Just an electrical stun grenade, Shepard." He sauntered over and put his AR against Grunt's head and mimed pulling the trigger. "Bang. You're dead."
"Victory, Zaeed."
The stun grenade effects wore off quickly, and Grunt was pissed off at the old merc. "That was a trick!" he roared. "A gutless trick used by weaklings!" He put his head down and charged.
"Grunt, stand down!" Shepard yelled. Zaeed's eyes widened, and he scrambled to get out of the way. "Garrus, Jacob," she yelled as she ran to stop the irate krogan youth. Both men were close on her heels. Grunt was strong and firmly entrenched in a blood rage, but he was no match for their combined strength as the three of them pinned his arms and pushed him back against the wall. Fortunately, it didn't take long for the kid to calm down. When she was sure he wasn't going to fly into a rage anymore, she signaled the other men to let go and step back. "You good?" she asked Grunt.
"Yes, Battlemaster," he answered curtly and stalked off to grab his discarded shotgun.
"Okay, that's enough for one day. Garrus, Jacob, run through some of your exercises. Jacob, spend some time working on your biotics while wearing your armor. I want you to be comfortable in that." Turning around, she saw Thane standing at the edge of the practice area, staring at her intently. She'd given strict orders that no one besides her armored specialists was allowed in the middle of melee practice, or she had a feeling he'd be right by her side.
EDI spoke into her comm. "Commander, the Illusive Man wishes to speak with you on an urgent matter."
Shepard sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's always urgent with him. Fine, fine, tell him I'll be up in a couple minutes," she said as she headed toward the lift. Thane fell into step beside her.
"Are you well, siha?"
"Just peachy," she said lightly. "As fine as you can be after a krogan falls on you."
He gave her a look that said he didn't miss the way she was still walking slowly and breathing shallowly. When she pushed the button for CIC deck, he raised an eyebrow ridge. "I realize you have an aversion to Med Bay, but I believe Dr. Chakwas is expecting you to stop by there soon."
She wrinkled her nose. "The Illusive Prick wants to talk to me." She sighed. "I shouldn't call him that. He's probably got the elevator monitored, but sometimes I just can't help myself."
Thane only nodded. "Very well, I will see you after dinner?"
Her expression softened, and she leaned in to kiss him gently. "Why don't you come up to my cabin after dinner tonight?" They hadn't settled on any sort of routine. Some nights, she still visited him in Life Support, others he came to her cabin. But they always spent the nights together wherever they were.
He smiled against her lips. "I would like that."
They got off together at CIC. "It's a date," she said with a wink.