"You want me to tell the Broker what?"
Miranda was less than accommodating. Of all the strange requests Ezmay had put to her since the crew had recovered their commander and executive officer, the request that Miranda ostensibly be in charge of the Normandy was being entertained less indulgently than others. The commander had been back on the ship all of an hour, more than half that spent under Dr. Chakwas' care, and she'd been firing off orders the entire time.
The doctor finished adjusting the intravenous line; Ezmay hissed at the burn of alcohol against the abrasions on her knuckles.
"Tell him you haven't recovered us. Garrus and I were nowhere to be found. Presume us dead. That kind of thing."
"Why on earth would you want me to do something like that? Something went wrong with the mission?" The loyalist stood as she always did, as if posing for some invisible photographer, or as if she expected to find herself in a similar position in some centerfold or calendar foldout somewhere. Still, there was a perpetual air of being unsettled. Ezmay suspected Miranda still felt uncomfortable around Garrus; even now she was eyeing the turian, who was submitting to Dr. Chakwas' examination.
"In a manner of speaking." It wasn't the first time that Ezmay considered the possibility of selling herself to Cerberus. If anyone could protect her and Garrus from the Shadow Broker's wrath, surely the Illusive Man had some pull. She flicked her middle fingernail against the IV line. Not everything was back, in terms of memory, but she knew that slipping into the 'Commander' role threw Miranda off balance. Already the loyalist was pushing.
"Why don't you tell me what happened?" The operative asked. She leaned against Chakwas' desk, and looked back from Garrus to the commander. Her eyes had narrowed in a way that made Ezmay want to leap off the bed and smack her in the face. It irritated her, feeling chided and scolded like a small child.
"It would be safer if you didn't know. Plausible deniability. You'll give something away when you speak to him if we tell you." Ezmay flexed her hand, wincing against the cold liquid flowing into her vein. "Shit, I've already put you in a difficult position as it is."
"You needn't worry about my ability to lie, Commander." Miranda smirked at her.
Garrus watched the two from his perch in the corner of the infirmary. The banter between Ezmay and Miranda made him sad, filled his gut with a deep sense of foreboding. He couldn't pinpoint what it was that was weighing on him. It was on the tip of his tongue to jump in, to intervene between Ezmay and Miranda, but he didn't. Miranda and Ezmay had always danced around each other like two alpha females usually did. This wasn't his show to interrupt, nor did his mate need him to. Ezmay had more at stake in this whole thing than he did. She had a plan that she'd share with him when she felt she could, and she was his commander. In the bedroom, he may be able to savage her and lead her as he wished, but out here, the show was hers to run.
"I don't think anyone was worried about that." Still…couldn't resist a dig on Miranda. Garrus covered his eyes with his forearm. He could still feel Miranda's glare, could feel Ezmay's sudden burst of glee. It took a monumental effort on his part, to try not to laugh. When Ezmay was fatigued, she got a little looser and uninhibited with what she said and did. Though she and Miranda had been friendlier since the incident with Zael and Auralia, he knew it took constant work on her part to remain on good terms with the Cerberus officer. They were two alpha females, circling each other, living in uneasy agreement. Miranda was still a bit sanctimonious for his tastes. Garrus turned and politely pointed his face towards the ceiling.
"Commander, whatever it is…had it occurred to you that Cerberus might be able to protect you?"
"I don't need protection." Ezmay snapped. Then she paused and softened her tone. "Sorry, Miranda. I hadn't considered Cerberus and I'm not going to right now."
"Whyever not? Whatever kind of trouble you're in, there's some way it can be dealt with." It must have been so hard for Miranda to believe, Garrus was thinking, that there were things Cerberus might not be able to do. It certainly looked that way, with how the loyalist's lips were pouting and how her hip jutted out in a way that spoke of disbelief.
"Well, there's a lot of reasons. The whole creeper fiasco was a good starter." Ezmay's voice cracked as Chakwas administered yet another shot. "There's also the thing with that one soldier and the thresher maw."
"Shepard, not everything Cerberus does is like that. For goodness's sakes…look at the human government. How many shitty things happened on Earth before we found the Charon relay?"
Icewater ran down Garrus's spine. He looked up, over at Ezmay and he could see from the tightening of her jaw muscles that Miranda had hit a sore point without even knowing it. There was no way Miranda could have known about the data chip that Anderson gave Garrus, no way she could have known about the cards Ezmay and Garrus had gambled for. Miranda sighed. For the span of six breaths…Garrus counted….there was only the sound of Dr. Chakwas tapping away on a datapad, checking instruments, and recording the data in medical files.
"We're going around in circles here." Ezmay prodded.
"Yes. I'll do as you say, but you should know that the Illusive Man's requesting to talk with you."
"He's not going to sell you out to the Shadow Broker." Garrus said. He'd felt the ripple of anxiety and the slight boost of adrenaline that always flooded Ezmay's system when she anticipated something unpleasant. He'd felt it over and over again with each blast of antibiotic that Dr. Chakwas pumped into his human mate via needle, and now he felt it surge through her gut. Tubes and monitors held him in place on the gurney, but that didn't stop him from reaching out with words. Ezmay was visibly soothed; if she'd been a cat, her raised fur would have smoothed, even if she was still growling in the back of her throat.
"He's sell his own grandmother if the Broker was offering enough," came the rueful murmur from his mate from across the infirmary. "I'll head up and speak with him as soon as Chakwas releases me."
"It shan't be any time soon, Commander. I don't like your hydration levels, even though you did a pretty fair job of re-hydrating yourself out there. I also want to be sure that the toxin's out of your system before I let you go." Chakwas, who had until this point been making herself unobtrusive, graciously entered the conversation. She couldn't possibly need as much information as she had ostensibly gathered from her constant ministrations; Chalk it up to eavesdropping, but Ezmay didn't care.
As Miranda moved out of the medbay, Ezmay sank down into the gurney and stretched her hands behind her head. To the outward observer, she might have looked completely relaxed and in love with the feel of the cushioning beneath her body. Only Garrus noticed the furrow between her eyes and the rhythmic flex of muscle in her chin that meant she was clenching her teeth against her thoughts. Again that periodic unease from his mate. He was starting to slip into sleep, lulled and slurred from whatever was dripping into his veins.
"Go to sleep, heart of my heart." Holy hell…he sounded out of it, even to himself. Garrus had to chuckle at himself, which came out as a gurgle and a growl. "Nothing to be done about it right now anyway."
Ezmay didn't answer, but Garrus felt her wonder at the bond, just as her tension started to melt away into sleep.
Whatever sedative Chakwas had pumped her full of was good stuff. When Ezmay awoke, it was seventeen hours later and she felt like she could leap off the bed and take a victory lap around the Normandy with her shirt off. Across the medbay- remind her to brutally beat Chakwas for putting Garrus so far away from her- she could see the gentle rise and fall of turian plating as he slept off the medication. She lay, arching her toes and feeling the muscle of her calves stretch out in that delicious, first-thing-in-the-morning stretch. She bounced her feet, stretching out the tightened muscles and feeling the delicious tense and release of tendons and fibers that had been bound up far too long. For a second, she eyed him, taking in the length of his limbs and the colour of his hide. How had she gotten so lucky? Why had she never seen him in such a light before? Maybe he needed to change as he did before they became a good match? Several days ago, she hadn't even known him. Yesterday, she'd been surprised at the changes in him; this was not the Garrus who fought Saren at her side. Now…..the flood of memory jutting sharp through the fog left her reflective on the changes in personality.
They'd been lost in the desert for four days…maybe five? Ezmay couldn't remember. She didn't know how long she'd been out. Garrus's memory wasn't much better than hers when it came to after the crash. Too godamn long.
Truth be told, her memories were flooding back. Sometimes, her eyes would stray to him, and she'd get a nugget of gold. For example, she remembered that first hesitant time they'd made love. How she could tell he was nervous as hell and how she insisted that they take their time. Let things happen as they would. How she'd been toying with his plates and fringe and they found themselves having frantic, frenzied sex before they went to the Collectors. Lord, how embarrassed she'd gotten when she remembered that. She yanked her eyes away from Garrus's gurney and laughed at herself. Especially how her body reacted and how she felt a flush of heat spreading from between her legs and up into her chest. Her stomach was still on strike and her head still ached furiously at times, and here all she wanted to do was jump his bones.
Shit, she barely remembered the short, sweet little ceremony on the Citadel. It had shocked her, literally sent a jolt of surprise when he told her quite bluntly that they were mated. She'd married an old teammate, someone she hadn't even seen in a romantic light until he got gunned down on Omega. Not everything was back, but she remembered thinking of him as the duty-bound turian, that he was only along for the ride for Saren because of his lust for justice. She'd been so bound up in Kaiden that she'd never considered Garrus an option. Honestly, she was still so xenocentric, so ignorant and focused on her own species, at that point that aliens were friends and business partners, war buddies and allies. Not lovers. Not then, not ever.
Ezmay caught a glimpse of herself in the shiny, stainless steel of a medical monitor casing. Her reflection nearly scared her. The sallow skin, the dark circles under her eyes, and the omni-present tattoo. The blue lines streaked over her skin, standing out more because of her pallor. Before her death, she'd never considered the brash, young turian. Yeah, that had changed. Seeing the ring and feeling the tattooed ridge, recently healed, sank that in.
A sudden wave of anxiety yanked her in another direction. Her thoughts shifted suddenly, as they tended to do when she didn't want to consider something anymore, and Ezmay was tugged back to a worry that hadn't been taken care of yet. It nested at the back of her mind, whispering that it was still there, still waiting.
There were too many options for getting out of this godamned mess with the thrice-damned Broker. Liara had been her first choice. If they fled from the Shadow Broker, well…then they'd need the backing and protection of someone who was nearly as powerful. All the chattering, twittering asari that she'd dealt with on Illium treated Liara as if she were some kind of demi-god walking among the mortals. Liara's digs might be modest, her network not as expansive, but she was getting there. Plus, she had the psychotic drive and determination. There was some kind of vendetta that Liara was acting on, one that Ezmay didn't entirely understand. However, one could usually depend of people driven by emotion to push their hardest at something they want to do. Unless TIM, as Ezmay was starting to think of him as, had something really exciting to say, Liara was her best bet.
Christ…she didn't want to admit it, but she'd even considered Kaiden. He wasn't personally powerful, but she and he had enough old friends in the Alliance that someone might be willing to do something. There was a foggy scene of Garrus shaking Kaiden's hand. Her leg was in a brace. She was on good terms with him, wasn't she? Ezmay inhaled, the memory coming to her almost naturally, almost as it should be. She strained, grasping at it, struggling as if she had a word on the tip of her tongue. But the memory didn't come. She hissed in irritation. Well, common sense dictated that some of Kaiden's colleagues, some of her old war buddies might be sympathetic. Most wouldn't. Shit, she never knew how they'd react when they saw her on the arm of a turian. There was a thought chewing at the pit of her stomach that indeed, she did know, but just couldn't remember. She cursed. Sooner or later her fugue would clear and she'd be more competent. For now, Ezmay gnashed her teeth. They could just take off in the Normandy and disappear in to the terminus systems.
Garrus was right. This whole thing was a setup. Of course he was right. What would she have done if he wasn't here? Bled to death in the shuttle? Rushing foolishly and given Councilor Velarn what he wanted, which was to dishonor the Alliance? No. She wasn't going to let that bastard do her this way. If he wanted to take down the Alliance, he was going to have to do it with something more substantial than the skeletons that were buried in humanity's closet. The kind of skeletons every culture had. Unaware of the scowl on her face, and the furrow of her brow, Ezmay descended into anger.
No, if they were going to teach Velarn a lesson, she needed someone with both hands firmly in the underworld. She'd do what she'd promised. She'd take down the Shadow Broker and she was going to do it her way. Then Ezmay would gloat to his face.
A slight headache came and went, like an ice pick stabbing through her forehead. It was her early warning alarm, the sign her body gave her when she was getting too anxious and worked up. When she ranted and raged her body rewarded her with a migraine. If she didn't calm down, her hands would start shaking and she'd want to shoot something. Ezmay turned her eyes to her metallic-skinned mate across the medbay. Her body surprised her with a leap of desire, a curl of heat between her legs. The anger broke up and was replaced with warmth of the heart that made her lips twist upwards in a grin.
Damn…she was sleepy again. After the rage was gone, she felt wiped out and washed over. Sleep was imperative. Besides, there was a pull drawing her across the room. It was primitive, something she didn't entirely understand. She felt like a vase, broken apart and missing the penultimate piece. She'd be damned if she was going to spend another seventeen hours on a lonely bed.
The monitors blinked and showed a flatline as she unhooked herself; the IV stung as she pulled it out. It was worth it, though, to climb into bed next to Garrus and feel his arms twine around her. His hide was warm and his breath was sweet on her face.
"Wondered how long you'd stay over there…," He mumbled before they both slid back into drug-induced sleep.
Ezmay fought a valiant battle against Chakwas, and soon had Garrus and herself released from the infirmary and moving around the Normandy. The opening salvo had come from the doctor, who'd soundly chewed Ezmay's ass for switching beds when she discovered Ezmay and Garrus in the middle of a post-coital snuggle. The returning volley had been from Ezmay, who'd reminded the doctor in no uncertain terms of the differences in rank between herself and doctor. She had also reminded Chakwas, though in a more affectionate way, that the Normandy was run military style and insubordination was typically rewarded with a trip to the brig. Chakwas told Ezmay what she could do with her threats of the brig, and had conceded defeat, albeit with an insistence that she look Ezmay over before releasing the pair from the medbay. The doctor's parting gift had been one of Mordin's ointments for chaffing. Garrus hadn't thought it possible to see Ezmay's dark skin flush with embarrassment, but it did. That was the point when his good-natured amusement turned to outright laughter, earning him a half-hearted swat on the ass from his mate.
Garrus felt like a proper turian again, and he could tell from the spring of Ezmay's step that she was back to her old self-albeit with another chip to add to the ever-growing collection on her shoulder. He liked to think he was responsible for that, for the general good mood and the return of her devil-may-care attitude. He'd been surprised to find her little fingers exploring his plates beneath the sheet as he lay on the gurney. It had been enough to rouse him from the remainder of the sedative-induced sleep, and he took advantage of the privacy the back gurney afforded him, as well as the fact that Dr. Chakwas wasn't up and tinkering in the medbay yet, to show Ezmay just how much he appreciated her hands moving over his fringe. Gods help him, it had been like their first time all over again, with the way she gasped and cried out beneath him. The heart monitor had been annoying, flashing faster and faster in his peripheral vision. They'd taken a detour to shower and eat, and again, she surprised him by appearing behind him in the shower. Before he knew it, he had her pinned up against the wall, the water pelting both of them in the face. It had been worth it, to hear her moans echo in the small space of her bathroom.
Afterwards, she'd pressed her lips against his mandible and asked him, "It's always been good like this?" His talons had tightened possessively on her hip.
"Yes." Garrus promised her. "We move worlds when we're together."
Now, the ceramic of his armour made a dull thunk as he leaned back against the wall of the briefing room. Ezmay was already engulfed in blue light, talking with the Illusive Man. From where Garrus was standing, the hologram of the Illusive Man's face was flat and shallow, like looking at a computer screen from the side instead of full-on.
He didn't like this. The possibility of getting even deeper involved with Cerberus than before made his plates tighten and his hide burn. But he knew that Ezmay had made some sort decision while he'd slept off the sedatives last night, and she was bound and determined to teach Velarn a lesson. Once she made up her mind about something, only a very good reason as to 'why not' would be enough to dissuade her. She was stubborn in a way that would have made Garrus's old man proud. That thought yanked Garrus back in time, to earlier in the morning after Dr. Chakwas had finally, grudgingly released them from the prison of the med-bay and before he'd savaged her in the privacy of their shower.
The blink of the screen and the orange lettering had made his stomach roil; anxiety. He hadn't felt it since Ezmay had died. The sorrow and the gnawing emptiness had driven him into a bottle. Reading the letter from his father while Ezmay showered had put the phantom tang of turian ale on his tongue; he felt his salivary glands constrict in anticipation of a drink that wouldn't come. The association between the existential void and the alcohol was that strong. He could still remember the words, even now, even while watching his fierce, beautiful mate deal with the devil in a hologram.
…dismayed to hear that you have chosen to walk the path of those before. It is unnatural and deviant and no one in proper society will choose to accept you back. I suppose you imagine that you will never choose to come back to the military. I hear you rationalizing it with yourself, even across this great empty space between us. You think you belong outside of the law, outside of turian society, and at her side. I will not argue that she is a great human, that she has done things that would be looked upon favourably even by the right people- our people- but the fact is that she's still a human. One does not mix the species.
How come you didn't come to see me when you were on Palaven? You are a stranger to me. Surely you could have come before you went off on whatever fool's errand it was…
Fool's errand. That's how this whole thing looked to Evandus. Garrus had never told Ezmay just how expansive his father's network was, that Evandus knew of their comings and goings. Likely he'd watched them board the train to Serdica, just as he'd watched the come into port at Calleva. Once, when he'd been younger, his father had told him about Shanxi turians in hushed tones. While Garrus had been helping his father to make some repairs to the family home, Evandus had issued an edict that if Garrus even thought about a human female in terms other than would be expected, he would find himself disowned. Well, apparently that had fallen by the wayside, much as Garrus suspected it would. It wouldn't surprise him at all to find that Evandus had some kind of lingering shame about attraction to a human. Probably been shamed himself at some point. Evandus had always reacted with vitriol to the thought of mating with humans, reacted much more strongly than Garrus would have thought appropriate. After Evandus threatened to disown him, Garrus had wondered privately if his father had ever dared look at a human female in that way. Much like how the human said those who protested homosexuality the strongest were like 'in the closet,' had the old man felt that pull to soft skin and silky hair, rather than spicy-scented plates? Garrus had never asked. Even he hadn't been stupid enough to tease that animal. What was it Wrex had said ages ago? Only a fool punches a nathak in the mouth?
"The information's already been destroyed. They were old files about experimentation on aliens back on Earth…" Ezmay was saying. Garrus let his eyes travel over her body as she spoke.
Humans were such strange, awkward creatures. What was it about her that made him ache to be inside her? The mind and will aside, what was it about her physically? It was different, yes, but ultimately, it didn't matter. She was a pleasure on his talons and claws. He couldn't stop marveling at the feel, the softness.
He felt Ezmay's bemusement, then, and realized he'd been staring at her chest while thinking about the texture of her skin on his fingertips. He looked up at her and found the corner of her lips jerking upward while she struggled to remain professional in front of the Illusive Man. It'd be useless to tell her that his ponderings were more musing than lechery. Not technically true, but in any case, she wouldn't believe him.
"Well, if you can tear yourself away from the mission, I have something I'd like you to see." The Illusive Man said. Garrus heard the clink of ice against glass, and wondered how the Illusive Man managed to head up Cerberus while perpetually half-blitzed. He rolled his eyes while the Illusive Man's carefully neutral voice continued on. "It'll require your presence back on the Collector base."
That got both their attention, and Garrus found himself stepping into the blue light, in view of the Illusive Man. Was is just him, or did Garrus actually see a cynical quirk of the brow, a look of amusement in the cybernetic eyes? If the turian had been a little more contrary, a little more like Ezmay, he might have run his claws over her ass just to see if the Illusive Man's damned cyborg eyes bugged out of their sockets. Instead, he contented himself with wondering how the Illusive Man felt about his pet project's turian mate standing just out range of vision, then including himself as if he had a right to command.
"Officer Vakarian." The Illusive Man sounded genial, at least. "Good to speak with you. How is the new plating working out for you?" He referred, of course, to the plate holding Garrus's face together. The turian fought the urge to touch his cybernetics self-consciously. Instead, he made himself give the Illusive Man a nod.
"I'm grateful Dr. Chakwas had access to the technology."
"I'm sorry for the scarring. The cosmetic technology in the Normandy's medbay is designed for humans." The Illusive Man was at least making an effort to be polite, even if his words were pointed. Garrus was actually a little surprised. He was sure the extra deference came from his attachment to the impatient human at his side. "I'm sure we could talk Dr. Solus into modifying it to work with turian biology though."
"Some women like scars." Garrus put it tactfully. "Sorry, it's Executive Officer, by the way."
"Ah, yes. Your promotion." There was a bit of frost in the Illusive Man's voice now, hidden underneath all the civility and the magnanimity. "Miranda had mentioned that there had been an unexpected shift of things aboard the ship."
Ezmay put her hand out, silencing The Illusive Man and Garrus, who had been on the verge of speaking again. "Not important. Tell me about the Collector base."
The Illusive Man cleared his throat. "The scientists there have a theory, after analyzing the technology, and they'd like you there in person to hear what they think."
"It's as good a place as any to hide from the Shadow Broker." Garrus pointed out. The tactical part of his mind took over and the words were out of his mouth before he could think better of it. To his way of thinking, it was the best place. No one would dare come through without that replicated Reaper IFF technology, and no one else but Cerberus and their ship had it.
"You've got a point. We'll head there, but I want to go see Liara after it's all said and done. She was trying to stop the Shadow Broker."
It was on the tip of his tongue that perhaps it wasn't the wisest course of action, to speak in front of the Illusive Man about such things. Then Garrus realized why she'd done it; she'd rolled the dice and chosen to work with Cerberus. Must have done some thinking in the medbay, before she'd joined him in bed. For now, there were converging goals, and whatever ulterior motive the Illusive Man had ran parallel to their own- the preservation of humanity and of all particular humans right now, Ezmay herself, and whoever else she'd choose to take with her.
…Sometimes you have to get in bed with the devil…..Better the devil you know than the one you don't….
"Would it possible to get information on this Lightener guy that ambushed us in Serdica? My first choice would be the Shadow Broker, but ….well…" Ezmay spoke up again.
"You've had a falling out." The Illusive Man smirked. "Yes. I'll try to have something for you by the time you get back from the Collector base."
"Much obliged." She said.
The feed was cut, and the Illusive Man's face disappeared as quickly as it had come. The rumble and hum of the table rising once more was the only sound as Ezmay and Garrus moved towards the door. They didn't speak, and Garrus didn't know if they should. She was his commanding officer, as he'd had to remind himself several times already. Wasn't his place to question her. But he was also his mate, and in that respect, he very much had the right. As it turned out, Ezmay saved him the trouble of making the decision. She lingered in the hallway between the tech lab and Jacob's armory.
"Are you going to say it?" She asked, not looking at him.
"Say what?" Garrus replied, even though he already knew what she was getting at.
Dark hair swayed as she shook her head. Garrus reached out a claw to touch the strands. She let him. He sighed. If he knew his mate, which he liked to think he did, she wasn't going to let it go until every aspect of the conversation had been dissected thoroughly. She was going to worry it over and not let go of it, like a dog with a chew toy.
"You were going to say that it was stupid to get into bed with Cerberus?" Her finger darted out and hooked in his armoured cowl.
"Is it stupid?" He asked her. "Do you think I would have let you if I saw a better option?"
Garrus saw her visibly bristle at the mention of him letting her do something. A thought dawned on him, that her attitude and that deep pain inside her soul that he sensed from time to time was connected to her need to be in control. He chose to file this away, though. He'd bring it up later.
"I made the right decision." She told him. "We were already kind of working for them anyway."
"Who're you convincing?" Garrus asked her quietly. "Do you think you need to convince me? I mean, yeah, we're working with the one of the most notorious, human-centric organizations in the galaxy. But it's not like we're in a position where we can go through official channels. It's not like you share their ideology."
Ezmay was chewing her lip as he spoke. When it was her turn to share her opinion after digesting what he said, her voice was quiet.
"You know, the last time I saw you get pissed at me was when I questioned you before you shot Sidonis." She said. "You don't question me. You don't argue."
Good God, was she worried that she was trampling his feelings? Did she think he was going to blindly follow her into suicide without giving her some input? He checked the bond, and found confusion.
"I'm not a toy soldier." He told her, hazarding a guess that this was what she was getting at. "I'm going to tell you my opinion and give you tactical advice whether I think you need it or not. Don't question it just because I'm not raging and constantly questioning you."
Ezmay was silent, her face pinched. The dark skin didn't hide the darker freckles and the green of her eyes pressed on him. Her pupils were dilated; Garrus found himself remembering that human eyes did that when they started to get keyed up.
'Autonomic arousal,' Mordin had called it. 'Also indicative of sexual arousal. Very subtle sign, but unmistakable.' Which made sense, considering the rush he'd felt from her, when he told that she wasn't trampling him. The rush of love, of overwhelming regard. Still….better to be safe than sorry. It'd be a fine thing, to think she was ready for mating, when instead she was pondering the best place to shoot him. Her finger was still hooked in his cowl anyway. Garrus laid his talons over her wrist, and turned his head to nibble at her knuckle.
"Okay?" He asked her.
Ohh, that had been the right thing to do indeed. Ezmay pulled him close, and slid her arms over his cowl in a way that brought her hair and her scent close. It was a silent, wordless answer, and one that demanded they retreat to the Commander's quarters once more. That answer was good enough for him.