Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect
Mass Fiction
Episode 7: Skyllian Five
"So this is what the engineers do down here," Garrus said smirking as he entered the cargo bay, "no wonder there's barely enough power for the new guns."
Tali, Ken and Gabby's heads all turned in mild surprise at the unexpected visitor as he made his way to the table set up in the corner across from the Hammerhead.
"So Shepard finally got you to come out of your hole," Tali said as Garrus took the seat next to her.
"Aye," Ken agreed shuffling the cards, "and he didn't go back, means spring is right around the corner."
Tali and Garrus only looked to the engineer in confusion as Gabby giggled.
"At least somebody got it," Ken grumbled looking back to Garrus. "Oh, just a warning Garrus, but you may want to move."
"Why," Garrus said looking around, "this spot booby trapped."
"No…but you are sitting in her seat," Gaby said suppressing a smile.
"Whose seat?"
"Mine," a voiced growled.
The four at the table turned and their eyes nearly popped out of their heads as they saw Jack standing there or more accurately, Jack standing there with a shirt on. Jack for her part became very aware that everyone had become quiet and that they were staring at her. She fidgeted slightly under the scrutiny before getting back to basics.
"What the fuck are you all looking at," Jack snapped.
"Well…um…it's just that you seem…very…covered today," Tali said biting back a laugh. She knew that despite Jack's tough image she didn't like to be criticized or laughed at and if they pushed too hard she would just sulk.
"Yeah well," Jack mumbled tugging at the collar, "the vest is reinforced with Kevlar weave. I figured with all the shit that Shepard drags us into the straps weren't going to cut it."
"That's a shame. Now we won't be able to see your…ouch dammit woman, I was gonna say tattoos," Ken said rubbing his side where Gabby had just jabbed him.
"Watch it Cerberus boy," Jack said waving a glowing fist in Ken's face, "or the only thing you'll be ogling is the inside of your own asshole."
"I'd actually pay good credits to see that," Zaeed coarsely laughed as he stepped off the elevator with a large cooler in hand.
"What is this, the deck four game? Is Grunt coming too," Garrus snorted.
"Nah," Zaeed said with a wave of his hand, "he says if there's no hand to hand or live ammo it isn't worth doing. Pups got a lot to learn about enjoying your down time," Zaeed laughed pulling a beer from the cooler.
"That's what I'm talking about," Jack said helping herself to drink. "Now get out of my seat scar face," she said pointing at Garrus.
"I don't see your name on it," Garrus replied leaning back.
Jack's hand flashed blue, ripping the seat from under Garrus dropping him on his ass. It swirled in the air before the back of it came face to face with the Turian on the floor. Garrus glared at Jack before looking at the chair, noticing a few jagged scratches spelling out a name, probably made with a razor.
"Jack," Garrus read smirking at the humor of the situation. "All right bad choice of words," Garrus said picking himself up and taking a seat next to Zaeed.
"Was that really necessary Jack," Tali said shaking her head.
"No, but it was fun," Jack said polishing off her beer. "Did I hurt the big, bad merc killer's feelings," Jack obnoxiously cooed.
"Turians don't have feelings Jack," Garrus said smirking, "they just get in the way."
"In the way of what," Jack asked grabbing another beer.
"Oh you know, civic duty, imposing order, carrying on with a blind devotion of bureaucracy," Garrus counted off on his fingers.
"You're pretty weird for a Turian, you know that," Jack said giving Garrus an odd look.
"So I've heard. I can give you my father's extranet address if you two want to swap notes," Garrus grumbled.
"What is with everyone on this ship and their fucking daddy issues," Jack moaned, "you, the fucking cheerleader, the Drell."
"Thane is more the cause of the issue actually, at least that's what I hear," Kasumi said shimmering into sight behind Zaeed.
"I hate it when you do that shit," Jack growled as the faint glitter of biotic energy flickered across her body.
"Do what," Kasumi replied with wide eyed innocence.
"You got to stop being so jumpy kid," Zaeed said smirking.
"So says the fossil who probably wouldn't hear Grunt sneaking up on him," Jack said rolling her eyes.
"Oy, I could hear her coming a mile away," Zaeed said resentfully.
"Of course you could," Kasumi said patting the old merc on the back, then taking a seat in between him and Gabby. "Any word from Shepard lately," she asked changing the subject, "I heard he was helping Samara with something on Omega."
"How the fuck should we know? Aren't you and her like best buddies or something," Jack asked.
"She didn't really feel like going into details. All she said was that Shepard was helping her with a personal matter on Omega," Kasumi said shrugging her shoulders. "Poor Shep, seems like he's always running around."
"The commander has seemed pretty busy lately," Gabby said in agreement.
"Shepard has always looked out for his crew. He was like that when we were hunting down Saren," Garrus recalled. "He tries to help us no matter what."
"Yeah," Zaeed snorted, "most of us anyways."
"What's that suppose to mean," Tali said crossing her arms.
"It means that Shepard still owes me Vido," Zaeed grumbled.
"Well maybe if you didn't set the damn refinery on fire, we wouldn't have had to save the workers first," Tali said cross.
"I didn't mean anything by it," Zaeed said waving off the bristling Quarian, "don't get your air filters bent out of shape. A man's only as good as his word, Shepard reminded me of that," the merc said taking a drink, "every once and a while you need a good kick in the ass, keeps you honest."
"You better watch your ass Massani," Jack laughed, "you keep talking shit about the Quarian's boyfriend and she'll hack the ventilation shafts in your room and make it smell like Gardner's garbage disposal."
"He's not my boyfriend," Tali said sheepishly, "I only…it's just that…he's not my boyfriend."
"Anyway," Garrus cut in trying to spare Tali any further embarrassment, "I believe we were supposed to be playing cards."
"Aye," Ken said grinning, "a little bit of Skyllian Five, do know that game?"
"Um, refresh my memory," Garrus said scratching his head.
"It's real simple," Ken said shuffling the cards, "we each get five cards and then we bet. Then three cards get put on the table for everybody to use and we bet again. One more card for the table and we bet again and then one last card for the table and one last round of betting. You have to use two cards from your hand and three from the table, best hand wins. If you don't like your hand you can fold at anytime."
"Sounds simple enough," Garrus said pulling out a credit chit, "I guess I'll start with a hundred in chips."
"Me too," Tali said pulling her own chit out.
"I'll take two hundred," Zaeed said fumbling through his pockets. "Where the fuck is it," he mumbled.
"You mean this," Kasumi said smiling as she tossed a chit on the table.
"Goddamn bloody thief," Zaeed complained as he scanned it to check its balance.
"You probably didn't hear me take it over my deafeningly loud approach," she said producing her own chit still smiling sweetly.
It took about an hour, but eventually Garrus got the hang of the game, using his skills as a former C-sec investigator to his advantage. Tali was the easiest to read as he found most Quarians were. It had a lot to do with the emphasis they put in body language. Tali herself would always wring her hands together when nervous. She tried to compensate by holding her cards in a death grip but that made her bluff attempts all the more obvious. Zaeed was also fairly easy to read as the only time the merc wasn't rambling about some old mission or the other was when he actually had a good hand.
Jack was interesting as she always looked you in the eye when she was bluffing. He had seen that kind of behavior when he worked in C-sec, with a suspect looking straight into your eyes almost daring for you to tell them they were lying. Most times people trying that hard to convince you usually were.
Ken on the other hand was a pretty smooth customer. He didn't let any nervous ticks give his hand away and his behavior was calm and consistent. The other consistent thing about him was the fact he always bet the same amount every time he was bluffing.
"At least that C-sec training was good for something," Garrus thought smirking as he racked in another pot.
Gabby was a pretty straightforward player and to his surprise so was Kasumi. He had been expecting the thief to try to bluff at every pot but after losing more than a few chips to the hands the thief showed him he had to rethink his assumptions.
Eventually the game began to break as both Zaeed and Jack had a little too much to drink and slinked back to their respective holes. Ken and Gabby were scheduled for first shift and decided to call it a night as well.
"Refresh my memory he says," Ken said shaking his head as he packed away the chips. "First Shepard and now Garrus, you'd think I'd be smart enough to not fall for the same trick twice."
"Don't beat yourself up," Gabby said patting him on the shoulder, "I didn't think you were smart enough either."
"You're a harsh woman, you know that Gabby," Ken said grinning. "If you're not careful you just might lose me."
Tali and Kasumi could only smile at the two engineers as they left, the playful bickering echoing off the bulkheads with their departure.
"Those two make such a cute couple," Kasumi said giggling, "too bad they can't see what's right in front of them."
"Honestly I can't tell which one is denser," Tali agreed, "I mean how can they not see it?"
"Maybe they do but they don't want to act on it," Garrus said scratching his mandible.
"It's not like this is an Alliance ship," Tali said gesturing around her, "there aren't any rules against fraternization among the crew."
"True, but we all know how dangerous this mission is. Why let yourself get emotionally attached if the worst happens? It's a safe play," Garrus reasoned.
"Hiding your true feelings and either dying or them dying is worth the risk. To live with that kind of regret is not something that I look at as being safe," Tali argued.
"They may not even know that they're doing it, at least not consciously," Garrus countered.
"Even so that doesn't mean that…" Tali began before her omni-tool beeped with an urgent message.
"Something wrong Tali," Kasumi asked noting the change in Tali's demeanor.
"It's probably nothing," Tali said lowering her omni-tool. "It's a message from the Fleets Admiralty Board."
"Are you sure it's nothing Tali," Garrus asked standing, "that sounds like it might be serious."
"It's probably just my father requesting a status report," Tali sighed, "its how he shows his concern. I have to take this in private, excuse me," Tali said heading for the elevator leaving Garrus and Kasumi alone.
"That girl needs to start taking her own advice," Kasumi said shaking her head.
"About what," Garrus asked turning to face the thief.
"About true feelings and not living with regret," Kasumi said leaning against the table.
"You're talking about her and Shepard," Garrus said smirking, "and I thought it was just my keen eyes that noticed that."
"You'd have to be blind and stupid not to notice it," Kasumi chuckled, "not very flattering on Shep's part."
"He's a busy guy," Garrus said shrugging, "besides there's too much at stake for complications to get in the way, he knows that…they both do."
"Love is not a 'complication'," Kasumi said air quoting.
"So it's 'love' now," Garrus said returning the gesture.
"As far as Tali is concerned? Yes that's exactly what it is. That girl loves him, whether she wants to admit it or not," Kasumi sighed.
In his heart, Garrus knew that this was true. He had been at her side during the funeral, practically holding the poor girl up. He remembered she was shaking, and after a moment he realized that it was because she was crying, no doubt her speakers had been shut off to afford her some privacy. They had all taken his death hard. Liara was a wreck, looking almost comatose, her face devoid of emotion. Ash was crying, her, Ashley Williams, the toughest woman he had ever seen as vulnerable as any of them. It was unsettling and a testament to how much Shepard had meant to them. Even Wrex was in a somber mood and that chest thumping blowhard never let anything rattle him. But seeing the usually chipper and optimistic Tali just shattered like she was made him think about what exactly Shepard had come to mean for her. Those had not been the tears of someone who had lost a respected superior, or a colleague or even a close friend. They had been for someone who had meant something more.
"Garrus?"
"Huh? Oh sorry, I was…ah…thinking about something," Garrus said rubbing his neck.
"So I can see," Kasumi said grinning.
"Yeah well, I better get back to the Battery. Those cannons aren't going to calibrate themselves," Garrus chuckled, "I'll see you around I guess."
"Maybe, maybe not," Kasumi said grinning as she activated her cloak leaving only the shimmer of energy in her wake.
Garrus only shook his head at the thief's antics before heading to the elevator, checking his pockets along the way. Better safe than sorry.
March 6 cannot get here fast enough. The Skyllian Five they are playing is actually Five Card Omaha. Not sure what I'll do next, maybe Tali/Jack or Jacob/Thane. Still taking requests if you have any so until next time read and review people.