AN: Mass Effect and its characters belong to Bioware. I'm just making them do a little jig.
Keta Candy is a product of Kwik'pak Fisheries.
Bovetti chocolates are the property of Bovetti.
He stared, disbelief clear on his face, at the boxes and bags that had just been delivered. They covered the whole of the galley's island and the mess table as well, and a large part of the floor between.
During what he thought was just an inspection, the Commander had asked him about his background and if he needed anything. And in the course of that first conversation he'd admitted that better provisions would go a long way towards making the meals aboard ship more tolerable.
In the four days since, Rupert had learned that unlike every other ship's captain he'd served under, Shepard did regular walk-throughs of the ship. Taking a few minutes to talk with each crew member at least once a day, often twice or more. As unusual as it was in his experience, Rupert found comfort in it. Here she was, Hero of Elysium and Savior of the Citadel, talking with her crew and showing her humanity.
Now, four days out from Minuteman Station they where docked at the Citadel and the Commander was ashore with Jacob and Miranda. 'Cold hearted bitch,' he thought, remembering Miranda's response when he'd requested better provisions. At least the Commander hadn't told him that there was no point. Even still... Never in his imagination had he believed that Commander Shepard would have taken the time or used the credits to purchase the provisions he'd requested. Other items seemed so much more important to the success of their mission.
And yet, the provisions he'd requested where here. All that he'd requested and more. Looking at the packing list that accompanied the delivery it seemed as though Shepard had purchased at least three times what he had requested. And then there were a few oddball items that he had to assume the Commander had added on her own. "What am I gonna do with a kilogram and a half of 'Keta Candy'?" Rupert asked himself quietly while looking at the list. "Hell, what is 'Keta Candy'?"
Rupert's musing was interrupted by Yeoman Kelly Chambers as she came around the corner by the elevator. "Hey, Rupert, what's going o..." Kelly started, finding herself coming to a stop as she stared at the overwhelming number of boxes and bags and sacks that covered all the flat surfaces she could see. "Um."
"'Um' is about right, Miss Chambers. Looks like the Commander has played a fast on on me," Rupert told the shocked redhead. "About to go out and save the galaxy from the Collectors, and she makes her very first stop a grocery store. Now I'll admit that I asked her to pick some things up, but not this much, and I certainly didn't ask her to make it her first stop."
"Is there... Is there enough room to stow all this?" Kelly asked.
"Oh there's room enough. Mind you I can only keep about half of it up here on the crew deck. The rest of it is going to have to be moved down to the cargo hold. And I'm not sure which of these extra items the Commander bought she's going to want ready access to." Rupert shook his head, "Looks like I know how I'm going to spend the next couple of hours. Guessing and packing."
"Extra items?"
"Yea. Looks like in addition to buying more than I asked for, the Commander has gone off and picked up some specialty items," Gardner said. "Like there's this 'Keta Candy' thing that I can't figure out and a few lines lower it looks like she bought some french brand of dark chocolate."
Kelly bit her lower lip and then quietly asked, "Bovetti? Is that the brand of the chocolate?"
Rupert looked at the list again and nodded, "Yea, that's what it says. Why?"
Kelly didn't answer his question. Instead, she asked her own, hopeful for the answer. "What's your favorite food? And did you put it on your shopping list?"
Snorting, Rupert answered, "Miss Chambers, I'm a meat and potatoes man. I'll admit that I like jelly beans from time to time but I'm not gonna have the Commander waste Cerberus' credits on any."
Quieter, Kelly spoke, "Check your packing list."
He grunted in surprise at her request, but then Rupert started going through the packing list. After a moment he paused, "Well I'll be a pyjack's backside, Miss Chambers. Looks like the Commander picked up jelly beans. I guess most of these odd items are crew favorites. Suppose I'll be keeping these up here where people can get to them."
"I think that's what Shepard intended, Rupert," Kelly said, happy to see that Shepard was trying to keep the crew's morale high during their potentially suicidal mission, and yet disappointed that the chocolates weren't a special gift to her from the Commander. "I'll help you move the rest of this down to the hold."
"Thank's mighty kind of you, Miss Chambers, but Hadley owes me a favor and will be down in a few minutes. The two of us can wrangle all of this," Rupert said, gesturing to the cornucopia.
Kelly nodded. "Let me know if you change your mind," she said as she turned towards medical.