Squishy/Beir – present.
I'm swearing at the machine I'm trying to fix and cursing the reapers for making my life this engineering hell when Reegar approaches me.
"I'd wager there are more important reasons to hate the reapers than a broken machine," he says calmly and I almost spin around and hit him. He always sneaks up on me like this, and so help me, one day I'll attack him by accident.
I take a few calming breaths and stand up to face him. "What is it?" I start grumpily at first, before grimacing and shaking my head. "I'm sorry-"
"It's fine," Reegar interrupts and I'm torn between wanting to scowl at him for being so insufferably forgiving and the little flutter of affection that just filled me. "I'm just informing you that you're in charge indefinitely until I say otherwise."
I stare at him for a good few seconds, narrow my eyes and cross my arms, before asking a cautious, "are you drunk?" Reegar does not give up his command lightly.
I think something flashes over his features, but I can't place what it is with these damn masks. "If I was drunk, we wouldn't be talking right now."
I blink at him. "What's that meant to-"
"Never mind," Reegar interrupts quickly. "You're my second in command, and I'm taking a gunship Gabi repaired to scout the radio tower."
That fact he's put me in charge is unimportant right now given a much more pressing issue. "You remember what happened the last time you flew a gunship," I state flatly.
"That was your fault!"
"It was not!" Not really, at least. But Reegar knows that and cocks his head at me.
"And the time before that, hmm, Squishy?" I hate it when he gets all self confident and arrogant like that on me. For two reasons, and I'll only mention that one of them is because it makes me want to punch him.
I glance away in a huff and mumble a soft, "shut up..."
Reegar's hand touches my arm and I look back at him. His posture has softened and he seems more serious now. "I'll be fine."
"I'll keep you to that," I reply but I can't muster up enough anger in my voice as I want too. "Because if you're not, I'll drag your sorry ass out of whatever reaper ate you just so I can hit you myself."
Reegar chuckles and lets go of me. I breath a sigh of relief and curse my body for fixating so much on the place he just touched, like they're aren't more pressing matters at hand. "I'll hold you to that."
I nod at him and my hand comes up to self consciously fiddle with the wires that connect the back of my helmet to my suit. "Uh, ...stay safe."
I think Reegar smiles and he touches my visor affectionately. So help me, he can probably see me blushing even through it and it's all I can do to mutter a grumpy, "idiot."
Squishy/Beir – Freedom's Progress.
Prazza's a dick, and I know that better than most because I had the unfortunate experience of having to grow up on the same ship as him. Even on a ship as big as the Neema, once he's decided you're the next target for his bullying, there's no escaping it. I feel sorry for Tali having to try and command him. He gives her shit every chance he gets, and she doesn't deserve it.
Shepard, on the other hand, doesn't seem so content on taking his comments as Tali, and looks like he rather might like slugging him in the stomach. I don't blame him. Well, if it is the real him I guess. Tali seems to trust him though, and I don't think even Cerberus would be able to find out the exact nature of Tali's pilgrimage gift that Shepard helped her get, just so they could clone a dead man and screw with her head. But I still don't trust them.
Tali, however, I do trust.
"We're working for Cerberus now?!" Prazza interrupts my thoughts and Tali breathes a heavy sigh.
"No, Prazza," she replies calmly, but I can hear it's forced. "You're working for me."
Prazza turns to Shepard. "Take her with you, Commander. She's obviously your Cerberus bitch now."
I've had enough of his bullshit for one day, I think. Before really considering what I'm doing I've come between them and am staring him square in the... well, visor. "Prazza, stand down."
"I'm surprised you're defending her," he replies in a sneer. "She doesn't have a dick like that Reegar you used to follow around like his little pet whore."
And that is all it takes. I've punched him in the gut before I can stop myself. He groans and stumbles, but it doesn't do much other than stagger him and really piss him off. Tali gasps, there's a chuckle from the woman in the tight white Cerberus outfit next to Shepard, and the commander himself mutters, "well, I'm glad somebody finally did that."
There's a half accusation in his voice though, like he's telling me don't steal my dramatic moments like that again or something.
"Bosh'tet!" Prazza shouts, but he's still slightly bent over. "You're a rabid animal!"
"No, Prazza, he's not," Tali interrupts. "You can either fight with us, or wait at the ship." Prazza growls at her. "Or I fire my shotgun at you now."
I really wish he went for the third option.
o0o
Prazza's quiet after that so he's vaguely more tolerable to be around. He's still pissed though, and stomps on ahead of me and Tali. Just so long as he sticks to the plan, that's all we care about. Tali stops at a control panel in the building to let Shepard through the locked door to the courtyard. At the end of the room, Prazza and his team are glancing out at the YMIR mech standing outside.
"Damnit, Veetor's locked this whole place down better than the humans did."
"Let me." I push her gently out of the way but she doesn't complain. She's spent her time hacking into geth, I've spent my time hacking into things programs sentient creatures make. There's a difference and a knack to getting the hang of each.
"Beir, are you-" she starts as I fiddle with the control panel.
"I'm fine," I interrupt. She's too kind for her own good sometimes, even after everything my father tried to do with us. You'd think she might resent me, but she doesn't. She touches my shoulder and I sigh.
"They sent me on this mission right after my pilgrimage to keep me away from someone," I explain to her. The door opens and I step back. "It-"
"Prazza!" Tali shouts. I turn around and see him running out into the courtyard, yelling at his team to ignore Tali's orders and get to Veetor before Cerberus can. Tali's frantically trying to patch through to the commander, but there's more important things to do.
Prazza, the idiot, will get his whole damn team killed against that YMIR mech with tactics like that. I run after them, and Tali shouts after me to stop, but doesn't follow. I draw my pistol and have already brought my omni-tool up to scan and lock on to the mech.
I'm trained as a combat engineer, which, in hindsight, just gave my father even more of an excuse to send me away from the fleet the second he got a chance. If he hadn't, I might have been able to hack into the military database and found a way to contact Reegar. It's not so easy doing that so far away from the fleet and I can only imagine what Reegar might be thinking that I haven't tried, if he still cares. I push the thought out of my head and remind myself to concentrate.
The YMIR mech is tearing through Prazza's squad and I can see him lying on the ground at it's feet. He's probably dead already. One of the women in his team is trying to drag herself into cover, but she's injured and the mech's advancing on her. I shoot fire from my omni-tool at it, but the mech doesn't notice because there's three other people attacking it and drawing it's attention.
I thank Shepard and the two people with him softly, and don't hesitate when the mech stomps off after them to reach Prazza's dying squad.
Only the woman dragging herself into cover is still breathing and I kneel beside her. She's hysterical, probably from the pain but calms a little as I lean over her and do what I can for her. We're all trained in basic first aid in the event of minor suit punctures, but she'll need medical attention within the fleet even if I stabilise her.
I hear Shepard fighting the mech for some time, but once it's dead they approach me and so does Tali. I guess they're going to ask if this woman needs their help, but there's not much more they can do for her.
"Go get Veetor," I tell Tali. She hesitates and Shepard looks at her for confirmation, then heads off when she nods at him. "Go," I urge her, and she rushes after him.
