Chapter 15
Death and All His Friends
Angry. If she had to choose a word to describe exactly how she felt, Johanna would've chosen that one. She'd thought that completing the mission and proving the Dalatrass wrong would ease that feeling but she'd been wrong. Oh, how she'd been wrong. Sat in the mess with her head in her hands, her hair still wet from the long shower she'd taken, Johanna was silent. She was aware of movement around her, crew members heading toward their quarters as the shifts changed, but she was in a world of her own. Losing people never got any easier and Mordin had been a treasure. Sure, he he helped to modify the Genophage before but in the end, it'd been his brain and his brilliance that had cured it once and for all. The face that she'd managed to win Krogan support for the Turians and, in turn, Turian support for Earth when the time came, was small consolation to the Commander. To her, she'd just lost a friend and no amount of blaming the enemy and no amount of swearing that she'd blow them to hell, was helping ease that hurt.
With a sigh, she stood from her place at the table and crossed to the mess to the fridge. All she wanted was an icy cold beer but she found the fridge without any alcohol. "Fuck it," she stepped back and threw the door closed, "A warship full of Marines and not a single bottle of beer." Shaking her head, she stomped off toward the lounge in search of some whiskey instead but again, returned empty handed. "This is an absolute joke," she laughed in spite of herself, "No beer, no whiskey. Time to make do." Stepping behind the bar in the lounge, she quickly noted the bottles arranged there. Triple-distilled Turian brandy, couldn't touch that one, varied spirits that she wouldn't drink supposing you paid her and a single, solitary, unopened bottle of vodka. "That'll do," she pulled it from back of the bar, grabbed a glass and made for the elevator. "EDI," she spoke as the door to her cabin whooshed open, "Ask James to come up, tell him to bring a glass, we're going to drink to an old friend."
James took his time and by the time he reached her cabin, Johanna was already pouring her third shot. "Whoa, Lola," he laughed as she threw it back, "You started without me? Now I gotta catch up." He swiped the bottle from the small coffee table on his way past and then dropped down onto the sofa beside her. "So EDI tells me that we're drinking to a friends," he filled his glass and threw his own shot back, "Mordin?" Before she had a chance to snatch the bottle back from him, he quickly poured himself another and then sat the bottle back on the table. "You'll have to tell me about him, I hardly knew him. Only spoke to him a couple times while he was here. Wandered into the med bay to see the doc and she wasn't there, just this little Salarian dude talking about protein chains at four hundred miles an hour. Was he always like that?"
"Yeah," she nodded sadly, "He was always like that, never stopping for a second. I always thought that it must've helped him to think out loud like that but hell, it drove me crazy at first. I thought he'd never shut up." It was true, they'd all found him a little zany at first but everyone had come around in the end, even the most hardened Cerberus operatives had come to love him. "I wouldn't be here, none of my past crew would be here, if not for him," she poured herself another drink, "He came up with a counter measure for the Collectors' seeker swarms, he kept them off us," she knocked back another shot and slammed the glass back down, "Without him, we all would've been toast on Horizon. He was brilliant."
"Cerberus let you take a Salarian along for the ride?" Sure, James knew that she'd had a crew of many different races but he hadn't expected that a Salarian would've been welcome on a Cerberus ship. "He must've been good."
"They actually suggested him," Johanna laughed, "He was so highly thought of that the Illusive Asshole personally recommended him for my crew. Maybe it had something to do with his work on the Genophage project, I don't know, but he was more than welcome. Even Miranda came round to him in the end and that's saying something, her head was so far up the Illusive Asshole's asshole to begin with." She paused for a moment. "I remember when we first met him on Omega, Aria told us that he was as likely to shoot us as he was to help us, what can you expect from a former STG agent? He cured a plague in the slums that day. Just like that, he'd done it. I guess that's like today. Just like that, the Genophage is gone."
"Damn, wish I'd known him longer," James nodded, "A mad scientist. When it comes to crew, you sure do know how to pick 'em, don't you? Are you gonna add him to the memorial wall? Seems to me like someone who did as much as he did should be remembered somehow. We might not be able to give him a real send off but anything we can do, right? His name deserves to be up there with the Alliance names, he did die to help us."
"In a round about way, he did, yeah. I'd love to put his name up on the memorial wall. It's supposed to be for Alliance troops but fuck it. It's my memorial wall on my ship, my rules, he's going up there. We'll gather everyone together and do it right, or as right as it can be on a ship. It'll have to do." With a sigh, Johanna sank back against the sofa, her head resting on James' shoulder. "One good thing did come of today, though. No more Genophage, we'll all finally have a chance to see what a baby Krogan looks like. Hope they don't scream as much as our brats do."
James laughed, glad to see that her mood was improving. He wrapped a strong arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him to press a soft kiss to the side of her head. "The big guy might regret making so many of them if they do. Speaking of, I guess he stayed back on Tuchanka? Smells a bit better on the command deck."
"Yeah, Wrex is staying back on Tuchanka. He's trying to unite all the clans under Urdnot rule. He has a good chance of doing it, it was an Urdnot female who helped them find their damn cure after all." Johanna couldn't help but laugh, "I'm having a hard time seeing Wrex as a president or a king, though. Can you imagine him wearing a crown?" The image was too much, or maybe it was the vodka, and she dissolved into a fit of laughter. "Wrex in a crown," she gasped, "Oh man, that's too funny. A royal head butt to whoever pisses him off." Another fit of giggles. "And I can imagine him talking to the council right now, he wouldn't know diplomacy if it set a Thresher on him. I gotta be a fly on the wall at that first meeting, I'd pay good money to see the look on the Turian councillor's face. I mean, he doesn't like me and I'm a tiny-ass woman. What's he gonna look like when a nine hundred pound Krogan is making demands of him?"
Leaning forward, James poured them both another shot and then handed her one. "So here's a toast. To Wrex. King of the Krogan," he struggled to keep a straight face as Johanna burst into yet another fit of laughter, "And future thorn in the side of our esteemed council." He raised his glass, clinked it against hers and then threw it back. "Oh wait, shit," he slammed his glass back onto the table, "I forgot to say something flowery like may his reign be long or some bullshit like that. Oops. Shitty toast."
Johanna stopped laughing for long enough to drink and then done was gone again. "Flowery bullshit," she stood from the couch and lifted the bottle, this time forgetting all about the glasses on the table, preferring instead to just take a swig. "To Wrex, the fucking giant," she raised her hand, waving the bottle around, "May he make many, many babies and not drown in their shit and may he bash many, many heads together. Long may he keep the Krogan in check and long may he kick ass." Smiling, she took another long swig from the bottle and then thrust it toward James. "That's how you do a toast. Drink." She paused for a second and then stumbled toward the steps, "I haven't checked my messages since we got back. Gonna do that first. Drink." She sat at her desk and brought up her comm screen, grinning as she saw the name on the first one. "Speaking of our huge friend, he sent me a message!"
James drank from the bottle after a moment or two and then busied himself with finding a vid for them both to watch in bed. "No doubt he's taking about all those babies he wants to make, right? Or is he talking about how his men are gonna go dig a few million Turian asses out of a hole? Or both? Tell me it's both!"
"In a nutshell," Johanna grinned and quickly typed a reply. She was fairly certain she hit a few wrong keys thanks to all the vodka running through her veins but Wrex wouldn't care. He'd probably raise his own half-barrel of Ryncol and laugh at her being a lightweight. It didn't take much to be considered a lightweight when your drinking partner was a Krogan. "Sent him a quick message back, told him to have a Ryncol or five for us since we've just toasted him over Vodka. Just one more message to check out and then I'm done. You found a vid yet?"
"Nah, your collection is shit movie after shit movie," James shook his head and brought up his omnitool, a quick extranet search would solve the problem. "Just gonna rent one from one of those extranet places. Something with plenty explosions, shouldn't be hard to find something good." He scrolled through page after page of Blasto vids and yet more pages filled with Blasto rip-offs. "Finally, here's something that ain't Bla.." He was cut off by Johanna standing up so fast that she sent her office chair flying backward. "Whoa, Lola," he quickly flicked his omnitool off. She had that look in her eye, the one she got whenever she was about to step off the deep end. "You gotta calm your shit down," he made toward her, "You've had lot to drink and I ain't dealing with the hole you leave in the god damn aquarium when you lose control."
"I'm not the psychotic biotic," Johanna seethed, her fists balled and glowing with that familiar blue hue, "That's Jack. Read this." She stepped aside to give James room to read the message from Dalatrass Linron. Over the course of the night, her anger had given way to sadness and then light-heartedness in turn - now she was right back at anger. "I can keep myself under control but I swear to God, the Goddess and whatever other deities there are that if I ever see that bitch again, I won't be so kind. She thinks I'm a bully? I'll fucking show he just how much of a bully I can be." In the back of her head, she knew that James was right - a drunk biotic was handful enough but a drunk, angry biotic? If she did lose control, well, it didn't really bear thinking about. "She's ashamed that one of her own did the right thing, can you believe that? Who the fuck does she think she is sending that shit to me. Move over, I'm gonna reply."
James moved to leather back to the comm screen. "Are you sure you wanna do that, Lola? I mean, shit, you're angry and she's angry, there's a whole lotta anger floating around. You really wanna put her in her place?"
Truth be told, Johanna had no desire to get into a war of words with the Salarian, she just wanted to let her know what she thought. Nothing more and nothing less. "I'm not gonna tear her a new one, if that's what you're thinking," her fingers tapped against the holographic keyboard as she composed her reply. Even with her standard Alliance e-mail signature tacked to the bottom, it wasn't more than a few lines long. "Done."
James stood behind her to read her message.
To: Dalatrass Linron
From: Johanna Shepard
Subject: RE: Your Regrettable Decision
Dalatrass:
Kiss my ass.
Sincerely,
Lt. Cmdr. J. A. Shepard
Systems Alliance Navy
"Aaaaaaand send," James reached over and hit the button to send the message on its way. "Loving the rhyme. Don't think she'll love it as much but who gives a shit." He turned the comm screen off and stepped back, crossing his arms across his chest. "Now are we done sending smart assed replies?"
"I guess we are," Johanna had calmed down, "Amazing what sending one little message can do for a mood." She stepped to him and captured his lips with her own. "You said something about watching a vid? You set us up, I'm gonna change." It took her a moment to collect a shirt and a pair of shorts and then she was off toward the bathroom.
"Kiss my ass, Dalatrass," James spoke under his breath as he shook his head. "Classic."
A/N :: I ain't expecting this chapter to take as long as it did. I blame writers block - the words just weren't there. Hopefully future chapter won't be quite so challenging and well be able to get back to normal! Fingers crossed!
As always, thank you to everyone for the reviews - you are all wonderful and your feedback is always appreciated.
"Miss Sara Diane," - thank you! I'm hoping the struggle ends soon, though!
"Skylark16'" - you're right, talking to inanimate objects when they don't work DOES make a person feel better!
"Katschaba," - I'm sure there'll be plenty more rewards for James as time goes on :)
"Liso66," - Thank you so much for the reviews on the first five chapters, they are all greatly appreciated! And, also, thank you for all the kind words. :)