A/N: I apologize for the delay in updating this story. I have been somewhat...distracted lately. And my muse seems to have deserted me over the past weeks. I did want to get this chapter out, so here it is. Hopefully my muse will return to me soon.
Visaya T'Nari looked up from her desk as a drell, a turian and a human entered the shooting range. Turians and humans weren't particularly a rare sight in Nos Astra, but drell were. And the combination of the three races making up this party was an extremely rare sight. As the three companions were walking towards her, she suddenly recognized the human. The woman had the tell-tale signs of Commander Shepard: fire-red hair and green N7 armor. Visaya quickly stood up from her seat and extended her hand in a greeting.
"Greetings, Commander Shepard. My name is Visaya T'Nari. I am the Illium Shooting Company's location manager overseeing the reservations and material equipment of the Nos Astra shooting range. It is certainly an honor to have you here. Would you like to make use of our services?"
If Shepard was at all surprised at being recognized by the asari, she did not show it. Instead, she took Visaya's hand and shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Yes, we would like to practice shooting different targets. We will be using sniper rifles, so we would like to use your longest lane if possible."
The asari nodded. "Certainly. Will you be using your own rifles or do you want to rent ours?"
Before Shepard could say she wanted to use her own fully-upgraded M-98 Widow, Garrus cleared his throat noisily, drawing all attention toward him.
"I think we'd like to rent rifles. We want to have a fair competition, don't we, Commander?" His mandibles twitched.
Shepard flashed him a sly grin. "As you wish, Vakarian."
As the asari went off to retrieve three identical M-92 Mantis rifles, the Commander prodded Garrus' side teasingly. "Scared you'd lose to my superior weapon? It does give me more reach than yours, after all." Her lopsided grin elicited a rapid and uncontrollable twitch from the turian's mandibles that highly entertained the Spectre. She burst out laughing, placing her hands on her knees and doubling over in glee.
Garrus looked to Thane for help, but the drell seemed to be elsewhere with his thoughts. As usual. So he decided to go with an offensive strategy. "Shepard. I already have a handicap having just recovered from that gunship blast. My right eye is still a bit off. If we use the same rifles, I'm sure our match will be a fair one. You know that you need me handicapped in order to even stand a chance," he chimed.
Shepard stopped laughing but shot him an appreciative grin still. She never minded a good tease, especially when it came from her favorite turian. They were like brother and sister, always bickering and trying to be better than the other. It was all in good spirits, for they cared a lot for each other. She was relieved that Garrus had fully recovered from the fight on Omega. Seeing him hurt like that had worried her greatly. That's why she thought a celebration would be in order, and what could be better than taking it out on the shooting range? Anything to make Garrus feel better. She had invited Thane to come along because the drell had her worried at times. He was so caught up in his memories that he refused to live in the present. She figured a shooting match would at least distract him for a bit. And it was a good way to test his skills.
"Thane, you even here?" Shepard inquired, trying to draw his attention back to the matter at hand.
The drell seemed to come out of his thoughts and blinked at the human and the turian. "Yes. Sorry, Commander. I was lost in thought. I did hear what you said. Using the same rifles is only fair." Thane shifted his feet uncomfortably. He still wasn't used to the camaraderie on board the Normandy, even though he liked the Commander very much. There was something in her that eased his stress and softened his dark thoughts. He decided to try and enjoy this day and show his 'adversaries' what he could do with a rifle.
Visaya came back with three Mantises and placed them on her desk. "What kinds of targets do you want to shoot at? We have several installed on the long lane, varying in size, weight and shape. If you want, you can check the possibilities on this datapad here." She handed the datapad over to Shepard, who took it gingerly. Thane and Garrus shuffled closer to Shepard's side to get a better look at the objects they could be shooting at in a moment. The asari folded her arms over her breasts and listened to the squad's banter.
"Pyjaks?" Garrus asked. "We should've brought Grunt with us!"
"And have him charge into it across the whole range? No thank you. I have enough collateral damage to pay for every time I take him to the Citadel and we both know he can only hit something properly if it's practically touching him. Besides, he'd probably mistake it for a real pyjak," Shepard answered.
"What about those missile-shaped targets?" Thane suggested.
"Negative. Garrus might want to hit them with his face."
"Ouch. Too soon, Shepard."
The Commander snickered and then pointed at a target that was shaped like a turian. "Is that Saren?"
Garrus leaned in closer to get a better look before grumbling an affirmative. Shepard snickered again.
"Maybe a geth?"
"Eh. Shot so many of 'em already. Boring."
In the end they chose a combination of smaller and larger targets, including pyjaks and varren for low aims just above ground level and grenades, little flying fish and bird-shaped targets for high aims in the air. Having armed their rifles and received a confirmation from Visaya that their targets would be activated upon their arrival at their lane, they made their way there while discussing the rules of the match. They would each take turns at one specific type of target and then move on to the next. Then they would activate multiple targets at once and take turns again. The one who shot the most targets would win. In case of a tie, the winner would be the one with the truest shot. The more in the middle of a target, the truer the shot. In case of the varren and the pyjak targets, the truer shot would be a straight headshot. As they agreed that Thane would probably be the most virtuous and trustworthy of the party, he would keep tally.
Garrus immediately noticed that his right eye did in fact cause him some trouble aiming. It took a tremendous amount of focus from the turian to aim his shots correctly. While he was used to being an exceptional shooter, his handicap annoyed him immensely. And Shepard certainly did not do much to make him feel better about it. She proved to be highly competitive, prancing around like a puffed up rooster every time she got a true shot. Her goal to lift the turian's spirits had been completely forgotten the very moment the first object had flown in sight of her visor. Thane remained his usual calm self, taking his time aiming and shooting almost every target either exactly in the middle or in the head. The heated competition thus quickly rose to a boiling point.
"YES! Take THAT, Rocket Eater!"
Garrus sighed. "Shepard, really...your joke is getting old quickly."
The Commander waved the turian away dismissively while taking aim for another target.
"Come on, Garrus, you should welcome a little competition. Weren't you so sure of yourself before? Crybaby."
Thane shook his head and looked at Garrus apologetically. The drell was anything but a tease and Shepard's attitude made him feel a little uncomfortable. Garrus realized that it would be up to himself to change this around, so he stepped forward and pushed Shepard just as she was firing her shot. It deflected on the far side wall, leaving a little hole nowhere in the vicinity of the targeted pyjak.
"What the hell, Garrus?!" Shepard cried out. "Are you serious?! You pushed me?" She threw her Mantis on the ground and rounded on Garrus. The two stared each other down, while an uncomfortable drell stood shifting his feet in the background.
"I fell. You stopped my fall." Garrus stated simply.
Shepard's eyes were ablaze with fury.
"Do that...one more time...and I swear to your Spirits that I will stuff a rocket in the good side of your face myself," Shepard growled.
To Shepard's great surprise, Garrus started to laugh loudly. His eruption made her blink momentarily and then she burst out in laughter as well. They fell into each other and held on while their simultaneous cackle filled the air. Thane shook is head in confusion.
"I'm sorry, Garrus. I guess I have a little bit of a competitive streak," Shepard managed to say in-between hiccups.
"No problem, Shepard. Apparently you need it. Shooting comes so naturally to me that I don't need to be so competitive about it. I will always win, anyway," chimed Garrus.
That earned him a scowl from the Commander.
"Actually..." began Thane. The turian and human remembered his presence and turned their heads toward the drell. "Actually I'm winning," Thane finished.
"What?" came the in-tune reply from both Shepard and Garrus.
Thane smiled. "I'm winning by five shots. You two are tied. So, technically, none of you is better than the other, but I'm better than the both of you."
The Commander shook her head in disbelief. She couldn't let it rest like this. She needed to...
"Okay, fine. You win. Next time you stay on board the Normandy. And you, Vakarian, I'll kick your ass the next time. I went easy on you because of your injury. So brace yourself."
Garrus stifled a twitch in his mandibles and grunted. "You just can't give me a break, can you..."
A short while later, three figures left the shooting range: a greatly annoyed human Spectre, a flustered turian, and a victorious drell.
