Shepard had stood at the galaxy map for the past hour just flicking randomly between star systems, pulling up a system after system just to immediately close it down. It felt odd for Joker who could see the activity clearly as if he was next to the commander and watching over his shoulder, as the galaxy map was tied to the navigation software. The dude never quit working and now he was just in his own world, probably not even realizing that he was the focus of every subtle glance and worried observation on CIC deck team.

The navigation monitor was barely keeping up with the random searches being done, saying "route calculating..route cancelled.." over and over along with the times stamps that differed only by a few milliseconds. The list of routes cancelled had long swept past the top of the display and had switched to a scrolling list. It was unusual, the admitted layabout of the crew seeing his commander essentially killing time, he considered trying to talk with the commander, but he'd never exactly been the greatest at socializing.

Besides, Edi had shown him a quick video capture as Kelly had been pulled off the bridge, to see if it was concerning enough to contact the XO for, he knew better than to get anywhere between Jack and Shepard. The thing between those two would either become the stuff of epic legend, or wind up the cause of a the Normandy SR-2 becoming a mile long stretch of strewn rubble and smashed bodies. Deciding to try and ignore it in favor of something he could do, he looked up at a speaker box near eye level that he'd just habitually come to focus on whenever he talked with Edi.

"Edi?" "Yes, Mr. Moreau?"

"You notice how tense things are around here lately?"

"Only to the extent that personal habits and schedules are being ignored, meals are eaten intermittently and the hidden mattress in the hold has only been occupied twice in the past two weeks, both times by a single occupant." Joker's face started to redden up at the last observation.

"You actually keep track of the last one?"

"No, Mr. Moreau, that was simply a exaggeration to relieve tension. You have also begun to show deviations from your standard schedules. Is there something troubling you?" Looking back over his shoulder, he saw Shepard, eyes down, flicking between menus and displays without really seeing them.

"Yeah." With that Joker turned back to his screens and decided to run simulations while he was waiting for a destination to finally stay locked on his board.

_.

Shepard had been playing with the map while thinking on Jack. He'd been sure that he'd screwed things up permanently by running out like that, but he'd just never run into a situation like Jack before. He knew he should ignore it and shove his feelings down to get back to work, but he was developing a severely unbalanced feel that'd even had him check the deck plate gravametrics to make sure the field output was level.

He'd spent the last couple of months moving robotically, having felt since his resurrection that everything was just slightly unreal. Whether that was a after effect of being dead, part of the resurrection tech that'd been required to bring him back, or his own mental crisis, he'd pushed himself beyond even his own levels, moving through missions with singular focus, often taking out the bulk of enemies before his squad mates had realized there'd been enemy contact.

The first shock to that outlook had come on the prison ship Purgatory as he'd come to negotiate the peaceful turnover of a combat specialist, a biotic of unusual potential. He'd worked with biotics before, and generally thought them more than a little arrogant about abilities that were in direct competition to standard skill sets. A biotic finding a enemy, had to focus on a specific series of mental associations that triggered mnemonic training to force e-zo nodes in a complex dance to form a biotic attack to be pitched like a frisbee. It wasn't that Shepard couldn't see the benefits of a weapon that couldn't be taken away without generally killing the individual, it was just why warp when you could use incendiary ammo, why lift when you could flank. Those seconds spent concentrating on hocus-pocus often is what allowed him to take out enemy biotics before they'd even had a chance to put up a barrier.

Still, he'd proceeded with the exchange in wooden fashion, not a hint of annoyance or anger as he calmly threatened to kill every guard in the place when they demanded his weapons. The glares of rental cops and the warden had been reflected back by Miranda and Garrus, while Shepard had begun to fiddle with his pistol, alternating back and forth between incendiary and armor piercing ammo while completely ignoring everything else. After the warden had seen that nothing was going to change the spectre's mind, he'd grudgingly allowed the squad aboard but demanded the docking portals be locked down until the transfer had completed.

Seeing as he carried a portable armor piercing heavy weapon capable of mini mushroom clouds of devastation that'd twist that armor over the door like a plastic wrapper, he smiled as he said, "Sure, you do that if it helps. I mean, hey, you're on a space station with little defenses, having a couple squadrons of flyers and possibly a battalion of guards, and I have a warship with a cannon capable of putting a hole through the Destiny Ascension, but if using the little chain on the door helps you with your fears of burglars, go ahead."Smiling broadly at the fazed warden, he walked up to him he gave a little shooing motion from his hand like he was telling a bell boy to hurry up and pick up his bags,"Well, on then to this highly expensive popsicle."

The warden stood stock still at this statement, and seemed about to order them thrown off the ship, his mandibles frozen in a half gasp expression before tightening up to rigidly and turning about to have the squad trailing in his wake. Several times he tried to stop to explain either his base or his favorite movie or some crap, but each time Shepard just kept walking, the third time simply stopping a inch away and jabbing the armored Turian in the back with the barrel of his Mattock,"Enough with the attempts to make me a believer, slave boy, either I see Jack in 30 seconds, or I remove the highest point of annoyance in this stupid place before walking back to my ship."

Seeing the warden stop and start a half dozen times before jerking his shoulders to a door at the end of the hall,"Out processing is through this connecting hall and past our technician station at our secondary receiving area. I'm sure you can handle the rest, now go, I have to confirm that payment has been received before I'll let you take her out."

Miranda twitched slightly at this, the equivalent of a 3 foot jump backwards in shock in Miranda's world, before asking,"She? I though we were here to pick up a 'Jack'?" "You don't even know who she is?"the warden asked incredulously, his mandibles flicking alternately up and down making a rasping noise, the Turian version of a dry chuckle. "Well you'll find out soon enough," pointing a hand again towards the end of the hall,"out processing, I'll be back once I've verified everything is ready." With that the warden about faced and walked back the way they'd come in.

Watching the warden walk away, Shepard put his index and trigger fingers to the dermal contact on his left earlobe, the subcutaneous implant setting up a contact relay to his ship. "Edi?" "Yes, Shepard." "Begin surreptitious attempts to interface with the systems here, I want it quiet for now, but be ready to be able to open the doors to Jack and the doors back to our loading tunnel." "Understood, Shepard, logging you out."

"Have a feeling?"Miranda asked from his left. "No, Shepard's just gotten the double crossed enough times to know that it'll always happen when you aren't prepared, so he always has a backup plan. Not that it usually works." Shepard heard all of this, and couldn't help responding,"They always work Vakarian, you're just never going to let go of the being buried alive with a nuclear weapon-thing, are you."

Garrus started to laugh as Shepard continued, "I mean, yes, the whole have the Normady fire a precision strike to clear the collapsed tunnel thing would've never worked, but I just threw that out there so Tali would think I had a back up beyond saying 'Well, shit.' It worked, right, she quit immediately with the 800 rapid fire questions and had the thing defused in 10 seconds."

"Saying 'Well, shit' was your back up that time?" interjected Miranda, wondering if she should've tried to involve herself in the pre-mission session with Garrus and Shepard, but that'd be a boys club she'd never crack. "Please tell me there's a back up on this mission."

Shepard straighten along with Garrus to give Miranda a steady look as they chorused together,"Well, fuck."

"Outstanding. And that little conversation with Edi?"

"To screw with you, seriously, are you expecting a secure facility, let alone a prison, to have external links to their security protocols? I'd call them 'f'in retards' if she could even access their security cameras."

Shepard's antics were severely beginning to punish Miranda's calm, as she'd never worked with anyone who didn't take her seriously. Many had ignored her or contested her, but it was a first to be considered inconsequential. She gently started to rub her temple to keep a headache from developing, a habit she'd only developed in the month of working with Shepard.