"Scars and Sparks"
Palaven was burning that much was certain. Garrus watched the vids for a moment, before shutting them off. He couldn't stand it. But he knew the work he was doing here on the Normandy was important. He knew that helping Shepard stop the Reapers was a good thing. But…a large part of him wanted to be there fighting with his people. Soon Shepard would figure something out. The krogan were eating out of her now that she had cured the genophage. He was already getting reports of ships off loading krogan ground troops on Palaven's surface. He just hoped that the krogan would be enough.
Stepping back from the vid viewer he turned to look at the main gun of the Normandy. He had done most of the calibrations for the day. The gun had been severely off when he had come aboard the ship, now he did a daily calibration check to keep her in working order. Sighing, his mandibles flared as he looked over the console. He had already finished his calibrations.
"Yo, Scars, you there?" James Vega's voice chirped over the intercom.
"I'm here, Vega, what do you need?" Garrus asked placing his hands on either side of the vid viewer.
"The Major and I are trying to round up some poker players. You in?"
"Who else do you have besides Kaidan?" Kaidan was a decent player, but he had his tells. James was really good. He would have liked someone that he could possibly beat.
"Haven't asked anyone else but the Major and you. So you in or what?"
Garrus scratched the back of his neck. "I don't, Vega, between you and Kaidan last time, you wiped me clean of credits."
"Ah, it was all in good fun, Scars…but I'm planning on invite Joker and maybe the Commander."
Garrus flinched. Joker was a horrible poker player. Kaidan and James had taken the liberally of teaching the pilot a few tricks, but he had just never caught onto the game. He would join them everyone once in a while. Garrus did have to admire Joker's determination in coming back to the game even after he had lost so many times. It was the idea of playing against Shepard that made him hesitate. He had never poker against her. He imagined she was good. Kaidan said she was. It might be worth it just to watch Shepard play.
"Alright you get Shepard and Joker there then I'm in." Garrus replied. His mandibles twitched.
"Then I'll see what I can do, Scars. Hey, you want to see if Sparks is up for a game too?" James asked.
Garrus cocked his head to the side. "Uh, Vega, I'm not quite up to date with all your nicknames for the crew."
"The quarian. You know cause she likes machines and technology. She's always moving. So, Sparks."
Garrus brow furrowed. "You mean Tali?"
"Uh, yeah, Sparks." James replied sounding a little confused.
"I didn't know she played."
"She doesn't, but the way I figured it is we should at least invite her. You know try and get to know her."
"You know with the mask and suit she will be hard to read right." Garrus responded. He had thought about asking her before, the idea that she did wear the helmet and mask would make her very hard to read indeed.
"So a challenge. I like a challenge. Bring her if you can."
"Since when did you start planning social hour?" Garrus quipped. He could also see the Lieutenant shrug.
"Since everyone started getting too worked up and tense. Just be lucky I haven't started a sparring circle yet…now that would be fun."
Garrus pondered that for a moment. "You know, I would be down with that, Vega. Sparring is one of the ways turian relieve tension before a battle."
James laughed. "I like the way your turians think. Maybe I'll arrange it for next time. Do you think the Commander would go for it?"
Garrus thought about it for a moment. "She might. It couldn't hurt to ask her."
"Good then I'll ask her while we're playing tonight. Thanks, Scars."
"Not a problem, Vega."
James hung up then and Garrus waited a few moments before deciding that he rather ask Tali in person. He hadn't seen the quarian in a while as she usually was down in Engineering with Donnelly, Adams and Daniels.
Garrus left the Main Gun and headed toward the elevator.
The ride to Engineering was quiet. As the doors opened he stepped to see the Battlespace reporter heading down the hallway toward him. He could never remember her name. It wasn't like he watched the show…though he did know some turians who did. He had watched Shepard's interviews and even some of Admiral Hackett's question and answer sessions. But other than that he didn't care about the show.
She didn't stop him as he turned the corner to head into the engine room. As the door swooshed open he heard the tail end of a conversation between the engineers and the quarian.
"We could lower our stealth system emissions even more if we used these dampers instead." Tali said typing something into her omni-tool. Adams, Daniel and Donnelly all had their omni-tool open and were standing in a circle in the middle of the room.
"Those dampers are unstable." Donnelly added typing something into his tool. "Now these are better."
"But the emissions are still not masked very well. We need something that can mask our emissions each more when travelling at FTL speeds." Tali replied annoyance brimming in the quarian's voice.
Garrus cleared his throat. All four heads swiveled in his direction. "Sorry, to interrupt, but I'd like to speak with Tali for a moment." The three human engineers glanced at one another and then shrugged.
"Certainly, we'll just go run some numbers on fuel…"
"Kenneth, nobody cares." Gabby said pushing Donnelly over to their computer.
Adams chuckled and turned back to his own computer. Garrus crossed his arms a walked out of the room feeling suddenly uncomfortable in the presence of the three humans. Tali shut off her omni-tool and followed him.
"What is it, Vakarian?" Tali asked as the doors to Engineering compartment slid shut.
"I wanted to invite you to a poker game." Garrus replied suddenly feeling very awkward in front of the quarian. Her glowing eyes moved up and down roving over him in an appraising fashion. He felt vulnerable to her gaze.
"Poker game, huh…never played before though I guess I could learn." Tali said crossing her arms. "Though in truth, Vakarian, you could have just called me over the intercom I would have answered."
Garrus nodded. "Yeah, I could've, but then I wanted to see you in person. You've been pretty busy down here in lately. You haven't even been eating dinner in the Mess Hall."
"Were you worried about me, Vakarian?" Tali purred her voice echoing through her suit's microphone system.
Garrus' mandibles flared and canted his head slightly. "Worried you were working yourself to death? Sure, but I've missed our dinner talks. It's been one side sitting there by myself."
Tali uncrossed her arms and placed a hand on her hip. "Wait, you've been sitting at dinner by yourself?"
Garrus looked away from her. "Well, Shepard there sometimes and so is Vega and Kaidan, but it's not the same."
Tali regarded him for a moment before her glowing eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you flirting with me, Vakarian?"
Garrus shrugged and his mandibles twitched slightly, the turian's equivalent of a smile. "I can be if you want me too."
Tali laughed and shook her head with amusement. "I could get used to it." She purred again. His heart sped up. And he coughed to cover up the sudden embarrassment.
"So, are you then for the game then?' Garrus asked changing the subject.
Tali tapped a finger to the chin of helmet, looking away from him. "I could use with a break and something to eat. How about we get something to eat and then head over." She recommended.
Garrus nodded and offered his arm to the quarian. She giggled and took it. "Couldn't have said it better myself." As they headed toward the elevator he looked at the quarian. "Do you know Vega's nickname for you?" He asked curious to see if Vega had bothered to tell her.
"James has a nickname for me. I don't know whether to feel honored or not." Tali replied as they waited.
Garrus chuckled. "Mine's Scars." Tali looked at him her eyes narrowed again.
"That seems unimaginative." She said eyeing his face.
"Yeah, well, we are talking about James Vega."
"I don't know I've heard some of his stories. He can quite out there when he wants to."
The elevator's doors opened and they stepped onto. Garrus pushed the third deck button the doors shut and they began to rise. "So do you want to know?"
Tali sighed and looked at the ground. "Go ahead, might as well get it over with."
"Sparks." Garrus chuckle of amusement filled the elevator.
"Sparks?" Tali released his arm and tapped a finger to the edge of helmet again. "Sparks…hmm…I think I like that."
Thank you all for the reviews, favorites and alerts! I'm so glad so many people have enjoyed this story...I loved writing this chapter. Not only did I get to write Vega's character again, Garrus and Tali as well. For some reason I really want to write the poker game after this...it could be fun. I will say that I will a chapter set after the Leviathan DLC and I will have some more Shenko fluff...there was another chapter idea floating around in there, but I can't remember right now. Anyway thanks again for reading!
Prism Elf
PS I'm participating in Nation Novel Writing Month so updates might not be as regular because of that. Sorry, but my novel has been wanting to get out of my head for a while and now I have the drive and focus to get it down. : )