Chapter Two: The Passenger
Jane Shepard did her best to conceal her surprise as she walked away from Garrus Vakarian. Having spent two years in the company of turians while working on designs for the Normandy, she had studied as much as she could about their history, lineages and language. If the blue hadn't given it away, the clan markings certainly had. Bloody hell, did John have any clue just who he had taken on as part of his crew?
"So, you helped design the ship?" asked the quarian, Tali'Zorah, breaking Jane from her musings as they entered the elevator.
"Design, yes. Build, no," she replied. "This is the first time I've seen her since the final blueprints were drawn up."
"So what brings you to the Normandy? I didn't hear anything about Adams being replaced."
"He's not. In fact, I requested him specifically for his position. I'm just along for the ride until you return to the Citadel."
"Taking shore leave on a ship?" asked Garrus. "That doesn't sound like much fun."
"We're spacer brats," she explained. "More at home on a ship than on the ground. Besides," she said, punching John lightly, "I get to see what all this hype is over my brother."
"I am kind of a big deal," John teased, and she socked him again. Oh, how she had missed him. Letters and vid-comm conversations just didn't add up to what it was like having John around on a daily basis. Two peas in a pod they had been as kids, but their times together had been sparse the past ten years, and Jane always made the most when they had it. True, Johnny had his duties to attend to on the Normandy, but that didn't mean he didn't have down-time.
But Vakarian? He would be a distraction. All turians bled blue, but few ran as blue as his clan.
Jane let out low sigh of relief when the elevator stopped to let out Garrus and Tali on the crew deck. The quarian didn't seem to notice, but the former caught her eyes for a brief second before the door closed. Curiosity danced in his gray-blue orbs. Challenge accepted, they seemed to say, as if somehow he knew that her thoughts had been on him.
"God, I've missed you, Janie," said John, pulling her into a bone-jarring embrace once the crew was out of sight. She squeezed him back, glad for both the distraction and the affection that only her brother ever seemed to have for her. "I'm glad you're here, but it might be a couple of weeks before we're back on the Citadel."
"Oh, believe me," she replied, pulling back to get a good look at him, "I have about a month of shore leave stored up. Feel free to use up as much of it as you like." He had a few new lines at the corners of his eyes and mouth when he smiled, and Jane imagined that with his new Spectre duties, it wouldn't be long before he started earning a few gray hairs to match. It was the inevitable price of command, and she didn't envy him one bit for it.
"Nah, save some of it. Once this business with Saren is dealt with, we'll kidnap Mom and go somewhere with sunshine and fruity drinks."
"And girls in bikinis?"
"How'd you guess?"
Their laughter drew a few stares from the crew on the CIC deck as the elevator doors opened again. More than a few of them saluted as they walked by on their way to the cockpit, but most openly stared. But it was the helm Jane had her eyes on, and the man in the pilot's chair staring the siblings down.
Jeff Morou had been her surrogate brother at the Academy. He had been a hard-ass at first, hiding from the other flight school students in the library, which is where she had found him one evening while cramming for an exam. He had been scanning the schematics for the Lucas, and when Jane saw what he was doing, she couldn't help but ask if he wanted to see the ship in person. It had taken her months to finally convince him, preaching that since he wasn't letting his disability stop him from serving with the Alliance, then it shouldn't stop him from seeing the prototype spacecraft he seemed to be obsessed with. During that time, they became fast friends, and had kept in touch regularly once they graduated and moved on to their individual assignments.
"Hey, LC!" he said as they approached, swiveling in his chair like an excited toddler. "I never got to thank you for the sweet ride."
"I had nothing to do with this, Joker," she teased, putting her hands on the arms of the seat to cease the movement. Jane wouldn't ask him to get up, and he knew it, so he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her.
"Liar," he whispered in her ear before she leaned back and pecked his cheek.
"Yup," she replied before stepping back. Nearby, someone cleared their throat, and she spared a glance for the man in the co-pilot's seat. Dark hair, dark eyes, and Lieutenant's stripes on his Alliance fatigues. This guy was military to the core, and she immediately slipped into "officer mode." He was starting to stand, but Jane held up a hand before he could salute.
"Put your arm down, LT," she told him. "I'm on shore leave as of ten minutes ago."
"You're still in uniform, ma'am."
"A fact I plan on remedying as soon as possible." Jane put out her hand, hoping to put the poor man's mind at ease. What she wanted was to relax and not have every military crony saluting her at every turn. As hoped, his arm went out, not up, and he smiled as they shook hands.
"Kaidan Alenko."
"Jane Shepard."
"Shep…" he started to say, but one look from John shut him up. "It's, uh, good to have you on board, ma'am."
"None of that 'ma'am' shit, either," she added.
"Alenko, why don't you show Jane to the crew quarters? Her footlocker's already been brought up to one of the spare bunks," interrupted Joker, with a wink for his friend. Jane rolled her eyes and spared a quick glance back in the Lieutenant's direction. The poor man had turned beet red, and she felt a twinge of pity for him. With a sigh, she nodded at Kaidan and took off in the direction they had come from.
"Don't break his heart!" she heard Morou shout at her.
"Not my type!" she shouted back, sparing a sympathetic smile for her escort.
"An inside joke, I take it?" Kaidan asked, attempting to make conversation. He was a touch nervous, but Jane couldn't tell whether it was because of her rank, her family connection to his commander, or just the fact that he obviously found her attractive. A combination of all three seemed the most likely.
"Not really. It's no secret that John and I grew up as military brats. Soldiers, as a general rule, don't have much in the way of modesty, and while I've seen my fair share of attractive human men, I learned early to shut off that part of me that is attracted to them."
"The, um, men part or…"
"The human part."
"Oh."
Jane suppressed a chuckle as Kaidan led her down a set of stairs in stunned silence. The aroma of a hot meal hit them once the doors opened and she inhaled the scent deeply. There was just something about a warship chef that topped every galley on every other boat in the fleet. As she approached the dining hall, she noticed her old mentor, Greg Adams, sitting with Tali and Garrus. And their meal looked horrendous by comparison.
"I'm going to have a word with your requisitions officer over this crap-ass food for the Turians and Quarians," she said as they approached the table. Greg's face nearly split with the size of his smile as he stood to embrace his former colleague.
"I'll have you know, this is the finest dextro-based cuisine the Normandy has to offer," Garrus said in mock offense. Unable to stop herself, Jane grabbed a spare fork from the table and stabbed at one of the brown pasta-like orbs on his plate. Before anyone could say a word, she popped it in her mouth and grimaced. She chewed. And chewed. And finally swallowed, while nearly everyone nearby waited for her reaction.
"That," she finally said, pointing at Garrus's plate, "tastes like it came out of the ass-end of a pyjak. I am definitely talking to someone in requisitions about your dining options, Vakarian. Adams, I'll see you bright and ugly tomorrow morning down in Engineering to play catch-up."
As she walked away, Alenko at her heels, she overheard Greg chuckle and tell the others at the table, "Yep, cut from the same cloth, those Shepard kids."
"How is it, exactly, that you're not a writhing mess of hives on the floor of the dining hall?" Kaidan asked as they passed through the row of sleeping pods on their way to the quarters reserved for higher-ranking crew members.
"I have a high tolerance for dextro-based foods. It's part of what got me a spot on the Normandy project."
"And you weren't worried about Garrus blowing his top if you stole off his plate?"
"Oh, believe me," she said with a smile as they entered the room they were searching for, "If Garrus were a typical turian, he wouldn't be on this ship in the first place."
"How do you fig…oh. He's…" Kaidan struggled for words while Jane looked for her foot locker. Someone, probably Joker, bless his heart for knowing her so well, had put her in a top bunk near the back of the room. "He's your 'type,' isn't he?"
She wanted to say, If by "he's my type" you mean I'm attracted to rebellious turian males from high-ranking military and aristocratic families, then the answer is "yes." Instead, she raised an eyebrow and turned her lips up into a smirk.
"Well, have fun with that. His bunk's right there." Kaidan pointed to the lower bunk directly across from her own. "I'll let you settle in." A quick scan of her surroundings showed her that there were no other occupied beds on their end of the room, and they would share a small locker and dressing area across the hall.
"Well, played, Joker," she said into her comm.
"I take it you've found your bunk? How do you like it? I hope your neighbor doesn't keep you up at night."
"Fuck you, Joker."
"You're welcome, Janie."
A/N: As a general rule, I don't like leaving the first chapter hanging around for more than a day or two, so here's a treat for those of you who have already followed/favorited/reviewed. With several active stories, I can't guarantee the next will be up as quickly, but I will do my best. If you haven't already done so, please feel free to poke around my profile and read the other stories to keep you busy while you're waiting.