The Normandy was sailing along smoothly, FTL drives engaged, halfway through its journey from Noveria to Feros. Commander Shepard was making her daily rounds of the ship, checking in with crew members to make sure there were no issues that needed tending to. This was, at least, what she told the crew it was for. The truth was, she felt it was crucial to get to know them and make sure they knew that she cared about them. Anderson had done the same as captain and she wanted to honor that tradition.
For the moment, she was in the bridge, leaning against the back of Joker's seat as she spoke with him. The boisterous pilot was true to his nickname, always responding with some sarcastic comment, never taking even the most important of tasks seriously.
"I think the crew are finally warming up to the aliens," Shepard told him.
"Yeah, they're fine," Joker shrugged. "The quarian pops in sometimes to ask me questions about the control tech. She seems all right. And the turian pops in from time to time too."
"Garrus? Really?" Shepard asked. "Why?"
"What, someone can't stop in to talk to me without an ulterior motive? Why are you here commander? If it's to hit on me, I'll just meet you in your cabin later."
She rolled her eyes. "I'm just surprised is all. Not because it's you. Just because Garrus spends so much time down in the cargo bay working on the mako."
"Yeah, he was asking me about that, but I told him I didn't know anything about it. Ships are my specialty. Then he just sat around for a bit shooting the shit. Seems like a nice guy. Never thought I'd say that about a turian."
"He seems all right," Shepard agreed. "I like him."
"He stopped by yesterday and mentioned that you and the krogan still aren't speaking."
Shepard sighed. "He could have strangled me. I'm just still a little sour about the way he reacted to my choices."
"Come on, commander. You're a Spectre. You don't avoid conversations because you're being petty. If that were true then apparently, I never saw you rip Pressly a new one last week for saying something shady about the turian."
"I hear your point," Shepard said. "I'll go and talk to Wrex."
"Hey, I'm not telling you to do anything, I'm only saying."
"You're always 'only saying'," she told him. "I'll see you later, Joker. Try not to crash the ship."
"No promises, commander. It's hard to surf the extranet and drive at the same time."
She left the bridge and headed down the stairs to the elevator. The fact that she hadn't spoken to Wrex since their altercation wasn't only her fault. She'd been down to the cargo bay every day to check on Garrus and Tali, and Ash if she was there, but Wrex had actively avoided talking to her, or outright ignored her.
She decided she wasn't going to give him the option this time. When the elevator doors opened on the cargo bay, she moved toward Wrex like a panther stalking its prey.
Garrus was bent over the mako, tinkering with something, while Wrex leaned against the wheel reading a book. Garrus didn't see or notice her until she was upon them. She slammed her boot against Wrex's chest, thrusting him against the mako and causing the vehicle to shake. Garrus spilled off the precarious ledge he'd been standing on and fell to the floor.
"What…?" he looked around, bewildered.
Wrex grabbed Shepard's leg and pulled her onto her back.
"You want to do this again, Shepard? You won't win."
She pushed herself back up quickly. Taking the typical approach wouldn't work with Wrex. Citing her commander status, captain of the ship, Council Spectre, it all meant nothing to him. She had to keep that in mind.
"I made a decision," she yelled. "You can disagree with that decision, that's your prerogative, but it was my decision to make. I don't have to answer to you for it. If I turn out to be wrong, I'll be the first one volunteering to put me to the gallows, believe me. But until then, you need to air your grievances and move on. I'm not playing this game with you, Wrex. You're a strong soldier, and I'd like to call you my friend. Whether or not that happens is up to you."
The krogan glared at her for a moment, then he grumbled and threw his book down. "Fine. I can agree to call a truce," he held his hand out. She reached to shake it and he yanked her down to the ground again. "Sorry, last time, I promise."
She couldn't help but let out a little laugh as she slowly pushed herself to her feet. "All right. We're good?"
"We're good, Shepard," he grunted.
Garrus walked with her away from where Wrex sat, near the large door that allowed access out of the cargo bay upon landing.
"Good thinking, Shepard. Krogan respond well to brute force."
"Glad you approve," she laughed.
"It's been nice having you drop in for these little debriefs," he told her. "Wrex has always got his nose in his book and even when he doesn't, you can imagine that a krogan isn't the best company to keep."
"Well, I like checking in on everyone," Shepard shrugged. "It's important to me that I get to know my crew. Before I was running the Normandy, I kind of kept to myself a lot…didn't try to get to know anyone. I prefer it this way."
"Have you been getting any rest since we left Noveria?" he asked.
"Some," she nodded. "Probably not as much as I should."
"Well, if you ever need to talk…" he left the sentence hanging.
"Sure," she smiled. "I'm going to go check in on Tali, I'll see you later."
When rounds were done, she had to finish her log on the mission on Noveria. It was taking her forever to get it written up. Paperwork was one of the less glamorous side effects of being a commander and a Spectre. It was hard to pass the buck to someone else, since a lower crewman couldn't exactly type up what they hadn't experienced.
She found herself drifting asleep at her terminal in her office as she typed, so instead of finishing the report, she laid down and took a much-needed nap.
When Shepard awoke, she wasn't sure what time it was, but something compelled her to go down to the cargo bay. She didn't want to work on her report again, and a chat with Garrus might help pass the time instead. She took the ladder down through the med bay and was greeted to the sound of gunfire halfway down. Sliding down the rest of the way, she rushed to see what was happening, only to find Garrus showing Liara how to aim a gun. The wall behind the mako was littered with bullets, and used thermal clips were strewn about behind the two aliens. Wrex, Kaidan, Ash, Tali, and half of the engineering team stood behind them, drinking beer and shouting words of encouragement or derision, depending on Liara's aim.
"What is going on?" Shepard demanded.
They all turned and stared at her. Ash and Liara both looked mortified, but Garrus just shrugged.
"I figured you wouldn't mind. I wanted to teach Liara how to aim so she can protect herself better when her biotics cut out."
Shepard stared at the wall, full of tiny holes where the bullets had impacted. It looked like a pock-marked face.
"Joker will mind," she sighed. "But you're right, I don't. It's just a wall. There's ten layers of steel behind it. Here, Liara, let someone who can actually shoot show you how it's done."
"Excuse me?" Garrus bristled. "Is that a challenge?"
"I would say yes, but there's not going to be anything challenging about it for me." Shepard grabbed her gun from her storage locker.
"That's it, Shepard, you asked for it."
"These targets won't do," she said, pointing to the empty beer bottles lined up beside the mako. "Stationary targets aren't going to be hard for either of us. We need something mobile."
Wrex belched and held up an armful of beer cans. "I'll throw 'em, you shoot 'em."
"Sounds good. What does the winner get?" Garrus asked.
"Fifty credits?" Shepard suggested.
"What kind of stakes are those? Winner gets 200 credits!" Kaidan yelled.
The engineers were whispering with the others, exchanging handshakes and nodding. Kaidan turned and said something to one of them and then they shook hands.
"You better be betting on me, then, Kaidan," Shepard told him.
"Wouldn't dream of betting against you, Shep."
"I'm betting on Garrus," Tali said. "Shepard is a good shot, but Garrus is better."
"I'd bet on Garrus too," Wrex said.
"You can't bet on anyone if you're throwing the targets. You have to be impartial!" Shepard chided.
"Yeah, yeah. Who's up first?"
Garrus stepped forward and readied his gun. Wrex hefted a beer can, then another, and another, quickly in succession. Garrus hit each one without a miss and sent them whizzing to the ground. He stepped back with a smirk and leaned against the mako.
"Your turn, Shepard."
Shepard stepped up and, just as Garrus had, managed to shoot all three beer cans seemingly without effort.
"That was child's play," she said.
"Agreed. We need more of a challenge."
"I've got it!" Tali jumped up and tapped on her omni-tool, releasing a defense drone into the cargo bay. The blue sphere hovered around as Tali controlled it, urging it up above Shepard and Garrus. "You have to shoot the drone down. First one to knock it out wins."
"That could be fun," Garrus nodded.
Tali positioned the drone several yards away from them, hovering near the edge of the cargo bay. "On my count. One…two…three…GO!"
Shepard and Garrus both fired off a shot at the drone, but Tali moved it quickly. It zipped across the cargo bay and they fired again but as quickly as it they had shot, it was gone again, rushing toward the weapons rack. They fired, leaving a few dents in the wall, but missing the drone. Several of the engineers ducked out of the way as the guns went off.
"Steer it away from us, Tali!"
Tali giggled and hiccupped. "Sorry."
She sent the drone trailing off toward engineering. A string of bullets left their wake in the wall above the elevator, but the drone remained unscathed. It dipped low, they missed, it sped to the ceiling, they missed. Their shots were always within centimeters of each other, but neither of them could keep up with the quarians' speedy little drone. It probably didn't help that Tali was tipsy, making the drone move more erratically than it might normally.
After several rounds and dozens of dispensed thermal clips, it became less about the competition and more about the fact that everyone was having a great time watching the ship's two most experienced soldiers run after a defense drone like dogs after a bone, but Shepard and Garrus were oblivious. They were too caught up in winning.
Shepard was sweating by that point, desperate to bring down the drone and show up the turian sharpshooter. The drone was flitting around faster than a geth hopper, and those were no easy task to bring down.
Suddenly, the drone dipped behind the mako. The two of them ran for it, colliding and tripping into one another. They fell to the floor behind the massive vehicle and out of sight of the rest of the crew, Garrus sprawled on top of Shepard.
The first thing Shepard noticed was his considerable weight, heavy on her chest. He pushed himself up on his elbows and for a moment their faces hovered close to one another, his bright blue eyes staring down at her. Had they always been so brilliantly, beautifully blue? She felt her breath catch, a sudden tension between them she hadn't been aware of.
But as quickly as she noticed it, it was gone. The drone hovered directly behind Garrus and he couldn't see it because he was still pushing himself up off of her. She brought her gun up and shot it. It gave a sputtering noise and flickered out.
Garrus spun around quickly and then turned to glare at Shepard. "That's not fair!"
"It's fair. I shot it. I win. You owe me 200 credits," she stood up and folded her arms over her chest.
"I couldn't see it. We fell…"
She clapped a hand on his back and tried not to think about the moment. "Just think of it this way, Garrus. If we had fallen on the battle field and that drone had been a geth, I would have saved your life. You can thank me later."
They emerged from behind the mako and all eyes were on them.
"Which one of you shot it?" Liara asked.
"Shepard did," Garrus grumbled.
"Thanks a lot, Garrus! You just lost me a hundred credits," Tali growled.
"Well I'm out 200 if it's any consolation," the turian sighed, bringing up his omni-tool and transferring the credits to Shepard. "Maybe you should stick around and show Liara how to shoot, Shepard."
"I would, but I really need to finish my report on Noveria. You're the next best shot on the ship, you can do it just fine," she grinned at him.
"We both know I'm the best shot and in a fair match I would have won."
"You keep telling yourself that."
"Come on, commander. You aren't gonna stay and have a drink with us?" Ash asked, holding out a beer to her.
She looked between the crew and the ladder back up to the med bay. She supposed one drink couldn't hurt. After all, half the crew had been harping on her to get some rest and relaxation, hadn't they?
A/N: Another short one, but fun to write. Hope you enjoyed it!