.
Loyalty and Limerence
Part 1
Chapter 5
Therum
"Another one bites the dust." Jane's low voice carried through Garrus' com from where she had positioned herself a ways off from his location. He could almost hear her smirk, and he snorted. Ahead of him, a geth's body dropped to the ground moments after it's head exploded from the force of her shot.
The two of them were clearing any geth responding as the Commander, Ashley, and Wrex were searching for the gate controls to allow them to pass through with the Mako as they continued their search for Liara T'Soni.
"That one was easy, at least aim for a moving target next time." Garrus shot back at her as he lined up his next shot. He could hear Ashley's exasperated sigh as their back and forth continued, geth dropping where they stood.
"Oh my god, you two." Ashely finally broke over the com as they left the structure, gates now open. "We get it, you both have huge dicks. Can you stop waving them around for just a few minutes?" A crack rang out and the last geth fell before Jane stood from where she'd been crouching, holstering her sniper rifle. Even from where Garrus stood he could see her pleased expression.
"Okay, so long as we all acknowledge mine is the biggest." Came her response as she turned with a roll of her shoulder. This elicited a crow of laughter from Wrex, who was already making his way back to the Mako. Ashley turned and shared a labored look with Shepard before they followed the krogan. Garrus heard more than felt himself laugh, all the while trying to remember everything he'd ever been taught about human anatomy. He was at least 90% positive that human females didn't have a penis. Okay, maaaybe 85%.
"Knock it off, guys. Focus." Shepard's admonishment cut the chatter instantly. As they all piled back into the armored vehicle, Shepard took the wheel and they found their seats. After a moment, Jane pulled out her omni-tool, and Garrus heard a quiet ping as a small, new display box popped up in his visor's field of vision.
-Kill Count-
[GV: 10]
[JS: 12]
Letting loose a good natured but put-upon sigh, Garrus decided to ignore it for the time being. The mission wasn't over yet, and there was still time to win their bet.
Hours later, they sat in chairs arranged around the Normandy's com room. Across the room, their newcomer, Liara T'Soni, still looked a bit shell shocked after the events of their escape from the ruins. Garrus couldn't blame her, it had been quite a fight followed by quite a flight. None of them had gotten out of it entirely unscathed, and he certainly felt the ache in his arm where he'd taken a particularly nasty hit. Looking over to his right, Jane sat back in her seat, her cheekbone adored with a quickly healing gash slathered in medi-gel. She looked over at him and winced as she tried to smile.
"How's it feeling?" Garrus asked, keeping a reign on his concerned sub vocals.
"Better. I should count myself lucky, not everyone gets away from a fist fight with a krogan with so little damage." He felt himself smile back at her, still marveling at her courage, standing up to a krogan's charge. Or perhaps her foolhardiness, he wasn't quite sure yet. After the krogan had charged her, she stood her own in the grapple for a few moments until the Commander had managed to toss him off her with a biotic throw.
"Are you worried it's going to scar at all?" Kaidan asked, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees to join their conversation from Jane's other side.
"Chakwas seems to think we got medi-gel on it quick enough that it will heal up fine with no scarring. Not that I'd mind either way, scars can be damn sexy. Isn't that right, Wrex?" She looked past Garrus to where Wrex sat, a grin on her face and a playfulness in her eyes that Garrus couldn't help but admire. There was something infectious about her confidence.
"Ha! This?" Wrex gestured to the scar bisecting his face, "This isn't even the worst of it. The ones you can't see are enough to make any krogan female's toes curl." While this got a few chuckles throughout the room, Garrus was surprised to hear the loudest laugh come from Ashley, who seemed just as surprised as he was to find herself laughing at the krogan's witticism.
The jokes and banter were cut off as John Shepard entered the room, his presence enough to straighten every back in their seats. Everyone sobered immediately as he got right to business, beginning the debrief without further ado. As he got to the end of the mission recap, Joker interrupted over the coms.
"- The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull." His voice was oozing sarcasm, and more than one pair of eyes in the room rolled. "Just for future reference." He finished after a moment. The casual, sarcastic wit seemed to shock the asari, Liara. Garrus wondered how she was going to settle in, and if her stay would be of any duration. Based on his experiences with the Normandy's crew thus far, a sense of humor seemed to be necessary.
Quickly, though, they brought the conversation around to the protheans, which seemed to be Liara's area of expertise. As soon as they got around to the topic of Eden Prime and the beacon, Garrus heard a soft scraping from the chair beside his, and he looked over to see Jane tense, her fingers digging into leg, her attention centered squarely on her brother. Thinking back to their first early morning conversation and her protective tone regarding the Commander and the beacon, he thought he understood. She must be worried about him and what the beacon had stuck in his head, which seemed obvious in retrospect. They were siblings, it seemed only natural. He'd feel the same way if something had happened to Solana, he was sure.
"We can talk again once you've seen the doctor. The rest of you… dismissed!" Shepard's dismissal pulled him out of his thoughts, and Garrus looked around as everyone else started to stand and leave. He started to follow but paused before heading through the door and turned to see if Jane was coming, only to see her step toward her brother.
"John," She started in a low voice, and Garrus took a few steps toward the door to give them space. He could still hear her, though, as she continued. "What's the plan now? Where are we heading?" Shepard crossed his arms, lowering his head as he contemplated the question.
"Well, we don't have any other solid leads at the moment, but the last time I received a message from the council, they led me to believe that they might have new information for me soon. I'm about to have Joker patch me through to them, so hopefully we will know more soon." They shared a look before Jane continued, her voice even quieter, softer.
"And how are you doing? Have the headaches lessened?" The corners of Shepard's lips curled into a gentle smile as he reached up to ruffle the top of Jane's head, mussing up her hair. She halfheartedly swatted his hand away, punching him lightly in the arm. "Stop that! I'm serious, I worry about you."
"Don't, I'm okay. Really. Go get some rest yourself. The ground team is off regular duty for the rest of the day to recuperate." Jane nodded and was about to turn to leave when Shepard caught her arm gently, but firmly. His eyes grew more serious all of a sudden. "One more thing, I almost forgot." His voice left behind the familiarity of her brother, instead picking up the cadences of Commander Shepard, her CO. "I get that you and Garrus are pals, but let's tone down the friendly pissing contest over the open com next time, understand? Today was a little unprofessional." Garrus turned quickly, making sure he was out of sight as shame and guilt flooded his face with heat.
"Sorry, John. It won't happen again." Jane's voice was subdued, filled with genuine chagrin and remorse. As they parted, Garrus could hear Jane's footsteps heading towards the door, and he hurried toward the stairs leading to the lower decks, not wanting to share in her discomfort should she discover they'd been overheard.
Later that evening found Garrus sitting around the mess hall table with a few other crew members currently off duty. They had been chatting, sharing stories and laughs, and Garrus imagined that Denorian beers would have fit into the scene nicely had it been something that was appropriate on an Alliance military vessel. He really wasn't sure how humans dealt with the stress of missions like this, there seemed to be very few ways to blow off steam. But it was nice to chat like this - interesting, too. They'd managed to get onto the topic of the Elysium Blitz, with people throwing questions at Shepard left and right. He took it good naturedly enough, though Garrus thought he could see a slight tightening in the corners of his eyes that meant… what exactly? He didn't seem angry, but perhaps a little exasperated. Like one would be with a child who meant well and yet seemed to make things more difficult.
"Okay, okay guys. I have some paperwork to finish up, so I'm going to turn in early. We're heading to a nearby system to investigate a signal Joker picked up, so take the next few days to rest up, make sure you're ready for whatever we find." With that, the Commander stood up and made his way to his cabin, waving goodnight. There was a moment of silence as the door hissed shut before quiet chatter started up again.
"Oh man, I can't even imagine how amazing that must have been to watch. I wonder if they will ever make a movie about the Blitz. I'd watch it!" The corporal next to him piped up with enthusiasm, belying his youth.
"I have no doubt they will. Probably in the works already." Garrus supplied, feeding the kid's imagination with a smile. "You're… Jenkins, right?"
"Yes, sir! Corporal Jenkins, at your service. I've heard all about you, Vakarian. It's super awesome to have a turian onboard, and an investigator at that!" Garrus raised a brow plate in amusement as the kid continued to gush his enthusiasm. "So… have you ever investigated a… murder?" Jenkin's voice dropped as he looked around, apparently cautious or embarrassed, Garrus couldn't say.
"Oh yeah, loads." Garrus drawled, leaning back in his seat, wracking his brain for some of the more gruesome ones he'd been involved with. With that, he dove into the explanation of a few of them, and within minutes the kid's eyes were wide, his mouth beginning to hang open slightly.
"Leave the poor corporal alone, Vakarian. I think you've scared him enough." Garrus felt his eyes shoot toward the red haired sniper as she sat down in the recently vacated seat across the table from himself. In the hours since they'd sat in the com room, the cut across her cheek had already healed substantially, though it was starting to bruise spectacularly. Human skin was so odd.
"Lieutenant." He couldn't help the pleasure in his sub vocals as he greeted her, indeed he hadn't even noticed them until the word was out of his mouth. Besides him, he heard an echo of his greeting from Jenkins. Jane nodded a greeting to the other man before her eyes focused on Garrus. She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms and a somewhat smug smile found its way onto her face.
"So. I won our little bet. 20 kills to 18. Very close, but not close enough I'm afraid."
"Well, the ruins caving in around us sort of put a damper on the fun."
"Okay, well, I have a proposition for you." Jane leaned forward, her elbows on the table, her odd five fingered hands interlacing before her. She let the words linger for a moment, waiting for him to bite.
"... And what might that be?" He refused to let her know exactly how interested he was, feigning casual curiosity as he reigned in his sub vocals. He crossed his ankles, leaning back.
"How about we extend our little game, and whoever accumulates the most kills before the next shore leave gets the other's drinks." Garrus felt his mandibles fall open in surprise at the proposition, but did his best to school his features. He smiled, trying to feign more confidence than he felt.
"You're on."
"Wonderful!" She grinned, slapping the table as she stood up. Looking down at him, she cocked her head to the side, her eyes hooded with an emotion he couldn't read. She looked almost feral as her smile turned sly. "Just so you know, I prefer whisky, and not the cheap stuff. So I hope you have some credits stashed away." With that, she spun to leave, her red locks swirling around her in the momentum of the move. She was gone before he could really even process that she'd been there at all.
"Heh, there's a hell of a set of quads on that one. Careful, Vakarian, I bet she can drink you broke." Wrex grunted from where he leaned against the wall nearby.
"Oh, man. She's something else, isn't she?" Garrus' eyes snapped back to the man next to him in surprise at the dreamy quality to his voice. Jenkins sighed happily as he leaned his elbow on the table, watching as Jane turned the corner toward the elevator.
"Corporal!" A voice cracked from the other side of Jenkins, causing his head to whip around. "That's no way to talk about a superior officer aboard this ship." Kaidan snapped, his eyes glinting with disapproval.
"Yes, Sir. No Sir! Sorry, Sir! I wasn't- I didn't!" Jenkins flustered as he shot up to attention, nearly knocking his chair over in his haste. "I'm so sorry, it will never happen again, Sir."
"Just get out of here, go find something useful to do."
"Yes, Sir. Sorry, Sir." With that, Jenkins hurried out of the room. Suddenly, Garrus realized who Jenkins reminded him of. He'd had a coworker back at C-Sec, a human who had occasionally brought his pet, an animal the humans called a 'dog', to the office to visit. It had been a baby, a 'puppy', and it had been all big-footed awkwardness and floppy-eared enthusiasm. It had licked everything and everyone, getting underfoot and running off with someone's boot. Jenkins reminded him of a troublesome puppy who needed an occasional telling off.
"Poor kid looked about ready to soil himself." Garrus couldn't keep the amusement out of his voice as he looked over at the still irritated lieutenant.
"He just- I don't know, she just deserves better than being talked about like that, ya know?" Garrus picked up his water bottle, raising it in toast to the other man's words with a nod of his head.
"Tell me about it." The disgust was evident in Ashley's voice as she sat down with a tray of food. "If I had a credit for every time I had to deal with misogynistic bullshit, I'd be a rich woman." They chatted a bit about the different experiences of the sexes in their respective militaries until Garrus heard a soft voice interrupt.
"Do you mind if I sit there?" Tali stood behind the seat vacated earlier by Jenkins, and he gestured to her to help herself. She'd mostly kept to herself since their departure from the Citadel, only seeming to leave the drive core at meal time and to sleep. But slowly she seemed to be opening up, which was good to see. She did seem awfully young to be setting out on such a mission, so he couldn't blame her hesitence.
"How's it going, Tali?" Garrus inquired, hoping to help put her at ease. She seemed more relaxed around him, as one of the other non-human crew members and the only other dextro species.
"I'm doing alright, thanks. Sorry I missed the action down on the ground, glad you all made it out okay."
"Yeah, it was a bit of a close call. But I'm sure you'll get a chance to experience your fair share of life threatening missions soon enough." He was happy to hear her chuckle at that. She had a tube of nutrient paste with her, and soon they were all chatting amicably, the conversation turning to her work down in Engineering. It was truly remarkable how knowledgeable she was about ships and engines.
At first, Shepard's team had seemed like a ragtag group. But the more he got to know them all, the more he realized how remarkable each member of the team was. Shepard had an eye for talent. He wondered idly for a moment if that would apply to his own talents, too. Suddenly, he felt very humbled and grateful to have been recruited by the Commander.