Why me, anyway? Everything is riding on this. Spirits, talk about chucking a guy in at the deep end. What makes them so damn sure I won't fail?

"Garrus.."

..can I really do this?

"Hello? Palaven to Garrus!"

A swift shove to his shoulder jolted him from his thoughts, his ears instantly flooded with pounding techno music and the nonsensical chatter emanating from a sea of voices all around. The room shifted back into focus, including the faces of the turians sat opposite him, both watching him expectantly. "Hmm? Sorry, lost myself there for a minute."

"Yeah, no shit," his friend snorted. "What's going on with you tonight? Did you even hear what I said?"

"Uhh.. no," said Garrus, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry, Rae. What were you saying?"

"Spirits, you're hopeless," he huffed, rolling his hawk-like, yellow eyes. "Chellick and I were just discussing what it's gonna be like sharing a ship with humans. What do you think?"

Garrus huffed out a breath and slumped back against the seat, looking out amongst the crowd. Flux was packed tonight. There were people from almost every race in Citadel space, all come to celebrate something or other. A group of C-Sec Officers hovering by the bar, come to enjoy a well earned beer after clocking out for the day. A turian and asari tucked away in the far corner enjoying a little privacy; their beaming smiles and longing, stolen glances revealing how they feel, while the distance between them suggested that neither had braved the first move yet.

Surveying around, his gaze drifted to a booth across the way. It was cram packed with Alliance soldiers, all of them whooping and hollering, clinking their drinks together in cheers. Making the most of their shore leave after another successful mission, no doubt. Only a few decades ago, they would have been celebrating wiping out a branch of turian forces, just as his kind would have been doing after taking down yet another Alliance squadron. But.. there was peace now. For the most part, at least. Watching them, they didn't seem so different. Yet, they were still so.. alien. "..honestly? I have no idea," he said finally, looking back at his friends. "It's gonna be interesting, that's for sure."

"That's one way of putting it," Rae smirked. "Do you know if there'll be many on the crew?"

Good question..

At that, he opened up his Omni-Tool and sought the datafile he was looking for, whirring with a ponderous hum as he browsed through a list of unfamiliar names he was yet to put faces to. "Looks like it's a pretty even split amongst the CIC crew," he mused, scrolling through each name and role in turn. "Then there's the pilot.. three engineers.. a couple of fighters, the shuttle pilot and the medic."

"Engineers, eh? You don't happen to have any photos or anything, do you?"

"..no, Rae," he said flatly. "Surprisingly, the Alliance only forwarded me their dossiers. Not their dating profiles."

"That's a shame."

"..did you see a 'Lucy' on the list, Garrus?"

Oh, spirits. Here we go..

The question he'd been dreading since he first learned who'd be joining his new crew. Chellick had met Lucy during a stint of shore leave here a few years back. He fell for her. Badly. Spoke about her for the longest time afterwards, although pining was probably a better word for it. She'd told him she was Alliance so, once this project started, Chellick had always hoped that they might be reunited when the time came. Admittedly, a part of Garrus had too, for his friend's sake.

"Uh.. no, I didn't," he muttered, clearing his throat. "Sorry, Chellick. I checked a couple of times, just to be sure."

Disappointed, Chellick hung his head while the quiet keen of his subvocals trickled through the music. Damn, this was uncomfortable. Garrus never had been good with these kinds of situations. Rubbing the back of his neck, he huffed out a slow, tentative breath, unsure if anything he could say right now would soothe his friend's troubles. Luckily for him, however, Raelus swooped in to save the day like an angel with ebony plates. "Don't worry, Chellick," he said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Garrus is a Spectre now. Maybe he can find something that'll help us track her down.."

"I can do that," Garrus nodded. "I can't guarantee I'll find anything but, once we ship out and the dust has settled, I'll be sure to look into it. I'll speak to Nih too, see what he can dig up."

"Thanks, Garrus."

"There we go, see?" Raelus chirped, nudging Chellick's side. "And you never know.. maybe you'll meet a nice little human on this new crew that'll make you forget all about it. Who knows.. could be one for Garrus too."

Spirits, not this crap again. He had nothing against humans per se, he just wasn't remotely attracted to them. They may have formidable soldiers amongst their ranks but, they're still so squishy and fragile in comparison to his own kind. He liked to fuck a woman long and hard, until she can't see straight. Can't really do that with the worry of accidentally tearing them to pieces.

"Yeah.. I'll pass, thanks."

"Hey, don't knock it 'til you try it," Raelus shrugged. "I think you'd be pleasantly surprised."

Not a chance. There's about as much likelihood of that day coming to pass as Garrus waking up one day to find he'd magically turned into a volus. "Riiight," he droned. "And on that note.. I'm gonna head off."

"..you can't stay for another round?"

"Sorry, Chellick. I better not. Still got far too much to do before we ship out tomorrow."

"Someone's flustered," Raelus snickered.

"Very funny," he drawled. "Just don't stay out too late, alright? I'll see you both in the morning. Docking Bay 19, 0700 sharp."

It came out more authoritative than intended, and it wasn't lost on them. Looking to one another, they grinned and straightened up in their seats, offering him the most over exaggerated turian salute he'd ever seen. "Understood, Captain!" they hollered, scarily in sync.

"Idiots."

Shaking his head tiresomely, he carefully slid out of the booth and got to his feet, electing to ignore their tipsy, shit-eating grins. After chirping his farewells, he turned to take his leave, halting in his tracks when he heard Chellick calling out to him. "Hey, Garrus.. what did you say the ship was called again?"

He glanced back over his shoulder, a wicked, knowing grin spreading across his face. "The Normandy," he said.