Shepard and her crew had arrived at Tuchanka. The hot, barren planet was not for the faint-hearted unless one loves facing down changing Krogan, wild Varren and Thresher Maws. Mordin, the chatty Salarian doctor had been given information that his former student had been captured by a clan on Tuchanka, he had asked for Shepard's help in rescuing his student.
Shepard wasn't one for masses of people in her crew to go on missions with her, they drew too much attention and could be harder to command when under fire. She stuck to a rule of two unless the mission demanded more. She knew Tutchanka was a hostile planet, but two other crew members would be fine to go with. Mordin would be the obvious first choice, it was his student after all.
The second was the one she was currently knocking on their door for. "Enter," the deep voice rumbled. Shepard entered the aired Life Support room and looked at the Drell sitting at his usual place, facing the drive core with his hands clasped together. "Do you need something?" he asked in his usual cold tone, Shepards spine froze in doubt.
"I-I was wondering if you'd like to join me on the mission to Tuchanka? I thought the dry air might help your lungs?" Shepard had been doing research into Kepral's Syndrome, she knew there was no cure. But there were many treatments that could help slow its progression or destroy the bacteria if in the early stages. It seemed Thane didn't care for any of them.
"My arms are yours, Commander. If you'd ask me to swim in an ocean to kill someone, I shall do so with no hesitation." Shepard felt herself nearly fall to her knees, she'd never put the life of her crew on the line if she could help it. Thane would be the very last person she'd force into an ocean, she'd rather throw the Normandy in it. Thane didn't look at her as he spoke, the words were hollow and had little emotion to them.
"Thane..." she said with some pain in her voice. He turned to look at her, the dark green iris inside his black eyes studied her. He could see the pain in her eyes, she didn't like his words, even if they were true. "I don't work like that, you are here to help another species. If you asked to leave, I would ask where you'd like us to drop you off, don't think I would force you in harm's way if I could help it."
Thane wasn't sure how to reply, he never worked with another species before, nor been led by one either. Humans were a species he found fascinating, the most diverse out of all others, but Shepard was different from all other humans he had met before, and he could remember them all. "I... understand, Commander," he simply said before turning around.
"Okay, good. I'll get Edi to give you a shout when we are ready to go," Shepard said as she left the room. She was usually used to giving a goodbye before she left, but it didn't seem to bother Thane if she'd leave halfway through a conversation. She walked out of the room and looked around the hallway before looking up to the comms speaker in the far corner by the men's bathroom. "Edi," she called the ships AI.
"Yes, Commander?" the feminine robot replied. Shepard had grown to trust Edi, even though she knew the AI was forced to spy on the crew by the Illusive Man, but Shepard couldn't care less. She only worked with Cerberus to defeat the Collectors, that is all.
"Could you send me any and all information you can find about Drell?" Shepard was unsure of why she wanted to know more about the species, but she wished to figure that man out. He frustrated her with his calm, but cold attitude.
"Of course, Shepard. I will send them to your private inbox in your cabin. Logging you out." Shepard smiled at the floor, happy the AI could help her. The extranet could have worked just as well, but it would be less helpful than what an AI could find. She looked at the time, they were close to landing, it was time to get ready to depart for their mission.
The mission went well, even with the ending being completely different to what anyone expected. Mordin's student, Maelon, had not been kidnapped or killed. He was working for the rival Krogan clans to cure the Genophage, a bioweapon used to drop the fertility rate of all Krogan. Created by the Salarians, but deployed by the Turians, it stopped the Krogan Rebellions, but also caused Krogan to turn violent to nearly all over races.
Maelon wanted to help the Krogan and Shepard knew that, but the live test subjects and murders were not worth it for a cure. Mordin was close to killing Maelon, but Shepard convinced him otherwise; they let the young Salarian go and kept his data. Maybe a cure could come in the future, Shepard hoped so.
This mission was the first Thane had been on with Shepard, she was apprehensive to fight alongside him. She thought he would do it his own way and stay in the shadows and just snap necks, but he didn't. He thought right by her side and watched her six at all times, he followed commands to the T, and had some of the best sniping skills she had ever seen. The Drell would certainly give Garrus a run for his money.
They had returned to Normandy, Shepard wanted to go over the data Edi had found for her, but Chambers had informed her that Grunt was down in his room causing trouble and breaking stuff. Shepard went to see what was wrong, the Krogan said he was sick, even though he didn't look ill. Edi and Shepard both thought it was best to see Wrex, the leader of the biggest clan on Tuchanka to see what sickness Grunt might have.
Wrex could be trusted, he helped stop Saren and was a life-long friend to Shepard after that. The ship was now quiet, the night shift rolling around. Grunt would have to wait till the morning before they could return.
Shepard had cooped herself in her cabin with some hot tea and snacks, sleep didn't come easily to her. The nightmares of what happened on the SR1 haunted her most nights, she could still remember fighting for the smallest bit of air. She wakes up most nights scraping at her neck and drenched in her own sweat.
Edi had sent over all the information she could find about Drell, they had been downloaded to datapads and left on the coffee table in her cabin. Shepard took a sip of her warm tea, sighing happily at the warm liquid. She leaned over and picked up the first datapad and sat back with her feet up on her table.
The first datapad went into detail about the biological side of Drell. They typically lived for eighty-five years but could be longer if they lived most of their lives in a dry area. They are known to resemble humans and Asari, but their muscles were much denser, giving them nearly double the strength of a fully grown human male. They had two sets of eyelids, the inner lid was milky-white in colour and closed sideways. The outer lid was black and closed up and down. They are able to cry just like humans and Asari.
Their reproductive organs are the same as humans, and they reproduce just the same as humans. But pregnancy in Drell is much shorter than in humans, with pregnancy only lasting six months.
Shepard spent a while reading the first datapad, learning all she could on their eidetic memory. The second datapad was about their religions. Drell had many different regions, the older ones are not as popular as the Hanar's, which most Drell now follow. She read each one in detail, finding them fascinating.
The reading took her deep into the night, Shepard shook herself awake when the fifth datapad in her hand fell to her chest. She shook her head and looked at the omni-clock on her bedside table, it was nearly 3 am. Shepard threw the datapad to the side and stretched her back out. The hours of sitting down had taken their toll on her spine.
She decided to get some more tea from the mess hall, she hoped it would be empty. Shepard was not in the mood to speak to anyone, she just wanted her tea and returned to her room for the remainder of the night.
The lift stopped on deck three, she looked down the hall, finding none of the doors opened or any lights on. She walked around the back of the lift to the main mess hall and took a beeline to the kitchen. As Shepard dug around for her teabags, she heard movement from behind her, she quickly turned around to see who was there.
"Hello?" she said in a low tone, her gaze landed on the figure sitting on the furthest table, his pitch-black eyes with a shade of green blinked at her.
"Good evening, Commander," Thane said as he got up from his seat. Shepard looked around the room before coming closer to him, he was wearing his usual leather jeans, but his normal jacket and shirt were replaced with a baggy top, she didn't think Thane would own such type of clothing.
"Wow, you do wear normal clothes," she joked as she turned away to get her tea ready. "You want some tea?"
"I assure you, Commander. I own... normal clothes. My leather clothing helps with breathing during missions." Thane walked up behind her and placed his cup next to hers. "Yes, please," he quietly added.
Shepard filled their cups and added four sugars to her own. She offered Thane some, but he politely declined. They both stirred their cups and then took a seat at the dinner table. "So," Shepard started as she took a quick sip, "why are you up so late?"
"I find it... hard to sleep all night long. I like to wake up several times," he explained. "I would like to know why you are not asleep, but the amount of sugar in your tea is the most likely answer." Shepard scoffed at him, she knew she drank too much tea and coffee with sugar, but she also found it helpful towards her mental health when she drank it.
"I struggle to sleep most nights, definitely since my... awakening. But the sugar and tea help my mental state if you must really know." Thane didn't change his calm demeanour, he just bowed his head at her. They both sat in silence as they slowly drank their tea, Shepard looked around the room as Thane just stared at her.
"May I ask you a question, Commander?" Shepard nodded as she placed her cup between her hands. "What was the feeling when you faced your death?" Shepard raised her brows to him in surprise. "You do not have to answer if you wish not to."
"No, it's not that," she said, waving her hands at him. "I've just never been asked that, I think about it a lot and wish I could actually tell someone. But if you really want to know, at first I didn't think I would die. I thought I'd just float around and Joker would steer his pod to me, I don't know. I just didn't think death would be a thing to take me at that moment." She shook her head as she looked down at the warm tea she hugged with both hands. "I then felt my oxygen escaping from the backflow of my helmet. I tried to clasp the hole, but the panic had already set in and I couldn't do anything."
"What was the last thing you remember?" he asked, now fully intrigued. Shepard looked at the table, thinking as she tried to remember.
"I think it was how the hell the galaxy was going to handle dealing with the Reapers without me." Shepard feared that most, she was the future fighter for when the Reapers arrived and she had to keep herself alive for that.
Thane nodded, understanding that would be a big fear. Shepard downed the rest of her drink and looked down at the empty cup. "I should try and get some sleep, did you wanna come with me and Grunt tomorrow?" Thane got up from his seat, taking his own and Shepard's cups to the sink to clean and put away. "Thank you," she called as tucked her chair in.
"I would like to go with you, it was... nice to be on such a warm planet." Shepard nodded with a smile. She was glad she would help him feel a little bit more comfortable, they both ended up pausing as they stared at each other. Thane could feel his eyes stripping Shepard down to her core, and she did the exact same.
"Goodnight, Thane," she says as she turns to leave.
"Goodnight, Commander," he replies, staying behind to finish his cleaning. The warm water was soothing to his heated skin, he felt hot from the stare off he just had with his Commander.
