Thane was up again at 7 am, the noises outside his room were loud enough to wake him. The crew was getting up for their morning shifts, so he decided to get some tea and see what was available for breakfast.
He had changed back into a clean set of his usual clothing, this time going with a red leather tight shirt and matching black jacket that had red stripes down the sides of his arms. He made sure his collar was neat and presentable. Keeping himself immaculate was something that was important to Thane, he cared very much about personal hygiene and his sense of style.
The mess hall was busy with most of the crew lining up to get their bacon and eggs from Garnder, their cook. Thane decided to just grab a steaming cup of herbal tea and eat a little later on. Garrus and Tali were sitting together, he noticed them and bowed in greetings.
"Thane!" Tali waved him from the counter he currently stood by. "Come sit with us," she says cheerfully. Thane didn't really want to, but not wanting to seem rude he decided to do so and sat across from Garrus, a chair space between him and Tali.
"I have barely seen you since you've come aboard," Garrus comments as he eats his own dextro breakfast. It looked mostly like slop on a plate, some sort of porridge.
"I like to spend most of my time alone, I am quite acquainted with doing so," he replies as he sips his drink. Tali leaned into the table, turning to properly see him.
"How are you settling in?" Thane hadn't really settled in yet, he was still getting used to being around so many people at once.
"Quite well, the crew are very welcoming." Thane didn't lie, everyone spoke to him and wanted to know lots of things about Drell and him as a person, he was very vague about it though.
Tali was about to ask another question but she caught how quickly Thane changed his expression when Shepard had come down for her morning coffee. She waved at them as she passed, quickly making conversation with Gardner at the small kitchen.
Garrus cleared his throat, then sent a soft vibration of his subvocals to Thane. The Drell quickly looked at him, it seemed Garrus had picked up on Thane's own subvocals. Turians were known for their oddly good hearing. Tali watched the exchange between the two, she could tell they were using their subvocals. Thane's neck was rumbling as Garrus's mandibles were tight against his cheeks.
"What's wrong with them two?" Shepard asked as she watched the whole exchange from the end of the table. Both males quickly stopped and looked at her. She sat down between Thane and Tali, her shoulder brushing against Thane's chest.
"Nothing is wrong, Shepard," Garrus answered. He grabbed his plate and left the table, though he gave a small warning glare at Thane as he did. Thane knew it wasn't jealousy that Garrus was angry about it, he warned Thane not to hurt her as they both spoke their different language.
"Well, that was odd," Shepard comments as she drinks her coffee and turns to look at Thane, he narrowed his eyes but smiled slightly at her. "Are you ready to go soon?"
"Yes, Commander," he replies. He gets up and also returns to his room. Shepard looked at Tali, now fully lost about what was going on with the two.
"Did I miss something?" she asks as she scratches the back of her neck. Tali giggles and nods.
"Garrus caught Thane watching you, they both started arguing with their subvocals." Shepard's eyes widened, she didn't even notice Thane staring at her. She wouldn't mind, she had been craving the man's attention for some time and she didn't know why. He excited her and his cold, but calm stance gave her the challenge to unravel him.
"I wonder why they argued. Quarians can't understand subvocals can they?" Tali shook her head, she could only tell if she concentrated on their necks or body language.
"Only Drell, Turians and Krogan can use subvocals. Salarians have their own, but that's even harder to hear. I believe humans have the worst with your multiple languages." Shepard snorted into her drink, language barriers weren't a thing anymore with translators.
"Good thing we invented translators then," she joked. No other species were known to speak as many languages as humans, they all understood each other with no problem. But humans had languages like English, German, French and many others to deal with. Though, since translators have been given to all humans, language barriers were a thing of the past.
The mission to help Grunt turned into a conversation with Wrex to them fighting the horrid animals of Tuchanka. The Thresher Maw they took down was the talk of the clan, it seemed Grunt was now welcomed as Urdnot Grunt.
Thane had actually enjoyed the fight, he killed many animals before but never a Varren. He did find himself disconcerted when his eyes would drift to Shepard on the battlefield, the woman was an artist with her battling. But also a great distraction.
Grunt was now much better, just a case of puberty and needing to kill something big was the answer to their problems. Shepard had just finished seeing if he was okay, the Krogan was bouncing in happiness and couldn't wait to kill some collectors.
Thane heard the knock at his door, deciding to get up and answer it, he nearly walked straight into Shepard as she walked forward to the opening doors. "My apologies, Commander. I was not paying attention," he says as he moves to the side.
"It's okay, I wasn't either. You got a minute?" Thane moves to the side to let her enter, but they both stopped when Edi's hologram popped up on the corner terminal.
"Commander, the Illusive Man has requested to see you as soon as possible." Shepard looked at the ceiling, sighing as she looked at Thane was defeated in her eyes.
"Fine, tell him I will be there in a minute." She looks back at Thane as Edi's hologram disappears. "Come with me if you'd like, I need moral support when dealing with that asshole," she joked. Thane coughed back a chuckle, he nodded and let her lead the way to the lift.
"I was just coming to check if you were okay, I wouldn't have asked you to come if I knew we were fighting damn Thresher Maw," she scoffed under her breath. Thane chuckled slightly but quickly masked it as clearing his throat. Shepard noticed but didn't show it as she offered just a casual smile.
"I enjoyed the mission, though I find Krogan hard to be around. They are not very informative on personal space." More than once Thane had to stop himself from killing Krogans that got way too close to him. He kept telling himself they were known for being close faced to others and he was there to help Grunt, not go around killing innocent Krogan.
Shepard chuckled, the lift was coming to a stop, "you get used to it. Wrex was like that in the old Normandy, I learned to live with." Thane moved to the side to let Shepard exit first, they both then walked side-by-side to the comms room that was between the lab room and armoury. Jacob had decided to invite himself to the meeting and was waiting outside for them both.
"Shepard... Krios," he mumbles as he glares at the Drell. Thane wasn't bothered in the slightest, he could snap the guy's neck without even blinking and that was enough for him to bite back the smug smile and offer a small bow in greetings.
"Guessing you wanna know what our loving boss has for us this time?" Shepard sarcastically asked as they all walked inside. Edi locked the door behind them, making sure no one just aimlessly walked in.
"I guess, though, why is he here?" he asked, waving his hand at Thane. Shepard had walked to the edge of the table, typing in the command codes for the table to lower and the communicator set up. Thane stood at one side of her as Jacob stood at the other.
"I invited him," she bluntly says. She steps over the table and lets the scanner bring her over to the Illusive Man's office, though it's nothing more than a holo of her body. Jacob and Thane would be able to hear the conversation, but the Illusive Man couldn't hear anything unless it's inside the scanning holo.
"Shepard, nice to see you again," he says as he smokes the cigarette in his hand. Sitting in his tiny, metal chair. "We've gotten the signal of a deactivated Collector ship, this is our chance to figure out how they used the Omega 4 Relay to be safe to travel. You need to board and find out."
Shepard leaned on her hip, not buying that some random Collector ship was just floating in space when any number of pirates or slavers would take it for pickings. "How did it deactivate?"
"The Turians destroyed the ship and crew. They've currently not been made aware of this on Palavan, we are feeding them garbage data. You need to board before we let them retake the vessel." He smokes another puff and taps his foot on his overly polished floor.
"What happened to the Turians who attacked the ship? They would still be there, correct?" The Illusive Man narrowed his eyes at her, but nodded and sighed before answering.
"Yes, if they were still alive. You must go," he says as he ends the call. Not letting Shepard ask another question. Thane waited for her to fully step out from the holo before giving his input.
"This does not sound correct, Commander. I believe this may be a trap." Jacob chuckled under his breath, getting Shepard's attention.
"Problem?" she asks, raising a brow as she moves closer to Thane. Jacob looks at them both, before shaking his head and looking at the floor. "What I thought, tell Joker to get us to the downed ship asap. I want Garrus to meet me and Thane at the shuttle ten minutes before we leave.
"You are going to take him?" Jacob asks, he quickly changes his tone when Shepard's eyes flare with a warning.
"Watch yourself, Jacob. I will take whoever the hell I want. Dismissed," she says as she leans against the table. Jacob huffs but leaves with a stomp in his step.
"I believe he does not like me," Thane comments.
"Eh, fuck him. I don't like him, I think the Illusive Man put him on the ship so I would sleep with him, get some sort of tie into Cerberus." Thane hitched his breath at the thought of Shepard sleeping with someone, he covered his mouth with his fist but nodded in agreement.
"I believe that would be the likely scenario." Shepard yawned after that, it had been a long day and she wanted a nap before they got to the Collector ship.
"I'm going to get some sleep, I'll get Edi to let you know when we are close." They both walk back out to the hallway, Thane had decided to go visit Mordin, he had a question for the Salarian.
"Very well, sleep well, Commander," he says as he turns and walks away. Shepard watches him walkway, her eyes drifting to his ass.
"Pull yourself together," she mumbled and scurried away to her cabin.
