I'm very happy with all the views this story is getting. If you can find the time and motivation, please leave a review. Also, please keep in mind that English is not my native language. I'm not some English buff who knows everything about grammar, description or punctuation. I do hope you are entertained by this story. That, after all, is what this is all about. If you do have crit or suggestions, let me know and I will update my chapters to make them better. Again, thank you Deadalus! For now, enjoy!
Who doesn't love a good cross species romance?
Dani exited the common ladies showers in a fresh high buttoned tunic and crisp black pair of pants. Her hair was still partly wet so she had it clipped up so the wet locks wouldn't irk her. She carried her dirty laundry in a small container under her arm. She would see to it after meeting up with Tali and Liara.
A hand suddenly settled on her shoulder from behind her and she started with a fright. She whirled around and immediately backed away from the person who had touched her without invitation. Kaidan stared at her, his hand lifted as if still supported by her shoulder, and had an equally startled look in his eyes.
"Sorry," he began a bit hesitant. "I just saw you walking down the hallway and I – well, I wanted to say something. Didn't mean to startle you. Sorry. Again."
Dani relaxed, a bit, but kept her eyes trained on him. "I don't like it when people touch me without warning or my consent."
"Yeah, I get that. Listen, can I say something?"
She didn't answer, just kept staring at him cautiously. Kaidan rubbed his neck with his hand and looked down. "So, I wanted to thank you.
And apologize. I wasn't very welcoming when you got on board. I really thought you had no business being here. But then, the work you do. . .
Proves what I know, eh? Thank you." Kaidan finally raised his eyes to meet hers.
"That wetware? The bio-amp you upgraded for me? It's amazing. Don't know why you even bothered for me but, thank you, really. It's nice now the migraine attacks are not so intense. Or so often."
"Sure. I guess then I'm sorry too."
"You're sorry? For what?"
"Well," Dani said, her voice level and serious. "For calling you boring. Actually, for saying that one look at you would bore the geth to death."
Kaidan stared at her, mouth agape. "Are you serious?"
"Yes. You can ask Joker. I told him and now I feel bad for saying that. Well, I already did when Joker said you're not so bad and how you suffered from those implants. That's why I wrote that wetware. I didn't even know that . . . " Dani suddenly stopped talking. She had absolutely nothing in common with Kaidan.
He already thought she was strange, no need to strengthen those beliefs.
He scratched his head looking at her and Dani felt like he was trying to dissect her or something. Trying to figure out how she worked. Good luck with that. I've given that up myself years ago.
"Okay then. . . Dani. I um, I do hope we can turn over a different leaf. I feel I didn't give you enough credit and I'm sorry for that. We're on the same team here, so we should be able to act with some semblance of accordance around each other."
Dani cocked her head while taking in his appearance and nodded affirmative.
"You are right. I'm not expecting us to best friends. Human relations are challenging for me at best and most of the time they just don't work. I am glad you can at least put your personal view of me aside. Most people I meet aren't so forth coming. I wish you the best."
Dani stuck out her hand towards Kaidan. She hoped that the words she'd spoken were acceptable. Had she said the right things? Or too much? Too little?
She could feel sweat prickling in her neck when she stood there, hand stretched out, vulnerable. Relief washed through her when Kaidan finally clasped her hand.
"If anything else, it is – interesting – having you around. I wish you the best as well. You're part of the crew, you're one of us now. I may not have said it back then but . . . It's good to have you on board."
Dani smiled warmly at him. "Thanks Kaidan. Very much. This - means a lot to me."
Kaidan smiled back at her and nodded, before turning around and walking away.
"Thank you," she whispered again, standing alone in the empty hall way.
The encounter had been unexpected at least and threw her off for a bit. After pondering what it meant or what it could mean, she decided her time was better spent in the more favorable company of Tali and Liara.
In Engineering Dani raised her hand at Wrex in greeting. He grunted back something barely intelligible, but she'd grown accustomed to that. He turned back to practicing moves.
Engineering felt oddly relaxing without the negative presence of Ashley. Ashley, who always seemed to watch her every move with scrutinizing eyes, always waiting for her to trip up, make a mistake so she could rub it in Dani's face. It felt oddly empty as well, without Garrus working on the Mako.
Before she could even knock on the front panel of Tali's room, it already folded open and two pairs of hands pulled her inside. Dani's startled yelp was drowned by girlish squeals. One look at the gleeful manners of her friends and Dani knew something was up.
"Okay – Tali, Liara? You guys look way too pleased with yourselves. It's scary! What have you been up to?"
"We haven't been up to anything." Liara was able to say through an insanely huge smile. "You on the other hand . . ."
"Me?" Dani asked confused. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the current scuttlebutt that a certain –" Sparks blew up in her face, emanating from her suddenly activated omni-tool. "Ouch, Tali!"
"Sorry Liara. It was either Overload or send a combat drone in your face. Dani just got here, we've got to slip some booze into her first before you can drop a bomb like that," Tali said in such a serious tone, Dani didn't know whether to laugh or run like hell.
"Alcoholic drinks coming up."
Tali nearly pushed Dani towards her small bunk. There was a small desk, a chair, a few small crates and some of Tali's knick knacks lying about. She then grabbed one of the crates and used it as a seat, allowing Liara the use of her chair. Liara passed cups with the drinks around and placed the bottles in the center of their little circle.
"So, Garrus and Ashley on a negotiation mission with Shepard," Tali said while using a straw to sip her drink. Only Tali insisted calling it an 'emergency induction port'. To Dani it was still a straw.
"They really don't like each other," Dani mused.
"That's an understatement!" Liara muttered. "Though, to be fair. I guess she has reasons to distrust aliens."
"Even if she has, that's no excuse to be plain rude and offensive," Tali insisted.
"It sounds like you've got a story though, Liara. You know something about Ashley?" Dani asked, looking at the young asari.
"Well, she's from a large family with a large line of Alliance soldiers. So, first chance she got she enlisted with the Alliance Marines. And she was good.
But, despite glowing performance reviews, she never got any real opportunities for advancement," Liara told them.
"How do you know all this stuff?" Tali asked in amazement.
"I might have overheard her talking a few times when I came down Engineering to visit you. Now, while serving on several ground-side garrisons, she kept requesting a transfer to a shipboard posting. That never happened, not until after Eden Prime when Anderson basically forced Shepard to take her on."
"But what does any of that have to do with her attitude towards aliens, or to me?"
"I can't be a hundred percent certain, Dani, but her one dream was serving on a starship. Request after request for transfer got denied at every possible turn. She was always blocked in her attempts to advance her career. You on the other hand, it only took one call from Anderson and here you are."
"I got transferred here against my own wishes. It wasn't like I had choice!"
"Yes, but I think the way she views you is tainted by her belief that you had it easy somehow."
"Easy?" Dani breathed in shock. She closed her eyes, willing a flood of painful memories to keep at bay. "She thinks I had it easy? I'd trade my life with hers in a heartbeat!"
Dani noticed the looks that passed between Liara and Tali. She clenched her jaw but didn't elaborate. They were curious about her past. She knew that. Everyone was. She on the other hand just didn't want her past to exist and did everything she could to deny its existence.
"Strong words, Dani," Liara said. "But remember, we don't know what lies in your past and Ashley is suffering from tunnel vision when it comes to you. She only sees how you got a shipboard position in an instant. A position she craved from the very start of her career."
"And that's why she hates me? Because I got a position without effort, a position she put much energy in to get and was getting nowhere with it? Seems very petty to me."
"Well, I wouldn't go as far to say hate . . . dislike maybe – "
"No Tali, she hates me. I know it. I can feel it. Hate at first sight I guess. Every time I get near her, I swear she looks at me as if she's cursing me, or putting a hex on me."
When Dani saw the blank faces she couldn't help but smile at this unexpected turn of the tables. For once, she wasn't the one who was clueless!
"Witchcraft. Magic. Humans believed in it a long, long time ago. Some still do, I think. Let's just say that every time I see her, I get the feeling she wishes I was anywhere but here."
"I hate to admit, but I think Dani is right, Tali," Liara said on a lowered voice. "Garrus showed me the readings from his visor a couple of times. Whenever Ashley got Dani in her sights, she actually had a very physical reaction to her."
"His visor can do that? Isn't that handy!" Dani muttered darkly. "Okay, back to Ashley. You said she submitted countless requests for transfer but got denied every single time. Why?"
"The reason for that seems to be her Williams heritage. Her grandfather, general Williams, was a Systems Alliance commander of the garrison on Shanxi when the First Contact War broke out."
Dani could feel the blood draining from her face. "Shanxi," she whispered.
"Dani, you okay?" Tali asked concerned.
"You suddenly look very pale." Liara looked at her closely.
"Yes, I'm fine. It's just – Wow, so – Shanxi."
" . . . I don't care if you die. Nobody will find you. You were not even here in the first place."
Dani closed her eyes, trying to drown out the voice by concentrating on Liara's story.
"Yes. He was the one tasked with the defense of the colony when the turians began their siege campaign. Williams tried his best but he was cut off from reinforcements. He began a desperate guerrilla campaign from Shanxi's surface. And turians in combat are brutal."
A cold shiver ran down Dani's spine when those words reminded her of her initial fear for Garrus.
"Turians are known for their brutal and efficient strategies. Their tactics made it impossible for Williams' forces to make any headway. Entire city blocks were destroyed by the turians just to exterminate small marine fire teams. In the end, he realized that the only way to save what was left of Shanxi's population was to surrender to the turians."
"I've heard stories about their ruthlessness, but I never . . ." Tali said disquieted.
"Yes, people were dying every day. He surrendered to save the few lives left. At any rate, general Williams went down in history as the only human commander to surrender to an alien force. He fell into disgrace for that."
"What happened to him, after all that?" Tali asked.
"Well, he was never officially charged but they did get him to resign. He ended up working construction out in the colonies."
Dani shook her head, "No, it's still no excuse. Whatever the disgrace that befell her family, that is nothing compared to what the survivors of Shanxi went through. Among them many orphaned children who were relocated to human colonies and Earth."
"I didn't say it was an excuse. Merely, that I understand she doesn't trust aliens. Especially turians."
"And krogans, and quarians and asari!" Tali interjected. "Dani is right. It's a sad background story but the First Contact War happened nearly thirty years ago. And Ashley is not just distrustful, she's rude and prejudiced. Not only of turians but anything not human in general."
"Change of subject please. Can we talk about what happened on Feros? Joker mentioned zombies?"
"Oh, that was creepy!" Tali got fired up. "Geth crawling all over the place, the colonists going crazy . . . the Thorian!"
"The mission was successful though. And Shepard managed to get the Cipher. . ." Liara smiled.
"Thorian, Cipher? Hey, this is new for me, remember?"
"Sorry Dani. Tali should tackle the story about the Thorian first before we can even begin to explain the Cipher. You do know how Shepard's mind interacted with the beacon on Eden Prime, right?"
"I do yes. It caused him to have those visions, right?"
"Yes, he witnessed parts of the destruction of an ancient race, the protheans, by an even older race of sentient machines called the Reapers." Tali was helpful to explain.
"Of course, it's all so self-explanatory," Dani sighed.
"Well, first let me say this – Dani, that upgrade you installed on Garrus' sniper rifle? It. Kicked. Ass! If it was at all possible, Garrus would have married his rifle on the spot. Kept professing his love for the damn thing every two minutes. I might have said ten times a minute but I think every two minutes is more accurate."
Liara and Dani snorted with laughter.
"Laugh it up girls, it was not funny! I might have pestered him about it. A bit. Ish. Okay, a lot!"
"How did the rifle handle? Was it good?" Dani wanted to know.
"Well, it certainly made one part of the mission very easy to handle. Okay, quick recount. Geth activities near Feros, Feros dropped out of communications and Shepard was sent over to investigate. Geth everywhere of course so first we helped the colonists fend off the geth. Still with me?"
"So far so good."
"Okay, so geth attacks concentrated on an ExoGeni facility and we went on our way to find out what the geth were after. First we had to disable the barriers the geth had put up everywhere. . . They were seriously messing with communications. To do that, we had to dislodge a big bad geth drop ship attached to the building. So, that big boom you probably heard? That was us, destroying the drop ship."
"Nice!"
"Thank you. So, communications back up, colonists went nuts and we learned from ExoGeni employees what the geth were after. See, there was this Thorian plant thing that can control minds. A being so old it could understand prothean language. And understanding prothean language just happened to be the key for understanding the visions."
"Let me guess, the Cipher?"
"Exactly. Saren must've found out about ExoGeni conducting experiments on the colonists with the Thorian spores. Saren attacked, went to the Thorian, struck a deal with the Thorian and got the Cipher planted in his head. To make this story even more complicated. This was done by a Thorian thrall slash asari clone."
"Thorian thrall slash asari clone?" This story was getting crazier by the minute!
"Trust me," Tali said after another sip of her drink. "You don't want to know. I mean really. . . you don't."
"Anyway, the clone . . . she used to work with Matriarch Benezia, my mother," Liara quietly said. "She works with Saren now. It won't be long now till we go after her."
"Liara! I'm so sorry, I had no idea!" Dani was shocked to hear all this new information.
"It's okay. Mother knew the risks going in. She was misguided in her beliefs she could sway Saren from his path of destruction. But he possesses this war ship, unlike anything we've ever known. He even gave it a name . . . Sovereign. It changes people's minds. Indoctrinates them. Seems my mother fell under its influence. But her intentions were sincere, even though she is now – evil."
"So – wait – the clone who worked for Benezia . . ."
" . . . Was offered up to the Thorian as part of the deal. When we killed the Thorian, the asari was freed from its influence and she gave Shepard the Cipher. Before we got to the Thorian however, we needed to get past the crazed colonists. The Thorian was using them to protect itself," Tali continued.
"And not only the colonists. The Thorian was spawning creepy looking zombie things, that's why we called them creepers. So, the colonists were attacking, creepers were attacking, but we didn't want to harm the colonists."
"The Thorian was spawning those creepers? How the hell did it manage that?"
"Don't even ask." Tali shuddered at the memory. "It just kind of barfed them up. A lot of goo and mucus was involved."
"Yuck!"
"You have no idea. So, Shepard received some anti-Thorian gas from an ExoGeni employee. It was some kind of nerve gas to knockout the colonists without harming them. Unfortunately, Shepard only had a few grenades into which the gas could be implemented. He ran out of grenades before all creepers were killed and before all crazy colonists were subdued. That's when Garrus' new wicked little update got so handy!"
"So, he could work out the configurations okay?" Dani smiled at the image of Garrus rocking his sniper.
"I'm telling you, it was a thing of beauty! Colonists in the way? No problem, bullets phased right through them just to explode in some Thorian creepers brain. Thanks to your upgrade, we could save them all. No casualties!"
"I'm glad to hear that. Good to know my upgrade was useful."
"Like I said, that was the easy part. Tricky part was confronting the Thorian who kept spawning the creepers and re-spawning the asari. Yeah, we killed her. Several times. He just kept spewing out a new clone each time we got rid of one. But we succeeded in the end and got the Cipher as well."
A few hours in, the liquor flowed freely between the three of them and Dani started to feel warm and fuzzy.
"I wonder how Shepard is doing," she said, slurring the words. "I wonder if Garrus and Ashley haven't killed each other yet."
"Speaking of which . . ." Liara's tone got a bit of a sneaky quality. "Word in the grapevine is that Garrus came over and spent the night with you?"
"Get your mind out of the gutter Liara," Dani muttered. She felt that she should feel a bit more uncomfortable, but she was too fuzzy at the moment to really care.
"I made a big deal out of nothing. So, I made a bad day even worse for him. And what does he do? He comes to me to make me feel better."
Dani wailed, "I'm a horrible person. He slept next to me and tucked me in while he slept on the covers in the cold. Turians hate cold! And now I'm crying my eyes out and – Oh, I feel strange! My head . . ."
"Crap, I think you drank too much," Tali slurred even more than Dani. "Waaaaaay too much." She started to giggle.
"I really need to lie down!" Dani moaned and slumped over in the bunk.
"Move over Pryde, make room for me. Didn't know I could run through so many filters in such a short time." Tali stumbled from her make shift seat and crawled behind Dani.
"Not fair." Liara yawned. "There's no room for me."
"You got to use my chair. I get to use my own bed. Seems fair to me."
"I'll go pass out in my own room then. This was fun."
"Is it weird my heart flip flops every time I'm near Garrus?" Dani mumbled.
Liara staggered to the front of Tali's room. "I don't think so. Humans seem to have no trouble finding asari attractive."
"Everyone finds asari attractive," Tali countered.
"Not what I meant," Dani protested, struggling to keep her eyes open.
"Tell that to your fluttering heart. Why don't you just admit it already," Liara asked leaning against the exit. "You really like Garrus."
"I'm so confused," Dani muttered. "How do you even know . . . How can you tell?"
"Let the moon's shining light hide two lovers with its rays." Tali started to sing. "Though I know that dawn will set us. . . on course for separate ways."
"Huh?" It was all Dani could muster.
"Fleet and Flotilla. We are so doing a sleep over and watch that vid." Tali slurred. "You'll like it. Who doesn't love a good cross-species romance?"
"Better yet." Liara smirked. "Watch it with Garrus. You could be Shalei and Garrus could be Bellicus."
"I'll ask him when he gets back." Dani yawned widely.
"He'd like that. Sleep well, Tali. Dani," Liara whispered before quietly slipping out the room.
