Archive of Our Own ^beta

It's not that hard to write a full message, you know.

Oh! Quarian crews have a similar program! BRB importing all of my emotes.

not sure what you expected skipper

this is just because you're tired of taking the elevator down to the shuttle bay to chat, isn't it

What? You don't want to see my pretty face? Hah. Your loss, Shepard... :)

This is such a great idea, Commander! Now there's finally a place that I can share these bad boys

Shepard in boot camp!

awww! mini-commander!

Does the Council know that you used to be so...gangly?

Definitely would have washed out of turian regiment training

Oof. Not a good look, commander.

Garrus, want to make some dextro food with me? I'm getting sick of ration bars.

the alliance can build the most advanced ship in the galaxy but can't come up with any other flavors besides "gray"

sorry, I can't. Getting my gear ready for the next mission.

What next mission? Last I checked we're still sweeping the system for geth activity, and we haven't found anything in a week.

you'll see. Guess I'm just in the know.

bosh'tet.

ten credits says shepard picks me for the next mission instead of vakarian.

you're on.

i'll take that action

nah guys she's totally gonna pick me

Easy money. Our next stop is Xawin. We're investigating the disappearance of the crew of a freighter that was attacked by privateers.

and you'll never guess which turian on this ship has years of investigation experience under his belt

you can pay up whenever you like, i'm in no rush

suuure.

just one small problem with that. who's gonna hack the databases you find down there?

or sift through the ship's manifest and engineering logs?

Well...

but you go ahead and "investigate" some merc heads with your sniper rifle. i'm sure you'll turn up a lot of useful information.

really uncover some mysteries

Daaaaaaaaaaamn.

Well, Pressly just found a landing zone. Bring out your wallets!

Kaidan, Wrex, report to the briefing room.

ouuuuuuch. Well, duty calls.

Seeya later, pyjacks! Uncle Urdnot has some pirates to kill.

Shepard?

Shepard.

Shepard!

Shepaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrd.

Shepard.

just saw Liara go into Shepard's cabin for another "research briefing"

during the night cycle

when everyone's supposed to be asleep

for the fifth time

how subtle do these dorks really think they are?

you'd think the commander would know better, special forces subterfuge training and all

FOR REAL THO

i actually caught her in her bs the other day

spill.

so some morning last week I caught Shepard making tea for Liara.

which I knew was for Liara because Shepard only drinks coffee. with cream and sugar. the works.

...why do you know that

not important.

so I asked her what was up and lo and behold our favorite hardcore N7 killing machine blushed so hard she almost spilled the entire teapot on her uniform

i asked her if she was trying something new, since I thought she didn't even like tea. And she says "I could be drinking tea! I could totally be drinking tea!"

and i shit you not she takes the tiniest sip and painfully tries to choke it down before saying "see?"

fucking incredible

i got a story too

walked into the medbay to get some pain meds yesterday only to bump into shepard leaving liara's research room.

Asked her what's up. She tries to play it off real smooth and says something like "ohh, nothing ash. Just checking in on Liara to make sure she's settling into the crew."

We picked liara up three. months. ago.

worst liar ever.

askjdfkajhsdfkjhasdkhjf haHAHAHAHAHA

You kids are just figuring it out now? I thought it was obvious, put things together ages ago.

Oh yeah? Do tell.

Remember when Liara first came aboard, and Shepard had her give the whole crew a presentation about her theories on the Prothean extinction? For the "tactical value" of course.

honestly I think I slept through that one.

ugh yeah it was soooo boring

Well, while you whelps were moping, you'll never guess what Shepard was doing.

Staring at Blue the whole damn time.

Subtle.

Heyy, guys?

guys.

what, too good to share your own story vakarian?

tali.

the commander's still in here.

keelah.

if one of you could shoot me immediately i would appreciate it

I can help you with that!

Hey, can one of you bring one of Tali's sealed containers of water to the mess hall?

She may have had a few sips too many of Turian brandy.

Wouldn't want our favorite quarian to be too hungover tomorrow.

shhh im,m fine garus

Just saying, I did warn you.

wow youre so cool. with your drinking and shooting and brooding

Hey now, I don't brood.

...Shepard, do I brood?

i'm garrus vakarian. im soooo dark and broody. i could kill a man with a glance and i wouldnt even feel a little bad about it

I'm not like that at all.

You absolutely are like that all the time.

shepard wouldnt let me shoot a criminal once so i cried in the bathroom when i thought no one was looking

Hah!

Oh now it's on. Two can play at this game.

"I'm Tali'Zorah. I got kicked out of my house because I needed to grow up and I'm going to make it everyone's problem."

"I'm secretly a princess, but nobody could immediately guess that about me after a single conversation."

hey

"ohhhh, the ship is simply too quiet. good sir, would you pleeeease increase the rattling for me?"

hey tali, if it helps i could always gun the engines randomly in the middle of the night

I'm sorry, just catching up - Tali's a what now?

"Remember that time when my ancestors made an army of killing machines for fun and then immediately decided to piss them all off? Good times."

low blow vakarian

I don't think that you want to bring ancestors into this, turian.

Oh, you want to get in on this Shepard?

What's the human saying? Glass houses?

Oh! How about this?

I'm Jane Shepard. I'm a ruthless, tough soldier. I've killed thousands of pirates and synthetics and other scum around the galaxy. And if I don't have cream in my coffee I'm going to mope about it all day.

CALLED TF OUT

I'm the best fighter in the galaxy. You know, as long as I have a squad behind me taking all the shots.

I'm such a good shot that I let Garrus handle all the sniping. You know, just to let him practice. It's charity, really.

and suuuuuuch a good infiltrator,, i could get into anything, anywhere. but i graciously allow Tali to hack open everything for me instead.

And on top of all of that, a skilled tank pilot! Such a smooth, steady ride.

If it means that I get your room, then absolutely.

liara you already live there shut up

guys

i'm bored

like i know we just stole the normandy and we're probably all going to die tomorrow but cmon, nobody's doing *anything*

way to sell it shepard

i feel better already

So you DO write them ahead of time!

A speech? Why, do you kids still get nervous before a fight?

You'll grow out of it. Nothing soothes the soul better than knowing you're about to have the fight of your life.

You find that relaxing?!?

You don't?

whatever

let wrex be wierd

i wanna watch a movie

You know, I've been wanting to see Fleet and Flotilla for a while.

fucking YES

Come on, a chick flick?

Let's at least watch something that will get us into the mood for a fight.

wow guys garrus is too cool for fleet and flotilla

Too busy polishing his gun, I guess.

it's okay, you're allowed to preemptively brood for the mission

Spirits. Fine. Where are we setting up?

yES

Could use the holoprojectors in the briefing room, assuming we're not going to be calling the council for a while.

nah shep had me forward all of our incoming comms to some bar in Brazil the second we left dock

and i'm totally in btw. Should be able to grab Pressly too, he loves sappy shit like this

THE PARTY GROWS

I'll grab popcorn!

Commander please help, I'm surrounded by romantics.

And Kaidan, grab me some dextro snacks while you're there, thanks.

What, writing your speech?

Liara? You in?

Perhaps another time!

I'll just bet you did, Shepard.

You two sure are writing your speech pretty loudly.

But hey, I can't judge your creative process.

pffffffffffffffffffffffffffft hahahahahahahahaha

Shepard. I just want you to know that I respect you as a fighter.

But damn if you aren't the worst liar I have ever met.

Anyway, you all had me at popcorn. Make room for me, pyjacks!

guys please dont let wrex crush me thanks

I'll grab some blankets. And some medigel. Just to be safe.

MOVIE NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, Shepard.

You know, turians have this tradition. We go to the final resting place of the dead and say the things that we never got around to saying.

The priests say we do it in order to make sure that the spirits of the dead aren't tangled with the living when they start their next phase of life.

I've never been very spiritual myself. And I don't know if I could ever really detangle myself from you. Sorry.

But I'd like to say some things anyway.

You don't have a resting place, Shepard. Your body's still out there. I looked. I didn't find it.

So this will have to do.

I went back to C-Sec. Like you said I should. Not much fanfare. Pallin gave me a pat on the back for putting a bullet in Saren's skull, but after that it was all back to normal. Business as usual.

I thought it would all change. With Sovereign and everything, it felt like it had to. But it hasn't. It's all still the same. Crimes. Corruption. Rules. Paperwork. Toe the line. Do what you're told. The Council being the Council, C-Sec being C-Sec. It's like nothing we did ever happened.

They're starting to say that you're crazy, you know. That the beacon damaged your brain, left you confused. That the Reapers don't truly exist.

Barely even waited until your body was cold before they started lying about what we did. Bastards.

I don't think I can stay here. Working for people like that, I mean. Listening to the lies they're spreading. Protecting people who spit on your name.

Part of me wants to run. Go somewhere full of criminals and do things my way. Right some wrongs. Put people who deserve it in the ground, where they can't hurt anyone anymore. Try to make a difference before the Reapers kill us all.

I know you wouldn't like it. You'd find another way. You'd somehow bend how things work in the way that only you can. And that's the problem.

There's no one else like you out here. No one who does things right like you. No one else has that spark.

The galaxy is a darker place without you.

I'm going to miss you, Commander. Rest easy.