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Specter, officer, hero - whatever unlikely titles they wanted to put on Ashley, she was a grunt at heart. And despite Tali’s best efforts, the quarian had been completely unable to explain to her how this Prothean superweapon was supposed to work beyond emitting a massive pulse of energy that would…do something? To the Reapers?
All of which meant that she had no idea why the Normandy had been rocketed across the galaxy when the Crucible detonated in a massive pulse of green energy. Neither Joker nor EDI had any idea of where they were. Someplace with green growing things and breathable air, at least. Comms were down and the ship was going to need some repairs before she was spaceworthy again. So they were stranded, at least for now, on this mystery planet.
And so, entirely out of a desire to scout the surrounding area and supplement the ship’s rations with fresh ingredients, she had ‘ordered’ Garrus to join her on a hunting expedition. She snorted. As if her boyfriend needed ordering to spend time toting a rifle around with her.
“Just so long we don’t get ambushed by another damn thresher maw,” Garrus had teased before hitting the armory.
“Shepard had a knack for finding them,” Ashley agreed, and they shared a memorial fistbump for times gone by - even if Shepard had survived whatever had happened back on Earth, even if there was an Earth to go back to, things would never be the same. “After this is all over - assuming this is all over,” she corrected, slicing through some particularly obstreperous undergrowth with her omniblade, “the Hierarchy won’t exactly need a Reaper advisor anymore, but I’ll be a Spectre, and I could probably use some backup, if you’re interested.”
“Given that otherwise they might make me Primarch, depending on who’s still alive by the time we get to civilization, I might have to take you up on that offer.” Garrus shuddered. “I really don’t want the weight of the world on my shoulders any more than it already has been.” He gestured to the thick verdure around them. “Speaking of which - not exactly a typical getaway destination…but we’ve probably got a week of fairly light duty coming up until we can get the Normandy back in the sky, maybe two. Practically a vacation for us. Be nice to have a little time to ourselves.”
“For a given value of ‘to ourselves,’” Ashley snorted, thinking about the tight quarters aboard even the sized-up Normandy.
“Luckily I, uh, requisitioned a spare blanket.” His mandibles fluttered with pride and pleasure.
Ashley grinned back. “Now that’s what I call creative thinking. Put a pin in that until we find someplace relatively dry and flat…and then you can put a pin in me.” She frowned. “Send that euphemism back to the workshop.”
“I thought you wanted to wrestle for a second,” Garrus admitted sheepishly. “I was…a little confused. But willing to give it a try.”
“Just so we’re clear: you don’t feel the need to wrestle all your sexual partners, do you?”
Garrus huffed. “Well, I didn’t, but if you’re going to tease me about it…” They shared a fond look and a laugh, and then a rustling branch in the distance caught their attention, and it was back on the hunt for them.