N7 Month 2023 - Day #02: Tension.
In every ordinary vessel of the Alliance, the commander rarely goes into the cargo hold except to prepare for a mission, but the Normandy is not an ordinary fleet ship, from its design to its colorful crew. It's precisely one of its members which pushes Abigail Shepard to often abandon the bridge for the lower decks of the ship.
As always the turian Garrus Vakarian, former SSC Agent, was busy working on the targeting systems of the M35 Mako, the landing vehicle, and was so focused on his work that he didn't even notice the Commander staring at him silently. That's why he suddenly became nervous when he turned around and found her in front of him. She in return seemed almost pleased with that reaction, and smiled slyly before clasping hands behind the back and clearing her throat:
"Vakarian, still calibrating the Mako's weapons?"
"I... Um... Yes, the last fight with that Thresher really overheated them and I wanted to - um - make sure they were ready for the next ground mission, I..."
"Is it common practice for all Turians to work so much? Why don't you take a break? I have some... Questions, about the culture of your people - you know, to... Analyze Saren's behavior, so we can anticipate his moves." - She seemed unusually nervous too, but he certainly didn't notice.
"I - um - of course. I'll finish these calibrations and I'll join you in the common room."
"Very good. Don't delay. Unlike what people say about female humans: we don't like to wait." - She smiled, again with that sly look, and she walked away with quick, almost hopping, steps.
The Turian waited until she had completely disappeared on the elevator and finally heaved a deep sigh, as if he had been holding his breath until that moment, but as he began to relax again, a deep and thunderous laugh came from the bottom of the hold. He turned in that direction, to give the Krogan mercenary hidden in the shadows an interrogative look: "Wrex?!"
"What?" the other replied, unable to stifle the hilarity that the scene had unleashed in him. "Oh, hell! Get a room the two of you and get it over with!"
"What?! No, no - I - we - I don't... She's the commander! I can't, I... It's not what you think!!"
"Of course. And you're lucky she doesn't know how to interpret the subtle vibrations in the tone of the turian's second voice, or she probably would have already jumped on your neck."
"What the...?! No, she can't... I..." If he were human he would probably be a fiery phosphorescent red color right now. He huffed in annoyance, not knowing how to respond and headed towards the crew bathrooms before reaching the Commander. For some strange reason he felt the need for a cold shower.
When I think of "tension" I'm reminded of the relationship between Shepard and Garrus at the beginning and I always curse BioWare for not having explored it further in the first chapter of the trilogy. 😁
That's why I wrote this short story about Abigail and her favorite Turian.
It's written straight away and quickly translated from Italian so sorry if it's not perfect. It was just to give an idea.
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