literature

Forgive the Insubordination - Chapter Seven

Deviation Actions

mpcreates's avatar
By
Published:
973 Views

Literature Text

Title: Forgive the Insubordination
Author: mpissott
Game: Mass Effect
Characters/Pairings: Garrus Vakarian/Femshep (Noelle Shepard)
Disclaimer: All recognizable content belongs to Bioware.


Garrus was concerned; he hadn’t heard from Shepard all night after leaving Noveria.  He had seen the toll the mission had taken on her, and this spontaneous disappearance did not quell his worries.  He decided that he would go up to the mess hall to eat, and if he still hadn’t seen her by then, he would check in her room.  If he was really being paranoid and she was okay, he could play it cool because he had to talk to her about Dr. Saleon, anyway.

A few hours later, Garrus entered the mess hall and anxiously ate his dinner, practically swallowing it whole.  Realizing that no one had seen Shepard all night, he decided it was finally time to check on her.  He knocked on her door, not wanting to enter on his own if she really was okay.  After two minutes with no response, Garrus opened Shepard’s door only to find her knocked out on her bed, still in full armor.  Not knowing what happened, he shook her and shouted, “Noelle!”

Shepard awoke with a start and relief flooded Garrus’s features.  He realized he was still holding Shepard and relinquished her from his grasp, not wanting to linger too long.  Garrus gathered his thoughts and said, “Damn Shepard, you scared me.  I hadn’t heard from you all night and when I came in here I thought something happened to you.”

Shepard was already up and grabbing clothes from her closet, “Oh yeah, sorry.  It’s been a long day and I kinda fell asleep.  Mind if I shower while we talk? I’m still all gross from Noveria.”  When Garrus looked at her confused, she quickly started, “I’m not gonna strip in front of you! Don’t worry.”  She smirked and stepped in the shower with her armor still on.  Turning on the water, she sent her armor flying and began talking.

“So, today was pretty much terrible.  I’m sure you could assume that though, considering Noveria was home to both Matriarch Benezia and the rachni.  You know, you’d think nothing would surprise me anymore.  But, having to kill Benezia with Liara right there wasn’t easy.  Then, I come back to the Normandy hoping to catch some peace and quiet when Kaidan storms in!”

Garrus asked, perplexed, “Kaidan? What did he want?”

“Ah, he wanted to complain that I didn’t take him to Noveria.  That I took the ‘aliens’ to Noveria and not him or Ash.  Then he decided to change his story when I confronted him.  His issue was that I brought you instead of him.  I told him that it was his too bad and we were over.  So, terrible end to an even more terrible day, I suppose!” Shepard concluded with a sigh.

Garrus shook his head as he heard the water stop.  “Geez Shepard,” he replied, “I’m sorry my going on missions got in the way of--”

“Nothing,” Shepard quickly retorted, “It got in the way of nothing.  I want to bring you on missions and I do.  The lieutenant’s position on my ship or in my bedroom aren’t going to change that.  He is jealous for more than one reason, though.  He complains that I tell you everything and tell him nothing.  I guess telling him that you’re the only one who knows who I am wouldn’t help the situation.”  Shepard chuckled as she got dressed and dried her hair.

Garrus returned the laugh, “Yeah, my guess is that wouldn’t have helped the situation.”

“So, did you just come up here to check on me? Vakarian, you softy! I’m flattered.” She threw a pillow at Garrus and laughed at her own joke.

For whatever reason, the joke embarrassed Garrus.  Probably because it was actually true.  Of course, he would never let Shepard know that.  “Actually,” he explained, “I had something I was hoping to talk to you about.  Something personal.”

Shepard nodded and Garrus elaborated, “A long time ago when I was working for C-Sec, I was monitoring black market trading for anything suspicious, when I came across a great deal of organs being sold.  After a lot of searching and interrogating I had found out that a salarian geneticist named Dr. Saleon was growing organs inside his employees to sell on the black market.  I confronted him and he got away, but a while back I found him under a different name.  Dr. Heart, I guess that was his way of making a joke.  Anyway, I was wondering if maybe we could check out his ship, I have the coordinates.”

Shepard nodded, very focused on what Garrus was saying.  “Sure, Garrus,” she replied, “but can I ask what brought this on?”

“Well, honestly, Noelle, I think we’re getting close to the end with hunting Saren.  That being said, I want to get as much done as possible before then.  You never know what’s going to happen...if we don’t make it, I--”

Garrus was cut off by Shepard’s abrupt movement to the end of her bed.  He didn’t know if he had offended her, or what she was doing.  She looked up at him and said, “I know that there are a lot of variables that we can’t account for in this wild goose-chase we’re on.  And yeah, I think we’re reaching the end, but Garrus,” she continued, resting her hand on the side of his face, “we’re going to make it.  You’re going to make it.  Saren isn’t going to win, and I’m not going to lose you, or anyone else on this crew.”

Shepard’s touch intrigued Garrus.  He didn’t exactly know how to react to being so close to the Commander.  Sure, they had hugged before, Shepard had shown him vulnerability, but not like this.  When he looked in her eyes, he could tell that even she wasn’t sure that what she was saying was true.  For the first time, he could see Noelle Shepard’s fear written across her face.  Immediately he wanted to comfort her, and felt guilty for bringing up his doubts.  He grabbed her hand that rested on his cheek, grabbed her other hand, and wrapped them around him.  In response, Shepard tightened her grip around his neck and sat on his lap.  She embraced him like she never had before.  She let her fear take over and let Garrus comfort her.  Her breathing was restless for a while, but eventually she found sleep, slightly loosening her grip around him.  Garrus lifted Shepard into his arms and placed her in her bed, trying extremely hard not to wake her from the restful slumber she so desperately needed.  He placed her blankets on top of her, and placed his hand on her head gently.

“Goodnight, Shepard,” he whispered, and he went to his quarters to sleep.


The next morning, Garrus was awoken by the dulcet tones of Shepard’s soothing voice.  “VAKAAARIANNNNN!” she screamed, “We’re gonna be arriving at the freaky organ doctor’s ship soon, do you WANT me to go without you?!”  She added a special touch to the end of her question by jumping right on top of Garrus to ensure that he woke up.

“Unhhhh Shepard,” he half-heartedly replied, “I didn’t even have my coffee yet.”

Shepard giggled, “Hey, do turians even drink coffee? Get up!”

“I would, but you’re sitting on me.  You sure seem more cheery, how much booze did you have with your coffee this morning?”

She playfully slapped him on his cheek, “Calling me on my alcoholism is not the way to my heart, Vakarian! But for the record, no alcohol for me this morning.  It’s a little unprofessional, don’t ya think?”

“Sure,” Garrus retorted, “But so is sitting on a member of your crew.  Not that I’m complaining.”  He ended his statement with a wink, deciding to give Shepard a taste of her own medicine.

With that, Shepard rose and placed her hand on her chest, pretending to be shocked.  “Be still, my heart! Are you flirting with me, Garrus Vakarian?”  She returned his wink.

Garrus thought for a second that he might actually be flirting with her, but he couldn’t think about that for too long.  He didn’t want to complicate things between them, and he shouldn’t. “All right, Shepard,” he groaned, “Let me get in my armor so we can go get this sick salarian bastard.”  Shepard replied with a nod, allowing Garrus some time alone with his thoughts.

During the brief alone time he had while putting his armor on, Garrus’s thoughts jumped back and forth between Shepard and Dr. Saleon.  He tried to focus on how he would handle seeing Dr. Saleon, what his reaction would be.  But his mind kept wandering to Shepard and what she said about him flirting with her.  Shepard had always been the playful, flirtatious type, but that wasn’t Garrus’s style.  He hadn’t known what his intentions were when he flirted with her, but he didn’t want to think about it too much.  Technically, Shepard was his commanding officer, he didn’t want to blur those lines.  Plus, they were friends.  Too close to let anything romantic happen, right?

Garrus shook his thoughts as he heard Joker over the comm.  They had arrived at the MSV Fedele.  It was time to face Dr. Saleon, ready or not.
The doctor’s new ship was far more disturbing than any of the stuff Garrus had seen before.  Now, Dr. Saleon had moved from growing organs inside people to using the people themselves as test subjects.  Garrus, Shepard and Kaidan, ironically enough, had to fight their way through numerous rabid thralls to reach the doctor.  When they finally reached him, he tried to act innocent.

“Thank you!” he yelled, “Thank you for saving me from those...things.”

Garrus saw right through him and couldn’t contain his anger.  How dare he try to fool Shepard.  Before he could even get his thoughts straight, he exclaimed, “Commander, that’s him! That’s Dr. Saleon!”

The doctor, putting on a show, looked flabbergasted and said, “What? My name is Heart, Dr. Heart! Please, get me out of here.” Yep, that was his idea of a sick joke, alright.  But when Garrus looked over at Shepard, he could see the apprehension on her face.

“Are you sure it’s him, Garrus?” she asked him.  He knew that she wanted to be absolutely sure, but he couldn’t help but feel slightly hurt by her doubt in him.

“Positive,” he replied.  Facing Dr. Saleon, he hissed, “There’s no escape this time, doctor.  I’d harvest your organs first, but we don’t have the time.”

The doctor replied, “You’re crazy! He’s crazy! Please, don’t let him do this to me.”  Now he was trying to gain Shepard’s sympathy.  Garrus hoped she would see right through this.  Instead, Noelle stepped in between Garrus and Dr. Saleon, facing directly towards Garrus.

Clearly trying to quell his anger, she placed a hand on his arm and whispered, “We’ll take him in.  Drop him off with the military.”

Garrus wouldn’t back down, “But...we have him.  We can’t let him get away. not again?”

Looking Garrus straight in the eye, Noelle elaborated, “If he dies, we’ll never know what he’s been up to, or how he did it.  We’ll take him in, interrogate him, and he’ll serve his time.”

Sensing that Garrus calmed down, Shepard stepped back into her original position between Alenko and himself.  Garrus looked at Shepard and sighed, “I’ve--okay.  You’re right.”  Then he looked up at the doctor and said, “You’re a very lucky salarian.  You owe the commander your life.”

Dr. Saleon then scoffed, “Oh.  Thank you so very much!”  Within seconds, Shepard gunned the salarian down.  Garrus was extremely confused at why Noelle would try to save the doctor, only to shoot him herself.

“And so he dies anyway.  What was the point of that?”

Shepard looked at Garrus sincerely and explained, “You can’t predict how people will act, Garrus.  But you can control how you’ll respond.  In the end, that’s what really matters.”

Sensing Shepard’s sincerity, Garrus loosened his muscles and responded, “Yeah.  I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone like you, Commander.”  At that, Shepard smiled, and all Garrus’s tension disappeared.  If he questioned the decision to show the doctor mercy before, all doubts were gone now.

Garrus had returned to the ship and resumed his regular business.  Later that night, Shepard called everyone on the crew into the mess hall.  She sounded very serious and Garrus rushed to see what was going on.  By the time he got there, almost everyone else had arrived as well.  Shepard cleared her throat and began to speak.

“Crew, we’re getting close to the end.  We have Saren on the run and I have some information that may tip the scales in our favor.  The Council just contacted me via the comm room and revealed some interesting intel.  A branch of the Salarian Special Tasks Group has been investigating the planet Virmire, looking for a connection to Saren.  It appears they’ve found it.  A few days ago the Council received a beacon containing no information from the STG.  However, the beacon was sent on a mission-critical station.  We need to go to Virmire and investigate.  This could be the one thing we need to finally figure out what the Conduit is, and how to find it before Saren does.  That being said, I’m hoping to speak to each of you individually in my cabin throughout the evening to discuss specific battle strategies, as well as personal matters.  I’ll call you up one by one on the comm and you can join me.  Dismissed.”

Garrus had noticed that during the entire speech, Shepard barely looked anyone in the eye.  He didn’t know what had her so frazzled about this mission in particular, but when he went to her cabin, he was hoping she would have some answers.

Title: Forgive the Insubordination

Author: mpissott

Game: Mass Effect

Characters/Pairings: Garrus Vakarian/Femshep (Noelle Shepard)

Disclaimer: All recognizable content belongs to Bioware.


Aaaaah!!!! My favorite chapter so far.  Adorable Girl Anime Emoji (Heart Dance) [V6] We get to see a little more of Noelle's vulnerability.  Even Commander Shepard can't be perfect!  The next few chapters are going to be so intense.

Prev. Chapter: fav.me/d7sqlrm
Next Chapter: fav.me/d7wapo5
© 2014 - 2024 mpcreates
Comments1
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Hazardous-Bill's avatar
It's adorable how innocent Garrus' thoughts are. Noelle will be a good match for him.