As I boarded the ship with Shephard, Liara, and James, confused faces shot glares towards me. A young Quarian aboard the ship? That sounds like a ridiculous idea, I would even admit, all considering who my father was.
James stormed passed us all in an angry sort of way. I looked up to see Liara roll her eyes before turning to me. "He'll warm up to you, I promise, young one," she explained. I nodded, not so sure that would be so true. Liara then nodded to Shephard and went her own way.
"Liara is a scientist, very smart," Shephard explained. I nodded again, following her. She lead me to an elevator, pressing a button that made us go down. "During the brief period in which I was... indisposed... from the Normandy, we lost an amazing engineer. She was a Quarian, too. Her name was Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. You may know her under the name 'vas Neema,'" She continued. I thought, trying to remember a Tali'Zorah... I couldn't put my finger on her name.
I nodded. She introduced me to the other engineers of the Normandy. They spoke kindly to me as Shephard told them I was also into weapons. One of them told her that "Garrus" needed help on the engineering of the weapons. So Shephard nodded, leading me out and to Garrus.
I met the famous Garrus, not expecting to see a Turian on an Alliance military ship. His face was scarred up very badly, I would assume from gunshots. Shephard left us to work on the ship's weapons.
"So... Mr. Vakarian?" I began respectfully.
He laughed loudly. "Please, don't call me Mr. Vakarain. It's just Garrus. But yeah?" He responded heartily.
"Shephard said you were on Palaven?" I continued. He nodded. "Was it bad there?"
"I'm surprised a Quarian knows about the attacks considering where the Migrant Fleet was last time I knew..," He said, bluntly, might I add.
"Well, I keep up on Intergalactic Radio. Quarian news is boring. Its always about the Geth," I explained.
Garrus nodded. "Yeah, it was bad. But Earth got hit badly. Much worse than Palaven. A lot of that is due to the fact that the Turian army is the best in the Galaxy," He explained. "But that's why we're going to Tuchanka."
"We're going to Tuchanka?" I asked. He nodded.
"Yes, didn't the Commander tell you?" He inquired. I shook my head, making sure to exagerate so he could see through my helmet. "Well, Primarch Victus and Urdnot Wreav have worked out a deal. You see, Palaven need the best troops. That would be the vicious Krogan. Problem is, Wreav won't send troops unless the Genophage is cured. We have a Salarian scientist already on board with the cure. We picked up an immune female Krogan on our last mission, goes by the name of 'Eve.' Through that, Mordin, the Salarian I mentioned earlier, created a cure."
"Does the Salarian Dalatrass know about this?" I questioned.
"She's bound to by now," he answered. I shrugged, though I thought something was oddly peculiar about the whole situation.
"Garrus?"
"What?"
"Do you think they'll ever find a cure for our weak ammune systems?" I asked shamefully. "So, you know... We don't have to wear these suits?"
Garrus turned to me, a sympathetic look on his gnarled face. "I'm sure you won'y have to wear that suit one day," He assured comfortingly. I smiled, though I knew he wouldn't be able to see my smile.
"Thanks," I replied. He smiled a toothy smile, turning back to the cannons, tightening the last screw.
"You can leave the calibrating up to me," He insisted.
"I could't have been able to calibrate them if you had asked me too," I replied, attempting to get a crack out of him. He chuckled.
"I'll teach you later," He responded.
"Sounds awesome," I replied. He nodded, starting up the process. "Well, I am going to my quarters. Maybe tomorrow we can work on fixing the crew's personal weapons," I suggested.
"Sounds like a plan," He agreed bluntly. I turned, walking myself to the elevator. I pushed the button that said '3' on it, waited until the doors opened, and walked from there to the women's quarters. I realized then that I had only my bag with an extra suit. I wished then that I had packed a book, cause I knew that I would not be getting any sleep that night.
I crawled into my bed above the female engineer's bottom bunk and slid under the covers. She must not have known lots about Quarians, because she spoke up and asked, "Why aren't you in your pajamas?"
I then embarrassingly had to explain the poor immune system of a Quarian. She 'ooooh'ed under her breath before pulling her own covers over her. I rolled over, closing my eyes. I wished I could feel how soft the pillow was against my skin, wrather than feeling glass against my face and nylon on my skin.
The night got quieter as the rest of my roomates crawled into their own slumbers until all lights were shut off and you could hear nothing but the rumbling of the ship's engine and the occasional snort from a nearby crew member. Sometimes you heard the pitter-patter of feet from members getting up in the middle of the night to take a midnight-pee. It wasn't even in the slightest like home.
I embraced that.
