#ezner shepard

Shepard shrugged, despite Elionel’s nagging she did appreciate the woman’s honesty and care. She needed to tell her that and was about to when she noticed a group walk in. Honestly, Shepard wouldn’t have cared if anyone had entered especially with how loose the security was but the krogan she had seen back in the docks had strolled up with his entourage. Though this time he wasn’t wearing his armor and wore a more casual attire, same with his followers. She wouldn’t have been able to differentiate him from the rest if it hadn’t been for the loud humming blasting through her head which made her tense up. Despite the loud music, the fact she could pinpoint the biotics in the room was due to her training. Aside from the Krogan she also felt a low yet strong and steady hum of biotics somewhere in the crowd of people. “Passable enough as a threat. It's gonna be a fun night,” Shepard mused. Despite how on edge she felt, the alcohol in her system helped put her at ease. She continued her conversation with Elionel while using the beer bottle’s reflection to track the movement of the krogan.

“How’s your new girlfriend?”

“You know about that?”

“Yeah. I do check up on you, you know.”

“Ew, creep,” Elionel humorously replied. The wrinkle in her brow vanished and a wide smile crept on her face, “well… I don’t know how much you know but she’s an asari. Is into sports. Actually is right no-”

Shepard tuned her out. She watched the krogan bark at a group of civilians sitting at one of the tables near the counter. The salarian, who was seated, cowered in fear and did as he was told. So did his companions and they all fled from their seats. The krogan took over their chair with his companions. He heartily laughed, Shepard tightened her grip even more on her bottle. Cracks started to form.

“You alright, Sheppie?”

“Huh,” Shepard blinked out of her haze. She realized she had failed to keep up the facade of listening.

“You zoned out there. Is anything wrong? Don’t tell me your blacking out,” Elionel’s voice squeaked as worry and panic filled her tone.

Shepard shook her head, “no, just-” She was cut off. A shriek came from behind her. She turned around, and what she saw made her blood start to boil.

Shepard clamped her mouth shut as the Captain stared her down. Shepard knew she lost. Despite her reasons, she knew Captain Hendrickson wouldn’t understand. Not even her ground commander did and whatever he reported about her, soured the Captain's opinion of her even more. She earned her reputation on Torfan even when it followed her like a plague. It didn’t help her case that her attitude in general was that of a raging krogan but she wasn’t here to coddle people. She was here to finish the war that was waged, to do what was necessary to destroy all criminal activity near any human colony, particularly any batarian activity. Mindoir would never happen again. Not as long as she breathed.

But no one saw it the way she did. Everyone in the Alliance had as much of a spine as a hanar and the intelligence of a pyjak except for a select few. Like Captain Anderson and begrudgingly Admiral Hackett. Nonetheless, Captain Hendrickson was not one of them. She listened to him drone on and on about being a proper marine about what it takes without sacrificing what made one human. Shepard had long ago lost the meaning of that word. Only doing everything that was necessary to achieve her goals, why Anderson had been so worried about her. Shepard had no longer needed her name, Ezner. She was no longer human. It just took Torfan to have made her realize that.

“--stationed under the Command of Captain Anderson. You should thank whatever hell you spawned out of to be allowed to serve under such a grand and outstanding man,” Captain Hendrickson remarked with appreciation and respect coating his voice.

“Sir, There must be some kind of mistake,” Shepard said in disbelief as she came to from her musings. She knew Captain Anderson very well, after all he had saved her from the rubble in Mindoir and has been a mentor figure to her for most of her career in the Alliance. But being stationed under him was never any plan of hers and was an unwelcome surprise.

“Do you really think I’d deliver this news to you if I wasn’t sure, Lieutenant? Even I believe you don’t deserve it, but the brass has deemed it to be so. We will be dropping you onto the Citadel,” Captain Hendrickson replied, irritated.

“Why the Citadel, sir, and not Arcturus,” Shepard genuinely asked. The last she heard about Anderson was that he was still on Arcturus training some recruits for a classified program he tried to recruit her in. She firmly declined and the conversation ended after that. She knew Anderson respected her wishes and would not pursue the matter especially when Shepard didn’t want to be associated with him. Not that she didn’t have great respect for the man, quite the opposite. Anderson didn’t deserve to waste any more time on her.

Captain Hendrickson gave her a pointed look, “Anderson and his ship have docked there. Now if you're done questioning my every order, gather your gear and get. The. Hell. Out. Of. My. Ship.”

Captain Hendrickson ordered as he pointed to the door. Shepard glared at him a minute longer before saluting and then making her way out. She saw in the corner of her eye that Captain Hendrickson was about to drink from his cup. When a soft blue hue enveloped it causing it to miss the Captain’s mouth, spilling all over him, “fuck!” Ezner heard as she left him to his own devices.

As she walked the halls filled with other marines to reach her locker, they all had something to say about her.

“The butcher is finally leaving.”

“Thank fucking God.”

“Murderer.”

“War criminal.”

“We don’t have to worry about her incompetence getting us all killed.”

“Good fucking riddance.”

The soldiers charged on, passing through the dense forest, going in deeper and deeper.

Boots filled with dirt and gravel, sweat poured down their faces. Guns held close to their chests and then they saw it. The small building in the middle of the clearing.

One of the soldiers looked to his hand and an omni-tool appeared, “The scanner is picking up life signs, Commander. How shall we proceed?”

The tall man surveyed the area, “Hajjins, position yourself 15 feet southeast from here. Take Alvarez with you. Alvarez, I need you to decrypt any information you can get from that building. The rest of you will be the ground team. Move out.”

Without a single word, the rest of the soldiers filed out with disciplined movement. The ground team, despite the dense trees and rocky terrain, was precise and careful as they got closer to the building. As one of the soldiers moved in however, a turret emerged from underground blasting at the soldier’s shield and armor.

“God dammit! Alvarez, did you not see that?” The commander yelled as one of the other soldiers dragged the injured behind a large tree they were in.

“Was just about to contact you, Sir,” Alvarez hastily replied.

“Corporal asswipe,” said the soldier dragging the other.

“Save your energy, Trembley. Keep Lee stable,” The man commanded, “Hajjins, take it down. Any other surprises we should worry about, Alvarez?”

“Chief Hajjins says she’s doing the best she can but as long as you aren’t in range it won’t come out. And also…”

“Spit it out, Alvarez!”

“They’ve managed to scatter mines below ground… If you even step on o-”

“I get it, Alvarez! Fuck. Can you somehow deactivate them?”

“It will take hours to shut them all off, sir, but I can show you where they are located,” as he said that the commanders' omni-tool popped up which showed a map of the area with scattered glowing red dots. The red glow pulsated and beeped to specify each of their location, “That’s not all, there’s still a turret hiding.”

“Fuck sake! Find a way to deactivate them! Now,” The commander barked and turned to his soldiers, “You’ve heard him. Now we have to wait and pray for a fucking miracle.”

“You’re telling us to wait,” a soldier with distinct blood red striped armor asked.

“Didn’t think you were deaf,” The commander snapped, “If you want to be a moving target then do it, but I am not gonna waste their lives on a suicide run.”

With that he turned his back on the soldier and checked on Lee.

“Uhm… sir,” Alvarez called shakily.

“What now?”

“Lieutenant Shepard’s mobilizing,” replied Alvarez nervously.

More what?” Shepard stared at Javier as she walked into the small kitchen. Letting Javier talk was one way to get information out of him. Only question was would he fall for it.

Javier shrugged, “who knows? Haven’t found anything about it but if it bothers you so much I can dig around.”

Shepard eyed him over the kitchen counter then gave out a sigh. Guess this was all she was getting from him, she thought as she checked the contents of the fridge, finding two beer cans. Grabbing them, she threw one at Javier who caught it with ease.

Silence descended upon them as they took a sip from their drinks. When Javier thought this was the best time to offer, “Well since that's settled, let’s go out.”

“No,” Shepard immediately replied as she sat on the couch.

“Wha--” Javier complained as he turned his head to her direction, “You don’t even know where we’re going.”

“You’re always working on an angle. I don’t trust you.”

“One, that hurts. Second, don’t you wanna celebrate?”

“Does this have anything to do with the information I sent you?”

Javier sighed as he rolled his eyes, “Is work the only thing you can think of?”

“You should think more.”

Javier gave her a pointed look, “There’s a fine line between being committed and being obsessed. You're both.”

Shepard shrugged and placed her feet up on the table. Javier’s eyebrow scrunched and his mouth twitched in disgust.

“You’re an animal.”

“Takes one to know one,” Shepard said, shifting her position to a more comfortable one. With both feet outstretched, one foot on top of the other. “Still not going out.”

“So what are you gonna do? Sulk? Until I get your data or find out more about why you got stationed on the Normandy?”

Shepard gave him an annoyed glance as she typed on her omni-tool and sent him a file, “I recently got this from a severed arm.”

“Wha--”

“A batarians,” Shepard cut him off, “I’m not legally allowed to sever our people’s arms.”

“Hasn’t stopped you,” Javier whispered and yet Shepard heard, “Damn. You really are brutal, you know that.”

Shepard shrugged, whatever was necessary to get what she wanted. No matter the cost. “Look, this data came at a price,” Shepard said as she looked at the beer can she was holding, “I just.. I just need to know if you're going to help me or not.”