Fluttershy had completely taken apart her sniper rifle to replace and upgrade parts as she saw fit, the Normandy’s armory having various upgrades to the current tech in her rifle in its stock. Behind her, Vortash was working on other weapons, the salarian and pegasus not having said much to each other while they were there. The silence persisted for a bit longer until the door that lead to the hallway into the lab opened up and revealed Mordin.
“Professor,” Vortash greeted curtly, looking up from his work momentarily. Fluttershy gave the salarian newcomer more attention.
“Hello doctor Solus, been a while,” Fluttershy said as she put down the part of her rifle that she was working on.
“Indeed. Were very much missed in clinic,” Mordin replied.
“Yeah, I was… indisposed for a bit, doesn’t matter now anyway, I'm pretty sure there'll be a lot more fighting that curing diseases in the coming weeks.”
“Something the professor is very good at,” Vortash quipped from his worktable. Fluttershy looking back at the salarian who she'd worked with on Omega with a raised eyebrow, not having heard the salarian being anything other than completely professional before.
“Team agreed with necessity. We had this conversation with Maelon already. Models were conclusive,” Mordin defended but Fluttershy could hear the ever slight bit of hidden doubt in the professor's voice, though she wasn't sure what it was about.
Time to find out how they know each other.
Clearing her throat, Fluttershy looked between the two salarians. “So, tell me, what's the history here?”
“STG work,” Vortash answered without missing a beat. Fluttershy wanted more than a general answer like that though, it hadn't been hard to gather that either one of them had used to be part of the Special Tasks Group over the time she'd known them.
“Sounds way more personal than that,” Fluttershy stating the obvious.
“Ran a… controversial mission together on Tuchanka. Seems opinion of necessity in team was not as unanimous as previous assumptions. Concerning,” Mordin replied, a huff coming from Vortash.
“We made sure that a complete species would still be on track for extinction,” Vortash spit back at Mordin with venom in his voice. “Not all of us can live with the destruction of a species on our conscience.”
“Data was conclusive. Only adjusted for birthrate to keep population stable! Models were clear on results of inaction. Population would grow explosively!” Mordin defended.
“You insured the genophage remained in place?” Fluttershy cut in, utterly shocked. “Professor, the krogan are dying. I know you’re not stupid, you know the statistics. The genophage is just a really clean looking genocide as it stands.”
“Though Maelon’s work was brutal, his point was right. We’re justifying millions of dead here,” Vortash added. Mordin remained silent for a bit, something very unusual for the salarian.
“Need to… contact some people,” Mordin turned around and marched out of the armory, Fluttershy and Vortash looking at each other in shock.
“Did he just change his mind on it?” Fluttershy asked in shock as she hadn’t expected this result.
“Dunno, we at least had an influence...” Vortash said sounding as surprised as Fluttershy, “Give him time, that’s probably the best bet.”
“Yeah...” Fluttershy stared at the closed door leading to the lab for a bit before turning back to Vortash. “You feel guilty about what you helped do on Tuchanka? Is that why you tried joining up with us on Omega?”
Vortash nodded, “I hoped to bring some more good into the world before I’d go out, Commander Shepard’s mission is, from what I understand, of paramount importance to the survival of the galaxy. If I die helping stop these reapers, I’ll at least know I did so doing something that mattered.”
“Hey, we’re not going out there to die. We’ve got too much work cut out for us,” Fluttershy said resolutely. “I for one have no interest in doing so.”
“Heh, no you don’t. Thanks, Fluttershy,” Vortash smiled. “Should finish up with these weapons before Illium.”
Fluttershy nodded in agreement and returned to re-assembling her rifle and making sure all its parts were of the highest quality. Clamping it to her side after getting done she said her good luck to Vortash and made her way out of the armory into the CIC where the elevator to the crew decks. As she waited for it to arrive EDI popped up on the pedestal next to the elevator door.
“The commander wishes to speak with you, if you can head up to his quarters that would be appreciated.”
“Thanks EDI, I will,” Fluttershy replied as the elevator door opened revealing Garrus. “Shepard?”
Garrus nodded. “indeed.”
“Well, let’s not keep him waiting then.” The elevator quickly rose up to the level above where the commander was waiting in his own quarters, sitting at his couch. “Hello, Commander.”
“Ah, Fluttershy, Garrus, have a seat,” Shepard pointed at the couch next to him as he drank some juice he had. “So before I get to the point I wanted to bring up our new griffin crew member.”
“She wanted to stay with me when we were on the Citadel but if you don’t want her here then I will go tell her,” Fluttershy said as she had told Gabby that if Shepard didn’t agree they’d bring her back to the Citadel.
“Oh I was thinking about it but my two head engineers seem to have glued themselves to the thing. Neither of them wants her gone, she’s really smart and apparently helpful with maintenance in the engineering shafts. I’m not taking her through the Omega relay but keeping her, for the time being, won’t be an issue,” Shepard said, explaining his position.
“That’s pretty much what I told her. I think she’ll be happy to hear it,” Fluttershy smiled. “So what was the thing you wanted to talk about?”
Shepard showed a datapad to the two of them. “The illusive man sent me data on the Shadow Broker, he wants me to deliver it to Liara.” Both Garrus and Fluttershy reared back in shock before simultaneously feeling anger bubble up. “I want to cut down the time I spend on Illium to a minimum so I’m giving this to you to deliver to her and relay back to me if she wants to act on the info.”
“Oh, we’ll get it to her,” Garrus growled.
“Good. Take Dash with you, she’ll need the air after being cooped up in the ship again,” Shepard said, giving the tablet over to Garrus, the turian and pegasus standing up and giving Shepard a quick salute.
“Will do, Commander.”