Curious Jealousy- a F!Shenko Fic

Chapter Thirty: Politician

"Tell me, Commander, how you command such loyalty from those who serve under you," Javik inquired.

She leaned against the wall beside of his door. "I don't demand that they're loyal to me, necessarily- so long as they're loyal to my goal."

Javik frowned at her, trying to compute what she was saying. "Yet you hurt when one crew member wasn't loyal to you."

It took a moment for her to rid herself of the shock of hearing his words. "Hurt, yes, but I understand where he was coming from- I was dead and he was lonely. We weren't married- not committed to each other, really. I don't begrudge his choices."

Javik shook his head. "He would have been forced to eat her entrails for what he had done were we in the Empire. Even if a mate is killed, we remain loyal to them- to their memory."

That fascinated her- the Prothean's had been monogamists. She wondered if he had lost someone to the war- someone he mourned still.

"Who do you fight this war for, Commander?"

No one had ever asked her that question before. They had just expected her to fight for them.

Shepard nodded her head to let him know that she was going to answer, but thought for a few minutes before she finally decided to speak. "I fight for everyone in the galaxy- all species. I fight for the previous cycles who were killed. I fight so no future generation has to be part of a vicious cycle. I fight for my crew. I fight for life."

"In all you spoke for," Javik said slowly, "not once did you mention yourself."

Clever Prothean.

"I've already died once- watched as my ship was destroyed. I lost two years of my life. My living is something that goes against nature. So, no, I don't fight for myself."

Javik didn't like her words. He frowned at her in such a way that almost made her chuckle. "You are blind- as so many primitives are. You have the potential to be superior, but you limit your mind with thoughts such as those." He was getting angry.

Javik was an interesting person.

Oh, he acted like a total hardass- what with all of his insults and what-not. However, Shepard could sense the pain and loss that he fought to keep buried- unseen.

He turned around and frowned. "You are called Hope," he ignored her wince, "is that you name or what you represent?"

Shepard decided that she liked him. She hoped that, one day, they might even call each other friends. After all, she'd broken through tougher attitudes and distrust before (Wrex).

"Both," she said matter-of-factly. "Apparently my mother had good instincts when she named me."

Javik huffed. "You have fought and won many battles," he stated, "yet you still hide the truth from many."

"I don't understand."

"You fight alongside of a robot. How many know that it is an artificial intelligence? You trust the lives of many to it."

Well….

"No one aboard this ship is the enemy," she said gently as he stood before a basin of water and washed his hands.

"There is only one thing do with one such as you have," he informed her.

"Oh?"

"Throw it out of the airlock before it decides that we're no longer useful. We are nothing more than a mortal inconvenience to them, Commander. No good can come from having it aboard."