Survivor

Chapter 46

Shepard
  I stared at my Omni-Tool a moment longer before I let it go into sleep mode, shutting my eyes as well. I missed Garrus so much.
  It had been a couple days since the vid call, but days here back on Earth felt more like an eternity now.
  "Ready to get back to work?" The sound of Artemis' voice spooked me, causing me to glare up at him, before I gave a smug smile at the split skin on his cheekbone and swollen mandible.
  "I suggest you don't come sneaking up on me like that again."
  Artemis held up his hands in surrender. "I didn't mean to. I was just checking if you were ready to move. We've still got ten more people missing. Let's make record and find all ten alive. I swear you're like a lucky charm."
  I was so confused by this Turian. Times like a few days ago, he was aggressive and irritable. Today? Friendly, like nothing had ever passed between us!
  I shook my head. "Yeah, I'm ready."
I got up off the rock I had been resting on, weary from the week.
"Just a few more days, Shep," Artemis said gleefully.
"Don't call me Shep in front of my men," I growled, putting myself toe to toe with him immediately.
Everyone else around us froze, all wondering if there would be a repeat of the last instance I confronted him.
Artemis raised his hands in surrender and backed up a step. "Okay, sorry Commander. Just thought I would try to raise some spirits."
I shook my head. "Don't achieve it by disrespecting rank. Lieutenant."
Artemis gave a sobered nod, seeming sincere.
I passed him, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "We need to remember why we're here. I appreciate your trying to keep morale up, though."
  He nodded and kept his head down, confusing me as to why he was being so moody.
  "Pack it up, we roll out in five," I announced to the rest of the team, surveying them as I did.
  They moved quickly, put into motion by the confrontation between Artemis and I.
  I didn't want them to obey because they feared me, though. I wanted them to obey me because they respected me.
Everyone lined up as they were ready, and soon enough, everyone was accounted for and ready to move.
"Artemis," I said, surprising everyone.
He stood at the ready to take his order and I jerked my head at the front of the team.
"Take point. I've given you full access to the scanner commands for the day."
He stood there, mandibles dropped in shock, everyone else thoroughly surprised as well.
"Well? What are you waiting for? These survivors aren't going to save themselves."
He seemed to give himself a mental shake and nodded once. "Yes, ma'am."
He set a brisk pace even once he was past the front of the team.
I took up the back, watching my team, the way they interacted, both with their tools, and each other.
The way they murmured conversations and some would glance back at me with either fear, concern, or respect.
I always returned the latter with a nod, but the former always bothered me.
These days, we need hope, joy, respect and compassion. Not to be driven by more fear.
"We've got one!" Artemis shouted.
I hurried to his position, sliding past the others as they worked to him as well.
"Close to the surface by the looks of it. Asari."
"You call the shots."
He looked up at me, then nodded, grim determination in his eyes.
"Shep-"
I cut him off by shaking my head and holding up my hands as I backed away. "No, this is you and the team. I need to see you all in action together without me."
"Okay, then Mikael, Wright, I need you two clearing the larger pieces of debris. Let's get some of this weight off of her. Streigh, Eiver, you two start shoveling off some of this dirt. Take it easy, all of you or she'll be dead before we can reach her. The rest of you do as you see needs to be done. No hesitation. Let's get this done."
Everybody surged into action, every single one with the same intent: save this woman's life.
Artemis was a natural leader. I could see it in him from the moment I had met him on the transport to Earth. Sometimes too much of a leader with his instinct to move people out of the way for him to lead. His instinct to drive off the competition.
In a way, I didn't blame him. Turians were raised in the military lifestyle, in the ideal that if you didn't serve your community it was dishonorable. He was raised a leader.
Not to mention those instincts were more understood and appreciated in the Turian community. In a mixed race team? Not so much.
I realized now I had gotten lucky that Garrus wasn't as over the top as Artemis could be.
The realization made me miss him. Made me want to ask him how to handle this situation with Artemis. Made me want to just lay down in bed and sleep with my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.
Even as I feared the heartbeat under the rubble here would fade away.
"Pick up the pace, people!" I barked, glaring at Artemis, who grimaced.
"You're trying to save this woman! Not kill her! Do you want her to die down there? Artemis! What the hell kind of show do you think we're running here? We've had no casualties in our rescue mission so far! Are you trying to ruin that?"
I paced closer to him, raking a harsh gaze over all of them, driving them harder than before.
"What the hell would be to happen if those damn radicals were to come back to finish the job? I would need to take point on the defensive along with Wright and Eiver! Where does that leave you? Crawling through the rescue process? I can't be here to babysit your ass while I'm trying to fight off the enemy!"
Artemis had his mandibles clenched to his face, but he stayed concentrated, giving orders where they were needed.
The others, however, except for Wright and Eiver, seemed flustered.
"This is boot camp all over again until you can get the hang of working under pressure again! All of you!"
  "You're not helping!" Artemis snapped finally.
  Just what I wanted.
  "What? Do you want to repeat that back to me? Because I don't think I heard you right! It sounded an awful lot like you talking back to your commander."
  "Everyone is under enough stress without you pushing them harder!"
  "I'm pushing them so they won't have to stand over a dead body and explain why we lost a survivor! How about I have you explain why she's dead? If she's a matriarch? How will you tell her daughters and granddaughters she died because you couldn't decide when to push your team? Have you ever had to tell someone their family is dead?"
  I saw nods within the team, all of them giving a variation of a nod as they pushed harder.
  I met Artemis' burning gaze.
  "I didn't want to tire them too quickly. Or get emotional about this." Artemis shot back.
  "This is why you're still at Lieutenant," I said softly, my demeanor softening to him. "I'm not saying that to offend you or be a bitch. These men? The men and women under your command won't break easy. That's why we got them. This is a brutal job, I know you know that. The hard part is pushing your team to their limits and then some so we can do our jobs to the best of our abilities."
  "Is that how you became the legend you are? Artemis asked, seeming genuinely interested.
  I sighed, rubbing my face with my hands. "Yeah. I went above and beyond. I'll warn you, Artemis. Sometimes it's a path you wish you didn't have to endure. Even if you would do it all over again if you were asked to."
  Artemis seemed to think about it before he nodded. "May I step back to the team, commander?"
  I gave him a brief nod. "Return to duty, Lieutenant."
  Artemis spun on his heel to join our team, ordering a harder push in the soft spots of the rescue effort.
  I have a small nod in satisfaction before I turned and sat down on a rock to supervise the team.
  I was glad to see Artemis doing well, but I could only hope this responsibility would be enough to quench his thirst to climb ranks faster.
  I couldn't help but worry about his state of mind, despite his quick learning skills and obvious loyalty to military life. He just seemed to lose his sense of rank and respect at times.
  How did the Turian I met on the transport turn out to be like this? How had I not caught on to him sooner?
  I sighed and rested my face in my hands, propped up by my elbows on my knees.
  I missed home more than I thought I would, and the stress of handling a new team, especially without Garrus, made it even harder to handle.
  I realized then that living with Garrus was my first true home I had since I had left for the military.
  And then I realized I had a home when Garrus and I had started dating. It was with him.
  It didn't matter where I lived, whether I had a permanent residence or not. Where he was would always be my home.
  "Shepard! We found her!"
  I sighed again as I stood. The work was endless, but at least I had something to look forward to.

((A/N: Hey guys!! I'm sorry it's really late to be posting this! I had work today and most of the week last week along with stuff I needed to take care of on my days off! Been super busy but here it is! If you guys liked it, please don't forget to leave a vote and comment! Oh, and Survivor has been entered into the Wattys so wish us luck! Good luck to anyone else with a book entered in as well! Keelah Se'lai!))