Shepard's Mercy

Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or any characters that appear herein besides the original ones.

When one considered Jane Shepard, the first thing that sprang to mind was that she was dangerous:
Every move she made was controlled, her walk the rolling swagger of an apex predator and her arms swinging in counterpoint could be holding a weapon with no warning if she decided to draw.

On the battlefield, she was violence incarnate.

Aboard the Normandy, she was a firm but fair CO, who ran things with a loose rein that would likely have stricter officers in an apoplexy.

Right at that moment however, Jane Shepard wasn't a war-goddess.

She was a woman out of her depth grappling with a problem.

'I couldn't be that heartless, Garrus. They just lost their parents. Letting them stay on the Normandy as my responsibility is one thing, but…' She trailed off and shook her head.
'There's no easy way through this.' Garrus agreed sagely.
Shepard sighed and buried her face in her hand, red hair hiding her face as she did. 'God damn Reapers.' She swore.

Hours earlier, Traynor had picked up a weak distress signal from a small Turian colony.

The Reapers had sent a scout force after them and with some of the bigger biomechanical abominations inbound, they'd diverted to help with evacuations.

They'd arrived in time to help fend off a ground assault while they helped extract stragglers who hadn't managed to make it to the freighters that had made up the mainstay of the rescue ships.

Among the last to leave had been a small family.

Unfortunately, they'd been ambushed near where the Normandy was hovering by a group of Cannibals and Marauders.

There'd been three of them:
A mother, a boy who by Shepard's estimation couldn't have been more than eight,-a guess Garrus had confirmed after talking with him, saying he was six,-and a infant who's age Shepard hadn't even tried to guess.

Only the two children had made it of the three of them.

Shepard had charged in with her biotics and sent the Reapers reeling, covered by sniper fire from Garrus and Ashley, along with more general supporting fire from the rest of the ground team as she carried the gravely injured Turian woman into the cargo hold, which was nowhere near as full as Shepard would've liked with refugees.

Her arm had been broken beyond repair and she'd been shot at least four times in the torso.

She'd been rushed up to the med-bay for emergency surgery, but despite Dr. Chakwas' best efforts, the woman had died on the operating table.

Which, now they were on their way back to the Citadel to offload the refugees, left Shepard with a problem:
Namely, the two orphaned Turians currently having a check-up from Dr. Chakwas now that the more seriously injured had been seen to.

Garrus had asked some quiet questions of the de facto leader of the Turians in the cargo hold and had been informed that the woman's husband had been killed defending the small space port on the colony before the Normandy's arrival and that furthermore, the children had no other relatives, nor could anyone really afford to take them in.

'The Normandy is probably the safest place in the galaxy right now.' Shepard said, more to herself than Garrus.

They were currently in Shepard's cabin, drinking their respective choice sources of caffeine:

Klava for Garrus and coffee for Shepard.

'If you want my advise, just be honest with the kid. He just lost his mother and father, he's got nowhere else to go and in light of that, you're willing to let him and his sister stay here on the Normandy.' Garrus advised, his flanging voice sounding weary. 'In the Hierarchy, it's not uncommon for kids orphaned like them to be looked after by whatever unit their parents were with, when said unit is off duty. About the only thing they might question is why you're offering to take them in when you're human, in which case, just tell them the truth: you didn't want them to fend for themselves and you felt responsible for them.'
Shepard sighed again in resignation. 'I keep telling myself all this, but it just doesn't seem right.' She said. 'I'm going to clean myself up, then I'll go talk to them.' So saying she stood and began working on the seals and clasps of her armour. 'Thanks for the help Garrus.' She said. 'I don't think I'd have known how to even look at those two otherwise.'

Shepard paused outside the port observation deck which the crew had turned over to the two young Turians to keep them out of trouble.

She'd come down here with the conviction she was going to talk to the older of the two and let him know he and his sister were free to stay with the Normandy until something better could be arranged,-although privately, Shepard knew damn well that that would probably be a year or two after the Reapers were exterminated if they were lucky.

You've come too far to play the coward now. Shepard told herself and opened the door before she could have any more second thoughts, schooling her features as close to neutral as she could manage.

The pneumatic hiss of the door opening drew the attention of the elder of the pair who looked at her with an incurious, wretched expression that Shepard knew all too well:

She'd worn an all too similar one after the slave raid on Mindoir.

'What do you want?' The young Turian's sub-vocals sounded thick and hitched as he finished, irregular, dark rivulets traced paths down his platinum mandibles.

Shepard didn't answer immediately, instead taking a seat beside the young Turian, but giving him enough room so it didn't seem as though she were imposing.

Until that moment, Shepard hadn't known what she'd come here for, or even what she'd say.

'I'm sorry.' She said softly.
'No you're not.' The young Turian said, his grief giving way to anger. 'You don't care about me, or about Cirei.' He added, glaring at her with yellow eyes that flashed with kindled anger.
'If I had've been faster, your mother might still be alive and you wouldn't be going through this.' Shepard replied tiredly. 'I lost my parents when slavers attacked Mindoir. I know what you're going through.' She met the angry gaze of the young Turian. 'And I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough to prevent you and your sister from going through it as well.' She apologised, her voice full of quiet sincerity.

The youngster looked away, to his sister who was making worried sounding trills at her brother's raised voice, her eyes looking past him at Shepard.

'What's your name?' Shepard asked curiously.

The older Turian looked back at Shepard as he put his sister in his lap and held her close for comfort.

'Ikathas Danwé.' He said, looking at Shepard. 'And I know who you are, Commander Shepard.' He piped afterward, his voice carrying a curiously defiant note to it. 'My sister is Cirei.' He added afterward.
'Well then Ikathas, unless you have any objections I think it might be for the best if you stayed with the Normandy for now, since apparently there's no one to look after you now.' Shepard said, figuring she was probably better off getting the reason for her visit out of the way.'

She expected resistance, hell she knew from experience, to expect resistance to the idea.

Instead, Ikathas just nodded.

'The other Turian, the one with the scars, he suggested this, didn't he?' He asked curiously.
'Yeah, he did.' Shepard confirmed. 'I didn't think it was my place to make that call without checking with you though, although I will say the Normandy is quite possibly the safest place in the Galaxy right now.' She added. 'Why do you ask?'
'Father said that he'd worked with you Humans before. He said he'd never seen any of your children on any ships beside the big ones. He said your soldiers didn't care for the children of the fallen.' Ikathas explained.
'It's a cultural thing.' Shepard replied. 'Joining the military is a choice for most Humans, instead of a necessity; unless circumstances like the present ones force a draft and even then, if you do other work or you're too young, old or ill, you're passed over.' She explained.

Ikathas took a deep breath, then let it out.

'What do you want me to do while I'm here?' He asked.
'I'm not going to send you to clean out the airducts, if that's what you're worried about.' Shepard replied with a small smile. 'We'll find something for you to do; lessons, more than likely.' She added.

Ikathas gave a small noise that Shepard interpreted as disgust.

'Hey, even with the galaxy falling apart, you can't neglect your education.' She said with amusement. 'But besides that, keep an eye on your sister. Besides Garrus and the other refugees, you know the most about Turian babies out of everyone on the ship. And Garrus is rarely found outside of the main battery.'

Ikathas nodded.

'I think I can do that.' He said softly.
'That's the spirit.' Shepard said with an encouraging nod, then a thought occurred to her. 'When was the last time you ate?' She asked.
'This morning.' Ikathas replied, then a gurgling rumble that transcended species filled the room. The young Turian was quiet as his mandibles twitched restlessly. 'You wouldn't have anything to eat, would you?' He asked tentatively.

Okay, this is my second entry into the Aria's Afterlife May Competition after I missed a crucial detail with my first entry, which means that by default it lost.

Please review and let me know what you think, especially considering this was my first attempt at writing FemShep.

For the curious, said FemShep is the default Jane Shepard from ME3.

'til next time.