As you wish:
"The admiral always was a bit of a Luddite. Let me guess: complaining about a lack of raw damage?" I nodded, and her smile turned into a smirk. "Tell him that lengthening the barrel will increase the damage output. Or better yet, bypass him altogether. The sighting of heretic geth ships speeding toward the Perseus Veil would cause a panic if it were more widely known. And where there is panic, there is a politician anxious to be seen doing something. Like funding research into new weapons."
"I'm a bit short on politicians. Funny thing, blowing up a relay means no one wants to return your calls."
"But they'll still return mine. I don't have the contact network I once did, but a handful the right people still owe me a few favors. I can spare one or two. And it beats watching you charge blindly into the fray. You’re charismatic, but that doesn't mean you can steamroll over everyone."
"That's what I have you for. Well, that and making sure I don’t cause any more explosions than absolutely necessary."
We walked together in silence, indistinguishable from the ordinary couples surrounding us. Nobody stopped me asking for an autograph. The man in the rumpled jacket and gray shirt couldn't possibly be Commander Shepard. Shepard was crazy anyway. It was strange not to have the fame and acclamation that I had worn and wielded for a decade. Miranda made up for it. I had imagined what it would be like to be with her: furtive liaisons as I pounded into her, both of us high on the sheer physical pleasure of sex. The scrape of her nails against my skin. Maybe talking afterwards. But not this. This was comfortable.
“Look at me!” A boy of no more than six or seven emerged from the crowd. His hair was mouse brown, and he carried a model frigate in one hand. He looked clean and well fed. No visible bruises. The sort of boy I wished that I had been. "I'm a starship!” He waved his arm back and forth, miming flight and making zooming noises.
"Cute, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Miranda whispered.
A loud roar filled my ears. A real frigate zoomed low overhead as it flew in for drydock. "I can catch it," said the boy as he tore off toward it. Somewhere in the distance, a woman shouted, but the boy didn't hear her. He ran faster and faster. "I can catch it!"
I've seen children shot, heard the sickening crunch of bones breaking into places, watched as a man was impaled while he was still alive. That didn't stop this sick feeling in my stomach as I realized something bad was about to happen. The boy put a foot wrong and tumbled to the ground. His ship fell from his hands and crashed unceremoniously. High-pitched cries filled my ears.
Miranda reacted first. She jerked her hand from mine and took off with a speed that would have been astonishing if it had been anyone else. "Are you all right?"
The boy whimpered. "My knee hurts."
She examined his knee. It was covered in shallow cuts, and the pale skin was an unflattering shade of red. "I imagine it does. Hold still and I'll put something on it to make it feel better, okay? I'm a doctor." Her voice was soft and gentle, neither panicked nor dismissive. I watched as the woman I had seen make head shots on vorcha and send commandos flying with a flick of her wrist applied covered the cut in medigel. I close my eyes.
The cut on my arm felt like fire, and I could see bits of glass poking out. I tried not to scream. Mom didn't like it when I screamed. Grandma didn't mind, but grandma was gone. Mom’s teeth were pink like they always were when she got back from visiting the man with the tall hat. She would hit me if I bothered her. I opened the cabinet with my good hand. The medigel was past its expiration date, but it should probably be good.
I shook my head. Those days were over now. Miranda finished applying the medigel. "There you go."
A woman broke through the crowd. Her face was red from exertion. "Kevin, are you all right?" she asked between pants.
"The nice lady helped me."
"He's fine," Miranda said. "Just a nasty scrape."
"Thank you," the woman said. She put her arm around Kevin and hustled him away to a waiting car. But at the last moment, he turned around and favored Miranda with a small wave. Miranda paused for a fraction of a second before she returned it.
When she returned to my side, her eyes were bright and shining with unshed tears. "Everything okay?" I asked her.
"Fine." She blinked and arranged her face into a smile. "Life really isn’t fair, is it?
I looked at the shiny new car. "No, it isn't."
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