High Hopes – Chapter 1:

"I hope I'll see you again..."

This story will not cover every single event in the Mass Effect series and will not! (Dramatic Italics for the win!) have transcripts of conversations, although there may be some similarities.

I hope you enjoy this and please leave your opinions as I wish to improve my skills.

Hopefully a good start to a long story.

Garrus Vakarian was tired, he was tired of waking up at the same time every morning, of going to work at C-Sec, tired of filling out paperwork, tired of the red tape. He was tired of doing the exact same thing every day, as he had done for years.

He felt like his entire life revolved around the same dreary chain of events that he was doomed to repeat over and over again. So he would do almost anything in an attempt to break the rut. He would try the latest nightclubs on the Wards, spend hours at the shooting range and repairing any kind of device could get his talons on. He found the Clubs immature filled with, to put it kindly, women with some loose morals, the type he hated. He already knew his guns and had collected the prize of being the best shooter in C-Sec long ago. On top of that he could already take apart and put back together most types of Omni-Tools blindfolded.

His life was too comfortable, too stable. No new faces, no new places to explore, his life had been the same for years. Stale, it was the only way Garrus could describe his life at C-Sec, well his life in general at the Citadel. He thought that by leaving Plivan he would be able to explore the stars, have adventures and meet new people, but there he was in a boring dead-end job.

So Garrus searched for release at work, by taking the hardest cases possible; just for the thrill of a challenge, although such excitement was rare due to interesting cases being few and far between. He spent most of his time at C-Sec filling out forms, mostly the 11-BLT form: criminal action(s) committed. Garrus could not fathom why such a form was needed or why he had to fill out so many of the blasted things daily, and so it held a special place of hatred in his heart.

The cases he so coveted often found their way around the C-Sec offices being passed from one officer to an other, if they deemed the case too difficult they would pass it on, but after a time the cases would inevitability find their ways to Garrus's desk. He believed that the other officers wanted a easy time instead of going after the real criminals, they would rather do paperwork and go home at the end of the week with their pay check. Garrus envied how comfortable they were doing such easy work.

One day such a case deposited itself on the desk opposite his own with the new owner of the file reluctant to even open it. The owner was a blond human officer and well known around the office as a layabout.

"What you got there?" asked Garrus desperate to distract himself from the piles of forms.

The blond haired officer smiled, those were the words he was hoping someone would ask, "You know what Vakarian? Its yours now, good luck." he dumped the file unceremoniously on the desk and walked away smiling. The mans actions peaked the Turian's interests, he could see from his seat that it was simply tiled 'Eden Prime Incident Report'.

Garrus snatched it up as if it could disappear at a moments notice. Ignoring the paperwork on his desk he read the file once and a second time, then again. He did this until he was almost sure it was committed to his memory it was only then he flared his mandibles into a wide smile. Find evidence against a Specter? Find evidence against Saren Arterius the top ranking Specter? Garrus always enjoyed a challenge and this one was going to be a toughie.

In fact it was going to be nigh on impossible the only evidence he had was, a collection of Geth bodies, some fuzzy footage and an unreliable eyewitnesses in the form of a sleepy dockworker. The only reliable witness was a Commander Shepherd who was in a coma and may or may not have even seen anything in the first place.

It was perfect.

The last anyone saw of Garrus for the next few days was of him accepting the assignment with a grin on his face.

Commander Lydia Shepherd rubbed the back of her neck trying to work the tightness from it, where she had fallen after being thrown around by the beacon on Eden Prime.

Dr. Chakwas smiled at her "How do you feel?"

"Stiff and have a migraine but other then that, fine." Shepherd croaked, her throat dry and painful. The Dr. handed the Commander a bottle of water that she accepted thankfully taking deep mouthfuls.

"Dry throats happen when you yell at people." Chakwas observed making the commander look guilty, she had moments before yelled at Kaidan.

To alleviate her guilt the Commander studied her reflection in a mirror provided by the Doctor, examining the placement of a new diagonal scar on the left cheek caused by a Geth bullet, it was long, jagged and red but would be hard to notice within a few weeks. She moved her brown hair that came down to the top of her jaw bone out of her eyes, tucking them behind her ear. This allowed her to stare into her own eyes that she could have sworn had gone a brighter shade of green, but the Doctor insisted that Lydia was just imagining it.

"I mean how do you feel about Kaidan." Chakwas rephrased the question.

"He risked all of us and the whole reason we were on the planet in the first place." Lydia sighed trying to keep her anger from bubbling over by continuing to down the drink, feeling slightly guilty for yelling at him.

"You know exactly what I mean Shepherd." Unfortunately she did, rumor was that Kaidan liked Shepherd and was looking for the right moment to ask her out, a moment that Lydia did all she could to avoid. Challenging to do as Kaidan was by her bedside the entire time she was out and there when she woke up.

The Commander blushed and fidgeted nervously. "I like him as a friend but as a..." she trailed off somehow talking about Kaidan like that seemed wrong. "Not like that." Shaking her head.

It struck the Doctor as strange that for someone so comfortable in a fight or heated argument, that talking about relationships made her so awkward and nervous.

"Think of anyone like that?" Chakwas asked knowing from previous experience that whenever she managed to coerce the commander into talking about relationships, there was a short window of opportunity to ask questions before Lydia would change subject.

The Commander laughed "No, no-one at the moment." she smiled "It's hard to get close to anyone when you're in the army."

"You would be surprised..." Chakwas said mysteriously, receiving a frown from the Commander. Before Lydia could say anything the Doctor pushed on. "You have have to apologize to him, and tell him that you don't feel anything."

"Yea...Yeah" The brunette was slightly off balance by how direct Chakwas was. "I have to but... I can't do it right now, not today. Because..."

"It would undermine your professional opinion?" Chakwas finished smiling.

Lydia replied by laughing and nodding. "Hey I've got a good question."

"And what would that be?"

"Who did you err...fraternize with?" a wide cheeky smile appeared on Lydia's face.

"I wouldn't tell you in a million years." She replied before promptly sending the Commander to get ready for arrival at the Citadel. Lydia was smiling as she left the med-bay, but that was quickly wiped from her face as Kaidan passed.

"Almost at the Citadel Ma'am." Kaidan said his face expressionless and voice toneless, without waiting for a reply he stomped off to examine his locker.

Damn he is angry thought the Commander, shaking her head Lydia went to collect her own armor and weapons together from her locker, as she approached Kaidan glared at Lydia and slammed his locker door before walking quickly away. Had to be done she tried to reason but found it wholly inadequate to sedate her guilt.

Ashley noticed the exchange between the two and decided much to Shepherd's relief not to get involved, only giving Shepherd a passing sympathetic smile but it seemed empty. Lydia made a mental note to ask her about Eden Prime when there was more time, she knew Ashley was taking the loss of her crew hard. Much like Shepherd had after losing her own squad on Akuze to the Thresher Maws.

As she changed the Commander's thoughts turned toward Saren's hearing and how crazy her dreams would sound to the Council ... and yet they seemed too important not to mention, one way or another. But she also tried to think of a way to tell Kaidan how she felt, or rather, didn't feel.

Garrus was ashamed, not for anything he did, but for what he could not do. He felt like he had failed, a feeling unfamiliar to him, the Turian had difficultly dealing with it and it managed to irritated him to no end.

His three day long investigation had turned up...nothing, nothing at all of any consequence, a few rumors but nothing that could be used in a case. The only thing he found out was that the Commander was being observed by a Specter for some reason, but even that evaded him.

Still he felt the need to organize his meager offerings that were as he expected, a collection of bleary images that were very unlikely to even be shown to the Council.

He had tried to persuade one of the Council attendants for extra time on the case, more for the reason that he didn't want to go quietly rather then the chance of new evidence, but of course his request was rejected.

So there he was: standing the Citadel tower waiting for someone, anyone to collect his pathetic attempt at investigating. He continually flicked through the evidence hoping for some kind of inspiration, but none came.

"Excuse me are you a C-Sec officer?" Garrus sighed loudly, frustrated, why did someone have to interrupt him at that moment? He turned quickly, mouth opened to deliver a carefully constructed barbed comment, before freezing at the sight of the woman.

"Err... Ye... Yeah I am." For some reason the short female human infront of him made him pause and stumble over his own words, she looked familiar, but he couldn't remember from where.

"Well... I am looking for a: Garrus Vakarian" If she noticed Garrus's look of surprise she ignored it, she double checked the name from a message on her Omni-Tool. He studied her trying to remember were he had seen her before, brown hair, emerald green eyes and a height where the top of her head came only slightly higher then his chin. She was familiar to him.

"You've found him." Quickly he shifted through were he could have seen her before, a C-Sec officer? Not likely, wouldn't have asked otherwise. A Civilian? Definitely not, she was wearing battle armor and had an assault rifle strapped to her back. A solder? Possible, but he had never really met any human women who were in the service. Wait could she be fro-

"My name is Commander Lydia Shepherd I've been told you have some evidence against Saren?" The Commander had a light and cheery voice with a smile playing on her lips. She answered Garrus's question without him even asking, she was the Commander that was in a coma, he had seen her picture many times in the file. The only thing that was different from the picture was the new angry looking cut on her left cheek.

"Bad timing?" Shepherd asked giving him a concerned look.

"No.. no not really..." he handed over the Datapad containing the evidence which she accepted. "Well I just..." He stopped himself there unsure about the human.

She simply raised a single eyebrow, her smile widened. "Out with it." She commanded.

Garrus sighed but did as she said "It's just that what I found is unlikely to be of any use Commander." That's all he meant to say but the rest slipped out. "I feel so useless..."

She gave a short laugh. "From what I can see you've collected everything possible and even organized it into what order we should use it." This surprised Garrus, she was being truthful and actually took notice of what he had done, instead of treating him as a tool, to be used then cast aside. "I appreciate it Garrus, thank you for your help."

His mandibles spread into a smile "Your welcome Commander." as he said this her hand extended out for a handshake which threw Garrus off balance, some people hated Turians because of the first contact war. With only the slightest hesitation he accepted her hand with his own three talons.

A slight lull in the conversation allowed him to examine the Commander's companions, one was a man with short black hair and dark accusing eyes, sightly taller then the Commander herself, he studied her as she flicked through the Datapad. The other was a woman with dark hair and a soft smile, she looked quietly confused at the expression on the man's face.

"They'll defend him to the end, unless you have very good evidence..." Garrus said turning his attention back to the Commander, unfortunately Garrus had the habit of being the voice of doom sometimes.

"Well with the evidence you have given us, Saren doesn't stand a chance!" She said hopefully.

"Yeah and after Saren has been arrested you can come and visit me in my mansion on Ilos!" He laughed regretting it instantly, did this human share his sense of humor? Or would she be offended by the joke?

A slight pause all but confirmed Garrus's fears, he started to look for a way out when the Commander laughed, a real laugh that made her eyes glisten and her face to light up. "Fine if I can bring my Geth army as well and we can all have a long holiday." It was Garrus's turn to pause, then they both laughed together.

He decided that he liked the sound of her laughter and the human that produced it.

"I hope the case goes well Commander" He smiled. "I hope I'll see you again someday." He sincerely hoped so.

"You too Garrus, good luck a C-Sec." Lydia agreed. Watching him leave she thought about how nice he was, a Turian with a good sense of humor and pride was rare, she also thought how his 'hand' felt good in her own. His tan colored plates suited him with only a few gaps in the plating around his eyes revealing his blue gray skin and black eyes.

She glanced back at Kaidan who had a strange expression on his face maybe... jealousy? For a moment she thought that she was imagining it but even Ashley seemed to have noticed the expression well.

"Well...Commander is that how you greet every alien?" asked Ashley with a smirk on her face, it was then Lydia realised that Ashley would deliberately cause trouble for fun, this made Shepherd warm to her.

"Let's move out." Lydia said quickly ignoring the question and marched towards the Council chambers, refusing to even look back at Kaidan, but Ashley's laughter told her all she needed to know.

Lydia tried to shake the Turian from her mind and failed.

"I hope I'll see you again..." I hope so too Garrus.