Chapter 1: Attack
Garrus stood in his usual spot on the Normandy; by the Mako calibrating the weaponry on the tank. It had been a few weeks since the Battle of the Citadel,
and Commander Shepard's team was patrolling the area for remaining geth.
'Damn geth; always wasting our time.' The turian thought. He glared over to the engine room where Tali worked. 'If the quarians never created them, then we
wouldn't have this problem.' The engine room door opened and Tali walked out. She gave Garrus a wave as she walked to the elevator. He nodded to her as
a hello. "Don't be prejudiced." Garrus told himself, yet the opinions of his father were deep in his mind. Garrus grew up with the best C-Sec officer as a
father. And his dad blamed the Quarians for the entire geth problem. The turian rebel sighed and shook his head to get his father out of his mind.
"Garrus, you okay?" A calm voice asked. Commander Shepard stood there curiously, hands behind her back and leaning toward him with wide violet eyes.
"You look tense, is something wrong?" Garrus felt a slight flutter in his stomach, which seemed to happen when she was around.
"No, I'm fine, sort of- It's nothing important." He managed to say. Lying to Shepard was the hardest thing. She could always tell when something was wrong
with one of her crew members.
"Garrus, my crew is important to me. So if anything's bothering you, you can tell me." Shepard gave a light smile that let him know it was okay to talk to her.
"I was just thinking of my father. I can't imagine how disappointed he is in me now; working with a Spectre I mean. He was watching the news when you
punched that blasted reporter. He thought C-Sec…he thought I should have taken you in to security. But I told him that woman was trying to get under your
skin… that she deserved to be punched right in the face. He was a bit unhappy about that. He can't stand you, no offense."
"Garrus, you're fighting to save the galaxy. You helped stop Saren and the geth. There has to be a part of him that is proud of you."
He sighed, "He's glad that the Council was saved, but my father was displeased that so many died in the Battle of the Citadel, he wished you could've saved
them all. And now that Saren is dead, he thinks I should leave and go back to work at C-Sec. I told him this was more important then that."
Shepard put her hand on Garrus's shoulder, and the flutter in his stomach grew. "I promise you, Garrus, you father will understand everything when this is
over."
He smiled, "Thank you, Shepard." She nodded, "I'm just glad you're better.
He leaned back on the Mako. "Sorry about wasting you're time, I just get so much stress, from my father, friends, and this whole damn mission. Everyone's
feeling the tension. We have too much buildup and not enough time to just relax for a bit. There's always Admiral Hackett who needs help, or some random
person that needs a problem solved."
She looked over at him and grinned, "Tell you what, next dock, you and I are going to get a drink. When I was a teenager, my friends and I would sometimes
go out for a drink. Sometimes, we got a bit drunk and we would teepee houses after my parents went to bed."
He looked at her confused, "Teepee?" She barked out a laugh. "Turians don't do it? Hah! You take toilet paper and through it over their roof, in their trees,
everywhere. We would tie them on their lamplights, mailboxes, anything we could get our hands on. It was easy because where I lived the buildings weren't
50 feet tall."
"That's very…interesting." He said. She smiled. "I'll talk to you later, Garrus." He nodded and turned back to his console as she waked off to the elevator.
Underneath all of the armor, Shepard was human; she can have all of the fun she wants.
A few hours later, Garrus was in the mess hall talking with some crewmates when a massive ship came into the Normandy's view. It began to dart directly
toward the Normandy.
"I've never seen that ship before, but we can't be seen, so why is it heading before us?" A crew mate asked. All of a sudden, a large beam fired at the
Normandy. Fires erupted and explosions were everywhere. "Someone! Help me!" Someone screamed. "Everyone! To the escape pods!" Shouted another.
Smoke filled the air, clouding Garrus's vision, so he crouched down to get a better view. There were a couple bodies on the ground. He sprinted over to help
one of the injured crewmates up.
"Garrus! Over here!" Tali yelled. "Come on!" She ran to help Garrus carry the injured man. They carried him in to the pod and closed the pod. In that pod,
there was Tali, two injured crewmates, and himself.
"How could they just attack us?" Tali asked in confusion. "Our stealth was engaged, there's no way that ship could see us!"
Garrus shook his head. "No one knows." He looked out the small circular window, and the broken Normandy erupted in a ball of flame. And it began to fall
into the planet.
"Shepard and Joker were still on there!" Tali gasped. Everyone in the pod turned their heads toward him.
"What!" Garrus yelled in shock. "Shepard was on there? Why?" The quarian looked at the burning Normandy, "To save Joker." Tali whispered lightly. Under
the mask, light tears fell from her face.
Garrus opened his Omni-tool to activate a com link to other squad members. "Kaidan, please tell me Shepard and Joker are in your pod." Silence. "Liara?" He
again asked. The only reply was silence..
"Garrus, its Joker." Tali lit up, "You're alive!" Garrus felt a small amount of stress disappear. "Thank God, is Shepard with you?"
"I-…I'm sorry everyone. Kaidan, I- Shepard's dead. She died to get me in the pod." Garrus felt as if a large blade drove straight into his gut, into his chest,
into everything. He tilted his head back and felt a wave of anguish swarm his mind; Annabeth Shepard, Savior of the Citadel, was dead.
After the ship crashed into the planet, everyone waited for rescue. Garrus felt like he was waiting for hours. It was weird; sitting and waiting for help. It was
always Shepard, Wrex, and himself that came running in to save the day, not the other way around. He looked out the window to the white planet.
'Shepard.' He thought to himself, 'I wish you were alive. Sitting with me, right now.' He clenched his fists, sweat dripped from the side of his face.
"Garrus?" Tali asked. "Are you okay?" Fire burned through his body. "No! Why would you ask me that? Of course I'm not alright! The Normandy was attacked
and was destroyed along with many of our friends, along with Shepard."
Tali was struck by how furious Garrus was, especially about Shepard. "You're right, I'm sorry I asked." Garrus looked back at her, his fists still tightly clenched
together, but he wasn't mad at her, he was just venting his rage from the new enemy they just made, and he was taking it out on her.
"No, I'm sorry, Tali. I shouldn't have taken it out on you. It's just that damn ship gets under my skin I-." He couldn't piece the words together. He felt like a
krogan; just wanting to punch something, but he's being held back. He sat patiently and quiet until the Alliance came to rescue the surviving crew.