Chapter 1
Garrus Vakarian
AN- This is a remake of a fic I did previously. I decided to redo it, and do it better. It's going to have some weird stuff happen, people will come back from the dead, and it's kinda hard to apply logic to the science of it all. It's about all I could come up with to have the best characters in the series come back. Please get through the bits of weird logic (will be lampshaded) and enjoy! Thank you all for reading!
Garrus was stood in the docking bay of the Citadel. The council had requested the Normandy crew's presence upon the Citadel for some important function. Garrus had absolutely no idea what said event was, all he knew is that it made him uneasy. The Turian was used to the Citadel doing almost nothing for the Normandy and it's crew- all he was expecting of the council this time was an order to go take on yet another life-threatening mission, potentially with the added benefit of a hard reminder of what had happened merely a year ago.
One year previous, to the day, the Reaper wars had ended. Shepard and Anderson died. It was something which Garrus had moved on from, but the fact it was the anniversary of his best friend's death meant that Garrus' mood had soured some. The events that had transpired in the Citadel, between Anderson, The Illusive Man, and Shepard were confusing at best. They could discern that both Anderson and The Illusive Man had been shot (Presumably by each other), while Shepard's body was never discovered. However, seemingly at the same time Shepard died, the Citadel fired out a massive beam of energy, converting all organic and synthetic life forms into some strange mix of both. While the physical effects had gradually worn off over the course of around a month (only a faint green tint to the eyes was a visible sign of what had come to be known as the Synthesis), the fact Shepard had not appeared since told a grim story.
After the wave of energy that was the Synthesis passed over the galaxy did so, the Reapers seemed to change allegiance. Their Husks either stopped attacking, or were driven to complete insanity by the Synthesis, and were still being wiped out by Council forces now- reclaiming planets wholly lost to the Reapers in the war. The Reapers aided the galaxy in repairing the damages caused during the war, before departing to an uninhabited system of the Omega cluster. Cerberus forces were a nuisance at best, as the Illusive Man's death left them scattered and without orders. Dangerous, but not anything resembling a threat to the galaxy.
Garrus had only been made a Spectre a month prior. Ashley Williams was serving as the Commanding Officer of the Normandy, something most of the crew happily accepted- Ashley had proven herself an intelligent and tough fighter, and someone whom the crew trusted greatly. Aside from that, the Normandy was operating surprisingly unremarkably. They'd help with missions when asked, and explore the galaxy and enjoy themselves when nothing else was happening. It was a system that the crew had grown to enjoy greatly, and Garrus found himself worrying that the upcoming meeting with the council would disturb that.
Garrus, Ashley, and EDI found themselves before the council. While Garrus did not know the names of the Turian, Asari, and Salarian councillors, he did certainly recognise the human councillor.
"Why have you called us to you?" Garrus inquired. Councillor Hackett responded, a smile growing upon his features as he did so.
"We have a relatively simple request of you all." Hackett gestured to the crew.
"What is it?" Ashley asked, looking at him curiously.
"We have decided to upgrade the Normandy." The Turian councillor noted.
"With what? A more powerful engine?" Ashley asked curiously.
"I have sensed no modifications to the Normandy in any fashion since landing." EDI noted to Ashley.
"Here. Have a look." Hackett gestured to a hologram-panel, an image flickering into being before the crew.
The image was that of the Normandy, but also… something else entirely. It was the same shape as the Normandy, but it seemed to almost appear larger than even the SR-2. Garrus immediately noted that the guns on this Normandy were significantly more powerful than those attached to the Normandy currently. But there was one thing that caught Garrus' eye above the other aspects. Written upon its hull was the insignia "SR-3". It wasn't an upgrade to the Normandy they had. It was an entirely new one, built for them.
"We've had it in the works for a while now. It finished last month, but we decided to wait until today to give you all it." Hackett noted. "I felt it would be fitting."
"What about EDI? She's set up in the old Normandy." Garrus immediately inquired.
"There's an AI suite, copied exactly from that of the SR-2. All EDI needs to do is transfer herself to it, and she'll work just the same as she did within the old Normandy." Hackett noted. EDI noted, a smile growing upon her lips as she did so.
"What about the SR-2?" Garrus inquired.
"We're sending her to Alliance Brass. It's a one-of-a-kind ship. Just because the SR-3 is an upgrade in every way we could determine doesn't mean we can't learn a hell of a lot from the old model." Hackett noted.
"Would you mind allowing me the time to upload myself into the SR-3, Admiral?" EDI inquired. A nod from Hackett was her answer. "Thank you."
"Is there anything else we should know about?" Garrus asked curiously.
"Not right now. The SR-3 is stored in bay F-15." Hackett noted.
"Thank you, sir."
Garrus was shocked. Not only was there no mission, but instead they were getting an upgrade to the Normandy! He was looking over the ship's specifications, and noted that it was both faster and more powerful than the SR-2 even was, with the only cost being that it was noticeably larger. The Turian was finding himself growing excited to see what updates had been made to the interior of the Normandy, as was the rest of the crew, clearly. Joker was the only one with any hesitations, as he was worried that he would either not have EDI to work with, or that it was too different for him to use as well as he used to.
As soon as Joker entered the ship, and saw that the only changes in his cockpit happened to be better seating and more accomodations for him, he shut up immediately. Joker instead almost ran to his seat, launching into it and beginning to tweak the Normandy's systems to his liking immediately. EDI joined him, beginning to upload her mind to the SR-3 immediately. Garrus noted that the CIC had seen dramatic improvements- everything merely seemed sleeker and more streamlined. Garrus found himself liking it.
"Where's my stuff?" Samantha called out. Garrus noted that Samantha's equipment that she used upon the SR-2 was noticeably missing from the CIC of this Normandy.
"Your equipment has been relocated to a small office, behind you." EDI noted across the Intercom.
"Oh… Okay!" Samantha ran to her office, located on the right side of the room from what Garrus was observing. The Normandy had certainly been improved greatly, Garrus noted.
A quick explore had Garrus discovering that everyone on the Normandy had their own bedrooms on the top floor, rather than just the CO. They were small, but still very much useful and comfortable. There were more bedrooms than needed, by a considerable amount, given that these bedrooms were only for active mission-going fighters, Joker, and Samantha. The rest of the crew had their dorms. In addition, Garrus had a moment of pleasure in seeing that the front batteries had barely changed, allowing him to perform his calibrations in just the same luxury as previously. Ashley had already found her way to the Observation deck, and had cracked open a beer. While she was officially the Normandy's CO, the role deferred to any of the combatants on the Normandy. It alternated dependant on whomever wished for the role.
Garrus found himself exploring the engineering bay, when the Normandy began to leave the Citadel. The new core- noticeably larger and more powerful than the one that powered the SR-2, began to glow and crackle with incredible energy. Garrus noted that Tali was there also, monitoring the drive core using her omni-tool.
"Is everything alright?" Garrus asked, approaching the Quarian.
"Yes, I think so… wait." Tali's tone grew worried, inciting the same feeling within Garrus. Tali was normally exceptionally comfortable around technology. If something to do with the Drive Core was scaring Tali, it was almost an excuse to panic. "The core is generating an incredible amount of energy! I'm not sure what it'll do!"
"Is there a way to burn that energy off SAFELY?" Garrus inquired, as the crackling of the core turned into louder and louder crashs, building up energy at an incomprehensible rate.
"Yes, but it's gonna be stupid!" Tali warned.
"Do it! We don't want the Normandy to blow up!" Garrus yelled.
"Okay!"
Tali quickly coded information into her omni-tool, before pushing Garrus to the doorway. Stange energy coalesced around the area Tali had just been stood. The electrical energy fizzled, crackled and stormed, forming a solid state. It was surreal- to see the form of energy grow humanoid, before begin to dissipate. As the energy vanished, it revealed a woman stood there, almost glowing with the incredible energy emanating from her form. The woman's breathing was ragged, and clearly deeply pained. A woman appearing out of the energy was stunning. The fact they recognised her was almost terrifying.
"Shepard?" Garrus asked tentatively. Shepard's eyes met Garrus, and she attempted to limp towards her friends, before her legs buckled beneath her, and she collapsed with a pained cry.
Immediately, both Garrus and Tali ran to Shepard, gently helping the Spectre to her feet, and guiding her to the elevator, supporting her weight almost entirely.
"Where am I?" Shepard asked, clearly confused.
"The Normandy." Tali answered immediately.
"Huh… Last I remember, I was at the Catalyst…" Shepard mused, clearly growing more aware of herself and more comfortable.
"The Catalyst?" Garrus shot Tali a look.
"That was a year ago, Shepard…" Tali tried to inform Shepard gently. Shepard merely nodded, absorbing the information and falling into deep thought.
"Guess that means that I've spent 3 years dead now." She noted.
"Do you know how this happened?" Garrus inquired of Tali, whom shook her head.
"I won't know until I have a poke around in the Drive Core, and that's not the priority now."
"Agreed." Garrus nodded, as the elevator's door opened.
Garrus had just seen his best friend return to the world of the living on the anniversary of her death. It was confusing to the Turian, but he was far from complaining. If Tali could work out what happened within the day, he would be both happy and comfortable. All he could do now would be take Shepard to Chakwas and her medical bay. Anything else would either do more harm than good, or instead merely do nothing for Shepard- the injured woman taking priority above all else for Garrus.