Chapter 1: Alternate Meeting

Garrus Vakarian was the youngest turian made Spectre. At age twenty-two years old he had been discovered by Nihlus who was quite a bit older than himself. His first case had been on a batarian dealer who had been sneaking Red Sand into the Citadel and into turian controlled space. The hierarchy wasn't happy with Red Sand crossing into their borders. Turians high on the stuff always caused problems for everybody else. So finding the big guy behind it all had been a big deal. He'd gone from port to port, system to system, tracking the same batarian down. He had taken the guys out on Omega. The batarians last words had been "It's not over yet, turian." And then he'd died leaving Garrus with a mess to clean up. That had been the last time he'd had to deal with a drug lord, but something about that case always made his scales itch. What had the batarian meant by it wasn't over yet? If it wasn't over with, then did that mean that the batarian wasn't the drug lord he had always that him to be and if not him; then who was the drug lord?

That case had been ten years ago. Now at age thirty-two he was chasing down a slaver who was only interested in turians. Tracing the slaver was harder than he thought it would be. First he had information stating that the slaver was male, and then it was a female. Next the information said it was an asari, now his information broker said it was a human female. Placing his data pad down Garrus sighed.

Humans had become like little rats in the galaxy. They made the quorians look good in comparison. He'd arrested nearly a thousand different human and every last one had been on the galaxies most wanted list since the First Contact War ended. He had yet to meet a good human.

Standing up from his desk Garrus was about to take a shower down in the crew shower rooms when his terminal went off, signally an incoming message. Opening it up he smiled at what it said. Tapping the intercom to the pilot's station he spoke. "Head towards the Exodus Cluster, Lieutenant Mantius; towards planet Vetius. We may just have a break in the case."

"Yes sir!" was the immediate reply.

"Nyreen, get the men ready for a drop in twenty-five minutes."

"Yes sir!" came her crisp reply.

Looking down at the data he reread what it said and the images sent to him. There was a slaving operation going on in the system and it was being controlled by a female human named Jane Shepard. He did a search on her and found that she was a former alliance soldier who had fought Threshers on Akuze and survived. She was an L5 biotic and was a professional assassin. She could hack better than any quorian or STG salarian and she was wanted in the disappearance and possible death of a former turian General named Saren.

"You're mine." He said as he headed down to the armory.

Vetius was a garden world. Beautiful green rich forests and jungles everywhere on the planet and fertile ground. Old ruins scattered everywhere. An archeologist's dream planet; however there was one thing that was different about this planet than any other garden world. Its atmosphere was deadly to any known species, but human were known to go place they ought not to and Vetius was one place nobody should live.

Standing in the shuttle as they landed in a clearing that was a click and half away from a compound shelter Garrus spoke. "Remember we are searching for a female human named Shepard. She's clearly the one in charge of this operation and is possibly responsible for General Saren's disappearance. She's armed, is a biotic, and is the best hacker in the galaxy."

"No pressure boss." came a joke from his biotic officer Nyreen.

"Nyreen, you take Flavus and Tarniquin to the other side of the compound, but do not make an attempt to gain entry until I say so." Turning he looked as the two salarians and a quorian he had picked up a week ago. "Tali, was it?" the quorian nodded. "You are in charge of the tech squad. You are to disarm any and all mechs and such that get in our way. Get to the control room with your tactical cloaks and get me a map of that place. Once we are inside, Tali, you and your squad are you going to lock those doors. Nobody gets out unless I say so."

"Yes sir!" came her filtered voice from her speakers.

The doors to the shuttle opened. "Move out!"

Once inside the slave floor Garrus was on his own. His two teams having taken out the mercs on the two top floors. He was on a catwalk above the slaves that were in cages. Men, women and children were standing in smelling, dirty cages below him. He suddenly heard a yell from the front of the room and saw several human males who were heavily armed and were following a red headed human woman. He stayed quiet and listened and aimed his sniper rifle at them.

"What's the fuck is going on!" she yelled. "First we lose contact with Sterge in the Control room and now we lose contact with Zaeed and his men in the Processing floor! Does a woman have to do a man's job to get it done right!" she yelled sounding pissed off. Aiming his shot at her head he took his shot, her biotics flashed at the last possible second.

"Gun!" somebody yelled and all the turians in the cages fell to the floor, while the mercs went for cover.

Biotics went flying towards his position, only for him to doge at the last moment. A shockwave hit the catwalk, which caused him to fall. He rolled behind two crates and folded his rifle back and put it on his back. He then grabbed his pistols and got head shots on both of the men nearest him. Another biotic blast came at him and lifted the crates that he was hiding behind. He ran out from cover and headed towards a very large metal crate and took cover again. As he did so he got two shots off and killed the last male merc, which left him with the biotic boss, Jane Shepard.

"Your men are dead Shepard!" he yelled across the room. Whimpers from the cages were heard. "Give up!"

"Never!" she yelled back. "I ain't going in alive turian!" the crates from before fell from above him. He rolled and as he did he spotted her across the room staring at him. She shot at him and at the same time he shot at her. The bullets hit their intended targets. The human woman fell dead. A bullet wound in the middle of her forehead. At the same time Garrus fell to his knees, gasping for breath. The bullet had gone through his neck, hitting his windpipe. The young turian spectre fell face first as blue blood spilt from his wound. As he took his last breath he wondered how things could've gone differently.

Angie-Eyes: So here's my first story in a very long time. I do hope everybody liked this snippet. I know, kinda sad that both Sheppard and Garrus died. I am open to idea's for my next chapter snippet. Just remember these are alternate stories on these characters, so it won't be anything like the known Mass Effect stories. I await for the idea's. I am thinking of doing one just for Javik. Not sure yet. ^_^