Chapter 2
Conflict and Calibrations
Shepard felt the surge of biotic energy around him and charged fiercely at the practice dummy in front of him. He crashed into it with incredible force and it flew off of its metal post, flying into the wall and severely denting it. Shepard let the hum of energy around him fade and went to go pick up the practice dummy. It was the fourth one he had broken in five minutes.
"Looks like you've still got it, Shepard."
Shepard grabbed the broken metal and turned around, smiling knowingly. "It's not something that leaves in a hurry. It's good to see you Garrus, but why are you here? We have a summit with the Krogan noon tomorrow."
Garrus calmly walked into the training room, surveying the destruction Shepard had caused. "I decided to check up on an old friend," Garrus said simply, sitting at a small table in the corner that was littered with datapads. "Comparing is more like it," Shepard teased, joining Garrus at the dingy table.
"How is being the Primarch suiting you?"
"I would get the same answer asking you how being a councilmember is going." Shepard grimaced and looked down at the datapads. They were all chock-full of information about the coming summit, and the politics of it all was overwhelming.
"I haven't seen any action for nearly a year, and that was just clearing out a leftover ravager nest in the lower wards," Shepard said, his fingers itching for a good rifle to fill them.
"Looks like you have me beat, Shepard. But still, since I was made the Primarch, I haven't even touched a gun. My Mantis still never leaves my bedside though."
"Politics," they both grumbled under their breath.
They both stared across the practice room, trying not to think about their situations.
"It's hard to believe that in just one day the war will have been over for a year," Garrus said. "Drinks?" Shepard waved him on, and Garrus signaled for one of his assistants to bring over a beer for Shepard and a muddled brown drink for their Primarch. "I shouldn't be complaining about peace, but I still miss it. Fighting for the galaxy, shooting Reapers right and left, it was a dream come true for me."
"For the both of us," Shepard said with a nod. "Too bad everything's in ruins, even half of the Citadel is gone."
"We build and we break, we just have to learn to build again."
"Poetic Garrus," Shepard said sniggering.
"Do you regret anything Shepard? When you knew you were going to die?"
Shepard looked down, swirling his beer and taking a sip. His eyes turned hollow and he spoke softly, remembering. "When I saw Harbinger in front of me, I knew I was dead. I was the only one left, how could I not be? Everything I should've done, but was too stupid or too cautious to do…. I've seen my life flash before my eyes too many times to count, but that day I saw everything I could've been, not everything I was. I realized that I wasn't really happy."
Garrus paused and put his drink down, looking carefully over at Shepard. "Are you happy now?" he asked.
Shepard looked up, puzzled. "No," he said quietly.
"But you could be."
Shepard stared long and hard at Garrus, trying to read his expression. The Turian winked at him slyly. "Kaidan Alenko ring a bell?"
"Like he-," Shepard began angrily, but realized his mistake and very quickly tried to act nonchalant, his elbow slipping off the table in the process.
"Oh please continue," Garrus said, baring his teeth in a half-smile.
"I haven't seen Kaidan in three months Garrus, what are you playing at?"
"Yeah but that's not your fault, it's his isn't it," Garrus said, turning his smile into a predatory glare. Shepard was confused; Garrus had never acted this way when mentioning Kaidan. Just how much did he know?
"He's been spending so much time with those girlfriends of his, and Liara is always by his side these days." Shepard glared at him, hiding his hurt expression behind a mask of anger.
"Get out, Garrus." His friend didn't budge, however, and instead stood up, looming over the table at him. "No longer teammates. Looks like it's no longer friends, too."
"How exactly is this supposed to make me happy, Garrus?" Shepard was up and yelling at Garrus now, all pretense removed from their conversation.
"I'm just wondering what the hell is wrong with you Shepard," Garrus growled, pointing an accusing finger at him. "When was the last time you backed down from anything?" One of Garrus' assistants had tried to enter the room but the Primarch held up a hand and shoved them back out, closing the door behind them.
"This is different," Shepard said, trying to convince himself to believe it. "I've been busy, he's been busy…"
"Give me break, Shepard. What are you afraid of, exactly? That you'll get too attached right before he gets killed? That it'll distract you from your mission? What the fuck is it going to be this time Shepard?"
Shepard sat down, hard, on a training mat. Garrus just glowered at him, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Kaidan was… what was Kaidan anymore? Garrus was right, Shepard thought to himself, what was holding him back now? But Kaidan wasn't interested in him anymore; how could he be after Shepard had denied him again and again? He was seeing other women, he preferred Liara's company to his these days. In truth, Shepard was afraid the same thing would happen to him, but this time it would be Kaidan crushing his heart to bits time and time again. Shepard could see how Kaidan would have been affected, it was no wonder he had been avoiding his commander.
"I don't know," Shepard said so quietly Garrus could barely hear it. Shepard could feel the confliction and pain in his voice, and a slight burning had begun to form in the corners of his eyes. "Please, Garrus."
"I invited him to the anniversary party after the summit. Maybe you can get your act together by then."
Shepard waited for more, but when he looked behind him Garrus had already left, the door wide open in his leave. Shepard cringed, not allowing himself to succumb to his emotions. He gathered his things and left the room, his thoughts a flurry around him. At least he was going to see Kaidan tomorrow. Screw the implications.
Shepard leaned against the side of the wall in his councilman clothes, breathing deeply and trying not to draw much attention to himself. He had decided the night before that it was worth the risk to try something more with Kaidan. He had faced worse odds before hadn't he? If the cards fell out of suit then not much would change.
Shepard kicked himself mentally. It wasn't worth trying to over think something like this. Talk to Kaidan and see if anything happens. Other than that, it was out of his control.
"No more excuses," he muttered to himself.
He could see Liara approaching him out of the corner of his eye and Shepard tried to strike up a conversation with the Turian next to him. It worked for a moment before Liara took his hand and dragged him to a table, forcing him to sit down.
"I was talking to," Shepard struggled with the words. "Turnok," he said, falling on a random name. "Over there. That wasn't very nice, Liara."
"Kaidan said he hadn't seen you in awhile, it must be nice getting to see him again." Shepard narrowly avoided rolling his eyes; right to the point as always.
"Is he here at the meeting?" Shepard asked casually.
Liara narrowed her eyes at him. "No, but I invited him to the after party. It should give you two a chance to catch up." She put extra emphasis on the last two words and sat back in her chair, watching him closely for his response. It looked like Garrus and Liara were in on this together, but Shepard didn't understand why Liara of all people would be pushing for Shepard to talk to Kaidan.
"Sounds great, Liara," Shepard said quickly before standing up. "Looks like the summit's about to start, I'll talk to you later, ok?" Before Liara could respond Shepard left the table and entered the council chambers. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the room was slowly filling and took his seat next to councilor Tevos. She quickly acknowledged him and struck up a conversation about Thessia and how poorly the reconstruction effort was going.
"Yeah," Shepard said, distracted by Garrus' sudden entrance into the chamber. "Earth isn't going great either, but we're doing our best." Shepard tried to catch his friend's eye as he sat down further along the table, but the Turian was clearly avoiding him and Shepard cursed Tevos silently as she went on about their contaminated water supply.
Shepard sighed and gave her his full attention, explaining that London was up and running, but the rest of Earth's cities were still in shambles.
When the last member of the summit took their seat, Wrex stood and made his way to the platform. Shepard and Tevos raised their eyes at the break in protocol but were silenced as Wrex surveyed the room.
"This… Summit," Wrex said with a low growl, "Was intended to discuss how the Krogan would more 'actively participate' in the reconstruction of council space. I am here to let the Citadel realize that this is not our intent."
Whispers spread throughout the room and Tevos eyed Shepard fearfully, her hands clenched tightly around her chair.
"For too long the Krogan have been on their knees at the expense of the council, but the genophage is no more." Wrex eyed the crowd, a glint in his eye as he kept them in growing terror. "I'd like to thank Commander Shepard personally for allowing such a miracle to take place."
Shepard gulped, too late realizing the direction of Wrex's address. The Krogan had just made him public enemy number one, and he held his gaze on his former Krogan friend to prevent the other summit members from catching his eye. Before he could think more on the subject, Wrex held up his arms and the other Krogan in the chamber stood.
"We are growing stronger every day. Our young are surviving; our planet is regaining its former glory."
Despite himself, Shepard inspected the room in a rush, hoping that a Krogan female was present at the summit; specifically Eve. His face fell, the room was full of males, their hulking figures bearing down on the rest of the council races.
"You, however," Wrex said with a manic grin, "Are struggling to stay alive."
Wrex signaled to the two Krogan flanking him and they pulled out a flag bearing the colors of the planet Tuchanka. The grunts quickly assembled the flag behind Wrex and returned to his side, smiling just as gruesomely as their leader.
"These are our demands."
As Wrex went over his plans for domination of council space and their resources, Shepard glanced carefully in the corners of the room.
"Where in god's name is security?" he thought.
Wrex kept eyeing the councilors menacingly and Shepard couldn't help but notice as a team of Krogan assembled behind their chairs.
Figuring that Wrex and his allies had likely disposed of the guards, Shepard looked over at Garrus, hoping that the Turian would acknowledge him. Despite their previous argument, Garrus was staring at him, also trying to communicate with him. Shepard nodded to him and glanced to his right and to Garrus' left. Hopefully Garrus understood him; they had to get the council members out safely.
Taking a deep breath, Shepard casually extended three fingers out onto the table, lifting them up one by one. When he had one finger left on the table, he surged blue and looked at Garrus pointedly. He could only hope that he understood him.
In a flash of blue light, Shepard grabbed councilor Tevos and charged the two Krogan guarding the door, roughly picking up the Salarian councilor on his way. With a cacophonous boom Shepard pounded into the guards and splintered the wood of the door, the force of his tackle carrying him into the hallway outside. Without looking to see if Garrus or any other Krogan were following him, Shepard sprinted around the corner and into the courtyard of Citadel tower, the two councilors hanging limply beneath him. He found the door to Garrus' Primarch quarters and sealed the door behind him, panting heavily.
He placed the two council members carefully on one of the sofas scattered around the room and took point against the door, his ears straining to pick up any noise from the outside.
"Shepard," Garrus said calmly as he swiped his key and entered the room. Shepard flared blue again and looked outside, checking to see if Garrus had been followed. When he reentered, door sealed behind him, Garrus had set down Velarn and was scanning his computer.
"That was unexpected," Garrus said with a chuckle.
"What in god's name is wrong with Wrex?" Shepard said angrily. "I cured the genophage to help move his people onto a better path, not to dominate the council."
"Interesting, him mentioning you like he did, especially since he tried to kill you right afterwards." Garrus still pored over his computer, a hand on his chin in thought. "Maybe it was to avoid making you into a martyr. Give the council no hope to form against him."
"That's why he was trying to kill the councilors?" Shepard said, lost in thought. "To give us no leadership?" Leaders were important, sure, but not important enough to start a war with every other race in the galaxy.
"Look at what you did, Shepard." Garrus had a point, but Shepard just leaned against the wall, mulling the situation over in his mind.
"Shit, Shepard, you had better take a look at this." Garrus moved aside and let Shepard look at the screen, a news report flashing across the top of the device.
Breaking News: The Vorcha have confirmed their support of the Krogan insurgency. After the species declared dominance of council space at the Krogan summit just minutes ago, clan leader K'vakk pledged allegiance to the cause, dedicating troops to back the new Krogan government. Repeat: the Krogan have declared war against council space.
Shepard paled as he read the bulletin. The Krogan were moving quickly if the Vorcha were getting involved.
"Any ideas, Garrus?" Shepard said, wracking his brain for some of his own.
"What about Earth?" Garrus said confidently, pacing around the room. "You said that London was fully rebuilt, it's the only council city that could properly hide the councilors. I'm betting that keeping them on the Citadel would only get them killed."
"You think the entire Citadel, well I guess half of the Citadel," Shepard said, correcting himself, "Could be overtaken by the Krogan?"
"No, but I'm not willing to risk it." Garrus quickly turned on his omnitool and spoke into the receiver softly while Shepard went back to the door, making sure that no one would break in.
About ten minutes later Garrus finally turned off his device and joined Shepard against the door.
"I told my men and whatever council race I could contact to move into the outer wings of the Citadel. Hopefully they can set up a temporary defense before the Krogan get there."
"We're really going back to war, aren't we?" Shepard said, sighing.
"It's not all bad," Garrus said, walking over to him and putting a hand on Shepard's shoulder. "I hear the Normandy is docking."
Shepard started at looked up at Garrus, shocked. "Since when has Joker been on your contact list?" Shepard said, grinning from ear to ear.
"Ever since the bastard got EDI to hack my omnitool," Garrus said, smirking back at him. "Who could've thought that it would come in handy?"
Garrus went over to a cabinet and pulled out an Avenger and a couple of pistols, tossing one of the small weapons at Shepard as he did. "God that feels good," Shepard heard Garrus mutter under his breath.
"I always hoped I would get to open that thing," Garrus said, pointing back at the cabinet door. On his way back to the door, Garrus grabbed councilor Velarn and hoisted him over his back, Shepard doing the same to Tevos and the Salarian.
"Classic Shepard/Vakarian, busting out the councilors in high alert," Shepard said and glared at Garrus. "You ready for this, Primarch?"
"Councilor," Garrus teased back, gesturing at the door controls.
Shepard took a deep breath, feeling the adrenaline rushing through him. "Time to make some war!" Shepard shouted, and blasted the door open with his pistol.
A/N: I did my best with the conflict between Garrus and Shepard, let me know if any of it didn't make sense so I can do better in the future. No disclaimers though. Hope you liked it!