They were back in Citadel Tower presenting the voice logs to the Council. This hearing was going a little bit better than the last. The Council had finally taken their heads out of their asses and was taking it seriously. They had disavowed Saren and terminated his SPECTRE status. They even revealed the other voice on the log. Matriarch Benezia, a leader among the Asari. Another traitor to the Council.
Garrus watched on as the Council officially named Shepard a SPECTRE. The first human SPECTRE, and she wanted him on her team.
Both Garrus and Shepard had unfinished business on the Citadel and agreed to meet at her ship, the Normandy by the end of the day. He headed to his office to turn in his transfer request to Executor Pallin. It was only a formality, as SPECTREs had priority and Pallin couldn't refuse it. But he was not happy.
"You're the best investigator we got, Vakarian. I don't want to lose you."
"Well sir, you should have thought of that when you tried to steamroll my investigation. I told you I had a feeling about Saren, but you ignored it. No, you did worse than that, you actively sabotaged my investigation. Now you look the fool."
"How dare you talk to a superior that way."
"All due respect, SIR, you're not my superior anymore." Garrus left the office with Pallin sputtering behind him.
Back at his apartment, he packed his belongings and old case files that he wasn't able to solve. He kept them around so he could periodically look over for things he might have missed. The case that bothered him the most was Dr. Saleon. This twisted, demented salarian almost ruined his career. The geneticist was the center of a investigation into black market organ trading. He was using his employees as test tubes. Cloning their organs, letting them grow and develop inside their bodies, then removing and selling them. If the organs failed, he would leave them inside their bodies, which would kill the people he used.
When C-Sec went to arrest him, Saleon had destroyed his lab, abducted his employees and fled the Citadel. Garrus insisted that the ship be shot down, knowing that Saleon would only use the hostages as test subjects, so they were as good as dead anyway. The Citadel defence forces refused to fire on the ship, citing that it was too close the station. Saleon got away and Garrus got reprimanded for it. It was then that he started to lose faith in C-Sec policy.
He had finished packing and headed to the docks when he saw the Normandy for the first time in person. Like Shepard herself, he had seen images and vids of the experimental ship, but they were nothing compared to seeing the real thing. She was a thing of beauty. A mixture of human and turian technology and design. Sleek and rugged, she was magnificent.
"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this." he muttered to himself as he entered the airlock and stepped inside. As he walked the corridor to his quarters, he noticed the stares. He was an oddity, he knew. The last turian to walk these halls was gunned down by the biggest terrorist the galaxy has ever known. Plus, it was a primarily all human crew and there was still resentment towards his people. He especially noticed glares coming from the older male standing in the navigator position. He did not envy the treatment that Tali was bound to receive. Quarians had the reputation of being scavengers and dirty. The envirosuits that they wore gave the impression of disease. Then there was the fact that they were the ones who introduced the Geth to the galaxy.
He took in the design of the interior of the ship. The command center was of turian design. The raised platform where the commander would stand was designed so he could watch all of his subordinates at the same time. Also to remind the crew who was in command. He made his way to his quarters and unpacked his belongings. It really was a fantastic ship.
As he sat on his bunk, Garrus thought of the situation was found himself. It was his dream assignment. Working with a SPECTRE, hunting down the bastard that murdered his best friend. And the SPECTRE he was working with was the most beautiful human he had ever seen and the most badass soldier he had ever seen in action. And the team she had gathered so far was interesting. A krogan bounty hunter, a quarian pilgrim, a semi-racist human soldier and biotic human soldier.
Garrus wanted to talk to Shepard some more and made his way to the CIC. When he arrived, he saw Chief Williams and Lieutenant Alenko talking with the man who glaring at him as he boarded. He was worried that this was going to a problem, so he wanted to try and alleviate it as soon as possible.
"Chief, Lieutenant, how long have you known Shepard?"
"That's Commander Shepard to you." snarled Williams. "You better watch yourself, Garrus. I don't like the idea of a turian on this ship."
"Stand Down, Chief. He's here to help us. Sorry Garrus. Call me Kaiden, please. Well, the commander and I have been on a couple of assignments together before this. And we trained together as biotics. Although she doesn't have a damned L2 implant like I do. She's good, real good. Much better than me."
"I've seen how good she is, Kaiden. She's very respected among your Navy, I gather."
"She's a goddamn hero, Garrus. Saved my ass on Eden Prime, no thanks to your friend, Saren. Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if the turian government was behind this. If I find out you're behind this, I'll..."
"Stop right there, Chief! Saren is not my friend. You know who was? Nihlus was my friend. We grew up together. Saren murdered my best friend and I'm going to kill the bastard when I get the chance. He's a traitor to the Council and to the turians. So stow your crap."
"I..I wasn't aware of that. I apologize. But I still don't trust you. You turians always shoot first and then shoot again, then ask questions."
"First Contact War?"
"That's none of your damned business."
"Ah, well I understand the resentment between our people. Let's make a deal with each other, ok? Let the past of our fathers', be our fathers'."
"Whatever, just stay the hell away from me, got it?"
Garrus sighed. Well this was going to be more difficult than he thought. He turned to the other gentleman who had been witnessing this exchange.
"Garrus Vakarian, pleased to meet you..."
"Charles Pressly, navigation officer. Welcome aboard, Vakarian. Go easy on the girl, she's been through a lot."
"What can I do? I think I understand why she hates me, but I wasn't even a part of the war. I guess I'll just steer clear of her while on this mission."
"Gotta be honest, Garrus. I don't trust turians either, all non-humans really. But if the Commander says you're good people. Then that's good enough for me."
"I appreciate that, Pressly. I'll try not to let you down. So how long have you known the Commander?"
"Well I was serving on the Agincourt when Skyllian Blitz happened. We were the first to arrive and witnessed first hand how Shepard handled those batarian bastards. She's tough, tougher than most. Then Captain Anderson chose me personally to be the navigation officer. Been serving along side her ever since."
"Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Pressly. I better get going."
Garrus wanted to meet Shepard's brother and started to make his way to the cockpit when the PA system activated. It was Shepard.
"This is Commander Shepard. We have our orders: find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I won't lie to you crew. This mission isn't going to be easy. For too long our species has stood apart from the others. Now it's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy. Time to show them what humans are made of. Our enemy knows we're coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them, too. Humanity needs to do this. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of every other species in Citadel Space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all...we will stop him!"
He had stopped like everybody else to listen to Shepard's speech. It got his blood pumping, eager to catch Saren and eager to help her achieve her goal. He imagined it was the same for everybody else on board.
He hoped he would not let Ruby Shepard down.