The Normandy's arrival caused quite a stir. The logistic's base was by no means small, but word spread very quickly. The base covered a good two square miles, covering the area around the small hamlet of Charing, all the way to near the edge of London's outer limits. Over the years the city had expanded out, nearly doubling in size. Maidstone, a sizeable town in the middle of the County of Kent had now been absorbed by the megalopolis. The base was a landmark, easily seen from their altitude. Garrus gaze from the cockpit window and gawped. This dwarfed their little FOB on Menae. But then again, it was supplying all operations in both England and western Europe. He watched Shuttles zip too and fro, vast freighters descending between them, carrying fresh supplies and munitions. And even now he could see the movement of soldiers, moving like a herd towards the landing strips, hacked out of what had once been fields and forests. The sky was a little clearer here, showing that there was still something called "countryside" on the planet.
Joker guided the Normandy down, across the man feed-road - the "M20" apparently - that led between the city and the trans-channel tunnels and bridge system, connecting this island to the wider continent. The location made sense: an island that could be more easily defended, especially against a force that had no real concept of a "navy" in terrestrial terms.
He felt the vessel shudder slight as they touched down and glanced at Joker.
"Good job. So, what should I expect?"
"Aside from warm beer and confusing sports? Not much. Not really "Done" England."
EDI glanced across at them, then focused on Garrus, "The commanders wish to see you at the HQ tent: they are sending a Mako to collect you."
"Thanks EDI. Guess it's time to get back to work."
He headed for the airlock, Kaidan and Liara joining him. Kaidan grinned at Garrus' expression, "We're not stealing your thunder, G. Just think it might help if you have a Spectre backing you."
Garrus snorted, then shrugged, "Good point. We've got a Mako coming. One consolation: Shepard won't be driving."
The laugh was sincere, but tinged with sadness. Kaidan shook his head, "Remember on Antibaar, when he damn near flipped the thing?"
Liara winced, "Don't remind me… and then he insisted on tackling the Thresher Maw on foot."
""For the experience of it," Man, I can still see that grin." Kaidan shook his head, "Damn. Gonna miss that bastard."
"You and me both, Alenko. So, let's go do him proud."
The three stepped out into the bleak, strained light of Earth.
Kasumi practically had to fight to get into the makeshift HQ in the Forward base: all off-duty soldiers had piled in to watch the Normandy's arrival. Her team had gotten back only a few minutes ago and she'd left them to de-kit. She had never really been one for operational procedures or rules. Sometimes they made sense, but sometimes she got bored.
She managed, by sneaky use of cloaking and liberal use of an invisible elbow, to get to the front, to one of the view-screens. The base commander had decided to simulcast from one of the embedded reporters: ANN. The ship was ground-side now, but with no clear shot of the air-lock, which now had a set of temporary steps, similar to those at most commercial ground-ports, fastened to the side. Kasumi caught sight of a blue-skinned humanoid, recognising Liara. She only saw her head, disappearing as the woman descended the steps from the Normandy and was obscured by a Mako that had drawn up alongside. The reporter's voice was muffled.
"...urprise appearance of this legendary ship has caused quite a stir here at Camp Hope. According to sources amongst the Victory Fleet, the Normandy has only recently returned after disappearing in the aftermath of the Crucible Event. With critics declaring them deserters, this arrival brings a raise in morale, but perhaps more questions. This is Seymour Wintle, for Alliance News Network."
The image sliced back to the prefab studio set up at Camp Hope, where several talking heads began to debate the return of the Normandy, the political impact and why it was now groundside. Kasumi slunk away, not sure how she felt. Who had she wanted to see? Tali? Liara? Some of her friends, perhaps. She heard one of the newscaster say: "Does this mean Shepard's back?" At that she dashed out of the tent, before the crowd began shouting.
Great: start a panic. Or a party. Yes. Part of her had wanted to see Shepard: to know he was alive, to thank him. But they'd scoured the rubble: no body. Even up on the Citadel, they hadn't found him. The field hospitals were fit to bursting: there were so many. The largest, there in Hope, of course; but there were hundreds dotted around the City: small clinics all the way to rudimentary military triage centres in the rubble. Hundreds of thousands of casualties: where did you start?
And now, she realised, she was skirting the issue. What had she expected anyway? To see him? Then what? She huffed and stalked back to her team. Lizzie spotted her first as she entered the squad's tent. The woman was stripping her dust coated armour off, heavy weapon disassembled over to one side. The others had already racked their weapons and were in various stages of undress, or just sprawled in their camp LT wasn't there, off getting debriefed likely as not. Lizzie managed a crooked smile at Kasumi, the faint scar on the heavy-set woman's face giving her a leering expression. Kasumi was used to it now. Lizzie was shockingly pretty, which had made her feel a little ashamed when she'd first met her: ready to see some sort of ogre of a woman, rather than an amazon: expectations and all. The woman spoke up now.
"You look worse than Klin after a dose of Ryncol, Goto. What's up?"
"Nothing… just weird seeing the Normandy again."
Teel peered from his bed, still enviro-suited. his armour extensions were stacked neatly next to him, "Of course: you served with Tali'Zorah vas Normandy!"
"Among others… but yeah, I did."
"But they're back, surely that's good?" Lizzie sat down on her bunk and hefted the heavy machine gun that was her signature weapon into her lap to begin cleaning it, "I mean, maybe you can catch up?"
Kasumi folded her arms and cocked her head, "Yeah. We're in a FOB, fifty miles away from Camp Hope, which is two days by road, if there's no trouble. And no shuttles. So close, yet so far."
She gave a little shrug, then rocked as Rogila slapped her on the back. The Batarian woman grinned, her four eyes flickering.
"Homesick, Goto? Or got a fever for something else?"
Kasumi managed not to blush but instead managed a laugh. Which was, in itself, a bit of a giveaway, "Really, 'Ila? You're going there?"
"Well, i did hear Shepard had a harem… didn't expect you to be doing the sway-sway!"
Klin rumbled a laugh from across the tent; Lizzie grinned. Kasumi tutted and shook her head, "Doubtful - I had no desire to be on the wrong end of a Quarian shotgun."
Teel practically fell off his bunk at that one. His eyes goggled at her from behind his opaque visor, "So it's true? Tali and Shepard! Wow… lucky girl."
Not for the first time Kasumi had had to readjust her assessments. But then again, it was a big galaxy. She smiled. Rogila leaned back on her own bunk and nodded sagely, "Fair enough. So. Not Shepard then. So whoooo could it be?" She eyed kasumi mischievously. The thief made a show of covering her ears.
"I'm not playing!" she made for the shower cubicles, scooping up a towel as she went, the laughter of her friends echoing behind her as they began placing bets.
The Mako ride was just as rattling as their first outings, despite the secure harnesses and flat were trundling along. They jostled in their seats, lost in quiet contemplation. The camp itself was like military deployments the galaxy over - an grid of organiser chaos: neatly lined prefab blocks and mess tents; cargo yards and vehicle bays. Troops trudging between canteen and rack time. The strange thing was the air of boredom. It was nearly palpable: Garrus nearly gasped in surprise. He looked at the driver, a Batarian.
"When was the last major action out here?"
"Hmmm. 'Bout a month ago."
"But you have forward bases, what about those?"
"They get resupplied every couple of weeks. Troop rotation is slow; you Turians have blocked a few transfers. The bases seem to be pulling through though. Gotta hand it to the humans: they've really taken this on." The soldier shifted gear, eyes on the dirt track. Ahead, through the viewport, they could see the bristling antenna and sat-dishes of the hq prefab. The soldier continued, "But I guess, seeing as this is their planet, they can't exactly let up..."
The Mako trundled to a halt in front of the HQ, the access hatch sliding open. Their small part exited, Kaidan looking troubled. He looked at Garrus, "Sounds like it's not all cosy in paradise."
The Turian nodded slowly. The scant information from the driver painted a rather bleak picture: under supplied bases, humans striking out on their own? What the heck had happened down here? The trio made their way to the front of the HQ prefab - a cluster of buildings, reinforced with blast shields and overhead mass effect fields.
The entry pre-fab consisted of a small security checkpoint with scanner, reminiscent of the station leading to the War Room on the Normandy. After securing their weapons, save for side-arms (Never wise to be caught unarmed if a Husk dropped in…) they entered the main Operations room beyond, a crowded, open space of monitoring stations, communication terminals and holographic maps. In the middle, crowded around a large central display desk, a group of high ranking officials appeared caught up in a rather heated exchange. Whilst soldiers worked away, filing requisition reports, detail reports of hostile movements and updated real-time trackers, which flashed onto over-head display screens, there was the subtle sense that everyone was trying to tune out the argument at the centre.
A couple of Krogan were leaning on the display, jabbing thick fingers towards a sullen group of three Turians opposite them. A pair of humans, their backs to the newly-arrived trio, appeared to be trying to placate both groups. A batarian stood alongside the Krogan, watching the exchange carefully; two figures, clearly the Asari and Salarian commanders, were stood off to one side, pointedly not getting involved in the debate.
The entry of Garrus, Liara and Kaidan had had a rather interesting impact: heads had turned at their entry, several doing double takes. Silence had begun to spread across the room, conversations faltering, until only the harsh words at the centre of the room could be heard.
"...olding us back, again. This is a waste of time!"
"And you want to get us all killed on some foolish glory hunt!"
"Gentlemen!" one of the humans interjected, "This solves nothing and this is a conversation we've had a thousand times before…."
The man trailed off, the silence hitting like the toll of a bell. The commanders looked around the room, thinking maybe they had gone too far. Then they spotted the trio, stood at the entrance. Garrus allowed himself a small smile as the group stiffed. Resentment? Anger?
No.
Fear.
He steeled himself and strode forwards. Right now he wasn't Garrus Vakarian the sharpshooter. He wasn't Archangel. He wasn't a bad Turian. Right now, he was General Vakarian, second to the Primarch.
The group parted, almost unconsciously as he approached. He suppressed a smile as he recognised two of the faces at the table: the human who hadn't spoke and one of the Krogan.
Zaaed and Grunt.
So, maybe there were allies here. He came to a stop at the display, sparing the chaotic swirl of holographic images a limited glance. Garrus surveyed the group, seeing wariness in most eyes; gleeful anticipation in Grunt's and a certain suppressed amusement in Zaeed's: they evidently knew what he was here for.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" He managed to keep his nerves down, delivering the line in his usual sardonic drawl. One of the Turian's flexed his neck, almost looking down his nose at Garrus, a universal symbol of disdain: more so among Turians with their avian heritage. It meant someone saw you as "prey". Weak.
"We were told to expect you, Vakarian. We are in the middle of a planning meeting, so please pass the information to one of our adjutants."
Time to reverse that role then. Garrus met the man's stare and shook his head, "That's General Vakarian to you, Brigadier. When I ask a question, a direct response is appreciated. Ex C-Sec, we like to get to the point."
The Turian Colonel visible rocked backward, the instinctive retort clearly bitten back as the Turian devotion to duty and rank kicked in. His fellow Turians appeared uneasy now, glancing between their commander and the new "boss", as it were. Garrus spared the group another glance, noting that the Salarian and Asari had now joined the group. He tried to ignore Kaidan and Liara behind him: he could tell they were grinning. Slowly, he placed his knuckles on the display surface, sending ripples through the holograms above.
"The Primarch is not happy, gentlemen. The Admirals are not happy. Urdnot Wrex is not happy. You know what I saw when I was dropping in? A wasteland. Pirates. Husks." He straightened and fixed his gaze on each. Grunt and Zaeed matched his gaze: no need to challenge them, probably. The others, however, they flinched, "My colleagues and I… we've been away. Nice vacation, no decent alcohol, piss poor extranet reception. And then I get told things aren't going well. Barely a dent, even."
He took note of the silence, still hanging in the air. Well, he'd made his point. It didn't do to completely undermine the chain of command. He knew the way of military camps: rumours of arse kicking and name taking would already be flying around - morale would only take a hit if he continued to shout down the commanders in full view of the ops room. Garrus took note of the side rooms, useful for more in-depth briefings, away from the hubbub, and gestured.
"I need to see all senior commanders, privately. Debrief in ten minutes. Spectre Alenko, I need the up to date intel reports for the past week. Before they get sanitised. The Mil-Int cell should be here somewhere. If you would be so kind?"
Kaidan snapped a crisp salute, still grinning, "My pleasure General."
"Doctor T'Soni, if you could identify and liaise with the tech teams on any info to do with husk presence and other… pertinent matters, I would be grateful. Right then. I will see you all in ten."
Garrus winked surreptitiously at Zaeed, patted Grunt on the shoulder, swivelled and marched towards one of the briefing rooms, leaving the majority of the commanders slack-jawed behind him. A moment later they were scrabbling to get their info together. Around the room, most of the soldiers were doing their damndest to focus on the work in front of them. And most of them were finding it very hard not to smile.
