Suspended in the black expanse dotted with distant stars, the Charon Relay appeared serene. The recognizable blue pulse of energy was gone, and the two rings were motionless. Only on closer inspection could an observer see that the tranquility was broken by scattered ships and stations that held onto the Mass Relay, desperate to bring the ancient machine back to life.
Commander Station had a three story observation deck that looked out over the Mass Relay. Intended to be a break room and cafeteria for workers, the deck had turned into a sprawling mall. Residents of the station could find food, clothing, electronics, and tools necessary for daily life. Monitors were strewn outside organized storefronts, posting the latest news. Members of every race on the station gathered there. The deck was similar to life on the wards of the Citadel.
Steve Cortez leaned against a rail and looked out the massive window. Life offworld did not keep a day and night cycle, the station was always at work, stores were always open, but employees took shifts. Behind him volus, asari, and human shopkeepers were clocking out. The deck was oddly quiet with only the news vids faintly breaking the silence.
Normally Steve would welcome the peace and quiet. He was usually on call, driving shuttles back and forth from Commander Station to the Relay, delivering equipment and personnel. Steve had been offered a position on the SSV Leipzig, a ship in the First Fleet that patrolled the Sol System. He turned it down, opting to remain in the Normandy crew. The Alliance was still debating on what to do with the ship.
That was exactly what Steve was pondering as he watched the Mass Relay in the distance. The Normandy should be out there, but the ship had been lying dormant for months. Repairs had been completed. The ship was ready for action. Yet the Normandy remained in the hangar. The Alliance suffered heavy losses in the war; they needed frigates like the Normandy.
Another thought bothered Steve. There was that odd shipment that had been sent to the Normandy. A package addressed to Tali. He had been the one who found the package, sitting alone by the ship. After inspecting it he sent it along to the quarian.
Steve was hoping to catch Tali and question her about it. She often frequented the observation deck visiting with members of the old crew. He hoped to find her and learn why exactly she needed four hundred pounds of Wonder Chocolate.
Tali wasn't on the second or third floor. From his vantage point on the second floor, Steve could see most of the floor below. To the far left was a small round table and sitting alone was Garrus Vakarian. Steve hadn't spotted him earlier. A volus had been operating a floor buffer nearby and blocked the turian. Steve recognized the blue patterned armor.
Each floor was connected by two staircases that ran alongside the far walls. Steve took the closest stairs and after pushing past empty tables and chairs stood beside the turian.
"Hey, mind if I sit?"
The turian blinked but didn't raise his head. "Sure," was all he said.
For a second Steve wasn't sure it was Garrus. The turian had a gray crested head and blue facial markings but something was off. Then he realized Garrus wasn't wearing his visor. The Kuwashii style visor lay dismantled on the table. Turians had three talons on each hand, and Garrus was nimbly picking his visor apart. A tiny precision tool was balanced in his right hand.
"Calibrating your visor?" joked Steve as he sat down.
The visor was in two pieces, the screen separated from its base. Garrus held the precision tool over the minute wiring. He kept his focus on the visor as he answered, "Trying to repair the stereo actually."
"Your visor plays music?" asked Steve. A visor scanned and analyzed its surroundings sending the user readings on various data such as vital signs, biotic potential, and equipped tech on an opponent. He didn't use one himself, but Garrus wore his constantly. It was the first time Steve had seen Garrus with it off.
"I have several albums on it," was Garrus's reply. Steve waited for the turian to say more, but Garrus fell silent.
There was an affable silence. Steve looked out the window. The first floor of the observation deck was the largest and they were sitting at a table isolated from the rest. The table was pushed so close to the edge, Steve could reach out and touch the glass from where he was sitting. The glass was clear, as if nothing separated them from the cold vacuum of space.
"James is still off at ICT. They're not allowed to send messages during training, so I haven't heard from him. He's probably on some asteroid somewhere, strapped to a jet pack."
Steve thought that would interest Garrus. James and 'Scars' had often spent time swapping stories on the Normandy. The two had had an ongoing, but friendly, rivalry. ICT stood for Interplanetary Combatives Training, the Alliance school for leadership and combative training with N2 through N6 courses offworld in hostile environments. James had been selected to undergo the highest tier N6, and if he passed he would belong to an elite group of Alliance soldiers, N7.
"Good for him," was all Garrus had to say. The turian returned to his silent vigil over the visor.
On the Normandy Garrus had been stationed in the main battery, but he'd take breaks with crew members in the lounge. He would even continue conversations via intercom while he worked. Garrus picked up human sayings, sometimes asking crew members to explain adages he wasn't familiar with. Sociable and always pleasant, even when he was bragging, Garrus was respected among the crew of the Normandy.
The cold and distant turian sitting next to Steve was almost unrecognizable.
Garrus rarely came to the observation deck. When he did it was usually to visit Tali. Steve had only spoken with Garrus a few times since the crew was disbanded. Steve kept looking out the window as he tried another attempt at conversation. "Spoken to Tali lately?" he asked. When there wasn't a reply he added, "You should let her look at your visor."
"It's an easy fix," muttered Garrus.
"I was hoping she'd be here. I thought you might be waiting for her."
The turian was expressionless; the lines on the carapace of his face seemed deeper, especially around his old scars, and his coloring was faded. Even his blue eyes seemed dim. His jaw and mandibles barely moved as he spoke. "No, just me," he said.
Garrus reconnected a snapped wire. With his free hand he turned a knob on the base of the visor. The answering sound was garbled static. Steve turned to study the visor.
"It sounds like a busted radio," commented Steve. Broadcasts on the station were running smoothly. The problem was the visor. "How long has it been like this?"
"Started yesterday," answered Garrus. The precision tool was inert in his right hand. Adjustments and tuning had been perfect. It couldn't be a mistake on his part.
"Maybe it's simply old and time to upgrade. How long have you had that visor?" asked Steve.
Garrus focused his attention on the separate screen of the visor. He didn't answer Steve's question.
Commander Shepard had found Garrus's visor particularly useful. She could read signals that Garrus used to identify different opponents: biotics, heavily shielded foes, and enemies attempting to hide a deadly grenade or missile. As a biotic adept Shepard heavily relied on her powers and carried lightweight SMGs and pistols, easily taking down foes at close and mid range but open to attacks at long range. Garrus Vakarian was a soldier schooled in military technology and an expert shot with a sniper rifle, a battlefield engineer who could take down foes unseen miles away. The two were a well balanced team, easily making up for the other's weaknesses, and they had shared enough battles to read each other's movements. Commander Shepard and Vakarian were once a true force to be reckoned with.
The blue light of the screen glowed on the table as Garrus went over his handiwork. Shepard had a unique bond with Garrus and Tali. The turian and quarian had been part of her crew throughout the Reaper War. Tracking down Saren and stopping Sovereign, working with Cerberus to take down the Collector base, uniting the galaxy in all out war against the Reapers. They'd been with the Commander from beginning to end.
Steve joined the crew after Shepard was reinstated in the Alliance, but he didn't need the sensory abilities of a Prothean to see Garrus and Shepard were more than friends. Shepard and Garrus had been in love.
Steve recognized the pain marking Garrus. When the Collectors were attacking human colonies, Steve lost his husband Robert. He saw some of himself in Garrus. Garrus kept his schedule busy, helping with repairs on turian ships and acting as a mediator between turians and the krogan. When he did have off time he would meet with the old crew, but Garrus would sit quietly, as if meditating on something.
Palaven was millions of lightyears away, Garrus had no way of knowing if his father and sister were safe. Steve decided to repeat a piece of news he heard.
"Williams was on Battlespace the other day," said Steve. Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams was a former crew member and second human to be made Spectre. "Politicians on the Citadel decided to stop fighting and pool their resources to reestablish contact with Council homeworlds. Williams was part of the team that found the turian councilor, alive, with a group of survivors. The Consort Sha'ira was with the group and an elcor diplomat."
The Citadel floated above Earth, a shell of its past self, but it had been the home of the Council for millennia. Asari, turian, and the few salarian politicians in the Sol System gathered at the Citadel, fearing the station would fall into human hands. Reapers had turned the Citadel into a human processing plant; finding survivors was uncommon. Ashley had returned to the Citadel to guard human interests, and she organized search parties to venture into the station's hidden depths. The Citadel was rife with controversy, and Ashley was one of the few Spectres willing to speak with reporters.
Garrus responded with a noncommittal humph. He took the base of his visor in one hand, leaving the screen loosely attached to it on the table.
Steve was running out of things to say. He tried one last attempt. "Seen Joker lately?"
Suddenly the screen on the table lit up with a message box. The message was written in Turian but had a recognizable music note. Steve and Garrus stared at it. The turian grumbled, "A hacker got into my music library."
"What does the screen say?" asked Steve. "Did the hacker empty your account?" Thieves could hack into an account and drain it for credits. Steve thought Garrus would have safeguards against something so common.
"'Song downloaded.'"
Steve frowned. "Huh?"
"The hacker sent me a song."
"Maybe account numbers got switched and you got a song someone else bought."
"That's not it," muttered Garrus. "Someone hacked my visor." Garrus spoke as if the idea was blasphemy.
Steve shrugged. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's hear the song."
Garrus laid the base of the visor down and pressed play.
The visor spoke, "Hello, hello, Garrus Vakarian. You don't know me, but we have a friend in common."
Garrus pushed his chair back abruptly. Steve grimaced. It must be some punk's idea of a joke. The voice had the haughty self-assurance of youth. A man, human, in his twenties was Steve's guess.
"I assume you remember this friend. Dirty blonde hair. Size six. Aries. Has the biotic capabilities of an Ardat-Yakshi. Known as the Butcher of Torfan. Later hailed as Savior of the Citadel. First human Spectre."
Jaw twitching, Garrus leaned in towards the visor. The table Steve and Garrus were sitting was secluded with little background noise to bother them. The hacker had their full attention.
"Ring any bells? That's a human saying that means you better remember. I'm speaking, of course, of Shepard. Jessica Shepard. She would be heartbroken if you've forgotten her already, turian."
"Son of a bitch," muttered Steve.
"Before you make a fool of yourself, I should tell you. This is just a recording. I can't hear you. Jimmy crack corn and I don't care! Jimmy crack corn and I don't care! Jimmy! Crack! Corn!"
A distant shout interrupted the recording, "Garrus!" Tali ran towards their table, scraping back chairs as she moved closer. She sounded out of breath. Garrus didn't raise his head, but Steve looked up as the young quarian approached and stopped beside the turian. Steve could see Liara standing by the stairs, waiting. Tali spoke breathlessly, "Liara and I need to speak with you. We think –"
Garrus held up a hand and signaled Tali to be quiet. Tali stopped mid-sentence and noticed the dismantled visor. "What's wrong with your visor?" she asked quietly as the recording kept playing.
"You poor bird brained sap. Any guy with any real experience knows you do not give your girlfriend your visor's identification number and key. You certainly don't let them buy music from your account. You must not know much about dating. Personally, human women are my area of expertise."
"Do you recognize his voice?" whispered Steve. Garrus shook his head.
"I can talk about women all day. Let's talk about Shepard. A bit more violent than what I'm used to. She has real bite to her, but a beauty none the less. The idea of a woman like her with a turian is enough to make a grown man cry. She's one of the few natural blondes left in the human race! Your physical relationship with her is a crime against humanity! She needs to be on the arm of a real man. Her infatuation with you is a temporary lapse in judgment."
"He is going to regret those words," promised Tali. She raised her left arm and began copying the message with her omni-tool. She typed quietly as the message kept playing.
"Every day with her it's 'Garrus this' and 'Garrus that.' She was disappointed when you didn't show up for her funeral. We watched the vid live with popcorn and candy bars in front of a huge monitor. Honestly I think she wanted to crash it, but she was still recovering.
"Ah, yes, I should state it plainly. Shepard is alive. I found her broken body lying in the ruins of London. It was a real challenge for me, putting the legendary Spectre back together. I ran into a few problems: an angry mob of mercenaries and there was a small scuffle between some humans and turians. I managed to find an abandoned bunker and we hid there for a few weeks. She can really take a hit. Her recovery has gone well with only a few minor setbacks. However, er, well, Shepard and I need some help."
They stared at the visor in a collective hush. The news was a lot to take in. Hours ago Steve was dealing with an over-sized shipment of sweets, and now Garrus's visor was telling them Shepard was alive. While there had been no body to bury, everyone had accepted the fact Shepard was gone. Grief had overwhelmed them and separated the Normandy crew. Was this hacker telling the truth? Had Shepard survived her mission in London? Was the Captain of the Normandy still alive?
"You see, I was going to bring her back, all fine and dandy. Maybe accept a hero's medal. But there's been some bumps on the road. Normally I'd never think of asking a turian for help, but I'm doing this for Shepard, not myself.
"I've already sent an invitation to the Normandy's flight lieutenant. Find him. Find Dr. T'Soni and Tali'Zorah too. Shepard needs her old team back if she's going to storm this fortress. Hundreds of lives hang in the balance. Once you get here, we'll explain everything, but to protect Shepard I can't say more. My top priority is keeping Jessica alive. I promised her I'd get her back to her crew. Hurry, Vakarian."
The message broke apart into static. A new message box appeared on the blue screen. The Turian words translated to 'song terminated.' Steve and Garrus sat at the table. Tali stood beside Garrus, her right hand frozen over her omni-tool. The three were still and silent as statues. Beside them, outside the window, the vast breadth of space gave the illusion of dead silence.
Liara approached the table slowly. She put a hand on Garrus's shoulder. "Garrus, we need to talk. Tali and I have evidence you need to see." She noticed the visor on the table. "What is going on here?"
Garrus shrugged off Liara's hand and stood up. He gathered the pieces of his visor. Liara took a step back as he began to walk away.
"Meeting in the Normandy. Now," Garrus ordered.
Liara looked to Tali, and the two fell in line behind him. Steve took one last look out the window before following them. The Mass Relay remained dormant, but the Sol System was facing a new threat within.