Sixth Assignment
'The first casualty when war comes is truth.' Hiram Johnson
REPORT NO. 7832
OVERVIEW: UNIT 1 ENTERED THE APARTMENT IN GOZU DISTRICT AND SUBSEQUENTLY HANDLED THE SITUATION WITH MINIMAL CASUALITES - TWENTY-EIGHT AGENTS UNDER CONTROL OF T'GONI (VENUS DEGRATÉ, SEE CASE FILE 230), T'GONI HERSELF AND THE SON OF GOVERNOR HEMSWORTH. THE REMAINING EIGHT CHILDREN WERE SAFELY PICKED UP BY UNIT 2. A PYSCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CHILDREN SHOWS THEY ARE SUFFERING FROM POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER, ALONG WITH DEHYDRATION. NO SIGN OF PHYSCIAL AND/OR SEXUAL ABUSE.
CASE CLOSED.
The Citadel
Seraphina had never been much of a drinker, it seemed back in her academy days the only thing her fellow students were ever concerned with was alcohol and guns, yet Seraphina could never match the pace of the others, nor had much a desire to do so.
She didn't see the point of celebrating death with a drink, she didn't even celebrate a death - she mourned it and that was one of the rare occasions when she tried to make her way to bottom of the bottle and forget about the whole thing. She didn't head down to the Citadel bar, too many people, too much noise. Instead she confined herself to her apartment.
She had read the report and she had seen the Hemsworth Family, only in passing and only in the recorded interview between the Hemsworth and Spectre officials. Because her assignment was top secret she was unable to talk to the family and offer her condolences, in fear of alerting them to the fact she was part of the very mission that killed her child.
A day or so must have passed, she wasn't too sure considering she had spent so much time in her apartment since the mission. An analysis of her own psyche recommended she take a day or two to recover, the same for Wrex and Garrus, though neither of them appeared to have taken it as badly as her. She hadn't actually seen them in the day and a half she had been off.
Not that she was too bothered by this. She just wanted time for herself, to think things through, to try to understand the whole Cerberus situation. She thought she knew what to expect when EDI told her the truth, but she wasn't prepared for this. Cerberus wanted to benefit the human race, create a system where they were on top of the political and social ladder, they wanted humans to be respected and alleviated of their status, not considered a third-world member of the universe.
Yet they were willing to kill a child if it meant the success of the mission.
She just didn't understand it. The choice shouldn't be one or million; it should be an equal balance. One life shouldn't be sacrificed for the benefits of a thousand and vice versa. But she was being idealistic. She lived a life where sometimes hard choices needed to be made, but not like that.
That child didn't deserve to die, not because he was some pawn in a cruel game or because his parents were influential. It was a sick universe, where one made their own rules, and no matter how many laws are created or how perfect everything looked, beneath the gloss there was something rotten.
But wasn't that why she became a soldier? To make her parents proud, to make a difference, to destroy the rot and corruption and make the universe just that little bit better. Sometimes she wondered if humans had it easier back in the early days, when humans lived on Earth and the whole universe was as empty as they wished it to be.
There was a buzz at her door. She got up from the sofa, set her drink aside and went to answer the door. Wrex and Garrus stood outside, the corridor was empty and she realized how late it was by the dim lights and silence of the corridor.
"You're up late," she remarked.
"So are you," Garrus said. "And you smell of alcohol."
"A girl can't enjoy a drink?" she said.
"Not alone, she can't," Garrus replied. "There's something depressing about drinking in the dark on your own."
Wrex removed his hand from behind his back and revealed a large bottle of discoloured alcohol, Seraphina knew the infamous ready made cocktail well - a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster. It was the alcoholic equivalent of a mugging - expensive and bad for the head.
"How did you get this?" she asked.
"I know someone who pillaged someone," Wrex replied.
"But you get none if you don't share with us," Garrus added.
She looked at them, and a small smile came across her face.
"I'll get the glasses," she said. "Make yourselves at home."
She went over to the bar and pulled out two more glasses as Garrus and Wrex made themselves comfortable. She took the bottle and poured them all a drink of the deadly Gargle Blaster, it fizzled and bubbled, hissing almost as the weary drinkers lifted their glasses.
"Drink it all in one go," Garrus warned. "You don't want to sip it."
"I do know, turian," Wrex said. "This isn't my first Gargle Blaster."
"It may be your last," Seraphina smirked.
They stared at the drink, a small part of them unwilling to open their mouths, but that was easily drowned out by the ego - if they can do it, so can I. They toasted their glasses and swallowed. Their faces twisted in pain as a splitting headache threatened to tear their skulls apart and they cried out in pain.
...
Several glasses later Wrex was laid out on the sofa, resting his head from one Blaster's too many and clutching the empty to his chest. He may have been sleeping, but he wasn't snoring as usual. Still, Seraphina didn't have the heart to move him. She sat at the bar, Garrus over the counter, the after effects of a headache creeping up at the corner of their minds.
Seraphina played with an olive that she rolled back and forth using a pick. Garrus admired the series of photographs she had set up along the wall, some of her days in the academy, others during her journey through the ships and stations. There were very few of her parents, and even fewer of her with her parents.
"I didn't know these apartments could be fitted with bars," Garrus said.
"It was a gift," Seraphina said. "One of my old tutors had it installed as a joke, he knew I wasn't a drink but said, 'You're going to need a drink or two once the shit hits the fan'. Now I know what he meant."
"You're really torn up about the kid, aren't you?" Garrus said.
"Of course I am!" she cried. "He died and it was all my fault! I trusted that woman even though I knew her word was no good, then when I had her my emotions got the better of me! She didn't deserve a bullet to the brain, she deserved to be strung up and flogged!"
She rammed the pick through the olive. "Because of me..." she lowered her gaze. "Because of me that little boy died, afraid, hurt and without seeing his parents. I know what it's like to wait and hope, expecting the good news because it always comes..."
Garrus glanced back at the photographs, spotting one of a man and woman in military garb.
"You and Wrex act like it's no big deal," she continued. "Wrex just ignored the kid and you didn't seem to care much either."
She looked back at him, and there was a hard frown on his face. From his place on the sofa, Wrex felt the urge to say something, but his headache was still too strong. Instead he just lay there, frowning as he listened.
"You think I don't care?" he snapped. "That we don't care? I know how hard it is, it's not just you who wishes things could have been different!"
"I'm... I'm sorry," she apologized. "It's... just..."
"It's okay," he said soothingly. "I know it's tough."
"How do you do it?" she asked. "How do you handle it so well?"
"I've seen a lot of dead civilians," he said. "A lot of dead kids, but that doesn't make it any easier."
"Then how do you do it?" she asked.
"I turn it off," he said bluntly. "I go into battle with a heart as cold as Mavigon. That way decisions are logical, they maybe hard, but that's just the way things are. It's probably how Wrex copes too."
"Then did I make the right decision?" Seraphina asked.
Garrus fell silent, taking about a minute to make up his mind, when he finally decided on an answer he didn't share it with her.
"It's not for me or Wrex to say if your decision was a good or a bad one," he said. "You made the choice and you have to live with it, as we have to live with our own choices."
She lifted the pierced olive, a small smile on her lips. "How come you always know what to say?" she asked.
He just smiled.
"Will you shut up?" Wrex grumbled. "I'm trying to sleep here!"
Garrus and Seraphina looked at one another, and giggled quietly, as the krogan grumbled and managed to fall asleep on the sofa of his comrade. Seraphina looked at the photo behind Garrus, the one of her parents in their military uniforms, and she wondered if she had done them proud.
"Love me when I least deserve it, because that s when I need it the most..." - Unknown Author
To Be Continued...
A very short chapter that I felt was necessary after the events of the previous chapter, as quite a few of you were very honest with how the previous chapter made you feel. And as with this chapter and the previous one I wrote it listening to the ME3 soundtrack, which is good for when you want to get into a certain frame of mind. As always, thanks for reading and please review.
Also if you know where exactly the Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster comes from I will add your name the bottom of the page in the next chapter!
