Ezmay wasn't a horse expert, but she knew that no animal should be kept chained in a shipping container steeped in its own filth. After the initial shock wore off, and she'd smacked Garrus on the shoulder for laughing, she'd sidled closer and saw that the horse was being kept in deplorable conditions. It was covered, literally covered, in its own leavings. Someone had jury-rigged a water dispenser on the side of the shipping container. A forlorn bag of oats hung on a hook near the water bottle. The horse seemed nervous and sad, and skittered away from her when she approached it. It didn't help that Jack hadn't reported in yet. The poor creature had to be smelling her apprehension and anger. At last she managed to lay a hand on the wide expanse of forehead and stroked the fur. She knew that she was getting horseshit all over her boots and gloves, but if they were going to get this damned big animal off the batarian freighter and on the Normandy, it was going to have to trust her at least a little bit. When Garrus moved towards her, the horse scented him, and screamed.
"Stand back!" She put a hand out towards her turian. "It's scared of you."
"It's probably scared of everything right about now." The amusement still hadn't faded out of his voice. She peered at him, to see if he was joking. Couldn't see through the black visor on his helmet.
"It's a good thing we didn't come in firing off armour-piercing rounds." She said. "We'd be moving horse-steak instead."
Garrus snickered behind his breather. She had to resist the urge to smack him again.
"Go find out what's taking Jack so long." Ezmay went back to stroking the horse's muzzle again. The calmer this beast was, the better.
When Garrus was gone, she turned to focus on the animal. Didn't look wounded, so they were off to a good start. Given that there was only one bag of oats hanging around, it didn't look particularly malnourished either. For a second she wondered if the Shadow Broker was dicking her around. Was this some kind of joke? It really was a magnificent animal though, underneath all that horse crap. It wasn't as big as she expected.
A thick chain was looped around the horse's neck, and secured to the wall of the container. She undid the chain, and took it in her hands. Gave it a gentle tug. The horse's eyes widen and it backed away against the movement.
Christ, this was going to be a mess. She could sense it already. The family had owned horses way back in the day, but she'd never handled or ridden one herself. Ezmay'd had that horse phase that all little girls seemed to go through. It was pretty damn hard to find Black Beauty on a military ship though. Her childhood dreams of sailing away on a unicorn had faded when she'd discovered boys.
Ezmay sucked in a deep breath, and tried to find a bit of calm. Samara had taught her some handy meditation tricks. Center and focus. The feel of air flowing in through her nose and mouth. The cooling of her throat and mucous membranes as it rushed in. Expand the belly, pull in the air and satiate the lungs. Unconsciously, she sidled closer to the horse while she did it. The body can't maintain a state of heightened physiological arousal for more than fifteen minutes or so in the absence of a stressor. Once the parasympathetic nervous system kicked in, the mind would start to calm down as well.
She found herself leaning into the horse's side, stroking the neck and ears. Murmuring little horsey lullabies. As her tension faded, so did the electric energy in the mountain of muscle beside her. Gently, she eased the horse out of the shipping crate. Better to walk it around where it would never see the batarians or the hallways. Straight to the hatch. In the privacy of her Death Mask, she was grinning like an idiot.
The clip-clop of hooves sounded so damned loud in the cargo bay. It nearly startled her when Garrus's voice crackled into her helmet. Took all of her will to keep from jumping. The breathing probably helped.
"Just ease him into the tunnel. You're doing fine."
She dare not look back over her shoulder. There was a sort of zen thing going on with this horse and she dare not break the zone that she had him in. Over the intercom, she heard her voice reverberate with a sort of gentle, breathy tone. Didn't want to spook the horse by speaking too loudly.
"You're watching me, huh?"
"Yeah. Jack's reported in. Everything's going smooth as silk." There was silence on the other end of the intercom for an instant. "You are definitely taking a shower before bed."
"Asshole." Not the snappiest comeback she'd ever thought up.
They stepped over the threshold. She could feel the shift in gravity between the two ships, and she knew the horse could too. It chuffed worriedly beside her. By the time she managed to get it through the tunnel and into the Normandy's cargo bay, her back was soaked in sweat. A trickle of perspiration had started between her breasts and over her stomach. She hadn't realized that she was still so tense. A quick touch to her ear and she had control of the comm.
"Miranda, do you have any experience with horses?"
Miranda, who was minding the Normandy, sounded unsure over the radio. She might have thought that Ezmay was fucking with her. Making fun of her, maybe? The spoiled rich girl. Of course she'd have legions of horses.
"Uh, some. Why? Are you telling me a joke?"
"Get your boots on and come down the cargo bay. I can't babysit this pony all day long."
"There's a horse in the cargo bay?" Miranda's voice was shocked. For once, Ezmay couldn't contain her laugher.
"Yeah. Poor baby's filthy. Since you're the only one who's had practice with these things before, you are the official horsemaster."
There was a muffled curse on the other end of the radio that brought a smile to her face. The look on Miranda's face was even better. Ezmay gratefully handed off the chain and moved back to the tunnel. Since they had the batarian ship, she wanted answers. Curiosity had gotten the better of her around the time she'd managed to ease the horse out of its crate. What the heck did the Shadow Broker want with a horse?
On the other side, she keyed up Jack.
"You've got the captain?"
"Aye, Madame La Braziliana." Jack sounded cheerfully psychotic.
"Enough with the Braziliana crap. Could you bring everyone down to the cargo hold?"
Ezmay's eyes went to Garrus when she finished. He surveyed her up and down.
"You smell like a latrine." He said helpfully.
"Careful. You're dangerously close to moving back to the forward battery." She didn't mean it, and he knew it. His laughter died down right around the time that the boarding parties and their prisoners began to straggle into the cargo bay.
Jack kicked a crate close and posed with one leg propped on top. She looked inordinately pleased with herself.
"If this is what Jack considers fun, I'm really curious what she thinks is relaxing." Garrus murmured.
"Avast! Cower in fear before the Braziliana, and her mate, the Archangel." Jack brandished her shotgun at a sickly orange batarian. She nudged him forward, and nodded to Ezmay. "This the one you wanted."
If the batarian captain looked freaked out, it was for good reason. The muzzle of Jack's shotgun was still buried in his lower back.
"Captain, I'd like to know why you have a horse onboard." No point in beating around the bush, right? She was betting it was stolen, worth quite a bit of money.
"I…I can't say…" The poor bastard was obviously terrified.
"You'd better say." She strode closer, inspecting him. He had the same starved look as the rest of his crew, and a hint of desperation in his eyes. "I don't want to have to hurt anyone."
The captain looked like he was trying to muster up the courage to refuse her again, but something inside him broke.
"I'll tell you if you'll provide rations for my crew."
She could almost feel the burn of Garrus's eyes on her. They'd exchanged a knowing look when they'd managed to take the cargo hold. Everyone in this batarian's crew was starving, even the captain. Stealing the horse was probably going to leave them in a pretty bad position. But she couldn't help pitying them. They had enough rations on board the Normandy; no one should have to starve to death.
"You're an honourable captain, looking after your crew. I agree to this deal." No harm in putting on a little show. She was a pirate now, after all. "Start talking."
"How can I be sure you'll give us food?" The batarian was wary now, eyeing her.
"You don't have much choice, do you?" She arched her brow.
It didn't take much to break his will. The captain sagged.
"We were transporting it. We hit a human ship. Some rich guy. He was taking it from Earth to one of the colonies. We were supposed to get paid on delivery."
"Who's paying you?"
"Some turian. It was shady. I think he's got some kind of grudge against the human."
"You don't know any names?" Ezmay asked.
"The human was named Rodrick. I think his last name was Kinsey. I don't know the turian. It was an agent that contacted us."
"Why did he want the horse?"
"I don't know. Probably just to piss him off. I don't know anything about those animals besides that they stink."
Ezmay examined the cargo bay. There were crates, boxes, but no rations.
"What happened to all your food?"
"We took some damage when we stole the animal. All of our rations were stored in a smaller cargo hatch. We had fires, damage to the hull. We had to vent that bay to save the ship."
And so they'd lost everything. Probably rationed out what they had left before they ran out. They'd been gambling that they could reach port and receive payment before they starved to death.
"Garrus, take some men and bring them a couple crates. We can spare it."
There was a rush of pride in her stomach. He approved. She could almost hear what he was thinking….that this was the Shepard that he'd followed into the Collector nest, that inspired such fierce loyalty.
"When do we get to loot the ship?" Jack was bouncing irritably on her heels.
"No looting, Jack." She knew how batarians were. They were inclusive to a fault and reckless. She wouldn't be surprised if the ship went through a change of management after they left. The crates of rations might spare the batarian captain's life at the hands of his crew, but he damn sure wasn't going to be in charge afterwards. Looting would only worsen things.
From the set of Jack's jawline, Ezmay knew that the trip to meet the Shadow Broker's agent was going to be a long one. They'd uncoupled themselves from the batarian ship and made their way out of the Andromeda sector with little fanfare. Jack, as predicted, had pitched a fit once they were all aboard the Normandy once again. Ezmay had stared her down, sending the biotic back down to her hidey-hole under engineering in a funk. She had no illusions about Jack's loyalty to the Normandy and her commander; it wouldn't have shocked her if the biotic chose to jump ship. At this point, Ezmay was too drained to care. She showered and then headed down to see how Miranda was doing with the precious cargo.
It was going to take ages to get the smell of horse crap out of the bay. When Ezmay checked in, she found Miranda smoothing a brush over the horse's glossy coat. It had been a gratuitous use of precious water, but the animal deserved better than to be covered in its own droppings. The stallion- Ezmay could see that it was a male horse now- chuffed and tossed its mane imperiously when he scented Ezmay. Miranda looked up to her.
"How's our boy, here?" The commander gestured to the horse. Miranda's black-gloved fingers patted at the downy-soft forehead.
"I daresay he's in a better mood now that he's clean. I fed him. By the way, we'll be short on fresh vegetables until the hydroponics replenish." Miranda rubbed the back of her hand across her grimy cheek.
"What's the deal with him?" Ezmay reached out and laid her own hand on the horse's side. His coat felt soft and silky.
"Probably used for stud services. He's got a good build and he was very well taken care of before the batarians got him. Maybe used for racing, maybe hunting."
"Pretty valuable, huh?"
Miranda dropped the brush on the deck and let the horse roam as he would. His tail lifted and Ezmay winced to see him fouling the deck.
"Yeah. Considering how rare horses are. Even on Earth, only the very rich can afford to keep them. If he was being transported from Earth to a colony, then he was most likely headed for someone's vacation home, or a race, or something." Miranda shot her a look. "He's worth more than you or I would make in a lifetime. Maybe about an eighth or so of what the Illusive Man spent rebuilding you. Good breeding and a good lineage, you know."
"All that seems to matter." Ezmay glanced around the rest of the cargo bay. "Let me know if anything changes."
"Yes, Commander."
An extremely pleased agent greeted Garrus on the comm system. It was the same guy that he'd dealt with before Invictus. The agent had never given him a name to work with, but privately, Garrus had taken to calling him "Vic" after the inhospitable planet that Ezmay had been captive on.
"Officer Vakarian! I'm so pleased to hear from you as always."
Ezmay had been right. He was creepy. Now that Garrus viewed in him in that light, the honey-sweet tone was alarming.
"We have the horse." Garrus told him simply.
"Oh, my. I'm glad to hear that, though I must admit I'd hoped you weren't going to find out what it was you were picking up."
"Couldn't really be helped. Don't worry. No one on board this ship is going to take the damn thing."
"Well, that's a relief. Have you selected coordinates where we can make the exchange?"
"I'm forwarding them over now." Garrus had already forwarded the information over the channel, and he saw Vic nod in satisfaction.
"Yes, nice and private. Now, I must ask you, what are your plans now that your debt is settled?"
In other words, were they going to consider becoming full-time employees? Ezmay had already told Garrus her plans and had given him the go-ahead to make the decision as he saw fit. It would fulfill her council mission to be inserted in the Shadow Broker's network. Didn't mean he had to like it. The thought of working for the information broker left a sour taste in Garrus's mouth. Working for these people went against everything he held dear. The only consolation was that they were going to be taking the bastard down.
"We hadn't considered it yet. Mercenary work is easy to come by."
"Oh, surely operatives of your grade wouldn't feel the need to stoop so low." Vic smiled over the connection at him. "I can vouch, if you're feeling a little hesitation. It's steady work and challenging. The pay is nice. The health insurance is better."
"Not much needing health insurance." What a joke, this verbal sparring was. Garrus gave Vic a coy look.
"As you will. I believe the Broker wished to speak with you personally. Will you hold on just a minute."
"Sure." The turian growled.
This cloak-and-dagger crap really wasn't his cup of tea. Maybe he should have gotten Ezmay down here to deal with this. She had considerably more finesse with these kinds of matters than he did. Or at least a tolerance for it that he couldn't summon. But she'd waved him off and said she needed to run. If the woman didn't pound out at least two or three miles a day she got twitchy and anxious.
The same eagle holograph showed up, the same filtered voice.
"Had you given any more thought to my offer of permanent employment, Garrus?"
The shift from his rank and family name to his given name made him blink.
"Like I said. We haven't reached a decision yet." God, he was starting to sound like Legion.
"If I may be so bold, what are you planning to do now that the Commander's family home is crawling with security people?"
Oh, hell. Oh, shit. This he had not known. Anderson hadn't come on board with them when they'd left to go steal the horse. Had the bastard called the Council? There was surely a spectre or two in charge of the investigation. They dare not go back to Elysium. Try to play it cool, he told himself.
"Well, that's new." He said, downplaying his shock.
"It's quite a predicament." The Broker said. "If I may offer a proposition?"
"I'm listening." Garrus was wary. Propositions from the Shadow Broker were like propositions from the human mafia- a bad idea. If they weren't on a mission to take down this fucker, he would have told Joker to steer the Normandy off to the Terminus systems.
"I can make all your problems with the Council go away."
That got his attention. So there was a mole in the Council's network? Someone who had a councilor's ear?
"For a price, of course." Garrus said.
"Of course. Everything has its price."
"What are we talking about here?"
"I can settle this for say…two more assignments?"
"So indenture?"
The Broker sounded amused, mock offended. "This is not Indenturetech. You need something, I need a couple of somethings. You're not becoming slaves. Do we have a deal?"
"I don't suppose you'd send over a contract?"
"If it would make you feel better, I'm sure we can cobble something together." Now the Broker sounded positively tickled.
It was better than nothing. At least it would help him get an idea of what to expect when he got further into the Broker's business.
"Yes, please." He said.
"Very well. I'll have someone send you a contract. I'd recommend you stay away from Elysium for a few days. I look forward to working with you, Officer Vakarian."
