Tali crouched in the dark corridor, her eyes locked on the feed from Garrus's visor. She'd managed to set up an audio link, too, the sound funneled directly into her helmet, so she heard the footsteps of the approaching C-Sec unit before they appeared. Two turians, a human, and an asari, all in familiar blue and black armor. They were armed, but as they drew near, the asari held up a hand, and her three companions stopped. "Chellick," she said. "Vakarian. I'm assuming you know why we're here. Let's not make this difficult."
"No need for difficult, Ianra," Garrus returned, calm and easy. "I had my omni-tool off most of the day. Chellick and I were just discussing how to come in without causing too much of a scene."
"Uh-huh," the asari said. Tali thought that she seemed skeptical, but willing to accept their word. She glanced down at the neatly stacked weapons. "Looks like you're making it easy on us. Good. I'd rather not haul a fellow officer in in cuffs."
"That's convenient," said Garrus. "I'd rather not be cuffed."
Ianra grinned, a quick flash of white teeth in her blue-violet face. "Come on, then. Glad to see you being cooperative, for once."
They moved out. Garrus was surrounded by the four officers, but not restrained; Chellick followed along, just behind the group. Tali waited for several minutes, and then followed them herself, moving as quietly as she could. The six of them made a fair amount of noise, which was good, since she had to rely on them to show her which way to go. A Keeper passed her in the corridor, and she eyed it nervously, but it seemed oblivious to her presence.
Aside from the footsteps she was following and the tap-tap of the Keeper's feet, it was very quiet in the passage. Tali shivered. She had been alone for much of her Pilgrimage; even surrounded by crowds, no one knew her or spoke to her, not like on the Flotilla. She'd only had company for the last two days, but now she felt even more alone than before.
It was a relief when the weird darkness of the Keeper tunnels gave way to a more ordinary-looking maintenance tunnel, with real, motion-activated lighting, and a normal console tucked to the side. Continuing, Tali easily found her way to a nondescript door. She hesitated a moment before cautiously opening it.
The door opened up on a kind of square. On the side across from Tali was a ramp leading up to a large, blocky building, and there she saw Garrus and the others going up to the entrance. The door opened before they reached it, however. An imposing-looking turian in C-Sec uniform came out, flanked by two heavily armed officers. "Lieutenant Mao," he said in a resonant voice, making Tali jump as it reached her ear. "I see you've located our suspect."
"That's correct, Detective Aediem," said the asari easily.
"And why is it you chose not to restrain the suspect?"
Even from across the square, Tali could see the asari, Chellick, and the other officers with them stiffen. Garrus himself somehow managed to remain relaxed.
"Vakarian is a fellow officer only wanted for questioning," the asari said, in brusque tones. "He accompanied us willingly, and I saw no need for further measures."
"Hm." The turian looked Garrus over. "Confiscate his omni-tool. And that thing," he said with a dismissive wave at Garrus's head. After a moment, the asari nodded, and the two turians with her followed the orders. Garrus made no move to resist. Tali grumbled to herself as the visor, removed, automatically deactivated, cutting off her connection. There seemed to be a few more words exchanged, which she couldn't hear, and then they all marched into the building, out of sight.
Now she had to get herself in, and quickly. "This was a terrible plan," Tali muttered to herself, moving hurriedly around the edge of the square. Crossing the open space seemed a bit too conspicuous. She looked warily around as she went, but although there were a good number of people, none of them seemed to pay her much attention. She hesitated as she approached the doors. There were plenty of legitimate reasons for her presence, but she preferred to avoid notice, and there were guards posted at the entrance.
Tali was rescued when a large hanar came bobbing along behind a turian officer. She could almost hear the turian's teeth grinding as the hanar said, its synthesized voice rather plaintive, "This one protests the arbitrary measures of the worthy officer. This one was merely spreading the word of the Enkindlers—"
"Without a permit. For the seventh time," snarled the turian.
The guards at the entrance turned to watch as the hanar continued to complain, and Tali quietly slipped through the doors.
#
Garrus was still wearing his standard-issue C-Sec armor, but he felt nearly naked with no omni-tool, no visor, and no weapons. As they entered HQ, every eye turned toward them. He kept his own concentration fixed on Aediem and his guards. The two Aediem had brought with him were... stolid. Aediem's men. They'd do as they were told. Ianra Mao and the three she'd brought with her to arrest him were a lot more on edge. Garrus had always liked Ianra; she was a smart, no-nonsense officer. Chellick, trailing her, was only barely managing to conceal his own discomfort. It seemed odd, somehow, not to see Tali's lavender hood bobbing in the corner of his field of vision. Garrus kept finding himself looking for her, her absence nagging at him. He hoped she'd be okay. They hadn't had time to make a real plan, so she'd have to improvise. He was reasonably confident that she could improvise, but breaking into and out of C-Sec was a lot to take on.
If this thing went poorly, they'd both have a list of criminal charges to their names, even if they managed to clear themselves of Pallin's murder. Maybe he should have listened to that message from his father, after all. It might be the last time the old man would be willing to speak to him.
Aediem stopped the party at the entrance to an interrogation room. "Lieutenant Mao, you and your men are dismissed," he said in that calm, resonant voice.
Ianra hesitated. "Sir?"
"I'll take things from here."
She frowned, but said, "Very well, sir. Come on," she added to her team, and the four of them turned to go.
Aediem added, "Chellick. I believe you have duties elsewhere."
Garrus turned his head to glance at Chellick as well. Chellick needed to find Tali and help her, not stand around here with him. Chellick glanced from Garrus to Aediem and back, nodded, and departed, following after the others.
Once they'd all disappeared down the corridor, Aediem set the remaining two officers to guard the door, and ushered Garrus inside.
Garrus had spent plenty of time in interrogation rooms during his years in C-Sec.
Just not on this side of the table.
He took his seat before Aediem could tell him to do so. A tiny victory, perhaps. Aediem settled himself on the other side, still and composed. A model turian, indeed. Garrus glanced up at the camera in the ceiling to verify that the active light was on. Junius intended to make this a civil interrogation, then, at least for the moment.
"What do you know about the murder of Venari Pallin?" Aediem asked, in calm, measured tones.
It wasn't the approach Garrus would have taken himself, but it was a good enough place to start. "Very little," he replied, maintaining eye contact. "What the news reported. I was as surprised as anyone."
Aediem's mandibles flicked out and in once. "You didn't report in for your shift today. Where have you been?"
There was little point in hiding it now. "For the most part, at an apartment in Kithoi Ward. I can provide the address."
Aediem made a note on his datapad. "And were you alone?"
"No. I was accompanied by Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."
Aediem looked up from the pad. "A quarian?"
"That's correct."
His face shifted into an expression of distaste. "You abandoned your duties to dally with a quarian?"
"It hardly matters what we were doing, does it?" Garrus countered. "Only the alibi itself is relevant."
Aediem's mandibles flexed again. "I thought better of you, Vakarian."
Garrus waited. Junius Aediem had only a few years' seniority over him. If he thought he was going to cow Garrus by acting like a disappointed parent, he was sadly mistaken. Garrus had years of experience facing down a disappointed parent.
Aediem leaned forward slightly. "You have no response to that?"
"I wasn't aware you were asking a question," Garrus replied, leaning back casually.
Aediem snorted. "Very well. Do you know where this Tali'Zorah is now?"
With any luck, she was in Pallin's office. "No," Garrus replied, truthfully.
"And you were with this quarian at the time of the murder?"
Garrus smiled. "I don't know at what time the murder occurred. I was with her all day, however, so I suppose I must have been with her at the time of the murder."
Aediem made another note on the pad and set it down, folding his hands together and looking at Garrus intently. "I confess I'm surprised you're such a skilled liar."
Garrus's mandibles dropped in surprise. Most turians were terrible at lying, bad enough that few tried, even those guilty of crimes. Garrus was no better than average, and had said nothing but truth throughout the session so far. He'd expected harder questions at this point, queries that would require him to skirt the truth more carefully. He hadn't expected this. "I'm not lying."
Aediem snorted. "Ridiculous. You really expect me to believe you would jeopardize your career for some liaison with a quarian? You're nothing if not ambitious."
Ambition wasn't quite it, Garrus thought, but then, Junius had never understood him. But the detective continued. "I've seen how you look at me. I know you want my cases. The Eden Prime investigation, you wanted that."
Garrus kept careful control of his expression.
"You would have botched it, of course. You never can do as you're told. But I ask myself, which is more likely, that Garrus Vakarian would shirk duty all day for some quarian, or that he succumbed to his envy and resentment, walked into the Executor's office and shot him in the face, and now is attempting to lie about it like barefaced scum."
Aediem was on his feet by that point, his voice rising throughout the diatribe. He leaned over the table with mandibles spread wide, showing his teeth. Blatant intimidation tactics; Garrus had used them himself, on occasion, and he wasn't going to give in to them now. He said, "Actually, I shirk duty regularly. Ask my father if you don't believe me."
That was probably unwise, he thought as Aediem snarled and lunged across the table. He sunk the talons of one hand into Garrus's shoulder, deliberately digging into the weak spots in the armor with enough pressure to send pain shooting down Garrus's arm. "You're a disgrace to your name and your father's reputation," he hissed. "You should be barefaced. You don't deserve to wear those marks."
In spite of the tingling pain in his shoulder and the numbness spreading down his arm, Garrus felt a thrill of satisfaction. He'd never realized before that Aediem disliked Garrus just as much as Garrus detested him. Besides that, Junius Aediem had just crossed a line, using physical force on an interrogation subject. For all the times that Aediem had pontificated about policy and procedure, he would break the rules himself, if he were angry enough. "Detective," he said as mildly as he could manage, "in the absence of real evidence, I suggest you get a grip on yourself."
Aediem blinked, once, twice. Garrus deliberately looked up at the surveillance camera. Following Garrus's gaze, Aediem abruptly stood upright, releasing his hold. Garrus let one mandible drift out in a half-smile as the senior detective collected himself. "I won't let Pallin's murder go unpunished," Aediem warned, his voice cold.
"I wouldn't expect you to," Garrus returned. "I wasn't involved, however. I think you'll find more fruitful avenues of inquiry elsewhere."
Aediem exhaled, hard. "Don't go anywhere. I'll have more questions for you later," he said, picked up his datapad, and left.
Left alone, Garrus glanced around the room. There was nothing much here, really. The table, the chairs, bare walls, the surveillance camera, its little eye still pointed at him. He waited, trying to look calm, running through various scenarios for escape in his head.
The camera's light flickered and died. He blinked at it for a moment, then rose to his feet and knocked at the door. He couldn't pass up this opportunity. After a second, the door opened a crack. One of Aediem's guards looked suspiciously at him. "What do you want?"
"A glass of water? I'll cool my heels until Junius comes back, but can't you get me something?"
The guard looked uncomfortable. "I'll see what I can do."
The door closed and Garrus waited, poised. It opened again, wider, and the guard leaned in with a cup. "Here."
"Hey, thanks," Garrus said, reaching out, but instead of taking the glass out of the man's hand, he grabbed his arm and yanked. The guard stumbled in, surprised. Garrus kept pulling and slammed his armored knee into the man's forehead. He groaned, staggered but not out, and Garrus followed up with a second blow that dropped him. He seized the downed guard's omni-tool just as the second guard burst into the room and, with a quick command, overheated the remaining guard's pistol. That took away the guard's advantage, and his hand-to-hand skills were no match for Garrus's own. He was able to get a chokehold long enough to take the other guard down. "Sorry," he said, looking down at their prone forms, "but there's too much at stake." Quickly he stripped them both of their weapons and omni-tools, cuffed them with their own handcuffs, and used the omni-tool to reset the cuffs' keycodes so they couldn't get themselves out easily. He slipped one omni-tool on his wrist and tucked the other away, clipped the pistols to his armor, and left the interrogation room, locking the door behind him.
