A/N: One downside to writing these, I now have a dozen other ideas for ME fics... I might have to work of some of them soon, if only to get them out of my head.
badkidoh: In summary, three good chapters. Thanks :)
Five whole hours after Shepard returned to the med bay, the Commander was sleeping fitfully in the med bay. Having been to check on him a few times, Garrus had come to the conclusion that he wasn't to be disturbed, and had let him be. Now, up in the cockpit, he was watching the first trickle of ships coming in from Sol.
"Looks like they're mostly Alliance," Joker said, sadly, as he watched a few Alliance fighters limp through the relay. Hackett, it seemed, had caught on to Widow's status as a safe haven. "I guess..."
"The turians took the brunt of it," Garrus nodded.
"Alternatively," EDI chipped in, "Admiral Hackett could just be sending the wounded to safety."
"Thanks, EDI, but it's alright," he muttered. "We wouldn't have it any other way. Turians are the first into the fight, and the last out..."
"This is SSV Normandy," Joker called into the radio, hailing no-one in particular. "Can anyone give me an update? What's the status on Sol?"
Garrus was clenching his teeth as they waited for a reply. As far as he could see, there were two possible answers – either Earth was won, and these men were limping home with news of victory, or the battle had been lost, and this was all that was left of their coalition.
"Normandy, we've got an update for you," came a static-filled voice, from one of the human fighters. "We kicked ass!"
There was silence in the cockpit. Then, somewhere in the CIC, cheers exploded into the air – Joker had left the speakers on, broadcasting the message to the rest of the ship. Before he quite knew it, Garrus was joining in, as was Joker, both of them roaring at the top of their lungs in sheer relief.
"OORAH!" Joker yelled, in a fit of excitement.
Quickly, however, Garrus' mind returned, as usual, to business. If the battle was concluded, Hackett would be expecting a debrief... and Shepard was in no state to give him one. He turned on his heel, and began to stride out of the cockpit.
"Where are you going?" Joker called after him.
"War Room," he muttered. "I need to speak to Hackett."
With that, he started walking again, sweeping out of the cockpit and across the CIC. He nodded briefly to Traynor as he walked past her, and through the door to the War Room. The checkpoint was unmanned – Westmoreland and Campbell had gone to Earth with the other marines – so he merely stepped through the scanner, ignored the quiet, almost pathetic alarm it triggered, and kept on walking. The War Room too was abandoned – the great holographic display of the Crucible had disappeared, leaving the room illuminated only by the scarlet emergency lighting, and all of the attending marines were gone, whether they were dead or alive he didn't know. Finally, after what seemed to be a very long walk, he reached the quantum entanglement... things. Tapping away at the centre display, he was greeted by... nothing, silence. After a minute, however, Hackett apparently got the message, and a shimmering blue hologram of the Admiral appeared before him.
"Vakarian," he murmured, apparently surprised.
"Admiral. The first ships are reaching Widow now," Garrus said, matter-of-factly. "We heard the news was good?"
"As good as it could be, given the circumstances. The Reaper fleet is in ruins, but then again, so is ours."
"Is it really that bad?" the turian asked, rather reluctant to hear the answer.
"Turian fleets report an eighty percent loss" – that news stung – "the Alliance reports sixty percent, the asari fifty, and that's just Sword. Shield escaped the worst of it, but the salarians are reporting a third of their ships destroyed, and the quarians just under a quarter, including several liveships. Hell, even the geth – they lost three quarters of their ships, not that it seems to matter, 'software redundancy' or something like that..."
"What about Hammer, sir?"
"Even worse. Ninety percent or more KIA. The only Hammer ground forces left fighting are the krogan and a few N7 teams. Scary thing is, they're winning."
"Winning with ninety percent casualties? Even I'd call that pointless, and I'm a turian. Speaking of which... I have to ask..."
"The Primarch?"
"How did you know?"
"Just a guess... Primarch Victus is safe. His ship was damaged, but he's alive."
"And the other leaders? We'll need them in the next few weeks..."
"Well... Urdnot Wrex is still fighting, down on Earth. He's lasted this long, I daresay he can hold out a bit longer. The quarian admirals are all accounted for, apart from Tali'Zorah..."
"She's here," Garrus interjected, suppressing a grin. "She was fighting with me when the Normandy picked us up."
"I'll pass on the news, the quarians will be pleased to hear that... Now, where we? Ah, the leadership... Well, the geth don't have leadership as such, so that's a moot point, same goes for the asari e-democracy – as long as a few matriarchs made it out, they'll be fine for leaders. Dalatrass Linron never went into battle, she's still on Sur'Kesh..."
"What about the smaller contingents? Batarians, volus, elcor, hanar?"
"I've yet to check in with the elcor and hanar... Volus leadership was with the turian fleet, not their bombers, all accounts would suggest they're safe and with Primarch Victus. Balak and the batarians were wiped out in the first wave..."
"Damn..."
"You're mourning that bastard?"
"The batarians chose to stand with us... that's something, at least."
"I suppose you're right... How's Shepard? I still need that debrief, Vakarian."
"It'll have to wait. Shepard's injuries were extensive; he can barely walk, let alone face an inquisition. And if you start laying into him for the Crucible business, he might just give up and jump out of an airlock," Garrus muttered, his voice growing slightly more fierce as he went on.
"Steady on, Vakarian," Hackett scowled, looking slightly affronted. "I think I've got a right to know why we couldn't use the Crucible, why all those men had to die."
"That you do," the turian replied, taking on a more conciliatory tone. "But Shepard doesn't know the answers any more than you do, he's still beating himself up over the whole thing... The last thing he needs right now is you turning on him."
"Noted, Vakarian. You do realise, though, a summit will have to go ahead, with or without him?"
"I guessed as much..."
"It's happening as soon as we can gather the leaders together. On board the Destiny Ascension."
"She survived the battle?"
"Yeah... A perfect symbol, really. As soon as we can get Wrex to leave the battle, we'll have everyone we need... except Shepard. We need the Normandy represented... Vakarian."
"Was that a hint, Admiral?"
"Damn right it was. Turian special envoy? You should be there regardless... And it'd help to have someone on Shepard's side. Whatever you think, I don't want him to take the blame for this one, not after what he did to him for Aratoht. Destiny Ascension, Vakarian. One hour."
Hackett faded to darkness, and Garrus took a weary step back. Even with the Reapers apparently destroyed – Garrus would believe it when he saw it – the politics couldn't be ignored. Now they were holding a summit to dole out the blame...
"Joker?" he called aloud. "The way's clear... take us back to Sol."
