Chapter 9
When Garrus heard that Fist was involved, he wasn't surprised. Fist was a hoodlum that trouble hovered over like flies on a corpse. To hear that he betrayed the Shadow Broker was a surprise though. The Shadow Broker was someone that no one went up against and if the volus was right and there was a Krogan mercenary involved, they might have more trouble than they could handle.
Shepard wasn't backing off and Garrus respected that. If Saren had gone rogue, then it was important to find proof and get the Council to rescind his Spectre status. Saren needed to be cut off from the vast resources that Spectres had access to.
...
They arrived at Fist's office in the back of the bar at the same time as the Krogan.
"Wrex?" Shepard asked.
"What do you want, human?" Wrex growled. "I have a job to do. I don't have time for you."
"Make time," she commanded. Wrex was startled and he hesitated, looking down on the small human standing defiantly in front of him.
"Look." She said, "We're after the same thing. I need information that only Fist has. Let me talk to him."
Wrex shrugged, "Why not? But I have a contract to fulfill when you're done."
The three of them entered the office and Fist began firing. Outnumbered, Fist didn't stand a chance and was soon cowering behind a desk, pleading for his life.
Shepard pulled him to his feet. "Where is the quarian?"
Fist's eyes darted between the three weapons trained on him. "She wanted to meet with the Shadow Broker."
"Nobody meets the Shadow Broker." Wrex stated with a growl.
Fist's shifted nervously. "She thinks she's meeting the Shadow Broker ..."
"You bastard!" Shepard exclaimed. "She's walking into a trap!" She grabbed Fist and pointed her gun at his head. "Where is this meeting?"
"In the alley behind Chora's Den. If you hurry you can save her." He said. "Please, don't kill me. I was only..."
Shepard shoved him and Fist fell to the floor. Wrex watched Shepard step away from Fist and then he shot him in the head. Garrus raised his rifle at Wrex, shocked, but before he could say anything, Shepard had put her face up to Wrex's and in a very strong commanding voice said, "I didn't say you could kill him. If you're with me, you will only fire your weapon if I command it. Understand?"
Wrex nodded and Garrus thought he heard Wrex mumble something about "a quad".
"We don't have time to waste." Shepard said and quickly hurried to the alley.
...
The darkened alley was the perfect place for an ambush. Shepard, Garrus and Wrex arrived just in time to see a quarian being threatened by three armed figures, one of which was turian.
"I will only give my information to the Shadow Broker." The quarian was saying. "You are not the Shadow Broker."
"Don't worry, little one." The turian purred, "The Shadow Broker is on his way. Just give me the information."
"No." The quarian stated flatly. "The deal is off."
The next thing Garrus knew, he was in a fire fight with three assassins. He leaned into a corner and pulled out his rifle. The quarian had thrown a smoke grenade which had helped her escape. He watched carefully through his visor. It had become an almost permanent attachment since he had gotten it and right now it was feeding him information about the location of the assasins.
He picked off one assassin through the haze of the smoke and as the air cleared he saw that the other two were down. Coming out of cover he walked over to the bodies and began searching for identification. Wrex was standing impatiently off to one side. Shepard was questioning the quarian.
Not finding anything useful on the dead assassins, Garrus joined Shepard as the quarian activated her omni-tool. Garrus recognized Saren's voice immediately. The Council had to listen to Shepard now.
...
Garrus sat back and stretched. His office was small, but he liked it. There wasn't anything in his queue to follow up on and he was unsure what to do. He had enjoyed working with the human.
The quarian, Tali, had absolute proof that Saren was a traitor. The council had to listen to Shepard now. He wondered what security measures might be put in place to prevent the rogue Spectre access to the Citadel.
Garrus was just about to leave C-sec for his apartment when Pallin marched in. "What were you thinking Vakarian?" he shouted.
"Sir?" Garrus asked, confused.
"I've got reports of gunfire in the Wards and a dead man in Dr. Michel's clinic that was killed by you. Explain yourself!" Pallin fumed.
Garrus looked Pallin in the eyes and said, "I was following a lead on Saren."
Pallin looked like he was going to explode. "You disobeyed a direct order Vakarian. I have every reason to fire you!" Pallin began pacing in the small office and said, "However, I understand that the humans from the Normandy were involved as well and they are going to take the fall for this mess. Hopefully, we can mask your involvement."
Garrus was appalled. "Sir. With all due respect, I am not ashamed of my actions. The turian I killed was threatening Dr. Michel and would have killed her had I not taken him out. As for the gunfight in the Wards..." Garrus stopped when he saw that Pallin wasn't paying attention, he was looking out into the hallway.
"We aren't through here Vakarian! Don't leave until we've finished." Pallin hurried into the hallway.
Garrus watched in amazement as the Executor abruptly left. The noise volume in C-sec increased and Garrus' omni-tool pinged with an alert. He opened the device to see a C-sec wide alert message. Saren had been declared a traitor and a galaxy wide alert was sent out to apprehend him. Garrus' mandibles twitched into a turian smile, he got up and left his office.
He had just walked into the main lobby of C-sec and spotted the krogan, Wrex, heading for the elevator to the docking bay. Turians didn't get along with krogans that well, they had a centuries old animosity that made them wary of each other. Garrus hesitated, trying to decide if he was curious enough to find out where the krogan was going, when a nearby news feed broadcasted something that caught his attention.
"This is Emily Wong reporting from outside the Citadel Council. We have just been informed that the first human Spectre has been announced. Her name is Commander Shepard of the Alliance Navy.
Commander Shepard is known for her heroic efforts during the Skyllian Blitz and is a member of the elite N7 Special Operations Corp. We were unable to get an interview with the Commander as she is being briefed on her first mission. The Spectres are an elite police force backed by the Citadel council..."
Garrus was taken aback by the news. Not only had the council taken action against Saren, but they had raised a human into a higher status. 'The next thing you know they'll give humans a seat on the Council.' he thought.
Garrus didn't dislike humans, he was actually tolerant of all species, but humans were impulsive beings and they tended to put themselves into places they didn't belong. Turians had been the first to contact the humans when they began to travel into space. A brief war had erupted and the Council had stepped in to resolve it peacefully, but there were still turians who hated humans. Saren was one of them. If Shepard was going after Saren, she was going to need help.
Garrus wasn't sure how to contact Shepard. He decided to go to the docking bay to see if he could find the ship she came on.
...
Garrus spotted Shepard speaking with the human Ambassador, Udina, at the docking ramp to the Normandy. He looked the ship over, it was beautiful. He had read all about the joint effort between turian and human engineers to build it.
Garrus stood at a respectful distance, waiting for Shepard to finish her conversation. He could hear bits and pieces as voices raised.
"Captain Anderson! I'm not taking your ship away from you!" Shepard exclaimed.
"This is for the best, you need a ship and crew. The Normandy is the best and you already know the personell on board." Anderson reasoned.
"Anderson is right." Udina added, "If you want any chance of catching Saren, this is it."
Shepard hesitated, "I'm not happy about this, but I see your point."
Their voices lowered again as they began discussing courses of action. Garrus leaned against a railing and waited.
Garrus watched as Shepard saluted Anderson and turned toward the ramp. He stood up and said, "Shepard. May I have a moment of your time?"
Shepard looked at him and said, "Certainly Garrus. I owe you for your help."
Garrus tilted his head and said, "I would like to join your crew."
Shepard looked surprised, but said, "It would be an honor to have you. We are going to the Artemus Tau cluster to find Matriarch Benezia's daughter, Dr. Liara T'Soni. Come on board, I'll give you a tour of the ship."
...
Garrus stood and stretched. He had been hunched over the controls to the Mako, a ground support vehicle. The weapons systems needed some serious tweaking and it was a good way to keep busy.
Garrus had settled into the cargo bay, finding a quiet corner to claim as his own. Wrex had surprisingly joined with Shepard as well. Garrus wasn't certain of the krogan's motives, but Wrex had kept to himself on the other side of the cargo bay.
Garrus hadn't been surprised that Tali had come along also. Quarians were nomadic to begin with and young quarians who left the fleet on their 'pilgrimage' were always searching for that one thing to take back with them that will help their fleet.
Garrus had been impressed with the ship, a little less impressed with the crew, but they were only human. He shook his head as he thought about what his father would say if he could see him. His father had been a C-sec officer through and through and had been immensely proud that his son had followed in his footsteps. Garrus had known he wouldn't be happy in C-sec, but had joined for his father's sake.
He was more and more impressed with Shepard though. She kept him informed and seemed to value his opinions.
...
The Mako came to a shuddering halt at the entrance to the facility on Therum. An asari research team had built their facility close to the largest of the many ruins the towered around them. Garrus exited the vehicle, looking around at the landscape. Therum was a very active volcanic planet, why the Asari's felt this ruin needed research was beyond him.
"Shepard, we really have to discuss your driving skills." Kaiden joked.
Wrex grunted, "This vehicle needs to be larger."
"We didn't know we'd be hauling krogans around." Kaiden said.
"Alright team. Be alert. We've already had some resistance and I'm certain there will be more." Shepard said, drawing her rifle.
Garrus pulled his rifle from his back and flanked Shepard as they made their way into the facility.
There were obvious signs of gunfire along the walls in the central room. They found dead asari in labcoats as they made their way further in. These were not soldiers and the few guards that the group found had been slaughtered.
"What were they after?" Shepard wondered out loud.
Garrus began to suspect that Dr. T'Soni was not going to be found alive as they entered an extremely large cave littered with scaffolding. They passed a variety of mining equipment and dead workers as they made their way to an elevator at the back of the cave.
The elevator was located next to a large metallic structure that rose upwards as far as they could see. Shepard pressed the button and the elevator groaned into life, slowly creeping upwards. A rumble and a shower of sparks accompanied a screeching halt as the equipment shorted out.
Garrus followed Shepard as they exited onto the scaffolding. Kaiden and Wrex were bantering as they climbed the weaving network of ramps and work areas.
Shepard suddenly stopped and cocked her head. She signaled for silence and Garrus strained to hear what had caused Shepard to stop.
"Hello? Is anyone there? I need help!"
