Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Several hours later and utterly spent Garrus left the elevator and entered the silent confides of his personal quarters. Their meeting with Dr. Archer went well. Perhaps overly long for his own tastes but Garrus was glad that they've gotten the situation and the events so far covered.

To his surprise the doctor agreed on their suspicion about Shepard's situation and was more than willing to fully commit himself to the cause of bringing her back. As much as Garrus could understand from the scientific jargon Archer promised that the way which would allow them to connect and explore the artifacts and their possible use in downloading and uploading the data into the chimera soldier who still rested in the med bay should be not much different than his own past experiments with the Geth network.

And here came the catch and Garrus ran the palm of his hand over his tired face. There was of course always a catch. As the doctor explained he'd had no former resources left from his research done for Cerberus and they would need the technology for it. Which meant a possible trip and a bargain with either Quarians or the Geth themselves. Neither of the prospects made Garrus happy. Since the Chimera took over, both groups were more than a neck deep in its grasp and with Legion gone Garrus was not really sure how well would their request be received. That left him with one option only and that was to pour all his remaining hope into Aria and her ability to securely contact with Tali and get her to help them.

Garrus let out an annoyed sigh and started to unbuckle and unzip his armor. He needed a shower and he needed it yesterday judging by the fact that his whole back and neck were stiff with tension. He was suddenly reminded about the time, which now seemed like a life time ago, when Shepard had been still in command of Normandy and when she had told him a story about some bird...and Garrus had to think here, was it a chicken? Probably, chickens were apparently a big thing in the human culture, considering that all the meat tasted like them. Anyway, the story was about the chicken who ran around getting help for her friend who got a nut stuck in the throat and as it had turned out the poor bird had to perform favor after favor for countless other animals before she reached her goal.

And here he was. Garrus sighed again. A turian specter chicken running through the galaxy seeking aid from others and inevitably being saddled with more and more requests and favors himself. Brilliant.

"Vakarian!" Zaeed's voice suddenly boomed through Garrus' omi-tool and he half jumped, his legs tangled around the remaining parts of his armor and he ended up sprawled on the floor with a loud crash.

"What?" Was all he could say before he rested his forehead against the hard surface of his cabin floor, fully resigned to the fact that somewhere, somehow, something probably went wrong or malfunctioned...again.

"Two things Vakarian. My cabin is a goddamn mess I hold you responsible so as a compensation you owe me a fucking drink. And a whole bottle, don't think that one glass will fix this. Seriously who had it last? Its full of boxes with some reporter crap." The old mercenary growled and, in the background, Garrus could hear a telltale sound of boxes being tossed around with crashing and loud bangs.

"Allers." Was all that Garrus replied and all that his remaining sanity allowed him to reply, right now.

"What?" Zaeed growled again and Garrus pushed himself up from the floor and started to untangle his spurs and feet from his armor.

"Diana Allers, Alliance reporter had the place last. Sorry I admit I completely forgot about it, the things were hers, don't think she will need them anymore though, Reapers got her on Earth."

"Alright, fair enough." Was a short answer before Zaeed continued. "Still want my drink though, I will not let you off that easy."

"Fine, anything else Zaeed? I am a little busy right now." Garrus replied impatiently and his sub-vocals reverberated with the pent-up anger.

"Yeah, Joker wants us in the cockpit, apparently it's important but he said your coms were offline." Zaeed growled in his usually gruff voice which remined Garrus of crushed granite.

"Huh? I don't remember putting my setting on privacy." Garrus mused as he finally managed to remove his left leg from the rest of the armor and stood up.

"Well I don't fucking care if you put your coms to a fapping settings. Just get there so we can move on to some other things. Like shooting stuff." Zaeed snorted into the mic and with a small beep was gone.

Garrus grunted and ran the palm of his hand over his face and instead of shower went to fetch is casual clothes all the while he braced himself mentally for the prospect of spending more time in the company of his mercenary friend in the crowded cockpit.

"So, what is going on Joker?" Garrus asked the pilot when he entered his workspace. Zaeed was leaning against the wall to the right and Jarral casually sat in the co-pilot's seat with legs carelessly propped up against the navigation board.

"Typhon just checked in. It seems some troubles are coming up. Miranda waits for you at the QEC room, hopefully she will explain why they denied us the docking permit." Joker replied and leaned back in his seat but from the slightly stiffened posture Garrus could tell that his friend was far from relaxed.

"Alright, let's see what surprises she has for us." Garrus turned to leave when he paused for a moment with a thoughtful expression on his face. "EDI is there any reason why my cabin's intercom was offline?" He asked in the direction of the nearest com hub in the wall.

"It appears to be the result of the privacy setting which Shepard had used six years ago, and which applies to all post Omega missions. It seems the setting had never been changed." EDI replied and Garrus was left slightly stunned by the revelation. A simple thing such as the setting of the coms which was done by Shepard had left his heart ache and he was now more resolute than before to get things done in order to see her again.

"I see, thanks EDI." He replied and resumed his walk towards the briefing room.

"Would you like me to restore the default setting, Garrus?" EDI continued her conversation from the next com interface.

"I… no... just leave it as it is." Garrus hesitate for only a moment. But no matter how he looked at it his heart told him that leaving the setting on was a right thing to do.

"Very well. Logging you out." EDI's holo panel flashed in blue before the blue orb disappeared.

After Garrus arrived into the QEC room he could see the slightly shimmering, blue holo image of Miranda already there waiting for him in her usual posture with hands crossed over her chest.

"Ah Garrus, good to see you. How were things on Omega?" She asked and Garrus had a hard time guessing if her concern was genuine or for the sake of pleasantries, because he was more than sure she was already informed about everything which had transpired.

"We were successful. Dr. Archer is here with us and ready to get to work. Although we might need to visit Tali in order to get our hands on some geth tech." Garrus replied and leaned against the side wall to rest his tired legs.

"I am glad to hear that. Although it will have to wait. While you were gone we've received update on the last artifact. Chimera managed to extract it and is now transporting it to their main base of operation. I do not have to explain to you that if they succeed then it will be beyond our reach." Miranda shifted slightly from foot to foot and measured Garrus with a penetrating gaze and continued. "Right now, our best chance is to pursuit them and secure the artifact before they reach their base. Because Normandy is our fastest ship we have no other choice than to send you right away."

"Fair enough. Anything we know about the enemy? Except that their ship will most likely be full of former reaper soldiers." Garrus growled in annoyance and let out a small sigh. Delays. Always the delays. Only now he had to wonder how Shepard had dealt with things like these for all those years. His patience was already wearing thin.

"I have forwarded their last known position and coordinates to EDI. As for what you can expect..." Miranda paused slightly and took a deep breath. "We don't know. Our best guess which we were able to make from the forward scanner data is that the Chimera is using a Kowloon sized reaper freighter upgraded with some sort of dampening field. We've lost an entire frigate during the encounter, only basic data got through. I do hope that EDI's cyber warfare suite will be enough to allow you the docking."

"Alright. So, another of those missions where everything can go wrong and our chances for success are slim to none." Garrus lightly chuckled. "It's a good thing that we have the crew with more than enough experience in suicide runs. We are on our way Miranda."

Twenty minutes later Normandy silently drifted through the empty vastness of the Space and the crew, at least to Garrus' knowledge, prepared for the inevitable confrontation. EDI assured them that her recently updated cyber warfare interface should allow her smooth hacking of Chimera vessel and Zaeed and Jarral seemed more than keen on heading out and killing something.

Based on these facts Garrus decided to lead the boarding team together with the two mercenaries and left Kaidan in charge of the ship with clear orders that should the mission fail then the top priority was to get Dr. Archer and Normandy away and head for Typhon.

With these thoughts firmly in mind Garrus finally allowed himself to return to his cabin and climb to bed. It was a long day and the dull ache behind his forehead and stinging in his eyes were the tale tell signals that he needed his rest. He was about to close his eyes when a green blinking light on the screen of his personal computer drew his attention.

Garrus let out a small groan and slowly sat himself back up and ran the palm of his hand over his face while he kept contemplating if he should check the computer or leave it for later. In the end the curiosity won over his sleepy mind and he left his bed and crossed his cabin over to the desk which held his personal computer. On his way there he slightly corrected one of the model ships which hung in the empty space which divided the cabin. With a small smile Garrus ran his fingers over the edge of the glass which held Shepard's old tags and finally he sat down into the uncomfortable chair and turned on the computer.

If Garrus had expected a simple message or perhaps another coded report, he could not have been more wrong. Anonymous message with a video attachment blinked at him from the unread message window but it lacked any explanation about the nature of the video footage or anything else for that matter. With a frown Garrus hesitated for a moment. This was a secured channel, after he had been appointed into the specter ranks and assigned to the Normandy, EDI made sure that his private terminal was inaccessible to anyone but a few official channels and his crew. No one else should have a way to get through and yet here was an unmarked message waiting for him.

With a curious inclination of his head he finally decided to have a look at what was going on. "EDI?" he said to the still silence of his quarters.

"Yes Garrus?" EDI replied in a mildly curious tone. Most likely because of the late hour at which Garrus had inquired her assistance.

"I have an unmarked message on my terminal, do you think you can try and trace it to the sender or check if it is safe to open?" Garrus turned his gaze back to the computer and focused his eyes on the video in the message's attachment. It was only marked with a number and a letter code which did not tell him anything.

"Certainly, I am on it right now." Was all that EDI replied and once more Garrus was left in the company of his silent quarters he chose to pass the time by browsing through some old reports still left on his omni-tool. Reading the various names of the places and the missions their old squad had been through brought fond memories to Garrus' mind. No matter how this thing turns out, he reminded himself, they still had the best ride during those few years they had spent together.

"I have a trace." EDI interrupted the silence and Garrus turned off his omni-tool and focused once more at the screen of his personal computer. "It seems the message was sent through several com buoys, but I have managed to trace a decryption signal which came through with it, it originated in Titan Nebula, namely the Haskins system. I cannot narrow down the search, but the system does have only one planet."

Garrus tapped a few commands into his omni-tool a small galaxy map popped up into the display to navigate him to the planet Capek in the Haskins system. "Hmm why does this sound familiar?" He asked aloud not really aiming the question at anyone.

"It is the planet which holds the Hahne-Kedar facility the one which turned out to be the source of the VI virus which Shepard had investigated several years ago." EDI replied readily.

"I see." Garrus replied as he leaned in a bit closer his curiosity peaked. "Can you find out if it is safe to open the video message?"

"I have performed the necessary scans. The message seems safe, but I have elected additional firewalls around your quarters and I am ready to engage and suppress any hacking attempts or virus outbreaks."

It took a moment for the computer to decrypt and load the video but finally the small screen came to life with a footage which seemed to have been recorded in what have appeared to be some sort of a lab. For a while nothing was happening on the screen except for an occasional flicker of a static interference.

Garrus was about to switch the message off and write it off as some sort of a hoax when a salarian came into the view with a data pad in the hand and motioned for someone off the camera's field of vision. It was at that moment that Garrus had realized that the video was most likely a footage from a security camera.

The salarian continued to input commands into the data pad in his hand and after a moment two batarians hauled before him what appeared to be a sealed containment crate with an odd blue and circular mark on it. And now that Garrus had thought about it he had seen the mark before, it was the same symbol which the chimera soldier they had captured had on her helmet.

Meanwhile the video showed him that the same batarian duo released the magnetic seals of the crate and removed the lid only to reveal what appeared to be the same Artifact as the ones Garrus' team had found several days ago.

"EDI, I don't suppose we can get any audio from this right?" Garrus asked while his eyes were still glued to the screen.

"I am afraid we cannot, although I managed to clean up and restore the footage of the data-pad the scientist is holding. It appears to be a part of a detailed overview of an experiment using QEC and some kind of VI virus. The experiment is a part of the program called Bellerophon." EDI went silent again and Garrus had to tightly grip the edge of the desk with his hands. This was certainly beyond any coincidence.

"Before we've left Typhon a coded message was transmitted into one of their communication terminals. I have a copy of it here. It was addressed to me and it also had that same name in it. Can you look it up EDI?" Garrus hit the pause button on the video on the screen and rose up from his chair to bring up his omni-tool and let EDI scan the message.

"There are several search results for Bellerophon. The one with the most relevant match informs that Bellerophon was a hero in human mythology respectively in the period called the Ancient Greece. It is said that he was the greatest hero and slayer of monsters who ultimately defeated and killed a lion headed beast known as Chimera." EDI finished her report and Garrus lightly scratched the fringe on his head.

"Chimera huh? Can you run the code and find out what it is?" He asked finally and sat down again. If things were murky and a little bit on the odd side before they have just gotten a lot murkier and odder by now.

"Already on it but it will take some time, the coding is done in an unknown type of language and algorithm I will have to first create a program which will help me identify the variables." EDI replied with a hint of apology in her voice.

"Alright EDI, we have some spare time on our hands anyway. Just be careful I don't want any surprises before our mission is done. Let's play it on the safe side." Garrus turned off his omni-tool and shook his head slightly to banish the tiredness from his eyes. "What is the ETA to the location Miranda gave us?"

"Seven hours and six minutes." EDI replied but this time Garrus could detect a hint of curiosity in her voice. Apparently, she was quite interested in the new side project which had just presented itself to them.

"Alright, wake me up one hour before we arrive and keep the security tight I don't want any surprises."

"Of course, Garrus, logging you out."

Garrus slowly made his way towards his bed and the whirlwind of unanswered questions made his head spin. From what he could guess someone somewhere was in the middle of inventing a virus which could probably disable or destroy Chimera and they have decided to include him into their plan. Well Garrus and his team had things to do before that. First get the Artifact before Chimera makes the run for it. Then contact Tali and see if they could persuade her to lend them some of the geth tech they so much needed for Dr. Archer's work. Afterwards it had seemed that prayers would be in order for the whole thing to work and allow them to find out if Shepard's consciousness was indeed somehow stored in the Artifacts they have found. The image of the proverbial chicken running for help from one animal to the other again invaded Garrus' thoughts.

"Once you're back Jane, that is if you want to come back..." Garrus spoke aloud to the silence and emptiness of his quarters. "We will kill Chimera together." But this statement reminded him of one unresolved issue. He still had no idea about how Harbinger and the Reapers fell into all this and what would happen with them once Chimera is gone. He really needed to have a long talk with Miranda about her view on the situation. With these last thoughts Garrus finally let his head rest over the comfortable surface of his pillow and the sleep soon took hold of him as his exhausted mind gave in to the dreams.