Mass Effect: "It's The Inside That Counts"
Epilogue – Renegade
-Three Years Later-
They told him his case had something to do with the incident on Eden Prime, a human colony on the edge of the Terminus Systems. Beyond that, his superiors were lax as to its importance.
"The humans are up in arms about this, but keep to your logic," the Executor said. "It's a colony at the end of the Traverse. They were bound to run into trouble out there eventually. Don't read too far into it. I know the Counsel isn't."
Garrus spent the day skimming through the report retrieved from the Systems Alliance vessel, the SSV Normandy. The more he read through it, the more it seemed like contrived bunk. A shakedown run that somehow managed to devolve into a skirmish with the geth, of all species. Then the humans were able to destroy a recently-uncovered piece of Prothean technology, all in the same day.
It was so amazingly random, yet, so compelling to read. He even had a good laugh about it a few times.
But the bit at the tail-end of the report disturbed him slightly. It read that a dock worker had witnessed the murder of a turian Spectre, Nihlus Kryik. This witness also claimed that the killer was none other than the Counsel's top agent, Saren Arterius.
Garrus tossed the datapad away, finding it almost unbelievable. But he was tasked to investigate all leads, so he followed through.
Unfortunately, since Saren was, in fact, a Spectre, every action the turian had made during his twenty-four year service in the Special Tactics and Recon Division was classified to the highest priority. No one outside the Citadel Counsel could access the files.
But Garrus did notice that not much activity had been logged recently. For a Spectre of such consistency, those large blank spots confused him.
Garrus dug deeper, all the way to the time before Saren was inducted into the Spectres, where his acts weren't locked down. Saren was very vocal about his dislike for humanity after the First Contact War of 2157, having lost his brother during the liberation of Shanxi.
Looking back over the report from the Normandy, Garrus couldn't help but feel that the humans had been telling the truth. It just didn't seem completely out of character for Saren. Either way, he needed more evidence to go on. So, he started questioning everyone who had supposedly gotten close to Saren in recent years.
He became obsessed with finding out more information on this Spectre. So much so, that he was soon called into a meeting with Executor Pallin at the Citadel Tower.
"I've been receiving complaints from various citizens claiming you interrogated them without a warrant," said the Executor, fairly irritated. "I asked you to see what you could dig up from where you sat. The last thing I need is for you to make a bigger case out of this than it should be. The Counsel's going to make their judgment in a moment either way."
Garrus saw the look in Pallin's eyes, and he knew he was about to get shut out. "Saren's hiding something!" he said, nearly at a shout. "Give me more time. Stall them!"
The Executor sighed and shook his head. "Stall the Counsel? Don't be ridiculous." He turned away from his detective. "Your investigation is over, Garrus."
It had been three years since his encounter with Saleon, and Garrus could feel himself being held back still. Evil sat squarely in front of the Counsel's eyes, but an ignorant system of law and procedure had blinded them. Saren was clearly hiding something, but the immunity he received from his rank as a Spectre kept everyone blissfully in the dark, even those who held him in suspect.
He wasn't going to let this case slide. He needed to know more. As the humans would say, he could feel it in his gut. He would bring Saren's sins out into the light to be judged. No matter what it would take. There would be no waiting this time.
Garrus turned to leave the Citadel Tower, but was blocked by a trio of humans. Two of them, a male and female, he didn't recognize. But the third, he had heard of this human's contributions to Citadel Space. Many were rumor, he could discern that.
Some said the human was the soul survivor they had pulled from the massacre at Akuze. Others say the human was posted at Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz, and emerged a hero for it. Then there were those dedicated few who believed their hero was the one they claimed destroyed an underground batarian bunker, and had surfaced victorious with only one-forth of the human's squad still living.
In any case, this one was revered. So, Garrus was compelled to make introductions.
"Commander Shepard?" Garrus nodded in greeting, unaware of the path to redemption the human would eventually lead him down. "Garrus Vakarian…"
And the rest was history.