Chapter 10 – Garrus

We've been inside the base for ten minutes and we've already fought off at least three dozen of the Shadows. And they won't stop coming. Something tells me they replenished their numbers a lot more than we thought they had.

Shepard starts down the next turn and instantly jumps back when a grenade comes flying at her. She responds in kind and starts firing back. Seeing her like this—guarded by her personalized N7 armor, using an assault rifle modded with her favored incendiary ammo—it's just like a year and a half ago, when we were fighting Cerberus and the Reapers. If we weren't getting shot at by an army of assassins, I'd almost be nostalgic. "Start looking for a control room once we come down this hall!" she calls back to us as she switches thermal clips and lets us handle the shooting for a few seconds, "Maybe we can disable the heartbeat monitors remotely!"

Samara then gives off a biotic attack that throws back the last Shadow standing with enough force to break their neck. Once the hall is clear, she holsters her gun and steps out. "Understood, Commander."

As the others start checking doors, I take Shepard's side and head to the first one. "Why weren't we looking until we came to this hall?"

"It's how the science facilities on Noveria are usually designed," Shepard explains, "I overhead Orion talking about this one once, but he said they had no use for it anymore after what Cerberus did just down the road." She then opens the door and looks through. "…should be here somewhere…" After a moment of looking, she comes up dry and pulls back, letting the door close before moving to the next one.

Before she can, I stop her (the others have it pretty much covered, anyway, and they're out of range of the actual conversation). "You're going to tell me if there's something we need to talk about, right?"

She looks at me for a second before giving me a soft smile. "Absolutely. I'm not letting any of that happen again." She reaches over to take my hand. "You said it and you were right: no matter how much we have to fight to get there, we're going to end this." She then moves in closer, her smile brightening. "Besides, I'm really looking forward to seeing what that turian-human baby will look like and I'm not letting some half-witted assassin get in the way of that."

I have to smirk at that one. That smirk slowly turns to a smile to match hers the more I look into her eyes. Without even knowing it, I let my hand reach up to gently push her hair back from them so I can better see the glistening emerald light up—

"Alright!" Ashley groans as she steps over, startling me enough that I jump back a step, "If you two are gonna kiss or something, just get it over with!"

"Yeah," Jack growls, "and do me a favor and warn me first so I can look away this time."

Shepard just gives her a look. "I'll remember that. Did you find it or not?"

She nods, gesturing over her shoulder to the back of the hall. "Out here." She then leads us over to it as the others come to it.

Shepard steps through the door first and looks around. "Yup, this is it. EDI, see if you can hack into their short-range communications through that terminal."

EDI nods and steps over to it, hacking in.

As she works away, I start looking around. It doesn't take long to locate a small weapons locker, clearly meant for the techs and guards that usually occupy this room. I take a moment to check over the guns and bows set up there, even picking up a sword so I can really inspect it. "These look more advanced than the ones they hit us with before. …though, thankfully, not rigged with poison…"

"Just like you, Vakarian," Jacob smirks, "There's an upside to every problem."

"Guess you don't know my Garrus, Jacob," Shepard quips, "He always expects the worst. There's a small chance he'll be pleasantly surprised."

I just smirk back at her as I snap the sword in half and drop it (we can't use it, no point in leaving it for the Shadows). "So far, it's worked out well."

Shepard just gives me one last smile before turning back to the terminal. "EDI?"

EDI steps back for a second. "I can't break through. The encryption key doesn't apply to their short-range or omni-tool communications. We have no way to keep them from linking their heartbeat monitors."

Shepard sighs in clear aggravation. "Great." She takes a second to think this over…then I see the familiar thoughtful gleam in her eye indicating she has a new plan. "…can you access the building schematics?"

"Yes."

"Perfect! Send it to all of us and link our transponders. We'll split up to throw them off-balance like we did the Collectors and meet up at the operations center."

EDI quickly follows through. Two seconds later, all of our omni-tools signal the newly-formed connection. I turn mine on and check it, finding that I can see the location of all 13 of my squad-mates at a specific point on a map. Shepard was right: this really is perfect.

"Everyone got it?" Shepard asks. Once we've all confirmed, she turns hers off. "Alright. From what I can see, we have four clear paths. Irana, Grunt, and I can take one; Jack, Samara, Ash, and EDI take another; Miranda, Jacob, Wrex, and James take the next one; Garrus, Tali, and Liara can take the last."

The others can safely say that's a fair plan. I can't. It was hard enough heading through the Collector base without Shepard right there with me. Now I'm supposed to do it again?

Lucky for me, Shepard notices. "EDI, check the terminal one last time. We need to make sure there's nothing else we can do here before we head out." That's a decent call, too. But it seems obvious to some of the others (Liara, Samara, Tali, and Miranda especially) why she's really doing it. I don't even care that I'm confirming those suspicions when I step over to a corner with Shepard while the others do the search. "You and I are going to be marked evenly—putting us in the same team will call all the Shadows right to us and defeat the purpose of splitting up."

I can't deny that much is true. But my own argument is just as valid: "It's also going to make it harder for me to focus when they start coming at us. Half my mind is going to be wondering what's going on with you."

Shepard looks over at the others for a second, considering how to handle this. After a few seconds, she thinks of something. "You said you made a private COMM channel on Omega, piggybacked it to the link with Tali."

As hard as I've tried to forget that day, I remember that. I also know what she's thinking. Once I know the others aren't looking, I call my omni-tool back up and do the same again. This time, though, I don't hook up the private channel to the messages Shepard sent me before Earth was attacked. This time, I hook it to her COMM and repeat it with hers. Unlike my normal COMM, I'm not turning it off until we're through this and at the operations center. This way, I can still talk to her even from the other side of the base.

Once it's set up, Shepard gives me a brief smile and heads over to the others. It takes all I have not to grab her, pull her back, and kiss her right now. "Anything?" her voice snaps me out of it.

"There is no sign of the altered encryption key or any way of determining it," EDI answers, "Nor is there any sign of any useful, unencrypted, relevant data."

"Doesn't look like there's anything else here we can use either," Irana adds.

Shepard sighs. "Alright. Let's head out." She then opens the door again and moves out, the rest of us following and then splitting up into our appointed teams.

I ready my rifle as Tali, Liara, and I head down one of the halls. Once we're at the first intersection with no sign of Shadows, I take cover long enough to check my omni-tool again. The map is still present and I can see the rest of the squad moving and our needed path laid out. Looks like this is going to work.

"Everyone in position?" Shepard's voice comes over my COMM.

"In position and ready to move out," I report back.

"Ready here, too, Shepard," Miranda adds.

"As are we," EDI confirms.

"Alright," Shepard gives the order, "First team to the operations center, secure the area until the rest of us can get there. Once it's clear, EDI and Liara can do one last data-mine and we'll clear out. Let's get moving."

Once those last three words come through, I turn off the main channel on my COMM as Tali and Liara turn off their COMMs entirely. Signaling them to take point, I check the path for any sign of trouble. None yet, but that doesn't mean it's going to stay that way for long.

"You still reading me, Garrus?" Shepard comes back over my COMM, through the private channel this time, her tone indicating Irana and Grunt can't hear her.

"Loud and clear," I smirk back, knowing Tali and Liara can't hear me, "Keep this channel open, would you?"

"Won't be too distracting?"

"Not as distracting as turning it off. Besides…I thought I was distracting to you."

"At any other time, I'd tell you to keep talking, but yes. Very."

It takes a lot of restraint not to at least snicker at her before getting back to the task at hand. I catch up with Tali and Liara, who still haven't come across any hostiles, and take the first turn. We move quick and quiet, like that day on Ilium, and stick to cover as much as possible. Any surveillance systems present don't seem to be active (guess the Shadows are expecting to keep guard solely through the heartbeat monitors, which is probably just as effective), but we still stick to cover before turning down the next hall—

Beep!

I instantly freeze and start looking around for what could've made that noise.

Tali is standing on a pressure plate. "Uh…"

"Don't. Move." I quickly turn my COMM back on. "Shepard, there's a pressure plate here. Tali triggered it. What do we do?"

"Uh…" Shepard hesitates, "…I don't know that one. And there's nothing in the schematics about any booby traps or anything."

I growl to myself. "Liara, scan it and send it to EDI." Liara nods and goes through with it. "EDI, tell me you've got something."

"It does not appear to be any sort of lethal trap," EDI answers, "In fact, it appears to be operating on the same frequency as the heartbeat monitors—"

In the next half a second, my mind makes the connection: this hall isn't weighted down with guards because they're tracking our movements through pressure sensors to conserve their numbers. So my reaction is instant before EDI even finishes talking: "Tali, forget what I said! GET OFF!" I quickly grab hold of her and pull her back, turning off the sensor.

Two seconds later, the Shadows show up.

I duck for cover and prepare to start firing as Liara and Tali do the same. "They found us! We're taking heavy fire!"

"Take them out and push forward!" Shepard calls back, "Don't let them—!"

"Uh, problem!" James jumps in, "We caught one, too, and now they're all over us!"

"Since when are you people so—" Jack starts. 3…2…1… "…crap."

"Shepard," I groan, "please don't tell me Grunt hit one, too."

Shepard hesitates. "…no…Irana did." She sighs. "Well, at least we know the plan's gonna work now. Don't let up until we're through!"

"On it." I then turn off the squad channel on my COMM. "And Shepard? Please be careful out there."

"Come on, Garrus, don't you trust me?"

"Of course, but you know me. Plus, we both have a bad history with these guys. And if something happened to you now—"

"Garrus. Honey. I love you. Be quiet!"

"…sorry." Still not turning off the private channel, I focus on the fight at hand, slipping out of cover just long enough to shoot down a few of the oncoming Shadows. There does seem to be a few less than I was expecting, so they probably are off-balance fighting on four different fronts. A few headshots, some coordinated attacks with Tali and Liara, and they're down to five foot soldiers. I lean out to aim my sniper rifle at them—

Suddenly, an achingly familiar sound echoes over the private COMM channel. Shepard's hit.

Just the thought of it throws my aim off, turning my planned headshot into a narrow miss. The armor-piercing round still hits the Shadow, but it just grazes their shoulder, causing no considerable damage. I quickly duck back behind my cover and let Tali call up her drone to take care of the rest. I can't think straight enough to aim right now. Not until I hear Shepard's voice over the COMM again, directing Grunt to their last target. Once I'm convinced she's at least alright, I let off a sigh of relief and jump back into the fight. The last assassin standing is aiming a shot at Liara. I take them out before they can take it.

"That was too close," Tali sighs.

"Just keep moving before more show up," I say, gesturing which way we need to go. But, once again, I keep back and talk to Shepard over the private COMM. "What happened? Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," Shepard answers, "I had one of the attacks while I was out of cover and it threw off my aim. My shields went down but Grunt kept me covered. I didn't even take a hit."

The Reaper signal reached her in the middle of a fight. Spirits, I never even thought of that. The good news is that it won't be happening again anytime in the next 12 hours or so. The bad news is that it could happen again on the next mission and she might not be as lucky. Now me being worried is going to be justified.

"The hall splits and there's no sign of anyone in either direction," Liara's voice suddenly snaps me out of it. I look up and find her and Tali at the end of the hall. Mentally kicking myself for not paying attention, I walk over to catch up with them. "Which way do we go?"

I check the map again as I reach them. "Left." So we head that way. "And, in case it needs to be said, watch your step."

"Trust me," Tali groans as she moves up at a steady pace, "I don't make the same mistake twice."

We keep moving slow and steady and, thankfully, silent. It seems to be working well because the Shadows don't catch us for a while. Then, of course, we take a right turn and come directly under fire. All three of us get behind the wall and get ready to fire back. Four seconds after we duck into the hall and rush for cover to really counterattack, one of the Shadows at the back starts firing back with an all-too-recognizable heavy weapon designed by the geth.

"They're really not messing around," I report into the COMM, "They're using heavy weapons this time."

"Well, at least they know who they're dealing with," Irana comments.

"Not funny," Shepard snaps, "Everyone keep your heads down, try not to get them blown off." She sighs, turning back to the private channel. "I know nothing's ever easy, but why does it always have to get harder?"

"Tell me about it," I concur under my breath. I then lean out of my cover long enough to snipe down the Shadow carrying the heavy weaponry, allowing us better shots at the rest of the assassins bearing down on us. "How much farther is it anyway?"

"This facility isn't as big as Peak 15, if that's what you're asking. Shouldn't be too far."

"Well, at least your judgment with distances is better than the rest."

"Did you really just insult me?"

"I wasn't trying to, but I am under a lot of stress right now."

"You and me both."

We keep pushing forward, finally taking out the Shadows barring our way. Clearing this hall, we move probably faster than we should, trying to get out of range of the signal from their heartbeat monitors before the next squad can catch up to us. Unfortunately, the very next hall is flooded by assassins at almost the exact same time we enter it, forcing us to search for cover again.

"Something tells me they know what we're up to," I tell the others, "They're following our movements too well."

"Stands to reason, I guess," Wrex says, "Not exactly much here to interest us besides the operations center and we are all headed that way."

"That means they'll try to box us in," Shepard strategizes, "keep us from pushing forward if they can't outright stop us. Check your corners and watch your back, don't let them flank you."

Great. Now we have to keep watch on all sides and avoid getting shot. What next? Another Brute?

Still, I focus on the fight. The Shadows reliably go down after every few shots, and Tali and Liara are more than helpful at keeping them back. Every time I duck back down to let my shields recharge or switch thermal clips, I search the area around us, make sure no more are coming from any other sides. Looks like any that would be meant to cut us off or flank us, though, are being kept busy by the rest of the squad. Perfect.

I finally snipe down the one farthest back and hurry to the next corner, Tali and Liara just behind me. Figures there's another squad waiting there, too. But as I duck for cover, I scope out the area. This squad is smaller. Surely, if there were that few left, they wouldn't have sent so many at us before we got close, right? Any skilled strategist would put the most guards at the actual target location as a failsafe in case we did get past the guards, not send every guard they had at us like cannon fodder. Unless, without Orion around, they really are thinking with their guns instead of their heads, but something tells me that's not it. I mean, even at the base on Omega, they—

I freeze when that thought strikes me. And reminds me about what happened on the first level of that base. The vents! I look up and see a vent shaft over my head. I can definitely see movement inside it. I quickly fire up at it. The shaft opens at about the exact same time I do and the Shadow inside drops to the ground in front of me. Carrying a knife. If they'd gotten the drop on me like they were planning, I would definitely not have made it. That thought draws me to look over at Tali and Liara. They're both still preoccupied with the Shadows ahead of us—neither of them seems to have noticed what just happened.

So I send the warning through the COMMs to make sure everyone hears it: "They're dropping through the vents again. Watch your backs."

Luckily, it's only after I've said so that the next Shadow comes at Liara, so she knows to look out for it and catches them biotically first, throwing them right into the assassins blocking our path forward. The resulting panic gives us clear shots at everyone around them and, finally, a chance to simply clear the area and rush past them.

"Ay caramba, that was close," James groans as we head down the hall, "Thanks for the warning, Scars. We had a couple sneaky ones back here. Not so sneaky anymore, though."

"They're not the only ones, Vega," Ash smirks back, "I'm starting to think these guys think too much of themselves. Of course, they won't be doing much thinking anymore either, huh?"

"Do you guys always banter in the middle of a mission?" Irana asks.

Three seconds later, at least half of the rest of us answer back "Yeah."

I can practically hear Shepard smirking. "Alright. We're right around the corner from the operations center. The rest of you shouldn't be too far either. But that doesn't mean there aren't still more coming, so be careful out there."

"Yes, Mom," Ashley banters.

"Spirits, that's even worse," Irana groans.

"Stick with us long enough, you'll get used to it."

"Keep it up that long, I might not make it that far."

"Well, the Shadows have seen you with us now," Grunt points out, "You might be a target, too."

"What have I gotten myself into?"

"Believe me, Zeranos," I sigh, "I ask myself that question every day."

"That dissatisfied, Vakarian?" Shepard smirks. Whether it's on the private COMM or the team's, she clearly no longer cares.

So I smirk back, not caring either. "Far from it. But you know how I am with humans."

The next one is most definitely over the private channel: "Yeah, well…you've got reach…and flexibility."

"Yeah, yeah, keep talking."

"Alright. We never did test the claims you made after our 'first date.' Am I gonna have to order you to when we get back on the ship?"

Before I can respond, Tali and Liara turn the corner ahead of us to the last hall. And are instantly met by a grenade, forcing them to jump back to the wall.

I quickly pull my gun. "Hold that thought." I then step up to the corner and lean around it enough to fire a proximity mine directly at the biggest cluster of assassins I can find. One explosion later, their numbers are taken down enough for all three of us to find cover again and start into the fight. As I switch weapons five seconds later, I check the map one more time. Looks like the others are at about the same distance as we are, except for Shepard's part of the squad, which is waiting at the door to the operations center. We're almost there. Just have to make it through this last hall.

Of course, experience will show that the last part of the mission is typically the hardest.

For the first two minutes or so, we hold here, back from any vents and keeping the Shadows from closing in on us. Once we've worn them down a ways, we start pressing forward, closing in on them. There's only ten left by that point, so all we have to do is keep up the pressure. We're too close for me to keep sniping them down, so I stick with my assault rifle. Fortunately, that gives me a high enough rate of fire that I can take out two of them before I have to duck back down behind cover again. Tali and Liara work at similar rate—Tali's shotgun can take them down easily enough and Liara's biotics are doing more than enough damage. So for the last strike on this wave, we pull a maneuver we almost never get to use: Tali sabotages all their weapons, I follow with a specialized overload attack that makes said weapons explode, and Liara closes in with a biotic attack carrying enough force to finish them all off at once.

I take a moment to catch my breath before getting back to my feet. "So…that went well."

"On the one hand, I really hope this gets easier at some point," Tali says, "On the other hand…that was fun."

I smirk at her. "It's always nice getting to kill something." Then I lead her and Liara down the hall to the main corridor. At the center of it is the door leading to the operations center. Shepard and the others are already there, Wrex and Miranda just stepping over as we come through.

"Last again, huh?" Wrex smirks, "Getting slow, Garrus?"

"Sorry, our team didn't have a krogan."

Shepard just shakes her head at us. "I see you two got closer without me around. Care to save it long enough to open the door?"

I respond with a brief look before going to hack through the door. Once it opens, I reach for my gun, ready to fire back if there are any more waiting for us on the other side. Finally some good luck, though, because there aren't any there.

EDI steps over to the console without question as the rest of us step in. "It appears this console was neglected when they upgraded the encryption key. I can gain access to the system momentarily."

"Watch yourself," Shepard instantly commands, "No idiot would upgrade the encryption on a control terminal and not on the main console. Unless they were so overconfident they never thought anyone would ever get here, but I don't think even the Shadows would risk us knowing what we've done."

"Do not worry, Shepard. I can interface with the system directly and keep them from setting off any traps." Ten seconds later, she has access. "We are through. You were right to be cautious, Commander; there were at least four dozen hidden viruses I was forced to disable before we could gain access."

"Have I ever told you how happy I am we've got a friendly AI around?" Shepard smirks.

"No. But thank you."

Liara smiles as she steps over to the console. "Let me see what I can find." She routes the data through her own network, searching through it as only the Shadow Broker can. "Got it. The codes reactivating the bases belong to…" Then she freezes. "…Orion."

But before any of the rest of us can react in our shock, Shepard drops her gun. "…check all the data-streams that code has accessed."

Liara looks at her curiously before following the instructions. When the results come in, her panic shifts, not as if we're dealing with a ghost we never wanted to face again but as if we really do have another enemy out for our blood and we're no closer to cracking it. "Yes, it looks like one other person had access to his codes, but the data pertaining to their identity is heavily encrypted."

Shepard seems unnerved. That's never a good sign. Especially not when it comes to the Shadows. But she stays silent for a moment, as if considering whether we should be told what's bothering her or not.

I keep my eyes on her for a moment before looking over at the console. Someone else had access to Orion's codes and has been using them to get to us. Who would—?

"Kendrys Falcon." All of us turn to look at Shepard in confusion.

"Who?" I finally ask.

She sighs and repeats the name: "Kendrys Falcon. She was Orion's right-hand woman in the old days—the only other person he ever trusted with his deepest secrets. Unfortunately, she had a nasty habit of unnecessarily torturing her contracts and even going outside the terms laid out for them upon hire. The Shadows finally excommunicated her, but she must have taken over after Orion died."

"Sounds like we did her a favor," Miranda points out, "Why would she want us killed?"

"And why would she have Orion's access codes if she was kicked out?" Tali questions.

Shepard shifts her feet for a second, her disquiet turning to discomfort. "…I can answer both of those questions with one very simple yet very disturbing answer: Orion…was Kendrys' boyfriend."

We all look at her in shock and amazement, as frozen in silence as the moment we realized she had come back. For almost a whole minute, we stand there wondering how in the galaxy anyone could be in a relationship with that maniac. Of course, that's fairly obvious. What Shepard said about said assassin torturing her victims makes her seem like an ever bigger sadist than Orion ever was. And who dates a sadistic psychopath? A sadistic sociopath.

I finally say what we're all thinking: "Crap."