Chapter Nine - The Lying, Shattered Mirror
Netichik: Insect analogues native to Palven that have been exported to many colony worlds. About two centimetres long, they live in colonies burrowed into trees. Meat eaters, they drop out of trees in large masses onto the backs of animals passing beneath their nests.
Mabul - The turian equivalent of the expletive 'fuck'. Derived from Irrumabul - the word for sex under duress, specifically between a superior and a subordinate.
Targismar - The most vile curse in the turian language. Has its origins in turian prehistoric rituals involving the disgracing and execution of enemies. The shortened Targis is used most often.
Tarc - Vulgar expletive equivalent to shit.
Soluvermus - A small (average size 8-12 cms/1-2 cms diameter), heavily armoured earthworm native to Palaven's more northern and southern regions.
Turian time is expressed in a digital form in descending order. Example: 5381:04:20:26:19:09 is the date of the attack on Aephus down to the Ahtrix (second). Expressed in turian terms: Cycle(year):Tadecem(month):Luxin(day):Orhan(hour):Sextim(minute):Ahtrix(second)
TSF Normandy 5381:04:22:34:35:29
Garrus straightened his armour's yoke, then settled into a weary parade rest, his feet a little too wide apart in order to accommodate the mild disequilibrium brought on by seeing everything through unaugmented eyes. His parents had been slow to believe in augmentation. Unlike his peers and baby sister, he hadn't been fitted with a neural frame at birth. It wasn't until he was refused admission to a prestigious school when he was three that his parents caved in, realizing that the future would leave their brilliant, but altogether too-organic-baseline son behind.
He probably owed those three cycles of hindered but natural brain development for his life. Even so, after twenty-six cycles of experiencing the galaxy through senses that registered thirty-five percent wider bandwidths and sensitivities, and then processed all that data a hundred percent faster … . Well, was it any wonder he felt off kilter and half-blind? Maybe he could get a black market frame implanted behind Chellick's back.
Yes, nothing reckless about that plan at all.
The first to answer Captain Arterius's call to meet in the comm room, Garrus stared at the blank vid screen where he'd watched the attack on Aephus begin so few luxins before. It seemed impossible that so much had happened in so short a time, Aephus flipping his entire universe upside down, the beacon vision turning it inside out.
"Commander." Spectre Alenko walked in the comm room door, stepping up to face Garrus on an oblique angle. "How are you feeling? Recovering well?" He replied only with a sharp, formal nod, but then the captain entered, saving Garrus from having to make small talk about his multiple neural procedures.
"Good, I'm glad you're both here," Saren said, striding to the console. Instead of activating it, he turned to face them. "Several orhans ago, I received a communication from a Senior Investigator Shepard with Citadel Security."
"She's the officer assigned to investigate Anderson," Alenko added, activating his omnitool. "The council sent me her report."
Garrus didn't need to open the report. He'd read it just before heading up from his quarters. It sounded like SI Shepard had wandered into a netichik nest, the implications of which set his gut churning. Even on the Citadel, the beacon wasn't safe.
"Yes, but she also contacted me directly to inform me of what had been left out of the report." He keyed the interface, a shaky, first person vid appearing on the screen.
When the few sextims of footage ended, Garrus shifted a little, heart pounding, lungs drawing deeper breaths, weight balanced on his talons. Despite his not fully understanding the implications of what he'd seen, his body prepared to fight. They went to Aephus to pick up a beacon, dropping instead, into a nightmare that didn't make any sense or show any sign of letting them wake up.
"SI Shepard will be contacting us again in a moment with an update." Saren chuffed a little. "She rescued the salarian scientist earlier, but is trying to discover the identities and track the movements of the people this low-life, Fist, is smuggling in."
The console chimed, Scurra's voice filling the room. "Captain? SI Jane Shepard for you, sir."
"Put it through, Scurra." Saren turned to meet the C-Sec investigator's hologram, settling into a neat, but relaxed parade rest. "SI Shepard, right on time." He grinned, an open, friendly smile that surprised Garrus. "You look rested, but as if you woke only to be thrown right back into the fray."
She nodded and mirrored his stance. "I found security camera footage of Fist and four C-Sec officers smuggling a group of twenty-six people off a shuttle that bypassed the docks to enter the station's infrastructure. All hid under hooded cloaks like cosplayers at a Space-Age Dragon Saga convention. They disappeared from cameras once they entered the keeper tunnels."
She stiffened, her face hardening with what Garrus felt sure was the same indignant rage he'd feel if he discovered some of his crew aiding the enemy. "After I identified the officers on the footage, I tried to track them through their radios, but no joy. They either disabled the transponders or they're being cloaked at the source." Shepard raked her hand through her short, red hair. "I went into the keeper tunnels and mixed it up with a few more lystheni, but other than the ambush at the entrance, no sign of our friends."
The captain nodded and waved Alenko forward. "SI Shepard, this is Spectre Kaidan Alenko."
Shepard lifted a couple of fingers in a half-hearted wave. "Pleasure, Spectre Alenko." Her eyes narrowed as she stared down the other human. "Do you have any intel … any traction at all on what's going on with Anderson?" She glanced toward Saren. "Captain Arterius showed you the footage from the meeting I taped?"
"I did." Saren turned to level a second inquiring stare on the Spectre.
Alenko shook his head. "I greeted him as my friend and mentor." Undisguised grief and guilt weighed down the words. "He said the council had sent him to help. I believed him. I didn't even question it despite the fact they never send two Spectres in blind. Still, I just turned my back on him." He pulled himself together, straightening with an obvious effort.
Shepard nodded, her face neutral, but soft almost empathetic. "No sign of an asari matriarch around him prior to Aephus? He didn't mention one?" she asked, one hundred percent cop. Garrus's mandibles fluttered as he recognized the tone even through the translator. "Have you had much contact with Spectre Anderson in the last several months?"
Alenko shook his head. "An asari matriarch? No, I can't recall him mentioning anything. Contact? Yes, I've spoken to him … a few vid calls ... but he's been sticking to the traverse, calling in his meetings with the council." Another, deeper head shake, as if the Spectre kept seeing new layers hiding within his very understandable mistake. Garrus knew he would have turned his back to Saren in the same situation. "Looking back, it's clear as day that he's been hiding something for months, maybe even years."
Shepard let out a long, noisy breath. "Once you've reported to the council, I'll book a few hours with you to help fill in some gaps in my investigation. That hindsight may prove most valuable." She turned her green-eyed gaze to the captain. "You as well, Captain, if you can spare me the time?" A single finger rose to interrupt Saren as her other hand snapped to her comms. "Sorry."
She listened for a second, then grimaced. "Okay, thanks for the update." A crooked grin whispered across her lips. "Don't take your eyes off that screen." A broader smile. "I'm talking to the Normandy on the comms, so bugger off and don't look away from the screen. Later."
Turning back, Shepard shrugged. "Sorry about that, quiritus … Spectre Alenko." She looked past the other two, her gaze latching onto Garrus for the first time. "Commander Vakarian?"
"Yes." He stepped forward, but didn't offer anything further. Something about the woman's frank regard set his teeth on edge.
"You were the ground team leader on Aephus?" When he answered with nothing more than a soft grunt and a razor sharp nod, she smiled. "Excellent. From the reports, your team were all that stood between the colony being there one day and gone the next."
Despite knowing that she meant to pay his entire team a compliment, he bristled. What right did she have to praise their work? She hadn't been down there fighting off those monsters or trying to keep his people alive through the madness.
"Please excuse Commander Vakarian," Saren said, stepping between them and pushing Garrus back. "When he rescued one of his team from the beacon, it blew out his neural frame." A stern, crystal-blue glare burned a hole through Garrus's skull. "He's not quite himself yet."
"Blew out your neural frame?" Shepard shuddered. "You're bloody lucky your brain didn't get cooked." An easy grin spread across her riotous field of freckles. "No wonder you looked a little peaked."
Garrus stiffened, his spine snapped metal-ruler straight. "I'm fit. Thank you for your concern." He bit down on every word, gnawing on her over familiarity like a tough drellak steak. The dimly lit room felt as though it closed in on him, the shadowed recesses pressing in.
Her grin widened rather than showing any sign of intimidation. "Of course you are. Tough stock." She turned her attention to Alenko and then the captain. "I have a C-Sec shuttle and emergency clearances, so I'll be waiting right at the end of the tube when you dock." She grinned, the expression almost wild on her dirty face, framed by wild hair. "I'll get your people to the council and back aboard the Normandy in one piece, Captain."
"Thank you, SI Shepard," the captain replied, smiling back. "We appreciate your efforts on our behalf." Saren stepped up to the console and shut down the transmission.
"Captain … Commander … I'd better finish preparing my report for the council, and collect my notes for SI Shepard's investigation," Alenko said, letting out a long breath. "It looks like things aren't going to be getting any easier from here."
"Spectre Alenko," Saren said, offering a crisp nod. He watched until the Spectre left the comm room, then turned to Garrus. "I wasn't aware that you harboured prejudice against humans, Vakarian."
Surprised, Garrus ducked his head back, arching his neck. "Sir?" He'd never considered himself overly prejudiced against anyone. He didn't dislike SI Shepard, just her lack of respect and good manners.
Saren just shook his head and stepped up into Garrus's space. "If you have issues with humans, leave them on board. SI Shepard has spent the last two luxins risking her life to ensure our safety when we arrive on the Citadel." His mandibles dropped a little, his eyes narrowing. "Humans have their own issues with having their vulnerabilities pointed out," Saren said, "but what Shepard said was not intended to insult." He chuckled. "Quite the opposite, she was expressing admiration for your resilience."
Garrus nodded, but bristled. He didn't need the approval or sympathy of any stranger. He was turian. Of course, most of the empire knew Saren's opinions on humans: widely considering him a human apologist and sympathiser. During the Relay 314 incident, when the council stepped in, pulling back the reins on the human fleets, the captain had been wounded and trapped on the ground behind enemy lines. Instead of turning him over as a prisoner of war, the humans who discovered him hiding in their barn had treated his wounds, nursed him back to health, and smuggled him off the colony.
"Don't be too quick to judge indiscreet compassion as insult, Vakarian," Saren continued, pulling Garrus's attention back where it belonged. "She seems a good sort." He cracked his neck and tugged at his cowl. "Go get your ground team ready to go ashore. This entire situation has my plates itching."
Garrus saluted and strode out of the comm room, suddenly embarrassed by both his reaction to the C-Sec officer and his uncharitable thoughts about his commanding officer and mentor. Was he prejudiced? Clenching his jaw, he resolved to police any brittle-plate reactions to the human. Saren was right, she didn't even know them and had already taken bullets to help protect them.
TSF Normandy 5381:04:22:35:28:16 (Citadel arrival)
"Captain Arterius?"
Garrus looked down the docking tube, recognizing the C-Sec officer standing there. SI Shepard looked even more ragged for the passage of the short span of time since their vid call, her face and armour splashed with blood. She breathed deep and heavy, as if she'd just raced from battle to meet them.
"SI Shepard." The captain stepped out ahead of them, striding down the ramp with purpose. He offered his arm even before he stopped. The C-Sec officer gripped Saren's wrist with something that looked a lot like relief. The captain reacted to it by gripping her shoulder with his other hand. "It appears your journey to collect us has not been without incident."
Shepard's answering smile amounted to nothing more than a thin press of lips, her tension broadcasting clearly despite getting right down to business. "Executor Bailey is waiting with the transport, a TAC team, and two gunships. They'll stay with the cargo until it is secured." She led the way to the railing, gesturing down to where a ridiculously heavy C-Sec presence ushered the beacon's crate down the ramp.
"And the blood?" Saren asked, gesturing toward her armour.
Shepard turned back toward the shuttle sitting two steps from the end of the docking tube. "My team managed to track the missing C-Sec officers." She scoffed. "Who am I kidding? The transponders in their radios were turned on, broadcasting in case we were stupid enough to just rush into an obvious trap."
Holding out an arm toward the open shuttle door, she said, "Perhaps this story would be best told on the way to the council chambers, Captain? I don't want your people left exposed a second longer than necessary." She waved to a krogan officer standing a handful of metres away and then a turian the same distance in the opposite direction. "We're up against a determined enemy."
Garrus hung back, letting Alenko introduce himself, the Spectre shaking Shepard's hand with a quiet enthusiasm that clearly broadcast 'Human friend! I'm relieved to finally find myself in the presence of another human. Let's share the human camaraderie of human club. Look at how much the same we humans are in our humanness.'
"Ow!" A bolt of blue exploded between their hands, and Shepard snatched hers back, rubbing her palm with the opposite thumb. "Sorry, but … is that supposed to happen?" She shifted to rubbing her injured hand against the thigh of her armour. "You might want to get your amp checked. That smarts."
"Sorry," Alenko said, his face flushing a bright red as he winced. "My implants were damaged on Aephus, and my biotics have been doing some bizarre things. My apologies." He walked ahead, stepping up into the shuttle.
Garrus chuckled under his breath. So much for human club.
Tarc. He stomped on the unkind thought as he followed Shepard and Saren into the vehicle. Shaking his head, he rolled his shoulders, trying to throw off the ill humour. It really didn't have anything to do with the humans; they just made an all too available target. It had to do with going into a situation where he'd most likely need to fight, and feeling nearly helpless. He knew he'd be able to function in battle if required, he just … without his frame, he felt as though someone had blindfolded one eye and tied one of his hands behind his back. The vulnerability rankled.
His mother always said that the universe was merely a mirror that reflected oneself back.
"Commander Vakarian?" The C-Sec officer's greeting surprised him. Shepard reached out her hand to clasp his wrist. "Pleasure to meet the hero of Aephus in person." She held out a small crate. "For you." She stared expectantly into his eyes until he took the package, then turned away to join the captain and Alenko, everyone settling in for the short trip to the presidium tower.
Garrus sat next to Nihlus and fastened his harness, then stared suspiciously at the crate. What was it? A gift? Why would she get him something?
"What is it, hero of Aephus?" the LT asked, a grin tweaking his mandibles. "None of the rest of us got presents for our heroics." He shifted his curiosity from the box to Garrus then back. "Come on, you've got to open it."
Garrus let out a long grumble and opened the crate. Inside, a targeting visor sat nestled in foam. It looked like a customized prototype based on the latest Kuwashii model. He lifted it out of the packaging and turned it over in his hand. The eyepiece flashed, data scrolling past in bright blue. He slipped the device on just to see what the hell it was doing.
A soft, feminine rumble drew his attention from the incredible menu of functions blinking in front of his left eye. "It's the latest C-Sec prototype ... syncs to your omnitool automatically," Shepard said from a few seats down and across the shuttle's hold. "It's target assist is nearly as good as my frame's: runs the equations for gravity, air density and composition, wind, rotation … the whole gamut. It'll also handshake any computer and surveillance system within twenty metres." She shrugged. "Thought it might help."
Busy test-driving the visor's biofeedback tool, Garrus nodded absently. "Thank you, Officer." While a far shot from his frame, the visor took away a little of the feeling of being blind and deaf. Before they landed on the presidium, he'd unlocked the hacking and override tools and wormed into the shuttle's systems, using the exterior cameras to run surveillance on the ground. To borrow a human phrase: the visor was cool.
When he glanced over at Shepard, the C-Sec officer grinned and winked. Unsure how to respond, he simply returned the nod with one of genuine thanks. The captain had been right: indiscreet compassion.
The shuttle landed right outside the elevator, nearly crushing one of the Keepers, the little bot skittering away, pushed along by the thrusters. Like a mother maraquil, Shepard herded them off the shuttle and into the carriage. It made for cramped quarters, but even inside, her people stood guard, weapons aimed at the window while hers was trained on the door.
When they arrived outside the council chambers, Shepard had them wait in the elevator. Garrus bristled … again. Every one of them carried arms, and none of them were diplomats unable to protect themselves. They should be going in together, one squad. Of course, leadership of that squad might prove problematic.
"Relax." Saren thumped him in the side with an elbow. "Shepard's people have it under control."
The human looked back through the door. "We're clear in here," she said, beckoning to them, her eyes and her weapon in constant motion.
Garrus kept his hand on the grip of his sidearm, her vigilance demanding that he match it. If a danger to his people festered under the starched white surface of that bureaucratic hell, he wouldn't let a squad of strangers beat it down.
"Executor Bailey just missed the elevator," Shepard said. "He'll be here momentarily to escort you to the council." She gave them a tight lipped smile and leaned up to give the krogan officer a hushed order, sending him up to the top of the next set of stairs. "Ridgefield," she called to the turian. "Check the side corridors and balconies again. Make sure no one's crept back in hoping to get a moment of the council's undivided attention."
Garrus frowned. They'd completely closed the council chambers. On Shepard's word? Or the executor's? He focused on the Senior Investigator, the knots in his gut twisting into a ball of squirming suluvermis.
Despite the beauty that surrounded them, Shepard's eyes remained fixed on the dark shadows between. Garrus found himself searching the length of the tree-lined balconies as the SI reached up to her comms. "Anyone having any luck with the lighting in here? I want full daylight before the council enters." She scoffed, a low rattle of phlegm in her throat. "Yeah, well someone can explain the aesthetics of poorly lit ambience and political mystery to me after this meeting adjourns and everyone's still alive."
The elevator door opened, a tall, blonde human and six C-Sec officers in full tac armour stepping out. Garrus drew back, pulling his sidearm, but keeping it tight against his thigh, out of view as the officers approached. The blonde held out his hand. "Captain Arterius? Spectre Alenko? Executor Armando Bailey, Citadel Security." The executor clasped their wrists and then gestured toward the far end of the space. "Let's get you to your meeting."
Again, Garrus hung back. He signalled to Kryik and Kandros to watch the group's flanks. When he turned to position Jennus behind the captain, he noticed Shepard still standing at the door.
"Shepard?" Bailey called, turning back.
Shepard looked around, her hand rubbing the grip on her sidearm, the nervous habit giving away her unease. "I don't know what's usual for this place, but everything about it is creeping me the fuck out, right now, sir." She looked to Bailey. "You go ahead. The council has heard everything I have to say." Her hand stilled, but never left her pistol. "We'll keep our eyes on your backs."
Saren turned back to grip Shepard's shoulder. "Thank you, Senior Investigator. As soon as we're finished with the council, I'll call, and we can meet to go over what I know of Anderson's history."
"Thank you, sir. I appreciate that." Shepard's tone read completely neutral, businesslike and professional, but something about the gleam in her eyes as she looked at the captain made Garrus wonder if they were flirting. Before he could give it even half a thought, Shepard reached out. "Pleasure to meet you, Commander Vakarian." Her grip on his wrist felt cold and stiff compared to when she touched him at the Normandy, and something in her stare …. Spirits, whatever the nuances, that gaze amounted to pure warning.
"Thank you, Senior Investigator." Yes, something had her good and rattled, and despite having met her mere sextims before—and her annoying over-familiarity—he trusted her instincts. "And thank you, for everything." When she released him and stepped back, he pulled himself back into line, forming his will and discipline into a steel rod that ran the length of his spine. If Shepard's instincts proved themselves, he'd be ready … his people would be ready. They were turian.
"Spirits," Jennus grumbled as they reached the last set of stairs. "It's too quiet in here. Feels like there are morumplacus hiding everywhere, just waiting to drop down on us."
"Easy, Private," Garrus said, layering in a heavy dose of 'calm the mabul down'. "The council closed the chambers to deal with Anderson and his mess. It's going to be quiet." Despite his words, Garrus couldn't get the look in Shepard's eyes out of his mind, the quiet pleading in her stare digging in under his plates. He jogged up the stairs, moving his people along. The sooner they got the council meeting over with, the sooner they'd be back aboard the Normandy and tracking the bastard down.
Jennus shrieked, a high, keening shrill of terror that yanked Garrus around to face the youngster. Raising his pistol even as he spun, he brought it to bear on Jennus, booted talons digging into the tile.
An asari wrapped an arm around Jennus's neck. Where the mabul had she come from? Another held Kandros the same way a couple of metres away, that one edging toward the front of the room. Five metres to Garrus's left, Kryik made a noise that broadcast the fact that he'd been grabbed as well. Garrus focused on the threat in front of him. "Release him."
A sharp, mean-spirited laugh answered him. "I have a counter offer; move and they all die." The asari met Garrus's eyes with an ice-cold smile, one that kicked his gut off a five-hundred-metre cliff. He caught it before it hit bottom and squared his shoulders. Losing one or two of his people was inevitable, no doubt, but the asari hadn't killed them instantly. They needed shields, which gave him a few extra seconds.
He tore his stare from Jennus, looking to Kandros and Kryik. Both nodded, their expressions scared but all business and buttoned down. By the numbers, people. We get out of this by the numbers.
"You've made an error," Garrus called to the one holding Jennus. "Turians go into every battle prepared to die. We gladly sacrifice ourselves for our brothers and sisters."
The nais laughed, green eyes sharp as shards of broken bottles. "He will sacrifice himself only for me." She leaned in against Jennus's ear. "Look me in the eye," she whispered, the tone warm, one used by a lover, and yet it burned Garrus's brain like frozen iron.
Despite his resolve, Garrus cried out, a wordless shout of denial that made no difference. Garrus lunged for the youth, talons screeching over ceramic and metal as Jennus turned to stare into those black, fathomless nightmares, his mandibles falling slack.
"Tell me you love me," she whispered, brushing a flawless teal cheek against the private's. "Tell me that you'll fight to the death to protect me."
"I will die to protect you," Jennus whispered, his voice thin and hollow, robbed of any subvocals. The youngster turned toward Garrus and Saren, his assault rifle settling sure and deadly in his hands even as he finished, "I love you. You are the only star in my sky."
Garrus glanced to the captain, Saren as ready and still as the rest. Counting each breath, he timed the storm, moments ticking away before chaos tore apart the fragile stillness. All of his people poised a breath from death. One moment too many and they'd lose the war before they even ….
Moving fast, he traded his sidearm for his assault rifle, a single motion ... and the signal. As Saren opened fire on the ardat yakshi holding Jennus, Garrus's barrel sliced the air to take aim on another asari, that one racing up the center of the council chambers. He squeezed off a single shot, before Shepard and the two C-Sec officers appeared, sprinting at the nais's side.
"Friendlies!" Shepard stumbled as the round grazed her side. She glanced toward he and Saren as she recovered, but just for the sparest of seconds before aiming toward the council. "Bailey!" Shepard called without the slightest shift in vector. "Asari incoming, at least a dozen. Lystheni gunmen on the upper balconies."
Garrus spun, turning his gun on the two holding Kryik and Kandros, grateful for the targeting visor as he skimmed shots over his struggling squad's shoulders.
"Rilla!" Shepard's asari shouted. "Falere! Stop this! You're not killers."
"Mother?" The two holding Kryik and Kandros hesitated for the briefest of seconds, but long enough. Kryik and Kandros twisted from their grip, launching themselves against their captors, bearing them to the floor.
"They're after the council and Alenko," Shepard shouted. She grabbed the krogan's hand, pulling him up the stairs to the supplicant's platform. "I'm going for the council, cover the Spectre." She peeled off, running around the edge of the room, heading for the council's platform.
"Kill them all," the first asari commanded, her lips pressed next to Jennus's aural canal. The warm, lover's caress of her tone slammed into Garrus harder than the bullets that erupted from Jennus's assault rifle.
His shield warning flashing at the corner of his visor, Garrus opened fire, taking the young private down with two clean headshots before he turned the gun on the ardat yakshi. He managed to squeeze off a single shot, and then she vanished, reappearing two dozen metres away, directly behind Alenko.
"More asari coming in from all sides!" Saren shouted, shoving Garrus toward cover. "Kryik, cover the bastards on the balcony."
Although Garrus couldn't hear the ardat yakshi's words over the thunder of gunfire, he knew the moment she'd taken Alenko, the blank-faced Spectre throwing himself in front of her, acting as her shield while she moved in on the council. Garrus aimed low, trying to take out the Spectre's legs, but then Shepard's krogan raced between him and the target.
The krogan C-Sec officer barely slowed as they reached the end of the platform. With a grace that Garrus didn't think krogan possessed, he spun as he slammed into the ardat yakshi holding Alenko. Pivoting, the behemoth grabbed the Spectre in a bear hug, and hurled the both of them over the end of the platform onto the glass below.
Even as he opened fire on the unprotected asari, Garrus saw Shepard leap the small gap and barricade at the corner of the council's platform. The ardat yakshi who'd killed Jennus scrambled to her feet, offering Garrus an open target. Her perfectly painted lips opened in a slight gasp as Garrus's explosive rounds ripped through her throat and chest. She folded, graceful to the last, spurting violet blood across the spotless tile floor.
"Geth, protect your councillor!" Garrus heard Shepard's command end with a harsh grunt of air and looked back at the C-Sec officer in time to see her slam into the krogan councillor hard enough that she drove her into the human, bearing them both to the floor.
"Get down, obluvis," Saren said, mostly subvocal growl, as he shoved Garrus down behind a planter. Garrus broke loose and bolted up the left side, enemy rounds tearing up the tile at his heels as he followed Shepard over the railing. Instead of going for the council, he took cover, pelting the asari with bullets as they charged, rapidly closing on them. Kryik and Kandros had retreated up behind a set of large planters, three asari getting far too close.
"Do you have the council?" he shouted at Shepard, not daring to look back to check on her progress, the asari closing on his people requiring all of his limited resources.
His rounds tore through the failing barriers of the ardat yakshi closest to him, shredding her spine. She dropped, screaming … a thin wail that dug in between the folds of his brain. His remaining squad dropped another, and Garrus moved on, trusting them to be able to finish off the last.
"I've got the council, just try to keep them off us," the C-Sec officer called back. "Madame Councilor, crawl for the staging room. Councilor Udina, stay down!" Scrambling up, she took position over them, her pistol in constant motion. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shepard reach down, helping the geth drag the quarian toward the doors along the side while the krogan and human half-crouched, half-crawled behind her. Despite her burden and calling encouragement to the other two, she continued to pelt the half dozen remaining ardat yakshi with rounds in a steady, controlled three shot pattern.
Light drew Garrus attention down the length of the chambers. The elevator. Reinforcements for someone, but who? Down on the second level, Garrus heard screams, deep though, not shrill. Male screams. He caught Kryik's eye and sent him two sharp hand signals. The LT nodded and jumped up on top of the planter. After coaxing Kandros up after him, he boosted the tarin up onto the balcony before following.
Garrus let out a relieved breath as his people made it up and in behind the railing. Good, two with some decent cover. Movement drew his fire to two lystheni who had high cover over Saren. Focusing on the fight, Garrus struggled to master the heavy, wet cloak wrapped around his senses. He was scattered, throwing bullets at anything that moved rather than fighting smart and efficiently. Only part of it could be blamed on his missing neural frame.
A moment later, Shepard hit the railing next to him. "Council's locked in their panic room," she said, leaning up a little to look down. Garrus followed her stare for a second, quickly squashing the sympathy he felt when he saw her krogan friend and Alenko, the pair lying strewn on the grass.
"I'm going up," she said. He opened his mouth to argue, but she was already in motion. "I'll come in behind the ones on Arterius." Crouching low, she bolted toward the nearest office. Garrus swallowed his annoyance, something far more troubling than the reckless human appearing on the last set of stairs.
At the center of a group of eight lystheni and four, cloaked figures, Anderson mounted the last stair. Without sparing the slightest notice for the battle raging around him, he strode down the center of the supplicant's platform: the rightful heir stepping forward to take his throne.
Shuddering at that image, Garrus opened fire on the rogue Spectre, the hits flaring blue as a heavy, dome-shaped barrier deflected the rounds. So, more asari under those cloaks. Strong ones.
Shepard appeared above him, racing low along the wall, using the shadows she'd tried to get abolished as she closed in on the lystheni keeping Saren pinned. An orange flash illuminated her a second before the lystheni fell, tipping over the railing. Another second, and another body. Damn, whatever weapon she had built into her omnitool … he needed one.
No longer pinned, Saren jumped up, racing toward Anderson as the squad reached the end of the platform, the Spectre's troops circling to cover him as he activated his omnitool. A large computer console rose up out of the platform, stunning Garrus into inaction for a half second. The shock shattered when Anderson's fingers began moving over the interface.
"Anderson! What is the meaning of all this?" The tight, accented male voice spun Garrus around. What in the pits? What could Udina be thinking?
"Councillor, get down!" Garrus launched himself at the human, arms latching on around the man's legs as he tried to throw him out of the line of fire. Yes! He had him!
Then his arms closed on empty air, and he slammed into the floor, sliding a good five metres before he hit the railing and rolled over to scramble up. Halfway to his feet, he spotted the human councillor, a brilliant blue field holding the man pinned against the ceiling. Before Garrus even had time to register what he was looking at, the field vanished, and Udina dropped to the tile, landing in a broken heap.
"No!" Shock tore the word from Garrus's throat as he scrambled up, sprinting back to slam into cover behind the railing. His assault rifle danced along the line of overheating as he opened fire on the Spectre from the front while Saren's warp and shotgun hammered at the enemy from behind. Damn, no good. They couldn't bring down that barrier: the four asari made it all but impregnable.
They needed to get it down. Whatever Anderson was doing, the citadel had begun to vibrate around them. Heart pounding so hard it bashed against the backside of his keel, Garrus swallowed a brief moment of panic. Targis! Anderson could be sending the gigantic station into a self-destruct sequence, obliterating the galaxy's government and a large portion of its fleet in a single blow.
However, panic wouldn't solve anything. Swallowing a well grown krogan, the commander pulled back on all the unravelling threads and tied them down.
"Captain Arterius!" A storey above, Shepard leaned out over the balcony railing. "I can't jump that far, can you give me an assist?" Without even waiting for an answer, she backed up several strides and dig in, racing for the railing. Planting one foot on top of the glass and steel enclosure, she vaulted into the air.
He saw her plan. Brilliant but mindbogglingly reckless.
Luckily for the SI, Saren's biotics caught her, providing the extra momentum she needed as he flung her into the small group clustered behind the computer. Hollering like a euphoric fool on a theme park ride, Shepard spread her arms, a wide blade glowing on her right wrist. Slamming into Anderson, she sent he and four asari sprawling, one of them rolling off the edge. Reluctant admiration burned in the back of Garrus's throat as the barrier fell, and his first three rounds took out a lystheni.
"Beautifully stupid!" Saren shouted, advancing up the supplicant platform, his own barrier glowing strong around him. Warps flew from his left hand, his right keeping up a steady stream of rounds from the shotgun couched in his elbow, held tight against his body.
All of the sudden, Garrus found himself laughing, low and ever so slightly maniacal as Shepard scrambled up, the expression on her face one of adrenaline-fueled bliss. Instead of firing on the enemy, she turned her attention to the computer, her fingers flying over the interface, trusting he and the others to cover her … which they did.
As fast as Shepard worked, the rumble under Garrus's talons amplified even more rapidly. It grew deeper, more threatening, but that just spurred Shepard on, maniacal laughter of her own rising above the slowly fading din of battle. Spirits, he was either surrounded by lunatics or heroes like those from legend … maybe both.
Letting out a faint scream of frustration, Shepard abandoned her laughter and the computer's interface, turning instead to her omnitool. It took him a second of reading displays backwards to realize that she was setting up a seriously overclocked electrical discharge. Garrus ceased fire as the last lystheni protecting Anderson went down. He set his Overload as well, keying it as high as he dare. Shepard's looked set to knock her out, and she'd need him to cover her.
She met his eyes through the holo screens for a half second, then drew a deep breath and nodded. Slamming her hand down into the console, she sent searing blue arcs of electricity tearing through the electronics. Garrus's arced across open space, aiming for the power feeds at the base. Sparks flew and small fires ignited as components and power conduits shorted out, then the entire thing went up, the explosion throwing Shepard down the platform. As he'd guessed, she landed in a still, unconscious heap.
"Anderson!" Saren screamed, his voice a roar of fury the like of which Garrus never thought he'd hear from the even-tempered captain.
Struggling to their feet, two of the cloaked figures grabbed Anderson and hauled him up off the floor. Holding him between them, they jumped down through the hole in the glass. After a half-breath of stunned gawking, Garrus lunged up, opening fire, but they'd reformed their barrier, the shots glancing off as they floated down, then ran out of sight.
Announced by the thunder of racing boots, C-Sec officers flooded up the stairs, every last one of them outfitted for a war that had nearly ended before it began. Still, their numbers pulled down the last few holdouts within seconds.
Garrus braced a hand against the floor, the tiles quiet beneath his talons. Whatever Anderson stared, Shepard ended. Spirits, what madness had gripped his universe? He looked toward Shepard. And hers.
Saren ran the last few strides to kneel beside Shepard, talons searching the senior investigator for signs of life. A relieved slump in the captain's spine told Garrus that he'd met with success.
All right, time to start sorting the mess. Weariness leached into his bones even as he forced himself up off the floor and shuffled over to crouch at Udina's side, the targeting visor confirming the human councillor's death. Nothing to be done there, but judging from the moans drifting up the chamber, plenty of wounded needed help.
Garrus clambered over the low railing at the corner where he'd hurdled it just sextims before. At the edge of the first level, where it had all begun, he crouched next to Jennus, thanking the spirits that clean shooting spared the kid a painful death.
"Sorry about that, Private," he said, gentle talons closing the kid's eyes. A vague sort of sadness pressed at the edges of the wet cloak, and for the first time, he found himself grateful for the slowed mental and emotional processing. Hopefully it would take a couple of orhans and a few drinks before the walls fell. By then he'd be safely ensconced in his closet, and could shake himself to pieces without any prying eyes looking on.
Metres to his left, Shepard woke hollering, no doubt deafened by the console exploding right next to her. Garrus let one knee thump to the floor, bracing his arm across his thigh as he watched the C-Sec officer look around, suddenly frantic. Scrambling to the edge of the platform, she laid down, draped over the edge, calling out to her krogan friend.
Damn, the Spectre. He pushed up and stumbled that way, wondering if they'd saved Alenko on Aephus just to let him get killed where he should be safest.
Safe? Nowhere was safe; Anderson had seen to that.
He mounted the short ramp onto the narrow platform, then turned to look down the long room. Bodies lay strewn everywhere, too many wearing friendly armour.
"Hey, hero of Aephus, you okay?" Kryik called down. The LT leaned against the railing, a sheet of blue painted down his face. One of his arms wrapped securely around Kandros, keeping her on her feet. Both injured, but alive. Thank the spirits.
Garrus just nodded, his brain tangled up in trying to decide what in the deepest, darkest pits of buratrum had they walked into on Aephus?
And what in the name of all the twisted, dishonoured souls who haunted that realm had Shepard just saved them from?
(A-N: Well, if that ain't a body count. :D This chapter was so much fun to write. I hope you enjoyed the madness. Thanks to everyone who reads and to those who review. They really do help keep me going, and sometimes even inform the story's direction. *hugs*)