MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA SERIES II
CHAPTER 10
After departing Noveria, Garrus walked over to his terminal on the lower deck to see if he had any messages come through the comm buoy that was nearby. He was just glad to be off that frozen planet. The terminal chimed indicating a message was received. Opening it up, he noticed that it was encrypted, which meant only one person: His contact back on the Citadel, Barla Von. The message was vague as it read, "You know who this is. I have information for you regarding your inquiry." Garrus' heart stopped as he read over the text again. He sent feelers out and particularly to his contact, Barla Von, back on the Citadel regarding two subjects: Andromeda and Dr. Saleon. The latter was a case of his that he never let close even though the Executor warned him to. Despite leaving C-Sec, he was still on the hunt for the sickening Salarian doctor. Dr. Saleon was caught using live test subjects' harvest organs for the black market. Some of the test subjects died due to their bodies not large enough to hold the all the organs inside, but Dr. Saleon didn't care. The creds were way too good in the black market for organ transplants. He managed to close in on the Salarian but he was able to get away off the Citadel; thanks to C-Sec. Garrus almost had him, nevertheless the Executor gave him a direct order to back off with the concern of civilians being killed in any crossfire. What about all the victims who died?
Luckily, they were still close to the comm buoy so he was able to get a call back to Barla. The fuzzy image of the volus appeared on the screen. "Ah, there you are. I'm so glad you got my message," The volus rasped through his respirator apparatus.
"What do you have for me?" Garrus yearned for the information.
"You will be happy to hear that I found out that your subject, Dr. Saleon, actually changed his name to Dr. Heart."
Garrus scoffed, "Heart? How ironic."
"There is further information, but the payment will need to be increased," The volus continued. "It took more work to gather this."
Agitated, Garrus clenched his mandible. He figured this was coming; most volus in the financial business were greedy. "I think I paid you well for this. I mean I am after all cutting you a break, don't you remember? There are some under the table deals that you entertain that seem a bit…'questionable' in Council terms." He let the words linger, but he knew he was bluffing. Barla Von was an information broker for the Shadow Broker and the Shadow Broker could take this as a threat against him personally if word got out he was harassing one of his agents. Going up against him was basically a death sentence. He remembered what happened to Fist. Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker by cutting a deal with Saren instead and he paid the ultimate price when the Broker hired Wrex to kill him. That's all that Garrus further needed, a Krogan mercenary with a contract on him. He just hoped the volus didn't call his bluff.
The volus breathed quickly, "You are right, but remember, I'm doing this for you as a favor. I will keep my same fee. Dr. Heart's ship was found idle in the Herschel System."
"The call sign?"
"MSV Fedele."
"Thank you," Garrus switched a side screen up to his account to transfer the required fee payment. "I'm sending the creds now."
"Oh," Barla spoke up again. Garrus perked up.
"Regarding your other subject, Andromeda."
The suspense was killing him. "Did you find something?"
"No…I'm still searching, but no reports of her returning to the Citadel have been sent in. My agents are still searching. Agent Saren has not been located as well. It's hard to put my agents at risk going up against a Spectre."
"I appreciate your continued search," Garrus let out a breath. He knew that she had to be found and he wanted to push the tiny volus harder, however, he held back. "I'll keep in touch." With that he turned the monitor off and glanced over to see Wrex looking over at him from his station.
"Trouble on the home front?" Wrex teased.
"Oh yeah, I was making sure everyone was ok," Vakarian replied back sarcastically. "Not sure what other species we may kill off next," He muttered under his breath.
"Be careful in going up against the Shadow Broker. I may be contracted to kill you."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Garrus chuckled as he ran a diagnostic over the Mako to figure out what repairs he would need to make from the onslaught of Geth on Peak 15.
"Don't worry, I would give you a head start," Wrex grinned as he walked over to Garrus to continue the conversation. "You wouldn't get far though. There hasn't been a contract I haven't filled yet."
"Thanks for the warning," The Turian leaned down to inspect a hole against the Mako's side panel from an armature.
"You still looking for her?"
"Who?"
"That woman from the Citadel that you are obsessed with…Andromeda." Wrex crossed his arms. "Don't play coy, Vakarian. I hate to tell you but ifs he's with Saren, she's gone like Benezia was. We will have to put her down when we find her."
The thought of having to kill Andromeda gave a chill throughout Garrus' body. Could he be able to pull the trigger? If it came down to that, he just hope he wouldn't have to be with Shepard when it happened. "I would be careful how loudly you speak of Benezia. Remember, Liara, is on board. It was her mother."
Wrex grunted. "So what? I had to go up against my father in the hallows. I didn't flinch once about killing him."
"I guess you, Krogan, are pretty thick skinned."
"I didn't close my eyes when we killed the Rachni queen on Noveria, Garrus. This is how the galaxy works. It's kill or be killed. I choose the former." He pushed Garrus out of the way to get to the Mako to pull off the sheet metal to inspect further damage inside the structure of the vehicle.
"You don't regret one bit what we did out there?" Garrus watched him, "By the way, I didn't know you were a mechanic."
"Nope and I have seen enough damaged rovers on Tuchanka."
"What are you two doing?" Shepard called out as he walked over from the elevator.
"Getting this thing repaired," Garrus answered for them. "How did it go with the Council?"
"They didn't like what I did but it wasn't their call. I had to make the decision then and there so they can kiss my ass."
"Good answer," Wrex laughed. "I bet they didn't have nice words to say."
"I didn't let them finish. I ended the call," Shepard answered sharply. "This is my mission and if they interfere with every decision I make then we will never stop Saren."
Garrus looked over to his monitor; now was his chance. "Commander, may I have a word?"
"Of course, Garrus."
"Remember Dr. Saleon I was telling you about? I sent feelers and I just got information back. I found the coordinates for his ship."
"Give them to Joker. I think we have time now. I'll go tell Ash."
"You going to kill him, Vakarian?" Wrex curiously questioned as he watched Shepard walk over to Ashley Williams.
"I want to bring him to justice," Garrus sighed in frustration. "He better not get away this time."
"Once you do then he can be a prisoner on this ship until we get back to the Citadel. I may finally get a punching bag to keep me occupied until the next mission," Wrex waived back as he walked over to his locker. Garrus stood there and mulled over the Krogan's words. He admired Shepard for being a Spectre and at one time he was a candidate for the Spectres, but his dad was against it. Spectres were above the law and could bring justice however they saw fit. If he was the Commander and faced Dr. Heart, what would he do? That would be Shepard's call.
"I'm picking up lots of life forms," Ashley Williams scanned the perimeter of the ship. "I thought this was a derelict ship."
"His test subjects that he managed to take with him when he left the Citadel, the poor bastards." Garrus' heart raced. He couldn't wait to face the doctor once more. What a surprise this would be for him.
"Well they are all in the main cargo hold of this place. Let's go in and blow them all to hell," Shepard checked his rifle and motioned forward. Once the doors slid apart, the hold was dark and an eerie calm filled the room. The whole place was stacked up with crates making maneuverability hard. Low growls and hisses came from all over.
"I don't like this," Ashley spoke out loud as she followed the noise with her scope.
"Incoming!" Garrus yelled out as his combat sensor detected movement closing in.
"Fire at will!" Shepard opened a barrage of rounds as mutated beings lurched towards them.
"What's wrong with them?!" Ashley gasped as she looked down at one of the dead corpses to see what it appeared to be once a human whose body was twisted and swollen all over.
"More of Dr. Heart's testing!" Garrus shot a round at an incoming subject who flailed wildly at Ashley.
"Make sure they are all dead! Keep pushing forward!" Shepard kept his finger on the trigger of his assault rifle as he continued to make his way deeper into the cargo hold. More targets closed in. It seemed like the more they came into the room, the more of the mutated horrors swarmed them.
"I'm showing three left, Commander!" Garrus raised his voice over the gunfire as he sidestepped quickly to evade one of the beings from jumping at him. The man whose eyeballs drooped roared him at like a wild beast as he tried to attack once more, but was only meant with deadly rounds of ammo.
Seconds later, the horrific noises stopped and the trio looked around at all the dead bodies that now filled the room. Blood poured onto the floor. Ashley's voice shook as she caught her breath, "What…what the hell happened to them?"
"Another stage of some demented testing." Garrus felt sick to his stomach at the vile scene. These people were worse off than the ones he countered on the Citadel. What compelled the doctor to do this to them? Why were they willing to follow him into the depths of space for this? Maybe they didn't know what their fate would be. Dr. Saleon would pay…he would pay for what he did to them. Nobody deserved this; not even criminals. Anger soared through him and his fingers twitched as he held his weapon. "Let's find the son of a bitch, Commander."
"Good idea. We need to have words with him," Shepard nodded as he laxed his arms some as he approached the front of the ship.
"Words? I think we need more than that," Garrus hissed through his teeth quietly.
Ashley looked over a bit shocked as she overheard him. "I think we need to find out what these tests were for first, Garrus, before we take him in," She spoke up a little so the Commander could hear her. Garrus remained quiet as he looked at the back of the Commander's head. This would be the defining moment of his path. What would the Spectre do in a situation like this?
Approaching the next room, Shepard slowed down and raised his fist to indicate they follow suit. "This is it. He may be armed."
"Understood, Commander," Ashley dutifully responded.
Once the doors opened, a dark skinned Salarian stood before them with his weapon on his back. He stood there calm, but clearly feigned a scared demeanor."Thank you…thank you for saving me from those things."
Vakarian's avian eyes narrowed as he faced Dr. Heart once more. He would never forget his face. "Commander, that's him. That's Dr. Saleon," He anxiously spoke out. This was it…he was going to finally close this case. Barla Von was useful after all.
The Salarian blinked his eyes, tensing up. "What?" He stammered. "My name is Heart. Dr. Heart. Please get me out of here."
The Commander remained calm. "Are you sure it's him?" He directed the question to Garrus while keeping his blue eyes focused on the doctor.
"Positive. There's no escape this time, Doctor. I'd harvest your organs first, but we don't have the time."
Doctor Heart stared at Garrus in disbelief. "You're crazy. He's crazy! Please don't let him do this to me."
"Put him out of his misery so we can get going," Shepard motioned to his squadmate.
Without hesitation, Garrus brought up his rifle and aimed squarely at Doctor Heart. His heart raced rapidly with anticipation. "Gladly. Your days of butchering are over, Doctor." He could hear Dr. Saleon protesting the decision, but he blocked the words out and squeezed the trigger, firing three rounds into the Salarian. The bullets hit him in the chest and the force doubled him over. He collapsed to the ground as blood filled his pierced lungs. One last gasp of breath exited the Salarian's mouth as his eyes rolled back. His mouth made a gurgurling noise as blood trickled out from his throat. Ashley lowered her gun as she watched on. She glanced over at Garrus who stood still poised with his gun aimed at where the doctor was.
Finally Garrus lowered his weapon and a small smile spread across his lips. "That was…satisfying." The ecstasy of the kill filled him.
"Good," Shepard patted him on the shoulder as he turned to leave the room. "Remember that feeling. That's how it should be."
"I will, Commander," The turian's eyes lingered a little longer on the doctor's lifeless body before he turned to head out. "I guess we're done here."
Garrus entered the elevator to head back down to his station alone. Ashley elected to stay with the Commander to have a word with him. He was still coming off his high from Dr. Saleon's death. The sheer power of deciding the doctor's fate eased whatever tension he had before of the matter. He liked the idea of no one telling him that he had to handle the situation by the book. Maybe once Saren is brought down then he would see about becoming a Spectre once more. He couldn't let himself go back to C-Sec to be strapped down again.