Greetings All. I'm very sorry for the delay in this chapter but I had to wrestle with it for a bit. I almost made it shorter but then decided that I needed to go until it was more finished. My apologies for slowing down in posting; but real life keeps sneaking up on me. Unfortunately. I hope you enjoy and many thanks to all those who've faved, are following, and have left comments. You all rock. If I've made a mistake - always a possibility - please let me know. You all take care and have a great day. Cheers.

The Line

Garrus

Garrus left off his assessment of the compound to study the youngsters standing on the shaded patio by the front door. He did peripherally notice that the patio roof could double as a sniper perch. Whoever had built this compound had planned for all contingencies.

Garrus registered the three humans – females – adolescents; but they weren't what he was concerned with. It was the three young Turians that he focused on. There was a male, the eldest of the three if he was any judge, but not yet quite old enough for Basic. Also what looked to be a brother and sister, one of a rare set of twins if he had to guess by the similarities of their mandibles and eyes, younger by about a year and a half. All had simple temporary red Colony marks on the tips of their undeveloped fringes and mandibles; but it was a pattern he didn't recognize. Thinking about it now, all the Turians he had met so far had those simple red markings along with older Colony marks that he did recognize. He wondered if it was a new Tesertus Colony mark that someone had come up with.

None of the young Turians were happy to see him if the tones of their sub harmonics were anything to go by.

He heard a low 'growl' out of Dasken, obviously reacting to those sub harmonics.

"Shote needs socialization."

"The oldest of those three." She went on to explain before he could ask. "He lost his parents before they could finish teaching him to be a Turian."

Garrus knew instantly what she meant. The last couple years before Basic, young Turians learned a lot of the ground rules for their society and culture from their parents, guardians, and teachers. A lot of it wasn't a regular sit down class rather it was absorbing/seeing how all those around them interacted with others of their kind.

"They obey you?" He glanced down at Dasken.

"Yeah, but Shote is beginning to feel his fringe growing. He's starting to rebel in some cases."

"Great. Dominance spats with an uneducated stripling." Garrus let the air whistle out between his teeth.

"Could be worse." Dasken commented, as they got closer.

"Oh?"

"Could be physical dominance spats with an uneducated stripling." She pointed out.

Garrus just gave her a sour look.

"That's why you really need to get a Basic training regime of some sort going around here." He stated.

"Don't I know it." She murmured under her breath as they reached the front patio. He noted that someone had tried to brighten up things by planting flowers to either side of the pathway. The plants were looking rather sparse and spindly and very out of place in the otherwise barren compound of hard packed dirt and pea gravel.

The kids, human and Turian, clustered by the front door. He did notice that they seemed to be sticking with their own kind. Safety in familiarity he guessed.

"Afternoon, Ms. Dasken." That was one of the human girls. The others greeted her similarly; but all Garrus could hear were the sub harmonic questioning hums from the three young Turians. Well, questioning hums from the two younger ones, the older boy was putting out a questioning hum with an unhappy edge to it. He was not best pleased to have Garrus here. It wasn't quite a – you're not welcome – but just barely not.

Garrus made a point of not locking eyes with the boy. He was fairly sure the youngster would seek him out later so no need to get into any kind of dominance dispute - now.

Being around humans had taught him how to read, on most occasions; their body language and he could about feel the questions hanging in the air from the three human girls as he and Dasken stepped inside. He left the dolly outside after Dasken made it a point to stare at all the kids in a silent warning to leave it alone.

Just inside the heavy, armored door was a narrow hallway where every ones outer gear was hung on pegs; but he recognized it for what it really was. A type of 'air lock' that would slow people down and funnel them in almost single file into the building proper. In a siege situation it could and would be turned into a killing zone that could be held by one person. He could already see that the walls were near a foot thick. This place would stand up to a lot of punishment as long as the other side didn't have a Cain or a Grunt.

Just beyond the hallway and the heavy door (metal inner core he noticed) that would close it off, were several closed doors to the left – he'd of bet that they were originally for officers or those in charge. On the right was one big room – obviously a rest area. Painted in warm colors with amateur drawings hung up here and there, there were chairs, sofas, some small tables, bookcases, and an older style vid screen scattered haphazardly. He was pleased to see, despite being battered and worn, that the furniture was a blend of human and Turian.

Bending over one of the sofas was a tall, rather skinny woman with grey brown hair. Mouse brown Chakwas had dubbed it and then had to explain to him what a small mammal had to do with a human's odd fringe.

Her 'rodent' colored hair – speckled with white – was braided up around the top of her head. She was rooting under the cushions mumbling to herself. Like most everyone she was wearing simple clothes that looked more like modified trail wear. It was practical and logical for the type of lives they led.

"Anna?" Dasken questioned.

"Tesen got into the E-Ration bars again." Anna didn't look up from what she was doing. "I'm trying to find where he stashed them - this time."

With a click of annoyance, Dasken joined her – lifting the cushions on one of the other chairs.

Garrus stayed quietly in the doorway until he noticed the corner of an E-Rat bar sticking out from under a blanket balled up on the shelf of a low bookcase. He bent over and pulled it out – revealing several others hastily hidden beneath the ratty blanket.

He picked them up and carefully stepped over to the human woman who was the closest to him. She didn't even look up she was so focused on her search.

"I believe this is what you're looking for." He held out the stash of high-energy bars to her in his hands.

She jumped and spun with a low shriek, obviously she hadn't been aware of his presence.

"Who…what?" She took several steps back, bumping into Dasken who'd also straightened up.

"Sorry Anna," That was Dasken, sounding an apology. "This is Garet Vakan, he's here about the groundskeeper position."

Anna looked between the two Turians but didn't fully relax.

"Mr. Vakan, it's..it's.. a pleasure to meet you."

Garrus realized then that she was terrified of him; and modified his behavior accordingly.

He nodded as he, again, held out his handful of E-Rat bars. He was very careful not to move in her direction, and to keep his voice low.

"Thank you." She slowly took them out of his hands.

"You have someone taking such things?" He asked uncertainly.

"Tesen.." That was Dasken, "was one of the two survivors of his town. We think the Reaper forces hit it just before they all went down. It took rescuers about a week and a half to get there and when they did, they found him and another hiding in the rubble – scared and half starved."

"Ah." Garrus understood now. In such a situation, the boy's survival instincts had been activated and one part of that was to stockpile food.

"I'll take those back to the kitchen while you two talk." Dasken took the bars from Anna and left the room.

Garrus let the other woman start the conversation. Again he was careful not to move in her direction nor to make much eye contact with her. He kept his voice at a normal level and repressed his sub harmonics, all things he'd learned a lifetime ago on the Citadel.

"Do you have any experience like this, Mr. Vakan?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest. He remembered someone once telling him that that was a body position humans used when they were upset or defensive.

"No." He was honest. " I was a soldier during the war. But I'm fairly good with tech and fixing vehicles and from what Dasken has said – a lot of the rest is manual labor."

"Why do you want the job?" It was almost an accusation.

"I'm new in town and need work and a place to live. I was told that I could get both here." He didn't shift towards the woman. She obviously wasn't military and from what he could tell, very unnerved by a Turian of his size and bulk.

"I am supposed to work for Jorge in the mornings for a couple of hours." He went on to tell her. "That leaves me the rest of the day to work here for you."

Dasken returned from the kitchen.

"I don't know…" Steward began.

"Anna, this place is falling apart." The Turian woman interrupted. "The air car is threatening to self destruct, that last storm left downed branches all over the compound, half the outdoor lights have shut down, the front gates don't want to close…need I go on. He's not a Marauder and he's not going to bite."

The Marauder comment explained a lot of the woman's nervousness. If she had seen or been confronted by one of those twisted mockeries of a Turian – it wasn't a surprise that she was afraid of a large Turian.

Anna had the grace to color at that; and she uncrossed her arms and let them drop to her sides; but he could pick up the tension in them so she was only pretending to be at ease.

Figuring it was best if he sort of acted like she'd said yes.

"What are the duties and the rules, Ms. Steward?" He stumbled a bit on her name. He wasn't used to addressing the non-military or the non-professional.

"Cleaning up around here and keeping up with everything that breaks down…or tries to." Dasken spoke up in exasperation, eyeing the human woman. Garrus began to wonder what kind of relationship Dasken and Anna had. The Turian seemed to be the more practical and outspoken of the two, then again, his size wasn't scaring Dasken.

"You'll be taking orders from Dasken and myself." Anna told him and he nodded. "Oh, and occasionally from the children, we need to help them regain confidence…."

"No!" Garrus didn't even hesitate. Steward was shocked and Dasken let out a startled mandible click.

"The children…" She began.

"I won't take orders from the children." He cut her off. "If they need help and ask – yes I will help. But I will not be ordered."

"They've had a hard time of it, Mr. Vakan. We have to make things easier for them." Anna was suddenly earnest, letting it even override her fear of him. "So being able to give you orders will help them."

"You don't understand Turian society do you, Ms. Steward?" From the puzzled look she was giving him and Dasken's sub harmonics it was obvious that Anna was clueless in that regard.

"No, but what..."

He'd have to ask Dasken later why she hadn't enlightened Anna.

"As a predator species, dominance plays a large role in how our society functions. By all markers, I should be the most dominant Turian here next to Dasken. If you allow the children to order me around then that makes them the dominant ones. No regular Turian is going to tolerate that situation."

"I've tried to explain that to you Anna." Dasken spoke up. "That's why all the other Turians who've applied for the job have quit after a day."

"You are also not doing the children a favor with this." Garrus went on, still keeping his voice low and calm. "What might be acceptable here would not be tolerated out in the galaxy; and many Turians wouldn't hesitate to reassert their dominance."

Anna looked very puzzled at that.

"The kids would get beaten up, Anna." Dasken told her. "Badly." Garrus nodded in agreement.

"I didn't know." She said faintly. "Dasken, why didn't you tell me?"

Garrus had to bite down on his chuff of amusement at Dasken's pronounced eye roll. Too much time around humans.

"I did try to tell you." Came the annoyed grumble. "You didn't really listen, you were too concerned about not damaging their psyches." Dasken's sub harmonics added a – 'I'll damage their psyches for them.' Garrus had to struggle to keep from laughing.

"Oh." Steward seemed to consider that for a moment then. "Then I guess you would only take orders from Dasken and I."

Garrus made a mental note to double check any order the human woman gave him. He had a bad feeling she would still let the young Turians get away with things they shouldn't. He began to see why Paty had commented that Anna Steward had the common sense of a baby pyjak.

"Are you interested Mr. Vakan?" Garrus got the feeling that Anna heard but didn't always listen, since he'd already made it clear that he was.

"Yes, and the name is Garet." He told her. He carefully didn't make a move to shake her hand, because of her unease. It had been a long time since he was around someone that uncomfortable with his physical size. Tali had been more wary of him being ex-C-Sec than of his mass.

"Anna, why don't you put together a list of what we need done while I take Garet out to his quarters." Dasken spoke up.

"Right." She glanced over at Garrus. "Welcome Garet."

He nodded politely as he followed Dasken out of the room. He was quiet as they headed back outside where the kids – human and Turian – were busy eyeing his things on the hoover dolly.

There was a certain amount of shifting as they stepped outside; and he was fairly sure there had been some surreptitious poking and touching going on, but his cases were still on the dolly and still locked. He didn't expect any of these kids to possess the hacking skills to get them open.

"Children!" Dasken's voice was stern as they got outside. Instantly the area around the dolly cleared as they all pretended to not have been snooping.

"This is Mr. Garet Vakan, he's going to be helping us with the grounds." She introduced him. "So pay attention to what he has to say."

"Why?" Came the sullen mutter from the eldest Turian boy. Shote if Garrus remembered rightly.

"Because Anna and I say so." She glared at the youngster, who tried, for a moment, to meet her eyes then gave up and stared at the ground. Dasken had been right, the boy's fringe was starting to grow (a slang term for maturing) and he was beginning to test his boundaries.

Grabbing his dolly, he nodded politely to the children and followed Dasken as she headed around the corner of the building.

Once they were out of earshot of the kids.

"Is Steward always that spooked?"

"She's usually not quite this bad but you startled her; and large Turians scare her now, particularly ones she doesn't know."

"They didn't before?"

"My mate, Jostel, was even larger than you. He never really bothered her; but after the war she started being very uneasy around larger males that she wasn't familiar with."

The name Jostel seemed to strike a chord; but it didn't seem to be an urgent memory, so he ignored it. "Sounds like she came up against a Marauder." Garrus commented.

"That's what we all think; but she won't talk about it." Dasken sighed.

"From what little I know – talking is supposed to help humans with such things." He commented, clearly remembering Shepard's reactions to Virmire, and Horizon, and her need to vent about them.

"Yes, well, they have to want to talk and she doesn't." Dasken told him. "She'd sooner suffer in silence so she doesn't 'distress' the children." Dasken actually made air quotes around the word distress and Garrus had to hide a chuckle remembering Councilor Sparatus and his 'air quotes'.

"Seems to me that her nervousness would be worse for the children."

"She doesn't see that." Dasken sounded exasperated.

"Wait, if she's uneasy around Turians – is she treating the youngsters well?" His voice had gone cold.

"Yes, she's got some weird ideas about raising kids but she's known all those youngsters since they were little and she treats them all the same." Dasken paused to give an annoyed hum. "Basically they're all a little spoiled."

Having dealt with 'spoiled' kids of various species on the Citadel, it was Garrus's turn to let out an annoyed hum.

"Did you try to explain Turian society to her?" Garrus decided to change the subject as they walked. The 'commander's' quarters being located near the back of the compound, partially hidden behind a small stand of trees. A stand of strategically placed trees. He was beginning to doubt that anything in this place was left to chance, particularly when it came to defense.

"Several times but she always tries to equate them with human behavior." Dasken told him.

"Our societies are vastly different." Garrus let go with a rumble of displeasure. " Is she going to accept my explanation or will she revert to her original behavior."

"Though she'd deny it, she tends to believe a male before she will a female, so she'll probably accept what you told her."

"Good, but whether she does or not – I WILL NOT take orders from those kids." Garrus was emphatic.

"And you shouldn't have to!" Dasken's mandibles clicked angrily. "Spirits know I won't let them try to order me around. Particularly Shote. He's been trying that for several months now."

About then, they had to detour around several large branches that had fallen from the trees that shaded the center of the compound. The branches were jumbled together, rather like a crude barricade. From what he could see they must have been dragged there and abandoned some time ago. Their leaves were brown and brittle, falling off in many places.

"Why in Spirit's name are these out here?" He indicated the branches as he yanked his dolly free of one of them, the dry leaves crackling and breaking.

"The kids were playing and just left them." Dasken sighed. "Anna doesn't get after them to pick up after themselves outside. Not much inside either."

"They should be cleaning up the compound." Garrus growled. "Whatever they can do."

"Anna thinks that they shouldn't have to do any physical labor while they're 'recovering' from the war."

Garrus snorted. "Doesn't know Turians well at all does she? We do much better if we stay busy when we're dealing with emotional trauma."

"You know that and I know that; but Anna has her own ideas about it." Dasken's sub harmonics were laced with annoyance.

Before Garrus could ask any more questions, they'd arrived at the low; one story building he'd guessed was for the 'commander' of this base.

Despite a couple of sheds built onto the house, or whatever it was, it was low, simple, immensely sturdy, and meant to last.

There was a walled patio around three quarters of the place. You could see over the wall; but unless you were stupid no one was going to be able to get a direct shot at you. The patio was cluttered with a lot of stuff he was positive the original builders hadn't left behind. He saw human bikes, an old style Turian scooter, busted and disemboweled chairs, tables without legs or tops or both, and lots of cargo boxes.

"Yeah, we've been using the patio as a place to store whatever junk someone doesn't want to throw away." She motioned around her.

He determined the first thing he was going to do was move all the junk elsewhere. The more he saw of the compound the more Archangel's paranoia began resurfacing; and the vigilante's need to make this place secure.

The windows on the interior walls were small and boasted heavy metal shudders.

Leaving the dolly outside, he and Dasken picked up his cases.

Even lugging his weapon's case, Dasken was able to open the door, the lock not being activated, and they stepped inside.

Like the barracks there was a small air lock masquerading as an entryway, with pegs on the walls for outer gear. At the end of it, the door was ajar and led to an open rest area. Small windows near the ceiling made turning on the lights unnecessary.

"What in Spirit's name?" Garrus exclaimed, coming to a halt.

What had to be chairs, sofas, and tables were covered with various cloths. After a second he realized that most of the covers were old sheets of various sizes and decorations. He saw solids, flowers, crazy patterns, and, because he seemed to be everywhere, iridescent pink sheets decorated with that improbable Spectre – Blasto. Over in one corner was even the hideous bright green and black of Blasto's nemesis – the nefarious Tortellini-Za.

The first time Shepard had heard that name she'd collapsed on the floor in hysterics, near breathless. When she stopped cackling (no matter what she claimed – she'd sounded exactly like those ridiculous chickens), she'd explained to him that Tortellini was a human food.

She started giggling again at the thought that the larger than life Hanar's chief foe was a Terran pasta.

The idea struck her as so funny that he almost went back down to the battery and his calibrations and left her to her snorting and giggling. She tried to make it up to him; but for the rest of the night their 'stress relief' was occasionally broken up by her chuckling at odd moments and murmuring 'bellybutton'.

Despite the pain that thinking of her caused, it had been a good memory. She'd been able to laugh and forget everything, at least, for one night and he'd counted that as a good thing.

"Oh, those are dust sheets." Dasken told him.

"I can see they're sheets." He commented dryly and she glared at him.

"No, that's what the humans call them." And before he could open his mouth. "And yes they are also sheets; but they can be any large piece of fabric that is used to keep dust and debris off of things."

Thinking for a minute and noticing the faint swirls of dust, a couple of dried leaves, and a dead desiccated insect on one of the various 'sheets'.

"Clever."

"Occasionally the humans have a good idea." She commented off handedly.

After a moment, Garrus spoke up, his sub harmonics heavy, coldly somber.

"It was a human that united and led the forces of the galaxy against an ancient enemy and took the Reapers down."

Dasken jolted at his tone. "I…I know. I didn't mean to disparage the Shepard."

The Shepard, he'd begun to hear that more and more in his travels. It was fitting but he knew she would hate that kind of adulation. She was just a soldier doing a job.

He gave a curt sharp mandible click, acknowledging Dasken and bringing that conversation to an end. He looked around now, no longer distracted by the covered furniture. The interior of the dwelling was fairly open though there were several small dividing walls (load bearing?) apparently scattered haphazardly throughout.

But he realized that their placement was strategic, placed so no one on the outside could get a clear shot and whoever lived here could defend him or herself. Given that, he was certain that there was, at least, one back exit somewhere.

"Whoever designed this was a fighter." Dasken observed, noticing him taking in the room.

"I'd guess ex-military." Garrus put his armor case on a nearby bench, with an attached rack – obviously designed for just such a purpose. "I wonder who and where they went."

"Not Turian." She motioned around her and he gave a mandible click of agreement.

"Too small, more likely to be Asari, Human, or Batarian."

"Not Salarian?" She questioned

Garrus remembered Mordin Solus, Jondam Bau, and all the other Salarians he'd known.

"They sleep even less than we do, so they tend to spend their awake time being busy according to their interests." He explained. "This room wouldn't fit their needs."

"Not Salarian then." She handed him over his weapon's case.

"Let's hope we never find out." Knowing this was a merc compound, a damn fancy one, made Garrus certain that if any of the original mercs returned – it wouldn't be a friendly reunion.

Garrus settled his weapon's case on another bench. Like the nearby armor bench, it was obviously designed for cleaning and moding weapons.

"I'll leave you to settle in." Dasken turned to go.

"Ah, Dasken, I'm going to remove all that junk from the patio. Is there someplace I can put it?" He asked.

She thought a moment. "That shed that's up against the hill in back, nothing much in there."

"Why wasn't it used for storage then?"

"This was closer?" She said ruefully and he gave a small chuff of amusement.

"What do I do about meals? Go to the Citadel?" Garrus didn't much care where he ate; but he was really hoping it wouldn't be E-Rats or MREs.

Dasken's mandibles clapped tight to her jaw as she gave a hum of apology. "Spirits, I forgot about that Garet. I don't think Anna's going to be comfortable having you at the dining table - yet."

"Understood." And he did understand, trauma like Anna's didn't disappear overnight, and he had no desire to upset the human.

"There's room in the kitchen and we have plenty of dextro food available. Both raw and prepared, if you don't mind getting your own."

"I don't mind."

Dasken sent a schedule of meal times to his omni-tool; and then she left.

Garrus found his way to the bedroom. He carefully removed the dustsheets. Once that was done, he put his things away and got out a much repaired work outfit that he'd acquired along the way. This wouldn't be the first time he'd done manual labor in exchange for a place to stay. And manual labor kept him off of anybody and everybody's radar. Very few were going to think that an Advisor to the Primarch was fixing broken down machinery or clearing up fallen branches.

He glanced at the bed before he headed outside. It looked soft and inviting – if you were a humanoid. Garrus sighed, he was going to have to find pillows, a lot of pillows, if he was going to be able to sleep comfortably; but he'd worry about that later.

He made one stop to get a small pistol to put in a special side pocket. Given the nature of this compound he wasn't going to go around unarmed.

Once outside he started sorting through the junk. He nested several of the cargo boxes inside each other. A quick use of his omni-tool disassembled the bikes and the scooter. He stuffed them into one of the larger cargo boxes. He put what he could on the dolly and headed for the shed Dasken had mentioned.

It was up against the low, rocky hills at the back of the compound. Garrus didn't know what the back of those hills looked like; but given everything else – he was fairly sure that it wasn't easy to get to the top and overlook the back of the compound. He would still check it out as soon as possible.

As Dasken had said, the large shed was relatively empty. He did notice a large cleaning unit in one corner. Well, he knew where to wash the 'dust sheets' now. From the looks of the place, which were a little puzzling, it had probably been for the storage of things like exercise equipment – and washing machines. But there was just something off about the place that he couldn't put his talon on.

He offloaded everything, making sure to put it neatly into an out of the way corner.

He was settling the last of it when he heard a light footstep behind him.

He figured that Shote had found him. He didn't really want to get into dominance games with the stripling, but knew that he had to assert that he was in charge here. Doing that and not seriously damaging the youngster's ego was going to be hard.

Gathering himself, he turned to face the interloper and froze.