-Garrus-
Hi wife has a faraway look in her eyes as she hums to herself, head bobbing to some sort of song to calm her nerves. In a way, the shuttle seems like a step back into the easier days hunting Saren, Wrex, Liara, Jane, and himself all cramped together in full armors while they prepare for a drop. Sure, they all have new scars and changes, physical and not, but it's almost eerily similar to the Turian standing beside one of the hatch's controls, hand gripping the bar welded to the low ceiling.
Wrex is the first to break the silence when he growls and looks to the red head. "I still don't know how you can trust these Salarian bastards."
"I don't trust anything that has to do with politics, but we have no choice. You want your females, you learn to play diplomat." Standing, she raises her eyes to the dual reds of their Krogan friend before smirking. "And if we have to knock together a few heads, let's be sure to use Spectre authority."
"These females are the best and probably last hope for my people. You can't expect me to play nice if they try anything."
"We'll bring them back, Wrex." It's sort of strange to see a, once again, new side to the young Asari, from naïve, to angry, and now this calming force, but, then again, they all seem to have changed. He isn't really happy to acknowledge all this change is because of a force threatening the galaxy, but there's no sense arguing with the truth. "You aren't alone. Don't worry."
"I appreciate that, Liara. I wouldn't want anyone else along for the ride," Wrex says with a nod in thanks, but Garrus has something to say of his own, clearing his throat.
"Ouch, Wrex. And here I thought we had some sort of bonding moment back on the Normandy."
"I suppose I can find some sort of thanks for you deep down around my plated backside." The old Krogan chuckles a snarky laugh.
He shrugs as Jane steps into the cockpit to check their approach with the pilot, a nice enough guy if a bit tormented by his own loss of this long running war. "Figured those plates would be worn out by now with all that sitting on your throne. Still think you can fire that thing?"
"Enough chit chat, ladies," his wife orders as she comes out of the cockpit, hitting his back in cue to get ready to drop. "We're dropping in less than five-"
"Commander," Cortez interrupts. "Salarian ground control says we doing have clearance to land."
"I knew it! Those damn pyjaks!" Growling, Wrex charges the opposite hatch, ignoring Jane's half serious attempt to stop him. "Let's see them try to stop a Krogan airdrop." He roars as he charges and drops like a weight to the landing pad, shouting something about his females as Salarians rush to surround and subdue him.
"Did he?" Liara asks him as she looks out the hovering shuttle with wide eyes.
"I'd say so," he answers with a smirk as the Krogan throws them, the team obviously not knowing Wrex was a battle-hardened biotic. The fun is over, though, when they target his friend with long range snipers, making Garrus sigh and shake his head. "Jane, we're dropping."
She is a split second behind them to drop out, the three landing and two Spectres moving between Wrex and the soldiers. A tense negotiation between that results in Wrex being 'detained' while they move forward and collect the females. Leaving the angry Krogan behind worries Garrus to no end, but there isn't much that can be done, so he follows this man, Padok Wiks, through some sort of research and science facility.
"Is that really a yahg," Jane asks with a raised brow as a massive tank is transported on a crane overhead. "Are you people bat-shit crazy or just dumb as rocks?"
"Goddess, I'd hope to never see one of those again."
"Brings back memories."
"Just keep away from flying desks, Vakarian, and you'll actually have memories." He chuckles as his wife's smirk over her shoulder.
Wiks nods, as if really needing to answer the Commander. "As you can see, this facility houses very sensitive information. The research we do here has kept our people safe for millennia."
She snorts as they keep walking. "How about we just get those females before Wrex decides to see how big a splash someone makes thrown from this height?" He nods and leads them further through the facility towards an elevator, but not before Garrus thinks he recognizes one of the men working at a terminal.
It's when he turns that he's proven right when it's none other but the Captain they assisted and worked with on Virmire. Despite nearly everyone else they've seem to have come across during this war, the now Major smiles and greets them happily.
Apparently, he was the one responsible for bringing the females from Tuchanka and they actually believe him when he agrees that they were in horrendous conditions. Not that it really means much when there's always the possibility a man you worked beside once two years ago could be lying to save his Dalatrass' interests, but it doesn't hurt to give the occasional benefit of doubt. Especially when it seems he is less likely to follow politics than the common sense needed in a war like this.
Being proven wrong has its benefits when one such as Garrus tends to expect the worse and he is pleasantly surprised when Kirrahe not only brings up the Crucible, but, with hushed tones, says that, whatever happens on with the politicians, he and his men are with them. Such a division between military and politics may been detrimental in normal circumstances, but in this war, it seems like the perfect opportunity. Let the Dalatrass stew in her grudges, we'll take an army of everyone we can get over playing nice with the politicians any day.
Returning to Wiks, they follow the STG soldier down to the labs. Overhearing the conversation between Jane and the Salarian reveals another interesting agreement with the Major. To see such a divide is nearly insane to imagine to a man whose government decisions come second to military policies, the former not able to move forward without the latter, but Garrus has learned over time and from his wife's struggles that his own people are the actually oddity.
"Alert! Threat condition two has been declared. Scramble readiness teams."
"That doesn't sound good," he says as he looks to the Salarian man.
"No, it doesn't," Padok agrees as he pulls up his Omni-Tool. "Sensors have picked up activity on the perimeter. We should make haste."
"Base personnel must remain on-site until further notice." They hear that particular announcement as they step out of the lift and into a darkened lab, armored scientists going about their daily business as if some major alert wasn't just declared.
"Mordin!" Jane shouts with a smirk on her face, going around Padok to head for the man who is solely responsible for finding them the amazing woman who cared for, and gave her life, to maintaining their children's health.
"Excellent timing, Shepard." He comes to them and takes her hand, then Garrus', matching the couple's smiles. "Hadn't expected to return to work. Good was here, given circumstances." Following him at his motioned hand, the four – her team and Padok – walk beside or behind him as he leads to the further tanks, hopefully where the Krogan are as the alarms are starting to cause a bit of unease to the hardened soldiers. "Special consultant. Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong." Clearing his throat before leaning in, he adds, "Helped female Krogan. Fed information to Clan Urdnot. Encouraged political pressure to free females."
"Mordin, you sly bastard," Jane says with a chuckle, shaking her head. "So I take it there's good news?"
"Yes. Can explain later. Security warnings not normal. Need to get offworld for sake of Krogan." Following him as he explains, Garrus sees too many empty tanks for his liking. Such a lack of female Krogans doesn't bode well for his own and wife's people. "Weakened immune systems. Side effect of Maleon's cure. Didn't survive."
"Goddess, none of them?"
Mordin shakes his head with a hopeful smile, answering Liara. "One survivor. Immune. Can synthesize cure from tissue." He motions to a tank, the five approaching with held breaths. "Last hope for Krogan. If dies, Genophage cure… problematic." Finally, they round a tank control terminal and see her, a female Krogan already secured into a transport-safe brace within her tank. Leave it to the Salarians to not trust a loose Krogan through their facility, peace negotiations or not. "Please be cautious. Krogan slow to trust."
"With good reason," Jane says as she approaches the tank, and the woman in some sort of ceremonial robes within. "I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy." Easier to introduce herself that way given the confusion two Vakarians serving together would cause.
"Are you here to kill me?"
"You'd see a lot more explosions if I were." Jane comes to the glass and Garrus can't help the few steps behind her, unconsciously sticking close to her. "This is a 'peaceful' rescue of sorts. Urdnot Wrex is here to take you home."
"Why? What am I to you?"
"Me? A means to end a war, but to Wrex? A future for your people."
"You don't lack for brutal honesty, Commander-"
"Alert. Unidentified vessels have breached the perimeter."
Seems our war followed us here, he thinks as he starts to see the men around them preparing. Even Wrex comms in a bit of a furious panic. "Shepard! We've got Reapers dropping! Get the females out now!"
"Fucking shit," she curses, motioning Solus to move and deal with the tank's controls. Garrus doesn't need to hear more than that to get his weapons prepped, giving Liara a nod in 'you should too'. "Are you being overrun?"
"Like a bunch of scrawny husks could give me trouble. Get your asses up with those females."
"Only one survived. Look, I'll explain later. Stay out of sight and don't, by all that is holy, get blown our only way out blown out of the sky if you have to get off the ground. Understood." Wrex closes the call with something about a grown Krogan taking orders from a little human female and the best close of a call as if in slam that can be done with a Tool. "You heard the man. Releasing her will make it easier to get the hell out of here."
"I can't." The scientist taps a few controls with little effort. "Protocols state during lockdown no specimen – Gah!" He spasms with an electric pulse before dropping on the ground.
"Objection noted," Mordin states matter of factly and drops his Tool, ignoring the stunned look on Padok's face – apparently someone isn't used to how… determined Mordin can be when involving his work - before going to the controls and opens the transportation pod to check on the female. "Condition not stable as hoped. Problematic." He shuts the pod with a hiss and Jane runs to the door, about to ask what's going on when he explains. "Considered with female's health. Must not risk exposure to battle. Will monitor from within pod."
"And what the fuck are we supposed to do?"
"I will assist the Professor," Wiks answers, removing his weapon and jumping onto the lift. "I can provide covering fire to protect pod, distract the enemy. Meet us up on the transportation floor."
Nodding, she looks to her squad and Garrus rumbles with a nod of his own. After all, what choice do they have? None of them can fit up on the crane with the pod like the slender Salarian can. None except… "Liara," he says as he turns to her. "Join Padok, defend the pod while Jane and I try to go around, pull attention to ourselves. All of us can't fit and you're the smallest of us with your light armor."
"He's right." His mate agrees, motioning to the lift as she removes her weapon and watches the Asari climb up onto the lift.
"Be careful, Shepard." Worry paints Liara's features as the lift starts to rise up into the next level above them.
Snorting, she motions to follow as they rush towards the lift. "If I was, we'd never get anything done."
When the lift opens for them, they are sent scrambling behind cover by the immediate opening of Reaper fire. How the hell they managed to fit one of those brute mixes of Turian and Krogan hybrids, two Turian husks, and a handful of human ones is a mystery behind him and isn't something he dwells on as he begins by first Overloading a Marauder's shields. That one he leaves to Jane to finish off as he moves his focus to the second, taking it down while the Brute is still at a distance.
Seeing a few human husks perched upon its back is unsettling, almost like the multiple creatures are one until they jump off to swarm the unprepared scientists. The sight must also bother his mate because he notices she spends quite a bit of time pulling them off with her biotics, numerous weightless figures floating through the air for him to remove with his rifle.
When there is nothing but the charging Brute remaining – and he's a bit ashamed to admit they let it target the scientists over themselves so they could take out the rest of the field before the other husks could become an issue – Jane holsters her weapon to move faster. He covers her as she runs as best she can behind the cover of the terminals, circling around the opposite side of it.
Seeing her pop out of cover, Garrus targets the massive creature, targets its mutilated Turian skull, and fires. That grabs its attention, the now half shattered disgrace of his species' remains snaps towards him as it begins to cross the facility floor. With its back now towards her, his wife pops out of her cover and begins laying down everything her weapon has before needing to drop into cover to swap a sink – I really need to mod her weapon to have interchangeable heat stabilizers.
With the back of the Brute now in his sights, he lays his own fire until, using this tactic, they drop the creature before it managed to corner either against the wall. There aren't too many of the Salarians left, but it was nothing personally against them. Heading to the lift, they draw their weapons as the chime of it reaching their floor.
It swings open and they nearly pull the trigger before seeing a group of Salarian soldiers, Jane proclaiming, "Holy fuck! Don't scare us like that, Kirrahe!"
"Likewise, Shepard," he says as he lowers his weapon, motioning the lift. "I assume you are taking this? We have Reaper forces moving in from the opposite direction, so you better hurry before you get pulled into a firefight with us. Don't worry," he smiles and pats her shoulder as his men file out, "We will distract them. See to your female."
They nod in thanks and 'good luck' just as the far doors blow in with gunfire, husks in the dozens pouring through in a discord of gunfire. It's now or never, so he and his wife rush into the lift, laying down fire until the last moment with the doors slam closed.
"Remind me to send that bastard some flowers or something for covering our asses," she says with a chuckle as she reloads and offers him a heatsink. "You think this might knock some sense into their politicians or will Kirrahe be one of the few that sees reason?"
Knowing her frustrations and the harm they can do in a fight, he tries to help distract her. "Better question is where I can get one of those pistols he was using." He purrs at her snort and half smile, which is better than nothing.
"Shepard!" Liara nearly screams into the comm, sending a ringing of feedback into his ear that makes him hiss. "We're being outnumbered out here. Please help!"
Any response is cut off by the doors sliding open with a hiss to the turmoil that has taken over the main landing zone. At least three Brutes are easily cutting through the remaining soldiers, the Salarians never being trained for something like this, not expecting it. It wasn't even the worst of it, the lumbering creatures could be outmaneuvered in one-on-one combat situation, but everyone was pinned down by Turian and Batarian husk fire and having to focus half their attention on those rushing them. It was, simply put, a slaughter out here.
They immediately take to cover and start to lay down fire, working to take down any Reaper paying too much attention to the currently defenseless pod with the female and Mordin. Liara and Wiks where easily pinned down against a slowly approaching Brute and, with Garrus' motion towards them, Jane began to focus her Reaves against it, sucking away its defenses.
Trying to shoot the creature pinning their team in between fire against those circling the pod, Garrus realizes there's no way they can take it down in time and that they need to change strategies. Whatever strategy that may be. "Jane," he warns around his scope, continuing to drop enemies. "That Brute is right on top of them."
She nods and looks, gasping. That sounds snaps his attention to the situation, watching in shock as the two across the way separate, unable to use their original cover and moving to keep the Reaper from being able to bring them both down. Liara jumps into a cover deeper under the overhang, but when the Brute begins closer on her position, Wiks, from his position on the landing pad, begins to lay down distracting fire.
Garrus has to grab his wife from rushing into fire to stop the unstoppable, the scene unfolding and neither unable to stop it. By distracting the Brute, and too close to effectively dodge or find adequate cover, Wiks as backed himself up against a wall. That wall being the cliff's overhang.
Yet, he knows he sees understanding in the man's eyes. Garrus knows the STG knows it's either him or Liara and, despite he owing nothing to them, he accepts the only way to ensure her safety. Padok Wiks fires at the Brute until the very moment it charges him, roaring as he breaks easily through the man's shielding and sending the two of them over the edge.
"Dammit!" His wife slams a fist against their cover before rounding it, sending a shockwave to send a group of human husks – the last of the Reaper forces between them and being able to take cover closer to the pod's release terminals – over the edge and tumbling down into the waterfall below.
Her rage is obvious as she takes Garrus' assault rifle from his back when he joins her in cover and begins to fire the longer ranged weapon against the last of the Reaper forces alongside his own rifle fire and Liara's biotics. It's not like her to see so much death of people close to her, of that feeling of not doing all she could, but he knows it's only beginning. As a human, she wants to save everyone, but he's always known it's more about saving more than an individual. Unless it's my choice, then I will save three over the entire galaxy, but she doesn't need that reminder that would only turn into a burden of guilt.
They clear the landing pad and transit floor of Reapers just as the shuttle returns, most likely spent the whole time trying to outrun and stay under the radar of the giant Reaper towering over the mountain and taking shots at the fighters circling it. Thankfully, both the female and the shuttle seem to be in better state than they are, notably his wife who looks about ready to punch something – with the intent of breaking something, either her target or fingers.
As Mordin rushes the female out and into the shuttle, Garrus follows his wife, ignoring whatever seems to be happening between the Krogan or the looks from Liara, and sits beside her in the back of the nearly full to capacity vehicle. He feels the shift as the pilot moves to rush out of Reaper attention and to the Normandy with their precious cargo, but he isn't focused on that, just the woman beside him.
"Jane-"
"This isn't the end of death, is it?"
Frowning, he answers, "No, it isn't. There will be a lot more that will have to die before this war can be over." He scoots closer to her and takes her hand, pressing his forehead to her temple. "Ruthless calculus."
"I hate math," she growls as she closes her eyes, leaning against him. Shifting a bit and he is able to wrap an arm around her, hugging her to his side and holding her small form.
"Commander," they look to the female Krogan as she speaks, all but her eyes veiled. "I am the last of my sisters. That makes me dangerous to a lot of people and I feel these creatures are not blind to that, as well."
Humming, Garrus answers for his distracted mate. "You'd be surprised the truth to that. The Reapers aren't against sleeper agents. With this alliance being what could be the first step in taking them down, it's obvious they have indoctrinated forces somewhere."
"Or everywhere," Jane finally adds, though she's still staring far off at the wall of the shuttle. "Mordin, can you even manage a cure with only one female as weak as she is? And in time to actually in time? And please don't tell me how, just if you can." Seeing her rub her head, Garrus rumbles and gently moves her hands to massage her most likely building headache.
"Need synthesize base antigen from female. Condition not preferable, though. Would like to be safe, give time to heal." He takes a deep breath. "Procedure with current health… problematic. Preferable to have had numerous subjects given possibility. Removing amount viable for tests and replicating may harm female. Wish had other means of cloning antigen."
"Me," his wife shifts, looking to the Salarian geneticist."
"Jane-"
"Could it work?" He growls, but she continues to ignore him. "Could you use the tech in me that made my children to make more of that antigen? Enough for a complete cure?"
"Would need male sample." He gives a pointed look to Wrex, who is smirking in his corner. "Acceptable."
"Absolutely not," Garrus snaps, cupping his mate's chin to look at him. "Krogan Genophage cure? Are you serious? What if this has side effects for you?"
"Always possibility," Mordin agrees."
True to her nature, she doesn't back down, narrowing her eyes and asking Solus without looking away, giving into the stalemate. "Would it kill me? Leave permanent health damage? Or make it where I can't fight?"
"May affect fertility."
"What?!" He breaks the standoff, eyes wide at the Professor. And this is why I don't believe in Spirits, else I'd damn them for being cruel enough to take away any chance of giving our children siblings so she could become surrogate to a species.
"I'm still going to do it." When he looks to her in shock, she smiles. "We were never supposed to have children because of our species and my infertility shit, but we have two. And if I can help an entire people have that chance again, I will."
He trills, knowing she's right, knowing that, considering everything, he has to let her do this because it's how they will win this war. Without her, Mordin may kill the female trying to remove whatever he needs, and still not getting enough if their luck plays out like always, and who knows what will happen to the Krogan people when they lack what may become one of the most influential females of their species? What will happen when, despite Wrex's efforts, the Krogan men's combative ways overshadow the females' logical views for their people? And all because they didn't take the chance when it counted, when it could save the woman who can shape the Krogan's life? Damn calculus.
Closing his eyes in painful defeat, he nods. "You getting pregnant again or not doesn't change anything. He takes her hands, trying for levity when he says, "I should know better than to try and convince you to not save the galaxy."
She chuckles as the female looks to them. "You would sacrifice much to aid us. Why?"
"Because," she answers as she looks to both the female and Wrex. "Without this Alliance between our people, there won't be any galaxy for any of our children."