Eleven

"So who's going to Korlus with us?" Garrus asked as they rode down in the lift.

He suspected it wasn't wise to stride into the CIC with her, making it clear they'd spent the night together, but Gwen insisted it was best to get it out in the open. It's none of their damn business what goes on in my bunk, she'd said, just before he showered. And while that was true, Cerberus wasn't known for its tolerance toward aliens. Hell only know what they'd make of the situation, but he was too pleased about staking a claim to care.

"I'm open to suggestions."

The doors swished open, and Yeoman Chambers glanced up from her console to say Good morning, commander, as she always did, but the words died as she surveyed them. Garrus stared, daring her to say something, and then to his surprise, she smiled.

"Commander, you have new messages at your private terminal. Good to see you out of the battery, Officer Vakarian."

He strangled a laugh. "Everyone needs a morning constitutional."

"Oh, is that what they need?" Was the girl teasing him? Hard for him to read most human faces because he hadn't studied them like Gwen's but at a guess, yes.

Gwen strode over to the galaxy map, input their destination coordinates and received confirmation from Joker that it wouldn't take long to arrive. The relays made for efficient long distance travel.

"Among other things." He directed his gaze back to Gwen, who stood hipshot, eyeing them with equal measures of consternation and bemusement. "You were saying?"

"You asked who our third would be."

Ah, right. Satisfaction purled through him like a wave lashing the shore. It meant everything that she'd committed to making this their mission. I'll be her right hand. The left would vary, according to circumstances and target objective.

"Can you give me a run down of our options? I haven't spent much time getting to know the rest of the team."

"That's because you're always holed up, calibrating the weapons," the yeoman teased.

In truth, he'd spent all his time down there because he wasn't comfortable on a Cerberus ship, and beside that, he'd been brooding like a jackass. Over past mistakes, over Gwen, over wanting things he'd thought he couldn't have. Embarrassing in a turian of his age and experience, really. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

"Let's talk in the comm room," she said then.

She wore an odd look, as if she didn't know what to make of the exchange. He didn't either. Chambers had a flirtatious manner, but he'd noticed she was indiscriminate about it. She sparkled at everyone who wandered by, which was rather disconcerting.

"Right behind you."

Gwen got right down to business. There was no sign of the lover who couldn't get enough of him. "Mordin's a scientist, but he's former STG, which means he's deadly. Jacob's a good man, solid, reliable. Not the toughest, but he's got effective biotics. Miranda's cocky, and I don't much like her, but she's got mad skill—"

"And she knows it," he finished. "Which leaves Jack and Zaeed?"

"You saw what Jack can do. I need to talk to her at some point… but I haven't had a chance yet." There, he glimpsed a flash of heat. He was the reason she'd been too busy. Given half a chance, he'd keep her occupied for a solid year. Gwen went on, "I hear she's squatting on the engineering deck, and the crew's terrified of her. Well, except for Ken. He's trying to decide if he's brave enough to make a move."

"It'd take a braver man than me," he said, remembering how Jack had blown the prison ship to hell. "And she's not my type anyway."

"Human?"

"Crazy."

Gwen laughed softly, the sound limned in relief, as if she still entertained the idea that her humanity posed a barrier between them. "Anyway, that leaves Zaeed. He's a typical merc, fast with various weapons, hard as hell to kill."

"We worked well with Mordin when we went after Jack," he said, after a moment's thought.

"I'll call him up." Within moments, she'd done as she said, ordering Mordin to meet them at the shuttle bay.

"Acknowledged, commander. En route." The salarian always spoke in terse, truncated sentences, and his staccato speech could be amusing or hard to follow, depending on the topic.

Once on the shuttle, she gave the mission brief efficiently, as she always had. It was difficult to equate this tough, collected woman with the one who melted in his arms yet they were one in the same. Mordin listened with his usual air of abstraction, then he turned, cocked his wedge-shaped head, and studied the two of them.

"Something different. Tension gone. Inappropriate to inquire further."

"Moving on," Gwen snapped.

"Right. Sorry. Please continue." Mordin folded his long fingers in his lap.

She concluded the briefing as they put down on Korlus. It was a shithole of a world, and what else was new? Missions like theirs took them to worlds in ruins and stations on the brink of disaster, ships plummeting planetside, and remote outposts where rogue AIs were executing all the meat bags. And he wouldn't change a minute of it, so long as he got to fight at her side.

They hit hostiles almost as soon as they set foot dirtside, a barrage of shots coming in hard and hot. Garrus dove for cover. Through the scope, he identified Blue Suns merc armor, but these guys were shitty shots. Distant loudspeakers played crackling propaganda, some woman ranting about the glorious future to come.

"Someone likes the sound of her own voice," he muttered.

Mordin fired off a round that left a Blue Sun recruit screaming as his armor burned. "Interesting place. Training facility. Many krogan."

"How do you know?" Gwen asked, bobbing from behind cover to set Garrus up a perfect shot with her biotics.

He'd missed this so much. He sighted and shot, nailing the bastard. "Head shot!"

"Can smell them. Distinctive." Mordin tapped the side of his nose.

Garrus smelled a number of things, including krogan. Burning wires, hot metal, carbon and cordite, sweaty humans. The air was a melting pot of interesting scents, most of which meant they had a long fight on their hands. It wouldn't be an easy run to recruit Okeer, but he hadn't expected it to be, either.

"Huh." Gwen vaulted over a pile of crates as the closest merc dropped. Head down, she went in a graceful run and slid under a slash of laser fire.

Dammit. He hated when she did that. She didn't have a soldier's hardiness, which meant only her shields stood between her and a splatter fest. But she was fearless, and she never sent anyone else in first. If they needed to push, she ran for it, and it was up to him to keep up. Garrus sprang after her and pressed further this time. He preferred distance combat, but to prevent the Blue Sun asshole from taking aim at Gwen, he shot him in the face with his pistol, point blank range.

"Nice," Mordin said. "Possible asset ahead."

Garrus turned and saw Gwen making for an injured soldier. The guy was moaning about his leg when they reached him. "It doesn't look that bad," he said softly to Mordin, but she motioned him to silence.

Right. Time for a mindfuck. She was good at it.

The verbal negotiation went on for a while. Eventually, she got the injured merc pissing scared, and he gave all the information she needed, as well as radioed other teams to warn them away from the area. Garrus would've shot him in the head, and by Mordin's expression, he felt the same, but Gwen let the man go.

"Maybe you'll make it to a med kit before you bleed out," she offered.

The merc whimpered as he limped away. If he was smart, he'd go into another line of work… because if Garrus ran into him again, he'd end him. He wasn't convinced it had been smart to show mercy, but it wasn't his place to question her decisions. As long as she let him watch her six, he had no complaints.

They fought through a host of Blue Sun recruits before coming up on a krogan decimating the grunts. More interesting, he didn't turn on them when they reached the battle. He just kept fighting, his focus on the Blue Suns alone. Afterward, Gwen had a bizarre conversation with him. The big krogan kept saying he wasn't perfect—that he was to fight and fight but not go anywhere until called. Only Gwen could've convinced him to help them out, which included moving a huge chunk of metal out of their way so they could finish the run to Okeer.

The bastard better be worth the trouble.

Past the barricades, they hit a half-ruined building with broken floors and staircases. And it was full of crazy, tank-grown krogan. Whatever the Blue Suns were trying to accomplish, they couldn't be permitted to succeed. Mordin muttered about the genophage as he set krogan on fire. He looked scrawny and weak, but he was fast with his guns, and good about torching his targets. While they screamed and ran, Garrus and Gwen picked them off.

"Great work," she said as they pushed higher.

At last they came to a lab, where a vaguely familiar female sat behind a desk. The woman's mouth dropped open. "Shepard, don't shoot. You know me." The asari went on, "I shut down the security cams as soon as I saw it was you. Never thought I'd say it, but I'm glad it's you shooting up the place. Sorry, Rana Thanoptis. You let me go when you destroyed Saren's lab on Virmire. Had to outrun a nuke in a utility pod but it's still a second chance."

Gwen swung her weapon up. "I assume you have a good reason for being at this lab?"

"Don't worry, I'm not wasting the chance you gave me. My work here – strictly beneficial. Not for the mercs. Jedore's on a standard power trip. But Okeer is trying to do something good. Even if his methods are a little… extreme. Everyone deserves a second chance. Right? And sometimes giving one pays off. I take care of my debts."

"What is Okeer trying to do here?" Gwen cut in.

Rana shrugged. "It's complicated. Jedore wants a private army, but Okeer mostly ignores her. He's running the project for his own reasons. I created a mental imprint routine to educate his tank-bred, but most don't get through it. He dumps them for some reason. He wants to help his people, but he's not looking for a genophage cure and he's not going for numbers. That's all I know."

Gwen fixed her stern expression in place; she didn't lower her weapon, and Garrus knew exactly what she was doing. "Finding you in a place like this makes me think letting you go was a mistake. You don't want that."

"We agree on that. Don't worry, I plan on staying as far away from anything to do with you as possible. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to run like hell before you blow the place or something. I know how you work."

Despite himself, Garrus chuckled. Things did have a tendency to go up in flames, whatever Gwen intended going in. She had that kind of impact. Shepard cut him a sharp look, but her eyes softened as she gazed at him. He couldn't look away—forgot, in fact, why he was amused in the first place.

Mordin cleared his throat. "Warlord nearby. Should push to objective."

"Agreed," she said, breaking eye contact.

In the next room, a deep rumble of a voice greeted them. "Here you are. I've watched your progress. It's about time. The batteries on these tanks will not wait while you play with these idiotic mercs."

Deliberately, Gwen replaced the thermal clip in her weapon. "I take it you're Okeer. You don't seem particularly caged… or grateful that I'm here."

"You may claim to be here to help, but the formerly deceased Shepard is not a sign of gentle change. Surprised? All krogan should know you. I'm sure Rana has already revisited your actions on Virmire."

That sounded threatening. He took half a step forward. If this old bastard thought he could chastise her for what she'd done, he had to come through Garrus first. She lifted a hand, telling him silently to stand down. He heard her voice in his head, what she'd say about his temper: We need him, Garrus. No killing potential allies.

Her tone remained level. "I didn't have a lot of room for finesse. If there'd been any other solution, I'd have considered it."

"But I approve. Saren's pale horde were not true krogan. Numbers alone are nothing. The mistake of an outsider, one that these mercenaries have also made. I gave their leader my rejects for her army. But she grows impatient. It's time for you to take me out of here."

"We're here about the Collectors," Garrus said. He didn't give a shit about krogan, imitation or otherwise.

"I see. Yes, Collector attacks have increased. A human concern. My requests were focused elsewhere. I acquired the knowledge to create one pure soldier. With that, I will inflict upon the genophage the greatest insult an enemy can suffer. To be ignored."

"What did you get from the Collectors?" Gwen demanded. "I need whatever you know about them."

"They are strange. So isolated, yet very available when your sacrifice is big enough. I gave them many krogan. I may have information for you but the tech was consumed in my prototype. After I determined how to use it without killing the subjects. The deaths were unfortunate, but I only needed one success to start the process."

Garrus snapped his teeth in distaste. Really? This guy? With Jack on the team, it seemed like they had enough murderous maniacs. But he held his silence while they went back and forth, striking a deal.

Then a woman's voice came over the loudspeaker, the same one from the propaganda recordings, but this time, she was live. "Attention! I've traced the krogan release. Okeer, of course. I'm calling 'blank slate' on this project. Gas these commandoes and we'll start over from Okeer's data. Flush the tanks!"

Okeer growled, "She's that weak-willed? She'll kill my legacy with a damned valve!" He turned to Gwen. "Shepard, if you want information on the Collectors? Stop her!"

Shit, Garrus thought. I just knew this wasn't going to be easy.