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Chapter 12
Sabotage
Still more clearly as a Roman,
Can I see the Legion close,
As our third rank moved in forward
And the short sword found our foes.
Through a Glass, Darkly
General George S Patton, Jnr
Gaius stood with his arms folded across his chest as he and Tiberius watched - from the safety of the observation room - as the engineering crews in their enclosed environmental suits were hard at work sealing up the damaged coolant tower.
The room was still heavily fogged with thick dirty-white clouds of irritating and slightly toxic fumes while the escaped liquid coolant covered the floor like a lake.
"An explosive then. Has to be," muttered Tiberius.
Gaius scrunched up his face at the very thought before he half-snorted back, "We've either a stowaway on-board or a traitor in our midst."
"That last one's incredibly unlikely."
"Still a possibility. It would explain why it has taken so damn long to fix the engine in the first place."
Tib visibly bristled against the implication in what Gaius had said. "The fact is, brother, that the engine's severely damaged from that big jump we took not that long ago! It's not like we can just go and buy replacements parts. The crew have been fabricating from scraps of metal whatever we need. That takes time."
Gaius almost rolled his eyes but thought better of it as Tib would likely tear him a new one over it. Instead, he let out a vague hum as he knocked on the thick pane of glass before them and waved over Jakus, the head engineer, for a private talk.
Jakus was an older turian - one of three non hybrids on the ship - who had run the engineering crews on the Ad Astra with brutal efficiency for over twenty years.
He was also - strangely enough for a turian - the master at practical jokes. Every engineering graduate who passed through his crew left with some of the best practical - and practical joke - experience to be found anywhere in the galaxy.
The old turian shuffled awkwardly in his environmental suit into the small decontamination annex. Once there, he stood with a vague air of annoyance in the cleaning sprays before finally being released out of the containment doors.
"What's the deal then?" Gaius asked once Jakus was out.
The old turian took off his helmet and pointed at the breached side of the coolant tower. "We'd just fixed that blasted thing for a minor breach on the top. I'd informed the captain that it had looked as though someone had used a welding tool to burn through the safety glass."
Jakus looked back forlornly at the tower. "I spend nearly nine hours today fixing that bugger. I go away for an hour and then this happens."
Gaius placed a hand on his shoulder. "Is there anyway that this could have accidentally happened?"
Jakus shrugged. "It was working perfect. If anything I would have expected a breach at the top, not the entire side ripped out. I'd scanned the entire tower for any cracks and it was all perfect."
"What time did you leave this at? Who was in here when you left?"
"I left at around 1500 hours. The only person in here was Trax. I think he left at 1520 because I met him soon after for lunch and an update on the repairs to the Normandy's hull."
"Thanks Jakus. If you come across anything else would you mind filling us in as well as the captain?"
The old turian nodded then put back on the helmet of his suit and went back in to harass his crew.
"We need the surveillance videos and to interview Trax."
Tiberius strode away, "I'm on it."
Gaius mulled over a few things while he stared intently at the damaged tower. Once Jakus had finally reentered the room, Gaius called him on the comm.
"Sorry for interrupting again, Jakus, but how many of your crew will need down time?"
"We've about fifteen suffering from fume inhalation, another three from coolant burns along with some others with smaller injuries. In all, we might lose close to twenty to injuries."
"That's a big problem."
"I know. I'll work something out. The worst are already with the medics."
"Don't kill yourselves either. Get the rest to the med bays as soon as possible. I'm sure the medics can sort something out."
"I know my job, runt! Been doing it for longer than you've been alive! I'm already on it," Jakus retorted with good humor.
Gaius chuckled to himself before he headed back to the bridge. He needed to talk to his father.
Shepard groaned.
Her thankfully dreamless and deep sleep was rudely interrupted when she was thrown violently from her bed, leaving her sprawled disorientated on the floor with a throbbing headache.
As she was flung, Shepard had hit her head against the side cabinet, almost knocking herself out while spilling the plate of food Garrus had left her all over the floor.
Shepard lay at first stunned before she felt strong enough to sit upright. She was gingerly leaning her back against the bed when she felt something warm coursing down her face. She touched it carefully before pulling her fingers back.
Blood. Lots of it too that turned her pale slim fingers scarlet.
She muttered a few curses under her breath before she dragged herself weakly off the floor.
Jane groaned again as another wave of pain hit her. Her head felt like it was going to explode. "Bathroom first," she mumbled to herself. "Then medical bay."
She'd just reached the bathroom to get a towel when a panicking Garrus burst in.
His heart almost stopped in his chest when he didn't see her but a pool of thick vibrant red blood next to the bed.
"SHEPARD!" he roared.
The relief he felt was indescribable when Shepard softly answered, "No need to shout. I am in here." It was a short-lived feeling indeed when he finally took in the sight of her.
Shepard frowned slightly when she spotted the look on her partner's face. She hadn't glanced in the mirror yet but realized that she must be looking terrible if Garrus's reaction was anything to go by.
"Spirits! What the hell happened?! Right, down to Chakwas now!" Garrus gushed out.
Shepard quickly sought to defuse the situation. "Calm down. Just give me a minute to focus. I'm not feeling particularly great at the moment."
Garrus promptly ignored her. He rushed over even as she spoke and yanked her up into his arms before starting a quick pace to the elevator.
Once inside, he practically punched the console to get the lift moving with a weak Shepard just sighing with resignation and tiredness at his obvious anxiety.
As the elevator descended, Shepard began to feel weaker and weaker - something Garrus immediately noticed.
"Shepard? Shepard! Stay awake!"
"I don't think I can keep my eyes open," she mumbled.
Garrus shuffled her carefully in his grip. "Just try! Look, talk to me! Keep talking to me!"
"About what?" she murmured hazily.
"Tell me... tell me how you're feeling about the baby?"
"Hmm. Happy but not sure."
"Why aren't you sure? You practically saved the galaxy and a baby has you worried? Wait till I tell the guys this," he teased lightly, hoping to spur her to wake up more with indignation.
"I don't think I was supposed to live."
Garrus froze as Shepard's words stomped through his brain. He struggled to think of the right words to say to that.
"What makes you think that?" Garrus finally replied.
Shepard's voice became distant and faint as she mumbled, "Just a hunch. The guys never mentioned me being involved in anything. They all have said about how it's great to finally meet me. I just assumed I'd died a hero and that's why they came all the way to Earth first. They could save me to help them, this hero from the past. I... I don't want to disappoint them. They're a good bunch."
"You won't disappoint. You never have."
Garrus swallowed anxiously then shifted her place in his arms again as the elevator pinged open. He bolted to the med bay.
Chakwas was waiting for his arrival and quickly directed him to place Shepard carefully on the nearest bed.
The doctor's voice was calm and collected as she asked Shepard, "Commander, can you hear me?"
"Hmm hmm. I can hear you."
"Okay. I need to scan you to see what we're up against so just stay still."
Chakwas scurried away for a moment before returning with a wheeled heavy looking scanner of some sort that she promptly maneuvered to a point over Shepard's head and then slowly down over her body.
"Commander, you've an intra-cranial hemorrhage. I'm going to have keep you here for at least the night."
"That sounds serious, Karin."
"Nothing too major in this day and age." Chakwas grabbed a nearby injector and fiddled with the dose of whatever it contained. "I'm just going to give you a mild sedative, Commander. It'll help you sleep off that terrible headache I know you must be having."
Shepard gave Garrus a weak smile as the doctor gave her the drug. "See you soon," she mumbled before falling asleep.
Garrus almost immediately afterwards pressed the doctor for more information. "How serious is this, doc? What's the treatment?!"
"Garrus, slow down. The Commander's going to be fine. From what I can see, her medical nanites are swarming all over it. I can make out on the scans where the pressure was building up but it's currently decreasing at a rapid pace. The hemorrhage has been completely stopped and it looks like the nanites are even cleaning up the clotted areas. They have it covered. I'm going to keep her in for observation just in case."
Chakwas took a quick look at the state of Garrus's body armor. "You might need to get that cleaned."
Garrus looked down and saw to his horror that it was covered in Shepard's bright red blood that was slowly congealing. He glanced back at Shepard, spotting the sections of her thick red hair that were still wet with blood although the wound near her hairline had now closed.
He let a keening noise out from his throat.
"Garrus..." Chakwas put her hand on his arm. "... I'll clean her up. Go and find out what's happened."
He spun so fast around to her that the good doctor almost jumped in fright.
"The baby?" he gasped. "Is he-"
"The baby is fine. I did check that too. He's fine. A little shaken up maybe by the adrenaline rush his mother received but otherwise perfect."
Garrus blinked before he went to Shepard's side. He held her hand, gazing at her as he fought his unwillingness to leave.
"Garrus, go. Shepard's not going to be able to command right now. It falls to you."
He gently stroked Shepard's face as he point blank ignored the doctor.
"Don't make me force you out, Vakarian," Chakwas snapped at last in her best commanding voice.
Her resolve almost left her as Garrus fixed an ice cold stare on her and snarled back, "I want an update every half hour."
"That's a bit much, don't you think?"
"No. Every half hour. No excuses, Doctor."
Chakwas controlled her urge to retort but though better of it. She nodded.
Garrus gave one last glance at Shepard before he stormed out.
He walked - more like stomped - past the repair crews who had returned from the engine rooms to move the Normandy properly back onto the suspension fields.
The red blood over his armor and the anger that contorted his face gave them all cause for concern. Not that Garrus noticed it as he stormed past everyone he met in stoney silence until he reached the Ad Astra bridge.
Once there, he immediately spotted Gaius and Sidonis in a deep conversation. They both turned to stare at him and his blood stained armor.
"Vakarian, what's happened?" Lantar quickly asked in surprise.
"Shepard's hurt. What the hell is going on?"
Gaius's face became etched with deep worry. "What do you mean?! Is she okay?!"
Garrus's voice was warbling with rage. "She's fine. She hit her head badly when the Normandy jolted. I've just been practically thrown out of the med bay by our doctor. Now what happened?"
He noticed Sidonis subtly placing a calming hand on Gaius's elbow before he addressed Garrus's question.
"I'm sorry to hear about the Commander. I understand that this is distressing for you."
"You've no fucking idea. So I'm here to find out why this happened - something which you've skillfully avoided so far. For the last time, what's going on?!"
"We suspect we have a saboteur on board."
Garrus frowned. "A saboteur? What's happened to make you believe that?"
Gaius stepped forward to take the lead on the subject. "One of our coolant towers ruptured. We suspect it was a small explosive charge. We're waiting for the engineers to make the rupture safe before we can get in to take better readings."
"Any delay and the traces of explosive could diminish, especially if there's a serious chemical leak."
"Our engineers are taking scans as they work so we can use that data if we need to. The rupture happened at a non-pressure critical point. There was no reason for it to rupture the way it did without outside help."
Garrus pondered before he snapped, "I want in on finding whoever did this."
Gaius opened his mouth to protest when Sidonis spoke, "I agree. You're former C-Sec. We could use a detective on this."
He nodded to Sidonis, watching as Gaius bit back whatever he was going to say before his father intervened. Instead he turned to a crewman that had just arrived with a datapad.
He scanned it briefly, thanked the crewmen then uploaded a copy of it's contents to his omnitool.
Gaius sent the file to Garrus once he had it secured on his device. "Here. It's the list of people who have accessed the engine room since the first incident."
"First incident?"
"That same coolant tower was only just fixed. Our main engineer suspected that a welding tool burned through the containment unit at one of the critical pressure points. They had finished the repairs today and they'd also performed a micro fracture scan of the entire unit. The detailed report is on there too."
"That's more than a hint that someone is sabotaging the ship!"
Gaius flinched. "Look. At the time it was as likely that one of the workers made a handling error. There's constant welding work going on with those units, especially where that minor breach occurred."
Garrus scanned over the file briefly, taking in the more important details before shutting it down. "Let's get to the surveillance videos and this last guy... Trax."
He was about to step away when he was suddenly hauled backwards.
Garrus stared dumbfounded at Gaius who had grabbed his shoulder. "You should change your armor," the hybrid said simply.
Garrus glanced down. The red blood had almost dried and left large patchy stains all over it. "I don't have time to go back to the Normandy. We need to get on top of this so they don't get a second chance."
"Right. Follow me."
Gaius led him through the labyrinthian hallways until they reached his cabin.
Garrus took the opportunity to have a look around at Gaius's personal space and was surpised at what he saw.
It was practically sterile. While Sidonis's room had been filled with pictures of family and friends, this was empty of such things. Gaius had made no personal impact on the space and left it as purely functional as it could be.
His observation came to a quick end when Gaius called him into the only bedroom. He'd laid out a spare set of armor similar to his own on the seemingly unused bed.
Garrus glanced over the suit. "Thanks but I'm not sure if this will fit. It seems wider."
"The armor'll shrink to fit you. Just get into it and leave your other set over there," Gaius said as he pointed at an empty chair in the corner. "I'll get that set delivered back to the Normandy once it's cleaned. Call me once you're in the suit and I'll show you how to shrink it."
"About the gloves and boots..."
"It's turian-shaped so you shouldn't have a problem. Designed for three fingers and toes not five."
Gaius waved away Garrus's attempts at thanking him and headed out to give the turian privacy to change.
Garrus removed his own armor quickly while he looked around at the room.
It was just as empty as the living space was with very little sign of who lived there if anyone did at all.
A glint of something half hidden behind a couple of carelessly thrown datapads on the side table caught his eye unexpectedly. He quickly put on the new armor which hung loose around him before he reached for the object that caught his interest.
Garrus carefully rotated the small device in his hand.
He knew a holo-imager when he saw one. It must contain some family photos he assumed as he thoughtlessly pressed the only button he figured would activate it.
It flicked and made a low buzz before it displayed the contents saved on it.
The first image was of a beautiful young turian woman he thought at first before he registered the five-fingered hands that lay crossed on her lap.
It was taken on a beach under clear skies. The young woman had smaller than average cream-colored plates with light blue eyes and she wore something vaguely like the outfits Garrus had seen the medics wear on the Ad Astra - a medic then he realized.
It was obvious it'd been taken on a break or just after work as she also had some datapads in a pile beside where she sat demurely on a picnic blanket with some picnic food. She was smiling shyly at the camera, a faint blush tingeing her visible skin.
The picture flicked as the next image cycled through.
Same young woman only this time she sat holding a grey plated little baby hybrid - both seemingly unaware of the camera. The baby was giggling at something while the woman had wide-spread mandibles with her tongue out in jest.
The image flicked again.
It was a group family photo of the Sidonis family. Sidonis and a human woman with brown eyes and brown hair with grey streaks sat in the middle surrounded by family. They held hands and both had bright smiles.
Two hybrids who took strongly after Lantar stood to the left just behind the couple with what were obviously their partners and small children.
To the right was Gaius, who held in his right arm a little boy who looked exactly like him. The little boy was pulling a face while Gaius was sticking his tongue out between his mouth plates with a big grin. He had his left hand in a clearly possessive way around the waist of the small and obviously shy woman who had been in the previous photos. She was smiling warmly.
"That's Dad's favorite picture of all of us. Says it shows exactly who we all are."
Garrus turned around in surprise as Gaius wandered in. "You were being too quiet," the hybrid added.
"Sorry. I just... I didn't mean to pry at your personal things."
"It's alright."
Gaius took the holo out of Garrus's grasp and smiled faintly at the image displayed before he then put it back where it had been.
"She's a beautiful woman," Garrus said hesitantly.
Gaius looked at him, some emotion seeming to form behind those blue eyes.
"Your wife, I mean," Garrus muttered as he pointed at the still active imager on the table cycling through the images. "Your son's just like you too."
Gaius sighed before he grabbed the collar of the suit Garrus wore and pressed a button. The suit began to shrink.
"She was," the hybrid finally said softly. "And he... he was too much like me. I would have preferred if he had taken after his mother a bit more."
"I'm sorry," Garrus replied. "I didn't know that they were... I'm so sorry."
"You didn't know so you've no need to be. Trust me, the ones who took them from me were far more than sorry at the end."
Gaius stepped forward and adjusted a few bits on the armor Garrus wore. "There. It looks good."
He scanned the clean arm of Garrus's armor and recorded the paint scheme. He then sent the details to the suit and it changed to reflect similar colors.
Garrus was still lost for words with his mandibles fluttered in distress.
Gaius noticed his silence. He awkwardly reached out and placed a hand on Garrus's shoulder. "It's been a long time since that all happened. You don't need to feel bad about not knowing. It's not like you could have."
Garrus choked out, "How long since...?"
"Ten years to the day in another month. Well, in my time at least."
Garrus's voice started a faint underlying shaky hum that was a sure sign of distress. Gaius caught the turian's right mandible and dragged his head up.
"Look I understand that you're a bit emotional right now with Shepard being hurt. You need to pull yourself together."
"Forgive me. This isn't a normal reaction from me. I've just been under a lot of pressure."
The other turian just stared at him then burst out laughing.
"What did I say?"
The hybrid looked at him with something close to warmth in his eyes instead of his usual cold gaze that he seemed to reserve just for Garrus.
"It's nice to know that once in a while there's actual emotions in there instead of just stone. Come on. We've things to do."
Gaius grabbed a customized rifle from the gun rack next to the door. Garrus watched as Gaius then squeezed his fingers together to fit a three-fingered glove.
"Why do you do that?" he asked.
"Do what?"
"Force your hands into those gloves. Surely you could get some to fit your own hands."
Gaius looked down at the gloves. "It's useful to be able to play the part of a good law-abiding member of the Hierarchy. It gets you further than being a freak."
He tilted his head to look at Garrus. "Come on. Tiberius has got the videos and Trax pinned down somewhere."
Gaius tapped out a message on his omni tool and waited for a familiar ping as Tiberius responded shortly afterwards. He quickly scanned the message before he glanced at Garrus.
"So Mr. C-Sec Detective, where do you want to start on this; the vids or Trax?"
