Chapter 14
"So what's your story?" The brown haired female asked in what seemed to be like a thick Earth accent that Andromeda placed once or twice from watching vids on the extranet. Her question withdrew Andromeda's focus on the conversation that was transpiring between Shepard and Garrus. The two were catching up and despite the Commander's somewhat stern attitude that Andromeda was familiar with, the man's manner sort of perked up as the Turian spoke to him.
Andromeda paused to answer the question and shifted her body some in her sitting position on the couch. "I don't even know where to begin…" She laughed a little as she rubbed her face into the palm of her hands trying to fight back the physical and mental exhaustion that her body endured. She couldn't even imagine how Garrus felt. Her state was nowhere close to his level.
As she lifted her head, she noticed that the woman didn't seem to budge from her position. She casually placed herself against the wall with her arms crossed. From her pose, she seemed pretty relaxed but the tightening of her muscles said otherwise. They were all still in danger…any moment the mercs could bring on another assault, but the last attack decreased their numbers dramatically.
"How'd you let yourself get into this position?" Andromeda overheard Shepard asking his old comrade.
Garrus caught Andromeda's eyes with his own and then sighed, hanging his head down. "My feelings got in the way of my better judgment."
Picking up on their unspoken words, the woman smirked at Andromeda, "Oooh so that's it."
"Miranda, don't." The black skinned male scolded in a harsh whisper. "Whatever their story is, who cares…as long as we pick up this recruit."
"Always the dutiful one, Jacob," Miranda walked over to join Shepard and Garrus as the two now seemed to be walking over towards the window.
Sensing that there was something about to go on, Andromeda stood back up and clutched her hand cannon. At least now with Shepard and his squad with them, their odds were looking better.
"Let's give these bastards everything we've got!" Garrus took his position while Shepard and his team covered the other side.
"You!" Shepard snapped back at Andromeda. "Go to the back room and stay the hell out of my way!" The Commander pointed sternly towards the room's door.
"But I can shoot!" Andromeda insisted.
"Andromeda, you will be safer there." Garrus coaxed.
"Here they come!" Jacob called to their attention as he began to unleash a rapid burst of fire from his own hand cannon.
Rushing up between Miranda and Garrus, Andromeda took aim with her own weapon and began to fire upon the oncoming mercs. "Stay back!" The Turian turned from his position and grabbed her arm to pull her away. As he did, he left himself open and one of the merc LOKI-Mechs took aim and shot, striking Garrus towards the right side of his shield. The aim was precise since he was pretty well exposed and it brought his shields down to a drastic level. "Damnit!" He growled feeling a slight impact from the shot.
Infuriated, Shepard scowled, "Garrus, you're going to get yourself killed acting this way!" His blue eyes glared hard at Andromeda. "Get out of here now or I'll shoot you myself!"
Before she could react, she felt a sudden strike to the back of her neck. Collapsing into unconsciousness, the sound of voices and gunfire echoed till it finally dissipated.
Opening her eyes slowly, Andromeda waited for the images in front of her to become clearer. The supple support to her back was foreign and the material seemed to be quite different than her own bed on Omega. Rocking slowly back and forth, pressing her back further, she slowly coaxed herself to lift up into a sitting position.
"Good, you're awake finally," The recognizable woman's voice came from across the room.
Looking straight ahead, Andromeda noted that she was in what appeared to be an office crossed with a bedroom. The area was just large enough for the bed itself and then the room opened a bit more for a desk; an open archway led out into another part altogether. She wasn't quite sure where she was. The gentle humming made her assume that she was on a vessel. The brown haired woman that was speaking to her was sitting at the desk but faced around at her. "Per Dr. Chakwas medical report," The woman continued looking at a tablet in front of her, "There are no sign of physical injuries so there's no reason to delay this interrogation anymore."
"Dr. Chakwas?" The name was one that Andromeda pinpointed. The last time she met the medical doctor was after her rescue from Virmire but a lot of time elapsed since that date. Still didn't help out where she was…
Standing up, the woman approached Andromeda with a questioning look. "I have read your file. You had a past with Nihlus Kryik and Saren Arterius and currently work with C-Sec, but it still doesn't explain why you are on Omega and with our dossier. Shepard has asked me to question you."
"I have a file now?" Andromeda blinked. She was actually quite impressed that the woman knew so much about her and she knew so little. She was at a disadvantage but that was a point for interrogations. Knowledge was a powerful bargaining chip on both sides.
"Your job right now is to only answer questions, not to ask them. Is that clear?" The woman responded sharply.
"Crystal…" Andromeda snapped back defensively. She was becoming quite tired already of this woman's attitude. Becoming surer of herself, she forced herself up from the bed in a more erect position.
"Where do you think you are going?" Andromeda's sudden movement seemed to have caught the interrogator off guard. "Shepard ordered for you to being questioned. You are not allowed to walk freely aboard this vessel."
"I choose not to answer any more." Stepping forward, her path became blocked, which she pretty much expected.
"I'm a biotic so I suggest you cooperate." The woman threatened, holding her ground. "I am Miranda, Shepard's second-in-command. If you want out of this room and any of your own questions answered, then I suggest you provide your full cooperation."
Sizing Miranda up, Andromeda hesitated with another remark or move. Throughout her training with C-Sec, she never had to encounter a biotic, but did read up on their attacks. The room was too closed in for maneuvering so she decided to take her aggressor's words as truth. Defeated, she stepped back and crossed her arms, "Tell Shepard that I will answer any questions you guys have for me once I know that Garrus is okay."
"He's in surgery." Miranda spat nonchalantly.
"Surgery?" Feeling her heart drop, Andromeda barely managed to sputter out the word.
Sighing in aggravation, Miranda tossed the tablet onto her desk. "I see this is going nowhere. You better hope we don't decide to toss you in the brig." She walked up towards the room's door and then paused. Her brown hair moved just slightly as she turned her head to look back, "There's a guard outside. I wouldn't bother trying to go out."
Watching the woman leave, Andromeda shook her head and sat back down on the bed. Her blue eyes transfixed on the door, waiting.
The wait inside the empty room felt like eternity until finally the satisfying whish of the door brought back Andromeda to her feet. Her hopes quickly dissipated when Miranda stepped back in with an even more aggravated look on her face. "Shepard wants to speak with you in his quarters. You are to follow me."
Nodding her head silently, Andromeda followed Miranda out, looking at the several men and women in uniform. They all bared the same marking on their clothes as the woman in front of her. They eyed her carefully and whispered amongst themselves. She ignored their looks and continued to examine her surroundings, hoping to catch a glimpse…
"Don't bother. He won't see you here." Miranda spoke out, almost knowing what she was thinking. "Shepard stationed him at the main gun. This way." She motioned the young girl to follow her into the elevator.
Seconds later, the elevator came to a gentle stop and the doors opened. "I guess we are not really going to be friends." Andromeda spoke up as she decided not to wait for Miranda's command as she stepped out from the elevator.
"We have a mission…there's no time to make 'friends.'" Miranda countered as she led her inside the commander's quarters.
The male within seemed to be staring at what appeared to be a large aquarium filled with several unidentifiable species of fish. The man's pale blue eyes glanced over at Andromeda as she entered, then returned his attention to the fish. "That will be all, Miranda."
"Of course, Commander. I'll notify the Illusive Man of our progress."
"Fine."
Once the doors closed behind the second-in-command, Andromeda walked over to admire the models of several class ships in the glass case near the room's terminal console. "Nice associate you have there. I think I miss Ashley."
"I didn't ask you for your opinion now did I?" Shepard snarled. He whirled around to face her, his jaw clenched. "You not following orders almost got Garrus killed on Omega. I'm tired of pulling your ass out of the fire. Give me one good reason why I don't eject you into space?"
Any smart remark that was in her vocabulary simply escaped her from the Commander's tone. Her thoughts were now on Garrus and the predicament he put himself in over her on Omega. She was careless and foolish. "I guess you don't have a reason to."
"If this mission wasn't so damn important, I would have shot Garrus myself for being stupid." He walked over and grabbed Andromeda's arm to make her look directly at him. "You have one chance to tell me what's going on."
"It's a long story…"
"Make it short."
After explaining to Commander Shepard how she was betrayed by Harkin to the Batarian slavers to be sold to Aria, the battle worn male seemed to be even more annoyed by her presence. "Great…I just stole a slave from Aria T' Loak…another name to be added to the list of people that I have seemed to have pissed off." Pushing the young woman out of his way, he tapped a button on his terminal.
"Yes, Commander?" Miranda's voice through the console.
"Miranda, escort Andromeda to Doctor Chakwas' office. She is to remain there until we port back on the Citadel is that clear? I don't want her walking around causing a distraction to my crew."
"Understood."
"Citadel? Are we going back now?" Andromeda spoke up, finally refinding her nerve.
No. We are still in the Traverse. Our next stop will be Ilium. I won't put my mission on hold for you. Once we have our recruits, then we'll return to Council Space. Until then, you are to remain with Dr. Chakwas." He spoke harshly in a very threatening demeanor. Judging by his tone, she knew better than to overstep her boundaries. The Commander that she once knew seemed a bit more up tight than years ago but so much happened since she last saw him…she couldn't even imagine what he went through and she was clueless about the new mission that he was on. As much as she wanted to ask him about Garrus' current state, she bit her tongue.
"It is always good to see a familiar face. How have you been since we found you on Virmire?" The Doctor's warm blue eyes flashed at her.
"Exhausted," Andromeda forced out a small laugh. The gray haired doctor's gentle demeanor was something she was not quite accustomed to since her arrival on the ship.
"I bet. Garrus said you had been through a lot on Omega." Dr. Chakwas commented as she proceeded through her habitual examination of her "new" patient.
"Garrus…how is he?" Andromeda finally questioned as she waited for her right retina scan to be complete.
"He will be fine. He talked a lot about you while he recovered. Through my anatomy studies of Turians, I am accustomed to the more protective skin; however, I didn't expect him to pull through like he did. The shot from the gunship did a lot of tissue and bone damage to his face.
"What…?"
"Relax. He will be fine." Chakwas smiled back reassuringly as she tapped a few buttons on her portable hand held device. "I managed to reconstruct his facial loss with cybernetics. A pretty bad scar, but at least he still has full motor abilities.
The door to the infirmary slid open and Garrus walked in, holding his head as he looked down on the floor. "Doctor, I still have that damn headache." He looked up and then stopped in his tracks as his avian eyes fell upon Andromeda who was sitting on the examination table.
Catching the silent word exchanges, the older woman excused herself as she walked past the Turian to leave the room. Andromeda barely heard the words, "I will need to acquire more medical supplies from the storage compartment."
"Why are you here? Are you hurt?" Garrus hurried his pace to where she was; clearly concern was in his eyes.
"I'm fine…" Andromeda smiled and then looked down at her own body. "To be honest, I am not sure why the doctor was examining me. Shepard told me to stay here until we returned back to the Citadel."
"Don't blame the Commander for his harshness, there's a lot going on that you don't know about." Garrus defended his friend, already reading Andromeda's true feelings by the tone in her voice.
"What is going on?"
"Collectors are invading human colonies and taking the inhabitants. We are not sure why, but it has something to do with the Reapers. A lot of colonies have been hit."
"Collectors?" Andromeda looked away trying to salvage what knowledge she knew by the word. She recalled a past memory of her friends telling horror stories how if you ventured too much out at night that the Collectors would come to take you away. She rubbed it off as a way to scare children to make sure they wouldn't leave the compound and get lost. She never knew that the beings were actually real. "Are you sure?"
"I'm positive. I heard some of Shepard's other squad mates talking about it. This may be worse than Saren." The sudden silence in the room made Garrus stop from saying anything else and he noticed the more focus stare from Andromeda. "What is it?"
"Your face..." The young brown haired woman gently reached out to touch the damaged area, although he quickly grasped her hand, catching her off guard, causing her to let out a small gasp of surprise.
Hearing her, Garrus relaxed his grip some as he looked at her a bit sternly. "Don't. It will be fine."
"Is everything alright?" The doctor spoke out from across the room making the Turian glance over at Chakwas who had a puzzled look on her face.
"Yes." Garrus gave one more look to Andromeda whose eyes pleaded him not to go. "I need to work on my calibrations." Pausing at the doctor, he took one of the medpacks from the top of her pile. "Thank you for the medpack."
Clearing her throat feeling a bit uncomfortable in interrupting to whatever was transpiring in the room before her arrival, Chakwas walked over to the cabinet to put up the medpacks, which was already stocked up. "I think a nice glass of Ice Brandy may hit the spot, don't you agree?"
14