A Long Way

Shepard would probably have been pacing, but Garrus had seen the way she'd walked in the door. The humans would sometimes say they were 'feeling it' the day after a battle, but the commander limped like it was far more than a memory. Instead, she sat on the edge of the conference table, weight supported by her good leg and shoulders hunched over. The loss of the prothean data to Cerberus and the brutal battering of the people under her command sat heavily on all of them, but her most of all. Beside her, Kaidan leaned on the bulkhead wall, arms folded, his face a mask of a hundred dark thoughts.

Garrus shifted his weight in his armor, trying to settle it into place. It felt good to be back in his second skin, but strange, too. The repair under his armpit itched. His runs around the cargo bay had left him frustrated, feeling like he couldn't quite catch his breath like he'd used to. Maybe it was an illusion born of a new fear, the dreams he still sometimes woke from, gasping, his throat constricted. Maybe he just needed to get out in the field again, feel like he was doing something.

A soft ping sounded. "Commander," came Traynor's voice, "I've finally got her."

"Put her through," Garrus replied.

"Ah, aye."

"I wonder how much wheedling she had to do," Shepard muttered. She looked at Garrus questioningly. You sure about this?

Garrus gave a curt nod. The holodisplay in the center of the table lit up. A waist-up portrait of Aria T'Loak appeared. The asari's face was drawn into her permanent scowl, and her arms folded. The camera pickups on this side would capture a similar view of him, leaving out the two humans.

"Archangel." Aria unfurled each syllable with deliberation, narrow-eyed.

"Aria," he greeted her.

"You're not who I expected to see on the other end of this line."

Garrus clasped his hands behind his back. "I'm told you have a Cerberus problem."

The asari pounded one fist into what must have been a chair arm, just out of the camera's view. "You better not have tracked me down just to gloat, Vakarian. I can still find ways to make your life difficult."

"I got all my gloating out of my system back when I was running circles around your thugs."

Shepard frowned. In the holo, Aria glared at him, then raised one finger and deliberately moved it toward what was likely an end call button.

"But I'm done with those days," he said hastily. Damn it, Vakarian, stow your ego. "Now I have a Cerberus problem."

Aria's finger stopped. She stared him down, then cocked her head. "Where's your Spectre friend, anyway?"

Garrus resisted the urge to glance at Shepard. "She's here. But this is Omega business, isn't it? Let's face it. Shepard's good, but I know Omega's back end better than a lot of its inhabitants. I also know how to be completely outnumbered, and win. And Shepard makes a spectacular mess wherever she goes."

The two humans in the room made noises of irritation. Garrus ignored them, keeping his gaze firmly on the holo.

"As I recall, you made quite a mess last time you were here," Aria said.

"If the Pack, Suns and Eclipse had stopped throwing people at me, I wouldn't have been forced to clog up your crematoria furnaces."

"You could have had the decency to just die," she said irritably.

"Not my style. Now, if we're done posturing, maybe we can talk business?"

Aria looked away from the camera for a moment. She spoke, but her voice was muted. A flash of irritation crossed her features.

"You're bouncing your comm signal," she said finally, looking back at him, "clever."

"I'm not going to tip my entire hand at once," he said, borrowing the expression the card-playing humans were so fond of.

She looked away again, eyes moving as if to scan something. The mic picked up her finger tapping on the arm of a chair. "So, the Normandy is lurking out there somewhere..."

"We're not here for a fight."

"But you are having a good look at my fleet," she said archly. "Spit it out, before I decide to triangulate your location."

"You're obviously preparing for something, and only an idiot doesn't know what. You want Omega back."

"Obvious. The pertinent question here is what you want."

"Don't worry, I won't insult you by claiming to offer help out of the goodness of our hearts. We need Petrovsky."

Aria bared her teeth. "How nice. Maybe I'll let you have what's left when I'm done with him. Bring a very small box!"

Shepard huffed and folded her arms.

"He has critical intel we need to fight the Reapers," Garrus said, wondering how long Shepard could keep herself from butting in.

Aria flipped one hand. "Petrovsky betrayed me and dragged his Cerberus stink all over my station. I've already pledged my help to Shepard when the time comes, I don't care about the rest."

"This is about the entire galaxy, Aria, not a political scuffle happening somewhere too far away to care about."

Her lip curled.

"Whatever you might think about who deserves what," he said hastily, "the Reapers won't ignore you. They won't ignore a single living sentient, never mind a station full of them. And that's not even considering the fact that Omega is next to one of their utility relays. You can ignore it right now, but it won't be long before they come to cleanse Omega, too."

As he spoke he used an interface to open his cache of war data and went to the images. Briefly, he considered sending images of Thessia, but there was a not inconsequential chance Aria would laugh at the fate of a planet she probably considered full of self-important rich snobs who thought they were the bright center of the galaxy. If she had any nostalgia for the asari homeworld, the Queen of Omega had never shown it.

"Your fleet here is impressive," he said dryly, selecting a few images, "especially for a non-military outfit. Your mercs are nothing if not resourceful. But this," his heart stung as he pressed send, "is the heart of Palaven's homeguard fleet, invasion day plus one."

He didn't have to look at it to know what he'd sent. A debris field of drifting hulks, hulls shorn in half. Two of the mightiest and most storied dreadnoughts in all of Citadel space, shattered shells. Thousands of dead.

"Your fleet is impressive, Aria, but it doesn't compare to Palaven's. It won't even take a day for the Reapers to break Omega and scatter it across the system. If 'our war' fails, Omega is doomed. And that's not a threat, it's simply reality."

Aria drummed her fingers, brow furrowed. "And you need Petrovsky to defeat the Reapers."

"We need Petrovsky to get deeper into Cerberus, to the Illusive Man. He's a Reaper crony now."

"Is he."

"Indoctrination. If you have Reaper creatures on your station, then you know all about the things Cerberus has been trying to do with Reaper tech. We're tracking an agent of theirs."

"I heard you departed Thessia rather... hastily."

"Time is a wasting resource right now. For everyone."

The corner of her mouth curled up. "What did you find there?"

Garrus couldn't help but glance at Shepard. She drew her hand quickly across her throat.

"That Thessia's been keeping secrets," Garrus said carefully. "But somehow I don't think that's news to you, is it?"

"That lot of self-righteous hags? Hah. They weave their clothes out of secrets!"

Get off this line of conversation. Sweeten the deal. "There's something else I can bring," Garrus said. "People with experience fighting Reaper creatures."

Aria shifted and cocked her head. "Have you faced an Adjutant before?"

He had no idea what that was, only that there were Reaper creatures on the station and that Cerberus was involved somehow. "No," he said levelly, "but finding new ways to kill Reapers is what our team does best."

"And if you fail, are you prepared to watch one of your allies be mutated into one of those monsters?"

"I've seen more than enough of my people corrupted, Aria. You're not going to scare me off with that."

Aria's finger tapped again. "I don't want Spectres on my station. Not for this."

"They can stay on the Normandy. But they won't be far."

"Fine. But leave your sticky-fingered broker at home, too."

My sticky-fingered quarian is a better hacker, anyway. "Agreed."

"I better not find out you or the humans are playing me, Archangel. I'm in no mood."

"Neither am I, Aria. I've seen enough death for a thousand lifetimes."

She smirked. "Contact me again in one hour and we'll discuss the plan of attack."

The holo clicked off. Garrus looked over the console to be sure the mic pickup was dead, then exhaled. When he looked up, he found the two humans eyeing him with nearly identical expressions.

He spread his hands. "I had to say what I had to say. At least I got us on the station."

"You got you on the station," Shepard said with a smirk.

"That was always the plan. Shepard, you look like an elcor used you as a recliner for the entire run of that old human play. Kaidan doesn't look much better. It doesn't do much for your aura of Spectre invincibility, you know?"

"He's got a point," Kaidan said.

"I don't trust Aria," the commander said.

Garrus sniffed. "Who does? The trick with her is to figure out what she wants. She won't do anything to compromise her end goal. In this case, I know what that goal is. I can use that. I've done it before, just from a distance instead of face to face. Besides," his mandibles flexed, "she knows exactly who she's pissing off if she tries anything with me."

"Archangel?"

He shrugged. "Him too, but I was thinking about the pair of Spectres. The Council might be in shambles, but Aria knows what lengths you're willing to go to, Shepard. She's a schemer, but she's practical. She won't want you coming around to shoot things up looking for payback while she's trying to re-consolidate her power on Omega."

"You've got this all figured out, don't you?" Kaidan commented.

"Omega's complicated... but it's a night on the town compared to Primacy politics."

Shepard scowled, looking out the small porthole to the stars beyond. "I don't like it."

"Don't you trust me?"

She sighed. "Just about the only two people besides myself I'd trust to do this are standing in this room right now. But I'm not going to pretend to be happy about it."

"I can live with that." Garrus chuckled. "Lately I've been the one left behind to worry my fringe off, so this time you can have that job. And not get any more hurt. We can't afford..."

"What happened to Liara rattled all of us," Kaidan said quietly.

None of them seemed willing to break the somber silence that descended. Garrus suspected they were all anticipating the future argument about whether or not Liara could fight again. If her biotics were affected, if they could take the risk. Prosthetics were available at the best of times, but reconstruction of an entire limb, and a complex one at that, was well beyond their resources on the ship. There was no Citadel to go back to, and asari space was no longer the safe zone it had been.

"Who do you need for a team?" Shepard asked finally.

"Vega's got brawn," Garrus said, "and he knows Omega more than your average human. And Tali can find her way around whatever bashed-together security we might run across. Enclosed fighting spaces are familiar territory."

"I guess that's all we've got for now." She sounded tired.

"The Normandy can provide support to the fleet."

"We won't be far, Garrus. Just call, and-"

"Shepard," he said, "this isn't any more of a risk than you've had to take a hundred times."

She rubbed her forehead, but Kaidan nodded his agreement.

"You... know what's at stake if we don't get this," Shepard said, exhaling. "Garrus, would you indulge me a human thing?"

He cocked his head curiously.

She stood and limped over to him. She tugged the front of his collar. He leaned forward, and she put her arms around his neck. The hug was awkward with the bulk of his armor, but she held him tightly for a moment, then briefly touched her lips to the plate just above his mandible. Then she backed up a step and clasped his hands.

"Thanks," she said, "for being such a good friend. I've served with a lot of good soldiers, but I don't often get to call them actual friends, much less share my burdens with them as equals." She glanced at Kaidan, then back at him.

Garrus chuckled. "We've come a long way, haven't we?"

"And I wouldn't have made it this far without you."

He tried not to think of all the thousand different ways they'd narrowly avoided death, or worse, failure. Everything still hung by a thread. The mask of the brave face wore very thin in places. But his mandibles flicked in quiet happiness. The spirit of the Normandy was whole again.


Garrus put his boot to the Adjutant's bulbous back and pushed. The corpse rolled, the tentacle-cables that made up its grotesque mouth parts trailing a line of the viscous glop purported to break down the DNA of dead and dying organics, re-writing the victim's bodily structure into another Adjutant.

The former Afterlife bar was a mess, first repurposed by Cerberus, then damaged by the fighting within it. Corpses littered the floor, both Adjutant and others, and smoke from gunfire and grenades still hung in the air.

"Are you proud of this?" Garrus said, turning.

Oleg Petrovsky stood with his arms behind his back, meeting Garrus' level stare. Even if he'd been left alive as agreed, Aria hadn't exactly gone easy on him. Still, the human maintained his dignity despite the bindings and the blood seeping into his white uniform from his battered face. A suit that looked a great deal like a bastardized version of the human Alliance dress uniform rendered in white and gold. The uniform seemed to rankle Vega, who stood behind him, weapon leveled.

"Sacrifices must be made," Petrovsky said. "None of us would have even made it off our home planet if we'd never dared to risk error."

Garrus was getting beyond tired of hearing about sacrifices, necessary or otherwise. "So these things are an error."

Petrovsky shrugged. "Their initial escape was certainly not planned. It took time to perfect the control scheme. An error that has since been rectified. Since then, they have been effective shock troops."

"Are you controlling them," Garrus asked, "or could it be the other way around?"

"You are referring to the indoctrination effect, I assume. I've been well protected."

"I've heard that before."

A twitch of the face told Garrus he might have a sore spot. The man wanted to live, that much was clear, but he wouldn't be reduced, either. How it must burn him, to see us 'aliens' work together like this.

"Is this how you see the bright future of humanity?" Garrus pointed at the Adjutant.

"This is a necessary, and temporary, evil in service of survival and our ultimate victory."

"I don't think your boss agrees."

"The Illusive Man-"

"Probably released them to attack Omega in the first place."

"Damn right," Vega said. Impassive in his bulky armor, the Alliance marine's face was dark. It was clear he would love to be given an excuse to squeeze the trigger.

Petrovsky shifted, glaring at them.

"Have you seen the faces of your Cerberus troopers?" Garrus said. "That's your future, too, following the Illusive Man."

"I... never approved of those measures. It wasn't my decision."

"It's slavery," Vega growled, "isn't it?"

"They're all volunteers."

"Bullshit!" He took a step forward, shocking Petrovsky back on his heels.

Garrus watched the sway of threat and restraint teeter back and forth. "Do you have any evidence beyond the Illusive Man's word?" he asked. He wanted to just kick the arrogant man in the teeth and leave him for Aria's gentle ministrations.

Petrovsky disdainfully backed another step away from the open bore of Vega's shotgun and looked at Garrus. "Enough of this. What happens now, Vakarian?"

"Simple. You tell us where the Illusive Man is, you get to live."

"Very well."

Garrus blinked. "That's way too easy," he said suspiciously.

"Indeed it is. I don't know where the Illusive Man himself is, none of us do. But I can give you the location of his major operations base. The one producing the majority of his troops, I might add. If I am allowed to surrender myself to Commander Shepard's custody. I'm a practical man, Mister Vakarian. I'll make myself useful, in exchange for my life. And one... request."

"You're not in a position to make requests, Cerberus," Vega said darkly.

Petrovsky lifted his chin, ignoring the marine. "I want to know what you find there. That's all. The truth."

"As if you care."

"I care about my people, marine."

Garrus regarded him, then jerked his thumb in the direction of the former club's entrance. "Get him to the Normandy, Vega."

The marine stepped forward and prodded Petrovsky in the shoulder with his shotgun. "Move it."

How was it Cerberus operatives always ended up far more gray than he liked? Garrus' helmet felt heavy, hanging in his grip. They were inching forward, and after their experiences with Leng, the notion of having another high-ranking Cerberus agent on the ship, even for a short time, made his plates itch. And yet the man seemed to be in possession of his faculties, in fact he seemed far more sane than any other Cerberus agent Garrus had met since the Collector mission.

"Imagine how we'd be doing if we were all on the same side," he muttered, looking at the Adjutant corpse. He was looking forward to getting back to the Normandy. Not even a day, and already the walls of Omega were oppressive, their familiarity faded to a bitter taste in his mouth.

Footsteps approached, and Tali and Nyreen Kandros walked up to him.

"I've done what I can, Garrus," Tali said in a low voice, "the rest will be up to the Talons."

"It's just good to know someone will be around to keep an eye on the civilians," Garrus said.

Kandros nodded. "Aria's already making her plans to contribute some of her forces into the Reaper conflict. I'm going to make sure no one is pressed into service." She cocked her head, mandibles flared in amusement. "Aria T'Loak, helping someone outside Omega. It's almost like the legendary Commander Shepard and Archangel got to her."

"Shepard has that effect on people," Tali said.

"So does the threat of imminent annihilation," Garrus murmured.

"Will you still go back to them?" Kandros said.

Garrus glanced up at her. "The Normandy?"

"The Hierarchy."

He tapped his finger idly on his helmet. Even after so long around Shepard, Liara and Kaidan, a cabal biotic still made him edgy. The unspoken messages he'd absorbed during years of training weren't so easy to erase.

"I don't know yet," he said. "Right now all I care about is winning this insane war. Reapers make Hierarchy politics look like an evening at the bar."

She looked away, back into the sweep of the damaged bar and the ragtag collection of fighters milling around exchanging celebratory salutes. "I can't go back," she said, "here is where I'm needed. But I... haven't forgotten our people."

"They're fighting hard."

"I must admit, I'd lost faith in the homeworld. But if there are more people like you making decisions, then maybe things will change." She touched her forehead, then extended her hand. "We endure."

Garrus clasped her hand. "We endure."