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Shepard was rested—by her definition if not necessarily by Garrus's—by the time they reached the outskirts of Palaven. Cortez got the shuttle ready, and the Primarch gathered his things and prepared to return to the fight.

He held out his hand to Shepard. "Commander, I had my doubts when you told me you needed me to leave my men, my people, and my home and come make nice with the krogan … but there are already troops on their way to help me defend my planet. Krogan troops fighting for the turian homeworld. Galactic history rewritten. Thank you."

"I'm just glad it worked out, sir."

Garrus reached out a hand to shake, as well. "As am I. Give them hell for me, Primarch."

"Sure wish you were coming with me, Vakarian." Victus glanced at Garrus's other hand resting on Shepard's shoulder. "But I can see what a formidable team the two of you make. The galaxy needs you doing just what you're doing. Commander, the turian hierarchy will stand with humanity against the Reapers—and we won't stop until the last one falls."

"Standing together is the only way that's going to happen. I'm glad you're with me."

"The rest of the races will come on board. It'll just take them a little time. Hard to give up thousands of years of anger, even in the face of a common enemy. May the spirits watch over us all." He nodded at them and stepped onto the shuttle.

Before they even reached the elevator, Shepard's comm link was buzzing, Traynor's anxious voice coming through. "Commander, urgent message for you in the communications center."

"I'm on my way." Shepard glanced at Garrus, shrugging. "No rest for the wicked."

"The guns needed calibrating, anyway."

She rolled her eyes and punched him in the arm.

He had just gotten a delicate coupling disassembled when the doors to the forward battery slid open and Shepard hurried in.

"Not right now," Garrus told her.

"Actually, I need your attention more than the guns do right at the moment. That was the salarian councilor."

Garrus held one of the parts up to the light, took a file, and began to shave a minute bump off the edge. "They still mad about the genophage?"

"Yes, but that's not why he was calling. It was about Udina—apparently the salarian councilor thinks something shady's going on. Something to do with money."

"Well, you've never trusted Udina." Garrus held the piece up to the light again, shaved off a bit more, and then replaced it, beginning to reassemble the coupling.

"No, and I don't like how he pushed Anderson out and took over the Councilor position … but in this crisis? Udina has been working as hard as anyone to keep the fleet funded and the refugee ships moving. Why would he start taking money now?"

"Maybe he isn't taking it. Maybe he's funneling it into other channels." Garrus turned to look at her.

She frowned. "You're thinking Cerberus?"

"I don't know what I'm thinking, except that Udina has never been subtle about his humans-first attitude."

"Still, seems like a big leap."

"We won't know until we check it out."

Shepard nodded. "I know. Joker's plotting a course for the Citadel now."

She turned to leave and Garrus called after her. "Zia?"

"Mm-hm?"

"Eat something. For me."

She gave him a wry smile. "Am I not enough woman for you, Vakarian?"

"Just want to make sure you keep up your energy."

Chuckling, she headed out. Hopefully she would stop in the kitchen, but Garrus didn't follow her. These guns needed to be finished before they found themselves in combat again.

When they reached Citadel space, both of them were in the cockpit, and Joker was managing not to complain about it too much. He was admittedly distracted by the lack of chatter. "There should be a dozen ships in sight, and more than that on the comms, arguing about who's in what position in line to get in." He fiddled with the radio controls. "Nothing." In a louder voice, he said, "Control, this is SSV Normandy. Are we cleared to descend?"

There was silence. He tried again, with the same result.

"This isn't right. Even if there were a total station malfunction, they'd have backups online." He punched a button on the console. "Switching to emergency channels." He listened intently to a voice on the comm and responded, "Hey, this is Joker. What's going on down there?" There was a pause, and then, "Oh, crap." Joker turned his head to look up at Shepard. "I have Thane on the line. You're going to want to hear this."

When Joker punched the button to transfer the call to the speakers, Thane was breathing heavily, no doubt as a result of his advancing Kepral's Syndrome. "Shepard. The Citadel is under attack. By Cerberus."

Garrus grunted, and Shepard glanced at him, acknowledging the confirmation of his suspicions.

"They're in control of the docks," Thane added.

"Are you safe?"

"No. I had to evade the commandos at the hospital. I'm on my way to C-Sec headquarters."

"Cerberus has it?" Garrus asked. "Damn."

"Exactly. As long as they control it, they have the station."

"Be careful, Thane. We're on our way." The channel cut out, and Shepard looked down at Joker. "Get us as close as you can to C-Sec headquarters and we'll deploy in the shuttle."

"Yes, Commander."

"Come on, Garrus. We're taking the Citadel back."

"Just what I've always wanted to do."