Note: Bit of a shorty or filler type chapter. Does have some character dynamics and development centered on Sidda, Garrus, and Cerberus. Big things around the corner that didn't quite fit in with this chapter content.
I hope y'all are enjoying this, thank you for the favorites and follows. Feedback is always welcome.
Music I listened to for this chapter include Walking on the Sun by Smash Mouth and To Leave Something Behind by Sean Rowe
Please enjoy Chapter Five: Morality
Mass Effect
"Foreign Relations"
Chapter Five: Morality
Horizon wasn't fun. From the moment Sidda's feet touched the ground all she could think of was Eden Prime. The same eerie silence was cast over the colony and it brought back uncomfortable memories for her. Nihlus being murdered by Saren, the image that haunted her still, the blue mist of blood as the round ripped through his skull. It stopped her in her tracks as the Kodiak dusted off and Garrus noticed. With a little gentle encouragement she moved on with her team of Mordin, Kasumi, Grunt, and Garrus. Horizon was awful, spooky really. They didn't find the first person until well into the colony but the Collector presence was confirmed. The giant ass ship was her number one clue. There was something very, very off about this place.
"What the hell is that?" Garrus yelled as giant flying bug joined the battlefield. It had a laser for a main weapon and he heard Grunt curse when it made contact with his shields and drained them in seconds.
Sidda bitched under breath. Hold the tower. "I don't know, Garrus, why don't you go ask?" Sidda replied sounding irritated and diving into cover as it was content to chase Grunt.
It didn't look friendly, it was also ugly. He'd rather not have a conversation with it. "Pass. Little testy huh?"
Sidda shifted her cover to keep it, now she was glad bringing along a bigger team. "I'm sorry, Garrus, I just get a little uppity when I'm getting shot at constantly!"
"It has a shield. Biotic based. It's vulnerable when on the ground," Mordin shouted as Kasumi cloaked so she could reposition. Grunt roared at it and challenged it ready to go hand to hand but thankfully the tank-bred Krogan was smarter than that. He retreated and it jumped for him, Garrus' heavy concussive shot smacked it in the left side of the 'head' and it staggered.
"Oh, swell," she muttered and heard Grunt hit it with a concussive shot before getting out of the way of its legs…again. "Garrus, can you take it out?"
She asked him because he had the biggest gun. The Mattock was a spectacular weapon but his Spectre sniper rifle was a beast. "Keep it on the ground long enough and I'll turn it into scrap," Garrus answered ducking down behind his cover and tapping a few things on his Omni-tool to adjust his armor piercing settings. Sidda nodded forming the plan.
"Right. Kasumi! Grunt! Mordin! Let's keep it occupied and on the ground!" she shouted and released a shockwave turning four Husks into bowling pins.
Kasumi snorted in response to Sidda's ordered. "Well, you don't want much do you?" she commented but not loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Hit it with everything you got, get it as weak as possible," Garrus advised shifting his focus to the straggling Collector Captains that Mordin was entertaining. He had to hand it to the Salarian…he was way tougher than he looked. Garrus lent him a hand and sniped one and then another that Mordin had frozen…it shattered on contact with the large bore weapon.
"EDI! Time?!" she ordered and opened up a burst on the creature. The almighty Mattock barked and ripped through the Collector creature. It squealed at the damage and turned to find it. Sidda dropped a singularity on it and then a warp causing a biotic explosion that triggered some secondary explosions from fuel tanks. "EDI!" Sidda was having a hard time keeping track of her team and had resorted to weapons file. Grunt's Vindicator she heard, Mordin's Tempest she also tracked, and the Shuriken from Kasumi. They were all still up.
"Still calculating, Commander, please standby."
" 'Please standby'…," Sidda grumbled and had to move as Garrus let the sniper rifle speak. It damaged the thing and its barrier bubble went back up. "Jesus Christ, most sophisticated computer in the galaxy and has to take forever to calibrate a gun," she bitched coming to a stop next to Garrus as the creature landed on Grunt and Mordin.
Garrus didn't comment, he was focused, his sniper rifle was better than anything Cerberus had to offer and better than most anything else out there. "Kasumi, hit it with an overload," he calmly ordered.
Kasumi did as asked at the same time Garrus did then he fired and the creature disintegrated into some kind of blue material. It seemed a little anticlimactic when all was said and done and Sidda looked at Garrus. "God damn, Vakarian."
"I love this rifle," Garrus muttered satisfied with himself. "I still got it."
"Yes you do, Garrus. Yes you do," she replied patting his back. "Everyone alright?"
"That was fun," Grunt chuckled. "It was a good fight, Shepard."
Mordin dusted himself off; it did land on him and Grunt. "No lasting damage, Commander, good to be back in the fight."
Sidda nodded to them all. For the first time out together as a team they did pretty well. "EDI? I swear to god…you better be done."
"Calculations complete." EDI replied and the team watched at the global defense system fired. "GUARDIAN online, firing."
The massive weapon hit the Collector ship several times and prompted it to run. The ground shook as the behemoth vessel tried to achieve the necessary thrust to get off the ground. "And of course they run like a bitty bitch," she grumbled. It was better than having that thing parked on the colony but she would have liked to have seen the alien ship destroyed not running away with half the Horizon colony onboard.
"Problematic," Mordin observed as Delan came out of hiding and began to shout.
"Look who came out of his bunker." She heard Grunt sneer. Sidda ignored Delan yelling at her to do something to stop them from taking everyone. To that she responded.
"What the hell do you want me to do about it? They're up there, I'm down here. I did everything I could," she snarled and took stock of the situation. All in all her mission was a success. They confirmed the Collector presence, gathered significant useful data, and kicked the Collectors out. One successful mission but she knew in her bones that this was nowhere near over and this was going to get worse before it got better.
"It was a good fight, Shepard, you did all you could," Garrus nodded giving her the praise she deserved. Too many things got hung on her and she was blamed for things that were far beyond her control. Like right now.
"Shepard? As in-…," Delan questioned coming to the realization of who she was; the Hero of the Citadel, first human Spectre, the Alliance's best.
"Commander Siddalee Marie Shepard." A very familiar voice said drawing her attention. "Commander of the SSV Normandy, Hero of Elysium, first human Spectre, and Savior of the Battle of the Citadel."
Sidda blinked seeing Kaidan walking toward her in black armor. "Oh my God, Kaidan," she smiled and stepped toward him. "All this time I've been harassing Anderson for your whereabouts and you were here the whole time." They hugged and Delan had enough of them. The colonist scoffed loudly and walked away. "It's good to see you, Kaidan, you ain't changed a bit."
Kaidan took a step back and Sidda sensed something wrong. "What are you doing here, Sidda?"
She snorted internally, typical Kaidan straight to the point when he was focused. "We got word there was a Collector attack on the colony, that's what I'm investigating," she answered careful to avoid the Cerberus point. Kaidan would lose his mind. "What are you doing out here and why don't you seem surprised that I'm alive."
"We got a tip, Sidda, that you were here…working with Cerberus," he answered quietly and Sidda swore under her breath. "Help me understand this. We're told that the Collectors are targeting the colonies and Cerberus is involved in something and not long after we get here the Collectors and Cerberus show up."
How could he have known? Someone told him…but who? She didn't even have to look to see that Garrus was wondering the same thing. "They brought me back to life, Kaidan; the Collectors are targeting human colonies and probably working with the Reapers. It isn't over, Kaidan, Sovereign was just the start."
Kaidan only heard one thing. Cerberus. "So you're working for them." It was a statement not a question and Sidda swallowed.
"I'm not working for them, Kaidan, I'm working…I'm working with them. For the colonies," as soon as she said it she didn't believe it. How could anyone believe that?
Again, Kaidan only heard the fact that Cerberus was involved. He'd been so colored by his past with them it clouded any reasonable judgement he might have had. "I don't believe it," he shook his head in sheer disbelief. They both saw what had been done to Kahoku and Toombs, and the countless others that they didn't find. "You're working with Cerberus, terrorists…Garrus too."
"Damnit, Kaidan, I hate Cerberus just as much as you do but look at the bigger picture here. Cerberus was right about the Collectors attacking here," Garrus said sternly. Kaidan was an intelligent man but they'd seen too much of Cerberus' terrorism for Kaidan to be swayed. Garrus could see the look in his eyes, he thought she was a traitor. He thought Garrus was a traitor.
"I don't believe this…," he said and looked at Sidda. She'd never received that look from him before, disgust, anger, disappointment, and he was ashamed of her. "You're a traitor."
"Don't call her that," Garrus growled and Sidda raised her hand to stop him.
The word hit her like a brick. "I'm not a traitor, Kaidan," she snapped back and he backed away.
Kaidan owed her. She'd saved his life on countless occasions, he aspired to be like her, and she was a hero. Giving her a head start was all he could do. "You better go, Commander, before the Alliance gets here."
"Kaidan!"
"Let him go, Sid. He's right though…we need to go," Garrus said and Sidda changed to barely contained anger. Garrus keyed his comm. "Joker, get the Normandy down here. Get us off this rock."
Back on the Normandy, Sidda wanted to let the bottle up aggression out. She cried over Victus now she was angry over what happened with Kaidan. Kaidan called her a traitor, blamed what happened on Horizon on her or at least on Cerberus but to him it was the same difference.
"Got the Illusive Man for you, Commander." Joker said and Sidda channeled her very bad past two days into the revelations with what happened on Horizon.
"Oh, perfect, I'm looking to pick a fight," she growled harshly as Garrus followed her into the comm room. They were still in full armor with weapons and all. Dirty, sweaty, hot, tired, and now more than a little aggravated. People gave them a wide berth.
"Should be interesting," the Turian muttered as he stood off to the side.
The QEC came up and Sidda came out swinging. "Shepard, I'm told Horizon was a success. Collector presence confirmed." The Illusive Man greeted noticing Garrus just barely in the view of the halo on the floor.
"Oh, blow it out your ass," she replied and Garrus nearly laughed. He loved that woman. "You knew."
He narrowed his eyes, confused. "I don't follow."
"Bullshit. You knew the Collectors were going to hit Horizon, you tipped off the Alliance. The rep said the only reason they were there was because they got a tip off that something was going to happen and I was going to be there," she snarled. Sidda reminded Garrus of a Turian, he liked that…always had.
"Something did happen."
"They could have evacuated the colony!" she barked. "Now half of it was abducted. Cut the cloak and dagger bullshit and start telling me the fucking truth. I'm not kidding. If you think scorched earth is bad you ain't seen nothing yet. Stop lying to me. How the hell did they know that I'm alive?" Garrus was curious to know what her scorched earth would look like. He was also worried that Cerberus had a 'kill switch' in case she got a little too out of hand.
The Illusive Man maintained his demeanor, unbothered and cool. "We needed to confirm and it confirmed another theory. The Collectors are targeting you."
Sidda blinked and Garrus' eyes narrowed. "You heard me, damnit. Cut the bullshit."
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Not even curious, Commander?" he questioned and Sidda twitched at the question. "I think the Collectors are tracking you, they destroyed the Normandy, and tracked you to Horizon."
Internally, her head spun, externally, she showed next to nothing. "Why?" she asked knowing if she didn't ask Garrus would.
The Illusive Man stamped out the cigarette. "You're a threat, Commander, you killed a Reaper."
Sidda was certain she didn't like that but didn't press it. "Terrific. No more colonies get hit, are we clear? You see a pattern, notify the Alliance."
He nodded quietly. "Fair enough," he said. "I have something else for you, a few more dossiers, continue building your team. I will find a way into the Omega 4 Relay."
Sidda turned and moved away. "Great," she muttered and walked away collecting Garrus as she went.
The Turian paced her. "Targeting you…I don't like the sound of that," Garrus said and Sidda agreed.
"Lot of shit I don't like lately," she griped as they entered the armory, time to stow the armor and weapons.
"Sidda," he stopped her as the door opened. "Kaidan's wrong, okay…you're not a traitor."
"Yeah…yeah for some reason the platitudes just don't work," she said and walked away from him.
Garrus lingered, he didn't like seeing her slipping back into the state of mind she was in after Nihlus was killed. It took Nov to jar her out of it but she was never the same afterward. He was witnessing a relapse and it worried him. He didn't stop her or press her to talk. She'd been through enough.
Hours passed and the Normandy was in stealth mode moving though a section of space notorious for pirates. She didn't want to pick any unnecessary fights so she had Joker take a leisurely route to the next destination.
Garrus couldn't figure out what he was hearing. It was music but nothing he'd ever heard before. He keyed the comm. "Joker, what in the hell is that racket?"
"Music," Joker answered, "the Commander likes the classics."
Garrus vaguely remembered that. "That's Earth music?"
"Yep. Old…like 200 years old."
Garrus followed the noise, hard not to.
The Normandy had a small exercise room, a few weights, a punching bag, and an area just big enough to spar in. Sidda didn't have anyone to spar with, Garrus was probably the only challenge she'd find but his face had been through enough so she took her aggression out on the bag. The music blaring was loud enough to drown out any other noise so she could ignore everything but the music. She did like the old music, anything from the 1940s to the late 2000s made her happy. She loaded her omni-tool with a bunch of songs when she was on the Citadel and now Walking on the Sun was echoing loud enough it hurt Garrus' ears.
"Will you turn that down!" he said in a raised tone over the music as she worked out on the bag. She tapped the Omni-tool and the volume went down some but didn't turn off. Garrus could see that she was upset. She had been upset before she went to Horizon, and now she was even worse. Horizon he was there for, and knew Kaidan had pissed her off, then the Illusive Man. Her mood was more personal. "So what happened with Victus?" he asked leaning into the bag, steadying it for her and her punches came with more force.
Sidda flashed him a brief glance before settling her eyes back on the bag. "How do you think it went?" she replied.
Sidda was really laying into her punches and Garrus grunted. After everything Maridus suffered at his hands Victus just walked away. "Come on, really?"
She didn't look up. "I've been dead for two years, Garrus; it couldn't have ended any other way."
He shook his head, it was hard to believe. How could he just walk away? "I'm sorry, Sidda," he said and she grumbled.
She leaned into the punches even harder for a rapid combo. "People really need to stop saying that. Nov kissed me though…very publicly."
Garrus laughed, now that he had expected. The Turian was in love with her and clearly had been for a while. "Well that was about time…he destroyed the Lante rec room when Maridus and I told him you were dead. Cut up his hands...I think Maridus said 32,000 credits and change in damage."
Sidda paused. "Seriously?"
"Yeah. It's a toss-up on which one took it worse…Victus or him."
Sidda sighed and continued with her workout. Nov didn't tell her that…Maridus didn't tell her that. "No one told me that," she muttered and decided to change the subject. "Did you look at the dossiers?"
"Yep," he replied allowing the subject change. "I think we should get Tali first then head to Illium."
"Agreed," she said and winced at a punch that didn't land where she wanted it jarring her right wrist. "Cerrus will kill me if she gets hurt and I've already died once."
Garrus chuckled. "And he'd make it painful and messy."
She paused and looked up at him with a scoff. "Yeah, because the broken shoulder being the last thing I remember was nice and rosy," she told him and he shrugged, he'd never died and would have to take her word on how it felt. "You wanna spar?"
Garrus wasn't stupid and only had one answer to that. "Not even maybe. You're too angry and my face is stitched together with hopes and dreams and good intentions."
She started again on the bag with a chuckle. "Pussy."
Grabbing Tali off of Haestrom was a bitch and a half and it was a very good thing that Cerrus wasn't there to see it. Haestrom had an environmental hazard, major radiation in the sunlight and sticking to the shaded areas was easier said than done. She and Garrus had flashbacks to two years ago as they were once again fighting Geth. Picking off the smaller ones wasn't bad, Primes were a bit tricky but with a team of herself, Garrus, and Zaeed –a wealth of combat knowledge between them all –it wasn't bad. The tricky part was getting to Tali herself. A giant Colossus had taken up residence and picked off all of the Quarian Marines but one, Kal'Reegar. They'd managed to turn the thing into scrap, this time a combination of Reegar's rocket launcher and her biotics did the trick while Garrus and Zaeed got bogged down with the thousand other minions around them.
It was nice to have Tali back on board, though. She wasn't happy to see Cerberus and made her disapproval known. She did take the AI onboard better than anyone thought she would but she didn't like Jacob and she didn't like Miranda.
"So, how's things with you and grumpy?" Sidda asked with a teasing grin. They were on the way to Illium and had some time before they arrived.
Tali giggled lightly. "He's not that grumpy…he just doesn't like humans."
"Doesn't like much of anything…gave me the third degree when he saw me, I'm glad to see you two are still together."
"He's really sweet," she replied and Sidda could see the colony sigil of Taetrus displayed on her suit.
Sidda smiled at the sight, Victus gave her a pendant of his. She cursed herself for thinking of that…she hadn't given that back to him yet and wasn't looking forward to it. "Next thing I know you'll be wearing Taetrus colony paint. Anything I should know?"
Tali blushed under the mask. "There haven't been any ceremonies but its close enough." The long distance was rough since she was in the flotilla and he was always deployed somewhere but he never forgot about her and always made her feel like his number one priority.
That surprised Sidda, after everything with his first wife getting seriously involved with someone else seemed unlikely but she was happy all the same.
Two days later they were on Illium. The Asari world was vibrant, full of life, the same as Omega but with better accommodations. No one really liked Illium. To Sidda and Garrus it was too crowded and noisy, Tali was nervous being a Quarian there…waiting for the stigma that followed her people, Grunt and Zaeed simply felt out of place. Isla and Kasumi didn't mind it, a good chance to get away from slums and shitty places but even then they were on guard. Sidda just told Jack to fucking behave.
Liara was on Illium and that was a shock. She was now an information broker and had taken to threatening to flay people with her mind. She pointed her in the direction of both their master assassin and the Justicar. It was a Rochambeau to decide who was first on the hit parade. Garrus said the assassin and Sidda said the Justicar. Garrus won. Collecting the assassin named Thane Krios was interesting, Nassana Dantius she remembered vaguely from years ago. Sidda had killed her sister, a slaver, on Sharjila. Now she was off her rocker crazy and paranoid to the point she had pretty much an entire faction of Eclipse mercs as guards.
Thane was a mystery, terminally ill and willing to go on a suicide mission to atone for his life of death as an assassin. Sidda liked him immediately and even more so when she learned Jacob didn't like him. Sidda had never actually met a Drell before and she found him a bit strange but also was attracted to the cold confidence. Dying or not, he still took out a building full of mercenaries and managed to get his target too.
The Justicar Samara was a bit more of a challenge. Murders, drugs, smuggling, mysterious circumstances…Garrus was in heaven. Jack was just bored. Everyone had their little quirks, caveats, quid pro quos even if they hadn't said anything yet. That just happened to be no different for the Justicar Samara. She was tracking a killer but was hamstrung by the cops to not start an international incident so of course it was her job to fix it. That was her…Miss Fix It.
Running through the warehouse full of canisters that contained a toxic substance called Minagen X3 wasn't much fun either. Everything was going relatively well until Garrus missed and busted a canister. Sidda and Jack felt a surge of biotics plough through their system. The cloud of the stuff was toxic as well as a boost and quickly became a liability. Beyond that everything was old hat…which was alarming. The Eclipse boss was a bitch…literally but between Jack and Sidda's raging biotics she didn't last long. Garrus felt a bit superfluous next to the Psychotic Biotic and the Raging Biotic. And so the Justicar was added to her little merry band of misfits. If she thought the last band was bad it was worse this time. She had cops, criminals, mercs, terrorists, thieves…and Lazarus.
"When Garrus hit that canister," she commented to Jack as they were seated at the table on the crew deck. "I haven't been that high since before the academy."
Jack and Sidda had been closely monitored by Chakwas after being exposed to the substance. It had a lot of the same symptoms and effects as Red Sand but was decidedly more toxic. Jack was able to metabolize it better thanks to her overclocked, experimental amp, but Sidda didn't have that benefit. She had a headache.
"It was damn fine rush," Jack said with a grin. "Wouldn't mind getting some more of it. You handle your biotics pretty good, Shep."
Sidda shrugged. The Alliance trained their Biotics well and N7 was even better. The title of Biotic Specialist came not only with being a total badass with biotics but a mastery of combat as well. Not quite a Vanguard but more than just an Adept. "I didn't get those yellow stripes on my armor for nothing. N7 Biotic Specialist," she said. "Nowhere near as destructive as you though."
The Convict beamed, or as close as she came to beaming, to the comment; she was a badass and she knew it. For as abrasive as she was Jack wasn't too bad so long as people obeyed her personal space issues. Sidda was okay with that.
Over a week had passed since meeting with Victus and Sidda didn't feel any better about it. She wanted to talk more about what happened with Nov but was almost afraid to ask. So much had changed in two years it was almost painful. To deal with the pain and stress she buried herself in work, investigating leads, venturing down to awful planets, and gathering resources.
The chime on the terminal startled Sidda from sleep. She'd fallen asleep on the couch, exhausted from throwing herself into work. She winced and rubbed her neck as she got up off the couch to see who sent her a message. She tapped it and noticed only one message. "Hey Sid, whenever you're near the Citadel let me know. I'd like to buy you lunch and talk. – Cal." Sidda felt a smile spread across her face at the thought of him offering to buy her lunch. He told her he wanted to be with her and to be quite frank it scared her a little.
"Commander, please come to the comm room, there's an emergency," Miranda said over the comm and Sidda responded immediately. She didn't care if it came from Miranda; it was a distraction from what Nov had sent.
In the Comm room, Miranda and Jacob seemed alarmed and had the map of a planet pulled on the holo image.
"What's going on?"
"An operative of ours has been captured by the Eclipse. We've been asked to retrieve him." Miranda informed. The explanation was simple and to the point, Sidda appreciated that from the genetically modified human.
"Operative's name is Tyrone Rawlings. He's carrying sensitive information on Cerberus that if leaked could irreparably damage the organization," Jacob continued and Sidda couldn't help but shrug internally. She'd burn Cerberus to the ground if she could and more than likely would once it was appropriate. "Tyrone's tough but we need to get him out of there."
Sidda weighed this carefully; she wasn't entirely sure how far she wanted to go to help Cerberus. "Where's he being held?"
"Lorek in the Omega Nebula."
Sidda scoffed loudly. "Omega Nebula…go fucking figure." A lot went through her mind, Cerberus was the enemy and yet she was working for them. If she let the operative suffer at the hands of Eclipse there was a possibility of whatever he knew getting out to damage Cerberus but the military in her said that she couldn't leave a man behind even if it wasn't one of hers. "Alright, what do we know about the facility?"
Lorek was hot. Tidally locked with a hot and cold pole, it was a rare planet that was steamy hot on the sunward side and totally frozen on the dark side. Miranda, Jacob, and Garrus were the hit parade this time. Miranda and Jacob were not her first choice to bring but they insisted on coming and because of that she made sure Garrus was along. EDI confirmed that the facility was small so a big team would nullify their number, a small great team would be enough to get the job done. Garrus shouldered his favorite weapon and went for the Mattock, close quarters and a sniper rifle didn't usually mix.
The Kodiak dropped onto the only platform in view and they were immediately attacked. Sidda and Jacob ducked to the left and Garrus and Miranda found cover respectively on the other side of the catwalk.
"They knew we were coming," Garrus announced pointedly like he was saying something he'd already told them a dozen times. In fact he had. He was against this mission, there was no good way to get in without being seen but he was overruled. Miranda pressed to get to Rawlings before they broke him and either end it themselves or rescue him. Jacob pushed for a straight up rescue and for once he and Sidda agreed. "I told you they would know we were coming."
"Can it, Garrus!" Sidda snapped back.
Garrus ignored it and shook his head. "We need to get in there right now or we're gonna be rescuing a dead body!"
"I heard you the first ten times, Garrus!" she barked and heard the Turian growl. "The facility is not that big, there can't be too many in there. Taylor and I will move first, Garrus, you and Miranda follow suit. We'll leap frog up. Go."
Before they knew it they were inside but it was by no means easier. Now they were off the narrow catwalk that negated numbers and into a big square room with two levels and cover that was either good or bad depending on where you were caught. Salarians and Asari were everywhere and none were easy to bring down. Vanguards, Sentinels, Engineers…they all sucked.
In the enclosed space the two Mattocks sounded like cannons to the point Sidda's ears were ringing. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck," she cursed as she moved around to find more cover. She should have listened to Garrus. She found that her new favorite ability was Reave, the rush she got as she sapped life from the enemy and by the time they'd cleared out the bad guys it'd taken far too long.
"Gonna listen to me next time?" Garrus asked and Sidda growled.
"Do you fucking mind?" she snapped and the Turian grudgingly fell silent. He had been right and she should have listened to him.
"Commander!" She heard Jacob call.
Garrus' mandibles clinched as soon as he entered the small room. He'd seen enough interrogation rooms to know that he'd just walked into a bad one. There was blood on the floor and walls.
Sidda felt her stomach turn as she looked at what was left of the Cerberus Operative, they were too late. "Oh, Jesus," she commented as Jacob ran his Omni-tool over him. It was hard to tell what the man used to look like since his face was so badly beaten. He'd been cut too, his armor had been removed and torture cuts lined his flesh, turning him into a bloody mess. Sidda crinkled her nose. Burned flesh. He was electrocuted too.
"We were too late," the operative said in a remorseful tone.
"Son of a bitch," she cursed quietly.
Garrus wanted to say 'I told you so' but didn't. He turned away and looked at the console to his right. He tapped the keys nearly hard enough to break it. A flurry of encrypted data flooded the screen and he cocked his head to it. As good as he was with encryption this was entirely over his head, he didn't have a shot in hell at decrypting it right there. Nov would even have a rough time with it. "Shepard," he called and Sidda turned away from the remains of the unlucky operative. "Looks like they were trying to break it."
"That's the sensitive data Rawlings was carrying. Probably why he died," Miranda said and turned to look at him as Jacob tended to him respectfully. Garrus ejected the OSD and Sidda snatched it quickly.
"I got it," she said and gestured back to the operative. "Tend to your man. We'll search out there and recall the Kodiak."
Garrus eyed her as she tucked the OSD away safely and went back out into the mess of dead mercenaries. "Sidda?" he questioned but there wasn't really a question in there. His suspicious tone rang through loud and clear, however.
"What?" she asked and rolled a Salarian over with her foot.
"What are you going to do?" he asked. "Never seen you so agreeable with Miranda and Jacob."
"Just search the bodies, Garrus." She replied with a growl.
Garrus cocked his head becoming irritated with her attitude. This wasn't unusual for her, he survived her attitude while chasing Saren but this was beginning to annoy him. "What's wrong with you?"
"You were right, Garrus, I was wrong…we should never have come," she said and walked from him tapping the Omni-tool to call the Kodiak back.
It took a few hours but the Normandy was back underway. Sidda buried herself in work reviewing data from The Illusive Man and scans that EDI had fed back. She rubbed her eyes and sighed heavily, she wasn't sure what time it was.
"Sid," Garrus greeted and gave her a single nod as he entered the room. "Got our next location?"
"Couple candidates. Still no idea how the hell we're gonna get through the relay," she replied and rubbed her face.
"Hopefully The Illusive Man will come through," Garrus shrugged and observed her. She was complex and had a lot on her mind so he forgave her attitude but he was still worried.
"That'll be the day," she muttered and Garrus snorted as he turned to head out.
"Hey, Garrus," Sidda began and the big Turian stopped in the doorway and half turned to give her his attention. "I'm sorry. You were right, I was wrong; there was no way we could have gotten in there fast enough."
Garrus shrugged it off, she could be abrasive when a lot was on her mind and he understood there was a lot on her mind. "Never happened, Sid."
Sidda smiled appreciating him as a friend. "Thanks for always being there."
Garrus nodded and shifted as Miranda brushed past him. "Commander, where is the data?"
Sidda sat back down at the table. "I sent it to the Alliance."
"You what?" Miranda asked in a quick mix tone of shock and anger.
Even Garrus was surprised. "What?"
Miranda was still shocked at what she'd heard. "That was not your information to give away, Commander."
Sidda didn't move and her expression didn't change. "Cerberus is a terrorist organization."
"That bitch," Miranda thought. The gall she had to stand there and try to justify her actions. "So you turned Cerberus property over to the Alliance. Our operative died for that information, Commander. We bring you back to life and you spit on it and give intelligence to the Alliance after our operative died to protect it."
Sidda returned to her stacks of datapads. "Not my problem."
"This is a Cerberus ship, Commander; you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for us how about a little gratitude and a little less self-righteousness."
"You're one to talk."
Garrus held up his hand to stop Miranda's next volley. "You crossed the line," he growled and Miranda blinked at the backup she was receiving from a Turian. Sidda was shocked to see Garrus as anything other than an ally. "You had no right to do that, Sidda."
Sidda stood and narrowed her eyes to him. "Are you kidding me, Garrus?" she questioned. "Do you not remember all the shit we saw? The horrific experiments we walked into? The people that died because of them?"
Garrus stepped toward her with a fierce glare. "That man died to prevent that data from falling into the wrong hands. Our job was to save him, we failed. They didn't break him and you walk in and ensure he died in vain."
Sidda didn't know what to say to Garrus at the moment. They'd never been on opposite sides. "Lawson, can you excuse us?"
Miranda protested loudly but Garrus turned to her assuring her that he was going to take care of this. It was surprising to see, to be frank. "The Illusive Man will hear of this."
That didn't faze Sidda. "By all means. Have him call me when he wants to chat."
Garrus prevented another squabble but had never, in the entire time he's known her, seen her like this. "I have never seen you do something despicable, Shepard, until today," he said and heard her grumble loudly.
"Oh, come off it, Garrus," she hissed. "You love the fact that I don't play by the rules."
He growled and moved toward the table leveling a fierce, angry glare at her. "Avoiding the red tape is one thing, this is entirely different. I don't like Cerberus any more than you do. Now all it will take is one word from whoever is in charge and I can't protect you from everyone onboard."
"I don't need your protection," she said and he Garrus slapped his hand on the table with a frustrated noise.
"Then why am I here?!" he roared making her flinch slightly but not out of fear. It was a surprise to see him like this. She'd only seen it once before, on the Citadel with Leena's rapist. "You pull me off Omega, for which I am grateful, but you tell me you want me here to watch your back but I can't do that while you're burning the place down," his tone shifted from a shout to his regular speaking voice. "I don't like Cerberus any more than you do but you have got to figure out how to work with them."
"I do not," she snarled back.
Garrus growled in frustration she was as stubborn as he was. "You spent entirely too much time with Victus," he grumbled and Sidda glowered. "What's going on with you?" The question had multiple aspects to it; Sidda's life had never been simple, or at least it hadn't been simple for the last 5 years, dead or alive, now it was even worse.
Sidda didn't answer at first and the mood seemed to calm between them. "All I can think of is Kahoku…finding him dead and Toombs and all the other…I can't get behind them."
"I know," Garrus nodded and couldn't help but agree with her. Cerberus conducted hundreds of disgusting experiments and they all ended horribly with a body count. "But all it'll take is one order from The Illusive Man and then you could be back on ice. Or some master kill switch."
Sidda lowered her head looking at the ground. "I had to send it, Garrus," she said and Garrus stayed silent. "On the right side of this or not the Alliance needed to know it, even if it takes a while for them to decode it."
Garrus still didn't agree but didn't want to continue in the fight. "I understand but I'll never agree. Just pace yourself with Cerberus," he told her and didn't wait for a response before leaving. Sidda sat down again and let out a heavy sigh, Garrus was right. What had she become?