Chapter 50 – Cade's 18th Birthday Bash – Part 2

March 31st, 2204, 1751 hours – The Planet of Bellara in Rebellare System, Apien Crest

(Specialist Cade Kitiarian – Team One, Blackwatch)

Currently en-route to the City of Sera

"Another patrol up ahead. Four Vindicators. Two beside the blue hovercar and two hunkered down in the kiosk," Septina reported.

The four turians crouched silently in the shadow of a narrow alley. They'd spent the last twenty minutes avoiding enemy patrols on their way to the Vindicator's communication jammer. This part of the city was still firmly under enemy control as the Loyalist forces hadn't yet managed to penetrate this far, but the large amount of gunfire echoing back from the way they came told Cade that it'd only be a matter of time before the chaos caught up to them.

Garrus peeked around the corner. "We're too close now to go around, we should take them out quietly. We can't waste any more time," the Primarch whispered.

Cade's father shook his head at his friend. "Agreed, but we can't risk one of them recognizing you. Lieutenant Oraka and I will handle them," Koltira replied.

Garrus thought about it for a moment. "Have it your way Kol, but be quick," he sighed back.

Koltira nodded. "Cade, stay here and guard the Primarch. Lieutenant, let's go."

The two turian commandos slipped out of the alleyway towards the unsuspecting guards. Garrus surprised Cade by taking the opportunity to press his back against the wall and slide down it into a seated position. He landed with a sigh of relief. "Spirits, this was a lot easier a decade ago."

He looked ruefully down at his thighs. "One of the things I always hated about heavy armor is that you can't massage a knot out of your leg. I didn't realize how much it sucked until the Reaper war, where I spent probably half of it crouched behind cover. It was sheer torture. Spirits help you if you get a cramp mid-firefight."

Cade blinked at the Primarch, unsure of how to react at the attempt at small-talk. Should he just nod and say nothing, or should he stick with a simple, tried-and-true 'yes sir'? Frankly, it was kind of strange to hear Garrus whine about something as mundane as a muscle cramp. This was the turian who had massacred mercenaries by the dozens on Omega after all – and that's not counting the whole Reaper bit. If Cade had heard one of his teammates closer in age and rank bitch about a muscle cramp in the middle of a mission, Cade would have probably mocked their scales off.

He eventually settled on being helpful. "Have you tried a better exercise regimen, sir? Some more potassium in your diet might also help."

Garrus turned to Cade and narrowed his eyes at him. "Did you just sass your Primarch?"

"N-no sir!" Cade quickly replied.

Garrus sighed dispiritedly and looked away. "You're no fun. I used to run with this quarian engineer who was no older than you are right now. Every third word out of her mouth was about how I was old or slow or how terrible I was at engineering. It was always 'bosh'tet'-this or 'Kheelah-selai' - that. After a firefight, she'd point at random, discarded weapons on the ground and ask me 'are you going to calibrate that as well?'. Between her and Shepard it was enough to make me want to put a slug in my head."

Ah yes, nostalgia. The lowest form of conversation. Garrus was clearly bored. Cade didn't understand the specific references related to Garrus' underage, quarian friend, but he decided that in the interests of his own personal safety and well-being it was probably best not to dig too deeply into that. He perked up at the mention of Shepard though. He'd never met her. What he knew of her was only what he'd been taught in school and at the academy. "What was she like, sir?"

"What, Shepard?" Garrus cocked an eye-plate. "Shepard was… Shepard. She was a force of nature. She was capricious too. One moment she could be the bravest, most kind-hearted person you'd ever met and in the next instant she could be the hardest, most cold-hearted bastard you ever had the misfortune to cross. Shepard was Shepard… and I know that I'm likely never going to see someone else like her ever again in my lifetime."

That was no answer to Cade, who had wanted to hear more specific details of the exploits of the legendary Spectre. He was about to open his mouth when the channel flickered on.

"Garrus, its all clear. No alarms," Koltira reported.

Garrus pressed a talon to his comm piece. "Roger that Kol," he replied. The Primarch used his Mantis to push himself off the ground with a groan. "Come on, kid, I want this jammer dead and the Secessionist delegates secured before nightfall. Maybe get a hot meal and a shower in before this summit."

Cade nodded, somewhat relieved that the conversation was over. Garrus was… actually a bit strange for a turian. A bit more gregarious than Cade would have thought, the kind of person who would probably bend head-over-backwards to have the last word or to loose one last parting jib.

He shouldered his Black Widow and followed Garrus out of the alley. They reunited with Septina and his father just past the kiosk.

"The jammer is up on that roof over there," Garrus said, pointing at a tall skyscraper two blocks over. Though they were too close to see the entirety of its rooftop, it looked as if the uppermost levels of the building were unfinished. "It's never not on a skyscraper, is it?"

"Probably has something to do with the transmission antenna," Cade quipped.

Garrus narrowed his eyes at Cade again. "That's strike two," he grumbled with a half-smile.

As the team moved closer to the target building, Cade saw that it had been fortified by the Vindicators. Barricades had been erected on the steps leading up to the entrance, including the erection of three heavy gun emplacements. There were maybe thirty of them, with more possibly inside and definitely a guard up on the roof. A set-up like that could hold out at least three standard turian infantry platoons.

Garrus marked the third floor of a living complex to the two-o-clock of the entrance of the skyscraper. "Cade, take up position here. I'll take up position in that one over there. With those angles we'll be able to hit them behind the barricades and keep them off the guns. Koltira, you and the lieutenant can engage them however you like."

In typical turian fashion the Vindicators were well-prepared against a standard frontal assault, but they were ill-equipped against the dirty, ambush tactics that Garrus Vakarian had honed for two years fighting mercenaries in the dirty streets of Omega.

Koltira shrugged. With his helmet on and his mandibles obscured it was difficult to tell what he really thought about Garrus' plan. "Whatever you want, Garrus. There's only thirty of them after all."

"We get it, you're a hard bastard Kol. However, I don't have fond memories of heavy machine guns, so I ask politely that you indulge me."

The commander merely chuckled and signalled for Cade and Septina to get into position.

Cade broke off towards the spot Garrus had picked out for him. Carefully and wary of being seen, he used his omni-tool to break into the complex. It wasn't a particularly large one, being maybe four stories high and housing maybe sixteen residences total. He made his way up the stairs without issue and towards the residence in question.

He waved his omni-tool over the lock and the top-tier, military-grade hacking program opened it easily. Cade's immediately recoiled as he was hit by a powerful smell so strong that it made his eyes water.

Garbage and a disturbingly-large amount of rotting, raw meat lined the edges of the hallway past the door. Cade gagged. It smelled like a krogan's quadsack. Gingerly, he picked his way past the refuse and into the living room where he was met with an even bigger surprise.

A large table sat squarely in the middle of the room with ungodly amounts of red sand sitting in several, neat piles on top of it, along with a few measuring instruments. Crates marked in an unknown language lined the edges of the room. Some of them had bags filled with red sand resting alongside them. What looked like illegally-modded weapons lay scattered around the area as well. Some were up on hooks embedded into the wall, while others were simply placed on shelves or smaller stands. Disturbingly, there was a birthing crèche in one corner filled with Claymore shotguns.

On the ceiling, someone had sprayed as symbol. It was the sigil of the Blood Pack.

Great. Of all the places Garrus could have sent me, he picked a spirit's-damned drug den.

The young turian shut the door behind him and cleared the single bedroom and bathroom. They were in a similar condition to the rest of the apartment. He then grabbed a chair and slowly opened the window, where he'd have full view of the Vindicator forces.

He was just about to report to his father when a metallic glint caught the corner of his eye. Cade turned his head towards a dresser with a half-opened drawer sitting just beside him. He grabbed the handle and pulled it.

Inside were a pair of what looked like modified M-6 Carnifex pistols. Someone had put black and hopefully heat-resistant decals on them. One had what looked like a nude, human female printed on it while the other had a strange four-legged creature with long, thin legs, an elongated snout and a mane of hair running down its head and its neck. They sat atop a flyer featuring a charging krogan with the Carnifex slogan printed on it. "Don't you wish Carnifex was at your side?"

He picked them up gingerly and chortled to himself. They looked stupid as hell. "Spirits, who in the galaxy would think that these look cool," he said to himself, amazed.

He then opened up their ammunition blocks. His eyeplates went up when he saw that someone had loaded both of them with armor-piercing blocks. It was complete overkill since Carnifex rounds were already oversized. That sealed it. Whoever designed the Carnifex pistols had probably been high on his own supply. Cade posed with the pistols and snapped a few pictures on his omni-tool before placing them back in the drawer with one final chuckle.

Another item caught his eye. He pulled open the drawer beneath the one holding the Carnifex pistols.

This drawer was filled with what looked like old magazines. Each one of them had pictures of human women in various stages of undress, ranging from extremely, extremely underdressed to completely undressed.

He decided he had a few more minutes before the rest of the team was in position. Curious, Cade grabbed one of the magazines and leafed through it.

Human females were strange for sure. They didn't have the scales that turian females had or the natural muscle-tone. Were they even resistant to light radiation? They looked so vulnerable. They were also naturally-unarmored. All they had was some hair here and there.

But Cade suppose he could see a kind of appeal there. Their legs – though not double-hinged – were still pretty anatomically similar to turian females. Most of them had a similar hip-to-waist ratio and their eyes came in the same shades as turian eyes. The hair on their head could be shaped into pleasing patterns. Judging by the poses, human females looked to be quite flexible as well.

Cade felt his cheeks suddenly begin to burn. What is happening?

"Cade, are you in position?" Koltira's voice suddenly asked.

Cade nearly fell on his ass. He tossed the magazine back into the dresser and turned on his radio. "Yes, commander. Awaiting your signal."

He readied his Black Widow and peered through the scope, taking long, deep breaths and equally-long exhales to calm himself and enhance his focus. There would be no more freezing up now. Both Garrus and his father were depending on him to do his job. They needed him to momentarily set aside his sympathy so that he could do what he needed to do to stop this war.

The Vindicator manning the first heavy gun suddenly dropped. His neighbour dropped another second later.

Cade panned his crosshairs over onto the Vindicator manning the next gun and finally managed to pull the trigger. The bullet seared through the Vindicator's head and he dropped like the first two. That was it – Cade's first kill for this campaign. In less than a second, he'd ended the life of his fellow turian.

He furiously suppressed his shock and disgust and instead leaned into his training. His second shot hit the back-up gunner in the throat. His third hit the next nearest turian – a small, thin female who looked as if she hadn't even had a chance to fully process that they were under attack. As Garrus and Cade continued their assault on key targets, Cade's father and Septina charged towards the enemy lines, felling Vindicators left and right.

A group of Vindicators suddenly exited from the target building and headed towards the two. He panned his rifle towards them. Cade managed to land all three shots in his heat sink – perfect headshots that sent the first three tumbling to the ground, leaving the other two easy meat for his fellow sniper.

"Excellent shooting", Garrus lauded over the channel. Cade almost squealed with excitement. He knew he was a good shot. Now, Garrus knew he was a good shot.

"That's my son," Koltira replied. Now that was the real prize.

Cade was deep in the zone now, or so he liked to think. He'd fallen into a smooth rhythm of aiming and firing and aiming and firing. He had just felled three more Vindicators when he heard the door to the unit open behind him.

"What the —?" growled a deep, guttural voice.

Cade immediately turned his head. Standing in the doorway was a massive krogan in heavy armor with the mark of the Blood Pack on his chestpiece, so tall that his hump was brushing the top of the frame.

For a brief moment, Cade and the krogan both simply stood there looking at one another, the two both rooted by pure shock. The krogan then stared at Cade's black armor, and then at the Blackwatch insignia on his pauldron. The gears inside of its massive head began to turn and the look of confusion on the krogan's face instantly morphed into one of rage and anger once he realized that Cade wasn't likely to be his friend.

"You're dead, turian!" he roared.

Cade help up a hand, "Wait!—"

The krogan charged down the hallway towards Cade. Cade gave a panicked little scream and tried to bring his Black Widow to bear against the krogan, but the enraged gangster was too fast and already too close. Cade's first shot missed by a few feet but his second clipped the krogan's arm, sending a shower of green blood flying across the room and causing the krogan to roar incoherently.

But the wound did little to slow the krogan down. Cade somehow managed to dive out of the way right before the krogan got to him, landing in the other corner of the room atop a pile of dirty laundry.

Cade dropped his rifle and pulled out his standard-issue turian sidearm. He rolled onto his back and took aim at the krogan.

Cade emptied all nine rounds in the heatsink into the krogan's chest and head. He managed to break the krogan's shields and hit flesh, but judging from the krogans wide grin he hadn't done more than just tickle him.

The pistol overheated in Cade's hands, but he couldn't hear the heatsink over the sound of his rapidly-beating heart. "Let's dance!" the krogan crowed.

The krogan strode towards him. Cade tried to scramble away, but he felt his back hit the wall.

"Cade? Cade are you there?" his father's voice said over the channel.

The krogan lifted him by the collar of his armor with one hand. "Gotcha!" he laughed.

The krogan turned and hurled him towards the shotgun-filled crèche. He crashed into it and splintered it into pieces, losing his pistol in the process. Cade tried to push himself off of the pile of shotguns and away from the krogan.

"Cade? Cade!? Are you okay?!"

"Get over here!" the krogan roared. Cade barely had time to groan before he felt himself being lifted again.

This time the krogan sent him flying through the table in the middle of the room, sending a cloud of red sand flying everywhere. Though his armor protected him from the brunt of the impact, the impact shook and disoriented him nonetheless. Cade grabbed desperately at his combat knife and had just managed to unsheathe it when he felt himself being lifted one more time. Yelling something completely unintelligible to Cade, the krogan hurled him clear across the apartment, sending him sliding down the hallway past all the garbage to slam heavily up against the door.

Cade looked up just in time to see a dresser being hurled towards him. It slammed into his chest and his head, breaking into a dozen pieces and showering him in indecent magazines. As he blinked in an attempt to get rid of the stars threatening to crowd out his vision, Cade began to feel a warm liquid trickle from the top of his head down into his eye.

The krogan approached him slowly with his arms spread wide. He was sporting a big, shit-eating grin on his toad-like face, acting as if this was some organized, commercial fight and he was the front-runner. He stopped about ten meters away and then like some kind of cartoon character he produced a large meat cleaver seemingly out of nowhere. "You came to the wrong neighbourhood, split-chin. Any last words?"

Cade coughed weakly, using one hand to steady himself so he was seated more upright against the door. The krogan became two, then four, and then back to two in his vision and he could taste blood on his lips. He wasn't scared, but it suddenly hit him that he may not survive this fight. Death in combat was the other, unspoken birthright of every Kitiarian. Given their status and their history, not many Kitiarians had ever died of old age.

"Cade? Cade!? My son, are you alright?!"

With a shaking hand, Cade pressed the release on his helmet. The back of the helmet bloomed, allowing him to pull it off his face. He dropped it onto the ground beside him.

He was about to say something pithy and befitting his final words when something caught his eye. It was the flyer. He brushed it aside. Beneath it was a few more nude magazines and beneath them… something else.

"Don't you wish Carnifex was at your side?"

The krogan looked at Cade, taken back by his choice in last words. "What?"

Cade began to laugh weakly, caught up in his own wittiness and coughing up some blood as he did so. "I said, 'Don't you wish Carnifex was at your side?'" he repeated.

The krogan looked at Cade in confusion once more, then shrugged and lifted his cleaver. "You must have hit your head pretty bad, turian, but don't worry – I'll get rid of it for you," the krogan grunted. He stepped towards Cade.

Cade swept aside the magazines and grabbed a Carnifex in each hand, levelling both of them at the krogan.

The krogan stopped in his tracks. Fear instantly filled his eyes.

The young turian let out a bloody grin. "Don't you wish Carnifex was at your side?" he said a final time.

Cade squeezed the triggers and the dual pistols began to roar. Their roar was almost loud enough to drown out the krogan's desperate screams of pain. The armor-piercing bullets tore brick-sized chunks from the Blood Pack drug dealer, spraying green ichor everywhere around the apartment and coating Cade's black armor in gore.

By the time Cade had emptied both heatsinks the krogan was nothing more than chunks of quivering, pulsating flesh on the ground. The screams had stopped, leaving the apartment silent except for the sound of overheating heatsink and Cade's heavy breathing.

He pulled himself shakily to his feet and then promptly crashed down onto his knees and vomited. He wiped his mouth clean and keyed on his omni-tool. "I'm good, commander. A krogan tried to kill me. He didn't take too kindly to finding a stranger in his home."

"Cade! Spirits… okay, I'm glad to hear you're alright! We've cleared out the Vindicators guarding the entrance. Can you make your way to us by yourself?"

Cade wiped the blood from his eyes and bent down to pick up his helmet, giving it a quick dust-off before sliding it back over his head. "Yes, commander. Be there in a moment."

"Good… You fought well, son. I am proud of you."

Cade hadn't expected that last part from his father. The words he'd intended to reply with – words meant to convey his competence and his desire to do his duty like a model turian – got stuck and died in his throat. A meek"Thank you, commander," was all he could manage.

Cade shook his head at himself and walked across the apartment to pick up his Black Widow, going out of his way to kick at his turian sidearm in disgust. The spirits-cursed thing hadn't done anything more than piss the krogan off and nearly get him killed.

Cade hefted the two Carnifexs instead. The design motifs that he had only minutes before scorned as gharish and idiotic were now the two most beautiful things he'd ever seen. Cade pressed his lips to their barrels and then clipped the two Carnifex's to his utility belt.

As he was leaving the apartment he bent down once more and grabbed one of the human magazines. Just as a souvenir – a momento from his near-brush with death, or so Cade told himself. He flattened it and placed it gently into his utility pouch, beneath a few spare heatsinks.

He left the apartment and rejoined the team at the entrance of the target building. All eyes were on Cade and his battered armor which was almost completely covered in green gore and garbage, with the fluids acting as a gruesome adhesive for copious amounts of red sand as well.

"Spirits, rookie. What the hell happened up there?" Septina asked.

"That apartment was being used as a contraband stash house by the Blood Pack. The owner – a krogan who probably weighed about eight-hundred pounds - walked in on me during the fight," Cade grumbled. "He tossed me around like I was a child. Threw me through a crib filled with guns and dropped a dresser on my head."

Septina guffawed. "And you made it out of that one piece? I kind of find that hard to swallow, kid. Commander, can we pull the rookie's combat camera?

Cade remembered his little side-track prior to the start of the fight and coughed nervously. "No – no need Septina, really—it wasn't really anything special. I just got lucky."

Garrus stepped over and plucked one of the Carnifex pistols from Cade belt, holding it up for the team to see. "Clearly," he chuckled. Cade snatched it back, shrugging sheepishly at his teammates. Koltira shook his head slowly, but the way he did so told Cade that he was more amused than irate at his son.

But it was time to return to the mission. The team entered the ground floor of the tower, with Cade doing his best this time not to look at the bodies of the turians they'd killed. He didn't want to risk another lecture from Septina.

Garrus gestured at the elevator. "Want to take the fast way up, Kol?"

Koltira scoffed. "We should take the stairs. There's probably more room at the top to maneuver as well."

"Kol, in what universe do trained turian citizens not cover every point of ingress anyways? Besides – you have no idea if that's even true or not."

Garrus called down both elevators before Cade's father could even supply a rebuttal. Cade and the rest of the team were poised with their weapons raised, in case anyone came down with it.

The elevator opened. It was actually quite a large one, probably big enough to fit at least twenty armored turians and designed not only for passengers but equipment as well. Septina swept the first one and then gave an all clear.

Garrus pushed past her and waved for the rest of the team to join him. Once they were inside, Cade pressed the button for the top floor.

The elevator began to ascend and the turian anthem began to play from the speakers overhead.

Garrus hummed to himself as he went about the group. First he gently pushed Septina so she was flush against the left wall of the elevator. He then pressed a grenade into her hand and smiled at her. He then did the same with Cade himself. Koltira and Garrus took the opposite side. Each had a grenade in one hand except for Koltira, who was also clutching a nightstalker grenade.

At once, the rest of the team understood what Garrus had planned.

"Hey Garrus, technically we could have done the same thing had we gone up the stairs. Using the stairs is standard protocol anyways," Cade quipped.

Garrus glanced at Cade. "Yes it is, which is why any turian up on that roof is probably going to be watching the stairs more closely than the elevator. Slight – slight element of surprise there."

"Or maybe someone's afraid of a muscle cramp," Cade smirked.

Garrus narrowed his eyes angrily. "Hey, I told you that in confidence! I also just saved us a walk up nearly sixty flights of stairs. Also, you smell like crap, kid." From beside Cade, Septina nodded fervently in agreement. "I might get a second-hand high from that red sand if I don't get out of here soon," she added. Cade sniffed himself and winced.

They were maybe ten seconds from the top now. Garrus elbowed Koltira beside him. "Do it."

Koltira pressed the trigger atop his nightstalker grenade and let it fall to the ground. In seconds, an impenetrable black smoke filled the elevator, cloaking the team.

Cade activated his helmet's enhanced visual suite, allowing him to pick out his teammates. Garrus had no such equipment, so Cade was unsure how he'd deal with the smoke. Presumably, they'd exit soon after. For a few more seconds the team stood in utter darkness, their senses filled with nothing but vertigo from the elevator, the faint sounds of the turian anthem, and the stench that Cade was emitting.

Finally, the doors opened and the black smoke began to billow out as well. Gunfire immediately filled the elevator, zipping blindly past the door and hitting the back wall. The way Garrus had positioned them however ensured that nobody was hit. Cade didn't dare to poke his head out to take a look.

A grenade sailed in. Without missing a beat, Koltira kicked it back out the door where it detonated somewhere on the roof, drawing panicked shouts.

After a few more seconds the smoke had covered a significant portion of the area outside the elevator. "Should be enough. Let's dance, people," Garrus ordered. He activated his grenade and tossed it out. The rest of the team soon followed suit.

The detonations created a lull in the gunfire, allowing the four turians to dash out. Their helmets quickly outlined the objects around them. The roof was covered with crates of various sizes, half-built walls and scaffolding. It turned out construction had been happening at this level.

But the enemy was everywhere. Cade immediately brought his rifle up and shot two Vindicators who'd been floundering in the thick, black smoke. The rest were disoriented by the grenades leaving them easy targets for Koltira and Septina, who began to dispatch them using a combination of weapons fire and knife-work. Garrus had refrained from shoot and had instead made a beeline for the nearest cover – a vent hood to the far right just inside of the smoke's range. From there, he moved to another piece of cover, this time a large crate.

The team pressed forward using their enhanced visuals to their advantage, with Koltira and Septina leading the assault while Cade hung back to support them. The Vindicators still caught in the smoke were picked off one by one.

Eventually the team reached the part of the roof where the smoke ended. Cade stepped past that threshold and was immediately met with a fresh wave of gunfire. His shields whined but he managed to duck behind a low wall, while Koltira and Septina took cover behind another one nearby. Meanwhile, Garrus was nowhere to be seen.

Cade cursed. He was about to toss another grenade when a cold, hard voice cut suddenly through the air. Deep and throaty, but still with the species' signature flanging quality, there was no doubt that it belonged to a turian. But strangely, it had a slightly muffled quality to it.

"My brothers and sisters… my fellow turians…look." the voice rumbled. "Look at what the Primarch has done to us. Look at what the Primarch has reduced us to. Instead of rebuilding turian worlds and saving turian lives, he instead sets his followers and his armies upon them—to silence those who would fight against his unjust policies!"

Cade stopped and instead peeked his head over the wall. Beyond lay the communication jammer with its transmission antenna. Surrounding it was a series of concentrically-placed fortifications comprised of crates and metal barriers dragged together, manned by maybe dozen Vindicators.

The voice came from a Vindicator, standing tall and unafraid a few feet ahead of his fellow rebels. He had no distinguishing marks on his armor and was clad in the same gunmetal gray battle-suit as the rest of the rebels. However, in lieu of a helmet he had donned a black mask with a red turian skull etched upon it. There was no doubt in Cade's mind - it was Talos.

Koltira undid his helmet and set it down on the ground. "Speaking ill of your Primarch is treason to any good and loyal turian my friend," Cade's father called out. "What the Primarch does he does because he believes it to be the right thing to do. He believes that the true strength of the turians will be revealed through intergalactic cooperation and putting the interests of other species ahead of our own. That it comes at the price of turian lives or worlds is a price that he is willing to pay. Like any good turian, the Primarch does what he does for the ultimate good of all turians everywhere. As do we."

Talos chuckled. Cade could taste the bitterness beneath it. "You've been brainwashed if that is what you believe. No one discounts what Vakarian did for us during the Reaper War, but he has spent so much time among the other species that he has forgotten what it means to be a true turian. 'For the Hierarchy' it goes… not 'For the Galaxy', or have you all forgotten as well? Even now he'll spend your lives without giving you a second thought, just so he can spend turian resources on rebuilding krogan or human cities all the while leaving turian children to starve," the rebel leader spat in disgust.

"There can be no peace without conflict. No strength without sacrifice. Turian blood has and always will be the currency upon which safety is purchased… no matter the time or age."

Talos suddenly stiffened visibly at Koltira's words. "What did you say? Who are you? Show yourself!"

Koltira rose from his place behind the wall. Septina tried to grab hold of him but he shook her away. What was his father doing?

Cade's father walked proudly up to the rebels, stopping just a few feet short of Talos. "I am Commander Koltira Kitiarian," Koltira spoke loudly. "The 997th commander of the Blackwatch and the loyal servant of the turian people."

Talos and the rest of the Vindicators began to whisper among themselves, unnerved. Cade couldn't make out what they were saying, but he wasn't particularly trying very hard to – not when his father was walking straight towards them. Did his father have something planned? He had to.

"You?" Talos finally rasped.

"Me," replied Koltira, starring long and hard into Talos' eyes.

The rebels began to whisper among themselves again. The air between the two groups was thick with tension. Though Koltira hadn't gave either of them a hint as to what they intended, Cade and Septina both exchanged glances and were prepared to spring into action at the first sign of trouble. Garrus strangely enough was still nowhere to be seen.

"You know who I am, don't you?" Koltira continued. "You know what I am capable of and you know what I can do. You know what the right thing to do is."

Talos stood there silently as he pondered Koltira's words. A raging battle that Cade was not privy to was taking place behind those steely, green eyes.

Finally, the storm subsided and a peace was achieved. Talos replied. "I do.",

Talos raised a pistol. "For the Hierarchy," he swore.

He squeezed the trigger just as Koltira leapt towards the rebel leader. The first two shots impacted harmless against Koltira's shields. As quick as lightning, Koltira swept Talos' pistol upwards with one hand. With the other he produced a combat knife and drove it into Talos' bicep, causing him to cry out in pain and drop his weapon.

Septina and Cade both leapt to their feet. Together they gunned down several Vindicators who had begun to react to Koltira's sudden assault.

A Vindicator raised a heavy missile launcher but was instantly cut down from a sniper shot coming from another part of the roof. Garrus must have finally joined the battle.

Between the three of them they quickly wiped out the rest of the rebels, leaving just a wounded Talos.

The rebel leader produced his own knife and tried to aim a pair of slashes at Koltira's face, but the Blackwatch commander dodged them with almost supernatural speed, tearing out his knife from Talos' arm in the process and causing the other turian to cry out in pain.

Koltira and Talos danced and weaved, their knives flashing in the fading sunlight. However, Cade knew that a gap in skill the size of Cipritine lay between the two duelists, compounded by Talos' wound. While Talos looked as if he were fighting with every fibre of his being, Koltira fought as if he were bored. Cade's father moved with twice the speed and fluidity as the other turian, and Cade watched as his father passed up multiple opportunities to end the duel. It was as if he was toying with him.

The two came together one last time, their knives locking together with a shriek. Knowing he was unmatched Talos pushed himself away from Koltira, clutching his wounded arm. Blood flowed freely from the deep wound, painting the ground beneath the turian a vivid dark-blue. By the looks of it the blood loss was finally catching up to Talos. The rebel dropped to his knees beside his fallen comrades.

Koltira just stood there, silently staring at the rebel leader. Cade couldn't see the look on his father's face as his back was now turned, but he could now feel that same murderous aura that his father had exuded when he'd fought the rebel platoon.

Garrus joined the group, Mantis raised. "It's over Talos. Surrender and I'll let you live, I promise."

Talos looked over at the Primarch. After a few moments he began to chuckle. "Your reign is measured in hours and days, Vakarian, you just don't know it yet. My brothers and sisters will not stop until the Heirarchy is free of you. Soon, a real Primarch will rise – a Primarch strong enough to raise our people up, a Primarch strong enough to turn the Hierarchy into a force that can protect our entire galaxy to the end of its days. Your days are numbered."

In spite of Talos' words, Garrus lowered his weapon. He set it on the ground, produced a packet of medi-gel and approached the wounded rebel.

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard your rebel doctrine about a hundred times now," Garrus sighed tiredly. "You know, fifteen years ago I would have shot you before you'd have even finished your first sentence, but Shepard taught me that words can end a war just as well as any bullet – if not better. You need medical attention. Once we've treated your wounds, I'd like you to attend our summit. You can give your input on how you want this conflict to resolve and how you think I should proceed with both turian and galactic restoration efforts."

Cade marvelled at Garrus' capacity for mercy. Cade didn't know if he'd be as generous were he in Garrus' position, especially considering how many lives Talos' actions had cost.

Just when Garrus was a few feet away, Talos lunged and pulled a pistol off one of the fallen rebels, training it on Garrus. Koltira, Cade and Septina all immediately raised their weapons and pointed them at Talos' chest, but Garrus held out a hand to stop them.

Garrus raised his other hand towards Talos. "Talos, please… you don't have to do this. I don't want to fight you! I don't want to fight any of you! I'm sorry if I neglected our people… trust me, that was never my intention."

Tears glistened in Talos' eyes, falling to mix with the blood that was pooling rapidly around him. His breathing had became more and more laboured the longer his wounds were left unattended.

Septina took a step towards the wounded rebel leader but Garrus waved her aside. "Please, give me a chance to fix this," Garrus pleaded. "With your help, I know I can."

In that moment Cade felt as if he'd gotten the full measure of who Garrus was not only as a turian, but as a person. In his mind he could now see the kind of future Garrus had envisioned for the turians. He sought to weave into their society a strong sense of empathy and sympathy for their fellow living beings – no matter what species they were or how at odds they may have been. He wanted to shift the turians away from their deeply-ingrained sense of nationalism and into a more inclusive and expansive role of responsibility for the wellbeing of all the people in the galaxy.

And strangely, Cade agreed with him. Maybe it was because Cade was young and hadn't had as much exposure to the old ways, or maybe it was because Cade had an easier time taking the parables of the Reaper War to heart in a way that many older turians hadn't– that it was better for people to come together than to remain divided. Yes, he was still fighting his own people for now, but Cade got the sense that Garrus would only do so to the extent that it would benefit his people as a whole. He didn't want to conquer his enemies. He fought to forgive them. That was why he was fighting so hard to have this peace summit. To end the Palaven Rebellions.

Whether Garrus was in the right, Cade did not know. At least Garrus' morals and principles as they were demonstrated by Garrus' own actions appealed more to Cade when compared to the nationalism exhibited by the rebels. It was of course entirely possible that the rebels felt the same about their own cause, and that of course made Cade think.

In the end thinking was a futile exercise, and Cade was reduced to wondering if Talos would have offered Garrus the same mercy had the shoe been on the other foot. Either way, for the first time since this civil war had started, Cade finally felt as if he were on the right side of things.

The pistol Talos was holding wavered slightly and for a moment Cade thought he'd finally submit, but Talos' next words sealed his fate.

"No Vakarian, you can't. I thank you for your mercy… but you are not and never will be strong enough to do what is best for our people. Your heart is weak, Vakarian."

Talos shuddered. "But this is farewell. I may not have been strong enough to stop you, but there will come someone who is. When that time comes, I hope you too will die for the cause."

Talos moved the barrel of his pistol to his chin and pulled the trigger. The mask shattered in half, falling in pieces onto the bloody floor.

Garrus lowered his hands, balling them up into fists. Koltira stared dispassionately at Talos' corpse, his stony features a mask that shielded whatever thoughts he harbored from the rest of his team. Cade just stood there quietly, letting the two older turians process whatever it was that they were feeling.

Septina stepped past the rebels and waved her omni-tool over the jammer's control panel. Within seconds, the jammer began to sputter and hiss. Voices began to fill their channel as long-range communications between the Loyalist forces were restored.

"This is Lieutenant Septina Oraka from Blackwatch Team One with a priority announcement. Communications have been restored. Talos has been eliminated – I repeat, Talos has been eliminated," Septina broadcasted over the main channel.

Cade had begun to move and check the rebel bodies when another communication suddenly cut in. "Lieutenant Oraka, this is Captain Artemisius of the 47th legion, Aephus Company. Did you say you eliminated Talos? We took down a target wearing a Talos mask not an hour ago."

Septina looked up in confusion and turned towards Garrus. The Primarch looked confused as well.

"This is General Vorentian of the 24th,'' another voice reported. "My forces also eliminated a target wearing a Talos mask. Can you confirm your location, Lieutenant Oraka?"

Cade stopped as more and more transmissions came in from Loyalist units, each reporting to have had an encounter with a turian rebel wearing the Talos mask.

"What's going on? Did we get him or not?" Cade asked the team.

Garrus sighed and glanced at the body of the imposter before them. "No kid, we didn't. Talos is still out there. He just may not be a single turian. And if it is… for all we know he may not even be here at all. Many politicalized figures are all bark, no bite. Or perhaps this Talos is nothing more than propaganda – a persona created by the Vindicators."

Cade looked up. Then it was all for nothing. The sun was starting to set, igniting a chill in the air around them.

Cade watched his father step towards the imposter's corpse. The aura had receded once more, leaving only the turian that Cade both loved and admired. Setting down his weapon beside him, Koltira knelt down onto the pool of blood and picked up both halves of the shattered mask.

Slowly, Koltira joined the halves together. "No Garrus, Talos is real. He is here, and he will not stop until he gets what he wants. Of that you can be sure."