XI

Nova: Reaction

"Hello?" Tali cried. "Is anyone there?!"

Shepard stepped up to the comm. "Tali, it's Shepard. I'm sorry. Everyone here is dead. Any survivors must have fallen back."

"We knew this mission was high-risk," Tali said quietly. "Damn it! And what are you doing here, Shepard? We're in the middle of geth space!"

Shepard forced a smile. "I was in the neighborhood. Thought you might need a hand."

"Thanks for coming, Shepard. It means a lot to hear your voice. Kal'Reegar and what's left of the marines got me into the observatory. From where you are, it's through the door and across the field. I got the data I needed, and I'm safe for now, but I've got a lot of geth outside."

And if I'm counting right, Garrus thought, there's only about five of the quarian marines left. If that many.

They had to get to Tali quickly. "Is anyone else still with you, or are you alone out there?" Shepard asked.

"Reegar had a team of marines covering me when I ran for the observatory," Tali told them. "At least some of them are still alive. I can hear them firing at the geth outside."

Shepard bit her lip. "Would it help if I brought in the Normandy?" she asked.

The professor shook his head. "No good."

Tali agreed with him. "These buildings are centuries old. If you bring down heavy fire, this whole place could collapse on us."

"Therum all over again," Garrus muttered.

Shepard nodded in acknowledgement. "What is this research you're after?" she asked Tali.

"It's about this world's sun," Tali explained. "It's aging faster than it should. I can tell you more about it once we've got fewer geth shooting at us."

Shepard grimaced. "Point. We've got bigger priorities here." She examined the door. The lock was sparking. "It looks like somebody sealed the door against the geth. The console's damaged. Can you get it open on your end?"

"Let me see," Tali murmured. "Yes. I can do it." The door clicked and opened. "Should be unlocked now. Be careful, Shepard," she warned them. "And please, do what you can to keep Reegar alive."

"We'll save whoever we can," Shepard promised. "Move out."

The other side of the door looked like it had almost been a hall or avenue once upon a time. The walls here were more intact than anywhere else they'd seen, and the shade was much better. In addition, the sun was going down now, casting longer shadows. But the intact walls gave the geth more places to hide. The long shadows would make tactical cloaks more effective—and with the geth that would be as much of a drawback as it usually was an advantage.

Something at the corner of his eye caught Garrus's attention. He turned his head to see a red spot on Kasumi's chest—a laser sight. Miranda was closer; she shoved Kasumi roughly aside as a rocket blew past and hit the ground, cracking the concrete and sending echoes around the pavilion.

"We've been spotted!" Shepard cried.

Garrus saw the shooter—a rocket drone like the ones he'd seen on the Citadel in the final battle. Before it could dart away, he raised his rifle to his shoulder and fired a three-burst shot. It fell to the pavement, sparking.

There was another, just behind the first. It fired, but they were already fanning out, dodging behind the walls. But after the drone fired its shot, it vanished into the shadows.

"Drone disappeared! Another cloaking field," Mordin reported.

Shepard was gazing across the field. Heavy footfalls were coming toward them—primes at least. "Don't worry about the drones!" she said, gesturing at Garrus. "We'll take care of them. You keep the geth covered!"

Mordin's mouth set, and he raised his new gun to chest height as the first prime came into view.

Garrus ran a scan for electric impulses and saw a drone to the left about thirty meters out. He zapped it with an overload program. The cloaking drones could fly over and flank them, come in from three dimensions, and take someone out while they were focused on the prime.

Kasumi attacked the prime's tech-generated combat drone while Mordin and Miranda worked on the prime's shields. Shepard shot another rocket drone over the prime's head and to the right. That was when the second prime came in firing full auto. No fewer than ten bullets hit Mordin's shields, taking them completely down. He dived behind the wall as a rocket curved around toward him. He raised his fist, exploding it above his head with an incendiary program.

"Two of them! Problematic!"

"Shields are down on this one," Miranda called. "Commander!"

Shepard didn't need to be told twice. In a second she'd hacked the first prime, and it turned around and started firing on the second. As ever, the unhacked geth immediately refocused on the compromised unit. "Concentrate fire," Shepard yelled.

At least fifty bullets from four different guns, including the hacked geth's, pitted the chest armor of the uncompromised unit. It fell to its knees then onto its back, smoking and sparking, visual sensor out. Garrus took out another drone on the other side of the field as the others turned their guns on the hacked prime.

"Enemy down!" Miranda said with satisfaction.

They were careful crossing the field—there were still cloaked drones sneaking around, but the heavy resistance was gone. They found what had been the opposite door to the hall or pavilion, and went through.

It was another gatehouse—someone important had lived in the section of the colony they had just passed through. Shepard hit the button to lower the shade so they could get a look at what lay ahead. A single blue eye blazed at them from across an entire field—atop a towering unit with legs like spears and a functioning energy cannon. There was a flash as it fired.

Everyone yelled at once.

"Oh, God! Colossus!"

"Problematic!"

"Get down!"

Everyone dived to kiss the dirt under the shade. A blue mass of energy flew just over their backs. Garrus felt the heat of it on his fringe. Every nerve came alive, and his stomach clenched as it hit the back wall. He turned to see a blackened crater in the wall, red in places where the plasma blast had almost melted the stone. The old elation at not dying when something super deadly passed inches overhead bubbled up in his chest, and he laughed aloud. "Definitely like old times!"

They crawled for the door to the left, out of the colossus's window of fire. "This was like old times?!" Miranda gasped. Her pupils were enormous, her face colorless.

Shepard chuckled. "Nope! It was worse. Add a dozen charging krogan and a Reaper!"

"Good times," Garrus joked.

They edged out the door of the gatehouse. Fortunately, the terrain was on their side here. They seemed to be at the front gates of what had been a massive building, and the approach to it had been suitably formal—like the Council chamber on the Citadel, designed to impress and to defend the important people from enemies, with lots of stairs and avenues.

They passed into one now, a winding stone avenue that curved around to another stairway down, protected by a balcony. Garrus's visor was full of blue signals—a warning that the field ahead had denser geth activity than anything they'd seen yet. But they weren't alone.

Crouched behind the balcony, overlooking the field, there was a single, male quarian in a red environment suit cradling a rocket launcher to his chest. He waved them over. "Over here! Get to cover!"

They ran in to kneel beside him. He held out a hand to Shepard, and she shook it. "Squad leader Kal'Reegar, Migrant Fleet Marines," he told her, sounding pained and exhausted, yelling over the sound of fire. "We talked on the radio before that dropship arrived. I still got no idea why you're here, but this ain't the time to be picky. Tali's inside over there. Geth killed the rest of my squad, and they're trying to get to her. The best I've been able to do is draw their attention."

Garrus eyed the battlefield below. There were geth on all sides—and too many of them were gathered toward the other side of the field, a collection of outbuildings that looked like it had once been a power plant or an educational complex. "Are you sure she's still alive?" Shepard was asking Reegar.

"The observatory is reinforced," Reegar reported. "Even the geth will need time to get through it. And it's hard to hack a door when someone's firing rockets at you. The geth are near platoon strength, but the colossus is the worst part. It's got a repair protocol: huddles up and fixes itself. I can't get a clear shot while it's down like that. I tried to move in closer, but one of the bastards punched a shot clean through my suit." He indicated a wound in his shoulder—Garrus hadn't seen it at first against the red of his suit.

Shepard pursed her lips. "How bad is your suit damage?"

Reegar shook his head. "Combat seals clamped down to isolate contamination, and I'm swimming in antibiotics. Geth might get me, but I'm not gonna die from an infection in the middle of a battle! That's just insulting!"

Garrus couldn't help smiling, even with the colossus and dozens of geth between them and Tali. Reegar reminded him of some of the soldiers he had known back in the fleet. You don't generally think of the quarians as warriors, but this one's as tough as they come.

He saw a shadow of a similar respect on Shepard's face. "Any ideas on how to deal with the colossus?"

Reegar nodded wearily. "Standard protocol with armature-class units is to sabotage the shields and whittle it down, you know? Kill it with bug bites. But the repair protocol blows that plan to hell. You try to wear it down, it just huddles up and fixes itself, so whatever we do has to scrap that bastard fast. Probably means getting up close, past that cover."

Shepard put a hand on her particle beam, thoughtful. She tried to look over the balcony, but a geth fired a shot right at her. She ducked, swearing. "What can you tell me about the battlefield?"

Reegar gestured with his arms, indicating approximate distances. "Right side's got a catwalk with a sniper perch. You could wreak some havoc from there, but none of my men have made it past the geth. Middle's got cover, but the damn colossus has a clear shot at you the whole time, and you've got geth coming in from both sides. Left gets you some cover from the colossus, but your ass is hanging out for the geth. That's how I got shot."

"They're moving toward the other side," Kasumi warned from beneath her tactical cloak.

"We need to get to Tali. Got any ideas?" Shepard asked Reegar.

Reegar patted his missile launcher. "Just one! I'm not moving so well, but I can still pull a trigger, and I got a rocket launcher that the sun hasn't fried yet. You move in close. I'll keep the colossus busy. Maybe even drop its shields. With luck, you'll be able to finish it off."

Shepard shook her head. "You've done enough, Reegar! You don't need to throw your life away!"

Reegar started to stagger to his feet anyway. He was moving slowly—whatever he said, that wound was taking a toll. If Shepard can't talk him down, we'll lose him. "Wasn't asking your permission," he said. "My job is to—"

Shepard jerked him down again. "We don't have enough people on our side for you to take one for the team! Stand down!"

"I'm not gonna stand there while you run into enemy fire!" Reegar shouted, rage raw in his voice. "They killed my whole squad!"

"And if you want to honor your squad, watch my back! Things haven't been going our way today, and I need you here in case they bring reinforcements!"

Reegar hesitated. "All right, Shepard," he agreed finally. "We'll do it your way. Hit 'em for me! Keelah se'lai!"

Shepard looked at them all and issued her orders. "Kasumi, take center," she said. "Cloak to hide from the colossus, and cover Miranda and Mordin on the right. You guys are going to flank them on the left. Garrus, you're with me. We're going right. Cover my ass and Kasumi's. I've got the colossus."

Kasumi was pale. She was shaking. "I didn't sign up for this," she said.

Garrus reached out and gripped her shoulder. "You're not alone down there," he promised. "I've got you."

She looked at him for a long moment. "Okay," she said. "Okay. Cloaking!"

She opened fire left and right, and geth heads went up, distracted. The rest of them used the chance she'd given them to run out onto the field. Garrus followed Shepard to the right as Mordin and Miranda went left.

Of course the path Shepard chooses for us is the sunniest spot on the field. 87%! 45%! He could actually hear his shield sizzling off him, a hissing in his ears. The sniper perch Reegar had pointed out had once been an overlook over a garden below, but the sun had long killed anything that grew here, and the field below was barren, stacked with cargo and dotted with stone pedestals that had once supported works of art. The geth moved in a shifting pattern down there. Miranda fired down at them from the other side of the field while Mordin tried to clear their way ahead to the far side of the battlefield. Garrus saw a white cryo program arc over Miranda's head.

He hit a trooper in the middle with an overload and fired at another. 3%!

Sweating, Garrus crouched down behind an old, cracked planter into a small patch of shade. Up ahead, Shepard had done the same. She leaned out, firing at geth coming up the stairs on the other side.

Kasumi's cloak had timed out. She was lying prone behind a crate, waiting for it to recharge. Two troopers and a destroyer were closing in on her position. Miranda called sharply to Mordin, and an incendiary rocketed over into the destroyer's flamethrower pack. "Nice," Garrus said over the radio, shooting down the troopers. Kasumi's wrist flashed, and she disappeared again, out of danger for the moment.

His shields were at 75 percent. Good enough. Shepard was moving again, going for the colossus. He ran after her. She took out a trooper hanging out by a console that had probably once been used to water the garden. Garrus focused on the units coming up the stairs. A destroyer and three troopers. He flipped the switch on his gun. "Shepard!" he called ahead, firing a concussive blast at one of the troopers. It staggered back into the destroyer.

Shepard understood right away and employed her own incineration program. She hit the destroyer dead on, and it exploded, melting the trooper as it went. The colossus was firing down the center, trying to find Kasumi as she, Mordin, and Miranda destroyed the main body of the geth. Garrus saw a ripple in the air as she ran toward their balcony.

Shepard had hacked one of the troopers on their level to fire on the other. She was switching her Locust out for the particle beam weapon, preparing to take down the colossus. Garrus took down both the troopers and crouched beside her behind the balcony. They were across the field, now, looking down the last flight of stairs into the complex where Tali was holed up.

Garrus's visor said there were several units still down there, some of them stealthed, but all of them moving away from the others now and starting to focus their fire up on their balcony. Geth exchanged data over a network, even as they went down. They knew that Shepard had heavy weapons. They were moving to protect the colossus.

"Hem them in!" Miranda called. "Keep them distracted!"

Shepard took aim and fired, trusting the team to keep her safe. Her particle beam shrieked. Garrus saw the colossus's shields rippling, fading. He caught a trooper trying to climb the stairs right in the head. Its lamp shattered and it fell back down. The colossus fired on them.

He and Shepard fell flat. Shepard hissed, but at least one of the others was firing on the colossus now too, automatic SMG fire ripping its shields to pieces. Its head turned, searching for its attacker. Shepard rose and fired again.

"Shields down!" she yelled. "Mordin! Garrus! Help me out here!"

Shepard and Mordin's tech hit the colossus at the same time, melting its metal armor and making it glow. Garrus fired off three high-powered shots at the thing, punching holes through the colossus's inner workings. Blue sparks showered down on the ground, and it made what sounded like a deep-voiced, synthetic protest, enormous, blue eye flickering. Shepard fired her particle beam again. One, two legs gave way, and the colossus crumpled. Its eye went out. Reegar whooped across the field.

Garrus stood with Shepard as Mordin, Kasumi, and Miranda came together in front of a locked door in the complex ahead. He followed her down to join them.

Tali's voice came over their radio then. "Just a second," she said. "I locked the door to keep more geth from getting inside." Just like it had across the colony, the door opened for them with a chime. "There. That should do it."

The building she was in—the observatory, Reegar had called it—was still in excellent condition. There was a ladder going up to a second level, but Tali was on the first, working at an ancient console. She raised a hand. "Just let me finish this download." Her omni-tool flashed, and then she turned to face them. "Garrus? You're with Shepard now too?"

"Surprised?"

She came up to shake his hand. "Somehow, I'm not," she told him. She sounded exhausted. "It makes about as much sense for you to have turned up out of nowhere to join her again as it does for the two of you to be here." She turned to Shepard and clasped her hand too. "Thank you. Both of you." She hesitated, looking at Lawson, and added. "And you as well—Miranda, was it? If it wasn't for you, I would have never made it out of this room."

"Don't mention it," Miranda said with unusual grace. She seemed gratified to be acknowledged.

"If you wouldn't keep getting yourself into trouble, I wouldn't have to keep saving you," Shepard told her.

She was really only half-joking, but Tali wasn't in the mood to be even half amused. She looked out the doorway at the field of deactivated geth. "This whole mission has been a disaster," she muttered. "I wish I'd joined you back on Freedom's Progress, but I couldn't let anyone take my place on something this risky."

Shepard folded her arms. "What were you doing here?"

"Haestrom's sun is destabilizing," Tali explained. "Back when this was a quarian colony, it was a normal star. It shouldn't change that quickly."

"Any idea what's destabilizing the sun?" Shepard asked.

Tali shrugged. "If I had to guess, I'd say that it was dark energy affecting the interior of the star. The effect is similar to when stars blow off mass to enter a red giant phase, but Haestrom's sun is far too young for this to be natural."

Shepard frowned. "A lot of quarians lost their lives here. Was it worth it?"

Tali bowed her head. "I don't know, Shepard," she said quietly. "It wasn't my call. The admiralty board believed the information here was worth sacrificing all our lives for. I have to believe that they know best."

Garrus looked at her. Then he remembered that Tali's father was on the admiralty board. Her own father had sent her to a probable death. Granted, he ordered all those marines to die first—but, still. I thought I had family problems.

Shepard put a hand on Tali's shoulder. "Do you think it was worth it, Tali?"

Tali shook her head. "A lot of people died here. Some of them were my friends. All of them were good at their jobs. That damn data better be worth it. The price was too high."

Shepard hesitated. "Tali—I know this might not be the best time, but once you deliver that data, we could really use you on the Normandy."

Tali squared her shoulders. "I promised to see this mission through," she said. "I did. I can leave with you and send the data to the fleet. And if the admirals have a problem with it, they can go to hell. I just watched the rest of my team die."

Reegar limped into the building. "Maybe not the whole rest of your team, ma'am," he said.

Tali ran to him, clasping his hands. "Reegar! You made it!"

He stood up straight and saluted her. "Your old captain's as good as you said," he told her. "Damn colossus never stood a chance."

Shepard went to him, too. "If you need a ride, the Normandy can get you out of here, Reegar." She signaled Niels in orbit for the pickup.

Reegar waved a hand. "Ah, the geth didn't damage our ship. As long as we get out of here before reinforcements arrive, we'll be fine."

Tali wrung her hands, shifting her weight from side to side. "Actually, I won't be going with you. I'm joining Commander Shepard," she told him.

Reegar looked at all of them very hard. "Hell of a long way to recruit somebody," he observed to Shepard. "Guessing your mission must be pretty important."

"You've heard about the Reapers? They're behind the Collector attacks on the human colonies out here," Shepard told him. "We wouldn't ask Tali to join us now if it wasn't important."

That was probably a lie, Garrus thought. Even before Horizon, after seeing all this Shepard would have wanted Tali on the Normandy. Better to keep your friends close?

Reegar seemed to get it. "I'll pass the data to the admiralty board and let 'em know what happened," he promised.

Shepard nodded. "At least let us drop you off at your ship. You can follow us out. Too many people have died here. I want you to make it back to the flotilla in one piece."

More or less, Garrus thought, eying Reegar's wound. He hoped the marine would pull through, but it was going to be a close thing. The wound itself wasn't serious—but the infection might kill him in the next few days.

"Thanks again, Shepard. You've pretty well obliterated the geth, but we're probably best out of here before they come back," Reegar said.


The quarian ship followed the shuttle off Haestrom. It peeled off in orbit, heading for the mass effect relay and safety. Tali was quiet on the shuttle ride back to the Normandy. No one really pressed her to talk. She'd been through a lot down on Haestrom. It was never easy losing fellow soldiers, and the fact that they'd been lost protecting her probably didn't help.

"Make a list of anything we need to requisition for you, Tali," Shepard told her as they docked with the Normandy. "I think I remembered everything from last time, but don't hesitate to tell us about anything we missed."

"Us?" Tali repeated.

Miranda cleared her through. "Me, actually. I'm executive officer on the Normandy. I'll make sure you have everything you need."

Tali's eyes narrowed. She was silent for a moment, then nodded. She looked around at Mordin and Kasumi. "And—I'm sorry—what are your names?"

Mordin and Kasumi introduced themselves. "That's Caleb Niels. He pilots the Kodiak and gets us to and from the ground." Shepard added, as Niels climbed out of the cockpit and into the bay.

"Tali'Zorah," Niels said, shaking her hand. "Everyone onboard knows how you helped take down Saren and the Reapers. Looking forward to working together."

"Shepard asked me to come, and I'm here," Tali said flatly, pulling her hand away. "But I work with her, not with Cerberus."

Niels's mouth twitched up. "More common on this ship than you'd think," he told her. "Take a look around and keep an open mind, is all I'm saying. Most of us signed up for the same reasons you did: 'cause the Reapers are real, people are vanishing, and Commander Shepard is the only one that's doing anything about it."

"We follow Commander Shepard's orders, but this is still a Cerberus initiative," Miranda told him sharply. "Cerberus saw what was happening and recruited her to stop it, not the other way around." She looked at Tali. "Whatever our arguments in the past, we need to put them aside and work together now. The Collectors seizing humans in the Terminus Systems are backed, maybe even controlled by the Reapers. We suspected it before, but now we have proof."

Tali stiffened. She looked between Shepard and Garrus. "You're sure?" she demanded.

"We're sure," Shepard confirmed in a low voice. "Come on. You remember Jacob from Freedom's Progress? I'm paging him to meet us upstairs. We'll get you briefed. The rest of you? I want you to report to the med bay for an antirad treatment before beginning your regular duties. I don't want anyone getting cancer because their shields were down too long on Haestrom. Flight Lieutenant?" she called over the radio.

"Commander?" Joker asked.

"Get us out of here. Make for the Crescent Nebula."

"Aye-aye. Welcome back, Tali," the pilot called.


Antirad gel was standard equipment on most military starships, standard medication after ops on a world with a harsher sun. Cancer was always easier to prevent than to treat. Dr. Chakwas was gratified that dispensing antirad was pretty much all she needed to do after this mission. Shepard had chosen the right team for the job—and the quarians had gotten the worst of it.

Miranda was the only one that needed anything more. In the time her shields had been down on Haestrom, she'd gotten a sunburn over her nose and cheeks. It was an interesting condition, Garrus thought. One he hadn't gotten a lot of chance to observe in the artificial space stations he'd spent the last decade and a half aboard. According to Doctor Chakwas, lighter-skinned humans like Miranda were more sensitive to solar radiation. When it hit them the wrong way, in addition to possibly causing the problems later on the antirad gel was meant to avoid, it could cause discoloration, pain, fever, and worse—if the burn was bad enough.

Miranda's wasn't quite so bad. She'd been exposed to Haestrom's sun for a few seconds at most, and she'd been in the shade at the time. That she'd burned at all was just proof of how out of control Haestrom's star was. Still, she winced when the doctor touched it and took the tube of medication offered without complaint.

Kasumi and Mordin split up to hit the showers, but as Miranda made to do the same, Garrus called after her. "Lawson."

She paused and turned. "Garrus."

"I think we—" Garrus stopped, then rephrased his approach, making it a request instead of a suggestion. "I'd like to talk, if we could."

Miranda regarded him. "I'm going to clean up." Her nostrils flared, and her lip curled. "I suggest you do the same. I don't know what there is to say, but I'll page you afterward."

"Thanks," he said.


Garrus had already showered, redressed, and been going through the calibration sequence on the Thanix for an hour when Miranda finally got back to him. He shoved down his annoyance and set his omni-tool to notify him when the calibration sequence needed tweaking. If he wasn't there to make minor adjustments when he saw they were needed, it might mean the gun would need more substantial adjustments later, but they'd gone through the mass effect relay half an hour ago and had left geth space behind. They could still run into pirates, but odds were Joker could outfly those.

He left the battery and went to Miranda's office. It was her home ground, which, since he'd been invited instead of showing up unannounced, gave her the power advantage this time. He was technically a consultant reporting to the XO. But I think she might need to feel that a little.

He found her at her desk in a fresh uniform. She'd blown out her hair and reapplied her makeup for a perfect, professional appearance that was only spoiled slightly by the shine of the aloe vera across her too-pink nose and cheeks. She didn't look up when he came in. She just gestured at one of the two chairs across from her. She was typing on her console, probably a report on Tali's recruitment.

"I should have listened before," she said without prelude. "The commander was right. You gave me a warning on the battlefield, and staying put placed us all in danger when the team had to break rhythm to protect me. I was a liability. I should have been more professional. It won't happen again."

It was hard to say how to handle this, Garrus thought. It hadn't taken him long aboard ship to realize Miranda wasn't used to answering to anyone but the Illusive Man. She was hypercompetent, brilliant, and sold out on Cerberus's ideals to a far greater extent than her colleague Taylor. Not the kind of woman that normally made apologies. He could see her resentment of it, too—in the tightness of her shoulders, her narrowed eyes focused stubbornly on the screen, refusing to look at him. It was a gracious gesture, but it was a calculated one, too. A deliberate minor concession, humiliating, yes, but better than discussing the underlying reasons for the misstep in the field.

He didn't want to push Miranda too hard. She was definitely unpleasant, possibly bigoted, and he knew that knowing she was spying—more loyal to the Illusive Man than to what they were doing here—was only one other stressor Shepard didn't need here. But despite all that, Garrus had come to respect Miranda's abilities over the time he'd spent on the SR-2. She was a model XO. The Normandy's day-to-day operations ran like a well-oiled machine, largely thanks to her. And aside from the one admittedly serious misstep in the field today, he'd been impressed with her combat skills too, and knew he wasn't alone. Shepard had asked Miranda to run point on more than one attack down on Haestrom.

She's got her pride, and she's earned it. But even if I wanted to push her, though, it's hard to say who really has the authority to push here anyway. Shepard's got my back, informally—but Lawson's got the title and the resources.

But if they didn't talk about Miranda's issues with him now, there was no guarantee they wouldn't show up the next time Shepard needed the two of them to work together. Garrus already knew she needed them both.

Keeping a tight rein on his subvocals and facial expression, just in case she could read them, Garrus asked, "You want to talk about why it happened today? Back on Omega, you didn't have a problem doing the smart thing in the middle of a battle even when I was the one asking you to do it. Is everything okay?"

She stopped typing. For a long time, he thought she wouldn't answer him, but then she looked up and met his eyes. "I read your file," she told him, "Memorized it, actually. I familiarized myself with the dossiers of all the operatives Cerberus recommended for this mission, just like I familiarized myself with everything on Shepard, her service history, and her associates from before Alchera. I wanted to make sure the Lazarus Project and this mission were completely successful.

"The commander wasn't lying. Each of the operatives for this mission was chosen to fulfill a different place in the final team." She paused. "Except for Grunt, I suppose."

"Because Grunt took the place meant for Okeer but fills a bit of a different role," Garrus said, following.

Miranda almost smiled. "A very different role," she agreed. "We picked Archangel for his skills as as a sniper and combat engineer—but there are skilled snipers and combat engineers all over the galaxy. What was more important was what Shepard said—your operations on Omega showed that you were a fantastic tactical commander, the kind of person that could fill a place as a lieutenant and a secondary leader on the team." She lifted her chin then. "But Jacob and I were placed here for the same reason."

"And you didn't know I was Archangel," Garrus finished.

"We didn't even know you weren't human," Miranda explained. "Your team was thorough in protecting your identity. All we could find on you was the evidence of what you had done."

Someone convinced Sidonis to give up more than that. Garrus forced a smile. "So we're back to the turian thing," he said.

"This is a multilateral mission," Miranda said. "Cerberus is obviously willing to step outside of our usual operation parameters in order to protect the human colonies in here from the Collectors and the Reapers." Garrus translated this in his head to mean that yes, they were back to the turian thing, but it wasn't the main thing. He understood now.

"You feel you're being underused."

"Both of us," Miranda said. "Jacob and I."

But mostly you, Garrus thought. He waited, and sure enough, Miranda's flush turned her sunburn scarlet. Garrus, not for the first time, sent a silent apology to his C-Sec trainer for all the irritation he'd felt during that cultural sensitivity course. He kept his eyes fixed on hers. "Jacob was a special forces officer for years with the Alliance Corsairs," Miranda continued, "And I may not have as much traditional military experience as the two of you, but I have every bit as much training fighting and leading combat operations. It's not prejudice to think that sometimes Shepard should rotate out the ground officers. She's an N7 and a Spectre and has received extensive genetic and cybernetic modification to keep the pace that she does. Asking the same of you, especially given recent circumstances, is just asking for a burnout. You're too valuable to lose. The commander has to see that."

Garrus felt a cold, hard knot of anger tighten in his gut at her mention of recent circumstances. "Kept up to date on my file, have you?" he said, making use of all his training to keep his body relaxed and maintain an even tone.

Miranda blushed deeper, but stood her ground. "Keeping tabs on the crew's mental state is part of my job. I have to be sure that everyone is in a place where they can devote everything they have to our mission."

Garrus decided to let it go. Shepard's yeoman, Chambers, was honest about her psychological training. He'd worked out a while back that she reported to Miranda, and probably directly to the Illusive Man as well. The fact that she kept asking prying personal questions was a bit of a giveaway. And anyway, Miranda had been there on Omega. She probably didn't need a psych eval to guess that he might be having some trouble adjusting. "Don't worry about my motivation," he told Miranda. "I was with Shepard on Noveria, Virmire, and Ilos. I saw what the Reapers can do and heard what they did to the Protheans. I was there when Sovereign torched a third of the Citadel and twenty-eight cruisers went down to stop it. I know what's at stake here. Whatever Shepard needs or wants me to do, I'll do it. Let us worry about burnout."

Miranda had turned several other interesting colors during this little speech. Garrus sighed. What was that you'd decided about not pushing? He softened his tone. "I'm following Shepard's lead, not yours," he told her, echoing what she'd said down on Haestrom.

Funny how much a slouch of less than a millimeter, what had to be a microscopic fall of her face could be so expressive. "I know. Like I said, I don't know what there is to say."

"But you have a point," Garrus finished, taking her completely off her guard. "I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me. Not that you really were anyway." Miranda's lips twitched upward, but she didn't deny it. "But we're assembling a big team here. Half the reason I'm useful is because I saw the things I saw when we went up against Saren. If you never come into contact with the enemy, you can't be expected to fight your best, and we'll need everyone by the end of this thing."

Miranda regarded him a moment, then her lips curved upward just a little bit more. "If you won't stand for my bullshit, I won't stand for yours. You aren't getting by merely on past experience, as much as I might wish you were." She breathed out slowly, placing the palms of her hands flat on her desk. "Shepard hasn't overevaluated your abilities." She grimaced. "Even Jacob's been impressed. He mentioned it after your mission together on the Purgatory. I shouldn't resent you for doing your job. We need you to do it. I just wish I was doing it a little more often. It's not as interesting behind this desk as you might think."

"Was that a joke?" Garrus asked.

Miranda raised her eyebrows. "It's been known to happen."

"Now I'm impressed." Garrus stood, and Miranda stood with him. Garrus remembered the first time they'd stood facing one another over her desk, with Lawson wreathed in biotics about ready to tear him apart. This time she held out her hand for him to shake. It was a truce; nothing more, nothing less. He still didn't trust her organization and was half ready to bring it down, and he figured she knew it. But they both knew what was more important. Miranda Lawson wasn't the enemy. "And Miranda? If you've got a problem, you should talk to the woman in charge. Niels's advice wasn't all bad. We all need to keep an open mind here."

Miranda looked pensive. Knowing your allies distrusted you did tend to make it harder to approach them, Garrus reflected. But respect was generally a good place to start. Shepard had reasons to shut her out, but there were reasons to let her in too, and one thing both sides of their little feud had was mutual respect. "I might do that," Miranda told him. "See you around, Garrus."

Garrus left her to her reports. He had some calibrations to finish.