XV
Auld Lang Syne: Run about the Slopes
Before Garrus went shopping the next morning, he set up an encrypted funds transfer. He suspected Cerberus wasn't paying him near as much as Massani or Goto—but last week he had been surprised at the size of the check that had come in over the channel he'd given Miranda when he'd filled out his paperwork.
He didn't need most of it. Like the Alliance had, Cerberus was supplying his meals, his bunk, and his guns. What else does a turian need? Everything else was just compensation for risks taken. And he'd always been willing to take risks free of charge. So he set 20 percent of his check aside for Illium, marked 10 percent to put away somewhere when he had the time to research the best place for it, and put 1750 credits through the transfer to Palaven.
For Mom, he wrote. –G.
He didn't regret it in the markets, but he had to admit the prices on Illium were ridiculous. He had one moment when he actually missed Omega. Full of criminals and the desperate, swarming with thugs, at least it had always easy to find a cheap suit there. The fact that Cerberus could afford the markup was limited consolation. He was getting ripped off right along with them.
He picked up a couple of sets of civilian clothes and hauled them back to the Normandy, too disgusted to start arguing with an armorer. He walked back through the airlock. "Garrus!" Joker called. Despite the fact that the crew was on shore leave, he was seated in the cockpit, watching a vid on a screen overhead. "Where you been? Shepard commed for you about half an hour ago."
"If she wanted me that bad she could've radioed," Garrus told him. "Why were you still around to hear it?"
Joker made a face. "Pfft! Illium. I mean, it's not like it's Omega. No one out there's likely to break my legs just for fun. But Ken and Gabby are meeting with some armorers in an hour to refit the Normandy with some upgrades Jacob requisitioned. I want to be here to make sure they treat the old girl right." He turned his attention back to the busty redhead on the screen, wide-eyed and sweating, hiding behind a flimsy door, and breathing heavily as scare chords played through the tinny speakers.
He absently stroked the controls as he watched, and Garrus rolled his eyes. He'd never met a pilot that loved a ship more than Jeff Moreau. "I'll just leave you to that, then."
"Shepard's in the briefing room with Jack, Grunt, and Tali," Joker told him. "If you hurry, they might not leave without you."
Garrus headed toward the battery to put his things away before heading out. Jack, Grunt, and Tali. It was a heavy team, a well-balanced team. Both the new recruits were dangerous people, but since it was Jack instead of Goto or Massani, Garrus guessed they were going for the asari justicar first. Shepard would want Jack available to offset Samara's biotics if things went bad.
He folded his new clothes into the trunk beneath his cot and turned right around to go back up to the armory, trying to ignore the fact that he was pretty annoyed Shepard wanted him on duty again. Taylor had been joking about their not being allowed the shore leave everyone else was on right now, but it seemed he'd been more right than wrong, at least in Garrus's case.
He wanted to be there if Shepard needed him. Wanted to back Tali up, too, on her first mission after Haestrom. But he needed some time. He wanted to check back with Liara. Walk around for a while. Try to clear his head of all the crap that had been floating around up there since Shepard had dived in to save his sorry carcass on Omega. He couldn't do that with Shepard right there.
He left the armory and caught sight of the others, just about ready to head out like Joker had warned. Shepard crossed her arms when she saw him. "Garrus. Good of you to join us."
"Shore leave," Garrus replied. "I was shopping, remember?"
"Yet I still see a big-ass hole in the same hardsuit the Suns shot up on Omega," she retorted.
"Couldn't find anything that fit me quite so well."
Jack made a disgusted noise. "Can we skip the banter? Thought we had to find a badass justicar that might start murdering any minute or something. Come on! I'm itching for some action." She glared at Garrus. "She's happy you're back in time," she informed him. "Don't expect any kisses from me."
"Have I missed something?" Tali asked, amused, looking from Garrus to Jack.
"Jack likes to mess around," Garrus told her, walking toward the exit. "So, Samara, is it? What do you know?"
"Shepard's asari buddy, the spy or something, says she's being tracked by the cops," Jack reported. "They're sure she's about to start tearing heads apart."
"Ought to be fun," Grunt said.
"Yep," Jack agreed. "I've been bored as shit."
"We don't know Samara's caused any trouble," Shepard said. "Justicars are supposed to uphold the law, not break it."
"These tentacle heads are nervous for some reason," Jack said, stepping out into the dock with the rest of them. "I smell trouble."
The five of them headed across the market to the tourist section Garrus had found Shepard in before. Beside the taxi station, there was a small police kiosk. A bored-looking asari was playing virtual cards on her terminal. Shepard cleared her throat, and the asari looked back.
"Can I help you with something?"
Shepard glanced down at the asari's name plate, cycling through a variety of different languages. "You can if you're Officer Dara. We're looking for an asari warrior named Samara."
Dara jumped about eight centimeters into the air. She'd shut off her card game and opened a report in a half second. "Why? Do you have a problem? Did she kill somebody already?"
Jack leveled an I-told-you-so look at the rest of the group, folding her arms in satisfaction. Shepard rolled her eyes. "Relax. I just need to speak with her."
Dara let out a long, shaky breath. "Good. Samara's the first justicar I've seen on Illium. If I'm lucky, things will stay peaceful." She pointed at the taxi stand with a finger. "She went to the commercial spaceport a few hours ago. If you want to get there, the pedestal on that balcony will summon a cab. Just be polite when you meet her. Justicars embody our highest laws, and they usually stay in asari space. She's not used to dealing with aliens."
Shepard frowned. "Are you really expecting her to up and kill someone, just like that?"
Dara made a face. "If you follow the laws, you've got nothing to fear," she hedged, with a sideways glance at everyone but Shepard. Apparently we don't look like law-abiding citizens. Garrus considered how the five of them must appear. A turian with half a face; a half-dressed, bald human covered in prison tats; a krogan; and a quarian, with the galaxy's ideas about them—I'd probably be suspicious too. "And a justicar would die without hesitation to protect the innocent. But their code orders them to stop lawbreakers, with lethal force in most cases, and everyone skirts the law somehow on Illium. If someone tried to bribe her, she'd be obliged to gun them down as a matter of honor. I'm hoping to avoid that."
It was Shepard's turn to make a face. "God. What the hell is a justicar?"
Dara's eyes sparkled then. "They're a monastic order," she explained, with something like awe in her voice. "They've given up their families and possessions to follow their code. Most of them are on some lifelong mission, but they'll always stop to deal with any injustice they encounter," Her voice turned down then. "Which can be a problem." She looked up, squinted at Shepard. "In some ways, they're a lot like the Spectres, undertaking personal missions."
Not bad, Garrus thought. Dangerous mercs wouldn't talk to the police. She doesn't recognize Shepard, or we'd've known it by now, but she still arrived at the right conclusion.
Shepard gave the officer a ghost of a smile, inclining her head, confirming her guess. "Spectres are authorized by the Council. Who do justicars represent?" she asked.
Dara blinked. "What? That's like—I don't know a good human metaphor. They represent their code, our code." She waved a hand. "It's closer to a religious group than a legal branch. No law-abiding asari would question a justicar's orders. Nobody becomes a justicar for personal gain. And they'd die before breaking their oaths."
There was the hero-worship in her voice again. Shepard was less than impressed, though. She folded her arms. "Well. Samara sounds like a barrel of laughs," she said under her breath. "Why are you worried about other species coming into contact with her?"
Dara spread her hands. "If a justicar kills an asari, none of us questions it. But if she killed a human . . . Do you think the Alliance would understand her actions and respect her authority?" She gestured at Shepard and Jack. "You can't even figure out your own religions! It's a big, diplomatic incident just waiting to happen."
"Well, we'll try to avoid that," Shepard promised. "Thanks for the information." She turned away, and the others followed her over to the shuttle station. "Can't say I'm a big fan of zealots," she muttered, "but if the asari are impressed, that's something."
Garrus glanced at her. "Got that much experience with religious zealots, do you?"
She wrinkled her nose. "Enough."
Garrus exchanged a glance with Tali. Another story Shepard wouldn't tell them. Still. I guess she's hardly the only one keeping things to herself. Tali tilted her head in a subtle expression of a shrug. A shuttle bus flew over to the edge of the pavement, and she filed in behind Grunt to sit in the back. Garrus sat beside Jack, while Shepard took the seat next to the driver. "The spaceport," she said.
"You got it," the asari driver said.
The atmosphere was tense when they got out of the shuttle bus. A cop was confronting a volus right on the landing. She was plain for an asari, but Garrus liked the way she stood and her no-nonsense, barking alto. "Where do you think you're going?"
The volus's voice came filtered through his suit, interspersed with the sound of his air exchange. "I'm taking my goods to Omega, Detective."
The detective shook her head at the transport guard, and the turian took up a ready stance. "You're not going anywhere, merchant," she told the volus. "Not until I solve this murder."
"The justicar?" Garrus murmured.
"Maybe. Shut up," Shepard whispered back.
The volus was protesting he'd had nothing to do with the murder, that it had been mercenaries.
Great. More.
"The victim was your business partner," the detective told the volus, "and I'm not ruling you out. I'll let you know when you can leave."
"What about that justicar that just showed up?" the volus whined. "Everyone says she might go crazy and start killing. I need to leave."
The detective folded her arms. "She'll only kill the unjust, so I'm sure you have nothing to worry about, Pitne For. Find me in the station if you need me." She stalked off, and Shepard glanced at Garrus and Tali, then casually walked up to the volus.
"What do you want?" the volus, Pitne For, demanded irritably. "I've already got mercs wanting to kill me like they did my partner. I don't need any more trouble. As if that weren't enough, some asari justicar showed up this morning. All the natives are scared of her. I've got to get off this world."
"Has Samara actually done anything yet?" Shepard asked him, as unimpressed as only she could be. She needed information, but she didn't seem in the mood to play nice with this guy.
The volus spread his hands. "The asari say that justicars are lethal in a fight, and if they so much as smell corruption, they start shooting. The thing is, corruption isn't that hard to find around here."
Garrus regarded the volus. Over the years, he'd learned never to underestimate a volus. Something about this guy was off. He definitely had something he didn't want that justicar finding out about—some reason he thought she might shoot him. And most mercs didn't go after random civilians without a reason. It was bad business. But they weren't here to do the detective's police work for her. Got to remember that.
"Do you know where I could find Samara?" Shepard was asking.
The volus extended a claw to indicate the direction, across the spaceport toward a more residential area. "She's in the alley where my business partner was murdered. The detective sealed the area, so you'll have to talk with her if you want to go there."
And yet they let Samara waltz right in. For someone they're so nervous will get violent, they're giving her an awful lot of leeway.
Shepard was more focused on the volus himself now, though. She was looking down at him with an expression of disgust. "Your partner was the guy that got offed? You don't seem too broken up about it."
The volus stood a little straighter. "Dakni Kur knew the risks when he took to spacing. Right now, my worry is me." He looked around, clearly nervous. "It's unhealthy to be a volus in the Nos Astra spaceport right now, especially a volus named Pitne For."
"You think mercs killed him? Why?" Shepard challenged the volus.
The volus was willing enough to answer, at least. "Dakni Kur was cutting through a back alley last night when someone killed him with a shotgun. I saw his body this morning. They'd used modded rounds. That means Eclipse mercs."
That was interesting. Not everyone would know that. Certainly not a completely legitimate businessman. Shepard arched an eyebrow. "You're acquainted with them." It wasn't a question.
"I occasionally do business with them," Pitne confirmed. "But only in well-lit places, with my guards." He eyed another turian about a meter back, armored in dark, professional gray. Elanus Risk Control Services weapons, it looked like. Standard, but effective. The guard himself had Carthaan colony markings and looked like he was over the age of service—maybe in his forties. Garrus tipped his head at the guard, and wasn't surprised when the guard didn't react and kept scanning the crowd for threats to his principal. The only question is whether its professionalism or disapproval. Once upon a time, he could blend into the crowd, and when another turian saw him clearly doing something outside of the Hierarchy's established guidelines for public service, they'd forget it was him in five minutes. The scarring over half his face was a more memorable identifying feature than anyone needed to pick him out in a line up. Unfortunately, now that he was finally getting the courage up to look at his face in the mirror, he'd had to realize that the scarring had not had the side benefit of making him look older. The other side of his face still looked like the man that should be serving in C-Sec right now and wasn't. So now whenever another turian saw him clearly doing something outside of the Hierarchy's established guidelines for public service, he looked more like a thug and a dropout than ever.
But hey, at least a memorable one.
Pitne For was explaining why the Eclipse mercenaries were criminals. "They are all cold-blooded killers."
"Trust me, we probably know more about Eclipse criminal activities than you do," Shepard told him. Pitne For flinched, and edged closer to his guard, and Shepard smiled coldly at him, allowing the misinterpretation. "But if you're in business with them, why would they have killed your partner? Why do you think they're coming after you too?"
"I have no idea," Pitne said. "We're innocent merchants."
"Uh-huh," Shepard said, unconvinced.
Pitne shrugged and gesticulated. "But they killed him, so they must be after me too. I have to work the angles and get out of here."
Shepard was done talking to the volus. "Good luck with that. Thanks for the info."
As they walked away, Grunt shifted, restless. "So we're going to run into those Eclipse mercs, right? I want to kill something."
"Don't worry," Tali said. "With Shepard's luck, we'll have to fight an army of them. And if we don't, I'm sure she'll stop at some pirate's base when we leave Illium, and you can shoot criminals to your heart's content."
"I don't care if they're criminals. They just need to put up a good fight," Grunt corrected her. He bounced on his feet. There was a red light in his blue eyes. "Let's find that justicar already."
Shepard frowned at him, but she didn't say anything. The spaceport police station was easy to find. Had a big sign and everything. It was clean and official-looking, but Garrus saw reports lying unprotected on desks, and there was practically no security as they walked through the building. No metal detectors, no searches, no challenge.
It's a placebo station. Put here to make civilians feel better, but these guys aren't in control. Garrus turned around and walked backward, looking back at the spaceport, the merchants making deals in the dock, the dirty-faced children hiding in the corners, spying, the neon of interplanetary corporations' local offices, less than a block away. Everything was clean, well-run, and polite, but it was Omega. Just Omega in a ballgown.
Shepard found the detective they'd seen on the dock without too much trouble. She was sitting at a desk near the center of the station, up to her elbows in paperwork. She glanced up at Shepard, then did a double take of their entire group. Her mouth tightened. "Nice guns. Try not to use 'em in my district. What can I do for you?"
"I'm looking for the justicar, Samara," Shepard told her.
The detective reached under her desk, and Garrus guessed she was gripping a weapon there. "If you've got a score to settle with Samara, take it somewhere else. I've got more than enough trouble here already."
Shepard raised her empty hands. "No score. I want to recruit her for my mission. Then we'll be on our way."
The detective—Anaya, her nameplate said—changed her manner entirely. She let go of her weapon and folded her hands on the desk, regarding Shepard. "Justicars usually work alone—what did you say your name was?"
"I didn't. It's Shepard."
Anaya's eyes widened, and then she started to smile. "Shepard, huh? Justicars are drawn to impossible causes."
Jack smirked. "She'll like our mission then."
Anaya nodded decisively. "If you're getting her out of our district, I'll get you to her ASAP. She's at the crime scene."
"Yeah, we heard. Gotta say, I was wondering why you let her into a sealed crime scene," Shepard said.
"I'm a cop. I'll work with a justicar all I can," Anaya said, as if it were so obvious she couldn't believe she even had to say it. The justicars certainly had a reputation among the asari. "Besides, she's been looking at crime scenes longer than our two lifespans combined. She knows how to handle herself."
"But you want her out of your district," Shepard pointed out. "Why?"
Anaya shrugged. "My bosses want me to detain her. They're worried she'll cause some kind of cross-species incident. But her justicar code won't let her be taken into custody. If I try it, she'll have to kill me." Her mouth turned down, and Garrus guessed that despite her calm tone, Anaya was worried. "I have no interest in dying, so if you lure her away with some big, noble cause before I have to carry out my orders, I'm thrilled to help you."
Shepard frowned. "Your superiors are sending you to certain death for no good reason? You could disobey if you wanted."
"We can disobey suicidal orders?" Garrus asked. "Why wasn't I told?"
Tali glanced at him, amused. "We'd be mutinying about twice a day."
Shepard's lips twitched. "You love it, both of you. And even if you didn't, most of the time I'm not stupid about it. I can't say the same for Anaya's superiors."
Anaya's jaw was set. "I'm a cop, and I know my duty. I've been ordered to detain her, and I will. Unless I can get her to leave my district first."
Shepard nodded. "Just point me to the crime scene, and I'll take care of it."
Anaya gave them directions. Shepard stayed a bit longer, asking questions about Samara. Among the things they learned: Samara was in the matron life stage, maybe older—centuries old with all the power that entailed; justicar laws were absolute; and they didn't normally leave asari space.
Anaya was worried about what could have brought Samara to Illium in the first place, but she suspected it was something bigger than the volus's murder.
Shepard asked about Dakni Kur then. Anaya was willing to share. "He got murdered. A professional hit; we're not dealing with junkies looking for a score. I'm thinking the local Eclipse mercenary band. Can't prove it, but if the volus was dirty, too, maybe it's just a deal gone bad."
"We've dealt with Eclipse before," Garrus told the detective.
Anaya looked them over. "I could believe it. You look like you've been around the block. I'd root Eclipse out of the district if I could, but I haven't been able to find their nest yet."
"What are the odds we find it?" Jack said under her breath.
"Good," Shepard replied, without turning around.
"Good," Grunt repeated, with emphasis. Without waiting for orders, he started walking the direction the detective had told them to go.
"Hold it, Grunt," Shepard said. "Chill out, will you? If we do walk into trouble, we don't want to do it blind."
Grunt growled in frustration. He cupped his temple in his hand. "Sorry," he muttered. "I—I need to focus."
"I'll send you back to the Normandy if you can't keep it together," warned Shepard.
"It's fine. I'm fine," Grunt muttered.
Garrus looked over their baby krogan. He wasn't fine. That much was obvious. Krogan in general tended to get antsy traveling in space. Wrex had been a lot older than most, better able to control himself. Krogan spacers usually had to pack sedatives for long journeys or they fought their crews. Okeer would've programmed his perfect krogan with the self-control of a true soldier. Or he should have done. But if he hadn't, they might need to requisition some heavy-duty tranquilizer to help Grunt make it through their downtime. If he let them dose him.
Maybe this was a bad idea.
Shepard looked worried, too. She slowed her pace half a step so she fell in next to Garrus. She reached out and tapped two fingers on his wrist. Hand signals were risky now; Grunt and Jack could be counted on to devote themselves to learning new ways to kill things like they may not have learned anything else. Shepard didn't want Grunt to know he was being watched, that they were ready to incapacitate him if he went off the rails. But she wanted Garrus to be ready, all the same.
He drew his gun, ostensibly to be ready for any Eclipse sisters they might meet in the alley. They were coming up on it now. But also so he'd have it ready, just in case. He thought Grunt was trying to keep it under control—but they didn't know yet how well Grunt could control himself.
There were two policewomen stationed at the entrance to the alley, a back-of-building trash disposal lane for the local business offices and hotels immediately around the commercial spaceport. The buildings on either side were high enough the walkway was shadowed with gloom, even though it was midday. The alley was blocked off with police tape, but the asari nodded as they approached. "Anaya told us to let you through. Watch yourself. There's merc activity back here. We're waiting on backup."
Grunt relaxed all over even as the rest of them came alert. The red light left his eyes, and he smiled, pulling out his shotgun. "Bring them on," he said. "I'm ready."
"Freak," Jack muttered.
"Psycho," Grunt returned at once.
Garrus was actually impressed. "Nice."
"Asshole," Jack shot at him immediately.
"Love you, too."
"Quiet," Shepard hissed. "Listen!"
A woman was calling orders up ahead, around a bend. "Get the rest of Bravo squad prepped! Alpha squad went after that justicar twenty minutes ago, and they've gone dark."
Shepard signaled for quiet then, gestured for them to hold. Then she flickered away into darkness. Garrus enabled his thermal sensor to scan for her in the gloom. She crept around the corner to crouch behind some bins—she was holding a weapon. Judging from the position of her arms, her sniper. Her right hand moved up by her face, and she made the sign for "four." Garrus raised his hand and made the sign for "two" twice so the others could see. He hesitated, then motioned Grunt and Jack forward first, gesturing for Tali to follow them.
And then Grunt's boot hit a discarded soda can.
The Eclipse were on alert at once. "Someone's sneaking around back here!" A wild shot rang out. Then a light flashed from Shepard's omni-tool, a scream tore the air, and the sound of another shot ricocheted off the tall stone walls, echoing in the alley. Around the corner, Garrus heard a body drop the the ground. He ran to the corner and leaned out to look. Grunt had engaged a biotic commando, struggling to throw him off, but he had her arms pinned. Garrus saw her bones breaking. Tali and Jack killed another one together, and Shepard stole the shields of the fourth and raised her rifle.
Garrus took the shot before she could. Purple blood spattered the ground. Shepard glared at him. "I had her covered," she complained.
"Get her faster next time," Garrus said innocently.
Shepard laughed. "'Asshole.' She's got you pegged, alright."
"There's more going on down this way," Tali called.
Sure enough, there were thuds and gunshots echoing down the adjoining alley. They walked down to see what they could find. Alpha squad and Samara, hopefully.
A long, drawn out scream sounded and stopped midsound as an asari hit a hotel window with a violet smear and a crunch. Hope someone gets a discount for that. Another asari, disarmed, crawled backward on her elbows. Her ankle was twisted, and her face was contorted with fear and disbelief. "Those were my best troops!" she cried.
Then Samara walked up some steps and into the pale street light. Her biotics were almost a handspan in breadth all around her. Her eyes, irises, cornea, and sclera, were glowing blue. She was dressed in a red hardsuit that had to have been developed mostly for show. She had a white metal gorget around her throat, and her shoulder guards looked up to the job, but her breastplate left a large expanse of her chest uncovered. Her barriers would be providing most of her protection.
"Tell me what I need to know, and I will be gone from here," she said in a musical alto, so calm and commanding it sent a child down Garrus's spine. Down, boy. "Where did you send her?"
The asari on the ground was shivering, but she yelled back at the justicar, "You think I'd betray her? She would hurt me in ways you can't imagine."
Samara continued stalking forward. "The name of the ship. Your life hangs on the answer, Lieutenant."
The Eclipse lieutenant spotted a pistol on the ground. She twisted and scrabbled for it, desperate. "You can kill me, but one of us will take you down, Justicar!" Samara clenched her fist, and the asari went flying, down into a small delivery dock down another flight of stairs. She cried out, windmilling in the air, grabbing for anything she could hold on to.
Samara's biotics exploded around her, lifting her up into the air, and she floated down—a jump of over four and a half meters. Beside Garrus, Jack folded her arms and snorted.
Samara landed right beside the Eclipse merc. She put her foot on the woman's throat. The heel of her boot cut off the lieutenant's windpipe, and she gagged. "What was the name of the ship she left on?" Samara asked again.
"Go to hell!" the lieutenant ground out.
Samara looked down at her dispassionately. "Find peace in the embrace of the goddess," she said. She twisted her leg. The crack of the mercenary's spine was audible, and Garrus's stomach clenched. Samara climbed the stairs, looking them over from head to toe. Garrus itched to raise his weapon, but whereas pointing his gun at Jack had seemed like a very good idea on the Purgatory, pointing it at Samara now didn't seem nearly so well-advised. "My name is Samara, a servant of the Justicar Code. My quarrel is with these Eclipse sisters, but I see five well-armed people before me. Are we friend, or foe?"
"Coming into this alleyway, I would have said friend," Shepard said, voice tight with anger, "But I have to say, now I'm not sure. That merc was wounded and helpless. Do you just kill anyone who won't help you?"
Samara regarded Shepard coolly. "If my cause is important enough, yes. Are you different?"
Shepard stepped forward. "My name is Beth Shepard. I've killed my share of enemies. But always with good reason, and never when they're unarmed." Her challenge was so simple, so proud, and she sounded so right when she said it. But sometimes it's just not that easy. Garrus dropped his eyes.
Should it be?
I don't know.
Watching Samara kill that merc—he'd done the same. He'd executed a dozen unarmed criminals. Maybe more. Slavers, murderers, and sociopaths, because he'd had an opportunity that might not come again, and the galaxy was better off without them. But that merc had been brave. She'd been loyal to her people. And remembering the way she'd crawled back on her elbows, that sickening crunch as Samara literally stomped her life out, he had a vision of a warehouse on Omega, looking down at a krogan bleeding from every limb and orifice. Then he saw the children that krogan had left packed into tiny crates in their own filth, left tied up to starve and die. He saw the innocents floating through space to make a point, and he was filled with so much rage it made him just as physically sick as before.
I don't know.
Samara's eyes flicked and hovered over his expression, then moved back to Shepard. "I answer to a code that is clearly defined. If my actions are true to that code, I am just. If they are not, I am unjust. I don't pretend that it is a simple matter, or that it seems right to everyone, but I sleep well at night, and that is more than most can say. How may I be of service to you?"
Shepard got straight to the point. "You've heard of the Collectors abducting human colonies? I need you to help me take them down."
Samara's lips curved slightly. "The Collectors are a worthy foe," she observed. "I would relish testing myself against them. But I seek an incredibly dangerous fugitive. I cornered her here, but these Eclipse sisters smuggled her offworld. I must find the name of the ship she left on before the trail goes cold."
There were footsteps behind them, and Garrus turned to see Detective Anaya leaning up against a wall. "I wish you were willing to go with the human, Justicar," she said. "I've been ordered to take you into custody if you won't leave."
Garrus thought he saw a flicker of compassion pass over Samara's placid face. "You risk a great deal by following your orders, Detective." Then she walked over to the detective's side. "Fortunately, I will not have to resist. My code obligates me to cooperate with you for one day. After that, I must return to my investigation."
Anaya looked nervously over at her. "I won't be able to release you that soon," she said.
"You won't be able to stop me," Samara told her. Again, Garrus thought he heard the slightest edge of regret in her voice, but she didn't exhibit a shred of uncertainty. Tomorrow, if Anaya and her superiors didn't let her go, Samara would gun them down or break them up against the wall without a qualm.
Shepard took half a step between Samara and the detective. "There must be some way we can all get what we need."
Samara gazed at her. "I see a way. While I am in custody, you find the name of that ship. Do that, and I will join you. Then the code will be satisfied."
Shepard hesitated. "A moment ago, you refused to give up your investigation, but now you're ready to come?"
"If I stay, I will be compelled to kill many innocents to escape incarceration," Samara replied.
"Like me," Anaya reminded them.
"I may be killed, and my quarry would be free to continue murdering," Samara continued. "If I come with you and survive your mission, I can resume my investigation. To do that, I need the ship's name to track her to her next hiding place. It is a simple choice."
"Makes sense," Tali told Shepard.
Jack shrugged. "A small chance is better than none. I wouldn't be so nice, if it was me, but I know about waiting out what you're after in Shepard's team." She shot a sideways glance at Anaya, and Garrus was somehow relieved to know even Jack wasn't willing to say she'd plow her way through the cops on a whim in front of actual cops. Not sure if she's mellowing out or she's just smarter than I gave her credit for.
"This justicar code seems quite strict," Shepard observed.
Samara tilted her head. "It may seem so to you, but this is my oath. The expedient path may be fast and simple, but that does not make it the right path."
Well, you've heard that one before. And again. And again. And again. It was a bit disorienting to see Castis Vakarian behind those glowing biotic eyes of doom and that plunging neckline, but suddenly Justicar Samara was looking a whole lot less glamorous. Garrus scowled, but Shepard was smirking at him, looking like now she was feeling a whole lot better about their would-be asari ally. Shepard's adherence to his father's school of thought was simultaneously one of her most attractive and one of her least attractive traits, Garrus thought. You have to admire that kind of moral fiber. But damn, is it annoying.
"I hear you there," Shepard said. "Can you tell me more about your order?"
"Justicars are individuals who have forsworn family, children, and worldly possessions aside from some weapons and armor," Samara told them. "We travel asari space righting wrongs defined by the ancient code we have each memorized."
With a glance at Anaya, Shepard said, "Illium may be dominated by asari, but it isn't in asari space."
"My quarry fled to this place," Samara explained. "I am sworn to hunt her down, and I will follow anywhere she goes. It is rare for a justicar to leave asari space, but I must follow my oath. If I suffer for it, I will accept that."
"We'll try to keep the suffering to a minimum," Garrus said. "The ship the Eclipse sisters sent your target out on. Do you have any leads?"
Samara regarded him again. She inclined her head. "The volus merchant Pitne For is tied to this. Eclipse mercs are preparing to kill him. Get the truth out of him. He may know a way to the Eclipse base."
Anaya hesitated. "Well, I've got to get back to my station, and I guess I've got to take you with me."
Samara nodded, and fell into line behind the detective. "Thank you, Shepard," she said.
Jack raised a brow at Grunt. "Well. Looks like we're hunting Eclipse mercs after all."
"Heh heh. Told you."
A/N: Hey. I didn't forget my update this week and I have not abandoned you! I plead "bridesmaid in my sister's wedding." I was busy. But I'm thrilled to have my first ever brother, one of the best men I know and THE best for my sister.
Anyway, here's your update. Enjoy. Leave a review if you've got something to say.
Always,
LMS
