Alright, time for another chapter of the Maelstrom Siblings! And for this chapter, I'm going to try something a little different when I end it. I'm going to try my hand at adding Codex entries regarding things I've added into the fanfic, that aren't part of canon.
Alicia: Awww, but that means there won't be an end author bit! It'll take up all that room!
LR: I know, I know, but it's something I've wanted to try after reading a couple other Mass Effect fanfics that have done the same. Besides, it won't be for every chapter, just for ones where I add something new that isn't already part of ME canon.
Wrex: Heh, you do whatever you want kid. I've already had plenty fun being here. That scaly robot sure knows how to fight.
LR: Yes…he does. *deadpan stare at the wall that has a Ripfang shaped hole in it, right next to a Wrex shaped hole*
Diehard FemShepardLiara LeafRanger: Don't worry, we'll patch that up!
Diehard ShepardTali LeafRanger: Yeah, no worries!
LR: See, why can't the other me's be more helpful like that?
All other LeafRangers: BECAUSE WE KNOW YOU TOO WELL!
LR: I hate you all. *pouts in a corner*
Just as a heads up, there will be some gore in this chapter. Though not really descriptive, so maybe this warning is pointless. We'll see.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Mass Effect. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto and BioWare respectively. This is a non-profit work of fan made fiction. Please support the official releases.
Chapter 19
A Heart to Hart
Alicia quietly watched the holographic image of Feros currently on display at the navigational console, as two blue icons had entered orbit around the planet, both labeled as Alliance Navy warships. The SSV Ontario, a Moscow-class cruiser, and the SSV McHenry, a Gibraltar-class heavy destroyer, were now on station to begin providing continuing relief efforts and security for the Feros colony. Unlike the Normandy though, the larger ships would have to maintain an orbital holding pattern as they could not dock at the colony itself.
"Commander, we're being hailed by the Ontario," Joker spoke through the intercom, drawing her attention up from the holographic navigation map.
"Put it through," she ordered, before the communications channel emitted a slight burst of static as it transitioned to ship to ship communication.
"SSV Normandy, this is SSV Ontario. We are in holding station and ready to relieve you," spoke an accented female voice. "Admiral Hackett sends his regards, and has ordered that you return to your search for Saren."
"Copy that Ontario; we'll be heading out shortly. Transmitting relevant data to you now. Normandy out," Alicia said, nodding to the comms station where the on duty personnel began transmitting data about the current situation in the colony to the two ships. She then switched the intercom to ship-wide. "This is Commander Shepard. All hands make ready to get underway," she ordered.
Stepping away from the navigation pulpit, she blinked in surprise as Liara and Shiala emerged from the stairways leading to the crew deck, the commando moving a bit stiffly but under her own power. The two asari immediately made for her, causing her to stop as they approached her. "Liara? What's going on here?" Alicia asked, looking between the two asari and noting how the commando was carrying a small pack.
"Commander, Shiala wanted to ask that she be allowed to remain here in the colony," Liara said quietly, shifting a bit uncomfortably. "She…well she thought she would be able to do more good here then on the ship."
Alicia looked questioningly to the commando, who simply nodded. "I hope you might grant me this request, Shepard. The people of this colony need help, and I feel that I can perhaps do more good here. I fear that if I stay on your ship and you do catch up to Saren, I may prove a liability if he and his ship can ensnare me again. I do not know if I could resist the power of his ship."
Alicia frowned slightly at that. "I'll admit we could use someone with your abilities and experience onboard," she said quietly. "But if you think it's possible you could fall under Saren's influence again, then it might not be a good idea to have you stay. If you think you can help the people here, then I wish you the best of luck," she said, holding out a hand.
Shiala shook it, nodding at Alicia. "Thank you, Commander. May the goddess watch over you and bless your endeavors," she said quietly, bowing her head. She turned and smiled at Liara, placing a hand on the younger asari's shoulder. "And remember what I told you, mistress."
Liara nodded a bit, hugging Shiala who blinked in surprise before returning the hug. With that done, Liara went with Shiala to the airlock as Alicia signaled that she be let off, then went over to the communications officer to add a message about Shiala staying behind to the data being transmitted to the Ontario.
A half hour later the stealth frigate was slowly pulling out of the dock, maneuvering to bring her bow around before she shot up into the atmosphere, rapidly climbing and soon breaking into space. Alicia, standing again at the navigation pulpit, smiled as she activated the navigational map and input their destination. "Pressly, Joker, get us underway," she said, confirming the destination.
"Citadel huh? Guess I can catch Blasto 5 while we're there," Joker commented, as Pressly began computing the navigational route and Joker began taking the ship out towards the Mass Relay. Alicia just chuckled as she stepped away from the pulpit and started to head down to the crew deck.
Down in the hanger bay, Naruto was busy talking to the requisitions officer on a requisition for dextro rations and other necessities when Garrus approached him. The vulzan glanced over his shoulder before looking forward again. "One second please, Garrus. Just finishing this form," he said, typing on a pad.
"O-Of course sir. Take your time," Garrus said, shifting a bit nervously. The slight stutter caused Naruto to blink. He quickly finished the form and handed it to the requisition officer, then turned to Garrus, taking in his slightly nervous posture.
"Something wrong Garrus? Should I be checking medbay for Ashley?" He asked with a slight grin, immediately causing Garrus to shake his head.
"No, no! Everything's fine between me and Sergeant Williams, sir!" Garrus said, causing Naruto to sigh.
"Garrus…you can calm down. It was a joke," Naruto said, as Garrus' shoulders slumped.
"I know si-…I mean Naruto," he said, remembering how both Alicia and Naruto insisted that unless the situation demanded otherwise, the non-Alliance members didn't need to stick with formality. "I just…this is really different from what I was used to in the Hierarchy. Discipline is a lot stricter in the turian military. And that old training likes to kick back in."
Naruto nodded in understanding. "So what do you need Garrus?" He asked, causing the turian to take a deep breath, his mandibles twitching slightly.
"I…I need to make a request. And I didn't know if I should talk to you or the Commander. It's a personal thing, so I didn't think it'd be right to approach her, so I'm coming to you about it," Garrus said.
Naruto nodded over to the Mako, leading the turian over to it so they could talk more privately. Once there he turned back to Garrus. "Go ahead."
"I need to request a leave for…an extended period of time," Garrus started hesitantly. "And…there is the possibility I might not come back."
Naruto's eyes narrowed at that as he crossed his arms. "What do you mean 'might not come back'?" He asked.
Garrus shifted nervously at that, looking down a bit. "There's something I need to deal with. Something from my past. And…it might involve a certain level of danger. This is why I'm requesting this leave, so I'm not endangering the ship, crew, or the mission. I want to go handle it personally."
"So what you mean is you could end up dead," Naruto said, causing Garrus to nod. The vulzan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Is this something that can wait?" He asked.
"I don't think so. There's the possibility that…this opportunity will disappear. I need to try and handle it as quickly as possible," Garrus told him.
Naruto took a deep breath. "To be honest Garrus, you need to run this by Alicia. You're not officially part of the crew, so you don't need permission to leave the ship. But since you're part of the ground team you still need to tell her about this, so she can handle the change in the ground team if you're not around," he said levelly.
The turian sniper turned to the Mako, resting a hand against it as he leaned forward. "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be selfish or jeopardize the mission, but this…it's…," he trailed off, before turning, squaring his shoulders and trying to sound more confident and sure. "I'll explain everything to you and Commander Shepard," he said.
Naruto nodded before activating his omni-tool's comm unit. "Commander, do you have a moment? Garrus needs to speak to us," he said.
"Alright. My cabin," Alicia responded, causing Naruto to nod to Garrus. The duo headed for the elevator to ride up to the crew deck.
A few minutes later they were entering Alicia's cabin as she looked up from the table, a datapad in hand. "So what's so important that it's interrupting my private reading time?" She asked them, her voice holding a mock serious tone to it to let them know she was teasing them.
"You can get back to your cheap romance novels later," Naruto said, causing Alicia to pout.
"I'll have you know these are works of intimacy, romance, and high drama!" She defended, only to earn a deadpan stare from Naruto.
"They're the soft-core erotic romance novels written by our fohlok of a godfather," he said, causing her to sheepishly grin.
"Doesn't mean they're not good or entertaining," she said, before looking to Garrus. "So what's this about?" She asked the turian.
He stood at attention, staring ahead as he tried to be as professional as he could be. "I wish to request a temporary leave, ma'am. A situation has come up that I need to resolve, and I don't wish to endanger the ship, crew, or mission, so I wish to handle it personally," he said.
Alicia raised an eyebrow, before speaking. "At ease, Garrus. And you know you don't need to be formal with us, you're not Alliance military."
Garrus relaxed at that. "Naruto reminded me, but I still think I should try to be formal for something official, Shepard," he said.
Alicia just sat back, studying the turian quietly. "So going by your words, whatever this situation that has come up is, it's something that's dangerous. Otherwise you wouldn't have mentioned not wanting to endanger the ship and crew. So may I ask what exactly this situation is?"
Garrus took a deep breath, before glancing at the chair opposite of Alicia at the table. Seeing the clear question on his face, she nodded to it, causing him to take a seat. He took another deep breath, before speaking. "This is going to take a bit of explaining, but…it has to do with a criminal who got away. Who I feel responsible for letting get away," he started. "When I was a young child, my father told me stories about his time with C-Sec. About the people he helped and the criminals he brought down. And I loved it. I loved hearing about my dad, the hero, the brave cop who was bringing justice to the criminals and lowlifes on the Citadel. I wanted to be just like him, a cop out there doing good, bringing down bad guys, protecting innocent people. So after my time with the military was done, I applied for C-Sec. But when I joined…well…I learned things aren't exactly what I thought," he said.
"You found out it wasn't quite as exciting as you thought it would be?" Alicia asked, only for Garrus to shake his head.
"Oh no, there's plenty of excitement. The Presidium is usually very quiet, not a lot of crime there beyond some disturbances or some good old fashion white collar crime. The Wards, however, are a different matter altogether. Plenty of criminals hanging out in the back alleys, warehouses, and pretty much every other dark hole they can find. As well as some organized gangs, psychopaths, and serial killers. No, I wasn't bored…but I was frustrated. I was frustrated because some lawyers and bureaucrats decided they needed to make about a hundred different rules on how a cop is allowed to arrest someone," Garrus said, the frustration evident in his flanged voice. "They had all these rules and regulations in place, so it seemed like it was impossible to do my job. I'm supposed to be catching criminals and protecting people, not worrying about whether or not I filled out the right requisition form and asked nicely if I could arrest the guy shooting at me."
He sat back, closing his eyes. "My dad…well he didn't agree with me. He said the rules were there for a reason, and a job shouldn't be done at all if it couldn't be done right. But how can a job been done right when it lets criminals get away because of some stupid loophole or technicality? Half the time I'd do everything absolutely right and a criminal would still get away because of some attorney using some type of loophole technicality in some obscure law to get them off."
He shuddered slightly, taking a deep breath. "Sorry…I didn't mean to get off track," he said.
Naruto, who had been sitting on the edge of Alicia's bed, just nodded understandingly. "This is something that really gets to you, isn't it?" He asked.
Garrus just shrugged helplessly. "I just…it's not what I imagined growing up…what my dad described. But I guess he didn't want to reveal the realities to me as a kid. Let me have my innocence, right?" He asked with a chuckle, before looking at Alicia. "But getting to the point, things came to a head when a criminal I was tracking got away. A real sick son of a bitch who was trading in black market organs."
Alicia let out a grunt of disgust. "Seriously? There's a market for that, and on the Citadel?" She asked.
"Considering how many members of the various species you find on the Citadel, it's the perfect place to harvest organs for the black market. And some of them go for top dollar. Last I heard, krogan testicles would go for ten to twenty thousand credits per testicle. Krogan believe that swapping testicles might increase fertility or some nonsense like that," Garrus said, shuddering a bit. "One case involved an elcor diplomat chopping up people for their organs. I think I lost a week's worth of sleep after that case. This case though involved a salarian named Saleon. It started when we recovered a liver that belonged to a turian living on the Citadel. Now that obviously raised some questions and red flags, since if he had lost his liver, he wouldn't be alive. When I traced his history I found he had worked previously for Saleon, a geneticist. Which led me to a theory that he was somehow cloning organs of his employee's to sell on the black market. I couldn't prove it, however, and a search of his lab led to nothing. When we brought in some of his employee's, that's when we got a crack in the case. One of them started bleeding during the questioning, and then freaked out when I offered to get him some medical treatment. That tipped me off that something was up, so I had him checked out."
"Wait…why did he start bleeding during the questioning?" Alicia asked, her face growing stern and slightly suspicious.
Garrus quickly waved a hand. "It's not what you think. His blood pressure went up due to nervousness and fear at being questioned. We didn't do anything to hurt him except try to restrain him when he started freaking out," he said. (1)
As Alicia settled down, he continued. "As it turned out, his body had several incisions marks on it, fresh ones too. That's why he started bleeding. A couple of them split open due to his blood pressure. But that was the big crack in the case. We were able to figure out that Saleon was using his employee's as incubators for cloned organs. He'd grow them within their bodies, and then harvest them. When we checked over some of the others as well, same results. Some of them…their insides were pretty messed up. It's a wonder they were able to get by without keeling over from pain."
Alicia cursed under her breath as Naruto growled softly, before Garrus continued. "With this new evidence, a warrant was put out for Saleon's arrest. But he was one step ahead of us. We were on our way to his lab when it exploded, and we learned he was escaping with several of his employee's as hostages. He managed to get to his ship and take off before a lockdown could be put in place. I tried to order the defense guns to take out his engines, prevent him from escaping, but C-Sec command overrode my order. They didn't want to endanger the hostages, and claimed he was too close to the Citadel. By the time any ship could intercept him, he was already gone."
Garrus looked down, clenching one fist. "They could have stopped him. All they had to do was shoot out one of his engines. And those hostages were as good as dead anyways. He'd just use them for his sick experiments. But instead, they followed their rule book, and he got away."
There was silence for several moments, as Alicia and Naruto looked at the still form of the turian, before Alicia spoke up. "And now you've found him?"
Garrus looked up, nodding quietly. "Yeah. I've had contacts searching for any information on him, and one of them got back to me. He's using a new name, a Dr. Hart. Some type of sick joke on his part, I guess. And he's changed ships. But my contact managed to get the ship's transponder and its last known location. That's why I'm requesting this leave. So I can go out there and bring this criminal to justice."
Naruto frowned at Garrus's words. "Justice…or vengeance, Garrus?" He asked quietly, causing the turian to start. "What do you intend to do when you actually get to him?"
Garrus opened his mouth to answer, before closing it. He thought for a few moments, his eyes focused on the table, before he looked up. "I'm going to make sure that he can't hurt anyone ever again."
Alicia was looking thoughtfully at Garrus, before speaking. "Where was the ship last spotted?" She asked, causing Naruto and Garrus to both look at her.
"C-Commander, I don't-," Garrus started, only to be interrupted by Alicia.
"The way I see it Garrus, if I grant you the leave and you go off on your own to do this, I'm a man down on my team, and you might end up dead. Which ends up hurting my mission. But what's more…you're already putting yourself in harm's way for me. You're helping me out when you don't have to. The least I can do is try to help you get a little closure," she said. "Besides…if all of us go, then the odds of you not only succeeding, but coming back alive, are much higher. Don't you think?"
Garrus just gaped at her. "B-But…if this is too dangerous-," he tried to say, only for Naruto to interrupt this time.
"Do you really think a salarian geneticist is more dangerous than geth, krogan, and weird mind controlling sentient plants?" He asked, causing Garrus to look down, feeling slightly sheepish.
Alicia picked up from there. "I figure helping you is a win across the board. It ensures you do come back, thus not reducing my team's strength. It helps you better focus on the task at hand, meaning you'll have a clearer head out in the field. And on a personal level…I want to pay you back for agreeing to come help me on my mission. You're putting yourself in danger for me, so I want to return the favor as your commander, your teammate, and hopefully as your friend."
Garrus just stared at her, mandibles flared in surprise as his mouth hung open, before he looked down. "…t-thank you…both of you," he said quietly, before looking up. "He's in the Herschel System, Kepler Verge Cluster."
Alicia smiled as she stood, going to her desk and activating the intercom. "Joker, we're taking a detour. Bring us to a halt and prepare for a new heading," she said, before switching to navigation. "Pressly, plot a course for the Herschel System in the Kepler Verge. Mister Vakarian will be coming up soon with the transponder signal for a ship. Have sensors ready to scan for the ship once we arrive."
Hearing a confirmation from her XO she turned back to Garrus, nodding to him. "You better get that ship transponder up to the CIC. We're not that far away," she said with a grin.
Garrus nodded as he stood up, before saluting her. "Yes ma'am!" He said, turning and heading off.
Alicia just grinned until she saw the serious, slightly grim look on Naruto's face. "What?" She asked, causing Naruto to look at her.
The vulzan sighed as he slowly stood, straightening his pants. "I'm worried about his mindset," Naruto said quietly. "When he ordered them to shoot down the transport, do you think he even considered the possibility that it might have crashed into the Citadel and killed innocent civilians? Or crashed into another ship if it lost control? Or do you think he was far too focused on 'justice' and that nothing else mattered?"
Alicia let out a sigh, running a hand through her fiery locks of hair. "…are you saying we shouldn't do this?"
Naruto shook his head. "No, this is something that's been eating away at him. We should help him with this…but we might need to step in if he ends up getting too emotional about this. And maybe speak to him about tempering this sense of justice with an understanding of why at least some of these regulations exist."
Alicia gave a nod at that, before standing up. "I'll gather up the others and let them know what's going on. I'll ask for volunteers, but I won't make this a mandatory mission," she said.
"Understood. You can count on me to be there though," Naruto said, as Alicia gave him a smile.
"That's good to know, little brother," she said, heading out of her cabin. Naruto followed, but split off to go prepare for this impromptu mission.
SSV Kilimanjaro
Hannah Shepard, executive officer of the SSV Kilimanjaro, stood on the bridge of the lead ship of the Alliance's newest line of dreadnaughts, watching reports coming in from other ships from the task force. The Kilimanjaro, along with the other ships of her task force, were in the Voyager Cluster, clearing out an element of the geth ships that had taken part in the attack all along the border of Alliance space. The fighting had been tough and draining on all the ships and their crews, especially as two of their frigates, a destroyer, and a cruiser had either been heavily damaged or destroyed, but they had made the geth pay.
Now, as the onscreen display was showing, the remainder of the geth ships in this sector were pulling back, keeping out of effective combat range but still keeping contact with the Alliance ships, as if taunting them. Hannah looked to the ship's commanding officer, Captain Matthias Ruttagher, a somewhat short and thin figure in his early forties, who was currently talking to Rear Admiral Rosa Alviano, the Italian descended forty-eight year old commander of the entire task force.
"I don't like this one bit," the admiral stated, watching the data unfold before them. "Have our scout ships reported any signs of other ships in the cluster?"
Captain Matthias shook his head as he looked at her. "Nothing so far ma'am. Only those geth ships ahead of us."
Rosa quietly pondered what the data could all mean. "They're not looking to run away, or they'd be gone already. They want us to keep focusing on them. That can only mean one of two things. They're either trying to keep us occupied while something is going on elsewhere, or they're trying to lure us into a trap."
Hannah was pulled away from listening to the discussion by a bridge officer handing her a data pad with a report on it. She quickly looked it over, before turning to the two superior officers. "Ma'am, we just received an update from Admiral Hackett. Geth forces seem to be pulling back to the border along the entire engagement front, though they're doing so slowly," Hannah said, handing the data pad to the admiral while the holographic navigation table now displayed Alliance space, with numerous blue and red dots to indicate known Alliance and geth ships. The red dots of the geth ships were seen slowly moving towards the border of Alliance space.
Matthias, however, instantly focused on one particular cluster. "What about here?" He asked, highlighting the Armstrong Cluster. The map zoomed in, showing the cluster and the explored systems within it. Some of the systems had red dots indicating enemy presences, while two blue dots labeled Task Forces 4 and 19 were residing in the Grissom System.
"This seems to be some type of attempt to create a fortified anchorage," Hannah explained. "The geth have deployed a number of ground forces and are building fortified ground installations with strong anti-orbital defenses. The analysts on Arcturus Station seem to think the geth ships are keeping our attention on them to give them more time to finish their bases there. Task Forces 4 and 19 are on station, but they don't have the numbers to make an assault on all the bases. At the moment they're attempting to interdict any geth reinforcements by holding the Mass Relay" she reported.
Admiral Alviano frowned at that. "They've got us spread too thin. And the damn pirates and slavers aren't helping the situation either," she said. The Alliance fleets, due to the sudden attack by numerous geth forces, had been forced to redeploy themselves to compensate. The entire Second and Fourth Fleets had been sent to engage the geth forces, while the Third and Sixth fleets had been forced to deploy some of their ships to watch over the colonies and stations those fleets would have been currently protecting. The reason for this was that pirates, raiders, and slavers from the Terminus Systems, embolden by the weakening of the Alliance patrols, had begun raiding into Alliance space, slipping past the conflict between Alliance and geth. The First and Fifth fleets, stationed at Earth and Arcturus respectively, could not send their own ships for fear of weakening these two key points on the off chance Saren attempted an audacious attack on either one of them to further weaken humanity. The only remaining fleet, the Seventh, was too brand new and undermanned to be of much help.
Captain Matthias growled softly. "There's not much we can do. Even when we have the geth outnumbered, we need every ship we've got to offset their firepower advantage."
The admiral frowned as she noted one single blue dot moving towards the Kepler Verge. Enhancing that dot, she blinked in surprise as she saw it was the Normandy. "…maybe we don't need a fleet," she murmured quietly, a thought forming in her head, before pointing to her comms officer. "Get me a line to Admiral Hackett," she ordered.
Hannah could only blink, wondering what was going through the admiral's mind as she looked to the dot that represented her daughter's ship.
Herschel System
Alicia stood at the CIC, watching the holographic navigation chart display the Herschel System as the Normandy was just entering it now. She immediately activated the intercom. "Sensors, begin running a passive sensor sweep for any ships in the system," she ordered, switching over to the helm. "Keep us at low profile Joker. We don't want to spook anybody out there."
Looking back to the map, she quietly studied it for any new contacts that the sensors might detect. Sure enough, within moments an unidentified contact appeared on the screen. "Command, I have one ship on my sensors. Unknown civilian craft, possibly some type of freighter. Cross referencing with target registry."
She could sense Garrus moving to stand near the display while they waited for the confirmation. Sure enough, the blip updated, giving them the name and class of the ship.
Alicia grinned as her sensor officer confirmed what they were seeing. "Contact identified! MSV Fedele, Kowloon-class freighter. Scans indicate her engines are powered down and she seems to be adrift."
"Good work. Helm, take us in easy. Tactical, target her engines just in case she tries to make a break for it. Make sure you disable only," she ordered, before looking to Garrus. Both the turian and herself were already suited up in their combat armors, with the turian having his Phaeston assault rifle folded up on his back while forgoing the sniper rifle. Considering the tight quarters they'd like encounter, it'd be more of a hindrance.
Alicia nodded to him as he took a deep breath, watching the holographic blip of the ship slowly approaching the location of the Fedele, before his attention was drawn back to Alicia as she activated the intercom. "This is Commander Shepard to ground team. Assemble on the CIC for boarding action," she ordered.
After a few minutes the doors to the crew deck opened, allowing Naruto, Ashley, Tali and Kaidan to step onto the deck. When Alicia had gone to the others to inform them of the mission, but that they didn't have to come unless they wanted to, both Wrex and Liara had chosen not to volunteer. The krogan mercenary hadn't seen any point to it since it wasn't part of their mission, while Liara had been in the middle of delving back into her research regarding the Protheans. Wrex's decision had honestly not surprised Garrus at all. It was the fact that Ashley and Tali both had volunteered that did surprise him. He hadn't thought they would really want to help him out, even if he was doing his best to make up for his attitude and behavior earlier in the mission.
Alicia, seeing all of them present, nodded. "Alright team. We're not certain what we'll find over there on that ship. We're potentially looking at hostages, so check your fire. And remember, we're here to secure Doctor Saleon. He is not to be killed except as a last resort. Understood?" She asked, looking to everyone and ending on Garrus.
They all gave their affirmatives, though Garrus was a bit hesitant on his, before the intercom crackled to life. "Commander, we're practically on top of the ship. No sign that they've detected us…hell there's no sign of any activity. The ship's dead in the water," Joker reported from the helm.
Alicia nodded at that. "Understood. Prepare to drop the stealth systems on my mark," she said, watching as the Normandy slowly maneuvered into position on the holographic display, her bow pointed directly at the transport's stern. It would never have a chance to escape now, as the frigate could easily destroy its engines before it could even build up speed to maneuver, let alone escape. Alicia, seeing they were in the best spot, gave the order.
All of them remained tense, expecting some sudden flurry of activity from the transport, but it remained still. Alicia frowned, before turning to her communications officer. "Open a channel," she ordered.
The comms officer nodded, quickly opening a hailing channel, allowing Alicia to speak. "This is Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy. Do not attempt to flee or you will be fired upon," she said.
There was no response to her hail, causing her to frown more before speaking up again. "We have reason to believe a criminal is onboard your ship. Hold your position and prepare to be boarded. Respond," she ordered.
There was no response again, making everyone tense. Alicia immediately signaled for the communication to be ended, switching to the intercom. "Sensors, are you picking up anything unusual?"
"It's a bit difficult to tell ma'am. There are some strange bio-readings over there, but I'm not picking up anything else out of the ordinary," the sensor officer reported.
"Keep scanning, just in case. Joker, bring us up alongside and extend the docking tube. Team, with me," Alicia said, grabbing up her helmet and sealing it over her head. The rest of the team followed suit, heading up to the airlock as Joker deftly maneuvered the ship, bringing it up along the starboard stern quarter of the transport. The Kowloon-class transport ships had two main docking ports for crew and small cargo transfers located near the stern of the ship, behind the cargo modules and ahead of the engineering compartment. They also had a large retractable ramp on the underside for heavier cargo that needed to be loaded onto the ship. Now the Normandy brought her airlock up alongside the starboard docking port, extending out the short range docking tube and connecting to the transport ship.
As soon as the docking tube was secured, Alicia led her team into the airlock, which sealed shut behind them once they were all inside. The airlock cycled for a few moments, ensuring the interior of the Normandy was secure, before opening the exterior door, revealing the docking tube and the sealed hatch on the exterior of the transport.
"Captain, take Ashley and Tali to the port side of the door," Alicia ordered, drawing her Crusader and signaling Garrus and Kaidan to follow her to the right side of the hatch. The six of them quickly stacked up in two teams of three on either side of the hatch, with Alicia signaling to Kaidan. He quickly holstered his Locust and began hacking into the door, soon overriding the security. When Alicia nodded to him, he opened the hatch up, as the five other squad members quickly brought their weapons up, ready to fire.
They found nothing waiting for them on the other side, save for an empty airlock. Alicia signaled them in, and the six of them entered, Kaidan again overriding the controls and initiating the decontamination cycle. Roughly a minute later they were stepping onboard the transport itself.
Naruto could only frown behind his visor as he saw, again, nothing waiting for them. "Well…this is not in the least bit creepy," he muttered quietly.
"I really hope we're not dealing with a ghost ship," Alicia replied back, slowly moving forward towards the main hall that ran along the center of the ship from stern to bow. She activated the holographic control on the door, only to jump back as it opened and a body fell through, hitting the floor. Tali let out a sharp cry of surprise, jumping back and almost firing her shotgun at the figure on the floor. The rest also quickly trained their weapons on it, only to grimace at what they saw.
On the floor in front of them was the body of a human woman, wearing what appeared to be a crew uniform. Except that her face seemed to have been partially ripped off and her stomach gutted by something, with blood and entrails hanging out. Tali began to gag, leaning over and huffing, with Kaidan crouching down to examine the body.
"This almost looks like an animal attack," he said, indicating the wounds. "These wounds look like they were made by claw marks. But it doesn't look like whatever attacked her was trying to eat her."
"Well that just makes things more interesting," Alicia muttered, contacting the ship. "Normandy Actual, this is Normandy 1-1, copy?"
"Copy Normandy 1-1, what's your status, over?" Pressly responded from the ship.
"We've successfully boarded the ship, but looks like we're dealing with dangerous unknowns. I want the Marine complement on standby. And tell Wrex and Liara that I'd greatly appreciate it if they got suited up too, just in case," Alicia said, before cutting the comm line.
Naruto, meanwhile, was placing a hand on Tali's back as she took shuddering breaths. "Are you alright?" He asked her.
"Y-Yes…sort of," Tali said, slowly standing up. "Sorry about that Captain, just…it caught me off guard and…the sight of it," she said, carefully keeping her gaze away from the corpse.
Naruto just nodded in understanding, before looking back to Alicia who was sweeping the hallway. "Clear," she reported, looking back to the team. "Alright, keep to the sides of the hallway. We'll make our way forward first, clearing the ship. Williams, Kaidan, you two take rear. Captain, you're on point with me," she ordered, causing the team to move into position. Slowly the two groups made their way along the hallway, weapons up and ready.
They quickly found more evidence that something had gone terribly wrong on the ship, as besides blood splatter from what they presumed was the corpse they had already encountered, they soon came across another corpse, this one a salarian. Except his head and one arm were both severed from his body and tossed off to the side. Garrus moved to check the head, only to shake his own. "Not our target," he said.
"What the hell is that?" Kaidan said, pointing beyond the corpse to where another mass lay on the ground. Alicia slowly approached it, only to blanch in disgust at what she saw.
The mass was humanoid in shape, with some resemblance to what might have been a human. However, it was bulging with deformed muscle mass and tissue, with its skin being a darkish grey in color and devoid of any hair. The hands now ended in long bone like claws, covered in the greenish blood of the salarian that lay nearby, mixed with red blood from presumably the human woman. They could also see multiple entry wounds, obviously made by weapons fire, that were leaking out what seemed like blood, save for it seemed thicker than normal.
Alicia, looking over the monstrosity, looked back up to the others. "Well…I think we found what killed those two," she said dryly.
"Keelah…I think I'm going to hurl this time," Tali muttered, while Kaidan moved next to the corpse, analyzing it with his omni-tool. Garrus, however, was standing rigid, staring at the monstrous corpse in front of them as his hands gripped his Phaeston tightly, trembling a bit.
"…it was human," Kaidan finally said, looking up. "The blood is mostly human, but there's some weird chemical signature's I can't identify. Closest I've got on one of them is an agent used during cloning processes."
"Dr. Saleon's work, I presume," Alicia said, gripping her Crusader more tightly. "Guessing it got loose and started tearing up the ship."
"And someone survived long enough to put it down," Ashley said, looking back at the salarian. "Definitely wasn't him, there's no weapon nearby."
"Wasn't that woman back there either," Naruto said. "So whoever it was must be further in the ship."
Alicia hefted her shotgun. "Then let's go find out. I really want someone to answer for this shit show," she said, looking to Garrus. "Garrus?"
The turian snapped his helmet up to look at her. "Ma'am," he responded, his voice emotionless and professional.
"Got your head on straight?" She asked, only to receive a curt nod from the turian. Alicia took a deep breath, looking forward to where there was a closed door. "That leads to the main cargo area."
As they approached it, a sudden scream, something that sounded like a cross between a person's yell and an animal's roar, echoed from beyond the door, making them freeze. That scream was answered by what sounded like at least three more.
"…guess that wasn't the only one," Ashley cursed under her breath.
Alicia, not wanting to lead them in blind, quickly pointed to a nearby terminal on the wall. "Tali, can you use that terminal to give us an idea of what's in there? Sensor scans, security cameras, anything?"
"I can try," Tali said, her voice shaky, as she gingerly stepped past the dead abomination on the floor and hacked into the terminal. After a few moments, she looked up. "I've got internal sensors but nothing else. Picking up four life forms, unknown race," she said.
Alicia nodded at that. "Alright, well let's hope that whatever we're dealing with isn't too resistant to bullets. Kaidan, I want you to hack the door control, get ready to partially open it. We'll toss in a couple of flashbangs, then move in and take them down while their disoriented. If they start rushing us then me and Naruto will keep them back with biotics and give you all a chance to fall back. Ready?" She asked, seeing them all nod, before she nodded to Kaidan.
Kaidan quickly hacked into the door control, before giving a nod back to Alicia. She moved up with Naruto, both priming grenades set to flashbang. Alicia slowly raised her free hand, visually counting down from three before dropping a closed fist.
Kaidan quickly unsealed the door, opening it partially as Naruto and Alicia threw in their flashbangs before it closed again. There were a few moments of silence, and then the loud 'whump' of the grenades going off followed by piercing shrieks from whatever was inside. Kaidan opened the door fully and the team quickly entered, taking stock of what was going on.
The main cargo hold of the ship had been converted into some type of laboratory, with medical equipment and monitors located everywhere, though a large amount of it had been damaged or destroyed. Along one of the walls were several stasis tubes, meant to hold large organic specimens in stasis. One of them was empty and four others were broken, while the remaining two held creatures in them somewhat similar to the one they had encountered in the hall. One of them appeared to be a mutation of an asari, the head and belly both bloated while the arms and legs seemed normal sized, though the toes and fingers ended in claws. The other was a human, a male, with an overly large muscular chest and one thick arm, while the rest of them seemed normal.
Inside the lab they could see the other four monstrosities that had apparently broken loose, each one an equally horrifying mutation. There was a turian with bulging arms and legs, a batarian who the entire left side of his face and body seemed swollen with infected flesh and tissue, creating a lop-sided appearance. The third was a salarian, which had sprouted four more arms, each more muscular than normal, almost causing it to fall over due to the increased weight being almost too much for its legs. The last was another human, long thick arms attached to a tiny torso and legs, the face distorted by a look of perpetual agony.
All of them were reeling and shrieking from the flashbangs, with blood actually pouring from the salarians eyes and nostrils. Unable to see or hear, none of them were able to defend themselves from the group, who quickly opened fire on them, rounds ripping through the creatures. Despite their monstrous appearance it seemed none of them proved any more resilient to weapons fire then normal organics. Within moments the four abominations dropped to the ground, a mixture of different colored bloods soon pooling onto the deck.
Alicia stood there, staring at the dead creatures, before sweeping the room. "…clear," she reported, followed by the same from Naruto, Ashley, and Kaidan. Tali managed a weak 'clear' after a few moments, struggling with the sight of these twisted creatures they had witnessed, while Garrus gave a curt 'clear' as well. With the threat eliminated, they could now see that there were a few more corpses on the ground, at least one asari, two humans, and another salarian. All of them were dead, ripped apart by the abominations.
Alicia turned to the others, trying to focus on the mission again. "Kaidan, start sweeping the room. If you can salvage any information here, do it. Williams, guard him. The rest of you, with me," she said, moving forward towards the other end of the laboratory, doing her best to keep her calm. Garrus moved stiffly beside her, eyes locked on the door, while Naruto was letting out small growls, his eyes shifting between blue and amethyst. Tali brought up the rear, doing her best not to look at everything around them, doing her best not to think about what she was stepping in. Kaidan shook his head quietly as he moved to a console, with Ashley grimacing as she checked the bodies, making sure each of the escaped monsters was dead.
Outside the cargo bay, Alicia immediately stopped, turning to Tali. "Are you okay?" She asked, now that they were free from the carnage and gore.
Tali took a deep breath. "I…I hope so," she said, trying to control her breathing. "I-It wasn't the death, but…j-just how violent and…and horrible that was…t-those…those were people…they were people and…and…"
"And we've freed them now," Naruto said quietly, drawing her attention. "They were in torment, distorted and twisted into something else. And we freed them from that. It won't make it any less horrible, but if you can find at least some good…it'll help you cope for the moment."
Tali looked at him before nodding, still trembling but gripping her shotgun. Alicia looked to Garrus now, who had still been silent this whole time. "What about you Garrus?"
"I'm fine ma'am. Let's just get this done with," he said, looking down the hallway, causing Alicia to look a bit worriedly to Naruto, who simply nodded slightly.
The quartet found themselves in a shorter hallway, this one with three doorways. The one straight ahead would lead to the cockpit, leaving the other two as unknowns. "Left one first," Alicia said, pointing to it. Naruto moved up, accessing the holographic control, which caused the door to easily slide open, revealing several bunks and footlockers.
"Crew quarters," Naruto said as he advanced into the room to quickly check for any survivors. Finding no one he left the quarters while Alicia took a quick look inside the cockpit. It was a relatively small affair, with a seat each for a pilot, a navigator, and a captain. Finding no one Alicia turned to the third room, which Tali was currently hacking into. Unlike the quarters and cockpit this door had been locked, though Tali quickly overrode the security.
The door opened to reveal a similar sized room to the crew quarters, except this one held a single, more comfortable bunk in it. There was also a desk with a computer and a few shelf units containing data pads and actual hard copies of books and files. As soon as the door opened a salarian head poked up from behind the desk, before their grayish amphibian eyes widened. "R-Rescue? Oh thank goodness!" He said, getting up and revealing a rather tall salarian with dark reddish brown skin, a very long face, and a civilian variant of a Predator pistol in his hands.
Alicia saw Garrus go rigid out of the corner of her eye, giving her a good idea that this was who they were looking for. She slowly stepped forward, shotgun in hand but kept down at the moment. "Doctor Hart?" She asked, wanting to make sure they had the right person.
"Y-yes, that's me. How do you know-," the salarian started to say, only for a blue blur to slam into him and drive him onto the desk as Garrus stood over him, gripping his collar and punching the salarian in the face while said salarian's gun hit the ground.
"You fucking bastard!" Garrus shouted, punching Hart over and over again until Naruto grabbed him and pulled him off. "Let go of me! The son of a bitch needs to pay! You saw what he did in there! What he did to those people!" He shouted angrily.
"Stand down Garrus!" Alicia shouted, moving in front of Garrus and shoving him back.
"Shepard, that monster mutilated people, destroyed them! He deserves a bullet in his fucking head!" Garrus shouted, struggling against Naruto but finding it useless due to the enhanced strength of the vulzan.
"Maybe, but that's not how this works," Alicia said, staring him straight in the eyes. "You want justice, right?"
Garrus, calming down a bit, panted heavily as he looked at Alicia. "…yeah…I do. But letting him leave here with his miserable life isn't-."
"It's a lot closer to justice then just gunning him down in cold blood. Or do you want to be a murderer like him?" Naruto asked from behind, causing Garrus to stiffen, before he went slack. Naruto slowly released him as Alicia turned to Hart, who was now huddled on the floor, clutching his face.
"W-what was that for?! Keep that madman away from me!" The salarian coughed out, only for Alicia to roughly yank him to his feet.
"Only madman I see here is you, Doctor Hart. Or should I say Doctor Saleon?" She asked, causing the salarian to stiffen before shaking his head.
"Who the hell is that? My name is Doctor Hart!" The salarian shouted.
"Oh really? Well you and Doctor Saleon seem to share some very similar interests, if that horror show butcher shop of a lab is anything to go by," Alicia said, gripping his arms tightly. "So even if you're not Saleon, as you claim to be, you're still likely going away from the rest of your life."
"N-No, you don't understand, I didn't do anything! Those specimens were-," Hart tried to explain, only to be cut off by Kaidan arriving in the doorway.
"An attempt to not only clone but grow stronger, enhanced organs within your test subjects," the biotic lieutenant stated, with Ashley looking in disgust at the salarian as she joined them. "Those specimens were being used to grow 'super organs', which caused the abnormal mutations we saw. I was able to salvage enough data from the medical equipment and there are still two specimens in there for authorities to study."
"Not to mention whatever might be in the good doctor's files here," Naruto said, having let go of Garrus and indicating the shelves of data pads, books, and files. "I doubt any lawyer in the galaxy would have a shot at blocking this evidence."
Hart was struggling even more against Alicia now. "You can't do this, let me go! Let me go!" He shouted. Alicia just kept her grip firm as she looked to Garrus.
"Do you want the honors?" She asked him, causing him to take a couple of deep breaths before squaring his shoulders, marching forward and accepting the handcuffs Alicia had taken from her supply belt.
"Doctor Hagernesh Saleon, alias Doctor Sidiom Hart, you are hereby under arrest for the illegal manufacture and distribution of controlled goods, for illegal and immoral genetic experimentation, for the kidnapping of seven civilians, destruction of property, fleeing from law enforcement officers, and resisting arrest. Do you understand the charges leveled against you?" Garrus asked, slapping the handcuffs on around the salarian's wrists.
"I swear I'll get you for this! You're making a big mistake! You don't know who you're dealing with!" 'Hart' kept yelling and shouting, struggling against Garrus.
"You may request legal representation, either a privately contracted lawyer or one provided by thecourts. You may also remain silent, as anything you have or will say can and will be used as evidence in your trial. Do you understand your rights?" Garrus asked.
"Fuck you!" The salarian shouted, slamming his head back against Garrus's helmet. The armor protected the turian, but the blow was enough to stagger him back and lose his grip, as the salarian dove for the floor, scrabbling to grab his gun. Just as suddenly a pair of shots rang out, one ripping into his leg and another into his arm. He hit the floor with a scream of agony.
Garrus quickly pinned him down, looking up to see Alicia and Naruto with their sidearms drawn and pointed at the downed Hart/Saleon. Slowly, Alicia holstered her weapon. "Kaidan, get him patched up. Last thing we need is him bleeding out before we can hand him off to the authorities," she said, moving out of the room.
Kaidan quickly moved over, administering first aid to the wounded salarian as Garrus stood up, looking from the downed salarian to the retreating commander, his face a mass of conflicting emotions.
Roughly an hour later, Naruto was stepping off the elevator of the Normandy and immediately began scanning the hanger deck, searching for the turian sniper. The ground team had returned from the Fedele with their captive in tow, and Alicia had immediately sent word to Arcturus Station about the situation. Since the ship was sitting in Alliance space, the Alliance would be the ones handing off both the captive Saleon and the ship with all its evidence onboard to the Citadel for processing. She was still in the process of reporting what had happened to both Arcturus Station and Executor Pallin on the Citadel.
The rest of the ground team had dispersed, with Garrus immediately disappearing back down to the hanger deck. Ashley and Kaidan had both gone off to start their reports on the mission, but Naruto had stayed with Tali, who had been shaken, horrified, and disgusted by what they had seen. Naruto had done his best to console her, to help her work things out, but when she left for her cabin some time later, he could guess it would be some time before she could put it behind her.
Now Naruto wanted to find Garrus, as he knew the turian probably had some things he needed to work out himself. He would normally let Alicia handle this, but since his sister was busy with her own reports, he decided to speak to Garrus in her stead. He soon spotted the turian, who was half hidden by the Mako as he seemed to be working on the IFV. The vulzan marine quickly approached him as the turian just kept working.
"The main cannon's aiming system needs to be recalibrated. It's off by three degrees," Garrus said, not turning to Naruto.
"Well then make sure you get on that. But not now. We need to talk," Naruto said, as Garrus stopped his work but didn't turn around.
"…about what?" He asked quietly, setting his tools down.
Naruto crossed his arms, watching Garrus. "About what happened. About you attacking Saleon," he said.
The turian finally turned around, leaning back against the Mako as he tilted his head back, eyes closed. "…I wanted to kill him…after what he had done to the people on the Citadel, I wanted to kill him. Spirits, you should have seen what he did to some of those people…he preyed on the weak, on those who needed help, who need money or jobs…he used them. After he fled, we found some more of his test subjects. If the organs didn't grow right, he just left them like that. Left them to suffer and die. And that's when he was just growing regular organs. Look at what he's done since then."
Garrus slowly shook his head. "If I had been faster…if I could have gotten to him before he got away…or if they had just taken the shot when he was trying to escape…how many people would have been saved from him?"
Naruto watched him, arms crossed, before speaking. "Garrus…what would have happened if they had taken the shot? If they had hit his engines? What if he had spiraled out of control and hit another ship…or the Citadel itself?"
Garrus opened his eyes, looking at Naruto now. "I…that wouldn't have happened," he said, though his voice was unsure.
"It could have happened. Would justice be served, endangering the lives of who knows how many civilians for the sake of capturing or killing one criminal? Do you really make things better for people by putting their lives in danger to capture the bad guy, for the sake of 'justice'?" Naruto asked him.
As Garrus looked down, troubled, Naruto spoke up. "There's nothing wrong with wanting justice, Garrus. Far too often a lot of good people are denied it, because the system doesn't always work. But that doesn't mean you can just ignore the system. If you endanger others in pursuit of justice…can you really say you're better then the criminals you're chasing?"
Garrus clenched a fist, looking down, before letting out a mirthless chuckle. "So that's what they all meant," he said softly, looking up at Naruto. "That's what my dad meant…the rules and regulations…they're there so good people don't get hurt by us? So they can try to trust us to protect them from the bad guys?"
He let out another chuckle, looking up again. "You know I was actually scouted for Spectre candidacy? I could have been a Spectre, right alongside Alicia. My dad shot that idea down though. He hates the Spectres. Thinks it's wrong that they operate so freely, without any real regulations or oversight. When I was working in C-Sec, I thought he was just being old-fashioned, only caring about appearance. But…guess maybe he was on to something, wasn't he?" He asked quietly.
"Maybe he was," Naruto agreed with him. "Garrus…justice isn't just about putting the bad guys behind bars. It's also about making sure good people are safe and protected. You don't have to stop pursuing justice. But you should ask yourself if justice that puts innocent people at risk is really justice at all. If that's the kind of cop…or person you want to be," he said. "Just something to think about," he added, before turning to leave
Garrus kept staring at the ceiling, thinking over Naruto's words. After a while he looked down, activating his own omni-tool and going into his personal files. He pulled up an image, showing a younger version of himself dressed in brand new C-Sec armor, being congratulated by an older turian with similar markings as his own on his face. Garrus smiled softly at the sight of his dad, staring at it for a few moments, before closing it down and returning to work on the Mako.
Well here we are. My new chapter is done, and I hope you all liked it. I was trying to make things a bit more emotional for Garrus, because I could imagine he'd be carrying a fair amount of guilt over Saleon escaping, something that would be multiplied by the sight of what was going on onboard Hart/Saleon's ship. So I really wanted to express all of that in this chapter. Guess we'll all see what you all think, won't we?
Special thanks go out, again, to my beta a7xfanatic11 for his help in betaing, and May-Princess of Hoenn for getting me into the Mass Effect games in the first place! Thank you both so much!
And don't worry, the Ranger Lair will return next chapter.
1. In canon, they seem to imply that 'physical persuasion' was used during the interrogation, which is what started the bleeding in the first place. The thing is if the questionee's pulse quickened due to fear and nervousness of being found out, mixed with the fresh incisions, it'd be possible for the blood to start seeping from the wounds on its own, if they were fresh enough wounds. So I like to think that this is what actually happened.
Codex Entry: Gibraltar-class heavy destroyer
The Gibraltar-class heavy destroyer, named after the natural fortress on the very southern tip of Spain, is a class of ship unique to the Systems Alliance. In the aftermath of the First Contact War and in the face of trying to match the overwhelming might of the Turian Hierarchy, the technologically advanced and experienced Asari Republics, and the stealthy and well informed Salarian Unions, the Alliance Navy endeavored to create unique ship types that gave their fleet a flexible edge in combat. The Gibraltar is one of the results of this endeavor. A 135 meter long vessel, it boasts speed and maneuverability that is almost comparable to frigates, but with firepower more equivalent to that of a cruiser. Armed with twin main cannons for long range engagements, the Gibraltar also boasts numerous missile ports for a powerful short to mid-range punch against either a single large enemy target, or a swarm of smaller targets. The ship also boasts several GARDIAN batteries, making it a capable anti-fighter platform as well. However the weaponry, speed, and agility come at a cost to the ship's defense, with the shielding and armor plating providing only slightly better protection then the kinetic barriers and armor of a frigate sized vessel, making these ships vulnerable to enemy fire and easily destroyed by concentrated attacks from smaller vessels, or weapons fire from heavier ships. Despite this shortcoming it has quickly proven itself a reliable vessel that has proven to be especially beneficial both to patrols along the outer edges Alliance space and in pirate and slaver interdiction, and more than one military observer from the Council races have shown interest in learning more about these ships.