Welcome to the crime-show!
Thanks to Credete for editing.
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The minute Garrus and his little troop had entered the C-Sec halls, he received three urgent messages from Pallin to come see him immediately. The first message had ordered him to come and the next two messages came in quick succession, asking why he wasn't there already. Garrus left the processing of the arrested to Frank and hurried over to Pallin's office. Shepard raised an eyebrow in question as he ran past her and he trilled an apology to her.
Pallin's door was open and when he saw Garrus step in he closed it with an order through his omni-tool. That was unusual. His boss fixed him with a firm stare but he didn't show the familiar scowl of anger that Garrus had seen so often before.
"Vakarian. I received your report about the Katanga." Pallin said, looking down on a datapad with a scowl in his subharmonics.
Garrus was momentarily confused until he remembered that Katanga was the name of the ship full of dead mercs that he had to drive into dock this morning. "Yes, sir, I realize that the DNA-traces we found on board from Spectre Arterius have complicated this case."
"That is very true. Spectres, always trouble." Pallin kept staring at the datapad in his hand and was thrumming deep tones of anger.
Garrus didn't know what his boss expected of him, he was used to Pallin yelling at him in anger because of something he did or didn't do. But this anger seemed to not be directed at him, and he didn't know how to deal with that. "Sir?" He asked to remind Pallin that he was still there.
His boss finally looked up and glared at him intently. "Vakarian, I have removed you from all other cases. I want you to investigate Spectre Saren Arterius, find out everything about him."
Garrus trilled his surprise and wanted to say something but Pallin stopped him and kept on speaking. "I know that all information about Spectres is classified but you won't work under C-Sec authority on this. This investigation is under Council Intelligence control, and you will be working with this new organisation, ANIS. So far ANIS is a human organization but they went out of their way to make it not human centric. The group you will be working with is under the lead of a turian, Jentarius Keggs, high tiered in the military and a former C-Sec investigator. The Council has agreed to take this group under Council authority as a test, with a possibility of becoming a Council investigative service one day."
Pallin looked at Garrus and pointed a talon at the datapad. "This looks suspicious and you know that C-Sec will only run into walls investigating this because a Spectre is involved. I always despised Spectres, they are uncontrollable, power hungry. A team of investigators would be much better, for once the humans seem to have a good idea there. Humans, who would have thought..." Pallin was shaking his head while his subharmonics sang along.
Garrus had to hold his mandibles tight to suppress a grin. If only his boss knew that he had said almost exactly the same things Shepard had not too long ago. He felt giddy with excitement, it was really happening. Investigating a Spectre, no one had ever done that. It took him a second to notice that Pallin was still talking.
"You will be working with Commander Shepard, since you are friends that shouldn't be a problem I assume?" Pallin asked with a questioning trill. Garrus answered with a short trill, assuring his assumption. "Good," Pallin said and signed a datapad before handing it over to Garrus. "You will be under the command of Jentarius Keggs, report to him this afternoon and he will have your orders."
He leaned forward and looked into Garrus's eyes, his mandibles tight. "Don't screw this up, Vakarian. You are representing C-Sec and the turians on this. We could make the Spectres redundant, build up a true Council force. This is big, Vakarian."
Garrus straightened his back and clasped his hands behind his back. He almost wanted to salute but decided against it, this was still C-Sec, not the military. "I will do my best, sir, don't worry."
A deep tone of amusement and satisfaction left Pallin and he opened the door behind Garrus. With a wave of his hand he sent him off, only to call him back when Garrus was at the door. "I'd like a progress report now and then, Vakarian. Don't forget where you came from."
Garrus nodded. "I won't forget sir." He sang his greetings and left the office.
Looking around the main hall he only saw Berdin and Katrina, surrounded by a group of young recruits. They were staring in awe, listening to the tales that the human and the salarian told. Garrus had to smile, not many young recruits could tell stories of being part of such a big operation. He couldn't see Shepard anywhere and opened his omni-tool to send her a message.
'Where are you? -Garrus'
Her answer came immediately. 'Armory, changing room, cleaning up. -Shep'
A deep growl rolled through him. She was cleaning up and his imagination was painting a very enticing picture of that. As fast as he could without running like a lovesick pyjack, he walked to the elevator and made his way to the changing rooms.
Unfortunately, as he stepped out of the elevator, he noticed that the whole area was quite busy. No chance for a quiet get together for them. He stepped into the changing room, nodding to the other people there. A faint whiff of her smell on his left side directed him around the corner behind a row of lockers. There on a bench she sat, still in her underarmor, roughly wiping the gunk from the pieces of her armor.
She raised her head towards him, smiling and almost making his heart stop with such a simple action. Her hair was sticking out in every direction, she smelled salty of human sweat and the blood of other people. She looked so sexy, it hurt.
He was aware of other people looking at them, turians, humans, asari and he suppressed his possessive growl with all his might. Shepard acted like nothing happened and wiped at a scrape in her breastplate. She looked up and wore her perfect Commander Shepard face. Pointing at the scratch she asked, "Officer Vakarian, is there a workbench around here where I could fix that?"
Garrus trilled quietly at that. Clever, Shepard.
"Yes, Commander, follow me please." He turned around and heard her walking after him out of the locker room and around the corner into the next room. It was barely more than a storage room with a small workbench, accompanied by materials and utensils to fix armor and weapons. It was hardly ever used, the armory had it's own work area and experts to fix weapons and armour. This small room was only for quick fixes in a pinch.
They stepped inside and Shepard put the pieces of her armor on the workbench. She turned around and they stood there, staring at each other, not daring to breathe. As soon as the door had closed behind them they hurriedly closed the gap between them.
Spirits, this is so wrong. And so right.
Hands were grabbing armour and fabric, lips crashed against mouthplates, fingernails and talons were scratching skin and they tasted each others breath as their tongues touched and wrapped around each other. Garrus growled and Shepard made almost the same sound as they kissed. She pressed herself against him, one leg wrapped around him above his hip and even though he couldn't feel her touch through his armor, he felt how she pressed herself as close as possible to him. They broke the kiss, panting. Shepard began to snap off his lower armor. Her underarmor was already all the way open in front and Garrus didn't even know when that had happened.
He trilled in frustration and with every bit of self-control he could call upon he grabbed her wrists so that she couldn't continue on his armor. "Shepard, we can't." He pressed his forehead against her and breathed her in.
She pressed back and he wondered if his plates hurt her. But if so, she obviously didn't care. She changed the angle so that her mouth pressed against his mandible and he shuddered at the feeling of her soft lips against it. Her lips moved as she whispered. "Why not, Garrus? I know I smell bad but..."
"Spirits, Jane, that's definitely not the problem. Do you have any idea how sexy you are?" He was breathing hard, still holding her wrists down to her sides.
She was standing very still, only her lips moving against his mandible. "Then why are you not inside of me right now?" She whispered in her deep and husky voice. His growl filled the tiny room with the sound of desire.
He took a deep breath. "Professional, remember?" Garrus slowly let go of her wrists and took a small step backwards. "Jane, if we have sex now, every single turian, krogan and probably even asari will smell you on me, and me on you."
She closed the gap again. "So? We spend time with each other, it shouldn't be surprising that we have some scent from the other."
"No, my sunshine, we would smell of sex and everyone would know it." He took another deep breath to calm himself down but it only filled his head with her scent and the smell of arousal that came from her. His lower armour was getting very uncomfortable.
"Oh fuck, damnit! Seriously?" Shepard took a step back and sat down on the surface of the workbench. She rubbed her thighs together and sighed in frustration. "Fuck the fucking fuckshit, I'm so hot for you right now. Maybe I'm a bit of a pervert but seeing you with your rifle, so graceful and deadly..." Her hand was sneaking up under his fringe, stroking as she spoke, "...that really turned me on."
When he spoke up himself, his voice was layered with deep thrums of desire. "Looks like we're perverts together then. Seeing you fight, wild and deadly, you... Spirits, you have no idea what you do to me." He struggled with the words but his subharmonics sang clearly of wild, untamed passion as he pressed against her hand on his neck.
She pulled his head down towards her and kissed him. This time it was tender, soft little nibbles along his plates, her tongue carefully wandering along his teeth. His tongue found hers and softly they caressed and tangled around each other. Her hand kept on massaging his neck and his fingers combed through her hair. They kept their bodies distanced, not touching except for their hands and faces. It was like they had to keep up a spell that would be broken if they moved closer to each other.
With a slight pop her lips left his mouth and they kept still in silence with their foreheads touching, each keeping a hand on the others neck until their breathing had quieted down. At last Shepard whispered, as if she was afraid to break the spell.
"Here's what we will do: I'll clean this armor here, and since I don't have any spare underarmor around, I'm going home... I mean... to your place, to take a shower and put on some fresh clothes. You will have to take a shower here, far away from me because I can't guarantee that I won't ravish you in the shower otherwise." She looked up and grinned at him.
She called it home.
Garrus hummed a low tone, trying to calm himself and her with it. "Alright, I... I'll see you tonight then I guess. You better not have any other plans because I'm going to need you to..."
She giggled and put her hand on his mandible. "Oh, I'm going to need you too. I'll be waiting for you." Her smile lit up her face and he felt his chest constrict.
She waits for me
The wind will tell
The silver mountains
As the sun rays fell
The silly rhyme from an asari-turian love song invaded his mind. Spirits, get a hold of yourself.
Garrus stepped away from her as if she burned him, he needed to step away from these emotions before they could overwhelm him. It scared him what a hold she had on him, how much her smile drew him in. He knew that this was more, more than just sex, more than desire. He was longing for her, his mind was filled with her and he felt like he was losing himself. He couldn't imagine being without her in his life.
How could they ever work together? How was he supposed to act around her if her smile grabbed his heart in love and pulled his gizzard against his cowl? More and more he saw her as his bondmate, as his altera dimidia that he would spend his life with.
This was way too early in their relationship. He could not put that kind of expectation on her, it wasn't fair to her. They just got to know each other and he was already fringe deep in feelings and dreams of their future together.
He took another step back and the cowl of his armor banged against the wall of the tiny room. Shepard looked at him with a slight scowl and Garrus silently cursed her perceptiveness. Her hand had left his face but she still held it up like she waited for him to come back to her. But he stayed back and slowly she let her hand fall down on her thigh. She was watching him critically and Garrus was hiding all his emotions by holding down his subharmonics and not looking at her.
She jumped off the workbench and stepped up to him. "Hey, big guy, are you alright?" She asked with a frown. "I'm sorry? I don't know, I don't want to pressure you, I'm not... sure what you..." She had raised her hand to touch his face but hesitated. She kept looking at him and he avoided to look into her eyes. Slowly her hand fell back down. With a deep frown on her forehead she turned around and started vigorously scrubbing at the pieces of her armor. Garrus stood behind her, feeling the gap between them widen.
This moment had taken an unexpected turn somewhere and he didn't know how to save it. He knew what his own problem was but something was bothering Jane as well. This was not the time and place to discuss the seriousness of his feelings for her. But he could not leave her like this. Her back was turned to him, her muscles tense on her neck as she sanded down the scrape on her breastplate.
He stepped up to her. "Hey, Shepard..."
"Yes, Vakarian?" Her voice sounded cold but he always had trouble hearing the emotions in human voices, he was much better with faces. "You should go, you'll draw suspicion spending so much time in here. With me." The last two words were so quiet that he almost couldn't hear them.
"Jane, please look at me."
She didn't, she kept looking down on her breastplate on the workbench. "I'm sorry Garrus, I didn't mean..." She stopped sanding and let her head hang down. "I know I've been barging into your life and making everything more complicated for you and I have no right to call your apartment home and taking up all your time..."
"Spirits, Jane, that's what you are worried about?" He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his nose in the curve between her neck and her shoulder. "I thought it was wonderful that you called my place home."
She turned her face so that she spoke against the side of his face. "You told me that turians don't like closeness and I know you guys have lots of casual relationships..."
Garrus stopped her by pulling her closer to him. Sometimes the universe decides the time and place for you. This is the moment, whether you like it or not.
"Jane, can we please agree that there is nothing casual about us?"
He heard her draw in a sharp breath and she stayed silent for a scaringly long time. But then she said, "Okay, we are not casual. Definitely not casual." She turned around and pressed her face against his throat, her lips nibbling the soft skin there. "I was worried that I'm pestering you. The annoying, clingy girlfriend is not the part I want to be playing."
He fluttered his mandible against her face. "You can play that part with me anytime." She laughed at that and it was such a relief to hear that sound. "But you were right, I should go now." He licked at her collarbone one last time and pulled away. "I really need to take a shower."
She grinned at him. "A cold one?"
"Yes. No! What?" He was checking the seals on his armor and had not really paid attention. For a second he stared at her as she was laughing. He shook his head and turned around to leave. "I'll see you tonight at home."
Her smile warmed him deep inside. "Yes, home." She whispered and her eyes stayed on his until the door closed again, separating them.
A few hours later, after showering, finishing up his data work and a quick lunch he stood in front of a door close to the human embassy. The big letters above it said Alliance Navy Investigative Service in human writing on top and in Citadel common below it.
He straightened his back and stepped towards the door to trigger it's mechanism to open for him. The doors parted in the middle and he stepped into a huge room full of desks with data terminals, sectioned off in groups of six by moveable half-walls. Screens were placed around the outside walls, showing news from different channels from all around the galaxy.
People were either sitting at their terminals or were bustling around, and he saw many working in pairs on a terminal, bouncing ideas off each other with low voices. Most people were human but he saw many turians and a few salarians. Only one darkblue asari with dramatic red markings next to her eyes noticed him and looked threateningly at him as soon as his eyes fell on her. She was beautiful in a scary way and the look in her eyes reminded him of Shepard.
The asari turned to an older turian who addressed her with a short sentence. She answered and then pointed towards him, making the turian turn around to him. He recognized him from a picture he had seen of him with his dad, only that he hadn't known back then that his name was Jentarius Keggs. Keeping his back straight he stepped towards the older turian with the white markings. He decided against a salute and dipped his head once instead. Keggs acknowledged him with an equal dip of his head and raised his arm in a circling motion. In an instant three people stood next to them, looking at him expectantly.
"Team, this is Garrus Vakarian."
He pointed to the dangerous asari. "This is Dania Va'sida," pointing to a fidgeting salarian he said, "this is our tech expert, Terlin Mirhale, and this guy here," a tall human stepped up in front and showed his very white teeth in the biggest grin Garrus had ever seen on a human, "is Lorenzo Jorno."
Another gesture of the hand and the teammates went back to their desks. Garrus was impressed with the effectiveness of this hand communication. Keggs took something out of his desk and walked briskly towards the elevator. With a short jerk of his hand he beckoned Garrus to follow him. They stepped into the elevator and rode down in silence. Garrus looked at the older turian out of the corner of his eye. He didn't wear armor, which was unusual for a turian but his clothing seemed to be made of the same sturdy material that Shepard's vest was made of. Leave it to the squishy humans to develop clothing that even turians would consider instead of armor.
When the doors opened again he suddenly started speaking as he stepped out. Garrus hurried behind after him. "This area is for all teams, we have the forensics lab and the pathology down here." Shiny metal doors glided to the side and the familiar smells of death and disinfectant that came with a morgue hit his nose. An older human was talking to himself or maybe he was talking to the corpse in front of him while he cut and scanned the body of a salarian.
They walked over to the shiny metal table and Keggs introduced him. "Dr. Morten Webster, our pathologist, Garrus Vakarian, newest member of Shepard's team." This was the first time he actually heard him mention Shepard's name and he searched the turians face for any hint of disapproval or annoyance, but he didn't see any.
Dr. Webster held out his hand for a human handshake but then realized that he was wearing bloody gloves and pulled it back. "Now that would have been a silly mistake, wouldn't it? So, all the better for you, you get spared from my silly human gesture. Let me see, I've been practising..." He straightened his back and dipped his head down once with a jerky movement. Then he looked up again like he was looking for approval. "Was that correct? Not too low or too long?"
He looked at Garrus expectantly and he realized that the doctor wanted to have his greeting evaluated. "Yes... fine. It was correct." Garrus nodded his greeting himself and he noticed Keggs next to him grin with a slight flutter of his mandibles.
The doctor looked very pleased with himself and turned back to the salarian in front of him. While he was working he was constantly speaking. "Interestingly enough I have noticed that many turians have adopted human gestures and I have seen turians shaking hands in greeting. At the same time some humans, especially ones who came from Earth only recently, avoid skin contact for fear of transmitting diseases. Now the asari of course have an entirely different..."
"Morty!" Keggs interrupted.
"Ah, yes, of course. You came here for my analysis of the poor souls from the Katanga." He took off the gloves and picked up a datapad to thumb through.
"Nothing unusual so far. They all died of very precise headshots, which in the case of the krogans, required a big shotgun to shoot through the headcrest. The asari and salarians all died from shots from a heavy pistol. It must have happened very fast, I found no defensive injuries. Two asari and one of the salarians fired their own weapons. Everybody else didn't seem to get the opportunity to defend themselves. They were all healthy, well fed and showed the normal wear and tear that you would expect from a merc."
He put down the datapad and looked up to Jentarius Keggs. "For further information you have to ask Pauline." With a nod towards Garrus that he reciprocated, he walked back to the table with the open torso. As they walked out of the morgue Garrus again heard him talking quietly to the corpse.
Outside in the hall Garrus looked over to another door where loud music was playing. The sign on the wall said, 'Forensics'. Keggs didn't go towards that door but pressed the button for elevator. "Pauline Schumann is our forensic expert, you'll meet her some other time. So far she has ratified your findings, DNA traces from the dead mercs, an unknown trace and a trace from Saren Arterius. She also identified the guns that were used but that doesn't really help us, they are not registered."
The elevator arrived and they rode it up in silence again. When the doors opened to the office, the older turian waved the salarian over. "Mirhale, show Vakarian here to a desk with a terminal. I want him to find information about the Spectres, so see to it that he has access to all necessary databases."
"But sir, the council databases are classified, we don't have access to them." Mirhale said nervously. Keggs turned around with an annoyed trill, "Can't you do something about that? Hack them?"
Mirhale was fidgeting and the orange spots on his horns looked a bit darker. "Well, sir, that would be highly illegal and kind of obvious with an investigation like this going on and..."
Keggs interrupted him with a growl and walked to a set of stairs that lead to a gallery level above. "I'll talk to the director, see if she can get us something. Give Vakarian access to everything we have so far and call Shepard, we have work to do."
The salarian looked around like he was hoping somebody else would take over the job of contradicting the boss, but his colleagues did not volunteer for that. "But sir, Shepard is still on leave..."
Keggs interrupted him with a slight chuckle, "And I'm sure she is already climbing up the walls out of boredom. Get her, I want her to work with Vakarian on the Spectre case." He made a wave with his hand again and entered a door on the upper floor.
Mirhale sighed and turned to Garrus. "Hi, I'm Terlin, and I'll be setting up your work account." He made a nod and Garrus nodded back. "I'm Garrus, and thank you for setting me up."
Terlin typed something on a datapad and then held it out to Garrus for fingerprinting and signing. "No problem, it was easy enough. Sign this please - okay. Here are your access codes and this terminal already has all the information and evidence for this case downloaded."
The salarian stepped back to his own desk next to Garrus's. Garrus started reading, most things about this case he already knew. He turned his attention to the Spectres. All records about them were sealed, the Council didn't even give out information on how many there were. The Alliance had estimated that there were about 80 or 90 of them, half of them asari, and the rest salarians and turians in about equal numbers. The asari were usually recruited from elite commandos, the salarians all had STG backgrounds and the turians usually came from the Special Ops group Blackwatch.
Garrus knew that Saren could not have been a member of the Blackwatch, he was too young when he joined, actually the youngest Spectre to ever have been instated at the age of 20. He was also longest serving turian Spectre, his service time only outdone by a few asari Spectres. As a whole, Spectres tended to not get old and for Saren to survive for 24 years as a successful Spectre was a record in itself.
Garrus looked over what else he could find but without access to the Council's database there was laughable little information about Spectres for him to read. With a frustrated hum he leaned back. Suddenly a familiar scent entered his nose and a voice that caused him to shiver spoke next to him.
She whispered, "Hello angel," and that silly dash of happiness bounced through his gizzard again. He turned slightly in his chair and looked up to her. She looked like she was glowing from the inside. She smelled of some flowery shampoo, it reminded him of the scent from the red rose she had given him a while ago. He breathed her in and even though he wanted nothing more than pull her into a tight embrace, he held himself back and just nodded at her. She grinned and stretched out her hand in that human greeting, and as he took her hand in his, her thumb stroked the skin of his talon for a second.
It wasn't much but it was enough. There would be time for them later.
Shepard pulled up a chair and sat down beside him, close but not so close as to actually be touching him.
"So what do we have?" She asked.
Garrus made a vague movement with his hand towards the terminal screen and hummed annoyance. "Nothing. We know basically nothing about the Spectres since the Council keeps it all classified. Unless Keggs gets something going through the director, we have nothing."
Shepard flipped through the notes he had put together about the Spectres, and then moved over to the notes about the frigate full of dead mercs. Suddenly she froze and pulled up the information about the ship.
"Katanga? It was the Katanga?" She stared at the name for a second and then moved to the list of casualties. She highlighted the three dead krogan and brought up their pictures. "Wrex was on the Katanga, he wrote me a while back." Relief flooded her face as she didn't see him in the pictures. "He's not among the dead, good. But I know that guy, he is an Urdnot. Shame, he wasn't a bad guy, for a krogan merc at least."
"What's an Urdnot?" Garrus asked.
"Urdnot is the clan name. Wrex is Urdnot Wrex, it's a big and strong clan. But they kind of fell apart in two factions. Wrex is actually the one who caused that, he has some new ideas for the krogan, wants them to be more than just cynical battletanks. His own father lead him into a trap to shut him up and he killed him." Shepard explained.
"That... sounds very krogan-like, actually." Garrus snorted.
"I know, fulfills all the stereotypes." Shepard said with a laugh. "But Wrex isn't like that, he has different ideas for the krogan. I'm not sure why but he had to leave Tuchanka after that and can't go back until he has done something significant for the clan. This guy here travelled with him, I met him once."
She seemed to be lost in thought and Garrus spoke up. "Contact Wrex, let's ask him about his time on the Katanga. Maybe he noticed something, maybe he even saw Saren. It's the only lead we have for now."
"Yeah, you're right but he could be anywhere, could be beating up quarians in the Terminus system for all we know." Shepard mumbled while she typed a message on her omni-tool.
"I don't want to imagine how a quarian would look after he got beat up by a krogan." Garrus said with a grin.
"Oh no, geez... that was not very nice of me to say, was it?" Shepard said and looked thoroughly ashamed. "I hope they never put me on some kind of diplomatic mission, some disaster that would turn out to be."
"I'm sure you would do great." Garrus said with a smile.
She smiled back and shook her head. "Whole new wars would start with me standing in the middle screaming, 'I didn't mean it that way!', I can just see it."
Garrus wanted to disagree but got distracted by the scrolling text on one of the news screens. A human, probably the ambassador, was being interviewed and the text said something about humanity asking for a human Spectre.
"So humans are still pushing for a human Spectre? I thought this ANIS project was trying to make the Spectres unnecessary?" Garrus asked, pointing at the screen.
Shepard looked up and nodded. "That's plan B, I guess. The ambassador, Udina, is really in love with the idea. Hell, that idea dates back to when Anita Goyle was ambassador, she had already pushed for a human Spectre. I don't envy the poor sod they put into that position. The pressure on the first human Spectre is going to be unbearable." She turned her attention back to her omni-tool as she had received a message.
Garrus saw her initiate a call and the screen popped up with the face of the red krogan he had met before. His voice rumbled from the speakers. "Shepard?"
"Wrex?" Was her answer. Both stayed silent for a second then Shepard started talking. "Wrex, you were on the Katanga a while back, correct?"
The krogan nodded on the screen. "Yes, we were five krogan. Skeev, Kerb and me from clan Urdnot, and Torket and Stake from clan Gerden. Why do you ask?"
Shepard sighed, "The Katanga drifted from the Widow relay this morning, everybody on board is dead, three of them krogan. I'm sorry."
Wrex made an angry grunt, "Stupid kids, I told them something wasn't right on that ship. Did you find a dead turian?" His eyes moved to Garrus on that question and he felt very uneasy all of a sudden.
Shepard looked with renewed interest into the screen. "No, but we found traces of one and we would like to talk about this turian, what he did, why he was on the ship..."
"I'm on the Citadel. Let's meet at the statue of the krogan battlemaster in ten." On the screen Wrex turned around and yelled at someone off screen. "Skeev, get up! We're going to meet Shepard." He turned back to face Shepard. "Be there. Bring your pretty turian along." With that he ended the call.
Garrus wasn't sure if he should feel insulted. Shepard was openly giggling. "Looks like Wrex likes you."
"How can you tell?" he grumbled.
"I'm sure he has never called anybody pretty before." Shepard said with a smile and got up, her hand brushing along his fringe as if on accident. She looked around the room and then called out to the tall human with the big smile. "Hey, Lorenzo, where is Keggs?"
"Lady Shepard, I regret to inform you that the master has not yet returned from his quest to woo the Lady of the upper deck." Lorenzo declared with a dramatic pose. Then he quickly looked around as if he expected someone to turn up behind him. When that wasn't the case he visibly relaxed again and stepped up to Shepard. The way he was looking her over made Garrus's plates itch. The dangerous looking asari rolled her eyes and Shepard grinned at her.
Shepard just smiled at the human. "Tell the boss that we are meeting someone who had been on the Katanga." She beckoned Garrus to follow her and walked over to the door. They stepped outside and found the hallway busy with many humans. With a brisk walk they made their way to the Presidium.
Garrus hesitated but then but he just couldn't stop the question tumbling out of his mouth.
"So this Lorenzo acts very familiar with you..." He tried to sound unconcerned but his subharmonics were clearly growling with possessiveness.
"Who's jealous now?" Shepard asked with a smile in her voice. She grabbed his hand for a second and squeezed it. "No need to worry, big guy. Lorenzo is just a big flirt, it's kind of his act. It doesn't mean anything, he's a good guy, really. Speaking of big flirt..." She opened up her omni-tool and started typing out a message. "Maybe Nihlus can tell us something about Saren, I'll send him a message."
They kept on walking in comfortable silence along the Presidium lake, side by side, their hands almost touching. When the tall statue of the krogan battlemaster came into view, they saw two krogan in front of it, arguing quietly. Wrex looked rather amused, the krogan beside him was visibly agitated. They stopped next to them and listened to what they were talking about. The krogan that was talking to Wrex was clearly younger than him, his skin looked softer and didn't have many marks. He pointed to the lake in front of them and said, "Why have all this water here if you don't keep fish in it? We could have fresh fish, real healthy fish, not like the mutated things on Tuchanka."
Wrex turned to Shepard with an amused grin. "Shepard, help me out here, this little hatchling here thinks there are fish in the Presidium lake. Are there?"
Shepard laughed out loud. "Honestly, Wrex, do I look like the gardener here? All I know is that the lake is the Citadel's water reserve and there is a complicated recycling process involved to preserve it. They probably don't want fish pooping in there." She turned to the young krogan. "Skeev, right?" The krogan nodded. "Tell you what, Skeev, I'll ask someone who should know and find out once and for all." That seemed to satisfy Skeev and he turned his attention to Garrus, eyeing him suspiciously.
Krogan and turians were not known to get along well, after the turians beat down the krogan rebellion and infected them with the genophage. In the few weeks since he had met Shepard, Garrus had had more contact with krogan than ever before in his whole life. He was still not quite used to the ease with which Shepard handled the massive battletanks.
Shepard looked around to see if anybody was listening in on their conversation. But they stood alone in front of the statue. She turned to Wrex. "You were on the Katanga, you said something didn't feel right. Tell me about that. We are especially interested in anything concerning the turian Saren and whoever was with him."
The two krogan exchanged a look and then Wrex began to talk. "The Katanga was run by a freelancer called Gartica, an asari matriarch, a long time in the business. We were on a fuel-station near Illium and heard that she was hiring. Had nothing better to do and needed the pay so we signed up. Later she told us that a turian was financing the whole thing and he sent us on assignments. Most of the time we were raiding freighters and pirate ships. Then he came on the ship himself and we went to an archeological dig site. He went down, took two asari and Kerb with him. Came back with nothing, but the place was smoking. Kerb later told me that the turian kept asking about prothean stuff and got quite mad when they had nothing for him, just some marks on a wall. Kerb said the turian blew the place up."
Shepard opened a picture of Saren on her omni-tool and showed it to Wrex. "Is that him?" She asked. Wrex took one look and nodded.
"Yeah, that's him. Looked angry all the time."
Shepard chuckled at that. "I heard that's his speciality. So why did you leave?"
"I knew he was rotten to the core when I met him. After that dig site we took down a massive cargo freighter, huge haul. It was volus trading vessel, they had lot's of guards but they were no match for us."
"What kind of cargo did they have?" Garrus asked. The krogan both looked at him with the familiar scowl that all krogan had for turians, but Wrex answered him.
"I saw nothing important, food, medical supplies, a few weapons but nothing big. This Saren was moving through the ship like he was searching for something. I was checking the bodies over for credits and valuables and I heard him talk to himself in the next room. He had expected something to be there and it wasn't. Was really mad about that."
"He was talking to himself?" Shepard asked.
"Or maybe over the comm, I don't know, there was nobody there with him and he never spoke to us. Later an asari matriarch joined him and they were hissing at each other. I had a really bad feeling about them and I got the hell out of there. Skeev here came along but Kerb didn't want to miss out on the credits. Now he's dead, dumb kid, and every other merc on that ship too." He turned his head to the side and looked at the krogan statue. "Looks like my instincts were right." Skeev made an approving grunt to that.
Shepard gave Wrex a slap on his arm. "I'm glad you're listening to your instincts, old man."
"That's how I met you, little girl, so I know it's a good thing." Wrex rumbled with honest affection in his voice.
Shepard grinned at him. "You're the only person in this universe who's allowed to call me a girl, my friend. Take care of yourself and don't go too far away, I may have something coming up where I could use you."
"I'll be here for a while. Take care, Shepard." With a nod to her and to Garrus he turned around to leave, Skeev following him. The younger krogan turned around once and called back to Shepard. "Don't forget about the fish!"
Shepard raised her hand with her thumb pointed upwards and yelled back, "Trust me, I'll look into it."
Garrus chuckled at that. "You really want to find out for him if there are fish in the lake?"
She nodded. "Yes, that's how you become friends with a krogan. You do something for him to show that you are trustworthy and reliable. We humans don't have the genophage baggage that makes the krogan so hostile towards turians, so it's actually quite easy to become friends with a krogan for us."
Garrus stretched his throat. "Yes, the genophage certainly has not made us friends with the krogan. But it was necessary at the time, the krogan were out of control."
Shepard looked thoughtful towards the huge statue in front of them. "Maybe it was, but is it right to keep them suffering? Wrex once told me that this statue represents the values of the krogan: honor, loyalty, courage, fortitude. All of that has been lost since the Krogan Rebellions and the genophage. In a few hundred years they might all be gone." She turned around and looked him in the eyes. "Maybe the situation called for drastic measures back then. But to let a whole species slowly die out? That's just cruel."
Garrus didn't know what to say, he had never really thought much about the genophage. It was just a historic fact for him, he had never questioned it. Shepard had turned to her omni-tool and he decided to not push the subject further. He needed to make up his mind about this himself.
A call came in on Shepard's omni-tool and he saw Nihlus looking at them from the screen. The red turian spread his mandibles in a wide grin and looked like he wanted to jump out of the screen to give them both a hug. "Hello my friends! What do my favorite warriors want from me?"
Shepard smiled and made a tiny noise that sounded like an apologetic trill. Garrus stared at her, it still surprised him that she could make sounds like that. Nihlus beamed at her. "Very good! So, what are you apologizing for?"
"We need to talk to you about Saren."
The smile fell from Nihlus face. "Ah, futuo, that's always an unpleasant subject. What do you want to know?"
Shepard looked at her notes and then turned back to Nihlus. "Why is he interested in prothean stuff?"
"That's... you know he really wasn't, his brother was more into that before he died. At least that's what he had said once. But lately... I met him a few days back and he is..." Nihlus was clearly uncomfortable talking about his old mentor like that. His subharmonics were wavering all over his voice. "It's like he is obsessed. He's changed, something is going on with him."
Nihlus sighed and Garrus made a sympathetic hum. Nihlus hummed in answer and went on. "There is something else. He has a new ship."
"What kind of ship?" Garrus asked.
"Huge, like a dreadnought." Nihlus said and both Shepard and Garrus gasped in surprise. "I've never seen anything like it, the shape... it looks like an animal."
Shepard looked over her shoulder towards Garrus as if she wanted him to tell her what kind of ship that could be, but he could only shrug. He had never seen or heard about a ship that looked like an animal. He moved closer to the screen, pressing the side of his face against Shepard's cheek. He felt her press back and enjoyed the warm feeling flowing through his gizzard.
He turned his attention back to Nihlus. "Do you have scans of the ship or a picture?"
Nihlus smiled at them and nodded. "How do humans say? You little lovebirds? I have scans, my lovebirds, and I will be on the Citadel by tomorrow night. Let's meet at your place, Garrus, and I will give you everything I have. Now stop smooching, you are making me jealous. Poor, deprived me."
Shepard laughed. "Hah! As if you would ever be deprived, I'm sure there is an asari purring right next to you just this minute."
Nihlus let out an amused chuckle. "You know me too well, my dear. See you tomorrow." With a trill he ended the call just as a blue hand appeared, stroking his fringe.
Garrus moved back from her and leaned back against the guardrail, turning all this new information over in his head. Shepard settled next to him, leaning back in the same way. He looked down on her, the shimmering reflections from the water made moving patterns on her black hair and he wanted nothing more than to run his talons through it.
Suddenly she spoke up. "What do you know about protheans?"
"Only what I learned in school, ancient race, probably built the Citadel and invented the Mass Relays, went extinct 50,000 years ago... that's about it." He said. "And you?"
"Oh man, not a thing, I have a hard time keeping up with all the alien races that are still around. I skipped the ones that are extinct!" She said with a laugh. Her fingers were raking through her hair, making her unique scent rise up to him. He groaned quietly and she looked up to him with a smile.
"You're vibrating again." She whispered, leaning her arm against his side. "Let's go home and watch a documentary about protheans. I'll be learning something and then get bored and fall asleep on your shoulder."
"Sounds wonderful." He said with a content rumble in his subharmonics. It still made him ridiculously happy that she called his place, 'home'.
()()()
altera dimidia = the other half, soulmate
futuo = fuck
A few cameos in this one, did you recognize them? I had so much fun with that, I hope you did too.
The lines from Wrex about Saren are in part taken from the game, slightly altered. The description of the krogan statue is also from the game, according to the wiki, Wrex says that if you look at the statue with him. He never did it with me.
By the way, I have written a little story about Wrex and why he is nice to Garrus.
Can I just gloat for a second that I wrote over 90000 words for this story so far? And that it has been viewed over 15000 times? That I keep thinking 'not so bad for first time writing'? And that it has so many reviews and favs and alerts? And that I love you all like chocolate covered strawberries?
Because I do.
Thank you.