Chapter 14: A Way Out

Jack woke up sometime later with Kal still clinging to his side asleep. The Quarian's bare arms were looped around his neck and his face nestled against Jack's beating heart. Kal looked happy and blissful sleeping next to him like this, he had to wonder how long it had been since Kal actually had a full nights rest. Having seen what it was like on Omega for everyday people, Jack could only assume that even when he was in Garrus' base, it wouldn't have felt safe to sleep. With that in mind, Jack carefully slipped himself out of Kal's tight grip and went in the bathroom to take a shower. Hopefully standing in the water would give him a lightbulb idea for what he should be doing next.

Once the door closed EDI's voice came through a private intercom, "Good morning Commander, Miranda wanted to inform you that she doesn't appreciate Kal going through ship systems."

Jack scoffed shaking his head annoyed that Miranda was implying Kal had sabotaged the ship, "I don't see listening devices as vital ship components EDI, anything else?"

EDI's voice stayed the same calm and collected tone despite his obvious irritation, "Fair enough, I will relay that response back to her office. Aria T'Loak has also sent the ship a message for you. Would you like me to play it back?"

Jack considered ignoring it while grabbing the soap bar but it couldn't hurt more than the missle she sent at them, "Go ahead and play it."

A moment later Aria's voice came through the intercom, "The scavengers picked through the remains of Archangel's base and only found a Batarian body so I'm guessing you made it out alive. You have a habit of surviving the impossible around me so I'm not exactly stunned, you've earned my respect... Listen, I know you don't owe me anything but, if Mandaria... Fuck it, just tell her to take care of herself and I didn't have anything to do with her little sister. Anyways, just keep Archangel off my rock and your free to travel through the Terminus, good luck out there Shepard."

The end of the message sent a wave of relief through him, at least that was one less thing he had to worry about. He hadn't even considered the Treaty of Torfan until right now. Despite not working with the Alliance right now, Jack was technically still a SPECTRE as far as he knew so, he was breaking the Treaty by going to Omega. Out of all the threats he had to deal with; the Collectors, a Cerberus mutiny, the Alliance arresting him for treason, he could take Aria off that list. He was tempted to respond and ask her why she had a change of heart but, it was better to not poke that bear and accept she was just in a giving mood.

EDI spoke after the message finished, "You may want to pass on to Ms. Nyx that I didn't detect any deception from Aria's claim. I can conclude with 99% accuracy that Aria had nothing to do with the disappearance of Sidera."

Jack let that sink in as he washed the top of his head out of habit, "Thanks EDI, tell Miranda we can discuss her concerns when I'm making the rounds and log out."

He was going to just keep quietly washing off when he heard Kal's voice yell, "Jack!"

Not knowing what was wrong, Jack ran out of the shower butt naked to see what the problem was, "Are you ok?"

When he rounded the corner everything seemed to be ok, no masked intruder had broken in to attack them. Then he looked at Kal and recognized the fear in his eyes, it must've been a nightmare. Kal was sitting perfectly straight on the bed, breathing heavily, and had a layer of sweat on his purple skin that wasn't from last night. Jack had the same frightening dream about Akuze for years before Kal entered his life so he understood. Omega must've given Kal plenty of memories to be afraid of. He just lost the majority of his friends for the past two years after all.

Kal put a hand on his forehead with a sigh, "I'm sorry... I was being really stupid there for a minute. I didn't see you in the bed with me when I woke up and I thought I was just dreaming that you came back to me."

Jack didn't mind the temporary cold air against his wet skin and marched over to kiss Kal on the forehead, "Your more than welcome to pinch me if you want. I'm real Kal, you don't have to worry about it."

Kal pressed their foreheads together and smiled, "Ok, would you wake me up whenever you get up please? Just, for awhile so I don't have a panic attack like that again."

Jack grinned trying to tease him, "Your going to get annoyed every time I wake you up to go to the bathroom but, sure I can do that. Any other requests cyar'ika?"

Kal laughed for a few seconds, his eyes glowing brightly, until his expression became serious, "Come to the Citadel with me, try and get through to the stubborn ass Council one more time. If your right and they won't listen, we have to work with Cerberus. If they listen though, let's work with them instead."

If only Kal knew how often he debated this issue in his mind, he made it sound so easy. Unfortunately, Jack already knew what the Council was going to say, he only had circumstancial evidence and thus couldn't act. Even though he had direct video footage of the Collectors kidnapping Humans on Freedom's Progress, he only had his vision connecting them to the Reapers right now. If the Council was already willing to ignore the Prothean vision the first time around, they weren't going to listen to him now. Then even if they could be persuaded, he still had the problem of getting onto the Citadel without being arrested for treason.

Jack cupped Kal's cheek and gave him a small smile, "Even if we could get there in one piece, what am I going to be able to tell them that I haven't already said? They won't listen to me and would probably lock me up for working with Cerberus."

Kal smirked with a twinkle in his eye, "I already contacted David Anderson and he swore he'd get us in and out if things go bad. And you don't have to do any of the talking this time, let Saren do it for you."

A lightbulb turned on in Jack's head, of course! Sure, the Council could ignore and deny his warnings all they wanted, he was a relative newcomer to the SPECTRE branch. However, Saren had been their best agent back before he was indoctrinated. If he had even the smallest memory of interacting with Sovereign, the Council would have to listen to him. It seemed like such an obvious solution once Kal said it, but he had only thought of Saren as an enemy until now. This could also solve the problem of needing to defeat the Collectors before Arnold made a move on The Illusive Man, he wouldn't need Cerberus anymore. He would still have to convince Saren to work with him on this but, now that Sovereign's indoctrination was gone, Jack hoped the Turian would see this as the best way to protect the galaxy.

He kissed Kal on the cheek with a grin, "I love you so much," Jack grabbed his omni tool and turned it on, "Joker, set a course for the Citadel. We have some old friends to see."

Joker's tone started rather cheery, "Aye, aye Comman... It's locked down Shepard. This stupid pop up is telling me we can't go there. No, I don't want whatever your selling."

EDI chimed in through the room's intercom, "It isn't an ad Jeff, due to the danger to the mission involved with a Cerberus vessel attempting to dock on the Citadel, The Illusive Man put a lock on that destination. I can request to schedule a meeting with him if you'd like to challenge his decision?"

Jack was quickly getting dressed and watched Kal do the same, "Get it as soon as possible EDI, we have a meeting to attend soon."

EDI paused for just a few seconds, "... Acknowledged, I marked the request as a mission priority. I would expect The Illusive Man will be ready to take your call in the next twenty minutes in the conference room."

Jack nodded to himself processing his thoughts, "We'll be there EDI, thank you."

Kal patted him on the shoulder, "I'll be right behind you, once this hard part is over it'll be smooth sailing and we can get out of this mess."

Jack took his hand and walked him to the elevator, "Let's make sure Saren is actually onboard with your little plan before we throw a fit shall we?"

The medbay was dimmed and very quiet as they slowly stepped inside knowing Saren would be here. Sure enough, at the end of the row of medical beds, Saren was wrapped in a blanket watching over Garrus. Jack felt a pang of sorrow seeing his best friend unconscious with the left half of his body covered in medi-gel pads from head to toe. While his vitals seemed solid from what he could tell, Garrus definitely didn't look good and that concerned him. He had to admit though it was very strange to see so much fear and compassion in the eyes of someone he had only known as a mass murderer. This Saren may have still hated Humanity but, he was a different person under that mask.

Kal gulped and spoke in a soft tone, "How's he doing?"

Saren tried to give a detached clinical tone while refusing to look at either of them, "Fourty-five percent of his body was burned with the napalm strike. His carapace protected his organs but, he'll always have the scars on his face. The scars I caused him to have."

Jack sat across from him trying to get eye contact, "This isn't your fault Saren, you did everything you could to save him down there. You aren't some kind of god that can stop napalm."

Saren glared at him with an expression of contempt Jack knew all too well, "He wouldn't have even been on Omega if it wasn't for me Shepard! He wouldn't have been ignored by his blood family if it wasn't for me ruining the family name. He-"

Jack took a deep breath expecting a punch but finished his sentence, "Garrus wouldn't have been the one to kill you if I hadn't accepted his help. I used him because I thought he could get to you, force you to make a mistake. I'm sorry, but we have to..move on from our mistakes or they'll consume us. It wasn't really your fault either, at that point Sovereign was basically controlling your every action. Garrus going to Omega is on me, not you, not the real you anyways."

Saren seemed to have been preparing to yell an insult at him but froze when he said he was sorry. It was almost as if Saren had never met a Human who was willing to accept responsibility for anything or have compassion towards him. He could see Saren's emotions change from anger to contemplation as he fidgeted in his chair. Jack hadn't just said that to calm Saren down either, he really did feel partly responsible for what happened to Garrus. Despite the Turian's bravado, he should've known Garrus wasn't actually ready to kill the man who raised him and loved. Who would've been ready for that kind of mission and not have emotional trauma afterwards?

A groan from the bed between them cut Saren off, "Ugh..this definitely isn't how I pictured the spirit realm. I know I wasn't exactly an angel but this amount of pain seems uncalled for."

Saren's mandibles fluttered and looked down to see a single ocean blue eye looking back up at him, "Spirits your awake, Garrus just hang on I'm going to get a doctor."

Kal was already starting to move, "You look comfortable where your at, I'll go get her."

Garrus' voice was a harsh whisper as he called out, "Kal, is Erash, Lantar, any of them...alive?"

Kal turned around and looked at his vital signs to make sure he was good enough to handle the truth, "Just me and Mand.. Mordin made sure it was painless for the others."

Garrus stared up at the ceiling looking a little numb before eyeing Jack and Saren, "I'm guessing only one of you is the Lazarus Project then?"

Saren gently touched his good arm, "You shouldn't talk right now brother, your vocal cords-"

Garrus interrupted him, "Are a little fried but still func-" He entered a coughing fit, "working.. You can't just act like nothing..mhhgnn...nothing happened the last time we saw each other."

Miranda entered the room without warning followed by Kal and Chakwas, "Jack, Saren, The Illusive Man is ready to see you both."

Saren didn't move but glared up at her, "I'm fine where I am thank you very much. Shepard can rep-"

Miranda had an impatient tone, "Command order 227: stand up and follow me."

Jack had to admit it was a little terrifying to watch Saren's body respond to the control chip like he was a Geth. His normally flexible joints started moving robotically and obviously against his will. Seeing the silent expression of rage on Saren's face made Jack feel uneasy. This was probably going to be the most uncomfortable business meeting he was ever going to have to go through.