Garrus turned away from Pressly and began to walk towards the stairs. From what the executive officer had just told him, it seemed that the idleness the ship had been stuck in since they had recovered Wrex's familiy armor two days ago was finally going to end; apparently Shepard had told Pressly that he intended to look into some lead on a crime ring he had gotten on the Citadel. Garrus was happy to hear it – he would have been even happier to have a new lead on Saren, but any sign of activity from their commander was welcome news right now. Shepard had spent most of the past days in his cabin doing paperwork – something Garrus knew he loathed. Wether Shepard was trying to somehow punish himself for X57 or simply doing the only piece of work he could get done while brooding in his room, the Turian hadn't been able to tell. At least he had started taking his meals in the mess hall, and in their company, again, and while didn't seem to be in the most chipper mood, one of Garrus comments in a sarcastic argument with Kaidan about omnitool manufacturers had actually gotten a smirk out of him, so that was something.
He hadn't made it halfway towards the stairs when the man himself burst from them, almost sprinting. Before Garrus could express his surprise, Shepard had already grabbed him by the right shoulderpad and gave him a tug.
"Come on, I got Hackett on the line. We have a lead!"
His whole body electrified in the blink of an eye, Garrus followed after his friend and moments later, he was standing in the back of the communications room, impatiently watching the screen as Shepard tipped away at the console. After a couple of seconds an aging human man appeared on the monitor; slim, but hard, grey hair on his head and parts of his face, and a long scar running across it. Even if the situation hadn't made it obvious, Garrus would have recognized the man immediately – Admiral Hackett, the Alliance's most prestigious and well known officer. Any somewhat educated member of the galactic security community had at least heard of this man and seen his face.
Shepard saluted sharply. "Admiral. What have you got for me?"
The admiral wasted no time getting to the point. "We have lost contact to our colony on Feros, in the attican beta cluster, about two hours ago. We have no definitive proof yet, but they managed to get a distress call out at least partially . It's heavily corrupted and garbled, but from what the IT specialists have been able to decipher, it mentions several vessels of unknown type closing with the colony. Long range readings from their orbital defense platform before it was overwhelmed suggest the Geth."
Garrus felt the thrill of the hunt setting in. Whatever the Geth wanted from some human colony, it would be of value to Saren, and therefore, a lead for them – and if they were going to have to pry it from the Geth's cold, dead hands, all the better.
Shepard had taken to rubbing his chin during the admiral's explanation. "Feros...Dr. T'Soni told me about it. Most of the planet's landmass is covered in prothean ruins. That is why the research colony was founded there...and that's probably going to be why the Geth are there now. Perhaps the scientists unknowingly found something that can help find the conduit. Or the thing itself..." He trailed off, but after a second, he straightened his back and fixed his gaze on the admiral again. "It doesn't matter, my course of action is clear either way. The Normandy will make for Feros at full speed. Anything else I should know, Sir?"
The older man nodded. "Yes. The 5th fleet's rapid response flotilla under Rear Admiral Li is already en route to the colony, but you will arrive there ahead of them by a couple of hours. Any and all reconnaissance you can perform in system, especially regarding the Geth's naval assets, will be highly appreciated."
Shepard nodded curtly. "Understood, Sir."
"Good, Hackett out."
Without waiting for a reply, the admiral cut the connection. Shepard just stood there for a moment, staring at the blank screen, before whirling around and looking at Garrus with predatory glee in his eyes. "Finally. Let's get this ship moving."
Garrus twisted his mandibles in a turian grin. "Can't wait." And in his thoughts he added: Good to have you back.
…...
Shepard turned up his nose, taking in a whiff of the smokey air as he let his gaze wander across the inner ring of the Feros colony and the sky above it. It was grey, laden with dust the wind picked up from the carcass of what had to have been a sprawling city full of life thousands of years ago. In all directions, the ruins covered the land as far as the eye could see – which, considering how high they actually were, wasn't very far at all, perhaps some kilometers, but from the quick briefing he had had Liara cook up for them on their flight here, he knew that they covered the majority of the continent. The colony itself barely deserved the name, it was more of a research outpost, divided into the settlement they were standing in right now, and the ExoGeni headquarters across the prothean skyway, with the settlement and it's inhabitants mostly serving as a port and cheap labor for the scientists hauled up at the HQ. The HQ which would be their next destination.
The team had arrived at the colony in the middle of a frantic firefight. The large hall they were standing in now with the large pre-fabs in the middle was actually just the 'town center' of this place; the colonists had abandoned the outer rings, where most of them actually lived, very quick when the Geth had come down upon them. A wise decision – the center was a well defensible position, and as far as Shepard could judge the situation, the only thing that had kept these people alive this long. But it was good that they were here now; barely two days had passed since the beginning of the attack, but every single colonist they had seen was clearly nearing the breaking point, walking their patrols or working at their stations in the robotic fashion of those tired to death and barely keeping themselves awake. They were barely able to even hold a conversation anymore, directing any inquiries to their leader Fai Dan instead. And that wasn't even the worst of it; down in the tunnels, where they had fixed the water pipes and rooted out a Geth communication relay, they had already found a man who had snapped from the pressure of the situation and quite clearly gone insane. And John was certain he wouldn't remain the only one for long. Which was why they would end this now – and then look for answers in the piles of geth bodies they would leave in their wake. They would not fail these people. He would not fail these people.
He turned around and addressed his team. "We have done everything we could for these people, and Garrus and Tali will have the Mako at the skyway any minute, so we'll get going." He locked his gaze on Kaidan. "Not you, LT. And you neither, Chief." He could see the protest in Ashley's face, but she was too disciplined to voice it. He had anticipated how she'd feel about this – in fact he was quite sure Kaidan felt the same way, he was just too mild mannered to show it. "We can't leave these people alone. They are barely holding up as is. That last attack could have broken them if we had not shown up when we did. And with the state they're in, I'm not going to make it any harder on them than necessary, which is why I'm going to leave my two Alliance marines here. Got it?"
They nodded, and while Ashley didn't look happy per se, he knew that his explanation had satisfied the chief even before she gave a vigorous "Hooah!" Shepard allowed himself the hint of a smile. "That's what I want to hear. Kaidan, you're in command, that includes taking command of these civilians too. Get them in line and keep them alive. Good luck." With a pat on the man's shoulder, he passed Alenko and started climbing the stairs to the skyway, Liara and Wrex falling in behind him. The skyway was a couple of levels up, and they could hear the Mako's engine rumble on outside as the vehicle ascended the driveway that rounded the entire spire, connecting the skyway to the hangar; when one spared the thought, it was quite obvious that the room that was now the colony's town center had to have been a storage unit once. He mentioned as much to Liara, who perked up and, ignoring her labored breath, took a couple of steps in a quick stride to fall in besides him.
"I have been thinking about this, too. This city is..." she took a quick breath, "... fascinating. I am...confused about the skyway. What... was it's purpose? They obviously had..aerial transportation. That skyway must have been a...enormous project. That couldn't...have been ...worth it!"
He found himself grinning at the Asari's enthusiasm apparently overriding her need to breathe. "Maybe they just liked groundcars. They're more fun than aircars, all that autopilot puts you to sleep."
Liara scoffed and shook her head. "I'm serious, Commander. "
He shrugged. "And I was only half joking. The Protheans were supposedly much more technologically advanced than us. Perhaps that skyway wasn't that big of a deal to them, and if they enjoyed riding whatever ground vehicles they had two kilometers above the actual ground...why wouldn't they build this? Or even just to stroll around on it? The view must have been phenomenal back then."
That actually gave the archaeologist turned commando walking next to him pause, and after a few moments, she just tentatively panted. "I...suppose...that is a reasonable hypothesis."
They walked the rest of the way in silence, and John contemplated on the ease with which he had just made conversation. He hadn't even noticed it, but for a brief moment there, he had forgotten the shadow that had hung over him for the past five days; the only other person who had managed that so far had been Tali when she had gone off on one of her tangents yesterday. Am I forgetting that quickly? He frowned slightly as his mood darkened again. I must not. What is done is done, but I can't ever forget what I'm capable of. He cleared the final set of stairs and entered into a large garage adjacent to the actual skyway itself. A couple of civilian guards with old Avenger rifles were there, keeping an eye on the gigantic piece of prothean architecture. An early warning post, quite obviously; usually, soldiers put in such a position where nervous, ready to bolt at a moment's notice, and that was true twice as much for civilians. These ones however just stared ahead stoically, almost mindlessly. In earlier campaigns and battles, John had seen people in similar states of mind before, but something about these people stroke him as odd. Those the trauma of war had reduced to such shadows of their former selves rarely had a lot of discipline left, but these ones stared down the skyway with a single mindedness that would have made any superior happy. He shrugged it off. Later, there would be time for shrinks to try and help these colonists deal with the horrors they had witnessed; first, he and his team would have to make sure that there would be any colonists left to help in the first place. He clenched his jaw and sped up his gait, hurrying towards the Mako with renewed focus and determination. He would not fail here.
…..
"-pard, come in! This is Alenko! Commander Shep-"
"Hearing you loud and clear, Kaidan. What's happening? Are you under attack?"
The frantic radio calls of Kaidan, interrupted by the calm , collected tone of Joh- , of Shepard , tore Tali from the reverie that had befallen her upon seeing the Geth cruiser tumble to the ground and feeling it shake the ground beneath their feet all the way up here, kilometers above. Her head snapped around to her Captain as the lieutenant, already calmer, reported in. "The colonists have gone mad. They attacked us! One moment everything was fine, the next they opened fire! The chief and I barely made it out alive. We...had to kill two of them."
Kaidan paused for a second, and Shepard interjected. "Casualties?"
"No, Sir, the shields and armor held. They're terrible shots."
"Good. Where are you now?"
"In the Normandy. The colonists are outside, trying to get inside with their bare hands. We are ready to depart if needed, but since they're no actual threat, I've decided to not take any action without your knowledge."
Shepard visibly relaxed. "Good. That was the right decision. We uncovered what is wrong with the colonists. ExoGeni exposed them to some alien plant, and now it's controlling them. We'll...we're gonna try and find a solution. Sit tight. Anything else?"
"The flotilla Hackett promised is in system. The Geth are on the retreat."
"Finally some good news. Over and out."
John let his hand fall from his communicator and met her eyes. She struggled to decipher the emotions in his; they were not overly liberal with giving them away, even though she had gotten better at it over the weeks and months past. For a split second, she was certain that she could actually see fear in there, and it gave her pause; but soon enough, whatever she had seen was replaced with the determination and grit she was used to. A second later, he turned his head towards the others, who had gathered in a loose circle.
"Well, there we have it. The worst case."
Garrus shook his head violently. "These bastards will crash and burn for what they've done here. I copied the entirety of the evidence onto my disk. Palinn will be very interested to give it a read, and so will the press."
Shepard nodded. "That's at least something. But I'm not giving up on these people. We don't know what exactly this 'Thorian' did to them, and how much of themselves they really are anymore, but we have to try. If nothing else, killing that thing should stop them from attacking us."
She turned her head towards the deep, rumbling sound of Wrex's voice. "You're thinking in the right direction, Shepard, but they are it's minions now. I don't think we'll get to it without cutting them down first."
John grimaced and looked to the ground, hands at his hips, clearly racking his brain trying to find a solution that to her, seemed rather obvious.
"If there is a way, this Lizbeth or the scientists hiding on the skyway should know about it." His head came up to look at her with a grim smile.
"You're right...and I want to have a talk with Lizbeth anyway. From what the VI said, I don't think she approved of any of this. But she doesn't know that we know that. So I am very optimistic she'll be most eager to tell us everything. And if she isn't, Garrus' and Wrex' combined charm should do the trick."
And so he got going, Garrus falling in beside him with a Turian smirk. Leaving Wrex to bring up the rear, Tali herself fell in besides Liara, her shotgun still in hand and ready to be brought up at a moment's notice, but in truth she didn't think she would need again too soon. Any remaining Geth wouldn't go out of their way to pick a fight with them now; with the Geth's objective failed and an assault on their group doomed to fail unless carried out by far more platforms than there was any chance of still remaining inside the building, they were justified in feeling mostly safe for now. The trip through the ruined ExoGeni headquarters took them a while, and she found her thoughts wander from the strange, almost cultish behavior the Geth had exhibited at their, for lack of a better word, shrine, earlier, back to John. The man had been on her mind quite a lot the last couple of days – even more than usual, that was. It was bad enough in and of itself that, as great as sleeping much better now really was, she genuinely missed her and Shepard's late night hangouts, but then the last couple of days had happened. It had been painfully obvious to everyone that he, to some extent, blamed himself for what had transpired on X57; wether that concerned the event itself or just the way he had come to do it, clearly driven to pull the trigger by Balak's words, not the calm, collected decision any one of them would have expected from Shepard at this point. But she hadn't been able to do anything about it – after Garrus had tried and gotten blown off, she had been to insecure, to unsure of what to say, and so she had simply not talked about it at all and while she had managed to distract Shepard for a little while when he had come by her workplace in engineering, it had hung over him, and in extension her, like a dark cloud ever since – at least until her and Ashley's moment in the airlock two days ago.
Before, she had actually been making progress towards ridding herself of the silly thoughts she had been having, but now, they were at the back of her mind constantly – given the fact that she now wasn't even that sure anymore that they were truly silly. For all the weeks these feelings had now been haunting her, she had dismissed it all, secure in the knowledge that it was just her subconscious acting up, the silly crush of a young girl who perhaps wasn't as mature yet in some areas as in others, and therefore, not only could she not really blame herself, but more importantly, it wasn't anything to be seriously concerned about. But now her mind raced asking herself if she had been wrong all along, and if yes, what in the ancestors name she was ever going to do about it. While one part of her kept her lying awake at night trying to come up with an excuse to go up to the mess hall and hopefully run into Shepard while being somewhat terrified at the prospect at the same time, another part of her was shocked by the fact that she, there was no longer any denying it, was having feelings for this man. Tali had never harbored any ill will towards aliens in general, of course, and neither did the Quarians at large, not really ; but due to the insular nature of the fleet, interspecies relations, something they had engaged in as freely as any other species of the galaxy before the morning war, had practically died out with the exception of nothing but the occasional fling enjoyed by particularly adventurous pilgrims. She had never thought of herself like...that. But now that she found herself in a position to relate, she wondered if she had done these pilgrims wrong all this time by thinking of them as reckless and not focused on their duties enough.
Perhaps they had been all the more dutiful for seeing first hand, close up, what the galaxy had to offer, and then leaving it behind in favor of the fleet all the same.
And there she was again at the point she kept ending up at: In the end, her or John's feelings didn't truly matter, did they. She could never abandon the fleet, and what good was bringing something to life just to kill it off again moments later.
That all, of course, assuming that the man felt anything for her at all and wasn't just appreciating the eye candy she apparently was for the human men on board, at least according to Ashley. She sighed inside her helmet, eliciting a curious glance from Liara, and trudged on.