Commander John Shepard
It's been about a full day since we found Garrus. And he's still unconscious on the medical bed. I haven't left his side since the moment Chakwas allowed me to enter the med-bay. The side of his face that took the most damage was bandaged, and he was without a shirt to treat wounds to his torso. Some bullet wounds from either the gunship or just over a day of fighting, His right arm, shoulder, and part of his chest were heavily bandaged as well. So long as he pulled through, Chakwas expected at least a strong recovery, given time. Some of the procedure had involved mild cybernetics, but largely just to help set and protect bones, and also to ensure he'd still be able to use his right mandible and his jaw. Fortunately, his vitals were still steady, and Chakwas was working at her desk, just in case. The door opened. It was Miranda.
"Co-" she stopped herself with a deep breath. "Permission to speak?" I noticed Chakwas chuckle, giving me an amused glance.
"Granted."
"Dr. Chakwas believes that Vakarian will make a full recovery. You've been in here for over a day, and Professor Solus is still in a plague zone. We should really-"
"If he's STG, he can handle himself long enough for Garrus to wake up. If I was wounded like he was, I know damn well he'd do exactly what I'm doing. I'm staying right here until he's conscious," I waved her off. Grumbling to herself, she left.
"Your loyalty to your friends is admirable, Shepard. But try not to make too much of an enemy," Chakwas cautioned.
"I'll warm up to her when she can look at the atrocities Cerberus has committed and not believe they were acceptable. Till then, she can go fuck herself. Same goes for TIM. And I really don't care if EDI passes that along to him," I ended a bit louder and clearer. The AI remained silent.
The door opened again, but this time, a man. The mess sergeant. He had come in a few times before to give me some small meals. I had taken some of the time here to talk to Rupert Gardner. He used to be a colonist but lost his family to a Batarian raid some years back. That led him to Cerberus. Curiously, he wasn't seeming to suggest that the Batarians get a taste of their own medicine. Not suggesting we start raiding them or worse. Putting a stop to it, absolutely. But not a genocide. Granted, I hadn't asked him in that detail, and he hadn't explicitly stated. He didn't bat an eye at my dedication to a friend, even seemed respectful about it. What he had for me now, was a simple BLT. I thanked him, and he left. I ate in silence and continued to wait.
About two hours later, there was a groan.
"By the spirits," he murmured as he tried to sit up, a hand going right to his head.
"Easy, buddy. Easy. Took quite a hit."
"Shepard? Good, good. That wasn't a dream."
"Need me to pinch you to make sure?" I joked.
"I'm in enough pain as it is, I think I know I'm awake now. Even try to do that and you'll lose a finger."
"Ooh, someone's grumpy." We both chuckled, and I took a deep breath.
"Damn glad you're alright. Had me really worried there," I almost rested a hand on his shoulder before I remembered it was the bandaged one.
"And I'm damn glad you're back. So, am I crazy, or did I see Chakwas in that shuttle?"
"Hello, Garrus. It's good to see you again," the doctor spoke up.
"You too, Doctor. Thanks for patching me up. Any other familiar faces on board?"
"Joker."
"Hm, makes sense. He blamed himself pretty badly. Doubt he'd pass up a second chance. Oh, hm, sorry. Wasn't trying to sour the mood. Can I get a mirror? How bad is it?"
"Bah, you were always an ugly bastard. Slap on some face paint, no one will ever notice."
"Ha, damn it," he laughed then groaned in pain. "Don't make me laugh. My face is barely holding together as it is. Ah well, I suppose it's for the best," Garrus feigned disappointment. "Everyone was always ignoring you, and hitting on me. Time for you to get a fair shot. Especially when Tali comes back, she won't need me distracting her. Who knows, maybe those new scars of yours will get her going a bit more," Garrus teased.
"Oh, speaking of those scars, Shepard, I need to talk to you about those later. Tonight?"
"Sure thing."
"Frankly, Shepard, I'm a bit more worried about how you're holding up. I know you remember everything Cerberus did, just… mental strain, I guess."
"Well, if I don't look at myself in the mirror each morning, that helps," I muttered. "Like I said, Collectors. I've made a deal with the devil, I know. But if I'm waltzing into hell, I want people I trust."
"You understand your plan means having me waltz, whatever the hell that is, through hell too, right? Heh, just like old times." Garrus looked up to Chakwas. "Doc am I good to walk around?"
"I'd prefer you had more bed rest, but I'll settle for you just walking around the ship. But stay on the ship, is that clear?"
"I wanted to give him a tour of the ship anyway, and hell, today I'm due to tell the crew just what Cerberus is responsible. Wouldn't hurt to have another eyewitness," I shrugged. "Probably will take up the rest of the day."
"Does the crew not know about any of it? About what Cerberus is responsible for?" Garrus asked, surprised.
"Seems like they don't. For the most part at any rate. Miranda Lawson, the woman who was with me, is apparently a top operative in the organization. She's loyal. She at least knows about the attack on the Idenna but believes it was justified and exaggerated. For whatever reason, fucked if I know. She seems to believe that what we saw were… I don't know, lies and tricks or something other than the truth. Jacob Taylor on the other hand, he doesn't seem to really know and isn't particularly loyal, to begin with. Then there are the others, like Ken and Gabby in engineering, who only signed up after my death because they believed the Reaper threat, and Cerberus tapped them just for this."
"And what about you, Doctor? Or Joker?" Garrus added.
"Joker and I only signed on because they told us that Shepard was coming back. With evidence. We took the risk. I know Engineer Adams received an offer, and he and I discussed it, but he simply didn't trust Cerberus. He believed it to be a lie and a trap. I don't blame him," Chakwas answered.
"Neither do I. Also, uh… I want to talk to you later, about contacting mom."
"Of course."
"That'll be a helluva awkward call. And it's a call I'm going to need to make myself," Garrus murmured. "Are there clothes for me?"
"Just on the bed there. Shirt and pants," Chakwas pointed.
"We'll buy some for you before we leave Omega. I need to buy some too. Took most of mine and burned it."
"It had the logo, didn't it?" Garrus chuckled.
"The whole ship did at first. Until I complained and refused to move till they got rid of them all. I only budged to let Miranda keep the one in her quarters to finger herself to and probably stick a dildo on, pretend she's sucking off TIM or some shit," I remarked.
"TIM?"
"All of that and that's the part you question?" Chakwas exclaimed with a chuckle.
"Yeah, I'm a child, I know. And I don't care. TIM. Acronym for the pretentious code name the head of Cerberus has. The Illusive Man," I shrugged.
"By the spirits, Shepard. Did being dead for two years change nothing about you?" Garrus laughed.
"Mentally? Probably a little bit of existential shit I'll have to deal with once I don't have fucking Cerberus all over my mind. Physically? Cybernetic enhancements and what-not. Oh yeah, and I'm an artificial biotic now."
"Wait, what? How the hell did they manage that? And why didn't I see you use any? Are you just feeding me crap?"
"Not this time. Some sort of Eezo pocket in my skull. Haven't used it because I haven't trained with it yet. No idea how to control it, and only two other biotics on board are Miranda and Jacob," I explained.
"Alright, I'm just going to get dressed before there are any more weird revelations," he grunted as he slowly moved to stand. Throwing the bed's covers off of him. He still had the bottom of his under suit on. Chakwas and I both left the room to allow him privacy. He emerged just moments later. The crew had just finished their lunch, aside from a straggler or two, and had left the mess.
"Sleeper pods to the right, just like the old Normandy. One's yours, and the end of the hall isn't crew quarters anymore, but the main gun battery. I remember how much time you spent toying with the Mako's gun, so I'll make sure you're clear to toy with that too."
"What's the ship armed with?"
"The main weapons are dual Javelin Disruptor torpedoes. They converge and are meant to detonate together at the same spot, same time. Causes a giant equivalent to those biotic detonations Liara and Kaidan occasionally created."
"Not bad, not bad," Garrus hummed. "But I caught wind of something better before heading off to Omega. Remember Sovereign's main gun?"
"How couldn't I? That shit was unbelievable."
"Well," Garrus whispered. "The Hierarchy reverse engineered it. There's a smaller version we call the Thanix. They're keeping it as quiet as they can while trying to spread it around their fleet. And tipping off the Alliance to it." I let out a whistle.
"That would sure as hell come in handy against a Collector ship," I mused. "What are the odds of you being able to arrange something?"
"No favor in the world would get me access to that tech for free. But, if this Illusive Man decided to fork over some credits…"
"See if we can't get it done in a Turian shipyard. Let them supply and install it. I'd rather keep TIM from getting the tech himself as long as we can." Garrus nodded. "So, returning to the tour. Where my quarters used to be is the XO's office. Miranda has that position at TIM's behest." I led him behind the elevator. "Bathrooms are in this hall, general crew quarters are port side, port observation has a library, and starboard has a lounge and bar. I haven't used it just yet. Deck four is just engineering and cargo, you don't really need to bother with that, deck five is shuttle bay and cargo. Nothing interesting there. Not even the armory."
"Where else would they even have the armory?"
"Glad to see I'm not alone in that annoyance. Idiots put it on deck two by the CIC."
"...Why?" Garrus questioned.
"No clue. Jacob runs it, you may enjoy taking a peek at what weapons we have in stock. I did. Here, we'll go up, see Joker, I'll show you the armory, then, my quarters on deck one."
"Sounds fine to me. I assume we're still docked?"
"Had to move a bit, but yeah, still docked on Omega. The spot we had Aria apparently just reserves what's immediately important to her. Still, not far from it." Garrus nodded with a downward glance. There was something he wasn't saying, something eating at him. I'll need to try and find out. For the moment, we just got in the elevator and took it up.
"Elevator is a lot faster than the old Normandy," Garrus remarked.
"Thank Christ for that," I chuckled. Kelly was at her post and turned to see who it was. She gave a friendly smile and eyed Garrus.
"You must be Garrus Vakarian. I'm Yeoman Kelly Chambers. It's good to see you up and well."
"Er, thanks. That's a pleasant change from the chants of 'kill the Xeno scum,' last time I tangoed with Cerberus," Garrus replied. I can't tell if he tried to be friendly or not.
"Oh, I'm sorry you encountered the less tolerant members of this organization last time," she answered sadly. Garrus just turned to me with a brow raise. I just gave him the 'let's just move on,' look.
"Come on, big guy. I'm sure Joker's eager to see you. Let's not keep him waiting."
"Oh! I'm sorry, I forgot Joker was part of the old crew for a moment. I won't keep you. Maybe we'll talk later, Garrus. I'd love to learn more about you," she smiled. Does she… no, no one in Cerberus would be a xenophile, right? We just walked on.
"That was… uncomfortable," Garrus muttered.
"Yeah, that was, uh… a bit weird. I'm honestly not sure what to make of her yet. She's either naive or twisted. Don't know yet."
"Both is a possibility," Garrus suggested.
"Also true." By the time I finished that sentence, we had arrived at the cockpit. Joker's hat was leaning forwards, and there was light snoring. I stepped up and tapped him on the shoulder. He stirred.
"Huh?" he groggily turned and looked up. "Oh, hey Shepard," he yawned. "Sorry, seats really damn comfortable. Not like I'm needed right now anyway."
"It is still unwise to sleep while on duty, Mr. Moreau. Your services may be required if an emergency requires immediate departure," EDI chastised. Garrus was confused by the synthetic voice.
"Uuuuggggh, get off my ass, EDI. We still have a recruit here," Joker groaned. He then turned. "Oh! Hey Garrus, glad to see you didn't die on us. Doubt Cerberus would have resurrected you."
"You never know. Maybe they'd just do it so they could kill me in new and inventive ways to test poisons, then bring me back. Or try to make me a Kraak-Malgur," Garrus joked. The last word obviously not translating.
"A crack what now?" Joker questioned.
"Shit, translators screw that up?" We nodded in response. "Uh… dead, but not dead. A corpse with a corrupted spirit that won't leave. Corrupts the spirits of those it attacks. Spreads exponentially," Garrus explained.
"Oh, a zombie. Except for humans they're just dead bodies still alive thanks to a parasite or some shit and infects with a bite. You can lop off your arm if it's bitten there, but, can't cut off your neck without killing you," Joker added.
"Yet another curious similarity in Turian/Human culture," I pointed out.
"Bah, I'm pretty sure the undead are a basic horror story easy to come up with," Joker waved off. "So, see you haven't worked that stick back up your ass since last I saw you."
"I'm surprised more Turians don't do it. If anything, it means they have another weapon to use."
"A shit covered stick. Yeah, that would be a pretty useful deterrent," Joker smirked.
"Backtracking, who was that woman I heard?"
"Not you too," Joker groaned.
"Hello, Garrus Vakarian. I am the Enhanced Defense Intelligence, the artificial intelligence installed on the Normandy. You may call me EDI."
"Cerberus… built an AI. Yeah, that's not as surprising as it should be. Should I even bother working on the weapons?"
"I am only connected to the surveillance suite outside of combat, and the cyber warfare and cyber defense suits during combat. I have no control over the weapons systems. Per the Commander's wish stated on the crew deck, I have granted you access to the Main Battery. Commander, shall I assign him as Gunnery Officer?"
"Absolutely. He did great work on the Mako, and once he gets used to the Normandy's weapons, no one will be better for her."
"Looks like I'll have plenty of calibrating to do," Garrus mused.
"That can wait. Besides, I need the second-best soldier on the ground with me on ops."
"Who's the first?" Garrus grinned, nodding to acknowledge the compliment, yet to still go through our regular bullshit.
"Me, of course," I waved off jokingly. "Come on, armory, then share a drink in my quarters."
"Sold."
"I want in some time!"
"You got it, Joker. Next time."
"Have fun with your make-out sesh," Joker called out as we turned.
"Go back to your Krogan porn, dick-cheese," I responded, holding a middle finger up behind me. Think the crew was giving us a few confused looks as we walked to the armory. Jacob was inside, cleaning Garrus' equipment, maintaining it. He had been using that sniper almost non-stop after all, likely needed some replacement parts, but I instructed him to wait for Garrus. Plenty of that rifle was clearly custom.
"Up already? Tough son of a bitch," Jacob remarked, clearly surprised. He reached out a hand. "Jacob Taylor, armory chief." Garrus reluctantly accepted the hand. "Impressive set up you have. I've spent the last day cleaning and doing what repairs I can to your weapons and armor. But I haven't replaced anything in your rifle yet. Shepard thought it would be better to let you be around for that, with how custom it is. I think we can give you some solid upgrades, though," Jacob suggested. "I've got an order on some new armor ready to be finalized, but your old armor is still intact enough to be used. Surprisingly the shield systems aren't compromised, and neither is the power supply or built-in computer."
"Actually… if that's the case, I'd rather keep my old. For now, at least," Garrus stopped him. Jacob nodded understanding. He's holding onto something.
"Also, that visor of yours got a few scratches, but it came out of that mess alright. Ready to go."
"I'll take that now then. It's… multipurpose." Jacob walked to a locker behind him and pulled it out, handing it over to Garrus. He immediately put it on. The same visor as before, I think. It's important to him.
"Any requests on the guns?"
"Whatever needs to be replaced, just replace it with the same model of hardware for now. I'll come here to look over potential upgrades with you, but, not today."
"Sure. Take it I can find whatever I need in the marketplace?" Garrus nodded. "I'll go have a look around then. Good to meet you, Garrus."
"Thanks. You… too, Taylor." Jacob got up and left.
"Every instinct in my body is telling me that this can't be Cerberus. I mean, manners? Being polite? These were people shooting at us two years ago," Garrus muttered.
"I'm still not quite used to it either. And hell, I'm just more surprised that they're being nice to a Turian of all races. The only one I would have expected worse towards is a Batarian." Garrus didn't verbally respond, just shaking his head. We made our way back to the elevator, and up towards deck one.
"EDI, link Garrus' Omni-tool to the door. He's free to talk to me up here whenever," I ordered.
"Omni-tool linked, Commander," EDI answered. The door to my quarters opened.
"An entire deck all for yourself. Very nice indeed," Garrus chuckled.
"The perks of command. Couch just down there. I had Gardner head out to get a mini-fridge and stock it with beers, Levo and Dextro, for when you woke up." I made my way to the mini fridge, placed beneath my desk, while Garrus plopped himself down onto the sofa. As I made my way there, I tossed him his. We both opened ours and took a swig each.
"So… wanna talk about it?" Garrus sighed in response.
"I'll stay sober long enough to tell the crew about what Cerberus is done. But, not today, Shepard. With or without those other memories adding to it. All I want is to get absolutely shitfaced."
"Then shit-faced we shall be."
About an hour later, pacing ourselves, we gathered all the crew who wanted to hear of our history with Cerberus in the mess hall. Chakwas, Garrus, and I were standing by the sleeper pod bay, with Joker sitting on one of the steps. It wasn't lost on me that the only crew member, not present was Miranda. Even Zaeed had shown up, recently returning from his… appointment, in Afterlife. While he clearly wouldn't be loyal to Cerberus anyway, seems he's curious.
"Raise your hand if you're new to Cerberus. As in, signed on within the last two and a half years." Surprisingly, very surprisingly, a little over half raised their hands. Jacob didn't, but as I understand it, he's only been around the organization for five years. "Five years?" A little over a quarter of the crew weren't raising their hands. "Of those whose hands are up, which of you served with the Alliance before signing on?" All of those who had their hands up kept them up. "Now, out of all of you, how many can safely claim to know much about Cerberus' activities and operations in the past? Jacob and a few others raised their hands, but only partly. A 'yes and no,' kind of thing. "I see. I just wanted a clear picture on who those who showed up were. Garrus here was on the ground beside me during our encounters with Cerberus during our mission against Saren. Chakwas and Joker will be free to add their own comments, though they were obviously not on the ground themselves. I may have been dead for two years, but in my perspective, in my memory, those events were months ago at most, and all are events one would remember vividly throughout their life."
"And for what credibility it adds," Jacob spoke up. "When I told Shepard that Project Lazarus was Cerberus, the look in his eyes was some damn righteous fury. Not suspicion, not distrust, but the look of a man with a damn good reason to hate our asses." Hm. Aiding us. Surprising indeed.
"Thank you, Jacob. We started on Cerberus' trail shortly after I was inducted as a Spectre. Rear Admiral Kahoku had lost contact with his men on the planet Edolus. He was trying to investigate, but the system mysteriously became restricted, and he couldn't learn anything. With my Spectre authority, we could safely bypass it. As we were coming into orbit, Joker detected a faint distress signal. At its source, we found a Thresher maw nest, and Kahoku's men, all dead. Sounds an awful lot like something from my past, doesn't it?" There were a few murmurs amongst the crew. "We reported back to Kahoku, and he began his own investigation. Sometime later, he sent us a message. Long story short, he had a name. Cerberus. And he was on the run from them. There were coordinates in the message to a base he had located thanks to a deal with the Shadow Broker. I followed up on those Coordinates to a planet known as Binthu in the Voyager cluster. We found three different underground labs nearby one another. Each lab was staffed and offered no surrender. In each lab, there were large barriers that were housing creatures. Two of the sets we later learned to be Rachni."
"With respect, Commander," Gardner began. The Rachni have been dead a long time. How could Cerberus have gotten their hands on them?"
"Through a deal with Binary Helix. When we investigated Geth activity on Noveria, it took us to an overrun Binary Helix lab. They found a living egg in an old Rachni ship and hatched it. It was a queen, and they believed that without the queen's influence, they could turn the drones into an army. They learned a bit late that they need the queen to not kill everything in sight. Cerberus acquired some specimens."
"Back to Binthu, the other lab had creatures that were some form of… drone, soldier, thing, for a creature on Feros that used spores for mind control. Again, looking to breed an army," Garrus added. "And finally, in one of the Rachni cells, was Kahoku's corpse. Untouched by the creatures, but needle marks showing death by injection. Experimentation. On top of that, a squad leader ordered his troops to 'purge the Xeno scum.'"
"Kahoku hid a data chip by swallowing it, and it led us to a main facility on the planet Nepheron. We attacked the base, and again, no surrender was given. Downloaded plenty of files before the servers purged themselves. One of the dying commando's last words was that humanity would reign supreme. Exact words, not interpretation." I paused a moment, letting the crew mull over this information. "Our next encounter was on the planet Ontarom. Hackett had a lead about scientists being found dead. All he could find which linked them was some form of a project on none other than Akuze. Naturally, I immediately went to investigate. What I found was a merc group led by one human man, the man pointing his gun at the scientist, a Dr. Wayne. It was that day I learned I was not Akuze's sole survivor." The crew went silent. "Corporal Toombs told me everything. Cerberus organized the events on Akuze in some kind of sick experiment. They captured him and one other of my soldiers when they attempted to flee the site rather than wait in shelter with me. The other soldier, Gregory, died from the experimentation. They injected thresher maw acid into their veins just to see what it would do. And he had the scars to show it." One crewman stood.
"My sister was on Akuze. You're telling me I signed on to work for the bastards who killed her?!"
"What's your name?" The man had blonde hair and was relatively short. Maybe a little over five feet. He had blonde hair and was lightly tanned.
"Alex. Alex Crawford. My sister was-"
"Ana. I remember her mentioning you once," I nodded. Alex then gripped the Cerberus logo on his shoulder and tore it off, sitting back down. "We took Dr. Wayne in alive and brought Toombs back to the Alliance for help. We had one final set of encounters with Cerberus after that. On Feros we learned that ExoGeni and Cerberus were making a few deals together, that involved some more Colonies. We started at Nodacrux, which was a mess of its own but didn't have Cerberus influence that we could see. And it was the only one where they weren't doing anything monstrous. Chasca, on the other hand… That was an official Colony with families. That means children. When we arrived, we found Dragon's Teeth outside both residential buildings and then Husks. Both adult and children sized husks. Do you know what Dragon's Teeth and Husks are?"
"Aye. The things on Eden Prime, and the Citadel when the Geth attacked," Donnelly murmured. "And what they turned people into."
"To make matters worse, we found out how it happened too," Garrus began. "ExoGeni helped fund the colony, but Cerberus arrived with fake credentials and set up an outpost. They then requested that all Colonists join them at their facility for an announcement."
"We infiltrated the outpost to find that there were Cell blocks, some of which being overrun. Cerberus in the process of preparing their 'specimens' for transport. We killed all the Cerberus troops inside. We cleared the overrun cells, finding no survivors in those, and killed the husks in those still contained. Cell blocks nine and ten housed children. Cellblock ten was already overrun when we arrived."
"God…" a crewman whispered.
"The last I heard of Cerberus before my death was what they did with more of the Rachni they purchased from Binary Helix. Unmanned ships approached an Alliance listening post, and the Rachni released destroyed it. This then hid the distress call of an Alliance outpost in the same cluster under Rachni attack. In some measure of justice, the ships were traced back to a Cerberus ship which had also been overrun. And remember, this is in addition to the attack on the Idenna I learned of recently. From what the Quarians told me, three Humans were on the run from Cerberus. They had a biotic little girl who was being experimented on by Cerberus. By stumbling across some pilgrims, they secured temporary refuge in the fleet. Cerberus, using an exile, infiltrated the fleet themselves and attacked the Idenna with the goal of capturing this little girl. They failed, but killed many Quarian civilians in the process."
"This is sounding an awful lot like the bastards who killed my family…" I noticed Gardner was shaking his head, looking down at the ground.
"Well, fuck Cerberus then. Ay, lads? Fighting for Humanity, my arse," Donnelly exclaimed, tearing off his logo.
"Yeah, fuck these kid killing asshats," Daniels tore off her own.
"And I thought the Batarians were right old cunts," Zaeed remarked. The crew was clearly shaken by this. I believe all the crew that had been around only two and a half years or so had removed their logos, while the five years were split. Some of the more senior members had removed those as well. Those who haven't might just need time to think about it. I can't be sure or not yet. I was surprised to see Jacob hadn't removed his. He had his Omni-tool out though. And my own was pinged as his was put down.
You've sold me. I won't take mine off yet though. Miranda owes a lot to Cerberus but she's a good woman. She'll come around with time, and I can get through to her if she doesn't see me as a 'traitor' yet.
Jacob gave me a nod when I looked up. I'll take his word for it.
"Go ahead and sleep on it. For tonight though, I need a drink. A lot of them."
Garrus and I left the crew to their thoughts and returned to my quarters. He got his wish.
Absolutely fucking shitfaced.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys, thought I was forgetting to say something. My apologies for needing to update the chapter to fix it for this. Anyways. You may notice the inclusion of an "Alex" this chapter. (The last name I came up with on the spot, as I did the sister.) This was the first of the Cameos from my . If you're on the discord, that's Zohatu. I would also be needing to give a cameo to Fleece, but he's refused that offer. My thanks to the both of them for pledging.