Garrus Vakarian sat on a bench in Palaven waiting for the next shuttle to arrive. It was due to depart at 12:21 and it was only 11:46. He wasn't in his regular armor, he had put on a more casual attire that the Turians on the Citadel run around in all day but the whole thing made him itchy. It was made from some odd textile that humans called bamboo. It was blue and white with a vertical pattern on the side running from the bowl collar to his waist with a striped pale line at the bottom. He looked nice but it made him uncomfortable not being in his armor, it made him feel unprotected and vulnerable. But when he imagined his father looking at him with his scratched armor that hadn't been washed in Spirits know when, he could feel the frown.

Garrus checked his Omni tool for the time again. It was only 11:50. He sat back against the wall behind him and watched the people walk by. He was in the main station in the capital. The grand hall was crowded with many faces; most were Turians going on with their daily business, others Asari, a few Salarians, and even fewer humans. You could tell the humans apart because they had to wear a protective suit to survive the intense radiation, they stood out against the haze of the other races racing by. Shuttles were leaving and landing on a long launch pad and behind it was a window that captured that beauty of the city; tall metal buildings reached for the sky in the distance, the sun reflecting and glimmer off them.

Garrus check his Omni tool again; 11:53. Was time slowing down or was he just becoming more impatient? He still hadn't decided what he was going to say to his father. Just envisioning his stern face and blue tattoos made Garrus' head hurt. Trying to visualize what he will say, his deep book binding voice trickle down all over Garrus' scars and into his ears made him want to never leave this bench or this station and just watch all the faces past by, giving names to people he didn't know and make up stories of where they were going, what adventures they are going to embrace and fight. But he had to see him; he actually wanted to see his father despite the fussing. Garrus loved his father, respected him above all others, besides of course Shepard, but he felt that he had spat on all his teachings. His father was a man of the law, he obeyed rules, and Garrus had tried to live that way through most of his life until he met Shepard, joined her unruly gang, and sent off without any regulations to fight Sovereign and Saren.

I'm just going to tell him everything, Garrus thought, only then he can judge me fairly, right? Even though he said that to himself, he could see feel the dread of disapproval trickle down his spine and into his hands forming nonexistent puddles in his palms making his talons sweat. Even though he had no regrets, he would never want to bring dishonor to his family, especially to his father.

"Garrus Vakarian?" A strong voice interrupted his thoughts and he looked up. Four young Turians stood beside him, dressed in armor, with the same lime-green tattoo printed on their face. Garrus couldn't define the pattern on their skin but he knew it was military.

"What did I do now?" he asked, not even thinking how odd that might have sounded.

"You have been summoned. We are here to transport you."

"By who?"

"The Primarch's Chief General Barkus."

Garrus looked at them suspicious but he knew he couldn't refuse. Turians were known for their military; martial law was always the law and controlled everything. If the military called you, you answered. That was the way things were.

Garrus closed his fist and stood up, following the soldiers to a terminal. I guess my father is just going to have to wait some more he thought getting onto a shuttle.

"We've just lost communication with Thracia," Gerneral Barkus said. He was a tall, even for a Turian, and built with huge shoulders and muscles. His face paint was a deep purple that ran over his mandibles and nowhere else. He has the harsh face of someone who's worked in the military for too long thought Garrus as the general pulled up a map of the planet on a projector. It was just a regular water planet with small patches of tropical islands that shattered across the surface. It was given to the Turians as a present from the Asari when they joined the council but there wasn't much use for it. It had no dextro proteins, the air had a high percent of oxygen from the underwater vegetation, and the small amount of land had nothing but plants. The Turians really couldn't colonized the planet so they turned it into a military post with an atmospheric filter to level out the oxygen levels so they could live there without masks or helmets. Also the marine life in the water created a new trade of exotic pets and seafood that was deemed a delicacy by other races, even though the Turians could not eat it.

"What happened?" Garrus asked leaning over the consol and looking over the projection. He was back in his old armor and boy did he feel good in it. It was like- what did human girls call it? Like wearing your favorite pair of jeans, only better.

"They were about to transport some aquatic organisms and suddenly the whole connect went black," the general said and then add, "I'm sending a squad over there now to check things out, I want you to go with them."

Garrus face flashed with confusion, he didn't understand why it was so important that he went with them or even why they chose him. "I'm not a military man anymore general; I joined C-Sec after I did my time and then joined Shepard to defeat Saren,"

"I know that; I read your dossier," Barkus said throwing a data pad across the table so it landed right in front of Garrus. Sure enough his name was at the top of the file along with a complete record of his recent activities. "I'm asking you to go because of your documentation with Cerberus," suddenly the general was typing something onto the terminal. "This was the last thing received from our post on Thracia before everything went black. It's a security camera footage on the import dock,"

Before Garrus could say a thing the projection of the planet changed and suddenly he was watching a scene of a launch pad surround by tropic trees and planets. There were Turian soldiers wondering around, two were talking to each other and another one was at another corner of the screen looking at something. The next thing he knew the one in the corner fell to the ground, blue blood leaked out of his body as the other soldiers snap into action but it was too late. Troops in yellow and black armor run into the picture shooting their assault rifles at the Turians then the image becomes static. That was it.

"I know that you used to work for Cerberus," the general said after the short clip.

Garrus' face flickered and he glared at Barkus, "I didn't work for them, I worked for Shepard. She was just being funded by them to destroy the Collectors. And as soon as we destroyed the base we cut off all ties to them."

"Worked for… Funded… I really don't care what you call it. The fact is that you had links with Cerberus," he stated, folding his arms and leaning back against a sleep wall. "You know more about Cerberus than any other Turian on this planet and as I see it, you owe us for even being involved with them."

Garrus tightened his hands into a fist, he had half the mind to punch the general in the mandible, but he was much too collective and cool to do that. "So, what do you want then?" he said so calmly.

"Like I said, I'm sending a squad," he snickered, "And you're going too."

Sitting on a shuttle on his way to Thracia wasn't Garrus' ideal way of winning preparations for the Reaper attack but as he saw it, he had no other way. He needed for the Turians to trust him and as General Barkus stated-they had no real reason to give him that faith. This would prove to them that he isn't some low life that sold his soul to Cerberus and maybe this would be the gateway to creating what Shepard had sent him for: help. After all she was right; the Reapers were too strong for just one race to fight them and win. There had to be alliances, had to be provisions, if not then they would end up like the Proteans.

Garrus tried to push his mind from that; he didn't want to start imagining what life would be life if the Reapers won. Instead he focused at the task at hand, the Cerberus mission. What were Cerberus troops doing on Thracia? What did they want? They weren't after the aquatic life that's for sure so why show up on such an outreached planet like this? All these questions left him feeling inadequate for not being about to answer them. Apparently, he was a Cerberus expert, he was suppose to have all these answers but honestly he didn't any more about Cerberus then when Shepard had found him on Omega.

He looked around the shuttle; five Turian soldiers sat in blue armor ready for anything in a dim little cockpit. They were anticipating the deployment, waiting to fight, preparing to prove themselves but Garrus knew Cerberus was capable of anything, especially with the Illusive Man as as its head. He didn't know what they will find or if they will be ready for it.

"We're reaching the landing point," the pilot said over the com system. All of the soldiers including Garrus stood up in a line gearing up to jump out. Garrus looked over to the one beside him; he looked nervous even though he was wearing a helmet. The four behind him plunked proudly in their uniform with their guns held up to their chest.

We'll find out who the truly brave ones are and which ones are the real Turians, Garrus thought facing towards the door again. He put on his helmet, clicking it until it locked in place. The ship thumped as it landed and the door opened.

Disclaimer: Bioware owns everything Mass Effect.

I read this chapter like five times but I still feel it has a million errors so I apologize just in chance..

So I really wanted them to meet in this chapter cause I didn't want to prolong it too much longer but it felt right to stop it here. Also I hope that things are happening too fast. I've been kind of anticipating writing about their encounter but I didn't want this chapter to seem hurried. If it does, I might come back to it and re-write it. Anyway, please leave me a review! Thanks.