The Introduction

Garrus stepped into the operating room. The small squared space was quiet and still. The air was musty and bitter. He started to wonder how long the girl had been here for as he watched her chest rise and fall is a steady pattern. He started to walk over to her but he noticed particular things; there were many sedatives bottles on the back counter, some full and others empty. There were needles on the floor, syringes with blood tipped tops, and odd tools; scalpels that were still dripping, strange objects that looked like scoopers. Garrus couldn't even define these tools or what they were used for. They gave him an uneasy feeling as he reached the table.

She was asleep. Her face was badly beaten, her body revealed other wounds across her chest and torso. He looked her over carefully; she didn't look like she was suffering from internal injuries or fatal abrasions. He also noticed that her tattoo didn't just stop at her arm, it continued to her lower half, all the way down her foot. Her entire left side was one great abstract tattoo that danced over her curves and wondered around ever muscle. He had never seen anything like it.

Garrus leaned over her to undo the cuffs at her wrists; they were bloodied from obvious struggle and the cut went around her entire arm. Whatever Cerberus did to her, she did not volunteer for. They must have abducted her, took her in, and were about to experiment on her. But why did they stop?

Probably us, Garrus thought, an alarm must have went off when we arrived on the island alerting them to escape but leaving her here to die. He undid the first chain…

And her eyes opened.

With one hand she pushed Garrus off her and unto the ground. She began to struggle, terror rushing through her face as she tried to pull her other arm through the hole. More blood was leaking out of her cuts as the metal scratched her skin open and red liquid ran down the slab as she violently tugged. Garrus couldn't believe how strong she was, it took her no effort to push him away. He stood up and their eyes interlocked.

She is so beautiful, Garrus thought. Even with all her blue and black spots absorbing her skins, the crusted blood on her cheeks, and the chap red lips that were dried up; her petite, pale face was perfect and he couldn't stop himself from gazing at her. He had never seen anyone with such enormous almond shaped eyes but that wasn't what grabbed his fascinating. It was their color. In the dim lit room, her soft jade eyes glowed and sparkled like a glittery galaxy spinning in the depths of space.

"Please… Please… Don't hurt me," she whispered in a low tone; her voice breaking the stale room in a vibration of warmth. Though, the look on her face read anything but that. She was frightened; her eyes, although beautiful, were glistening with panic, her face illustrated anxiety, and all of her body language was in shock like she had just waked from nightmare to realized she was still in it.

"I wouldn't do that," he said while stepping towards her but she flinched away. She was staring at him like she had never seen a Turian before. "I'm here to help." He tried taking another step towards her.

"Get away from me!" she yelled trying to pull herself free again. Garrus didn't understand. Was she in a state of shock and couldn't comprehend what was going on? Did Cerberus mess with her that much?

"I can help you," he said calmly but she just stared at him with a confused look. He could understand her, she was speaking English, he could tell by how her mouth moved and how his translator delayed a eighth of a second with each word. But why couldn't she understand him?

He suddenly realized what was wrong.

She was watching him with great intensity as he held up a talon, trying to tell her to wait. He had no idea if she would understand. He walked to the door and stepped into the laboratory where Tsaro was waiting.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked as Garrus started to search in the cabinets, desks, and drawers.

"She can't understand us. She doesn't have a communicator," Garrus explained. He couldn't believe he didn't think about it at first. It was so simple. "Look for a translator. This is a laboratory, there has to be something here."

"A laboratory for marine life," Tsaro stated.

"Just look."

So Tsaro began to look around as well. The human girl watched them through the glass with curiosity as Garrus pulled out lodes of papers, random sampling tubes, and testing strips. He opened a bottom counter and found a collection of flasks, data pads, and shock guns. He tried a cabinet next but found bait; lots and lots of bait.

"I found something!" Tsaro exclaimed, holding up the prize. Garrus couldn't believe they even found something, he was about to give up hope and start using sign language.

It was an out dated translator. It was crested moon shaped with a spherical ball attached to the bottom. It was a universal shape and a rather cheap one compared to the ones given out by the military. Even today these ones were produced and sold to people that didn't have enough money. Garrus remembered seeing the same ones on Humans and Asari wearing them on Omega, even a couple of Krogan.

"Let's hope this still works," he said taking it from him and walking back into the operating room.

She was less startled now. She was still chained to the table at her feet and right arm but she was sitting up and her bleeding had stopped. She watched him carefully as he walked up to her. When he was four feet away she gave him a glare that told him to stop.

He held up the communicator for her to see. Her head tilted in fascination; her green eyes looking it over, analyzing it. Then he put it up to his ear, trying to symbolize where it was going to go. She gave him an odd look but not a scared one. He showed it to her again and stepped forward. She didn't move. He stepped again. She didn't flinch. So he walked up to the metal table and reached out. With her free hand she tucked her hair behind her ear and gave a weak smile, like she wasn't sure what he was doing but she was okay with it. He leaned forward, placed the moon behind her ear and fitted it in place. When he finished, he took a step back.

"Can you understand me?" he asked. Her face flashed, surprised.

"I-.. Yes, I can," she put her hand up to her ear to touch the device. It seemed to intrigue her.

"Good, what are you doing here?" Garrus asked her, bending over to undo her other wrist cuff. She moved away at first, startled, but then calmed down.

"I- wait, who are you?" Garrus thought he was the one asking the questions but okay, he could give her that.

"My name is Garrus Vakarian," he said moving on her unlock her feet.

"Garrus.." she repeated, as if she was testing his name.

"What are you doing here?" he asked finally getting the last shackle off.

"I-… I honestly don't know." She said shaking her head and rubbing her face with her palms. She was trying to think or remember, or trying to smooth away the bruises. "Wait! What are you doing!" she exclaimed pulling back from him when he pulled out his Omni-tool.

"I'm going to apply Medi-gel to you wounds; they're pretty deep and I need you to be able to walk," he said, hovering his arm over her body. She relaxed but gawked at the Oomni-tool, her face was one of awe.

"Are you with Cerberus?" He asked as he finished. He didn't think she was but it didn't hurt to ask.

"Cerberus?" she said, confused. That answered that questioned.

"Never mind. How did you get here?" he said, moving backwards to give her enough room to get down from the table. She stumbled though, practically twisting her ankle, losing her footing and ended up in Garrus' arms. She didn't seemed to be phased by him catching her in the nick of time, or how he suddenly got nervous holding her. She just looked up at him, her eyes glittering in the room like jewels.

"I was on a beach," she started to explain, not even caring about the event that just occurred and if she was hurt. She didn't even move from his arms. "I was watching the ocean when someone attacked me. I never saw them coming but the last thing I remember was their armor. It was… yellow and white and spots of black in certain places. There was an odd symbol too. I don't know how to describe it." That sounded like Cerberus alright; kidnapping people when they are the most vulnerable and taking advantage of them later.

"Can you stand now?" he asked. She nodded and he set her down on her feet, making sure she could remain up right before he let her go.

"Thank you," she said, patting off her hospital gown even though it wasn't dusty.

"What were they doing to you?" She didn't answer that, instead she just glanced at the giant needle that was above the table.

"I don't know… They injected me with something that made my whole body go numb and then, they were going to… I don't know, they didn't finish."

"Why?"

"You ask a lot of questions," she said with her hands on her hips. She had a weird accent that Garrus hadn't noticed before. She accented her "A"s and her "S"s were almost pronounce as a "Z" but not in a way that he had heard before, it was unusual.

"Sorry, it's my job," he shrugged.

"Well, an alarm went off and then everyone disappeared," she said, which was exactly what Garrus had predicted.

"Hey we need to move out…" Tsaro said from the doorway. Garrus had completely forgotten he was even here.

"Who is he?" she inquired, checking him over with a glare to make sure he was okay.

"Saparus. He is a soldier with me to figure out what is going on here…" Garrus explained.

"Huh…so what is going on here?" When was it her turn to ask questions?

"I was hoping you would have known… But he is right, we should get going. If you stay with us, we can take you home." Garrus told her, he couldn't help looking into her eyes again. They were just radiating with a life of their own.

She nodded. Garrus lead her out of room into the laboratory. She seemed to be sturdy on her feet now but as soon as she closed in on Tsaro, she tensed up but her face stayed calm. She watched him move towards Garrus.

"What's the plan?" he asked, taking out his rifle again, the made the girl even more tense. Garrus could tell that Tsaro was getting antsy; even though his nervous shake was gone, they had been here for a while and that must have added to his paranoia.

"We need to check the rest of the post and make sure it's clear. I don't want any more Cerberus troops here or leave any other survivors if there is any," Garrus said. "Also we need to regroup with the others."

Tsaro nodded, "What are we gunna do about her?" he tilted his head in her direction. Garrus could see her expression change on her face. She didn't like the way he said that, it probably made her feel like she was out of the conversation or unimportant.

"We'll keep her between us as we move. You'll be watching the rear. I'll be look out," Garrus explained while she shifted uncomfortable. She didn't like the idea of Tsaro watching her back but she didn't say anything.

"What about her outfit?" Tsaro asked, he had suddenly started shaking again. The idea of having another responsibility on his shoulders probably added to his nerves. Garrus looked over to the girl; she was in a hospital gown that was tied in knots on the back so she wasn't completely naked but Tsaro was right. It would only take a very good placed bullet and they wouldn't have a survivor.

"When they caught me, I had a suit." She told them, but shrugged, "I have no idea where they put it though."

"You had a suit?" Garrus was surprised, why would she have a suit?

"I'm a pilot," she told them with a timid smile. She seemed really unsure of herself, like she was afraid to say more. Garrus wondered what she was hiding but he didn't question her. He didn't have time, when they get back to Palaven they would have all the time in the world to find out.

"I found a Cerberus uniform in one of the counters here," Tsaro explained.

"That isn't the best idea but it's better than her running around in that," Garrus said.

"What's wrong with this?" she asked, looking down at herself.

"Well if we run into any trouble, that skimpy fabric isn't going to save you from anything." She chuckled, it was strange and feeble, but it made Garrus smile. Her voice was so tender when she wanted it to be, but harsh when she demanded it. She followed Tsaro over to the counter while Garrus used his Omni-tool to contact the others.

" Omril?" he spoke, waiting for an answer. " Omril?" he repeated.

"Vakarian!" his voice came through almost in alarm.

"Report,"

"We're taking heavy firepower but nothing we can't handle! Just get here fast cause we need all the help we can get."

"Okay, we found a human girl; she's a survivor. She is wearing Cerberus armor for protection."

"Copy that. We'll watch where we point our guns."

"Thanks, we'll be there soon. Over."

"Hurry. Over."

Garrus pulled out his rifle and ready himself. Not only did he have to help his squad and finish off the Cerberus troops, but he had to make sure that the girl stayed alive. He suddenly realized that he didn't know her name. He turned around and found her already fully dressed. Besides the fact that the uniform was way too big, it was a male uniform. She looked like a child playing dress up but it would work better then the gown.

"I forgot to ask you, what's your name?"

She was looking down at herself when she answered, "My name is Safiya. Safiya Albatross. "

Disclaimer:I don't own anything. Mass Effect belongs to Bioware.

I realized that about half way through writing that Garrus probably could have just used his Omni tool for translating but that wouldn't have been as fun. Plus I was trying to establish trust between them. ;))

Thanks to all the people who have left me reviews. Even if I only have seven right now, they have given me hope for this story and inspired motivation for continuing. So please leave me more!