There were a few things Garrus envied humans; tattoos were one of them. Sure, turians could be tattoos, but they hurt like hell, and sometimes didn't take. When turians were of age and of rank, they went to specialists, got the marks laid in. He still remembered grunting and squirming in the chair, while his father stood watching him in disapproval. He couldn't imagine how Ezmay could stand to have so much ink with how sensitive her skin was. Must not have hurt too much, though. She had her fair share of markings, mostly in places that could be easily hidden by armour. His claw traced over the piece on her right shoulder blade. It was a sword, pointing down towards her feet, with wings sprouting from either side and unfurling proudly. Below that, over her right hip, was script in a language he didn't understand. 'Fortes fortuna adiuvat.'
"What does this say?" He gripped her hip and rolled Ezmay over to gaze down at her.
"'Fortune favours the brave.' I think it does, anyway. I got it when I was young. Not sure if the latin's correct." Her fingertips started tracing over the plates on his chest.
It was fitting. Confession time. Garrus was unsure how Ezmay'd react, seeing as how tightly wound she'd been lately.
"Anderson wants to talk to you again."
Her eyes rolled back in her head, arm flung back on the sheets. Ezmay groaned. She rubbed at her face with her free hand and then fixed him with a look.
"Jesus…why are you bringing him up?"
"I think you might want to do this mission after all."
Irritation rolled off of her and right into his stomach, it seemed. He felt her sudden impatience. If he had any doubts, she proved him right by rolling away from him and getting up from the bed. Her robe was draped over her desk chair; she tucked her hair behind her ear as she shrugged into the delicate silk. Suddenly, Garrus suspected that she wasn't going to be as receptive to his confession as he'd initially hoped. If there was one thing he'd discovered, being so intimately bound to her, it was that her emotions changed on a moment's notice if she wasn't focused. There was a deep well of hurt buried inside of her somewhere that she never shared with another soul, and it burned her. It drove her and pushed her along this haphazard course in life. It was what made her so reckless and insane. One of these days, she might deign to share her secret with him, but until that day came he was content to let her be. If she'd made peace enough with it that she could live daily life, then it might be better if that deep hurt never came out. All he knew now was that she was thinking on it, and it was feeding her emotions.
"And why is that?" She was lighting up one of her black cigarettes now, and fixing him with a gaze that unnerved him. It was the "I'm reserving judgment" look. Usually preceded the "I'm shooting you" look.
"Look, I'm just going to lay it all out for you, and you can make of it what you will. Anderson told me what the information was that the Council wanted you to trade to the Shadow Broker. It's bad. It could drive a giant wedge between the Alliance and the Hierarchy. I destroyed the copy that he gave me, but apparently this information is already loose out there. We need to find the source and get rid of it before it gets out at large."
Her eyebrow went up.
"If you destroyed the information, we don't have a bargaining chip to play against the Shadow Broker."
"We do. I didn't tell you this because I wanted you to be impressed, but the Shadow Broker paid for the time at the hotel. And I still owe him for the information on Zael. I told him I'd give him Zael if he'd tell me where you were, but she was dead. I offered money, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet."
Ezmay's head dropped to her hands, the cigarette singing a strand of hair. He watched her brush her hair out of her eyes. Even from where he was sitting, he could tell she was gritting her teeth.
"The Shadow Broker paid for our honeymoon? When were you going to tell me?"
"He said it was no strings attached. Didn't think it would ever matter."
Ezmay sighed, closing her eyes and straightening back up. When she opened up her eyes again, she focused on him. Silence stretched out, for a good minute or more, before she spoke.
"Okay….first of all, don't hide things like that from me. It's the Shadow Broker. He doesn't give gifts."
"I realize this. It was a poor decision."
"I'm disappointed. You don't usually make poor decisions."
Garrus didn't like how her mouth turned down, or the set of her jaw.
"Now, two things come to mind here. On one hand, I'm tempted to make you sleep on the couch for a few days for overstepping your authority. On the other, it's hard to be mad at you for good intentions. Plus, this is fortuitous enough that it gives me a chance to get my foot in the door."
"You are going to do this, aren't you?" He was surprised, in spite of himself. "You never stopped planning to do the infiltration."
"I never back down from a mission, Garrus. I might cut corners a bit, but I get the job done."
It was last bit of pride that she had, the last tie that she had to her military roots. Ezmay ground out the cigarette into a metal ashtray, and sidled closer to the bed.
"So, what, pray tell, was the information that the Council wanted us to give out?"
"There was a science facility on Earth. A few turians crashed there several hundred years ago. The dataset said that the human scientists used them for weapons experimentation. Some kind of quest to make a super-soldier, hybrid breeding."
That didn't blow Ezmay away. Every government from the beginning of time had been dirty in some way. And trying to make a super-soldier sounded just about right. Her morbid interest almost overwhelmed the fury she was fighting. Actually, fury wasn't quite right. She was more shocked about how awe-inspiringly stupid Garrus had acted. What was wrong with him? Didn't he understand that every gift, especially ones that supposedly didn't come with strings, was suspect?
"I don't want to be surprised with info like this anymore." She said.
"Ezmay, I swear it wasn't my intention to keep things from you."
"Just promise me you won't let this happen again." Garrus didn't miss the deep breath that she drew in, the stilling of hands trembling with irritation.
"You're letting me off pretty easy." His mandibles registered a bit of surprise. She didn't appear to be angry, not with the seductive way she was crawling towards him over the sheets. He was expecting less seduction and more yelling. Possibly bullets. Definitely sleeping in his old digs in the battery.
"Don't abuse that privilege." Her voice seemed calmer as she spoke. His talons had gone to the sash of her robe, but she swatted him away. Seriousness carried over through her tone. "You're my second in command, but you're also my mate. I can allow you a little more leeway than the rest of the crew, but don't get carried away with it. This all works so well because there's a chain of command. Understand that if we'd been in this situation few years ago, we would be having a very different conversation."
"I realize that."
"Good. Now you can apologize to me properly. Then we get started on strategy."
It was then that Garrus realized just how far gone Ezmay was for him. It's hard to stay mad at someone you love. He hooked his talons once more in the sash at her waist and tugged. This time she let him.
"I am sorry.." He shifted up to his knees, still drawing on the silk tie. "…that I was monumentally stupid."
"First of all, I figure if we come begging for a job, then he's going to know that something's up." Garrus's voice was scratchy. He'd spent entirely too much time in the past couple hours talking. Mostly apologizing to Ezmay for his massive fuck-up, and partly roaring with delight as she forgave him. He hated the way it cracked. Some water would have been downright refreshing right about now.
"Excuse me…why are we hearing this from you and not from Shepard?" Miranda's clipped tones interrupted him. He was about to offer a rebuttal when Ezmay spoke up.
"I don't have to hold your hand through everything, Miranda."
The brunette was pissed, Garrus could tell, but he didn't say anything about it. It was annoying, to say the least, the territoriality that the loyalist was still displaying to the position of second-in-command. You'd think, eventually, she'd get over it.
"Like I said, if we pop in looking for a job, he'll get suspicious. Instead we'll negotiate. No one in this room needs to help with that. That's on me and the Commander. However, if we do end up working for the Shadow Broker, we might get called on to do jobs of a questionable nature. The purpose of this meeting is to give everyone the opportunity to opt out right now."
Ezmay cut in, her arms folding. If anyone noticed the new shipsuit she was sporting, they didn't say anything. The black and white formal Cerberus uniform had been replaced with a black and khaki civilian outfit meant for commercial liners and freighters. Garrus had taken to wearing something similar.
"You'll notice the dress code has changed. You're free to wear whatever you want, same as the rest of the crew. We'll still run this ship under military discipline, but technically, we are not Cerberus and we are not a Spectre's ship. We're mercenaries now. The more we act like it, the more likely the Shadow Broker is to believe us when we turn in our application for employment."
The crew, the main team shifted uneasily, turning to direct glances at one another. Samara spoke up.
"Shepard, I'm most distressed at this turn of events. I would like to assist you, but I cannot be a party to any unjust act."
"I understand that, Samara. Nor would I ask you to be a party to anything that goes against your conscience. Our next docking will be at Omega, and from there we're heading to Elysium. I mean what I say. If anyone wants out of this, I want to know."
Garrus looked around as Ezmay spoke. Samara would, of course, have to leave. Thane was sagging against the conference table; he didn't doubt the drell would sit out the activities, but he probably wasn't going to leave the ship. Tali wasn't going anywhere. She was Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. This was her home. Grunt, Mordin, Zaeed…well..he just didn't know.
"No one else?" Ezmay asked. Heads were shook as she looked from one to the other.
"Right, then. If anyone decides they want out at any time between here and Elysium, just say so. No hard feelings." Ezmay nodded. "Dismissed."
As the crew filtered out, Garrus wound over to where Ezmay stood tinkering with the controls on the comm system. Miranda, they both noticed, stood there staring.
"What?" Ezmay snapped.
"This is highly unorthodox. You have my loyalty, but I don't know if I can work for the Shadow Broker."
"You don't have to." Garrus said to her. Miranda put up one black-clad hand.
"I'm talking to the Commander now."
"Miranda, you don't have to work for the Shadow Broker. Did you not just listen to a word I said?" Ezmay leaned against the console and leveled a gaze at the loyalist over EDI's glowing sphere.
"I know what you said. However, this ship still belongs to the Illusive Man. You can't just commandeer the Normandy..." Miranda was folding her arms over her ample chest.
"As a matter of fact, I can, and I'm going to. He's still analyzing the Collector base. I expect to hear from him when he's done. My first priority is the Reapers. Always. But until then, I do have other obligations."
"Yes, I understand. I still must protest..."
"That's not what this is about, and we both know it." Now Ezmay stood, folding her own arms. No time like the present to get this out in the open. Garrus knew what was coming too. He stood at Ezmay's side, where his proper place was. They were going to butt heads again, he could tell. Miranda's gesture of giving him the ship during Ezmay's time in Zael's base had been exactly that- a gesture.
"What are you getting at?" Miranda asked. As if she didn't already know.
"You know perfectly well what I'm getting at. You've never gotten over the fact that I chose Garrus for my XO instead of you. Let's get this all on the table."
"Commander, I never…"
"Save it. That is what this is about. Isn't it?"
The loyalist looked away, abashed, and angry that Ezmay had called her out.
"Isn't it?" Ezmay prodded her.
"Commander, I understand that you're attached to Officer Vakarian..."
"I'd say attached is an understatement." Garrus said from where he leaned against the console.
"It's natural to want to give your partner a certain degree of power..."
"You don't understand, Miranda. Garrus is my second because I know him, I trust him, and I know I can count on him to lead where I can't. I'm sorry, but you do not command the level of loyalty and respect that he does among the crew."
"I disagree, Commander." Miranda's face was twisting in anger now.
"I don't. You can't work with everyone on this ship. Jack comes to mind right away."
"She's a lunatic! No one can work with her."
"That's simply not true. I realize it's not uncommon to have disputes and squabbles among ranked officers and subordinates, but the fact of the matter is that this ship functions better with Garrus as the XO. Or at least it would if you'd fall in line and accept it, rather than trying to usurp rank." Ezmay said.
"You just said this isn't a military ship anymore."
"No, I said this isn't a Spectre ship anymore. I run my ship military, as you well know. I don't know if this is just a pride thing for you, or it's because Garrus is a turian, but I'm telling you now. Deal with it, or we'll give you a ride to the Illusive Man's HQ so you can find another assignment."
"Shepard!" The loyalist looked shocked at the ultimatum. Surely Shepard wasn't serious…
"No. Make up your mind. Right now."
Miranda stood staring at Ezmay, aghast that she was actually being forced to decide. Perhaps the slim little biotic had thought that Ezmay would acquiesce and put her back in Garrus's spot. Perhaps she thought any other number of things would happen. Ezmay could tell that she didn't expect to be told to choose.
"I'll stay."
"This is the last we're going to hear about this?" Now Ezmay was leaning back down, looking at Miranda from under raised eyebrows.
"Yes."
"And you're going to obey Garrus's orders, without question?"
Now she just looked defeated. Her shoulders slumped and she looked away.
"Yes."
"Good. Now go look over the ship preparations. I need someone I can trust to look over the crew now while I'm negotiating with the Shadow Broker, and that's you."
"Yes, Commander."
Miranda moved out of the comm room with a level of humility that Ezmay and Garrus had never seen in her before. For a moment, Garrus nearly felt sorry for her. He'd never been on the business end of a Shepard-brand dressing down and he certainly didn't plan to.
"Think it's going to come back up?" She asked him, once more fiddling with the control panel.
"Maybe. Miranda's pretty Godamn stubborn."
"Tell me about it." She finished the code, and hit the confirm button. "Okay, it's your part of the show. Show me that badass, confident turian side of you."
With that, she moved to where she was standing just on the edge of the field of view. The Shadow Broker's agent would be able to see her, but the point of the conversation was for Garrus to accept, grudgingly, working off the debt and for her to seem reluctant. Their bank accounts weren't in fantastic condition and the Shadow Broker would know that. The goal was to seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.
"Officer Vakarian! So good to speak to you again!"
Garrus cleared his throat.
"Yes, well..I wish I could say that I returned the sentiment."
"Come now, Garrus. May I call you Garrus?" The agent had a smarmy look on his face that Garrus wanted to smack off of his cheeks.
"You may not. This isn't a social call. I'm wondering what response the Shadow Broker had about the debt owed?"
"Yes, well…he hasn't quite decided yet. If you'll hold on a second, I'll patch you through to him and you can ask him directly?"
"Fine." Garrus hoped he was putting on good enough a show. He certainly felt as surly as he sounded. The agent faded from view, and a holographic eagle appeared on the screen.
"Interesting…" Ezmay murmured behind him.
"Officer Vakarian…" The same filtered, masked voice that Garrus had heard before echoed around the comm room. It reminded him of EDI's voice. "How was the honeymoon?"
Off to the side, Ezmay folded her arms and looked away as if disgusted.
"It was very nice, thank you."
"I see Madam Vakarian is irritated. Did the time at Travertine not agree with you?"
"I'm a bit angry that you dangle that gift before Garrus. How could he resist something like that?" Ezmay didn't move, but looked to the hologram.
"It was a gift. However, I see that we still haven't settled with Officer Vakarian for the information provided. I understand you'd rather reconcile with credits?"
"Yes." Now came the penultimate point. Garrus shifted his weight.
"Well, for the particular pieces of information we traded to you, I can accept 400,000 credits as adequate payment."
Even if he and Ezmay combined every credit they had in their accounts, it still wouldn't be enough. He felt Ezmay's hand on his shoulder, and she leaned close, whispering in his ear.
"That's lucky. We can't pay him."
"Surely we can negotiate on that price." Garrus addressed the hologram. Even the sum he was about to suggest was still out of their price range, but he just knew the Shadow Broker wasn't going to accept it. "I can offer you 250,000 credits."
"Now, Officer Vakarian, remember this information helped you to save the life of your mate. Lovely tattoo, by the way, Commander."
"Thanks." She growled.
"We don't have 400,000 credits." His claws tapped on the conference table. Better if the Shadow Broker could see it and interpret it as nervousness manifesting.
"Oh, my. Well, that is a shame. See, that was very valuable information." Ezmay and Garrus could feel the strings of the 'trap' closing around them. It was just what they'd hoped. "Well, if you would reconsider the offer of simply doing me a favour…?"
"Pardon me, but I'm not too keen on the idea of working for you." Garrus said.
"Then we find ourselves at an impasse, do we not? I don't give out information, despite however much I may admire yourself and Commander Vakarian." Ezmay blinked at the use of her married name. "Really, it's not as bad as you may think, working for me. I'm not a complete slavedriver."
The filtered voice sounded complacent, amused now. Garrus could sense that Ezmay was tense. The twist of anxious energy was apparent in her face. They exchanged a look, drawing it out for the sake of appearance.
"From what I understand, you're not much in a place to argue right now, are you? Of course, you can go freelance…try to rack up enough credits from mercenary work and pay off your debt in installments. I do charge interest, you should know."
Ezmay exaggerated her look of consternation.
"Must be quite frustrating…being the first human Spectre and having that honour stripped right away..." The Shadow Broker was purring.
"What kind of favour?" Ezmay demanded.
"That remains to be seen. I certainly wouldn't give you any assignment that is beyond your considerable abilities. Perhaps later on, we can discuss a more long-term form of employment. If I understand correctly, you're bleeding credits. Your combined balances might be enough to get you to Elysium."
The paranoia level in the comm room ratcheted up about 50 notches on their traditional 1-10 scale. The plates on the back of Garrus's neck suddenly felt hot, and he could see hair standing up on Ezmay's nape.
"Elysium?" Ezmay's voice faltered now. How the bloody hell did this bastard know where they were heading? They'd only just decided last night. Was someone on the ship dirty? Had someone contacted him as soon as their crew meeting was over?
"Of course. It's where your family home is, isn't it, Commander Vakarian? After such a mortifying moment, and with such heat on your trail, you'll want to take a bit of a vacation, I imagine."
Garrus's heartbeat began to slow to something near a normal pace. So he didn't know…he didn't know what they were planning, that this was all a ruse. The crew wasn't dirty.
"How did you know…?"
"Where your family home is? Any child with an extranet link can find that out, Commander. Your personal information is surprisingly accessible."
"Fine. We'll do it." Garrus cut in.
"Garrus!"
"We don't have much choice, Ezmay. We're nearly broke, and I don't like having a debt hanging over my head."
She let loose a disgusted sigh, slinking away out of view of the hologram. Garrus waited a few short moments, as if Ezmay had left, before he spoke again.
"I apologize." He said to the Shadow Broker.
"It's quite all right. I think you'll find that working for me is quite pleasant. Mind you, we'll have to discuss and renegotiate terms, if this favour is performed satisfactorily and you find yourself seeking more permanent employment."
"I'm not sure about that yet." He told the hologram. "We could make quite a good living as mercenaries."
"I'm sure you could." The electronic voice just barely held back the patronizing tone. Barely. "I can, however, offer you and the Commander a standard of living you've not had before. Well…perhaps not yourself."
"What does that mean?" Garrus was confused. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ezmay's brown skin go red.
"When your mate is sufficiently calmed, perhaps you should ask her about her family's not-inconsiderable investments in land and livestock. You see, this is why I'm confused about your so-called inability to pay. Given the Shepard family's stock portfolio, I would have expected that 400,000 credits was a drop in the bucket. Perhaps there are circumstances that I am unaware of." The Shadow Broker sounded amused. "It has been known to happen."
That floored him. It was the first he'd heard anything about Ezmay's family; she simply didn't talk about anyone other than her mother. The elder Shepard was in command of the Orizaba.
"I'll talk to her." Garrus said haltingly. Oh, he certainly would.
"Excellent! Let me just sift through what assignments I need done and I'll contact you in a couple of days. I look forward to speaking with you again, Officer Vakarian."
With that, the hologram went dark, disappeared into nothingness. The display on the conference table confirmed the connection had been cut. Garrus looked up at Ezmay. The blush was still hot in her cheeks. She was feeling sheepish and embarrassed; the emotions were twisting in his own gut.
"Investments?" He asked her.
"They're tied up on my father's side of the family. I can't access the funds until I produce children." A rueful grin crossed her face and died. "Father didn't have to join the military. He did it because he wanted a life in space, rather than in an office. My grandparents are silent partners in commercial shipping."
"Which shipper?"
"They used to work with Merida Industries before they went broke. After that, they took a contract with a Chinese affiliate." Ezmay looked up at Garrus, who was no longer feeling quite so irate. "My family's rich, I just can't access any of it. I'm the poor relation. The child of the child who refused to continue the shipping dynasty. If I ever choose to come back to the fold and give them great-grandchildren, I can live like a queen. A bored queen who'll probably be dead at the hands of the Reapers, but a queen nonetheless."
"I don't really see us having children." He told her. No joke. Modern technology was not up to bypassing the barriers upheld by incompatible DNA.
"I don't either."
Garrus moved around the conference table, to where Ezmay was staring at her hands. She was still ashamed, looked up in surprise when he laced his talons through her fingers.
"I'm not mad." He said.
"I'm glad for that. Not anything I could do about it." She smirked. "At least you'll get to see what the family home looks like."
"Is…your family going to be there?"
"No. My grandparents are usually on Earth this time of year."
Ezmay gave a short laugh when she felt the relief flood through him.
"Don't worry. They can't get anymore scandalized than they already are."
Garrus changed the subject, wanted to shift the topic away from those sudden nervous feelings he'd got about meeting her family. Christ…her meeting his father was going to be enough of a trial if they ever actually got around to stopping by Palaven.
"Looks like our plan worked." He said.
"So it did." Ezmay's head bobbed. She tugged at him, towards the door. "Come on. I can't think on an empty stomach. We've got a lot more planning to do."
"Right behind you." She had a point. His belly had started rumbling during the conversation with the Shadow Broker, and damned if it wasn't embarrassing as all hell.