Chapter 2: Discovery

Garrus stayed silent the entire journey to the War room, He didn't know what to think, how to feel. His mind was a confused mess, but ultimately Shepard was safe and alive, and all that mattered to him was getting to her and making sure she was OK. Tali wasn't comfortable, she had already discussed with Shepard how quiet made her nervous and on edge and now was one of those times. How could Garrus be quiet in an elevator? She looked over to him, his mind was clearly elsewhere and she wished she could have read his mind actually, maybe not… could be rude things in his head, ew she stifled a laugh then looked in his direction

"Thought you missed elevator chats?" she joked

"Huh" his mandibles flared slightly showing an obvious smarmy grin "I do…I Just don't have anything to ask at this particular moment in time"

"Anything on your mind bothering you?" Tali asked - Why the hell did I say that?

"Err"

Oh god he is thinking rude stuff isn't he?!

"Well, I'm just." His head cocked to the side, trying to think of how to word himself "I'm so confused, I just feel like I'm in one bad messed up dream and I haven't woke up yet"

"Hmm, yeah it is like that" she concurred.

The doors blipped open, Garrus gestured Tali to leave first and followed. Walking towards the War room Campbell and Westmoreland nodded to greet the two

"EDI's with liara and Traynor, she still doesn't seem to be responding" Westmoreland commented her thumb pointing towards the war room and shrugging

"Thanks" Tali replied, Garrus kept schtum.

Traynor had her head in her hands and looked at Garrus and Tali as they entered the room

"EDI – sigh- the mobile unit is still not responding" Traynor added "To be frank I think the main issue needs to be addressed in the AI core rather than her body as it were"

"I agree" Tali replied "I intended to start up there first and work my way through, I could use a hand though" She looked towards Traynor and Liara "and being as you seemed to work with EDI the closest…" Tali drifted off watching Traynor's eyes rolled

"You want me to assist because I found her voice attractive?"

"WHAT?! No!" Tali spat out "You seemed to work closely with her when rebuilding the ship in and out! Liara was on Illium when EDI was implemented and Garrus" she looked in his direction "Only seemed interested in the big boys toys" she faux coughed "Guns"

"Hey!" Garrus quipped

"It's only true" Tali sarcastically snapped

"Right right, you've made your case, let's go" Traynor shrugged, grabbing a tool belt and followed Tali out of the room.

Garrus looked at Liara who was examining a terminal close the VidCom

"So… Feron huh?" he began

"Yes, Garrus" Liara said in her usual husky toned way "He informed me Shepard had been found, only thing is the message dates from 2 earth days ago"

"Two days have passed since? Already?" Garrus seemed shocked

"I know, I just hope all is still well." Her head poked underneath the terminal "Ok this looks set to go, it's very, very sluggish and we may lose connections until EDI comes back on, but I think I've got it"

"Got what?" Garrus asked, Liara seemed to have forgotten Garrus had not long arrived.

"Oh sorry, the VidCom. At the end of Feron's message he asked I try get in contact straight away only most terminals and Omnitools have suffered some glitches so to speak, we've had to"- she used her index and middle fingers on both hands signalling inverted commas –"tinker' with the equipment manually"

"I see" Garrus nodded "So can we contact Feron now?"

"I can but try, the connection may be poor and I have to connect from my omnitool to get his receiving address as we have no clue where we are, so this could totally flop, but as Shepard would say 'Fingers crossed' this will work"

"Maybe I could run a tracer program, see if it sends the co-ordinates from both planets in midst conversation, it could tell us where we are?"

"Hmm it sounds good Garrus, but how's your omnitool holding up?" her fingers came to her chin and lower lip, inquisitive and full of thoughts.

"It seems OK, it keeps randomly playing music every so often but other than that I've had no issues" He tapped away at his screen "I can also scan the planet's surface, etcetera see if any records show up, I've been everywhere with Shepard and took samples from most"

"Now that's a fantastic idea, coupled with the tracer that could get us somewhere" Liara nodded. "Now we just hope Feron picks up and our connection holds." Liara mused at the terminal, then walked into the VidCom room. The blue holographic hum was still present and that was something at least, She activated her omnitool and accessed her emails again, she found Feron's reply address and added it to the VidCom list and tapped a few buttons to send a hail, she looked towards Garrus and nodded her head to which Garrus started his tracking program, it seemed slower than usual, but numbers were still popping up, trying to locate earth's co-ordinates from their destination.

The numbers began to slow eventually to a halt to which Garrus saved the co-ordinates and screen captured them on his omnitool in the hopes two copied would be better than one Nice thinking he thought to himself, not exactly realising that if his omnitool should die, both pieces of data would be lost. The sudden thought of it made him email a copy to Liara and Joker and he nodded to himself, Ok that should do the job he eventually settled. He looked up at Liara, watching her body hunched slightly over the metal bar anticipating the image of Feron to flicker before her, each minute becoming what felt like 10 more.

They heard crackles. A bit of fuzz showed, then the faint blurry jittering image of a Drell finally appeared.

"Liara? Liara?! Is that you?"

"Feron! It's me!" Liara shouted back, Garrus could sense the relief in her voice, it sounded so much more than friendship on her part, and to be honest it did on Feron's side too, but he recalled Shepard telling him 'nothing was going on' Liara didn't want to 'take advantage of Feron in the state he was in' which was understandable given the situation, although Garrus thought maybe their pairing could have helped them both rather than dance around each other.

"Liara" Feron's vocals became soft, they were joyful, relived a mixture of everything Garrus could imagine his own sounding like when he could get to Shepard, hearing him speak to Liara this way made him miss Shepard so much – he hadn't been one to show much emotion other than anger fuelled by revenge, but this was real – he felt his heart thud in his chest I'm getting too mushy in my old age…Oh shut up his mind argued. He half laughed to himself and tried to not listen too much to the emotional reunion going on in front and slowly edged outwards to the war room.

"I've been so worried about you, but I knew you'd come through. What the hell has happened?"

"I was hoping you could tell me Feron, we've crash landed somewhere, our ships AI has gone down, Glyphs gone-"

"Oh wow I didn't think anything could shut that thing up." Feron sarcastically dug

"Feron!" Liara snapped, she had grown very much attached to her 'pet'

"Sorry sorry!" Feron replied putting both hands up in front of him "but you know how I was with him"

"Well anyway most electronics have been playing up here, nothing we can't fix, but it's confused us to no end" Liara shrugged and folded her arms

"Yea, it seems the same here to be honest, I put it down to the state London is in though. It's just rubble. Although I gotta hand it to the humans, they're already working away trying to make good of what they can"

"Heh sounds a little like Shepard" Liara half smiled, Garrus' ears pricked up from the outside and he stood by the entryway to earwig "Have you any news on her?" Liara questioned.

"I've been to see Admiral Hackett. I made him aware on our relationship as it were"

"Relationship?" Liara frowned

"Yeah, as in how I'm linked to you and know Shepard and how I've tried contacting you. It seems despite everything being up in the air, a lot of stuff is still classified information. Well anyway she was rescued two days ago though she's in a real bad state"

"How bad Feron? Are we talking just bruises and cuts? Wouldn't her cybernetics kick in?" Liara swung her body slightly to the side questionably

"Well bruises and cuts yes, one broken leg, a broken arm a few cracked ribs and no, her cybernetics aren't fully working, her body is having to heal slowly and naturally. I would assume from what I'm told anyway. The doctors said her arm one was awkward so they had to somehow-"he cut off and shuddered "Brake her arm again and reset it, Humans eh?"

"Goddess…" Liara looked saddened. Garrus hung his head down upset knowing Amy was in a bad way, hands wringing with worry, anger and his mandibles twitching. Nobody better hurt you, is all I'm saying his mind repeated his words, he tempted to punch something but refrained from doing so. Feron nodded,

"She seems to be in a comatose state too, I hope for the best but it seems touch and go" he shuffled somewhat "I hope Admiral Hackett can keep me in the loop"

"Me too" Liara agreed "And what about Admiral Anderson? Has he been found?" her face searched the holographic state of Feron for answers anxiously

"No, not yet I'm afraid" he replied solemnly "We hope to though. Kahlee is here helping, I can't help but feel pain for her, not knowing where her cherished one is, no sense of knowing" Shaking his head he placed a hand towards his forehead "To which I would like to ask you so-"

"Are all your computers messing up?" Liara batted, eager to avoid the next sentence about to emerge from Feron's lips.

"Err, I thought we already addressed that…but most things are working, just not fully. Oh and most mass relays have been damaged too…"

"What?!" Liara looked slightly horrified "Fixable? Can we use resources?"
"Already on that Liara" Feron replied nodding eyes gently closing "But with so few 'Contacts' being here on earth, it's going to take a while"

"Hmm yes" Liara mused "We need to find out where we are, it seems we were transferred to another planet, and I assume system" she shook her head raising her hands "But Garrus is doing his best to pinpoint our location"

"Ah Garrus, I remember him well, how is he?" Feron asked genuinely for Garrus was part of the team that helped take down the Shadow Broker

"He's…well, he took a bad hit down on Earth - but this is the guy who took a rocket to the face" One eyebrow arched on Liara's face, causing Feron to chuckle

"Tough nut huh?" he replied

Garrus didn't know whether to butt in, but feeling it may change the dynamic of the conversation he left them to it, he'd gotten around most terminals in the war room in the meantime and they seemed to be working well.

"Yes, he is." Liara added humbly "Well I guess I should let you go, and we'll be in contact very soon. Would you mind keeping up to date with some broker issues for me as comm signals and transmissions are low" Feron nodded continually "And tell Hackett the Normandy crew are intact trying to get back to Earth as soon as possible" He nodded more

"Liara…" his voice serious, but soft, endearing

"Yes Feron?" her voice matched, slightly sensuous, husky in her usual way.

Feron buckled, he'd wanted to talk…TALK to Liara, but this was not the place to do it

"Be careful" he finally said after a brief moments pause

"I will. You too" she replied, slowly blinking, smiling somewhat

[TRANSMISSION ENDED]

Liara left the room and walked down the stairs to Garrus

"Y'know" Garrus drawled as he tinkered on the last terminal "If I didn't know any better… id say Feron wanted to say more than that. I mean not that I was intruding or being nosey or whatever, it just sound-"

"I know." Liara replied softly

"You know? Well why don't you say something?" Garrus asked bemused, slightly annoyed, if there was one thing Turian's didn't like it was being messed around or being dishonest, it wasn't much in their nature.

"It's…Complicated. Well it isn't, I like Feron. I really do. But there's too much on his mind and –"

"You'd feel like you'd be taking advantage… hmm you said that before Liara and well a lot of time has passed since then. Talk to him" His eyes pierced at her pressing for a confirmation that she would set him straight no matter what.

"Fine fine! Can we you know, leave this conversation right now?" Liara joined in rebooting the terminals. Garrus grunted and got his head down to work.

"Y'know it's awfully messy here, where's all the cable ties gone?!' Traynor shouted down the maintenance shaft Tali was stuck in

"Messy! You complain about messy yet I'm the one stuck down here! I always draw the short straw I was practically set on fire the last time I was in something like this!" Tali snapped

"Well, you have a good suit covering, and your tech expertise is better than mine…And I don't think you'll randomly ignite down there either." Traynor coughed trying not to laugh and composed herself as she sorted through the cables

Tali shook her head and continued to try get EDI back online this is ridiculous she thought to herself, sorting out blocks of different shapes Stupid bosh'tet puzzles, just like that stupid bosh'tet Mira "AHH!" she screamed with annoyance

"Erm, are you OK down there Tali?" Traynor asked, her eyes wandering around listening for the sound of muttering

"Yes!" Tali sharply replied "Just thinking of how much these things annoy me. At least last time Shepard could sort the memory core out"

"Memory…core?" Traynor asked

"Yes on Noveria we came across some VI named Mira and to get her running again we had to sort – these –"Her voice sounded like she was tugging on something "Bosh'tet – Stupid – blocks, hngh whew. Stupid puzzley things ACK!"

"Riiight" Traynor still had no clue as to what she meant

"But that was before your time anyway…" Tali innocently spat out without thinking.

"Oh ok. Nice way to make me feel awkward, thanks Tali" Tali was not one to mince her words under fire and for the fact she was agitated Traynor got a reply of

"You're welcome" instead of sorry, Traynor couldn't help but smirk because she knew she wasn't being intentionally 'mean'.

A whirring noise began and a blue hum took over the AI core

"YES!" echoed from the maintenance shaft

"Enhanced Defence Intelligence System Online… Recycling Oxygen…Starting up systems…Scanning for viruses… Collating map information…Online"

Traynor's eyebrow arched

"That isn't EDI… is it?" she asked, Tali's head popped up as she climbed out of the shaft, slightly covered in dust

"Well, it's her voice certainly, you should know that better than anyone…" Tali sarcastically replied

"Oh shut up, what I mean is, it isn't 'EDI' as we know her, this is a VI speaking."

"Maybe she's corrupt somewhere, did you find anything amongst the mainframe?"

"Not really, she has some backup but as you say, some of it seems corrupt"

"Hmm" Tali thought for a moment, then her comm chirped up

"Tali, we have movement in EDIs body" Garrus spoke

"Is she back to normal?" She asked examining the terminal, shoving in a data disc to make a copy just in case

"No" came the reply "She just stated 'this unit will be here if in need of ground support' and shut down"

"Hmm OK" Tali mused "EDI, are you alright?" She spoke towards to blue almost pawn like shape by the door of the AI core

"System is operating as normal, please create a profile"

"Well. It's a start" Traynor added hands slightly raised

"I don't know" Tali extended the last letters slightly longer than normal "It seems she's become a VI rather than AI, capable of operating the Normandy, answering questions etcetera, but-" she leant to the side arms folding "Whatever that pulse was, its messed her up entirely and we need to try fix her. If she can get us to Earth or preferably the Citadel then we can try make repairs, but she will have to do as she is for now" her hand raised to her comm "Garrus would you mind moving EDI's body unit to the cockpit with Joker, I think I need to go inform him of what state she's in, but having her around may prove a comfort to him"

"Right." Garrus ended the communication, He lifted EDI's body with what seemed like ease to Liara, but he exhaled greatly after a second or two "She's a lot heavier than Shepard" he heaved.

"Of course she is, Shepard isn't made of pure metal" Liara added sarcastically

"Well, she part is" Garrus quipped and made way to the cockpit with her body. As they got up there Tali was already discussing with Joker what the situation was, he nodded along, head looking towards the ground you could see he was heartbroken. Garrus placed her body slowly into the co-pilot chair, her usual spot and looked at Joker

"You OK Joker?" Garrus asked supportively

"Yeah, I guess. Somehow I knew it was too good to be true, I'd get fucked over some way or another, that's just life Y'know?"

"It won't be, we can make this right" Liara added placing her hand on his shoulder

"Yeah well, we'll see… Any news on what's next then being as main power is up?" Joker asked, quickly changing the subject, he hated heart to hearts, and right now he felt like he was on a seriously awful talk show. He didn't need that crap.

"Well, Garrus got a good trace whilst I was talking to Feron. But we'd like to study some cultures outside, see if they match any data we already have, just to be safe" Liara answered.

"Well no time like the present huh?" Joker added "Maybe you should just go and check"

"I like your thinking Joker" Garrus added with a nod and he made way for the airlock. Liara looked towards Garrus and skipped a step forward breaking into some meek jog to catch up with him

"I'll come with you" she added

"Me three" Tali piped as she got her omnitool ready. The three of them stood at the door waiting to leave

"Well we've already established it's a habitable surface, although it is pretty humid" Liara confirmed as they left the doors

"I feel like I've been here before, with Shepard…" Garrus added looking around "I'm pretty sure I've driven the Mako around here" he shook his head with confusion, he could easily be wrong, but his photographic memory told him otherwise.

"Yeah, it does look oddly familiar" Tali added "Nothing major happened here though… I think" she drawled slightly trying to recall the place in her mind.

Garrus knelt down and took samples of the dirt. Liara brought some leaves to add and Tali was examining a rock she stood on scanning with her omnitool, it started going through planets for matches

"Anything yet Garrus?" she shouted over.

"Nearly!" Garrus answered he scanned the leaf to give him a better chance narrowing it down. Come on, come on he thought seeing the names skipping away… "Got it!" Garrus finally shouted, his voice tinged with excitement at the prospect of getting closer to seeing Shepard

"OK well I seem to have got a match too, what did your omnitool find?" Tali asked as if it were a game of 'snap!'

"Well my tracer narrowed us down to the Skyllian Verge, but not which system, cluster and no planet for sure. So if my omnitool is right - and I hope it is, along with my memory of this place, we should be in the Armstrong Nebula. On-"

"Casbin" They both said at the same time, Tali whooped and jumped around a little seemingly overexcited, but after two days of not knowing anything this was big news.

"Well done team" Liara added "There's just no beating this crew for teamwork, now we need to get to Joker, set co-ordinates and get a move on."

"Yeah" Garrus agreed "But how long is this going to take?"

"That, I don't think we'll know until we come across it" Liara added as she walked back inside with the other two "we are pretty much on the outskirts but that pulse could have hit everyone, we just have no idea" she shrugged walking back towards the cockpit. Joker swivelled around in his chair.

"Any progress?" he asked hopeful

"Yes actually, Very" Liara added smiling "We know our location"

"Right on! That was quick - Hit me!" Joker added excitedly "I mean not literally or you'll smash my body to pieces, well I mean my bones, oh whatever it's just a phrase, tell me god damn it!" Garrus' mandibles clicked as a slight laugh left his mouth before answering him and putting him out of his misery.

"Casbin, Hong system, Armstrong Nebula" his confidence in his answering ever present, you could never knock that from Garrus, Ever.

"Holy crap, nice one. Err wasn't this one of the planets full of Geth back in the day though?" Joker added

"Well yeah. That's why I have the samples saved to my omnitool" Garrus tapped his omnitool to bring the display up of saved information "Admiral Hackett sent us here and a few other places to, well" he chuckled in a smarmy fashion "Clean up the place."

"I wouldn't put it like that" Tali answered back folding arms, weight placed over one hip

"Well it essentially was that wasn't it?" Garrus replied, his eyes half closed slightly biting back at Tali, she dared do down a mission that was still a toughie no matter how small it was.

"Well anyway! That means we can get our asses outta here!" Joker added nodding his head "I can plan a path trajectory through the system and BOOYAH! Kiss this sorry ass system goodbye"

"Let do this then" Liara added "- the only issue is Feron mentioned the Mass relay to Earth got damaged, there's no telling if the other relays are just as bad"

"Ah. Well that's a bit… shitty" Joker squeezed his lips up to the side of his cheek, Garrus watched with fascination it was something Shepard also did whilst concentrating on putting her models together for her cabinet display.

"We can still get there it will just mean it will take longer, and if all are down, much longer" Liara added with some hope it fed morale

"How long though" Garrus asked slightly impatient "We need to get to Shepard"

"As I said Garrus we won't know, I guess we just-"

"Cross our fingers and hope those reaper bastards didn't destroy everything to shit" Joker interrupted Liara. "Right, go tell the rest of the crew, we're getting outta here" His hands slid over the console screens with ease, moving them to positions he was comfortable with seeing and setting everything up, Ready for the Normandy to take flight.

Liara, Tali and Garrus made their way to the elevator

"I'll go speak to the crew mates" Liara piped up

"I'll come with you" Tali nodded "Garrus?"

"Erm, well if you don't mind I just wanna head up to Shepard's cabin" Garrus answered, he looked confused still.

"Yes that's OK" Liara added "Take your time" an affirming arm touched upon his, Garrus always weary on how touchy feely Asari were.

"Thanks" he softly added as Tali and Liara stepped out and he continued up to Shepard's room, he sighed and leant against the metal walls of the lift, the cool exterior providing a nice feeling to the back of his fringe. The doors opened and he entered into Amy's cabin, he fed the fish, something which she forgot to do often and went through marine life like she did knickers. He chuckled to himself as the memories of her telling him how she trashed the sushi bar on the Silversun Strip by falling through the fish tank it seemed it was a huge favourite amongst the crew.

Her private terminal was flashing and her favourite e-reader was placed beside it, its charge nearly dying. He plugged it in and looked at the screen.

Huh 50 shades of grey? What the hell is that? She must be trying to find out what shade I am. He smiled to himself, unbeknownst to him, Shepard had gotten quite the taste for raunchy things since hitting it off with Garrus and she had felt her sexiest in years and their sex life showed that. Not that she needed the book to perk it up, but she felt hotter just by reading it. He looked at her terminal, eyes watching the green light pulse every second Should I? His head tilted somewhat and he found his finger hovering over the button to access her emails. He didn't think she'd take offense, something important might be in there that needed addressing and he knew she'd trust him more than anyone to sort it out but the niggle of privacy and respecting each other's hung over him. No I can't do it – he sighed and fed Boo, Shepard's hamster and walked down the stairs to the bed and sat down staring at the fish. His eyes got distracted to a data pad poking out of her drawer. He frowned and lifted it up, a message still on it as bright as day

RE: Females of Tuchanka, Genophage and Biology.

Shepard,

Thank you for getting in contact with me regards the females on Tuchanka.

I'm so grateful Dr. Solus could do something for them and cure the Genophage.

I thought I'd email you for confirmation on the matter, before I pinch myself.

Sur'kesh must have been quite a journey for them, I'm just glad one managed

To make it out alive. I must make time to go visit them after the war and

Send my apologies and Remembrance to all who gave their lives for finding

The cure, and I know for a fact you will win this, you're Commander Shepard!

You can pop to see me anytime. As said I will be assisting on Omega.

I quite like it here, it's a cinch compared to Tuchanka, well what isn't really?

I am sorry to hear about Dr. Solus. He was an amazing teacher, his ethics were-

Well his intentions were good given the situations he would face, but what do I know?

He did something I couldn't finish. Anyway, kick butt and swing by so we can discuss

Your issue in person.

Regards

Maelon Heplorn

Garrus' brow plate shifted somewhat. The data pad was linked to her emails, but had kept this email open for some reason, he couldn't stop his finger from scrolling the screen upwards to see the original email damn it curiosity had gotten the better of him

TO: Maelon Heplorn

SUBJECT: Females of Tuchanka, Genophage and Biology.

Dear Maelon,

Yes your information is correct the Genophage has been cured, although at a cost.

We lost Dr. Mordin Solus that day, he was a great friend and as you know the

Best scientist we could have ever encountered. We found the females had been

Moved to a base on Sur'kesh. One managed to survive now known as Urdnot Bakara.

News already is that she is pregnant which is fantastic. I just hope we get through this war

To meet the baby/ies!

That brings me to another question. How possible is it for – sorry I have no idea on how

To ask this. Is it possible for two different species (Not including Asari) to have a

Child biologically, say as an example… Human and Turian? As said if we get through

This war I'd like to discuss this with you if possible. Look forward to your reply –

Commander Shepard

SSV Normandy Alliance Navy.

Garrus' eyes widened. He didn't think she would have taken him so seriously when he mentioned having children back on Earth. His body slumped, he felt slightly honoured does she…She wants to bear my children? His face formed a smile as far as his mandibles widened to allow it, only he knew this probably and wouldn't happen. But if anyone could find a way 'how', Maelon would know. Especially now since Mordin had gone. He placed the data pad back in the drawer and lay down onto the bed, arms folding behind his head – mainly to stop his fringe being caught – and folding one leg over the other as he stared at the ceiling. His thoughts purely about Amy. Even if there were some way possible spirits… he thought please let her get through this… he closed his eyes for a brief moment. But the moment soon turned into hours and a very welcome rest he needed right now.