As always, thankyou to everyone that has been reviewing and following my story. I know the chapters aren't very long, but this allows me to update quicker, but I do promise that Chapter 4 will be much longer. Hope you guys like this one.

.vVv.

III. Discovering Murphy's Law

.vVv.

Shepard was in a frenzy. Her ship was on its way to Eden Prime, home to quite a few human colonies as well as a decent amount of pirates and slavers. Routine was hardly the word she would use to describe this mission however, as the entire crew was up in arms regarding the presence of two strangers on board. The first and most suspicious was a Turian spectre. He had apparently joined the crew 5 days prior to Shepard's return from leave, causing her to be on edge upon setting foot back on the Normandy. The other, less unnerving addition to the crew was the famed Captain Anderson, war hero and veteran of the Alliance Navy. While Shepard harbored nothing but respect for the man, it was only natural for her to wonder at what secret the two were keeping from her.

A young Lieutenant interrupted her thoughts by handing her a datapad and signaling her respect through a quick salute. "What's this?"

The red haired soldier leaned in the slightest bit and dropped her voice to just above a whisper with her answer, "I found some more information that you requested, Commander, though it still doesn't explain why the two are here. Apparently there's been some comm chatter on the lesser used sub channels; different parties talking about the need for a Human in the Council, and the nervousness of the entire Citadel on recent Geth attacks."

Shepard wrinkled her nose slightly and furrowed her eyebrows in stern confusion. "Lieutenant, those two points you just mentioned have nothing to do with each other… Care to explain your reasoning as to how they're related?" Her finger flipped impatiently across the datapad screen as another crew member passed her a handful of leaflets on passable grouping variations. She felt a twinge of anger bubble in her temple when another crew member on the other side of the Deck called out her name in reprise, asking for her immeasurable talent with target-sight manipulation.

"Enough!" Bodies froze where their feet landed, and all eyes looked on in silent obedience to their seemingly fuming Commander. "The only sound I want to hear right now is the wonderfully dulling noise of fingers on keyboards. No one says a word until we touch down on Eden's surface-" She was ironically cut-off by Captain Anderson's deafening voice through the ship's loud speaker.

"Shepard, I'd like you to meet me in the Conference room for debriefing in about 5 minutes."

.vVv.

"So… I'm not kicked out?" Garrus Vakarian had been standing at attention in the small, 6' x 6' room, for roughly an hour, waiting for one of his commanding officers to arrive. He was expecting a full reprimand, complete with loud voices, clicking mandibles, and maybe even a few punches - depending on which officer came in. So he could barely hold back his surprise when a female officer entered the small room in civilian clothes, with nothing more than a cap to signify her rank. She stood in front of the offender, scrutinizing his eye movements.

"No. But this is only on one condition. A condition that I'm counting on you to fulfill, as I don't want to find out that my day was wasted coming here instead of spending time with my family…but I digress. Your new mission is to discover what exactly happened on Eden Prime, and who was behind it." The female Turian folded her arms over her chest and waited for his response.

"I…well. This is interesting. Don't you think it would be an easy out? All I would have to do is wait for the Alliance crew to return from Eden Prime and confront them."

"By that time, Vakarian, it will be too late. There are…suspicions. I've been doing a little research by myself, and as far as I can tell, you're the only one willing to chase after any real results. You want answers? You 'll need to find them yourself. Report to the Executor when you do get ahold of something." She patted him on the shoulder and left the room before he could even muster any sort of response. For the second time in just a week, he was left cold and alone; and confused as hell.

As he wandered aimlessly down the halls, he thought to himself of the night when he met the human woman. It was the first time he had even thought about getting close to a human; the worst part was that he liked it. A lot in fact. So much to the point that he couldn't get her out of his mind. Her soft, light colored face materialized in his memories while he remembered with a shiver of the way she touched his torso. He hadn't realized that one could be caressed in so many varieties of patterns. Shaking his head, he sighed and continued toward the elevator.

Setting aside any fantasies that he would want to think about for the moment, Garrus realized that he didn't even know where to start. Up until his briefing with the female officer, he had prepared himself for a massive let down. He was actually expecting to be dismissed from the force, and had done everything he could to ready himself. For the past week, he had thought about all that he had ever accomplished with C-Sec. After crunching the numbers, it all boiled down to a solitary, depressing realization. He hadn't truly helped any mass of people. Sure, he had one or two who would thank him on the street for 'catching that thief' or for 'bringing my brother in law to justice'. The latter of which was a simple matter of determining which member of the family was more greedy than the others.

And whether he would ever admit it out loud or not, the simple jobs that he completed only made him angrier at the military. While he is on the Citadel, trampling down petty theft and fraud, there were battles being fought, colonies being crushed, and secrets being hidden from the public. This job, no matter how puzzling, would be the first thing he could be proud of for solving. He had the resolve and determination, he simply lacked the resources. But not for long. His mandibles twitched slightly as he thought of a certain hunch backed life form. His old hidden source. Garrus had no idea where he could possibly find him, but the options for the wretched being to hide were limited at best. The Turian would start at the lowest of the Wards, and move his way up. If he didn't find the source, then he would still be bound to overhear at least someone having a conversation about something they weren't supposed to.

So he set off. Upon reaching the markets, his sense of smell was immediately overwhelmed by the unmistakable stench of feces. Turning his head to the right and confirming his instinct, he watched in utter horror as two young volar children threw small wads of the disgusting matter at a frail looking Elcor.

Garrus reluctantly took hold of his pistol and pointed it lazily at the kids. "Fun's over, run back home for dinner." They screamed in high pitched, digitized tones and hobbled away. Without saying another word, Garrus grabbed a hanging towel from a line of clothes and tossed it on top the Elcor. He earned a wheezy thank you, and started down the path for the bar.

Where there was alcohol, there was information. He usually just needed to find the drunkest patron. He was rewarded with a sly human face, staring at him with beady eyes over a glass. The human watched him steadily as Garrus made his way to the empty seat next to him.

"You're not exactly who I was expecting to find, Harkin, but you'll have to do." He snapped his fingers for a drink. When Harkin didn't answer, Garrus turned to face him and spoke once more.

"What did you do with Elias?" He watched closely as the human male set down his glass and sighed in defeat.

"If I told you what happened to that mangy old fool, you'd get up and leave without shooting for more intel. Come on, Vakarian. I ain't stupid. Now he's gone, and I'm in his place – the one with all the information you can get. If it's prostitutes you want, I'm not in that business no more." When his drink was filled again to the brim, Harkin paused his soapbox speech for a swig. Garrus cut him off by inquiring about his mission.

"Tell me everything you know about Eden Prime."

"Oh, is that it? You just want all this information about a regular mission gone rogue and secretive? Might as well have asked me for rights to the damn Presidium." The man bitterly chortled at the Turian and had time to take several more sips of his drink before he was questioned again.

"Harkin. I know you have access to information now that the other…informant…is out of the picture. At least give me a head start. You've got to be just as curious about that mission as I am."

Harkin squinted his eyes in thought before pointing a finger at him, and nodding his head in approval. "You know, I actually am pretty interested. But I doubt you'll tell me about it when you do find something good. Tell you what; why don't you look for someone named Dr. Michel. She works in the Med Clinic. Word is, she's been having a bout of…interesting cases, involving a flurry of different organic races appearing badly wounded at her door. Last time I spoke to her, she had a patient with a hankering to meet with the Shadow Broker himself." Harkin lingered on his last sentence as if he had poison dripping from his tongue. But Vakarian had only become annoyed with the human's dramatic tale. He grabbed the collar of Harkin's coat and demanded more.

"Tell me. What. You. Know." Harkin's voice might have been secretive and venomous, but Vakarian's was low and dangerous. His sub vocals curled in the back of his throat as he verbally warned the informant. The human winced and put his hands up in front of him with defeat.

"Look, Vakarian, this is all I know. I spoke to her briefly when I went to pick up some medi gel, okay? I asked how her day was, she said not good, I asked why, and she followed up with what I just told you, in those exact words! I shrugged it off at first, but you seem like you might be able to make sense of her hectic day. Just leave me to tend to my growing drinking problem in peace. Damn, it's guys like you that make me drink in the first place." Vakarian growled and shoved the man away towards the counter. It was annoying enough that Elias was gone, but to have Harkin take his place? And not to mention Harkin seems to have been the reason for Elias's disappearance. Garrus mentally noted that he'll have to interrogate him later for that. For now, he needed to head to Executor Pallin to discuss any more leads on Eden Prime. He was more likely to know anything about it than any other informant he could ever meet with.

.vVv.

Shepard's boots clacked against the hard surface beneath her with an empty reverberation that rang through her hollow head. She was tired, and wanted to think about something, anything. But every time she tried, all that came to mind was the untimely death of two men. Eden Prime was not a place that she would have thought to have a battle on. Geth had overrun the small colonies, leaving only a handful of humans left. When confronted, they were of no help to her, and she could feel her heart blacken with rage at each step she took towards the enemy. Every corner they rounded was full of Geth attempting to blast their way through anything and everything. It was actually quite amazing that 2 of them had made it out alive; though the council hadn't entrusted her with this mission for nothing.

She turned the corner, forgetting about her squad trailing quietly behind her as she finally succumbed to the prying thoughts of the mission. Eden Prime was the very definition of the ancient "Murphy's Law". Everything that had a possibility of happening that day, happened. Not even two minutes after they touched down on the surface, her and her teammates were forced to fire waves upon waves of bullets. Corporal Jenkins had fallen first, being replaced shortly after by a new ally, the survivor, Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams. After tossing more Geth around, Nihlus's lifeless body was found, only for Shepard to discover that he was killed by another Spectre. As if everything hadn't gone wrong already at that point, she amazingly stumbled upon the beacon in Saren's sights, and used it before he could get to it, spiraling her through coded flashbacks and visions. Next thing I knew, I woke up 15 hours later from a very short coma.

"Commander, you alright?" A concerned Lt. Alenko asked her after he and Williams noticed Shepard's eyes practically burning holes in the wall by the balcony they were stopped at. She was jerked out of her self-induced trance and blinked a few times, her eyes stinging with tears.

"Yes," she managed to choke out before clearing her throat pointedly, "Let's start heading to the Council. I'm telling them everything, even if they don't want to hear it."

.vVv.

Exectuor Pallin looked on at the young Turian before him in utter disbelief. A measly C-Sec officer was talking back? After receiving direct orders? He thought he had seen everything.

"Look, Vakarian. I ordered you to stay off this case. I told you what you wanted to know, and now that you know it, there shouldn't be anything more that you need to search for." Garrus gritted his teeth and bit his tongue lightly to stifle any rise in his voice before continuing.

"Executor, don't you see? The very fact that you have told me what's really happening is more than enough justification for me to keep going!"

"I am ordering you to Stand Down, Vakarian! The council doesn't have any more time to allow you to run around trying to find proof. There is a hearing in just a few minutes for Saren's guilt or innocence."

Garrus couldn't believe what was happening. The logical side of his brain attempted to soothe him by saying Pallin's behavior made sense. He was a 'by the law' Turian. Always had been, always will be. It's against the rules to have an officer continue to search for evidence during or after a hearing on behalf of the accused. But the side of Garrus that hated the by-the-book nature told him to argue. To point and get angry at the injustice.

"Saren's hiding something. Give me more time! Stall them."

Pallin shifted weight to his other leg in impatience and only raised an eyebrow at the officer's stubbornness.

"Stall the council? Don't be ridiculous. Your investigation is over, Garrus."

Garrus? Garrus…Vakarian? Shepard almost stopped completely at the sound of Vakarian's first name. She chuckled quietly to herself and chastised her inner mind to linking her one night stand on leave with the officer in front of them. But god, if it didn't look exactly like him. She watched in a dream-like state as the young Turian began walking towards Shepard and her squad. A knot formed in her throat and she struggled internally to fight the lump and swallow her sudden symptoms of nervousness. She noticed almost immediately the way Garrus's mandible flared outward slightly in a motion that was seared in her brain from just one night of seeing him; an arrogant, Turian smirk.

.vVv.