Thane entered the com room. Garrus was standing at full height, armes crossed over his chest, glowering at the information displayed in the center of the room. Miranda and Jacob stood on the opposite side.
"So what do we do now?" Jacob asked.
Garrus glanced over to see who had walked in on their meeting.
"Thane." He growled. It took all his strength to not charge the alien and smash him into a wall.
"Vakarian." Thane offered a slight bow. "What has happened?"
"They planted a bug in her apartment. That's what happened. Miranda," He shot her a glaring look, "mentioned it in her report on that mission." Garrus returned his gaze back to the drell. "They saw everything, Krios." Garrus paused to see the drell shift in discomfort. "Knew you're plans. Watched you from orbit, waiting for you to return to the apartment so they could set up the ambush. We're lucky the experiments on board their ship went awry while they were planet side shooting at her! Otherwise we'd be surrounded by insane clones trying to get a sample of Shepard's DNA so Cerberus could clone her!" The more he talked about it the angrier he became.
Thane was scanning the information displayed in the hollo projection. Most of it was about cloning. Mistakes, successes, plans. Nothing particularly useful in hunting them or the Illusive Man down.
"What about base locations?" He asked the already irritated turian.
Miranda answered before Garrus exploded.
"Yes. We have the coordinates of every station, every outpost, every lab that Cerberus has out there. That kind of information is not usually stored on a ship. Certainly not in the detail and quantity we found. It's got to be a Cerberus wide set up to secure Shepard."
"It would not benefit us to destroy every base in operation. Would any of those bases have the location of the Illusive Man?" Thane asked, ignoring the seething turian.
"Not likely. Everything about him is kept secret. I've input the last know location of his ship into EDI's data banks. The star he was orbiting for the two years it took to put her back together until we destroyed the Collector base has collapsed. Wherever he is now, there's not likely to be a record of it."
"If he is interested in the death of a star or qualities they may posses we should look at other dying stars he may wish to study." Thane suggested.
"That thought crossed my mind as well." Miranda said. "He may have been orbiting that star because the radiation shielded his vessel from scans. That is one of a thousand reasons he may have had."
"Start a search or any stars in this galaxy that may be within a few years of death. I'd rather risk wasting time looking at suns than to know I'm wasting it destroying bases." Garrus said.
He'd calmed down, but he was still exceedingly angry with Thane for letting Shepard get hurt. She almost died. He didn't think he could handle it a second time.
Miranda and Jacob left the room. Thane stayed behind.
"I don't think you want to stay." Garrus warned.
"I understand you are angry with me. I was not inclined to forgive myself for becoming complaisant. But Arasiha woke and granted me her forgiveness. I cannot put myself above the one I wronged. Will you?"
Thane looked at Garrus with his usual serenity. It made the turian's blood run hot.
"I won't let it slide next time, assassin." Garrus growled. "You should leave."
Garrus understood what the drell was saying. He did not share his religious or philosophical beliefs, but he could agree with this. It would take time for the rage to ebb away, but he would try to let it go. For her. He would let it go for her.
Thane offered a polite bow and returned to the port observatory. Shyra was still sleeping. Thane sat himself center to the window, on foot over the opposite knee, and poised his hands for meditation.
"Praise Arashu, goddess of protection, for the life of the siha sent to me. Praise Amonkira, lord of hunters, who has gilded my hand in battle..."
Shyra woke to the soft flanging sound of Thane's prayers. She liked to listen to him sometimes, when he didn't know she was listening. They were stolen moments, but she liked to see that side of him. His prayers were poetic and beautiful and often about or for her and/or his son. He prayed for their protection, or gave thanks for it. He asked for forgiveness for the lives he took, even in self defense. But today he prayed to a different diety. One she had never heard him speak of before.
"Praise Arateru, god of love and air, who has gifted to me a second time the love of Sihana. I am not worthy of such a gift. Your blessings are multiplied to me. "
He went on to give thanks for his son. Shyra lost herself in her own thoughts. It saddened her that he thought so low of himself. Was it simple humility? She didn't think so. He still beat himself up over the death of Irikah, leaving his son, being what he was trained to be since early childhood. Would he ever stop loathing himself? and what was 'Sihana'? He'd never called her that before.
He'd stopped speaking. She heard the soft sound of leather on scales as he stripped off and neatly folded his clothes, placing them in a dresser dewar. The sheets shifted as he climbed in next to her and snaked an arm around her hips, mindful of the bandages on her torso. His body felt cool as he snuggled up close to her. She heard him breath in her sent as he nuzzled the back of her neck, then gently kiss the skin between her shoulder blades. He sighted his contentment as he settled his head on the pillow, resting his forehead against her back. She'd never met anyone even close to him before. Maybe she was the one unworthy of his love.