Chapter Five
He lowered himself down carefully into the co-pilot's seat, trying not to brush his thighs and back against any sharp edges. The aches had mostly dulled into infrequent throbs now and he felt sure enough that he didn't have to keep his guard up around the stranger the whole time. The soft leather of the seat felt much more comfortable than the cold hard metal of the chairs in the mess hall and his jaw line and mandibles loosened as he rested his head back against the top of the seat, he almost felt relaxed and he didn't even bother to open his eyes as the stranger plopped down into the pilot seat next to him.
The stranger was working the console, shifting the thrusters from autopilot back into manual control and she turned her head a little to watch Garrus resting back comfortably in his seat. She snorted mischievously to herself as they both jerked forward when the thrusters began their deceleration and grinned when Garrus flicked open his eyes to give her a scolding look. As far as she could tell, any signs of internal injuries were non-existent and once satisfied with her superficial analysis of him she then turned her head back towards the monitor. Only a moment later did Garrus crack open his ice-blue eyes to glance over at her in a more thoughtful fashion.
She had at least told him some minor details about herself, her name was Ishtar and she was in her mid-twenties. The name itself would conjure up images of her being from middle-eastern descent but her near alabaster-white skin gave indication that this obviously wasn't the case. Her face was symmetrical and punctured only by two sienna brown coloured eyes. Her dark eyebrows and hair were unkempt however as short tousles of hair fell just directly above her eyes, a short and practical style that Garrus figured that she cut by herself. Nothing about her appearance seemed unnatural, he was more than sure she could of tinted her eye colour and dyed her hair if she really wanted to and so the only interesting facial feature that stood out to him was the line of indigo facepaint that stretched out from ear to ear across her cheeks and over the bridge of her nose. He didn't want to interrogate her too much about her background, but he was more than certain that the markings on her face resembled those he had seen on the turians from the Cuuthlok colony that resides on one of Palaven's moons.
I don't want to get too involved with her on a personal level, anything could happen between the present time and the future. When I took this job I knew that having emotional ties to anyone was not an option. It's not that I wouldn't like to… it just wasn't ever a part of the job description.
He sighed quietly and looked away from Ishtar, crossing his arms behind the back of the headrest as he stared out towards the stars glimmering outside of the small viewport. He remembered feeling somewhat lonely back when he was in C-Sec, being on the beat and filing paperwork gave little time to socialize with people on a personal level. Working with a team that accompanied a Spectre was the closest he got to talking outside of professional duties and he really did miss working with Commander Shepard, a woman who would spend more than a dozen moments of her precious time just to chat to him.
If working in C-Sec was mostly solitary work, would working as a Spectre prove to be even more solitary? He was puzzled about this most of all, the Commander seemed to have enough time to… get on even closer terms with certain members of her crew but the promise of long-term romance seemed even more distant than the promise of long-term friendship and he wasn't really that interested in forming short-term partnerships just for the sake of taking the edge off his loneliness. He remembered trying it once with an asari officer that he took a liking to, he wasn't even sure that he could call it a relationship as meeting opportunities became less and less frequent as they were transferred from one posting to another. He was fond of her however but as time went by, intimate encounters became nothing much more than just a wave from a passing patrol car, he decided not to pursue casual relationships again any time soon after that experience.
"Another five hours and we'll be at Omega" Ishtar's voice snapped him back from his daydreams and he glanced over at the console in front of him.
Sure enough, the updated navigation chart showed their distance away from their target location and Garrus was somewhat impressed that she had aligned them almost perfectly in a direct line to the space station.
"I have to drop off some cargo when we land, but I shouldn't be too long." She motioned to Garrus to take control of the console as she raised herself from her seat.
His gaze followed her upwards until she was towering over him to reach into one of the compartments above his seat. "What sort of cargo…?" Garrus hesitated and Ishtar sensed the dread in his voice.
"Nothing illegal, I just trade reasonable amounts of minerals, furs and electronics for a little credit to help restock the ship." She was still rooting around inside the compartment above his head; a determined expression crossed her face.
"Alright then" He nodded then furrowed his brow curiously at the commotion happening inside that compartment, suddenly Ishtar's expression was one of discovery, and she smiled down at Garrus before throwing an object into his lap, making him jump back in his seat in surprise.
"That's a gift from me to you!" She exclaimed with a giggle.
Garrus looked down at his lap and saw the sleeve of an omni-tool poking out from between his legs, he hoped that Ishtar wasn't staring at it which caused him to awkwardly flare his mandibles in embarrassment, turning his head away before looking back up at Ishtar apologetically. To his relief, Ishtar was more excited about his reaction to the actual omni-tool.
"W…where did you get this? Savant X models don't come cheaply." Garrus stammered, still a bit perplexed by all the sudden attention. It didn't made things easier when she leant down in front of him until she reached eye level and flashed him a sharp grin.
"I trade goods as well as hunting down fugitives" She shrugged then rested her hands on her knees, "Some of them leave behind some decent gear." Garrus began to slip the omni-tool around his wrist and locked it into place, he flexed out his arm beneath her chin and the orange holographic interface suddenly lit up her face. He looked at her with a sly, knowing smirk, "I figure that 'leave behind" is the polite way of saying "looting their bodies" huh?" She grinned and turned her head to him again, nodding and smiling and he chuckled and shook his head in bemusement.
She tapped the side of his chair and he turned his attention back to the dashboard. "I need you to pilot while I gear up." Garrus nodded in agreement and swung the chair back around to face the front; he had no trouble in flying a small two-man fighter, it was one of the basic requirements in Spectre training. Ishtar watched him for a few moments to check that he knew what he was doing, then turned towards the messhall before disappearing from view. Garrus first heard a swishing noise, which he recognized as a sliding door then heard cluttering as she began unloading her equipment from one of the lockers on the wall onto the table in the messhall.
He quietly observed her from time to time and she seemed too engrossed in doing her own thing to really notice. She was upgrading a Volkov VII sniper rifle with anti-personnel rounds and phasic rounds and sometimes the orange glow of a Cipher omni-tool would periodically illuminate the darkness, capturing the serious expression on her face as she worked fluidly and without hesitation.
"You're… Infiltrator class?" Garrus casually asked from inside the cockpit.
There was no reply at first and he thought the familiar click of the weapon being locked into the back of her Gladiator X light armour was the only affirmation he would get.
"I've never served in the military." Was the reply that came a few seconds later, in the dim light created by the omni-tool he could see that she was wrapping a black scarf around her neck and head in a fashion that covered the majority of her face except for her eyes and finally she flipped the two loose ends of the scarf behind her back.
"But?" He pressed on, turning his head back towards the console momentarily.
"But nothing… I spent five years in boot camp and didn't want to pursue a career in the military, that's all."
"Fair enough." Garrus ended, the answers weren't very satisfying at all but he supposed she wasn't obligated the share any personal details with him.
Finally Ishtar made her way back to the cockpit and sat down next to him in the pilot seat, the console in front of her chimed as if the ships computer was satisfied that it's captain was back at the helm.
"I can take it from here Garrus." She turned to him and nodded "You can…"
She was cut off mid-sentence by another chime by the console, this time the computer's VI alerted her with its smooth almost lyrical female voice.
"Video call coming through from Ramazk Cureth."
"One moment." She responded and Garrus took this as his cue to make himself scarce.
He rose awkwardly from his seat, cramp had settled into his right foot and he shook off the pins and needles as Ishtar motioned with her hand towards one of the lockers in the back of the messhall.
"Your equipment is in the one next to mine."
He nodded and left the cockpit; he noticed that apart from the fading cramp in his foot that he didn't feel as sore as he did a few hours earlier. He breathed a sigh of relief as he reached the locker and began empting out the contents onto the top of the messhall table.
"Patch it through"
The monitor screen flickered for a second with static before it settled onto a grainy visualization of an office furnished with light cabinets and dark walls. In the middle of this room was a huge dark leather chair stationed behind a light marbled desk and in it sat an angry looking turian with cream coloured plating and dark brown markings. Ishtar smirked from behind her mask; she thought the turian contrasted well with his classy looking furniture.
"What the hell happened on Amantherine?" The turian bellowed and Ishtar's smirk quickly faded away.
"There was a problem…" She cleared her throat. "The krogen knew he had company."
The turian leaned forward in his chair until his arms were rested on top of his desk "Are you saying I hired an incompetent sniper, Ishtar?" his talons were now forming a steeple below his chest. "I hope not for your own sake."
"No sir." Ishtar quickly retorted, "I wasn't spotted. It seems I wasn't the only sniper who was interest in the target."
In the back of the messhall, Garrus winced as he went about upgrading his HMWSR X in a tentative manner; the conversation was making him nervous.
"It seems they triggered off a bunch of my proximity mines too." Ishtar continued, biting her lip anxiously from behind her scarf.
Garrus locked the sledgehammer rounds into place and leant his weight onto the barrel for a moment as he listened in on the intercom. This much had been correct, but if she were to identify him as a Spectre, things would get messy real quick.
"Did you see who it was?" The turian asked with slight suspicion in his voice.
"No sir, I couldn't even tell if they were female or male from that distance." Ishtar's tone became more serious and convincing "Judging from the carnage left by the mines, I'd say it would be even harder to tell what species they once were, I surely doubt they survived the blast."
"Good!" The turian concluded before resting his hands into his lap beneath the desk." I don't want any more mistakes like this to happen again Ishtar, otherwise your contract is over."
"Sir." Ishtar nodded.
The turian narrowed his piercing amber eyes and his voice dropped into a disconcerting tone "The last thing we need is the Citadel council getting involved."
"Of course…" Ishtar concurred and the turian reached his hand over the desk, the communication jittered and ships monitor was filled with static once again.
Ishtar sank backwards into her seat and sighed deeply, twisting her head around to look over to Garrus who was now sliding his rifle into place on the back of his medium Silverback X armour. It locked with a click and Garrus turned his head to meet his eyes up to Ishtar.
"I want you to stay put at the docking bay and do your business while I search around for some answers." The authority in Garrus' tone was calm, soft yet serious. "Don't come looking for me no matter how long I take."
Ishtar nodded as she rose from her seat then stood within the doorway that joined the cockpit and the messhall together, leaning against the frame as Garrus synchronized his armour with his omni-tool.
"If you're not back within 20 hours, I'm leaving without you."
Garrus looked up from his omni tool and locked eyes with her before averting his attention back to the synchronization. "That's fine." He continued without raising his eyes again "…you don't need to speak in turian anymore, the translator is active."
Ishtar shrugged, "I've been away from humanity for so long that I hardly remember how to speak anything but turian."
Garrus said nothing but he wondered how many more connections Ishtar had to turians but again he had to chastise himself for trying to get involved in her business. After he had finished his sync test he excused himself to get past Ishtar. She moved aside to allow him into the cockpit where he lowered himself into the co-pilot seat.
"Why do people other than my targets walk in front of my sights when I'm trying to take a shot?" Ishtar asked as she budged past him to get to her seat.
Garrus smirked yet his eyes were on the monitor, another hour until touchdown on Omega.
"You make it sound like it happens all the time." He retorted in a cheeky manner.
Ishtar raised her hands in the air and fell back into her seat with a bounce. "Oh if only you knew!"
Garrus chuckled and took control of the ship, aligning the interceptor up with the correct plan of coordinates, after he was satisfied with the navigation plan he began working on his strategy for taking down Rizok for the remainder of the journey.