AN: Sorry for taking so long to update. Thank you for your reviews. Mass effect doesn't belong to me.
"We did everything we could but…" Jacob was interrupted by the swishing of the communication room's doors from Garus walking in. "Damn, tough bastard."
"No one will give me a mirror. So, how do I look?" Garus asked.
"No better than usual, Buddy." Alex smirked.
"Well, everyone was always ignoring you and going after me about time you got a chance." The injured Turian chuckled then groaned in pain. "Oh, don't make me laugh."
"Commander, I'll be at my station if you need anything." The Cerberus man saluted, about-faced, and left.
"Garus, how you holding up?" Shepard turned his attention to his friend.
"I'm ready to fight, Shepard, just point me where you need me." Garus replied. "Now, What are you doing working for Cerberus? I thought you would have despised them after all our run-ins with them while hunting Saren."
""I don't work for them. They brought me back to life and set me to fight the Collectors. They're stealing our colonies." The Commander answered before smirking. "But now you're here and we're walking into Hell."
"You realize that plan involves me walking into Hell with you." He smirked back in good nature.
"Want to tell me how you ended up fighting gangs on Omega?" Shepard inquired.
"After we beat Saren, I went back to working at C-sec but I didn't want to deal with red tape. Omega is full of criminals, so all I had to do was point and shoot. Much like when you were forming your team, people realized I could get things done and they joined up. My team was filled with many different types from ex-military to former gang members looking for redemption. I had a Bartarian as my tech guy, not the nicest guy but he could hack anything." Garus explained.
"No offence but what made you different than any other gang on Omega?" Alex wondered curiously.
"We didn't shake down innocent people for money. We weren't getting paid for taking down merchs or the gangs. No harming civilians that was our goal. We would lead our targets into will prepared kill zones away from the people." There was a cemented look in his eyes as he says this.
"So, what lead to the situation we found you in?" The Commander asked.
"I was betrayed by one of my own people." Garus spat out distastefully. "Sidonous, a Turian, told me about a job but when I got to the meeting place no one was there. I returned to find that all, but two, of my squad were dead. They didn't last much longer. I put some feelers out and found he booked transport off world and cleared his private accounts. He sold us out then split but I will get him." His mandibles flared in anger then he semi-calmed himself before continuing, "Look, I'll be in the main battery room if you need me."
"Garus, if you need anything, just ask." Shepard let him walk out with a nod.
Deciding to go see his Yeoman, the Commander wondered what Kelly would have to say about their newest crew members. Kelly was standing at her terminal like usual and as he approached she turned to him.
"What can I do for you commander?" The short red headed woman asked with a smile.
"I just wanted to know what you thought of our new squad members." Alex questioned.
"Well, Garus seems so sad; I just want to give him a hug. He lost his whole team and I'm afraid it will hurt his focus" Kelly reported on the newest recruit.
"Garus is tough and knows that he's not alone." Shepard informed with a determination to be there for his friend. "What about our Council representatives?"
"Aegis didn't tell me much but she seemed like a very balanced and wide Asari. She has a neutral tone when asked about her past but I believe there is years more wisdom behind her eyes to go with her training as a Spectre." The Yeoman gave a deep sigh before going on, "Thalia, on the other hand, wouldn't talk to me at all but from what I picked up on her body language she doesn't like working a board this particular ship. From your mission report, she has a strong sense of right and wrong but her respect for you stops her from probably blowing up the Normandy.
"Thanks for the information, Kelly. Is there anything else I should know?" The Commander already heading to the elevator just catching her saying he had messages.
The dark haired soldier reached the Crew deck and went to the starboard Observation deck. Aegis was sitting on a couch reading a book until Shepard cleared his throat, sitting on the couch after she had offered.
"What can I do for you, Commander?" The blue toned woman asked curiously.
"Just wanted to follow up on how you are doing. Is the crew giving you any trouble? I also want to learn a bit more about you." Alex answered.
"I'm fine, Commander, and your crew isn't a bother. I'm not sure what you want to know." Aegis replied in confusion.
"Just simple stuff, like where are you from or how you got to be a Spectre?" Shepard wondered.
"I've lived all over Asari and Human space. As for my Spectre status, I would rather not speak about that." She wanted to avoid giving any details that could lead to him finding out about their mission.
"Okay, I'll respect your wish." He stood up from the couch before continuing, "I'll be here if you need anything. This is called a suicide mission for a reason so I don't want my crew going in with regrets. I've got to speak to your partner before I leave for our next mission."
"Don't worry about me. I've made peace with what I must do." Aegis seriously commented as he turned to the door.
Alex walked back to the elevator to take it down into engineering. Once arriving, he headed to the starboard cargo hold. He stopped at the door at the sight of the dark haired woman in her standard BDU's dismantling her rifle while humming. Alex could have sworn he was looking at Ashley but shook himself from thinking on that any further for the moment. Stepping in the rest of the way, he coughed to get her attention. Thalia spun around and snapped into a salute when she saw the Commander.
"At ease, I want to speak to you about your actions on Omega." The dark haired woman stiffened her back waiting to be chastised. "You deliberate advised a kid to seek being a freelancer despite me trying to stop him but then ran into gun fire to pull a Turian you hardly knew out of the way, while injured. I think I understand why you haven't made it past Corporal. Can you explain your actions?"
"Sir, we needed Garus for the team. That kid was making a choice and he would have to learn from his mistakes." Thalia answered dryly.
"So, killing him would make him learn what exactly? That he'd regret it for a split second before the bullet entered his skull." Shepard sarcastically questioned.
"It's people like him, whose are so eager to kill people, are responsible for my parents being killed!" She snapped furiously turning her back to the Commander.
"I'm sorry about your parents but that doesn't make getting that kid killed a good thing to do." He said before exiting the room as the door swished closed he heard a loud yell and a loud crash.
AN: So tell me what you think and review, please. Also tell me who you would like to see go on the Mordin recruit mission. Sorry again for taking so long.