The turian captain gave a full-throated laugh, casting a jovial smile upon all and sundry. Shepard was surprised. The Hierarchy military and its higher-ups had a reputation for discipline and order, whereas this guy seemed to be under the impression he was the lord of Saren's manor, tasked only with hospitality and cheer.

"We go a long way back, you say? You were always a master of understatement, Vakarian," the captain said to Garrus. He turned to Shepard and the other crewmates. "I've known this old devil since the first day of Basic."

"You've come up in the world, Severin," Garrus said. "Last time I checked you were a legionnaire."

"Oh, you know how it is around here. Demotions, promotions. All it means is a fancier uniform," Severin replied. "Now, you, you've been very busy, what with polishing off Saren and his geth. And I take it that this is the famous Commander Shepard? What a privilege!"

"Shepard, this is Captain Junius Severin."

The turian officer pushed past his underlings and thrust a clawed hand at Shepard. She was so taken aback by this unexpectedly friendly gesture that, in reaching out to shake his hand, she nearly lost grip of her rifle.

"A pleasure to meet you!" Severin said heartily. "You must excuse the armed welcome. My staff members are an enthusiastic bunch."

He turned to the guards. "Come on now, everyone. Lower your weapons. We have guests."

"This is creepy, Shepard," Tali murmured. "Nobody is trying to shoot us."

Severin tossed an arm around Garrus' shoulder, slapping him on the back. "Come along now. Walk with us. We're going out to feed the varren. We can talk business along the way. And, of course, Commander, I'm eager to hear what brings you to our little corner of the galaxy."

As they walked westward across the estate, Shepard started in on her request. "Actually, I'm here to see Saren's-"

"Ah, ah – not yet. Let's leave business until later, shall we?" Severin interrupted. "It doesn't do to rush things. First, I want to hear how you're enjoying Palaven."

"I'm not here as tourist, Captain. I'm here as a Spectre."

"Then you haven't seen the Palaven Hills yet? For shame! Vakarian, you have to be a better host than that. Show the people a good time."

"We're on an assignment with a tight deadline," Garrus said. "That doesn't leave a whole lot of time for fun and games."

"I'd hoped that getting off Palaven would loosen you up a little," Severin replied. "But I see that the old man's still got you playing his game. How is the old blighter anyway? Have you been to see him? Well, I can just picture it."

Lowering his voice an octave, Severin let his mouth hang in a limp frown and gave his mandibles a self-righteous shake. It was an uncanny, nearly perfect imitation of Cereus Vakarian. "'Do I smell intoxicants on your breath? In this household, we do not abuse substances or pollute our bodies with filth. You have crossed a boundary. There will be repercussions.'"

Severin' face straightened again, his dark blue facial tattoos settling into their usual place. "Oh, but I miss that pompous bastard. I really do. If I had an intoxicant, I'd gladly raise a toast to Cereus Vakarian, the noblest turian of them all."

Shepard thought Garrus would object to this, but Severin didn't seem to want to let anyone get a word in edgewise. "Lieutenant Amerantha, I don't suppose you brought along my brandy?"

Amerantha reached into the bag at her hip and pulled out a flask of brandy. "There you are, sir. I also ordered the groundskeeper to haul out some fresh meat."

"Very good, very good. You are a marvel, a gift from the spirits," Severin said to his second-in-command, unscrewing the cap and taking an appreciative sniff of the brandy.

He raised the bronze flask. "To Cereus Vakarian and his most honourable son. May they live forever or die in glory." Severin tilted his head back, taking a long draught.

"Or how about just the 'live forever' part?" Garrus said, waving the flask away when Severin offered it.

The captain tried to hand it off to Shepard, Miranda and Tali too. "Good for what ails you."

"No thanks," Miranda said, barely bothering to hide her revulsion.

Tali tried to be more diplomatic. She faked a cough. "I would, but I have this terrible cold."

"I'm pretty sure a sip of that will send humans into anaphylactic shock," Shepard said, shaking her head.

Severin gave a sniff of surprise, although this information didn't seem to cause him any genuine concern. "Oh, my. Will it really? That is unfortunate. You must pardon my ignorance. I meet humans so rarely. In any case, it is very good brandy."

He was still drinking that very good brandy as they approached the varren cages, where a turian groundskeeper was standing, holding a large steel bucket. He handed the bucket off to Severin, who immediately started digging around inside it.

Shepard peered into the bucket and saw strips of raw meat, red and bloody. It was impossible to see Tali's expression from behind her helmet, but she was almost positive that her quarian friend was struggling not to gag at the putrid, overripe odour. The turians in the group didn't seem to mind it at all. They were a species of natural predators and they had no problem dealing with blood and guts.

Severin picked up a couple strips of meat and tossed them to the varren. They rushed forward, snarling over the scraps. Looking down the row of cages, Shepard noted that several of the pens were empty.

"Some of the varren seem to be missing."

"Missing? Oh goodness, no," Severin said. "We've just decided to relocate a few. Poor creatures needed a change of scenery."

Miranda cast a suspicious glance at Shepard. "That's very considerate, don't you think?"

"We're here to clean up Saren's mess," Severin answered. "It wouldn't do to see his pets mistreated." His voice softened to a low coo of pleasure. "Now wouldn't it, Harbinger? Nice boy. Yes, that's you."

The captain appeared to be speaking to the albino varren, whose head he was petting through the bars. The ugly creature's tongue lolled out and its pink eyes rolled back in its skull.

Shepard stared at him. "Harbinger?"

"He's my very favourite," Severin confided. "I like Sovereign, too, of course, and Crucible and Dominion and Deathshead but Harbinger, he's something special."

He rubbed the varren's head vigorously, tugging at its ears. "Aren't you, boy? Aren't you special? Yes, you are."

Shepard looked back at the varren, slowly coming to the realization that in all likelihood, she'd just heard the names of three Reapers they'd never heard of. Did Saren purposely name his dogs after Reapers or was the indoctrination so powerful that he didn't even consider the homage? This visit to Saren's house was obviously long overdue.

"Where do those names from?" Garrus asked. "Kind of morbid, aren't they?"

Garrus was trying hard to act casual and friendly, much too hard, in Shepard's opinion. Unbeknownst to him, his rare attempts to be informal often came off as stilted, insincere – heck, sometimes even delightfully sleazy. It probably had something to do with the way he drawled out his words, inserting pauses into peculiar places and stretching out 'r's and 'y's to inconceivable lengths. She got the feeling he must have picked up this speech pattern and his tough guy saunter from a movie somewhere when he was just a kid, probably an action vid his father ordered not to watch, perfecting the technique slowly over a number of years until it was automatic, unthinking.

"They were originally Saren's choices, but I kept them," Severin said. "I like the sound of them. Very...majestic, don't you think? The names of true conquerors entering the ring."

"The fighting ring, right?" Shepard inquired. "These are fighting varren, I take it?"

"Once upon a time, yes. Many of them were champions. Now they're just house-pets, ones that we'll be looking to sell, if you're in the market."

"Are you selling the entire estate?" Miranda asked.

"Not all, but we're disposing of most of it, auctioning some items and requisitioning others. It's my job to ensure that things are done correctly. Without further incident."

Shepard paused. "Further incident?"

"Well, any incident at all!" Severin said. "It's a minor task, one that the Hierarchy has seen fit to allot to a very minor functionary such as myself. It's quite tedious, to be honest, but duty is duty."

Garrus gave a pleasant chuckle that Shepard didn't find quite genuine. "Don't be so modest, Severin. We know you're with the Internal Affairs Bureau. There has to be a lot more than to the job than just taking an inventory of the property. What're your duties here?"

Severin tossed some more meat to the varren, chortling as he watched them contend for the scraps, barking, growling and baring their fearsome teeth. "I hate to disappoint you, old friend, since it's obvious that you're looking for something interesting. However, I'm sorry to say that there's absolutely nothing here that would help you. And quite a few things on the premises that might do intruders some grievous and regrettable harm."

"Why don't you let us be the judge of that?" Shepard said. "Let us look around the mansion and the rest of the estate, maybe take a peek at some of Saren's things. We'll be careful not to get in your way."

"Oh, no, I couldn't let you do that. Saren's mansion is not a place that I would recommend to visitors. Perhaps I should have mentioned this before, but there have been problems."

"Problems?" Shepard echoed. "What sort of problems?" Friend of Garrus' or not, Severin was behaving strangely and even his apparent cheer... unsettled her.

"I don't want to elaborate too much, but there have been some recurrent staffing issues," Severin said. "Better that you don't go in, I think. Maybe once we've finished our work, hmm? Eventually, we're going to convert it into a military academy."

"Whatever the problem is, we can deal with it," Shepard insisted. "It's important that we get a chance to look around. Any data we collect will be reported to the Primarchs and Councillor Velarn, who've authorized me to conduct an investigation."

A varren snapped at Severin's hand through the bars, mistaking it for a piece of meat. The captain swiped at it with his talon, cutting its snout. The creature gave a plaintive whine as blood dribbled down its jaws.

"Bad!" Severin scolded. He wiped the varren's blood from his hand. "That...pitiable creature. It has spirit, certainly, but I believe it could use some obedience training."

"I'll see to it, Captain," Amerantha said. "I know how to make it behave."

"Thank you," he said. "You're a wonderful help."

He looked at his guests again, blinking as if he'd quite forgotten them and was startled to see them still there. "Well, it has been a real pleasure to encounter you again, Vakarian. A real pleasure. And what an honour to meet your charming friends. You must show them the Palaven Hills. I know that they'll be lost in admiration."

Miranda protested. "You haven't answered our -"

"My sincerest apologies, but I must get back to the task at hand," Severin said. "Duty calls and one can't stint duty, no matter how dull! The estate is a bit of a ramble, so I hope you'll do me the honour of allowing my guards to show you out? I appreciate that very much, very much indeed."

If they were tempted to contradict him, the guards and their raised rifles quickly quieted them, herding them back towards the main gates. Officer Amerantha waved goodbye, a smug look in her eyes that annoyed Shepard.

"Well, that was productive," Miranda said when the guards were out of hearing. "The idiot babbled at us for an half an hour and then sent us packing."

Shepard frowned. "I don't think he's an idiot. Quite the opposite, in fact."

Tali looked at Garrus. "Has he always been that...talkative?"

"He wasn't quite that bad when we were back in the unit, but yeah, he does tend to go on about things. And he isn't half as dumb as he'd like you to think he is," Garrus said.

"I take it you have experience with this," Miranda said.

"When we were still military, he was always running these little scams. Nothing dangerous, just stuff that would've upset the higher-ups. I kept trying to shut him down, but he was pretty cunning. I'd dig up evidence but he'd always find a way to keep himself covered."

"So you aren't friends?" Shepard asked.

"In a strange way, we were. He just never held a grudge, you know? And it's hard to stay mad at someone that...cheerful," Garrus said. "I don't know what we are now. He's the same guy...but well, different somehow. I guess that doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

"People aren't obligated to make sense, Garrus," Tali replied. "Anyway it doesn't sound as if he's to be trusted."

Garrus shrugged. "I don't do a whole lot of trusting anyway. Makes things more difficult when the betrayal comes along."

"I can second that," Miranda said. "In any case, I don't care whether he's good, bad or ugly. Captain Severin is an obstacle and he's in our way."

The glint of light on Tali's visor made it appear as if she was wearing a small, secretive smile, although the true expression on her face was impossible to make out. "While he was feeding the varren, I was conducting scans of the security systems. Their security measures are extensive, Shepard, but they're not invulnerable to a little expertise."

"Nice work, Tali," Shepard said. She looked back at the mansion. "We'll be coming back here alright. But first we're going to head over to Palaven, take care of a little business and get ourselves off their radar. When we do return, we're going to do it very, very quietly."

She was already planning out her infiltration team. They had to be good with tech and light on their feet, the kind of people who would knock a guard unconscious before blowing his brains out. That ruled out Jack and Grunt almost immediately. Kasumi was a natural for a job like this and Tali would perform well in this situation too. With his natural hacking skills, it would be helpful to have Legion along, but if they were discovered, Shepard didn't want to get caught with an active geth. That would just make Councillor Velarn's day. It would be best to leave him with EDI as back-up tech support. She figured that Mordin's experience with the STG could be of some use, but his work in the lab was their Plan B and she didn't want him getting distracted. If she needed some additional firepower along, she decided she'd bring Jacob, who knew how to tread lightly, followed orders well and didn't mind a few shortcuts in service to a good cause. He also seemed to enjoy working with Kasumi – probably because she flirted with him every chance she got. By the time they arrived back on the Normandy, Shepard knew who was going to be on the team and who most definitely wasn't.

The problem, of course, would be telling Garrus that he had to stay on the ship, especially since business had gotten personal for him. She hoped he'd listen to reason. With his intervention hearing in process, his status with the Hierarchy was already questionable. If he were to be caught breaking into an Internal Affairs restricted zone, there could be a treason charge in his future. It was inconvenient because he would have been good for an assignment like this, one that required focus and precision, and his knowledge of turian military protocols would have been invaluable. Still, she wasn't going to risk it. He could stay back on the Normandy with EDI and Joker and feed her info over the radios.

Back at the ship, she updated Joker on the new travel plans. He didn't seem pleased at having to backtrack.

"You mean we've gotta go all the way back to Palaven just so Garrus can resolve his daddy issues?"

"Yep."

"That's a waste of time. And fuel."

"No, it isn't."

"But hey, sure, let's go play therapist for everyone on the crew," Joker griped. "We can find Jack's inner child, help Jacob to stop being such a doormat and figure out why Miranda can only feel good about herself if she wears tight, tight, sexy clothes. Not that I'm complaining."

"While we're at it, maybe we can discover why you use humour as a defence mechanism."

Joker rolled his eyes. "Probably because my parents never bought me a pony."

"We're going back to Palaven tomorrow for Garrus' hearing. Might as well get your head around it, Joker."

He heaved a put-upon sigh. "Yeah, yeah, you're the boss. You sign the paychecks. I got it."


Garrus' intervention hearing was scheduled in a courthouse just outside the capital, resting in the shadow of the Palaven Hills. After all of Captain Severin's exhortations, Shepard finally had a chance to see the famous tourist attraction. The hills were plumed with tropical trees and from where Shepard stood, she could spot the rows of ancient aqueducts that still funnelled water down to the poorer districts of the city. It was definitely scenic, but she didn't think it stacked up to the pristine beauty of the Presidium or the elegant violet silhouette of the Illium skyline at dusk. Of course, she was probably just jaded. She'd been travelling the galaxy, seeing different colonies and outposts since she was a kid and it was hard to feel a sense of wonder anymore, at least not when it came to architecture or landscape. Other cultures and people, however, never stopped surprising her, for better or for worse. Today, in court, she was hoping that they'd have a good surprise.

It was nearly noon and Palaven was already boiling hot, a situation made worse by the fact that she had to wear protective armour to shield her body from high levels of radiation. She and Tali clunked along sluggishly behind Garrus, looking like a matched pair in their exo-suits. Shepard was pretty sure she saw a couple of turians snickering at them, but maybe the heat was making her paranoid in addition to the obvious ill effects of dizziness and dehydration.

"For once, I'm not the only one stuck in a suit," Tali said.

Shepard laughed, which took a surprising amount of energy in the heat. "We're twins."

"Except you're taller," Tali replied. "And you have funny human feet."

Garrus didn't join in their conversation. He'd been standoffish all day, pacing anxiously around the ship and now striding grim-faced through the Palaven forums. There was something so determined and forceful in his gait that several passers-by scurried out of his way, clearing a path for him amidst the frenzied crowd of shoppers and office-workers on lunch-hour.

"Garrus, are you okay?" Tali asked. "You're very...intense today. More so than usual."

"I'm fine," he said. "Just don't want to be fashionably late."

Tali looked at Shepard inquiringly.

Shepard just shrugged her shoulders. She'd already tried to calm Garrus down but talking to him when he was this agitated was like pulling teeth...from an angry vorcha. After stepping in front of his scope to talk him out of assassinating Sidonis, Shepard had learned that when Garrus got himself really worked up, it was best just to leave him alone and let him simmer down. His common-sense would always kick in a few hours later, after the urge to shoot something had passed, and then he would be rational about things, just as patient, soft-spoken and reliable as he ever was.

Still, his bouts of silent fury made her anxious for him. It felt so unlike the person he was the rest of the time. The anger seemed to pound fists against his ribs, to strangle his voice, to make him pant and gasp in pain. It was as if there were two personalities contending inside him – one, a reticent but relatively well-adjusted guy with a dry sense of humour and an inordinate fondness for Tupari sports drink, and the other, a secretive, brooding avenger with an insatiable desire for justice, who exacted merciless punishments upon not only criminals and thugs, but also upon himself. She found it agonizing to watch his self-imposed torment, but it seemed there was little she could do, aside from being there to support him whenever he chose to let her in.

Tali didn't seem ready to drop the matter. Although she'd matured leaps and bounds in the past few years, she still occasionally seemed to enjoy playing the role of precocious kid sister, if only because it gave her the freedom to say things nobody else would be able to get away with. "You don't seem fine to me. Are you worried about what your father is going to say?"

"No," Garrus snapped. He paused, softening his tone, and reconsidered his answer. "Well, okay, yes. But it doesn't matter. Nothing he says matters."

"Of course it matters. He's your father," Tali said. "Anyway, we'll be there in the courtroom with you. You don't have to be nervous."

"I'm not nervous. I'm fine," he replied. "But thank you."

"No problem, Garrus," she said. "You were there for my treason trial. I'm happy to be here for yours."

Garrus gave her a quizzical look.

Tali realized her mistake. "Well, I'm not happy that there is a trial. But I'm happy that I can be here. For you. Because we're friends. And even if you make fun of me sometimes, I like having you around."

She seemed to get a little flustered at this admission. "Keelah, I wonder if Shepard is going to give a big speech again and yell some sense into people. That would be fun to watch."

Shepard smiled. "Not likely. Folks here don't seem to respond well to humans ranting at them. Probably best to play nice."

"Play it however you like," Garrus said. "In the end, what they decide today doesn't make any damn difference. I'm with you and I'm on the Normandy, no matter what. I'm sticking with this to the end."

She sighed. "That sounds ominous. How about some optimism here? We still have a shot."

"A long shot," he specified. "Taken with a bad rifle and a broken scope. But yeah, I guess it's a shot."

Shepard spotted Cereus Vakarian standing on the courthouse steps, leaning heavily on his cane while he spoke with a couple of young turian officers, who appeared to be admirers of his work. He abandoned his fans as soon as he saw his son approaching and hobbled down the stairs, giving a slight wince when he put too much weight on his bad leg. The old turian positioned himself on the step directly above them, probably well aware that Garrus planned to avoid him with all his might.

Tali glanced between father and son, tilting her head to give Shepard what could only be described as a wry look, despite the visor blocking her face. She was obviously noting the family resemblance, which was even more marked now that Garrus and Cereus were staring each other down.

"Hello Garrus."

"Hello...Father." Garrus intoned the word 'father' as if it were a threat.

Cereus frowned. "I trust that you've been well."

"I'll be a lot better when this is over."

"You don't have to go through with this," Shepard interceded. "I'm sure there's another way..."

"I regret having to air family disputes in a public venue," Cereus answered. "However, I will do what is necessary to ensure the well-being of my son, Commander Shepard."

"Don't bother trying to reason with him. I've been trying to do it my whole life. It doesn't work," Garrus said.

Dodging around his father, he mounted the courthouse stairs, taking the steps two at a time. Tali and Shepard stood there awkwardly a moment, staring into Cereus' grizzled grey face, before they started to follow Garrus up the stairs.

Shepard wanted to say something to the old turian to fix this ugly mess, but she knew that was something only he and Garrus could manage. If they were to reconcile, it would take time and patience, since both Officer Vakarian the Elder and Officer Vakarian the Younger shared the same relentless determination, accompanied by an almost monumental stubbornness.

Cereus spoke up just as Shepard turned away. "Remind him that I'm his father, not his friend. Tell him that it isn't my job to make him like me, but I will have his respect."

She turned slightly, showing him the clean, cold line of her profile. "I don't want to stand between the two of you. It isn't fun getting caught in the crossfire. If there's something you want to say to Garrus, you should go talk to him yourself."

Cereus didn't offer a reply. He just nodded his head, acknowledging her refusal, and began to tread up the stairs. He dragged his hulking body along with an intractable slowness that made Shepard think of a receding glacier carving trenches into rock, marking years, decades, eras in notched cliffs, fractured stone and widening canyons.

Tali tapped her on the shoulder. "We should head upstairs, Shepard. Let's try to keep Garrus from blowing a gasket."

They hurried up into the courthouse, passing under the regal blue and gold flag of Palaven. Inside, the building had lofty ceilings to match the high-vaunted turian ideals of "DUTY – DISCIPLINE – HONOUR TRIUMPHANT," the motto that was emblazoned in gold letters above each courtroom, written in Pallas, the 'purest' form of the turian language. Of course, Shepard had to scan the words with her omni-tool to figure that one out. Otherwise, it all just looked like ornate gibberish to her human eyes.

Shepard stopped to peel off her helmet and the more uncomfortable elements of her armour. Removing the extra gear was a relief in the stifling heat.

She'd made a point of dressing in her most conservative clothes, avoiding the snug, body-conscious attire she generally favoured. When the magistrate called her up into the witness-stand, she didn't want to look like a depraved human hussy who got her kicks preying on and corrupting impressionable young turian males, which seemed to be the angle Cereus was intent on playing. Hell, maybe there was even a teensy bit of truth to it. She'd definitely enjoyed seducing Garrus and part of the fun had come from the fact that it was forbidden, shocking, even to the both of them. Still, she'd never anticipated that she'd ever have to justify her romantic inclinations in public, especially not in a turian courtroom. That was a whole new level of weird and awkward.

"Turians sure like to construct big, wasteful, impressive-looking buildings," Tali said, craning her head back to stare at the ceiling. "All this space to walk around in...it's no wonder people here never learn how to talk to each other."

"They certainly learn how to boss each other around," Shepard replied.

Garrus met them outside the door of the last courtroom on the right. "This is the place," he said. "Are you ready for this, Shepard?"

"Don't worry about me. What's important is that you're ready."

He looked doubtful. "As ready as I'll ever be."

They pushed through the door into the small, packed courtroom, where the magistrate was sentencing a pair of hapless turian defendants.

"I find the primary defendant, Corporal Uriel Salim culpable for dereliction of duty. Corporal Salim is demoted to the rank of Private and will pay 5,000 credits in restitution to the state. His superior officer, secondary defendant Major Brikan, is demoted to the rank of Corporal for his error in judgement. Dismissed!"

"Grrreat," Garrus muttered. "We got the hanging judge."

They found seats at the end of the last row of wooden benches, wedging themselves in beside a fidgety salarian who appeared to be sweating profusely. Shepard had never gotten a whiff of salarian body odour before and it was an experience she would've preferred to pass on. Luckily, it wasn't quite as rank as the human variety or the particularly vile stink that emanated from Grunt when he'd gone too long without one of his enforced baths. The salarian version just smelled a lot like pond scum.

The Palaven heat was uncomfortable anywhere one went, but it was particularly oppressive in the crowded courtroom. The air was heavy and hard to breathe. Tali shifted uncomfortably against Shepard, wriggling around in her exo-suit. While the other species suffered in the hot climate, the turians seemed perfectly at ease. In fact, they appeared to embrace the suffocating warmth, to bask in it.

Shepard heard the sound of Cereus' metal cane thumping against the floor tiles as he made his way down the aisle. It wouldn't be long now. According to the summons, Garrus' hearing was next up on the docket.