Honor's Boundary -
A Garrus Vakarian Tale
By: Kellieqd
Game: Mass Effect
Pairing: Shepard...eventually
Disclaimer: The Mass Effect universe and it's characters are the sole intellectual property of Bioware and EA. This is simply my interpretation of their story.
Chapter 5: First Strike
If there was one thing Garrus had learned at C-Sec it was that he hated being overruled. There had been no hesitation when he joined the Normandy's crew, but maybe he was wrong to throw his support behind the young Commander so quickly.
Maybe Mara was right, maybe Shepard can't handle this. She has a personal interest in picking up Liara, she may be the only one who can explain what happened to her when she linked with the Beacon. Her health seems fine and what's done is done. What more could the Doctor even tell her, they needed to be going directly for Saren. The mission should come before her own welfare.
He paced back and forth across the hangar, stomping as he went. He even punched the Mako for good measure. But instead of calming his nerves, he found himself getting more agitated.
"I thought I had problems with authority," said Wrex from across the way.
He had settled in to the opposite corner of the hangar. It was just the two of them now, Ashley and the requisitions officer normally stationed there had retired to their bunks on the Crew Deck for the evening.
"I don't have problems with all authority," the turian countered snidely.
"Only when it comes between me and my work, I'm here to get the job done and go home. You of all people should understand that," he said.
His statement hadn't been 100% accurate. Getting the job done was his priority but part of him was hoping the opportunity to spend more time aboard the Normandy beyond their current mission would present itself.
"Home? I didn't peg you for wise guy. I am one of a dying breed thanks to your kind, and my brothers care more about fighting than keeping our race alive. Tuchanka has not been home in a long time, but I will change that in my lifetime. Right now, I'm just here for the ride. I think of it as an all expense paid vacation. I knew I liked Shepard as soon as she took care of that lowlife Fist back at Chora's Den. I've never met a human willing to step between me and my target before, let alone a female. When she asked me to come help save the galaxy, I knew she'd need a Krogan to get the job done," Wrex joked.
It was hard for Garrus to accept that the Krogan's respect had been won over so quickly.
"I was raised to believe all Krogan were bloodthirsty thugs, but you surprise me Wrex. Maybe you really are different," he admitted.
"The genophage is a lot easier to swallow when all Krogan are savage monsters, isn't it? Maybe you should head back to the Citadel kid, if you stay here in the real world you might have to learn something," he said with a mocking tone.
"You may just be right..." he hadn't expected Wrex's words to cut through him the way they did. They made him wonder what other preconceptions he had wrongly believed over the years. That's part of the reason he had signed up for this after all, to see what was really out there. Despite his time in the military, and spending a few years on the Citadel he had led a fairly sheltered life. This was the most exposed he had ever been to intergalactic diversity.
Their conversation had allowed him time to calm down, he was thinking more clearly again. It may not have been the decision he would have made, but if the Reapers really were out there then maybe the Asari Doctor could be a necessary element in the mission's success. They didn't even know for a certainty that the Matriarch on Noveria was Saren's ally, it had been hearsay. He decided the best thing to do right now was to go to sleep and see how he felt in the morning.
"Bird Brain, wake up!"
Garrus was jolted awake by a hard object knocking the wind out of him. Chief Williams had launched his helmet from across the room with deadly precision.
"The Commander is coming!," she shouted. " We're 10 minutes out from Therum. Good luck beating me out for a spot on her team, I hear you're my only competition in the sniping department," she said self-assured. She clearly didn't consider Garrus a threat.
The elevator doors swished open.
"Oversleep Garrus?" jabbed the Commander, with a sarcastic look on her face.
"How are your tech skills?" she asked him.
Still groggy he responded, "I ran more calibrations than anyone in my class, I know my omni-tool like the back of my hand. You know literally... it's on the back..." he decided it would be better to trail off and pretend he didn't just say that.
"I see what you did there," she giggled slightly and shook her head. "Suit up! You and Alenko are with me on this one. See Chris our requisitions officer for any specialty ammo you think you will need. He's pricey on his weapons though, I hope you brought your own."
He motioned to his rifle bag. "Don't worry about me Shepard, I've got all I need right here... and thank you for letting me tag along. I'll have your back."
"Damn right you will! I want you in the decon chamber in 10 minutes," she directed and made her exit.
He couldn't reason why she had picked him after their "incident" yesterday, but it sure felt good to turn to Ashley and say...
"I guess this lil' birdy gets to be the first to fly," his mandibles flared as the corners of his mouth widened into a malevolent smirk.
If looks could kill, Ashley was a stone cold assassin.
To Joker's credit he dropped the Mako with perfect accuracy at the drop point. Was he the best pilot in the galaxy? That would remain to be seen, but it was still impressive.
Garrus believed the human word for the Mako's seating would be "cozy." Shepard was in front navigating, while he and Kaidan shared the bench in back. Garrus took charge of the cannon. They snaked their way past the automated turrets, mowing down any foot soldiers on their path. They continued following the nav screen to the coordinates where Joker had traced the Asari life signal. This was the first time Garrus had seen a Geth outside of a history book. They were surprisingly humanoid he thought. He watched as his cannon burst hit it's target, causing a large geth armature to burst into flames, falling back to the earth as dancing pieces of synthetic ash.
"Nice shooting!" exclaimed Shepard.
"Well I only have one target left after you bulldoze the rest. I thought saving the galaxy from an evil mastermind was going to be difficult, stop hogging all the fun Shepard," Garrus protested with a chuckle. He had taken it upon himself to sneak in some last minute alignments to the Mako before he went to bed last night and he wanted to show her off, but it would have to wait til next time. They reached a point where they would have to continue on foot.
Garrus let out an audible sigh of relief when they exited the vehicle. While he was becoming more comfortable with the humans on board, he still preferred to avoid that level of physical contact.
"I'm hurt Garrus, you just couldn't wait to get away from me," said the male biotic with a grin.
Garrus was almost sure he was joking. "Don't worry, it's not you, it's me. I'm sure earth women find you very attractive..." he said.
"I see, I appreciate your honesty" Kaidan said looking off, feigning disappointment.
"Alright lovebirds, take a break from the honeymoon, things are about to get interesting. Garrus, you're my point man, you have permission to fire, but we want to get in as quietly as possible. Kaidan, I want you to put up a barrier, give us some cover."
"Got it," said Kaidan.
"Right behind you Shepard," echoed Garrus.
Therum was hot, reminded him of summers on Palaven. His mind wandered for a split second, a wave of memories of his irradiated home world rushed over him before he was thrust back into reality.
"COLOSSUS!' Shepard roared, pushing Garrus behind a large rock.
"Garrus I need you to Hack it's AI! Kaidan, Heavy Warp!" Shepard ordered.
She gave orders like a Turian woman, firm, concise, lethal. He couldn't deny he liked it.
"I will destroy you!" screamed Alenko, launching his biotic assault.
"Boom!" Garrus shouted as the VI's interface was incapacitated. It was momentarily defenseless.
"Garrus get those Stalkers, I'll handle this," she said, the adrenaline apparent in her voice. She was enjoying this.
"Scoped and dropped!" he said satisfied with his victory. The stalkers moved lightening fast, defying gravity, attaching to any surface, any angle. There had been 4 of them, and 4 shots later there were none.
Most soldiers would have pulled out the big guns to take the mammoth opponent down, but Shepard simply reached around grabbing a single sticky grenade. She threw it with one forceful pass, it glided through the air and gracefully landed exactly where she had intended.
There she goes, having all the fun again he mused.
3...2...1, "Brace for impact!
The squad took cover. Even through their helmets the explosion rattled their senses. Turian ear drums were much better protected than human's but more sensitive. Garrus shook his head and made his way over to what was left of the slain Colossus, it was huge, dwarfing him by comparison. "Now that's what I call a trophy," he commended Shepard.
"If you play your cards right, maybe I'll let you have the next one," she closed one eye and immediately opened it again smiling back at him.
Garrus took note of the expression she made. Was he supposed to mimic it back? He wasn't sure, instead he just gave her a grin. "I gave you that one Shepard, I'll be waiting for round 2."
"We sure showed them!" Kaidan strolled over, obviously late to the party.
Garrus and Shepard exchanged a glance. Sure we did.
Extracting Liara had been difficult. After wandering through the excavation site they found her suspended in some sort of Prothean stasis field, there was also a barrier preventing them from reaching the Prothean controls to free her. After fighting off another wave of geth, they located the mining laser's control panel. With help from his omni-tool Garrus was able to use it to blow a hole through the wall so they could make their way around and come up on the other side of the barrier.
"Thank you, I was beginning to think I would be stuck here forever. Please, get me down from here before more geth arrive. The button to your left should release me," the young asari pleaded.
Shepard made her way to the controls, releasing Liara to the floor.
"How did you get trapped in here in the first place?" Shepard asked.
"When the geth arrived I knew the barrier could protect me, but I must have hit something I wasn't supposed to," she admitted. "I'm still so confused, why would the geth be coming after me?"
"Liara, this may be hard to hear but your mother matched the description of the asari Matriarch that has been reportedly working with a rogue Spectre named Saren, " Shepard explained.
Liara's mother? Why didn't Shepard mention this in the meeting yesterday? Her choice to start here made so much more sense now. I guess I should have had more faith in her...
"You think Benezia has something to do with this? I haven't spoken to her in years! But why would her and this Saren be interested in me?
"Saren is looking for a Prothean artifact, you're a Prothean expert. He probably thinks you can help," suggested Kaidan.
The structure began to shake -
"These ruins are not stable, the laser must have triggered a seismic event," said Liara. "We need to hurry!"
"Any idea how to get out of here?" asked Kaidan.
"There is an elevator by the tower you passed on your way to free me... at least I think it's an elevator. It should take us out of here, come on!" she replied, tentatively sure. "Keep on the watch, there was a Krogan Battlemaster with the geth."
Shepard got on her comm "Joker, get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal. On the double, mister!"
"Aye aye Commander. Secure and aweigh, ETA 8 minutes!" replied the Normandy's pilot.
They ran for the elevator, everything was beginning to cave in around them. They shared a sigh of relief as they reached the platform and prepared to be lifted to safety... and then they saw him. The Krogan Battlemaster and his geth backup approached them.
"Surrender or don't, that would be more fun!" he said.
"We don't have time for this," Shepard muttered just loudly enough for her squad to hear. "Garrus you wanted your shot, take him out!"
He reacted instantly, in one fluid motion he brought the scope to his face and took the shot. The Krogan went down, but a minute later began to stand up again. Stay down! Garrus unleashed another brutal shot. He would not be getting up again in this lifetime.
Garrus had forgotten how tough Krogan could be.
Shepard and Kaidan cleared out the geth that had been with him and they finally began their ascent. The elevator reached the top floor and the squad sprinted their way up the entry tunnel, dodging debris and just clearing the doorway before it collapsed behind them. Out of breath they climbed onto the Normandy.
Garrus didn't know where they would go next but he did know he liked this ship!