Author's Note: A Saturday update! I hope you enjoy and as always I enjoy the reviews! If you haven't, you may want to take a peak at my frame-work story Rain. I'm currently working on the second and final frame-work story for To Hold On or Let Go, and The Sea and The Rose. It's getting closer to being finished, but I still have a few things to flesh out till then.
Garrus' blood was still pumping with adrenaline from what had just happened, but more so from what he had said at the end. He had finally spoken the truth he had held for so long his chest about how he really felt about Shepard. She would always be the one who not only saved his life, but his soul. She would always be his Commander. He couldn't help but keep the smile of satisfaction on his face.
The Security detail standing in front of the doors straighten their posture as he approached the comm room. They must have either watched, or listened to the little match in the hanger bay. He looked over to one of the guards and quickly turned his head to look straight ahead.
"Who is waiting for me?" Garrus asked.
"Can't say sir. Orders." The Marine said nervously.
Garrus put his arms across his chest. "Who's?"
"Commander Lawson's." The Marine replied.
Garrus let out an exasperated sigh. "Okay. Can I go in?" Garrus asked.
"Yes sir!" The Marine quipped, but didn't budge.
Garrus cocked a eyebrow. "Well will you kindly move to the side?"
"Ah...Yes Sir!" The Marine barked and jumped out of Garrus' way.
Damn green horn... Garrus thought as the doors parted open for him, and closed behind him. What he saw next only brought a smile to his face.
"Nice to see ya again Scar face." Came a familiar voice.
Before him were three beings, all whom he knew. He sauntered in to the communications room and lazily took an open seat, and took in a deep breath of air. It was strong with the scent of thermal clips, business, and confidence.
Just like old times... He thought.
A blue hand slid him a small tumbler of water across the table and he lazily caught it with his right. The Asari seat across from him was dressed in a pin stripe dress suite. The jacket was missing, and the white dress shirt was impeccably pressed. The vest worn over it matched the dark navy fluted dress pants, and a wide red tie was worn around her neck. The outfit was ancient is style, but added copiously to the Asari's already unmistakable air of Power.
"Its nice to see a Turian who hasn't let his position waste his good looks. If Turians had any good looks that is." The Asari said with a small smile. "And you smell even less of Cop."
Garrus chuckled at the compliment as did the other people in the room. ...Like old times indeed...
"I'm touched Aria. You came all the way out here from your Palace on Omega just to see me? Like I said I'm touched." He smiled as he took a drink of the water, enjoying the cold liquid as it slipped down his throat. Aria's face twisted into a frown, and Garrus again 'smiled'.
"Don't be damn cocky. You must have been living under a rock the past few days if you don't know why I'm here." She said sourly crossing her arms in front of her.
Garrus also turned business like in turn. "I already knew why you were here, but that doesn't explain them." He cocked his head over to where Aria's two 'companion's were. One seated with feet on the table, the other was leaning against the wall.
"Well it seems that lately Esthasia has been seeing all the action and fun. Holdin out on us again Vakarian?" Said an old gruff voice with a heavy Australian accent.
Garrus slid his eyes over to the leaning figure. Even for his age, the Veteran was still imposing. The man's muscular right arm still displayed the garnish series of tattoos that roamed to no end over the limb. Yet gone was the yellow and black piece meal suite of combat armor he had worn years ago. Now in its place was one of polished blue and silver with the Blue Suns, Aria's Blue Suns, logo embossed on the left shoulder plate.
She runs the books, He leads the men. A match made in heaven... Garrus mused. He started to swirl the glass tumbler in circles on the table causing the water to gently rock in the glass casing.
"Good to see you Massani." Garrus said cheerfully.
"What the fuck am I? Roasted varren?" the other seated being said heatedly as a swift kick hit the table. The water in the tumbler shook in indignation at the gesture.
Seated there was Zaeed's second in command. She was dressed in a pair of baggy Navy blue cargo pants, and her torso was clad with a form fitting black tank top, and a navy blue vest with silver trim. Yet she had a medium sized red stripe running down the right breast.
A testament to the 'Boss Lady'... Garrus thought with a smile.
While Zaeed sported an arm of art, her body was a filled canvas. Her hair was buzzed short, save for a bare tattoo line that ran diagonally across her skull. Her build was thin, almost frail like. But that belied her experience, and her biotics.
In her words, she was not a bitch to mess with.
"Now how could I ever forget the life of the party." Garrus gave her a look of camaraderie.
"Fuck yes..." She said with a smile.
Garrus leaned back in his seat, and his eyes narrowed at Aria before him. " So Like I said why are you here? It's obvious 'your' here for Shepard's trial, and the Suns are here for security; as I am sure Esthasia needs it right now. But why did you come to the Ardennes to meet with me? Your well read, I'm not CSec any more. Frankly I'm surprised to see you on an Alliance ship at all."
Aria gave one of her 'quaint' business smiles and she lean forward on the table. "There are very few people who I answer to when they call, just so happens that T'Soni is one of them. And when it comes to this being an Alliance ship; I may be the head of the board for the Confederated Terminus Union, but the Alliance and the Blue Suns have some very beneficial contracts, and one of the 'perks' is having a level of diplomatic recognition by an Officer of the Ship. Though the Marine escort is damn annoying all the time. Its a wonder how they even remember to zip up their jumpsuit after taking a piss."
Smart woman. Nice move Miranda...Garrus smiled.
"Well that is all nice and nice, but your dodging the real question. Again what's in this little party for me. Your not here to collect on the bounty of my head are you?" Garrus said wanting to get to the point.
Zaeed chuckled and said aloud. "Now that would be goddamn suicide!"
Aria shared his humor with a sinister smile. "The thought had ran across my mind, but I don't deal in innocent men, and its also not worth the time or the effort. Zaeed has an offer for you."
Garrus crossed his arms, but piqued hit eyes. "Oh yeah, what's the offer?"
"I figure you would go stir crazy stuck in this tin can with nothing to calibrate." Zaeed said with a smile.
Garrus just glowered at him.
"I need another Captain for the operation here. I have the men, but I need combat experience and leadership if shit hits the fan, like I'm expecting it too." Zaeed said coolly.
"We got ya a set of amour, some face paint. No one will give a fuck about you. Even less when your with the Suns." Jack added in.
"Nice to know I'm still loved." He said with a grin. "What makes you sure there will be trouble?" Garrus asked. he knew the answer, but wanted to hear it.
Aria got up from he seat and turned to face the metal plated wall. It was a nervous tick her hers. She always faced away from her questionnaire when she didn't want her face to be read.
"Well first there is the 'silent' coup at C-Sec, covered by framing you for the failed attempted murder of a Councilor."
"Why do you think it was a failed attempt'?" Garrus asked curiously.
"Drop the Cop act. It doesn't fit you and it's not very becoming of a Captain of the Suns." She bit back. "No Alliance ship has left Esthasia for days. The Alliance doesn't cremate their dead heroes, and keeping a body on ice without the ship going anywhere is pointless. So he's not dead. Besides, you have been given practically free rein of the ship, which I highly doubt you would have if he was really dead, regardless if you had killed him or not."
She turned back around to face him. "Now that's not saying that someone didn't want Anderson out of the way or at the very least didn't want him talking, but like I said; only a failed attempted was made.
Garrus' eyes narrowed. Shrewd Asari...
"But that is not the main reason is it. The Coup, or the supposed assassination. No; what we are really dealing with is Shepard, the iconic symbol." Her voice almost contained a glean of reverence at the name, but it was soon gone. "This trial is costing me business and money. I'm here to see that it gets dealt with and done." She moved forward heading towards the door.
Garrus frowned. Yep, like old times. And he got up as well to leave. He was sick of people not caring. Wanting only what was in it for them and not giving a damn about anyone else, or what really mattered.
Aria passed by on his right, but stopped, and he froze for a moment wondering at what she was going to do. She gripped his forearm firmly with her hand, her eyes looking directly ahead, but she spoke to him. "Don't for one second presume to know my intentions Vakarian. Like I said I'm here to see this dealt with."
Garrus shifted his eyes towards her. This time her words sounded honest and true to him. She let go of his arm and walked out of the room.
"So what will it be hotshot? Run with the Blues? Or stay here and watch history from the sidelines?" Zaeed called to him.
"C'mon Scar Face. You know you want some fun just like old times." Jack grinned.
Garrus looked at them, and it didn't take any time for him to make up his mind.
[][][][][][]
Anderson sat tall in the chair. The air in the cabin unsettlingly still. The glow of the hologram of a piano keyboard before him. The orange glow bathing his dark toned face.
He needed to play. His fingers ached to reach for the image. He needed the release, but not for the enjoyment of it. In his mind he was screaming. He was trapped. He knew what was coming. What was going to happen. He had known for nearly ten years. No it was longer than that...
Playing was he only way he could scream now.
Here he could be weak.
Base.
Obscene.
He started.
The strokes heavy, but slow. Repetitive, yet timed. It what the same tune over and over again, the repetition changing pace, but never melody. It spoke of guilt, of mourning, or loss...
I have to break this cycle. He thought.
The same tones, the same strokes continued. Repeating, replaying. Much like the memory that refused to be purged from his mind.
Damn it! Why won't it go away!
It was burning. Gone, Scuttled. The icon of the civilized Galaxy had been reduced to nothing more then burning, drifting wreckage.
The station was gone.
But the vista of carnage had not ended there. Dozens of ships lay before his view, burning, or burned out. Listing, or wrenching apart. Most of the hulks reflected the hodgepodge fleet that had come. Some were centuries old, others completely Alien.
Yet the Fleet was not destroyed. It was victorious, and had what remained of the Citadel protection Fleet surrounded. Corralled. Trapped.
And the fleet followed her.
In any other circumstance. Her fleet would have been beyond impressive and awe inspiring. It would have been described as unstoppable. Unremitting.
Yet the cause of the unfathomable amount of destruction that lay before his eyes was not the battle of two titanic fleets. Not some galactic calamity, but the result of engaging just seven of the enemy ships. Just Seven.
...No. Not just enemy ships... Anderson turned his gaze to the obsidian remains of one of the creatures. It's dead tentacles still reached out towards him like Death's hand.
Anderson still couldn't believe it. Geth and Quarian fleets combined in to one fleet had saved the Ascension, and by her command had laid waste to the Citadel.
"Councilors. Shepard's shuttle has docked." The intercom spoke calmly. The deck that the council was in was bathed in a dim red. The emergency sirens had long since been silenced. The Destiny Ascension had barely kept together, again, but for the moment the mammoth ship was secure, and able to travel under it's own power.
"Take her in to custody immediately!" Screamed Daice. His voice was quaking with both rage and fear.
"Belay that." Anderson said calmly still looking out at the dead Reaper.
"Anderson what are you doing? She means to murder us all!" Valern said with terror fully in his eyes.
Perhaps he was right. Perhaps she does intend to finally punish us for our crimes. Anderson mused. But no. That is not how this meeting went...
"If Shepard wanted this Council dead, she has had ample opportunity to do so." He said icily.
"So your granting a Mass Murderer an audience with the Council?" Roared Udina.
Anderson calmly turned to where Udina stood. Fear was in the small man's face. Anderson knew why.
...I didn't know what to think when she returned... I didn't know what to do. So I did nothing...But I have to do something now. Or it will be the end of us all...
"No. Advisor. I am granting the Council an audience with Humanity's first Specter."
The Room's door opened with a hiss and Anderson's breath was caught in his throat as he turned to see the visitor. The cold of the ship started to creep in to his bones, or rather something else was sapping the warmth from the room. The hallway behind the figure seemed to have dimmed even more, or rather the figure was like a black hole. It consumed the light and it's eyes glowed an eerie ruby. The glow was subtle, but there none the less. The creature's hair was a mass of rusty tendrils from sweat and exertion, yet the creature was no where near tired. Metallic fluid from the Reaper's hordes was splattered on the red amour it wore. The creature walked slowly in to the chamber. It's gate was not cautious, nor arrogant, but demanded attention to it's presence.
With a nod of Councilor Tevos' head Council guards materialized on either side of the creature from their secluded stations. They were going for It, trying to stop It. They were in arm's length when the situation became apparent that the creature had not come alone. One guard was tossed across the chamber like a ragdoll by an Asari and became a crumpled hulk against the wall. The other was hauled and thrown back against a chamber pillar and pinned by an enraged Turian. He roared at his caught prey they he held fast in his grip. The creature continued to walk into the room unfazed by what had happened behind her.
Anderson let out a slight shiver at the sight of the creature remaining so calm in a sea of calamity around her.
"You...You have a lot to answer for Shepard." Councilor Valern said firmly, trying to feign confidence.
The creature didn't answer as she neared the same vast window that Anderson had been peering out.
"Why...Why have you come?" Daice asked meekly.
She gave no reply as she looked out at the dead Reaper what was drifting away. Her face was hidden from view.
"Shepard?" Anderson asked. Are you even her?
She raised her hand up to her head and gave a simple calm command. "Do it."
"Acknowledged." An audibly synthesized voice replied.
Twenty Geth Ships suddenly opened in a torrent of energy. The fire storm arced in to the Reaper corpse and tore it apart. The resulting shockwave of it's final blast struck the Destiny Ascension like an earthquake. If the blast had been any closer, it would have been doubtful that the Ascension would have survived. The fragments of the Reaper blew away flying in to deep space and the stars beyond.
"Do you really think that heavy handed tactics will make us cower? To bend to your demands?" Tevos said with rage.
Shepard slowly spun around and gave Tevos a rebuking glance. Her pupils shone with outrage. Tevos just swallowed as she held her tongue. Shepard's attention then turned to Valern, and he shivered as she looked upon him. He backed away and she moved forward.
"Tell me Councilor." Her voice was low and feral, but at the same time, seductive. Her eyes shifted back towards the window. "Was that corpse, that body, that was just destroyed a delusion of a mad woman?"
Valern didn't respond but only averted his eyes. She turned away throwing her back towards the Council.
And we deserved it... Anderson croaked, and he continued to play at the keys.
"To begin. I will have your fleets." She said airily.
"You can't just storm in here and start taking what you wish! Look at what you have done!" Daice stormed.
She turned to face him. Her face was lined with thin red fissures, her eyes shone brighter with anger. "Considering I saved this Council, again, and have secured the Mass Relays; I would have expected the Council to be more...grateful." Her tone as acidic as it was berating.
"Grateful? The Citadel is gone!" Tevos screamed.
"And we are at war! If you haven't noticed Earth is being invaded and not by Geth, and not by just seven Reapers. Thousands. And more come with every moment that is wasted...But you already knew that..." She said, her tone like ice.
The Council was silent. She knew...She knew...
"They will go to your home worlds, to your colonies. They will not stop. They will take or kill everyone." Her voice was ethereal.
We were fools... Anderson thought as he remembered her face. In her eyes he saw an unspoken torment that roiled away inside her just below the surface.
"So. As I said. First I'll take your fleets, and your armies. Second, I will have every item of war material and resource you have." She turned away from Council and started to walk calmly towards the door. The guard who had crumpled to the floor was just now starting to get up.
"And third?" Udina said with unmasked anger and distain.
She shot him a withering look. "Stay out of my way. Grand Admiral vas Normandy who is currently commanding the Raya will escort the Destiny Ascension to Rhanoch. There the Council will continue to manage the political side of this war."
"Rhanoch? Your giving us right in to Geth's hands!" Daice cringed.
"And the Quarian's. There you will be safe. Your no good to me dead." She looked to her compatriots. "Liara, Garrus. We're done here."
The Turian let the pinned guard go with a menacing growl and the Asari turned to follow her Commander in one fluid and graceful motion.
"You...you will be the end of us all!" Cried Valern is rage.
As Shepard approached the door she stopped and spoke one last time to the most powerful beings in the Galaxy. The four that had the ability to uplift entire species, or doom them to extinction. The four that had the ability to rewrite history, and emboss law on the masses. But she did not stop to look at any of them.
"Councilors. When this is over...and the survivors start to ask why did this happen. When they see that you had years to prepare, and did nothing. That all you did was squabble and hide the truth. They will come for you. And when they come howling like wolves for your blood, I will do exactly what you did. Nothing." She pressed forward and her form then was enveloped in the dark red light of the corridor that stretched beyond the chamber.
And the memory slipped back in to the present. But Anderson could still see Liara T'Soni sanding at the door way looking at him...
"Anderson?" She spoke softly, her voice ringing like crystal.
He blinked his eyes and found that his hands were sweating and pressed down on the table in front of him, beyond the holographic keyboard that lay before him. And he looked up to see her clearly. She looked like the very image of a mystical forest goddess from old childhood folk stories. Yet there was a chill to her as she pressed forward and locked the door behind her.
Unconsciously he licked his dry lips, and swallowed as she drew oppressively closer. He wanted to push away from the table, to get away from her chilling presence, yet he found he could not move. His eyes looked down at the bracelet on her left arm, and his heart began to race.
"What do you need me to do?" He asked softly. I feel like I have to do something...
As soon as the words left his mouth, and only for a moment, he saw Liara's face flash a dagger of anger at him. Her eyes turned as cold as blue sapphire and spoke to him, Haven't you done enough? But just as quickly as the whiteout occurred, it passed, and she turned her face to break the view.
"Nothing Councilor. For the moment, it is best, for everyone, if you are still thought to be dead. We still don't know who attacked you, or even if they really wanted you dead." She said coolly.
He furrowed his brow in frustration, but knew best not to argue with her. "I understand." But why are you here? He wondered. There would have been need for her to come and tell him any of this, let alone lock the door from prying eyes and ears. She wanted something...
she turned to look at him again, her ocean blue depths inviting his eyes. "How many N7 Operatives currently exist?" She spoke softly. Her voice betraying no emotion, and no motive.
His breath cough in his throat, and out of reflex his mind leapt at all the 'official' explanations that he had used...had been told to use, when such questions arose concerning the N7 program. He looked into the cold depths of Liara's ocean blue eyes. He knew such explanations would pale pitifully to even attempt to use them on her.
So he didn't. He told her the truth.
"Just two."
Liara closer her eye's. From relief or sadness Anderson could not tell. "Just two N7 Operatives still exist from a program that was ran for twenty years?" She spoke.
"Yes." He quipped. He slumped forward letting his age weight him down for a moment.
"Why was the Program shut down in 2178?" She said softly. He could tell from her tone, she knew, or at least she had an idea of why, but she wanted to hear it from him.
Anderson averted his eyes to the ground, and swallowed as old memories came flooding back. "After Torfan, an 'informal' investigation was launched in to the program. The official statement was that the Alliance was streamlining it's proficiency classifications, going back to the old N1 to N6 ratings. But in reality, the Alliance understood that the program had the potential to create something...else...that would be beyond their control."
Outrage again flashed on her face, but Liara's exterior remained calm. "Thank you Councilor for your time, but I should go." She said airily and quietly drifted back to the door.
Say something! Do something you old fool! Anderson screamed at himself. His voice caught her as Liara was at the door. "I never meant for this to happen...Liara. This is not why I asked for you two to come here..." His voice choked with sorrow and regret.
Liara stopped at the door. "I know..." She replied, and then she was gone.
Anderson was alone again. He slumped back down in to the chair, and looked at the bare table in front of him. He scowled and in frustration slammed both of his fists on to it.