CHAPTER 13
Rosemary watched Garrus and Vega spar in the shuttle bay, fascinated. Both were fast, and while Vega packed more in his punches, Garrus was faster. She admired the way he darted his body away from Vega's fists, getting away most of the times. They had been going for a while, now... while Rosemary had just watched. Yes, she was a creeper. It was who she was, and she had long accepted that fact.
Admiring Vega's sweaty body and the way Garrus bared his teeth in a feral grin was all well and good for heating Rosemary's blood – but right now, other thoughts overwhelmed her carnal ones.
She could only imagine what a fighter Shepard had been. From the vids she'd seen and the articles she'd read, Shepard had been one hell of a soldier. It had been rare to see images of the Commander without her helmet, but Rosemary remembered her as being beautiful, too. But it was her spirit that had impressed Rosemary and Oliver the most.
Saving the Council, clearing Tali'Zorah vas Normandy of treason charges, uplifting the geth, saving her crew from the Collectors, destroying the Collector base, curing the genophage... the list went on and on. Shepard had been a being of power, and she had used her influence to shape the tides of galactic society. She wasn't a Shepard. She was just... Rosemary.
She studied Garrus. To Garrus, Shepard hadn't been a hero. She'd been just... Emma. First and foremost, she'd been just a woman to him. His woman.
She wanted to fight. Sure, she had krogan strength now, but she didn't know how to utilize it properly. She could learn how to... Rosemary slumped. She knew herself to know that she could persuade herself to learn how to defend herself... but nothing beyond that. She didn't have the stomach for it. The sight of blood had a way of bringing the contents of her stomach up, through her throat and mouth, and onto whatever poor soul or object that happened to be in front of her.
She'd had that problem when volunteering to clean up the Citadel too, post-war. Saeli had put her on the terminals, to identify the recovered bodies. Rosemary stirred. She could do that now, too. She left the shuttle bay to go up to the CIC.
Traynor was at her usual station.
"Ms. Traynor?"
Traynor smiled at Rosemary. "Please. It's just 'Traynor' or 'Sam'. Can I help you, Ms. Fletcher?"
"Yes, you can... Sam. But please – call me Rosemary. Or Rose. Or Rosie."
"Gotcha," Traynor grinned. "So what can I help you with, Rose?"
Rosemary fidgeted. "So I hear... from... people, that you can... find stuff... on stuff... in some sort of magic way... on your terminal?"
Traynor laughed. "It's hardly magic," she teased. "And yes... I can find 'stuff' on 'stuff' for you. What do you need?"
"I want to find Saeli T'Garu."
The Communications Specialist turned serious on heeding that. "Yeah, Alenko's been on me for that. So's the Council. Problem is – it's not like there's a database on Justicars. They're surprisingly old fashioned. I wouldn't be surprised if they kept their records on paper. Can you imagine that?"
"I was close to her. I may be able to help."
Traynor straightened. "Any information you have would be a great deal of help. What did she tell you about herself?"
Rosemary closed her eyes and focused on her memories. "I know she spent most of her maiden years in Omega, stripping."
"That's not much of a lead," Yadai said, walking up behind the two humans. "Nearly every asari shake their maiden years away."
"She was a mercenary for a time, before settling down and having a family. She had two daughters, who became Huntresses. They died in the War. She then had an authoritative position in repairing the Citadel."
Yadai frowned. "Yeah, that's pretty much what Samara told us. Did she tell you anything else? Any planet she was fond of?"
"She was born and raised on Thessia, and spent most of her mercenary years around Omega. But... she had a soft spot for Lymetis. It's where she lived with her mate, and raised her daughters. She often spoke of her house there. It was small, but she had multiple greenhouses." One of Saeli's passions was growing flowers. She had spent a lot of her free time on Earth visiting gardens and conservatories.
Yadai's eyes widened. "We didn't know that."
"Yes, I could use that..." Traynor murmured. "Anything else?"
Alenko and Samara had joined them around the CIC, listening in. Rosemary sighed. "Not really. From her stories, she was kind of bloodthirsty during her time as a mercenary. I thought that kind of went hand in hand with being part of the Blood Pack."
Samara stilled. "Blood Pack?"
Yadai shook her head. "That's impossible. Blood Pack started out pure vorcha, before it got taken over by battlemaster Ganar Wrang. Even now, they only take on krogan and vorcha."
Rosemary shrugged. "It's what she told me. I really don't know much about space gangs."
"Heh. 'Space gangs'. Sounds like a kid's cartoon show," Traynor snickered.
Rosemary smiled. Samara looked deep in thought. "Fascinating. I had always assumed she'd been in Eclipse."
Yadai was excited. "We could use this! Good! I'm tired of doing nothing!"
"Well, we're doing something now," Alenko said, stepping forward. "We've got the location of two hybrids – in need of immediate extraction."
"Where," Yadai asked.
"Illium."
XOXOXOXO
"Why am I here again," Rosemary asked for what had to be the third time, at least.
"Because I'd miss you," Yadai said cheekily.
"Will someone give me a real answer?"
Rosemary, Yadai, and Alenko were in one shuttle, and Samara, Vega, and Garrus in another. EDI had stayed behind on the Normandy with Traynor, monitoring their progress and alerts from a safe distance.
Alenko had barely told them anything. Most of what he said had been in quarrel with Vega. "Hey man," Vega had protested. "I'm the Normandy's Commander – and I want to know what we're about to fly into."
"Oh yeah," Alenko had countered. "Well, I'm... a Spectre."
"That means nothin' on my ship, cabron!"
"Dick-measuring idiots," Yadai muttered. Rosemary chuckled. "Wasting our time on that shit. So not we're in a shuttle, getting ready to... feel free to jump in, Alenko. I'm a Spectre too, and you don't see me flinging that shit around."
Alenko shrugged, looking sheepish. "Actually, I know close to nothing. Didn't want to tell Vega that, though. All I know is there are hybrids down there. Needs our help. I wanted two teams because they could be at one of two locations."
Yadai rolled her eyes. "Idiot."
Rosemary agreed. "What kind of hybrids?"
"Salarian-human mix. The other's a turian-human. Both sets of parents killed. My gut says it's Divide."
"But how did they find them?"
"I know close to nothing," Alenko said again. "We're here for the hybrids, and the one who sent the distress call – a fellow Spectre."
Yadai's head shot up. "Name?"
"Jondum Bau."
Yadai cursed. "Jondum? Damn it, we have to find him."
Rosemary was confused. "Wait... there's already a Spectre here?"
"Did you think the Council was doing nothing about this problem?"
Yeah... she had thought that. Great, now I feel guilty.
To escape the heat of the planet's surface, Illium's skyscrapers crawled against the rosy expanse of the sunset – a marvel of arcology architecture.
Yadai was now tapped into the communications between Alenko and Bau. "Jondum – where are you?"
"Yadai," a weak voice crackled on her omni-tool. "Damn. Not you."
"Shut it, Jondom. Give us your coordinates."
"... Promise not to blow up any buildings on the way? Don't think I could survive that."
Alenko and Yadai exchanged smirks. "No promises."
As Bau relayed his position, Rosemary tapped her chest armor with trepidation. This was the first time she'd worn armor in her life. Lieutenant Cortez had assured her that Kassa Fabrication Armor prioritized shields, and that it was in good condition for a five-year-old model. It took a bit of poking, but he finally confessed that it had been the only shield-specializing armor set in their inventory that could fit her. Soldiers didn't often come in her size, he had explained apologetically.
Rosemary squirmed. It was a little tight around her chest, but manageable. She thought of Samara, and her armor. Is that what it took for larger-breasted women nowadays? Armor with plunging necklines, she wondered wryly.
"Stay behind us," Yadai ordered her.
Rosemary looked around and nodded. She didn't have any delusions of military competence. She would stay where she told, and out of the way. They were on a high balcony of a nondescript tower. Rosemary did her best to keep up as they went into the building, and proceeded into a maze of hallways.
"He's around here somewhere," Alenko murmured.
They were in a web of cubicles, dusty with debris. Bullet-holes riddled the walls, and blood was splattered on the floors and ceilings. "Jondom put up a fight," Yadai muttered.
Rosemary tried not to look at the blood. But there was just so many of it... and no bodies. That messed with her more than anything. Had someone dragged their bodies somewhere? Or were there angry, injured assassins running about? Both thoughts made her uneasy.
Then Yadai saw the slightest smudge of green on an office door. She looked at her omni-tool for confirmation. "Jondom?"
"It's... about time you got here."
Yadai knelt next to the salarian leaning against the desk, holding his hand to his side. His green blood gleamed on his black and yellow armor, on his hand and running down the corner of his mouth. Yadai shushed him and started applying medi-gel to his wound. He managed to push her away. "Don't be... stupid. You have to go."
"Jondom," Yadai chastised.
"Tracer... on assassin. Go get him. Krogan. White armor. Now go!"
Alenko frowned, torn. "Our priority -"
"- is to rescue the hybrids. Got a nurse right here," the salarian said, referencing Rosemary. "Go."
Yadai scowled. "If you die, I'll tell your brother you died a janitor for a backwoods Spectre outpost."
Jondom grinned. Rosemary took Yadai's supply of medi-gel and knelt next to the salarian. "I'll keep him alive, Yadai. Now go."
Once they were gone, Rosemary finished applying medi-gel to the injured Spectre's side.
"What are you doing," Jondom coughed.
Rosemary wiped her hand against the desk chair. "What do you mean?"
"You didn't... slap on the medi-gel. You applied it in... a weird way."
"Oh. I found that applying it in a weave pattern doubles its effectiveness. Realized it after a few years. Got a husk bite that won't heal properly," she told Jondom, gently easing him against the wall.
Jondom winced, but eventually relaxed into the more comfortable position. He glanced outside the office and froze.
"What is it?"
"Where... are the bodies?"
Rosemary frowned. "I was wondering about that. I thought maybe you had..."
Jondom shook his head. "Do I look like I'm in any shape to do that? No... I took out three, though. There should be three bodies."
Carefully, Rosemary peeked over the desk. There was no one there. Why would the assassin want to move the bodies of her fellows? Especially since there were three Spectres still hanging around. Then she saw a red light flash – in a line, to focus on her forehead.
Shit!
CRACK!
She ducked a little too slow and the sniper's bullet smashed through her shields.
OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod! That should have killed her!
Jondom tensed and grabbed his gun. Rosemary, still vibrating from the near-death experience, knew she couldn't let him fight. He would die.
I am an idiot! Calling herself all kinds of fool, Rosemary kept low and got to the door.
Tap tap tap! Someone was running – towards her! She peeked her head out for a millisecond then ducked down again. CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! Someone in white armor was running from cover to cover towards her, spraying the office with gunfire.
"Get down," Jondom hissed.
Twenty seconds later, Rosemary was looking up through the barrel of a pistol. The assassin was wearing white armor, and the same elaborate purple mask she'd seen the first assassin wear. It was heavily stylized, but it sort of looked like the face of a familiar asari. Before things had happened so fast, she hadn't taken the time to notice – but the mask looked like Saeli's face. It was heavily stylized, but she recognized her former friend all the same. And it had magenta markings, like Saeli had told her she'd once had in her maiden years. Rosemary was furious. Who did Saeli think she was?
Rosemary took the assassin by surprise, knocking the pistol away from her face. Seeing everything in a red haze, Rosemary roared as she charged, knocking the assassin down. The mask was jarred – revealing a violet-skinned asari with a tribal, emerald face tattoo. Rosemary blinked, and forced herself to focus. "Who are you?"
The asari snarled and pointed the pistol at Rosemary's face. "Cicely Donec is the name of the one sending you to hell!"
CRACK!
Rosemary blocked the shot with an arm, felt her shields crack, and leapt back, barely avoiding a slice to her throat. Not knowing where it came from, she snaked her arm past the omni-blade and shoved Cicely back, throwing her against the desk.
Cicely got back up and bared her teeth at Rosemary. "Saeli said you'd gotten demon help. Krogan strength, huh? Do you know how many krogan I've killed? Dozens!"
Cicely shouted this boast as she fired at the wall, where Rosemary had taken cover.
"I'm more than a match for you – you don't even know how to fight!"
Rosemary yelped as she was ensnared by Cicely's biotic power and thrown across the room, crashing hard into cubicle walls.
"OW!" Automatically, she braced herself for the pain – that didn't come. Not really. Off a hunch, she threw off her helmet to pinch her skin. She could barely do it; her skin was as hard as plate. She barely had time to register this as Cicely raised her pistol's omni-blade, a hateful look on her face. Her reflexes were too slow; the blade sliced her neck.
"The hell...?!"
Rosemary winced. Her neck was intact, but the cut was deep. Ignoring the pain and blood spilling down her neck, she grabbed Cicely by her neck. The asari twisted in her armor, spewing hate. "You useless, pathetic human," she raged. "I am one of thousands! Where there are abominations, there is Divide! We will wipe your sinful stain from existence!"
Rosemary growled deep in her throat. For a second, she contemplated killing her. She hesitated.
The asari's head exploded in front of her. Gasping, Rosemary let her go.
Samara walked to stand next to her, gun in hand. She looked down at Cicely's body. "Are you all right, Rosemary?"
Rosemary's legs gave way. She stared at Samara, her complexion green. "Seriously?"
