"You're over-reacting." Shepard said as they stepped into the crowded Omega street. She looked around as they walked, getting her bearings. It was different coming in by the shuttle ports instead of the usual ship docking bays.
"Hardly." Garrus replied, a taloned hand resting against his stomach. "I never would have thought it possible, but your piloting skills are worse than your driving ones."
"Hey, leave my driving out of this." Shepard retorted, riling at the old jab. "I've told you before that the Mako was a complex piece of machinery. And besides, I think I handled it pretty well after the first few tries."
"If by pretty well, you mean well enough to not flip us over anymore, then oh yeah, you were a regular pro."
Shepard hit him.
"Ouch, fine, fine. Let's agree to disagree." Garrus said, rubbing his wound as he looked around. "Fastest way to the merchant district would be down that there." He pointed and the two of them set off. They walked side by side, hands and arms occasionally bumping as they were jostled by the busy crowd around them.
"Feels strange being out like this, just the two of us." Garrus commented after a while.
"Really?" Shepard asked, tearing her gaze away from an ad for a model ship store. She made a mental note to stop by there before they left. She glanced over at Garrus, noting the stiffness in his gait as they walked. Did being back on Omega make him tense? Of course it does. He lost his whole team here and nearly died himself. You shouldn't have asked him to come.
"Yeah. You're usually all about the 'three-man squad.'" Garrus continued, shouldering his way past a group of arguing vorcha in their path. One of them hissed at the interruption, but didn't dare more than that after spotting the pair's armor and weapons.
Shepard arched her brows Garrus, but didn't comment on his brusque treatment of the vorcha. "Everyone else was still asleep and it made more sense to leave Tali there to help out." she said and then paused, thinking. "Well, Miranda was up. We could have brought her."
Garrus huffed, his mandibles flicking. "And wait for her to do her hair? I don't think the Normandy could have lasted that long, even with Tali doing damage control."
Shepard grinned, glad she'd brought Garrus along despite her guilt; the turian always managed to make her feel at ease. It's nice, she thought, having him around. It felt easy. Natural, even.
They walked in silence for a time, Garrus leading the way and Shepard taking in the sites. In many ways Omega reminded her of the slums back on Earth. The flashing neon lights, the stores and clubs that never closed, the trash in the streets, the beggers in the alleys. If it weren't for the lack of blue sky and excess of alien faces, she might never have been able to tell the two apart.
She heard Garrus' voice through the din of noises surrounding them, pulling her from her thoughts. "What?" she asked, looking over at him.
"I asked if you were awake over there." He repeated, leading them down a side street. It was emptier than the main one and quieter. "You looked like one of those walking human corpses from Joker's vids. What are they called, crumbies?" he asked, drawing the word out as he tilted his head in concentration.
"Zombies?" Shepard guessed, her mouth twitching at his confusion.
He nodded. "Yeah, those."
She wasn't sure if she should take the comparison as an insult or not. "Actually, I was just thinking of home." she said, and then frowned slightly. Why had she told him that?
Garrus' mandibles flicked. "Your home? Earth, right?"
"Yeah," Shepard answered, eyes watching the mix and match assortment of species that surrounded them. "Though calling it that doesn't make much sense. Haven't been there in years."
"Tell me about it." Garrus said, and Shepard felt her brows rise slightly in surprise.
"Not much to tell." She said, shrugging her shoulders. "The part I grew up in was a lot like Omega, actually. Less aliens though." She added, giving him a pointed look. "In fact, I didn't see a turian in person until years after I joined up with the Alliance."
"A shame you went without such splendor for so long." Garrus commented.
"Without a doubt." she replied. "Had to make do with just beetles before then."
"Beetles?"
Shepard felt the corner of her lip curl as she shook her head. "Forget it."
"Right." They turned another corner.
"What's Palaven like?" Shepard asked after a moment.
"Hot." Garrus answered immediately, giving Shepard the sense there was an old joke there. "First thing I noticed after leaving it was how much cooler everywhere else was. You other species have it so easy. No wonder you're all so soft."
"Says the turian who can't function without his hot showers, apparently."
Garrus' mandibles flicked again. "Truthfully, though, it's not all that bad. It's more tropical than anything else."
Shepard nodded. "I remember you saying something like that back on..." She trailed off as memories of that day flashed before her. She pushed the images away and cleared her throat. "Back on Virmire."
"Yeah." Garrus said, giving no indication if he'd noticed her pause or not as he looked around. They'd finally arrived at the marketplace. "Alright, there should be a mech place somewhere around here. Too bad you sent that quarian off, or we could have just gone to him."
"The kid was miserable and deserved a second chance." Shepard explained as they walked past a ramen shop. Her mouth watered as the smell of onions and broth reached them. What were the chances they carried both dextro and levo food there? "Besides, he's the one who sold us the bad parts to begin with.
Garrus shrugged. "Still would have been helpful right now."
"Look, there's Marsh's place." Shepard said, pointing to the Omega Market. "He should have something. If nothing else, he'll be able to point us in the right place."
"And if we're lucky we'll be able to put that hard earned discount of yours to use." Garrus commented, shooting her a sidelong look. She rolled her eyes at him and they made their way over to the store front. It was mostly empty at this time of day, with only two other customers browsing the wares when they arrived. Their backs were to Shepard, but it was enough for her to tell one was human and the other salarian.
"Marsh." She said, walking up to the batarian. He looked up from a datapad on the counter and blinked his eyes.
"Commander Shepard." He greeted, nodding. "Back on Omega?"
"For a bit. I need some parts for the ship." she explained, resting her weight on her forearms as she leaned forward on the counter. Garrus took up a stance beside her, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched the crowd outside the shop.
"Anything I can help with?" Marsh asked as put his datapad away and gave her his full attention.
"I'm looking for these. Know where I can get them?" Shepard asked, bringing the information up on her omni-tool and showing it to him. She waited while he read it over, watching the other customers from the corner of her eyes; their backs were still towards her, but she could see the stiff gestures one of them – the human - was making in Marsh's direction as he spoke.
"Hmm. You're in luck, human. I got pair of those in stock just two days ago. Pretty rare. And costly." He added.
"Good thing I've got that discount then." Shepard commented, focusing her attention back on him. "How much?"
"Five hundred credits."
Shepard examined her gloved hand. "Four hundred."
The batarian sighed. "Four fifty. That's as low as I go, Shepard."
She straightened up. "It'll have to do, I guess." She heard Garrus snort quietly in amusement next to her as she punched her payment information into the nearby kiosk. She shot him a sideways glance, her brows raised. The turian gave her a small shrug and went back to his people watching.
"What dock should I order the delivery to?" he asked, opening up his own omni-tool.
"No dock this time." Shepard answered. "We came by shuttle. Can we just pick the parts up ourselves? We're in a rush."
The batarian frowned. "Hold on," he said as he checked his omni-tool. Shepard glanced over at the other customers again, noting that the human was leaving. His posture was stiff as he stalked away, while the salarian seemed to pull into himself in response, huddling over slightly. Shepard raised one her brows; there was something familiar about the way the human had held himself. It was the rigid set of his shoulders as he walked. They had looked almost militaristic; a sharp change against the somewhat hunched form favored by the untrained mercenaries that usually filled the area.
"Alright, it's cleared." Marsh said, pulling her attention back to him. "Here are the coordinates to the warehouse. The guards on duty should know you're coming. If there's any trouble just give em this" he added, handing her a small pink slip.
"Right. Thanks for the help Marsh." Shepard nodded, pocketing the paper, then turned to leave.
Marsh grunted and went back to his datapad. "Come back the next time you need something."
"You'd think with the budget Cerberus gives us you wouldn't need to be such a cheapass." Garrus remarked as they set off down the street.
"A good deal never hurt anyone." Shepard retorted, bringing up a map of the district on her omni-tool. The warehouse was relatively close to them, situated on the southern end of the Tuhi District, but was still far enough away that she found herself debating whether it would just be quicker to take a transit shuttle there or not. She glanced up at the crowd around them, which had thickened up with more humans as the morning had worn on. The transit lines would probably be packed with commuters. "Know any shortcuts to this warehouse?" she asked, showing her omni-tool to Garrus.
"Hmm," he hummed as he leaned over her to look at it. A subtle scent of soap mixed with gun grease surrounded him, and Shepard felt herself swallow slightly, resisting the sudden urge to breathe in deep. "Yeah, I think so. We could go up through here, but at this time of day we might run into congestion…" He traced out a route with one of his talons, and paused. "Or we could cut through here. We'd save time, but it's not what exactly what you'd call a nice neighborhood."
"There're nice neighborhoods on Omega?" Shepard asked, arching a brow.
"No." Garrus acknowledged, scratching slightly at the scars on his face. "But some are worse than others. And this one's not one I'd usually take a woman to, even if she is the great Commander Shepard."
Shepard felt the corner of her mouth tug into a small smile. "You know this place better than I do. It's your call, Vakarian." She added, looking at him from the corner of her eyes.
His mandibles twitched at the familiar words turned around on him. "Well...I suppose we did clean this place out pretty good the last time we here. I can't imagine there's anything formidable enough left to give a Spectre trouble if she decided to take a stroll down some dingy back alley."
"Then it's settled. Lead the way, Garrus." Shepard said, closing her omni-tool. "And don't worry. I'll protect you if we run into anything too nasty."
"And I'll be sure to take the kill shots when you miss, like always." Garrus replied, tilting his head at her before leading the way down the hectic street. Is he sauntering? She wondered as he strode off. Can turians even saunter?
Shepard shook her head before following after him, and silence fell between the two once again. It was an easy silence, the kind that said almost as much as words ever could. Neither of the pair noticed this, however, as they walked side by side, both too absorbed in their own observations of their surroundings; their eyes scanned the multitude of faces that passed them with the habitual ease that came from years of experience in combat, taking note of the frequent individuals who, like them, carried weapons and glancing over those that didn't. Occasionally, Shepard found herself distracted by one neon ad or another and after a few blocks one holovid in particular caught her attention. She slowed to a stop as she looked at it closer.
"Eden Prime, a colonial paradise." a deep voice-over narrated as scenes of a tranquil countryside flashed across the screen. "Hallmark of humanity and symbol of peace in a universe as dangerous as it is beautiful.
But how safe is it really?"
"Shepard?" Garrus asked, coming up beside her.
"Shhh!" she hissed, waving a hand at him. The scene in the vid changed, showing a sleek warship drifting through deep space. Two new voices appeared, a cool female one that sounded asari, followed by slightly higher pitched on that might have been salarian.
"'We've got reports of instability along the Geth border. The Alliance is sending in its best marine to look into the situation.'
'What use is a single human?'
'She won't be alone. A turian Spectre named Nihlus is going with her.'
'A turian? And a human? This won't end well.'"
The scene flashed to a regal looking turian, posture rigid and proud as he stared up at a monitor. The hiss of a door opening came from somewhere off-screen and he turned.
"'Ah, Commander Shepard...I was hoping we'd get the chance to speak.'"
Shepard felt her eyes go wide as the shot panned to side to showcase the newly arrived voluptuous woman.
"'Nihlus.' The woman said in greeting, her voice a tantalizing purr that oozed power with every syllable. She walked forward, her hips swaying dangerously with each step, and paused inches away from the taller turian. They held each other's gaze for a moment as a soft instrumental melody rose in the background. Then, in rush of movement, the two embraced, touching their foreheads together as their arms pulled the other close.
Shepard's mouth dropped.
The trailer continued, flashing between different scenes: a colony burning as armed Geth marched across it; an armor clad and heartbroken woman cradling the prone turian in her arms; her passionate vow of revenge against the rogue Spectre behind it all; explosions and gunshots as she raced across the galaxy in hunt of him; and finally, as the music reached its crescendo, her final arrival at the besieged Citadel, gun held tight in her hand as she watched the silent war between organics and synthetics overhead.
"From the man who brought you the record breaking hit, Fleet and Flotilla, Francis Kit delivers his next masterpiece. As the galaxy faces it's greatest threat, one woman will rise to stop it: The Citadel and the Commander, coming to HV in 2186 C.E"
The scene faded to black, changing after a moment to an ad for the new Cision Pro Mark 4 toothbrush. Shepard stood there, staring.
Eventually, the sound of Garrus clearing his throat next to her broke her stupor. She turned to him. "Did you know about, about…" She struggled for a word for what she'd seen. "about this?" she finally got out, gesturing wildly towards the holo-screen.
Garrus shifted. "I'd, uh, heard some rumors. Didn't know it was already in production."
"You heard rumors." Shepard repeated, staring at him.
"Yeah."
"…and you never thought about, I don't know, mentioning it?"
The turian gave her a weak shrug. "I just assumed you'd already heard…" He trailed off, looking at the screen, then flicked his mandibles. "Never knew you had a thing for aliens, Shepard."
"Vakarian."
Garrus cleared his throat again. "Right, dropping it."