Just like the tower we never built,
In the shadow of all the guilt,
When the other hand was pointed at you…
Garrus tossed his black tactical bag into the small cargo hold of the passenger ship. In two days' time, the trio would be boarding the Normandy to convene with Admiral Hackett to examine and discuss Liara's findings. They were unsure of who else they would be meeting, as Liara had not received any messages from the Alliance Admiral other than the one stating they needed to rendezvous as soon as possible.
He had dispatched a memo to Aurelia the previous night, instructing her to bring the space hamster from his office, along with several datapads and orders on what to do while he was away. He was pleased to see she arrived 15 minutes prior to their departure, with the furry creature in a portable tank. Taking the animal carefully from her, he handed it directly to Liara who was already situated in the compact cabin.
"Thank you. Shepard will kill me if I don't bring Boo back to her," he said, mandibles twitching in a slight grin.
"Sir, I pray I'm not overstepping my boundaries… but what makes you so sure she's still alive?" she asked wringing her hands together, uneasiness seeping through her dual toned voice.
Garrus paused before speaking again, contemplating his answer. He decided honesty was the best course of action, "Truth be told? I'm not so sure. But if I'm ever going to find any sort of closure, I need to find her, or at least, figure out what happened."
"I pray to the spirits you do recover what it is you're looking for. And I'm sure that if she didn't make it, then she's somewhere among the stars… waiting for you," she said, staring at her feet, feeling slightly embarrassed.
"That's a very nice sentiment, Aurelia," Tychus said, coming to stand beside Garrus.
Aurelia's eyes widened. Nearly forgetting herself, she snapped to attention and bowed exceedingly low.
Garrus tended to forget how much weight and influence his clan's name pulled. His father had done a considerable amount of work in his military and C-Sec days to see that it did. Now Garrus, whether he wanted to or not, was following in his father's footsteps bringing much honor back to the Vakarian name. Rumor had it, a Vakarian of old had disgraced the name, bringing shame and humiliation to the clan for generations. It wasn't until the last several decades, did the name start to mean something again. Garrus never cared much for honor or a name. He only did what he thought was truly right. Even during his stint on Omega, his mantra had been "whatever it takes". After all, he wasn't a very good turian. Though he supposed, it was due in part because he spent so much time among the other races. Perhaps their influence had rubbed off on him more than he realized.
"Detective Vakarian!" Aurelia said, awe in her words. "It's an honor sir."
Tychus nodded in acknowledgement, "The honor is mine."
"Aurelia, I'm sending you files I've prepared," Garrus said, tapping open his omni-tool and pulling up the data. "It's a protocol I've devised in case of my absence. I arranged it some time ago, in the hopes that it could be utilized. It gives instructions on what to tell the hierarchy, the press and the turian people."
He sent her the documents at once, "As far as anyone is concerned, I am attending a summit with the other races to discuss the reconstruction of the Citadel. You'll find several quarian admirals' signatures as well has a krogan battlemaster's, a message from the Shadow Broker and a letter from Alliance Command, all requesting this summit, should any become suspicious. They can all be reached on vid comm should the need arise, as well."
"Sounds like you've covered everything, Primarch," Aurelia said, glancing through the files.
"One more thing, should anything happen to me, a message will be sent to the hierarchy notifying them of my demise, additionally, it requests that a particular aid I know keep her job with the new Primarch. Though, I must admit, a new Primarch may be a bit friendlier than I've been," Garrus said with a sad smile.
"You have your reasons sir. Thank you," Aurelia said, bowing. "And good luck!" She waved and turned on heel and departed the way she had come.
Garrus threw a sideways look at his father saying, "Ready to go?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," said Tychus. And with that, the two turians climbed into the small ship and found their seats beside Liara.
As their journey began, Garrus tried to busy himself by taking apart his targeting visor, again. He had already made a dozen improvements on it and upgraded its software. Even with all the etched names, scratches, and it being broken to pieces three times, it was still better than any other on the market. He knew, because he had already looked.
Liara let Boo out of his container to roam around the cabin and stretch his tiny little legs. Garrus watched the hamster for a while, run back and forth under the seats. When he had finally tired himself, Boo shimmied his way up Garrus's leg and torso, and found a warm, comfortable spot in the cowl of his suit, just by his right ear.
Shortly after Boo fell asleep, curled up in a furry ball, Tychus eyed the hamster out of the corner of his eye.
"Alright, I have to ask… what the hell is that?" he said, a slight look disdain upon his face. Keeping his eyes on his visor, Garrus let out a low chuckle.
"It's called a space hamster," he said. "It's a souvenir pet from the Citadel."
"I don't think I've ever seen something so small have so much hair…,"
Liara snorted into her hand, "He belongs to Shepard, and she gets quite angry if anyone tries to mess with him."
"I don't know why she insisted on buying him in the first place," Garrus recalled. "She couldn't even keep her fish alive. Yet she swore up and down she would take care of this thing."
"How did she manage to keep him alive after all this time?" Liara asked.
"She didn't… I wound up feeding the damn thing."
Liara threw her crested head back, in a fit of laughter. "Do you remember when her clone tried to get rid of him? 'Please send this to an animal shelter for proper disposal'?!"
"She was pissed! I'm surprised she didn't fly into a fit of rage after that and try to strangle a Reaper with her bare hands," Garrus sniggered.
"Knowing her though, she probably would have done so and succeeded. I mean she did take down that Reaper on Rannoch," Liara said.
"Don't forget, she summoned 'the mother of all thresher maws' to the one on Tuchanka!"
Tychus threw up a hand, "Excuse me? Clone? Mother of all thresher maws?"
Over a better portion of the rest of their flight, Garrus and Liara relayed their accounts to Tychus. They told him what they knew about the attack on Earth, discovering the plans to the Crucible, and all subsequent events following the invasion of Palavan and Menae. Though they told him nearly everything, they did leave out bits here and there; Tychus didn't need to know everything just yet. Garrus did have to admit, some parts of their tale sounded ridiculous when told aloud. Tychus listened just as he had when Garrus had recounted his tale of the Collectors and the Omega 4 Relay.
They even told his father of the month they were stranded on an unknown jungle planet after the firing of the Crucible. The Normandy's system had been fried from the blast, and it had taken Tali and a dozen engineers to make the repairs necessary for an extended FTL flight back home. The relay system had been disabled from the events as well, leaving countless ships stranded all over the galaxy. Garrus knew it had taken months for some of them to be repaired as turians were still returning to Palaven every day. He still was a bit unsure of exactly what the Crucible had done in order to take out ships, synthetics, and the relay system. But everything was slowly beginning to turn around and return to normal.
In turn, Tychus told Liara and Garrus how he and Solana had been evacuated to the outskirts of the Sol system after they fled Palavan.
"We're being intercepted," the pilot of their small ship said over the intercom, jerking the trio from their conversation. Garrus jumped up and pushed his way toward the cockpit to take a better look.
They had just exited the Charon Relay, and an Alliance Kodiak was doing all it could to block their path.
Another voice interrupted them, "This is Alliance Command. We request you allow us to dock and transfer your passengers. You will then turn around and proceed to leave the way you came."
Though the circumstances were strange, Garrus immediately recognized the voice as Steve Cortez. He glanced at Liara who nodded, showing she understood who it was. Tychus was about to say something, his cop instincts shouting that something wasn't right, but Garrus shook his head to silence him.
"I suggest you do as he says," Garrus said to the pilot gently. The veteran pilot muttered angrily under his breath and opened the cargo bay doors. Thanking him, Garrus, Liara and Tychus, released the hatch in the cabin that lead to the cargo hold. Dropping below deck, they watched as the Kodiak eased itself inside. The bay doors finally sealed shut with a hiss, and Cortez jumped from the shuttle to greet Garrus and Liara with firm handshakes and a welcoming smile.
"It's good to see the both of you in one piece," he said.
"Likewise. So how have you been?" Garrus asked. Cortez shook his head, "No time for pleasantries. Hackett wanted you on base three hours ago."
"I thought we were boarding the Normandy…," said Liara.
"Not yet. There's been a slight change of plans. Can't discuss it all right now, but we need to get you out of here and this passenger ship back through the relay ASAP,"
With a quick introduction of Garrus' father, they loaded their bags and the space hamster into the Kodiak. Exiting the passenger ship, Cortez swung the shuttle around to watch the other ship head back to the relay. When it hesitated a moment too long, he fired a warning shot to its left. With that, the small ship whipped around and hauled itself out of the system.
"Can't be too careful," muttered Cortez.
"Steve, what's with all the secrecy? Did Hackett find something else?" Liara asked. Tychus stood up straight, speaking, "I don't like this much either. I'd at least prefer a bit of an idea of what we're getting ourselves into."
"I understand, but if you can wait just a little longer…," said Cortez. The shuttle pilot pointed out the window, ahead of them, as they rounded Jupiter's largest moon. Three sets of eyes followed his finger. Orbiting Ganymede was one of the largest single species space stations Garrus had ever seen in his life. As it came fully into view, he noticed it had numerous docking ports scattered around it. A huge crane was attached to the top side, confirming that it was not yet completed. Four similar looking Alliance dreadnoughts hovered around the station like giant watch dogs. The station was certainly a sight to behold.
"Welcome to Aurora Station. It's become the guardian of the Sol system," Cortez said with a melancholy visage. Garrus' heart nearly lurched out of his chest as he heard the name of the station. "Obviously named for a famous Commander who risked her life on countless occasions to make sure that we would all see another day and a new era," said Cortez.
"The name is certainly fitting," said Liara, placing a hand on Garrus' shoulder.
Updated 6/7/14