There's nowhere else I would rather be…
"It will be another several hours before we reach Omega," Joker had said after exiting the relay. "So stop staring over my shoulder and go calibrate something."
Garrus had begrudgingly turned away, skulking from the cockpit. He figured he'd follow Shepard's old path around the ship, checking in on everyone, making sure they were settling in.
Cortez had already left the cockpit in favor of the hangar. He mentioned to Garrus that one Kodiak was still intact, while the other was nearly disassembled, parts spread randomly throughout the cargo bay. Cortez had reassured the turian he could reassemble the shuttle with relative ease. Vega had also take up residence in the hangar, preferring the quiet hum of the ship to engineers shouting algorithms to one another. He stood over his work bench, fumbling with a number of heat sinks. The creepy husk head sat on the corner of the bench, glaring at him the majority of the time, but swiveled its head every so often the scream at something randomly. It seemed to keep Vega slightly entertained, and when Garrus asked the Marine to toss it out the airlock, Vega laughed and said he was keeping it safe for Shepard.
Half the engineers stationed themselves in the CIC, checking and rechecking systems, while the other half were on the engineering deck doing the same. Tali was also in engineering, but reported she was also running to the AI core if Traynor needed her help. The pair ran diagnostic checks of EDI's systems hoping to restore her. Tali was certain she could take what she learned about the geth to help the AI. Though Garrus wasn't as convinced.
Javik returned to his old room in engineering, insisting he must wash his hands. The moment they had entered the Sahrabarik System, his agitation became apparent. He cursed under his breath as he scrubbed his hands in vain, muttering, "This isn't right," repeatedly.
Kaidan busied himself in the Starboard Observation by dismantling and cleaning his weapons, biotics sparking from him as he grew more and more frustrated.
He found Liara and Miranda in the old CO's room, heads bent low over a scattering of datapads, monitors flickering overhead. Garrus knew they were comparing notes and compiling files on every bit of information they could scrounge up.
Entering the medbay brought memories flooding back of leaving Shepard behind on the battlefield, of crash landing on an uncharted world, and of spending too much time in this room, healing when he should have been searching for his bondmate. Shaking the odd feeling it left him, Garrus spotted Dr. Chakwas. She sat at her desk, shuffling through her omni-tool, counting her inventory. Upon hearing his footsteps, she swiveled her chair around to greet him.
"Garrus, I've been meaning to speak with you," she said, standing from her chair.
"What can I do for you Karin?" he asked.
"I've been going over my supplies, and I've come to find, I am grossly under stocked. With the Normandy being 'previously' decommissioned, the majority of my inventory has been taken elsewhere. In short, we need supplies… soon," she said, wringing her hands together.
"Seems most everybody is short… I don't know how Shepard kept up with all this, especially in the midst of a war," he muttered, rubbing his neck.
Chakwas chuckled, "It takes practice… practice, and Shepard was damn good at what she did. She could do anything she put her mind to... I've always admired her for that."
Garrus nodded slowly in agreement. Changing course swiftly, he said, "We'll be hitting Omega soon, and once we dock, I'll send Vega with you to the markets. Hopefully you'll be able to find a few things to last us until we reach Illium, where we'll purchase anything else we may need… Plus I know Liara wants to grab some things from her office and apartment."
"Thank you Garrus. Shepard would be so proud of you, if she were here,"
And with that, he decided he would finish his rounds and try to catch an hour or so of sleep before they arrived at Omega.
Garrus elected to poke his head into the main battery for a moment to determine the state of the Thannix cannons. He regretted looking in almost immediately. The cannons were halfway dismantled and parts were strewn across the battery. His old cot, long since used, lay forgotten in its corner, bolts and tools littered it haphazardly. Getting these weapons back in working order was going to become a fulltime job, and Garrus hoped to the Spirits, they wouldn't need to use them anytime in the near future.
Taking the elevator back to the CIC deck, he found that his father and Wrex had retreated into the war room, contacting their families to let them know they were alright, though both the elder turian and the krogan battlemaster kept their distance from one another. He supposed old habits did indeed die hard.
Joker was still lounged in his leather seat, at the controls, humming a tune quietly to himself.
Passing several crew members who saluted him, he retreated back to the elevator and pressed the button to go up to Shepard's cabin… his cabin? Their cabin.
The lock was green, so Garrus let himself in, but not before taking a deep breath. They had spent some of their last, intimate moments alone in the cabin. She had voiced her overwhelming concerns to him. He closed his eyes remembering how she had finally broken down. He had held her close to his chest for a long time, feeling every quake her body made as she sobbed against him. She hadn't needed him to say anything, and he didn't. He had allowed her to cry until she couldn't anymore, stroking her hair, caressing her bare skin, and nuzzling the top of her head. Garrus swallowed the nausea that had overcome him so suddenly, and strode into the cabin, only to find Hannah Shepard sitting on the edge of the bed.
The Admiral, was looking at a holo-frame when Garrus walked into the room. Upon seeing her, Garrus froze mid-stride, stumbling over a quick and clumsy apology.
"Don't be sorry Vakarian. I only came up here to see if there was anything the Alliance hadn't removed just yet. And sure enough… I found this," she said, tapping a footlocker with the edge of her boot. "I suppose they had a hell of a time trying to unlock it when they found it, and pushed it aside to deal with later when they couldn't." She looked oddly serene as she extended the holo-frame in Garrus' direction. Shaking his head, he sat down on the coffee table and took the picture. It was of him and Shepard during their shore leave party. She had his face in her hands, as she kissed his scarred face, and his mandibles were flared wide in complete bliss as he looked towards the camera.
"She wouldn't ever let me near that footlocker. How did you manage to hack it?" Garrus asked, looking up at the Admiral.
Hannah Shepard laughed, "I didn't… The combination was your last name. Only took me a few tries before I guessed it."
"I should have known," he chuckled. "She was always closed off, the majority of the time. Kept her emotions bottled up, unless she was around me… or she was very pissed off."
"She gets all those wonderful, defining qualities from me," she said, leaning over to rifle through contents of the locker. As the Admiral pulled a tattered book from the container, several pages fell from the binding and floated noiselessly to the floor.
"It's been years since I've seen one of those," Garrus said, amazed.
"Aurora always preferred the real thing over reading from a datapad or an omni-tool. This was her favorite… From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne…," Hannah Shepard's voice trailed off, and a deep sadness overtook her.
"The more I learn, the more I begin to realize how much I really don't know about her," he said, his heart sinking.
"I know you blame yourself for what happened, but I'm certain we'll find her… one way or another… and with any luck, the two of you will have a lifetime to catch up," she said, the corner of her mouth turning up in a very Shepard fashion. "Anyways... I should go… There's a few things I'd like to do before we dock on Omega."
"Cerberus is going to pay for everything they've done…," Garrus growled.
"A pissed off bondmate, a very angry mother, and a ship full of vengeful comrades in arms… Yeah… Cerberus is in for a not so pleasant surprise," the Admiral declared just before exiting the cabin, leaving Garrus to fume silently.
The moment he heard the elevator doors shut, he placed Shepard's personal effects back into the opened footlocker and stripped off the upper portion of his armor. Tossing it aside, Garrus collapsed onto the bed, his bare carapace sinking into the soft mattress. The sheets had been changed and no longer smelled of Shepard, but her scent lingered in between the threads of the mattress, filling his nostrils and leading him into the dark recesses of his mind. In mere minutes, Garrus was out, sleeping without so much as a sound, memories and dreams fading away.
He slept until Joker buzzed his visor.
"Wake up Sleeping Beauty!" the flight lieutenant shouted obnoxiously in Garrus's earpiece.
"I hate you Joker," Garrus mumbled into the pillow he was clutching.
"Stop whining and get down here. Omega just came into view,"
Garrus dressed, yawning every few minutes, and loaded himself onto the elevator, punching the button to the CIC.
Walking into the cockpit, Garrrus took note that even without the aid of EDI, Joker was able to make the Normandy glide through asteroids like a dancer on the dance floor.
As they moved into the asteroid field with ease, Omega grew from a small, glowing pinprick to the large reddish-orange rock they had all come to loathe over the years. Shepard had once said it reminded her of a bright jellyfish, tentacles billowing lazily in the vacuum of space.
It had been some time since Garrus was last on the rock, and it still left a bad taste in his mouth. He wasn't too keen on revisiting it, seeing as how the previous time he was here, he took a rocket to the face and nearly died. But as it were, he'd stare down a Reaper if he had to in order to find Shepard and bring her back.
Garrus watched from his position behind Joker's leather seat as they drew closer to the station. The automated turrets Cerberus had installed were still in operation, and followed their approach course.
A voice suddenly came over the intercom demanding to know who they were.
"We can't get a signature on your ship. State your name and business for coming to Omega," a batarian said.
"You would think that with the technology available, they'd be able to make us completely invisible… Windows or no windows," Joker said, craning his neck around to give Garrus a questioning look. The turian shrugged and said, "No reason to hide why we're here."
Pressing one talon to the intercom button and switching channels, Garrus said, "This is the SSV Normandy. My business is with Aria, and Aria alone."
A brief pause and, "An escort will be waiting for you at the docks. Over and out."
"Well that's certainly not the worst welcome we've ever received…" Joker muttered. Garrus switched channels and broadcasted throughout the rest of ship, "I want Javik, Wrex and Admiral Shepard to the airlock in five. Weapons and full armor. Be prepared for a fight."
Six minutes, several insults, and a limping prothean later, and much to Wrex's apparent disappointment, the airlock door opened without so much as a bullet fired in their direction.
An escort of at least half a dozen batarians and a number of bare-faced turians met them, weapons drawn.
"I can already feel Cerberus' presence here… I don't like this much, turian," Javik whispered into Garrus' ear.
Garrus bowed his fringed head ever so slightly in agreement. This wasn't going to be easy, contending with four mercenary gangs, Aria, her thugs and possibly remnants of Cerberus.
"Wish things would work in our favor from time to time," Wrex grumbled as they stepped off the Normandy and followed the escort to Afterlife.
Updated 6/7/14