Her chest was burning.
Garrus heard the tell-tale sound of pounding feet and dragged her away, tugging relentlessly while her legs turned to rubber and struggled to follow. There was nothing like a bit of imprisonment to make you rusty, and Shepard had never felt so exhausted in her life.
As they ran towards the bottom of the ship, she realised she wouldn't have been able to even find her way without Garrus's guidance. The huge vessel was a maze, and he took an elaborately long route in order to avoid the crew.
Warning lights flashed red above them, illuminating the cold metal walls with every beat of the alarm. It sent her blood rushing, and she was panting as they climbed down a ladder that was to be used only when the elevators were not in order.
She felt guilty for not trusting him. Garrus had risked his own life, and sabotaged his entire military career in order to save her life. She'd been watching turian behaviour for weeks, and realised how important social service was for them. They worked as a group, formed as one, and Garrus had just helped kill their leader. She'd been wrong about him.
He raised one fist as a signal to stop and they froze at the edge of the corner, pressed together and attempting to hold their ragged breathing. His hand found her own, and she squeezed his fingers tight as a group ran past without noticing them. Shepard couldn't help but notice that they were armed and wearing armour. Her stomach sunk, very aware that she was still in Liara's medical clothes.
"They're trying to get into the docking bay." Garrus whispered, turning in the opposite direction, keeping hold of her hand. "Solus must have done something to the control pad. Locked him and Liara inside. We can sneak through the emergency shaft while they're distracted at the main entrance."
"That sounds like another air vent." She muttered with a wrinkle of her nose. Garrus wouldn't want to kill any of his crew mates if possible, but – to her – shooting their way through the main door seemed like the easiest solution.
One corridor later and it turned out she was right about the air vent, and refused to stifle her groan as he knelt on the ground in front of the hatch. Garrus had to type in a password on his omni-tool before prying the entrance open, and urged her to climb down a ladder that no doubt led straight into a dark tunnel.
"You take point. I've got your six" He said, unholstering the assault rifle on his back with a grim look. It was only then she noticed that Garrus had put his armour on as well, and she felt just a little bit safer as she began to crawl through the tunnel. At least the escape hatch had definitely been built with turians in mind, and she found she could almost crouch with room to spare, making progress quickly while he struggled behind.
"Shepard, once we get out of here," Garrus grunted, closing the hatch behind him as he followed. "Whats your plan?"
She glanced back, surprised he was willing to talk to her, before continuing to move. "I need to go to the Shanxi colony; and warn my people."
"I thought we wanted to avoid starting a war?"
She frowned into the darkness, the ship's alarm turning quieter as they crawled deeper into the ship, until it was only a low thud in the distance. "The only way to do that would be to stop the turians. I don't see that happening.
They came to another ladder, and she shoved the pistol under her belt before making the steep climb.
"You could ask the council for help." Garrus said.
She didn't reply, frowning into the darkness and crawling forward. The tunnel slopped upwards before reaching another ladder. She pushed at the crate at the top with no luck, and it took a fair bit of instruction from Garrus before she managed to unlock the damn thing with her omni tool.
Climbing out Shepard blinked against the light, crawling into the large docking bay then turning to help Garrus behind her. Her eyes darted across numerous bizarre and wonderful ships, all parked in strict military rows. She lingered at a large tank that somewhat resembled the Normandy's Mako, gaze turning hungry before Garrus was tugging at her arm and leading her down the room. Crates were stacked on one side, and the pair lingered behind them as they hunted for Solus and Liara.
"Which ones his ship?" She whispered, very aware of the banging by the door. It was difficult to pick individual words above the sound of the alarm, but she could hear arguing, a few shouted orders. It wouldn't be long before they were through.
"That long one. Come on." He led her to what had to be the oddest ship Shepard had ever seen. Rather than the hard trimmed layers of plate the turian ships possessed, the salarian vessel was all sleek curves and round edges. It looked more suited to lurking under seas than traversing the galaxy, and her lip curled as the gateway slowly opened.
"I don't see a single gun." She muttered to herself.
"We won't need one. Salarian ships can stealth."
Her cheeks stained red and her lips thinned into a stubborn line. She'd taken Garrus for a green recruit, but if this escape attempt had proven anything it was that they were equals. It was rather humbling. And irritating.
The platform reached the ground and they walked up and into the ship. Inside matched the exterior's theme of curving walls. Instead of a maze of corridors that the turian warship possessed, the salarian ship opened up into a small lab. Vials and jars cluttered the tables. Metal tables, drilled into the ground, were covered with various papers and electronic tablets. A hologram of a human figure slowly rotated on one table, and Shepard gave it a sneer, almost certain it was her.
One day, she was going to ask Solus what all his experiments entailed.
"Ah. Garrus. Shepard. Not who I was hoping for." Solus muttered, appearing from the cockpit. He was talking even faster than usual, and blinked those large reptilian eyes like a humming birds wings. "This is problematic. Should have arrived sooner. Long before rest of team. Something wrong. Forgotten left shoe, possibly."
"What are you on about? Let's go before they get through." Garrus all but growled, already shoving past and into the cockpit.
Shepard held her breath, stomach churning so violently she was sure she was about to vomit. "Liaras not here." She said. The news made Garrus freeze by the doorway, and he turned back to stare at her, eyes wide.
"We've got to go back." He said, popping a heat sink into his gun.
(A small update to let you all know I'm still alive. I apologise for making you all wait so long, but since the last chapter I've moved home three times and gotten a new job [that actually revolves around creative writing!] So it can sometimes be difficult to face the idea of staring at a word document when you've been doing that all day at work, but I am determined to finish the story and promise I'm still working on this!)