.

Loyalty and Limerence

Part 1

Chapter 7

Port Hanshan, Noveria

Noveria was cold, and for a moment, Garrus felt some regret that Wrex was the one staying behind this time and not him. The moment they stepped out of the airlock, he felt the cold breeze blowing and shivered. He generally wasn't superstitious, but he couldn't help having a bad feeling about this mission. When they entered the port facility, he quickly realized it was cold in another manner, as well.

After their nearly disastrous welcome by security, it was impossible to ignore the cold looks from just about every single person they passed. Except the hanar, perhaps. He never could read them. After they met with Administrator Anoleis, it was clear that they were fighting an uphill battle. He had all but laughed in their faces, despite the fact that Commander Shepard had remained civil and respectful.

"This place reeks of dirty money and backroom politics. Let's just march back in there and wave a goddamn gun in his face." Jane hissed at the Commander in a low whisper as they left his office. "We could take his security drones in like 2 seconds. Force him to give us access to the garage. He will change his tune real fast. You're a goddamn Spectre, this is ridiculous."

"Calm down, Jane. Being a Spectre is about more than using brute force to get what you need." He replied with his customary calm, even voice.

"I'm with the LT on this, Skipper." Ashley whispered from his other side. "Bastard is hiding something."

"We can't just force our way through with these types of guys. We need to find something he wants more than he wants to keep us here." Kaidan mused as they rounded the corner toward the secretary's desk. Garrus was contemplating throwing his support behind the two women when he was interrupted by the woman standing at the desk.

"Mr. Anoleis isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan."

As they stood in the slow moving elevator up to the bar, Garrus couldn't help but feel that for all it's sparkle and shine, the whole facility felt dirty. Everything here was wrapped up in secrets and money.

"What if we just have Tali hack the door to the garage? Could you manage that?"

"Jane…" Shepard's voice was cautionary, but Jane continued to look over at the younger quarian.

"Perhaps. But I'd have to take a closer look at their security system, which seemed fairly extensive, but there's a large chance they would catch us before I could break through. I can almost guarantee we wouldn't get away with it without raising an alarm eventually." Tali murmured, wringing her hands.

"We're not going to hack the doors. We're going to talk to Lorik Qui'in and see if we can get him to give us his pass. Then we can make our way to the Peak 15 Facility without leaving a complete mess behind us." Shepard stated with finality, and they were silent after that. The doors opened, and Shepard told them to take up positions around the bar, giving him space to question the turian without making him nervous. Garrus followed Jane to a table in the vicinity, and between the two of them, they managed to have a full view of the room.

"This whole place makes my skin itch." Jane muttered, her lip curled as she glanced around at the people nearby.

"I know what you mean. I've heard nothing but sketchy things about what happens behind closed doors here. I'm guessing the worst of it never sees the light of day." Garrus felt his mandibles pressing up close against his face, his displeasure mirrored on her face. After a few minutes, Shepard signaled for them all to follow him, and they left to make good on his promises to retrieve some evidence for the older turian.

The office in question wasn't terribly far away, but Garrus felt his hands hesitate toward his weapons as he noticed how empty and silent the hallways had become. By the time they reached the office, no one was surprised when it came to a firefight. Jane took up a position behind a pillar, laying down cover fire for them to progress forward, and Garrus heard a quiet ping from his visor.

-Kill Count-

[GV: 39]

[JS: 45]

"Damn." He muttered with a smile as he watched her 44 become 45, knowing he was going to have to outperform her somehow if he was going to catch up.

Hours later, deep within the Peak 15 Research Facility, Garrus was starting to understand the severity of the fire with which they were playing in their hunt for Saren.

"Have you faced an asari commando unit before? Few humans have." Matriarch Benezia crooned, her smile not reflected in her eyes.

"As if rachni, actual rachni, weren't enough!" Ashley yelled as all dashed into cover to avoid the gunfire from the oncoming commandos. Biotic attacks exploded around them, colliding with a barrier Liara managed to erect in time. She followed it up with a warp attack directed at the nearest attacking commando, and Garrus aimed and fired his assault rifle, feeling little satisfaction as she fell only to be replaced by two more.

The chain of events that had led them to this showdown would have been unbelievable, had he not just lived it. Even after the political maneuvering that got them into the garage at Port Hanshan, they'd fought geth all the way over before eventually stumbling upon the research lab in shambles. Then they'd been attacked by rachni, which should have been extinct, and then after dealing with a ton of bullshit, here they were. Fighting an actual asari matriarch and her commandos.

"Geth incoming, 3 o'clock!" Kaidan yelled, and Garrus felt ice land in his stomach. How were they going to handle this onslaught and take down Benezia? They had to get some sort of information out of her, if they could, or everything they had done would have been for nothing. It all seemed like an impossible task.

"Split up. Kaidan, Ashley, Jane, Liara. Press forward against the commandos, try to put pressure on Benezia, stop her from doing whatever she's trying to do. Garrus, Tali, with me. We're going to take down those geth." Shepard ordered hurriedly through their coms, already heading down the walkway through the oncoming geth troopers. As he and Tali hurried after him, Garrus readied his omni-tool, silently thanking Jane for giving him her handy shield overload program. Tali had a similar, if somewhat superior program, but it didn't make quite enough sense to him to venture switching to it quite yet. When it came to tech, she was in a league of her own, and he had to admit that when facing down geth, Tali was one of the best people to have at your back.

Even so, they were barely holding back the attack bearing down on them. What felt like hours during the tearse exchange of fire between them and the geth, had in fact only been a few minutes. It felt more like hours. Or perhaps seconds. Time does weird things during a fight. He watched as Jane's kill count number went up slowly, finding comfort in knowing that the other team was making progress. As they started pressing forward, inch by inch, his confidence started to grow as well. Taking a moment to glance across the large room, he could see where the other team was battling on the catwalks almost directly across from them. Between them, hanging in the middle - Garrus shuddered at the sight - was the rachni queen. If they could just press a little harder, they could clear out all her backup and they would be free to deal with Benezia however Shepard deemed best.

"Aaaaggh-!" Kaidan cried out suddenly, followed by a string of curses, and Garrus' attention snapped back to the other group to see Kaidan on the ground behind a crate, clutching his at leg as blood welled up past his fingers.

"Kaidan! What happened? Someone, status!" Shepard yelled over the com, not taking his eyes off the geth sniper he was biotically pulling into the air ahead of him. A well aimed shot from Garrus removed it's flashlight head.

"Alenko is down, shot in the leg. Applying medi-gel." Ashley replied in a hurried voice, calm but urgent. Garrus took a moment to look back at the figures across the room, where he saw Ashley bending over the downed lieutenant, omni-tool out and working. "It's pretty bad, I'm going to get him out of here." Ashley grabbed him, slinging his arm around her shoulders as she hurried him back toward the corridor they had entered from, trying to find better cover. Jane and Liara were in the process of taking down the last commando, finally able to turn their attention toward the asari matriarch. A door opening behind him returned Garrus' attention to his own fight, and revealed more geth pouring into the room.

"Garrus, Tali, can you handle them?" Shepard asked as he eyed the other group, his weapon still aimed at the last geth in his way.

"Yes, we can hold them here. Go do what you can for them." Tali replied stoically, and Garrus agreed, taking aim at a new target. Shepard hurriedly took down his target and dashed along the catwalks toward the two women still fighting against Benezia. Suddenly, another door opened just behind the Commander, revealing another couple of commandos, and Garrus shot a few rounds at them to gain their attention and draw them off Shepard.

"When I get back from my Pilgrimage, no one is ever going to even believe any of this." Tali muttered between shots, taking a moment to fry another geth's shields.

"I was just thinking something similar earlier." Garrus laughed, but was cut off as he heard Shepard's voice coming through the coms. He seemed to be talking with Benezia, something about Saren and brainwashing. She seemed more lucid, though, and when he glanced over at them, they seemed to be conversing peacefully. He and Tali pushed forward, taking down a few more geth and commandos until he heard the matriarch scream out.

"Die!" She yelled, and Garrus looked over to see the glowing woman shoot a biotic attack directly at her daughter. In growing alarm, he watched as Jane shoved the stunned asari away, instead taking the brunt of the attack. Jane was pulled up into the air, trying and failing to gain purchase against the force holding her and slowly closing down around her neck.

"Jane!" Shepard screamed as he drew his weapon, but almost instantly he was enveloped in the matriarch's stasis field, frozen where he stood. His face was a mask of horror as he watched his sister slowly choke. Garrus cursed, trying to duck out of cover to go help, but he was instantly pulled back by Tali as a rain of bullets barely missed his head. Liara stood panicking as she glanced between her mother and her struggling teammate, clearly unsure of what to do.

"-Fuck… you-!" Jane growled as her hand reached down and slowly grabbed her pistol. She carefully pulled it up, her aim shaking as it drew level. She fired once, twice, three times, but each shot failed to break Benezia's barrier.

"This is not over. Saren is unstoppable. My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear." Benezia's voice resonated through the room clearly this time, and Garrus turned toward her, pulling out his sniper rifle. Taking aim, he cursed again as he realized there was no clear shot from where he was. Garrus felt his own panic rising as he took down another commando. As he heard Jane's gasping breath over the com, he realized it'd been a long time since he'd felt this helpless. He was moments away from losing a teammate, a friend, and there was nothing he could do about it here. Turning back toward the last commando, he took aim and shot her directly between the eyes.

"Benezia, you can fight this! You're stronger than this! Let her go!" Shepard hollered at the older asari, his eyes wide and darting between his sister and the woman killing her.

"Mother, please! Don't do this!"

"Go, go!" Tali yelled at him, and he took off in the direction of the others. If he could just get around the corner, he could get a good line of sight. He could see Jane's hand holding her pistol slowly start to sink, her cheeks starting to turn blue from lack of air. If he could just move a little faster-!

Suddenly, Liara seemed to make up her mind, pulling up her hand toward her mother. With a scream, she unleashed a biotic warp, shredding the other woman's barrier. Instantly, Jane's weapon shot back up and she fired one last bullet, miraculously landing in the matriarch's chest. With a gasp, Jane dropped to the floor as Benezia collapsed. Garrus arrived at Jane's side just after her brother, who'd been freed the moment Benezia fell.

"Jane, are you okay?" Shepard asked as Garrus rolled her over onto her back. Jane's hand came up to her throat as she breathed hard, sucking air into her deprived lungs. With her other hand she pointed to where the two asari huddled nearby. Garrus looked up to see Liara cradling her mother who was quickly fading.

"Good night, Little Wing." Benezia was muttering, the light starting to fade from her eyes, "I will see you again… with the dawn-"

"Mother! No, don't leave me!" Liara was sobbing as she leaned her head down to rest upon her mother's brow. Shepard took another look over his sister, searching for evidence that she was going to be okay.

"I'll take care of her, can you go check on Liara?" Shepard murmured quietly, pulling up his omni-tool to apply medi-gel. Jane's breathing seemed to come easier after a moment, and Garrus felt the tightness in his own chest start to loosen at the sight. "How does that feel? Any better?" She nodded after a moment, trying to swallow. "Good. Sorry I couldn't get here sooner to help." As Shepard slowly helped her sit up, her breathing starting to even out, Garrus slowly stood up and moved over to rest a hand on Liara's heaving shoulder. Without hesitation, she whipped around and threw her arms around him as best she should with their armor in the way. Garrus froze, awkwardly patting her on the back as she attempted to stem the flow of tears.

Tali had arrived, having finished off the geth stragglers. She came to Jane's other side, checking on her quietly so as not to disrupt Liara. After a few minutes, Garrus led Liara back to the group, Shepard and Tali both offering Jane a hand, getting her back on her feet.

"Liara. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to kill her." Jane offered in a very scratchy, pained yet gentle voice, placing a hand on Liara's shoulder. Clearly emboldened by the fact that she had not been shaken off, she continued. "I tried for a non lethal shot, but I couldn't see straight at that point, it's a miracle I landed a hit at all."

"No, you did the right thing." Liara's sure words surprised Garrus, as well as others if the silence greeting her words was anything to go off. "She wouldn't have wanted to continue living as Saren's slave. Thank you for saving her from that misery." Liara's eyes started to well up again, and Jane's hand on her shoulder gripped her comfortingly. Taking a bracing breath, Liara continued, but her voice was fainter. "I think- Well, I suspect that she was fighting his control in the end. She is so much more powerful than I. There's no way my warp should have shattered her barrier like that. I don't think she put much energy into maintaining it, not in the end. She let me destroy it, I'm almost positive. She fought as best she could right up to the end and I'm so proud of her. Thank you, Jane. Thank you for saving my mother." With that, Liara burst into tears again, and Jane pulled her in for a gentle hug, rubbing her back.

"It's going to be okay, Liara. We're going to beat Saren, we will get him for what he did to her." Jane murmured, and her words were met with agreement from everyone they all came to offer her their condolences and comfort. After a moment, Shepard turned to face the rachni queen. As he stepped closer, everyone quieted and waited for directions. Garrus felt apprehension starting to climb back into his chest as the possibilities started to pop into his brain.

"Tali, Liara, with me. Garrus, take Jane and find Ashley and Kaidan. Make sure they are okay, and bring them back here. I'm going to see what we can do about her." Shepard gestured toward the tank with the rachni queen, and Garrus nodded. Jane let Liara go and looked around for her dropped pistol. He saw the bruising starting to creep up her neck, and he shuddered, wondering how long she would have lasted had Liara not stepped in. He allowed himself a moment to acknowledge the depth of his relief that she was okay before pushing thoughts to the back of his mind, moving forward with the mission.