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Loyalty and Limerence

Part 1

Interlude

The MSV Fedele

As much as Jane loved space, she did not like firefights on spaceships. No good lines of sight, small, cramped rooms, any number of hidey holes, nooks, and crannies, usually all sorts of storage containers, to name a few of the issues. Nevermind the fact that one stray shot hitting the wrong piece of equipment could mean almost certain death. She didn't mind infiltrating ships for stealth missions, as she could use many of those things to her advantage, but an all out assault? No thank you.

But that aside, their current mission was actually fairly interesting, or so she had thought at first. From what she had gathered, it was the ship of a geneticist that Garrus had tracked down on the Citadel who had been growing organs inside people to sell on the black market. It was rather gruesome and fascinating, and somehow Garrus had managed to track his ship down, and so here they were.

As they made their way through the packed cargo bay of the ship, however, she was painfully reminded of why this was not her favorite sort of place for a fight. Crazed experiments threw themselves at her and the others unaware as they turned corners in the passageways between stacks of crates, causing her heart to jump out of her chest.

By the time they made it up to the front of the ship, everyone's nerves were on edge, but she could see that Garrus was the worst of all. He was gripping his weapon tightly and all but gnashing his teeth, clearly disgusted and frustrated by the proof of the scientist's continued experiments. She couldn't blame him, it truly was horrific, and she knew that part of him blamed himself for the madman having gotten away the first time.

"Hey." She murmured, gently bumping her elbow against Garrus' as the small group made their way down the hall toward the ship's living quarters. He glanced down at her, and she took an exaggerated big breath, looking at him pointedly. His mandibles splayed out in the way they did when turians 'smiled' and he took a deep breath, visibly relaxing a tad as his eyes returned to the door John was just about to open.

Shifting her focus, she glanced at the reading on her visor, in particular a small set of data in the corner:

-Kill Count-

[GV: 57]

[JS: 61]

Smiling, Jane returned her focus to her surroundings. She'd set the program to only track kills when they were in a certain proximity to each other, which helped keep things fair. She was still in the lead, but he was slowly closing in on her. He was a fun rival, always keeping her on her toes and quick with witty banter. And he really was a good soldier and an even better sniper. John could have picked a whole lot worse.

"Thank you. Thank you for saving me from those things." The high pitched voice of the salarian doctor called out as he came out of cover the moment he realized we weren't one of his experiments. Jane couldn't help the sneer that started on her face as Garrus confirmed the doctor's identity. It was satisfying to see the salarian squirm and panic as he tried to convince them he was some "Doctor Heart", but she trusted Garrus, as did John.

"There's no escape this time, Doctor. I'd harvest your organs first, but we don't have the time." It was the venom in Garrus' voice more than the actual words that made Jane's eyebrows shot up in surprise. She glanced next to her to see his eyes alight with a fiery gleam, not unlike the predator his species was. It sent a shiver down her spine. His subvocals hinted at his fervent excitement for what was to come.

"You're crazy." The salarian's eyes went wide, and he glanced between all of them as he took a step back. "He's crazy." His voice dripped with desperation as he begged them. "Please, don't let him do this to me." There was a pause as Garrus drew his weapon. Jane looked to her brother, wondering what was going on in his mind. If it had been up to her, she'd let Garrus pull the trigger as he so clearly wanted to. But it wasn't up to her, it was ultimately John's decision. She thought she knew what he would decide, and Garrus wasn't going to like it.

"We'll take him in. Drop him off with the military." John's voice reverberated with the finality of his decision, no space left for doubt. Regardless, Garrus jerked, his weapon lowering as he gaped at the Commander.

"But… We have him. We can't let him get away. Not again?" Jane sighed as Garrus' voice gave away his dismay and confusion. She knew he'd always regretted letting the geneticist get away, she could understand why he would be upset at the thought of letting it happen again. He'd told her dozens of stories of his time at C-Sec, but this was the one that really stuck with him. John's voice was empathetic but firm as he explained.

"If he dies, we'll never know what he's been up to, or how he did it. We'll take him in, interrogate him, and he'll serve his time." Garrus opened his mouth to argue before catching himself, his eyes wide and pleading.

"I've-! Okay, you're right." He took another deep breath, clenched his eyes shut for a moment before turning back to Saleon. The look the turian leveled on him was sharp enough to cut. "You're a very lucky salarian." He hissed in a low, deadly voice that sent another chill through Jane. "You owe the Commander your life."

There was a heartbeat of silence before the doctor took a decidedly causal step backwards, and Jane felt herself grip her weapon instinctually. Something about Saleon was making her weary.

"Oh, thank you so very much." He stated in a sarcastic stone before turning and dashing toward the back of the room. As Jane raised her pistol, she noticed the weapon on the desk that the doctor was running toward. As she trained her sights on Saleon's back, she stopped herself just before pulling the trigger. She turned to glance at Garrus, seeing his weapon drawn as well, and made her decision. She ducked into cover next to John and waited instead, nodding to Garrus as he glanced at them. A moment later, he put a single bullet between the shoulder blades of the doctor as he wrapped his hand around the pistol on the desk. The room grew silent except for the thud of the body hitting the floor. Standing up, Jane hurried over to check for vitals, but wasn't surprised to find him dead. It had been a very accurate killshot.

"And so he dies anyway." Garrus stated, unmoving at his spot by the door. His face a blank mask, but his sub vocals a strange cacophony of irritation and satisfaction. "What was the point of that?" John walked over to him and put a hand on the turian's shoulder, the pressure of the grip lost on the armor.

"You can't predict how people will act, Garrus. But you can control how you will respond. In the end, that's what really matters." As Jane stood, she couldn't help but smile at John's words of wisdom. They were so like him, so virtuous and true. If they had come from anyone else, they would have sounded pompous. But coming from someone as honest and principled and so damn good as John, it sounded like nothing but the truth of the world.

"Yeah…" Jane could hear the consideration in Garrus' voice as he thought about what her brother had said. After a moment, he continued, "I don't think I've ever met anyone like you, Commander."

Jane decided to give him a little while to cool off before seeking Garrus out. He'd clearly had a lot on his mind as they'd waited for the air to cycle through the airlock, and he hadn't said much as they'd headed off to change and tend to their gear. But she was never one to let things fester, being a strong believer that getting shit out of your system was the best way to get past it. So after a little while, she took the elevator down to the cargo bay to find him glaring down at the Mako control console.

"Penny for your thoughts?" She stopped not too far off, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to the side, a half smile on her face. He looked up at her, a confused look on his face.

"A what?"

"It's a human phrase, it's just a way of asking what's on your mind." That drew out a small smile from him. She'd noticed that he seemed to enjoy human sayings and she couldn't help but wonder what had started that.

"Ah, I'll have to remember that one. I wasn't thinking about anything in particular, just replaying what happened earlier. Gave me a lot to think about."

"Yeah, I figured. How do you feel about it all?"

"I'm not sure. My whole life, I've just wanted to help make the world a better place, and I thought that it was so important to do whatever had to be done to get the bad guys. But Shepard's way of doing things, it throws everything I've ever believed on its head. It's a lot to take in."

"I know what you mean." Garrus' brow furrowed at that, causing her to smile. "He and I butt heads about it sometimes, but he's usually right. If it makes you feel any better, if it had been me, I would have let you take the shot from the start." His eyes shot open at that.

"Really?"

"Yeah. But then again, there's a reason why he's the one in charge, not me. He's a good leader and a good person, I should try to emulate him more than I do. There's a time and place for people like you and me and the way we prefer to do things. But when you can choose to do things the right way, you should." At that, Garrus glanced away thoughtfully and sighed, though all the tight frustration seemed to have drained out of him.

"Yeah, I'm starting to think you may be right. I don't know, it's a lot to think about." Jane smiled at that, opening her arms out wide in invitation.

"How about a bout of sparring, then? Get your mind off it? I know it's not our usual time, but I'm game if you are." Garrus looked at her surprised before chuckling as he rolled one shoulder, turning in her direction.

"Do you always deal with conflict and emotions by trying to punch them?" With that, Jane was the one laughing.

"Maybe! John probably won't argue with you on that." She laughed before continuing, "Whatever, Big Guy. You're just sore that I'm going to win like usual." She turned and started to walk toward the middle of the room, already starting to stretch by rolling one of her arms.

"Oh, it's on."