Chapter 23 - Lifted Veil

Garrus
September 17th, 2188

I walked back into the house, finding Amelia sitting on the couch, trying to look relaxed but failing under my scrutinizing gaze. She tried to hide a deep sigh of relief, but I also caught it. "So?" She asked, accepting my embrace as I closed the distance.

"It was Aria."

Her brows creased together, and her lips hardened into a white line, clearly showing her confusion and anger across her face, "Why?"

"A simple trade, according to Tevos. She would help Tevos regain power and influence on Thessia. In return, the asari navy was supposed to help Aria retake Omega."

"But why assassinate you? What does that gain them?" Amelia was clenching and unclenching her fists. Clearly, something had happened between Aria and Amelia that I wasn't aware of.

"That is what I was confused about too. The rifle used to shoot me belonged to an Alliance Intelligence agent named Joel Abbot. He was killed by Kaora T'raoius, the asari who shot me, and his DNA was left alongside the rifle at the scene. A paper trail also pointed to Stone, implicating him in the attack."

Amelia leaned back from me, looking up into my eyes, "Garrus, you have to know Jason would never do anything like that."

"I know he didn't. But if the attack was successful…. I don't know if the Hierarchy would've validated it before attacking. We've never been the type to sit back and wait."

"I still don't understand though…. How does this benefit Tevos?"

"If a war broke out between the Hierarchy and the Alliance, the asari would have to step in to mediate it. With that, they'd reestablish themselves as the head of the galaxy, and the strong alliance and trust we've garnered since the SR1 would be destroyed."

"And what about Aria? Why can't she just take back Omega on her own? She certainly wanted to try during the War."

"What? When did this happen?" I asked, "You never told me about this?"

"It was on the Citadel, after Cerberus attacked. She wanted to unite the mercs and take back the station, and she wanted me to lead them. I told her I had far more important things to worry about than her couch on Omega." I chuckled a little, causing Amelia to crack a smile of her own, "She told me that she'd align the mercenaries with me to retake Earth. I told her if they weren't aligned with me, they were all dead anyway. That crazy bitch probably tried to retake it on her own…. Could this also be revenge on me for not helping?"

"Maybe. I don't know."

"When you find her, I want to be there." She declared adamantly. A tendril of eezo flickered up her arm as her anger threatened to trigger her biotics. I didn't respond; Instead, I pulled her back to my chest and held her until her anger receded slightly.

-0-

"Good morning, Sir," Sentia said from behind her desk as I stepped off the elevator, surprising me. I had come to the office earlier than usual, just going home to talk to Amelia and shower, and didn't expect to see anyone until later.

"Good morning. You're here early," I replied.

"No, I'm always here at this time," She said with a smile.

"You know, I don't think I've ever properly thanked you for your work," I paused, "It's not commonly a turian thing, but I would like to offer you the position as my Chief of Staff."

"I'm flattered, but I don't know what that means."

"Well, you'd be doing most of the same things that you already were, but you'd also be in most of the meetings, you'd be an advisor, you'd give input on my decisions, things like that. You'd be able to hire whoever you wanted and delegate your work as you see fit. To use a human phrase, you'd be my 'right hand'."

"I'd be honored to accept then, thank you." Sentia said, using her usual deferential tone coupled with a wide-mandible smile.

"Happy to do it. Now, can you schedule a meeting with the Alliance Ambassador as soon as possible?"

"Of course, Sir, right away."

"Thank you."

Miranda

"Primarch Vakarian, good to finally meet you," Myles Peyton said, offering a hand for Garrus to shake. I smirked at the mildly surprised look on his face when Garrus shook it without a second thought.

"Likewise, Ambassador. How has your stay on Palaven been so far?"

"A bit of a culture shock. It's a lot different from Vancouver, but on the whole, it's been very pleasant."

Garrus ushered the group into his office, making hand motions towards the set of couches in the center of the room. "This is my Chief of Staff, Sentia Bellagatus, and my Advisor, General Adrien Victus."

"Ah, nice to meet you all. This is my Chief of Staff, Miranda Blake," Peyton gestured to me.

I smiled, lifting a silent hand in a hello. It was more than a little awkward pretending to be someone else, but I had plenty of practice in my life. "Hello, nice to meet you all."

With the pleasantries set aside and the group settled onto various positions on the couches and armchairs, they moved on to the meeting topic. A portable holographic projector sat in the middle of the table between them, showing the image of Prime Minister Stone. "As you know, the blockade around Thessia ended when we took Councilor Tevos into custody three days ago. Until this morning, she had withheld our interrogation, but today she confessed." Victus began.

"That's great," Stone said, his voice coming through a little garbled and modulated by the projector. "What did she tell you?"

"She confessed that Aria T'Loak orchestrated the assassination attempt on the Primarch's life." Sentia answered. At the mention of the asari's name, I shuddered involuntarily. Thinking about the pisshole called Omega made me feel like I needed to shower. Twice.

"I don't understand…. Why? What does Aria gain by assassinating you?" Peyton asked. In the short time I had worked for the man, I had come to like Myles Peyton. He was a career politician but was much more of a straight shooter than others I knew from my time in Cerberus. He seemed to want to help instead of just accruing more power.

"A war," Garrus said, "Between the Hierarchy and the Alliance."

Silence descended on the room for several seconds while Peyton and Stone absorbed the new information. The Prime Minister was now looking far less relaxed than he was just a moment before, now leaning forward in his chair, stress wrinkles visible on his forehead. "How?" He finally asked, rubbing his face to alleviate the stress.

"The shooter, Kaora T'raoius, left DNA implicating an Alliance deep cover operative for the shooting, accompanied by a paper trail pointing directly to you, Prime Minister," Garrus told the hologram.

Stone sat bolt upright, "Garrus, you have to know I had nothing to do with this."

"I know, Jason. I wouldn't be telling you any of this if that wasn't the case, but if it had succeeded, there almost certainly would've been a war. Luckily, an interested third party intervened at the perfect time to prevent that." Stone was still stiff, knowing that the implication meant war for Earth regardless, whether it was against the Hierarchy or the Terminus Systems.

Peyton spoke up after a moment, "I still don't understand. Why would a war between us help T'Loak?"

"In exchange for reinstalling the asari as the galaxy's leaders, Tevos would've provided military support to Aria to take back Omega and turn a blind eye to the ongoings in the Terminus," Victus answered.

"Wait..., she doesn't control Omega?" I ask.

"Apparently not. Since the war ended, we've been too busy rebuilding to keep an eye on Omega, but from what little we do know is that during the War, she tried to take it back from Cerberus and was thoroughly defeated. However, we now know that a group of mercenaries, the Talons, successfully retook the station from Cerberus. We expected Aria to come and reclaim her throne, but the Talon leader seems to have other ideas. We're trying to find out more information on them as we speak," Garrus explained.

"So, what do you need from us?" Stone asked, looking a little more disheveled by the minute as he ran his hands through his hair.

"Nothing. The Hierarchy will be hunting Aria down. If the Alliance cares to join, they are welcome. I was just filling you in on the result of the interrogation." Garrus stated, standing from his chair, signaling that the meeting was over.

"Thank you, Primarch. I will get back to you with an answer shortly," Stone said, leaning into the camera and cutting the feed.

Amelia

I still felt myself seething with anger, even hours after Garrus had told me Aria was responsible. Part of me felt as if it was my fault that my husband was the target for denying Aria help during the War. I still knew that I was right, and a few mercenaries wouldn't have turned the tide in any meaningful way, but I couldn't help but wonder if I had nearly killed my husband; If I had nearly made my children grow up without a father. Regardless, I was angry and had to release that anger in a fashion that wouldn't affect Gaius or Octavia, so I decided using the gym would be my best bet.

I strung the heavy bag up from its hook and wrapped my hands in tape, quickly falling into a familiar rhythm of giving the bag two quick jabs followed by a kick, soon putting more force behind it, using the bag as an outlet for my anger. My hits became progressively harder as I warmed into it, causing the bag to wobble back and forth like a pendulum.

As I took my next punch, I felt a surge of energy rush down my arm and found my biotically-enhanced fist making contact with the bag and sending it back to a forty-five-degree angle. 'That felt good,' I thought, sending another biotic-fueled attack into the bag, followed by another.

After fifteen minutes of relentless hits, I unleashed all my rage in one kick, snapping the chain holding the bag like a twig, sending the bag flying a few feet away, pulling me out of my anger. My heavy breaths filled my ears, and my heart thudded against my chest as I stumbled back and slumped against the wall. It had been more than a year since I had last used my biotics, and I felt the toll hit my body all at once. Drained, I slid down the wall, sitting with one knee raised and a badly bruised hand resting on it. Despite the pain flooding my nervous system, I only had a renewed conviction in my earlier promise. I would kill Aria.

Solana

"Hey, brother," I said, walking into Garrus's office.

"Sol!" Garrus got up and hugged me, "What's up?"

"I was downtown, thought I'd stop by to see you, see if you wanted to get dinner. It's been a while since you've been over. Dad misses you," I said, cocking one hip to the side and trying to look stern.

Garrus chuckled at me, "You look so much like Mom when you do that, although a lot less menacing." I pulled my mandibles close to my face, pouting at him, but Garrus ignored it and continued, "Sure, we can grab dinner. I'm just waiting on a file before I can leave. Let me message Ame and let her know."

As Garrus typed the message on his terminal, an attractive, young turian woman wearing a waist-hugging dress came into the office holding a datapad, not noticing me standing in the room, "Here are those files on Nyreen Kandros, Sir." As she turned to leave, she nearly bumped into me, "Oh! I'm sorry…," Sentia looked sheepish, as if she made an error, clasping her wrists in front of her and looking at the floor.

"Thank you, Sentia. And don't worry about her, that's just my baby sister. Sentia, Solana, Solana, Sentia," Garrus stated, barely looking up from his terminal, waving his hand in my direction.

"Nice to meet you, Solana," Sentia said, extending her hand for a wrist clap.

I took the offered wrist, saying, "Nice to meet you too."

Turning back towards Garrus, Sentia asked, "Is there anything else you need, Sir?"

"No, Sentia, that's all. Go ahead and go home. See you in the morning."

Nodding, Sentia left the room, and I watched the sway of her hips as she did. Catching my look, Garrus gave me a devilish grin but didn't say a word. Trying to change the subject, I asked, "Did she say Nyreen Kandros?"

"Yes, why?"

"I was good friends with her in bootcamp, before the Hierarchy found out she was a biotic. Why are you interested in her?"

"She is the de facto leader of Omega right now, and I want to talk to her."