Chapter 7: Find Liara T'Soni June 20, 2183 CE Mia Shepard En Route to Prothean Ruins on Therum 0900 hours "When enemies are at your door, I'll carry you away from war if you need help." -Phillip Phillips, "Gone, Gone, Gone"

Mia was tucked between Kaidan and Tali on one side of the six wheeled transport vehicle the Alliance called the Mako. Across from him, Wrex took up nearly two seats, and Garrus was manning the gun. John was in the driver's seat, and from the feel of it, was doing his best to hit every pot hole, divet, and even some small hills on Therum. It had taken nearly a week to locate which system Liara was in, but unfortunately, the geth had found her first.

"Who let John drive? I've been sick since we dropped in." Mia grumbled.

"You want a turn? I'll just pull over,'' The Mako tilted nearly vertical for a moment before righting itself. "Well honestly it doesn't matter anyway. We're here." He said, as the Mako came to a stop. "Everyone out, next stop, Prothean ruins."

"I am not looking forward to fighting those Armatures on foot." Garrus said as they filed out. Wrex stretched loudly.

"You said they were big? Like, bigger than the Mako?" Mia asked, pulling out her sniper and checking her scope for geth at once.

"Yep." John said as they squeezed through the rock barrier. "Mia, Garrus, get up on that ridge and cover us." John ordered. Kaidan, Wrex, stay on me. Tali, use your AI hacking."

Mia and Garrus immediately broke off, heading for the ridge John had indicated. Mia dove into cover just as a geth shot a rocket at her, blasting the top off the boulder she'd crouched behind and showering her with gravel.

"I've heard you're good, Shepard. Not often I get to show off with another sniper." Garrus said, peeking out to take down a geth that was getting a little too close to John.

"Showing off?" She asked with a smirk, popping up and taking out another rocket trooper, who blew up and took out the one right next to him.

"That only counts as one." Garrus grumbled, though she could tell he was impressed. She'd spent a bit of time on Palaven between her N4 and N5 courses, needing to get away from humans for a bit. Their training regimens were intense, but they helped her immensely. She tried to learn as much as they'd share about their culture while she was there, and had even started picking up on how to read their subvocals a bit before she left. That aspect of turians fascinated her- she loved learning about how other species communicated. It's why she talked to every hanar she met.

Subvocals tended to display emotion vocally the same way human facial expressions would, which was particularly useful in a race whose faces were covered in armored plates. Mia smiled when she realized she wasn't as rusty with it as she thought, because while Garrus's words were bitter, his subvocals were impressed.

"Sure it does, big guy." She chuckled, lining up another shot when the geth in her sights dropped, and she looked up at Garrus's smoking gun. "Oh, so we're doing this?" She barked a laughed.

"Doing what?" Garrus asked innocently, though he grinned at her. Mia took a moment to pull up a little program on her visor, something she used to use with one of her friends. She changed the names and sent the link to the program to Garrus's Omnitool. She popped her head up again to make another shot, testing the program. She checked her visor and sure enough, the program was working. There was a little readout in the bottom of her screen:

GV: 2

MS: 1

"I'll even let you have your lead." Mia told him, taking a deep breath and squeezing the trigger once, twice more. Two more geth fell and John's voice came over their local comm channel.

" That's it, moving up. " he relayed, looking over his shoulder at Mia and Garrus. " Come on down ," He said, but just as he turned his back in the bend, Mia spotted a laser tracker. She followed it and took a deep breath, taking out the sniper just before it pulled the trigger.

"Sure thing," She said, lowering her gun and heading down the ridge. She didn't wait for the turian, but she knew he was right behind her.

They followed John through the refinery, moving past a fiery pit of what Mia assumed be lava and up towards more factory type buildings. As they came up on the patch of buildings with shoots extending from one to the next, a geth, different than one they'd seen before, sprang to life and dropped to the ground in front of them, then crawled up a nearby wall.

"That's not creepy at all." She muttered, peeking up at Garrus.

"Trying not to think about it." He responded, and Mia almost snorted.

The ground shook as a larger geth was dropped in, and seemingly activated, just past the group of buildings. Mia glanced up at Garrus, nervously.

"Yeah, I'd say that's bigger than the Mako." She admitted, glancing around. "Garrus and I will take the rooftops, Commander." She said into her comm, nodding at the first building that they could enter.

"Take out that Stalker! Tali, focus your hacking on the big one!" John called out while he and Wrex tore through the smaller geth.

Mia lined up a shot and pulled the trigger, causing one of the Stalkers to drop to the ground, but not enough to kill it. Before she could track the shot, it dropped, and she checked her visor.

GV:4

MS:4

He was catching up. She checked her heat sink then pulled her sights back to her eye, swiftly dropping two more geth.

"I can't keep up, Shepard! Can't get through his armor." Tali called over comms, and Mia scanned the battlefield. All the other geth had dropped, they just had to take out the Armature.

"Concentrate fire!" John called, trying to get close enough to the thing to hurt it without being crushed.

Mia raised her sights to the Armature, aiming for the big bright eyepiece. She took a breath and squeezed the trigger and boom. She cracked the lens on its head and it slowed dramatically.

"Aim for the eye!" Mia called over comms.

"What eye? The bright glowy thing?" Tali asked, going for another attempt at hacking the machine.

"I'd call that an eye." Garrus quipped, taking a shot at the monstrosity himself. A crack rang through the air and Mia heard the whir of machinery powering down.

"Damn good shot." Mia commented, having seen the shot through her scope. He'd matched her bullet hole perfectly.

"I try," Garrus said, then he headed downstairs, following John as he moved up through the camp. Mia watched him go with a smile for a second. It was nice to have a friend again.


Garrus Vakarian Prothean Ruins on Therum 1000 hours

Garrus wasn't particularly fond of tunnels, and geth-filled tunnels were perhaps even lower on that list. They'd been trudging through this dig site for nearly half an hour, looking for a way to free Liara from a Prothean force field. After a lot of hacking, and even more running in literal circles, they were finally steps from freeing her.

Garrus was just glad he'd be able to get back to the Normandy soon. He'd had enough fighting machines for one day. He shifted his weight as John started talking to the woman.

"That button should shut down the containment field." Liara told John, nodding to a button on the wall.

"Are you sure we can trust her, Shepard? This seems a little convenient, and her mother works for Saren." Garrus speculated.

"I am not my mother! I don't even-I don't know why Benezia joined Saren. I don't want anything to do with the turian bastard!" She exclaimed, and Garrus had to admit, that spiel convinced him. A bit.

"The geth wouldn't be trying to kill her if she were working for Saren." John pointed out, pressing the button to release her.

"Any idea how to get us out of here?" Tali piped up from beside John. Despite being teamed up with Kaidan and Mia, Tali had been nearly inseparable from John since they got out of the Mako. Garrus had written it off as first mission nerves for the young quarian, but he'd seen the glances she'd been making at John. He'd seen how she glowed when he acknowledged a clean kill.

They arrived at the elevator, pausing just before the entrance to the large platform.

"I-I still cannot believe all this. Why would the geth come after me? Do you think Benezia is involved?" Liara asked.

"Saren's looking for the Conduit. You're a Prothean expert. He probably wants you to help him find it." Tali explained.

"The Conduit? But I don't-" Liara was cut off by a yelp and a sudden rumbling, and the wall behind Garrus began to move. Not the wall, he realized as he looked up at it, the elevator.

"Mia!" Kaidan yelled, sprinting towards her.

Garrus frowned at first, but then he saw Mia on the floor of the elevator, grappling with a geth Stalker. He moved before he could think, launching himself over the quickly rising elevator wall and up onto the platform with Mia, just as Kaidan, the next closest, did the same.

"Stay in radio-" John started, then finished on comms, " contact. Joker, get the Normandy airborne and locked in on my signal. "

"Aye, aye, Commander. Secure and aweigh." Joker replied over comms.

"Doin' our best, Commander." Kaidan replied as he thrust his fist into the air,yanking the geth Stalker off of Mia and into the air. Seconds later, Garrus put a hole through its little flashlight head. No hesitation.

Kaidan got to Mia first. Garrus had picked up on something between the two humans. He knew they both survived Eden Prime together, and he knew what that sort of trauma bonding did to people. It was clear he cared about her, and Garrus was glad for that. Mia was kind, thoughtful, and talented, anyone could see that. She deserved someone who thought of her the same. He smiled as he made it over to her, standing next to Kaidan, who was bending down to check out her ankle tenderly.

"I can move it, I think. Just a little Medigel and I'll be good as new." She grunted, moving into a sitting position.

"So how do we get this thing back down to the team?" Garrus asked, looking around the platform until he found a console. He fiddled with it for a moment, then sighed.

"There's a cooldown on the system because it malfunctioned. Once it stops, it'll take a few minutes before we can send it down again. Let's hope there's no trouble waiting for us topside." He groaned, looking over to Mia and Kaidan. He smiled watching their interaction, he helped her get to her feet, gingerly applying pressure until she was confident that she could stand without pain. There was so much concern in Kaidan's face that it warmed Garrus's heart. He found himself wondering, idly, how he'd feel if he found himself in Kaidan's shoes. Of course, turian warships were far more lax about interpersonal relationships than human ones. Everyone needed to let off steam.

The elevator came to a stop and Garrus could see the main exit that they'd come in from ahead of them. Unfortunately, the krogan that Liara had warned them about before they rescued her had heard the elevator and was coming to investigate with a whole swarm of geth- even a couple geth prime. Garrus looked over to a slightly injured Mia and Kaidan, and took a moment to gather himself. This might end up as a pretty hard fight.

"Surrender. Or don't. That would be more fun." The krogan said.

"I don't surrender." Mia said, pulling herself up to her full height. If Garrus didn't know better, it would have been almost cute, this tiny human trying to make herself look bigger to this hulking krogan. But Garrus knew how deadly Mia was, and that was without pissing her off. Now she was hurt, tired, and wanted to get the fuck off this planet, if Garrus's own emotions were anything to go off.

"Where's the doctor? Hand her over." the krogan said.

"Downstairs, guarded by the other half of our team. Not that you'll get past us." Mia said flippantly.

"Saren wants her. And he gets what he wants," the krogan said, then turned to the geth. "Kill them." He ordered, and Garrus had his sights at his eye before the first shot could be fired, squeezing his trigger once, twice, three times, three geth falling in quick succession before they could get a shot off. Garrus used a Punisher IX with a cooldown mod, giving him six shots instead of the standard three. He'd been very lucky finding that mod, and it had come in handy a few times when a similar gun would have overheated after three shots. Like Mia's.

He heard her pop off two shots, but noticed she missed when he looked down at the readout from the program he'd sent her. He smirked internally at their game. He had to admit, it was nice having a friend again.

A friend who was getting exceedingly frustrated, from the sound of it. He turned as he heard her fire again, then swear. She'd missed again.

"Damn ankle, stop hurting already," She muttered, taking cover while Kaidan laid down cover fire for her, taking out a few of the smaller geth while she applied a bit more Medigel to her wound.

Garrus lined up another shot, then another. "You okay there, Shepard?" He called, noticing she still hadn't popped her head back up yet.

"Working on it." She shouted back through gritted teeth. He saw her test her ankle, pulling her scope to her eye before having to duck from a rocket. Shit, more rocket troops. Garrus took out another geth trooper that was getting a little too close to him, and checked his visor.

GV:16

MS: 12

Apparently Mia had been checking their stats too, because he heard her swear. "Fucking ankle, holding me back." She murmured as she popped her head up, taking a potshot at a geth prime. While she hit it, it didn't go down. And there was still the krogan that Kaidan was hardly keeping at bay.

"Oh, fuck this." Mia murmured, pulling up her Omnitool. She activated her tactical cloak, and then she was gone.

"What is she doing?" Garrus asked, checking his heat sink quickly.

"Something reckless." Kaidan replied, though he grinned at Mia's cloaked silhouette making her way across the room. She made it to the entrance and turned around, having acquired the high ground. Garrus was glad he didn't blink, because as soon as she was in position, she sprang into action. Six pistol shots found three geth prime, then she tucked and rolled, managing to pull her sniper out as she slid on her back, directly between the legs of the krogan. She didn't hesitate, pulling the trigger without bothering with the sights at such close range. Garrus almost laughed. He'd never seen someone take down a krogan with one shot, but he couldn't argue with a high-powered rifle to the face. The krogan fell backwards and Kaidan whooped appreciatively.

"Holy shit , Shepard!" He laughed incredulously as he took out one of the scattering remnants of geth troops. Mia got to her feet, scanning her surroundings. Scanning the room and seeing it clear, she rushed over to the console, activating it again and sending the platform back down to the level the others were waiting on, dead krogan and all.

Garrus moved over to stand beside her and Kaidan by the console, looking over the smaller human curiously. "Remind me not to piss you off." He chuckled, elbowing her gently. "How's the ankle?"

"Nothing Chakwas can't fix. I can walk, that's what matters." She said, and he could hear the pain straining her voice. If anything, that just impressed him more.

"Mia!" John's voice came as the platform opened back up to the room they were in. "Are you okay?"

"You should have seen her, Commander!" Kaidan beamed proudly. "Injured ankle, outnumbered, outgunned. Took down a krogan with one shot.

"No way." Wrex dismissed, moving onto the platform to inspect the body.

"I'll accept being outnumbered, I was not out-gunned ." Mia defended.

"Widow to the face at point-blank range." Garrus confirmed. "That tactical cloak is scary." He grinned down at Mia.

"Joker's waiting, let's handle the debrief on the Normandy, if it's all the same?" John asked, moving over to his sister.

"Yeah, I think I need to pay Chakwas a visit." Mia told her brother, who was busy checking her over himself.

"Let's get you there, then. Thanks for securing our exit, soldier." He told her, ruffling her hair, which seemed to annoy her. She wore her hair parted in the middle, the two sections tied back separately in a style he'd heard humans refer to as 'pigtails'. He'd heard of pigs, and knew their tails were curly, but he wasn't sure what that had to do with a hairstyle. Her hair looked nothing like a pig's tail. He tried not to stare at the two humans as they headed back to the surface, but it's not everyday you watch a tiny human woman blow a krogan's face off. Garrus wouldn't admit it to a soul, but he was a little in awe the rest of the day.