Garrus pulled the chair up to the table and sat down across from Kelly. It was apparent on the man's face that he wasn't too keen on spending any more time than what was necessary here.
"How long is this going to take."
"That entirely depends on you, Garrus." Kelly said as she prepared her recorder. She set it softly on the table and oriented it toward him. "EDI, please close the door."
They both waited silently for the door to close and the lock to actuate. Knowing now that they were sealed completely from the rest of the Normandy, Kelly noted the time on her watch and jotted down a note on her clipboard.
"Patient is Garrus Vakarian. Today is Wednesday, March 10th, 2186 at 7:30 PM, day shift."
Garrus crossed his arms and did his best to not look at the camera staring at him.
"We'll start from where we left off." Kelly said, looking up at him with a small smile.
"I don't remember what we talked about."
"That's okay, I can remind you."
"Kelly, is this going to take longer than an hour? I distincti—"
"—The last time we spoke was when you first boarded the ship," Kelly interrupted, denying him the opportunity to play down the importance of their session, "before the incident of recruiting subject zero."
"If we're here to talk about problems, she's the biggest one."
"For you? Or for Jack herself?"
Garrus kept his arms crossed and tilted his chin down to give Kelly a long glare. To him, that wasn't a question worth answering. But he had to answer it anyways to move this discussion along.
"Jack is a liability." He said with a distinct pause, knowing he'd said this many times. "This isn't some misunderstood girl who'll happen to find her silver lining if you just nudge her in the right direction. This isn't a drama show. This is real. She's a killer. A weaning drug addict. And she probably has an itchy crotch. What else? Ex-indie merc and pirate. No doubt an impulsive gambler. What the galactic governments do have on her file isn't pretty to look at."
Kelly couldn't dispute anything he listed with the exception of her abusing drugs. That she hadn't seen on her file.
"Where do you back these accusations of her being a drug addict?"
"Kelly. I'm a retired detective. And during my time on the Citadel and Omega, you start to learn that there's a pattern to how this stuff works. You might think that stereotyping people is wrong. That... averaging out the behavior of people with similar backgrounds is somehow intolerant and that it promotes blanket prejudices. But they exist for a reason. You will not believe how often that shoe fits, Kelly."
Kelly took a breath, one that wasn't pausing to buy time for a response, but one to ponder on Garrus' personal opinions. Their personal ideologies were polar opposites. But she also remembered his time on Omega had certainly been a good contributor to how his opinions were shaped.
"Is there any evidence you've seen to suggest that Jack is, in fact, a substance abuser?"
"The substance abuse isn't from drugs she's sourcing out from somewhere," Garrus said with a grimace, "It's from the drugs inside her head. Cerberus conditioned her to lust after death. That enough is an addiction."
"How do you feel about Jack? Overall?"
"She's a mistake to have on the ship. My stance on her being sent to prison or air locked hasn't changed much."
"Do you believe she has the capacity to change her ways?"
"I believe she has the capacity to inflict more casualties to the crew."
"What makes you think that?"
"The shoe fits, Kelly."
"Sometimes people outgrow them. Don't you think?"
"Are you suggesting that we should be willing to risk subverting this operation for one fucked up girl? Is that what you're impressing upon me?"
"Jack has expressed to me in her evaluations her willingness to cooperate and change."
Garrus leaned in close and sucked in a slow breath. "Not good enough."
Kelly finally looked down, back at her clipboard, and jotted some more notes.
Garrus, unfaltered, sat still and waited to be pelted by more questions.
"What's your opinion of Samara?"
"That she's dangerous and indoctrinated by her beliefs. For whatever it's worth, our relationship is improving. She recognizes that, in retrospect, me taking that shot and killing Morinth was the best outcome we could've hoped for."
"What did she tell you? Did she express with you anything that might suggest she wanted to have a last talk with her daughter?"
"She did. Said something about how she wanted her daughter to have the luxury of at least being able to see the end."
"Do you agree with that sentiment Samara held?"
"No. Extending sentimental luxuries to your target is asinine."
Kelly swallowed. The answers Garrus was giving were starting to get sharper.
"What about Horizon and your incident with Olasie? In your report, you stated, and I quote: 'Sergeant Olasie'Venn's recent breach of military conduct during a vital combat operation was unbecoming of a soldier's function and should be evaluated accordingly to determine if Venn's combat competency and mental integrity is sufficient enough to warrant further mission attendance.' Unquote. That's quite a sentence."
Garrus looked down and remembered the talk he just had with Tali and John earlier about Olasie. He had changed his mind about this one because he knew Olasie's intentions were pure. While he still didn't necessarily agree with the risk she took, he could, at the very least, understand why she decided to try and save some children lying in the street rather than return fire.
"I'm working on that. I've got to remember that the people here with us on the ground don't know what the original crew knows. Had a long talk with Shepard and Tali about that."
"If that's the case, then why not extend that chance to Jack as well?" Kelly asked, bringing back what she believed to be the focus of Garrus' problem.
He pointed a talon at her and clenched his teeth with a cold look on his face. "Because Olasie didn't kill two of my guys. That was a stupid question and you know it."
"Garrus, questions like these aren't some kind of personal expression from me. The thoughts that you have need to come out in the open so we can have a serious and open dialogue about it. Your unwillingness to cooperate with other members of the team has become an issue that needs addressing."
Garrus said nothing and waited for her to move on.
"Would you like to talk about the team members you lost?"
"No."
They shared stares, though Kelly did it through pursed lips. This wasn't ever an easy thing to do, performing these sessions. Garrus made it almost impossible.
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Two days later.
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0500 HOURS
3-12-2186
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Joker held back a yawn before taking a careful sip of black coffee as he skimmed over the roster EDI had just posted for the crew. Two souls aside from Joker were on CIC and they were about thirty minutes out from being relieved of their shift so the day crew could take over. It'd been over two months since they launched the Normandy and Joker still didn't know their names.
Joker swiped the display away and brought up a change list Tali had been working on the past week knowing that she'd be down here soon. Ever since Tali had come aboard, they both had decided that every Friday would be the day to share their thoughts on what they could do to better the Normandy's systems and performance.
How she found as much as she did was beyond him. You'd think they would have worked out the kinks by now.
He heard footsteps slowly come up from behind him, so he swiveled in his chair and saw Tali with a thermos in a hand and a coffee pot in the other.
"Hey." She said with a soft, but slightly tired smile. She set down her thermos next to the computer and stood next to him.
"Sleep well?" Joker asked between a sip of his dark brew.
She nodded as she poured more coffee into his mug without him asking. "Always do."
"Thanks Tali."
"Of course."
"That's wife material right there. You know that?"
She snorted and put the pot down so she could bring up her change list.
"Well thank you. I would like to be a good wife someday." She said as she sat down.
He tipped his mug slightly and took another sip.
"Ready to get started?"
She nodded once and glued her eyes to the screen to review her notes. "Yeah. So... Lift attenuation is being amplified again and the sensor isn't tripping to let us know it's happening. We're going to have to reset sensitivity at three-eighths by two five."
"I've definitely noticed that. Okay."
"Ailerons for atmo seem to be a bit sluggish, no?"
"Not really noticing that. I mean... maybe? A little?"
"Eezo-core is probably picking up the slack for that then." Tali thought aloud, "We'll re-synchronize with what the manual says and watch the drive-core's computer measure any drift for next time."
"Let me tag that as important. What kind of atmospheric pressures should we be looking for here? At least for this issue to be noticeable?"
"Hard to say. Anything around the size of Illium I think?"
"Alright."
Tali took a sip through her straw and sighed at the taste of her warm tea. It caught Joker's attention enough that he finally bit the bullet and decided to ask how that whole thing worked. Now was a good a time as any.
"So... how do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Drink with a suit on?"
Tali stared at the metal canister in her hand with a somewhat dumbfounded expression.
"Uhm... well, there's an induction port on my helmet. Really, it's only supposed to be used for emergencies, but, you know. You've got to live a little."
"So... what. There's like… safer methods to drinking with a suit on?"
"Well, yes. It's like a little module slot underneath here. Like snap-ins for stuff. Right now I've got one for drinking. Built-in filter."
Joker was struggling for words. "Suited life seems—"
"Difficult?" She finished for him and just shrugged before sipping some more on her tea, "You just deal with it. What choice do I have?"
"Not much."
"Don't feel bad for me, Joker. I get to take it off in my cabin. I do every night. "
Joker gave her the biggest smirk of his life and rose his eyebrows to tell her what he was thinking.
Tali hadn't blushed lately, but now it felt appropriate. "Ah, Keelah."
"What?" He said with a chuckle, "Where'd you think that was going?"
"Didn't think it was going anywhere 'till it left my mouth. Was talking faster than I was thinking."
"That's a first. Don't make it a habit."
"Shut the hell up." She said with a dumb grin.
"Okay. Back on track. What next?"
"Some of this stuff I can handle myself. Just thought I'd tag them in here."
Joker settled into his seat and slowly breathed in the nutty-scented steam rising from his cup.
"Um. Hm... Oh yeah. Inertial measurement and accelerometer dampeners for the engineering deck seem a bit skewed? Sometimes we find ourselves in engineering leaning forward a bit during acceleration. Wasn't like that last week."
"Wow. Why wasn't that reported sooner?"
"Just started like four days ago. Didn't think it was a problem worth prioritizing."
Joker propped his head with a hand and blew air through his nose. "No end to these quality-of-life problems."
"Nope. Afraid not." Tali said plainly.
They both tapped through some buttons to look at more of her notes.
Joker suddenly had this... deflated look on his face. Their work forgotten, he looked up at the ceiling and sighed at his intrusive thought before settling his eyes on Tali working diligently next to him.
"Where do you think Ash is?" He asked solemnly.
Her typing stopped, but her hands still hovered over the keyboard. It wasn't long until she withdrew them and tucked them away by crossing her arms and thinking. "...I don't know. I just— the longer nothing comes in? The more I'm convinced that..." She looked down and closed her mouth.
Her words trailed off because she didn't know how she was supposed to finish that sentence. Joker didn't need her to finish either. It was enough to know where she was getting at with that. Still, Joker clenched his jaw and swallowed dryly. He didn't say anything himself, so Tali pressed the down arrow key to scroll through more of the list.
Tali and Ash were never all that close, honestly. Not that Ash hadn't been a good friend or even a big sister to her, it's just that they didn't really ever hang out with each other all too much. Tali would even go so far to say their relationship back on the SR1 was, outside of a few moments when it meant something, a professional one. But that didn't make her any less important, of course. Tali loved her. Everyone from that time Tali considered family. So knowing that she might be dead right now hit her where she really wish it hadn't.
"Well," Tali breathed, moving on back to their work, "Let's get started then. I don't have too much time since PT starts in like... an hour."
"Did they change the schedule for PT?"
"Yeah. We might have to change our ritual to another day if it stays this way."
"Alright. Well. I'll be here."
As Tali stood up, she leaned back to stretch her back and yawned.
"Oh, one thing before you go. Heard from Miranda last night that we're heading to the Citadel. Haven't heard the specifics, but I think it has something to do with Thane?"
Tali instantly knew what he was talking about and was surprised to say the least. She felt like the advice she had given Thane was shoddy at best, but he must've really taken it to heart. Enough for him to have convinced John and Miranda to scrub the week's navigation chart so they could plot a straight course to the Citadel. And it was all just to save a father's son. Not that Tali was belittling the situation Thane was in, it just felt odd to put everything on hold for just this one thing on such short notice. Usually these things were planned weeks in advance. Understandably, this wasn't something you exactly had the time to plan out either. Thane's son, or Kolyat rather, was about ready to kill someone. Time was a premium here.
"Haven't gotten orders yet, other than to keep it on the D L." Joker shrugged, "so who knows."
"Huh. Thanks. I'll ask John when he's up and about."
"Right. I'll be waiting for your call."
"Okay."
She pushed the pot of coffee closer for him to reach and made her way to the elevator.
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Four uneventful days later.
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0630 Hours
3-16-2183
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Officially, their trip to the Citadel was listed as shore leave. Thane expressed his reluctance in anyone knowing the real reason for why they were here, so John obliged that. He had no reason to tell people anything other than what they needed to know, so he kept it that way.
Thane also requested that he go alone and without help. Figuring that the man was more than capable of figuring this all out solo, especially since it was about his son, John obliged that too.
It'd been three hours since they'd docked at the Citadel. Thane hadn't been heard of since he stepped off the ship.
So... what then?
John supposed he could go take Tali out to coffee. Or go sightseeing and just stare blissfully at the Citadel's arms. He never got tired of that. Then they could stop by and say hi to Anderson before giving him a copy of that combat footage Garrus collected on Horizon.
He tossed the sheets off and stretched before stealing himself a moment to stare at Tali. She was so damn pretty when she slept. With her rat's nest hair and pillow-squished cheek. And the leg that hung slightly off the bed as she snored softly.
"Aw, honey." He whispered with a smile, "You're just so damn cute."
She kept sleeping.
John looked up through their panoramic ceiling glass and stared up at the tall wall of parked ships above them. It might have only been a month since they were last here on the citadel, but it felt like an eternity ago at this point. Between Illium, Bekenstein, and Horizon? To measure their progress almost felt like they were actually getting somewhere.
But were they? They fought the collectors once. They might've come out of the fray on top, but that didn't guarantee anything for what would happen next time.
A snore from Tali, louder than the others, almost startled John. When he turned to face her with a bemused look, she smacked her lips, eyes still closed, and barely adjusted herself to keep sleeping.
He gave her a kiss on the forehead, very carefully so as to not wake her, and got started with his morning routine.
After he took his longer-than-usual shower, he dried himself off, wrapped a towel around his waist, and stepped up to the mirror to brush his teeth.
"Hi." Tali said groggily as she stepped into the bathroom.
"Morning, hun."
She came up from behind him and wrapped her arms around him.
"How'd you sleep?"
"Good." Tali hummed as she took in his fresh scent.
"So Thane is out doing that thing."
"Oh?"
"Maybe he'll be done today. Who knows."
"Who's he with?"
"No one. He wanted to do it by himself."
"Oh." She stepped away and took off her clothes to take a shower.
"So how about we go out today?" John asked, looking momentarily to her as he wet his toothbrush, "Just you and I?"
"A date huh?" She turned the knob and the shower head shot out steaming water.
"I was thinking a coffee shop. Somewhere close. Then we can run some errands and buy you some slippers."
She stepped under the running water and sighed at its warming embrace. "I would love to do that. And a definite yes to the slippers. Floor's too cold for my feet."
"Doesn't bother me."
"Well. You have socks."
He shrugged and spit out a mouthful of suds into the sink.
"Sorry Tals. Like you said. Don't think anyone makes socks for quarians."
"Yeah." She shrugged, "We got weird feet."
He rinsed his mouth and stepped up next to the shower.
"Hey. Give me a kiss."
"I have morning breath though."
"Don't care."
She stepped to the edge of the shower and pursed her lips, all smiles. They gave each other a quick peck on the lips and he walked out of the bathroom to get dressed.
Civvies would do, he supposed. He opened their closet and took out the only outfit that wasn't a pair of fatigues.
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"You think it's weird that we're having coffee like this while Thane's out doing... his thing?"
John sipped on his espresso and scratched the growing stubble on his chin.
"Nope. We've both seen what that man can do. Not worried in the slightest."
Tali rapped her fingers against the table and nodded. "Yeah. Guess you're right. What do you think will happen?"
"Haven't the slightest clue, Tals. All I know is that he's trying to stop his son from doing something really stupid."
"How much do you know exactly?" Tali asked with a raised brow, "He came down to engineering the other day and talked to me about it."
"That his son is trying to follow in his dad's footsteps."
"Oh. Then you're up to speed with everything then." She breathed.
"Can't imagine living that kind of life. The one Thane had, I mean."
"I can't even imagine having kids." Tali wondered, "You think we would be good parents if we had a kid?"
John bit his lip and looked at the ceiling. "I have no idea."
"That's fair." Tali laughed, "It's hard seeing you being a dad."
John chuckled over his coffee and shook his head. He took another steady sip and cupped the mug with both hands on the table.
"Thane is..." John exhaled to think well on his words, "I wouldn't call him extraordinary. Ever read up on his religion?"
"No. Never really thought about it that much."
"Polytheistic. Body and mind are two distinct entities. And they can get separated. Or something."
"Sounds like it's hard to regurgitate." Tali offered.
"Well, it is. To me, that religion is an outlet for something. Because there's some guilt behind that face of his Tali. I don't doubt that guy's done some terrible things to people."
"Has he told you anything?"
"Just enough for me to fill in some blanks." He answered. "Point is? He doesn't see himself as a killer. Just a tool."
"What do you mean?"
"As in, his employer is the one who really killed his target."
"Okay. I get it. I see the logic. Still doesn't make it right."
"He figures that the employer would have had the target dead regardless if he pulled the trigger or not. He was just an extension of that process."
"He can rationalize it any way he wants." Tali supposed after a deep moment of silence from her, "Still doesn't make it right."
"Yeah." He rose the mug to his lips, "I guess."
She waited for him to finish his sip. "Think he's ever killed good people?"
"Don't know." He answered after moment's thought, "And part of me doesn't want to find out."
Tali just nodded.
"Oh. I forgot to mention this. It's important for context." John added, "We never bothered asking him why he was at Nassana's. I figured out the reason. It all comes full circle."
"I didn't think it needed explaining." Tali said, "Wasn't he just fulfilling another contract for someone?"
"No. He was just killing bad people out of his own volition."
"Uhm. Okay. Why would he do that?"
"He's dying."
"He is?"
"Terminal illness. Something about oxygen not getting to his blood enough. Not bad enough yet to be producing symptoms that'd affecting work performance though."
"Terminal." Tali repeated with an almost whisper, "So that's what all this atonement is about isn't it?"
John nodded.
"Wow. Okay. His motivations seem a lot more understandable now."
He took a small bite from his buttered croissant and agreed with her. "Yup."
"And that's why we went all this way to help him."
John stopped chewing and looked at her with a little shame on his face. "It would be hard to look a man in the eye and deny him the opportunity to save his son."
"Keelah, I'm not judging you John," Tali said, almost incredulous that he would feel the way he did, "Doing this is an incredibly kind gesture. You did the right thing choosing for us to come here."
"Miranda disagreed. Gave me a lot of shit for it."
"Okay, well, just one thing: Miranda isn't the captain." Tali declared as she tapped a pointer on the table, "You are. You call the shots. Not Cerberus."
He put a hand on hers and squeezed. "Thanks hun."
She gave him a small and warm smile even though he couldn't see it. "You're welcome. You need reminding sometimes I think."
"That's fair." He smiled. He finished the rest of his espresso and croissant and stood up.
"Ready to go see Anderson?"
"Yeah."
"He's expecting us about ten minutes from now."
"We'll be right on time then."
They walked out of the coffee shop and made their way to Anderson's place.
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One taxi ride later and they were both at Anderson's flat. Everything about the building outside was themed in modern industrialized luxury. It wasn't anything that screamed to be over the top, but it wasn't exactly how John imagined Anderson to be living either. Then again, he didn't know what he was supposed to expect. Anderson was retired. That meant the spartan lifestyle could be retired as well.
C-sec dotted the area despite it being a well-off place, but John understood why. Anderson was a councilor, which meant stringent security.
Anderson was already outside and waved to the two on the other side of the fence.
John surrendered his side-arm to the guards outside and entered through the gated area with Tali right behind him.
"Commander. It's great to see you again. And on such short-notice."
"Sorry. You know how it is."
"It's no worry to me." The black man turned around and urged them with a hand to follow, "Having you around is always a pleasure."
"Beautiful part of town." Tali said with a sigh at the flock of birds that sailed over them gracefully, "Beautiful home too."
"Thanks, Tali." Anderson said with a slight bow, "But I can only take so much pampering here. I had to fight with them just so I could take out my own garbage bag."
"Can't let them make you give all that up," John laughed, "You'll get fat."
The old man cackled and opened the door for them to enter the hallway. Then they took a right and entered an elevator. When it began ascending, Anderson cleared his throat and took a deep breath.
"How have you two been?"
"Doing well, sir." John answered, "Busy and holding."
"Good. I've been holding on as well."
"Still hitting your head against a wall?" Tali asked.
"As always, Tali."
The lift dinged and they exited. The door to his flat was to their immediate left. When they entered, John and Tali both eyed the rather sparse and open style of his home. It was quite the living space.
"Wow." Was all Tali could say.
"Not exactly how I was imagining my retirement from the Alliance to be like." Anderson admitted with a shrug, "I was thinking something a tad quieter like North Dakota. Or Alaska. With an old log cabin to keep me company."
"Never too late for that."
"Ha. That dream is long past me, son."
They followed Anderson to his office.
"Care for anything to drink Commander? I'd offer you something too, dear, But I'm afraid I don't have anything Dextro."
"Oh that's quite fine," Tali said graciously, "I don't need anything."
"Just had coffee. I'm fine."
Anderson just nodded and sat down at his desk. "So what brings you here to my not-so-humble abode?"
"Well," John sat on the sofa close by with Tali doing the same, "I have evidence."
Anderson's brow furrowed.
"We've got hard footage of Horizon."
Anderson's back stiffened. "So that was you then. You saving the colony?" He was amazed but not at the same time. "God damn. How bad is it really? Alliance has been tight-lipped about everything these days. Hard to get even a peep from the brass."
"It could've been a lot worse." John tried to say, "But it's bad. People there are suffering in ways I can't quite imagine. Lot of empty homes and broken families."
Tali slipped out an OSD from her pocket and handed it to John so he could give it to Anderson. When he handed it to the old man, John shook his head in tragic thought.
"That right there is everything we have. Unedited footage of the collectors."
Anderson swallowed and struggled to find words worth speaking. He knew he had a responsibility to John and the galaxy to view the tape. But he really didn't want to hold, much less watch, the contents of what was on this disc.
"It also has data from what we found on Freedom's Progress." Tali included.
"I see." Was all Anderson said. To be entirely honest, he hadn't even thought about what he was supposed to do or even say next. The evidence might not have been entirely about the collectors and their relationship with the reapers, but it was a step in the right direction. He then rose the disc up to eye-level and gave it a distant, if not dreadful, look. "I'll have this reviewed and share it with anyone who needs to see it."
Neither Tali or John could bring themselves to say anything else. The gravity of the stuff on that little drive had an almost insufferable pull of misery and death on it. No one in their right mind would be so willing to see something so abhorrent.
"When is the public going to know that the collectors are behind all this?" Tali asked.
"Hard to give you a straight answer. As much as I believed your word about the collectors the first time you were here, we needed evidence for it. But with this? We'll leak it anonymously to the Alliance and let them figure it out from there. Public hysteria is not what we're aiming for here. I have no idea what decision they'll make once they get wind of this."
"I'm in the video. So is Tali. Garrus was the one filming."
"Even more reason to leak it anonymously. The Alliance doesn't need to know you were here or that you provided me with this. They can draw their own conclusions on the validity of the tape."
"Please just make sure the people who need to know about it get it."
"I get the easiest part in all of this, Shepard." Anderson admitted, "If it were any other way, I would be there with all of you."
"I know. Only if the circumstances were different."
Anderson stood, sensing that their conversation was coming to a close. "You send those bastards packing, Commander."
John stood and gave him a gravely nod. "In a bag, sir."