On Noveria I found out about a survey team that had went missing in the Hades Gamma cluster. Their last known location was Trebin, the fourth planet in the Antaeus system. Their disappearance has baffled millions across the galaxy, appearing on news stations, and hotly debated. I was going to take my own detective to find out what happened. He asked if I'd take Tali down with us. I imagine she could go for a change of scenery.
The Hades Gamma was a day away. On the way over there in the late hours of the night a mysterious assailant made their rounds throughout Crew deck, covering everything in propaganda and graffitiing up the walls. At breakfast the Mess hall was in an uproar. Everyone talked among themselves in scandalized groups at length about the content of the propaganda. When Garrus came out into the Mess hall everyone went quiet. He paused for a moment and gave the crowd a look over. He wondered why they all looked so uneasy.
It wasn't until he sat down alone with his breakfast that he noticed anti Turian propaganda tastelessly thrown across the place. He guessed Ashley was trying to get a rise out of him again. He felt singled out, but it wasn't going spoil his breakfast. He ate by himself with what shred of dignity he had left. Kaiden and his friends sat with him. They seemed to pretend everything was normal which he appreciated.
Later he found himself hanging out in the cockpit with Joker. He told him what happened in the Mess hall while Joker showed him how to preserve his flowers in a book. "Hey man, I'm really genuinely sorry that happened. We're really not all like that. I mean you would know," Joker hinted to Garrus' relationship with me.
"That's why it doesn't really bother me. The person who did it was acting out like a child in rebellion. I won't give them what they want. Not a reaction, or my departure. I'm especially not leaving. Say something happened to me and Belial tomorrow. I'd still want to stick around to make sure Saren goes down. I can't let a guy like that get away. Belial knows I've claimed my right to him," Garrus delicately plucked the buds of the flowers I gave him from the stem, and tucked them away in a picture book.
"That reminds me, while you're up here," Joker put him on the spot.
"You want to hear me talk about mine and her relationship," he already knew where this was going.
"I don't think you understand the gravity of your situation. You know I went through the same military school as the Commander? Back on Earth she was notorious for being a hard ass. No man was ever able to get close to her. This is a pretty big deal," Joker put into perspective.
"It was never a big deal. She came on to me. I didn't really do anything to grab her attention. At least I don't think I did. I come from a puritan family. I never really considered a relationship with a woman from another species," he admitted.
"She just came on to you. You didn't have to do anything at all?" Joker was quite surprised .
"Human women are sublime, don't get me wrong, but it takes a special woman to be able to handle a Turian man. The Commander is a fine woman. I wouldn't give her up easily," he praised me.
"Man, you must get to know all kinds of stuff about the Commander. I'd keep it under wraps unless you want a cadet at your door every five minutes," Joker suggested.
"Unfortunately we rarely get time to ourselves. Her mother was more informative about her past than the time I've spent talking to her," Garrus admitted to knowing less than what he was insinuating.
"Really? You have to cover all of your basis. What's her favorite color? What food does she like? What's her favorite animal, music, movies, books," as he listed off these things Garrus realized how little he actually knew about me which made his feelings about me even less justified.
"We have talked about books and movies. We exchanged childhood books. I gave her one that meant a lot to me and she gave me a juvenile's romance. I think it's supposed to be some sort of parallel to our relationship. That must be why she thought it'd be a fitting read. Her mom said she used to love reading romance novels. Maybe it isn't really my place to go around sharing that," he immediately regretted afterwards.
"Romance novels? I find that hard to believe," Joker pondered skeptically.
"Why is that?" Garrus wondered rather curiously. He couldn't speak for Humans, but in Turian culture it was common for women to have an interest in romance. He couldn't imagine how his race could survive without a woman's drive to find love.
"She's too damn intimidatingly. I couldn't ever see her being into that. And she gave you flowers too. It's like she's secretly a romantic," Joker shook his head.
"Aren't Human women normally interested in romance?" he finally just asked.
"Commander Shepard isn't like other women," Joker argued.
"No, I think she's as feminine as they come. Human men must just scare too easily," Garrus smirked, thinking he might've been on to something.
"I think you're just brave or really stupid," Joker held him to scrutiny.
"Could be either," Garrus laughed. Joker made the second Human male he seemed to get along well with. He knew his share of not fitting in well, even among his own kind. He was able to help him forget all of the nonsense from earlier that morning.
"Garrus! There you are! You know I've been looking everywhere for you," I located him in the cockpit with Moreau. I made my way up the catwalk. "Did you see the Mess hall?" I asked foolishly.
"Why do you think I've been up here, hiding?" he tried to make light of the situation, but I wasn't amused.
"She's outdone herself this time. I was going to have her court marshaled, but Alenko insisted on talking to her himself. I don't know what I'm going to do. That shit is all over the walls and the whole ship is in an uproar. I know I'm ready to get out of here. How much longer to Trebin, Joker?" I asked him.
"Looks like about thirty minutes," Joker located the proximation of the planet on his navigation screen.
"I'm taking you and Tali down with me. I figured you could use a little break from the ship too," I mentioned to Garrus.
"I'm good to go. I just need to grab my guns," he reported.
"I guess you can just hide out in here for now. You're not up here talking shit about me?" I looked over their shoulders.
"Please, all he does is sing your praise," Joker came to Garrus' defense.
"What's this?" I referred to his scrap book project.
"Joker was showing me how to preserve my flowers. That way I can label what each of them are and I can always appreciate them. I know Arel would appreciate this," he thought of a positive way to share his experience with his family.
"Well, aren't you two just wholesome. I had no idea you were into scrapbooking," I brought up to Joker.
"I had no idea you were into romance novels," he teased me.
"Where in the world would you hear a thing like that?" I gave Garrus a suspicious look.
"Garrus was just saying what a big softy you actually are," Joker threw Garrus under the bus.
"Well, I guess my secret is out. Do me a favor and don't tell anyone. I still have a ship to run," I left them to their scrapbooking.
Down in the Docking bay Ashley kept herself busy, checking and oiling weapons out of each locker. She rolled her eyes when Alenko and his friends showed up. "Alenko, come down to chat?" she pretended to sound pleased to see him.
"Cut the shit, Ashley. Everyone knows what you did," he was beside himself with rage.
"Good. That should make things easy for you. Do what you have to do. Send me home, court marshal me. I don't care," she made it sound like those were things she expected to have happen.
"You're not going to get your way Ashley. The Commander is having me handle this. Garrus is my friend, and I'm not going to stand around while you mistreat him or anyone aboard this ship. The Commander told me something very troubling. I wanted it to not be true. Did you really keep a medigel from him when you guys were on Noveria?" Kaiden let her answer.
"He doesn't belong here. I just wish you all would stop trying to make him feel so comfortable. It's like you've forgotten the war ever happened. Like they didn't embearass us or kill our people. The way the Commander is behaving is just shameful. I could never be friends with someone so callous. She's a traitor. Maybe I don't want to work here anymore," she ignored him and went back to tending the guns.
"I know you don't want to work here anymore. The Commander was right when she said you were uncharitable to her. She really is out here fighting humanity's enemies, and you would go and spat on her, call her a traitor. If you ask me, leaving this ship now in a time of crisis would more than make you a traitor. You would be a deserter. What would General Williams have to say about that?" he struck a nerve.
"You're nothing, but a love sick simp. You know nothing about honor or loyalty. You hide behind your friends, for what? In case I were to get hostile? You're a joke, Alenko. You can't even stand to face a woman alone," she mocked him.
"You hate us because we see what you are, Ashley. You're the one who is afraid. You're like a caged animal, ready to lash out at a moment's notice. You cling to the past and your beliefs because you can't face change. You're terrified of it. I'm not like you though. I don't hold that fear against you. Garrus doesn't either," he dug savagely.
"Is this my punishment? You talking my ear off?" she grew bored of his counterpoints spoken from up high a top his horse.
"Your rank is stripped, and you're hereby banned from all away missions including shore leave until the mission is over or the Commander says otherwise," he formally informed her. Ashley looked past him at Garrus, who surprised her by arriving in the Docking bay first. She was exactly where he needed to get to. She saw him hesitate for just a second before coming over.
"Couldn't sleep last night?" he smiled at he as he reached inside of his she was vandalizing the ship he had been sleeping peacefully. He found satisfaction in knowing his was a more productive use of his time. He pulled out his sniper rifle, freshly stocked and shined for him. "Did you do clean this?" he asked in apprehension.
"You're welcome," she boasted. Garrus worked his hammer, and checked the chamber for any sabotage.
"I like to think I know my way around sniper rifles," she snapped at him.
"It looks good. Thanks," he put his rifle away and grabbed his auto rifle out of the locker. He put it away without checking this time. He shut his locker and waited in the front seat of the mako for me and Tali.
"I don't get what you guys see in him," Ashley grumbled to Kaiden and his friends.
"You might like him too if you gave him a chance. Anyway, talking about him like that isn't going to get you your rank back. The sooner you grasp that the better," Kaiden and his group left her with that.
It wasn't long after they left when me and Tali came to the Docking bay. Unfortunately we had to grab our guns too. We kept silent for the most part. I had nothing good to say to Ashley, and it was fine with me if she didn't say anything either. I let Alenko handle it. As far as I was concerned the matter had been settled. After gathering our guns we got into the mako.
"I hope we didn't keep you waiting," I said to Garrus in his tactical seat.
"Not particularly," he wasn't in a good mood. I couldn't blame him for feeling foul. I left him alone at least until we made our landing. I went ahead and warmed up our hydraulics.
"We're entering the atmosphere, Commander," Joker brought us through. He counted down from ten and dropped us. I activated our nitrous and brought us down to the ground gently. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Trebin. Today we're going to solve the mystery of what happened to the missing survey team. Looks like there's an anomaly just east of us. Let's see what's over there," I took off east of our position through the Trebin desert. "It's nice to have you out with us, Tali," I put her on the spot.
"I appreciate you bringing me. It's unfortunate about what happened on Crew deck," she brought up.
"I'd be grateful if neither of you mentioned it. I'd like to forget it ever happened," Garrus requested.
"Sure," I agreed.
"Of course," so did Tali. "I was telling Garrus how I was looking forward to getting to know you better," she brought up.
"Likewise. I'm curious about this pilgrimage you're on and where you come from," I expressed my mutual curiosity.
"The Quarian home world, Rannoch is far away, in the Perseus Veil. We have always had a culture around building and improving technology. My ancestors are those responsible for creating the geth. When the geth became sentient they tried to terminate them. They drove us into space. We've lived in the Flotilla for three hundred years. I'm sorry. Am I being overwhelming?" she asked self consciously.
"It's quite the history. I grew up in space myself. That's something we have in common. When I finally went back to Earth to enlist in the Military I didn't get along very well," I admitted.
"What was that warm place you mentioned on Noveria?" Garrus asked me.
"Bora Bora," I reminded him. "The reef," I sighed.
"Bora Bora," he repeated back. "Was that a place of solace for you?" he asked.
"I've never actually been there. I think the beach is nice. My academy was near the beach," I elaborated.
"Usually a pilgrimage is a way for coming of age Quarians to enlighten themselves through the assimilation of other cultures and exchanges of ideas. The goal is to return to the flotilla with some sort of technology, something to improve the life of the fleet," she explained.
"Looks like there's something here," I slowed the Mako to a peak, overlooking a flat plain.
"Thresher nest," Garrus noticed right away. I looked at him with intrigue. "You can tell by the color of the sand and the texture is very soft from constant churning," he went into greater detail.
"Something for you to shoot," I smiled at him.
"You don't mind?" he asked for my permission.
"No! Are you kidding? After they took out my unit I could drive them to extinction," I held nothing but bitter contempt for the creatures.
"What is it? You had a bad experience with threshers?" Tali asked with tact being the furthest thing from her mind.
"I lost my whole unit, forty nine people. Let's go say hello," I put the mako in gear and started down the cliff edge. "I might be a lot for you Tali. I love fighting, like really love fighting," I warned her ahead of time. Garrus wanted to bring up my underground fights, but then he thought about my mother's struggle with accepting that part of me. He kept it to himself, but his picture of me was all coming together in a sensible fashion. "Garrus, get the guns ready," the prospect of going back into battle with him had me on the edge of my seat.
"Yes ma'am. Everything is online," he looked up as he flipped the switches above his seat. Our tires hit the soft sand. I did a burn out and I made a big fuss to grab his attention. The earth shock as the gargantuan barreled for us, brought his mate along for the hunt.
"There's two of them!" Tali exclaimed.
"This is going to be interesting," I put the petal to the floor. The two threshers attacked in a way I hadn't seen before. They spiraled around each other like a drill as they gave chase. When they came out of the ground on our tailgate they crossed paths, covering a larger area in two directions. "Garrus!" I encouraged him to use his rockets where the two worms intersected.
"I'm way ahead of you," he released the first volley where their bodies met, damaging them both. "Not bad, exploiting their strength as a weakness," he applaud me.
"Great shot. I'm fine at it, but I missed having you over there," I referred to when I had went to Xawin with me and Ashley in the front. It made me think about how much fun it was and her driving. Her and Garrus would make an unstoppable force of nature. It was unfortunate she wouldn't be going out anymore. She just had to make a complete ass of herself.
Our damaged worms hid underground. They sent an overwhelming forest of feelers, diving after us. Garrus kept them off of us with our machine guns. I tail-finned to dodge their attacks. The two threshers came for me in the middle of the maneuver when I was vulnerable. I activated the nitrous powered hydraulics. In the air, they just barely missed me. Garrus fired a second round of rockets. The force from the blast propelled us further away. They screeched in agony.
As they became weakened, they came at us more violently. They moved so fast, I had to compensate with nitrous. I managed to keep away at just a comfortable enough distance. "I have an idea, slow down," Garrus proposed foolishly.
"We'll be killed," Tali argued. I was skeptical at first too. It was such a unconventional solution. I looked into his eyes with a concerned look on my face. He looked like he knew what he was doing and I knew in my gut he wouldn't let any harm come to me.
"Slow down just enough to let them think they got us," he instructed me.
"Yes, I think I understand," I assumed his intent was to draw them back to the surface so he could finish them off. I carried out his plan precisely. I slowed down just enough. When they felt confident about our position they shot out of the ground. I hit the nitrous just in the nick of time. Garrus fired the third round of rockets and they fell at last. "How did you know I'd hit the nitrous in time?" I asked him.
"I knew you'd get us out of there," he smiled.
"This will make a good log entry for the flotilla," Tali looked eagerly out of her window. I felt kind of bad for her. She reminded me of me when I was younger. When life was still a soft place before I knew hurt and the gratification of hurting others. I feared I might be a bad influence on one so impressionable.
"Feeling better?" I asked Garrus.
"It really is nice to be back out shooting things," he agreed.
"I know it makes me feel better," I agreed. "What's that probe over there?" I looked off to the side on the cliff where a probe lay crashed. "Let's go check it out," I crept over in the mako.
"An old Turian escape pod," Garrus hopped out. He accessed the systems easily and had it open in no time. "Nothing in here. Wait, what's this?" he retrieved a small folded piece of cloth and brought it back to the mako.
"Anything good?" I asked him once he got inside.
"Looks like a little flag. One of the colony insignias," he unfolded the tattered flag.
"Awe, that's cool. Now that you're here, can you tell me about insignias? I've been collecting them," I wondered curiously as I set a course for the abandoned campsite.
"As a Human diplomat it's a good idea to collect them. You can present a colony insignia to it's people as offering of friendship. Collect all of them and you could end up with a fleet of Turians willing to help you out. You can't have enough friends in space. As to what they are, each Turian house has an ancient insignia. It makes our ancestry easy to track and let's us know who we're talking to before introductions are even made. The color and markings say different things about the family. Colonies are no different," he explained.
"That's good to know," I was intrigued.
"Commander," he called me so formally.
"Hm?" I paid him my attention.
"What's your favorite color?" he tried to ask inconspicuously.
"My favorite color? Where in the world is this coming from?" I laughed at him.
"I was talking with Joker earlier, right? He got me thinking that I don't really know that much about you either," he looked troubled by this.
"I like blue. Any cool color really. How about you?" I smiled at him.
"Cool colors are nice," Garrus agreed.
"Tali?" I included her in on the conversation.
"I like orange. It's the color of dusk sands," she put so eloquently.
"This looks like the place," I pulled us into the camp. Garrus and Tali both got out with me. The place was a ghost town, a circle of empty tin sheds. "Let's split up," we each searched a separate shed. "There's medigel in here," I called out to them. Medigel was the extent of what we found until we reached the computers.
"Shepard, this looks like Dragon's teeth," Tali pulled up an image file of spikes inside of an excavation site.
"Shit! We're too late," I slammed my fist into the wall. "Those poor bastards," my expression became pained.
"Come on. The dig site is just outside of camp," Garrus guided my shoulder along with his claw. I was beginning to feel hopeless. It seemed like nothing was going well for Humans on alien worlds. Seeing them changed into husks was very discouraging. Suddenly the gravity of my mission weighed heavily on my heart. This fight would determine our right to be out here. Garrus could tell this was messing me up. He put his arm around me and walked me back to the mako.
"Don't you worry about the geth. We're going to drive them all back into deep space. You're going to make them sorry for what they did here, aren't you?" he tried cheering me up.
"We have to destroy the dig site, so they won't be used by the geth," I looked to him for reassurance. He nodded. The three of us headed down into the mine with explosives. Tali took out her shotgun. Me and Garrus kept our auto rifles out. They waited on my mark. "Alright. Let's do this," I headed inside first. We headed down a hall that lead to the entrance. We swept the inside what looked like a empty Cargo bay. We took cover at the door on the far side of the wall.
I opened it, and looked inside. It was another empty hallway, leading down to another door. The door opened and a cool stale air washed over us. The room was as silent as the grave. We each moved in, expecting hordes. We looked for better positions to see instead of worrying about cover. "Here they come!" I saw movement and started firing. Me and Garrus kept them back. Tali took out any who got close.
One after another, they threw themselves at us as nothing but cannon fodder. This was how the synthetics saw us. Lesser beings being sent to their enemies like water beating hopelessly against a rocks. "Ah!" I cried out in fury. A mess of bodies fell at my feet, a mushy bloody mess. As one died, it reached out arm stretched like it was trying to grab me. It stopped moving and its arm went limp. I whimpered. I didn't want to remember piles of bodies. I started confusing the husks with my team on Akuze.
"Belial," Garrus wrapped his arms around me and I came to.
"Garrus?" I called for him. "I don't want to be here anymore," I said like a small child who wanted to go home.
"We'll set the charges and we can leave," he promised me. In the center of the room was a geth ship claw, emanating a bright light. Just passed it was an intersection between doors where we were ambushed. Both doors flew open and waves of husks began to pour out. I froze for a moment, leaving Tali and Garrus to fend for themselves. "Belial! Dammit! Looks like we have to pick up the slack," him and Tali did their best to keep them off of me.
A husk grabbed my arm and I lost my shit. "Don't touch me!" I went trigger happy, taking my fair share of them out, and turned the tides. I screamed and ran inside the room to the left.
"Belial!" Garrus ran after me. Something was calling me back there, but what I didn't know. Garrus stopped me before I took one missed step. "Belial! Snap out of it!" he shook me desperately.
"Garrus? Where are we?" I came to.
"Look, there," he looked over my shoulder. "Dragon's teeth. They must have been calling to you. You were about to impale yourself. Belial, you were going to become one of those things. If I had been one moment later," he held me close to him. "Go wait outside with Tali. I'll set the charges," he reassured me.
"I can't leave you here," I cried.
"It'll be fine. The mine is cleared out. Go ahead. I'll be right behind you," he promised.
I obeyed and let Tali walk me outside while he set the charges. "Your experience with the thresher maws. That's what made you sick, isn't it?" she asked, concerned.
"It doesn't always bother me, but there are things that remind me. When I remember, it's like I'm there again. I freeze up and I see everyone around me die one by one all over again. It's like I never left Akuze. It's always a part of me," I explained to her.
"Garrus is a good man. He'll take care of you," she eluded.
"You know about us?" I asked her.
"We'll just say you're not the only one with an eye for quality," she teased me. It felt nice to be held by someone I didn't have to keep secrets from. I allowed Tali to hold on to me until Garrus joined us.
"How's she doing?" he asked her. "Hey, how are you feeling?" he checked on me.
"I'm ready to go home," I affectionately titled the Normandy.
"Sure," he answered. When the Normandy picked us up we watched the bombs go off in the distance, bringing the mine down. Garrus held me as we disappeared out of sight.
"I'm sorry, both of you," I apologized for my episode. "It's been a while since that's happened. I don't know what came over me," I continued to punish myself.
"It's fine. Don't worry about it. Next time it happens I'll just protect you again," he smiled reassuringly. I tried to smile too.
"I need to report to the Admiral what happened here. You're both relieved. Mission complete," I dismissed them. Tali headed back to the barracks for a nap. This wasn't her usual hours.
Garrus had something else in mind. He changed into more comfortable clothes and headed back down to the Cargo bay. Cargo bay was just the usual crowd requisition officer Postle, Wrex, and Ashley. Ashley saw him coming and rolled her eyes. "What do you want? Guns weren't good enough for you?" she was defensive.
"I came to settle things with you once and for all," he challenged her to spar.
"You would really fight a woman?" she was surprised, but not opposed.
"Turians are equal opportunists. I think you could hold your own unless you're afraid," he taunted her.
"I'm not afraid of some Turian," she came to the floor and prepared to square off. She watched him carefully as he took on a defensive posture. She didn't actually know what to expect. She had never taken on a Turian hand to hand before. He seemed to have a length advantage. She thought to test him out and see how close she could get. He certainly wasn't coming to her.
Ashley kicked off with that speed of hers. She struck his left and then his right. He swayed side to side to dodge her. His speed seemed to check out, but she needed to see how he hit. She stayed close, taking the aggressive route as she got him to give up his position and retreat backwards. Once he was backed in a corner he finally struck. Sharp claws unapologetically came straight for her face. She hadn't realized how long his arm was. She bent all the way back to dodge him, skillfully recovering with a back flip.
She didn't want to find out what would happen if she took a hit like that. "You're wearing yourself out Williams. Maybe we should take turns," he ran after her. "You can defend and I'll be on the offensive," his voice was so cool and serious all of a sudden. Defending against his heavy blows wasn't fun for her. She dodged when permissible, but he was incredibly fast too. His anatomy probably gave him an unfair advantage. "Think you can be a bitch and just do whatever you want. You think you're better than me?" he yelled out as he grabbed her by the ankles and tossed her across the room.
"Jesus Christ," she sat up to catch her breath.
"You Humans are so soft and fragile. You can't touch me. You'll never come close," he picked her up like a kitten by the back of her shirt collar.
"Hiya!" she swung her legs up and grabbed him with her thighs.
"This is awesome," he forgot why he even came down there. She slung him in the floor in an embarrassing defeat.
"I don't get it. Why did you lose?" she inspected him curiously.
"I got taken out by a gorgeous set of legs," he admitted shamelessly. Ashley looked at his face and burst into laughter. "What's so funny?" he gave her a curious look.
"You really do like Human girls," for some reason she found it hysterical.
"I'm just a guy," he admitted as he simply sat cross legged on the floor where she threw him.
"That was a great fight. I had a blast," she smiled at him for the first time.
"You're joking?" he searched her face for the truth.
"I'm dead serious. We should do it again some time," she provided a hand to help him up. He hesitated for a moment, and let her help him to his feet. He felt like she had somehow miraculously developed respect for him.
After my debriefing with Admiral Hackett I headed over to the Mess hall to clean up Ashley's nonsense. "Tali?" I caught her already working on washing the walls down.
"Commander. Thought you could use a hand," there was a smile in her voice.
"Thanks. I appreciate it," I wrung out a hot towel and started scrubbing. "Somehow I didn't expect this. I was foolish enough to think if I dated an alien guy there wouldn't be any consequences," I confided in her.
"I've experienced this sort of bigotry myself before. Quarians aren't very popular among Citadel races. This though. It breaks my heart that someone would want to hurt him like that," she was overcome with sorrow.
"You lost?" I asked Williams as she entered the Mess hall.
"I figured I'm the one who did it, so I might as well help," she grabbed a hot towel and started working.
"What is with you?" I asked her.
"I've been lashing out a lot at the both of you lately. I just want to say that I'm sorry. Just because I don't approve of your relationship doesn't make either of you bad people. Commander you're tough as nails, but I don't really think you've turned your back on us," she was being genuine. All of this was really coming from her heart. "Garrus told me what happened down there. He said you had a spell like what I had and he almost lost you. I don't think a race traitor would act that way," she for once was being charitable towards me.
"Thank you. I could really use a friend right now," I admitted. In a second she was hugging me.
"I know. He said that too," she held me tight. She never told me what had happened between her and Garrus. We spent the rest of the night, giggling and scrubbing the walls down. It was just like old times with my squad.