Chapter Text
It had been two days since the Citadel. Two whole days of him hiding in the battery, claiming to be hard at work calibrating the guns – which was technically at least slightly true, since he was still integrating the Thanix Cannon into the Normandy’s systems – and only sneaking out for food when he was least likely to run into anyone in the mess. Most of all a certain auburn haired, violet eyed someone.
But he couldn’t hide forever. The shame was starting to eat at him, and he couldn’t stand it anymore. He wasn’t a coward, damn it.
He forced himself to walk calmly through the Crew Deck and take the elevator up to the CIC.
“Change of plans, Commander,” Joker’s voice over the intercom cut her off. “Urgent message coming in from the Illusive Man. Patching him through to the comm room.”
Garrus stepped off the elevator just in time to see Shepard disappear into Mordin’s lab, heading no doubt to hear out their benefactor. He sighed. He had been more or less hiding in the Forward Batteries since last night in her cabin, worried that everything would be even more awkward between them. At this point, Garrus would happily chew off his right leg if it meant everything would return to some semblance of normal. He missed her. She had died, and now he had her back, but there was still this divide between them, one that he seemed to inadvertently stretch wider at every available opportunity. And he hated it.
He sighed, ambling slowly to the left to dig around in the Armory. He needed to see if there was a replacement part for one of his assault rifles. It was a modded part, so probably not, but this was Cerberus, so maybe. Worst case, Jacob would be able to put in an order.
In the Armory, Jacob confirmed that they did not have what he needed, but told a surprised Garrus that if he entered the specs into the research terminal in Mordin’s lab, they might be able to make the part he needed with all of the resources they had found. Garrus thanked the human and turned towards the lab.
Just as he passed the door to the comm room, it opened and Shepard stepped out, a dark, worried look on her face. She looked up in surprise to find him there. He, of course, had frozen at the sight of her. He wished he could think of something smart to say, but after the bomb he had dropped on her last night, he could barely put together a coherent thought. They stared at each other for a long moment.
“So, ah,” he started, fumbling for words. “What did the Illusive Man want?”
Her brows pinched together, and the worried look returned. “Got a distress call. From a turian patrol beyond the Kolus system, apparently.”
His brow plates rose in surprise. “A turian patrol? Out there? Why does the Illusive Man care about that?”
“That’s just it. Seems they stumbled onto a Collector Ship.”
“What?!”
“Yeah. Apparently they managed to cripple it before it took them out.”
Shit. How?! “Okay, so I take it we’re investigating?”
She nodded slowly, lost in thought.
“How long til we get there?”
“Probably a few hours.”
“By my approximations we will arrive in the Korlus system in three hours and twenty two minutes,” EDI interjected coolly.
“Thank you, EDI,” Shepard said, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Well,” Garrus said gruffly. “I’ll meet you at the shuttle.”
“What?” She looked up, alarmed. “Garrus, I can’t–”
“Imagine doing this without me,” he finished firmly for her. “I know.”
She sighed. “Garrus, I don’t think it’s a good idea. Especially after... last night...”
He crossed his arms, resolute. “There is no universe in which you are stepping foot on that ship without me.”
“This is going to be dangerous! Neither one of us can afford to be distracted and I–”
He moved forward in a flash, gripping her upper arms with more force than was strictly necessary. “There is no one else I trust to watch your back,” he snarled at her. “I’ve never been distracted before, so I damn sure won't be now, Eleanor.”
She gasped, staring up at him with eyes wide and round as moons. Her lips parted in a soft “O” and her breath fanned gently against his face.
Much, much later he would realize the depth of feeling he had just revealed. But luckily none of that crossed his mind right now. Instead, he slowly uncurled his fingers from her arms and stepped back, still holding her gaze. His palms pulsed with residual heat from the contact, even through his gloves.
“So, who else is joining us?” He asked slowly, his tone brooking no argument.
She continued to stare at him, her pupils fully dilated. Her eyes seemed to drink him in. Finally, she blinked and cleared her throat. “Not Zaeed. We have no idea what we’re walking into, and he is about as subtle as an earthquake.”
Garrus nodded his approval. “And Kasumi might be too subtle, I think.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, thinking another moment. “Mordin and Jacob are working on projects, so I’d rather leave them to it. ”
“I don’t know how Jack is in a fight… brutal, I’m guessing.”
Shepard winced and nodded. “Yeah, that might be like dumping gasoline on a grease fire.”
“So that leaves…Grunt or Miranda.”
“Grunt, I think,” she hummed, considering. “He needs an outing anyway. It feels wrong to have both myself and the XO walking into a possible shitstorm, so I prefer if Miranda stays with the ship. And even though there are some who would argue about the value of stealth, I would rather have a rampaging Krogan around if things get sticky.”
“Plus, if he's anything like Wrex, then he can move quiet enough if he wants to,” Garrus nodded. “Don’t you humans have some saying about sticks and vegetables?”
Her brows pinched again. “Sticks and vegetables?”
“I believe walking is somehow involved.” Damn it, had he gotten this wrong? Probably.
“Walking... “ she murmured, then her brows lifted and her eyes snapped back to his. “Walk softly and carry a big stick?”
“That’s the one!” he said with relief. “No idea what it means, but it sounds like it would apply to Grunt somehow. And I don’t know where I got vegetables from.”
She laughed, and the sound made him smile. Her eyes seemed to glimmer in the artificial light. “You’re more right than you know, Garrus. It was a saying from an Earth President from about three hundred years ago. Teddy Roosevelt. It summed up his entire foreign policy strategy. They still teach it at the Academy. I think the vegetable part is from another saying from around the same time. Carrots, specifically. But that one doesn’t work as well for this situation. More about reward versus punishment as a successful motivator.”
“Oh. Well, one out of two ain’t bad.”
She shook her head and started to walk away. Just before she reached the door to the Lab, she called back to him. “Be in the Cargo Bay in three hours, Vakarian.”
“I’m on it, Shepard,” he called back, smiling. He was back in the fight. He was ready.
-
The central chamber yawned endlessly around them, the glittering orange glow making everything seem like a dreamscape turned suddenly menacing. Garrus was floored. His brain struggled to accept the reality of the sight before him.
"That's... big," Grunt rumbled, breaking them all out of their brief reverie.
“This is unbelievable,” he breathed. “They could take every human in the terminus systems and not have enough to fill these pods.” This led to the next logical conclusion, and he felt his blood turn to ice. “They’re going to target Earth.”
“Not if we stop them,” Shepard snarled, moving steadily forward.
They continued along a pathway. Garrus felt particularly exposed in the massive central chamber. However, before the back of his neck really started to itch, they moved down into a more enclosed space, down a sort of ramp. At the bottom he saw what they were looking for. “There, on the platform. Looks like some kind of control panel.”
“Should be dead Collectors. Something’s... wrong,” Grunt grumbled next to him. He was right.
Shepard spared no time for worry, walking right onto the platform and pulling up her Omni-tool. “EDI? I’m setting up a bridge between you and the Collector ship. See if you can get anything useful from the data banks.”
A brief pause, then EDI spoke. “Data mine in progress, Shepard.”
There was another pause as they all tried not to fidget on the platform. This was feeling more and more like somewhere they did not want to be.
“Uh, that can’t be good...” Joker’s comforting voice cut in on their comms, just as the console in front of Shepard flashed and went blank and something activated inside the massive server tanks along one side of the platform. But after a second, the rumbling stopped.
Shepard looked at the two of them before responding. “Everyone’s alright, Joker. What happened?”
“Everything went dark but we’re back up now!” Joker called bracingly. It sounded to Garrus like the pilot was trying to convince himself as much as them.
“I managed to divert the majority of the overload to non critical systems,” EDI cut in. Garrus thought he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. “Shepard, it was not a malfunction. This was a trap.”
As though EDI’s words were a trigger, the platform shuddered to life and propelled itself up into the cavern, taking them along for the ride. It rotated as it rose, whirring a strange high pitched whine, and they all struggled to keep their footing. Once it gained a certain height, it angled towards several other similar platforms suspended above the cavern floor, continuing to rotate.
“We need a little help here, EDI,” Shepard barked.
“I am having trouble maintaining the connection,” EDI responded. “There’s someone else in the system.”
Well, shit.
BAM! With a bone rattling crunch, the platform docked itself into position. The force knocked Grunt flat on his back, with obvious embarrassment. Garrus offered him a hand up and he saw Shepard frantically tapping at the console.
And then, they heard that same sound a short distance away and another platform wheeled into view.
“Connection reestablished,” EDI said. “I need to finish the download before I can override any systems.”
“Then you’d better get it done fast, EDI,” Shepard said with a hint of sarcasm.
“Look out!” Garrus called, drawing his rifle as the platform drew close enough to see the outlines of at least three collectors. “We’ve got company!”
Shepard’s only response was drawing that bitchin’ new sniper rifle she’d picked up and ducking into cover.
Garrus drew a deep breath and squeezed the trigger.
-
The last collector fell with a thud.
“Shepard, you must manually reestablish my link to the command console,” said EDI urgently.
He and Grunt quickly cleared the mass of platforms while Shepard approached the original control panel with her Omni-tool illuminated. As Grunt and Garrus took up positions flanking her, EDI’s holographic interface popped up on the console. “I’ve regained control of the platform, Shepard.”
Shepard smiled a grim smile. “I knew you wouldn’t let us down, EDI.”
“I always work at optimal capacity,” the AI replied with pride. Her avatar disappeared and the platform lifted off, heading back towards their original position.
“Did you get what we needed?”
“I found data that would help us successfully navigate the Omega-4 Relay. I have also found the turian distress call that served as the lure for this trap.” The platform descended into the cavern from before, docking much more smoothly than before as EDI’s interface reappeared. “The Collectors were the source. It is unusual.”
“What are you getting at?” Shepard cocked her head.
“Turian emergency channels have secondary encryption,” EDI chimed ominously. Garrus frowned. She was right. “It is present, but corrupted in the message. It is not possible that the Illusive Man would believe the distress call was genuine.”
Shepard scowled, stepping towards the avatar. “Why are you so sure?”
“I found the anomaly with Cerberus detection protocols,” EDI said, clicking as she sorted through probably enormous quantities of data. “He wrote them.”
Well, fuck.
“He knew it was a trap?” Joker gasped. “Why would he send us into a trap?”
“That son of a bitch sent us right into Collector hands!” Shepard growled dangerously.
“And here I thought I’d had my betrayal and attempted murder for this year.” Garrus heaved a self deprecating sigh, which earned him an impressive snarl from Shepard. He bared his teeth back, flaring his mandibles wide in a brutal grin.
“Uh... Commander. We’ve got another problem,” Joker said, nearly hysterical. For Joker, anyway. “The Collector ship is powering up. You need to get out of there before their weapons come online. I’m not losing another Normandy!”
“I do not have full control of their systems. I will do what I can. Sending coordinates for shuttle extraction,” EDI added helpfully.
“Come on!” Shepard barked, already drawing her pistol. “Let’s move!”
-
As soon as the shuttle was inside the Cargo Bay doors and they clanged shut, she had bolted out of her seat and through the hatch, tearing for the elevator. He and Grunt hadn’t even bothered to try to keep up, but caught the next one. Less than a minute after the elevator swallowed her, he felt the engines vibrate powerfully, indicating evasive maneuvers and then he felt the familiar minor vertigo of a warp jump. He’d said a quick prayer of thanks to whatever Spirits were looking out for them that history hadn’t repeated itself.
Grunt got off at Engineering, muttering something about letting him know when it was time to kill more things. Garrus rolled his eyes as the door slid shut again.
Now, as he stepped out of the metal box, the silence was deafening.
Shepard stalked through the CIC. For once, there were no smiles on the faces of the crew, no banter, no chatter at all. Every eye followed her back from the cockpit as she made her way to the elevator. As she passed, he was struck by the power, the barely controlled fury, radiating off of her form. In her wake, there seemed to be a biting cold that lingered in the air and cut straight to the bone. The elevator slid shut behind her again, and the whole CIC seemed to start breathing as one. The crew remained tense but returned to their tasks.
A few minutes later, she reappeared, her armor traded for her usual uniform. He would say she had calmed down, but he caught sight of her eyes as she stepped through the door. Her face was calm, but her eyes held a punishing storm. Shepard surveyed the CIC, nodded to herself and all present before turning towards the Armory. As she moved, Joker’s voice came over the intercom.
“Call coming in from the Illusive Man, Commander.” The CIC stilled again, listening. “Figure you’ve got a few words for him, too.”
Garrus nearly grinned at the vindictive tone in Joker’s voice. Cerberus probably had no clue that they just lost the pilot’s trust, since his loyalty began and ended with the Normandy herself. So putting the ship in peril on purpose without a heads up? Good luck.
Shepard nodded with a grim expression and quickened her pace. Garrus followed more slowly. As she disappeared into the briefing room and the doors shut behind her, Mordin emerged from his lab and came to stand near Garrus to wait. The doors to the Armory swished open and Jacob and Miranda joined them. Jacob was angry, and Miranda looked defensive and anxious.
They waited with bated breath for a few minutes. Time seemed to tick by slowly. Finally, the door opened and Shepard waved them inside. Shepard had taken up position along one long side of the table. Garrus leaned against the starboard side wall behind her with his arms crossed and one leg hooked in front of the other, silently backing her up. Miranda walked clear around to the far end of the table while Jacob stood along the port side, hands braced on the table edge, and Mordin paced between.
Shepard motioned to EDI’s interface, and EDI began a playback of the conversation between the Commander and the Illusive Man. It was smart. Allow those assembled to draw their own conclusions, and avoid the risk of paraphrasing incorrectly or misrepresenting his answers. When the recording concluded, the holographic pop up fell silent, waiting.
Jacob pushed off from the table as he broke the silence. “So the Illusive Man didn’t sell us out. Could have fooled me.”
“Lied to us, used us,” Mordin muttered at his usual breakneck pace. “Needed access to the Collector data banks. Necessary risk.”
“He tries something like that again,” Shepard said, pacing along her side of the table. “The Collectors will be the least of his problems.” She shook her head and turned back to the table. “EDI, are you sure this IFF is going to work?”
“My analysis is accurate, Shepard,” she replied primly. “I have also determined the approximate location of the Collector homeworld based on navigational data from their vessel.” A miniature version of the Galaxy Map appeared over the table and they all leaned forward to watch as a navigational grid swirled inward, landing on the bright center of the galaxy itself.
Mordin, Jacob, and Miranda stepped even closer to the table. “That can’t be right...” Miranda said in disbelief.
“EDI doesn’t make mistakes,” Shepard replied, resignation in her voice. Garrus was willing to bet her brows were pinched together, and he wished he could offer her some sort of physical support or comfort. “The Collector homeworld is located somewhere in the Galactic Core.”
“Can’t be,” Jacob said. “The Core is just black holes and exploding suns. There are no habitable planets there.”
“Could be an artificial construction,” Mordin mused helpfully. “Space station protected by powerful Mass Effect fields and radiation shields.”
“Even the Collectors don’t have that kind of technology,” said Miranda, dismissively.
“The Collectors are just servants of our real enemy,” Shepard reminded them. “And we’ve all seen what their masters are capable of. They built the Mass Relays and the Citadel. Who’s to say they can’t build a space station surrounded by black holes?” She shrugged. “No wonder nobody’s ever returned from a trip through the Omega-4 Mass Relay.”
EDI spoke up. “The logical conclusion is that a small safe zone exists on the far side of the Relay. A region where ships can survive.” Miranda started pacing. “Standard relay transit protocols would not allow safe transit. Drift of several thousand kilometers is common, and would be fatal in the Galactic Core. The Reaper IFF must trigger the Relay to use more advanced, encrypted protocols.”
“Just because we can follow the Collectors through the Relay doesn’t mean we can take them out,” Shepard said slowly, bracing both hands lightly on the table. “I don’t want to go after them until I know we’re ready.”
“Sooner or later, we need that IFF. I say, why wait?” Asked Jacob, adding his two cents.
Miranda stepped toward Jacob, her expression aghast. “It’s a derelict Reaper! What if the Collectors are waiting for us? We may want to build up our team before we take that kind of risk.”
“The more people we have on our side, the better our chances of success. We need to keep building up the team,” Shepard said after a moment.
“It’s your call, Commander. Whatever you decide, we’re with you.” Jacob finished with a crisp salute before heading for the door. Mordin nodded and followed, and after a moment’s pause Miranda sauntered past Shepard, looking preoccupied.
EDI’s interface blinked off. She was still listening, of course. But she was polite enough to give them the illusion of privacy.
Shepard’s shoulders slumped slightly as she let out a breath, bracing her hands on the table edge again. Garrus pushed off the wall and came to stand beside her.
“For the record, I agree.”
She looked up sharply, her eyes questioning.
“The Illusive Man should have given us the heads up, for one. Saying that we could have given it away... Bullshit. The trap would still have been sprung. What else would we really have done but go in to get the intel?”
She nodded, thinking.
“And I think we’re right to wait to go. If it is a suicide mission, everyone deserves the time to get their affairs in order first. And I’m guessing we have a few more recruits waiting?”
“Yeah, that was my thinking too.” Shepard sighed. She still looked uncertain. “I just worry though, am I making excuses?”
“Excuses for what?”
“I’m dedicated to the mission. You know that,” she muttered as she looked up at him. Her eyes were crystalline; faceted and reflective, like a room full of mirrors. “But I already died once. I’m in no hurry to do it again.”
He stared back, surprised at the relief he felt. “Maybe we should rename the mission.”
She let out a startled laugh. “What?”
“Calling it the ‘Suicide Mission’ doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in making it back.” He sobered. “But none of us plan on dying in the galactic core. We’re all with you to the end, but none of us is itching to get taken out by a Collector.”
She smiled at him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks Garrus.”
He smiled back at her and felt that old tightness squeeze his carapace. But now it seemed to come from within, as though all of his organs had swelled. Interestingly, it wasn’t unpleasant. But it did scare the shit out of him.