ME1 Andromeda Series: Chap 10

MASS EFFECT: ANDROMEDA SERIES CHAPTER 10

Many weeks later….

Garrus was the last one to exit the Mako as Commander Shepard and Officer Williams made their way across the shallow water towards the Salarian Camp on Virmire.   A gentle breeze blew against the Turian as his feet sloshed through the water. "At least it's not cold like Noveria…." Garrus muttered to himself.  After fighting several geth troops from their drop point, he thought they would never make it to the Salarian Camp.  Of course from what Joker relayed to Shepard, the Salarians were not too happy about the new "reinforcements."  Garrus was not surprised. Salarians were sticklers to details and numbers….the reason why most of them took on jobs as scientists or entrepreneurs.  

"So what are we suppose to do now?" Officer Williams was the first to speak up as she and Shepard reached a Salarian who greeted them at the waterfront.

"Stay put until we can come up with a plan," The Salarian spoke quickly.

"Are you in charge here? What's the situation?" Commander Shepard asked.

"I'm Captain Kirrahe. Third Infiltration Regiment STG. You and your crew just landed in the middle of a hotzone. Every AA gun within ten miles has been alerted to your presence."

"That's just great. What now?" Shepard complained.

"We stay put until the Council sends the reinforcements we requested."

"We are the reinforcements." Ashley replied.

"What?" The Captain seemed almost insulted by this. "You're all they sent? I told the Council to send a fleet."

"We couldn't understand your transmission. They sent me to investigate." The Commander spoke up soothingly.

"I lost half my men investigating this place. I've found Saren's base of operations.   He's set up a research facility here, but it's crawling with geth and very well fortified."

Hearing the word "Saren" made Garrus listen in carefully.  Maybe if they were lucky, the bastard was still at his base and they would be able to get the drop on him.  "What is Saren researching?" Shepard continued his questioning.

"He's using the facility to breed an army of Krogan."

"How is that possible?" Wrex inquired as he walked up to the group.  He and the others were already at the camp before Shepard and his team arrived. When the Normandy landed, they were restricted to take off until the Salarian Captain spoke with their Commander to find out their true intentions.  Wrex's voice almost seemed to be soft for a Krogan when he spoke up.  Through his species' traumatic past, maybe this was the gleam of hope that he needed.

"Apparently Saren has discovered a cure for the genophage. We must ensure that this facility and its secrets are destroyed. "The captain replied.

"Destroyed? I don't think so.  Our people are dying. This cure can save them." Wrex protested as he shook his head.

"Here we go…." Garrus grumbled to himself as he diverted his attention away and scanned the rest of the camp with his eyes.  He decided that it was better to stay out of this argument…it was too philosophical and he and Wrex were not really on speaking terms.

Captain Kirrahe returned his attention back to the Commander, not even bothering on arguing with the distraught Krogan directly. "If that cure leaves this planet, the Krogan will be unstoppable.  We can't make that same mistake again."

Before allowing Commander Shepard or the others to respond, Wrex approached the Salarian.   Pointing his finger, he snapped back, "We are not a mistake!"  Intimidated by the Krogan's sudden approach, the Salarian stepped back some with fear all over his face. Fortunately for him, Wrex held in his urge to lash out and stomped away from the group.

Captain Kirrahe looked on with annoyance. "Is he going to be a problem? We already have enough angry Krogan to deal with."

"I'll deal with him," Shepard replied calmly as he glanced over to watch Wrex stop several feet away; his old eyes looking out at the blue water.  The Commander then looked back at the Salarian. "Besides that, any other news that I should know about before I go talk to Wrex?"

"We did have a rather….odd discovery about a week ago.  We intercepted a small transport shuttle heading towards the facility.  Most of the cargo was ammo supplies for the geth."

"You said odd discovery, Captain. What was so odd about ammo supplies?"

"Inside the shuttle along with the supplies was a human. Female to be exact.  Two geth accompanied her….I believe they were taking her to the facility. Not sure why Saren would need a human for Krogan testing."

"What did you do with her?" Shepard asked as he turned his head to glance quickly behind his shoulder.  Tension was clearly seen in the Turian's face as his eyes desperately scanned the area to try to locate the Salarian's finding.

"We have her in a stasis pod in the tent towards the end of the beach until we-"Kirrahe replied, but before he could finish, Garrus ran towards the tent's location, leaving the Salarian standing there, speechless.

"Garrus!  Garrus, wait up!" Shepard yelled to his squad mate.

"Is he going to be a problem too, Commander?" The Salarian Captain looked at where Garrus ran off to.

"I'm really starting to not enjoy having aliens on my squad, Ash…" Shepard grumbled as he ran off in the same direction.

When Garrus reached the tent, he caught the Salarian soldier off guard.  He quickly stood up from where he was sitting, fidgeting with his gun.  The stasis pod that Andromeda was in was sitting vertical and the door was clear allowing him to see her inside, her eyes closed as if she was resting.  Quickly drawing his pistol, Garrus aimed it at the scared soldier. "Open the pod…now."

"I…I…I'm under strict orders to not disturb…" The Salarian soldier blubbered as he trembling aimed his weapon back at Garrus.

"Do it!" Garrus shouted angrily.

"Garrus! Wait!" Shepard grabbed the Turian by the shoulder to stop him. He panted some to catch his breath.  

"Sir!" The Salarian Soldier snapped to attention as Kirrahe joined the others. He seemed less frightened now standing before his superior.

"At ease, Jova." Kirrahe motioned him as he looked at the stasis pod then back to Commander Shepard.  "With all due respect, we should leave the prisoner alone and focus on our attack."

"Prisoner…." Garrus chuckled in disbelief. "She's not working with Saren."

"If she was sent here by a shuttle then Saren must have had her on his ship, Garrus."  Shepard looked over at the baffled Turian.

"It doesn't mean she's working for him though."  Garrus shot back defensively.

"Not willingly….remember what Benezia told us on Noveria?"

"That's right….I remember Liara saying that her mother became under Saren's will after staying on his ship." Ashley jumped into the conversation.

"Indoctrination…what's to say that she is not under Saren's control now?" Shepard asked.

"Commander…we cannot leave her like this," Garrus pleaded.

"Very well…take her out of the pod. However, I want a full brain scan done immediately. We cannot assume anything, understood?"

"Let her out, Jova…" Kirrahe sighed as he listened in.

Jova saluted and went to unlock the pod while Garrus stand in front to help her out. The hydraulics made a hissing noise as the pressure was released, then the door slowly opened up. Just as it did, Andromeda's body was freed and she began to fall forward. Garrus gingerly caught her and squatted on his knees to hold her till she came to.

Moaning gently, her eyelids began to flutter as she began to regain consciousness. Garrus softly shook her. "Andromeda?"   Awakening, her retinas began to focus on the blurry image in front of her.  Her head was throbbing and she felt so groggy.  The shape was slowly becoming clearer. A Turian. "Andromeda?" Garrus spoke her name again.  Suddenly her mind flashed back aboard the ship. Saren!  Weakly, but yet still firm, she reached up and slapped Garrus across the face.   The C-Sec Officer laughed a little. "I'm sure getting hit a lot lately, Commander….this was not in my work agreement."   Seeing her sudden violent action, the Salarian soldier cocked his gun, but the Captain stopped him, shaking his head.

Finally waking up totally, Andromeda looked up at Garrus. "Garrus….?"

"Feisty as always, eh, Andromeda?" Garrus smirked down at her. "That's the second time you have assaulted a C-Sec Officer."

Shepard cleared his throat as he looked on. "Garrus, run the diagnostic before you guys get reacquainted."

"Right, Commander." Garrus gently placed Andromeda down and tapped his omni tool. Hovering it over her body, he scanned her, then tapped the tool again.  "She checks out. Neural processors are normal….no signs of indoctrination. I guess she wasn't on the ship that long to experience the side effects."

Suddenly a gunshot blast outside startled the group. Commander Shepard looked outside to see Wrex standing at the waterfront, shooting at nothing in particular. Several of the Salarians were watching in alarm.  "If it's not one thing…." Shepard growled in frustration. "Garrus, see what you can get out of her. Ash, come with me. I'm gonna go have a chat now with Wrex."


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When strength finally returned to her body completely after several minutes, Andromeda began to stand where she was.  "You going to be alright?" Garrus asked as he watched her.

"Yeah…just need some fresh air." Andromeda began to walk out of the tent, still holding her head. At least the dreadful humming aboard Saren's ship was gone. Looking up and down the waterfront, she chose the direction where it was less crowded.

Still feeling a little bit hurt about her hiding the complete truth from him, Garrus spoke up as he trailed behind. "Not planning on finding another ship to take off in I hope." His voice cracked with pain.

Sighing, Andromeda stopped in her tracks and turned back around to look at him. "Garrus…I really didn't want to lie to you…it's just that Nihlus told me…"

"Forget it.  You had your reasons." Garrus stopped her. "If I was in your position, I probably would have done the same thing." Andromeda nodded her head as she turned to look out into the water. The planet's wind flickered the ends of her hair as it kissed her face. "So what did Saren want?"

"A disc that Nihlus gave to me….Saren took it. Nihlus told me that I had to directly give it to the Council and not to trust anyone…not even C-Sec.  I don't know what was on the disc or where it came from."

"Well you answered my next questions." Garrus sighed defeated as he followed her gaze out onto the water as he stood beside her.

Andromeda looked at him, hurt.  "You always put this much effort into your investigations?"

"Well I never like to give up…" Garrus laughed a little as he bragged, then stopped, realizing that she wasn't really complimenting him.   "Wait…no, Andromeda….I-….Crap." He cursed as he stopped himself from talking.

Tearing up, Andromeda kept her eyes out on the water. "I failed him…didn't I? I tried to do what he told me….but in the end Saren still got his hands on it….and people died because of me…"

"Saren is the reason why those people died including Nihlus, Andromeda! It wasn't your fault.  He is a disgrace to my people. We will get that sick son of a bitch….by any means necessary." Garrus growled towards the end of his last sentence.

"So what's the plan now?"

"Saren has to be hiding at that facility. We are going to attack…and I will make sure that I will kill him myself.  We can't hand him over to the Council."

"I'm going with you." Andromeda said matter-of-factly.  "When we get there, I will be one that kills Saren. I'm tired of running, Garrus. I don't have any family left…and I owe that much to Nihlus. Saren will pay for his murder."

"I appreciate your compassion to my species, Andromeda. But revenge will not help you learn how to fire a weapon or fight against the geth. It will be a tough fight…those bastards don't go down easily."

"Garrus, you do not understand.  What if someone you cared about was murdered?" Andromeda shot back angrily as tears poured down her face.

"I don't know what I would do….but I wouldn't let it change me," Garrus countered.   Andromeda reached over quickly and pulled his pistol from its holster.  Afraid that she was going to shoot him and not wanting to make any sudden moves, Garrus raised his hands up to show that he wasn't going to defend himself. "Easy…"

"Either you can give me a crash course on how to fire this thing…or I'll learn the hard way, Garrus. I am going in with you."  She wiped her eyes and walked towards the water front, aiming the pistol at an invisible target.

Wrex, Shepard and Ash just finished their conversation at the other side of the waterfront, when the Krogan noticed what was going on between Andromeda and Garrus. Wrex chuckled, "Well well…looks like we have another fighter, Commander."

"For one thing, you're not even holding the gun right," Garrus critiqued as he watched on conquered.

"Then you show me," Andromeda insisted as she stayed where she was.

"Fine. Keep your feet a little further apart…like that." Garrus tapped at her feet with his foot to get her to move like he instructed. "Now square your shoulders." He moved in closer behind her, placing his hands onto her arms to move them to where he wanted.  

Feeling him close to her, Andromeda tensed up and she lowered the gun a little, caught off guard.   Being so close to her, Garrus took in her scent and he paused for a second.  What was this feeling to him?  Moving away quickly, bringing up his defenses, he snatched the gun away and reholstered it. "Hey!" Andromeda called out as she tried to reach back for the gun.

Walking towards where the others were as quickly as he could, Garrus called back to her. "Go back to the ship and stay out of our way! You can't help here!"