Ante Up Chapter 19: Pride

Shepard found Garrus in the crew quarters, helping Sol sort away her damaged armor. The two turians snapped away from their task, moving away from the footlocker to meet her. Shepard nodded at Solana. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," she replied. "Minor burns."

"Good. Garrus, you have a minute?" Shepard asked hesitantly. She wasn't really sure how to handle the information she's been given. Hell, if Tacita's previous identity was some big government secret, Garrus and Sol might not even know about it. Shepard wondered for a minute if maybe she shouldn't even bring it up, but her tense demeanor had already put Garrus on full alert.

"Of course," he said quickly. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I just wanted to talk," Shepard said, trying to even her tone.

Garrus nodded and made a quick chirrup at Sol. Shepard's translator filtered over it, but she knew the sound was a type of context-based greeting that in this case would mean "see you later." He followed her out and they walked back to the main battery and sealed themselves in.

Garrus leaned on the center console, looking smug. "If you didn't look so worried, I'd think you were just trying to get me alone."

Shepard laughed despite her tension. "Typically, yeah, but in this case I actually wanted to ask you something." She crossed the room, facing the monitor of one of the side consoles. "Liara just... gave me some extra intel on the Blackwatch and it made me realize how difficult it must've been to be in that squad."

"It is," Garrus hummed. "It's apparently very similar to being a Spectre, except that they solely have turian interests in mind."

"What could've possibly prepared your parents for that?" Shepard asked. If Garrus didn't know about his mother merc days, she didn't want to spring it on him. Shepard suddenly remembered a woman who was in basic with her. She's gone eighteen years thinking she was her parents' biological daughter, only to find out she'd been adopted. The information had utterly destroyed her. Shepard doubted that Garrus would be that sensitive about family secrets, but she didn't want to risk it. "I mean, you said your father was straight out of basic. He must've just been a kid. Your mom, too."

"Dad was recruited when he was twenty," Garrus said, "and Mom was about nineteen. A turian's compulsory training and military service, what we consider basic, lasts for at least five years." He hummed in uncertainty, wondering why Shepard was facing the wall, why she wouldn't look at him.

"That's still young," Shepard said. "Military life isn't terrible, so I could see someone that fresh adapting. But, being in such a specialized group must've been rough."

"Like I said, Dad just had raw talent. He was the perfect soldier, so he fit into the lifestyle no problem." Garrus wondered if Shepard could hear the tinge of bitterness in his voice.

"And your mom?"

Garrus balked at the edge her words carried, relaxing moments later when he realized where this was going. He moved to Shepard's console, bracing his hands on either side of her, looming. "Exactly what sort of intel has Liara dug up on my mother?"

"Only the most scandalous bits," Shepard muttered, "and she apparently had to dig deep. This wasn't just leftover data from the old Shadow Broker files."

"No, it wouldn't be," Garrus said quietly. "Dad personally made sure that intel got wiped from that database."

"The Shadow Broker threw out information at the whim of one turian?" Shepard laughed.

"My father can be extremely persuasive when he wants to be," Garrus said ruefully. "Though I suppose it helped that Fedorian offered to intervene should the Broker refuse."

"Classy," Shepard quipped.

"Am I to assume that Liara has made a habit of breaking into government databases now?" Garrus said. "I'm fairly sure that's about a thousand kinds of illegal no matter where you're from."

"Her drone managed to weasel his way in when security was down," Shepard explained. "Anyway, I take it I don't have to explain what sort of vids she found?"

"If you're asking if I know about what my mother was, then yes, I know all bout it." Garrus' gloved claws scraped at the console and Shepard knew without even seeing his face that he was angry. "Any particular reason why she's unearthing things that were buried so long ago?"

"She ran across the name when she was finding potential recruits."

"Yes, because recruiting dead people is a great plan."

"Face it, someone like your mother doesn't just disappear. Liara was suspicious," Shepard said, placing her hands over his in at attempt to soothe him. "Just so you know, I wouldn't have had her look into it if I'd known who it would lead us to."

"Make her destroy anything she found, Shepard," he hissed. "There are still a lot of people who want Mom dead. She's only stayed under the radar this long because she's under constant protection from the primarch."

"Why would your government go to so much trouble for one person?" Shepard wondered aloud.

"Have you seen her fight?" Garrus spat. "Because of her upbringing, she developed a nearly animalistic instinct for battle that evolution has filtered out of even the most ruthless of our people. She's the greatest front-line infiltrator the Hierarchy has seen in centuries."

"Sol fights the same way," Shepard remembered.

"Of course she does," Garrus snorted, "Mom taught both of us, so, in theory, I could fight that way, too. I just don't have the same finesse for it."

"Sol said the style is standard procedure now."

"Partially," Garrus said. "Mom's techniques were incorporated into the training regimen, but her style is nearly impossible to duplicate."

Shepard spun against his chest, making him back away. "The Hierarchy held onto that footage so they could refer back to it. Liara can protect it until the war is over. I'll tell her to encrypt the files and keep quiet about them." Shepard crossed her arms. "Of course, if we fail against the Reapers, it won't matter either way."

Garrus sighed and folded his arms behind his back, fidgeting. "That's true, but I still don't like this. Who, other than you, has Liara spoken to about this?"

"Only me," Shepard assured, moving close and resting her hands against the front of his armor. "I won't let anything bad come of this. Promise."

His expression softened as his arms circled around her. "Fine. I'll... I'm trusting you."

She tiptoed to rest her head against the curve of his throat. "You know you can."

He released her and moved away from her completely. His seemed less rigid and his eyes held a certain humor. "It's probably best that you don't let my father hear about this. He wouldn't react so calmly about it."

"I can imagine," Shepard hummed, heading for the door. "I'll go tell Liara to lock down those files."

____________________________

Liara had dimmed the lights in the cabin to better view the new plethora of files she'd acquired from Shepard's suggested query. When the commander entered, spilling light through the doorway, Liara was grinning at the screen.

"Liara," Shepard started, "I need you to hide the files on Nekheny behind every safeguard you have in your arsenal."

"I already have a firewall in place," Liara replied, not even bothering to look up at Shepard. "I'll encrypt and password protect them in a moment." She broke out into a giggle as the screen flashed a different colored light across her face.

"What are you watching?" Shepard asked, a little irate at the asari's nonchalant response to her orders.

"Come see for yourself," she said mirthfully, playing with the video controls. "You'll enjoy this." Shepard filed in behind Liara as the vid scrambled and started playing back from the beginning. Liara also raised the volume for Shepard's benefit.

The picture rattles into focus, panning out over a tropical landscape. Excited chirps and laughter erupt outside the camera's sight, accompanied by a second chorus of much deeper chuckling. Slowly, the view shifts, taking in details of the trees and colorful birds. It finally halts and zooms in on the source of the voices.

A male turian's back is to the camera, his short crown of spikes barely peeking over the back of his cowl. A tiny turian in a hooded shirt is jumping in front of him, proudly holding up a spiky crab-like creature. The child is male but hasn't grown his horns yet, so the hood lays smooth against his head. His small face is bare, but the insignia emblazoning his sleeve is that of the Vakarian clan. The man crouches, rests his hand against the child's head, and playfully drags down the hood over the child's eyes. The boy peeks out from under the material, his eyes huge and brilliantly blue.

Shepard took a startled intake of breath. "Is that...?"

"According to the time stamp," Liara began, pointing to some numbers in the corner, "this vid is twenty-five years old." Shepard nodded in awe. The child was Garrus, her Garrus. Judging by how small he was, Shepard wondered if Solana had even been born at the time the vid was recorded.

Child-Garrus continues to present the crab-creature, cheering, "Dad, look, I got it! Look!"

The creatures flexes its pincers, wildly swirling its wispy antennae. The younger version of Aetius chuckles and says, "Very good. Now, go put it back."

"Why?" Garrus whines.

"Well, you aren't going to eat it, are you?" Aetius reasons.

"No," Garrus answers. "But I want it."

"Look how little it is. It's just a baby."

"Uh-huh," Garrus agrees. "I can raise it!"

"It has parents for that," Aetius chides. "You wouldn't want someone to come take you away, would you?"

Garrus suddenly jolts in fright. "No!" He swivels quickly and runs to a large tree. He grips the creature in his tiny talons and raises it towards the trunk. The creature claws at the bark, securing its hold, and scuttles up to a nest made of mud and twigs. Happy that he's returned the creature to its proper place, Garrus sprints back to his father and latches onto his leg.

"You did the right thing," Aetius praises. He has turned slightly, and his face is now visible. His plates are youthful and smooth, his tattoos crisp.

Shepard grinned at the screen. Even though Aetius' face was partially obscured, it was obvious that Garrus was a dead ringer of his father. If Shepard had any questions before of what Garrus would look like in twenty years, they were now off the table. She couldn't help but be a little pleased. Even now, despite his heavily textured plates and worn colony marks, Aetius was a handsome man by turian standards (and admittedly by Shepard's new-found tastes). She could definitely appreciate the idea that Garrus would age into a mirror image of his dad.

Garrus releases his father's leg and reaches up with an insistent chirp that is undoubtedly a request to be picked up. Aetius instantly complies, scooping him off the ground. Garrus erupts into a happy chortle, burying himself in his dad's neck. The vid catches Aetius' mandibles moving as he speaks, but it can't register the softly spoken words. He rocks side to side, continuing to talk as a song-like, feminine laugh is heard from behind the camera.

Aetius' head snaps up, investigating the sound, and his mandibles flare in surprise as he notices that he's being recorded. "Tacita, turn that off."

"No, no," she says offscreen. Her voice is heavily accented, as though she is still struggling with some sounds. "Pretend I'm not here." Her subvocals churn out happily, sounding much more fluid than her spoken words.

Aetius quickly lowers Garrus, gripping his shoulders. "This is espionage, son. She's working for the enemy."

"Like a spy?" Garrus gasps, staring at the camera and his mother.

"Yes, she's a spy," Aetius agrees. "Go stop her before she sends that footage to her commanding officer. Go, go!"

As Garrus charges toward the camera, Tacita laughs, "Oh, give me a break-"

The vid feed cuts momentarily. When the feed returns, it is being recorded from another source on the opposite side of the field: Aetius' Omni-tool, this time. He quickly focuses on Tacita, who is fending off Garrus' attempts to cling to her robes. The material is thin and draping and barely hides her massively swollen, pregnant belly..

"Calm down," she chirps. "I'm in no condition to rough house."

"But you're a spy!" Garrus roars. "I'm gonna arrest you!"

"Oh, are you?" she laughs. "I don't see any handcuffs."

"Don't need em!"

"And who's going to watch me when I'm in jail? Your Uncle Venari?"

Shepard blinked at the last bit. Venari... oh, that was Pallin. The word before his name was a title that was specific to the turian hometongue. "Uncle" was the closest word her translator could manage to insert.

"Yeah, he'll make sure you don't escape!"

Tacita grins, mandible flicking. "I think he'd let me out if I asked really nicely." Aetius barks out a laugh, causing the feed to jump with movement. "And, look, now Dad's recording us. Are you sure he's not the spy?"

"There can't be two spies," Garrus concludes. "You're the spy, Mama." Suddenly, he's either satisfied that he's properly "arrested" his mom or he's simply bored. He becomes more interested in her round stomach, patting it softly.

"What are you doing, Garrus?" Tacita chimes.

"Sayin' hi," he replies. Tacita chirps happily and sweeps him up into her arms. She's careful to curl him against her chest so he won't put pressure of her stomach.

"Don't bother her. She'll start kicking me." She nuzzles his head tenderly, then regards her mate. "What was that about turning off the vid?"

"This is different," Aetius says. "This is worth recording." His undertones emphasize his words.

There wasn't a direct translation for the sound Aetius was making, but Shepard recognized it. Garrus often made the noise after a particularly impressive kill or difficult calibration. It applied to various contexts but meant the same for each: pride in one's accomplishments. Shepard smiled as the vid cut off, finally complete.

"Where did you get that?" she asked her asari friend.

"An Omni-tool cache," Liara replied. "The keywords Tacita Vakarian registered on a few of the Omni-tools within the Normandy's network. It was easier to link up through the network than it would have been to go searching the extranet."

"You broke into someone's Omni-tool?" Shepard blurted. "Who? Garrus?"

"No, his and Solana's are both quite heavily protected. I went for one that was more accessible."

"You hacked his mother's Omni-tool?" Shepard gasped.

"His father's, actually."

Shepard nearly dropped her jaw, a little shocked. As disagreeable and prickly as he was, Aetius had old footage of his family stored on his Omni-tool. That sort of thing was usually reserved for the type of parents that attached pics to their credit chits. "How deep in the archives did you have to go to find this?"

"Not very far," Liara said. "He's viewed it many times in the past month. Perhaps the Reaper invasion has made him nostalgic?"

"I guess," Shepard muttered, pushing down the sadness that threatened to rise up from her gut. She knew Garrus and his father had their differences but suddenly wished they were on better terms. "Don't play around with their Omni-tools anymore, okay? Let them have their privacy." Liara sighed, but nodded. "Do you have the data on the Prothean device ready to present to the Council?'

"Yes," she replied. "It's all ready."

"Good," Shepard said. "I'm going to go link up with Hackett, let him know we made it out. Then, I'll be in the Med Bay if you need me."

____________________

Once they arrived at the Citadel, Ashley was transported the Huerta Memorial and admitted to the ICU. Shepard followed closely along, coming into the room once the med team had stabilized the battered LC. Ash looked like hell. Her face was completely blacked over with bruising and blood was crusted under her nose and around her mouth. She even had a nasty gash over one of her cheekbones that split open as though her skin was too tight over her flesh.

Shepard stood solemnly beside her bed, fists clenched. "Ash," she whispered to her unconscious teammate, "I know things are messed up between us, and I'm sorry. You have to get better so we can put it right." She backed into the doorway. "I've got to go now, but we'll be back for you. Just... pull through this and we'll see you soon."

_______________________

The Council was as skeptical as ever at Liara's findings, and, once again, offered just over nothing in the way of assistance. If Shepard was any less accustomed to the Council's sour attitude, she might be disappointed. Instead, she gave them a mental middle finger and forwarded the blueprints to Admiral Hackett.

Then, wanting to get to Palaven as soon as possible, she hit the docks in search of the rest of her newly recruited crew. Among the sea of faces, she saw several that made her mood elevate considerably. Ken and Gabby had fallen back into stride and were helping the greenest recruits get their belongings loaded. Engineer Adams from the Normandy SR-1 was actually present, much to Shepard's surprise, and Dr. Chakwas was in her tidy uniform, heading into the airlock.

Shepard moved through the crowd, headed toward Ken and Gabby, but was stopped by a dark-hair, tan-skinned woman. She saluted quickly and began to speak, "Commander Shepard." Her accent was very similar to Miranda's. "Specialist Samantha Traynor, Systems Alliance. I'll be overseeing the Normandy's new retrofits."

"Oh, ah," Shepard stumbled. "Yes, good. Someone needs to keep an eye on everything, make sure it's all in order." She held out her hand. "Welcome aboard, Traynor. Get in and get settled. We'll be leaving ASAP."

"Aye aye," Traynor said, dismissing herself. Shepard continued forward, meeting with her hand-picked engineers before boarding with them.

In the cockpit, Garrus and Joker were discussing how they would land on Menae without being noticed by Reaper forces. Shepard joined them. "Joker, how long until we can get out of here?"

"Well," Joker said. "We've sent out a message to all the new guys saying they had an hour to be here. We'll depart in two at the most."

"Good," Shepard said.

Garrus shifted where he stood. "My parents went out while you were away."

"What? Why?"

"They wanted to talk with Pallin," Garrus said. "The primarch was his commanding officer, too. He may want to come along. Doubtful, but maybe."

"Well, they better hurry back," Shepard said, shrugging. "We're out of here in two hours, no later."

_____________________

"You're sure you won't come along?" Tacita asked a final time, leaning against the door frame of Pallin's office.

The white-marked turian grumbled, rocking back in his chair. "I have no business being there," Pallin said finally. "And honestly, Cita, neither do you."

"I won't be fighting," she huffed.

"You say that now..."

"She won't be," Aetius growled, more at Tacita than Pallin. She gave him a quick sneer, crossing her arms.

"I'm going to get back to the docks," she muttered.

"Be right there," Aetius replied.

"Don't miss the departure," she warned, leaving quietly.

When the door sealed, Aetius let out a tired sigh, taking a seat in front of Pallin's desk. The Executor chuckled, sitting forward to rest his arms on the desktop. "She's looking better, healthier."

Aetius replied, "She is."

"It's a relief after everything that's happened."

Aetius leaned forward, elbows on the desk, and rested his forehead against his clasped hands. "Spirits, Venari, you have no idea. I didn't know how many more episodes I could handle." His eyes fluttered shut. "It wasn't so bad when she would forget where the kids were stationed. At least then she remembered we had children. But when she reverted back further..." He seemed to visibly droop under the weight of it. "I could deal with all of it, except the times when she even forgot me. There's nothing that can prepare you for something like that."

"Well, you took her down once," Pallin joked half-heartedly. "Couldn't be that hard to subdue her."

"It wasn't," Aetius said. "But knowing that I had to before she really hurt someone..." He glanced up, eyes piercing. "Sol was almost constantly with her. If she'd snapped and seriously injured our only daughter, she'd have never forgiven herself."

"Has this new medication stopped the episodes?"

"Seems so. I just hope it lasts." Aetius shook his head and stood, groaning as he did. "I should go."

Pallin nodded. "Be careful out there. I've been hearing horror stories about the state of Palaven. Menae will be a full-blown war zone." He laughed. "And, it gets better. The general leading the main assault is Victus."

Aetius' eyes narrowed into a completely unamused glare. "Of course. Because I didn't get my lifetime quota of his reckless bullshit during the 314 Incident." He shook his head, shrugging lightly. "But, I won't be leaving the ship either. I'll let Garrus deal with him. They'll probably get along, even."

"Oh, they do," Pallin said confidently. To answer the question that suddenly flashed in Aetius' expression, he continued, "The months that Shepard was incarcerated and the Normandy was grounded, Garrus apparently did a stint on Menae under Victus' command."

"How credible is your source?" Aetius muttered.

"Completely," Pallin said, pleasantly. "The intel came from Victus himself."

"Wha-"

"He wondered," Pallin interrupted, "why the son of such a dear friend would want to serve under him. They apparently work quite well together, though."

"Naturally," Aetius spat, slamming the door console. "And with that I will, begrudgingly, carry myself back to the Normandy."

"Watch your self out there," Pallin insisted. "I mean it."

"Yeah," Aetius called. "We'll return soon."

_____________________________

Tacita took brisk strides through the docking bay, her heart aching for the uprooted refugees all around her. So many of them looked hopeless and exhausted. The humans were all puffy-faced and sniffly. The asari hummed with anxious biotic energy. Several grieving turians crooned out in sad harmonics. Tacita was so caught up in the chorus of despair that she barely noticed the asari that cautiously drew close to her.

Snapping to attention, Tacita whirled on the petite asari, quickly taking in the pattern of her head tendrils. She didn't recognize the intricate white design, meaning she wasn't just another Eye of Athame survivor sent to try to bring her in, but Tacita wasn't about to trust her.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice bordering on a hiss.

The asari jolted and shrank back slightly, a timid expression crossing her young features. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to be rude."

"Your name," Tacita barked.

"Kanna," the girl said quickly. "Kanna Mierin." She took a step back, hands raised in a peaceful gesture. "I'm sorry for bothering you. You're the first person I've seen with those markings since I came to the Citadel."

"My markings?" Tacita hissed. That was a red flag. One of the few things that would readily identify her would be her Vakarian paint. The girl looked far too young to have a personal vendetta, but she could've been sent as a decoy.

"Y-yes," the girl stammered, obviously startled by Tacita's aggression. "You don't... you don't know Archangel, do you?"

"Archangel?" Tacita's guard faltered only slightly. "What does he have to do with me?" Aetius and Pallin had practically gushed over that mysterious vigilante. He'd apparently done some serious damage to several merc groups, enough to bring their operations on the Citadel to a near stand-still. Despite his unorthodox methods, he'd garnered the respect of both Aetius and Pallin, though neither cared to openly admit it.

The girl swallowed and said, "He and my mother worked together. I... met him a time or two." She pointed to Tacita's colony paint. "You have the same colony mark. I was hoping maybe you knew him. My mother was killed helping him take out the mercs. And now..." Her brows crinkled in distress. "You may have heard that a human group booted Aria off of Omega. Their takeover was harsh. They slaughtered anyone who stood in their way, even civilians. My... father was among them."

Tacita, who had been ready to spring at a moment's notice, loosened slightly at the girl's admission. "I'm sorry for your loss, but I don't quite understand what you're wanting."

"Archangel was Mama's leader," she said quietly, "but he was also her friend. I was hoping to find him, ask him for help." The asari, Kanna, was showing her age. She was not at all independent, suggesting that she was still the asari-equivalent of a child.

"I don't know that I can help you," Tacita said apologetically. "I have heard of Archangel, but I haven't personally met him. We may have a colony mark in common, but that doesn't necessarily mean we are connected."

"Oh, I see," Kanna said meekly.

"I also heard that he was killed."

"Oh, no, he wasn't," Kanna gasped. "There were rumors that he died, but I saw him on Omega. Most people don't know what he looks like, so no one else knows he's alive."

"Do you know his actual name?" Tacita offered, suddenly getting a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't immediately jumped to conclusions when Kanna said their mark was the same. Archangel, by all records, was dead, and a dead man's identity was irrelevant. However, if he was alive... he would suddenly become a point of interest again.

"I don't know," Kanna admitted. "He kept quiet about it. But, I know what he looks like. Tall, gray plates... um, blue eyes."

"What were the rumors?" Tacita said, suddenly tense. "How did he supposedly die?"

"Well, it could just be a bunch of mercs talking trash," Kanna said, "but the three main groups on Omega supposedly trapped him in his headquarters and overwhelmed him. I don't exactly know what happened, but his face was badly scarred the next time I saw him."

Tacita's breath jumped in her throat, trilling out a shocked peep. She stepped back from the girl and held her hands up to silence her. "I thought maybe I would know him, but I'm unsure. You said your name was Mierin?"

"Yes, that's right," Kanna replied.

"I'll be traveling for a while," Tacita said. "If I happen to see him along the way, I'll send him here. Just... find a place to stay within the refugee housing, somewhere easy to find."

"Okay." Kanna seemed mildly disappointed and it stung Tacita to see a child look so lost. However, she had no idea what sort of trouble she could cause by passing out her son's name or location. She'd ask him about it when she returned to the Normandy.

"I'm sorry I couldn't really help," Tacita said. "My ship will be departing soon."

"I understand. Thank you for at least hearing me out."

Tacita nodded hesitantly and swiveled on the ball of her foot, away from the child. She set herself for Bay D24 and forced herself not to look back.

__________________________

It was a two-day jump to Palaven, and the crew spent the first day readying themselves for whatever Menae might bring. Shepard still would have preferred to have a larger main squad, but she made due with the few men she had. While her new engineers, scouts, and miscellaneous staff settled in, she made rounds of every level and spoke to all her new recruits. The Normandy had picked up some interesting characters.

Traynor, who she'd already been introduced to, was a mousy, quirky woman who apparently nitpicked about personal hygiene (she'd said something about having a 6000 cred toothbrush) and obsessed over tech. She had never worked outside a lab before and Shepard made strides to make her feel welcome. By the end of their chat, Traynor had even been convinced to call Shepard by her name instead of her title.

Steve Cortez, the official shuttle pilot, was tucked away in the hangar with Vega. The two had apparently served together before and become friends. They filled the shuttle bay with snarky banter, and Shepard couldn't help but laugh at their interactions. Cortez seemed kind but reserved, and Shepard was unable to get a decent conversation out of him the first day.

She'd also harassed Garrus in the battery for a while, teasing him about how his father kept vids of him on his Omni-tool, fresh in his queue. Garrus had scoffed, questioning how old he'd been in the vid. When Shepard told him, he'd simply said, "Sounds about right. Hadn't learned how to talk back, so we got along just fine then."

Shepard eventually headed to the mess for dinner. They hadn't been able to recruit Gardner again, so meals were pretty much just every-man-for-himself, but Shepard couldn't quite be convinced that that was a bad thing. After agreeing to a sparring match with Vega, she'd become quite a bit more friendly with him. She'd kicked his ass and he'd officially ended the fight by giving her a strange nickname ("Lola," he called her. She had no idea what it meant, but it had stuck). After that, he'd followed her upstairs and just started making a huge serving of some egg dish. Vega couldn't fly a shuttle for shit, but the man certainly could cook.

Shepard gratefully collected a plate of food and found a seat with Liara. On one of the far tables, Garrus and Solana chomped loudly on something their mother had thrown together (Shepard had felt sure that she was going to catch the stove on fire, but Garrus had quietly assured her that it would be okay). Sitting several seats down from them, Aetius and Tacita were chatting about unimportant things that could mostly be filtered out.

Until the name Archangel popped up.

"I heard some refugees talking," she assured. "I appeared as though they knew him before. One said something about him being alive."

"All the intel we've received has reported him dead," Aetius argued. "If even some of the rumors about his death are true, I don't see how he could still be alive."

"Well, he is a turian," she said. "You of all people should know how tough we are. I'd daresay someone like him could survive quite a lot." She stole a look down the table at Garrus and his heart practically stopped.

She knew. He wasn't exactly sure how, but she knew.

Garrus somehow doubted that she could've procured intel like that from a bunch of refugees, though, and he shot a scandalized look at Sol. She returned a sort of worried, slack-mandible pout, though, so it hadn't been her doing. He found himself glaring at the table where Shepard was sitting with Liara, Ken, Gabby, and Joker. Aside from Dr. Chakwas and Sol, those five were the only ones on the ship who would know about his time as Archangel, and, as far as he knew, Chakwas hadn't even spoken to his parents since departure. However, they all looked entirely too sympathetic and not at all guilty. So, they hadn't spilled it either.

Strange. She had somehow learned about him from refugees. And now she was messing with him. Why?

"I don't think so," Aetius continued. "The only consistent info in each rumor was that he got cornered by three merc groups. Three, Tacita. There's no chance he slipped out of that one. I don't care how good he was."

Shepard was the one brave enough to speak up. "You seem to be pretty well-informed. Why so interested?"

Aetius glanced over at her casually, taking a drink to clear his throat. "I doubt you would know much about him unless you had dealings on the Citadel. This is a vigilante that cut the eezo smuggling operations of three separate merc groups down by over sixty percent." His voice had quite a bit of power to it. "In addition, he all but stopped a third of the slave traders who were slipping through the cracks and at least half the black market weapons dealers by placing tracking devices on the merchandise. He did with only a dozen men what C-Sec has been unable to with thousands of officers."

"But he wrote his own rules," Garrus blurted, "and tore down everything that stood in his path. You can't possible support him."

"While I don't agree with some of his methods, I see where they would be necessary on a place like Omega," Aetius said, pointing a clawed finger for emphasis. His undertones were warping in a way Shepard couldn't comprehend, but it seemed to mean something profound to Garrus. "You simply can't argue with the results, and he managed to accomplish all of it without any civilian casualties. If anything, you must respect that."

Garrus seemed more outraged than impressed. "He got careless and got his squad killed!"

"They were amateurs," Aetius said simply, "and it's a miracle they survived as long as they did. Surely they knew it was suicide to join him. Their deaths are their own doing."

Shepard could practically feel Garrus broiling in rage, but he managed to keep his subharmonics in check as he stood and rushed out of the mess. While Aetius looked quite confused by his abrupt exit, Tacita jumped up and sprinted after him, catching him as he enter the Lounge. Once the doors closed, Garrus whirled on her, finding it much harder to wrangle in his anger.

"You knew," he seethed. "You knew about all of it, and you decided to casually bring it up?"

"He is right about your squad, Garrus," Tacita said boldly, "whether you want to believe it or not. They died with purpose. Their deaths were due to a betrayal but it makes their sacrifice no less honorable."

"They were butchered," Garrus roared, "and I was too blind to see it coming!"

"Everyone dies, son, but not everyone dies knowing they've made a difference." She locked his gaze with her own. "Your men knew what they accomplished. I promise you, not a single one would blame you. You were the one who gave them purpose."

Garrus struggled with words, trying to properly articulate something beyond an distressed subvocal. "How... how did you find out?"

"A young asari approached me in the docking bay," Tacita said. "She said her name was Kanna Mierin, said she was-"

"Mierin's daughter?" Garrus gasped. "She's on the Citadel?"

"I didn't know if she was lying, so I didn't give her any actual information," Tacita explained, "but she was looking for you. I told her to find shelter and wait. She'll be there when we return from Palaven."

"Why is she looking for me?"

"She said her father was killed on Omega."

"Spirits," Garrus murmured. "She's just a kid. I..." He stopped himself. "I'll deal with it when we get back." He exhaled to calm himself and stared back at his mother. "I still don't get it. Why bring it up?"

"Did you not hear anything else your father said?" Tacita chirped. "The impact you had on the Citadel? The things you were able to do on your own?" She took a step back, sizing him up. "You have no idea the things your dad and Venari said about Archangel, about you. Some days it would be nearly obsessive and envious because they knew they couldn't match what you'd done." She grinned and turned for the door. "Your father would never admit to being that proud, especially if he knew it was you. I just thought you'd like to hear how much he admired what you did."

Though Garrus was going to reply, he held the words back as the door slid open to admit his father. Aetius stepped into the room, still looking perplexed as Tacita swayed past him and into the hallway. Garrus silently cursed his mother for fleeing the scene, knowing he was about to have one of those stereotypical, uncomfortable conversations with his father.

Aetius was hovering, arms crossed, just waiting for Garrus to explain. When he didn't automatically supply information, Aetius said, "Mind telling me what that was about?"

"The two years I was gone," Garrus hissed, "I was on Omega. I knew the people that fought with Archangel."

"I didn't mean any insult," Aetius grumbled.

"I'm sure," Garrus conceded, "but it's still... fresh. They were good men. The didn't deserve to die."

Aetius donned an unreadable expression, one that had always unnerved Garrus because it was impossible to really know what he was thinking. Usually it meant his mind was churning out a scenario, and likely, the next time he spoke, he would blurt out something random and seemingly off topic.

"So, how did Archangel die?" Yeah, trust his father to be predictable. The question wasn't as unrelated as expected, but it was a few tiers down a chain of thought.

Garrus sighed, moving past him to the door. He heard his father hum out a tired, disappointed trill. Garrus could hear a plethora of emotions in the sound, none of them very happy. He paused to glance back at Aetius, noticing how slouched his figure was, how exhausted he seemed. The two hadn't really spoken in ages, but Garrus didn't quite feel that it would be appropriate to start. Yet... he couldn't help but think about what Shepard had said, that his father had vid footage of them in his recent history. He was puzzled as to why Aetius had followed him and his mother into the lounge in the first place. What had he meant to accomplish?

For a long, breathless moment, Garrus fiddled with the door controls, holding the doors open but not walking out. He finally huffed out a breath, readying a reply.

"He got holed up in a building and went out blazing," Garrus said. "Final blow was a a gunship missile to the face."

He left it at that, striding into the hallway even as his father chuckled behind him. He froze, turning and allowing a smug grin to cross his face when Aetius proudly called back, "You gave them hell, son. Couldn't have done it better if I tried."