Fire on the Horizon

Chapter 27: Far Rim Ghosts

Jane was in the shuttle bay when Joker notified her of the ETA to the Far Rim and the diplomatic frigate carrying the Quarians. She, James, and Cortez were just chatting and relaxing a bit. To be honest Shepard liked going to the shuttle bay when Garrus was busy or Liara was stuffed in her notes and books. It was relaxing, nothing was expected of her. She wasn't the Commander there. She was just a soldier and she liked that.

"So, Lola what's the deal with this meetup? Is the fleet going to help?" James was shining his boots while sitting on his cot. He could have bunked in the crew quarters, but he and Cortez didn't like the crowd of people and crewman in and out all the time.

"Don't know. Initially we were told that the fleet had our backs. Now, I'm not so sure. We received word they were in trouble, but we haven't been able to pick up any evidence of reapers yet. I have no idea what we are walking into."

She stood up and headed to the war room to wait on the diplomatic arrival. She didn't like this. The last thing she needed was to deal with geth in the middle of a reaper invasion. She hoped it wasn't that far gone. Unfortunately, she was about to find out exactly what was going on.

Admirals Raan, Gerrel, and Koris filed into the war room and began to explain the situation. All Shepard could do is shake her head. It amazed her that the quarians caused this hot mess, took no responsibility for it really, and then kept throwing themselves back into it. Shepard looked up from the console when she heard the word murder.

"It wasn't murder. We didn't try to murder them. We tried to deactivate them. We never intended on making an AI." Raan stopped talking and the diplomacy that Shepard worked so hard to control came out.

Garrus was standing at the entryway getting ready to walk in when he saw "that look" on Jane's face.

"First of all it WAS attempted murder. Period. You can call it deactivation but at the end of the day it still kills them pretty fucking effectively. Second, you weren't intending on making an AI? What the hell did you think was going to happen when you people started this?"

Garrus smirked. The war was killing Jane's diplomacy, of which she had very little anyway, and was bringing out Jane in all her glory. He was so proud of her in that moment. He loved this side of her. He stood, arms crossed and leaning a shoulder on the entryway.

"It's all history Commander. The point is we are taking back our homeworld. We've run into a problem." Gerrel brought up an image showing a dreadnaught and flashing lights.

Shepard sighed and shook her head. "The reaper signal. Beautiful. Let me guess, you want me to get you out of this in exchange for the fleet. Am I right?"

It was Koris that spoke. "We may have very well put our people to death with this endeavor Shepard."

Shepard glared at him and looked back at Raan. "What do you purpose, Admiral?"

The word Admiral had a distinct anger and disgust to it. It didn't go unnoticed. Garrus took a quick picture of her with his visor and sent it to Victus with a tagline "her angry face."

Victus responded. "I understand the fear now. If you need an evac I'll have one on standby."

Garrus chuckled and held it in as he continued to listen from his corner of the war room.

Raan cleared her throat and pointed at the dreadnaught. "Board the dreadnaught and disable the signal. It will send the geth fleet into complete disarray."

Shepard took a deep breath.

Raan continued. "Our newest admiral will assist."

Shepard saw Garrus in the doorway. He nodded his chin up, not changing his relaxed stance. Jane turned around just in time to see the new Admiral enter the room.

"Admiral Tali'Zorah Vas Normandy reporting for duty."

Garrus nodded approvingly. A message came through from high command. Shepard saw him scan it briefly and hold his hand up to let her know he was going to answer it. He turned to leave as Jane and Tali made their way to the conference room.

Tali explained her viewpoint of the war and then made it clear she had to play professional around the other admirals. Shepard nodded and patted her shoulder. "We can meet up after we take down the dreadnaught."

Tali nodded. "It's good to see you Jane."

Jane smiled and headed to her quarters to suit up.

Garrus was waiting for and already suiting up. Jane came in, waited for the door to close, and looked at him.

He chuckled a little. "Oh come on. You knew the geth had to figure into this somehow. Glad Tali is here though."

He was snapping his armor plating over his boots as he spoke. Jane walked past him to her armor locker and started to take out her gear. She put it on the bed, like she always did, and looked at Garrus.

"How could they do this? How could they pick now to do this? And why am I their last hope? Why am I anyone's last hope?!? Why do I have to be everyone's fucking savior?!?" She was getting increasingly angry and tossing her gear on the bed. The metal plates clinking together roughly.

She turned to grab her boots and felt Garrus behind her. His hands on her hips guiding her back up to a standing position. He turned her into him and hugged her. "You're good at what you do. People see that."

She stood in his arms for a second. She was thinking of the things she could say. Before she knew it, she was just speaking. Garrus brought that out in her. Their trust in each other.

"Yeah, I'm so good at what I do that I couldn't even save a kid. I couldn't even save...a kid." She pushed her fist into his chest, pulled back and opened her palm. She laid her hand over his heart and just stood there feeling the odd beat.

He moved them to the bed. She protested a little and he gave her a soft shhh.

"They've waited 200 years, they can wait ten more minutes. What do you mean you couldn't save a kid? What are you talking about?"

Jane took in a deep breath and told Garrus about the little boy in that air shaft. The one that hours before had been playing on a rooftop and just a few hours later was dead thanks to the reapers. She told him about the nightmares she had been having. How just the sight of a grey hoodie made her cringe. When she was done, she had someone ended up sitting on his lap, looking at her hands, his arms around her.

Garrus took in a deep breath and ran his talons through her hair. "On Omega, there was this orphan kid. Human. He hung out mostly with the baterian kids and a few of the quarians. He always wanted to help. Anything he could do. He was in his mid-teens so I didn't think anything of it. We had him doing running for us, nothing illegal, just notes and that sort of thing. He would also act as a lookout. I had sent him to go handle a quick run."

He stopped and chuckled a little, running his talons over one specific strand of hair. His eyes focused intently on it. "I sent him to go grab everyone lunch. Even gave him the keys to my skycar. When I got back, the day Sidonis turned, the first thing I saw was my skycar. It was wrecked into the warehouse wall. I drew my gun, came around, and saw him. He had been shot several times, slumped in the seat, to food order next to him."

Jane looked at him and touched her hand to his scarred cheek. She went to speak and he shook his head.

"Nah, it's fine. I wanted you to know you aren't alone in that. Hell, Adrian moved a group of turian kids during the first attack. We got them into a bunker we thought was safe. The reapers attacked. The bunker was set on fire. Everyone in it dead. You are triggered by grey hoodies. I still can't eat a turian noodle soup and sandwich. Victus can't see a campfire without shivering. We all have our demons and ghosts. It doesn't make you a bad soldier. It makes you a person who has a past, for good or bad. You tried to help him Jane and that's more than most people would do."

Jane sat there looking at him for a second. He kissed her cheek and rubbed her arm. Moving his talon up to her neck he pulled on the chain that held the angel wing he had given her, what seemed like a lifetime ago. He smiled at it. FInally he pat her hip and pushed her up.

"Okay, now let's go fix this hot mess before they decide to spread this fuckery they have started."

Jane smiled and finished gearing up.