Arrival's Aftermath

Title: Waiting for the Reapers - Chapter 1: Arrival's Aftermath
Author: xRebel666x
Game: Mass Effect
Characters/Pairing: Commander Reblicah Shepard (femShep) and Garrus Vakarian


Waiting for the Reapers - Chapter 1 - Arrival's Aftermath


  Garrus Vakarian paced outside the door of the medical bay, torn between his emotions. Part of him screamed in anguish for Commander Reblicah Shepard's radical acts that would undoubtedly create chaos. The other side ached to embrace her in his arms, never letting go. Reby was still under quarantine - a request she made upon her return to the Normandy. She stated it was a precautionary measure but neglected to mention what events took place in the Bahak System.

  Reblicah was gone for two days, two very excruciating days. Garrus was the first to discover her disappearance. Noticing something was awry when Reby was absent for their evening rendezvous. Upon asking EDI for Shepard's location, she responded, "I'm sorry Gunnery Chief Vakarian, the Commander has initiated an override, the information you are requesting is classified." Panic infected him as he thoroughly searched the Normandy, questioning every crew member about the Commander. She was gone… missing for approximately five hours before anyone took notice.

  Kelly Chambers provided the first clue to Shepard's whereabouts. Mentioning a call the Commander answered within the privacy of her quarters. Using his omni-tool, Garrus hacked into Reby's personal terminal. He recovered a recent call from Admiral Hackett of the Systems Alliance and a message with the coordinates to the Bahak System in the Viper Nebula. He continued his search by pulling the logs from the Kodiak, confirming the shuttle was recently used but the location was deleted from its records. Shortly afterwards, news of a prison break on Aratoht arose and everyone aboard the SR2 immediately knew it was Shepard.

  Unfortunately the trail went cold when the vigilante escaped the planet in an unmarked vessel. The crew scouted the cosmos for new evidence on the Commander that deserted them. Distress among the team steadily increased with each passing hour. Yet nothing could measure to the heartache the Gunnery Chief was experiencing. Her abandonment left a hollow cavity. Time was his enemy… the swinging pendulum empowering the void to gradually devour him. The silhouette of her figure danced across the corridors, plaguing his visions. His only cure was to find the ghost who left the vacancy.

'Where are you, Shepard? Give me something, anything, to work with …'
'I'm going crazy without you. Please come back. I am begging you…'
'This isn't like you at all. You wouldn't just disappear for two days…'
'Or would you? What's wrong, Reby? Was it something I did? I need to know…'
'At least let me know you are still alive…'

"Shep--- to Nor-andy. Joke-, I --ed a pick-p. NOW!"

  With impeccable timing, Shepard's angelic voice echoed through the communication channel. The muffled transmission was more than Garrus could ask for. After staying awake for two straight days, restlessly watching the screens in the bridge, he finally had verification of her existence. She was alive… in trouble… but alive.

"Commander, we are getting all kinds of interference, I can't maintain a signal…" Joker responded, attempting to establish the connection but she was already gone.

"Reby! No!" Garrus cried out. "Joker, can you trace the broadcast?"

"I'm already ahead of you. Just give me a minute," he said plugging away at his console.

  Joker determined the call was coming from an asteroid near the Alpha Relay. When the Normandy entered the atmosphere, the Commander's navigation unit gave a faint signal near the communication relay. His heart pounded against his chest the moment he saw Reby running towards the frigate. She leapt into the airlock and immediately ordered Joker to evacuate the Bahak System. Joker piloted a course through the relay moments before the asteroid collided with it, destroying the star system and all its inhabitants.

  Reblicah stood before the galaxy map, watching the destruction ripple through space. The iniquitous sacrifice of the batarians declared her a profligate. The oppressing weight of their deaths haunted her conscience. The blood of her victims tainted her hands. No matter how hard she would attempt to scrub away the colors of their bodily fluids, she was permanently stained.

  Before Garrus could confront Reby about her absence, she isolated herself in the medical bay. Requesting both doctors on board to accompany her and restricting all crew members from entering until they confirmed her stability. Confounded by her decision, Garrus pleaded with Dr Chakwas to allow him passage. The elderly doctor refused, stating, "She is doing this for our protection."

  The floor beneath the Gunnery Chief was becoming worn from his pacing. The intangible line separating Garrus from his bondmate was becoming increasingly unbearable. His impatience provoked him to impede on the debriefing between Reblicah and Admiral Hackett. Instead he continued pacing… peering at the woman who was tantalizing… containing the malaise stirring through his veins.

  It was uncomfortable seeing Admiral Hackett aboard the Normandy. Typically he would communicate with Shepard via the galaxy map's intercom. He must be undoubtedly advising her of the domino effect she created. War with the batarians was now a very immanent threat. And regardless of how supportive Hackett was of Shepard's actions, the destruction of a mass relay would prove difficult to commend. Someone would want retribution and Commander Shepard was to blame. Garrus even began to question if she really is a savior? Or if is she nothing more than a monster? He knew in his heart Reblicah wouldn't do something that extreme unless it wasn't absolutely necessary but he needed to hear it directly from her.

  When Admiral Hackett exited the medical bay, Garrus could immediately see why Shepard respected him. Proudly donning the Alliance blues, it was a symbol of his allegiance and his commitment to protect the human colonies. He was a patriot, using the prerogative his occupation provided to safeguard his fellow comrade in arms. The Admiral displayed a sense of duty and honor that rivaled the highest turian generals.

"Gunnery Chief Vakarian. You are permitted to go in now," Hackett advised with an authoritative voice.

"Yes sir."

"Go easy on her. She just went through hell," he advised.

  As the Admiral began to walk away, Garrus let his hot-headed nature get the better of him. He scowled, "I hope you are satisfied. I don't know why you contacted her in the first place but you jeopardized her life."

The Alliance officer stopped in his tracks. He turned to face the confrontational turian and calmly declared, "I didn't expect this to happen."

"What did you expect? I deserve to know what happened."

"Yes you do. But how about you let her do the explaining?" Hackett suggested before proceeding to the elevators, leaving Garrus to finally enter the medical bay.

  When the doors opened, Reblicah quickly greeted him. She wrapped her arms around his torso, tightly squeezing him. Bringing her body directly against his and resting her head against the plate on his chest. Garrus welcomed the woman clinging to his figure. Entwining his talons through her silky golden brown hair and tucking the loose strands behind her ear. He nestled his head atop of hers, feeling her warmth radiate against him. Her energy cured the void, satiating the vacancy her disappearance left.

  "You have no idea how great it feels to hear your pulse," she whispered. Garrus could immediately hear the difference of resonance in her voice. She sounded injured yet there weren't any physical wounds. Something happened to her…

"What's wrong, Reby?"

"I'm just happy to be back… and safe… for now," she said, pulling him closer.

"I'm glad you're back as well. When I discovered you were gone, I felt incomplete… I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, my existence depended on finding you… I don't know what I would have done if you didn't come back. If you died…"

"I nearly did."

  "Please don't tell me that. I couldn't bear to lose you again." She looked up at him with a pained look in her eyes. Even though his voice was calm, the words pierced her like daggers. Garrus couldn't distinguish if her affliction was the result of what he said or from her recent experiences.

"Imagine how I feel," she remarked, turning away.

  The impression of her aura lingered against his body, leaving him craving for more. He watched as Reblicah dragged herself to the examination table, propping herself onto it and grabbing the datapad that sat beside her. The more she peered through the text, the deeper she drowned in her thoughts. The emotional damage tormented his companion. And instead of being comforting, he was adding more misery.

"I'm sorry, Reby. My anger won't solve anything. I am just trying to understand what happened."

  Garrus position himself between her dangling legs with only a few inches separating their bodies. Now that Reblicah was within his grasp, he refused to allow any distance among them to widen. The two days they were apart reminded him of every little thing he loved about Shepard. The distinct glimmer she had in her brown eyes when she won a hand in Skyllian Five. The way her untamed hair sprawled over the pillow as she slept. She was forever ingrained in his soul.

  As he studied the woman staring back at him, he noticed the symbolic scar she proudly wore on her neck. It was a token from their bonding ritual where his teeth once penetrated, marking the beginning of their union. When Garrus gently touched the discolored skin, Reby placed her hand on top of his and squeezed it gently.

"Talk to me, Shepard. Tell me what happened. I am asking you as my bondmate… I think I deserve that much."

  "Okay," she sighed. And after a few deep breaths to help maintain her composure, she shared the basics of her adventure, "Admiral Hackett had an assignment that needed my immediate attention. It was a rescue mission. A personal friend of his was arrested by batarians for suspicious acts of terrorism. All I had to do was go in, get Dr Amanda Kenson, and get the hell out."

"But you aren't in the Alliance anymore, why would Hackett involve you?"

  "He knew I would have a personal interest in the situation. Kenson had something that I wanted… evidence of the Reaper invasion. She found a Reaper artifact on one of the asteroids near the Alpha Relay. I needed to see it for myself. So after I broke her out of prison, she took me to their base and I got to see what they refer to as Object Rho. It was authentic… it gave me a vision… showing the Reapers coming through the relay… arriving in 2 days 3 hours and 20 minutes… I will never forget seeing that countdown."

  The sound of fear was reflected in her tone. Shepard clenched her eyes shut, forcing a single tear to trail down her cheek. The countdown was etched into her mind. Reminding her how serious the Reaper threat was becoming.

Allowing the dread to control her, Reby began questioning, "What if I destroyed the wrong one? At first I was positive, but now I keep wondering if the Alpha Relay was in fact THE relay they were coming through."

"Since we aren't currently facing a Reaper fleet, I'm going to go ahead and say you did."

  Garrus lightly wiped away the tear with his thumb, careful to not scratch her. Reby's soft skin validated how delicate humans were. Without her armor, she is powerless to any enemy force. Further demonstrating how essential it is to have the Gunnery Chief fight alongside her, as her guardian.

"You should have told me about this mission. I would have gladly gone with you," he reassured the Commander.

"Trust me, I wish I did bring you. If you were there, I would have been back a lot sooner… everything would be different. But this was a solo operation that required me to be as inconspicuous as possible."

"Inconspicuous? Using an asteroid to destroy a mass relay is 'inconspicuous'?"

  "I didn't expect that to happen. It wasn't part of the original mission. Once I learned of what needed to be done, I didn't exactly have a lot of time to work with. I think I only had about two hours left. Yes, I know what I did was hardly 'inconspicuous' but I needed to delay the Reapers for a few more months… maybe a year or two… We need all the time we can get," Shepard sternly replied.

"I agree. We do… Remember I'm on your side. I know the destruction of a star system must have been a difficult decision but you did the right thing."

"That's what I keep telling myself but it doesn't feel like it. I still feel like a monster."

"Is that why you quarantined yourself?"

"No… as psychologically damaging the death of thousands can be I will eventually be able to live with myself. What I have issues with is being unconscious for two days…"

"What? How did that happen?" the shock knocked him back a few inches.

  "Object Rho indoctrinated Kenson and her crew. They attacked me, delaying me long enough for the artifact to send an energy wave knocking me out. I woke up two days later, on an examination table… They were trying to keep me pacified but the sedative was no longer working."

"Why did they do that?" trying to comprehend Dr Kenson's intentions.

  "I don't know. I couldn't find anything in their logs when I escaped. All I can remember is hearing Kenson saying they needed me alive. Ever since I have been back, I have been having these… dreams… Both Mordin and Chakwas took a look and couldn't find anything. Even though they reassured me that I was fine, I am still concerned. They had me sedated for two days… there has to be a reason behind it. Otherwise they would have just killed me."

"It is a valid concern. Please promise me you'll say something if you start feeling different. You know I don't like surprises."

  "You will be the first to know. The visions have stopped, for now. So I guess that's a good sign, right?" she sarcastically chuckled.

"Be honest with me, are you going to be okay?"

  "I will be… eventually… It's still a lot to take in," she sighed. The damage done to her psyche left her uncertain in her ability as a Commander. Adding, "I am responsible for the destruction of the Alpha Relay, wiping out an entire star system and causing the deaths of over three hundred thousand batarians. The blame is upon me… I feel the honorable thing to do would be to turn myself in."

"But you did what you had to do. Sacrificing thousands of lives to save trillions seems like a fair exchange."

  "Hopefully they will understand why I did it. Hackett told me the evidence against me is currently 'shoddy' at best and that he'll see what he can do to buy me some time. Eventually it will catch up to me. And when that time comes, things are going to become very difficult… very quickly."

"No one said it was going to be easy."

"I wish I got that memo. Nothing is ever easy for me."

"As impossible things may be, you do possess one thing that requires very little effort," Garrus smirked.

"And what is that?"

"Just tell me you love me and all the pain you bestowed on me from your disappearance will be absolved."

"That's it?"

"Well, I could always ask for more…" he joked.

  "I love you, Garrus," she smiled sincerely. Her hands glided up the turian's chest and found their way around his neck. Digging the tips of her fingers into the tender skin around the base of his fringe, she drew him closer. When their foreheads joined, she gently nuzzled her nose against his.

"I love you too, Reby," Garrus purred as he placed his hands on her curved sides.

  Attracted by her affection, he guided his mouth to greet hers. The warm air from their breath brushed against the other's skin, becoming heavier… hastening with each inhale… causing his mandibles to twitch. Her lips softly pressed against his mouth, permitting her tongue to entice the opening. Persuading her companion to indulge in their joining, her dexterous intruder teased the tip of his tongue. Their members danced in the enclosure of his mouth, passionately fueled by the appetite they held for their partner. Even as their lips parted, they still had their foreheads locked.

"With everything that is heading our way, at least I have you," Shepard whispered.

"What do you think is going to happen?"

  "I don't know… but the end is coming. I can feel it. The world is crumbling beneath our feet. This is a war we might not win. But we will fight, we will sacrifice, and we will find a way. We will do whatever it takes to hold onto every last step of solid ground. It is our duty to suit up and give them hell. And as long as I have you, I am invincible; I'll be able to overcome the impossible."

"Then I will never leave your side. Just don't stray far from me."

"I won't, I promise," she said as she drew an X across her heart.

"So what do we do now?"

"All we can do… is wait."