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Contrary to popular belief, I'm not always in the middle of some calibrations. [ ME RP blog with MERP ]

[deliciousmuchentuchen]

I started to play “ME1”…… for the first time!!! *slowpoke*

[notastylishly]

“So when I asked ‘something on your mind’, you meant it literally,” he said,though more as a grave statement than a joke. “Do you mean you came into physical contact with it? What did you see?“ 

[janeshepard-]

“The Reapers. They’re getting closer.”

She knew she was severely downplaying it but she didn’t have the words to describe it - a swarm of insects, a flight pattern she should be able to disturb by waving her hand through the air, tangled up in that the knowledge that each Reaper could be twice the height of a skyscraper, that it had taken a fleet and a lot of luck to take even one down.

“None of us know what’s going to happen for certain”, she said, shifting so she was fully facing the turian. “But if they got into my mind - if…” 

She found it hard to say, refused to fully acknowledge the possibility of indictrination simply because they couldn’t afford her succumbing to it. “If”, she repeated, “I need someone who knows me to keep a bullet ready. Someone who won’t hesitate.”

[notastylishly]

Garrus' brows creased in concern. Shepard delivered the news with such certainty that he couldn't have doubted her even if he wanted to. It made him wonder how the Council ever questioned her, especially with all the mounting evidence in her favour. It made him wonder how they could ever think, even for a second, that severing her from her team was a good idea.

"I think, deep down, all of us already knew," he said. "This just cements things a little more."

He turned to fully face her in the second after she faced him. Her request hit him like a pile of rocks in the heart, but he only lowered his head and averted his eyes. He'd never even considered Shepard or any of them to be indoctrinated, and that worried him.

He thought about what it would be like. He wouldn't know the signs until he saw them, but he envisioned Shepard's head through his cross-hairs like all his worst enemies, or her chest on the end of his pistol, and even though it was downright painful to picture now and easy to think 'No, never', he knew that in the moment his finger would do what he didn't want to. Or, so he believed.

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "If," he said with force. "If it comes to that, and it won't, you can count on me, Shepard." He gave a crooked smile. "And, y'know, if I end up turning into some creepy turian-husk, you know what to do for me." He dropped his hand and adjusted his eye piece. "Is that all, Commander?"

[janeshepard-]

This wasn’t the time to contemplate, though.

“Yeah”, she said, words deep in her throat. “The Reaper artifact they had down there - I got into contact with it. Maybe that helped Harbinger contact me, I’m not sure. I do know that it gave me a vision, a lot like the one from the Prothean beacon or the Cipher. Just… clearer.”

[notastylishly]

Garrus digested Shepard's info with a slow blink, eyes darting up and down in search of any signs of distress, but he found little other than exhaustion. Talk of vivid visions and the Reaper apocalypse were commonplace now. Perhaps the Council read her warnings as a joke, but Shepard's crew knew better. Garrus knew better.

He tried to picture Shepard in the facility, unconscious with nothing but the company of indoctrinated humans and a Reaper artifact. He couldn't fathom what it felt like to have ancient alien tech blind her with a twisted picture book illustrating certain doom. All he knew was that from the outside it looked about as appealing as a bullet in his foot, with convulsing limbs and eyes rolling back..hell, hadn’t the thing lifted her off the ground before? He shook his head and braced his hip against the table next to Shepard, still facing her. Years later and she was still being plagued by one single event. 

"So when I asked 'something on your mind', you meant it literally," he said,though more as a grave statement than a joke. "Do you mean you came into physical contact with it? What did you see?" 

[janeshepard-]

“We’re not parting ways for a while yet, though I don’t blame you if you want to leave ship early. Just keep me informed. In the meantime, I’m going to contact a friend who might be able to help us find something to prove the Reapers’ existence. You’re all dismissed until further notice.”

She stepped away from the door, leaving space for her team to leave, casually observing all of them until her gaze settled.

“Garrus, mind staying behind for a minute?”

[notastylishly]

"'Leave ship early?'" Garrus quoted, a hint of a laugh on his voice. "Shepard, you're going to have a hell of a time getting us off the ship as it is."

It stung, though. His place on the Normandy had felt more like a home than any other roles he'd tried to fill. Omega was a hellhole and a half, and with C-Sec it felt like he wore the cuffs rather than clamping them on to criminals. At least he knew where not to go, optimistically speaking. 

Shepard said 'awhile yet' but any time with Reapers on the horizon was too soon. He felt safest with Shepard despite her uncanny propensity for hurtling them into life-threatening danger, and he was sure the galaxy would suffer if they were separated. Would they be able to reunite with a galactic-sized war? What would happen then?

He shuffled along after the other crewmates but became rooted by Shepard's gaze, returning it with a blink. "Sure thing," he said. He turned his head to watch the team exit, then faced Shepard fully and openly, arms uncrossed. "Something on your mind?"

[janeshepard-]

"Thank you, Miranda - everyone." Shepard forced a smile at Zaeed and Thane through pressed lips. "I appreciate the thought, but I doubt breaking me out will improve anyone’s perception of me or any of us. What we need, with the time we have left, is further proof of the Reapers’ existence. Anything to make the Alliance shift their focus towards getting ready and protecting Earth. We already know that humanity is targeted, and it stands to reason that’s where the main focus of the attack will be - and if we can convince the Alliance, hopefully the Council and the other races will follow suit."

Things were, so far, going better than she’d hoped - Shepard wasn’t sure what she had expected in this situation, but considering the direction her day had started in this was definitely a step up. A hot shower and some food and maybe she’d even feel normal again despite the empty patch still swirling on her galaxy map, despite the hundreds of thousands of voices she had permanently silenced in an attempt to keep the galaxy safe.

"I’m not expecting any of you to follow me to Earth, by the way. None of us have spotless pasts, but they’re bound to treat me, Joker, and Chakwas a hell of a lot better than any of you. With them, it’d be easy to claim loyalty to their commanding officer. As for the rest of you…" She shrugged. "You’re not part of the military and I have no intention of seeing any of you rot in a military prison. So before I turn myself in, I’m going to drop you off on Illium. You can get transport to anywhere from there."

[notastylishly]

Garrus felt sick, briefly. An entire planet was too many to lose by any species' standards, so for an entire system to die off had to be ten times as devastating. Garrus had bumped elbows with enough batarians on Omega to know he held little affection for them, but he wasn't cold enough to be unsympathetic. Everyone would feel its impact, one way or another.

He rubbed the back of his neck. Much as it pained him to see the team part ways again, he knew the sensible thing to do was, per usual, follow Shepard's instructions. She was the reason there was still a galaxy left to protect. He nodded to her. 

"Well, we were split up before because you died," he said. "At least now we know you're alive. I'll do what I can, but I have doubts about a turian rebel having much leeway with C-Sec or the Hierarchy."

[scientistsalariansolus]

Mordin saved the data’s progress and glanced up from his omni-tool. Took very little observation to know Shepard was stressed. Upset. Angry. 

Very likely to do with the Alliance. Suicide mission done, a dead hero returned to life most certainly caused questions at best, and issues at worst. Any outcome would be… problematic. 

The salarian shifted his weight, but remained silent. Best to let things unfold. 

[notastylishly]

Garrus grimaced as Jack's fist met the table. His left mandible twitched, then his right. Shepard had only made the call what, five, maybe eight minutes ago? Can't rush perfection, he thought, withholding a smile at his own (arguably terrible) joke and crossing his arms.  

He understood emergencies, though, and he'd socialized with humans enough to know when they were impatient. Shepard topped his list of 'human friends' and he checked off several symptoms in his head, hoping for Miranda's sake that she would appear in the doorway.  

[estramor-deactivated20231029]

[obvallate-blog]

The order to the comm room seemed more of a blessing than anything. There was only so much checking and rechecking that could be done on engines, and unlike some other dextro-based people on the ship she was not one to calibrate endlessly on something that already worked fine. ” I’ll be back shortly. Hopefully. Don’t mess up anything while I’m gone,”  she teased her fellow engineers before making her way up top.

As per usual the rush (if it could really be called that) to the comm room had the elevator was a bit tied up. Though when she got there she found herself wishing it took much longer. Or that she’d been at least a little later. As it was, all she did by taking her place at the table was add to what seemed like a increasingly awkward silence.

Tali realized she really should have expected it. There were precious few topics that could be politely shared between a mercenary, a Justicar, a convicted felon and a Geth. Sounded more like a setup to a underwhelming joke than anything.

So instead of sticking her neck out she happily resigned to being the fifth member of the quiet circle. Better that way.

[notastylishly]

Garrus didn't leave for the comm room quite as early. One had to wonder if there was some invisible chain joining his wrist to his work console (did he sleep there?), but he shot out a quick "Affirmative" before wrapping up his current task. He was already in the conference room in spirit, ready to tackle whatever curve ball Shepard and the Alliance threw at them. He knew Shepard was inventive, but destroying a Mass Relay was on a whole new level of creativity; that, or insanity. But did they have a choice?

He pried himself away from the main battery to make for the elevator. Walking into the meeting room felt like sinking face first into a wall of quarian food paste and he visibly slowed, clearing his throat to break the awkward silence.

"Everyone," he said, then filed in around the back to stand beside Tali, hoping to fill some of the distance between her and Zaeed. Normally he would have said more, nudge some of the tension out the door with a light-hearted quip, but he saw no point when Shepard would fill that position soon enough.

[janeshepard-]

[notastylishly]

Hearing Liara’s command ring out across the open comm channel felt like an injection of relief. “Understood,” he said. He did another quick once over of his guns, shields, and ammunition before directing his attention at Wrex. For all the fun they poked at each other, their competitiveness was light-hearted and Garrus had every faith in the krogan warlord.

"Sure," he said. "I don’t think Omega has an ass to speak of, but if it did, well.." He grinned and did a small, lazy salute with his two fingers, then filed out of the Normandy after Liara. He inhaled deeply once he stilled and immediately regretted it, the scent burning his nasal cavity. No place like home, eh? He scanned the port - it looked relatively empty, but there was plenty of opportunity for snipers and assassins. He caught himself before his fingers wrapped around his gun and tucked himself into a corner, adjusting his eye piece.

Speaking of assassins.. “Thane, I’d like you with me. We’ll pick up Williams, then check the port. Everyone else, keep in touch.”

[k-rios-blog]

Thane emerged from the Normandy with the rest of the group, hand on the pistol at his hip––in a thriving hub of criminal activity like Omega, one could never be too careful. He nodded at Garrus and made his way over, taking in their surroundings. The deep orange dark, pierced at points by neon glare, was unlike any other station he’d been to; the air, choked with dust from eezo mines, factory smog, sewer fumes and the myriad burning things, was uniquely Omega. This place had treated him well, all things considered. There was no shortage of work for an assassin, and the work paid handsomely. He wondered idly if Garrus had known of his operations here––in the time before Shepard, he supposed, he and the vigilante would have been in opposition to one another.

Thane turned to Garrus. “Where can we expect to find her?”

[notastylishly]

Garrus' gaze drifted between the Normandy and the approaching drell. Even at rest, the ship seemed very much alive. He traced his thumb around the collapsed pistol at his hip to keep his hand busy and ready to defend. No sign of anyone yet, intruder or otherwise. 

"Not sure," he said. "She hasn't gotten back to me. Your guess is as good as mine." He ambled several steps to one side, looking up into the rafters. "I don't know what good looking around'll do us, either. She'll message us when she gets here."

[liara-t-soni]

Liara stepped from the Normandy’s gangway and onto the grimy deck of the Omega docking port she’d reserved for them. She took a couple of steps out and turned back to the ship as she activated an open comm channel to the crew. “Operative Lawson has asked me to lead the investigation on Omega, if anybody has concerns about my appointment I’d ask they come to either myself or Miranda.”

She brought up her omni-tool, seeing a new message from her operative in Afterlife. “Aria will be expecting me, I’d like to ask Wrex and Operative Lawson to join me for this meeting. As Garrus has considerable experience with work on Omega, he’ll be heading up the second team examining both this docking bay, from which the ship carrying Shepard apparently departed, and pursuing investigation into the station proper if need be. I believe several individuals may be contacting us soon to join in the investigation, please notify me when they do.If anybody has any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me, T’Soni, out.”

Liara moved toward the exit of the docking bay, running a quick sweep of the area for bugs as she waited for the rest of the crew to file out. 

[notastylishly]

Hearing Liara's command ring out across the open comm channel felt like an injection of relief. "Understood," he said. He did another quick once over of his guns, shields, and ammunition before directing his attention at Wrex. For all the fun they poked at each other, their competitiveness was light-hearted and Garrus had every faith in the krogan warlord.

"Sure," he said. "I don't think Omega has an ass to speak of, but if it did, well.." He grinned and did a small, lazy salute with his two fingers, then filed out of the Normandy after Liara. He inhaled deeply once he stilled and immediately regretted it, the scent burning his nasal cavity. No place like home, eh? He scanned the port - it looked relatively empty, but there was plenty of opportunity for snipers and assassins. He caught himself before his fingers wrapped around his gun and tucked himself into a corner, adjusting his eye piece.

Speaking of assassins.. "Thane, I'd like you with me. We'll pick up Williams, then check the port. Everyone else, keep in touch."

[notastylishly]

The journey to Omega was, by the Normandy's standards, uneventful. Garrus chatted with Wrex until it became clear that they wouldn't be swinging around to pick up Ashley. Instead they'd meet up with her on the burning red heart of the Omega nebula, so he returned to his work station to pass the time. Half of his focus was geared towards the guns, and the other half drifted towards their destination as his hands followed the familiar rhythm on the keyboard.

He reappeared in the CIC before they had even fully docked, his earlier trepidation replaced with a steely calm ingrained through austere military training. The only doubt he felt was on Miranda's behalf; were they splitting up? Now that they had changed course, would he still get to greet Ashley as he'd promised? With Shepard, they had a routine. Their missions were obscure and unusual, but how they functioned had always been clear.

Still, they were the same team, just under a different command. Hopefully that would be enough.

"Waiting on your order, Lawson," he comm'd her. In the seconds after, he shot Ashley a quick message:

Docked here. Are you close?

-G.

[ 1 Attachment - OMEGDCK_coord1.cdt  ]

[urdnotwrexthings-deactivated201]

Wrex grunted irritably and leaned against the wall, arms folded across his chest. All these damn protocols to go through just for a rescue mission. Did humans ever actually manage to rescue anyone alive with all these damn delays? His lip curled as the chatter around him was remarkably unconcerned. He missed the old days when he worked solo to take down a mark or complete a job. All these people to coordinate with just fucked everything up. 

He watched Garrus for a moment, the turian looking decidedly nervous. A grin spread across his face and he reached out to shove the scrawny alien (everyone looked scrawny to a krogan, except maybe the elcor). “What’s the matter, Garrus? Gettin’ scared about heading to Omega? Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you don’t get too many new scars. Even if it’d be an improvement on your looks.” He laughed and slapped the turian’s shoulder.

[notastylishly]

Garrus jerked forward at Wrex's slap on the shoulder. An affectionate shove from him often meant a few bruises, but Garrus didn't mind; welcomed it, in fact. He'd missed Wrex. Grunt hadn't been their replacement krogan so much as a new person to get to know, and he was young and impressionable. Wrex was more..experienced. It'd helped that they'd shared the cargo bay on the old Normandy, progressing from dirty, suspicious looks to bouncing jokes and teasing remarks at one another. He couldn't help but grin.

"These?" He tilted his head to give Wrex a clear view. Chakwas had given him permission to remove the bandages, finally, and the healing blemishes could be seen in all their glory, jagged purple lines cut across his mandible, cheek, neck, and fringe. "Thought you might like them. I took a cue from you - might've taken it a little bit too far, though. Now you have competition."

He sighed and fixed his gaze on the consoles in the cockpit before joining Wrex against the wall. Every second waiting felt like a lifetime. "Me? Scared? Never." He lifted his shoulders. "But what's Omega without a few nerves?"

[ashleylancerwilliams]

And yet another ping. One that is from Garrus, backdated about an hour, God only knows why. Sailing through dead zones wasn’t normally a problem in space this well-traveled, but it wasn’t exactly Ashley’s area of expertise; didn’t matter in any case, she supposed. She opened it immediately. Ashley pursed her lips as her eyes roved over the last statement. It wasn’t… unexpected, and not undeserved. But…

Now wasn’t the time to think about it.

She keyed a reply:

Thanks. Joker just sent me the update. Omega? He didn’t say why; what did you find, exactly?

Ashley paused, worrying her lip.

I expected as much. Until we find Shepard, I’ll play nice with the Cerberus crew. I won’t do anything to jeopardize that: I promise. 

—Ash

But if one of them jeopardized the mission…

She let her head thump against the rest behind her.

Well, it went without saying.

[notastylishly]

Garrus wanted to stay true to his word to Ashley and lingered in the cockpit while the crowd noticeably thinned. Part of him wanted to join in on whatever betting was brewing between Joker and Kasumi, but the more rational, mature side of him decided it wouldn't be fair to win money at Legion's expense. Shepard's trust in the geth was enough for him, and he doubted she'd be pleased if they returned it to her with an extra or bigger hole through in its body. Not that he was volunteering to block a shot from Wrex, either..

The thought kept his mind off of Omega, for the time being. He kneaded his knuckles against his arm in silence. Archangel, for all intents and purposes, was dead, but that didn't mean some krogan or batarian or salarian wouldn't remember a turian in blue that had screwed them over. Omega residents were unpredictable. It comforted him to know that he'd probably recognize an enemy before they recognized him, and he had the scars to thank for that.

He lifted his omnitool at the chime of Ashley's latest message.

Looks like the ship we found came from Omega. We're tracing it back, hoping to find some leads.

He smiled.

That's all I ask. For the record, Ash, it'll be good to have you back. We'll get to the bottom of this.

-G.

[ramirezoid]

Garry ‘N Leedge from masso fect, In honor of Rachel!

Those adorable shorts on garrus were conceived by foxypaws.

[helmsmanmoreau]

"Damn it," the pilot cursed. "Yeah, yeah, alright. You win this one, " he replied reluctantly. As he heard the approaching footsteps, he looked over his shoulder to see the newcomer. "Nothing they couldn’t handle."

When he finally heard Thane’s voice over the comm, Joker let out a little sigh at having given up so easily, but was also relieved that they were finally making actual progress.

"Yes, we heard you loud and clear! Grab what logs you can find and we’ll see what EDI can make of it once you get back here. Good job, guys!"

[memorystealer]

"I almost don’t want the credits. Your admittance of defeat is almost as sweet as the addition to my bank account," the thief teased.

When the information from Liara reached her omni-tool, Kasumi scanned it real quick before commenting, “Back to Omega, huh? Should be a fun trip, don’t you think?” she asked to anyone close enough to answer.

[notastylishly]

Garrus settled back on to one leg once he heard the news, stitching his arms over his chest. “So our friends are tearing the ship’s automated defenses a new one. Got it."

Maybe he was still riding the high after having not just survived the Collectors, but having outright defeated them; like they were granted some sort of temporary immunity by some greater power. Maybe it was just an ego thing. There was no excuse good enough for them to let their guard down, after all. He was far from being at ease, but also far from feeling that knot of dread in his stomach. The mention of Omega turned that around, though, and his brow crinkled as he felt something tighten in his chest.

"Always Omega," he tsked, his casual tone belying his expression. "Why can’t the bad guys ever hide away at a five star resort? You know, somewhere nice and sunny." 

[ashleylancerwilliams]

Ashley nearly jumped from her seat when she felt the ping and fumbled a little opening the message. The pilot was silent as she read. Garrus.

She had to admit she was relieved to hear from him—it was one less person unaccounted for.

Her fingers twitched over the keys, drafting a reply:

He did—thanks. I should be there in the next hour, arriving on an Alliance shuttle. It’s good to hear from you, too… if I could have been there, I would have, but I’m not sure it would have made a difference seeing as all of you were there, I’m sure. Do we know anything?

—Ash

[notastylishly]

Garrus ignored his work station between messages, even going so far as to turn his back and lean against it. His next response came much more promptly, although Ashley's message reminded him of his shame. He didn't exactly feel flattered that someone had stolen Shepard right from under their noses. He hadn't even been tipsy.

I don't think it would have made a difference, he began, then quickly deleted. He started anew:

Glad to hear it. Whatever the case, it doesn't matter now. I'd tell you what I know, but there's nothing to tell yet. We should have more info by the time you get here. I'll be there to say hello. Uh, fair warning, though: there might be some new faces you don't like, so could you promise me that you'll keep your gun in its holster? I'd like it if we only pointed guns off the ship. 

-G.

With that sent, Garrus switched out his civvies for his armour. He always kept it close at hand in the main battery. With Shepard around, there was no knowing when there'd be some sort of obstruction - fire, an army of vorcha, who knew - preventing him from getting to the armory. Some called it paranoia, but he called it being extra prepared.

Breathing a sigh of relief once dressed, he caught the elevator up to the CIC and joined the congregation of crew behind the cockpit.

"Trouble?" he asked.