Mass Effect Beginnings

A one-shot based around a request/idea from "_Kelmar6821_" on the Bioware Social forums.

_**"Garrus' recruitment mission with Samara in tow"**_

I tried.

**Note:** BTW - I know in game you "can't" recruit Samara/Thane/Tali before Horizon, but the game was only split up like that for the two disc thing on the 360; so realistically, Shepard would have had all the dossiers from the beginning. Rescue Tali, check in with Liara (recruit Samara/Thane) then go to Omega to pick up Mordin for his mad science and save Garrus. Ta-dah!

* * *

One more recruit, and she could leave this place behind; she'd already gotten halfway used to Omega - not a good sign. Ashira had never been so pleased to see a Batarian when he'd waved off 'Fargut' - meant she didn't have to get the little slime ball to leave her be; peacefully or otherwise.

Leaving the eclipse to their planning, the three women moved into the corridor, door closing behind them. Turning, Ashira found herself in a room lined with mechs, powered down for now until they were needed. A smirk came to her lips and she glanced over her shoulder at Kasumi.

"Don't suppose you could screw up their plans?"

A mischievous grin came to the thief's lips as she immediately caught onto Shepard's idea, moving over to the YMIR Mech's console to start hacking.

"Clever, the mercenaries won't expect that," Samara commented, the slightest tilt coming to her lips. Ashira turned, nodding shortly before she glanced around, listening for any mercs that might be coming. Kasumi was done in no time however and they kept moving until they were on the boulevard. Vorcha and other assorted mercenaries alike were firing from behind cover when they dared, only for a sniper round to burst through their skulls and splatter the ground in blood once more.

Ashira didn't flinch, merely hurrying through cover until they reached the 'safe zone' where Cathka was working on the gunship. She narrowed her eyes looking up at it; that would be a problem if they brought it into play. How could she deal with it now though? Maybe she wouldn't have to; it might not get that far. Her brain gave a mental kick at that thought; when was anything ever simple and easy?

She approached the gathered men, and glanced at the forward most of them, "Cathka?"

The man shook his head and jerked a thumb over his shoulder, promptly moving out of her way and leaving Kasumi and Samara waiting behind. She ducked under the wing and looked around, finding another blue suns mercenary.

"_Sergeant _Cathka," the Batarian reminded her with a slightly scathing tone, straightening up from his work on the gunship. He looked at her and nodded slightly as if in approval, reaching up to clear the faceplate of his helmet. He glanced under the wing, noting the waiting pair on the other side of the gunship "Hm, you must be a group Salki mentioned; you're just in time."

Ashira quirked a brow, "Salkie?"

Cathka jerked a thumb over his shoulder just like the other merc. "You met him when you were dropped off - he radioed to say you were coming," his tone took a cautious, although curious, tone, "you three kind of stand out from most of the other freelancers." Ashira exhaled sharply out of amusement, _I'll bet we do…_

A darkly clad, hooded woman who moved in absolute silence, an _Asari Justicar_, and a tall, imposing human soldier in heavy black armour. Definitely not the usual freelancers…

Cathka sighed to himself, reaching down to his belt and taking out a cigarette. "Anyway, the infiltration team is about to give us the signal," a light chuckle escaped him, tinged with a hint of tired hopefulness. "Archangel won't know what hit him." He set down his tools of the trade and reached for his lighter, taking a long drag once it was lit. "Got any questions? May be your last chance."

It didn't surprise her in the least that they didn't seem all that bothered by just callously throwing freelancers at Archangel knowing they would die. Too bad the freelancers themselves were too greedy by the thought of reward to realise it was goddamn suicide in the first place. She was actually glad for stopping that young man in Afterlife, no doubt he'd be pissed off at her for a while until after this assault was over. If she got out, maybe he'd try to turn himself around after seeing that Archangel utterly destroyed the merc teams.

Ashira looked up at the gunship, narrowing her eyes again. "You going to give us cover with that?"

Cathka scoffed, shaking his head, "Tarak is the only one who flies her - besides she's not quite ready; that bastard Archangel gave her a beating last time she was out there," he frowned a little, thinking, "a few tweaks and she'll be as good as new."

Ashira kept her frown to herself; not a good sign. She didn't need this raining down hell on her group next to the masses of mercenaries that will be looking to kill them as the fight progressed. She waved the gathered smoke out of her face and tilted her head, "are you leading the assault?"

The batarian laughed shortly, "Tarak doesn't pay me to _fight._ I just plan the attacks and fix the damn gunship; you freelancers get the privilege of-"

Just then, the console next to him beeped; the displayed image shifting into a particular symbol as another signal was caught. Cathka dropped his cigarette, "check! Bravo Team - go! Go!"

The freelancers behind them quickly got moving, checking their gear one final time before they left.

Cathka moved back from the console, grinning broadly as he looked to the soldier, "Archangel's got quite a surprise waiting for him," he shrugged tiredly, "but that means no more waiting for me. Got to get her back to one-hundred percent before Terrak decides he needs her again." He turned away, forgetting one of his welding tools and checking his work so far on the damaged hull.

Ashira glanced from his turned back to the still sparking tool and reached down, curling her fingers tightly around the grip. _How many innocent people do you think he's ruined the lives of? This is Omega, he's a Blue Suns merc; trusted enough by Tarak that he fixes his personal gunship. _That's what she told herself anyway, before she let that darker side of her mind take over for the next few moments.

She walked up to him, slow and deliberate, until she was standing by his side. "You're working too hard," she muttered quietly, and slammed the power tool into his back. The batarian jerked, his body going into wild spasms as electricity roared through him, causing a strangled scream to escape him.

Ashira turned away, blocking it out and ducking under the wing again just as a heavy thud reached her ears. She ignored the looks from both her chosen squad mates and carried on, taking out her assault rifle. They didn't see what actually happened, only heard Cathka and saw him collapse. For all they knew, he could have attacked her.

As the freelancers began the assault, the group quickly showed their true colours and cut a swathe through their newly informed enemies. Working their way up to Archangel's room, Ashira took out the last merc in their way before stepping through the doors.

The room was empty save for Archangel himself, the turian crouched on a makeshift sniper perch and looking down the scope of his sniper rifle.

Ashira lowered her weapon, "Archangel?"

He immediately held up a finger, before lowering it to the trigger. A few seconds later, he fired; taking out the last merc on the bridge. Relaxing, he backed away from the edge, and turned around slowly walking over to the large crates containing ammunition. He reached up and undid the clasps to his helmet, slipping it off and setting it down on them as Ashira and her group walked over to him.

He settled down, facing them, and Ashira couldn't help the sudden broad smile that came to her lips. "Garrus!" a mix of happiness and relief was in her voice, but most of all surprise. The sudden emotion certainly surprised both of her squad mates; she was hardly the emotional type - Ashira always kept her personal feelings, deep or otherwise, under wraps.

She resisted the urge to run up and hug him; now wasn't the time - plus she would probably give the surrounding three a stroke. "What are you doing here?"

He could probably ask her the same thing, given how he was staring at her; disbelief, shock, wondering. He hid it all well though.

"Just keeping my skills sharp; a little target practice," Garrus' mandibles flared slightly in a half-hearted smile, but it was tired.

Ashira tilted her head, "you okay?"

Garrus shrugged lightly, shifting his armour, "been better; but it sure is good to see a friendly face. Killing mercs is _hard_ work; especially on my own," a tone of bitterness entered his voice, but it was gone just as quick.

Ashira frowned, a dark tilt coming to her lips, "how'd you manage to piss off every major merc organization in the terminus systems? C-sec would be proud," she chuckled lightly. Garrus shook his head, "that they would, it certainly wasn't easy; I _really_ had the work at. But I'm amazed that they actually teamed up to fight me; they must _really_ hate me."

Understatement of the week.

Ashira looked out over the bridge, deceptively quiet for now; it would be swarming with mercs soon enough. She returned her gaze to Garrus, and her expression became serious once more. "Well, we got here; but getting out isn't going to be easy."

Garrus got up from his seat, hefting his sniper rifle again. "No it won't, that bridge has saved my life, funnelling all those witless idiots into scope," he narrowed his eyes, "but it works both ways." Turning, he gazed out over the bridge, pointing out its bare expanse and blocked up entrance. "They'll slaughter us if we try to get out that way."

Even before Ashira could voice her displeasure at this already realised fact, Samara spoke up. "We can't just _wait _here; there's too many of them." Kasumi crossed her arms.

"I'm inclined to agree with her Shep; but I guess this is the suicidal quota we should get used to, hm?"

Ashira sighed to herself, looking up and muttering something under her breath about things never being easy.

Garrus cleared his throat, "it's not all that bad; that bridge has held them off so far." He walked up to the edge, looking over the wall, "now with four of us I think we can hold them off long enough to find an opening; then we take our chances and go for it," he shrugged and turned back to face Ashira. "It's not a perfect plan; but it's a plan."

Ashira smiled half-heartedly, "it'll do."

They fought through the first few waves of mercs, taking them down before they could even reach the base. Garrus was right, the bridge was a total kill zone from up here. With the mix of sniping, gunfire, technical sabotage and biotics; the Eclipse eventually found themselves leaderless. It became eerily quiet once more; but Garrus was pleased. Apparently the Eclipse leader - Jaroth - had been high on his list of mercs to kill, having shipped tainted eezo all over citadel space. He'd crossed him plenty of times before when he was still C-Sec.

Wondering if it was safe to try and make a break for it, Garrus looked out over the bridge again to try and see what the remaining mercs were up to, when a loud blast from below shook the walls. "What the _hell_ was that?" Kasumi echoed everyone's thoughts.

Garrus brought up his omnitool, and swore under his breath. "They've breached the lower levels," he muttered, sighing. "Well they had to use their brains eventually; you better get down there Shepard."

Ashira frowned a bit, she didn't like where this was going, "let's split up two and two; keep one of my team here."

Garrus tilted his head, "you sure? Who knows what you'll find down there."

Ashira nodded firmly, and looked over her shoulder, "Kasumi, stay here with Garrus; keep him alive."

Kasumi almost pouted, "aw, but I was looking forward to crawling around in a dark basement."

The soldier repressed an automatic smile and looked back to Garrus, he managed a half-hearted smile for the help. "Thanks Shepard, the door down to the shutters is behind the staircase; you'll have to shut them all to stop the mercs from getting up here."

Ashira nodded and turned sharply, Samara quickly following.

As they reached the first shutter, mercs began to pour through. But the narrow corridor worked in their favour, and the blood pack mercenaries fell before they could reach the closing shutter.

Moving onto the second shutter, the following series of pipes acted as useful cover; the metal was too thick to pierce with the Vorcha's cheap armaments. However, moving around the corner, sharp reflexes saved the pair from being roasted by a flamethrower wielding Vorcha as Ashira fired a concussive shot and Samara tore at the gathered mercs with biotics. Between the two of them, the small group hardly lasted more than a few seconds.

Reaching the console, the same narrow corridor made closing the shutter an easy task again. Then Garrus' voice came over the comms, "here they come, there's not too many of them; yet…"

Ashira grit her teeth and backtracked quickly, crossing to the final shutter and opening the door. A hail of bullets forced both her and Samara to dive into cover; the Blood Pack were expecting them this time.

When the moment allowed, they leaned up and fired, taking out some of the Vorcha when they jumped out of cover. The pair slowly moved forward, being kept back by the growing number of Blood Pack; this final shutter was a gaping hanger of an entrance. Then a noise joined the grating, high pitched screeching of the Vorcha. Low, undulating howls.

Ashira looked aside at Samara, "did you hear that as well?"

The Asari merely nodded, looking as calm as ever and keeping a firm grip on her rifle.

No more than a second later and a Varren thrust its head around the corner, narrowly missing Ashira's arm as the Commander jerked aside. She immediately fired, burying several bullets into it's skull. Switching her rifle for her shotgun, Ashira swore under her breath; she hated Varren.

The fighting got more difficult with the Varren running around, but now Ashira was thankful she had brought Samara along for two very good reasons; firstly her biotics were proving to be a godsend down here with so many enemies rushing around trying to kill them. Secondly, having kept her close on previous missions as their resident biotic - no way in hell she trusted Miranda or Jacob enough for that - the two were at least used to each other's presence on the battlefield. They were familiar enough to know how the other was going to move, which target they would go after; this ended up with them automatically falling into a dual act of gunfire and biotics.

Kasumi's voice suddenly came over the comms, she sounded a little worried, "things are jumping up here, Shep. Don't screw around with those shuttles too long!"

Ashira grit her teeth, "what the _hell_ do you think I'm-" another Varren suddenly lunged around the corner of her cover, snarling and growling. Ashira swore loudly, getting knocked on her back as the beast tried to clamp down on her arm. She struggled briefly, slamming her shotgun under its jaw and pulling the trigger; blowing a large hole through the top of it's skull. Shoving the deadweight beast off her, Ashira leaned back against her cover again and simply muttered, "got it."

She shook her head and rushed up from cover, firing a concussive blast right into the chest of a near by Vorcha, followed immediately by the hum of biotics as Samara threw him into the wall. They were persistent little bastards; sometimes you needed a little bit of overkill to actually _kill_ them.

Finally reaching the console, Ashira brought up her omnitool, signalling the shutter to start closing. As another Krogan came into view, the pair fell back to sturdier cover; not before Ashira fired at the door control, making sure the mercs couldn't reverse it closing. The Krogan charged through, followed by a pack of Vorcha just before it slammed shut, crushing one unfortunate and snapping his spine at the waist.

The remainder of the fight was quick a brutal, the two falling back steadily to return to Garrus as the mercs were picked off by either biotics or bullets.

Ashira briefly leaned back against her cover, calming her breathing down and glancing aside at Samara; also taking a brief rest. "And we're not even done yet," Ashira muttered, shaking her head. Samara met her gaze, "work such as ours rarely ever is." A weak chuckle left the Spectre, "thanks for reminding me."

In the space of a few seconds, things seemed to move in slow motion, as a large Varren - previously wounded but not yet dead - rounded their cover directly behind Samara. Her eyes widened slightly, knowing what was behind her; but she wouldn't have turned fast enough. Ashira bolted, sharply hooking her arm around Samara's waist and pulling her away, the Varren's jaws _just _clipping her. It didn't get a second chance to bite again as Ashira levelled her shotgun with its head and pulled the trigger.

As the adrenaline quickly wore off, a hand pressing into her shoulder reminded Ashira that she still had her arm locked around Samara's waist. Looking to her side, those ice blue eyes were much closer than they had ever been and a flicker of warm breath touched her face. She exhaled sharply, immediately letting go and swallowing hard as she tried to keep a stony expression. "Sorry…" she looked away, switching back to her rifle. "Lets get back to Garrus." She quickly turned away, backtracking through the corridors.

Samara followed, appearing unmoved, if only a little off-put by the intrusive grab; then again, that Varren would've crushed its jaws around her waist if the soldier hadn't pulled her away. Though the Commander almost seemed surprised at how close she had been - most likely something to do with the looks of attraction she had seen in the soldier's eyes; granted she hid it well. A light frown came to the Justicar's face; she would have to keep an eye on this if Ashira didn't keep said attraction from getting the better of her.

They would see as time progressed.

* * *

You know originally I wanted to use that "scene" in a story with Shepard and _Liara_. But...I never got around to it. Besides, I kind of lost love for the character even before ME2 came around; throwing yourself at the commander much...eventually got uncomfortable.

Anyway, reviews will be appreciated.


End file.

Mass Effect, Romance, Sci-Fi