Lazarus Project: Mass Effect 2 (Shenko)

Chapter 17

Milky Way/Serpent Nebula/Widow System/Citadel

Earth year: 2184 CE --- October

Following his encounter with Garrus Joker had (against his better judgment), gone to speak with Anderson. It hadn't gone well. Every ship Anderson suggested transferring him to involved working with a co-pilot. Joker wanted to do right by Shepard, but there was no way in hell he was going to co-pilot a ship, no matter how advanced or attractive the assignment was.

Anderson had wheedled, cajoled and finally yelled at Joker to get his head out of his ass and stop behaving like a spoiled overgrown child, but he wouldn't budge. He might be cursed with a fragile bones and a snarky attitude, but he was never going to accept being anyone's co-pilot.

In the end, he'd taken an extended leave of absence from the Alliance, deciding that if he couldn't fly he may as well take a long overdue vacation. That had been over a year ago.

Vacation... he snorted derisively into the beer he was sipping. Some vacation, he thought miserably staring out over the lake on the Presidium. With no further contact from Anderson, he'd realized belatedly that the Councillor had finally given up on him. The most famous, most valuable pilot in the history of humanity's Alliance navy and they'd forgotten him.

He'd seen Garrus several times after he'd returned from whatever business Garrus had left the Citadel for when he'd returned from taking Tali home. They would meet for dinner or drinks, but Joker could tell that Garrus was uncomfortable. He was different somehow, yet whenever Joker tried to get him to talk, Garrus would just shrug and say he was glad to be back working.

When he'd further questioned him, getting tired of wondering what was causing Garrus to seem so tense, he would shrug it off and say it was just pride in his work and that things were going well. Joker had raised his eyebrows at that but since Garrus refused to say more, there wasn't much else he could do. And then Garrus stopped coming.

Worried that something might have happened, he'd dragged himself down to C-Sec headquarters to try to track the stubborn turian down. The new human officer in charge of Zakera Ward, a Lieutenant Bailey, had met with him and told him Garrus had quit. Just marched into his office one day, tossed down his badge and weapon and stormed from the room without saying a word.

Stunned but not terribly surprised, he'd left Bailey's office and tried to reach Garrus via the extranet, but all his messages came back unread and undelivered.

In the months following Garrus' disappearance, he'd begun filling his time surfing the extranet, doing some light reading, going to the Presidium for lunch or dinner or just sitting in his apartment listening to the news. Time passed by without his even noticing, so it was a surprise when it occurred to him that he hadn't seen or heard from Garrus in almost a year.

The only hurdle to his aimless existence came when the Alliance began to publicly deny the existence of Reapers. When they persisted in this endeavour, they then began saying that Shepard's warnings of a bigger galactic threat had been nothing more than delusional fear-mongering and overblown imaginings of an overworked and stressed out  Alliance officer. It was then he realized he might have to leave the Citadel. He couldn't sit around listening to that garbage without losing it.

As scandals go, the situation escalated enough that people who had never met or known Shepard at all began appearing on news vids. Live interviews where they called the Alliance out for turning their backs on the Saviour of the Citadel, further disrespecting her memory and sacrifice.

"What the Alliance is doing is pure bullshit." Swore an auburn haired human male with a strong accent. "Commander Shepard is a hero! The way the Alliance is treating her memory makes me ashamed to wear a uniform."