FEMTUR 4 BULLY

"I want to help track down Saren," she said, "if you'll have me."

The Commander scoffed at her. "And have another turian waiting to stab me in the back? You're not half as cute as you think."

"We're not all like Saren! I want to catch him. I can help. I've got contacts at C-Sec, and I helped you with those mercs at Dr. Michel's clinic!"

Shepard rolled his eyes, but the krogan behind him chimed in.

"The platehead handled herself pretty well back there, Shepard. I been in this business a long time. You never know when you could use another gun," he said.

The Commander stood there and huffed in a moment of deliberation. Garrus unconsciously found herself clicking her mandibles with her mouth hanging open, and zipped her lips shut, hoping the Spectre hadn't noticed her nervousness during his contemplation.

"Well, I trust YOU, Wrex. Fine," Shepard said, "get your things and meet us at the docking bay."

The Commander and his squad left without another word, and Garrus was left with a tingling feeling of embarrasment, excitement and admiration for the spectacular operative.

---

Garrus balanced her Viper in the crook of a snow-covered rock, breathing deep as the pirates exchanged a pitter-patter of gunfire with Shepard and the rest of the squad below. They hadn't seen her crawl up the ridge, and they were too focused on the advancing Spectre to pay much attention to her implement of war peeking out.

She spied out through her scope at the opposite ridge. The team had been ambushed when they walked into the gulley, but Garrus had been in the back and managed to scrabble back up the cliff into a shooting position. Shepard trusted her not to kill him at this point, but he always said Ashley had better eyes and put her on point; thus, she found herself bringing up the rear more often than not. Even without her immediate support the squad was doing well. Between the biotics and coordinated suppressing fire, they were pushing slowly against the larger force of mercs.

The mercs were fast, ducking in and out of cover like practiced professionals. They never emerged from the same cover or the same direction twice. It was hard for Garrus to get a good bead on any of them. She flicked her weapon back and forth, looking for a target.

Then, all of a sudden, she noticed a long rifle like hers shuffling out prone from behind a wide tundra bush. To her further dismay, it was aiming right at the Commander!

Pushing out her breath fast but steady, she lined up the bead and pulsed out one quick shot, then another. The rifle dropped, but it started moving back behind the brush again. One more shot stopped it--but she'd overheated her weapon!

"Shit shit shit," Garrus muttered as she crawled on her awkward legs behind her cover. She pulled out her Avenger assault rifle while the other gun cooled.

Quick and sharp-eyed, she fired a long burst from behind a different boulder at the ridge. The enemy were held back. She was suppresisng them. She was helping!

"Garrus!" came a cry.

"Garrus, what the hell are you doing? They're all dead you idiot, come on, we've got to get to that base," the Commander admonished from right below her.

"Oh!" Garrus' eyes widened and she stopped firing. "I--I didn't--"

"What the hell were you doing that whole time? Is your comm not working? Did you get lost again?"

"I--I thought I could set up a-and snipe--"

"You're a shitty sniper, Garrus. Just stick close and lay down some cover fire next time," the Commander growled.

The turian blushed in simmering anger when thought she heard him mutter "stupid bird" as he returned to the others. She was going to yell at him, but...

He was so confident, striding away like that. He was right.

Garrus sighed, picked up her rifle, and toop up the rear again.