Аннотация: Garrus leaves the apartment. A trip to Normandy. Rations and lunch.
Chapter 14.3 the effects of stimulants.
Time dragged on like rubber. The stream of revelations did not stop, revealing to us the unsightly results of the activities of my precious relatives, although the man began to repeat himself and stumble, but still new and extremely interesting details surfaced. An echo of fatigue appeared in his mind: the effect of the stimulant was ending. Heavy waves of impotent hatred and rage rolled in from the next room.
The fatigue suddenly disappeared. Another stimulant? The second in a row in less than an hour.
"I don't know anything else!"
"I'll have to immobilize you and carry you out." Garrus' voice rang out. "You won't get through on your own."
"Good! I agree!"
"Don't move."
The man fell silent, and a couple of minutes later Garrus appeared, easily carrying him on his shoulder. Well, like a sack of potatoes. Or rather, with shit.
Following a bizarre route through a small living room, the Turian unloaded an unconscious dark-haired man against the wall, gave his kinsman a recording device and returned to the apartment. That's what else he forgot there?
Azari shoved something under the nose of a lover of other people's refrigerators, and he quickly came to his senses. Two Turians picked him up and took him somewhere. I have a suspicion that this specimen of the human race will soon dictate a voluntary and sincere confession in order to get the right to go to prison, and not to the chopping block.
The laws in Citadel Space were different from the usual Imrir laws of the Alliance, and some aspects, especially those related to the military and judicial legal system, were taken from the Turians. And the laws of Hierarchy are very harsh and devoid of even the slightest expressions of pity. In the Alliance, a lawyer can get rid of almost anyone. But not here. Complicity in terrorist acts is the death penalty. And the defendant does not always have the right to a lawyer, which has caused many conflicts between people and law enforcement agencies in the Citadel Space.
Garrus emerged from the kitchen, walked to the middle of the living room, and suddenly froze, flaring with surprise and apprehension.
"Don't do that." he said, looking into the bedroom. "The sensors are very sensitive. Wait, I'll come back for you."
The Turian headed for the exit, carrying a large and obviously heavy metal trunk in his hand. A wave of hatred stirred up the mental, and a stream of cursing reached us.
"I warned you," the guy replied phlegmatically, maneuvering along the route he knew only.
"You! Bonehead bastard!"
Something barely audible beeped on the verge of audibility. Garrus's face changed and he stormed out of the apartment with one swift jerk. We just had time to notice the blue glare of the deployed shields, as a powerful explosion thundered in the bedroom.
He was right: the shields had indeed completely absorbed the blast wave. The living room was not damaged, but the blazing flames behind the ephemeral film of the shield looked surreal.
"I told. The sensors are sensitive." Garrus said phlegmatically, addressing no one in particular and looking sadly at the raging flames.
"A big explosion." Volus clicked, inhaled. "What was there?"
"An anti-tank mine under the bed. It was installed a month ago. And the stretch marks in the closet."
"A month ago?" The sapper asked in surprise. "You spent the night at home three days ago."
"I spent the night."
"And Mina?"
"If you don't press hard on the bed, the fuse won't work." Garrus shrugged his shoulders. "I don't wear armor at home, my body weight is not enough to initiate an explosion."
"Why didn't you take it off?"
"It was welded to the floor and fixed tightly, exposing the detonation of the fuse when trying to shift the control mark on the bed frame."
The people exchanged glances and looked at our sniper strangely, but he just shrugged and handed Volus a trunk.
"Look, it might come in handy."
Extreme put the trunk on the floor, opened it, examined the contents and swore softly. At least, judging by the emotions, it was swearing.
"Oh, this will come in handy."
The instrumentron lit up, and Garrus sent an information packet to the instrumentron of Extreme.
"Look, this is what's in the apartment right now."
"And they call me an Extreme Athlete? Oh, Garrus, Garrus, the Palaven Clan..." Volus threw up his hands.
"The shields will be down in about fifteen minutes, and I'll take down the most dangerous thing."
And he took out another stimulant.
"But this is unnecessary." I grabbed his hand and took out a small automatic injector from his fingers. There is a red stripe on the label. A heavy combat stimulator. "I'm taking him away. And give me the box."
"But..." Garrus stopped, catching my extremely expressive look, and silently handed me a small metal box.
Six of the eight slots were empty.
"Do you have anything valuable there?"
"A sniper rifle."
"Is this the one that's scary to touch?"
"yes."
"Blast towards the demons. We're leaving."
"But"
"Garrus Vakarian. To the ship and the infirmary! You used a red class combat stimulator! Twice, with an interval less than the minimum allowed!"
Garrus looked guiltily at volus, spread his hands, got up, and walked heavily to the elevator. He also feels guilty! There are no simple words!
"Does he do this often?"
Azari answered me:
"Quite often. He had already been admitted to the hospital a couple of times outside of work hours with severe backsliding after using orange and red class combat chemicals. But there were really serious situations."
That's a good correction.
"Is that how it is after every serious case?"
The blue-skinned beauty sighed.
"Unfortunately, for the last three years, yes. The laws of Hierarchy do not prohibit the use of stimulants, even the most severe ones, but you need to know the measure! Perhaps he will listen to you and stop undermining his health."
"And where will he go from the spaceship? We have a very good doctor, and even I don't dare argue with her."
"I really hope so." azari took out a couple of ampoules from the trunk and handed them to me. It will help if a rollback begins. "Turians sometimes don't see the edge when it comes to work." virgo complained. "Choose efficiency and practicality, completely not caring about the consequences!"
"Thank you."
"Spectr, so should we blow it up?" Volus asked me.
"Blow it up!"
"Oh! Thank you, Earth Clan! We're finally going to blow it up!" the sapper said enthusiastically and rubbed his hands together, to which Garrus just shook his head, flashed some kind of doom and entered the elevator after us.
As we drove downstairs, I fiddled with the box of stimulants and slowly went berserk.
I almost lost a genius sniper because of some asshole!
If Garrus had died, it is not yet known how reality would have turned out, and who would then occupy the Archangel's niche on Omega! You can replace key figures, but the chain of events will remain unchanged! And an Archangel will appear on Omega. One way or another! And I wouldn't be surprised if it was another Vakarian. Older.
To the demons, such experiments! And there are enough problems as it is!
***
We took a taxi to the dock. They rode in silence: the soldiers digested what they saw, Rex looked at Garrus with interest, and Garrus himself was almost asleep, barely perceiving reality. I knew that he was not well liked for his overly scrupulous attitude to work, but it never occurred to me that it would take this form! Reality has been stirred up: the change I have made and the salvation of Nihlus has caused fluctuations that sometimes manifest themselves in very perverse forms. Garrus really could have died: a kind of backlash to counterbalance my intervention. One survived, the other got a chance to die.
What gave rise to this reality is trying to destroy it, returning it to its original path of development. The first Change made it clear to me that the scrapping of canonical events would be met with resistance. And you'll have to break them, and the further you go, the harder.
One good thing is that after passing a truly unchangeable key point, the pullbacks will begin to weaken until they completely disappear.
Usually, people like me, encountering such active resistance, follow the path of destruction, as if it were the simplest one. It does not presuppose someone's salvation, only death. There is no need to try to provide a rollback. It's much easier for me to help Saren start the Harvest than to save him and prevent the destruction of civilization.
Excellent prospects!
A short Salarian was already waiting for me on the landing, twirling a datapad in his hands. He started at the sight of me.
"The spectr of Imrir?"
"yes."
"The products you ordered have arrived."
He pointed to the neatly folded sealed boxes marked with Special Corps markings.
"Thank you."
After reading the information from my ID card and receiving a palm print, the Salarian took off, leaving us alone with an impressive mountain of boxes. Supplies, damn them...
***
And then it started... contacting the Joker who was always on duty in the control room, I called the butler, ordering him to go out to the dock and take Alenko and six strong guys from the crew with him. They came quickly. Pointing to the boxes, I said:
"Rations. Sort by type and load into food warehouses."
Rex, hearing the cherished word "rations", started up, went to the neatly folded boxes, read the markings and deftly pulled out one of them. The brute. From the middle of the row! The boxes toppled over, but they resisted.
"I went. If anything, I'm in my cabin."
"Put the crates in the warehouse."
The Krogan stopped, looked at Alenko and the guys from the crew, sceptically grunted, smacked his lips, wrapped himself in a blue glow, picking up two dozen boxes at a time. Biotics. And he stomped onto the ship. A compact pile of boxes obediently floated through the air behind him. Clearly, neatly and, it seems, without straining Rex at all. Alenko watched this action with round eyes in complete shock. That's how stereotypes break down. The fact that Rex looks and behaves like an ordinary blockhead who is a little smarter than a stool does not mean that he really is like that.
Darg and Dylan exchanged glances and followed Rex's example. I mean, they pulled out one of the drawers. Garrus blinked in surprise, squinted at the fighters and said:
"It's sweet."
The drawer returned to its place.
"Take this one." The Turian pulled out another box and handed it to the boys. After a short thought, he pulled out another one from another row, with a blue note about the dextro-food contained inside.
"Garrus?"
"These are Nihlus and Tali." the Turian explained to me.
Picking up the food, we stomped onto the ship, leaving the butler in charge of loading the supplies. There was practically no one in the mess, and Dylan and Darg occupied the far table and quickly emptied the drawer. I don't know who formed my order, but I was grateful to this reasonable person: the box contained not the same type of canned food, but full-fledged nutrition kits, each of which consisted of soup, porridge with meat and some kind of vegetable paste. All in three varieties.
"Darg, one set for each."
"But..."
"I'm not sorry, but on the way back, you'll compensate for everything you've eaten in excess of the norm with a nutritious paste."
The soldiers turned sour, but obediently threw the extra boxes back into the box.
"Take the rest to the galley. You're at the ration distribution today."
"The outfit in the kitchen?"
"Voluntary-compulsory assistance until the XO appoints a duty officer."
"Darling, you're the same as always." Dylan sighed.
I picked up my portion and headed for the cabin, nodding at Garrus. Behind him, there were happy anticipatory shouts and the soft hiss of warming food.
"I counted with a margin." Garrus said softly as we left the mess hall.
"If they know less, they are less likely to see the bottom in the food warehouse before returning to the Citadel." I said phlegmatically. "You never know what kind of overlays there will be: we are flying on a prototype."
The door obediently slid into the wall, allowing us to enter the cabin. Nihlus waved his hand in greeting, turned off the datapad and put it on his stomach. And he turned on the jammer. Just in case. Garrus carefully placed the box on the round table, tore off the seals and removed the lid. The contents were not much different from the previous one, except that the label on all the containers was blue. I guess the list of dishes is about the same.
Garrus rummaged in a drawer and pulled out a relatively small container, looked skeptically at his kinsman, who was carefully watching his actions, set the temperature and set it to warm up.
"Dr. Chakwas approved of this."
"Have you talked to her yet?" Kraik asked in surprise.
"Yes. At night." the guy took the container, checked the temperature, picked up a tube stuck to the side and handed it to a relative. "Here you go."
"Thank you."
Garrus took out a second container.
"I'll go get Tali."
I sighed.
"Garrus, Tali always has a supply of provisions with her."
"I know. But it tastes better."
"I'll take it myself." I said softly, taking the box of rations from the deeply surprised guy. "While I go to Tali, you sit down and eat."
"Imrir, you have an Azarian ration." Nihlus said softly.
"Bring some water and pour it into the powder." It's in a folding cup.
"A divorce drink?"
"Yes." a quiet chuckle. "There are instructions on the lid, but usually no one reads it."
"Thanks, I'll get it."
I left the cabin and went to look for the Quarian. Passing by the canteen, I said loudly:
"Guys, there's a folding glass with a dilutable powder on the side. Pour some water. It will boil by itself."
In response, I heard muffled swearing and a surge of annoyance.
"There's an instruction printed on the lid."
"Darling!" Derg howled angrily, looking longingly at the utilizer.
I chuckled and went into the technical compartment, where, as expected, I found the Quarian I was looking for: Tali listened attentively to the chief engineer, who showed her some intricate scheme on his omny-tool.
When Adams saw me, he saluted and said:
"Commander?"
"At ease, Adams. Rations were delivered to the canteen. Normal rations." I asked. "Warn people: the instructions are printed on the lid. Tali."
I handed the box to the confused Quarian.
"thanks."
Leaving the Quarian woman with the box in her hands, I returned to the cabin, grabbing a bottle of water from the canteen on the way, and found a beautiful picture: Nihlus, beaming with pleasure, was finishing his rations, thoughtfully looking at Garrus, who was fast asleep and had his head on a crate. There was an unopened box of already warmed-up food on the table next to it.
"How long has he been like this?"
"He passed out almost as soon as you came out." Kraik replied. "It's been a long time since I've seen him like this."
"Nihlus, he hasn't slept in two days."
"Ours?" He clarified.
"It looks like it is. Moreover, when he was engaged in mine clearance of his apartment, he injected two stimulants with an interval of about forty minutes." and I took the injector out of the box on the table and showed it to my mentor.
"Red." stated Nihlus.
"Are the consequences serious?"
"When did you take the last one?"
"About an hour and a half ago."
"The rollback will start in about five hours. Garrus!"
Vakarian shuddered and raised his head with difficulty.
"Eat," Nihlus ordered curtly.
"I..."
"Now!" I added, seeing the doubt in his blue eyes.
"I'm going to cabin."
"Where are you now?" I asked softly.
His brain, slowed down by lack of sleep, stalled on a simple task and Garrus became a little addicted. Apparently, to finish him off, Nihlus added:
"Garrus, either you eat so that we can see it, or I'm going to pull this sensor, and the evil Dr. Chakwas is going to come here and find out that someone has gorged on red-class combat stimulants for a weakened body."
"I didn't get too full."
"Okay, you screwed up." Kraik drawled sarcastically. "Will it help you a lot in talking to the doctor?"
Garrus looked at me blankly, but, not finding understanding, he got into the perspective and silently took the box of food.
"Nihlus, you know what he has to do, right?"
Kraik grinned and nodded.
"Will you follow?"
"I'll make sure. Give me some water."
I handed him a liter bottle and left the cabin. I still have to take the infirmary from the technical team. As soon as they finish, we will immediately fly to the Terum.
With such reversals from reality, the chances of finding Liara's corpse in a power bubble are very high.