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Castis Vakarian stares at the news on one screen and his messages on another. The news is filled with updates on repairs to the Citadel, scrutiny over Spectre Shepard’s decisions, and future safeguarding of galactic life as we know it. He looks away from the news and stares at the hundreds of messages of congratulations he has received about his son’s involvement with the Normandy and the mission to stop Saren.
His subvocals rumble with irritation and dissatisfaction. Castis had hoped that Garrus would have been disillusioned by his choice to put his C-Sec career on hold to go gallivanting around the galaxy with a spectre. This level of success was unforeseen. Not that the elder Vakarian wanted the Citadel to fall, but why had that been an option in the first place. None of this is adding up and Detective Castis Vakarian does not like it when things do not make sense.
Spectre Shepard, the Alliance, or perhaps even the Council are keeping things from the greater galaxy. Castis will figure out what it is and let the Hierarchy know about it, if they do not know already. First, he needs to get his son back to work and away from that spectre.
He brings up Spectre Shepard’s service file again and reviews it looking for something of note. She grew up in a gang that later became known for having xenophobic tendencies. It seemed to be due to being orphaned at a young age and the humans not taking care of their own young. Her early military career sounds fairly standard until she is invited to the elite N7 program of the Alliance. Most of the rest of her life is unknown until her ill fated stint on Akuze. There seems to be some strange lack of information here considering the galaxy supposedly knows she survived. Castis flags this moment in her file to look into later.
Still finding nothing of note in her public file, he brings up the footage of the aftermath of the battle. He watches his son limp towards the wreckage, clearly over emotional about the missing Commander. Castis can almost swear he hears Garrus’s subvocals cry out in fear and distress as if he lost a mate. Snorting at his own thoughts, he stops the video and rereads the message he received later that day.
Hey,
I’m fine. The Citadel is safe now. We stopped the Reapers. I did break my leg and have been put on light duty. Done with surgery and just waiting for hospital release. Will need to do outpatient for a few weeks. Hope everyone is safe.
-Garrus
A deep frown forms on the turian’s face. Maybe the subvocals he hears in the video are ones of pain. Also odd that his son never mentions any of the others he works with. It is like he does not want his family to know anything about his life. A quiet voice in the back of his mind taunts him, “Maybe he just doesn’t want you to know about his life.”
Shaking his head he rereads the message. Reapers. What are Reapers? Castis has searched the extranet and sent out feelers to all his contacts to try and figure out what his son is talking about. Maybe it was the name of Saren’s gang? It seems like the most likely scenario.
Castis should just be thankful that Garrus messaged them any kind of update. He knows his wife watches the news daily and would be concerned about both Vakarian men. After the battle was over, Castis called home to make sure Claudia was aware of the trouble on the Citadel and to let her know that he was all right. It had been the middle of the night cycle on Palaven, but Castis did not want his wife’s caregiver to be caught off guard.
The turian’s thoughts turn back to his eldest. Garrus has struggled with purpose his whole life. His misguided worship of the spectres did not allow him to see the true way to help people. Rules and laws are there for a reason and his son has had a difficult time learning that lesson. Solana, his youngest, quickly decided she wanted to go into medicine and now she sends him all her report cards from medical school. She is an excellent student with a passion for her path in life. His son will not commit fully to anything. If he applied himself, he could do anything he set his mind to. Some days it feels like Garrus collects reprimands to punish his father for stopping his dream of becoming a spectre.
Castis Vakarian chose to block his son’s candidacy for the spectres to prevent him from making a grave mistake. The lawlessness of the spectres will doom them all. Just look at what happened with Saren. The Citadel had been attacked and part of it destroyed. If this mission does not set his son straight on what is right and wrong, nothing will.
Checking the timestamp on that last message from Garrus about getting through surgery, he looks at the calendar. In a couple weeks, he will call his son in to get everything squared away for his return to C-Sec. Maybe after seeing how absolute power will ultimately corrupt, he will be ready to help others the correct way. Maybe they could even go to Palaven together and visit his wife and daughter.