The revised version of "Tomorrow Comes Today" opens with Liara working on her lecture alongside the two assistants of (doctor) from the omake "I Shall Report All of the Things I've Seen Though I Know I Will Not Be Believed" (an effort on my part to include the crew of the Long-Sight in this Book) they talk for a bit about all the strange things they've come to see in the City to be interrupted by Scheherazade coming to see Liara. She invites Liara out to tea, the first step to her becoming Liara's primary love interest.
The two assistants smile awkwardly during the whole thing as Liara remains oblivious of Sadie's romantic interest. As they both leave the two assistants talk about what they've just seen. (The turian) admits some disgust regarding the idea of dating a synthetic while (the asari) says to keep an open mind. The scene ends with the (turian) joking that she just wants to learn if asari can bond with Exo.
Liara and Sadie arrive at the tea house Saide frequents (a small Iranian place that looks a bit like something out of the middle ages due to a bunch of cultural City stuff I'll probably write about in a small lore-essay soon) only for the owner to (with as much respect as he can muster since Sadie's a friend/Guardian) that he won't serve aliens. It's only by Sadie pulling the "I'm a fucking Guardian" card that they manage to get a seat. Sadie is mortified but Liara (whose maintained an admirable amount of composure) says its fine.
Sadie is confused by this and Liara explains about her history as an asari "pureblood" and that she actually finds the obvious scorn of the City-dwellers to be a breath of fresh air compared to the poisoned smiles of her fellow asari. Sadie comes away with a new respect for Liara and Liara feels closer to Sadie, seeds firmly planted for a further relationship to bloom.
Tali's storyline continues much the same though a finished version of Tomorrow Comes Today ends with Tali growing tired of her treatment at the hands of Kristofor and striking him across the face. This is considered the challenge for a duel in Titan circles and it ends with Tali and Kristofor twirling around each other at the top of the Wall. It's a tough fight but Tali wins, a feat which earns her the respect of the Phoenix Pillars, with many claps on the back and even a small party thrown in her honor after the work shift is over. It is during the party that Tali is asked a very important question.
Why hasn't she taken her suit off, yet?
The story returns to Garrus, Shepard, and Samuel as they rush across the City trying to get to Chora's Den. On the way Shepard explains Jack's deal. Jack, in the Destiny verse, is a Channeler, someone with the ability to channel Light without being a Guardian. Now, a Channeler can only channel Light in small and specific ways and Shepard compares Jack's Light to a small spark in contrast to a Guardian's raging inferno. Jack's channeling takes the form of random visions that show her some form of information (sometimes the future sometimes not) that will benefit her or the people around her.
This is not such a good thing as it sounds as Jack's Destiny background is full of as much abuse as her Mass Effect background and it was only when Shepard guided her to the City that Jack began to go from violent wastelander (Jack's love of Mad Max came from somewhere) to den mother to the City's orphans.
Anyway, they get to Chora's Den in time to discover some of Fist's thugs attacking a woman dressed as a bartender. They intervene and the woman reveals that she's an undercover cop who was investigating Fist on suspicion of drug trafficking only to discover something much bigger, Fist being part of Elias Kellam's smuggling of alien and Golden Age artifacts. Knowing this was what Jack was guiding them to, the team jumps on the opportunity and call into Police HQ for a warrant, a process made easier by both Guardian involvement and the fact that Fist's men just tried to murder a cop.
As the sun sets on the City, the three Guardians bust into the Den. They find the place ready for them but no one actually expected Guardians (they thought they would send just normal cops) so they tear through them quickly (mostly non lethally with John Reese/ Shaheen Shaw levels of kneecapping) they find that they were distracted just long enough for Fist to escape out the back. Shepard calms a frustrated Garrus down by telling him she called a friend as an insurance policy. The scene switches to Fist running through the back alleys only to run headlong into a certain krogan mercenary.
They get Fist into an interrogation room, Samuel doing his best to convince him to talk. Garrus grouses about the fact that he can't go in there to break his legs and him and Shepard get into a small fight, continuing Each Star's adaptation of Garrus' canon storyline. It's interrupted by Wrex showing up. Shepard gives him a bag of glimmer with a promise of further payment if he sticks around. She sees trouble on the horizon and Wrex's gun could help. Wrex says yes, in part to keep Garrus out of trouble; in part because he needs work (the Vanguard have been reluctant to give him work for some reason).
The interrogation takes a while so they go back to the Tower to regroup and report in. There, Shepard finds Tali standing on the ledge of the Tower a foot out over the edge before bringing it back in. Shepard asks what she's doing and Tali says she's working up the courage to jump. Shepard nods like this is an everyday thing (because Guardian) while Tali laughs the laugh of the sane man trapped in the land of the mad. Shepard asks her what's wrong.
Tali explains that she wants to be free of her suit. Shepard presses (not quite getting it) and Tali explains. She was informed that Guardians don't get sick but due to Tali's rather cynical view of the universe and the quarians' place within it she didn't think that included her. Now that she's been confronted by the idea her fear of death and unrelenting craving to be free of her suit are warring within her. So she wants to test her immortality. Shepard gives her a speech about the pursuit of even the most forlorn of hope being a Guardian trait before climbing onto the ledge with her. They clasp hands and step off the ledge together.
They both revive on the balcony and Shepard takes in the City for a moment only to hear a faint hiss behind her. Her mouth drops open as she sees Tali. She's bald (her hair closely shaved to her scalp) and looks a little hollow eyed and gaunt from the lack of direct sunlight but there is the beginnings of beauty there and Shepard is a little bit surprised. Overall, this whole scene is a milestone in Tali and Shepard's relationship (being the moment Shepard began to see Tali as something more than a kid) and Tali's character development (this and the duel being the two moments where she began to shed two aspects of her old identity that made her life miserable: "to be forced endure prejudice and abuse demurely" and to be "forced into a suit and cut off of most tactile sensations".)
Garrus stands nearby, hidden around a corner, having miraculously not been seen by a veteran Hunter but overhearing the conversation.
Samuel calls in and says that he's got something. He tells them that Fist admitted to smuggling something in.T hree people from outside the Walls. Three people who he handed off to Ain (the murdered Titan). He doesn't know anything about the crate in the warehouse but the fact that he smuggled people in who have something to do with the murder of a Titan is enough to get a warrant for Kelham, although he needs time to prepare. Shepard and Garrus agree to come down there after they swing by Liara's lecture.
The whole crew has gathered to give Liara morale support and the conference starts well only for Garrus to get suspicious when he sees someone run away from the conference room during a quick intermission. He investigates to find a strange device hidden under the chair of one of the leading Warlocks attending the lecture. He is unsure of its purpose until he sees a countdown timer on it.
It's a bomb.
It is only with the assistance of the gathered Warlocks that the team is able to disarm it in time. The team takes the bomb, Liara in tow because her lecture was ruined and she is PISSED, to Ikora to have it examined. Kelham is apprehended and, faced with a lot of bad shit being linked to his involvement, he fesses up to having something, he didn't ask what cause he's not stupid, smuggled in from Venus. He's not sure who paid for the job as it was done through deniable channels. The mention of Venus causes something to click in Kaidan's head and he calls up Ikora who confirms his fears.
Kelham smuggled Vex technology into the City.
Worse, as they discover when Ikora calls them back for a briefing with OWL Sector (Hi, Mordin!), they're Vex Timeline Bombs with the ability to remove any caught in the blast radius from the timeline. Everyone freaks out at this (especially the aliens cause they didn't even know the Vex were a thing). Liara despairs that this plan might have been meant to kill the crew only to be interrupted by esteemed Warlock, Jack Harper. Otherwise known as the Illusive Man (although Ashley calls him Uncle Jack).
He drops another Vex Timeline Bomb on Ikora's desk. He found it in a meeting room in the Lawson Industries Headquarters that he'd been known to frequent. Whatever this is, it's not aimed at the aliens. Vex technology turns the conversation towards Osiris but Jack waves it off. Osiris has shown little care for the City since he's left and this isn't his style besides.
They say they can figure it out later, they need to figure out where the rest of the bombs are. Samuel meets up with them and they begin to comb the City. Garrus and Samuel get a garbled message over their Ghosts only to discover that the message has been jammed in some way. Some decryption and they find it's a 911 call from a small clinic in the Paris District. Thinking this has "weird coincidence" written all over it they decide to investigate.
They find a hostage situation inside. Garrus, Samuel, and Shepard (who showed up right after them) arrive and plan to infiltrate the place. There a familiar scene occurs with Garrus taking a risky shot to save a certain Dr. Michel from three gunmen.
Wait, is one of them wearing a cloa…oh no.
Michel is unharmed but Garrus gets his ass beat only to be saved by a timely trick of his Ghost and Big Damn Heroes Samuel and Shepard. Both of whom are pissed by the risk he took (a changed version of Garrus' introduction scene where Paragon!Shepard rips into him for risking Michel's life). It ends in a huge fight which ultimately ends with a humbled Garrus when Shepard takes him aside tells him he's not a mercenary or even a cop anymore. He's a Guardian. Which means he must act beyond reproach (well, mostly) as the City's people revere Guardians and Shepard can't stand the idea of letting them down.
The sequence ends with Garrus talking to his Ghost about what transpired, thanking her for saving his life, and giving her a name. Solana, after his sister.
Garrus' report completes the puzzle. Harper reveals that the Guardians, who were probably the three people Fist smuggled in, are Concordant agents, exiled after Lysander's Coup. The aliens ask what this means and we get an exposition dump.
The Concordant was founded early in the City Age by a small cabal of people that wanted an aggressive strategy to reclaim the Golden Age and ensure the City's safety. However, Lysander ended up creating a cult of personality (either accidently or on purpose depending on the history book) and it ended up being an avenue to enforce his personal agenda on the city. However, he always faced tons of pushback and political stonewalling even though he ran the third largest Faction in the City.
It all came to a head after the Battle of Twilight Gap. The districts the Fallen broke into had been full of Concordant voters and a lot of Concordant allied Guardians died defending the Walls. He got a bunch of guns together and drew up plans to overthrow the Speaker and the Consensus. But a group of Concordant members were appalled and they informed on him, stopping the coup before it really had time to get started (although there was some fighting in the streets). These people are known as the Twenty Righteous Men and became honored throughout the City, although there are those who have always been suspicious of them and their motives. Lysander and many of his followers were arrested, a bunch of Concordant Guardians and voters walked away from the Faction in disgust, and those that didn't chose exile.
There were three members of the Twenty Righteous Men at Liara's lecture and one was in Michel's clinic. Lysander's goal is clear. Remove the Twenty Righteous Men from the timeline and alter history so that Lysander's coup succeeds.
The Vanguard Heads outright say the plan is fucking ridiculous and a sign of Lysander's madness but that doesn't mean it won't play merry hell with the time/space continuum and cause Traveler knows how much damage. The Heads swear to have the full force of the Guardians, the Hidden, and Cayde's network of informants to chase the Concordant Guardians to the ground before they can succeed.
They team gets ready to leave only to notice Ashley isn't there. They look for her and Garrus and Tali find her in a graveyard near her home, desperately looking for a Timeline bomb. We get another exposition dump as Ashley explains her backstory.
Ashley's grandfather was a general in the City's militia and a high ranking member of the Concordant. He had had a flawless career until, during post-Twilight Gap cleanup operations with the Reef, he and Petra Venj ordered the bombing of a Devils position that ended up killing a bunch of Guardians, ruining both of their careers.
It was while in house arrest that he learned about the Concordant Coup. Being disgusted at the idea of overthrowing the City's legal government, General Williams escaped his house and made his way to the Tower. Unfortunately, he got caught up during the early stages of the fighting and by the time he got to the Tower the coup was pretty much over. There was a heavy skepticism over his true loyalties and many thought he'd only turned once the Coup went against the Concordant (untrue). He was discharged from the Militia and from there and things go on much like in Mass Effect canon. The Williams family lives in disgrace, Grandpa Williams dies in obscurity (pretty young by City standards too at the age of 75), and Ashley has been forced to fight for every scrap of status and respect she's ever earned.
This in part explains her increased closeness to Tali as, while they are not cruel to her, other Titans tend to keep her at arm's length due to this and having another outcast among the Titans makes her feel better.
Harper is revealed to have been eavesdropping and his relationship with Ashley and the Concordant is cleared up. Harper is an ex-Concordant member and one of the Twenty Righteous Men. Not only that, but he and General Williams were friends as well as colleagues. When everything went down Harper did what he could for the Williams family but he was dealing with suspicion himself since there were holes in his story regarding the coup and he'd been particularly close to Lysander but he became a close friend of the family to the point that Ashley and her sisters know him as Uncle Jack.
Jack and Tali's encouragement fills Ashley with new determination and everyone swears that one way or another the Concordant will be stopped. That's when they get the call that the Concordant Guardians have been spotted skulking near Representative Gallard's place. Bad news because Gallard is one of the Twenty Righteous Men (the only Concordant representative to remain in politics after the Coup).
This part's not all that planned out so I'll just say it ends with Gallard putting himself in extreme danger to assist the Guardians and they earn his respect. We also see behind the politician mask Gallard wears when we see that each accusation of traitor he gets ( a lot considering he's in politics) actually cuts incredibly deeply as he was one of Lysander's true believers and his act of treason shattered Gallard's heart into a thousand pieces. The whole scene ends with Gallard being loaded into an ambulance admitting he's a god awful judge of character (as in he was wrong to not only trust Lysander but to mistrust the Crew) and that he'll do what he can to change minds regarding the aliens in his district. The crew take the victory and head back to the Tower to rest up and regroup.
The Vanguard gives the team good news as the Hidden, Cayde's informants, and other Guardians have stopped numerous time-bombings and have no less than six Timeline Bombs in custody. Ikora presents the findings of her Hidden that reveals that the Concordant insurgents only have two bombs left. There's a moment of celebration but Zavala tells them that the danger hasn't passed.
His foresight is proven when a message is piped directly into the Tower. On the screen, Titan Matthews (that asshole who killed Garrus in Chapter 1) warns the Vanguard that they've wired one of the last two timeline bombs in a Residential District somewhere in the City. He warns everyone that if they try to interfere any further with their plans had better get ready for a bunch of innocent people to be erased from the timeline.
The whole damn Tower goes into panic mode as they try to deal with this and figure out what the hell the Concordant's planning to do with the last bomb. Everybody realizes that the anniversary of the Concordant Coup is being held at the Concordant's old Tower (the one used as a Crucible map) the next day (an event that would have been mentioned in the background numerous times) and a bunch of the Twenty Righteous Men tend to be there. Now, Harper, Gallard, and all the ones saved by the team won't be there but that's still around 15 (or 14 I've lost track) members and between them and the huge amount of people there and it's a disaster in the making.
They make a plan though. Samuel and Fireteam Cerberus (accompanied by Wrex just in case) will go hunt down the bomb while the main team track down the Concordant Fireteam.
This was a part that wasn't scripted out that well but it ends with the enemy escaping and the story segueing into the opening (in a chapter appropriately titled "…Where We Came In?"). Before the moment they crash though, Garrus realizes he's done all this before. The scene pauses around him and (taking a bit of a leap of faith) steps out of the car into midair. He doesn't fall though. He looks up and he finds himself in a dark void punctuated by distant points of Light that look like stars.
He blinks and he finds himself staring at a setting sun on the horizon. Besides him someone asks if he finds it beautiful. Garrus turns his head to see the Speaker.
Garrus asks what the hell is going on and Speaker explains. Garrus must have been killed recently and is having a vision now that he's beyond the veil. The Speaker also has the ability to see beyond the veil in his dreams which is how he got the job although there's little rhyme or reason for how he does it (to make it clear he's not communing with the Traveler here. "I never said it spoke to me" is in full play here). We then get some quick exposition as Thanatonautics enter into the story. Garrus wonders why he's being shown things he's already seen mixed with stuff he wasn't there for. The Speaker asks if the things he's seen had an effect on him.
Garrus realizes that they do. His growing bond with Shepard (which is beginning to bloom into romantic feelings but Garrus isn't fully cognizant of this yet), Tali and Liara seizing their futures on this alien world, the lessons he's learned. He's begun to see the City not just as a place to be while he waits to go back to Citadel Space. It's beginning to be his home.
The Speaker gives him a nod and some words of encouragement and Garrus wakes up on the hood of Samuel's squad car (remember in the revised Chapter 1 I would have changed it so Matthew threw Garrus off the tower). Samuel and the secondary team found the bomb and disarmed it and came to backup the others. They saw Garrus' corpse falling off the tower and caught him with their car. Together they head up for a final showdown with the Concordant Fireteam
We hit another point that's not scripted out that well but it the final fight proceeds with all of the Alien Guardians unlocking the full power of their Supers (symbolizing their trials under fire turning them into true Guardians) and ends with Garrus killing Matthews with a fully realized Golden Gun.
We enter the denouement. Any surviving members of the Concordant Fireteam (the Vanguard issued a kill order essentially meaning "if you get a shot at their Ghosts, take it" and I never figured out which ones bit it) are put into cryo-freezing. Everybody is given honors and the Alien Guardians are given a fast track to Full Guardian status. Wrex's effectiveness against the Concordant earns him "honorary Guardian" status, the first in history to do so (this in and of itself is a compromise with Zavala who will not allow mercenaries in Guardian operations but will let Ikora and Cayde strong arm him giving someone Guardian privileges).
Speaking of Zavala, he personally apologizes to the Alien Guardians for his vote back during Book 2 and commends their honor. Now, people in the thread tended to come down hard on Zavala (fair enough) but, in my opinion, Zavala isn't some stubborn prick. He's willing to eat crow when shown he's wrong and we have evidence of this in canon.
Finally, Shepard is finally commended for guiding the aliens and the nomads to the City and she is rewarded with her Armor Exotic, the Shinobu's Vow. The Book ends with everybody going out to eat. Garrus realizes he might be falling a little in love with Shepard and deigns to keep his mouth shut for the sake of Tali and its revealed that Wrex has been living with Lord Shaxx (a running gag across the book is people wondering where Wrex has been living and him not answering) beginning the saga of Wrex, Crucible Commentator and Beloved Grumpy Grandpa to All Guardians (who lovingly refer to the krogan as Ol' Deathless).
The Book ends with the newly christened Fireteam Normandy having a small makeshift party at Shepard's place (where we learn that Shepard's apartment is (design wise) the same one as she had in Mass Effect 3: Citadel) with the City celebrating the courage and heroism of Fireteam Citadel and the prospect of a bright future for our heroes.
But not quite, we see Ja'far-11 (who's been seen conferring with Ikora all throughout the book) exit his jumpship on the fiery steel surface of Mercury. He is met by three Titans, each of them wearing golden armor covered in sun related imagery. He asks to be taken to Osiris. The three refuse and tell him he'd better leave Mercury only to be interrupted by a voice coming over their comms that say he's been expected.
He's guided into an armed citadel filled with members of the Cult of Osiris and Sunbreakers (although the Sunbreakers have been with Osiris so long that they themselves are starting to take on a cultish vibe). There Ja'far meets with Brother Vance and a little bit is revealed. Ja'Far was once an apprentice to Brother Vance before the Exile of Osiris and stayed with the City rather than follow his mentor (the only one of Vance's apprentices to do so).
Ja'Far for his part is a loyal City Guardian…and a member of the Hidden. Because of his link to Vance he was chosen among the Hidden to be a sort of quasi-ambassador between Osiris and the City to be sent when they need something from him or just whenever they need to talk to him (something they don't necessarily like doing but sometimes their hands are tied). This is all done clandestinely of course. Ikora does this without Zavala's knowledge (she thinks Cayde knows but keeps his mouth shut) and doesn't want to deal with the fallout of him finding out.
They get into a small debate on the merits of the City vs. Osiris with Ja'Far being suspicious of the blind faith Osiris' followers have while Vance mocks the City's political and military apparatus which he believes is stagnating and will eventually collapse under the weight of the Darkness' onslaught.
Their argument is interrupted by Ja'Far being welcomed into a small lab containing Osiris himself doing some research. Osiris welcomes him and asks what the City wants with him today. Ja'Far takes a Timeline bomb from his bag and presses the detonation button.
Nothing happens.
Ja'Far asks Osiris just what the hell he was thinking.
At this point everything becomes clear. Osiris has agents within the City that keep him apprised of what's going on. When he heard about the aliens he knew Lysander (a xenophobe) would blow his top. Osiris took the opportunity and reached out to Lysander for the opportunity to "take revenge and ensure this monstrosity does not occur".
Ja'Far is confused by this and Osiris states that Lysander is an easy individual to manipulate if you know what he's about, especially when his ego is taken into account. He's also a little bit of a Sauron–figure in that he thinks people are as shitty and cynical as he is. While it did occur to Lysander that Osiris was just using him he probably thought he could turn it to his advantage.
Osiris explains that he helped Lysander draw up the plans for his bombing spree only to give him fake bombs. Ja'Far explodes at Osiris. All of this was a con? What for? Does he have any idea how many people could have gotten hurt? A Guardian was ki-
Ain Magdy (the Guardian "murdered" by the Concordant) walks through the door and gives his report to Osiris. He's been a member of the Cult the whole time (they were the ones who found him after his Ghost found him and they've all but raised him) and was sent into the City as an agent. He killed himself to draw attention to the Concordant Fireteam and spread the shards of dead Ghosts he'd collected to make it look like it stuck. Agents of the Cult snuck him out afterwards.
Ja'Far glares at Osiris and asks what was all this for.
Osiris puts down his tools (he's been working this whole time not even looking at Ja'Far) and tells Ja'Far of a vision he's had. A year or two before all of this Osiris was performing thanatonautic rituals when he had a vision of three stars crashing down to Earth. These three (although there is a fourth one not as bright as the others) would join with three stars that sprang from the Earth. Together they would banish the Darkness that had encroached upon the City. Then they would rise into the sky and Osiris beheld that they would be joined by a massive army of stars marching through the cosmos destroying Darkness everywhere they went.
He realized that each star was a Guardian.
Osiris figured out that the aliens were the three falling stars that initiated his vision. Everything he's set into motion is to ensure that the aliens would come to be not just accepted but respected among the City and thus be in a position to initiate the next stages of his prophecy.
Ja'Far shakes his head and leaves the citadel. He calls Ikora as he enters his jumpship and begins his report as Book 3 comes to a close.
