Mass Effect: The Fugue
A/N: All of the intellectual properties of Mass Effect belong to Bioware and I claim no ownership over them. Only the created characters and the story can I truly claim as my own.
Synopsis: An amnesic man suddenly shows up on Eden Prime, after the Prothean Beacon was destroyed, with no recollection of his past nor how he got there. How will he affect the events of the world he is in and how will it effect the world he left behind? Takes place during the events of Mass Effect 1.
The very last thing that goes through your mind after the gunshot is the bullet ripping through your head. Darkness is what Lance was. Caught in an infinite cycle of knowing neither up or down. The closer he thought to go in one direction was further from the direction he ought to be going. Even though he was lost and had no idea where to go, the darkness was tranquil. There was no pain or loneliness, just one simple thought, be enveloped in the darkness. A surge of emotion hit like a kidney punch. Lance crumpled into a ball. What's this? Pain, loss, sadness, despair? An overwhelming emotion of fear fell over him. A flash of a distant memory. There it is again. A thunderbolt of a memory flashed again and then again. It was like a thunderstorm was brewing in the darkness.
"Doctor! Commander!" yelled a voice in the distance. It echoed like a voice in a canyon, a sense of direction.
"I think he's waking up," called out the same unfamiliar voice. Lance reached out of the darkness and towards the ever growing light. It pierced sharply at first before softening its glow.
Lance slowly opened his eyes. Head still spinning from the vertigo, Lance stared up at the metal ceiling for a moment, waiting for his equilibrium to return. He slowly sat upright just enough to make out three hazy figures standing in front of him. As if on cue a bucket appeared in his lap. Lance spent several minutes puking into the bucket, until the bile burned his throat and nasal cavities.
"Here sip this," said a female voice with a slight British accent, the tones and inflections told him she was older, most likely the senior doctor or care physician.
Lance took the glass from her hand and carefully put it to his lips sipping water and soothing his throat. He sipped a few more washing out his mouth and spitting it out into the bucket in his lap.
"How are you feeling?" she asked again.
Lance looked up again to see three women dressed in uniforms he did not recognize standing around his bed. Whatever this was, it couldn't be good.
"Am I in trouble?" he asked.
"No," said the one in the middle. She had her brunette almost black hair in a slightly shaggy bob with her bangs framing her face. She stared at him for a moment with her, mostly brown, hazel eyes. Although she was masculine, she was still quite attractive. "Not yet anyway."
"Do you know where you are?" asked the older British doctor. Lance looked over to her, she must have been around her sixties. Even though her skin was smooth, her eyes and hair showed her wisdom and experience.
"This must be some kind of hospital or infirmary," answered Lance.
"Close," replied the doctor. "You are in the medical bay aboard the Normandy."
"The Normandy?" asked Lance to himself. So this is a ship then. Though he had no recollection of being anywhere near a port. Though it would explain all the metal. "I'm sorry I'm not familiar with the ship."
"Can you tell me your name?" asked thempty doctor.
"Sorry doc, I can't remember," lied Lance. If that was even his real name. He wasn't sure and didn't want to risk giving false information.
"I see," answered the Doctor looking down as some kind of high tech tablet mostly made of glass, her fingers seemed to be typing something very quickly. Lance got a chance to look around a bit to see that everything in here looked completely unfamiliar and high tech. Half of the things in the med bay, he did not recognize. His eyes feel upon the third and final person in the room. She wore her black hair pulled back into a tight bun, military style. She appeared more feminine than the others, though wore a look of seriousness that the others lacked.
"Can you tell us what happened?" asked the one in the middle, probably the one called Commander.
"I don't remember much, just a dream. It's kind of fading off now," answered Lance.
"Do you remember anything before that?" asked the Commander.
"No, not really. Just a gunshot maybe," answered Lance.
"Nihlus," spoke up the third one to which the Commander agreed.
"Who or what is Nihlus?" asked Lance.
"Is there anything wrong with him, doc?" asked the Commander ignoring his question.
The doctor thought for a moment. "Professional medical opinion would say there is nothing wrong with him. No physical trauma nor any signs of disabilities. Though there was an unusually high amount of beta waves and signs of rapid eye movement which would say he's just been in a deep sleep. Off the record I'd say he's suffering from amnesia, but we don't have the equipment to run such tests and I am no psychologist. I recommend bed rest and close observation."
"Alright," said the Commander. "I'll notify the Captain. Sit tight and stay here with Doctor Chawkwas, she'll take care of you."
Lance wanted to ask who they all were but his head began to pound, as if it were trying to escape the confines of his skull. The automatic door of the medical bay told him that this was definitely a state of the art ship. Being overcome with pain he began to massage his temples.
"Headache?" asked Dr. Chawkwas.
Lance quickly nodded his head but stopped as it made the pain throb even more. The doctor made her way over to one of the bulkhead compartments and extracted a small container full of white pills. She extracted one of the pills and placed it in his hand.
"Acetaminophen, is all I can offer for now. I could give you something stronger but I don't think your stomach would agree with you."
"Thanks," replied Lance ingesting the pill.
"Just get some rest for now."
"Hey Doctor... um."
"Chawkwas," she corrected.
"How long was I out?"
"Since they brought you aboard the ship, I'd say approximately fifteen hours," said the doctor taking the vomit bucket and glass from him returning to her desk. She pressed a few buttons and a holographic type display powered on. He stared at it in amazement.
"How come I can't remember anything?"
"Well amnesia is a general term for memory loss. It can be caused by a number of things: brain damage, disease, or psychological trauma. I didn't find any traces of brain damage or diseases so I would have to assume it would be the latter."
"Is there anyway to get back my memories?"
"There are more active approaches like therapy and treatments, but the most common form of treatment is time. Most memories will return with time as the brain will try and sort itself out. You should get some rest," replied the doctor noticing the worry on his face. "I am sure everything will be back to normal."
Even though Lance didn't feel like resting, as he had been apparently asleep for fifteen hours, he did as the doctor instructed and lay back down on the bed. He began to run things over in his head. He had a name, but how did he remember his name and not anything else? Was that really his name? And how did he end up on a ship? He was sure he wasn't near any water, wasn't he? This was all so confusing to him. And his brain pounded angrily back. He'd have to figure things out later when his brain was in a more agreeable state.
Lance closed his eyes and feel into a dreamless slumber. It wasn't long before he was awoken by a loud argument. He recognized one voice as Dr. Chawkwas but the other he didn't recognize. It sounded low and rough.
"... he is my patient-."
"With the Prothean Beacon destroyed and Nihlus dead, the Council is expecting answers."
"But he is my charge-."
"And he is on my ship," said the man overriding the doctor. "I need to debrief him."
Sensing it was time to get up Lance sat up causing both to jump slightly. The man standing before him was a large man who looked past his prime but continued to hold an air of power about him. On either side of him stood two men dressed in a type of armor he'd never seen anyone wear before.
"Captain David Anderson, Systems Alliance Navy. How are you feeling son?" asked Capt. Anderson.
"I feel fine, Captain," lied Lance but thought better of it and corrected himself. "Scared shitless sir. I don't know my own name let alone where I came from."
"That's understandable."
"Wait did you say Systems Alliance Navy?" asked Lance. Nothing was making any sense, there was no such thing as a Systems Alliance, wasn't there?
The hiss of the doors slid open as the Commander strode in. "You wanted to see me Captain?"
"I was just going over the debriefing with Mr. Hunter here. I did a background using Hunter's biometrics. Nothing popped up on Alliance or Citadel records so on a hunch I called in a few favors back on Earth. This is the file they came up with," the Captain handed the Commander the tablet in his hand. "Lance Hunter. Worked for the United States Department of Defense, private contractor. Four tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. Not surprising you can't remember your own history, being as you are almost two hundred years old."
"What do you mean almost 200 years old? What year is it?"
"2183," answered Anderson.
"And this isn't Earth is it?"
"No it isn't."
Lance stared down at his own body, the realization that he was dressed in a hospital gown had left him feeling even more exposed. He desperately wanted his vomit bucket back.
"What happened to me?" he asked eyes going glossy and unfocused.
"During your last tour you were pronounced MIA," said Anderson. "Road side bomb."
"I mean after that? When you found me."
Capt. Anderson looked to the Commander to give the explanation. "My team and I found you on Eden Prime. It is one of the human colonies in the Terminus System. One of my team, Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, you've meet her before, got too close to the Prothean beacon. It activated itself and in the process caused the beacon to overload and explode. In the wreckage we found you lying unconscious. Then we carried you here aboard the Normandy."
Lance put a hand on his forehead, his head began to pound again. It was like someone jabbing a fork into his head, trying to force a hard reset of his brain.
"Do you want me to stop?" asked the Commander.
"Keep going," said Lance closing his eyes. "You mentioned something about a 'Nile?' Or something?"
"You mean Nihlus? He was a Turian Citadel Spectre, he was helping to repel a geth attack on the colony. But was gunned down in cold blood. By whom we believe to have been Saren, a Turian Spectre who went rogue."
The whole time the Commander was speaking images flooded his entire mind. "So this beacon or whatever, that's what brought me here?"
"It is a possibility," answered the Commander.
Lance looked up at the ceiling for a bit, the throbbing in his head subsided. "So what happens to me now?"
"You are the only person who ever came in direct contact with that beacon," replied the Commander. "We need to know everything that you know."
"Well I don't know how much help I can be," Lance told them. "I don't remember."
"A Spectre is dead and Prothean Beacon destroyed, along with a Geth attack on a human colony in Citadel Space. People are going to expect some answers," said the Commander coolly. "So you're going to have to do better than 'I don't remember.'"
Lance thought for a moment, trying to bring back what little memories that he could recall. "Just visions maybe, a dream or rather a nightmare. Fear, hopelessness, despair..."
"Nothing else?"
"I can't make out anything, only being trapped in darkness."
"How come you didn't tell us the vision you saw earlier?" asked the Commander curiously.
"Would you have believed me? An unconscious nobody who you brought aboard your ship a few hours ago?" Lance asked her to which she folded her arms across her chest defensively.
"Honestly, no. But this is all we have," she replied.
"I think it is best we leave this out of the report," Captain Anderson told the Commander. "I have a hard time believing it already without this vision. I trust you can take care of our new guest?"
"Yessir," answered the Commander, giving a salute to her superior as he left the med bay with guards in tow. "I don't think we've been properly introduced," said the Commander. "I'm Commander Sarah Shepard, Systems Alliance Navy. Welcome aboard the Normandy."
Lance had been confined to the med bay for the rest of the journey which to be frank, he didn't mind much. Dr. Chakwas was a nice person and she didn't mind at all updating him on the past hundred and fifty or so years of events. He often found himself enraptured by her stories from all of her previous missions. However she always seemed to get misty eyed whenever lost comrades were brought up.
"I always knew I'd look back at the tears and laugh. But I never knew looking back at the laughs would make me cry," said Dr. Chawkwas whipping her eyes dry. Lance found interest in a particular spot of dirt on the ceiling. "Don't mind an old woman and her long gone past."
"Don't worry about it," replied Lance thinking of a way to change the subject. "So how long have you severed with the Commander?"
"This is my first tour of duty with the Commander actually. Originally this was supposed to be a field test for the Normandy. Until things went awry."
"The geth attack."
Dr. Chawkwas nodded. "Although the Captain kept our real mission on a need to know basis, the crew always suspected something. A ship fully staffed, a Council Spectre and a run to Eden Prime. Even assigning Captain Anderson and Commander Shepard, two of the Alliances' most noteworthy soldiers, to CO the Normandy on a simple test run also raised some eyebrows. On record this was just to show that this joint venture with the Turians was actually being taken seriously by the Alliance, but everyone suspected otherwise."
Over the PA system came a voice Lance did not recognize. "On approach to the Citadel, prepare for docking procedures."
"That's our helmsman Lt. Jeff Moreau, but everyone calls him 'Joker,'" Dr. Chawkwas informed him.
"Is there anything I should be doing?" asked Lance who wasn't familiar with docking protocols.
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with," answered Dr. Chawkwas. "Excuse me, but I need to tend to my other patients."
Lance looked around the med bay, but didn't notice anyone else besides the doctor and himself. He opened his mouth to ask where they were, but closed hims mouth when he saw the frown on her face. He watched her walk into the back storage room of the med bay where he could make out two black lumps on two examination tables. The door slid shut with a hiss leaving him alone in the med bay.
It wasn't a long wait as the ship gave a shudder, which Lance could only assume that the ship had been docked in port. Not long after the doors to the med bay slid open and in walked Sarah. "Where is Dr. Chawkwas?"
"She's in the back room," said Lance motioning towards the back.
"Right," said Sarah, anxiousness was in her voice. "Here put these on, you're going to need more than just hospital scrubs."
Lance did as he was told while Sarah turned around respectfully. In walked a tall man Lance had never seen before. "Commander, Captain Anderson said to meet him in the Ambassador's office," said the man with a throaty voice. His eyes shifted over to Lance. "We haven't officially met, I'm Lt. Kaidan Elenko."
Lance shook his hand and introduced himself before pulling the shirt over his head.
"That's quite a scar you've got," announced Kaidan taking notice of a hideous scar just above his waist.
Lance ran his fingers over the scar, feeling the uneven surface rise and lower beneath his fingers. He cupped it with his hand. He remembered doing this before. Warm blood pouring out between his fingers. Extracting something metal, sharp blinding pain. Another uncomfortable memory to add to the collection. Feeling both the prying eyes of Kaidan and Sarah on him he quickly pulled down his shirt.
"I don't remember how I got it," he added.
"Yeah scuttlebutt says you've got amnesia," said Kaidan dropping the subject but continued to watch him with suspicion. "Anyway we are heading to meet with Ambassador Udina."
Lance continued to straighten out his appearance and tucked in his undershirt. He looked around at the others, noticing their sleeves rolled up.
"Sleeves up?" asked Lance.
"Your choice," replied Sarah.
Lance didn't know why but the saying, "Sleeves down year 'round." Popped into his head. But he continued to roll them up anyway, making sure the folds were neat and clean with the blue facing inward. He pulled the shirt over his head and onto his torso, completing the ensemble.
"You look like a real soldier," commented Sarah giving him the once over. "All you need is the beret."
"Are we ready Commander?" asked Ashley entering the medbay before taking notice of Lance. "You clean up nice."
"Thanks," replied Lance smoothing himself out. He adjusted himself constantly, not really feeling comfortable in such a form fitting uniform.
"I need a mirror," he said, looking down at his body. Even though he was fit he was sure he looked nothing like Lieutenant who looked like he was a poster child for the army with his athlete's physique.
"Relax," replied Kaidan. "You look fine."
"Come on," said Sarah checking her omnitool. "We should be moving out."
Lance did as he was told and followed the trio to up the curved stairs past the mess. Lagging behind them, he noticed that all three of them wore white and gray boxes on their sides. Remembering his encounter with the soldiers earlier, he figured these were side arms of some sort. At the top of the stairs the doors slid open to reveal, from what Lance could remember as one of the guards from earlier. On the opposite side he noticed the other, both still dressed in armor.
"Officer on deck," cried out the soldier standing guard at the door and gave a salute. To which the guard standing opposite also returned with a salute. However none of the others did, except for Ashley and Kaidan.
"This is the CIC," said Sarah to Lance. "Combat Information Center, all information gets passed through here. From both navigation to ground side missions."
As they walked along the deck, Lance couldn't help but look around to see all sorts of terminals and stations he had never seen before. What interested him the most was a raised platform overlooking a large table with a holographic image of the galaxy. His jaw dropped as the entire Milky Way Galaxy was visually represented as a three dimensional model.
"We can give you a tour when we get back," said Ashley pushing him along.
They reached the airlock where Ashley had to drag him away from spying on the cockpit of the ship where the helmsman was busy working a terminal.
"Decontamination in progress, standby," announced a voice over a speaker, clearly automated.
A soon as the airlock sealed shut behind them, an array of lights turned on and formed a wall of light that passed over them several times. Lance looked down at his arms, watching the light penetrate nearly every crevice of his body.
"We need to decontaminate ourselves from any foreign contaminants before exiting and reentering the ship," reported Kaidan watching Lance with interest.
"This isn't going to give me cancer or anything right?" asked Lance feeling a little violated.
"No confirmed reports so far," Kaidan reported.
"Though I'd be careful about your swim team," commented Ashley. "It's a joke. It is completely harmless."
"XO Shepard is ashore," said the automated voice again. "Navigator Presley has the conn."
Another set of airlocks opened up and they stepped out onto the dock. Lance was beside himself. For the past day he'd only ever been cooped up inside the ship with no windows or view of the outside. This was definitely like nothing he'd ever seen before. The sky, if you could call it that was filled with purple colored clouds. Lance walked over to the edge of the dock to see a vast city of lights not only beneath him but above and the sides as well.
"Never seen anything like this before," said Shepard going over to join him. "This is the Citadel. Home to the center of the galactic political power."
Several ships that were beyond anything what you could consider normal flew by. Some definitely not man made in design caught his attention, made him wonder what kind of aliens resided in them. Lance turned around to see the full view of the ship he had been aboard. He could barely tell where the bow of the ship was located if it weren't for the large delta wing tail and the large white letters spelling NORMANDY on its side.
"She's quite a sight isn't she?" asked Ashley.
"Why does it look different than those other ones?" asked Lance.
"Well the Normandy is built for not only space flight but also atmospheric reentry so it has to be more aerodynamic than those larger ships," informed Sarah. "Come on, I know you've got a lot of questions but the Ambassador and the Captain are waiting for us."
"Just do us a favor kid," said Ashley. "Try not to stare at the aliens."
They followed Sarah into the elevator at the end of the dock.
"You've seen aliens before Chief?" asked Kaidan.
"Well no," answered Ashley. "But I've learned enough about them."
"Uh-huh," said Kaidan.
The elevator ride took them down a few floors to a large terminal where they got their first look at the galaxy's many aliens first hand. Even though the elevators doors were made out of glass, Lance was shocked to find himself in an immense terminal with aliens of all kinds milling about with a speckle of humans who didn't seem perturbed by the fact that there were aliens of different shapes and sizes about. One of them looked like a large jellyfish glowed and throbbed in front of a reptilian bird like alien who seemed to understand the light show as it squawked and cawed like a raptor after each undulating light sequence. Lance could barely take his eyes away from it all when he nearly walked head first into a large green crab like insect alien.
"Sorry," he apologized quickly but the alien didn't seemed to have noticed being completely trampled over.
One of the reptile like aliens quickly strode over and began to hiss and spit at him, baring its long sharp pointed teeth behind curved lips and mandibles that barely covered its mouth. All Lance could do was study its face which glared at him with beady yellow eyes along with some kind of white tattoos over dull gray carapace like skin.
"Okay we will be careful next time," said Sarah stepping in between them, clearly understanding the hissing spitting that the alien was doing.
"Damn overgrown turkeys," cursed Ashley under her breath. "How are we supposed to know it was illegal to interfere with those bugs."
"You could understand that thing?" asked Lance quietly in case the aliens could understand him.
"Yeah damn Turians think they can just boss people around," said Ashley.
"So that's a Turian," said Lance seeing more just like the one, from just a quick glance seemed to want a taste of human flesh.
"You don't have a translator program do you," said Kaidan. "Just stick close to us. Best not to touch anything."
"Right," said Lance nodding his head. He'd have to rely on the others to translate and guidance around other species. The Citadel was like a labyrinth of crossways and corridors, each looking like the last, it was a wonder how anyone could traverse such a nonsensical place. After reaching the stark whiteness of the Presidium Lance let his jaw drop once more. There was a place that seemed so peaceful and calm that it seemed to belie the political agendas of the galaxy. After learning as much as he could from Sarah, Ashley and Kaidan about the different species and their conflicts, this place was too artificial. Though it was pretty to look at.
They had finally reached the embassies where an Asari receptionist sat waiting. Lance was curious about them. Much like the Presidium, it was very beautiful to look at, it however was a facade that masked an insatiable greed beneath their perfect figures, long millennium life spans and naturally obtained psychic abilities. Out of all the species he had encounter so far, something about the Asari seemed to rub Lance the wrong way.
She spoke on a language that seemed like French except with too many "S."
"Udina's waiting for us," Ashley translated for Lance.
Upon entering the room Shepard and the others were surprised to see a balding old man in a heated discussion with a Turian, Asari and Salarian holographic projections. Even though the door had opened Udina barely took his eyes away from the trio of aliens. Anderson quickly strode over and motioned them to enter. Even without a translator, Lance thought it best not to ease drop on the lively discussion Ambassador was having with the aliens. It wasn't long until Udina had finished and the three projections dissolved into nothingness.
"I see you've brought half of your crew Anderson," said Udina in a snarky voice. Right off the bat Lance could tell he didn't much care for this person, even if he was humanities ambassador.
"Just the ground team on Eden Prime," said Anderson he made to introduce them, but Udina seemed to get straight to business. Udina eyed them all suspiciously. His eyes lingered on Lance for a moment longer than he should have, the expression on his face said he was trying to understand why he looked familiar. But the expression was no different than his usual look of concentration, frowning hard to cause the creases in his face to become even more apparent.
"You've put your candidacy as a Spectre at risk Shepard. Putting you under Anderson as your CO was a mistake."
"That was Saren's fault, not the Captain's," defended Sarah swiftly but Udina just waved it off with his hand.
"If we can convince the Council that Saran has gone rogue, then maybe there is still a chance."
"We've got the testimony of an eyewitness that saw Sarren murder Nihlus in cold blood," said Anderson getting heated.
"One eyewitness account might not be enough," said Udina shaking his head.
"We have to try," replied Sarah.
Even though Udina felt it was pointless he went along with it anyway. "I've already set up a hearing with the Council. I expect Saren to be there as well."
"What about Lance?" asked Sarah.
"They will most likely pass it off as misinformation or error in the biometrics," said Udina shrewdly.
"Is there anything we can do for him?" asked Sarah.
"I need to speak with you in private," said Udina loud enough for the others to hear.
Ashley quickly turned her head to mask the grimace on her face. Her subordinates looked to the Commander who reluctantly nodded them to the door. With a quick salute to her, the two marines exited the office with Lance in tow.
"I'll be outside if you need me," said Anderson more to the Commander than Udina.
Once the door had closed Udina began to talk in hushed tones. "I know all about the company you keep."
"What do you mean?"
"That Soldier that you found next to the Prothean ruins? He doesn't remember his own name does he?"
"How do you know that sir?"
"Because we created him."
"What do you mean created him?"
Udina walked over to his desk and began to pull up files on his terminal. After a few moments going through back doors and hidden documents he pulled up a file and transferred it to a data pad. Nearly shoving it in her hands to keep it hidden from peering eyes.
"What's project 'Yellow Knife?'"
"It was a black ops project started by the United States government back in the twenty first century. It was… a human cloning program."
"What? But human cloning was outlawed."
"Yes," said Udina putting the tips of his fingers together like a steeple. "Hence 'black ops.'"
"So how does this relate to Lance?"
"The project was shelved for more than a hundred years until the First Contact War-."
"You mean clones were used during the war? That borders on one of the highest war crimes... even in the Alliance-."
"I know the laws Shepard," interrupted an annoyed Udina. "But it was a desperate time for humanity. Facing an unknown threat with the potential to completely obliterate our colonies from existence. Those Turians forced our hand, so the Alliance secretly funded a supersoldier program, with cloning project being one of them. However, the war came to a close and the program was decommissioned before they could make any real headway."
"Wouldn't people have noticed an entire army of soldiers that all looked alike?"
"Don't be absurd. There was more than one… subject, involved. Only clones from test subjects of more than a century old were ever used. What was left of them was sent to colonies along the Terminus Systems to supplement soldier regiments there. From my knowledge, less than a dozen remain."
"The Captain doesn't know about this does he?"
"Not even Hackett," said Udina. "This file was seen by no more than half a dozen people. Including yourself."
The wheels began to spin wildly out of control in her head. Everything fit, but there was just no way it could be true. It just couldn't. "But how does he still have the same biometrics? Shouldn't they different?"
"The United States government was running some kind of advanced cloning technology. With the ability to replicate biometrics, including memories to a T, making them nearly indistinguishable from the original host. Any of the details that remained of the project was destroyed when the program was terminated."
"But why does he not remember anything?"
"All clones had their memories modified and passed it off as amnesia."
"Barbaric," snorted Shepard.
"But effective. It also allows the clone to remain in society without much suspicion. No one will question a soldier whose brain decidedly chose to erase much of its own memory from the shock and trauma of war."
"These are people and you are treating them like weapons you can just throw away when you're done with them."
"They are clones Shepard, nothing more. It would be best to just hand it over so we can properly dispose of it and clear up this mess. No one will have to know-."
"Lance is the last person to come in contact with the Prothean beacon. So killing him will cause all the data from that beacon to be lost forever," said Sarah defiantly. She thought she couldn't feel any more rage than how she felt now.
Before Udina could object any further, a voice came over the intercom. "The Council is ready for you Ambassador."
"Meet us at the Council Chambers," said Udina walking towards the door. "It would be best for humanity if you did not mention this… issue again."
"Councilor," said Shepard before Udina was fully out of the door. "What was the program name? The one they used during the war?"
"Cerberus."