The Galactic News Channel features an asari sitting behind a news desk, with a planet's image behind her. Her words are drowned out by the traffic that passes just beneath the big television screen, but anyone paying attention can easily decipher what the asari is talking about.
The turian planet Helion Prime had been attacked only hours ago and news coverage of the damage are being thrown across the Citadel. Recorded video of explosions appearing on the planet's surface are all that anyone can see.
"I wonder if Councilor Sparatus is doing anything about the attack."
"Come on Ash, you're not supposed to think about work on your days off. It makes you look like a workaholic. Right, Shepard?"
"What?" A third voice enters the conversation, "What did you say?"
In front of the Embassy Bar are three humans C-Sec officers enjoying their day off. They huddle together on a bench that perfectly seats three people and looks out to the holographic view. There is no natural sky on the Citadel, only computerized image of a perfect, sunny day.
The male with black hair in a military cut and eyes the color of dark honey is Kaiden Alenko from the enforcement division. His rank in the Alliance went as high as Staff Lieutenant before the career change. Councilor Udina is to thank for the switch; he pushed Kaiden into joining the Citadel in the first wave of human applicants because his biotics are remarkable. Or so said his Jump Zero reports.
At the opposite side sat a woman with jet-black hair in a military-standard bun and her eyes an innocent chocolate brown. This woman is Ashley Williams, another human who joined the Alliance before claiming a spot in the Special Response Division. Military life runs deep in Williams' blood, going as far back as her grandfather who gave the Williams' name the honor of going down history as the first humans to surrender to the turians. Because of her superiors' prejudice against her family legacy, Ashley's record is only full of groundside garrison posts which she eventually ranked herself up to Gunnery Chief. Her application into C-Sec was exceptional due to Ashley's exemplary technical scores.
Sitting between the two sat an auburn-haired woman with stormy grey eyes known as the famous Sabrina Shepard. Born on earth, Sabrina grew up without knowing a family other than the underworld street gangs until a man by the name Benjamin Harper recruited her into the Alliance military. Shepard quickly raised the ranks to Lieutenant Commander before she was sent on a mission to Akuze, where her entire unit had been slaughtered by a thresher maw except for her. It came as no shock when her name appeared in the batch of applicants nor when she became one of the extremely few humans to work in the investigation division.
Williams' face turns pink and Alenko starts to laugh. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bore you on your day off, Shep."
The red-haired woman sends a glare to silence her male friend before smiling at Williams. "It's not you Ash, I'm just thinking…about a case I just got."
Despite Shepard's attempt to comfort Williams, the woman shuts up completely and sends dirty looks towards Alenko who just continues laughing. Shepard leans away from her friends and hides her own smile, trying not to let the others see her by facing the view.
The Presidium is the highest level in the Citadel, making it a favorite spot for people to relax, and not just because of the admittedly beautiful view. On this level, there are many shops that sell imports from planets across the galaxy. Since it is the highest point, it's easier to plan out a full day's worth of activity when you can see most everything. And the most important aspect, to most C-Sec officers during their hours off the clock, is the Embassy Bar behind them.
"So what's this oh-so-important-case that you have to think about on your day off?" Alenko leans into his seat, very conscious of the tiny gap between him and the woman to his right.
Shepard leans her elbows on her knees as she carefully picks out the next words from her mouth. "Executor Pallin asked me to collect information on Spectre Anderson…but I keep running into dead ends."
Williams throws in the next question. "Did he send Nihlus to ask you?" A sharp elbow to her ribs causes the woman to yelp in surprise, mixed with pain. "What?" Alenko points to the third member and Williams quickly apologizes.
Shepard merely looks at two with amusement. "Nihlus is on a mission, top secret."
"Meaning Saren told you to piss off when you asked."
"Alenko!" Now it's Williams' turn to elbow him. Alenko doesn't even flinch but he fakes a pained expression for the sake of not having Ashley try again. Shepard starts to chuckle and earns herself an annoyed glance from Williams, at which pointshe quickly pretends to be coughing.
"Saren said, quote, 'You're not Nihilus's immediate contact nor family so I will not waste my time sharing information that is irrelevant to you', end quote."
"Ugh." Williams rolls her eyes and slams her fist on her knees. "That Saren…from day one he's had a thing out for every human who joined C-Sec. What does he got against us anyways? Just talking to him makes my skin crawl, he's just so…what's the word? Arrogant?"
"Funny," Alenko points out. "When Saren showed up at the evaluation last week you got so nervous that you almost fainted. I just assumed you were like our Commander and got weak around a certain special someone." Alenko ends in a laugh as Williams tries to punch his arm, as hard as she can, to shut him up.
"I'm not a Commander anymore," Shepard gently reminds the two but goes ignored.
Suddenly her ear picks up a soft ringing noise coming from the tiny device inside her ear. Shepard presses the side of her visor, bringing up an unknown number on her caller ID. Kaiden and Ashley are still talking away so Shepard stands up and takes a few steps away. Her right arm glows orange as her omni-tool appears. Swiftly pressing some buttons, she answers the call to hear a muffled voice speak through her earpiece. "Yes, Sabrina Shepard speaking…hello. Did you learn anything? Hmm…I see… thanks, I owe you one."
Her omni-tool disappears and Shepard turns to her friends who are still very much in their conversation. "Keep making kissy faces at each other while I go nip this case in the bud."
"When does Pallin want you to report in?" Alenko asks as he looks at his watch.
Already walking towards the Wards, she answers with a, "Fourteen-hundred."
Williams also glances at her watch. "Hey Shepard, it's already fourteen-hundred though."
"What!?" Shepard glances at her own digital clock on her visor confirming what her friends said. The red-head shouts a profanity and books it to the Citadel Tower.
Running all the way to the Citadel Tower, Shepard zips past the endless trees, around a fountain, and up a set of stairs until Executor Pallin spots the woman. Just from a glance, Shepard knew that her next post is going to be an unpleasant one. Executor Pallin is a man of great self control, never showing his emotions, so when Shepard reaches him and sees his nostrils flaring she knows.
"Executor Pallin," she gasps at him with the best polite tone she can muster up.
"Shepard." Pallin greets her with narrowed eyes, causing the red-head to flinch ever so slightly. "What have you got?" He doesn't comment on her sloppy appearance, her lack of air, or demand whatever half-cooked excuse the human could make up on the run over here.
"Nothing right now sir, but there is one mo–" but the turian interrupts her.
"Then I will tell the Council that the investigations is closed and there is nothing to re-"
"Now hold on a minute!" She ignores the look of mild surprise on the turian's face and continues, "I'll have evidence in an hour at max."
Pallin folds his arms. "Do you think the Council has time to wait? Your investigation is over. Enjoy your day off, Shepard." Shepard doesn't get to dispute anything as Pallin turns and walk away.
"Son of a bitch," she growls as she turns to head out, only to bump into a turian. Looking up, she finds that she ran into, not one, but two turians who stare down at her.
The turian she directly ran into is a male wearing a cobalt blue and black armor with a visor over his left eye. The markings on his face remind her of another turian she knew, but can't quite remember exactly who. Meanwhile, the man before her is staring at her with a curious expression. He moves his hands off her shoulders, and she takes a step back. For some reason, she hadn't even noticed when he had put his hands on her in the first place.
By his side is a female turian with white and black armor with neon green lights. Unlike the male, she has the roughened appearance of a mercenary with scars on her mandibles. Her face markings differ from the male's, though there isn't much to begin with and the paint looks worn out. The woman looks down at Shepard with disgust as she moves in closer to the male, looking ready to walk around Shepard.
Suddenly she recognizes the male's face paint. He had been a senior officer in C-Sec that was a stickler for the rules before he retired to Palaven. Thank god.
"Vakarian?" The turian's eyes light up and Shepard salutes him. "I'm C-Sec Officer Sabrina Shepard. I was the officer in charge of the C-Sec investigation into Anderson. I also knew your father during the short time we both worked in C-Sec."
"Judging by how close Executor Pallin and you are, I'm sure you must have spent a lot of time with my father." It takes a minute for Shepard to catch on to what he's saying and her mind jumps back to the swear she muttered five seconds ago. Did he hear me? Her eyes widen and the turian's mandibles flare up in a grin. "I'm joking." He motions for her to relax as he introduces himself, "we haven't been properly introduced. I'm Garrus Vakarian and this is Anya Villornus."
The female turian barely acknowledges Shepard as she appears to be talking to someone through her ear piece. Shepard still nods her head at the turian before turning back to Garrus with her hands neatly folded behind her back.
"I know. Executor Pallin told me about you briefly when he gave me the case."
"Anything you can tell me?"
Shepard quickly wracks her brain for any useful information she dug up. "Nothing you don't already know sir. Anything more would take days to get through the red tape just to access the files…I'm sorry. I only received the investigation today so I–"
Shepard was about to share the information about her lead when Villornus speaks up. "I think the Council is ready for us."
Garrus nods back to the woman and Shepard take it as her cue to leave. "Good luck Vakarian, I'm rooting for you."
Unfolding her hands, the human hurries along to escape the tower. As she passes by Avina, the Citadel's VI, her ears picks up the same ringing noise from earlier.
Bleep. Bleep. Bleep.
Extending her arm, her omni-tool appears once more. A message from her contact appears asking if she went and checked out the lead. Shepard quickly replies that she'll check it out and thanks him before lowering her arm.
What would Nihlus do? Her lips curve into a smile as she recalls a memory of the turian Specter. If she takes the information to Pallin, he might just punish her for not dropping the case after he explicitly told her so. The turian might not even bother to look into it…but on the other hand, she could do it on her own and send whatever she knew to Vakarian. Either way, she would be stuck with enough paperwork to build a forest.
"When you want something done, leave it to a human!" Shepard smirks confidently to herself while she stretches her arms above her head.
Shepard pulls out her omni-tool again, quickly writing an apology message for her two friends. She made sure to write about work never ending before hitting the send key. It took a matter of seconds for them both to reply, demanding that she take the next day off to visit them both. After sending a message back, she quickly pulls up her contact's number. She shifts the conversation to her ear piece as she heads to the Wards.