"Did you bring it?" A turian asked, looking at a young, female quarian.
"Where are the Shadow Broker and Fist?" she asked, her glowing eyes nervously flicking from the turian to the two salarians behind him.
"They'll be here. Where's the evidence?" the turian asked, stepping forward.
"I'm not going to give it to anyone but the Broker himself." She said.
"That is... unfortunate." the turian said, shaking his head. "The Broker does not appreciate clients who refuse to work with his agents."
The quarian replied- looking at the turian and salarians with suspicion, "Then the deal's off." as she pulled a grenade from the back of her environment suit's belt, and threw it between the two salarian assassins, and whipped her pistol out, aiming it at the turian assassin. She fired a single round from her weapon, the sound of the shot muffled by the grenades explosion and the dying cries of pain escaping the salarians' mouths. However, her shot missed and the turian grabbed her by the throat and said, "You little bi..." but was interrupted by a bullet piercing his skull. The quarian turned her head, and saw a human in black armor, with an N7 symbol on the chest, holding a pistol, that was aimed right at the dead turian's former location. Beside her were a turian dressed in C-sec armor, and a krogan, wearing a set of battered maroon colored armor. The woman put away her pistol, and scanned the area.
Seeing a shimmer in front of a nearby crate, the red haired woman said, "It's perfectly safe, you can show yourself now." When no one came out, she said, "Your tactical cloak isn't hiding you very well. I can clearly see the shimmer it produces. I'm guessing it's a moderately high-end model, but not high-end enough for your purposes." she said looking at the crate. A cloak fizzled out and a tall dark-haired woman appeared. She said,
"How'd you notice me?" with a clear, Australian accent.
"Professional secret." the red haired woman said, quickly hiding the recognition of the woman before her, and the shock of seeing her alive.
However, the Australian noticed it, even in the split second it was there, and asked, "Do I know you?"
The red haired woman ignored her, and turned to the quarian. She said, "I'm Lieutenant Commander Jessica Shepard. Am I right in presuming you are Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya?"
The quarian replied, "Yes. Why did you help me out there? Most people hate us quarians almost as much as they hate the geth."
"Those assassins were working for a rogue Spectre named Saren Arterius. Unfortunately the council refuses to accept that, so I'm looking for evidence against him."
"How do I know I can trust you?" Tali asked, her eyes jumping from Shepard, to her companions, to the Australian woman.
Shepard flatly replied, "If I was going to do you any harm, I already would have."
"That doesn't prove I can trust you." Tali said.
Shepard shook her head, then turned to the looked at the tall woman and asked, "What's your name?"
"I don't see how that's relevant." she said.
"Just answer the damn question before I lose my patience." Shepard said, glaring at her.
She said, "Miranda Lawson"
Shepard smiled slightly at that, before turning to the quarian and asking, "Will you trust me enough to share the evidence with me? So that we can make Saren pay for his crimes."
She said, "Give me a good reason to trust you."
Shepard said, "You don't have any reason to trust me, but I just saved your life. And, I swore to myself a long time ago that I would dedicate my life to protecting people who deserve it."
"Why?" Miranda asked.
"On Torfan, and somewhere else," Shepard replied, looking Miranda in the eye, her eyes begging the woman to recognize her, "I made critical mistakes that caused the deaths of people I knew. I lost my shit, and ended up killing over a hundred prisoners. Because of that, I'm determined to atone for the mistakes of my past."
Tali sighed, and said, "Alright. But, Saren will be hunting me down if I give you this."
"The ship I'm serving on could use another engineer." Shepard replied.
"Wouldn't it be against Alliance protocol to have non-Alliance personnel on your ship?" Tali asked.
"The Alliance understands the need to keep persons of interest to the enemy hidden." Miranda said.
"Good." Shepard said, turning to Miranda, and asking, "What about you, Ms. Lawson? Will you join my team as well?"
"Why would you want me on your team? You've known me for all of five minutes." Miranda coldly replied, "And I have other things that I want to do with my life than follow an insane combat engineer."
Shepard leaned against the wall directly to her right, and asked, "What would that be, Ms. Lawson?" looking her right in the eye.
"I don't think that is any of your business." Miranda replied.
"If you don't tell me, it will only give me reason to believe that you're an enemy of the Alliance, and are going to report to your superiors. Under such circumstances, I would have to have Garrus here arrest you." She said with a smirk as she pointed at her turian companion.
"I have reason to believe that I have found an old friend of mine who I lost contact with over fifteen years ago." Miranda replied, glaring at Shepard.
"Oh, what's she look like?" Shepard asked, a huge, shit-eating grin on her face.
"I never said her gender. How could you have possibly known that it was a woman?"
Shepard looked at Miranda, and her grin faded away, replaced with a serious look. She said, "Let me tell you a little story. It goes back about sixteen years, but I think you'll find it most interesting."
"And what would that be, Commander?" Miranda asked, cautiously reaching for her pistol.
"Back in the day, I was just a kid. Determined to make a life for myself. My parents were contacted by a very, very wealthy businessman who wanted a tutor for his daughter. But, the tutor had to be near her in age. His reasoning, according to the agent that talked to us, was that he hoped that the tutor would also become his daughter's friend.
"I was reluctant to take the job at first because of his bad reputation, but decided to go with it to make life easier for my family. Things didn't start out well. She tried to kill me the first minute of the first class, but I was able to use a special overload which prevented the use of biotics. Eventually, she warmed up to me, and we became very good friends. Then, a bit more than that. Though, her father did not approve, we didn't care. Eventually, she made me leave her behind to save someone else's life. She died because of it."
Miranda's eyes opened wide, and she said, "You're being serious, right? This isn't just some kind of sick joke that you managed to pull off, imitating my past exactly?"
Shepard smiled lovingly at Miranda, and said, "It's me, Miri."
Miranda ran into Shepard's open arms, and said, "I missed you."
"I missed you too." Shepard replied, running a hand through the woman's hair. "I-I thought you were dead. That he'd gotten you."
"I managed to escape." Miranda said, smiling at Shepard. "But just barely. His men almost got me as I left. I took a serious hit to my right leg, and by the time I recovered you were on Mindoir, and I couldn't get there. Then, there was the attack..."
The krogan said, "Shepard, we need to get moving. The longer we wait here, the harder it will be to find that bastard Saren."
She looked at him, and said, "You're right, Wrex. We need to get going."
The krogan turned and said, "I'll take point. In case there are any more assassins."
"You do that." Shepard said, releasing her grip on Miranda, and asking, "So, will you join my team, Ms. Lawson?" with a small grin.
"Of course, Commander." Miranda said, kissing Shepard lightly.
"Glad to hear it." the N7 replied, grabbing her hand.
-=0=-
Twenty minutes later. The Citadel : Human Embassy.
"Shepard, is it possible for you to do anything without it ending in a massive firefight?" Udina asked, looking irritated enough to hit Shepard.
Shepard chuckled, and said, "Nope."
"Damn it Commander! Don't you understand that this is serious?" Udina asked.
Miranda said, "She knows that this is serious."
Udina looked Miranda up and down, before Shepard stepped in front of her, and said, "That isn't the point. We have proof that Saren is behind the attack on Eden Prime. Let's go talk to the Council."
"Are you sure that you have sufficient evidence, Shepard?" Udina asked, "We cannot go in if we do not have irrefutable evidence."
"Video and audio, the council will have to believe this." Shepard said, "And if they don't, Spectres aren't the only ones who can 'go rogue'."
-=0=-
"Udina, if you don't have any actual evidence against Saren, just leave." Tevos, the asari Councilor, said.
"Our previous evidence was an eye witness description of what took place!" Shepard said.
"From an unreliable source. It would be like us expecting you to believe us when we said that a human had attacked a batarian colony based on the word of a single batarian terrorist." replied the salarian Councilor, Valern.
"The Alliance would still look into it to be sure."
"C-sec performed an investigation that turned up no evidence." Sparatus, the turian councilor, said.
"Because you didn't give them access to any files that would have turned up evidence!"
"Shepard has a point." Valern said.
"You aren't helping, Valern." Tevos said.
Shepard said, "Tali, show them the video."
"Understood." Tali replied, tapping a few keys on her omni tool.
"The attack on Eden Prime was a success." Said a large holographic image of Saren. "The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."
An asari said, "And one step closer to the return of the reapers. However; a human managed to use the beacon. Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy."
Saren grabbed her by the throat and said, "We must kill her. If a human gets to the Conduit first, all will be lost."
"That's where it ends." Tali said.
Sparatus said, "This evidence is irrefutable, Saren will have his Spectre status revoked, and all efforts will be made to bring him in to answer for his crimes."
"I recognize the asari talking to Saren." Tevos said. "Matriarch Benezia."
"Benezia?" Shepard said, "I thought she wasn't one to approve of attacking other races."
"Indeed," Valern said, "but what I'm more concerned about is the reapers. Do you know what they are?"
Shepard took a deep breath and said, "They're ancient machines. Predating the protheans. Fifty thousand years ago they came and destroyed them. The geth data core also indicates that the geth view them as gods and Saren as their prophet. Now they plan to do the same to us, but they can't return without the Conduit."
"How can you be sure of this?" Valern asked.
"I can't be, but I know that if we don't act quickly it won't matter. Saren will succeed and we'll either all be dead or worse in a few weeks."
"Do we even have any idea what the Conduit is?" Tevos asked.
"No, but if it can bring back the reapers then we've got to look for it." Shepard said.
"Listen to what you're saying!" Sparatus said, "It's impossible that Saren would want to bring back the machines that destroyed all life fifty-thousand years ago. There would be some trace of their existence! Yet we have nothing, not even a clue to where they went."
"You didn't believe me about Saren, councilor, and were wrong. Don't make the same mistake again." Shepard said.
Tevos replied, "This is different, you proved that Saren is using the geth to search for the Conduit, we don't know why."
"He said why he's looking for it!" Anderson said.
"The reapers are just a convenient myth. A lie to hide his true intentions." Valern replied.
"Fifty-thousand years ago the reapers destroyed the protheans! They annihilated all of galactic civilization! For all we know the protheans didn't even create the mass relays and the Citadel! Have we found a single bit of the prothean language on this station? A single bit of prothean data?" Shepard asked.
"What are you suggesting, Commander?" Sparatus asked.
"We don't know anything about the origins of this station or the mass relays." Shepard replied, "We know as much about our own origins as the origins of this station, or the relays. And if Saren finds the Conduit the reapers will return and destroy our civilization. Then the next races to come will believe that we created the relays."
"Saren is a rogue agent on the run for his life. He no longer has the rights or resources of a Spectre. The council has revoked his status." Sparatus said.
"That isn't enough!" Udina shouted, "You know he's hiding somewhere in the Traverse! Send you fleet after him!"
"A fleet could not locate a single individual." Valern said.
"But a Citadel Fleet could secure the entire region. Keep the geth from attacking any more of our colonies."
"We will not start a war with the Terminus Systems over a few human colonies." Sparatus said.
"That's the key, isn't it." Udina said, "You would provide aid if it were a turian colony, or asari, or salarian. Even the batarians- a rogue species- would be provided better protection."
"That isn't the case, Ambassador Udina." Tevos said, "A war with the Terminus would be far too costly over a few colonies of any race."
"If a war would be too costly for you," Shepard said, "send me after Saren."
"The Commander's right, there's a way to handle Saren that doesn't involve fleets or armies."
"No!" Sparatus said, "The humans aren't ready to join the Spectres."
"I've proven myself good enough to join already. Elysium, Torfan, Akuze, Mindoir, Eden Prime."
"Ah yes, Torfan, where you executed the batarians who had surrendered." Sparatus said.
"It had to be done. They were working on making better control chips. Ones that even those closest to the victims wouldn't be able to tell. Then they'd have been able to create the perfect sleeper agent for attacks anywhere in the galaxy." Shepard said, "But I shouldn't have killed them. I should have kept them all alive so we could interrogate them."
Tevos glared at Sparatus and he just hit a few keys on his terminal in response. "Commander Shepard, step forward." she said. When Shepard did so, she continued, "It is the decision of the council that you are granted all the rights and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel."
"Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle, those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file." Valern said.
"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the council, instruments of our will." Tevos said.
Sparatus said, "Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold."
"You are the first human Spectre. This is a great achievement for both you and your species, Commander."
"I'm honored, ma'am." Shepard said.
"We're sending you into the Traverse after Saren. He's a fugitive from justice so you are permitted to use any means you deign necessary to either apprehend or eliminate him." Valern said.
"I'll find and kill him." Shepard said.
"This meeting of the Council is adjourned." Tevos said.
"Congratulations, Jessica." Anderson said.
"Thank you sir." she replied.
Anderson laughed and said, "You don't have to call me that anymore. You're a Spectre now."
"We've got a lot of work to do Shepard. You're going to need a ship, crew, and supplies." Udina said.
"And you'll also get access to special equipment now."
"Got it." Shepard said. "I'll be going down to C-sec to check out what's available now."
"When you've finished doing that, meet us in the Normandy's docking bay." Udina said.