Prologue

The sky is dark as rain pours down like tears from a giant. I feel the water run down my face, which is good since I need the cold to wake up. Two AM on the morning, the hour everyone normal should be asleep, save officers and lunatics. Udina called me fifteen minutes ago, said there was a murder I had to investigate. I didn't even wake up the man I was with, what was his name…Conan, Conbor, Conrad…? Don't know, don't care. I should stop drinking so much.

"Commander Shepard?" the C-Sec pilot pulls me out of my revelry, seems the rain isn't helping much after all. I wave at him I will be fine and I jump out of the shuttle. I can hear it fly off as the winds blows my hair all around. I look up at the high rise apartment building, Terracota tower. A Boone industries apartment, only the rich and the upper crust of the elites on the Citadel life here. That would explain why Udina called me I suppose.

A C-Sec officer runs over to me, a Turian with a scar across his face. I cant help but smile a little and shakes his hand when he offers it.

"Shepard, good to see you." He says with a smile himself.

"Garrus, likewise." I nod and walk with him." How long have you been here?"

"I was with the first patrol car, which was thirty minutes ago." He replies.

"Who made the call?" I ask, but I already get the answer as we enter the tower. A Salarian, crying his eyes out is given a blanket by a compassionate C-Sec officer. Probably not one of Bailey's obviously, she is being polite to the poor smuck for starters.

"The janitor found the victim after he saw a shady figure leave the victim's apartment." Garrus says," He couldn't give us a clear detail what the gender was or what race. Well he said it couldn't have been a volus, Elcor or a krogan."

"Well that narrows the suspects down to only four trillion." I grab a cigarette as I try to find a lighter.

We enter the elevator as Garrus punches in the key for the top floor. "We will have this solved by lunch time." He jokes. He takes out his lighter and lights up my cigarette. He still has my back after all this time, there is no Shepard without a Vakarian. God bless him. I nod at him as I exhale the sweet, sweet gray smoke." Probably have a few firefights in the wards as well, just like old times." He quirks some more.

"Yeah." I say as nothing comes to mind.

We stop at the floor as the doors go wide open. I see more C-Sec officers guarding the apartment as both me and Garrus step in. He has to flash his badge, but not me. Everyone knows Commander Shepard, savior of the Citadel. Fucking Udina and his PR crew.

As I step inside, I notice immediately the victim wasn't a ordinary rich person. Everywhere I see there is Prothean artifacts. Urns, vases, plates, even a reconstructed face bust they managed to recreate from the dead one they found on Eden Prime.

Everywhere I see Officers taking pictures as a few skycars fly past the windows, not knowing or caring what is going on. Garrus takes me to the bed room where the victim is. The large bed is covered in blue blood as the white silk blanket tried and failed to absorb it all. The champagne bottle, still cooled, and two glasses tell me she wasn't alone when she died.

The victim is a Asari, a young one at a glance. She is naked save for the blanket covering her modesty. Her blue eyes stare at me as only a dead man can. My mind goes to the first man I killed, a Batarian when they attacked Elysium Elysium. I remember his cold dead eyes filled with hatred, staring me down as if he was coming back any moment. But her eyes are different, hers were filled with sudden surprise as her young life came to an end so violently? Her throat is the source of the blood, it's been cut open with a large knife.

I kneel down as I try to inspect the wound, it could be anything I guess. Best wait until the coroner is here." Name?" I ask Garrus.

"Doctor Liara Tsoni." He says." She works for the Archeologist Academy on Thessia. She came back last week from a expedition somewhere. We're trying to get someone from the Academy on the horn. So far no luck."

"Keep trying." I stand back up.

"Commander, here faster than expected."

I turn to see Professor Solus enter the room as he immediately puts out his surgical kit and tools. Before I can say anything he slipped his plastic gloves on and is already doing his job.

"I was nearby." I reply.

"Lucky for some." Mordin said." Just came home after Pavarotti Concert at Presidium Concert Hall when call come, barely had time to undo tuxedo."

"Feeling your age, Mordin?" Garrus smirked.

"Will feel better after one hour of sleep." Mordin replied as he holds Dr Tsoni's wrist and feels it." Victim dead for One hour, death instant." He checks her eyes as he flashes a light in it." Drugged before knife slit throat. Possible sexual intercourse, can only tell for certain over autopsy."

I ponder as I think of my next move." We best interview everyone in the apartment if they saw or heard anything, and ask her colleagues and family if they know if anyone knows who she was dating."

"Family might be a problem, Shepard." Garrus says as he is done looking at his omnitool." That's Matriarch Benezia's daughter. One of the Council's top money lenders."

" Which means we'll have heavy pressure on us to crack the case." I rub my brow as I finally feel the full brunt of my hang over kick in." Right then, lets begin shall we?"