OoO( 1 )OoO
The Citadel. It was the center of nearly all known sentient life in the galaxy. It was the nerve center for the political flow of any being wanting to be a part of the society that blanketed the part of the galaxy known as Council Space. To many, the Citadel was more than just a floating space station, its arm spread wide like the petals of an enormous cosmo flower. To many, the galaxy was a living breathing thing, and if there were a brain for such a creature, it was the Citadel.
The station was always a hive of life. Beings from dozens of races across the galaxy called it their home. The Council, four individuals selected by their own race to be the head of their order, were at the zenith of creation on the station. It was a glowing tower built upon the inner ring of the massive structure, and it stood as a beacon of hope for a civilized galaxy. These four individuals were in charge of bringing peace and clarity to a galaxy otherwise full of chaos and indecision.
This was the Citadel, the brain, the heart, and the center of galactic life.
OoOoO
As life continued on the Citadel as it was prone to doing, the night cycle of the station ended. The light of the artificial dawn began the brighten and shine on the citizens of the galaxy. A human, the newest race to the galactic society, was sitting on a bed that no longer seemed to comfort him. He sat in nothing but his boxers, his white hair draped around his shoulders as he lifted a cigarette to his mouth and took a deep drag from it.
He exhaled the smoke, letting the cloud billow into the room as he sat silently thinking to himself. It was something he did quite often when sleep escaped him. Insomnia was the unfortunate condition with which he found himself recently, unable to sleep, unable to feel even the slightest pull to his pillow. But that didn't stop his mind from being worn down. It didn't stop his body from aching. And overall, it didn't help him think straight in the slightest, making it harder for him to do his job these days.
He slammed the butt down into the ashtray on the table next to his bed, then stood, the muscles in his body flexing as he stretched the tiredness out of them. Then, he walked to the closet to get dressed.
In an hour, he was in his kitchen, roaming the refridgeration unit for something to drink when a loud noise startled him. Jerking his head out the window, he growled as he saw the large vehicle in front of his house. Most buildings on the Citadel had tubes installed, allowing their garbage to be neatly thrown into a chute, that would then send the waste to a large incineration unit elsewhere in the city. But his house had only been built a few years prior, and he had yet to have them installed.
"Hey assholes! Can't you make those things quieter!?" shouted the human from the window as a krogan looked up from the back of the vehicle. The krogan smirked as the noise from the compacting of the garbage claxxoned across the quiet area of street.
"Good morning to you too Leon." said the reptilian creature as he waved.
The human responded with a rude gesture among humans, though now known to a wide variety of races. The insult only made the krogan laugh as he got back into the cab of the vehicle and shuttled off towards the incineration plant.
Leon snorted, and went back about his buisiness, searching for sustenence before he had to report for duty.
OoOoO
An hour later, Leon walked into his office at C-Sec headquarters in Zekera Ward. Immediately, he was given a message by the VI on his desk.
The holo appeared before him, its form Quarian. He wasn't sure why, but he liked the Quarians. The entire lifestyle of caring what happens to ones people as a whole as opposed to individual achievement had an alluring feel about it. The Quarian that created the VI for him had modeled it after herself, as something to remember her by when she left back to the Fleet.
"Leon, you have a message from Namek. He says he has something important to show you." said the quarian holo.
"Go ahead and send him in Tia." he said. After a minute or so, a Salarian male, about mid-life with dark skin and wide set eyes walked into his office and sat down. "So, I hear you have something for me." he said.
The salarian nodded with a smile. "I do. This was found near the 1400 apartment complex by one of my guys. He said it fell from the sky." said the slender alien as he set a firearm wrapped in plastic on the desk. "I looked up the specs on it, it's..."
"It's a Judgement V, an older pistol made by Batarian State Arms." said the officer as he examined the pistol. "Which means the user was likely involved with some bad people."
"Astute observation as always." said the salarian with a smile. "So, is it good?" he asked animatedly.
Leon examined the weapon for a few seconds longer, then nodded. "Yeah. I'll give you 300 credits for it." he said. The salarians eyes lit up.
"Really? That much?" asked the salarian, delighted to get such a price.
Leon nodded. "As I said, this is of Batarian make. Which means whoever was in possession of this weapon may be linked to any number of illegal activities. And considering the weapon was found on the Citadel, it's likely that whoever owned a Batarian gun is participating in 'illegal business practices' on our very station." he said giving air quotes.
The salarian tilted his head slightly, his expression of curiosity at the human sign language. Leon realized his friends curious look and shook his head. "What else?" asked Namek.
"When people get rid of weapons, they usually wipe them clean. But a lot of times, they forget that their DNA gets more places than just the outside. Though it's likely only a partial, it's still something. So yeah, 300 credits." he said. Pulling a few chits out of his pocket, he handed the currency to the salarian. "So, it fell out of the sky?" he asked.
The alien nodded. "Yes. He said it nearly hit him in the head as he was roaming the area." Leon nodded.
"Alright. Let me know if you find anything else." he said as Namek stood in front of the desk and touched his forehead, then his right shoulder, a sign of respect similar to the bow of the early century humans. After the salarian left the office, another officer entered.
"Still running around with the rags?" asked the turian as he walked into Leon's office, a slight smirk on his face.
Leon simply opened the weapon package and laid it on his desk. Activating his omni tool, he scanned the weapon. A few readings came up in text format, as well as a visual of the dextro-amino DNA on the upper part of the trigger. Finally, after reading all the data that his omni-tool could give him, he looked up at the officer before him.
"Is there something I can do for you Mortalus?" he asked the turian, who smirked.
"Dodging the question huh?" asked the turian officer.
Leon smirked and leaned back in his chair, his blue eyes locked with the aliens predator-like gaze. "You're an idiot." he said bluntly. "Now, was their something else?" he asked with a smirk.
The turian chuckled at the surprisingly simple, but effective comment. "The Inspecter wants to see you." said the officer as he left the room. He stopped briefly outside, then turned back. "And don't forget that we have a new recruit coming soon. It's your turn to babysit!" he said as he shut the door.
Leon chuckled. "A bit primitive, don't you think?" asked Tia from his desktop. Her image could be seen once more from the small cube that sat next to the nameplate.
The detective rose from his chair, a smile still on his face. "Sometimes primitive is the most effective." he said walking towards the door, the weapon in tow. The Quarian VI facepalmed as he left the office.
OoOoO
"You wanted to see me sir?" asked the human as he entered his bosses office.
The turian behind the desk eyed him as he stepped up to the desk. "Detective Leonardo Zechs." said the inspector, seeing the detective flinch at his full first name being used. Leon stood in front of the desk with his arms behind his back, looking at the inspector. The turians nearly black plated skin was covered in white battle tattoos from previous campaigns with the turian military. "I called you in here for the reason of assignment." he said.
Leon nodded. "What did you need me to do?"
The turian shook his head. "You don't have the assignment yet Zechs. This is a very highly classified case." said Inspector Corvus as he leaned forward. "I've seen what you manage to accomplish in your cases, using what you call deductive reasoning and your own seperate network. I have faith that you would do good in this case, but I'm not the one you need to prove yourself to." he said as he reached over to a comm unit on his desk. "Mortalus, send in the judge." said the inspector.
"Judge?" asked Leon curiously. Corvus said nothing as he waited for the new guest to arrive. The 'Judge', as the inspector called him, was a freakishly tall turian of military build. He wore robes of the highest class, as well as a cowl over his spined plated head.
"Judge Jao Thefarus, I'd like you to meet Leon Zechs." said the turian inspector as he watched the two shake hands.
"So, this is the man you spoke about?" asked the turian in a soothing deep voice. Jao turned to the human as the inspector nodded. "So, what's so special about this human?" he asked curiously, his mandibles clicking in interest.
"So Leon, I want you to put your greatest effort into this recent case." said the inspector as he passed a datapad to the human. Leon leaned forward and looked at the data pad, reading over it curiously. As his eyes scanned the case data, the Judge chuckled as he saw the humans eyebrow raise.
"This happened this morning?" asked Leon curiosuly. The inspector nodded. Leon smirked lightly as he placed the data pad on the table. "Do we still have men on the scene?" he asked.
"We do. Johnson and Tork are currently at the scene." said the inspector.
Leon opened his omni-tool and pressed a number of the holographic buttons before a voice rang out loud from the tool. "What's up Leon, I'm kinda busy?" asked the salarian on the other end.
"Mekka, I need you to give me a few details about the case you're currently on." said the human.
"Asking the advice of another officer? I don't think..." said the judge, but he didn't finish as he saw the finger that Corvus was holding up. He crossed his arms and waited, watching Leon intently.
"Uhh...well, the apartment here was being robbed and the asari woman in the room was shot to death." said the salarian. "The turian here claimed to have found her body when he came home. He said that they were a couple."
"Tell me, are there any pictures of them on the wall, or any signs that a couple lived there?" asked Leon.
The salarian in the room looked around the apartment curiously. "Well...no. Why?" The turian seated on the bed of the apartment looked up at the salarian curiously as he perused the apartment.
"Now tell me, was there a gun at the scene?" asked the human.
"You honestly don't expect a thief to shoot someone, then leave the weapon behind do you?" asked Mekka oddly amused.
"No, I mean is there a weapon anywhere in the house?" asked Leon.
"I'm afraid not, we swept the place already. If there were a weapon in here we would have found it by now." responded Mekka.
"Alright. I want you to do one last thing for me. Take a look at the turians comm unit, and tell me what you find." said Leon.
"Leon, we don't have the cause to justify..."
"Just do it Tork!" shouted the inspector. "I've got a judge here if he gives you any problems."
"Oh...yes sir Inspector Corvus. Right then, sir, I need to ask you for your comm unit." said Mekka over the omnitool communicator. It took a few minutes, but finally the salarian responded. "What exactly am I looking for?" he asked.
"Look in the pictures. Tell me what you find there." he said as he smirked.
The salarian fumbled with the comm a bit before responding. "Oh, yes, here we are...oh my..." came the voice over Leon's omni tool.
"What is it?" asked the human.
"It's pictures of the turian with a human woman...very explicit pictures..." said the salarian.
"What does it all mean?" asked the judge curiously.
"Thank you Mekka, do me one last favor and send a DNA profile of the turian to Inspector Corvus' office. Leon out." said the detective as he killed the connection. "Alright, I think I've got it, but bear with me. Until we have evidence, this is all still theory." he said. Both the judge and inspector nodded. "So, we have a turian male in the 1600 apartment complex with a dead asari and a claim that the place was robbed." he said as he sat down in the chair in front of the desk. "The place wasn't robbed. The turian killed her."
"And how do you come up with that?" asked Jao as he pulled the chair out next to Leon and took a seat. Corvus just smirked.
"The turian says that they were a couple, but no pictures in the apartment was rather suspicious of a turian who, in this report, claimed they had been together for the better part of a year." he said referring to the data pad. "If he cared for this woman there should be some sign that they were together, but that seems to not be the case. So, we have a turian claiming that he is coupled with the asari in question, but he doesn't care enough about her to put such things in their living quarters."
"Interesting." said the judge. "Continue."
"The robbery I knew was bullshit from the start. The door to the apartment was electronically locked, and the window shattered to gain access to the apartment. However, any thief willing to rob the 1k apartment complexes would be smart enough to have hacking software of some sort to get inside. It leaves little to no trace and is a lot quieter than smashing through a window. So whoever did this to the window..." he said bringing up the picture on the data pad. "was a blundering idiot. He even smashed the window from the inside, causing the glass to fall on the outside of the building. That narrows it down to one of two people, the asari or the turian."
"But, if he killed her and faked a robbery, why did he do it? And why wasn't there a gun in there?" asked the judge, fascinated at the humans attention to detail.
"The answer to both of your questions is right here." he said as he pulled the plastic coated weapon from the belt mounted magnet on his back. Both the judge and the inspector looked at the weapon as Leon set it on the desk.
"Where did you...?" asked Corvus, unable to even finish the question.
"One of my contacts named Namek brought it to me. He said that it 'fell from the sky' in front of the 1400 apartment complex, just across the street from 1600." said Leon.
"That seems rather convenient..." said the judge cautiously.
"Not if you were to know who my contacts were." he said, getting a curious look from the turian judge. "Even with all its glories, the Citadel isn't perfect, and it can't provide homes for everyone. So a lot of people end up sleeping on the streets and scraping together a living through either illegal or meager means. I find the honest ones who are hard to find luck, and I offer them a reward for anything that might be of interest to C-Sec. That includes valuable information and items of suspicion, and also it's useful for searching." he said. The judge nodded with a smirk.
"I see, that makes sense. So, the gun came from around the crime scene and 'fell from the sky' huh? Well, that certainly puts the turian in suspicious light. But how does that answer the question of why he did it?" asked the judge, his interest piqued.
Leon smiled. "Pretty simple if you look at the model of the gun in question. It's batarian made, meaning that the owner was likely in deep with some pretty shady people. What do you think someone would say if they found a batarian firearm on you?"
"I'd probably be investigated. Although freedom to carry weapons on the Citadel is limited, it's still allowed to a certain extent in the wards. Even though I'm allowed a firearm by right, having a batarian made one would make people ask a lot of questions." said the judge getting a nod from Leon.
"And throw into the mix the explicit pictures on the turians comm, it comes together quite neatly. The turian was involved in a lot of illegal activity. The asari, who knew what he was involved in found the phone and threatened to leave and spread the information around. So he took her out, faked the robbery, and got rid of the gun, thinking that a homeless citizen of the Wards would take such a find to a pawn broker and hock it for a few credits."
The judge clapped slowly as Leon finished the deduction. "You certainly weren't exaggerating Inspector." he said as the Inspectors comm beeped with a new message. Both the human and turian watched as the inspector opened the message and pulled up the DNA mapping of the suspect.
"I assume you asked for this because there was DNA on the weapon?" asked Corvus as he looked over at Leon. The human nodded, and sent the scan findings to the inspector. After a short comparison via his omnitool, he chuckled. Activating his omnitool comm unit, the chief spoke once again to the salarian at the other end. "Tork, go ahead and arrest the turian. We've got all we need to try him." said the inspector.
"You are some piece of work, you know that?" asked the judge.
Leon looked at him curiously as the judge eyed him. "It's not that hard to put together. Anyone with a pair of eyes sees the same things I see." said the human as the turian judge smirked.
"So, what did you think?" asked Corvus as he looked at the judge.
"I think he's just the person I'm looking for." said the judge with a smile.
Leon looked back and forth between the two oddly, wondering what Judge Jao Thefarus had in store for him...