Shadows of the Citadel

by Twilights Herald

In 2148, the Ares Macrotechnology colony on Mars discovered a cache of alien technology, proving that life did indeed exist beyond the confines of the solar system. In 2157, that life began to wonder if they were nuts. In 2183, they decided they were. (ORPHANED - PM me if you want to discuss picking it up.)

1. Chapter 1

Current A/N in the profile, as is my usual practice.

In a spacious office in the embassies, overlooking the lake of the Presidium, an officious dwarf of African descent carefully looked over the files in front of him. He quickly slid the various holographic panels aside. "Hmm...yes, yes. These are all fine candidates."

There were two others in the office. The first was a tall, dark-skinned human with strong features and a voice exuding confidence. "I thought you'd agree, Ambassador. Still, Nihilus wanted one more on the list."

"Quite, Anderson. Really, I don't see why he needs so many," Ambassdor Udina replied. "Well...what about Shep.." His eyes narrowed. "Captain Anderson, is this a joke? Because it's not at all funny!"

"I'm quite serious," Anderson said. "Nihilus actually had some good things to say about her, when he was looking over the personnel files."

Udina looked up. "Are we really to take this seriously, Admiral Hackett?"

The other metahuman in the room was a hulking troll, with green skin and heavy bony deposits that gave an impression of solidity. The roof was tall enough to accommodate the man - just, but he would have to duck to get through the embassy doors - and that was afterthey had been enlarged to accommodate such a massive species. His blue eyes, however, were lit up with a good deal of intelligence. In the past, a troll so high in the command structure would almost certainly have had his tusks removed so he could speak clearly. Instead, Hackett relied almost entirely on automated translation from Or'Zet, even though he could speak English and half a dozen other languages fluently (with some difficulty.) "If this is what the Spectre wants, I think we deserve to at least give her a chance."

"Oh, very well, I'll go through the motions." Udina rolled his eyes and zoomed in. "Let's see...elf, though she went through cosmetic surgery at some point...no record of a family?"

"Doesn't have one." Anderson clarified. "Not much of a past record at all, actually. What we do know is that she was raised on the streets, Las Vegas most likely, since she speaks a number of Native American languages and shows an intimate knowledge of the show business out there, but she doesn't like talking about it, even with her psychiatrists."

"And I note she's gone through several of those," Udina commented.

Hackett cleared his throat. "It's not uncommon for an N7 to face reassignment. We can hardly make the ship's counselors go with her, when we even have them."

Udina shook his head. "All right...her training seems a little unorthodox. We normally don't allow shamans into the field, they're much more useful in reconnaissance with their spirits and such."

Anderson coughed. "She's also an adept. She's much more useful in the field than others, with that skillset."

"Right. And she can't project," Hackett couldn't resist adding.

Udina nodded. "So this unusual Specialization recorded. 'Magical Support Specialist'..."

Anderson shrugged. "Typically not used for spec-ops, but her adept abilities make her better in the field than on a ship and she's too good for a regular grunt."

"I see." Udina flipped through a few pages. "I can see how Nihilus would be drawn to the woman's record. We don't award the Star of Terra to just anyone, even someone who basically single-handedly won the Skyllian Blitz."

Hackett leaned forward, slightly. It was intimidating to look at, but Udina didn't move. "You can see that she gets the job done, whatever it is. All full mages are cut some slack that rank and file wouldn't be. Two centuries of magic and we still can't make a mage who won't go insane if you try to treat them like a regular grunt."

"Yeeeees." Udina said skeptically. "But what worries me is the rest of her record. Seriously, Anderson, the first metahuman Spectre will be a symbol! Whoever it is must be a shining example of humanity! Rumors of the "Little Blitz" alone could ruin her!"

Hackett coughed. "Those records aresealed to protect the innocent," he pointed out. "Besides, soldiers do do some wild things, particularly after a dangerous assignment..."

"...she turned the officer's club on Elysium into a mass orgy for three days. I've heard her old XO still hasn't got his legs back," Udina said flatly. "And that's just the start. Hundreds of acts of public indecency and lewdness, she'll apparently sleep with nearly anything... This woman does not merely have 'a guy in every port', she keeps several! And several girls! At this rate in a few years her lovers will constitute a separate demographic on a galacticscale! Gentlemen, I will agree this is acceptable when we can keep her out of the public eye, but a Spectre?"

"In the end..." Anderson tried one last time "She keeps her drinking off-duty, and despite her behavior she has neverbeen responsible for a security leak."

Hackett nodded to this, and Udina looked between them for a moment. "I take it you're in agreement, then?" he asked. When they both returned a nod, he threw up his tiny hands. "Oh, very well. At the very least, she makes nearly every other candidate look better by comparison. I'll make the call..."

xoxoxoxoxox

In 2149, an Ares deep-space probe discovered the Charon Mass Relay, sparking what would later be known as the Corporate War. As a result, the nation-states of the Earth took a step towards re-establishing their power. Corporate extraterritoriality is not legally granted outside the Sol system to Earth megacorporations, and the "Earth Alliance" which represents humanity is made up of two loosely allied organizations, the United Nations and the Corporate Council.

xoxoxoxoxox

Jeff "Joker" Moreau sat at his place at the head of the new SSV Normandy. His uniform didn't quite fit right, hanging off his body awkwardly, like his limbs weren't quite the right shape. He rubbed at his stubble with one hand, which had been replaced with an obvious, skeletal cybernetic, while the other detached a cable from the back of his head. "All right...Everything checks. Internal emissions sink engaged. Looks like the drift is...just under 1500K. I think I'll run it meatside for a bit."

Nihilus Kryik walked in behind him. As a Turian, he was unusual for his brown coloring with white facial markings, resembling little so much as a humanoid descended from avians. Or perhaps late dinosaurs, it was a little difficult to tell. Like all of his species, he was covered in a hard exoskeleton, with mandibles and eyes surrounded in black instead of whites. "1500 is good. I admit, I was skeptical of the human "Control rig" interface, but I see I'll have to recommend that C-Sec look into it after all."

With that, he turned and walked back, towards the Normandy's comm room. Joker waited until the turian was well out of earshot before he muttered "I hate that guy."

Kaiden Alenko looked over from where he was manning the co-pilot's chair. "Nihilus gave you a compliment...so you hate him?" His brown hair cropped extremely short. Unlike Joker, his N7 armor looked custom tailored for him.

"Remember to zip up your jumpsuit after you go to the bathroom, that's good. I just jumped us half-way across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead, so that's incredible." He shook his head. "Besides, Spectres are trouble. Call me paranoid."

Kaiden couldn't resist taking the bait. "You're paranoid. The Citadel funded the construction of this ship, it's only natural they'd send someone along to protect their new investment."

"Yep. That is the official story." Joker said in a voice that was rather superior. "But only an idiot believes the official story."

At that moment, a blonde woman with almond shaped eyes appeared behind the two men. Her hair was cut into an attractive page-boy style, with a few locks floating teasingly down in front of one eye. Her EA jumpsuit was thick, able to function as a light-weight envirosuit with the addition of a helmet. Other than the N7 logo and a Commander insignia, she didn't choose to wear much in the way of decorations. "Guys, settle down. It's need to know, and we apparently don't need to know yet."

"Yeah, easy for you to say," Joker looked back at her. "After all, you can just ask and he'll probably tell you."

The commander rolled her eyes. "Joker, I'm not thatgood. I wouldn't try doing that to a Spectre until lives are on the line."

"Like ours?" Joker arched an eyebrow.

Shepard looked at hiim for a moment, then sighed impressively. "Fine, I'll ask."

"Joker! Status report!" Anderson suddenly barked out of the intercom.

Joker rolled his eyes. "Everything's good up here, Captain."

"Excellent. Find us a comm buoy and link up. I want mission reports relayed back to Alliance Command beforewe reach Eden Prime." Captain Anderson sternly ordered.

Joker actually looked offended. "Sir, I know my job. The reports were already sent before I jacked out." He took a deep breath. "I think Nihilus was looking for you."

"He's already here, Lieutenant. Is Shepard up there?" Anderson asked.

"Right here, Sir." Shepard smiled. "And I keep telling you you can call me May if you'd like."

Anderson coughed. "I'll keep that in mind, Shepard. Meet me in the comm room in five minutes."

May sighed. "Aye aye, sir." Once the intercom went silent she shook her head. "Great, you piss the captain off, now he's gonna take it out on me. Oh well, I'd better get going."

xoxoxoxoxox

The Citadel was in for an extreme shock during the early years of negotiating with the Earth Alliance. In addition to the existence of magical potential, the Council races were forced to contend with the existence of metasapient and protosapient Artificial Intelligences living in cooperation and harmony with the organics of Earth.

Eventually, a compromise was reached. Outside of the Earth Sphere, including on Earth-owned colonies, metasapient AIs are permitted, but must be licensed and "shackled" to a single host system, not permitted to access other systems except by crude hard-light interfaces. As a result, the majority of such intelligences have chosen to remain in Earth-space, since they do not face the pressures of overpopulation that afflict their organic counterparts.

xoxoxoxoxox

May passed by her crew, noting the ship's doctor trying to discourage the new young private. What was his name again...Johnson...Jenkins...something like that. I should go over the file again.Having decided to do that when she got a minute, she slapped the door control for the comms room with a little more force than she meant to use and strode purposefully in. Standing in the middle of the room was her favorite turian of the moment.

"Ahh, Shepard..." he turned to look at her.

"Please, it's May," she replied, just a hint plaintively. "Shepard makes me feel like I'm actually in charge of something."

Nihilus' mandibles flared a little in puzzlement. "...but you are in command of a squad."

May put her forehead to her palm. "I know. I still want to know who the idiot who thought that was a good idea is."

Nihilus looked at her strangely. "Well, regardless, you've done rather well for yourself."

May sighed. "Okay, look, what's this really all about? I've been around enough to know when someone's got me alone to make a point, so what's yours?"

Nihilus cocked his head at her. "All right. I was going to wait until Captain Anderson got here, but since you're so eager...I've put your name forward as a candidate for the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance unit." Shepard kept looking at him like he hadn't even spoken. "Commander?"

"...is this a joke, Nihilus? Because it's not funny." May sounded less than amused.

Nihilus shook his head. "It's not a joke, Shepard. The Council is always on the lookout for people with certain talents. Yours are...exceptional, even unique. You are a wizard."

"Shaman," May corrected. "That's actually a technical term, and there are some differences. I won't go into it, you'd probably go nuts trying to understand. Goddess knows, I probably have."

Nihilus nodded. "And I suspect that's some of the reason your file is so...thick. But that caught my attention."

"Riiiiiiight." May drew out the word slowly. "Look, you don't want me. I've got a commission because the Alliance doesn't haveAwakened grunts. I'm ranked Commander because of what happened on Elysium. But I'm not a soldier."

Nihilus nodded. "I couldn't agree more. You're not a soldier." He activated his omni-tool and tapped out a few commands. "Let's see...you follow orders mostly only when it suits you. Instead, you prefer to solve problems your own way. You barely manage to pretendto respect most of your superior officers...interesting, I haven't seen that so far."

"Captain Anderson has a minor magical knack. He can see on the Astral." May explained. "Most of the time, Alliance brass doesn't get what I'm trying to report. He's at least seen it, so he knows what I'm trying to explain to him."

"I see. You'll have a lot to teach me." Nihilus continued. "Ahh, here's an interesting one. 'Believes proper rules and procedures are something that happens to other people.' That can't be wholly true, but I do admit that you showed qualities that intrigued me. Out of all the dossiers that were presented, you were the only one who showed any independence from the chain of command."

May sighed and shook her head. "Look, as much as it sounds like you may have thought this through, I just want to get my ten years done and retire. I never was the type to enjoy getting shot at, and that 'Hero of Elysium' business has always attracted just the wrong sort of attention."

"You don't have to decide right now," Nihilus clarified. "For the time being I'll be stationed on the Normandy, working with you on upcoming missions and evaluating you. If I like what I see, he can discuss getting you into a specialized training program and seeing how you do. Then, maybe, if you pass everything else you'll be given the option to decline."

"But I really hope you don't." Anderson stepped in. "It would be a shame to waste this chance, Shepard. Think of what it could mean for Earth. If the Council admits a metahuman into the Spectres, it will show just how far we've come."

May watched as the Captain came up to join the conversation. She put her head in her chin, miming thinking about it for a moment. "Nope, doesn't much matter to me. But I will agree that if there are no metahumans in the Spectres, there are threats from Earth Space the Council isn't even remotely prepared to deal with. Since it looks like I'm the top candidate, we'll get started. On one condition."

Anderson looked startled, but sighed. "What?"

"Keep looking, Captain." Shepard looked at him flatly. "I'm just the most famous, that shouldn't be enough to exclude other Awakened personnel from this chance. There's even a chance some of them might actually want the job."

Nihilus shrugged. "She has a point."

Anderson nodded. "That's fair enough."

May leaned back against the hand rails at the side of the room. "All right. So that's why we needed the stealth systems up. And the fact that Nihilus is here in person rather than giving us orders like a voice over the extranet means that we've got a mission. So, what is it?"

Anderson shook his head. "Breaking protocol again, Shepard?"

"It's May, sir." The woman smirked. "And isn't that how I got this gig?"

Anderson laughed. "I suppose you're right." Then he turned serious. "We're here to make a covert pickup. Nothing too fancy, except the package. A Prothean beacon."

"..." May stared at him. "Okay, now I know why we've got a Spectre along. Even if the Alliance can handle this on our own, no one wants that falling into just one set of hands."

"Exactly." Nihilus looked at her. "This goes beyond mere metahuman interests, May. There's a team of scientists waiting at the Citadel for this thing."

May looked thoughtful. "All right. Seems like it's easy enough. I'll tell my squad to get suited up though. Nihilus, I hope you don't mind, but I'm taking charge of this mission. Eden Prime's a big enough colony for magical threats we don't know about to make a play for the beacon, and you don't have any experience with that."

Nihilus looked like he might protest, then sighed. "I'll defer to your judgement, but this is my mission."

"...Spectre's always in charge?" May asked. "Never mind. Just make sure that if I tell you something's off, you listen."

Nihilus nodded. "Understood."

Joker suddenly cut in. "I'm getting a signal from Eden Prime. You're going to want to see this. Jacking in, just in case."

"Put it on screen, Joker," Shepard cut off Anderson's order.

"On it." Joker's voice had changed subtly, from an actual transmission to a virtual reconstruction from inside the ship's hosts. Nihilus looked like he wanted to make a comment, but he was stopped dead by what he saw.

The scene was chaos. A squad of human soldiers, in a mishmash of armor styles from different manufacturers, were fighting. The sounds of gunfire and grenades roared over the voice of one of the marines, trying to shout into the helmet cam of his comms officer. "This is the Eden Prime colony! We are under attack! Repeat, under attack!" The man wearing the camera was violently shoved around, showing scenes of combat drones and some unidentifiable humanoids. For several seconds, the camera turned skyward, showing a clear shot of a long ship.

It wasn't any design May was aware of. Clearly silhouetted against the screen, it looked to be kilometers long, easily. Eight long legs distended from its' "abdomen," making it look like a giant insect, with two sensor arrays resembling compound eyes. "Hold" Anderson said as that came up. "...this mission just became a lot more complicated."

Nihilus' mandibles fluttered nervously.

xoxoxoxoxox

Everything went smoothly. Gear was grabbed out of lockers, and affixed to harnesses. Kaiden and Jenkins were both wearing the standard N7 armor, with full weapons harness attached. Nihilus looked rather...impressive next to them, the red and black armor he had brought with him seeming designed to strike an impression as much as protect.

And Shepard...

Shepard had apparently decided that armor was for lesser mortals. Instead, she wore an engineer's EVA jumpsuit, cinched tightly at the waist by a fine, hand-crafted leather belt and holster containing the alliance-issued pistol. Carefully sewn over the engineer insignia was an N7 meant to be used with the dress uniform, and her shoulders had commander ranks sewn in as well. She wore sturdy leather boots, each with another pistol holster carefully concealed along her legs with chrome-plated handles. Only the helmet carried carefully under her arm looked at all protective, at least where they would be going.

Nihilus' eyes widened a bit as he looked over the ensemble. "Shepard, you dounderstand that we're going into a combat zone, right?"

"Sustaining focus," she replied, touching the belt. "Joker, let me know when we hit the gaiasphere."

"You're clear, Commander. Work some of that old black magic," Joker responded over the intercom.

Nihilus stared at her for a moment as May closed her eyes and shivered pleasantly, slowly taking on a soft reddish glow. "...so this is magic."

"Armor spell," May confirmed. "It'll stop most rounds like hardened armor, but enough too fast will wear medown, not just the spell. The belt helps keep it going, so I don't have to concentrate on it."

"I see." Nihilus seemed appeased. "When we land, I'll go scout out ahead."

May stared at him. "You were just told we might be facing magical opposition and you want to scout ahead? Are you crazy?"

Nihilus stopped. "I move faster on my own..."

"..not faster than a spirit. Hold on." May closed her eyes again and actually swayed on the spot this time. In a gust of unnatural wind, a human-sized figure appeared, wispy and barely substantial, in the shape of a female human. While obviously unclothed, there were no details on the figure below the neck, like a doll. Nihilus looked at the figure, fascinated, but also with a sense of dread. He felt like he was confronting a being of great power. That was ridiculous, though, what could something like that do to him? "I want you to go with this man here," May pointed at the Spectre. "Hide him, and keep him safe, and tell him if you see anything dangerous." She paused to think for a moment. "Oh, and try not to let him do anything dumb."

The spirit giggled at the last request, before sliding sinuously around Nihilus, vanishing into the ether a few moments later. "...don't let me do anything dumb?" the Turian asked.

"It's all in how you talk to them," May grinned. "They like to feel superior."

Nihilus shook his head. "A lot to learn indeed."

Anderson coughed. "All right. We're almost in position. Your job is to secure the beacon by any means necessary...and preferably keeping within the bounds of common decency to do it, Shepard."

"HEY! That was one time!" May protested.

xoxoxoxoxox

Mana is everywhere. The reason is considered one of the great mysteries of modern thaumaturgy, but no one can deny that is true. Wherever there is organic life, there is enough of a manasphere, or gaiasphere, to begin manipulating magic. Gathering enough sentient beings onto an uninhabited planet will cause it to Awaken in the most basic of ways. This is true even for alien species, none of whom are known to be Awakened themselves.

There are caveats. Young, created gaiaspheres are always weaker than those that have appeared naturally, and gaiaspheres created solely by alien life tendto be weaker than those created by humans, but in both cases there are exceptions. The strangest is the Citadel. It's background count is only slightly weaker and more 'stale' than that of Earth.

xoxoxoxoxox

Eden Prime was quiet. A little too quiet for May's tastes. "Wish we could've put down in the spaceport."

"Wasn't an option, Commander," Kaiden shrugged. "Besides, it's not far, only a klick."

Jenkins glanced at her. "I'm from this planet. Been on this path before. Just follow it, you should get to town."

"Right. Move out." The three Alliance officers moved cautiously. For Kaiden's casual reluctance, he was the most cautious, keeping to the rear. Jenkins, in heavy armor, took up the front. May kept to the middle, casually unfolding her pistol and keeping the secondary safeties on.

When they came up to the top of the first hill, May signaled for them to stop. Her vision dropped into the astral, and she scanned the horizon. "City is definitely under attack, but I can't see what's doing the fighting from here. Just fear, a few shapes scurrying away. Probably using drones."

"How do we proceed, commander?" Kaiden asked.

May shook her head. "With extreme caution. Drones-only probably means Alliance. I hate it when the op-for is working for my employer." She gestured to continue.

Jenkins, for all his excitement, knew his job perfectly. He glanced down the hill, then moved out and began going from cover point to cover point. Then, half-way down the hill, with Shepard and Kaiden right behind him, he took three plasma bolts to the face.

"DAMN!" May ducked behind a rock as Jenkins fell down. "Alenko! Figure out what that was and reconfigure your shield. Nihilus, if you're receiving, they're using Ares Firelance lasers, I think. Link up with the Normandy and get a shield configuration that can handle them."

"Shepard, radio silence!" Nihilus barked back.

May rolled her eyes. "My mistake. Next time I'll let the unknown enemies rip through your shields and melt you to the ground." She clicked the radio off and ducked out from behind the corner, taking aim with her pistol and firing off a few shots - all of which went wide. "Nngh. Alliance junk." She tried lining up another shot, this time noticing the unusual hovering design of the drones.

Those drones had a single, oval-shaped eye, with a weapon dropping down to point in the same direction. She realized they were propelled by a mass effect field, and the styling didn't strike her as being at all familiar. "..let's see how you handle THIS!" May held out a finger, pointed at the drones, and concentrated.

Magic, for all the mystery and danger that surrounded it, was surprisingly simple for its' practitioners. Focus on the patterns of magic committed to memory, see how they fit into the local mana field, and where they didn't, make them fit. In this case, it was a simple bolt of electricity that jumped out from May Shepard's fingertip and arced between the two drones. The only problem with this was that it tapped into her reserves. She had had to adjust a lotto get it to work on such an alien planet, despite the high mana count, and it didn't do her much good. She fell back against the rock. "Go help Jenkins," she ordered, catching her breath while Kaiden went to check on the fallen man.

By the time May had picked herself up and gotten to him, Kaiden was shaking his head and closing the poor kid's eyes. "Ripped right through his shields. Never had a chance, with the wrong shield configuration."

"No one uses pure energy weapons anymore. Too inefficient. It's all mass-effect kinetics," May sighed. "We'll see that he gets a proper burial. Are you set?"

"Yes ma'am. That won't hit us again." Kaiden confirmed.

May nodded. "Let's keep moving."

xoxoxoxoxox

Magic has limits. It cannot fundamentally alter the fabric of space and time. While speeding up or slowing down of a particular process is possible, one second is always one second. Teleportation and faster-than-light travel are solely the domain of Biotics.

Finally, under no circumstances can magic return the dead to life. All initially successful attempts to do so have proven to be disastrous mistakes in the long term.

xoxoxoxoxox

The team, now down by one, slowly made their way over several more hills, before coming on a small collection of trees. May silently directed Kaiden into cover before peering out from behind a rock, noticing several more drones. She nodded to her companion, who readied several discs and tossed them out among the floating drones. The discs exploded into another shower of electrical sparks and the drones fell to the ground.

Shepard didn't look reassured. "This is way too simple. Alliance-space designed drones would have better shielding. Hell, Citadelmegacorp drones would have better shielding, and they prefer live operatives. I don't think these are Earthers."

"Well, who are they then?" Kaiden asked her.

Shepard just shook her head. "No idea. Keep moving."

They exited the trees, looking down the hill at an even stranger sight. One human soldier was running towards them, firing her pistol over her shoulder. Behind her, two tall anthroform drones, all smooth lines and exposed myomer "muscle," held a human wearing a grey T-shirt and boxers to a device. The man, obviously Alliance military from the fact that he was wearing the PT uniform, was suddenly impaled and carried into the air by a tall spike. The drones turned and looked towards the fleeing soldier.

"I don't know who you are, but DUCK!" May pulled her hand back and tossed another lightning bolt, frying the synthetics and sending them tumbling to the ground. With more panting, she stumbled over to the woman. "...huh...huh...okay, you're with the ground crew on the beacon, right."

"Yes Ma'am. Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams." The woman saluted, then looked at her rescuer closely. "Are...you okay?"

"I'll be fine." May stood up to return the salute. "Sorry, just a little jumpy. You have a bead on who made these drones?"

"...to be honest, Ma'am. I think they're Geth." Williams said.

"Geth? Oh, sorry, where are my manners? May Shepard, this is Lieutenant Alenko." Shepard gulped down a little more air.

Kaiden looked a little skeptical as well. "The Geth haven't been seen outside the Perseus Veil in over two hundred years. What are they doing here now?"

May gave him a look. "Beacon, remember? Dammit. Citadel AIs are bad news. Sure, no one really knows the trick to a stable artificial intelligence, but intentional persecution does not help. Williams, you functional?"

Williams smiled. "With these mods I've got, they couldn't touch me."

May smiled. "Cyber. Nice. Don't see too much on ground postings. All right, you've got point. Welcome to the special forces."

xoxoxoxoxox

Cybernetics are still in quite common use on Earth and among its' colonies. Artificial bone lacing can offset the loss of calcium from low-gravity environments, and the benefits of other improvements are obvious. While Gene-Mods and bioware are both well out of their infancy, cyber is still the only way to go for many alterations.

xoxoxoxoxox

A few rocks provided the three operatives with great cover as they approached the ruin. All that was left of the unearthed site was a single wall, and a stone, runic circle set into the ground. Shepard gestured Williams forward, and was quickly surprised when three more Geth jumped out.

She was even more surprised when Ashley put on a burst of inhuman speed, unfolding her assault rifle and clearly taking aim down the sites at the first one, putting several bullets in its' optical sensor even as she moved behind the next rock. May barely had time to line up one shot with her pistol before Ashley was ready to move again, aiming a kick into the mid-section of the next robot before shooting down the third.

Once all three were down, Ashley turned around. "I don't understand, the Beacon was right here."

Kaiden looked up. "They must have moved it."

"The spaceport," Shepard agreed. With nothing more to say, they started running up the next hill.

Just then, Nihilus' voice came back over the radio. "I managed to shake some pursuit. I'm at the spaceport now. I'm going to check it out..."

xoxoxoxoxox

Nihilus clicked off his radio again, carefully sneaking along the ground, and staying out of sight. He spotted a single Turian, with an imbalanced cybernetic arm and sleek, metalic-looking armor. As he got closer, he was surprised to see that he actually recognized him. "Saren? What are you doing here?"

Saren whipped out his pistol and spun around, covering the entire area with what seemed to be a wild swing. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

Nihilus's mandibles fluttered rapidly in confusion. "Saren? I'm standing right here. It's me, Nihilus..."

Saren just started to put his pistol away. "I must be hearing things..."

Nihilus slapped his forehead. "Right...spirit, can you let me see my friend?"

To his confusion, he heard a whisper in his ear. "The bad machine spirit has him. The one in the sky. You shouldn't talk to him, or the spirit might get you too..."

xoxoxoxoxox

Shepard and her comrades continued up the hill, noting some trailers strewn around. "This is the research camp," Ashley explained. "The Geth chased us out of here. We were going to try to double-back to get to the spaceport and the beacon..."

"...it's a good spot for an ambush," Kaiden pointed out. "Keep your guard up."

May glanced at several more of the spikes the soldier had been impaled on, each with their own metahuman. Only these had been...changed. Covered in wires and metal plates, like they had been used as raw material.

With little warning, the spikes descended. "Oh my GOD! They're still alive!" Kaiden raised his pistol and began firing at the robotic zombies, with May following suit rapidly.

"What did the Geth do to them?" Ashley choked out, spraying rifle fire wildly.

May didn't respond, but instead tried a third lightning strike. With a soft groan at the exertion, the lightning exploded all around the husks, but to no avail. Their shields were destroyed, but they kept coming. "...fall back!"

The three started moving slowly away, still firing their weapons. Kaiden quickly threw a tech mine. This time, it actually worked, sending the husks tumbling to the ground.

"...okay, why did my spell not work when your EMP blast did?" May asked.

Kaiden shook his head. "I don't know. Is now the time to be getting out the magic wands to try to find out?"

May sighed. "I guess not."

Nihilus came back on the radio. "Shepard, this thingyou gave me isn't listening to me. I ran across someone I want to try to talk to but it won't make me visible."

Shepard frowned. "Will it tell you why?"

"Something about a 'bad machine spirit' that it seems to think is that big ship we saw earlier." Nihiuls said. "Do you get what it's going on about?"

"...not at all." Shepard looked deeply troubled.

Kaiden clarified "When your magic expert says something like that, Nihilus, it's a bit like the bomb disposal guy saying 'uh oh.'"

Everyone stopped to let that sink in, then Nihilus said "...suggestions?"

Shepard took half a second to think about it. "Come back around. Williams, how far is it to the spaceport from here?"

"Two minutes, if we hurry Ma'am," the Gunnery Chief said after doing a quick consult of her commlink.

Shepard nodded. "All right. We'll meet up at the top of the hill there, then move in together."

Nihilus made it to the top of the hill just in time to meet up with the others. Ashley took one look at the Turian in red and black armor and whipped her rifle up in his face. "It's them! It's the -"

"..that's Nihilus Williams, Stand DOWN!" Shepard snapped at her. "Sorry about that. Where's this friend of yours?"

"He.." Nihilus turned to look, but the platform was now covered in Geth. "...he was just over there."

Shepard whispered "Damn," before returning to a normal voice. "I see two possibilities. One, your pal is here on his own. Two...he's with his new friends."

Nihilus looked at May strangely. "What makes you say that?"

"...we didn't hear a shot go off. So either he stealthed deeper into the spaceport..." May pointed out.

"...or the Geth let him in." Nihilus nodded in understanding. "But with this many people we can't take the quiet route."

May nodded. "And we need to stick together. Synthetics can't use magic, but there's no rule against having magic-using allies."

Nihilus grinned. "Got any big mojo to clear that platform out?"

"Not a thing," May said. "Why?"

Nihilus' grin got wider. "I might have just the thing. You can see life signs, right?" When May nodded wordlessly, he unfolded a weapon with a large circular magazine and took careful aim. "Just spot for me..."

xoxoxoxoxox

Saren paced back and forth as the monorail carried him and his Geth towards the port where the Beacon had been carried. Several Geth covered the rear of the car, their pulse rifles charged and ready to fire. He turned to one particularly large Geth with a tilt to his head. "Get the charges ready. I want the colony destroyed. Leave noevidence of our involvement behind. Is that und -"

Suddenly, the crack of several explosions in the distance washed over them. Saren turned and pointed his pistol in the direction the blast had come from. "...four grenades?" he asked. "...that seems like overkill. We are clearly dealing with a very dangerous individual. Let's hurry."

xoxoxoxoxox

May Shepard looked at Nihilus incredulously. "Are you telling me Spectres routinely blast the hell out of any building in their way?"

"Only if it will save more lives than it costs. We are above the law, Shepard, and answer only to the Council." Nihilus said. "I normally wouldn't have gone that far, but there is a Prothean Beacon at stake."

Shepard sighed. "I get the picture. Just don't do that again without warning me first."

The squad was standing on another monorail, designed to carry cargo between different parts of the spaceport. There was some minor damage, but nothing to keep it from operating.

May nervously regarded the Turian with the grenade launcher and wondered just how long that would stay true.

The train suddenly jerked to a halt as several Geth popped up from behind crates, opening fire with long-range energy rifles. May ducked behind cover. "Dammit, there's no end to them. I think I've got one more bolt in me..."

"Well, do we have anything that can get up that far?" Ashley asked, flipping out her sniper rifle and unfolding it.

"Not quickly," Kaiden replied.

Nihilus looked at the scene. "Better do it, Shepard. If Saren's involved, he might not decide to wait before he does something...rash."

May nodded and popped her head up again. This time as she started, her eyes crossed slowly and she let out a moan of exertion, her face flushing with the effort of manipulating the mana of the spaceport. The balconies around the monorail stop exploded with arcing electricity, as over a dozen Geth twitched and fell over. Unfortunately, so did Shepard.

"Damn!" Ashley ran to the young woman's side and flipped her over. What she found would probably haunt her for life. While Shepard had the characteristic paleness of a mage suffering from spell drain, she also had a rather broad grin on her face, like she had just enjoyed that. She carefully concealed the woman behind some barriers. "...okay, now what do we do?"

Kaiden brought up his Omni-tool and scanned the area. "Shit! Not done here yet. I'm picking up explosive charges."

"Go." Nihilus ordered. "We'll cover you."

Kaiden started leaping over boxes and low barriers, making his way towards the first bomb. More Geth started peppering the stairs with weapons fire, but Nihilus was true to his word and took each one out with a single shot from his rifle. Kaiden kneeled and started to work on the device while Ashley and Nihilus continued to shoot at one particularly annoying sniper.

"Just how many are there?" Ahsley asked.

Nihilus said "They probably just got this one charge set up, and haven't had time to pull out yet."

Kaiden feverishly examined the circuit. It was a simple enough mechanism, complicated only by a simple trap. Almost exactly like a bomb from an old movie, it could be disabled with a simple re-routing of one microscopic wire. The only problem was, if he picked the wrong wire, it would probablyjust trigger the bomb and blow everyone, plus the beacon, all the way to Earth.

"Just give me...one...second..." Kaiden said

Ashley grinned. "Take all the time you want. Well, as long as the bomb doesn't go up."

Kaiden looked over his shoulder at her. "That's what I'm afraid of."

Nihilus finally got off a clean shot, destroying the last sniper's optic. "Go!"

"Got it!" Kaiden looked at the others. "All right, the bomb's disabled. Let's make our way to the beacon."

"N...not without me..." Shepard said, woozily forcing herself to her feet.

Nihilus looked at her. "May, you look like Hell."

"Or maybe Heaven," Kaiden said. "Though I'm not surprised you can't tell the difference with humans."

Nihilus gulped audibly. "Oh...oh my."

May waved it off. "I'm...it's just the magic that feels like that. I've never really known why. Anyway, I should be...okay in a minute or two. Let's get to that beacon."

xoxoxoxoxox

Magic is categorized into three broad categories. The first, Sorcery, deals with the manipulation of mana on the physical and astral. The second, Conjuring, concerns the manipulation of beings native to the Astral and Metaplanes. The final, Innate, is the province of the Adept and is the art of using the mana generated within to augment the adept's abilities.

In the twenty-third century, approximately one in five people has some innate magical ability. Of those, only one in five develop any ability at all. Only one out of five of thosefully develop abilities as either a sorcerer, conjuror, or adept. And only one in three of them are fully talented in multiple areas. Overall, one in one thousand metahumans is considered a "Mage-Adept," with full access to Sorcery, Conjuring, and Innate magics.

xoxoxoxoxox

Shepard was the first to look out on the beacon, a strange monolith with circuit-patterend lights pulsing along it in an eerily glowing green. It was so fascinating to look at she almost missed a cybered Turian stepping onto a small Geth ship. "Weapons free!" she shouted, triggering her squad to unleash a hail of gunfire towards the ship.

The turian didn't even flinch, while two Geth spun around and started firing to cover the ship's escape. They kept shooting until the ship had taken off into the atmosphere. "Joker!" May called into her radio. "Can you track that ship that just left?"

Joker's voice came back. "Negative, Commander. Too much jamming. They're gone."

May sighed. "Right. At least we've gotten to the beacon. Send in a recovery team."

"You've got it. Normandyout." Joker said.

Ashley looked at the beacon for the first time since it had been moved. "Wow...that wasn't doing anything like that back at the dig site."

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Nihilus said, while Kaiden approached the thing.

"Maybe we can shut it down..." Kaiden said, starting to tap at his Omni-tool.

Unfortunately, it chose that moment to do a little more than glow ominously. Kaiden found himself literally swept off his feet as a pulse of energy knocked the others down. May was the first to her feet, charging at Kaiden and knocking him out of the way. Unfortunately for her, that left her in the monolith's grip instead, being lifted helplessly off the ground.

She began to see things, alien images that her mind struggled to comprehend. An organic, being torn apart even as it tried desperately to do...something. Screaming, agony, being ripped apart by talons of fire and cold, unfeeling metal. Circuits, stars, a word, a sentence. Jumbles of meaningless facts and concrete metaphors.

Shepard screamed as the beacon continued to flood her mind, before she was flung away from the beacon against a wall. No one present would ever be sure whether it was the beacon or the impact that had knocked her out.

xoxoxoxoxox

FAB - Fluorescing Astral Bacteria. An Awakened variety of fungus that, when an astral form passes through it, begins glowing. Its' development in the early years of the Awakening was hailed as a security breakthrough, which led to two more developments. FAB-II, a strain that could be grown into solid astral walls, provided a cheap method of securing a site against astral inspection and intrusion. FAB-III, however, was created as a magical bioweapon, which drained magic from an area. Upon its' first use in Chicago, FAB research was quickly reclassified as WMD deveopment and shelved.

During the early years of FTL exploration, however, science dusted off its' old notes and produced something new. FAB-IV is a harmless, airborne bacteria that, when introduced at a steady rate into a ship's life-support system can provide enough backround mana for magic users to access their abilities. While expensive, it's useful enough to see use on Alliance warships and space stations where Awakened personnel are regularly needed.

xoxoxoxoxox

May gripped her head wordlessly as Doctor Chakwas, an aging blonde woman, gently brushed some hair out of her eyes. "Shepard. How are you feeling?"

May glanced at her, rubbing her forehead. "Like I just came back from an astral journey without enough weed."

"I thought recreational drugs were forbidden by the Alliance," Nihilus interjected with amusement, leaning against a wall in the corner.

"They are," Chakwas said acidly. "Except for 'legitimate religious purposes' which means the Commander here gets a free pass on limited quantities."

May shook her head. "Doc, I've been assigned here for two weeks and I only had a few shots of whiskey from my private stash. I hardly abuseit which is what you people are so afraid of." She shook her head. "What happened to the beacon?"

"Destroyed," Nihilus said. "When you pushed Alenko out of the way it grabbed you, then overloaded. I put it in my report. It shouldn't count against you...too much."

"Well, regardless...physically, you're fine, but I noticed some unusual neural activity," Chakwas started to read off the report. "There was also a lot of rapid eye movement, normally associated with dreaming. Did you see anything?"

Shepard took a moment to compose herself. "Something...two species fighting. Some kind of great war. One side lost. It was some kind of message or warning, but nothing specific enough to nail it down. I could make out a few words...maybe if I could actually speak Prothean it would make more sense..."

"...hmm...better add this to my report," Chakwas looked up suddenly. "Oh, Captain,"

Anderson seemed worried as he stepped into the medbay. "How's our XO holding up?"

"Well, on the whole I'd say she's going to be fine." Chakwas replied. "Though there are a few more tests I would like to run, just to be sure."

"It may have to wait a bit." Anderson said. "I'd like to speak to the Commander and Nihilus. In private."

"Of course," Chakwas headed to the door. "I'll be just outside if you need me."

She left, and May laid back on the bed, massaging her temples. Anderson looked her over. "You sure you're all right, Commander?"

"I'll be fine tomorrow. What happened to Williams?" May forced herself to sit up, leaning against the wall.

"Lieutenant Alenko vouched for her skills, so I've had her transferred to the Normandy," Anderson said.

"Good. She's a good soldier, even if we do have enough people with big guns with Nihilus around." May grinned. "Good gunbunny's always welcome." She shook her head, wincing. "Too bad we didn't get any warning on the possibility of Geth, but..."

Nihilus looked at her. "Shepard, no one's seen Geth outside the veil since before Earthers turned up on the scene. It couldn't be expected, and you will have to get used to handling that."

May chuckled. "Old habits. When you survive, you get to complain about that stuff, just as long as you don't do it in front of the Johnson. I apologize."

Anderson sighed and turned to look out the door, apparently unable to meet the eyes of either his XO or the Spectre in the room. "...this is bad. A disaster, even. The beacon's destroyed, the Geth are invading, and Saren's gone rogue."

Nihilus' mandibles twitched very slightly as he narrowed his eyes. "Captain, we don't know that. Saren's a living legend, one of the best. I will admit I don't find his specism that admirable, but we're going to need more than that..."

"The Council is going to want answers..." Anderson argued.

Nihilus shook his head. "I won't do more than say Saren was on Eden Prime. It looks suspicious, but.."

"Are you sure that's all, Nihilus?" Anderson looked at May. "Shepard, did you see anything?"

"...a vision...a bit like a nightmare, really. Synthetics, slaughtering...something." was all she could say to that.

"We need to report this to the Council." Anderson said.

May raised an eyebrow. "The girl with a history of using mind-altering substances in safe quantities says she has a bad dream, and you want to tell it to the heads of galactic civilization? David Anderson, please."

"I'm afraid Shepard is right, Captain," Nihilus said, standing next to the girl. "We need something solid before we start throwing accusations around."

"I've already talked to the Ambassador abo-" Anderson began, but he was stopped when May Shepard slapped her forehead into her hands.

"Captain," May mumbled into her hand. "Please, pleasetell me that you have absolutely no personal connection to Saren and you've just been making statements based on his reputation and logic..."

"...I don't see what that has to do -" Anderson once again found himself being interrupted as May ignored him and looked to Nihilus.

"Okay...okay..." She started making nervous sweeping gestures with her hands. "I think maybe I can fix this...just...I need to buy some time."

"Stall the Council, May?" Nihilus raised a brow. "That won't be easy, you realize."

May nodded. "We need to find some evidence...something solid. We don't have anything linking him to the Geth yet, just his being on Eden Prime..."

"What about this - " Anderson tried to get a word into the conversation.

May fixed him with a glare. "Not nowCaptain, we're working."

Nihilus shrugged. "...this is why I wanted her," He pointed out, before turning back to the blonde in front of him. "What about this 'bad machine spirit' your...thing talked about?"

"You barely believe in magic yourself," May said. "Is the Council really going to buy it?"

Nihilus replied "True enough. Maybe we can argue his mind might not be his own, at least get a suspension from duty."

May frowned. "That might work depending on what they know, but I never saw Saren up close. I wouldn't be able to tell if he was being magically influenced without that." She took a deep breath. "Get me into that meeting. We'll play it by ear, and maybe I can convince the Council to let us investigate Saren."

Anderson coughed. "I'll see what I can do."

xoxoxoxoxox

May left the sickbay a few hours later. On seeing Kaiden she smiled and walked over. "Hey, how you holding up?"

"I'm doing about as well as can be expected," he answered. "Losing Jenkins hit everyone pretty hard."

May sighed. "Nothing we could have done. Sometimes, shit just happens. And sometimes people throw away an old trick 'cuz no one uses it anymore. And those are the best tricks to pull out."

"...I'll remember that." Kaiden coughed. "Still, this is all going downhill fast. We lost the beacon and one of the Council's best was seen at the scene of the crime. They're not going to be happy."

May smiled. "Well, it seems like you've been around. Career man?"

"Yes Ma'am." Kaiden grinned. With half a shrug, he clarified. "Most Biotics are. We're not restricted like your kind were back around the Awakening, but the Alliance sure keeps track of us. With the choice being to go Corporate or get a paycheck from the Alliance, most of us take the military option. Alliance can't just put you in an isolation cell to study you."

"Yeah, things haven't been the same since the Corporate War, but some things didn't change that really should have," May sighed. "Ah well."

"Joker tells me we're headed for the Citadel, Ma'am. Care to tell me what that's about?"

May looked at him. "The Captain made a very stupid mistake. He let his personal feelings get in the way, and now Nihilus and I are going to have to clean up his mess before we can get to the bottom of this."

"...pretty harsh language, Commander." Kaiden commented. "You probably shouldn't say that out loud."

May smirked. "I probably shouldn't, but it's true." She glanced off into a corner, noting someone putting her gear into a spare locker. "...we'll chat later."

"Sure thing Commander." Kaiden turned back to his meal while May sashayed over to the newest member of her squad.

"Ahh...reporting for duty, Ma'am..." Ashley snapped to a salute, prompting May to laugh.

"Stand down, Williams. Not here to harass you for not sticking to protocol." She grinned. "How you holding up? Need help settling in?"

Ashley winced. "Just...feeling a little guilty, Ma'am. If Jenkins hadn't died, I might not be here."

May looked the lieutenant over carefully. "Williams, care to tell me something?"

Ashley looked puzzled. "Of course."

"Where does a ground-pounding grunt, even a Gunnery Chief, rate the kind of cyber I'm pretty sure you're packing?" May said seriously. "I'm spotting, at the least, a very high-quality eye replacement, muscle enhancements, reflex boosters and probably with the prepwork for more speed enhancements, and an internal link and tool. Probably also a tactical control system,"

Ashley nearly dropped her sack in shock. "You can tell all that just by looking?"

"Yep." May smirked. "Of course, astral eyes helps, but it doesn't take that to see you're not the factory floor model. So what gives? You've got a whole ton of hardware, and not one bit of it is visible to the naked eye..."

"...I don't like to talk about it, Ma'am, but it's been hell getting promoted," Ashley looked around nervously. "Usually my immediate CO was willing to get me a bit of under-the-table work done instead to try to keep things quiet so I wouldn't make too much fuss about not getting a pay raise. It's all legit and technically on the books, but it wasn't always according to proper procedure."

May just grinned. "That's okay. Jenkins...he was a good kid, did everything right...probably would have made a hell of an N-forcer one day. But for me, that's not enough. I knowI'm going to sound callous saying this, but I prefer someone with skills over just the best package. I think that's going to be you, Ash. So, what do you say, welcome to the team?"

"Aye aye, Ma'am." Ash saluted, eliciting another musical laugh.

"And maybe later I can show you my quarters?" May smiled and leaned in close.

Ashley coughed in response. "Uhh...wouldn't that be fraternization, Ma'am?"

"...drat." May pouted. "Kaiden said the same thing when we were first assigned to the ship."

xoxoxoxoxox

May walked up to the Normandy's cockpit and sat herself down casually in the co-pilot's seat as the ship came out of the Mass Effect relay into Citadel space. "Hey, Joker. Heard we'd be pulling into the Citadel soon."

"Right you are, Commander. Here, take your first look," Joker pulled into a standard holding pattern while Kaiden and Ashley came up behind them.

One particular ship drew everyone's attention. Designed to look like a simple cross, the central 'eye' was actually a bit similar to the Geth drones, with sweeping wings forming each of the four lines of the cross and a massive, glowing gun in the center. "The Destiny Ascension, flagship of the Citadel fleet," Kaiden explained.

"Look at the size of that thing!" Ashley said in awe.

Joker tried to feign indifference. "Yeah, well, size isn't everything."

May smirked at him. "A bit jealous, Joker?"

"Just saying, you need firepower too..." Joker flew past the Ascension.

Ashley shook her head. "Just look at the main gun on that thing. It could rip through the barriers on any ship in the Alliance fleet!"

May tuned out as Joker linked up with the ship's controls and started negotiating with the towers via VR linkup. The Citadel itself, a giant station in space. Literally miles long, with four arms that could fold in or out, all around a central ring. May reviewed what she knew...which wasn't much. Just that no one knew who had built it (though it was presumed to be the Protheans) and it was big enough, and populated enough, to generate its' own mana sphere without FAB.

And she couldn't wait to see what it had to offer.

xoxoxoxoxox

Nihilus quickly disembarked from the Normandy after she had pulled into dock. He took the elevator down to C-Sec and quickly logged into his account there. "All right...the Saren investigation is being handled by...Vakarian? Figures." He quickly went up to the man's office.

Garrus Vakarian was a very frustrated Turian. All around him his terminal projected screens, filled with mission reports, pictures, interviews. All of it heavily redacted. "Come on...come on...I've only got a few minutes."

"Trouble, Garrus?" Nihilus strode into the office.

"Nihilus!" Garrus closed the screens with a gesture. "I'm glad you're here. I'm not making any progress on this Saren investigation."

Nihilus sighed. "Not giving you clearance for the files?"

"I'm afraid not, and all of it's classified. Do you think maybe..." Garrus said leadingly.

Nihilus shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Garrus."

"Damn." Garrus slammed his hand into the desk. "There's a pattern here. He's dropping off the map too much. But there's only so much I can do on my own."

Nihilus smiled. "I wouldn't worry too much. I brought someone veryinteresting. If anyone can manage to get the Council to let us keep going on this, it's her."

May leaned against the railing of the Earth Embassy, looking out across the Presidium. All made of white metal and plastics, with trees and a gigantic artificial lake, the whole district screamed money and taste. Soldiers, even famous ones, weren't the norm up here, just the best of C-Sec, Spectres, and people who screwed up royally enough for the Council to want to personally rake them across the coals. May idly wondered whether that described her, or if the Council still wanted to make her a Spectre.

"This is an outrage!" Ambassador Udina shouted at the three holograms in his office. "The Council would intervene if the Geth had attacked a Turiancolony!"

"The Turians do not found colonies on the edge of the Terminus systems, Ambassdor," A Salarian countered.

The Asari couldn't resist adding "Humanity was well aware of the risks when it went into the Traverse."

"What about Saren? You can't just ignore a rogue Spectre! I demand ACTION!" Udina was very nearly spiting at the Council holograms.

"You don't get to make 'demands' of the Council, Ambassador," the third Councilor, a Turian, said with a deceptive mildness.

The Asari decided to play peacemaker again. "Citadel Security is already investigating your accusations, Ambassador. We will discuss their findings at the meeting, not before."

May Shepard just stared at the exchange,aghast at the ambasador's behavior. When the holograms signed off, he spun on Anderson. "Ahh...Captain Anderson. I see you brought half your crew with you."

"Just my ground team from Eden Prime," the captain replied. "In case you had any questions."

Udina looked May in the eye. "I have the mission reports. I assume they're accurate,"

May sighed. "I left out a few details about what I specifically saw when the Beacon started to transfer information to me. I didn't want to alarm anyone any more than necessary until we know more about what it means."

Udina took a step back from her in surprise. "...Commander Shepard?"

"Yes, Ambassador." May smiled at him. "I'm grateful you managed to secure us a chance to speak with the Council."

"...they were not happy about it." Udina said to her.

May sighed. "Well, yes. I would rather have had more time to investigate, but the Captain went off and now Nihilus and I are in damage control mode,"

Udina eyed her carefully. "I see. This could make my job easier or harder, depending."

"To be perfectly honest..." May said. "Right now, I'm not positive Saren hasgone rogue. In my gut, I'm pretty sure, but without proof, our chances at the meeting are not good. Nihilus is off doing a few discreet inquiries."

Kaiden and Ashley were also in the office, but they couldn't really find anything to say. Ashley kept waiting for Anderson, who was clearly coming to a slow boil, to flip his top while Kaiden just shook his head. He had never seen Shepard acting like this before, but he could tell the Ambassador was falling for every carefully-chosen line.

"...do you have any suggestions on how to proceed, Commander?" Udina asked.

May bit her lip gently. "I just need some time...I have one idea, so when I get a chance to speak, whatever I saydon't stop me, all right?"

Udina looked at her nervously. "If...you're quite sure. The meeting is in one hour. I'll meet you there."

May Shepard smiled. "So, I've got an hour to spare, huh?"

Udina grumbled back irritably. "Yes, yes, go do whatever it is you do."

Anderson went from fuming at having the conversation taken from him to staring in horror at the Ambassador.

Kaiden Alenko watched as Shepard's eyes took on a mischevious gleam.

Ashley Williams blinked and looked between the pair.

"See ya in an hour!" May grinned and vaulted, one-handed, over the railing and launched herself into the Presidium.

Anderson snapped at his soldiers. "Alenko! There are several bars on the Presidium, check them all out. Williams! The Asari Consort is just across the reservoir. Get over there and make sure she doesn't try to show up unannounced!"

Kaiden snapped off a quick salute. "Aye aye, sir!"

Ashley blinked in confusion, then slowly it dawned on her. "Wait, she's thatCommander Shepard!"

Udina slowly realized his mistake. "Oh god, no. She'll ruin the reputation of the entire species and I gave her permission to do it."

"We'll catch her, Ambassador." Anderson said soothingly. "Even May Shepard can only cause so much chaos in one hour."

xoxoxoxoxox

Ashley looked around uncomfortably. The room's walls were the same as everything else in the Presidium, but that was the only thing that was the same. A number of large planters had been placed around the small room, with green bushes trying vainly to give the impression of a well-maintained garden. Low couches were spread about, giving a more homey impression, but not by much.

But that wasn't what was putting Ashley off the place. Everywhere she looked, there was an Asari, wearing a vest wide open in the front, with only a bit of strings and cloth covering her torso and leading down to a long, floor-length dress. There was even a human woman, wearing the same uniform.

"Miss? Uhh, Miss?" An Asari poked her in the shoulder, making her jump and turn around.

"Ahh!" Ashley yelped, and took in a deep breath. I'm sorry. I was looking for..."

"The Consort, yes? I'm afraid Sha'ira is a very busy woman..." The Asari said.

Ashley blushed. "No, that's not it, I - "

"Oh!" The secretary smiled and tapped at her console. "Well, you're free to speak with one of her assistants, for a much smaller fee. That...might actually be better for you." The woman looked at Ashley's insignia. "I'm afraid the Consort's services are very expensive, Chief."

"Ahhh." Ashley tried again, turning beet red.

The Secretary frowned a bit. "Well...if you're sure..." She tapped at the console. "What was your name?"

"Ashley Williams..." she said back, a little flustered.

The secretary smiled. "All right. I've penciled you in. You should hear something in...oh...three or four months."

Ashley was actually stunned out of her embarassment. "A four month waiting list for..."

"Ah, yes, Sha'ira is quite busy..." The secretary said.

"Uhm..." Ashley said. "Thank you, but that really isn't why I'm here. You see, I was looking for someone who might have shown up here. About my height, human, blonde hair, slightly slanty eyes and cream-colored skin? She would have had a pair of chemical slugthrowers on her."

"Hmmm," the Secretary thought that over for a moment. "I don't remember anyone with any antique weapons on her coming in."

"Would you check? Her name is May Shepard," Ashley pressed.

The secretary looked down at her appointment book. "Ah, yes, Miss Shepard. She's expressed interest in our services before, and made a substantial payment to secure an immediate session when she could come. But I'm afraid she hasn't been in today. Are you serving with her?" When Ashley nodded faintly, the Secretary positively beamed at her. "Well, if you could let her know that I think Sha'ira might be able to make an hour or so in her schedule tomorrow?"

"...uhh...yeah, sure..." Ashley nodded faintly to that. "Uhm...would it be all right if I just hung around, to make sure?"

The secretary looked over Ashley's heavy armor. "Well, not looking like that." She clapped her hands, and two girls put their arms around her. "Please, if you could give Miss Williams something appropriate to wear while she waits for her friend? We don't want to scare any of our other visitors."

Ashley was dragged off into hell.

xoxoxoxoxox

A 'Shadowrunner' is a slang term for an elite class of criminal. While organized crime syndicates abound, and are even more prolific i

a galactic economy, the 'Shadowrunner' is typically either a lone agent or a member of a small team for hire. During what is now known as the "Golden Corporate Age" on Earth, shadowrunners were a staple of the various covert actions corporations took against each other and the Earth governments. In the modern age the need for shadowrunners has diminished sharply, but they do still exist.

The 'runner' who lives to retirement age is a very rare thing, and every one of them is dangerous.

xoxoxoxoxox

May Shepard wandered along the Presidium, looking for something in particular. She noticed a small, unmarked door and glanced around before wandering in. Inside was a small, rounded creature in a snug environmental suit. "Ahh...one of the Earth Clan. You are known as Commander Shepard, yes? It is an honor to welcome the Hero of the Blitz."

"Ah, you know who I am?" May smiled at him. "I wasn't aware I was that much in the public eye. Going to have to do something about that."

The Volus, for that was what the creature was, seemed to smile at her. Though it was impossible to know for sure. "My job makes it important for me to keep informed. I am a financial advisor to a great many important individuals here on the Citadel. When someone as important as you arrives on the station, I take notice."

May nodded, and closed and locked the door behind her. "You must be Barla Von then?"

"Indeed." The volus looked straight at her. "And what would a war hero happen to know about a lowly finance expert."

"I hear you can keep certain aspects of a person's finances...out of the public record, let us say?" May asked.

Barla regarded her for a moment. "There is absolutely nothing shady about what I do. Everything is done completely within the bounds of interstellar law. However, many of my clients have need of...discretion."

May laughed. "Who said I minded if it's a little on the shadowy side. I have some private accounts on Earth that I could stand to have converted and made available. If I gave you the account numbers, could you keep my bosses from realizing I had those funds?"

Barla Von regarded her for a moment. "As long as these accounts are not involved in illegal interstellar trade. Though I do not work for mere percentage. My flat fees will cost you substantially."

"I'm aware of the fees," May replied. "You can take them from the accounts in question."

Barla Von seemed satisfied. "Some day, you will have to tell me how a mere Commander in the Alliance earns enough money to require my services."

May shrugged. "Start early enough in life, make smart investments, get a little lucky, and maybe sleep with the right person or two and you can end up a trillionaire. Not that I've done thatwell but close enough."

"So it goes, I suppose..." Barla Von started getting to work as May listed off some account numbers for him.

xoxoxoxoxox

While many types of magic are commonly classified as 'Corrupted' or 'Threats' by academia and the united Earth governments, none is so feared as the Insect Spirit. An astral predator, they exist solely to expand their numbers on the physical plane.

This by itself would be enough of a problem since Earth is already home to almost ten billion sentient life forms, but their methodology requires the 'implanting' of the spirit within a metahuman host. This process is inevitably fatal to the human.

Insect spirits in fully manifested form resemble metahuman-sized versions of their base insect species.

xoxoxoxoxox

Nihilus stepped out of the C-Sec elevator onto the Presidium. Normally, he wouldn't have taken any special notice of the two humans passing, but something they said caught his attention. "She was still at Delan's when I last checked."

Nihilus quickly ran through the possibilities. He knew May's dossier fairly well, since he had chosen to recruit her. While the Hanar had sold him some top-line mods in the past, he knew that that wasn't all the shop had. In fact, it was equipped with its' own micro-fabricator, and it was equipped with production licenses from thousands of manufacturers from all across the galaxy. You could pretty much get anything that you could carry out the door from the place, as long as it didn't need a license.

"...which makes it her first stop if she wants to make an impression on the Council." Nihilus slapped his forehead and made his way around the Presidium, making a note to investigate the screech of protest coming from the Consort's hall when he had the time.

What he found when he rounded the corner didn't surprise him. He knew, if he'd seen it before he had met the commander he probably wouldn't have wanted to believe it, but he wasn't surprised now.

Shepard was no longer wearing her improvised combat uniform. Instead, she had switched to a bright green minidress that came down halfway past her thighs, and was a little too tight to be considered for a serious meeting on its' own. However, she had augmented it with a long, white vest suggestive of a feather cloak that added a hint of elegance, gold bracers, and a low one-inch heel that she could likely still move easily in. Nihilus spotted the two chemical slugthrowers she favored easily enough, but he was surprised that her Alliance-issue sidearm was also present, in a concealed holster. "Shepard! What are you doing?"

May looked up from her negotiations with the Hanar. "Nihilus, what are you talking about? I've got twenty minutes."

"It's closer to five," Nihilus said. "You knowthe elevators here!"

May blinked. "Dammit! They are all like that." She looked to the hanar. "Uhm, look, can you have the rest of this stuff delivered to the Normandy?" She paused for a second. "Actually, better yet. We're gonna need a headquarters that isn't an Alliance warship. I don't suppose you can arrange a hotel here on the Presidium for a ten-percent commission on the room?"

The Hanar looked surprised, or at least its' luminescent spots flared in a manner that suggested such. "This one has seen your funds, and believes it could be done."

"Thank you so much!" May bowed, a gesture the Aliens might have pegged as Japanese if either had sufficent grounding in Earth cultures to make the connection. "I'll be back later for some more."

"This one thanks you for your business, and sincerely hopes for your safe return, Shepard." Delan said.

Once they were away from the Emporium, jogging along to try to make the elevator, Nihilus gave the disguised elf a sidelong look. "I can understand not wanting to meet the Council in that combat uniform, but why not an Alliance dress uniform?"

May shrugged as she jogged, a rather impressive-looking feat. "Because I'm gonna need everything I've got for the investigation. That includes looking like you fit in. I also had some other arrangements to make."

"Confident, aren't you?" Nihilus hit the button on the elevator.

May shrugged in response. "I'm probably on my way out of the military anyway, if that happens. I'm a useful PR iinstrument, but the higher ups are getting tired of my 'bad habits' and I'm getting tired of getting chewed out for them. Got some money saved up, may as well live here for a bit, then see what happens."

Nihilus laughed. "Well, that would be a waste of your talents. Maybe I could get you some kind of work."

"Eh, whatever you need, Nihilus," May smiled at him. "I think I can count on you not to betray my trust." And it was just then that she turned around, and saw her first Keeper. An insectoid creature, about the size of a human, it was equipped with a small technicians backpack and was clearly making adjustments to a panel near the Citadel's VI system.

Shepard took one look at the beast, and instantly snapped into high alert. "Nihilus, down!" Her hands did not go for the Alliance weapon, but to her slugthrowers, whipping them both out in a smooth motion to reveal the intricate engraving in full for the first time. She had just leveled the two weapons at the insect when Nihilus tackled her to the ground. "What the HELL are you doing, man! That's a mantis spirit!"

Nihilus forcibly restrained her, surprised to find the much more lithe woman was actually struggling with enough might that she might dislodge him in a few moments. "May, calm down! That is a Keeper. They've been on the station for thousands of years, and the only time anyone's gotten hurt around one is when someone tries to interfere with them...like shooting them with badly outdated weapons."

May continued to struggle for a few moments before what Nihilus said broke through her instincts. She calmed herself with a visible effort, and looked very closely at the creature. "...Keeper, not Insect Spirit...Keeper, not...those..." she mumbled under her breath, then she sighed. "I'm...I'm sorry. I'll be okay, that just spooked me."

Nihilus let her up, and she slowly got to her feet. "I should have warned you. A number of other humans have had that same reaction to seeing their first Keeper."

"...it's all right." May took another deep breath. "Let's just get to that meeting."

They rode the elevator in silence, then walked along the long hallway towards the Council platform at a somewhat slower pace.

Anderson glared at them when they got in place. "Where have you two been? The hearing's already started."

"Slight misunderstanding with a Keeper, Captain." May said. "Won't happen again,"

They made it up the steps just in time to hear the Council begin passing their verdict. "The Geth attack is a matter of some concern, but there is no evidence to indicate Saren was involved in the attack directly."

May decided to gently interrupt at this point. "I apologize for being late, Councilors," she said. "Maybe I missed a few things, but can we go over it again? Did the C-Sec investigation turn up anything?"

"No," the Turian responded simply. May finally took note of a tall red hologram being projected to one side. It showed a heavily cybered Turian in very unusual heavy armor. May couldn't identify the manufacturer off hand.

"I resent these accusations," Saren began, looking down. "Nihilus, I'm hurt. I know we have not always seen eye-to-eye on certain matters, but I have always thought of you as a friend,"

Nihilus couldn't meet Saren's eye. "I consider you one too, but what I saw on Eden Prime was...enough to worry me."

"So here we are," Saren said "Captain Anderson, as well. It seems all my enemies are showing themselves in public...so thismust be the famous Commander Shepard. I must say, the humans have sent someone who seems particularly unimpressive this time." He looked down at her, and their eyes met.

May didn't rise to the bait. "Nihilus did say he saw you on Eden Prime. What were you doing there?"

"I was...in the area," Saren said. "I wasn't on a particular assignment, and I had heard my old friend Captain Anderson had arranged for another bite at the apple for his species. And I must say, if this is the best he can do, your species has a lot to learn. You're not ready to join the Council. You're not even ready to join the Spectres."

Again, May didn't choose to dignify that with a response, but unfortunately Udina did. "He has no right to say that! That is not his decision!"

The Asari councilor, quickly realizing that the meeting was getting out of control, adopted a conciliatory tone. "Commander Shepard's induction into the Spectres is not the purpose of this meeting,"

"This meeting hasno purpose," Saren sneered. "The humans are wasting your time, and mine,"

"I agree," May said simply. Saren's mandibles fluttered wildly in shock and his eyes widened. "If it had been my decision, we wouldn't be having this discussion. But -" May said, very deliberately "Since we are here, let's take a look at the facts as they were clearly presented to me for a second. An unknown force, apparently Geth in design, attacks Eden Prime. With no significant magical assets, the invading force is clearly meant to be non-Earther in nature. And then, a Turian, wearing armor and with a cybernetic suite that was clearly designed by the same person or persons behind the drones, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Saren here, close enough that his old protege identifies him asSaren from a reasonable distance, appears on the scene and may or may not have left with the Geth,"

May smiled. "Tell me, Saren. Where did you get those mods from? They're very...distinctive."

Saren looked at her. "My cybernetics are a custom design, from several different manufacturers. All of which I am a stakeholder in and all of which is completely legal and a matter of public record."

"I fail to see how this is relevant, Commander," the Turian snapped at her.

The Salarian spoke "I have to agree, Commander. What are you getting at?"

"What I am getting at, is that clearly the crew of the Normandy and Nihilus were meant to come to the conclusion that Saren had led the attack. To come to that conclusion, even though he hadn't."

The whole chamber was quiet. Anderson looked as if he had been punched in the stomach. Nihilus was incredulous, Udina stunned speechless. The Council quickly tapped furiously at their consoles...

And Saren, though it was difficult to tell with the low-resolution on the hologram, looked like he was about ready to panic. "Tha-tha-tha..." he tried to speak, but no sound came out of his mouth.

May pressed on, having given it a moment to sink in. "Now, I understand that Nihilus' sponsoring me as a Spectre candidate still stands. If I may, I'd like to propose that the next phase in that testing be a simple one. I, with Nihilus and my crew assisting, will resume the cancelled C-Sec investigation. We'll find what we were meant to find, and hopefully, prove Saren's innocence."

The Council all stared at her. The Asari glanced sidelong at the other two. "Very well, Shepard. You may proceed with the investigation,"

"And, as a formality only," the Salarian interjected "Perhaps we should suspend Saren's status as a Spectre. Temporarily of course. It wouldn't be . . . appropriate for him to retain full rank and privilege while under such an investigation."

The Turian looked like he had eaten a lemon. "Agreed,"

The Asari finally made the declaration. "Commander Shepard, you will be temporarily accorded the full rights associated with the position with the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance unit. However, be aware that you are notyet above the law, and you will be held accountable for your actions when the mission is over."

"Thank you, Councilor." May smiled. "I won't abuse your trust."

xoxoxoxoxox

"Shepard, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Anderson slammed his hand down on the table. "You made us both look like absolute fools in there! I know we cut you a lot of slack, but this is just too much!" He threw his arms around, gesturing to the entire room wildly. "And this. A luxury suite?"

And it was. In an area where space was hideously expensive, the hanar had managed to find May a hotel room that bore more resemblance to the furnished condominum of an elite than a place to crash and store things for a few days. Most of the furnishings were inlaid with gold, tasteful paintings decorated the walls, and the entire living room was dominated by an entertainment center that looked suspiciously like the Normandy's top-of-the-line navigation map. Couches were arranged around the thing, with a glass panel allowing it to do double duty as a table. Five doors led away from the central chamber, Anderson presumed bedrooms for May and the squad.

May sighed. "Look, we needed a place on the Citadel itself. I don't want to be seen going back and forth between an Alliance warship. There's a time for guns blazing, and a time for discretion. This is definitely the latter, and you two," she glared at Udina "Were charging ahead like a pair of dragons fighting over a gold coin. Someone had to stop you from derailing this whole thing."

Udina growled "You made the whole Earth sphere look like a laughingstock!"

"Did I?" May smiled at him. "It seems to me that I salvaged that entire meeting. Saren's suspended, and we've got a chance to put him away for good. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Both men stared at her for several seconds. May smiled as she let that sink in, then continued. "Now, let me think. Who was in charge of the C-Sec investigation?"

Nihilus came out of his room, having changed from his armor into something slightly less threatening. "A high-ranking C-Secer named Garrus Vakarian. He's good at his job, but he's a bit of a maverick. He probably didn't take being removed from the case too well, so he's off on his own."

"I have a contact in C-Sec by the name of Harkin," Udina recovered his voice. "He might know where you can find Garrus."

Anderson shook his head. "Forget it. He's a boozer, worse than you. I won't waste my time with that loser,"

"...Captain," May sighed, obviously not wanting to say this. "I don't know what your personal history with Saren is, and right now isn't the time to go into it. I'll ask once the investigation is done. But whatever it is, Saren will use it against any evidence we try to bring up."

"She's right, Captain." Udina said. "Besides, if this goes well, we're going to have work to do. I'll need your help to set everything up." He forced himself off the couch. "Meet me in my office later." The dwarven ambassador made his way out of the room.

May stood up and went over to a panel in the room. "Can I get you anything, Captain? Soda, maybe a drink? Delan's pretty good at this stuff, I can afford it."

"No, thank you." Anderson replied, and May shrugged and poured herself a tall glass of some chilled beverage.

"Got any other leads?" she asked him, taking a sip.

Nihilus eyed her beverage choice. "I do hope that's not what I think it is."

May sighed. "It is. Too bad it doesn't work on elves."

"...we'll find out in a few minutes," Nihilus commented.

Anderson coughed. "There is one other thing you can try. There's a banker named Barla Von here on the Presidium. He's an agent of the Shadow Broker."

May nodded. "Actually, I was going to try him first, but thanks for the tip." She tapped at her Omni-tool. "Dammit, I sent those two a message an hour ago to meet us here, where are they?"

Just then, the hotel door opened. Ashley Williams was standing in the doorway, her armor and weapons slung in a bag over her shoulder, wearing the uniform of the Asari Consort's assistants. May grinned. "Ah, there you are Williams. Like your off-duty fashion sense."

Ashley flushed and growled at the same time. "Where were you, Commander? I was just...ugh, I don't want to talk about it."

May rolled her eyes. "Seriously, you sent her after me, Captain? I thought you trusted me more tha -"

The door opened again, and Kaiden was standing unsteadily on the other side. He was still dressed, even if he looked ready to be fitted for a lampshade. "oohhhh...there you are Shhhepard. Been looking alll over for you."

May raised an eyebrow. "And just how many bottles of beer did you look in the bottom of?"

"Well, I wash checking out the barsh like the Captain shaid..." Kaiden slurred. "But ya gotta be polite, right? Sho I ordered a drink, and took half of it and then told the barkeep what I wash lookin' for, a hot elf. But you were never there, Commander...so I had ta keep lookin."

May sighed. "All right, LT, let's get you to bed." She stood up. "It's getting late anyway, Why don't we turn in for the night? And no offense, but I'd like to ask you to stay here. You're not trained for this kind of thing, and you'd draw too much attention. Stay suited up in case I need backup. Captain, you're welcome to join us tonight."

"No, thank you." Anderson stood up. "I'll speak with Udina, then head back to the Normandy. You can find me in one of those two places if you need me."

xoxoxoxoxox

The next morning May went down to her new banker's office. She strode in with the confidence of someone who could buy the place - or shoot it apart without anybody caring. Barla simply took this in stride. "Ah, Shepard. I trust there isn't anything wrong with our arrangements?"

"Not at all," May smiled. "I'm just told you know a lot about what's going on on the Citadel. By reliable sources."

"I might," the Volus said. "It would, of course, depend on just how large the fees for my services should be...and what you're asking about."

"A Spectre. Famous one." May sat on the edge of her desk. "I think you know who."

"You're right, Shepard. I do know about Saren." Barla's lips twisted up into a little smile behind the visor of his suit. "And these are exceptional circumstances. Saren has done something very stupid, so this information. . . . will not come with any charge."

"...Saren betrayed the Shadow Broker?" May raised an eyebrow. "That's not a good move for anyone's long term health."

"Indeed," Barla Von looked up at her. "I believe he has hired a Krogan mercenary to. . . deal with the situation. A mercenary by the name of Urdnot Wrex. He was last seen paying a visit to Citadel Security. If you hurry, you might catch him."

"Thanks. Take an extra one percent anyway." May stood up and walked out of the office.

xoxoxoxoxox

May decided to take a quick pass through the markets on her way to Chora's Den. She made sure to pick up some vendor licenses from one of the kiosks as she was passing by when a blond man caught her attention. He seemed to be jumping up and down with excitement on seeing her, and her worst fears were confirmed when he walked right up to her. "Wow, Commander Shepard! The hero of Eden Prime! It really is you."

"Uhm, thank you, I'm honored, but I'm really in a hurry..." May held up her hands, trying to quickly duck around the man, only to find her progress blocked.

"My name's Verner. Conrad Verner. They say you killed more than a hundred Geth on Eden Prime!" May groaned inwardly as people started to take notice of her.

She tried again. "Pleased to meet you. It wasn't that big a deal, but I really do have to..."

Conrad cut her off, as if he wasn't even listening. "Hey, I know you're busy, but if it's not too much trouble, could I get an autograph?"

May decided that it was the best way to get rid of him fast. "All right." She took the quickly proffered paper and quickly signed her name in a flowing signature.

"Thanks. I know you're busy, but my wife will really be impressed." Conrad started to rush off. "Oh, and next time you're on Earth, I'll buy you a drink!"

May sighed. She just knew this wasn't going to end well.

xoxoxoxoxox

Chora's Den. A 'club' only in name, which might go by many others. Asari and human dancers, all female, pranced around in the shadowy front room - probably not a bad thing, since other than shadows they weren't wearing much. Men in various stages of inebriation sat at tables or the bar, drinking away their sorrows and enjoying the scenery.

May looked around with a small grin, before she headed towards the back. She saw a man in a C-Sec uniform that obviously hadn't been changed in a few days. Mentally confirming him as her target, she put a sway in her hips and walked over to him. "Harkin?"

"Well, hey there sweetheart," he half-slurred. "Why don't you sit yourself down next to old Harkin? We'll have ourselves a good time..."

May stifled what she wantedto tell him to do and slid into the seat, along with waving over a waitress for some drinks. "Soo, you C-sec?" She gushed.

"Yeah, baby, I'm C-sec. Boy, can I tell you some stories..." May half-tuned out to start scanning the bar. She quickly took note of the two Krogan mercs at the back, and their weapons. She astrally scanned them, and through the haze of depression and lust in the atmosphere she saw the light enhancements they had and largely dismissed them as a serious threat. Worth keeping an eye on, but not worrying about.

"Yeah, that Garrus, he's a hothead all right," Harkin was saying. "Gonna get himself in trouble before too long,"

May snapped her full attention back to him. "Hmmm...sounds like a total loser..."

"Yeah baby." Harkin grumbled. "Used to be the darling, but he just keeps going too far. Trying to take on a Spectre, if ya can believe that..."

"What an idiot," May agreed.

Harkin grinned. "Yeah. Could be getting a hot piece of ass like you, and instead he's up at a doctor's office doing 'off-hours investigation.'"

May decided she'd had enough. She focused, and her aspect seemed to shift. Where before the image might have just been a flicker, now she appeared to be really distinctive, an elf of unsurpassable beauty with eyes deep with promise as she stared at Harkin. "You're going to go home, forget we had this conversation, and then drink enough to make sure you pass out."

"Yeah, toots, whatever you say," Harkin stood up to leave as May slouched back in her seat, releasing the magic. She watched him walk out with a grin, then followed him, hailing a cab to the medical clinic.

When she stepped out, she noticed a Krogan coming up from a sign that read 'To C-Sec." She jogged after him. "Hey, wait up." The Krogan turned and looked at her, and she was almost shocked by the ragged scars of some clawed animal that ran down one side of his face. "Urdnot Wrex?"

"Who wants to know?" The Krogan's deep voice rumbled, a low, growling noise that was probably meant to be intimidating.

May wasn't impressed. "I'm going after Saren, and I could use your help."

Wrex looked her up and down. "Yeah, you look like you need all the help you can get, human. Couple of antiques like those aren't gonna do much."

May smirked and revealed her concealed pistol. "Not all I've got."

"Not bad. Give the impression of being armed to most people, but conceal what you've really got from those with experience," Wrex said. "We may share a common goal, Earther. I've been hired to kill Fist. He did something very foolish."

"So I'm told." May smiled. "So you're going to go teach a lesson about turning on the Shadow broker."

"You've got it," Wrex nodded. "You see, there's this quarian. She has information that can link Saren to the Geth. She wanted to trade the info for a place to hide. Instead of telling the Shadow Broker, Fist told Saren."

May nodded. "So, if I help you, I get the quarian."

"The Broker's pissed, so yeah." Wrex grinned, showing a huge mouth full of teeth. "Are you in?"

"...yeah. Just one more person to pick up, if you don't mind."

Wrex looked at her. "Oh, who's that?"

"A C-Sec officer," May grinned. "May as well. I'm sure he'd like to be there."

Then a gunshot rang out from the clinic just behind them. They looked at each other, and nodded. May practically floated past the door without opening it, waiting for Wrex to get in position before slapping the control. Wrex roared and charged in, while May ducked in behind him. They saw a Turian holding up a pistol. A woman wearing a doctor's apron was holding her hands up, with two men with rifles behind her. A third, who had just been in her face a moment before, looked vaguely surprised as blood ran down his chest.

Wrex dropped his shotgun, lowering his head and simply charging straight ahead. His target screamed in panic as the krogan's head slammed into his solar plexus and he was pushed back into the wall.

May leveled her eyes at the other and smiled. Her aspect shifted again, and the man gasped, his eyes rolling back in his head. He slowly slumped to the ground, and May continued slowly into the place, still holding up her pistol. "Any others?"

"No," Garrus put his weapon away. "Couldn't get here a minute earlier?"

"Sorry," May said. "Though you didn't have to take that shot. Someone could get hurt that way."

"...oh...uh...right." Garrus coughed. "Uhm, Doctor Michel, are you all right."

"I'm fine, thanks to all of you," the doctor said.

May grinned. "Okay, you were the guy on the Saren investigation, right?"

Garrus nodded. "That's right. Commander Shepard?"

"Yep." May smiled, carefully nudging the man in her spell with her foot, noting with some satisfaction he still couldn't do anything but convulse and shudder.

"...is he okay?" Michel asked, looking with some concern at the spreading sweat stains.

May shrugged. "Hasn't killed anyone yet. Still, Garrus, can you call someone to pick him up?"

"I'm on it." Garrus nodded and started to make the call.

May started to tap her own omni-tool as well. "Nihilus? Get everyone suited up and meet me at Chora's Den. I may need backup."

xoxoxoxoxox

The alleyways behind Chora's Den were about what you could expect from the breed. Twisting, winding labyrinths haunted by the dregs of the galaxy. May and Wrex stepped out of their cab looking, for all the world, like this was their city, while Garrus was far more nervous.

"Shepard, are you sure about this?" The Turian looked at her. "I mean, going in alone?"

May sighed. "If they're still running, it gives me the best chance of infiltrating the club. Once I'm past the guards, Kaiden can disable the security, and you guys can come in. I don't like the wetwork, but I'll work with Wrex on that one."

"Sounds like we've got a problem," Wrex rumbled. "I was by here before trying that."

May chuckled. "Wrex, Fist's human. He's a lot more likely to let me in than you."

"Yeah, well," Wrex shrugged. "Can't hear any music from the club, and I know it's loud enough to rattle the windows out here."

"...good point." May sighed as another cab pulled up. "Nihilus, Williams, Alenko." She nodded to them as they stepped out. "Looks like it's time for a new plan. Move in hard and fast. The club's set up as a circle with a central bar. I'll take Alenko and Williams around the right, Nihilus, you take Vakarian and Urdnot here along the left side. They're probably expecting us at this point."

Everybody acknowledged her, and they were off. They didn't get very far, as when the door opened there was a rock sitting right in front of the door, staring at them.

"...Shepard?" Nihilus asked carefully while May gestured for everyone to move back.

May nodded slowly. "Yes, Nihilus, the boulder is looking at you."

Wrex growled, but he seemed more amused than anything. "Humans. You guys coming on the scene made things more interesting than they have been in years."

Garrus was more concerned. "Why isn't it attacking us?"

May shrugged. "Might be bound to the building, or the summoner might abuse his spirits and didn't tell him to bother reaching through the door at us. Either way, it's filling the whole doorway so the guards on the other side can't get a shot off."

May reached down and slowly pulled out her slugthrowers. "All right. Slight change of plans. I'll deal with the rock. Garrus, you go with Williams and Alenko here. I'll join up with you as soon as I can."

Wrex eyed her. "Slight little thing like you's gonna try punching your way through that?"

"You're welcome to try, but it really takes a mage," May said casually.

Wrex considered the prospect of punching a living stone, having it punch him back, and shrugged. "Shout if ya get into trouble, I'll come help you out."

May suddenly surged forward, launching a kick at the giant monster. Nihilus winced as he expected to hear the sound of cracking shin bone, but amazingly the elemental was knocked back, sending it staggering against the bar. May moved in, staying up in melee with it with her skin glowing under the armor spell.

The rest of the team took advantage of the opening, taking spots behind tables that had been set up as additional barricades, now providing them cover as the room was filled with the sound of gunfire. Wrex forced a kinetic barrier to surround his body in an additional mass effect field, charging straight into the crowd on his side while Nihilus calmly picked off stragglers.

Kaiden, Ashley, and Garrus had more trouble. While Kaiden tried to keep as many off their feet with his biotics as he could, it just wasn't quite the same as a krogan bodily tossing people about. The extra gunfire from both Garrus and Ashley helped some, but they were slowly overwhelmed.

May, however, could barely spare any attention. She raised the two slugthrowers like small clubs, blocking the massive swinging fists of the elemental with them. The antiques, which should have been crushed like tinfoil, held up under the assault. May continued to dance around the elemental, swinging in and slowly chipping out shards of rock with every blow connecting.

A hole opened up as Garrus was winged, his shields suddenly failing. One of the krogan mercenaries charged past him, elbowing May. What the mighty blows of the elemental couldn't do, the smaller krogan succeeded with, sending her sprawling on the ground. With a roar of triumph, the krogan pointed his assault rifle at her.

Only for his eyes to widen as he realized both primitive weapons, with a shockingly large caliber, had been stuck right through his shield. "Say goodnight, Gracie," May quipped, pulling both triggers several times rapidly in successtion. The krogan fell back, his eyes both blown out and several large craters cut through his hide.

However, this gave the elemental time to rally. It roared in triumph, taking the krogan's place and raising its' hands above its' head to pummel the blonde with a single crushing blow.

Nihilus saw the carnage behind him and spun, dropping his rifle and whipping out that huge grenade launcher. He shot the grenade behind the counter, and the shockwave knocked the elemental off its' feet, not seeming to hurt it too much.

May managed to get to her feet first and pounded both weapons right into the elemental's back. With this last blow, the creature first turned to rubble, then slowly dissolved into astral vapor.

May stopped and looked around. The entire bar was filled with the groans of the wounded and dying, and no one else stood to challenge the team. "Garrus, you all right?" May asked.

Garrus looked at her, and gave a thumbs up. "What about you?"

"A little bruised, nothing to worry about." May slid her pistols back into their holsters.

Wrex laughed. "More magic, huh?"

Kaiden raised an eyebrow, impressed. "I think those are magic weapons."

"Pretty much," May said. "We'll talk about what they do later. Right now...Fist awaits our arrival, I'm sure."

xoxoxoxoxox

Fist was waiting, his warehouse workers dropping their guns and scattering at the presence of eight heavily armed intruders. May sighed as she heard two turrets powering up and a man scrambling around behind the desks. "Fist, please, come out. Don't make this more painful for everyone than it has to be." Several rounds impacted against the prefab walls and she sighed. "Kaiden?" A tech mine was tossed around the corner and the turrets stopped working after a quick shower of sparks.

"All right, all right, I surrender!" Fist called out.

May sighed and rounded the corner. "That's more like it. Now, start talking. Where's that quarian?"

"She's not here, that's the truth!" Fist shouted, still holding up his hands.

Wrex grinned. "He's no use to you now, let me have him."

"Down, boy," May smirked at Wrex. "And as for you, Fist, where is she?"

"She wanted to make a deal with the Shadow Broker. Said she'd only talk to him." Fist explained.

Nihilus barked out a laugh of his own. "So, you just led her on? Real cute."

"No one deals with the Broker directly. But she didn't know that." Fist says. "There's a meeting out in the alleyways. It's right now. If you hurry, she'll still be there."

May frowned. "You son of a bitch." She was cut off by a clean shot from Wrex. She looked over her shoulder at him. "...We'll talk later about that."

Wrex shrugged. "Suit yourself. He was my last contract."

"We don't have time for this!" Ash shouted. May frowned, reaching down to pick up a data disk as the rest of her squad ran out.

She barely noticed the replacements for Fist's guards waiting for them in the main room, allowing her mind to settle into familiar patterns and boosting her speed. She ran across the room, noting idly that only Ashley was actually keeping up with her even as she vaulted through the door. Nihilus shouted "Keep them busy, let Shepard and Williams handle the Quarian!" With a nod back to him, she kept moving.

Williams caught up easily once they were outside the club. "Shepard, upload the directions to my 'link!" May responded by issuing the commands through her omni tool interface, and Ashley quickly brought up a HUD in her cyber-eyes. "Follow me." May let her get ahead.

They moved as quickly as possible through the twists and turns, to see an explosion go off right in front of them. "Shepard!" Ashley started firing, while May concentrated on the only one she could physically see, a Turian. With a bright, keening wail that betrayed his alien heritage, he fell over, clutching his head as May's shamanic mask popped into place.

The quarian turned towards them. "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!"

May looked at her. "You the quarian he mentioned? And are you all right?"

"Thank you, but I know how to look after myself," the quarian explained. "Not that I don't appreciate you saving my life...but...who are you?"

"May Shepard," the officer smiled at her. "I'm looking for evidence linking Saren to the Geth."

"Then...perhaps I can thank you for saving my life. But not here. I am Tali'zorah nar Rayya."

Ashley holstered her weapons. "We should head back to the hotel. It's safe there."

May nodded. "Right. Nihilus, meet us back at HQ. Copy?"

"Copy Shepard. Damn, and I thought I was fast. We're just about done mopping up here." Nihilus responded. "Meet you back at the shack."

xoxoxoxoxox

Tali'zorah had heard many things about these strange newcomers to the galactic stage. Most of the rumors had been dismissed as surreal fantasy or particularly powerful biotics by her people. The outlandish claim that they allowed AIs to live freely on their homeworld had been cause for even more alarm and fear.

Somehow, she knew that she didn't know the half of it, and that they should probably be running in terror from this species called 'metahumans'. And this May Shepard appeared to be trying to help her, making the feeling that was setting her hair on end even more unnerving.

"What do you mean, you can't adjust the adjoining suite for quarian physiology?" May said into the intercom.

"Ma'am, it is simply not possible," the hotel staff's representative said back. "We would have to fully sterilize the entire room."

May rolled her eyes. "Well, then, what are you waiting for? I have a quarian here who desperately deserves a chance to relax, and if she needs the room sterilized..."

"That's...quite all right Shepard," Tali said. "I'm fine."

May sighed. "Please, call me May. Are you sure?"

Tali gave an exaggerated nod. "I'm used to it. We almost never get out of these suits," she said.

May sighed. "Well, that seems like a shame, but right now...I suppose there isn't much time, and I doubt we'll have the hotel rooms for more than another day anyway."

Ashley coughed. "Commander..." she said warningly.

Tali looked at the human. "Uhm...I'm sorry."

May laughed. "I think Ash here is trying to remind me that this isn't the time to begin working on seducing you. She's probably right too." She grinned a bit. "By the way, I can see your aura. You're pretty cute when you blush like that."

Tali jumped. "How could you tell, I mean..."

"Relax, Tali," May smiled. "It's a special ability I have."

"Oh...I see," Tali fidgeted and looked down at her three-fingered hands.

May leaned in and smiled. "Tali, your people are tech experts, right?"

"I suppose you could say that..." Tali said.

May nodded. "I'd like to add you to my team. Kaiden is good, and Garrus I think has some experience, but I don't have a dedicated hacker-slash-tech backup yet, and it's an area I'm absolutely atrocious in. You could leave whenever you like, but I should remind you that Saren will be aware that you tried to sell information on him."

Tali looked at her for a long moment. "When you put it that way, I don't suppose I have much choice," she responded.

"Great," May smiled. "I hate to ask you to get to work right away, but could you check out the room and make sure we're not bugged?"

"Yes, yes of course." Tali said in a slight daze, waving her omni-tool about the room.

xoxoxoxoxox

A few hours later, the team was assembled around the large dining room table. Garrus tapped his fingers. "So, what is this 'evidence'?"

May sighed. "I trust that Tali's telling the truth. Let's wait for the Captain and Udina to get here."

As if on cue, the doors to the suite opened and the two men came through the door. "You're not making life easy on me, Shepard. The Council gave you permission to handle this your way, but an all-out assault on Chora's den, with the owner dead, does not make us look good." And Udina was his usual, charming self.

May smiled at him slowly. "Well, then, I think I've got just the thing to make up for it. Tali, would you do us the honors?"

"A quarian, Shepard? What areyou up to this time?" Anderson asked nervously.

May slammed her forehead into the table with a soft 'whump,' surprising everybody. "I do not, despite reputation, sleep with everythingthat moves."

Anderson just looked skeptical. "You do try, though."

"When I'm on leaveyes. Still have a job to do, Captain." May coughed. "Tali, if you would?"

Tali started tapping at her omni-tool as she explained. "I pulled this data from a geth memory core. If you're lucky, and careful, sometimes you can salvage something despite the geth's normal security precautions. Listen to this."

"The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit,"a slightly garbled voice came from the device, clearly Saren's.

A second voice, smoother and feminine, answered. "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

Everybody stared. Udina found his voice first. "If this holds up, it definitively proves Saren was involved in the attack. Good job, Shepard!"

Nihilus stood up. "The Council needs to hear this. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, I'll need to get that recording to Citadel Security right away. They can analyze it and prove its' authenticity."

"Agreed." May said. "How soon can you have that done?"

Garrus smirked. "Since it'll be a Spectre doing the asking, it'll be pushed to the front of the queue. We'll have our results by the end of the day."

"Good," Anderson said. "Ambassador, can you arrange for another meeting with the Council?"

Udina smiled savagely. "With this, yes. Finally, there will be action."

Wrex decided to speak up. "You know, I've never heard of anything called 'Reapers.'"

Tali coughed. "According to the data I recovered, the Geth believe that the Reapers are the pinnacle of non-organic life. Supposedly, they came in and wiped out the Protheans, then vanished."

May sighed. "As if there weren't enoughgalaxy-destroying menaces that claim to be out there. Well, for now I'll get us out of this hotel room tomorrow. I think we're done with it now. Captain, Nihilus wanted to add these people to his team for this, can we talk about setting up crew quarters? I'll give Tali the XO's office so she can have a comfortable room. I guess I'll sleep on the Mako, and the Normandy class is equipped with enough bunks for everyone else. I'll pick up a futon or something for Wrex, he's a little too heavy for the bunk frames."

Anderson looked at her for a long moment. "I'm not at liberty to discuss crew assignments to the Normandy right now, but whatever arrangement you think is best," he said carefully.

May's jaw dropped, but a few moments later she nodded. "Sorry, David. I never meant for anything like this to happen to you."

Anderson couldn't quite meet her eye. "It was probably inevitable. The Normandy's a perfect ship for Spectres. Now that it's looking like Earth may be getting one it was only natural that a Spectre would be put in command of her."

May sighed. "For what it's worth, it's not fair and I never wanted a damn ship."

David Anderson actually laughed. "Yes, well, I have no illusions. You'll be fine, Shepard."

The woman raised one eyebrow. "And just what will it take to get you to call me 'May?'"

"More than this," Anderson replied.

xoxoxoxoxox

Tali laid back on the fold-out couch bed and looked at her datapad. She tried to ignore the fact that she had never even imagined anyone could sleep in a room like this. It was huge even by metahuman standards, with two large beds on top of the couch.

And on one bed the woman who had led her rescue. With her hair a mess, all her clothing hung up on a hook on the wall nearby, and under the covers, Tali reflected that she looked so relaxed. It was a little surprising.

But not as surprising as Chief Williams coming up behind her. "Tali'zorah, was it?" Ashley tapped her on the shoulder.

Tali jumped and spun around. "Ah...yes, or just Tali if you wanted to be less formal."

"Right...Tali, I think there's something you should know." Ashley coughed and blushed. "It's a little embarrassing for me to talk about..."

"I have heard a bit about Commander Shepard's reputation already," Tali said.

Ashley blinked. "Well, I doubt you've heard everything. She's known for being very...forward. To believe the rumors, she's tried to have intercourse with a Hanar and a Volus before, at the same time. I don't believe that much, but she is very...odd. And she'll probably try to proposition you."

Tali looked back at her through the obscuring helmet. "I appreciate your concern, Ashley, but with this suit it would be very difficult for her to actually accomplish anything. And I have no interest in females of any species."

Ashley groaned slightly. "Yes, well, that's not likely to stop her."

"So the Lieutenant warned me before bed." Ashley choked as Tali easily went on "And Nihilus after dinner. I don't understand what you're all worried about..."

xoxoxoxoxox

The next morning, May yawned sleepily and stumbled onto the elevator leading up to the Council chambers, wearing a semi-formal Asari robe and a sleepy expression. Nihilus nudged her. "Shepard, gotta wake up. You can't meet the Council in that condition. Did you drink last night?"

"Cfee." May mumbled in a zombie-like fashion.

Nihilus raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"

"Not metahuman till I have my morning Coffee," May replied, sounding like it took all her concentration to be that coherent.

Nihilus rolled his eyes. "Beautiful. You've got two minutes to pull yourself together."

"Right," May blinked and slowly stretched. "I know, I know..."

When the doors opened and they got out, they looked up and saw the Council was already in session. "Must have gotten started without us. We are on time, right?"

"Yes," Nihilus shrugged at that. "The outcome's pretty much foregone, we don't need to be there 'till the end."

When they reached the platform, Udina had just finished playing the recording. "You wanted proof, one way or the other. I'd say this is it."

"Indeed, this evidence is irrefutable," The Turian councilor said. "We will strip Saren's full privileges effective immediately."

The Asari looked troubled. "I recognize the other voice, the one talking about Reapers. Matriarch Benezia. A powerful biotic with many followers. She'll make a formidable ally for Saren."

May frowned. "This just gets better and better,"

"And what about these 'Reapers'?" the Salarian asked. "What do we know about them?"

May sighed. She had been dreading the moment she would have to say this. "Not much, aside from what Tali recovered. They're supposedly a race of ancient machines that wiped out the Protheans, then vanished. I..." She gulped. "Look, you're free to take this how you want. Personally, knowing me, I wouldn't put much stock in it, but I'll lay it out. There was one thing that didn't make the reports because I wasn't sure of it myself. An incident with the Beacon put some kind of ancient message into my head. The Protheans, at some point in their history, didlikely fight a war against synthetics, and lost, if I'm interpreting the Beacon's message correctly. Which isn't remotely guaranteed."

"I see..." The Turian looked at her. "Why didn't you include this in the offcial reports?"

May shrugged. "Because my psych profile and the fact that shamans talk with things that aren't there all the time suggests I might be hallucinating?"

"...and why should we consider you to be a candidate for the Spectres?" The Turian responded to that acidly.

May looked right back at him, and focused. Slowly, the Turian adopted an expression of shock. "Simple, Councillor. Just because things aren't there doesn't mean they're any less real."

"...point taken." The Councilor coughed and tapped out a message on his terminal.

May coughed. "At any rate, the Geth believe the Conduit is the key to the Reaper's return, and Saren's likely also after it, whatever he might think it can do. Because we haven't got any better ideas, it's probably best to assume that Saren believes all this stuff, for the moment."

The Asari stepped in "In any event, I will concur that we must investigate Saren's activities. Nihilus? We are going to ask you to suspend Shepard's training period to conduct this investigation yourself."

Nihilus stepped forward. "There's no need for that. Saren's the best, and I have no doubt he'll have recruited the best to support him. For this mission, I'll need a team, and I deem Shepard a trustworthy partner. Since she will be accompanying me regardless..."

The Salarian replied with a terse "An acceptable compromise,"

"Very well, Nihilus." The Turian agreed, with a nod from the Asari.

The Asari spoke. "Since you will be accompanying Nihilus, Shepard, your temporary authority will be extended for the duration of this mission. Nihilus will be in charge, and your actions will reflect upon him. Since you have completed an entire mission with no direction from him, we'll also grant you limited access to the Spectre's development laboratories for yourself and your team, as well as training directly from Nihilus himself.

"This is neither an honor nor a privilige in and of itself, merely an opportunity," she concluded. "I hope you will acquit yourself and your species well."

May smiled. "Thank you Councillor. I will do my best to not disappoint you."

xoxoxoxoxox

After the Council had left, while May looked down at the garden underneath the podium, Nihilus looked at her. "What did you do to the Councillor that changed his mind, anyway?"

May smirked. "Oh, I just pulled his zipper down. Slowly."