Cascade

He felt the control column judder in his grip, the vibration rattling his bones even through the sealed suit. Through the shattered canopy he watched as another frigate blossomed in a silent rupture of flame, which flashed into non-existence in the old vacuum. Tracers of plasma lanced across the front of his craft as another strike fighter flashed past his view. Moments later a pair of insect-like Geth fighters blurred past, tracking the jinking fighter.

His view pinwheeled again and he tried to focus on the racked, flashing displays. His HUD was showing a spike in his heart rate and a rapidly decreasing level of oxygen - suit rupture most likely. The cockpit was compromised, so ejection was not on the Flux cards.

The view blurred and he realised that blood was seeping into his eyes.

What a cluster of cloaca. How had it come to this? So much potential, so much hope. He had trusted them to know what they were doing.

And still they went for the sword.

9 months prior.

The Turian councillor massaged her temples; it didn't help physiologically, but it was a habit she'd picked up from her human counterpart on the Council. It was soothing, mentally, more than anything. She blinked slowly and returned her gaze to the at the data pad in front of her, then glanced up at the figure standing opposite her, across her desk.

"And you're certain these reports are correct?"

"Afraid so ma'am."

She eyed the figure: another Turian, Sentus, Captain of the Dilligence, a small scale recon frigate that had been tasked with patrols in the Terminus systems.

"Not very subtle. Sloppy, in fact."

"Mercs, we believe. However, it was too obvious, Councillor Rynae We believe it was a staged operation."

The Councillor flared her mandibles, the equivalent of a quirked eyebrow in human parlance.

"Some form of… false flag? Or a distraction? Surely if it was so obvious…?"

"Only obvious to us. The local trade traffic didn't notice them and even the militia patrols didn't spot them. We only were in the right place…"

The Captain trailed off. The Councillor snorted.

"You were in the right place because you went off your standard patrol path? And why was that, Captain?"

The real reason he was stood in front of her: his immediate superior had escalated this, which was strange for a Turian - if a junior office went off mission, it was usually deemed the fault of the superior for putting someone incompetent in a position beyond their skills. However, things had been vague - either the Turian was acting out of character or…

Or the man's superior wanted to pass something to her without going through regular channels. Which could take ages or be dismissed at some stage of the chain.

Which implied espionage.

And by escalating it as a disciplinary, it meant that this information wouldn't get lost. However, the fact they'd know to look for this implied something else. The Captain nodded.

"We received a… tip off."

Ah.

"Acting on information received, Captain? What form did this tip off come in? Distress beacon? Encrypted Spectre transmission? Highly trained Varren?"

The Captain managed a disgruntled harrumph - so he wasn't completely rigid, at least.

"Encrypted transmission, on a frequency only used for location confirmation transmission. I pinged us this location as an anomaly, but there was an attached packet of data as well."

"You have any idea where it came from?"

"I have my suspicions ma'am."

"Hmm. And so you decided to break protocol and your assigned route to investigate. And you reported your findings?"

"Ma'am, we were patrolling, not on parade; that implies not sticking to a standardised route…."

"But it also means being visible along regularly trafficked routes, with this sort of thing left to the appropriate agencies, surely? Going off plan can raise eyebrows and disrupts military planning."

He looked like he was about to slam his hands on the desk. She leaned back and watched him. To his credit he returned the gaze. Slowly he nodded.

"Usually I would agree with you ma'am. But I think this would qualify as responding to intelligence received. And you have to shake up routine every now and then, as I'm sure you'd agree."

"Quite. And you reported this up? Of course you did, otherwise you wouldn't be here."

"Yes. The Decanus-Major thought it would be best to pass this directly."

"So, back to the matter - a small merc frigate and several freighters, using the cover of a gas giant. But you think being too obvious?"

"Well, they didn't think so. But the manner of the transit - stealthy but not stealthy enough. It wouldn't be too hard to mask emissions much further. Plus that system is still quite well travelled - very risky. They had faked IFF markers as well, which they activated as soon as they spotted us."

"You think someone wanted them seen? Perhap the person who gave you the tip off."

"Yes."

"So the intelligence source could have been using this as a distraction? And you still followed the lead?"

"I think they wanted us to see it AND see that it was a distraction. As you can see from the report, the frigate escaped, but we got the cargo ships. And their cargo was interesting to say the least."

The Councillor flicked back through the report. I was strange: ships full to the brim, but the containers themselves having the most odd assortment of parts: vehicle subsystems, entertainment electronics, hab-structures, but only one type of wall frame, food packs all out-dated. A few crates of weapons, but not enough to justify that much "cover".

"For a smuggling trip, certainly doesn't look…. profitable."

"Quite - four freighters and a frigate, loaded with junk. We think the tonnage was there to spook sensors and any stations they were at. A cursory examination would've passed muster. But what's really interesting is what appears in the manifests proper."

Rynae clicked her mandibles and looked through the report again, then flicked back to what the troops had actually found.

"You're sure the entries haven't been mixed up?"

"Checked myself, Ma'am"

"But they openly listed in their logs that they were carrying Red dust and Geth plasma rifles?"

"And Reaper remnants."

"Why?"

"Double down: that sort of manifest would bring in every major military vessel in the area."

"But even a check would show it to be false…?"

The Captain nodded, "But it would be confusing enough that any local customs officials would freeze the scene quarantine and summon a larger force, locking down the sector. Which would be mean any immediate investigations would be isolated to both that region and the company involved."

The Councillor leaned back and clacked her mandibles irritably.

"So, it was a distraction. So, why point you at it?"

"To show it for what it was. Now we know that there's something bigger out there and that someone is looking to distract us."

"But this would only work, what, once?"

"It would. In that sector. Councillor, most of our patrols are still fairly isolated, with reports taking a while to be collated centrally. If this happened across several sectors, we'd maybe notice a patterns after five or six stops. And that is only if reports were even filed, or the manifests thoroughly checked. It could even be chalked up to malice from competitors. Meanwhile, it ties up resources. My guess is that these ships would've pinged up via a tip off to some credulous planet sec grunts, we'd have had a full scale alert."

"There is another possibility."

"Yes ma'am?"

"These could be genuine supplies."

"But… they're useless."

"True. But any official, after seeing the manifest and verifying it to be false would at worst impound the goods and release. At most, they'd probably wave it off as a glitch. And then the convoy gets left alone."

"A double bluff?"

"As the humans would say… or, if you want to think like a Salarian, it could be all of the above. Or, as you said: a glitch. Good tip off."

"We thought it would be."

"So, officially you have been chastised for deviation but no formal charges brought and no further action. This will not be recorded, so it was a matter of discretion that has found to 'be of tangible benefit to the hierarchy'. Captain, please return to your duties and continue to monitor for similar matters. Also, please ensure that this information is passed to C-Sec and the Fleet Duty officer, to watch for 'glitches'. Say it's part of our ongoing investigation into data-corruption across the new comm-buoys or something."

The Captain stood to attention and lifted his left arm upright, fist clenched, the Turian salute, then spun on his heel and marched out. Councillor Rynae sighed and glanced back down at the datapad.

Why had she thought of a triple cross? It was the job: you saw conspiracies everywhere, especially after that debacle with Admiral Xen. The races were on a knife edge: the greatest near-extinction event of the galaxy and suddenly it was business as usual: no shining future of promise, just fear and recriminations. It was making her paranoid. That said, she wasn't of military stock, which surprised a lot of non-Turians - all that assumption that they hatched clutching an Aramax arms branded weapon. No, she was a medic by trade. And that meant she looked for symptoms, for things around the obvious signs: those were the result, but what was the cause? Straight laced military Turians found the thinking strange, but then again, they had tried and tested doctrines that had always worked.

Up until the Reapers. And that damn slaughter. Freedom paid in blood no amount of stitches, medi gel and other tired analogies could fully heal.

Speaking of which….

She rose and left her office, the door securing with a faint "ping". She would sweep for bugs again when she got back - no doubt the Salarians, Asari or Krogan would be waiting to replace the last batch she had found.

The walk to the new council chambers was a short one, several aides and ambassadors pausing to greet her briefly en route. One of the first orders of business when the new Council had been established was to make the Tower more accessible and visible. The theory being that form and function were one and the same - a Turian idea, all told, but one that the Humans seemed to embrace quite readily.

The various embassies were now all of the same size and spread evenly in a ring within the tower, rather than being housed in the Presidium, with the Council chamber now an open forum chamber in its own "mini-tower" within the central Citadel tower, which itself had spiderwebs of walkways intersecting across. It meant that the central tower was a lot more crowded, but it was a price worth paying for the visibility that Commander Shepard, Hero of The Harvest, had demanded. It also meant that there were more points of entry to the tower, something that was a nightmare for security, but lent a certain air of busyness to the place and gave a somewhat spiderweb quality as walkways from the multi-tiered embassies linked into the central council tower. The Presidium itself was still mainly divided by "embassy" ties, insofar as species tended to stick within quadrants for accommodation purposes, but still mingled along it's thoroughfares. The "tower" itself was now actually a hub at the centre of several other "Towers", making the centre of the Citadel look more like a spoked wheel. It meant that the Presidium now had multiple access routes in, further enhancing the idea of visibility and accessibility.

The Council "Tower" itself was a large forum within the tower, for people to observe proceedings, with the Council themselves situated in the centre, around a large circular table. A "Speaker" had been appointed and the responsibility rotated through species on a regular basis, to prevent bias.

Currently, the floor was being held by the Quarian Councillor, Zaal'Koris. The former Admiral had spent a little time on Rannoch before being nominated as Councillor. The other nominee had turned the offer down. Politically it made sense - there would've been a lot of contention around a Quarian who was married to a human, a rather important human at that. Questions of bias and cross-purposes.

Plus she had heard about the woman's skill with a shotgun and tendency to go for direct solutions.

Koris paused at her entry. He could be seen as a haughty, aloof man, at least when presenting - he was proud, occasionally pompous, certainly. But he wasn't arrogant. Koris, once you got to know him, was a thoughtful man, and not one prone to grandstanding. The former-Admiral inclined his head - it was still a bit surreal to see the Quarians with only half masks now - and continued speaking. He still had the Quarian propensity to gesture overmuch, a body-language overcompensation due to generations without recourse to facial expressions.

"And that, ladies, gentlemen and designations pending, is why we must still push for reconciliation. The asari made a mistake born of hubris and who among us can say that we haven't done the same. I would respectfully ask that the Krogan Coalition and Turian Hierarchy to consider removing their sanctions against both the Republic and the various non-aligned, asari majority worlds. We gain nothing from the ongoing bickering. We are still rebuilding. If we, the Quarians and the Geth, can put aside our differences and strive, then we hope you can do likewise. It took us three hundred years. Please, do not fall victim to the same mistakes."

Rynae had to force herself to maintaina straight face. Koris was a pragmatic man, straightforward at times. And that got him accused of being a dreamer. But this was a fairly direct appeal. She new the Primarch was under pressure from various blocs at home to maintain sanctions on the Asari - the feeling of betrayal on Palaven was tangible. Even as Thessia was rebuilding, the resentment had come on strong. And the Krogan were even more harsh - they had a very quid pro quo view - considering how the supposed superior races had treated them. In their view, the Turians had taken a beating, but had earned their respect by fighting alongside them and had "redeemed" themselves. The Salarians were a grey area to them - the breakaway systems from the Salarian Union were now fairly close allies with the Krogan Regime.

The other races were fairly divided - the Hanar, Elcor, Batarians and Volus pretty much were staying neutral, officially. But the Volus banks weren't lending as readily to the Republic and the other races, what presence they had, were spending their limited resources elsewhere. The two Salarian representatives (One for the Union, one for the Free states) were obviously at loggerheads. The Union was standing by the asari, mainly for traditional rather than pragmatic reasons.

The humans were being what they always were - obviously cautious but making waves unofficially - various free enterprise expeditions with relief convoys, limited archaeological studies alongside asari researchers. The Alliance were pretty black and white - they were on the side of holding the asari to account, but had less directly involved in the fight. They were, however, far more involved with the Turians and Krogan with regards to formulating political strategy, as they seemed to align more closely to their ways of thinking.

And of course the various factions not represented were swinging wildly. The shadow broker, it was rumoured, had managed to manipulate various companies to get more involved with the reconstruction of Thessia, but even that mysterious benefactor was keeping fairly hands off. It was, not to put too fine a point on it, a bit of a knife edge situation.

From her perspective she had seen what had happened on Thessia. Whilst the big obsession had been getting to Earth, supporting the humans with Crucible, the reality was that Thessia had been turned into slaughterhouse and maccabre mockery of what it had once been. The vermilion and purple glass towers turned into spires for the dead to be processed. Great, abandoned factories weaving flesh and bone into circuitry for the biotic machinery the Reapers had used; construction yards with half processed Destroyers being built.

Her position was that they needed help and the Primarch agreed. But the realities of politics meant they had to tread carefully. Glancing across the circular chamber she caught the eye of the human councillor. He offered her a subtle shrug. They were of one mind on this issue, she knew, but drawing too many clear lines of agreement was always one of those things in politics: be affable but never so closely aligned. It meant people got really upset and confused when you eventually and inevitably disagreed with your "ally". She pushed herself to her feet and inclined her head to the other councillors.

"The Turian Hierarchy does, in principle, support the view of the Quarian and Geth co-operative. We do agree with many in this chamber that certain actions undertaken by the Republic and Union were ill-thought. But they were not carried out in tandem or with any joint venture, not initially. And we can hardly hold a people culpable for the mistakes of its leadership. Especially when any reparations are, in some institutions, merely transferred away from the leaders in politically convenient ways," she saw the serene face of the Asari councillor studiously not move. Oh good, another enemy made. That said, it was Irissa. She hated everyone. Ah well, points had to be driven home occasionally - the Asari weren't the "high culture" who did no wrong any more, "As such, the Hierarchy is moving to alleviate sanctions on certain industries. If you could consult your data drives, and omni-tools, you will see a list of businesses, enterprises and goods that no longer are embargoed."

The Free State Salarians were clearly not happy - whilst she sympathised with their political frustration, she also knew that elements of the States were making a nice profit trading expertise and goods that the Union had been prohibited from acting on. There was a hubbub as they began to gesticulate, but were brought to order by the Council Chair, a VI hologram. It had no real personality, but it was useful to have an utterly impartial, semi-intelligent arbitrator. It's form was of a Keeper - a symbol of it's maintenance of systems and quiet contribution.

"Thank you, Speaker. As I was saying, we in the Hierarchy feel that it is individuals who must be brought to task. And so, we would push for the Republic and Union to submit those responsible for decisions made for review by this council and whatever courts are deemed necessary. As someone once said, in this Chamber - let things be seen. I would join my Quarian friend in asking the Krogan and humans, as well as other members, to relax their stance and begin the rebuilding."

The Krogan representative shifted in her chair. Wrex and Bakara were doing well in their political reshuffles - the females tended to much more long-termist. It wasn't a hard and fast rule, but there was a definite trend toward forward planning. She had replaced Kraal after the first few months. She was another Urdnot - Malar. One of the vassal clans that Wrex had absorbed to protect. Their loyalty was surprising, not something you associated with Krogan. But then again, the stereotype was always blood-thirsty mercenary, whereas when you really got to know them as a culture then you saw how nuanced they were.

Rynae watched Malar stand slowly. The woman's voice was a low rumble, with a faint lilt to it.

"The Salarians, some of my people believe, left us to die a slow death on the vine. The Turians, some still believe, wait to bombard our world. The asari, many still believe, sneer and pout at us from afar. But these are beliefs of the past. We know none of you are better than us. We live longer than the Asari. We can outfight a Turian. We can outplan the Salarian. The humans helped us, when none would. And then the Salarians helped us. And then the Turians. And even the asari. But it wasn't a person on a throne. It was those in the ditches, the trenches, the ones who dragged my brothers, sisters and children away from the fight. For their sake... we will lift the sanctions. We stand with the Quarian."

Rynae let out a quiet sigh of relief. There were quiet murmurs of assent around the table. Malar sent her own list of amended sanction decrees to the master list. The precise nature of the actual treaty and sanction debate would be negotiated by the Civil service with the broad strokes elements dictated by the Councillors. This was really a stage - a lot of this had been built to, by Koris it had to be said. But on the day you were never sure which way it would go and so you had to make pretty speeches and solid arguments, otherwise your negotiation could look like so much flarn.

The Speaker called the Council to order and they dispersed. She, quite by chance of course, ended up walking out alongside the human Councillor - Davies Charlestown. He'd survived the role of Councillor by seeming to be a quiet, put upon man. But the rest of the Council knew him for what he was - ramrod straight and tenacious in the way only someone who'd done tenure as an accountant and auditor could be. If he queried a policy then the recipient of his attention knew that every detail would be meticulously examined, dissected and its flaws pointed out. He was a bastard to play poker against too.

"Davies."

"Rynae. A pleasure. You want something?"

She glanced at him. His face was straight but their was a quirk to his mouth.

"Never a surprise with you is there, Charlestown."

"People tend towards predictability, even you. People only tend to talk to me socially if they want something. I think it has to do with the title 'Councillor'."

"A pain, isn't it?"

Davies snorted and nodded slightly. The pair settled into a gentle stroll towards one of the ornate fountains outside of the central chamber. Davies looked straight ahead and mused:

"So, you agree with raising the sanctions? Quite the switch. I know the Primarch is being pushed at home to nigh on blockade some Asari trade worlds."

Rynae sighed, "The usual military response - retribution, hard lines, expression of force. Mainly it was annoyance that we'd been blindsided - the Asari had intelligence that could've been really useful, could've staved off the destruction of much of the homeworld. But they 'got theirs', if you're into a scar for a scar."

"Hmm, true. I've seen the numbers. But this is politics - what's the angle?"

"We need to free up resources, focus on real threats, not punish cities and colonies. Our fleets are stretched. And it ties in nicely with a recent development I've had."

"Coincidental?"

"No, fortuitous. We've had issues with smuggling anyway, but usually going into those territories. Now we're seeing a spike in certain goods coming out of the Terminus, Republic and Union territories. Strange manifests, double bluffing, masking. STG type actions but there's no rhyme or reason. Had a spike today - things marked as Reaper on the manifest itself."

Davies stopped and turned to face her, his frown etched onto his features.

"What?"

"I know. Even inert, those artefacts still cause long term damage."

"Why are you telling me this. If Turian patrols are finding these..."

"Sharing information with a valued ally..."

"And...?"

Rynae huffed.

"The hierarchy has limitations to its doctrine. We have defined engagement rules. And we rely far too much on the STG for a lot of our espionage teams. I will be talking to the Primarch about this, but honestly, I am worried that there are elements of collaboration. Also, whilst we do deniable operations and are of course adept at tracking, I wasn't lying when I said we were stretched thin. Before I throw the 10th Reserve fleet and its Recon force into action, I need more than some quirky manifests."

"It'd be nice to have the Spectres around, wouldn't it?"

"From one point of view. But if you pick the wrong Spectre, a Vasir, perhaps, then we have issues."

"Good point. But a Shepard?"

"Human bias. And just one person."

"...maybe, but still. But I interrupted, continue."

"The replacements. I know Shepard has them operating."

"That's obvious - we get performance reviews and updates on a regular basis."

"Yes, but I know that you and Shepard have a cordial relationship. And I know the Alliance runs the Corsairs. And I can't raise this in front of the whole Council. Collaboration."

"And what makes you think I'm clean?"

"Because if you aren't, then we're all falling from the nest without a glider. You're devious, ruthless and occasionally cold. But you're straight as an arrow."

"Thank you, I think. So, you want me to ask the man who asked for open accountability from all aspects of the Council to run a shadow operation off the books to investigate, potentially, members of the Council, using potential Alliance resources?"

"Yes."

Davies grinned.

"I think I have just the team."