Author Notes: Hey Guys, I hope you enjoy, I'm planning on taking the story of Shen and Ana far so let me know if you're interested in seeing more people! Thanks for reading.
As the sunlight glared through the window, illuminating the whole apartment, Ki'shen Gothis exited his shower. As he dried himself off, the screen on his desk began to flash.
Probably a message from C-Sec, he thought to himself. He looked at his watch I'm not meant to start work for another hour, screw that. Shen grabbed a bottle from the side and shook two pills out of it, he threw them in his mouth and swallowed. A wave of tension being released swept of his body as he took a deep breath in. He looked at the empty pill bottles and bags on the side as a pang of self loathing hit him.
He ignored the flashing screen and went to the kitchen. As he slide back a panel on the wall to reveal his food a packet of coffee beans catches his eye. Most Turians despised Earth Coffee but to Shen nothing started his morning better. As he grabbed the Kinetic Barrier grinder his Screen flashed and beeped.
"Fine if it's so important" He pressed the screen and Commander Ikos appeared. Shocked by this Shen Salutes Ikos "Uh good morning Sir, uh wasn't expecting a call off of you this morning"
"God put some clothes on Shen we can continue with the formalities in a moment." Shen quickly grabs a robe from the side.
"Okay sorry about that, what is it Sir."
"We got reports that a gang of Krogan slavers, calling themselves the 'Zircon Elite', are smuggling in shipments of Red Sand and selling it all over the citadel. No this isn't their usual M.O. and considering that these slavers aren't ones that usually frequent the citadel I'm assuming their using some contacts here on the citadel to expand their business opportunities."
"So you want me to arrest them"
Sensing Shen's cocky tone he made it clear in his stern tone of voice "Negatory, you go up against a gang of Krogan slavers they'll wipe the flor with you. You're getting a new partner"
Shen growled "Sir you know I work better alone."
"This is none negotiable Shen, you get into to trouble and you'll need someone to bale you out, plus I think having someone to look after might bring you under control."
"Oh really, you think so?"
"Yeh I hand picked her myself, she's an up and comer from Illium."
His mandibles clicked unconsciously, Intrigued by this he replied "Really?"
"Hey I know that look, and I don't have time to file another one of your sexual harassment complaints, beside judging on her report, you'll have your work cut out for you keeping her in line."
"Ha so you chose her to work with me."
"Yeh I'm hoping that the both of you combined can make a dent into the pile of outstanding cases I have, anyway, I'm giving you the day off and her shuttle gets here in 2 hours be ready to pick her up. I'm sending you the itinerary for what you are to do with her, it'll be on your omni-tool."
"Okay Sir will do."
As Shen shut the screen down he went back to making his coffee but his mind wandered as to what his new partner is going to be like.
Shen walked up the gangway to meet his new partner, he thought it would be best to try and get off on the right foot for once. He looked at the screen above the arrival doorway, the shuttle from Illium had just landed, as he waited he heard shouting behind him, a human had just stolen a Salarian's bag, the human was running right towards him. Shen clenched his talons into a fist and punched the human in the face. As the human collapsed to the floor he chuckled to himself and wondered how this race had ever managed to become space faring.
A female voice chirped up from behind him, "Hmm you seem to play nice with others"
As Shen turned around he was startled by the Asari staring at him intensely. She introduced herself "I'm Ashana Z'Norik and you must be my new partner."
Shen extended his hand and shook Ashana's hand "I'm Ki'shen Gothis but everyone calls me Shen for short."
Ashana replied, "you can call me Ana if you'd like Ashana Z'Norik tends to be a bit of a mouthful, so who's your friend?"
"Lowlife scum, although I think he got what he deserved" replied Shen.
The Salarian came running over "oh thank you, I had all my research notes in there, I don't know what I would do if I lost them."
Shen yawned, "if you would like to press charges against, him," as he said this he indicated to the Human still lying on the floor unconscious, "you can ring the C-Sec security office or visit them on the Presidium Commons"
The Salarian replied in Ernest, "uh that wouldn't be necessary, I think he learnt his lesson, anyway must dash, goodbye."
Ana pondering, "did that seem in anyway odd to you?"
Shen, "Nah those lizard guy are always creepy."
Ana, "Uh no there was something odd about him, hey what if he had something to do with the Red Sand case hmm?"
Shen surprised, "Wow not even at your place and you're already working, your report said you were eager," Shen paused and stretched out his neck, "nah you've got a lot to learn kid, I bet you 200 credits we never see that guy again"
Ana cocky "Oh yeh, you're on, oh and by the way, Kid? I'm 200 years old."
Shen laughed to himself "Okay, anyway lets get you settled in, where have you arranged to stay?"
Ana looking at her omni tool, "Commander Ikos arranged everything for me, 34 Tzari Way."
Shen laughs to himself again, Ana curiously "Whats funny?"
Shen replies, "I live at 35 Tzari Way."
Whilst she was picking up her luggage she said "you think Ikos planned that?"
"Probably," replied Shen. "Anyway we got to get you through customs first.
Shen and Ana walk off towards customs. When they round the corner they walk into the large lobby area, where people waited to be processed and then let into the Citadel. The lobby was full of people of every race in the galaxy, from Asari to Hannar.
Ana exacerbated, "Oh Goddess, it's gonna take forever to get through this."
Shen pulled up his contacts list on his omni-tool.
"What are you doing?" Ana asked.
"I'm messaging my father asking him to fast track your entrance process." replied Shen.
"How can he do that?" She replied.
"My father is a senior advisor to the turian council member," he said. "he's got to be useful for something" he said with a stern tone of resentment in his voice.
"Okay I know I'm gonna regret this, but whats with the tone of voice?" she intrigued.
Shen's jaw clenched and he reached up to rub a scar on the side of his face that he could feel was beginning to burn. "Nothing, forget about what I said."
Ana was persistent, "Did it have something to do with you being stripped of your rank and commendations?" She instantly realized she had gone to far as she saw a fire in his eyes, a fire that made her feel sorry for him.
"Oh so even my fall from grace made it all the way to Illium... like I said forget it" he growled.
Ana looked down as she realised how insensitive she'd been. "Sorry" she muttered.
Shen's omni tool beeped and two security guards walked up to him and Ana. "We have orders to take you through security now miss, if you'd like to follow me." Said the guard. Shen looked at him Omni-Tool to see a message in his inbox. "I'll meet you on the other side, just got something to do." he said to Ana as she was being escorted through by the security guards.
Shen met Ana on the other side of the security checkpoint. "What took you so long?" Ana asked.
"Uhh... I had to see a friend," he hastily replied.
"Okay, then..." Ana not believing what Shen said, but she thought better of it than to push him for the truth.
Shen and Ana then walked to the Hover Car valet. Shen Clicked his Omni-Tool and his car pulled up at the pick up point.
"Wow," said Ana in amazement. "Sweet ride, what sort of speeds does this thing do?"
Shen just laughed, "well put it one way, I've put more money into this thing that C-Sec will put into their whole patrol car fleet, and trust me you can tell."
Ana raised he eyebrow. "Okay hotshot, prove it."
Shen put Ana's luggage in the back seat and then sat in the front next to Ana.
"Why not put it in the trunk?" asked Ana.
"You know when I said, I put a lot of money into this thing" he said with an air of confidence around him.
"Yeh" Ana replied.
"Well this thing has no trunk, I filled the trunk with a second drive core, as well as fitting my own reverse stabilizers, that means that nothing can out drive or out maneuver me behind the wheel of this baby on the citadel." Shen said with a cocky tone.
"Wow, you mind showing me." She asked hopefully.
"Maybe some other time, first we need to get you moved into your new place." he said as he began to rub the scar on his face again.
"Wow," Ana said to herself as she walked into the apartment as Shen followed carrying her luggage.
"Remind me again how you managed to make theses things so damn heavy," groaned Shen.
"Like I said, Asari have a way with fitting a lot into a small package," she replied with a cheeky tone.
"Right... anyway apparently I've got to show you round C-Sec, and let you get to know the area so we can hit the ground running tomorrow."
Ana, casually resting against the kitchen counter was looking out of the window, she turned her head to look at Shen, raising an eyebrow and replying, "something tells me that not what you had in mind though is it?"
"No, its not, but I'll let you get acquainted with your humble abode before we leave." Shen looked around the room before making his way towards the door.
Ana nodded and decided to move some of her things to her bedroom.
"I'll be across the hall getting a coffee, we're leaving in 30 minutes so I'll check back then."
"Okay," Ana shouted from inside her bedroom.
30 minutes or so passed and Shen knocked at the door.
Ana opened the door surprised to see Shen stretching out his arms and neck.
Ana sunk into her hip, "expecting trouble are we?"
"If you knew were we were going, you'd understand to be prepared for anything."
"Let me guess we're going to your favourite watering hole?"
"Damn, you know me already." he said chuckling to himself
"Aww come on Shen, isn't it a little too early to be drinking?"
"Rookie... trust me, on this job its never too early, and plus, the bar is the greatest source of information that Officers like us can use."
Shen walked into the bar followed by Ana. She'd only seen bars like this on vids, she didn't think she'd ever enter somewhere like this. You're a long way from the clean streets of Illium now girl, she thought to herself. She was so busy scouting the bar that she didn't hear Shen tell her to watch out for a spilt drink on the floor. She grimaced at how sticky the floor was, as she lifted her boot off the ground it seemed like half the floor was coming up with it. A large Krogan from behind the bar started laughing at her. Shen noticed that it was irritating her.
"Easy there, that's the bartender, Rufus. One of the nicest Krogan you'll ever meet, who also happens to a good friend of mine. He's only joking with you, you'll learn to love him."
Ana looked at Shen in disbelief, a Turian and a Krogan friends. What next she thought to herself, a Hannar becoming a Spectre. Shen went to sit at the bar and a rather angry Ana stomped behind him.
"Hey Buddy," said Rufus as he walked up to Shen, "What can I get you and your lady friend here?"
"I'll have a bottle of your Krogan battlemaster and she'll have?" as Shen gestured to Ana.
"I'll have the same."
Rufus looked at her in shock whilst Shen just laughed to himself. He pulled two two bottles from the fridge and plonked them down on the bar. "First one's on the house," Ana raised an eyebrow with a rather quizzical look on her face. "its to make up for before, its just a joke that I have with the new people who enter, that stains been there for years so all the regulars know to avoid it but it gets the new people every time. It even got old Scarface over here too when he first came in." Rufus said gesturing to Shen. He just nodded in agreement whilst he took a large swig from the bottle.
"So, you never normally come in here this early unless you want something, so what do you wanna ask me Shen?" Rufus asked as he was cleaning a glass.
Shen leaned in and whispered to Rufus. "Have you heard of a Krogan slaver gang called the 'Zircon Elite'.
Rufus quickly pulled his head back, "Nope, I've got no idea what you're talking about."
Ana saw the Krogan was lying. "Rufus, if you're scared we can protect you, just tell us the truth."
The Krogan laughed nervously, "Like you know what you're talking about." Shen began to growl agressively. "Okay, okay, look the Z.E are an old gang I used to run back on tuchanka and the surrounding system. We used to rob slaver ships and drug smuggling vessels on their way though the system, we used to stand for good. Freeing the slaves, making sure the drugs never reached our planets." At the mention of drugs Shen reached into his pocket to make sure his package was still there. "Then one of my lieutenants, Partek, decided he'd had enough of us playing the hero and decided to try and kill me to take over the gang. He tried to strike when I'd least suspect it. I was lucky to leave with my life although he got my good eye," Rufus's left eye was cloudy." "My old gang thought I was dead and so did Partek, I thought it was best to make my way to the citadel and start fresh." Rufus turned around to place the glass, that he had continually cleaned for the past five minutes, on the shelf. Ana wondered why this Krogan didn't go back to his gang and try to take it back but then she saw it, the scars of the back of his head and neck, they seemed to run all the way down to his legs.
"So what happened to the gang?" Shen asked.
Ana sat their enthralled by the old Krogans story
"They kept robbing slaver ships but this time they kept the slaves and sold them, I also heard that they would take the shipments of drugs and sell them back to the owners, Why are you asking me about this Shen? I thought we agreed that we'd never mention our pasts after we discussed them that one night?"
"I know but this is important to a case." Shen said as he finished his beer. "You wouldn't have heard anything about them smuggling Red Sand into the citadel would you?"
"I wouldn't know about that but I have heard that theirs been an awful lot of activity going on down in the docks near docking bay 48 apparently."
"Okay thanks Rufus and thanks for the beers." Shen said as he walked out of the bar quickly followed by a confused Ana who had no idea what was going on or where they were going.
"We are going to Docking bay 49 and doing a stake-out of Bay 48." Shen said as he walked into C-Sec headquarters. "Now I'm going to grab my weapon and armour, make sure to stop into Commander Ikos's office and say hello." Shen said as he hurried off to the armoury.
"Uh yeh... sure, it would be helpful if you'd told me where his office was you idiot." Ana said to her self rather annoyed.
Ana walked up to an asari who looked like she could help her and asked where Commander Ikos's office was located. After being pointed in the right direction she walked off with a purpose in her step.
Ana walked up to the glass door of Commander Ikos's office, just as she was about to knock as the door whizzed open. Ana was taken aback. "Permission to enter sir?"
"Granted." Ikos looked up from his desk. "ah if it isn't detective Ashana Z'Norik I trust Shen met you at the Spaceport okay?
"Yes sir, I would just like to thank you again for the."
Ikos raised his hand indicating Ana to stop. "Look detective, although I appreciate the respect you're not here just because of your reputation, I brought you here for a very specific mission."
"I serve at your command sir." Ana said standing at attention.
"Look you're a good kid, but tell me, what do you think of Detective Gothis?"
"He's a tough no nonsense cop, who has a chip on his shoulder with a good heart, Sir."
"Right, well here's the deal I brought you in to find out something for me, Shen has become more secretive and erratic this past year. Although I am his superior, we've always been friends but I'm worried about him. I'm worried he may have got himself in to deep after one of his assignments."
"Affirmative sir, I am to understand that this is purely a off the record mission?"
"Ah so not as naive as your first impression would make out. Yes this is purely a personal favour and he is to not know of what we have discussed, if you find any information out you report back to me. Understood?"
"Understood Sir."
"Brilliant, here's your ID badge, but considering you're not starting till tomorrow you won't be able to gain access to the Armoury."
"Thanks you Sir," Ana said as she turned to leave, she paused at the door and turned her back to face Ikos, "I won't let you down sir."
Ikos smiled at Ana and returned to his work, as the Asari left his office.
Shen came back to the main lobby 20 minutes later to find Ana stood there looking at her Omni-tool. "how was the meeting? I'm assuming he told you all about me?" Ana's eyes were slightly puffy, Shen noticed instantly. "What's happened, are you alright?"
"Yeh," she replied, "just got a message off my mother saying she misses me and hopes I'm doing well."
"Well you can sit this one out kid if you're not feeling up to it"
"What and let you get all the glory," she said as she nudged him on the arm jokingly.
Shen threw his rifle over his shoulder as he led Ana out to his Car.
Hey nice to see you made it to the end, I hope you enjoyed the story so far, and if you could leave any feedback its greatly appreciated as i'll take it on board. Thanks guys