Mass Effect Seed
Well, here we are everyone, the next chapter, took a little longer than expected to get done, but that's the nature of the beast I guess.
As the title implies, this is where things are going to start to diverge from the main story. Originally, the entirety of the Citadel evidence hunt was going to all be in one chapter, but as I was writing it, the chapter rapidly began to expand almost to the same length as chapter one and I wasn't even half done yet! So for the sake of my sanity (which my family has said is somewhat limited as it is), and hopefully to maintain quality, I have thus divided this chapter into two, much more manageable parts.
That said I would like to apologize for the lack of scene break lines last chapter (somewhat annoyed) they were there when I uploaded the doc and checked the preview then disappeared after I posted. I have hopefully rectified this issue and several others.
One final note, for those of you who are confused by the final scene from last chapter, fear you not, all shall be revealed...(grinning unrepentantly) eventually.
That said, sit back, grab a drink and/or snack, and enjoy!
"Spoken words"
'Inner thoughts'
"Radio"
(Scene break)
Location
(A/N:)
Disclaimer: I own what is mine; everything else goes to their respective owners.
(Episode Start)
Chapter Two: Divergent Paths Part One
Viktor was aware of two things as he awoke. One, the red-orange skies of Eden Prime had been replaced with the dark blue ceiling of the Normandy's med-bay. The faint smell of antiseptic permeated the room, leaving Viktor, bereft of his armor and the bodysuit underneath having been cut away in places, to guess that some sort of surgery had been performed not too long ago, which brought the second thing he noticed very much to the forefront. Whatever painkillers used were either not working or had worn off.
In layman's terms, his world was one of pain.
A short string of curses, all in random human and alien languages, escaped from the Lieutenant's mouth after he unsuccessfully attempted to sit up, the pain doubling especially around his neck. Said action had also caught the attention of an Alliance orderly (1) and that of the good Doctor.
"Russian, Gaelic, Japanese, Turian, Batarian, and at least six others I couldn't catch." Chakwas said in impressed amusement as she walked towards him. "I had heard that you had a rather large vocabulary, Lieutenant, though I sincerely hope you know more than swear words, otherwise you're going to annoy more than a few people. Are you alright now?"
"Ugh, my achin' noggin'." groaned Viktor, his vision swimming and while the rest of his body throbbed. "Anybody get the name of that Cruiser that hit me?"
"From what I saw, Dreadnought would be more appropriate in this situation, Mason." came a familiar flanged voice on Viktor's left, "Then again, I'm not in much better shape myself."
Craning his head slowly, Viktor was greeted by the form of Nihlus (2), bandages wrapped around the upper left side of his face and much of his bare torso. Propped into a sitting position, the Turian had turned from a datapad, most likely his report to the Council, and focused his remaining eye onto the younger Spectre aspirant. At the same time however, the sight that Viktor saw between him and Nihilus shocked the ultramarine haired man to his core.
Unconscious on the center bed, was Commander Shepard.
"What happened?"
"I'll answer that, Lieutenant," said Williams, rising from seat next to Chakwas' desk, pausing for a moment as the Doctor dismissed the orderlies, "A few minutes after you passed out, several squads from the 232 arrived to clear the area. They were given a brief sitrep and half remained behind to protect you, your family, and Nihlus while the rest came with us to secure the Beacon. Long story short, a firefight ensued while we disarmed charges that had been left by the retreating Geth, and the Beacon was destroyed after it activated for unknown reasons, probably my fault too, and did something to the Commander." Viktor got the sense that Williams actually believed she was the cause, but didn't interrupt her, "All three of you were brought onboard shortly there after, then the Doctor spent the next eight hours stabilizing Nihlus' condition while two of the orderlies worked on you with the auto surgeon to remove your malfunctioning adrenal booster."
"Which brings us to now," Nihlus then spoke, his voice now having a slight edge to it, "It's been almost fifteen hours since the incident with the Beacon and before the Doctor began to operate on me, I had the Captain set course for the Citadel. Reason being that during the attack another, just as serious, situation came to light: an act of treason by another Spectre." a low growl had begun to rumble from the Turian's throat at this point, "A Turian by the name of Saren Arterius, my former mentor."
Any further conversation of the matter would have to wait as the door to the med-bay opened once again, admitting the second to last member of the Mason family. Relief flowing into her features as she saw Viktor slowly turn to greet her.
"Ah, Miss Mason, good timing. Chief Williams and I had just finished bringing Viktor up to speed." the hostility that had been in the Turian's voice had evaporated, his usual friendly tone coming clear despite the anger from moments before. "You'll have to pardon me for being rude, but this report won't write itself and I need to have it done before we arrive at the Citadel."
"That's all right Agent Kryik, I understand." said Karen, her eyes meeting Nihlus' remaining one for a moment as she spoke. "I'm the one who should be apologizing for disturbing you when you should be resting."
"Oh, it's no problem at all, but please, call me Nihlus. There's no need to be so formal."
If it didn't hurt so much, Viktor would have chuckled at the exchange going on between his sister and the Spectre, but resisted as his sibling moved to a chair to the right side of the bed, fidgeting slightly as she met his gaze.
"Hey," she said quietly, uncertainty in her eyes as she fumbled for the right words to speak. "H-how...how are you doing? Do you need anything?"
The apprehension that had been building in Viktor melted away at those questions, the genuine concern in Karen's voice all but stating that she wasn't there to start trouble.
"I've been better," he answered, smirking slightly. "Though technically, should you even be up? Heavy Boneweave mods or not, you still dented a metal crate. That's not something you can just walk off after a dose of medi-gel."
"One of the orderlies checked me out when they had a chance after they got you and Agent Kryik stabilized." Nihlus sighed in theatric exasperation but hadn't turned from the datapad as the brunette continued, "Mom and Dad are fine by the way, they're on the crew deck and complaining about being dragged along to go the Citadel," the younger of the two siblings nodded, not too surprised, "As for me, there were some stress fractures and bruising to the bones, nothing too serious, but Doctor Chakwas is keeping an eye on me just to be safe. I was given some painkillers and I was ok after that." a frown then creased her features, "Speaking of which, why does the military get all the good stuff? Anywhere else and I would have had to get a prescription for something half as strong. How the hell is that fair?"
"And now you see one of the other reasons I joined," Viktor chuckled, "Free drugs."
Almost all the other occupants of the room joined in the mirth after that comment. Still shaking her head slightly, Chakwas came over to the bed activating her omni-tool, "Well now that it seems you have your bearings, Lieutenant, let's see about getting you up and moving shall we?"
Nodding, Viktor took a breath then began to push himself up, and while his injuries protested, the throbbing pain that had been present before had dwindled away considerably. Now in a sitting position, the N5 operative carefully stretched to relieve the stiffness in his muscles and regarded the Doctor.
"So what's the prognosis, Doc? Any serious damage or am I clear for duty, cause no doubt the brass are going to want a report filed and I need to get my kit back to working order."
The elder woman muttered something in warm exasperation under her breath as she finished her scan, "You're clear for duty, Lieutenant. However I would suggest trying to keep from doing any strenuous activity for a few hours more at least, and please do remember that your adrenal booster has been removed, I'd prefer not to have you back in here anytime soon unless it's to check on someone else."
Viktor grunted in mild annoyance, "Damn, that means no more bullet time until I get a new booster... guess I'll have to do gun kata the old fashioned way then."
"That reminds me, sir," Ashley said as the ultramarine haired Lieutenant walked behind a privacy curtain, dressing in a uniform brought from his locker, "You were saying you were going to give a better explanation once things settled down. How and where did you learn to that?"
"Yes, your family and I were in awe when you held off all those Geth by yourself back on the colony." spoke Nihlus as he powered down his datapad, report completed, "Is it possible for anyone to learn that skill, or is it something only you can do?"
Viktor paused for a moment, thinking of how best to give his explanation, "Well, gun kata itself is an advanced form of martial arts, but it is very difficult for the average person to pick up and use it to it's full potential, hell I haven't even mastered it yet. Not trying to sound arrogant, but I have two advantages...no, wait I take that back, I really only have one advantage over the average person." he chuckled for a moment, "Unless, of course you want troopers running around with packets of Red Sand so they can all have some form of biotics."
"Yeah, having a bunch of junkies running around a battle zone just sounds like a recipe for disaster." said Ashley as she rolled her eyes before realization lit up her features, "Wait a minute, is this that bit about that awareness thing you mentioned back on the planet, sir?"
"That's correct Chief," replied Viktor as he emerged from behind the curtain, "Back when I was growing up I quickly learned that I could actually sense everything going on around me, even when I couldn't see anything, something Karen here can attest to."
"That's an understatement," the elder sibling agreed with a snort, "We could never, ever, sneak up on this little bugger no matter where we were. It was especially annoying as all hell when he would turn our own pranks back on us!"
"I'm curious, Lieutenant, how far are you able to sense movement from yourself?" Chakwas asked, the gears in her mind almost whirring audibly, "I've read about other individuals with the same ability, though the farthest they could sense was about a meter or two."
"Kinda depends on the environment I'm in," Viktor responded as he leaned against the Doctor's desk, "In an enclosed space with no windows, like here, I can sense up to four meters, though in an open area or one with windows, that range increases to about twelve meters."
Karen started at that revelation, "Wait a minute, four to twelve meters? Four was your maximum before you joined the military. How did you increase to so far?"
"It was because of Akuze, wasn't it Mason," Nihlus stated, his voice somewhat hesitant, knowing mere mention of the place could be a touchy subject.
Viktor was silent for a few moments before he began, the words completely hollow as he spoke and he had gained the thousand yard stare, "Thresher Maws sense prey nearing their dens through vibrations in the ground, though by the time we figured that out half the platoon had been devoured. For hours those of us left did everything we could to evade or drive them off, even succeeded in killing a couple small ones, but with every encounter our numbers dwindled until I was the only one left." Viktor stopped after that statement and shook his head, preventing the memories from taking a further hold.
"So that's how your range increased," said Chakwas quietly, no longer as fascinated as she had been earlier, "The stress and sheer terror you felt then caused that part of your mind to go into overdrive to keep feeding you information of the surrounding area, but didn't revert when you were taken to safety."
By this time, Karen had walked over to her little brother and embraced him tightly, unshed tears in her eyes as realization and shame gripping her heart. 'Gods, and he was all alone in that hospital after that. Small wonder he doesn't hate any of us for it.'
The medbay had become completely silent save for the subdued beeps from the various machines, no one knowing what to say after hearing the story of Akuze from its only survivor. The fact he escaped that massacre with his sanity intact was a miracle in of itself as well as being a testament to his will.
Williams looked like she was about to say something when the room's sole unconscious occupant began to stir. "Doctor. Doctor Chakwas! I think he's beginning to wake up."
All eyes turned to the Commander as he slowly sat up, clutching his head in pain. Despite, or perhaps in spite, of the seriousness of the conversation of moments before, Viktor once again had a slight grin on his face as he moved toward his friend and CO, Karen moving off to one side after drying her eyes.
"Hey, Boss, welcome back to the land of the living."
"How long was I out?" Shepard asked groggily, eyes still not quite in focus yet.
"A little over fifteen hours," supplied Chakwas as she moved to the Commander's side, "You and the Lieutenant gave us quite a scare there for awhile. How are you feeling?"
Shepard closed his eyes and shook his head slightly to clear the cobwebs before answering, "Minor throbbing...other than that, just a few bumps and bruises."
"It's my fault, sir," Williams suddenly spoke up, head bowed slightly in shame, "I must have triggered some kind of security system when I got too close."
"You had no way of knowing what would happen, Williams, don't blame yourself," Shepard said calmly, rising from the bed and moving to the privacy screen just as Viktor had done not to long before.
"He's right, Chief," Karen supplemented, the brunette having turned toward Williams as the Commander began to move, "It's more likely either we did something when we moved the Beacon from the dig site, or the Geth did something when they had their synthetic mitts on it."
"Actually we may never know what it was supposed to do, though while you were unconscious I detected a large amount of brain activity, particularly that related to intense dreaming. Do you remember anything after the Beacon exploded?"
Behind the curtain, Shepard paused momentarily as he recalled the images he had seen, but as yet could not make sense of them, "I saw...I don't what I saw. Death. Destruction. None of it makes any sense."
"Are you saying that the Beacon transmitted something directly into your mind?" Nihlus asked, remaining eye wide with surprise, "I've never heard of Prothean tech doing that before...Does that make any sense to either you or your sister, Mason? You are the experts at the moment."
"Sorry, I've been out the archeological loop since I entered bootcamp," Viktor replied as he shook his head, gesturing towards Karen, "That's her area of expertise now, more so than ever."
"Unfortunately, I don't have anything either, guys," the brunette gave a helpless shrug, "This is new to me as well."
The door opened at the moment, the slightly haggard form of Captain Andersen filling the portal briefly. Seeing all three men, who had been brought in either half dead or unconscious, up and in a discussion took a load off of the senior officer's shoulders, and he relaxed somewhat as he entered the room.
"How are our guest, XO, and ground team leader (3) holding up Doctor?"
"The Commander and Lieutenant are fit for duty, sir," began Chakwas, her usual professionalism back to the fore, "Agent Kryik, on the other hand, has suffered several severe injuries that I was unable to fully attend to. There will likely be several more surgeries that I don't have the facilities for as well as physical therapy before he is going to be back on his feet."
"There's no need to sell yourself so short, Doctor. I doubt there are many physicians, even amongst the Hierarchy, who could have done half as much as you have and still have me coherent. You are truly a credit to your profession." complimented Nihlus, respect and gratitude evident in his voice.
Karen spoke up next, a twinkle of mischief in her eyes, "Yeah, you even got my lunkhead little brother back together again, and his wirings been crossed for years."
"Oi!" Viktor responded indignantly, hands on hips and eyes narrow, "I'm standing right here!"
"Of course, that's what makes this so much fun, otouto-chan." the brunette said in a sing-song voice
"Wench."
Laughter echoed throughout the room as the siblings hurled jabs at each other. Sobering after a minute, Andersen cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, "As touching, and humorous, as it is to see you reconnect with your sister, Mason, I need to speak with you, Shepard, and Nihlus in private regarding the mission and what happens when we reach the Citadel."
Taking the hint, Williams saluted while both Karen and the Doctor nodded, though smirks of varying degrees were still on their faces as they left the room. After the door closed, Andersen regarded the other three men before settling his gaze on Shepard, "I understand that Beacon hit you pretty hard, Commander, how are you holding up?"
"I don't like losing men under my command, sir," John said sullenly, leaning against the bed he had been on minutes before.
"Don't blame yourself about Jenkins," the dark skinned Captain said gently, "No ones seen the Geth in over three hundred years, I doubt there was anything that could have been done differently to change that. I realize that it's little consolation, but his fiancé will be receiving his full benefits due to his action on the colony."
"What's the situation, sir? I'm guessing this caused a lot of waves across the breadth of Citadel space," asked the younger of the two N#s.
"It's bad, but not as bad as it could have been if you hadn't reached Nihlus when you did, Mason," Andersen began, his face becoming serious.
"Neither Mason or I did anything wrong, sir," Shepard bridled slightly, "Hopefully the Council will see that."
"Unfortunately, Shepard, it's not that simple," stated Nihlus, "What you haven't heard yet is that another Spectre was leading the Geth during the attack. A Turian named Saren Arterius; he's one of the Council's top agents, so they're not going to just revoke his status when we charge him with treason, even if I'm the one to present the evidence."
"Lovely, and with the time he's had, he's probably come up with several cover stories to make himself look squeaky clean," the Commander groused, crossing his arms once more.
Andersen snorted humorlessly, "That's the way he works. He's willing to sacrifice a thousand lives to save a thousand more. As long as he has free reign to do as he pleases, none of our colonies are safe."
Viktor frowned slightly at the Captain's statement, wondering how the older man knew so much about this traitor. Filing this information away as the Captain, Shepard, and Nihlus discussed their options, as well as the Commander's vision, Viktor began to play the events through his mind once more, trying to remember any details that may help. In the end, it was decided upon to write up the reports for the mission and then wait for the hearing.
He didn't know why, but Viktor had the feeling that the discovery of the Beacon and the attack was just the beginning of something much bigger than any of them realized.
(Scene Break)
Sovereign, Unknown System
Saren sat in his quarters within the Reaper that was now his flagship, the dossiers of Shepard and Mason displayed before him on tow screens. In a few hours he would be called before the Council to defend himself against charges of treason, and these two humans could jeopardize a great deal if not dealt with. In Shepard he saw the greatest threat, for the old Turian knew the man had seen the vision before the Beacon was destroyed and, much to his chagrin, Saren saw a more idealistic and younger version of himself in the so-called 'Lion of Elysium.' His elimination had to be thought out carefully.
The Rogue Spectre could not ignore younger human either for, while he did not access the Beacon, his ability to process information and remember it at a moments notice made him as dangerous as his older counterpart. Saren pressed a few commands into his console and enlarged Mason's dossier, trying to find something he could use against this human.
Name: Mason, Viktor
Age: 24
Rank and Affiliation: 1st Lieutenant, Systems Alliance Special Forces
Specializations: Biotics, Close Quarter Combat, Data Analysis and Decryption, and Linguistics (10 Primary Languages, 4 Dialects)
Service Notes: Sole Survivor of Akuze Massacre, 3 Commendations from Salarian Special Task Group...
The door to his quarters opened and Matriarch Benezia entered the room, stopping just behind Saren, waiting to be acknowledged.
"What do you want, Benezia, I have to prepare for the hearing with the Council, make it quick."
"Forgive me, but a situation has arisen that requires immediate action," the Asari Matriarch began, his voice impassive due to Indoctrination, "Two Quarians ambushed a squad of our Geth yesterday ago and we believe they acquired data linking you to the attack on Eden Prime."
Saren spun in his seat at this news, attention now focused on her words, "Where are they?"
"They will be arriving at the Citadel in three hours. A Human ship assisted them in escaping from our forces."
For the second time in less than a day, rage boiled within the Spectre. Hissing and growling, Saren barely contained his anger as he gave out new orders, "Contact the Shadow Broker's agent, Fist, on the Citadel. Tell him to find them, get the data, and kill them before they talk. Money is of no importance."
Benezia nodded and quickly left the room, the door barely shutting before the Turian began to smash what ever he could reach. After the bout of rage ended, Saren looked at the clock on his omni-tool and set about making himself presentable.
He still had time, he could still succeed.
(Scene Break)
Human Embassy, Citadel
Viktor stood with the rest of the ground team as the Ambassador argued with the Councilors, trying to get a foothold for the upcoming hearing. Unfortunately, Uldina was not having as much luck as they had hoped.
"This is an outrage! The Council would intervene if a Turian colony had been attacked!"
"The Turians don't found colonies on the edge of the Terminus Systems, your request for a fleet is denied."
Viktor shook his head in disgust as the four politicians entered round four. Tuning out the nearby conversation, the Spectre aspirant turned gaze back out over the Presidium, mostly to take in the sights of this Prothean wonder, but also in part to ignore the glares his parents were throwing at him from across the room.
As he had expected, about an hour after he exited the med-bay and finished his report, his parents tracked him to the armory, where he was working on getting his kit back up to snuff. At first, it seemed like they were on the path to rebuilding the tattered remnants of their relationship, possibly even be called a family again, then his parents went from caring concern to raging in two seconds flat and everything came crashing down. Karen had tried to mediate things, explain what he gone through on Akuze, but their parents refused to listen and stormed off after all but disowning Viktor. The last part hadn't really surprised the ultramarine haired Lieutenant; in fact he had been expecting it a lot earlier, though it still didn't change the fact that he was even farther away from his parents. His sister's response, however, had truly surprised him when she started to shout and scream at their parents, standing up for Viktor for the first time in years. The result of that argument had the brunette staying on the Normandy with Nihlus until the hearing and their parents demanding to leave on the next ship out.
Viktor didn't envy the security detail when his parents were told they couldn't leave until after the hearing.
By this time the Ambassador had finished speaking with the Councilors and was now taking his anger out on Andersen. The Captain attempted to placate the politician, though anyone with half a brain could tell he wanted to throttle the man...the embassy staff probably hoping he would.
'Christ, small wonder the Alliance is having so much trouble getting anywhere with the Council,' Viktor thought sourly, 'Jackass.'
The "conversation" carried on for a few more beats, Shepard joining in on the Captain's side, before the Ambassador ended it, "Let's just hope the C-Sec investigation turned up anything to corroborate yours and the Nihlus' report. Andersen, you, the Professors, and I will be leaving for the Council Chambers now. Shepard, you and your team will have to take a separate vehicle, the hearing starts in forty-five minutes. Don't be late."
With that, Uldina left, the Professors and Captain Andersen not too far behind, but not before the dark skinned man quietly growled in irritation. The ground team was then alone in the Ambassador's office, Williams saying the words that were on everyone's mind.
"And that's why I hate politicians."
Giving the first group a few minute head start, Shepard then took the lead and began heading for the rapid transit station outside the Embassy. This was going to be a long day.
(Scene Break)
Lower Zakera Wards, Citadel, two hours earlier
They had been running for what seemed like hours before they found a place to hide, a back alley by the looks of it, their strength nearly spent. When the three of them had first arrived at the Citadel, they had thought they would be safe from harm. True they had dealt with a rather annoyingly long search by customs officers, probably just because two of them were Quarian, but they never expected to have a running gunfight with mercs throughout the station!
Having caught his breath the eldest of the three, also the only human, straightened and turned to his companions, brushing dark brown bangs clear from his eyes, "Alright, now that we've lost those mercs for the time being, we need a plan."
Checking one of the armored plates attached to his suit, the male Quarian spoke, "I think we should try to go to the C-Sec Academy, from there we can try to get a hold of someone who can get this data to the Human Embassy, maybe even to the Council. It does involve a Spectre after all."
"We could also try to find this "Fist" person that the Shadow Broker mentioned in the email," said the female Quarian, activating her omni-tool, "We're in the right Ward, I think, so if we ask around we might be able to find him a bit easi-AH!"
A gunshot interrupted anything more said, catching the young woman in the shoulder. In a flash, both men had drawn their weapons, putting themselves between the incoming fire and their injured friend, shields flickering.
"Run Tali'Zorah!" ordered the human, pistol kicking in his hand, "Kahr and I will draw them off. You get that data to the authorities."
"I can't just leave you two like this," Tali said through pain-clenched teeth, drawing her own pistol and firing several rounds.
Pulling her into cover, Kahr carefully put a quick seal onto the damaged section of her suit, "Michael is right Tali'Zorah, that data is more important than either of us right now. You need to leave, now, before they get behind us." Patch work done, the armored Quarian spun back out, loosing controlled bursts from his assault rifle.
Knowing that her friend was right and her HUD blaring contamination warnings, Tali fought back tears in her eyes before she began to run, "If either of you die here, I'll kill when I next see you."
Pulling a fresh clip from inside his leather duster, Michael cast a glance over to Kahr, a grin on his face, "She does realize for that to work, we'll have to come back to life, right?"
Kahr'Ramas Nar Ferron shot a withering glare at the dark haired human before sending another burst down range, dropping one of their assailants. "Less talk, more shoot."
(Scene Break)
Citadel Tower, Citadel
The ride to the Council Chamber had mostly quiet in its entirety, the four occupants of the elevator taking in the breath taking view of the Citadel Arms and the sprawling metropoli that covered their surface. The Protheans had created a wonder for the ages when they had designed the massive space station, something that must have taken centuries, if not millennia, to build.
Then they disappeared, leaving a great legacy, and a mystery for the ages.
Near the end of the ride, Williams suddenly became very nervous, asking if she worry about any questions the Council might have for her. Alenko calmed the Gunnery Chief, telling her to just tell what happened and she would be fine. The dark haired woman nodded and settled somewhat after that, though her hand unconsciously reached for the empty spot where her side arm had been before they arrived at the Tower. Viktor also missed having the reassuring weight at his side as well, but understood the security measure.
He understood, but wished he could have shot the speakers before they entered the elevator...Gods was this music annoying.
A slight sensation of slowing permeated the windowed box, and with the stereotypical "ding" the elevator reached its destination. As the quartet of soldiers entered the first lobby area of the main chamber, they were greeted by an unexpected sight of three individuals having a very heated argument about something. Two of the men were Turians, one clad in black while the other was in blue C-Sec armor, the armored Turian seeming to be the younger of the two. The third man was also clad in C-Sec armor, however, what was surprising to the Alliance marines was that he was of a species that they would not have expected to see in C-Sec, let alone Citadel Space.
A Batarian.
"Sir, we need more time, Saren is hiding something, I can feel it," the younger Turian stated, urging the black clad one, "Stall them."
"Stall the Council," the older Turian deadpanned while crossing his arms, "This is a top level investigation, Garrus, you need facts, not feelings."
"Damn it, Palin, this is serious!" snapped the Batarian, brows furrowed in undisguised hostility at the unarmored Turian, "We have a written statement from another Spectre that Saren was leading the attack, for Christ's sake! By all rights that should give us the clearance to check all of his past actions for the last six months at least!"
"It's out of your hands now, Aalok, Council's orders," Palin said with the finality of a gunshot as he began to walk off, "Your investigation is over."
Both officers glared after the retreating form of the other Turian, growling slightly, then noticed the group of armored humans exiting the elevator. Taking calming breaths, the Turian and Batarian turned and moved towards them, frustration in their eyes.
"Commander Shepard, Lieutenant Mason?" asked the Turian before introducing himself and his compatriot, "I'm Garrus Vakarian, this is Aalok Duras, we were the C-Sec officers assigned to investigate Saren."
"Looks like we're not the only ones getting stonewalled in this mess," said Viktor, humorless smirk on his face, "So, who was chuckles?"
"That inspiring paragon of justice," Aalok began sarcastically, gesturing widely in the direction the suit clad Turian had left, "Was Executor Palin, head of Citadel Security, our boss."
"And now, the person who's more likely helping that bastard, Saren, with his inactivity," Garrus growled.
Shepard's eyebrow rose at the declaration, "I have to say I'm actually somewhat surprised to hear you say that...then again I'm also surprised a Batarian would willingly help Humans at all. No offense Officer Duras."
"None taken," the Batarian chuckled.
Garrus then replied to the Commander's earlier statement, giving voice to his reasons and what he thought of the traitorous Turian Spectre. After the C-Sec officer's impassioned short speech, Alenko got the Commander's attention after glancing at his omni-tool stating that the hearing was due to start in a few minutes. The two officers bid their farewells to the four soldiers, wishing them luck for the hearing before departing for the elevator.
Moving quickly to the main audience chamber, the Spectre Candidates caught sight of Captain Andersen at the base of the stairs, motioning them in as the hearing was called to order. At the back of the room, standing before a large window that looked out upon the void, were the three members of the Council. To their right, the imposing image of Saren Arterius glared balefully at the Human delegation, not even bothering to hide his hate for them. To the Councilors left was the image of Nihlus, staring at the old Spectre with his remaining eye, the desire to exact revenge against him prevalent in his gaze...but also a hint confusion.
That slight variance in Nihlus' outward expression was enough to set alarms off in Viktor's mind, causing him to enter multi-task mode once again. He only partially listened to the two parties as they reviewed and argued over the evidence, instead scrutinizing Saren's image, trying to find what was throwing the younger Spectre off. Looking at the older Turian, he saw that the image of Saren had not one blemish on it, the cybernetics Nihlus had mentioned early completely absent.
As well as the face paint that almost all Turians wore to represent their colony and their trustworthiness.
Councilor Retoma's head tilted slightly as Viktor's hands flickered. A barely discernable frown formed on the Salarian Councilor's face, before his own hands flickered briefly and then he turned his gaze towards the other Councilors and Saren.
It was a bit of a gamble, but if the plan that had formed in Viktor's mind worked, it could by them the time they needed. Putting a sardonic look upon his face, the ultramarine haired Lieutenant crossed his arms and began to chuckle in seeming amusement at the proceedings.
Seeing the movements from the younger N#, Councilor Velarn focused onto Viktor, a prideful sneer on his face, "Would you like to share what you find so amusing with the rest of us, Lieutenant Mason?"
A placating expression replaced the sardonic one that had been on Viktor's face, "My apologies, Councilor, I could not help but chuckle at the irony of the situation."
"And what do you find so ironic to give you such amusement, Lieutenant," asked Retoma, though his attention was still focused toward the other Councilors and Saren.
"Well, for the most part, it is the actions of Councilor Velarn that genuinely surprised me," Viktor answered sincerely, as if not trying to sound offensive, "Being a paragon of Turian culture and virtues, one is somewhat surprised that he would so readily take the words of, if you will pardon me for saying, a bare-faced."
A near audible snap filled the air as the heads of every diplomat and government official spun to closely watch the hearing they had been partially ignoring before hand. The massive Council Chamber had become so quiet that the normally silent footsteps of the Keepers sounded like the dull thuds of artillery fire.
Among the human delegation, the rest of the ground team and Captain Andersen wore confused expressions on their faces while Uldina and the Professors looked as if they were about to have heart attacks or strokes.
The Councilors and Spectres responses to the statement varied from the speechless shock from Councilor Tevos, surprise from Velarn and Nihlus, and outrage from Saren. The entire chamber waited on bated breath for the reply to the statement, not a word whispered. Through it all, not one person noticed the continued impassiveness of Councilor Retoma.
Councilor Velarn was the first to recover, surprisingly enough, appearing thoughtful as the irony seemed to sink for him, "I suppose that is a very ironic, you know your cultural history very well, Lieutenant. Be that as it may, and as you likely already know, many Turians, myself included, are moving away from that particular belief. Besides, I've known Saren personally for years and-"
"Then you should recuse yourself on account of personal bias into the character of the accused!" thundered Uldina, seeing, at the last second, the opening Viktor had made for him. Gasps of shock and outrage echoed throughout the balconies and terraces surrounding the main platforms.
Velarn stood there in shock for a few moments before he realized that he had walked into a political trap. He turned to his fellow Councilors hoping to find some support, but instead found looks of shock from Tevos and cold fury from Retoma. Shouts of anger had begun to come from all corners of the Council Chamber, decrying Velarn's blatant showing of favoritism and complete disregard for the laws that the Council was suppose to maintain.
It took Councilor Tevos several minutes to bring order back to the room following a brief, and very heated, private discussion with the other Councilors. "In light of this turn of events, this hearing is to adjourn until such a time as an unbiased judge can be sworn in and review the evidence. Ambassador Uldina, we ask for your patience in this matter, for it may take awhile."
"Of course, Councilor, I understand completely," the grey hair man said smoothly, any trace of his anger gone for the moment, "This is a serious matter that requires your complete attention." (4)
"This meeting of the Council is hereby adjourned."
With that, the various diplomats and officials began to move away, the turn of events in the hearing the main topic of all conversations. Before their holograms disappeared, Saren cast a glare directly at Viktor that would have killed a lesser man, while Nihlus struggled to maintain his composure long enough to deactivate the image. Councilor Velarn also cast a similar glare, however he had to turn his attention back to the other Councilors as they began to almost physically drag their Turian counterpart to a private meeting room.
The Human delegation went back to the lobby area of the Council Chamber, moving to a side alcove before Uldina turned to Viktor, a slight smile on his face. "I have to say, Lieutenant, I believe you missed your calling. You'd have made a hell of a negotiator with that mind of yours. There will be repercussions for this, of course, but they should be relatively minor in comparison to the breach of conduct done by Councilor Velarn."
"Pride cometh before the fall, Ambassador," Viktor said calmly, ignoring the disapproving looks cast at him by his parents, "The Councilor has a chip on his shoulder the size of Arcturus Station, it was bound to happen eventually. As it is, I don't think any of them expected a grunt like me to know that particular insult, it's not common knowledge amongst non-Turians."
"Excuse me, Ambassador, but I have to ask what that bit about Saren being bare-faced means," Shepard frowned in confusion, putting voice to the question on the mind of the rest of the ground team, "I easily picked up that it's an insult of some kind among Turians, but I'm curious as to why."
"I'll answer that, Boss. Have you noticed that every Turian you meet has some form of face paint on?" at the Commander's nod Viktor continued, "Well, long story short, when the Turians began to colonize other worlds, tensions began to rise between the various colonies and Palaven. To show their allegiances, the colonists began to paint the symbols of their respective colony on their faces, thus allowing for easy identification in case a disturbance ever broke out. When a Turian, like Saren, ever removed their markings and leaves their faces bare, it effectively says that they are trying to hide their origins and, thus, marks them as untrustworthy."
"As the Councilor said however, there are many Turians who are beginning to not worry about such things anymore, in no small part due the other races of the galaxy," Uldina supplemented before changing the subject, "There is more to it than that, but now we have more important things to discuss. Even as slow as things move around here politically, we probably only have a day at the most to try and gather anymore evidence before the next hearing."
"So we need to hurry and find what can before we're called back," stated Andersen, looking thoroughly pleased at the thought of nailing Saren to the wall.
"No, Andersen, you're going to have to step out of this investigation," Uldina suddenly stated, catching the Alliance marines off guard, "Your personal history with Saren almost compromised our case as it was until Mason intervened."
"Captain Andersen deserves better than that," Shepard said hotly, once again coming to the defense of his mentor. Viktor was about to add his two cents worth when the Captain raised a hand, stopping him from saying anything.
"No, the Ambassador's right," Andersen grudgingly said, realizing what the Ambassador was talking about, "I have to step back, this is yours and Mason's show now. We can't give the Council anymore reason to disregard any evidence we bring forward."
Shepard and Viktor relented after that, they didn't like it, but they did so. At that moment Nihlus' voice came over their comm beads, the telltale inflections that he had been laughing hard not a minute earlier prevalent, as well as a slight amount of pain.
"Mason, if you were a woman I'd kiss you," the Turian declared, the ground team not needing a video image to know he was still smiling, "You may not realize it yet, but you just solved a lot of problems for all Spectres with that wonderful use of Turian culture."
"You know," the Commander said dryly, "That doesn't really surprise me for some odd reason. Though I'm not particularly thrilled that the insult was used in the first place, Viktor."
"You have no idea, Shepard, but don't be too hard on Mason, he did what he had to buy us some time," said Nihlus, "Now we need to focus on getting more evidence for the hearing before an unbiased judge is sworn in. Do we any have leads we can make use of?"
"The two C-Sec officers that were in charge of the investigation said they had needed more time before the hearing," recalled Alenko, "Maybe we should try talking with them."
"So our first stop is C-Sec Academy then," Viktor said as he popped his neck, "Hopefully we can catch Vakarian and Duras before they get started on another case."
"And just what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" Viktor's mother demanded hotly, scowling at the marines, "We've made our testimonies, so by all rights we aren't needed anymore correct?"
"Unfortunately, Professor, it's not that simple," Andersen began slowly, trying to placate the angry archeologists, "You, your husband, and your daughter are still witnesses in an ongoing investigation, and until that's over you'll have to remain in protective custody, either by staying at the Embassy or returning to the Normandy."
The Professors' faces became positively livid, and they then growled out they would absolutely not return to the ship, Uldina then stepping forward and offering to take them back since Andersen would more likely go to the Normandy. The trio then left abruptly, neither of the elder Masons sparing even a look at their youngest son as they stalked by.
"And to think, if I didn't know what I do now, I'd probably be with them," Karen's voice drifted over the link, a hint of sadness in her tone.
"Hey Sis," Viktor sighed tiredly, "I going to go out on a limb here and guess that you're going to stay on the ship?"
"Considering everything that's happened, it's probably for the best," Karen replied, then continued lightly "Besides, somebody has to keep laughing boy here from popping his sutures again." (5)
"In my defense, I had no idea such a thing would, or for that matter could, happen in this situation. Also I needed that laugh, what with everything going on right now." the Spectre countered, "But that is beyond the point right now. Andersen, do you mind if I use the comm in your quarters for the time being? There may be something I can do on my end to help, maimed as I am."
The Captain gave his consent and shortly there after the marines made for the elevator back to the lobby, separating after they reclaimed their weapons from the kiosk at the entrance. The game was afoot.
(Scene Break)
Unknown Location
The man leaned back into his chair rubbing his face as he entered round two of the argument with the dark haired beauty, "I understand that the situation has degraded and resources are being shuffled, but the Atlantic Federation is breathing down my neck for a proper OS for the G-Weapons. Your techs could give me one in a fraction of the time it would take me to get it done on my end."
"The concerns of the Atlantic Federation are not ours," the woman replied, blue eyes as hard as ice, "Had the attack on Eden Prime not happened, teams would have been sent in to discredit and then eliminate their leaders as well as those of Blue Cosmos. Humanity is having enough trouble as it is, and we will not have the advances we've made be undone by the backwards thinking of terrorists in your system. You are on your own for now, Professor Kato."
With that, the feed ended, and the Professor swore as he stood up, beginning to pace in his office. After a few moments, a light bulb went off in his head as the solution to his problem popped into his mind. The way things were going, no Natural could create an OS to operate a machine like the G-Weapons, and with his shadowy benefactors more concerned with the problems out of system and getting their own machines updated and moved out, that left only one type of person who could make such a system.
Going through a small directory on his desk, the dark haired Professor found the number he was looking for and quickly dialed it. "Hello, Kira? This is Professor Kato. I have a side project I'm working that's hit a snag, and I was wondering if I could borrow you and your sister's programming skills?"
(To be continued)
Author Notes:
1. I always had a bit of an issue with Chakwas being the only Medical Officer on the Normandy, I mean seriously one person to take care of every other member of the crew for whatever ails they may have? Future medical tech or not, for a ship of the Normandy's size, I personally believe that one person can't handle all that alone. Thus, I have added in a couple orderlies to help our favorite Doctor with the various day-to-day needs, as well as the emergencies.
2. Nihlus...LIVES! Another character that I thought got the short end of the stick, so I spared him while giving him a very nasty wound. Due to his injuries he won't be really involved until later on in the story, but he will have his moments.
3. If anything, this is the role I suspect Kaiden would have likely filled if Andersen had stayed in command of the Normandy, and while our favorite Sentinel is technically a higher rank than Mason, he's still regular marines as opposed to Mason and Shepard, who are Special Forces...this of course is a bit of conjecture on my part since I really don't know how the different branches of the Military command structure would work (insert helpless shrug)
4. Amazing what can happen when someone who knows about cultural facts calls someone out on the floor, eh? (Mason Renegade +10, Shepard Paragon +10)
5. This is a little something I added in because while medi-gel is an incredible piece of medical technology, it is only a quick fix. Truthfully I believe that most doctors of the time would prefer that their patients heal naturally as opposed to having a wound plugged full of an engineered biomass.
Thank you for reading and please leave a review, your opinions are valued.
