Sorry about length…
The Spectre
Author's Note: This was probably both the best and the worst day of my father's life. On one hand, it was the day that both the human fates and the quarian ancestors decided to change what my father could have become. Giving him the power to do what he needed, good or bad, to become the savior of the galaxy. Initiating him on the path of death, destruction, and loss. But on the other hand, besides it being one of the most important days of my own life, it was the day where the fates of my mother and father began to entwine. Where the first seeds of their love were planted and only just began taking root…though they didn't quite know it yet.
Hundreds of images stormed through the Commander's head.
Death…
Broken images. Half-images of death and destruction.
War…
As soon as his mind focused on something, it flittered away, disappearing into a mess of a billion other images…senses.
Destruction…
He didn't understand…
Defeat…
He couldn't understand…
Extinction…
The relatively unfamiliar sight blue metal blurred to existence before his eyes. Blue. Blue. Blue, he thought. Normandy…where? What happened? Passed out…Med-bay.
"Doctor? Doctor Chakwas!" A feminine voice shrilled, echoing through his head. "I think he's waking up."
Please…quiet down. Shepard slowly sat up and put his feet on the floor; he was immediately rewarded with an intense bout of vertigo. So he closed his eyes and waited to find his balance. His was just barely fading in and out at the edge of his consciousness.
He heard footsteps walking his way. "You had us worried there, Shepard," the measured voice of Dr. Chakwas spoke. "How are you feeling?"
You don't want to know. "How did I end up here?" he replied, words still slightly slurred. "How long was I out?
He opened his eyes and looked up at the silver-haired doctor. She was standing between him and the wall. At one time, she was probably a fairly attractive woman. That's not to say she was unattractive now, but more refined, more…experienced. Perhaps a beauty of sorts that could only come with age. Whatever the case, her experience must've given her an idea about how he felt since she didn't try and dig for an answer. "About fifteen hours. Something happened down there with the beacon, I think."
The first voice, Ashley, started speaking from behind him, much less echo-y than before, "It's my fault. I must've triggered some kind of security field when I approached it. You had to pull me away."
Shepard vaguely realized that she must've been blaming herself for his current state. "You had no way to know what would happen."
He didn't see her small, appreciative smile.
"Actually," Dr. Chakwas informed them, "we don't even know if that's what set it off. Unfortunately, we'll never get the chance to find out."
"The beacon exploded," Ashley clarified, walking into Shepard's visual range. "A system overload, maybe. The blast knocked you out cold. The Lieutenant and I carried you back here to the ship."
Damn, he thought. That's going to make some people mad at met. He was at the point where he felt he could manage his ability to nod, so he glanced up at the Chief and gave her one. "Appreciate it." Did she just blush?
"Physically you're fine," the doctor continued. "But I detected some unusual brain activity, abnormal beta waves."
His balance was better, he hoped, so he risked standing up. He didn't want to risk walking yet, though, so he settled for leaning on the bed.
"I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with intense dreaming."
The remnants of the dream still were bouncing around in his head, and he found himself speaking before he realized it. "I saw—," he shook his head. "I'm not sure what I saw. Death…Destruction. It's broken. Nothing's clear."
"Hmm," Dr. Chakwas paused, judging. "I better add this to my report. It may—Oh, Captain Anderson." The good doctor straightened up.
The dark skinned Captain walked up and everyone turned to face him. "We've been over this, no rank in the med-bay. How's our XO holding up, Doctor?"
"All the readings look normal," she replied. "I'd say the commander's going to be fine."
"Glad to hear it. Shepard, I need to speak with you," He looked at Dr. Chakwas and Ashley, "—in private."
Ashley gave a quick salute, "Aye, aye Captain. I'll be in the mess if you need me." She then turned on her heel and walked out of the med-bay. Doctor Chakwas followed close behind.
Captain Anderson returned his gaze to Commander Shepard. His own face showed experience, like the doctor, but experience of a different type. Experience of deciding who lives and who dies at the point of a gun. He couldn't have been more than fifty. "Sounds like that beacon hit you pretty hard, Commander. You sure you're okay?"
Shepard let out a breath, "I don't like soldiers dying under my command, sir."
"Jenkins wasn't your fault," the Captain reassured almost immediately after he spoke, like he'd planned it. "You did a good job, Shepard."
Something felt wrong and I sent him out there anyway.
Seeing he wasn't convinced, Anderson continued. "You guys were sent in there blind. His death was the fault of the Alliance and the Citadel."
Shepard wasn't sure he entirely believed him; at that particular moment, it was his choice and his order. But whatever, it wasn't relevant to the situation now, so he shook his head to clear the thought. "You needed to see me in private, Captain?"
"I won't lie to you, Shepard." The Captain straightened up. "Things look bad…Nihlus is dead, the beacon was destroyed, and the geth are invading. The Council's going to want answers."
"You say I didn't do anything wrong, Captain. Hopefully, they can see that."
Anderson pursed his lips and turned away, "I'll stand behind you and your report, Shepard. You're a damned hero in my books."
He waited a beat longer to let his statement sink in, then spoke again. "But that's not why I'm here. It's Saren…that other turian…He's a Specter, one of the best….A living legend." Anderson turned around to face Shepard again. "But if he's working with the geth, it means he's gone rogue…And a rogue Spectre's trouble. Saren's very dangerous, and hates humans."
"Why?" Shepard asked.
"He thinks we're growing too fast, taking over the galaxy." Anderson averted his gaze, "A lot of aliens think that way." He looked back at the Commander, "Most of them don't do anything about it." He paused, "Saren has allied himself with the geth. I don't know how, I don't know why…I only know it had something to do with that beacon."
Obviously, Shepard thought.
"You were there just before that thing self-destructed. Did you see anything? Any clue that might tell us what Saren was after?"
Shepard leaned back against the bed again, regretfully trying to call up what he could of his dream…it was easier than he thought it would be. "Just before I lost consciousness, and a little after, I suppose, I had some kind of…vision."
"A vision? Of what?" Anderson moved to stand in front of him.
Shepard was looking at the floor, trying to tie together the images that had evidently been burned into his memory, "I saw synthetics, Geth maybe, slaughtering people…butchering them."
"We need to report this to the Council, Shepard."
One of Shepard's eyebrows went up, "What are we going to tell them? I had a bad dream?"
Anderson shook off the sarcastic remark, "We don't know what information was stored in that beacon. Lost Prothean technology? Blueprints for some ancient weapon of mass destruction? Whatever it was, Saren took it…And I know Saren. I know his reputation, his politics." He paced slowly as he spoke, "He believes humans are a blight on the galaxy. This attack was an act of war!"
He stopped pacing and faced the Commander again, "He has the secrets from the beacon. He has an army of geth at his command, and he won't stop until he's wiped humanity from the face of the galaxy!"
"Then I'll find some way to take him down," Shepard calmly responded. "If I can get over this headache."
"It's not that easy."
Damn…, Shepard thought.
"He's a Spectre. He can go anywhere, do almost anything. That's why we need the Council on our side."
Oh, that's where you were going with that…sarcastic mind up and running? Check, he thought. "We prove Saren's gone rogue and the Council will revoke his Spectre status."
"I'll contact the ambassador and see if he can get us an audience with them. He'll want to see us as soon as we reach the Citadel."
Shepard straightened up, "Understood, sir."
"We should be getting close. Head up to the bridge and tell Joker to bring us in to dock." With that Captain Anderson turned on his heel and left the med-bay, probably returning to his quarters to finish up his report.
Shepard waited a few seconds longer to make sure he was fit to walk, then began the somewhat short walk up to the bridge, Ashley caught his attention, though, before he left the mess with a simple, "Hey, Commander."
"Hey Ashley," he responded in kind, stopping to chat.
"I'm glad you're okay, Commander. The crew could use some good news after what happened to Jenkins."
"He was a valuable part of this crew…he will be missed."
"Part of me feels guilty over what happened. If Jenkins was still alive, I might not be here."
I don't see h-…oh…that's what she meant…well. "You're a good soldier, Williams. You belong on the Normandy."
"Thanks, Commander. That means a lot coming from you. I've never met anyone who was awarded the Star of Terra."
Uh…Lets not go there…He hated being patronized about that point in his life; people always got starry-eyed and…limited themselves, in the social sense, around him. "There's nothing special about me, Williams. Anyone would have done the same."
Williams let off a slight laugh, "Held off an entire enemy platoon? Alone? With all due respect, Commander, I think you've got somebody watching over you."
She went there. Let's change the subject… "Things were pretty rough down there. Are you okay?"
Ashley could obviously tell he was trying to avoid the subject so she didn't press. Her face sobered. "I've seen friends die before…Comes with being a marine...But to see my whole unit wiped out…"
Wrong subject…sorry, Shepard thought.
Ashley shook her head, "And you never get used to seeing dead civilians. But things could have been a lot worse if you hadn't shown up."
"We couldn't have done it without you, Williams."
"Thanks, Commander. I have to admit, I was a little worried about being assigned to the Normandy. It's nice when someone makes you feel welcome."
Shepard gave her what he hoped was reassuring smile, although it was probably more scary than anything due to his headache. "I think you're going to fit in here just fine, Williams."
"Thanks Commander."
Shepard gave her a closing nod and continued on to the bridge.
"Glad to see you're okay, Commander," Kaidan said as he walked by.
"Thanks, we're going to be pulling into the Citadel soon. Get Ashley and meet me up there if you feel like watching."
"Yes sir."
After walking up the stairs and into the CIC, Navigator Pressley caught Shepard in passing and expressed his happiness that Shepard was okay despite losing Jenkins.
"He'll be missed." Shepard simply replied and moved on.
A little more walking, and he finally reached the bridge, behind the chair of the Normandy's wisecracking pilot, Joker. Unlike most people in the Alliance Military, Joker always wore a non-regulation scruffy beard as well as a regulation dark blue ball-cap with the Normandy's "SR1" logo placed prominently on the crown. He had blue-green eyes overshadowed by somewhat flared eyebrows. For some reason, he rarely left the bridge.
"Good timing, Commander," Joker commented on his approach. "I was just about to bring us in to the Citadel. See that taxpayer money at work."
How did he know I was here? Shepard thought.
The Normandy made the final jump through the Mass Relay into the Widow system and exited FTL speeds. Shepard then saw a sight he had not seen in a very long time…the seat of galactic power and influence…the Citadel.
The massive space station, being similar in shape to a pentagram consisted of a central ring surrounded by five massive arms which protruded from its edges. In times of crisis, the arms could be closed to prevent ships from leaving or entering the massive structure, thought they were usually kept in the mostly open position to allow optimum gravity to be generated by its rotation.
"Look at the size of that ship!" Ashley said, voice colored with awe. She was referring to a massive dreadnaught that had been floating just inside the arms of the much larger station.
"The Destiny Ascension…Flagship of the Citadel fleet," Kaidan spoke. Shepard swore that if given a bit of music, that statement could've sounded dramatic.
The Ascension was an asari ship that was at least four times larger than any Alliance vessel. It consisted of a tubular main body with one flowing point pointing in each direction: up, down, left, and right. It apparently held a main gun that was equal in firepower to the collective strength of the entire asari fleet.
"Well size isn't everything," Joker quipped.
"Why so touchy, Joker?" Ashley teased right back.
"I'm just saying: you need firepower, too."
"Look at that monster!" she replied pointing at it. "Its main gun could rip through the barriers on any ship in the Alliance fleet."
"Good thing it's on our side, then," Kaidan said.
Yeah, was all Shepard could think. Just as beautiful as I remember.
"Citadel Control, this is SSV Normandy requesting permission to land," Joker announced through the external ship communications.
"Stand by for clearance, Normandy," was the response. "…Clearance granted. You may begin your approach. Transferring you to an Alliance operator."
"Roger, Alliance tower…Normandy out."
After a few more seconds of waiting, they were contacted by the Alliance operator and given a berth. It was abnormal that they had such a smooth time of getting docked with the Citadel. Normally it would take hours of talking back and forth just to get clearance, but since they were in an Alliance frigate that had just returned from an important mission with ties to the Council, it was crucial they be let through quickly.
"Enjoy the view?" Captain Anderson asked as he walked up behind the three people and the pilot.
"Never gets old," the Commander replied.
"I hear that…I need the three of you to get suited up. We are working on setting up a meeting with the Council in a few hours.
"All three of us?"
"Yes, the ground team. Only you three know what actually happened down on Eden Prime."
Shepard gave a salute, "Understood, sir, we'll be ready."
The other two agreed.
"Good to hear, meet me in the human embassy," Anderson ordered and exited the airlock.
After he left, Ashley asked, "Now what?"
"Now…" Shepard looked at her, "We get suited up."
OOO
"This is an outrage!" Ambassador Udina fumed at the orange holograms of the three most powerful people in the galaxy. "The Council would step in if the geth attacked a turian colony!"
"The turians don't found colonies on the borders of the Terminus Systems, Ambassador," the Salarian Councilor calmly responded, though there was a silent edge to his words.
The Councilor, like all salarians, vaguely resembled the human reports of alien sightings back in the twentieth century in terms of proportions, though the salarian species was significantly taller…and amphibious. The head of the councilor was long and thin and had a pair of horns protruding from the very top, just above his big eyes. Another trait of the species. His skin tone was dark, nearly black, although the species skin tones were not nearly limited to that color, nor were their eyes. The eyes varied significantly more than human eyes, however, not nearly limited to a few colors and shades. The Councilor's large and oval eyes were just about the same color as his skin, and his pupils were shaped like a wide slit, oriented almost horizontally. That too, along with having three fingers on either hand, was a species trait. He was more the brain of the council, not just because of his photographic memory, a trait all salarians have, but because of the salarian knack for excelling in intelligence and information. Relatively speaking, he was probably the oldest one of the council as well, seeing as how few salarians lived over 40.
"Humanity was well aware of the risks when you went into the Traverse," the Asari Councilor continued.
The Asari Councilor was almost angelic, even compared to the rest of her species. Her species only had one gender, one that most closely resembled a human female with their only physical differences being their skin, which could range from blue to a dark purple complexion, the Councilor's was blue, and their rigid, tentacle-like scalp crests in place of hair. Her symmetrical facial markings, unique to every asari in color, shape, and location, but still symmetrical, morphed her face into a mask that seemed to give her a regal, majestic look. Her own marking colors were nearly white, although asari marking colors were normally either lighter or darker versions of their actual skin colors. She was more a mediator in the Council sessions, which was actually more a racial trait for her species, given how they could live about 1000 years. They literally lived to see the results of their decisions.
"What about Saren?"Udina asked, "You can't just ignore a rogue Spectre. I demand action!"
"You don't get to make demands of the Council, Ambassador," the Turian Ambassador countered, knocking Udina back into his place.
The Turian Councilor stood over six feet tall, with two long, proportionately thick fingers and an opposable thumb on each hand, each tipped with talons. Like the rest of his species, he had a set of mandibles around his mouth that, more than anything, added the intimidation factor to anything he said. His features were avian, making him resemble a humanoid bird or raptor…though turians didn't lay eggs, unlike salarians. His own voice, like most turians, was fairly recognizable as it had a distinctive flanging effect that some species tended to find soothing or, in special cases, sexy. His face was covered in white tattoos, indicative of his colony of origin. That was how his species distinguished themselves from one another. Given the strict militaristic nature of the turians, the Councilor acted as the skeptic on the Council, challenging ideas in order to work out the details for the greater good.
"Citadel Security is investigating your charges against Saren," the Asari Councilor continued. "We will discuss the C-Sec findings at the hearing…Not before."
With that, the holograms of all three councilors faded out.
Udina turned grimly towards Anderson. The Captain was silently standing a short distance away. "Captain Anderson. I see you brought half your crew with you."
Anderson just ignored Udina's mood. "Just the ground team from Eden Prime. In case you had any questions."
Oh, great, Ashley thought.
"I have the mission reports," Udina snapped. "I assume they're accurate?"
"They are," Anderson replied, his mild cheeriness probably put in place just to annoy the Ambassador. "Sounds like you convinced the Council to give us an audience."
"They gave this one high priority, and they were not happy about it. Saren's their top agent. They don't like him being accused of treason."
"Saren's a threat to every human colony out there," the Commander cut in. "If they don't stop him, I will."
Go Shepard! Ashley thought.
"Settle down, Commander," Udina responded. "You've already done more than enough to jeopardize your candidacy for the Spectres."
Spectre candidate? This is starting to get interesting…Ashley stood from leaning on the balcony.
"The mission on Eden Prime was a chance to prove you could get the job done," Udina continued. "Instead, Nihlus ended up dead and the beacon was destroyed."
"That's Saren's fault, not his!" Anderson interjected.
"Then we better hope the C-Sec investigation turns up evidence to support our accusations. Otherwise the Council might use this as an excuse to keep you out of the Spectres." Udina looked back at Anderson, "Come with me, Captain. I want to go over a few things before the hearing."
The Ambassador then practically ordered them to meet at the Citadel Tower and assured them that they would have clearance.
As the door closed behind him, Ashley muttered, "And that's why I hate politicians."
Shepard sighed and shook his head, "I guess we'd better go…right after I hack his computer."
Really!? An ambassador's computer? True Udina was annoying, but you had to hack his computer?
Shepard cocked his head as he read the files he recovered, "Unusual energy reading in the Argos Rho cluster? I'll have to report this to Anderson," he thought for a moment. "Right after we get the current deal sorted out."
"Ready, Commander?" Kaidan asked.
"Yeah, yeah," Shepard replied. "Let's go."
With that, Shepard called up a taxi and flew the squad to the Presidium.
OOO
The hearing, in simple terms, went bad. The evidence they threw at Saren was weak either way they looked at it, their eyewitness' judgment was just not enough, and on top of that, C-Sec found no good evidence to confirm the accusation of treason. Anderson being involved did not help either due to his previous involvement with Saren; it made the Council question their motives. It boiled down to his word against the ginormous hologram of the Council's top Spectre. In short…they had nothing.
After the hearing, the attendees met up to discuss their options.
"What's our next step?" Shepard asked.
Udina put his hand over his mouth, thinking. "As a Spectre, he's virtually untouchable. We need to find some way to expose him."
"What about Garrus, that C-Sec investigator?" Kaidan asked, "We saw him arguing with the executor."
Before the hearing, the squad walked into an argument between two turians about needing more time for the investigation into Saren. After the Executor walked away, Garrus spoke to the commander and said he had a gut feeling that the Spectre was up to something and hoped that the Council would listen to them.
"That's right!" Ashley responded. "He was asking for more time to finish his report, it seems like he was close to finding something."
"Any ideas on where he is?" Shepard asked generally.
Udina nodded, "I have a contact in C-Sec who can help us track Garrus down. His name is Harkin."
"Forget it," Anderson said with a wave of his hand. "They suspended him last month…Drinking on the job…I won't waste my time with that idiot."
Udina crossed his arms, "You won't have to, Captain. I don't want the Council using your past history with Saren as an excuse to ignore anything we turn up. Shepard can handle this."
Shepard nodded, "I can. I'll take care of it."
Udina nodded at Shepard, "Now that that's settled, I need to take care of some business." He looked at Anderson, said, "Captain, meet me in my office later, there's some things we have to discuss," and walked away.
Anderson sighed and looked back at Shepard, "Harkin's probably getting drunk at Chora's Den…It's a dingy little club in the lower section of the wards."
Shepard cocked his head, "I thought you said he was a drunken idiot."
Anderson looked annoyed just thinking about the man, "It couldn't hurt to go talk to him. Just be careful. I wouldn't call him reliable."
"Do you have any other sources?"
The Captain nodded. "Yeah, one more: Barla Von, in the financial district, a Volus. Rumor has it that he's an agent for the Shadow Broker."
"The Shadow Broker?" Ashley asked.
"An information dealer…buys and sells information to the highest bidder. I've heard he's one of the top representatives. He might know something, but his information won't come cheap."
Shepard put his hand to his chin and thought out loud, "Money won't be an issue." He looked back up at Anderson, "I'll talk to him if this deal with Harkin falls through."
"Good luck, Commander. I'll be over in the ambassador's office if you need me." With that Anderson left to catch up with Udina.
"And on that note." Shepard looked at his squad. "Guess we have some work to do…Better get started."
OOO
On the way to the rapid transit terminal, they came across a Salarian doing something with his omni-tool next to a keeper, the little, green spiderlike caretakers of the Citadel that had been there since the Asari first found the station. People weren't supposed to bother the keepers, so, being an Alliance official, Shepard decided to investigate.
Chorban was the name of the Salarian, and his reasoning for scanning the keepers intrigued Shepard enough that he offered him his assistance. Nobody in the history of finding the Citadel had ever studied the creatures.
"Breaking the law Shepard?" Ashley asked as they walked away.
Shepard shrugged, "I'm a sucker for things that intrigue me."
Ashley just shook her head in amusement and thought sarcastically, What a rebel…hacking an ambassador's computer, scanning keepers…What's next?
As the commander hailed a cab, Kaidan spoke up, trying to start some small talk, "So…scanning keepers and…Chora's Den?"
"Yup" Shepard responded.
"Isn't that a—"
"Yup."
"Well…this'll be interesting…"
Shepard completed his request at the terminal and looked back at Kaidan, "We're on a mission Lieutenant…" as he leaned back against the terminal, there was a slight gleam in his eye. "At least…for now."
Ashley let out an amused snort, "Why did I have to be stuck with two men?"
"Because two women wouldn't have been as interesting, Chief?" Kaidan asked.
"Well …"
Shepard just shook his head as the cab arrived, "Let's get this over with."
They all boarded the vehicle and began the trip to the lower wards.
OOO
The ride to the nearest sky car docking platform, closest to their target, was relatively uneventful. The one they found was just underneath the hospital, near the markets. Their short conversation was more them expressing annoyance about how the Council ignored their evidence against Saren, of which Shepard reminded them that their evidence wasn't very solid as it was. Ashley ended the conversation by sharing her discontent with politics.
With a few minutes of walking and a turn down a dim alley, they arrived at a corridor outside the gentlemen club's circular balcony.
Here we go, Shepard thought.
He stepped out onto the balcony and almost immediately heard someone say, "That's him."
That can't be good
Two turians opened fire on the squad immediately, but luckily, their kinetic barriers gave them enough time to get to cover and pull out their guns to return fire. Kaidan pulled one turian with his biotics and dropped him into the hole in the center of the balcony, in which case the turian fell a distance and landed with a sharp crunch and splat. Shepard sabotaged the weapons of the other and allowed Ashley to finish him off with a few bursts of her assault rifle.
"Those must've been Saren's men," Kaidan said.
Shepard glanced over the avian features of the remaining turian corpse, "no way to tell now. Kaidan, inform C-Sec of the situation."
"Aye Commander." The Lieutenant brought up his omni-tool and began the call.
With that, the squad continued into the club itself and noticed something rather unusual, or rather a lack of something, nobody seemed to have noticed the gunfire.
Shepard just shook his head. They would be distracted in a place like this.
The club consisted of a circular central bar with asari dancers dancing on a large elevated platform above the bar itself. There were booths placed along the perimeter of the room that held both tables and asari or human dancers that were being ogled at by groups mostly consisting humans and turians. There was also a large storage area in the back along with a manager's office supposedly beyond that. Anderson was right when he said it, the place was dingy.
Finding Harkin wasn't very difficult; they had only to look for the one C-Sec uniform in the room.
As they approached his table, they couldn't help but overhear a conversation between a massive krogan, a battlemaster, the commander assumed, and a krogan bouncer.
The krogan was a large, red-armored reptilian biped native to the planet Tuchanka, in the Krogan DMZ cluster, a world known for its harsh environments, scarce resources, and overabundance of vicious predators. This one stood over 7 feet tall, from to the top of his hump to the bottoms of his feet, and, when combined with his armor, probably weighed nearly a ton. He had three fingers on each hand as well as three toes on each foot. His eyes were wide-set allowing him 240-degree vision, a very krogan trait. His narrow pupils, similar to a cat, were wreathed in irises of red, although the species' eye colors could be red, green, amber, or blue. He, like all full-grown krogan, had a large bone head-plate that covered the top of his head like a helmet. These creatures were known for being devastating in combat scenarios. This krogan had a scar running down his face that actually managed to scratch his head-plate. It looked like it could've been a claw mark. This krogan could've been anywhere from a century to a millennia old…the species was the only known species that could outlive the asari.
"Back off Wrex," the bouncer threatened. "Fist told us to take you down if you showed up."
"What are you waiting for?" the larger krogan, Wrex, replied, the tremor of menace in his voice. "I'm standing right here. This is Fist's only chance. If he's smart, he'll take it."
"He's not coming out, Wrex. End of story."
Wrex took a step closer to the bouncer, "This story is just beginning."
With that, he brushed past Shepard and his squad saying, "Out of my way, humans, I have no quarrel with you."
Thank God for that, Shepard thought. There was a big difference between fighting a krogan in close combat and on the battlefield.
"What was that about?" Kaidan asked.
"Who knows," Ashley replied. "Let's just try not to get caught in the middle."
Shepard just shook his head and continued on to Harkin's table, "Harkin…I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance Military, I need some information."
"Alliance military…Humph," Harkin sounded like a man who wasn't worth the air he was breathing, and was perfectly fine with it. "I could've been a marine you know. Instead I joined the damned Citadel Security…Biggest mistake of my life."
Not your only mistake it seems, Shepard thought.
Harkin was a balding, older man with a grey goatee and eyebrows. His hair was strangely darker than his facial hair, probably s result of wearing a hat most of the time in C-Sec.
"I'm looking for a C-Sec officer…A turian named Garrus," Shepard said.
"Garrus? Ha! You must be one of Captain Anderson's crew. Poor b******'s still trying to take Saren down, eh?"
"Irrelevant...Do you know where he is?" Shepard was starting to feel his anger boil up towards the man sitting in front of him, just by how he talked.
"I know where he is, but you gotta' tell me something first." Harkin leaned towards the commander, "Did the captain let you in on his big secret?"
"I don't care…I just need to know where Garrus is."
"But it's all related…," Harkin sat back again. "The captain used to be a Spectre. Didn't know that, did you? It was all very hush-hush…The first human ever given that honor. And then he blew it…Screwed up his mission so bad they kicked him out. Of course, he blames Saren, says the turian set him up."
Shepard's anger was rising. He was usually able to control his anger, really well, he knew. But this man bothered him all the wrong ways. "First," he snapped, "I know for a fact that he wasn't a Spectre, but a Spectre candidate, second, it's his word against Saren's, and as of this moment, I am more apt to believe his, and third…" Shepard paused to let his anger simmer down, "just tell me where Garrus went."
"Fine, fine," Harkin waved his hand dismissively. "He was sniffing around Dr. Michel's office. She runs the med clinic on the other side of the wards. Last I heard…he was going back there."
"That's back near where we were dropped off, Commander," Kaidan piped in.
Shepard looked back at Harkin, "I'm out of here." He toned out anything else Harkin said after him and left the club.
After a little walking, he calmed down just enough to hear Ashley say, "—probably right. Still, I'd like to hear what the captain has to say about this."
"About Captain Anderson being a Spectre?"
"Yeah, Commander."
Shepard was making a brisk pace towards the markets to calm himself down before checking Dr. Michel's clinic. "As I said before, he was a Spectre candidate, and not…a full Spectre."
"Still…you would think he would tell us…and…how do you know?"
They were back in the dim alley now, and he was feeling much better, "Would you like people to know of your greatest failure?"
Ashley was silent for a moment, "I guess not…But still, how did you know?"
Shepard looked back at her over his shoulder with that glint from before in his eye, "I'm an engineer…sometimes I get bored."
Ashley was taken aback, "So you hack Alliance databases?"
As they rounded the corner to the markets, Shepard looked at Ashley with a sarcastically emotionless face, "No…well, not so much that anyone can prove it." He shrugged, "After a while, they just started paying me to hack the system."
Ashley's mouth fell open, "You stole money?! From the Alliance?!"
Shepard and the squad walked up the edge of a balcony that was over one of the massive viewports that overlooked the arms of the Citadel.
He leaned back against one of the railings and looked at Ashley, "What kind of person do you think I am? I'm no thief. They literally started paying me to hack in. I send them a process on how I did it, and they create a patch that covers the hole, rinse and repeat…In fact, I have one I've been working on for a few weeks just about ready to send out."
Kaidan was admiring the view of the Citadel out the windows, "I can understand it."
Ashley just looked between the two and shook her head.
Shepard joined Kaidan in looking out the window.
"Big place," Kaidan said.
"That your professional opinion, sir?" Ashley teased.
Shepard observed the huge scope of the Citadel. Flying among the arms, he saw thousands upon thousands of sky cars flying back and forth across and between the wards. Living on space ships his whole life gave him a certain respect for structures in space, but the Citadel was one-of-a-kind. "This isn't a station," he said, "it's a city."
"There must be millions here," Kaidan said in awe. This was evidently his first time on the Citadel…or the first time he saw it full-scope. "It can't be possible to track everyone coming and going.
"This makes Jump Zero look like a porta-john," Ashley responded, "and it's the largest deep space station the Alliance has."
Kaidan nodded, "Jump Zero was big. But this is a whole 'nother scale. Look at the ward arms…How do they keep all that mass from flying apart?"
Something occurred to Shepard, This is why they are unwilling to help us…they control the policies of all of these people, and Saren is one that could affect all of them if we are right…if they have to make a tough choice, they have to be sure…
"The council represents more races that I thought," he voiced. "No wonder they're careful with newcomers."
"They probably just want to keep everything running. It has to be hard keeping all these cultures working together."
"One wrong assumption could start a war on their doorstep…if they have to make a change, they have to be sure it's for the better as a whole..."
"Or maybe they just don't like humans," Ashley put in wittily.
"Heh," the Commander looked at Ashley. "Why not? We've got oceans, beautiful women, this emotion called love. According to the old vids, we have everything they want."
Ashley raised her voice a little and looked back at the Commander, "If you expect to get me in a tin-foil miniskirt and thigh-high boots, I want dinner first… uh…," Ashley straightened up and looked back out the viewport awkwardly, "sir."
Shepard had a brief flash of the Chief in the aforementioned getup, but quickly Xed it out in his mind.
Kaidan was obviously enjoying this, "That'll be enough Chief."
"At ease, Lieutenant," Shepard replied. "Can't see her in a skirt anyway."
Ashley was beginning to blush, "D-Damn straight you can't."
Shepard couldn't keep the smile off his face, "You guys ready to go?"
They both replied in affirmative, though Ashley's was still somewhat shaky, and the group continued to Dr. Michel's clinic.
OOO
Okay, I'm in the clinic, now to get to a good position. Garrus wasn't entirely sure how he managed to get into the small clinic without being noticed by any of the four human thugs threatening the doctor, but he wasn't about to question good luck.
"I didn't tell anyone," the doctor pleaded in her accent, "I swear!"
French accent, she told me, he reminded himself. He was almost at the corner of the long counter. These people were threatening a personal friend of his.
"That was smart, Doc," the supposed leader of the thugs said.
Garrus reached the corner.
"Now if Garrus comes around, you stay smart. Keep your mouth shut or we'll—"
Just at that moment, three heavily armed humans walked into the clinic."
Perfect, Garrus thought.
The thug grabbed the doctor, spun her around to use her as a shield, and pointed his pistol at the intruders. "Who are you?!" he yelled.
"Let her go," one of the humans responded.
Garrus peaked back at the ones who just entered and recognized the one who spoke as Commander Shepard from before.
Seizing the moment, he spun around the corner and took the thug holding onto the doctor down with a single headshot using his pistol. The remaining three were taken down quickly by the Commander and his squad by using a combination of well-placed shots, a now exploded emergency fire suppressor, and biotics.
"Perfect timing, Shepard," Garrus sspoke by way of greeting. "Gave me a clear shot at that b******."
"You took him down clean. Nice."
"Sometimes you get lucky." Garrus looked at the doctor who in return looked extremely grateful. "Dr. Michel? Are you hurt?"
"No," she responded, still shaken, "I'm okay. Thanks to you…All of you."
"Why were they threatening you?" Shepard asked. "Who do they work for?"
"They work for Fist. They wanted to shut me up and keep me from telling Garrus about the quarian."
"What quarian?" the Commander asked.
The doctor told them a story about how a quarian had found some sensitive information, and how she had been shot while trying to get an audience with the council. She then told them how she suggested the quarian trade the information with the Shadow Broker in exchange for a safe place to hide.
"Where is she now?" the Commander asked.
"I put her in contact with Fist, he's an agent for the Shadow Broker."
Wait…Fist? Crap, Garrus thought. "He's not anymore," he said. "Now he works for Saren…And the Shadow Broker isn't too happy about it."
The doctor looked shocked, "I just?…Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker? That's stupid, even for him. Saren must've made him quite the offer."
Garrus looked at the commander, "That quarian must have something Saren wants. Something worth crossing the Shadow Broker to get."
The commander thought for a moment, "She must have something that proves he's a traitor." He looked back at the doctor, "Did the quarian mention anything about Saren or the geth?"
The doctor responded a pinch behind immediately, "She did! She said the information she was going to trade had something to do with the geth."
"That information would be valuable," Garrus said. "There's no way the Council can ignore this."
"I guess it's time we paid Fist a visit," Shepard said.
"This is your show, Shepard. But I want to bring Saren down just as much as you do. I'm coming with you."
Garrus couldn't describe the rush he felt when the Commander nodded and offered a hand, saying, "Welcome aboard then."
He shook the human's hand, then something occurred to him. "You know, the Shadow broker hired a krogan bounty hunter named Wrex to take Fist out as well, maybe we could bring him in on this too."
The female human behind the commander spoke up, "Yeah, we saw him in the bar."
Shepard nodded, "A krogan could come in handy."
"Last I heard," Garrus continued, "he was at the C-Sec Academy."
"What's he doing there?" the male human behind the commander asked.
The commander looked back at him, "We saw him making threats back at Chora's Den; he was probably picked up by the officers that cleaned up our little mess on the balcony."
"That was you guys that did that?" Garrus asked. "Well, either way, if you hurry, you can catch him there before he leaves."
"We'll do that," the commander looked back at his female squad member. "Ashley, go inform Anderson of our progress. He's in Udina's office if I remember correctly. Ask him to set up a meeting with the Council."
"On it Commander," she replied and walked out.
"Garrus, meet Kaidan Alenko…Now let's go recruit a krogan."
OOO
Recruiting Wrex went surprisingly smooth. They caught up with him having a "talk" with a C-Sec officer. It was kind of amusing really, the officer let him off with a warning in which the huge krogan countered with a warning of his own: he was going to kill Fist. The officer then threatened to arrest him in which he once again countered by challenging the officer to try. Luckily, most likely for the officer, Wrex noticed Shepard and his small team and blew off anything the officer was about to do or say by approaching the commander. After a short introduction, the commander stated his intentions about going after Fist and his assumption that Wrex would like to come along. Wrex contemplated the commander's name for a moment, then gave him the same warning about killing Fist that he gave the officer, and…shook his hand.
On the way back to the gentlemen's club, an investigative reporter named Emily Wong caught their attention as well. She said she was investigating corruption on the citadel and was hoping that he would share anything he found in his own investigation with her since there were certain places she didn't have access to. He asked her how she knew his investigation would help her, to which she replied with logic by implying that if someone as famous as him was investigating something, it had to be big. Satisfied, and mildly annoyed at his own fame making people jump to conclusions, he replied that if he found anything relevant, he would share it with her.
OOO
Shepard, Garrus, Kaidan, and Wrex were once again standing outside the club Chora's Den. All evidence of the firefight from before was gone, but things evidently were not going to improve since the club was completely shut down. It normally wouldn't be enough to cause surprise, but with it being about midday, well, relative to Citadel time, the club had no reason to be closed. Wrex's threats must've shaken Fist.
"Kaidan, go inform Anderson of our progress and inform him that we will probably be returning with a quarian in tow…also, inform me as to when the meeting is…"
Kaidan looked at both the turian and the krogan before replying, "Aye, sir," and walking off.
After his squad member was gone, Shepard told his remaining squad members, "Pull out your guns guys…I've got a bad feeling about this."
They both complied, and the three of them cautiously entered the club.
OOO
Weak, weak, weak, was the only thought running through Wrex's head as they fought their way through the club and into the office in back, this is the best Fist has?
The group now stood before a locked door that Garrus was in the process of overriding with his C-Sec clearance. Wrex didn't entirely care for the turian very much, didn't really care for any turian since the genophage, but the human fascinated him. For one thing, he was the hero of Elysium, and for another, he was the weirdest soldier he had ever seen, a combat engineer with sniper rifle training. The commander took out at least half of the thugs in the room by no-scoping them one at a time with explosive rounds, and while explosive rounds were fairly forgiving if you missed, it was still impressive…for a human.
"You have that door yet? Turian?" Wrex asked annoyed.
The switch for the door turned from red to green, "Yup," Garrus replied, then nodded at the commander, "after you Commander."
Shepard pressed the button and entered the back warehouse where he was immediately confronted by two warehouse workers.
"Stop right there!" one of the workers challenged with his gun drawn. "Don't come any closer!"
"Warehouse workers," Garrus spoke. "All the real guards must be dead."
Wrex suppressed a "Ha" in response.
"Stay back or we'll shoot!" the other worker responded.
Try it…I dare you…
Shepard looked back at Wrex, and obviously sensing his thoughts, he said to the workers, "You guys should probably look for another place to work."
The workers looked at each other and lowered their weapons, and then the first one replied, "Yeah, yeah, right…Probably a good idea."
They then walked off with the other worker expressing his disdain for Fist.
"Would've been quicker to just kill them," Wrex told Shepard.
"Shooting people isn't always the answer," Garrus replied.
"I beg to differ."
"That's enough you two," Shepard cut in.
With that, the trio continued onto the Fist's office in the back of the warehouse. As they walked through the door, they were almost immediately beset upon by a pair of mounted turrets as well as the big man himself.
"Why do I have to do everything myself?" Fist spoke. He then yelled, "Time to die little soldiers!"
Seeing the turrets, Shepard simply ran to cover behind a conveniently-placed wall and hacked one turret to attack the other, and after one was destroyed, he finished off the other with an explosive round from his sniper rifle.
It turned out that Fist was just as much a coward as any other thug since, after seeing his backup was gone, he tripped and immediately surrendered.
"Tell me where the quarian is," Shepard ordered as he walked up to Fist, pistol trained on his legs, "and I won't have to shoot you in the kneecaps."
"She's not here. I don't know where she is." Seeing Shepard's eyes narrow, Fist covered his head with his arms, "That's the truth!"
Wrex had an idea, "He's no use to you now, Shepard, let me kill him."
"Wait! Wait! I don't know where the quarian is, but I know where you can find her."
That's a contradiction, Wrex thought.
"The quarian isn't here; she said she would only deal with the Shadow Broker himself."
"Face to face?" Wrex asked. "Impossible! Even I was hired through an agent."
Shepard lowered his pistol and allowed Fist to stand up.
"Nobody meets the Shadow Broker," he continued. "Ever. Even I don't know his true identity, but she didn't know that. I told her I'd set the meeting up, but when she shows up, it'll be Saren's men waiting for her."
Evidently angry, Shepard pointed his pistol at Fist's head and threatened, "Tell me where that meeting is before I blow your lying head off!"
Eyes wide, Fist quickly replied, "Here in the wards, the back alley by the markets. She's supposed to meet them right now, you can make it if you hurry."
Realizing that was all the information Shepard needed, Wrex pulled out his shotgun and killed Fist with a single shot to the chest.
The surprise factor caused Shepard to take a step back.
"What are you doing?!" Garrus asked.
"Shepard had Kinetic barriers," Wrex replied. "The Shadow Broker paid me to kill him…I don't leave jobs half done."
"A lot of people died because of him," Shepard added, "he had it coming." Wrex saw him look back at him, "But next time, wait for me to take a step back or something." He shook his head. "Now let's move; we have to save that quarian."
OOO
Tali was nervous, this was the first time she had ever been on the Citadel, and she had already lost friends due to the information she had found. She had been interrogated by C-Sec for what seemed like hours due to her being a quarian, and her technically being there as a stowaway that had been ordered off the station a few days ago didn't help the case at all. Saren was after her, she needed safety.
She had been waiting in the Citadel markets for some time, waiting for her meeting time with the Shadow Broker. She tried hard to stick to the crowds to blend in, but the people there tended to give her a wide berth since quarians were considered little more than thieves which, in most cases, was entirely untrue.
"Do you require work? ~Shhhhhht~ Flotilla clan?" a nearby volus merchant asked politely.
The volus was a very short, squat creature. Due to the high-pressure greenhouse atmosphere of the planet and the ammonia-based ecology of his home planet, he, and the rest of his species, was forced to wear pressure suits and breathers when dealing with other species on different planets or stations. Since the species was not physically adept, and tended not to be violent, the volus culture was more dominated by trade than anything else…trade and financial consulting services.
"What?" Tali asked startled out of her thoughts by the sudden randomness of the question.
"I have ~Shhhhht~ some work that a quarian would be ~Shhhhht~ very helpful with."
"Um, sorry, I have…something I'm waiting for."
"Well, ~Shhhhht~ when that thing is over, my offer will ~Shhhhht~ still stand."
"Um, thank you."
It was actually fairly common for other species to hire quarians in technical fields due to their natural prowess in the area. Quarians were generally shorter and of slighter of build than humans, and like the volus, restricted to highly advanced bio-suits, but for different reasons. Their bio-suits were also set up differently than the volus in the sense that their fogged face-shield-like visors obscured everything behind it but their bioluminescent eyes, whereas the volus anatomy forced their suits to have specific ports for their eyes and mouths. Where quarians generally had a little circular light just below their visors that blinked to show they were talking, volus had a small port that blinked where their mouth was assumed to be. Quarians had three thick fingers on both hands which included a thumb, an index finger, and a long finger that is similar to the middle finger of humans or asari, as well as three toes on each foot, fit closely by their armor. Their lower legs were bowed backwards significantly, compared to asari or humans, but aside from their hands and legs, their general overall body shape was similar to that of a human.
Tali had to suppress her nervous habit of rubbing her hands together as she approached the entrance of the alley where she was going to meet the broker. Appearing as a nervous wreck in front of a person as powerful as him, or her, was not going to help her in the long run. So after allowing herself time to calm down, she took a breath, straightened up, and confidently entered the alleyway.
When she reached the top of a flight of stairs, she was approached by a black turian with white facial tattoos vaguely reminiscent of a skull, "Did you bring it?"
"Where's the Shadow Broker?" she asked. "Where's Fist?"
The turian kept approaching and put up an arrogant clawed hand to touch her hood, "They'll be here. Where's the evidence?"
Tali swatted his hand away, "No way. Deal's off."
The turian backed away darkly and glanced at two salaraian thugs that were approaching from behind her. Noticing a human approaching form the opposite side of the alleyway, she tossed a concussive grenade at the two salarians, leapt behind some nearby crates, and drew her shotgun. The turian evidently didn't see the human arrive since he kept following her while she took down his shields, but once the human opened fire, his attention was drawn by the apparently heavily armed intruder.
Intruders, she thought to herself as she looked over the crate, a human, a krogan, and a turian.
She looked back at the turian that had been approaching her before just to see him take an explosive round to the chest and fly back against the far wall. One salarian was being disintegrated by a biotic warp evidently generated by the krogan, while the other was being hammered by very precise shots of a pistol.
After the assassins were lying in a heap on the floor, or in the one salarian's case, a puddle, Tali heard the human say in a gentle voice, "You can come out now."
She peeked over the crate once again to see the trio of aliens looking in her direction, and seeing that they weren't trying to do her any harm, she holstered her shotgun, stepped out from behind the crate, and slowly approached them.
She was annoyed that Fist had wasted her time, and didn't even try to keep it out of her voice, "Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!"
"He's been dealt with, were you hurt at all in the fight?" the human asked.
"I know how to look after myself," she said, but quickly added, "not that I don't appreciate the help…Who are you?
"Commander Shepard, and this is Garrus Vakarian," he replied pointing at the turian, "and Wrex," pointing at the huge krogan."
"Urdnot Wrex," the krogan corrected.
Shepard looked back at him, "Okay, Urdnot, got it..." he looked back at Tali. "I'm looking for evidence to prove Saren's a traitor, and I heard you just might have that evidence."
"Then I have a chance to repay you for saving my life," she replied. "But not here, we need to go somewhere safe."
"We could take her to the human embassy," Garrus suggested. "Your ambassador will want to see this anyway."
Shepard's omni-tool let out a few beeps and the commander raised his hand to his ear. "What d' we got?" he asked.
After a few seconds of listening, he simply replied, "Got it, we'll be there in about twenty minutes, Shepard out."
"Get the meeting?" Garrus asked.
"Yup, Kaidan said it's in an hour," he looked back at Tali, "Well, Miss, shall we go say 'hi' to the ambassador?"
"I'll follow you," she replied.
OOO
Ambassador Udina was sitting behind his computer in his office, idly reading the various updates about certain projects and news that he deemed relevant enough to be important.
"Udina got us a meeting with the council," Kaidan Alenko was speaking with Commander Shepard through his in-suit comms, "it's in an hour."
"Where is he?" Anderson asked.
"In the alley behind Chora's Den," he replied after cutting the connection and turning around. "Fist must've directed them there."
"When'll he be here?"
"About twenty minutes."
"What the..!" Udina exclaimed, "dammit Shepard!"
"What?" Kaidan and Anderson asked together.
"Shepard was seen via Citadel Security cameras assaulting Chora's Den, having a firefight in a back alley as well as the clinic."
"The one in the clinic was necessary," Kaidan defended. "If Ashley was here right now, she would agree with me."
"I don't disagree with that, but this kind of stuff makes us look bad." Us in this case was humanity.
"What would Ashley agree with?" Ashley just returned from taking a walk around the Presidium. They all looked at her. She looked between all of them awkwardly, "What did I miss?"
"Uh, nothing really," Kaidan answered, "Shepard just doing his job."
"Shepard came back?"
"Not yet Chief," Anderson replied, "but I want you two to head back up to the Normandy, I would prefer if it was just Udina and I talking with the commander when he gets back."
"Yes sir," both Kaidan and Ashley responded together before leaving.
Udina continued looking through his messages and came across a Chora's Den membership renewal notification. He glanced over at Anderson briefly and saw he was leaning on the edge of the balcony looking over the rest of the Presidium before he quickly opened the message, selected renew, and deleted it.
"I see Shepard coming," Anderson said.
Udina stood up and followed his gaze to see Shepard walking in the direction of the embassy with a massive krogan and a turian in his wake. The ambassador could only shake his head and sigh.
OOO
Shepard couldn't help but feel a little thrill as he stepped into the embassy. They had managed to find the information they needed to bring Saren down. While it wasn't necessarily enough to get complete payback for Eden Prime, yet, it should be enough to get the Council to act.
Shepard and his three other comrades stepped into Udina's office.
"You're not making my life easy, Shepard," Udina said grimly. "Firefights in the wards…An all-out assault on Chora's Den…" Udina turned around to face the commander, "Do you know how many—" He noticed the quarian, "Who's this? A quarian?" he looked back at the commander. "What are you up to, Shepard?"
Shepard was enjoying this, though he was surprised Anderson hadn't told him about the quarian, "Making your day Ambassador…She has information linking Saren to the geth."
Hearing this information, the ambassador's mood lightened significantly and became more formal, "Really? Maybe you'd better start from the beginning, Miss…?"
"Tali," the quarian jumped in, "my name is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."
"We don't see many quarians here. Why did you leave the flotilla?
"I was on my Pilgrimage, my right of passage into adulthood," she responded without missing a beat. She seemed kind of excitable.
Shepard had worked with quarians before, but he had never heard about this Pilgrimage, "Pilgrimage?" he asked.
Tali looked back at him, "It is a tradition among my people," she explained, "when we reach maturity, we leave the ships of our parents and people behind. Alone, we search the stars, only returning once we have discovered something of value to prove ourselves worthy of adulthood."
"What do you look for?"
"It could be resources, like food or fuel, or some type of useful technology. Or even knowledge that will make life easier on the flotilla. Through our Pilgrimage, we prove that we will contribute to the community rather than be a burden on our limited resources."
Interesting, Shepard thought, "Can you tell us what you found?"
"Yes," Tali looked back at Anderson and Udina. "During my travels, I began hearing reports of geth. Since they drove my people into exile, they have never ventured beyond the Veil. I was curious…I tracked a patrol of geth to an uncharted world. I waited for one to become separated from its unit and disabled it to remove its memory core."
"Don't geth fry their memory cores when they die?" Anderson asked. "Some kind of defense mechanism?"
"How did you manage to preserve it?" Shepard asked
"My people created the geth," Tali responded with a hint of duh. "If you're quick, careful, and lucky, small caches of data can sometimes be saved."
She's talented, Shepard thought.
"Most of the core was wiped clean, but I salvaged something from its audio banks."
Tali played the audio log from her omni-tool: "Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit…"
"That's Saren's voice," Anderson blurted. "This proves he was involved in the attack!"
"It brought him one step closer to the Conduit;" Shepard repeated, "what's that?"
"It must've had something to do with the beacon, maybe it's some kind of Prothean technology…like a weapon."
"There's more," Tali cut in, "Saren wasn't working alone."
She replayed the log: "Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit…"
A female voice spoke next, "…and one step closer to the return of the Reapers."
"I don't recognize that other voice,"Udina said. "The one talking about the Reapers."
"Reapers…" Shepard rubbed an itch on the back of his neck. "Where have I heard that name before?"
"According to the memory core, the Reapers were a hyper-advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago," Tali answered. "The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction and then vanished…" Tali noticed the odd looks the others were giving her, "At least, that's what the geth believe."
"Sounds a little far-fetched," Udina said.
Shepard realized something then, "The vision on Eden Prime – I understand it now. I saw the Protheans being wiped out by the Reapers."
"The geth revere the Reapers as gods," Tali explained, "the pinnacle of non-organic life. And they believe Saren knows how to bring the reapers back."
Udina sighed and shook his head, "The council is just going to love this."
"This is a lot to handle," Shepard replied. "They might just ignore everything we tell them."
"Whatever they think," Anderson allayed, "those audio files prove Saren's a traitor."
"The captain's right," Udina agreed, "We need to present this to the Council right away."
"What about her?" Wrex asked, "The quarian?"
"My name is Tali!" She replied indignantly.
"Whatever you say, quarian."
"You saw me in the alley, Commander. You know what I can do. Let me come with you."
"What about your Pilgrimage?" Shepard asked.
"The Pilgrimage proves we are willing to give of ourselves for the greater good. What does it say about me if I turn my back on this?"
"Are you sure?"
"Saren is a danger to the entire galaxy. My Pilgrimage can wait."
One side of Shepard's mouth rose in a small smile and he offered a hand, "I'll take all the help I can get…Welcome aboard."
Her tone and body language were barely masking her excitement as she walked over to stand next to him, and shook his hand, "Thanks, you won't regret this."
"Anderson and I will go ahead to get things ready with the Council." Udina said. "Take a few minutes to collect yourself, then meet us in the Tower."
After they walked away, Wrex spoke up, "Well, I'm going to go and turn in Fist's bounty…I'll be in C-Sec Academy if you need me."
"Wait!" Shepard said just before Wrex walked out the door.
Wrex stopped walking and turned to look at the Commander.
"So I take it you want to stick around?"
"It'll be a good change of scenery, wherever this thing goes, plus C-Sec is already mad at me, so it's better if I leave so things can cool down a little before one of us starts killing each other."
"Okay, well, see you at the Academy then."
Wrex gave a single nod and exited the office.
"What about you Vakarian?"
Garrus shrugged, "I already sent in my resignation to C-Sec, not like I have anywhere else to go…"
Shepard laughed a little, "Jumpin' the gun a little there weren't you?"
"Well, I've been thinking of resigning for a long time, you just gave me a good reason."
"Technically, we don't know what is going to come of this."
"Whatever comes of it, it has to be better that C-Sec."
"You will probably have to report to Captain Anderson, you know…if we are allowed to continue the case."
"Still better than C-Sec…" Garrus replied.
"Commander," Tali spoke up, "either way, you're stuck with us now…"
"Nothing wrong with that," the commander replied, "just making sure we're clear…you know…covering bases and all that…"
"Don't we have a meeting to get to?" she asked.
Shepard sighed, "Yeah…Let's get going."
OOO
"…And one step closer to the return of the Reapers…"
He's shown the evidence, Tali thought.
"You wanted proof," Udina stated, "there it is…"
"This evidence is irrefutable, Ambassador," the Turian Councilor replied without emotion. "Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status, and all efforts will be made to bring him in to answer for his crimes."
"I recognize the other voice," the Asari Councilor said, "the one speaking to Saren…Matriarch Benezia."
"Who's she?" the commander asked.
"She is a powerful biotic, and has many followers…She will make a formidable ally for Saren."
"What are matriarchs?"
"They are asari who have entered the final stage of their lives. They are revered for their wisdom, experience, and power; they serve as guides and mentors to my people."
"Commander, what do you know about the Reapers?" the Salarian Councilor asked.
Captain Anderson responded, "Only what was extracted from the geth's memory core: they were an ancient race of machines that wiped out the Protheans and then vanished."
Tali couldn't help but feel a slight thrill since that was information that she gave them directly.
"The geth revere them as gods," Shepard continued, "and Saren is the prophet for their return."
"We think the Conduit is the key to bringing them back," Anderson stated. "Saren's searching for it…that's why he attacked Eden Prime."
"Do we even know what this Conduit is?" the Salarian Councilor asked.
"Does it matter?" the Commander asked, "Saren thinks it can bring back the Reapers, that's bad enough."
"Listen to what you're saying," the Turian Councilor said. "Saren wants to bring back the machines that wiped out all life in the galaxy? Impossible…It has to be…Where did they go? Why did they vanish? How come we've found no trace of their existence? If they were real, we'd have found something…"
"The Protheans…" Shepard pointed out, "they were wiped out by them, there's your evidence...I tried to warn you about Saren, and you refused to face the truth…Don't make the same mistake again…"
"We have no definite proof that the Reapers were the cause of their fall," the Asari Councilor returned, "and the investigation into Saren is a completely separate matter: you proved he betrayed the Council, and we all agree he's using the geth to search for the Conduit, but we don't really know why."
"The Reapers are most likely just a myth, Commander," the Salarian Councilor dismissed. "A convenient lie to cover Saren's true purpose…A legend he's using to bend the geth to his will."
'They're machines, they use numbers to make decisions,' Tali wanted to blurt out, but she kept silent to avoid being thrown out for speaking out of turn.
"Fifty thousand years ago, the Reapers wiped out all galactic civilization," the commander pointed out again. "If Saren finds the Conduit, it will happen again!"
"Saren is a rogue agent on the run for his life," the Turian Councilor stated. "He no longer has the rights or resources of a Spectre…The Council has stripped him of his position…"
"You think he knows that!?" Udina asked, "You know that is not enough! You know he's hiding out somewhere in the Traverse…Send your fleet in!"
"A fleet cannot track down one man, Ambassador," the Salarian Councilor replied.
"A Citadel fleet could secure the entire region and keep the geth from attacking any more of our colonies."
"Or it could trigger a war with the Terminus Systems!" the Turian Councilor countered. "We won't be dragged into a galactic confrontation over a few dozen human colonies!"
Through that whole conversation, Tali watched the Commander look between all the councilors and the ambassador, What is he thinking, she thought.
"Send me…" he said.
Everyone looked at him shocked by his sudden interjection.
"I can take Saren down."
The Asari Councilor paused for a moment, and then looked at the Turian Councilor, "The Commander's right…There is a way to stop Saren that doesn't require fleets or armies."
"No!" the Turian Ambassador replied, "It's too soon…Humanity is not ready for the responsibilities that come with joining the Spectres."
Spectres? Tali looked back at the Commander, He's a Spectre candidate? Wow…
"I faced Saren on Eden Prime and exposed him for a traitor," Shepard countered, "I've proven myself."
The Councilors looked uncertainly between each other, and after a few nods to each other, submitted their authorization codes into their nearby terminals.
"Commander Shepard…Step forward…" the Asari Councilor ordered.
Shepard glanced over at Captain Anderson and received a sharp nod before complying.
Some of the people in the stands around the amphitheater stood up and walked up to the guard rails. A small swarm of floating cameras then flew up from behind and started recording the historic event.
Tali received a slight nudge from Garrus as all this was going on.
"What?" she asked.
"You seem excited."
"I am."
"You're bouncing."
Tali's bioluminescent eyes went wide and she quickly forced herself to stop, "Thanks."
"No problem," Garrus replied suppressing a turian grin.
After she seemed to believe everything was ready, the Asari Councilor started, "It is the decision of the Council, that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel."
"Spectres are not trained, but chosen," the Salarian Councilor continued. "Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file."
"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol…The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will."
"Spectres bear a great burden," the Turian Councilor continued. "They are the protectors of galactic peace, both our first and our last line of defense…The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold."
"You are the first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species," The Asari Councilor said.
"I am honored, Councilor," Shepard replied with a slight bow.
"We're sending you into the Traverse after Saren," the Salarian Councilor spoke. "He is a fugitive from justice, so you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him."
"Any ideas on where to start?"
"We will forward any relevant data to Ambassador Udina," the Turian Councilor replied.
"This meeting of the Council is adjourned," the Asari Councilor finished.
OOO
"So…You're a big-shot Spectre now," Wrex said as Shepard and his squad approached him in the C-Sec Academy.
"Indeed," he replied, "you still in?"
"I suppose so…Where are we headed?"
Shepard checked his omni-tool, "Anderson sent me a message to meet him up at the Normandy," he looked up just as the elevator arrived, "so that's where we're headed."
Wrex glanced at the Shepard's followers, and then back at the elevator, "Then we had better get going."
"Follow me."
With that, Shepard, Wrex, Garrus, and Tali all stepped onto the large elevator.
After the door closed, Garrus asked Shepard a question, "So Shepard, How does it feel to be the first human Spectre?"
"Not sure," he replied, "I'm still trying to decide."
"I know Tali was excited to see you get the title."
"Hey!" Tali responded indignantly.
Shepard smiled, "Technically, none of this would have occurred without her…so, thank you Tali."
Though Shepard couldn't see it, Tali was smiling under her visor.
"Plus, once the story gets out that two aliens were part of my squad should help to remove some of the animosity between our species."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Wrex responded, "they cut them out of the videos."
Shepard looked back at him, "What?"
"I'm kidding."
"Good, this deal with Saren is bigger than all of us."
After a few more seconds of waiting, the elevator finally reached the docking bay containing the Normandy. Udina and Captain Anderson were standing outside the dock to the ship.
"I've got big news for you, Shepard…Captain Anderson is stepping down as commanding officer of the Normandy…The ship is yours now."
"She's quick and quiet, and you know the crew," Anderson added. "Perfect ship for a Spectre. Treat her well, Commander."
"What's going on here, sir, why are you stepping down?" Shepard asked.
"You needed your own ship. A Spectre can't answer to anyone but the Council." Anderson paused, "And it's time for me to step down."
"Sir, come clean with me, please, you owe me that much."
Anderson sighed, "I was in your shoes twenty years ago, Shepard. They were considering me for the Spectres."
"What happened?"
Anderson was getting flustered, "I failed. I couldn't make the cut…It's not something I'm proud of. Anyway, you already know most of the story if Alliance Reports are anything to go on."
Shepard put up a finger and brought up his omni-tool, "Speaking of which." He produced an optical storage device, OSD, with his omni tool and gave it to Anderson, "Give this to the alliance techs, if you will, and tell them I found a really big hole that needs covering…and that I had to piggyback a salarian hacker to get in."
"Your side job? How did you know he was a salarian?"
"I tracked his EP address and sent him a tailored virus to take a picture via his camera the next time he logged on, I also did a minor data mine to get his current address…I'm boring you with the tech…It's all on the OSD."
"How long did it take you to do that?" Tali asked with a genuinely curious tone from where she was leaning on the dock's railing observing the ship.
Shepard looked back at her, "Pushing all the time together, probably a solid week."
"Wow."
Shepard shrugged and turned back to Anderson, "It passes the time."
"So this is what you've been working on in your spare time?" Anderson asked, somewhat surprised. "I'll see that it gets to them." To the aliens standing behind Shepard, he said, "You guys can board, there's a few more things I want to talk to Shepard about."
After they were gone, Anderson continued, "Okay, Saren's gone, don't even try to find him, but we know he's after the Conduit. He's got geth scouring the Traverse, looking for clues."
From where he was standing patiently waiting for Shepard and Anderson to finish their banter, Udina spoke up, "We had reports of geth in the Feros system shortly before our colony there dropped out of contact; there have also been sightings around Noveria."
"Find out what Saren was after at those places, maybe you can find the Conduit before he does."
"Anything else?" Shepard asked.
"We have one more lead," Udina said. "Matriarch Benezia, the other voice in that recording. She has a daughter, a scientist who specializes in the Protheans. We don't know if she's involved, but it might be a good idea to try and find her to see what she knows. Her name's Liara…Dr. Liara T'Soni…The reports say that she was exploring an archeological dig on one of the uncharted worlds in the Artemis Tau cluster."
"Then I'll start there."
"It's your decision, Comander," Anderson reminded him, "you're a Spectre now; you don't answer to us."
"But your actions still reflect on humanity as a whole," Udina reminded him pointedly, "you make a mess and I get stuck cleaning it up."
"I'll do what is necessary to stop Saren," Shepard returned.
"Not exactly the answer I was looking for, just remember: you were a human long before you were a Spectre." Udina looked at Captain Anderson and then back at Shepard, "I have a meeting to get to; Captain Anderson can answer any more questions you may have."
Shepard watched Udina leave and then looked back at Anderson, "I'm sorry sir…and thank you"
"Don't thank me so soon, remember: Joker still flies that thing."
There…now that stuff is out of the way, a tad long, but it was all necessary, I believe, for this chapter; I guess I could have split it into two, but on the other hand, it's all going to be posted anyway…Okay, time for the bulk of the story with more dynamics…and most likely significantly shorter chapters if the video lengths are anything to go by (one hour ≈ 10 pages)…Oh, and btw, I've found a way to make the FRAPS videos smaller…setting to half size…a video of longer length is less than half the size of the shorter full-def one (57:03 min length 18.4 GB vs. 43:28 min length 71.8GB respectively) so yeah…better playtime/recording to space available/writing limits ratio… so…I can do a whole bunch of missions and mix and match where I insert them into the story…food for thought.
Anyway, from here on out, I will be writing the chapters as follows: major mission, 4 star clusters, major mission, 4 star clusters, major mission, 4 star clusters, major mission, 4 star clusters, major mission. If you count them, there 4 "major missions" in-game, but I have five…that is because I consider the Bring Down the Sky DLC a major mission…I'm still trying to decide whether or not I want to include Pinnacle Station (A chance to blow off steam?). Leave a review with your thoughts about whether or not you think I should include a chapter there…among other thoughts you may have…I just realized that there are twelve, (well, 13 if you consider the Serpent Nebula) clusters, and my math adds up to 16…I looked at the wiki, so I'm basing it off that, if all else fails, I will stick to my main format and figure something out with the last segment…Oh, and one more thing, I consider the Citadel missions to be filler missions, I will do them as I feel they fit into the story…there's a few more things I want to mention, but I'll mention them in the next chapter…Please pardon my social awkwardness…and long-windedness. ;)
I tweaked the descriptions for races from the mass effect wiki. I had to guess on how a simple volus merchant would refer to an unknown quarian respectfully, so if anyone has a more concrete idea on what they would say, please leave a review.
One more quick note: On the wiki it says, "It is noted, however, that Reapers are believed to be capable of traveling nearly 30 light-years within a 24-hour period, and that this rate is roughly twice what Citadel starships are capable of traveling." Assuming the Normandy is…uh…galaxy of the art and can travel half the speed of them, I got curious on how many times the speed of light it could travel. Here's my calculation:
15ly/24hr=.625ly/hr
(1ly/1yr)*(1yr/8765.8hr)= 1.14E-4ly/hr
[the years cancel out leaving lightyears per hour; E is a fill in for *10^whatever is after it…that's what it means on a graphing calculator though it's a subscript when typed]
.625/1.14E-4= 5478.6x the speed of light
That is not what it is for a mass relay jump, though; I'm not even going to try calculating that since according to the books they are essentially instantaneous…my original intention was to calculate how long they would be traveling through FTL so I could have realistic references throughout the story on how long downtime was going to take, but then I realized that they don't give the distances between star systems…anyway, food for thought, if you find any references on the internet, or you have an idea for an algorithm that seems correct for proportions in planetary clusters, please, send them my way.
I had most of this one done before I posted the previous chapter, so that's why this one is out so relatively soon…and I got a little excited…I don't know how long it will be before the next chapter gets out, finals are literally next week, but I will try to get it out in 2 weeks tops.
Please review…I don't know how I'm doing unless you review (if there's anything you think I should change, please bring it up…even if I have to start a new game and rehash over what I did…or at least search youtube…also tell me if there are any parts that don't flow very well, no matter what chapter it is in…check my math as well if you wish and tell me if I'm wrong)
Updated 8/3/15 with a lot of stuff
;)
