Guys I'm trying to stay away from the dreaded way that stories like this go. Feel free to pistol whip me if it's going that way.
When Jones exited the ship with Captain Anderson and his crew they were greeted by four C-Sec officers. Three of them were Turians and one was a dark skinned human in the standard gear but they had their assault rifles out. One of them stepped forward.
"Doctor Jones-Harten?" the human asked.
Jones stepped out from behind Captain Anderson."I am Doctor Jones-Harten."
"Marcus Patten, C-Sec." he introduced. "Doctor you are hereby placed under protective custody of the Citadel Security Forces until such time as you are free of threat. If you will please come with us."
"I'm afraid that the Doctor is under Alliance protection,"Anderson said putting up a hand to stop Jones from going over to the Officer. "She is a witness to the Eden Prime attack and will be speaking to the Ambassador in fifteen minutes."
"Council Business supersedes your's Captain. Come Doctor." he gestured for her to come over to him. "Do not worry Captain she will be returned to you."
Jones' looked uncertainly at the Captain and then at Commander Shepard. Ashley gave her an encouraging nod. "Don't worry Doc, we'll see you again."
Marcus nodded at Anderson. "Captain."
Marcus and the three other officers formed a diamond around her. Marcus to her left and the other three surrounding her. They kept their rifles out but kept them pointed at the ground. Jones kept her eyes downcast so that none could see the worry in them. What was this officer going to do to her and where were they taking her? She was too shook up to voice these concerns.
Silently they walked through C-Sec Academy winding through hallways off limits to all but C-Sec. Jones had lost her sense of direction and almost collided with the Turian in front of her when he stopped. He palmed open the door to a darkened room and stepped to the side.
"Doctor Jones please step inside." it wasn't exactly an order but neither was it a request.
Jones peered in dubiously. "I-" she started to protest but was cut off when the guard behind her shoved her inside. The door slid shut and she heard the lock engage. "Hey! Let me out!" she cried and ran to the door.
"Do not worry, Earth clan." the filtered voice of a volus said behind her. "You will not be harmed."
Jones spun around, wondering if the volus was in the room or talking through a comm system. Two floor lights faded on showing a desk a monitor and the volus that spoke standing on the other side of the desk.
"Who are you?" she asked taking a step forward. "Why am I in C-Sec custody?"
"Ah the Earth clan speaks of the men clad in C-Sec uniforms that brought you here." the volus gestured to the chair. "You are not truly in C-Sec custody. I had them bring you to me. My name is Kumun Shol, I run an excavation site on Klencory."
Jones' eyebrows rose. "Your the one who swears that he knows how to stop the "machine devils" that wiped out the Protheans."
"Indeed." Kumun paused. "But in reality it wasn't the call of a higher power that brought me to Klencory. It was a beacon that my company found on a wasteland planet in volus space near the edge of the planet."
"A beacon?" Jones was intrigued. "Why wasn't the Council told about it?"
" It was not Prothean. I felt that I could not share the knowledge of what the beacon revealed without being called unstable. Of course the majority of Council Space thinks that so my secret is safe."
"Then why am I here?" Jones asked gesturing to the room.
"Because you too have been in contact with a beacon."
"How do you know that I was with the beacon? That I came in contact with the beacon?"
"I have contacts in the deepest set of aides for the councilors. I get all sorts of information." Kumun came towards her. " I have a proposition for you human."
"What is it and if its worthwhile I'm agree to it."
"I want you to go to Klencory and help with the excavation. My teams there are starting to uncover artifacts that are not Prothean."
Jones closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "Give me a couple of days to think about it. Not everything is clear yet."
"Meet me in the Consort's Tower after two days and tell me your decision then." the volus pressed a button on his suit. The door opened and the three Turian guards came in. "Take the doctor to her apartment in the university district to change clothes and then to the Citadel Tower."
"Yes Sir."
Jones nodded her head in thanks and walked out the door. The trio of guards formed a point in front of her and guided her down a different set of corridors. They entered an elevator that moved swiftly up. The time they spent in the elevator gave Jone free reign to disassemble what the volus revealed to her. Was he lying to her? Volus are not are not known for lying but he could be misleading her. Everyone in the academic circles thought that he was beyond eccentric and he was only allowed to stay on Klencory was because it was too absurd to evict him. The radiation on the planet was millions of years old and strong enough to harm almost all scanners.
How did he know about her coming in contact with the beacon unless he has someone in the know on his payroll? Did those people think that it was an easy paycheck from an alien that had too much money to begin with. What was she going to tell the Ambassador when he got a hold of her? He was known for being a pompous ass, a jaded and driven politician. What was going to happen to her at the hearing? It could be the breaking point of her career especially if she saw the Council's greatest agent committing treason.
The elevator stopped and the quartet stepped into the University District. The guards followed her closely but let her take the lead as she made her way through the crowds of students and faculty members to the apartment tower where she lived. Up another elevator to the fifteenth floor where is her small and sparsely furnished apartment lay. Two of the guards stayed in the hallway and made sure no one tried to disturb her. The last stayed in her little office-cum-livingroom-cum-kitchen while she changed in her bedroom. She put her hair up in a chignon and pulled on the standard dress of a female academic. It was the long gloved dress of fashion and was dark blue and gray trim. Severe yet flattering on her. Giving a unpleasant hand motion to her mirror she exited her bedroom and did not give any notice to the guard that she was leaving the apartment.
She was stepping up to the Citadel Tower's entrance when she met up with Captain Anderson and the Ambassador. The Ambassador had the unpleasant look on his face and Captain Anderson looked stoic but tired.
"Doctor Jones-Harten, I presume?" the Ambassador's voice was icy. "So glad that you could make before the Council's hearing on attack."
"Honestly Ambassador I would have been in your presence then where I was." she gave him a sad smile.
"You okay doctor?" Anderson asked coming over to her.
"One thing at a time Captain." she answered. It was indirect but not unexpected to the older man.
"We are wasting time." Udina interrupted the conversation. "Come Doctor we can't keep the Council waiting."
"Of course not," Jones replied, "but where is Commander Shepard and the team from Eden Prime? Shouldn't they be there as well?"
Udina took a hold of her elbow and guided her like a small child to the elevator. "The Commander and his team will be up shortly. The Council has his report but you are an eye witness and you take precedence in this matter."
The guards did not follow them but dispersed into different directions. One was probably on his way to tell that she was in the company of Ambassador Udina. The politician did not let go of her as they rode up the tower to the Council Chambers. Instead he lightened his grip but it was enough to tell her that he was the one in charge. Jones' stomach flopped about in her stomach. She had never been in the Citadel Tower before and the urgency that she was experiencing made her want to vomit. God help her she didn't want to be there, be here with this man and in this place. Klencory was starting to sound really good to her at the moment.
No one tried to speak to them as they walked up the first of many staircases that lead to the chamber itself. There was politicians of any different species milling about the area and she saw a Keeper doing whatever it needed to in the course of its day. She remembered her first trip to the Citadel as an intern with a Salarian scientist. He warned her that she should never try and disturb the Keepers as they ran the day-to-day routines of the Citadel. It seemed that everyone was at least interested in the Keepers at some point in their lives.
Going up the last set of stairs set she saw the three Councilors that represented the voice of trillions of beings. Her mind blanked for a moment. "Captain stay here and wait for the Commander's arrival. Lets go Doctor."
Jones strode along the catwalk right beside Udina, her heeled shoes clicking softly on the stone and metal flooring. Udina glanced at her and made for her to stop and let him take the lead. Jones glanced around the chamber and noticed the orange holographic image of a Turian. He looked more familiar then the average Turian did to a human. The Asari Councilor in the middle spoke.
"Ambassador Udina," she started. "This hearing is to establish whether or not the human colony of Eden Prime was attacked by geth on account of alleged treason conduct by Spectre agent Saren."
"Is this the Human Scientist the report spoke of?" the Turian Councilor nodded to Jones.
"Doctor Jones-Harten please step forward to address the Council." ordered the Salarian Councilor.
Jones took a step forward and a little ahead of Udina. "In the report of Commander Shepard, head of the Normandy's landing party he stated that you told him that you saw Spectre Agent Saren use the beacon on Eden Prime and then order the geth that were attacking the colony to detonate charges that would damage the colony. Is this accurate?"
"It is." Jones made sure her voice was calm and her breathing even. She made sure to make eye contact with the Salarian Councilor.
"Do you see the Agent in question in this room?"
"I do, yes." she answered.
"Point him out."
Jones pointed to the Turian hologram.
"This is absurd," Saren sneered. "Humans have a hard time distinguishing one Turian from another without trauma. How could she in the midst of an attack know what the geth's leader looked like."
"I know what I saw, Councilors. I am not unstable. I saw him order geth to destroy the colony and activate the beacon." Jones interjected before he could say anything else. She wasn't going to put the reasons of why Saren was there. That wasn't important enough at the moment. Getting him tried for treason was why she was here. "I did not have any trauma to the head before the attack, I do not take any psychotropic drugs and I have never made false accusations to anybody."
Both her and Udina did not notice Anderson and the crew from the Normandy come up from behind her.
"Commander Shepard." the Asari Councilor replied. "As the commanding officer of the ground team you were in direct contact with Doctor Jones. What was her mental condition when you approached her?"
Shepard stepped up next to Jones. "The Doctor was a little shaken but she was acutely aware of who had been at the beacon."
"This is not enough evidence to support your claim, Ambassador," the Salarian said. "The testimony from one traumatized dockworker and a scientist that has been in contact with a badly damaged beacon is not enough."
"This hearing is a waste of time."Saren hissed. "There is no treason."
"You attacked a human colony! You despise humans and you won't stop until you've wiped us from the galactic map!"
"Captain you are not helping matters," growled Jones.
"Humans need to learn their place. You are not ready to join the Council. You're not even ready to join the Spectres."
"He can't say that! That's not his decision!" Udina shouted, jabbing his finger at the hologram.
"This inclusion of Commander Shepard into the Spectres is not the reason for this hearing."the Asari told Saren.
"There is no reason for this hearing. They have no evidence." said Saren.
"I agree." the Turian replied. "We cannot base our judgment on hearsay."
"We need hard evidence." agreed the Salarian.
"It is agreed. This hearing is concluded." the Asari replied calmly.
The finality of the Asari's voice made Jones' shoulders slump a little but not as much as Udina's. Slowly she placed a comforting hand on the older man's shoulder and slowly turned him around to make his way back to the lobby. Anderson and his crew were already down there when they reach the second landing. Jones' stepped away from Udina and came to stand closer to Williams.
"It was a mistake letting you in there Captain," Udina said sharply. "Your past with Saren influenced the Council against us."
"What now?" Jones asked her voice softer then what it had been before. "Where are we going to get more evidence on Saren's involvement?"
"We should try that C-Sec officer, Vakarian." Alenko.
"That's right, he was asking the Executor for more time to finish his report."
"You are not going to do anything Doctor," answered Udina, "Thank you for coming but you are no longer needed."
Jones hid her disappointment. "Fine. It was nice knowing you." she spun on the heel of her shoe and started for the elevator.
"Wait a minute you can't just let her run loose." said Shepard. "Saren is going to want her silenced because of what she saw on Eden Prime."
Their voices were becoming fainter so she didn't hear the rest of it but it didn't matter. She was going to prove that she could hold her own in this matter. She was going to see the C-Sec officer first and help him with his investigation. There was no way that she was going to let Udina or anybody else ruin her standing the in the academic community. As the elevator doors closed behind her she noticed Ashley and Alenko watching her and maybe they saw the spark of scholarly mischief in her eyes.