A/N: Spring Break means writing for fun! So I'd just finished my Shakespeare paper and was about to move onto my Philosophy mid-term study guide when I remembered Elcor and their love of Shakespeare. Then I wondered how the Elcor would sound giving one of Henry V's famous speeches: "Once more unto the breech, dear friends, once more; or close the walls up with our English dead…"

And then I remembered I had something fun to write that involved politics(boo) and hot aliens(yay)!

Fourth Contact—The Truth is Out There.

"Shepard."

"Unnh? EDI, nuh…five minutes—" She groaned and rolled over, burying her face in her pillow. She yanked at the blankets, pulling them up until they covered her head completely. Her legs ached, especially her thighs. Had she been running? Doing squats? She couldn't remember. It hardly seemed to matter now.

She let herself float back toward sleep. Surrounded by her warm blankets, the lingering soreness in her muscles evaporated and all thoughts went silent.

"Shepard, wake up."

Something moved beside her.

She was in the Collectors' base, back pressed against a wall, Harbinger firing bursts of flame in her direction. His deep, monotone voice resonated through her mind, blurring the line between memories and dreams, past and present.

We know you feel this. You cannot escape.

Her eyes snapped open and she bolted to her feet, searching for anything she could use as a weapon. The bedside lamp was the closest thing and she moved to grab it just as Garrus's laughter filled the room. She stared at him for a second, her sleep-dazed brain struggling to catch up with her body. Her knees wobbled and she leaned back against the wall behind her. Garrus watched her with interest, reclining on the bed, a sheet thrown carelessly over his waist and hips.

Why was he staring at her like that? She looked down at herself.

Oh. She was naked. That explained it.

Shepard tried her hardest not to dive back into bed to hide her embarrassment. She grabbed the blanket hanging half off the mattress and tugged, but it didn't budge. She could feel her face and ears grow hot. She pulled the blanket again. Then she saw Garrus's fingers wrapped around the edge of the blanket closest to him, the fabric pulled taut spanning the distance between his and her hands.

She cleared her throat and ordered in her most commanding voice: "Let go of the blanket."

"That's one order I'll have to disobey, Commander," he said obviously on the verge of laughter.

"Insubordination!" She yelled, letting go of the blanket. He fell back against his pillow, still gripping his end of the fabric. He laughed, and she used his distraction to her advantage. She quickly crawled back into bed and squirmed under the blanket, curling against his side. He held out his arm, offering his shoulder to her as a head-rest. She grumbled into his chest, "Why'd you wake me up?"

"It's time to go back. The alarm wasn't even fazing you." He traced his nail around the scab on her cheek where the Turian woman had clawed her. "I briefly considered a bucket of ice water, but I figured I'd try negotiating first. Just like you taught me."

Shepard pressed her lips to the hardened skin of his shoulder. "You're lucky you did. Last time someone used a bucket of water to wake me up was in basic. I dented the bucket against his head."

"Commander?" Joker's voice rang out from her earpiece on the bed-side table. She disentangled herself from Garrus's limbs and the blanket to grab her earpiece. She pressed it to her ear just in time to hear Joker say, "—Meeting's in thirty minutes and you aren't back yet. You okay?"

"I'm fine. Just heading out now."

Joker didn't respond, as if he could tell she was lying by the sound of her voice. After a few seconds, he said, "Alright. And Samara wants a word before you head into the debriefing room. Says it can't wait."

While Joker was talking, Shepard climbed out of the bed and scoured the bedroom for her clothes. She stopped in front of the closet door. Hooked on the doorknob was her bra. She picked it up with her index finger, dangling the bra from a shoulder strap, and showed it to Garrus for explanation. He raised both hands a silent gesture that meant, Don't look at me. I don't know how it got there.

"Commander, you still there? Hel-lo?"

Shepard replied hastily, "Yeah, thanks, Joker. We're heading back to the Normandy now."

Garrus's eyes widened. There was silence from Joker's end. She repeated her last words in her head and then cringed. "I mean I'm heading back. Now. To the Normandy."

"Sure, you are. Glad you and Garrus got some down-time, Commander. See you soon."

Shepard dropped the earpiece to the bedside table and flopped back down on the bed with a groan. "Damn it. Now that Joker knows, everyone on the ship is going to know by the time we get back."

"Don't worry. It's not like anyone will bring it up. You'd be surprised how much people will ignore if the truth makes them uncomfortable," Garrus said, sitting up in bed and searching for his own discarded clothes. "Besides, Joker knows how to be discrete if he puts his mind to it."

Shepard sighed as she shoved her arms into her bra straps. "You're probably right. We'd better hurry."

---

"So. Banging the subordinates. Is that standard Alliance protocol, or you just got a thing for the scaly ones?" Jack asked as soon as Shepard stepped into the elevator after changing her clothes in the Captain's Quarters. Shepard suppressed a groan and fixed her expression into a mask of indifference. Jack didn't mean anything by it. She was just being friendly.

Luckily, she and Garrus had split up upon arriving at the Normandy so she was the only one who had to endure Jack's attempts at friendly conversation. "Good to see you too, Jack. How's shore leave treating you?"

"Dunno." Jack shrugged and followed Shepard out of the elevator onto the second level of the Normandy. "It's boring on this station. Started getting a headache from all the noise and crowds, so I came back here after a few hours. Brought back a bottle of the cheapest, strongest shit I could find and got hammered in the cargo area."

"Sounds like you had more fun that I did," Shepard grumbled. If Jack had accompanied her and Garrus to deal with all the politicians on the Citadel, someone would have died. A lot of someones.

"Sex with a giant callus isn't fun? Surprise," Jack said, just as they entered the quiet debriefing room.

Everyone turned to stare at them.

Shepard wanted to cover her face and walk back out of the room. But she was their Commander. And she'd called this meeting.

Samara broke the silence. "Commander. A word?"

"Right, of course," Shepard said, leaving Jack in the debriefing room with the rest of the crew. She followed Samara into the hallway for some privacy. Though, apparently, privacy was an imaginary thing for some people onboard the Normandy.

"Shepard. I am leaving your crew and returning to my travels." Samara said, her voice quiet, sad, but even. "There are injustices in the galaxy and I must try and attend to them."

Shepard's first reaction was relief, though it felt like a betrayal to admit it. Sad to see her teammate go, but relieved. She'd worried about how Samara would react to the news of possible Alliance corruption. Any corruption would be worth investigating and would demand the strictest punishment as dictated by her Code. Samara didn't understand politics or tact or subtly. Whoever's names showed up in Talid's datapad would die by Samara's hand, because the Code demanded nothing less for their crimes.

And, honestly, Shepard didn't know what she was going to do if the rumors were true. But she couldn't go in biotics blazing and bullets flying. This was politics. There were too many unknown variables. And some of the names in that datapad were so high-ranking even she didn't know them personally. If an Asari justicar killed any of them, it would just lead to an all-out, intergalactic war.

"Thank you, Samara." Shepard placed her hand on Samara's shoulder. "For everything. The Collectors weren't after your people, but you still risked your life to stop them. If you ever need help, you know where to find me."

Samara inclined her head. "You've already helped me accomplish the one goal I had remaining in this life. But thank you for the offer."

Shepard watched Samara walk down the hallway, the clicking of her heels echoing against the metal walls. The justicar paused at the end of the hall and glanced back, smiling. "Perhaps, our paths will cross again, if you ever find yourself on another suicide mission."

"Commander. The remaining crew has convened in the debriefing room. They are waiting on you." EDI chimed. Shepard stared at the closed door, imagining her teammates on the other side. How would they react when she told them? How could she tell them that her people—Jacob, Jack and Miranda's people—were sold out by their own kind? That the deaths of thousands were bargaining chips to ensure the safety of a handful?

It was thoughts like these that made her sick with hatred and anger. She couldn't lose herself to it, but the more she thought about it, the angrier she got. How would she be able to talk anyone out of seeking revenge when she wanted blood as much as they would when they knew?

"Commander Shepard—"

She inhaled, and then interrupted EDI, "I know. They're waiting." Shepard pressed the green control panel and the doors opened. Her team turned toward her as one entity, all chatter silenced when she stepped into the room. The doors slid shut behind her and she almost jumped at the whisking noise.

She walked to the edge of the oval desk in the middle of the room. She dropped Talid's datapad onto the counter, the loud clatter of plastic hitting metal rang through the room.

"Siha, are you…" Thane stopped when she held a hand up, but his wide, black eyes, normally so restless, fixed on her without wandering.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes for a moment. Then she dropped her hand away from her face and said, "Mordin. Miranda. Can you two look into the data on this pad? I was told that it was gathered by members of the Salarian Task Group and agents of the Shadow Broker."

"STG? Data pertaining to Collectors, perhaps?" Mordin asked, reaching for the datapad. "Or—"

"I'll get to that. Copy the files to your omni-tools, but leave the original data on the datapad intact."

"What's on it, Shepard? Who did you get this from?" Miranda asked. Mordin's omni-tool glowed orange, his fingers fiddling with the datapad. "And why is it important?"

Shepard paused, coming up with five different ways to answer that question. None of them properly conveyed the right amount of anger and betrayal at their situation.

"What the hell's going on?" Jack said from across the room, breaking the silence. "Why won't you—"

"This information suggests that certain Alliance officials may have known about the Reaper attacks in the Terminus Systems long before they happened. That these officials may have…" She stopped, tripping over the word, "Struck a deal with the Reapers, handing over the humans in the Terminus Systems for experimentation."

She could feel the atmosphere in the room ebb like the sea before a tidal wave…and then noise crashed down all around her. Voices, multiple ones, raised and angry. Furious. Jacob spoke first, but the others joined in before he could finish his sentence. "What the hell kind of operation is the Alliance running?"

"—Couldn't have known. There's no way that Cerberus would have allowed—"

"That's sick! Keelah, your own people—"

"—Saved innocent lives from Reapers. Didn't want to be saved, or—"

"I knew I couldn't trust—"

Shepard put both her pinkie fingers in her mouth and blew. Hard. The whistle silenced everyone. "Quiet down. I can't even be sure if this information is correct. A Turian politician named Joram Talid gave it to me. He plans to blackmail the Council with it."

She turned toward Miranda and Mordin. "But if it's true…it changes everything we thought we knew about our mission. I need answers and you two have the best connections: Miranda, try to get as much as you can out of your old Cerberus contacts and intel network. Mordin, you worked for the STG. See what you can verify. Supposedly they helped compile the data. Something about how the Salarian government is backing Talid behind the scenes."

"Implications unsettling. Civil unrest on the Citadel could be breeding ground for anti-human movement. Seeds of revolution?" he paused for breath, seemed to sort through his thoughts in a millisecond, then shook his head. "No, no, no. Best not to draw conclusions without evidence. Collect data first—test, run experiments—then form theory. Shepard is right. Investigation necessary before anything else."

"Joram Talid," Thane spoke suddenly, his voice calm. He hadn't once looked away from Shepard since she walked in the room. While everyone else had thrown their voices around, adding to the chaos, only he and Garrus remained silent. "He's the one Kolyat was hired to kill. The turian you saved."

Shepard nodded.

"Judging by the situation on the Citadel, Talid harbors no great love for humans. Which begs the question: why would he care enough to pass the information on to you?"

"He already told me why. He wants to ensure that the humans on the Council don't resort to using dirty tactics in the upcoming election."

Thane blinked. "All this work to ensure a fair election? I think not. Siha, you have crossed over into territory you are not completely familiar with. As much as I trust your leadership on the battlefield, where things are black and white, you must rely on others in your crew more accustomed to dealing in these…shady, gray areas. Talid was crooked before. No doubt he still is. We both saw him and his Krogan bodyguard shaking down humans on the Citadel. He is a bully in a finely tailored suit. As most politicians are."

"Exactly," Garrus added. She sought his eyes from across the center console. "You can't trust any of these guys. Udina and Anderson are using you, Talid is using you. Who's next? The Elcor diplomat? Does he have a few dirty human secrets to air out, too?"

"The Volus ambassador would be more likely," Thane said. Shepard frowned. It was hard to tell, especially when the rest of the crew was so emotionally distraught, but…were they making fun of her?

"Well, I'm glad you two are having a nice laugh, because to the humans in the room, this is a matter of dire consequence." Miranda grabbed the datapad from Mordin and held it up. Her omni-tool flashed orange across her forearm and she tapped a few buttons on the datapad's keyboard. Her eyes moved, following the text on the datapad's screen. "This is unbelievable. Who were Talid's sources again, Shepard?"

"Members of the STG and the Shadow Broker's network."

Miranda ran her finger along her omni-tool's holographic image. The orange light disappeared and she put the datapad back on the counter. "I'll see what I can find through my Cerberus contacts and get the word out about the Shadow Broker. With any luck, I'll have this cleared up by the end of the day."

Shepard tapped her knuckles against the metal counter on the center console in front of her. Cerberus. What did they know about the Alliance and the Reapers? The Illusive Man could have used her ignorance against the Alliance to further his own goals. "Miranda. Can the Normandy still link up to the Illusive Man's private channel?"

Miranda raised one eyebrow at the question. "Of course. But I thought you didn't want anything to do with Cerberus after your last…discussion with him."

"I don't. Just thinking about talking to that bastard again makes me sick. But he might be able to tell us—" she stopped mid-sentence and laughed. "I almost said 'the truth.' This is the Illusive Man we're talking about and I'm thinking maybe if I just ask him nice, he'll tell it to me straight. Like he didn't lie about the state of the Collectors' ship, put us all in danger, just to get us to salvage Reaper tech for him."

"Forget all this bullshit! I say we bust some Alliance heads together until they tell us what we want to know," Jack said, slamming her fist into the metal counter. Seconds before impact, her skin glowed blue with biotic energy. Her fist left a huge dent where it connected with the metal.

All things considered, Shepard was just glad Jack hadn't torn the console apart. She took solace in the small victories. "Until we get this cleared up, we aren't doing anything crazy. Mordin, Miranda, we're waiting on your findings. Report to me as soon as you have anything conclusive—"

Before Shepard could dismiss the team, EDI's blue avatar flickered above the central console. "Excuse me, Commander. Legion has been monitoring transmissions by organics within the Citadel—"

"Spying on us, you mean," Tali muttered.

"…He would like to talk to you in the AI core before you head out."

A corner of Shepard's mouth tugged up in a humorless, lopsided smile. "I'm so popular right now. Tell him I'll be right there. Though why he wasn't at the debriefing is beyond me."

"He was busy filtering the organics' transmissions. However, I have kept him updated on the proceedings." EDI replied.

"Thank you, EDI," Shepard said. "I'll keep you all informed. This is top-secret information. Don't share what I've told you with the rest of the crew until we've got a firmer handle on the situation. Dismissed."

She turned to leave and Thane followed, side-stepping Garrus and Jack to catch up to her in the hall. "Siha. I would like to accompany you on your next trip to the Citadel. I feel as though my expertise could assist you on this mission."

"The objectives aren't clear enough to call this a mission, Thane." She squinted at him out of the corner of her eyes. "And I thought I told you, if you aren't going to tell me what this 'Siha' nonsense is about, then you don't get to call me it."

She stepped into the elevator and Thane moved to stand next to her. The elevator doors started to slide shut. "Before you arrived in the debriefing room, Garrus was explaining the meeting between you and the Councilors. Have you considered taking this data to Anderson?"

She hadn't thought of it, but now, she hesitated. Not facing the Illusive Man was one thing: it was a given he would lie. But Anderson? She trusted the man enough to put him on the Council. Underneath all that trust, however, was the fear that maybe her trust was misplaced. His would be the biggest betrayal of them all.

No. Even if the information was true, there's no way Anderson would have known about it. He wouldn't have idly sat by and let it happen. And she wouldn't confront him until it was confirmed, either way. "I don't think—"

A hand slipped between the elevator doors just before they could shut. The doors swung open again and Garrus stepped inside. Thane had to step back to give Garrus enough room in the cramped elevator. Shepard suppressed a grin when she saw what he was doing. "Sorry." He wedged himself into the small space between Shepard and Thane. "Heading down, right? Third level?"

"That's where the AI Core and Life Support room is. So yes." Shepard managed to sound very serious, a fact which she was immensely proud of considering the awkward Muzak playing in the elevator and how close Garrus was standing to her.

"Oh, good. I'm headed to the Forward Batteries myself." His eyes darted to rest on Shepard's face, his mandibles flaring wide in what could only be a Turian smile. "Got some calibrating to do."

"With the Normandy stuck in port until the election is over, what use will we have for the Thanix Cannons?" Thane asked.

"Show some respect. Those cannons got us out of a tight spot during the fight with the Collectors," Garrus said. Shepard took a deep breath and tried not to groan. Could this elevator move any slower? "I would have thought you, at least, would understand the importance of calibrations. Imagine. You have an M-98 Widow, best sniper rifle in the galaxy, but the aim is off, the balance is all out of alignment. Now, I have a more common Viper model with perfect balance and a finely tuned scope. Unless you plan on running at me swinging that expensive rifle like a bat, I guarantee—"

She was out of the elevator as soon as the door opened wide enough for her to slip through side-ways. As an adept, she had little interest in the finer points of sniper rifles, and as much as she enjoyed Garrus's company, she'd learned long ago not to get him started on calibrations. As she made her way quickly down the hall toward the medical bay and AI Core, Shepard didn't even spare a backward glance for fear Garrus would switch targets and go after her. Thane would be fine, even if Garrus bored him half-asleep with shop talk. Thane knew how to take one for the team.

She, on the other hand, had more important things to attend to. In particular, the Geth holed up in her ship's AI Core.