After the council meeting, just outside Udina's office. Pavel POV
Shepard was pissed. No, pissed is an understatement. She was ready to bitotically tear me a new one. Its a good thing she doesn't know about the rest of what I've done. If she did then she there's no telling what she might do. Right now she was in Udina's office and from the sound of it she was tearing the place up.
"You want to tell us what's going on Major?" Ashley asks me, finally reaching the end of her patience and desperately needing to satisfy her curiosity.
"It rather simple really. I am an enigma among humans. Also, I take pleasure in confounding Shepard to no end. That means she has little to no information on me. Well other than that I am apparently The First Human Spectre, a biotic, and the husband of the Asari councilor. Tali for you to understand this compare it to the Geth and Saren, Your people created the Geth but the Quarians have little to no current information about them and you really really don't like them. Now you find out that there is a biotic Geth. Its a WTF moment. Granted there are no biotic Geth but you get the idea. For the last comparison think of how Saren is working with and seems to be in command of the Geth.
"You mean to tell me you have the ear of the Asari government, the classified access of the highest echelon, and the skill of an Asari Commando?" Ashley asks me, amazed and confounded just like Shepard is, albeit without the anger.
"Yep, and of course there is more to me but that is classified. Besides, I wouldn't tell anyways because Id rather not have people going nuts and wanting me for my awesome body." I joke, using my hands to emphasize what I say. I actually notice Tali start fiddling with her hands almost unconsciously. 'Interesting'
"Are you sure pissing off Shepard is the best thing to do?" The Chief asks, unsure of my sanity now.
"Nope, doesn't mean I won't do it and miss out on the fun though. Seriously though, it's a good thing that I do what I do. This way, Shepard has a form of stress relief by finding ways to piss me off, however unlikely that is." I tell her before I duck as a high-powered warp blasts through the wall and would have hit my head. Ashley just stares at me as if she just made her point.
The door opened and revealed Shepard, who was apparently done with her rant and destruction of Udina's office. "Get in here Major. Everyone else stay outside." She says to me. But I could tell that was an order, and one I would need to follow. I enter the office and observe a great number of scorch marks and dents.
"Major." She says after the door closes and she sits in Udina's chair. "Tell me everything you're hiding. I don't give a shit if its classified or not you need to tell me now!" She orders, keeping her voice even. It was still threatening though.
"Sure. I'll tell you about my glorious sex life with my dear Tevos and how wild she is in bed. Let me tell you this, what I said to her when I entered the chambers wasn't just a joke. It was an inside joke!" I finish, giving a short laugh after saying that.
She glares at me since I haven't given her what she wants. "I'm still waiting Pavel." She says.
"And I'm still waiting to hear about your sex life. I don't think I'm going to hear about that anytime soon." I retort, setting it up so that she gives me a reason not to tell her.
"My sex life has nothing to do with this. This is an entirely different matter and even then it is not your place to know." Shepard replies, causing me to smirk as she fell for it.
"So why does mine matter you? You want me to tell you every single detail about my personal life. I'm married to a councilor. Why do you need to know how it happened. You try to do anything to break us up and I can guarantee you will piss Tevos off. I'm the first human Spectre. So what? That is a heavily classified secret that only select Admirals and the higher ups know. Its going to remain a secret because I do not want to be in the spotlight. You are the vanguard of Humanity and will be in the light while I remain in the shadows. So what if that idea pisses you off. That's my business and not yours. You have no need to know." I say, keeping my voice low and my face blank of all emotion. I like to think that I can be pretty intimidating when I do that.
She sighs, knowing that she has lost this battle. "This isn't over, I promise you that. Now, can you tell me what our next move is?" She asks, finally getting down to business.
"The woman that was in the video is an Asari Matriarch named Benezia. She is a very powerful biotic and has many followers. I would recommend finding her daughter first to see if she has any idea where Benezia went. Though due to us having more ground missions I would suggest gathering some specialists for these ground missions." I tell her, glad to finally get to the root of the matter.
"Of course you do. I also guess you have a few picked out?" She asks, not at all happy about the prospect more ground missions.
"Just two. You can get one while I'll get the other. Garrus Vakarian is a Turian C-sec officer who was investigating Saren before we showed up at the Council chambers. The other is a Krogan by the name Urdnot Wrex. He currently has been contracted to kill a corrupt business owner. I figure I would take Tali to get Wrex while you take Ashley to get Garrus." I say to her, obviously omitting what I was going to do for Wrex.
"That sounds like a plan. Now go ahead and get to it. I'm tired of seeing your ugly mug for this day." She says, smiling a little at the insult. Lucky for me I had payback planned already. She gets up and walks out of the room with me in tow. Apparently, during my brief talk with Shepard, Udina had showed up with Anderson. As soon as I got out Shepard was dragged back in for who knows what. Of course I knew but that's besides the point.
"C'mon La Belleza." I say, indicating Tali, "we have a Krogan to find." I finish and start walking. I manage take only one step before I hear someone shout because of the damage done to their office. Then I hear sobs. Tali gives me an odd look and I mouth Shepard to her. She nods in understanding and follows me to the elevator. Once in I decide to start some conversation, because I knew it would be a while.
"So, how is your pilgrimage coming along Tali?" I ask, unsure of what else to talk about.
She takes a moment to think before answering. "Crappy, really really crappy. I suddenly get a message about Geth on an out of the way planet, get an entire crew murdered by a bosh'tet Turian, get chased by said Turian across the galaxy. I got arrested and another Turian ignores my plea for help. The first Turian shows up, shoots me and my friend and we have to run again. Then I'm forced to kill him to kill the Turian so I can escape. I get to the clinic to get help and that is where your team finds me. How did you even know where I was?' She asks. She is actually shaking after saying it all.
I move over to her and wrap her up in a hug. I stay silent for a moment as I contemplate what to tell. That was apparently long enough of a silence though and she hesitantly hugs me back. "I'm just sorry I couldn't get to you sooner Tali. What you heard in the back in the council room, about me being this 'Ancient One'. Means that I'm really old for a human. I'm approximately 583 years old. With my appearance came certain knowledge of what is to come and I knew what would happen to you. I wasn't able to get to you before you were wounded but I was able to do something better." I pause so that she can digest this information. "I managed to save Keenah. He isn't dead. He is in a coma though from the shock of his wounds but I made sure to get him to a hospital in time to keep him alive."
She starts sobbing tears of joy after I tell her that Keenah is alive. Because finally her day got better, finally she has something to look forward too, finally she has a friend that she can talk to. "Thank you Pavel. Really, thank you so much!" She exclaimed. Her voice was still shaky, but now you could hear a smile as she said it.
We end the hug as the elevator reaches the C-sec offices. She sniffles a few times and then I lead her out and over to where Wrex is.
A/N: Yeah that was a short chapter for me folks. I had planned to make it longer But then I wrote the elevator scene and it just didn't feel right to go from emotional straight to Wrex. I mean, have you ever seen an emotional scene with a Krogan? Other than Blood rage and lust of course.
Remember to Review folks. You're drivin me nuts by not tellin me what ya think.
Also thank ya GlaDOS-01 for all your help so far through the story.