Solomon was a naturally curious guy. While most capsuleers wouldn't hesitate to tell you that they made their agonizing sacrifice in a pursuit of wealth and power, Solomon could never really articulate what it was that drove him to undertaking his transformation. "It just seemed like the thing to do at the time," was him at his most eloquent as he would shrug away the question. But here in the Citadel, Solomon was being rewarded for his cavalier outlook. After nearly a decade of hiding in the terminus system he was now aboard the most amazing space station he had ever seen.

The station that his corporation had built in the Terminus systems was as barebones as you could imagine. Back in New Eden, the star systems were littered with jump gates and prefabricated orbital stations. The galaxy had gotten crowded, with planets bursting at the seams with population explosion and stock stations being built as fast as could be afforded to house the off-world workers. Every planet, moon, and asteroid had been claimed by some government or private corporation; the only way to make money for a relatively small group like Solomon's, was to spread into the unexplored reaches of space as quickly as possible.

So when a wormhole opened up in Solomon's home system (an anomaly that occurred surprisingly often in New Eden), his corporation didn't hesitate to jump through. When they jumped through and found that no other capsuleers had yet to make claims to this systems resources, they loaded up every freighter they had with all the raw materials and components they would need to build a functioning station and begin exploiting the riches of the virgin system. By the time they realized the system they moved into was not in New Eden, the wormhole had collapsed behind them.

So for 20 years they waited. Barely a hundred strong, the capsuleers used the equipment they brought with them, and managed to mine and manufacture their own piece of the universe. Under the guidance of their leader, Elanzo, they lived in relative Isolation, cautiously listening and searching for signs of life in this unknown galaxy.

But thank goodness for Solomon, the time for solitude was past and the time for something new was present.

Solomon wandered the docking area, eyes pointed everywhere except where he was going. He was only dimly aware of what he assumed were curses as he bumped and blundered his way through the crowds. Everything was just so smooth. This was what the future was supposed to look like. And all the aliens walking about too! New Eden had plenty of systems with life in it, occasionally multicellular life too, but walking talking aliens? This was too good to be true.

He looked for a tourist information area. Surely there would be a place to buy a T-shirt somewhere around here. He spotted a terminal with a VI display that looked like a blue skinned woman with a calm reassuring voice, giving directs to a strange creature with a human-like body but an uncomfortably large, four eyed, head. He waited in line for his turn.

"Welcome to the Citadel, my name is Avina, how may I help you today?" why were these things always made to look and sound like women. "Uh, Yes. I want to, uh, know what there is to do around here. I want the Citadel Experience."

"….I don't know what you mean. Please repeat your command." Well I hate this thing. How do I talk to a real person? "I want entertainment."

"I can give you information about any of the hundreds of bars or clubs in the wards. Which one would you like to know about?" Solomon walked away.

Solomon looked around and decided that the flow of the crowd was definitely heading in one direction, and that where crowds were, would also be something to see. He had decided through his initial observations that the aliens with the twitching mandibles, the spiked heads, and painted faces were the ones he liked best. He an assuming group of them out of the crowd, checked his translator to see if it was set for optimal eavesdropping, and set off to shadow his target.

The beep on his comm sounded to interrupt his self-appointed impromptu mission. His heart sank as remembered that he had been sent out to do a job. Elanzo had hoped that new trading could be opened up with the citadel, that the high traffic of the station could be a significant source of income; Income that could be used in preparing for the reapers. Solomon took a deep breath as he opened his communicator, ready to be chastised for his tangential gallivanting.

"Solomon, get to the Embassies immediately. We've been asked to meet with the Ambassador sooner than I had hoped. Get a cab to speed things up, don't try to walk here, you'll get distracted."

"Right, I'm on my way." Solomon felt a little relieved that he wasn't in trouble, but disappointed to leave his Turian targets behind.

Solomon arrived at the embassies and the blue skinned receptionist permitted him to continue to the ambassador's office without delay. Already present in the office was Elanzo and the other capsuleers, standing next to a serious dark skinned man in a military uniform, and sitting at an absurdly large desk was the man Solomon presumed to be the human ambassador. The ambassador spoke first, "Now that you're all here I assume you'll explain the meaning behind this." The man was apparently quite skilled in the art of condescension. His voice began to rise as he spoke, "spying on alliance communications is a serious offence, you're lucky I haven't told the council about this, as I assure you that spying on a Spectre is even more punishable."

Elanzo took point on this one, much to Solomon's relief; silence was too ready an invitation for his mouth. "I assure you there was no malicious intent," Elanzo's voice was calm as ever. Elanzo had been a capsuleer longer than any of them, which had a way of banishing fear in a person. "We made first contact with the reapers 18 years ago. At that point we had very little experience with any other sentient being in this galaxy, so realizing the futility of any conflict with them, our first response was to isolate ourselves and do our best to never repeat the encounter. However, as we monitored the situation, it appears as though we might have provoked the machines into action. We now feel it is our responsibility to stop the threat we have begun."

The ambassador was clearly suspicious. "You encountered the reaper yourself?"

"Yes, we encountered the ship Sovereign. I believe this was before Saren had come into contact with the ship but after Dr. Qian."

"How do you know about those teams? That isn't exactly common knowledge, and you claim to be from far outside of citadel space."

Solomon couldn't take it. This was an easy one, "Sovereign told us. I don't think he realized who we were yet though." Solomon had his suspicions that the ambassador was expecting a different answer than that. Every word from the ambassador had, up to this point, felt scripted. But the look of genuine shock on the ambassador's face was plain. Solomon thought he looked shocked at least. He really wasn't any good at reading faces.

The dark skinned officer spoke for the first time, "I think we need to call the commander up here. If these five are telling the truth then this changes a lot of things."