Storm Rising, by potionsmaster

Rating: T for language

A/N: *sing-song voice* Cit-a-del, Cit-a-del, we love you, we love youuuu...


Chapter 8: …and Shoot the Place Up

Kaidan was a bit dumbfounded that he was drawing his pistol for the second time in as many hours. The red haired doctor was cowering in front of a group of thugs, protesting in a heavily French-accented voice. Shepard, ever the fearless leader, had given him a start by charging right in to save the day and wound up in a stand-off. The thug had pulled the frightened woman into a headlock, aiming his own side arm at Shepard.

"Let her go!" Shepard growled, aiming his pistol at the thug. Garrus took the opportunity to pop out of cover and shot the thug in the head, blood spattering the doctor's white coat. She threw her hands over her face, crying out in fear. Vakarian grabbed her and moved them behind cover while Kaidan, Shepard, and Ash made quick work subduing the rest of the mercs. When the shoot-out was over, the turian advanced slowly, training his gun on the fallen ringleader.

"Perfect timing, Shepard. Gave me a clear shot at that bastard."

"It was a big risk...what were you thinking? You could have hit the hostage!"

Vakarian got flustered, shaking his head a bit.

"There wasn't time to think! I just reacted. I didn't mean to – Dr Michel? Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm okay. Thanks to you. All of you."

She nervously tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear, looking meekly between the four of them. Kaidan busied himself with putting up his pistol again, ears ringing. He wondered if he was going to need it again before the day was out. Ashley was shuffling around behind Shepard, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible while he spoke to the doctor. Dr Michel had just mentioned a possible lead.

"Quarian? What quarian?" the commander asked. Kaidan could tell he was trying not to appear over-eager for the information.

"A few days ago, a quarian came by my office. She'd been shot, but she wouldn't tell me who did it. I could tell she was scared, probably on the run. She asked me about the Shadow Broker. She wanted to trade information in exchange for a safe place to hide." The doctor paced back and forth nervously, glancing at the turian. Vakarian nodded at her encouragingly. Shepard furrowed his brow.

"Where'd she go? Where is she now?"

"I put her in contact with Fist. He's an agent for the Shadow Broker."

"Not anymore...now he works for Saren, and the Shadow Broker isn't too happy about it," the turian broke in. Ash shook her head, glancing at the door impatiently.

"I still think we should've gone after the krogan," she muttered, "And what the hell kind of name is 'Fist', anyway?" Kaidan shot her a 'look' while Shepard outright ignored her. She rolled her eyes at him but fell quiet again.

"Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker?" the doctor asked incredulously, "That's stupid, even for him. Saren must have made him quite the offer."

"That quarian must have something Saren wants. Something worth crossing the Shadow Broker to get." Vakarian shook his head, lost in thought. Kaidan looked at Shepard; he was chewing on his bottom lip.

"Probably evidence," the commander said, turning back to the doctor. "She must have something that proves he's a traitor. Did the quarian mention anything about Saren? Or the geth?"

"She did! The information she was going to trade. She said it had something to do with the geth!" Dr Michel exclaimed, piecing it together out loud. Ash snorted and stepped closer to Shepard. He shifted away from her and closer to the turian, getting drawn deeper into the discussion.

"She must be able to link Saren to the geth. There's no way the Council can ignore this!" Kaidan heard the determination in Vakarian's voice and wondered if this was how turians normally acted; Nihlus hadn't ever displayed emotion to that degree on the Normandy. He supposed he wouldn't really notice, though. The dead Spectre had played things close to the chest. He stifled a laugh when he heard Ash grumble under her breath.

"How many times can we say 'geth' in five minutes?"

"Enough, Williams," Shepard groused at her, "I don't need your editorial on everything. What we do need is to find her...sounds like it's time we paid Fist a visit."

"This is your show, Shepard," Vakarian said. "But I want to bring down Saren as much as you do. I'm coming with you!"

"You're a turian. Why do you want to bring him down?" Shepard asked, curious. Kaidan was rather interested in the answer himself.

"I couldn't find the proof I needed in my investigation, but I knew what was really going on. Saren is a traitor to the Council, and a disgrace to my people!"

He ended his tirade with an angry flip of his claws. Shepard furrowed his brow again, deliberating. He stuck out his hand after a moment. The turian cocked his head at it and cautiously grasped it with his claws.

"You made your case...welcome aboard, Garrus."

"You know, we aren't the only ones going after Fist. The Shadow Broker hired a krogan bounty hunter named Wrex to take him out."

"Yeah...we heard about him," Ash said, rolling her eyes. "But was my advice taken to find him first? No."

"Chief..." Shepard warned, shooting her an stern look, "Knock it off." He paused, turning back to Vakarian. "A krogan might come in handy. We'll have to find him later."

"Last I heard, he was at the C-Sec Academy."

"What's he doing there?" Kaidan asked, "I know Barla Von mentioned him and it wasn't completely voluntary on his part, but the volus couldn't give us anything more than that."

"Fist accused him of making threats. We brought Wrex in for a little talk. If you hurry, you can catch him at the academy before he leaves."

Shepard worried at his bottom lip, thinking. He opened his omni-tool and gestured for the turian to do the same. He linked Vakarian's hardsuit and pulled up the stats. The turian tapped on his haptic interface, then closed his.

"Data packet received; I should have clearance to board the Normandy now?"

"Yes. Once you're on board, we'll need to get your gear tagged with an RFID chip so you can use any of the Alliance's equipment. You could try to use any of our stuff right now, but it won't work unless it recognizes that signature."

"Interesting...you humans have intriguing solutions to problems most don't think of."

"We found it helps cut down on unauthorized use, such as mercs intercepting a shipment and trying to use our own weapons against us," Kaidan explained. Ash rolled her eyes as the turian nodded. Her omni-tool bipped at her and she frowned at it, activating the glowing orange tool to see the message. She looked up, confused.

"Alenko, Vakarian, with me," Shepard said crisply, closing his omni-tool down. Garrus cocked his head at the last names, getting a shrewd look on his face. "Williams, swing by Alliance HQ and get your eval. If you run into the krogan, talk to him and see what you can find out, then head back to the Normandy. Put in an order at requisitions for this helmet, please. I sent you the specs."

"But what about –"

"I need someone who can navigate the wards quickly if we're going to be chasing leads. Besides, I don't know how long the eval is going to take."

"Yes, sir..." she said dejectedly, walking out of the clinic. Shepard didn't pay her any more attention, instead asking the doctor for more information. Kaidan eyed the turian, admiring the blue colony markings on his face. It was very different than Nihlus' had been, or any of the other ones he'd seen around the Citadel. He blocked the memories of BAaT trying to resurface. His heart stopped when those sharp, alien eyes caught him staring.

"Never seen a turian up close before?" Vakarian asked, a teasing tone in his voice. Kaidan smiled at him and glanced away quickly, ducking his head.

"Just admiring the pattern and the color. I haven't seen that one in particular before. It's nice."

Garrus shifted, drawing himself up so he looked taller. Kaidan thought he looked a bit like a bird preening. Especially when his mandibles flared slightly.

"Palaven blue," he said pridefully, "One of the more basic patterns, but I'm of the opinion that the more complicated a pattern, the more the colony feels like it has something to prove."

Kaidan chuckled at that.

"Overcompensation must not be just a human trait, then," he replied. Shepard came over to them at that point, lifting an eyebrow.

"...Interesting part of the conversation to join in. But we have to go. Move out."


For the life of him, Shepard didn't know how he managed to find his way into these situations. First a ridiculous fan. Now a reporter who was hellbent on getting him on board with an investigation into corruption. He hadn't given her an answer one way or another before they continued on their way, saying if he found anything he would let her know. Finding the quarian and what she had found was much more important. The lieutenant seemed to be amused by the whole thing. At least he had lost the pinched look around his eyes. Vakarian, on the other hand, was brimming with energy and seemed to want to brush the reporter off, but he wisely had kept his mouth shut and let Shepard handle it.

The commander meant what he said, though: if he found anything he thought Miss Wong might be looking for, he would give it to her. Having a reporter owe him a favor wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He just couldn't guarantee that he would make it a priority. Thankfully they didn't run into Conrad again as they went down the stairs to the lower wards. Shepard didn't think he had the mental stamina to deal with him again in such short order.

They heard Chora's Den before they saw it again, bass echoing in the empty halls of the wards. Shepard slowed down as they walked towards it, suspicious. There didn't seem to be much noise from the crowd. That was a bit odd, considering they had just come from there earlier today.

"Looks like it's shut down." the lieutenant remarked. Vakarian shook his head, grumbling.

"Fist knows we're coming," he muttered, "So much for the element of surprise."

"Think we should draw weapons, Commander?" Kaidan asked. Shepard pursed his lips as they approached the sliding door.

"No, but be at the ready to – DRAW NOW! Barriers, LT!"

As soon as the doors opened, a hail of bullets flew their way. Shepard snatched his assault rifle and plastered himself behind a booth seat, laying down cover fire as the other two pulled their guns and went to cover. His ears popped as he felt Kaidan put up a barrier.

"Orders, Shepard?" the turian asked, "How do we deal with them?" He slung his sniper rifle off his mag-lock harness, lining up a shot. Kaidan threw a merc into another one, peppering their limbs with slugs from his pistol.

"No quarter, boys...they won't show us that mercy, so return it in kind." He punctuated it by hitting a merc in the chest, dropping him.

"Aye, aye, Commander!"

"Aye, sir!"

A merc tumbled from the top of the bar, Vakarian's sniper lethally accurate. Shepard was impressed. Kaidan stopped aiming to wound and started nailing center mass and head shots. The three of them fell into an easy rhythm of cover, fire, advance, repeat, cutting down mercenaries as they pushed towards the back rooms. Shepard was particularly struck when Kaidan knelt beside him and asked him to use a technology attack while he did a biotic throw against the krogan bouncer. Garrus gave the coup de grâce while the krogan was flailing to get up. A few more thugs hit the ground and then there was silence ringing in his ears.

"I think we're good, Commander..."

He glanced at the lieutenant, noting the steely look on the other man's face as he scanned the surrounding area. Satisfied, he holstered his pistol. They made their way to the entrance in the back, picking their way through knocked over chairs and tables. Shepard hit the toggle on the door and it slid open with a hiss. He saw shadowy figures lurking behind some boxes. The men saw them and immediately went for their pistols, leveling them at Shepard's chest.

"Stop right there! Don't come any closer!"

He quirked an eyebrow at them, noticing one man had an archaic 'teacup' grip and the safety still on. The other one had an improper stance and was holding his gun one-handed, arm wavering with the weight of it.

"Warehouse workers...all the real guards must be dead," Vakarian said, stowing his pistol.

"Stay back, or we'll shoot!" one said nervously. He heard Kaidan shuffle behind him and tossed a glance at him. The lieutenant was calm, face neutral, but he could feel the hair on the back of his neck start to prickle. Kaidan must have been trying to ready a biotic attack without alerting anybody to it. Damn useful.

"Save yourselves; you're in over your heads. This would be a good time to find somewhere else to work." Shepard tried to keep the exasperation out of his voice. The worker with the teacup grip let his posture drop, looking nervously between the three of them.

"Yeah, yeah right. That's a good idea."

"I never liked Fist anyway," the other one muttered, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. They slunk off. Garrus watched them leave through the door and disappear into the messy bar. Shepard moved to the line of lockers on the back wall, prodding them.

"I never would have thought of that," the turian said, convinced the workers weren't going to come back and fire at them. The commander was only half-listening to his squad as he fiddled with the lock, decryption program running.

"Shooting people isn't always the answer," Kaidan replied, "Speaking of which, I wonder where all the dancers went..."

"Dunno," Shepard shrugged, opening the locker, "But we need a strategy for dealing with Fist. I need him alive for information. Wound if you absolutely must, but be careful. I'm not opposed to trying to intimidate answers out of him, however...as long as he's conscious." He found a Striker pistol, a Hurricane shotgun, and a Banshee assault rifle, all level II. Garrus coughed behind a clawed hand.

"Bet if you ran the ID on these, they would turn up unregistered or stolen. Wouldn't you think?" Shepard asked, pulling them out. The turian ran his claws over the AR, testing the balance.

"Probably. We should confiscate them...turn them in after we're through here. The paperwork is going to be an absolute nightmare..."

"C-Sec's problem, not mine," the commander said, "Though if you're the detective who gets attached to this one, I do apologize."

Kaidan scoffed, shaking his head. Shepard held out the Striker to him, gesturing for him to take it.

"See if you like how it feels and how the stats compare to your current one. If you like it, we can get an Alliance issued one. Nice job with prepping your biotics on the down low, by the way. I like the way you think."

The lieutenant pursed his lips but took it.

"It does fit my grip nicely..." he acquiesced, "And how did you know? I wasn't glowing blue that I know of. It kinda was the point that nobody could tell..." Shepard gave him a half-grin and pulled his sniper off his mag-lock.

"I felt it," he said. Kaidan raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. "And I can always find upgrades and better equipment, LT...just gotta know where to look. Take point in the next room. Don't forget your barriers."

Kaidan huffed a laugh and took his own pistol out, tucking the Striker into his inventory while Vakarian reluctantly put the Banshee in his pack.

"Aye, Shepard."


"Why do I have to do everything myself? Time to die, little soldiers!" Fist yelled, activating two guardian turrets. Kaidan was getting a little tired of people shooting at them first and not bothering to ask them any questions. Shepard was crouched next to him on the wall, shoulders touching; the turian molded to the other wall jutting out on their three. Just once the lieutenant would like to be able to say that they were able to hunt down a lead without resorting to a firefight.

Shepard ordered Garrus to overload the turret on the right while he overloaded the one on the left. Kaidan concentrated on keeping Fist off his squad-mates' backs.

"Barriers, LT!" the commander yelled over the gunfire, "Keep them up!"

"Aye, aye, sir," he replied tersely, sabotaging Fist's heat sink and hearing the resulting string of curses. Garrus had his assault rifle out and was unleashing a hail of bullets into the turret before it could come back online. It exploded in a shower of sparks. He could have sworn he heard Vakarian say, "Scratch one!" Shepard had traded positions with Kaidan and snaked the barrel of his sniper rifle over the top of the half-wall, shoulder jerking as it absorbed the recoil. The other turret fizzed out of working order. Fist dropped his gun, cowering next to the ruined machinery.

"Wait! Don't kill me! I surrender!"

"Smart move..." Shepard growled as he broke cover. He replaced his sniper with his pistol, pointing it at the whimpering man. "Where's the quarian?"

"She's not here. I don't know where she is. That's the truth!"

"He's lying," Kaidan said. The commander glanced over his shoulder at the lieutenant, eyes twinkling.

"Nobody lies to me, Fist! You've got three seconds to come clean. Then I start shooting."

"I already told you, the quarian ain't here! Said she'd only deal with the Shadow Broker himself."

Shepard holstered his pistol, making a show of furrowing his brow and mulling it over. Fist tentatively pulled himself off the floor, looking between the three of them nervously.

"Impossible. The Shadow Broker only works through his agents," the turian said, holding his assault rifle loosely in front on himself. Fist nodded in agreement.

"Nobody meets the Shadow Broker. Ever. Even I don't know his true identity. But she didn't know that. I told her I'd set a meeting up. But when she shows up, it'll be Saren's men waiting for her."

Kaidan snapped to attention at that, looking at his commander. Nothing was ever simple.

"We have to save her...give me the location," Shepard grabbed Fist by his collar, dragging him face-to-face. "Now..." he said menacingly through gritted teeth. The other man winced, turning his head to the side.

"Here on the wards, the back alley by the markets. She's supposed to meet them right now. You can make it if you hurry."

Shepard dropped Fist, shoving him back in disgust.

"Am I supposed to just forget your part in all this?" He took a step forward, hands clenched, and Fist threw up his hands defensively. Kaidan glanced at the turian. Garrus seemed almost amused by the situation.

"Hey, I came clean! I told you about the meeting. Besides, I've got my own problems now. The Shadow Broker wants me dead! I have to disappear. Forget about me. I'm a ghost."

"Fine. Disappear. You're not my concern." Shepard stepped aside, letting the cringing man pass.

"Don't worry. You'll never see me again." He limped off, Kaidan watching to make sure he didn't pull another gun.

"Vakarian, do you know where he was talking about?"

"Yes, Shepard. I think I have a pretty good idea of where he means."

The commander rolled his shoulders, heading for the exit.

"Let's move, then. Be a real bitch if we were late on the scene."

Kaidan silently agreed as they jogged behind the turian.

"Don't look now, but we have company again..." Vakarian said, pulling out his assault rifle. More thugs had poured out of the woodwork in the bar. Kaidan supposed the warehouse workers had let something slip to the wrong person. Shepard groaned, also pulling out his AR.

"We don't have time for this shit," he griped, "No prisoners. We need to find that quarian and hope to high hell that we do before the assassins."

"Aye, sir..."


Shepard was thankful that Kaidan seemed to take everything in stride, nary a complaint. New squad-mates, unusual circumstances, and long hours on his feet didn't seem to perturb him in the slightest. And as an added bonus, he had zero qualms about working with an alien. That was something he had over Asher...Asher never entirely trusted the other races to have his back as much as he did another human soldier, but Shepard figured that had something to do with his colony getting attacked by batarians when he was sixteen. Some things were too difficult to forget.

The second fight in the bar had been quick and bloody, the three of them working like a well oiled machine at this point. 'Practice will do that,' he thought ruefully, and what better way to practice than to get thrown into the deep end. He and Kaidan kept their weapons at the ready as they followed the turian through the darkly lit back alleys in the lower wards. They went up a small flight of stairs and he ran into Vakarian's carapace, startled by the sudden stop. Garrus crouched and motioned for them to do the same. Shepard eased forward, peering into the gloom. A hooded figure was talking to a turian dressed in familiar black garb. He strained his ears, trying to listen.

"Did you bring it?" turian assassin asked, playing with the quarian's hood.

"Where's the Shadow Broker? Where's Fist?"

"That's gotta be Saren's men...the turian is dressed like those other assassins from earlier, minus the helmet," Kaidan whispered, crouched next to Shepard with his pistol out. Shepard swapped his assault rifle for his sniper quietly, squinting through the scope. Vakarian did the same.

"He'll be here...where's the evidence?" the turian in black slid a claw down her sleeve suggestively and she slapped it away, obviously annoyed. She took a step back uncertainly.

"No way. The deal's off."

The turian raised his chin and backed off slowly, masked salarians advancing in the background. The quarian tossed a grenade at them and quickly ducked out of the way. Shepard didn't waste another second; he let his breath escape from his body and held it, white static filling his head as he honed in on a salarian. The quarian was hidden behind a crate, omni-tool glowing as she threw out tech attack after tech attack. She looked around, startled, when the salarian crumpled to the ground at the sharp crack of his rifle shot. Kaidan managed to use the other salarian to knock down the turian in black, making it easy to finish them off.

They made their way down the stairs to the quarian. She was twisting her three-fingered hands together fretfully, pacing.

"Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" she was saying to herself as they reached her. She stood to face them, chin raised defiantly. Kaidan crossed his arms, the pinched look back around his eyes. Shepard could only imagine that multiple firefights in small, enclosed spaces didn't do him any favors. He stepped forward.

"Are you okay? Were you hurt in the fight?"

He couldn't tell from her blank, purple face mask if she was startled or not. It was a little odd to see the bare hint of the outline of a face but not be able to tell expressions. The purple-tinted shield was mostly opaque. He briefly wondered how she was able to see as he was uneasily reminded of the geth; the body shapes were very similar.

"I know how to look after myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help...who are you?"

"I'm with the Alliance. My name's Shepard...I'm looking for evidence to prove Saren's a traitor."

Tension leaked out of her shoulders at that. She sighed in relief. Garrus tucked his AR back on his mag-lock harness.

"Then I have a chance to repay you for saving my life. But not here. We need to go somewhere safe."

Kaidan took a step forward, uncrossing his arms.

"The ambassador's office!" he broke in, "It's safe there. He'll want to see this, anyway..."

Shepard nodded in agreement. What a strange assembly he was gathering. He hoped it wasn't going to be too big of an issue with Anderson; adding Vakarian would be seen as furthering turian-human relations and a step forward, but a quarian? He didn't know how that would go down.

"Follow us, please...it shouldn't take too long."


"You're not making my life easy, Shepard...firefights in the wards?! An all-out assault on Chora's Den? Do you know how many–" the ambassador broke off abruptly as he turned around, realizing there was an additional person in the group. "Who's this? A quarian? What're you up to, Shepard?"

The commander held back a sigh. Udina was already in a foul mood and seem eager to take it out on him. Anderson was stoically silent in the background, raising an eyebrow at the nonhuman party members. Shepard raised one back, moving into parade rest; he was sure the captain had been on the receiving end of the ambassador's anger. He decided to ignore it as best he could, focusing on the details.

"Making your day, Ambassador. She can help us. She has information linking Saren to the geth."

The shrewd man's eyes lit up at that.

"Really? Maybe you better start at the beginning, Miss...?"

"My name is Tali. Tali' Zorah nar Rayya."

She stepped forward, playing with her gloved hands again. Udina scowled at her.

"We don't see many quarians here. Why did you leave the flotilla?"

"I was on my Pilgrimage. My right of passage into adulthood."

Udina looked like he wanted to interrupt, but Shepard beat him to it. He wanted to hear everything she had to say.

"Please, continue...tell us what you found."

She turned to focus on him, voice becoming steadier.

"During my travels, I began hearing reports of geth. Since they drove my people into exile, the geth 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. Then I disabled it and removed its memory core."

"I thought the geth fried their memory cores when they died. Some kind of defense mechanism," Captain Anderson broke in. Kaidan nodded in agreement, glancing between Shepard and Tali.

"Is that true? How did you manage to salvage one?" Shepard asked. Vakarian stayed quiet, observing.

"My people created the geth." That definitely explained why they had similar body shapes, Shepard acknowledged. "If you're quick, careful, and lucky, small caches of data can sometimes be saved. Most of the core was wiped clean. But I salvaged something from its audio banks...listen."

She brought up her omni-tool and played back an audio clip of Saren. Vakarian stopped fussing with his omni-tool and perked up, predatory look on his face.

"Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

"That's Saren's voice! This proves he was involved in the attack!" Anderson exclaimed. Shepard furrowed his brow, glancing back at Kaidan. The lieutenant's dark eyes were focused on the quarian, mouth twisting slightly. Shepard was starting to recognize that look as one Kaidan did when he was concentrating on absorbing details. He turned back to the captain.

"What's the Conduit? He said Eden Prime brought him one step closer to finding it. Any idea what that means?"

"The Conduit must be related to the beacon. Maybe it's some kind of Prothean technology...like a weapon," Anderson surmised. Shepard chewed on his bottom lip. Just what he needed: more Prothean technology. He wondered what the likelihood would be for it to download more horrible images into his skull if they ever came across it. The quarian broke in, interrupting his thoughts.

"Wait...there's more. Saren wasn't working alone," she said cautiously, toying with her omni-tool again. The sly turian Spectre's voice rang out about Eden Prime and the Crucible again, closely followed by a hard female voice.

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers," she said. Udina fussed with his tunic.

"I don't recognize that other voice. The one talking about 'Reapers'."

Shepard chewed his bottom lip again and Kaidan took a step closer to him, brow furrowing. The commander exhaled slowly, trying to place something that niggled his brain.

"Reapers..." he started slowly. "Seems like I've come across that before, but I don't know where. What do you think, Alenko?"

Kaidan looked at him, lips rolled inwards in thought.

"I'm not really sure what I think at the moment...Obviously the geth weren't created by them, if that's what you initially thought, but did the geth create the husks? Those spikes, those...Dragon's teeth, whatever you want to call them...they don't look like the technology they use is evolved from whatever the geth have. I think it's more likely that the Reapers somehow gave the spikes to them for them to use. I'm personally more curious as to how Saren came to work with them. And why."

"Well, according to the memory core, the Reapers were a hyper-advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago. They hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then they vanished! Or at least...that's what the geth believe..." Tali said, closing down her omni-tool.

Udina scoffed and shook his head.

"That sounds a little far-fetched..."

"She's right, though," Shepard said, wiping a bit of cold sweat from his brow. It came up suddenly when he thought about the beacon. Kaidan looked at him, concern in his eyes. "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, the pinnacle of non-organic life."

"The Council is just going to love this!" Udina snapped, crossing his arms. Shepard held back a sigh,

"They need to know," he said quietly, "The Reapers are a threat to every species in Citadel space. We have to tell them."

"No matter what they think about the rest of this, those audio files prove Saren's a traitor," Anderson broke in

"The captain's right. We need to present this to the Council right away." the ambassador agreed readily. Kaidan interrupted.

"What about her? The quarian."

"My name is Tali!" she retorted, "You saw me in the alley, Commander. You know what I can do. Let me come with you."

"I thought you were on your Pilgrimage," Shepard said. Anderson cleared his throat quietly.

"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? Saren is a danger to the entire galaxy. My Pilgrimage can wait."

"I"ll take all the help I can get."

"Thanks," she said gratefully, moving towards him, "You won't regret this."

Shepard glanced towards the captain quickly. He still hadn't gotten to adding Vakarian on the Normandy's manifest, and he just agreed to take the quarian without authorization.

"This is your investigation now, Shepard...I'll clear whoever you think you need to bring on board, but I'll need the final roster before we disembark again," Anderson said after clearing his throat again, "We still have dextro rations from Nihlus being on board." He turned towards Tali. "Do you need any special requirements for housing, such as a clean room or sterile sleeping pod?"

She shook her head.

"No...but thank you for asking. My environment suit allows me some flexibility, provided it doesn't tear or rupture."

"Back on task, Anderson and I will go ahead to get things started with the Council. Take a few minutes to collect yourself, then meet us in the Tower..." Udina ground out, glancing at the captain before pushing past them. Shepard sighed lightly.

"Garrus, get yourself situated on the Normandy...this hopefully won't take too long. Tali, with me and Alenko. We're going to the Tower."


A/N: Loooooot of info dumping, but hopefully it was entertaining info dumping. Almost done with the Citadel, I promise.