9

Shepard paced a slow circle in the Normandy's comm room. He'd just sent his long-overdue mission report to the Council a few minutes ago and was expecting them to answer any minute now. With him, sitting in one of the chairs, was the gahn, Shaiak'Row Ven'Tohlas'Aye. His presence would make this report interesting, to say the least.

Shaiak looked over at Shepard, "Are you certain your Council will believe all this?" Before they left Ilos, Vigil rigged up a set of translation filters that he downloaded into a speech overlay device that Shaiak now wore attached to the collar of his armor.

Shepard nodded to him, "They'll take some convincing, but I think they'll come around." As if on cue, the hologram pedestals came to life with the four Council members.

The turian councilor spoke up before everyone else, "Commander, I assume you have a good reason for your most recent report taking so long?"

The commander stood at parade rest and nodded, "We've been very busy lately, councilor. As my report states, we've made significant progress."

Councilor Anderson nodded, "Yes, about your report, commander. We understand that you have one of the alien soldiers in custody. Is this true?"

Shepard nodded again, "Yes, sir, but 'custody' isn't quite the right word. I believe I stated in my report that the alien soldier is now working with us."

The turian Councilor crossed his arms, "Is he now? Forgive my skepticism, commander, but I find it hard to believe that even you could turn one of their soldiers against his own race."

Shepard looked at all four councilors as he spoke, "I understand that it would be hard to believe. That's why I've asked the alien soldier to speak for himself." He looked back and nodded to Shaiak as he stood and came within range of the communication monitors, "Councilors of the Citadel, allow me to introduce Shaiak'Row Ven'Tohlas'Aye, air warrior and soldier of the Gahn'Tro'Hai. He can explain better than I can." Shepard stepped aside and allowed Shaiak to proceed explaining his recent capture and change of mind to the Council. His detailed explanation took nearly half an hour, but it was very thorough and covered all the angles, which was what the Council needed to hear.

The gahn wrapped up his explanation with gesturing toward Shepard, "The commander helped to show me that not only was everything I'd been taught since youth vastly in error, but also to expose what may be a conspiracy within the ranks of my people. I now work with him to find the traitor. In so doing, I hope that our races can avoid open war."

The asari councilor nodded and looked at Shepard, "Very well, commander. I hope your efforts prove successful, but do be careful. A change of mind in one soldier does not turn the army. You and Shaiak'Row still have his entire race against you. It will not be easy."

Shepard shook his head, "I wasn't expecting it to be."

She nodded in return, apparently satisfied with the response, "Good luck, commander. We eagerly await your next report."

Councilor Anderson folded his arms, "And do try to make it a little sooner than the last one, please."

The commander suppressed a smile, "I'll do my best, councilor." With that comment, the four holograms faded away.

Shaiak turned to face Shepard, "A strange military you serve here, Shepard. None of our soldiers are allowed to report directly to our people's leaders."

Shepard shrugged, "I'm part of a different kind of military. I'm what's known as a Spectre. We're the protectors if intergalactic peace and we report directly to the Citadel Council."

The big alien's brow scales rose up, "Interesting. I must learn more of your people when we have the time."

Shepard nodded in response, "We'd love to share our cultures with you, but right now, we have bigger things to worry about." The door opened and the team started filing in one by one. Once Ashley, Wrex, Garrus, Liara, and Tali were all seated, Shepard called their meeting to order.

He cleared his throat before continuing, "Alright, everyone. I assume you all know why I've called this meeting. First of all, we have a little order of business to take care of." He gestured to Shaiak standing next to him, "This is Shaiak'Row Ven'Tohlas'Aye, pilot and air warrior of the gahn. He's working with us to help fish out a possible conspiracy within his people's ranks. Just so we're clear, if any of you have reservations about working with him, speak your mind now." He waited for a moment to let anyone with protests speak up with them. When no one raised any complaints, he looked at Shaiak, "Welcome to the team, Shaiak." The big alien bowed to Shepard before taking one of the empty seats. As Shaiak sat down, Shepard noticed Tali eyeing him suspiciously. Given her recent experiences, He made a mental note to approach her in private about any objections she might have to working with Shaiak.

The human Spectre folded his arms across his chest as he continued, "Alright, now to the meat of the ordeal. We need somewhere to go from here. The best logical course would be to try to infiltrate one of the gahn bases and see if their network would have anything. We'd be looking for suspicious files from someone a little higher in the ranks. Thoughts?"

Shaiak spoke up immediately, "It will not be that easy, Shepard. Since my capture, our forces have no doubt moved the base on Virmire to another planet in the cluster."

Garrus gave a turian approximation of a curious furrowed brow, "Wait a minute. How could they move the whole base? There were permanent buildings under construction there."

Shaiak shook his head, the scales around his jaw line working back and forth as he spoke, "You obviously do not understand our military's way of thinking. If the location has been compromised, we will spare no effort to remove ourselves to somewhere more secure, even if it means demolishing partially built structures."

Shepard nodded, "So Virmire's out. Do you have any idea of where they might have moved?"

Shaiak shook his head, "There is any number of planets that were suitable. Virmire was just the best option at the time. But let us not forget about the other two bases. They would not have had cause to relocate."

The commander looked at floor as he thought out loud for a moment, "Right. There was one in the Styx Theta cluster and the other in the Voyager cluster." He nodded to himself, "We'll start with Styx Theta. We'll need to see if we can get into the gahn network and go fishing for anything that might indicate that they're falsifying information to their soldiers. If we don't find anything, then we can pretty much eliminate the idea of the conspiracy being on their end, which means we'll start searching our own military networks for anything fishy." He looked at Garrus, "Do you and Tali have what you need to get in and out of their system?"

Garrus glanced at Tali before looking back, "All of our infiltration software is designed for code breaking. We'd need a decent hacking browser if we're going to go snooping around in their systems, and neither of us have one."

Shepard looked around the team, "Anyone know where we can get that sort of software?"

Wrex nodded, "I know someone who can get us what we need. He's a bounty hunter, though he prefers the term 'freelance law enforcement specialist'. He can get us something."

The commander looked at Wrex, "Where is he?"

"His name's Jack DeWolfe. He normally hangs around on Noveria. If he's not there, he's out hunting down some poor sod for the credits on their head."

Shepard looked at everyone, "So we make a quick pit stop on Noveria to get Garrus and Tali the software they need, then we're headed to the Styx Theta cluster to see if we can get some answers. Anyone have any thoughts?" No hands went up and no voices were raised.

He nodded, "Alright. You all know what to do. Dismissed."

Nearly everyone stood and filed out of the room. All but Ashley left. She stood and walked up next to her husband, wrapping her arm around his.

Shepard nodded toward Shaiak, the last one out of the room, "So what do you think?"

Ashley looked at Shaiak briefly as the door closed behind him, then back at Shepard, "I think he's legit. If his people are as honor-bound as he makes them out to be, then I think we can trust him."

Shepard looked at her, "That's a lot, coming from you, given your outlook on aliens in general."

She shrugged as her gaze fell to the floor for a moment, "Well, I've since had reason to reconsider. Especially at the urging of one Com. Gabriel Shepard." She sighed before continuing, "Styx Theta doesn't have that many habitable worlds, so that should help limit our search."

Shepard shook his head, "Your thinking too human again, Ash. We don't know what kind of lungs the gahn have. They may be able to breathe a wider variety of gasses then us." He scoffed lightly, "Man, we don't even know if they do breathe."

Ashley chuckled, "On that note, I supposed Dr. Chakwas will want to study Shaiak up and down a few times. She'll be…"

The comm PA blared with Pressley's voice, "Commander! We have a situation in the hold!"

The commander nodded, "Talk to me, Pressely."

"It's the quarian! She's gone nuts! She's drawn a gun on that new alien! We need you down here, stat!"

"I'm on my way." Shepard started running with Ashley behind him even before Pressley finished speaking. He bolted out of the comm room, down the stairs, and slapped the lift button when they stepped in. He silently cursed the lift for being so slow as it took them down to the hold.

When the door opened, Shepard took in the situation in a glance. In the center of the hold, Tali was holding her shotgun in one hand, pointing it at Shaiak, who was barely two meters away from her. Advanced healing or not, a shotgun spread at that range would kill. A few marines were standing at a distance with weapons drawn, but no one was doing anything just yet.

"Tali!" Shepard took several steps forward, "Tali, what are you doing?"

"Stay out of this, Shepard!" She stared intently at the gahn in her sights.

He shook his head, "You know I can't do that, Tali. Just put the gun down. I don't want to have to…"

"Her quarrel is with me." Shepard was silenced by Shaiak raising his hand toward him, "I must deal with this." He took a step closer to Tali, "Young one, what have I done to deserve your anger?"

Even though no one could see her face, none could mistake the pure indignation in Tali's voice, "Your scum killed Garak when you attacked the Flotilla. You took away from me the only man who I ever loved. I'm simply returning the favor."

Shaiak hung his head for a moment before looking at Tali, "Merely one of many such atrocities my people are guilty of against your kind. I apologize on my honor what you have suffered." He took a deep breath before going on, "I cannot bring back what you have lost. In recompense, I put myself at your mercy." He took a step closer and knelt to one knee in front of her, putting her shotgun evenly level with his face, "My life is in your hands, to set free, or crush at your whim. Do what you know to be right."

Shepard fought the urge to run in there and tackle Tali to the ground and disarm her. If it was bad before, it was worse now. Shaiak was the key to getting through to the gahn. If Tali wasted him, they'd be back at square one and staring down the barrel of war with the gahn. It took much of his soldier's discipline to keep himself restrained.

Tali just glared at Shaiak, who only stared back with big luminescent eyes. She grabbed her shotgun with her free hand and pulled the slide, readying a charge. She held the gun in a death grip, her hands shaking with tension. After a long and tense minute, Tali lowered the gun and took a step back. She dropped the gun on the deck and sank down to her knees, where she covered her visor with her hands and started crying.

Shaiak crouched lower and leaned in closer to her, "I am truly sorry for your loss, young one."

Tali looked up at him with tears in her eyes, "I'm so sorry. Please understand; I loved him so much."

The gahn put a big hand on her petite shoulder, "You have lost much; a loss I cannot begin to understand. My life mate awaits my return on my homeworld." He scooted closer and looked her in the eye, "But you have this solemn promise on my honor: I will end this. I will find the source of this conflict, and I will stop it so that no one else will lose their life or their happiness at our hands. Of that, I assure you."

Tali just looked at him for a moment before she bowed her head and nodded slowly. Shaiak stood up as Liara came to Tali's side and led her away to the med bay to lie down for a while. Shaiak watched as they stepped into the lift and the doors closed behind them.

Shepard walked up to him and shook his head, "That was a very gutsy move, Shaiak."

The big alien just stared at the lift doors for a moment, "I could see in her eyes that murder was not her way. I knew she would not kill me, but I also knew that she must find closure about her loss." He looked at the doors again and shook his head, "In my centuries, I have never seen a greater love than that."

The Spectre nodded, but arched an eyebrow when he heard what Shaiak said, "Centuries? Just how old are you?"

Shaiak looked at him for a moment and sounded almost nervous when he answered, "I…I am only eight generations of age. I am considered young for military service."

Ashley's eyes widened, "Gabe, a generation is thirty five years."

Shepard's eyes widened as well, "So you're two hundred and eighty years old?"

One of Shaiak's brow scales raised, equivalent of arching an eyebrow, "Two hundred eighty…star cycles? Yes. I was younger than average when I began training."

Garrus piped up from where he was standing by the Mako, "That makes sense, given his race's physiology. Their bodies' advanced healing properties would no doubt prolong their lifespan."

Shaiak nodded, "It's common for our elders to live as long as thirty generations before passing on."

Shepard nodded appreciatively, "Which would put their life spans roughly on par with asari." He looked at Ashley, "I'm going to go see how Tali's doing." She stayed in the hold as Shepard and Shaiak both entered the lift and rode it to the upper deck. As soon as they walked into the med bay, Liara immediately gave them a hush sign to keep quiet. Shepard saw the source of the hush being the sleeping quarian on one of the med gurneys.

The commander nodded toward Tali as he spoke in a stage whisper, "How is she?"

Liara looked back at her and shrugged, "Given how she fell asleep as soon as she laid down, I would guess she has not been sleeping well since the attack on the Flotilla, understandably so. The doctor feels that she just needs time and rest."

Shepard nodded as he made mental note to pull Tali from ship duties as much as possible for a week or so. He was about to turn to leave when he noticed Shaiak. The big alien had walked over to the dead gahn on the far gurney and was standing there over him, silently starring at the body. He walked over to him but kept his distance, just in case.

Shaiak just stared at the body for a long time before he closed his eyes and shook his head. He then started speaking under his breath, what sounded like a prayer or final rite in his own language that his translator wasn't filtering. He drew the dagger from his hip as he removed his armor gauntlet, then held his arm over the gahn's body, slicing the blade over his bare skin. Shepard held an arm out to restrain Dr. Chakwas as Shaiak let some of his blood ooze from the cut and drip down onto the corpse's chest. He let three drops of the thick black blood drip down before he lowered his arm. He ended the rite by touching the body's forehead and holding his fist to his own chest with his head bowed for a moment. Shaiak returned his hands to his sides as he slowly opened his eyes.

"He was killed in combat, wasn't he." He spoke without looking away from the alien body.

Shepard nodded, "He attacked us while we were investigating one of the destroyed colonies. We had to defend ourselves. He took his own life in the end."

Shaiak touched the blade wound in the center of the corpse's chest as Shepard walked up next to him, "Kah'Ri'Kai, a sacred rite of my people. It was an honorable death. His spirit will find its way to the halls of the fathers." He looked at Shepard, "His name was Kollack'Tan Ven'Sarris'Ore. We were close friends, fellow initiates together at the academies. Though it saddens me to know he is gone, I am thankful that he fell in battle as he desired." Shaiak nodded slowly, "At last, you are at peace, my friend." He turned to face the commander, "We must find the cause of this conflict, Shepard. Too many have died already. We must end it so no others will die." He bowed his head again and looked at the corpse of his fallen friend. Shepard's eyes widened when he saw that the fresh slash wound on Shaiak's arm had already completely healed by now.

The big alien said one final rite to his fallen brother before turning and leaving the med bay. Shepard nodded to himself as he watched Shaiak leave. These events had pretty much shored up in his mind that Shaiak's intentions were legitimate. Not only was he intent on restoring the honor of his people, but if he truly was acting as a double agent, he would have had no qualms about hurting or killing Tali to save his own skin. The mere fact that he tried to solve the dispute peacefully spoke volumes about him. Shepard's glanced switched between the gahn body and the sleeping quarian on their respective med gurneys. Shaiak was right. Too many innocents have died already in this conflict. They had to act fast to ensure that no more would be lost.

------------

Shepard, Ashley, and Wrex walked into the hotel bar of Port Hanshan, Noveria's capital. The frozen ice ball's only redeeming feature was that it was outside of Citadel space, and that was only good if you were a corporation that wanted to conduct illegal research. The scene had calmed a little bit down since the former administrator, a salarian named Anoleas, was hauled off to the Executive Board to answer for his corruption, but it was still a place where you wanted to watch your back.

The commander walked into the bar and looked around. His first target was his informant, a turian named Litheirax. He was just a mechanic, but he had the pulse of Port Hanshan, and not much that went on here got by him. He found the turian sitting at the fountain, close to the entrance. He stood up when he saw Shepard walk in. The commander motioned for his team to stay back as he walked up to Li.

The turian greeted him with an open hand as he walked up, "Good to see you again, commander."

Shepard nodded as he shook the turian's hand, "Likewise, Li. Thanks for responding to my message."

The turian shrugged, "Most of the time, people just look for local gossip from me. It ain't often that someone needs information like this." He sat back down on the bench, "So, what brings you back to this frozen crap-cicle, anyway?"

Shepard sat down next to him, "I'm looking for someone. The name 'Jack DeWolfe' ever cross your desk?"

Li stared straight ahead for a moment, his mandibles working back and forth as he thought, "Sounds familiar. Bounty hunter, right?" Shepard nodded

He nodded in return, "I've heard of him. Runs with a tough crowd. Not really well liked around here, but he spends his time here anyway. I think he's around here somewhere." He twisted around to take in the rest of the bar. He looked around before pointing out a man sitting relaxed at one of the tables, "That's him."

Shepard turned to look at the man Li had identified. He was a rough looking type, with a well built frame. He had a rounded face with somewhat sunken eyes and the beginnings of five o'clock shadow around his jaw line. His hair was up in a well maintained high-and-tight flattop. Shepard immediately identified a pistol and a shotgun on him. He was sitting alone with his feet hiked up on the edge of the table.

The commander nodded as he turned back around, "Thanks, Li. Here's what I owe you." He pulled a sheaf of about five hundred credits out of a thigh pouch. He always kept a substantial sum of hard currency around in case of the shady types he dealt with occasionally, who preferred the untraceable cash as opposed to an electronic transfer.

Li shook his head and waved it off, "Nothing due, commander. I just do this to break up the boredom."

Shepard shrugged, placing the credits back in the pouch, "Well, alright. Thanks again." He stood and went back over to the team, who were patiently waiting for him to finish his business with Li.

He walked up to them and nodded toward the man at the table, "That look like him, Wrex?"

The krogan warrior looked over and immediately nodded, "That's him."

Shepard nodded, "Alright. Let's go." He leaned in closer to both of them, "Get my back. I don't trust everyone around here." The team walked up to Jack DeWolfe's table. As they approached, he took a sip of his drink, then started talking without looking at them.

"Com. Gabriel Shepard, Alliance Military and Citadel SpecTacRec. Your parents were both Alliance Navy and you were the sole survivor of the Akuze incident." He looked up at him with a mischievous smirk on his face, "Sound about right?"

Shepard stopped about a meter and a half away and folded his arms, "You seem to know a lot about me, Mr. DeWolfe."

The bounty hunter nodded, "Call me 'Jack'. I make it a point to know as much as I can about high profile people such as yourself, commander. Often times, people like you have work for someone like me." He sat back in his chair and looked at him, "You'd be interested to know that there're a number of fairly large bounties on you from various criminal organizations."

The commander furrowed his brow, "Interesting. So why haven't we met in a more official capacity before?"

DeWolfe scoffed, "I'm nobody's fool, commander. I'm not stupid enough to go tangling with a Spectre." He folded his arms over his chest, "So, what can a freelance law enforcer do for the first human Spectre?"

Shepard pulled a datapad out from a belt pouch and handed it to him, "I need a hacking browser that matches these specs. Would you have something like that?"

DeWolfe looked at the datapad, "Triple-weave encryption reading with covert navigation enhancements. Pricey." He looked over the datapad at him, "I might have something like that. But you got to show me the coin first."

Wrex stepped up and spoke up, "Merchandise first, Jack."

The next moment went by in a flash. Before Shepard knew what happened, DeWolfe had shoved his chair back from standing fast and had drawn his shotgun to point it at Wrex, who had in turn pointed his own shotgun back at DeWolfe. In the blink of an eye, the two were staring down each others gun barrels.

DeWolfe glanced at Shepard out of the corner of his eye, "What's he doing here?" He kept his attention on Wrex and there was a new edge in his voice,

Wrex smirked at DeWolfe, "I'm touched that you remember me, Jack. How's that capture record of yours doing?"

"Forty two and one, no thanks to you, Wrex." DeWolfe looked at Shepard, "Lose the krogan or no deal."

Wrex shook his head, "I'm not going any…"

"Wrex." Shepard cut him off, "I think it'd be better if you left. Wait for us at the bottom of the elevator."

The krogan glanced at him briefly before holstering his shotgun and leaving with a dissatisfied grunt. As soon as he was gone, DeWolfe holstered his own shotgun and sat back down.

He leaned his elbows on the table, "You never told me you know Wrex. I should double the price for that."

Shepard turned and looked at him, "You care to share with me how you know Wrex?"

DeWolfe sat back, hiking one of his booted feet up on the table again, and looked up at the commander, "Eight years ago I was given a contract to bring in Urdnot Wrex. High paying client. I tracked him down, like any good bounty hunter would, and I confronted him. But he got away from me. Managed to escape right at the last minute." He leaned forward and pointed at Shepard, "Forty two captures and only one escape. My record was flawless before I took that contract. Thanks to that krogan, I've lost a couple of high paying clients because of that one blasted escape."

Shepard nodded as he heard the explanation. He was apprehensive about the next step of the deal. He'd worked with DeWolfe's type before and he had a feeling that he knew where this was going to end up going.

He took a breath before going on, "On the note of our deal. Do you have it, and how much?"

DeWolfe sat there for a moment, working his jaw around as he thought, before he spoke again, "I have a few copies. Twenty five large. Software like this is highly regulated, you know. Not exactly easy to come by."

The Spectre breathed a silent sigh of relief as he pulled a sheaf of credits out of his thigh pouch and separated the appropriate amount, "You surprised me, DeWolfe. I fully expected you to ask for Wrex in return."

DeWolfe shook his head, "You obviously don't understand the mercenary mind, commander. Wrex may have gotten away from me and made me look bad in front of a lot of people with a lot of money, but he also earned my respect. That alone is reason enough that I'll never hunt him again." He took his leg down and leaned forward, crossing his arms on the table, "But neither of us are here to rehash history. Is it a deal or not?" He pulled an OSD out of his pocket that he plugged into his omni-tool to show Shepard that it did indeed contain the software. Shepard handed over the credits and DeWolfe handed over the disk. With their dealings complete, the Spectre and the bounty hunter parted ways. Shepard and Ashley took the elevator down to the main level of Port Hanshan, where they found Wrex leaning against the wall waiting for them. He stood up and fell into step with the other two as they passed.

Shepard looked back at Wrex as they walked, "Before you bite my head off, Wrex, I'm sorry that I had to cut you out back there, but it had to be done."

Wrex cocked his head to one side, "Cut me out? No. I wasn't mad about that."

The commander stopped walking and turned around to look at him, "Well you looked pretty cheesed off just now, so you were mad about something."

Wrex shrugged, "I was just pissed that I didn't get to start a bar fight."

Shepard rolled his eyes as he turned around and resumed walking, "Well, if that's all it is…" He looked at the OSD in his hand as they rode the elevator down to the docking bay. It wasn't another piece of the puzzle, but it was the best way to find then next piece. Shepard smiled to himself as they passed through customs and headed back to the Normandy. They were well on their way. Hopefully soon, they could get to the bottom of this mystery. Then, there just might be some rest for the weary.