Amala sat alone in the pilot's chair. She had asked the turians to wait in the back, preferring to introduce them to Anderson away from the hatch and anyone who might be nearby. She would get one shot at making a case for them, but she knew Saren would be beside her, fighting fiercely for his people as well. She watched as Anderson strode towards her ship with two guards flanking him. That might be a problem. She opened the hatch and couldn't help smiling at her old friend.

"Anderson, it's good to see you."

"Shepard," he replied with a nod.

Ah, he was still a bit pissed about her cryptic statements. She blocked the guards when they moved to follow him onboard.

"We aren't going anywhere, sir. I just need someplace safe to talk."

He nodded and the pair moved to stand guard outside the ship. She closed the hatch and turned to face Anderson.

"All set, EDI?"

"His translator software has been updated."

The sigh that slipped out from him was one of frustration.

"Talk to me, Shepard. What is this all about?"

"I have some people I want you to meet, but you needed that update to understand them. Follow me."

She made her way back to the galley. Saren sat in one of the chairs, Nihlus and Garrus standing on either side of him. Anderson stopped just inside the doorway.

"Admiral Anderson, I would like for you to meet General Saren Arterius of the 12th Legion. That is Nihlus Kryik and Garrus Vakarian on either side of him."

Anderson's mouth opened and shut for a moment as he attempted to process the information just thrown at him.

"Admiral," Saren said with a nod.

Anderson dropped into an empty chair. The implications of this were staggering, and Shepard had just dropped this bomb in his lap.

"Shepard, a glass of water, please. I'd ask for something stronger, but I think I'll need my wits about me."

A glass of water appeared beside his hand and he took a gulp. Nihlus placed a glass down for Saren as well.

"General." He nodded to Saren before he downed another swallow of water. "Shepard, how in hell did you end up with software that I know doesn't exist?"

"Oh, it exists, Anderson. It's on each of their translator implants. EDI was able to bypass the fail-safes and download it for us to use."

"Fail-safes?"

"Yes, if you try and remove the implant it explodes," Amala answered.

"Son-of-a... I have a lot of questions, General."

"I will answer what I can, but I have not been on Palaven for at least a month."

Saren retold the same tale he had told Shepard, stopping only when Anderson interrupted with a question. Amala wasn't sure how long they had been talking; she only knew that her and Nihlus had refilled the water glasses for both of them several times.

Anderson stood up and paced for a moment while he pondered the implications of everything he had just learned. Coming to a decision, he turned to face the turians.

"Just the other day I had Ambassador Udina calling me in an uproar. Apparently, the salarian councilor contacted him and wanted to know what we had done to piss off the asari. The asari councilor is apparently pushing for the salarians to accept the batarians as the next member of the council."

"WHAT?" Amala exclaimed. "If the batarians get on the council-"

Anderson held up a hand. "I'm well aware of the problems. But now I think I know why. My guess is the asari are aware of your activities with the turians and are afraid of what might happen should this come to light."

"Sir! We have to do something now!"

"This isn't like just freeing a few slaves. We are talking about a system under blockade with an extensive ground war going on planet-side."

"The krogan have agreed to come to the turians' aid. We will have krogan troops to bolster our own," Amala began.

"Which we will have to fetch."

"Well, yes. But if we don't free the turians, when the asari decide that they want something of ours, who will stand with us then? When slavery is declared legal and we have to watch as our people are paraded on the Citadel as slaves, whom will we turn to then? I think it will be too late for us then," she snarled.

"Trust me. I'm with you on this. But we need to present this before the Parliament and the Prime Minister. We need them to see the implications of letting this situation going on and how that affects us. Not only is this the correct thing to do, but we have to do this if we wish to keep our people free. Do you have a copy of their language?"

"I do, several in fact. I have a contact on the salarian side, Dr. Mordin Solus. He was in the STG and is trying to dig up what he can and he has several copies as well. Even if they kill us, they won't be able to stop the truth from coming out."

"And they just might commit genocide to stop this from escalating any further," Anderson stated.

"He is right. Their desire for our artifacts will eventually be outstripped by their need to keep what has happened hidden. When that happens, Palaven and my people will be destroyed utterly," Saren said.

"I'm going to see if I can get an emergency meeting with the Prime Minister. If I can, all of you need to be ready to go in a moment's notice. General, you'll have to repeat your story, probably a few times if I know our politicians."

"I will tell the story as many times as I have to. I thank you for your help," Saren said.

Saren stood and gave the other human a small nod. Anderson returned the gesture. He found the turian impressive; he had never had the chance to get close to one before. Now, he was glad to be on the side of ally versus enemy.

"All I have to say is you were damn lucky to fall in with Shepard. She's one of our best and considered a hero by our own people; her support buys you more than she might think. Keep the lines open Shepard, I'll be in contact."

Anderson strode out already sending messages on his omni-tool, leaving the turians and Shepard breathing a sigh of relief. An idea popped into Amala's head from Anderson's praise. She needed to don another kind of armor.

"I'll be right back," she told them.

She rushed into her cabin and threw open the wardrobe. She pawed through it until she came to her Alliance dress blues. Armor was her comfortable choice, but she needed to remind the politicians who she was and what she stood for. It almost felt like a return to her younger years as she dressed in her old uniform.

The turians had been busy while she had been changing. Saren had the other two standing at attention as he checked them over, making sure their armor was polished.

"Good, glad to see you are ready to go."

"The uniform of your people?" Saren asked.

"Yes, I thought it might be good to remind them I'm not just a Council Spectre but also an Alliance soldier."

She caught Garrus's grin as he took in the sight of her Star of Terra medal that took up half of her chest. She waved one hand at it.

"I know. It has its own gravitational pull. Or would you rather ask about the mass effect field it can generate?"

"It truly can do such a thing?" Nihlus asked.

Amala laughed, "No, those are the jokes we made about it when I first received it. Some stupid politician thought it should be viewable from orbit or some such bullshit."

The alert from her omni-tool saved her from having to explain any more. Anderson's voice came over the link.

"Shepard, I have an escort coming to bring you and your guests to the Prime Minister's chambers. They should be there momentarily."

"Understood. We are ready."

The sound of a hand rapping on the hatch of the ship alerted them that their escort had arrived. Amala opened the door to find a face she hadn't seen in a long time.

"Ah, Alenko. Major, isn't it?"

The man smiled at her. "Good to see you, Shepard. I guess I shouldn't be surprised you remembered me and got my rank right."

"Anderson tries to keep me up to date."

"Lieutenant Vega and I are here to escort you and your guests to a meeting."

She nodded to the second man, easily twice the size of Alenko. She stepped out of the hatch first, Saren and then the others following behind her.

She heard the one called Vega suck in his breath.

"Ay Dios Mio," Vega whispered.

"Well, that explains why the security cameras are turned off and the route is empty."

"It's a need to know basis, Major. Lead on."

"Yes, Spectre Shepard. This way."

The hallways were eerily silent as they traversed the station. The usual traffic had been redirected allowing their route to be clear. The conference room the two men took them to was one of the larger ones she had been in. Military personnel and politicians milled about, but all activity stopped when they entered. Ambassador Udina had even been brought in through the vid-com.

"Agent Shepard, what is the meaning of this?" Udina shouted.

"Admiral Anderson, have the updates been issued?" Amala asked, ignoring the bluster of the Ambassador for the moment.

"Yes, I had Udina manually update his as well."

Amala nodded and moved to stand in the center of the room, the turians shadowing her.

"As a Spectre I'm expected to uphold the laws of the Galactic Council. One of those being how slavery is forbidden to the Council races. I present to you evidence that the asari are violating the very law they made. May I introduce to you General Saren Arterius of the 12th Legion of Palaven and his companions Nihlus Kryik and Garrus Vakarian."

She bowed and moved to allow Saren to move to the front.

"My name is General Saren Arterius as Agent Shepard has informed you, and I am here to ask for help for my people. The asari and now the batarians have staged a war on my world for the control of the prothean artifacts we have. Agent Shepard found me being held as a slave by an asari who had been ordered to break me. She failed, as you can see."

The din of voices rose as the humans overcame their disbelief that they were in fact listening to a turian speak. Saren held up a hand, which had the desired effect of lowering the volume of noise in the room.

"I will answer your questions, but please, one at a time."

Amala lost track of the time. A chair had been brought over for the General to use and a small table with water for him. Eventually, the questions trailed off. The Prime Minister levered himself out of his chair.

"Agent Shepard, if you would escort your guests back to your ship, we will begin to discuss this."

"Sir, with all due respect, we don't have time to debate this. The asari are pushing for the batarians to be the next Council member. If that happens, our colonies can be expected to be raided on a regular basis, and do you want to explain to your people why we have to allow those taken to be paraded as slaves openly on the Citadel?"

"I'm aware of the issues."

"Then we need to strike before the asari can destroy Palaven and its people completely in order to hide the atrocity done to them!"

"Stand down, soldier! Your reputation and your status is the only reason I haven't thrown you out of here already."

Saren leaped to his feet. This was what he had feared, even his people's politicians were known for debating when action was needed. He moved to stand beside Shepard. Admiral Anderson joined Shepard on the other side of her, the three of them coming to a similar accord; an agreement needed to be made now.

"Shepard is right, and I think I have a way to get us more intel that I know you want. The Normandy - she's ready for her maiden flight. If she performs as expected we should be able to get in the system, get the information we need, and even drop the General and his companions back on Palaven," Anderson said, standing beside Amala.

"Do it, Admiral, and send them back with that new proto-type QEC. General, I expect that the aid your people need will be coming within a few weeks."

Anderson nodded to Amala and they strode out of the room. Saren and the others followed behind. As soon as they were outside, Amala stopped, causing the whole party to come to a halt.

"Anderson, get the Wildcat on board this ship. I'll personally deliver the General and provide whatever support I can to his people."

Anderson flashed a smile at her. "I had already planned on it. Major, clear the Mako out of the cargo bay and anything else that can be moved. I want every inch of the ship packed with all the weapons you can requisition, and at least several months of dry rations for Shepard on board as well. And we need that new QEC as well. God only knows how long it will take us to win the ground war."

"I believe that with your support we will take Palaven back fairly quickly. My people are expected to serve in the military upon adulthood. It is how we have survived so long; the asari didn't expect the whole population to rise up against them," Saren stated.

"Then let's get moving. As soon as we get the Wildcat on board, we'll be underway."

~Thanks once more to Mordinette for all her help! And thank you to the readers, your enthusiasm for this story makes me deliriously happy!~