Shepard eats slowly, making small talk with fellow soldiers, ones that lived after the destruction of the Normandy, and ones that did not. She takes her time, so that by the time she finishes, the ship is pulling into the Citadel docks. She debates changing into her armor as Nihlus is taken off the ship to get to the hospital on the citadel, knowing she should expect to be fighting, makes her consider wearing it, as it would get her squad mates without biotic barrier to follow her example, but in the end she decides to go in her uniform instead.
She heads down to the armory to grab a pistol, and a thigh holster that she fastened over her uniform to hold said pistol. Kaidan and Ashley came down to get their weapons as Shepard fastened her holster. Shepard was intrigued because the came together, talking and laughing, seeming relaxed even in their armor.
She had rarely ever seen the of them talking to one another, the last time she lived this, and never this... Flirty. Now she wondered if that had been a result of her responding to the his flirting from the very beginning. With her heart already set on a certain Turian sniper, and saving both of them, she now set her heart on something else.
Setting the two of them up.
She walked away, humming in pleasure at the idea of playing Cupid. Her squadmates shot her a funny look when she did so, but quickly went back to talking to each other. She hummed all the way back to the bridge, where Joker turns his chair around raises an eyebrow and asked "Alright, I'll bite. What's got you so happy, Commander?"
"I'd tell you, Joker. Though I get the feeling you can't keep a secret." She crosses her arms, but can't help the persistent grin on her features.
"Ooh, it's a secret? Now I'm really intrigued." He grins widely, a sign of mischief brewing. "Come on, Commander. I can totally keep a secret."
She rolls her eyes, "Sure you can." She glances over her shoulder to see Kaidan and Ashley walking over. "Finally. What took you two so long?"
The duo share a sheepish glance, and Shepard rolls her eyes again. "Never mind. Let's just get a move on, Udina is probably already giving Anderson a hard time." She leads the way out the airlock, her squad mates following quietly.
They make their way out of the dock and through c-sec, and upon seeing the presidium, Shepard shifts uncomfortably as she tries to adjust to the arrangement of everything on this set up of the citadel, as it was so different from the way she had last seen it. After thinking a moment she heads for the nearby ramp and an makes her way to the embassies. She considers asking avian which way to Udina's office since she couldn't remember but her distaste for VIs sends her to the Asari secretary at the front desk.
"Excuse me, but could you tell me which way to the Earth Ambassador's office?" Shepard flashes her most polite smile and receives a similar smile in return.
"Of course," she uses a tone that reminds Shepard of a salesperson. "though I recommend your questions about the citadel be directed towards Avina, our virtual intelligence intended specifically to tell people about the citadel." She then points in the direction the party needs to go. "He's right up those stairs and down the hall, Commander."
"Thank you." Shepard waves as she walks off, headed in the direction the asari instructed. As she got close she could hear Udina through his door and cringed, it'd had been hard enough to listen to him yammer on about what humanity deserved before, but it was even harder to knowing he would eventually betray the council while he was in the spot that Shepard had given to Anderson.
It was especially hard to have to rely on him to get a meeting with the council. "This is an outrage!" He yells, and Shepard pauses outside the door, debating whether or not she should actually go in. "The council would step in if the geth attacked a Turian colony!"
She hears the Salarian councilor speak and decides it's better to go in while the crazy human ambassador is shut up. She steps in, listening, "The Turians don't found colonies on the borders of the Terminus Systems, Ambassador."
"Humanity was well of aware of the risks when you went into the traverse." The Asari councilor includes. Shepard glances at the exasperated Anderson and decides to butt in before Udina makes humanity seem more the fool.
"With all due respect Councilor," Shepard steps next to Udina to speak, "the dangers humanity was made aware of when colonizing, were things like barbarian pirates. Not the geth, which haven't been beyond the veil in centuries.
"If it were any other danger the offenders would be killed, and we'd be done with it. However, the geth are artificial intelligence, which is outlawed. They were not viewed as a threat before the ventured beyond the veil, however they have now." She stands up a bit straighter under the scrutinizing gaze of the council. "As the geth are a collective, this attack on a human colony could be seen as artificial intelligence launching a strike on organics as a whole. We are simply seeking help to eliminate the threat not just to humanity, but to the other races as well."
The mandibles of Turian councilor's mandibles twitch in a slight display of his pleasure, "Very eloquently put. If your Ambassador was as diplomatic as you, perhaps humanity would get what they want more often."
"What's your name?" The Asari councilor asks.
Shepard salutes, "Commander Elizabeth Shepard, executive officer of the SSV Normandy. Leader of the ground team on Eden Prime."
"If you were on Eden Prime then when can expect to see you at Saren's hearing, yes?" The Salarian councilor asks.
Shepard drops her salute, "Yes councilor." With the the holograms fade and the meeting is over, leaving Shepard to turn and smile Udina, despite his death glare. "You're welcome."
"I see you brought half the the crew of the Normandy." Udina snears, addressing Anderson despite his glancing around at the ground team. Two of said members were standing by the window looking out.
"The crew of the Normandy is much bigger than six people." Anderson ignores the sarcasm in correcting Udina, he too knows about the eventuality of Udina's betrayal now and refuses to even pretend to be civil. "This is just the ground team from Eden Prime. In case you had any questions."
"I have the mission reports. I assume they're accurate." Shepard watches the pissing match unfold and wishes she had popcorn, it was always entertaining to watch Anderson and Udina go at it. They both had very 'I'm in charge here' presences, that would always clash when they came together, and Shepard found it hilarious.
"They are." Shepard notes the deterioration into glaring match. "I see you got us a audience with a council. Is that right?"
"Yes, but they were not happy about it. Saren's is their top agent and we're accusing him of treason." Udina snaps at Anderson as though it were his fault, and as entertaining as this was, Shepard decides to step in.
"Saren's a threat to everyone, especially with the geth behind him." Shepard snaps back at Udina, "I'm sorry that keeping people safe doesn't fit into your political agenda."
Udina focuses his death glare back on Shepard, who glared right back. "How dare you disrespect me, first by interrupting me while I spoke to the council now you're accusing me of not caring about the people Saren's hurt?!"
Shepard finds herself amused by the way his face is turning red, and refuses to get drawn into a screaming match. "You look funny when you're angry." She starts to walk off, only to have her wrist grabbed. Without a second thought she yanks her arm away and swings her leg around, knee landing in Udina's gut. He is knocked to the ground and Shepard smiles down at him. "Try something like that again, you'll get worse than kneed in the gut." As she heads out of the room, still smiling, Ashley once again entertains the idea that her new commanding officer is insane, but follows anyway, and startled Kaidan in tow.
Outside the embassies, Shepard pauses and turns to her squad mates. "Is there anything you guys want to do before Saren's hearing? There's shops, clubs, an Asari consort." Every fiber of her being was screaming out, telling her to go find Garrus, but until the beginning of the hearing, she had no idea where he was and if she went around asking people would wonder why she was asking. "If you want, you can go off without me. Just meet me in front of the citadel tower before the hearing."
She heads away towards the financial district where Sha'ira was located, and was pleased to find the others not following her. Her plan was to chat up the consort about the problem with Septimus, buy some weapons mods at the shop next door, the one run by a Hanar, and if she still had time before the hearing, she'd go talk to the general causing problems for said consort.
She finds her way into the consort's place, and knows she's in the right place thanks to the relaxing atmosphere and many well dressed assistants fluttering around. She pauses at the front desk, or podium, as it may be considered and smiles at the assistant who asks her if she has an appointment. "No I don't, I was hoping to speak with Sha'ira about an elcor spreading rumors."
"I'm sorry but Sha'ira is very busy, if you give me your name, I can schedule you an appointment at her next opening in four months." The assistant smiles politely.
"No thanks." Shepard insists, "Just let her know that commander Shepard stopped by, alright?"
Shepard turns on her heel and and begins to walk away slowly, getting stopped by the assistant a moment later. "Excuse me, Sha'ira will see you now."
Shepard turns around and heads to the back room, walking tall with her head held high. When she gets to the consort, she wastes no time with pleasantries. "I hear that you have a Elcor diplomat problem."
Sha'ira sighs, "That would be an accurate statement. He believes I spread personal information about him, and is telling everyone such."
"You didn't though, and you need someone to talk to the person who is, right?"
Sha'ira smiles, "That would be a great help, and I would be very accommodating to whoever helped me. It's a Turian general named Septimus, if you'd be interested. We had a falling out, if you could just convince him to stop, there may be a reward in it for you."
Shepard doesn't like the intensely suggestive way the consort comes off, but reminds herself that its better to make a friend than an enemy. "I'd be happy to help." She heads out without waiting for a response, and ducks into the shop next door to look at special ammo and weapon mods.
She buys some armor piercing rounds, incendiary rounds and shredder rounds, sighting upgrades, high caliber barrel upgrades, and heat sink upgrades, getting lost in everything available. She checks the list again, for anything else she wants, and notices a sniper rifle scope on the list, seeing it makes her smile in memory.
She sat on the bed, attempting to read something on her datapad, but found her continually getting distracted by the presence of a very sexy Turian sniper sitting on her couch. Eventually she just gives up with a heavy sigh that causes him to look up from his own reading curiously. "I have something I want to give you."
His eyes sweep over her half naked form, "And what would that be?" He sets down the datapad next to him. She scrambles to the head of the bed and pulls something out of the drawer of her nightstand.
She holds it in her hands as he stands up to walk in front of her and look. "It's a thermal scope." she tells him. "We've been fighting a lot of enemies that like smoke walls lately, and I thought this may help."
His mandibles twitch pleasurably, and he flashes what she recognizes as a smile. "From what I understand about human culture, don't most normal couples give each other things like chocolate or jewelry?"
His playful teasing encourages her, to reach out and hold his hands. "We'll we aren't exactly normal, are we?"
He laughs, "You are far too extraordinary to be normal." He leans in and kisses her.
Her cheeks are bright red when she comes back into reality, "Oh crap!" She starts when she realizes that the hearing is about to start. She runs for it, eager to meet up with her squad mates and get to the hearing. She doesn't bother to stop and say hello when she runs into them, just ushers them into the elevator and starts it, before slumping against the wall.
She ignores the concerned looks of her team, brushing them off with an "I'm fine. Just lost track of time." She uses the ride to compose herself, standing back up straight and making her way to the front of the elevator.
When it stops she walks out, taking large strides, but stops dead in her tracks when she see what she had been waiting the past two days for. She sees him, standing there, arguing with executor Palin.
She sees Garrus Vakarian.
