Chapter 9
Citadel
Author Note: Sorry about the wait, I just haven't gotten around to it. Part of it, is that I haven't been able to get on the Xbox to play mass effect and refresh my memory. My brother plays Call of Duty A LOT. I need to update my other story too, depressingly enough, this story already has more favorites and alerts than it.
Shepard let out a small groan as he clutched his head, sitting up in what he vaguely recognized as a bed. He felt slightly disoriented, as if all of his senses were less sensitive than usual. As he did so, he heard Ashley's voice as if she was talking to him from a great distance. "Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up."
As Shepard swung his legs off of the bed, he felt his senses return to normality. He noticed at this point that he was in the medical bay of the Normandy "You had us worried for Shepard," Dr. Chakwas said, as she walked in front of Shepard "How are you feeling?"
"A little off balance," Shepard replied honestly "But otherwise I'm alright. How long was I out, where's Nihlus?"
"You were out for about fifteen hours," Chakwas said, looking at Shepard. "As for Nihlus, he's right over there." As she spoke, Chakwas pointed as the bed next to Shepard. As Shepard turned to look, he saw that Nihlus was indeed lying in the bed, his body hooked up to various pieces of life support.
"He suffered some pretty serious brain trauma in addition to a punctured lung. I took care of the lung, but it looks liker he took a nasty blow to the head, his skull actually suffered from some minor fracturing. For the moment, he's comatose, and I don't know when he'll wake up."
Shepard stared at the unconscious Spectre for a moment, before turning to face Chakwas again. "How exactly did I end up here?"
Chakwas frowned "I'm not exactly sure, the best I can some up with is that something happened with the beacon."
"It's my fault," said Ashley, who had been standing not to far from Shepard "I must have tripped some sort of motion sensor and you had to pull me out of the way."
"Don't blame yourself, you had no idea what would happen," Shepard said in a comforting voice as he looked at Ashley. A small smile slipped onto her face.
"As a matter of fact, we don't know if that is exactly what triggered the beacon," Chakwas said. "Unfortunately we're never going to get the chance to find out now."
"The beacon exploded, we're not exactly sure why, and knocked you out cold," Ashley explained. "Kaiden and I had to carry you back to the ship. While we were doing that, Taylor and Rebecca had to carry Nihlus here too."
"The two ODSTs?" Shepard asked "Are they onboard?"
"As a matter of fact, they are," Chakwas said. "But there's something I want to discuss with you. You're fine physically, but I've been picking up some strange beta waves in your brain. There was also a spike in your rapid eye movement, which normally happens during intense dreams."
"I'm not sure if dream is a proper word for it," Shepard. "I saw, I'm not sure, death, chaos, I'm not sure, everything sort of snowballed together until I couldn't make anything out of it."
"I should defiantly put this in my report," Chakwas said "It may prove to be...oh Captain Anderson."
Anderson had indeed entered the medical bay, and was walking towards Shepard's bed. "How's our XO holding up doctor?" he asked.
"He appears to be perfectly healthy, I'd say that he's going to be fine," Chakwas replied.
Anderson nodded "Glad to hear it. Shepard, I need to speak with you in private." Ashley and Chakwas both nodded as they exited the medical bay. "Sounds that beacon fit you pretty hard Shepard, are you sure that you're ok?"
"Yeah," Shepard said, rubbing his temples gently "I'll be fine."
Anderson let out a tired sigh. "I won't lie to you Shepard, things aren't looking well. We went to Eden Prime to get the beacon, what we got was a pile of scrap, a Geth attack and a comatose Spectre, not exactly what we were looking for. The Council isn't going to be happy about this."
"We did everything that we could to stop the Geth," Shepard said sternly "If we hadn't done anything the whole colony would have been destroyed."
"True," Anderson said "I'll stand behind you every step of the way, you're a God damn hero in my book. But the main problem is Saren, the Turian that Frost and Winters saw shooting Nihlus. He's a Spectre, one of the best, if he's fighting alongside the Geth, that means that he's defected, and a Spectre that's defected is nothing but trouble. Saren's even more dangerous than the average rouge Spectre. He hates Humans, he thinks we have too much power for someone so new to the galactic community."
"But he didn't go to Eden Prime just to kill Humans didn't he?" Shepard asked, standing up as he did. "He went there for the beacon."
"Unfortunately you're probably right," Anderson admitted. "You were there when it exploded, is there any chance that you saw anything of importance?"
"I saw, I'm not quite sure, synthetics attacking people, obliterating them," Shepard said, a slightly disturbed tone to his voice, as if what had saw had frightened him slightly. "But it's not like we can tell the Council this, what are we going to say, that I had a nightmare?"
"We don't know what that beacon did, and more likely than not, Saren did," Anderson said grimly. "We need to take him down, before he does any more damage, because if he has a say in the matter, he won't rest until every last Human is dead. But in order to do that we need to prove the Council that he's guilty and to revoke his Spectre status."
"Because if we don't the Council will see it as an act of war, and a war is something we'd rather avoid," Shepard said, a slightly frustrated tone in his voice.
"Exactly," Anderson said "I'll contact Udina and have him arrange a meeting with the Council. Kaiden and Ashley will accompany us since they were part of your team, and we'll also bring Taylor and Rebecca to testify. This is going to get ugly Shepard.
Two hours later, Ambassador Udina stood in the UNSC Embassy before the holograms of the Council. "This is and outrage!" he said, anger coursing through his voice "You can't ignore this, Saren launched an unprovoked attack on a Human colony. I demand retribution."
"You don't make demands to the Council Ambassador," the Turian Councilor said coldly.
"C-Sec is running an investigation for evidence to support your claims against Saren," the Asari Councilor said "We will discuss what the discover at the hearing." As the Asari Councilor finished her sentence, the holograms of the Council disappeared.
Letting out an angry sigh, Udina turned to face Anderson, Shepard and the ODSTs that they had brought with them. "Captain Anderson, I see you decided to bring half of your crew with you."
"It's just the ground team from Eden Prime," Anderson said "In case the Council asks for any eyewitness. Sounds like you managed to get an audience with the council."
"It wasn't easy, Udina said "The Council don't like it when their top agents are accused of treason."
"They're going to to open their eyes then," Shepard said sternly "Saren killed thousands of people on Eden Prime, and he needs to be stopped before he does any more damage."
"Settle down Commander, you've already done enough to sabotage your candidacy for the Spectres," Udina said coldly "Eden Prime was to prove that you were capable, instead the beacon was destroyed and Nihlus was put in a hospital."
"That's all you care about?" Anderson said angrily "This bigger than the Spectres, this is about exposing Saren, and making sure that he doesn't cause any more damage."
"Then we had better hope the C-Sec investigation turns up something useful," Udina said stonily. "Anderson, come with me, we need to discuss a couple of things before the hearing. Shepard you and the others meet us at the Citadel Tower, I'll make sure that you get in." Both Anderson and Udina exited the Embassy, muttering an indistinct conversation.
"He seems like a nice guy," Taylor said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Pretty much," Ashley said "That's why I can't stand politicians."
"We had better get up to that tower," Rebecca said "Taylor and I saw that son of a bitch shoot Nihlus, if they don't do something about it even if we tell them that, then they're just being ignorant to the point that it's going to cause extreme harm."
"I wouldn't hold you're breath," Kaiden said "From what I've heard the Council is usually slow to act on big decisions, they only act if they've got evidence where there is 0% chance of it being false."
"We'll have to take our chances with what we have," Shepard said as they exited the Embassy, heading for the nearby elevator. As they did, they passed the RSN embassy, which was oddly deserted. "They probably went up to watch the trial," Shepard said, as he and the others entered the elevator, as it closes and slowly began to rose.
"I'm taking a wild guess that the Sangheili don't like Saren either?" Ashley asked.
"The Sangheili don't like Spectres period," Taylor said "They don't like the idea of someone having that much power and answering to no one. They think that someone with that much power will more likely than not abuse it, and when you consider the situation we're in right now, they have a point."
"Still they do respect the Spectres that do their job properly," Kaiden said. "I heard an Asari Spectre helped a SpecOp team take out a nest of pretty stubborn Batarian pirates."
"As long as they stay in line, the Sangheili don't have any problems with Spectres in their territory," Rebecca said "But I imagine all RSN soldiers have shoot on sight orders if they so much as loiter."
As the elevator stopped at the top of the Citadel tower, all five ODSTs stepped off of the elevator. As they walked forward, they saw two Turians arguing. "Saren is hiding something, give me more time. Stall them," one of the Turians said.
"Stall the Council?" the other Turian said in a disbelieving voice "Don't be ridiculous, you're investigation is over Garrus." As he finished his sentence, the second Turian walked away. Garrus let out a frustrated groan, before turning around and noticing Shepard and his group.
"Command Shepard," he said formally "Garrus Vakarian, I was the C-Sec officer in charge of the investigation of Saren."
"I get the feeling from the way you were talking to that other Turian you don't like Saren very much," Shepard said, gesturing towards the still visible Turian, his back to Shepard.
"He's hiding something," Garrus said "Like you Humans say, I've got a feeling in my gut about this. But he's a Spectre, if he so much as breaths on something it's classified. I couldn't get anything on him."
"Your gut feeling is dead on," Taylor said "I saw Saren put a bullet in Nihlus' lung."
"I knew it!" Garrus said angrily "I hope the Council listens to you. Speaking of the Council I think they're waiting for you. Good luck, I hope you don't need it," he said as the ODSTs walked towards and up the stairs leading to the Council chambers.
After a few minutes of walking upwards, they found Anderson standing outside of the chamber. "The hearing has already stared come on," he said grimly as he walked into the chamber, the ODSTs following him.
As they entered the chamber, they found Udina standing before the Council, while a massive hologram of Saren was projected from a device mounted on the wall. "The Geth attack is a matter of concern," the Salarian Councilor said "But there is no proof that Saren was involved in any way shape or form."
"The C-Sec investigation found no evidence to support your accusations," the Turian Councilor said.
"These two soldiers saw Saren attempt to kill Nihlus in cold blood," Udina said, pointing at Taylor and Rebecca. "Is that the Turian you saw on Eden Prime?" he asked, gesturing at the hologram of Saren.
Both Rebecca and Taylor looked at the hologram for a second, before Rebecca nodded and Taylor said "Yeah that's him."
The Salarian Councilor seemed unfazed, the Turian Councilor even looked slightly bored. The Asari Councilor however, looked slightly uncomfortable, and maybe even a little worried. "You are certain that Saren was the Turian that you saw?" she asked.
"No offense," Taylor said "But you don't exactly forget a face like his."
"I am offended by these accusations," Saren said "Nihlus was a close friend of mine."
"Then why did you put him in the hospital?" Anderson asked coldly. Upon the Normandy arriving at the Citadel, Nihlus had been transferred to a more accommodating medical facility.
"Anderson, I can not help but notice that every time Humanity makes charges against me, you seem to be at the forefront," Saren said, in an obviously mocking tone. "These accusations carry no weight, the testimonies of two traumatized soldiers hardly qualify as evidence."
"I'm not so sure about that," the Asari Council said "Judging by their armor they are Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, and from what I've heard about them they are above your average soldier. They aren't the type to be easily traumatized."
"You don't actually believe them do you?" the Turian Councilor asked, looking at the Asari next to him "For all we know they started this whole facade just to cover up the failed mission on Eden Prime."
"While this is interesting Councilor," the Salarian Councilor said "It is still insufficient evidence to incriminate one of our top agents." Turning to face the Humans, he asked "Is there anything else you would like to add?"
Shepard was about to open his mouth and talk about the vision he had when he reconsidered. While it might have been important, it didn't actually incriminate Saren in any way. Also, it might be for the best if Saren didn't know what he had saw, he might know what it meant. "Winters and Frost are good stable soldiers, if you refuse to listen to them, then I don't know what to say."
The Asari Councilor glanced at the Turian Councilor, who shook is head, and then at the Salarian Councilor, who mirrored his move. Seeing that she was outvoted, the Asari Councilor restrained a sigh, and said nothing. "The Council has found to evidence to link Saren to what happened on Eden Prime," the Salarian Councilor said. "Ambassador your petition to have him removed from the Spectres is denied. This meeting is adjourned."
The faintest of smiles made it's way across Saren's face as his hologram disappeared, and the Councilors stepped away from their podiums. The ODSTs and Anderson walked away, grim looks on their faces. Udina joined them after a few seconds. "It was a mistake to bring you in Captain," the Ambassador said "It made the Council question our motives, you and Saren have too much history."
"Judging by the way you are all standing outside of the Council Chamber," said a calm strong voice "We are too late for the hearing." Everyone turned around and saw three Sangheili approaching them. The middle one was easily recognizable as Rtas 'Vadum. Shipmaster clad in golden armor was at his right, and a Ranger clad in black, wearing a Combat Harness and an anti-gravity pack to his left. They were all wearing the new version of the Combat Harness, which had a white, see-through visor cover the right eye to act as a HUD.
"Rtas," Anderson said, as the Sangheili approached them "Yes, the hearing is over, Saren was found as not guilty."
"Typical," the Shipmaster said, in a slightly cold voice "They are willing to let their Spectres be entrusted with their security, but when they go to far, they turn a blind eye."
"I'm sorry," Anderson said "But I don't believe that I'm familiar with you."
The Shipmaster nodded his head "Where are my manners? I am Ramos 'Mortam Shipmaster of the Swift Blade. This is my younger brother," he said, gesturing to the Ranger "Demas 'Mortam. I am in command of all RSN soldiers stationed on the Citadel, which act as security, my brother included. We were going accompany the Ambassador to the hearing, but apparently we are too late for that."
"We need to find evidence that proves to the Council beyond a doubt that Saren is guilty," Udina said "How we do that however, is not going to be easy."
"What about that C-Sec officer Garrus?" Kaiden asked "It sounded like he was about to unearth something big on Saren."
"I have a contact inside of C-Sec that can put you in touch with him," Udina said "His name his Harken."
"Harken's a waste of time," Anderson said dismissively "He was fired a month ago for drinking on the job. There's a Volus named Barla Von on the Citadel that might be able to help us. He's an agent for the Shadow Broker."
"The what now?" Taylor asked, looking confused.
"The Shadow Broker is shrouded in mystery," Anderson said "Little is known about him, or her, or they. All we know is that the Shadow Broker operates through agents, distributing information to whoever purchases it. Barla Von might be able to get you something on Saren."
"The wise course of action would be to pursue both," Demas said. "I request to accompany you," he glanced at his older brother "If it is appropriate that is."
"I have no objection to this," Ramos said "You may accompany the Commander until it is more prudent that you be needed elsewhere."
"Alright," Shepard said "Ashely, Kaiden, you'll come with me to see Harken. Demas, take Taylor and Rebecca and go find Barla Von. Contact me if you find out anything that can be used against Saren." Everyone nodded as they separated, Shepard, Ashley and Kaiden heading in one direction, while Demas, Taylor and Rebecca went another way.
Author Note It felt it kind of odd the way the Council acts towards you in the game, I can understand the way the Turian treats you, and sort of the Salarian, but I thought Asari were supposed to be masters of diplomacy. Don't expect their reactions to be 100% what they are in game, who knows, you might even find it to be a nice change
