I have done a few changes to chapter 1 and chapter 2. I decided that most of chapter 1 was irrelevant to the story so I got rid of it and put in a foreword. I put the most important parts on chapter 1 into chapter 2 at the beginning. With that out of the way, I am going to start playing the Mass Effect Series again despite the ending of Mass Effect 3. I need to refresh my memory on all of it, videos will not cut it. Hopefully the area around our characters becomes more detailed as we move into the Citadel. Sorry for a late update.
Chapter 10: Citadel
John woke up in the sleeping pod. He activated the covering hatch to open, it slowly rose revealing to him the Crew's Quarters of the Normandy. He put one foot out groggily and steadied himself against the pod's side. He moved his other foot out until he was completely out of the sleeping pod. It felt as he had not slept at all, for 5 years Akuze has been haunting him every single night, he now had another bad memory to add to his dreams. The Vision. Entire races being killed by these synthetics, this increased his hatred towards the geth. The synthetics he saw in his vision could be geth, for the geth was with Saren on Eden Prime. He continued his train of thought as he moved out of the Crew's Quarters into the Mess Hall. He ignored the stares and whispers of the crew around him in the Mess, their opinions of him would not phase him in the slightest. He moved towards the Normandy's Mess Sergeant for food. As the Mess Sergeant saw him he started to search the cupboards around him, reaching into the very back of one and grabbing a tube of flavorless nutrient paste. He brushed the cobwebs off of it and handed it to John. John took it, for he was in no position to complain and moved to the table furthest away from everyone and sat down. A few minutes into eating his paste, a human walks up to him. John looked up to see the human better, he saw a face with the hints of a mustache coming up on it and black hair. The human continued walking to him and stopped only to sit down to the seat opposite of John.
"Hello, you must be new I have not seen you around."
"Yes."He nearly laughed at the Human's stupidity of course he was new, have you ever seen a Quarian on the Normandy?
"I'm Kaidan Alenko. Nice to meet you."
"Ah, you are the human that was suppose to be on the original ground team with the human Commander."
"Yeah... got sick during the final stages of the mission. Major migraine I could barely move at all. I get them a lot with because of my L2 implants."
John thought to himself, 'L2 implants, petty.'
"Hey, I heard you were a Biotic too. Is that true?"
John lifted his finger and the empty tube of nutrient paste rose into the air, he put his finger back down, the nutrient paste fell back to the table.
"So it is true. Well it was nice to meet you ..." He paused because John had never told him his name.
"John'Shepard nar Rayya."
"Shepard... Shepard, I heard that name before are you the same Quarian that was on Akuze?"
As Kaidan said 'Akuze' a series of memories flashed through John's head. His team dead. 49 dead. The Thresher Maw. The Destroyed Colony. The Desert. The Crash. Dismembered bodies. He snapped out of his flashback.
"Ye- Yeah, I am." He struggled to say as he tried to bury the memories in the back of his head.
"You were pretty lucky, 50 people go in, only 1 come out. And you took down a Thresher Maw that destroyed your whole squad, trekked your way through a desert filled with Thresher Maws. And then was rescued by the Alliance."
John flinched as Kaidan said this. The faces of the Marines appeared before him, young faces, they had a whole future ahead of them but were unknown to the dangers that would await them. As fast as they came that had went burning their faces' into John's mind.
He stood up abruptly from the table, and ran from the Mess. The memories were to painful to bare. He ran into the Bathroom. It was empty. The memories came on stronger has he entered the bathroom he curled his 3 fingers into a fist. He ran towards the sink and rested his hands on the counter. He looked into the mirror. He was horrified by what he saw. The faces of the Marines were lined up behind him. He turned, nothing was there. He turned back to the mirror. Nothing there. He repeated in his mind 'Nothing but an illusion, trick of the visor. Just my mind playing tricks on me.' He sagged his head down facing the counter. He finally had the courage to look back up. They were there again. He balled his hand into a fist and punched the mirror with all his force, shattering it. He drew a knife from his side and stabbed it into the counter. He repeated this 3 times. He pulled the knife out from the counter, he fell into the corner of the room. He rested his back against the wall and pulled his legs to his chest, then gripped both sides of his helmet. "Leave me ALONE!" He screamed. "Leave me alone."
He regained his composure after a while of silent thinking, or in his case not too silent. He walked across the Normandy, studying it's features, he hadn't taken notice of. Very impressive. He especially liked the Drive Core. This ship was much better than many ships in the Migrant Fleet. Tali would love this, she always had a love for ships. As he was wandering around the ship he ran into Captain Anderson.
He put out a hand to stop John from walking off."We should be approaching the Citadel now, if you don't mind could you tell Joker to pull us into dock?"
"Joker?"
"Our ship's pilot. Jeff you could say."
"Alright, I will do it now."
He walked towards the cockpit, A bald man stared at him menacingly, John returned the stare. The man turned away. Ever since John had boarded the Normandy he had been watching him. He thought for a moment. His name was Pressly. He was a common Human xenophobe. He continued on to the cockpit.
"Captain Anderson said to bring us into dock."
"Uh, Alright... Quarian."
John looked to his side an saw Kaidan from before, he was focused on his console, he didn't pay any attention to John. John moved to the window and looked out, he saw the massive Citadel and a huge dreadnought class ship.
He pressed his visor to the glass. "Look at the size of that ship!"
"The Ascension. Flag Ship of the Citadel fleet." Kaidan spoke up.
"Well size isn't everything."
Kaidan moved to the window"Why so touchy, Joker?"
"I'm just saying you need firepower too."
"Hah." John chuckled. "It's main gun can rip through any ship in the Alliance fleet."
"Good thing it is on our side then." Kaidan added.
"Citadel Control, This is the SSV Normandy requesting permission to land." Joker ended the conversation.
"Stand by for clearance, Normandy." Citadel Control paused for a second. "Clearance granted. You may begin your approach. Transferring you to an Alliance Operator."
"Roger, Alliance Tower Normandy out."
"Normandy, this is Alliance Tower, proceed to dock 422."
They flew into the docking area. The familiar sounds of magnetic clamps clamped down on the Normandy's wings preventing it from flying away. The docking tube extended to the Normandy allowing them to leave the ship.
John sat at a table, Ashley and Nihlus were at the edge looking out over the Presidium. Udina continued to flare at the Council.
"THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!" He yelled. "THE COUNCIL WOULD STEP IN IF THE GETH ATTACKED A TURIAN COLONY!"
The Salarian Councillor spoke clear and calm. "The Turians don't found colonies on the borders of the Terminus Systems, Ambassador."
Once the Salarian Councillor finished speaking the Asari began almost momentarily. "Humanity was well aware of the risks when you went into the Traverse."
Udina cooled himself down. "What about Saren? You can't just ignore a rogue Spectre. I DEMAND ACTION!"
"You don't get to make demands of the Council, Ambassador." The Turian Councillor replied angrily.
"Citadel Security is investigating your charges against Saren. We will discuss the findings of your... friend and of C-Sec at the hearing. Not before." With that statement they all disappeared from their holographic projectors. Udina walked towards Captain Anderson.
"Captain Anderson, I see you brought half of your crew and a Quarian."
"Just the people that were on Eden Prime. In case you had any questions."
"What makes you think the Quarian isn't lying about being on Eden Prime?"
"Udina, we had this conversation before. He saved Nihlus's and Ashley's lives he also got the information on Saren." He paused for a moment. "Sounds like you got the Council to grant you an audience."
"They were not happy about it, Saren's their top agent. They don't like him being accused of treason."
"They can't ignore the information I found on Eden Prime!" John stood from his seat at the table.
"Settle down, Quarian. You have done enough! Destroying the Beacon!"
"That's Saren's fault not his!"
"Then you better hope the investigations turn up to support our accusations. The word of a Quarian isn't worth much around here."
"I will show you how much a Quarian fist in your face is worth around here if you call me Quarian ONE more time!"
"Come with me Captain. I want to go over a few things before the hearing." Udina quickly walked off.
"And that is why I hate politicians." Ashley said.
They followed John as he walked out of the room. He continued walking down where he saw a holographic projection of Avina. He walked pasted her moved to the edge and looked out over the Citadel.
'What a waste of space and resources.' He said to himself.
He turned to Nihlus and Ashley. "An hour until the hearing, so an hour of free time do what you want."
He walked off, he knew what he was going to do. Time to get some weapons.
He bumped into a few people, stealing their credits without them noticing. He smiled as he walked to the many weapon stores on the Citadel.
45 Minutes Later...
Ashley, Nihlus, and John met back up where they dispersed. Both Nihlus and Ashley noticed John had different weapons, and in better state.
"Where did you get those?" Ashley asked. "Never mind I don't want to know."
Nihlus only nodded, the 3 of them set off for the Citadel Hearing. They moved quickly through the Presidium towards the elevator. They all climbed in the elevator and pressed the button for Citadel Tower. The elevator slowly moved, they were all silent the only noise in the elevator was it's music. John tapped his foot against the floor of the elevator impatiently. 'Elevators these days...' The elevator came to a stop, the doors of the elevator slid open revealing to them the Citadel Tower. They came to a stop as they saw two Turians arguing.
"Saren's hiding something! Give me more time. Stall them!" A younger Turian said.
"Stall the Council? Don't be ridiculous! Your investigation is over, Garrus." The older Turian walked away.
The younger Turian "Garrus" turned to them. "A Quarian in the Citadel Tower... you must be Shepard." He extended his hand. "Garrus Vakarian. I was in charge of the C-Sec investigation into Saren."
John took his hand and shook it. "Did you find anything on Saren I should know about?"
"Saren's a Spectre. Almost everything he touches is classified. I couldn't find anything solid besides your information you extracted from a Geth. But I know he is up to something. Like the Humans say, I can feel it in my gut."
John had never heard of 'I can feel it in my gut' before. Probably some human slang.
"The Council is ready for us, Shepard." Nihlus spoke up.
"Good luck, Shepard maybe they will listen to you." They walked away from Garrus.
They walked up the last remaining steps and past some Keepers to Captain Anderson.
"The hearing has already started. Come on!" He walked up the steps to the Council. John, Nihlus and Ashley followed him up.
They heard the Asari Councillor say as they walked up. "The geth attack is a matter of some concern. But there is nothing to indicate Saren was involved in any way."
A massive hologram of Saren towered above them all.
"What about the evidence from the Quarian?" Udina spoke up.
"Easily could have been fabricated. We all know Quarians are masters with technology." The Salarian Councillor swiped Udina's outburst away.
"The investigation of Citadel Security turned up no evidence to support your charge of treason." The Turian Councillor said smugly.
"Two people saw him try to kill Nihlus! The Quarian saved Nihlus from Saren!" Udina countered.
The Councillors turned to Nihlus. "Did Saren attempt or try in any way to kill you, Nihlus?" The Asari Councillor asked.
"I'm not... sure. I heard a shot from behind me where Saren was at. It seems that the Quarian's knife threw Saren's aim off while he tried to shoot me."
"Nihlus! My friend, I would never attempt to hurt or kill a friend or a fellow Spectre in cold blood. I resent these accusations!" Saren said coolly.
"We have read the report from Eden Prime. The testimony of a traumatized Dockworker and a Quarian is not much."
"That is just to let you catch him off guard!" Anderson bellowed at Saren.
"Ah, Captain Anderson. You always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me." He looked at John. " And this must be the Quarian we have been hearing so much about. John'Shepard. The one who let the beacon get destroyed. But what do you expect from a Quarian?
John looked to the tubes and implants across Saren's body. He looked to Saren's geth arm. "Hah, Turian you are a walking beacon yourself. What about we open you up and see what is inside." He waited for his statement to take effect on them. "Saren despises Humanity and the Quarians! That is why he attacked Eden Prime, a Human colony!"
"Humanity needs to learn their place in the Galaxy. They are not ready to join the Council and none of them are ready to join the Spectres. As for the Quarians, you had your chance in the Citadel but you destroyed your chance by creating the geth and causing an all out war, Eventually ending with you losing your home world and all of you becoming suit rats. If the geth were never trifled with the attack on the colony would have never had happened!" Saren brought the facts to the table.
"He has no right to say that! That is not his decision!"
"The creation of the geth and if humanity is ready to join the Council is not the purpose of this meeting." The Asari Councillor said.
"This meeting has no purpose! The humans and the Quarian is wasting your time, Councillor and Mine!"
"Saren's hiding behind is position as a Spectre, You bosh'tets need to open your eyes!" John angrily turned to the Council.
"What we need is evidence, so far we have fabricated information!"
"There is still one outstanding issue. Shepard's vision. It may have been triggered by the beacon."
"Are we allowing dreams into evidence now?" Saren said sarcastically. "How can I defend myself against this testimony?"
The Turian Councillor spoke up again. "I agree. Our judgement needs to be based on facts and evidence, not wild imaginings and reckless speculation."
"Do you have anything else to add, Quarian?" The Salarian Councillor asked.
"You have made your decision. I won't waste my breath on you bosh'tets."
The Asari Councillor turned to the Turian Councillor, he shook his head. She turned to the Salarian Councillor, he shook his head. "The Council has found no evidence of any connection between Saren and the Geth. Ambassador, your petition to have Saren disbarred from the Spectres is denied."
"I'm glad justice is served." With that Saren disappeared.
Before the Council could say "This meeting is adjourned." John was already walking away from them. Anderson, Udina, Nihlus, and Ashley caught up with him.
"It was a mistake bringing you into that hearing, Captain. You and Saren have too much history. It made the Council question our motives."
"I know Saren, he is working with the Geth to exterminate the whole Quarian and Human race."
John turned back to them "We need to deal with Saren ourselves."
"As a Spectre he is virtually untouchable." Udina brought his hand to his chin. "We need to find someway to expose him."
"What about Garrus, that C-Sec investigator. We saw him arguing with Executor Pallin." Nihlus brought up.
"That's right! He was asking for more time to finish his report. Seems like he was close to finding something on Saren." Ashley added.
"Where can we find him?"
"I have a contact in C-Sec who can help track him down. His name is Harkin."
"Forget it. They suspended Harkin last month, drinking on the job. I won't waste my time with that loser. "
"You won't have to, I'm not going to let the Council use your past history with Saren to ignore everything we turn up. I might be making a big mistake, but the Quarian will handle this."
"You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of the investigation."
"The Ambassador is right, I need to step down."
"Captain, meet me in my office later, I have some business to take care of."
Once Udina left Captain Anderson spoke up. "Harkin is probably getting drunk in Chora's Den. It's a dingy little club in the lower section of the wards."
"I thought you said he as a drunken loser?"
"It wouldn't hurt to talk to him, just be careful I wouldn't call him reliable."
John, Nihlus and Ashley set off to find Harkin.