Chapter 9: Preliminary Investigations

Shepard awoke to a throbbing headache. He groaned heartily, clenching his eyes shut tight as one hand moved to massage his temples. A voice, highlighted by a series of excited barks, called out from nearby, but he was far too lost in agony to understand a word. Eventually though, his headache shifted from 'chryssalid larvae in the brain' to merely painful, and the rest of his body had room to make its displeasure with him known. His arm fell to the side and he moaned pitifully.

A new voice intruded on his suffering then, and said, "How are you feeling Commander?" Blessed relief swept over him with those words, the sudden lack of pain somehow almost becoming pleasure.

"Like I just went twenty rounds with a Muton," he grumbled as he sat up and opened his eyes. He beheld an older woman, short-cropped grey hair topping a lightly wrinkled visage, pulling a syringe from the IV leading into his arm. She must be the ship's doctor. "What happened?" he asked groggily.

"You were at ground zero," Williams' voice intruded suddenly. Shepard's head snapped to his left with a sudden pop, causing him to flinch at the unnerving feeling of vertebrae sliding against each other on top of his general soreness. Williams, wearing the XCOM BDU instead of her armor, and Rex stood along the wall on the opposite side of the med-bay, the windows into the crew deck behind them thankfully opaqued. Rex barked a joyous greeting as soon as he realized Shepard was looking their way, earning him a small smile. "Whoever was controlling that ship really wanted you dead," Williams continued. "If not for Jenkins, you would have been."

That reminder cut right through Shepard, and he scowled thunderously. That mission cost entirely too many lives. "He was a good soldier," he said bitterly. "They all were. They deserved better." Something suddenly occurred to Shepard. "What about Alenko?"

"Lieutenant Alenko is behind you," the doctor cut in suddenly, putting an emphasis on the word 'lieutenant'. Huh, Shepard mused, he must have been promoted. The commander carefully craned a look over his shoulder and saw Alenko's slim form on the next bed over. "Physically, he's fine," the doctor said. "But he overused his psionics by a frightful amount. He should be awake tomorrow and combat ready in a week."

Shepard turned a look back to the woman. "Thanks, Doctor..." he trailed off, belatedly realizing he hadn't met the woman on his earlier explorations of the Normandy.

"Doctor Karin Chakwas," she supplied. "I would say it is a pleasure to meet you Commander, but you will forgive me if I say the circumstances could have been much better."

"Can't argue that," Shepard agreed wryly, smiling further as Rex barked an agreement. When Williams voiced her agreement, Shepard sent her a look and asked, "Not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing here, Chief?"

She sent him a surprised look before realization flashed behind her eyes and she looked mildly embarrassed. "After everything that went down on Eden Prime, I was reassigned to the Normandy," she explained hurriedly. "Captain Anderson thought I'd be a good fit and, well, uh," she prevaricated for a brief moment, before finishing in a rush. "You need replacements. So here I am."

Shepard scowled at the reminder, but nodded to her anyway. She had proven her worth on Eden Prime. He opened his mouth to ask if she knew about any other new guys when Captain Anderson walked into the room. "EDI said you were awake Commander, good to see it. How are you holding up?"

Shepard started, realizing he hadn't yet heard the diagnosis from the doctor. He turned to her with a questioning look and she answered for him. "The Commander will be fine, given time. He suffered extensive bruising, and once the painkillers wear off, he will not be enjoying himself, but I have treated him as much as I am able." Turning to Shepard, she handed him a large tube full of some sort of gel and continued. "Apply this to your bruises twice a day. I expect you will be combat capable tomorrow, and fully recovered by next week."

"Good to hear," Anderson said before he could respond. "Now, can I speak with our XO privately? It's time for a debriefing."

"Of course," the doctor said as Williams saluted and the women walked out of the infirmary.

Anderson waved a hand at Rex, who had refused to move. "You too." Rex cocked his head and whined quietly. "No, this debriefing is classified." The dog stubbornly refused to move.

"Rex, I'll be fine. Just go wait outside." The dog slumped where it stood, but nodded at Shepard and slowly trudged out the door.

"That's an... interesting SHIV you've got there," Anderson commented idly. Despite the captain's mild tone, Shepard thought he could hear a hint of reprimand in the comment.

"Tell me about it. He's saved my life, and the lives of most of the people I've served with, at least once though. He's not going anywhere," he said forcefully. "You want me, he comes too."

"Relax Commander," Anderson rejoined, raising his hands in a gesture of peace. "I'm not planning to send it away. I'm just surprised by its willfulness, and loyalty to you."

"Oh," Shepard said, suddenly feeling rather foolish. He cast about for something to change the subject to for a couple seconds before realizing the answer was staring him in the face. Literally. "Anyway," he coughed gently then asked, "what did you want to talk to me about sir?"

Anderson sighed, clearly not liking what he had to say. "The attack on Eden Prime was as obvious a declaration of war as humanity has ever received. Not since the Ethereals have we faced an enemy willing to attack on us on that scale. XCOM is going to war with these aliens, no doubt about it."

"Do we even know who's responsible?" Shepard asked, confused. "I only saw drones on the ground."

"The drones are the enemy," Anderson answered. Shepard simply looked more confused, so he elaborated. "The drones you were fighting are controlled by a type of AI called the Geth. According to intel, the Quarians built the things centuries ago and they turned on their creators, killing ninety-nine percent of the Quarian population and driving the rest away from their homeworld. They've drifted through the stars in what they call the Migrant Fleet ever since"

Shepard felt a pang of sympathy for the Quarians. A hostile force deciding you need to die for no reason and murdering your people was a bit too close to human history for comfort. He could easily see the Ethereal War forcing humanity into such an outcome. Thank god XCOM had succeeded as well as it did. Shaking his head to force his thoughts back into order, Shepard then asked, "When are we going to join the war effort?"

"We're not," Anderson said simply.

"What?!" Shepard yelped in outrage, almost able to convince himself he had misheard the captain.

"We're going to find that turian bastard Williams told me about, and we're going to make an example of him." Shepard's outrage vanished abruptly. The Normandy was well-suited for just such a task and he was looking forward to a rematch with the bastard. That was an assignment he could learn to like.

"What do we know about him?"

"His name is Saren Arterius," Anderson answered. "And he's a member of the Council's Special Tactics and Reconnaissance forces. Judging by the extranet data available on him, he's the right hand of the Citadel Council."

"Well shit."

"The Council recognizes Donnel Udina, Emissary of the Human Coalition," Councillor Tevos said, formally starting the meeting with the human diplomat. Sparatus studied the man intently as he stepped up to the petitioning stand. He looked worried, haggard. Dark bags had formed under his eyes. From what Sparatus understood of human physiology, that was like a drooping fringe; it meant lack of sleep. Heh, politicians never did handle military emergencies well, and there really wasn't any other way to describe the Eden Prime attack without expletives.

He had to admit to being intrigued on the Coalition's response though. If they did as he expected, he stood to make a hundred credits off the Primarch. Udina's voice broke into his thoughts then, forcibly dragging his attention back to the present. "Honorable Councillors," the human began. "As you are no doubt aware, approximately twenty hours ago, the human colony of Eden Prime was besieged by a synthetic race known as the Geth."

"Yes," the new salarian Councillor, Valern, said. "It was unfortunate that the beacon was lost, but the Geth do not have it either. For that, you have our thanks." Sparatus quickly voiced his agreement of the sentiment.

Udina acknowledged their gratitude with a gracious nod then continued. "What you may not know however, is that this was the largest force brought to bear against a human world since the Ethereal War. As we speak, XCOM is preparing a force to pass through the Perseus Veil and exterminate the Geth. When we are done, there will be nothing left." And there went the Primarch's hundred credits.

Tevos made a sound that was somewhere between a sigh and a heavy breath. She leveled a thoroughly unimpressed look on Udina. "We did not grant you this meeting to let you pontificate. After the way your government handled the Hegemony, no one is surprised by your gross overreactions." She leveled a glare at the humans. "Stop wasting our time and get to the point."

Udina handled the asari's displeasure with the ease of long practice, as he had for years now. Tevos had disliked the man, and humanity in general, ever since the Sacking of Adek, and the dissolution of the Batarian Hegemony nine years ago had only added to it. The human emissary smiled grimly at her and nodded, conceding the point.

"Very well. I am here for two reasons," he said coolly. "First, the Coalition formally requests any information you are willing to share on the Geth. Anything would be of assistance, but their known capabilities, preferred tactics and force estimates would be ideal."

Tevos scowled and opened her mouth, but Valern beat her to the punch. "Acceptable. We will compile a data package immediately." The asari turned a mild glare on the salarian for interrupting her. He ignored her masterfully and tapped a message into his omnitool. "Bear in mind that our data is almost three centuries old however. It is unlikely to still be valid."

"I suggest you consult the Quarians as well, Emissary," Sparatus chipped in with a suggestion of his own. Helping the Coalition against the Geth could only help the Citadel after all. "They built the Geth, and are eager for revenge. They could be a great asset to your campaign."

"Thank you, Councillors," Udina said with a bow. When he returned upright, he immediately launched into the next topic. "Now, the secon-" The emissary cut himself off as a commotion broke out at the base of the stairs behind him. He smiled slightly and stepped back from the platform with a muttered apology. The emissary moved to the top of the stairs and shouted something Sparatus couldn't understand to the beings below. A beat passed and he turned back to the Council with a smug grin.

Sparatus almost sighed. He wondered idly whose breakfast the man was going to defecate in today. A second later, he wished he'd never had the thought. A trio of heavily armed and armored humans, accompanied by an equally heavily armed robotic version of some kind of varren crested the top of the stairs. The entire group was surrounded by an incredibly nervous ring of C-SEC agents whose weapons were not quite pointing at the humans.

Their body language was as completely unconcerned as Udina's however, and Sparatus couldn't help but yet again admire the sheer audacity of the emissary. If nothing else, he consistently made politics interesting. At the same time, Sparatus was girding himself for what was coming. Tevos was not going to like this.

"What is the meaning of this?!" she all but shrieked. "You dare bring armed soldiers into a diplomatic meeting?!"

"These are not soldiers, Councillor," Udina said, calmly ignoring the C-SEC agents setting up firing positions on the balcony. "They are witnesses."

"Witnesses?" Valern said reproachfully. Sparatus was somewhat amused to note the salarian's hand hovering over the button to seal the Council's platform from the rest of the chamber. "To what crime? And why has it been brought to us?"

"These four are the survivors of one of our ground teams on Eden Prime," Udina answered calmly. Sparatus felt his mandibles flex unconsciously. What had happened on Eden Prime that would need witnesses brought to the Council? A cold feeling suddenly settled over him. There was something more than the Geth present. Something involving the Council. But what?

"We dispatched Lieutenant Commander Shepard and his squad," Udina gestured at the soldiers behind him. "With orders to secure or destroy the beacon. Imagine their surprise when they found it in the hands of a group of Geth led by a Council Spectre."

The entire massive chamber, and the hundreds of people witnessing this meeting, went completely silent.

"What." Tevos said, unable to add the normal inflection to the question through her shock.

Udina nodded and held out a hand, palm up. A brief glint of metal shone from his hand before a small hologram buzzed to life, floating a few inches above his hand. The small bust was unmistakable however. "Oh Saren, you stupid, barefaced, son of a Gallian whore..." Sparatus muttered loudly as Tevos began swearing colorfully under her breath.

That explained why the turian's sudden and mysterious mission required radio silence. Sparatus' talons tightened around his podium, the loud screech of claw on metal rang through the room. What was that idiot thinking?!

Valern's voice suddenly cut into his thoughts. "I take it you have proof of your claims, Emissary?"

Udina waved one of the humans behind him forward. The man at the front of the group walked forward to take a position beside the emissary. "I am Lieutenant-Commander Shepard of the XCS Normandy," the man announced strongly with a brief nod to the Council. "I have eye-witness testimony and recordings from three separate perspectives." Udina flexed his hand and the hologram of Saren transformed into a two-dimensional screen showing Shepard's final round of combat on Eden Prime. "As you can see, Saren was most definitely present, and he certainly appeared to be in a position of authority over the Geth."

"I see," Valern said, watching the video play out intently. The video reached the appearance of the enormous dreadnought and shocked silence settled over the room again. Udina cut the video as the dreadnought fired and Sparatus, for the first time in a long while, felt fear. A dreadnought that could practically land was unheard of. What the hell had the Geth been doing for the last three hundred years?

Tevos was the first to recover, somehow, and spoke, her voice hinting at a leashed ferocity. "I do not know what Saren was doing there, but you may rest assured that this Council had nothing to do with it." Sparatus flinched at her words. He had completely forgotten about Saren in the face of that ship. Right, he could worry about that when he didn't need to worry about a human supercarrier tearing apart Citadel Space looking for the spirits-cursed bareface.

"Yes," Sparatus voiced his agreement quickly. It had to be made clear that Saren had gone rogue. He looked at his colleagues and said, "In light of the evidence the Coalition has provided, I move to revoke Saren's Spectre status pending further investigation."

"Seconded," Valern said.

Tevos nodded and tapped the order into her podium. "Agreed." She gazed at the humans below. "But we shall be investigating this matter. Alone."

Udina's eyes narrowed. "No," he said forcibly. "The Coalition will be involved in this investigation, and when we find that son of a bitch, we will hang him by his entrails."

Tevos leveled a stony glare at him. "And that is exactly why you will not," she insisted. "That could have easily been a fabrication or a body double meant to trick you into one of your bloodthirsty crusades to destroy him. I have seen how your people operate, Emissary. You will not do so in Citadel Space."

Udina returned her glare. "I apologize," he said, visibly bristling. Sparatus cocked his head as he regarded the man. He had never apologized before, and his tone was far too angry for it to be genuine. What was his game? "I believe I was unclear. XCOM will be involved in this investigation, regardless of your opinion. We will hunt him down with, or without you, and when we find him we will extract the truth. Then we will kill him."

"You arrogant, bloodthirsty pyjak!" Tevos roared. Sparatus felt his mandibles flare in surprise. He'd never see the asari this angry. She stilled abruptly, eyes closed as she heaved deep breaths. When she opened her eyes, her features had gone distant, cold. When she spoke, only the slightest hint of the towering rage Sparatus could see behind her eyes leaked through. "You think we will stand idly by as you destroy our worlds in a mad quest for vengeance? Against a being who may not even be guilty?" Her voice turned into a low, deadly hiss. "I will personally see your entire species put to the torch before you set foot on our worlds."

For the first time in a long while, Sparatus saw Donnel Udina genuinely shocked. The man stared at the furious asari in stupefied awe. The human next to him, Shepard, put a hand on the emissary's shoulder and shook him. Udina flinched and quickly recomposed himself, a rosy flush to his cheeks. Sparatus coughed forcefully before the human could restart the argument. "I propose a compromise."

Tevos' stony regard darted from the humans to him, but Valern's voice stopped her from speaking. "I agree. This is an extreme situation. Allowances must be made." She closed her eyes and sighed defeatedly.

"Oh very well. What do you suggest?"

"The Coalition will be allowed to send one ship, no bigger than a frigate, to hunt for Saren," Sparatus began. "This ship will be accompanied at all times by a Spectre of our choice and restricted to the Attican Traverse, barring explicit permission from that Spectre."

"An... acceptable compromise," Tevos said slowly, eying the humans. Udina opened his mouth but she spoke over him. "And the only one I will allow," she finished with a vicious glare.

Udina's mouth moved soundlessly for a brief moment, but he recovered and said, "The Coalition accepts on one condition: the Spectre must be Nihlus Kryik."

Sparatus wasn't surprised by that request. Nihlus was the Spectre that had spent the most time in Coalition Space since the Sacking of Adek. It was only logical the Coalition would prefer the spy they knew. When Tevos glanced back at him, he nodded his approval. "Very well," she said. "Nihlus will meet your chosen investigators in your office later today." Udina nodded sharply. "Is there anything else to discuss?"

"Not at this time, Councillors," Udina said with a curt bow. He and Shepard turned and rejoined the other humans and the group swiftly made their way out of the Council chambers, taking the tension in the air with them.

When they were gone, Tevos spoke quietly. "I truly hope you know what you have done, Sparatus."

"The only thing that would stop full scale war," he rejoined solemnly. "I just hope the Traverse survives it."

"Damn obstructionist bureaucrats," Williams bit out angrily as soon as the elevator doors closed. "They'd be more eager to help if it was Sanves the Geth had hit."

"Relax, Gunnery Chief," Udina countered calmly, now the very picture of serenity. Shepard felt a hand rise to massage his temples in a futile attempt to soothe his sudden headache. He'd never understand politicians. "They're just protecting their people." A mildly deprecating smile graced the emissary's lips. "We're not exactly known for our discretion. I would have done much the same in her place." His smile turned into a wry grin. "I think I'm starting to rub off on them. Or Tevos at least."

"Still," she insisted heatedly. "One of their top agents torches a colony and we're supposed to stand back and let him get away with it?!" She turned aside and muttered under her breath. "Times like this, I get more and more certain Harper was right."

Shepard's brain locked up at that. Rex whirled on the Gunnery Chief and pinned her with a deadly stare. The dogs ears lay flat on its skull as it emitted a low, rumbling, angry growl that echoed through the small elevator. Shepard wasn't far behind him, furious purple-tinged eyes locked with shocked brown. Shepard's hands tightened into fists at his sides and the woman took a step back under the ferocity of his glare.

"Williams, you don't know me, so I will let that one slide," he bit out, small flares of psionics bursting to life around his fists. "But if we are going to work together, you will understand one thing. Any mention of Jack Harper that doesn't involve beating him to death with his own skull is going to end with something getting broken. That sectoid-fucking psychopath killed my entire family with his bullshit." Purple started encroaching on the edge of his vision and Williams pushed herself back against the wall of the elevator. Some part of Shepard, a part he didn't like to admit existed, relished in the fear in her eyes. "I was on Mindoir. I've seen exactly what he meant when he talked about sacrifice," he spat viciously. "And-"

"Commander!" Alenko barked as he bodily pulled the man away from Williams and pushed him up against the far wall of the elevator. Rex seized the opportunity and threw his own considerable weight into keeping the commander subdued. Shepard's glare turned to the lieutenant, who continued quickly. "Calm down, Commander! You're going to break the elevator!"

The words somehow managed to pierce the veil of his anger, dispersing it almost instantly. The randomly strobing purple flares, a small selection hovering around Alenko's head even, died instantly. The walls of the elevator gave an audible groan at the abrupt lack of pressure against them and, now that he wasn't blinded by anger, Shepard noticed small spiderweb cracks in a few places along the walls. Shame infused him, dragging his posture into a slump and he found himself unable to meet anyone's eyes. "Sorry," he muttered contritely. He shook himself out of Alenko's grasp and shot a look at him and Rex. "Thank you, really." He tried to make his gratitude clear in his voice and posture. Alenko waved it off but Rex barked a reproach at him. The dog stared him down for a long moment, judging his sincerity, then moved aside, allowing Shepard to cross the elevator to Williams, where he held a hand out to help her up. She eyed it warily, as if it was a particularly venomous snake. Each second she refused to move only added to his shame.

Finally, she grasped his hand and let him haul her to her feet. "Wow," she said quietly, eying the commander with thinly disguised wariness. "Can't say I've ever had a CO react that badly."

"Indeed," Udina said. The emissary's features had gone utterly blank. Shepard couldn't make heads or tails of what he was thinking. When he spoke though, reprimand was clear in his voice. "I trust this won't happen again?"

"No sir," Shepard said quietly. His voice gained strength as he finished emphatically. "It won't."

"Good. I would hate to have to find another investigator."

That cut through Shepard's internal litany of self-recrimination, but replaced it with confusion. He wasn't sure he liked that any better. "Wha..?" he managed to get out through his uncertainty.

"You have a reputation, Commander," Udina answered his half-formed question. "Of getting results. And to be honest, you scare the bejeezus out of most everyone who has heard of Khar'shan. The hunt for Saren needs both." Udina turned to meet Shepard's gaze, and waited patiently for the commander to meet his. "I'm not going to lie to you, Shepard. After that display, I don't trust you." Shepard almost flinched at the man's accusatory tone. "But I still think you're the best choice we have. Don't prove me wrong."

Shepard stiffened into attention. "I won't, Emissary." He waited a beat, then said, "Thank you." Udina just grunted in acknowledgement. Shepard closed his eyes and resolved to start practicing meditation again. It had helped after Khar'shan, hopefully it would do so again.

The rest of the trip to the human embassy passed in uncomfortable silence. Only Emissary Udina showed no sign that Shepard's outburst had affected him. Everyone else was too busy being some combination of sheepish, wary and emotionally spent. Fortunately, once they reached the office, Captain Anderson was there to break the silence. "How'd it go?" he asked, rising to his feet as soon as they walked in.

"Worse than I expected," Udina said bluntly. A slight smile graced his features a split second later. "But better than I feared. We'll be allowed to send a single investigation team to search for Saren in Citadel Space, but they will be accompanied by a Council Spectre." Anderson frowned briefly, but Udina waved him to follow before he could speak. "Come with me, there are some things we need to discuss about it. In private," he finished with a pointed look at the ground squad. Shepard saluted and watched as the pair disappeared into Udina's private office.

Once they left, another awkward silence settled over the remaining quartet, growing more strained with every passing second. A few moments later, Shepard couldn't take the silence any longer. He turned to Williams, bowed his head, and said, "Gunnery Chief, I need to apologize again. I didn't mean for any of that to happen. I lost control. I have no excuse. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

Williams gave him a startled look that quickly transformed into an inscrutable blankness. She let him stew for several agonizingly long heartbeats before saying, "Yes. You can stop being such a woman about it." Shepard's eyes shot up, shocked at the response. Amusement danced in her eyes at his expression. "You scared the shit out of me Commander, but God knows what I would do if my sisters had been on Mindoir and you'd said something that stupid. Don't hold it against me and we'll call it even. Deal?" She stuck out her hand.

A toothy grin spread across Shepard's lips as he shook her hand enthusiastically. "Deal."

Rex yipped happily as soon as he released her hand and moved over to Williams. He started nuzzling her hand, trying to get her to play with him. She laughed briefly and obliged the dog as Alenko and Shepard watched idly. The earlier tension had been completely dispersed. Shepard smiled to himself, hopefully the Spectre would be this easy to work with. Whenever he arrived.

Two hours later, Shepard was of two minds on the Spectre. On one hand, the downtime was nice as it gave him the opportunity to dredge up the old, half-forgotten meditation exercises he'd learned to deal with the nightmares after Khar'shan. On the other, if even half of the extranet data on Saren Arterius was true, he could have vanished completely from everyone but the Shadow Broker by now.

Bah, no use dwelling on that. There wasn't anything he could do about it anyway. Better to spend the time being productive. Shepard had just settled back into the first stages of a meditative trance when a chime sounded throughout the embassy, shattering his concentration. A few seconds later, Udina and Anderson came in from the back office at the same time the front door opened, admitting a dark reddish-brown skinned turian with white clan markings splashing every which way on his face. Shepard climbed to his feet as Udina stepped forward and greeted the alien. "Nihlus, good to see you again," he said without preamble. The turian returned the greeting with a nod. "I assume the Council has briefed you?"

"Yes, though I can hardly believe it. It is... out of character for Saren."

Williams snorted, but thankfully said nothing. Udina stepped up at the same instant, barrelling ahead before the turian could think about it. "Regardless, he was there. The important thing now is to bring him to justice. To that end, allow me to introduce you to our part of the team." The emissary waved Shepard forward, so the man stepped up to face the Spectre. "This is Lieutenant-Commander John Shepard of the XCS Normandy, he has been chosen to lead this investigation." Udina waved a hand at the squad. "Commander, this is Nihlus Kryik, the Spectre assigned to your unit." He gave the commander a pointed look. "Try to get along, yes?"

"Yes sir," Shepard said simply. He turned to Nihlus and extended a hand.

The turian grasped it and shook heartily. "It is good to finally meet you, Commander. I have heard much about you."

"Thank you. I'm looking forward to working with a Council Spectre." Shepard gestured behind him, pointing out the members of his squad as he named them. "This is Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, a C-6 psionic, and Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, vanilla human. And that's Rex, our SHIV."

Nihlus sent the commander a blank look. "Care to explain yourself, Commander? C-6? SHIV? And why is a cyberdog part of your command?" His voice lowered slightly in confusion. "I had thought myself familiar with your culture, but evidently, I have more to learn. My contacts in Coalition Space never used such terms."

"Really?" Shepard asked, surprised. Nihlus had spent a good amount of time in human space, he should be familiar with the basics at least. Shepard scowled internally as something occurred to him. Nihlus' contacts were probably being deliberately obtuse. It wouldn't have been the first time XCOM gave a Spectre the run around. "Then we'll start with the simplest. SHIV stands for Super Heavy Infantry Vehicle. In essence, a heavily armed and armored weapons platform operated by a highly sophisticated VI. In this case, Rex was originally a robotic pet that was repurposed into a weapon of war." The dog barked a greeting and Nihlus looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"I see. Are you sure that's safe?" Rex chuffed and glared at the turian before deliberately turning away. The snub just unsettled Nihlus further.

"Rex is harmless. Well, as long as you're not an enemy. We've been employing SHIVs on the battlefield since the Ethereal War, and we have never had a severe incident."

"Very well, I will defer to your judgment," Nihlus said diplomatically, though it was clear he wasn't quite comfortable with the idea. "And the rest?"

"The other terms are psionic classifications," Shepard explained, snaring Nihlus' attention. "Psionic abilities come in four categories: Direct, Indirect, Communication, and Transportation."

"I am familiar with the types of psionics Commander. Allow me to guess how these terms match to what I know?" When Shepard nodded, the turian continued, phrasing his statement as a question. "The Direct category covers the application of physical force?" Shepard nodded and gestured at a potted plant beside Udina's desk. A small purple corona flared around Shepard's hand and the hovered off the ground. "Interesting. Then Indirect is for mental manipulations of the target?"

"Yes. It covers things like inducing panic and mind control," Shepard answered without thinking.

Nihlus went very, very still. "Mind control?" he asked carefully. "I had always dismissed that as an exaggeration."

"It is very true," Udina interjected. Shepard stepped back and let the diplomat un-ruffle the Spectre's feathers. "It is much more limited than you are likely thinking however. It requires a constant direct line of sight and the target is little more than a puppet for the caster. It is also exceedingly obvious." He gestured at the purple light caressing the still-floating plant. "It's hard to infiltrate an organization when your mole is surrounded by that light, would not agree?"

"If that is true, yes," Nihlus said finally. "Though I cannot say I am comfortable with it."

"There is little more we can do to prove the truth of it." The emissary said matter of factly. "If you remain working with us, you will see it in action eventually."

"As you say," Nihlus admitted. Turning back to Shepard, he asked, "What was next? Communication?" Shepard nodded. "These abilities are what are normally called 'Extra-Sensory Perception' or ESP correct?"

"Correct. A Communication psionic can sense the area around them using their gift and use telepathy to communicate with any organic sapient being." That they could also read surface emotions went tactfully unmentioned.

"That just leaves Transportation, which is obviously wormhole creation." Nihlus said with an air of triumph.

"Yup. As you are probably already aware, any given psionic will almost always be able to use abilities from only one of those categories. While exceptions exist, they tend to be correspondingly weaker in each category."

"I am familiar with that much, Commander. What I am truly curious about is the number."

"Well, within a category, an individual's strength is rated using a one to ten scale; one being barely present while ten matching the strongest recorded psionic in all four categories, Abigail O'Connell." The military humans in the room made a small gesture at the name. Nihlus blinked.

"Not to interrupt, but what was that?"

"Colonel O'Connell is something of a pseudo-deific figure to much of our military," Udina explained.

Nihlus mandibles flexed. "Truly? She was the soldier responsible for stopping the Ethereals' Temple Ship from collapsing into a black hole?" When Udina nodded, he continued. "Interesting. Will you tell me more about her?"

Shepard smiled easily; O'Connell's history was one of his favored topics. "She was the first human psionic. Her powers awakened during the Ethereal War, and towards the end of the war, she linked her powers to the Ethereal hive-mind. When she did, she became something more. She achieved record-breaking strength in every category, and to this day there has not been born a psionic that could match her. She used that ability to great effect during the War, ultimately saving our homeworld from complete annihilation at the cost of her own life. She died the greatest hero in human history, and we honor her for it."

"I see," Nihlus said, his voice distracted. His eyes gazed out into the middle distance. The Spectre was clearly no longer in the room. A minute later, Udina coughed gently, breaking the turian from his reverie. He looked mildly embarrassed to Shepard's inexperienced eye and continued sheepishly. "Anyway, I believe you were explaining your psionic terminology?"

"Yes," Shepard said with a shake of the head. "As I said, each psionic is individually rated from one to ten. Then it is paired with the psionic's category to form a classification. That's where C-6 comes from. Alenko here is a communications psionic, with a strength rating of 6." He put a hand on his chest. "I am a D-10, or direct psionic with a strength rating of 10. If someone were to introduce themselves as a T-4, or I-6 for example, they would be a transport psionic and an indirect psionic respectively. Make sense?"

"It appears simple enough. I assume vanilla means a human without psionic powers?"

"Right," Shepard nodded.

"Excellent." Nihlus paused, mulling the information over. "Is there anything else I should know before we begin?"

Captain Anderson stepped in here, sounding impatient. "Not at this time. We've wasted enough time talking. It's time to start the investigation."

"Quite," Nihlus said. "The Council has tasked C-SEC with searching for any clues to Saren's current whereabouts. The last report before I came down here said that one of the officers, Garrus Vakarian, was following a promising lead, but it contained no details. We will need to find him."

"I may be able to help with that," Udina said easily. Turning to Shepard, he said, "I have a contact in C-SEC, a turian by the name of Chellick. He will be able to tell you where Vakarian is, or how to find out at least."

"Sounds like a plan," Shepard said. "Anyone have anything to add?" When no one spoke, he gestured to the door. "Then let's move."

As the squad plus Nihlus moved to the door, Captain Anderson spoke up. "Commander, stay for a moment please." Shepard glanced back and his heart sank at the expression on Anderson's face. Yea, this was about the elevator. Damnit. He waved the squad ahead and moved back to face the captain, idly noting that Udina had retreated into his office to give them some privacy. "Udina told me what happened," he said with a hint of anger, reproach thick in his tone. Shepard flinched internally, but refused to allow it to show. "The only reason you're not facing court martial is the fact that you just got out of an incredibly hairy mission. As it is, it's a very black mark on an otherwise spotless record. If you ever pull something like that again, I will personally bust you back down to private and see you scrubbing latrines for the rest of your career. Am I understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!" Shepard barked as he snapped to attention with a picture perfect salute. "I won't make excuses sir, I fucked up." He looked the captain in the eye. "It won't happen again," he said, willing the captain to see his sincerity.

"See that it doesn't, Commander. For your own sake." Anderson then relaxed slightly and offered him a small smile. Shepard's stance slackened due to his surprise at the gesture. "Off the record, I understand exactly why you did it, and I can't blame you for it. Harper was a monster, and we're all better off with him dead. But you can't let it control you. You've got people counting on you to keep a clear head, and he doesn't deserve the dignity of being angry at. Understand?"

"Y.. yes sir. I think so," Shepard said slowly. "Thank you. You've given me a lot to think about it."

"Good. Now get going, we're counting on you to find Saren," Anderson said with an understanding smile.

Shepard flashed the captain a salute and a smile and jogged out the door.