"So Sheppard, would you care to share who we are meeting with?" Garrus said as the two men stepped onto the rebuilt Presidium, most of the buildings had been repaired but there were still some buildings (the former Asari Consort Chambers for example) that needed extensive repairs.
"We're meeting with Anderson at the Embassy lounge." Sheppard said. "I've arranged for the Normandy's weapons and armours to be upgraded and I want him to confirm what the Illusive Man told me."
"So that's the real reason for the Shore Leave?" Garrus asked.
"If I wanted all the crew of the Normandy Sidonis and Legion would've joined us, Legion was told of the upgrades in advance and Sidonis knows better than to interfere in Alliance business." Sheppard answered.
"Good point, what about Thane?" Garrus asked.
"To be honest I wasn't anticipating Kolyat wanting to talk to Thane but he's on shore leave like everyone else." Sheppard answered as they entered the Embassy Lounge, Anderson waved them over and they joined them at his table.
"Sheppard, Garrus, it's good to see you both." Anderson greeted his old friends.
"Likewise Anderson, how's life as the Human Council member treating you?" Garrus said sitting down.
"I can't complain, besides we all know that this is more than a social visit." Anderson said.
"Right, let's talk about the upgrades you arranged first." Sheppard said.
"I've arranged for the best engineers to install the best tech available on the Normandy, if this doesn't help you prepare for the Reapers I'll eat Joker's hat." Anderson said.
"I'll be sure to let him know that you said that." Sheppard replied with a smile. "Can you go into more detail about the weapons and armour?"
"The Turians and the Asari have been co-developing an upgrade for the Thanix cannon, the end result is a gun that makes the original gun look like a toy with no changes to the Power Draw, I have the schematics for the gun if you're interested." Anderson said giving the two of them the schematics.
"Impressive, how long will it take for this to be installed.
"Two to three hours give or take, the Armour we're installing is called the Driania armour, it's developed by the Rachni." Sheppard and Garrus looked at him in surprise.
"The Rachni, are they a council race now?" Sheppard asked and he nodded.
"The Rachni queen's story garnered them the sympathy of most of the council races and were granted a small embassy on the Citadel, it's currently occupied by that Asari they saved since the Rachni are unable to talk, she was the one that brought the armour to my attention." Anderson said.
"You have the schematics for that as well?" Anderson nodded and handed over the schematics.
"It's extremely durable but not invincible; it'll take some serious firepower to even make a dent in the Normandy once the Armour is installed." Anderson said.
"How long will that take to install?" Sheppard asked.
"Two hours tops." Anderson said.
"What about the Engine Core?" Garrus asked.
"The Multi-Core shielding you already installed is some of the best available, as a result it's a simple matter of reinforcing that shielding and as a result it'll take the least amount of time to install it, a little over an hour and a half to be precise, we're also upgrading the tech lab so that should make your Salarian friend happy."
"Good, speaking of science there's the other thing I wanted to talk about." Sheppard said.
"Ah yes, the Alliance Science Team in the Far Rim cluster, I may not like him but The Illusive Man's Intel is correct, both about the Science Team's discovery and the fact that we've lost contact with them." Anderson said shaking his head. "I'd hate to imagine what has happened to them but for now we have no leads and it's too risky." Anderson said.
"Risky is my middle name, I'll be investigating it soon." Sheppard said.
"I know that Commander, but be careful, we have no idea what you might find out there." Anderson said. "Also I thought you should now that the Fleet that will meet you near the Relay leading to the Feros is requesting that you bring each and every one of your crew along as we have no idea how much manpower Balak has."
"Thank you Anderson and I will." Sheppard said standing up with Garrus and walking out off the bar.
"Balak's back? What does that bastard want with Feros?" Garrus asked once they were out of the bar.
"I don't know, it was Dsrondo that gave me the Intel and apparently it's just a slave raid but Charn said the same thing about the attack on Asteroid X57." Sheppard answered.
"With Balak involved it's bound to be more than just a simple slave raid." Garrus pointed out.
"The council agrees Garrus and due to Balak's notoriety they're sending a small portion of the council fleet lead by the STG to assist us." Sheppard said.
"Good, so what now?" Garrus asked.
"I'll head back to the Normandy; you'll enjoy the rest of your day off." Sheppard answered and Garrus grinned.
"You bet your ass I will!" Garrus answered walking off towards the wards.
"Remember, if you run into any trouble give me a call." Sheppard called.
"You got it, you want me to relay the information about Balak to any other crew members I find?" Garrus asked.
"They might believe it better if they hear it from me, no offence." Sheppard answered.
"None taken, I'll see you back on the Normandy." Garrus said walking off.
"I will do." Sheppard said walking off, he went to the rapid transet and boarded the Normandy, he entered the Normandy and to his surprise he saw Jenny resting in a chain usually occupied by the staff of the CIC. "You got here fast." Jenny turned around.
"What can I say? I got bored." She shrugged. "Besides I only went to one place."
"Where was that?" Sheppard asked.
"Music shop on the wards, I brought some Metal albums." She shrugged.
"Then why are you tired?" Sheppard asked.
"Why? It's because I had to leave the Zakara wards to find a music shop that carried Heavy Metal albums." Jenny admitted. "At least I know where to look next time I'm on the Citadel."
"Yeah well, just be down on in the Crew Quarters by the time the other members of the crew arrive, anyone else here?" Sheppard asked.
"You mean besides Legion and the new guy? Ashley and Jacob arrived shortly after I did and Drakus and Grunt arrived soon after that." Jenny said.
"Thanks, and enjoy your new CDS." Sheppard said.
"Considering the lengths I went to get them they had better be worth it." She replied and Sheppard went into the armoury and saw Jacob and Ashley.
"Hi Commander and thanks again for the day off." Jacob said.
"No problem Jacob, you enjoy it?" Jacob shook his head.
"Let's face it, there's not much to do on the Citadel though I am thinking about hitting the clubs a bit later." Jacob admitted.
"What about you Ashley?" Sheppard asked.
"I'm in the same boat as Jacob to be honest, not much to do on the Citadel." Ashley shrugged. "Not that I'm complaining about the day off or anything."
"Glad you enjoyed it, where are Grunt and Drakus?" Jacob shrugged.
"I think I saw them heading to the engineering deck." Jacob shrugged.
"Thanks." Sheppard said leaving but before he could pay the Krogans a visit a message came to him over the transmitter.
"Sheppard, it's Dsrondo, me, Garrus and Marcus has run into a bit of trouble on the Presidium." Dsrondo said.
"Is it because you are a Batarian? No offence." Sheppard asked.
"No, I actually thought that myself, some duct rats where causing trouble for Joker and we intervened, only for C-Sec to mistakenly arrest Joker for causing the incident." Dsrondo said.
"Why can't you bail him out?" Sheppard asked.
"Well have you heard of the strip club they built in the place of Choras Den?" Sheppard shook his head.
"You mean to tell me that a respected Alliance veteran, a deadly ex C-Sec officer and a feared Batarian Mercenary wasted all there credits in a strip club?" Sheppard asked shaking his head.
"Well......look just bail Joker out already." Dsrondo said before hanging up, Sheppard sighed and left the Normandy seeing that the upgrades were well under way and saw Mordin on his way to the Normandy.
"Sheppard, thank you again for the day off, very enjoyable." Mordin said.
"No problem."
"Hmmm, are you upgraded the Normandy? Excellent, should be helpful against The Reapers! Can I help?" Mordin asked.
"In what way would you help?" Sheppard asked.
"Not sure, probably help the engineers from the Tech Lab." Sheppard frowned.
"Sorry, that's also being upgraded." Sheppard said.
"Oh, excellent, the Tech Lab where already impressive but the upgrade should help immensely!" Sheppard smiled as the Salarian entered the Normandy, once Mordin was in the Normandy he made his way back to C-Sec and went up to Bailey.
"Sheppard, I didn't expect to see you again so soon." Bailey said looking up.
"And like my last visit this isn't a social one, I understand that a man named Jeff Monroe was arrested for causing a public disturbance." Sheppard said.
"Ah yeah, he's got quite a mouth on him." Bailey chuckled.
"Tell me about it, anyway he's my ship's pilot and therefore I'm here to bail him out." Sheppard said reaching for his credit chit but Bailey shook his head.
"Save your cash Sheppard, we can't hold him anyway due to lack of evidence, not to mention he's accusing us of police brutality when the officers were just following normal procedure." Sheppard sighed.
"Have you heard of Vrollik's Syndrome?" Sheppard asked and Bailey nodded.
"You mean brittle bone disease? Yeah, I've heard of it, what about it?" Bailey asked.
"Jeff has brittle bone disease." Bailey winced.
"Ah, that might explain his claims of police brutality." Bailey said.
"Gee, you think?" Joker said as he was lead out of the interrogation room. "Oh, hi Commander!" Jeff said with a sweet smile.
"Joker, just get back on the Normandy." Sheppard said.
"Aye, aye Commander." Joker said walking off.
"Joker?" Bailey asked.
"Nickname he's had since flight school." Sheppard explained.
"I see, well next time you're on the Citadel I'd like to buy you a drink when I'm not on duty so see you then." Sheppard grinned.
"You got it Bailey and thanks." Sheppard walked off not knowing that someone.....or something was watching from the shadows.
"Wait my pet." Harbinger's "voice" commanded the shadowy figure. "We will deal with Sheppard soon enough." The figure disappeared from sight.