A/N: Chapter ten! But alas, if you are waiting for the lemon, it is still yet to arrive. More intrigue in this chapter, and we're finally off Earth. I was glad about that move because I was sick of writing about Earth, because while that element is important who really wants to read about repairing stuff all day? I guess some people would, but I'm certainly not one of those people. Sorry for the late night update, I was making bracelets and earrings all day. Damn that beading class, it's gotten me using all my time to sit around and make jewelry. Well I hope everyone enjoys the chapter, it's got a little bit of tension with Kaiden, because I love making Kaiden annoying and biting at Shepard's heels like a dog that wants attention. Plus, I'm a sucker for complications in established relationships, not that I'm going to make Kaiden a true threat; it's just fun to have him trying to come between Garrus and Shepard. Anyway, enjoy reading it! Thank you everyone who has taken the time to review! I love reading them!
Disclaimer: I own nothing; all characters belong to Bioware
Ten: Discoveries
"Kaiden what's your omni tool saying? Do we have any power in this room yet? The emergency lighting is starting to give me a headache," Shepard asked, rubbing the back of her neck and glancing toward Kaiden who was nearby examining his omni tool.
"I'm reading minor power fluctuations, but that's all. The tech work those people did in this room just didn't cut it," Kaiden answered looking back at her with a disappointed expression.
Shepard sighed and turned away from him to stare at the dimly lit room before her. It had once been the Citadel Embassies, now it was no more than a poorly lit, bloody, rubble filled mess. While certain parts of the Citadel had been powered up there were still many places that had no power and an unknown amount of destruction.
Three days ago Shepard had arrived on the Citadel with only Cortez to assist her. She'd found the Citadel in slightly better circumstances than when she'd entered it to face the creator of the Reapers. Apparently Hackett had been sending cleanup crews to the Citadel while she had been on Earth. The majority of bodies had been removed, although there were still levels of the Citadel that hadn't been accessed and there were almost certainly bodies located in these places.
The primary issues with the Citadel were the massive power failures that had occurred on all levels and the rubble and debris from the fight with the god child. The debris and destruction was difficult to contend with in that it required a fair amount of man power to remove or repair. It was theorized that some of the lower levels of the Citadel would need complete reconstruction due to the probability of the levels collapsing all together. The power failures were an easier fix, albeit a time consuming one.
Shortly after arriving on the Citadel to begin work, she had received word from Hackett that the Normandy had been commissioned to leave dry dock and dock with the Citadel. Shepard was to become the primary director of Citadel recovery and use the Normandy as her base of command. The Normandy acted as the go between the Citadel and any outside ships that were offering aide. It was after the Normandy became the go between that Kaiden, Vega, and engineers Ken and Gabby came to help Shepard. Along with Shepard, they took up residence in the Normandy. Of course there were others that filtered in and out of the Citadel, but Kaiden, Vega, Ken, and Gabby were Shepard's permanent team.
For four days everyone had worked tirelessly on the Citadel. It had not been a pleasant task; bodies that the cleanup crews missed turned up occasionally, blood or other fluids could be seen on the walls and floors of many rooms, the emergency lighting made it difficult to see and work efficiently, the air all over the Citadel was thick and heavy with the rot of decay, and the copious amount of debris made any task next to impossible.
Cleanup crews continued to circulate through the Citadel, each day reaching new levels of the Citadel and returning either empty handed or with a large number of rotting corpses. Tech crews also would filter through the Citadel and aide Shepard and her crew in getting the power working. Their job primarily was the get the lights running so that Shepard and company could get the more complicated systems back online.
Shepard wished that Tali were still around because she could use her technical expertise. However, Tali had left shortly after Shepard had been assigned to the Citadel and had returned to Rannoch. Instead of having Tali's technical knowledge she had Kaiden who was useful but not by any means an expert in the world of technical repair and Vega who was good for lifting heavy debris but not so much in the repair department. Ken and Gabby had proved incredibly valuable, however. They had managed to power up systems that had baffled Shepard and everyone else. Shepard felt certain that they would still be fumbling around in the piss poor lighting of the emergency lights if it hadn't been for Ken and Gabby.
While Kaiden, Vega, Ken, and Gabby were Shepards primary team Joker and EDI also would work occasionally on the Citadel. Joker wasn't on the Citadel very often, given his limp and the risk of tripping over something and probably breaking every bone in his body. Besides the fact that it posed a severe risk to Joker's health he had to spend most of his time on the Normandy acting as traffic regulator for those who intended to board the Citadel via the Normandy. EDI spent about half of her time on the Normandy and half on the Citadel. She was stronger than the average human and came in handy when debris needed to be removed. EDI also worked well at getting systems working back up and running on the Citadel. Frequently when Shepard was at her wits end she would call EDI over and EDI would initiate a wireless connection with the system and get it running properly.
Currently Shepard and Kaiden were in former Citadel Embassies and were working on getting the lights back on. This was proving difficult however, since the tech crew that had previously been through had apparently not done a thorough job repairing them. She and Kaiden had been intending on getting basic systems online, but that was far from happening without the lighting systems even working.
"So it looks like Hackett's tech crew got things up and running enough for your omni tool to pick up power fluctuations. That means there's juice in the system, but probably a kink somewhere," Shepard mused examining her own omni tool.
"Yeah, but still for us to find the kink will take hours if not days and we don't have days, Shepard. There are still hundreds of other levels for us to get working," Kaiden remarked walking up to Shepard and looking over her shoulder to see what her omni tool was reading.
"I know…we don't have that kind of time to play with. Hackett wanted at least the Citadel Embassies operational within two weeks, and if we have to spend days going through every wire just to find a kink in the system we'll never get this section up and running in two weeks," Shepard stated and suddenly pressed her finger to her wireless earpiece that connected her to the Normandy.
"What are you doing Shepard?" Kaiden asked.
"I'm going to get EDI to link with the system and get the damn lights on and find the kink so that we can get basic power on," Shepard replied and waited for the Normandy to respond to her signal.
"What if the Reapers left some kind of virus in the Citadel? Every time you've used EDI so far I've been nervous. Having her just link up with the Citadel is…strange…and I'm concerned she'll pick up some strange Reaper bug," Kaiden explained nervously. Shepard was about to respond when Joker's voice interrupted her.
"Commander what can I do for you? Everything okay?"
"Joker I need you to get EDI to patch into the power system in the Citadel Embassies. The tech team that Hackett sent didn't do a thorough job working out the bugs. We're pretty sure there's a hole in the system somewhere and it'll take us too long to find. Can EDI link to it and help us get moving?" Shepard asked turning away from Kaiden and pressing her earpiece closer to her ear.
"I will attempt to link with the Citadel's main power system and locate the Embassies power relays. It will take a few moments," EDI replied instead of Joker. Kaiden and Shepard waited.
After a few moments Shepard and Kaiden became aware of a distant humming sound, like an engine powering up. The red emergency lighting suddenly dimmed and everything momentarily went black. Then seconds later the lights flashed on and a few of the terminals around the Embassies started to glow with life. Shepard felt herself smile. Finally the stupid emergency lighting was off and their job was going to be substantially easier now that a terminal or two was on. They could work with this.
"I have repaired the hole in the system, Shepard. I have also taken the liberty of activating three of the terminals in your area. The other terminals I could not gain access too remotely. You must do this manually," EDI replied in a matter of fact tone.
"Thank you EDI, this will make our job significantly easier," Shepard replied turning to the terminal and being disturbed by the splash of blood on its screen.
"She's one of a kind, isn't she? Let us know if you need anything else, Commander," Joker replied and then was silent.
"Well at least the lights are on…but we might've been better off with just the emergency lighting. Now that I can see this place I can safely say I liked it better with the lights off," Kaiden remarked looking around the room.
The main floor of the Citadel Embassies was not the worst on the Citadel by any means. However, it was a shadow of what it had once been. While there were no bodies lying around there was certainly evidence of them. Dried blood was splashed across a few of the terminal screens and across the floor from where bodies had once fallen, the stairs leading up to former councilor Udina's office and the Spectre requisitions office had fallen debris obscuring it, and the glass windows had large panes of glass missing or broken where debris had obviously crashed through.
"Our job just got easier," Shepard sighed and headed over to one of the less stained terminals. She pulled up her omni tool and linked it to the terminal. Through her omni tool she entered the system and managed to access the environmental controls. With just a few taps on her omni tool she got the environmental systems back online. A blast of fresh air came from one of the small vents around the room.
"That'll help with the dead body smell…but I don't think we'll ever totally get a grip on it until someone can get out and clean up the presidium. I don't know what's going on out there, but I'm sure it's not good," Kaiden stated taking in a greedy gulp of air.
"Hopefully that won't be our job," Shepard murmured and then turned toward Kaiden with a smile.
"So…any word from Garrus? I thought he was supposed to be coming back today?" Kaiden asked nonchalantly. Shepard raised an eyebrow at him.
"He's decided to stay an additional three days. The Primarch still needs his help," Shepard replied casually. She had forgotten the fact that she was alone with Kaiden and how uncomfortable that made her at times.
"I'm sure Palaven is grateful for his help…but are you sure it's the Primarch and not his family that needs him? Wasn't he really concerned about their safety during the Reaper attacks? He's probably just spending time with them," Kaiden suggested slowly.
"That's probably part of it, and I'll be glad if it is. He was very worried about them and he deserves some time to just be with them," Shepard stated observing Kaiden carefully as he took in her response. His body language seemed to indicate a casual nervousness.
"Do you think he'll tell them about you?" Kaiden asked looking directly into Shepard's eyes.
"If he does that's his business. I'm not going to police him," Shepard replied feeling slightly pressured. Something about the look in his eyes made her nervous.
Kaiden scratched his chin and glanced away and said, "Well I think he should if he hasn't already. His family will need to know since you two seem serious." The last word was stressed. Shepard looked at Kaiden and frowned.
"What we are is none of your business Kaiden. And if Garrus chooses to tell his family about us, well that's his business. If he hasn't told them already I'm sure he will when he's ready," Shepard said irritation heavy in her voice.
"I don't know if they'd react positively to you…just saying," Kaiden said casually and looked down at his feet.
"Kaiden," Shepard began only to have Kaiden interrupt.
"I know; not my business. I'm going to head over to the Normandy for some food now. Join me if you feel like it," Kaiden stated in a cool voice and headed toward the elevator shaft. The elevators weren't currently running so ladders extended up and down for people to travel to different places on the Citadel. Shepard watched as Kaiden entered the shaft and waited expectantly for her.
"I'll join you in a few minutes; I'm going to work on this terminal a bit more," Shepard explained and turned back to her terminal. She heard Kaiden's footsteps on the ladder.
Moving quickly, Shepard turned away from the terminal and headed over to the ruined stairs that led to Udina's old office and the Spectre requisitions office. She climbed over a large chunk of concrete; apparently it had once been part of the wall. Shepard stumbled over several pieces of debris that were in her way before she finally got to the top of the stairs. The lights during this part of the Embassies were flickering and the door to the requisitions office was open, apparently the mechanism that controlled the door was broken.
Shepard walked into the Spectre's office and was met with dim, flickering lights overhead. Apparently EDI's link with the Embassies systems had only gone so far. It was likely that Shepard and Kaiden would need to do more repair to these portions of the Embassies in the future.
Slowly Shepard made her way down the long hall that led to the information terminals and shooting range within the requisitions office. Finally she was in sight of the terminals and was disappointed to see that they weren't lit up. She approached a terminal and brought up her omni tool to try to power up the terminal.
After a few moments of fiddling with her omni tool Shepard managed to power up the terminal before her. The terminal lit up and a dialogue box popped up prompting her to enter her Spectre ID number. Shepard keyed in her ID number and waited as the system identified her. A moment later it identified her as Commader Alexandria Shepard and allowed access to any data available.
Glancing briefly over her shoulder, Shepard pulled up a file on Alliance operatives and entered the name, Kia Sulei. The computer seemed to be stuck because for several minutes nothing happened. Shepard waited, hoping that the terminal hadn't just died before her. Then a file popped up labeled Archived Records; Shepard opened up the file to find several tabs with different labels on them. Scanning through them Shepard clicked on one of the last ones she saw titled Nubian Expanse. She began reading the file.
Subject: Alliance Operative Kia Sulei; Investigation into Nubian Expanse.
Operative assigned to investigate missing men and women from the Nubian Expanse. Reports of abductions originating from Chief Patrol Jariad Mari, a local authority of the Nubian Expanse; suspected foul play in abductions. Operative advised to track down Mari and interview for further details on abductions. Mari's current whereabouts unknown.
Operative has accepted assignment.
Shepard closed the file, feeling no further enlightened after reading it. She opened up the file after the Nubian Expanse entry. This file was labeled, Report of Missing Operative.
Subject: MIA
Alliance operative Kia Sulei declared MIA after failing to report in for six months. Last entry from Sulei provided no enlightening details as to her last whereabouts. Alliance agent sent to investigate her disappearance. Investigation revealed little concrete evidence. Agent reported that Sulei was last seen in the Kalabsha system of the Nubian Expanse. According to reports collected by the agent, Sulei was rumored to have been on a space station surrounding the planet Tefnut before her disappearance. Sulei's ship was found adrift within the Kalabsha system but not near Tefnut. No signs of foul play on the ship.
Sulei officially declared MIA. End of Report.
Shepard closed the file and thought about what she'd just read. She had an idea of where Kia Sulei had been when she'd disappeared, but nothing to help her figure out who had taken her and what exactly had happened to her in that time frame. There was one last file to read, this one untitled. It was the most recent document, archived about a month before the Reaper invasion. Shepard opened it.
Subject: Reopening Case
Notice: Confidential, head official eyes only
Advise reopening Kia Sulei case as new evidence has been collected. Informer Jariad Mari recently found dead in Hades system with a likely cause of death being homicide. Due to his connection with disappearances of colonists and alliance operative Kia Sulei and autopsy findings, it is advised to investigate his death. Autopsy of the body showed several recently broken bones and signs of torture. Along with fractures and signs of abuse, the body had anomalous blood chemistry findings. Officially it has been declared 'unknown blood chemistry findings', but unofficially it is known that the findings indicate Reaper tech within Jariad Mari's body.
Due to the disturbing nature of these findings it is recommended that action be taken to investigate Mari's death and the potential Reaper connection. Consider possible Reaper involvement with previous abductions.
End of report.
Shepard closed the report and then logged out of the system. Slowly she sat down in front of the terminal, leaning against it for support.
The man who had informed the Alliance originally had been found dead sometime after Kia Sulei had been declared missing. What made all of that worse was the fact that he had obviously been murdered and had had Reaper tech in his blood work. That fact alone filled Shepard with a certain dread. Some part of her knew without a shadow of a doubt that Kia Sulei had suffered some kind of similar fate to Jariad Mari, only she hadn't died. Kia Sulei hadn't had an autopsy to confirm Shepard's suspicions but she was fairly confident that if there had been one there would have been anomalous findings in her blood work as well.
So what, Shepard thought to herself; so Kia Sulei was likely indoctrinated and probably had Reaper tech in her, that didn't mean there were more like her out there. It was likely that she was only one person, one left over after the destruction of the Reapers. But Shepard couldn't help but remember that vacant look in her eyes and the glimmer of a blue flame somewhere behind those same empty eyes. She also remembered what the woman had said to her, specifically the, I am not the Creator part. What if that wasn't Kia Sulei speaking to me, but something else? Shepard asked herself feeling an edge of fear grip her.
Silence filled Shepard's ears as she continued to sit against the terminal. She suddenly became painfully aware of how completely alone she was. There was no sound, save for her breathing. Kaiden was probably on the Normandy now having something to eat and she was still here, alone. Memories of Shepard's entry to the Citadel after the final push swarmed her mind. She remembered the red emergency lighting, the bodies piled up around her, a Keeper watching her from a dark corner; the silence of her surroundings.
Shepard suddenly rose and hurriedly left the requisitions office and half fell down the wrecked stairs. She stumbled to the elevator shaft and with shaky hands gripped the ladder and started climbing. It was dark in the elevator shaft and eerily quiet. At that moment Shepard wanted nothing more than to be off the Citadel and on the Normandy or anywhere else for that matter.
Finally Shepard got to another level, the level that would let her board the Normandy. As Shepard climbed out of the elevator shaft, she nearly fell down into the blackness in her hurry. Her heart racing, Shepard quickly moved through the much improved docking bay. The lighting was much better here and there was hardly any blood staining anything. Despite this, Shepard still felt edges of panic pressing against her mind.
The Normandy's airlock was just up ahead of her and seeing it made Shepard actually break out into a sprint to get to it. She raced toward the door and using her omni tool, commanded it to open. The Normandy's airlock opened up to her and Shepard rushed forward as if her very life depended on it.
Panting, Shepard slouched against one of the Normandy's walls and watched as the airlock doors closed, preventing her from looking at the Citadel any longer. Shepard felt sweat pooling between her breasts and collecting on her forehead.
With her breathing returning to normal and her composure slowly coming back to her, Shepard exited the airlock. After a few moments of navigating the halls she saw Joker and EDI walking her direction.
"Commander! How was playing on the Citadel? Is it still majorly creepy over there?" Joker asked in a playful voice. EDI stood next to him looking far more commanding and authoritative.
"You could say that," Shepard trailed off and casually tried to sneak past them.
"Commander Shepard you're heart rate is elevated and you are perspiring to an excessive degree. Are you well?" EDI asked. Shepard bit her lip, wishing at that moment that EDI wasn't an all knowing AI.
"I'm fine…just got a little rattled out there," Shepard replied with a forced smile.
"Don't blame you Commander. I don't know why Hackett even wants us to try to restore it. I mean is anybody ever gonna want to visit it again let alone work on it?" Joker exclaimed.
Eagerly changing the subject, Shepard asked, "Have you seen Kaiden, or James?"
"Major Alenko is in the mess hall having lunch I believe. Lieutenant Vega I believe is still on the Citadel working with engineers Daniels and Donnelly," EDI replied.
"Thanks, I think I'll go join Kaiden then," Shepard said walking away, hoping that further conversation would not happen.
"Not a bad idea. He seemed all moody again," Joker mused as Shepard continued walking away.
"I have noticed Major Alenko frequently experiences mood swings when he is or has been in Shepard's company," EDI explained to Joker. Shepard heard Joker laugh.
Shepard continued down the hall, not sure if she was actually going to strike up a conversation with Kaiden or just head up to her cabin to be alone and think over the information she'd come across. What she wanted most of all at the moment was Garrus. She would be able to tell these things to Garrus and she could send him a message but hesitated in doing so; this particular subject would be better to discuss in person, especially since she'd probably have to reveal what exactly Kia Sulei had said to her.
Stopping at the elevator, Shepard thought about where she wanted to go; up to her cabin or to Kaiden in the mess hall? If she went to see Kaiden he'd be sure to bring up uncomfortable subjects and if she went up to her cabin she'd be alone with her thoughts which she currently didn't want to face.
In the end Shepard chose the mess hall; she could handle a few uncomfortable questions from Kaiden. It was a better alternative to sitting alone in her cabin contemplating the possibility of some kind of other Reaper influence out in the galaxy.
F/N: Once again, sorry if the formatting on the files Shepard pulls up confused anyone. Formatting into these documents from Word jumbles everything up.