Chapter 10

Location: Milky Way, Serpent Nebula, Widow System – The Citadel

Zakara Ward – Promenade

John pressed close behind Garrus as the C-Sec Officer led the way, shoving his way through the crowded Promenade, shouting for people to make a hole. People pressed up against store fronts as the mismatched crew, still with weapons drawn came through, leaving startled conversations in their wake. John could have probably kept a faster pace, but with Garrus leading the way, the crowds hopefully wouldn't panic at the sight of three armed humans and a gun-toting krogan. Garrus at least gave them the semblance of legitimacy.

+Commander, those goons just breached the door the Major and her new friend sealed and are still in pursuit. I don't see any others but someone has to be directing them, cause they are still on their trail.+ Joker paused, the worry evident in his voice. +And the Major isn't doing well. Neither is the quarian. You better hurry.+

"We are going as fast as we can, Joker. How much farther?"

+You will be able to see them in about a minute, they are going to pass right under you. But unless you have wings, the closest point your paths will cross is the food court, about 120 meters after that. +

"How far is the drop from our level to theirs?"

+Twelve and half meters. I wouldn't advise it, especially with the crowd.+

He snarled and kept running as the bridge across the promenade came into view, and Garrus slowed panting. "Lieutenant, got a little turned around, which way are they coming from?"

+Uh, right side from the direction you were coming. And those goons are right on top of them+

John grabbed the railing on the side Joker indicated as Ashley and Kaidan slid to a halt next to him. Kaidan leaned heavily on the rail. "Do you see them?"

He shook his head in frustration, scanning the crowd as Wrex thundered up, bringing up the rear. Garrus suddenly pointed. "There."

The teams' eyes all tracked the line his finger indicated to the beleaguered pair hustling through the crowd. Rhia was pale, half leaning on the quarian girl who, with her other arm in a sling, didn't look to be in much better condition.

Ashley snapped as she pointed too "Turian, 15 meters behind them. White face paint, blue and red clothing. Gun."

"I see him..." He looked down, frantically for some kind of way to reach them, then glanced at Kaidan. "Biotics at this range?"

The other man shook his head. "Too far. Even if I could hit him, I'd barely be able to slow him down. "

"Garrus, any C-Sec officers that could get there before us."

The turian shook his head in frustration as well. "Not fast enough."

He stared in frustration, trying to think of some way to help them. He was a good shot, but he couldn't risk firing into the crowd, not with this many people

Ashley was peering straight down and cocked her to one side as she stared. John leaned down to see what she was looking at. Directly below them, hanging from the walkway were huge banners, each depicting one of the sigils and colors of a council race. The banner stretched down a good five meters. Ashley shot a look at him and smiled a tiny bit..

He felt his eyebrows go up. "Chief, that's a really long fall, even if the banner holds."

She pointed beyond it. "Shop's overhang will cut some of that. Not much, but...should be enough." She hesitated. "I think."

John looked again, gauging the distance. "...I'll try. You all should-"

Ashley rolled her eyes, and cut him off by slapping her pistol back into the holster and vaulting over the rail, turning as she dropped. Someone below them screamed as Ashley fell, and the entire team from Chora's Den leaned way over as she plummeted.

The banner held, and she slid down it, stopping her descent at the last possible moment. She hung there for a second, her fall arrested, before swinging slightly and then letting go to fall to the shop room directly below her. She hit hard and rolled, bleeding off speed before rolling off to the floor. She staggered as she landed, slamming onto her side. John felt his breath catch in his throat. "Williams, you okay?"

Ashley pulled herself to her feet, touching her ear as she answered. +Peachy sir. Also maybe ow.+ The marine slapped one hand to her side arm but didn't draw it, and started jogging in the direction of Rhia and the quarian.

Rhia had spotted Ashley's descent and staggered forward in a lurch, her charge in tow, to meet the other woman. +Chief, that was insane+ Rhia's labored breathing came through the comm unit, making him wince in sympathy as he could only watch.

+Yes ma'am. Just about as insane as bolting off with radiation poisoning.+ Ashley responded dryly.

Even from here, John caught the amused look that Rhia gave the marine, and the trio started moving again. But their pursuit was right on top of them. The turian snarled something and pointed his weapon straight into the air, firing three times. And his weapon was not silenced. The reaction to the guns rapport was instantaneous, as people dove down and out of his way, covering their heads and scattering in all directions away from him, and to Normandy's crew horror, cleared a perfectly good line of sight to Ashley, Rhia and their quarian informant.

Time seemed to slow, as John took aim. He saw Ashley spin, almost in a dancers move to interpose herself between the gunman and the other two, clawing for her side arm as she did. He saw Garrus out of the corner of one eye cock his head to one side, sighting down his own weapon, and squeeze the trigger the same time John did.

The pair of gunshots from the walkway above slammed into Fist's hired goon like hammer blows, driving him from his feet and nearly straight down into the floor. He lay there, not moving.

John felt himself let out a long slow breath. Garrus gave him a respectful nod, and holstered his weapon, reaching for his OMNI-tool. "I'll need to call this in….I'll let you get down and help your people."

John holstered his own side arm, and offered his hand to Garrus. "Thank you, for everything. I'll keep you updated on what we find out."

Garrus took the offered as he nodded. "Appreciated. It's been a pleasure working with you Commander. I hope I can in the future."

John nodded his agreement, and motioned to Kaidan and Wrex. It was time to go find out what this madness had actually net them.


"Play it again please, Lieutenant."

Ashley leaned forward, straining her own ears, as the holographic image of Captain Anderson cocked his head to one side to hear the audio only file.

The computer made a garbled noise for a second, before resolving into the voice of a woman "We now have two hundred mobile platforms fitted for ground combat, as well as an additional twelve ships of cruiser-class that have joined us. We should be ready to begin our plans in a few more days."

A second voice responded, and Ashley listened as the voice of Saren Arterius, Council Spectre, condemned himself in the next few minutes. "Excellent. The forward bases for the searches?"

"Should be complete within two days of beginning operations. About a week from now, give or take. The Geth are….extremely efficient."

The turian's chuckle was completely mirthless. "Good. I just received word from a contact on the Citadel. The Beacon on Eden Prime has been located and uncovered. The humans are asking for the Council's aid in interpreting it. They have dispatched soldiers to protect it, but are in no hurry to attempt to move it as yet. We will be able to simply overwhelm them. The Geth have already prepared a series of fusion explosives that will wipe out the colony and hide any evidence that might be left, after we have the beacon of course."

"And with it, we will be one step closer to the Conduit, and the Arrival."

"Indeed." There was a moment of hesitation. "Take half of your commandoes, and a company of geth. Go to the first staging area, and wait for the new ships to arrive."

"As you will."

Kaidan flicked at his OMNI-tool and he lowered it. "I looked over the rest of the information that Miss Zorah obtained. It contains navigational information for a several geth vessels, two of which show records of the landing on Eden Prime, as well as a third vessel that is only classified in the navigational records as Sovereign. Sovereign is apparently the vessel that was observed in the distress call from Eden Prime. Between the distress call and the navigational and sensor information recovered, it's larger than any dreadnaught we have by at least double. It's a full third larger than the Destiny Ascension. "

"God...the Geth built that?" murmured Anderson.

"So it would seem, sir." John said as he leaned forward, looking to the second figure, Councilor Udina. Ashley kept her face schooled in a mask of indifference, but the man made her uncomfortable. She glanced away as the Commander continued. "Do we have enough to take to the Council now?"

Udina's face broke into a wolfish smile. "I would say so Commander. While engaging in a gunfight on the Zakara Ward Promenade, as well as shooting up Chora's Den, won't have engendered us any favors, the evidence is going to be much harder to disprove, assuming it can be verified as genuine."

Kaidan spoke again. "I've already gone over it myself with the standard algorithms. I am not an expert, but it appears be clean of any have been tampering. It's only been copied once, and Tali'Zorah's OMNI-tool data shows it has not been altered since she removed it from the Geth vessel."

Udina ran a finger along his jaw as he spoke. "They will want to verify the data of course, but yes, I will send copies of what you found, as well as your findings, Lieutenant." His smile grew wider. "Excellent work Commander Shepard."

John shook his head. "Wasn't just me, sir. If the Major hadn't intervened when she did Miss Zorah wouldn't have likely survived the ambush. Chief William's jump to the promenade floor forced the gunman to get desperate enough to risk exposure, and if it wasn't for the information by both Urdnot Wrex and Officer Vakarian, we wouldn't have been able to even find Miss Zorah before it was too late. And of course, without Miss Zorah's data, and the skill involved in obtaining it, we wouldn't have anything at all"

Udina's smiled waned a bit as the commander's accolades continued to include the non-humans. Ashley had no real love for aliens either, especially the turians, but she couldn't deny the Commander's points at all. Garrus has been polite and professional if a bit eager. And Tali reminded her of her youngest sister, Sarah, in the brief interaction they had.

"Ah...yes. I am sure their contributions will receive appropriate recognition. " Udina paused, as if he was considering something. " I understand that the some injuries were sustained by your team?"

"Major Shepard is currently in sickbay, recovering. Her injuries were not extremely serious, but she was struck by an irradiated round and it wasn't treated properly until after she had already began suffering from the symptoms. Dr. Chakwas expects her to make a complete recovery in a few days." Ashley braced herself for an outburst from Udina as the Commander continued, his face a blank mask of neutrality. "Miss Zorah is also still in our care, though her injuries were already treated. We thought the Council might have questions for her, and thought the safest place we could find would be aboard the Normandy."

"You let a non-human aboard our newest and most advanced starship." Growled Udina, his eyes narrowing as he spoke.

"In point of fact, sir, I brought an intelligence asset aboard the Normandy as the most private and secured location available, that will not automatically bow to a Council Spectre's authority." Snapped John irritably. "Anywhere we would have taken her on the Citadel could have been compromised by Saren, until his status is disavowed by the Council."

Ashley fought a smile. THAT shut Udina up. Anderson's holographic-self looked over at the Councilor before he spoke. "Commander, we will set things up with the Council and notify you when we they are ready for us."

"Yes sir."

Udina gave them both a glare before he nodded, a sharp brittle motion, and severed the connection.

Kaidan look at them both. "Well that went well."

"I expected more shouting from Udina there, actually, considering the commotion. And body count." She stood as she spoke, her leg twitching painfully. The fall hadn't been severely damaging, but her leg and knee were sore, and sitting seemed to aggravate it.

John shrugged, and winced, rolling one shoulder as he joined the conversation. "I suspect that is probably Garrus's doing. Dead bodies were all caused under the shelter of upholding Citadel Security, aside from the ones right outside Chora's Den, and we reported that immediately."

Kaidan nodded. "Makes sense. Just odd having them...agree with us." He shrugged and punched the holographic controls, the door to the communications and conference room sliding open.

"Chief, a moment please."

Ashley stopped mid step, and looked at Kaidan. He had a sympathetic look in his eye, but he only nodded to her, and closed the door as he left. Ashley turned back to face her commanding officer.

"I normally am fine with….initiative in the people serving under me, Chief, but I also need to know that if I give you an order you will follow it. If you hadn't jumped down, things would have been a lot worse, but you also disobeyed my orders." He gave her a level look. "So. Is this going to be a habit, or can I trust you to follow when I need you to?"

Ashley stiffened, feeling her face burn slightly. "You can, sir."

John just looked at her for a long moment, letting the silence weigh down on the conversation till she almost couldn't bear it, before he finally nodded. "Alright, you are dismissed. Anderson requisitioned some additional gear for your use. If you want to check it out, it should be down in the hanger."

"Yes sir, will do." She said, and made her escape with what dignity she had left.


John sighed. He liked Williams. She was fast, both on her feet and with her mind, but he had to say something. It was clear from her reaction though that he had hit a nerve much more sensitive than intended though.

He shook his head. Nothing for it now, he would have to see what he could find out later though. He stepped out of the Communications Room, and turned to head down the stairs to check on the two patients in the Medical Bay.

He entered on an amusing tableau. Rhia was sitting up in bed, glaring murder at Dr. Chakwas, and holding one of the trays that had previously held surgical implements of various kinds, and was now brandishing it at the matronly doctor. Doctor Chakwas for her part, was standing just out of arms reach, a syringe in one hand, her other hand extended toward Rhia in a warding gesture.

Tali'Zorah in the meantime was propped up in her own bed two over from the action, her head turning to look back and forth at the humans in an almost comical manner that conveyed both confusion and concern. Her arm was till done up in a sling, but it looked like it was resting a more comfortable position now, and her body language, despite the situation enfolding in front of her, was much more relaxed.

"Major, I would appreciate it if you didn't brain Chakwas. Who else is going to be willing to administer Joker's medication without the urge to replace it with something toxic?"

Rhia rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not going to let her drug me! I don't care what Anderson's orders were." The red-haired woman turned back to Chakwas and glared. "And she won't let me have my OMNI-tool back."

He raised an eyebrow at Chakwas who included him in her own glare "The Major is being extremely nonchalant about the seriousness of her injuries, so I took steps. "

Rhia muttered something under breath, and the only word he caught was "airlock". John signed.

"Rhia, will you STAY here and not go running off again, if we give you back the OMNI-tool?" She glowered at him, but finally nodded. He turned to Chakwas. "Give it. I've seen her bored. If we don't give her something to do with her time, we'll regret it." Blue eyes seared into him and John decided that the better course of action was to escape, as quickly as possible. He turned his attention to the quarian, Tali.

"Is there anything you need?"

The violet masked alien girl tilted her head again before shaking her head in a negative answer. Her voice seemed to fluctuate a bit, coming through the suits "Thank you, but no. My injuries have been taken care of. Even my suite has already been patched. I just need a little time still, but thank you."

"You're welcome. Let any of us know if you need anything, alright?" Tali nodded at him, he turned back to the other two, who had both disarmed themselves of their improvised weapons.

He shook his head. "I'm going to go and find something to do to kill some time for the Council to do whatever they are going to. Just…play nice"

Rhia hit him in the face with her pillow with a scowl. He grinned and tossed it back as he strode out of Medical and back to the CIC. He had work to do.


Author Note: As I said, probably late. And little shorter than I planned, but the muse slacking and I didn't have the heart to shout at her.

Hope you enjoy it. Had a bit of writers block on some parts of this, and on others I had to back up and fix things like, you know measurement conversions. Cause falling 50 feet without serious injury is apparently hard to do. Who knew?