Chapter 14

Shepard had the chairs in his Citadel Tower office arranged in a circle in front of his desk. Each chair had a small desk in front of it with a computer terminal sitting on each desk. The chair Shepard sat in was part of the circle and not the larger chair behind his desk he normally sat at, still the chair gave him a view of the door to his office so he could see people when they entered. Tali sat on his right hand, she was the only person to whom he had revealed his whole plans for the day in advance. He knew some people would think what he was planning was a bad idea, but then again everything that he had ever done had seemed like a bad idea at the time. He was sure he was making the right move.

Shepard greeted each person as Kelly let them into his office. None of them looked too good but Jacob looked the worst and Shepard's heart broke for him. He could not imagine what his old friend was going through. Shepard had no idea how he would react if Tali had turned out to be a sleeper agent for the enemy and what is more like Shepard Jacob Taylor had children to think about. Shepard had never seen Jacob like this. His hair(which he had let grow out after meeting Brynn because she liked it that way)was wild and unkempt, the clothes he was in were likely the same ones he had worn the night before, and he had not shaved. For a man who had always kept himself in top military style shape it was bad, he didn't even look up at Shepard when he tried to great him at the door instead he just walked to his seat and sat down without saying a word or looking up. Shepard decided that he had to talk to Jacob after the meeting was over.

At first it was not surprising who Shepard had asked to come. There was Miranda Lawson, the director of the SSID. There was Ashley Williams who was in charge of the SPECTRE's Military Division and along with director Lawson joint head of the SPECTREs over all. The only person who could override them when they were agreed on something was Shepard, or if he was not around a full vote of the counsel. The two woman often clashed, but Shepard liked having opposing views on his cabinet the same as he had when he was commanding the Normandy. He didn't like to admit it but he had become good at bringing people with opposing views together for a common good. Shepard didn't like to admit it but commanding the Normandy in the war had taught him how to be a politician and he was good at it. Then of course there was Jacob Taylor who was the Executor in charge of all C-SEC security on the Citadel. So far there had been no surprises, all of these people had been part of Shepard's crew in the past and all of them worked for him now. That is when Counselor Grunt entered, that got people's attention. He had been a member of Shepard's crew back in the day but he did not work for Shepard now and he was on the Citadel to represent the Krogan and not the galaxy overall. He didn't say a word and just took the larger then normal seat Shepard had installed just for him. Then Counselor Jackson of Humanity entered.

Counselor Paul Jackson didn't look like a hero but many people viewed him as one. He was short at only about five feet three inches tall, he was at least thirty pounds overweight, and he was almost completely bald. His beard which had been a bright red when he was younger was now turning white. Still he had come out of the Reaper war a hero and Shepard had learned to trust him over the years and even saw him as a friend. When the war started Jackson had just been your average minor mining minerals and metals on the human colony world world of Columbus. The world was rich in both and it seemed every race had mined it at some point going deeper and deeper into the planet. A few members of each race seemed to stay behind when their races left in order to trade. When the Reapers hit all leadership of the world had been lost. Somehow the short middle aged man who had never gotten closer to military service then reading histories of all the great generals in Human history had brought people together and turned them into a fighting force. As time went on he was seen as the leader for the whole planet and despite being completely cut off from all help managed to get everyone working together. He had even gotten the Batarians to work with them. Using the deep tunnels and tactics he had learned from books Jackson not only used his fighting force to fight the Reapers but had kept them in check and away from the colony's non combatants like children and those too old or hurt to fight. Once he had taken over there had been no major loss of life in this group. After the war he had been seen as a big hero and he wanted to do something more then just go back to a normal life. When Prime Minister Hackett had asked him if he wanted to be the Human race's Counselor on the new expanded Citadel Counsel he jumped at the chance. He had worked with most of these races before and this was a chance to make sure the nightmare he had lived through and still had bad dreams about almost every night was about more then just survival. Given their similar backgrounds it was no surprise that he had quickly struck up a friendship with President Shepard. If Shepard needed to have a drink with someone after a hard session with the Counsel chances are it would be with Paul Jackson. Not only did they both come from colonies that had been attacked but they both hated politics and had to learn the job under fire. Still despite their friendship they didn't always see eye to eye on the counsel and he didn't work for Shepard so it was a surprise he had been invited.

Then there was Fleet Commander Kieler Vornas. He was young for a Turian of his rank but the Turians had lost so many of their top commanders in the war that seeing young officers in higher positions then they would have had before the war had become the new norm. Now that the Asari had withdrawn all of their ships save for the Destiny Ascension and then only after Shepard had argued that the Counsel flagship was part of the Counsel fleet and not the Asari's fleet he had become the top commander of all Counsel space forces. Like the rest he had seen hard fighting in the Reaper War and he had the scars and the nightmares to prove it. He may have been young but he knew his job.

They were all seated now with Miranda Lawson on Shepard's left and Tali on Shepard's right.

"It looks like we are still waiting on one person." Miranda said motioning to the single empty chair that sat directly across from Shepard.

"Yes" Shepard replied. "There is one more person coming, I got a message from her last night saying that she had arrived at the Citadel and I asked her to come because I believe what she has to say is important. " Shepard explained. Just then Shepard's Omni-Tool beeped and when he answered it the voice of Kelly Chambers could be heard.

"Excuse me sir, but she is here." Kelly reported simply.

"Let her in then." Shepard said and then switched off the com unit on his Omni-Tool. A few seconds latter Samara entered the office. This shocked pretty much everyone. The Asari Justicar didn't work for Shepard and she wasn't even loyal to any government. Yes she had been part of Shepard's old crew but she had always been clear that she was loyal to her code first and would do anything required to live by it. The fact that Shepard had invited her to such a high level meeting made Ashley wonder if maybe her old skipper was being a little too trusting. After all he had already been fooled once by Brynn Taylor.

"It is agreeable to see you again Shepard." Samara said talking her seat. "I wish the circumstances were better." She spoke plainly and didn't betray any real emotions.

"It's good to see you too Samara." Shepard said with a half smile. "Some time you will have to visit when the Galaxy isn't in danger." It was meant to be a joke but the old Asari did not pick up on the humor.

"I am sorry." She said. "Rebuilding my order has kept me busy since the war and only an emergency like this could compel me to leave my duties. Anything else would violate the code."

Shepard decided not to correct Samara and instead stood up. He decided that before they got down to business he needed to inspire these people and raise their spirits after all the personal defeats they had suffered lately. He had been going over what he was going to say in his head and while it did seem a little silly to him it was the best he could come up with on such sort notice, Shepard hoped how he said it would make up for anything that was wrong about what he said.

"In the legends of my people there is the story of the great King Arthur." Shepard began in the same firm, confident, and commanding voice he had used to inspire these some people to fight the Reapers. Shepard hoped the same trick would work twice. "He formed the round table. It was a group made up of his most trusted knights to battle the evil that threatened his kingdom." Shepard explained. "At this table everyone was equal and could say what was on their minds. There were no secrets kept from the members of this group and while I must tell you that nothing that is said in this room can go beyond these walls I want you to be my round table." Shepard then began looking at each of the people in the room one at a time. "I know it is a lot to ask and some of you have lost a lot to this cause but we didn't fight the war just to survive, we fought the war to build something better and thanks to you we have done just that. Remember everyone who died, I don't think any of them wanted things to go on the way they had before the war, if that was their goal none of us would have left Cerberus. It is our duty to those who died to see this fight through to the end. I intend to do just that, if it is too much to ask for some of you then you need to leave now. I will not think any less of you and you will still be my friends but what is going to be said in this room is only for people who will fight to the end to hear." Shepard then paused for a minute giving everyone a chance to leave. He half expected Jacob to leave, after all how could he ask any more of him but even Jacob stayed in his seat but he still wasn't looking up at the other people in the room.

"Right." Shepard said relieved that he was not going to have to do this alone. "Now Tali has swept the room for bugs and I must inform you that nothing said in this room can leave it. You are my most trusted friends but I don't care how much you trust someone else you can not mention anything that happens in this room to them." Shepard saw Jacob winch at this. Shepard had not intended to single the dark skinned human out and he was sorry he had done so, still Shepard decided he had to press on. "We know that there is a threat and that it looks like the plan is to break apart the Counsel. I will not let that happen, the new Counsel is the key to not repeating the mistakes of the past. I was told by the Prothean A.I that the reason we were able to defeat the Reapers is because all the races worked together. I will not let that end." Everyone could see the fire in Shepard's eyes as he made this pronouncement. "What some of you don't know is that it looks like Cerberus may be at the very least involved and I believe they are behind this whole thing. I believe they are using the Batarians and others to break up the Counsel and start wars. I believe their ultimate goal is to break up the Counsel, take over humanity, and put Humans in a position to dominate all other races." This got a series of shocked looks from everyone but Miranda Lawson.

"But how could they do that?" Jacob asked finally speaking up. "That would take a lot of planning and money and we destroyed Cerberus at the end of the war." Shepard could tell Jacob was hurting and grasping at straws to avoid having to face the truth, Shepard wished there was some way he could spare his feelings. It was then that Miranda spoke up in her usual calm voice that she used when explaining things to people. She had always been good at figuring out puzzles like this and she didn't soft peddle what she had concluded for Jacob, that was not the way she did things. In Miranda's mind you were either strong enough to handle the truth or you had no business working in this type of situation.

"The Illusive Man always said Cerberus was an ideal and ideals can't be destroyed. Miranda explained coldly. "He was always thinking many moves ahead of everyone else and trying to prepare for anything that could happen. If he saw what we have done as a possibility no matter how remote he thought it was he would have planned for it."

"And what about you?" Jacob said glaring at Miranda. "Did you help him make these plan and then not tell me?! This wouldn't be the first time you kept a secret from me."

Shepard was about to jump in but Miranda beat him to it and replied without emotion in her voice but Shepard could tell she was a little hurt to hear these angry words from a former lover and teammate. "No, I knew nothing of this plan. I guess The Illusive Man trusted Brynn more then he trusted me and events proved him right to do so."

"Then how do you know what is going on and how did Brynn get back with Cerberus?" Jacob demanded. "When I met her she was risking her life to escape."

"That is easy." Miranda said firmly and everyone could tell she was getting angry now. "I know how the Illusive Man thought and it is what I would have done if I had seen this coming back when I worked for Cerberus. As for How Brynn rejoined that is easy, she never left."

"What?, No!" Jacob shouted, but in his mind he knew what Miranda was about to say was true, he just needed to hear it out loud before he could believe and accept it.

"Think about it, Jacob." Miranda said firmly but now showing some pity in her eyes. She had thought she loved him once before she discovered that she was unable to love or have children. After that relationships had seemed pointless and since then she had found purpose by focusing on her work and helping make Humanity and the Galaxy a better place. Still because of the feelings she once thought she had for him she didn't like seeing him broken like this. "Cerberus personnel start defecting and they are very good at covering their tracks. Brynn joins them and shortly after she takes charge in the middle of the war Cerberus just happens to find your group and is ready to recapture them before Shepard and his team showed up. She was a plant from the beginning."

"But then how did she get involved in this plan?" Jacob asked as he sadly returned to his seat. Everything he heard was breaking him but he could not deny that it made sense.

"Once you got involved given Shepard's loyalty to his crew The Illusive Man had to know there was a chance Shepard would launch a rescue and that Shepard would get them out. He also had to know that after this Brynn would be trusted by all of us so he contacted her and used her as part of the set up for a long term plan to make sure Cerberus and it's ideals won out even if he was killed and it looked hopeless for Cerberus. He must have hidden funds and agents for her to use all over the galaxy. She was always just waiting for a chance to put the plan into action." Then Miranda got a look of pity in her eyes and her tone softened. "I am so sorry Jacob." Jacob Taylor just put his head in his hands and didn't say another word. It was quiet for a minute or two and then softly and carefully Tali jumped in.

"All this this seems to point to the fact that Cerberus knows more about Object Alpha then we do." She said.

Shepard nodded his agreement. "That doesn't surprise me." he said. "They have always seemed to know more about the Citadel, Reapers, and Collectors then the rest of us did. That mystery still needs to be solved."

"Hopefully when we catch Brynn Taylor she will have data on her explaining what the object is and how Cerberus has been controlling it." Miranda said. Jacob winched again at hearing Brynn called by his family name. It reminded him of how well she had fooled him and that if he had not let his heart do his thinking for him Liara would still be alive. Jacob didn't see how anyone could trust him after he had screwed up so badly.

"Just a second." Counselor Jackson interjected. "What is Object Alpha." Tali didn't wait for permission from John to speak, she knew he meant it when he had said no secrets in this room. She went on to tell everyone what they knew about Object Alpha and that Liara had not died in a transport crash but had instead been murdered by Brynn and they still were not sure why. This took some time and by the end of her tale Grunt was looking restless. Before any more questions could be asked about Object Alpha or Brynn he spoke up.

"All of this is very interesting." Grunt said in his normal gruff voice and for some reason Shepard didn't believe he really found this all that interesting. "But what I and I think most of us came here to find out is why did you take such a sudden trip to Tuchanka." He fixed his gaze on Shepard before adding. "I don't think any of us buys the idea that it was a good will visit, and the media doesn't seem to be buying that story either." he left out the fact that he knew for sure it was not a goodwill visit and that Shepard had been invited.

"You are right, it was not a goodwill visit." Shepard said with a sad sigh. He was not looking forward to giving Grunt the bad news but they were on the clock and he knew he needed to be honest with his Krogan former shipmate. "I went there because Wrex asked me to, he needed to talk about something he didn't trust anyone else with and warn me about something."

"Well what was it?" Grunt pressed.

Shepard took a deep breath and looked the Krogan right in the eyes before saying the next words. "A new version of the Genophage has been deployed on the Krogan colony of Rothla and Wrex is afraid that if word gets out he will be overthrown and the Krogan will go to war." Everyone in the room looked shocked including Grunt but soon his shock was turned to anger and he stood up and got in Shepard's face towering over the sitting Human.

"You are damn right we will go to war!" The Krogan yelled. "We will wipe out the Salarians and anyone who tries to help them, this proves they can't be trusted!"

"Grunt please sit down." Shepard said trying to remain calm. At the moment everyone else was too shocked to say or do anything. "Grunt you can't go to war." Shepard explained. "it would split the Counsel and you would be wiped out."

"Like I give a fuck about your Counsel now!" Grunt countered still yelling. "Your Counsel told me all the Genophage research had been destroyed and that it could not be brought back. You may be my Battlemaster Shepard and I may have to do what you say but you can't expect me to sit back and do nothing while the Krogan are destroyed!" He then turned his anger to Miranda. "Where were you when this happened?!" He demanded. "How did this slip past you?, you are not the type to make mistakes. Are you working with the Salarians Cerberus Bitch?!"

"I oversaw the destruction of everything related to the Genophage." Miranda said standing up and as she did so her body was surrounded by the blue glow of biotic energy. "And while I have heard rumors about something like this Wrex did a good job keeping a lid on it and your people tend to claim any troubled birth is the result of a new version of the Genophage. Trust me if I wanted the Krogan dead they would be dead by now!" The Human woman and the Krogan male glared at each other, each one daring the other to make the first move. It was then that Shepard spoke up in a loud commanding voice.

"Enough! Fighting each other is just what our enemies want and why they are doing this." Miranda and Grunt each took a step back from each other but neither seemed ready to be the first to back all the way down, it was at this point that Ashley Williams stepped between them. "The Skipper ordered you to sit down!" She said firmly. "If you don't do that right away I'll knock you both out." The threat was futile but it did the trick. "Fine." Grunt said returning to his seat and then he looked back at Shepard. "You had better deal with this quickly." "Don't worry I am forming a plan." Shepard said keeping his calm. He knew this meeting would be hard but he didn't like seeing his friends and old shipmates fighting like this, still the moment had passed and it was time for him to take control of the room again.

"I don't believe the Salarians are behind this." Shepard explained calmly.

"Then who else could it be?" Grunt demanded. Grunt may have calmed down but he was still angry.

"I think it's the Hanar and they are working with the Batarians." Shepard said. He gave everyone a minute to let this sink in. "If you will take a look at your screens you will see why I think this." The holo screens on the computers came to life and they showed pictures and info on the Salarian ship that's crash seemed to have been used to deploy the new version of the Genophage along with star charts and other information including spreadsheets with a large amount of financial data. Miranda then took center stage, she walked to the center of the circle the chairs created and started to explain. To Shepard's surprise Grunt sat still and listened, he was still fixing Miranda with a deadly glare that she was ignoring but at least Shepard was not having to break up another fight.

"If you will look here." Miranda began drawing everyone's attention to one of the spreadsheets. "You will see that ever since the Way of the Enkindlers party has started gaining power and talking about taking the Citadel for those who follow the Enkindlers' teachings that Hanar government spending has increased more then ten fold. You will also see that a lot of scientists with backgrounds in genetics have started working on secret projects for the Hannar government. Now what you may not know is that we believe the bombing of a Drell temple here on the Citadel is related to these projects. One of the priests was visited by another Drell who gave a false name and claimed he had just escaped from a top secret Hanar government project."

"Did he say what this project was?" Grunt interrupted.

"No." Miranda answered.

"Then how do you know it has anything to do with the Genophage, The Hanar have never done anything like this before."

"If you will let me continue I will explain." Miranda answered. She had just about had it with the bad tempered Krogan. Once she was sure Grunt had finished interrupting her she continued in her normal professional manor. "The Drell did say the project would kill millions maybe even billions. The priest told him he had to make it right and the Drell agreed to bring the priest details of the project and let the priest decide what to do with him. The priest helped us get a picture of this unknown Drell from security camera footage outside the temple but so far neither the SPECTREs or C-SEC have been able to locate him and I fear we must assume he is dead. What we do know is that a few days after talking to this Drell the priest was targeted with a bomb that was sent to him by operative Brynn Taylor. This led to her cover being blown and her having to flee using means unknown and not understood by us at this time."

"How does any of this prove that Cerberus and the Hanar are behind the new Genophage Grunt asked, he was clearly losing his cool again and Shepard was afraid he would have to step in again soon. Fortunately Miranda did not rise to the bait this time and just continued explaining what they had learned.

"So we know whatever the Drell was going to tell the priest was about a project and millions of lives were at stake, we also know that it was dangerous enough for Cerberus' deepest cover operative to break her cover and risk being exposed as she ultimately was." Miranda looked over at Jacob to make sure he was alright. She had seen him better but he seemed to be handling this much better then he had handled anything else so far that day. Miranda continued. "Now on it's own it would still be quite a jump to say this had anything to do with the Genophage but if you will take a look at what we have found out about the Salarian transport that's crash was used to spread the new Genophage I think you will agree that the evidence points in that direction. The Salarian transport's last stop before entering Krogan space and crashing was in Hannar space and it seems that there was a Batarian passenger that got off at that stop. We now believe that the Genophage was loaded at that stop and we can't find any trace of this Batarian in Hanar space so we also believe he never left the ship. Somehow he took over the ship and sent it on a suicide mission to deploy the Genophage and start a war between the Salarians and Krogan. The timing of this outbreak is just too perfect for it not to have anything to do with the rest of our problems."

"That makes sense." Grunt said, the shock showing in his voice. "So now we go after the real villains, The Hanar!"

"I don't see how we can." For the first time Counselor Jackson spoke up, he had been sitting back listening and watching this whole time. He had a soft voice that generally brought peace to any room he spoke in.

"Why not?" Grunt demanded turning to the Human.

"Because." Jackson explained. "All we have is a theory and no real proof. The Hanar have never made an openly hostile move against any of the Counsel races so it would look like we are attacking them for no reason."

"So we just let them get away with it and wipe out my people because you don't like the way it looks?! That's not going to happen." Grunt yelled getting angry again.

"No." Miranda interjected. "We find proof. I have an operative on the Hanar home world right now and he has been ordered to find proof that they are making the Genophage that we can bring to the Counsel so we can launch military strikes against all targets related to the Genophage."

"That sounds good." Grunt said doubtfully. "But I don't think my people will wait for proof."

"That is where my plan to buy time comes in." Shepard said. "I am calling a meeting of the Counsel set to take place two hours after this meeting is over. At that meeting I want you to bring up the issue of the new colony worlds for the Krogan again."

"What good will that do?" Grunt asked. "It will just get voted down again."

"No it will not." Shepard answered. "Just trust me and do this and you will have new support."

"Shepard you can't make that deal with Aria." Ashley said. She was pretty sure arguing with him at this point was useless but she needed to make her case because she was sure this was a giant mistake. Shepard interrupted her before she could continue. "I have no intention of making a deal with that crook." He said firmly and showing that for all the politics that went with the job he was doing now he was still the same old Commander Shepard deep down. "Trust me I will get more support and then that should keep the Krogan people distracted long enough for us to get our proof so we can go to war with the right people." Ashley didn't looked convinced so Shepard turned and looked at her. "Ash if you have ever trusted me before trust me now." He said.

"I trust you Skipper." Ashley finally said. "I just hope this plan works."

Shepard then turned to fleet commander Vornas. "Have all the Counsel fleets been alerted to be on the look out for the fifth fleet?"

"Yes sir." The young Turian replied. "But so far no elements of that fleet have been spotted. It would be a lot easier to find the Human fifth fleet if we could get the fleets that belong to the other races involved in the search."

Counselor Jackson cleared his throat at this. "I don't like that idea." he said carefully. "It would weaken Earth's standing with the other races and it would make it look like we can not control our own fleets."

"But you can't control them." Vornas responded pointedly.

"We have no idea what happened to the fifth fleet and I think we should hold off on alerting the whole galaxy until we have more facts, Earth's standing the galactic community is at stake."

"Exactly." Shepard said jumping in. "We have no idea what happened which is why we have to find it as soon as possible. We now know Cerberus is involved so far all we know the men and woman on those ships are working for Cerberus. What if the fleet is used to attack a Counsel member race, then there will be a war and the best we can hope for is that the other races will believe I was covering for earth and willing to risk their lives to do so." Jackson looked like he got the point but Shepard decided to make it crystal clear. "Unlike the Counselors who are appointed by their governments in any way they see fit and only represent their own race I was popularly elected by the people's of all the Counsel member races. I can't play favorites so I have to alert the other races today so that they can all be on the look out for the fifth fleet. I will do everything I can to end this peacefully but I must do what is best for all the people who are part of Counsel races." Everyone took the point. Ashley still didn't like this part of Shepard's job. Aliens always put themselves first so she believed Shepard should put the good of Humans first but it was no good getting into that fight again.

"Speaking of fleets." Ashley said turning to the Asari Justicar. "Samara, why have the Asari withdrawn their fleets and closed their borders? What do they have to do with all this?"

"Nothing directly." Samara answered in her usual calm manor.

"You really expect us to believe that the timing of all this and Aria trying to make a deal to get the SPECTREs out of Asari space has nothing to do with the rest of this mess?" Miranda asked pointedly.

"Aria is taking advantage of the great shame the Asari feel right now to make a power play, that is the only way the Asari problem and yours are related. Samara answered. She was glad the code kept her from worrying about things like politics or she would feel guilty right now for betraying her people. She lived by the code and it was clear on matters of this nature so she felt no guilt. "I believe that she is giving others the support of the merc groups she controls and in exchange when the Asari civil war is over she will call on these people to help her take over all Asari space. She has always had a darkness and lust for power that needed to be fed and she has gone as far as she can on this path with out taking over the Asari government."

Everyone sat in silents for a few minutes letting this news sink in. The idea of an Asari civil war was the only thing that could shake the galaxy as much as the Reapers had. No one could remember the last time the Asari went to war with each other, not even the long lived Asari themselves. Finally Shepard spoke gently. "Why do you think the Asari are going to enter into a civil war?" he asked.

"Because that is the only possible out come of current events." The calm in Samara's reply shocked Shepard, her code really did keep her from worrying about things.

"What are the Asari so ashamed of that they will not ask for help?" Tali asked kindly.

"It is the greatest shame any race can feel, it is our best kept secret, and something we hoped we would never have to face." Samara began explaining. "In fact if the worst should come to pass it could lead to my people becoming a threat not just to ourselves but to every other life form in the galaxy."

"It's the Ardat-Yakshi." Shepard said grimly, it was not a question.

"Over the past three hundred years more have been born then in the rest of our history combined and because my people are so ashamed and my government does not admit they exist to outsiders we have not gotten any help and instead kept this hidden." Samara said now showing a hint of sadness and a little shame.

"Excuse me if this is a stupid question." Vornas interrupted. "But who or what are these Ardat-Yakshi?"

At first it looked like Samara would not answer but then she seemed to decide that since Shepard had trusted her with these people's secrets that she had to trust them with her own. Samara spent some time explaining the Ardat-Yakshi to the roundtable and how Shepard knew of them because he had helped her hunt down and kill her daughter Morinth like an animal and he had helped save her youngest daughter Falere when the monastery she lived in came under Reaper attack. It took a while to tell these stories because everyone except Shepard and Tali who had been with Samara both times she needed help kept stopping her to ask questions but finally after what seemed like hours an emotionally drained Samara finished the tale.

"There is one thing I don't understand." Counselor Jackson said as he sat back with his eyes closed thinking. "If these people have always been with you and most of them choose to live monasteries why the sudden panic?"

"Because we have lost track of almost all of them." Samara answered, this sent a shock through the room.

"How did this happen?" Tali asked urgently.

"It's started during the Reaper war." Samara began to explain as calmly as she could. "The Asari were hard hit and many of the monasteries were destroy. After the war we tried to tack them down and any Ardat-Yakshi found outside Asari space were killed. Then about two years ago they started to vanish again and with them a large amount of military supplies and money. We don't know where they are only that they have not left Asari space so my government has now recalled the fleets and sealed the borders."

"The counsel would have helped if you had just asked." Shepard said.

"We were too ashamed." Samara answered. "We could not ask for help but I have come to get your help in a task that may stop the bloody civil war that is coming." Samara was looking at Shepard now.

"What task do you need my help with?" Shepard asked causally.

"I believe Falere my only remaining daughter is the leader of this movement."

"Why would she be leading them she seemed peaceful enough when we saw her?" Tali asked, she did not like where this conversation was heading.

"I believe her mind broke when she saw here sister die at the hands of the Reapers. She blamed all those outside because they did not help the Ardat-Yakshi, so now she wants power and revenge on those people. She wants the Ardat-Yakshi to stop hiding and kill anyone who gets in the way of them going anywhere they want in the galaxy. If she is stopped I believe there will be no war." Samara explained sadly.

"Wait are you asking what I think you are asking?" Shepard asked hoping that she was not.

"Yes Shepard the code is clear I created this problem when I spared her life so now I must deal with it." Samara answered in a tone that shocked everyone with how cold it was. "I need to hunt her down and kill her to stop the war. I can not do it alone and since you helped create the problem and you have a ship that can track her down I am asking for your help in finding and killing her."

"John you can't do this!" Tali said putting a hand on his shoulder.

Shepard looked Samara in the eyes and spoke softly. "If I do this it will have to wait a few days to give me a chance to deal with the problems here. I am not saying that I will do it but I will think about it."

"That is acceptable." Samara said flatly. "But do not wait too long, every day you wait brings us closer to civil war."

"Okay" Shepard said sitting back in his chair then he took control of the meeting again in his commanding voice. "Okay it seems to me the goals we need to work together toward are proving the Hanar created the new form of the Genophage, locating Brynn Cole and Cerberus, finding the alliance fifth fleet, and using the SPECTREs to do everything we can to disrupt the Batarians and their ability to make war. Towards that end I will be asking the Counsel to cut off all trade between Counsel worlds and the Batarians. I will say it is because they continue to engage in the slave trade and raid Counsel worlds. That should hold things for a while. We need to buy time to put more pieces together. We will have another meeting in two days to discuss how we can best work together towards these goals. If no one has anything else to say this meeting is dismissed." Everyone stood up and started to leave Tali gave Shepard a look that even with her mask on he could tell was sad before she left, Jacob was about to leave when Shepard asked him to stay for a few minutes. Jacob sighed and walked over to Shepard. Shepard was about to speak but Jacob beat him to the punch.

"Sir if this is about her I understand that you can't trust me any more and will have to ask me to resign but as a friend I am asking you to please believe I had no idea and I did not help her." Jacob spoke in a very formal and professional tone, it was the one he had used back on the Normandy and not the one he had used since Shepard and he had become friends.

"What?" Shepard asked clearly taken aback by what Jacob had said. "Did you really think that is why I wanted to talk to you? Look I trust you, Brynn fooled us all and if you are up for it I still want you to do your job, I just wanted you to know that I understand if you are not up for it."

"Oh." was all Jacob could say for a few moments. "I am not sure what I am up for any more but I need to work this case, I need to put it right Shepard."

"It's not your fault." Shepard said trying to comfort his friend.

"The hell it isn't!" Jacob responded. "If I had just spotted one thing in all the years I was with Brynn Dr.T'soni would still be alive and Cerberus wouldn't be up to who knows what. Now if you will excuse me I need to go look through the records of every secret file my security codes where ever used to access and try to figure out which ones I really looked at and which ones she did." With out giving Shepard a second to respond Jacob stormed out of the room leaving his friend standing there with a look of pity on his face. Jacob Taylor did not want pity, whatever he was going through was not enough punishment for how badly he had failed and now all he could do was make sure he was the one who would blow Brynn's head off. That was what would help, putting the bitch six feet under.

After Jacob left Shepard hit the com button on his Omni-Tool. "Kelly please let the Counsel know that I would like to see them in session in two hours, then get me Primarch Victus on the com, and tell the Salarian counselor that I want a private meeting with him before the session."

"Yes sir" Kelly responded. Now Shepard had a plan and he just hoped it would work. About five minutes latter Victus' face appeared on Shepard's come screen.

"What can I do for you Shepard?" He asked.

"I need a favor." Shepard said keeping his tone light. "I can't explain why over the comm I just need you to trust me and tell your Counselor that you want him to vote in favor of new Krogan colonies today."

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About twenty minutes after Shepard got off of the comm the Salarian counselor had taken a seat in front of Shepard's desk. Shepard had been weighing his options on how to handle this and he had decided going on the attack was the best option even if it involved telling a few lies, putting the counselor on the defensive and then giving him a way out would work best.

"Helo and how are you today? I trust your trip to Tuchanka was productive." The Salarian began seeming very friendly. "Can I ask what you wanted to talk about?"

"What the hell are your people doing?!" Shepard said letting the anger show on his face. The Salarian counselor leaned back in his chair and he was clearly at a loss.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Was all he could say.

"Oh really?" Shepard continued not letting up on the attack. "Because I just returned from Krogan space and your people have hit them with the Genophage again!"

"What?!" The Counselor said still too stunned to put up much of a defense.

"Yes, you have! That Ship you crashed on their colony has spread a new form of it that doesn't leave any babies alive. This is in direct violation of the Counsel charter and a war crime to boot. What is the matter wiping them out once wasn't enough for you now you have to exterminate the whole race after they saved your collective asses in the war?!

The Salarian counselor finally found his voice. "Whatever you have heard is a lie!" He was showing some anger of his own now. "We worked with the SPECTREs in destroying all Genophage research, there is nothing left of it, this is a Krogan lie."

"I have had tests run myself!" Shepard responded with a lie there had not been time for him to do this, but all that mattered was that the Salarian believed it was true. "It is the Genophage and your people put it there. Now the Krogan want to go to war and unless you can give me some reason not to in order to keep the Counsel from being split I am going to recommend that they remain neutral and let the Krogan bring war crimes charges against your leaders when this is all over."

"I am telling you we didn't do this and if you let the Krogan engage in unrestricted war against us we will be the ones who are wiped out. Please don't let this happen." The counselor pleaded.

"Okay" Shepard said his tone softening. "If I am going to have to prove to the Krogan you didn't do this and I will need your help to buy time for that to happen. You can't mention this to anyone and I will need your help latter today in a show of goodwill towards the Krogan people."

"Whatever you need you will get." The Salarian counselor said gratefully.

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At the Counsel meeting everything was coming to order when Aria walked up to Shepard with a smug smile on her face and began to whisper in Shepard's ear.

"So John do I take it we have a deal?" She asked. Shepard turned to face her with a stern look.

"Sorry I don't make deals like that with people like you. The Asari will just have to live with the Charter they signed."

Aria was angry now. "Well then I hope you are ready to deal with your pets when they turn on you." and then she went and took her seat. She would make Shepard pay for this.

Shepard began the meeting by warning the Counsel about the lost fifth fleet he and Counselor Jackson answered questions about it for a while. Then Grunt brought up the issue of new Krogan colonies again. Aria just sat back smugly as it was debated and Grunt made a motion for a vote and Counselor Jackson seconded it. At first the vote seemed to be going Aria's way but then something happened that shocked even her, the Turrians, and Salarians both voted in favor, this turned the vote completely around and in the end the Krogan had their new colonies. Aria was fuming and just wanted to leave the chamber when Shepard caught up with her.

"Well Shepard." Aria said trying to create the illusion that she was still in control. "I guess you won this round, but there will be others."

"Yes I did." Shepard said simply and then he decided that he had had it with her and twisted the knife. "There is one rule on the Citadel." He said calmly echoing what Aria had said to him all those years ago when he first met her on Omega. "Don't Fuck with Shepard." he then walked off. He was pleased with himself. Yes this was a small victory but now he was moving forward and he knew who his enemies were. Now he just had to prove they were the enemies of the whole galaxy and find a way to fight them.

Really sorry this chapter took so long to show up. The day after I posted the last chapter the phone lines at my house stopped working and I have only just got them back so I didn't have any internet and then when the power went out in the storm on monday this and two other chapters were lost on my computer so I am having to rewrite them. Again really sorry about the wait and I hope this chapter was worth it. I hope to have the other chapters rewritten and posted soon if nothing else goes wrong. As always thank you for your time, hope you enjoyed it, and please leave a review.

Wow, was this chapter a pain and a half to edit, I had forgotten how long it was. Sorry it was so long and mostly just talking, but I need all this to happen in order to set up the rest of the story. Hope you were able to get some enjoyment from reading it.

As always thanks for reading and reviewing, you guys are a huge help to me when it comes to these stories and improving my writing in general.