Trading Partners
Chora's Den – Citadel
"Not that I abhor being invited to a, "shortly Udina looked at the bottle with a hint of disgust," bottle of mediocre whiskey in this beautiful surrounding." The asari dancer that had shot him an inviting look and swayed her hips a moment ago, hastily scuttled away as she realized the expression on Udina's face. "But what again are we doing here?"
Garrus snickered. "Rory, you're the only man I know that not only avoids to be turned on by the look and moves of an Asari but even seems to lower his body temperature in their vicinity. But about your question: we're watching."
Udina followed Garrus gander to the human waitress behind the bar. Early twenties, middle blond hair, attractive, her outfit the same as the dancers but the red color proving her to be a waitress and not a whore … err, dancer. For her I would pay to see her dance. She would only have to blacken her hair. "Beautiful sight, but I assume we're not here to improve my love life."
"It certainly could use some improvement," Garrus snickered. "But that's not the reason. Her name is Jenna. I had a call from her sister Rita. She's working in another club, the Flux, much better than this cave. I became acquainted to her a year ago as I helped her employer to fetch a salarian hustler that used electronics to better his winning chance at the slots. Back then Jenna was also working there. Seems that she changed her job and not for the better."
"What a heart-rending story. So we're here for a little street-work, yes" Udina mocked his turian friend.
"In a way, yes," Garrus agreed to his surprise. "Rita is afraid for her sister's life. She has not changed the job on her own but because she's working undercover for one of my former colleagues, a C-Sec officer named Chellick. She …"
On a short nod of Udina the Turian looked at Rita out of his eyes' corner and saw two men approaching the bar and shortly speak with Rita. One of them, a Batarian, clearly was a simple bodyguard, but the other had the stance of someone used to commanding those around him. Middle-thirty human, shaved head, ex-military, at least two weapons and a knife, Udina shortly noticed as the man waved Jenna to follow him to one of the tables in a niche at the rear of the club. She shortly spoke with a turian bartender beside her and followed him with a bottle and two glasses.
Udina watched her for a few minutes before he stated: "She's bad in doing this. Her fear gets in her way." Garrus agreed: "If he's not a total dumbass, he has noticed what she is trying to do. We really have to do something about it before he gets annoyed of playing with her. Stay here, Rory. I'll go to have a chat with Chellick. See you later." Leaving some money behind and forcing his steps not to stagger too much, Garrus ignored the laughter of Udina and left the club.
Fifty steps away his movement changed to his normal again and he went straight to the C-Sec bureaus, greeting the very few Turians there that still liked him before he simply entered Chellick's room and plumped into a seat. "Hey there, Chellick, heard you now let the girls do your job?"
Park Bench near Wade's Apartment Tower – Lower Market District – Citadel
Udina bowed his head towards the tower. "Jenkins is over there watching the entrance. That guy entered half an hour ago with her, went straight to apartment 4138. It is that with the pale blue curtains."
"Jenkins, yes," Garrus smiled. "Doing a little trainee education?"
Udina shrugged: "He has his uses, needs only more experience and a tad more patience. But mostly I didn't want to be seen too much around Jenna. What has he told?"
"The bastard really hired her as a mole. That human she's just … entertaining … he seems to be a high number in the Barret Syndicate, a group of weapon traders under the leadership of someone called Jax. Nobody seems to know who this Jax or where his hideout is. Chellick wants Jenna to get near enough to him to get useful information. He has never been a very clever one and he has no reservations about sacrificing her. He dared to forbid me to intervene."
Udina's smile was very thin and he not even spared the breath to ask Garrus if he wanted to comply with Chellick's request. Instead he stood up. "Stay here, I'll make a few calls."
He guided his steps towards the Council Tower. I've never been there before and Shepard neither. Without Garrus I wouldn't even know about the Spectre's bureau. A little bit weird but … The rest of the way he thought about his last weeks. The Council had never shown any interest in improving the knowledge of him or Shepard about their new job. Apart from a few weapons there had been no equipment, no money and no information about communication. How should we inform them without my Uncle's help? How interact or work together with other Spectres? He shook his head, angry about the councilors.
After their installment as Spectres there had only two times been contact with them. There had not even been information about the daily work of a Spectre. What were they expected to do if Saren had been stopped? It was not an urgent question but he really was annoyed not to know anything about it. Perhaps it was a kind of test but he had anticipated that the work would be similar to his former agency. Strict codes and a bunch of handbooks were the lifeblood of any organization.
"Spectre status detected, welcome Spectre Udina." For a moment his steps faltered. This had been the first time that someone … or something … addressed him as Spectre and not Commander. Even his crew and Ambassador Udina never used this new title. We should change this.
He nearly bumped into a Salarian that was just to leave the rooms. For a moment he silently stared at Udina, his eyes blinking. "Udina," he said, his voice betraying some antipathy.
Great, another fan of me, Udina silently moaned. He narrowed his eyes, searching his brain for information about the Salarian but getting none. "Excuse me, you're at an advantage, I don't know your name."
The Salarian snarled: "You would if you'd spared the energy to read the sent files."
As he started to leave Udina stopped him by gripping his arm. He let lose an instant later and raised his hand to excuse himself. "Sorry, I didn't want … what files are you speaking about?" Udina allowed the confusion to show on his face, deciding that he had to be honest around this Salarian.
"The files I sent you on command of Councilor Valern. I expected you or Shepard to make contact but as it seemed you were too … occupied."
Valern, Udina's mind raced. The Salarian had always been the one among the Councilors he had trusted the most even before this whole Spectre business. The Turian Sparatus had been too militaristic to his liking and the Asari Tevos … yes, she was an Asari. Sensing his antipathy she had even been the only one voting against him. But the Salarian's pragmatic view was something he understood and could work with.
The Salarian narrowed his eyes and stared at him. "You didn't know." It was more of a statement instead of a question.
Udina shook his head, forcing him to remain calm. With only a hint of anger in his voice he bade: "Please show me these files you mentioned and then I would like to hear how you put them my way."
Conference Room – Normandy
From time to time Garrus cast a worried glance in Udina's direction while he explained what had happened. The Spectre had returned an hour ago and his whole stance told of his anger. He even had snarled at Tali as the Quarian dared to address him on his way to his room. At least she seemed not to be angry with him, his irritation about something being way too obvious to ignore.
"He left her an hour later and went to his ship, the armored freighter Ithaca. From a friend among the traffic controllers I learned that they'll leave the citadel in," he shortly looked at his Omni, "70 minutes. Their official destination is a mining post on the planet Kensal, Dis system, Hades Gamma Cluster."
Suppressing his anger for a few moments Udina added: "This Jax is a weapon smuggler. He has a few outposts in the Hades Gamma Cluster. To my information somewhere on Kensal is a hideout of him. I'll follow him with Garrus and Wrex. No, Tali, you'll stay here, you're way too noticeable." Looking around, his eyes lingering a moment on Ashley, he continued: "If you don't need him I'll take Kaidan, too. And Jenkins, he needs some more fighting experience." He ignored Ashley's wondering look and ended: "We'll be away for seven to ten days. I'll give you a contact if something important happens. Now off with you and prepare your belongings, we leave the Normandy in 30."
Waving for Shepard to stay behind, Udina waited for everyone else to leave the room. After that he activated some security measures with his Omni before he turned around to Shepard.
"Sorry, but one of us has to stay on the Citadel and that can't be me. Another hour and I'll kill him. I'll simply go to the Embassy and shoot him. I really need to cool off before I speak with him." His shoulders trembled and Shepard silently waited for Udina to soothe a bit.
"I've been in the Spectre's bureau this evening. Yes, there is something like that. I heard it from Garrus. Did you ever wonder why we don't get money, equipment or at least some information and be it a rulebook how to behave in the publicity? We did," Udina sputtered, sending a bunch of files onto Shepard's Omni.
"The salarian Councilor ordered a Spectre called Jondum Bau to help us with our first steps. All these needful little things as how to get our salary, what is expected on a daily routine, contact info about other Spectres, ways to deliver mission reports … hell, the Spectres have much more leeway than a navy officer but all in all they are an organization as every other."
He waited a few minutes to give Shepard time for a first impression about the data. "A very nice tad of information regarding our position: as full Spectres we are expected to quit the alliance navy within the next three months and to not react on direct mission requests of our former superiors. They have to use the official channels from now on. And this, I assume, was the reason that my sweet darling Uncle that bloody bastard held this information back. Yes, my uncle, as Jondum Bau sent these files towards the Embassy. He was a bit pissed off about our non-reaction and Councilor Valern isn't amused either. I've sent an apology via Jondum Bau but we have to speak about this when I return."