Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect
A/N – Apologies on the delay with this chapter! And a big, huge thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. You really cheered me up on a week when I was feeling down. Oh, I have written a short smutty Shenko one shot called Agree To Disagree, in case anyone is interested in reading it.
Kaidan frowned and scanned through the list of bank account transfers, tugging absent-mindedly on his lower lip with his fingers. His eyes flew down the scrolling codes and numbers as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. The security systems at the embassy had clearly been hacked, and a rogue program introduced, but tracking it and finding the source of the infection was proving difficult.
"Do you see what I mean?" Udina frowned at the screen. "C-Sec is next to useless, and even their cyber-crime division isn't able to do more than clean up after this program once it's eaten through a new system."
"I've never seen anything like it," Kaidan admitted as he shut down the live feed he'd been viewing. "It's too fast to be a person, but reacts too cleverly to be a simple program. I think we might be looking at is a rogue VI program in the security feed."
"You think?"
He shrugged and pushed away from the desk. "Well, this isn't my area of expertise, but it needs looking into. I'll flag it with the Spectre terminal and see if any of the others ..."
Someone cleared their throat and Kaidan paused as he registered the C-Sec officer standing in the door to Udina's office. Whoever he was, he looked like a man who didn't enjoy his job. His mouth was downturned in an expression of distaste, and matched the sour expression on his face.
He fixed his cold grey eyes on Kaidan, and then turned to look at Udina. "Sorry to interrupt, but you're needed for a council meeting."
"Ah, Kyle. This is major Alenko." Udina waved the man in and Kaidan stood up to shake his hand.
"Nice to meet you." They shook hands, and he resisted the urge to wipe his palm on his thigh after the man let go of his hand.
A biotic, he registered with interest.
"Kyle Cheng is one of the C-Sec officers assigned to look after me." The Earth councillor gestured to himself and grimaced. "There have been some rather unsavoury threats against all of the council members since the war began."
"Threats?" Kaidan closed the terminal down and glanced at his friend. "Why?"
Udina shrugged, apparently unruffled. "Oh, threats against our lives because we're not doing enough for our home worlds. Threats because we aren't providing enough aid to colonies the reapers have decimated. Threats because we've decreased the amount of refugees we're accepting into the Citadel."
"Are they serious?" He tried not to sound too worried, but surely he should have been told if the council was receiving death threats?
The Earth Councillor nodded. "Serious enough, although not as big a threat as this rogue VI."
"Rogue VI?" Kyle Cheng asked in a flat toneless voice.
"Nothing to worry about." Udina clapped the man on the shoulder. "Just a program that's playing merry hell with the security systems. C-Sec has been notified."
He inclined his head. "Understood."
"Kaidan, I'd like to request your presence at this meeting." Udina gathered up some data pads and placed them in his briefcase. "I have a small favour to ask."
Kaidan nodded and fell in with Udina as he walked from the office. The C-Sec officer walked a few paces behind them, giving them privacy.
"Is there something you need?" Kaidan kept his voice low as they strode through the halls.
Udina cleared his throat. "I'd like to ask you to keep an eye on Valern for me. Unofficially."
It took everything Kaidan had not to openly baulk at the request. "Sir?"
What the hell was he playing at?
Udina motioned him closer and his voice dropped lower. "This is completely off the record, Alenko, but someone accessed my personal terminal. They went through my private storage devices and my private bank accounts. Nothing was taken, but a great deal of information was copied."
Kaidan frowned and glanced around as they walked past the other embassies. "And you think it's the salarians?"
Udina nodded as they strode through the security check to the council chambers. "Valern has been acting suspiciously for the last few days, and the evidence I found when I had my terminal investigated points to the Salarians. And last night he contacted the Normandy …"
"What?" Kaidan stumbled as they walked and his stomach plummeted as though he'd just fallen several metres. "Why would he contact Shepard?"
His mind instantly flew back to their kiss in the elevator; her skin soft as silk under his fingertips, the sweet taste of hot chocolate on her lips as he'd kissed her, and the small eager sounds she'd made as their mouths meshed. Kaidan's body clenched with need, and he forced himself to focus on Udina; he was a Spectre and he had a job to do.
Udina didn't notice his momentary lapse in concentration and continued speaking. "It was done through official Spectre channels, but the contents of the conversation have been sealed and Valern has been avoiding me. I'm not sure what he's up to, but I fear the salarians are trying to stir up trouble for the human embassy, perhaps in retaliation for Shepard's decision to cure the genophage."
Kaidan frowned. "I heard the salarian Dalatrass wasn't happy with that decision."
"That," Udina lowered his voice even further as they reached the meeting room and the door slid open. "Is putting it mildly."
He gestured for Kaidan to precede him while he spoke to the C-Sec officer who'd escorted them. They spoke quietly, then Udina closed the door and joined the others. Tevos was perched on the edge of her chair, drumming a light rhythm on the table while she watched them. Sparatus sat next to her, and his silvery eyes focused on them impatiently. Valern was, Kaidan noticed, conspicuously absent.
"Nice of you to join us, Udina." The Sparatus rumbled and crossed his arms across his chest.
Udina glanced around the room and smiled politely. "I see Valern is running late too?"
"No," Tevos articulated clearly, as though speaking to a child. "He had a meeting with the executor and won't be making this morning's session."
Udina cleared his throat. "How unfortunate. Well, I've asked Major Alenko to sit in on the meeting so we can update him on the latest war efforts."
But that's not why I'm here, Kaidan thought with a frown, why is he lying to them?
The others nodded in agreement and the meeting got under way. Kaidan tried to focus as they talked about the latest requests from the volus, elcor and hannar embassies, but his mind kept slipping back to Valern. It didn't make sense that the salarians would try to cause problems for Udina and the human embassy - especially in a time of war. The salarians were, first and foremost, logical. They'd know that causing problems at a time like this could mean suicide, so why would they do it?
Kaidan glanced across at Udina as the talk turned to the growing number of refugees in the docks. Why was Udina so worried about Valern? He wondered. Was there something on his terminals that he was concerned might have been found? Something he thought Valern might have given to Shepard? Kaidan's brown creased as his mind switched track; why had Valern contacted Shepard if he was trying to cause trouble between the humans and salarians? It was certainly no secret that Shepard and Udina had never been close, but she was a Spectre and wouldn't automatically take everything told to her at face value.
Did Valern have something on Udina?
The thought made Kaidan shift uncomfortably. Donnell had been his friend for many years now, and though the man wasn't a saint, Kaidan had trouble believing that he would do anything to jeopardise the Earth's place on the council. And yet, Udina was worried enough to want him here to keep an eye on Valern. Why? Was there something in his records that he feared Valern might have discovered and passed on to Shepard?
He looked away from Udina and back down at his hands, which he'd folded neatly in front of him. The other thing bugging him was why Valern had gone to Shepard if there was a problem. He was a Spectre too, so why not come to him, especially when he'd been appointed to work with the council? Didn't Valern trust him?
Maybe he thinks you're too close to Udina.
A distant alarm roused Kaidan from his thoughts, and a moment later his omni-tool went off with a piercing yowl; an emergency broadcast. The councillors went quiet as Kaidan pushed away from the table and quickly opened a secure channel to C-Sec. In the distance he heard another explosion, more sirens and the faint pop of gun fire.
"Major Alenko?" Tevos started to rise, but subsided when Kaidan gestured for her to stay seated. "What's going on?"
"I'm not sure, give me a moment, Councillor." Kaidan paced while his call connected.
Was it reapers? Had they somehow made it past all the Councils outlying defences without being picked up? It didn't seem possible, but Earth had been taken the same way. Kaidan tensed as the connection went through and Bailey's voice shattered the silence.
"Major Alenko, is that you?"
"Yes sir." He spun around and walked a few paces from the councillors. "What's happening?"
"We're under attack - the bastards hit us from the inside. They took C-Sec headquarters before we knew what was what." He sounded shaken up, and in the background Kaidan could hear screaming and turret fire. "Are the council secure?"
"They are. They're with me in one of the council meeting rooms." He glanced over his shoulder at them as he spoke; all three of them were struggling to look cool, calm and collected. But the tell-tale signs of fear were there. "I was going to take them to the council bunker."
"Negative," Bailey rasped. "The council chambers are going to be crawling with people, and any one of them could be working with Cerberus …"
Kaidan froze. "Cerberus?"
"That's who's responsible for the attack on the Citadel. It's Cerberus," he continued before Kaidan could speak again. "Listen, you need to get the council to the landing pad on the roof. I'm going to send a shuttle there to pick them up and evac them to a safe location. I'll send the coordinates to you." There was a pause while Bailey yelled at someone in the background, and the sound of more gunfire rattled out over the comm. "Some of these bastards are in C-Sec uniforms. Don't stop for anyone, Alenko."
"I won't." He pulled his side arm from his thigh holster, and wished for something bigger and more solid. "Good luck, Commander Bailey."
"You too."
The line went dead and Kaidan swung around to face the councillors, who were watching with a mixture of horror and fear. "Cerberus is attacking the Citadel, I need to get you to a secure location."
"They wouldn't dare!" Tevos frowned as she sprung to her feet, but quietened down when Kaidan flashed her a look that said plainly; they would.
"I don't want any arguments. There's a shuttle waiting on the roof …"
Udina interrupted him. "We trust you to keep us safe, Major."
"Good, because I'm the only thing standing between you and Cerberus." Kaidan moved to the door. "Stay behind me and follow my instructions. If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to hide, you hide."
They nodded, and Kaidan flared brightly as he activated his Barrier. He opened the door and scanned the corridor and, finding it miraculously empty, waved the Council through. The sounds of gunfire and screaming were louder now, and Kaidan led his charges through the back corridors, choosing a route which would take them slightly out of their way, but which was safer. Bailey was right- the council chambers would be crawling with people, and by now, probably crawling with Cerberus too.
Their luck held for most of the journey, but the sounds of fighting grew louder with each turn they took. When Kaidan scanned the final corridor that led to the elevators, he wasn't surprised to see a small group of Cerberus soldiers clustered around it. They had the numbers, but he had the element of surprise.
He gathered his biotics, and power rushed through his body in an electric surge. His skin tingled, and his bones hummed as he swung out from around the corner and threw a Reave at the small group. It felt good to let loose, and the Cerberus men screamed as the Reave smashed into them. It crackled around them, not unlike a singularity, and Kaidan felt his own power surge as the attack drained their shields and health.
He lobbed a Cryoblast at one of the soldiers, and the man froze solid and dropped to the floor with an icy crack; his skin frosted and blue. The other soldiers regrouped, and Kaidan sprinted forward, using an upturned bench as cover while he fired on them. There was a shriek as one of his shots took a Centurion in the face, and his skull exploded in a thick rain of black gore. He dispatched the final soldier with a wave of biotic energy which slammed him heard fist into a wall. His neck cracked sideways, and he slumped to the floor and was still.
"All clear," he called, and slapped the elevator button while he waited for the councillors to reach him.
Tevos gave him a strange look. "That was an impressive display, Major. I know asari commandos who would struggle to pull off that combination of attacks so easily."
He flicked his eyes to her briefly. "Thank you."
His biotics rippled through his body like a well of water, bubbling up from someplace deep inside. His L2 had always spiked high and his attacks had been strong, but it came with a cost. The new implant felt different. The biotic power felt easier, stronger, and cleaner. There was no residual pain when he used an attack, and he felt great. If anything he felt more energised.
The lift doors opened and Kaidan ushered them in. "Stay behind me. If the doors open and someone attacks us, I don't want you getting caught in the cross fire."
The ride up was normally a few minutes, but it felt twice as long to Kaidan, and he busied himself by hacking the elevator controls to prevent it from stopping on any floors but the roof. The sounds of gunfire grew loud again, and Kaidan cursed as he realised people were fighting in the elevator shaft. A thunk echoed through the elevator, followed by a roaring sound and the shriek of grinding metal.
"What was that?" Sparatus frowned and pinned Kaidan with his gaze. "Are they trying to bring down the elevator?"
"I'm not sure." Kaidan glanced up at the digital display; they were nearly at the roof. He cursed again as he heard another burst of gunfire, and the elevator shuddered as several heavy objects dropped on top of it. "They're on the elevator!" he shouted. "Get down!"
He fired several shots up into the ceiling and adrenaline surged through his body; Cerberus was not going to get the Council! The elevator slowed, stopped and the doors opened. Kaidan shepherded them out and sealed the doors behind them. Then he led the way out to the landing pad, anxiety and adrenaline surging through him.
The blood froze in his veins as he caught sight of the smouldering wreck that had once been a C-Sec shuttle. It was still alight and burning brightly, and Kaidan fought back a roll of nausea as he realised he could see the blackened and burnt remains of the pilot still sitting in the front.
"The shuttle! It's been destroyed!" Udina gasped, stating the obvious.
Panic swept over Kaidan, and he swung around, checking for enemies. The roof was clear, but it was obvious that Cerberus knew where they were and were trying to stop them. He cursed; there were only two choices left to them now, either hold up out here and hope another shuttle came, or head back to the safety of the building and hope they didn't run into another Cerberus patrol.
The building, he decided.
"Okay, everyone back to the building …" Kaidan's words petered out as the doors to the elevator beeped warningly as they were hacked. "Get back," he ordered to the councillors when they almost walked past him.
The doors opened, and Kaidan aimed his gun at the gap, his heart thundering in his chest as he waited to see the gleam of white and yellow that meant Cerberus. He saw movement and his finger tightened on the trigger as a figure came through the door with their gun drawn. Time seemed to stop. Kaidan took in the familiar N7 armour, the red hair and sea-green eyes, and almost lowered his gun.
"Shepard?"
Behind her came Garrus and Liara, both of whom had their guns drawn and were aimed at the councillors. Even Gina, though her eyes hesitated on him, immediately looked beyond him and aimed her gun at the council. Kaidan felt like he'd been punched; what the hell was going on?
"It's Shepard! She's with Cerberus!" Udina growled from behind him. "She's going to kill us all."
Gina working for Cerberus? No. Kaidan tightened his grip on the gun, every fibre of his being rejecting the idea that she was still working for the terrorist organisation. And yet, here she was in the middle of a Cerberus attack on the Citadel; gun drawn on the councillors. There had to be a reason!
"Shepard? Talk to me, what is this?" He moved himself between Shepard and the council, trembling as he kept his gun trained on her.
She frowned. "Get out of the way, Kaidan."
Her words were like a slap to the face, and he shook his head. "You've got a gun on the council, Shepard! I'm not going anywhere, now tell me what the fuck this is?"
He rarely swore, and Shepard blinked in surprise. "It's Udina," she growled, and her eyes flicked back to the council behind him. "He's behind the coup attempt. He's working with Cerberus."
Udina working with Cerberus?
"That's a lie." The Earth councillor spat from behind him. "You don't have any proof! You never do."
Shepard stared into Kaidan's eyes for a long moment, and then lowered her weapon, gesturing for Garrus and Liara to do the same. Some of the tension went out of Kaidan's body as she shook her head. "Valern found evidence that Udina was receiving funds from Cerberus. I've just come from the executor's office; Cerberus tried to kill Valern but failed. I have all the proof you need." Her green orbs bored into his and Kaidan's heart pulled painfully. "Please Kaidan, you have to trust me."
"Don't listen to her! We need to get back inside! Cerberus will be here any moment! If Shepard won't move than you need to shoot her!" Udina stepped closer, his voice low and forceful. "Don't let your feelings rule you, Major. You need to serve the council."
Kaidan kept his gun on Shepard, but a fine tremor ran through his hands. It felt wrong to be sighting on her, and he desperately wanted to lower his weapon and step to her side. Only a few nights ago he'd been holding her, kissing her, and a hairs breadth from asking her to spend the night with him.
Gina's eyes flicked from him to Udina and she shook her head. "There are Cerberus assassins in that elevator shaft behind us. If you open that door like Udina says, they'll kill us all. He's working for them, Kaidan. I don't know why, but he is. You know I wouldn't lie about this. You know me."
He half lowered his gun. Was it true? Could Udina really have done this?
He thought back over what the councillor had told him about Valern and his suspicions. What if Udina had been lying? What if the reason he had wanted Kaidan with him today was not because he wanted him to watch Valern, but because he thought Kaidan would protect him? A creeping feeling spread over Kaidan's skin. He had no proof, but something had felt off all day today.
Tevos cleared her throat. "We have mistrusted Shepard in the past to our detriment. Perhaps we should trust her?"
Kaidan hesitated as the asari's words sunk in, and memories of Horizon swirled to the surface; the hurt, the confusion and the pain. He'd walked away from Shepard because he hadn't known who she really was, because he hadn't trusted her. And just as Tevos had said, it had come back to haunt him.
This time, he couldn't believe that Gina was lying, or that she was still working with Cerberus. It didn't make any sense. He stared in her eyes, the gun still trained on her, and everything fell away. Distantly he could hear Udina talking behind him, and he knew Liara was speaking to Shepard, but in this moment, everything narrowed down to just them.
He remembered how she'd felt in his arms the other night; the taste of her lips against his, the smell of her skin, the tingle of her biotics. It hadn't been an act; that had been Gina. If he hesitated now he'd lose her, and he'd be alone again.
But I'm a soldier!
"Kaidan, trust me." Gina raised one hand towards him, palm up. "Please."
Kaidan let his breath out slowly and dropped his gun. "Okay." He swung around and sighted on Udina. "Step away from the door controls."
Udina stared at him with eyes that glittered with anger. "I should have known," he sneered. "I should have known you'd crawl back into her shadow again. Kaidan Alenko; Shepard's personal lapdog." As he spoke, he edged closer to the controls.
"Udina, get away from the controls now." Kaidan took a few steps forward, ignoring the sting of his friend's words. "We can sort this out."
Udina stared at him, and Kaidan saw him hesitate, but then his eyes hardened. "To hell with this, I'm opening the door." He reached for the control pad and began punching in a code.
Before Kaidan could move closer, Tevos turned on him and grabbed Udina's arm, she wrenched it away from the control pad. "Councillor, you must stop!"
"No!" Udina flung Tevos off him, and knock her to the ground.
He drew a weapon, and everything seemed to slow down as Udina pointed the gun at the asari councillor. He wouldn't pull the trigger, Kaidan thought desperately, Udina wouldn't do that! But he saw the councillor's finger twitch on the trigger, and he realised that he would. Kaidan drew in a deep breath and, though something inside of him twisted in agony, he pulled the trigger.
His first bullet hit Udina in the leg, and it gave way beneath him. He fell to one knee and yelled, but instead of dropping his weapon like Kaidan had hoped, he turned to face them and raised the gun in their direction. Kaidan fired before he could second-guess himself, and the shot hit Udina in the chest. He dropped to the ground, and lay groaning as blood pooled around him.
A roaring filled Kaidan's ears; I've just shot my friend, he thought wildly.
"Liara, secure the council. Garrus, stay on those doors. Kaidan, do what you can for Udina." Shepard barked orders and stepped up next to Garrus.
Kaidan blinked and realised there were thudding sounds coming from the elevator shaft. In all the excitement he hadn't heard them. He felt numb, disconnected, and it took more effort than it should have to get himself moving. Udina lay ahead of him – the pool of blood spreading around him.
"Donnell?" Kaidan made his feet move and lowered himself down beside his friend, trying to ignore the blood he was kneeling in.
Udina coughed and blood splattered down his chin. He reached up and grabbed Kaidan's shirt. "You," he wheezed in a wet burbling voice, "Were supposed to protect me …"
"Stay still." Kaidan pressed down over the wound, but his front was slick with blood, and he knew it was futile. "Why?"
"Because," he coughed again. "Cerberus would have helped Earth."
Kaidan tried to stem the bleeding, but Udina convulsed, choked and went still, his last breath rattling out in a wet wheeze. For a minute Kaidan stared at Udina's sightless eyes, then he rocked back on his heels and gazed down at himself; he was covered in blood. Behind him he could hear people talking, and when he gathered his strength and stood up, he saw Bailey talking to Shepard. He focused on what they were saying, ignoring the rolling in his stomach and the pulse pumping in his head.
I've just shot my friend.
"… They scuttled into the keeper tunnels. I have men looking for them now." Bailey shook his head and gestured at Gina. "I'll say it plain, Councillor. Shepard saved the lot of you."
"No, all I did was lock the elevator behind us." Gina shook her head and turned to meet Kaidan's eyes. "Major Alenko saved them. He kept the Councillors safe and stopped Udina."
A/N – I hope you enjoyed it. Comments and feedback are most welcome.