NOTE: I'm sorry this chapter took so long, real life got in the way! I'll do my best to get back to my usual posting frequency. One thing is sure: I won't abandon this story!
Chapter 25: Diplomatic issues I
Cerberus never saw it coming. Three convoys down during the same day, and the Alliance wasn't even started. To be fair however, it wasn't just the Alliance's work. Two of the convoys were taken by the squads led by Garrus Vakarian and Nari Vilicus, while the rest of the human team could be discharged from the hospital. A few had only minor injuries and could return to active duty right away, but others would need a longer recovery time.
McAllister handed a grenade to Shepard. Behind the Major she could see the convoy's personnel knelt on the road, being taken in custody by the rest of their squad.
"Do me the honor, Commander?" Ian asked.
"Hell yeah," replied Shepard, taking the grenade. She removed the safety pin and tossed the explosive part towards the big truck. It blazed immediately.
"Nice bonfire," commented McAllister staring at the high flames. "Too bad I didn't bring any marshmallows to roast."
"I don't think those fumes would make them taste good," remarked the Commander. All the squad wore full helmets, but their prisoners didn't and they all started coughing. They weren't Cerberus troops, only regular people probably hired to do the job, but the Alliance wasn't going to take any risks. They would be interrogated, and what happened next with them wasn't McAllister's team problem.
They rushed their prisoners to their transport, and took off. A few minutes later, Shepard's omni-tool started beeping. She checked the signal. It came from Major Alenko.
"Kaidan," she said, opening the channel to see his face on the screen. She was sitting on a bench in the transport, surrounded by Alliance soldiers. Everyone had taken their helmets off. McAllister was checking on their prisoners, making sure they were in good health after the seconds they had to inhale whatever the truck was carrying.
"Shepard, can you make it to London tomorrow?" Alenko asked. He sounded worried or concerned about something.
"Sure, I'll be there," she replied right away. The Commander waited for a couple of seconds to see if he had anything to add, but since he kept silent she said, "Shepard out."
"Something wrong?" asked McAllister, who had moved to her position and was now standing in front of her. One of the soldiers sitting next to Shepard moved away, and the Major took the seat.
"Nah," she said resting her elbows on her spread legs, with her gaze fixed on some random point in front of her in the transport. "It's not like we're doing something important or anything," she said ironically. She sat straight and swiveled her head to look at Ian. "Will you miss me tomorrow?" she teased curving her lips in half a smile. If someone had asked her why did she treat McAllister with so much familiarity, she wouldn't have known what to answer. She certainly didn't ask it to herself. Sometimes she just trusted people, and she was right. Sometimes she even defended said people against the mistrust of others, like she had to defend Tali and Garrus against the mistrust of Ashley, and time would prove Shepard right. Perhaps she simply was that good at reading people; perhaps it was so natural to her, that she didn't have to question herself about it.
"I'll be fine, send me a picture of you or something," joked the Major, "minus the turian, of course. Some things are better left unseen." He got up and lightly tapped the shoulder of the Commander, "I knew you'd abandon us anyway," he added in a fake sad tone and crossed to the other end of the transport.
The next day she arrived early at the Alliance's base. Garrus was there too, which was a surprise because he hadn't told her he had been summoned. She walked straight to the turian and stopped next to him. He was the man she loved, but not even for a minute did she consider hugging him or showing him affection in any other way inside the base. Those kind of thoughts simply didn't cross her mind.
"Thought you'd be stopping trucks," she said to him matter-of-factly. She was wearing her Alliance formal uniform, something she only did when the occasion required it. She suspected Kaidan wanted her to meet dignitaries of some sort. Garrus was in his armor, something that didn't surprise her at all.
"I arrived in London about twenty minutes ago," the turian explained, shrugging. "Nari can take care of the operations, and the Primarch wants me to be here, in his behalf."
"Oh?" she asked. She wondered what else did the Primarch require from Garrus, but kept the question to herself.
"Good to see you both," she heard the voice of Kaidan from behind. She took a step back, turning in the same motion to face the newcomer. Alenko approached them. He was also wearing his formal uniform. "The meeting will take place in a building near the embassies, but we have time," he explained. He gestured the turian and the female human to follow him, and they complied. In front of the base, they could see an official transport waiting for them.
"Will it be a problem if I arrive with you both?" Garrus asked before entering the vehicle.
"No," said Kaidan as he went in. The other two followed. When they had accommodated, he added, "The other species already know where we all stand. That's why they insisted that the meeting should be held in neutral territory. We had to install a QEC for the Dalatrass."
"So, she'll be attending, so to speak?" asked Shepard. Her tone was unreadable, but it was only a reflexion of her own thoughts. Last time she ever spoke with Dalatrass Linron, they weren't exactly in good terms.
"Yes," replied Kaidan, "we will see the respectable holograms of the Dalatrass and Matriarch Misiara Codas, elected by the asari as their Council representative. That is, if we manage to have a Council."
They didn't speak much for the rest of their trip. Their transport stopped in front of a large building, five stories high. It didn't seem very special, but given the circumstances, it was pure luxury: it had glass on every window, and the front was actually well painted. It wasn't discolored or showed any other signs of war, unlike most structures around it.
"And they use this building for politics?" Shepard ask to no one in particular, as they were entering. "What a waste."
The inside was clean and well lit, with a lot of windows letting in the natural light. There were many plants as decoration, but otherwise they couldn't see much luxury, at least not in the traditional sense. They could see staff of each of the Council species, and they respectfully greeted the group as they walked. There were several closed doors, that probably led to offices or meeting rooms. They took the elevator to the last floor.
They exited to a small hall, where they could only see a door and two guards, a salarian and a turian. The guards opened the door for them, and they entered.
Shepard, Kaidan and Garrus found themselves in a ridiculously large room, filled with plants and white columns as if it was some sort of inside garden. It was a very beautiful place, with windows facing all four sides of the building, letting the morning sun bathe every single leaf with its light.
They noticed the circles of the quantum entanglement communicators on the center, drawn on the floor with decorations that reminded of Arabic writing. Looking around her, Shepard couldn't help hearing the voice of Tali in her head, saying: "Shepard, do you know how many quarians could live here?". The Commander smiled at the thought.
"How early are we?" she asked Kaidan while they were walking to the center of the room.
"Half an hour," replied Alenko. He seemed used to the appearance of the room.
"I don't like this place," commented Garrus. "Remember the Ardat-Yakshi monastery? Where we first saw banshees?"
"There won't be banshees here today, Garrus," said Kaidan, shaking his head softly. "But it's true, the architecture seems a lot more asari than human."
They heard the door open behind them and they looked back. It was the only door to the room, at least that they could see. Shepard suspected there would be a secret entrance or two.
A turian came in, in full armor except for the helmet. She had never seen him, but she recognized the gesture dancing on his face. It was an ironic grin, and it was directed at Garrus.
"I was hoping to be here first," the newcomer said, approaching them. She noticed the tone of humor in his voice. "Now I can't inspect the place the way I wanted to."
"Seeking for traps, Malen?" asked Vakarian, and before the other turian had time to reply, he told Shepard, "This is Malen Talyk, a very clever guy and a man who would never betray an ally. Or a friend."
"Nice to finally meet you," said Talyk extending his hand, "Commander Shepard."
"The pleasure is mine," she replied shaking his hand briefly. Garrus seemed to trust the man, therefore she decided she'd trust him as well. He didn't look like a politician, or behaved like one, but she could bet that was exactly what the galaxy needed. Sure he would be interesting to have around, if he was the choice of 'play-loose-with-strategy' Primarch Victus.
"Sorry for my manners," Malen said looking at Kaidan. "Good morning, Major Alenko. You understand, I was distracted by this ugly bastard," he said grinning at Garrus, "and his beautiful lady."
"I understand all right," Kaidan replied, absently looking at Shepard. She wished she could stomp on his foot only so he would stop doing that. Instead, she said:
"I never heard a turian describing a human as 'beautiful'. You better don't try to flatter me!" she added with a smile to appear polite, but she meant it.
"Oh, but you have to understand that I had a long term relationship with an asari," Malen said, as if that explained everything. "It ended the worse possible way it could have: she cheated on me." He shrugged and added, "It was a long time ago... and to be honest I don't even know if she survived the war. But let's not speak of those sad subjects, we are here and we're intent on rebuilding galactic politics. Today we define the politic map, one way or another."
"You sound sure," commented Kaidan in a tone that betrayed his own doubts.
"I am, Alenko. I am," repeated Talyk.
They kept talking for a while, and they were so absorbed in their conversation that they didn't notice the passing of time. At some point, the door opened again and they could see a salarian, wearing a hooded tunic, walking towards them.
"Good morning," said the newcomer when he was close, his gender only clear by the tone the translator used to interpret his voice, and because it was rare to see a female salarian outside of her home world, "my name is Dagnes Naur Henaran Sureem Tazor Iplon, but you may call me Tazor because we are not familiar enough for you to call me Iplon. No need to tell me your names, I recognize all of you. First and second human Spectres by the names of Melody Shepard and Kaidan Alenko, military rank Commander and Major of the Alliance respectively. War hero Garrus Vakarian, personal advisor of Primarch Victus of Palaven. Malen Talyk, twenty six citizenship tier in the turian Hierarchy, fulfilled diplomatic roles on uncountable worlds, suspected spy, once known as the partner of Inyala, only daughter of Sha'ira."
After his long speech, Shepard had two questions dancing on her mind: "Who is this guy, that seems to know so much about us?" and "Sha'ira the Consort had a daughter?".
"Suspected spy?" said Talyk chuckling. "Nobody ever said that to my face, but suspicion cannot simply be dissipated by words, can it?" he paused, seeming amused. "Now tell me, since you seem to know so much about everyone, do you happen to know if Inyala survived the war?"
"She's alive and well," Tazor replied. "She has a daughter herself, father unknown, too young to be yours."
At that moment the two circles at the center of the room started shining. Moments later, with seconds of difference, two flickering images appeared from each circle. One was the known face of Dalatrass Linron, who appeared to be upset to see Shepard, or perhaps that was her natural expression. The second figure was a beautiful asari of light blue skin and ample bosom. Her facial markings were purple and scattered across all her face. There was, however, something about her eyes that the Commander didn't like at all. She seemed to be uptight, and her facial expression was sour.
Before the Dalatrass or anyone else had a chance to speak, the asari - who had to be no other than Matriarch Codas, the asari elected representative – said:
"I see no reason for a Spectre, whose rank haven't been confirmed by the new Council, and a turian who is not representative Talyk, to be present on this meeting."