Shepard's relief at having discovered that Wrex and Victus hadn't been on the Citadel when it was taken—that they were apparently here, with reinforcements for the ground war—had been a great comfort, proof that keeping grief at bay had been a good plan. She hadn't had opportunity to speak with them, but EDI, helping to organize the assets on the ground, had made contact on her behalf, assured her that both men were not only fighting fit, but had arrived on the same vessel.
Nor had that vessel crash-landed.
It was progress.
"Even if he can't," Shepard spoke up, pulling her thoughts back on task, "he's in a good position. We know that the Protheans messed with the Citadel's programming enough to keep the initial signal opening the alpha relay from firing correctly. That may indicate further weaknesses, especially if we're talking direct intervention. Even if we're not, if the Illusive Man used one set of controls to move the Citadel, and we know there's another in the Citadel tower, and if Horatio's got C-Sec's monitoring suite in front of him, he could walk any number of strike teams in, and they could manually interface with the…" she stopped. "Unless the Reapers lock them out."
"Analysis still running," Horatio said, "preliminary results suggest that interface may be possible, but there are many associated risks. I am willing to accept those risks, but it would be more reliable to attempt manual interface first. The Reaper presence here is not strong. Evidence suggests they do not expect strike teams to make it to the Citadel. If we are able to defy their expectations, there will be time in which they must recalibrate their tactics. Even moving troops to reinforce the station will take time. Time that can be made to serve our objectives."
"I'd rather not trust the whole operation to one operative," Anderson said, looking at Shepard.
"Agreed. I'd rather have Horatio walking teams in. The question is how we get them there."
"Obviously, they go through the beam," Javik said, being the only one blunt enough to say aloud what everyone was thinking. "The machine said as much earlier, that the live humans who are put through it do not suffer ill-effects."
"Operative Javik is correct. The most concerning obstacle is how to get teams to the beam."
Anderson sighed, then pulled up a hologram of London, with the beam at the center of the map.
"Four teams coming from four directions?" Shepard asked, tracing lines of travel. "There are only two control consoles that we know about, so even if two teams bog down, or even three, one is all it'd take with Horatio keeping them away from anything the Reapers throw once they get to the Citadel."
"They'd be in for a long slog," Anderson frowned. "They'd have to start well back and move in secret. That means we need distraction teams hitting what would normally be considered tactical points."
"If it's a wrecking ball we need, there's Aralakh Company and Wrex; they'll be more use on the ground than on the Citadel," Garrus pointed out. "Happier, too; more enemies to fight, less sneaking around."
"First can make some noise, do a little damage," Sgt. Collier, the man running Alenko's biotics division in Alenko's absence, volunteered.
"So can the kids and me," Jack said with a varren-ish grin. Her tone seemed to excite the actual varren sitting at her feet. "The kids know all about hit and run operations, and if they can't find a tactical target they'll just start blowing everything to shit."
Shepard wondered if Jack was implying Collier couldn't improvise like that.
"Geth forces would be willing to drop Prime units in aid of this operation," Horatio announced.
"I thought you were out of contact with the geth," Tali frowned.
"I was out of contact with Rannoch. There are many geth present now, and our short range communication is longer range than that of most organics. Also, we believe, transmissions are currently still secure," Horatio clarified.
"You're sure they have troops to spare? I know the geth fleet is taking a hammering," Shepard said.
"Forces will be made available on your command, Shepard-Captain. Geth are ready and willing."
"That's four," Anderson said. "One for each strike team."
"We've got asari and turian assets on the ground, so let's have an asari and a turian team."
"Vasir and Lysana are both here," Liara spoke up for the first time. "They'd be good candidates for that asari team. I might recommend Samara, who is also here."
Shepard wondered how many justicars were on Earth right now. The last time she spoke to Samara, Samara had been fairly certain little would remain of her Order after this war. "Especially Vasir; she never gives up."
"Victus might just lead the turian team himself, if he's already got boots on the ground," Garrus said. "No point in not, and you know what kind of leader he is."
Shepard nodded. "Okay, we need two more. I'll take one."
"I'll take the other," Anderson said hastily.
"You're the one everyone listens to," Shepard argued. "You need to be here making sure everyone keeps listening. Vega or Alenko can do it if you want an Alliance team."
Anderson scowled. "No need to coddle the old man, Shepard. Age and treachery, remember?"
Shepard glanced at Javik, amused by the way he took Anderson's 'treachery' comment so seriously. She knew very well how Protheans treated traitors. "Javik is a good soldier, but he wouldn't enjoy nanny-ing the young kids we'd be sending out with him," Shepard answered in a deadpan tone that told everyone she knew what Anderson meant,but wasn't going to get into it with him.
Javik nodded. "Indeed. I will go with Shepard."
"More on that later."
"You're going to make us draw straws, aren't you?" Alenko asked.
The sound of running feet silenced the discussion. A rain-soaked soldier tripped into to room. "Sorry sirs, but you've gotta see this!"