Chapter 9

Despite all the times I had seen it before, the moment the Citadel rolled into view I was instantly transported back to the day I had seen it for the first time. It had been a special treat for my eighth birthday, one father had been promising to me for months.

I remember misbehaving on the way there. The long space flight coupled with the anticipation of what awaited me had rendered me bored and impatient as the hours ticked by. Father didn't really have much patience for that sort of thing, he'd snapped at me twice already but I think he might've really started shouting if I hadn't been suddenly captivated by the scene in front of me.

The first glimpse is always breathtaking. The nebula alone, a great swirling cloud of lilac colored gas is spectacular enough, but the Citadel itself is something else. It's absolutely massive, well over forty kilometers in length so when you get close it dwarfs you completely. Sitting in our tiny ship, it felt like me and my father were insects standing before an oil tanker.

The normal approach is head on so that you pass between the five huge arms that make up most of the station. Those are called the Wards and each one is a city, out in the open, protected from the nebula by shields. As you pass between them it's like flying over a city at night, seeing all the lights below except that there's four more surrounding you on all sides.

The central ring is where the Presidium is located, full of embassies and company headquarters and apartments for the richest, most influential people in the galaxy. A home away from home for the great and the good (or at least the rich and the famous), designed as a utopia equal to the status of its inhabitants. Unfortunately, the holographic "sky" projected over it, hides most of it from nearby ships but when you're standing underneath it, it looks like a small slice of Eden. Forget the journey that brought you there and you could be standing on Earth, in a beautiful open park with the clear blue sky above.

To the trained eye however, there were some changes I didn't remember from before. The Citadel Defense Fleet seemed severely reduced in number, with its flagship, the Destiny Ascension nowhere to be seen. I could only assume those ships had been pulled off patrol duty and redeployed to systems nearer the front lines. In their place hung wave after wave of refugee ships, their queues stretching on seemingly forever into the void of space.

I was slightly startled to see so many had fled here so early in the war. I could only imagine how many people had been displaced by the war but the bottom line was very clear. The Citadel already stored over 13 million citizens and was well equipped to host thousands more but if things continued as they were, even this station would eventually reach its upper limit.

To hide the Hades we'd been forced to enter the system via one of the least busy Relays and then fly out away from the Citadel into the deeper depths of the nebula. This was not safe by any means, exploration of the outskirts of the Serpent Nebula is strictly prohibited because of the dangerous electrical discharges that can occur in the clouds. Navigating through it, even a short distance away from the Citadel is asking for trouble but over the years Cerberus (along with a few other unsavory factions) have picked up a few tricks for hiding there, at least for a short while.

With that done we left Jackson in command (Marie swears he can be trusted) and headed out to the station on a small shuttle with just me, Marie, and our wounded on board.

"I'm really sorry about the Krogan," Maria said for the third time since we'd disembarked.

"Do you have the codes ready?" I replied so that I didn't have to respond properly. Though the pain was still fresh and raw in my mind it had come coupled with the realization that I had almost been expecting this from the start. Mothering the young Krogan, especially John, for months had felt like living days from someone else's life. It was not a situation I was used to and his death (painful as it was) had served to bring things back to normal and remind me where my focus needed to be in order to complete my mission.

"Yes, I'm transmitting codes for Rear Admiral Tolsan now. I've advised that you are on Tolsan's staff and have been dropped off to deliver several wounded civilians to the Citadel medical facilities."

Selena Tolsan had been an adjacent assigned to Admiral Kahoku that had tipped us off to the fact that he was trying to investigate Cerberus. Our swift actions had secured her a promotion and since then the organization had enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with her. I nodded and let the next few minutes pass in silence as we waited for a reply until another issue suddenly occurred to me.

"Did you make them aware that several of our wounded are Krogan?" I asked knowing that trying to move, injured, angry Krogan around without specialized equipment could be a real nightmare.

"Of course I did," Marie replied, sounding a bit reproachful.

"They've just messaged me back to say we have priority access for landing. Head to docking bay D56, they say they've already dispatched a transport to collect all our wounded to that location."

"Just the wounded, what about us?" I asked, expecting to go with them at least long enough to see that they were well taken care of.

"It only mentions them. I'd ask but they've cut the line already, do you want me to call them back and check?"

Glancing back at the endless stream of ships we were now racing past thanks to our priority access I shook my head.

"I think they have enough on their plate at the moment."

I brought us in to land at the specified docking bay which had enough room for a few shuttles and one larger ship. We were directed automatically to one of the landing pads but there were no medical transports in sight. I brought in to land and we got out, unsure quite what had gone wrong.

Twenty minutes and two impatient calls to Citadel control later and the transport finally arrived, to my irritated relief. It was a large white shuttle that landed in one of the remaining spaces before two burly looking humans in uniform stepped out and started wheeling out some oversized stretchers. Suppressing my desire to swear at them I was direct and to the point.

"What took you so long?"

They kept on working without pause but one of them did bother to glance in my direction.

"Cool it officer, the whole system's slowed down with all the extra new arrivals. Just be grateful we had space for you at all."

Once they had finished unloading the stretchers we showed them over to our injured crew members, all currently lying in the back of our shuttle. One of the men gave a low whistle.

"Looks pretty bad, you been fighting Reapers?"

He asked, his grin implying he didn't think it likely.

"Cerberus," I corrected him, my tone making it clear there was nothing to joke about.

"Uh yes ma'am. We'll get them all loaded onto the shuttle and rushed to triage from there asap."

"We're going with them," I announced. Behind me, Marie nodded in agreement.

"Sorry, can't do that ma'am. Special wartime rules prohibit any visitors in triage to prevent overcrowding," he explained before adding.

"But don't worry, soon as they're out of there they'll be transferred to a regular hospital that allows visitors. St. Jepson's is the most likely one. I'll message you if it's one of the others."

"Take care of them."

"Will do ma'am," he said before hurrying to get more of them loaded up onto the stretchers, prompting us to leave to avoid being any more of a distraction.

We took the elevator up to the main Presidium Commons area and found ourselves standing in what (as always) felt like the open air. The main floor of the commons is built like a huge open park, just like you might find on the more temperate regions of Earth. The hologram above us hid the nebula and the void of space with an image of a perfect clear blue sky. The spaces around every building and walkway were filled with carefully crafted gardens and water features.

The whole thing was originally designed to provide the locals with a calm and relaxing environment that would be a welcome respite from their typically high pressure jobs. Of course, that was only ever half the story, it was also a clear display of wealth and status of those that had the privilege of living here. Down on the Wards "below" all they could do is stare up and occasionally get a glimpse of paradise through the holoprojection.

Normally I appreciated the aesthetic and looked forward to coming here on the rare occasions that a mission brought me to the station. This was the part of the Citadel where I most felt that I belonged but whether that was because of my upbringing or some innate quirk of my personality I wasn't sure. Today though it all felt gaudy and unnecessary, a pointless distraction from the real and horrible reality that was occurring beyond the station's walls.

Marie and I split up as soon as we reached the commons area. It was safer not to present ourselves as a double target and in any case, we had separate missions to complete. For my part, it wasn't too complicated. Logging into a secure extranet connection (I had snagged myself an omnitool while I was aboard the Hades) I did a few more searches to apprise myself of the situation on the Citadel. Having confirmed my contact was indeed onboard I pinged off a few messages that would allow me to arrange a meeting and waited.

The next thing I did was take a moment to update myself on the father's 'official' status. As a successful businessman, I knew he had an entire department dedicated to maintaining his public image. Anything as shady as kidnapping my sister would obviously be hidden away, but I hoped I could glean something from the usual media garbage.

To my surprise, the first site I pulled up displayed a large image of an explosion at Lawson Corp headquarters. The caption read 'Cerberus claims credit for assassination of billionaire philanthropist'. Yeah right. It may have happened back on Earth but I could smell the sink of this little deception from here. The article was dated the day before the attack on Vorlak's compound back on Korlus, ample time for my father to sneak back off-world after his presumed death, but before the Reapers arrived.

More to the point if this had been real Cerberus would never have dared claim responsibility. Though he was no threat to them my father was a respected member of a wealthy cabal that approved of the advancement of human interests ahead of our alien allies. He and my former employers were actually in bed together for years until they chose to protect me from him. Even now it would go badly for them to be seen picking off members of the social elite that had backed them for decades.

No this was my father returning to the fold under Cerberus. Getting Oriana back would have been enough to convince him, but for the chance to see me killed as well, I'm sure he was practically begging to support them again. After a second spent considering the implications, I pushed these musings aside. As good as it was to understand the enemy I was facing it made no immediate difference. Except that now my need to see the plan executed perfectly had skyrocketed.

Since I had time to kill I decided to also look on the extranet to see if I could find a suitable option for getting my amp re-installed. The easiest way, of course, would be to have it sorted out by whoever had removed it in the first place but unfortunately, the entire lab staff had been killed during our mutiny.

At first, I was only able to find references to services for young teenagers (the age when amps are normally first installed) or for amp replacement which would likely attract awkward questions when they didn't find an amp already in my head. Turning away from the more legitimate sites, I delved into some of the shadier servers I was aware of but everything I saw seemed far too risky. Installing an amp essentially involved minor brain surgery and I wasn't prepared to hand that procedure over to any back street doctor I'd never met before.

I closed down my extranet connection with a frustrated sigh. It had been a long shot at best to hope of finding any options that would be both safe and not ask why the procedure was necessary. With nothing better to do, I turned my attention to my surroundings. All the monitors were showing the same news stories, endlessly repeating them until some new piece of information from the front trickled in to join the line-up.

I tried not to focus too much on how the war was progressing. Stupid and cowardly of me perhaps but I wasn't the only one by any measure. All around me I could see people with their heads down, walking quickly, the fear clear to see in their eyes even while they sought to look calm. Not that they were fooling anyone. Every time one of the news monitors happened to cross their eye line they would shudder and look away immediately.

The entire galaxy was sliding into chaos, with the Human, Batarian, and Turian homeworlds already either occupied or under siege. Looking around it didn't seem like anyone really knew how to react, or how to even express the fear, confusion, and panic they were feeling. I remember the Illusive Man ordering me to bring Shepard back to life exactly as he had been because he was the one man that had the best chance of stopping what was coming. But how could anyone stop something like this? All I knew was that I had to find my sister and maybe make Cerberus pay for everything they had done. That was about as much as I thought I could manage.

So instead I focused on the other notices on display, reading everything even the advertisements just to alleviate the boredom. It was mostly trivial stuff: the release of the new Blasto movie and a major Quasar tournament being planned. A perfect example of the Citadel's capacity for burying its head in the sand. The only advert that was even remotely relevant to the war was for a refugee center on Horizon called 'Sanctuary'. I couldn't quite see any reason why it should be safer than anywhere else in the galaxy, but apparently it had avoided being attacked thus far.

Eventually, I got a ping on my omnitool and reopened my extranet connection expecting to see a message from my contact about the meeting I was trying to arrange. Instead to my surprise, it was from one of the hospital officials I had met earlier. It read:

"St Jepson's just updated its status to full for the time being. The civilians you dropped off were transferred to Huerta Memorial Hospital instead. Apologies for sending you to the wrong place but it's a madhouse around here at the moment. They should be out of surgery by now so you can visit them anytime you wish."

Pushing all other concerns to the back of my mind for the time being I took the nearest elevator up to the hospital. When I got there the Krogan and the Salarian were still asleep in their beds, recovering from their surgeries but a quick glance at their medical notes told me all I needed to know. Mostly no complications, most of the Krogan would be released in a day or two. Our new Salarian friend had taken a bad hit and would be kept in for at least the next week.

Thane on the other hand was the most badly off of the whole bunch. Normally Krogan shrug off their wounds more easily than others but the repeated injuries inflicted in Vorlak's fighting pit had taken their toll. He had always gotten the worst of it from him but it was only after looking through a full medical report that I could see how much worse it had been than even I realized.

Twenty four broken or fractured bones, perforated spleen, punctured lung, concussive head traumas. I found myself thinking about the real Thane and how Vorlak would have gotten on if he'd tried bullying him.

'Thane would have toughed it out right up until Vorlak tried bullying someone else in which case he would've killed him without a second thought,' I thought to myself, remembering how lethal he could be. But afterwards he would have said a prayer, and asked for forgiveness for what he had done. I caught myself reminiscing about old times when I realized what had subconsciously led me into this line of thinking. I could see him sitting by the window, his back turned to me.

"Thane?"

He turned round and I was shocked to see that he was wearing a breathing mask attached to an oxygen cylinder. His face was a paler green than I remembered it as well but he didn't hesitate to remove the mask so he could speak to me.

"Miranda, it is good to see you. You were out of contact for so long that many of us had begun to fear the worst."

"I'm more worried about you," I replied, hating seeing him look so ill.

"How are you holding up, Krios?"

"Your concern is appreciated but these episodes do not usually last long. I am still able to function normally, much of the time."

'Much not most,' I thought to myself. Thane was doing his best to put on a brave face but directly lying to a comrade was still unthinkable to him.

"How far has your condition progressed?" I asked him gently.

He shook his head slowly.

"My allotted time has already come and gone. I fear there is little chance that I will live to see the conclusion of these events," he stated, gesturing up at the nearest monitor that was still showing news updates.

God how I hated Kepral's Syndrome at that moment. To see the proudest, most noble warrior I had ever met torn down in this way was heartbreaking. It said something about Krios' inner strength that his spirit still shone through despite everything but I knew it would be a losing battle. The disease was inhibiting his body's ability to form oxygen molecules in his blood (the Drell equivalent to hemoglobin). Eventually, he would suffocate while he was still breathing.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said simply, unable to find the words to properly express the way I felt about it. But as usual, Thane didn't require anything more to be said. I think even back on the Normandy he'd always had the insight to know what we were trying to say.

"Thank you but I am content with the life I have led. I am comfortable, my son visits regularly, I have everything I could have hoped for. Please tell me of your own adventures since last we met. I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to hear what you've been up to."

Who could refuse to grant the request of a dying man, especially one so eloquent, honorable, and dignified? So I took a seat next to him again and began telling him my whole story. All the way from Omega to Korlus and even into my future plans. He listened with quiet politeness, never once interrupting me as I talked and talked. At first, I was reluctant to lay out all my troubles on him but his patient expression, which never once showed any sign of judgment or irritation, slowly drew the full tale from me piece by piece. Only once I'd finally finished did he start speaking again.

"So this Kolvar is the assassin that Cerberus has sent to lead the hunt for you? I am not familiar with his work but I will ask around the few contacts I have left to try and learn more."

"I appreciate it but I'm not too worried about Alex. He knows enough to be an annoyance, but he's certainly no Thane Krios," I joked. Assassination was Thane's chosen specialization, though in a different league entirely to Kolvar. His dedication to it is what had made him such an attractive recruit for the team we built to take down the Collectors.

To my mild disappointment, Krios didn't smile at the joke. I got the impression that he wanted to speak to me more seriously.

"Wars such as this can often serve as a crucible for the inexperienced. If he should manage to survive Korlus then I am concerned that he will return to pose a far greater threat."

He paused for a moment, leaning closer before continuing.

"As for this Vorlak, I can not say that I recognize the name but I do recall hearing rumors of an Elcor like the one you have described being active on Omega about a decade ago. I do not know if it is the same individual but perhaps your next port of call will be able to provide you with further information.

"It's a possibility," I agreed.

"I was never assigned an Elcor as a target during my career but the Hanar that trained me did impart a few pieces of advise in case the need ever arose."

"Well I'll take any advantage I can get against that monster."

"The Elcor can be surprisingly swift when running in a straight line but their ability to change direction rapidly is limited. I've also heard it said that their limited hearing makes them vulnerable to being snuck up on from behind. It is a considerable blind spot," he said and I got the impression he was trying to pass on every single bit of knowledge that might help before he died. The man was a hero right up to his last breath.

At that moment I noticed that a new message had come through on my omnitool at least half an hour ago. It was time to leave.

"Well I really need to get going if I want to make this next appointment in time," I explained, standing up.

"Take care of yourself, Thane."

I turned to leave but he grabbed my arm and held me back as I did.

"Take care of yourself, Miranda. Strong-willed as you are, I fear this plan of yours will harm your spirit greatly."

I pulled my arm away without a word and headed back through the hospital towards the elevator. Much as I appreciated Thane's concerns I had no time for them. I would need to be at my absolute best if this next meeting was to go well.

Arriving at the elevator, I hit the button that would take me down to lower presidium level six on which the Purgatory club was located.

It was time to go and visit Aria T'Loak, the pirate queen of Omega.