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Shepard was awakened out of a sound, dreamless sleep—an increasingly rare luxury these days—by an insistent buzz at her door.
Dragging herself to full wakefulness with some difficulty, she stumbled across the room, pulling on fallen pieces of her uniform as she went. "Come!" she called when she had enough on to feel halfway decent.
Samantha Traynor stood in the door. "I'm sorry, Commander. I wouldn't have awakened you, but it's the salarian Councilor. He said he had to speak to you urgently."
"The salarian Councilor?" Shepard sighed. "If he wants to yell at me about the genophage, he's out of luck. I'm not apologizing to him or anyone."
"I didn't get that impression, Commander, but he wouldn't say what exactly he did want."
"Well, let's go find out, then." Shepard buttoned her jacket and straightened it in the elevator on the way down, hoping she looked mostly presentable.
In the War Room, the wavery blue image of an impatient Councilor Valern was waiting. "Commander."
"Councilor. Sorry for the delay. There's a lot to do."
"Your associate said you were sleeping." There was an implication that sleep was a waste of Shepard's time. Perhaps it was, she conceded, but a person had to do so every once in a while. Garrus had been right—there was no time for mistakes in war, and a tired person made more mistakes than a rested one.
"Even Commanders have to sleep, Councilor." She was willing to bet he never missed a night's sleep in his comfy apartment on the Citadel.
"I suppose. But I did not call to discuss your sleep habits … or your rewriting of galactic history."
"I'm glad, Councillor. The decision was made and the deed is done; there's nothing anyone can do to change it now."
"That is true. I hope we do not all live to regret your rash choices." Valern shook his head. "Sooner than you can imagine, we are going to have billions more krogan in the galaxy. It's a good thing you saved my life once, Shepard. Otherwise … well." He cleared his throat. "Regardless, I called for another purpose. I have concerns about humanity's representative, Councilor Udina."
"Udina?" Shepard repeated in surprise. She had never liked Udina, but his work since the attack on Earth seemed irreproachable so far. "What about him?"
"My agents have discovered that he's using his authority to move vast sums of money. For what purpose, we're not sure. I would like to meet with you in person to show you some data I have uncovered."
Shepard recalled Udina complaining that with Earth unavailable, there was very little revenue, and he would have to do some creative accounting to keep the fleet running. Was that all this was? On the other hand, the salarian councilor would not be calling her about Udina if it was as simple as that.
"I'm on my way, Councilor," she said, making the decision swiftly. "If Udina's dirty, it's best we get to the bottom of the situation fast."
"Agreed. I will meet you in the Executor's office. We will review the evidence I have compiled and discuss the situation further in private. Valern out."
His image disappeared, and Shepard swore under her breath. She never should have trusted Udina, not without putting someone in a position to keep an eye on him.
She punched in a code on the console, and waited, but there was no answer in Bailey's office. "Joker," she said, hitting her comm button, "see if you can get me through to the Citadel. Bailey, preferably, and if not, Thane or Kaidan."
"On it."
By the time Shepard made it to the cockpit, Joker had responded. "No answer from Bailey, Commander, but I have Thane for you."
"Great. Thank you."
Thane's voice came through the speakers into the cockpit. She tried not to focus on how breathless he sounded. "Shepard? Is everything all right?"
"I'm not sure. There appears to be some concern about Udina. Have you heard anything?"
"No, but I would not have."
"Can you check in with Kaidan?"
"I cannot. He has been released from the hospital; as I understand, the ceremony making him the next human Spectre has already taken place. In some haste, it seems."
Shepard was sorry she had missed that. She would have liked to have seen Kaidan receive that honor. "All right." she said. "Thank you, Thane. I'm on my way—I'll see you soon."
"I will look forward to it, siha."
When the call disconnected, Joker swiveled his chair around. "You think Udina's dirty, Commander?"
"I think the salarian Councilor wouldn't have called if there wasn't something serious going on." She smiled. "Of course, if it was anyone other than Udina, I might not be so quick to believe there was a problem. EDI, can you look into his finances, see if you can find anything shady?"
"I will do what I can, Shepard."
"Thank you. And Joker, get us to the Citadel. Step on it, will you? I don't like that we can't reach Bailey. Something seems off."
"We're on our way, Commander. We'll be there soon."
"All right. Let me know when we're on approach." She left the cockpit to collect her team. She couldn't say why a simple call to talk about the human Councilor's financial dealings had her so tense, but she had learned to trust her instincts. It was better to be prepared for things to go badly than be surprised.