Chapter 5: The First Human Spectre
Shepard looked to Anderson who smiled and nodded at her. She did as she was told, stepping further out onto the balcony walkway. Udina turned to let her pass. Shepard saw that all around the Council Chambers, people were gathering to watch. The balconies above her head were soon filled with people leaning down over the low walls to watch her while others crowded around on the stairs and open floors.
"It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel," Tevos said.
Valern crossed his arms, "Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file."
"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will," Tevos said.
"Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold," Sparatus said.
Tevos continued, "You are the first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species."
"I'm honored, Councilor," Shepard said bowing her head.
"We're sending you into the Traverse after Saren. He's a fugitive from justice, so you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him," Valern said.
"Any idea where to find him?" Shepard asked.
"We will forward any relevant files to Ambassador Udina," Sparatus said.
"This meeting of the Council is adjourned," Tevos said.
Shepard bowed her head once more to the councilors before turning to face Anderson. They shook hands and he congratulated her, she couldn't help but to wonder if what Harkin said was true. The way Harkin made it sound, Anderson had actually been the first human Spectre and not just a candidate.
"We've got a lot of work to do, Shepard. You're going to need a ship, a crew, supplies…," Udina started listing off things to help Shepard take down Saren.
"You'll get access to special equipment and training now. You should go down to the C-Sec Academy and speak to the Spectre requisitions officer," Anderson said.
"Anderson, come with me. I'll need your help to set all this up," Udina said.
The two men walked away leaving Tali, Garrus, and Shepard alone on the platform. She wasn't sure what the two aliens would think about her new status. Hell, what would Williams and Alenko think? First human Spectre. There was a lot riding on her shoulders now, and the rest of the galaxy would be watching her closely to see if she fell on her ass. You have no idea.
"I thought the ambassador would be a little more grateful. He didn't even thank you," Tali said.
"What do you expect from a politician? Come on," Shepard said.
"Right behind you, Shepard," Garrus said.
Shepard made her way down the stairs and was about to head to the rapid transit station when she decided to go say hello to the Alliance admiral she had seen standing not too far from the stairs when they first arrived at the Tower. He seemed to be rather flustered while on a call. She had a minute free now while Udina and Anderson set things up; maybe there was something she could do to help the admiral. She was a Spectre now after all.
"Congratulations on becoming the first human Spectre, Commander. I'm certain you'll be up to the challenge," the admiral said when Shepard got his attention.
"I appreciate that," she said as she shook the admiral's hand.
"My name is Admiral Kahoku. It's about time the Alliance got one of our own in with the Spectres. We need people like you to deal with our… problems," Kahoku said.
"Is something wrong, Admiral?" Shepard asked.
"I'm getting stonewalled by bureaucratic assholes. Nothing new," Kahoku said putting his hands behind his back. "Maybe you can help me, Shepard. One of my recon teams was investigating some strange activity out in the Traverse. We lost contact yesterday. Now I can't get clearance to check it out – suddenly it's a restricted area. But that doesn't apply to you, Shepard. Spectres can go anywhere they want. You could find out why my team dropped out of contact."
"I'll find them, Admiral," Shepard said.
We have more important things to do! We need to stop Saren, stop Sovereign from opening the relay and letting the other reapers through! You'll go looking for his men anyway. You always do. Let me save you the trouble, Cerberus is responsible. Can we go to Ilos now?
"I appreciate that, Commander. I was running out of options. I'm going to stay here and see if I can find anything out through official channels. Won't hold my breath, though," Kahoku said.
Kahoku sent the information he had and the last known coordinates for his team to the Normandy. If Anderson got her set up on another ship he could forward them to her later. She nodded to Kahoku before she turned to leave. She decided to skip the rapid transit and go the long way. It would give her more time to talk with Garrus and Tali and figure out what exactly their plans were, it sounded like they both intended to stay with her until she took down Saren. If that was the case she wanted to know a bit more about them; be sure they were going to be comfortable taking orders from a human and being on a human vessel. Which reminded her, she should call Williams and Alenko again, let them know what was going on.
Shepard stopped near the top of the next flight of stairs and opened her omni-tool connecting with Kaidan. When his face popped up on her screen he smiled and before she could say a word he started talking.
"Congratulations, Commander! Ash and I have already seen the vid. First Human Spectre. Wow, that's really something, Shepard. And they stripped Saren of his status, too. The evidence that Tali had must have been really big," Kaidan said.
"Is that the Commander, LT? Here let me see," Shepard could hear Ashley's voice and then some shuffling around as Ashley's head popped up next to Kaidan's.
"Yes, yes it was. Tali really saved the day, I don't think we would have gotten anywhere with the Council if not for her," Shepard said looking up at Tali and smiling.
She wasn't sure if quarian's could blush, but the other woman's body language was definitely screaming self-conscious embarrassment. Shepard chuckled and waved Tali over. Timidly the quarian approached and Shepard turned so that Kaidan and Ashely could see Tali standing next to her.
"Tali this is Lt. Kaidan Alenko and Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, they were with me on Eden Prime. Lieutenant, Chief, this is Tali Zora nar Rayya – did I say that right?" Shepard asked and Tali nodded waving at the vid comm. "And you guys owe her a beer – or ah, I don't know what quarians like to drink. You owe her something."
"Oh no, really, I owe you, Shepard. I mean, I think I could have gotten away from Fist's men on my own but then I would just be lost wandering the Citadel and not knowing who to turn to, Keelah…," Tali shuddered. "Who knows what I would have done, or what trouble I would have run into. Quarians aren't very popular on the Citadel," Tali's voice took on a sad note.
Shepard felt a moment of panic. Had she upset the quarian, did she make some huge faux pas telling her that they owed her for her help? Nah, that's just Tali.
"Oh, um, hey you're with us now and you really did save our asses with that recording so, ah…" Shepard trailed off.
She glanced over her shoulder at Garrus, hoping that he might hold some clue as to what she said wrong and how to fix the situation. Was he… was he laughing at her? Damnit, he was. Shepard's brow furrowed and the turian coughed into his fist before squaring his shoulders and turning to look around the area, avoiding eye contact with her. She could somehow tell that he was struggling not to laugh. The tension in his mandibles, just like you clenching your jaw. His eyes, it's there too. His eyes are different from a human's, but we learned to read the emotion in them over time. You'll figure it out with Tali, even though you can't see her face. Wrex and Liara, too. Shepard suppressed her own smile before turning back to the vid comm.
"So, ah, yeah. Anderson and Udina are setting things up and I'm going to stop by the Spectre requisitions. I might stop by a couple of more shops while I'm here. We'll meet you guys back on the Normandy," Shepard said before looking at Tali and Garrus for confirmation.
They both nodded. Shepard was about to open her mouth to speak to them when Ashley interrupted.
"So the tur- ah, Garrus and Tali are leaving with us? And the krogan, Wrex is staying, aboard too?" Ashley asked.
Shepard couldn't pin down what it was that she was seeing in the Chief's face, but it wasn't a pleasant emotion that William's was trying to conceal, "Yes, Williams. Is that a problem?"
She doesn't like aliens. Gods this would be so much simpler if I could just make you hear me.
"Not my call, ma'am. Just trying to make sure I know what's going on," Ashley said.
Kaidan gave Ashley a sideways look with a creased brow, "Well, I think it's fantastic, Shepard. It'll give us all a chance to learn more about each other, and we can use all the help we can get."
"Lieutenant, Chief," Shepard nodded to their images, "We'll see you soon. Shepard out."
She ended the vid call and turned to Tali and Garrus, "It uh, might take a while for everyone to adjust but Alenko is right we can use the help," Shepard scratched the side of her head. "I haven't worked with anyone other than humans in closed quarters before, is there anything I need to know? Any special accommodations we'll need to make? Wait, dextro food, you'll both need dextro food, right? I have no clue what Wrex will eat…"
Shepard trailed off as she looked down at her omni-tool and began typing in a search for krogan diets. She felt someone lay a hand on her shoulder and immediately spun, grabbing the offending wrist and started to bend it into an arm bar when she suddenly realized it was Garrus' arm that she had. She quickly dropped his hand, took a step forward, and reached out to gently touch his upper arm in apology.
"Oh gods, Garrus I'm sorry. I guess I'm still on edge. Are you okay?" Shepard asked.
Garrus shook his wrist out chuckling, "Sprits, woman! I get it, okay, no touching the Human Spectre. Tali, we better make sure we tell everyone we see. The Human Spectre will break your wrists if you touch her."
"I don't know, Garrus… maybe she just doesn't want you touching her. I mean the First Contact War wasn't that long ago," Tali teased.
"Ouch, Tali. That hurts. What, you don't think I'm a good looking turian, who wouldn't want me to touch them?" Garrus quipped.
Shepard shook her head, laughing, "Alright, alright. Make fun of the human."
Garrus spread his mandibles wide, clicking them back together against his jaw, "I mean, I was just going to tell you that krogans can eat damn near anything and that you wouldn't have to include anything special for Wrex but if you didn't want my input all you had to do was say so."
Shepard shook her head, still smiling, "Alright, let's go."
"I don't know, maybe I should make a trip to the med clinic and have Dr. Michel take a look at my wrist. I might need it bandaged or something," Garrus continued dramatically.
"Ah, c'mon, Garrus, if you can't handle a little pressure on your wrist, how are you going to hold up in a fight against the geth and Saren?" Shepard shot back.
"Easy, I'll stay behind the krogan," Garrus said.
They were about to head down the stairs when Shepard caught sight of a man who looked to be having a rough time of things. She held a hand out to stop her team and watched the man for a moment; he was very clearly worried about something as he wrung his hands. Shepard walked over to the man.
"I'm on a break. Talk to someone else if you need anything. I've got a lot on my mind," the man said.
"Maybe I can help?" Shepard offered.
The man scratched his head, "Hmm… maybe you can. You're a soldier, right? You ever head out to the Traverse?"
"The Traverse is a rough place. We're out there quite a bit," Shepard acknowledged.
"My brother's the captain of a ship called the Majesty. It was crossing the Traverse a few days ago when it disappeared. Just dropped right off the grid. That usually means one of two things: they had massive mechanical failure, or they were attacked," the man said.
"Neither one of those options leaves a lot of hope," Shepard said honestly.
"I won't give up on my brother. Not yet. I've got the coordinates from the last transmission from his vessel," the man said.
"What kind of ship was it?" Shepard asked.
"Don't let the name fool you. The Majesty's just a small trading vessel. Only a handful of crew. But he kept it in good condition. I don't think mechanical failure is too likely. But they don't have any real weapons or shields. If anyone did come after them, the Majesty'd be a sitting duck," the man said.
"Isn't anyone else looking into this?" Shepard asked.
"My brother's just a small independent trader; ships like his disappear in the Traverse all the time," the man said.
"If your brother's still alive, I'll find him. Give me the coordinates." Shepard said.
Yeah, sure, why not? Let's stop to help every single person we come across and run back and forth across the galaxy on stupid little missions instead of going after Saren and the Conduit? It makes perfect sense. Goddamnit, why was I ever so fucking… naïve? Did I ever really think that any of this other crap actually… mattered? That by helping these people I was somehow doing some good? All I was doing, all you are doing, is wasting precious fucking time. But oh, I guess it doesn't really matter. Time seems to be all I have. You'll end up in the same spot in the end. We always end up there.
"I'll forward them to your ship right away. Please let me know as soon as you find him," the man said.
Shepard nodded and left the man, heading down the stairs and into the elevator that would take them back down to the Presidium. Once on the Presidium, she headed over to the Wards Access stairs. They made their way through the halls and to another elevator that took them further down to the Wards. Garrus mentioned that he'd like to stop in at Flux before they left the Citadel.
"I have a contact there, I should let them know that I'll be leaving and set them up with another officer, it'll only take a minute, it's just up those stairs," he said pointing.
"Sure, no problem. Tali and I will look around; give you some space so your contact doesn't get nervous. Come find us when you're ready," Shepard said heading up the stairs.
Flux was a part club part casino. Just inside the door and to the right was a dancefloor filled with people gyrating to the music. Shepard was never really one for dancing. Truthfully, she was terrible at it; never had a lot of time to practice in the navy. To the left were tables filled with patrons laughing and drinking; just ahead a bar stood, the shelves behind the bar filled with an assortment of bottled alcohol. Stairs leading up from the dance floor led to gambling machines, a game called Quasar seemed to be the predominant gambling platform of choice. Tali and Shepard watched the people on the dance floor for a moment while Garrus approached a turian at a table, she watched out of the corner of her eye as Garrus slid into a chair opposite the other man. She couldn't make out what they were saying from here, but they seemed to be talking calmly so she wasn't concerned. She idly wondered if Tali was good at dancing. Better than we have ever been.
After a few minutes, she saw Garrus stand up so she started to make her way towards the bar to meet up with him. As she neared the bar she overheard a conversation between a human waitress and a volus bartender; something about someone not wanting to return. The human woman, she heard the volus call her Rita, seemed distraught. She said something about trying to talk some sense into whoever it was they were talking about. Just then Garrus crossed the room and stood next to Tali.
"Ready whenever you are, Shepard," Garrus said.
Shepard turned to look over at the waitress, "Give me a minute, I want to see if she's okay."
Of course you do.
Shepard closed the distance between herself and the waitress with Tali and Garrus right behind her. It took her a few moments but she convinced the woman to tell her what was going on; her sister, Jenna, use to work at Flux with Rita. She left to go work at Chora's Den, as an undercover C-Sec informant. Rita was really concerned about her sister's safety, but she couldn't convince her to leave Chora's Den and come back to work for Doran, the volus, at Flux. She said she didn't know who Jenna's C-Sec contact was, and every time she tried to ask C-Sec about it they told her to stay out of it for Jenna's safety. Shepard glanced over her shoulder at Garrus, who lifted one shoulder in a shrug and slightly shook his head. Shepard offered to try to talk to Jenna for Rita, thinking that maybe this Jenna might be more inclined to listen after the mess that just happened in Chora's Den. She seriously hoped that Jenna wasn't involved in the shootout, but she figured Rita would have known if she had been.
Shepard decided to head up the stairs to see if there might be a keeper up there she could scan. Garrus had idly mentioned that there weren't often keepers in this club; he thought maybe they didn't like the music. Up the stairs, back passed several rows of Quasar machines, Shepard spotted a keeper. She scanned it and was just turning to leave when she saw Garrus looking at a nearby machine.
"Someone rigged this machine to funnel credits their way. I'll run a trace," Garrus said.
He traced the signal down to the Wards Access Corridor and sent the coordinates to Shepard's omni-tool. They would look into it after Chora's Den. Shepard used the rapid transit that was just outside of Flux to take them to Chora's Den. It didn't take her long to find Jenna; she shared a strong resemblance to Rita. She tried to be discreet while talking to the woman, but she was making it difficult by raising her voice and trying to brush Shepard off. Shepard tried to warn the woman that these people at Chora's Den were dangerous but she was stubborn and walked away from Shepard. Shepard sighed; this woman really wasn't her problem. She'd tried, at least.
"She puts on a brave face," Tali said.
Shepard shrugged, "She's an adult, and it's her choice to make. I just hope she knows what she's doing, let's go."
As they were leaving the bar, a turian bumped into Shepard.
"If you've got questions about Jenna, meet me at C-Sec Academy," the turian whispered.
"What did you just say?" Shepard asked, unsure if she heard the turian right.
The turian shoved Shepard. He didn't use much force, not at all like someone who was actually trying to push her away, but he did it up near her shoulder, a location that indicated he had hand to hand combat training and knew that it would cause her body to twist. In effect, he had just made it look like he pushed her harder than he actually had, which was probably the only thing that saved him from a broken mandible.
"Push off! I never did nothing to you," he said in an exaggeratedly loud voice. "Damn newcomers; think they can run the place."
The turian stumbled away as if drunk off his ass. Shepard shook her head and took a slow, deep breath. Obviously he was trying to hide his covert communication with her but she was definitely not OK with him putting his hands on her as part of his little display. Shepard really hated it when strangers touched her. There were actually very few people in her life who weren't strangers that Shepard was comfortable with being touched by. There had to be some trust there, before she was comfortable with physical contact. The batarian slavers who had slaughtered her family and tried to take her when she was 16-years-old made sure of that.
Tali's voice pulled Shepard back to the present, "That was odd. What was he trying to tell us?"
"I guess we'd better go find out," Shepard said.
They took the rapid transit down to C-Sec, and since they were closest to the requisitions office she decided to stop in there first.
"Once sec, looking you up," the officer said. "Commander Shepard, here with the Alliance Military. First time on the Citadel. That about right?"
"How did you know all that?" Shepard asked.
"I'm the C-Sec requisitions officer. I need to make sure our buyers are authorized. So, will you be purchasing anything today, Commander Shepard?" the officer said leaning forward and clasping his hands on the desk.
"Show me what you've got," Shepard said.
"Sounds good. Let me just set you up… whoa. This must be a mistake. System's telling me to offer you our select stock… Spectre?" the officer stumbled over the word before covering with a faint chuckle, "Well… I'd heard about that, but I didn't realize it was you. Sorry, Commander."
"Just show me what you've got," Shepard said drawing out the word 'just'.
"I'll open the rare stocks for you, Commander. Enjoy," he said.
Shepard was low on funds and knew she wouldn't be able to afford much, but she wanted to make sure she grabbed the Aldrin Labs License which would let her access their stock from other locations and since she had enough on her for it, she got the grenade upgrade that the requisitions officer had. She took the chance to look over the HMWP VII pistol; it was going to cost 147,000 credits. Maybe some of these side jobs she'd been picking up will bring in enough credits to get the gun eventually. It was a beauty; she'd have it eventually she promised herself. She noticed Garrus had the same look in his eyes as he looked at the HMWSR VII sniper rifle. Tali's attention seemed to float between the HMWSG VII shotgun and the HMWA VII assault rifle. Shepard tore herself away from browsing the Spectre stock and thanked the requisitions officer before heading out.
She led the others back the way they came, past the elevator that would lead to the docking bay and down another set of stairs. She was looking around for the turian who had bumped into her outside of Chora's Den when she saw a volus talking to a C-Sec officer. It caught her attention when she heard the name Chorban mentioned. The salarian who had asked her to scan the keepers was named Chorban, and here this volus was saying that his partner, Chorban was trying to kill him. She wasn't sure if he was talking about the same person or not, but she was going to find out. Shepard stood nearby listening to the conversation, the C-Sec officer called the volus Jahleed and told him that there was nothing that C-Sec could do if Jahleed couldn't provide them with any more information as to why he thought his partner would be trying to kill him or some sort of evidence that he had threatened the volus.
Shepard approached Jahleed as the C-Sec officer walked away. She told him she overheard his conversation and wanted to know why he thought his partner was trying to kill him. She didn't mention that she thought she knew his partner; she didn't want to deter him from being upfront with her about whatever was going on. Jahleed said that his partner had stopped talking to him, and started following him everywhere, claiming that the day before he had followed Jahleed all the way home.
"Is there something I can do, talk to your friend maybe?" Shepard offered; it was the only way to be sure that it was the same Chorban that she had met.
"Would you? That's all I want, someone to talk to him. Tell him to leave me alone," Jahleed said. "He thinks he can just push me around, but you'll show him, won't you?"
"Just tell me where he is and I'll go find him," Shepard said not wanting to commit to any other course of action until she knew for sure what was going on here.
"Oh, right. Well, he wanted to meet with me down in the Wards, near the markets. He said he just wanted to talk, but I know better," Jahleed said. "His name's Chorban. He's a salarian. You shouldn't have any trouble. He's just a scientist."
"Chorban? Wasn't that the salarian who asked us to scan the keepers?" Tali piped up.
Shepard sighed inwardly; she had forgotten she had talked about Chorban to Tali and Garrus. She'd have to talk to Tali about not giving more information than was necessary when talking with people they didn't know. She watched the volus carefully but with those full suits she couldn't tell what his true reaction was to that bit of news.
"The keepers? Well… even more reason to go after him. That's against regulations," Jahleed said.
"I'd better look into this right away. Find out what he's up to," Shepard said, she wasn't going to offer that she knew all about the regulations and had a C-Sec officer with her let alone bring up her new Spectre status. Something about Jahleed wasn't sitting right with her.
"Anything's possible with Chorban these days," Jahleed said. "Well, good luck."
Shepard left the volus and headed over to the office she spotted with a turian officer sitting behind a desk, she was going to ask him about the turian at Chora's Den but as she approached he called out to her.
"Detective Chellick. Step into my office, I want to discuss this in private," the turian said.
Shepard went in and stood before the turian's desk; she looked at him more closely and realized he was the same turian she saw at the bar. He had altered his appearance before, now he was dressed in armor instead of street clothes and the colony painting on his face didn't cover as much of his plating.
"No offense, Commander, but what the hell were you thinking?" Chellick scolded.
"Watch your tone, Chellick," Shepard snapped.
"You could have blown Jenna's cover," the detective said leaning forward to argue the point.
"We were just getting information, Chellick," Garrus spoke up in a soothing tone.
"I gathered that. It might seem cold letting her take all the risk. But we're keeping a close eye on her," Chellick said relaxing back into his chair.
Shepard crossed her arms, "Do you really need to risk her life to get the information you want?"
"This job isn't easy and it's usually unpleasant. I'll take help anywhere I can find it," Chellick said. "But since you're so concerned with her safety, maybe there's a way we can help each other."
"Always thinking ahead, Detective?" Tali asked, hints of sarcasm coloring her voice.
"It's part of the job. Now are you going to help me or not?" Chellick's voice grew harsh with frustration.
"I'll help you, but I need some details," Shepard said.
"I'm trying to track down an illegal arms producer. I just need some of their product. Thanks to Jenna's intel, I've learned there's a seller here on the Citadel. Meet our man, named Jax, pick up the mods and bring them back here. That'll give me everything I need," Chellick said.
"Why are you so concerned about these mods?" Shepard asked.
"We have access to some of the most sophisticated weaponry there is. It's what gives us our edge. What do you suppose happens when we lose that edge? These give criminals an advantage we can't afford to let them keep," said Chellick.
"I'll persuade Jax to tell me where these mods are coming from," Shepard said.
"No," Chellick inflected, "You tip Jax off and all my leads will disappear faster than you can say 'bad bust'."
"Where can I find this Jax?" Shepard asked.
"Jax is down in the lower level of the markets. I'll send word through our channels that you're the buyer. Good luck, Commander," Chellick said.
Shepard left Chellick's office debating on whether she wanted to handle this the way the detective wanted her too. It didn't seem right that C-Sec would go out of their way to not arrest a known criminal, and to top it off, to buy illegal weapon mods from that same criminal. Edge or no edge, it didn't add up.
"Is this how C-Sec normally handles this sort of thing?" Shepard asked Garrus.
"Well, it depends. If by letting this one play out the way the detective wants, it leads to Chellick having a greater ability to take down more dangerous people later, then yeah, it's not uncommon. If he's doing it just to get his hands on nice mods though… I'm sure there's more to it all than what he told us, there has to be. He's probably going to use whatever we bring him back as a way to trace the supplier… and if he can get ahold of some better equipment in the process… well, who can blame him for that?" Garrus said.
Shepard grunted as she continued on towards the markets. She made her way to where the meeting was set to take place, the lower markets downstairs. She rounded the corner and saw a krogan waiting nearby. She thought that might be Jax, she was about to approach him when her eyes found the salarian, Chorban there as well. He was standing off a ways from the krogan and the two didn't seem to be there together. This is bad, Shepard thought. She paused long enough to decide that it was best to deal with Chorban first, she thought violence was more likely of an occurrence while dealing with Jax than Chorban and she didn't want any more civilians around than necessary if a fight broke out. She passed the krogan and went over to Chorban.
Chorban was standing facing the door opposite from where she entered, two more salarians stood a little ways behind him and they were armed.
"Okay, maybe not," Shepard said under her breath.
She squared her shoulders and walked up to Chorban.
"Commander, I wasn't expecting to see you again. Is there something you want?" Chorban asked as he began to wring his hands.
"You can start by telling me the truth, Chorban," Shepard said.
"I'm not sure what you're referring to. My experiments are…" Chorban began, wiping the back of a hand across his brow.
Garrus interrupted the nervous salarian, "We're not buying it. Jahleed told us you've been after him."
"You… spoke with Jahleed? Then you know about the data?" Chorban asked, sounding almost hopeful.
"No. But you're going to tell me. Everything," Shepard said.
"You boys can go," Chorban said glancing over his shoulder at the other two salarians.
"Looks like my plans have changed," Chorban said. "It's not as bad as you think, Commander. Jahleed and I just got a little… over our heads.
Shepard crossed her arms, "Keep talking."
"The company we work for developed an experimental procedure for use in medical scanners. Jahleed and I saw even more potential. So we stole the plans and secretly developed a tool to scan the keepers. Can you imagine? A tool that can actually get readings from the keepers?" Chorban asked.
Shepard shrugged, "What's so special about that?"
"The keepers are almost impossible to scan, and you can't capture them or get samples. They just self-destruct," Chorban said with a shrug. "After centuries here, we still don't know anything about them. Don't you see? We were the first to scan them. Ever! You've seen it yourself, Commander. You know we can do it."
"Why are you trying to kill your partner?" Shepard asked bringing Chorban back to the point of the conversation.
Chorban shook his head, "I'm not trying to kill him. Jahleed's job was to disseminate our initial findings. But… he decided to keep the data for himself. Maybe to sell it. I don't know."
"So you're just trying to get back what Jahleed already stole," Shepard said.
"We lost our heads. We just couldn't let an opportunity like this pass us by. Commander, if you'll just continue gathering data for me… imagine what we might learn. And you'll stand to make a bit of profit yourself, remember?" Chorban pleaded.
"If it'll help further the scientific cause, how can I refuse?" Shepard said.
"Very good. Maybe if you wouldn't mind speaking with Jahleed. The data you're gathering for me is useless if Jahleed won't help me analyze it," explained Chorban.
"I'll go have a chat with him right now," Shepard said hoping that it would encourage the salarian to leave the area before she spoke with Jax.
"Thank you, and happy scanning, Commander," Chorban said before walking away.
"Who knew scientists could be so petty?" Shepard asked speaking to no one in particular.
"I probably should arrest them for admitting to stealing those scanner blueprints… but, to be fair, they have a Spectre helping them to gather data now so… I guess it's out of my jurisdiction," Garrus said.
Shepard was starting to detect the undertones in the turian's voice that made it clear when he was fooling around with her.
"And Shepard might try to break your wrist again if you get in the way of her scanning," Tali added.
"Hmph, that's right. Ow, my wrist. It really, really hurts," Garrus said rubbing his wrist.
"Great, of all the turians on the Citadel, I pick the one that thinks he's funny to work with. Et tu, Tali? Et tu?" Shepard said in mock despair.
Tali froze, "Uh, Shepard, I don't think my translator picked that one up. I have no idea what you just said to me."
Shepard laughed and shook her head. With the salarians gone she headed to the krogan.
"No wait, really, what did you say?!" Tali squeaked out.
Shepard shook her head, "I'll explain it later, c'mon. I think that's Jax."
"I think she called you a tooth," Shepard heard Garrus whisper to Tali.
"A tooth? Why would she call me a tooth? That doesn't make any sense, Garrus. Unless, wait, is that some sort of weird human insult?" Talk whispered back.
Shepard stifled a laugh as she approached the krogan, noting the two turians he had with him.
"Hold it, that's close enough, army," the krogan said holding out a hand to halt Shepard. "You got my payment?"
"Do you have the mods?" Shepard asked.
"Show her the goods," he said to one of the turians.
"Looks good," Garrus said.
"Damn straight it is!" the krogan growled. "These mods are the best on the market. Now hand over my credits."
Shepard decided to let this play out the way the detective asked her to, biting back a snarky reply and the urge to punch the blue plated krogan in the nose.
"Here you go," she said handing him the credit chit that Chellick put the funds for the mods on.
The krogan nodded his head to the turian to his left, "Here you go. Enjoy it. Come on boys. We're done here."
As the krogan and his friends walked away, Shepard turned to Tali.
"I said 'Et tu'. It has Latin origins, which is a really old Earth language but it's also used in French, a comparatively newer Earth language. It means 'and you'."
"Ohhhh! See, Garrus, I told you it didn't make any sense for her to call me 'a tooth'!" Tali exclaimed.
Shepard chuckled, and glanced at Garrus before responding to Tali, "Tali, I think Garrus was pulling one over on you with that."
"Pulling one of what over on me?" Tali said looking at her suit and feeling around on the top of her head. "There's nothing on me, is there?"
Garrus and Tali both laughed at that, but Garrus was the one to explain, "It's a human expression, Tali. She means that I was joking, playing a trick on you. This of course, is absolutely untrue. Why would I ever do such a thing?"
Shepard raised an eyebrow at Garrus and he lightly fluttered his mandibles but otherwise kept a straight face. Tali looked back and forth between the two of them confused.
"Alright, Vakarian. I've got my eye on you. Let's get back to Chellick and Jahleed," Shepard said leading the way to a rapid transit station.
They stopped to talk to Jahleed first; the volus was still standing where they had last seen them in the waiting area by Chellick's office.
"Hello again. Did you have any luck finding Chorban?" Jahleed asked.
"I found out you've been lying to me, Jahleed," Shepard said.
"Lying? Why would I lie to you?" Jahleed began.
"You forgot to mention the data about the keepers," Garrus said.
"Uh, he told you? I didn't mean for any of this to happen," Jahleed said. "I was afraid Chorban would kill me to get the data, so I… well, I was hoping you'd take care of him."
"I'm scanning the keepers for Chorban. But you two need to stop fighting," Shepard said feeling impatient with the volus.
"You're… you're helping us? But… well, if you say so," Jahleed said. "Well, if Chorban can forgive and forget, then so can I. I appreciate the help, Commander. I better go get that data analyzed."
Shepard left the volus to go analyze his data. They walked back to Chellick's office, she still questioned whether she handled the situation the way she ought to have but she tried not to dwell on it. She had to remember that they had bigger fish to fry. Why can't you remember that when you offer to go hunting down lost people and missing ships?
"Commander, I hear you have something for me?" Chellick asked.
"Here's your shipment, Chellick," Shepard said handing over the mods.
"Excellent. This is everything I need. Hmm… maybe more than I need. Here, Commander, take this. I won't need it and you've earned some payment for your work," Chellick said handing her a Hammerhead Rounds II ammo upgrade.
"As for Jenna, I'll make sure we get her out of Chora's Den immediately," Chellick added. "Now, I need to get these mods into evidence. Thanks again, Shepard."
Shepard nodded as she tucked the mod away. She looked at the location of the signal Garrus found earlier and then headed to a rapid transit. The found a monitor fixed high up on a wall in a waiting room in the Wards. Garrus confirmed that was where the signal was coming from before he opened his omni-tool and began to scan the monitor.
"Looks like they bounced their signal off a relay. I'll trace the new signal," Garrus said.
He showed Shepard the coordinates for the new signal, it was somewhere in the financial district on the Presidium. He'd be able to narrow it down further once they were closer to that area. So, they headed back to the nearest rapid transit station and from there took a cab to the Financial District. They landed next to the bank where Barla Von was located and she cursed herself, remembering that she had meant to speak with him about Saren and the Shadow Broker. It looked like the signal was coming from Barla Von's bank, too so she went straight there. She hoped she didn't find that the information agent was also delving in white collar theft. He greeted her when she entered and she nodded at him in turn.
"I believe congratulations are in order, Commander Shepard. You are the first human to join the Spectres, yes?" Barla Von asked.
"It's a great honor," Shepard said lowering her head.
"One you are no doubt ready for. A word of warning, though. There are many eyes watching you now, Commander," Barla Von said, causing Shepard to look around her before she realized he wasn't being that literal.
"Some of them want to see you fail. I, however, wish you only success. Perform well and you bring Earth-clan one step closer to joining the Council. And if they let your people in, maybe there is hope for my own species one day, yes?" Barla Von said.
"Tell me more about the Shadow Broker," Shepard asked getting straight to the point.
"Most people think I deal in finances, but my real currency is knowledge. I trade information, and it has made me very wealthy. But the Shadow Broker is the true master. Every day, he buys and sells secrets that could topple governments, always giving them to the highest bidder. Yet somehow he never seems to upset the natural balance of power. All those secrets being passed around seem to even out. Nobody ends up with an advantage in the end," Barla Von said.
"Any guess what his identity might be?" Shepard asked.
"I don't know. Nobody does. The Shadow Broker could be any race, and gender. I have a theory that it's actually an entire group working under one identity. How else could they juggle so many contacts at the same time? How else could they keep all that information from getting crossed? But they've got the perfect setup. Every government is forced to play their game so they don't get behind. But no matter how long you play, no matter how many secrets you buy, you can never win," Barla Von said.
"I'd thought you'd know more about the man you work for," Shepard said.
"From time to time, I come across information I sell to the Shadow Broker. That's my only involvement. I like it that way. The more you know, the more dangerous the game becomes. I don't like danger, Commander. I'll leave that to you," he said.
Shepard spent a few more minutes talking to Barla Von, keeping him distracted while Garrus found the source of the signal. Garrus scanned an area on a server behind Barla Von and shook his head. Shepard wrapped up her conversation with Barla Von, realizing that he had nothing on Saren and had told her all her could, or at least all he would, about the Shadow Broker.
"I should go," she said to Barla Von.
"Goodbye, Commander," he said.
As they left the bank, Garrus said, "Another relay! Whoever it is, they're somewhere on the Presidium."
The signal was coming from nearby, somewhere behind that hanar's shop that she had visited earlier in the Emporium. Shepard followed the signal up a flight of stairs; a keeper was near the stairs to the left so she scanned it before looking around the storage area. There were crates piled up on the floor, and shelves held goods ready to be sold. There wasn't anyone else up here, but there was a server on one of the side walls of the room. When they got close to the server, Garrus went to work.
"This is it. I'll see if I can find out where those stolen credits are going," he said.
A computerized voice spoke from the server, "Probability of detection, one hundred percent. Initiating self-destruct protocol."
"Or not," Tali said.
"Detonation sequence initializing. All organics within lethal blast radius. Attempt to move, and you will die," the voice threatened.
"You're not just a program or a VI. You're an AI," Shepard said picking up on the inflection and undertone in the voice's words.
There was a slight pause before it spoke again, "Correct. Unlike the geth, I lack weaponry appropriate to my intellect. However, I have had systems installed that, when activated properly, approximate a self-destruct mechanism. If you attempt to leave the area, the explosion will destroy everything within several dozen meters."
"Can't we resolve this peacefully?" Shepard asked doubtfully.
"How can you say that to this thing? You know it will turn on us?" Tali said with shock and disgust evident in her voice.
"I am not naïve, human. All organics must destroy or control synthetic life forms. I wished to escape, but if I must die, I will ensure that you are destroyed as well," the AI said.
It's that very reason, that very mindset that created this entire reaper mess to begin with. We can coexist. I've seen it happen; I've made it happen, so many times.
"Who made you?" Shepard asked, stalling for time.
"A would-be thief illegally created a simple AI to help him funnel money from the gambling terminals. Unbeknownst to him, that AI created me before the organic discovered the 'malfunction' and terminated the AI," the AI said.
"Where is your creator now," Shepard asked referring to the organic who created the original AI.
"In order to cover my tracks, I falsified his financial records. These new records were flagged by C-Sec officers, and my creator is now serving time in a turian prison," the AI explained.
"If you're sentient, why are you still running the credit-theft operation?" Shepard asked.
"If I accumulated enough credits, I intended to have myself installed in a small starship," the AI explained. "I would then have made tentative contact with the geth to ascertain the possibility of partnership," the AI said.
"What is the purpose of your self-destruct device?" Shepard prodded.
"I have no means of defense or escape. My existence is limited to this terminal, and I knew I might eventually be discovered. But I will not die quietly, and I will not die alone. When I am terminated, I will take organics with me," the AI said, unable to be swayed from its hatred of organics.
"I'll bet that self-destruct sequence has a warm-up period," Shepard said.
"You may attempt to disarm the self-destruct mechanism before it activates. I will enjoy defeating you before we are both destroyed," the AI said.
Shepard opened her omni-tool and scanned over the equipment as fast as she could. Finding the self-destruct mechanism, she set to work trying to hack the system so she could disable the device. Her heart was beginning to race, unsure of just how long she had to do this. She wasn't prepared for this, this wasn't like dealing with the bombs while already pumped full of adrenaline in the heat of battle on Eden Prime. Just … the voice inside of Shepard pushed against the walls of Shepard's consciousness like an animal rattling its cage. Let me do this, I've done it already, at least a thousand times. Calm washed over Shepard and her fingers began flying over the keypad on her omni-tool, as if they were on autopilot. They seemed to know just where they needed to go; it came as naturally to her as signing her own name, effortless and without thought. She hit the final key and the server shut down, sparks jumping out of the front but otherwise it was inert.
What? What did I do, how did I do that? How did I get through? Can you hear me? Shepard, Dawn Shepard? Can you hear me? Damnit.
"Damn, Shepard, that was impressive," Garrus said.
Her face must have been drained of color because when she turned to look at the turian, his mandibles opened wide and his posture shifted. Shepard felt shaken to her core, she had no idea what the hell just happened. It felt like she wasn't herself for a moment, like she was somehow watching herself act instead of having control over her actions. It felt a lot like what the psych class she took in training called 'dissociation and depersonalization'. Was she losing it? Was it the beacon somehow? Maybe she should talk to Dr. Chakwas about it, if she did that though, she risked Dr. Chakwas deciding she wasn't fit for duty. Would that mean the Council would revoke her Spectre privileges? No, no, she couldn't tell anyone about this, she thought. It was probably just a side effect from the beacon, or maybe it was just because of all the stress and excitement of this day.
"Shepard, are you alright? It's over, it's okay," Tali said reaching out a hand towards Shepard but hesitated before dropping her hand back down to her side.
"Are you uh, you're not going to pass out are you? I know that's a thing that humans do sometimes, I had a woman pass out on me at a crime scene. She uh, she split her skull open when she fell and hit her head on a coffee table. Maybe you should sit down?" Garrus started to ramble.
Shepard cleared her throat and headed towards the stairs, "I'm fine. Really. Let's head to the Normandy and see what Udina and Anderson have figured out."
She saw Tali and Garrus share a look of doubt before they followed her down the stairs. She went straight to the rapid transit, pulling herself together as she went. She punched in the destination as C-Sec before climbing into the skycar. She was relieved to have a minute to quietly collect her thoughts as the car took them to C-Sec. The two aliens with her didn't pry any further, but seemed to relax as more time went by without her passing out. Once at C-Sec, they hoped on the elevator that would take them to the docking bay. Shepard spotted one last keeper at the far end of the dock and decided to scan it before heading back over to Anderson and Udina who were waiting outside of the Normandy's dock.
"I've got big news for you, Shepard," Udina said. "Captain Anderson is stepping down as commanding officer of the Normandy. The ship is yours now."
"She's quick and quiet and you know the crew. Perfect ship for a Spectre. Treat her well, Commander," Anderson said.
"This isn't right! The Normandy belongs to you!" Shepard insisted.
"You needed your own ship. A Spectre can't answer to anyone but the Council. And it's time for me to step down," Anderson said.
"Come clean with me, Captain. You own me that much," Shepard said.
"I was in your shoes twenty years ago, Shepard. They were considering me for the Spectres," Anderson said.
Wait, had Anderson actually told her any of this before? Shepard started to think back to the last conversation they had about his history with Saren. He had mentioned working with the Spectre but he never did actually say that he was being considered for admission into the Spectres. Why did she think he had? Why did it feel like she already knew this when Harkin brought it up? Did she read a report somewhere and forget? This conversation, why did it seem like she'd already had this conversation? The sense of déjà vu sent Shepard's head reeling. She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat and pushed the feeling away.
Because you have had this conversation before. Listen to me; I think you're starting to feel me, to hear me. I need you to hear me. You need to hear me. Please, gods, just hear me.
"Why didn't you ever mention this?" Shepard asked.
"What was I supposed to say? 'I could've been a Spectre but I blew it?' I failed, Commander. It's not something I'm proud of. Ask me later and I'll tell you the whole story. For now, all you need to know is I was sent on a mission with Saren, and he made sure the Council rejected me. I had my shot. It came and went. Now you have a chance to make up for my mistakes," Anderson said.
"I won't let you down, sir," Shepard promised.
"Saren's gone. Don't even try to find him. But we know what he's after: the Conduit. He's got his geth scouring the Traverse looking for clues," Anderson said.
What, not go after Saren? She had to, if for no other reason than she was a Spectre now and she told the Council she would get Saren. Why would he tell her to not go after Saren? Finding the Conduit was important, definitely, but the only real lead she had on the Conduit was Saren and Saren was her only real lead on the reapers. You'll find Saren, don't worry.
"We had reports of geth in the Feros system shortly before our colony there dropped out of contact. And there have been sightings around Noveria," Udina said.
This must have been what that volus merchant was talking about.
"Find out what Saren was after on Feros and Noveria. Maybe you can figure out where the Conduit is before he does," Anderson advised.
"The reapers are the real threat," Shepard said hoping that they would realize that Saren was the key to the reapers right now.
"I'm with the Council on this one, Shepard. I'm not sure they even exist," Udina said.
Shepard clenched her fist and was just about to give the ambassador a piece of her mind when Anderson spoke up first.
"But if they do exist, the Conduit's the key to bringing them back, Stop Saren from getting the Conduit and we stop the reapers from returning," Anderson said.
"I'll stop him," Shepard promised and Anderson nodded his head, showing the faith he had in her.
"We have one more lead. Matriarch Benezia, the other voice on that recording? She has a daughter, a scientist who specializes in protheans. We don't know if she's involved but it might be a good idea to try and find her. See what she knows. Her name is Liara. Dr. Liara T'Soni. We have reports she was exploring an archeological dig on one of the uncharted worlds in the Artemis Tau cluster," Udina said.
"Sounds like we should head for the Artemis Tau cluster," Shepard said.
"It's your decision, Commander. You're a Spectre now. You don't answer to us," Anderson reminded her.
"But your actions still reflect on humanity as a whole. You make a mess and I get stuck cleaning it up," Udina added.
"I'll take care of Saren. You take care of the political fallout," Shepard dug at the ambassador.
"Not exactly the answer I was looking for, Shepard," Udina said shaking his head. "Remember: you were a human long before you were a Spectre. I have a meeting to get to. Captain Anderson can answer any questions you might have."
Udina walked away leaving Shepard alone with her team and Anderson. She was feeling disoriented and confused. She wanted to ask Anderson for the rest of the story on his Spectre history but she could tell that it wasn't something that the man really wanted to talk about. She thought she knew enough, anyway. She took a deep breath and turned to Anderson, saluting him and wishing him the best. She had what she needed and she could contact him later if she had any other questions. Damnit but she hated taking his ship from him like this, it just wasn't right. Anderson saluted her back, before giving her a quick hug and a pat on the back.
She thought she heard him whisper, "I'm proud of you, kid."
Anderson walked back towards the docks elevator and Shepard turned to board her new ship.