"To whom it may concern,
It has come to my attention that the SSV Normandy that we have spent several years working on with your government has not left Arcturus Station. Ambassador Udina assured me as of last month that the ship would see its first test flight soon. Does soon mean something different in the human tongue? Or has your Ambassador been lying to my face knowing a test flight is never taking place? I should not have to remind you that Turians who have spent years of their lives working on the ship deserve to see a return on their investment. Many Turians will be incredibly disappointed if members of your species have purposely misled us. I urge you to either test the Normandy's advanced systems or expose your Ambassador as a fraud.
Thank you for your attention,
Primarch Fedorian"
Ambassador Donnel Udina had left that letter on his desk early in the morning mumbling something about how he needed to deal with this. At first all Captain David Anderson could feel was frustration that the Ambassador, someone whose job it was to handle diplomatic incidents, gave the task of dealing with it to him. He had zero experience dealing with politics making it a bizarre request. What was he supposed to say? 'Why yes Primarch, our primary diplomat is more interested in getting a cup of coffee instead of dealing with your concerns.' While only a slight exaggeration, that statement probably had the same diplomatic outcome as saying nothing at all. David had spent the majority of his day drafting a more appropriate response to the leader of the Turian Hierarchy. The process was draining enough that David ultimately fell asleep in front of his computer desperately trying to come up with a response that wouldn't get anyone killed. In the end though he had the same question as the Primarch. Why hadn't the Normandy seen a single test flight?
The ship in question, the SSV Normandy, was sitting in the drydock right outside his office viewport collecting intergalactic dust. For the past three months, David had looked outside to see the sleek, narrow, shiny, new frigate assuming it was going to become a permanent fixture of his office aesthetic. The short answer was that Humanities' top diplomat and Ambassador to the Citadel, Donnel Udina, hadn't gotten the ok from Alliance brass to go ahead with the project to begin with, but he did it anyways. Most diplomats would've been court martialed for spending literally billions of credits from the defense budget on a pet project but like everything else, Udina got away with it. The master politician was able to frame the issue, as a sign of the newfound cooperation and friendship between the Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy. The two governments agreed to build the Normandy as a counter measure against common threats. Translation, no one trusted those in the Terminus Systems to keep their end of the Treaty of Torfan.
The Terminus Systems were a band of outlaws living on the fringes of known space who seemed to only have one goal, freedom for themselves. Once the Alliance was accepted by the Citadel Council as an official nation in galactic politics though, several races within the Terminus decided to try and enslave Humanity. The war itself, known as the Skyllian Blitz was relatively brief but, many Humans on border colonies either died or went into the slave trade. It wasn't until they started losing territory to the Alliance that what passed for a government in the Terminus finally intervened and restrained the "rogue" races. The leadership on Omega could've pulled the leash back a lot sooner, instead they waited to see how much they'd benefit from the war. When the gamble failed, they pulled back on their bets and forced a retreat. However, it was generally accepted in Alliance circles that peace wouldn't last forever and a larger war, with the full support of every species in the Terminus, could begin at any moment. After all, the Batarian that had started the conflict had escaped and hadn't been seen since. The inevitability of another conflict made it even more important for the Alliance to maintain good relations with the other Council races.
That's why the existence of the Normandy put the Alliance government in a position that they apparently didn't know how to get out of yet. On the one hand, Udina was right, the construction and research time spent on the Normandy really did bond Humans and Turians together. It would definitely help if the next time the Batarians thought about attacking Alliance systems, the Turians would be willing to intervene. Sure, an odd Turian had volunteered to join here and there but, officially, Palaven had stayed away from the war. On the other, the ship was a 900,000,000,000-credit venture that had no guarantee of actually doing anything except explode on takeoff. To make matters even more complicated, the Turian Hierarchy actually believed Udina when he promised that the ship had the full blessing of the Alliance government so it wasn't like the Joint Chiefs could say, "Oh no that was a mistake."
His omni tool, a small holographic messaging device everyone wore these days, started to ring. Although the device had been growing in popularity for awhile now, he had just now been forced to buy it for work. He already regretted the decision. It woke him up from a dream he had involving him drowning in paperwork. His jaw ached having rested against his desk for a few hours now. The call generally didn't bode well for him especially when the time in the corner read "11:39 pm." David could only hope that it wasn't one of the Joint Chiefs informing him about something new and disastrous from Udina that needed cleaning up. In the past, the Ambassador pinned multiple parking tickets on him, made a mess out of respecting Asari culture, and generally was known for being an ass to everyone he worked with in the Alliance. Donnel acted as though he was untouchable no matter the circumstances. Unfortunately, since there was no justice in the galaxy Donnel's belief proved to be awfully accurate up until now. And in all honesty, he had no reason to believe that was going to change anytime soon. Lord knows David was ready to retire at this rate.
Once he saw who it was, Anderson had a more professional expression and answered the call, "Hello? How can I help you, Admiral Hackett?" David even managed giving a salute to the slightly older man with his free arm not daring to ask, "What did he do now?"
Despite his grizzly, wrinkled appearance with a large scar running down from the right side of his forehead to the bottom of his left cheek, Hackett seemed genuinely happy through the fuzzy image, "At ease solider, it's good to see you back on Arcturus instead of playing janitor on the Citadel." It was a running joke that David was now just the cleanup crew for one of Udina's latest schemes, every time he had one. Hackett continued, "I know it's late but, Raymond called an emergency meeting with all of command here on the station, thought you'd want to hear it this time..."
The Captain took a deep breath trying to remain professional in front of his superior. Great now to add to his long day, Admiral Raymond Kahoku was yet another layer of bullshit to put on top. He silently regretted thinking that, on some level he felt bad for the disgraced Admiral. The man's career could best be summarized as a bad luck sandwich with a side of terrible coincidences. He didn't ask to have the Skyllian Blitz or Akuze thrown at him, those tragedies just sort of happened. In the end, Kahoku had been seen as a hero for his work on Torfan but, the road to get there was a long one. However, as if trying to make up for his mistakes earlier in life, the Admiral tended to overreact to small things and see them as massive threats. Just last week, the Admiral claimed Arcturus was going to be under attack according to sensor readings when in reality, it was just a comet flying by. David figured that if this trend continued, Kahoku would be politely asked to resign within the next six months. He was only still instated now as a recognition for his ship's service, the Everest, in the Skyllian Blitz.
Before Anderson could answer, Hackett seemed to read his mind saying, "I think there is something to it this time Captain, not because he said so but because a SPECTRE is downstairs waiting for an escort to the meeting. I'll see you up in briefing room A, Hackett out." The image disappeared leaving Anderson staring at his arm in a stunned silence at what the Admiral said.
SPECTREs were part of the Citadel Council's authority and essentially represented their version of an intelligence gathering operative. Unlike Alliance spies who operated on an official capacity, a SPECTRE trained for years as a black ops solider able to carry out assassinations and other missions that they personally deemed necessary. While the Council could give them a direction to go in, each individual SPECTRE ultimately had discretion on how to complete an objective. The Alliance would never give one of their agents that kind of carte blanche knowing eventually one would turn rogue. Jack Harpers plot to start a second war with the Turians over a petty personal feud had taught them that much. In the Council's eyes however fear of another SPECTRE hunting you down seemed to keep most of them in check. If one was here in the middle of Alliance territory on Arcturus Station, something big was about to happen. Knowing time was of the essence, David hastily left his office heading towards the greeting area of the station.
For a base that was supposed to be a secret, Arcturus Station had a lot of personnel wandering the halls. Maybe guards were rushing back to their quarters to make sure they would pass a surprise inspection if the SPECTRE deemed it necessary? Or the foot soldiers knew something was up with Kahoku and were getting ready for hell to break loose. His best guess at the moment was that the Batarian terrorist Balak Hgar had been discovered and a manhunt was being prepared. Nevertheless, upon entering the lobby David could have picked out the SPECTRE in a line up even blind folded seeing as it had to be the only Turian on the entire station. Maybe even in the entire sector. Although the Alliance generally enjoyed positive relations with the other races nowadays, humanity was especially protective of its military installations. If any alien was here at all they had to have appropriate clearance to do so. He was standing around 6'8" wearing dark red military armor over his black carapace, contrasted by white tribal markings on his avian face designating his house. Despite getting stares from Humans walking by, obviously still angered by the Relay 314 Incident even though it had been forty years ago now, the Turian seemed calm and relaxed waiting for Anderson to arrive. His travels all across the galaxy probably got the Turian used to the racism some Humans could dish out.
David wished he had more time to prepare for the meeting, but duty had a tendency of not waiting for you to be ready, so he approached the other man with his arm extended for a shake, "You must be the SPECTRE, I'm Captain David Anderson, here to escort you to the briefing."
To his surprise the Turian seemed to give a smile with his beak like, hard, angular mouth, "I know who you are Captain, my father fought you personally during the first battle for Elysium, he spoke quite highly about your tactics, even though we won." His voice was predatory like the rest of his people but, Anderson knew enough Turians to know he was just joking around being smug.
Still, David didn't know what the right response to that was, so he cleared his throat saying, "It was an unfortunate time full of misunderstandings, if you'll follow me the briefing room is just up that elevator." He started walking in that direction not waiting for the SPECTRE to respond, assuming he'll follow him regardless.
The Turian caught up to him with several long strides before walking slower to keep pace with Anderson, "I am sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, we value military experience in the Hierarchy, so I was just complementing your skills. I'm Nihlus Kryik, I hear your dealing with an emergency situation."
David frowned; it wasn't a good sign that he didn't know what was going on. That probably meant this was one of Raymond's tall tales, and this time he was going to embarrass himself in front of someone far more important than the Joint Chiefs. Then again it was always possible Nihlus was fishing for more information despite knowing the general background of the situation. Just as there were racist Humans who refused to move on, so too did Turians have their own bad apples. For example, just last week a prominent SPECTRE known as Saren Arterius gave a speech about how humanity deserved to be slaughtered for the destruction, they unleashed during the Relay 314 incident. At this point he was almost hoping Nihlus thought the same way. Not because it would be convenient, but because he wouldn't have to watch a once proud member of their military embarrass themselves so spectacularly.
Since he didn't know anything, David did his best to dodge the question, "I was hoping you'd be able to tell me more about the situation, I was just informed something was going on a few minutes before I got here."
Nihlus chuckled seemingly amused by the lack of coherency in the Alliance's command structure, Turians would never be able to settle strategic differences if each military officer had the autonomy that Humanity allowed. The Turian military apparatus followed strict rules of obedience and conformity. They saw strength and order from the almost beehive like hierarchy their government offered. David thought the Turians were extremely vulnerable if their leaders were assassinated but, he had learned from experience that each role a citizen occupied had a complex succession plan. It was important for him to remember though that Turians were not an actual hive like entity similar to the Geth. Besides Saren, David knew of at least one other Turian to break protocol, it was just incredibly rare.
He followed David into the elevator, "I suppose we'll find out together then, won't we? I'm here for a different reason actually that I'm hoping to bring up with all of you, if the time allows."
Anderson wondered if the Turian was here to check up on the status of the Normandy. Perhaps Primarch Fedorian was so impatient that he pulled some strings to get a SPECTRE to investigate. A part of him liked the idea of watching Udina come up with an answer on the fly. However, if knowing the man for the past twenty years taught him anything, it was that somehow Udina was going to blame him for the mistake. This wasn't the first time he had made sure that David paid the price for things he had no control over. The reason David let him get away with it was that despite his shockingly bold political moves, he did manage to get things done that previous Ambassadors couldn't. In the past five years alone, Udina was able to get an embassy on the Citadel for Humanity, and have the Alliance recognized on the intergalactic stock exchange.
The doors to the elevator opened revealing a small hallway towards the briefing room, which was far too crowded for a meeting this confidential. Apparently, people wanted to see what wild conspiracy theory Kahoku was claiming this time. He couldn't necessarily blame them, but it was highly unprofessional. No wonder Turians saw them as backwards when they behaved this way in front of them. For his part Nihlus appeared to be too preoccupied to pay them too much attention. That being said, when David walked by with a Turian beside him they seemed to be embarrassed knowing they shouldn't be there. David ignored them knowing they would leave rather than have Admiral Hackett rip them a new one if he caught any of them. He just hoped for Raymond's sake that there was actually something to this late-night meeting.
The door to briefing room A opened with a swooshing noise that was common for most automatic doors of the era, allowing David and Nihlus to enter. Anderson was expecting all of the Joint Chiefs to be here as a professional gesture of respect for Kahoku's service, however, the only two other members present besides Raymond, were Admiral Hackett and Udina. The group probably made quite the odd impression for the Turian, while the two Admirals were in their military dress blues, Udina was wearing casual clothes usually found only on the Citadel's elite Presidium ring. David thought the tan, expensive, dress suit clearly didn't match the potential seriousness of an "emergency situation." The strange attire just seemed like a slap in the face to all the other military men in the room.
Before he could introduce Nihlus, Kahoku was already standing up with one of his eyebrows raised in a silent question, "Can I ask what the meaning of this is Captain? Did you really think you could bring a friend to this type of meeting?"
David looked at Hackett for an answer and saw the Admiral looked just as confused as he felt. Even though Nihlus said he wasn't here for the meeting, David just assumed that Kahoku had called him here without telling him what the purpose was like he had for the rest of them. Why else would a Turian SPECTRE just happen to be at Arcturus Station at this particular moment? It wasn't like any of the people on Arcturus were planning any kind of attack against the Citadel. Nihlus' appearance had to be connected to this emergency whether either of them knew it or not.
After recovering from the surprise of the question, Anderson cleared his throat saying, "I'm perfectly aware of the regulations for classified briefings as you well know, I was just under the impression you were the one that wanted him here."
Hackett nodded in agreement, "When I was informed a SPECTRE arrived, I thought it was for this meeting, so I had Captain Anderson escort him here."
The three military leaders eyes all turned towards Nihlus questioningly like he was some sort of stranger knocking on their door wanting to sell them something. Nihlus took a deep breath obviously about to speak but Udina spoke up first, "SPECTRE Kryik and I have been communicating for the past several months about a proposal he has for us. I thought since we were all going to be together tonight that now would be the perfect opportunity for us to hear him out." There was a short silence before he continued, "After you tell us what the emergency is obviously Admiral."
Nihlus sensed the tension his arrival gave the room and quickly added, "I will happily wait outside until the emergency is dealt with if that would make everyone more comfortable?"
Admiral Kahoku straightened his uniform obviously trying to control his quite understandable frustration by the mix up, "I think that would be for the best, I'll have Anderson bring you back in when we're done."
The diplomat laughed with an idle wave of his hand, "Raymond please don't be silly about this, he's a Council SPECTRE, I think he can be trusted with some classified information."
Kahoku gritted his teeth with his mouth closed for a moment before nodding, "Of course, your right. If both of you would please sit down so we can begin."
It took every bit of self-restraint Anderson had to not just walk over to where Donnel was sitting and punch him in the face. How disrespectful was he trying to openly be with a fellow member of the Alliance? He understood that Kahoku was giving Udina extra paperwork with his paranoia but, was that really enough to justify undermining his authority in a room full of the Admiral's peers? It wasn't as if Udina didn't have his own habits that surely caused headaches and paperwork. In his opinion, nothing Kahoku ever did in his long rocky career would ever come remotely close to Donnel stealing billions of credits on his Normandy project. Nihlus and David sat down with an awkward silence waiting for Kahoku to speak. Anderson saw the lines of stress on Raymonds' dark-skinned face, maybe it would be a good thing for him to retire now, Jack Connig Williams proved not everyone in the Alliance could be a good leader.
The Admiral reached into his back pocket pulling out a recorder and placing it on the table. Once he hit the activation button he began to speak, "I'm sure your curious as to why I contacted you all in the middle of the night, but I assure you this couldn't wait. As your all aware the ExoGeni mining corporation has projects on multiple colonial worlds on the edges of the Terminus Systems. In the past twenty-four hours, the Alliance Intelligence Agency have been contacted with information from a company executive claiming they have found a Prothean data cache on Eden Prime."
The statement seemed to shock the room into a complete silence, the data cache on Mars was still being studied today over one hundred years later. If Humanity had more enthusiam for their recent history, David knew that everyone would see the long extinct Protheans as the number one reason they were a productive member in the galactic community as a whole. The implications of finding another Prothean data cache were huge, instead of Mass Relay technology, what if this cache stored information on weaponry? The Alliance would have to make every attempt to get this data before it fell into the wrong hands. In a best-case scenario, this new data would give Humanity and the Council races a much-needed advantage against the Terminus.
Hackett was the first to speak, "Raymond, I hope you didn't call this meeting to just get permission to act on that information? Obviously grabbing more Prothean data would help everyone in the galaxy."
Kahoku looked troubled like he was going to deliver bad news when he replied, "I would have set out immediately when I heard the call, however, Eden Prime is near the border with the Terminus. Unfortunately, the planet is in the demilitarized zone from the Treaty of Torfan."
There were a few hushed curses from Udina and Hackett, the treaty that ended the Skyllian Blitz was causing them trouble lately. The treaty itself was made in a rush between the Alliance's President and, the Terminus's self-described queen, Aria T'Loak, in a single afternoon from the fear that if they waited longer, it would only cause a breakdown in negotiations and lead to a bigger war. As a result of that haste, the Alliance had to declare over a dozen worlds a neutral zone where neither military power could enter.
David's mind was lost in thought trying to come up with a solution when Udina said, "Well, we have to go in anyways right? The Batarians surely wouldn't respect the treaty if they obtained this information."
Hackett sounded appalled in his answer, "You of all people should know it doesn't matter what they would do with this, all that would matter is we moved in first. T'Loak wouldn't be able to stop another war if we did something like that."
Nihlus only added to the problem saying, "I can assure all of you that if the Alliance moves in, even for something so valuable, that the Council will prevent the Citadel races from helping your side."
David saw an answer and sighed, "The Normandy could be used to slip in and out quickly without being seen, this could be a way to test the stealth drive." He didn't like helping Udina but in this case it was the right thing to do.
Kahoku frowned at the idea, "And what if it doesn't work? Then we're in the position of not only giving the Terminus Prothean materials but, also technology they can use to build their own stealth ships."
Hackett folded his arms obviously having concerns as well, "I don't think we could ask anyone to take that kind of risk, if they got caught, they would have to self-destruct the ship killing everyone aboard."
Anderson was frustrated they weren't seeing the bigger picture here, "What's the bigger risk here everyone? We either lose one frigate sized crew or we let the Batarians have unknown amounts of Prothean technology. I'll use my old crew from the Blitz and go there myself."
The room seemed to silently agree that this was the only real acceptable option. Even if the Admiral's had their own doubts about the mission, they had to concede that Anderson was right, if the Batarians got a hold of this potentially dangerous material they wouldn't hesitate to use it. Udina seemed very pleased with the situation, either the ship would work, and his credit theft would be forgotten or, it would fail and Anderson, who he disliked, would be dead. Nihlus also seemed happy with the outcome, the Normandy would see some use and the Turians who worked on it hadn't been wasting their time. For his part, David just saw this mission as a good way of ending his career. All he had to do now was pull it off for the sake of keeping the peace in the galaxy.
Donnel turned his attention towards Nihlus once again, "Since that's been settled, why don't you tell them what we have been discussing for the past few months, SPECTRE Kryik?"
The Turian's jaw flaps or, mandibles, fluttered signaling he felt embarrassed, or put on the spot. He stood up like he was about to give a presentation, "While the Council did not officially support the Alliance during the Blitz, I'd like to say some of us cared about your plight. Slavery should never have been looked away from as a necessary evil to avoid war, and it is clear that the Batarians will strike again if Aria sees a weakness in your people. That is why I would like to nominate a Human to join the ranks of the SPECTRE's."
If the Admiral's news hadn't shocked the room, what Nihlus said surely would have. Currently, SPECTREs were only comprised of members from the three Council races, and it wasn't an easy process to join that club. Most analysts on Earth thought it would be another fifty years before a Human would be a part of the group, since Turians made up one third of the admittance system. However, if a Turian was willing to nominate someone it was almost inevitable that they would be accepted. A Human SPECTRE would also open the door to the possibility of Humanity becoming a member of the Citadel races. In the long run, that would mean that if the Batarians decided to attack the Alliance again, the other Citadel races would have to help. This nomination plus the newly discovered Prothean data could guarantee peace for a millennium if everything worked out.
Hackett spoke first sounding surprisingly cautious, "Who exactly were you planning on picking?"
Nihlus had an unreadable expression and spoke in a flat tone, "I have a few names in mind but, I would like to hear from the four of you first."
Raymond was the first to give his opinion, "Well I think you should look at our N7 special ops people first. They've already had years of combat training and experience, so they could hit the ground running."
Almost immediately Hackett shook his head, "A logical assumption but not all N7's have the right temperament to represent Humanity on that kind of stage. I remember one was discharged just last month for assaulting two Turians in a bar."
Udina seemed to have an idea, "Not all of them are xenophobic maniacs you make them out to be Steven. What about Jack Shepard? He's a biotic, 32, born on an Alliance ship, and even got service medals leading a mixed species squad during the Blitz on the Everest. Raymond, you commanded him, what is he like?"
Kahoku leaned back in his seat and to Anderson's surprise he seemed uncomfortable answering, "Well, he's stubborn and head strong when he's doing something he knows is right. He is kind and helps people regardless of their background, all important qualities for a SPECTRE to have."
No one else seemed to pick up on his awkward hesitation so Anderson let it go as just him being tired and miss reading body language. Hackett seemed like he was in the mood for a debate about this because he argued, "True, but Shepard was on Akuze, Elysium, and Torfan, one of those events could probably break a man. I don't want to begin to imagine the kind of hefty emotional scars all three could put on a person."
David knew Hannah, Jack's mother personally before she died so he felt like he owed it to her to defend Shepard, "Jack's a survivor, all those scars have taught him something and made him stronger for it."
Udina sounded skeptical, "Is an emotionally troubled but highly effective solider really the type of person we want representing Humanity and protecting the galaxy...?"
Nihlus spoke with a satisfied look on his face, "For what it's worth, Jack was the person I was leaning towards personally. His military record speaks for itself really. I'd like to see how he performs in combat and under stress but, I'll nominate him formally in the morning."
Donnel nodded, "Alright, I'll make the call to get Shepard transferred to Arcturus immediately. We'll have him join the Normandy as a support member to the crew."