James and Ashley had perfected the 40 minute frolick. Work your ass to exhaustion, take a break, find a quiet place out of the way and...depending on performance squeeze in 15-20 minutes of unconsciousness before getting back to the world. His breath was still labored against her ear though, when the first gently audible tone that was EDI's polite way of informing her that the world had just moved on without her filled the room.
The need to sleep dragged on her attention, the naked heat of each other's skin only just beginning to cool into that perfect temperature for a doze. When the tone came again she blinked and stretched, nuzzling that place on James' throat that smelled like home before taking another cleansing breath and slipping out from between his arms and the clinging sheets.
She stepped into the head and closed the door before acknowledging the AI's request. "Go ahead, EDI," she said, and turned on the shower for a cool, waking rinse.
"Apologies for intruding," came her detached voice, "But I have an update on the situation at the Citadel."
Ashley made a face and doused her head in the cold liquid of the showerhead, waiting for her to continue.
"As of 14:11 hours, Spectre traffic has ceased across all encrypted channels," she reported.
She straightened, the cold flow banging against her heated chest instead of her face. "Is the Citadel that heavily damaged?"
"It's possible," EDI mused, "But as I'm still receiving other streams from the station, that explanation seems unlikely."
Ashley was exiting the head, towel draped as James tried to enter. She paused and they both looked at one another with a secret smile before squeezing past one another.
That smile took a long time to fade while she pulled on her uniform. "Reach out to Austic, Linnea and Jondum for a call. If they accept, send it to vidcom." The trio were all Spectres she worked with in the past and she hoped they might know more about what was happening.
"Done," EDI replied and Ashley finished dressing, pulled a brush through her hair, and freshened her skin before striding out.
"Austic has accepted," the voice said as she descended in the elevator, "But is requesting a private channel."
Her brow quirked but she nodded regardless. "Sure, okay." By the time she made it out of the elevator and through the doors to the comm room Austic Ballatis' Turian visage filled the display. His colors were faded by the holo, of course, but she still remembered the vibrant fuschia of his facial markings and the keenness of his yellow eyes when he was deep in thought.
"Ashley," he said in a serious flat tone. There was a glint in his eyes though...amusement?
"Hello Austic," she replied in kind, hands loose at her sides. "I assume you know why I'm calling."
"I'm not supposed to be speaking to you and will disavow any report of this conversation," he said without preamble.
Her brow furrowed but she quickly replied with a tilt of her head. "Now, is that any way to talk to a friend?"
"The only way, if you ask me," he said with a crook of his mandibles before shifting forward in his chair. "We live in very interesting times," he confessed, steepling his claws, "Humans in our ranks, invasion by sentient squid-machines, and for the second time in less than ten years a Spectre has been dismissed from service!"
It took a whole moment to realize he was talking about her .
His face approached the camera a smidge, chin turned conspiratorily. "I haven't seen Esheel that emotional since she lost the race to Valern in '78," he chuckled, "So I have to ask...just what did you do ?"
"Wait," Ashley protested, "What?"
"She didn't even tell you? Rude of her," he continued with a poignant sigh. "I guess she figured you wouldn't just come in from the cold on your own so she cut off your access and privileges at the source."
"She can't do that," Ashley countered, " A council vote is required and there's no way Tevos or Sparatus would agree to it."
"Which brings us to the interesting part," he said, eyes suddenly serious. "Tevos and Sparatus are no longer Galactic Counselors. Esheel got rid of you the moment she had the capability."
"How..." Ashley began to protest, mind whirling, but Austic moved forward with an explanation.
"They've been indicted on charges of conspiracy," he said gravely, "Along with a whole host of others who've been secretly manipulating governmental policy through bribery and blackmail since the end of the war. Now, I haven't seen the formal charges myself but they must have substance. The Judiciary Committee has demanded a full investigation and removed them from power until interim councilors can be placed."
Her mouth was hanging open. She shut it. "Well that's hogwash," she said simply. "Bribery and blackmail is the definition of politics and no one's ever been convicted of it. That's what elections are for."
"I tend to agree, but until this is resolved you're out."
"The hell I am! I'll appeal as soon as butts are in those seats."
The Turian tilted his head doubtfully and Ashley planted fists on her hips. "Oh, will you cut the drama and tell me what's going on?"
"I like you, Ashley. More, I respect you," he said, "But this...situation...is a sour one. You're a human and you were the second Human Spectre. There may not be a third after this is done."
She waited quietly despite the sinking feeling in her stomach because she could tell there was more.
"The person named in the filing as head of this conspiracy is Jordan Shepard," he said with cold finality, "As of today she's the Galaxy's most wanted fugitive and everyone knows how close you are to her. Several of us have been assigned to bring you in for questioning and Esheel isn't concerned with how. I'm...giving you a chance to come in peacefully with me. I owe you that for saving my life on Gellix." He shook his head sadly. "I can't, however, promise the others will be as genteel."
If there was one attribute she could assign to every Spectre she'd ever met it was ruthless efficiency. They weren't really out for blood, per se, but she could only imagine the prize she represented for their pride, for their careers. Another Spectre. Her eyes were wide and fixed at this revelation, but she pulled herself together quickly. "I...don't know anything about all this but I'm pretty sure you already know that. I…" She pulled her lower lip between thumb and forefinger, "I'm gonna think about your offer and get back to you."
"I understand," he said, yellow eyes boring into hers, "But don't take long. We're on our..." Then he disconnected abruptly. That was odd.
Austic probably wasn't lying about his respect for her and he definitely wasn't lying about his debt, but there was every chance he was hoping their prior interactions would give him a chance to get to her first . She walked out of the comm-room and navigated the corridors to the bridge but never really saw them; exited to the sound of Sam's lilting report that she never really heard before numbly accessing her terminal to find that she was, in fact, cut off from everything.
"Captain," Sam's voice repeated, closer to her shoulder, "Are you alright?" Then, "Ma'am, you're pale as a sheet ."
Shepard, what have you done ?
"I need senior staff in the war room right away," she managed and turned to see Sam nod quickly. "And I need you to raise Shepard on comms."
Sam nodded again but Williams didn't pause, pointing a finger at her. "If you can't get her, get Liara. If you can't get Liara get...just get me someone who can."
Sam turned away quickly at the urgency in her voice, calling, "Aye, Ma'am," over her shoulder.
"EDI!" she called and the miniature blue avatar that represented her appeared next to the Spectre's monitor. "I need you to obfuscate every signal coming from this boat, then tell Joker to prep for departure."
The avatar swelled soundlessly and shrunk in affirmation before it winked out; then she made a beeline for the elevator to her quarters, pausing as the object of her search stepped out just as she arrived.
"James," she said, watching him take in her expression, "We've gotta get you back on the ground."
"Why?" he asked, wide brows curling in concern.
"Because I'm leaving," she said, taking hold of his hands. "And you can't come with me."
His back straightened stubbornly, fingers suddenly clinging tighter. "If you're going to Tyr, I'm coming too."
"I'm leaving system, babe," she said seriously, "And I'm not sure when I'll be back."
While the confusion didn't quite leave his eyes he relaxed a bit. "Got a new mission?"
"Eh…not...exactly," she sounded out, then tugged on him in the direction of the war room. "Come on, you might wanna be in on this."
Dr. Chakwas and XO Abercrombie were already in the war room when she arrived and Chief Adams was only a few steps behind. They gathered around the table, all eyes focused on her.
God, where do you start , Ashley pondered for a moment while trying her best to keep a confident expression.
"I'm going to keep this brief because the truth is, we don't have much time," she began, resting her fists on the table in front of her. "There's been some kind of incident among the Council. Tevos and Sparatus have been stripped of their positions which leaves Esheel in sole command of the Council for the time being."
The shock was evident on all their faces, but they stayed quiet. She didn't dare look at James for the next part.
"Our own Commander Shepard has a warrant out for her arrest for her part in this thing, though I can't imagine what that is or why she'd take part in it. All I do know is that they want to bring me in for questioning and my Spectre status has been revoked."
The looks of shock changed to jaw clenches and gasps before James spoke. "Well that's overkill. They could've just asked you to come in."
Williams was already nodding. "If they think I'm aiding Shepard they really can't take the chance of me relaying Spectre level intel to her. Plus, Esheel and I have been butting heads over this last mission, so.."
"So it's personal," James growled, his anger infecting the others.
"It is what it is," Ash said with more assurance than she felt. "There's a team of Spectres on their way to apprehend me and.." she licked her lips, suddenly dry, "And I don't want any of you getting in the way of that."
"I didn't know there were Spectre 'teams' now," Chakwas with a humph and a fold of her arms. "They're expecting you to resist."
"Well, she is another Spectre," Mitch added.
"They didn't send a ' team' against Saren," Adams spat, then looked at her. "And while you are certainly formidable, especially with the Normandy as your base of operations, this doesn't sound like they want to question you at all."
Something clicked in Ashley's mind at the accusation. She was in this system to look into the Krogan civil disturbance because nobody else was going to intervene; and Esheel had been angry, not just because she'd not completed her mission satisfactorily, but because she'd come here, specifically. Would Esheel really have her killed? What was she hiding?
"Look," she said grimly, "I'm the only one wanted, here. I'm not going to get any of you killed because of some political football. I'll take a shuttle and meet with them."
"So we can do what?" Adams asked, perplexed. "We're here to support you , Ashley. What are we going to do, just go to a spaceport and wait?"
Chakwas sighed expressively. "He's got a point, Captain. If they just want you dead we'll be rudderless and if they really are interested in some kind of investigation they'll want to tear this ship apart for information. They won't just let us go."
"What does Shepard have to say?" James asked quietly, each hand wedged under the other armpit, muscular forearms tightly tensed.
Ashley shook her head at the question. "Trying to raise her now, but that team is on its way."
"Do you really not know anything about what they're accusing her of?" Mitch asked gently, aware of the crew's inclination but careful not to make dangerous assumptions.
"No," she replied confidently. "And I no longer have access to find out what the warrant even says. Shepard and I trust each other but we've had our differences in the past and she knows I take this job seriously. If she is involved in something, I wouldn't be her first call for support." Her eyes flickered to James, who she knew trusted the ex-Spectre completely.
"She didn't do shit," James told Mitch predictably. "I'd stake my life on it."
Mitch nodded and thumbed his lip before addressing her. "Then we need to stall them until you can talk to her," he concluded. "If she did do something she can cut you loose and if she didn't, she might be able to tell us what all this is really about."
Ashley chuckled, then met his gaze. "That's assuming a fugitive would even open communications with someone she thinks is still a Spectre, but...you're right, we should try."
"She'll talk to you," James assured. "And if for some reason she won't, I know she'll talk to me. We'll get her on the horn somehow."
"And in the meantime?" Adams asked suggestively to a room suddenly bereft of ideas.
"Ma'am," came Sam's voice over the intercom. "Sorry to interrupt, but something strange is happening with the comm bouy; I'm unable to send or receive messages outside the system. The data is simply being dropped somewhere in the chain."
James sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "So much for that idea," he said.
"Is there anything we can do from our end?" Ashley asked.
"I've no idea what's wrong with it so it would be difficult to address right now," Sam replied. "I'll let you know if that changes, of course."
"Reach out to Alliance HQ," James added. "They might know more."
"Right," came Sam's pleased response. "Will do."
"Thanks, Sam." Ashley considered her options before continuing their conversation. "In the meantime," she said to Adams, "If they want to play Cat and Mouse I've got one of the finest stealth ships in the galaxy." Her officers looked both relieved and resolute at her decision and she turned to look at James with steely eyes before she spoke again. "EDI?" She called into the air, "Have Joker set a course for Tyr. I've got a job to do."
An hour later they'd arrived at Tyr and were performing seemingly random maneuvers to avoid visual detection based on traffic, not that there was much in the area. As their communications out of system were cut off, Vega with his Alliance connections was the man with the intel for a change. As quiet as things appeared from the Normandy's vantage point, however, there was a surprise waiting for them.
"So how many are we talking about?" Ashley mused in the cockpit. Joker had his eyes glued to his displays but EDI turned to look at her from her copilot chair.
"I count a total of 6," she said cleanly. "They are expected to make landfall in approximately 29 hours."
Her gaze flicked to James, standing between her and the exit. "Does anyone else think this kind of shit seems to happen wayy too often?"
"The Citadel Conventions prohibit the use of large kinetic impactors against habitable worlds," EDI said. "In this case, Tyr may fall into a grey area as it is not considered habitable."
"Why hasn't the Alliance done anything about this?"
His large shoulders heaved in a shrug. "We offered, they refused. It's not our planet."
Williams sighed. Her first thought had been that it was the Salarian's doing, the plot she'd been prevented from stopping; but if they knew about it and still refused help she had to admit it might be an action from the Krogan themselves. It meant there was more digging to do.
"I take it nothing will survive," she said.
"6 asteroids of that size will not only eliminate all life on Tyr but alter its ecosystem permanently," Was EDI's reply.
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Joker joked. "It might go from cold to...less than cold?"
EDI's eyes looked at the opposite wall for a moment before returning to him. "The chemical and environmental makeup of this planet is such that rapid heating could sublimate surface ice to the extent a greenhouse effect occurs."
Joker broke his fervent gaze from his panels to glance at her. "So that's a yes?"
EDI's lips curled into a smile she hadn't quite perfected. "That is a yes."
"I don't think this is quite how they meant to terraform," Ashley chided them while Joker looked pleased with himself. "There's a lot of Krogan down there."
"You can't evacuate that number of people in 29 hours," James added quietly, "Even if you wanted to."
Ashley chewed her lip. "But you could change their course, right? Change the asteroids' trajectory to avoid collision?"
James looked unsure but EDI interjected. "It is feasible, if teams were in place on the asteroids themselves to perform those maneuvers immediately. As it stands, it would take at least an hour for those teams to arrive if the orders were given now, reducing the odds of collision avoidance for only 2 of the asteroids."
The Spectre shook her head in exasperation. "So Bakara's pretty much already decided this is going to happen."
There was silence in the compartment for some time and the seconds ticked away in Ashley's mind like hammers.
"Alright look," she said finally, gripping the back of Joker's headrest like a lifeline, "I trust Bakara far more than anyone from Clan Dulak. She's got her reasons and if she's willing to kill them all then as far as I'm concerned they're a threat. I'm more worried about Grunt and Jack and...whether or not the Salarians had anything to do with this."
James' brow furrowed. "Why do you think they might be involved?"
She exhaled through her nose and tightened her jaw. "Nothing concrete," she explained. "There's no other Spectre assigned and I was assigned elsewhere across the galaxy right when it began. Esheel lost her mind when she found out I came back here and the Spectre that just asked me to turn myself in said she didn't care if I was alive or dead when they did it. It can all be legally justified but it just feels like we've been kept away from this. Like...she wanted the whole situation to escalate."
They looked at one another in silence, even Joker nodding from his seat before adding, "Yeah I'm sure the Salarians would cry themselves to sleep over this place getting wrecked."
"There's only one way to find out for sure," Ashley said, "And we gotta get down there to do it." She lifted a hand at the objections already written on James' face. "I know, I know. Look at it this way," she said, half chuckling, "We technically don't represent anyone anymore so it's a little harder to start an intergalactic incident."
"You still can't go down there," James said seriously. "How do you think the Krogan might react if the Spectres chasing you show up unannounced?"
Not my problem , was her first passive aggressive response, but...he was right. The last thing she wanted was her own drama affecting the whole galaxy.
"Alright," she admitted grudgingly. "What are our op…"
"I can go," EDI said unexpectedly. "Everyone onboard is an important member of this crew and is required for the level of difficulty any potential engagement with Spectres represents. This body can perform separately from the Normandy, does not require sustenance or protection from the elements, will be difficult to detect by security designed for organic lifeforms and is capable of utilizing cyberwarfare for infiltration and reconnaissance."
Her brows rose in pleasant surprise. "That's...not a bad idea, but don't you require constant contact with the Normandy to operate? All communications to the planet's surface have been jammed."
"While a continuous connection is optimal," she replied, "I am able to operate without it. It simply requires a period of synchronization when communication is restored." The android tilted her head to peer at the underground Krogan city on a screen over Ashley's left shoulder, then said, "My power supply is limited, however, and the complex is large."
For the first time since a badly needed break in her cabin, Ashley smiled. "Don't worry. I think I can narrow that down for you."