NOTE: Honestly, I've been struggling with chapter. I've rewritten, added and deleted scenes from it constantly. In the end, I chose the present form to be able to publish before I get bogged down in even more double guessing myself. I hope you will enjoy it. Will follow up as soon as I can with extra updates. Thank you for your patience!

Chapter 35: Madness and Stupidity II

Citadel, Zakera Ward

"Sir!" the officer answered the call.

His teammates focused their attention to him. They were on standby since forever.

"Acknowledged. Of course, monitoring them since possibility was raised. Objective, location, time frame?" the officer inquired and waited for an answer. "Situation volatile, too short notice. Permission for Argent?"

He made hand gestures to his subordinates as instructions came through. The agents prepared. Two immediately brought up their omnitool interfaces. Two left, geared up.

"Understood. We're moving," he said and finished the call. He turned to address the team. "Purge everything. Leave no trace. We extract as soon as possible and deliver them to a Batarian ship at the docks. Execute plan Argent. Move!"

One of the agents working on their omnitools turned to his CO. "Sir, that's extremely dangerous and could co-" he began before being cut off.

"I'm aware. Do as ordered! Move!" he instructed his subordinates. Then, he made a call. "SPECTRE! Plan Argent has just been initiated."

Inira [1] leaned over the counter, eyes on the screen as news rolled in. Live feed from Arx was displayed. C-SEC constables had it surrounded. Most of them were at the main entrance. Others had taken position on upper and lower levels on nearby docks, locking down surrounding airspace.

"The galaxy's gone insane, I am telling you," the Turian she just served said.

"What makes you think that?" Inira asked. "Irissa's arrest? The civil war on Taetrus? The burning of Torfan? The loss of a major Asari colony? Or the ...terrific evidence published about a matriarch?"

He downed everything in a single go. "Please give me more of the same," he requested.

"Are you sure you don't want something strong?" she spared him a glance. "I have a feeling strong Turian drinks will be in high demand in the immediate future. Get it while it's still in supply on the station."

He gesticulated a negative response. "Don't be foolish, Inira."

She filled his glass. "What, you don't think the Citadel will go to hell?"

"This is the Citadel you are talking about," he stated.

"Taulun," he looked her in the eyes when she called his name. "That-" she pointed at the display "is the Citadel I am talking about. All it takes is one eager idiot."

They both turned their gazes to the screen and were taken aback by what they were seeing. The live feed from Arx was replaced with something totally different.

"What is this?" Taulun inquired as he read. "Bribe by Venari Pallin for a hit on a C-SEC frigate?"

They read the displayed information. Each line was written in the main languages of the galaxy.

"Evidence of staged rebellion on Taetrus... This can't be right..."

"See?" Inira glanced at him. "That's the Citadel I'm talking about-" She was cut off when the building's evacuation alarm went off. "What the hell happened?"

"Attention, all residents! Please evacuate the complex orderly. Do not panic. If somebody requires assistance, please help them evacuate orderly. Citadel Emergency Services have been alerted and are on their way. This message will repeat every 30 seconds."

"Must be serious if the entire building is ordered out. Come on, Inira," Taulun spoke as he stood up. "We must evacuate. Lock the bar."

The sight in the streets outside the building took the two by surprise. Large groups of people were crowding the walkways leading to the C-SEC station. And more people were walking out from the buildings to the other side.

A voice on loudspeakers gave orders from the C-SEC station. "Disperse the mob immediately! This gathering is unsanctioned, and is disturbing peace and order on the Presidium! Return back inside!"

The order elicited negative reactions from the mob. Many shouted profanities, frustrated at the ridiculous and contradictory circumstances. Some pointed out that the evacuation protocol had been initiated for the buildings.

"What is C-SEC doing?" a bewildered Taulun asked.

"I... don't know..." said Inira, looking around. She spotted two Salarians in the mob throwing what looked like two small tubes at a quickly forming cordon of C-SEC constables. They fell short, in the crowd, and went off. They had been flashbangs. The rather cramped space compounded the sound. The nearby mob did not take that well, thinking it had been C-SEC's doing.

"Taulun... let's get back into the bar. I have a feeling this is not an actual evacuation order. Something's not right."

"Attention all units! Priority order from the Executor!" came a voice on the channel. "All Special Response units are ordered back to the Academy! This is an emergency! Report back immediately!"

Chellick froze. For a moment he thought he'd been caught hiding evidence. He'd just pocketed a piece of cloth with blue blood from the drips he'd stepped on. He then wiped the spot thoroughly and made sure to hide it as best he could before the investigation team arrived.

"I don't recognize this voice," one of the assigned Special Response constables noted.

"We've got the fugitives boxed in. We can't leave them here and just return to HQ," another constable added. "They must have nowhere left to go."

They were right, Chellick thought. "Maybe a new person?" he theorized. He switched the radio. "Dispatch, this is Chellick. We're chasing a group of armed fugitives responsible for the shooting at Chora's Den. Special Response unit is involved. Please confirm recall order."

The response came after three seconds. "Positive on recall order. All Special Response constables are ordered to the Academy. We have an extreme situation developing at the Academy. Executor Pallin's orders."

It did not make sense. The only situations where Special Response officers are required at the Academy are the darkest. Ones where many hostages and heavily armed hostiles were involved. And total anarchy on station. If Chellick truly wanted to help the Hierarchy, based off the anonymous Lucius Vextus' revelations, following the order was the opportunity.

"We can't just let a band of armed killers get away!"

"Securing the Citadel takes precedence. We are locking down the station to prevent their escape. The headquarters need every body to prevent complete anarchy, a lynching, and a bloodbath."

Chellick joined on the comms. "We need pickup back to headquarters. Home in on my location. Special Response teams, return to where we found the Batarian corpses and await pickup."

"Team Two, we are making our way back."

"Team One, we are holding position. Confirm recall order?"

"Confirm! You heard it directly from HQ."

"Team Three, we almost cut them off on the parallel walkway! You can't be serious, detective!" Sidonis complained.

"We have our orders," Chellick took a commanding tone. "They won't make it off station. We are under lockdown."

"They'll burrow like parasites, like those Salarians, and we will have to take every screw apart to cleanse them. We are talking about armed terrorists. Who stormed an establishment, shot and killed people, and kidnapped the owner." There was a brief pause. Chellick feared Sidonis made the worst decision for his. "Team One, returning to rendezvous point. This better be an assault on C-SEC for the Executor to give this order."

A breath of relief escaped Chellick.

Pallin looked at the screen of the operations room, C-SEC's command center.

"What are they doing?" he inquired, bereft of any reasonable explanation. The men were abandoning their mission of chasing down Fist's abductees. He spoke into his omnitool. "Detective Chellick, what are you doing?" ... "Detective, do you receive?"

The body cameras did not give any indication they were paying him attention. He gave it another go. "Detective, respond immediately! Anyone!? Maulun, Lantar, can you hear me? Do not abandon the mission!"

And Pallin looked in vain as they retreated, not even replying. "Why can't we talk to them? What's happening?"

"Executor, I think the detective spoke to somebody just before retreating. He looked like he was thinking about something."

Pallin turned to the operators responsible for communications. "Verify who contacted Chellick! I want to know who it is. Reroute any nearby Enforcement constables to the upper levels of Chellick's last known position and lock down the area. Nobody is allowed to enter or leave. The fugitives must not get away!"

"Sir, we have a situation," his attention was called to another operator. "Dispatch just alerted us that multiple Citadel-wide channels have been hijacked. They're broadcasting accusations against you, against Citadel Security and the Hierarchy's councilor."

The parts of Pallin's skin not covered by exoskeleton suddenly shifted to a more open color tone as he processed what was being broadcast. "What in the Spirits..."

He was too shocked to register that new updates were coming in about an angry mob gathering in front of the main entrance. And others around every C-SEC outpost on the station.

Sidonis still had the rifle in his hand, not collapsed for easy carry. He watched the team he'd been assigned get in C-SEC skycars one by one. Chellick coordinated the murder scene investigation.

"Detective?" Sidonis called to him.

"Yes... detective?" Chellick turned to face him.

Sidonis pointed at the bodies they were loading in the ambulance for autopsy. "For all intents and purposes it was someone getting rid of unwanted weight. Those two Batarians have been executed." Chellick conveyed agreement via body language. Sidonis moved his talon in the direction of the ward's length. "And we are letting them get away."

"Not my call, Sidonis. Get back to headquarters," Chellick instructed. "We'll be right behind you with the evidence. And collapse that rifle before an accident happens."

Sidonis reigned in his frustration as the car left the scene. He looked out the window and noticed a skycar higher than them, going the opposite way.

"Stop! Don't go to C-SEC! Follow that car!" Sidonis ordered, pointing at the skycar above them. The driver hesitated for a second, a second too long for Sidonis' patience. "That's not one of ours! Pull over and let me drive if you're too stupid to put one and one together!"

The driver did as instructed and turned to follow the unknown skycar from a respectable distance.

"Keep it in our visual range. Try to identify who owns it and where it's been!" he ordered the officer in the left seat to his. "We follow it, we get our hands on the terrorists."

"It's just four of us against at least four of them," the driver observed. "We need backup."

Sidonis agreed. They could be overwhelmed. He spoke into his radio, "Maulun, turn right after your car clears the access tunnel and drive along the ward's length. Lock on my team's transponders and follow us."

"That's the wrong way, detective."

"I have eyes on a suspicious vehicle heading that way. They're slowly descending. No doubt it's the escape vehicle," he argued.

"Detective," the man in the left seat showed him the omnitool display. "Vehicle identified. It's a utility model. Capacity for small cargo load. Could also fit people quite comfortably in the cargo compartment."

Sidonis analyzed the model before nodding his approval. "Maulun, listen," he went back on the radio. "We've confirmed the escape vehicle. You follow us, Maulun, or you send news to our families if they overwhelm us and kill us."

Their transponders indicated they were turning about to follow him.

"Alright, I've notified team Viper. They're on their way to the rendezvous location. They'll pick up the strike team and make a beeline for the Batarian freighter. Did you know they'd come up with this?" Ryder asked Quentius over the call, his eyes on the TV that showed the developing situation in front of C-SEC Academy.

"No. But it certainly is... interesting. More than we could have thought of this quickly," the Turian diplomat answered.

"They've been following us for some time," Goyle observed. "They had this plan prepared in advance. They're just executing it. They must have had contingencies in place."

Ryder nodded and turned his attention to the laptop. "Say what you want about this Jondum Bau and the STG. They are not caught with their pants down. They must have had this prepared long ago. Way before we ever joined the scene."

"Ambassador Quentius," Goyle addressed the man on call with them, "did you share the details about the pirate ambush on C-SEC's Frigate-07 with STG?"

"No. They must have discovered that particular piece of evidence on their own. How exactly... I suppose they followed the money."

"Money always leaves a trail. Always shows the true links in a tangled web," Ryder said. "Does this help the Primarch at this moment in time? I know Archangel received a copy of the evidence from us. And we haven't seen it as of yet in the media. Which means you wanted to hold onto it."

"We wanted to capture Pallin and Sparatus with the covert Blackwatch platoon we had on hand. With the impromptu mob gathering at the Academy... Venari Pallin is out of the Hierarchy's reach right now. And security will be strengthened for the Council."

"Why snatch him? You must take him in legally, legitimize your actions by exposing him," Goyle thought aloud.

"Expose him publicly while he's still on the Citadel? Sitting on the Council?" Quentius scoffed. "He's not going to just come down and let us put cuffs on his hands. No, he was wanted before it went public to make sure he can't set anything into motion. Now... he will hide behind Tevos' skirt and his position. We wanted no more waste of resources."

Goyle shook her head in disapproval before giving her piece of advice. "Looks like the choice has been made for you. By the STG. Might as well reap the benefits all the way. Begin his character assassination. See that it's complete. And he will be hard pressed to budge an inch within Turian society. At least, if my reading on Turians society is correct."

On the other end, Quentius was silent. They could faintly hear his long breaths for a few seconds. "Thank you for your advice, ambassador. I will have to make some calls within the Hierarchy to facilitate the recovery of Archangel and his team."

Goyle pressed the button to finish the call. She leaned against Ryder's desk and fixed him with a questioning gaze. Her right eyebrow raised and invasion of his work space didn't leave Alec Ryder room to focus on anything else.

He looked up at her and asked, "Are you munching on the same question?"

Goyle nodded. "I can think of a few ideas that would help Archangel... far more subtle methods than this. Why did the STG do this?"

Ryder shrugged. "It puts Pallin and Sparatus against the wall, that's for sure. But they revealed too many capabilities with this move. They may be aliens, but they are far more similar to us when it comes to statecraft and politics. As such, I don't think we can rule this out as what aliens see as proportionate response to a situation." His right index drummed on the desk. "Either they want to show off what they can do or they think the outcome is worth the risk."

"Show it off at their own power block's expense?" Goyle laughed humorlessly. "C-SEC and other organizations focused on security will dissect their hack and probably find out how they did it. There are not many people with the capability to so utterly hack the Citadel, or systems of this scale and diversity. For the second time in a year. Publicly, they will point the finger at us. We're the most obvious suspect."

"Of course they will," Ryder sighed. "Maybe they'll find a clue or something if they compare how the hacks were conducted. And galactic leaders will have the seed of doubt in their minds."

"We got fucked by the STG, whether they wanted it or not. There will be fallout from this business," Goyle said as she walked to her desk. "No good deed goes unpunished. I'll report this development to the guys home. Harper will have a field day when he hears about it."

Fedorian stood tall in front of his personal staff. He was dressed in the uniform he usually wore when he addressed the Hierarchy. It was most resplendent. Never did he use it for daily work or meeting with other dignitaries. Only when addressing his people.

Behind him were banners of the Hierarchy and his immediate staff, Coronati and Corinthus to his immediate left and right. The elder Vakarian was to Corinthus' other side.

"Auvus," Fedorian whispered to Corinthus as the feed was tested. Corinthus leaned a bit forward to hear. "Status of Archangel?"

"The STG delivered, sir. Archangel and his team confirmed they are on their way to the freighter. C-SEC is being led on a wild choose," Corinthus whispered the answer.

Fedorian's nod of approval was brief. "Pass the news to Vakarian later. He deserves to know."

The camera operator lifted his hand to signal them to pay attention. "Sir, we are live in five, four, three, two... one!"

His image was being picked up and broadcasted all across Hierarchy space.

"Citizens of the Turian Hierarchy!" Fedorian called out. "I do not wish to keep you from your duties, so this emergency address will be brief." He looked right into the camera. "I shall start from duty. Every single Turian in our Hierarchy has a duty. From the lowest tier on the citizenship ladder to the uppermost. We all serve the Hierarchy and our communities in one form or another. We lead and protect, we follow and obey. Because that is what we do. That is what defines us as Turians. Our duty to open the path to a better future for everyone."

He paused for a second, allow the words be absorbed. "Recent events have shown us, beyond any reasonable doubt, that there are those within our ranks who'd climb on the corpses of their own kinsmen if it gave them a graveyard to rule over. Instigating a most malicious fire to suit their own greedy, power hungry schemes. To sunder our Hierarchy. Even if it destroyed everything our forefathers built. The lives we live today... our comfort... our safety... everything is built upon the hard work of countless generations. And the bones of those who sacrificed their lives for the cause – be their sacrifice in war or in public service. Fighting our enemies or saving a child from a burning house. Heroes one and all."

"Councilor Sparatus has no concern for the values the Hierarchy stands for. He may be born Turian, but he is definitely not acting like one," he started to level his accusations. "Our Intelligence agency discovered that he is heavily involved in the ongoing crisis on Taetrus. Findings of our soldiers on the ground bring additional evidence to support Intelligence reports. It is clear, beyond any reasonable doubt, that Councilor Sparatus used his political connections to stage the crisis. He manipulated Turians to take up arms against Turians. To make it all worse, he facilitated the collapse of local authorities in the capital city of Vallum, further stirring unrest and spreading false news on the extranet through proxy entities."

"His treasonous actions do not end there. Evidence has surfaced that Councilor Sparatus and Executor Pallin financed and facilitated piracy and terrorism against the Citadel itself. The tragic loss of a C-SEC frigate one year ago was not a tragedy, but an assassination of honorable C-SEC officers. It is obvious why they did this – considering the developing crisis on the Citadel – they did not want upstanding officers to sabotage their plans."

"To this end, I appeal to every Turian's sense of duty and honor. Do not abide by any treasonous acts or further instigation to uncivilized, mutinous activities. If you have good reason to believe someone is spreading misinformation or engaging in destabilizing activities report them immediately to Hierarchy Intelligence. Do not listen to any calls for action from Councilor Sparatus."

"I shall not allow this kind of people to jeopardize the very existence and essence of the Hierarchy. Moments ago I signed the necessary papers to remove Tavus Sparatus as the Turian Hierarchy's representative on the Citadel Council. Until a permanent substitute is designated, Octavius Quentius, ambassador at the Hierarchy Embassy on the Citadel, will fulfill the Councilor's duties. Furthermore, Tavus Sparatus and Venari Pallin are wanted for treason, and the Hierarchy will do its utmost to bring them to justice."

"Thank you for your attention!"

The live recording indicator shut down, allowing Fedorian to exhale a long breath. "Now it begins," his tone was foreboding.

"Sir?" Corinthus was confused.

Fedorian looked him in the eye. "This is the beginning of the end."

[1] It's Inira Kyala, an OC Asari I introduced in chapter 14. It's easy to forget her because she did not play in the story since then. But she's returning, episodically, to the action as the plot moves on.

AUTHOR's NOTES

Active plot lines in the story as of this moment:

Alliance internal political power struggles (the Federalists vs Terra Firma)

Hierarchy internal political power struggles (Fedorian vs Sparatus) and what looks like a civil war brewing

Turian-Alliance joint operations against Saren and what they perceive is the beginning of a Reaper incursion of some sort

Alliance-Asari proxy operations

Alliance moving into the Traverse and encountering resistance

Alliance-Asari political and public image war

Salarian power struggle (military meritocracy vs dalatrasses); this one is now on a back burner, but its premises are explicitly detailed in chapter 26

A STORY BROUGHT TO YOU BY Apollonir