Chapter 10. From The Shadows


10. April 2388 AD, Illium, Nos Astra

"The shuttle is waiting on stand-by," Redford heard Alec's voice inside his helmet. "Two minutes until it can get us."

The two specialists stared ahead at the ever growing number of police cars slowly beginning to land while still engulfed by the light of one hovering above them. To an outside observer, it didn't look like they were actively plotting an escape.

"The car's armed," Redford countered. "We're right in it's line of fire."

"The Hastings is ready for armed extraction. I'd like to avoid that though."

"Define 'armed extraction', we can't exactly afford them killing half the law enforcement of Nos Astra."

"I was thinking more of a show of force actually."

"It's a frigate, not an assault carrier."

"It still has a reinforced platoon ready to make an entrance."

"That one looks different," Redford noted at the larger transport shuttle landing in the distance, this time audible for the third person caught in the light.

"It's Nos Astra's Special Response Unit," the Spectre explained. "We can't exactly afford standing around any longer either."

"How deep is that drop?" Alec asked.

"The lethal kind of deep," the asari replied. "You would have to be stupid to even come up with that idea."

"What about that one?" he nodded his head slightly to the left, towards an angular roof of a building attached to the skyscraper. "Like the old days, Lal Qila?"

Redford looked at the glass, contemplating the idea for a moment. Then his gaze moved around them as the heavily armed police officers appeared. They were clad in heavy armor and not only possessed something that reminded Redford of a grenade launcher but also devices that were most certainly assault rifles.

"Prepare to make a break for the railing and jump. Try doing what we do," he said to the Spectre as he slowly lowered his hands against the orders of the police officers, coming ever closer to the smoke grenade that would hide their movements to the naked eye. The police officers moved closer as Redford saw Alec reach for his own grenade, a disk-shaped Mark-14 charge.

Redford dropped the smoke grenade, specifically modified to release as much smoke as possible and large cloud of white, heated smoke immediately began to spread as the device worked itself to death to conceal the next move of Alec. With practiced swiftness the specialist threw his explosive disk at the police car and the moment it left his hand the two humans, closely mirrored by the sole asari, began to run left. The explosive impacted with the car, causing it to shake as the kinetic barriers couldn't disperse the shock wave, now they didn't just have to rely on the smoke disrupting the heat sensors of the vehicle. The explosion would cause enough confusion for them to make their get away. Up front Alec leaped over the railing and during his jump he reached for his pistol, sliding down the roof just as Redford repeated the motion behind him, throwing himself over the separation between the plaza and the glass ceiling. The moment he felt the glass underneath him, he started to what Alec had already begun doing a few moments ago.

Frantically emptying his weapon's magazine into the glass in front of him as he slid across the roof.

Alec was the first to have success as a bullet shattered the integrity of the glass below him, causing it to crack before the human vanished into the building. Redford heard the gunfire of the Spectre behind him, signaling that she had understood the general idea behind the maneuver, while he himself broke through the roof after a well timed round hit the glass in just the right spot. While falling, he looked down and realized that the ceiling had served the purpose of covering an indoors swimming pool from Illium's summer rainfalls. He braced himself for the inevitable impact with the water and once he connected with the surface, he started sinking. As his fall was slowed by the pool, he saw Alec dive up next to him and once his feet touched the floor, he pushed himself from the bottom of the pool so he'd be able to escape their exposed environment. On his way up, he saw another figure dive into the water and recognized her as Tela Vasir, her lack of armor causing her to sink not nearly as deep as him.

Redford relieved his vision of the blurred perspective caused by being underwater as he broke surface, small drops running down his visor while he began to swim towards the edge of the pool. When he came close, he reached for Alec's hand, who was already waiting for the others to leave the pool and the specialist pulled his fellow human out of the water before returning to observing the area with his submachine gun. The inside of the spa they were in tried to emulate a tropical setting, that much was clear. Decorative plants and rocks littered the area between the different sized pools, serving as potential hiding spots for enemies, while the walls were painted to mirror a clear midday horizon.

"That worked better than expected," Redford admitted as he tried to remove the water from his pistol by pointing it to the ground and allowing it run out of the barrel unobstructed. Even if the weapon could technically fire after being submerged, there was no reason to risk it.

"Did you even know that we'd land in a pool?" Vasir questioned as she pulled herself out of the pool, her clothes now soaked by their unexpected dive.

"Nope," both of them said in unison before Redford turned to Alec. "Let's get moving. They're bound to have figured out our little party trick by now. It's not that creative."

"You people are insane," the Spectre muttered as she checked her borrowed gun for damage.

Ignoring the comment, the second specialist rose from his kneeling position at the side of the pool and began moving up with Redford close on his trail, eyes scanning the false jungle. When they spotted none of their pursuers, the group began walking towards a window overlooking parts of Nos Astra, attempting to find a potential landing spot for their Kodiak. As they walked alongside the pool's edge, Redford took a closer look at their destination. The window separated the spa from a balcony, most likely used to sun bath, and there was definitely something below it, something that may just fit a Kodiak.

"They'll be here any minute," Tela Vasir said from behind them as her otherwise silent footsteps were betrayed by the sound of water dripping down her clothes.

"The doors should buy us some time," Alec reasoned.

"Nos Astra PD has override codes for every public building in the city. It doesn't matter if this place should be closed."

Just as she finished that line of thought, flash lights appeared in the dark of the spa and voices became audible. Three light cones moved through the darkness as police officers entered the bathing area through the door separating them from the dressing rooms. So much for buying time. The two specialists and the Spectre pressed themselves against the rocks separating the pool they had landed in from the rest of the spa as rays of light penetrated the decorative plants.

"Roof is broken. This could be the place," one police officer said as Redford risked a glance. The group that had just entered consisted six patrol officers, not nearly as armed as the unit they had just escaped from.

"Call it in," another voice, sounding slightly older, instructed as one of the light cones barely missed him.

He lifted his right hand towards Alec who was resting his back against one of the rocks on Redford's left and connected his pinky finger with his thumb, only showing the index, middle and ring finger. The specialist nodded as he undid the safety of his submachine gun. Redford then turned towards the asari and repeated the motion who stared at him in confusion, as she took a look at the group. Redford mentally smashed his hand into his face for believing that the asari would be used to the same hand signs as human forces and adapted. Instead of standardized HSA hand signs, he opted for once showing her all of his fingers and then reducing them to only his index finger, displaying the number six in a more time consuming but slightly simpler way.

Her nod confirmed that this got the point across.

"One patrol is closing in," the voice of Alec informed him via the comlink separated from the outside world.

Redford risked another peak and saw the light come close as he slid back to the side to prevent his left leg from being illuminated. The two police officers, apparently not completely focused on the task, and instead talking about a person Redford didn't even know, walked ever closer to their hiding spot until they were basically right on top of them, looking at the ceiling and making their light cone travel ever closer to the pool. If he wasn't mistaking, their light should soon reflect off the wet spots on the floor their small walk had created. They had to act now and his partner realised that just as much as him.

"I take one, you take one," Alec suggested, slowly lowering his submachine gun and moving one of his now free hands to his knife.

"Non lethal. They are just cops, mate," Redford urged him, ignoring Vasir's comment regarding their innocence. The specialist stopped the motion and instead prepared himself to restrain the asari officer.

"No need to cause an even bigger incident," he spoke through the helmet, inaudible for anyone but Alec before motioning for the Spectre to lower her gun which was already trained on one of the patrol officers.

"Hey, those look like foot steps," the one with the light said as the cone began to travel along the trail.

That was their signal.

"Engage," Redford called and instantly both Alec and he himself shot up, each grabbing one of the asari. In surprise, his target didn't resist much, only somewhat struggling until his fist found its way in her face, causing her to drop the flash light in her hand. He caught the falling tube just in time to stop it from connecting with the floor and set down the now stunned form of the police officer just as Alec finished choking out the other police officer. Apparently incapable of remembering her biotic abilities when confronted with a diminishing oxygen supply, the asari only glew purple for a short moment before her eyes rolled back. Alec dragged the body of the police officer behind the rock he had used for cover and leaned her body up against it in a way that would keep her out of the sight of her colleagues. When he turned back to Vasir to check on her, the Spectre to his right was gone, causing him to grunt before scanning the spa. After far too many seconds, he finally spotted her creeping up to a group that had walked up the the ally from the dressing rooms to the pool next to their own.

The two officers would only have to turn a little bit to actually spot her at his point and once his partner realised that, he lifted his submachine gun, not having complete faith in the Spectre. Unlike him Redford had seen this before. He placed his hand on the barrel of the M-83 as the asari began to glow purple, placing both of the officers in some form of stasis. Upon contact with the biotic fields they simply froze, not a single muscle giving as much of a twitch from it. The Spectre looked back at them and pointed into the direction of the last cone of light, causing Redford to shift his attention to the final patrol in the spa. Having split away from the other two couples, the two officers had walked into the opposite direction, instead investigating an area that reminded the specialist of some form of restaurant, presumably existing for the sole purpose of getting more money out of the guests.

He waved his hand at Vasir, trying to get her to turn back but she was already well on her way towards the last patrol.

"This isn't good," Alec commented as he once more got into cover behind his rock now shared with an unconscious police officer.

"Cover me," Redford nodded as he began to creep along the same route Vasir had taken. He took care to avoid making more sounds than necessary as he slowly closed in on the restaurant himself just as the Spectre was about to make a move. He closed the last few meters as fast as possible and caught her by the shoulder. She turned around and he shook his head at her, moving one of his fingers to his chest before pointing at the slightly bigger asari, her skin a shade of purple as far as he could tell in the dim light of her torch before he poked the Spectre and pointed at the other asari, trying to tell her that they should go with a synchronized takedown, instead of risking exposure by letting her do all the work.

She nodded, apparently understanding the simple sign language and Redford let go of her shoulder before moving into position.

The two asari were currently standing next to a table, the one with the flash light shining it into the visible parts of the service area, trying to figure out if someone was hiding behind the counter or not, while her partner seemed to keep an eye on the pool nex to them, both their backs facing into the direction of the two people slowly but surely sneaking up on them. The beam of light reflected of the glass and both the Spectre and Redford managed to avoid being seen in it until they rose up from their crouching approach. Redford saw the shocked expression on the face of his target as he forced her to the ground by stomping into her knee while throwing his arm around her. Purple bursts of biotic energy crackled on the skin of the alien police officer as blood quickly stopped flowing to her brain. Redford applied more pressure in hopes of avoiding a fight with a biotic, a numb feeling already crawling up his legs. He kept choking her as a thud echoed through the spa and as quickly as it had appeared, the feeling of not being able to move his legs vanished. He placed the unconscious asari in his hands on the floor and found a bleeding but still breathing police officer lying on his left.

"That could've gone wrong," he turned to the Spectre who had simply overpowered her target through pure force.

"It didn't," she shrugged while looking at her knuckles.

"I can't get you of Illium if you die, you know that?"

Redford didn't get a reply as the Spectre began to walk towards the balcony window. The specialist threw a glance to the injured cop and back to Tela Vasir before shaking his head. Returning to the window, the two shifted their attention to Alec who had already moved up to it and came to a halt slightly behind the other specialist.

"See that platform over there?" Alec pointed his still wet finger at the glass, causing small drops to run down the window. "Like it was made for a Kodiak."

"We'll have to cross the open area fast though. Their skycars are a huge advantage out there," Vasir argued as Redford looked at the proposed landing zone, which was by the looks of it an access area to some form of storage unit.

Alec backed away from the window and pulled his knife from his shoulder before turning it around, the small metal pin at its end which served as a glass breaker now pointing directly at the window. He smashed the metal pin into the glass, creating a noticeable crack in its surface. Unsatisfied with the result, he struck the crack again, causing the glass panel to crash to the floor. He sheathed the blade once more before using the barrel of his gun to remove the remaining pieces of glass from the frame. Normally Redford and him could simply walk through the shattered remains, small pieces of glass wouldn't be able to penetrate their hardsuits in any way, but Vasir didn't enjoy the privilege of either armor or cut resistant fabric. If she were to attempt such a feat, she'd most certainly be injured. Alec stepped through the window, entering the balcony area just as the lights of the spa turned on behind them.

"Looks like we got more company," he argued as Redford and Vasir followed him through the frame. They walked over to the edge of the balcony and looked down. It was situated roughly ten meters above a small shopping area and both specialists knew that such a drop may very well end badly for either of them. Redford looked back and saw figures clad in heavy armor move into the building.

"Special Response?" he asked, receiving a nod from Vasir. "Great."

The figures, apparently aware of the general area where the three fugitives would've dropped, spotted them just as Alec prepared a rope to descend from the balcony.

"No time for that," Vasir argued as Redford felt himself getting lighter, now engulfed by purple energy, before flying forward. He looked at Alec, who was now floating above the railing as well, and figured out Vasir's plan. The two humans shared looked at each other before they fell down the balcony, only coming to a sudden stop mere centimeters above the ground where the floated for a few moments. Then both he and Alec smashed face first into the ground as the biotic fields disappeared when an asari gracefully lowered herself from the higher spot, shouts of police officers echoing behind her. Vasir's feet touched the ground far softer than either of them and the Spectre jogged over to them.

"Hastings, requesting evac at my coordinates, you're looking for a cargo platform, over," he heard Alec mutter next to him while Redford placed his hands on the ground and pushed himself up at once, neither of wasting the breath to complain about the uneasy end of their little flight. After getting to his feet Alec, Vasir and him started to run towards the platform. "Shuttle should be here any minute."

The specialist heard the heavy foot steps close in from the balcony behind them and without even as much of a warning, the cracking of gun fire broke out behind them. Granted, they were armed and dangerous fugitives who had assaulted several officers already but as he continued his dash, rounds not only impacting in the ground around him but also making contact with his shields, but a warning would've still been nice.

He spent a short moment considering if his shields would hold for the last part of the dash or if he should deploy another smoke screen to avoid being shot in the back but before he could come to a conclusion, he saw something familiar. A purple ripple smashed into Alec, catapulting him to the side and away from the cargo platform. He came to a stop instantly, lifting his pistol just in time to see an asari in heavy armor descend on his partner. She managed to smash her fist, glowing with biotic energy, into Alec's ribcage exactly once before another purple streak gave her a taste of her own medicine. While the Spectre charged at the police officer ,which he now recognized as the one that had taken part in plotting against them, he opted for sliding behind a piece of cover, reaching it just as a red warning began to flash in his HUD. Choosing to ignore the voice that was telling him that he should be dead, he threw the last smoke grenade at the balcony, effectively blocking the view of the Special Response Unit, before beginning his run towards Alec.

While Redford made a move for the other specialist, Vasir tackled the armored police officer, stunning her with the impact and causing her to move away from the fallen human. The two asari fighters began to come to blows, the Spectre making up for her lack of armor by simply being faster than her opponent and dodging all of her opening strikes. The police officer threw a biotic fueled kick into her way, only to find nothing but air as the Spectre side stepped her and during the motion releasing her own series of strikes into the heavier armor of her opponent. While the layers of kinetic protection absorbed some of the punishment, the force of the impacts still showed on the asari's face as she twisted around, trying to get a hook to connect with Vasir, who simply slipped below the punch in a practiced motion.

He wasn't an expert in either asari fighting styles or biotics but from his perspective the skill gap between the corrupt police officer and the Spectre was rather evident.

Vasir capitalized on the fact that the hook had placed the other asari in a bad spot and her right hand began to glow purple, increasing the force of what was about to come. She used the momentum of the motion and naturally translated it into a hook aimed at the area where a human would have his kidneys. The punch connected and by the sound of it cracked the armor of the police officer, causing her to lean forward in pain. But the Spectre wasn't done. She once more applied the energy created by her move to her next strike, her left hand glowing as the uppercut broke the asari's skull just as Redford reached Alec side. The body hit the ground as the Spectre turned away from her now dead foe, paying no attention to the nearly decapitated corpse.

"That was the 'evil boss' you talked about," she explained, apparently feeling like she need to justify her actions to Redford, who now grabbed his comrade just as a green vessel began to break out of Illium's traffic, disrupting the flow of skycars above them by breaking just about every basic traffic rule.

Mass accelerator fire from the police officers, provoked by the death of their superior, began to pour on his position as the asari left the cloud of smoke Redford had put between them, his shields starting to flash red once more as he dragged an unconscious Alec back to the shuttle. The small box in his HUD, informing him of the imminent collapse of his protective bubble, suddenly turned silent just as he considered throwing Alec into the shuttle before leaping after him. Redford looked behind himself and saw the Spectre slowly back up with him, facing the balcony now swarmed with police officers of the Special Response Unit, a purple barrier shattering every single round being fired at them. The green Kodiak touched down, doors already open for the three passengers, and Redford somewhat threw the injured Alec into it before climbing inside and borrowing the submachine gun to return fire towards the asari that were steadily closing in on them. Vasir, the strain of keeping the barrier up noticeable on her face, threw herself backwards the moment she felt the shield of the Kodiak take the impacts for her and landed inside the crew compartment. He smacked a button that sealed the door just as several officers made a run towards the shuttle.

"Go!" Redford shouted to the pilot looking at them from his seat. The moment the words left his mouth, the shuttle began to rise and Redford managed to secure Alec and himself just in time to avoid being thrown into the back of the vessel by the hard climb it began through Illium's traffic. As he was pressed into the seat, taking care to ignore the skycars only narrowly missing them, he noticed a positive consequence of this rather insane evacuation.

It managed to wake up Shepard.

As his body told him he was rapidly moving, his head shooting up from the place Redford had strapped him in and the specialist looked around the shuttle, noting that both his colleague and the package of said colleague were present, visibly relieved.

"Getting slow?" Redford chuckled.

"God damn that's gonna hurt" he sighed as his hand reached for his ribs.

"Hastings has a Medbay you know?" Redford argued before throwing a glance at hsi watch. "Harper wants us at Arcturus in a couple hours, you could easily get treated," It was true, Harper had informed him that he should retrieve the package and deliver her to Arcturs, not Cronos Station. 'We can't just let a potentially hostile agent walk around Cerberus's and Section 13's headquarters,' his former superior turned director of Cerberus had reasoned while explaining why he was asking Redford to go to Illium.

"I'm not letting her out of my sight until we drop her off at Arcuturs," his partner countered. "Now that she's off of Illium, we don't know what she's going to do."

"I did just save you from death at the hands of a corrupt police chief," Tela Vasir shrugged. "Doesn't that earn me a little faith?"

"She's right you know?" Redford joined in. "Totally saved your ass there."

"Not even going to change out of my armor," Shepard protested as he folded his arms. "For the next few hours, I'll be her shadow."

"And I thought I was paranoid," Vasir rolled her eyes.


2130 CE, Arcturus Station, Security Hub

"Congratulations!" 'Bradford' shouted as the shuttle with the other human specialist shot off into the direction of a hospital after dropping them off on top of a military installation aboard their space station. Roughly ten minutes ago, the human who had previously claimed to become her shadow had received a message, saying that his bond mate would give birth any time now.

The building within the space station shared the same grey metal look of the insides of human vessels, one of the only differences being its size and the artificial blue sky hanging over it. It reminded her of the Presidium, only the lack of skycars traveling through the air and the choice of architecture setting the two places apart. Instead of civilian traffic, only a few military shuttles flew between the large buildings around them and instead of the smooth, almost clinically white design of the Presidum, the area around them was angular and uniform grey. The stretch between the landing pad and the entrance to the building was rather short and she could already see the armed guards moving to meet them half way to the entrance. The guards wore a lighter sort of armor and she noted the fact that both of them were also carrying batons along their sidearms, forgoing the typical human assault rifle and helmets in favour of a more approachable appearance.

"He's waiting for you, Sir," one of the guards addressed her human companion. "Level Seven, Room 718," she saw how he reached for handcuffs. This was bound to happen, no point in fighting it.

"Thank you Lance Corporal," the specialist shook his head, "but I don't think those will be necessary. I will accompany our guest for the duration of her stay."

"Sir," the human soldier said as he stepped aside, allowing them to enter the building.

Apparently her companion carried more authority than she had assumed.

They came closer to the door as the specialist's armored feet made a metallic sound every time he took another step. The door ahead of them opened as they moved to it only to reveal nothing but an empty elevator cabin. He held up the watch still included in his armored gauntlet and the red light turned blue as a device on the wall and the device on his wrist exchanged beams of light.

"Section 13 clearance recognized," a disembodied voice said. "Override accepted."

Then the elevator doors shut close and it began to move downwards.

Very fast.

Caught of guard by the rapid motion she instinctively grabbed on to a rail attached to the wall while her companion simply didn't move, already expecting the speed at which the elevator began its descend. As fast as it had started the journey, she felt it slow down on the level which the display over the door called 'seven'. The door hissed open and she got blinded by very bright, very white light. What was it with humans and bright, white lamps? Did they simply enjoy torturing their eyes or had they grown insensible to their output?

"You good?" the human asked as he realised that she had stopped for a second.

"Asari are much more sensible to bright light than you are," she explained as she brought a hand between her eyes and the lamp. "Our pupils don't adapt as well to brightness like yours do, they can't decrease the amount of light as fast or as effective as yours can," she explained. "it's why most asari lamps are slightly blue, they are not as bright as this."

"And here I thought it was a fashionable reason. Look on the bright side, evolution gave you biotics." the human chuckled at his own pun, unaware of the issue and ignoring the majority of things she had just said.

"I'll just ignore that horrible joke," she replied, slowly adjusting to the light as she followed the specialist through the hallway while they passed by numerous rooms. They all looked identical, expect for the small difference of the numbers written on the doors.

"Well if it's any consolation, in here it's way darker," he said as he came to a hold in front of room '718'. 'Bradford' placed his hand on the door handle and opened the door for her, revealing a simple interview room instead of the holding cell she had expected. Vasir stepped into the room, which really was less bright than the hallway, and heard the door shut behind her, her human companion closing it while still on the outside. She waited for the sound of it getting locked but when it never came, she decided to look around.

Then she noticed the human sitting at the table in the middle of the room.

"Please, sit," he said and she immediately noticed how his eyes simply looked incredibly 'inhuman'. Three small blue dots circled a black pupil, already a very unnatural combination and structure for an eye, and when she realised that there was a slight glow to them, her analytic mind told her that they were most likely cybernetics. Only quarian eyes were bioluminescent. She reached for the chair and pulled it from under the table so she could sit down on it as the human lit a cigarette on fire.

"I'm the friend who'd like to have that 'little chat' with you," he explained as a grey smoke cloud left his mouth.

"Do you expect me to thank you for getting me of Illium?" she asked for a moment before figuring that she should just get to the reason why someone had been sent after her in the first place. "I know that you want what I have on your people."

"While I am certainly interested in retrieving the data cache you stole from under our noses, I am much more interested in how you'll be able to help me prove that you're not responsible for the Eclipse and Blood Pack attacks last year."

"Why would you want to help me prove that?" she asked. From a pragmatic point of view it made sense that the humans would want a face to blame, after all they had been fighting a war with mercenaries for months, a war which had yet to claim the person responsible for the reason it was being fought. Here she was, the face to blame. Even if she was innocent, why should they care? As far as most people were concerned, she wasn't.

"I managed to follow the trail the master mind behind all of this left right up to the Citadel," he said, causing her to consider just how he had done so. "And you are the missing piece. Either you actually went rogue, which I doubt, or someone is pulling your strings. All of this started with you stealing that cache, I need to know who did it."

He probably expected her to cover for the culprit and she probably would've done so if Tevos hadn't decided to sent STG after her.

"Councilor Tevos," she said nonchalantly. "Black mailed me into stealing it, delivered the cache and then told the last salarian councilor how she's going to make the turians hate you by showing them your weakness. My guess is that she used the data on the cache to plan the attacks."

The human lifted an eyebrow at that, as surprised as she had expected him to be.

"Can you proof those claims?"

Vasir lifted her arm and brought up the omni-tool, bringing up one of the recordings she had made and illuminating the room, allowing her to get a better look at the man in front of her. He wore a black uniform and unlike her companion, his hair was brown and combed backwards.

"By provoking humanity to attack some of the most established factions in the Terminus Systems we'll make them pick a fight that will show the Hierarchy that the humans are not nearly as strong as the turians make them out to be. Adding to that we will take steps destabilize them by giving their separatists something to rally behind," the voice of Councilor Tevos echoed through the room devoid of anything but a table and two chairs.

"Councilor offices are quite easy to bug if you're one of the Spectres supposed to prevent them from being bugged," the asari explained. "She thought she could black mail me, she didn't think that someone would do the same to her," Tela shrugged before a smirk appeared on her face. "Originally I wanted to use this to get her to back off, now I'd love to see it ruin her life."

"We are going to need to proof that this isn't a forged recording," the human said as his eyes narrowed.

"Do whatever you must," Tela said as the orange hologram disappeared. "If I'm going down, I'm taking her with me."

"I believe we are going to have a very lucrative partnership, Ms. Vasir."


2. May 2388 AD, Citadel, Office of Councilor Ioventus

"This is outrageous," the turian voice flanged. "How could she betray the principles of the council like this?" his talons dug into his table, a very sure sign of turian anger.

"And as my last point, I need to inform you that we'll keep Agent Vasir in custody until further notice," Ambassador Goyle flinched ever so slightly as the turian got up from his now damaged table, long scratch marks now clearly visible on its surface. There was something strange about seeing the usually collected Ioventus this angry.

"Excuse my demeanor, Ambassador Goyle," he said as he straightened his clothing while his talons visibly retracted. "Councilor Tevos and I hardly ever saw eye to eye on anything but I always thought I could trust her to act in the interest of the Citadel Council. This is very worrying news."

"I understand, Councilor Ioventus."

"I need to send this to C-Sec and the Spectres," the turian said as he turned to look out his window. "Truthfully, I hoped that Vasir was guilty, the revelation that both my former colleague and Tevos plotted against the politics of the Hierarchy is not something I look forward to telling the Primarchs," he shook his head. "She'll be punished by the laws of the Council."

"Chancellor Noé expected you'd say that." Goyle replied, "but the HSA would like to have her transferred into our hands as soon as possible."

"It is not possible, Ambassador."

"She ordered the deaths of thousands of humans."

"And for that you have my condolences but the law is absolute on matters like these. Should any member of the Council, C-SEC, the Spectres or any other related institution breaks the laws they swore to uphold, they will be punished by the Citadel Council's supreme court, not the party they wronged or the party they served."

"Our people are demanding justice, Councilor," Goyle replied.

"The Council will deliver your justice for them, Ambassador. I will make sure of that."

"It's also about being the one's to deliver it," she said.

"That I can not give you," he sighed. "Now I'd ask you to leave but I already know that you will want to be there when she gets arrested."


2130 CE, THS Silus

"We'll drop along side the mechanized elements of the THS Ultus and execute the raid. They will provide perimeter security for this operation," the briefing officer said as Saren looked at the map of the planet. "Our target is Elanos Haliat," he went as the picture of the turian came up on the briefing screen. The turian's brown plated skin was scared by previous engagements and the only thing Saren recognized in the picture were the green facial marks of a taetrian and the eye piece covering the left side of his face.

Standard turian military equipment.

"Formerly known as Captain Haliat of the 26th Armiger Legion, he apparently got a better offer from someone outside the Hierarchy. He killed half his platoon, abandoned his post during an engagement with pirates and to top it all of joined said pirate group along the way.´," Saren's mandibles twitched in anger as his crimes were listed. There were few thing worse than treason and cowardice. Especially in service of the Hierarchy.

"He's considered armed, dangerous and expendable, if you get a shot at him, take it. You'll leave first thing tomorrow morning, get something in your stomachs and hit the barracks. Questions?" the officer finished and let the words linger in the room for a minute. "Alright. Dismissed."

The cabal platoon rose from their seats as the lights turned back on and Saren followed Bassilo Kandros out of the room, itching to continue the conversation they had before being summoned.

"So how is she?"

"Words can't describe it Saren," the older turian chuckled. "It's amazing, you have to have one of your own to understand it."

"It's hard to imagine you actually found someone willing to father your offspring, Kandros," Hepsus injected as he extended a hand to Bassilo. "I didn't get the chance yet, congratulations," the recently turned father turian took the hand and shook it.

"I am sure you will find someone eventually Hepsus. It's as easy as booting an omni-tool really."

"Yes I have fai- Hey!" he interrupted himself as he noticed the jab at his technical skills. "Rude!"

"You did walk right into that one, Hepsus."

"I guess, still hurts though," the turian shook his head.

"We both know it doesn't."

"You got me there Arterius."

The three cabals began their walk towards the cafeteria to get some meat between their teeth and navigated the halls of the dreadnought as they ignored the few looks some of the less disciplined regulars threw into their paths.

"Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that they are sending a dreadnought and a platoon of cabals reinforced by a mechanized company after a bunch of pirates led by a deserter?"

"You heard the briefing officer, we're the one's closest to him. Stop questioning orders, Hespus. You're too good of a turian to do that," Bassilo replied. "You spent too much time on the extranet, not everything is a conspiracy."

"I consider myself a smart turian, which is precisely why I am suspicious of this guy. Something just feels wrong about all of this. Armiger Legion or not, those are a lot of troops for one guy."

Saren chuckled at that. "Didn't think you'd get this nervous over a regular raid."

"Saren is right, Hepsus. Don't overthink this, it's nothing. The reason behind going in in force are the pirates he joined, not Haliat."

"We are talking about a decorated turian officer from one of the most prestigious units in the Hierarchy that just suddenly decided to desert? Doesn't sound right to me."

"The mind of a traitors are strange ones," Bassilo offered. "That's what makes them so dangerous."

The door to the cafeteria opened with a hiss to reveal dozens of turians in the process of either eating or still waiting for their food. The three cabals got into line to wait for their turn and Hepsus continued his line of thought as he grabbed one of the plates on his left.

"We've never had mechanized support when raiding a pirate base," the turian started. "Why now?"

"Since when do we complain about getting mechanized support?" Saren countered with a chuckle.

"You know I am right, Arterius, something about this is off."

"Do I?"

The line moved up and Saren grabbed the first meal he could, not really bothering to see what it actually was, serving in a special operations unit made you less picky every day As long as it was food, he'd eat it. He grabbed a bottle filled with juice and went for the first empty table he saw. After all, their fellow turians tended to avoid cabals as much as possible and the cabals themselves didn't feel the need to cause tension by interacting with them more than needed either. Bassilo and Hepsus followed him and soon more of their fellow cabals joined them at their table, beginning to eat. The conversation about hidden meaning behind the amount of force they deployed died down as Hepsus mouth got occupied with tearing meat apart and Saren saw no reason to remind him of the subject while he enjoyed his food.

The cabals finished their meal and left as a group, their destination the separate barracks assigned to them. While turian regulars slept in the crew quarters located on the same deck as the cafeteria, the cabals enjoyed no such luxury, instead being placed in quarters closer to the drive core, away from the majority of non-biotic combat personal or personal in general. Saren got used to the humming of the core, every cabal did so eventually. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to sleep during their duty rotations on naval ships. The group only passed by a few engineers on their way down, one of them actually acknowledging their existence with a short nod towards them, and reached their barracks shortly after.

He climbed into his bed and prepared to drift off to sleep, repeating the briefing in his head as a way to do so easier. Some counted, Saren analyzed details. The planet they were going to deploy to was located a few light years outside Hierarchy space and the pirate gang they'd be fighting against wouldn't have any sort of heavy artillery, just a few possible biotics and outdated military gear, maybe a few gunships if they were unlucky. They'd be made up of several races, their basecamp would most likely not be very fortified and the mechanized company should be more than capable of providing cover for the cabals as they pushed. The chance of completing the assault without casualties was actually pretty high, which of course was a good thing, especially for the cabals who'd take the brunt of enemy fire during their push into the camp. He went over the planned attack strategy and imagined every detail of the mission.

Until he came to the part he and Hepsus had argued about.

Elanos Haliat, his brown plated face,the heavy scars and the green facial marks appearing before Saren's eyes as he recalled the name. He repeated the talk about how Hepsus thought something was off about him in his head. The cabal might have been a little bit slow with an omni-tool but his gut feeling was usually right. Realising that he wouldn't be able to catch a single minute of sleep before putting his mind at ease, he opened his omni-tool and punched the name into the service records of the Hierarchy, only accessible to him due to a few tricks he had picked up in his time with the cabals and the fact that his oldest brother either didn't care about the security of his access codes or chose to allow Saren's 'private investigations'.

The file appeared in front of him and he began to read.

It wasn't anything special at first glance. Haliat had completed his regular service of fifteen years, as expected of any healthy turian and after its conclusion, like any career soldier, Haliat had applied for life-time service, being accepted due to 'exemplary service in the line of duty'. A file was attached to said commendation and Saren tried to access it only to be hit by a notification telling him that his clearance wasn't high enough to do so, throwing him back to Haliat's record.

Strange.

Normally career officers stayed in their legions and ,while a renowned unit, nothing the 26th had done could be beyond Saren's 'borrowed' security clearance. They were shock troops but they were also regulars. Even as a cabal he enjoyed a higher level of classification than the Armiger Legion.

He decided to try another angle, read the record and go on from there.

Elanos Haliat, Service Number 20920102-HE-26921, accepted as a lieutenant trainee in 2119CE, Saren did the math in his head. So Haliat had been sent to the officer training course during his regular fifteen years of service, this was anything but normal. No regular legion, especially one as prestigious as the Armiger Legion, would require to fast track a conscript into the officer corps in the time of peace, far more experienced soldiers applied for these positions. Why was he already training to be an officer during his obligatory term of service?

Saren went back in time. Maybe there was something he had missed.

Elanos Haliat, born on Taetrus in 2092 CE to a middle-class family with the highest level any of his ancestors had ever reached being the 12th tier of citizenship. His father was a maintenance technician and his mother a nurse in a military hospital. The turian had two sisters and he himself was the first born son and sole heir to his family's name when his father died during an accident in the power plant he worked at when Elanos was only eleven years old. From there on his life had been tough, his mother falling ill after a botched decontamination and putting the family into a position where they had to depend on the Hierarchy's veteran care until Haliat himself could provide for them.

In spite of his situation, Elanos Haliat was one of the few turians that scored a 'perfect 100' on their tests upon entering boot camp, something even Saren hadn't done so at first. Which was strange not only because everybody learned something in boot camp which their fathers hadn't been able to teach them but also because Haliat's father had died long before turian parents usually started preparing their children for the obligatory service. Saren kept reading and recognized a very familiar digit in the year 2108, a digit also present in his service record. '084', the number of the process known as 'fast tracking'.

Someone had recognized the fact that Haliat was way above his fellow trainees and had sent him to a combat unit, claiming he had learned all he could learn in basic training. With sixteen years, Haliat began taking part in operations against slavers, pirates and even turian separatists, climbing through the ranks at a near impossible speed and his superiors pointing out his bravery, talent for leadership and tenacity time and again. This explained why he had been accepted as an officer trainee within his obligatory term of service, by all means Elanos Haliat bore the resume of someone that would be described as having performed 'exemplary service', even by turian standards. But none of this answered why Saren couldn't access the file attached to Haliat's latest commendation. Desolas clearance should be more than sufficient, after all the first born of his father was already on his way to climb into the 20th tier of citizenship, commanding his own legion after nearly twenty five years of service.

Surely there had to be a logical explanation for that?

He kept reading Haliat's service record and the resume continued, several combat deployments with Armiger Legion, several commendations for 'bravery above and beyond the call of duty'. Then in 2118 CE there was another digit, a transfer order, Haliat had been ordered away from the Armiger Legion and back to Palaven.

But why?

He decided to employ a little trick a fellow cabal had thought him and with the press of a button and anoter entry of Desolas' clearance codes, a sigil appeared in front of Saren. He instinctivly read the sentence written below it, not noticing the details on the sigil at first.

'From the shadows we preserve the light.'

A tingling climbed through his spine.

"What you looking at, Arterius?" Hepsus asked from below, woken by the orange glow of the omni-tool. "Is it the medical assistant from Palaven?"

"No, just checking the time. Sleep well, Hepsus," he lied.

"Alright, see you in the morning, Arterius," the turian replied.

The black, angular shield, a single golden Mexta, an old sword created by the turians native to Palaven's mountains, crossing from the top left corner to the bottom right, disappeared as soon as Saren shut down his omni-tool.

This couldn't be possible. He must have dug into the wrong record by mistake.


Four Hours Later

"Rise and shine cabals!" Kabalim Vitallion declared as the bright light awoke Saren from a surprisingly dreamless but short night. "Time to get to fighting!"

He pushed himself out of the bed and his feet met the cold metal ground of the dreadnought's interior, sending chills through his body but also serving to wake him up completely while reminding him of his late night investigation on their target.

"Grab some ration bars on your way out and get your asses into gear. We're going hunting!" the already armored squad leader declared as his unit began to dress.

The sole advantage of the cabals being separated from the rest of the turians was that they were given the responsibility of storing their own gear. This meant that Saren could start the familiar process of putting on the modular armor, something they were jokingly supposed to be able to do in the complete darkness while under fire and not being able to breath due to a chemical attack having its impact on their bodies at the same time. The cabals were one of the few units that actually lived up to being able to do that as the past had proven. He finished the diagnostic run on his armor as his omni-tool linked itself to his helmet and soon afterwards every cabal was ready to go. They lined up in the room and when Vitallion gave the signal, they started marching forward. When he walked out of the room, grabbing the ration bars as he was told, he already heard Hepsus eat the first one on the way to the shuttle.

"I didn't have any breakfast," he stated as Saren's head, now obscured by the cabal's helmet, turned to look at the turian who held one of the bars at his mouth while the other hand carried his Phaeston rifle.

"Just don't choke on it when the shuttle enters atmosphere," Bassilo offered from behind Hepsus. "Like you did last time."

"It happened once!" Hepsus said. "When are you going to let me live that one down?"

"Never," the older turian whispered as the door to the hangar opened up and the cabals walked to their assigned transports. The engines of the shuttle's already coming to live as Saren's armored foot connected with the interior of the white craft, allowing him to step inside. He sat down and went over his rifle once more. Everything checked out on the Phaeston. Repeating the process on his Carnifex, he found it as well maintained as he had left it. Kabalim Vitallion was the last one to enter their shuttle and just as the door closed, Saren's HUD informed him that the other squads had boarded their transports as well. The shuttle began to lift of as the he heard the alarms on the outside informing the staff of the hangar bay that it would soon vent atmosphere. When the alarms died down, their transport began it's journey to the pirate base.

Saren pushed the thoughts that had kept him awake last night into the back of his mind. There had been a glitch in the system or the trick he had been shown hadn't worked. Haliat was just an unexpected deserter who, corrupted by the notion of money, had turned one everything he had ever stood for.

It was just a regular raid. No reason to become nervous.

How wrong his own statement would feel to him in the hours to come.


Codex: Turian Military Service

By law every turian citizen that is able in body and mind is required to enter basic training in the 15th year of their life and spent the next fifteen years in the service of the Hierarchy. Basic training, covering not only military subjects like fire arms instructions and squad tactics but also serving as the last stage of any turians public education, takes three years and is sometimes compared to human military schools on Terra Nova. As a way to quickly utilize the full potential of remarkable trainees, turians that display an unnatural talent and level of education may be fast tracked out of basic training and into a combat outfit under Directive-1112-084. This directive is also used to reassign turian biotics into the Cabal Corps.

Until the arrival of the HSA, which still claims the right to draft its citizens in case of armed conflict, the Turian Hierarchy remained the sole galactic government body to conscript its population, the Salarian Union and the Asari Republics having abolished their own draft laws after massive casualties in the Krogan Rebellions and the Rachni Wars, other races following their example. Furthermore the turian draft causes the Hierarchy to have the lowest age requirement that has to be met before someone can legally enlist in their military, the HSA being a close second with every soldier having to be at least seventeen years old before being allowed to enlist.

It should be noted that unlike in the HSA Armed Forces, which requires all of its soldiers to be human, turian military service is not limited to turians. Any individual that meets the standards set by Turian Hierarchy may enlist for fifteen years of their life, earning the turian citizenship upon completion. Currently four percent of the Hierarchy's soldiers are of non-turian origin, making them the most racially diverse military in the galaxy.

Other governments have long since criticized the Hierarchy for training 'child soldiers' with asari voices for example calling the practice outdated and batarians being offended at the notion that everyone is allowed to enlist due to the fact that their caste society limits military service to certain castes.

The HSA has since stood as the sole government supporting the practice, reasoning that any fifteen year old turian is considered a legal adult and as such eligible for military service.


A/N: First of, I didn't update in the last few weeks to finishing my A-levels. Sorry about that but school had priority. I'll be able to invest more time now though, the worst is behind me.

I don't have much more to say though, as of right now the story is at 224 follows and 172 favs. That's amazing guys, I really hope this chapter is enough to make up for my 'absence'. We'll soon be moving into the future a bit so stay tuned!

Coming up next, more Saren. I like writing that guy.

Edit: As of 30.7.17 Chapter 10 has been remastered.

Once more fixed some very conflicting phrasing that made it seem like Harper does way more than he actually does.

Also added a few words to make the scenes flow better.

Also added a little justification as to why the HSA stands with the practice in the codex.

See you around next time.