Chapter 24. Comparing Notes


Late 2132 CE, Citadel, Chambers of the Citadel Council

After being cleared to apply for Spectre Status and being granted indefinite leave from his duties until he was ready to return by the acting commander of the Blackwatch, his brother Desolas, Saren had been sent on several combat operations alongside an experienced agent of the Council, a salarian Spectre by the name of Solik Raeka, after his performance and personality had been evaluated. The missions had served as field training, something the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel Council was known to do since there was no formal training to become a Spectre. During the better part of the last four months Saren had traveled through parts of the Terminus he'd be glad to never see again and had realised just how different Spectres operated compared to regular military units.

They were the very definition of lone wolfs.

Previously Saren had worked as a part of a unit, a very effective part, but still a part. While he could most certainly hire mercenaries to back him up, a practice mostly asari Spectres embraced, it wouldn't be the same as working with the same group of people on every job and he'd never trust a hired gun to have his back like Aditas, Tacitus or Felios. They were his comrades, they would die for him at a moments notice, mercenaries were no comrades, they were employees, they were loyal to his money, not his person. So he'd have to adapt and learn to rely on no one but himself, something turian Spectres tended to have a rather hard time with. There was a reason why no turian had ever served as a member of the Spectres for more than fifteen years, their training, their culture and their very mindset made them used to working as part of a group. Turians, compared ot their fellow Council races, were not exactly known to be solo operators. Only a minority of the Spectres' ranks being filled by members of Saren's own species and there were reasons for that.

But even in face of the fact that most Spectres were either asari or salarian, the former's long lifespans, natural biotics and the time they could spend gathering experience and training compared to salarians or turians making them more than suitable candidates and the fact that the later usually trained with STG before applying for Spectre Status, the unit after Beelo Gurji who had been the first Spectre, had modeled the organisation, Saren had pulled through. He was now standing in front of his three future superiors, which was more than enough proof that Solik Raeka had seen him as a good fit for the organisation. The Spectre was nowhere to be see but Saren hadn't expected him to show up either way. From the time they had spent with each other the young turian had learned that the salarian despised being in the public, even if it came with the job. It was a trait common in salarian Spectres, their work with STG making them used to being anything but the center of attention.

After he had been cleared by Solik Raeka, he had been recalled to the Citadel and now, at the eve of 2133 CE with the new year being a mere two days away, Saren would receive something many admired, many feared, few worked towards and even fewer achieved.

Spectre status.

"Saren Arterius, step forward," the asari councilor, Benezia T'Soni, spoke as the turian complied and three councilors began to type on the terminals in front of them, starting the process.

"It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel," she began the rehearsed speech all Spectres were given upon their induction. He knew that it was a prepared speech because Raeka had talked about his own induction after a mission had seen them barely get away from a band of angry krogan. The danger had caused the salarian to get talkative.

Then, according to the pattern commonly found in speeches of the Council, Idril began to speak, a glint in his eyes catching Saren's curiosity. It almost appeared that the politician regarded him as someone of shared status, curious. "Spectres are not trained, but chosen," he reminded Saren. "Individuals forged in the fires of service and battle," something about his tone made the young turian believe that there was more to the hooded salarian currently talking to him than he'd like others to believe. In this very moment he sounded more like a superior addressing his unit than a politician addressing his future agent. There was a difference between political and militaristic charisma, the salarian councilor displayed the later. "Those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file," once more Saren picked up on an almost familiar undertone.

Seemingly breaking the rehearsed pattern, owned to the fact that this speech had been used in this very way even before the turians had earned their seat on the Council, Benezia began again. "Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination and self-reliance," the later being a rather obvious way to remind him that he'd have to pay for most of his expenses, the Hierarchy only providing him with his regular salary and hazard pay. Solik Raeka had already advised him to find additional means of financing his operations. A Spectre's pay by far not enough to cover the costs their job created. "They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will," he'd be more than that.

Now the councilor of his own race finally received a part in the induction speech, all be it the end. In the past this part had been spoken by the salarian councilor. "Spectres bare a great burden," he reminded Saren as the voice of a seasoned turian military official instinctively caused Saren to stand even straighter, "They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense," there was more truth to it in Saren's case than the people in front of him were aware. "The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold."

"You are now a Spectre of the Citadel Council, Saren Arterius," Benezia spoke. "This is both a great accomplishment and responsibility for you."

"We advise you to make the necessary preparations to become operational within the next few days. You are now cleared for access to the Citadel Archives, the Spectre Office and other restricted areas on the Citadel. We advise you to visit the information processing center as soon as possible," the salarian councilor added.

"You will be briefed on necessary details by an agent already waiting for you in the office," his fellow turian said. "You did the Hierarchy proud, Agent Arterius."

"This meeting of the Council is adjourned," Benezia finished, causing Saren to throw a quick salute into the direction of Councilor Ioventus, acknowledging his superior rank, before turning on his heel.

He walked out of the chamber and towards the Citadel Rapid Transit service, while noticing that the Citadel's Presidium was now harboring more humans than before after both corporations and private individuals had been cleared to move onto the station, their associate status allowing them to live on the station as permanent, free residents of the station, not the embassy. He got into the yellow vehicle and settled in as he selected his destination.

The skycar flew through the traffic and towards the embassy area, the location of the Spectre office. As the craft began to slow down, it descended and finally set down to wait on the designated landing spot, at least until another costumer would use it, Saren stepped outside as a beeping on his omni-tool drew his attention. A message on a high-priority turian military frequency. This should be important.

'Sent you a little care package,' he read the message of his brother. 'Had Raeka add a personal touch. Hope you like it.'

Shutting down his omni-tool, he walked up the steps and towards a dark-grey door, a red hologram marking it as locked right until small scanner beams connected with his omni-tool, its organe glow once mor coming to life without Saren commanding it to do so.

"Spectre status recognized, welcome Agent Arterius," the voice of a virtual intelligence spoke as the door opened to reveal a corridor with various terminals and screens lining its walls. He walked through it and soon stood in front of another, equally dark-grey door which opened once he was registered by its motion sensors.

The room that revealed itself to him, the information processing centers all Spectres used to coordinate and plan their operations, resembled a military command central. Screens were hung on the walls, displaying fleet movements, financial market information and a live feed on every councilor's office. Terminals were installed into the ground and to his left a large quantum entanglement communicator and a priority connection to the comm buoy network were attached to the various screens and terminals in front of it.

"Congratulations," a salarian voice spoke as Saren turned around and spotted the black-armored figure walking from a door labeled as 'shooting range'. The salarian's green skin was covered in more scars than Saren could count but his face was still dominated by a smile.

"Solik," Saren recognized the agent who had mentored him the last four months.

"Would've attended your ceremony," the salarian said, "if not for public attendance."

"I was informed that you have a 'care package' for me?" the turian asked, not hurt by the previous absence of the salarian. Being a former STG agent the salarian wasn't used to public apperances and recognition.

"Yes," the salarian said as he pointed at the black crate with white highlights sitting on a table on Saren's right, waving his omni-tool into the air to unlock it before its top piece slowly rose up to reveal the same type of armor worn by the Blackwatch, only one major difference visible at first glance. Instead of the usual black color someone had spray painted it with a new, white armor-paint.

"Your brother argued that black was reserved for the Blackwatch," the salarian chuckled as Saren lifted the familiar chest piece, noticing that a black variant of the sigil used by the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch had been painted on it. Six bars diving into a circle. He had seen this before. "Asked me to add a-"

"Personal touch," Saren interrupted him as his fingers ran over the smooth suit of armor. "I didn't take you for an artist, Solik."

"Every Spectre carries it somewhere on their armor," the salarian grinned as he displayed his silvery variation of the wing-like structure engraved on the right shoulder of his armor.

"These represent the arms of the Citadel," Solik explained as he pointed at the bars that made up the wing-like sigil.

"The Citadel only has five arms," Saren pointed out.

"Sixth arm represents ourselves, the Spectres," the salarian explained. "Like the other five arms which close around the station, we shield the Citadel from any danger."

"I see," Saren said as he put the chest piece back down.

"Circle represents both the Presidium ring and the unity of the galactic community," the salarian went on as he ran his finger along the silver depiction.

"What's with the opening?" Saren asked.

"No deeper meaning," Solik shrugged. "Flawed choice by the designer. Agent Gurji was a STG operative, not an artistic genius."

Saren let out a small laugh at that.

"Terminal over there can be used to monitor different financial sectors, including human stock market," the salarian said as Saren's omni-tool lit up once more, informing him that he was now one of the bigger shareholders of a human genetic corporation called 'Binary Helix'.

"Observed them, investment should pay off. See it as my gift for your successful induction."

"Thank you," Saren said, somewhat perplexed how the salarian had enough money to buy ten percent of such a fast growing company. He knew that the relationship of a mentor and his student was important in salarian culture but he didn't expect that his Spectre mentor would literally buy him one-tenth of a genetics company.

"Suggest you find personal volus financial advisor," Solik smirked, giving Saren his explanation as a new contact was sent to his omni-tool. "The fee they demand is worth their work. Consult me if you require any other assistance."

He'd make it a priority to visit said volus. The small, environmental suit wearing creatures were already running most of the financial business of the Hierarchy, they might as well run his own finances too. As evident they were doing a rather adequate job for Solik. If they were even just half as successful at helping Saren as they were at helping Solik, he wouldn't have to worry about financing himself in future.

"Any idea on when I'll get my first assignment?" Saren questioned as he looked at the other pieces of his armor, inspecting each of them with a keen eye.

"Received mine two days after induction, could get your's tomorrow, could get it in two weeks."

He'd have to get used to be on speed dial from now on. In Blackwatch you usually knew when an operation would come up, deployments and regular briefings keeping the legion's members informed on the situation of the galaxy around them. Spectres were expected to stay informed on their own and they were considered to be in a constant state of being deployed.

"Suggest you familiarize yourself with the office," the salarian added. "Will be in firing range should you have any questions."

Saren nodded at that, a gesture that translated through the species of the galaxy, and the salarian walked back to where he had originally appeared from, the muffled sound of gunfire soon making its way towards Saren as he looked at a screen displaying the latest news of the galaxy. He'd have enough time to try out the range later now he needed to catch up.

First he read about the new addition to the council's peacekeeping forces, human naval forces already being included into the patrol schedules, mostly guarding mass relays leading from the Attican Traverse to Council space while several of their dreadnoughts reinforced heavier patrols in the space frequented by slavers, increasing the rate during which the Council's colonies in the area were visited by armed fleets and decreasing the timeframe the slavers had to attack.

While he was on the subject on slavers, he took notice of a feed next to the one displaying the galactic news, STG intelligence reports.

Reading through the latest entry about a slaver camp being razed to the ground, Saren noticed that all but a handful of slavers had been executed, something only rival Terminus factions tended to do in order to send a message. While the brutality had matched the Hierarchy's standard doctrine in regards to slavers, no turian commander would've left survivors. Furthermore no turian forces could venture that deep into the Terminus without raising the attention of the entire galaxy and, as a glance to the other screen confirmed ,he media was blissfully unaware of this occurrence.

Apparently the group, members of a batarian slaver ring, had gathered to lauch a raid on an independent asari colony in the area, only to be be utterly decimated with military-grade ordnance, the author of the STG report voicing the possibility that members of the Final Wave mercenary group being hired to crush the attempt by colonial officials. However a notification attached to the report by a superior agent, besides warning the other salarian from speculating, pointed out evidence suggesting a blend of human and turian doctrine being used in an incredibly swift and precise assault on the camp. An experienced force had attacked the camp.

The few slavers that had survived the bullet storm of the engagement all agreed on several points regarding the events of that day. Their opponents had been turians and humans, their opponents had gone out of their way to avoid firing at the prison section of the camp where slaves could've been held, their opponents had killed those too injured to be of use to them and their opponents had taken their time to procure information about other bases of the slaver ring from the survivors through the use of surprisingly civilized interrogation techniques given their otherwise brutal behaviour.

Interesting.

Saren recalled a briefing talking about an organisation recruiting former military and law enforcement personal from the two species. It would definetly explain the mixed doctrine and precision behind their attack. He'd check up on this subject again later.

Moving away from the STG report, Saren shifted his attention to reports regarding the Citadel itself. If he'd be here for a few days, he should inform himself about the situation the station was in. He stepped towards the terminal and began to dive into C-SEC's security assessment.

The last few month had been quiet expect for the complaints and protests voiced by the Batarian Hegemony in regards to the Treaty of Farixen, humanity's exclusive standing to it and the humans moving onto the station themselves, arguing that batarian demands should be prioritized over human ones due to being a long standing, 'faithful' associate.

Saren would have been amused at their sense of humor if he wasn't certain that the Hegemony was serious about their version of history. He kept reading to figure out where this assessment was going.

With the end of the year closing in on the station, C-SEC officials feared that the annual celebrations may be overshadowed by violent crimes caused due to the tensions between some of the races living on the station. After all, the already present volatile mix of turians and batarians in close proximity was now being expanded by a human factor as well. Needlessly to say, C-SEC had already decided to increase the number of officers who would patrol the celebrations and considered to keep human and turian groups as far away from the batarians as possible, preventing events such as the organized batarian riots that had followed the skirmishes on Enael, by dividing the conflicting parties from each other prematurely.

In his personal opinion the best course of action would be to simply kick out the batarians living on the Citadel. They were individuals selected by the Hegemony to represent the batarian people and their interests to the rest of the galaxy, being picked for their loyalty to the Hegemony or rather their ability to ignore the independent, not batarian-controlled media outlets on the Citadel. Their places should be given to the few batarians able to flee from their own tyrannical government. They deserved to live on the Citadel and it would certainly solve the violent uprests caused by the Hegemony's 'model citizens'.

Reading on Saren's gaze was captivated by a seemingly unimportant report forwarded to the information processing center by a deep cover agent within the Shadow Broker's organisation. The document, it's timestamp suggesting it had been sent sometime in 2131 CE, was flagged for reevaluation by a Spectre operative working on tracking down the Shadow Broker and as far as Saren understood the agent that had requested this report for her ongoing operation had pointed out a change in the most basic of the Broker's speech pattern that had led her to believe that a change in leadership may have occurred during the 'system reset' the informant had reported almost two years ago.

The Shadow Broker was something of a wild card in the game the Spectres were playing. On the one hand, a rather large number of agents were preoccupied with counteracting him but on the other hand it was an open secret within the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch that some of their own made use of the enigmatic figure's information to help them with their missions, paying either in money or, as in Tela Vasir's case, in illegal assistance to get the Broker to help them. While frowned upon, as long as they delivered results, the Spectres were usually allowed a certain degree of interaction with a 'known enemy of the Citadel Council'. A rather questionable use of their status of being above the law that was usually tolerated, at least as long as it was in the interest of the Council.

Saren himself would stay as far away from the Shadow Broker as he possibly could. While most Spectres avoided the information dealer for the risk he represented to them and to the Citadel Council, Saren himself despised him for the very idea he represented. The Shadow Broker was someone who exploited innocent people without concern for their safety to further his own goals, something any reasonable turian would see as going to far, even in terms of pragmatism.

The freshly appointed Spectre simply hoped that he'd never have to go against his own ideals and reach out to the Shadow Broker to fulfill his purpose but somehow he feared that every Spectre eventually got to a point where they had to throw their ideals out of the window for the greater good.

He just hoped it would be worth it.

The young turian continued to read through the different terminals and soon minutes turned into hours.


Some Time Later

The claw closed around his throat as hateful, blue orbs stared through his black visor and straight into his soul. Desolas Arterius tried stabbing the curved Blackwatch knife into the flesh of his enemy to no avail, it's black blade shattering upon contact. In truest Blackwatch fashion, he refused to give in without a fight and started to beat onto the steel talon with his armored fists as he saw a black shadow creep into the edge of his vision.

How had they even gotten here, where had Desolas made an error so enormous that everything had began falling apart like the base around him?

What mistakes could've caused all of this?

What choices could've prevented all of this?

"You are blind, Desolas Arterius," a deep, voice accused as the plates on Haliat's face began to melt while the lava closed in around them, forming a circle of fire and death. The heat was unbearable, the screams of those around him were silent. Even the sound of the black glove hitting on the steel talon was mute.

"Don't you see how weak you are?" Haliat asked him as he released his grip a bit before smashing Desolas into the wall again, the taste of blood making itself known in his mouth before he spat it against the inside of his visor. That had been his windpipe but in spite of the pain Desolas picked up on something. Hidden behind the voice of the former Blackwatch captain there was another, deeper voice sounding more like a faint whisper than a threat.

The former captain, turned traitor, increased the pressure around the general's neck as Desolas stared at the remains of his honor guard, blue blood collecting around Lieutenant Callius corpse, a large gash running through her armor as a dying Galviat, parts of his legs already burning, reached out to her with the last strength in his body all the while Veltax was being beaten by a grotesque perversion of a krogan in the background, long since having stopped to fight back, brain matter leaking out of the back of his helmet while both the Blackwatch sergeant and the krogan were consumed by flames.

He'd be with them soon enough.

"Your actions here change nothing. Our path has been set for millennia, there is nothing we can do to fight it!" the voice declared as Desolas felt the lava burn through his skin, an angry snarl escaping his mouth in the process as he spent the last bit of air to spite his killer. "There's no future."

A steel talon came rushing for his face with killing intent.

Early 2133 CE, Aephus, Turian Naval Rally Point

Desolas shot up, his hands rising to shield his face on instinct.

His breath was ragged as the cold of his room touched his bare, distinctively not burned skin, the darkness around him and lack of blood in his mouth assuring him that it had just been a dream. He was still in the bedroom he had gone to sleep in, not in the inferno of Nonuel. He was still alive, not dying.

Another nightmare.

Turning towards the clock on his nightstand he realised that going back to sleep would not be worth the trouble, he'd have to get up in a few minutes anyway. At least this particular nightmare had the decency to allow him most of his sleep, a courtesy not all of them extended to the turian general. Desoals set up on his bed as his eyes adapted to the fainting darkness before he threw the blanket off his lower body, setting his feet on the equally cold floor of his quarters and marking the definite end of his sleep. Once he was on his feet, he was up.

Desolas took a short walk from his bed to the personal bathroom attached to his room, a small luxury only the highest of turian officers enjoyed. The room was already bright enough to see as the morning sun crawled through the blends, keeping him from turning on the light. Opening the faucet and letting water run into the sink until it was almost filled, the turian made a cup with his hand to gather some of the cold liquid, splashing it into his face, an integral part of his morning ritual. It washed away the last bits of sleep still present in the general's white-plated face and sent a refreshing feeling through his body.

He lingered for a moment before drying of the droplets of water running down his face with a towel before he leaned against the sink and stared at the water collected inside, his reflection looking back at him in the process.

"No point in wasting my time," he reminded himself as he began to drain the water from it. Desolas walked to his wardrobe, putting on the grey undersuit worn underneath one's armor, the later sitting in a footlocker in the corner of the closet. Another perk of being a general, he got to store his gear outside of the armory. Usually he should've put on the dress uniform but today would mostly be dominated by combat training, something every member of Blackwatch had to do several times a week, no matter their rank.

He began putting on his armor just as the sun of Aephus began to rise outside, the reinforced window of his room allowing him to overlook the large military installation currently housing him and most of Blackwatch. The sturdy sight of a turian base was coated in an orange light as dusk made itself known, shuttles already busy trafficing between the ground and the fleet currently lingering in Aehpus's shipyard. Looking to the obstacle course he could see a class of regulars in the final stages of a night-time exercise, crawling through the mud as instructors fired Phaestons loaded with stun roundsover their heads. It caused Desolas to recall his own bootcamp days, he had managed to keep his head down the entire time, keeping him from receiving the nasty sting one of the recruits just experienced, one of his comrades immediately grabbing onto him and pushing him ahead of himself, ensuring he wouldn't be left behind. People like him would come a long way in the future. When the grey fortifications of a city in the distance reflected the light of the sun back into Desolas's eyes as the star hit them at just the right angle, it caused him to return his attention to his gear, his omni-tool coming to life.

A knock on the door stopped him from running a final calibration scan. He placed the helmet he had been checking on his bed and let his visitor know that he could come in.

"It's open," he spoke before a hiss sounded through the room. There was only one kind of person that would come to him at this hour.

"Good morning, General Arterius," the non-commissioned officer who had received a beating at the hands of a krogan mere minutes before greeted him with a salute, confirming his suspicion.

"Sergeant Veltax," Desolas said, returning the salute of the grey-plated turian. "Come to fetch me already?"

"No, Sir," the sergeant replied, "I'm here to tell you that someone would like to speak with you."

"So have them come by later," the general offered. He didn't have visitors hours today and unless it was top-brass, he couldn't just throw his schedule down the drain.

"Sir, it's the human who fought alongside us on Nonuel."

"Come again?" Desolas doubled back. It wasn't common for him to be caught off guard. He had expected to be contacted sooner than later after Cozek had complied to his request. He hadn't expected this particular human to be the one doing the contacting.

"He contacted Aephus command a few minutes ago. I've got him on hold on the private line in your office, Sir."

"How do we know its him?" the general asked. It was a legitimate question. Someone else could've simply use him as a way to get to Desolas.

"He complimented me on my tackle against the krogan, said he was rather impressed until the thing threw me off."

Desolas didn't need any further notice. He grabbed his helmet and began the trip towards his office. Melion, his adjutant, shouldn't be in for another two hours, leading parts of Blackwatch through their physical training routine during the morning. He would be alone. As he walked through the base, most people only just waking up, he crossed paths with the rest of his honor guard, Lieutenant Callius and Sergeant Galviat standing in the corridor and surprisingly not arguing while waiting with their helmets in hand and armor already in place, apparently having a civilized conversation if the look on Galviat's face was anything to go by.

"Good morning, General," the lieutenant and the sergeant echoed as the former she turned around and away from her black-plated companion, her reddish-brown features marked with blue paint. "We got one of the firing ranges for the next three hours, ready when you are, Sir."

"Training will have to wait, Lieutenant. Something's come up. Wait here," Desolas said as he stepped past them and into his office, his terminal already informing him of an incoming call from an 'unknown contact'.

He pressed accept and a human face greeted him.

"General Arterius," the voice sounded somewhat familiar. A human with dark hair on his head looked at him with a rather serious expression. "It's been a long time."

"And you are?" Desolas asked. He recognized the voice, if one added a filter to it, it should almost be the one belonging to the human he had encountered on Nonuel but he had never learned the name of their ally nor seen him without his helmet.

"Tao Rei," the human offered. "Director of Section 13."

One of the names rang a bell but it wasn't the one of the human himself. As far as the general knew Section 13 was a unit of the human intelligence service conduction high-risk high-reward missions that mirrored the assignments Spectres, elite STG units or the TNI's own black-ops teams conducted, the last of which specialised in espionage more than anything. The human he had worked with had certainly contributed to the success of the operation and the fact that neither he himself nor his honor guard had died in the process.

"Director Rei," Desolas greeted. "I never thanked you for your assistance on Nonuel."

"Neither did I, General."

"That aside, I am certain you didn't go through the trouble of reaching out to me for a simple 'thank you'," Desolas argued. "Is this about Nonuel?"

"Quite right, General," Tao Rei replied. "Nonuel has something to do with the reason I've been looking for you. You're a hard man to track down."

"Comes with my rank," Desolas answered. "It's been over three years. What is it that you wish to discuss?" he faked. He knew exactly what the director wanted to discuss. The Leviathan of Dis shared remarkable similarity with the artifact and had raised a lot of questions in the ranks of TNI.

"My organisation has spent the better part of the time trying to piece together the events that occurred back then but before we talk about that I'll have to ask you a question you may not like to answer," Tao Rei replied, not really answering Desolas's own question.

"Only one way to find that out," Desolas replied. He already had a suspicion what the human would ask.

"I need to know how many people you've informed of the implications of the things Captain Haliat said."

Desolas hesitated, it was a calculated move. He wanted to see how much the man was willing to reveal, how serious he was about cooperating, something the human picked up on, choosing to lead by example.

"My entire organisation has been informed about it and I've taken the matter to our head of government. We both know that there's more to this. We both know that this is not something we can solve alone. I need to know who you talked to."

"I informed TNI, the Primarch of Palaven and talked to an old STG contact" Desolas offered before a slight smirk crossed his face. "The later being the one responsible for sending you the footage of the Leviathan of Dis."

"We've been trying to track the STG source down as well, to no avail," the human replied.

"Don't even bother," Desolas said. "Unless he wants to be tracked down, you won't find him," the general chuckled. "I believe that you've come to a similar conclusion in regards to the relation between the artifact and the Leviathan of Dis?"

"A worrying one," Director Rei replied. "We've encountered two 'artifacts', as you call them and the one we managed to analyse over ten years ago wasn't even nearly as old as that spaceship."

"When did you encounter one of them?" Desolas asked. He had always questioned how the human had known what the artifact was, always suspecting that he may have tracked the same pirate group for another reason and seeing it in action some time before. The fact that they had found one ten years ago would be another plausible explanation.

"During the Fringe Wars," the human offered. "It had a similar effect as the one on Nonuel until we put a stop to it."

"You destroyed it?" the turian asked.

"Yes, blew it to kingdom come," the director clarified, using one of their odd sayings.

"How old was it?"

"Only 100.000 years."

"Not even close to the Leviathan of Dis," Desolas spoke. "Anything else I should know?"

"You'll have all the time in the world to read up on it depending on your answer to my proposal."

"Well then," Desolas challenged the human to begin. "I'm listening."

"Our findings, just like yours I suspect, indicate that the artifacts are merely part of something far bigger and far more dangerous than themselves. Something that's not just a threat to the Hierarchy, the Salarian Union or the Human Systems Alliance. Something that's a threat to everyone in the galaxy. My proposal is that we join forces in our attempt to figure out just what the hell that something is because frankly, right about now, we don't have much. We barely have anything. That has to change, General."

This had been the very reason he had asked Cozek to share the footage with them. He had counted on this to happen.

"Haliat spoke of a Harbinger," Desolas remembered the last moments of the Blackwatch captain, "and I believe that this Harbinger is in the final stages of a plan we don't fully grasp yet."

Desolas paused for a moment.

"To vanquish a foe requires more than just brute force, to vanquish a foe requires understanding, planning and cunning," he recalled a quote from one of the oldest turian texts of war. The concept that knowledge won battles was an universal one, the nodding of the human confirming that he was familiar with it as well. "Your proposal might be the only way for us to fully understand what this Harbinger is, I'd be a fool not to accept it."

"I am relieved that we share the same opinion on this subject. I knew you were the right person to reach out to." Tao Rei admitted. "Can we count on the salarians? You did mention an old STG contact, didn't you?"

"My contact hasn't informed the Salarian Union or the dalatrasses," Desolas sighed. "The later has never fully trusted STG and the former is bound to their decisions. When push comes to shove, STG will follow us but for now only a selected few operatives are aware of the situation."

"So only turian and human government officials know about it," the director concluded, technically being wrong since Cozek was both an STG agent and a government official. "We need to meet in person. Can you make the necessary preparations on your end?"

"I can set things in motion," Desolas replied. "Officialy naval intelligence is heading the investigation but I know the man in charge of TNI, he listened to me before, he'll listen again."

"Good," the human spoke. "I'll send you a series of codes to use when you're ready to meet."

"There is one more thing," Desolas said. Curiosity was not just something Saren was prone to. It ran in the Arterius family. "How exactly did you know where to find me?"

"Finding people is part of my job, General Arterius," the human answered cryptically. Desolas chuckled at that. It was almost like talking to Cozek, a slower talking, distinctively non-salarian Cozek. Spies were the same in every species.

"Rest assured, it wasn't a lack in security that allowed me to figure out how to contact you. As I've said, you are a hard man to track down and it did take me a couple of months to find you."

"I'll let you have your secrets, Director Rei," Desolas said. He assumed that Section 13 operated on a similar level as STG. He didn't doubt that the salarian group could track him down if they really wanted to and right about now he didn't want to antagonize Director Rei through being pushy.

"I appreciate it. Explaining it would be a rather long process and I'd hate to keep you occupied longer than I already have," the human joked before turning more serious again. "Contact me when you've made the necessary preparations. I'll start working on setting up a meeting once this call is over."

"One day our people will look back on this moment and thank us for making this decision," the turian general said as Tao Rei nodded.

"Let's make sure that we'll be around to hear their thanks," the director finished before closing the line.

Desolas Arterius shut the terminal off and walked out of the door, the three members of his honor guard already expecting him.

"Sir?" Veltax was the first to speak up, having been the sole member of his team to know the reason why they hadn't gone to the firing range and who exactly Desolas had talked to.

"Lieutenant Callius, tell the firing range that they can clear our slot. I've got to talk to Admiral Fedorian," he would be damned if he wouldn't be able to convince Galus Fedorian to send him to this meeting.

"Yes, Sir," the female turian said as she brought up her omni-tool.

"When you're done, find something to keep yourself and the Seargents Galivat and Veltax busy. We may be on the move soon enough."

"Combat deployment?" Galviat muttered.

"No, Sergeant. Call it an exchange of information."


22. January 2391 AD, Eden Prime, HSA Urban Warfare Training Center

The reasoning behind meeting on the world was a rather solid one in Tao Rei's opinion. Due to the now rather frequent joint-maneuvers between the Hierarchy and the HSA, a turian general on Eden Prime wasn't something that would raise hell throughout the media should anyone catch wind of the meeting. The location would do well to disguise just what they would talk about.

The UWTC didn't just span an entire city, it also held a rather large command center. A command center the director was currently waiting in. Jack Harper, the director of Cerberus and de-facto head of the investigation into the matter they'd discuss today, had already arrived and General Desolas Arterius should arrive any moment now. A knock on the door followed by a guard leading in a tall, white-plated turian general was right on time. Turians really were ridiculously punctual, a side effect of their culture.

The general's dress uniform must've held more decorations than Rei had ever seen and the scars and burns on his face and neck reinforcing the point that they were most likely combat commendations. The fact that one of the turian's fringes was noticeably shorter than the others and that his left mandible looked somewhat damaged hinting at a history of dodging death. In his left hand the general was carrying a rather fancy looking bag, fine silver lines running down its blue cloth, a bulge in its fabric betraying that something was being carried in it.

All in all the turian made for a rather impressive sight and certainly reinforced the point that turian generals were anything but armchair commanders, leading their man by being next ot them on the frontline.

"General Arterius," he greeted as he got up from the table and went to shake the turian's hand before introducing his companion. "This is Director Harper, the head of Cerberus, the organisation working on this whole Harbinger mess."

"A pleasure to meet you, Director. I wish it would've been under more fortunate circumstances" the turian said as he and Harper shook hands as well. "I take it you're no stranger to the artifact's touch?" the general replied as he stared at the artificial, blue eyes that gave Harper a rather distincitve look.

"Sadly no," Jack Harper spoke. "You don't have to worry about my integrity," the director assured their turian guest. "It happened twelve years ago and I have never displayed any signs of being affected in any other way since that mission."

"Our first encounter with another 'artifact," Tao explained.

"I'll take your word for it, Director," General Arterius nodded.

"Please, sit," he gestured for a chair and soon the turian sat down, retrieving a small terminal from the bag he had been carrying.

"This organisation of yours," Desolas began to speak. "I haven't heard of it."

"Officially, we don't exist," Harper explained. It had taken some convincing to get him to even talk about Cerberus. "Cerberus was founded shortly after First Contact. We're dedicated to keeping humanity safe, something we've been doing ever since."

"They were the one's who tracked down Jona Sederis," Tao added, "and we'd appreciate if Cerberus remained nonexistent."

"Not existing is a rather useful asset," Harper spoke.

"Indeed it is," Desolas said. "Your existence is save with me. A nonexistent black-ops division could go a long way to help us with this," he said as the terminal powered up. "Shall we start?"

"To business then," Tao Rei began as he powered up his own tablet. "Let's just begin with what we know," he nodded towards Harper.

"The Object Omnicrons, or as you call them 'artifacts', are capable of manipulating people through as of yet unknown means. They enhance people with cybernetic implants that probably play a role in controlling them and make them more durable but somewhat less intelligent. Field observations lead us to believe that those affected by the devices begin to view them in an almost religious light, something we see as a side-effect instead of a way of control. The degree of control is most likely linked to time of exposure, short-time exposure being rather harmless, and the degree of cybernetic enhancements already inside the organic being. We know that the Object Omnicrons seem to be capable of learning and limited planning and we know that the Leviathan of Dis predates the devices by a magnitude of years, suggesting that the Objects are merely disposable weapons," Jack Harper summarized.

Desolas nodded and simply began to replay recordings made by Elanos Haliat, the turian he had fought on Nonuel.

When they were finished, Tao Rei sighed. The recordings were rather disturbing, seeing a normal turian drift into insanity at the hands of the Object Omnicron wasn't pleasant, especially due to the small phases during which the captain managed to fight against the device's control. "Anything else?" he asked, shoving the video into the back of his mind for now.

"The batarians must've dug up a lot of artifacts. During a mission on Jartar, the same world the Leviathan of Dis was found on, my unit stumbled upon a research facility housing several artifacts. The facility had been abandoned and they didn't even consider several of them important enough to bring along," Desolas added. "Other than that, our findings mirror each other."

"Sadly we have no access to Jartar, it seems to be the hot spot," Harper figured. "Other regions of the galaxy are devoid of any evidence. Even a planet wide scan of Shanxi and search of the area the first Object Omnicron was found in turned up nothing."

"TNI has been digging through prothean ruins for the last few years. We found nothing that could be connected to the artifacts in anyway either. Only the STG team that managed to sneak onto Jartar turned up something akin to solid evidence."

"We've faced a similar situation," Tao Rei said. "Besides Jartar and Shanxi, nothing. It's almost as if the events were either contained to these planets or-"

"Or someone cleaned up after themselves, leaving behind only the things they wanted to be found" Harper interrupted Tao as the other two people in the room turned to look at him. "Come on, you must have considered it at some."

"We've already theorized that the artifacts maybe part of the Harbinger's larger plan," Desolas spoke. "Maybe the Leviathan is yet another piece?"

"It's certainly possible," Tao Rei voiced his own opinion in regards to Harper's suggestion. "I think it goes beyond saying that reaching out to the Hegemony and showing them this in hopes of gaining access to the Leviathan would have no effect?"

"An arrogant insult maybe. Any source that doesn't carry the seal of approval of the Hegemony's chairman is 'Council Propaganda'," the turian air-quoted with mockery in his voice. "They hate my people with a burning passion and view humanity as just another 'lesser race' to be subjugated. The batarian government wouldn't listen to anything either of us said, even if the truth was screaming in their face."

Harper nodded in agreement.

"When should we bring STG into the fold?" Tao asked into the room, turning to Desolas. " I assume you'll brief your contact onto anything we discussed?"

"Yes I will. STG's entirety should only be brought into the fold once my contact or his associates can assure me that the dalatrasses won't crack down on them."

"For now we should definitely focus on diving the workload between us," Harper argued. "I am willing to give you a galaxy map Cerberus created for this occasion," the director said as a small disk appeared seemingly out of his sleves, a blue representation of the Milky Way illuminating the room once he pressed a button on it. Several locations were marked in different colours, causing them to stand out. "Red marks encounters with the Object Omnicrons or the Leviathan, white are locations we already searched. Yellow markings are operations in progress," three yellow circles in the Attican Traverse were the first thing Tao noticed, "and black are planets or systems we plan to search in the future. I'd propose that TNI could take over some of these worlds, save us time, give us a different perspective."

"I can request a similar map to be made for worlds we already checked," Desolas said. "Get in touch with my STG contact, include his data and send it your way."

"We'd appreciate it," Harper said as he shut the projection of and handed it to Desolas. "Everything we have on this Harbinger and his operation is on this," he grabbed the tablet Tao had brought.

"Thank you for sharing this," the turian general began to dig through his bag, "I brought all data STG and TNI managed to gather ," Desolas said as he retrieved a small, silver data drive and slid it across the table, Harper catching it with his own hands once it got close enough. "I'd suggest you go over everything you found again, maybe it'll reveal something both of us previously overlooked due to missing parts of the picture. We'll do the same thing."

"I have one more question," Tao spoke up.

"Yes?"

"You've known about this for almost three years. What kind of preparations have you made up to now?"

"No major ones. We were afraid any major military build-up could cause a reaction of this Harbinger."

"Surely you've put some plans into place."

There was a pause as the turian's eyes met Tao's. There was something General Desolas Arterius was not yet ready to share, he could tell.

"You have your secrets, Director Rei, I have mine," Tao recalled the conversation that had led to this meeting. "Rest assured, I'll inform you of any plans that were put into place once the time comes."

"I'll let you have your secrets," he echoed the turian's own words as a respectful nod was sent his way.

"I propose we keep exchanging information regarding our search on secured channels," Desolas Arterius said as he got up from his chair.

"I was about to suggest the same thing," Tao said."Should Cerberus make something akin to a breakthrough, I'll contact you again. We owe you that much for sending us the Leviathan of Dis."

"It's our shared interest to inform each other of big developments. Should anything come up on my end, I'll inform you as soon as I hear about it," Desolas explained as he stored the terminal in his bag. "Director Rei, Director Harper, I sincerely thank you for this meeting."

"We thank you for agreeing that our people should work side by side on this one."

"Your people have been nothing but an ally to mine, Directors," the general said. "This," he said as he stored the disk-shaped projector holding Harper's map inside his blue bag, "is yet another piece of evidence for the fact that the Turian Hierarchy and the Human Systems Alliance will go a long way when we work together, when we fight alongside each other," the turian paused to consider his next words. "Director Rei, we fought the artifact's thralls on Nonuel and prevailed. I know that if our people fight the Harbinger's thralls together we will prevail once more."

In this moment the reasons why the turian was a general became very evident. The white-plated officer radiated an unmatched charisma and more than enough confidence throughout his speech. They were facing a completely unknown foe, yet the turian was completely certain that they'd come out on top. Most may have sounded crazy when saying these things, given the circumstances, but Desolas Arterius managed to project his certainty on others, stopping him from sounding delusional. The ability to do such a thing was a rare mix of talent and skill forged by years of experience and it was certainly one they could use.

God knew they may need leaders like him in the future.


Codex: Salarian Special Tasks Group

Forming the elite of the salarian military, STG is much more than just an intelligence service. The Special Tasks Group conducts sabotage, espionage,infiltration, assassination, reconnaissance and counterterrorism and operate in mostly independent cells.

Recruited from the best and brightest the Salarian Union has to offer, STG has a long standing history of nothing. The missions of the unit are sealed in their archives and the names of agents that gave everything and more for the Salarian Union are unknown, only codenames remaining in the records. Their operatives don't talk about their missions and the Salarian Union has no interest in revealing everything STG has done throughout the years, the declassification of the League of One, which resulted in the entire Inner Cabinet dying, being a reminder that some secrets are kept for a reason.

STG operatives are known as some of the most pragmatic agents in the galaxy, stopping at nothing to achieve their objective and being granted immunity by the Salarian Union in the process. They were the unit upon which the Council's Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch (see Entry 'Spectres') was modeled, still holding a great amount of influence within the ranks of the Spectres as most of its agents are believed to hail from the salarian organisation, the many similarities between the two units giving them an edge over other candidates.

However their status of being above the law has caused tension between the dalatrasses, the traditional rulers of the salarian people and STG itself, rumors suggesting that only STG's devotion to the Salarian Union and its Inner Cabinet has kept the Special Tasks Group from dispatching some of the more troubling dalatrasses.


A/N: Chapter 24, what I consider to be the first Episode of Season 2, is here. I hope you like it and as promised, it's mostly from a turian point of view with the endign being the only human part in this chapter.

So here's a lot head canon on my part, for example the stuff about Spectres' sigl, the council rehearsing their speeches and the reasons for the divide seen between military and politicans in the salarians in ME3. I hope you like it.

I don't think I've got more to say right now tbh. As always, review. Let me know what you think about the chapter.

For the record we're at 183 reviews (going strong guys) 364 favs and 452 follows.

See you around next time.