Chapter 32. Chasing the Rabbit


5. March 2401 AD, Cronos Station

"Thousands taken, even more than that reduced to catatonic shells. A death toll climbing into the tens of thousands, a moral victory for the IFS and the very real possibility of a war with the Batarian Hegemony," Rei muttered as he sat in his office, the man standing in front of him only visible due to the bright star behind him casting its light into the room.

"Yet that's not why I'm here, is it?" Harper replied, his uniform still as well maintained as the day he had technically been discharged from Section 13. While if it was no longer expected of him to even wear it, the uniform meant more to the man than any suit ever could.

"No," his former partner replied as his eyes remained fixed on the image displayed by the tablet in his hands, it's smooth surface and the description of its basic functions causing more than just anger to surface in him. "No that's not why you're here," he repeated while his index finger pushed down a button on the tablet.

"Now we know just what they were doing with the Leviathan," the other man muttered as blue light flooded into the center of the room, the black floor revealing its real purpose. The shape of the device removed from one of the unfortunate victims of the slavers appeared between them as the countless of small hologram projectors installed within the panels began their work.

"It's less sophisticated," Tao said as a picture that had been taken during the Fringe Wars , showing one of the several implants removed from a dead IFS miner, manifested itself next to the batarian device. "But the visual similarity speaks for itself. There's no way this is not based on the technology they found on Jartar."

"The next question we have to answer is if they know just what they are dealing with. Working with the artifacts is all kinds of dangerous."

"It's the batarians, even if they know, they probably don't care," Rei frowned. "It's not like we can call them out on what they're doing either way."

"True," Harper replied. "Best case scenario, people call us crazy, worst case scenario people buy it, panic and we tear each other apart before the Harbinger has to lift as much as a finger."

"Assuming he has something like fingers," the Section 13 director snorted in face of the situation they were in. "What's Arcturus saying to all of this?"

Ever since Chancellor Noé had retired, a combination of increasing slaver raids being blamed on his administration and the fading memory of his past leadership during the Fringe Wars leading to unfavorable chances of being reelected, the leader of humanity was once more unaware of the Object Omnicrons and the Harbinger, a fact that was limiting their efforts considerably. Even if said efforts had turned up nothing for years. Still, unlike Noé, neither Jack Harper nor he himself trusted his replacement enough to reveal the situation just yet. She was too much of a wildcard for now.

The previous chancellor had proven himself time and again to the both of them, years of hardship paying witness to his ability to lead even during trying times and keep secrets when necessary. Noé had been put into power during the worst conflict humanity had ever experienced, a time in which the HSA may very well have collapsed. And in face of these times he had still managed to not only hold the alliance together but built it back up from the ground. He had remained at the helm of humanity's ship as it sailed through the stars, providing guidance when the HSA encountered alien civilizations part of a community far older than it. Noé had been in charge when that community had shown its dark side and he had been the one to give the order to strike out against those who had attempted to extinguish humanity's growing fire, sadly setting of events that would eventually be used against him. Finally he had lead them to where they currently were and most importantly listened to them when they had told him not to make their findings public knowledge.

While his replacement had also played an important role in putting mankind on the path it was on right now, using her diplomatic skills to jumpstart a journey others had taken centuries to even consider, she had not done half the things Noé had done before they had entrusted what may very well be the most important secret of human history onto him.

"Chancellor Goyle has been rather opposed to military action, she has called for a formal hearing of both the batarian representatives and Ambassador Udina in front of the Citadel Council."

"That's it?"

"Noé has always been a soldier at heart, it's in his blood to react the way he did. She's a politician and more importantly a diplomat. She'll exhaust every other option before resorting to violence, even if the people are calling for it," Harper reasoned. "But no, that's not it."

"What else?"

"Until further notice, the army's in charge on Mindoir. The IFS militias disappeared the moment they heard that the navy had arrived and we still have no idea where they vanished to. Considering the gear they brought to bear against the slavers, Goyle is concerned, very much so."

"Something tells me that the forces of Mindoir's Colonial Watch are leaving the Fringe?" the director asked after he had turned his attention away from the projection in the center of the room and towards his tablet, the newest IFS propaganda of two worn down but still heroic-looking militiamen carrying an injured army soldier to safety fueling his question.

"Officially the call was made to replace losses and treat the injured but inofficially," Harper began, only for Rei to interrupt him. He knew exactly what the actual motive behind the order was.

"They are being moved as far away from the IFS as possible. Lots of green soldiers among them. Most of them never fought the IFS before and now they've bled with them. Special forces can blend that out but the regulars? They are going to be reluctant to fight them from now on. Hardly anyone likes shooting at the people they fought side by side with. That's the beginning of a bond we can't afford."

The specialist across of him remained silent after Tao had finished his sentence, a choice that surprised him. Jack Harper had been the specialist that dealt the killing blow to the separatist's public image, a blow that had ended the Fringe Wars. Operation Good Citizen, had been one of the few missions during which Section 13 had explicitly been ordered to leave no survivors. If anything he would've expected Harper to voice his own concern about the possibility of HSA soldiers becoming too attached to people they were supposed to fight in face of the lenghts he had personally gone to put an end to them. Yet no such concern was voiced.

"Jack?" he asked to break the silence that was causing him to think about questions he'd rather not have to answer. "Anything else?"

"Not from the chancellor, no," the former specialist said as he broke his silence, the omni-tool on his wrist coming to life as Tao Rei's tablet received its request to transfer a data stream. "However Cerberus found something of interest, something you should defiantly hear."

Accepting the transfer, he found the transfer to contain a single audio file, originating from none other than the Cerberus taskforce charged with tracking down the Shadow Broker and preventing him from taking any action against the HSA. They hadn't been successful at either of these tasks.

"Surely this has been a great morale victory for your cause," a deep voice growled through his tablet, its distinctive undertone audible yet hard to place on any known speech patterns. "This reveal of their incompete-"

"I didn't ask for your opinion," a heavily distorted, almost robotic voice talked back. While most people would've delivered such a statement with at least some form of emotion, the voice maintained a completely neutral tone.

"Why does this information concern you?" the first, deeper voice asked, an incredibly low tone accompanying each word of the sentence. It didn't sound as if it was part of whatever voice distortion device the person was using yet is wasn't a part of its speech either. It was something else, something in the background perhaps?

"Are you going to answer the question or are you going to waste my time?" the robotic-like voice countered, keeping his interest into the matter a secret. "I don't have all day."

"You'd do well to remember your place," the other simply answered.

"No, you'd do well to remember who can tear down half your network in human space with a single word. I'm not Kamarov, I'm not going to play your little intimidation games. Answer the question," the second voice threatened, the actual emotions behind the threat once more strangely absent.

"The surviving mercenaries are more reluctant than usual to talk about the details of this raid," the deeper voice growled after a moment of silence, anger seeping through all of its words as it complied. "Procuring information from them has been," there was a pause. "Difficult."

"Why?" it echoed through the office.

"The ones that agreed to my offer never lived to reach the meeting," the deeper voice explained. "Someone is silencing them and doing so very publicly."

"The batarians?" the robotic voice inquired.

"Disapperead into Hegemony Space."

"Is there anything you can give me?" the voice asked with a sigh of frustration, displaying any sort of human reaction. "Anyone linked to the attack that isn't dead or gone?"

"Lisva M'Valis, Illium," it came back after a long pause.

"Understood. Corvus out," the voice returned to a neutral tone before the audio file came to a sudden end.

"Who's the new guy?" he asked as his eyes focused on the replay button, the heavily distorted speech pattern of 'Corvus' still in his mind. Until the very last moments of the argument, Tao hadn't been sure if it was a person or a VI they were listening to.

"We don't know, the message was heavily encrypted," Harper shrugged. "It might be a throw-away identity of an already known agent or it might be a previously unknown actor."

"If it's so encrypted, how did we get it?" Tao muttered as he put the tablet back on his desk.

"Lightbringer said that the jammers of the slavers temporarily disabled whatever measures the IFS uses to disguise its transmissions on and off Mindoir but considering the conversation," the Cerberus director began only for Tao Rei to form his own answer.

"Corvus wanted us to hear it."

"Yes," the blue-eyed man nodded.

"Makes for a nice excuse though, 'I didn't mean to compromise your encryption, it just kind of happened'," Tao mocked before adopting a more serious tone. "Guess we're sending someone to Illium then?"

"It's the only other angle we got," Harper nodded."I already got the green light from the chancellor for you.

"Good."

Picking up the tablet, he began scouring through the names of currently unassigned Section 13 agents, letting out a frustrated growl as the two first and most compatible names on the list appeared. Section 13 was a small organisation, most of their specialists in fact being in deep cover across the fringe, and as such the number of available agents was even smaller than one would suspect. And in spite of these odds, the two agents who happened to be both experienced with each other and unassigned at the moment happened to be the two agents he'd least like to set foot on Illium ever again.

"What is it?" his former partner asked as Tao simply stared at the tablet. "If you're at capacity, Cerberus has capable agents as well."

"That's not it, Jack."

"Then what?" the man asked with confusion as he walked towards the desk, Rei simply sliding the tablet towards him, once he read it, he'd understand. Harper picked the small computer up before lifting it to eye level, taking a moment to read the two names the director had highlighted, the moment he spotted the notification attached to them marked by a long sigh.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."


8. March 2401 AD, Illium, Nos Astra

"Five days of detention is nothing to worry about, mate," the sandy-haired man said as he moved the seemingly normal black shades over his eyes, the humidity of Nos Astra's summer having surprisingly little effect on him, not a single pearl of sweat visible on his face. "Before HSAIS took me under its wing I got a summer's worth of that shit for 'dangerous misuse of a golf cart'," the specialist airquoted in a mocking tone, already betraying his real feelings about the punishment, "Which, in my opinion, was of course beyond disproportionately. I merely took one joyride through the hallway during recess, it wasn't my fault that the bloody prom cake got in the way," he reasoned with a chuckle as he leaned back in the chair, now lying on his back with his hands crossed behind his head. "If anyone is to blame, it's the obnoxious senior chick who insisted on filling it with strawberry cream. Cleaning that stuff off the lockers isn't half as fun as eating it, let me tell you that, mate."

"And this is why I try to keep you as far away from my daughter as I possibly can. You're a horrible influence and an even worse role model, you know that, right?" Alec said as he threw a quick glance towards his relaxed partner, once more wondering just what had driven him to the decision of wearing a rainbow shirt to an undercover operation. They sat on one of the countless balconies of this particular arcology, their cover of being simple tourists looking for a good time allowing them to enjoy the finer sides of Illium for once, which they had no problem with actually doing. Taking a sip from the asari cocktail, its flavour almost disgustingly sweet, the dark-haired man looked at their target once more, finding her in the same spot she had been a minute ago. The asari was still chatting with her turian customer in her office on the plaza below, blissfully unaware that the special curtains she had installed failed to shield her from Section 13's more advanced gadgets. Under other circumstances, they would've come crashing through the door and grabbed her but considering the last time they had been on Illium, a more subtle approach had been ordered. They couldn't afford another police chase.

"You still made me an uncle," Redford countered as he pointed his index finger at Alec, still looking into the sky and allowing the sun to dance on his already tanned skin.

"Wasn't my choice. I don't have any siblings and Hannah, for some to me incomprehensible reason, actually likes you," the specialist shrugged before setting down the drink, taking care to place it in the shadow he was casting in an attempt to keep it cold.

"Because I'm charming?" his partner asked before sitting back up, offering his best holiday card smile to reinforce his reply all the while counting with his fingers. "Witty, polite, good looking and ridiculously humble?"

"Keep telling that to yourself buddy," Alec snorted.

"What did she do?" Redford asked once their banter had finished. "Was it worth the five days?"

"Got in a fight with a bully," he explained as he kept observing their target, the small HUD in his shades outlining the two figures inside the office. "Tenth grader pushed around some kid and when she tried to get between them, it just kind of happened. The school isn't happy about it of course but I think the fact that she tried to help someone lessend the punishment."

"Did she win?" Redford asked as Alec simply shook his head in disbelief. The priorities of the man had always been rather odd, a flaw not even his marriage to a seemingly far more serious person had managed to fix.

"That's not what this is about ,Lal Qila. She shouldn't get in fights in the first place," Alec Shepard replied before a chuckle escaped his mouth, a prideful tone accompanying his next sentence. "But yes, she won."

"Worth it then," the blonde man nodded as he rose from his chair, ending the short sunbathe he had enjoyed while turning his head towards the building, both of them realising that the turian customer had just left. "Let's book a trip."

"After you," the specialist nodded before the two of them walked towards the flight of stairs on their right, going just fast enough to get to her in time without drawing unwanted attention. Their target was an asari travel agent by the name of Lisva M'Valis, who was made out to be the person on Illium you went to if you wanted to leave the planet without anyone noticing, a feat that their research indicated to be achieved through expensive bribes, a fleet of private transports, some stolen salarian tech and a large network of information brokers. Just what role she had played in the events of Mindoir remained to be seen. For now, she was the only source of information that they knew off. In spite of the source of their intel, that alone made their visit worth it.

Alec left the last step behind as he followed Redford across the plaza, taking note of the unwanted attention the two asari police officers were giving to his companion, hoping that it had been Redford's horrible taste in that had caught their eye and not the hidden SIS-8 in the waistband of his beige shorts. Bringing a sidearm capable of punching through most modern bodyarmor to question a civilian travel agent might seem excessive to most, especially because they had been ordered to keep a low profile, but they still had to consider that Lisva M'Valis, like every asari, was a biotic. If she wanted to, she could be very dangerous to the two of them. Asari that honed their skills were among the most dangerous individuals one could face on the battlefield, a mixture of natural talent and experience making them very deadly opponents. While Alec was confident that two Section 13 agents could overpower her, he hoped that it wouldn't come to that. Besides the obvious threat of biotics, there was also the fact that they were not really sure just what they would be walking into either. Someone like M'Valis probably had taken precautions.

Raising his shades above his eyes just as they came to a halt in front of the travel agency, Redford rang the doorbell of the small office, its white metal door sliding open to reveal a much more colourful reception, the opened door of the room right behind it revealing their target. She wasn't paying much attention to either of them and the absence of a receptionist was all the reason they needed to let themselves in. Sharing a nod, Alec looked behind them to check for any unwanted witnesses, tapping the other specialist's shoulder when he found none. The two walked past the reception and into the room, the curtains that were supposed to keep both the sun and unwanted observers out laying a blue filter of the room as a fraction of Illium's sunlight found its way through them.

"Excuse me, Lisva M'Valis?" he spoke up as the blonde man knocked on the door.

"Please make an appointment with my secretary, I am very busy at the moment," a friendly voice replied. "You can wait outside until she comes back from her break."

"We just need a few minutes of your time Ms. M'Valis," Redford offered as he removed his sunglasses, hanging them into the collar of his rainbow shirt before walking forward and leaving Alec slightly behind him. "Really just one quick question if you don't mind. We won't bother you longer than necessary."

"I am very busy at the moment," the asari returned, not taking her eyes off the screen in front of her, "but very well, one question. Make it quick."

"Fantastic," the specialist clapped his hands as he threw a look towards Alec, causing him to remain exactly where he was. Alec was well are of the unobstructed line of fire his partner was creating for him as each of his steps took him a little further to the right. "Now would you like to explain just how your little business is connected with the batarian slaver raid on Mindoir?"

The change in her demeanor was noticeable the instant Redford had finished his question. Turning her head towards Redford, purple energy danced over the skin of her hand for just long enough to be visible, withdrawing as she overthought her initial choice of action upon spotting the other human standing in the door. The short moment already told Alec everything he needed to know. This was the reaction of a someone backed into a corner, someone definitely involved in what she was being accused of.

"I'm sorry?" she asked with faked innocence, trying to put up her best smile, "I'm afraid I don't understand? I'm just a travel agen-"

"Drop the act," Redford shut her lie down as he picked up on her behaviour. Then he decided to gamble. "We already know you're involved. In the interest of time, just tell us why."

It was a risky move. A single question they couldn't answer or the chance of her actually being innocent would demolish their credibility from this point on. On the other hand, it was one of the few moves they could've made. Lisva'MValis was the only real lead they had. While the director had made it clear that there was a way to prove that the Batarian Hegemony had orchestrated the attack, he had also made it clear that said way was in no way one they could use without causing severe, possibly irreparable damage to the galactic community.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the asari dismissed them, only dropping her faked empathy.

"But I think you do," Redford shrugged as the slightest nod of the other man caused Alec to shut the door behind him. "The Shadow Broker put your name out for anyone looking into Mindoir. Why would he do that if you don't know what we're talking about?"

The asari was about to open her mouth again when Redford raised his finger to silence her.

"And before you answer, I think you should know that the people our friendly, shady information broker has been putting into connection with Mindoir have developed the unpleasant habit of dying," the specialist shrugged. "So the way I see it, you either talk to us and get the chance to drop of the face of the planet or whoever it is that's hunting down the chatterboxes will come after you next."

Contraty to Redford's threat, they had a pretty decent idea of who was crossing off anyone willing to talk. While none of the mercenaries who had agreed to meeting the Shadow Broker had died in similar ways, some being burned alive, others being beaten to death with shock batons or run over with skycars, a lucky few simply being shot, all the victims had offered little to no resistance to their killers, a strange occassion considering that all of them had been battle hardened hired guns. For this reason, Section 13 had concluded that the most likely explanation for this was that their killers had been on a whole other level than them. Looking at the circumstances, a civilian investigation would have concluded that the mercenaries had known whoever had killed them, dropping their guard upon their arrival and making them easy pray but these weren't civilians. Any Terminus merc that dropped his guard just because they knew the person in front of them didn't live long enough to build the reputation some of them had before their death.

Krogan exiles, asari pirates, a group of freelancing vorcha, all of them had been incredibly dangerous, tearing through Mindoir's Colonial Watch alongside their peers before escaping the navy in the nick of time. None of them had managed to put up a fight, let alone survive their encounter with their hunter. Considering who they had been working for, there was only one likely answer as to who had been sent after them.

The Special Intervention Unit.

Alec, like most people outside the Hegemony's high command or the unit itself, knew next to nothing about them besides their name. The only thing the HSAIS, probably by bagging either the Turian Naval Intelligence and Blackwatch for answers, had managed to learn about them was that the one field encounter between the SIU and the Blackwatch, which had taken place during the closing hours of the Krogan Rebellions, had completely annihilated an experimental cruiser and the krogan battalion on it, before ending with the death of all operatives involved on both sides. The event that had been kept a closely guarded secret for centuries.

"Your choice."

The asari looked at Redford, to her terminal and back to the specialist for several times until she finally frowned.

"A few weeks ago one of the commanders of the raid approached me. He needed to book a trip to his final destination without anyone being able to track him."

"His name?" Alec injected.

"He didn't give me his real name," the asari admitted, "at least I don't think so," she looked at her screen. "Bavsha."

"How come you think it's not his real name?" Redford asked. The asari muttered something under her breath that vaguely sounded like 'uncultured thug' before explaining.

"Bavsha are mythical creatures mentioned in the Pillars of Strength," she began and, upon seeing his still confused expression, sighed. "It's one of the most significant religious scriptures of their people. A Bavsha is a wraith believed to awaken to right wrongs and enact revenge on those that wronged the righteous."

"Where did he go?"

"Thessia," the asari finally read off her screen as both specialisists hid their surprise.

"Come again?"

"He went to Thessia," the blue alien repeated. "Bavsha booked a trip to the Republic of Serrice."

"Do you know why?" the sandy-haired Section 13 agent asked as he raised an eyebrow. It seemed strange for a batarian slaver to travel to any Council territory that wasn't within the Batarian Hegemony, even under a codename.

"I simply plan the journey to their destination, I don't ask what they're going to do once they are there. I'm a travel agent, not a detective," the asari replied in disbelief. "I gave you what you want, what now?"

"You better hope that you told us the truth," his blonde companion said before putting on his shades ones more. "Have a nice afternoon, Miss M'Valis," he offered as he walked out of the door in front of Alec.

"Wait a minute," Lisva called after them as she stormed towards the exit of her office. "What about my protection, who are you, how am I going to know that you'll uphold your part of the deal?" the asari asked as the specialist that had remained silent for most of the meeting came to a halt, turning around to face her questions.

"It doesn't matter who we are," the dark-haired man said as he leaned against the frame of the door, tipping his shades down just far enough to reveal the upper parts of his grey eyes to establish eyecontact for the next sentences. "But we will be watching you. For your sake, hope that you never see us again."

With that he left her, following Redford out of the office, past a very confused secretary and to the space port, informing HSAIS and Section 13 of their success, their deal and its implications.

Thessia was bad news.


2143 CE, Citadel, Embassy Area

"If he went to Serrice, both of us know exactly who he visited," the new human ambassador said as he smacked his fist into his palm, the asari ambassador he was standing in front of seemingly unimpressed by the action. "Allow our agents to question her."

"No," the asari shook her head. "Even if I were to ignore both the fact that the republic which wardens over the matriarch has strictly forbidden any humans from stepping into their territory and the reality of you not knowing if this batarian even visited Matriarch Tevos, there's still the issue of you not knowing who you're looking for. Even if we're just talking about Serrice, the area is still far too big to track him down."

Saren understood why the human ambassador, Donnel Udina,was asking for formal permission to deploy human field agents on Thessia. If a commander of a force that attacked a turian had visited the asari homeworld only a few weeks before the attack, he would've demanded answers as well, especially if that visit was the only real lead he had. But right about now, the asari were proving uncooperative, as expected. While the general opinion of humans under Councilor Benezia, who was still only a 'temporary replacement' as far as most republics were concerned, had improved, a lot of the more powerful city states on Thessia, especially those with close ties to Tevos and her political allies, still had little good to say about the HSA.

"A batarian would've stood out like a sore thumb, even on all of Thessia," the human countered, his odd choice of phrasing somewhat familiar to Saren thanks to his friendship with David Anderson, the first and for the moment only active human Spectre.

"Ambassador Udina, I can't give you what you want."

"And even if you could, Ambassador Galiv, you wouldn't," Udina's eyes narrowed. Unlike the last human ambassador, he was far more direct about his opinions of people.

"I beg your pardon?"

Saren let out a long sigh before deciding to do what the salarian councilor had ordered him to do in a situation such as this, intervere. The batarians and the humans were already at each others throat, their diplomats having long since moved past the accepted narrative of slaver raids. The last thing they needed were the asari joining in on the brawl. Unbeknownst to the other people in the room, there was a far bigger problem looming just out of their sight, a problem neither he, his brother or their allies had come any closer to understanding.

"Ambassadors," he did his best not to slip into the commanding tone his time in the turian military had given him. Both of them stopped their increasingly growing argument as they turned towards the turian in the corner of the room "Please."

"What is it, Agent Arterius?" the asari was the first to speak up.

"The way I see it there's a simple solution to your problem," the turian began. "You can't let a human field agent anywhere near Tevos' home because the laws of her warden republic forbid humans from entering their territory, most likely for the matriarch's own safety. But bringing her here is not an option either, she is still under lifelong house arrest. However actually questioning her is not the problem, correct?"

"Yes," the asari nodded.

"And you Ambassador Udina, the HSA is requesting permission to move human field agents into the region to ensure that they are able to gather accurate intelligence, correct?"

"Yes," the other diplomat folded his arms.

"Send Agent Anderson then."

"He's human," the asari began. "The warden republic's code of law forbids humans from setting foot into its territory."

"He's a Spectre, he's above the law," Saren corrected her. "I will accompany him to Serrice, giving them a guarantee that no harm will come to the matriarch while she is being questioned," he turned away from her, looking at the human instead. "But I will also give the HSA the ability to follow their lead."

"Agent Arterius, I have to protest." Ambassador Galiv got up from her chair. "This actio-"

"Is completely within the limits of both my and Agent Anderson's power. Councilor Valern has asked me to ensure that you come to a compromise on this matter. Since you've proven to be incapable of achieving that on your own, I compromised for you," he interrupted her before throwing a nod towards Udina. Even if some of them didn't like to be reminded off it, the Asari Republics were as much obliged to conform to the Citadel Council's overarching laws as the rest of its associates and members. "I will notify you once I land on Thessia. Have a pleasent day, ambassadors."

"And I will notify you once I've contacted your superiors," the asari threatened as Saren walked out of her office, his omni-tool opening up a messaging channel on his way through the embassy area. As he passed by diplomats, politicians and C-SEC officials, a disturbing amount of people recognizing him but mercifully none offering more than a short greeting or a smile, he typed his message to Anderson. While Udina would most likely inform him as well, he knew for a fact that the N7 turned Spectre would react far quicker to him than to the ambassador. Saren didn't know why the two men disliked each other, he just knew that every time they worked with each other, it was through clenched teeth. Saren came to a halt in front of a skycar before plotting a course to the civilian docking bay. His interference had already pushed the term of deescalation, there was no need to further antagonize all of Thessia by showing up to their doorstep with either a turian, or arguably even worse, a human warship right behind them.

He sighed again. They didn't need any of this. They couldn't afford to be divided, not right now and not ever again.

Ever since his encounter with the no deceased human doctor and batarian entrepreneur, the later of which had found something arguably more significant than the artifacts, Saren had been doing his own research on the sidelines. While his brother, TNI, STG and Section 13 had been looking for answers in unexpected places, the latest being a university on Thessia, he had been backtracking Had'dah and Qian's steps on his own. While Desolas had come to believe that whatever the batarian had discovered had long since been taken by the geth, he himself found that to be a very unlikely answer. For all the fears, rumors and enigmas surrounding the synthetic creations, no one had seen them outside their own space for almost three centuries. Even if Had'dah had been searching dangerously close to the Perseus Veil, whatever he had located hadn't actually been inside geth space.

The turian Spectre also doubted that Had'dah's company would've been capable of making something that big disappear without a trace, let alone prevent everyone from talking about their involvement following the company's dissolution. And even if they had managed to do both of these things, the investigation that had torn the company apart following the batarian's death had found not a single mention of the survey report or anything remotely related to it. Edan Had'dah had kept his discovery a secret from most people, making it impossible for Had'dah Enterprises to remove the object. For a very long list of reasons, that worried Saren far more than he let on. Desolas' allies and he himself, while extending their reach, hadn't gotten a single step closer to actually understanding the artifacts, the Leviathan or their presumed creator, the Harbinger. If you didn't understand something, what were your chances of fighting or let alone defeating it?

In the past year Saren had looked over everything they had found in the last thirteen years, analysing every artifact encounter, every conversation and every little fragment of the picture they had managed to piece together. His conclusion hadn't been a good one. With their single biggest piece of evidence, the Leviathan of Dis, stored in a top secret batarian research facility, scientists tearing it apart to create cranial implants for the Hegemony's slaver bands, they needed to find what Had'dah had found. Unless something changed, unless either his brother's allies or he himself discovered something akin to the Leviathan, something that could be used to prepare the galaxy for an event that may happen at any given time, there wouldn't be anyone left for him to guide through the darkness the Harbinger was hiding in.

As the skycar came to a halt his omni-tool activated itself, ending his small episode of contemplation with an orange glow and a buzzing vibration. He threw open the skycar's passenger door after making sure he wouldn't hit anyone with it and got out, his armored feet now standing in the civilian docking bay solely dedicated to flights to Thessia. When the skycar took of next to him, he lifted his left arm in front of him, reading Anderson's reply.

'I'll be there in five minutes, save me a seat.'


17. March 2401 AD,Thessia, Serrice

David Anderson set foot out of the space port and was almost immediately awed by what he saw. The extranet hadn't done it justice. Impossibly large silver towers, bridges connecting their polished exteriors with each other, climbed into the sky over his head and countless of skycars flew around them in neatly organized patters. Hundreds of mostly purple asari walked in front of him but there was not a single piece of trash visible on the plaza, not a single blade of grass seemed out of place on the large lawn in its center and in spite of how busy everything seemed, the air was pleasantly quiet. No screaming, no running, no engine sounds, just a sea of almost musical voices, bird calls and quiet footfalls. It was a farcry from his childhood in the megacity of London. There was not a sign of overpopulation, there were no sirens betraying the constant crimes in process around them and not a single person seemed to be in a rush.

It seemed so peaceful, so perfect.

Too perfect.

As Saren appeared next to them, the military escort meant for their 'protection' circling around them, he spotted the first crack in the city's seemingly perfect image. Asari stopped to look at him, their faces either surprised, angry or confused. Humans weren't welcome in the Republic of Serrice and its surrounding territories, only his status as a Spectre having allowed him to even board the flight that had brought them here. It was almost strange to see the galaxy's most notorious xenophiles behave this xenophobic. Under other circumstances, he would've laughed at the irony.

"Our transport is coming up," one of the asari said as Anderson spotted the sleek, equally silver craft come down from the skies, its appearance almost too artistic to be of military origin. "You will step inside, you will not delay the take-off process, you will not cause any incidents aboard and you will do exactly as you're instructed."

"You are in no position to tell either of us what to do, Captain D'Fali," a flanging voice returned over the sound of the engines as Saren turned towards the officer, his tone neutral but authoritarian none the less . "You're here merely as a courtesy of the Citadel Council, not because you're needed. Don't presume that you're in a position to give us orders."

The turian was right and the lack of complaint from their escort confirmed that they knew it as well. Anderson took a few more steps forward and caught the hateful glance one of the soldiers securing the perimeter threw at them. As their eyes met, the N7 simply shrugged, not offering her the reaction she was looking for. Both he and Saren knew that they were far from welcome here and both had expected this kind of reaction. Neither had seen a point in giving the asari any reason to find their fears confirmed. Anderson had nothing to gain from antagonizing the local military and Saren, having served as a pariah in the Cabal Corps, was too used to negative attention to let it get the better of him. The most satisfaction they'd get out of this trip would be to fulfill their missions. Besides, neither of the two had to prove anything to the members of Serrice's defense force. Not only were the two of them Spectres, already setting them apart from the soldiers that made up their escort, but due to the Asari Republics' defense policies, they were the only ones of the group that had actually ever fought anyone outside of a simulator.

As the silver shuttle touched down, the two Spectres climbed inside and held onto the slings hanging from the ceiling of the crew compartment, their escort following shortly after them. As the doors were closed and the asari strapped into the harnesses of the craft, Anderson spent exactly the first three seconds of the flight halfway expecting to be thrown through the craft by its unexpected speed or weak inertial dampeners but as he noticed that they were already traveling through the air at a rapid pace, he was surprised by how graceful the flight aboard an asari shuttle was when compared to a Kodiak. The craft wasn't shaking as it accelerated through the traffic, it didn't produce sounds that made one question if it would fall apart when meeting air resistance upon breaking and most importantly, one didn't even feel that they were moving. It was nothing like riding a Combat Cockroach or a turian shuttle into battle. Hell, not even the one trip he had made aboard a salarian military craft came anywhere close to comparing with it.

The asari's mastery and understanding of the mass effect really was unrivaled, he realised that now.

After a short ride over an ocean almost impossibly blue, he could see a large, white estate appear in the distance. It rested on a small island and a large, colourful garden surrounded its immediate vicinity, only the several silver shuttles standing on a free patch of grass at the edge of a cliff disrupting its idyllic appearance. Their transport swiftly covered the remaining distance and a quick look out of the window confirmed what Anderson was in fact not feeling, they were touching down. Soon enough the doors of the silver craft were opened form the outside as several asari clad in black combat uniforms undid their seal from the outside. Realising that their escort wasn't going to accompany them any further, the two Spectres stepped outside.

"Agent Arterius, Agent Anderson?" one of the asari commandos asked as she looked at her omni-tool, most likely checking in with her superiors. "I'd ask you to hand over your weapons but I know that won't happen so if you'd please just follow me."

Sharing another quick look, the turian and the human began their journey to the estate, which only seemed bigger now that they were actually on the ground. Parts of its facade were slightly, and probably deliberately, overgrown by a plant which roughly resembled the lianas native to Earth's jungles and as far as he could tell, the craftsmanship behind the building was simply flawless. While it looked old, there was not a single crack in its walls, not a single discoloration in its paint and not a single speck of dirt on any of its large windows. However just like the Serrice, it was simply too perfect. Hidden under the plants he could make out the shape of heavy kinetic barrier generators and a more detailed observation of the gargoyle-like structures lining the roof made it obvious that they at the very least hid security cameras if not entire automated defense turrets. But most importantly, Anderson knew the ugly truth that hid behind the estate's stunning walls, the truth that asari society was far more governourted by wealth and social standing than they were comfortable with admitting. Anyone not as influential as Tevos would've been sent to a high security prison ship floating around space, condemned to live spartan until the end of either their sentence or their life.

Even before becoming a councilor, the asari had been one of the most powerful individuals of her race and it showed, her sentence had been house arrest and her 'jail' was more luxurious than anything just about anyone in the galaxy could ever hope to affort. As they walked through the garden, dozens if not hundreds of different kinds of flowers causing a sweet scent to fill the air around them, the large wooden doors at the center of the estate opened in front of them and Anderson could already see the large hallway they were headed for up ahead. Passing through the entry , he noticed the large paintings, antiques and portraits lining the two stairways leading to the level above them but before he could wonder what he'd find up there, they reached another door, this one made of clear glass.

"She's waiting for you," the asari behind him spoke as his hand touched its surface. That was all he needed to hear. With a single push, the door opened and the warm sun of Thessia once more hit him in the face, a single glance to the right just revealing more flowers and displays of wealth to him. When he turned left, he found why he was found.

"You're late," the voice, as graceful as the last time he had heard it on tv, chuckled. "Please, sit."

In front of him Matriarch Tevos was resting on a porch just barely inside the shadow of a large veranda, the table in front of her stocked with beverages and foods of different colour, the bluish dye of turian drinks among them. Like most asari, she looked like she hadn't aged a day since he had last seen her and her robe looked like it was worth more than Anderson's respectable officer salary and N7 hazard pay combined would earn him in two years.

"Matriarch," he nodded, opting to be polite for now as he sat down, Saren lingering next to the door for now.

"I've heard much about the two of you," Tevos smiled. "The turian Blackwatch protégé and his trainee, the first human Spectre. What was it they called you? Hero of the Citadel?"

"Media exaggerations," the turian shrugged as he closed the door behind him, leaning against it while taking care not to damage it with his armor. "But we're not here to discuss me."

"No, you're not," the former councilor nodded. "From what I understand you're under the impression that a batarian visited me?"

"Yes," Anderson nodded. "Following Mindoir, we managed to track one of the commanders of the raid back to Thessia. A few weeks before the attack he traveled to Serrice. He went under the alias of 'Bavsha' and we've got reason to believe that the person he met with was you."

"I don't recall meeting with a batarian wraith," the asari spoke in the same voice she had used to pull countless of people on her side, its soothing effect only stained by the blood of the victims of the Mercenary Intervention and her mockery. As Anderson leaned forward in the chair, the asari took a sip from her cup of tea before neatly setting the beverage back down on the table, her expression remarkably friendly. "May I ask you a question in return?"

"Yes."

"Why would a batarian slaver meet with me?" Tevos inquired. "Are you certain that your reasons for believing this theory to be sound are based on logic and not the product of a grudge against my person and my past actions against your kind?" The provocative undertone that accompanied her question was just subtle enough to go by most people but the N7 picked up on it. While she was right that her past had been the deciding factor behind this interrogation, she had phrased it in such a way that made it seem like the factor was questionable.

"You're the only significant person of interest in Serrice that has not only a motive to act against the HSA but has a history of doing so," he argued, Saren still remaining silent in front of the door as the turian observed the garden in front of them.

"Am I?" she asked as her tone shifted from friendly to condescending. "You humans always suspect that someone is plotting behind your back. In your eyes, everyone is conspiring against you."

"Considering that that's exactly what you and Vaelan did, it's a reasonable suspicion to hold."

"I assure you, I am not the only significant person in Serrice that has a motive to act against your people," Tevos smiled. "You truly have no idea how many enemies you made when you disrupted the harmony of the three council races, do you?"

"It wasn't the HSA who disrupted the harmony of the Citadel Council," a flanging voice saved Anderson from replying. "It were two frightened politicians who feared that the Hierarchy would act the way they would, abandoning their duties to others in favour of personal gain. You feared that our ties to humanity would show my people that we don't have to carry all the weight you burden us with on our shoulders alone, failing to realise that we already knew of our disappropriate share of responsibility. You were worried that the stagnant system you build, the system that put you into the position of power you were in, would break apart around you. You were so scared of change that ,in an attempt to prevent it, you allowed it to occur even faster. It's ironic really. In the end you were the architect that brought your fears to live."

For probably the first time in centuries, the asari in front of him didn't seem to have a comeback that would put the situation in her favour. In a few moments, a turian Spectre, who Anderson didn't even believe to be very politically inclined, had managed to best her in her own field of expertise, rethoric. The asari remained silent as she looked at the cups on the desk in front of her before a small laugh escaped from her mouth.

"What a beautiful speech. You should consider a career in politics, under your lead your people may actually learn to negotiate for themselves," she chuckled as she improved her already perfect posture even more. "I won't deny that you're right. My actions did not have their intended result," she admitted as a smile crossed her lips. "But even then I can't claim that Bavsha met me."

"You've got a lot of reasons to hire a bunch of slavers to attack a human planet," Anderson pointed out.

"According to you," the asari replied. "But let me ask you another question. Why do it now? Why not five years ago? Why not ten years from now?" Going into this meeting, Anderson didn't think he'd be able to get anything remotely honest out of the Councilor but as she went on, he couldn't help but feel like she was telling the truth. "Why ask Bavsha to visit me in my own home? I still have many friends in high places, why not use them as proxies to further my own goals without raising suspicion?"

He had to admit that he couldn't answer those questions.

"I will let you in on one of the reasons my kind dominates the galaxy. Unlike the rest of you, we're able to look back on centuries of experiences and encounters. We're able to tell when someone wants us to think the one thing but does another behind our back and we're able to work against it in the long run. The salarians may claim that STG is unmatched in its field but what can you truly do in forty short years? At the moment, your kind's inexperience with the galactic community is more than painfully evident, Agent Anderson. Your upstart species may have found its way into our ranks but you have yet to even remotely understand how the world you're trying to shape in your favour works," she explained in a voice that did well to hide the utter content behind her words. "The batarians, for all their flaws and cruelty, at least understand how the galactic community around them functions. They know how to temporarily use it in their favour. They knew that the moment you learned of one of their commanders traveling to Serrice, you'd suspect my involvement, giving them more than enough time to wipe away the real traces of their own involvement. No matter what you want others to believe, no matter how many dreadnoughts you built, no matter how many worlds you claim, no matter how much you sway the turians into your favour and no matter how many people you murder, you're still primitives trying to understand a game that's been played since you discovered the wheel."

At first Anderson could come up with several things he could say to disprove her claim but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. The assassinations had silenced all but the one source that had put them on the trail the Batarian Hegemony wanted them to follow and ever since they had found out about one of the raid's commanders traveling to Thessia, they had focused on it, probably overlooking the several leads that would've given the HSA enough evidence to proof without the shadow of a doubt that the Hegemony had moved past simply supporting the raids. In their pursuit of what they believed to be the truth, they had lost any chance at finding it. It took a lot of discipline not to betray this realisation.

"I think we're done here for now," Anderson said as he got up, walking towards the door Saren had been leaning against, the turian doing an equally good job at hiding his true feelings, "but rest assured," he promised as his tone grew darker, "when you decide that your time to take action has come, there won't be another trial."

"I wish you good fortune in your investigation, Agent Anderson," Tevos called after him as he reached for the door, "and I truly hope you find what you and your brother have been looking for, Agent Arterius. Although I fail to see why the dear general favours searching the lecture halls of thessian universities over the Perseus Veil, I am certain that he has his reasons."

In the several years they had worked together, he had never seen his firend like this. Surprised? Yes. Caught off guard? Yes. Shocked? Never. His features were locked into a grim expression as his mandibles pressed themselves against his closed jaw, an previously unseen anger flashing behind his eyes for a few short seconds before his entire body seemed to tense up. He shut the door behind and left without a comment.

The walk back to the shuttle was a silent one, he knew Saren would tell him what had just happened when the time was right and right about now, he didn't feel like talking either.


7. April 2401 AD, Unknown Location

"Did you know?" the voice demanded through the distortion software, its anger hidden behind a neutral tone.

"No," a deeper one replied, its unique accent having long since become familiar. "But the agent who delivered this false information has been lectured of his short comings. He won't disappoint me again."

"Good," a pause occupied the room as the voice looked for the rest of its reply, unsure if the other was telling the truth. "Flawed intelligence like this could have far worse consequences in the future. This time we were lucky, that might not be the case should this happen again."

"Threats will get you nowhere," the deeper voice argued as it read through the meaning of the statement. "But its not in either of our interests to repeat this failure."

"No, it isn't," the first voice replied as the software twisted its sound into a completely different one. "I will contact you when I require your assistance again. Corvus out."

The news that their lead had been wrong had come to a surprise but at least it had cast the HSA into a bad light. Their insistence to question Tevos only to realise that she was not involved had been worth the failure of their original plan, intending to use their agents to take care of a shared threat. After all, risking one of the few remaining operatives capable of taking on such an operation was not feasible, not at a time as crucial as this. The attack on Mindoir, while an atrocity they'd eventually avenge, had been the event they had been waiting for ever since Kamarov had snapped. For years they had been laying low to keep public backlash following the failed attack on Arcturus to a minimum, for years they had been preparing their remaining assets for this moment. With Kamarov out of the picture and the new generation of HSA soldiers bleeding at the hands of aliens and not them, the time for reconstructing their image was finally here. But unlike the Butcher of Elysium, she knew better than to rush their cause. The people of the Fringe and humanity as a whole needed them to take their time. If anything, time was working in their favour. Every slaver raid, every alien plot, it all played into their hands, slowly but steadily improving their position. A knock on the door of the office caused her to stand up, the press of a button opening it after a slight delay.

"Ma'am, we've arrived at our destination. "

"Alright," she replied as she got up from the chair. "Any unknown signatures in the area?"

"No, we haven't been followed and neither have any of the other ships. Your plan worked."

"My plan didn't executed itself. Extend my congratulations to the crew, excelent work, lieutenant," the dark haired woman said as she got up, straightening her old, dark-red uniform, the five golden letters on her collar as polished as the day she had been awarded with them. "Is everyone accounted for?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Good. This meeting is long overdue. Patch them through to my personal terminal."

"Yes, Admiral," the junior officer saluted before leaving her makeshift office, several dozen com links coming to live on the aged but reliable screen in front of her. She cleared her throat just as the video link established itself and began her speech.

"This is Admiral Kastanie Dreschers to all remaining commanders of the IFSDF, the time of our resurgence is upon us. But now more than ever, I need all of you to remain patient," she knew they possessed this skill. Unlike Kamarov, the people she was addressing hadn't been cut off from the IFSDF for the entirety of the war. They had been trained to lead, being promoted to their rank not simply because their superior had died but because they were qualified for leadership. "We can no longer allow the HSA to endanger our brothers and sisters in the Fringe Worlds or on any other world they may live on by letting it rule over them. In a galaxy as dangerous as our own, it is not just our duty but also our destiny to protect those which they claim yet fail to shield from the evils surrounding us."

As she had done during the darkest hours of the war, she waited a few moments for her words to touch the hearts of her comrades, to allow them to not simply listen but to understand her intention. When she was satisfied with her break, she went on.

"We are the few who lived to see this critical moment and while it is important to remember those who already gave their life to get us here, it is now far more important to look into the future, to realise all those we can save guard from suffering a similar faith by returning to our roots. All of you have a part to play in the years to come and as of right now, each and everyone of you is formally reinstated into the service of the IFSDF and the senate we pledged our loyalty to."

As she saw the transfer of the individual sets of orders completed, the admiral closed in for her gratuitous closing line.

"For the first time in two decades, for the first time for all of humanity. De liber," she called in a voice hardened by years of military command.

"Oppresso!" the rest of her sentence echoed through her room in a chorus of voices before twenty one com-links disappeared from her screen as the ships vanished from the rally point.

Now more than ever those words rang true.


Codex: Militaries of the Asari Republics

Unlike every other galactic government, the Asari Republics lack a unified, planet-based military. Instead of maintaining large, professional armies like the rest of the galaxy, every colony, republic, city state or confederation of asari forms their own defense forces, the wealth and size of each community determining their equipment standard, doctrine and training. Due to never venturing outside of their home communities, this practice eases the economical strain placed on the communities but also leads to most of their ground based forces being remarkably inexperienced, only few of them having anywhere close the combat experience of turian, human, salarian or even batarian soldiers and most never even being baptized in fire, the battle tested veterans of the Krogan Rebellions long since dead.

The sole exception to this are all asari naval forces which, alongside the naval-based huntress units, commonly refered to as Asari Commandos, are unified under the command of the Republican Navy, the individually most advanced military of the Citadel Council. While collectively outnumbered by the fleets of the Turian Hierarchy, asari vessels are among the most powerful ships in the known galaxy, their barriers, armors and weaponry unmatched and the Destiny Ascension standing as a testament to the Republican Navy's power and asari engineering as a whole.

While military analysts agree that the strength of their naval forces makes it unlikely that any enemy force will ever set foot on the asari core worlds and that their naturally biotic population would make any occupation incredibly difficult, especially turian and, before the Krogan Rebellions, krogan, strategists have time and again pointed out that the Asari Republics, for all their might, are incapable of fighting and winning a sustained war of attrition on their own. Not only are the majority of their ground forces, with the exception of the navy's light infantry, strangers to planetary invasion tactics, large scale combat, occupation and organised resistance, most of them also lack the heavier weaponry employed by turian, batarian or human forces, instead excelling at light skirmishing tactics against pirates, slavers and soft, undisciplined targets.


A/N:

So, chapter 32. Delayed, mostly because as some of you may have realised by now thanks to me remastering the first TEN chapters of Semper Vigilo. (If you didn't realise that, this is your cue to go back and read them), which is something I've been meaning to do for a long time. Also I've been busier than expected due to applying to both the federal and state police of germany, a process that took up mroe of my time that I though it would.

Now to the chapter itself. I know, no action and a lot of talking but I think given that last chapter was basically a giant action sequence, this is a nice change.

Also Tevos makes a return and I give the lot of a oneline cliffhanger without even having the descency of ending the chapter there. For her, I wanted her to be threatening in her own unique way. Sure, she's a asari matriarch and probably, like most of them, a powerful biotic. But that's not what made her dangerous during the beginning of Semper Vigilo and its not what put Anderson at a disadvantage here either. At her core, she's still a political chess player, she doesn't fight you with actions, she fights you with words. And I hoped I managed to portray that in an accurate fashion.

Also, I finally managed to get back to one of the long-term conflicts of Semper Vigilo, a conflict that kind of lay dormant until last chapter. I know some of you are probably wondering where the third Codex Entry of the Fringe Wars is (which is mostly written btw). Rest assured, it's not that far away anymore. The Fringe Wars are still very much the defining difference between the Human Systems Alliance and the Canon Systems Alliance.

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See you around next time.