Chapter 49. Split
2156 CE, Citadel, Office of Councilor Valern
Terrible.
Catastrophic.
An absolute disaster.
All of these terms were ample descriptions for the kind of situation Valern found himself in.
While he had initially assumed that overseeing negotiations between the Union's diplomats and the dalatrasses would be the worst part of his day, the 'little' problem of both sides utterly refusing to see things from each others point of view always grew into messy arguments no matter what he did, the more than unsettling message of General Arterius had quickly shown him just how comparatively insignificant the increasing tensions between the civilian and noble born elements of his people's government and the League of One's lingering shadow above it all, who's continued existence still only he knew about, were.
On any other day the fact that the teal salarian, who had first met him in this very office, was shadowing him in a way that ensured that just Valern himself would notice combined with the Union and dalatrasses slowly spiraling towards an incredibly dangerous clash of interest during the highly volatile time of the biggest colonialisation wave in centuries would've been the only thing on his mind but as things were, it simply felt mundane. Even though the possibility of STG's most dangerous opponent deliberatly putting the two halves of his government on a collision course was amongst one of the worst scenarios he could think of, his own role in the matter, namely choosing to keep the League's existence a secret for the sake of maintaining his own secrets, doing his situation no favours, there simply was a much bigger and much more dangerous threat looming on the horizon than the dalatrasses trying to officially establish their own naval forces.
In the world he had lived in before taking over this long-term undercover assignment from Cozek, no one could hope to come close to doing as much damage as a double agent with inside knowledge. No hit and run, no raid, not even a full STG infiltration regiment. There simply was no greater threat to an alliance like their own than being betrayed, be it willingly or not, from within. With the information he held, the plans he knew and the resources he had access to, Agent Arterius could cripple their efforts tremendously, something Valern was certain he'd already begun doing some time ago. While the effect was still poorly understood and as such there was always the possibility of him being wrong, the salarian doubted that Arterius had been able to resist his new master completely ever since the likely date of his indoctrination. The possibility of him having done something that would interfere with their plans wasn't just there, it was a certainty.
Valern sighed.
It had been precisly this line of thought and the memory of his own role in the events leading up to the indoctrination of his former ally that had caused him to open up the Spectre reports and C-SEC files dealing with the disappearance of his former colleague, Councilor Benezia, and view them not from his own view but from that of a turned Arterius. If one wanted to destabilize any region for an invasion of an outside force, one of the surest ways to do so was to compromize its political or military leadership. Be it a mere fiefdom on Sur'Kesh, a colony, an entire cluster or even the whole Citadel Council, the principle remained the same. While he didn't have any offsprings himself, Valern suspected that luring Benezia into a situation where the Spectre could've captured her in an attempt to subject the asari to the same effect that had turned him, would've been surprisingly easy. To him it was no secret that the councilor and the Spectre had been at odds with each other ever since T'Soni's only daughter had begun following Arterius on some of his missions. Being as protective as one expected an asari mother to be, Benezia had made it abundantly clear that she didn't want the turian anywhere near Doctor T'Soni. As such, the only thing Valern figured Arterius would've needed to do in order to lure her out, and by extension attempt to turn her, would've been to approach Benezia's daughter in a way that would cause the councilor to notice and take action.
Going from there, he simply assumed that the turian was more than capable of laying an ambush in which he could neutralize whatever guards his marks brought, detain Benezia without killing her and destroy what little trails the councilor would've left on her way to her less-than-sanctioned personal intervention.
Indoctrinated or not, the turian was still a Spectre.
This was exactly the kind of missions he had been recruited to accomplish.
As he closed another report, opening the next one not a second later, Valern placed his hands in front of his mouth, a habit he usually fell into when being deep in thought. The councilor's replacement, a matriarch by the name of Irissa, had been more than eager to slow down the efforts to locate the missing asari, an action he could've easily suspected to be rooted in Irissa and Arterius working together if not for the fact that the salarian seriously doubted that the turian, no matter how wealthy or influential he might've been beyond his Spectre status, could influence internal asari politics. If anything, the asari efforts to call off the search were likely just the product of something as old as time itself, the desire to keep the power one gained. Given that she was only a temporary replacement, which Benezia had ironically started out being as well, it was far more likely for her actions to be her own than that of Arterius and the Harbinger. Out of everyone involved with the search, she had the most to lose should the missing councilor turn up again.
Valern lowered his hand and brought up his second, hidden omni-tool. Self-motivated or not, one couldn't be too careful. Quickly sending up a message up STG's chain of command, asking for the surveillance of the asari councilor to be increased, the salarian didn't allow himself even the shortest break before returning to the task in front of him. He didn't need a pause yet. He had slept nearly three full hours last night.
"Councilor Valern, the human ambassador just informed me that Agent Anderson arrived on the Citadel," the voice of one of his many personal assistants, this one not an STG agent, came through the intercom of his room, "he now requests that the emergency meeting be moved up."
"What do Sparatus and Irissa say?" he asked, his attention now focused on the report of one C-SEC officer strangely enough insisting that he had just discovered a solid lead on what happened to Benezia just earlier today. Apparently he was mere hours away from finding critical information and the one thing still standing in his way were his superiors who had yet to green-light his daring mission proposal.
"Councilor Sparatus already cleared his entire schedule until further notice and Councilor Irissa maintains that she is as flexible as this situation requires her to be."
"Then I won't be the one to keep them waiting," the salarian answered, taking care to maintain his cover personality and not let slip that he already knew what would happen beyond the closed doors of the Council's chambers. "Tell them that I am fine with moving up the meeting."
"At once," the assistant replied before the line closed itself, a brief notice that the council would assemble in a standard hour following swiftly.
Even though he still had to make a number of preparations for the meeting, for example prepare himself for the possibility of having to explain his exact role in all of this without exposing his actual identity to his collegues, Valern remained seated, still focused on the report of the C-SEC detective. Having done field work himself, he could see why Executor Pallin deemed the proposal too risky. Going up against the Shadow Broker's henchman on your own was dangerous enough but justifying it with nothing but a hunch, some rumors and the vague statement that the situation would be under control once you actually got there was a very easy way to get yourself killed. The number of things that could go wrong because of what Valern from personal experience recognized to be good intentions and overconfidence were staggering, especially in a setting as unpredictable as the Lower Wards of the Citadel. Yet as he read over the file of the turian, the STG covert operative got the feeling that none of that would actually discourage the detective. If anything, these factors would probably just encourage somebody like him even more. He knew the type, after all early on in his career he had been just like him. Young, bold and ready to go to the edge of the world for the sake of completing the task handed to him.
While Valern knew that he was stretching the degree of authority he held by doing this, the chance of figuring out what had happened to Benezia and his own understanding of this 'Vakarian's' motives were more than enough to 'suggest' to Pallin that he'd allow his investigator to follow up on his lead.
6. January 2415 AD, Citadel, Docking Bay D-24
"Captain Anderson is off-board, XO Pressly has the bridge," Joker's voice echoed through the intercom of the Normandy's airlock as the four people who had been near the beacon just before its destruction began making their way towards the Presidium to take part in the emergency meeting that had been scheduled in the wake of the attack on Eden Prime by both the human and turian diplomats aboard the Citadel, the station that served as both the seat of the Citadel Council and the heart of Council space. While her career had caused her to be deployed everywhere from Earth all the way to the very edge of 'civilized space', the frontier of the Attican Traverse where only a few independent and a number of rather isolated human colonies were located, this station had never been amongst her postings, not even for shore leave. Emily had only ever been on the Citadel once, namely during the time she and her mother had lived with her dad shortly after her parents had both agreed that Arcturus Station was no longer a safe enough place for their daughter to grow up on after Andrej Kamarov had attempted to destroy it with a nuclear weapon.
"Udina should be here any minute now," Anderson muttered. Ever since she had woken up, the man had seemed on edge and up to now, the commander could only suspect that it was the imminent Council meeting that had set off the former N7. While she had initially hoped that the files and reports she had gotten from Harper would offer up more explanations for the Spectre's sudden change of personality, the numerous hours of reading had only succeeded in raising more questions. Although she now knew that the operatives she had found had been part of an HSA black ops division by the name of 'Cerberus', who had apparently been active ever since humanity had made First Contact the Citadel Council, the files had included no indication for most of the incredibly strange things she had seen on Eden Prime. As of right now, Emily still had no idea what the 'message' Harper had spoken off was, where the enormous gethz ship that had taken part in the attack had come from or why the geth forces on the ground had decided to turn every person, alive or not, they had gotten their hands on into the kind of monster she was glad she had yet to actually have nightmares of.
"Captain Anderson," she heard a slightly aggravated voice call out, the sense of hostility it carried with something as simple as a name tearing her from her thoughts rather abruptly. "I see you decided to bring company after all," the man, who she now recognized as Donnel Udina, the HSA's ambassador, added as he spotted them. Although she couldn't claim to know why the human Spectre had seemed on edge ever since she had woken up, it didn't take much to figure out the reason behind the ambassadors attitude. As the link between the HSA and the Council, he had likely been dealing with all kinds of trouble ever since Anderson had reported the critical failure of their mission to his superiors on the Citadel. "Even though I distinctively remember telling you not to," the older man sighed as he came to a stop in front of the group, his arms crossed in front of his chest. If there ever had been a stereotypical career politician, Shepard was now looking at him. Between the light brown designer suit, the marine guards flanking him on either side and his complete confidence in his own power, there really wasn't anything about the man that didn't suggest that he was used to being in charge.
"They saw the beacon's destruction. The council will want to hear their testimony."
"While that might be the case, none of them have been cleared by C-SEC to attend the meeting," the politician countered with a frown.
"They will be cleared if I vouch for them," Anderson replied immediately, standing his ground.
"Not while they're still armed," Udina pointed out, throwing a suspicious glance at Emily. Truthfully, she hadn't entirely understood why Anderson had insisted that they'd suit up before stepping off the Normandy either. Even though it was completely legal for a Spectre and whoever accompanied him to carry weapons aboard the Citadel, a right usually reserved for C-SEC officers or selected security personal, the N7 genuinely didn't get why Anderson had seen it fit to give Alenko, Williams and her the order to put on their hardsuits and bring their weapons. It wasn't like they were planning to head into the much more dangerous wards. The chamber of the Council were in the Presidium which, thanks to C-SEC's countless number of regulations, tireless surveillance efforts and over-frequent patrols, was probably among the safest place in the galaxy.
"We'll see about that," the Spectre replied before shoving past the ambassador and his guards and nodding towards the group of C-SEC officers waiting to escort him and Udina to the top of the Presidium. "Let's go. We're gonna run late."
While the N7 couldn't claim to know either of them, she had only ever shook Ambassador Udina's hand once shorty after the Skyllian Blitz and until recently Captain David Anderson had been nothing but an example they had been told to strife towards back in Rio, it was obvious that there had been bad blood between the two men way before today. Whatever had happened between the two, it was hard to miss that it had left both of them with little good will for each other, which could be more than problematic given that the ambassador would play a critical part in the upcoming meeting.
"Captain Anderson, this isn't the time for you to push your boundaries" Udina called before hurrying after the former N7, his detail following, an action that caused both Alenko and Williams to turn towards her. With the two men gone, Emily was the highest ranking person around for them to turn to. She knew that they expected her to know what to do, after all that was what a commanding officer was supposed to do, knowing what to do, but given how painfully unfamiliar she was with politics and how increasingly stranger this situation was becoming with every passing second, the commander was as much of a loss as her subordinates. Of course she knew better than to show that. Deciding that there was only really one direction to go, forward, the red-haired N7 followed on Udina's heels, walking through the mostly empty docking bay and towards the C-SEC squad as well.
"This isn't about boundaries, Ambassador," Anderson brushed him off as the C-SEC patrol spotted them, one officer opening the doors of the transport craft likely meant for them while the others seemed to keep an eye on the open spaces around them. "It's about time. The Council needs to know what really happened on Eden Prime and they need to know now."
That did it. Anderson definitely knew more than he let on, which incidentally also meant that Director Harper, who she just assumed was in on whatever it was that caused the Spectre to act like this, hadn't told her the entire story either. She didn't appreciate that one bit, especially not these days and especially not from someone who had put up a sincere facade.
"They will once you begin following protocol."
"Ambassador, we both know that protocol went out the window the moment Eden Prime happened," that sentence caused Shepard to begin suspecting that it wasn't just Harper and Anderson that knew more than her. Udina did as well.
Just what the hell had she stumbled into here?
"Captain Anderso-" the ambassador was about to continue his protest as Anderson climbed into the large, armored skycar and strapped in.
"Save it for later and get in the damn car, Udina," the Spectre interrupted him before turning his head towards Shepard and the two marines behind her. "You three too. That's an order." While there was little doubt in the N7's mind that even his Spectre status wouldn't be able to save him from whatever disciplinary action the ambassador could direct towards Anderson, Emily was surprised to see Udina comply.
Although the ride to the Presidium and the painfully silent but thankfully brief walk to the Council Chambers should've given Shepard ample time to collect her thoughts and make sense of what had happened in the last twenty four hours, the commander still found herself incapable of entirely wrapping her head around things. She blamed most of that on the high odds of her not being told the whole story. As they walked up the flight of stairs leading to the chambers, Emily couldn't help but take notice of the turians, one clad in blue C-SEC armor and the other downing a more formal blue and black dress uniform, arguing just a few steps shy of the large doors leading to three of the most powerful individuals in the galaxy.
"I might not know how you got the councilor to put in a good word for you, Vakarian, but don't expect that this means I won't be watching your every step down there," the black-plated one of the two said, the telltale flanging that should've accompanied his voice lost to the commotion around them. While the meeting wasn't public, it had apparently been almost impossible to keep people, and more importantly the press, unaware of the fact that the council would assemble for an emergency meeting. Between the human group, the two turians and at least a platoon's worth of armored C-SEC officers, Shepard could make out dozens of individual news reporters and journalists, the camera drones that accompanied most of them drawing suspicious glances from the security personal posted on the levels overlooking the stairs. "You will keep it strictly by-the-book this time, is that understood?"
"Yes, Executor," the silver-plated one replied as the humans walked past them. "By the book," he added with a nod. She had spent enough times around turians to recognize the annoyed look on the other's face. Whatever story the other was trying to sell, he wasn't buying a word of it.
"Let me do the talking, Captain," she heard Udina say from next to Anderson. Just like herself, the former N7 hadn't said a word since they had landed, simply marching forward with steely determination, the way to the chamber appearing to be second nature to him. For the first time of the day, Emily found herself agreeing with the ambassador. While she hadn't appreciated him trying to cut them out of the debriefing, partially because of Anderson's insistence that they should partake but also because of the hope that being there while the Spectre talked to the Council would offer some much needed answers, he was right in the regard that he should be the one to present their case. Additionaly to it being an ambassador*s job to do the talking, the commander could tell that Anderson, while focused on the mission, wasn't exactly in any state to tell whatever full story he and Udina knew.
As they stepped near the doors, Shepard was surprised to see them open without as much of a second of delay or voice of complaint, the asari office nearest to them simply waving them through in spite of their visible weapons and armor. Walking into the chambers was a strange experience, not only because of how empty the spacious room was but also because of how strangely intimidated Shepard felt the moment she came face to face with the three councilors. There, standing just slightly above them on a set of podiums, were an asari, a salarian and a turian who could change half the galaxy with nothing but an unanimous vote. While being a commissioned officer in a special operations outfit like N7 required her to take on massive amounts of responsibility, she couldn't imagine what kind of weight each of these people carried with them every day. She wasn't entirely certain what kind of person it took to rise to such a task.
"Agent Anderson, Ambassador Udina," the asari, who's name Shepard actually couldn't recall due to her being a rather recent replacement for the still missing Councilor Benezia, began to speak. "I see you saw it fit to bring an escort?" The commander wasn't entirely sure if the graceful tone all matriarchs she had ever heard speak seemed to adopt was something that formed naturally in asari as they grew older or if it simply was a product of only the truly well-spoken ones getting into politics in the first place.
"They're not an escort, Irissa they're witnesses," the turian to her right threw in not a moment later, "They were around when the beacon was destroyed and they're to offer their own statement of the event," the councilor added a moment later.
"I see," the asari said before focusing on Anderson alone. "Given the circumstances, I think we can all agree that this breach of protocol is our smallest concern right now," Emily saw the Spectre nod at that. "Good, moving on," the matriarch began, her features softening in the process. "Ambassador Udina, Agent Anderson, I think it is in all of our interests that you now present your statements," she said, her eyes narrowing almost immediately, contrasting her otherwise friendly demeanor and tone, "starting with the exact details of how it came to be that the only known working prothean beacon was destroyed right in the midst of hundreds of human and turian soldiers."
There it was. Shepard had been waiting to hear someone be angry about the absolute failure of the mission ever since the artifact had quite literally blown up in her face and up to now, no one had seemed that particularly concerned about it. As she watched Udina and Anderson, expecting either of them to be the first to speak up, it only made sense given that they were the ones being addressed, Emily found herself caught offguard when another person took the initiative.
"Before either of you answer that question," the voice of Councilor Valern, the third, salarian member of the executive committee, echoed through the chamber, making its way up and across the empty levels where usually selected delegates of the associate species, journalists and other influential people would be seated to pay witness to the meeting. "May I inject something, Councilor Irissa?"
"Of course. You don't need my permission to speak, Valern. We are both members of this council."
"Agent Anderson, the ambassador and their witnesses didn't come here to be chastised for something they had no control over. They're here to help us. Needlessly antagonizing them will only make this more difficult for all of us," he went on not a second later. "Please consider this from here on out," he added before turning his head back to them. "Please begin."
Sharing a nod with Anderson, Udina and the Spectre both stepped forward and did just that in a process which from her point of view seemed to stretch over the better part of an hour, Anderson describing each and every little detail of the mission and Udina now and again offering possible options they could choose from here on out. As she watched from behind them, glad that her service had made her used to standing in one place for a long time, Emily noted that the asari councilor, Irissa, was the one to do the most talking, with the turian one ever so often leaping in to offer his support for a proposal that Udina made or to defend the actions that had been taken by the people on the ground, likely drawing from his own experiences in the process.
Contrary to what she had expected when first walking into the chambers, it wasn't her, Alenko and Williams that seemed to be the most out of place but the salarian. Besides his early interruption, the grey amphibian didn't seem to have that much to say, only listening, his facial expression completely unaltered as some of the more gruesome details of the mission, which seemed to shock everyone but Anderson, herself and at times Alenko, were revealed to them. Only when they reached the ending of their report, at which point Emily herself had only been asked to either confirm or deny what Anderson was telling the council, naturally always choosing the former since every word out of the Spectre's mouth seemed as accurate as her own memory of the mission, and Irissa had asked her turian colleague if he had any more details about the death of the Blackwatch team, something she hadn't given much thought to until Anderson had pointed out that his own assessment of the situation suggested that they had been killed by an ambush, not a sustained attack, did he speak up.
"Sparatus, from what I understand, the details of their deaths are still unknown, correct?"
"Yes."
"And you haven't made any progress in that regard, either Agent Anderson?"
"No, I haven't" the answer almost seemed forced to Shepard. While the former N7 had did a rather decent job at hiding his demeanor from his superiors up to now, Udina always stepping in for him when the Spectre had been about to give a less formal reply to some of Irissa's questions, he seemed to have slipped this time. "Yet."
"Then it seems like this particular inquiry will have to wait," the grey salarian offered as he turned to his asari colleague. "At least until a more thorough investigation can be-"
At first Shepard wasn't sure what the beeping coming form the turian councilor's podium was. As such she, and everyone in the room really, turned to Sparatus in expectation, a slightly paranoid portion of her mind telling the N7 that she was about to be the victim of some kind of bombing aimed a the councilor. Emily continued to look at the turian until he produced a small cube from below his desk, recognizing it after a brief moment. She had seen one of these things before, namely during a joint operation with the Hierarchy's cabals. They were communication devices much like the HSA's own hologram projectors, only much smaller, handier and capable much better reception.
"Councilor Sparaturs, I apologize for the interruption," a voice flanged through the cube as a small figure appeared on top of it. While the distance made it hard to tell, Shepard could see that at least one of the fringes on the turian's head was missing, an injury suggesting that he was either part of some combat outfit or simply the unlucky victim of an accident. However additionally to the obvious injuriy, a number of fainter scars and the fact that he seemed to be clad in a heavy set of armor supported her suspicion. "But I have to inform you of a new development regarding the death of my operatives."
His operatives?
Alright.
He was Blackwatch then.
Was it just her or did Udina and Anderson seem like they had been caught offguard?
"Go ahead, General."
"New intelligence suggests that they were betrayed by one of our own, a Blackwatch operative who worked with the geth to access the beacon for as of yet unknown reasons."
This definitely was a bad thing. She had worked with Blackwatch exactly once before Eden Prime. The brief mission, which had gone down with any casualties of their own had made one thing clear. Those turians knew their stuff, even more so than the other professional soldiers of the Hierarchy.
"After accessing the one audio-recording that survived the encounter and analysing it, I believe that the traitor has been identified." The timing of this entire deal was just too coincidental to be true. As she looked at the people around her, Shepard looked for something that would tell her who had given this general the cue to make his appearance, cursing internally when she failed to pick up on anything. The bits and pieces of tells she had heard about or knew of simply weren't enough to figure out the people in front of her. She lacked both the training and the experience to tell who was behind this. "Which brings me to the reason why I contacted you," the turian went on, each of his words seemingly causing Anderson to stand stiffer. "The operative who murdered my soldiers is in your service. He's currently holding Spectre status," while she lacked the experience to pick up on more subtle clues, she recognized the increasing shock on the councilor's face, his mandibles slowly moving apart as the unknown Blackwatch general kept talking.
"General Arte-" Councilor Sparatus was about to begin.
"The traitor is Agent Saren Arterius," she knew that name.
Everyone knew that name.
Everyone knew Saren Arterius.
If she hadn't been so surprised, Emily might've even noticed the similarities between that name and the general's.
As her eyes darted between Anderson, the Councilors, Udina and the marines on either of her side, she knew that all of them were expecting some kind of reaction out of the former N7. Everyone in the room knew that the captain and Saren Arterius had infamously worked together on many occasions and as such, everyone expected him to do something.
"And while his motives are unknown as of yet, it is my duty to the Hierarchy to ask that you brand him a rogue Spectre," the general finished on a cold tone, his words echoing through the empty chambers.
This was beyond bad.
Meanwhile, 2156 CE, Attican Traverse, Enroute to Feros
Even though the beacon had given him what Sovereign had expected it to give him, Saren knew that it wasn't enough. The vision was there but it was hazy. He knew that he still needed the Cipher to understand it. Hence, he, the geth and Sovereign were now headed to Feros, the planet-spanning city that he now understood to have been the only one of its kind to survive the last cycle due to it never having been added to the prothean star charts stored aboard the Citadel, which the reapers had used to harvest one population center after the other, a practice they intended to repeat again this time. While early pioneers had constructed the megapolis, documented most of the planet's wildlife and prepared it for the arrival of its inhabitants, the colony ships had never made it through the relay. Before they had been meant to set out, the harvest had already begun, dooming the protheans to the same fate the galaxy would soon experience agai-
As the stinging in his shoulder reminded him of the injury his comra- the turian on Eden Prime had caused, Saren ended the line of thought and leaned back in the throne at the center of Sovereign. It had been specifically constructed to quickly heal him from any wound so that he could continue to fulfill his place in the pattern, a fact that he was thankful for. Feeling the cooling sensation of the painkillers, which were stronger than anything else he had ever experienced, wash over him, the turian's physical discomfort, which was marginal at best, quickly vanished, allowing him to keep listening to the sole other organic currently occupying the room with him.
"My sources have now confirmed that the beacon on Eden Prime was destroyed," the soft voice of the asari, who after spending many weeks aboard the vessel had finally accepted her own role in what was to come, spoke, causing the turian to lower the hand that had been covering his face. Although his initial plan to turn Benezia and have her reclaim to her position on the Council before people noticed her prolonged absence had been foiled due to the asari's mental fortitude, she still had turned out to be useful. Not only were the loyal huntresses who had been foolish enough to follow her call a nice addition to his otherwise purely geth army, the former councilor also still had a number of valuable contacts all over the galaxy. While she was no Shadow Broker, the information she could give Sovereign and him had turned out to be irreplaceable when combined with his own assets. "But if the recording of one of the troopers left behind on Eden Prime is anything to go by," due to Sovereign traveling faster than any other ship, the final transmission of that particular geth drone had taken some time to catch up to them, "one human might've accessed the beacon after you."
For a reason he couldn't quite comprehend, Saren suddenly found himself leaping forward, jumping out of the chair and storming towards the asari, an unearthly snarl escaping his mouth right as he pinned Benezia against one of Sovereign's internal walls. Under different circumstances, he might've been impressed by the fact that the asari didn't even do as much as flinch when he increased the pressure on her neck, an animalistic side of himself he hadn't known to be there up to now daring him to finish her then and there. Only when the whisper sprang into action, did he calm down.
"Do you know who?" he asked, coldly, letting go of the matrarich, who continued to stand against the wall like nothing had just happened. Some asari really were a lot more robust than people gave them credit for.
"We identified her as Commander Emily Shepard," Benezia replied a moment later. As he recognized the name from before, having read it several times after the Skyllian Blitz, the turian chose to walk back to the throne, encouraged by his now once more bleeding arm. "You might have heard of her. She fought during the Sky-"
"She has to die," he echoed the words of the whisper before sitting down and again resting his face in his own hand. Someone with the same knowledge as him was too dangerous to his plan. They had to be eliminated at once.
"Our contacts on the Citadel say that she is still aboard the station. If you want to, I can reassign the hitmen you sent after the quarian," unlike many other things he had done in the last months, he remembered that. During the attack, a particularly talented pilgrim had managed to retrieve a data core of one of his geth before it could enact all of its purging routines and fled to the Citadel, hoping to return it to the flotilla. Of course he knew how she had done it. He and Doctor T'Soni, who he by now had too sent a contingent of mercenaries and geth after in hopes of gaining her help through less subtle means, had exploited the same flaw a few months ago.
"Don't reassign them, double their pay and expand their contract," he murmured.
Tali'Zorah also had to die.
"It will be done," the asari said before bowing ever so slightly and turning on her heel, leaving Saren alone in the room located near the very heart of Sovereign's structure.
As he briefly found himself disgusted at the prospect of ordering someone else to do his dirty work, sending some coward with a gun and no morals whatsoever to murder a quarian girl of all people nonetheless, Saren felt the talon on the hand that his face had been resting in extend just a moment before its sharp tip dug into the softer portion of his head where his white, unmarked facial plates ended in their fringes. Feeling the blood trickle from the injury and down his neck for as long as it took him to regain control over his body, the turian then let a groan escape him as he pressed down on the small but painful wound. Looking at the blue stain on his white gauntlet for a moment before leaning back in the chair, Saren couldn't quite shake the thought that someone else was trying to take control of his body.
Or rather take it back from the one currently controlling him.
What was happening to him?
Where was the constant humming he only noticed now even coming from?
Why was his left hand suddenly trying to keep his right one from reaching for the gun attached to his belt?
Why did he feel like he was the one who was in control of the hand reaching for the Carnifex?
When dwelling on these ideas for just a moment too long provoked a chorus of voices to flood his minds with instructions to prepare for the landing on Feros, Saren felt peace and calm return to him, his purpose clear and his resolve renewed.
There was no time to answer any of his futile quarries. There was still work to be done.
The Cipher was held by a creature who's given name changed with every cycle, its continued survival being owned to the fact that unlike other organics, it could never hope to ascend to the stars. Although it could be considered intelligence and as such could be talked into giving up the Cipher in a way that ensured it wouldn't be damaged through a fight it had no hopes of winning in the first place, it was for all intents and purposes simply below the attention of the Reapers, being just a mere weed in a field of ripe civilizations awaiting the harvest. Once he was done on Feros, he'd understand the prothean message and once he understood it, he'd be once step closer to finding the Conduit.
As satisfaction over the prospect of playing his role in the next cycle washed over him again, Saren never even registered the message telling him to return to the Citadel at once nor the one informing him that one of the projects he had instructed a team of independent scientists of questionable morality during his time on Palaven had arrived on Vermire, which, given the presence currently paying close attention to his every conscious thought, was a good thing. If it ever learned of the things that had been set in motion by its thrall during one of the ever recurring moments of clarity it had overlooked up to now, it might have realised that it there was still a person hiding in the dark, shadowy corners of the mind it was trying to dominate or made sense of the phrases that seemed to echo from it time and again. But as things were, neither it nor the turian as he was this moment, had any idea that Sovereign had yet to actually break Saren Arterius.
For now all it and the turian cared about was the Cipher.
The cycle would not be broken.
Sixteen Minutes Later, 6. January 2415 AD, Citadel, Embassy Area, HSA Embassy
"Captain, I swear, if you knew this was going to happen," she heard Udina begin, the anger in his voice evident.
"What gives you the idea that I did?"
"Don't give me the attitude, we both kno-" before the sentence was finished, the two vanished in Udina's office, their voices getting cut off by the door closing itself.
"Can you believe this? A Spectre working with the geth?" Williams asked, shaking her head before leaning on the visitor desk the three marines were now stuck waiting by while the argument between the two older men began to unfold beyond the the door. If she was honest, the commander was surprised that Udina had managed to stay quiet this long. He had practically been boiling with anger from the moment they had left the Council's chambers but still had managed to stay as silent as Anderson all the way to the embassy.
"I heard of Spectres going rogue but Saren Arterius of all people? Wasn't he their best agent?" Alenko replied, sounding equally confused.
Emily herself didn't know what to make of it either.
This was just another point on the increasing list of strange things that had happened to her ever since getting the order to relocate to the Normandy. First Eden Prime, then the geth and their monsters, then the beacon, then Harper and now this. If somebody had told her, that what had started out as a simple trip to Arcturus would turn into whatever this was shaping up to be two days ago, she would've laughed into that person's face. After all, lighting never struck twice. She had already gone through the weird portion of her career after the Skyllian Blitz. In her opinion, she had been done with it after finishing N7 training.
"Best agent? Try poster boy," the marine replied with a sigh. "He wasn't just a Spectre," she went on, "he was the Spectre. Longest serving turian member of the branch, a nearly flawless track-record and common decency to top it all of," Williams finished, emphasising the last point. Given what Spectres did and how they could basically get away with just about everything as long as they claimed that it was for the sake of their mission, morale integrity wasn't as common of a trait as one would expect from the 'galaxy's finest'. "He'd be the last guy you'd think of if you're talking about rogue Spectres. Well, at least until now."
"What I don't get is why he'd work with the geth of all people," the biotic lieutenant answered, sounding somewhat unsure about whether or not he could use the word people when talking about the synthetic machines. "What's in it for hi-"
"Alright, zip it marines," Shepard warned just a moment before the doors opened up. Judging by the look on Anderson's face, it was a good thing she had been paying attention. If she was in the Spectre's shoes, which she 'd probably never be given how her assessment had turned out, the last thing she'd want to hear right now was two strangers discussing why her comrade and friend had decided to turn his back on her and the Council.
"And I said I'll go after him," she heard Anderson dismiss Udina before the former N7 marched out of the office, resolve evident in his voice. "Commander Shepard, on me."
"Yes, Si-."
"Belay that, Commander," Udina cut her off, effectively putting her in a tight spot. On the one hand, Anderson was her direct superior while the ambassador, even though he held a high rank in the government, had no immediate authority over her. On the other hand she could tell that whatever the Spectre intended to do next wouldn't be his most rational decision and she also knew that Udina could pull rank on her through another portion of the government. "Captain Anderson, until the situation regarding Agent Arterius becomes clearer, I'm ordering you not to leave this building."
At this point, Anderson seemed to have had it. In a way she got it, no matter how outlandish that scenario sounded in her head right now. Let's say one of the N7s she had worked with on her previous assignments or one of the marines she had ties to outside of her posting, Leng for example, were to turn rogue and lead an attack on a human colony for no evident reason, she'd probably want to go after them as well. Nearly nothing made people bond quite as much as going into combat together, something Anderson and Saren had done countless of times ever since the former had become the first human Spectre.
"With all due respect, Ambassador Udina," his tone was everything but respectful," I stopped answering to your chain of command when I became a Spectre," for a brief moment Anderson turned around and stared directly at the other man. "Like it or not, I'm going," he said before walking up to Shepard. "Move it, Commander."
"Then I'm afraid that you leave me with no other choice," the ambassador muttered with what sounded like a heavy heart before quickly bringing up his omni-tool, beginning a series of hand waves and gestures and sending off what appeared to be an already prepared message a few seconds later, "as of right now, I have asked the Council to temporary revoke your Spectre status on the grounds of your relation to Arterius making you a liability. The only thing one of them needs to do now is," Udina waited a few seconds before Anderson's omni-tool buzzed, "to confirm the request."
She didn't like where this was going.
"You have no idea what you just did," the Spectre replied coldly after skimming through the message.
"I do, but I'm afraid that you forced my hand," the ambassador said somberly. "Having you go after Arterius on your own is a recipe for disaster. Until the situation is resolved, you will remain here and stay under my supervision. It's for the bes-"
"Udina, every minute I spent on the Citadel is a minute we're going to be short on when shit hits the fa-" as he glanced at her, Anderson caught himself. "This is a mistake and you know it."
"So is letting you go after Saren," the ambassador insisted with a stern tone, evidently unconcerned that Shepard, Williams and Alenko were right next to them. "You're too close to this. If you go out there, you won't be coming back again." In a way, Emily also got that. "We're done here," Udina went on before looking at her, his hand already pointing at his office. "Commander, a moment if you may." It might've sounded like an invitation but the underlying order was clear to her. Other than complying there wasn't much she could do now.
"Of course," she nodded before entering the room, deciding that she'd rather not come out and ask why one of the two chairs opposite to the one Udina was now taking a seat in had been thrown across the room. Given what had just happened, she already had an answer in mind. As she briefly looked around the room, a tick she had developed at an earlier point of her service, Emily took in her surroundings. Other than the chair, the room was tidy, clean and well-maintained. Besides dozens of certificates, most of them decorated with the sigil of the HSA, the silvery walls were lined with pictures, several of them depicting what seemed to be the ambassador's family, the changing age of the boy, who slowly seemed to grow into a man as they went on, telling her that years at a time had passed between many of them. She hadn't pictured Udina as a family man. First impressions really could be deceptive. Other than pictures, the man also seemed to have a soft spot for plants, at least if the small trees and flowers comfortably resting in the several flowerpots scattered through the office were anything to go by. While it wasn't the strangest thing people collected, her mostly inherited thing for ship models for example, it certainly hadn't been amongst the things she had expected to find in here.
Figuring that she had spent enough time taking in the room, Emily too took a seat, hearing a sigh from across her as Udina unlocked his terminal, apparently trying to decide whether or not to continue his previous work.
"If I had known this would happen, I never would've brought Anderson," the man muttered as he folded his hands and rested his chin on them, having made his decision. "He and Arterius have way too much history, " he added before shaking his head. "By sending that message, I threw our effort to join the Council back at least twenty years," the ambassador paused for a moment. Now that he mentioned it, the human embassy asking the Council itself to bench their only operative amongst the Spectres' ranks probably wouldn't do that particular effort any favours. "It's too late for that now," he told not only her but also himself. As she was about to ask what she was doing her, other than listen to him talk himself through his own actions, Ambassador Udina looked directly at her. "Eden Prime was a disaster," right, she was probably here to get her own share of the blame. She should've figured that much really. "But as far as I'm concerned, your assessment isn't over just yet. "
Wait, what?
"Anderson might be out of the field for now but your candidacy evaluation is still considered active."
Where exactly was this going?
"If you were to produce results, help fix this mess," Udina muttered. "We might turn this into a win after all."
"I'm afraid I'm not following," Emily lied. She was following, she just wanted to hear him to say it.
"Tell me, have you ever been to the Lower Wards?"
Apparently lighting did strike twice.
Thirty Five Minutes Later, 6. January 2415 AD, Citadel
"So, who's your pick? The volus or the quarian?" Morneau asked, weaving his way through the crowd, his eyes shifting between the rapid transit stations in front of them and his partner next to him.
"For the record, I still don't think splitting up is a good idea," the brunette woman replied just loud enough for him to hear. "Especially if it's on short notice."
"Yeah, I don't like it either but you know how this goes, Yo-yo. If the clock is running tight, we go one for one."
Initially, their main assignment had been to track down a lead on one of the Shadow Broker's more accessible assets, a former HSAIS agent by the name of Keiji Okuda who had left his post to go and work for the Broker. After arriving on the Citadel, their job had been to figure out how to use him to get closer to the Broker himself or rather, figure out what exactly Okuda had done to turn his new boss into his worst enemy and work from there. Additionally they had also been told to keep an ear to the ground for Saren Arterius, a turian Spectre who had risen to what Morneau himself considered to be an impractical degree of fame for someone working in that particular line of work. If they got the chance, Rei had told them to find out why exactly Arterius had gone off the radar but compared to Okuda, it had been a secondary objective at best. However with the most recent order of the director, those two priorities had immediately switched places.
From here on out, the leads on Saren Arterius were their main focus.
If the turian really was behind the attack on Eden Prime and really was indoctrinated, both scenarios seeming very likely according to the brief report that had been passed on to them from Lancelot, the Section 13 specialist permanently stationed inside the HSA's embassy, finding the Shadow Broker had just become comparatively insignificant. While the information regarding what the geth had done to most of their captives was being treated as highly classified for the time being, sooner or later somebody who had been on the ground would slip up. When that happened, it would only be a matter of hours before footage of colonists and soldiers, human and turian alike, getting turned into husks and being unleashed on their former comrades would surface and subsequently cause the public to start asking questions to which they should never hear the answer. The same went for the Leviathan that had led the attack. While its deep shade of purple and brief appearance on the battlefield was currently enough to write it off as a new kind of geth dreadnought, it wouldn't take long for people who knew their geth to start picking apart the cover story TNI and HSAIS had made up.
As such it was critical that they got in front of those things before that happened. Furthermore it was also critical that they reached their marks as soon as possible. Arterius might've been trained as a soldier by Blackwatch but he was just as much used to playing this game as Yo-yo, Morneau himself and everyone else in the intelligence business was. As soon as he got the chance, Arterius would burn every bridge he still had to the Citadel, making it nearly impossible to find him. While Barla Von, a volus informant of the Shadow Broker, who according to the information his partner had gotten from a rather drunken asari dancer was looking for Arterius just as eagerly as they themselves, likely enjoyed the protection of the Citadel's finest private security company, the Final Wave, the one quarian pilgrim who they were looking for most certainly did not. According to Lancelot, whatever intel she had gotten her hands on was important enough for a bunch of hitmen to shoot a couple of C-SEC officer over, indicating that 'Fist', a club owner, former agent of the Broker and by now one of Arterius' most important proxies on the station, was paying them enough for them to be willing to pick a fight with the Citadel's police force
Fist.
That was another problem they'd have to deal with sooner than later.
While Anderson had been benched by the Council for the time being, Lancelot had mentioned that the ambassador, who had no idea that two other specialists were deployed on the station as of right now, had ordered Commander Emily Shepard, who additionally to being their former colleague's daughter was also being evaluated for a possible Spectre candidacy by Captain Anderson, to look into Fist for him. This combined with the fact that their covers were currently still considered too valuable to break over the risk of running into an N7, a biotic and a marine who had no idea that the two of them were on their side, meant that they'd be racing against more than just Arterius' henchmen. If the commander got to Fist first, she'd probably do more harm than good. Decorated war hero or not, this was as far away from her field of expertise as it got.
"So, volus or quarian?" he asked again after making the smart choice and stepping out of the way of an elcor stomping down the aisle overlooking one of the station's main skycar lanes. Unlike potentially getting shot at by Shepard's daughter while making a move for Fist, him running into an alien, who was probably strong enough to crush a small battle tank, and being crushed himself was an avoidable problem.
"Volus," Yo-yo finally answered before turning her head towards him. "Still not a fan of the plan though," she added as the rapid transit stations came closer. Slinging the single-strap backpack over his shoulders, he tossed it towards her. If she went to the Presidium, she'd have more use for its content than him. Not much point in sophisticated hacking equipment in the least secured portion of the Citadel.
"Yeah, me neither," he replied as he instinctively checked to see if his pistol was still in its concealed holster. After his fingers brushed against the familiar metal grip of the SIS-8, he again adjusted his jacket so that no one would be able to instantly spot the faint impression of the gun. While carrying weapon was never wrong when heading into the Lower Wards, letting people know that you had one wasn't the smartest move either. If they clocked him as a threat, which any sensible person would do once they spotted his gun, Morneau's job would become far more difficult than it had to be.
He didn't intend for that to happen.
"If Lancelot is right," he usually was. "the quarian will try to contact the Broker for protection any minute now," his partner reminded him as she checked the watch, its bluish glow barely evident.
"Guess I better hurry then," he replied with a shrug. "I'll meet you back here with the intel as soon as I have it," he added while scanning the crowd around them, satisfied to find that he didn't recognize any faces. Good, no one was following them.
Yet.
"Copy that," Yo-yo replied before their paths slowly began to divide, each of them heading to a different transit stations. "And Magic?" he heard her say over his earpiece a few moments later.
"Yeah?"
"Don't die out there, alright?"
"Course not."
That too would make his job far more difficult.
Codex: Citadel Security Services
The Citadel Security Services, commonly referred to as C-SEC, is the conglomerate of all of the Citadel's security personal, ranging from Enforcement and Investigation to Customs, Network, Special Response and even Patrol divisions and draws its candidates from a pool of highly qualified or naturally talented, sponsored candidates of the Council races and its associates. Even though C-SEC mostly fulfills policing duties, it should be noticed that it, when forced into the situation, is perfectly capable of fulfilling a paramilitary role by joining the Citadel Fleet and becoming the station's ground defense force.
Considered to be the galaxy's most elite police force, C-SEC's training and recruitment process is both rigorous and surprisingly soft at the same time. Event though unexperienced rookie will find themselves patrolling the wards of the Citadel before gathering experience on the much calmer Presidium and losing his 'shinie' status, a term drawn from the shiny state of a new set of standard issue C-SEC armor, full graduation and access to any non-Enforcement division is only considered possible after spending at least a year patrolling through one of the Citadel's wards.
While C-SEC generally draws its recruit from all over the galaxy and tends to employ most of them until they retire or reassign, most of its batarian members remaining on active duty even after the Hegemony revoked its status as an associate, the organisation has been dominated by turian officers ever since the Krogan Rebellions, something partially owned to their culture but also to the fact that every turian may fulfill all parts of their mandatory service, except for basic training and the first duty rotation, as a part of C-SEC.
It should be noted that besides the Spectres, with whom they shares a tense relation with, C-SEC is the sole armed branch of the Citadel Council and sometimes cited as an example of how effective a unified Council military made up of all member and most associate species could be.
A/N: Chapter 49!
Slower than before, faster than expected.
Had some downtime, got into the flow and finished this badboy up. So yeah. Thank me later.
Again.. not a lot really happens, at least in terms of action.
We get my version of the council meeting, for which I decided to do it way different, we get valern's perspective of things, we get to see why Anderson WON'T be the on in charge of the Normandy (come on guys, did you really think I'd let him steal Shepard's thunder here? He's got his role to play but it's not on the Normandy) we get to see a bit of Saren, who I said will continue to make apperances throughout this season (yes I'll still call it season, even if it's never gonna be a TV-Show. Screw you, I'm in denial. :c) and we get to see where one of the other backgrounds is currently going, from which scene some of you may already be able to figure out when he and Shepard are inevitably gonna run into each other.
I mean it was obvious that these three guys were gonna meet each other at several points of the story.
Right?
Oh, also, in case some of you forgot.. (I didn't.) the League of One is still int his story and so is my interest in the salarians.
Also, real life stuff, since its picking up a bit now, I don't really know how my upload schedule is gonna look starting in april.
Probably all kinds of fucked up.
I very likely got a move coming, I've got academy stuff to do and I got some other things coming up as well.
So.. don't go thinking I'm dead if a month goes by and I don't update :p
What's next I hear you ask?
Well... it's still gonna be mostly Citadel. While I always found that the initial Citadel segment of ME1 is where most stories fall flat on their face and get outright boring, I'm actually gonna cut a lot of it short by leaving out the side missions a lot of people seem to write in... I mean... fate of the galaxy anyone? Who gives a shit about spending a thousand words just so Shepard can punch that reporter in the face?
So yeah... gonna do a bit of tricking there (hint hint, if I put two backgrounds into the same location, I can have them do stuff 'offscreen' so to speak. So some events may only be refered to.)
Except Verner. He'll show. Damn, he'll show eventually.
Yeah.
One day you're gonna get why I said that.
For the record we're at 418 reviews, 643 favorites and 740 follows.
Keep 'em coming mates.
See you around next time.
