PSA from past CunkToad:

Since FFNet had issues with showing updated chapters, there's a chance you might have not been notified / been able to view chapter 95 (While I'm writing this, a whooping 45 people have viewed it). This issue should now be fixed. So if you feel like "yo wtf are you writing right here bro, that's not how last chapter ended", then that's because you are missing 95.

Enjoy the chapter.

Oh, and Happy N7 in case this drops when I intend to drop it.

Update from presend-day CunkToad: Yup. Made it. And we're also getting the Mass Effect Remaster in Spring. Dope shit.
Enjoy.


Chapter 96. Obstruction of Justice


Seventy-One Minutes Later, 11. April. 2417 AD, Illium, Nos Astra, Je'Fara Precinct

After being notified by Leng that something had gone horribly wrong, Shepard had used Detective Anaya to get in touch with the person who was in charge of all NAPD operations in the greater Nos Astra area around the Dantius Towers and demanded to be told why a member of a Spectre ground team had been arrested by her officers. The only reply she had gotten to that demand was that she was to 'urgently' head to the Je'Fara Precinct, the NAPD HQ in the district of the Dantius Towers. Hence she'd asked Anaya for a ride in a squad car and headed there 'urgently', which had involved the asari detective diving through several lines of traffic and then flying dangerously close to the ground and narrowly avoiding the automated caretakers that toiled Illium's street level. That way, Garrus, Samara and she had beaten the estimated travel time by thirty minutes while also learning to never again ask an NAPD officer to get them somewhere 'fast'.

Then again, the C-SEC detective seemed to have enjoyed himself much more than her and the justicar had been quite relaxed for the entire ride, so maybe that was a lesson only she had learned.

Once they had made it to Je'Fara Precint, which unlike the Dracon one wasn't a small outpost build on an Arcology layer but rather an entire tower dedicated solely to the NAPD, they had been greeted by an asari with a dark-purple dress uniform that just screamed 'top brass' and been ushered to one of the tower's highest levels. There, they'd been told that the supervisor of the Je'Fara Precint and the heads of the district's homicide division would be with them shortly. In all that time, they hadn't seen or heard anything from Callius, Leng or Nader.

Needless to say, Emily wasn't happy about that. She wanted to know where the other half of her team was and she wanted to know it now.

"This is bullshit, right? They can't just arrest someone working with a Spectre, can they?" she asked while sitting down at the large black conference desk and staring at the door opposite to her.

"Actually, they can," Garrus retorted while Shepard took of her helmet and watched as Samara chose the floor over a chair, sat down in a meditation pose and faced her back against the large window overlooking Nos Astra's city scape. "The only person on the Normandy that's completely exempt from judicial prosecution is you. While your Spectre status applies to everyone you work with as long as your around, it's gone as soon as you aren't there. You are the Spectre. We are just your tag-alongs. If we do something illegal while you're there, nothing happens to us. But if we break the law while you aren't around," he explained, likely from his personal experiences with C-SEC.

"You're free game," she concluded.

"Yes."

Shepard threw her head back against the cushioned chair and blew the strands of red hair that had loosened from her ponytail and somehow ended up in front of her face. "Callius was acting on my orders. Isn't that covered as well? Something like a Spectre mandate protecting members of my crew as long as they're acting on my orders?" she remembered reading something along those lines two years ago back when she'd just been granted the status and Anderson had given her some 'crash course' notes on what she could and couldn't do. With the hunt for Saren being in full effect then, she had to admit that she had slacked on studying those files. If that came back to bite her two years down the road she'd –

It was probably for the best she didn't continue that though while inside a police station.

"That's true in Council Space" Garrus shrugged, "but since Illium isn't part of Council Space and only barely recognizes Spectre authority to begin with, I can see them ignoring that technicality for a time," he trailed off while walking around the office and admiring a golden plate with asari writing and the NAPD's sigil on it. "Especially if you crossed the wrong people."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. The chief of police knows that Callius is your XO. Now that she's in custody, she's also bound to know that Callius is Blackwatch. If she has half a brain, which I think we can assume she does since she's Illium's chief of police, she also knows that her people arresting a turian officer acting under direct orders of a Primarch is the surest way to cause a diplomatic incident on the same scale as back when the batarians fought a bunch of angry Armigerians on Enael. So the only reason I can think off that someone would risk alienating both a Spectre and the turian military is if they are seriously pissed about what happened. I certainly wouldn't put it past Illium cops to be corrupt."

"Anaya and her officers seemed fine," she pointed out.

"Every rule needs an exception," Garrus replied.

"The detective speaks truly," Samara injected while keeping her eyes closed. "If you pry in the right places, you will find that many of the people sworn to protect this world and its denizens are actively working against them for their own gain," then she squinted one eye open. "In that regard, our long live spans are a curse of my people. If you live as long as we do, it becomes more enticing to leverage an advantage with every decade spent watching others profit from insidious practices."

"I don't think that's something exclusive to asari. Dirty cops come in all species and ages," the turian responded as he trailed his finger along the golden plate. "Damn that's some fine craftsmanship. You can hardly tell this was engraved. That had to be expensive-"

"Which is why I'd appreciate it if you stopped touching it," a light-blue asari in a dark-purple NAPD uniform stated before walking into the office alongside three other blue asari, among them the supervisor of the station and two other officers with equally pretty rank insignias. Judging by the fact that the golden weaving on their suits didn't look as impressive as those on the uniform of the light-blue asari and the fact that Shepard recognized her voice from back when she'd talked to her on the Normandy, let the N7 draw a conclusion.

"You're the chief of police," she realized.

"Yes. My name Heraria C'Trala and these are Detectives T'Ora and Yavria. You've already met Supervisor D'Tark," C'Trala said before looking at Garrus. "If everyone would please be seated. We have much to discuss, including your crew's actions." C'Trala sat down perfectly straight, folded her hands in front of her mouth and narrowed her purple eyes at Samara. "I was not made aware of the fact that you were travelling with one of the goddess's servants. In the name of the NAPD, I greet you Justicar Samara and thank you for the service you fulfill for our people," she added with a respectful tone.

"As do I for the services you extend to this world," Samara retorted before bowing her head ever so slightly as if she hadn't just agreed that half the NAPD was corrupt. Only when it became clear that she would not say another word did the chief of police continue.

"I trust you have been informed what we are charging Lieutenant Nilia Callius with?"

"Yes. And I trust that you're aware that the person you are holding is an active-duty officer of a Council member nation acting under the direct orders of a Spectre?"

"Yes. So she has claimed."

"And now you have confirmation from me, the actual Spectre she's working for," Shepard replied. "I request that you release her at once. Her being detained her is seriously impacting the integrity of my operation."

"Your operation, yes," C'Trala repeated. "Tell me again, what is it that you are doing on Illium?"

"Council business."

"That implies?"

"I'm afraid that's classified."

"I understand," the chief of police nodded. "Normally, I would be satisfied with your reply and send you on your way."

"But?"

"But your 'Council Business' just ended with Nassana Dantius, one of Illium's most prominent faces, bleeding out in her office alongside two dead contractors and also had a human special operations operative severely injure two other security contractors through the use of a firearm," Kai hadn't mentioned that part. "This presents a major disruption to public safety. Therefor I am left with no other option but to continue to detain Lieutenant Callius," she said before lowering her hands and revealing a stoic impression. "Consider it a curtesy on my part that I already had the human compartment of your team released for the time being. I could have charged him with attempted murder if I wanted to." Attempted murder for Leng as well? Just what the hell had happened at the towers? And what about Krios? Had they failed and that was why he was missing? Or had the drell slipped away prior to NAPD arriving and now her team was stuck paying for his actions?

"You can't do that, she was acting under the direct orders of a Spectre. Illium recognizes what that implies," Garrus injected. "You need to let her go."

"Is that your personal opinion, Mister Vakarian, or are you simply speaking as if this were a C-SEC investigation?"

"How do you-"

"Know who you are? I'm the chief of the Nos Astra Police Department. All it takes for me to figure out who's walking around my planet is me asking my adjutant to push a couple of buttons," C'Trala replied. "Now if we could please return to the fact that Misses Dantius and two of here guards were murdered."

"Not until you let me see Lieutenant Callius."

"The Lieutenant is an active suspect in a homicide investigation. Department policy forbids anyone but a lawyer to see her," one of the homicide detectives, T'Ora if Shepard remembered right, responded before frowning and therefore contorting her pale-green facial tattoos. "I'm afraid you seeing her won't be possib-"Suddenly, Samara stood up and silenced the detective. She looked at Shepard and began to speak.

"The Lieutenant you are speaking about is a valuable companion to you, is she not?"

"Yes," Shepard responded, prompting Samara to turn to the chief of police.

"Chief C'Trala, as a justicar, I am a representation of the law of our people. I hereby declare that I shall stand in defense of the turian and judge her actions prior to your investigators. To that end, I name these two individuals," she waved her hand at Garrus and her, "as my personal assistants. I wish to see the turian now and they will accompany me."

The chief visibly exhaled.

"Very well," she muttered, prompting the other homicide detective, who was significantly taller and burlier than the other asari present, to speak up.

"Ma'am, the guidelines on the treatment of murder suspects-"

"Can be ignored for the time being, Detective Yavria" the chief stated before putting on a polite but also somewhat aggregated smile. It was clear that she didn't like what was happening right now but also smart enough to not refuse Samara's 'request'. "I am sure the justicar is as invested as us to see this matter resolved quickly."

Samara nodded her affirmation and then they got led out of the room by the two detectives to see Callius.

At the moment Shepard was simply relieved that Samara clearly held a very high degree of authority in the asari legal system.

But soon enough, she'd find out that bringing a justicar into the same room as a soldier suspected of murder wasn't a good idea.


Seven Minutes Later, 2158 CE, Je'Fara Precinct, Interrogation Room Three

The Blackwatch officer heard someone open the door behind her and got ready for yet another asari trying to break her silence. There'd been a lot of those attempts in the past hour or so that she'd been here and up to now, she'd only met them with stating her name and rank and referring to her assignment with Shepard. On any other Council planet, that would've been more than enough to get her to walk away freely after what had happened at the towers. But since Illium wasn't a Council world, didn't recognize her association with a Spectre and generally didn't seem to be very big on playing by the rules either, the turian biotic was still sitting in the same interrogation room she'd been put into after voluntarily surrendering her weapons at the request of the NAPD officers and agreeing to wait for Shepard to appear and resolve this matter.

While that obviously wasn't the entire truth, those were the parts that concerned the NAPD and as such, that was her official position.

As the door was closed, she steadied herself for the same procedure. But then the new arrival spoke and Callius realized that she would be leaving the bland, dark-blue room soon enough.

"I have to admit that I'm kind of shocked to see you sitting here, Lieutenant Callius," the familiar voice of Commander Shepard began, "it's not every day my XO supposedly killed three people for no reason," the N7 went on before stepping into view alongside an asari she didn't recognize. Her onyx-black armor looked worse for wear and the fact that her freckled face now held a visible bruise on its left side told her that there clearly had been more than one run-in with the hit squad. She was curious, obviously. But the exchange of war stories could wait until she was once more a free turian. Shepard pointed her hand at the asari. "Before we get started with you telling me what the hell happened, introductions are in order. This is Samara. She's a justicar," crap, that wasn't good, " who has volunteered to join our crew and act as your defendant for the time NAPD believes it necessary to charge you with a murder," Shepard paused. "Not that I actually believe you killed Dantius or two of her guards," the human added, prompting Callius to press her mandibles against her reddish-brown jaw.

That was where the problems started.

"About that," she said cautiously, immediately shifting Shepard's optimistic expression into something more serious.

"Don't tell me-"

"Then I'd be lying."

Shepard leaned in closer and whispered, "you actually killed them?"

"Yes, but not for the reasons NAPD believes. You see-"

"Commander, if I may?" the justicar, Samara, injected. Shepard nodded.

"Go ahead," she said.

The justicar looked at Callius.

"I agreed to stand for you in this matter. As a justicar, it is well within my rights to judge your actions and defend them against other parts of my people's judicial system. But if I am to achieve a sound judgement, I must ask you to trust me even though I am a stranger," Callius nodded. If Shepard had picked her up, the asari was probably trustworthy-ish. "You need to tell us everything, from the beginning."

"Understood," Callius nodded. "I have just one question before we begin."

"What is it?"

She turned towards Shepard. It was very crucial for her to know this before they did anything else.

"They did let Petty Officer Leng go, right?"

"Yes, they did," Shepard said. "Jack too, in case you were wondering."

She hadn't been. The human biotic was not as crucial as the N7, at least not in this particular case.

"That's good," Callius muttered before starting her narration. "It all started right after you called about the attack at Dracon Trade Center-"


Two Hours Earlier, 2158 CE, Dantius Towers

"Alright. That's a big building," Nader, the human biotic who the other's called 'Jack', muttered as they left their skycar and came face to face with the two enormous monoliths in front of them. From what Callius understood, these towers were to be the foundation of Nassana Dantius' dynastic ambitions. She was one of the wealthiest and most influential asari living on Illium and had started their construction ten years ago. Now that she was reaching her matriarch stage, Dantius sought to spent her remaining centuries expanding her empire beyond the reaches of Nos Astra and entering her name into the list of asari who'd be remembered by her people for all eternity. Given her profession and Blackwatch's creed to protect the light from the shadows instead of the public view, Callius couldn't claim to understand the first bit about that desire. "There's no way we're finding Krios in there before he finds Dantius, right?"

"No, there isn't," the former cabal responded before confidently walking towards the pair of guards that had already spotted them. As expected, her human companions followed her. "Lucky for us, we don't have to find Krios. We just need to find who he wants to kill."

"Sounds easy enough," Leng figured as they passed the gap in the construction fence, which subsequently prompted the pair of turian security personal to place their hands on the weapons that were magnetically locked to the side of their armors. She didn't recognize their white and yellow hardsuits or the black asari writing on their chest armor, so she had no idea what merc outfit they belonged to. But she could make sense of their blue facial markings. After all, she had the same kind of tattoos underneath her helmet.

"Palavani," she greeted while lifting her hand up in greeting. With her facial markings hidden, it was only polite to announce herself like this. While most turians didn't follow the old custom of declaring one's home when it wasn't immediately obvious, for example because of a helmet or darkness, anymore, Callius still did. Where someone came from mattered; it was part of who they were. Roots defined you, at least as far as she was concerned. While there were obviously enough exceptions to that believe that allowed her to see past, such as Desolas, who despite being an Elapri represented everything an ideal turian should be, she had found that one's home revealed a lot about a person.

"Palavani or not, I'm afraid you can't be here," one of the guards, a tall male with greenish plates, replied, after both he and his grey companion, a female who was slightly shorter than Callius herself, came to a halt.

She had expected an answer like that, of course. As such, she had already made up her mind on how she'd circumvent this issue. Or rather, how instead of circumventing the issue she'd break straight through it by shock and awe.

"Would you still say that if I were to tell you that I'm here to stop a drell assassin from killing the person who hired your outfit?"

The turian standing opposite to her blinked in confusion and then looked to his fellow security contractor. After a few moments, they both burst out laughing.

"Yeah right. Good one," he said in between a wheeze. "Listen. I don't know what you want here, but you can't go in, no matter how much you fool around out here."

Callius folded her arms in front of her armor, which seemed to make the guards register just what kind of armor she was wearing and what the black piece of military hardware and its golden highlights implied about her.

"You're with Blackwatch," the female palavani realized before her eyes started to linger on Leng, or rather on the badge that marked his chest armor. Ever since Shepard had stopped Saren on the Citadel, everyone knew what that little combination of white human letters and numbers stood for.

"Yes. And I'm standing in front of you with an exceptionally powerful human biotic and an N7 because your boss is about to come face to face with someone who was honed into a killing machine from the day he could walk. The drell is dangerous and we've been pursuing him for some time now. Now tell me, does it still seem like I'm joking?" the security guard's mandibles started to nervously twitch outward. This would be easier than goading a rookie cabal into doing something stupid like going to a commander and asking for amp lubricants and subsequently embarrassing themselves because that particular item didn't exist. "If I were you, I'd call my boss right about now and step out of my way."

"I can't do that. You don't have the proper clearance to enter the construction site. Besides, there's no way an assassin could've gotten in here. We've got state-of-the-art security systems and our patrols are regular enough-"

"- to allow the three of us to get all the way to the front gate of Dantius' prestige project before the two of you show up to greet us? A pair of guards with pistols against three people in armor? Seriously?" Leng suddenly injected, clearly picking up on her intention to scare the guards into submission.

"There's more than a hundred guards on this construction site. We can handle one drell-"

"That 'one' drell has been killing since long before any of us," the N7 cut the turian off again. "Do you genuinely think something as lousy as a few fence lines and some trip wire alarms are going to stop him from slicing his way through all of you with one arm behind his back? Reality check, guy. You're corporate security. You aren't equipped to handle someone like that. We are. So either you call your boss and let us through, or you'll be out of a job by tomorrow because Dantius' got her head chopped off by a renegade from the Illuminated Primacy's killer corps."

Callius could see the uncertainty on the two turian's faces and just like that, she delivered the final shove.

"Hold up, did you just see that?" she suddenly declared in shock while pointing at the façade of the building where the windows were still missing from the frame. "Someone just climbed in there," she added with as much seriousness as she could muster considering that absolutely nothing had happened. The guards spun around immediately, but with night falling and the tower being shrouded in black, they couldn't make up much of anything.

"Shit you're right. I think that's our guy!" Nader added, joining the game Callius and Leng had been playing. "I mean they said he was a good climber, but holy crap. How'd he get up there that fast?"

"Dunno, but he must be really itching to cut down Dantius," Leng finished before the guards looked at each other.

"You call the chief of NAPD. I'll alert the watch commander," the female guard stated before looking towards Callius, who'd picked up on who exactly they wanted to call. "You can stop him?"

"That's why we're here."

"Then go!"


Present Time, 11. April 2147 AD, Je'Fara Precinct, Interrogation Room Three

"And they just let you in? Just like that?" Shepard asked in disbelief while leaning forward in her chair. "You're messing with me, aren't you?"

"Not exactly, no," Callius replied with a nod and what passed as the turian equivalent of an innocent smirk on her red-brown face. "If you get someone scared enough, they'll do just about anything."

The N7 looked at Samara.

"Fear is the most convincing motivator," the justicar offered gracefully.

"I know. Still, you'd expect security guards to do some actual security guarding before just letting you walk in like that. For all they know, you could be the assassins."

"True," Callius replied with a shrug. "In their defense, I don't think it would've worked if I hadn't been wearing my armor. Honestly, you could probably pull the same trick on anyone in the galaxy. At this point everyone knows who Commander Shepard is."

"They do?"

"You haven't looked up yourself on the Extranet since waking up?"

"No," the red-haired marine admitted. With everything going on, she still hadn't caught up with everything she'd missed. Bits and pieces of the most important events of the two-year gap had obviously been filled such as the fact that the CIP was now a thing and humanity was a full-fledged Council member, but she didn't actually think about looking at what the galaxy thought about her. "Should I?"

"That depends," Callius said before looking to the ceiling.

"On what?" Emily asked in turn.

"How high is your tolerance for hero-worship or for strangers who are extremely smitten by your outward appearance? Particularly if they are still below the legal enlistment age and act accordingly?"

A shudder went down the N7s spine as soon as she realized what kind of interest Callius was likely referring to.

"If you phrase it like that, I think I'll pass," she muttered before Samara cleared her throat to her left.

"Now that we clarified the galaxy's sexual interest in the commander, which I am certain is well funded even if I am not knowledgeable on human beauty standards, do you believe it is possible that we return to your current issue?" Shepard felt the shudder travel through her again now that Samara had made it perfectly clear what Callius was insinuating.

"Sure, I just thought that I should tell her what to expect," Callius replied. "It can be quite jarring to see yourself depicted in those ways if you aren't prepared for it."

"Can we please get on with the story?"

"Of course," Callius said before glancing at Shepard's hip, her omni-tool to be more precise. "You wouldn't happen to be able to tell me how long I've been in NAPD custody, would you?"

Shepard was a little perplexed at the request but answered to her best knowledge and replied that Callius would have gotten arrested some ninety minutes ago.

"Thank you," Callius nodded. "And I'd like to apologize if me informing you of your own Extranet presence has been uncomfortable to you. I do of course understand that hearing about the way some people-"

"It's alright. Let's just forget you ever told me about that and continue with the story."

"Now where was-"

"You duped the security guards and they let you in the building," she offered quickly, all too eager to move away from that topic.

"Right. The guards. After we convinced them to let us in, we went into the towers. I won't get into the details of what we found there but let me tell you one thing. Dantius certainly didn't place a lot of value in the well-being of the people building her towers."


One Hundred and Ten Minutes Earlier, 2158 CE, Dantius Towers

"Jesus, do they make these guys live here just so they can cut travel time and cram in more work?" nader wondered as they walked through a portion of the construction site that was separated from the unfinished floor of the tower by a barbed-wire fence and housed an array of tents. Beyond the fence, several salarian workers were sitting in a circle. Up until they had shown up, the workers had been consuming their food and eagerly chatted among themselves. Only when they had spotted them and their guns had they fallen silent and dispersed, as if having fun was forbidden for them by contract. Knowing Illium, that was probably not too far from the truth.

"This looks like a fucking slave camp," Leng observed while the walked down the path the guards had pointed them. Since the main elevator shaft going from the bottom all the way to the top wasn't finished yet, they had to use a series of maintenance lifts to ascend the tower. This was obviously costing them time in which Krios could slip in and out again. However since they lacked other options, there was nothing that could be done about it. "This is a fucking disgrace. The only thing's missing is a four-eyed asshole with an electric whip," Leng added, sounding angry. She wouldn't fault him for it. Given his age and profession, Callius would assume that the human had seen plenty of those during the years the HSA had spent trying to recapture the people enslaved during the Blitz. From personal experience she could testify to the fact that the things one saw in batarian slave camps tended to stay with you long after the actual experience.

"You're right. They might as well be slaves," Callius injected. She hit a button on the maintenance lift's door and then gestured for the two humans to fall in. "Salarian labor is already poorly paid if there are unions or labor regulations to protect them from being exploited. But since Illium lacks all those things, I assume the only thing separating them from a salarian toiling in a batarian strip-mine is that their slave collars aren't strapped around their necks, but their salaries."

"Is it like this for every salarian working in Nos Astra?" the human biotic asked.

"Most, I assume," the turian cabal said in turn. "It's not just Illium either. Most salarians who work manual labor outside of Council space get treated poorly. There are a trillion of them looking for work all over the Terminus and the Traverse. With that much competition, the only way to get hired is to lower your standards for an employer."

"Poor bastards," Nader muttered while the door closed. "You'd think their government would do something about this. They're a council member for crying out loud. How can they just ignore it if their people are treated like shit?"

"As far as the Union is concerned, its responsibility to them ended as soon as they decided to leave salarian space and become a resource to someone else," the turian explained. "Salarians aren't like you or me, Lieutenant. Most of them don't have a say in their society. They just exist. There's no inherent value to them just because they're alive."

"That can't be true. Someone's got to care about them. Salarian or not, they are still people, aren't they? Where are their leaders? Are they just going to stand for this? Shit like this is unacceptable."

"To you, maybe. But you won't find a Dalatrass or noble-born salarian in the galaxy that'd lift as much as a finger to help any of these workers. For them, it's all about bloodlines, loyalty, social standing and what the other party can offer to you. They're just like the batarians in that regard, with the sole difference maybe being that they managed to sell their system to the asari and the asari then sold it to everyone else," she watched as the digits indicating what level they were on continued to climb up. "Don't search for meaning in a broken way of life. It will only drive you crazy."

"You really don't like salarians, do you?" Leng injected from her left.

"I have no issue with salarians whatsoever," Callius retorted. "I do however hate the hypocrisy of denouncing one aristocracy as tyrannical salvers and granting the other one a Council seat and calling it progressive just because they were nice enough to not make the shackles visible," she let out a sigh after thinking back to the turian's own enduring monarchist problem; Facinus. "Besides, if history proves anything, then it's that nobility and monarchies have never helped anyone but themselves. People can say about the Hierarchy what they want. Militarists, autocrats, jingoists," she listed those points from the demonstrations she had witnessed on the Citadel after the last Taetrian Insurgency had concluded and the expected recordings of Hastatim operations had surfaced on the Extranet. "At least our leaders earned their position by merit, not family relations or easily swallowed lies."

"Amen to that," Nader offered before the doors opened with a hiss and the three of them came face to face with a pair of knocked out human guards, who judging by their bloodied faces seemed to be badly hurt but definitely alive.

"Yeah, I think it's safe to say Krios was already here," Leng sighed before all three unfolded their assault rifles. "How many more elevators?"

"Three," Callius replied while taking a knee next to one of the dark-haired humans and discarding a piece of metal that looked like it was a vent-cover that had fallen off right above her head. She seemed out of it, but conscious. "Who attacked you? And when?"

"I-"

"Focus and answer my questions."

"I don't- maybe five minutes-"

"Hey! You! Drop the guns and step away from her!" a voice from up ahead suddenly shouted. The turian looked up and spotted a lone batarian with his pistol at the ready. He was wearing the same yellow-white hardsuit as the beaten humans and he was clearly misinterpreting what he was seeing right now. "Do it! Slowly!"

She gritted her teeth and bressed her mandibles against her jaw. A jumpy security guard, out of his depth and outnumbered.

This would be a problem.


Present Time, 11. April 2147 AD, Je'Fara Precinct, Interrogation Room Three

"Talk about bad luck," Shepard observed as Callius described her run-in with the security guard. "And talk about some seriously fucked up labor laws. Poor salarians," she went on while leaning forward on the desk. Her only point of contact with the Union was STG. She had no idea that the rest of salarian society seemed to be as messed up as Callius had described. Sure, there was probably some personal opinion dripping into her assessment. But that disdain had to come from somewhere, right?

"There are no such things as labor laws on Illium," Samara stated in turn before folding her hands in front of her and addressing the Blackwatch lieutenant. "Considering that you obviously reached Dantius despite your encounter, I assume you did not comply with the security guard?"

"No."

"Did you hurt him?" the justicar questioned next.

"Not permanently," Callius replied. "My overload program might have given him a jolt and some burns on his hand that he'll feel in the morning, but he'll live."

"That is a relieve to hear. I could not have defended you had you executed someone merely doing their duty to protect another person," the justicar went on, prompting Callius to look at the N7.

"I though you said she'd be my lawyer. That's half the reason I trusted her with the fact that I actually killed Dantius and those two guards."

Before Emily could reply, Samara did.

"I offered to stand in your defense and judge your actions as a justicar. You just witnessed me doing this," Samara stated. "I assure you that if your reasons for killing Dantius and her guards were justifiable in any legal or moral way, then my judgement will continue to rest in your favor."

"And if they aren't?" Shepard injected, suddenly feeling rather concerned. Maybe she should've listened to Anaya? Samara's hesitation certainly didn't help her confidence. "Samara?"

"If the Lieutenant's actions proof to be morally unjust, then I will have to fall back on the oath I swore to you in order to justify not striking her down myself."

Immediately the former cabal froze up in her chair. As did Shepard.

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" the Blackwatch operative muttered.

"No, Lieutenant. As long as I serve Shepard, you do not need to fear retribution from me should your actions prove to be unjustified."

"And what about after you're done serving Shepard?"

"That is a discussion I will not have with you until I can determine whether or not you are actually guilty of what the NAPD charges you with," the justicar said calmly. "Now please tell me what happened after your run-in with the security guard."

"I will. After you tell me the time again. When did I get arrested again?" Callius repeated. This was the second time she'd ask to know how long ago NAPD had detained her and as of now, it was officially weird.

"About ninety-five minutes ago," Shepard responded. "Why do you keep asking me that?"

"Mild curiosity," Callius responded with a shrug and then a glare to one of the security cameras, which the chief of police had assured her would be turned off. Due to her lack of trust into that particular asari, she'd obviously tasked Garrus with making sure they actually were off. "It's easy to lose your sense of time if you get locked in here without a clock and everyone else refuses to talk to you."

"I see," Shepard nodded. "So you fried the security guard. What happened next?"

"After we ran into the batarian and found clear signs of Krios being on-site, we decided to pick up our pace. We rushed through the elevators and stumbled on more knocked-out guards-"


One Hundred and Five Minutes Earlier, 2158 CE, Dantius Towers

"You know, for an assassin this guy does a disturbingly little amount of killing," the N7 stated while kicking the gun out of the hand of another knocked out guard. This one was turian and judging by the way both of his mandibles had been bent outward, he'd be in a lot of pain as soon as his senses came back to him. While their jaw was an obvious weak point, Callius was surprised to see someone bent them at the exact point that both hurt enormously but also didn't cause any permanent damage. It matched the injuries they'd found on the human and batarian guards further down the empty hallway. They'd been attacked and been struck down violently and quickly, yet none of them would be permanently damaged from their encounters

This drell knew what he was doing. He had in-depth knowledge of how to fight each of these species and he was remarkably restrained to be able to injure people in this manner when the others were armed with guns and he was, presumably, only using fists. While it might sound contradictive to an outsider, the fact that Krios was doing all of this without killing anyone made it abundantly clear how dangerous he truly was. If they ran into him and he turned out to be hostile, they'd be in for a tough fight that may only be won by the fact that Lieutenant Nader was possibly the most powerful human biotic in the galaxy.

"We need to hurry up," Callius ordered in return before setting her eyes on the large circular door ahead. If her HUD was right, that door led to the elevator that connected the unfinished business floors of this tower to the completed penthouse area where Dantius had taken up residence and was monitoring the construction effort from. Although she didn't understand why one would finish the leisure part of the building prior to the one that would actually make its construction worthwhile, the turian figured that it made sense to someone like Nassana Dantius.

The group jogged for the door and once more started their elevator ride. The last leap of their way up was faster than the previous once because unlike the maintenance lifts, the elevator leading to the top floor of the Dantius Towers was already finalized.

"Nader?" the turian asked.

"What?"

"If Krios proves hostile, you'll be our best weapon. You can't hesitate or hold back against him, otherwise we're all dead. Do you understand?" Callius didn't feel like she needed to tell Leng that because he obviously hadn't earned his N7 designation by being hesitant.

"Yes," the young human lieutenant replied.

The elevator reached the top and the dilating door pulled itself open, revealing a white corridor decorated with plants and pictures that led to yet another circular door being manned by five very conscious security guards wielding assault rifles.

"Hold it right there!" one of the asari guards in yellow-white armor shouted as soon as she'd spotted Callius and her team.

"Easy, we're friendly," the turian called back while grimacing below her helmet. There'd be no catching these guys off-guard, so unless they wanted to kill them, she'd have to talk her way out of this.

"Right. Of course you are," the asari mocked.

"Didn't your boss tell you? Your comrades on the ground let us in here because we're pursuing an assassin who's trying to kill Nassana Dantius," she reasoned.

"I am my boss," the asari responded flatly before gesturing for her guards to move forward. "And the only thing I know is that three strangers got past the pair of idiots at the front gate who'll get fired in the morning and that my people have been going dark one floor at a time ever since they let you in. You tell me what you think I'm making of this."

Callius winced behind her visor and tried to think of something.

"I know how this looks," she began. "But you have to trust me. The drell-"

"Probably doesn't even exist," the asari responded. "Don't try me turian. I've been doing this longer than you've been alive," the purple-skinned security leader threatened. With asari that was a common claim and Callius would probably be very rich if she'd received a credit for every time a member of the asari race said something along the lines of 'I have done X longer than you were alive, therefor I am superior to you in every regard'. While that tended to be true some of the time, she had learned to dismiss that claim since it also turned out to be wrong equally often. Due to their long lifespans asari tended to get bored of their jobs on the regular, as such most of them worked in dozens or even hundreds of professions in their life. They got good at a lot of things but barring a few exceptions such as huntresses, they rarely mastered anything.

"Zeran," the asari said while turning her head to a salarian. "Call NAPD's chief," there it was again. The chief instead of the police. Callius knew exactly what to make of that. Nos Astra's police chief was Dantius' business partner. "Tell them we've got a break-in at Dantius Towers."

"Yes, Ma'am," the salarian responded before bringing his hand to an earpiece her was wearing and mumbling into a small communicator on his wrist. While he was distracted, Callius thought about taking a cautious step forward, if only because that'd bring her closer to the low cover of the decorative plants in case this situation turned volatile.

"Don't even think about it!" the asari commanded. "You stay right where you are."

"Uhm, Ma'am," the salarian injected.

"What, Zeran? Is the line down again?"

"No't that's not it. She says NAPD's already on their way. We apparently already called earlier about a drell trying to kill Dantius but back then she didn't think it was actually anything serious. They picked up their pace now."

Suddenly a loud blaring noise overshadowed the rest of the salarian's sentence and a red light began to flash next to the door the five guards had been watching. Immediately, the asari's face fell flat and she turned to two human guards on her right. "Watch them!" she ordered before pointing at Leng, Nader and her. "Zeran, Tom, you're with me," then she swiped her hand over the door panel and rushed into the otherwise pitch-black office, leaving behind two nervous looking human security guards. She watched as the door behind them closed and they exchanged a glance with each other.

"I told you this would happen," Callius muttered. Maybe the scare tactics would work again? "If you're smart, you're letting us through that door. It's like my N7 friend told your comrades down below, you aren't equipped for handling something like this."

The guards turned to Leng.

"You a real N7?" one muttered.

"Don't fall for this shit. Anyone can stamp a logo on some black armor," the other replied before hushing him. "Let's just watch them."

"Yeah, good point," the first guard replied. "You're right. This is probably some stolen valor shit. Heard of a lot of mercs doing that ever since that Shepard lady kicked the spikey's face in on the Citadel. Just look at him. No way this guy earned that badge or actually did anything for i-"

Had Callius known Leng better, she might have seen the events of the next view seconds coming. But since they were mere friendly acquaintances and she had no clue how his temper worked or how much that little white emblem on his chest meant to him, she was just as shocked as the two guards and Nader were when four loud, incredibly fast assault rifle shots barked through the hallway and struck each guard's dominant, gun-carrying hand. While Callius blinked in shock, blood sprayed to the floor and a pair of painfilled screams erupted. She watched as the N7 strolled through the hallway and walked over to one of the guards before snapping herself out of her confusion and mentally readying herself for the possibility of the other the guards rushing out to attack them.

"Fuck. You shot me- you -you fucking shot me!" the first guard yelled as Leng came to a stop while standing over him.

"My hand! My- argh. God damn it!" the second joined in before realizing that the N7 had just kicked his companion in the face. "What the fuck is wrong with y-" when a black armored boot connected with his jaw as well, teeth went flying and sent Callius into action.

She got along with the human and she realized that he was Shepard's friend. He also probably had a logical explanation for what he'd just done. But this wasn't going to happen. Not under her command.

"Watch the door!" she ordered to Nader before rushing over and shoving Leng hard enough to send him staggering. "Stand down right now, Petty Officer!" she shouted before the N7 could even fully turn to her. "We don't shoot security guards and we definitely don't kick their teeth in when they're down! What do you think you're doing right now?"

"Diffusing the situation?" Leng replied in a tone that barely managed to sound professional. He was stand-offish and angry, which surprised her, to say the least. Up to now, he'd seemed like easily the most balanced and cheerful person on the Normandy beside maybe Mordin. This obviously wasn't saying a lot since the two of them were flying alongside a jaded C-SEC detective, a revived Spectre, the product of humanity's biotic program and her. But it still came as a surprise to her to see the human like this.

"By shooting off someone's hands and attacking them when they're out of the fight?" she countered before kneeling down to one of the guards and ripping a keycard from his belt. At least something good had come from this.

"It's called pacifying the threat. I thought you of all people would understands that," Leng went on before Callius smashed the keycard against the door lock.

"We are not having this conversation right now. Save it for the Normandy and Shepard."

"I-"

"I said save it."

They didn't have the time for this right now.


Present Time, 11. April 2147 AD, Je'Fara Precinct, Interrogation Room Three

Shepard looked at Callius with a blank expression as she recounted what Leng had done.

"He's always had a temper," the N7 explained in defense of her long-time friend while also restraining herself from pointing out that it was a tiny bit hypocritical for Callius to criticize this behavior when she'd been the one to burn a vorcha alive on Omega. Sure, one could argue circumstance, but still. "But he usually keeps it in check during missions."

"Not this time," Callius retorted immediately. "As your XO, it is my duty to tell you that I don't think he would've stopped had I not stepped in," the Blackwatch officer retorted. "I could tell he wanted to beat those guys to death just by looking at him. He let his anger take control over him. I don't have to explain to you why that's a risk to all of us. He needs to get sorted out."

"I agree, but I still don't get it," she muttered before glancing at Samara. "He's never had these issues back when we were both still serving as N7s."

"How long ago was that?" the older turian asked.

"Before the Eden Prime mission. Two and a half years ago, give or take."

"Time changes people. Especially if you die on them for two years," somehow Callius' choice of words hit a nerve for Emily. She didn't let it show though, there were more important things right now. "The Kai Leng you knew two years ago might not be the one you woke up to," that wasn't the first time she'd heard something like that about someone she knew. For a second Shepard thought back to the injured merc on Korlus, Leng had been rough with him as well. Maybe this would've just been more of the same? Hell, how could Callius even know how far her fellow N7 would've gone? She had said it herself, she didn't know Kai like Shepard did. So maybe-

No.

The redhaired marine bit her lip as she realized what she was doing; making apologizes for behavior she wouldn't tolerate herself.

"I'll talk to him when we get back to the Normandy," she promised, only half-way certain if she'd actually go through with it. Then she exchanged a look with the justicar. She could read what was on Samara's mind and as such, she decided to say it for her. "Sorry for the interruption. Can you finish the story now?"

"Right away. Just please tell me the time again first," the reddish turian responded.

"Okay, seriously. Why do you keep asking me for the time, Callius?"

"Just trust me, Commander. What's the time?" the Blackwatch lieutenant responded.

"You were arrested ninety-nine minutes ago," she said with a sigh. All of the sudden, Callius rose from her chair.

"Well in that case, I think it's time that you check in with EDI," she declared. "Krios told me he'd need ninety-seven to reach the Normandy. If he was right, he should've made it by now, which means he's officially outside of NAPD jurisdiction and you can go ahead and tell Petty Officer Leng that he can give the NAPD the tape that proves that I didn't kill Dantius or her guards."

Shepard felt her jaw drop ever so slighty.

"Wait. What? But you just said- I don't get it," she finally surrendered.

"I know what I said, but I only said that because I was stalling for him," the turian explained. "As soon as I realized that Krios had already killed Dantius and heard that the NAPD was already on their way, I knew we wouldn't get him off-world with a manhunt going on. Dantius and the chief of police are obviously partners in crime, or rather they were. Otherwise her goons wouldn't have the chief of police on speed-dial. So I knew the NAPD's chief would've started a planet-wide search to find Krios, probably to cover her own hide," she reasoned. "Best assassin in the galaxy or not, I wasn't going to take the chance of Krios not making it to the Normandy and being lost as an asset because of something as basic as city official corruption," she went on while Shepard looked at her in confusion.

"So you were lying this entire time? Everything you said was just not true?" she was obviously hoping for the part about Leng to not be accurate.

"No, I'm afraid everything I said up to now was accurate, including the unpleasant parts," Callius flicked her mandibles against her jaw, which was about as close as a turian could get to biting their lip. "The only thing I lied about is who shot Dantius and her guards." she turned towards Samara.

"You deceived everyone to protect the assassin."

"Yes. Sorry if that got you excited about the prospect of having a reason to kill me for murdering an unarmed civilian," the former cabal replied before folding her arms. "Oh, and for the record, I'm not scared of whatever retribution you had in mind."

"If you spoke the truth, then there will be no reason for retribution," Samara responded. Shepard wasn't sure if now was a good point to ask if the same went for Krios or not, hence she didn't. Instead she opted to ask for the full story.

"Okay. So you were lying to protect Krios. I get that," she summarized. "But I'd still like to know how you managed to convince him to join us."

Callius blinked and then looked at her with amber-colored eyes.

"Right. Yes. That was actually pretty easy as well," the turian replied with a shrug that made Shepard chuckle. "What?" she asked in response to the reaction.

"You ought to be more careful with using that word," the N7 explained.

"Which word?"

"Easy."

"Why?"

"Because if it turns out that you just breeze through every assignment that I give you, you'll be doing everything from here on out," she said with another smile. "Do tell, though. I'm curious to know how you roped Krios into our mission."

"So as I was saying, we had just entered the office-"


One Hundred and One Minutes Ago, 2158 CE, Dantius Towers

Callius stepped into the dark office and spotted the flashlight shine of the asari's assault rifle and her dead body lying on the ground near a command-and-control desk sitting in the center of the round office overlooking the city of Nos Astra. Next to her lay another asari, this one clearly dead as well, albeit by a gunshot wound to the gut instead of the head. The other two remaining guards were lying in each corner of the office, one human one alive, but only barely, was lying underneath an opened air-duct. The other, the salarian from earlier, was slumped against the wall in the other end of the office with a hole in between his eyes.

This was obviously the handiwork of their assassin.

Her eyes scanned the pitch-black room and then spotted a barely visible drell standing in the darkest corner with the best view of the office. His back turned toward them and his hands were locked tightly to his chest, head bowed as if he were-

-praying.

She gestured for Leng and Nader to move to her flanks and lowered her Phaeston just far enough that she could still immediately open fire if the drell even twitched wrongly.

"Thane Krios?" she asked cautiously, prompting the drell to lift his head but not turn around.

"One moment please," he responded in a raspy voice. "Prayers for the wicked must not be interrupted," he continued to whisper something in a foreign language for another ten seconds or so and then spun on his feet. "Thank you for not interrupting my prayer," he stated. "It is a crucial part of each kill."

She mustered the drell, mostly for weapons. At first glance, she could see nothing but an old batarian-made pistol and a black short-sword on the green alien. But then as she took a closer look, she spotted several bumps in his coat, which she assumed were hidden weapons like knives or more guns. In particular she noticed the larger bump at his left hip. It had the vague outline of a submachine gun, judging by the block design, a human one at that.

"Who was the prayer for? Dantius?" she said before throwing a glance at the dead asari mogul. Given the fact that she was most certainly close with the chief of police her guards had called twice already, getting Krios off-world would certainly be more difficult than Shepard or she had bargained for.

"No, it was for myself," the drell responded quietly before looking at them. Before she could ask why he considered himself wicked, Krios made a very fast step forward into striking distance of her face and peered at her through her visor. The only reason why she hadn't just riddled him with mass accelerator rounds was because his hands were still folded behind his back. Truthfully, the turian had no idea how he'd just moved that fast. She'd never seen anyone do something similar. But judging from the hint of purple energy dancing across his skin in the wake of his flash-step, she had a suspicion that this was some kind of biotic trick that turians were more than likely incapable of. "Who are you and why did you seek me out? I noticed you tracking me through the building, it caught my curiosity. I don't usually attract," he paused for a second as if to chose his next word carefully, "admirers to my work."

"My name is Lieutenant Callius and I'm with-"

"The turian Blackwatch Legion?" Thane replied before suddenly stiffening in front of her. She could see a flicker in his eyes and then he began to unload on her at a pace that'd make a salarian blush. "A world of thunder and wind, cities far greater than I ever witnessed. A ten-day hunt through the concrete blocks draws its conclusion. I need to escape back to the ship. My pursuer near me to the point where I can feel their breath on my skin. Their leader steps past me. Too close to stay, too risky to strike. He's older than me, a more seasoned warrior. In a fair fight, he would win undoubtedly, yet he never sees more than a flicker of my shadow when I move. I hear his comrade shout. 'Haliat, watch out, he's behind you,' but it is of no use. By the time he turns, I am gone as the wind. They never catch me," the drell muttered before his eyes seemed to dim. "Apologizes that was my-"

"Memory. Yes. I've heard of your people's abilities," Callius stated while swallowing at the mention of the name 'Haliat'. There'd only ever been one Blackwatch soldier with that name and she connected no fond memories with him anymore. "And yes, I am also with Blackwatch."

"What does the Hierarchy want from me?" Krios questioned as Callius saw a convoy of red flashing lights approach in the distance; NAPD transports.

"This has nothing to do with the Hierarchy," Callius replied. "I'm here because a Spectre I'm working with requires your help with a mission."

"Hm," the drell said before another surge of biotic energy suddenly send him back to the window. "What mission?"

"Are you aware of the fact that human colonies have been going missing?"

"It has not escaped my notice, yes."

"We are looking to stop them."

"Them?"

"The ones responsible for it. The Collectors."

Krios turned his head slightly to look at her.

"Interesting. Despite travelling the galaxy, I though them to be a myth," he said in an eerie tone that made her wonder if he'd flashback to some other memory now. "Why look for me? If the Spectre managed to recruit you, they can clearly have anyone. What makes me special?"

Callius looked around the room.

"You did this with the bare minimum of killing. I think that's enough of a reason to want you on our side. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes."

"So what's your answer?"

Again the drell darted through the room. This time she could see the move in its fullest. It was a biotic trick, there was little doubt about that, but it was also disturbingly graceful. As he launched himself across the room, he weaved through the air like a dancer, not an assassin. When his feet touched the ground in front of the asari he'd just slain, Krios paused. For a second, he looked regretful, but then he was back to being unreadable.

"You are in luck. I have been looking for a meaningful way to make amends for the live I've lived. I will join your mission, free of charge," he said before the whining of sirens became audible, "if I manage to evade my pursuers that is."

Callius looked at the drell and suddenly got a very stupid idea.

Deception was a fantastic way to distract people. That was what one of Blackwatch's tenet's basically came down to if one looked past all the flashy saying and 'hunter' and 'pack' metaphors'.

"Give me the gun you shot Dantius with."

"Why?"

"Because you won't have any pursuers if they think I killed her."

"They'll arrest you."

"Only as long as they can't prove I'm innocent," she said before turning to Leng. "Find the cameras of this place. Get the recordings and then wipe everything clean."

Despite their previous clash, the N7 complied immediately, albeit more formally than she'd expected him to.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Then she looked at Krios.

"How long do you need to get to the Normandy? We're docked at Dracon Arcology."

The drell considered her question for a second.

"Ninety-seven minutes," she couldn't help but wonder what an odd number that was.

"Understood. I'll buy you that time," she said before grabbing Krios' gun. "Go," the drell didn't need to be told once. He jumped upward to an opened vent and then disappeared into the darkness. Now she could only hope that he'd hold up his end of the bargain and actually go to the Normandy instead of only using her as an easy way out.

"Can I do something as well?" Nader offered while Callius strolled through the office with the intent of surrendering herself to the NAPD. She was a Blackwatch officer working for a Spectre and there was clear evidence of her innocence. She'd be fine, even if the chief of police was crooked.

Probably.

"Call EDI and tell her we're receiving another passenger. When you've done that, make sure Leng keeps his cool. If he acts out, pull his leash. Call Shepard, use your biotics, pull your rank, whatever you have to do."

"Aye, aye," she said before watching Callius leave. "Where are you going?"

"As far away from the crime scene as I can. Every second that I waste is one that Krios can use to get out of here."


Present Time, 11. April 2147 AD, Je'Fara Precinct, Interrogation Room Three

"I have to admit, Callius, I didn't think you'd have that kind of criminal energy," Shepard responded after getting confirmation from EDI that Thane Krios had in fact arrived on the Normandy and was now awaiting their return.

"Well, according to my mother, I was a pretty mischievous girl growing up," the turian responded before the door of the interrogation room came flying open and the asari chief of police barged in.

"You fucking turian bitch," she began before slamming the door in front of the two homicide detectives that were trying to follow her, behaving exactly opposite of how one would expect a chief of police to behave. "If you think that little recording is going to get you out of here, you're dead wrong. You might not have killed Dantius but you're still the reason her killer escaped. That means I'm charging you with obstruction of justice, conspiracy to a murder and misleading authorities about the commission of a crime. That ought to give me more than enough of a reason to arrest you. You're going to pay for what you did to Dantius-"

"If I were you, Chief C'Trala, I'd consider my next words very carefully," Samara suddenly injected, reminding C'Trala of her presence. The justicar's tone was still regal, but this time Shepard could hear the threatening undertone clearly. "From what Lieutenant Callius has told me, Nassana Dantius committed several offenses that would've made me take action as well. Hence, in the eye of the code, the assassin was justified in his actions and the lieutenant was therefor also justified in enabling his escape. It is you who was in the wrong."

"That's a load of crap and you know it. I've worked with justicars in the past, nowhere in your code does it say-"

Suddenly Samara flared up with biotic energy and stepped up to the chief of police.

"Do not think yourself in any position to tell a servant of the goddess what the code includes," she exclaimed. "Ever since I have arrived on your world, I have turned a blind eye to the evident corruption of your organization for the sake of not slaying those who merely do their duty. With you, I would have no such second thoughts. You stand at the very top of the rotten hierarchy you dare title a police department. That means that you are either the root of the corruption or have chosen to willfully ignore it. In either case, executing you on the spot would be well within in my rights and my duty," C'Trala seemed unimpressed by what Samara had said.

"I'm Nos Astra's chief of police. You wouldn't dar-"

"Not. Another. Word," Samara ordered. "In the eyes of the Goddess Athame, you are nothing but another criminal and the only thing stopping me from striking you down where you stand is the oath that I swore to the commander. It would be wise for you not to give her a reason to unbind me from it."

Shepard blinked.

"I can do that?" she asked, prompting Samara to turn her head.

"Whenever you wish. My sword is yours to wield," she said with just the hint of a wink.

Huh. Who knew.

Apparently Callius wasn't the only mischievous kid around here.

"Well in that case, I think that-"

"Wait! Wait," the asari chief of police suddenly stated fearfully. She turned to the turian. "Due to clear evidence of your innocence, it is my duty as a Nos Astra police officer to immediately release you from our custody. You are free to go."

Callius looked at her with a blank expression. "What about my guns?"

"They are in lock-up, I will have delivered them to you shortly. You may wait in the lobby of the precinct," she stated before opening the door to reveal the two homicide detectives, the station's supervisor, Garrus, Leng and Nader.

Without further ado, Shepard guided her team out of the interrogation room and into said lobby. Once they were there, they drew the expected glances from the other people currently waiting for an officer. She got it. From the outside the team she had been building was a ragtag bunch of misfits. Still, with Samara and Krios on the squad and Garrus back to his former self, she was getting more confident about their odds regarding the Collector mission.

As soon as the police officers had left, Garrus let out a long drawn sigh and let himself fall against the wall softly, clearly preferring to stand instead of crushing a chair underneath the combined weight of his heavy armor and bodyweight.

"Spirits those have got to be the most crooked cops I have ever seen."

"What makes you say?" Shepard asked out of curiosity, hoping that whatever the turian had to say wouldn't send Samara into an actual execution streak. She still had no idea how this whole code and oath business worked and what level of corruption Garrus was about to expose.

"Well for starters, they tried to keep the camera's running after I told them to shut them off," he recognized the look on Shepard's freckled face and immediately clarified. "I consider lying to me to be the ultimate display of corruption."

"I see," Shepard muttered. "So the cameras-"

"Don't worry, I made sure they really were off after they tried to trick me," the turian replied with a shrug. "Granted, they probably won't turn on any time soon again, but what you said in there stayed in there. I made sure of that, even if it was a bit excessive."

She narrowed her eyes.

"How exactly did you turn of the cameras Garrus?"

The turian glanced to his left at one of the chair.

"Wow," he exclaimed. "Asari really do have a fine taste in furniture, don't they?"

"Garrus. How did you turn of the cameras?"

"What exquisite metal working. Tell me, Samara. What's the secret of your people's craftmanship? I'd love to get some of these for my hypothetical place on the Citadel."

"Garrus," she said while pinching her nose.

"Oh, Shepard. I didn't even see you there-"

"Cameras," she demanded.

"Promise not to get mad?"

"What did you do?"

"Now I'm not saying that's what happened, but," he said while stretching out the last word of his sentence. Then he suddenly began to talk very fast. "There's a chance I asked EDI to hack herself into the Nos Astra PD servers and somehow ended up allowing her to completely mess up the entire surveillance system of this place. And maybe the next precinct as well. Oh and she might have also found a couple of transfers the chief received from Dantius."

"Garrus-"

"And since I know what you're going to say, I will admit that what I did was a very irresponsible use of a classified HSA asset. Yes, I did totally go overboard, but as I told you, I feel like EDI is very underappreciated and underused by the rest of the crew, so I wanted to give her something to do. And since she seemed to enjoy turning off one interrogation room so much, I figured why not let her do it one more time. Then once turned into twice and twice turned into 'why not another district' and next thing I know, I'm having her break into NAPD's financial servers and sending the records of those transfers to Nos Astra's city administration and various district and corporate attorneys," he rubbed the back of his head. "Okay, I admit that I got carried away. A lot. But if we just take a step back and think about the righteousness of my actions, I think I can still keep my EDI privileges-"

"Garrus," she cut him off.

"Sorry I abused your highly illegal AI for a little direct justice?" he offered apologetically.

She cracked a smile.

"It's nice to have you back."

"Likewise," the turian responded. "Does that mean I get to keep my EDI access?"

"For now."

The group drifted back into silence as they waited for Callius' weapons to be returned, which Shepard suspected would take some time, if only out of the chief's spite for their actions. As they waited, an asari news broadcast playing form a holoscreen attached to the wall over the door offered them some background noise to listen to. When five minutes turned into ten and ten into fifteen, Callius suddenly rose up from her chair and approached Samara, who had long since sat on the floor to medidate.

"Why'd you defend me?" she asked while standing over the justicar, who slowly opened her eyes.

"Because I believe that you will be useful for when Morinth makes her attempt on the commander's life and because your actions truly were righteous. People like Nassana Dantius and the chief of police bring nothing but shame to my people. I will not weep about her death or the pain it causes to Chief C'Trala."

"I see," Callius paused. "Who's Morinth?"

"I believe it's best that you ask that question to the Commander."

Callius spun her head to Shepard, who winced at the memory of the station fight. That was not something she wanted to recount in detail. Particularly not her slip-up at the end.

"Commander?"

"Yes?" Shepard replied reluctanty.

"Who's Morinth?" the amber-eyed turian repeated.

The N7 let out a sigh.

"Do you know what an Ardat-Yakshi is?"

"No, but that sounds like something troublesome."

"That has got to be the understatement of the year," Garrus added dryly.

"In that case we're in for a longer conversation," she said while looking at Callius.

"Considering I spent the better part of the night telling you about my day, I feel like its only fair for you to be the one doing the sharing now. Besides, I've got a feeling we'll be sitting here for some time, so why not entertain the crew?"

"She's got a point Shepard. Booking out evidence is a long and grueling process. Especially if you do it extra slowly to spite the Spectre who's justicar just showed you up in your own police department or because you just got arrested due to someone accidentally leaking your private financial records to the city," the turian added with a shrug. "But if that topic's too uncomfortable for you, we could always use this opportunity to take a look at your extranet presence. I heard that could be entertaining as well."

And just like that the shiver was back, at least as long as it took her to notice Garrus's inconsistencies.

"I thought you said the cameras were turned off?"

"Okay, so I might have only noticed that they were still on after I heard that and got curious about what the lieutenant was talking about," the turian detective responded. "Trust me, if anyone's been truly traumatized by this entire experience, it has been me. Listen to me when I say this. Do not look up the asari page that's promoted when you search your own name. You can't unsee the things those asari posted. You just can't."

Shepard felt a cringe travel through her body and then decided to indulge her crew with the more pleasant alternative.. They needed some light-hearted narration after the evening they just had.

"Ardat-Yakshi it is," Shepard clapped her hands. She began to tell the story, starting with the part where they landed in the garbage instead of the suicide bombing that had occurred before and got all the way to retelling how smitten Garrus had been by Detective Anaya's office door before a shrill beeping from the holoscreen interrupted her.

"Dear viewers. We interrupt our regular scheduled Nos Astra News broadcast to bring you breaking news from human space," the blue asari on the screen announced. "Five minutes ago, credible sources have reported to us that two recently established human colonies in the Attican Traverse and another more developed settlement in the Skyllian Verge, Vuori, have come under attack by the same alien aggressors who are believed to be responsible for the assault on New Canton ten days ago," Shepard felt the blood freeze in her veins. "While news from the afflicted planets are still scarce due to a comm buoy blackout that preceded the incursions, early reports suggest that the settlements in the Traverse have been lost and that HSA military personal has been engaged in a ground invasion on Vuori. There have also been reports of a clash between human naval vessels and an unidentified cruiser-analog attempting to bypass the Parnack Quarantine Zone. According to information presented to Nos Astra News, acting chancellor Anita Goyle will make a statement within the hou-"

Shepard didn't hear the rest of the broadcast. She was already out of the door and on her way to speed up the process to get back Callius' guns. They had no more time to waste and if anyone still tried to keep her here any longer, she might just end up shooting them before Samara got the chance to.

She'd nearly allowed herself to forget that they were in a race against time.

She wouldn't make that mistake again.


Codex: Chancellor of the Human Systems Alliance

The Chancellor of the Human Systems Alliance is the head of the human government. They are elected every four years by the representatives of the HSA parliament, unless in the event of the acting chancellor stepping down or dying, in which case an emergency election is conducted that has to be followed up by an official election one year after the emergency election transpired.

During peacetime, the role of the chancellor is that of leading the executive segment of the Arcturus-based government. In addition, they are able to name and create the ministries of the Human Systems Alliance governments and can be granted emergency executive powers, including the ability to declare executive orders, in the event of 'unprecedented crisis', which allows them to govern in the absence of the parliament, for example in the event of a war. These emergency executive powers are limited to one year and may only be extended twice. A third extension (leading to a four year, or rather one chancellor term worth of emergency power) is possible, but has to end with the acting chancellor stepping down and the parliament being dissolved to avoid an abuse of power.

While emergency executive powers have been granted several times over, most prominently to Chancellor Francis Noé during the Fringe Wars from the years of 2378 to 2379, 2379 to 2380 and 2380 to 2381, there has never been a dissolution of an HSA government in wake of a forth extension.

For a majority of the time that the HSA has existed, the position of chancellor has been held by a member of the Systems Alliance Foundation, the party that has dominated the human political landscape for nearly the entire duration of the HSA's existence. (In total 138 years)

Other parties that have manned the office of Chancellor of the Human Systems Alliance are the United Democracy Front (in total 72 years), the Human Libertarian Party (in total 36 years) and the now dissolved 'Humanity Marches Forward' Party, (in total 20 years) which after many years of political irrelevance was subsumed by the human-nationalist Terra Firma Party in 2416 AD.

The acting chancellor of the Human Systems is Anita Goyle, a member of the Systems Alliance Foundation and the former ambassador of the HSA on the Citadel. Goyle temporarily entered the position in 2401 after her predecessor and fellow SAF member, the former naval aviator Francis Noé, who governed the HAS from 2378 to 2401, voluntarily resigned from the position due to 'health concerns' on his part. Goyle was officially elected into office in early 2402, succeeding Noé, the longest acting chancellor in HSA history who led humanity through first contact and towards a prosperous future in the galaxy. Despite the increasing criticism of Noé leading up to his resignation in 2401 AD, he remains among the most popular politicians in HSA history, only falling short of Tapu Pekama, a member of the United Democracy Front who served as the third chancellor of the HSA from 2171 AD to 2191 AD. Beside her many economic reforms and the restructuring of the Human Systems Alliance Armed Forces, Pekama is remembered as the chancellor under who's leadership Arcturus Station was constructed.

Noé's own predecessor, the law professor Dakota Remo, also of the System Alliance Foundation, held the office from 2366 to 2378 AD. Due to his inaction during the years leading up the Fringe Wars, he is remembered less fondly than Noé, despite the fact that it was his careful management and redirection of the core world economy and level-headedness during the initial conflict that allowed the HSA's economy to survive the sudden removal of twenty seven percent of its territory and fourteen percent of its working population.

After hitting an historic low in popularity during the 2410 AD election and being forced to enter a coalition with the United Democracy Front and the Human Libertarian Party to oppose the surge in 'Terra Firma's 'popularity, the Goyle administration managed to return to popularity in the 2414 AD election. Despite her numbers surging to the point where the Systems Alliance Foundation could once more assume sole governance, Chancellor Goyle has clarified that she intends to leave office after the end of her term in 2418 AD. Many human political experts see this as a unique chance for another party to topple the SAF's dominance of the human political landscape.

Despite having a history as being a democratically elected position and being viewed as a 'perfect demonstration of how a representative democracy should work' by even the most critical asari political scientists, it should be noted that the office of Chancellor of the Human Systems Alliance can, in dire circumstances such as the death of the majority of the government and the subsequent inability to form a parliament, be filled by a person that has not received popular approval. This scenario, referred to as the 'Atlas Protocol', was anchored in the Human Unification Charta, the founding constitution of the HSA, after the completion of Arcturus Station under Chancellor Pekama.

The Atlas Protocol dictates the following:

'In the event that the Arcturus Administration should be rendered incapable of democratically electing a chancellor and in the instance that the acting chancellor has been incapacitated, killed or otherwise rendered incapable of executing the duties of their office, the Supreme Court of the Human Systems Alliance (subsequently referred to as SCHSA) may name a new chancellor in place of the human people. To this end, the SCHSA is granted the following line of succession:

1st: The highest-ranking available member of the HSA government

2nd: The highest-ranking available member of the Human Systems Alliance Armed Forces

3rd: The last democratically elected Chancellor prior to the currently acting chancellor.

4th: (added in 2416 AD) The acting Citadel Councilor of the Human Systems Alliance

The person named by the SCHSA is not required to accept the nomination.

In the event that the nomination is rejected, the line of succession is continued.

The person named as the acting chancellor under the Atlas Protocol may only govern for one term before reelection becomes necessary.

In the event that elections are still not possible after the term is completed, the position needs to be filled by a different individual.

To ensure that the SCHSA remains capable of naming a head of government even in the event of a total loss of governance, no active member of the SCHSA may set foot on the grounds of Arcturus Station at any point.'

As of 2417 AD, the Atlas Protocol has never been activated and remains a hypothetical scenario.


A/N: Holy shit that turned out to be a huge codex entry. I promise you one thing though, the fact that it aligns with the US election is a coincidence. Seriously, please don't interpret anysthing from this. That's the one and only time I'll even mention polticis in an A/N and with that in mind:

To the chapter.

This one was ridicilously fast for two reasons:

I had a blast writing it, I wanted to get it out for N7 day and I wanted to update quickly so everyone knows about the fact taht chapter 95 was not viewable due to FFNet fucking up.

Wait. Those are three reasons.

Either way, what I am trying to say is this: Don't expect me to hold this pace, this is an EXCEPTION made possible by circumstance!

As for the chapter itself, I feel like this one is one of SV's 'sillier' chapters. I hope I got the humor portions right. I like to think I'm funny, but then again, so does everyone who thinks they are.

Since this was another "one pov" (well, two actually but you cget the point) chapter, there's actually nto a whole lot for me to say anymore.

So off to the most important thign of today.

WE ARE GETTING A REMASTER IN SPRING AND BIOWARE IS WORKING ON A NEW MASS EFFECT GAME!

I am fucking hyped and so should you! :D

Alright. Here's to hoping this time I can actually access the chapter after uploading it.

For the record (even if there's not much to record this time) we're at 740 reviews, 1149 favorites and 1244 follows.

See you around next time.