MASS EFFECT CHASM: CHAPTER 8

The cacophony of ped traffic and skycars resonated in the background as Zalena stood motionless outside a small turian owned café on the Zakera Ward. Her meeting with her old captain felt so new and foreign to her. It almost felt like she never served underneath him. The council reinstated her title as Spectre, and the motion of good faith humbled her. Yet, the man who accompanied her during the hearing felt like a stranger. Anderson was stiff and guarded. He cautiously eyed her companions: Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor, from time to time during their catching up. There were no smiles or handshakes. It almost felt like she wasn't part of the Alliance and just a distrustful Cerberus operative. She had no love for the organization, but right now, they seemed to be the only ones answering the call to the disappearing colonists out in the Traverse.

What was even more painful was the little details she got about her old squadmates. They all went their separate ways. The Illusive Man explained that to her. She was hoping her old CO would give her contact information. She wanted them back. She wanted normalcy. The door was closed. He would not provide her with anything, not even a way to contact Kaidan. It felt so good to hear his name. He was on a particular assignment by Captain Anderson. That was it. Confidential. A slap in the face.

Everything seemed to change in the past two years. Even the feel of the wards on the Citadel. Even the people. She felt lost. Her heart longed for Alenko. Just the sound of his voice. Did Anderson even disclose to him that she was back? Would he? Would it matter at this point? She knew where the lieutenant's stance fell when it came to the black ops group. She was not the enemy here. Why couldn't they see that? Why didn't Tali on Freedom's Progress?

"Is everything alright, Shepard?" Miranda's question snapped her out of her stupor. Zalena blinked her eyes and looked around with a long-hearted sigh. "Yeah."

"Commander Shepard! Excuse me!" A tanned slim woman shouted their way to their right.

A familiar voice chimed in, "Hey, Commander! It's me! Emily Wong! I'm so glad you're back." The Asian reporter quickened her steps beside the woman as if she was in a race.

"Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani," The other butted in, overtaking the conversation. "The Alliance declared you dead two years ago. Now, you return without any word from the Alliance. You care to comment on this?"

"Hey!" Emily angrily stepped around Khalisah to get closer to her interview subject. "I get first dibs."

Both hover cams had their lights on Zalena in live record mode. Spectators gathered around from the reporters' announcement. She noticed Jacob and Miranda sidestepping back to put more distance between themselves and the spotlight. "Commander, the council just reinstated you. How does it feel?" Wong continued eagerly, hoping to beat her opponent to the scoop.

"Wow, the word travels fast," Zalena nervously chuckled.

"Don't be so coy, Commander," Khalisah informed her sharply, still agitated with her competition. "Why did you fake your death? What are you hiding? Why two years?"

"What are your plans now?" Emily chimed in thoughtfully, trying to revert from the drilling by the woman beside her.

"I have nothing to hide," Shepard answered calmly. This wasn't the first time that reporters pegged her to answer for her decisions. The press tried their best to make her anti-human once she became a Spectre and focused her mission on bringing Saren into justice. Admiral Hackett was impressed with how she handled each setup.

"That so?" Al-Jilani snubbed her nose at the comment. She then had the camera pan over to where Miranda and Jacob were standing. "Why Cerberus? Are you out of the Alliance for good? What does that mean for humanity?"

Shepard could tell the constant pressing was irking Miranda, and the brunette was biting her tongue from saying something. On the other hand, Jacob stood there dutifully, unmoved by the sudden focus on them. "It means that I'm not judging. Right now, colonists are disappearing. Men, women, and children. I'm with who will help them." A side-glance over Miranda revealed the woman's expression softening by her admittance.

"You're with Cerberus? Officially?" Emily's eyes widened with a fragment of fear.

"That's all for today," Zalena held up her hand to stop them from pressing further. She could pretty much see where the viewpoints were going, and the accusations would flare-up. The council firmly reminded her earlier that Cerberus was a devout enemy and her association with them would be considered treason. It made her feel like her only saving grace was Councilor David Anderson. The man she endorsed to be the first human council member following the attack on the Citadel. They held Shepard in the highest regard from her quick actions that saved their lives and the lives of so many others. Though, it seemed their label of her currently placed her right near the rogue agent, Saren. Ignoring the reporters' pleas for a little more, Shepard made a beeline to the docks. Miranda took her left.

"Typical," Lawson huffed under her hot breath.

"They have their viewpoint. Let it go." Jacob picked up on his comrade's comment.

Miranda scolded him quietly with an icy glare. "Quit playing nice, Jacob."

"I had enough beatings today about Cerberus. Let's just get out of here." Zalena felt isolated and resented. She was the enemy of everyone, it seemed. Was it better to be just in the dark abyss after her passing?

Captain Bailey stood up from his desk quickly when he saw the trio heading in his direction to leave. Due to security measures, the docks were located right next to C-Sec to ensure all arrivals were scanned correctly and documented. The fear of AI grew rampant ever since the Geth attacked. "Commander," He flagged her down.

"Yes?"

Bailey glanced down at the datapad in his right hand. "I wanted to bring this up earlier, but I know you were a very busy woman. I didn't want to keep the council waiting." He handed the pad to her and continued, "We have a bit of a situation here going on at the station. It seems not connected, but I'm not sure. Maintenance workers are missing and salvage."

"Salvage?" The subject matter didn't alert Shepard.

"Pieces of that flagship. Saren's. As I said, I'm not sure it is connected. The strange thing is that there are no bodies of the missing. Not the unusual."

"Bodies is usual around here?" Jacob lifted his eyebrow at the man's comment.

"Anderson did state that they are not sure if all the pieces of Sovereign were accounted for…." Zalena admitted, recalling her conversation with him shortly before. "Not sure why they would want that. You say just maintenance workers?"

"Mostly," Bailey furrowed his brow. "Two volus shopkeepers as well. The buggy part is that it's mostly anyone who is into selling ship parts. Three levels were hit in this wave."

"Black market?" Jacob glanced over at Zalena for insight.

She nodded her head. "Sounds like it. A vacuum of power?"

"I'm not sure. A lot of the vendors are skittish. Some are threatening to leave with their goods. I have increased the patrols. Just hard to find officers right now. We still do not have the capacity as we did two years ago. I just thought I would pass it along. If you come across anything…."

"I'll keep my eyes peeled, sir." Zalena was troubled by the idea that pieces of Sovereign were going missing. Was someone stealing them? Why would anyone want fragments of a dead Reaper?

"Commander, we should be going," Miranda urged.

"Miranda," Zalena scolded her firmly. "I'm in charge, remember that." She didn't want to butt heads with someone on her team, but the idea of sharing control bothered Lawson.

"I'll be in touch, sir," Shepard felt embarrassed for their separate argument and quickly waved goodbye to Bailey before setting back off to the docks.

The Normandy's exterior white and black body glistened in the station's lights as the group moved to the docking tube. A line was forming to their right for the new arrivals. A few C-Sec officers were checking everyone in. "Commander Shepard, please say the password," A woman's playful voice called out to her.

"Huh?" Zalena looked around in confusion. There was no one looking their way.

"Commander Shepard, leaving so soon? Say the password, and you get a prize." The woman spoke again—the image of a black hooded human female displayed on an advertisement post near them.

"Talk about the interaction…." Zalena chuckled in amusement.

A frown appeared on the woman's lips. "Look up."

That evening, Zalena sat on the edge of her bed with the mangled helmet that she recovered from Alchera. Her fingertips slid over the dents from the beating it took as it went through the planet's atmosphere and impacted the tundra surface at a high-rated speed. Fortunately for her, Zalena was deceased then. The cause of the death was suffocation as the oxygen line was ruptured in her suit from the Normandy's explosion. Her mind flashed to the terrifying sensation once more of floating in space with the alarm blaring in her helmet to warn of the dangerously low oxygen levels. The wreckage of her ship becoming further and distant.

A soft chime interrupted her thoughts as she turned her head to look at her cabin's doorway. "Enter."

A few seconds later, Yeomen Kelly Chambers entered with a warm, genuine smile on her rose red-colored lips. "I hope I'm not too early for our appointment." The woman's Irish heritage was very striking with her light red hair and emerald green eyes. There was a sense of concern on her face as she silently took note of Zalena's position and the damaged helmet in her hands.

"Right on time. Very punctual as always," Zalena stood up to place the sought-out item on her desk.

"Before I begin our initial psych interview, I wanted to give you something," Chambers reached underneath the datapad she was carrying to retrieve a photo frame.

Curiously, Shepard accepted the gift and looked at it. As soon as she did, she felt a light jab at her heart. In the frame was a picture of Kaidan Alenko. Most likely, a copy from his Normandy assignment roster. All crewmembers had their photographs taken before their tour duty. A look of honor and determination was in his eyes. She missed him so much. Her fingertips trembled on it. "Th-thank you…. I can't believe you were able to get this."

"It wasn't that hard. You know Cerberus has a way," Kelly gave a playful wink. "I figured you might need a pickup. I read that Omega is not a fun place to be at. It should be exciting to get our first dossiers."

"Not a pleasure trip," Shepard offered her desk chair as she sat back down on the bed. "I try to avoid the station myself."

"I see," Kelly sat down and straightened her back against the chair to sit more professionally. She swiped a few screens on the pad in her hands. "I updated your profile for your reinstatement as a Spectre. What an achievement! I bet you are thrilled to get that back."

Zalena forced out a lop-sided smile. She was trying to remain positive, but all she could think about were Councilor Sparatus' words of criticism. He was a skeptic of her claim of the Collectors and compared her trust in the Illusive Man with Saren, pointing out that she was easy to be manipulated. His words were displaying her lack of stability. Her allegiance with the known terrorist organization was a complete one-eighty, and the salarian councilor seemed to question if Zalena was who she proclaimed to be. "I'm not winning my friends over with my ties to Cerberus," She finally admitted to the redhead. "No offense."

This unmoved the yeomen. The smile on her face lingered. "Is it about the incident with Admiral Kohaku?" She brought up the familiar mission, showing her competence in Shepard's background. The pause in Shepard's response gave away that she was right. "I fully believe in Cerberus' true purpose. They want to help humanity as I want to help others. That's my passion. Everyone has a different approach to the method."

Zalena nodded her head in appreciation, deciding not to mince words on her opposition to the group's beliefs. "You sound like you have a good heart, Kelly."

"Awe, thank you, Commander," Joyous words came from Chamber's mouth as she delightfully glanced down at her pad. "Before I begin with the standard questionnaire, is there anything you wish to talk about? Like anything troubling you that we can work through?" A pause. "You can't reach out to him?" Hinting to the picture of her past love.

Again, Shepard refrained from full disclosure of her conversation with Anderson. This woman was strange to her, and she had no idea what information was being fed to the Illusive Man. "The past is the past. He moved on. I have to as well," She responded with a sad sigh. It was still painful to think about him. A part of her secretly hoped that they would run into him on Omega; however, she seriously doubted he would be at the mercenary and pirate-infested station. The place was known to be completely lawless as long as those dealing in criminal activities didn't cross Aria T' Loak, an asari that ruled the station with an iron fist. If you stayed on her good side, you could bask in all the pleasures the asteroid-built station could offer. The others feared her wrath. Her backstory was unknown; not even Cerberus had details on her. All they knew was that she was a powerful biotic.

"Alright," Kelly switched to her desired task. "I'll go over each question, and feel free to give me your honest answer. None of this is leaving this room. It's just to help with my analysis and how I can gauge our interactions to maintain strong mental health."

"Easy enough."

Human Ambassador Udina fumed in his office. It was late, and most went home. The turn of events dug underneath his skin. He was gaining private support to overthrow Councilor David Anderson and it was picking up a lot of ground. It was time to stop appeasing the aliens and focus on humanity. After all, it was their race that turned the tide against Saren. The Spectre that saved the council and the entire station was a human. With all his years of diplomatic experience, he was a shoe-in for the role of the first human council member. Instead, the already title holders turned to Commander Zalena Shepard for her endorsement. It was as if they knew that she would not pick him. They were scared of Udina. He would get the job done and not let the human race be tossed aside.

Many of his colleagues felt the same way and expressed their anger at how the seat was filled. This unrest sparked the attention of a vast backer. A few weeks before Shepard's untimely visit, an unknown male who would only identify himself as Harold came to his office unannounced. He made it known off the bat that he was an agent for Cerberus and that his name was false. He also claimed that his physical appearance was a disguise to throw off security cameras that littered the station. Harold advised Udina that Cerberus will fully stand behind him. When he was ready to "pull the trigger," to reach out to his extranet server address. The man said that Cerberus commended him on his dedication to humanity and he was well deserved for the role of councilor. To flag their attention, he would need to transmit a small amount of funds as a donation to the charity he was given, and that would prompt them.

Seeing Shepard back reopened old wounds and soured his mood. With her back in the spotlight, he would lose his footing. The bad part was that she claimed to be working together with Cerberus. How could this be? Moving to the electronic funds transfer, he typed in the desired amount of five hundred credits and selected the charity group that Harold gave him. It was a self-proclaimed non-profit organization to help colonial youths to deter them from mercenary lives. If anyone scanned his activity, they would just see it as a generous donation to a good cause. His jaw clenched as he thought back to the smug grin on Anderson's face when he dismissed Udina from the office. "Not anymore," He hissed under his breath. A few seconds later, he hit send.