MASS EFFECT CHASM: CHAPTER 23

Kaidan stood in silence on the shuttle platform. His heart was still pounding in his chest from the adrenaline rush that pumped in his veins. His body quivered inside his armor as he held his M-5 pistol in his right hand. His brown eyes panned over to where Councilor Udina's body resided, guarded by a turian C-Sec officer until the Forensics Team could arrive. The dead man's eyes were wide open from the shock of being shot in the torso. The single-round hit the heart dead-on, killing him instantly. Alenko was the one who took the shot. He was responsible for killing the man who placed him as a Spectre. His duty was to protect the Citadel Council from any imminent danger. Instead, a council member was deceased. The human representative. Bile formed in Alenko's throat and he could feel the acid sliding back down his throat into his gut.

Agonizingly, he looked over to where Zalena was talking with Captain Bailey. Just minutes ago, she and Alenko squared off against one another with guns drawn. Cerberus staged a coup on the station and once more, she was right in the middle of their attack. Horizon all over again. Udina argued that Shepard was part of Cerberus and that Alenko should disregard anything she told him. She, on the other hand, countered that Udina was behind it all. The lines between friend and foe were becoming blurry. He was the only one keeping the Council alive. What if Shepard went rogue? What if he was wrong the entire time on Mars? Then again, what if she was right? Could Udina be in on it? The man never showed any signs before of deception or treachery. Was he that hard to read? He was very pro-human and pushed the limits sometimes with his arguments, but his intentions were always on keeping humanity first. After all, he was their advocate. A strong one at that. There was no time to review all the facts.

Kaidan made the choice. He wouldn't repeat Horizon. If he allied her with Cerberus then one of them would end up dead then and there. Could his integrity override his emotions? If it came down to it, could he have pulled the trigger on her? He turned on Udina to join Shepard's side. The turn of the tables prompted Udina to take desperate measures. He moved to unlock the door, but when Tevos went to stop him, he pushed her hard on the ground and pulled out his weapon. Like clockwork, Kaidan reacted and targeted the threat. He fired the shot and nailed Udina right in the chest. Once the area was secure, Tevos walked over to thank Kaidan for his quick reaction and for saving her life. Sparatus and Valern also expressed their heartfelt gratitude and vowed to honor him with a medal in the weeks to come for his valor and bravery.

He figured that Zalena would soon follow with her congratulations and razz him on his duty so far as a Spectre. Instead, she never said a word to him. Not even an apology for guns drawn. It was all business to her. She made sure that C-Sec was now up and running and would flag any potential Cerberus operatives that still lurked on the station: wounded or not. Many fled into the keeper tunnels. Then there was the matter that required her immediate attention at Huerta; she left. Not a word to him. Garrus Vakarian shook hands with Captain Bailey while Liara T'Soni stood off to the side.

Shaking his head by how mysterious and distracted Zalena was acting, Kaidan walked over to Liara. "Hey."

"You alright, Major?" Liara could detect the look of discord in his eyes.

"Still trying to grasp on what the hell just happened…"

"You made the right decision. Councilor Udina was in on it with Cerberus. Valern flagged our attention to it." The asari frowned. "I wish my intel picked up this sooner."

"I guess some things do slip through the Broker's hands," Kaidan cracked a smile as much as he could, given the circumstances.

Liara pouted her lips at him. "Funny."

"Why did Shepard go to Huerta? What's going on?"

"Thane was wounded badly by the would-be assassin. He stopped the fatal assault against Councilor Valern." Liara sighed sadly. "I don't think he is going to make it…."

"Oh…"

"Good shot, Major," Garrus Vakarian commented as he walked up to them. His avian eyes looked over at where Udina was. "Damn Cerberus…I never saw this one coming."

"I'm beginning to wonder how far this was planned with him. I mean…" Kaidan struggled with the concept that he was only given the title of a Spectre to make sure Udina killed the Council. Then where would that lead him? Into a Cerberus ambush? His fate would have been sealed if it went that far.

Liara figured out where he was going with this. "Making you a Spectre just for this?"

Vakarian shook his head. "The Council has to approve his recommendation. They saw something in you, Major. Give yourself credit."

"How bad is it down there?" Alenko nodded his head towards behind them to where Bailey and the officers were heading down to allow Forensics to do their job.

"Lots of good people dead," Garrus muttered. "Some I worked with on the force…" He clenched his mandible tightly. "It's not like facing Reapers is enough, Cerberus just had to crash the party."

"I don't get it," Alenko was stumped. "Why the Citadel? Why now? What was the Illusive Man thinking?"

"Too bad we don't have any Cerberus contacts or some agent of the Shadow Broker to infiltrate and find out for us…." The turian teased the asari standing beside him.

"Okay, that's two for the day," Liara laughed. "I'll make sure Glyph gets on this. It is quite alarming."

Garrus glanced back over at Udina as the Forensics Team arrived to start their daunting task. "Udina joining Cerberus? That I never saw."

"The Illusive Man was using Reaper tech on some of their soldiers on Mars…you think Udina was indoctrinated?" Liara watched on.

"Hard to tell," Kaidan cursed under his breath. "I hate this war. It's becoming so gray. How do we know who is with us and who is not?"

"The Reapers like it that way," Liara gently reminded him. "After speaking with Javik, it sounds like this is their MO."

"And look how they went through the Batarian Hegemony. Those poor bastards didn't have a chance," Vakarian added.

"I better go get with Glyph," Liara broke from the group to head over to the elevator.

"Yeah, I need to check in with the turian refugees. Tactus has been running a tight ship since he arrived," Garrus commented as he followed her, but then paused when he noticed Kaidan remaining still at his position. "You coming, Alenko?"

"Give me a moment. I'll be down." Alenko could hear his gruff response. His fingers curled into fists by his sides. All he could think about was how once again Cerberus divided them. He never thought he would draw a gun on his former CO, not her, not his former lover. Is this the kind of war that they were fighting now? Would it happen again? What about Thane Krios? The drell who captured her love during the fight of the Collectors. He didn't wish any harm against him…. certainly not death. Though, the look of fright on Zalena's face as she rushed off to Huerta wounded him deeply. She cared. More than friends. The words to choose Kaidan were of her choice, but did her heart mean it?

Zalena saved face as she exited Thane's private room to the hallway. Her heart was shattered into many fragments. She could barely stifle the emotions that rivaled deep within her soul. Thane succumbed to his injuries and accepted his death. A prayer was said by him and Kolyat finished it. A prayer not for him, but for her. Even with his dying breath, he wanted to make sure that his beloved goddesses wrapped her in protection in the days to come. Thane was still devoted to her despite the end of their short-lived relationship. She dared not to look through the glass where his body was in the bed. She couldn't bear it much longer. All she could think of in her mind were his dying words and his fiercest struggle to breathe. At least he knew that he saved the salarian councilor from the assassin.

"Commander Shepard," Kolyat spoke out to her as he departed the room shortly after. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"My father…. he wasn't the same after my mom's death. I blamed him….and even more, when he left." He stopped to take a breath to keep his composure. "I noticed a change in him when you and I first met a few months ago. The circumstances were not the best sadly. He spoke so highly of you during our talks here."

A few tears escaped from Shepard's eyes and she sniffed. "Thank you, Kolyat…. your father's main wish to me was to make sure he found you before he died. He loved you. He never stopped."

The young drell cried some himself from her words. Zalena moved in and hugged him. It was then, that the drell released the bottled-up emotions and he cried against her shoulder. "It's okay, Kolyat…. your father is no longer suffering…he will go out to the sea." She softly whispered to him as she stood there to give him time to cope. Though, she knew it would take more than a few minutes of tears to get over the passing of a loved one. Especially a father. "I will honor his memory and take the bastard down that did this to him."

After a few moments of silence, Kolyat finally withdrew and wiped his eyes. "Thank you, Commander." He then reached into the back pocket of his C-Sec unfirm to retrieve a datapad. "Here, I wanted to get this to you, but given the present situation, it had to wait." He allowed her a few seconds to glance over the information displayed before continuing, "The maintenance worker and the C-Sec officer do share one commonality."

"Dr. Bryson's lab?" Shepard cocked an eyebrow when she noted that the worker was stationed there for sanitary cleanup and the officer was found on surveillance footage of being there. An interview was conducted with Dr. Bryson who stated that the woman told him she was there to increase security due to incidents on the station. "That can't be a coincidence."

"I agree. I followed up with him. He said that he needed to speak with you in private, Commander."

"At least now I have a lead." Zalena handed him the datapad back. "Thanks, Kolyat. Your father is very proud of you. Never forget that."

"Thank you, Commander Shepard. I need to begin his burial preparations…I have several hanar contacts that would be glad to assist me."

"Take care."

A quick stop by the embassies made Kaidan sour. It was not like his day could get any worse. He was flagged there to receive a private urgent message from Admiral Hackett. The admiral called in through secure channels and to Captain Bailey. News of the attack traveled fast. Hackett sent his gratitude and reassured him that he only did his duty. Nothing was expected less. The call ended with a new assignment: To join up with Fifth Fleet and help out some of the Special Forces with their ground attacks. The group was spread thin with constant reports of an influx of Reapers and Cerberus throughout the Traverse. His skills as a soldier and now a Spectre would be a huge asset to High-Command. The title of Spectre still didn't hold a special meaning like it once did to him after finding out about Udina. It was all a trick and he was pretty sure he was mixed in with it. Did he deserve such a high and prestigious rank? Commander Shepard sure did without hesitation. Did he hold up to her standards? This doubt made him not answer right away. He thanked Admiral Hackett for the recommendation and said he would get back to him in 0800 hours. He needed to tie up some loose ends. The full disclosure was not provided. He had to find Shepard.

Exiting down the steps from Bailey's office, he heard a commotion coming near the right side of the main floor. A group of onlookers circled someone, but Kaidan couldn't see. "Spectre. Coming through," Alenko announced loudly over the murmurs and chatter as he pushed and squeezed his way through the crowd.

"This one is not worthy!" A hanar exclaimed in pure delight. "An enkindler!"

When Alenko made his way to the front of the crowd, he came face to face with Javik. The four-eyed ancient alien noticed him right away. "Human." Reaching out, the Prothean grabbed Alenko and closed his eyes. The sudden reaction stunned Alenko and at first, he didn't move, but then shoved to get away.

"Hey! What are you- "

"I know you. You are looking for the Commander. You are in the wrong place."

"The enkindler touched you!" The hanar gasped as its pink tentacles wiggled in excitement.

Kaidan slanted his eyes at the compliment. "Not by choice." He turned his eyes back to the neutral-faced Prothean. "How did you- "

"You primitives lack comprehension," Javik snickered. He snorted with resentment to his surroundings. "I'm surrounded by primitives in this place."

"Cool it," Kaidan was growing irked by this guy's snobbish attitude. "I know I'm in the wrong place. She's at Huerta."

"Then why are you here, human, when you are looking for her?"

"I had to stop here first!"

"Your pheromones indicate that you are lusting after her," Javik plainly stated. "It is sickening."

This made Alenko grow hot from embarrassment and he could feel the heat flush upon his cheeks. He opened his mouth to snap back, but his mouth felt arid. This guy wasn't going to let up! Aggravated, he waved the Prothean away and stormed towards the elevator doors. He could almost hear Javik snickering maliciously in the background. What was up with him? He knew that Shepard acquired the Prothean on her team, but was he like that all the time? How could someone be purposefully so blunt and callous?