Chapter 48
Mess Hall – SSV Normandy SR1
"So, you just… gave it all up?" asked Ash in confusion as she held her half eaten sandwich in one hand.
"Yes," was Liara's simple answer as she gently rolled the chrome, prothean object in her palm. "If I'm honest with myself, this works out better for everyone. Were I to hold onto the title of Yranessa of the estate, I would have a much harder time justifying my extended leave away from Thessia. Some would even compare what I was doing to what my mother had done previously."
"I guess that makes sense…" said the chief as she took another bite from her food.
"For some of you maybe. But if I had an entire household of asari serving me every second of every day, you'd have to pry my broken body away from it," growled Joker as he peered at Liara.
The asari gazed back at him in amusement. "Should we ever return, Joker, I'm sure Yranessa Serraia would accommodate your fantasies for however long we're there," she said playfully as she took an apple from Shepard who sat down next to her and bit into it.
"I'm holding you to that," said the pilot, making several of the people at the table chuckle all at once. Turning his gaze to Shepard, he then nodded to her. "So, G.I. Jane, what's the situation?"
Shepard snorted as she stabbed a straw into her juice pack. "We're stopping at Arcturus briefly. Hackett is taking personal control of the Cerberus agent we have and apparently has something else for me to look into."
"That's the Alliance for you. 'Hey, thanks for doing us that favor, now do us another favor!'" said the pilot as he mimicked the stern expression of the admiral.
"I don't think this is really a favor. For the first time in my life, I think I saw concern behind his eyes," remarked the spectre.
"That'll be a first. I'm pretty sure the first time the man ever got shot he tried to wash the wound off," replied Joker, causing Ash to snort her drink and start immediately coughing afterwards. "Jeez Ash, slow down."
"Your Admiral Hackett sounds like every turian officer I've ever met," said Zannia as she chewed on the end of a dextro rations tube.
"Lucky you," complained Joker as he looked off sarcastically.
"In any case, whatever he has ready for us, we need to be prepared. So, no slacking yet," said the commander as she tapped the bill of Joker's hat and got up from her seat.
"Says the lady who just spent two days in paradise with a species of exotic blue alien women," he aimed back at her jokingly. Then his eyes turned to Liara, slightly widened. "Oh… uh… no offense."
"None taken, Joker. I'm well aware how attractive my people are to the other species of the galaxy," said Liara with a small chuckle before she too rose from her seat and left the table, her apple still in her hand.
Everyone at the table watched them go before Ash glared at the pilot, "Good going, Joker." The lieutenant rolled his eyes and went back to his food.
Arcturus Station – Themis Lagrange Point
As soon as the Normandy had docked at Arcturus, Hackett, true to his word, was waiting with a transport vehicle ready. After sedating the prisoner, Shepard had her group stand guard while several of the Normandy crew members transported the sleeping man aboard the craft, ready to be taken to Niflheim. The process was quick and clean, the way she preferred it.
After securing the prisoner, Hackett stood with her in the Normandy's comm room, his stance as rigid as ever before as she sat in one of the chairs normally occupied by her squad. "You can relax, Admiral. Nobody is going to think you're not a hard ass for taking a seat while we talk," said Shepard with a slight smirk on her face.
"Admiral. I'm still getting used to you calling me that." He turned away from eyeing the comm readings in the room to Shepard, a small, almost unnoticeable smile on his own face. "Jane, I'm years beyond caring what people think of me," he said as he finally walked over and took a seat across from her. "I was just admiring everything you've got going here," he said as he gestured towards the Normandy with his hand.
"Living the dream. Space captain, going where no man has gone before. Space, the final frontier," she said with a shrug. "It is nice not to be stuck behind an Alliance desk anymore. Nothing against Armstrong Station, but even training special forces didn't have this kind of appeal."
"I can see it. You know, I actually joined the Space Corps as we called it back before the Systems Alliance was formed, because of all this," he said as he leaned back in the chair. His gazed turned away from her for a moment as if he was now staring into the past. "It's what we all wanted. Friends and comrades travelling the stars, discovering things nobody had ever seen before," he said absent-mindedly before letting out a chuckle. He then sighed heavily. "And then reality kicked our teeth in with first contact."
She eyed him curiously, wondering if he was about to request a posting aboard the Normandy. "You know, we have rooms if you ever get tired of the brass rubbing you raw," she said with a playful smile.
"Ha, right. The Alliance nearly blew a gasket just letting you go, Shepard. You think they'd let me wander off to drift among the stars?" he asked seriously before shaking his head. "Your mother gave me the same offer. But I've already been under her command before," he said with a chuckle. "No, I know my place."
"Then, if you don't mind my asking, Admiral, what is this about?" she asked as she cut to the chase.
He looked up at her and said simply, "The past." She gave him a quizzical look as he elaborated. "That first contact reality check I mentioned, the Relay 314 incident as the turians affectionately refer to it as, it caused a lot of waves. Humans did a lot of good things, banding together, fighting for one another rather than trying to divide each other up by colony, or planet of birth, and so on. But…" he said as his look grew distant again. "It also made us do a lot of reckless things as well."
She knew too well what humans were capable of when put into horrific situations. War had a way of bringing out the worst in everyone, not just humans and turians. But she was curious as to what exactly had the admiral in such a contemplative mood. "The humans and turians did a lot of bad things to one another. That's something we'll have to deal with as we continue to work with them."
He reached up and removed his hat, showing a head of steel grey hair. "Continue…" he said before shaking his head. "Unfortunately, if this situation isn't fixed, Spectre, then there might not be any continuing with the turians."
Shepard sat back wide-eyed before clenching her knees. "You might want to explain that statement in a bit more detail, Admiral."
Sighing heavily, the man leaned onto his knees and nodded. "Back when Shanxi was under siege, the Alliance had no idea what else was out there. This turian species could have just been the beginning of what was an endless war against one new conquering fascist species after another. But the Alliance didn't want any more surprises. So, we began manufacturing feeler satellite after feeler satellite whose only goal was to scan anything and everything it could. We sent them out by the thousands. Most of them into turian space."
"That seems a lot less harmful than you're implying," said Shepard as she waited for him to get to the point.
"The thing is, we couldn't risk whoever found these feelers discovering anything about us. So, we set them to self-destruct if they were ever tampered with," he said as his steel grey gaze locked with hers.
Her eyes widened at the implication. "Self-destruct how, exactly?"
"A twenty-kiloton tactical fusion warhead," he said as he watched her face warp to anger.
"If the turians discovered one of these and it went off, you wouldn't be talking to me. You and the Alliance would be bowing and scraping to the Council. So why are you coming to me?" she asked seriously as she absent-mindedly began popping her knuckles.
"Because we don't exactly know what's going on. We retrieved most of the probes by the time the war was over. We sent crews after them and they ended up recovering them, but there were a few unaccounted for," he said as he reached up and ran his fingers over his scarred face. "One of the ones we assumed was swallowed by a gas giant just sent us a 'Mission Success' signal."
"Where?" she asked as her foot began tapping rapidly.
"The Voyager Cluster, Amazon System. That's in the Traverse, and is heavily patrolled by the turians," he said as he stood up. "Spectre, I'm sure you know what happens if the Council finds out that humanity launched a wave of trigger-happy nuclear satellites…"
"Admiral, get off my ship. I've got work to do," she ordered as she turned and left him standing in the comm room.
CIC – SSV Normandy SR1
"Once again the Alliance needs you to clean up after them," complained Joker as he sat in the co-pilot seat for once with Pakti steering the ship.
"Seems to be a habit lately," growled Garrus as he stared up at Shepard from his console. "Are we really going to keep this a secret from the Council?" asked the turian, a twinge of frustration in his voice.
"My job right now is to track down that device," snapped Shepard as her glare focused on the galaxy map. Garrus snorted and just leaned forward onto his console. Turning her gaze, she looked down at the quarian. "Tali, get Val'eda. We may need their assistance." Despite the look of confusion from some of the crew, the quarian nodded and sprinted from her own console around the galaxy map towards the stairs for the crew quarters. Turning to the gunnery chief, Shepard barked out another order. "Ash, go get Wrex off his ass. I don't care what his excuse is, he's coming with us this time."
Nodding to the commander, she turned and double-timed it away from the console as well. "So, how are we going to do this, Shepard?" asked Kaidan as he looked up at her.
"Do we have a location of the device?" asked the spectre as she looked up at her tech team.
Tanaka responded immediately. "We've tracked the mission complete signal to an underground mine. A while back a mining CEO wanted to turn this planet into one giant mining operation, but the silica on the surface is almost powder. It destroyed machines as fast as they built them."
"Anything else on the surface?" she asked curiously.
"Sorry, Spectre. Amazon is hitting the surface with too much radiation to pick up any ship scans," responded Felawa from the scanners.
She stared down at the surface of the planet in holographic form for a long moment, her mind racing. Suddenly, Ash came back up the stairs. "Hey, Shepard! Wrex needs to talk to you!" she urged as she approached the CIC.
Looking down at the chief, her eyebrow cocked. "Did he say why?"
"Not… really? He just called you a pyjack and told me to get you down there after I told him what was going on," she said with a shrug.
Shepard didn't know if she wanted to chuckle or growl at the krogan, but she wasn't about to waste time arguing with him. Stepping down, she turned to the others. "Meet me down in the cargo bay. We'll form a strategy there," she ordered, then headed for the elevator herself. "This better be good…"
Cargo Bay – SSV Normandy SR1
"You can't be serious…" said Shepard with her eyes wide in horror.
"Shepard, do I come across as a joking person to you?" asked the krogan as he pointed directly in her face. Tali's eyes widened at the act, but she stayed silent. "You and I both know that that's a trap down there, and you know I'm right. So quit your blustering and let's get on with it."
Sighing, Shepard reached up and scratched her head gently. "What are you going to need?"
"Simple," said Wrex as he turned to Tali. "Her omni-tool," he said causing the quarian to cover it defensively. "And that," he said as he pointed to the opposing omni-tool which housed Val'eda. Tali then tried and failed to cover both omni-tools at once.
"Tali, I'll get you a new one if something happens to yours," said Shepard as she looked around to make sure none of the other crew were present. "Val'eda, do you consent to this?"
"Your krogan tactician is correct. Knowing what we know of the situation, this results in the most positive outcome should things go awry," responded the AI from the omni-tool.
"Tactician?" asked Wrex in surprise.
"But… Val'eda!" said Tali worriedly as she looked down at the blue-glowing device.
"Tali'Zorah, we are friends, are we not?" asked Val'eda curiously.
"Of course…" groaned the quarian.
"Then please, allow me to do this for the safety of everyone aboard this ship, including you. It's the least I can do," responded the AI.
Sighing to herself, Tali reached down and removed the omni-tool from her wrist and handed it over to Wrex, who removed his own and replaced it with hers. Then Tali reached down and undid the omni-tool housing Val'eda. As she handed it over, Wrex went to grab it, but Tali grabbed his wrist and glared at him. "Bring her back, Wrex."
"Yeah yeah, I'll do my best," he growled in irritation. But the krogan nearly did a double take as Tali continued.
"And come back yourself. Neither of you are allowed to die," she ordered, her eyes narrowed angrily.
He stared at her for a long moment before things got awkward. Finally, he just nodded. "Uh… yeah, alright." Finally, she released the omni-tool and him, allowing him to strap it to his other arm.
Shepard smirked at the small act of kindness Tali had showed and looked at the krogan with a smile. "You have your orders, Wrex. Both of you, alive and back here once the mission is complete."
"Right," he said, giving her a smirk that she felt like she hadn't seen in forever. "Now, let's get this done!" he shouted as he slammed his fist into his palm.
Abandoned Eezo Mine – Agebinium
"Damn, its no wonder they abandoned this place! This dust is gonna take forever to get out of my damn armor…" growled the krogan as he stepped out of the shuttle. Shepard stepped out with him and shook her head.
"We'll dunk you in a river when we get out of here. Right now, let's get inside and find out what's going on with that satellite," said the spectre as she chuckled at the krogan. The pair of them turned away from the shuttle and headed inside the cavernous opening. Wrex plodded through the wide entrance before slowly making his way downwards into the depths of the mountain, the omni-tool he wore now lit and shining in front of him to make sure he didn't slam unceremoniously into something.
It took a while, but finally the pair made it to the bottom. Panning the light around, the krogan examined the wide cavern thoroughly as Shepard stepped up next to him. "Well, I don't see any ambushes yet. Maybe we got lucky, and someone just dumped it here when they found it didn't have anything useful."
"Since when did the krogan become the optimist?" asked Shepard as she looked at him in amusement.
"You wouldn't let me be the downer on Noveria…" he growled as he moved forward, his shotgun ready in one hand.
"Wrex…" growled Shepard as she aimed her weapon around in sweeping motions just in case.
"Yeah yeah, I'll shut my tuna hole…" he scoffed as he began moving forward. Inside the carved-out mines were still boxes left over from whoever had carved the place. "Whoever dug this place out was stubborn. They must have gone through a dozen mining rigs before realizing that this silicate dust takes no prisoners."
"Probably human then. I don't know any species willing to try and brute force something that hard," said Shepard as she continued to move around the equipment. "I mean, aside from the krogan…"
"Eh… the krogan value what they have at least. We'll flip a tomkah over and break it in half over a thresher maw's head, but we'll drag those pieces back to put them back together again. You humans are so wasteful," growled the krogan as he kicked one of the boxes aside and aimed the light at the back end of the mine.
"You're not wrong…" said the spectre as she looked up at where the light was shining.
"I think we've found it…" he said as he lowered his weapon and began to jog towards a large, broken satellite at the back end of the closed off tunnel. Suddenly, the ground started to shake. "What the hell is happening?"
"Status report!?" shouted Shepard over the comm.
"It looks like the entrance just caved in! Some kind of explosive detonated, causing a rockfall at the tunnel entrance!" came Felawa's voice over the comm.
Wrex sighed to himself and growled. "I knew it was too good to be true…" he said as he stepped up to the device. "Alright tin can…"
"Val'eda!" snapped Tali's voice over the comm.
Practically rolling his eyes, Wrex raised the blue omni-tool. "Alright Val'eda. Your turn," he groaned as Shepard stepped up to the device as well. Suddenly, one of the displays on the satellite lit up. It projected light forward into the room, causing Wrex to turn and stare at it in surprise as it formed into a living creature. "The hell are you?"
When the holographic projector finished, it displayed a full turian standing before them. He was fully armored and had several weapons strapped across his back as his holographic form turned to face them. "Hello, Shepard. We meet at last."
"Hello. Do I know you?" asked the spectre as she turned to look at him curiously.
"My name is Elanos Haliat. I doubt you, even with all of your intelligence and information, have ever heard of me," said the turian as he began pacing in front of her. "But you, I've heard of you, Shepard."
"What else is new? So, what, are you a fan? Want an autograph?" she asked sarcastically, keeping his attention as Wrex slowly moved his hand towards the satellite itself.
"Oh, I've already got your autograph, Shepard. Right here," said the turian as he reached up and removed his helmet. Underneath was a dark carapace with no clan markings whatsoever. His fringe, or whatever was left of it, looked like it had been torn off, and there was a jagged scar across one of his eyes.
"Did I give that to you personally?" asked the spectre curiously.
"In a manner of speaking…" said the turian as he continued to pace. "Tell me… Spectre…" he began again, spitting out the title as if it soured in his mouth. "Who do you think runs the unruly rabble of the Terminus Systems?"
Shepard snorted in amusement. "Nobody runs them. Occasionally you'll get some upstart who thinks running a successful slave raid or mercenary gang makes them a big shot. But they all eventually get shown otherwise," she said as she tilted her head. "You're not trying to tell me that was you, are you?"
He glared at her heatedly as he began pacing again. "I had the chance once. You see, seven years ago, I massed enough power to take what I wanted, kill who I needed, and destroy anything that got in my way," he said as he spread his arms wide. "I set my sights big. I decided it was time to move beyond the Terminus and start taking back the Traverse from those who stole it from us…"
Shepard's amused demeanor finally dropped. "Bullshit…"
"That's right, Shepard. I rallied my strength and targeted Elysium. I planned it down to the minute details as well, taking out the colony defense towers, choosing a time when the Alliance's presence in the system was at a minimum, and selectively targeting those that were left before raiding the city," he said as if it were glorious. But any elation he may have had vanished instantly. "But every step I took forward, I was pushed two steps back. Someone had reactivated the defense towers, the defense towers saved the last Alliance frigate in the colony, and all of the sudden, my men come raining down on the planet in ashes!"
"You're telling me that you're the son of a bitch responsible for the attack on Elysium!?" she snapped at him angrily.
"I am. I… was," he growled at her. "But you and I both know how that ended. Those who didn't die on Elysium were chased back through the relay limping like wounded nathak. Afterwards, I was beaten, tortured, and left for dead by my own men. But I lived on…"
"So, what's this then? Some thinly veiled revenge plot?" asked the spectre impatiently.
"I had to hide in plain sight. It's amazing what you can do with holographic technology nowadays," he remarked as he flickered from a beaten and burned turian to a rather tall human for a brief moment before changing back. "I waited for years once I heard you were responsible for that failure. Thinking of ways to end you in the same way you ended me…" he continued, ignoring her question. "And now I've found it. The Alliance gave you a medal for what you did to me, and now they'll give you death."
"Ugh… Wrex, are you gonna be alright here?" asked Shepard as she turned towards the krogan.
The krogan looked at the spectre and nodded. "Oh, yeah. She already finished." He held up his hand with the blue omni-tool on it.
"The nuclear threat has been neutralized, Shepard," came the AI's voice.
"Alright, good. We'll be back for you," said the woman as she vanished from sight. Elanos gasped in shock as a small bead hit the ground where she was just standing.
Wrex chuckled to himself as the turian looked around at all the dust in the room, realizing that everywhere the krogan had walked were massive, crushing footprints. But the human had left none. "Amazing what you can do with holographic technology nowadays," said the krogan as he smirked and stretched himself out.
Surface of Agebinium – Agebinium
Elanos shut off the projector as he slammed his helmet on. But he almost immediately heard sounds of distress outside. Grabbing a weapon, he ran to the door of their large ship, which had been parked in the shadow of a mountain and opened it hastily.
He sprinted down the lowering ramp as he looked around and saw his men being torn to pieces. Turians, a quarian, an asari, humans, all of them swarming his camp and killing his men. "SHEEEEPAAAAAARD!" he shouted angrily.
Suddenly, he felt a blast of pain as his knee caved in. He fell forward but felt something grab his helmet and rip it backwards.
"I owe you this for Elysium, and for my friend Sevene, pirate scum!" shouted the spectre as she took the turian blade that she had gotten during that same battle where their forces fought for the first time and jammed the blade into his neck before jerking it across his throat. It sliced through the softer exterior of his neck armor and sprayed his blue blood across the ground where it began to congeal and freeze.
Releasing the limp body of the former pirate king, Shepard grabbed the weapon from his hands and began helping her team clean up the remaining pirates that had all sat outside to watch the explosion. The battle was pitifully short, with only a single pirate remaining alive, and only because he had thrown himself face first into the dirt just as the battle started.
Zannia and Garrus both reached down and ripped him from the ground before dragging him in front of Shepard. "How about this one, Spectre?" asked the praetor as she shoved him back onto his face.
The man got to his hands and knees and looked up at the spectre that was now glaring daggers down at him through a black visor. "P-Please…"
"Take him to the ship. We'll dump him at the nearest Alliance post," she said as she turned her back to return to the shuttle.
"Shepard…" started Garrus. She stopped and looked back at him. "What about the bomb?"
Sighing to herself, she turned away from the turian for a moment before looking back at the mountain. "We get Wrex and Val'eda out of the mountain, then report the findings to both the Alliance and Citadel Fleet."
Garrus nodded as he breathed out a sigh of relief. "You got it, Shepard," he said before turning and rallying the others.
Comm Room – SSV Normandy SR1
"What in the hell were you thinking, Shepard!? You were to report your findings back to the Fifth Fleet and the Fifth Fleet only! Now I've got the Council breathing down my neck, the Alliance calling for my resignation, and the turian Hierarchy calling into question humanity even having an embassy on the Citadel! Tell me what was running through that simple mind of yours when you made the decision to tell the Citadel Fleet that the Alliance had unchecked nuclear explosives floating out in the galaxy!" shouted Udina as his veined forehead showed through on the comm.
"How many, Ambassador?" asked Shepard with an icy glare.
He was taken aback for a moment. "How many what?"
"How many of these satellites are still out there unfound by the Alliance?" asked the spectre with ice cold precision.
"What does that matter-" started the ambassador, but Shepard cut him off.
"Oh, it matters…" started the spectre as she stood up and faced the ambassador. "What if a batarian extremist found it and decided to use it on one of their own colonies?"
"Uhhh…" muttered the ambassador, clearly not understanding where she was going.
"All they'd have to do is 'recover' some of the Alliance tech from it and show it to the Council. Headlines for weeks would read, "Alliance launches unprovoked nuclear attack on batarian colony." The anger slowly started to falter in Udina's face as she explained the scenario to him. "What would your explanation to the Council be then, Ambassador?"
"Are you suggesting that the batarians would be capable of blowing up one of their own cities?" asked the ambassador in disgust.
"Oh, I know they're capable of that. You forget that I've seen what they're capable of in person," she said with a look of annoyance. "What then? The embassy would be gone in days, you would be sent back to Earth as the Alliance was stripped of its rights for breaching the Citadel conventions, and who knows, I may have been removed from the Spectre's as well," she said with an indifferent shrug. "Then the Alliance would have to decide between admitting they screwed up because they were lazy or nuking an entire civilian population."
"So, what? This is punishment?" he asked angrily as he crossed his arms.
Shepard rolled her eyes and sighed in irritation. "Responsibility, Udina! I know that word may sound a bit strange to you, but that's what this is. If the Alliance is going to be a major player in the galaxy, they have to start taking responsibility," she said, spreading her arms as if it were obvious. "The Alliance fucked up when they didn't track down the rest of those satellites. At least with the Council's assistance, you'll be able to find them a lot easier and bring them in without anyone getting harmed in the process!"
Udina was breathing heavily as he looked around for something in the holographic display. He looked to her as if he was looking for an excuse, any excuse to retaliate. But he finally just gave up. "Fine, Shepard. Have it your way."
"Tell the Council that they were sent out prior to our commitment to the Citadel Conventions banning radioactive super weapons," she said, getting a look of curiosity from him. "Just tell them the truth. We were just attacked, we were at war, and were desperate to keep ourselves from being invaded." The man simply nodded and turned around. "Oh, and Ambassador?" she said just before he left. He turned and glared at her again. "Don't you ever tell me what my job is again."
With a dark look from the politician, he vanished from the comm, and Shepard let out a sigh of irritation. Turning around, she exited the comm room and found Garrus waiting outside for her. "Oh, hey Shepard. I just wanted to… uh… talk to you," he said as he kept pace with her through the halls of the ship. Everyone aboard was far more animated after the metaphorical and literal bomb that she had dropped on the Alliance.
"Anything important?" she asked curiously as she headed towards the captain's quarters to get changed.
"Oh… not really. I just… wanted to thank you," he said, causing her to stop and stare at him curiously.
"For what?" she asked incredulously.
"I know that telling the Citadel about this wasn't easy. But it was the right thing to do," he said as he reached up and grabbed his cowl as if he were too shy to say whatever else he had to say. But he said it anyway. "I just want you to know that I'll never question you again."
"Then you've misunderstood everything I've taught you," she said with a smirk.
"I know, that's not what I mean," he said with a sigh. "Look, I feel like I've already told you this, but seeing you do what's right regardless of what the consequences are is kind of… inspiring."
She chuckled briefly and shook her head. "Wait til the Alliance tries their best to wrangle me in, then see how inspiring I am if they manage to revoke my Spectrehood."
"I doubt that'll happen. I haven't talked to him yet, but I'd love to see the look on Sparatus' face when he saw your report. Not to mention the other Councilors. Seeing you put galactic safety ahead of human interest has to have scored you some loyalty points," he said as he stepped up to her.
"I certainly hope so, Garrus," she said as she reached up and pressed her fist to his convex chest. He chuckled, and did the same, only just realizing too late when his hand squished into her chest.
"Oh… oh spirits… I'm sorry, I forgot the armor! I didn't mean…" he said as he pulled away and raised his hands defensively. Shepard just busted into laughter and turned, walking away with her hilarity echoing throughout the halls.
C-Sec Headquarters – Presidium – Citadel
As soon as she stepped through the door, she got mixed reactions from everyone. She knew that her move exposing the Alliance's recklessness wasn't going to make her any friends among the humans, but at the very least they'd understand and deal with it. But surprisingly enough, the first to greet her at the door was Executor Pallin. And much to her astonishment, he was being eerily amiable towards her.
"Spectre, I was hoping to have a word with you," he remarked in a less than moody tone than was his usual.
She eyed him curiously. "You've got my attention Executor," she said as they walked together throughout the facility.
"I was hoping you would let me examine that rifle you managed to salvage from the geth during your investigation on Noveria," he remarked as he opened the door to his office.
She gave him a suspicious glare. "You know you can't arm C-Sec with plasma weapons, right?"
He chuckled dryly and waved off her concern. "Our concern isn't with arming C-Sec, Spectre."
"Our?" she asked as she stepped into his office, and immediately her question was answered as she saw Sparatus standing behind the executor's desk. Letting out a sigh, she slowly made her way to the chair and stood, facing him. "Councilor."
"Spectre Shepard," he said, returning the greeting. "I wanted to stop by and say once and for all that you've proven your point."
"My point, Councilor?" she asked as she tilted her head at the turian curiously. "Do you think I did that to prove a point?"
"No, of course not. I apologize if my words didn't portray my meaning," he said solemnly. "I'm saying that I no longer believe you are what I thought you were…" he said as he turned away to pace behind the desk as the executor took a seat. "Working with spectres for so long, especially those of your own species has a way of making you suspicious."
"How so?" she asked as she sat in the chair.
"Any spectre of any worth would tell you outright that they are loyal to the Council and Council Space above all else. But I know from working with many of them that if they had to put their loyalties on the line between the Council and the Hierarchy, many would just as quickly keep the Council in the dark on matters that may implicate the Hierarchy," he said as he turned to her again. "Knowing these spectres think this way automatically made me suspicious of you, thinking that you would put the Alliance before the Council. You've proven me wrong."
Shepard stared at him a long moment before reaching up with a hand and slapping herself full across the face. Both turians sat back in surprise at the action. "Shepard?" asked the executor in incredulity.
"Sorry, I wanted to make sure I wasn't dreaming this…" she said with a smirk as a very visible handprint appeared on her cheek.
Sparatus sighed. "Alright, Spectre, get all your animosity out now. Because I'd like to start fresh after this. No more witty jabs and planted spies. I want you to know that from this moment forward, I trust that you will not put anything before the Council itself," he said with an unamused look.
"I promise nothing about the witty jabs, Councilor," she said firmly, giving him a smirk. "As for the Council, if the Council has the galaxy's best interest in mind, I will always put them first. Believe it or not, I'm not out here doing this job just to score points with the Alliance. If I wanted to do that, I'd have stayed working for them."
"I'll keep that in mind," replied Sparatus as he nodded. "Now, about this rifle…"
"What about it?" she asked curiously as she looked between the pair.
This time, Pallin began the conversation. "As mentioned before, we don't want to arm C-Sec with them. The damage to property and people would be egregious and not worth the cost it would take to replicate them," he said as he waved away the thought with a hand.
"According to your report, the rifle is still usable, correct?" asked the Councilor. Shepard nodded up at the towering turian. "Then that means we can make defenses against it. Equipping the Citadel Fleet with armor capable of stopping, or at least minimizing geth fire could turn Saren's entire military force into a bunch of useless drones. I was hoping you'd be able to accommodate us with the rifle in question."
Shepard thought about it for a long moment before finally giving an answer. "Three conditions," she said as she held up her hand with three fingers aloft.
"We're listening," responded Pallin.
"I've become pretty cozy with that weapon, so I'll need two top quality weapons to replace it. A pistol, and a long-range rifle," she said as she marked off one of her fingers.
"That shouldn't be a problem. I'll have you compensated with the best the Hierarchy can provide," said Pallin as he brought up a screen and showed her the options. "You can add any personal customizations you wish, modification to fit human hands included, and I'll put in the request myself."
She smirked slightly and added the data to her omni-tool. "Thank you," she said before looking up and marking off a second finger. "Second, my team gets access to the material as well. All of them, free upgrades for life. If they're going to be putting their lives on the line fighting the geth, they deserve the protection."
"Understood," said Sparatus as he gave her a nod. "What's the last condition?"
She closed her hand entirely and lowered it as she looked between the pair. "You all are trusting me, correct?" she asked, getting a slightly confused nod from the two. "Then I'm trusting you two. No replication, no matter what. Every precaution is to be taken," she said as she took the schematics from her omni-tool and blew them up in front of them. "These weapons bypass kinetic barriers and melt through armor like it was cloth. If you get greedy and try to arm people with these, it will get into the hands of those who intend to use it against you."
The turians looked at one another before turning back to the spectre. "Understood, Spectre. With one clause," said the executor as he held up one of his taloned fingers. "If the weapon breaks, it'll be useless to us. Having a backup on hand in case of that eventuality will not endanger C-Sec or the Fleet and will be a failsafe in case something happens to the only one we have."
She tilted her head again before finally nodding. "Fine. But I will oversee the backup. I won't use it, I'll just keep it hidden and only the Councilors will know where in case someone in R&D gets a case of sticky fingers," she said with a smirk. But her smirk fell as they both looked at each other again, then at her. Sighing, she held up her hands. "Sticky fingers, thievery." Both nodded in acknowledgement at the phrase. "Sorry, I guess you never really outgrow slang from your own language."
"In any case, your terms are accepted," said the Councilor as he stepped around the desk and stood next to her. She stood up as well and faced him. "I'll have it moved from your armory to our top-secret facilities immediately."
"I'll send word to the armory personnel," she said as she stared up at him. One thing she was startlingly clear of now was that she had rarely seen the Councilors outside of their floating platforms or holographic comms. Perhaps it was the effects of the platforms, but she never realized that Sparatus was massive, her head barely reaching his cowl.
"It's good working with you, Shepard," he said as he put his hand forward. She reached forward and clasped his wrist, getting a knowing chuckle from him.
CODEX ENTRIES
Tomkah | Technology | Vehicle
A tomkah as a massive, six-wheeled vehicle made by the krogans. It was designed as an all-terrain vehicle and was fitted with an up armored cabin in the front to make ramming a viable option. It often comes with automatic weapons mounted on the roof for enemies the krogans deem too annoying to fight in straight combat.
Nathak | Zoology | Palaven
A nathak is a pack creature native to Palaven that thrives in the cold mountainous north of the planet. While typically they are one of the most difficult animals in the known galaxy to domesticate, they are often used as exterminators for other species in other cold habitats. Turians have used them to get rid of pests for centuries and even introduced them into the environments of other worlds to act as territorial guard dogs and pest control.