Mass Effect: Book II - The Spectre Chronicles

by Shepard's Lore

Book II of my overall Mass Effect novelization. Having been pulled from her duty station on Luna, Commander Jane Shepard is drafted aboard the SSV Normandy SR1 for a mission that was supposed to be an easy covert pick up on the surface of Eden Prime. But what she finds on the surface will not only change her life, but the lives of everyone in the galaxy.

57. Lockdown

Chapter 57

Comm Room – SSV Normandy SR1

The room was so quiet that the only thing heard for a long period of time was the hum of the Normandy's engine. Shepard sat, staring at the floor with her elbows on her knees, refusing to look up at the lieutenant's empty chair. She did look up to see that Tali's chair was also empty. Minutes ago, the spectre had taken her to the med bay and asked Chakwas to give her something for anxiety. She wasn't sure if quarians could have panic attacks beyond their normal cultural shock, but she wasn't about to have her melting down in the middle of the crew. Chakwas simply nodded and gave Tali a sterile sedative that allowed her to sleep silently.

Now she sat in the comm room with the rest of her squad. All of them hanging their head in silence in honor of the fallen lieutenant. She didn't know for sure if the silence was for Kaidan, or for her. Ever since she had boarded the Normandy again, the crew had been silent. Even the ever-witty Joker had little to say as he flew the ship through space and away from the outer world of Virmire.

She put her hands together and clenched them tight until her knuckles were white. Then she released them and sat up, staring at the rest of the crew. "Where are Captain Kirrahe and Spectre Casso?" she asked in a very forward manner.

Before anyone had the chance to answer, the door slid open and both of the salarians in question stepped inside. They took up their stances near the door. Casso was the first to speak. "Our apologies and condolences, Jane. We had to attend to some of our wounded."

She nodded in acknowledgement. "Are they in the med bay?"

Captain Kirrahe spoke up. "They are. Your physician is very knowledgeable about salarians. She was able to stabilize them with little trouble."

"Good," said the spectre as she once again looked over at Tali's seat. "How many of yours made it?"

Casso spoke up again in response to her question. "Lieutenant Daros made it out with only some small burns. He is currently cooling in the medical wing. All but one of team Aeghor pulled through. Unfortunately, Jaetor…" he finished, letting the rest go unsaid.

Shepard nodded and inhaled deeply before releasing it. "Well, we did destroy Saren's cloning facility."

Kirrahe blinked rapidly. "Daros said that you found something within the lab?"

She nodded and stood up in her chair. "We found a prothean beacon, fully intact."

She didn't really know what a surprised expression on a salarian looked like, but she was sure they were sharing it. Casso took a step towards her. "You found a beacon. Did you activate it?"

She nodded, her brows furrowing. "We know where Saren is going. We're not sure if that's where this key he keeps talking about is, but that beacon showed us that the origin of the message from the beacon on Eden Prime came from Ilos."

"Ilos? The fabled lost world of the protheans?" asked Kirrahe curiously.

"That's it," replied Jane as she stared at them both. Looking over at Liara, she smiled slightly as she saw the asari working tirelessly on a mobile terminal and at least two data pads all at the same time. "I've got a specialist working on its exact location right now. We should have it before we reach Citadel Space."

Kirrahe blinked and stood straight. "I believe the Council will be pleased with this news. If not for Saren's presence, then at least for the potential for more prothean knowledge," he said as he loosened his stance again. "Spectre, it has been a long day for us all. If you don't mind, I'd like to retire to whatever quarters are available."

She nodded to him. "You're dismissed, Captain." He bowed his head gratefully and turned to leave. "There are heated pools installed into the bathing facilities should you need them." Spectre Casso smirked slightly at this, and Kirrahe just seemed surprised.

"That… would be incredible. Thank you, Spectre," he said politely as he finally left the comm room.

Shepard turned to the rest of them. "As for you all, we're headed back to the Citadel to refuel and restock. But be ready to go at a moment's notice when we get there. Once we've pinpointed the location of Ilos, we're going to fly so far up Saren's ass that he'll be the Normandy's new hood ornament. Until then, you're dismissed," she said as she nodded her head towards the door. "In the meantime, I have to report to the Council. So, if you wouldn't mind…"

They all took the hint. Even Liara who was nose deep in prothean lore and historical data stacked her datapads and then set the terminal on top of it as she left the room still typing furiously. Once they had all gone, she looked at spectre Casso. He smiled at her. "You've come a long way, Jane."

"I couldn't have done it without my team. And I couldn't have done it without you," she said, returning is smile. It felt like it had been forever since she actually smiled. "Alright, let's get this over with," she said as she turned to the comm unit. He stepped up next to her, and within five minutes, the large, holographic forms of the Council appeared before them.

Tevos was the first to speak, her pleasant smile already on her face. "Spectre Shepard, Spectre Casso. It's good to hear from you again," she said politely, getting a salute from the salarian and a head bow from Shepard. Tevos looked to them both curiously. "We were concerned something had happened to you, Spectre," she said, speaking directly to Casso.

"Unfortunately, something did happen to me, Councilor," he said, leaving it at that.

"Speaking of…" started Valern. "We haven't received a report on your expedition to Virmire."

This time, Jane spoke up. "Councilor, that's entirely intentional. The things we both found on Virmire I wouldn't trust to be spoken of or transferred on the most secure channel in the galaxy."

"Oh…" said Valern, taken aback. "You must have found something serious…"

Casso spoke to Valern directly. "Councilor, as humans enjoy saying, you have no idea," he said getting a smirk from Shepard. "But you will. We are heading to the Citadel now with the information we recovered at full speed."

"That's good to hear," said Tevos with a gentle smile.

Sparatus finally spoke from the left side. "Classified information aside, what of Saren and his compound?"

She shook her head and sighed. "I had him in my hands ready to secure him and he jumped off the landing zone, escaping because of his hover craft."

"Damn…" growled the large turian. But he let out a sigh and continued. "And the facility?"

"Saren no longer has a facility on Virmire. That's all I will say for the time being," she said apologetically. Despite not getting a lot of information, Sparatus looked pleased. "That aside, we managed to… evacuate some of the STG team as well as Spectre Casso. They are all aboard the Normandy now."

Tevos, ever alert to that which was unsaid, asked curiously, "Spectre, you appear to be in distress. Is something the matter?"

She let out an exasperated sigh and reached up, pinching the bridge of her nose to keep the stinging in her eyes from coming back. "Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Isaac Alenko was killed in action on Virmire."

All three Councilors looked shocked at the news. She wasn't sure if she should be flattered that they were surprised that someone died on her watch, or if they were digesting exactly how dangerous Virmire had been. Either way, she wasn't sure. Tevos the compassionate spoke up for all three of them. "We mourn your loss, Spectre. We offer our condolences."

"If you can, offer them to his family. I don't really deserve them…" she said, slightly irritated.

Sparatus spoke up again. "He died for a noble cause in service to the Citadel. We will see that he's awarded appropriately."

"Thank you," she said, her words hollow. No award was worth losing him. And she knew that no award would satisfy the hole he left in their lives. Still, he deserved at least this much. "Is there anything else I can do for you at the moment, Councilors?"

Valern stepped forward slightly, as if trying to talk to Shepard directly in the comm room. "Just one thing before you go. Ambassador Udina has been in an even more foul mood than usual lately, likely a result of your report from Agebinium. I would expect him to be uncooperative if you plan on speaking to him."

She snorted in irritation. As if she didn't have enough shit to deal with without having to cater to a pouting politician like Udina. "Thank you for the warning, Councilor. If I'm lucky, I can avoid him entirely."

Tevos nodded politely. "We await your arrival on the Citadel, Specters. We will classify your visit as a priority so that we can speak to you as soon as possible."

"Alright Councilor. We'll see you all when we get there," said Jane tiredly. The holographs disappeared and she simply stared at the blank wall where they used to be.

"I too will be in the warm pools if you need me, Jane," she simply nodded, continuing to stare at the wall as she still tried to process his death.

The death of the charming staff lieutenant who always had a smile for anyone, who always cheered the squad on whether he was on the ground team or not. He had his history; he had his baggage. But it was his to carry, and he carried it. He had dealt with it, making him one of the most solid members she had on the team. He had everything together, she never had to talk to him about a bad interaction or teach him some life lesson. He was the rock of the Normandy, the foundation upon which others stood to be calm and cool in situations of panic. Impossible to replace. And now he was… gone.

She shook her head, not realizing that tears had started to flow again while she had been staring into space. Reaching up, she started to scrub her eyes when she heard the door behind her open. "What do you need?"

"Jane…" came the familiar melodic voice of the asari doctor.

Shepard rid her face of the tears and turned around. "What is it? Did you find Ilos?" Liara said nothing more. She simply stepped up to the spectre and wrapped her arms around her, squeezing her into a tight hug. "Liara?" asked Shepard, slightly confused.

"Please, Jane. Release some of the pressure. Share with me," she almost begged.

Jane stared at her a long moment. Release some of the pressure? Was Liara asking her to share her burden? What would that even mean? She was the commander. It was her responsibility to stay level-headed and lead the others, to set an example. What would her crew think if they found out she couldn't handle it? She shook her head, knowing they already knew she couldn't handle it. Tali herself blamed the spectre to her face. And she was right. She let her best officer die.

"Jane…" Liara said softly, reaching up to run her fingers gently over her temple. "Let me in. Let me help. Allow me to do this for you."

Jane searched the doctor's deep blue eyes, the pools reflecting the light. There was nothing but sincerity, openness, and understanding in them. She had never had someone open themselves to her fully before, and she was scared for anyone to see behind her defenses. But Liara knew, she had melded and saw the terror she'd had to endure, as well as the suffering.

"Please," Liara whispered.

And Jane didn't know why, or how, but that one word, coupled with her intensity and desire to help, allowed the already-cracked iron walls inside her to burst open, the flood of emotion escaping her as she broke down into sobs, burying her face into Liara's shoulder. For the first time in a long time, she allowed herself to let out everything she had tried to keep from the others, as Liara gently stroked her hair.

Council Chambers – Citadel Tower – Presidium – Citadel

Her eyes were finally clear. As the spectre stepped off the elevator and into the Council chambers, she no longer felt restricted, like a grenade with a padlock around it. She now walked faster, a new fire blazing in her eyes as she stepped up the stairs with spectre Casso following quickly behind her.

As the two of them walked forward, the people in line waiting for Council appointments immediately stepped out of the way. Even a pair of krogan looked and saw the deadly look on her face, then moved out of the way and let her pass. It wasn't long before she was at the front of the line. The Council saw the pair and immediately stood up. Sparatus tapped at his console again, and the same static barrier from before appeared, scrambling any data trying to pass through it.

Tevos nodded to Shepard. "We're glad to see you back," she said, no smile on her face this time.

Sparatus spoke next. "You said you wished to bring the information to us directly?"

She nodded, then opened her omni-tool. They opened their datapads for receiving, and she passed them the data. They stayed silent for a long moment as they read the report. But two minutes in, Valern, ever the fast reader, gasped in horror. "A krogan cloning facility!?" he snapped at the news.

The other two councilors looked at him in surprise, and then began fast forwarding through the report on their datapads. Sparatus was the next to speak. "Spirits, he's further gone than I thought!" growled the turian as he continued into the report. "Excessive cloning causes insanity… STG drive core… a prothean…" he started to say but stopped as he realized what it was. Looking up at her, his mandibles twitched in surprise. "A prothean beacon!?"

"Yes," she said simply as she crossed her arms in her leather jacket.

He went back to the report, stunned into silence. But then Tevos chimed in. "Spectre, it says here that Sovereign is not Saren's ship… but you say it's a reaper?" she asked as she looked at Jane incredulously.

"That's correct Councilor. And if you need live proof, I have bodycam footage from my own team and the STG team as well as a witness from the STG team, one Lieutenant Daros, who saw the conversation I had with this supposed ship," she said, not allowing any ground for refuting.

She saw Valern nearly trip over himself. She didn't know if a salarian's eyes could get wider than they already were, but if they could, Valern's would have. "By the will of Surakesh!" he shouted, nearly stumbling backwards off of his floating platform. "Spectre, is this accurate? The mass relays and Citadel are not of prothean origin?"

She nodded, and Casso stepped forward. "As Spectre Shepard said previously, there is video footage of Sovereign, who is fully sentient by all evidence, saying this exact statement."

The three Councilors looked at one another, and for the first time, Shepard saw looks of confusion on their faces. They didn't know what to do. If she weren't a walking inferno at the moment, she would have been surprised. They were genuinely lost. And she couldn't really blame them given the information they just had to process.

Finally, Sparatus spoke up once more as he continued through the report. "Spectre, it says here that you activated the beacon on Virmire, and it implanted a warning message from the protheans in your mind?"

"Yes, Councilor," she said as she turned to him. "The one on Eden Prime was damaged when I found it. The information it gave me was broken and in pieces, not to mention I didn't have the cipher to translate it anyway. The beacon on Virmire was fully intact and relayed the full message that the Eden Prime beacon would have."

"Hmmm…" he grunted as his eyes locked onto the next part. "And this vision you saw told you to go to this planet named Ilos?"

"Not verbatim. It showed me where the key Saren was looking for is located," she said, wondering why they were asking her questions that were clearly answered by the report itself.

"Ilos? The prothean world?" asked Tevos as she located the paragraph as well. "Do we even know where Ilos is?"

"Doctor T'Soni used her work on the protheans as well as clues from the beacon's vision to pinpoint its location beyond the relay. It's in a cluster she dubbed the "Pangaea Expanse."

Sparatus stared at her, his report now set aside. "Spectres, do you truly believe Saren getting to Ilos is a threat to the Citadel?"

She nodded firmly. "I've seen the visions, Councilor. I know what will happen if he gets the key he's looking for."

Tevos nodded as well. "I too have seen what horrific scenes the beacon gave you. I believe you to be sincere."

Valern smiled lightly as he looked at her with his voluminous eyes. "Spectres, you are hereby given the authority by the Citadel Council to seek out and destroy this threat."

Smiling lightly, she closed her eyes. "Thank you for understanding. We will leave immediately for Ilos and see if we can't beat him to the punch. Given Doctor T'Soni's familiarity with prothean history, it's unlikely that Saren will be able to locate it as quickly."

Tevos smiled down at her. "Good luck, Spectre. The Citadel is counting on you."

Shepard turned as soon as the scrambling field dropped, intending to leave. But she stopped as her comm activated. "Shepard! Are you there?" came the urgent voice of Joker.

"I was just in with the Council, Joker. What do you need?" she asked, curious as to why he sounded so anxious.

Joker continued at a rapid clip. "Shepard, they locked down the Normandy! We can't move from the docking bay!"

Shepard's eyes widened. "Who locked it down?"

"It looked like Alliance. They're standing outside the ship right now ordering us to open up," growled the lieutenant. "Try and take my ship, will you? I'll fly this ship up my own ass before I hand it over to them."

Killing the comm, she turned back to the curious Council. "Do any of you know anything about the Normandy being locked down?" she asked urgently.

Sparatus shook his head, his mandibles twitching in surprise. "The Hierarchy has ordered no such thing. They would have alerted me first."

Shepard stared at him for a long moment before her eyes widened. "Udina…" she growled as she clenched her fist. Turning, she left them with spectre Casso in tow.

"What do you plan to do, Jane?" he asked curiously as he followed her.

"Ring his neck and hold him over a balcony until he reverses the order," she said, causing the salarian to chuckle. But his chuckle wasn't from humor, as he fully expected her to do as she said.

Human Embassy – Presidium – Citadel

The door flew open as she marched in, finding the man she was looking for. Udina was sitting at his desk, his face a placid mask of indifference as he looked up at her. Anderson was behind him a ways, holding a datapad, but he looked up at her as well.

"Donnel Udina, what the hell do you think you're doing locking the Normandy down!?" she asked as she slammed her hands onto his desk.

He snorted, trying not to let show that her aggressiveness made him nervous. "The Normandy is partially Alliance property, and Alliance High Command has seen fit to ground it for the next few weeks," he said as he slid a datapad across to her. She grabbed it and scanned it quickly, noting that almost all of the top Alliance officials had signed the grounding order. But she did notice that both Anderson's and Hackett's names were missing from the document. "If you want to continue your work, you'll have to find another ship and another crew."

She looked up at him sharply. "Crew? You're calling in the crew?" she asked incredulously.

He looked at her as if she were stupid. "Of course. They are part of the Normandy, and therefore will be returned. As well as Gunnery Chief Williams. She has a new assignment on Horizon," he said, his face still placid, but she could hear the smug satisfaction in his voice.

She stared at him for a long moment before quickly marching around the desk and lifting him out of his chair by the collar of his white suit. He went wide eyed, and his arms flew up in a defensive manner as she glared at him. "You slimy, petty little weasel! Do you have any idea what you've done!? Saren is steps away from getting this key to unlock god knows what and you're trying to keep me grounded here over some stupid political grudge!?"

Anderson immediately walked over to her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. "Jane, please calm down." Hearing Anderson's voice, she growled, then threw the bureaucrat into his chair, causing him to slide across the floor in it. Thankful that she had released him, Anderson turned to Udina with a glowering stare. "What the hell is this about, Ambassador?"

Udina stood up with a sour look on his face and readjusted his top. "Over the last few days, the top brass of Alliance High Command has requested that the Normandy be recalled and repurposed for the Fifth Fleet."

Shepard glared at him spitefully. "What you mean to say, a bunch of crybabies in the Alliance High Command got mad because I made them take responsibility for being lazy!"

Anderson looked from Shepard back to Udina. "Is this true?"

Udina recovered his placid expression and crossed his arms. "The nuclear satellite incident has nothing to do with the Alliance's decision to recall the Normandy."

Shepard wanted to march forward and punch a hole directly through Udina's head, but she knew that that would get her nowhere. Instead, she turned and marched out of the office with Anderson following behind her, giving Udina one last disapproving glare.

When she was some distance away, standing in front of the elcor and volus embassy, she leaned up against the wall, her mind racing. If Saren got to Ilos and got that key, thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of Sovereign's were waiting. She understood that the key was the way to unlock the way for the reapers. However, she didn't know how or where it worked. Reaching up, she gripped her hair in anger as she tried to figure out how the hell she was going to get to Ilos before he did.

Anderson approached her again, his expression one of stress and annoyance. "I'm sorry, Jane. Had I known, I would have done everything to stop it."

"I know, Captain. You and Hackett were the only ones not to sign it. But they had a majority," she said as she turned and punched the wall behind her. First was geth, then came krogans being cloned, and then indoctrination, and of course Saren himself. He flew off to escape the blast, but she didn't know if she had gotten through to him at all. He might be too far gone.

Suddenly, a memory shot into her head as she thought about indoctrination. It was a news story about an unhinged salarian man charging into the Citadel with a weapon and attempting to access the Citadel controls. She turned to Anderson; her eyes stern as she looked at him. "Captain," she started, getting his attention. "Do you remember a news story about some salarian charging into the Citadel Tower talking about the reapers?"

He nodded firmly. "I was in the tower when it happened," said the man as he shook his head. "Poor thing had lost his mind."

She took a step closer to him. "Where did they take him? What did they do with him?" she asked desperately.

Anderson reached up and stroked his chin thoughtfully for a few moments before answering. "Hmmm… if I recall correctly, they first imprisoned him, but then his legal counsel got him off on a plea of insanity. They put him in one of those recovery homes."

She reached up and gripped his shoulders firmly. "I need you to tell me exactly where he was taken."

Elkoss Combine Armory – Presidium – Citadel

Tali knew exactly where she was headed. They had removed her from the Normandy, but she didn't care. Neither did Ashley, Garrus, or Wrex, as they appeared during her walk and joined her as she marched straight for the biggest armor store on the Presidium.

"Ash, didn't you get recalled?" asked Garrus curiously as he slowed his pace to match theirs.

"Alliance High Command must be doing red sand if they think for a second that I'd abandon Shepard in such a critical situation. They can court martial me all they like when we get back with Saren's head, but I'm not going anywhere," she growled as she practically stomped inside the auto-door of the large store. Ash turned to Tali. "What are you thinking about getting?"

The quarian looked up at the gunnery chief. She was curious whether the woman was trying to be friendly and cheer her up or was purely just interested in her armor choices. "I'm going to look around. When Shepard gets the Normandy back, I'm going to be prepared for war," she said as she turned and headed off for the upgrades section of the store.

As she turned the corner, she saw Ash heading towards the full armor sets while Wrex simply trundled towards the weapon section. Tali broke her gaze away from them and headed to the wall of upgrades in front of her. As she did, a turian woman spotted her and approached. "Good evening! Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Can you point me to the equipment that will allow me to absolutely destroy someone's life?" asked the quarian, uncaring whether the turian took her seriously or not.

A bit taken back, the turian leaned in and whispered slightly. "Is it an ex?"

Tali shook her head. "He's the man who killed the love of my life."

The turian woman's mandibles twitched slightly, processing her statement. Finally, the woman nodded. "Follow me."

Ash watched Tali walk off before shaking her head. "Poor girl…"

Garrus' mandibles twitched as he spoke. "His death hit us all pretty hard. But she definitely got it the worst." By this time, Wrex had walked off towards the weapon section, ignoring any talk they may have been having. Ash turned to Garrus and nodded towards the full suit section of the armory. "You getting an entirely new set?"

"Damn right I am," responded the gunnery chief as she eyed the potential sets of armor before her. "My other armor was burned to hell and the repair bill would cost a stupid amount of credits. So, I might as well just buy a new set."

Garrus eyed her curiously. "Is the Alliance paying for it?"

She shook her head. "No. Whenever I get back, if I somehow still have a rank, then they can front me a new set. Until then, I'm under Shepard's command," she said, stopping as she crossed a suit of fully mechanized armor. The outer shell looked to be made of better stuff than the Alliance gave out, the kind of stuff that could block nearly any weapon in the galaxy.

"Mechanized?" asked Garrus as he tapped his crossed arm with his talon.

"Yeah, why not?" asked the gunnery chief as she shrugged. "It makes me a bit slower, but God help anyone who gets in my way," she said as she ran her fingers over the surface.

"Perhaps I can help you… with your choice?" came the voice of a volus who clearly worked in the store.

Ash turned to the volus and nodded to the armor. "What can you tell me about this?"

Spreading his arms wide as if welcoming her home, he trundled towards the armor and patted its kneecap. "This armor is named… Titan, after the Earthen mythological figures. And it lives up to… its name as well. It is made of lightweight ceramic-metallic… hybrid that deflects shots from common mass accelerator weapons."

Ash nodded to him curiously. "And it's mechanized?"

"Fully," said the volus as he stared up at her with those curious, yellow eyes. "The suit can withstand the pressure… of most non-gas giant planets. And it can even withstand… three thousand pounds of force and… can lift up to two metric tonnes."

Garrus nodded appreciatively. "Impressive. You could do a lot of damage with that."

She nodded and turned to the volus again. "How's it do against plasma?"

"We… are experimenting with the creation… of plasma proof armor. It is difficult as we have to… wait for research data from the Citadel R&D," he said as he looked down, as if he were ashamed that he could not provide what she needed.

Scratching her chin, she looked down at the short character. "You can do a custom paint job, right?"

"Of course. Within reason," he responded happily.

Staring at the armor a few moments longer, she nodded. "Alright, I'll take it."

"Very good. The actual armor itself… is in storage and will… take about twenty minutes to… retrieve. Feel free to browse… our other wares," said the volus as he waved them off.

Ash nodded to Garrus with a smile on her face. "Great, now let's get you geared up."

"Me?" asked the turian, startled at the order. "Why do I need to get geared up? I'm fine with what I've got."

"Garrus…" said Ash as she pulled him down by his cowl so that his head was next to hers. "There's an entire world out there for you to discover. If you keep sticking to your same routine, you'll die from monotony."

"Hmmm…" purred Garrus as she released him. "Perhaps I could look into a few electronic upgrades…"

"That's the spirit!" shouted Ash as she slapped him on the back.

Gardenside Mental Health Facility – Backjret Ward – Citadel

Shepard stepped into the building and looked around curiously. The entrance was rather plain, a long counter with datapads strewn out on it and a woman looking down at her omni-tool. The walls were yellow and there were several floral arrangements on the wall behind the counter. But other than that, there was nothing special-looking about the facility. She began questioning whether she was in the right place or not.

Stepping up to the counter, she said, "Excuse me." The woman on her omni-tool ignored her entirely as she scrolled through her social media. "Do you work here?"

The woman looked up at her and rolled her eyes. "Look, you don't look or sound mentally unstable, so your best option is to go see a doctor. You have to be assigned here by a judge." Shepard's brows furrowed as the woman went back to her omni-tool, then took a picture of herself holding up the American peace sign. Opening her own omni-tool, she seized control of the woman's. "What the hell?" asked the woman, frantically trying to restart her omni-tool.

"I now have access to your social media accounts as well as your omni-tool," said the spectre as she held up her own. The woman went wide-eyed, looking like she was about to attack her. "If you want them back, then get off your ass and help me."

Through gritted teeth, the nurse aide conceded. "Fine, what the hell do you want!?"

"Glad you've decided to cooperate," said Shepard with a mischievous grin. "You have a salarian in here by the name of Solas Hennin Tor Han, do you not?"

The woman turned to her terminal and opened the patient file. "Ah, right. Mister Han, the doomsday kook," said the worker, getting a glare from Shepard.

The spectre leaned over the counter, her glare making the woman take a step back. "Look, sugar. If you want a job where you don't have to work, then get the fuck out of this field. Because that 'kook,'" she said with air quotes. "Is a living breathing person who needs help." Shepard stood to her full height again, her glare never leaving. "If you want to sit on your ass, do it in an office job."

The woman simply nodded. "O-Okay…" said the aide, suddenly shrinking back into the chair as if Shepard had an overwhelming aura that cornered her.

"Now, I want you to bring Mister Han to a room where I can speak with him," ordered the spectre.

Gardenside Visitation Room – Gardenside Mental Health Facility - Backjret Ward – Citadel

Shepard stepped inside the well-lit room with another attendant standing beside a pale green salarian who simply looked down at the table. Closing the door behind her, she walked over and sat down before looking up at the aide. "I can handle him. I'm going to need you to leave."

The aide went wide-eyed, exposing the tiredness in them. "But… I can't…"

"Yes, you can," said Shepard as she flashed her ID to the woman.

"Spectre!?" she asked incredulously. Shepard nodded, then nodded to the door. The woman finally took the hint and left the room.

Shepard sighed as she turned her gaze to the salarian. Opening her omni-tool, she activated a scrambling field around them to keep any nosy listeners from hearing their conversation. Finally, she looked at the salarian, who seemed not to even know she was here. "Mister Han?" He still didn't move. Shepard frowned lightly. "Mister Han, do you know what the reapers are?"

The salarian suddenly became animated and looked at her. "D-Did you just say reapers?"

She nodded to him as she left her palm open on the table, showing him that she wasn't here to harm him. "I did."

"Y-You know? Do you know?" he asked in surprise. He began to hyperventilate, but she reached forward and grabbed his hand, opened the palm, and then laid hers on top of his. "There you go, calm down."

He slowly began to calm as the heat of her hand soothing him, a technique she had learned prior to coming to the facility. "Sorry… it's just… they wouldn't leave me alone!"

"The reapers won't leave you alone?" she asked curiously. He nodded frantically. "I want you to tell me what happened to you, from the beginning."

He glared at her. "Again with this? I've told Citadel Security over a dozen times what happened! But here I am in daycare while they're out there glaring at us from outside the galaxy!" he shouted as he stood up.

Despite his aggressive action, she stayed calm and began to gently draw circles on his palm, her finger likely feeling like a warm stone massage that they had back on Earth. His breathing began to slow once more. "Mr. Han," she said, getting his attention. "I'm a Spectre, and I need your help."

His already wide eyes grew even wider. "A Spectre?" he asked, getting a nod from her. "I… I… what can I do to help?"

"I need you to tell me what happened to you. How did you learn about the reapers?" she asked gently as she placed her palm back on his.

He nodded, looking down at the table. "I… I was a merchant. I travelled around the galaxy selling scrap that I got from the Terminus systems. They had a lot of junk out there due to the constant fighting," he started, getting a nod from her. "I sold my wares in many places, met other merchants, made friends. But one day, batarian trader came to me, said he would sell me jewelry for low price."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Jewelry?"

"Yes, jewelry. Cursed jewelry!" he snapped in anger, but quickly seemed to calm again. "I bought jewelry, put it on my selection of wares to sell. Then…" he groaned as he reached up and held his head. "Began hearing whispers. Wouldn't go away! Thought I was losing my mind. But I began to grow fond of talisman traded from batarian. I kept it for myself instead of selling. A good piece; sells high to right bidder. Whispers began to get louder. I spoke to doctors, counselors, took medication, did not stop voices!"

He squinted his eyes shut as she watched him carefully. "Were the voices telling you to do something?"

He opened his eyes again and nodded. "Voices led me to outer system in Terminus. Met ship, big ship. Too big. Thought I was going to die."

Her eyes widened at his claim. "Mister Han, did the ship look like this?" she asked as she projected a holograph of Sovereign.

He flinched, refusing to look at it. "Please make it go away…" She did as he requested and he opened his eyes again, his hand squeezing hers tightly. "Spoke with ship. Ship made whispers into screams. It was painful. It said it would make screams stop if I obeyed…" Shepard listened closely, her eyes widening as he got closer and closer to the point. "I did what was told… went to Citadel Tower, hijacked controls, gave ship control of Citadel! But not good enough! Ship furious, unable to bypass lock within system! Wanted return of his kind… reapers to bring extinction!"

Shepard scooted back in her seat as she heard his tale. "A lock? On the Citadel control?" she asked, her heart pounding as she heard him.

"Yes. I failed. I was arrested, taken to prison. They took talisman, screams and whispers gone. Slept like tadlet. But still know, it exists. Still know they exist. They wait for now, but they will break free," he said miserably as he looked down at the table.

"Mister Han, you gave me exactly what I was looking for," she said as she stood up.

He looked up at her in confusion. "I… I did?"

She nodded and smiled, reaching forward, she gently rubbed the palm of his hand once more. The salarian's response to warmth was to let out a pleasant sigh. Mister Han closed his large eyes and smiled. "Yes, you did. With the information you gave me, I'll stop the reapers, for good."

"How? Too powerful! Too many! How will you stop reapers?" he asked incredulously.

She smirked at him and tapped the side of her head. "Because I know what they want. If I can get my hands on it, they won't be able to return until we're ready for them."

"Ready?" he asked, his attention waiting on her every breath.

She nodded firmly. "Mister Han, the reapers always destroy because they have the element of surprise. But with your help, now we have the element of surprise. And with that, they won't stand a chance," she finished.

He stared at her for a long moment before he finally blinked rapidly. "You are spectre. Your words are incredible, but your voice rings with fire. I… I believe you," he said as he began breathing heavily again, almost panting. Shepard knew that salarians couldn't cry like humans did. As a result, they dealt with anxiety differently. But despite his breathing, he never lost his smile. "Hope. After all this time, I finally feel hope again."

Shepard waved the aide back in as Shepard stood up and deactivated the scrambler field. "Mister Han, are you alright?" The salarian man who had been destitute when she first arrived now jumped up and hugged the orderly, getting a gasp from her as he let go and fled the room happily. She looked at the door, then at Shepard who had a large grin on her face.

Citadel Tower – Presidium – Citadel

With little time to waste, Shepard marched up the stairs of the large defensible room with Liara in tow behind her. As she arrived at the top, she was met by the visage of the councilors instead of their real selves. As she approached, Valern noticed her. "Spectre Shepard?"

The other councilors looked over and saw her as well. The woman, an asari, that had been before the council when she reached the top stared at her in bewilderment. Finally, she stopped in front of the holographs and looked at all three of them. "Councilors, I know that you may have been worn down by the discoveries and events of today, but I need your undivided attention. In private," she said to them, all three of them looking from one to the other.

"Can this not wait, Spectre?" asked Sparatus, but Shepard just gave him a scrutinizing look and he shook his head. "Right, our previous topic. Understood."

Valern spoke as well. "I will meet you in the tower shortly. Will you need the Council Chambers cleared?"

"Yes. Our eyes only," she said firmly.

Sparatus groaned and got to his feet, his hologram vanishing as he did. Valern killed his hologram before even moving, and Tevos just smirked at Shepard. "Getting Sparatus out of the comfort of his home is no small feat."

Shepard nodded. "Councilor, I'd love to continue to chat, but this really is important," said the fiery-haired spectre. A bit surprised by Shepard's words, Tevos too killed her connection. Shepard sighed and turned back to the asari woman that was standing there in shock of what had just happened. "Apologies everyone, but I'm going to need you to clear out until after the Council and I are finished in here. You are not in any danger, but please move yourselves towards the exit."

Though she said they weren't in danger, the very mention of danger seemed to spark the movement she was seeking. All of the people lined up to speak to the council were now exiting, and likely overstuffing the elevators as they all tried to remove themselves from the Citadel Tower. "What about us?" asked a human C-Sec officer as he approached her. They were stationed all over the Citadel Tower to keep the peace.

"Stay here and wait for the Council. But when they arrive, don't go above that level," she ordered, pointing down the stairs to a courtyard in the middle of the tower. The man simply nodded and walked over to an asari officer and whispered to her. The woman gave Shepard a glare, but very little could hurt or threaten her right now, especially a territorial C-Sec officer.

It took twenty minutes before all three of them made it inside. Sparatus had a disgruntled look on his face, but she was still thankful he was here. She waved them up towards the controls with Liara already standing nearby. Sparatus eyed the young asari curiously. "Why is she here?"

Jane nodded at the valid question. "She is my prothean expert. Her assistance will be needed in just a moment."

Once they were all surrounding the citadel controls that the council normally used themselves to control everything from the weather in the wards, to the Citadel's defense systems, to the day cycles. "What is this about, Shepard?" asked Valern curiously.

She looked at all three of them. "Months ago, a salarian man barged in here and tried to take control of the Citadel, correct?" she asked them, getting a nod from Tevos and Sparatus, and just getting a blink of acknowledgement from Valern. "I believe I know where the lock to Saren's key is." The councilors looked stunned for a moment as Shepard opened her omni-tool and interfaced with the controls. Despite being new to the system, she easily found her way to an unused file deep in the bowels of the Citadels' programming.

Shepard turned to Liara and stepped aside, allowing her to take over. Within seconds, screens of light appeared seemingly out of thin air, surrounding the five of them. "Out of curiosity Councilors, you use this instrument to adjust the atmospheric settings of the Citadel, adjust its level of gravity, and control its defenses, correct?" asked the young asari.

Valern, who had probably used the interface more than the others due to his scientific curiosity stepped forward. "Indeed. This interface is the very control center of the Citadel. That incident that Shepard mentioned could have been disastrous and alerted us to how lax our security around the tower was. If he had the mind and ability to, that salarian man could have turned off the gravity on the entire station and sent millions of people rocketing into the Serpent Nebula."

Nodding, Liara opened up another program on the screens of light. "Do you recognize this, Councilor?" she asked curiously as she turned to him. He stepped up and examined the light interface curiously.

"It appears to be incomprehensible," he said as he looked to her. "What is it?"

She smiled brightly at him. "That's because the creators of the Citadel didn't want you accessing this program. It allows for the movement of the entire station."

Valern nearly stumbled backwards at the claim. "Move the station!? Impossible! Inconceivable! How?"

"Apologies Councilor, but those answers will have to wait until later," Shepard said as she nodded to the asari again.

Acknowledging the silent order, Liara continued. "Many programs in this control interface are intentionally meant to be inaccessible to organics. They left only the basics that made it possible for organics to inhabit the station and blocked everything else behind a wall to keep organics from getting too curious." Finally, she opened something that let out a familiar irritating noise.

Sparatus growled in annoyance. "What is that exactly?"

Liara turned and smiled at him. "I give you the only thing on this interface that was genuinely created by the protheans," she said as she opened it on the light screens. To the Councilors, it was also just gibberish. But they saw the clear difference. "All of the other programs on this control terminal were specifically designed in a vastly different way from all other prothean technology. This, however, I can say without a doubt, is prothean."

Shepard stepped forward and stood next to the doctor. "Councilors, I give you, Saren's lock."

"How do you know it's prothean?" asked Sparatus, his grumpy mood showing again. Both Shepard and Liara gave him an amused look.

"Councilor, I've been studying the protheans for over half a century. And now, with the prothean cipher in my head, I can assure you that what I'm saying is true."

He grumbled as he stared at the lock. "So, this is the lock he's seeking the key for? What does it do?"

Shepard shook her head. "I don't know Councilor. The program itself is obviously inaccessible, thus Saren needing to find a key. So, we can't figure out what's behind it until we find this key ourselves. However, this is Saren and a giant sentient warship. Whatever they have planned here cannot be good."

Tevos tilted her head curiously at Shepard. "What would you have us do exactly?"

Reaching up, she scratched her head of red hair as she thought. "First and foremost, there needs to be at least twice the number of guards in the tower. It needs to be locked down after hours. And I would advise preparing the Fleet for an attack."

All three of the councilors looked at her in surprise. "You actually think Saren's going to attack the Citadel?" asked Valern, his eyes blinking rapidly.

She sighed and shook her head. "Councilor, I don't know for sure. But what I do know is Saren has a reaper war ship, an army of geth and krogan, and he's indoctrinated. He is officially the most dangerous person in the galaxy right now. And if he finds this key he's looking for, then this…" she said, pointing to the control center terminal. "Is going to be his target," she remarked, her look of seriousness quelling their surprise.

CODEX ENTRIES

Surakesh | Mythology | Salarian
Pre-modern era, salarians believed in reincarnation. They believed that once somebody died, their soul was taken from the body and pulled towards the great wheel. Surakesh, the salarian goddess, sits in front of this wheel, gently measuring the greatness of souls and sending them to be reborn elsewhere in the galaxy. Despite the strength of the mythology leading pre-space flight salarians to name their home world after her, not many in the modern age believe in the idea of a goddess.

Tadlet | Culture | Salarian
Newborn salarian children are born very small with no limbs at all outside of a small tail used to flutter and swim around in the warm pool they are born in. They stay in this state for around six weeks before finally growing their limbs and climbing out of the water to grow to their full size. This first stage of childhood for salarians has been colloquially called the "Tadlet Stage."