I own neither the Mass Effect nor AvP franchise.

!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

USM Normandy,

There was only one person in the mess hall when Shepard entered.

"Chief Williams."

"Ma'am." Williams made to get up, but Shepard waved her off.

"Never mind. We're not on a parade ground. The captain tells me you'll be part of the crew until further notice."

"Yes, ma'am." She seemed somewhat defensive as she said it. "I hope that won't be a problem, ma'am."

Shepard snorted. "Do your job, and we won't have a problem. Don't do your job, and, well, I still won't have a problem. In the meantime, make sure that you write a full report of all events up until the moment where we met. Every detail, of every event. It'll be part of the documentation we're preparing for the ambassador."

Williams flinched slightly.

"Something wrong?"

"No, ma'am." She hesitated. "It's just that... Writing it all down makes it more real. The others, dogsquad. They're all gone. The entire unit's gone. It will take a while to adjust."

Shepard nodded. "That's the price for being in the military, Chief. Like it or not, not everyone we serve with gets to draw a pension. Unfortunately, that sometimes happens to a lot of people at the same time."

"Yes, ma'am, I know. If I may...?"

"Yes?"

"I heard about Torfan; about the losses you took. How did you get past that?"

Shepard's eyes narrowed. "Let me give you a word of advice, Williams. First rule of Torfan: Don't ever talk about Torfan. Nobody who was ground-side in Torfan wants to discuss it. Do we understand each other?"

Williams stiffened. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good. As for getting past it, that's something everybody's got to figure out for themselves. Some people get drunk. I'm not sure if it helps, but they sure seem to enjoy it. Me, I get angry. A shrink told me that it's displacement and that I should look deeper to find the true emotion underneath it. When I told him that I only saw more anger, he told me to look even deeper. It was probably the least productive conversation I ever had."

Williams relaxed again. "I can imagine, ma'am."

"Good. In any case, if you want to give the 'getting drunk' thing a chance, let me know. I might join you."

-o-o-o-

Always Torfan. Shepard shook her head as she walked back to her quarters. She had hoped that with time people would move on. It had probably been a foolish hope, but somehow she had convinced herself that the universe would move on. Five years later, that didn't seem very likely. Still, it was hard to blame them. After all, Torfan had been a brilliant military success. Sure it was, just ask the USM public relations office! Shepard should be in bars, converting her war stories into free drinks, just like all the Torfan veterans. Oh, wait, that doesn't actually happen. People should really take the hint.

Time to get to work. Shepard had her own report to write and it had to be written with care. Most reports just disappeared into the maws of the bureaucracy, but this one was different. It would be scrutinized by the bigshots at HQ, as well as the human ambassador on the Citadel. And that meant that all the t's had to be crossed, all the i's dotted and nothing could hint at any lack of sincerity or confidence on behalf of the writer.

Shepard sighed. The dream had been back, with varying details, but mostly the same. This time she recognized the time and place of those events and she was rapidly starting to curse herself for ever taking an interest in military history. Her own career already provided plenty of material for anxiety nightmares without a few thousand years of recorded history to add to it. Meanwhile, she was sleep-deprived, unsettled, and generally pissed-off. That was bad. In a few days, she'd have to stand in front of politicians to discuss recent events and that would require a clear mind. Well, it isn't as though you've never been there before. You got through it last time, you can do it again.

The aftermath of Torfan had not been pleasant, but at least at the time, the brass back at headquarters had had a vested interest in pretending that everything was fine. This time around that wouldn't be the case. No matter who was responsible, Eden prime had been a mess. On top of that, the one crucial element to the mission, the prothean beacon, was now lying scorched and broken in the cargo hold. Everyone would be looking for a scape-goat.

-o-o-o-

Serpent Nebula, three days later

Visitors to the Citadel were always in for a disappointment. There were many images of the massive space station, showing it against the magnificent backdrop of the Serpent Nebula, the reality was rather less spectacular. Not only would the nebula have been simply white, rather than glowing purple, even if you could see it, but it was also extremely dim, even from the farthest mass relays in the system, and completely invisible to the naked eye from anywhere near the Citadel itself.
Still, the station itself with its five arms stretching out over nearly fifty kilometres was a most impressive sight, as was the sheer volume of traffic around it, with lines of ships trailing one another from each of the surrounding mass relays all the way to the station.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Lieutenant Alenko asked as he watched Chief Williams gaping like a tourist.

"It's just... there are so many ships. Even at the Arcturus relay, we don't get that kind of traffic."

Alenko smiled briefly. "No bulk carriers, remember? They don't use tachyon shunts, so all the cargo ships are small. We'd pack the cargo of a hundred of those ships into a big box, put a tug in front and call it a day. It's slower but far more efficient."

"And it lacks flexibility," Flight Lieutenant Moreau remarked from his station at the helm. "If you've got a hundred ships, you can adapt on a moment's notice. Those big bulk carriers, once they're on the way, that's it. You've got to let them complete their run, or you're stuck with a million tons of cargo that's just floating in space. Bigger isn't always better."

"Speak for yourself, Joker."

Normandy quickly approached the Citadel, dodging in between cargo ships and passenger liners when a shadow fell over the ship.

"Speaking of bigger," Alenko said softly, as the Destiny Ascension, the flagship of the Citadel Defense fleet appeared from behind one of the station's arms.

"Speaking of bigger, indeed," Williams agreed. "Look at the size of that thing!"

"Just a bunch of show-offs," Moreau replied. "They could have built half a dozen normal dreadnoughts for the prize of that thing. That would have a been a lot more useful, but, no, the asari just had to show everybody who's got the biggest tits."

"And the biggest guns!" Williams answered. "That thing can go through a fleet carrier from bow to stern."

"If they hit it. Besides-"

"Alright, people, that's enough." Captain Anderson walked onto the bridge. "I just received a message from the ambassador. He's received our reports and wants to discuss them with me. I'm supposed to report to him at the embassy as soon as we're docked. Moreau, what's our ETA?"

The pilot sat up a little more straight. "Ten minutes, sir. All we need is final permission."

"Good. Alenko, Williams, you'll come with Commander Shepard and myself to the embassy. We'll leave Estanza and Jin on board for now. If ambassador Udina want sto talk to them, we can always call them up. meanwhile, I want the rest of the crew confined to the ship until further orders. Until I've spoken to the ambassador, noone leaves the ship and noone communicates with anybody."

For a few moments there was silence, then light started blinking on the display. Moreau flipped a switch and a new voice sounded on the bridge.

"Normandy, you are cleared to dock."

-o-o-o-

United Systems Embassy, Presidium, The Citadel

"Captain Anderson. And I see you brought half your crew."

"Just the ones I thought you would need them as witnesses."

"Witnesses to what? My complete humiliation? They don't need to be here for that, Captain. I'm sure every news organisation in Citadel Space will be broadcasting it live." Ambassador Donnel Udina, a lean-faced man with the demeanour of someone who had been fed nothing but lemons since his early childhood, leaned back in his chair. "Oh, you meant as witnesses of what happened on Eden Prime. I've read their reports. Unless those are incomplete there doesn't seem to be much point in them coming here in person. The one witness I needed, is the one you lost. Tell me, which one of you took the decision to leave him wandering around in the middle of a combat zone?"

"That would be me," Shepard spoke up.

"Ah, yes, the redoubtable Commander Shepard. Such a pleasure to finally meet you in person. In case you wonder, I'm the one who protected you from a batarian-led war crimes tribunal, the last time you made the news."

Shepard's eyebrows rose. "I didn't know that aliens held those. From what I remember from history class, the whole concept seemed rather new to them."

"Oh, but they learn fast, Commander; and whatever the councillors may have said in public, they were quite happy to point out human hypocrisy to me in private. In any case, that was then, this is now. And now means a dead Spectre, a destroyed beacon, and a planet under quarantine. Well, Commander, is there any way we can classify this other than as an unmitigated disaster?"

Shepard stared back, carefully keeping her face expressionless. "We secured the beacon, Mr Ambassador."

"You mean you secured what was left of it!"

"Unfortunately, yes, but we kept the geth from transporting it off-world."

"Yes," Udina said. "Because the location of a bucket full of scorched spare parts matters, after someone activated it and presumably downloaded its database. Do you have any idea of the damage this will do, Commander? That beacon was worth a fortune. It was worth more than a fortune. And that's what I made the Council pay to get it. They bought that beacon from us, Commander. And they paid through the nose for it."

Shepard shrugged. "And they can have it. So, it's damaged. So what? Until the attack, we didn't even know for sure that it could be activated. They took the gamble to buy it when it's second hand and 50,000 years old. I think it's safe to say that the warranty has expired."

"You think that's funny, Commander? Let me explain a basic rule of diplomacy to you. 'Buyer beware' does NOT apply! When you have a valuable product, and you use that product as leverage to gain concessions, you'd better be able to deliver. Otherwise, the repercussions can be most unpleasant."

"Then, ambassador, I strongly recommend that in future the United Systems secure such products first, and then use them as leverage and not the other way round."

"Commander, if I ever want your advice on how to conduct diplomatic negotiations, you'll be the first to know."

"Commander Shepard can hardly be blamed for this," Captain Anderson said. "Between the geth, the xenomorphs, and Saren, there was no way to get to the beacon in time."

"Oh, I can assure you that there will plenty of people that can blame Commander Shepard just fine, Captain. Or do you expect us to get any sympathy for this? That was our colony, so it was our job to protect it. Noone will even mention that we didn't keep a fleet there on Council insistence, because they won't want to mention it. Blaming humans for everything is much easier than sharing the blame. It would have been bad enough if it had been pirates or batarian raiders, but everyone is scared stiff of the geth; and scared people, no matter the species, always look for scapegoats. As for Saren, do you really think the Council will thank us for flinging accusations at their favourite pet? How well did that work out last time?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Shepard saw Captain Anderson stiffen slightly. Clearly, there was more to this than she had been told.

Udina shook his head. "At least you managed to achieve some measure of success. We have voiceprints of Saren from our past, eh, associations. We can match those against what you pulled out of that railroad worker's head."

The ambassador thought for a few moments.

"We may yet be able to turn this whole disaster to our advantage, but we have to be careful. Extremely careful." Udina smiled grimly. "First order of the day, is for me to go to the Council chamber and take my public spanking like a good boy. The loss of the beacon, the deployment of warships into the demilitarized zone, all of it. There will be the usual reprimands and threats of dire consequences. That will allow the Council to save a little face for the fact that they gave away the store and got a broken toy in return. I'll stand there and take it and then blame it all on the geth. Keep that in mind, everyone. As far as the public is concerned, it was a geth raid. That's all. The xenomorph presence cannot be hidden, but for now, it will go unexplained; because, frankly, there is no good explanation. As for Saren, his name will not even be mentioned."

"What?!" Anderon jumped up, making Shepard wince slightly. For all his unpleasant demeanour, Udina seemed to be on to something. No need to annoy him needlessly. "We finally have the proof to take that bastard down and you-"

"Which is useless, unless we also have Saren. Think, Anderson! If I publicly accuse Saren, it will be all over the Citadel in minutes and all over galactic news in hours. If Saren decides to fight the accusation, the Council will have to choose once again between believing humans or their own agent, while the whole galaxy looks on. As much fun as it would be to watch them make that choice in real-time, it would also alienate them permanently, even if they officially sided with us. And if Saren figures our evidence is too strong for him to fight, he'll go into hiding. This is a Spectre, Captain, a specialist in covert-ops with an entire galaxy to hide in. How much chance do you think we have of finding him under those circumstances? I could try to approach the Council in private, but that carries the same risk. The Presidium leaks like a bloody colander. There is the Shadow Broker, of course, and you can bet that Saren has dealings with him, but he isn't the only one. Everyone trades in information around here, and they will do anything to obtain it. The simple fact that I ask for a private audience with the councillors will already attract attention. From that moment on, we'll all be under a microscope and any attempt to find Saren will set off alarm bells all through Citadel Space."

Udina smiled again, a little more brightly this time. "No, we have to be more cautious than that. First of all, we need more information; there are far too many unconnected dots here. Second, we need a back-channel to the council, so that we can get information to them, without cc-ing it to half the galaxy. That's where you come in, Anderson."

"Me?" Captain Anderson looked surprised. "I haven't been on the Citadel since your predecessor retired. And even then, I never had any high-level contacts here."

"Oh, but you do, Captain. Someone you know went into business here a few years ago. In fact, she's done quite well for herself. And you are just the sort of person who would look up an acquaintance, just for old times' sake. Nothing suspicious about that, nothing noteworthy about that. Just wait a day, then give her a call. She can take it from there. Meanwhile, Commander Shepard is free to move and gather information. I believe this is your first time on the Citadel, Commander?"

"That is correct."

"Good, then nobody will be surprised if you start playing tourist. A perfectly normal thing to do and it will accustom people to seeing you wander around."

"And then it won't attract attention, once I start wandering around for other reasons. I understand." Shepard nodded. "Why me? I'm not a covert operative. Surely the embassy has intelligence personnel?"

"Didn't you hear what I just said, Commander?" Everyone here trades in information. Yes, I have intelligence officers on my staff. I'm also reasonably sure that at least one of them takes bribes and I'm a hundred per cent sure that they have all been identified by Citadel Security, as well as any and all other interested parties. The moment they depart from their daily routine, it will be noticed."

"I understand. What about weapons? Sooner or later, somebody might take exception to me, eh, wandering. And I doubt they'll let human marines walk around in full combat gear."

"Hardly." Undina thought for a moment. "I will request that you be temporarily attached to embassy security. That will allow you to carry handguns concealed. But no more than that. Don't even think about bringing heavy weaponry and don't use any kind of weapons unless you absolutely have to. I've worked very hard to impress these aliens that humans aren't a bunch of bloodthirsty, hyperviolent thugs. Don't prove me wrong."

Udina stood up.

"Now, it's time for me to see the Council. You will remain here. When I come back, we'll continue this discussion."

!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

A/N. A very different Udina, and a very different approach to politics than in canon. Udina in the first game always annoyed me, because he comes across as stupid. He just yells a lot and doesn't seem to think beyond the next five minutes, which is the exact opposite of what a diplomat should be doing. Yes, the humans have proof against Saren, far more than in the canon version, but why lay it all out in the open? Most diplomacy is not done in full view of the cameras. As for Udina, I don't mind him being a self-serving weasel, but I'd like for him to be a smart weasel.

As for the Serpent Nebula, I'm afraid astronomical phenomena are rather less spectacular in real life than in SciFi. The colours we see in observations are not real, but from a look-up table that is applied to the different wavelengths in which the observation was done. As for it being visible at all, this is an effect called effective surface brightness. A nebula can be visible from a distance because you get light from the entire nebula. If you are close, you can only see a tiny fraction of it, which actually makes it dimmer. From the inside, you wouldn't see anything at all.

The weapons: In canon the Citadel has ridiculously lax gun laws. Apparently, military personnel, irrespective of what military they serve in, can walk around while openly carrying military grade weapons. In this universe, humanity isn't even part of the Citadel, so there is no way that would be tolerated.

Someone asked why Anderson ripped up at Shepard in the last chapter. I admit, he was a bit over the top, but for him, it was almost a superstition, like saying 'Candyman' 9 times. 'Don't talk about controlling xenomorphs. If you do, someone will try it.'