I don't own Mass Effect or the AvP franchise
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Councillors' Chambers, the Presidium
"And she said exactly that?"
"According to Sha'ira, yes. And I don't think Sha'ira would lie about this."
"No, she wouldn't. She has nothing to gain from it." Valern considered for a moment. "When the Butcher of Torfan claims to be the lesser of two evils, it is wise to consider carefully. One doesn't get such a moniker by making idle threats. Still, could she be feeding Sha'ira false information?"
Tevos hesitated. "I suppose it's possible. But I doubt it. If Shepard had killed Nihlus, I would expect her to lay low, not draw our attention. For that matter, why come to the Citadel at all? Besides, how many people do you know, of any species, that can lie to Sha'ira successfully for any length of time?"
"True." Valern blinked several times. "There may be another source of information. Eden Prime was host to the only significant non-human population group inside human territory. Have any of them returned to Citadel Space since the attack?"
"No. I've made enquiries, but the humans are blocking all access. They claim that the survivors haven't been medically cleared yet. You can believe as much of that as you want. Perhaps general Corinthus can offer them medical help, once his fleet is in position. It might be interesting to see how they react."
"Perhaps." Valern blinked again. "Though if Shepard told the truth, the response may be more than Corinthus and his fleet can handle. I hope that Sparatus' pet detective is successful. We need information, fast. Most of all, we have to know what happened to Nihlus Kryik."
-0-0-0-
Medical Clinic, Upper Wards
"Look, I don't know what you want. I don't know anything-"
"Good. That's very good, Doc. You keep right on not knowing things and not talking about things. That's exactly what Fist wants.
Almost, just step a little to the side. Just a little bit and I can blow your stupid head right off. Garrus risked a brief glance around the pillar that was hiding him from sight. It was pure wishful thinking, of course. Even if he could take down the thug who had the doctor backed up against the wall, there were still two others to deal with. Garrus had little doubt that he could take all three of them, especially if he could take the first down by surprise but whether Dr Michel would survive the shoot-out, that was another matter.
"You know what happens to people who mess with Fist, don't you?"
"Actually, I don't," A new voice said from the door. "Care to enlighten me?"
The thug whirled around, taking a step away from the doctor. There was never going to be a better opportunity. Garrus stepped from behind the pillar and fired.
-0-0-0-
Never a dull moment. Shepard dove behind the counter as the bullets started flying. One thug was down already, his brain matter scattered all over the wall. Both Alenko and Williams hit the deck as well, looking for cover. Urdnot Wrex didn't bother. Protected by heavy body armour as well as the inherent resilience of the krogan physique, he just moved forward, taking at least two hits from bullets that were flying back and forth across the clinic as the two men and the turian exchanged shots. One of the thugs somehow decided it was a good idea to stand still in front of a charging krogan. He was proven wrong when Wrex slammed into him, picked him up and smashed him into the wall. He hit head-first with a crunching sound, dropped to the floor, and did not move again.
The only remaining enemy decided to make a break for it. Taking advantage of Wrex's charge he broke cover and vaulted over the counter. Shepard stared in disbelieve as the man jumped over her and ran for the door, apparently unaware she was there. Let's see if we can take him alive for questioning. She fired and the man fell as the bullet tore through his knee. Shepard stood up, gun levelled, but her opponent rolled over, aiming his own weapon as he moved. Oh, well. The second bullet went into his skull.
As quickly as the battle has started it was over, leaving two humans, a krogan, and a turian eyeing each other warily while the doctor wisely hung back waiting for the situation to resolve itself.
"Nice shot." Shepard looked at where the dead man had landed and where the brain and blood had hit the wall. "Detective Vakarian, I believe?"
"I am. You gave me the perfect opportunity, Shepard."
"Glad to be of assistance." Shepard's gaze ran over the doctor. "No injuries, Dr...?"
"Michel. Dr Michel. I'm fine. I just..." She took a moment to gather herself. "Why are you all here? I mean, I'm grateful but..."
Shepard turned back toward Vakarian, who looked back at her.
"Word came through to C-Sec that Fist was sending his people after you, Doctor. I decided to investigate. As to what Shepard and her friends are doing here..."
Shepard grinned. "Let's just say that word came through to me, that you were going this way, detective. Since you were supposed to be investigating me, rather than dealing with smalltime bullies, I wondered where the sudden interest in human medical facilities came from."
"How-? No, wait, I already know. Your embassy man, Harkin. He has contacts in C-Sec."
"No comment." Shepard shrugged. "I guess all's well that ends well. Still, why did you come here yourself, Vakarian? Why not send a squad car and dedicate yourself to following me around?"
The turian's flanges twitched. "I don't need to follow you, Shepard. I know where you are at any moment. The Citadel is our station. Do you seriously believe you can go anywhere without C-Sec knowing about it if we want to know? No, this was more interesting. Fist is panicking. He has taken every street thug that can hold a gun and moved them into Chora's Den. He's that scared of you, and of Wrex over there. And yet he can still spare three of his people to pay a visit to this clinic. That had to be important. I figured it was worthwhile to see what that was all about."
"And was it?"
"I don't know yet. I only got the last bit of the conversation. Doctor?"
Doctor Michel looked up. "It's about a patient. A quarian."
"A quarian? What would a quarian do in a human clinic?"
"I'm qualified in xeno-medicine." The doctor shrugged. "A clinic like this cannot run on human patients alone. Anyway, she came in with a shot wound to the abdomen." The doctor cast a look at Vakarian. "She didn't want it reported, or go to C-Sec herself. Her being a quarian, it made sense."
The turian nodded. "Quarians tend to avoid the authorities, yes."
Dr Michel seemed to want to say more but apparently decided not to pursue the subject. "In any case, she was extremely nervous. As soon as I fixed the wound, she wanted to leave. I managed to keep her one night for observation, but she wouldn't stay any longer. Said she needed to contact the Shadow Broker; that she had information for him. Information about that turian Spectre, Saren. That's why I told her about Fist. I didn't like it much, but everyone knows Fist is the Broker's contact in the wards. That was nearly a day ago. Then, suddenly, those three walk in here. They wanted to know if I'd talked to anyone else about the quarian or the information she had. I said no, but they kept pushing and, well, you know the rest."
"Fist may have been the Broker's contact, but not anymore," Vakarian said. "Word is out that Fist has sold out the Broker." He jerked his head to indicate Wrex. "That's why he is here. And some people figure that Shepard went into Chora's Den for the same reason."
"Fist has betrayed the Broker?" There was disbelieve in the doctor's voice. "God! That's stupid, even for him. Damnit. I sent my patient straight to him."
"And considering that Fist sent his thugs to make sure you stay silent about that quarian, I think we can be sure that whatever information she had on Saren was not good news." Vakarian nodded, then turned around. "Which is probably good news for you, isn't is Shepard?"
Shepard's brows rose slightly. "What makes you think I care about this Saren?"
The detective made a snorting sound. "Don't pretend with me, Shepard. It all comes down to Saren. He's the common thread in all of this. You're after Saren. I picked up part of your conversation after that little incident outside Chora's Den and you dropped his name. So, you're after Saren and Fist betrays the broker for Saren. Now, this quarian shows up with information about Saren that's enough for Fist to take his thugs off bodyguard duty and send them after Dr Michel. Don't ask me to believe that all of this is just a coincidence. What is going on here? And don't tell me that it's all about whatever happened between Saren and your captain Anderson. That's what I believed at first, but it makes no sense. That was a decade ago, no need to hurry. Instead, you started moving on Saren almost as soon as you arrived and you haven't stopped since. Whatever this is about, it's recent. I want answers, Shepard. The Council wants answers."
"And as a great human philosopher once said, 'we don't always get what we want.'"
The turian looked at her. "I have a recording of you shooting two turians outside Chora's Den. Even if you claim self-defence, at the very least you can be charged for not reporting the incident. Not to mention that your man Harkin disposed of the bodies. Now, this." He gestured around the clinic. "Even if you don't get charged, C-Sec has more than enough grounds to detain the lot of you for days. Meanwhile, this quarian gets away or gets killed and I bet you really want to talk to her. Sure, the four of you can kill me, but then what? You think getting rid of a C-Sec detective is as easy as dumping a couple of thugs?"
"Probably not, though it might buy me enough time to finish things." Shepard sighed. "But you have a point. We've taken this about as far as we can."
Williams wanted to speak, but Shepard held up a hand. "No. If we want to keep that quarian alive, and I really think we should, we need to hurry. That means barging frontally into Fist's hideout. No matter what happens, we cannot keep this a secret anymore. Besides, the Council has to be informed anyway." She turned back to the turian. "Yes, this is about Saren, which is why we've been trying to handle it quietly. Anything we officially say to the Council is bound to leak and we don't want to tip Saren off that we're on to him."
"On to him for what?"
Shepard took out her tablet and opened a file. A turian voice spoke up.
"Spirits, Saren. This cannot be happening. Geth here, beyond the Veil. There must be hundreds of victims already. At least. And two Spectres, two turian Spectres in the middle of it all. Even if the human government doesn't throw the blame on us, you can bet that their press will. We need to-"
"Don't worry, old friend." Another voice, weirdly distorted, answered. "Everything is under control." A shot rang out.
Shepard closed the file. "There is a bit before that, but the conversation itself isn't very interesting."
Garrus looked at her. "I know that second voice. That was Saren. It's his jaw prosthetics. They change his voice. The first-"
"Nihlus Kryik."
"Saren was on Eden Prime? He was there when Spectre Kryik was killed?"
"According to the witness, Saren killed him. That's the shot you heard. Unfortunately, we cannot prove it. What you just heard came out of the buffer of a translation implant. We were lucky to get it. The witness himself was killed later on, his body disappeared. Without him, there is no way to prove where we got it, or that it's genuine. And this isn't some random guy off the street. If we want to accuse a Spectre, we need solid proof and this isn't it."
"And you think you can find proof here, on the Citadel? What possible proof could there be here?"
"Motive, maybe." Shepard shrugged. "According to observers, he was operating with the geth. We know about Saren's attitude toward humans, but to somehow arrange a geth attack on a human colony? That's taking specieism to a whole new level; and that doesn't even begin to explain the, eh, another part of the invasion. In any case, I'm not really all that interested in finding legally binding evidence here on the Citadel. I'm not a cop or a prosecutor. What I need is to find out what's going on, what Saren's plans are, and how I can stop him. Most of all, I need to find Saren. And that will be a lot easier if he doesn't know we're looking for him."
"And if you find him?"
Shepard looked him in the eye. "Do you really have to ask?"
"No, no, I don't." Garrus shook his head. "Do you understand what you're saying, Shepard? You're planning to kill a Spectre, a turian Spectre, based on dubious evidence. And you expect me to just stand by and let it happen? You expect the Council to stand by and let it happen?"
Shepard sighed. "Pretty much, yes. Before you make a decision, Vakarian, think carefully. Right now, you're dealing with me. You can stop me, sure. Or, rather, your buddies in C-Sec can after I've killed you. But then what? Apart from the fact that C-Sec will have to seriously step up recruitment to make up for the losses they'll take, the United Systems aren't going to walk away from this. We have thousands of casualties on Eden Prime, Vakarian, and the colony is contaminated to the point that we'll have to nuke the surface in order to make it safe again. Hell, we may have to abandon the place completely. Setting aside the issues of justice or revenge, we simply cannot afford the risk that he'll try this again somewhere else. Believe it or not, this is us being subtle. It's also something that ambassador Udina insisted on. There are other people back home that might overturn that decision at any given moment." Well, not at any moment. The General Assembly doesn't act that quickly, but it can happen eventually. "Especially, if C-Sec, or the Council, start to intervene. So, what do you prefer? Me snooping around, occasionally shooting a few criminals, and eventually putting a bullet between Saren's eyes? Or a human fleet hitting the relay network while Udina stands on the Presidium Tower and demands that the Council hand over Saren or else? And keep in mind that once we reach that stage, the involvement of a turian Spectre in the attack on Eden Prime will become common knowledge in the United Systems. Care to guess what that would mean? Hell, handing over Saren might not even be enough. The General Assembly may have to declare war anyway just to keep control of the population."
Vakarian was silent for a moment.
"Why don't you go to the Council? Not in public, of course, but-"
"And then what? It's what I figured we'd do, but Udina vetoed it and he made a good point. Even if they're willing to listen, which is by no means certain, the moment any of us approach the Council it will be noted and sooner or later Saren will hear about it. We need to get as much done as possible before that happens. And even then, it's best if we keep the Council at a distance. It's one thing for Saren to know that we're on to him. If he thinks the Council is cooperating with us, he'll go to ground. No, we're not going to the Council directly."
"Hence Sha'ira." Garrus nodded. "Councillor Sparatus thought you approached the Consort for information. But that's not it, isn't it? You want to use her as a go-between. That's why she contacted Councillor Tevos."
"I assume so, though she didn't actually tell me about that. Doesn't really matter. Information seems to be making its way through. That's good to know. But that still leaves us with a few decisions to make. I was going after Fist in any case, and now it seems we have to hurry. What's it going to be Vakarian?"
-0-0-0-
Garrus glanced around. One thing was absolutely certain. If he made the wrong decision he would never leave the clinic alive. Shepard's gun was pointed down, but he had no illusions about the speed at which she could aim and fire. The other humans were spread out over the clinic, covering him from different angles. Again, their weapons were still aimed at the floor, but that could change at any moment. Urdnot Wrex was simply standing near the wall, looking like a krogan who is not only having fun but expects to be having even more fun in the near-future.
All in all, not a good situation. Dying in the line of duty was one thing; dying while achieving absolutely nothing and leaving a mess for someone else to clean up held little appeal. He was not quite sure how much of Shepard's claims he could believe, but they had an unpleasantly familiar tone. Humans could be dangerously volatile; the Relay 314 incident had shown that clearly. Even with limited data, xenopsychology experts had been able to analyze the human response to the initial incident and the following invasion and had been both astonished and horrified by the speed at which a rather confused society had been whipped up into fury. Noone knew for sure to what extent human military and political leadership had been manipulating public opinion, but the simple fact remained that after an initial period of confusions the humans had suddenly gone from bemused complacency to a violent rage that had seen them ready to hurl themselves at the rest of the galaxy. The Torfan raid had been a clear warning that they could do it again and nobody wanted that to happen on a larger scale. What was it worth to avoid that? And if Shepard's claim against Saren was true...
One Spectre kills another. That means he has gone completely rogue, not just Spectre-rogue. And he is well on his way to start a war. That cannot be a coincidence. Saren hates humans. Nothing new there, but does he hate them so much, that he is willing to start a war just to get back at them? And where do the geth fit into all of this? How did he even contact them? All good questions, none of which would be answered by dying here.
"A human criminal sent his followers to attack a human medical clinic," he said, slowly. "Obviously, that needs to be investigated, but because it is an affair between humans, it would be better if a member of the human embassy went along."
Shepard nodded in understanding. "Of course, fortunately, we've all been detached to embassy security, so there is no need to call for anyone else."
Garrus breathed a little easier. So far, so good. "But we cannot just leave this mess in the clinic unreported. Even if I was willing to let you cover it all up, if nothing happened here, then there is nothing to investigate in Chora's Den either, which means I would have no business going anywhere near Fist."
"And so?"
"And so we cannot just all leave. I killed one. I have to report that, but a full report can wait until after I've 'investigated' Fist's involvement, as long as I call it in. You all came in when the shooting started and helped me. Really nice of you and C-Sec appreciates your assistance, but someone has to make a full report. Especially because you are employed by the human embassy. There are forms that need to be filled out."
"Ah, yes, the joys of bureaucracy. I see where you're going, Vakarian. If I come with you, then Williams or Alenko, or both have to stay here."
"Both would be better. They can confirm each other's stories."
"Fair enough." Shepard thought for a moment. "If you call C-Sec, I call the embassy. An official call, no Harkin this time. That will give Udina the time to prepare a statement. But what about Mr Wrex here. He is neither C-Sec nor embassy staff and anyone who takes a look at that corps that's plastered all over the wall will know he wasn't killed by a human or a turian. And I don't think Wrex is willing to stay here when we go after Fist. Right?"
"Right." The krogan growled. "Me and Fist have some unfinished business."
Garrus considered briefly "He is a krogan. There was a fight going on, he decided to join in. Nothing strange about that. As it happens, he joined on the right side and help save the doctor's life. Everybody happy. Plus, he is a licensed bounty hunter. That gives him some official status. Again, he can sign the report later. So, are we agreed, Shepard, or are we going to add to the corpses on the floor?"
Shepard shrugged. "Never really wanted to be a cop-killer. We'll do it your way, Vakarian."
-0-0-0-
Two quick calls later, a C-Sec patrol was en-route and ambassador Udina, though mightily irritated at having to deal with another crisis was already preparing a statement regarding the deplorable level of violence on the Citadel, which required armed embassy security to defend medical clinics against violent criminals.
"Alright," Shepard looked around. "Everyone ready to go? Any last minute concerns?"
"Just one," Wrex grumbled. "We hooked up to go after Fist. When did you plan to tell me that your business was actually with Saren."
Shepard stared at him for a moment. "I wasn't. Why, does it make a difference?"
"I suppose not."
"Excellent. Now, Williams, Alenko, you know your part? Be polite, give the nice C-Sec officers all the information they need, and try not to end up in jail. I'm sure," she continued, looking at the doctor. "that Dr Michel will fully confirm everything you say."
Dr Michel nodded quickly.
"Then I guess it time we left before the patrol arrives. Let's go visit the bar."
Williams started laughing.
"What?"
Williams sniggered. "Nothing ma'am. It's just, 'A human, a krogan, and a turian walk into a bar...'"
Shepard smiled. "...and the barman asks: 'Will there be any survivors?'"
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Sorry about the long wait, but between getting slammed at work and having to travel around a lot I didn't have much time to write.
