"What the hell was that?" Udina exploded once we'd reached his office, yelling in my face. "It was a mistake bringing you into that hearing."
Someone shifted behind me, and he found a new target.
"You, too, Captain. You and Saren have too much history. It made the Council question our motives."
"This isn't Captain Anderson's fault." I held up a hand. "The Council's hands were tied. Saren was right, we were just wasting everyone's time. Ambassador."
The man took a deep breath, calming himself with great effort. "As a Spectre, he's virtually untouchable. We need to find some way to expose him."
"What about Garrus, that C-Sec investigator?" Alenko pipped up.
"I have a contact in C-Sec who can help us track him down. His name is Harkin." I had to give it to Udina, he sure knew how to compose himself.
"Forget it. They suspended Harkin last month. Drinking on the job. I won't waste my time with that loser."
"I'll find the evidence you need." Anderson looked like he was going to argue. I raised an eyebrow. "The Council could use your history with Saren against any proof that comes to light."
After a moment of deliberation, he nodded. Resigned. "You're right. I'll step aside."
"I need to take care of some business. Captain, stay after they leave." He went to his desk, sorting through some papers.
"Harkin's probably getting drunk at Chora's Den."
"Got it." I slowly backed toward the door, ready to get started.
"Good luck."
"Where are we going?" The Lieutenant asked when the door had shut behind us.
Tilting my head, I looked at him. "I'm going to Barla Von."
"The finance volus?"
"Yeah."
"Why?" Williams joined the conversation.
"He's a friend."
"Are you going to go see Nihlus?"
I hardened my expression. "It would be a waste of time. You can go see him if you wish. I have things to do."
They insisted on tagging along. Short of cloaking, I wouldn't be able to get rid of them. Tenacious lot, the Alliance marines.
"What's this?" The volus raised his head, surprise coloring his tone. "What can I do for you, friend?"
"Information on Saren." I leaned over the desk, my voice low. "I can pay."
"This time, it's free."
"What's the catch?" Williams frowned, skeptical.
"Saren upset the wrong people." A slow, savage smile lifted my lips. "He fucked up."
"A freelancer was hired to deal with it. A krogan mercenary. If you hurry, you might catch him before he leaves the Academy."
"How fast can you walk with that armor on?" I threw over my shoulder.
"Uh-"
"As fast as needed."
Good to know Alenko was quicker on his feet than Williams. A giggle escaped me. Gods.
"Thanks, Barla Von."
...
"Witnesses saw you making threats in Fist's bar." A long-suffering sigh from the officer as he uncuffed the merc.. "Stay away from him."
"I don't take orders from you."
"This is your only warning-"
"Wrex!" I called out, cupping my hands around my mouth. He growled at the officer before sauntering over. "You're the freelancer?"
"Out of respect, I'll give you fair warning. I'm going to kill Fist."
"Then we have a deal."
The krogan slammed his fists against his chest, then stepped to the side.
"What just happened?" Williams sounded a little worried.
Wrex and I exchanged glances, and I laughed. The two of us started walking.
"Where are we going, ma'am?"
"Chora's Den." I'd quickly given up on the possibility of them dropping the "ma'am." For now.
Something caught my attention when we walked up the stairs. I slowed, watching as a group of men with shifty eyes stalked toward the Clinic.
"Looks like we're making a detour." I held up a hand at the krogan. "You stay here, you bloodthirsty bastard."
He didn't argue, just rolled his eyes.
"You two, head inside." I ordered, cloaking and slipping behind them.
"I didn't tell anyone. I swear!" Doctor Michel's panicked voice.
My eyes narrowed. I liked that doctor. Who had the nerve to threaten her? Was that… Garrus, crouched on our side of the partition? A sweep of the area revealed the thugs I'd spotted a moment ago.
"That was smart, Doc." One of them smiled creepily, stepping toward her. "Now, if Garrus comes around, you stay smart. Keep your mouth shut or we'll-"
He dropped to the ground, my bullet between his eyes.. His buddies didn't like that, whirling around and pushing Michel to the ground. Tsk. What a rookie mistake. They went down just as easily.
The turian's eyes scanned the room, weapon ready. Uneasy. Quickly realizing Ashley and Kaidan hadn't fired a single shot.
When I reached the doctor, I revealed myself. "Are you alright?"
"You?" She threw her arms around me. "I'm alright. Thank you."
"You could have shot her." Alenko crossed his arms.
"I wouldn't." Squeezing Michel's shoulders, I made her focus on me. "Fist?"
"He wants to shut me up, keep me from telling Garrus about the quarian." At my questioning glance, she continued. "A few days ago, a quarian came by my office. She'd been shot, but she wouldn't tell me who did it. I could tell she was scared, probably on the run." Pause. "She asked me about the Shadow Broker. She wanted to trade information in exchange for a safe place to hide. I put her in contact with Fist."
Damn. First Saren, and now Fist? I shook my head, releasing her and taking a step back. My mind racing. The pieces were starting to fit.
"He's not working for the broker anymore. He's with Saren, now."
Wrex entered the room, impatient.
"That's stupid, even for him. Saren must have made him quite the offer."
"It won't matter much when he's dead." I murmured.
"That quarian must have something Saren wants. Something worth crossing the Shadow Broker to get."
"Did the quarian say anything? Saren? Geth?" I pressed.
"She did!" Her eyes widened. "The information she was going to trade. She said it had something to do with the geth."
"Good thing we stopped by here on our way to Chora's Den."
Garrus faced me. "I'm coming with you."
"Alright." Shrugging, I led the way.
...
"You should find new jobs." I motioned for the workers to leave.
"Yeah. Yeah. You're right."
"I never liked Fist anyway."
The lot of them quickly cleared out.
"I... never would've thought of that." The ex-C-Sec officer shook his head in disbelief.
I shrugged again. "There's two types of people. Ones who deserve second chances."
I waved, opening the door to Fist's office. Stepped to the side for Wrex's bullet. It hit the wall, barely missing Fist's head. A warning shot.
"Wait! Don't kill me! I surrender!"
"Tell me where the quarian is," I pulled my pistol free, aiming. Voice like honey. "and I won't have to shoot you in the kneecaps."
"She's not here." He whimpered. "I don't know where she is. That's the truth!"
"Three. Two."
"The quarian isn't here. Said she'd only deal with the Shadow Broker himself."
"Impossible. The Shadow Broker only works through his agents." Garrus raised his gun.
"Nobody meets the Shadow Broker. Ever." The coward held up his hands, his words rushed. "Even I don't know his true identity. But she didn't know that. I told her I'd set a meeting up."
"Who?" I lowered my voice, leaning in so I was in his face.
"Saren's men."
"Where?"
He swallowed hard, eyeing something behind me. "The back alley by the markets. She's supposed to meet them right now. You can make it if you hurry."
"Wrex."
"Wha-" He fell limp at my feet, the krogan holstering his shotgun.
"Markets, back alley." Invisible once again, I quickly grabbed the disk with all of Fist's files and raced ahead of them. Slipped by the men just outside the bar.
It was a good thing the market wasn't far, because even a few seconds longer, and it could have been too late. Luckily, I got there just as the assassins did.
"Did you bring it?" The turian asked the woman in the middle of the hall.
"Where's the Shadow Broker?" The naivete had me trying not to sigh. "Where's Fist?"
"They'll be here." I snuck up behind the quarian while they talked. "Where's the evidence?"
"No way. The deal's off." I smiled at her backbone.
He put up his hands, and the two salarians on the other side of the hall pulled their weapons free. They went down silently. The turian's head whipped around, trying to figure out who had fired the shots.
Grinning, I revealed. An inch in front of him, gun now pressing against his gut. His eyes were wide, sightless, as he collapsed.
"Fist is dead." I put my pistol away, turning to face her.
"Then I guess there are two things I need to thank you for." She shook her head, surveying the area. "Who are you?"
The others arrived just then, and I motioned for them to put their weapons away.
"They're with me." I assured her. "They won't hurt you. I'm Shepard, and we're looking for evidence to prove Saren's a traitor."
"Then... I have a chance to repay you for saving my life. But not here." She shuddered, uneasy. Jumpy. "We need to go somewhere safe."
"The ambassador is probably in his office." I eyed her. "Do you want to leave as a group? Or with one person?"
She made a noise of surprise, her head tilting a little. "As a group, please."
"Alright." Falling in beside her, the two of us walked in the middle of everyone.
Udina wasn't happy when we got there.
"You're not making my life easy. Firefights in the wards? An all-out assault on Chora's Den? Do you know how many-" he stopped, blinking at my entourage. "A krogan? A quarian? What are you up to?"
I motioned to the quarian. "Making your day, Ambassador. She has information linking Saren to the geth."
"Really? Maybe you better start at the beginning, Miss...?" He knew when to use honey. Something every politician learned.
"My name is Tali. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."
My eyes widened. She was on her Pilgrimage, fresh off her origin ship. Otherwise, it would've been "vas" instead of "nar". I didn't know a lot about the quarians, but I remembered that much.
"We don't see many quarians here." The ambassador started. Yeah, probably because they're treated like shit when they're here. "Why did you leave the flotilla?"
"She's on her Pilgrimage." I stated, nodding toward her.
"Yes." Her unease shifted, and I could hear the smile behind her mask. Her confidence grew. "During my travels, I began hearing reports of geth. Since they drove my people into exile, the geth have never ventured beyond the Veil. I was curious." Understandable. "I tracked a patrol of geth to an uncharted world, where I waited for one to become separated from its unit. Then I disabled it and removed its memory core."
"I thought the geth friend their memory cores when they died. Some kind of defense mechanism." Anderson chimed in.
"My people created the geth. If you're quick, careful, and lucky, small caches of data can sometimes be saved." She pulled up her omni-tool, focusing on it. "Most of the core was wiped clean. But I salvaged something from its audio banks."
A voice filled the room. "Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."
"That's Saren's voice. This proves he was involved in the attack!" Anderson hit his fist against his palm.
"Any idea what he means by 'finding the Conduit'?" I frowned, glancing around at the others.
"The Conduit must have something to do with the beacon. Maybe it's some kind of Prothean technology... like a weapon."
"Wait... there's more." Tali blurted, getting our attentions again. "Saren wasn't working alone."
She started the recording from the beginning. Just after Saren spoke, there was another voice. Female.
"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."
I shivered. I'd come across that word, title, before. I'd been bored, so I had disappeared off to one of Thessia's libraries while Nihlus was off doing something for a mission. An urban legend, the Reapers had been what killed off the Protheans.
"I don't recognize that other voice. The one talking about Reapers." Udina said slowly, a thoughtful look on his face.
"Reapers?" Alenko shook his head. "I've never heard of them."
"According to the memory core, the Reapers were a hyper-advanced machine race that existed fifty thousand years ago." She went on to say what I already knew. "The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then they vanished. At least, that's what the geth believe."
"Sounds a little far-fetched."
The quarian deflated a little at the ambassador's words.
"It's true." I found myself saying, pieces fitting together as I spoke. "What I saw on Eden Prime-I understand it now. I saw the Protheans being wiped out by the Reapers."
"The geth revere the Reapers as gods, the pinnacle of non-organic life. And they believe Saren knows how to bring the Reapers back."
"The Council is just going to love this." Udina groaned, sounding miserable.
"No matter what they think about the rest of this, those audio files prove Saren's a traitor." I offered, watching as he collected himself.
If it came down to it, I would turn in the report I'd written on the way up from rescuing Tali. Only if we somehow needed more evidence of Saren's wrongdoings. I tried my best to stay out of politics. Besides, I wasn't a soldier, didn't owe them my view on things. It could also be thrown out simply because I was known to be on Nihlus' side. The most biased of all of us here, save for Anderson and his hate for Saren.
"You're right." He didn't even sound grudging about. "We need to present this to the Council right away."
"What about her?" Alenko cut in. "The quarian?"
"My name is Tali!" She sulked, then spoke directly to me. "Let me come with you. The Pilgrimage proves we are willing to give of ourselves for the greater good. What does it say about me if I turn my back on this?" Her hand cut through the air in defiance. "Saren is a danger to the entire galaxy. My Pilgrimage can wait."
It was just until the next Council meeting was over. That wouldn't take much longer to set up and get over with. Not with her evidence. Besides, we wouldn't have gotten this far this quickly without her help.
"We'll take all the help we can get." I smiled, putting her at ease.
"Thanks. You won't regret this."
"Meet us in the Tower." Udina was done with words, already lost in his head about how to handle the meeting.
A man hailed us, Alenko and Williams in particular, and we broke off from Udina and Anderson. "My name is Samesh Bhatia. Forgive the intrusion, but I have nowhere else to turn."
"What can we do for you?" The Lieutenant asked politely.
"My wife was a marine. She was in the 212 on Eden Prime." Williams visibly flinched. "I've requested that my wife's body be returned to me for cremation, but the military has refused my request."
I quietly snuck away, heading toward the lounge where the bigwigs hung out.
"Why did they refuse? There's got to be some reason." The conversation grew softer the farther I got, until I couldn't hear them at all.
Garrus had followed me, probably the only one who'd noticed I was leaving.
"Where are you going?"
I held up a finger, shushing him. Went over to the guy leaning against the wall just inside the bar.
"My goodness." Recognition clear on his face, he straightened. "Is there something I can do to assist you?"
"Yes. A man named Samesh Bhatia is having some trouble claiming his wife's body." My tone was conversational, but I watched his shoulders tighten in stress.
"Ah, Mr. Bhatia. A good man in an understandably frustrating position. I wish I could help him." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Serviceman Nirali Bhatia died on Eden Prime, as Mr. Bhatia no doubt told you."
"Mhm. I was just wondering why all the trouble? There something special about the corpse?"
"Her wounds here inconsistent with any type of weapon damage we've seen before. That's why her body's being held." He was more willing, the more I kept the conversation away from releasing her.
"You think her body might be dangerous or contaminated?"
"Oh. No." A shake of his head. "Nirali Bhatia is not dangerous. Her body is, in fact, extremely valuable to the Alliance. The tests we are conducting may lead to better defenses against geth attacks. Respectfully," I wasn't going to like his next words, was I? "Serviceman Bhatia may save more lives in death than she did in life."
"You should release the body." I murmured.
His eyes widened, and he visibly swallowed. Maybe even started sweating. "I'm not going to risk an incident by refusing you. T-Tell Samesh that the body is being shipped back to Earth. I'll go now to see to it myself."
He all but ran from me.
The whole exchange had lasted only a couple of minutes, the others still talking to Mr. Bhatia.
"-in the expensive bar over there."
"Your wife is coming home. I talked to Mr. Bosker, and he's going to oversee it himself."
He closed his eyes, relief warring with his grief. "Thank you. I will return home and begin my preparations." They slowly opened, revealing the sheen of unshed tears. "It does not bring me happiness, but it may bring me peace."
"When did you-"
A shrug. "Guy owed me a favor."
Garrus didn't say anything.
After that, we went directly to the Tower.
Anderson was waiting for us. "Come on. Udina's presenting the quarian's evidence to the Council."
We walked across the platform while the recording was playing.
"You wanted proof. There it is." The Ambassador was confident.
And for good reason. Proof was all the Council needed.
"This evidence is irrefutable, Ambassador. Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and all efforts will be made to bring him in to answer for his crimes."
The asari Councilor turned to the Turian, "I recognize the other voice, the one speaking with Saren. Matriarch Benezia. She would make a formidable ally for Saren." A pause. "I'm more interested in the Reapers. What do you know about them?"
Maybe if she actually read the books in the own library… I barely managed to keep the smile off my face.
"Only what was extracted from the geth's memory core. The Reapers were an ancient race of machines that wiped out the Protheans. Then they vanished." Anderson supplied. "We think the Conduit is the key bringing them back. Saren's searching for it. That's why he attacked Eden Prime."
"Do we even know what this Conduit is?" The Salarian Councilor asked skeptically.
They'd won the fight against Saren, but there was no actual proof about the Reapers.
"Saren thinks it can bring back the Reapers. That's bad enough." Williams blurted.
"Listen to what you're saying! Saren wants to bring back the machines that wiped out all life in the galaxy? Impossible." The turian's voice fell, just above a whisper. "It has to be." Louder. "Where did the Reapers go? Why did they vanish? How come we've found no trace of their existence? If they were real, we'd have found something!"
Udina opened his mouth, but I caught his eye. Shook my head. Everyone looked to me.
"Saren is rogue, we've settled that. You've stripped him of his status, cut him off from the resources of a Spectre." Several nods met my words. "He's still a threat. Send a Spectre after him."
The three Council members and the Ambassador exchanged glances. As one, the Council each typed in their consoles, inputting their decision about something I'd missed.
"Shepard-step forward."
I obeyed, more than a little confused about the way the meeting was going. People of all races gathered around, watching. Udina stepped off to the side, motioning for me to continue until I'd reached the console he usually stood at.
"It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel."
I blinked. What?
Distantly, I heard the Councilors taking turns speaking. "Spectres are not trained but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file."
"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol... The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will."
"Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold."
"You are the first human Spectre. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire race."
Robotically, I bowed my head. "I'm honored."
"We're sending you in to the Traverse after Saren. He's a fugitive from justice, so you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him."
"We will forward any relevant files to Ambassador Udina pertaining to his location."
"This meeting of the Council is adjourned." The Councilors left.
My mind was still whirling when we arrived at Udina's office again.
