Just outside the docking bay, stood a man of the Alliance military.
"Rear Admiral Mikhailovich, Fifth Fleet." The man stood at attention.
I held the urge to roll my eyes at bay, instead bowing my head to him. The two Alliance soldiers with me saluted him.
"Spectre Shepard, Normandy SR1." I responded in kind.
"You don't know who I am, do you?"
No, but I bet you're gonna tell me, aren't you?
"I command the 63rd Scout Flotilla. You and the Normandy were slated for my unit after shakedown." He wanted my ship. "Then the Council got their paws... Claws. Tentacles. Whatever. They got them on our ship." He deadass looked me in the eye. "And you."
Excuse me? I wasn't even Alliance? Was this because I'm the first human Spectre? He thought I belonged to them? To him? I'd never answered to the Alliance, and I wasn't about to start now.
A honeyed smile on my lips. "As a Spectre, I can advance humanity's interests to the Council."
He let out a disgruntled noise. "You still know what color your blood is, Shepard?" Several people behind me shifted about. "I don't begrudge the politicians' decision to throw you to the Council. It's an... opportunity. I do begrudge this overdesigned piece of tin, though."
When I didn't say anything, he threw his arm about, gesturing toward the ship.
"It's a gimmick, Shepard. Useless in a stand-up fight. This experiment diverted billions from our appropriation bills. For the same price, we could've had a heavy cruiser. But no, we had to make nice to the turians. Throw money at a co-developed boondoggle." A finger pointed at me. "I'm here to make an inspection, Shepard. Normandy is an Alliance warship. I intend to see she's up to snuff."
"We'd be honored to show her to you, Admiral."
"I'll just bet." Glares for days from this man. His façade of professionalism was slipping. "Wait here. I won't be long."
After he'd boarded, I let out a gusty breath. Turned to my companions.
"Okay. Well, I'm going to wait here. Y'all can go do whatever." I waved them off, dismissing them.
Garrus, Tali, and Liara stayed, everyone else going about their business, which was whatever. I had them stand a ways off, so they would be less likely to speak up.
An hour later, the Admiral walked back out, coming over to me.
"I'm not happy."
"I'm sorry to hear that, sir." I tilted my head, giving my best sweet smile. Waiting for him to list his reasons.
"Who designed that CIC? Putting the commander aft of everyone else is inefficient. What if he needs to discuss with the operators toward the bow?"
"It's a modified turian style, actually. They prefer commanders looking over their subordinates, rather than in the middle of them. The Alliance wanted to see how effectively they could command with that setup."
"A... reasonable goal, but they should've studied that in a lab, rather than on a frontline warship." A pause, then he launched into his next objection. "I had to shake my head at that drive core of yours. A hundred and twenty billion credits of element zero to make thing be able to move without giving itself away. You realize we could make drive cores for twelve thousand fighters with that money? What good is it to hide for a few hours, anyway?" He threw out his hand angrily. He was working himself up.
"We can loiter in enemy systems and monitor traffic or drop infiltration teams on enemy worlds. Normandy can be more effective than a salarian STG."
"Maybe, maybe. But that's not the job of a proper warship. We're supposed to find and kill the enemy fleet, not count how many times their garrison goes to the bathroom. And we need to talk about your crew, Shepard. Krogan? Asari? Quarian? Turians? What are you thinking, Shepard? You can't allow alien nationals free access to Alliance equipment!"
"Between Saren and the geth, we have enough enemies out here. Treating other species with suspicion and distrust won't win hearts and minds."
"That assumes the hearts and minds are worth winning." It was such a shame that there was always one that felt like that. "That hasn't been proven yet. Do you have anything else to say, Shepard? Any other... justifications for the state of this vessel?"
"The Normandy is a good ship. She was a joint effort to build, earning the trust of turians for humans and vice versa. It can only make the Alliance look better, for it to have been worked on with coexisting races."
"Your job is to look good. The Alliance navy's is to win wars." A glare at my ship. "I'm not convinced it wasn't a waste of tax payer money, but I am convinced you believe otherwise, and that you'll use it to its best ability. I'll be submitting a report to the joint military council. It will not be as... negative as I had planned." He saluted me, surprising me enough that I just blinked for a moment before returning the gesture. "Good hunting, Shepard. Make humanity proud."
I watched him leave, pleasantly surprised that he respected me enough to salute. Nice.
"That went well." The turian said, giving a turian frown.
I shrugged. "At the end of the day, if he wants to take Normandy from me, he'll have to pry her from my cold, dead hands. I'm the Spectre, not him. If I ask for something, I'll get it. It's as simple as that. Not that I want to alienate the entire Alliance, so it's easier to make nice, but still."
"Sometimes, I forget how good you are at keeping up a façade." Liara shook her head.
"Anyway, the real reason I'm here." I led us up to C-Sec.
There he was, talking to an officer. The volus had only said he didn't want Chorban to know, not that I should go alone.
"Jahleed." I called out, waving a hand over my head.
He glanced over, then waddled to stand in front of me.
"Chorban wants to kill me."
"I'm... sorry?" I was taken aback. Not on the list of things I thought he'd want to discuss. "He wants to kill you?"
"He's changed. He won't talk to me at work anymore, and... he started following me. Yesterday, he followed me all the way home. Just waiting for a chance. I don't care what anyone thinks; he wants me gone. I know it."
I held up both hands in a placating gesture. "How about I talk to him? See what's going on with him."
"That's all I want: someone to talk to him. Tell him to leave me alone. He thinks he can just push me around, but you'll show him, won't you?"
I mean,, I wasn't about to kill him, if that's what he was trying to infer. "Just tell me where he-"
A ping came from his omni-tool, and he froze after pulling the message up.
"Jahleed, what is it?"
"He wants to meet me down in the wards, near the markets. He said he just wants to talk." He looked up at me again. "But I know better. He's probably there, waiting to kill me."
A sigh left me. "I'll go and sort this out, okay?"
When we were out in the hallway, I explained to the others. "They're the ones I'm scanning the keepers for. Jahleed and Chorban."
For once, it seemed like the volus' paranoia was well-founded. There were three salarian, two were armed. The other was my target.
"Chorban." My tone was chiding. "What's going on here? Armed men? Really?"
"You boys can go." He twisted his fingers. "Looks like my plans have changed."
"Jahleed told us about you wanting to meet. I happened to be talking with him when he got your message." I tilted my head, giving him a "talk to me" look.
"It isn't as bad as it seems. We just... got a little.. The company we work for, you know they developed an experimental procedure for use in medical scanners."
"And you stole the plans and developed what I'm using to scan the keepers with. So... you know what I'm going to ask next, right?"
"I'm not trying to kill Jahleed. He decided to keep the data for himself. Maybe sell it. I don't know."
"So, you set up a meeting with him and had armed guards, to help you get the data back? I could have sent you a copy. You know I keep a copy of everything for myself."
"I know. I just. We both lost our heads. I'm sorry, Shepard."
"I'll talk to Jahleed and set him straight, alright? And I only need to scan one more keeper. I just haven't had the chance, but I'll head that way before going to see him."
"Thank you."
The final keeper, in C-Sec traffic control. I hadn't bothered to go there yet, mostly because there were so many people in the room and even being invisible wouldn't save me if they realized there was someone or something unseen in the space with them. But now, I was a Spectre. I could just walk in. And that's what I did. Just walked in, scanned, and left. And they couldn't do anything about it.
I think I was going to like being a Spectre. More perks than just hanging around one, that was for sure.
Jahleed was right where we'd left him, in the C-Sec lobby.
"Hello, again. Did you have any luck with Chorban?"
"Jahleed." I put on my mom face.
"I didn't mean for any of this to happen." He sounded so despondent. "I was afraid he could kill me to get the data, so I... well, I was hoping you'd take care of him."
"Jahleed!" My tone was firm. "You know I wouldn't do that, not unless he started the gunfight. I know you both too well to just shoot him. Now, you two need to stop this and go back to helping each other with the data. I didn't scan them for you to just not use the data. Together."
"You... You finished scanning them?"
"Yeah, you big dork. If you weren't trying to off Chorban, you would know that. Since he's the one who gets the data straight from me."
"You're right. I'll go talk to him right now. Thank you, Shepard."
"Anytime. And remember. If either of you feel like creating drama again, either come to me or just don't. And don't bother the nice C-Sec people."
"I'm sorry."
My omni-tool lit up, once again someone was sending me a direct message.
"Of course." I muttered under my breath, sighing.
"Is something wrong?" My asari friend asked.
"No. Not, not really. I just have to go to the Embassies and talk to someone."
"Who?" Garrus chimed in.
He probably met just about everyone on the Citadel at one point or another.
"Nassana Dantius. She's an asari who works in the Embassy area."
"I've heard of her. Haven't dealt with her directly."
"She's not a bad person, one of my many contacts on the station, but she's always needing something indelicate dealt with."
A half hour later, and I was sitting down across from her at her table in the high-end bar she'd chosen to meet at.
"What can I do for you?" I asked, sipping a water.
"My sister has been taken captive by a band of mercenaries, and I would like you to rescue her."
"I can do that."
"I'll pay you more than enough for it."
"Nassana, I already agreed. I know you're good for it." Standing, I gave her a nod. "I'll get it done."
"Here's the coordinates." She sent them to my omni-tool.
Artemis Tau again. Man, if she'd just gotten in touch with me earlier, I wouldn't have to make a second trip to that cluster.
Back with the little group I had following me around, I wandered around. Returned to various contacts so that I could fill them in on what I'd done for them prior to boarding the Normandy with Nihlus. My account was looking pretty good. After that, I just visited the shops.
I led them to one of the bars on the Presidium, buying a round for the four of us. Once we were all seated, Garrus spoke up.
"What did she want?" It sounded like he'd been wanting to ask for a while, holding it in as long as he could.
"Oh, one of her sisters was kidnapped by a group of mercs. Wants me to rescue her. So, we'll probably head there, then one of the worlds Udina suggested. Not sure which one yet." I would have to have a vision about this later. Something about the request didn't sit well with me.
"One of her sisters just happens to be kidnapped? Probably trying to demand a ransom." He mused. "Or the sister's part of the gang and wants her taken out."
I paused a moment, thinking. "Wait. That's actually probably it."
"Really?"
"Yeah. She's been one of my contacts for years, and I've never known her to care about family before. Only ever mentions them when... Oh, yeah. You're right. Her being part of a merc gang would definitely make her an embarrassment and a stain on Nassana's otherwise pristine record as a worker at the Embassy." I reread her message. "The planet she's sending me to has a level one hazard rating. I'll honestly probably deal with this alone."
"It could be dangerous, Shepard."
I gave Tali a small smile. "Danger is what I do best." A shrug. "It's easier to infiltrate and take everyone out when you're invisible."
"Can't argue with that." Garrus shook his head.
"I can have the camera in the collar of my suit on or the one in my helmet, if you want to watch it happen." I offered.
"You... have cameras in your suit and helmet?" The quarian sounded flabbergasted.
"Yeah. Different viewpoints. Plus, I like taking pictures." Another shrug. "For video, Nihlus liked to see what I could do when I worked alone. Or when I was acting as a merc in cutthroat gangs. Wanted to keep an eye on the situation. In that case, it was so he could bail me out if things went south. Which, I'll admit, sometimes, it did. Not often, though. I'm good at what I do, which includes fooling people."
"Like pretending to be friendly?"
"Are you worried I'm acting when I'm around you all?" I chuckled. "Don't worry. You'll know by my tone when I'm acting. Sugar sweet. Agreeing with whatever their saying. Things like that."
"Like Father Kyle."
"Exactly. It's easier to talk someone down, if you're their friend. Easier to make them think your idea is theirs, too."
"I would like to watch." Liara spoke up. "I've never seen you work alone before."
"It'll probably be boring, in all honesty. Might be fun to watch them run around, trying to find whatever's killing them. Fights breaking out between some of them as they accuse each other."
"Sounds like a good show to me." The turian commented.
"Alright. I'll turn it on when I get to their base." A pause. "Probably have you all stay on the mako. I don't want any distractions, any worries that they had people outside I missed, and you guys get into a firefight. Not that I'm saying I don't think you can handle yourselves. Far from it. You wouldn't be on my ground team, if I thought you were dead weight."
I leaned back in my chair, gazing out at the view.
Everyone finished their drinks, Garrus asking where we were going next.
"I want to talk to Emily, see how her story went. And then, I'll call everyone back to the Normandy, and off we go."
