"Ambassador Udina," Alaya was standing in the office of the Systems Alliance Embassy, the polished white walls and rigid white furniture reminded her of a hospital, even the square planters had the same sterile white to it. At the far end of the room was three holographic projectors and currently the three Citadel councillors were standing there with an unflinching pose that gave nothing away and added to the clinical feel of the room. The only other people were Captain Anderson standing beside her and Ambassador Udina who was standing in front of the projection.

The voice that spoke was that of the asari, Tevos and while she had a very neutral and diplomatic tone to it. The asari seemed almost hesitant, although she couldn't figure while a councillor would be hesitant.

"A human attempted to murder a Council Spectre on a supposedly secure human colony that seems to be under invasion from outside the galaxy if this intel is accurate." Despite the tone, Alaya wasn't completely thick and in spite of her still slight headache, even she picked up the heavy accusation.

"We don't actually know if the enemy came from outside the galaxy," Captain Anderson spoke up the moment he heard the insinuation. The captain's comment caught Alaya off guard and from the sudden movement of the asari's head, she wasn't the only one.

"Your report calls them Taiidan and Vaygr, which are from beyond the galaxy, correct?" The next to speak up had been Sparatus, the turian ambassador and his tone had far more edge to it. He did not continue as Tevos gave him a look before her gaze turned back to Udina.

"Ambassador, in the future I will ask that only you address the council, this breach of protocol will be noted."

"Apologies," Udina said as he bowed his head respectfully.

"Of course, we can't explain how the Taiidan and Vaygr assets attacked Eden Prime and we are currently working to get to the bottom of it." The ambassador continued, trying to save a little face which seemed more and more impossible as the meeting continued.

"There is also the issue of the destruction of a major Prothean find, something we must address," the final silent voice was Valern, the salarian councillor who cut to the chase.

"From your report, a human attempted to murder Spectre Saren, your old enemies attacked the colony and this Shepard triggered some sort of proximity defense on the beacon—then there's the issue of the geth."

"These reports are alarming, ambassador," Sparatus said as he took over from this point and gripped the podium for added effect.

"The Hierarchy has expressed concerns in the past that the Alliance is wholly ill-equipped to defend their sector of space. We deferred to the others in the belief that you would be able to patrol your territory effectively and then this happens. To call Eden Prime a failure, would be true in every regard. I apologize for not being more resolute that the turian fleet should secure the peace until such a time that humanity was ready for this."

"With respect, Councillors," Udina spoke up, seeing where this was going.

"Ambassador," Tevos held up her hand to show that she did not want to hear this.

"It is abundantly clear that we have circumvented too many safeguards in our hopes of bringing humanity into the galactic community and help you stand on your own was a grave miscalculation. Until such a time that we can be assured that an incident like this will not happen again, we are withdrawing our petition to have an officer of the Alliance join the office of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. We will advise the Turain Hierarchy that Alliance borders are not secure, and they should take actions to prevent this incursion into Alliance space from spilling into Council space. The status of all current trade negotiations with the Alliance are going to be under review. That is all, Ambassador."

Alaya felt sick to her stomach. It had been a neutron bomb, with not only her first decisive mission failure, but it was not just her wearing the failure but the entire Alliance. Everything they had worked so hard for seemed to have fallen apart in a moment's notice.

"Commander Shepard, or should I say Lieutenant," Udina said as he had stormed up to Alaya with fury in his dark eyes.

"Do you have any idea how badly you fucked us?!"

Alaya felt her feet locked in position as her mind went over what had happened on the mission and how the council had characterised it. There were so many unknowns and the situation deteriorated very rapidly but no matter what she thought to say, it felt like she would only be shifting the blame. This lead her to begin to second-guess herself and her throat felt tight as those accusing eyes of the ambassador seemed to be drilling deep down into all of her insecurities.

Before she could speak, Captain Anderson cleared his throat and was standing there with his arms folded over his chest and with a furrowed brow, it conveyed the attitude of annoyance, but he seemed to be looking at the ambassador.

"Ambassador Udina, last I checked, you are not a flag officer. Rear Admiral Mikhailovich has final command authority, and I am still her commanding officer. ROE was not violated; mission parameters were not exceeded, and she did not violate Alliance Officer's Command Regulations. Unless you have further information you would like to share?"

"Captain, someone has to be made an example of-you don't want to stand in her place."

"Ambassador, we are leaving and will be billeted in the Alliance command housing. Any further communique will be through me directly or you can relay it through the proper channels. Are we understood?"

The ambassador seemed to square off with the captain for a few tense moments before the man relented and entered a command into his omni-tool.

"Very well, captain. You may leave," and with that, Captain Anderson left with his protégé.

"When missions go to hell, politicians go into ass covering mode," David said after the doors closed and looked over at Alaya. The young officer did not look back at the captain but was looking ahead, wondering if she would be demoted or if she would even remain in the Alliance at all.

"Alaya, if this mission had been a failure, Eden Prime would have been nuked and the Imperials would now have a Prothean beacon. You salvaged a shitty situation. Politicians are always playing their game and the worst thing you can do is let them get inside your head. The mission was a wash, but it could have been much worse."

"But we're not in the clear, are we, sir?" Alaya looked over at her commanding officer.

"No, Commander, we are not. We put our neck out for you because there are those of us who believe you have promise. Thing is, you need to stop thinking like a soldier and start thinking like an operative."

"Sir?"

"Get yourself cleaned up and head down to a place called Flux. We might have a way out of this."

The EDM of the club was soon bringing back the headache, but she followed Captain Anderson's advice and changed into her little black dress she had in her footlocker and her brown hair draped casually down her shoulders. Getting used to the soft blue light, she could see several asari and humans on the dance floor along with a few others as well as groups of people huddled at their tables. In the corner she noticed the turian with the dark carapace and white face paint. That's who she was meeting.

Walking up towards him, Alaya took a seat across from him where the turian was drinking some amber liquid, his armor was replaced with a casual burgundy suit.

"Commander Shepard."

"Nihlus," Alaya said as she looked at him expectantly.

"You know, I was going to leave this lesson for when we had the beacon aboard the Normandy, but we can talk about it now. If you had to hazard a guess, how many people here think you are military?"

Alaya gave him a quizzical look but the turian just chuckled and then spoke up loudly.

"Then I said to her, if you were looking for a long-term commitment, maybe you should be looking at an asari," he said and got a few looks and smiles as well as a couple women shaking their heads.

"Nihlus what are you talking about?"

"Alaya, you came in here as a soldier on a mission. You stopped right at the door with your back straight and scanned the room. Everyone who comes to Flux will either make it to the dance floor or up to the quasar machines. This job entails not just being good at carrying out your duties, but also at blending in. You blend in about as well as a nathak in a room of elcor. We're going to have to work on that."

Alaya was taken aback at what Nihlus was implying, she thought that she was done but the way that Nihlus was speaking.

"Wait, I thought…"

"Thought what, Alaya? You're a beautiful woman and I just invited you here for a drink. The Council isn't concerned on how I spend my personal time so long as my assignments are completed. I know from my time on the Normandy that Alenko is too by the book to ever make any sort of move and that Sobani? Ashley? True warriors have little passion for anything other than the battlefield."

Alaya was not quite sure at the game that Nihlus was playing and couldn't tell if he was hitting on her or if he was helping her in the guise of hitting on her.

"You pretty much got the situation figured, Nihlus."

"Well," Nihlus said as he got up and extended his hand towards her.

"I would formally like to say. Alaya Shepard, oksdaa yoreem ferin?" He finished with a slight flare of his mandibles.

It was impressive and more than mildly charming, even if the accent was terrible. Her translator had not translated any words that the turian had spoke. He had asked her to dance in Kushan-La and could not help but smile as she took his hand and the two of them moved over to the dance floor. Once again, Alaya was impressed as Nihlus moved side to side in fluid motions and proved himself a very skilled dancer as he dipped her and got in close with her head tilted back.

"Buzz cut at the far table? He has been tailing you since the Normandy docked." Nihlus said as he then lifted her back up and they began to do a derivation of the tango and she kept a smile across her face not to betray her expression as Nihlus spun her and then gripped her waist in another direction and whispered in her ear.

"Asari with pink tattoos? She has been gardening at the Hiigaran embassy. Thing is, what she was doing was destroying the plants. Not a gardener."

They then moved into a slower dance with his hand on her hip and her hand draped over his shoulder all the while their other hand was intertwined.

"If you're going to dance, it pays to know the moves. My superiors want me to keep an eye on my colleague until he is fully healed, so I won't be able to teach you. I do know someone who might be able to at least point you in the right direction. He might not be the perfect dance partner, but I think the two of you should be able to muddle through the tango without stepping on each other's toes too much."

Moments later, the two of them walked off the dance floor and when she looked over to the human male that had been following her, he was distracted by a blonde woman while the asari in question was stumbling out of Flux with the help of a couple other asari talking very loudly, making a scene as if their friend had too much to drink.

"Just a couple pawns being taken out of play. Still useable, just out of play," Nihlus chuckled as she felt her omni-tool vibrate for a second.

"Thanks for the dance, Nihlus."

"Any time, Alaya. I hear Mortar Strike is in concert on the citadel, you really should check it out and if someone asks you if the sunset on Scott is nice this time of year, I hear it's cold and hard but still captivating." Alaya felt Nihlus brush past her and when she turned, she lost track of him. The night had been far different than she had expected and Nihlus was not what she had first thought.

As she left Flux, Alaya looked down at the new message on her omni-tool and could see that it was a ticket to Mortar Strike tomorrow night. Pulling up the extranet, she discovered that it was a turian power metal band and smiled at some of the songs that they performed. Sure, it was clearly a cover, but this was one cover she was going to enjoy.

As she walked down the long boulevard, she looked up and could see ships gliding by like vessels cutting through an invisible sea. Invisible but present. Looking up made her feel a little homesick for the world that she had grown up on, the smells that were now only in her memories and the sounds that were now only replayed on her omni-tool. While she considered herself human and Alliance, she had grown up immersed in hiigaran culture and sometimes she missed it.

Pushing those thoughts out of her mind, she hummed an old tune that her mother used to sing to her when she was a little girl that comforted her when she felt alone and isolated. Yet she didn't feel sad humming the tune, it brought a smile to her face as she knew that her difficulties growing up made her who she was. Ashley was right, she was going to keep her head held high, she was going to make the Taiidan pay for attacking Eden Prime all the while she was going to make those smiling, and lying bastards eat their own words.