Disclaimer: The Mass Effect universe is the property of Bioware/Electronic Arts. No infringement of these copyrights is intended as this is a not for profit fan fiction work.
Rewrite Notes: Still inspired by the Beyonce song "Save the Hero," from the album I am…Sasha Fierce.
Author's Notes: I am rearranging the order of the Cerberus Daily News events for the story because the flow works out much better this way. So it was Truth Hax, then Huerta then Trident; but for the story it's reversed. Trident a few months before, then Huerta, and then Truth Hax. Also, a sorat is a Thessian ambush predator.
Revision History: 11/30/2017; 6/6/2018
Part 1: Chapter 8::4 Days Post-Awakening: MSV Menrva
The dim lighting from the fishless fish tanks faintly illuminated the sprawled body on the bed. Tangled sheets around limbs told a silent tale of a less than restful sleep while the twitching underneath closed eyelids betrayed the why.
The sun shone brightly down upon Instructor Suiadan and his student Tuarwen. He was carefully explaining how to focus and maintain a mass effect field of sufficient strength and shape to form a short corridor within which Senior Student Tuarwen would float, safely cushioned and very close to mass free. In this way his student could propel himself across short distances. This use of a mass effect field was very similar to that used by the mass relays to move ships from one relay to the next. Only their corridors spanned many light years and were formed between two different relays. Once sufficiently skilled, Tuarwen would even be able to phase through most objects in his way. Just as the corridors phased through objects provided their mass and gravity was not enough to bend the corridor around them. However, Tuarwen wouldn't have that level of control over his mass effect field for many more months. This was a very advanced skill and only taught to those Senior Students that showed sufficient aptitude and skill in forming mass effect fields that they were judged able to master it by the instructors.
After the death of Beinion, Suiadan was always careful to teach the required skills in a painstakingly exact step-by-step manner. Making sure his students thoroughly mastered the easier sub-skills involved before putting them all together and teaching them how to master the biotic charge itself. The last thing he wanted was a repeat of that unfortunate incident. It had taken him months of therapy along with the determined support from his wife, Erulassë, and the other Instructors before he had accepted that it hadn't been his fault. The senior students all knew that while learning such potentially dangerous skills they had to wait for their instructor's confirmation of each step before proceeding to the next. Unfortunately, Beinion Crometh had been impatient and convinced he should progress at a faster rate than Suiadan was letting him. As a result, the young man had literally torn himself apart after forming his mass effect corridor incorrectly and then charging before a horrified Suiadan could stop him; ending up a bloody and gruesome smear across the long length of the practice field.
Instructor Suiadan frowned, he had students to teach, and teach correctly. They didn't need for him to get distracted by the past in the middle of a lesson. He turned his attention back to his student…
Sometime later the room's sound system activated; classical music started playing beginning at a low volume and then steadily increasing until the occupant of the room raised an irritated arm to shut it off. Shepard frowned, there was something she needed to remember but what was it? Fragments of memory rose, sunlight, a field, and…her light grey eyes snapped open as the content of the dream came into focus. Another prothean memory, just like the one with the musician, only this time she at least had a few names to go along with the protheans in the memory. Instructor Suiadan and his wife Erulassë, his student Tuarwen, and the student who had killed himself Beinion Crometh.
Shepard sat up in bed, feeling a chill throughout her body at that particularly macabre memory. She had been performing a prothean biotic charge, an advanced biotic technique taught only to the prothean equivalent of graduate level biotic practitioners. In her ignorance of what she was doing, if she had performed any of steps incorrectly she would have ended up just like Beinion, a red smear across some floor. This was why Miranda had said that no human had yet learned how to charge, you had to master several different biotic skills and then put them all together to successfully perform it.
Thanks to Instructor Suiadan's memories Amanda could now say with certainty that she knew how to perform each of the necessary steps: How to form the mass effect corridor, how to make herself mass free within that corridor so she could glide within it, and how to protect herself against injury when she came out of the charge by using the remaining mass effect field around her as both a shaped biotic impact attack and deceleration cushion. The dream served as a warning however, not to use these new biotic skills lightly or without caution lest she find out the hard way that she was missing an essential piece of knowledge.
Shepard glanced over at the time, and then with a sigh rose to go take a shower. She rubbed one hand over the lengthening auburn stubble covering her scalp as she went up the stairs to her bathroom. Normally she didn't mind dreaming, but given the type of dreams she had been experiencing in the few days since her awakening she felt as if she could use a break. It was like they were queuing up in her subconscious waiting for their turn to make an appearance.
After her shower, Shepard went down to the galley for breakfast where Garner was serving up chicken flavored protein strips, waffles, and maple syrup sweetened diced brussel sprouts with bacon. Shepard took a full serving of everything. She had to watch her weight before to make sure she didn't start losing muscle mass due to being a biotic, and with the changes Miranda had made to her biotic nodes the possibility of that was even greater now.
Sitting down at the table she exchanged greetings with the few crew members there, Crewman Patel, Creman Rolston and Crewman Hawthorne. None of them really liked the ship's name change from Normandy to Menrva, as they had all looked forward to serving on the namesake of her original ship, but they did see the reason behind it. As Crewman Hawthorn succinctly put it, "I get it Commander, we'll run into enough trouble out here without making it for ourselves." Shepard had to smother smile at that, it was so typically a colonial attitude.
As she ate, Shepard listened to the banter among them, and asked the occasional leading question about where they were from and what they had done before being assigned to the Normandy. "So, where are you from Crewman Rolston and what's your first name?" she asked in between bites.
"Vadim, Commander and I'm from New Canton. Born and raised there, met my wife, Marie there as well. She and my three-month-old daughter, Susanna, still live there now, but Cerberus is paying for their relocation to Earth."
"Congratulations to the two of you," Shepard said with a warm smile and noted the information away in her mind. "I guess you're worried about the Collector attacks?"
"Sure am," he replied, "I worry about them being out there with those things targeting our colonies."
Shepard nodded, "Understandable," she turned to the two other crewmen and asked, "How about you two, where are you from?"
Crewman Patel's name was Sarah, originally from Terra Nova but more recently more of a wanderer serving on various merchant ships as an engineer. "That's how I met Vadim actually, we needed to pick up parts for the ship and New Canton was the closest. Vadim helped me install them."
"Oh," Shepard inquired curiously glancing over at him, "so your also an engineer?" He was, he had mechanical and engineering know how by working first helping his father with the family's farm equipment and then apprenticing to an older mechanic in town. "And you," she raised an inquiring brow at Crewman Hawthorn the last of the trio. By now she wasn't surprised when he informed her that he had learned his trade as a sensor tech out of the Terra Nova Technical School, and then found a posting at the port on Ferris Fields. Fortunately, he had joined Cerberus a few months before the colony had been hit by the Collectors but all his friends from the colony had been taken.
"I hope we can get them back," he told her, even though she could tell that he was not really that optimistic they were still alive after all these months.
"Hopefully," she replied, "that's what we are all here for, to stop the Collectors and try to free the colonists they've already taken." The three of them seemed reassured by her statement, and left shortly afterward to start their duty shifts leaving her to her thoughts.
Shepard already knew that Gartner, who did everything from cooking to janitorial work, had served on the eezo-rigs along the frontier colonies until he lost everything to batarian raiders. Now with these three she could see a definite trend and one that she didn't like at all. Shepard didn't discount any of their experiences, colonial life tended to breed people who were much tougher and mature than the average Earther. However, none of them had any military experience at all and that was concerning for multiple reasons. Combat could make an unexperienced person, freeze, panic, or fight, or any combination of the three. Military training was in part designed to teach military personnel to correctly perform their duties even during the stress of combat. An untested crew…they might do anything, and that could be disastrous at just the wrong moment. Thank Goddess she had Joker in the cockpit, Shepard thought, and not someone whose only experience was piloting merchant ships even if they were used to evading pirates and slavers.
Shepard groaned as she thought about what to do about the situation, not seeing any way around the only solution. In addition to trying to get her growing ground team to actually act like a team, she now also needed to run regular drills for crew training. Maybe she could get Miranda to help with that, she thought, since the woman claimed to be her second in command. Drills were something an XO usually designed and ran, she should know she had run quite a few of them herself. Amanda shook her head, what in the hell was the Illusive Man thinking with giving her all these green personnel? The time it was going to take to get them trained to a sufficient level so they might not get everyone killed during their first actual experience of combat was going to impact on their ability to go after the Collectors.
"Commander," Dr. Chakwas voice interrupted her thoughts, and she glanced over inquiringly at the older woman who was standing just outside her office. "I'd like for you to come by my office to discuss the results of those scans we took yesterday."
"Of course," Shepard rose and took her tray over to Gardner before following the older woman into her office. As before, Chakwas waited until they both were seated, the shutters were down and the door sealed before speaking.
"Well," Chakwas began, "I'm not sure if this is good news or not, but I did find physical evidence confirming that the drell neurochemicals Cerberus used have changed the way your memories are accessed and stored. So, it looks like that is indeed the reason behind the difference in how your memories were before your death and how they are now."
She hesitated for the barest moment before continuing, "And I also found something else unusual in your neurological scan." The doctor turned around and typed on her keyboard for a moment, pulling up scans of a human brain. "These are the neurological scans I did of you the other day. What concerns me is this area here," Dr. Chakwas pointed out one dimly lit area on the display that looked like fine strands of an intricate and multilayered spiderweb. "These appear to be memories, but they're not where you would normally find them in a human," the display changed, "this is where I would expect to see memory activity, this particular area in your temporal lobe and around the hippocampus, and as you see, you do have memories located here. They appear a little different from I would expect, but as I mentioned, the increased synaptic pathway potentiation I'm seeing is due to the effects of the drell neurochemicals."
"Interestingly, this area of the temporal lobe, if you were an asari that is," Dr. Chakwas continued, "would be where memories shared during a meld would be stored. But the information we have on humans melding with asari shows that the new memories are stored in the same place as normally obtained memories. Human brains don't distinguish between the two different types of memories when storing them."
Even though her mind was racing at this information, Shepard kept her deception in mind when she responded, "The beacon messages? For the memories that are located where an asari would store them, I mean. Maybe they went there?" It had to be the Cipher, even though Shiala had not mentioned anything about it being composed of the memories of different protheans. The Cipher was supposed to be the very essence of being prothean and allow her to think like a Prothean: to understand their culture, their history, their very existence. Shepard knew she had never fully understood it, but she had understood enough to interpret the beacon's visions and to understand the language of the warning message they had found on Ilos.
Green eyes glanced up at her for a moment, before the Doctor nodded, "Now that's an interesting possibility. When I made the neural scans of you after the incidents on Eden Prime, Feros and Virmire, the diagnostic equipment on the original Normandy couldn't really tell me anything except that you had abnormally high beta waves and that you didn't appear to have any neurological damage. But then that equipment was mean only for basic neurological diagnostics so you could stabilize your patient long enough to get them to a proper medical facility, and not diagnosing unknown conditions cause by direct data input from ancient beacons or asari mind melds," she commented dryly.
Shepard grinned, relieved that Chakwas was going along with keeping the existence of the Cipher hidden. "I always like to keep you on your toes doctor."
"That you do," Chakwas agreed with a smile. She turned to look at the Medical bay, "I have to say I appreciate the diagnostic and medical equipment I have available to me here. This medical bay is almost up to the same standards as your average colonial hospital, and the only reason it's not is because there simply isn't room for some of the more specialized diagnostic and treatment equipment."
"If there's anything we can upgrade, just let me know and I'll see what can be done. We're probably going to need to be as self-sufficient as possible in the Terminus systems. You will need to be able to treat most injuries right here." Shepard was quite serious about this; she didn't want anyone dying for lack of proper medical care.
Dr. Chakwas nodded and her green eyes narrowed as she glanced keenly around the medical bay, "I'll look into it, and once we get Dr. Solus onboard I'll ask if he has any suggestions as well."
Shepard straightened preparing to leave, "Well, if there is nothing else?"
The white-haired woman returned her attention to Shepard, "Actually, I would like to try something if you have about thirty minutes Commander."
Shepard raised one curious brow at the doctor, "I do. What were you thinking?"
"Well, if this is the beacon messages," Dr. Chakwas responded, "then I'd expect to see activity in that area of your temporal lobe when you access one of them."
"When I access one of the messages," Shepard repeated, trying to decipher exactly what the older woman was asking of her. "You just want me to think of one of the one's I've already deciphered?" she offered tentatively.
Dr. Chakwas nodded, "Precisely, we're only trying to determine if those are indeed the beacon messages. So, if you'll just wait for me to get set up?" It only took a few minutes for the doctor to place the sensory pads on her forehead and around her scalp. "Now think about one of the beacon messages you've already recalled and deciphered."
Since it was still on her mind, Amanda's thoughts went immediately to her earlier dream and Instructor Suiadan teaching his student Tuarwen in the sunny field. A review of the techniques wouldn't hurt her, after all…she was all for avoiding messy incidents.
Approximately forty minutes later, "This is very interesting," Dr. Chakwas commented staring at the scan results intently. "It's like there is another complete second set of memories stored within your brain encompassing all the different types of memory, semantic, episodic, visual and sensory."
"Here look," Chakwas typed in a few commands and pulled up two different images and then overlaid them, "See, here are the different declarative memory areas in the temporal lobe, but also look at the other memory storage areas of the brain in the hippocampus, amygdala, striatum, and mammillary bodies. See how the active areas shifted?"
Shepard did see it, it wasn't much of a shift, but it was clear that different areas were being accessed in the two different scans. "That's the…" she barely stopped herself from saying Cipher and instead said, "beacon messages then." Shepard stared at the display uneasily. Shiala had said that the Thorian had absorbed prothean bodies. Apparently in that process it had absorbed their memories as well. Protheans like Lindariel, Suiadan, and the young musician presumably from the education complex above it. It really hadn't sunk in before that she had the memories of people who had been dead for over fifty thousand years in her mind. Memories that were now rising to the surface of her conscious mind instead of remaining locked away as part of the Cipher. Had this happened to Shiala as well wondered Shepard, and how could she possibly get a secure message to the asari to ask her?
5 Days Post-Awakening: Citadel
"So how were your days off," Arana Vare inquired, glancing over at Tela where she was waiting for the Councilor to finish a holo-call that had obviously taken much longer than the matriarch had expected when the nais scheduled this meeting with her.
Tela smiled at the lavender hued matron, "Very pleasant, Sha'ira made a very good choice of a consort companion for me. Worth every bit of her fee." That had been 25,000 credits plus another 15,000 credits for the use of the space and spa package beforehand for both of them. Relatively inexpensive compared to the services of asari akertira consorts, but then the humans Sha'ira was sponsoring did not have decades of training.
"Akertira?" asked Arana.
"Mmm," Tela inclined her head, "Her consort name is Jenna, very sweet young human maiden. Sha'ira said she is attending the University, xeno-biology and pre xeno-medical programs. Probably intending on being a doctor in one of the mixed communities in the Republics or the League."
The secretary shook her head, "Strange that the humans have so many akertira among them," she commented, "so many of them just seem so self-absorbed and always rushing and pushing to obtain their desires no matter what anyone else needs. Fortunate though, at least for us," the secretary continued. "Even with so few humans willing to assist as a akertira in triad reproductive melds, it's still become much easier to have a child with your bondmate and a akertira consort than it was before they were discovered. Was she nice? Personality wise I mean?"
Tela raised one brow at the unexpected question, "She seemed so, but I couldn't really say I know her well enough to make such a judgment. I might have been in her mind, but I respected her privacy."
"Of course," Arana gave her a reproachful look "you know full well I wasn't implying anything like that, Tela. What did she seem like from her surface thoughts?"
Vasir sighed in mock exasperation and then actually considered the question, "Nice, smart, maybe a bit serious for being a maiden."
"Hmmm," Arana returned her attention to her display. "Better a serious doctor than a frivolous one," she commented and then veered off to another subject. "It's a shame they have to hide that they're consorts, but I understand they can face some very unpleasant reactions from other humans over it."
"They can," Tela agreed, "it's why Sha'ira arranges for employment at one of her other business here on the Citadel." She smirked, "I understand they spend their work time actually studying or sleeping."
"Well, that's a nice arrangement for them," Arana replied somewhat absently as she looked up from the screen, "and the Councilor is free now."
Vasir grunted as she got up from the chair placed next to the secretary's desk, "Thanks, Arana, and thanks for getting her to wait until I was actually off my leave time."
The secretary laughed softly, "You're fortunate the Councilor only had to wait a few hours, she seemed set on only speaking to you."
The Spectre frowned at that, "I shouldn't keep her waiting then," she inclined her head to the other matron and then exited the secretary's office. Making her way to the doorway at the end of the hallway she waved her hand across it's sensor. The doors immediately parted, letting her into the Councilors office. She glanced around the semi-circular room, Councilor Tevos was standing near the windows, looking out over the Presidium. A data pad was in her hand, one which she was glancing over as the matron came into her office.
"Tela," the Councilor turned and greeted her, with what was for the matriarch an unusual expression of disquiet. "You recall the attack on Fehl Prime a few months ago, and news of Cerberus' assisting the Collectors in their attack on the colony in exchange for information."
"The beacon Dr. Nuwani interacted with while on the Collector ship," the Spectre doubted she would forget what she had learned at that debriefing any time soon. She still didn't know quite what to think of Dr. Nuwani's assertions about the contents of the beacon message. Especially since she essentially repeated Shepard's claims that the Protheans were eradicated by the Reapers, only with a new twist. That the Reapers had created the Collectors from the Protheans, and that the Collectors were now collecting humans to create a Reaper from their genetic material. Unfortunately, Dr. Nuwani's claims were just as questionable as Shepard's. Everyone who came into contact with an active beacon and survived it interpreted the message through their own experiences, and in this case Dr. Nuwani was mentored by Dr. Liara T'Soni. Thus, her interpretation had been quietly discounted by a majority of the Council as having been influenced by what she knew of Shepard's vision by way of Dr. T'Soni.
Or maybe it had not, Councilor Tevos had privately asked the asari Spectres to report anything they heard concerning the Collectors or any further information on any ships matching the Geth dreadnought that had attacked the Citadel to her office. Tela was also aware that the Republics Navy had begun an out of cycle, as in over a century early, update and refitting overhaul for the entire Fleet. From what she had heard from her various cousins, that effort had been upgraded in priority only a few weeks after she had escorted Dr. Nuwani to Thessia. Publicity the refit effort was due to the deficiencies exposed by the Geth's attack on the Destiny Ascension. That was true, insofar as Tela knew and what had passed the plebiscite for funding. However, the speed and urgency behind the refit schedule, necessitating just about every shipyard in Republics space to go to a full three shift operational capacity, that was unusual and expensive for a supposed non-emergency refit.
"Councilor Anderson received a troubling report from the Quarian Migrant Fleet yesterday," Vasir returned her full attention to the Councilor. "They forwarded to him a full report on the data collected by one of their pilgrims, a Veetor'Nara, on the recent Collector attack of the independent human colony Freedom's Progress." Tevos paced across the office, away from the windows and toward her desk. "They also sent a copy of the data to Cerberus at the request of Spectre Shepard, who was also present on Freedom's Progress seeking information about who or what was behind the disappearances of the human colonies." Tela frowned, that made no sense, Shepard was dead, but she remained silent for surely the Councilor wasn't done with her briefing. "When the Fleet lost contact with Veetor'Nara on Freedom's Progress they sent a quarian team to search for him. The team was led by Tali'Zorah vas Neema, Shepard's quarian crewmember on the Normandy. During their search her team made contact with Spectre Shepard as well as two Cerberus members who joined with and assisted them in their search for Veetor'Nara."
Tevos glanced over at her and Vasir took this as an invitation to speak, "Cerberus knows who is attacking the colonies, they assisted the Collectors with their attack on Fehl Prime. Who is this that Cerberus has pretending to be Shepard and why are they attempting this deception? What do they have to gain from it?" She paused and then added, "Whomever it is, they must be fairly good to deceive a former crew member."
The Councilor inclined her head, "We forwarded the report to the Spectre office for investigation, then a few hours later we received a report from Citadel Intelligence flagged for our attention based on the earlier report we sent to them. This report concerned a Terminus Systems human terrorist known only by the name of Jack who was freed from the prison ship Purgatory approximately twenty hours earlier. The report was flagged for our attention because the escape was orchestrated by Cerberus personnel who were assisted by Spectre Shepard."
Tela's brow rose at this, "Busy aren't they," she observed and then frowned, "but what do the two things have to do with one another?"
"Indeed," nodded Tevos, "Seeking further information I forwarded a request to Republics Intelligence Services. The reply came back with the Council of Matriarch's seal of authorization." That was…definitely interesting, noted Vasir, that meant that the Council had to specifically authorize the release of that information to the Councilor. "Approximately a week after the destruction of the Normandy one of their assets on Omega Station witnessed the Blue Suns attempting to exchange Spectre Shepard's body to operatives of the Shadow Broker." The Councilor paused for a moment, her gaze meeting her Spectre's dark brown eyes. Vasir stiffened for a half-second, then minutely shook her head, she had heard nothing of this, but then that wasn't very surprising. She received very little free information from the Shadow Broker. Tevos minutely frowned, then continued, "The exchange was interrupted by a third party assisted by Cerberus. RIS believes that Cerberus ultimately ended up with Shepard's body."
Cerberus ended up with Shepard's body, Tela took a moment to consider that piece of information. She frowned, "So these sightings, they could possibly be Shepard? But why would she assist Cerberus, she took down several of their operations while searching for Saren?" Something else occurred to her, "Did RIS give any hints as to the identity of this third party that assisted Cerberus?"
Tevos sighed, "Yes they did, the third party was Dr. Liara T'Soni."
That stopped Tela short as her mind churned to make sense of the information, "They must have offered her something she desperately wanted…" she through aloud, then the answer came to her. What would an maiden missing her lover want above all things, "They promised her Shepard, alive."
The matriarch inclined her head in response, "That does seem the logical answer, but the report does not mention a reason for her decision to assist them or to turn Shepard's body over to them."
"Could they actually have done it?" Two years though, thought Vasir dubiously, surely if Shepard was in any shape to be revived it would have taken them less than two years?
"Unlikely," Councilor Tevos replied, eliciting the matron's full attention, "the footage RIS sent me from the prison ship Purgatory indicates that this cannot possibly be Shepard…or at least not the Shepard that we inducted as a Spectre." Tela's brow rose, what did that mean? "You will recall the controversy surrounding the North American States President Huerta last month?"
"Yes," the asari Spectre frowned searching for everything she knew of the decidedly unusual news. "You're thinking the method they used to preserve his memories was possibly used for Shepard?" Then, in a flash of insight, Tela realized, "You believe the technology was originally designed by Cerberus for Shepard?"
"I do," the Councilor responded, "Councilor Valern with Councilor Anderson's assistance is investigating the source of the technology used on President Huerta. As for this actually being Shepard," Tevos continued, "as I mentioned, the camera footage from the prison ship makes it clear that the…entity claiming to be Spectre Shepard cannot possibly be her," the Councilor hesitated and then added, "Or cannot be the individual she was before her death."
Vasir stared at the Councilor bemused, even for a matriarch that seemed like an excessively convoluted statement. "I'm not sure I understand Councilor," she admitted after a moment.
Tevos raised one brow, "Reviewing the footage from the prison ship will make it clear."
Intriguing, Tela decided as she followed the matriarch further back into the Councilor's offices. They entered the Councilor's personal conference room with its long oval table, and as the matriarch waved her over to a seat Tevos brought up the captured video footage from the prison ship Purgatory. Tela found it interesting that the individual Warden Kuril was certain was Shepard never actually introduced herself as such, and unlike the other two humans, didn't wear armor painted in Cerberus colors or marked with their insignia. RIS, however, had been very through as usual and had all the data the turian had used to make a positive identity match. A vocal print and a facial recognition program match. Tela wasn't quite so sure though, this 'Shepard' had never taken her helmet off and that made spoofing both or either one much simpler.
Catching the Councilor's attention, the Spectre inquired, "The report from the Migrant Fleet, did it mention if she was wearing a helmet the full time on Freedom's Progress?"
"It did not, but I suspect that was the case as the colonies mechs were re-programed by Veetor'Nara to attack anything that moved within their sensor range."
Vasir nodded, "How was her identity confirmed by this Tali'Zorah?"
"Personal knowledge," Tevos responded, "she knew what pilgrimage gift Tali'Zorah brought back to the Fleet. It was apparently known only between them on the Normandy."
Vasir nodded, "So if they were able to make a synthetic copy of her memory functions and this…" She recalled the term Tevos had used earlier, and now it made perfect sense to her. "This individual now has those memories, then who or what is this individual?" She paused considering her own question, "Is this actually Shepard, a clone, or even a Cerberus Operative with her memories and reconstructive facial surgery?"
"We are not certain," the Councilor responded and her disquieted expression had returned, "and this footage only whips the waves higher, agitating the waters." She forwarded the scene on the display to a certain point and then let it play. In it, the individual identified as Shepard flash-stepped from one side of a room to just beside the room's doorway. "This occurred immediately after the station's Warden informed the Cerberus team that he was planning on imprisoning them for their bounties rather than releasing the prisoner Jack to them. You can see why I said that it only agitated the waters."
Tela stiffened in amazement, she could indeed see why this agitated the waters. The last she knew humans had only mastered a biotic sprint. Mastering the biotic charge was a long process of mastering several different biotic skills that cumulated with the knowledge and skills necessary to safely perform the charge itself. A flash-step was yet another level of mastery of the charge, one only gained after one's mastery of the charge reached an almost instinctual level. She should know, she had mastered both biotic skills by the age of 67 and was quite aware of how unusual her mastery at such a young age had been among even her fellow Huntresses. Her biotic proficiency was what had earned her one of the rare early invitations to commando training.
How long it took to learn both…depended on the biotic ability of the practitioner. First, charges required a biotic with a deep biotic reserve, a decent biotic surge and high discrimination ability. Then it required learning the base skills for the biotic charge, mastering them, putting them altogether to learn how to charge, then practicing the charge over and over and over until each step became so quick and instinctual that you were flash-stepping - because the flash-step was not a different skill at all, it was the complete mastery of the charge.
The individual on the display had just utilized it as if she were a master of the skill, placing herself within inches of a solid metal wall that, if she had misjudged her flash-step, would have resulted in her death. Almost as if reading her mind, the Councilor asked, "Would you have placed yourself so close to that wall Tela?"
The Spectre shook her head, "No, I would have placed myself farther away. Unless there is a reason you might not be able to take that final step, there is no reason to risk misplacing yourself inside the wall instead of beside it." The matron shrugged, "I could place myself that close and have before, but in that situation, I would not have chosen to do so."
When the Councilor didn't immediately respond Tela continued, "I certainly wouldn't say that a human can't learn how to flash step, but given that I learned it young at sixty-seven, I would expect it to be a much older human that first succeeded at mastering the skill. I would also expect it to be human that had first learned the biotic charge," Tela added with a slight frown, "and as far as I know no human has yet done so?"
"Some are beginning to learn the underlying skills," Tevos responded, "but they are not yet there."
"Had Shepard begun learning any of them?" As far as Vasir knew, Shepard hadn't been a particularly strong biotic for a human. She had been known more for her use of strategy and tactics, as well as her leadership ability and occasional diplomatic successes.
"No," the Councilor shook her head, "thus our doubt that this could actually be Shepard." The matriarch let out a slight sigh, "And there is more that casts even deeper doubt and confusion on this individual's identity."
Of course, there was, thought Tela, as Tevos un-paused the security footage. They observed in silence the unfolding combat with 'Shepard' making yet another flash step and then responding to the guards flanking attempt by covering her exposed team with a biotic shield barrier. Not an uncommon biotic skill, and certainly not unknown to human biotics. She glanced over questioningly to the Councilor.
"Shepard was capable of holding a brief defensive barrier," Tevos responded to her unspoken question.
The barrier was not held briefly, and the closer Vasir observed the small details she could make out the more impressed she was with it. "I believe my biotics trainers in Commando training would be pleased with that effort, though they would want to see a much larger sphere," she observed to the matriarch. "It seems to be an exceptionally well-formed and held dark energy matrix."
"Indeed," the Councilor agreed with her, but she did not look pleased.
Tela wasn't surprised, how had Cerberus managed this? The amount of training necessary to learn these skills at the level of expertise she was witnessing was lengthy and involved. She had begun her basic biotic training as a very young child, then entered huntress training at forty. The skills necessary to learn a biotic charge had not been taught until near the end of her huntress training. Most huntress trainees did not master the underlying skills before they finished their training at the academy, instead mastering them afterward. She had been one of the few students who mastered the skills and learned how to put them together to perform the biotic charge during her time at her academy. Then it had taken her another fourteen years to master the charge to a sufficient level to be able to perform a flash-step.
Vasir grimaced as she considered the possibility that Cerberus had taken a young biotic child and concentrated only on teaching them biotic skills, ignoring everything else. Without the ability to meld with one's trainers to assist with learning the required skills, perhaps such a human child could learn the necessary skills late in their second decade of life or early in their third. Knowing what she did of the human supremacist group she wouldn't put it past them to mistreat one of their own children in such a manner if they thought the reward was great enough. "Could they," she paused, knowing that she was wildly guessing at this point, "could Cerberus have a biotic with these skill levels and then somehow transfer that knowledge over by combining it in the synthetic memory copy?"
"That is a possibility that I considered as well," Tevos inclined her head in agreement, "and another question Councilor Valern will seek the answer to during his investigation of the technology used on President Huerta."
"So the question remains," mused the asari Spectre, "could this actually be Shepard? If they did revive her and somehow teach her these techniques, then why is she still working with them instead of returning to Citadel space? She claims she is investigating the source of the colony disappearances, but we and they already know the Collectors are behind the attacks."
Tela frowned, it simply did not make sense, if it were Shepard surely she would return to the Citadel as soon as she was able and then they could inform her of Cerberus's involvement in the attacks. That would certainly sever whatever tie they had on the human and turn her against them. If this were a clone however, or even a Cerberus operative with reconstructive surgery and false protein markers to fool DNA scanners, which was difficult and expensive but theoretically possible, then they would be letting an infiltrator into the inner circles of the Council, one with Spectre authority. "If this is a conditioned clone or even a Cerberus operative with Shepard's memories and modified to persuade us this is the human's Spectre…"
"Then we would be letting a sorat into our midst," responded the Councilor with a regal nod. "With such technology even if this is Shepard, there would be the possibility that during the time her memories were held in the synthetic matrix they were tampered with or conditioning was added that would allow Cerberus to control her. Councilor Anderson was resistant, but even he had to admit to the possibility of Cerberus attempting such a deception."
Vasir frowned, she could see that as well, Cerberus would have much to gain if they were given that level of access. This might even be part of their plan for their new anti-biotic agent. The nais glanced up at the screen, "Is there anything else you wished to show me?" Maybe there were some answers within it to these questions, though by the Councilor's demeanor she rather thought there would only be more questions raised.
Tevos returned her attention to the display, "Yes, though the footage is unfortunately not continuous. The Cerberus operatives were able to disable the cameras covering the observation room overlooking the prisoners cryo-chamber. Though RIS does have this image of how they gained access to the room without activating the YMIR mechs inside." A picture of a thick glass wall panel with the center of it neatly removed and placed over to the side appeared on the display. "They then used remote detonated grenades to destroy the mechs."
Tela had to admire Cerberus's tactics, but, "How did they remove the glass? Plasma cutter?"
"No," Tevos responded, "the edges showed no evidence of melting, instead the glass was very precisely shattered along each side and then pulled out."
"Huh," the matron frowned, not many things could do that type of damage. "Resonance?" She finally voiced her guess, even though it wasn't a very good one, "but that type of equipment is rather bulky, they didn't bring it in on them."
The matriarch shook her head, "We do not know, it is yet another mystery to add to the rest."
Vasir frowned, "Mysteries to which we need answers. What do you want me to investigate?" She knew the Councilor wouldn't have summoned her if the matriarch didn't already have plan which required her participation to successfully bring to fruition.
"After Trident and the evidence of what Cerberus was researching there, I am not inclined to assist Cerberus in any manner. Much less letting them infiltrate the Citadel and gain Spectre level access." The Councilors tone was unusually hard, but then what had happened on Trident had not only been terrible in the sense that their people had been tortured, but also in the threat implicit in the bio-weapon Cerberus had been testing. An agent that could permanently nullify an asari's biotic abilities was not something that the Republics would take lightly. Cerberus had managed to elevate itself from just another xenophobic terrorist group to presenting an actual danger to the security and safety of the Republics.
"Maybe we could use this 'Shepard' whether real or not to lead us to Cerberus?" Tela raised the possibility. The Collectors and their activities were a concern, mainly because of the possibility that the Council of Matriarchs was taking the Reaper threat seriously, but not as immediate of a concern in Vasir's mind as Cerberus' recent activities.
"That is the only reason I did not support Councilor Sparatus in his bid to have her arrested, along with whatever Cerberus personnel accompanying her, the moment she enters Citadel space," Tevos admitted. She turned toward Tela, "I want you to go to Illium and speak with Liara T'Soni, ascertain her motivations, and find out the exact condition of Shepard's body when she turned it over to Cerberus. Such information might cast a light on whether there is any realistic probability that Cerberus managed to revive Spectre Shepard or not."
Just then the Councilors omni-tool flashed, causing Tevos to glance at it and then frown at the short message she saw upon it. The matriarch tapped at her bracelet, bringing up the full haptic display to view what must be an emergency message. The matriarch's frown deepened, "The economic data the Volus have been demanding to see has just been posed upon the Extranet."
"Which means that the Ministry of Finance has a data leakage," Vasir realized almost immediately. Both of them were silent for a moment, each of them running a list of available Spectres through their minds with the necessary skill sets to investigate the data leakage…and coming to the same conclusion. "I'm the best choice to investigate," Vasir acknowledged, "do you wish me to pass off the T'Soni investigation to Spectre M'Tara?"
The matriarch pondered the question for a moment before slowly shaking her head, "Not for now, if the delay proves to be too long I can always request the information through the T'Soni Potinia."
Tela nodded, "Very well, then I will begin my investigation into the data leakage immediately."