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: Spectre Alena M'Tara is based off LuckyFK's Confidence picture on DeviantArt.
Revision History: 1/20/2018
Part 1: Chapter 15::12 Days Post-Awakening: Citadel Part 3
If Shepard hadn't been certain before of her status, being walked through the enclosed and heavily guarded shuttle bay in her light blue examination onesie and laboratory coat to cover it to the C-Sec prisoner transport that waited to take her and her three Spectre guards to the medical center certainly made it very clear that she should probably be very thankful she wasn't actually in cuffs and wearing a biotic suppressor at the moment. On the other hand, Spectres Vasir, M'Tara and Vania seemed much friendlier now than they had before, and although they were obviously guarding her, were behaving less like guards and more like escorts. That pretty much confirmed in Shepard's mind that they had indeed been watching and listening in on her conversation with Dr. T'Rani and were now at least somewhat convinced of her identity. Shepard couldn't really blame the Council for their caution and doubt, had the situation been reversed and she were dealing with someone who had been declared KIA two years ago and were now associated with a terrorist group, she would have come down on the side of caution as well.
As the four of them settled into the back of the prisoner transport and one of the C-Sec personnel shut and locked the doors, Shepard noticed something else that was different from before about the three asari. In the confines of the vehicle the three asari were so close that their auras overlapped with her own and with each other's. This had happened before of course, but now their auras felt very different than they had when she had first met them. Honestly it was the first time she had felt anything like it outside of her Prothean memories. Before, their auras had felt discordant and irritating against her aura, even subtly threatening at times. Now though, their auras felt harmonic with her own aura. Having them overlap her own didn't make her feel subtly threatened by them, rather the opposite really as she could feel herself relaxing ever so slightly.
Shepard closed her eyes for a moment to better focus on the difference. She could still clearly identify each aura as auras were very unique per person, exactly why the Protheans had used them for identification purposes, but now it was as if someone had shifted the pitch of the chords of a song up or down the scale. Shepard knew her aura had not changed so she felt safe in assuming the three asari were doing this intentionally, both now with the harmonizing and earlier with the discordance. They had been purposefully irritating her, keeping her off-balance and uncomfortable. They had probably done it just to see how she would react to it. See if she would make any mistakes, and it had worked. They had thrown her off balance earlier and managed to keep her there with their reminders about the amount of time left before her meeting with the Council and rushing her along in getting ready for her scan. Assholes, she though with mixed annoyance and admiration. Then her lips curled in a small grin, she would have to keep that aura trick in mind - provided she could replicate the effect. From Thalion and Lindariel's memories she knew how to do it, but wasn't certain she could actually manage it. Altering your aura in such a manner wasn't at all the same as modulating a mass effect field like she had done on the prison ship to crack the glass window.
Still though, could she do it? Now the question was nagging at her, she had the memories of how to do it and had been practicing with extending her aura during her classes with Miranda, Jack and Jacob. What she didn't have was a Prothean amplifier for a non-Prothean however, and she knew she might not be able to shift her aura without one. Further dipping into Lindariel's memories over the last few days to develop training courses for her ground team had teased out more information about the unique amplifiers. Prothean amplifiers required a very long surgery to properly implant the various components into the body. Secondary amplifier nodes had to carefully be implanted around her eezo nodules and then thin bio-amplifier strands were run from the primary amplifier at the base of the skull to each of the secondary amplifiers. Between the two, this created a secondary neural fiber network which supplemented the biotics ability to generate dark energy from their eezo nodules and granted them the ability to finely control the mass effect fields generated from that dark energy as well as allowing them to have voluntary control over their own bio-electrical fields or aura. In essence, it attempted to duplicate as closely as possible the way Protheans, and by happenstance the Asari, controlled their biotics. It would not give her the ability to meld like an asari or read things by touching them the way a prothean could, as that also involved specific chemical receptors in the skin, but it would allow her to interact with Prothean technology and might possibly give her the ability to have some control in a meld.
"What are you doing?" Vasir's voice broke into her thoughts, not exactly sounding suspicious, but…maybe hinting at it.
"Paying attention to my aura," Shepard responded, her eyes still closed.
"And what are you feeling?" the curious voice of the next speaker was deeper, Spectre M'Tara.
Shepard took a moment to consider her answer then decided to just be honest, "Intentional harmony instead of intentional discordance." She opened her eyes to see Vasir smirking at her, not at all disagreeing with her assessment or even trying to hide it.
"I'm sure you understand our caution until we can confirm your identity, but we also did not want you to feel alienated because of it," M'Tara explained to her and for once the tall asari's lavender eyes were serious instead of teasing.
"And since you can't change yours we changed ours," Vanis chimed in; it was obvious she did not mean anything bad by it, but still it rankled a bit.
"It's nothing against your abilities, Shepard," Vasir explained with a sigh, "it's just that your physiology doesn't permit you to alter your aura."
Oh really, Shepard thought, and in the back of her mind she heard Thalion's voice murmuring about arrogant asari thinking they were the only ones capable of such a thing. Without another thought as to the actual wisdom of what she was about to try, Shepard settled into her seat and began a meditative breathing pattern. She felt the transport lift and knew they must have gotten their clearance to leave for the medical center then pushed it from her mind as she concentrated on the ocean like roll of her breaths. She focused, both inward and on her aura, feeling every nuance of it. Then she attempted one of Lindariel's lessons. Shepard had moment of triumph and elation as she felt her aura shift, and then pain shattered her concentration. She bent forward and cupped her head in her hands as she groaned in pain at the sudden splitting headache, one that was much worse than what she had suffered on the turian prison ship.
"She actually managed to shift her aura," Cesra sounded stunned, "but how…?"
"Yes, she did," Vasir growled sounding both angry and concerned, "how wonderful for her, provided she didn't permanently injure herself doing it." Shepard heard the asari activate her omni-tool and begin scanning her.
"How did you even know how to do it?" the question came from Cesra.
"She probably shouldn't answer that question here," M'Tara broke in with a timely reminder and there was an intensity to her deep voice that told Shepard the tall asari was probably observing her very intently.
Shepard nodded her head then moaned pitifully at the stupidity of the move, "No, probably I shouldn't," she murmured over the nausea the unwise movement had elicited.
She heard Vasir sigh above her, then the feel of an armored hand on the back of her head. "Be still maiden," the asari matron admonished her as the asari placed her other hand over Shepard's where they pressed into her forehead, "the last thing any of us wants is for you to be sick in here." A moment later Shepard felt a slight tingling sensation along the skin of her head and an immediate easing of her nausea. Instinctively she tried to sense what the asari was doing to cause this effect and in the next second the matron ordered her in a no-nonsense tone, "Do not aura sense."
Shepard immediately stopped, besides she had realized from the immediate stabbing of pain behind her eyes that it was an incredibly bad idea even before Vasir even said anything. A memory rose in her mind of Lindariel doing this for one of her students who hadn't yet received their implant and she recognized the biotic technique as the same one Tela was utilizing now. "Thank you," she said as she began her meditative breathing again, knowing this would assist with the pain relieving technique which was called Nestaidhor, in Prothean.
"This should at least alleviate your symptoms enough so you can walk out of here instead of us carrying you maiden," the nais commented dryly.
Shepard sighed, noting she was firmly back to being a maiden again. Not that she could blame Vasir, that hadn't been one of her brightest ideas. "I appreciate it." She definitely didn't want to give the C-Sec personnel escorting them any more to gossip about than they had already. By the time they arrived at their destination, she wasn't feeling well by any stretch of the imagination, but she was recovered enough to at least manage a facade of wellness. Enough so she could fool any watchers on the way to wherever Dr. T'Rani was waiting for them. Shepard squared her shoulders and strode out of the transport with the three asari Spectres once they landed and were cleared to exit. She even kept up a light banter with them as they strode though empty hallways on their way to where Dr. T'Rani was waiting for them. As soon as they entered the room and the door closed behind them however, Shepard dropped the act she had been keeping up and clasped her head in her hands with a pained whimper at the pounding in it.
Dr. T'Rani let out a shocked sound, "What is wrong with her?"
"Biotic overexertion," M'Tara answered before anyone else could, "and no unfortunately we can't share exactly what she did, but you should probably take a look at her. Make sure she didn't do herself any damage."
Shepard heard no reply for a few seconds, then a displeased sounding, "Very well," from Dr. T'Rani. The blue hued doctor came over to her, wrapped one arm around her waist and guided her over to the examination bed. She asked for someone to turn down the lights as she helped Shepard out of the laboratory coat covering the examination jumper and when the room was darkened had Shepard lie down upon it. "I'm going to perform a quick scan on you now just to make sure you didn't do any damage, and then move you to the sterile room where we will do the more advanced scanning and take the needed cellular samples for testing. You'll be under sedation for that," Shepard made a noise of protest, and the doctor rushed to assure her, "don't worry it's not one that will leave you groggy afterward, but there are twenty samples that need to be taken. The process will not be painless and I need you to remain completely still while we are taking them."
Twenty samples, Shepard thought incredulously, what the…? Surely last time five had done? "You're going to turn me into a pincushion doctor," she quietly complained not wanting to worsen her headache by being any louder.
"I'm trying not to turn you into a pincushion," Dr. T'Rani responded with hint of sternness, "which is why I need you to remain completely still for it and for that you need to be relaxed and unconscious so you don't struggle or even tense against the stasis field we will be placing over you."
"Alright," Shepard said holding her hands up in the air above her in submission as she lay on her back on the table. It didn't really sound like she wanted to be awake for this anyway, she thought over the pounding in her head, and if she were lucky, maybe this overexertion headache would be gone as well when she woke. Dr. T'Rani finished her scan of her implant a few minutes later and assured her that despite the intensity of her headache she had actually done no lasting damage to either it or herself. That said though, the doctor strongly cautioned her against trying whatever she had done for a second time. Shepard had no problem following that advice, her headache was only now starting to decrease in intensity. A few minutes later they wheeled Shepard down a very bright hallway that had her laying her hands over her eyes to keep the light from making her head hurt worse and then into the sterile room. Shortly after that the doctor placed an IV drip into the back of her hand and then she knew nothing more as she slipped away into unconsciousness.
When Shepard woke some undetermined time later curled up on her side in her favorite sleeping position it was to the feel of someone brushing their hand over the short quarter inch fuzz of her hair. She remained still with her eyes still closed as she pondered the sensation. Who and why? Someone not wearing armor, or at least not on their hands, for why would you bother with gauntlets on? A moment later she decided she didn't really care as it actually felt rather soothing. Her headache was gone, there was a blanket over her body so she was warm, the surface underneath her was comfortable, so it seemed like a good moment to center herself in preparation for what would come next. Her meeting with the Council.
She heard the door open a few minutes later. "What are you doing?" the bemused sounding tenor voice was definitely Spectre M'Tara.
"Playing with her hair," the voice responding so matter-of-factly to the question Shepard identified as Spectre Vanis. "I'm used to it feeling soft and silky, but hers is so short it stands straight up. It's like nothing else I've touched before, still very soft though."
There was the sound of footsteps approaching, unarmored ones, Shepard frowned a bit in confusion at the realization. "You realize she's awake right," M'Tara commented from above her, now sounding amused.
"Yes," Vanis replied, "but she didn't say anything, so I figured she didn't mind."
Shepard couldn't help the small snort of amusement that escaped at that, and then she felt another hand on her head. Really, both of them now? Realizing that meditation was just not going to happen at the moment, Shepard opened her eyes and glanced upward out of the corner of her eye at the two asari. Her eyes widened in surprise at seeing that they were no longer in armor, but wearing the Spectre dress uniform Vanis had brought her to wear earlier. M'Tara's she noticed immediately had about twice as much silver piping on it than the one Vanis was wearing, which also looked like the jacket Vanis had brought for her to wear. Shepard wondered, were there Spectre ranks among themselves?
"Mmm," M'Tara purred in that dangerous tenor voice as she slowly brushed her fingers in a suggestive arc around Amanda's ear. "You are right it does feel quite different," the tall asari's lavender eyes danced in amusement as the nais smirked down at her and Shepard knew it was definitely time to get up before M'Tara took her lack of objection as permission to escalate her teasing.
Before she could though she heard the door open once again and she tilted her head to see who was joining them. "What is this?" of course it was Spectre Vasir, also now dressed in a uniform with as much piping as Spectre M'Tara's and carrying a stack of long thin boxes tucked under one arm. The long blue hood over her crests which draped down behind her reminded Shepard somewhat eerily of Matriarch Benezia's dress. The matron stared at them quizzically, "Play with her hair later, get her dressed now," she directed them. Right the Council, Shepard thought as she pushed herself upright. As Dr. T'Rani had promised she didn't feel sluggish or thick headed at all, only like she'd had a nice nap.
"Your uniform's behind the dressing curtain," Spectre Vanis informed her as she waved one purple hand to indicate the direction. Shepard turned her head to look behind her, there was an actual opaque screen there. It seemed she was trusted enough now to get dressed without them keeping their Mark I eyeballs on her. That meant that…she was she… Shepard felt almost a dizzying sense of relief as a subtle fear she had carried around with her ever since she awoke, but had kept pushed down, even within her own mind, was conclusively disproven.
She heard a sigh and looked up, all three asari were watching her. "You were worried you might actually be a clone?" Spectre Vasir inquired of her.
"I…" she took in a breath, "it didn't seem outside the realm of possibility," she admitted.
"Well, you're not," Vasir responded, "now go and get dressed Spectre Amanda Shepard." There was a subtle, but meaningful, emphasis on her name. "You don't want to delay your meeting with the Council for a second time." The last had a bit of a warning tone to it.
Shepard took that to mean she needed to get dressed as quickly as possible, she levered herself off the examination table and headed toward the screen. Behind it was a chair with the uniform laid out for her. There was underwear but no bra, hopefully the skintight undersuit came with built in support Shepard thought as she started dressing. It took her a few contortions to fasten the high-necked silver undersuit up the back, and then shrug the blue jacket on over it and use the fasteners across the front to secure it around her too thin torso. Finally, she sat down on the chair and pulled on the thigh high silver boots. She picked up the one piece of the uniform left, the blue hood that matched the jacket and stepped out from behind the screen.
"Wait on that maiden," Vasir directed her as the nais opened one of the boxes and pulled out a distinctive star pendant on a blue ribbon, the bar inscribed with VALOR and star above the larger star denoted that it was an award for a second Star of Terra from the Systems Alliance, one of a very few multiple Star of Terra awards ever awarded to anyone. "No reason not to remind the Council of what you risked to spare them not only their lives, but also what remained of the Citadel Fleet." Shepard crossed over to the other Spectre and bent her head so that the nais could slip the ribbon of the award over her head. She now knew what was in at least three of the other boxes, her medals from the Asari Republics, Salarian Union and Turian Hierarchy that they awarded her after the Battle of the Citadel.
"So, the difference in the silver piping on my and Spectre Vanis's jackets and yours is a sign of rank?" Shepard inquired as Vasir carefully hung the three other medals around her neck.
"Yes," the matron responded, "your jacket is for Spectre rank, ours is for Senior Spectre rank." The matron pulled the hood out of Shepard's hand when she was done with the last award, slipping it over her head and making sure it hung properly. Then she opened the last box, revealing a rather expensive looking omni-bracelet. "This contains your re-activated identification credentials," she said as Shepard took it out of the box and fastened it around her left wrist. "Congratulations your officially not dead anymore," the nais said dryly then took one last look all of them, making sure everyone was ready, "alright, let's get moving." As they exited the examination room Vasir glanced over at Shepard who was walking beside her, "What exactly did Spectre Kyrik tell you about the Spectres."
"Not much really," Shepard responded as they walked down the hallway, "we were about to transit to Eden Prime by the time he informed me I was under consideration. As soon as we transited, we got the distress message about the attack. So really nothing besides the fact that I was and he was going to be my mentor and evaluator."
"And afterward?" Vasir questioned, "once they inducted you?"
Shepard glanced over at the matron, wondering what this was actually all about, but willing to go along for now. "Well the medical guys corralled me on the way out of the ceremony," she responded, "then after I finished with my medical examination and identification processing I went searching for the equipment store Anderson mentioned to me in C-Sec." They passed though the double sliding doors at the end of the hallway to the outside of the Medical Center and while there were still a few C-Sec officers hanging around there was no prisoner transport. Instead an expensive looking asari made air car awaited them. Vasir waved her omni-tool toward it and the four doors unlocked and swung silently upward making it clear who owned it. "Found it," Shepard said as she followed the nais's directions to take the front passenger seat while M'Tara and Vanis took the rear seats, "stood there while the turian officer in charge of it pretended not to know I was a Spectre, then got sticker shock once he finally opened them up and left."
"Spectre level gear is rather expensive," Cesra Vanis agreed with her, "and then there's the additional cost of modifying it to suit you." Shepard wondered for a moment if she might be able to access those stocks again once she finished speaking to the Council, but then thought about how much attention such gear was likely to draw to the team out in the Terminus and immediately decided against the idea. They would be better off modifying a more common piece of gear with advanced parts than carrying around something so unique looking.
"And otherwise?" Tela Vasir inquired once they were in the air, "you seemed to operate fairly well as a Spectre while you tracked down Saren."
Shepard glanced over at the Senior Spectre with a slight frown, what was behind this line of questioning? "I looked for what I could find out on the Extranet about the duties and responsibilities and limits of our authority," she admitted after a moment. She sighed, "I probably should have figured out who specifically to ask but…" she considered how to phrase it, "there was a lot of behind the scenes politicking I didn't want to get involved in at the time that kept me from taking that route." Namely she had become quite aware of how closely certain members of the Systems Alliance military and government were watching her and monitoring her actions. It seemed that as soon as she became a Spectre and brought in some non-human specialists her loyalty, which up until then had never been questioned, was suddenly under scrutiny.
"I see…" Vasir responded after a moment, and Shepard suspected that the nais did have an idea of what she was carefully not mentioning.
She turned her head to gaze out the window, no as soon as she took Garrus, Tali'Zora and Wrex on board she had gotten a taste of what things would be like if she didn't jump to and obey Ambassador Udina's every whim for what he obviously thought would be his personal pet Spectre. She had put in what she thought was a routine requisition for food and medical supplies for them and had it denied. Their presence had not been requested by the Alliance, was the reply, therefore the Alliance was not responsible for funding or supporting them in any manner. Technically she supposed Dr. Chakwas hadn't been supposed to provide them medical care either, but the good doctor never once refused them care of any nature. That had been the start of the original Normandy Fund, she had needed credits to buy food and medicine for Garrus, Tali'Zora and Wrex, and then later gear for herself and the team because the regular Alliance issue gear simply wasn't sufficient given their mission. She had been determined to maintain her independence from Udina and not bow to his pressure to get rid of the non-humans on her team, but at the same time she hadn't wanted to provoke him by openly seeking the Council's guidance and authority over his own. The mission had to take precedence over everything and the last thing she had needed at the time was open warfare between Udina and his allies in the Alliance and herself when she was dependent on the Normandy and her crew to successfully complete it.
The air car started to descend and Shepard saw that they were near the Citadel Tower. Shepard watched curiously as Vasir guided the vehicle toward a guarded and sealed parking garage, stopped for their identities to be scanned and then proceeded inside when the guard opened the blast doors for them to enter. She had never approached the Tower by air before, only on foot. Spectre's had a reserved parking area, Shepard took note of the area as they exited Vasir's air car, thought she suspected it would be a very long time before she might ever make use of the information. "This way," Vasir indicated a nearby elevator. Once there, they had to present their identifications yet again for the Tower's guards to send down the elevator for them. Even with all the security precautions the elevator still only went up to the lowest level of the Council floors. Once they exited it they turned left and came upon the main security checkpoint that separated the rest of the Tower from the area where the Council and its staff were located. The guards at the staff entrance were obviously expecting them, for though Shepard got some intensely curious looks from the turian and asari on duty they passed her though the checkpoint without questioning her newly resurrected identity.
Shepard looked around curiously as the continued forward, this area had still been under construction the last time she was here after the attack on the Tower to dislodge Sovereign from it. She looked around, this part at least looked much as she recalled it from before the attack. Which was a bit odd, one might have thought they would take the opportunity to change things up a little but apparently not. "Things look about the same," she commented, fishing for a bit more information.
Spectre Vasir, who was walking beside her nodded, "The Keepers began repairing the damage and putting things back into place as soon as the area was cleared. Since the Council was busy with other things at the time, I believe they just decided to replace what was here instead of soliciting for an extensive remodeling."
That made sense, decided Shepard, and speaking of Keepers she wondered what had ever become of that salarian Chorban and his volus partner Jahleed and the data she had collected for him. Perhaps she should try and look him up while she was on the Citadel. Later though, she thought noticing the group of Alliance military personnel that awaited them up ahead and who was leading them. Udina, her eyes briefly narrowed on the man, and the thought drifted though her mind that she could easily tear the bastard apart with her biotics now for his traitorous back stabbing of her. Out of corner of her eye she saw Vasir's hooded head turn toward her, see the asari's nostrils flare as the nais scented the air. The realization of what the asari Spectre was doing broke her out of her angry thoughts, she took in a breath and tamped down on her acute dislike of the toadying man. In truth the strength of it was a bit disturbing, she certainly didn't like Udina, but she didn't recall actively fantasizing about killing him before now. With her memory the way it was it seemed like she would recall something like that, which meant…Thalion, her mind identified the influence. No, he did not like those who acted out of personal selfishness and advancement over their duty to the Empire, or in this case the safety of the entire Galaxy. As they approached the small group Shepard caught Udina's stare at her asari Spectre uniform and then the slight curling of his upper lip at it and her dislike of him flared anew despite her best efforts to control it.
"Ambassador Udina," Vasir greeted him before Shepard could, "I was not aware you were invited to this meeting of the Council."
The man drew himself stiffly upright, "I am not," he answered her, "I thought it would be polite of us to relive you and escort our newly returned Spectre to her meeting with the Council."
"That is kind, but unnecessary of you," the Senior Spectre smoothly responded, "the Council entrusted us with her escort, therefore we will escort her the entire way to the meeting chamber."
"That's really not necessary," Udina tried again to persuade her, "I'm sure you have better things to do than continue to escort Commander Shepard now that her identity has been accepted."
'One is named by one's highest rank,' Shepard swore she heard Lindariel's voice murmur in her ear in her haughtiest tone. Her eyes narrowed briefly as she realized what he was attempting. As an Ambassador he wielded quite a bit of influence in the Systems Alliance government, especially compared to a mere Commander, something he had used to make her life very difficult during her hunt for Saren when she didn't obey his every whim. Here he was trying to do it once again. Still though, did she really want to take that step just yet? Did she really want to leave the Alliance military and become only a Spectre? She quickly weighted her options, then went for the middle ground. "Spectre Shepard actually Ambassador," she corrected him, her voice carefully neutral. "I have yet to be reinstated in the Systems Alliance Navy…and, provided the Council decides to uphold my rank as Spectre, I believe that would be considered a higher rank than Commander no matter what happens with my commission."
"Indeed," Spectre Vasir broke into the conversation, "especially since Spectre's are not permitted to hold an active rank in their respective militaries due to the inherent conflict of interest between their duties to their member governments and duties to the Council."
What? Shepard whipped her head around to stare at the asari standing next to her only to find Vasir was staring challengingly back at her. Then after a moment the nais's gaze shifted past her and she followed it - to Udina. The Ambassador was not nearly as good an actor as he might hope, for the truth was written upon his face. Suddenly all the questions Vasir had been asking her and the odd moment when Spectre Vanis had brought her the uniform she was now wearing, made sense to her. The three asari Spectres had been trying to catch her out with the uniform, but then she hadn't responded at all as they had expected her to respond to it. Once they had decided she actually didn't know, Vasir had gone hunting to figure out what information she did have and how she had obtained it. Now…the bastard, her gaze narrowed angrily on him. He had known about this and had purposefully kept it from her. He had kept it from Admiral Hackett and Captain Anderson as well, she realized, because it just didn't make sense to completely ignore the Council about this requirement - not when it was something that would jeopardize the status of the System Alliance's first Spectre. Or…her anger shifted to fury, maybe he intended to use this to get rid of her, claim she had known all along, but had ignored it, thus giving the Council a reason to revoke her Spectre status. All because she hadn't bowed to his every whim and desire. 'You should break every bone in the traitor's body, leave him screaming on the floor as an example to others of what happens to those who betray their oaths to serve,' Thalion's voice advised her.
"Your…escort is not needed Ambassador Udina," Spectre M'Tara spoke up from behind them as she placed a very firm hand on Shepard's shoulder, "perhaps you and those with you should return to your embassy." Her tone made it clear that it was less of a suggestion and more of an order.
Anger and spitefulness filled his expression as his gaze fixed on Shepard, "You'll regret this," he spat at her. He whirled and stomped back through the military escort behind him while snarling at them to follow him. The Lieutenant in charge of them stared back and forth between the four Spectres and the Ambassador for a moment in confusion then shook his head and motioned for his men to follow him as they trailed the ambassador back to the Systems Alliance Embassy.
Shepard stared after them, the surge of fury she had felt giving way to a much more chaotic mix of emotions and thoughts as it sunk in that she would be leaving the Alliance military whether she wanted to or not. Of course, that was provided the Council affirmed her continued Spectre status. Which was not a given, especially now that she realized she had been in violation of the Councils rules all along. Why in the hell hadn't they inquired why she still held her commission during her hunt for Saren or even afterward? They had a perfect opportunity after the Battle of the Citadel. As for Udina's threat, at least she already had a good idea about who his backers were in the Alliance military…the problem was they were all prime candidates to back Cerberus as well. Oh well, she thought with bitter mirth, it wasn't like she wasn't fairly certain TIM was ultimately out to eliminate her once she fulfilled her part in his plan anyway.
Spectre M'Tara's vice-like grip on her shoulder eased as the taller asari stepped closer to her. "It's not advised, even for a Spectre, to attack one of your own governmental members," the nais murmured next to her head, "at least not until the Council has investigated this and made their decision what will happen to him."
"You really had no idea, did you?" Vasir inquired, her brown-eyed gaze shrewdly evaluating her.
Shepard shook her head, "No, otherwise," she sighed as she admitted, "I might have told Nihlus that I wasn't really interested in becoming one."
Unexpectedly, Vasir smiled at her, "That is part of what the mentorship is about, giving both you and your evaluator time to decide whether or not being a Spectre is right for you."
"Technically you had six months to complete the process…," Spectre M'Tara commented next, "with Dr. T'Rani's evidence you can probably make a case for an extension of that time."
Shepard snorted, "You think death then would make a fairly good excuse for my tardiness?"
"It's definitely worth a try," the tall asari sounded amused, briefly placing both hands on her shoulders and squeezing in a reassuring manner. "Now we should get moving, the Council is probably already gathered."
"So, lets pick up the pace so no one else tries to stop us," Spectre Vanis advised, "because we're gathering too much attention after that confrontation."
"Mmm," Spectre Vasir, murmured as she casually glanced behind them, "let's get moving."
As they proceeded down the hallway, Thalion's voice intruded into Shepard's thoughts once again. However, this time the Prothean didn't advocate violence, but offered wisdom, 'Be aware of the war, but keep your focus on the battle in front of you.'
Sage advice, realized Shepard, she needed to focus, to get control of her emotions again before stepping in front of the Council. Udina and what he had done could wait unless the Council decided to address the matter. Her focus needed to be on persuading them to let her continue pursuing the Collectors, assist with her operating in League space, and prepareing to stop Cerberus from accessing the Omega 4 relay once she found safe passage through it.
They passed though yet another security checkpoint before Spectre Vasir announced, "Here we are," as she stopped in front of double sliding doors with a 'Conference Room 345' sign beside them.
Vasir turned toward her, looked her up and down, then dipped her head. "I am not certain whether it is best to wish you well in your desire to pursue your duty or wish that you stay here so that one of us can properly mentor you," the matron admitted. "So, stars guide you on your journey maiden."
"Indeed," Spectre M'Tara stepped forward, "you do not even realize how little you know of what you should know to properly be a Spectre. Either of us would be pleased to mentor you, but we cannot with you working with Cerberus."
Spectre Vanis came forward to stand beside Vasir, but she didn't say anything, just glanced between her two fellow asari Spectres and then at Shepard questioningly.
"I'll hold you to that offer," Shepard responded to the tall asari, all the while hoping the Reapers would give her that sort of time, "but I must do this first. I cannot desert my people and leave them to whatever fate the Collectors plan for them," she explained and then challenged, "Would you really want me as a Spectre if I could?"
Neither of the Senior Spectre's answered only looked resigned to her response and Shepard suspected they had not really expected her to take them up on it.
"Amanda," Spectre Varis finally spoke, "break a leg in there."
It was so unexpected that for one moment Shepard just stared at the maiden, and then she laughed, "Thank you, Cesra, and I can tell whose been hanging around humans the most now."
The appalled gazes of the other two asari faded into confusion at her response. Vasir shook her head slightly, "Very well, are you ready Spectre Shepard?"
At Shepard's nod the nais waved her omni-tool over the sensor panel. The doors slid open to reveal Council Anderson waiting on her in person while the three other Councilors were only present by hologram. Shepard lifted her chin and squared her shoulders, then she resolutely stepped inside the room.