Chapter 7 - The Citadel and Investigations
A/N - Goodness! So much deviation! However will the plot line hold together? Through spit, glue, duct tape, silly string, and a whole lot of ab libbing, faking it, and mucking it up. :D Enjoy.
Also, a thank you for everyone that has sent in a review and voted in my poll. Also a shout to everyone for getting +100 follows and for 8.5k views on the story, making this the 50th most followed ME/W40k story on Fanfiction. And once again, a poll is up on my profile, go throw a vote on it.
'Skulls for the Throne of Skulls!' - Second most common Chaos battle cry.
22 Oct, 2017 - Edit: Added some extra details about Arlas' dislike of cages; fixed some grammer mistakes and typos
Joannis looked over the ground team that would be heading with her to the ambassador's office as they waited for the decontamination chamber to finish, the captain having gone ahead after an apparently frustrating conversation with their eldar guest. She and her sis were in their dress blues, carrying only a single gun; for her sister, her beloved Talon, while she was carrying her Kassa Locust. Alenko was in his dress blues, looking sharp despite the abruptness of the order to get into blues, and was carrying a Kessler Striker pistol, found on Eden Prime. Ashley, however, was conspicuous, both for her visible nerves, and for being the only ground team member in her battle dress uniform, though her Predator pistol had raised an eyebrow, an expensive addition to an otherwise normal arsenal. "Family gift," she had replied, before returning to controlling her nerves.
Nihlus had been picked up immediately after docking, a medical van with another turian Spectre, a female who hadn't bothered to identify herself. She had simply flashed her Spectre authorization, and then had the medics load Nihlus into the air van, and had quickly departed to get him to a hospital. The Spectre had stayed for a second air van, this time manned by two Citadel Security Special Response Teams, to arrive and fill out the paperwork to transfer over the damaged but mostly intact beacon. The Citadel forces had all paused to stare at the eldar's ship floating to one side though no one had asked about it. They had left staff lieutenant Charles Pressly, navigator of the ship and acting executive officer with both the twins and captain ashore, to deal with the paperwork.
The door finally opened, letting the four humans out. They immediately headed for the elevator leading down, and once it arrived, quickly entered, filling toward the back. The door stayed open longer than it should, and slowly shut, but no one paid it any attention, simply brooding or discussing their thoughts on the situation. Once at the bottom, inside a C-Sec station, they had to pause for a few minutes to ensure they had permits for their weapons, and so Sergeant Ashley could get a new one for her weapon. Once that chore was finished, they headed for a transit station, and got an aircar for the trip to the embassy.
Five minutes later, they were entering the embassy, pausing to get a map uploaded to their omni-tools, and headed for the ambassador's office. Udina was debating with Anderson as they entered, and stopped the debate to look over the four marines, and then glared at the captain. "Was it necessary to bring the entire crew?"
Anderson didn't bother showing any emotion at the accusation. "Only the ground team. The councilors will probably have questions for them."
Udina simply snorted in disdain. "And with the beacon damaged, and Nihlus hospitalized, the only thing saving the Shepards' possible candidacy into the Spectres is the fact we managed to find a new race."
Anderson whirled on Udina. "That is Saren's fault, not theirs. And it is not your job to criticize them for what they did or did not do. You just have to get the Council to agree to hold a hearing."
Both men had apparently been arguing, as Udina sneered at the captain. "Actually, it is my job to criticize them, being as I represent humanity on the largest stage. And I did get that hearing. Assuming your reports are accurate, I have already turned over all the video logs as well as interviews, reports, and what we have already found over to C-Sec. Which is very little. I suspect the only reason they agreed was because they knew we would publicly accuse the Spectre otherwise. This way just lets them keep it in house, so to speak. Which reminds me, I don't see him, where is that xeno you picked up?"
Anderson sighed, and shook his head. "He isn't interested in meeting the Council. Claims to be a scout, not a diplomat. Said the only reason he would meet with them is because he had no other choice."
Udina gave a sly smirk, practically oozing vicious glee, and making both of the twins detest him even more than they already had. "Well, he doesn't have one. Impound his vessel, and turn it over to C-Sec and the Spectres. If he has a problem with it, he can take it up with the Council. I am sure they won't mind getting to look at his technology, especially if it forces him to the negotiating table."
Anderson glared at Udina, taking a deep breath to hold in a retort. "No. You may be drunk on power, Udina, but you aren't my boss. You can no more give me an order than you can the Council. You want something like that done, call the Prime Minister, see if he will amuse your fantasies."
Anderson turned to the marines, and gestured for them to follow as he left the openly fuming Udina behind. He didn't speak until they all stepped into the elevator leading to the ground floor of the human embassy, leaving the dozen of ranking ambassadors behind. The building was four floors tall, and the elevator took only a minute to get to the ground floor, where a C-Sec substation took up the whole floor. While descending, Anderson finally spoke. "Not a word of that… debacle in the ambassador's office, understood? To anyone, anywhere, at any time."
All four marines agreed instantly, and the captain took a deep breath, before continuing as the doors opened. "The Council agreed, reluctantly, to our… request for an investigation."
They all trooped out the door, unconsciously falling into formation. Joannis could feel her twin's amusement at the realization, but the captain kept talking as they headed for the railing in front of the embassy, overlooking the Presidium Lake. "They have agreed to hold a 'preliminary' review in four hours, see if C-Sec can find anything other than our word to validate the investigation. You four were on the ground, and might be called on to testify. Either way, you are to be at the Council chambers in four hours, to assist as you can with the investigation and the hearing."
He waited a moment but none of the ground crew had anything to say so he nodded. "Dismissed."
The twins saluted and left, letting Anderson head back into the embassy after sending their passes and the meeting time to their omni-tools. After moving away from the embassy, Ashley chuckled darkly. "And that is why I hate politicians."
Jaclyn gave a snort, agreeing with the sentiment, before looking around. "Let's get something to eat. Can't get too far, or do much exploring in four hours, but we can at least wander the Presidium, see what they are offering the aristocrats."
Ashley laughed at that before nodding. "They certainly seem to think so. So, other than food, what else is there? Arcade? Casino? Combat simulation arena?"
Joannis laughed. "Nope, just a few eateries, a handful of shops, and that is about it. Most of it is parks, monuments, and statues. Oh, and the Consort's Chambers and whatever the attached… academy thing is."
Alenko gave a small smile. "That a technical term there, ma'am?"
The group chuckled as they marched out, the twins leading the way unerringly while the other two gawked like the first time visitors they were. After a moment of walking, Joannis turned and coughed at the two lagging marines. "Come on, food first, then we will give you the tour."
Arlas sat in the center of the armory of his vessel, in a clear space specifically designed for meditations and psychic exercises. And in spite of his extra training, the preparations to construct a scrying circle, and more a half day of attempts he was no closer to getting a decent divination than before. He knew the theory and how to do it, having learned during his years as a Warlock, but now, he couldn't put the theory and training into practice. They had been on this 'Citadel' for two hours now, but he was just about ready to give up.
He grumbled before standing, taking a moment to stretch before striding around the room, letting his body move while his mind relaxed. A habit he had picked up as a Warp Spider, and even centuries later he still had yet to conquer it. It felt good to be moving about.
His mind wandered through the various forms and runes needed to improve the odds of a successful divination, though as one became more familiar with the ritual and attuned to their powers, the less they needed. Some of the best farseers didn't even need a circle, just a moment of concentration and their rune tiles, and they could see for years into the future. Deciding which was fantasy and which was truth, however, took several eldar lifetimes to discern, and even then it was easy to make mistakes. His attempt at it was basically an experiment, though also because he was lonely.
He considered that thought a moment and concluded that perhaps lonely was the wrong word. It would be more accurate to think that the psychic silence that was getting to him. His people had wandered their old galaxy for sixty million years, and their psychic energies were everywhere, either directly or through reflections and reverberations. It was an underlying song of the universe, though for the last ten thousand years, it had acquired a hideous counter tone from the surging warp. Here though it was dead silent, without even the barest of whispers in the psychic underlayer of reality. It was… oddly disconcerting and alarming.
He shook off the thoughts, and turned back to the circle he had constructed, glaring at the circle he had built. His mind started tingling after a moment of glaring, indicating that his subconscious had noticed something, and was now waiting for the rest of him to notice it. He took a deep breath, ran a hand through his unbound hair, and closed his eyes, before releasing the breath. And as he opened them, he let himself smile, spotting a pair of runes in the wrong place.
Arlas required only a moment of work to fix the minor but debilitating mistake before he resumed his position in the center of the circle, and went through the series of exercises meant to help his mind relax and expand before he finally felt something happening. Then the universe vanished, and all that was left was a series of images and impressions and a pounding sense of urgency.
A machine clad in fleshy armor of arrogance, defiance and contempt.
A tower of white, in flames, raging blues and calm oranges fighting towering reds.
A long tunnel led to an open area, crowned a glittering clear jewel of rippling blue hues.
A purple mist encasing silver gems, in front of a sneering, leering serpent.
A flash of a blade and the thundering of primitive weapons.
A rhythmic pounding, swaying black shadows, and empty eyes.
A silhouette, encased in fire and metal, endlessly thrashing.
An empty window, a drifting purple star, and a circle of symbols.
A repeated clacking of a chrono tracker, growing ever louder.
His eyes shot open and he swore, realizing he had little time. He quickly grabbed his armor and cloak, selecting weapons based on what felt right, finally ending up with the witchblade, long rifle, fusion gun on his back and the flamer on his thigh. He frowned at the loadout, before slamming his helmet on. He would debate the merits of such a heavy loadout later. A quick sprint got him to the elevator, but after a second, he jumped, landing in the mess hall, before running to the exit. He glared at it as he approached, before jumping again, landing on the pier that connected the ship to the station, and transferred his glare to the elevator in front of him.
He did NOT have time for this.
Jaclyn wasn't sure what to be more amused about, her sister acting like a doting mother to the two marines as she led the tour of the Presidium, or the fact that Ashley was playing along, while Kaidan, as the only male, kept trying to make a mad dash for sanity and professionalism with his comments. Joannis, however, was in full flippant mode, and from what she could feel from her twin, she would be like that for at least another hour. Currently, her twin was giving a lecture to a hanar that had been preaching illegally somehow but Jaclyn was too bored to care.
They had already seen the relay monument, and had gotten their teeth to tingle from being too close, though Ashley claimed to not feel anything. Next had been the Krogan monument, and then they had visited the four stores that had been on the Presidium. Next on the tour had been a visit the Consort's area of the Presidium, but they had only seen it from outside when Joannis had decided to start playing mother than declare that her 'little boy Kaidan' shouldn't be visiting such a 'vile den of inequity and loose virtues' at his 'tender age.'
Kaidan had replied that he was older than her while Ashley just tried to not break down in hysterical laughter. Which had only made the situation worse. Jaclyn made a note to tell them the best way to deal with her twin's 'eccentric' actions was to just ignore them as best as possible. It would quickly cause her to lose interest. Sadly, they had responded which had led to her amusing herself as well as the rest of the squad except poor Alenko.
Jaclyn glanced at her omni-tool as it buzzed and noticed her sister's doing the same, but Joannis was too busy debating the merits of giving sermons without a license to notice. She opened her tool and frowned at the identification of the caller. Jeff Moreau, call sign Joker, the Normandy's pilot. "Joker, it is commander Jaclyn. What is the problem?"
Joker might be a clown with her sister, but he knew better than to joke with her. His tone was serious and even. "The eldar just booked out of the Normandy like it was about to explode ma'am. Didn't wait for the elevator or the decontamination chamber, just did that inky black teleporter thing to bypass them both. His ship is still in the hangar, hasn't moved since he got out of it. And the captain's omni-tool goes immediately to voicemail. Staff commander Pressley wanted you informed. Any orders about it, ma'am?"
Jaclyn considered her response, as this was not something they had considered. They had expected him to quietly wait in the ship until the diplomats arrived. After a moment she sighed. "Stand by, I will inform the captain."
She left the channel open and put a call to the captain, attaching the emergency contact code which forced it to alert him. She figured the unknown race running around the Citadel armed with who knew what kinds of weapons was an good reason to use it. After a several seconds of ringing, the captain answered, his expression annoyed. "Commander, what happened?"
"Sir, who is with you?"
That got Anderson's attention, and he looked around. "Alone, borrowing Udina's office. What is the problem?"
She frowned. "Connecting Joker, but our 'new friend' decided to go for a walk on the Citadel."
It took the captain a moment to understand, but when he did, the blood immediately drained from his face. "Dammit. What happened?"
"About two minutes ago, he sprinted out of his ship, and used that teleporter to get up to the mess hall, then another out of the ship onto the pier. Cameras saw him enter the elevator."
Anderson's swearing was inventive, but he quickly got back to the conversation. "What was he carrying? What weapons did he have?"
Joker linked a pair of still images of the eldar, running through the CiC and towards the elevator to C-Sec. Jaclyn moved deeper into the plants near her, and swore at the picture. "Sir, he is carrying his melee weapon, his sniper rifle, and the weapon that melted through five meters of solid metal meant to contain starship crashes and explosions. That weapon on his hip is new but that tank-"
Anderson nodded and interrupted. "Means it might be a flame thrower if not something more exotic; we have no idea what he could be armed with. Dammit, and damn him. What was so important that he left armed like that? That is enough to put a serious hole in any army you can name."
A moment of silence, before Anderson spoke. "I will see what Udina wants done. Jaclyn, stay out of the situation for the moment. Joker, get the ship on lock down, C-Sec is likely to want to see that vessel soon."
Joker nodded, and looked down at his own consoles. "Yessir, locking down the… where did his ship go?"
Before either officer could ask, Joker brought up a camera into the hangar, which was showing a conspicuous empty place where the eldar's transport had been. A couple crew members were walking around where it had been, their actions projecting just as much confusion as the pilot's tone. Joker brought up the security cameras in the hangar, and all three watched as, less than a minute after the eldar had fled, the vessel suddenly shimmered like a mirage and vanished. Two minutes later a pair of crew members entered the hangar, did a double take where the vessel should have been and then walked through its former resting spot. One had even jumped about, waving their arms to see if it was just floating slightly higher. Joker sighed, and then looked back up, a small, wry smirk on his face. "Orders sir?"
Anderson groaned. "Lock it down, Joker. No one is going to be happy about this."
Joker signed off to start locking the ship down, leaving Jaclyn to give Anderson a shrug. "Best of luck sir, need any help from us, just call."
That got a grunt from the captain before he started talking to Udina, and Jaclyn closed her side of the call. She headed for her sister figuring that playtime was over. Her sister could amuse herself later. They needed to go.
Arlas was fairly certain that running into that blue armored turian had been a mistake, but he needed the extra information. There were also blue skinned females with head tentacles, and big eyed horned bipeds that were like nothing he had encountered before, but he was in a rush now, especially after the turian had collapsed. Now he had several chasing the distortion that his cloak caused when he was running, but no one was firing at him. Yet. Luckily, he had done this particular stunt several dozen times before, at least once per world he visited for the Craftworld, so he could just let his body run while he sorted the information that turian had so helpfully provided.
Most of it was currently useless, most of the rest would require several hours of sorting the information mentally but at least now he had a rough idea of the area. Arlas figured the turian must have been the equivalent of a planetary human arbitrator judging from the fact everyone had taken exception to him 'attacking' the turian.
He moved quickly through the maze of halls, stairs and elevators, rarely moving in the same direction for long, an old hand at dodging hostile pursuit and patrols. He could and did abuse his warp jump pack when he was fairly certain they were trying to corner him just to make them work harder. It took three jumps and several minutes to get away from them, despite the locals only having a cloak and distortion to follow. Now though, he was moving slowly under the cloak and letting the followers get bored and spread out, so he could get back to searching for whatever he had seen in his vision. He could remember it clearly, each part in a clear, obvious cadence though he didn't know where to start. So he would have to keep an open mind and open eyes and see which part he encountered first, though it might take a few modifications to his understanding to actually recognize the visions in reality.
He rounded a corner ten minutes later and permitted himself a smile. He had just gotten to a balcony overlooking a large plaza, but his smile was because of one of the shops he could see. It had what looked like chrono trackers in it, and even from here he could hear the gentle clack-clack-clack of the old fashioned mechanisms. The humans back in the other realm had considered things like those priceless antiques, and only the richest of their nobles had them. He had even stolen one once, just to amuse himself by watching the noble woman rage about its loss.
He knew the order of the visions was last to first now, and that he was in the correct area. Now he just had to find the rest of the trail so he could see where the vision was leading him.
Joannis watched the clearly upset ambassador pace and bluster, and was glad that Ashley Williams and Kaidan Alenko were waiting in one of the guest rooms. At least they could relax, while the Shepards stood behind Anderson, waiting for Udina to stop acting like people cared what he thought, so the people who did the real work could get back to it. Admiral Hackett was talking to Defense Minister Rommel Kreiggeory as Prime Minister Amul Shastri was currently in a closed meeting with the rest of the parliament, rarely glancing over at Udina to see if he had bothered to stop yet. Both men on the communications were probably ignoring him though Minister Kreigeory at least was polite about his disinterest, but Udina didn't seem to have noticed yet.
From what she could understand, he was angry that Anderson hadn't physically restrained the eldar in any way despite the word 'teleportation' and the phrase 'unknown culture.' The defense minister and admiral were watching all the videos so far gathered of the eldar and had been for about ten minutes. Final done watching the video the defense minister coughed to get Udina's attention. Udina immediately stopped and turned to the minister. "I find it difficult to believe this is captain Anderson's or either commander Shepards' fault. The man can literally teleport, has access to cloaking technology far beyond what we are starting to get into service, and that is just what we have seen. For all we know, he can do things that make those look like parlor tricks.
However, captain, I need some clarification. Did you inform the ambassador of the… eldar, I think he called himself?"
Anderson simply nodded and kept his face impassive as he threw the ambassador under the proverbial bus. "Yes sir, in my initial report, in my follow up report with the gathered evidence, and in person immediately upon arrival at the Citadel."
He was merciful enough to not say more, but the hateful look Udina sent his way meant he had said enough. Minister Kreiggeory simply nodded, and turned to Udina. "Ambassador Udina, did you inform the Council that we had found a new space faring race, and that we had the only known representative on the captain's ship?"
Udina was quick to prove he was gifted in the art of story spinning. "I tried, minister, but the Council was more interested in the fact we were accusing a Spectre of besieging a colony with the geth."
The defense minister made a noise of understanding before nodding. "Alright then. Admiral, you can deal with the military folks. The ambassador and I will deal with the politicians. Give the Council a call, Udina, we can tell them about the new race loose on a station where he can only understand a twentieth of the population. Both of us. And that he is armed with a weapon that can melt or vaporize five meters of solid steel, a sword, of all things, that can cut through heavy hardsuits like butter, and other things that we don't know what they do."
Anderson nodded to the Admiral and left the room, the Shepard twins gratefully following him out to the hallway and into the guest room. He gestured for the two marines to relax even as they hurriedly sprung to their feet abandoning a previous conversation. Anderson headed for the console to open a line to Admiral Hackett while the twins took a seat. Admiral Hackett was talking with Anderson in the corner of the room, but quietly. They had a bit less than an hour to get to the hearing, and it was a half hour walk.
Jaclyn was the first to speak. "So, four hours to investigate an attack at a place that is two days distant from the Citadel. Anyone else getting a feeling we are just getting led on a wild snipe hunt?"
Joannis just laughed. "What? You mean the Council isn't just going to believe a random accusation of their top Spectre operative because of a dead man's testimony, a silhouette on a modest quality security camera, and a hunch?"
That got a snort from Ashley, but before they could continue the conversation, Anderson saluted; Admiral Hackett faded out, and the captain came over to the group. He looked over the group, before smoothing out his dress uniform. "We need to get over to the Presidium. The hearing is starting soon, and we don't want to be even a second late."
The four soldiers formed up behind their commander, and headed for the elevator. As they passed Udina's office, voices could barely be heard from the hallway, in spite of the soundproofing. Joannis watched her sister glance at the office. "Anything we need to know about that situation, sir?"
"No, it has gone higher than us, and the Council will be handling it."
That got a derisive snort from Ashley, though Jaclyn was the one to respond. "You mean actually deal with him running around, or appoint a committee to-"
"Enough."
Anderson entered the elevator, but waited for the doors to close before speaking. "I don't care what your thoughts on the council are. We need their help with the geth attack, and you will keep those thoughts to yourself until they decide one way or another. It will be hard enough without them using personal thoughts and opinions against us.
"But yes, they have alerted C-Sec about him, and all the Spectres already on the Citadel have been alerted. It will be very hard for him to move around with that many people looking. No matter what he is doing, with that many people looking for him, with all the technology and skills available arrayed against him, he will give up soon enough and let himself be found. Now, focus on the hearing, and see if we can convince the Council their top agent has gone rogue."
If Arlas wasn't in such a hurry from the vision, he would love to do nothing more than linger and keep playing with the local security. They were so delightfully dense. It was like teasing a mon-keigh back home, disappearing around one corner and then vanishing only to appear around another. And even better, no one ever thought to look up. Even the humans back home knew to check all angles when hunting an eldar, not just the horizontal ones. He nevertheless decided after losing the latest group of pursuers, with the simple strategy of warp jumping up into the shadows near the ceiling behind the group, to be a bit more careful. He did have something of a deadline.
Still, he had already seen the empty window, the drifting purple star had been the stupidest looking ship he had ever had the misfortune to see, and it was only worse when he overheard someone mention it was a warship. The circle of symbols had been either a den for games of chance, or a circular area where traders harassed everyone moving through. Now he was hunting the thrashing silhouette of fire and metal.
It took longer than he would have liked, as there were dozens of halls leading off of the market place, though only two into the casino. And the policing forces were getting more spread out, thinking perhaps he had moved out of the sector. Now, however, there were a couple of the blue skinned females, and one of the bug eyed bipeds in the area, hunting something. They were fairly subtle about it, none in obvious armor like the policing forces, but their attitudes and the fact they openly displayed a firearm, or in one blue's case three, made them fairly easy to spot and avoid. Still, the security presence only added difficulty, nothing too strenuous considering he was used to dodging immaterium augmented humans, senses as sharp as his own from his fallen kin, and the foul and unnatural senses of the tyranids. Even with his enhanced senses though, and knowing he needed to unfocus his mind to let it see what the vision had provided, he still nearly walked right past the marker, simply because it was hanging from a wall, rather than lying on the ground.
A silhouette of a standard mammalian female biped of indeterminate race, 'reclined' on the wall, made of metal wires that lit up in orange lights. He wondered why someone would waste the resources to make and power something like that, before shrugging and moving to the nearby door, the last one in the alley. He didn't immediately open the door, instead taking a moment to refold his cloak over most of his weapons, people in confined spaces tended to find large firearms intimidating, and sometimes would act without an eye to the consequences.
And so the eldar entered the room, though he was rather embarrassed that he had to wait for someone else first, as his attempts to touch the control hadn't yielded a response. Probably because his cloak was active.
Regardless, his entry still took far longer than it should, and made a note to learn about the doors when he got back. Once he was finally inside, he took a look around as he moved to one side of the door, ensuring no one would accidentally bump into him. A large circular main room, a large column in the center with a waist high barrier around it. Alcoves spaced along the side evenly, filled with tables and chairs. As he looked around, another portion of the vision kicked in as he focused on the people and his mind finally translated the 'noise' he had been hearing into rhythmic pounding. The dancers up on top of the column and tables, if such inelegant and tasteless movements could be called dancing were wearing black, and their eyes looked more like the blank stare of a corpse than those of a living person in the dim lighting.
A quick look around didn't reveal what he was looking for, purple mist with silver gems, but did bring a passage at the back of the tavern to his attention. Arlas took a moment to recharge his armor runes, not needing their various boosts to run out halfway through a fight again, before pulling his hood down, and making his way around the bar. About half the beings in the bar paused to assess the sudden newcomer, but didn't move as he ignored them. The dark colors of the armor, as well as the dim lighting, no doubt helping their decision to not get involved yet.
The exception was a fairly large biped, however, was sneering from the alcove he needed to get into, and Arlas took a moment to examine the creature. A large hump, easily adding to its already large frame, even taller than him, a wide head with eyes set to provide a wider viewing range, thick plates covering what little flesh that the armor didn't cover. A thick black plate covered this one's forehead, and a quick examination of his acquired memories provided him with the species name, krogan. The eldar didn't have time to do more as the krogan noticed he was approaching.
"Beat it, human, you aren't allowed in this area."
Arlas sighed in his helmet, before simply doing an elegant suithehish bruath, or dancing sidestep, around the brute. It was somewhat surprising to the eldar when the krogan managed to grab him out of the sidestep and shoved him back into the main room. Arlas recovered without stumbling and stared at the krogan whose hand now rested on something just behind the small of his back. "You deaf, stupid, or just have a death wish, human? I said, get lost."
Neither moved for a moment and then Arlas smoothly drew and buried his sword in the gut of the krogan, the wraithbone blade easily penetrating armor, flesh, bone, and weapon in one quick movement. He simply held the blade there, as the krogan's eyes widened and gasped in pain. A quick pull of the blade removed it. The eldar had not bothered to twist it as getting stabbed in the gut would disable the mon-keigh with pain and he stepped around the krogan falling to his knees. The bar had gone utterly silent, the anticipation of a fight turning to confusion as the krogan fell to his knees, and part of the krogan's weapon fell to the floor.
He had barely gotten halfway to the door when he heard a roar. The eldar managed to turn around only to get picked up by the krogan as he was bodychecked and slammed into the wall. Arlas managed to turn enough to look at the krogan, whose eyes were now fully bloodshot and bloody spittle oozing from his mouth. "Now you're dead, meat."
He wasn't sure how the krogan had managed to shrug off the pain but he could hear the others in the main room finally moving and reacting to the fight. "It's a raid!"
"Bastard is after the boss."
"Get him."
"Everyone OUT!"
A quick slice with the blade removed the arm trying to crush the eldar's throat, but only seemed to infuriate the krogan even more, as the krogan lashed out with his other hand slamming the eldar's helmet against the wall. A stab and downward slice into the shoulder made the krogan release Arlas, followed by a stab into the brain through the descending maw as it tried to bite him, finally finished the krogan. Arlas quickly supported the body, as rounds began filling the air around him. The pathfinder pulled out his flamer and moved to the wall burning the first few thugs that were incautious enough to step into the alcove, several of the blue rounds bouncing off his runic armor's psy-shield. A blinking disk sailed into the alcove and landed behind a crate in one corner.
An explosion launched the crate into the wall behind him, prompting the eldar to move faster and discard the body. He replaced his two weapons, grabbed his long rifle, and began picking off targets with carefully placed shots as he slowly leaned about the corner, bringing thugs into his sights one at a time. He wasted a second as the last few thugs fled the common room, tracking them, before moving toward the door as he did have something he needed to do.
The psychically enhanced blade took only a minute to slice through the door, cutting through the seams to disconnect the door from the locking mechanisms. A single push caved it in, and he dashed through a store room, ignoring a handful of cowering workers. The eldar's focus was two doors ahead of him instead of the workers. A glance back showed the last worker frantically vacating the room through the destroyed door, so Arlas picked the closest door, figuring it likely to lead to a larger room. From what he knew of the local races, they equated larger space with power. He made a couple quick slices along the edges of this door, and then kicked the door in.
Arlas stepped through the door, took one look around, and froze.
He was almost at the end of his first greater cycle, the first thousand years, and during his wanderings away from the craftworld, he had seen things that had numbed his sense of horror, anger, outrage, and disgust. His kin falling into the same debauchery, indolence, and self gratification that had led to the original Fall, the casual cruelty that the mon-keigh did to each other in the name of their dying corpse god, the horrid rituals of those warped by the Immaterium to summon daemons to their cause, the implacable march of the necrontyr and their soul and star devouring gods, and the uncaring hunger of the rampaging tyranid hordes.
But seeing others in cages just barely large enough to hold them, even if they were mon-keigh, or one of the newer races, set him off. Such a sight would always set him off, he knew what it felt like to sit in one of the cages for days on end. In his case, he had been injured following a battle against the dark eldar and badly wounded enough that they couldn't torture him, and a pair of fellow outcasts had sprung him before he could be defiled more than just being caged and shackled, but the feeling of soul deep terror and pain had never truly left him. Especially since he knew exactly what his fallen kin were going to do to him, a dark eldar wych had taken great enjoyment from describing all the things she wanted to do to him once he was strong enough, and had burned her personal sigil into his neck, claiming him as her property. Once he had gotten out, he hadn't wasted time in burning the sigil off, but he still carried the large burns.
None of the mon-keigh in the cages looked up as he entered, but the feeling of absolute terror and despair was nearly a physical attack on his mind. The fact the room also contained a second, larger exit as well as crates and containers of various sizes went completely unnoticed, as did the fact that the room curved around away from him, encasing more area than he initially had assumed.
Arlas stepped out of the room, and took a very deep breath, before storming to the second door. This time he didn't bother with anything subtle, no fancy work with the blade. He simply gathered as much psychic power as he could, channeled it into his sword, and swung.
It was a fairly standard door as far as he knew, made from what the sensors in his helmet reported was a low quality steel by eldar standards. The witchblade still carved through it like a power weapon through a fresh fruit, and then the psychic power discharged, blowing half the door completely across the hallway to embed itself in another door, while the walls, door frame, and remaining part of the door bowed away from the blow. Not as much damage as his anger would want, but it served its purpose, dispersing his rage to more manageable levels.
He entered the hallway with the sword resting gently on his shoulder, his flamer pistol in the other hand. It was short, maybe five meters between the two doorways, but a secondary hallway led to one side, away from the storage room with the slaves. Arlas stepped around the corner like he didn't have a care in the world, and took in the room before him. The room was fairly modest, a large desk in the center with some sort of display, two boxes in the far corners from him, a pair of chairs in front of the desk, and two beings inside it. One was a human male, ugly face even by mon-keigh standards with hard lines, a grim expression, and stupid looking hair, wearing a dark suit of some sort and pointing a handgun at him from the far side of the desk.
However, a simple glance at the other occupant told Arlas that he had found the next step. This one was far more interesting, another new species. She, and the figure was definitely female, her full body suit hugged her curves a bit too much to make her gender a question to anyone with eyes, held a pistol in one hand pointed in the eldar's direction, and her other hand was encased in one of those omni-tools. Her suit was a visually pleasing and delightful combination of black, light and dark grey fabrics, and a mostly opaque purple visor covered her face, revealing only what looked like silver eyes. Arlas smiled softly in his own helmet, having found the purple mist and silver gems. Now he just had to get her to come with him to the tower of white, encased in flames. Or the Presidium Tower, as the local memories supplied the name and even a good map of the local areas to it.
He first had to convince her to come with him of course. And standing with a sword and flamer pistol was not likely to do that. So, in a display of bravado, the eldar put the flamer pistol onto his hip, and leaned against the nearest wall. "Greetings."
Both occupants' pistols lowered slightly, and he bounced the sword on his shoulder a few times, waiting for something to occupants were clearly both waiting for the same thing, though the human was working from confusion back to rage. He resumed control of the conversation when it became apparent they weren't going to join in. "Sorry about the mess, planned to just talk with Gemling here. Then I saw the next room, and lost my temper. Slaver."
His last comment caused the dynamic of the stand off to shift, the male reaching over the desk, fast as a striking tyranid, and yanking the gemling over the desk. She yelped, unable to keep a grip on her pistol, but did managed to bring her arm with the omni-tool around to slam against his thigh. As the male shoved the muzzle against her head, Gemling finally spoke, a nice, enjoyable, rolling language that, while still crude, at least didn't grate on his ears like most human languages did. Sadly, Arlas couldn't understand a word of it, yet. {I have an overload primed, and powerful enough to fry you, traitorous slaver.}
Unfortunately for her, the male didn't seem impressed by whatever she said, and kept the pistol pressed against her head. "Fuck off asshole. You want to talk to her? Too bad, powerful people want the suit bitch dead."
Now he was in familiar territory, and Arlas knew the situation could be handled. He calmly sheathed his sword into the wall, pushing it into the metal without noticeable effort, and then pulled off his cloak and carelessly hung it from the handle. Gemling paused in her rant stare at the sword sliding into the wall, as did Slaver. The eldar couldn't make out her expression, other than the widening of what he assumed were eyes, but the human's face had drained of blood, and his wide eyes spoke of terror. Arlas permitted himself a flash of amusement, as he realized he was back in full control of the situation. He then reached over his shoulder, and pulled the long rifle out, before carefully examining it. "Now, are you going to be reasonable? I need her help and you want to live. I think we can begin negotiations. Or I can just kill you and be done."
Arlas might be an eldar, and only somewhat familiar with humans due to his long association with various renegades during his time as an Outcast, but he found he could read this human like a psy-memory. Slaver was already sweating heavily, and eying both his desk and the door. The former concerned the eldar, but he didn't let it show. "Here is the only deal you get, Slaver. You let Gemling there go, and we give you exactly one minute, while we wait in here, to run."
Another phrase from the hostage, though she didn't seem terribly upset. As far as he could tell at least, without knowing what she was saying. {I am not a piece of meat for sale, you arrogant bosh'tets. And my name is not gemling, museum escapee.}
He figured she was definitely being appreciative for the rescue, as his attention returned to the human. Slaver was thinking hard, but Arlas was not in a patient mood. He raised the long rifle, and centered the shot right on his skull. "Last chance, accept or decline."
Slaver's projected emotions were one of roiling fear, anger, contempt and arrogance. He didn't respond immediately, but after a few seconds ducked down, using Gemling as a body shield as he shifted the pistol to a more intimidating and open position, trying to emphasize the threat. "Better idea, back off or the-"
Arlas simply fired his long rifle. It was meant for distances of up to three kilometers thanks to his customizations, firing a bolt of condensed energy capable of cutting through several centimeters of the best ceramite armor the mon-keigh could come up with, though as a matter of pride most eldar would still aim for weak points in the armor. At this range, Slaver didn't have time to realize that Arlas had shifted his aim and pulled the trigger before the invisible bolt collided with the pistol. The simple materials were nowhere near resistant enough to survive the sudden heat that slammed into it, melting the pistol into a distorted lump around the man's hand. He screamed and reflexively tried to pull the jammed trigger, before foolishly releasing his hostage to grab at the gun and pry it off.
And Gemling responded like he would expect an annoyed howling banshee, turning and slamming her glowing omnitool into his head. Slaver screamed and dropped as a sharp crack echoed through the room, a discharge of electricity rippling over his form. Gemling ducked down, and yanked a small curved blade from the back of her leg, and stabbed him in the thigh. {And that was for planning to betray me, you geth lover.}
She yanked the knife out, cutting the tendon there, a move that Arlas had used many times before. He smirked as Gemling gave Slaver a kick to the head to keep him from moving, and then moved around to the other side of the desk. Arlas returned the rifle to his back, and then headed toward his sword, only to pause when he heard something clattering open and the whine of powerful gears. A quick turn revealed that the two boxes had contained turrets, which were both pointing at him, Gemling sitting behind the desk with a large, blocky weapon aimed at him as well. {I suppose I owe you a favor for keeping me from getting involved with that bosh'tet, but I am not going to be a prize for anyone.}
He simply looked at her for a second, before pulling the sword out of the wall with a mental twist and a flick of his wrist. A quick movement, and he was sitting in front of Gemling, sword back on his back, and hands resting on the desk in front of her. He needed to hurry but he also needed her help. After a moment of staring at each other, he spoke in his native language. "I know you can't understand me, but you need to follow me. I have to get somewhere with you, so you can do something. Not sure exactly what yet, but I just need your language so we can get going and learn what you must do."
Gemling started at the new language, before slowly lowering her large weapon to the desk. It still pointed at Arlas but now not directly at him. He leaned forward before she could start asking questions, and offered her a hand, pausing to lean to one side and kick Slaver in the head as the scum shifted. That got a soft snort from Gemling, and she carefully placed her hand in his. A moment of focus, and he could lift the language, though she seemed to sense something was happening, and instinctively resisted. Which immediately led to a headache, which immediately caused her shotgun to snap up at him. At least now he could understand her. "Bosh'tet. I don't know what you tried-"
Arlas replied in human common, the language he had the most familiarity with so far. "I required your language, which I now have. I am Arlas, pathfinder of the Eldar. You are?
Gemling stared at him, before stuttering a response. "Tail'Zorah nar Rayya. Of the Quarians."
He stood before she could think to ask more questions. "We need depart, quickly. Already we have lingered longer than wise. You know something, something important. What?"
Tali'Zorah just stared at him for a moment, before the soft whine of the turrets grabbed her attention. She stared at the display in front of her, before touching a few points of light on her forearm, causing the turrets to power down and return to their hiding spot. "You mean the geth data? Everyone seems to want it."
The last was accompanied by a spike of resentment, which he ignored. "We need to go, I know someone who needs that information, as soon as possible. May I hear it as we leave? If it is as important as everyone else seems to believe, I suspect that the humans will gladly promise almost anything for it."
She gave him a glare, before sighing and rubbing one arm. "Keelah. I didn't... Nevermind. Here."
She followed with all the enthusiasm of someone walking into an ambush but knowing it was the best on a long list of bad options. Since Arlas had done that a few times, he knew both the walk and feeling. She tapped her omni-tool a few times, and let the recording play as they left the club. He nodded once after he listened to it. "Yes, the commanders and captain will definitely want to hear this. Now, in fact. The humans were complaining about that attack, and this will definitely help them. It would be useful no matter when they get it, but earlier is better. Especially for you."
Arlas watched her for a moment and immediately knew exactly how old this… infant in front of him was. Her body language screamed fear, uncertainty, and doubt, she wrung her hands, something he had never seen before and found oddly amusing to watch, and she looked everywhere but at him. She was a child, with no real experience of her own to call upon, and it showed to even the most casual of glances. She still followed him as he left, but clearly more from lack of thinking of a better option or perhaps out of habit than because she had thought it the superior choice. But the important thing was that she was following.
A few steps got them out of the slaver lair, and glance showed no one was outside waiting. A few quick turns took him to one of the side passages, where Gemling spoke up. "Do we have to take the side passages? And where are you taking me?"
"Yes, and the white tower. You are needed there."
She stared at him for a moment, before shaking her head. "The white tower? Are you… sure?"
He paused, before shaking his head. "Sorry, I meant the Presidium Tower."
Her unease with the situation was a physical sensation for him, but he kept both of them moving. A few minutes later, he paused at a junction, before backing up slightly. He gestured for Gemling to stay, before flipping his hood up and activating the camo function of his cloak. He blended into the background, watching the cross passage he had just approached. A moment later, a couple blue uniformed beings sprinted by, staying in the larger passage, intent on their destination. Arlas pulled his hood down a few seconds after they passed and stopped supplying energy to the cloak.
Tali was suddenly right beside him, actually surprising him at how fast and quiet she had moved forward, and was examining the cloak with interest. "Fabric that can change to match its surroundings? But how did you cover your face, I couldn't see any of you. And how did it conceal your weapons, they are not under it."
He stepped through the corridor, keeping a quick but not fast pace. "Cameleoline cloak, it projects a distortion field as long as it has power. We need to keep moving."
Tali was silent for several more minutes, following signs to the Presidium, but after dodging another group of blue clad officers, she started asking questions again. "Why are you avoiding C-Sec? I mean other than the fact you fought your way, alone, through a club of thugs and gangsters and criminals and... Oh Keelah, what am I doing alone with you?"
That last question got earned a surge of amusement from him, though she couldn't sense it. "Getting to safety and a way to strike back at those that would make you a victim."
That seemed to disperse her fears, and she was silent for the rest of the walk to the Presidium. Which was good, as his mind was starting to itch again, which meant he needed to hurry. He looked around after stepping off the elevator to the innermost ring of the station, ignoring the nearby beings taking a second look and the stares. Their projected confusion turned to disgust or contempt when Tali stepped out, and all of them turned away, continuing whatever they were doing while Tali seemed to shrink in on herself. He finally spotted the tower, a couple minutes walk from the elevator they left.
As he walked toward the tower, he looked around. It was a wide, open space, with a visible curve, at most a kilometer to where the curve was blocked by the ceiling by his reckoning from the curve and the detail he could make out. Then he remembered the rangefinder built into the helm, and did a couple quick scans of the distance, but quickly discovered something was interfering with the targeting system. He shrugged and made a note to check later as he continued onward.
The plaza they were in had open water, and a few trees he could see, but so far he wasn't impressed by the area. It was small, carefully cultivated for appearance rather than function, and had more small dwellings and several larger structures than actual plants. He could think of at least a dozen biodomes in his home section of the craftworld larger than this area, especially since they didn't try to use the interior of the ring, and those biodomes were at least useful along with being functional and appealing. All this place could do, and barely at that, was be slightly appealing.
Once he got to the base of the tower he mentally kicked himself. Several guards were posted, most in the blue outfit of this… C-Sec group, but there were several nearby in what passed for civilian clothing, their emotions clearly marking the difference. He stared at the security checkpoint, before turning to Tali. "I did not consider the guard post. If I ask you to play the evidence, please do so as loud as you can. I will get us through, but stand clear a bit. If they are confrontational, I do not wish to chance you being injured."
Arlas watch Tali head to a nearby dwelling, which had a... He paused, turning to make sure he saw it right, and was torn between alarmed and amused at the sight of a floating, bright pink ocean predator, hanging tentacles just brushing the floor. It was slightly unnerving, but Tali simply greeted the creature, and began examining the items on the various surfaces, causing him to realize it was a mon-keigh shop. Arlas gave a mental shake, as he dismissed the latest oddity from his mind, before heading toward the tower entrance. As he approached, several officers spotted him, and stared, causing him to think only one thing. *Well, this is going to be interesting.*
Lieutenant Commander Jaclyn Shepard stood at ease beside Ashley and Kaidan, watching her twin from the sidelines. She had no interest in standing up on the petitioner podium like some kind of beggar, attempting to curry a favor from some lord's table. Her sister had the patience and understanding to do that. Jaclyn was watching the four security snipers and six guards she could see from her current position, more out of habit than expecting any trouble. Saren Arterius wasn't physically present, but loomed over the 'proceedings' anyway, a massive light construct that sneered enough to make her want to hunt him down even if he didn't have anything to do with the Eden Prime attack.
Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson were up on the podium, having just finished presenting the last of their hard evidence. C-Sec had had four hours to investigate the possibility of Saren being involved, and had, surprise surprise, come up with nothing solid. They could have run his public finances through their virtual intelligences, make queries on his locator beacon, and maybe even tap a couple of information brokers or their own sources for information.
But the Council had hamstrung the investigation even further, in spite of their orders to investigate the Spectre. No prioritization orders, no orders to the other Spectres to comply, no funding to assist in the investigation, and not enough time to do anything. Jaclyn knew was exactly why they had done that; because they didn't want to know if their Spectre had gone rogue. So it was probably for the best if she was down here, not required to look at Saren, or the Council, or Udina. This hearing was already done as the Council had already decided that even if Saren was dirty, it wasn't their problem and therefore they didn't have to do anything about it.
So she was already going through what she could before they were dismissed. She knew a couple information brokers that owed her a favor or two, that one shop in the wards would have an ear to the ground and might know something, C-Sec would definitely not be happy at being ordered to do something and then getting stonewalled by the same people, and maybe her twin had some local contacts. She would have dug further, but her omnitool suddenly flashed, indicating an incoming call. A glance showed her sister absently dismissing the call, so she took it more to relieve her boredom than anything else.
She raised an eyebrow as she read the sender data, indicating a C-Sec priority call, but a turian appeared on screen before she could do more. She wasn't that versed in turian facial expressions, but even she could tell this one was unhappy about something, mandibles tight against his jaw. "Sorry to bother you, ma'am. C-Sec, Sergeant Drusipanus, at the Presidium Tower entry checkpoint. We have a person here, demanding we call you, claims to be elder, sorry, Eldar Arlas, and that you asked him to meet with him."
She paused, and glanced at the Council, before moving away from the hearing. Her twin glanced over, but she gave a small movement, letting her know she was dealing with something. "Yes, send him up please. I will meet him at the elevator."
The sergeant nodded, before glancing to the side. "Right, and the quarian with him?"
She wondering why and where he had picked up a quarian before she hedged her reply. "Can I speak with Arlas?"
The turian's mandibles flicked, before the view turned to show the eldar. She glared at the eldar, before speaking, trying to not shout at him through the transmission. "Arlas, glad you could rejoin us. What is this about a quarian?"
Arlas didn't move, his voice as monotone as she remembered. "She is the entire reason I returned. You should hear what she found. Immediately. Otherwise, I would be meeting you at the space vessel."
Jaclyn sighed, before nodding. "Sergeant, send them both up, I will meet them at the elevators."
Arlas simply waited as the sergeant fumed at his omnitool, the rest of the dozen officers glaring at him and at Tali. After a moment, Arlas simply stepped around him, and into the elevator behind them, gesturing for Tali to follow. The quarian slowly followed behind, not relaxing as the guards gave her escort a suspicious glare. After she finally got in, he pushed the top most button, closing the door. Once that was closed, he reached over, and snagged both of Tali's weapons, hiding them under his cloak. Tali wordlessly protested his actions and glared at him until he spoke. "Would you rather be bringing in a weapon?"
That got her to stop glaring, before she reluctantly shook her head, though now her hands were strangling each other again. Her actions caused him to feel a surge of amusement, as no eldar child would be so undisciplined as to display so much physical evidence of their emotions in public. So after securing her weapons, and ensuring his own were at least unobtrusive, he relaxed, turning back to the door. "Just remember what I said, about the recording, and relax."
The quarian glared at him, but didn't reply. After more than three minutes in the elevator, they were finally nearing the top of the structure, but something was off. He could sense several beings waiting at the exit of the elevator, five of them from the different emotions he could feel, but one felt different. The other four were mostly bored, with varying other emotions mixed in, but the odd one felt calm and focused, like the guard was expecting a fight soon. He could also, dimly, sense a mind that felt like one of the human twins approaching, but it would take a short while, and the edgy guard was much closer.
He spent the last moment in the elevator deliberating his actions before he stepped over and gently pushed Gemling into cover, over her protests, right before the doors opened. Arlas immediately stepped out, but kept in the way of the door. "Stay there a moment, Tali. Might have trouble."
She immediately froze, silenced by the suggestion of trouble, allowing him to observe the guards. They were slightly spread out, and four, two asari and salarians, were staring at him as he looked around, caution and slight confusion now dominating their emotions, but the focused turian guard was even moreso now, and approaching. A large specimen, for a turian, Arlas actually found someone that stood almost equal to him in height. It was an amusing experience, because as soon as the turian realized that he didn't tower over Arlas, he faltered slightly.
Nevertheless, the guard rallied himself. "Halt, you aren't supposed to be here."
The guard drew a weapon from his back, which unfolded into a large block, unimpressive in its appearance, all hard lines and angles, lacking any finesse or grace about it. His armor was massive and heavy, or at least he seemed to think it was, trying to loom over the eldar. Considering that the eldar had fought two and a half to three meter tall space marines, as well as ork warbosses and tyranid siege and leader bioforms that were even bigger, Arlas wasn't impressed. He simply stared at the turian, before turning to stare at the stairs leading up and deeper into the uppermost floor of the tower. The human was closer, but apparently taking her time, a bit more than halfway to him.
Arlas turned back to the guard, realizing he would have to deal with the guard. "Commander Shepard is approaching to escort us. Your presence is not required."
"I don't care if you claim the entire Council on their way. They haven't called it in, you don't get in. Get back in the elevator, now."
Arlas didn't move, staring at the lasted for about ten seconds, before the guard suddenly jumped backwards, and shouted loudly. "Stand down, right now!"
Arlas' twitched unconsciously at the sudden movement and shout, ancient instincts reacting before he could suppress them. The guard saw him twitch, and opened fire with a feeling of grim satisfaction.
For the eldar, it was slightly surreal, the sudden burst of light streaking toward his chest from the barrel, the other guards suddenly reaching for their own weapons, or bringing up omnitools to point at him, but they were slow, surprised. His armor's psychic field caught the first shot, turning it aside, and he reached for his sword and flamer pistol, twisting to the side as a second and third shot screamed past. He lunged forward, the turian's emotion going from a trace of satisfaction to sudden shock and fear as Arlas closed the distance faster than he anticipated. The witchblade sang as it slid from its sheath, the sixth shot glancing off his shoulder armor. He ignored a shout from somewhere behind him, already focused on the opponent before him.
When Arlas was close enough, he struck. The turian screamed as he lost both hands, the rifle firing twice as it fell to the ground, but before Arlas could strike again, he felt something interact with his armor's protective field, and then bypass it. He didn't even have time to try to dodge before it hit him right in the back. He staggered a couple of steps, before whirling about to face the new threat, and found a squad of fourteen individuals aiming at him.
He glanced at the turian on the ground before flicking clean and then sheathing the sword, and returning the flamer pistol to his hip. The turian in charge, with pale blue facial markings in a dark red and brown set of armor adorned with a blue stripe nodded, before looking at the guards. "Stand down! Officer Yelji, stabilize Constable Gorculus, and then get me his omnitool before you get him to medical. Officer Adacolus, Gratrian, and Aganus, secure that suspect. Officer Vakarian, good shot."
As the turian was issuing orders, Commander Shepard finally bothered to arrive, moving at a fast walk. She looked around, saw Arlas standing to one side, a quarian in the elevator, a turian C-Sec on the ground missing both hands being tended by a Salarian, and a full twelve man C-Sec Special Response Squad aiming at the Eldar. She turned to the turian that had been talking, and greeted him. "Executor Pallin, what is going on?"
The turian looked at Shepard, and while he kept his tone and mandibles tightly controlled, Arlas could feel annoyance oozing from him. "Commander. Dealing with someone that attacked one of my officers. He is lucky I was talking with the squad leader, otherwise the Response Team would have killed him."
The human gave Arlas a glare as he snorted out loud, before turning to the Executor. "Sir, I was coming down to see what he wanted. The checkpoint at the entrance called me five minutes ago about him. He is also the new species the Council issued the alert on a few hours ago."
Arlas watched everyone turn to stare at her, and as they turned back to him, he reached up, undid the right shoulder clasp, and theatrically flung the cape back, so that it only covered the left side of his form. He gave the Executor an elegant tenth of a bow, moving as gracefully and smoothly as he could, before straightening up. He then spoke in Eldar. {I am pleased to see your security so ready to defend their leaders, but perhaps they should exercise restraint before lethal force. I am Arlas, Pathfinder of the Eldar people residing on Craftworld Ae'Imedra. Now, would you kindly quit screwing around, before we miss whatever is going on at the other end? That is the entire reason I bothered coming off the ship.}
He waited a moment, as everyone gaped at the new language, before one of the asari leaned over to murmur to her partner in her native tongue. "I don't know what she said, but I REALLY wouldn't mind listening to it again."
The executor stared at the newcomer for a moment, his eyes moving to the large rifle protruding from over his shoulder, back to the helmet, before sighing and rubbing his eyes. "Fine, but no weapons."
Arlas smirked behind his helmet, before turning to the elevator. "Tali, you may exit the vertical conveyance presently."
The quarian had barely stepped out of the elevator before freezing as several turians stared at her. Shepard looked at the quarian, and then back to the eldar, no longer as amused. "Arlas, explain."
Instead of answering, he shrugged. "Tali, please activate your audio recording, at your leisure."
That got everyone's attention turned to him, giving the skittish young woman a chance to focus on her omnitool. A second later, everyone's attention snapped back to her as a flanged voice boomed from the speakers, bombast and arrogant in its presentation. "Loyal g-geth followers. The Sovereign has revealed the nex-ext step of our grand endeavor. And it *static*-he mos-ssssss-t important mission yet. The humans have recovered a working Pr-*static* Beacon on Eden Prime. We can not allow it to fall into their hands, or *screech*-cil's, without jeopardizing our ultimate design."
Shepard had frozen in place, her emotions a mix of shock and disbelief, that was slowly giving way to vicious pleasure with a touch of suspicion as she listened to the recording. Most of the turians were simply confused, but one turian, the one the executor had named Vakarian, was listening with slowly growing but equal measures of both anger and amusement. The guard on the ground was listening with rage and frustration. The executor was simply getting angrier and angrier with each word. Then a second, smoother voice, almost sultry in its tone, cut in. "This mission can *static*-ill not, must not fail. For if you do, we fail *static* the location of the Con-Conduit, and fail to aid the Reapers in their return."
The first voice returned, this time more commanding, with an undertone of threat even he could hear. "But the Sovereign has foreseen their pathetic *static* resistance, and with my assistance, has divined an assault to rip them apart. Assault plan-plan-plans, ti-ti-ti-ti-timers, and maps ha-ha-ha-*static* uploaded to your servers, and they must be followed to the smallest detail. While the Sovereign can not aid our attack directly, indirectly it will *static* victory. Do not fail me, and do not fail the Reapers."
Pallin was the first to speak as the recording ended. "Quarian, I am Executor Pallin of C-Sec. Is there anything else? And where did you get that?"
She nodded, before tapping away. "Yes, I got the maps with markers and some of the timers. Sending a copy. I got it from a geth unit that me and several others disabled in the Crescent Nebula. We were heading to Illium to begin our Pilgrimages, when I spotted a few reports mentioning unknown ships being sighted in a nearby system. The descriptions strongly resembled what my people knew were geth ships, so I convinced the crew to go investigate. Eventually we ended up in the Ondeste system, on Maisuth, where me and the crew found an isolated geth unit."
At this point, one of the turians spoke, scorn in its flanged voice. "And it just gave you the data?"
One of the other officers elbowed him, but Tali just glared. "No, it took two of us to lock down its cyberwarfare abilities, another to prevent it from calling for help, three to electronically disable the chassis to allow physical access to its drives, and then myself and a friend to actually hack in and get it, while it was deleting everything. While we got a lot of it, there was a lot we didn't. We headed back to the ship when we got ambushed by a mercenary group. Eventually, the crew and my friends were all dead, and I ended up on the Citadel where I lost the mercs."
She unconsciously touched her side, and flinched slightly. Arlas frowned, having not been aware she was wounded. A quick glance showed Vakarian and Pallin hunched over the latter's omnitool, and two of the other officers were subtly pointing their omnitool's at the quarian. The wounded turian had left, as had both of his amputated hands with two guards helping him. Another of the Special Response Team had moved to replace the maimed guard. Arlas smirked, before wandering toward Shepard, only for six of the squad to turn to him. One, a short turian with no head fringes, spoke. "Hold it, sir. You can't go deeper yet. Orders."
Before he could respond, Pallin abruptly swore, even as Vakarian made a deep rasping noise. "No, he comes. This is important, and the Council needs to hear this, now. Garrus, you have that extra information?"
The turian beside him spread his mandibles wide, and nodded. "Done before I joined you, sir. And very interesting, I must thank Saren for giving me the idea to check. I am almost embarrassed I didn't think of it earlier."
Pallin spared the time to glare at the other officer, before heading toward the far end. "Quicktime people. The..."
Arlas supplied the answer before the executor could ask. "Eldar is my species. I am commonly called Arlas."
That earned him a flat stare, but the eldar was wearing a helmet, so Pallin didn't glare long. "Ambassador Arlas can come, but please do not reach for a weapon. The snipers are likely twitchy. Walk beside me please. You too Shepard. The rest of you, escort the witness to the station, and have her wait in a secure room, and see to her needs."
In a lower voice, he spoke to the nine officers. "And if anything happens to her and you aren't dead to give yourselves an excuse, I am putting you on far-ward patrol for the rest of your spirits be damned careers, short though they will be."
Arlas watched with interest as all of the remaining officers flinched at that threat before saluting and leaving with the nervous quarian. She gave him a glance, but followed behind them at his nod. He then turned, and stepped between the human and executor, with officer Vakarian following behind the trio. *Time to ruin someone's day,* he thought, basking in the almost childish pleasure of the human and the grim anger of the turians.
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