Chapter 16: Ah Yes 'Reapers'

Jack knew that couldn't have gone any better realistically but, he had been more hopeful. The compromise The Illusive Man had come up with to keep him on good behavior only created problems if the Council was actually willing to help. He was optimistic Saren could talk some sense into the Council, however, the more realistic side of his brain was telling him they would just find someway to deny what he said. Also, seeing Jack and Saren seemingly back from the dead due to Cerberus might be enough to get the Council to ignore them. Cerberus was a terrorist organization that was already responsible for the genocide of billions on the Migrant fleet alone, would the Council really act on intelligence coming from them?

Kal was pacing around the medbay door nervously watching as he approached, "So? Where are we headed?"

Jack gave him a half smile, "The Citadel, The Illusive Man insisted you and Garrus have to stay on the ship though. He's worried I'm planning on turning against this little merry band we have going."

Saren cut in standing next to them, "How's Garrus doing? What did the doctor say about his health?"

Kal turned to him sounding concerned, "He'll live but he definitely took a bad hit. He has a million questions about what's going on and you but, Karin sedated him again so he wouldn't ruin his vocal cords. Let me worry about him while your gone alright? He was my CO for two years, I care just as much about him as you. How are you going to get on the Presidium? Anderson was expecting me and Jack."

Just as Jack was about to explain that The Illusive Man apparently had an agent just waiting for this kind of situation, Mandaria spoke up behind them, "Basically? I know a girl that owes me a favor. It just so happens she also needs something from Cerberus."

Turning around to look at her, Jack was very surprised by the transformation she made to her appearance. He had always seen Mandaria wearing dull dark colors with a hood so she wouldn't draw attention to herself, now she was wearing bright red and blue combat armor. She also had purple facepaint going from her mandibles on either side of her face all the way up to the center of her forehead. The cultural significance wasn't lost on him, she had been what was known as a bareface because she wasn't part of a Turian family. He had a feeling she came up with that paint style herself just so she would look different and have a family.

Kal folded his arms over his chest, "You can't be serious... She might've given the mercs blueprints to Garrus' base. How can we trust her exactly?"

Mandaria looked between Kal and Saren for a moment, "I think we both really know who ratted us out Kal. Besides, like I said she needs something from Cerberus, she isn't going to jeopardize that."

Jack raised an eyebrow feeling confused, "I'm a little lost here remember? Who are we talking about exactly?"

Mandaria gave him a sympathetic look, "She's known as Kasumi Goto, she's a... specialist you could say. A saboteur and a damned good thief." She approached him with an outstretched hand, "And you can call me Vetra Nyx, it's an honor to finally meet you Commander."

Jack shook her hand but gave her a smirk, "You know that's going to be hard to get used to right Mand?"

She shrugged innocently before letting go of his hand, "I don't know what you mean, you couldn't possibly be talking about the Turian sniper with a three hundred thousand credit bounty on them. It's better we both just get used to this so we don't have bounty hunters following the Normandy every hour."

Kal sounded rather surprised, "Your staying with us? I thought you'd be running as fast as you could to find Sid."

Her mandibles fluttered for a few seconds and she looked disappointed, "I still am looking for her but, I don't have any leads and figure I'm safer looking here then on my own ship..."

Jack gently gave her a hug, "I'm so sorry about your sister M...Vetra, you better tell me if there's something I can do to help. I mean it, anything."

Jacob's voice came from behind them, "Welcome aboard Vetra Nyx, I'm afraid the tour is going to have to be later. Our contact is sending us docking codes...to the CSEC outpost in the Zakea Wards. Do you think it's a trap?"

Vetra let go of the hug and shook her head with a laugh, "No, Kasumi's definitely good enough to get us past a random CSEC checkpoint, she could probably do it in her sleep."

Jack certainly trusted Vetra with his life, she saved him plenty of times during the Blitz, but he would be lying if he said that didn't worry him. He already had enough problems trusting Cerberus, was it really a good idea to add another thief into the mix? Especially one who Kal seemed to think betrayed him and Garrus to the gangs on Omega. CSEC would surely notice two supposedly dead SPECTREs who had been all over the news walk in no matter how lazy the checkpoint was. The problem with that was he didn't want to be detained by the authorities when he should be hunting the Collectors. There weren't any alternative options though so he was just going to have a leap of faith.

Saren looked back at Kal as they started walking away, "Take care of him while I'm gone."

Jack waved in Kal's direction from the elevator, "Wish me luck cyar'ika, I'm going to need it."

The door closed leading to an awkward silence, the four of them didn't really have anything to talk about. Luckily, it opened quickly and they were outside on a Citadel dock soon enough. Jack felt like nothing had changed here in the two years he was frozen away. Tourists still took pictures of everything they could, wowed by the sheer size of the station and regular civilians ignored them. No wonder the Council felt like doing nothing against the Reaper threat, everyone here just seemed to have forgotten Sovereign attacked this place two years ago. Hell in an atmosphere as care free as this one, Jack was even a little tempted to write everything off he had seen as a nightmare.

The one large change he spotted right away though was security. Anyone looking to get out of the docks and onto the Zakea Ward proper had to pass through a heavy militarized CSEC checkpoint. From this angle at the back of the line, Jack could see a person getting scanned, searched, and scanned again. If this was because of the Geth attack, Jack felt like it was a waste of resources. Geth were usually pretty easy to spot with their flashlight heads and robotic bodies. Joking aside, he suddenly understood why Jacob was worried about coming this way, a Cerberus terrorist would get snatched up pretty quickly. Jack started to worry even more as they were getting closer and closer to the front of the line without any sign from Kasumi.

Jacob even coughed a little and hit Vetra in the side with his elbow, "I think your friend may have just abandoned us to get locked away in CSEC prison."

A voice came from the ceiling, "Your too pretty to get locked away." A woman suddenly appeared just in front of them in line, "Commander Shepard huh? I was expecting someone a little more beefy like your friend over here. Kasumi Goto, at your service."

Saren raised a browplate, "Stealth field generators aren't going to get us through the checkpoint. So, unless you have another idea, I think Cerberus needs to hire a better, more infamous thief."

Kasumi seemed irritated by him but had a cheery tone, "I'm the best thief in the business, not the most famous. So why don't you just follow me and see a pro in action?" She marched right up to the first CSEC officer at the checkpoint, "Hey Taryn, me and my friends here need to see Bailey, I'll make it worth your time."

Remarkably, they were allowed to walk through past the first set of scanners directly into the CSEC office. Jack wished Garrus was with them now to help navigate what was happening here but, Kasumi seemed to know exactly where she was going. Well, corruption inside CSEC must've been at an all time high if two dead SPECTREs, a Cerberus agent, Balak's killer, and the best thief in the galaxy could all walk in without batting an eye. He had to wonder what Kasumi had on everyone in the room if this was the kind of response they were getting. If Executor Pallin was still around he would've fired everyone in here and arrested them all himself.

Kasumi approached a blonde middle aged Human man sitting at his desk, "Bailey, long time no see! I certainly hope your having a good day, me and my new friends here need to get to the Human embassy as soon as possible."

He looked up at her and sighed shaking his head, "I wish I could say this was the strangest request you've had for me this week Kasumi... Commander Shepard, SPECTRE Arterius, I see the problem immediately. The entire galaxy thinks you've been dead for the past two years." He looked at Vetra, "And your part of the reason I lost my last job."

Vetra took a deep breath biting her lower lip, "Luna base, you were the Captain to detain me. What gave me away if you don't mind me asking? Facepaint too thick or something?"

His gut tensed in fear, Vetra was right, this was the Captain in charge of security at Luna base. Originally, they had been expecting to just hand over Balak and leave but, when he mysteriously died, Vetra had been implicated. Looking back, Jack realized it was all just a giant ruse so Miranda could steal EDI from the facility. In fact, Jacob was probably the real killer in that whole fiasco, he had motive and opportunity. The aftermath must've surely made Bailey look like a total failure for security. He could only hope something like that wasn't enough for Bailey to want to arrest them all but, he was worried.

Kasumi spoke up for him, "DNA flakes I'm sure, you can't cover those up with a little makeup and a fancy outfit."

Jack felt the need to step in, "Look, Bailey is it? I'm sure it's really tempting for you to just arrest us all on sight, it would probably be the highlight of your career but, I'm asking you not to. I'm here right now to talk to the Council about the Reapers, they're coming back, and in greater numbers."

Kasumi added with a playful smirk, "And if you do the right thing I'll make it up to you. Your anniversary is coming up right? How about two tickets to the Elcor Hamlet?"

Bailey paused for a moment, "Normally, you'd all have to fill out paperwork with the Citadel's IRS, faking your death is a pretty common tax evasion." He pressed a button under the table, "However, I just bypassed all of that for you, welcome back to the Citadel Commander. And keep the tickets Kasumi, the last thing I need is to sit through a three hour play with my wife."

Kasumi kissed him on the cheek, "Your the best Bailey, I promise I won't be back for awhile. Come on everyone, let's get to the Presidium."

Once they were all out of earshot, Jacob whistled at Kasumi, "Damn your good, I thought we were done for. Ever consider staying here to rob stuff? With those kinds of connections to CSEC you could make a killing."

Kasumi shrugged while heading towards a shuttle taxi, "I thought about living here for a while handsome, but everybody's so tight-ass. I do what I do for the love of it. The more popular people in my profession do it because they don't know any better." She opened the shuttle door, "After you Commander."

The five of them entered the autopiloted ship and watched their progress towards the Presidium. Jack looked out the back window occasionally to make sure CSEC wasn't actually following them now. It would've been very easy for Bailey to pretend to let them go only to arrest them all later. However, as they got closer and closer to the Presidium, there still wasn't any sign of CSEC anywhere. Now all he really had to worry about was convincing the Council the Reapers were real. It didn't help his fears that most of the convincing was going to come from Saren, someone he didn't have any control over. All the possibilities of everything that could go terribly wrong was running through his head right now.

Kasumi turned to him with a curious look in her dark eyes, "So, what do Quarians look like under those suits? Are they scary or something?"

Jack coughed and laughed at the same time, amused by the question, "Excuse me?"

Kasumi gave him an eye roll, "Oh come on, everyone saw the vid of you kissing your honey by the wreckage. What's he look like? Come on, give me details!"

Vetra spoke up from the back of the taxi, "Leave him alone Kasumi, yes Kal has a larger penis then Humans."

Jack was glad he wasn't drinking anything because it would've gone everywhere, "Is this the kind of conversation that you've had before or something?"

Kasumi gave him an innocent expression, "Maybe... And don't think I have forgotten our deal Mandaria. Even though you lost your gang I could still use your help with Hock."

Vetra scoffed shaking her head, "You do know the price on my head right? I don't really want to go to a ball full of bounty hunters anytime soon."

Kasumi gave a retort, "I've had bounty hunters chasing me all over the galaxy. Sometimes they even caught me, you just have to roll with the punches."

Jacob spoke in a bored tone, "The Illusive Man will provide you with whatever you need if you get us in and out of here. He's a man of his word. And freeze all motor functions, I don't want to hear you disagree Saren."

Kasumi once again had a cherry voice, "It's a good thing we're here then so half of that deal is complete!"

Sure enough, Jack noticed they had landed at the Human embassy without any trouble. It looked exactly the same except for the large ads for joining the Alliance military. Two years ago, these ads featured him infront of the Earth, now it was just a random soldier pointing at them. On the one hand, it was a good thing Jack's face couldn't be seen everywhere he looked, on the other hand though it showed the Alliance's attitude about him. They would prefer he just got buried under a rug somewhere and everyone forgot about him. The many scandals potentially surrounding him were apparently too toxic even for the reckless Udina. He was happy to see David Anderson was already waiting for him at the front door.

The old man smiled towards him and tried not to tense at Saren's appearance, "Shepard! It's good to see you, I'm afraid we'll have to catch up later, the Council is waiting for us."

Kasumi grabbed Jacob and Vetra's arms to stop them from following, "We'll wait out here for you, I'm not dressed up enough for a Council interview."

Jack understood that Kasumi probably didn't have friends in the Alliance embassy and thus had to stay outside for safety, so he merely followed Anderson. He had a strange sense of deja vu walking through these halls remembering the first time he was here to meet with Ambassador Udina after Eden Prime. The now Councilor was surely going to give him a hard time for disobeying his orders and going to Ilos but, if he hadn't they all would've died. When they entered the former Ambassadors office though he was disappointed to only see Tevos and Sparatus were present in the room. The Council surely couldn't care less about what he had to say if only two of the four members were here. It was encouraging though that they both gave Saren a surprised look.

Tevos was the first to speak giving them a diplomatic smile, "Commander Shepard, it's good to see the rumors about your death were inaccurate. We called this meeting so you could explain your actions, Shepard, we owe you that much. After all, you saved our lives in the battle against Saren... and his Geth. We've heard many rumors surrounding your unexpected return. Some of them are... unsettling."

Jack decided to get right to the point, "The Reapers are moving again, but not through the Geth, it's the Collectors. They're behind the colony abductions in the Terminus."

Sparatus sounded defiant, "The Terminus Systems are beyond our jurisdiction! Your colonists knew this when they left Council Space."

Jack took a calming breath, "Your missing the important part, Councilor. The Reapers are involved, and I need your help."

Sparatus took a mocking tone, "Ah, yes. 'Reapers.' The immortal race of sentient starships allegedly waiting in dark space. We have dismissed that claim."

Saren spoke up for the first time, "I wasn't the one commanding the Geth. It was the Reaper, Sovereign. He had control over my actions, I would never have subjected the galaxy to that horror willingly."

Sparatus took a defensive tone, "You dare flaunt a trophy VI of Saren just to claim we're threatened by immortal sentient ships in dark space? We HAVE dismissed it!"

Saren growled at him throwing his fist on the table, "Damnit Sparatus, think logically! What about all the evidence? My testimony, the beacon vision on Eden Prime. The evidence is there you just don't want to see it. Why would I, one of your best agents, turn on you?"

Sparatus shrugged glaring at him, "I'm not sure, why don't you tell me?"

Saren gritted his teeth appearing furious, "I can't remember, I lost most of my memory from that time. I'm a healthy Turian, the only way that seems possible by some external means, like indoctrination."

Sparatus chuckled but obviously wasn't amused, "How convenient that the dead man has no memory of his actions. This Reaper theory proves just how fragile your mental state is. You have been manipulated, by Cerberus."

Jack knew the meeting had been a bad idea and was now spinning out of his control. Yes Saren was one of the only people to have intimate conversations with Sovereign but, his death made things complicated. He couldn't exactly say Saren had full control of his mind either, every ten seconds Miranda and Jacob seemed to play with him like he was a puppet. His only chance of getting anything out of them was to pivot the conversation back to the Reapers. If they kept going round and round on Cerberus, no one was going to win.

Tevos spoke before he could, "Yes, Cerberus... We are in a difficult position, Shepard. You are working for Cerberus, an avowed enemy of this Council and all the races it represents. This is treason, a capital offense."

Anderson finally jumped in, "That's too far! Shepard's a war hero a dozen times over, I won't let you arrest him because he's doing what he thinks is right."

Jack took the opportunity to continue, "This isn't about Cerberus. It's about the men, women, and children who are being kidnapped as we speak for god knows what. It's about the people who died on this Presidium because of Sovereign. It's about a SPECTRE who can't understand why he would turn his back on the galaxy. And finally? It's about the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime that warned me about the Reapers."

Tevos sighed looking tired, "I've told you once before Shepard, we believe that you believe it, but that doesn't make it true. Saren was a compelling and charismatic individual. He convinced the Geth the Reapers were real... just as he convinced you."

Saren still seemed angry, "Why would I need the Conduit if I was just using the Geth? I could've attacked the Citadel at any point. Go back to Ilos and talk to Victory. Or just look at what's left of Sovereign, it's obvious the technology is more advanced than our own!"

Sparatus kept a dismissive tone, "The Conduit was just part of your plan to attack the Citadel. The Reapers are just a myth. One you both seem to insist on perpetuating. Furthermore, the hologram on Ilos is no longer functional, and we have found nothing to suggest that Sovereign was not a Geth creation. The Geth are capable of remarkable technological achievements. This is probably why you recruited them."

Saren gave him a cold stare, "Cerberus was right about you! You are just as arrogant as the worst Humans. And just like them, you will pay for it in the end."

Jack rubbed his forehead, "So you won't help me save innocent civilians and Cerberus will? What does that say about this Council?"

Tevos rung her hands together before saying, "Maybe there is a compromise. Not a public acknowledgement, given your ties, but something to show peripheral support. Shepard, if you keep a low profile and restrict your operations to the Terminus Systems, the Council is willing to offer you reinstatement as a SPECTRE."

Jack had to think about that offer for a long moment, it was the best they were willing to give him. A token title for now to be sure but, if The Illusive Man was assassinated and Cerberus imploded, being a SPECTRE was good insurance. Instead of going straight to some Alliance jail somewhere, Jack could potentially continue his investigation after the fallout. However, the catch was he'd have to ignore the Collectors if they attacked a colony in Council Space. He couldn't just doom a huge majority of the Human population just so he personally would be safe later.

With that in mind Jack shook his head, "I'm sorry Councilors but I can't do that. I will protect anyone from the Collectors, no matter where they are in the galaxy."

Sparatus straightened his jacket and they both started to leave, "Well then, good luck with your investigation, Commander. We hope for a quick resolution..." He looked at Saren, "And a quick end to your relationship with Cerberus."

David rubbed the back of his neck looking defeated, "Well. That didn't go as well as I had hoped."

Jack chuckled watching the pair leave in a taxi out the window, "That's the understatement of the year right there Admiral."

Saren turned to look at Anderson, "What about the Human Councilor? Surely he would help his own kind right now, you Humans always stick together in a crisis."

David gave Jack a little glance, "You always keep the most interesting company around you Shepard. Unfortunately, his mind is already made up, just like the rest of the Council."

Saren shook his head in disgust once more, "Well then Citadel Space is already lost. You all will be slaughtered like cattle when the Reapers arrive."

David shrugged seemingly sympathetic to Saren, "Knowing the truth about Sovereign is brutal, it's nightmare stuff. Can't blame others for not wanting to believe it. Your better off focusing your energy on stopping the Collectors than trying to get them to listen to your warnings."

Jack sat down in a chair for a moment and looked at him, "At least tell me the Alliance is smart enough to finish the Geth. How's that war coming along?"

David gave him a confident smile, "They are becoming increasingly disorganized, like someone flipped a switch in their programming. It's long since stopped being called a war. More like cleanup. Not that you can ever discount them, but we haven't had serious casualties for months. A civilian ship will spot an enclave and we send in a squad to clear it. They're not quite the bogeymen they used to be."

Saren surprised them both by asking, "What's the amount of damage I caused from the attack here? Death count, hull damage, everything."

David regarded him for a few seconds, "We're still counting. The main areas of commerce and the most populated wards are complete, but estimates for total restoration are sitting around five years. The keepers always surprise us, though. It's like our repairs are annoying them. We'll put up an ugly new bulkhead and in a few days they've made it seamless. We never really thought of them as heavy lifters, and I have no idea where they get the resources, but we'd never get it done without them."

Jack stood up again and offered David his hand, "Thank you for trying Anderson. I need to go now and take the fight to the Collectors."

David shook his hand before letting go and saluting him, "Of course, Shepard, I understand. I wish I could do more to help you, but if you ever want to talk, I'll be here. Just do me a favor and be careful. You can't trust Cerberus."

Jack certainly agreed with the sentiment but, he had no choice now. Cerberus was his only remaining option if he wanted to stop the Reapers.