Chapter 59: Unholy Alliance

Jack hated waiting, it seemed like his entire time with Cerberus had been submerged in waiting. Whether it was on information or supplies, whenever he got close to actually hitting the Collectors their was a major pause that followed. He had tried to ignore it because every time they had to wait could be explained away with logic but, now it was getting ridiculous. Yes, the Krogan needed to be stopped from curing the Genophage, he just didn't understand why he had to be the one to do it. Cerberus had other agents that worked on The Illusive Man's everyday agenda right? Why couldn't they be the ones to go to Tuchanka while he hit the Collectors base?

Three days had gone by with nothing. No status update from the mysterious agent supposedly coming to help, no back handed chats with The Illusive Man, just nothing. While it gave him plenty of time to fail at cooking for Zero in the medbay, he wanted to move on something and soon. For the first time since waking up in the cryo pod, Jack felt truly uncertain about what to do. The fact that The Illusive Man locked the Normandy's navigation systems completely didn't make him feel any less trapped. He had to wonder what had changed all of the sudden to get isolated like this. Was it a delayed reaction for what happened at Hock's estate? While technically possible, Jack thought it had to be something else that was more recent.

Tali's foot gently kicked his knee from the bed, "Your turn bosh'tet."

Legion stood behind him with Rael saying, "Don't rush him Tali, picking a card to play is a very serious business."

Right, instead of worrying about Cerberus, he should be concentrated on the game. Kal had wandered off to make dinner and so Jack decided to start a game of Skillyian Five with the girls. The rules were thankfully straight forward unlike Ezzarac. Each player drew three cards from a standard Batarian deck with the goal to to have a score of exactly five points above the other players. Each card in the deck had special abilities like draw a card or minus two from an opponents score. Initially, Jack assumed keeping track of all the abilities would be difficult but, each card had a colorful image illustrating what the card did. Some of the drawings were rather graphic, like the two 'burn' cards he had right now, it was just like Zero to carry the adult deck.

He tossed one of his plus two cards down triumphantly, "Ha, let's see you win now fellow bosh'tet."

Rael coughed sounding uncomfortable, "Oh my...that was certainly one way to play the game Commander."

Tali seemed to light up, "A great way to play if you ask me."

Zero groaned exaggeratedly, "Well, the galaxy is truly fucked if the hero of it can't pull off simple math problems like three plus two. Jesus."

Jack only now realized which way the rotation had been going. His plan had been to give Zero the plus two so her grand total would be six. Unfortunately, the card rotation had been going the other way and so his plus two went to Tali's score of three. He didn't even have the excuse of not knowing which way the cards were going with Tali's helpful holographic arrows pointing in a circle. The real reason was obviously he was distracted by the weight of the galaxy pressing down on him, he wouldn't say that out loud though. His team needed to think he had no doubts they could pull this off for morale's sake alone.

Tali had a cheery tone, "Thanks Jack for just walking right into that. And don't worry about the galaxy, us Quarians are here to do the job of math for the truly hopeless Commander here."

Rael shook his head, "I thought I told you not to talk about being smarter than your superiors Tali. What if he decided to kick you off of the ship for bragging?"

Tali rolled her eyes while letting her cards flop on her lap, "He isn't a Quarian Admiral dad, it was a joke."

Jack bounced back with a grin, "That's what I want you to think. Next time I'm going to kick both your asses."

Feron stepped inside with his green skin seemingly very pale, "I'm afraid next time is going to have to wait. The agent from Cerberus High Command arrived a few minutes ago and is waiting for us in the conference room. Mind walking with me?"

The look that the Drell was giving him spoke volumes, whoever this was it wasn't good. "Sure, I'll see you three later."

Rael corrected him, "Two, I'm quite interested in seeing who was so important to acquire instead of attacking the Collectors now."

Legion added, "And I could use a good stretch of my limbs' turbines."

Once they were out of the medbay, Feron stopped turning to face him, "Where's Kal?"

Kal's voice came from across the mess hall, "Making two kinds of chips and dip for the girls. Why?"

Feron was tense as he replied, "Because Kai Leng is upstairs waiting on us."

The world came to a crashing halt, what did Feron just say? He had been expecting someone cold and to the point like Miranda to get the job on Tuchanka done but Kai Leng? It didn't make any sense, Leng had been working with Cora on Illium and hadn't been seen since. Was The Illusive Man basically admitting that his 'Cora went rogue' song and dance was just a show, or was he going to say Leng had changed sides? Even if Jack could entertain the latter possibility, what made The Illusive Man think they could work together? Every other time the two were in the same room together, they had tried to kill each other. He wasn't just about to let that go and he knew Leng didn't plan on it either.

Kal dropped the empty pan he had been trying to put away, "Your serious?"

Feron nodded gravely, "Yeah I am, he brought something with him to prove he's on The Illusive Man's side.. I don't know what to make of it but, you'll see soon enough."

Jack followed him cautiously to the elevator, "Even if that's true, he's still tried to kill us more times than I can count. How is this any different?"

Feron motioned for the three of them to take the elevator with him, "Frankly, it isn't. No matter what he says you need to keep your guard up."

Even though the elevator was far faster than the one on the original Normandy, Jack felt as though it was taking forever to get to their destination. His mind was trying to go through all the potential scenarios if this went south. In the close quarters of the conference room, Leng's sword could do real damage to all of them. In the worst case that he attacked out right, the sheer number of the crew on his side would eventually take him down but, what kind of harm could he cause in the meantime? Jack had to play this smart and not immediately attack, no matter how unlikely, he could be telling the truth. And Leng had kicked his ass well enough on Luna to know he could be a valuable member to the team in taking out the Collector base.

He was thankful to see Garrus and Saren were already waiting for him as they reached the conference room. They both looked to be unarmed but, Jack knew better since Saren was a SPECTRE and Garrus spent the last two years as a mercenary. Feron opened the door to reveal Miranda, Mordin, and Leng were already in the room. While it was a good sign Miranda wasn't dead on the floor, the fact Leng was in his armor from head to toe made him anxious. The way his hand rested on the hilt of his sword made Jack feel like he was itching to use it but was holding back. He was like a caged lion, just waiting for his moment to pounce.

The assassin pivoted on one foot so he could face all of them, "It's good to see you again Shepard, I came with a gift.."

Leng moved away from the table to showcase Cora's severed head laying on the table. Her mouth was hanging open with a look of surprise on her face. It was disgusting to look at and smell, yet something was still off about the whole thing. The Illusive Man had indicated Leng joined her in the first place just for the opportunity to kill him. Why would he turn around and kill her? Had The Illusive Man given him a similar offer once the Collectors were dealt with? He had been planning on running away from Cerberus himself at that point so it wouldn't surprise him if Leng was a kind of insurance policy. Jack just couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't on the up and up. Especially because of their history and the fact that The Illusive Man had lied to him so many times before now.

Kal put a hand on his hip glancing towards the head, "That's your proof your on our side now? I could get a fake version of a head on the Citadel for a few hundred credits."

Miranda sounded stoic but was pacing around the back of the table, "For what it's worth, her DNA was on there."

Mordin was staring at the head intently, "Irrelevant. Expensive replica would account for inspection. No way to know for certain."

Jack looked to the ceiling, "EDI, can you scan this head and tell us if it's real?"

The AI's orb surfaced on the meeting table, "Unfortunately, I would not be able to tell you the results even if I completed a scan Shepard. The Illusive Man has placed a block on my programming regarding discussion on other members of Cerberus. Past or present."

He glanced at the head again, "Well that sure is convenient to say the least."

Leng's robotic voice was meant to silence the room, "The Illusive Man trusts me to be genuine. That should be enough for everyone in this room."

Jack certainly didn't enjoy this, but that part of the story made some sense. He had been perplexed by The Illusive Man's abrupt end to the call the other day, losing a daughter would explain that. Or, he could've just been acting in that moment in preparation for this meeting to make more sense. It was exhausting to try and keep up with all the ways that The Illusive Man could be multiple steps ahead of him. His mind was telling him to let this play out with his guard up, and his heart was telling him to shoot the assassin in the back of the head right now to be done with it.

He made sure to keep his body out of immediate sword range, "You expect me to just leave it at that because The Illusive Man trusts you today? I can't begin to count how many times he's lied to me so, what if it's not enough."

With the helmet on, Leng was impossible to read behind the thin red visor, his words were easy to understand though. "Activation code 227: Saren, I want you to draw any weapon you have on you and aim it at your brothers head."

His gut twisted in knots as he watched Saren follow the command because of his control chip. All Leng would have to say was fire and Garrus would be dead on the ground. Not only would he lose one of his best friends but, Saren would have to live with knowing he was responsible for killing the only person he cared about anymore. Jack knew the Turian well enough to understand that would destroy him from the inside. His first reaction was to try and pounce before Leng could say the word fire, he just didn't know if he could be fast enough. It was awful just watching Saren's arm twitch about struggling to lower it and the rest of the room trapped watching. After a few seconds, Jack realized he wasn't going to do anything, this was just a power trip. Leng was showing the room who was in charge.

The waiting game was becoming unbearable to watch until Thane silently entered the room with his pistol to the back of Leng's head, "You wouldn't be able to order him to shoot before I killed you."

Legion was the next to speak, "Shepard-Commander, you should allow this to happen as justice for what Saren did to the Geth consensus."

Rael took over, "Legion he clearly wasn't responsible. Two wrongs don't make a right, especially involving innocent people."

Legion countered aggressively, "The only wrong is the corruption of my entire species."

Garrus glared in Legion's direction, "Thanks for all the help buddy."

Leng let out a chuckle, "Great way to introduce me to your family Feron." A second past before Leng continued, "And thank you Shepard for showing me how much control you have over your crew. Release all motor functions."

Thane lowered the pistol and moved to stand next to his son, "I'm glad to see your reputation for brutal kills wasn't exaggerated."

Leng looked at Cora's head, "Don't pretend your better than me Drell. We both know what you do to the people that cross you."

Saren lowered his arm but immediately stormed on Leng, "Don't you dare use me as your puppet you filthy Human. I should ki-"

Jack knew he had to interrupted him for his sake and so he yelled, "That's enough! I think Kai has made his point, we play by his rules for now."

Leng's helmet whipped around quickly to face him, "Not my rules Shepard, we should all be following The Illusive Man's orders." His presumed gaze landed on Miranda as he finished, "At all times."

Miranda stood her ground, "I don't know why your looking at me, I've never gone against The Illusive Man's wishes."

Leng let out a huff, "We both know that 'never' is quite debatable Miranda."

Feron made the rookie mistake of taking a step forward so he was between Leng and her, "I think we would all be a little more comfortable if you took off that helmet and told us why you killed your childhood friend."

Leng let out a harsh laugh, "So you can look into my eyes and see if I'm lying? I hate to break it to you Feron, but Kal made sure that wasn't going to be a possibility for anyone ever again."

When he took off the helmet, Jack couldn't help but wince seeing Leng's face. Instead of eyes looking back at him there were two long lit up metal strips attached to his head similar to Legion's optical sensor. Around the metal, Jack could see hints of the electrical burns Kal had described giving to him on Purgatory. The device made him look less Human which was probably the point. Eye replacement surgery had been possible for the past fifty years so Leng must've chosen this specific look. If showing them this was supposed to make Jack feel bad for him, it didn't work. He chose to try and kill Kal instead of just trying to escape the prison and faced the consequences.

Kal wasn't moved either if his tone meant anything, "You were trying to kill me. I only did what I had to do to survive."

Leng put his helmet back on, "All is forgiven, I would've done the same thing in your shoes."

The mechanical tone made his words seem hollow so, Jack just continued on, "You could still answer the question. Why kill a friend of yours right after joining her?"

Leng countered as though the reasoning was obvious, "Have you not heard of the term double agent Shepard? I wanted to understand why Cora was turning her back on everything we were raised with. When I realized all she wanted was some foolish dream of starting over in another galaxy, and bring aliens along I killed her."

Mordin finally looked away from the head, "With introductions out of the way, how are we saving Maelon?"

Leng sounded smug, "I'm glad someone around here actually have their eyes on the ball here instead of arguing over a non issue." He placed a holo projector next to Cora's head which showed a leaning skyscraper, "Welcome to the home of clan Urdnot, yes Shepard that Urdnot if you were wondering. As far as we can tell, a scout captured Maelon two weeks ago."

Kal looked over at Mordin, "What would he still be doing there now?"

Mordin shrugged squirming to find an answer, "Don't know, Genophage engineering took place before I went to Omega. Maybe checking to make sure it stuck? Careless to go alone. Should've known better."

Leng continued as though they hadn't interrupted him, "If your old friend Wrex is in a good mood they've only broken a few bones to try and get him to talk. We can't let that happen so we'll be hitting them from the roof of the building where there aren't any sensors and working our way down. We find Maelon and escape with him."

Jack looked at the image of the building and knew the Normandy was too big not to be seen, "I don't think we can get up there safely, the Normandy's too big and a Kodiak shuttle probably wouldn't survive that amount of high winds Tuchanka's known for."

Leng sounded as though he was trying to educate a small child, "Well, it's a good thing I brought a ship to get here isn't it? The Red Rose will get the job done."

Jack knew Leng wasn't going to take no for an answer here but, that idea sounded horrible. Having no control of the ship they were on meant he could take them literally anywhere. What if this was all just a giant ploy to hand him over to the Collectors? At the same time, saying no could mean Leng taking Saren over again with deadly intent. Even if he actually took them to Tuchanka, that didn't mean he was going to drop them on the Urdnot base. Plenty of Thresher Maws on the planet would gladly eat him for dinner.

He was about to try and bullshit his way out of it when Miranda said, "The only way they'll agree with that is if everyone in this room goes with you. You couldn't possibly overpower all of us."

Kal continued her line of thought, "And we could kill him if this is a trap, I like it."

Miranda gave him the most subtle nod he had ever seen. This in her mind was returning the favor for saving Oriana. It definitely wasn't perfect, he was still stuck with working alongside Kai Leng, Miranda had never promised a miracle though. His only comfort right now was if Leng tried anything, he'd have to get through a practical army first. Jack didn't love the position he was in but, he didn't have another option. If the Krogan's discovered Wrex had brought back the cure for the Genophage only for the Salarians to take it away from them again it would be all out war. The galaxy didn't need that kind of distraction with the Reapers coming and Aria already attacking the Alliance.

Leng seemed indifferent to the suggestion, "Fine by me but, we're leaving right now. We can't risk Maelon talking anytime soon." He picked up the holo projector and left assuming they'd follow him.

Saren grabbed Jack's arm, stopping him to whisper, "I'm going to stay behind, I think Rael can help me with my little problem."

Jack knew instantly that he was implying he was going to try and get the chip out after that display from Leng. He didn't blame him, if that just happened to him and Kal he'd have a similar reaction. The problem was Legion seemed to think Saren deserved everything that was coming to him because of his role in introducing the Geth to Sovereign. If Legion had control of the body, it was a bad idea to give him access to Saren's brain matter. At the same time though, Saren probably wasn't going to get another chance at freedom. Both senior members of the Cerberus part of the crew were going with him to Tuchanka. He knew without the chip that Saren would be a wildcard but, that was way better than a liability.

After a slight nod he whispered back, "Do it in my cabin so EDI can't see, and be careful."

Saren grimaced, "Either I become free or die trying. Good luck with him and be ready to go through Omega-4 on our own if we have to."

Jack took the advice and followed Kal so he wouldn't be noticed lagging behind. Yes, he had to work with Kai Leng now but, he was already working on a way out for good. Once the Krogan's were dealt with, they'd be going through that Relay.