To say Shepard was having a bad day was an understatement. Nothing had been going right as of late.
She was back aboard the Normandy after the massive failure that was Eden prime, head pounding as she tried to push the beacon to the back of her head. That thing was the least of her worries, what with a zombie Saren running amok, an angry Turian Spectre waiting for her, and a strange geth armed woman that didn't quite fit anywhere in the puzzle.
Forcing herself to focus on one thing at a time, she stalked into the elevator, shoulders squared and face steeled for the coming confrontation.
Her arrival in the mess was met with a dozen relieved faces, and about as many that carried anger and sadness. She didn't blame them. She was responsible for Jenkins, after all.
"Commander, what happened down there?" One of the crew asked, but she brushed them off, making her way through the mess and into the forward battery, where Nihlus requested her presence.
"Shepard."
"Spectre Kryllyk." She returned the greeting as formally as she could muster.
"Shepard, I understand what happened down there. I don't like it, nor do I approve of it, but I understand it. I've been through it several times, and I can't think of anything you could have done different short of killing that…" He paused, eyes narrowing as he tried to think of the word. "Geth abomination. And I believe we need her alive. If whatever is using Saren needs her, so do we."
Shepard nodded, trying to follow the confusing line of thought.
"I just wanted to let you know that I have decided to approve your Spectre nomination. Welcome aboard."
Fear, relief, disbelief and anger washed over her at the same time. "Just like that?" It came out as a near shout. Nihlus nodded.
"I couldn't have done anything better in your position. What happened is my fault. I should have worked with you. I should have listened."
"Thank you. You don't.."
"Stop. I know exactly what this means, for you and humanity. It means you will have someone watching your every move, waiting for you to slip up. It means the reputation of your species rests on your shoulders. You better use your status well, or you can count on there not being any more human Spectres in yours or your children's lifetimes."
Shepard gulped, then gave a crisp salute to the Turian.
"I will."
"Good. Now leave me."
Shepard nodded, turning to leave. Behind her, the Turian sighed.
"Shepard, you don't have to follow my orders anymore. That was a test. You failed."
Shepard bit back a sharp retort, instead opting to continue leaving.
"I have need to be elsewhere. Excuse me, Kryllyk."
Now safely tucked outside the room, Shepard sunk against the wall. It was a bit much to take in. Closing her eyes, she let herself filter through everything, trying to figure out why, how she had still earned her new status.
She had dropped down to the planet to find Nihlus already ahead. She hadn't been paying a great deal of attention to her surroundings, instead trying to find the Turian, and had lost Jenkins to an obvious trap.
After making the decision to abandon the body, much to Kaiden's protests, she had tried to reorient herself, only to find herself looking down the scope of her sniper rifle in time to see Saren putting a gun to Nihlus's head. She had fired, of course, and she would do it again. That still didn't make it easy to cope with shooting the council's top Spectre.
As she and Kaiden made a mad dash to catch up to Nihlus, they had run into Williams and adopted her for the time being. She wasn't a bad addition to the team, but she wasn't great either. Just as they dealt with the last of the husks, Nihlus had informed her of his location and the Beacon's location, and told her to pick up someone he left behind. She protested, asking why he couldn't do it himself, but didn't push back hard enough. She should have made him take the Geth woman with him. It would have been better that way.
Still, everything was as fine as it could be when fighting Geth to make forward progress, until they got to the Beacon. Shepard slowed down her thoughts, going over what happened there in detail.
The Geth woman seemed to snap, and Shepard had tried to knock her out. But she had underestimated the power of the mousey looking woman, and had been rewarded with a firm punch to the gut, knocking her back. It was a mistake she wouldn't make twice. Kaiden had tried to restrain her, but she was flaring with some form of raw energy Shepard had never seen before. It was like biotics, but more local. The woman made it to the Beacon, causing it to activate, glow a bright green. Williams had rushed forward, becoming stuck in the pull of the machine. Shepard knocked her out of the way, and that was all she remembered before the visions. The visions.
Her eyes flew open. The woman must have taken the contents of the beacon. Shepard needed to see it again, and this woman might even have the complete version.
But why would Saren want her? The beacon was valuable, but there was no way he could have known she would get it. She struggled too much to be working for him, and his forces had even attacked her. So who was she, and how had she known about the Beacon and how to get its contents?
That was what she needed answers to.
Slowly, she rose to report to Captain Anderson. She had some preparations to make before they docked at the Citadel.
-Time Passes-
"You ready, Shepard?" Nihlus looked at her, his face unreadable.
"I'm as ready as anyone could be expected to be in this situation."
"Good. Anderson and I will make our reports to the council first. We'll call you when it is time."
"Alright. Good luck in there"
"And to you. Facing the council never gets easier." With that, the tall turian strode forward, leaving Shepard by herself.
A few minutes later, a different Turian with a blue visor strode up to her.
"Commander Shepard?"
"Depends who's asking."
"Garrus Vakarian. I was the C-sec officer in charge of the Saren investigation. You wanted info on him?"
"Yes, thank you."
"I couldn't dig up much, but there are a few leads." He opened his Omnitool and transmitted a few files to Shepard's with a soft ping.
"Thank you, officer." Shepard nodded at him.
"If you need help her on the Citadel, I'm your guy."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Shepard, they're ready for you." Anderson called to her from the entrance to the council chambers.
"See you around." Garrus waved as she disappeared into the council chambers.
Shepard walked to the edge of the platform, placing both hands on the railing in front of her, trying to look alert but relaxed. Nihlus stood off to her right, Anderson on her left.
"We have reviewed the information given to us and deemed that at this time, Humanity is ready to join the other species in the Spectre program. Commander Shepard, your evaluator gave you a glowing review. I do hope that you can live up to it." The Asari councilor spoke first.
"It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the rights and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance Branch of the Citadel."
"Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions lift them above the rank and file."
"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol, the embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will."
"Spectres bear a great burden. Both our first and last line of defence, the safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold."
"Thank you, Councillors."
"With that out of the way, we have your first assignment. You must go after Saren, and find out what he is planning."
"I'm going too." Nihlus demanded. "I need to know why my old mentor would do something like this."
"Spectre Kryllyk, you already have your assignment. We do not have the forces available to send two Spectres on the same mission."
Nihlus sent the council a glare that could kill.
"Clean up duty isn't what I would call important. I'm the best now, and you know that. Let. Me. Help. Shepard."
"Spectre.." The Salarian started, but the Turian cut him off.
"You're right. It would be foolish to not have the best combat the best. You may assist Shepard, but you must also complete your directives."
"Thank you, Sir."
"You are dismissed."
Shepard followed the two males outside, stopping when they did.
"That could have gone better. Any idea where to start?"
"A C-sec officer gave me some information on Saren. Seems someone named Fist may be working for him. I think we should start there."
Nihlus nodded. "I've heard of Fist. He used to work for the Shadow Broker. The Broker isn't going to like this betrayal."
"Where does he lurk?"
"He has his office set up in the lower wards. Chora's den."
"Then we go there. You coming, Anderson?"
"I have some more… diplomatic affairs to straighten out first. I'll see you on the Normandy."
"Alright. Kaiden, with us. I call point."
The three of them slowly made their way down to the lower Wards, which turned out to be quite a trek. Upon arriving, everything was too quiet. No music was blasting, no patrons stumbling around. Shepard crouched by the side of the door.
"They're expecting us."
Gunfire could be heard from inside.
"Not us." Nihlus observed. "Ready?"
Shepard nodded. As a small unit, they all dashed through the door, guns up. A body flew and hit the wall just above their heads.
Standing in the middle of the room, the center of the gunfire, was a Krogan, and he was pissed.
Shepard moved her hands, directing her teammates into position. She moved back, setting up her riffle, carefully picking off the mercenaries one by one until only the Krogan remained. He looked at them.
"You here for Fist?"
"We just need to talk to him." She stated as calmly as she could.
"And I need to kill him. You have two minutes, then I kill him."
Shepard looked to Nihlus, who nodded. "Two minutes. Alright."
The three of them headed into the depth of the office, quickly taking out a defense turret.
"Fist!"
A man walked out, eyes wide with his hands up.
"Don't kill me."
"I'm not here to to that. And if you work with us, I might even save your pathetic life." Shepard walked over and lifted him against the wall by his collar.
"So where is Saren?"
"I don't know! He stopped contacting me a few days ago! Last I heard he wanted me to get rid of this Quarian girl, so I set her up!"
"This Quarian. She have information on him?"
"Yes. She wanted to sell it to the Shadow Broker, but would only deal with him himself! So I set her up. But it will be Saren's men waiting for her."
"When is this going down, and where?"
"The back alleys in five minutes."
"Good. We're done here." She dropped the man to the floor.
"Am I alive?"
Shepard smiled a cruel smile at him, stopping to face him long enough to slip a disk from his desk into her pocket. "Not a chance. All yours, big guy."
As her team jogged out the door, Shepard smiled as she heard a single, reverberating shotgun round. The bastard deserved it.
Five minutes later, they were jogging into a back alley. Shepard breathed a sigh of relief as she spotted the Quarian, then raised her rifle as she spotted Saren's men.
"Where's the Shadow Broker? Where's Fist?"
"They'll be here soon. Why don't you just give me the data?"
"What is this? Where's Fist?" A glint of metal caught Shepard's eye. The Quarian must have seen it too, because she had a shotgun out and had fired straight into the closest Turian's stomach before turning on the next one.
Shepard pulled the trigger of her own gun as Nihlus dashed forward, making short work of the remaining men. Shepard approached, slowly, her rifle pointed down but not put away.
"Fist set me up! Who are you?"
"Commander Shepard, Council Spectre. I heard you might have some information on Saren for me, miss…?"
"Zorah. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. But you can just call me Tali."
"Alright, Tali. Do you have something?"
"Yes. But not here."
"Why not? You have two Spectre's protecting you, and no one is around."
"I don't feel safe here. Anyone could be listening."
"Alright. We'll go to the Ambassador's office."
The four of them walked in a tense silence until they arrived.
"Shepard! Congratulations! You will make humanity proud."
"Thank you, Ambassador. May I have use of your office for a minute?"
"Of course."
"Alright. Now, Tali, what is you have?"
"A Geth memory core."
"I thought Geth wiped themselves after destruction."
"Normally, yes, but a skilled mechanic such as myself can sometimes salvage pieces of their core."
"Alright. Let's hear it."
She input something into her omnitool, and a recording started playing.
"Eden prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the conduit."
"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."
"The first voice is Saren, but what is the Conduit? Who is the second voice?"
"Don't look at me!" Tali seemed to glare at them.
"I can help with that."
The group looked up to see an Asari sitting in the rafters, and some kind of oversized rodent watching them from above.
"Sorry to butt in, but I don't see much interesting happening."
"You are?" Shepard asked skeptically, one hand on her side arm.
"Twilia Asadi." Nihlus sighed, half rolling his eyes. "Council Spectre, in theory. She's really more of a dog and pony show."
"I resent that." She turned her attention back to Shepard. "Now, you want my help or not?"
"What do you have?"
"The second voice is Matriarch Benezia. She's well respected among the Asari."
"So the Matriarch is working for Saren?"
"So it would appear. And it just so happens that she just arrived on Noveria, according to our contacts."
"Anything else you have on her?"
"She has a daughter, an archeologist last seen somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster."
"How do you know all this?"
"When your presence is so widespread, you become the best infiltrator and spy possible to escape the public's eye." She grinned at them mischievously. "Mite and I are the best there is for that kind of work. We know everything that goes on on the Citadel, and have eyes in every major system."
"You make it sound like you're the Shadow Broker."
She only grinned again. "I'll see you around, Shepard. Let us know if we can be of assistance."
The Asari seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye, leaving no trace behind. Shepard shook her head to clear it before turning back to her team.
"Then I guess we have a lead or three."
"Are we all just going to ignore the last part about the Reapers? What are the Reapers?" Kaiden asked, all but forgotten about.
"I've heard of them. They're a myth, really. An ancient machine race." Tali answered.
"If they're a myth, we shouldn't worry about them. Saren in our priority." Still, the cogs in her brain turned uneasily. Could a machine race reanimate a corpse? Could the Reapers be behind Saren?
"We should be careful, Shepard. Advanced machines might explain Eden Prime. Or why the Geth are working for Saren. If he's with the Reapers, there's a good chance that they believe the Reapers will advance them as well." Nihlus added.
"He's right. The Geth would almost revere a fully sentient race of machines." Observed Tali.
"Then we proceed more carefully. We stop Saren, we stop these things, right?"
"That makes a certain amount of sense."
"Good." Shepard turned to leave.
"Let me come with you." Shepard stared at Tali incredulously. "I can fight. I want to help."
Nihlus looked at her. "Alright."
"You can't be serious."
"You saw her in action. And she's clearly going to be valuable against the Geth."
"Fine. Welcome aboard."
The Quarian squealed. "Thank you! You won't even notice I'm there."
Shepard cracked half a smile, but quickly covered it. "Good. Now let's get moving. I have one more thing to take care of here. I'll meet you on the Normandy."
Nihlus nodded, Kaiden gave her a quick salute. The three of them left first, leaving Shepard by herself again.
Shepard turned and exited the office as well. She thumbed the disk in her pocket absentmindedly before heading to the upper wards. Some reporter there would probably pay for it. And reporters might just know who the Geth woman was.
And there. Another chapter done. We have now met (Or at least seen) all the non canon characters. I hope you have enjoyed Shepard's perspective. There will definitely be more in the future. As always, I feed off reviews! I just beg you to keep it constructive.
Thanks for reading!