Jo got ambushed at breakfast next day. Ken and Gabby crowded her, never even paying attention to Primarch Victus sitting at the same table. The turian leader seemed pleasantly surprised at the quality of turian food on the Normandy, but was downright shocked when Ken addressed Jo with some serious fire:

"Commander, you always said that if we have some beef with you, we can always come to you directly?"

"Yes, Kenneth," Jo nodded, sipping her coffee. "What's up?"

"Why did you make Adams your Chief Engineer? He doesn't know the Normandy like Gabby and I do! He may have been on your first Normandy and served with you before and he's damn good, but what makes him so good that he deserves this promotion? We know you don't practise favouritism, Commander, so what the hell? He told us that when Cerberus offered him the chance to work with you again he refused. That's disloyalty, Commander, no matter how you look at it, while Gabby and I spent the same six months in a detention facility that you did because we believe in you and would stand by you through everything, everything! And the moment you have a promotion to hand out, you fling it at someone else?"

Jo reached out and gently squeezed the young man's wrist, a fond smile playing on her lips. That took all wind out of his sails and he almost visibly deflated. Jo could tell that Primarch Victus was holding his breath nearby, extremely curious about her response to something that would never have been tolerated on a turian warship.

"I did it for personal reasons," Jo said, addressing both Ken and Gabby. "Or rather for personnel reasons. Both of you deserve a promotion because you're equally good at what you do and I trust you two with my ship, my home and my life. How could I have possibly chosen one of you? That would have caused tension. Besides, I couldn't make one of you the boss of the other. Spirits know that I can't help being the boss of the man I love, but don't you dare think that it's easy. It takes a lot out of us both to stay equals when I'm giving orders to him on daily basis. There is no way around it for me and Joker, but I couldn't do the same to you. You need to be equals, you need to stand beside each other on the same side of the fence without ranks or duties that would drive a rift between you two."

Both Gabby and Ken blushed and the auburn haired girl gingerly slid her arm around the young man's waist, leaning against him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders in return and gently nuzzled her cheek.

"Besides," Jo smiled at them both. "Adams' promotion is just a formality. He's on probation for all the reasons you just gave me and he knows it. If anything goes wrong, I'll take it out of his hide. And finally, you both know who the real Chief Engineer is on this ship."

"Tali," Gabby nodded.

"Exactly."

"Does that mean that you're ok with it if we keep sleeping on adjacent beds in the dorm?" Ken decided to go all the way.

"Did I ever object?" Jo winked at them and kept smiling after them as they departed.

"Either you do things very differently on your ship, Commander," Primarch Victus spoke up once they were alone again. "Or I've been terribly misinformed about how the Alliance runs their ships."

"You haven't been misinformed, Primarch," Jo returned to her coffee. "The Alliance has regs and they're strict. That's why I left the Alliance officially a while ago. So yes, I do things differently on my ship. It's a personal approach. I give them whatever makes them happy and they would all die and kill for me. Seems to work."

"I wonder if it's really wise."

"Trust me, I still wonder the same, but I've been through several hells and back each time with those guys and they have yet to let me down."

"A very interesting strategy," he nodded.

"Primarch, can I ask you something?" Jo leaned onto the table and lowered her voice.

"You can ask, but I can't promise I'll be able to answer, if it's something classified."

"I don't know if it is, that's why I'm asking. It's about Garrus Vakarian. Last night we were catching up and I made a remark in jest and his reaction surprised me. My question is: how far down the hierarchy succession line is he from becoming a Primarch himself? His refusal to talk about it made me believe that he is at least on the list, but he's just too modest to say anything to me. Is that something you think you can reveal?"

"Why do you wish to know?" Victus sat back cautiously. "If you wish to eliminate his competition starting with me to put your friend in the position of power, Commander, that wouldn't look good."

"Spirits be with you, Primarch, I'm asking because I don't want him to become a Primarch right now."

"And why not?" That definitely surprised him.

"Because I don't often get to meet people as wonderful, as magnificent and as beautiful in every way as Garrus Vakarian. It's their greatness that takes them away from me eventually, they leave me to become something more, something better than simply my helpers. I'm happy for them every time, proud and touched, because they deserve recognition, of course. But on a personal level it always means that my best friends leave me. I lose them to their own greatness, I have to train new ground team members until they realise their full potential and leave me again. Garrus deserves the best, but right now I'm selfish enough to wish he wasn't second in line, just because I'd like to keep him with me a little longer."

Victus gave her words some thought.

"Garrus Vakarian's reputation sky-rocketed the day the Reapers hit Palaven. Until then he was something of a crazy C-Sec washout, quickly losing his family's reputation by spreading rumours and causing panic. His father was the only reason Garrus hadn't been sent off-planet to some remote colony. Then the Reapers arrived and everyone suddenly realised that the Vakarian family are the only people who know what to do." He opened his omnitool and pushed a few buttons, checking the intel. "To answer your question, Commander, before the Reapers he was the 78th in line for the leadership. Now... He is number twelve."

"Twelve," Jo exhaled. "That's.."

"Close," Victus nodded solemnly. "And getting closer, what with the Reaper forces wiping out my race. Too many people are dying on Palaven, good people, my brothers and sisters. While Vakarian and I hide out on your ship, Commander, the Reapers are working hard on moving him up the ladder."

"Thank you for sharing," Jo exhaled a shuddering breath. She hadn't expected that Garrus was indeed so far up in the hierarchy now. No wonder he refused to talk about it last night. Someone as modest as Garrus wouldn't be comfortable admitting such a thing.

Her omnitool pinged with a newly arrived message. Usually Jo read her mail at her console and only the most important and urgent ones made it to her in such a hurry, so Jo was curious to see what EDI had deemed so critical.

When she reached the end of the message, her heart dropped cold to somewhere in Engineering.

"Excuse me," she breathed out towards the Primarch and raced out of the mess hall towards the elevator.

"Get me to the Citadel, right now!" She barked the order and the entire CIC crew snapped to attention at the cold urgency in her voice.

"Jo, what happened?" Joker spoke up quietly in her com once the ship was on its way to the relay. Jo didn't want to talk through intercoms, and besides, the news made her so restless that she wasn't likely to think of anything else until they arrived on the Citadel, which would thankfully only take five hours. She went to the cockpit and quietly showed Joker the message EDI forwarded to her.

At first Joker frowned, not getting what made her so rigid, but then he also reached the final passage of the text:

"'Councillor Udina offered to make me a Spectre. Still thinking whether or not I should accept.'" He looked over his shoulder at her. "Is this for real?"

"I kind of hope it's a practical joke, but knowing Alenko's lack of humour, Udina's shrewdness and the Council's remarkable affinity towards bad decisions, I'm afraid it's for real," Jo sighed.

Joker leaned into his console and adjusted a few things. Their ETA shortened by twenty seven minutes.

"I don't know why he's still asking for your advice after everything that you've already said to him," he muttered. "What are you going to tell him?"

"The truth," she fell into a tense stance right behind him, refusing to focus on anything else but the... situation for the next few hours.

The crew was surprised to be jerked to the Citadel so suddenly, Garrus and Liara even came up to ask what was going on, but Jo didn't pay any attention to them. As soon as the airlock was open, she was sprinting towards the taxi stand, hurrying towards Huerta Memorial.

When she did finally enter Alenko's room, Udina was there, urging the man on the bed for a speedy answer. Both of them seemed somewhat surprised to see her and when Udina left, Alenko told her why:

"I only sent you the message a few hours ago, I didn't expect you to come here so soon. Were you in the neighbourhood?"

"No," Jo said. "But what you wrote left me no option but to drop everything and race here in person."

"Oh?" She could tell that Alenko was trying hard to take her words as a compliment, only her facial expression wasn't letting him. "So, what do you think? It's a big honour. A huge responsibility. Just need to be sure."

"What I think is that you have a moral obligation. To this galaxy. To decline."

The frost in her voice, expression and stance made Alenko recoil on the bed and instinctively reach for the blanket that had so conveniently slid down his torso when she arrived. While his hands sought some protection against her sub-zero intensity, his mouth opened and closed several times, like a fish.

"You're not Spectre material, Alenko, never were and never will be, no matter how much beef you put on," she gestured at his body. "You're not even a soldier."

"I'm a very good soldier, thank you very much," he found his voice, sounding hurt.

"Did you know that every time you do violence on a battlefield, you make a face?" Jo raised an eyebrow. "Like it pains you more than your opponent. Hardships of a battlefield are not for you, Alenko. You never should have entered the Alliance in the first place. You should have been a school teacher, you're perfect for that kind of work. You'd be wonderful with children, gentle and patient, nurturing and caring, you could help many kids find their dreams and realise them. You could teach them the basis of what's wrong and right. But as a soldier you fail entirely. And a Spectre? The reality of what this position brings will break you within a week should you accept, trust me. You believe it's an honour and a huge responsibility, and yes, those are the things you could handle. But haven't you learned anything from working under me? What happens when you have to get your hands dirty? What happens when you have to make a decision that could mean life or death of an entire species? You can't even handle your own dark side, how do you expect to handle the dark side of the entire galaxy? Your moral compass would steer you just right if you were working as a school teacher, but it's hopeless when you're the first and last line of defence for the peace and survival of the whole galaxy."

Alenko swallowed hard. He visibly fought for his next words and Jo noticed his whole body trembling slightly.

"But... Shepard, if Udina made me that offer, then the Council considers me good enough, don't you think?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Jo raised her voice and flapped her hands in a frustrated gesture. "The fact alone that you just said that is the best proof of how catastrophically wrong you are for this."

"Why?"

"Can you possibly really be so blind? Udina made me the first human Spectre to advance humanity in the galactic community and himself to the Councillor position. Only he miscalculated because I didn't let him control me. I refused to play his dirty game of backstabbing politics. I believe in what the Council stands for and from day one I worked for the Council, not for Udina. He burned himself on me time and time again and he doesn't like that. He needs someone he can control and manipulate, so I'm positive that he arranged for you to be promoted to Major based on your work with me back in the day, and now he's grooming you for the position of the second human Spectre because you have a beautiful recommendation list and yet are as blind and naive as a white, fluffy bunny being hypnotised by a snake. He needs someone he can control, someone who'd serve his interests and not the interests of the galaxy, and you're the perfect candidate. This is a ship wreck waiting to happen and I simply can't watch it without doing something."

"Or maybe you just don't want to lose your status as the only human Spectre?"

"Spirits bless your heart, Alenko, being the first and the only one isn't all that. I could name a dozen humans perfectly suited for the position, but I can't silently watch you ruin the lives of countless people when you realise in the field just how unsuited you are. It will be too late then, too late for them. I need you to realise it now before you have real deaths on your conscience."

"Look, Shepard, I know you're still sore about what happened on Mars and on Horizon, but..."

"Oh, for FUCK'S SAKE!" Jo shouted. "Are you seriously trying to tell me that you believe this is a scorned woman type of thing?"

He opened and closed his mouth twice more.

"Isn't it?"

"Get off your high horse, Alenko," she almost hissed. She was done with the guy. "I'm telling you here and now: in my professional and very educated opinion you should decline Udina's offer, even if only to save the last shred of your own dignity. I will make my position known to Udina and the Council, as well. Hope to never see you on the job."

She didn't let him say anything else. Instead, a few minutes later, she stood in Udina's office and glared at the Councillor. He'd dyed his greying hair to a darker shade recently. The colour didn't do him any favours, only accentuating his ashen skin and dark circles under his eyes.

"You'll live to regret this," she told him finally. When Udina inhaled to start putting her in her place, she interrupted him: "Not because of something I'll do. God knows, Alenko will mess it up royally without my help sooner than anyone can imagine."

"He is a good soldier, Shepard. He comes with great recommendations and he's one of our finest. He'll do well."

"You gave him those recommendations and you moved him up the ranks, or are you going to deny it? I'm his former CO and I'm telling you right now that he is absolutely unfit for a Spectre position."

"It's not a decision you get to make, Shepard."

"You moved things around and made it happen just so you can have a Spectre in your pocket, one you can manipulate. Thing is that yes, you can manipulate him all right, God knows he's naive enough to actually believe you, but he'll never be the kind of Spectre who can actually help you with anything. He's weak-willed and hesitant and shies away from hard decisions. How someone like that could ever be of use to you is beyond me."

"You have no idea how politics work, Shepard, so let your betters worry about such things."

"Did you just seriously say that?" Jo couldn't help but smile. Udina at his lowest was actually more amusing than irritating, and he realised that soon enough. It irked him that she was laughing at him, so he lashed out:

"I have better things to do than argue with you over a decision that has nothing to do with you. The offer stands and it will be up to Major Alenko to accept or to decline. Go and do something useful."

"Oh, I am. Question is: are you?"

She left the room before he could say anything else. Her next stop: the Councils conference room.

"But Major Alenko served with you when you went after Saren Arterius," the asari Councillor frowned. "When Councillor Udina suggested him, he based his recommendation on that fact. We were under the impression that having seen first hand how a Spectre operates, even if you were a very inexperienced Spectre back then, Major Alenko would be better suited than many other candidates."

"Councillor, as Alenko's former commanding officer I have not been consulted, but now that I've heard about the offer made to him, I'm making a point to come here and person to give you a character assessment of my former junior officer. Trust me, if it were anyone else, I would either not care or support you, but not with that man. Alenko has continuously shown himself a weak link on my team. His weak will and inability to make decisions in difficult situations make him unfit to lead or be responsible for lives in the way I've been responsible for whole races on occasion."

"Yes, we remember the way you've dealt with the rachni queen," the salarian Councillor snorted.

"Whether you liked it or not, I made a decision I know in my gut is right. Committing genocide is not an option for me, even if I have to deal with the consequences, and if you really think about it, you will all agree with me, no matter how inconvenient my decision seemed at the time. It is not right for politics or just one person to push a button and eradicate an entire race. If you want to take this as an example, Alenko's reaction to it was to tell me that we should have waited and let you make that decision for us. His primary tendency is to act by the book, and if there is no book to follow, he tends to pass a difficult decision up the chain of command. If there is anything I've learned about being a Spectre - from your words or from dealing with others like me - it's that we need to be able to assess situations and make quick decisions for the greater good, even if it is against the general law. Spectres are above the law, and you put us there just for that reason. Alenko can not be trusted to do what's right. Please, reconsider this offer."

"With all due respect, Commander, you are not in the position to make demands like that," the turian said in his usual snide tone. Jo stepped a little closer to them and said quietly, almost intimately:

"I know we have a long history of butting heads and I never minded. I believe in what the Council stands for and no matter how much you question me personally, you can not argue that I've always done whatever I had to do in the Council's and the galaxy's best interest. I may not always have given you what you wanted, but I always gave you exactly what you needed. Right now I'm not demanding anything from you. You may have noticed that the only thing I ever demanded for myself was the ownership of my own space vessel and a little of your attention to things that matter. Money, fame, status or favours mean nothing to me. I'm telling you now that this is one of those things when you think you want Alenko as your second human Spectre, but what you truly need is someone who can handle the position. He can't. I'm not above begging here because I don't want it to end in a tragedy."

"The decision has been made," the asari shook her head in disapproval.

"And so it shall end in a tragedy. Thing is, when it does, I won't say 'I told you so', I'm above that. I just hope that we're all still alive to fix the mess Alenko is going to get you in. I truly hope no one has to die, but well, there is one thing you learn quickly in life: you can't save everyone, especially if they don't want to be saved. Just... call me when he messes up. I won't even hold it against you, you know that I'll always be there to help. Spirits watch over you, Councillors."

When she returned to the ship, the entire crew and all the guests stood around in the CIC in silence. Strangely, it was Cortez who spoke up upon her entrance:

"Well, fuck," he exhaled, and many people nodded in agreement. "I don't want to know what it feels like to be the man you have such an opinion of."

"You know what happened?"

"Oh, thanks to Joker we've all seen what happened," Garrus said. "Do you really think he's so ill-suited?"

"I just went to Udina and the Council to beg them to reconsider. Of course I really think that."

"Care to name some of those humans you'd consider better prepared for the position of a Spectre?"

"You."

"Only... I'm not human," Garrus said, blinking in confusion at her immediate and firm response. It took Jo a second to realise he was right.

"There is that," she nodded with a smile, easing the tension in the room. "I forgot long ago that we're different species, Garrus. Take that as a compliment."

"I know," he said in a way that she had no doubt: the sentiment was not lost on him.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen," she rubbed her hands. "This was a major clusterfuck, but I'm still a perfectly fine Spectre and we have a job to do, a meeting with krogans and salarians to attend, an ancient animosity to resolve, a war to win and a galaxy to save. Let's move."