The tranquil vista of the Presidium gardens from Councilor Anderson's balcony did nothing to allay Kaidan Alenko's growing frustration. He stared impatiently into the hologram of the other three Counselors, awaiting judgment.
The Citadel Council stood in there flickering, expressionless and as hard to read as ever much like they had appeared two years ago when Shepard had been right there at his side. He could still close his eyes and see her standing there pensively with arms crossed, that unbelievably soft lower lip pursed in anticipation, laser green eyes that always seemed to weigh and measure everything already narrowing in confirmation of the suspicion they lit up about –"Commander Alenko," the Asari Counselor began first. "We've just finished going over your report about the attack on Horizon."
"Thanks to you, we were able to collaborate Shepard's story with regards to the Collector's attacks on the human Colonies," the Turian Conselor continued.
Kaidan's brows knitted together in disbelief. If the ship that Cerberus had built to look like the Normandy was anywhere as fast as the original, Shepard could have been half way across the galaxy even while he and the remainder of his troops were left to clean up the mess on Horizon. "Excuse me, Counselor, I mean no disrespect, but what do you mean by 'collaborate'?"
"The details of your report allowed us to confirm the validity and accuracy of Shepard's report which she filed over a week ago," the Salarian Counselor explained.
What?! Alenko was beside himself. "Shepard reported in?" He cast an icy glower in Anderson's direction.
"That is correct, Commander. Shepard presented herself before this Council not two weeks prior to the attack on Horizon. At that time we determined to maintain her Spectre status provided she kept her activities with Cerberus confined to the Terminus systems," the Asari Conselor declared.
With that Kaidan saw red. His index finger angrily slammed the mute button on the communications panel as he stepped out of view of the transmission camera and turned to face Anderson. All rank and decorum fell by the waste side as he found himself shouting at the Alliance Counselor at the top of his lungs. His eyes flared blue as he drew on every last ounce of control to suppress the surge of dark energy that rising of the desire to biotically pick the man up and choke him to death. "Why the hell wasn't I told?!"
Anderson stood his ground, remaining the picture of calm under pressure as he reactivated the volume on the transmission. "You and your team were already well on your way to Horizon when Shepard finally came forward. And although we gave her back provisional status as a Spectre, given suspicions we had about Cerberus and the missing colonies which you were sent to investigate, and the fact that Cerberus seems to have eyes everywhere, we couldn't risk alerting them to your mission."
"Did she voice any concerns about the Collector threat being related to the Reapers?" he asked.
"When Shepard appeared before us, she still maintained her adamant and misguided belief about the Reapers," the Turian Counselor replied. "A belief she supported in the report with the appearance of husks, similar to the ones she and you encountered in your mission to stop Saren."
"There were more than just husks on Horizon," Alenko explained quietly. "We have over a dozen witnesses confirming encounters between Shepard's team and husk-like constructs, including the final one that was airborne, and it took more than heavy firepower to take that thing down. We combed the colony and found no traces of Dragon's Teeth. My science officer examined their remains and found nanites similar to those the bodies of the husks we found on Eden Prime and elsewhere. That looks like a connection to me."
"We understand why you would be inclined to believe Shepard, given you were a member of her crew and worked closely with her in the past," the Asari Counselor continued, "and it appears that the Collectors have acquired technology the Geth were using at the time of Saren's attack on Eden Prime, but there is no evidence that confirms Shepard's outlandish Reaper theory. While the presence of Geth technology is some cause for concern, that the Collector's activities have up to now been confined to the Terminus systems, again suggests this is an entirely human matter rather than requiring our attention."
"That's preposterous," Anderson spoke up. "We know for a fact that Geth don't work with organics, Saren was an exception because he was Soveriegn's agent. That has to point to some connection."
"The evidence is circumstantial at best," the Salarian Consul replied. "There is a Geth connection with the technology, but it hardly suggests any truth to Shepard's ravings."
"There is more," the Turian Consul added. "Commander, although Shepard did comply with our list of conditions, she wasn't forthcoming with our request for her to reveal the identities of her crew mates. If you would recognize any of the persons we have on record, it would help the Council's case against Cerberus a great deal."
The first image that flashed was the face of a comely dark-haired woman. Kaidan immediately knew her was the one who had challenged Shepard's decision to let his team have the body of the flying bug-like construct after the clash at the spaceport. "I've seen her. She was on Horizon as part of Shepard's strike team."
"That is Miranda Lawson," the Asari Counsilor declared.
"She can't be related to Henry Lawson, the known scientist and trillionaire," Kaidan found himself saying.
"She is," Anderson confirmed quietly. "She was reported missing years ago after she apparently ran away as a teenager. Now we know where she's been hiding out."
The next image was that a human male, with a strong jaw and a dark complexion.
"Yes, he was there too. He's a biotic, and was part of Shepard's forward assault team when they took the spaceport back."
"That's Jacob Taylor, he's a former Alliance marine involved in black opps missions. He resigned his commission about two years ago. We offered him a chance to come back with a promotion, but apparently he chose to take up with Cerberus."
The Turian councilor skipped over Garrus' image saying "Your report already mentioned Garrus Vakarian's involvement with Shepard, at least now we know where he's been all this time. Which brings me to the next member you identified, a young human biotic with colorful tattoes," the next image flashed, "would that be her?"
"Bingo," Kaidan eyed the pic closely remembering how destructive the young woman had been against the waves of husks that had attacked Shepard's team.
"She calls herself 'Jack.' The Turian government recently lost contact with one of our privately-held holding facilities, we're not sure if the administrator ran afoul with several other contract holders or if it was attacked. A number of prisoners escaped, including her. We suspect, but cannot prove if Cerberus was involved, but this does give us some leads."
With that another image flashed. It was that of a Salarian with the crest above his left eye scarred and cut shorter than the other. "That's Dr. Solis," Kaidan replied. "Shepard ordered him to inoculate all the surviving members of my team against the swarms, along with every surviving colonist. He talked a lot, but seemed pretty harmless."
"That proves most troubling," the Salarian councilor declared. "Dr. Solis is one of our people's top geneticists. He had recently retired from working for the STG, and opened a clinic on Omega to treat the plague victims there.
"Last I heard, Councilor, the plague on Omega had been eradicated," the Alliance commander said. "In fact, while he was with my team, he went out of his way to reiterate that the plague on Omega was spread by the Vorcha who were working with the Collectors."
"Even if that is true, it's beyond the scope of our investigation," came a terse reply.
"Not beyond mine," Anderson replied almost too quickly.
"Very well, then," the Asari Counselor replied. "As this is a human matter, we will leave you to it then. I trust that any information pertinent to Council matters will be forwarded forthrightly with the same human zeal you have already demonstrated. Commander Alenko," she turned herself to the camera as if directly speaking with him, "thank you, for your report. I understand and respect how learning a commander you thought dead suddenly turning up alive would affect you—we all do."
Lady, you have no idea! Kaidan found himself pursing his lip, but a deferential "Thank you, Counselors," was all that he heard himself saying. Alenko! That new drill-sergeant voice popped up in the back of his head, it was always Shepard's voice. It started showing up right after her funeral, after he took the liberty and extreme pleasure of throwing her ex out of the wake. You spineless weasel, if the roles had been reversed and she would have been here instead of you, she would have let them have it! That voice was the same voice that got him promoted to Commander. Sometimes just being stumped in a situation and asking himself what Shepard would do was enough for him to think of a solution.
As the conference ended he found himself staring face to face with Anderson. "Permission to speak freely, Sir?"
"You forget, I'm a politician now, Commander. I'm all ears," his superior said shrewdly.
"After what you went through, after what we all went through . . . WHY why would you not tell me what was really going on?
"I was just as much in the dark as you were until about a month ago," came a steady reply. "I didn't want to believe the rumors were true. I thought it Cerberus had found some imposter, or gotten hold of her alliance DNA data file and grown a replica, but the minute she walked through these doors, I knew she was the real deal. The way she walked, the way she talked, right down to the slide of the tongue—minus some scars, and given a few new ones, it was Shepard. And I've known her longer and better than anyone does," he regarded his subordinate with a long look and a cocked brow.
"Even better than you," Kaidan knew the last remark was another subtle reminder that Anderson was on to their relationship.
"I was the one who pulled her from that half-caved septic tank on Mindoir, fifteen years ago," Anderson said quietly. "She is probably the closest thing I will ever have to a real daughter if the Reapers do arrive slightly off-schedule."
"So Alliance Command is taking the Reaper threat seriously?"
"The brass has seen every letter of Shepard's reports. Most are skeptical, but Admiral Hackett and I are in the same boat with Shepard. And we are in the minority: the only preparations being made are solely based where he and I have clout. Thankfully he controls the largest fleet, he is the most senior admiral and he has a great-deal of pull with ship captains all over the entire fleet, but the rest of the admiralty are laughing it up as another spurious doomsday prediction just like Two-twelve and Y2K."
"Yeah, well," Kaidan spoke with disdain. "I can think of plenty of other of doomsday predictions that did turn out to be true: the mass industrial extinction of 2100 rings a bell, as does the GMO crop failure of 2122, not to mention the continual import of bugs like honey-bees from the colonies, because apparently were we so good at killing off all the bugs on Earth, we didn't realize we needed most of them to maintain our ecosystem—Did I mention that import bugs will be down this year because many of the colonists were actually captured by giant bugs themselves?"
"Alenko, I know where you're going with this, and we are on the side here," Anderson reminded him.
"Are you? Are you really?" Kaidan disliked the doubt he heard in his own voice. "I know this sounds really old-fashioned, but I don't think you get what kind of blow it is to have to have someone you already respect and admire throw you out of the line of fire, take your place in it, and almost dying in the process, especially a woman, like her."
"Here's a different blow for you, Alenko. Remember your days as Marine Detail Commander on the Normandy? I hand-picked the crew, but imagine having four other N7 Commandos, like Shepard, stationed on your vessel as your their strike team. When we finally found a trace of life after that raid on Mindoir, Shepard didn't even respond until the seventy-third hour, it took another two days for her to stand down."
"I'm afraid I'm not understanding what you're saying, Sir."
"Very simple, Commander, when your species stands in the face of complete annihilation, your please-all politician will be useless, your chivalrous soldier code will get you killed, and the idea of live-and-let-live is not going to be an option. No, what you're going to want is the kid who faced off against the best- trained soldiers money-can-buy for two days, holding a toy gun."