Note: Another shorty but we're moving forward getting to the showdown, still got several chapters before this part ends. Thank you to all the favorites and follows. FlowerMaiden05: thank you for the review, I promise I'll give you some more Victus.

As always, feedback is much appreciated.

Please enjoy, Grand Theft Normandy.

Mass Effect
"Foreign Relations"

Chapter Fourteen: Grand Theft Normandy

The Normandy raced through space as fast as it could under FTL; Joker was following the coordinates for the Mu Relay and had told Sidda that it would take a few hours to get there. This was all taking too long but Sidda felt strangely at peace with it all. She hadn't been at peace with anything since the whole mess began. She'd taken things into her own hands more than once, disobeyed orders, bent, broke, and totally obliterated rules, told the Council to shove it, participated in a conspiracy, and committed grand theft. If she came out of this without being court-maritaled she'd die of shock.

The screen before her changed to her favorite Turian, she couldn't wait to actually see him again, and actually spend time without worry about the renegade Spectre she was chasing. "What happened to you?" Victus asked pausing a second between each word as he saw Sidda's battered face on the monitor.

Sidda sighed heavily and really only had one answer, he wasn't going to like it, but there wasn't much she could do about it now. "Saren happened."

Victus blinked as he leaned closer to the monitor, clearly concerned about that explanation. "You found him?" he asked with the hope in his voice, assuming she'd called to tell him that all of this was over.

Sidda gave him a long nod, he was right but it wasn't what he wanted to hear. "And lost him," she answered. Victus' expression narrowed, she had him and then lost him. He was about to ask how but Sidda beat him to it. "Found him on Virmire…an STG team cornered him and…he cornered them. I found him, we had…words, he got away, and I turned his base into a thermonuclear campfire."

Victus' expression switched from concern to confusion, given her attitude about her pursuit of Saren up to now he was a little perplexed with her current attitude. "Uhh, Sid," he began, "somehow I thought you'd be a little bit more upset about losing the guy you've been chasing for weeks."

Sidda shrugged, he wasn't wrong. "Well, I was, but now I'm cruising around in a stolen warship so I've kinda thrown everything out."

Victus sat back and cocked his head confused a lot more now. "A stolen what? What is going on out there?"

"It's a…miscommunication between me, Udina, and the Council," she replied with a sigh, this was her way of dealing with the mother of all hornet's nests she kicked. "They told me I couldn't go to Ilos to find Saren, I called them idiots, they grounded me, and so I stole the prototype."

Victus was playing catch up and he was very confused, this wasn't how he imagined her mission to catch Saren to go, he certainly didn't expect Sidda to be so jovial about having him and then losing him all in the same day. "Sid…Ilos…what is going on?"

"It is a long story, Adrien, which probably ends with me being court-martialed," she said and Victus was growing irritated with coy, humorous responses.

"Try me," he growled showing his irritation.

Sidda snorted at his tone, he had a sense of humor to a point, and fencing with him only got her so far before it pissed him off. "Long story short; Ilos is Saren's next stop, now I kinda want to stop him before he gets to the Conduit and screws us all; it required me to 'liberate' the Normandy with my commanding officer's blessing," she explained and Victus' expression narrowed more as he remembered his history.

"Ilos requires the Mu Relay…," he said and Sidda nodded, she already knew that and he was still trying to figure that out, "How…?"

"More Prothean crap that Liara was able to sort out, Conduit's on Ilos and we know how to get there," she said and Victus really didn't like this and the protectiveness in him came out in full force.

"Sid, I don't like this…Saren has a head start on you and probably has all of his Geth with him," he said and she shrugged slightly.

"Let's not forget about Sovereign,…a real live Reaper leftover from the last cycle," she added dryly and Victus' paused as he blinked several times.

"Alright, that's it, I'm coming with you," he decided and she shook her head with a slight chuckle. "We'll back you up."

Sidda appreciated his sentiment. "Adrien, I appreciate that but the Normandy can run silent…the Lante can't." He reluctantly understood. "I do have something else to ask of you though. The Council seems to think a blockade will stop Saren and his evil plan, but there's no way that'll work. With the Geth and Sovereign they'll just walk right through them."

"So, what do you want me to do?" he asked.

"He's going to attack the Citadel I just don't know when…I've put Hackett on alert and he's at Arcturus,"she said and Victus continued to listen. "The Citadel is convinced their blockade is enough but they're wrong, if I contact them they'll try to ground me again."

"Send me whatever information you have…I'll see what I can do to sway Sparatus and the others, at the very least I can bring a frigate to the fight if there is one," he said and she let a smile spread across her face, they thought alike…most of the time, and it was proven just now.

"There will be one…trust me," she said and he nodded.

He didn't like her cavalier attitude; it was strange…almost like she was looking at this as if it were a game now, a stark contrast to the woman who was ready to kill anyone who got in her path when they assaulted Rothla. "Sid…," he began but abruptly stopped talking. "I don't like this…you have no idea what you're going to find on Ilos, no one does…no one's been there for who knows how long."

Sidda understood his concern; she had reached the acceptance stage…that was what she'd figured. "I know," she replied quietly and gave him a smile that was meant to reassure. "Someone's gotta do it though,…and I'm the one who has all the Prothean crap in my head."

Victus' jaw tightened. "Just be careful."

She gave him another smile and a nod. "I will…see you on the other side," she told him and watched him stiffen, uncomfortable.

"Do not say that, Siddalee," he growled and used her full name, words like that were bad luck, her mission was already dangerous and she didn't need to tempt fate. The door chimed in her quarters and derailed the tense conversation.

Sidda was a little uncomfortable now that the conversation had taken a morbid turn. "I gotta go, Adrien," she said over top of his protesting, he didn't like her mindset going into something like this and tried to keep talking to her. "I love you, I gotta go," she finished and cut the link off sitting back in the chair with a sigh. "'See you on the other side.'?" she repeated out loud, she couldn't believe she said that to him. "Yeah…because that won't make him come running to stop me from doing something stupid," she said to the blank screen as the chime went off again.

Kaidan was moving gingerly. He'd been shot before but nothing quite like this, his left arm was in a sling and it hurt to move. His armor had slowed the round but failed to seal and apply the medigel properly, Cerrus' steady pressure hadn't helped him stay conscious but nothing vital was hit. He'd been summoned to Sidda's quarters when he was feeling up to it. With all the hoopla he'd heard lately he had a feeling she wanted to talk to him about what their next step was.

"Hey," Sidda greeted with a smile as Kaidan walked into her quarters, "look who's up."

Kaidan wanted to shrug but decided against it, he tried that once in Medical and it didn't end well. "Seems like I've missed a lot," he said and she chuckled. "You stole the Normandy?"

"Kinda had to…we know where Saren is going. The Conduit is on Ilos we just need to get there first," she said and he grimaced trying to figure out if he wanted to sit or stand, they both hurt so it didn't matter much.

"So you stole an Alliance ship?" he asked and Sidda nodded.

"With Anderson's blessing…don't worry, any repercussions will land on me not anyone else," She said and he shook his head. He wasn't questioning her motives, he felt like he was to blame for the outcome and for the loss of team member; he had to be told that Ashley died, that the beacon on Virmire was the final piece of the puzzle that led them to the destination where they could finally stop Saren and his plan. He had to be told about talking to a real live Reaper, Sovereign was an uncomfortable thought.

"I didn't mean that, Commander," he said quietly. "I just…I don't know."

"None of this was your fault, Kaidan," she said with a sympathetic expression.

Sidda saw right through him and suddenly he felt uncomfortable. "You saved me instead of Ash."

"We were closer to your position. Getting back to Ash would have taken too long for us to make a difference. I made a decision and I chose your team," she rationalized and he nodded at that, it didn't make him feel any better about it. He was alive and she wasn't, he wasn't sure how he felt about that. "So we're in route to Ilos, I've sent a transmission to Hackett apprising him of the situation and brought Adrien in on the loop to see if we can get some support from the Turians," she explained and he was quiet. "You can't go with me but I'm leaving you in command, I don't know what the hell we're gonna find on Ilos but if I'm leaving the ship you're in command."

Kaidan blinked, Pressley was her second in command. "Yes, ma'am."

"Now, I don't know what the Conduit is but I'll bet my combat pay that once he finds it his next step is going to be attacking the Citadel," she explained. "Every inkling I have from those damn beacons say that station is the key to whatever they are going to do."

She was driving at something, he could tell. "What do you want me to do?"

Truthfully, Sidda wouldn't know until she got to the lost planet but she had a standing plan. "Anything goes sideways or you lose contact with us…permanently…get to Arcturus, talk to Hackett, that's where I sent Adrien too. Rally the Alliance and protect the Citadel."

Kaidan nodded sharply. "Understood."

Victus really didn't like the way that conversation ended but there was nothing he could do about it now. Without the coordinates to the Mu Relay it'd be like finding a needle in a haystack so however grudgingly he did what Sidda asked. He browsed through the information she sent and scratched his head; he hadn't gotten a full briefing about her mission and what she had found along the way until he read her very rough draft report of her mission thus far. The beacons, the Protheans, the Reapers…it was all hard to believe even as he read it. The readings taken from the Normandy on the Geth ships and sensor data on the Reaper would be handy if it ever came up for a fight. After what was certainly an interesting read he headed to the CIC in search of his XO.

"Damar," He called and approached him handing him the datapad. Maridus turned to him and took the pad. "I want a tactical analysis for this as soon as possible, Geth ships and the Reaper."

"Get me Sparatus," he ordered with sigh, he didn't want to talk with him because he knew how this was going to go. He waited for comms to hook into a comm buoy and then waited longer for Sparatus' assistant to get the Councilor on the line.

"General," Sparatus greeted his tone tight, "what can I do for you?"

"Councilor, we need to talk," he began.

"About what?"

"Shepard and the warning she gave you…a warning that you're ignoring," the General's accusation was blunt…very blunt.

Sparatus' expression narrowed. "Your relationship with Shepard has done exactly as I expected. She's drug you into her paranoia…you could be court-martialed for acting outside Palaven's authority."

Victus ignored all but the first part, sure he could be court-martialed but that was the least of his worries. "My relationship with the Commander has no bearing on this, Sparatus, she's right and you're wrong."

Maridus' eyes flicked from Vicuts to the screen and back again, Victus had no reservations on giving people a piece of his mind. He'd gone toe to toe with the Primarch on several occasions, fought with every superior he'd ever had, and had scrapped with the Council on occasion too. It was always fun to watch.

"Mind your tone, General," Sparatus warned.

"You have backed yourself into a corner, if the station is attacked you won't be able to hold it," He said sternly.

"You have no proof, General, neither does she. She stole an Alliance warship while it was on lockdown." He replied harshly. "All this talk about Saren being the renegade Spectre…what is Shepard?"

Victus' mandibles clicked together, the comparison angered him. "Do not compare-…," he began to snarl and then got ahold of himself. He was angry but rather than erupting on the Councilor he kept it together. "Think about the repercussions if you're wrong, Sparatus," he growled and motioned to the comm officer to cut the link. He gripped the console letting his anger simmer down, he didn't like Sidda being compared to Saren, she was nothing like him. "Anyone remember when he was a very good officer?"

Maridus shrugged. "That was a very long time ago, Sir," he said and he stood up straight with a deep cleansing sigh.

"I want that tactical analysis as soon as possible. Zara, take us to Arcturus," he ordered and Maridus gave him a curious expression.

"Why are we going to Arcturus?" he asked fiddling with the pad in is hands. It was a little unusual for a Turian ship to be going to the Alliance's top station.

"Because Sidda asked me to," he answered quickly and his first officer gave him a single nod before moving off to do what was asked of him.

Most of Sidda's cobbled together Saren hunting crew was on deck to view Ilos; this was a planet that had been lost for centuries. Countless expeditions had been devised to find the lost Prothean planet but none of them succeeded or at the very least got off the ground. Now, here they were, a lone Alliance warship being spat out of a relay that had long been lost.

"Whoa," Sidda commented at number of ships that came up on the scope. "Are the stealth systems engaged?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am, so long as they don't do a visual we won't be detected," Joker replied but had to admit the number of Geth ships was a little unsettling.

"My God, look at that,…a nearly untouched Prothean planet," Sidda added the awe in her voice was hard to miss.

Joker scoffed loudly. "Keyword, nearly, Saren beat us here." He refocused on the controls before him.

"Can you put us down anywhere?" she asked and Pressley shook his head and told her that the closest place with enough room to land the frigate was too far to make it on foot before Saren had too much of a head start on them. "Drop us in the Mako then."

"Negative, Commander, there's no adequate drop zones." Pressley reported. "Nearest I can find is 20 meters." Sidda sighed and shook her head slightly. "Mr. Negative."

A 20 meter drop zone was a huge reduction from the 100 meters needed for a safe drop; the Normandy needed to be spot on with trajectory and the Mako driver needed to hit the brakes and thrusters as quickly as possible to stop in time before they crashed face first into a building. "Joker?"

"I can do it," the pilot replied and Sidda nodded, she didn't need anything else from him. If he said he could do it, she trusted him.

"Cerrus, Garrus, Wrex, gear up…Joker; drop us right on that bastard's head," Sidda said as her team turned to leave before she really finished her sentence. "Kaidan, ship is yours."

Kaidan decided that he really didn't like being left behind, the Normandy screamed through the atmosphere, deposited the Mako and miraculously Garrus got the Mako stopped just feet from the building they nearly careened into. Now, Kaidan was twiddling his thumbs pacing on deck waiting, wondering, listening, as the Normandy tried to remain a fly on the wall in stealth mode. He officially hated it.

His pacing was aggravating the CIC crew but he ignored the irritated expressions and Pressley's snarky attitude. It wasn't that he was angry for having to answer to Kaidan at the moment but it was the hurry up and wait that they were in the middle of that had him and Kaidan on edge.

"Hey," Tali greeted bringing him out of his pacing trance, "any word?" she asked and Kaidan looked down at her shaking his head sharply.

"Not yet," he said quietly, the waiting was the worst part. He realized that he wasn't the only one waiting impatiently; Tali apparently now had a vested interest, more so then when she started. Cerrus and Tali were crappy at keeping their relationship a secret, the whole ship saw it and Kaidan actually smiled to himself.

It had been nearly a half hour as the little frigate silently drifted along in orbit waiting to hear something from the Mako team. So far they remained undetected, no one looked out a view port and made visual contact with them…this muscle car of the stars was paying for itself, despite all the negativity, the hoopla, and money it took to design this ship she was the perfect thing for the job. No other ship could run silent like this, be right under the enemies nose and still not be detected. The SSV Normandy, the most badass little ship in the Alliance Navy.

After what felt like hours, in reality only about 40 minutes, of waiting in uncomfortable silence Joker declared movement. It was disconcerting watching the Geth ships high-tail it for the Relay leaving them behind, it was a bad feeling to be honest. Saren must have found something and Kaidan still hadn't heard anything from Sidda. He was getting nervous; he didn't like the silence…not this type of nervous, uncomfortable silence that was permeating the ship.

"Normandy," Sidda's voice crackled through, it was distorted but that didn't stop Kaidan from practically pouncing on the comm. "Normandy, do you copy?"

Kaidan winced at his sharp movement but answered. "Commander, we read you go ahead."

"The Conduit is a….elay to…Citadel. Get to…ation and rally…Alliance." The words were garbled but Kaidan got the gist.

"A relay to the Citadel?" Pressley repeated. "We need to go there…warn them."

Kaidan shook his head. "No," he said quickly, "we go there they won't listen and try to ground us again. If they are all heading to the Citadel, the defense fleet is going to need a lot of backup. Take us to Arcturus we gotta call Hackett." His order was decisive and confident, no one, not even Pressley, questioned it.

The Normandy was spat out of the relay and screamed to the Alliance station, Hackett took Sidda's warning to heart as the entirety of the Fifth Fleet crowded the space. Kaidan's arm hurt, he'd spent too much time moving around, pacing, not paying attention to the complaining wound. He bottled it up and moved with purpose to the comm room. He was doing exactly what Sidda had ordered him to do. He needed to contact Hackett and Victus; nothing she said told him that he couldn't do that at the same time. He had the comm officer hail the Turian warship and call up Hackett as well.

The hologram of Victus appeared before him. "General," Kaidan nodded and Victus' eyes narrowed, he expected to see Sidda not one of her Lieutenant's that he vaguely remembered; he was a part of Sidda's team, he knew that, "my name is Lt. Alenko."

"Where's Shepard?" Victus asked directly as he quickly sized the young human up. Alenko, he was the Sentinel, the Medic but the last time he saw Kaidan his arm wasn't in a sling, apparently life on the Normandy was a bit rough. He couldn't hide the worry and wanted to know that Sidda was safe and sound.

"I don't know," he answered honestly and the last member to the party flickered in moving forward with his standing order to fill them all in. "Admiral," He nodded to Hackett respectfully. "My last contact with the Commander was distorted but I got the idea, the Conduit is a relay link to the Citadel. Not 30 seconds before that message came in all the Geth left Ilos orbit…Admiral, General, they've got to be heading for the Citadel. There is no way the defense fleet is going to be able to hold them off, not with that many Geth and a Reaper at the lead."

Hackett squirmed a little; this was going to get hairy. "Lieutenant, General, I am prepared to take the Fifth Fleet in to defend the Citadel. General, we would welcome whatever assistance you can provide in that, the report that you forwarded to the fleet will prove useful against the Geth and the Reaper Sovereign."

Victus gave the Admiral a nod. "The Lante is at your disposal, Admiral; we'll follow your lead." Those were some strange words, he knew Hackett by reputation he had served in 314 same as he did. After all this time it was still odd to be joining forces, especially for two prominent soldiers who'd served on opposite sides.

"Outstanding, jump prep underway, we'll contact everyone when we're ready to move. Hackett out."

Kaidan reached for the button to disconnect from Victus as Hackett flickered out. "Lieutenant," Victus began, stopping him from ending the call. "What happened?" he asked gesturing to the injury Kaidan had sustained.

"Took a hit on Virmire, Sir," he replied, his tone as respectful as Victus had ever heard, the young man was clearly someone that Sidda trusted. "Tyr…Capt. Cerrus prevented me from bleeding out."

Victus blinked, not at the fact Cerrus saved him, that was Turian training and Cerrus' 'never lose anyone ever' mentality, but he called him Tyr before he corrected himself. Sidda didn't even call him by his given name, hardly anyone called him by his given name only people he was close to had that privilege. "Where is Cerrus?" he asked rather than stand there was a dumbfounded look.

"He went with Shepard to Ilos along with Garrus and Wrex," he answered and lingered a moment obviously reading Victus' expression through the crappy hologram. "Tyr's a good friend, General, he'll bring her back."

The galaxy just tilted on its axis…Cerrus made a human friend. He thanked the Alliance officer and cut off the transmission turning to see Maridus listening in. "General quarters, Major," Maridus nodded and hit the button to sound the alert for the coming combat.