Chapter 53: Flashpoint
It was all a waiting game.
Sitting on information waiting for that one singular moment, that flashpoint in order to act was a matriarch's game. It was a skill that came with time. It was a skill very few maidens possessed. Liselle wasn't one of them. Granted a daughter of the high priestess cum archaeologist cum war hero cum information broker may have the ability to bide her time. But Liselle was a front-line lieutenant, Aria T'Loak's top enforcer. And now... she was Councillor Tevos's personal body guard.
And the Citadel was so...dull...Liselle needed action, wanted it. Craved it. Bureaucratic tedium was fine if you were pushing the matron stage. But the pirate's daughter wanted to be out there in the Black. Doing something. Anything. Where was good fight with an upstart backstreet gang-bangers when you wanted one? At lest Omega had a pulse!
But then Shepard had to go and spook her mother. Naneth never got spooked. Not ever. Aria T'Loak got pissed. She got revenge; she acted as a woman of thought and thought like a woman of action. And she taught her daughters to be the same. But spooked...never.
Upon her arrival Councillor Tevos her sire...became equally spooked. The message Aria wanted to make suddenly became all too clear. Paraphrased of course but the message said one thing. 'Stop being such a fucking dumbass and prep our people, our homeworld for the demons of dark space are coming. Oh and Shepard is my little pet. Even if she doesn't know it. It is why I allow her to live after killing Wasea.'
Matriarchs had long learned the lesson to be mindful of the future, creating layers within layers of strategy; it was always Aria's way. It was the asari way of maintaining not only control over their territories, the dominant voice within the Council. Even if it took years for a plan to fully unfold the asari matriarchs were patient above all things. Anyone who played chess knew that often times an exceptional gambit was necessary and not immediately seize seemingly open targets because it was tempting.
However there times their steadfast mindfulness came at the expense of the moment. That was when the ways and means, the strategy of kepesh-yakshi came very much into play. A game Liselle was well versed in. Hell she played at championship level. She was becoming equally adept at chess. In understanding it Liselle gained a better understanding of Citadel politics, of humans and how things moved outside her mother's sphere of power.
There were times when plans needed to be accelerated. So here she was pacing the floor of Purgatory's VIP section waiting for the one person she knew had the willingness to act. The problem was her mother was going to absolutely hate it and most definitely not approve. And Ada she wouldn't much care for it either.
Having the carefully woven tapestry pulled down around you was something the bureaucracy distained. It was why government created spin doctoring. Tailor made stories they told the public at large to maintain their control, their security and flow of information.
The Council was bogged down in procedure. They were far too mired in politicking to act in time to save more than pockets of civilizations when the Reapers came. But it was more than that that spurred the maiden to do what she was planning.
In the Great Game as within chess and kepesh-yakshi…only a fool did not take the assured gambit for the win. Sometimes you sacrificed the frigate in order to save the homeworld. One must be relentless. The young maiden had obeyed the will of her mother during her time with Tevos. Liselle had watched, had listened, and one thing was crystal clear the Citadel Council no longer functioned. Not the way it should. Now was the time to act.
"Lt. S'thasa isn't?"
Liselle stopped her pacing and turned to the sound of a human male's voice. Councillor David Anderson wasn't dressed in the typical dress blues of his Alliance uniform, but rather the combat ready blue and black BDU. He looked comfortable in this more 'casual' version of his uniform, more at peace.
He was like Liselle in straining against the leash of political servitude. He was a man of action, strategy and battle. It would have been better served if Anderson was sat behind a desk at Arterius Academy teaching the next generation of N7s not pushing papers at the Councillors' officers.
"Yes." She answered casually accepting the sound of the family name though it was still very alien to her ears.
The family name was the same alias used by Liselle's Aunt Aleena when she donned the nom de guerre of Dr. Mal'dicta S'thasa. If anyone asked the young maiden, she could easily lay claim they were indeed related. Besides her aunt had become a trusted crew member of the Victory before she left with her lover Shiala to return to Feros to aid the colony of Zhu's Hope. Trading on the name was a subtle move on both Aria and her daughter's part but a necessary one to create a link to Shepard. It served as a message to Tevos and generated an air of microcosmic trust with Anderson. It was partially why he agreed to the meet - the other reason of course was curiosity.
"Want to tell me why Councillor Tevos's newest bodyguard is playing deep-throat in a bar?" He said in a voice full of command. While he did not stand with his arms crossed in front of him the air around the retired N7 suggested as much.
Without any pretext Liselle handed the OSD to Anderson. "Necessity and familiarity." She smiled a coy smile that very much belonged on her mother's lips. She moved to sit down on the sofa and unintentionally mimicked another one of her mother's moves as she draped her arms over the back of the sofa and demurely crossed her legs at the ankles.
"What's on this?" Anderson asked looking at the data drive as if it were somehow toxic.
"Something happened on Omega its Queen took great exception to and took greater pains to cover up until she was ready to reveal it. It has something to do with Shepard."
Anderson looked at the drive then back at Liselle as if to find answers to his many questions in her deep blue eyes. Because it looked completely out of place for him to remain standing whilst apparently propositioning a young asari maiden in a night club the Councillor took a seat next to Liselle.
"I'm sure there are a lot of things Shepard has done on Omega Aria T'Loak would not want known to the general public." He knew of course of the rumours that Shepard was the Pirate Queen's newest pet, marking her untouchable within the sphere of Aria's influence. Which was considerable. It was not something the Alliance Brass had taken kindly to, nor half the Council for that matter. Tevos was quick to intercede on Shepard's behalf stating such rumors until proven were circumstantial at best. Anderson always found it curious she would make such an effort.
Hackett on the other hand was non-too-pleased but Hanna reminded him none-too-gently that what is allowed to be seen and what is true are not always synonymous. The matter at least on a personal level was dropped. On the professional end he commented only that as a Spectre, Shepard made unusual allies but she had not betrayed the Alliance. Which was very much the truth.
"This has nothing to do with what Shepard has or has not done on Omega. But it is relative. You see just before the plague hit the Gozu District we had a visit from Collectors who were buying human cargo from Blue Sun slave runners.
"Aria put a stop to it of course. Not for any idealistic reasons such as viewing slavery as being inherently philosophically immoral, but rather she is loath to allow any power moves on her station without hefty kick-backs to her. Or she brokers the deal herself. When someone tries to undermine her, Aria puts a very decisive end to it. Quickly. Lethally. She is Omega. Make no mistake. Her power is absolute.
"Whenever Omega is visited by the Collectors and over the centuries there have been a few instances when it has happened, Aria always takes great exception. Once more she wants to see Shepard succeed against the Collectors as much as you do. And believe it or not believe it or not as much as Tevos does as well."
Alarm klaxons rang out within Anderson's mind, it reflected clearly in his gaze. "Your loyalties seem to be very fluid, Lieutenant."
"One might think so Councillor, but I assure you they are not. Let me put it another way. Everyone creates the thing they dread. People of peace create engines of war. Invaders create avenging heroes. People create children, designed to supplant them, to help them end. Even still redemption exists in family. That is what family is for. There are very few places in the world where you learn forgiveness more often than in your family."
Anderson frowned not following Liselle's train of thought. He puzzled out the words said and what was trying to be said. Family… He tried to see past the obvious into what wasn't. Family… family…was this girl the daughter of T'Loak or Tevos? Both? Surely not!
"I see in your eyes you are beginning to understand. My mother will forgive me in time, especially if I turn this to my advantage. She's all about gaining the advantage. My sire…can be another matter. For the moment she is swimming in a bureaucratic mire. Same as you, same as the other two: Sparatus and Valern. All of you are holding true to the Council's axiom that the truth has never been in anyone's best interests."
Anderson looked at the OSD once more, now as if it were a time-bomb rather then simply toxic. Not sure if he wanted to open or not. Liselle read his hesitation and expected his question. "Why are you doing this? Clearly you are not doing this to defy your parents in some sort maiden rebellion bullshit."
Liselle smiled and shook her head. "Pft...no." She cocked her head a little as she spoke. "My sire constantly tells me that 'those who have power should restrain themselves in using it.' Mother taught me differently. Tevos's views are idealistic but there are times when you can not afford to stay true to idealisms.
"On Omega I learned a few very important things: the conscience is just another word for cowardliness. And above all there is no sin except stupidity, Anderson. And I've found I can resist everything but temptation. It's why you and I are talking now."
"I see. You still haven't fully told why are you doing this?"
"Because my mother knows as I do as do you that if Shepard's campaign against the Collectors fails, the war with Reapers will make corpses of us all. Believe me death has a way of reshuffling one's priorities. The problem with most people is that they don't believe something can happen until it already has. Its' not stupidity or weakness. It's just our nature as sentients. We like to deny the big-bad until it's already chowing down on us then its too fucking late.
"Councillor, we both know the power of the enemy is growing. The Collectors have been unleashed. Harbinger now turns its eye onto Shepard. Maybe it has a grudge against her for destroying Sovereign. Who knows and I don't think it actually matters. What does is that thing as a singular desire in taking Shepard one way or the other. Harbinger's war on the galaxy will come swiftly. The Vaults constructed on Thessia, on Earth, Pavlon and Sur'kesh will not be enough. Not by a long shot."
Anderson knew just as surely as Liselle knew that no other colonies have been outfitted with these sanctuaries. Yes the outlining colonies now had growing stockpiles of weaponry, food stores, and medicines but as Liselle clearly pointed out it was not nearly enough. He also loathed to accept his gut-feeling this upcoming war with the Reapers would claim Shepard's life. It was the fate of all heroes who stand up against insurmountable odds.
As if somehow echoing his thoughts, Liselle said very softly. so softly that Anderson had to strain to hear her. "My mother went deep into Shepard's mind. Doubt your Commander told you about that. Nevermind. Shepard made a calculated move. I was there and I saw how Shepard worked it.
"She knew the Council wouldn't move on this whole 'prepare for the Reapers'. But she's smart enough to know my mother has a bit of pull. Convince Aria T'Loak Pirate Queen of Omega that the threat is very real and she convinces the one woman on the Citadel who can move the Council. Tevos Lei'cree. Tevos moves Thessia, Thessia moves Pavlon and Sur'kesh and Earth of course will not be left behind.
"Suddenly they are all doing what the good Shepard wanted, preparing for the darkening war with the Reapers. You see my mother went so deep into your Spectre's mind whatever she saw…" Liselle paused and then restarted. "She sent me here for a reason, Anderson. She told me or rather she quoted something Shepard said to her when she was that deep: 'In the gathering dark the Reapers are building their strength. They seek dominion of all life in the galaxy unto the ending of all organics- body and soul until we are all one.' Shepard saw it in those beacons and whatever else the Protheans did to her. And when my mother saw those visions forever locked in Shepard's soul deep mind, my mother reacted. The soul never lies even if the mind does.
"Shepard knew this. It was why she went to Aria in the first place, because she knew my mother would do what Tevos would never. She crossed the soul's boundary. She wasn't kind when she entered Shepard's mind. You probably don't understand what that means to asari. There is no violation graver to my people then to go that deep unbidden into another's mind. Shepard sacrificed. And I was in awe. My mother saw the truth.
"You asked me why I am doing this? Why I've told you who I am…because I want to become a matriarch. I want to be able to stand on the shores of Thessia and watch my great children at play, exploring their full potential. And I'm selfish. I don't want to die out of stupidity. My eldest sister died that way. That will not be my fate." Liselle shifted in her seat. Waiting. The silence grew heavy, heavier by the moment. Then … "You have a hell of lot of weapons in your hands now, Councillor. What will you do with them?"
Anderson held up the OSD now it was neither a bomb nor toxic. "I have one, Lt. S'thasa. And I will use it against the Collectors. Against the Reapers. However I can to help Shepard win this war." He made it clear though knowing her parentage, Anderson was not going to use her as a weapon or a bargaining chip. That was not how he operated.
"Then make sure you use that. Keeping things silent so as not to panic the masses is no longer an option, Councillor. Yes crowds make bad decisions and leaders have to do what they feel is right. I'm not a leader - not like my parents anyway, but you are. Shepard sure the hell is. That's why I asked you to come here tonight. Now is the time we act. Your Commander Shepard was right. Right about a lot of things. Just take a look and you will understand. And ah… you may wish to share it with the Wizard. He likes a good conspiracy."
Liselle rose up from the sofa reminding Anderson as her people often did of a feline, silkily moving past him. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go dancing." In that moment she sounded very much like the twenty-three year old she resembled.
ME~ME~ME~ME~ME~ME~ME~ME
"How'd your date go with your little asari friend?" Kahlee's teasing voice called out from the apartment's large upstairs bedroom. Anderson's home on the Citadel was a lush accommodation worthy of an Admiral or Councillor. It was located in close proximity of the Silver Coast Casino, in the Silver Sun Strip.
"She gave me an OSD with information that she acquired from a former associate of hers back on Omega." despite he and Kahlee were lovers and trusted on another implicitly Anderson was mindful not to mention Liselle's parentage. As he told the maiden he only had one weapon. There was a daring trust the asari had placed in a man she knew mostly by reputation. It was extraordinary she revealed as much as she had. It gave gravity to her testimony and to the evidence she had surrendered. It was something Anderson would not betray. He trusted his gut, and his gut told him that Liselle 'S'thasa' T'Loak would become a tremendous ally in future days.
"I haven't looked at it yet. But it centres around the Collectors invading Omega. Aria put them down but not before the bugs left behind the plague and more importantly some serious Intel. Whatever it is I think you should take a look at it."
Kahlee was one of the galaxy's foremost experts in complex data analysis. Twenty years ago she used her skills to help DR. Qian with his radical AI research. Her work and that of Qian unwittingly led Saren to unlock the secrets of Sovereign's awakening. Though it wasn't until the rogue Spectre Saren incited his attack on Eden Prime with the Reaper that Kahlee understood her role in everything.
When she had first heard of the Reapers she hadn't believed it, but then she heard it from Shepard's own mouth and David confirmed it.
He plugged the OSD into the computer in his office. There were only two files to open. One was titled 'population': on it to the horror of Anderson and Kahlee they saw list after list of every single human colony not only in the Traverse but in the Terminus Systems and Earth Systems Alliance.
"This is a census of our colonies, their entire populations." Kahlee gasped scrolling through the lists. There were so many of them. "What is this...why would the Collectors need this?" she asked more to herself than to her lover. "Oh my god this is a harvest list… Isn't it"
Anderson nodded. "Yes. It is. Shepard reported as much on Horizon as did Williams. It's why there no signs of battle on the other colonies. No bodies. Those capsules recovered from Horizon are like nothing we've ever seen." he rubbed a hand over the stubble of crew cut. "They freeze our people with the seeker swarms, come in load the bodies into those pods and steal them away."
"And like locusts they go on to the next field and the next until there is no crop left." Kahlee finished. She looked at the screen. "Oh my God David! My school is on here! Those sons of bitches have listed my kids!" She stared at the listing: Jon Grissom Academy: 700.
The main population on the station were the kids. All the students were remarkable in some way: mathematical geniuses, technical savants, brilliants artists, world-class musicians and composers, biotics. Prodigies all of them - the best and brightest of humanity's youth. And Kahlee Sanders was the director.
The Academy was a joint Alliance-civilian faculty. Much of its funding came from the Alliance, but for the most part it was modelled on a boarding school rather than a military academy. Even with all the security, custodial and support staff coming from the military in the face of seeker swarms their training would be useless as would any brilliant tech the students invented or the talents of the biotics unless they had a way to counteract the swarms' neurotoxins.
"Call them. Warn them. But Kahlee...be careful. I agree with the Council as with Alliance Brass on one thing. We don't want a wide-spread panic. We need to maintain control." He was loath to repeat the words so often spoken by the Council.
Kahlee looked at her lover incredulously and a little more than offended by his words. "We're both officers in the Alliance, David. You don't need to tell me what I already know. But those kids are under my protection...my command as much as any grunt in the foxholes and an in the trenches with you. I care for them as much as you care for Shepard. I'm not leaving them unprotected." She looked away "Not like I did with Gillian."
Anderson placed a hand on his lover's shoulder. "You didn't fail her completely. That little girl is now safe in the Migrant Fleet. You did that, you and Hendel. She is safe and far from the clutches of the Illusive Man and whatever Cerberus was going to do to her."
Kahlee nodded slowly. True, Gillian Grayson was now a member of the Ideena crew under the command of Captain Ysiin'Mal vas Ideena. Her young autistic charge who flinched and shied from all human contact felt more at ease, more at home within the Flotilla. And all because of the form-fitted environmental suit Gillian was required to wear amongst the quarian people, she was happier living amongst the quarians than she had ever been with her own people. And perhaps most important of all as Anderson pointed out, Gillian was safe from Cerberus.
Kahlee looked at the list again and then scrolled to the menu bar to open the second file. Here was the map of the inner Council Chamber. She gave a brief curious look to Anderson before going back the screen.
"S'thasa mentioned I should look at this, but I don't see..." he paused. Staring at the Citadel Tower map, trying to see what the young maiden was on about...Then...there it was. No! It couldn't be that simple. Could it? He leaned over Kahlee's shoulder and used the tool bar to simply show the silhouette of the Citadel Tower. "I can't believe I've never seen it before."
As a scientist and having to give several Rorschach tests to teenagers she saw as Anderson, had. The torso of a Reaper. All that were missing were the 'limbs' though the small alcoves of the Tower clearly indicated where they would have been.
"This is what she meant..."
"Who? Shepard?"
Anderson shook his head. "No, S'thasa. She said to share this with the Wizard."
"Oh honestly David." Kahlee shook her head disapprovingly. "You're talking about that dark-net nut-job? Really David do you really think anyone takes him seriously?"
"Many."
"Of note?"
Anderson only smiled. "The Wizard isn't for people of note Kahlee." he kissed the crown of her head. "He's for the common every day folk. Folk looking for answers under all the political bullshit. On the surface we have to say one thing. The Wizard lets us say another. Like how Commander Shepard first Human Spectre was right. There are monsters lurking in Dark Space. And they look like this." he jabbed his finger at the monitor, causing a small ripple to appear in the plasma screen. "And they are called Reapers.
"That Shepard was right about the Collectors taking our people. We have the manifests that prove it. We give this to the Wizard and the Wizard makes it public as you said on the dark-net. People stream it and word gets out."
Kahlee smirked ironically. "And what about maintaining control? Not causing a panic?"
Anderson returned the look.
"Official statements cause widespread panic. But enough voices of the public demanding answers because a governmental cover-up has been made transparent, no redacting, no way to fully back-peddle it believably. That is something that cannot be ignored."
"Not everyone has access to the Wizard and accessing the dark-net is illegal, David."
"But there are enough people who do that will tell others and so on. The word will get out. We just make sure there are enough of those voices at every level of the infrastructure to make the difference." He smiled. "I know Shepard played this same strategy."
Kahlee turned her head a bit. "A strategy that didn't seem payoff. Like I said not enough people stream the Wizard, or at least who spread the word."
"No? I thought so too until I take in account of a certain book that was recently published 'Criminal Negligence: The Citadel Council and the True Story of the Geth Threat'. The book was written by a C-SEC officer personally responsible for Tevos's safety. And conspiracy theorists love it. They've lapped it up. Hell I bought a copy."
"Heard about that… didn't the book point the finger that the Council knew about the geth traveling outside the Perseus Veil long before their attack on Eden Prime?" Kahlee asked.
"It did. As well as knowing about the five planets they hit before the Citadel. Of course we knew or rather they did. They had all Shepard's reports. Hell the Alliance sent her to half of those planets, the Council the other half."
Kahlee nodded such was the way of the military not very big on the whole transparency thing. Governments weren't either. It was how command was held. It was how bureaucracy was maintained. But when cover-ups and deniability asphyxiate the ability to carry out the necessities to save the populace, then something had to be done to change the flow. Perhaps the fullness of truth never did anyone any good; however secrets that blinded all didn't either.
How can you extricate the necessity to inform the masses and yet maintain absolute control by conditionality? There was a certain verisimilitude between the individual Councilor's inner selves and the outward projection of the Council politics.
Kahlee looked at the list of all those colonies, all those settlements and those numbers. "You know, you have to wonder about a C-Sec officer in charge of Tevos's security who writes a tell-all-book about what happened with Council and Sovereign and now her personal body guard gives you an OSD with this data on it. Now either she is the most slip-shod governmental person to hold residence in a hell of a long time to allow so much get past her. Or she has deliberately allowed these dissident items to slip through to second parties because she can't do it officially.
"You know it's almost as if she's using these parenthetical leaks as an antidote to the official cover-ups she forced to maintain. If that's the case this woman is very very cagey." The blonde woman turned to her lover. "Of all the Councilors, David, Tevos Lei'cree is the one to look out for."
Anderson felt himself agreeing. More often than not he felt he was but a chess piece on a great game board moved about by an unseen hand. Perhaps now the hand was revealed. Asari so loved their subtle ways and long views. And there begs the question what exactly were Tevos's long views?
Kahlee shook her head as a thought wandered into her hindbrain. "Hell David for all you know Tevos is the Wizard?"
Anderson looked on incredulously. "Oh please she doesn't have the imagination for it."
"Hon, I think you forget what I do for a living. I deal with kids. Smart ones, geniuses but still kids and you know what a lot of them do on their off times? Vid-games, sims, graphic novels And a lot of those center around one central theme. Super heroes or super villains." she smirked in a way that always made Anderson's legs turn to jelly. "And both of those things have a single commonality..."
"A secret identity." the former captain said.
Kahlee bobbed her head. "A secret identity. So... a mild mannered diplomatic Councillor who is as much fun as a dose of laudanum after a week-end bender is in actuality a voice on the dark-web spilling secrets and spreading conspiracy theories. Using little birds to gather secrets so she can spin a web like a spider against the Establishment." She snickered a little. "Hell the only thing to top that would be if your Commander Shepard actually turned out to be the Shadow Broker."
Anderson chuckled for the jest then sobered swiftly Tevos being the Wizard was pure speculation and right now in this present moment it carried little value or meaning. The information on the OSD had to be passed up the chain of command to Admiral Hackett; he in turn would inform the Alliance Brass and more importantly the President of Earth Systems Alliance.
It was time Shepard had some powerful backing back home. This list of settlements and the populace was a flashpoint to galvanize the Alliance in to greater action. Only a token effort had been made on the Alliance military on behalf of the outlying settlements which until the attacks were seen at best as separatists at worst insurrectionists.
Anderson would make it known on the public front that Commander Shepard first human Spectre had been there all along on the frontlines protecting humanity against the threat of this harvests by the Collectors at the behest of the Reapers.
He watched as Kahlee stared back at the screen with the list of settlements and their populations. He knew she was looking at only one name. Grissom Academy.
"Taking the first flight back?" he asked knowingly.
She nodded, repeating her earlier statement. "They're my kids David." She looked up meeting his deep brown eyes with her blue. "I have to make preparations in case Commander Shepard...fails." She looked away ashamed she voiced the possibility of failure on the part of her lover's protégée. After her meeting with the younger woman, Kahlee understood why David had so much faith in her, was so committed to her. Shepard was remarkable, formidable, tenacious.
Kahlee bore witness as Shepard puzzled out the riddle of Leviathan, by the most obscure clues left behind from her former boss Dr. Qian. Jonah and the whale of all things. If anyone could suss out a way to defeat the Collectors it was Shepard and her gallant crew. It was the only hope humanity had, her students had.
As she was logging on to the travel sites to book a flight back to Grissom Academy, a pop-up window indicated she had an urgent incoming message waiting in her e-mail. Her immediate thoughts ripped back to her students. The collectors couldn't have taken them?! Not so soon, not that far into Alliance Space.
She logged onto her email account and opened the file. "It's not the school." She muttered quietly more to herself than to Anderson who was still standing behind her. It was from Grayson. She knew David hated it when she and Grayson spoke. Not out of petty jealousies but every time she spoke with Gillian's father, she could never sleep. She tossed and turned and her mind churned over and over again about the events that led Kahlee, Hendel and one terrified little girl into the arms of the quarian Migrant Fleet.
She had one late last night, hence her inability to sleep properly. But unlike the previous message this wasn't a live feed. She could see from the formatting that it was a prerecorded message and an encrypted data file. Her throat was too dry to swallow as she tapped the screen and watched it play.
The instant Grayson's image appeared she knew the message had been recorded months or even years ago. His face wasn't as lean; the bags under his eyes weren't as pronounced.
Anderson leaned in and watched as intentionally as Kahlee.
"If you're watching this, that means Cerberus has found me. I don't know if they'll come for you, too. They might not; the Illusive Man is practical enough that he might decide you are inconsequential to his plans. But he can also be vindictive and petty. It's a chance you can't afford to make."
As she listened to the clinical cool detachment in Grayson's voice, Kahlee felt her heart leap into her throat. She tried to focus on what Grayson was saying, but her mind was having trouble processing the words. Even with Anderson's hand upon her shoulder Kahlee felt her blood becoming cold. Was Grayson dead? Had they taken him prisoner?
"There's a file attached to this message. Everything I know about Cerberus is in there."
Kahlee whipped her head around to Anderson. Chaos crashed around both of them. Kahlee felt her head spinning, her stomach churning. The whole thing seemed surreal, a nightmare from which she couldn't wake up.
"Fuck me." Anderson said. This is what he wanted, what he needed, what he had sent Shepard into the dragon's den to find out.
"The Illusive Man is smart. He's careful. He only tells his operatives what they need to know. But I know far more than he suspects.
"Over the last several years working for Cerberus I was gathering intel. Maybe some part of me knew even back then that I would turn on the Illusive Man. Or that he'd turn on me. Maybe I was just smart enough to want an insurance policy.
"Names of agents inside the Alliance. Locations of key facilities and safe houses. Shell companies owned by the Illusive Man. Whatever information I could gather, no matter how small, is there.
"Some of the information might be out of date- locations move, new operatives are brought in. But in the right hands what I know could do real damage to Cerberus."
A spark of hope flickered inside Kahlee. If Grayson was still alive, she might be able to use the files he'd sent to figure out where Cerberus might have taken him.
"Don't try to rescue me," the message continued, as if the recording could read her thoughts. "If you're seeing this, then I am as good as dead." Kahlee shook her head in an instinctive, unconscious refusal. She felt Anderson's hand upon her shoulder offering comfort, support if she needed it. She was grateful for his silence.
"You have to protect yourself. Get this information to someone in authority. Someone with the power to go after Cerberus. You have to destroy the Illusive Man; it's the only way you'll be safe." She gave a look to Anderson, that small sliver of hope still lingering behind her blue eyes. The message had gone silent for several seconds. Grayson's brow furrowed on the screen. Then he barked out a grim laugh.
"I don't know who you can go to," he admitted. "I wish I did. Cerberus has people at every level inside the Alliance. Anyone in position of power could be working for the Illusive Man. But you're smart. I know you'll figure something out. Just be careful who you trust."
The message ended abruptly, catching Kahlee off guard. There were no last words; no sentimental goodbyes. Grayson had told her what she needed to know, then simply ended the recording. For several minutes she just sat in her chair, staring at the frozen image of Grayson's face on the last frame of the recording as she tried to absorb the horrific news.
Once she felt more in control, she muttered, "Replay," and watched the recording a second time to make sure she hadn't missed anything important during her first emotional viewing. When it was done, she loaded an optical scan disk into Anderson's terminal and copied the information from the attached file. Then she got up and handed the OSD to Anderson.
"Are you sure Grayson's still not working for Cerberus?" he asked as delicately as possible.
"He's not," she replied with absolute confidence. "He's been on the run since the whole thing with Gillian."
"Are you sure they're the ones who found him?"
"I'm sure. Grayson's my friend, David. He needs my help." she knew very little of his dealings with Cerberus or the truth behind the rumors that Commander Shepard had recently joined forced with Cerberus to stop the Collector abductions in the Terminus Systems. It was a temporary alliance of convenience. The Illusive Man was just using Shepard like he used everyone else. And when Cerberus had no further use for someone, they tended to show up dead.
Of course Shepard was using TIMmy right back. His resources, his people and of course the SR2. Shepard was to get in close to kill him. Twice in one day information passed to Anderson giving him the means to take the fight to the enemy. Names of agents. Secret bases and meeting locations. Bank accounts and corporate financial records. Everything he needed. The only problem was that they couldn't act upon the information without tipping Cerberus off.
He told as much to Kahlee. "Even if this information is good, acting upon it will alert the Illusive Man. That man is wiry as they come. He's got people in our government. Out military. Grayson may have given you a list of Cerberus agents he knew of, but what about all the people under the Illusive Man's thumb he doesn't know about?
"The Illusive Man is smart. He's got a contingency. We start arresting people, or gearing up for a raid on these locations, and he'll know about it almost before we do. If we're lucky we come up with a handful of low-level operatives, but we'll never get close to anyone important. And if Grayson is still alive, we might just spook them in to killing him."
"You're telling me you can't do anything?" Her voice rose sharply at the end of the question, her anger and frustration spilling out. She couldn't go back to her school now, her presence there could very well put the children and other staff members in danger should Cerberus sent agents to find her and quite possibly try to eliminate her. And yet the school was still a target of the Collectors. Staying on the Citadel even with for or five soldiers to guard her was not going to be enough.
"I will not spend the rest of my days hiding from Cerberus. And I am not going to give up on Grayson. There has to be a way to get to the Illusive Man."
"Maybe there is." Anderson exclaimed as a sudden flash of inspiration hit. "The ideal solution would be to call on Shepard for help, but that's out of the question."
"Why? She of all people can get in close."
"Yes she can. And we can use that avenue, as well as Dr. T'Soni's skills as an information broker. The Alliance can't help us but know someone else who can. Ambassador Orinia."
"The turian Ambassador?"
"The same. The turians have no love for Cerberus and they will have none of enemy agents within their ranks. Orinia was a soldier, like me she now rides a desk but she acts. And she has the ways and means to do so. She can be tetchy but her loathing for Cerberus can be used."
ME~ ME~ ME~ ME~ ME~ ME~ ME~ ME~ ME
Aria T'Loak breathed in slowly. It had been long time since she sat in utter seclusion and meditated. Within her home she had a chamber that looked out upon the Great Void. Here she sat cross legged upon the floor; her body glowing in blue between her upraised palms was a summoned sphere of white light.
Paul Johnson was Paul Grayson ex-Cerberus agent. Former lover of Liselle's. Her daughter would have been slain had she remained on Omega and not sent to the Citadel. Shepard's Goddess-be-damned visions had given Aria horrible recurring nightmares. Nightmares that went into recess once Liselle was safely away with her sire.
The nightmares were a curse but they had served a purpose, her daughter was alive not lying naked in a pool of her own blood on Grayson's bed with her throat slit. Shepard was the reason for that.
When Elnora formerly a failure of an Eclipse Sister came into her possession, again because of Shepard's refusal to kill someone she thought could be salvaged. Little baby Elnora had done her duty. She seduced Jon...Grayson, became close. As close as Liselle. Maybe she was rebound girl or human men like all males of every other species liked to touch azure. But it worked.
Elnora had died for Liselle. Over the centuries Aria stood over many dead asari, several of them by her own hand. When Aria received news of the ruckus within Grayson's apartment, she had gone to investigate herself along with some of her lieutenants. Surrik one of her batarian lieutenants was very swift to condemn Grayson for the crime: murder, sedition, theft of confiscated red sand taken from the Talons.
But the salarian techs uncovered something: Grayson sent a message to one Kahlee Sanders before wiping his computer. Kahlee Sanders had ties to one Councillor Anderson, Commander Shepard's own mentor.
Why in the name of the Goddess did things fucking center around one human woman. Shepard! It always came back to Shepard. Shepard killed her eldest, saved her youngest—in a round about way. Still...
Shepard...the dreams...nay the nightmares, Liselle...her baby...Only here in this hidden sanctum did Aria allow the smallest of weakness, or perhaps her greatest. Her daughter. Favoured above all the others. Liselle never knew how very deeply Aria loved her. How cherished she was. Publicly even privately Aria could never show such weaknesses. Only in this very hidden sanctum could the Pirate Queen reflect on all her offspring. Only here away from all save for the Great Void could Aria think of her daughters.
Always, always her mind circled around and around and back again to Shepard. Shepard took a life. Shepard saved a life. Shepard was the only hope to stop the Collectors. The Collectors were a direct link to the Reapers. The Reapers wanted to indoctrinate and destroy all organics. But here and now the far off war with the daemons of dark space was of little to no concern.
She went deeper into her meditations.
There in the vastness of old memories, Aria sought out voices of the past. It was a talent only matriarch's possessed. While all asari could venture into their own memories at will only a matriarch could venture into the memories of the ancient minds of their bloodline into the ancestral memories.
But their voices lent only to the knowledge she already possessed. Samantha Shepard was indeed the flashpoint of all of it. To get Grayson, to find the answers Aria knew she needed the one person Grayson was in contact with: Kahlee Sanders. Sanders had a connection to Anderson. Anderson had a connection to Shepard. In order to find Grayson the procession was evident: Shepard to Anderson to Sanders to Grayson to Cerberus to the Illusive Man himself
ME~ ME~ ME~ ME~ ME~ ME~ ME~ ME~ ME
AN: Much of this chapter is based upon the book by Drew Karpyshyn: Retribution. No copywrite or intellectual copywrite intended. Obviously changed a little to fit my AU world. Liselle wasn't killed by Kai Leng it was Elnora. Kahlee was already on the Citadel when she got the news of Grayson so she didn't have to have the covert meeting in the gardens. However other events remain the same such as Kahlee and Anderson meeting up with the Ambassador Orinia, the joint assault on the Cerberus station where they nearly got TIM and the whole battle with Kai Leng. A few other continuity changes will happen to keep the novel and my story in line.