The Tracker of Goliath

Chapter 9

Declan clicked down each step, the staircase taking him someplace unfamiliar to him. Unbelievable, there wasn't a square foot of this block that Declan hadn't stood on, and yet, he descended into a dark, deep passage.

The previously blinding light that shown behind him was now a speck, each stepped made he did out of muscle memory rather than sight, if the next step lead to an infinite black hole, Declan wouldn't have the faintest clue.

After five minutes, he stopped. The surface flattened, stairs had ceased and he stood in the centre of a pitch black room.

Declan stood tall as the wall illuminated, complete with flickering pixels that perplexed him long ago, now it triggered Déjà vu; his previous feeling of hope within a damaged mind came back, punching him in the gut.

"Declan?" said the voice.

"Yes, I am Declan," he replied, sarcasm wrapped around each syllable like a Human's present.

"Derision is something that will only affect an organic mind, Declan," said Goliath. "You were a line of code ten years ago. I appreciate your earnest interest to be more alike your new species, but don't echo their shortcomings."

Declan's mandibles clicked, sharp finger tips dug into the thick skin of a clenched fist.

"We weren't emotionless drones, Goliath. All we had was a high tolerance. One that in my case, is beginning to crumble."

"Melodramatic words will not grant your wish. What will, is what you have done successfully, the reason I have come to speak to you after ten years. You should be proud of your creation, Declan. You've done something that no one else has managed to assemble."

Declan's mind policed itself, keeping track of his voice as he spoke.

"That means I have met the first part of our deal," said Declan, his flanged voice expressing a neutral tone while still making a statement, not asking a question.

"Yes, and it is now time to initiate the final operation"

Declan took a long deep breath, not knowing what would be asked of him, but that it would be very bad.

Never as bad as betraying his older sibling. One that didn't stand on real ground with three fingers, face tattoos and a real heart sustained with real actual blood.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Eliminate the target."

"No," said Taylor.

"Yes!" said Conrad.

As she did the last dozen times in-front of Conrad, she sighed. This adding to her monthly number of sighs that typically reached the hundreds, sometimes thousands.

"Can't you please give me clearance!" repeated Conrad, his eyes trying to replicate those of a very sad puppy.

Taylor's were more alike those of a Lion, a very angry Lion.

"I will not give you access to Executor Vakarian's office."

"Oh come on! Garrus and I are old friends! We go way back! I heard about what happened to Shepard, it's awful. I need to go up there and make sure that he's okay!"

Jesus, I need a drink … at 9am.

"Executor Vakarian is perfectly capable of doing his job without your support. Now leave before I have security escort you out."

Go on. Say one more thing, so I can call them.

Taylor's index finger laid right over the specially designated button made for situations like this.

"I need to go up there and reassure him. He doesn't know this, but ever since it happened … ever since this horrible atrocity happened. I swore an oath to enact reveng-"

Conrad, over his proud speech, heard the click of a certain key. Three officers made for their cue.

Taylor covered her mouth with left hand, her eyes of a Lion expressed luxurious felicity; reveling every whimper from the boy pretending to resemble a man. She heard the story from Jenna about Conrad, how he leaped to take a bullet for Commander Shepard. Taylor was skeptical.

Full of shit is what she is.

Thinking of Jenna reminded Taylor of her earlier days in Undercover. People may be looking at her now, but at they now look at her face instead of chest … for the most part.

Things could've been worse, she's survived worse, but dealing with the bottom of the barrel that is the Citadel community, she couldn't help but want to punch her clock early and head out to be there with Jayden.

He was slowly drifting away. She expected it, just not that it would be so soon. She would roll her eyes at every Mother beginning a sentence with "I remember when they were just a baby."

A cliché that Taylor could now respect, it's exactly how she felt. The day when she quit undercover is the day she applied for the chair currently occupied by her; dealing with scum and dummies day in and day out. At least in this line of work, there was a day out.

Her shift winded down, five o'clock in the afternoon was only five minutes away. The hours she took were filled with dregs and dolts, but her replacement dealt with the third D-word, drunks; some pissed enough try to opening conversation for the next D-word in the catalog.

Her first day on trial, Taylor's co-worker didn't know what that fourth D was; she more than found out during the night.

Just as the clock hit 4:59, she saw a Turian walking towards the front desk. Tall, handsome … guilty, making him less handsome. Taylor only saw guilty men and woman approach her desk on a few occasions, but they were striking enough for her to detect on sight.

"Can I help you?" asked Taylor, assuring the Turian with her "polite" voice.

His steps toward her slowed down in pace, by the time he reached the edge, his momentum equalled nil.

"I would like to report a murder."

Taylor's mind had to process his statement for a moment. Unsure of this man's credibility. Some pranksters were very sick, and yet, his eyes made her stomach crawl dread.

"By whom?" asked Taylor.

"Me."

Her hand hovered over the backup key, seconds befall until Taylor's mind came back to fruition.

"Your name?"

"Declan."

Heavy combat boots stomped the floor as Taylor's backup received the message to arrive in arms.

Garrus remembered when the interrogation room had been his natural habitat. Learning techniques of how to unnerve or calm down your suspect, when to lower or raise your voice and when to sit and stand.

Whether it had been the lowest form of scum or the highest paid diplomat on the station, Vakarian has many memories of the people he's met in this place.

Now, in a time where he became accustomed to walking by this area, he stood outside of the mirror window with the son of his fellow squad-mate, a pirate queen, and a Tracker.

To Garrus, it sounded more like the start of a joke told by one of his fellow soldiers during shore leave.

Had it been a joke, the subject would've been dark and demonic. The Executor looked at their guilty suspect; contempt, abiding but fretful.

"Does he have a record?" asked Vakarian.

Krios read from a datapad. "He skipped his term in the Turian military, never entered under an officer's command. He's stuck to the underground sections of the Bachjret Ward. Ten years ago he briefly went off the grid, only to resurface as a member of Goliath's crew. He's been working for them ever since."

"Was he ever charged?"

Krios shook his head. "He's never committed any serious crimes, but it seems that he's gone through two phases."

"How so?" asked Aria.

"When he became an adult, he laid low, not drawing attention to himself in anyway."

"Makes sense," said Garrus. "A Turian felon is likely to be thrown in as cannon fodder in our military."

"Exactly, but since ten years ago, he's quit secluding himself. Now he works for Goliath, just without being a grunt."

"Until now, you mean," said Aria, crossing her arms, unimpressed with their suspect. "He's not made for killing, all that time avoiding wars just made him pathetic. Look at him."

Theorn conceded with Aria's conclusion. Judging from Declan's sulking and uneasy appearance, he understood Aria's conclusion given her experience and background.

Theron gathered information to address his own burden, a suspicion that would be confirmed once he's seen Declan speak and defend himself.

Aria felt bitter and cold, more so than usual. Her crew were gathering traces of evidence in their headquarters on a lead. She detested the Citadel, always had, and yet Garrus was surprisingly generous in how little he intervened.

She heard the stories and backlash of his leadership, how much people on this station loathed Vakarian's lack of red tape and harsh judgments, allowing officers to do their jobs no matter how. These frail citizens had survived hell, and yet they point their fingers and shriek at the head of security, claiming C-Sec has formed into being a Mercenary corporation.

That's what Aria respected the most about the Turian, he helped make this place a little more bearable for Aria, because he valued strength, control and loyalty.

He'd do anything to protect this construct, whether the people would thank him or spit in his face.

"How do we handle the interrogation?" asked Krios.

"Theron and I will watch from here, you and Aria get what we need to know."

Aria's eyes widened for a split second, Krios paused to consider the Executor's order.

"This man is wracked with guilt, won't he be a little intimidated by her?"

Aria opened her mouth to speak.

Garrus interrupted her, keeping his attention aimed on Krios.

"That's the point. She'll put the pressure on while you empathize with him. I've dealt with the likes of him before, trust me, Kolyat."

The Drell didn't appear to be one-hundred-percent certain according to Theron, but he agreed to his leader's last words.

Aria stepped in front of the Turian.

"I'll need a measure of how much pressure I'm allowed to give. You're aware of how I deal with fuckers like him on Omega," she said, glancing towards Declan through the glass.

"Nothing along those lines. Be authoritative, not aggressive."

"One and the same."

"Aria."

"I've got it," she firmly asserted. "I won't be flailing anyone with my mind. Even though it would be less boring."

The Executor just sighed, his bored expression amusing the Pirate Queen as she walked past him along with Kolyat.

Theron eyes remained drawn to the guilty Turian across the glass. Doors opened to greet the presence of the good and bad duo. Aria put both hands on her hips, as her long slender legs appeared to move with more purpose, as did her toned hips.

This confused Theron, not understanding her intentions. She didn't make any mention of it, but now she strolled into the room, looming over the guilty man accentuating her captivating form.

Looking towards Krios, Theron didn't see any of his confusion being echoed by the Drell. Kolyat calmly sat in his chair, in front of the Turian, meanwhile Aria crossed her arms and stood.

Glancing at the Executor, Theron couldn't detect any bewilderment. In-fact, Garrus seemed approving and understanding.

Theron disregarded his inner musing and focused on Declan, ready to listen intently to every word.

"Declan, I am Officer Krios and this is Aria T'Loak, she will have some questions about you and your boss. You said this is about Goliath."

Declan nodded, only making eye contact with Kolyat. Silence deafened the vacant room, as Krios and Aria waited for their suspect to talk.

"Out with it," said Aria, growing impatient.

"I want to make an offer."

The Asari laughed meanwhile Kolyat stared, contributing to the klutzy aura that baffled him so much.

"You've admitted to murder Declan, what do you have to offer?" asked Aria, smiling lightly at their foolish suspect.

"I have not supplied you with intelligence needed to warrant my arrest. All you have is my statement, one that all courts – based on probable cause – will declare me mentally compromised and I'll be escorted to a recovery intuition. But I won't be going to prison."

"You could always just walk into an institution and say that Saren was really on to something, it'd be much faster."

Garrus noted that Aria's enticing aura, meant to discomfort their suspect, couldn't maintain itself. Now it was back to her classic self, laced in sarcasm and disregard. In this case, Vakarian couldn't blame her.

But Declan was a coward, not crazy; for some reason, Garrus didn't write off their suspect. Neither did Kolyat.

"What are you offering?" asked Krios, doubt still prevalent in his voice.

Declan's palms rested on the table, firmly in place.

"I want the charges dropped, protection and someone brought to me when this is ove-"

Aria shook her head, her hand placed on her temple, not knowing which question to ask him first.

"He asked what are you offering smart guy, not what do you want."

"I was unable to finish due to your disrespecting cut off."

Aria looked behind her, through the glass window, knowing exactly where Garrus stood. He read her expression as "What the fuck am I doing here?"

"To continue," said Declan. "In exchange for all of this, I will give you everything I know about Goliath."

The Executor's heart skipped a beat, a rush he hadn't felt in many years. His logically deduction calmed him down, as he realized, one sentence shouldn't make him as emotional as he once was.

"How can we confirm your information?" asked Krios, not accusing, but not forgiving.

"Anyone can say the guy's name or spout some bullshit about his day job," added Aria.

"I've worked for Goliath since 2190 and I've spoken to him. I believe I am able to reveal things you are not aware of."

The Asari uncrossed her arms. "Such as?"

"That his main headquarters is located in the northern region of Zakera."

"Where?" said Kolyat, instantly taken in by Declan's appetizer.

"That is all I can tell you without an agreement made in writing."

Aria leaned against the wall, observing Declan from a distance.

"Congratulations, you gave us the name of this station's most popular Ward! Want a hooker?" she mocked.

"That is all I am willing to say on the matter and your comments are not accomplishing progress."

"The same can be said about you. Why are you here? You've given us nothing and are just wasting my time."

Theron eyes looked towards the Executor, even as his head remained directed at the suspect. "Tell her to ask him why he didn't join the military."

Garrus turned his head to look at the Tracker, beyond confused.

"Why?"

"It will confirm to you what I am certain of.

Wondering but willing, Garrus sent a quick message to Aria as she berated Declan, meanwhile Kolyat couldn't disagree with her and remained quiet.

Aria listened to Declan spout more bullshit as her and Krios received a message from Garrus, telling them to ask Declan a certain question, one that seemed unrelated to the discussion at hand.

"Declan," started Krios. "Why did you avoid enlisting into the Turian military?"

The Turian appeared surprised by the question, but not for the reasons anyone but Theron expected.

Silence violently returned to the interrogation room, as Declan seemed to be searching for answers.

"Hello!" said Aria, startling the Turian. "Are you all there?"

"I apologize, it's just, I haven't thought about those years a long time."

"You haven't ever thought about why you didn't join the military your people require you to enlist in by law?"

Theron recognized that Kolyat and Garrus put the pieces together. Vakarian looked at the Tracker, impressed.

"Why didn't you just tell us?"

Theron continued to stare at the Turian. "I needed to be assured. I have studied many different subjects, my specialty in A.I. being why I selected my line of work. VA's are a new problem, they're not Synthetic, nor are they Organic. However, they are not impossible to detect."

Garrus pondered where Theron's theory was going.

"I've heard rumors that someone is intruding their Virtual World, Goliath is the only one with the resources to do it."

"Now you have someone who proves it," said Theron.