Chapter 6

Overexposed

Ashley hated medical clinics. Everything about them seemed purposely designed to make people uncomfortable, as if to give them a reason to stay away. The plastic seat she was sat on caused her ass to fall asleep, no matter what position she took. The room itself was a sterile white waiting area and was boring her to the brink of tears. There was no music. Rustling of magazines, faint whispers and the occasional announcements from the staff was all that broke the polite silence. The only entertainment she could find was a choice between "Citidel News" and "Galaxy Entertainment" magazines. The first consisting mainly of political bullshit which just added to her frustration and the latter delved into the personal lives of stars she'd never heard of and didn't care to. She flicked through and decided neither was any better than a copy of Fornax.

The medical facilities on the Hougoumont didn't have the facilities to properly treat the still unconscious man they had found on Binthu and so she had brought him here, a medical clinic on the Citidel run by humans. Perhaps that explained the similarities in style to Earths hospitals.

The doctor who had taken the patient was running tests. Counsellor Anderson was still in a meeting with the council and Ash was forced to wait to make her report. In the meantime she felt like she had to be doing something useful, she couldn't take sitting around. Not when she knew Shepard was already out there fighting for the colonists and she was still at square one, with no idea how to proceed.

She grew impatient and headed down the bland corridors to try and acquire some news. They halls all looked the same and she felt a little lost, but eventually found the room she was looking for and took a peek through the window. It looked like the doctor was making notes, the machines were stopped and the patient was lying on an uncomfortable looking cot so she opened the door and went in. She was a ranking officer of the Alliance; she figured she could get away with the intrusion.

"Sorry to bother you Doc, just hoping to get some news."

"Ah. Well I can help you out there." The doctor lifted himself up from his comfy looking chair and walked over to the x-rays hanging on the wall.

"He's quite sick." The doctor put simply. "His lungs are severely damaged. He has hypercapnia and bronchiolitis obliterans. Some minor internal burns, electrical I believe."

The look on Ashley's face was one of confusion and she was giving him a look that said "Give it to me so I can understand".

"Simply put, he has lung disease, caused by inhalation of sulphur dioxide and I found too much carbon dioxide in his blood." He pointed to the X-rays of the patients lungs. "You can see here, scarring has occurred, it's restricting his airways. Looks like a relatively small amount of sulphur dioxide inhaled over a long period of time, I would make an educated guess at a year or so. Where did you find this man, exactly?"

"Found him on the planet; Binthu. He was being held in a building, it looked like the cell he was kept in had some small cracks in the roof so we think the outside atmosphere leaked in." The cracks were probably caused by the canon fire from the Mako, Ash thought to herself.

"Hmmm, Binthu, eh." The doctor moved over to his computer and started searching through information on the planet. "Binthu... Carbon dioxide atmosphere, haze of chlorine, clouds of sulphur dioxide, acidic rain. Yes, that makes sense. They must have been very small cracks in the building, he wouldn't have survived long otherwise."

"I just need to know if he'll recover." Ash stated, clearly annoyed by the medical lessons.

"We can fix the hypercapnia, which is the CO2 levels in his blood and the minor internal burns will heal. His lungs however, they are pretty badly damaged. I'm surprised he lasted this long without medical care. Must be a fighter. Honestly though, I don't know how much time he has left. Lung disease of this severity is likely to get worse, it's quite unpredictable. We'll do what we can for him though."

"Any ideas on his identity?"

"No, sorry. We could check his dental records and such if we had to, identification is a job for C-Sec. They should have his fingerprints on file"

"Any ideas if he'll wake up? I really need to ask him some questions."

"Assuming his lungs stay in a stable condition, he should wake up once we finish treatments for the carbon dioxide in his blood. He's on sedatives at the moment, we have to keep a close eye on his blood pressure. In short, he won't be leaving for quite some time, and if he wakes, he might not have his head on straight."

Ashley sighed. I'm just having the worst of luck. Another dead end.

"Just let me know when he wakes up Doc. It's important." She headed out the room. Sound like I should go to C-Sec, she thought as she started back down the maze of hallways looking for the exit.

"James Fale." A voice behind her said. She turned around.

"Léon? What are you doing here? I told you, you're out. I don't want you on my team."

"His name is James Fale, he works, that is, worked for Cerberus."

"How do you know this?"

"Not here. If you want my help, meet me on my ship. Docking bay 153-A. Ship's the Garuda. You can't miss it. You have 5 hours. And come alone. What I have to say is for your ears only."

"Like hell, if you know something, spill it. Now. That's an order."

"With all due respect Chief, I don't take orders from you." Léon turned and left.

Ash was bewildered. Who is this guy? She didn't know what to say. She knew he couldn't be trusted, but he knew something and she needed information desperately.

First things first. She made her way out of the clinic. Léon had vanished. It didn't matter; she needed to speak with the Councillor.

Ash didn't knock; any hope of her adhering to the proper etiquette had gone right out the window with the encounter with Léon.

Anderson was in a heated discussion with the council, but she didn't catch a word of what was said, the conversation stopped abruptly upon her entrance.

"Williams, what are you doing?"

"We need to talk, it's important."

Anderson turned back to the holograms of the council. "I'm sorry about this. I will have to call you back." He hung up without waiting for a response.

Ashley was pacing back and forth, trying to exercise some patience as he finished up the call but not doing too well in her endeavour.

"Williams, this isn't how we do things."

"I know Captain, I'm sorry, but..." She began. Where do I start? "Sir… Who the hell is Léon?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The marine in my squad, Sir! He's not who he said he was."

"What makes you say that? What happened on Binthu?"

"It was a Batarian drug operation. We went in and Léon ignored my orders and went off on his own. We found him after the battle was over, along with a dead Batarian who he says was the leader and the guy we assume sent the distress signal." She was speaking quickly and sounded stressed. "And just now, he found me in the hospital where we took the captive and he told me the guy's name was James something and I should meet him on his ship alone if I want answers."

"As far as I was aware he was just another marine. I wasn't involved in choosing the squad." He walked over to his desk and sat down in front of his computer. "Let's see."

He pulled up the files regarding the mission and found the name Léon Keane. He searched the Alliance database for his files and got a result within seconds. Ashley looked over his shoulder at the screen and saw the picture of her ex squad mate.

"That's him." She said.

"Léon Keane. Aged 27. Earthborn, Father was British, Mother was French. Joined the Armée de Terre, that's the French Army, at 16 years old and became part of the military police four years later. Saw no action in that time, by the looks of things, which explains why at aged 21 he joined up with C-Sec, and spent 5 years there. He became part of the Alliance military a year ago. Looks like he aced the exams. Nothing suspicious... except," Anderson looked closer, trying to see what had caught his eye. "Except, two years after he joined C-Sec, his records become a bit sparse, they lack the detail the rest of his career had."

"Something's been changed or left out? Maybe they made these recent assignments up and falsified his records? I know he's up to something, I feel it in my guts."

"I believe you, Williams." He pushed back from the computer and turned to face the Chief. "Was there anything useful he said, any leads at all?"

"No, like I said, just that guy we found was James something. Fale? And that he was ex-Cerberus. And that I got to meet him alone if I want to get more from him."

Anderson thought for a bit, Ashley looked at him as if she was pleading for answers. He didn't have them. Not yet. But he would.

"An ex-Cerberus employee. What was he doing on at that ruined facility? How long was he kept prisoner?"

"The doctor said he things he was there a year, at least."

"So somewhere between you and Shepard clearing that place out, and a year later, this guy returns. Léon said Ex-Cerberus? Then why was here there at all?"

Ash had no answer. She hoped it was rhetorical and that the Councillor would answer it for her. He didn't. The two sat in silence, deep in thought for a few moments.

"I couldn't say." She replied. "Must have been a good reason though."

"When are you supposed to meet Keane?" Anderson asked with a decisive tone of voice that sounded as though he had a plan.

"He said I had 5 hours. 4 and a half left now."

"Then you go to C-sec and try to get info on the man you found, see if Keane is telling the truth." Anderson pushed away from the desk and stood up, Ashley copied the motion.

"What are you going to do, sir?"

"Try and find information on Léon Keane. We don't want him holding all the cards. We'll meet back here in 3 and a half hours, then we'll go and see what he has to say together."

"He might run if he sees you coming, sir." The chief was confident she could deal with the traitor. She didn't see the need to take the risk.

"Then I'll have to make sure he doesn't. Something's up, Williams and I won't let you go in alone."

"Sir, I can –"Ash started to disagree but was interrupted.

"No arguments, I've made up my mind and we're wasting time. Let's go."