2. Trials and Tribulations
Saren folded his arms, watching his so-called 'trial' with contempt from the holographic dais. The formal back and forth between the councilors and human ambassador held no interest for him, yet he had no choice but to stand there and listen to their bickering while his geth sat in the middle of Alliance space.
He fought the urge to snarl at this insult. After hastily setting up a real-time connection to answer the summons, tweaking his hologram to hide his recently acquired cybernetics, he had to wait for his accusers to arrive. Credits were flowing by while they piddled. The monetary cost was ultimately insignificant, but their arrogance was galling. He hoped the Council would force the humans to recompense him for every credit they wasted.
He glanced over as a turian entered the Chambers. C-Sec Executor, Venari Pallin.
Pallin shot an annoyed look in his direction as he climbed the stairs, but otherwise ignored him.
Saren watched him silently, a faint sneer on his face. Pallin was a fool, too bound by his rules and procedures to do any good. They'd had plenty of clashes over the years and Pallin was no doubt savoring the chance to give the Council his 'I told you so.' He would be presenting C-Sec's 'findings' to the Council— not that they would have anything, of course. The idea was laughable, though Saren was in no laughing mood.
As Pallin left, the human ambassador glared at the turian councilor, Sparatus. The human's squinty eyes narrowed and thin lips bunched in a scowl.
Saren mostly ignored politics as it was a waste of time and beneath him. While the politicians postured, he kept the galaxy safe. The politicians squawked and huffed about his methods, but in the end they begged him to fix their problems every time.
He studied the human with revulsion, though he kept the emotion concealed. Udina, the asari councilor had called him.
Bacteria-laced water poured from his disgustingly spongy flesh, his dark face slick with it. Large, wet spots stained the underarms of his beige suit.
Saren's nostrils contracted as he imagined the human's stink. They were vile creatures, and this one was a particularly ugly example of his species: short, balding, and loud-mouthed. Like all of his kind, he screamed and whined when he didn't get his way and puffed himself up when he had the rare advantage.
There was no mistaking the conceit of this petty, little man. He would be easy enough to nettle, should Saren feel the need.
Not that Saren expected to need much of anything. This trial was merely an appeasement, pretending to take the humans seriously.
He'd accessed and read Nihlus's files first off, familiarizing himself with the mission. Then he'd read the humans' report. There was nothing in them to prove he attacked the colony. It would be easy to claim Anderson fabricated their little, circumstantial evidence to cover his team's failure and try to get payback against him. They wouldn't know about the quarian. Fist would take care of her shortly. He'd paid the greedy human well and Fist knew Saren didn't tolerate failure.
The Council wouldn't want to find him guilty, in any case. Sparatus shared his opinion of the humans. He would want to dismiss them from the start. The turian councilor was Saren's most natural ally in this trial, regardless of their prior disagreements. That left the asari and salarian.
The asari in particular liked to play mediator. Out of all the councilors, Tevos was the one most likely to put on a show. This was undoubtedly her idea, a way to score political points with the humans by pretending to hear them out. Valern, the curious little lizard, would go along with it just to see what the humans would do.
Saren scowled. They had still granted the humans a trial on the word of a human woman.
If he hadn't killed Nihlus, he'd be obliged to do so now. He'd been aware of Nihlus's troubling xenophilic tendencies, but to recommend a human for the Spectres? And of all the humans in the Alliance, he asked Anderson to help decide the candidate.
Saren grit his teeth at the thought of the dark-skinned human.
Anderson was an idealistic moron. It was just like him to go screaming to the Council without any proof. He hadn't learned his lesson yet, but that was hardly surprising. That he managed to make Captain only spoke of how incompetent the humans truly were. Saren was going to enjoy humiliating him before the Council once again. And if Anderson helped choose the would-be human Spectre, she would be just as much of a fool as he was.
As if summoned, Anderson entered the Chambers with a human female in tow.
Anderson was of no interest to Saren. A quick glance confirmed what he already knew; Anderson was older, wearing the Alliance navy and gold officer's uniform, but still the same.
The female from Nihlus's files was of more interest. Staff Commander Aleta Shepard. Two other humans, a male and female, lagged behind. They were obviously trivial. Saren dismissed them and refocused on the human Commander.
His cybernetics let him study her in detail, even through the hologram. She was shorter than Anderson, slight even in full body armor. Her skin was lighter than Anderson's or Udina's, a sandy tan compared to Anderson's brick-brown or Udina's dull dirt. Black hair hung around her face, a dark wave tucked behind her right ear. Unlike other human females Saren had seen, her face and fleshy lips were unpainted, though the upper lids of her eyes were painted a pale purple. A small scar dashed her cheek, beneath her left eye.
This is the human Nihlus selected for Spectre candidacy? Saren shook his head. He'd apparently overestimated Nihlus's intelligence. She was tiny and frail. A particularly strong wind might snap her in half. This weak, insipid creature was not Spectre material. She was obviously prey, not predator.
Anderson must have noticed the movement and looked up, brown eyes pinched with anger.
The female followed his gaze to him, her large, glassy eyes a shockingly bright green. Her eyes narrowed as recognition dawned. She took the podium, lips tight.
Yes. You stay angry, human, Saren thought. Your kind is even more stupid when angry.
"The geth attack is a matter of some concern." Tevos ignored the other humans' entry, focused on the human ambassador. "But there is nothing to indicate Saren was involved in any way."
Sparatus looked over at her, his dark, white-marked face expressionless, then back at Udina. "The investigation by Citadel Security turned up no evidence to support your charge of treason," he added.
Udina glared. "An eyewitness saw him kill Nihlus in cold blood!"
"We've read the Eden Prime reports, Ambassador," Valern said, the salarian's pale under lids rapidly flicking over his black, liquid eyes in distaste. "The testimony of one traumatized dockworker is hardly compelling proof."
Political maneuvering was a game Saren found distasteful but he had to play his part.
"I resent these accusations," Saren growled, looking to the Council. "Nihlus was a fellow Spectre. And a friend."
Anderson glared up at him. "That just let you catch him off-guard!"
Anderson, always impulsive, never seeing the obvious trap before him. Saren glanced down as if he had just now noticed the human.
"Captain Anderson." Saren measured his affect to just the right degree of condescension needed to goad the human. "You always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me." He looked at the female, assessing her vulnerabilities. "And this must be your protégé, Commander Shepard." He locked eyes with her. "The one who let the beacon get destroyed."
Saren folded his arms, watching her. Your move, human.
"The mission to Eden Prime was top secret." She met his eyes with a level glare of her own. "The only way you could know about the beacon was if you were there!"
Saren processed this. She didn't try to evade. Egotism, perhaps. Where Anderson would have gotten defensive and tried to shift the blame, she tried to turn his statement back on him. It was a crude attempt, easily blocked, but didn't give him much to work with.
"With Nihlus gone, his files passed on to me." He decided to attack her pride, see what she did. "I read the Eden Prime report. I was unimpressed." He looked to the Council but kept her in his peripheral vision. "But what can you expect from a human?"
Instead of arguing with him, Shepard turned to them as well. "Saren despises humanity," she said. "That's why he attacked Eden Prime."
She met each Councilor's eyes in turn.
An interesting approach. She was trying to side step him, pretending to be too moral for personal attacks so he would appear unreasonable in comparison. It was well played, but futile. He only had to incite one of them to anger.
"Your species needs to learn its place, Shepard. You're not ready to join the Council. You're not even ready to join the Spectres," he said, sub-harmonics growling with mockery.
Her jaw clenched. A reaction at last. He filed it away to consider later. It was still not enough to discredit her.
"He has no right to say that," the human ambassador snarled. "That's not his decision!"
Councilor Tevos sent him a warning look, turning her exasperated blue face towards the hologram. "Shepard's admission into the Spectres is not the purpose of this meeting."
"This meeting has no purpose." Saren looked down at her. "The humans are wasting your time, Councilor. And mine."
"Saren's hiding behind his position as a Spectre," Shepard said. "You need to open your eyes!"
"What we need," Valern interjected, "is evidence. So far, we've seen nothing."
"There's still one outstanding issue." Anderson glanced over at Shepard. "Commander Shepard's vision." He looked back at the Council, missing the little wince the female gave. "It may have been triggered by the beacon."
Saren felt a stab of satisfaction. Leave it to Anderson to hand him the perfect weapon, in addition to confirming to the Council that she destroyed the beacon.
"Are we allowing dreams into evidence now?" Saren turned to the Council, sub-harmonics broadcasting his disgust. "How can I defend my innocence against this," he tossed his arm at the humans, "kind of testimony?"
"I agree." Sparatus's sub-harmonics mirrored Saren's own. "Our judgment must be based on facts and evidence, not wild imaginings and reckless speculation."
Councilor Valern looked to him, and then back at the Commander. "Do you have anything else to add, Commander Shepard?"
"You've made your decision." She lowered her head. She knew they were beat, that Anderson had decimated any slim hope of success. "I won't waste my breath."
Sparatus shook his head at Tevos. Tevos nodded. Saren felt a surge of victory, savoring the looks on the humans' faces as they realized their defeat.
Consensus reached, Tevos addressed the humans. "The Council has found no evidence of any connection between Saren and the geth. Ambassador, your petition to have him disbarred from the Spectres is denied."
"I'm glad to see justice was served," Saren said, not bothering to hide the rumble of smug satisfaction as he looked at the humans.
Shepard glared as he cut the link, angry green eyes promising that it wasn't over.
Saren stepped away from the holographic projector, musing on those defiant eyes. Anderson had unwittingly confirmed Benezia's report. Shepard had seen the visions. There was a significant possibility she knew what was at stake. If so, he highly doubted the Council's blindness would prevent her from trying to stop him.
Not that she can stop me, Saren thought. There was nothing to prove he had been on Eden Prime. Nothing but a dockworker, Saren thought, snarling that his geth missed him. He was easily silenced, in any event.
The quarian could have circumstantial evidence, if she could somehow tie the mercenaries he'd left with the geth to him. He doubted it, and doubted even more that the Council would listen to a quarian, but he wanted to see what "evidence" she claimed to have.
Shepard was a different sort of problem. As a Spectre, he was out of her reach. While she fumbled around, he already had plans in motion. She was nothing but a nuisance, but it was better to tie up loose ends. Sovereign murmured its approval in the back of his mind.
Saren flared his mandibles in a humorless grin as he activated his Omni-tool. There were some old contacts he needed to talk to.
Once he'd finished giving his orders, Saren walked to the bridge of the ship, strapping his weapons on as he walked. Not that "bridge" was a particularly apt name. On a geth ship, there was no need for a bridge or a pilot.
Shiala, one of Benezia's asari followers, was already sitting on the bench installed in the ship's bow, her skin a dull lavender in the dim light. She glanced up, green eyes quickly dropping when she recognized him.
Benezia had vouched for her empathetic ability to touch minds specifically, but that wasn't why Saren had chosen her for this mission.
It wasn't out of any special recognition of her skill. Skilled as she may be, she was disposable. They all were. But this particular acolyte of Benezia's seemed hesitant. While she succumbed to the indoctrination as well as any of the others, she sometimes balked at receiving certain kinds of orders.
That would not do.
"How long to arrival?" he asked with a menacing rumble.
He stopped beside her, forcing her to look up at him. He trained his cybernetic eyes on hers. She flinched, though she tried to cover it by standing and heading to an interface panel.
Saren watched her. He knew well the impact the cold, mechanical look his implants had on others. Organics instinctively feared things they couldn't understand. Fear was a potent weapon, one he was skilled in using.
The asari hastily checked their progress on a geth terminal. Normally geth ships didn't have those, either. Geth ship design valued functionality above all else. Their ships were all metal and angles, lacking any sort of organic nod to aesthetics or comfort. These few conveniences were only installed so Saren could integrate with their systems.
Shiala tapped a few commands into the terminal. "An hour out, sir."
"Good." He leaned in the doorway to block her exit. "Resume course for the Theseus system. Divert a contingent of geth to deal with the Alliance's probes."
He watched her enter his orders. The asari wasn't going anywhere. He suppressed a smirk as she turned and found the entrance blocked, her eyes widening slightly.
He waited for her to sit. "What did Benezia tell you about this world we're going to?"
"Not much," the acolyte admitted, avoiding his eyes. Saren briefly wondered if it was unpleasant for an asari to look into eyes they couldn't read. "It's a human colony on a former Prothean world."
"Anything else?"
He moved away from the door and braced himself against the bulkhead across from her, casually poised but able to move quickly if she tried to escape. She wouldn't try, of course, but she would know he could stop her if she did. It was the feeling of entrapment that mattered, not the physical reality.
"I've heard it was funded by a company you are invested in." She kept her eyes focused downward. "ExoGeni Corporation, if I recall correctly. A human firm that specializes in ancient technology."
She's trying to escape me, Saren thought with amusement. Now, now. I can't allow that, now can I?
"A good start," he purred. "But you've missed some important information. I'll need you to pay attention."
She swallowed, then looked up and nodded. "I'm listening, sir."
Saren nodded. Now to force her into a corner.
He locked eyes with her. "Excellent," he said with a soft, comforting hum. "ExoGeni's Feros branch has discovered something interesting. A life form called the Thorian. Their tests show it has existed since at least the time of the Protheans, if not before. You know what that means."
The asari's eyes widened. "It would understand the beacons."
Saren flared his mandibles slightly, the rods on his face limiting his facial movements. She would know it wasn't a display of genuine happiness.
"Yes." He quickly pushed himself off the wall, startling her. "It would. And it would know about the Reapers."
The corner of Shiala's mouth twitched down, a sign of worry in the asari.
I've got you, Saren thought with hint of smugness. She's taken the bait. Now for the kill.
"This Thorian seems to have some form of mind-control." Saren moved to the bench and stood over her, well inside her personal boundaries. "The humans on the planet are protecting it. They will know where it is, and we must find out."
He left the statement hanging and he sat next to her.
The asari's lips compressed, a signal of distress in their species. She knew his reputation. And there it is, that hesitation. She didn't like the idea of hurting the humans. But that's just too bad, isn't it?
"Benezia said you were the most capable of empathic bonds and assured me you were the best choice. The information you may hold will be critical to unlocking the beacon's message." She looked over and he pinned her with his gaze. "Once we're on the planet, there's no turning back. The success of the mission depends entirely on you. I need to know," he said, sub-harmonics grating, "that you are capable of doing this before we land."
"If the Matriarch recommended me, I will do my best to meet her expectations." The asari's lips trembled. "I promise not to let you down, sir."
"I'll hold you to that, Shiala." He patted her shoulder, a reward for her obedience. "I'm sure Benezia will be proud." Saren leaned back in his seat. "Now, you should go ensure you're ready. Meet me here when you're done."
The asari stood and dipped her head. "Yes, sir."
Saren didn't watch her leave the room. He had planted the seed of responsibility in her. The asari was weak willed. If she tried to resist later, he would use it.
Instead, he turned his attention to his Omni-tool, pulling up the files he'd gleaned from ExoGeni.
The asari hadn't been too far off. ExoGeni was a human firm, but well known for research in Prothean technology. Saren had invested in them, scouring their reports for information on the Protheans.
When the Feros branch discovered a 'mind-controlling plant' under Zhu's Hope, his interest was piqued. The reports stated that this Thorian had infected most of the Zhu's Hope colonists. Saren had thought it sounded curiously similar to Sovereign's indoctrination and decided to investigate a little more.
His prudence paid off; an ExoGeni scientist had conducted radiocarbon tests on one of the larger nodes the Feros team found. This scientist suggested the Thorian was older than the Protheans. Saren knew Feros was a former Prothean colony. If these scientists were right, this Thorian may have had Prothean thralls at one time. If so, it could have knowledge about the beacons. If not, it may still know of the Reapers.
Sovereign would not allow such a thing to live, regardless of what it knew. This was his only chance to learn its secrets. And the asari would hold the key.
A.N.: Second chapter up. Reviews always welcome!
The first few times I played through ME, I wondered how Shiala found Saren to be charismatic. From what we had seen of him, 'charismatic' was not one of the words I would have used to describe him. It had to be indoctrination, I thought. But then I started thinking. Based on what we know about Saren, he's ruthless, pragmatic and willing to do whatever it takes to complete the mission. With that in mind, it's not hard to imagine that after 24 years of Spectre experience he has plenty of experience manipulating people to get what he wants. I just hope I portrayed it well enough.
Next chapter gets pretty violent, so just a heads up to anyone who gets squeamish with that sort of thing.
Edit: tweaked a bit of Saren's dialogue to emphasize his sub-harmonic signals. On an unrelated note, there aren't too many synonyms for 'rumble'.
