"You behave like this with everyone, or is it just Spectres?"
John slapped some ice cold water on his face. He was wondering if it was the mild hangover that caused the headache, or the lack of sleep. Or both.
In the end, it didn't really matter. He slowly raised his head, prepared for the worst.
He was pleasantly suprised; his face didn't look like shit after all. Tired, but nothing serious.
He still had two hours left, but he decided to leave anyway. Not that he longed after his office so much, but he didn't have any better idea. He had already looked fixedly at the wall for an hour, sat in the kitchen for another and stood under the shower for at least twenty minutes. He certainly didn't want to stay at home any longer.
He quickly wiped the water off his face with a small towel. He tried not to keep his eyes closed for more than a few seconds; constantly looking at things somehow kept his brain from digging up unwanted thoughts.
He walked into his room and opened the wardrobe to find the last set of clean uniform.
He got dressed in five minutes, then he went to the kitchen and took some painkillers. He opened the fridge out of habit, but closed it after a moment of looking at the food inside it.
The painkiller will be enough…
Twenty minutes later he was inside the C-Sec building of Zakera Ward. On his way to his office, he encountered one of his colleagues.
"Shepard?" Threcia stopped. Her light blue eyes were particularly rigid, even among turians. "What are you doing here?"
"Doing some extra work so it won't pile up like last month," John answered without slowing down. He walked past the corner and saw his door. The small green light on the right side of it indicated that it was open.
It should have been closed.
"Hey, wait," Threcia said as she turned after him.
"What is it?" John asked, but instead of stopping, he marched to his office.
Why is the door opened?
He was sure that he had closed it yesterday before leaving.
"If you'd stop for a second, I'd-"
"Did you see someone going into my office?" John asked before Threcia could have had a chance to finish the sentence. He didn't hear an answer, so he looked at the turian.
"Yes, there's a… Spectre inside," she answered after a short period of awkward silence.
It took a few seconds for John to process the information.
"He didn't tell me much, some kind of investigation-"
John pushed the button next to the green light and the door opened.
Inside, there was a turian sitting at his desk.
"What the hell are you doing?" John asked, immediately after he stepped in. The tone of his voice was quite unfriendly.
The turian looked up at him as if nothing really happened.
"Shepard," he nodded, "Nice to meet you too."
John opened his mouth to say something rude again, but Threcia stepped in front of him.
"I'm sorry Sir," she said quickly, "I had no idea he'd show up this early."
John clenched his fist.
What the hell.
"It's okay," the Spectre said, "I'll have to deal with him sooner or later anyway. You can go."
"Deal with me?" John asked as he raised his eyebrows.
Threcia looked at both of them, then she left without a word. John closed the door, then looked back at the Spectre. They continued their staring contest for a while longer. At least he had time to take a closer look.
The turian wore a black and red armor. His head was dark brown, decorated by white markings and his eyes were light green. Aside from these features, John couldn't really remark anything else about him.
Turians are so damn alike.
Just like the asari.
Or salarians.
Weird.
"You behave like this with everyone, or is it just Spectres?" The turian broke the silence.
John's mouth twitched.
"I've never met a Spectre before, if you're interested," he answered.
And this is a particularly bad day.
"I see," the turian said. "Then I won't take it as a personal offense."
Wonderful news.
"I still don't know what you're doing in my office."
"Okay Shepard," the Spectre sighed, "I will explain."
"I would appreciate it." John crossed his arms, awaiting the explanation.
As if it's important.
Is anything important anymore?
He clenched his teeth and tried to concentrate on the Spectre.
"My name is Nihlus Kryik," the turian introduced himself. "I am a Council Spectre, as you already know. I trust you know enough about Spectres."
John slowly nodded.
"Great, " Nihlus continued. "I am in your office because I need to talk to you."
John raised his eyebrows again.
"Interesting." he remarked.
Nihlus's eyes narrowed a bit.
"I mean, you are a Spectre," John explained, "and you have to sneak into my office to talk to me?"
The turian didn't answer immediately.
"I was examining your records."
"Oh, so you decided to play the spy before actually talking to me."
Nihlus glared at him in a way that John thought he finally managed to piss him off.
But instead of delivering a speech about humans not respecting the chain of command, Nihlus started laughing.
"You are very entertaining Shepard," the turian said, "even though you're out of the line."
John didn't react.
At least he's in a good mood.
Nihlus stopped laughing as suddenly as he had started.
"I needed to make sure that you are someone I can trust if we have to work together. "
"Spectres work alone, don't they?" John asked. "Why would you have to work with me?"
"Because sometimes I do work with others, and this case is very much connected to you," Nihlus answered.
Although the painkiller had already kicked in, his head started hurting again.
"How so?" he asked, pushing his right palm against the nape of his neck.
The turian looked at the wall. He appeared to be hesitating.
"I'm listening," John urged him.
To hell with this already.
"Do you remember the frigate you found?" Nihlus suddenly asked. "The one with the sealed crates."
"Before I left the Alliance?"
"Yes."
"Of course I remember it," John nodded.
"I found one of the crates two days ago in a warehouse on Kithoi Ward. "
John blinked in confusion, trying to decide which question to ask from the many that he suddenly had.
"How… do you even know about that frigate and the crates? "
"I should probably start from the beginning," Nihlus nodded. "Take a seat. "
Since the turian was sitting in his chair, John chose the one on the opposite side of his table. He sat down with a small sigh, displease written all over his face, which Nihlus diplomatically ignored.
"Around ten months ago I got a call from the council, " the turian started. "An incident took place on the planet Horizon, located in the Attican Traverse. Batarians attacked an Alliance facility. They killed almost everyone and stole certain important objects. Long story short, the important objects were the crates you found on the frigate and the Alliance facility was conducting classified research. "
A bad feeling started sprawling in John's chest.
"Why would the Alliance turn to the council with something like this? " he asked, frowning.
"They did not, " Nihlus smirked, or at least his face did something like that. "An emergency beacon was activated inside the facility and a turian ship patrolling the area picked the signal up. When they arrived they found nothing but corpses, fire, and a sole survivor who was hiding outside the facility. She was in bad condition, but she managed to tell them about the batarians before she lost consciousness. Since human-batarian relations were bad enough already, and it was a secret Alliance facility, the turian patrol decided to report the case to the council. The council decided to act with discretion, so they sent me to investigate. "
"I assume the Alliance received a penalty for keeping the facility a secret" John said, knowing well how such matters were handled.
"That's not important right now, but let's say that the council wasn't exactly pleased… especially because whatever they were working on got stolen or destroyed by the batarians. "
"There were four dead batarians on the frigate... Those crates seem to be important to them, " John said.
"That is one of my theories, yes," Nihlus nodded, "but for now it's only speculation. My investigation did not turn out very well, you know. Most of the remaining facility equipment burned down and the only survivor committed suicide in the hospital. "
"What?! Why?! " John asked dumbfounded.
"I found it hard to believe too, Shepard, " Nihlus replied in a gloomy voice, "apparently, she stabbed herself in the throat with a fork. When she woke up she seemed to be perfectly fine, but when the nurse went in to feed her, she grabbed the fork, stabbed through the main artery in her neck and bled to death."
"Shit, " John muttered.
"Before stabbing, she shouted something about a dead god watching her," Nihlus added.
"That makes no sense, " John shook his head. The bad feeling in his chest sprawled further.
"Either she had gone mad from what happened in the facility, " Nihlus continued, "or there was something about the experiment, no one knows. I lost the only eyewitness, and there was very little useful information I could get from the remains of the facility. The Alliance wasn't particularly helpful either. According to them, the facility was working with Prothean technology that had been unearthed before the colonization of the planet began."
"Are you telling me there was Prothean technology inside the crates? "
"I don't know what kind of technology it is, Shepard," Nihlus replied, "The content of the crate I found is currently under examination. "
"Wait, how do you even know that the crates were in the Horizon facility? " John asked.
"Because the black ops team that took over your operation admitted shipping them to the facility. I found the logs on every visiting ship, and they were among the last ones, aside from a shipment of food and lab equipment. The black ops team managed to open a crate, but they didn't know what they found, so the Alliance decided it would be best to send everything to the facility, where the specialist staff could examine the crates. "
"What did they find? "
"As I've said Shepard, almost everything was either stolen or destroyed, " Nihlus answered. "I could not find anything about the crates or the artifacts. The only thing I got was from the black ops team and it was a picture of the crate they opened and the artifact inside… I'll show you. "
The turian pressed a few buttons on his omni tool and an image appeared.
It was a dark colored, egg shaped something with around eight arms positioned symmetrically around on the top of it. It looked like a weird home decor item.
John glanced up at Nihlus with a puzzled expression.
"The one I found looks the same," the turian continued. "Since it could be anything, even a weapon, it has been moved to the Council Central Research Facility. "
"Okay, so why are you telling me any of this? " John asked. "I wasn't the only Alliance soldier on the ship, I didn't even open any of the crates and I have no idea what that thing could be. How would I help you? "
The Spectre pressed another button on his omni tool and the image disappeared. He looked at Shepard and sighed.
"Aside from the Horizon facility staff, there were seven people in total who had direct contact with the crates. You, your squad, the black ops team, and an Alliance official. Out of the seven, five are now dead. "
John suddenly felt nauseous. Partially because he hadn't eaten anything for breakfast and also because of what the turian just told him.
He leaned back in his chair and stared at the turian in silence.
"All three black ops team members have been killed in a batarian pirate attack around a month ago," Nihlus continued. "There is a chance that the same batarian group that attacked Horizon was responsible, but no connection has been found. As for your former squadmates… they were on shore leave here on the Citadel. Yesterday both of them were found dead near a nightclub. They had multiple stab wounds and bruises. The killer has not been found yet, but based on the inflicted wounds it is a biotic. "
John turned away from Nihlus and clenched his teeth. He remembered the faces of his former squadmates; Carter and Rajesh. He wasn't exactly friends with them, but they were good people. He felt genuine sadness over their deaths.
"I'm sorry Shepard," the turian said commiseratingly. "I am convinced that none of this is random coincidence. The crates, the batarians, the deaths are connected. I am primarily here because I want to prevent the same thing from happening to you, and I want to solve this case already, because over the months I had two leads, and both of those were dead end."
"So what, should I go into hiding now? " John asked. His headache came back with full force and concentrating felt harder every second.
"Quite the opposite, actually, " Nihlus said as he leaned forward. "I want you to continue your everyday life, but keep an eye out for anything unusual or suspicious. "
Fuck.
This is literally the worst possible time for that.
"You want to use me as bait? " John asked, leaning forward in his chair. His tone gave away how much he did not like the idea.
"I wouldn't call it that, " the Spectre shook his head, "but I am convinced that whoever killed the Alliance soldiers will also come after you and maybe me. "
"But that would be stupid" John said, "attacking people just draws attention to them. I don't even understand why my former squadmates were killed, they haven't seen what's inside the crates, they had almost nothing to do with this whole ordeal. "
"It might be an act of revenge, Shepard, " Nihlus pointed out. "If the batarians are behind all of this, then it's very likely. Every victim so far was human. "
John was not entirely convinced, but his head hurt and he still felt slightly nauseous so he wanted to finish the conversation as quickly as possible.
"So what's your plan? " he asked.
"It's not really a plan, but I will sync my omni-tool with yours, so that I can see your location at any given time, and you can contact me at any given time. If you see or hear anything unusual, or if someone straight up attacks you, then you call me first- "
"If someone attacks me then the first thing I do is fight back" John interrupted, slamming his fist on his desk. The water glass next to his terminal clinked in agreement.
The idea of being tracked by a Spectre irritated him.
The turian closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I obviously don't expect you to run away, " he said, stressing every word, "but if it comes to that, try not to get killed, and try not to kill your attacker. We need him or her alive. So it would be best if you could capture them. "
"They managed to kill two Alliance soldiers at once, I doubt it would be that easy" John replied.
"Your former squadmates were weaponless and unprepared, " Nihlus replied, " You will keep your weapon on at all times and you will be prepared, Shepard. I looked through you records, you are better than the average Alliance soldier. "
John would have appreciated the compliment if the circumstances were better.
"What about my step-mother and my step-sister? " he asked. "Could they be in danger too?"
Nihlus scratched his temple, visibly puzzled.
"Probably not, " he replied finally, "But better safe than sorry. They should avoid walking around alone, especially in secluded areas. Regardless, do not tell them about the case. We're trying to keep this discreet. But I trust that a C-Sec investigator and a highly skilled biotic can take care of themselves."
John inhaled sharply.
So he looked up my family too.
It's pure luck that they are capable women.
But I don't know how to approach Jane right now.
"Meanwhile, I will resume my investigation and wait for Central Research results on the artifact. " Nihlus continued. "If they figure out what that thing is, that should make things easier. I don't think that's the only artifact on the Citadel, I will be searching for more. "
"How did that one even get here? " John asked.
"As I've said, I found it in a warehouse on Kithoi Ward. The warehouse had several containers packed with illegal tech and weapons. I obtained incriminating evidence on a volus merchant who's been on the market for 'exclusive merch' " Nihlus explained, finger quoting the last two words. "The merch included some Spectre grade tech as well, that's why I was on the case. After I made the arrest and located the warehouse, I found the crate among the other containers. I recognized it based on the picture I received from the black ops team ten months ago. It was blind luck, I never expected to find it… it just fell into my lap."
"But… that doesn't explain how it got there" John frowned.
"There are many unanswered questions in this case, Shepard, " the turian replied. "The volus was unwilling to confess anything, probably because he's afraid of his clients. He also managed to vipe his private terminal clean, leaving no record of who sold him what. Our best lead right now is the killer."
"Fine, "John said, since he started to feel like throwing up. "Let's sync our omni-tools, and I will call you if anything happens. "
"Good, " Nihlus nodded.
They both stood up and started pressing buttons on their omni-tools.
"Done, " John said as his omni-tool beeped in agreement. "Now you can follow how frequently I go to the toilet. "
"I have better things to do, I assure you " the turian waved his hand with a sullen expression. "But if anything happens, call me asap, and I will check your location. I will contact you if I find anything useful. "
The Spectre walked round his table and stopped next to him.
"I trust you Shepard," Nihlus said. "As I've said, do not mention this to anyone and stay vigilant. Your encryptions are really good and this office is secure… but outside of here someone might be looking out for you."
"Wonderful," John muttered. He glanced at the turian, waiting for him to leave.
Nihlus slowly nodded, then he opened the door and left the office.
John turned around and closed the door. Then, he just stood there for a while without actually thinking about anything.
Then he finally walked behind his desk and looked at his terminal. His records were still on screen.
He sat down on his chair and buried his face into his palms.
This day just got a lot worse.
"Hello Shepard."
Jane looked up. It took her a few seconds to recognize the turian who stood in front of her at the public transport station.
"Hello," she said, turning her head away immediately. She did not wish to start a conversation with the person who was responsible for the bruises on her body.
"Aren't you happy to see me?," the turian asked.
Jane sighed, then she turned back.
"I don't know what you want Sidonis," she said, "but we no longer have any business with each other."
Sidonis slowly shook his head.
"Is it forbidden for turians to greet you?" He asked scornfully.
"It's not me who has a problem with other species," Jane replied, crossing her arms in front of herself.
Sidonis's eyes narrowed as he leaned closer to Jane. He silently glared at her for a few seconds.
"You look stressed out, Shepard," he said with a strange, smile-kind-of-thing on his face.
Great. You forgot to conceal the dark circles under your eyes.
Jane turned her head away again, looking instead at a clothes shop nearby.
"Good," Sidonis whispered, "you should be on the edge."
Jane closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Sidonis was already walking away from her. She was happy to get rid of him, but at the same time, she was worried a bit. She had a feeling that she'll meet him again in the near future.