Chapter 4: The Dreams of Many
Kasumi was watching the strange soldiers who had been following her for weeks. As far as she could tell, they had a job for her. Yet from what she could tell, sending soldiers after her was a terrible business choice. Well, bad business or not, she hadn't had a good job ever since Keiji's death, and people were starting to forget who she was. So, instead of listening to her gut, she started down toward the soldiers to hear this proposition.
Seargent Zach Cousland, was very annoyed that he was being sent on this errand when he joined Cerberus for combat, NOT to hire thieves that he didn't even know they really existed or not. All he'd been told, were the rumors. And all they said was that this girl was very good at her job.
"If she's so good, why doesn't she prove it." He mumbled under his breath.
"I already have." Kasumi said, becoming visible in front of him.
"What do you—" Zach began, but before he could finish, his pants fell down. That's when he noticed the belt in her hand. And the guns of all his men. "How the hell?"
"I'm the best at what I do." Kasumi said. "Now what do you want?"
"My employer has requested that I hire you to steal a certain person's weapon."
"Whose weapon?" Kasumi asked.
"I'm not allowed to say aloud. All the information you need is on this osd." Zach said while handing her an osd. "And that concludes our business transaction." As Zach goes to turn around he finally pulls his pants up and grabs his belt from Kasumi.
"One more thing." Kasumi said. "Tell your employer next time, not to send soldiers. It's bad for business."
"What makes you say there'll be a next time?" Zach replied.
"Oh, there'll be a next time alright." Kasumi responded before turning invisible.
"Sir, she took our guns." One of the soldiers replied.
"Why would she—" that's when he realized where they were standing. "Well that's not cool."
"What do you mean sir?"
"We're standing in the middle of a thresher maw nest." Zach answered just as the thresher maw burst out of the ground nearby.
The first thing Tarius saw was the twenty foot Saren hologram. "Crap." The voice said. And Tarius knew why. He knew that Saren was very charismatic, and that he was the best spectre the council had. So he knew they were more likely to listen to him than Shepard. His attention then went to Udina who was arguing with the council. Tarius knew it wouldn't get him anywhere, but it was fun to watch. So instead of saying anything, he just stood back and watched.
"The geth attack is of some concern, but there is no evidence to support that Saren was involved." The asari councilor said.
"The investigation by Citadel security turned up no evidence to support your accusations." The turian councilor added.
"A witness saw him kill Nihlus in cold blood." Udina countered.
"We've seen the reports." The salarian councilor cut in. "The testament of one traumatized doc worker is not compelling evidence."
"Stupid politicians." Tarius mumbled under his breath.
"Something you want to add commander?" The turian councilor said.
"Oh, just that you're all idiots." Tarius replied.
"Commander!" Udina said shocked.
"Udina!" Tarius replied smiling.
"Is this how you plan to defend yourself Shepard?" Saren said.
"No." Tarius said simply. "I just know you will find a way to turn the council against me."
"What's there to turn them against?" Saren replied. "If they haven't already decided you're a waste of time they'll soon see it."
"That's enough." Anderson said as Shepard went to reply. "We're here to prove to the council that Saren is guilty, not that you're a complete ass... they know that already."
"Yes, but unless you have more proof, we see no evidence to support your claims." The asari councilor said.
"There's still the matter of Shepards vision." Anderson said. "It may have been triggered by the beacon."
"Are we allowing dreams into evidence now?" Saren said. "Cause if so, I had a doozie of one last night."
Tarius's first thought was not that Saren was making a joke. His first thought was, Did he just say doozie?
Meanwhile, Saren continued. "In this dream, a giant squid, or I think that's what it's called honestly the name of the animals on you humans's home planet does not concern me."
After that Shepard began to lose control. Saren had practically just admitted his guilt and the council was unaffected. With that, his anger boiled just like his blood. Saren continued, not realizing this.
"Oh yes. This giant squid asked me to help it, practically begged. In the end my helpful nature demanded I help it. So I asked it how it wanted me to help it. It said 'Don't let that human in the spectres, or you will regret it.' And when I awoke, I decided it was my subconscious warning me that this human would be a failure and would disgrace the name of the spectres. Therefore, I declare that this human should not be allowed in the spectres."
"What?!" Tarius screamed.
"You can't do that! That's not your decision!" Udina exclaimed as Anderson grabbed Tarius's arm to hold him back as his biotics flared and his eyes glowed red.
"Shepard's admission into the spectres is not the purpose of this meeting." The asari councilor declared.
"That's cause there is no purpose of this meeting!" Saren declared.
"Yes there is!" Tarius yelled, losing his control. "And it's to prove you're behind what happened at Eden Prime!"
"You have no proof!" Saren yelled right back.
"I need no proof!" Tarius replied. "It's written all over your face! And if the council are to blind to see it, then they've already made their decision!"
Silence crept over the council chambers and dragged out until it became almost unbearable. Finally the asari councilor spoke up, "Do you have any last things to say?"
"Other than the fact that you're a bunch of dumbasses who need to pull their heads out of their asses? No, nothing relevant."
The asari and salarian councilor turned to the turian councilor who shook his head so furiously that it caused Tarius to have two thoughts. The first being that if he shook his head any harder then it would come off his shoulders. The second being that he'd pay money to see that.
"We find no evidence to suggest that Saren was involved in the attack on Eden Prime." The asari councilor piped up, interupting Tarius's train of thought. "Ambassador, your petition to have Saren removed from the spectres is denied."
"I'm glad to see justice was served." Saren said before the hologram of him deactivated.
With that Anderson was left defeated, Udina annoyed, and Tarius pissed off. While Tarius and Anderson walked away, Udina stood there as if to say something, and then decided to walk away.
"It was a mistake bringing you in there." Udina said.
Tarius turned around to reply, thinking he was talking to him, only to have Udina walk right by him and point at Anderson. "You and Saren have too much history. It made the council completely turn on us."
"Hey, it's not his fault their assholes." Tarius cut in."
"And YOU!" Udina whipped around and pointed a finger at Shepard. "Have you never heard of acting civil?!"
"Heard of it don't much care for it." Tarius replied.
"Well you'd better start if we're going to turn this around."
"We?" Tarius said.
"Yes." Udina said. "You're going to find evidence, while I try to get us another meeting with the council."
"What?!" Tarius exclaimed. "After that disaster?!"
"Yes. Now I suggest you speak with Harkon. He's a contact i have in c-sec." Udina said.
""No way! Harkon's a drunk. He was suspended for drinking on the job recently." Anderson exclaimed.
"He'll still have info you might need. Now come along Anderson, we have work to do." Udina then walked away.
"Look, if want good info talk to Barla Von. He's an agent for the Shadow Broker." Anderson said. "And though i hate to admit it, Udina's right Harkon might have info as well."
"Then I guess I'll talk to them both." Tarius said, obviously annoyed.
"Good. Is there anything else?" Anderson replied. "I have a little time before Udina gets angry."
"No. Nothing." Tarius answered.
"Alright. Well then, I'd better get moving." Anderson said and then walked away.
Tarius stood there for a few seconds before he left as well. He started walking down the stairs when Ashley spoke up.
"What's that salarian doing with that keeper?"
"I don't know. Why don't we find out?" Tarius said with obvious fake enthusiasm.
They walked up to the salarian causing him to jump in surprise. "What? Huh? Who's that?"
"Your mother." Tarius said with obvious sarcasm. "I'm Commander Shepard and I give absolutely no shits about what you have to say. But my allies apparently do, so what are you doing?"
"Doing? Uh... nothing." The salarian responded.
"Tell me what you're doing before I find a krogan and feed you to it!" Shepard said.
"Wait! Wait! I'm just... wait!" He turned around and picked something up that he'd dropped when he jumped. "See?"
"Is that piece of crap supposed to tell me something?" Shepard said seriously annoyed.
"It's a scanner. I'm using it to scan the keepers." The salarian said.
"Then why are you so jumpy?" Ashley asked.
"Well, it's not, strictly speaking, uh legal." The salarian responded.
"And why's that?" Kaiden said.
"Well, the rules say that we're not supposed to disturb the keepers. I don't think my scanning really disturbs them, but the guards might not see it the same way." The salarian responded.
"I'm not worried about any damn guards. Why don't you give it to me?" Tarius said.
"Are you sure? Well, okay." The salarian said. "Thank you."
The salarian then walked away after handing Tarius the scanner. Tarius finished scanning the keepers in the council chambers and then headed for the elevator. Once the were inside and started down, he stopped holding in his anger. With a biotic punch, he hit the window surprisingly not shattering it.
"Are you okay sir?" Kaiden asked.
"Kaiden, you're a good man and soldier. So unless you want to die, I suggest you shut up." Tarius said.
"I'm not paying for that." Ashley said.
They were quiet the rest of the way to the bottom. When they got out of the elevator, they only stopped for a second to scan the keeper next to the avina terminal. They then moved on and started over to speak with Barla Von. Upon crossing the bridge, they saw a batarian, a turian, and two asari, staring at a news report. When they walked up to check it out, they discovered it was a report on their meeting with the council. "Wow. Word travels fast here." Ashley said.
"Shhh!" The turian said.
The screen showed a reporter talking about the meeting. "Upon being asked if he had anything to say, Commander Shepard decided to start his argument by calling the council idiots." After saying this, a video of the meeting with the council after Saren spoke of his dream came on. "He then proceeded to freak out on the Spectre, whose name remains classified, and the council about absolutely nothing, calling them idiots again and making a complete ass out of himse—"
Before the reporter could finish his sentence, Tarius shot the screen with his pistol causing almost everyone to look at him. The only person who didn't was the batarian who was laughing.
"What are you laughing about?" Tarius asked him pissed.
"You, asshole." The batarian replied. "You haven't changed a bit."
"What are you talking about?" Shepard said.
"You know what, Butcher." The batarian said, turning around to reveal the batarian who had made out with the asari earlier. What they hadn't realized earlier was the big scar that ran the length of his face on the right side.
Immediately, memories flashed in Tarius's mind. Memories of Torfan. Of woman and children. And of soldiers. Both batarian and... human. Then one picture stuck. One of a batarian child who had attacked him after he killed the leader. A child, with a huge bleeding cut down the right side of his face from Shepards blade.
"You." He said through clenched teeth. "I knew I made a mistake." He had left this batarian alive when he was a child.
"Yes. At first I would have agreed." The batarian replied.
"At first?" Shepard said, barely holding back his anger.
"Yes. Originally, I had come here planning to kill you." The batarian replied. "But then I met—"
"Me." One of the asari spoke up. "He met me. Sorlia Trivols." She said holding out her hand.
Shepard shook it reluctantly. "So, what? You fell in love?" He said.
"Yes." The batarian replied. "She was the first person in a long time to see past my scar." He said while she smiled at him. "She even helped me see past it. I even think I see why you killed my father."
"And why's that?" Tarius replied.
"Cause he helped plan Elysium." The batarian said plainly. "And also for almost the same reason I came after you." He gave Tarius a stare that said he knew much. "You thought he had information on your father's killer. Which, he might have but I don't know. If you want my advice, forget your quest for revenge. It will only bring you pain." He turned to walk away and stopped. "And hurt those around you."
As he continued going to walk away, Tarius took a step forward. Sorlia Trivols and the other asari blocked him. "Wait." He said. The batarian stopped and looked at him surprised. "What's your name?"
"Why do you care?" The batarian replied.
"Because I don't want to remember a child in pain and full of rage. I want to remember a man who had the strength to put aside anger and revenge." Shepard answered.
The batarian stood there a moment, and then decided to do what he thought was best. "Salise Talai. And I hope you find peace one day like I have." He then turned and walked away, the asari following.
Shepard stood there for another few seconds before realizing that he didn't have any urge to kill the batarian. "You know. He has a point."
"What?" Tarius turned to see the turian standing in front of him.
"You need to let go. I can see it in your eyes. You regret everything you did." The turian said. "If I were you. I'd let it go." He then turned and walked away.
"Are you okay sir?" Kaiden asked him.
"Kaiden, what did I—" He stopped. When he started again, his tone had changed. "I mean, I'm fine. But thanks for asking." They then continued into Barla Von's place to speak with him.
When the turian reached a dark alley where no one could see him, he slipped in and began changing form. When he was finished, he stood as a human man in a trench coat with blonde hair. He used this form often, though when he spoke to Tarius in his dreams, he took on no apparent shape. And yet, Tarius saw him as a man, about in his late forties, with black hair that was about two inches long, a goatee with small streaks of gray in it, and a stern but loving face. At first he thought this peculiar until he realized that he saw his eyes as brown, and then it clicked. Tarius's mind had created the Stranger as a recreation of Tarius's father, a man who had taught him much. A man who had even shown others much. In the end, he decided it was best that be the form Tarius sees. For it was Thoran Shepard, who had shown the Stranger the truth of his son. Thoran, whose death had caused the revealing of Scarlai, of evil, in Tarius. But also, the revealing of good.
When Texas woke up, the first thing she noticed was Washington standing over her. The second thing she noticed was that she was in a bed. The final thing, that she was in Washington's apartment, in her underwear. "Where are my clothes?" She asked him.
"In the other room, if you're talking about your armor. If not though, probably back on Eden Prime." He said with a smile.
"I meant my armor. And if this is your best plan to get me in bed, then that's pretty sad." Texas replied, only smiling at the end.
"I had to use a mind tap. I knocked you out. Besides, I didn't think you were the shy type." He replied.
"I'm not but—"
"But you always feel exposed after an episode." He finished for her.
"Yes." She replied. "So if you used a mind tap, doesn't that mean that you have to deal with your side effects?"
"Hey, a couple more years of holding off on aging. Why not?"
"Because you were about to start aging again." Texas said.
Washington hesitated. "Well, my choices were pretty limited. It was either let you destroy the place, or do a mind tap." He shrugged. "Seemed pretty obvious."
"So, I was being a bitch?" Texas asked.
"Well when aren't you a bitch?" Washington replied smiling.
"Just bring me my armor asshole." Texas said.
Washington left the room and then came back with her armor. After handing it to her, he left the room and closed the door. Once she was dressed and had her clothes on, she headed out. "So, how's Michael doing?" Texas asked.
"Just a few scratches. As usual." He said. "But more importantly, when did you use your abilities?"
"Eden Prime. While holding off the geth. I had no choice. I knew I'd pay for it later though." Texas said.
"Which you did." Washington responded.
"Yeah." Texas said, her mind off in the distance. "Well, I better get going."
"Where are you in such a hurry to get to?" He asked her.
"I have a meeting with Hackett." She said, on her way out the door.
"Well tell him I said hi." He said. "He never writes anymore."
"Yeah, whatever." She said heading out the door. She was already late for her meeting so she figured she'd stop for some food. She was starving.
Saren had just finished his meeting with the council. He was both annoyed and satisfied that the meeting had gone so well. He was satisfied because he had been able to use his dream to make a point. Sure he had altered a few things but it didn't matter. Of course, in the dream he was compelled to protect the "squid" and not asked to but that wasn't important... was it? "Of course it's not. No one controls me." And yet, there was the doubt. That's what had annoyed him. At one point, he had wanted the council to know the truth. He had wanted them to stop him. And yet, a moment later it was gone. "What's going on?" He said. Which was exactly what he hoped his research on Virmire would uncover. He still hadn't gotten a report from the geth he sent to check on his research. All he knew was that the asari who had recently replaced the last egghead working on the project, was unnerved to discover that her first subject was the man she replaced. He had no idea if she had made any progress since she left. No matter. He continued down the corridor, unaware that he would soon be informed of a quarian that somehow had proof of his involvement in Eden Prime.
Tali had just arrived on the citadel, when a turian assassin took a shot at her. She was on her way to deliver evidence to the council that Saren was a traitor, when the assassin, dressed as a dock worker, pulled a gun out and started firing. She ran, but not before a bullet grazed her arm. Immediately, she knew that something was up. A moment later she realized that he must be using polonium rounds. "Smart bosh'tet." She mumbled under her breath.
She kept running until she reached a desk clerk for the councilors. Unfortunately, once he saw her he stood up and said "Get the hell out of here suit rat. Before I call Citadel security."
After he said that, she knew he wouldn't listen so she left. She wandered around for a little while getting worse as she went until she found herself somewhere in the wards and realized she was lost. She looked around but due to her weakened state she couldn't remember how she had gotten there. She walked a little more and found a clinic which she immediately headed to and hoped there would be someone who would help her. She was lucky.
The last thing Dr. Michel had expected to see when she woke up that morning was the quarian who came stumbling into her office. She hadn't been expecting it, but she was prepared for it. She was prepared for anything. She immediately sprung into action, getting the supplies she'd need to help the quarian. She didn't ask a name or if the quarian would have the money to pay her. She just told her sit and got straight to work. By the time she was done, she had the full story of what happened and decided to send her to Fist because he was an agent for the Shadow Broker. Little did she know, that she almost sent her to her doom.
The first thing Shepard noticed when he entered the office was the volus standing behind a desk at the back of the room. The second thing he noticed was the krogan bodyguard standing in the shadows to the right. The last thing he noticed, was that he'd seen this office before.
"Commander Shepard." The volus behind the desk said. "I've been expecting you. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Barla Von."
"I know." Tarius said. "We've met."
"Have we?" Barla Von responded. "I don't remember this."
"I would guess you wouldn't." Tarius said. "I mean after all, I was only a kid then whose father had decided to show him the Citadel."
"Ah yes, your father was a client for me." He paused. "In more than one way."
"So he used both of your services. Am I supposed to care?" Tarius said.
"Oh, so you don't want the money he left you?"
"What?"
"Your father left you money along some other objects."
"Other objects?"
"We'll get to that soon. For now, let's concentrate on why you came here." He then type something into the console in front of him. "Okay, so you need info on Saren, something to help you prove he's not innocent."
"Yes." Tarius said even though it wasn't a question.
"Well, you'll be interested to hear that the Shadow Broker also wants Saren taken down. In fact, he's sent a bounty hunter to deal with an agent that betrayed him." Barla Von said. "This agent, the fool that he is, betrayed the Broker for Saren. Now this bounty hunter, a krogan named Wrex, tryed to get in to kill this agent, a human named Fist, and got arrested by Citadel security. Maybe this krogan can help you get to Fist, who can probably help you prove saren's guilt."
"Well, I'll consider taking on Fist but who says I need a krogan's help?"
"Not me. It was just a suggestion." Barla Von said. "Now lets get to the things your father left you. The first thing of course was the money. A total of two million, three hundred fifty-four thousand, seven hundred ninety-three credits."
"That's a lot of money." Kaiden said. "Where'd he get it all?"
"My dad worked a lot of jobs. He helped a lot of people. They always compensated him for it, even if he didn't want any."
"Yes, in the end all that money went here." Barla Von said.
"So you're rich?" Ashley asked.
"Does it matter?" Tarius said.
"No. Not really." Ashley replied.
"So what else did he leave me?" Tarius asked.
"Well, let's see. He left you this pistol." Barla Von said, pulling out a pistol that was obviously heavily modded. "And these schematics, though I don't know what for. He wouldn't say and he gave me exact instructions not to look."
Tarius took them both, taking a few moments to observe the pistol. His father's pistol. His pistol. "I know what the schematics are for, they're not your concern." Tarius said. "Now is there anything else or can I go?"
"There is one more thing." Barla Von said. "A ring. I didn't know why but he said you'd understand."
When Tarius said the ring, he did understand but he didn't tell anyone. "I understand but it's not your business. All you need to known is that it was my father's and now it's mine."
"No argument here." Barla Von said.
"Good." Tarius said, slipping the ring on his finger on the outside of his armor for now. "Well if that's all, we'll be going."
"Yes, it's best you get going. You may have a long day ahead of you." Barla Von said. "Goodbye Commander."
Tarius, Kaiden, and Ashley headed out the door. They began walking to the elevator to the wards to find Harkon. And to take the next step on the dark road to stopping Saren and saving the galaxy.
Author's Note:
Sorry this took so long to write, I've had a little writer's block and I've had to decide what scenes go where and how they'll play out. It's taken a lot of work and time and planning. Hopefully the next chapter will come quicker but no promises. I wanna put the description of Tarius in the next chapter but I haven't seen what he looks like in a while and we still haven't transfered all our memory from our old Xbox to our new one so I can't get ahold of his look yet. On top of that, I've begun work on my pre Dragon Age Origins fan fiction. It's going to be kind of short but I suggest you check it out. I'm going to be switching between that and this as I do the next couple chapters. So hopefully soon our memory will be transfered and I can look at Tarius. But until then, enjoy this chapter and enjoy my other story.