Hannah spent the day in the summit wringing her hands and watching the time; it crept by so freaking slow. At least Plautia looked about as agitated as she felt and that made Hannah feel slightly better. Even under her Turian stoicism, Plautia was worried too.
Captain Marshall approached Hannah during a break with a frown on his face.
"You need to get to C-Sec. Your fidgeting is making Ambassador Goyle nervous; I'll make your excuse. Now... go!" He pointed to the door.
"Oh thank you, Sir! I'll update you as soon as I know anything," said Hannah as she practically ran out of the room.
Hannah noticed Plautia in the hallway so she motioned her to a corner away from other ears.
"I'm heading to C-Sec now. Were you able to get approval to leave?"
The high pitched agitation returned to Plautia's subharmonics. "No! I'm torn between two responsibilities." She huffed. "I will not be able to join the search until after the summit today."
"I understand. I'll ping your omni-tool if there is any news before you arrive."
"Thank you, Hannah."
Hannah felt Plautia's demeanor change
just slightly; the worried, helpless mother cracked through.
As Hannah made her way to C-Sec Academy, she was startled to see her daughter's face appear on a video column; a description of her clothes and last whereabouts scrolled underneath her face. Hannah stopped cold. Her abrupt stop caused an older human woman to run into her.
"Oof."
Hannah turned at the sudden pressure and touched the lady's arm. "I'm so sorry. Are you alright?"
"Yes, dear, but you shouldn't stop so suddenly in traffic. I don't react as quickly as I used to and my eyesight isn't as good either." The woman turned toward the image on the video column. "I can see that poor child though. Lost, I take it. I've seen too many of these alerts over the years. I hope they find her."
"I hope so too."
The old woman continued on her way as did Hannah.
Hannah got off the elevator in the Atrium and spoke with the attendant. Detective Yuen arrived ten minutes later to collect her. As they walked to his office, he spoke.
"Have you seen the alerts?"
"Yes, I saw the first one on my way over here. How long have they been running?"
"They were put up an hour after you left this morning. We've received a few calls, but nothing has helped yet." Detective Yuen paused briefly and scowled. "I would like you to talk to one of our officers. His supervisor was reviewing his report from yesterday and contacted my office. The officer said he recalls interacting with the girls yesterday."
The small office Hannah and Detective Yuen entered had two chairs and a table in it. The single Turian in the room gazed at the table; he looked like a school child in trouble.
"Officer Mikah, thank you for waiting. This is one of the mothers. Please share with her what you reported to me today."
The poor guy recalled his run-in with the Hanar and then the girls. He distinctly remembered the Turian girl and briefly saw the human girl. He was so focused on the Hanar, the scene it caused in public, and the fear of reprimand that he didn't see which way the children went.
Hannah cringed.
Detective Yuen spoke. "We reviewed the vid and it was quite... impressive. In all my years, I've never seen such blatant manipulation of a levitation pack."
Hannah turned a bright shade of red, "I'm so sorry, Detective! She has never done anything..." Hannah paused. "Actually, never mind. I could totally see her doing that; but she'd never hurt anyone intentionally."
"The Hanar was contacted and do you want to know what it said? That flying was the most fun it had had since leaving Kahje." Detective Yuen smiled. "No damage was done, Hannah. Let's hope it stays that way."
Officer Mikah was dismissed and Hannah and Yuen went to the detective's office.
"Hannah, I want you to meet my partner," said Yuen.
A Turian male stood up from his desk. He was wearing the typical blue and black armor worn by Citadel Security. He had a grey complexion, facial markings in the color of blue with a strong line down the bridge of his nose, a bold line under each eye that extended back toward his fringe, and bold lines drawn the full length of his mandibles. He also had grey eyes.
"I'm Detective Kelis Vakarian," said the Turian.
"I'm Hannah Shepard, Systems Alliance. Thank you for your help!"
"Detective Vakarian will be taking you through the footage we found of the girls across the Presidium and Wards. As soon as Ms. Torquatus arrives, we will have her join you."
"Thank you both again for your help."
Detective Yuen nodded and sat down. Detective Vakarian gestured his arm for Hannah to walk with him. They entered a small room with a large terminal screen.
"We have access to all the vids across the Citadel but, as you can imagine, it takes time to review the footage. We've had several techs here all day and finally compiled all the accessible data."
"I take it you haven't been able to figure out where they are now?"
"Not yet, but we're working on it."
"Do you have kids, Detective?" Hannah asked bluntly. She didn't normally pry into other people's business, but she needed to know.
"Actually I do, a boy and a girl."
"Then you can understand how I feel. I'm scared something bad has happened and I'm angry I can't do anything about it, but I know no matter what, I won't stop looking until my little girl is found."
"I understand and I would do the same."
Hannah met his eyes and had unwavering trust that he would do everything in his power to find the girls.
As the tech queued up the footage and Vakarian turned his attention there, Hannah looked at the male Turian. His features were different from the female Turian in several ways: Plautia had a darker carapace while Kelis had a grey one. Plautia's forehead plates were smaller and she didn't have the long, pointed fringe, and the cowl of her armor was also smaller. Kelis was taller than Plautia by a dozen centimeters. The males had larger features that attracted the eye and the females had subtler features. This reminded Hannah of Earth's birds.
Hannah must have stared too long because Detective Vakarian looked at her with his brow plates and nose scrunched and had a narrow gaze. "What?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare. I was comparing your features to Plautia's. It's amazing how we grew up on different planets with different chemistry, but some of the similarities are profound."
"I've been told by many humans that Turians look similar to birds on your world."
"Yes and no. Our birds have feathers and are soft, and I think it's safe to say your carapace isn't soft, but the shapes are similar. It's interesting."
Hannah laughed at her next thought.
"I'm sure Palaven has some animal species that you could compare us to; I mean perspective is based on the familiar."
Detective Vakarian's mandibles flared and he laughed. "I'm sure we might have a few reckless, bossy animals on Palaven, but none are as hairy as you humans."
Hannah laughed. "Indeed!"
The tech removed himself from the room and Detective Vakarian sat down to start the footage.
A moment later, Plautia walked into the room, escorted by an Asari attendant.
"Sir, I was told to bring Ms. Torquatus here when she arrived," said the attendant.
"Yes, thank you," replied Vakarian. "Ms. Torquatus, I'm Detective Vakarian. I take it you were able to leave the summit earlier than you anticipated."
Plautia nodded, "It concluded earlier than expected, thankfully. Have you been able to find my daughter yet?"
"Not yet, but Ms. Shepard and I are reviewing the vids. Five search units have been out scouting the Presidium since this morning and we have five more sweeping the Wards as we speak."
"How successful is C-Sec at recovering lost children?" Plautia voiced with an alarmed resonance. Hannah could make out the higher pitch in the background sub tone.
In Vakarian's response, Hannah heard a deep defensive resonance, "Our rate is good, but you can't expect perfection in a place like this. Usually kids come back on their own after they've finished running around."
"My daughter doesn't run around, Detective. She understands the importance of her responsibility, she is Turian after all," said Plautia arguably.
"I understand, but kids don't always do what we think is best," said Detective Vakarian.
Hannah looked at the detective and noticed a fleeting look of disappointment cross his face. She could tell he had personal issues with his own children.
To break up the tension, Hannah chimed, "Where should we start with the vids? The Embassy Lounge is where we left them yesterday morning; we could start there."
"Yes, we'll start there and follow their path," said Detective Vakarian.
Hannah and Plautia stood behind the Detective as he played the vid footage. They watched as the girls traveled from the Embassy Lounge and around the Presidium. They saw the Hanar footage and Plautia squawked at the sight of Kalea participating in an unTurian-like joke. Hannah just rolled her eyes. The girls stopped at a store and purchased dextro-food. Hannah was proud that Marissa realized Kalea had different needs and gathered the appropriate supplies. They watched as Marissa and Kalea wandered down to the Bachjret Ward, but then the girls were out of sight for a while.
In the next clip, a view of a hallway, the girls were seen running. They both looked scared. A second later, Eclipse mercenaries came into view, also running. The girls were being chased.
"Spirits!"
"Shit!"
"Why would Eclipse mercs be chasing my daughter?" Plautia panicked. Hannah was freaking out too, but this was recorded yesterday.
They watched as the girls ran down an inclined hallway and stopped at a locked door. Marissa was able to get it open and relocked before the thugs reached them. Hannah saw a human and a Salarian at first, and then an Asari came into view. The Asari gestured grandly and the other two cowered.
"We don't have audio on these vids so I don't know what they're saying, but it looks like the girls saw something they weren't supposed to."
"Does that door enter a Keeper tunnel?" Hannah asked. She assumed the Keepers had a network of passages for ease of navigation, but the Keepers were a mystery. They didn't communicate with other species and were off limits for research since they had a tendency to liquefy; a self-destruct mechanism.
"Yes," Vakarian responded. Then into his omni-tool, he spoke. "Yuen, we have a recording of where the girls entered the Keeper tunnels, Bachjret Ward."
"No video from there, is there?"
"No, and no layout of the sub-structures. You would think by now the Keeper tunnels would be mapped." He shook his head. "Do we have anyone familiar with the Foundations? We need to get units down there."
"I'll check."
The trio walked back to the detective's office.
"Vakarian, we have a few officers who've been down to the Foundations but the area is massive: colonies, syndicates, and thousands of dead-ends," said Yuen.
"What about a trace unit?"
"We only have access to one. I'll check to see if it's available. It's a good thing we know where to start."
Detective Vakarian turned toward the women while Detective Yuen clicked away at his omni-tool.
"Ms. Shepard, Ms. Torquatus… would you please retrieve a few items with the girl's DNA? We're going to need it for the trace."
"Good! It's available," said Detective Yuen to the crowd. Then he turned toward the women. "I expect neither of you will want to sit here and wait while we send units down, correct?"
"I'm going… please!" said Hannah pointedly. Plautia agreed.
"That's what I thought. Please be prepared for anything down there."
The women left and returned within the hour with their items; Hannah had Marissa's hairbrush and Plautia brought Kalea's talon dremel.
Detective Vakarian took the items and went into another room and after 15 minutes he returned; behind him trotted a FENRIS mech. Hannah smiled broadly as she remembered how humans used to use bloodhound dogs as search and rescue tools because of their ability to track through scent. She also knew Marissa had an affinity for mechanical canines. She hoped this would work.