Street cleaning
Shepard and her squad were met with an unpleasant surprise the moment they reached Chora's den. Outside the club's entrance were two turians wearing dark clothing that had opened fire within a split second of seeing the Alliance entourage. The Alliance squad dove into cover, trying to avoid the incoming bursts of fire. Only a couple of rounds managed to connect with their target, Shepard's shields absorbing much of the damage and leaving her unscathed. Kaidan immediately overloaded one of the assassins' shield's leaving him exposed long enough for Ashley to land a clean head shot on him with her sniper rifle. The second assassin promptly took cover and ejected a heat sink. He was unable to maneuver as he pinned down by the Alliance troops' fire. Seeing an opening, Derek took a chance and flanked the turian from the right. As he was focused solely on the marines in front of him, the turian failed to realize the fourth soldier circling around him and by the time he did it was too late. Derek immediately peppered the assassin with dozens of rounds, ensuring his death.
"Who on earth where they?" Ashley said in shock, adrenaline still pumping through her body.
"I'd bet my credits that they're tied in with Saren." Kaidan replied, inspecting one of the dead assassin's omni-tools for clues.
"We need to keep moving and be extra cautious." Shepard darkly said, nodding her head towards the door of the club.
The moment Shepard and her squad entered Chora's den, the smell of cheap alcohol and body odor engulfed their nostrils. The sickening smell was only an indication of the types of patrons the den served. The club itself was a large circular room with a dome shaped bar positioned in the centre. The lighting itself was dim at best, making it hard to see clearly beyond a few feet. Multiple tables and seats were placed around the edge of the room with a perfect view of one of many platforms that held a mixture of exotic asari and human dance girls. This was without a doubt one of the shadiest clubs on the Citadel, attracting some of the worst low lives. How the bar continued functioning was a mystery.
Shepard scanned the room, searching for someone in particular. The moment her eyes laid on a hunched figure sitting at the bar wearing a C-SEC uniform, she knew they had found their man. Anderson had been right; Harkin was a loser and made a suitable patron for the place. He was a balding middle-aged man with an unhealthy grey complexion, whose years of regular alcohol consumption had caught up to him in the form of a beer-gut. When Shepard approached him he made an unimpressive attempt to hit on her, this made Kaidan step in and threaten the C-SEC officer.
[Can use some dialogue here]
It had taken Harkin a while to give Garrus' whereabouts as he tried to distract Shepard by telling her that Anderson used to be a spectre and how it was related to Saren. Shepard had almost been tempted to let him tell his story but her professional side ensured she stayed on track, demanding Harkin answer her question. He finally complied and told Shepard that Garrus had been to visit a Doctor Michel in her med clinic on the other side of the wards. Shepard and her squad had quickly turned tail leaving the club, hoping they wouldn't have to return any time soon.
"Why didn't Captain Anderson tell us he used to be a Spectre?" Derek asked his squad mates.
"Maybe it's not true, Harkin's an ass bet he's just messing with our heads." Kaidan said, still angry with Harkin for running his mouth at Shepard.
It took the group a couple of minutes to reach the med-clinic, as they climbed several stairs to reach a higher lever of the wards, where it was located. They turned the corner and saw the door to the med-clinic at the other end of the walkway.
"Hold up." Shepard said. "Shaw and Alenko wait here, Williams and I are going in. you two keep your eyes peeled for anything unusual. We don't want anybody ambushing us when we leave.
Kaidan and Derek nodded in unison and stood on guard. Ashley followed Shepard towards the clinic. As they approached they slowed down, they could here raised voices on the other side of the door. Shepard drew her pistol and nodded at Ashley, indicating that she should do the same.
"I didn't tell anyone I swear!" A red headed woman with a French accent cried out to a group of armed men who were surrounding her.
There was a short partition running down the centre of the clinic, the doctor and group of men were on the far side of it. Garrus, who had apparently been unnoticed, was crouched on the other side, with a pistol drawn.
"That was smart Doc, now if Garrus comes around you stay smart." The man closest to her replied, who was more than likely the leader of the group. "Now keep your mouth shut or we'll…"
He was interrupted when the door to the clinic whooshed open and Shepard and Ashley stepped through with their own pistols drawn. The leader then grabbed the doctor and held her as a human shield.
"Who are you!" he yelled.
"Let her go." Shepard said harshly.
Shepard had seen Garrus the second she entered through the doorway, it had been a complete surprise to both her and Ashley but they didn't make his presence aware to the mercenaries; this allowed him to spin around from cover and land a precise, killing headshot on the leader, catching the remaining four mercenaries completely off guard. This gave both Shepard and Ashley the chance to pick off one mercenary each. The remaining two had retreated to the back of the clinic and had taken cover behind some boxes. Garrus was in the perfect position, as he saw a bunch of oxygen canisters lined up along the back wall, between the two of them. He fired another single shot, at one of the canisters creating an explosion which threw the mercenaries against a wall with such force, they died instantly.
Once the gunfire had died down Garrus, Shepard and Ashley holstered their weapons
"Perfect timing Shepard, gave me a clear shot at that bastard." Garrus said with a hint of satisfaction in his voice.
"No problem. I'm just glad you were here to help." Shepard replied.
"Doctor Michel, are you hurt?" Garrus asked.
"No I'm ok, thanks to you, all of you." She replied, a little worn out from the commotion.
"I know those men threatened you." Shepard began. "But if you tell us who they work for we can protect you." She reassured the Doctor in a calm voice.
"They work for Fist. They wanted to shut me up, keep me from telling Garrus about the Quarian." She replied her voice was trembling slightly.
"Quarian, what Quarian?"
The doctor took a deep breath. "A few days ago a Quarian stopped by here. She had been shot and wouldn't tell me who did it. I could tell she was scared, probably on the run. She asked me about the shadow broker. She wanted to exchange information for a safe place to hide."
"Where is she now?"
"I put her in contact with fist. He is an agent for the Shadow Broker."
"Not any more. He's working for Saren now and the Shadow Broker isn't too happy about it." Garrus interjected.
"Fist betrayed the Shadow broker? That's stupid, even for him." The Doctor said in astonishment.
"The Quarian must have something Saren wants. Something worth crossing the Shadow Broker to get." Garrus said with dead certainty.
"Do we know anything about this information?" Shepard asked the doctor.
"I'm not sure." The doctor began rubbing her forehead to think. "She didn't… Wait a minute! Geth. Her information had something to do with the geth!"
"She must be able to link Saren to the geth. If we get that information there is no way the council can ignore it!" Garrus said, now even more motivated.
"Time we paid Fist a visit." Shepard said slyly looking over at Ashley.
"This is your show Shepard but I want to bring Saren down as much as you do. I'm coming with you." Garrus stated, leaving no room for an argument.
"But you're a Turian." Ashley said suspiciously. Despite being a C-SEC officer Ashley questioned whether Garrus could handle the conflict of interests. Saren was a turian after all and any stain on his part, especially as big as the one Shepard was trying to prove would disgrace both the Hierarchy and the Council.
"I couldn't find the proof I needed in my investigation but I know what was really going on. Saren's a traitor to the council, and a disgrace to my people!" He growled, frustrated that he was being made to appeal.
This made Shepard smirk. She saw genuine disgust in the turian and a strong drive to see justice done. "You've made your case. Welcome aboard, Garrus."
Garrus twitched his mandibles into a Turian equivalent of a smile.
Ashley glared at the Turian, although neither he nor Shepard noticed. It was probably for the best as squad cohesion was necessary at this point. They couldn't afford to make a mistake this late into the game now.
"We aren't the only ones going after Fist. The Shadow Broker hired a krogan bounty hunter named Wrex to take him out."
Shepard had recalled seeing two krogans having a dispute outside the door to the back office in Chora's Den. Krogans were renowned for their superior size and brute strength compared to most other species but the one whom Shepard assumed was Wrex was abnormally large compared to the general population of Krogan.
"I think I know who you're talking about. A krogan might come in handy." She said.
"Last I heard he was at C-Sec Academy." Garrus responded
"What's he doing there?" Ashley asked.
"Fist accused him of making threats. We brought him in for a little talk"
"Then that's our next stop." Shepard concluded.
Garrus bid farewell to Doctor Michel and led Shepard and Ashley out of the clinic towards the Academy. They picked up Kaidan and Derek on their way, who were oblivious to the firefight that had been waged in the clinic.
"Are you alright Shepard? What happened in their? You were gone a lot longer than I thought you'd be." Kaidan was highly concerned about Shepard's well-being and it showed.
Shepard then explained everything that had happened while she was in the clinic.
"Damn it! I had a feeling you ran into trouble. I should have been there to help." Kaidan criticized himself.
"Kaidan, listen. You did nothing wrong." She said sternly. "I'm pleased that you followed your orders and stayed where I left you. If there had been more assassins lurking around the corner and you weren't there then we would have been in danger. Stop beating yourself up the whole time, that's an order." She said in a lighter tone.
"Right, sorry Ma'am, won't happen again." He said, his mind beginning to process her words.
The group finally arrived at the C-Sec Academy, in time to see the krogan known as Wrex having yet another dispute this time with a, much smaller in comparison, human C-Sec officer.
"Witnesses saw you making threats in Fist's bar. Stay away from him." The officer said.
Wrex stood like a statue with his arms crossed looking down, unimpressed by the man. "I don't take orders from you." The krogan faintly growled, his deep booming voice adding force behind his words. It appeared as if nothing was capable of stopping this krogan. He gave off an aura of power and strength, and the many scars that decorated his face only enlarged the power of his presence.
To his credit the officer stood his ground, standing his ground against the larger figure. "This is your only warning Wrex."
The Krogan leaned forward slightly. "You should warn Fist. I will kill him."
The man took a small step back. "Do you want me to arrest you?" That would have been comical to see, considering the krogan looked like he could take on the entire station's security.
"I want you to try." Wrex smugly chuckled at the thought. He then looked up, his blood red eyes caught Shepard and her followers staring at him. He shoved the C-Sec officer aside and stomped over to where she was stood.
"Go on get out of here!" The officer yelled after him. He was ignored.
"Yes human?" Wrex said to Shepard.
"My name's Shepard. I'm going after Fist. I've been told we share a common interest." She turned to look at Garrus.
The krogan took a drawn out sigh. "Ahh Shepard, Commander Shepard. I've heard a lot about you." He said. "We're both warriors Shepard so I'll give you fair warning. I'm going to kill Fist."
"Fist knows you're coming. We'll all have a better chance if we work together." Garrus said to Wrex.
Wrex turned back to look at Shepard. "My people have a saying. Seek the enemy of your enemy and you'll find a friend."
"We humans have a similar saying." Shepard smirked and extended her hand, welcoming him on board.
Wrex shook it. "Let's go. I'd hate to keep Fist waiting." He said in a menacing tone.
At that moment Derek was distracted by Ashley who gave a sharp sigh and a roll of her eyes.
He gave her a quizzical look. She realized that he had seen her reaction and simply looked away from him back at Shepard who was talking.
"Alright people" Shepard turned to face her increasingly large group. "We all know how small Chora's Den is and because of that its best of I lead a small team to avoid friendly fire. Kaidan and Ashley I want you two to head back to the Normandy."
"Wha- Ma'am may I…" Ashley began to object.
"That's an order Williams." Shepard stated, her commander's voice becoming clear that she was not to be challenged.
"Come on Chief." Kaidan said.
Derek gave Ashley a light pat on the shoulder as she and Kaidan walked past him over to the elevator which led to the docking bay. He found it easy to understand her frustration at that moment; she wanted to see some action not stay cooped up on board the ship. The all too familiar feeling of rejection still lingered with him. He felt bad for her but at the same time he couldn't have cared less. The soldier in him was demanding to be let back out and it wasn't going to let anyone get in its way.
Apologies for taking so long to publish this latest chapter, life have made me very busy lately. I will be able to produce a following chapter much sooner.