Chapter Fourteen
Betrayal
We can't afford to be innocent
stand up and face the enemy.
It's a do or die situation - we will be invincible.
Pat Benetar: "Invincible"
Less than four hours after receiving the message from Counselor Bracken, the Normandy slid like a blue and white ghost into docking port forty-seven at the Citadel's Presidium docking ring. Captain Beckett and Master Chief Castle took a private shuttle to the Citadel Tower and stepped up to the audience dais next to Bracken in front of the Citadel Council.
"Good work, Captain Beckett," Bracken pointed out while they waited for Council Tevos to bring the session to order. "Thanks to you, the Council is finally taking real action against Saren."
"The Ambassador is correct," Asari Councilor Tevos added, "If Saren is foolish enough to attack the Citadel – as you believe – we will be ready for him."
"Reinforcements have arrived from Palaven to bolster the Citadel Fleet," Turian Ambassador Sparatus stated, "and patrols have been stationed at every mass relay linking Citadel Space to the Terminus Systems."
"How many ships have you allocated to secure Ilos?" Kate asked, hoping they hadn't forgotten the rest of her report about Saren's apparent destination.
"Ilos is only accessible via the Mu Relay, deep inside the Terminus Systems, Captain," Salarian Councilor Valern stated. "If we send a fleet there, the only possible outcome is full scale war."
"Now is the time for discretion, Captain," Bracken stage whispered to Kate. "Saren's greatest weapon was secrecy. Exposed, he is no longer a threat. This is over."
"Secrecy isn't his greatest weapon, the Conduit is!" Kate exclaimed.
"Saren is a master manipulator," Valern stated. "It was why he was selected as a Spectre. This 'Conduit' is just a feint. A distraction from his real plan to attack the Citadel."
Kate knew that - like most salarians - Valern's mind likely saw wheels within wheels within wheels, but this time, that mindset had drawn him to the wrong conclusion. It was clear to Kate that he was still suffering from the misconception that Saren was the one pulling the strings when she had direct experience that it was the Reaper – Nazara - calling the shots. Valern - hell all three of them and by extension it appeared, Ambassador Bracken - could not... would not see that Saren was just as much a pawn in all of this as the geth and all of Saren's other indoctrinated servants. She hadn't either until she had spoken to Nazara itself, had her nose rubbed in it and learned the true nature of the threat. Directly from the architect of the plot that predated the birth of everyone now standing in the Council chambers.
"One ship going into the Terminus Systems won't start a war, nor will it adversely effect the Citadel's defense," Kate offered. "At least let me reconnoiter the place, I can be discreet."
"You detonated a nuclear weapon on Virmire!" Sparatus spat at her, "I would hardly call that discreet!"
"That was Captain Kirrahe's plan and you damn well know it!" Castle spat back at the turian councilor. "If that breeding facility hadn't been destroyed, we'd be neck deep in Saren's krogan by now! Ask Kirrahe yourself, Valern... ask him!"
Tevos turned and gave Sparatus an arched eyebrow then returned her gaze to them.
"Your style served you well in the Traverse, Captain," She stated diplomatically, though still managing to come of as condescending in her superiority. "We all recognize that, but Ilos requires a more deft touch to avoid an interstellar incident. Once we have dealt with Saren we will send an STG team to investigate Ilos. Until then, we have the situation under control."
"Doesn't anybody here get it? Kate argued loudly, glaring at first Tevos, then Bracken, " If Saren finds the Conduit, we're all screwed!" We have to go to Ilos!"
"Ambassador Bracken," Sparatus noted, schooling his features, "I get the sense that Captain Beckett is not willing to let this go."
It suddenly became clear to Kate that this entire meeting had been maneuvered to Bracken's advantage. Something had been going on behind the scenes while she and her crew had been chasing the real threat. The man who had championed her entry into the Spectres and her hunt for Saren had turned and fed her to the wolves. There was something more to Bracken's maneuvering here. Something neither she nor Castle could see.
"You son of a bitch!" Kate hissed. "You're selling us out!"
"There are serious political ramifications here, Beckett," Bracken scolded her as if she were an errant schoolgirl in the principal's office for a time-out. "Humanity's made great strides forward in the galactic community thanks to you, but now it's time for you to step aside. I've had Citadel control lock out all of Normandy's primary systems. Until further notice, you're grounded. It's nothing personal."
Only it was personal.
Castle saw it in Bracken's eyes, could sense it oozing from Bracken's pores in a way he had never seen before he'd been given the cipher. It was very personal. There was something about the way Bracken looked at Kate - a mixture of resignation and fear - as if he was looking right through her and staring at a ghost on the other side. There was something about Kate holding nearly limitless authority that Bracken was afraid of, something from the past he didn't want her to find out about.
It made him curious what sequence of events - what story - inexorably bound Bracken to Kate. Clearly it was not something she was aware of. Her anger's biological marker was very much on the surface, whereas something older and more poisonous had left its own biological marker on Bracken. Castle didn't understand how he could sense such things, he just could.
Bracken paused while Kate fumed, but not long enough for her to form a more coherent reply.
"I think it's time for you and your team to leave, Captain," Bracken ordered, "this no longer concerns you. You've done your job, now it's time to let me do mine. The Council and I will handle this."
"You may think you only stabbed me in the back, Ambassador," Kate hissed, loud enough for only Bracken to hear, "but you may have just doomed us all."
As C-Sec officers escorted the two of them out, Castle grumbled, "THAT, is why I hate politicians."
Kate Beckett sat in the mess hall of the Normandy exuding a dark cloud that kept nearly everyone away. She'd tried to make the damned espresso machine Castle had insisted upon requisitioning from the Saratoga function but she was too angry and wound up to get her hands to stop shaking.
She knew the real threat was out there, getting closer to Ilos by the minute, if he wasn't already there. The Galaxy was spiraling toward oblivion, Council wouldn't listen, couldn't spare her even a modicum of the trust they had once shown Saren – whose history as a Spectre was a lot more bloody and violent than hers had ever been, given non-redacted version of his file. Even her own ambassador had turned on her to enhance his own political standing even as galactic civilization was circling the drain.
She was sorely tempted to give up. To say "fuck it all"and let the whole goddamn galaxy burn if that's what that stuffed shirt Bracken and the Council wanted... when a cup of perfectly brewed coffee – skim latte with a hint of sugar free vanilla - appeared on the table in front of her with a heart drawn in the foam.
"You've done everything the Council asked you to do and more, Beckett," Castle offered softly, "While they sit on their asses, Saren's searching Ilos for the Conduit. As soon as he finds it, we're all dead."
"Say something reassuring," Kate whispered quietly. Her eyes pleading, even though her body language still exuded her role as Captain.
"We'll figure something out, Beckett, I promise," Castle offered. "You may not know this about me, but, if you want to sue them I have some really good lawyers."
Her lips quirked up into an almost smile
"You'll be there to back me up if this gets dangerous?" she asked.
"Always."
Castle offered her a hand up from her seat at the mess hall table, which she accepted, though thrown just a little off balance when she rose to her feet too fast and ends up perilously close to him, their faces drawing inexorably closer... her lips and his just centimeters from touching...
"Sorry to interrupt, Captain," Ryan's voice stated over the intercom. "I just got a message on my private account from Captain Montgomery."
Both Castle and Beckett break apart, mortified. The spell – and the moment – suddenly broken.
"Are you spying on me, Mr. Ryan?" Kate grumbled with more than a little irritation.
"No, Captain," Ryan replied innocently, "just knew you were aboard."
"What's the message?" Kate sighed, feeling every bit like she had as a teenager during her wild child days whenever her father had caught her breaking curfew with a boy.
"He wants you to meet with him at Flux, that gambling club down in the wards, near the market district. Said to be circumspect about it... cut through the Presidium financial district instead the direct route. Sounds really cloak and dagger to me."
"Let's go, Castle," Kate stated, "I guess it couldn't hurt to take in the sights..."
As instructed, Castle, Beckett, Wrex and Tali took the scenic route through the Presidium access corridor to the wards. To make sure anyone who might be tailing them got a good show of them taking in the sights, they had stopped to take in the massive statue of a krogan not far from where they wanted to go. The massive block of stone it stood on bore a haptic display which slowly scrolled thousands of names. The krogan casualties of a war fought around the time of Christ on Earth. Wrex had been staring up at the statue ever since it caught his eye, so they decided to pause a moment for him to get a closer look to enhance their cover story.
"Welcome to Presidium tourism terminal three," Avina, the Citadel's VI tour guide droned. "The statue you see before you was commissioned to honor the krogan soldiers who sacrificed their lives to protect Citadel Space during the Rachni Wars."
"Nearly twenty-two hundred years ago, explorers seeking to expand Citadel Space opened a mass relay leading to systems controlled by the rachni. A highly intelligent and aggressive insectoid race, the rachni unleased a war of conquest against the rest of the galaxy that lasted for nearly three centuries."
"The emergence of the krogan finally turned the tide of the war in favor of the Citadel Species. Krogan forces provided the numbers required to halt the rachni advance, drove them back and then pursued the retreating rachni fleets back to their home space. Able to survive the harsh environments of the rachni home-worlds, the krogan hunted the rachni to extinction."
"During the height of the Krogan Rebellions, nearly five centuries later, several embassies petitioned the Citadel Council to have the statue removed. This petition was eventually quashed by the Council."
"Why would the council want to keep this statue so badly?" Wrex rumbled.
"The krogan were instrumental in saving the galaxy from the rachni threat. The council believed this historical fact should not be forgotten. The council also hoped that preserving the memorial would improve diplomatic relations and bring about a peaceful resolution to the rebellions. Unfortunately, the krogan only surrendered after their population and home-worlds had been ravaged by the turian fleet."
"This statue is a reminder of what my people used to be... before the damn genophage, Wrex rumbled to Tali. "Proud warriors with an honorable heritage and traditions. Now we're seen only as brutes, mercenaries, thugs and killers-for-hire. The krogan have forgotten who they once were. My people – myself included - have lived down to those expectations ever since. Only a few shamans have dedicated themselves to keeping the old ways alive."
Wrex bowed his head then turned away from the statue, the first krogan to have laid eyes on it in nearly a thousand years. Nobody knew it, but a fire burned deep within him to change the fate of his people before the void took him.
"Let's go," Wrex rumbled after a moment of contemplation, "we've wasted enough time."
When they finally reached the wards, and walked up the stairs into Flux, they saw that Captain Montgomery was waiting for them at a table.
"Bracken sold us out, the bastard," Kate began, "the Normandy's been grounded."
"I heard," Montgomery replied. "I tried to warn you before you docked, but I was locked out of interstellar comms and couldn't get a message out. Deliberately, I'd wager. I know you're pissed off, Beckett. They all think this is over and are liable to break their arms patting themselves on the back, but we all know it isn't."
"We need to get to Ilos," Kate said angrily. "But there's only one ship that can get me through the Terminus Systems to the Mu Relay undetected – the Normandy – but she's been grounded."
"Citadel control has locked out all of Normandy's primary systems, but if we can override Bracken's orders, we can have her brought back on-line. You could be halfway to the Terminus before the Council even knows you're gone."
"If we steal the Normandy, Roy," Kate replied, "you'll be the one left holding the bag."
"If Saren finds the Conduit, life as we know it is over." Montgomery countered, "You're the only ones who can stop him, so I'll do whatever I have to do to get you off this station and back in the fight."
"We're talking about mutiny, Roy," Kate said after a moment of contemplation. "What if the crew won't back my play?"
"The Normandy is your ship now, Kate," You've shared this mission for nearly a year, suffered the same successes and losses. Your crew would follow you into hell and take the scenic route. We both know that."
Kate grudgingly nodded. Before Elysium, as a CID agent, she'd hunted down deserters and mutineers. It still pained her to become one, even though she knew the stakes made it necessary.
"What's the plan?" Castle asked, taking some of the pressure off of her.
"Ambassador Bracken issued the lock-down order," Montgomery began. "If I can access the computer in his office, I should be able to override it."
"Bracken won't let you just walk into his office and use his computer" Kate scoffed.
"Hopefully, for his sake, he won't be there," Montgomery added, "If he is, I'll just have to adapt and overcome."
"He won't let this slide, Captain," Kate cautioned. "He could charge you with treason for helping us. Be careful."
"Bracken made this personal when he threw you under the bus to male political points with the Council," Montgomery added darkly, "leave him to me."
"Okay, let's get this done," Kate replied, "Saren is in serious need of my boot in his ass."
I'll deal with the lock-down," Montgomery assured, "you get back to the Normandy, when you're ready send a coded message to me via omni-tool. That'll be my signal to step off."
After Kate and her merry band of misfits returned to the Normandy and she offloaded the Normandy's wounded from the Med-bay to the newly opened Huerta Memorial Hospital she sent the message 'Climb Mount Niitaka'.
Five minutes later, Montgomery abandoned the coffee shop across the corridor from Embassy Row and made a bee-line for Bracken's office. It had been a long time since he'd felt like an N-7 operator instead of an aging pencil pusher, but Beckett had a date with destiny and he was going to make sure she wasn't late for it.
When he walked in the door, Bracken looked up from his paperwork. He'd rather expected Captain Beckett to come and plead her case to go to Ilos, but not her mentor. He had no idea, that nobody was going to be pleading for anything.
"Captain Montgomery?" Bracken asked gruffly, "What are you doing? If you've come to... OOF!"
Bracken was cut off when Montgomery's fist snaked out without warning, catching him in the jaw and knocking him unconscious, lolling him backward into his ergonomic chair. After checking his handiwork to make sure he hadn't accidentally killed the man, Montgomery turned to Bracken's haptic terminal, paged over to the lock-down order grounding the Normandy and copy-pasted Bracken's electronic signature to a new order he'd uploaded from his omni-tool, rescinding it.
At that same moment in Normandy's CIC, Beckett waited impatiently, her eyes glued to the message in red typeface "primary systems locked out- Access denied"
Suddenly the lighting shifted and the warning disappeared, replaced momentarily by a new message in green "Access restored: Primary systems on-line."
The security clamps locking the Normandy to the deck of Docking Bay 47 retracted causing a reverberation through the hull and deck plates.
"CIC, Engineering," Adams reported over the intercom, "Tantalus drive core on-line, full power restored."
"Go, Ryan!" Kate ordered, "hit it!"
Ryan's hands danced over the haptic controls and the Normandy backed quickly out of the docking bay, swung hard about and made full burn for the relay network.
"Alliance Frigate SSV Normandy, you have not been cleared for departure. State your course and destination." Citadel Space Traffic Control stated gruffly.
"Citadel Business," XO Pressly stated into the comm, "We have a Council Spectre aboard on a Top Secret scouting mission."
"Return to the docking bay, SSV Normandy..."
Before the traffic control officer could speak further, Pressly cut the comms.
"Boring conversation anyway," he muttered before turning from the comm board, "Captain, we're gonna have company!"
"SSV Okinawa is powering up," Hastings reported from her station, "with orders to pursue."
"Send my compliments to Captain Anderson," Kate commanded. "All ahead flank. Power up the IES system and stand ready to go to silent running."
Normandy's powerful engines accelerated to flank speed, sending her surging forward out of SSV Okinawa's visual range and the aging Thermopylae Class frigate fell steadily behind. The turian Space Traffic Control officer could swear he heard singing just before Normandy's heat signature disappeared from the sensors..
Everyone in the CIC turned to Chief Castle, who had used his omni-tool to broadcast the Russian National Anthem over the Citadel Fleet's guard channel until the IES system cut the comms to reduce their EM signature.
"Tell me you weren't at least thinking it?" Castle quipped sheepishly at Kate's eye-roll. Although unorthodox, his harmless practical joke had successfully lightened the mood.
Kate had ordered the shift change to the low watch after they had secured their transit through the beacon and set course for the Terminus Systems. They would make best speed for the border, then make an FTL jump to the Mu Relay from there after purging the heat sinks. It would be a tense night, but she had ordered her crew to get as much rest as possible. Buoyed only by the fact that even a dreadnought as powerful as Nazara would have to be careful not to draw attention to itself in the Terminus.
Castle sat on his bunk in the quarters he had once shared with Kaiden Alenko, staring at the empty space the man had occupied wondering if their mission would ask as much from him as if had from the lieutenant and weather he would be able to stand fast in the face of death like Kaiden had.
He was surprised at the gentle rap on the door. When he opened it, Beckett was on the other side and his his spine straightened almost immediately.
"Captain," he suggested, trying not to sound insubordinate, "shouldn't you be following your own orders?"
"Do I really have the right to give orders anymore?" Kate asked softly, "I've gone AWOL, stolen the Normandy and turned my crew into a band of mutineers. How many of them will get killed because they trusted me enough to follow my lead?
"What do you want, Beckett?" he asked softly.
"You," Kate said, "I just want you."
Before Castle could form a coherent reply, Kate kissed him and everything else melted away. For one night all other things disappeared. Saren, Nazara, the geth, the Reapers were all set aside for the inevitable union of the two of them.
Whatever happened the following day, Richard and Katherine would have this one night.
Always.
** Author's Note** On December 2, 1941, the coded message, Niitakayama Nobore ("Climb Mount Niitaka"), was transmitted to Imperial Japanese Admiral Chūichi Nagumo's flagship. The Admiral then opened a set of top secret documents, which confirmed that Japan would soon be at war with the United States and in effect, served as the "go" order for the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th. The day which shall live in infamy.
Never forget.