As Kaidan followed Allegra through the wards, he found it difficult to keep his gaze focused on where he was headed, rather than on his commander's rear end. How hadn't he yet noticed how perfectly her armor molded to her shapely backside? And why was he noticing now?
He felt disgusted with himself. He knew better than this. Not only was it highly unlikely that Allegra would ever return feelings for him, but it was impossible for them to be together even if she did, for some reason, somehow, like him. She was his commanding officer. He could be kicked out of the Alliance for fraternizing with her.
But what a way to go, an evil little voice inside him commented as his eyes drifted down to rest once more on her butt. He had never realized he was an ass man.
Kaidan violently shook his head to rid himself of these vile, dangerous thoughts. He better pull himself together; they were arriving at Chora's Den.
Allegra led the way in, pausing just inside the entrance and scanning the room. Kaidan glanced around as well, noticing a very scantily clad asari grinding provocatively on a table a few feet away. "This place sure has some . . . sights," he blurted.
Allegra looked over at him, catching him eyeing the asari dancer. "I didn't realize you went for this sort of thing, Lieutenant," she said nonchalantly.
Oh, great, she was back to referring to him by his rank. He had much preferred her calling him Kaidan, even though it was highly inappropriate. And now she thought he liked women who weren't afraid to bare all, women who left little to the imagination with the clothes they wore. Or didn't wear, as the case may be.
Kaidan wished he could tell Allegra that he liked having to use his imagination. That the sight of her in that armor turned him on way more than any asari stripper ever could.
But that would definitely result in him being jobless and stranded on the Citadel, probably with some nice scars courtesy of Allegra.
Kaidan realized he was still staring at Allegra, his mouth open in silent shock at her comment. He snapped his mouth closed and focused his mind on the mission at hand. "You think that's Harkin over there?" he asked, pointing across the room at a man dressed in a military style casual uniform with a row of empty glasses on the table before him.
"Good eye, Lieutenant. At least you can focus on something other than all the bare skin around here."
Ouch.
Allegra moved quickly towards Harkin and planted herself in front of him, her arms crossed over her chest. She glared down at him menacingly and Kaidan moved to stand next to her.
Harkin looked up at Allegra, first in annoyance, and then after getting a good look at her, he smiled in a sickeningly perverted way. "Hey there, sweetheart," he greeted. "You looking for some fun? 'Cause I gotta say that soldier getup looks real good on that bod of yours."
Kaidan immediately bristled in anger. He could feel his biotic energy amping up.
"Why don't you sit that sweet little ass down beside old Harkin," he continued. "I'll buy you a drink and we'll see where this goes."
Luckily, Allegra wasn't buying his act. "I'd rather drink a cup of acid after chewing on a razor blade," she said calmly.
Kaidan had to turn his bark of laughter into a cough.
Harkin's gaze narrowed. "You'll have to do better than that to hurt my feelings. I worked for C-Sec for twenty years; I've been called every name in the book, princess."
"Call me princess one more time and you'll be picking your teeth up off the floor," Allegra replied sweetly, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Now, tell me where I can find Garrus Vakarian."
"Okay, okay," Harkin finally relented. "You must be one of Anderson's crew if you're looking for Garrus. That poor bastard's still trying to bring Saren down, eh? I know where Garrus is, but tell me . . . did the captain tell you his big secret?"
Allegra rolled her eyes. "Why don't you just tell me where Garrus is before I have to get violently persuasive."
Harkin chuckled. "The captain used to be a Spectre. Didn't know that, did you? He was the first human ever to be a Spectre and they kept it all very quiet. Good thing too, because he blew it. He screwed up his mission so bad they had no choice but to kick him out. Of course, he blames everything on Saren. He's convinced the turian set him up."
"And you think I'm just going to believe anything you tell me?" Allegra asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Go ask Anderson. I bet he tells you everything. He's too stupid and proud to lie to your face."
"So if they covered everything up, how did you hear about it?" Allegra continued.
"People on this station love to talk. Secrets are like herpes. If you got 'em you might as well spread 'em around," Harkin laughed.
Kaidan and Allegra both groaned in revulsion. "You're a pig," Allegra commented.
"Just noticed that now, did you?"
Allegra breathed out heavily, then drew her weapon on Harkin. "Tell me where Garrus is. Now."
Harkin immediately put his hands in the air. "Okay!" he cried. "Calm down. He went to talk to Dr. Michel over in the med clinic across the wards."
"There, now, that wasn't so hard," Allegra replied, lowering her gun. "Let's get out of here," she said to Kaidan.
"Good, let me drink in peace," Harkin muttered, raising a glass to his lips with shaky hands.
Kaidan followed Allegra out of Chora's Den, glad to be rid of the noise and the lights. They were starting to set off his migraines. "Can I ask you something, Commander?" Kaidan questioned, placing a hand on Allegra's arm to stop her.
She froze and spun to face him. "Anything," she whispered throatily.
Kaidan forced the sudden lump in his throat down. Wow, when her voice got all husky like that . . . Focus, Kaidan! he berated himself. "Uh, why did you want to go talk to Harkin?" he stammered. "Instead of Barla Von."
Allegra stared at him for a second, then chuckled. "Kaidan, can you imagine me trying to ask an information broker for a favor?"
There she was using his first name again. Threatening Harkin must have put her in a better mood.
"I do well with threats and intimidation," Allegra continued. "Information brokers work strictly with money. Threats don't work on them. We wouldn't have gotten anywhere. Harkin, on the other hand, cracked like an egg under a hammer."
Kaidan grinned at her simile. "I see your point," he laughed.
"Come on, let's go get Garrus."
While Allegra and Kaidan were having fun tormenting Harkin, Cade and Ashley had arrived at Barla Von's office in the financial district.
"What's this? One of the Earth-clan?" Barla Von greeted Cade. "A famous one too. You're the one they call Shepard. It's a great honor to welcome the Hero of the Blitz. My name is Barla Von. I am a financial advisor to many important clients here on the Citadel."
"I heard that you work for the Shadow Broker," Cade said, deciding to get right to the point. "Do you have any information on Saren?"
"You're very blunt, Shepard," Barla Von replied. "However, you are correct. I am indeed an agent for the Shadow Broker. And I do know something about Saren."
Cade straightened up in surprise. Could luck finally be on their side? As soon as his hopes were lifted, however, they were quickly dashed back down. "I hear your information can be expensive," he replied warily. He didn't have a lot of money . . .
"Normally, yes," Barla Von agreed. "But I am willing to give you this information free of charge. These are exceptional circumstances after all."
"What's the catch?" Ashley asked from behind Cade. He had been wondering the same thing.
"No catch," the volus assured. "The Shadow Broker is quite displeased with Saren at the moment. They used to do a lot of business, until Saren turned on him."
"Saren has turned on a lot of people lately," Cade commented dryly.
"Saren is not stupid," Barla Von continued. "The Shadow Broker is a very powerful ally. It doesn't make sense for Saren to turn on him. Not unless something huge was at stake. I don't know the details, but the Shadow Broker hired a freelance krogan mercenary to deal with the situation."
"How do I find this krogan?" Cade questioned.
"I heard he was paying a visit to Citadel Security. If you hurry, you can probably catch him at the Academy."
"Thanks for the info," Cade said gratefully.
"My pleasure, Commander," Barla Von replied.
"That was easy," Ashley commented as they walked back out onto the Presidium floor.
"I know, it makes me a little wary," Cade said. "I suppose we should head to C-Sec Academy and see if we can't find this krogan."
"Right behind you, Commander."
Cade and Ashley walked to the other side of the Presidium and grabbed the elevator down to the wards. As they stepped off the elevator, they ran straight into Allegra and Kaidan.
"We were just coming to find you," Allegra greeted.
"How did talking to Harkin go?" Cade asked, surreptitiously checking her over for any evidence of fighting.
"It took a little friendly persuasion but he told me where to look for Garrus," Allegra replied, smiling widely. "And stop fussing, I didn't have to fight anybody."
"Friendly persuasion?" Cade echoed. "You threatened him, didn't you?"
"It's what I do best. Besides, he was a creepy pervert. He deserved it."
"I'm siding with her on this one, Commander," Kaidan announced when Cade glanced over to him.
Cade sighed. "And where is Garrus?" he asked.
"Supposedly talking to the doctor in the med clinic," Allegra replied. "How was your meeting with Barla Von?"
"Good. He told me that Saren turned his back on the Shadow Broker and now the Shadow Broker has sent a krogan mercenary to deal with it."
"And how much money did this information cost us?" Allegra asked suspiciously.
"Nothing. He gave it freely."
"Really?" Kaidan asked in astonishment. "That's surprising."
"I know, right?" Ashley agreed.
"So what now?" Allegra asked. "Do we find this krogan? Do we have any idea where he even is?"
"Barla Von said he should be at C-Sec Academy," Ashley announced.
"We should go get him," Allegra said. "Maybe he'll join our side."
"We need to get Garrus first," Cade replied. "He might have information that could help us show the Council the truth about Saren."
"Well, why don't you go get Garrus and I'll go find this krogan?" Allegra suggested.
"No," Cade replied forcefully. "I don't want you going to meet a krogan mercenary by yourself."
"I won't go by myself," Allegra said with an eye roll. "Alenko will be there."
"A krogan is much different than a drunk ex-C-Sec agent," Cade argued. "I want to be there with you in case anything happens."
"You mean, in case I piss the krogan off and he tries to kill me?"
"I worry about you, Allegra," Cade said with sincerity. "You're my sister. I know you can get yourself out of trouble, but it's the fact that you get yourself into those situations that has me worried. Just stay here. I'll go get Garrus and be right back."
"Seriously?" Allegra said, anger flaring in her eyes. "You're leaving me here because you don't trust me?"
Pretty much, Cade thought. He didn't like making Allegra mad at him, but what choice did he have? He didn't want her to start an incident with a krogan. She might not be able to get herself out of a jam like that.
It was times like these that Cade wondered if Allegra had been born first if she would be as protective of him as he was of her. Sure, he was only ten minutes older than her, but that still made her his younger sister. He was the big brother; he had a duty to look out for her. Besides, their parents would murder him if he let anything happen to her.
"Please, Allegra, just stay here," Cade pleaded.
"Fine," Allegra relented unhappily. She stalked off to a balcony that overlooked a view of the ward arms.
Cade turned to Ashley and Kaidan. "Will you two keep an eye on her for me?"
"Sure thing, Commander," Ashley said, saluting. Kaidan also saluted, then they joined Allegra at the railing.
Cade hurried off down the hallway towards the med clinic. The sooner he got there, the sooner he could get back and stop worrying that Allegra would take off to hunt down the krogan by herself.
As Cade approached the door to the med clinic, he heard raised voices arguing inside. He cautiously opened the door and peered inside. The first thing he noticed was Garrus bent down on Cade's side of a low wall, sneaking around the corner. The second thing Cade noticed were a few thugs yelling at the doctor, who had her back to Cade.
"I didn't tell anyone, I swear!" the doctor cried in panic.
"That was smart, doc," the apparent leader of the group of thugs said. "Now if Garrus comes around, you stay smart. Keep your mouth shut or we'll-" He cut himself off as he noticed Cade standing in the doorway. The thug quickly pulled his gun and grabbed the doctor, hauling her to him as a hostage.
Cade swiftly grabbed his assault rifle, aiming it at the thug.
"Who are you?" the thug bellowed.
"Let her go," Cade demanded.
Garrus took the opportunity to jump out from behind the wall and take a shot at the thug's head, hitting his mark. The doctor quickly plastered herself to the floor as the other thugs began shooting at Garrus and Cade. After a relatively quick fight, Cade and Garrus, victorious, helped Dr. Michel up.
"Perfect timing, Shepard," Garrus told Cade. "Gave me a clear shot at that bastard."
"What were you thinking?" Cade cried. "You could have hit the doctor!"
"I – I didn't mean to . . . there wasn't any time, I just reacted!" Garrus stammered in reply. "Dr. Michel, are you hurt?"
"No, I'm okay," Dr. Michel assured. "Thanks to you. Both of you."
"Why were those men threatening you?" Cade asked.
"They are Fist's men. They wanted to shut me up, to keep me from telling Garrus about the quarian."
"The quarian?" Cade asked in confusion.
"A few days ago, a quarian came by the clinic," Dr. Michel explained. "She'd been shot, but I don't know by whom. She was scared, on the run. She asked about the Shadow Broker. She told me she wanted to trade information for a safe place to stay. I put her in contact with Fist, the owner of Chora's Den. He's an agent for the Shadow Broker."
"Not anymore," Garrus interrupted. "He's working for Saren now and the Shadow Broker is not very happy about it."
"Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker?" Dr. Michel asked in astonishment. "That's a stupid move. Saren must have offered him something huge."
"The quarian must have something Saren wants. Something worth crossing the Shadow Broker to get," Garrus pondered aloud.
"It must be something that proves Saren is a traitor," Cade realized. He turned to Dr. Michel. "Did this quarian say anything about Saren or the geth?"
"Yes!" Dr. Michel replied. "The information she had had something to do with the geth."
"She must be able to link Saren to the geth. The Council couldn't ignore this!" Garrus said excitedly.
"We need to find her," Cade agreed. He quickly radioed Allegra.
Allegra still couldn't believe Cade had banished her to the corner like a child in time-out. Why couldn't she go find the krogan? She could take care of herself, but Cade seemed to like to pretend that she couldn't.
Ashley and Kaidan approached Allegra, standing next to her at the railing. The three of them looked out at the view.
"Big place," Kaidan commented in awe.
"That your professional opinion, sir?" Ashley joked.
"This isn't a station, it's a city," Allegra said, realizing just how big the Citadel was.
"There must be millions here. It can't be possible to track everyone coming and going," Kaidan mused.
"This makes Jump Zero look like a porta john. And it's the largest deep space station the Alliance has," Ashley added.
"Jump Zero was big," Kaidan agreed. "But this is a whole 'nother scale. Look at the ward arms. How do they keep all that mass from flying apart?"
"The Council represents more species than I thought. No wonder they're careful with newcomers," Allegra said slowly.
"They probably just want to keep everything running," Kaidan replied. "It has to be hard keeping all these cultures working together."
"Or maybe they just don't like humans," Ashley added wryly.
"Why not?" Allegra asked. "We've got oceans, beautiful women, this emotion called love. According to the old vids, we have everything they want."
"When you put it that way, there's no reason they wouldn't like you," Kaidan blurted.
Ashley and Allegra stared at him. Ashley in amusement and Allegra in flattered surprise.
"I mean, us. Humans. Ma'am," Kaidan hurried to add, flushing with embarrassment.
"You don't take much shore leave, do you, LT?" Ashley laughed.
"All right, laugh it up, Chief," Allegra smiled, feeling her mood lighten, thanks, once again, to Kaidan. "I appreciate the thought, Alenko, but we're on duty here."
"Uh, aye, aye, ma'am."
Allegra slapped her hands against the railing in determination. "All right, let's go."
"Go where?" Ashley asked.
"To find this krogan," Allegra replied, already starting to walk towards C-Sec Academy.
"But the Commander said to stay right here," Kaidan protested.
"Cade isn't your only commanding officer," Allegra pointed out. "And he would be so pissed if you let me go find this krogan by my lonesome. He'd want you to come with me. To protect me."
Kaidan and Ashley looked at each other doubtfully.
"You're not stopping me," Allegra pointed out. "You might as well join." She continued walking away, pleased to note that Kaidan and Ashley decided to follow her.
It didn't take them long to get to the Academy, and once there, it was easy to find the krogan. He was the only krogan in the area. He was standing in a corner talking to a few C-Sec officers. Allegra approached slowly, stopping a few feet away from them.
"Witnesses saw you making threats in Fist's bar," one of the officers was telling the krogan. "Stay away from him."
"I don't take orders from you," the krogan replied threateningly.
"This is your only warning, Wrex."
"You should be warning Fist. Warning him that I'll kill him."
"Do you want me to arrest you?" the officer asked.
"I want you to try," Wrex said lowly. He spotted Allegra watching him from over the officer's shoulder. He pushed past the officers and approached Allegra, Kaidan, and Ashley. The C-Sec officers shrugged their shoulders and dispersed. "Do I know you, human?" Wrex asked Allegra.
"I heard you were hired by the Shadow Broker to deal with a certain situation," Allegra replied.
"You heard right," Wrex said. "I was hired to take out a guy named Fist. He owns Chora's Den."
"Why Fist?"
"He betrayed the Shadow Broker. I don't know the details. I just know I was paid to kill him."
Allegra's comm crackled with Cade's voice. "Allegra, I found Garrus. We need to go to Chora's Den and have a little chat with the owner, a guy named Fist. Apparently, he is trying to hand over a quarian to Saren. She has information we need."
"What sort of information?" Allegra asked.
"The kind that links Saren to the geth."
Allegra looked up sharply at Wrex.
"Garrus and I will meet you where I left you soon," Cade signed off.
"Well, it looks like I need to find Fist myself," Allegra told Wrex. "He has something I need."
Wrex looked her over. "My people have a saying," he finally said. "Seek the enemy of your enemy, and you'll find a friend."
Allegra smiled. "I think we're going to get along just fine, Wrex."
"Uh, Commander," Ashley started, "shouldn't we be meeting your brother back where he left us?"
"Williams, this quarian could be in trouble. We need to find her. We need that evidence. We don't have any time to waste," Allegra replied.
"I guess you're right," Ashley relented.
The four of them hightailed it over to Chora's Den. The first thing Allegra noticed was how quiet the place suddenly was.
"He closed it," Wrex said. "He was expecting me."
With an uneasy feeling, Allegra pulled out her assault rifle, the other three following her lead. She slowly walked up to the entrance and was immediately greeted by Fist's thugs spread out around the bar. Allegra, Kaidan, Wrex, and Ashley all ducked for cover. Allegra quickly took out the guy perched on the raised stage, while Wrex took out a couple of guys by the bar. Kaidan released a biotic lift at a nearby target and Ashley pummeled the thug with her shotgun. They soon had taken out all the thugs in the area, and Wrex quickly led them towards the back rooms.
The door opened to reveal two men pointing guns right the four of them. "Stay back or we'll shoot!" one of them cried.
"Warehouse workers," Kaidan noticed. "All the real guards must be dead."
"I just killed fifty bodyguards to get in here," Allegra replied casually. "What do you think I'll do to you?" she added, narrowing her eyes at the two men.
"Uh . . ." one of the men stammered.
"Ah, screw Fist," the other said. "He doesn't pay us enough for this."
The two men lowered their weapons and hurried towards the entrance of the bar. Allegra led her group further into the back rooms, at last arriving at Fist's office.
Fist dove behind cover as he saw them approach and activated the two turrets placed on either side of the room. Allegra quickly retreated back behind the wall, pulling Kaidan with her. Ashley and Wrex managed to duck behind the wall on the opposite side of the door from Allegra and Kaidan. They took turns shooting into the room, concentrating on the two turrets first. Allegra was pleased to note that Wrex had amazing aim, and didn't even flinch if he got hit by stray bullets.
Fist's defenses were no match for the three soldiers and Wrex and they soon had him cowering on his office floor in fear. "Don't kill me!" Fist pleaded weakly. "I surrender!"
"Tell me where the quarian is and I won't have to shoot you in the kneecaps," Allegra threatened.
"She's not here!" Fist hurried to say.
"He's lying," Ashley said.
"Put a round in his leg, see if that'll make him talk," Allegra ordered to no one in particular.
Kaidan, Ashley, and Wrex all raised their guns.
"Wait!" Fist blubbered. "I don't know where she is, but I know where you can find her!"
"Start talking," Allegra demanded.
"The quarian said she'd only deal with the Shadow Broker himself," Fist began. "Nobody meets the Shadow Broker. Ever. He only works through agents. Even I don't know who he really is. But the quarian didn't know that so I told her I'd set a meeting up for her. But when she shows up, it'll be Saren's men waiting for her."
Allegra stepped closer to Fist, bringing her gun up to his temple. "Tell me where that meeting is before I blow your lying head off!" she growled.
"Here on the wards!" Fist cried, trembling. "The back alley by the markets. She's supposed to meet them now!"
Allegra stepped away from him, looking him over quickly. "Wrex," she said softly in invitation.
Wrex happily raised his pistol and shot Fist in the head. "Thank you, Shepard," he replied.
"That quarian's dead if we don't go now!" Kaidan reminded them.
The four of them quickly made their way out of Chora's Den, fighting off more of Fist's men as they went. Allegra jumped as Cade radioed her through their comms.
"Where the fuck are you, Allegra?" he bellowed, thoroughly pissed off. "I told you to wait right here!"
"Uh, I'm kind of in the middle of something here!" Allegra called back. "I'll call you back when I'm done!"
"Allegra!" Cade swore, but Allegra quickly shut off her comm.
She ignored the looks from her teammates as they hurried to the back alley behind the markets, arriving just in time to see a quarian being surrounded by a turian and a few salarians.
"Did you bring it?" the turian asked the quarian.
"Where's the Shadow Broker? Where's Fist?" the quarian asked suspiciously.
"They'll be here. Where's the evidence?" the turian continued to ask, reaching up to stroke his hand along the side of the quarian's helmet.
The quarian slapped his hand away. "The deal's off," she said.
The turian backed away from her as the salarians drew their guns. The quarian quickly dived out of the way, pulling out her own weapon. Allegra, Wrex, Kaidan, and Ashley jumped in to help her, dispatching Saren's men easily.
The quarian approached them, trembling with anger. "Fist set me up!" she yelled. "I knew I couldn't trust him!"
"Are you okay?" Allegra asked her.
"I know how to look after myself," the quarian replied. "Not that I don't appreciate the help," she added quickly.
"What's your name?" Allegra asked.
"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Who are you?"
"My name is Allegra Shepard. I'm looking for evidence to prove Saren is a traitor."
"Then I have a chance to repay you for saving my life. But we need to go somewhere safe."
"We could take her to the ambassador's office," Kaidan suggested.
Allegra nodded, then, grimacing, switched on her comm and radioed Cade.
"Are you going to tell me what is going on?" Cade immediately yelled.
"I got Wrex, that krogan the Shadow Broker hired. He helped me save the quarian. We're bringing her to the ambassador right now," Allegra explained.
"Why didn't you wait for me?" Cade demanded.
"There wasn't any time!" Allegra replied angrily. "If we had waited for you to show up, Tali might not be alive to share her evidence with us! I did what I had to do!"
"Dammit, Allegra! I wanted you with me because I thought you could follow orders!"
"I can follow orders! But I know when something requires me to change plans. I'm sorry, Cade, but the important thing is that Tali is safe and she's willing to help us."
"I'll meet you in the ambassador's office," Cade said before cutting the connection.
"He sounds happy," Ashley said sarcastically.
"He'll be fine," Allegra replied. "Let's go."