Tali'Zorah nar Rayya followed Allegra, Kaidan, Ashley, and Wrex up to the Presidium. She hadn't been on the Citadel for very long, but she had received so many curious stares from passersby that she barely noticed anymore. Not many quarians visited the Citadel, and Tali would have stayed away, but this was the only place she had been able to think of to go to ask for the Shadow Broker's help. And that hadn't even turned out.
She really was glad that Allegra had been there to help her fight off Saren's men. Tali had never thought she would give her information to anyone other than the Shadow Broker, but she could tell that Allegra would use this for the right reason.
As they approached the human ambassador's office, Tali could feel a rising wave of agitation coming from Allegra. Tali figured it had something to do with the man Allegra had been arguing with over her comm.
"Are you okay?" Tali asked her.
"What?" Allegra asked, startled. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"You seem a little anxious."
"It's nothing."
Tali decided to let it go. They had arrived at the ambassador's office anyway. She followed the humans and Wrex into the huge office.
A younger man immediately approached Allegra, a deep frown on his face. Tali watched him hiss something to her, then Allegra replied, "Not now, Cade."
"Shepard, you're not making my life any easier," the man who must be Ambassador Udina complained to Allegra. "Firefights in the wards? An all-out assault on Chora's Den? Do you know how many-" He stopped as his gaze shifted to Tali. "What's this? A quarian? What are you up to, Shepard?"
"This quarian can help us bring down Saren," Allegra replied testily. "If you hadn't jumped down my throat I would have told you that!"
"I apologize, Commander," Udina said awkwardly. "This whole thing with Saren has me on edge. Maybe we should start at the beginning, Miss . . .?" Udina said glancing at Tali.
"My name is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya," Tali replied politely. "You may call me Tali."
She, along with Wrex, was briefly introduced to Captain Anderson and Cade Shepard. Tali idly wondered if Cade was related to Allegra.
"We don't see many quarians here," Udina commented.
"I'm on my Pilgrimage. My rite of passage into adulthood," Tali added at the curious looks on some of the human's faces. "During my travels, I heard reports of geth. The geth have never ventured beyond the Veil since they drove my people from our home world. I was curious. I tracked a geth patrol to an uncharted world and waited for one to become separated from the group. I disable it and removed its memory core."
"I thought the geth destroyed their memory core when they were disabled. Some sort of defense mechanism," Captain Anderson asked.
"How were you able to preserve the memory core?" Cade asked interestedly.
"My people created the geth, we know how they operate," Tali replied. "If you're quick and careful small caches of data can be saved. Most of the core of this particular geth was wiped clean, but I was able to salvage something from its audio banks." Tali accessed her omni tool and pulled up the file she was looking for.
Saren's voice rang out into the room. "Eden Prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."
"That's definitely Saren's voice," Anderson declared. "This proves he was involved in the Eden Prime attack!"
"Any idea what the Conduit is?" Cade asked.
"It must have something to do with the beacon," Anderson replied. "Maybe it's some kind of Prothean technology, like a weapon."
"There's more," Tali interrupted. "Saren wasn't working alone." She continued the audio file.
"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."
"I don't recognize the other voice," Udina said.
"What are the Reapers?" Allegra questioned.
"According to the geth's memory core, the Reapers were a hyper-advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago," Tali explained. "The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction and then they vanished."
"Sounds a little far-fetched," Udina said skeptically.
"The vision on Eden Prime," Cade said suddenly. "I think I understand it now. I saw the Protheans being wiped out by the Reapers."
"The geth revere the Reapers as gods," Tali said. "They believe Saren knows how to bring them back."
"The Council is going to love this," Udina said sarcastically.
"They need to hear Tali's evidence," Cade decided. "It proves Saren is a traitor."
"You're right," Udina agreed. "We need to present this to the Council right away."
"What about the quarian?" Wrex asked.
"My name is Tali!" Tali replied hotly. She didn't like being referred to as 'the quarian' constantly. She turned to Allegra and pleaded, "Please, let me come with you. You saw me in the alley, you know what I can do."
"It's not just my decision," Allegra said, glancing over at Cade.
"Oh, you actually want to listen to me for once?" Cade replied.
"Cade, we could use her help," Allegra said.
He sighed. "I wasn't going to say no to her help."
"Oh, thank you!" Tali cried gratefully.
"I'll go ahead and get things prepared for the Council. Meet me there when you are ready," Udina said, quickly leaving his office.
The others all began to talk to each other, discussing what might happen next. Tali walked over to the railing to look out over the Presidium. When she had started her pilgrimage, she had never imagined she'd end up as part of a team to stop a rogue Spectre from taking over the galaxy. Her father would be so proud of her.
"Tali?"
Tali turned to see Cade standing behind her. He smiled at her and Tali found herself smiling back, even though he wouldn't be able to see because of her helmet.
"I just wanted to introduce myself to you more thoroughly," he continued, stepping closer to her.
"Are you related to Allegra?" Tali asked curiously.
"She's my twin sister," he answered.
"And you are angry at her," Tali supplied.
Cade sighed. "She went off on her own to get you and I was very worried about her. I was afraid she was going to get herself killed."
"That's sweet that you worry," Tali said awkwardly. "I mean, because you want to keep her safe from harm."
"I wish she would see it that way. She thinks I baby her."
"There might be more to it than that," Tali replied. "But it wouldn't be my place to say. I feel I should tell you that she did an excellent job in coming to my aid. And she arrived just in time. If she had been any later, I would have had to fight Saren's men by myself and I doubt I would have gotten out of there completely unharmed. She is good at her job, Cade."
"She is an excellent soldier," Cade agreed. "She just needs to learn some boundaries."
Tali noticed Captain Anderson looking in their direction. "I think your captain would like to speak with you," she told Cade.
He looked back at Anderson and nodded. "I'm glad you're on our team, Tali," he said. "I look forward to getting to know you."
Cade had a brief talk with Anderson about the possibility of what might happen now that the Council would hear the evidence against Saren. They discussed Cade's chances for becoming a Spectre, something that seemed more and more likely. Finally, Anderson decided he would go ahead to the meeting and see if Udina needed any help.
When he left, Cade gathered everyone together. He introduced himself to Wrex, who seemed grouchy to him but quite taken with Allegra. Then Cade announced that only he and Allegra had been invited into the meeting with the Council and he wanted everyone else to wait in the Presidium outside of the tower. Nobody was much surprised by this, so they all headed out of the ambassador's office.
When they got to the main level of the Presidium, Cade slowed down so that Allegra caught up with him.
"I need to talk to you, Allegra," Cade said, dragging her away from the others.
"I was wondering when you were going to give me the full lecture about obeying your orders," Allegra replied, rolling her eyes.
"This is serious," Cade growled angrily. "When I couldn't find you, I was really worried. All the possible situations that you could have gotten yourself into flashed into my mind. And we were only on the Citadel! What if we had been somewhere much more dangerous?"
"If you were too afraid to let me do anything, then why did you bring me along?" Allegra demanded.
"You're a great soldier. When you listen to orders," he added. "And we hadn't seen each other in so long. I thought testing out the Normandy would be a great way for us to catch up. A safe way."
"But then all this shit happened," Allegra supplied.
"Exactly. But I don't want to insult you by transferring you back to your previous posting. And I might need you for these coming missions. But, Allegra, you have to listen to me. I know you and I are the same rank, but the Alliance posted me as the commanding officer. You only came aboard because I insisted they let you. You have to listen to orders I give you. If you don't, what's to stop everyone else from disobeying me?"
"I'll gladly listen to orders, if you give me something to do," Allegra replied hotly. "I'm not going to put up with you leaving me behind while you go have all the fun."
"I just want you safe!" Cade cried.
"Or is it that you want me out of the way so you can get all the glory?"
Cade's reply froze in his throat. "Is that what you think?" he asked.
"Come on, Cade. You're used to all the glory. You've always been better than me. It's a fact that you've greatly enjoyed. And now you're afraid to let me do anything because I might become the hero. I might outshine you and you wouldn't be the golden child anymore."
Cade was reeling. He had never thought about it like that before, but as much as he hated to admit it . . . Allegra might have a point. He had always enjoyed being the one people were proud of. When they were kids, hadn't Cade always snitched on Allegra whenever she did something wrong? Hadn't he always liked the satisfaction of their parents praising him and scolding her? He was the good twin, and she was the bad twin. That's how it always was.
But that wasn't how it always would be.
Maybe Cade was afraid of Allegra stealing some of his glory.
"Allegra," he said weakly. "I didn't realize . . ."
"I know you didn't," she sighed. "I'm just tired of always being second to you. Of always being compared to you and never measuring up."
"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I was jealous that you found the evidence against Saren. You did a good job, Allegra."
"Thanks, Cade." Allegra smiled tentatively at him.
Cade let loose a huge grin and slung an arm around her shoulders. "Let's go hear the Council apologize to us!"
They quickly caught up with the others outside of the council tower. After some good luck wishes, Cade and Allegra hopped into the elevator and ascended to the top of the tower. Just like their last meeting with the Council, they met Captain Anderson by the last set of stairs, and they immediately went into the meeting.
The Council listened to Tali's evidence silently. Their expressions remained blank; Cade held his breath tensely.
"You wanted proof, there it is," Udina said after the audio file had finished.
"This evidence is irrefutable, Ambassador," the turian councilor replied. "Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and efforts will be made to bring him in to answer for his crimes."
Cade let out a huge breath of air. He felt Allegra relax slightly beside him.
"I know the other voice speaking with Saren," the asari councilor said. Everyone looked at her in surprise. "Matriarch Benezia," she announced.
"She must be working with Saren and the geth too," Allegra said.
"Matriarch Benezia is a powerful biotic," the asari councilor explained. "She will make a formidable ally for Saren."
"I'm interested in the Reapers," the salarian councilor spoke up. "What do you know about them?
"The Reapers were an ancient race of machines that wiped out the Protheans," Anderson said. "Then they vanished. According to the geth's memory core at least."
"The geth consider the Reapers gods," Cade added. "They think Saren is a prophet for their return."
"Saren's searching for this conduit, which we believe must be a key to bringing the Reapers back. That's why he attacked Eden Prime," Anderson continued.
"Do we know exactly what this conduit is?" the salarian councilor asked.
"If Saren thinks it can bring back the Reapers, that's bad enough," Cade replied.
"Why would Saren want to bring back machines that wiped out all life?" the turian councilor asked doubtfully. "Where did the Reapers go? How come we have no trace of their existence? We would have found something if they were real."
"I warned you about Saren and you refused to face the truth," Cade said, trying to keep his anger in check. "Don't make the same mistake about the Reapers."
"This is different," the asari councilor argued. "You have proved that Saren betrayed the Council. We agree that he is using the geth to search for the Conduit, but we don't know why."
"The Reapers are obviously just a myth," the salarian councilor added. "A convenient lie to cover Saren's true purpose. A legend he is using to bend the geth to his will."
"50,000 years ago, the Reapers wiped out all life!" Allegra cried. "If Saren finds the Conduit, it will happen again!"
"Saren is now a rogue agent on the run. He no longer has the resources of a Spectre," the turian councilor pointed out.
"That is not good enough!" Udina bellowed. "He's hiding somewhere in the Traverse. Send your fleet in!"
"A fleet cannot track down one man," the salarian councilor disagreed.
"A Citadel fleet could secure the region and keep the geth from attacking any more of our colonies," Udina cried.
"Or it could trigger a war with the Terminus Systems," the turian councilor said.
"Every time humanity asks for help you refuse!" Allegra cried angrily.
"Shepard's right," Udina replied. "I'm sick of this Council and its anti-human bull-"
"Ambassador!" the asari councilor interrupted. "There is another way to stop Saren that does not require fleets or armies." She gave a significant look to the turian councilor.
"No!" he yelled. "It's too soon! Humanity isn't ready for the responsibilities that come with joining the Spectres!"
Cade's heart leapt into this throat. This might be it! He might be about to become a Spectre!
"You don't have to send a fleet into the Traverse and the ambassador gets his human Spectre," Allegra reasoned. "Everyone's happy."
She was on Cade's side! He had never been so happy or so nervous!
The councilors all looked at each other, coming to a silent decision.
"Commander Cade Shepard, please step forward," the asari councilor called.
Allegra froze, but Cade hardly noticed in his excitement. He stepped to the edge of the platform, looking up at the Council.
"It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel," the asari councilor began.
"Spectres are not trained, but chosen," the salarian councilor continued. "Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle."
"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will," the asari councilor added.
"Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold," the turian councilor finished.
"You are the first human Spectre, Commander," the asari councilor said. "This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species."
"I'm honored, Councilor," Cade replied with a slight bow.
"You'll be going into the Traverse to find Saren," the salarian councilor ordered. "He's a fugitive from justice, so you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him."
"I'll find him," Cade promised.
"This meeting is adjourned."
Cade turned back to Allegra, Udina, and Anderson. Udina and Anderson were both grinning widely; Allegra was looking angrier by the second.
"Congratulations, Commander," Anderson said, shaking Cade's hand enthusiastically.
"We've got a lot of work to do," Udina said. "You'll need a ship, a crew, supplies . . . Anderson, come with me. I'll need your help to set all this up."
The two men departed, leaving Cade alone with Allegra.
"Well?" he asked.
"This figures," Allegra growled at him. "You get everything, don't you?" She spun on her heel and stalked off.
Cade watched her go in disbelief. She was angry at him for being made a Spectre? He just couldn't do anything right!
Kaidan anxiously watched the elevator with the rest of the group. He hoped the meeting was going well and that the evidence Tali had given them would be enough to convince the Council of Saren's betrayal.
When the elevator doors opened to reveal Allegra, they all fired questions at her.
"How did it go?"
"Did they kick Saren out of the Spectres?"
"Did they Council believe you about the Reapers?"
"Have the humans joined the ranks of the Spectres?"
At this last question, Allegra huffed angrily and continued to stalk down the walkway.
"I take it she's angry about something," Ashley commented wryly.
Kaidan quickly started after Allegra as she hurried to the elevators that led down to the wards. He easily caught up and watched her punch the button for the elevator, then stomp onto it. Kaidan followed after her.
"It's so unfair," Allegra muttered darkly as the elevator began its slow climb down. "I found Tali. I was on Eden Prime. I'm just as good of a soldier as he is."
"Better," Kaidan stated.
Allegra turned to look at him. "Then why is Cade a Spectre and not me? Why can't we both be Spectres?"
"I don't know what the council was thinking," Kaidan answered carefully. "Maybe they only want one human Spectre until they make sure we can handle it."
"Then why did they pick my goody two shoes brother?"
"Perhaps they were afraid your reputation would damage the impact of having a human Spectre."
"I'm so tired of this fucking Butcher of Torfan thing!" Allegra yelled. "I did what I had to do to do my job. Soldiers die. That's just a fact of life."
"I know."
"It's not like I enjoyed watching them die. They were my teammates. But it had to happen."
"I know."
Allegra was studying him, a small frown on her face. "You sure do side with me a lot, Alenko."
"That's because I listen to what you have to say. Most people just assume you're evil, but you're not. You've just had a lot to deal with. Your brother is humanity's golden child and everyone expects you to be just like him. He gets all the attention and you end up being pushed aside."
Allegra slowly placed herself in front of Kaidan, pressing against him. He couldn't look away from her; the expression in her eyes drew him in. "I'm glad I have you on my side," she said huskily before kissing him on the lips.
Kaidan was taken completely by surprise. He had been wondering what it would be like to kiss Allegra, not that he had ever imagined saying it to her face. But he he never thought it would actually happen.
Seizing the opportunity, because, really, who knew if he'd ever get another one, Kaidan slid his arms around her and deepened the kiss. Allegra's hands clutched in his hair and she moaned in pleasure. Kaidan pressed her up against the wall, intent on continuing, but the elevator dinged to announce its arrival on the wards.
Allegra and Kaidan sprang apart guiltily. Allegra quickly smoothed her hair and uniform, then exited the elevator and started walking off, not waiting for Kaidan.
After quickly checking to make sure he wouldn't embarrass himself, Kaidan followed Allegra, but at a safe distance.