Chapter 44

Shepard had just walked up to the bridge shortly after the Normandy had been pulled into its designated berth. "Anything I need to know, Joker?"

"Commander!" Joker's voice sounded scared at being snuck up on yet again, but also sounded oddly hopeful. "Ambassador Udina just messaged me. He wants us to report to the Council chambers. The Council is massing a joint-species fleet to deal with Saren and his geth!"

"About fucking time!" Shepard exulted, pumping his fist in the air. "They'll probably need the Normandy to go poking around in enemy space before the fleet engages, so I want you to run through her operating systems as quick as you can. If anything is operating at less than 100%, I wanna know about it when I get back. Understood?"

"Aye aye, Commander!" Joker said with a quick salute, before he dove into the Normandy's daily logs.

By the time Shepard had turned around to head back to the airlock, Tali and Garrus were standing next to the Normandy's main point of entry, looking hopeful at Shepard's obvious good mood.

"What's going on, Shepard?" Tali asked.

"Some good news at last. The Council finally decided to pull their heads outta their collective asses and actually do something constructive about Saren. They're putting together a fleet to take him down. What happened on Virmire must have really spooked them."

"I can't exactly blame them, Commander." Garrus spoke. "Finding out that a race of sentient machines not only wiped out the galaxy's preeminent civilization 50,000 years ago, but is now planning to do the same to you, is quite a disturbing occurrence."

"True." Shepard said, as Tali nodded her head in agreement. "Well, let's go see what they need us to do then, shall we?"

Shepard walked up to the edge of the guest platform in the main Council chamber, striding straight past humanity's ambassador. "Do you think the fleet you've assembled is enough to take down Sovereign? Ambassador Udina didn't give me any details about how big the fleet is, but I didn't see a whole lot of extra activity on our way in. I can promise you, and Joker can back me up, that Reapers are a lot sturdier than any of our ships."

The Councillors looked at one another, before the salarian Valern spoke up. "Yes, we saw mention of this in your report. Sovereign. A sentient machine; a true artificial intelligence. This news is greatly alarming - if it turns out to be accurate."

Shepard bristled at the perceived slight. "Are you implying that I can't be trusted, Councilor? Because I think you may be confusing me with the Spectre I'm chasing."

Sparatus, the turian councilor, responded to Shepard's mild rebuke. "Don't be ridiculous, Shepard. We're referring to the fact that he's obviously playing you! Saren still has contacts on the Citadel. He probably saw your earlier reports, the ones talking about your visions. And the Reapers."

"Sure, that's one interpretation. But seeing as I actually spoke to Sovereign, and included said conversation in my report, that would be the wrong interpretation."

Valern took over the Council's side of the conversation once again. "You must admit, Commander, that it's highly possible Saren is using false information to throw you off balance. Our own intelligence has never turned up any corroborating information."

"Actually, I don't have to admit anything like that. Saren didn't tell me Sovereign was a Reaper, the Reaper told me what it was."

Sparatus scoffed at Shepard's pronouncement. "Maybe we were wrong about you, Shepard. Maybe humans are too unintelligent to be Spectres. The program you were interacting with was obviously just a high-level V.I., like the Avina terminals here on the Citadel."

Shepard's temper, still not fully settled from the events of Virmire, was encouraging the Spectre to tear strips out of the cocky turian's hide. "And apparently the galaxy was wrong about turians, because you're obviously too stupid to be a functioning member of any multi-racial body. How is it that you're managing to stand upright and talk at the same time? Do you have a cloaked asari behind you keeping you from falling on your ugly ass?"

Sparatus had taken a step forward, and was about to respond in kind, when Councilor Tevos spoke up for the first time. "Enough! Shepard has served us well so far, and Sparatus is making a good point. This . . . discussion . . . is only a minor disagreement."

Both the turian councilor and the human Spectre huffed at the asari councilor's attempt at placating them. Tevos ignored their antics, though, and continued to address Shepard. "Try to see this from our perspective Commander. Saren is a threat we can recognize. However, as far as we know, the Reapers only exist in your visions."

Valern immediately picked up where Tevos left off, not giving either Sparatus or Shepard a chance to speak. "Our decisions affect trillions of lives. We cannot act on the accusations of a single person. Even a Spectre. Not without solid evidence. The Council cannot take any official action here. That is why we created the Spectres. You have the authority to act as you see fit."

The asari finished the Council's attempt to placate the still-fuming commander. "If you truly believe Sovereign is the real threat, you must take whatever steps are necessary to stop it. And Saren, of course."

"Of course." Shepard mimicked with a high falsetto in his head. As long as I'm hunting Saren down, they're willing to let me believe whatever I want. And then, as soon as I've put their rabid dog down, they'll cart me off for "evaluation" or restrict me to the Citadel to "get my mind right." Same shit the Alliance pulled after Elysium and Torfan. Whatever. With the state the galaxy's in right now, and what I've been trained to do, I'm sure the Council will have some other sticky situation they need me to solve. Just like the Alliance did. "So on that note, what are you doing to stop Saren before he finds the Conduit?"

Sparatus fielded the commander's question, as he, much like Shepard, had also centered himself. "Patrols are stationed at every mass relay linking Citadel space to the Terminus Systems."

Valern elaborated on the turian's statement. "If Saren is foolish enough to attack the Citadel - as you believe - we will be ready for him."

Tevos completed the trilogy's analysis of the situation, and attempted to reassure Shepard of his standing with the Council. "You have impressed upon us the severity of Saren's threat to this, the center of our civilization. To further supplement your efforts on our behalf, we have taken the necessary steps to prevent his attack from succeeding."

Udina felt it necessary to add in his two cents, and stepped up to deliver an aside to his fellow human. "Good job Shepard. Thanks to you, the Council's finally taking real action against Saren!"

Shepard seethed at the Council's "bunker down and hope for the best" strategy. "That's it? Saren's probably already on Ilos, looking for the Conduit. If he finds it, a blockade consisting of every human, asari, salarian, and turian ship in the universe won't stop him! Ambassador Udina told me that you'd put together a fleet to stop the crazy bastard, so go do it! Doing nothing is just a massive waste of the resources you've assembled."

All three members of the Council shook their heads at Shepard's request. Valern put a voice to their objection. "Ilos is only accessible through the Mu Relay, deep inside the Terminus Systems, Commander. If we send a fleet in there, the only possible outcome is full-scale war."

"And what do you think is the outcome of Saren finding the Conduit?!" Shepard exploded. "Tea-time with scones?! A nice quiet session of patty-cake and petting puppies?! No! It'll be the subjugation of every species in this galaxy, and the destruction of everything we've built!"

Udina put his hand on the enraged Spectre's shoulder and pulled the taller man's face down towards his own, in order to deliver a quietly hissed rebuke. "Control yourself, Commander! Now is the time for discretion. Saren's greatest weapon was secrecy. Exposed, he is no longer a threat. This. Is. Over."

Valern pulled both the attention of both human's back to the Council. "Saren is a master manipulator. The Conduit is just a distraction from his real plan to attack the Citadel."

Tevos picked up where the salarian left off, continuing the Council's pattern of attempting to present a unified front that thinks and speaks in synchronicity. "Only you have seen the Reapers, Shepard, and then only in visions. We won't invade the Terminus Systems because of a dream."

Sparatus's face twisted into a malevolent smirk as he manipulated Udina into doing the Council's dirty work. "Ambassador Udina, I get the sense Commander Shepard isn't willing to let this go."

Udina nodded at the wisdom of the turian's words. "I believe you're right, Councilor." Then he turned his attention to the commander. "There are serious political implications here, Shepard. Humanity's made great gains because of you. But now you're becoming more trouble than you're worth. Maybe someday you'll understand how politics work, Commander. Most problems can't be resolved with your patented approach of shoot first, shoot later, and then let someone else clean up the mess after you've killed everybody. You've done your job, now let me do mine. And in case you get any ideas, I had my office lock out all of the Normandy's primary systems. Until further notice, you're grounded. Now, I think it's time for you and your team to leave, Commander. This no longer concerns you. The Council can handle this. With my help, of course." Having dismissed Shepard, Udina stepped in front of the commander and presented himself to the Council.

Shepard, who had been angry at the Council's words, became furious at Udina's disrespect. He reached out a gauntleted hand and spun the ambassador around to face him. Then he addressed all four of the people standing in front of him. "I warned you about Saren, and you didn't believe me. What in the fuck is it gonna take for you people to listen to reason and do your fucking jobs?"

Sparatus sneered and took the opportunity to insult the human Spectre. "I believe you humans have a saying: even a broken clock is right twice a day."

"Yeah? Well here's one of my favorites. Go fuck yourself!" Shepard flipped the Council the bird, and then lowered his voice to speak directly to Udina. "And that goes double for you, you backstabbing piece of shit. One of these days you're gonna get yours, and I promise you that I'll be a part of it. If I ever see you again, you better hope you're already dead."

Having said his piece, Shepard motioned to Tali and Garrus and the trio walked away. As they walked down the stairs, they could hear Udina apologizing for Shepard's "uncouth" words and promising that the Alliance would properly reprimand the commander.

Once Shepard and his team were out of hearing range of the Council, he turned to Tali and Garrus and assumed a serious expression. "Right. I shoulda seen that coming. But since I can't go back and get un-blindsided, I wanna talk about what our next steps are gonna be. First, I have a question Garrus." He looked at the turian, who indicated that Shepard should go ahead. "Okay. Why do you think the Council had Udina ground me, instead of doing it themselves?"

Garrus thought for a few seconds before responding. "It's probably because they can't afford to ground you, from a political point of view. This business with Saren has already gotten people worked up about the Spectre program. When you consider that you're the Spectre investigating Saren, and you're the first human Spectre, it is likely that the Council doesn't want to be associated with the negative reactions that would result from grounding you. Therefore, they convince the human embassy to do so."

Shepard nodded. "That was my thinking too. And of course Udina is happy to do whatever the Council wants him to. 'Blow Sparatus? Sure. Lick Valern's asshole clean? Mmm, tasty. Bugger a goat? With pleasure.'" Shepard shook his head, trying to stop imagining Udina's exercises in ass-kissing and get back on topic. "I just wanted to get your opinion on it since you have more experience with Council politics and make sure I wasn't misreading the situation. With that established, it's time to free the Normandy and go stop Saren."

"Are you sure, Shepard?" Tali moved closer to the commander, attempting to show her support and mitigate any hard feelings her comment may have inadvertently caused. "I just mean that you could get in a lot of trouble for going against the ambassador's orders."

Shepard put a hand on her shoulder, bringing a small feeling of contentment to both of them. "I appreciate your concern, Tali. A lot. But don't worry about me. Udina's not technically in my chain of command, so it's not like I'm disobeying a direct order from a superior or anything. Besides, when I bring in Saren's head on a platter and we figure out some way to blow Sovereign to Kingdom Come, nobody will give a shit about whatever Udina's bitching about. Okay?"

Tali's body language said that she was clearly still unsure, but she nodded her head anyway. Shepard, correctly reading her mood, moved his hand from one shoulder to the other, embracing the young quarian in a one-armed hug. "It'll be okay, Tal. Promise." He whispered to her.

Every time he shows me how much he cares, it feels a little more right to be in his arms. Not caring about the fact that Garrus was staring at them, Tali threw both her arms around Shepard and squeezed him tightly. "Thank you, Spike." She whispered even more quietly than he had, making sure that the heightened hearing of her turian friend couldn't make out the words.

Garrus for his part just stood there, watching the pair. I know that for humans, such an embrace can be intended for romantic purposes or for the purpose of providing comfort to a friend. I don't have any such information about how quarians interpret "hugging." Although I suppose it is possible that Tali has adopted human interpretations of the custom. But I wonder which type of embrace this is supposed to be? Could Tali and Shepard be more than friends? How would that even work? I could ask them, however I don't believe such a question would be welcome. The only course of action, I suppose, is to continue to observe them and endeavor to gather more information. If I can come to a definitive answer, perhaps at that point I can broach the topic with one of them.