Chapter 56

"Alright, Joker. The relays should be open now. Come on through, and bring your friends with you; you've got a party to crash. Strike hard, strike fast, and bring the rain. I want you to save the Council - no matter what. Once the Destiny Ascension is out of harm's way and protected, lead the rest of the Fleet after Sovereign and bring that bastard down."

It was a very surprised pilot who acknowledged Shepard's order. "Understood, Commander. I'll let you know when the Council is safe."

"Thanks Joker. Shepard out." The Spectre said, before turning to the two members of his ground team. Both Tali and Garrus wore similar looks of shock, although Tali's was - to Spike's eyes - much more pronounced. "Problem, guys?" He asked, and then began trying to find a path down to where Saren's body had fallen.

Garrus shook his head. "Not really, Commander. I'm just a bit surprised that you're buying the Council's safety at the cost of human soldiers. After everything they've done to you, leaving them to their fates would be no less than they deserve."

"Then why'd you suggest saving them, if you think they deserve to die?"

The C-Sec agent wiggled his mandibles in the turian equivalent of a shrug. "I'm a turian, Commander. I have to recommend saving the life of one of the most powerful members of the Hierarchy."

"Wait a sec." Shepard stopped and turned to look at his turian compatriot. "I thought Council members couldn't hold a position within their species' government?" Oh, this day may have just taken a turn for the delightful! If Sparatus is secretly wearing two hats, maybe I can get him kicked off the Council. His replacement would have to be a better Councillor, right? A moldy piece of dog shit could probably do a better job than that useless twat. Of course, knowing the Council, Tevos and Valern probably already know Sparatus is double-dipping, and have given it the "Council Seal of Approval." Hey, I wonder if one of those actually exists? If it does, I need to try to track it down. It's probably electronic, so maybe that's something Tali and I can work on while we're enjoying each other's company back on the Arc. Heh. "So Tali, for tonight's date, wanna go out and get some food, and then come back to my place and try to break into all three of the Citadel Councillors' private accounts and look for something that probably doesn't exist? But if it does exist, it could signal the end of a whole bunch of problems for both our races." Real romantic, Spike. Although it'd work if she came up and said that to me. Well, she could probably suggest just about anything and I'd be okay with it. After all, there are worse places to be then wrapped around a part of her anatomy.

"You are correct, Commander." Garrus answered, breaking the human away from his internal ramblings. "However, even in your government, someone doesn't have to be an official member in order to wield substantial influence. Councillor Sparatus represents the turians across the entire galaxy. Therefore it is only natural that his words carry a great deal of gravitas when spoken to the official leaders of the Hierarchy."

"Oh." Shepard said, most of his elation leaking away. "Politics as usual, then."

Garrus's twisted expression of distaste told the commander that they were in full agreement on that point.

Tali brought the conversation back to its original vector. "Then why did you save the Council, Spike?" So engrossed was she in determining the cause of her boyfriend's odd decision, that she didn't notice she had used the familiar form of his name.

It did not, however, escape the notice of either of the two professionals next to her. Shepard filed it away as something to talk about with her later, and dismissed it. For Garrus, though, it was as though someone had just turned the lights on in a darkened room. The file folder in his mind labeled "Shepard/Tali - Odd Behavior" had just been rearranged, and suddenly made complete sense. How could I have not seen it?! Quite the investigator I am proving myself to be. I couldn't find the evidence to prove Saren was a traitor, I couldn't even shoot the bastard (I've integrated quite a bit of Shepard's vocabulary into my own lexicon, haven't I?) squarely in the head, and I've completely missed the fact that the two people that I'm closest to in the universe are in a relationship - with each other! Shepard told me that only his closest friends were allowed to use his nickname. It never even occurred to me that Tali was one of those close friends, although it should have been obvious. And their actions towards one another clearly indicate amorous feelings on both sides. If he were here, Father would take great enjoyment in pointing out such a large failing. Praise the spirits that he's not. Should I say something to Tali and Shepard now? Perhaps they were trying to keep it a secret, in which case I should stay quiet. Before he had come to a conscious decision, the words came pouring out of his mouth. "Are you two in a relationship?"

Once again, Garrus's question stopped Shepard in his tracks. "Say what, Garrus? How did you - Oh never mind, that's a stupid question." He shared a look with Tali, and got her approval for answering Garrus's question. "Yes, we are."

The turian nodded his head at the confirmation of his suspicions. "May I ask why you didn't tell me, Shepard? Or should I call you Spike now, since both Tali and myself know your nickname."

The commander could hear the hurt in his friend's voice, and so tried to remedy it. "Garrus, it's not like that. And when we're not on missions and it's just the three of us, you can both feel free to call me Spike. But Garrus, buddy, this relationship is literally less than 24 hours old. Tali and I just started dating a few hours before we hit Ilos. We've barely had time to get used to it ourselves, much less start spreading it around to anybody."

"Oh." This had a substantial impact on Garrus's flagging spirits. So I apparently greatly underestimated my investigative skills. I've been noticing their intentions towards one another for several months, while they were apparently blind to it. Although I should stop being so insecure. They are clearly my friends, and have never done anything to show otherwise. I should have understood that they would tell me about their relationship when they felt more comfortable with the idea themselves. Either way, this experience should help me react appropriately to similar situations in the future. "I understand. I don't know why I reacted that way."

"I do." Shepard said, slapping Garrus's shoulder in a brotherly display of affection. The turian turned to him with an expectant look on his face. "It's that post-battle fatigue and letdown. We've never been through something this intense before - hell, I doubt anyone else has gone through what we have within the last day. Now, I doubt that the chemicals are the same for dextros, but in humans fight-or-flight situations usually causes our bodies to start releasing adrenaline. Adrenaline gives you a pretty good boost, but after the battle ends the body stops producing it and you can crash pretty hard. That resulting comedown is exacerbated when you've been in a running firefight, or a long-term engagement, and you've also got physical weariness added into the mix. We've been running and gunning and fighting and killing for a pretty solid, what, six hours? And before that we stole the most technologically-advanced ship the Alliance had and broke out of a Council-imposed lockdown. Throw in a mass relay jump in an unshielded vehicle through a prototype mini-relay and I reckon we're all gonna sleep like the dead for a day or so once this finally ends."

Garrus and Tali demonstrated their agreement with Shepard's explanation, and then Tali once again tried to strike at the heart of the matter. "While I appreciate your explanation, you still haven't answered the main question we asked you."

"Which was?"

She shot him a look that, even through her visor, said "Don't play stupid, you're not very good at it." Nevertheless, she grudgingly repeated Garrus's initial query. "Why did you save the Council? I don't think I could have made that decision."

Spike stored that information away as a future source of a probably uncomfortable, likely quite long discussion about what Tali would have done in his shoes (and why). Sensing that Shepard's explanation was likely to be substantial, his two companions stopped and turned towards the Spectre. "I'll admit, I was sorely tempted to let the Council die. A part of me also wanted to call them and rub it in a little before the geth blew them up into little tiny pieces. But that would have been making it personal, and personal feelings have no place when the fate of the galaxy literally hangs in the balance."

By this point, the trio had reached the lower level of the Council Chambers where Saren had fallen. Some twenty meters away, they could see the former Spectre's crumpled form and the surrounding pool of dark blue blood. Tali looked around and couldn't keep from releasing a low whistle. "Even down here, the Council displays a wealth of space and resources that could provide for three or four quarian families."

Both of the sniping aficionados took careful note of this information, and hoped to do something with it at some point in the future. Before the commander could begin speaking again, Joker's voice came over the radio.

"Commander. The Destiny Ascension is safe, and all three Councillors are ok."

"Thanks Joker. Now give Sovereign hell from me."

"Aye aye, sir!" The pilot sounded unusually serious, and terminated the connection.

Shepard shook his head to refocus on the events inside the Citadel. Then he recommenced in laying out his thoughts, before he had to be on the receiving end of another of Tali's glares. "Right. So anyway, I had to make sure that whatever choice I made, it wasn't based on personal feelings and that it would be for the good of every sentient being in the galaxy. Now, I fully realize that complete impartiality is a pipe dream, but hey, I did the best I could. Having the Fifth play the part of the smiting angel or the saving grace; both had positives and negatives. Sovereign needs to die, obviously, and if the Destiny Ascension is on her last legs out there, it's clear that destroying that ship is a mammoth undertaking. So for the Fifth to both accomplish their objective and survive with reasonable losses, it really needed the element of surprise of coming out of the relays and jumping on Sovereign immediately. But on the other hand, the Council is kind of important to galactic stability. And if we deal with the threat Sovereign faces, but it sends the most powerful races in the galaxy into internal frenzies with trying to replace the Councillors, we've just shot ourselves in the foot for when the Reapers unleash their next attack - whatever it may be. Because there's not a chance in hell that defeating Sovereign will end the Reaper threat."

The quarian and the turian nodded fervently, having thought the same thing at some point during the Normandy's pursuit of Saren. Shepard acknowledged their agreement, and then finished his explanation. "So it was a classic Morton's Fork, and we were fucked either way. By choosing to save the Council, I know that we'll still have a stable interspecies advisory board. Plus, I'm confident that the Fifth Fleet will finish Sovereign off even if it takes Joker driving the Normandy straight through Sovereign's bridge. If I chose to leave the Council to a roll of the fates' dice, I don't think they'd survive, even though it would probably save thousands of human lives. Something tells me that we'll need a strong central body in the next few years."

The commander paused to let them digest his words, before continuing with a roguish smirk. "And having the Council owe me a big ol' favor for saving their scrawny asses certainly played no part in my decision." This drew a chuckle from his teammates, and broke the somewhat somber mood that had been created by Shepard's callous discussion of thousands of deaths. He capitalized on the slight humor and nudged the turian next to him. "Now let's go investigate the results of Garrus's shooting abilities, questionable though they are."

As the three walked forward, Garrus lightly pushed the Spectre in recompense. "My skills are excellent, Shepard."

"Uh huh." Spike said in a voice that was thick with sarcasm. "Yet I noticed that it was the left-hand side of Saren's face that was atomized, rather than the center." When Garrus went to speak, he was cut off by a raised hand. "And don't even think about blaming Inara, or I'll see how well you can shoot without your trigger finger." Once the turian was sufficiently cowed, Shepard softened. "It's like what we talked about after that clusterfuck of a mission on Agebinium. Some things - krogan warlords or Reaper-tech hoverplatforms, for example - have shields that are just too powerful for conventional handheld weapons. So just aim for center mass and hope for the best."

"I remember." Garrus said, hanging his head a little. And I will never forget that lesson again.

Reading his best friend's change in mood, Spike once again punched the turian in a friendly way. "Oh, don't mope. You still splattered most of his brains all over me and the floor, so it's still a win. Plus, now you have firsthand experience of the effect from the shooter's perspective. That's the best way to learn a lesson. Now whaddaya say we put another two or three hundred bullets in Saren's carcass and then wait out the results in the closest bar?"

"Sounds good." Garrus said.

"Ditto." Tali added, earning a bright smile from Shepard that set her insides on fire.

"Alright then." Spike said as he started to draw his pistol. But before he could close the distance to the corpse, the Chamber started shaking. The ex-Spectre's remains started shaking and glowing with a terrifying blood-red color. Then they rose from the ground and hovered in the air, while its broken limbs reassembled themselves with sickening snaps and crunches. Once the mass of flesh and synthetic materials once again resembled the great Saren Arterius, the body was consumed by black flames and fell to the ground.

When the corpse remained where it had fallen for several seconds, the three commandos released lungfuls of air that they didn't know they had been holding. The next second, Saren's skeleton sprung from the ground and anchored itself to the ceiling like a geth hopper. The monstrosity no longer had any flesh on it at all, and the view through the creature's ribs showed that most of the inner organs had also been consumed by fire. The thing's head was still missing the left half that Inara and Garrus had blasted off, but where the right eye should have been was nothing more than an hollow void that, despite its emptiness, still seemed to glare at the world with unquenchable rage.

Three variations of "Oh fuck," in three different languages, made their way into the world. At the same time, the three members of the crew of the Normandy reached for their weapons and prepared to kill Saren for the second time. The resurrected geth-Saren let out a terrifying, high-pitched screech, and the battle was joined.