CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Control

Fifty thousand years ago, the vast population of Feros had covered most of its lands, even in the polar regions. The destruction of the vast city by the reapers had thrown massive amounts of particulates into the air, initiating an ice age that had killed off large portions of the planetary ecosystem. Though the glaciers had retreated from their peak boundaries, a cold, dry wind still swept across the surface, stirring up enough dust to prevent a recovery.

About three hundred humans lived at the Zhu's Hope colony, twenty degrees north of the equator, where they occupied parts of a skyscraper that had survived both the reaper's cleansing of the planet, and fifty millennia of weathering. They spent their days growing food in hydroponic greenhouses, and scouring the ruins for the valuable artifacts that ExoGeni demanded as debt service.

The frontier corporation had set up a research facility in a neighboring tower, headed by a man named Ethan Jeong. His public records indicated a degree in management, but no specific knowledge of protheans or archeology, which certainly made him stand out. With limited on-site resources, and a twelve-day journey between Feros and ExoGeni's headquarters, she would have expected someone qualified in the facility's primary subjects.

"Brynja, would you lock out the local comm relays with my Spectre authorization," Kara said. "I'd rather not have Jeong calling HQ for orders. Let him stand on his own."

"Yes, ma'am," the blond said, briefly smiling up at her. She hissed in irritation as the console beeped at her. "It isn't programmed to accept Council commands. It'll take me a few minutes to hack my way in, but I can still shut them down."

They were still well outside of Council space, so that was not a surprise, though it did mean that ExoGeni went to extra effort of reprograming the entire local comm network, and installing their own software. She tried not to take it as proof of their having something to hide. "That's fine."

"You will be careful, right? You know what frontier corps can be like."

Kara laid her hand on Brynja's shoulder. The blond's concern was understandable, given her first-hand experience with the type. She did not expect the facility's small security force, meant to repel small and poorly organized pirate gangs, to pose much threat to her team, but that did not mean she would let down her guard. "I will."

"I've never wanted to suit up and go with you before, but I wish I could this once, just to watch you kick their asses."

"Then I'd worry about you."

"I'm in. Locking out access for everyone but us." Brynja shook her head, smiling softly. "You'd need to; I don't think I'd be much good in a firefight."

The young blond's psych profile did recommend her to the relative quiet of space combat, where death came with less warning, and one never saw the enemy bleed. It was a different kind of courage, but no less valuable. "I've more need of skilled bridge officers than another marine."

"Thanks," Brynja nodded.

"Jeff, bring the ship down at the Zhu's Hope port as soon as Brynja is done. I'll be in the armory."

They were met at the doors of the ExoGeni tower by pair of mercenaries, dressed in cheap armor and sporting bored expressions. One of them spoke into a headset when he spotted then, pulling his assault rifle from his shoulder holster, and stepping out in front of the doors. The image of a naked woman, straddling a Krogan skull, adorned his right arm. The juxtaposition of sex and violence was fairly common among pirate gangs, which, when they could find work, sometimes doubled as mercenary groups. They were not the most reliable variety of hired killer, but they were brutal, cheap, and rarely asked questions.

They were still too far away for Kara to make of what he said, but she assumed he had called for instructions, and possibly backup. He would likely assume the worst, from his employer's perspective, given the quality of their equipment—a Council sanctioned investigation of their activities. She thought to confirm it quickly, and let them panic. "Council Spectre Shepard," she declared, before he could challenge her, "here to investigate this facility's involvement with anthrosupremacist terrorists."

He stood his ground, scowling defiantly. "Feros is outside of Council jurisdiction. You have no authority here."

He was wrong. An independent colony would normally have the right to refuse a spectre, but Feros was sponsored by, and thus under the protection of, an Alliance-headquartered corporation. ExoGeni was required to uphold all relevant laws, including the treaty of associate Council membership. The Alliance lacked the resources, or inclination, to police them consistently, but that was another matter. None of which she needed to waste time explaining to a cheap mercenary.

"I'll speak to someone in charge," she stated coldly. She let her hand drift near to her pistol, hooking her thumb under her utility belt. His eyes followed the gesture warily. Whatever the letter of the law, it was ultimately up to each individual to decide what authority she had over them, and up to her to enforce her rule with violence if they refused. "You can either escort me, or stand aside."

"My orders are not to let—" he paused, his head tilting slightly. Receiving new orders. "Go right in," he continued, moving to one side. "Chief Torres is waiting inside."

Kara kept eye contact with him until she walked past. She found something about him oddly discomfiting, and it wasn't his taste in heraldry—that bothered her on a much more conscious level.

"He's going to be a problem," Garrus said, when the door closed behind them. "Should I tell Lieutenant Septalus to prepare her team?"

So he felt it, too. They had discussed the idea of securing the tower earlier, and it did present some benefits. However, she had hoped to coax the truth out of some reluctant employee, and they were less likely to talk while sitting in a cell. The pirates-turned-mercenaries would be unlikely to go up against a spectre, if they could avoid it, so she judged an ambush to be unlikely. "No, not yet. Stay alert, though."

The doors opened out into a short corridor, the bluish-grey walls patched in places, and the floor cleared of debris. Presumably a team of structural engineers had gone over the tower, if only to make sure it was in no danger of collapse, and to shore up those places that needed it. Any other upkeep could be performed by the resident scientists in their spare time.

After about ten meters, the corridor ended in a false wall, put up to herd visitors into a side room, which served as a lobby and security checkpoint. Part of one wall had been knocked out, and the hole fitted with a security barrier, allowing cleared individuals to bypass the blockade. Behind a narrow desk slouched a man in medium armor, the ExoGeni logo on his chest. His grey eyes regarded her steadily, from a face that appeared on the young side of middle age.

"Chief Torres."

"Commander Shepard," he said, nodding in confirmation. "I'm afraid we've been unable to confirm your Spectre status. The comm relay shut down an hour ago. You wouldn't know anything about that, right?"

"If you suspect us of being common pirates, why let us get this far?"

"Oh, I know who you are, Shepard. Alliance brass is keen on letting their subjects know just what you're to blame for. That's everything from their boring sex lives to batarian imperial ambitions, if you believe them." He shrugged irritably. "Politicians. Feh."

That was the declaration of a horde of would-be skeptics, and it did not give her hope. It was the hipsterism of political critiques, more fashion than substance, lacking depth or originality despite its claims to independence. "Just tell me what you intend."

"My orders are to hold you here. If I don't follow orders, I don't get paid…"

Garrus laughed. "This scumbag wants a bribe."

Kara stared at the security chief. She did not trust people that sold their loyalty for money, but at least mercenaries knew not to betray a contract. ExoGeni had hired a man who lacked even that wisdom. "How much?"

"Five hundred thousand credits," he said, scratching his stubbled cheek, "and the boys and I stay out of your way."

That was as much as he and his entire team of mercenaries made in a year, she guessed, and more than she could afford, even with the Council paying her expenses. More importantly, she had no intention of bribing anyone. "I don't think you understand the alternatives, Torres," she said, turning away. Her eyes met Liara's, and she found herself smiling. "There's no chance of my walking away. Either you shut down that security field and let me pass, or I shoot you and do it myself."

"Fucking cunt. Do you get that my career is on the line?"

Kara swung back to face the man, snarling. "That won't matter if you're dead."

Fuck. Garrus was staring at her in shock, while Torres looked as if he were trying to decide if he shoot should first, or wait for her to draw her pistol. In a moment, he would realize that he was outnumbered, and had to move decisively. So much for a peaceful mission.

"Uh, Chief Torres, I'm sure your superiors would understand, if you could prove you were acting in the best interests of the corporation as a whole," Liara said, stepping between Kara and the security chief, her soft voice cutting through the tense silence.

Torres breathed softly, and laid his hands on the desk. "You have evidence, I presume."

"Records from Cerberus," Garrus said, bringing up the relevant files on his omnitool, "showing that an ExoGeni supplied them with, uh, bioweapons, developed here."

Kara leaned against the wall and half-closed her eyes, trusting Garrus to finish talking their way in. She had lost control for a moment, not because of his offensive language, but her own troubled emotional state. Ordinarily, it wasn't something she did, not when the situation demanded careful attention. If Liara hadn't taken over, they would have lost any chance of a peaceful solution.

Liara. The asari had turned from the discussion, and approached her with a worried expression on her beautiful features. Kara could feel her heart pounding in anticipation and hope. As easy as it was to cast blame, her uncertainty regarding their relationship was only one of many sources of tension in her life. Perhaps she should have promoted Garrus as her deputy, after all.

"Are you alright?"

"I will be," Kara said, forcing a smile.

Liara frowned, lowering her head. "You say that," she said, raising her face to meet Kara's eyes. "I'm not sure I believe you."

"Thanks for stepping in just then. You did good."

The asari archeologist flushed. "Thank you. Appeals to Just Authority can be very effective in primitive cultures." She darkened still further. "Satharii. I'm sorry, Kara—"

"I agree," Kara said—her smile had turned genuine. "It's ironic; I don't believe in just authority, and here I am trying to be it."

Liara's soft lips turned upward, as she laid her hand on Kara's shoulder. "You're doing fine—"

"Shepard," Garrus interrupted, much to Kara's annoyance. It was difficult not to notice how close the asari's lips were, and to recall their warm taste.

Kara pushed away from the wall, touching Liara's arm as she did. It was a hopeful gesture, she felt; like they were starting over, with all possibilities renewed. If nothing else, it was a comfortable illusion, but she could not afford to face the truth. "Yes?"

"We'll keep out of your way, Commander," the security chief said, leaning back, his hands laid flat on the arms of his chair. "Oh, and I know you're special and all, but the scientists here expect to be treated with some fucking respect. You might think about trying it."

That was, she decided, a sarcastic way of demanding more respect for himself. She wondered what he had done to deserve it, or if it was simply his being a man. Kara smiled faintly. Either way, she didn't really trust him to keep his word. "Just shut down the barrier."

Ethan Jeong's official title was 'branch manager', according to the polished name plate beside his office door, as if Zhu's Hope was merely an extension of the corporation. He was the perfect corporate manager in appearance, his clothes cleaned and pressed, every strand of black hair arranged to perfection, with a touch of distinguished grey at the temples. His narrow desk was clear of distraction.

"I'm not certain what you expect to find here, Commander Shepard," he said, his voice soft and pleasant. He was sitting on the edge of his desk, looking down on her as she sat in one of his office chairs. "ExoGeni and I are fully committed to following all the laws of the Alliance, even when outside its jurisdiction."

Kara sighed. She did try and keep her distaste for the man out of her voice and expression, but saw no reason to pretend that she believed him. Once they finished posing for each other, she could get on with something useful. A disinterested stare served here, more eloquently than many a sentence.

Of course, he expected some response, an argument, or evasion. Feros was his world, and he had power over everyone he interacted with, from directing the lives of the colonists to molding the perceptions of ExoGeni's board of directors. In a way, she represented a rogue element dropped in that perfect order, less welcome than even a gang of pirates, who could at least be shot at with impunity. "If you had come with an investigator's warrant, I'd allow you access immediately. Since you failed to follow proper legal procedure, I require confirmation of your status—"

"I'm here to request your cooperation, not your permission," Kara said, cutting him off with her usual soft tone. "If you want confirmation, contact the Normandy."

Ethan circled his desk, sat down, and did as she suggested. Kara followed him, standing just within range of his console's camera. She noticed that he tested for access to the comm satellite first, swearing under his breath when the connection failed. Had he failed to realize that her arrival just as the comm failure occurred was not a coincidence?

He contacted the ship by direct connection, and, after a few seconds of the Normandy's standby message, Brynja's image filled his large display. "Ásdísdottír—oh, Captain. What do you need?"

"For you to contact the Spectre Office and request confirmation on my status for Ethan," Kara said, suppressing a faint smile. She suspected the act would have consequences, possibly alerting Saren, who might be curious enough to investigate, and certainly the Council. She had not reported her anti-Cerberus activities, or the incident with the thresher maw. Lacking context, they would have questions as to why she was on Feros.

Of more immediate importance, it revealed to Ethan just how much control over the situation she had, and pressed him into responding.

"Aye, ma'am," the young blond nodded. "Securing connection… patching you through now."

The screen faded again, resolving into an image of the Spectre seal. It wasn't a public system, and so had no need of a standard VI interface, but the machine behind it was quite sophisticated.

"Spectre Kara Shepard," Kara said, reciting her ID number as well. "Requesting identity confirmation."

"Spectre Shepard recognized," stated the VI. "Please enter your passcode."

Kara did as it said, interfacing her omnitool with the Normandy directly, rather than using ExoGeni's system. She also provided biometric data, at the VI's request. When it finally issued its confirmation, several minutes had passed. The entire procedure was annoying, even though she recognized the necessity of strong security measures. The existence of spectres was problematic enough, without allowing bored hackers to claim that authority for themselves.

"Well?" Kara demanded, frowning at Ethan after she closed the channel.

"It isn't like I ever had any choice," he snapped, shutting down the terminal.

"No," Kara smiled. Innocent or not, she could not fault him for demanding proof of identity. "I'll want full access to your facilities, including lab space, VIs, and personnel."

Ethan groaned. She could almost see his mental picture of her accidentally disrupting experiments, knocking over valuable equipment, and generally traumatizing his staff, the sort of stereotypical jarhead behavior that would get a marine thrown off her ship. "I'll make the arrangements," he muttered. "Ma'am."

Already an orangish star, Feros' dusty atmosphere turned Theseus into an orb of blazing red as evening fell, lighting high, thin clouds cast in vibrant shades from brilliant orange to deep purple. The cold, blustery wind that kept the tower swaying through the long afternoon had picked up, and now held steady at about forty kilometers per hour. Kara breathed in the bitter remains of a lost civilization along with the dry air. A kilometer below, the ruins of the prothean city stretched out in all directions. Other towers rose of the rubble at seemly random locations, most ending in jagged edges partway up, and they were each connected by the broken line of ancient skyways.

"To think," Liara said, standing beside her, "we're the first people to look down on these ruins with knowledge of what happened to the protheans. I've seen estimates that as many as a hundred billion people lived here."

Garrus grunted. He was sitting, leaning against the short barrier that circled the rooftop, while he checked over his arsenal. "One hundred billion," he hissed, "times a hundred worlds, and countless cycles, and that bastard Saren is helping the monsters that killed them."

"He's no longer in control of his own mind," Kara said, not turning away from the view. Looking down on the dead world, evidence of the might of the foe she faced, she found that she wanted little more than to feel Liara's arms around her. She threw off the fantasy with a shake of her head. "I can't think of a worse fate."

The turian sighed. "Yeah. He's always been ruthless, and I guess it caught up with him."

"If you had a two-kilometer long dreadnought, and were intent on exterminating all organic civilization, how would you attack a planet like Feros?"

"Assuming I didn't have to worry about preserving garden worlds, orbital bombardment," Garrus shrugged. He stood, holstering his assault rifle as he turned to share the view. "I mean, Sovereign's main gun must put out, say, a hundred kilotons of kinetic energy. Fired at a near right angle to the planet's surface, even with atmospheric drag… there wouldn't be any buildings left for us to find."

Liara groaned. "Satharii, of course. The reapers must have a second objective, more important than swift extermination."

"Yes," Kara muttered. "What is it, though?" She didn't know herself. Fifty thousand years had done much to erase the evidence, but she guessed that the reapers cleansed the city building by building with Indoctrinated ground troops and husks. Ultimately, a reaper invasion would have to be defeated in space, but an effective means of resisting their troops would play an important role. Saren's actions had proven the need to counter Indoctrination.

She sighed. Continued speculation was useless, and she had other things to concern her. Their first day of investigation had only reaffirmed her belief that something odd was going on. ExoGeni's Feros labs were unexpectedly well-supplied with specialist exobiologists and biochemists, an odd choice for a mostly barren world. They had only a pair of archeologists, neither of which specialized in the protheans, to study any artifacts or sites of interest uncovered by the colonists.

She turned her back on the view. ExoGeni had only occupied a small part of the tower, at the level of the ancient skyways. Their engineers had done some work on the upper levels, sealing exterior holes and patching up the support pillars, enough to maintain the stability of the building, but little else. Outside the corporation's facilities, the rooms were still covered in dust and scattered with debris. The observation deck was no different, but someone had installed a meteorological package on the rusted remains of the tower's pinnacle, for which the lift had been repaired.

"Liara, is there anything in the artifact manifest you want a closer look at?"

"Just about all of it," the asari replied. "For the average person, it's just about the technology we can scavenge. Who or what the protheans were is secondary. Most of the artifacts on Feros don't have that kind of scientific value, and ExoGeni doesn't have anyone on staff with a background in prothean culture, so they get put up for auction and sold to wealthy collectors, sealed away and just as useless to those of us with real interest in prothean history as if it were still buried in rubble. What an idiotic way to decide the distribution of valuable artifacts.

"I'm sorry, Kara," Liara sighed. "That wasn't meant to reflect on you."

"If you like, I'll confiscate all the artifacts still stored here," Kara suggested. "It'll have to wait until we've finished our investigation, though."

"That's dangerously close to piracy, Captain," Garrus said, his mandibles flexing in a disapproving fashion.

"I'm not here to protect ExoGeni's bottom line," Kara stated flatly. Rather, she would not have minded if the scandal resulting from whatever she discovered caused the corporation to collapse entirely. The Zhu's Hope colony would almost certainly have to be evacuated, but their profitable interests elsewhere would be bought up by their competitors, and little would change.

Liara smiled at her. "I'd appreciate that, Kara, and there is always the possibility that one of these artifacts could prove crucial to finding the Conduit, though I wish I could say with confidence that any of them would."

The ex-CSec turian sighed. "That'll do for an excuse, I suppose. So, what's our next step?"

"We'll head back to the Normandy until oh-six hundred hours, ship time," Kara explained. "Prepare a list of people you'd like to interview, and we'll start with them when we get back. Tali will come along to make sure we didn't miss anything in the database, with Wrex to watch her back."

"Another two aliens? I can't imagine that will go over well."

"No, but that doesn't matter. They know they don't have a choice," Kara sighed. "Let's go."

"Captain. Captain?"

Kara groaned. The smooth voice of Nasrin Khamedi, her third watch ops officer, had cut into a dream that was at least somewhat pleasant, though the details were already fading. She pressed the flashing comm light next to her bed. "What is it, Nasrin?"

"The Council for you, ma'am. It's marked as urgent."

"Put them through," she said, swinging her legs out of bed. A lead, maybe? It would mean cutting her investigation short, but that didn't matter in the end. It was 0200 according to the clock. She did not know the current displacement on Citadel time. She waited for the system to acknowledge the connection with its usual beep. "Councillors."

"Captain Shepard," Sparatus said, his voice sounding more hostile than it had for a while, and loud in the darkness. "What in hell do you think you're doing?"

So not a lead, then. She reached for her glass of tea, left half-finished when she went to bed, and swallowed what remained, a spicy-fragrant blend of asari herbs. "What?"

"Spectre status is not a license to pursue your own vendettas," the turian added. "What are you doing on Feros?"

"You never told Saren that." She went for her shirt next, shrugging it on and linking the clasps.

"Clarify," demanded Valern.

Kara sighed. They were important people, with enough resources to connect their own dots. Moving to her chair, she switched on her console, and brought up the transmission visual. "All of this is because of a human, Jack Harper, who fought in the First Contact War, where he encountered some sort of reaper tech. Saren blames Jack for the death of his brother, and spent years hunting him down. That's why he was looking for reaper tech himself, and how he found Sovereign. If you and your predecessors had exercised better control, this situation might have already been resolved."

"Your point is accepted, Kara," Adar said. "Now, explain your presence on Feros."

Kara began with the thresher maw, and the death of Kahoku's marines, mentioning how Cerberus had lured them in with a distress beacon, but leaving out their reason for landing on Edolus. "Kahoku was able to locate a Cerberus base in the Voyager Cluster," she continued, "and requested my help in neutralizing it. I agreed. Once we secured the base, we discovered that Cerberus had used it to conduct experiments on what they called thorian creepers, which they purchased from ExoGeni's outpost on Feros."

Adar shook her head. "If you had informed us first, we might have been able to assist."

"I'd rather the Council's resources were focused on stopping Saren," Kara said. That was true, if incomplete. "Cerberus is less of an immediate threat."

The asari nodded. "Regardless, you are a Spectre now, and your actions reflect on us."

Kara nodded as she brushed her fingers through her hair. "I've never forgotten that," she sighed. "I'll file a report when I'm done here."

"Next time you withhold information from us, Captain, there will be consequences," Sparatus growled. She did believe that he meant it, but they could do little beyond revoke her Spectre status, and even that would have to wait.

"Noted, Councillor," Kara said. And the rest of it? The Council did not often intervene in the affairs of its member species, but high-level Alliance collaboration with Cerberus might be an exception. If she said nothing, they would still find out when Kahoku made his announcement. Prior knowledge might lead them to a more tempered response.

"There is one other thing," she added. "We found evidence of high level contact between Cerberus and the Alliance, possibly in the Defense Committee itself. Admiral Kahoku has agreed to press for an internal investigation, as soon as he returns."

Adar sighed unhappily, rubbing at her forehead, but it was Valern who spoke. "We have suspected as much for some time. We've pressed for action as much as we dare, but I believe that open interference would only strengthen Cerberus' position."

"I agree," Kara said. Any pushback against a current government could be seen as an attempt to replace an independent government with a malleable one.

"That may be true," Sparatus frowned, "but we cannot ignore Cerberus forever. If the Alliance refuses to take action, we have to."

Kara nodded. "You have to protect the interests of your people. I accept that."

"Then we are in agreement," the turian replied. "We'll await your report with interest."

Kara leaned back in her chair as the comm went blank. She could hardly blame them for wanting answers, but she hoped it did not make an already complex situation worse. Either way, it was beyond her ability to influence to any significant degree, so worrying about it was pointless at best. Better that she made herself another pot of tea from her dwindling supplies, and tried to get back to sleep.

Taking her thermos and mug from the desk, she exited her cabin, and turned into the mess. A lone turian sat at the table, studying a data pad, taking her turn to keep an eye on Rana Thanoptis. Dropping off the possibly-indoctrinated asari scientist was another reason for them to make for the Citadel. "Orlanis?"

The turian looked up. "Shepard. Awfully late for you to be about, isn't it?"

"I had a call from the Council," Kara said, flipping through the teas while her thermos filled with water. "They wanted explanations."

"I've had that conversation before, though not from such high company. I used to get it from the Executor."

Taking her thermos and tea selection along, Kara sat down across from the turian female. "You may again. We'll return to the Citadel once this mission is over. I may yet need your help, but the choice to stay has to be yours."

"Dammit Kara, you know I can't. I'm going to miss my son's birthday as it is, and I promised him—"

"I know," Kara said. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Orlanis sighed.

"Of course it is."

The turian laughed. "Yes, it is. Dammit. Don't you know shouldn't admit it?"

"Yes," Kara replied, smiling faintly.

"Now… I've followed charismatic leaders into battle before, and seen them drink to the victory over the bodies of dead friends. It's a bitter thing, to learn that someone you trusted didn't care if you lived or not, so long as he got what he wanted. I expected you to be the same, all soft words and confident expressions, but no depth. Oh, I know a leader isn't supposed to mourn the fallen, not if they died with honor. Somehow, it was never that easy for me, when the time came."

"Where I trained, we were taught to treat those under our command as replaceable parts. Gears in the machine of war." Kara let out a bitter laugh at the memory. "Fuck that."

Orlanis shook her head. "Spirits. Kara, it's been an interesting ride, but I can't stay. My team has lives of their own, and I know they're as anxious to get back as I am."

Kara nodded. She certainly understood the desire for a less dangerous lifestyle, especially from the parent of a young child, but it would once again leave her with a minimal ground team. She didn't quite know how she would go about replacing them.

Note: Having gone through the entire Feros arc, I think it holds together quite well. That said, I am investigating some possibilities for the post-Feros arc. Yeah, that one.

Anyway, stick around, continue to read and review. We appreciate your patronage.