Footsteps splashed through water.
"This place is a dump," Williams commented with distaste.
Tali could only agree. They were in an old mine on the planet Agebinium, and to say that it was abandoned and derelict would be an understatement. It was hardly more than a ruin. The facility must once have been extensive, with several corridors, forks and halls, but most were now blocked by rubble, and all rooms were filled by knee-deep or ankle-deep water and even more rubble floating in it.
The architecture of the mine looked markedly different from similar ones in the region. Tali assumed that not humans, but salarians or turians must have built it. Judging by the bad state of the facility and the fact that the mine was not marked on any maps it might well have been decades ago at the least.
"Perfect territory for a trap," Wrex commented.
"Are you sure the probe is in here, sir?" Alenko inquired.
"The signals could be traced to here," Shepard answered.
The squad was in search of an old espionage probe of the Alliance. It had been launched during the First Contact War to scout turian space, one of many. They all had been rigged with nuclear payloads to act as booby-traps, to prevent technology falling into enemy hands. With the advantage of twenty years hindsight it was obvious now that had been quite an overreaction. The Alliance had spent years secretly picking up all probes again, but it had never found all. One had now appeared in the Voyager Cluster, on the other side of the Alliance from turian space, and had reported 'mission complete'. If others were to find that signal, it could be a major embarrassment of the Alliance, so the Alliance Navy had a vested interest in sending one of their own ships to there as quickly and secretly as possible - a perfect job for the Normandy.
At least, that was how Shepard could explain his presence in the Voyager Cluster to Navy Command. It was a cover Admiral Hackett had provided him with. His true reason to go into the Cluster was to attack Binthu - a planet in the same cluster hosting several Cerberus bases, as Admiral Kahoku had found out. However, since Cerberus seemed to have quite a few agents in the Alliance, the three conspirators had to act secretly. Hence the need for a justification to be in the Voyager Cluster - otherwise Cerberus agents inside Navy Command might warn their organization if they learned about the Normandy's location
Still, excuse or not, the squad would do the mission. They had traced the signals of the probe to the Agebinium and specifically to this mine. A place where it could never have moved to on its own. Wrex already had voiced his suspicions about an ambush before they had entered it. Tali just hoped he had not jinxed the whole affair.
"Unfortunately, we can't trace the signals further," she explained. "The metal deposits in the ground confuse all our sensors."
"So, as you predicted then," Shepard commented.
"They have also interrupted our communication channel to the Normandy," Tali went on.
"This keeps getting better and better," Williams complained. "It will be a real twist ending if this is somehow not a trap."
Kaidan, Williams, Wrex, Tali - that was Shepard's team on the mission. Kaidan and Williams as Alliance soldiers, Wrex as dependable mercenary who knew to shut his mouth when his employed told him to, and Tali because her technological expertise would most likely be needed in disabling the probe and disarming its payload. And she would also remain silent if Shepard told her so.
"I know, I know," Shepard tried to placate her, "But we can't just cancel the mission due to mere suspicions. That nuke must be disabled. Just stay on guard."
"Aye-aye, sir" Williams replied.
They went through yet another water-filled room and made their way through floating rubble. Since Agebinium was a world with no life and hardly any atmosphere to speak of, the water must once have belonged to the mine's life support system. Seeing it now filling up the rooms and turning them into messy pools nearly offended Tali's sense of efficiency. Losing water from life support like that was simply a waste. She knew such an attitude was unreasonable, seeing for just how long nobody had been here most likely, but her quarian sense of efficiency was deeply ingrained.
Another, more important yet also more distant issue on her mind was the geth data she had obtained on Solcrum. As she had been the one to download it, it still was on her omni-tool. However, she merely had acted as one of Shepard's agents. Rightfully, the data was his. She realized that even to other species the data might have quite some value, so she could understand if he wanted to have it exclusively for the Alliance or for the Council, depending on whether he had acted as Systems Alliance Commander or as Council Spectre. And it would be his right to claim the data as his own.
Yet, Tali needed the data. It was the perfect pilgrimage gift to end her quest. She would have to talk with him about that. Not now, though. First, we do this distraction, and then we defeat Cerberus. That's surely what his mind is occupied with anyway. It was a bit grating to have to wait what surely would turn out to be several days; she really wanted that data. But she would wait.
Her omni-tool beeped.
"Ah," she said after she had looked it up "I'm getting signals again. The probe must be in immediate proximity." She continued somewhat sheepishly: "Probably already behind the next door."
"Then let's go," Shepard ordered with a slight grin on his face.
However, the squad had hardly passed through the door, when the walls began to shake and a loud thundering could be heard. Tali fought down her shock. This was no natural event.
"What the hell?" Williams shouted.
"That was a detonator," Wrex stated.
"A seismic charge," Tali precised, "Somebody did this on purpose."
"The door is still free, though," Alenko commented, "We'll have to see which corridors and doors might be affected,"
"Right," Shepard said, "then let's see what just happened. Williams, Wrex..."
However, he did not get to issue his orders. A hologram manifested right in front of him. And looking at it, Shepard could see the Alliance Probe right behind it, in a dark corner of the room.
The hologram, which showed a turian without facial markings, began to speak: "Shepard. At last."
"Who are you?" Shepard demanded to know. "Did you cause the cave-in? What the hell do you want?"
"My name is Elanos Haliat," the turian introduced himself, "I doubt you know it. And what I want is revenge." He paused. "Who do you think runs the Terminus Clans, Shepard? Hm? Thousands of pirates, slavers, criminals of every stripe?"
A pirate leader. That explains the cheap performance as an opera villain. However, Tali remained silent. This was obviously Shepard's show. She had no doubt that if Haliat had been present as more than a mere hologram, the Commander would already have started firing.
"Oh cut the theatrics," Shepard replied with a scoff, "I don't care. What has that to do with this here?"
"Everything," Elanos replied, "Because you see, it's always the strongest who leads. The one who kills the most men. Seizes the most ships. Pillages the most colonies. Seven years ago I was the strongest. I used my influence to assemble a fleet. We would drive your kind out of the Verge."
"Elysium!" Shepard exclaimed. "You were behind it! You attacked it! Hundreds of people died there because of you!"
"I was the motivator," Elanos went on, "The instigator. The one who promised glory and riches for sacking the largest human colony in the region."
Shepard's demeanour changed. Whereas before he had been furious, he was now relaxed. A cocky smile appeared on his face. "Well, that backfired, didn't it? We destroyed dozens of your ships and drove you back into the Terminus. Hell, I should probably even thank you for my Star of Terra. I defeated you, Haliat!"
"Your damnable holding action!" Elanos raged. "It all failed because of you, and I was blamed!"
"It all failed because you attacked a human colony. Well, excuse us for defending ourselves from pirate scum," Shepard mocked, "It's well known your type can only fight freshly hatched salarians, if at all. We should've been more considerate."
It was moments like that that Tali became quite aware just why she had developed certain feelings for the Commander.
"Waste your last breath on mockery, if it pleases you" Elanos sneered.
"I've defeated you once already," Shepard replied, "This will be no different at all."
Elanos chuckled at that. "I rather doubt that. Goodbye, Shepard." And with that, the hologram vanished - and several lights on the probe began to blink. The nuclear payload had been activated.
"What do we do now, Commander?" Alenko asked quietly. He was collected, but his subdued voice betrayed that beneath the exterior he was quite nervous. At the very least. Tali felt the same. It was difficult not to feel at least a little frightened when a nuke was ticking only metres away.
"First things first," Shepard replied immediately and with a clear voice. "We must disarm the nuclear payload. This has highest priority. Lieutenant, Tali..."
He did not even need to finish. Both already had begun working. The nuclear payload was accessible at the probe's hardpoints. Tali realized that the electronics must have once been cutting edge military technology. But now they were twenty years old and obsolete, and Haliat had failed to install new ones. For all the threat the nuke posed, it was actually rather easy to disable. The only problem was time. She worked fervently, and forgot everything around her. She was fully focused on overriding the electronics.
She distantly heard Shepard say something, but could not even tell what. The first hardpoint was disabled. Swiftly she moved to the next. Her peripheral vision saw Alenko raising from the hardpoint he had worked on some time after, but again she hardly registered that. She only dared to let the outside world enter her brain again after she had disabled the final hardpoint. She breathed out.
When she stood up, Shepard commented: "Good job, Tali, Lieutenant Alenko. That seems to have been quite a poor trap." He grinned. "Oh well, what should I have expected from somebody like Haliat?"
"You didn't even really know him until minutes ago," Tali pointed out humorously. As the threat was over, she was back in good spirits.
"I know his kind," Shepard answered. "Pirates that is, not turians. If any of them had more than two functioning brain cells they wouldn't need to take that 'career path'."
"Well, the first priority is cleared now, sir," Williams pointed out. "What now?"
"Now we go and kick somebody's ass," Wrex replied instead of Shepard.
The Commander laughed. "Essentially, yes. We know the seismic charge hasn't even hit the door here, so it doesn't seem to have affected the entire mine. And we know the mine is large. We certainly haven't explored all corridors. So chances are actually quite good we'll find a way out."
And so the squad set out to explore all caverns and corridors of the mine. It was a lengthy business. Rocks and stones now blocked most ways, but the squad made it through them as best as they could, exploring all routes still open. Most of them led to dead ends.
They climbed over rocks and waded through waters. They passed corridor after corridor, had to push open several doors by muscle power and wandered around in the mine for hours. They were totally exhausted.
"There are certainly nicer places for physical training," Williams complained when the group was again climbing over a heap of rocks and rubble
"See it from the positive side, Chief," Alenko suggested, "Whenever will you get again the chance to train your stamina in a half-ruined, alien, unchartered mine on some god forgotten world in a largely unsettled cluster? It's a once in a life time chance!"
"You make it sound so appealing, LT," Williams snarked back. .
"What about the Normandy?" Tali asked. "We are hours overdue. Certainly Pressly will suspect something."
"Yeah, and that worries me," Shepard replied in a grave voice. "Haliat surely hasn't just left. He'll wait for the inevitable search group to come for us. I just hope Pressly will wait a bit before sending such a group. No point worrying about that now, though."
"Speaking of that turian, won't he have noticed by now that the charges haven't exploded?" Williams asked.
"Yes," Wrex answered, "But he can do nothing about it. So he'll wait for us to starve, and for the Normandy to send a search team."
"I think that fits exactly," Shepard commented. "We need to find a way out here to prevent both."
"Smart analysis," Wrex said, "The mark of a great strategist."
Shepard laughed. "That's why I'm the leader!"
"You two should make up a comedy act," Williams suggested dryly and continued in the same tone: "That is, you two should make up a comedy act, sir."
"It takes a very special mind to appreciate my humour, Williams," Wrex countered.
The Gunnery Chief just scoffed and shook her head. Tali knew that while Williams was an exemplary solider in most fields and an outstanding fighter, she always had walked a fine line between humour and insubordinate behaviour. In recent time she seemed to have gotten bolder in that regard. However, Shepard did not seem to mind. He could be easily agitated as Tali knew, but apparently not by humour.
It's most likely just normal crew building. The crew members act increasingly more at ease with each other in general. That certainly was true of Shepard and Alenko, too, since the two had cleared matters between them.
"Is it me, or have we been going upwards for quite a while?" the Lieutenant asked.
"We have," Wrex just stated.
"It's true," Tali confirmed after a look on her instruments. In fact, they had gone quite a way upwards recently. Apparently, amidst the climbing and clearing ways that had not always been obvious.
"That's good, isn't it?" Alenko suggested, "Maybe this way leads to an exit."
"Or to just another dead end," Williams replied, "Damn, I wish I had your optimism, LT!"
"No offence, Chief," Shepard intervened laughing, "but I don't think that would really fit to you."
Tali only half listened. She came to an abrupt halt and looked at something at the wall.
"Probably not, sir," Williams conceded. "So since it seems to be expected of me, I predict this path will go nowhere, and we'll all die a horrible, slow death here."
"Sorry, Chief Williams," Tali said, "but it seems this time you're wrong."
That got the quarian the attention of the whole team. "You found something?" Shepard asked.
"Electronics," Tali replied. "There seems to be a panel in this wall, but it's behind so much dust and rubble..." While she was speaking, Tali already began removing those obstacles. Soon, others joined her.
What they found was not just an electronic panel. But an entire electronically sealed door.
"Is that really..." Shepard began, but Tali already tested it: She pushed a button on the electronic panel, and the door opened. Behind it, the squad looked onto the dimly red illuminated rocks of Agebinium and its black star-filled sky.
"I've never been more happy in my life to have been wrong," Williams commented dryly.
Stepping out of the mine, Tali had a wide view over the surrounding landscape. The exit apparently was on top of the mountain ridge in which the mine was located. While Shepard established contact with the Normandy, she looked around. Haliat was still somewhere here, she just knew it. The rest of the squad did the same. Everybody wished to see him defeated.
Wrex grunted. Both Shepard and the other soldiers turned their attention towards him. He stood at the edge of a cliff and looked downward. "There he is," the krogan said.
Shepard walked slowly to Wrex' position, careful not to be seen by any potential enemies. "Haliat?" he asked.
"It's not the Asari Consort" Wrex countered.
Tali walked to the edge of the cliff, too, in a covered position. At first she could only see some vague shapes, but she had her ocular implants and helmet visor magnify the image, and indeed: A camp of considerable size had been built up on one side of the mountain range, opposite from the entrance the squad had used. Several armed people of different races walked between the tents, containers and machines.
"Haliat must have orchestrated everything from there," Alenko suggested.
"Shit," Williams cursed, "I'd assume roughly company strength. No way we can take them on."
"That's what we have the Normandy for," Shepard said calmly. Everybody looked at him with surprise. "Why not? It's no garden world, so orbital bombardments are legal, and hell, Chief, didn't you complain at Therum about the ship usually being so useless in ground combat? Well now we can rectify that."
"I guess, sir," Williams replied. "Not exactly subtle, but then subtlety never was my style, either."
"Not exactly satisfying, either," Wrex said, "Haliat should know who killed him. Now, he won't even know what hit him. But it will do."
Shepard already was not listening any more, and instead again commed the Normandy.
Ten minutes later the spectacle began. As Argebinium had no atmosphere to speak of, there was no fire raining from above; the bombardment matter did not experience aerodynamic heating. Instead, it was a dense bombardment by mass effect accelerated rocks. It caused huge craters to be left behind and much dust to be hurled high.
"No way anybody survived that," Alenko commented.
Before Shepard could reply, he was commed by Pressly telling him the bombardment was over. The Commander turned to the Lieutenant and answered: "I agree. And personally I have no wish to go down that slope and up again just to confirm it. Let's just grab the Mako and get back to the Normandy."
"Haliat went through very much trouble and work to simply die like this," Williams remarked with a vicious smile behind her helmet's visor, just as the squad turned to go towards the Mako.
"It's as Shepard said," Tali said, "He promised to defeat him again, and so he did."
Shepard did not comment on that, and neither did at first Williams. She walked silently for a moment and then asked carefully: "Is that what will happen to that 'Cerberus' now, too?"
Only Shepard's 'Spectre entourage' knew what had happened at Ontarom and what the Commander had learned. However, the rest of the crew knew about Cerberus' other crimes, at Chasca and Edolus, they knew the mission on Ontarom had to do with them, too, and they knew they would go up against them in the near future. Given the third item, it was no surprise crew members would ask about this. Still, Tali could not help but to be a little bit concerned about how Shepard would take the question.
However, the Commander reacted calmly. "Yes. They'll be defeated, too. And they're our next target. In fact, they're the real reason we've entered this cluster."
"Good," Williams replied, "They killed an entire marine unit on Edolus. Now marines will strike back. I for one want blood. Uh... sir."
Shepard laughed sharply. "It's all right, so do I. And come on now, Chief, after all the battles we've been in together I won't go all military discipline on you if you forget the right address once or twice."
"Noted, sir," Williams replied in a jokingly exaggerated manner.
"The rumours we hear are a bit troubling, though," Alenko said, "About how much influence Cerberus might have on the Alliance."
"That's why it takes us to do something about it," Shepard replied. "We can't trust any official channels in this."
"You couldn't rely on official channels regarding ExoGeni, either," Tali pointed out, "And yet that didn't stop you." Trying to support Shepard came almost naturally to her.
"True," Shepard answered, "And I guess it's even easier now. We don't need to bother with media campaigns or court cases, but can rely on good, old military actions."
"As good as you were in the media campaign, I think that direct approach suits you better," Tali suggested humorously.
"I think I should be a bit insulted that apparently you don't think I can do subtlety," Shepard replied in the same spirit, "but after having ordered an orbital bombardment I find myself unable to muster a counter-argument. Sometimes a bit of 'direct action' can be quite refreshing."
"I already mentioned all those questionable influences on me during my pilgrimage, didn't I?" Tali joked.
As Shepard answered to that, Tali saw Ashley raising an eyebrow. The transparent visors of the human space suits made it quite possible to view their expressions. However, the quarian was not quite sure just what the Gunnery Chief expressed with that.
The conversation continued with some interruptions until the squad had reached the Mako. By that time, it had been pretty much narrowed down to only Shepard and Tali. She was very tempted to bring up the issue of the geth data, but she suppressed that urge.
Instead, she joked: "I'm a bit surprised they let you jump the Mako back to the ship."
"Only into the cargo bay," Shepard replied, "so it's not like I could hurt essential systems."
"I've no doubt you could still damage the drive core. Somehow," Tali answered mock-dismissively.
The 'jump' back into the Normandy was a routine maneuver - the ship flew overby very lowly, with opened cargo hatches, and the Mako used its thrusters to jump on board. In fact, this time Shepard seemed to take extra care that everything go as smoothly as possible, so that nobody would have any grounds to complain.
By the time the squad had left the Mako, the conversation between Tali and Shepard had shifted back to Cerberus. "I just don't know what we'll do after Binthu," the Commander explained, as he and the quarian entered the elevator upward "I mean, we don't have the time to hunt Cerberus down, and we can't exactly trust the Alliance to do so, either. I just hope we'll find something we can use in that regard."
"If nothing else, we'll find intelligence data," Tali said, "Information is also a resource, and a highly important one, too. And it's not like there is any point in worrying now. We'll hit Binthu, and then see what we've got."
"A pragmatical attitude," Shepard commented. As he stepped out of the elevator he grinned. "Wait, let me say it this time: 'it comes with being a quarian'."
"I haven't said that in weeks any more," Tali replied mock-coldly, "but I congratulate you on your good memory."
She followed Shepard up the stairs to the Second Deck, where the sleeping pods, the mess and his cabin were located. The mission had earned her a rest period now, but as she had nothing better to do, she kept talking with Shepard - until she realized they both were standing in front of the door to his cabin.
Both hesitated. "So, uh, I guess I can meet you at the mess then?" Shepard asked.
"Sure," Tali said. "I didn't really notice where we were going."
"Heh, I'll chalk that up to my suave and elegant talking skills," Shepard joked.
Tali harumphed and answered: "So I... that is I should go now, I think..."
"Oh, what the hell," Shepard muttered and asked: "How about instead, well - do you want to come in?"
"I don't think I should..." Tali answered stumbling, "it might be... that is, shouldn't you rest now? And surely you want to remove your armour, and maybe also clean yourself, and I..."
"Yeah, well," Shepard answered, "if you stay near the door, then, ah, modesty should be saved. The cabin is surprisingly big for a room on a military ship, especially on a frigate. And it would be a bit awkward talking with you if you're on the other side of the door."
Tali was surprised. She knew how important privacy was to Shepard, that had come up when he had tried to explain his distaste for asari mindmelds. Quarians these days could not afford to be as picky about that issue, but then Shepard was no quarian, and had a right to his privacy.
"I don't..." Tali began. She stopped shortly, and then found refuge in her usual humour to gain some self-certainty: "We could just continue talking later, I hope you realize that."
"Yeah, true," Shepard admitted and shrugged. "Well then, see you in the mess, or what do you say?"
He's rather casual about it. He doesn't seem to see it as an intrusion of privacy. That surprised Tali somewhat. Then she realized: He doesn't see as intrusion. He'd trust me not to violate his privacy.
"Sure," Tali answered, " I mean, if it really is no trouble to you I could come in with you, but..."
Shepard simply unlocked the door and held it open for her. She entered.
…
There had been curiously little information about Binthu. Most publicly accessible data had been pretty generic, and suggested a very hostile planet. More hostile than it actually turned out to be, despite its sulphur atmosphere periodical acid rains. It looked like somebody had tempered with the data. Somebody like Cerberus.
She sat in the Mako next to Shepard. The Commander had taken his Spectre entourage with him. Not that he did not trust Williams or Alenko. Both had it made quite clear they would support him against Cerberus. However, he wanted to make it very clear he was here as a Spectre, not as a Alliance Navy Commander. Spectres after all had more opinions available to them.
Shepard's face was as if cast in stone, but not emotionless. A hard grin gave him the look of a predator. It was a scary sight - or would have been. Naive as it maybe was, Tali could not really associate any threat to her with him. Rather, that confident grin made her certain of a victory to come.
The Mako had approached one of the known Cerberus bases on the planet. Their campaign against that organization would begin here. Fortunately, due to Admiral Kahoku's data they knew the exact location of all Cerberus bases on the planets. Unfortunately, they were all subterranean, so orbital bombardments were not an option. Instead, the ground team would take them out.
The Mako's gun had already destroyed the exterior defences of the facility, and the vehicle was now driving towards its entrance. It's about to begin.
The squad entered the facility. They climbed down the bunker ladder into a spacious, empty entrance area, which allowed them to form up a proper battle order before entering the inner rooms, which were separated from the entrance area by a small corridor. The squad brought itself in position and waited for Shepard to open the final roor. Since they had no idea what to expect them on the other side Shepard had decided it would be unwise to let the enemy get the first shot. Instead, the team was to storm into whatever was on the other side.
The door was unsecured. Shepard pushed its button, and it opened.
The first thing Tali was noticed was a large, blue shimmering cage of strong kinetic barriers which filled the entire centre of the room. Something moved inside it, but she could not get a clear look. She ran inside the room and kneeled besides a control terminal for cover. Then she saw soldiers running towards the squad. All of them wore non-descript, blackish-brownish clothes and armours. Most of them were very well armed and armoured. Tali analyzed the situation and considered it difficult. This will be tough. But manageable.
Garrus, Liara and Shepard began firing on the enemies. Tali in the meanwhile tried to saturate their shield generators with false signals, in the hope of overloading them. She cursed loudlessly as she typed on her omni-tool and let out a sound of relief when it told her that several enemy shields had been weakened.
She grabbed her shotgun and joined the firefight. She hit a Cerberus trooper that came running towards Liara with an Assault rifle. The trooper jumped behind a crate to take cover, and now concentrated on the quarian. At the same moment, Garrus got jerked to the room's ceiling. The turian was surrounded by blue dark energy. Ancestors help, they have biotics.
She realized Wrex was missing. Where is he? We need him! An extra loud shot echoed through the room, and she saw how Shepard had thrown himself to the floor. Keelah, that was close. They have snipers, too! The Commander got back into cover.
Liara solved the problem: The enemy sniper soon adorned the ceiling, right next to Garrus. Soon afterward, Shepard lifted an enemy into the air, too. A third soon followed. Wrex! She looked around and saw him just standing there. He stared intensely at whatever was inside the kinetic barriers at the centre of the room. What has happened to him?
The concentrated biotic push seemed to have brought the Cerberus troops into a disarray. Shepard took shots at the disabled enemies. Tali saw him grinning widely while doing so. He's enjoying this. He's really enjoying it. She could not fault for him for it, though. It was the same for her when she fought geth.
Keeping the vicious grin, Shepard stormed forwards as soon as Garrus had fallen to the ground again. A blue halo of dark energy surrounded him. The turian was slightly dazzled but nonetheless followed the push of the Commander. Tali, too, got out of her cover and joined in the charge.
The Cerberus troops apparently had not counted on such an attack. Incoming enemy fire was uncoordinated. Tali was hit, and her shields were taxed, but they held. The charging trio sowed chaos and destruction in the remaining Cerberus troops.
Tali heard Shepard growl a wild battle cry. He threw himself at his enemies with abandon and gusto. He did not care about being hit himself, he just cared about dealing out as much destruction and death as possible, unleashing bullets and biotic warps at his enemies. To Tali, he appeared like a force of nature. A natural force of revenge.
She saw remaining enemy soldiers disperse when he approached, his frenzy quite apparent and frightful. Eventually, though, the Commander paid the price for that: His shields faltered, and he was hit several times in his shoulder and upper arm. He growled again, this time with frustration, and ran around the corner of the kinetic barriers cage to get cover. Tali followed him, and could for the first time get a glance of what was inside. It was a huge creature of monstrous looks. It's a horrifying thought, but surely Wrex has seen worse in his centuries of mercenary work. Why is he so mesmerized by that sight?
She heard untranslated turian curses in the comm system. "Shields down!" Garrus exclaimed. She turned around and saw Garrus on the retreat from two enemies. She tried to help him, but had to dive to the ground when she noticed a red laser target point on her. A shot rang right above her. When she looked up again, one of Garrus` enemies had been pushed away, and the other one was just breaking down. She looked at the source of the bullets he was riddled with and saw Liara and Wrex charging forwards.
Took him long enough.
Tali and Garrus joined in with the krogan and the asari. Together they managed to mop up the remaining enemies and to close up to Shepard. He was sitting on the ground, leaning at the wall and panting heavily. Tali came running towards him. She was worried for him, and that made her oblivious to how obvious her sentiment was.
"Are you hurt?" she asked and then scolded herself mentally for asking such a stupid, obvious questions.
"It's... all right," he said and managed a grin. It still was a predatory grin. He awkwardly came to his feet again. "Medi-gel. Applied. It's working." He paused and breathed heavily. "Besides - now I know Cerberus... defeated. Have... seen what's inside... field?"
"Rachni," Wrex growled. The krogan could be frightening to others on even his nicest days, and his voice was always low and harsh, but now it vibrated with hate. He paced up and down in the room. Tali had never seen him that agitated.
"Rachni?" Liara exclaimed. "Oh, goddess!"
That pretty much mirrored Tali's own thoughts. Oh, keelah. The quarians back then had been a proper member of the galactic community, but as they had back then always been rather isolated behind the Persues Veil they had hardly been affected by the Rachni War. Still, the significance of that find was not lost on her. The Rachni were a defeated foe of the past, practically mythical creatures of darkness in the mind of most. Creatures entirely eliminated - or so everybody thought.
"The Council must know!" Garrus said.
"Exactly," the Commander replied, still grinning. His breathing calmed down. "Have no idea where... where Cerberus got them, but..."
"Rachni!" Wrex shouted again, interrupting the Commander. "We had them all! We had them all defeated and killed! Our greatest triumph! Millions of my ancestors died in the war against them. And now here there are living rachni!"
"Oh yes," Shepard said. He seemed to be the only one not fazed about Wrex' anger. Instead he approached the krogan and talked directly to him. "But if you're that agitated, imagine... imagine how the Council will see it. They'll freak. The rachni war was the greatest threat ever to the existence of Citadel and Council. It lasted for centuries. Centuries! For centuries the asari and salarians were in the defence against their onslaught. They're an almost mythical threat from thousands of years in the past. And now, they're back."
"Centuries of mercenary work, and I've never frozen in battle," Wrex commented, "Not once. Until now. But during all that time I never saw a rachni, either. They're a defeated enemy, beasts of the past, and now they're back!"
"And this will be Cerberus' downfall," Shepard judged. He turned to Garrus. "The Council will know of this. I will report to them, and I will give all data about Cerberus to them, too. An organization studying living rachni! The Council will fall on them like a ton of bricks, they'll hunt them to the ends of the galaxy, because - living rachni!" He grinned again. "I got those sons of bitches."
"I, uh, agree," Garrus said somewhat awkwardly, "The Council must know, and they'll hunt down Cerberus for that. But will this not also hurt the Alliance?"
Shepard scoffed. "The Alliance! They've proven utterly unable to protect anybody from Cerberus. Cerberus is a threat to humanity, yet the Alliance can't manage to contain it! So, instead I'll sic the Council on that threat!" He shook his head. "Cerberus has killed hundreds of humans. Having them destroyed, by whomever, will protect humanity. Not necessarily the Alliance, but if in doubt I put humanity way higher than the Alliance."
"Understood," Garrus replied uncertainly.
"There's a reason why I made sure I'm here in my function as member of the Council's Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch, and not in my role as Commander in the Systems Alliance Navy," Shepard explained. "Well then, Garrus, see if you can make some nice records of those bugs. Heh, it's really about time I get one of those visors as well, they're convenient. Tali, draw all files you can from the terminals here."
"And what about the bug here?" Wrex asked in an almost threatening manner.
"We'll give Binthu's location to the Council, so that they can send others to see the rachni for themselves," Shepard answered.
"Why? The turian is making records of it. We should just kill it!" Wrex demanded.
"What's the point?" Shepard asked. "Yes, Garrus' records could be enough. Or not. Best to give as much evidence to the Council as possible. There could be valuable information gained from that rachni. See it as a prisoner of war to be interrogated."
"We never took rachni prisoner of wars," Wrex growled.
"Well, now we'll do!" Shepard replied decisively and heatedly. He build himself up to full height in front of Wrex, even if that was still considerably less than the krogan's, and pointed his finger at him. "That might be the only possibility to get to the others. Or do you really think that bug is the only one of his race still alive? Somewhere out there there must be more of them. Do you really want to satisfy your blood lust with that one meager rachni, instead of wanting to know where the others are?"
Wrex growled again, but then laughed. "You've got a quad, Shepard," he said. "You're right. A true warrior's blood lust is not satisfied by just one enemy. He makes sure the entire enemy side gets eradicated."
Liara looked shocked, but Shepard grinned. "That's exactly what I plan to do to my enemies," he said.
…
"According to Admiral Kahoku's file this is the last base," Garrus commented. The Mako stood behind a ridge some hundreds metres away from it.
"Has anybody heard anything from the Admiral since the Commander got his message?" Liara asked.
"No," Shepard replied. "Not a word. And considering Cerberus' influence... I fear they've gotten him."
"Then we owe it to him to see this through," Garrus said, "To defeat Cerberus for him,"
Tali looked at Shepard. That's not the person for whom Shepard does that, to whom he dedicates this fight. However, the Commander remained silent.
They had cleansed two more bases in the meanwhile, one where Cerberus had studied Thorian Creepers, and one where they had studied husks. Those two installations had been virtual clones of the first. In both cases they had maintained the central kinetic barriers cage, and left the creatures living, so that the Council could send another team to verify the data.
They had also by chance come across a Prothean pyramid. This had of course greatly excited Liara, as there was no data on Prothean remains on this planet. If there once were, Cerberus had probably deleted them when they had altered the Alliance databanks to make Binthu appear hostile and uninteresting. The squad had on Liara's urging and with Shepard's amused agreement inspected the pyramid, and even found a Prothean disc and some children toys. Liara had been ecstatic at that find, and even now still had to force her thoughts back on the mission. Tali hoped she could. At least the find probably had given her quite a boost in morale.
Now the Mako descended on the last known Cerberus facility on the planet. Its two rocket towers were quickly destroyed, and the squad entered the underground bunker. It seemed to be built no different to other three installations they already had visited.
Again, Shepard fell into a true combat fury. Tali had learned the human expression 'berserk', and had looked up the word. It fit: Shepard fighting the Cerberus troops was a true beserkergang for him, complete with the mythical powers humans had ascribed to them over a millennium ago due to his biotics. Since Wrex now charged along at his side, and since the rest of the team had become so apt at supporting them, the two were a true juggernaut. Both had their armours pierced when their shields faltered, but in the end, they emerged undoubtedly victorious.
"I think we got them all, Commander," Garrus announced. And indeed, not a single Cerberus trooper or researcher was left alive in the room. They had all fought to the death. Cerberus' members must be pretty fanatical. She saw Shepard standing over the corpse of a fallen enemy, looking around for more enemies and finding none, the biotic energy flickering in his hands slowly receding.
Wrex was in the meanwhile looking at the kinetic barriers cage. "Even more bugs," he growled.
Tali came to take a look, too. The three creatures in the cage were vaguely similar to the one they had encountered in the first facility, but yet also visibly different. "They are much smaller," she pointed out.
"Workers," Wrex explained. He was quite agitated again. "The other rachni was a warrior. They have different castes."
"Commander," Garrus spoke up quietly. "There's a human body there inside with them."
"Goddess!" Liara exclaimed, "It's Admiral Kahoku."
Tali could see the body now, too. It was indeed Kahoku. "Cerberus got him," she said flatly.
"He died a hero, then," Shepard stated decisively. He grinned humourlessly. "Well then, Wrex, seems like you will get to fight rachni still today. We need to recover that body. Hell, we need to check if he's dead at all, but of course we can assume so. In any case we can't just let the corpse rot there for weeks, we need to find out how they've killed him. Dr Chakwas must do an autopsy as quickly as possible. And that means we need that body."
"This will be interesting," Wrex said with a predatory joy in his voice.
"First, though, Garrus, record them," Shepard ordered. "Extensively. And leave the recording running during the fight."
"Of course, Commander," Garrus confirmed.
"The rest, brace yourself for the first fight against rachni... in over two thousand years," Shepard went on.
Wrex emitted a short growl in reaction. He certainly was all too ready for that fight.
When Shepard turned off the kinetic barriers, he was the first to reach the rachni. Unbelieving, Tali saw how he threw himself at one of the workers with his bare hands, and began to tear it apart. We all have our enemies, it seems.
Liara lifted the second worker into the air, while the third one went down in a hail of bullets, as did afterwards the one hanging at the ceiling. Wrex' rachni was the last and most brutal to die. The krogan finished it off with a ferocious battle howl.
After the fight was over, Liara was the first one to arrive at Kahoku's corpse."No pulse," she confirmed, kneeling besides him "he's dead."
"His body doesn't show any signs of violent trauma, though," Garrus commented, leaning over the asari, "It wasn't the rachni who killed him."
"No," Liara agreed, "Look at this." She held up Kahoku's left arm. "Needle marks. He was poisoned."
"Why would they need to inject the poison, though?" Garrus asked.
"They wouldn't..." Shepard began. "Damnit!" Everybody turned towards him. "If they have a sense for the dramatic they did to him the same as they did to Toombs. Thresher Maw acid in his veins, in deadly doses. I bet you Chakwas will find that inside his body."
"Oh goddess," Liara whispered.
It's odd. She's remarkably collected and calm in battle for somebody without military training, but revelations like this still always shock her.
"We don't know for sure yet," Garrus reminded her, "In fact we don't know at all." He paused, and then continued: "However, I wouldn't take the bet."
Shepard sighed. "We'll see. We need to get the body outside. Hopefully we can carry it with some dignity for the Admiral, and not like a sack of lumps, but it's not like we have a bier or anything..."
He stopped when he saw the body softly going upwards and floating in the air. It was surrounded by a faint blue glow. Shepard looked at Liara, whose hands also were surrounded by a small aura of blue. "Well, that works, too," Shepard commented and smiled melancholic. "We'll show our respect for him by getting him justice. He died a hero, uncovering a conspiracy that has killed hundreds of people. And now we will finish his work and finish that conspiracy off. Or get the Council to do so, at least."
000000
Shepard had been working on his report for the Council, when Tali had informed him of her findings about the data gathered on Binthu. There had been regrettably little of it. It appeared files were not stored long term in the research facilities, but for security reasons immediately transmitted to a central data hub somewhere else in the cluster. Fortunately, one data transfer had been ongoing, so Tali's tracking device, already used against the geth in the Armstrong Nebula, had been able to determine where the signal went to.
So now, Shepard and his Spectre entourage were on Nepheron, an unimportant small world in the Columbia system. As with Binthu, information about it was rare, a clear sign of Cerberus tampering with Alliance databanks.
It had taken days for the Cerberus base to be found. Signal tracking just was not that exact over several light years. However, the Normandy's stealth abilities meant that the ship could hang in orbits for extensive periods of times and scan the surface without being detected. And that was what had happened. It had been pain staking, but finally Navigator Pressly had been able to report the finding of a small bunker entrance in very mountainous region in the arctic areas of the planet. Without intensive searching it would never have been found - it was a perfect hiding spot for a data hub.
For a facility with such an assumed great importance the outside had been badly secured, though. The entrance had not even included rocket towers. Only two Cerberus troops on guard duty had been rudely awakened from their normally surely boring routine and had been disposed of. Either Cerberus trusted on the base's hidden location - or all heavy resistance would be inside.
As the squad was preparing to storm inside, Shepard even hoped it would be the latter. If Nepheron was a data hub, then this would make matters perfect. Not only could Shepard give a perfect, irresistible incentive to the Council to hunt Cerberus down, no, in that case he could also give the necessary information to do so to the Council. And there was no more powerful enemy in the galaxy than the Council. Still, everything would be in their hands then. This was the last opportunity for Shepard to take personal revenge.
He indented to make the most of it.
He had been trained for heads-on charges. Both his biotic training and his weapons training has specifically been tailored to make him specialize in close quarter combats. As a commanding officer, he preferred to be on the defensive, but as a combatant himself he was more comfortable with the offensive, and especially with all-out assaults. However, the fights on Binthu had been different. Those were not just his usual charges. This had been a deep seated desire to see everybody in front of him dead, without much care for his own well being. It had been true blood lust.
He supposed that such emotions should scare him, but they did not. He had brooded about that while the Normandy had circled in orbit above Nepheron, but he just could not find it inside himself to reject or fear his emotions. After all, he knew that he would not just shoot a prisoner. In the end, no harm had come to Dr Wayne, and that whole episode only strengthened his convictions not to harm or mistreat prisoners. And everybody who did not surrender, everybody who took up arms in the name of Cerberus, everybody who fought for those terrorists to the death very much deserved that death, and Shepard was only all to willing to hand it out.
His squad stood behind him, waiting for him to open the door. Good people, all of them. Shepard trusted them, even though they all were aliens. But then, it seems that doesn't faze me in general. He spared one more glance for Tali. Well, I guess at least we can share these battles together, if nothing else. She had told him numerous times she would be at his side when he needed her, and she always had been. By now, he did not need to be told any more.
He opened the door.
As luck would have it, a sole Cerberus soldier stood only few metres away from the door. Shepard immediately shot and watched with glee as the soldier went down. He then stormed into the room. Battle instincts took over. He ran from cover to cover, ever towards the enemy, constantly firing at them, using his biotic powers as the situation demanded.
However, it was more than just battle instincts. He took risks he would never have taken in other fights. And as he saw his enemies fall before him, or backing off, a vicious sense of triumph griped him. He chased after them, ever forward, to see every last of them going down.
He thus spent the entire battle in a sort of happy stupor. He could rely entirely on his instincts, he could still make informed decisions and execute tactical maneuvers, but it was nonetheless a sort of trance, which made him totally forget the dangers of the battlefield. He had named Cerberus his personal enemies, and now he was destroying them. He experienced an animal joy about that.
When the battle winded down he noticed how Garrus and Liara gave him critical looks. He could even understand them. He had not tried to hide just what he had felt during battle. Wrex of course did not care. Surprisingly, apparently neither did Tali. She simply announced: "Area clear," and then even added approvingly: "Now we can go look what data they have in store here."
He smiled slightly at her unwavering pragmatism.
"Too bad we couldn't make prisoners," he commented, still breathing heavily. Even if maybe it didn't look like I wanted to do so. "I guess... I guess Dr Wayne will have to do. But what the hell... just what is it with them always fighting to the death?"
Garrus was kneeling over a corpse and replied: "I've wondered the same thing, actually." He opened the fallen soldier's mouth. His claws ticked against the trooper's teeth. "As I thought. False teeth."
"...filled with poison, most likely" Shepard completed. Having a C-Sec officer along the way does have its advantages. "Looks like they were well prepared to go into death if need be."
"Hrm," Wrex harrumphed. "Primitive for such a wide reaching conspiracy. Most secret agents use exploding occular implants these days. Especially salarians."
"Ah..." Liara sounded shocked, but did not go on.
"Well then," Shepard commented, "Then let's not get Cerberus the time to get a hold on a salarian and switch to those implants. Tali, Garrus, I think you know your roles by now."
"I suppose having to do all the work like here is better than not getting to work properly at all like at C-Sec," Garrus joked. "A bit at least."
"Yes, you have so much work to do, Garrus," Tali replied dryly. "Walking around and looking at things." She herself was already working at a terminal.
"I'm just saying that I don't regret joining up with Shepard," Garrus defended himself. "Uncovering a large conspiracy working on living rachni? Or hunting down a rogue Spectre and his pet geth, with countless lives on the stake and no regulations to get in the way? I'd say that beats C-Sec."
"I'm pleased that the imminent destruction of all organic life has improved your career opportunities," Tali snarked. After a pause she continued: "I'm surprised. You have told us so much about C-Sec that I thought you liked it there. You ever miss those talks now?"
"Not really," Garrus stated.
"But Garrus, remember how you told us about interrogating prisoners?" Tali continued, "It was an opportunity to share!"
"This conversation is over," Garrus insisted.
"Tell us again about C-Sec red tape," Tali teased.
"I have an assault rifle," Garrus warned.
"Ah, maybe another time," Tali concluded.
Shepard chuckled quietly at the banter. He was coming down from the battle rush, but unlike previous occasions it was not a fall into an abyss. He had won, and now his team currently was preparing for the final strike against Cerberus - to get the Council to hunt down the organization.
His thoughts were interrupted by Tali. "Keelah!" she swore angrily.
"What is it?" he asked.
The quarian did not answer. Instead, she continued typing on her terminal. Soon after, the electronics of Shepard's hardsuit told him that they were receiving vast amounts of data. Judging by the surprised gestures among the rest of the squad, he apparently was not the only one.
"I hope that was sufficient," Tali said after a while.
"What... What did just happen?" Shepard asked.
"The optical drive began to flash itself as soon as I tried to access it," Tali explained, "so I simply copied the data as quickly as I could, to all electronic storage devices nearby. Including your hardsuits."
"Huh," Shepard answered surprised, "Quick thinking. Is the data secured?"
"I think so," Tali answered. "Or at least the majority. It's heavily encrypted, though. Nothing I could decrypt on the spot here."
"Well, we have time now," Shepard said. "Or rather, the Council will have. Too bad I can't tell them what kind of information this is, but it's something, at least."
"Even their specialists might take some time," Tali judged, "This is really advanced encryption software."
"I see," Shepard stated, "Well, I'll think of something about that. For now, good work, team. The mission was a success. Let's get back to the Normandy." He activated his comm system. "Pressly? We're finished here. Try to set up a meeting with the Council. I have most important news for them."
On the drive and jump back onto the Normandy Shepard tried to formulate his report to the Council. It would be a shock to them, that much was clear. Whatever they might think of him, the message that he found living rachni, and people experimenting on them, would entirely level the playing field. He looked forward to that.
However, on the way to the conference room he was intercepted by Williams and Alenko.
"Seems like you've been successful down there, sir," Williams commented.
"Yeah," Shepard confirmed in good spirits, "We could eliminate all opposition and capture large amounts of data. The mission certainly was a success."
Williams looked to Alenko, who however remained silent. The exchange of looks appeared somewhat awkward. Then Williams spoke up again: "There've been rumours, though, sir. That you'll turn over all information to the Council. I didn't want to believe it, but..." She trailed off.
Rumours, eh? But there was no reason to deny it. "It's true," Shepard confirmed. "The Alliance has known about Cerberus for years and not done anything. Well, somebody has to!"
"The Alliance has known for years because Cerberus was once one of their units!" Williams replied, suddenly heatedly. "If the Council gets to know of that, it will embarrass the Alliance!"
Shepard stopped walking and focused his view on Williams. "A platoon on Akuze, a further platoon on Edolus - dozens of dead marines. Don't tell me you don't want justice for that, Chief, because I wouldn't believe it."
"I do!" Williams exclaimed. "But these are human affairs. We cannot let aliens weaken the Alliance."
"The Alliance will get embarrassed, yes," Shepard conceded, "But it won't really get hurt. Cerberus has been rogue for gods know how long. They have nothing to do with the Alliance any more. Okay, so it'll be awkward for the government to explain their incompetence in dealing with them, but that's about it. This can't hurt the Alliance - but it will hurt Cerberus. Surely that's something you want?"
"I do," Williams admitted, "but is it really necessary to expose the Alliance?"
"Over the years the Alliance has put so many efforts into not appearing weak," Shepard commented "I think that as long as it doesn't really harm them a bit of embarrassment might be good for them. Shows them that it doesn't mean the end of the galaxy."
Williams looked aghast at that, but Alenko knew that Shepard had not spoken in general, that he had referred to one very specific case. He now spoke up: "I think the Commander is right, Chief. It won't hurt the Alliance, and surely politicians getting into awkward situations is something you'd normally like, isn't it?"
Williams harrumphed. "You two really know what buttons to push with me, don't you?" she asked rhetorically. "All right. The politicians really should've done something about Cerberus way earlier, so I guess it's only fair they're now getting embarrassed. The Alliance will survive that, yeah. Hell, without Cerberus it'll even be better off." She paused and then added: "Ah, and sorry for getting so heated, sir, I..."
"You normally do, I know," Shepard mock-concluded the sentence for her, "It's all right. It serves you well in battle, after all. So yeah, don't be afraid to speak your mind."
"Noted, sir," Williams said.
"I guess we could all be a bit more relaxed with each other anyway," Shepard commented. "That reminds me, Alenko, didn't I tell you to drop the sir and Commander in situations like this?"
"Ah... You did indeed... Shepard," Alenko admitted.
"Right there we go," Shepard said, "So it's only fair that I offer the same to you... Williams."
"I'll keep that in mind... Skipper," Williams responded.
"Hah, that certainly works, too," Shepard commented. Skipper, eh? Well, I certainly won't complain. "I have an audience with the Council now, though."
"Good luck then," Williams said, "And shout at the turian Councillor for me, will you?"
Shepard laughed. "That's how it usually ends up."
He turned to go. That's indeed how it usually ends up. This time will be different, though. I'll have the upper hand. I hardly can wait. He grinned and continued to make his way to the conference room. He arrived at the holographic terminal at it and turned it on, however it did not yet receive a signal.
He heard Joker's voice over ship's communication system: "The Council will be ready in a few minutes, Commander. However, we got a call, and I really think you gonna want to hear it. Audio only."
"Patch it through," Shepard ordered.
A new voice filled the room: "Greetings, Commander Shepard. I represent a party interested in obtaining information on Cerberus activities."
"Sounds good," Shepard answered, "Any such party is welcome to me. So, whom do you represent, and what do you know about Cerberus?"
"I'm an agent of the Shadow Broker," the voice answered, "But I suspect currently I know less about Cerberus than you do. That's why I'm calling you, Commander. You see, Admiral Kahoku contacted my employer looking for information on on the location of any Cerberus facilities. We provided that information on the promise that he would turn over copies of all files gathered from the Cerberus systems to us."
Heh. Seems like Admiral Kahoko was just as uncaring about the Alliance being exposed as I am. He was a good man. "Of any Cerberus facilities?" Shepard asked. "Any on Binthu, you mean. Pretty meager information. And the data we found there was sparse. So, you don't happen to know more Cerberus facilities?"
"We acquired information about the location of the Binthu facilities from our contacts," the Shadow Broker agent explained, "Unfortunately, that was all we were able to find out. That is why we're so interested in acquiring copes of the files you have."
Those files are heavily encrypted, but I guess that won't be a problem for the Shadow Broker... or for any well-organized intelligence service... hah! An idea hit him. The perfect way to defeat a shadowy conspiracy - drag it into the open light kicking and screaming. He would simply send those files to everybody. The Shadow Broker will get the files, but won't be able to make use of them - I'll oversaturate the entire infosphere. And Alliance secrecy be damned!
"Very well," Shepard answered, "How do you want those files transmitted? Are there any one-time mail accounts on the extranet, or should I simply physically hand them over to Barla Von? I'm on the way to the Citadel anyway."
"Ah..." The caller seemed surprised by Shepard's sudden compliance. The Commander smirked at his success of catching his conversation partner off-guard. "I... think it is most efficient not to use up any of those accounts in this case. Please give the data to Barla Von, if you'd be so kind, Commander."
"Will do," Shepard confirmed.
"Thank you," the agent replied, "You're a very reasonable man. My employer will remember this the next time you need something from us." And with that, the call ended.
Shepard grinned. He would give the files to Barla Von - and to the turian military intelligence, the various salarian intelligence services, and whatever the asari had for data gathering. He would simply let all the cryptologists of the galaxy work on them. And if everybody knows about Cerberus, then there's no place for them to hide.
Shepard knew that some, if they were to find out, might consider those actions treason. However, he had not acquired those files as Commander Jonathan Shepard, but as Jonathan Shepard, Council Spectre. They were hence not Alliance property. They could still hurt the Alliance, maybe, but Shepard did honestly believe it would help the Alliance if Cerberus was to be destroyed. Thus in a way, it was even a service to the Alliance
The hologram terminal got a signal. Lights flickered, and images of the Council appeared.
"Commander Shepard," the asari Councillor greeted him. She sounded unusually terse. "We got the call from your XO. What do you have to tell us?"
"Or do you just want to mock us?" the turian Councillor accused him. "What in all spirits' names were you thinking spreading anti-Council propaganda? Do humans know no loyalty?"
Anti-Council propaganda? ...Oh! The interview I had with Emily must've aired. This is getting better and better.
"That was very inappropriate of you, Commander," the asari commented.
"All I did was to tell the truth, wasn't it?" Shepard asked rhetorically.
"You were not authorized to tell details of your Ambassador's audience with us," the salarian Councillor stated. He sounded the most neutral.
"Actions like this undermine the authority of the Council," the turian thundered, "Opinions on the Council have begun to further sour in the Alliance as reaction to your interview."
"And yet all I said was merely the truth", Shepard insisted. Let's set them up for a deep fall once they find out what I've discovered.
"I don't think you can call your theatrical gunwaving a mere explanation of facts," the asari commented.
"It's irrelevant anyway," the turian snapped, "We, the Council, can expect some basic loyalty from our agents. Maybe humans are too undisciplined for that, in which case we'd have to remove you from the program."
"Of course, that would merely be the last resort," the salarian assured, "But in light of your actions we must consider all actions."
"In light of my actions?" Shepard echoed, "I did nothing. I merely talked. Saren killed dozens of innocents even before he allied himself with the geth, and you never did a damn thing about it. I don't think what I did was any worse."
"Saren got the job done before he turned traitor," the turian insisted, "Sometimes at high prices, but always with success. His jobs helped to ensure galactic stability. Your actions help to undermine it. You humans are always trouble makers!"
"So talking is worse than killing," Shepard commented. "Who would've thought. But that's not why I contacted you."
"We're listening," the asari assured. "But be aware that we're watching you closely, so you'd be wise not to misstep again."
"I'm currently transmitting several recordings to you," Shepard explained. "Councillors - I have discovered living rachni. And a conspiracy experimenting on them."
"Rachni?" the asari councillor asked. Nothing remained of her usually calm demeanour in that question. "Did you just say 'living rachni', Commander?"
Shepard just nodded, and the salarian Councillor spoke up: "I'm checking the Commander's records. He seems to be right. He has found living rachni." He sounded utterly unbelieving.
"By the spirits," the turian Councillor muttered. "Tell us more, Shepard, now!"
The Commander suppressed a grin. Got you. Even after surely years of diplomatic training, probably even centuries in the case of the asari, the Councillors were utterly unable to conceal their shock. The rachni just had left such a huge mark on the collective psyche of Citadel space. Centuries of war usually tend to do that.
As the Council had demanded, he told them all facts - about Cerberus, his findings, his discovery of the rachni, and the remaining living rachni they could check for themselves.
"This is enormous news, Commander," the asari commented. "We certainly will take action."
"It might help you convince that Saren is not the only threat in the galaxy, and that with dangers like this lurking everywhere sometimes harsh measures are necessary," the turian said pompously.
"I never claimed Saren is the only danger in the galaxy," Shepard defended himself. He held back now in his answers, as everything was progressing according to plan. "Just in my estimation currently the greatest."
"In that case it speaks well of you that even as merely a secondary objective you have managed to uncover this great conspiracy," the salarian judged.
"I find it curious you would expose a human conspiracy," the turian said distrustfully, "and didn't you say that 'Cerberus' was once an Alliance black ops group?"
"Councillor, I am human, and I am an Alliance citizen," Shepard explained, "But regardless of the circumstances of my appointment, I'm also a Spectre. And if I stumble about something as enormous as living rachni, then of course I'll have to report that to the Council, no matter the circumstances. I know galactic history, and the importance of that find."
"So you do have a concept of duty then," the turian commented. It was condescending, but Shepard did not say anything. Things were going how he wanted them to go.
"You would not be the first Spectre to have problems with authority and respect," the asari said,
"However, you do seem to have a very well developed sense of duty," the salarian went on. "And the right abilities to execute your duty."
"Work on your attitude," the turian advised, "You seem to have some traits that could potentially make you a great Spectre, but you do need to work on your attitude."
Uh-huh. He's one to talk. But of course the Council now can't simply take back everything they've said at the beginning. I guess I'll have to let them keep face. However, Shepard remained silent.
"Your gathered data seems to be quite extensive," the salarian said, "No doubt we'll be able to use it."
"Good luck in your further work, Commander," the asari concluded the talk, "You've done a great service to the galaxy."
When the holograms had faded away, Shepard began to laugh. It was a release of tension, a sign of triumph. Everything had worked out perfectly. It appeared that quite by accident he had become a master manipulator, playing the different factions out against one another.
Due to that report to the Council the Council would now hunt down Cerberus - but there was more: By finding almost mythical beasts like that, something quite outstanding, he had convinced the Council of his resourcefulness. And by giving them information about a former Alliance black op group, he had 'convinced' them of his 'loyalty' and 'sense of duty'. Especially the turian Councillor would now think twice about removing him; after all he could also be used against the Alliance, or so it would now seem to the Council.
This should get the Council off my neck for some time. He grinned. He would never have been able to do all this had they not stumbled over rachni, though. An accidental puppet player. How interesting. Not that it matters how I've done it. Only one thing matters now: Cerberus is going down, they'll have no place to hide any more. The Council will not allow any organization working on rachni - rachni! - to survive. And now they have the motivation and means to utterly break them up.
Success.