The Candidate – 5
Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect. It belongs to Drew Karpyshyn and Bioware. I am merely playing in the world created by them. As usual, all criticism is welcome.
Back Channel Diplomacy
Shepard introduced his new friends to Tali. The huge Krogan was introduced as Wrex, a Krogan Battlemaster, and an old acquaintance. The Batarian was called Charn, and had once been a specialist sniper in the Batarian State army. The last was a human, Konstantin Efimovich Kulikov, once one of the finest Alliance gunship pilots, and who, having retired from the army due to an injury, now ran a small business, ferrying equipment across Therum to people and companies who needed them. Shepard produced a bottle of Belvedere vodka from his luggage, along with a small bottle of Turian brandy.
Kulikov chuckled. "I see you came ready."
"Helps to be prepared." replied Shepard with mock seriousness. "Besides, one should travel in style."
Kulikov fetched a few glasses from the gunship, and Shepard poured them out the drinks, while Tali inserted a straw into the Turian brandy. All of them assembled on or around the rover, and sat sampling their drinks in contentment. It was a strange group – a pair of humans, a Batarian, a Krogan and a Quarian, sipping drinks in peace.
Kulikov sampled the vodka with singular relish. "You must have robbed Olympus for this, Johann."
"No." smiled Shepard. "I only robbed a Russian steel tycoon. I have only four more bottles left."
"You must be mad to offer it, then." commented Kulikov with decision.
"How was the trip, Konstantin?" inquired Shepard, over his glass of vodka.
"No problems at all, Johann." answered the other man. "After I got your call yesterday, I got hold of Charn and Wrex, while prepping the gunship in Nova Yekaterinburg [1]. Flying through the night, I got here to Caleston just after dawn. Wrex and Charn were already here by then, and we got into the gunship and waited for your signal near the old airfield. Once we saw your signal, we moved in fast."
"That was excellent work." answered Shepard approvingly.
"Good thing that you were here, Wrex." smiled Shepard shaking the hand of the Krogan. "Without you, that Battlemaster would have eaten us alive."
"Onerk was a tough bastard, but not quite good enough." replied the Krogan in some satisfaction. "It's been sometime since I've had a great fight."
"Aye." replied Shepard thoughtfully. He sighed. "Fighting a Krogan Battlemaster is not for Quarians or humans, or even Batarians, I fear." On a more cheerful note, he continued. "Charn, how have you been? I see your eye has not lost its keenness." Shepard nodded toward the corpse of the Turian who had been shot in the head.
"Bah!" laughed the Batarian. "A blind human could have taken that shot!" Shepard and Charn were given to cheerful insult on occasion, and neither minded it.
"Speciesist!" laughed Shepard, throwing a small pebble at the Batarian.
As they finished their drinks, Charn asked seriously. "What're you up to, Shep?"
"Will you believe me if I say I don't know fully myself?" answered the lieutenant commander thoughtfully, draining his glass. He continued. "I'm here to find an Asari researcher – she's working in these Prothean ruins." He gestured towards the ruins that they could see in the distance. "I need to get to her, and everything will depend on what she can tell me."
"Want us to come along, Shepard?" rumbled the Krogan.
"Not right away. I'll signal you if I need help, or once I have located this Asari." answered Shepard thoughtfully. "In a few hours, Saren will know he failed, and then he'll try to find out what's happened. Once he finds us, we can expect him to haul out the heavy artillery. So – we've got a day at the most to find this Asari and get her out of here. Does anyone know you three are here?"
"No." replied Kulikov. "Both Wrex and Charn got into Caleston quietly, and I flew from Nova Yekaterinburg without telling anyone."
"Excellent! In that case, Konstantin, you should get some rest now. You must be dead tired now. In the evening, take Charn, and Wrex back with you to Nova Yekaterinburg. Destroy everything that implicates any of us here. Then you can all get back to cover, and remain inoffensive and quiet, so no one suspects you. When Saren finds out about this mess, it should give him some pause, which will be to our benefit." He continued. "Tali, do you want to examine the Geth? Maybe you can find something that'll be useful to you and the fleet."
"That'd be nice, Shepard." returned the young Quarian.
"I'll get back here by evening." returned Shepard, rising to his feet. "Hopefully, by then, I will have found this Asari researcher. I'll pick you up then, Tali." She nodded. He turned to the others. "Very well done, indeed, all of you!" Shepard nodded in satisfaction. "Your fee has been taken care of. Next time you are on Arcturus, drinks are on me!"
-(Scene Break)-
A week had passed since the presence of the Geth on Therum had been detected. Admiral Hackett had called the meeting to oversee the progress in the candidature of the new potential spectre, Kaidan Alenko. Alenko himself, Rear Admiral Yi Lin, Ambassador Udina, Captain Anderson, and Rear Admiral Yehoshua Barzilai were sitting around a table in front of the scarred veteran admiral. Admiral Hackett spoke in his deep voice. "So what have we learnt from the business on Therum?"
Captain Anderson answered him, informing him of finding two destroyed rovers, one blown up boy rocket fire, and another crashed into the side of a hill. He also spoke of the Geth and one of the Turians being blown up by rocket fire in the first, and the Krogan dead of shotgun wounds and the second Turian of a sniper bullet. He continued. "The rovers were both hired locally. Both had been hired by two Turians. Both Turians were there most likely under false names, by the way. The Turian hierarchy and Citadel Security both say that the names under which they were hired are untraceable."
The others nodded slowly, around the table.
"Only another Krogan is powerful enough to use a krogan shotgun." commented Admiral Yi Lin.
"True enough." answered Captain Anderson.
"I see." remarked Adm. Hackett thoughtfully. "Continue, captain."
"Two more things. Shepard and his Quarian friend were there in Caleston on that day. They rented a rover and drove out of the town. They may well have been involved in this business!"
"Shepard!" snarled Udina. "He's a prime pain in the ass! What else do we have?"
"We found that, after the call to Admiral Barzilai, he called a certain Konstantin Efimovich Kulikov in Nova Yekaterinburg on Therum. And this Kulikov is a top notch former gunship pilot who runs a transport business on Therum. He also doubles up as a mercenary of sorts." sighed Anderson.
"What does Shepard have to say about all this? And Kulikov?" inquired Hackett.
"Adm. Barzilai can tell you more about Shepard, sir. And as for Kulikov, we interviewed him. He told us to go screw ourselves. We've got nothing against him."
Adm. Barzilai delicately cleared his throat. "As for Shepard, we've got no idea at all where he is, sir. He hired a ship to fly him and two companions - a Quarian and an Asari – from Therum to Omega. We've lost all trace of him since."
"Good heavens, Shuka!" exploded Hackett. "He's your agent! Surely you can raise him?"
"I'm afraid he's no longer one, sir." sighed Barzilai.
"Excuse me?"
"Lieutenant Commander Johann Shepard resigned his commission one day before the Therum business. When I ordered him to stop investigating this case, he refused and resigned his commission in protest. He is no longer part of the Alliance. I've no idea where he is, nor how to reach him." answered Barzilai wearily. "I've questioned his mother, Capt. Berengere Shepard, and also put out word that he is to contact us as soon as possible. There's no word yet. But if he's gone to ground, I don't think we'll find him. He's got contacts all over the Terminus systems and in Batarian space. He could vanish in either region and we'd know precious little about it."
Hackett closed his eyes in exasperation, but Lin questioned. "We know Shepard went into Therum with only a Quarian, but flew out with a Quarian and an Asari. Any idea who this Asari is?"
"Yes." replied Barzilai. "She is the daughter of the Asari matriarch who gave Saren his alibi."
Udina growled. "Splendid! So we have this maverick bastard running around the galaxy, forestalling out attempts, gathering evidence and vanishing with it?"
"She went willingly with him?" asked Yi Lin, ignoring Udina.
"There's no reason to believe otherwise, Lin." returned Anderson. "Her belongings were all packed and taken away."
Hackett ignored the Ambassador. "What do you think, Shuka? What is he up to?"
"Let us try to reconstruct the Therum business, sir." answered Barzilai hesitantly. "Shepard told me, before he resigned, that he was going to try to get to the matriarch's daughter. He thought that she was the key to this whole business. If he was on Therum, and if he called in this Kulikov – Kulikov is devoted to Shepard, by the way – it is quite possible that, between them, Shepard and his allies eliminated the Geth and this Krogan."
"Why would they do that?"
"Shepard thought that Saren's men were trying to kill him. He said so in his call to me. Apparently, an attempt was made on his life on the Citadel. If Saren's thugs ambushed Shepard on Therum, and Shepard foresaw that, or Shepard himself ambushed them, the result would well be what we are seeing now."
"That sniper shot could not have come from either Shepard or Kulikov. It is beyond their skill. Nor could they have used a Krogan shotgun." pointed out Yi Lin.
"Shepard has plenty of contacts. He could have told Kulikov to bring others with him." Barzilai pointed out with a sigh.
"So what do we do now?" asked Adm. Yi Lin.
"Every thread we had has snapped." sighed Anderson.
"What about that thug who attacked Shepard on the Citadel? What does C-Sec say about him?" asked Hackett.
"Nothing, sir." replied Anderson.
"Nothing?"
"The Turian was found poisoned in his cell before he could be brought to interrogation." replied Anderson dryly. There were sharp indrawn breaths from the others at this piece of intelligence.
As the meeting ended, Barzilai signalled Hackett to remain for a moment. "What's it, Shuka?" inquired Hackett after the others were gone.
"There's worse news, sir. Shepard leaving the Alliance is going to leave us more or less blind in many sectors in the Traverse, and especially with raids being planned in Batarian space. It will be several years before we can build our network in those regions."
"What! Why?"
"Intelligence is a matter of contacts AND trust, sir." answered Barzilai. "After the Torfan raid, Shepard came up with a strategy he called positive unilateralism. He thought that since the Alliance had shown its strength and vengeance, it could afford to be more gentle and show the others the benefits of working with humanity. He began a policy of going out of his way to help Batarian and Terminus colonies and officials that did not hurt our interests with unilateral intelligence sharing efforts. He was the spearhead of this charm offensive, and it helped that he could genuinely empathise with other species. Sometimes, I think he was truly more comfortable with other species than humans. So, while his contacts are still in place, they will be far less cooperative with us now, since Shepard is gone. They do not trust the Alliance, they trust Johann Shepard. Our opportunities for electronic intelligence will also be correspondingly less since many colonies will be far less willing to let us establish posts."
"So what would you suggest, Shuka?"
"It would help if we could bring him back."
"He's broken discipline, and ignored our orders." pointed out Adm. Hackett.
"I know what he has done, Steve." answered Barzilai, his eyes troubled. "However, if he shows up the Alliance by getting the evidence against Saren himself, we'll be in a worse mess. We'll be the laughing stock of the Council. Can you imagine it? The entire Alliance, with all its resources, could not do what one single man managed to accomplish on his own!"
Hackett groaned, and buried his face in his hands, as Barzilai continued. "Nevertheless, we should focus on getting this evidence against Saren on our own, ASAP!"
Hackett raised his head. "On that, we can agree." However, he added morosely. "I wonder if we did the right thing putting Alenko and Udina on this case. Both of them seem out of their depths."
-(Scene Break)-
A human was ushered into the lofty council chamber in the city of Armali. Shepard was well aware of the fact that the Alliance would view his actions as a gross betrayal of the Alliance in particular and humanity in general. However, he had made his choices, and he was willing to play his game to the end. As such, with the evidence he held, he had chosen to return to Citadel space, not in the Citadel itself, but in the home world of the Asari. Calling in several favours, he had passed on copies of his evidence to the Asari intelligence and a matriarch on the Council of Armali. It was no surprise, then, that he was able to influence the matriarch and obtain the audience that he so ardently desired. No sooner was he inside than all the doors were sealed and the regular staff were escorted out by a squad of Asari security personnel.
The Asari councillor, Tevos, was standing in the chamber, accompanied by one of the most powerful matriarchs on the Council of Armali, Matriarch Artemisia. Another younger Asari, introduce to Shepard as Tela Vasir, stood aloof and away from the others, her military bearing and uniform proclaiming her more martial character, as opposed to the more pacific appearance of the others. Shepard, dressed in civilian clothes, and wrapped in a grey shawl around his shoulders, bowed to his audience politely. Councillor Tevos began the meeting. "Commander Shepard we are grateful that you are here. We are here to review the evidence you produced and consider our future course of action."
Matriarch Artemisia added. "We reviewed the evidence you sent us, Commander. Some aspects of it were … disquieting."
"The principal evidence is this." remarked the Asari Councillor, confirming that Shepard indeed stood by his proof. She played the short voice clip that Tali had salvaged from the Geth destroyer. "Eden Prime was a major victory. It has brought us one step closer to the Conduit." came Saren's strong voice. "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers!" came the cultured Asari voice of Matriarch Benezia in response.
Matriarch Artemisia sighed wearily. "And Saren used Salarian reconnaissance over Eden Prime to plan his attacks."
Councillor Tevos took up the narrative once more. "Our forensics examined the recordings you sent us, and they agree that the data can have come only from a Geth's memory banks."
However, Tela Vasir was far less accommodative. "Commander Shepard, I take it that we would be right in saying that you did not run across the Geth evidence by chance?"
"You would." replied Shepard shortly.
"So how did you know where to find them?" asked Matriarch Artemisia.
"By baiting them into a trap, ma'am." returned Shepard.
"Perhaps you would care to explain further, Commander." suggested the Asari Councillor.
Shepard thought for a moment, and then he began. "The beginning of the whole saga was the beacon on Eden Prime. Please observe that it was inactive before the Geth attack and was already active when Alenko and I got to it. So – it is logical that it was activated by whoever orchestrated that attack."
The councillor, Vasir and the matriarch all nodded, and Shepard continued. "The interesting part was how, after activating the beacon and using it, the attacker had decided to blow up the colony along with the beacon. As far as the attacker was concerned, he had got his knowledge from the beacon and was anxious that no one else discover that knowledge. That was why he had tried to blow up the colony. Are we agreed on this?"
His audience exchanged glances, but agreed. Shepard proceeded. "As far as I know, the only one to come in contact with the beacon after it was activated was myself. From the attacker's point of view, I might have gained the knowledge from the beacon. Consequently, I was a danger to him and had to be silenced." He paused for a moment as if arranging his thoughts, and then explained. "You may remember, mesdames, that there was an attempt on my life on the Citadel nine days ago, just after I returned from Eden Prime."
"There was an intruder, Commander." admonished Vasir. "There is no reason to believe that he sought to take your life."
Shepard all but rolled his eyes at the Turian's attempt at playing down the evidence. He remarked quietly. "Ma'am, that Turian broke into my hotel room with a false key card, and he had brought a silenced shotgun – a mod that is illegal on the Citadel, I might add – with a shortened barrel in the dead of the night. That, ma'am, is a perfect assassin's weapon. I don't think he came to tell me bedtime stories!"
The Asari councillor, however, intervened. "Please continue, Commander."
"The day prior to the attempted assassination, I had been followed. I wondered why, you see. If assassination was the purpose, why did they not simply use a sniper as I walked about the Citadel? After all, it would be much easier than sneaking a shotgun thug into my hotel room. And much less liable to be discovered."
"And?" prompted the Asari councillor.
"To that, I got the answer, Councillor, that they wanted me silenced, but only after they had questioned me. They wanted some answers from me. Whoever was afraid of the knowledge I had gained from the beacon, was even more afraid that I had already passed it on to others. So – not only did they want to permanently silence me, they also wanted to know what I knew and more importantly, who else knew what."
"Is all this getting anywhere?" growled Vasir.
"Patience." spoke Shepard softly, and the others looked at this human in curiosity. "Once I knew that I was being shadowed, it became easy for me to bait my own trap. I made it known that I was going to visit a Prothean scholar on Therum, indeed the daughter of the one who had given Saren his alibi, their hand was forced. By this time, I knew that Matriarch Benezia had lied, and my attackers would be worried that I knew it. I could not be allowed to meet this Asari and thus share my knowledge with an expert. Once that was done, from their point of view, the situation would be beyond redemption. Therefore, I had to be caught, questioned, and silenced."
Shepard paced across the chamber. "It was unlikely that my ship would be shot down, since they wanted me alive to question. When I looked at the map of Caleston, I asked myself where I would set the ambush if I were my enemy. The place I was ambushed in was the best – and only possible ambush spot along the route I was travelling. From my own perspective, this potential ambush on Therum was a double advantage. Given how sparsely populated it is, it was likely that my enemy would send Geth – after all, Geth had been used on the far more densely populated Eden Prime. If Geth were sent, I might be able to get some evidence from their memory banks, which was why I had my Quarian companion with me on Therum. She is an expert on hacking Geth. I could, of course, not hope for such damning evidence as I did get. That was Providence's gift to my cause. Nevertheless, the chance of getting into a Geth memory bank and stopping the potential ambush against me in the same stroke was perfect. I made my own contingency arrangements, and what followed as an eventuality."
When Shepard finished his explanation, there was dead silence, as the Asari stared at each other and at Shepard. The Asari councillor began hesitantly. "Who else knows about this evidence?"
"No one." returned Shepard quietly.
"Excuse me?" The younger Asari was completely incredulous, while the other two also were taken by surprise. "Surely your superiors in the Alliance know?" When the evidence had been passed to them through the back channels in the Asari intelligence, they had all assumed that it was the Alliance that had been acting through Commander Shepard.
"No, ma'am." replied Shepard calmly. "I am no longer an officer of the Alliance. And I repeat that the only one who knows about this evidence is me."
"You are no longer an Alliance officer?" inquired the Matriarch.
"No, ma'am".
"Since when?"
"Since the last nine days."
"May we inquire the reasons for your leaving, Commander Shepard?"
"I was ordered off this investigation, ma'am. I refused and resigned." returned Shepard. "After a moment's pause, he added with a grimace of disgust. "War is too serious a business to be left to military men."
"War, Commander Shepard?" inquired the Asari councillor.
"Can you imagine the effect if the entire thing became known?" asked Shepard. "A Turian spectre uses a squadron of Geth to raid the symbol of human space colonisation. In this task, he is aided by Salarian intelligence of Eden Prime. Protecting him, providing him a fake alibi is an Asari matriarch, a former councillor of Armali, who has conveniently been allowed to resign her post. Every hallmark of a conspiracy is present here. It is not too much to say that it would spur an immediate arms race with the rest of the council, while provoking an outright war with the Geth. It is something that might well cost millions of lives! Even if war could somehow be avoided, the ensuing political climate would make it impossible for the Alliance to cooperate with the Council, even in matters that benefit everyone. Even normal trade would be severely affected in this atmosphere of heightened suspicion. It would be a losing proposition for all of us!"
Shepard added, as he paced around. "Further, there was the question of Matriarch Benezia. I know her by reputation; she has always been a friend of the humans and she is not the kind of person to be involved in an attack on a human colony. Once I released this information to the Alliance, her reputation would be in the mud, and nothing could save her. I owed it to her to give her a chance to explain her actions before I went to the Alliance with the knowledge of her guilt."
"What do we know about this Conduit and the Reapers." asked the Asari councillor.
"Only what I have gleaned from Dr. Liara T'Soni." answered Shepard. "No one knows precisely what the Conduit is, merely that it is a word that occurs repeatedly in the time around the Prothean extinction. There have been many theories what it is, but there is no unanimity, or even much consonance. As for the Reapers, they are supposed to be a race of sentient machines that wiped out the Protheans and vanished after the Prothean extinction."
The three Asari exchanged nervous glances. "So what now, Commander?" asked the Asari councillor.
"That is for you to say, Councillor." returned Shepard.
"It is not possible to withhold this information forever." said the Asari councillor slowly.
"I agree." answered Shepard. "However, the Alliance is after Saren. As long as they get their wish ...".
The two older Asari exchanged swift glances. "Thank you, Commander Shepard. We'd be obliged if you can wait outside while we consider this matter."
Shepard bowed and retired.
-(Scene Break)-
"Tela, what do you think?" asked Matriarch Artemisia, once Shepard had left the room.
"He is a complete bastard!" answered the younger Asari with conviction.
The other two smiled, as Tela Vasir continued. "He screwed up the mission, and got the beacon destroyed. Then he was ordered to leave the investigations to the others, but disobeyed his orders, investigated the matter himself. Finally, having burnt his bridges with the Alliance, he brought us the proof so that we would bribe him to keep his mouth shut!"
"His reasons for bringing the proof to us make sense." remarked Matriarch Artemisia quietly.
"Of course, they do." replied Vasir. "Otherwise, the whole charade would fall apart. As it is, no matter what we think, there is nothing we can prove."
However, in a more contemplative tone, she continued. "Yet he has one quality that we should respect. Ability. He has managed to gather this kind of conclusive evidence, on his own, with no help from the Alliance. This kind of resourcefulness and self reliance is what we prize among the spectres. I made some inquiries about him, and he is the top Alliance operative in the Traverse, which should make him a very capable agent. However, he is not the type to be loyal to the Council, ma'am."
"What can we do?" asked Councillor Tevos.
"Killing him might not help." said Vasir. "Anyone who plays a game this deep is likely to have taken steps to leak out the intelligence he has gathered, in the event of his untimely demise. We have nothing to blackmail him with. Threaten to hand him back to the Alliance? He'll laugh at that threat – he has done nothing illegal there, and worse, he will leak this proof, along with our own conduct here. That leaves us only one course – to bribe him for his cooperation" Vasir spat out the last word with a singular contempt.
"Maybe we can compromise between our distaste of him and our need to keep him quiet now. Let us hand him a poisoned chalice." murmured Matriarch Artemisia, a cold, cruel smile playing on her lips.
The other two looked at her as she began to expound her plan.
-(Author's Note)-
Okay, in this chapter, you are beginning to see Shepard and his own games. He has his goals, but so have the others, and it is going to make for an interesting conflict of interests and multi dimensional chess games played by everyone of consequence.
Do tell me what you would do in case you were in the place of the Asari.
Konstantin Efimovich is a portmanteau of the given name and the patronymic of two of Russia's greatest generals, Konstantin Rokossovsky and Mikhail Efimovich Katukov.
[1] – Nova Yekaterinburg is the capital of the planet Therum, according the the Mass Effect Wiki.