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Chapter-Specific Notes: Chapter takes place immediately preceding Shepard's appointment to Spectre status, which would currently place it following Chapter One: Enter Garrus and before Chapter 21:The Hand Dealt.
A quarian, a turian in C-Sec armor, and a krogan- who seemed disreputable even by the standards for his species commonly held in polite society- stood in an awkward cluster between the door to his office and the news feed console, their backs all carefully aligned with the wall. It would have seemed like the punchline of a bad joke, if only the scene stopped there.
Much to Udina's undying mortification, it didn't.
There was Anderson, calmly standing at what had to be nearly the exact center of the room, regarding him as smugly as a volus in the act of closing a brand-new multi-billion-credit contract.
And the marine Shepard's team had managed to pull off Eden Prime-her name escaped him at the moment-one strand of dark hair pulling loose of her normally immaculate bun to fall across her sweat-smeared face, her pink-and-white armor spotted with blood, sitting off to the side, her booted feet crossed at the ankle... and propped up on his desk. She'd been eyeing the aliens almost resentfully, until Shepard informed Udina in no-uncertain-terms that they were there as her subordinates, at which point she'd begun to ignore them studiously instead.
And Alenko, the biotic, almost an after-thought in his unobjectionable dark armor, composed as a still-life on canvas, sitting beside her.
Shepard.
He'd known signing off on her inclusion as the Spectre candidate on board the Normandy had been a mistake.
Building up what little power and influence humanity had in the galactic community had been his life's work, and in a few days, this one grimy grunt had managed to destroy at least two of the best negotiating tokens he'd held in all those years.
But it was too damned late to do anything about that now. He just had to institute some damage control before things got out of control.
"An audience with the Council is serious business, Shepard," Udina snapped. "I don't appreciate your attempts to turn it into a circus."
Shepard shrugged. "Without us, you wouldn't even have a reasonable request for an audience, so you wouldn't be unreasonable enough to request an audience without us, I'm sure." She leaned back on the balls of her feet, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked the Ambassador directly in the eye.
He looked as if he had bitten into something extremely sour and was looking to spit it out without drawing too much attention to himself. "Well, you should be represented, certainly, I never meant to imply-"
"We wouldn't have any evidence to present at all without Garrus, Wrex, and Tali," Shepard repeated firmly, without the faintest hint of persuasion. "As individuals, they have already contributed significant support to our investigation...and their representation of their species may be absolutely invaluable."
Udina's eyebrows went up. He shot a distinctly skeptical look at the disreputable-looking trio.
"What better way to convince the Council of humanity's readiness to take a more central role in leading our fellow races than by demonstrating-visually, no less-that we're already working together in full cooperation?" Shepard asked coolly.
Udina flinched as if she'd waved a fist in his face and threatened to slug him.
Anderson smirked.
Kaidan caught Anderson's eye and hastily looked away before the grin had time to spread to the surface. When was the last time he'd been this tempted to laugh-on duty or off? He couldn't seem to remember. The air of ...well... not humor exactly, but... unexpectedness, maybe... that seemed to shimmer around Shepard warmed his blood in an unsettling-but not-necessarily-unwelcome- though he supposed it should be, really- sort of way.
"No presentation without representation," Shepard murmured archly. Was it Kaidan's imagination or had she cast a look toward him and Anderson beneath her lashes? As if to say she knew what they were thinking, and she enjoyed the joke as much as they did. But... whether she had or not, there was not hint of amusement in her tone as she continued, "Either we all go, or none of us do."
Including you. The unspoken corollary was clear as crystal, ringing through the room. If Udina wouldn't give her what she wanted, she wasn't about to give him the evidence. Even if meant the Council continued doubting her version of the events that had led to the death of their Spectre.
The woman had a spine that rivaled the interior support beams of the god-damned Citadel. It was enough to make a man's temperature spike, it really was. His temperature or his blood pressure.
Udina paused, narrowing his eyes at Shepard.
Shepard stood and tossed a look into the corner. "Ready?"
Kaidan swallowed hard and hoped nobody noticed. Williams raised her eyebrows at him and smirked. He resisted the urge to squirm.
"Willing and eager," the turian C-Sec officer chimed in, apparently without subtext, although Kaidan could almost see him resisting the urge to rub his hands together. It was just as well...if there had been subtext, well... Udina's head might have exploded. Or I might have experienced a sudden, unfortunate discharge of biotic energy that pounded the insubordination right out of the little maverick, Kaidan thought, appalled by the intense surge of satisfaction that accompanied the mental image. But not quite appalled enough to stifle the almost simultaneous reflection- Williams would help me do it, too, I know she would.