At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst. -Aristotle
"Would you like to explain why the entire ground team from Eden Prime is present, Captain?"
Shepard turned a silver iris on the older male that just waltzed in. She snorted and smiled bitterly, "Ah, ya know. We figured it was a good day to crash the political party, Ambassador. Give everyone a taste of the rugged side of humanity. In fact..!" She trailed off as she turned to Nihlus, Kaidan, and Bahtia, vividly teaching them how to pull a varren tooth through a human esophagus using a paperclip. Udina scowled at Shepard first, Anderson second. He crossed his arms in clear disapproval and just as he opened his mouth the Captain held up a hand to silence him. They migrated towards the front of Udina's office where they settled into loft chairs. Their backs creaked with age (Udina because of countless hours poised perfectly at meeting tables attempting to look intimidating in front of non-humans and Anderson from his scarring military history of climbing terrain and dodging bullets).
"I would just love to hear the excuse for this one, Captain Anderson."
"They are apart of a handful of people who remember what they encountered topside and aren't traumatized. You think you can walk into the Chambers and talk them smooth, Ambassador? We both know that you aren't going to win them over."
An electronic voice saved Udina from further reprimanding.
"Ambassador Udina, your presence is requested in the Council Chambers in 5 hours from this time."
"YES, thank you, Avina." The Ambassador sighed, running a hand over his face. "Of all the things… She can barely hold herself together, let alone bring back the beacon. She's managed to jeopardize her candidacy for the Spectres and disgrace Earth in one sitting!"
Shepard snapped her head towards the politician. Her glare shook some sense into Udina and he visibly pushed out his chest in challenge. Shepard took the bait.
"Listen here, Ambassador-"
Everyone in the room tensed as the aura they stood in shifted from stressed to violent. Luckily, Nihlus pressed a hand into Shepard's shoulder to save her from further embarrassment. Pft, embarrassed? Who the hell was he kidding?"Ambassador Udina, I'm not one to give praise to every person I meet. Surely you understand that?"
Udina's faced squeezed together in a mess of aged wrinkles, "Of course I do!"
Ever the patient man, the turian continued.
"I would not have selected Shepard if she wasn't capable of completing the task. While the destroyed beacon has set us back, it does not change my opinion of her. I believe in Shepard. She's Spectre material and provided any help necessary to the Eden Prime colony even after the mission. If that doesn't sway the Council, I don't know what will."
The room was quiet for a few minutes as Nihlus smugly stared down Udina. Kaidan appeared impressed with Nihlus if the drool edging past his lip was any indicator. As for the rest, they all blankly stared at Nihlus in distant judgment.
Ah, so he was a man of his word, then.
. . .
Once the meet-and-greet drew to a close, the ground team was dispatched to amble around the station until the meeting with the Council began. Nihlus excused himself from the group to run errands around the Citadel. (Blah, blah, Spectre business, blah, blah, "don't fuck anything up", blah) That left Shepard and Kaidan, who were abandoned by Bahtia when she saw her husband arguing with a representative. The Commander sent her a rendezvous point to meet up at and insisted she called if there was any trouble.
In short, this is how the duo arrived at the Elcor-Volus Embassy. Beaming up at the hulking mass of creature, Shepard listened intently as Ambassador Calyn gave a brief overview of the Elcor's presentation to the Citadel. She thanked both Calyn and Din and was ready to leave when she spotted another elcor just a few feet off to the right. He swayed a bit from one side to the other and his body rippled from the movement. Perhaps it was something common for their species to do, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to kill more time.
Shepard waved in greeting, "Hello!"
The elcor waited a moment, before his monotonous voice boomed, "Hello, there human. Sincere apology, but I am here on business and cannot be distracted right now."
She pressed a hand to her chest as she gasped. "Is someone bothering you? Who is it? A bully? Just tell me who and I'll fix it." Kaidan balked at her behavior, leaning forward to advise against it.
Even though this wasn't Shepard's first time aboard the station, she was already butting into someone else's business. Eden Prime had shaken all of them up. Nihlus had to take a few moments to himself after they hauled the Commander onto the Normandy.
To no avail, Shepard waved away Kaidan's efforts as she kept her eye on her new friend. "It is the fault of the Asari Consort. She has compromised my authority as a diplomat."
"She wouldn't dare!"
"Alas… she did."
"Where is this 'Consort'? I'll try to settle this out for you, Diplomat…?"
"Xeltan. I am Diplomat Xeltan. The Consort is across the bridge. Good day, human."
. . .
"Wait, did he say to take an elevator?"
"No ma'am. I believe he said to cross the bridge."
"Wh- Alenko."
The Lieutenant offered her a sheepish smile. "I thought you wanted to head to the Wards?"
"Sneaky bastard," she growled low. "You let me amble about so I wouldn't strangle that asari, didn't you?"
"...yes."
Hisses blew past her lips. She paced back and forth across the floor of the elevator. Heavy boots scuffed at the tile lining the bottom of the box, hoping to find some purchase to catch it on. Her silent tantrum stopped as the elevator descended, the glass swallowed the view of the arm below. Sky cars flew past at alarming speeds, buildings of all shapes and sizes littered the surface of just one arm out of five to create buzzing atmospheres of various species. Kaidan murmured something about a 'big place', his eyes scattering first downwards then sweeping up to catch a glimpse of the triangular slivers of space between the arms. To his surprise, Shepard's face softened considerably. One of her palms hesitantly rested on the glass. It ached to touch the freezing air just outside, the vibrating turbulence that separated life from death. At one point, a very long time ago, she stood with her grandmother in this same elevator, gasping at the bright colors dancing into her vision. She chuckled at the thought and stepped away from the glass before any of the painful could bite at her skin. Just a trickle started to descend down her spine but Kaidan shuffled just out of view. The fluttering of movement turned her attention to him. Finally she relented, jabbing a thumb at the scene before them.
"Welcome the Zakera Ward, Alenko," she smirked, her chest swelling with pride. While it had been years since her last technical visit to the Citadel (even with her poorly hidden animosity towards the station), she didn't have any qualms saying that she had resided there at some point. It had become home just as much as the SSV Einstein had.
Inevitably, even those thoughts were beginning to become too painful. Her chest tightened, but she played it off as a sharp exhale. She knew he wouldn't ask. None of them ever did.
It just wasn't his place.
The elevator dinged, doors sliding open to reveal a mass of different aliens Kaidan had only seen on the vids but never truly encountered and talked to in person. Being in large crowds such as the ones before him made one involuntarily hyperaware of every movement. A volus tripped over the foot of a snickering human; two asari giggled as they listened to some sort of message from their omni-tools; several lumbering elcor gathered in one space, all of their eyes closed- as if meditating; one tall turian stood above most of the others, stalking towards them angrily. Vibrant green irises blazed in annoyance.
Blinking up at Nihlus, Shepard and Kaidan blinked up at him before Shepard simply huffed and shuffled over to a ramen stand.
Nihlus turned to look at Kaidan who looked at Nihlus who looked entirely too tired for his age. "I suppose it wouldn't to hurt to eat. Come on." The turian swiveled gracefully on his feet to enter the ramen dojo as well. Alenko took one step forward. Just as he did, hairs prickled along the back of his neck. He knew what it felt like to be scrutinized. He had spent so long attempting look impressive so he wouldn't have to be scrutinized. Ever.
Nonetheless, he casually glanced behind to meet the steady haze of an ashen grey turian watching his every move. He tensed, bunching his shoulders around himself. Before anything else happened, the turian stalked off to… elsewhere.
He quickly moved into the ramen dojo to warn the others, to tell Shepard and Nihlus that something isn't right here, guys, but- but-
BOOM!
Someone beat him to the punch.