Author's Note: As of this chapter, we're up to ten. If anyone hasn't seen it, google up "Mass Effect Ferret" for Havok's inspiration. And he's not the only non-human Shep I have planned. Thank you for reading and reviewing! The Shepard list will be updated later today, after I get home.
One glass of cold water, helpfully administered to his face by Gina, woke up Udina, who dried off and managed to get ahold of himself rather well, all things considered. Still liable to twitching whenever they started speaking in unison, he still led them down the Presidium to the elevator to the Council chambers. Needless to say, it was quite crowded, what with seven Shepards, two marines, Anderson, and Udina.
Stepping out into the gardens, they slowed their walk up the stairs, listening to two arguing turians. "I'm telling you, I need more time!"
"You don't have more time, Vakarian. You are officially off this case."
"Fine. In the meantime, I'll be in the Wards, following down the leads that will still lead to something I can do," the one called Vakarian said. He turned to stalk away, pausing at the sight of the crowd of humans. "Um, pardon me," he said, slipping around the edge of the group and heading for the elevator. The other turian, with an equally curious glance, walked to the transit station, calling an aircar.
"I wonder what that was about?" four Shepards said in unison as they moved up the stairs, the thin group of people already dispersing from the bizarre talking, and they paused at the last spot of stairs. "Everybody clear on me being the spokesperson?" Angela asked.
"No, but I think discretion is the better part of valor today," came a new voice from behind Eric, and they all turned around, staring in shock at the new Shepard. "At first I thought the turians were staring at you lot, but given the number of your species around the room, and the lack of mine, I am forced to come to a different conclusion. What was that for?" he said, stepping hurriedly back from Dierdre.
"Just a hunch," the redhead said, "your name starts with H, am I right?"
"Indeed. Commander Havok Shepard, Vanguard, Redwall Alliance," said the six-foot ferret with a bow. "May I get the short version?"
Unable to help herself, Flora reached out and petted him. "Oh my god, he's so fluffy!" she squealed. "Oh, I hope there's more Shepard's like him!" Ashley was hiding behind Kaidan again, nervously fingering her pistol, and Udina was gaping like a landed fish.
Bradley looked up at the smile, full of alarmingly sharp teeth. "Female versions of me, I can deal with. Black and Hispanic versions of me, I can deal with. But there's a goddamn rodent version of me?"
"I," Havok said icily, "am a mustelid. Not a rodent."
"I keep pinching myself, but I'm not waking up," Gina said.
"Tell me about it. All these other Shepards are so tiny," Eric grumbled.
"Alright, alright! Enough!" Angela shouted. She glared around at her seven counterparts. "We still have to confront the Council about Saren. I am spokesperson. Is that clear?" Seven nods, in varying stages of reluctance, echoed back. "Williams, Alenko, remain in the background. Only unison we do should either be saying 'I am Commander Shepard,' when they protest, or discussing the Prothean vision." Sighing, she gestured for Udina and Anderson to lead them up the stairs.
The Council was usually a bunch of arrogant pissants, and they didn't disappoint her, already talking with Saren before they arrived. "Ambassador Udina," Valern protested, "We specifically asked only for Commander Shepard to be present for this."
All eight Shepards grinned (Havok drawing all three surprised looks) and replied in unison. "I am Commander Shepard."
"Spirits," Sparatus said.
"By the Goddess," Tevos gasped.
"Highly illogical," Valern muttered.
"It's a trick!" Saren protested. "The Alliance knows their so-called 'evidence' is insufficient and is pulling out stage-show slight of hand to distract you."
"This isn't a trick," Udina said. "The furry one literally appeared just over there, as we approached!" He waved an arm wildly towards the garden area and the rapid transit terminal.
"Councilors, the number of Shepards present doesn't change the facts. Saren was behind the attack on Eden Prime. He sabotaged the Prothean relic there." Anderson used his full captain's speech voice, carrying better than any of the Council did across the chamber. "Demanding that we find more evidence in the space of three hours is a feat the most skilled detectives would find impossible."
"Sour grapes from a failed Specter candidate," Saren sneered from his hologram, before it glitched and shrank down to half its size, with a matching grin from Flora. "This is a waste of our time."
"Comm, er, Ambassador, do you have any additional evidence to submit?" Sparatus said, feebly trying to draw the point of the audience back on topic.
"Not at this time," Udina said regretfully.
"Then we are dropping these allegations at this time," Tevos said. "Unless you have another topic for us to discuss, you are dismissed."
The hologram of Saren blinked out, and the crowd of Shepards descended the stairs. "That was an exercise in futility. Shepard," he started, only to be rattled by eight matching "Yes?" responses. "Shepard, do you have any other brilliant ideas for how to prove it was Saren?"
Angela turned to look at everyone else. "That turian seemed to have some ideas. How about if Ashley, Kaidan, Gina, and myself track him down in the wards. The rest of you follow Charles, see if C-Sec headquarters has any other information."
"Not me," Flora said, "I'm going to find out why that salarian is scanning the Keeper. Anyone else want to go with me?"
"I'm game," Dierdre responded. "We can contact everyone via omni-tool when we find out something."
"Um, sure," Angela responded. "I'm kind of curious about the Keepers myself, but it'll have to take back burner for now." They split up, heading in their different directions once the elevator reached the Presidium level again.
In the wards, Angela, Gina, Williams, and Kaidan, stopped outside the medical clinic. "Why would a turian come here?" Gina asked. "I mean, this neighborhood is mostly humans and salarians, aside from some shoppers."
"His lead must have brought him in here," Angela replied. Kaidan hit the door, and it opened to show the doctor being threatened by several armed thugs, with Vakarian hiding behind the low wall separating the clinic lobby from the treatment area. "Alright, drop the weapons and clear out, and we won't have to hurt you," she said loudly to draw their attention. So, naturally, the thug closest grabbed the doctor, putting his gun to her head.
"Get out of here, or I'll kill this bitch!" he snarled. Angela looked behind her at her three companions, then back to the three unarmored thugs, and raised an eyebrow. "I mean it!"
They all blinked when his weapon suddenly blinked red, beeping the "overheat" tone rapidly. Vakarian took the opportunity to shoot the thug between the eyes as he gaped at his pistol. Angela and Gina lost no time jumping the low wall, sabotaging the other thugs weapons and letting Ashley elbow slam them both into unconsciousness. "Thanks for the assist," came a new voice. "I'm Commander Shepard."
Ashley whirled around, raising her assault rifle. "Why won't they stop? They just keep coming!"
"Yeah. As it so happens, I'm also Commander Shepard. So's she," jerking a thumb towards Gina, who waved cheerily. "I'm Angela, she's Gina, and I'm guessing you're an 'I' name," she said, staring at the woman's Indian features and the small Hindu symbol painted (or was it a tattoo?) on her forehead.
It took a few moments of silence before getting a response back. "I'm Inara," she finally said. "Two other Commander Shepards."
"Actually, you make number nine, but let's not worry about that for right now," Angela said. "Vakarian! What the hell were you thinking? You could have hit the doctor!"
The turian gaped at her, probably still trying to process the crowd of Shepards he saw earlier. "I would not. He was ten feet away, I could have made that shot from a hundred and still made it clean. I'm a trained sniper."
Grumpily, she stared at him for a moment before sighing. "Fine. We'll let it go for now. You were saying something in the Council chambers about needing more time to get the evidence against Saren?"
He nodded. "His agents were trying to kill a quarian on board, and she came here for treatment." Everyone turned to look at Doctor Michel.
"I did treat a quarian girl a few hours ago. She was hit with radioactive rounds." She gestured towards another part of the wards. "She mentioned something about going to Chora's Den and selling information to the Shadow Broker."
Vakarian took this badly. "There's a krogan on board, a merc. He's been hired by the Shadow Broker to take out Fist, the guy who runs Chora's Den." He started pacing back and forth.
"Fine, where's this krogan? Maybe one of my other Sheps can pick him up," Angela asked. "And what's your name, anyway? I can't go around calling you Vakarian all the time. It's awkward."
He chuckled, with that weird subharmonic turians had. "Garrus Vakarian. The krogan should be in C-Sec headquarters right now."
In C-Sec headquarters, three humans and one Mustelid Sapiens stepped out and looked around. Off to one side, there was a krogan being hassled by a good half-dozen turians. "That must be him," Charles said, leaving the audio connection open. "We'll get him. I'm assuming even krogan enjoy having back-up."
"Good, keep me posted. We'll be waiting near Chora's Den after I check the shops. There's an alleyway nearby we can take cover in," Angela responded before clicking off. The four Shepards ambled over towards the krogan, listening to him threaten the C-Sec turians.
"Excuse me, are you the krogan mercenary hired to take out Fist?" Charles said calmly. The turians quickly decided not to get in the middle of it all, and backed away, motioning quietly for back-up.
"What of it? You think four humans are enough to stop me?" he threatened.
"Yes," declared Eric, at the same time Bradley said, "No," and a three-way glaring contest started up in ernest.
"We're not here to stop you," Havok said, "We're here to help you, actually. We need to save someone before Fist can kill them."
This caused the krogan to look at the ferret, his eyes narrow. "Never seen your species before. Who are you?"
All four of them grinned, Eric's slightly more bloodthirsty. "I'm Commander Shepard," they said in unison.
The krogan just blinked at them several times. "Humans are weird. So is whatever you are," he pointed at Havok. "But sure, what the hell. Let's go get Fist. I'm Urdnot Wrex."
"Nice to meet you, Urdnot," Charles said.
"Wrex. Urdnot is my clan name," he complained.
"Angela, we're on our way to Chora's Den," Charles reported as they moved to the rapid transit terminal. "The krogan, Urdnot Wrex, is with us."
"Roger. We'll be in the alley in a minute, so we'll back you up."
Angela stepped into the alley, in time to see a quarian confronting a turian and a pair of salarians. Upon catching sight of them, the quarian threw a grenade of some kind at the salarians, and ducked behind a set of crates. The turian tried firing on the girl, only to have his weapon explode from three simultaneous sabotage blasts. Then, to all of their surprise, the salarians were slammed to the floor heavily by a biotic. "That wasn't me," Inara said.
"Would you be Tali'Zorah?" a male voice said, and from behind where the quarian was hiding came a white-haired man, a ball of biotic energy rolling around his fingers. "Williams, Alenko, how did you get all the way over there?"
"Are those other humans with you?" Tali asked.
"I'm Commander Shepard, so are these two," Angela replied, gesturing to Gina and Inara. "I'm going to guess he's Commander J. Shepard."
He blinked at them several times before giving a quick bow. "Jared Shepard. I was unaware that I was … quite so attractive." Angela and Inara both gaped at him, while Gina grinned laviciously.
"Tali'Zorah, we actually came here to rescue you," Garrus said. "Word is you have evidence that Saren is a traitor to the Council."
The quarian's face mask turned around, taking in the whole group. "All four of you have the same last name? Are you related?"
Angela sighed. "It's a very long story." She keyed up her omni-tool to the sound of gunfire. "Charles? We have the quarian. Do you need help?"
"No, we're good. Eric and Wrex are having a tossing competition." There was a thud sound, and a single gunshot. "Seeing who can biotically hurl Fist's bodyguards the furthest. So far, Eric's winning."
"Hah, beat you by two feet!" Eric's voice came across clearly.
"That doesn't count, you ripped the legs off and threw them separately!" came a different voice, she guessed was the krogan.
Everyone in the alley blinked at that. "Ooookay then. Get his data, and meet us back at the embassy. I'll introduce you to the two new Shepards." Angela shook her head, and keyed up a different channel. "Dierdre, Flora, how's the Keeper hunting going?"
"We've found ten so far, he wants another ten. We also found his former partner, and convinced him to cooperate with data analysis," the redhead responded. "Flora only had to open his breathing filter once."
"Well, we have the evidence we need against Saren. Work your way towards the embassy, we'll rendezvous there and plan a search grid to find the rest of the Keepers." Angela shook her head silently to herself. "You can meet the two new Shepards then."
"Only two? Are they women or men?" Flora said.
Angela didn't respond, turning off the channel and taking stock. She now had four Shepards counting herself, two marines, a turian, and a quarian. "Let's go get two transit cars. I'm afraid to walk for fear of picking up Shepard number eleven." Wordlessly, she led them back to the transit point outside the clinic.