DISCLAIMER – I do not own Mass Effect franchise, the story, or any of its characters. All rights go to Bioware.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Wasn't it always funny how Shepard and crew ran in full battle gear all over Presidium? And the C-Sec would be like: 'Oh, a heavily-armed krogan running around Presidium? Well, nothing wrong there! That hanar preacher over there looks shifty as fuck, though! Better go check it out…'
Chapter posted on 29.11.2016.
Tags: Action, Sci-fi, Adventure, Friendship building, Love.
Rated M – for mature and adult themes – which will definitely be coming in the future… if that wasn't clear enough already…
Brace yourselves; this one's a long one…
Chapter 5 – The Hearing
There was something to be said about the effect the Citadel had on people who were seeing it for the first time like Marcus was. The clouds of the violet nebula that surrounded the massive station were obscuring the initial sight of it, but the brightness of the nebula's backdrop produced a shadowy outline of the station that could be seen as one approached it.
The ship would approach it, its passengers looking at the large shadow, straining to visualize what it was that they were seeing, until quite suddenly the ship would break the cloud cover and they would be surprised with the clear view of this massive structure's majesty.
Kaidan and Ashley were there as well. The two were being thoroughly awed at the sight, Ashley more vocally than Kaidan. Marcus was silent, however, schooling his mind not to be too awed like some tourist.
"Look at the size of that ship!" Ashley exclaimed when she saw the Destiny Ascension.
"Yeah, well, the size isn't everything," Joker grumbled good-naturedly.
"What? Look at that monster! Its main gun could rip through shields of any ship in the Alliance fleet!"
"The ship is only as good as the crew that's serving it," Marcus spoke up. "I wonder how great their skills are."
"Asari dreadnoughts are captained by their Matriarchs," Kaidan said. "They are almost a thousand years old; they have several lifetimes of experience!"
"Maybe," Marcus conceded. "But every muscle atrophies if you don't exercise it regularly, Lieutenant – even skill. What combat actions did the Destiny Ascension participate in? And for that matter – what assignments did the Ascension have, other than sitting around the Citadel?"
There was silence as the words sunk in.
"Told you so," Joker quipped, and before anyone could shoot back, he began his communication with the Citadel Control.
Marcus left the cockpit and walked into the main area of the CIC, standing next to the elevated platform from where Anderson was monitoring and directing the Normandy's and crew's actions.
"Marcus, good that you're here," Anderson spoke as he descended the ramp and motioned Jaina to join them, too. "I'm going to be needing you prepared, along with everyone else that was on the ground team during the Eden Prime mission. That includes Chief Williams. As soon as we land, you'll be joining me, and we'll go directly to the Embassy."
"I thought I was to oversee the beacon's handover to the C-Sec," Marcus spoke.
"This is more important," Anderson replied. "Sergeant Miller will do the honors of handing over the beacon. Don't worry; the entirety of the Alliance docks is being riddled with armed military personnel acting as security; there will be no slip-ups here!"
"What's this all about, Captain?" Jaina asked.
"Ambassador Udina had been notified via comm of what had happened on Eden Prime," Anderson spoke as they filed into the elevator. "He assured me that he will secure us an audience with the Council to discuss this matter. All of you must be there as well as eyewitnesses, because you can be sure that the Councilors will pose questions to you, as well."
"Do you think we can convince them to help us?" Marcus asked in turn.
"That's politics, Commander," Anderson replied ruefully. "Fortunately for us, this is big. Really big! The Council might not be happy about it, but when it comes down to something like this, they are damn right obligated to listen to everything we have to say."
"We'll be ready, sir," Marcus said, and both he and Jaina quickly left to prepare for what was to come.
"Ambassador Udina," the asari Councilor Tevos spoke politely from the holographic projection. "We understand that there had been a development on one of your colonies."
"Our agents report that the colony came under attack late yesterday," The salarian Councilor, Valern, picked up. "Is this accurate?"
"It is, Councilors," Udina spoke, looking at all three of them. "That is the reason why I've contacted you. I wish to arrange an audience with you – one that would double as a hearing that would deal with the facts and implications of this attack."
"Indeed," turian Councilor, Sparatus, spoke with dissatisfaction evident in his voice. "I feel that a hearing would be most adequate, Ambassador, since the reports suggest that our own Spectre agent who was sent on a retrieval mission to Eden Prime is now dead. I really wish to hear how your Systems Alliance will justify allowing one of our agents to be killed in a pirate raid!"
"This was not made by pirates, Councilor," Udina spoke slowly, containing his anger. "The perpetrators were Geth, and as for your agent, Nihlus Kryik, he was assassinated by another turian, named Saren. We believe that he is the Spectre Saren Arterius."
"What?!" Sparatus exclaimed. "This is preposterous!"
"We've seen the initial reports that claim the assailants to be the Geth, Ambassador, but now this?" Valern spoke with skepticism. "The Geth have not been seen outside of the Perseus veil in almost three hundred years, and their territory is all the way in the Terminus Systems, and now you also claim that there was a Spectre with them?"
"Obviously, you understand our skepticism, Ambassador," Councilor Tevos picked up. "This could have very well been the work of mercenaries who used a great number of mechs in the front lines."
"And I would really like to see on what grounds do you claim one of our best and most honored Spectres is working with the synthetics!" Sparatus added.
Udina, a seasoned politician no matter the fact that many disliked him, did not allow the cross-assault of the three Councilors to disrupt him.
"If you want to see that, as you so say, Councilor" he spoke slowly, "then, arrange a hearing, and review the evidence we have."
"I assure you, we will, Ambassador," Sparatus replied, his voice laced with contained anger. He turned to the asari and nodded firmly.
Tevos turned to look at Valern, and when the salarian gave his acquiescence, she turned to Udina and spoke:
"Very well, Ambassador. This Council will grant you an emergency audience and a hearing. You will receive further info on the time of the hearing once we confirm our schedule."
The three projections winked out of existence, and Udina sighed loudly, as he set his arms akimbo. He turned back toward the great chamber and saw Captain Anderson, who had arrived with his soldiers somewhere in the mid of the conversation with the Council.
"Anderson," Udina greeted him with a nod, then waved toward the fully armed and armored men and women. "Was there any particular need for you to bring half of your ship with you?"
"This was the ground team on Eden Prime, Ambassador," Anderson spoke as he looked at his people. "The Council will surely want to question them."
"There's that," Udina conceded.
"I see you've managed to secure an audience?"
"And you've certainly seen that they were not happy about it, either," he said. "Goes hand-in-hand with accusing their top Spectre of treason. I'm not gonna lie to you, this situation is complicated. Had Nihlus Kryik survived somehow, he could have pointed fingers at the perpetrator. With him dead, however, we'll have a much harder time exerting justice… and the Commander's candidacy in the Spectre ranks might be jeopardized, as well."
"We delivered the beacon unharmed, Ambassador," Anderson spoke. "Shepard did his duty; that must count a lot!"
"True, they won't be able to deny that," Udina replied. "But it still leaves us with the problem of a rogue Spectre that seems to be targeting human colonies!"
"What do you think the Council will do?"
Udina crossed his hands over his chest, then rubbed his mouth as he thought on it.
"The Council will not want for their top agent to appear bad, so believe it or not, the Council itself will definitely call an investigation into Saren's current actions and whereabouts so they could prove he was innocent," he replied after a moment. "They're probably doing it as we speak! The thing is, they'll also probably give the investigation a very limited time to find anything useful."
"They're probably just going to stop as soon as they find some kind of alibi as to the Saren's whereabouts at the moment of the attack," Marcus said.
"What you say makes sense, Commander," Udina said. "Even though that kind of evidence might be fabricated."
"They wouldn't stoop that low," Jaina said, frowning.
"Maybe not, but face matters a lot in public's opinion on political figures," Udina pointed out. "Never forget the grand scandals of the 20th and 21st century."
"They won't be able to cover it up this time, though," Anderson said confidently, slicing the air with his hand. "We have relevant video and audio evidence."
"True. I've already forwarded the things you've recorded to C-Sec," Udina replied.
"Can we trust that C-Sec won't play ball on Saren's team?" Jaina asked.
"We can," Udina replied. "The Executor Palin might not like humans, but he's a police officer through-and-through. He dislikes Spectres and their leeway to do things whatever way they please and wants to do things properly. They will verify the authenticity of the recordings properly."
There was a chime at Udina's personal terminal. The ambassador approached his desk and examined the message that has arrived.
"The Council has notified us of the time of the hearing," Udina announced, then nodded. "They say they've called for an investigation into Saren's activities, but the amount of time that's left for the investigation to find anything is ridiculously small! They're being blatantly obvious about not wanting to truly investigate if their Spectre has gone rogue."
"Give us the time of the hearing," Anderson spoke, raising his omni-tool and being mirrored by both Marcus and Jaina. Udina tapped in a few commands, and a ping sounded from the other people's omnis.
"The location of the hearing will be the Citadel Tower. The Council had sent me authorizations for your entire ground team to join us up there; I've included them in the transfer. You should come with me, Anderson. There are some things we must prepare. We will meet up with the rest of you at the Tower at the designated time. My advice, though, is to be early; the Councilors wait for no one, and might just decide to start before schedule."
Anderson turned to his men.
"You have a bit of time," he said. "You have no further duties for today, so feel free to take a tour of the Presidium. Jaina has been here before, so she can show you around. Now, I know you have permits to carry arms, but I advise you to take off your armor while you're here, and only carry a sidearm."
"Yes, sir!" Marcus replied with a salute, then turned and left with the rest of his team.
"Come on," Jaina spoke up. "The Embassy has its own security offices where we can leave our gear. It's this way."
They exited the spacious and airy office and walked through the main hallway. There were several spacious offices behind glass walls on either side of this hallway, where numerous diplomatic officials and agents could be seen busy at their work stations. Once they passed the offices, there were two doors on either side, them turning to walk through ones on the right. The area they found themselves in was filled with numerous security officers and guards, security cam monitoring screens, and rooms with weapons lockers.
"I had no idea that our Embassy was this big!" Ashley spoke up. "I thought the Embassy was just one office where ambassador worked."
"All embassies are much larger than that, Chief," Jaina spoke with a smile on her face. "They have other employees and diplomats that work important jobs, and they have security offices like this one, too, and the upper floor has residences."
Ashley whistled. "Gives you a whole new perspective on things."
They were provided with lockers by one of the security officers, and they were quick to remove their armor and gear, replacing them with Alliance battle dress uniforms with their sidearm and personal defense shielding attached.
Presidium was in its late morning time, and the simulated skies above them were blue and laced with puffy white clouds. Everything seemed bright, white, blue and green, with green and pink-leaved alien trees adding a springtime flavor.
To Marcus, it was nothing but a typical show of power. Nobody would bother with fountains, gardens, and sculptures otherwise. It was a nice place, nonetheless, and it made him feel pleasant… although, maybe, the pleasant sensation could have come from Jaina twining her arm around his bicep and pressing herself firmly against him. They shared a look and a smile. It felt good. It felt real good.
"Big place," Kaidan commented as he looked around the spaciousness of the Presidium.
"Yeah, nice lake," Ashley spoke sarcastically. "I wonder if somebody drowned in it."
Marcus laughed out loud and spoke:
"I don't know, Chief, turians are bad swimmers."
"Yeah, maybe some of them sleep with the fishes down there," she commented with gory glee.
"There's no fish there – that's Presidium's own water supply," Jaina said. "Don't ask me how I know that."
As they walked along, they crossed paths with several C-Sec patroller pairs, mostly turians and asari, and several times the C-Sec had scanned them with their omni-tools as they passed by.
"They are checking our weapon permits," Jaina notified them.
"We draw attention with our sidearm at our hips," Marcus noted as he looked around. "People are giving us second glances. They're not used to people other than C-Sec packing a piece."
"Yeah, small wonder with a place like this," Kaidan commented. "Imagine how weird it might have been if we were wearing our full armor and combat gear."
"The full fives?" Ashley snickered, referring to the five weapon types that spec-ops would wear. "They'd think we're here to invade them! I sure would like to see their reactions to that."
A sudden noise erupted somewhere behind them, and just as they turned, a horde of miniature aliens roared pass them. A miniature elcor was running at full speed on his four limbs with a small human boy and asari girl riding on his back and followed closely by a turian boy and girl at a full run. The human boy on elcor's back was sporting a maniacal grin while the asari girl was holding onto him for her dear life, and the two turian kids were yelling something gleefully in their little flanged voices.
There was a moment of silence as the little chaotic menagerie disappeared around the corner, and an asari C-Sec officer ran by after them.
"Come back here, you little brats!" she yelled desperately. "By the Goddess, I swear, when I get you…"
The asari's voice and angry mutterings faded in the distance.
"Well, those kids certainly don't give a damn about inter-species politics!" Ashley exclaimed with a stunned expression on her face.
"You could say that again, Chief," Kaidan spoke slowly.
Jaina looked pointedly up at Marcus, and her eyes met his. Yes, we're still having six or seven of those – Marcus's eyes were replying pointedly back, a small smirk dancing in the corner of his lips.
Jaina rolled her eyes and sighed in defeat. Men.
The time they spent on the Presidium passed quickly. The rest of the sightseeing was spent mostly commenting on the new and exotic things they saw, with a few hours spent at one of the upper-tier bars.
"Do you think the investigation has managed to find anything by now?" Kaidan asked as they lounged at a table on a balcony that overlooked the lakes of the Presidium.
Marcus glanced at the time, noting that they still had about forty-five minutes till the hearing started.
"This was a ridiculously small amount of time, just like Udina said," he replied. "The most they could have done was to check out Saren's location during the time of the attack; that can be done quickly with personal tag beacon unless he turned it off. They could have sent queries into his finances and analyzed it quickly with C-Sec grade VI-s, and they could have sent feelers out if they've had some shady contacts. But doing all of that takes a lot of time and effort. I don't see how anyone could have done that in the few hours that they had."
"Maybe we should have started our own investigation," Kaidan ventured.
"No go," Jaina shook her head. "We wouldn't know where to start. We need contacts, information… all of that costs, and takes time to pan out."
"Precisely," Marcus concurred. "The most what we can do is to appear at the hearing and point out the facts in such a manner that will put pressure on the Council to have no other choice but to act in our favor."
"I don't think the Council will act kindly if we put pressure on them," Kaidan commented.
Marcus shook his head. "That's not the kind of pressure I'm talking about, Lt," he said. "The Councilors are seasoned politicians. That means that whatever kind of proof we find, they'll try to counter it with something that might show that proof as inadequate. They'll be as slippery as an eel, and the only way for us to corner them will be to overwhelm them so they won't have room to budge."
"Aaand that's why I hate politicians," Ashley commented.
Marcus leaned forward then, and waved with his omni-tool over a small scanner at the center of the table, thus paying their bill.
"Now, come on," he said as he stood up. "They told us to be early, and I intend to do just that. I've never been to the Tower, and I need to examine my surroundings."
"Now, there's some wisdom right there," Kaidan spoke as he and the rest stood up as well and followed Marcus out of the café.
The nearby rapid-transit platform held a few readily-available cabs, and Marcus promptly commandeered one. The curving circular interior of the Presidium ring was over twenty kilometers in length, and they were almost seven kilometers away from Citadel Tower, yet the standard X3M skycar deposited them at the bottom of the Tower in less than five minutes.
As they exited the car and started walking toward the bottom of the Tower, they noticed four turian C-Sec officers guarding the entrance, each holding a rifle in his hands and an active security camera above the entrance.
Marcus scanned the visible security with his eyes, noting that there had to be a significant number of additional personnel hidden from sight. When they approached within a few paces, one of the turians stepped forward and into their way.
"This is a restricted area, human," he spoke with a haughty voice. "Alliance soldiers have no business here."
"We are summoned to a Council hearing," Marcus spoke calmly, yet his eyes stared warningly into the turian's as he raised and activated his omni-tool, this presenting their credentials.
The turian looked down, and spoke without properly checking the digital signature with his own omni-tool:
"There is no way that mere soldiers would have business in the Citadel Tower! Those credentials must be fake."
"What?!" Ashley exclaimed angrily. "You didn't even check th-"
She halted abruptly when she saw Marcus's threatening gaze piercing her. The turian smirked.
"Well, it is nice to see that some humans hold their dogs on a leash," he said condescendingly.
Marcus turned his head slowly back to the turian, trained his cold, deathly stare at him.
"You have disrespected one of my soldiers, officer," he spoke coldly. "You owe her an apology."
The turian must have sensed something wrong. It was in Marcus's voice, his eyes and posture, and it crossed the species' boundary. The turian flinched as his eyes widened, and he reacted by quickly assuming a stance and pointing his rifle at Marcus's chest.
"Back off, now!" he growled.
The other turians had suddenly grown agitated at the unfolding scene.
"Ralick!" one of the turians spoke up agitatedly. "What are you doing?!"
Suddenly, another flanged voice from behind Marcus's group cut through authoritatively like a lash,
"What is going on here?!"
The turians turned with a start at the new figure that emerged from behind Marcus's group.
"Executor Palin!" the aggressive turian guard, Ralick, greeted him as he straightened and gave him a turian salute. "These men wanted to enter the Citadel Tower."
"And?!" the Executor queried, irritation lacing his voice. "Did they have credentials?"
"Sir, I…" the turian stammered.
"Commander Shepard," Executor turned toward Marcus, speaking with a lighter, more official tone of voice. "You did bring your credentials, didn't you?"
Marcus showed him the omni-tool, and Palin promptly scanned it with his omni-tool, then looked at Ralick.
"Seems fine to me," he said pointedly, to what Ralick gulped. "You and your men may proceed, Commander Shepard."
"Not until officer Ralick apologizes for insulting my soldier," Marcus spoke coldly.
Palin turned sharply toward the group of guards. "Is this true?!" he asked sharply.
"Sir, no!" Ralick stammered.
Suddenly, Marcus pressed a button on his still-active omni-tool, and Ralick's smug voice came back out of it:
"Well, it is nice to see that some humans hold their dogs on a leash."
Marcus paid close attention to the turian guard's face, memorizing his reaction. He couldn't tell if turians would grow pale when faced with these situations or not, but he took great care to note the wide eyes, tightly clenched jaw and mandibles, and the rigid posture the turian assumed.
There was a low growl coming from Executor's throat.
"Officer Ralick," he spoke slowly. "This kind of behavior is unacceptable. You are hereby suspended without pay until further notice. Officer Chorelix, relieve officer Ralick of his weapons and badge."
"Yes sir," one of the other turians replies, then approached Ralick and took the gear from the shell-shocked man.
Palin turned to Marcus and spoke formally, even though there was a disgruntled look plastered on his face:
"Commander Shepard, on behalf of Citadel Security, I offer my apologies to you and your men for the improper actions of one of our officers. His behavior was unprofessional and unbecoming of a C-Sec officer, and also of a turian."
Marcus glanced at Ashley and nodded.
"Apology accepted," Ashley replied.
"Good," Palin replied. "Now that that's over with, you might as well join me on the ride up to the tower."
He turned and started walking toward the entrance, with Marcus and his companions following suit.
"How did you know who I was, Executor?" Marcus asked as they walked through the small atrium toward the elevator.
"You are a person of interest for this hearing, Commander," Palin replied. "And this is a very high-profile case. I take it as a personal task to be informed of everything and everyone relevant. And you are highly relevant."
They filed into one of the few spacious elevators that led up into the tower, and Palin tapped the control.
"This elevator ride will be a bit long," Palin mentioned, then added, "an unfortunate thing that is the case with the Wards access elevators as well."
"Is it some kind of technical problem that makes these elevators slow?" Marcus asked.
"Hm? Oh no, quite the contrary, Commander," Palin replied. "These elevators aren't slow; they're exceptionally fast, in fact. However, people tend to forget that the Citadel Tower is four kilometers tall and that the Wards are of commensurate distance as well. Yet all they care about is complaining about the length of elevator rides," he sighed. "Well, in any case, this gives us a moment to talk." He then turned toward Marcus and folded his hands behind his back. "Do tell me something, Commander: do you always record all of your conversations?"
"Only when I judge that the conversation might yield some statements that might be relevant," Marcus replied calmly. "Your officer had expressed his hostility from the very first second."
"He wouldn't be the first nor the last you meet, and I wouldn't be surprised if you encounter much more," Palin replied nonplussed. "You humans are eager to take all the power you can get, and you're being given a lot. If the Council wants to make humanity their new favorite pet, that's their business, but I don't have to like it."
"Sounds like you are one of those people that do not like humans very much that you've mentioned," Jaina pointed out.
"No, I just don't trust you, humans," he replied easily. "You're a young species, Commander Jaina Shepard, and you tend to be rash and impulsive, and that kind of thing is a disaster in the making. With the Council favoring you so much, some of us think you're being too privileged."
"The Council treats humanity as second-class citizens, Executor, and you know it," Marcus replied coolly. "We have to fight for everything we get."
"Good," Executor said, looking sideways. "Then fight for it. But don't expect the rest of us to just sit back and let you take it."
Marcus had just silently locked gazes with the Executor for one tense, silent moment.
"I trust you're here because of the hearing?" Marcus spoke, diverting the subject to a less volatile conversation.
"I am," Palin replied. "Like I said, this is a high-profile case; someone like me should attend the hearing."
"What did you find out about Saren?" Marcus asked.
"Sorry, Commander," Palin replied with his mandibles hanging low. "I do not have a habit of divulging information concerning an ongoing investigation."
"Still ongoing?" Marcus asked in bewilderment.
"The timeframe given by the Council was ridiculously short," Palin spoke with annoyance at the situation. "I wanted to give my man all the time he could get. The Council definitely wants to – what was that expression my human officers use? Ah yes – sweep this thing under the rug. Spirits forbid from something happening to the right hand of the Council… or more like the under-hand of the Council."
"You don't approve of the Spectres?" Jaina asked.
"I can't abide with any organization that considers itself above the law," Palin replied.
"The secret services exist to do the job that is necessary in order to protect the safety of the citizens," Marcus stated. "That's what we do, Executor."
"Ah, yes, the N7 agents are something like field special operations and hit-men, aren't they?" Palin said, nodding as he recalled. "I agree that such agencies are needed – I'm not naïve, Commander. However, you're different than Spectres; you do the task that you are ordered to do by your superiors – as things are supposed to be done. But Spectres don't listen to anyone. They don't have a structured hierarchy, and every single one of them can do things in a way that he or she pleases! That is the thing which I cannot abide with. I've seen what that much power does to Spectres. They become prideful, arrogant, brash, and sooner or later they start to think they're the Primarch of the whole Galaxy! Saren is just like that. He is by far the worst of all the Spectres I've met. He's out of control, and we all know that, but because he's the Council's top man, they don't want to do anything about it."
The elevator finally reached the top of the Citadel Tower, and the group exited. Palin pointed ahead of him and spoke:
"The hearing will be held before the public Council podium. It's straight ahead, on the far side of the great hall, just in front of the tall window. You can't miss it. It won't start for another twenty minutes at least, so feel free to look around. Now, if you'll excuse me…"
Palin then went on his way, leaving the group to their own devices.
"Commander," Ashley decided to speak up, uncertainty obvious in her voice. "I wanted to apologize for acting impulsively down there in front of the Tower. That turian officer got to me."
Marcus nodded. "You need to be cautious about that, Williams," he warned, not looking at her. "I can see that you have a strongly-developed sense of justice, but we're walking among the wolves here. Wolves don't care about justice; they only care about being fed. The moment you act in anger, they will smell the blood and will double their attack. So, do not let them wound you, Ash."
"Yes sir," she replied readily. "Thank you, sir."
"Alright," Marcus said. "Come. Let's see what this battleground looks like!"
"Well, the battleground sure has a lot of stairs, that's for sure," Kaidan commented lightheartedly as they began climbing.
"I bet those are not just for decoration," Ashley ventured. "See there? A lot of cover in and between. And what are those? Cherry trees?"
"That's Thessian shaira tree," Jaina provided. "It is valued among the asari for its beauty."
"Lots of effort was spent on maintaining them," Kaidan noted. "They want to show-off with their prestige. They want to intimidate any visitors into feeling small and inferior."
"I dunno, Lt," Ashley spoke as she gazed up toward the almost inconceivably high ceiling. "It sure is working."
"I don't see a lot of security around here," Jaina spoke as she looked up at the shaded balustrades. "Those vantage points must be teeming with snipers. That's where I'd go, anyway."
"Makes sense having something like that around at a place as important as this, I guess," Kaidan shrugged.
"There are a lot of passages to the sides," Marcus noted. "Plenty of sideways doors. That is where additional security forces might be present. It might also be where Council's closed cabinet is located at."
"Are those news cameras?" Ashley pointed toward one of the balconies. "And there on the other side, too!"
"The public Council sessions are sometimes transmitted live," Jaina said. "They have a channel reserved specially for that." She turned to Marcus. "Something tells me they expect to humble us with what happens today."
"Then we must play extra cool once we're out there in front of the Councilors," Marcus said, then turned to the other two. "If anyone summons you forth, I want you to be as cool as a knife."
"Do you really think this hearing will last that long or be that important?" Kaidan asked skeptically.
"The first impression is always the most important," Jaina spoke. "It might not turn out to be that much, but it will open more doors in the long run. Besides, it's better to bring the best of your game and not need it, than be caught off guard."
They had crossed the expanse of the main hall by that point and had climbed the final stairway that led to the main stage. There was an asari at the top of the steps, wearing a long and elegant dress, who stepped in front of them as they approached.
"You must be Commander Marcus Shepard?" she asked politely.
"Correct," he replied.
"I am Orinia, the proceedings attendant," she spoke. "The hearing won't start for another fifteen minutes. You may wait here, or you may take a seat down in the atrium – you would be called once the hearing started."
"If it's all the same to you, we'll wait here," Marcus replied, noting the woman's calculating, alert eyes.
"Of course," she said, inclining her head. "You may stay in this area now and during the hearing. If you are called in front of the Council, you will then proceed forward onto the platform where you may state your case or answer any queries."
"Understood," Marcus said, then walked onto the platform with his companions.
"More people are filing out into the surrounding balconies," Kaidan noted. "Our appearance might have drawn more attention."
"I wonder if that many people are a usual thing for a Council hearing," Ashley mused out loud.
Jaina was scanning the people when she noticed movement on one of the higher, deserted balconies.
"Got him," she spoke up. "A sniper, right there, seven o'clock, fifth balcony. He shifted to monitor the crowd."
"Those are perks of cybernetic eyes, alright," Marcus murmured. "That means the additional snipers are located there, there, and there," he pointed at several locations along the higher balconies. "Clear view of this platform; unhindered aim at everyone present here."
He then noted the asari attendant watching him with a calm calculating look as she listened to what they were saying.
"And they have undercover commandos on the ground," he stated calmly as he looked pointedly at her. The asari didn't react, or so much as twitched as she looked back at him sideways.
Kaidan raised his eyebrows in surprise as he realized the truth behind Marcus's words, then turned ponderously toward the elevated platform where the Councilors would stand.
"If that's the case, then I wouldn't put it pass them that they have some heavy-grade barriers protecting that platform," he said.
"Neither would I," Marcus concurred.
Marcus's omni-tool chimed, and Marcus took the incoming call.
"Commander, where are you?" Anderson's voice came through.
"In the Tower, all the way up on the stage," he replied.
"Good," Anderson spoke. "We'll be right there."
A couple of minutes later, both Anderson and Udina stepped up onto the stage and were promptly greeted by the asari commando that posed as an attendant.
"Good, you're all here," Udina said.
"How do you want this done, Ambassador?" Marcus asked.
"Your men will just stay right here, Commander, and they don't need to do anything else, unless called upon," Udina replied. "You, however, will be with Anderson and me over there, since you led the team. We have to convince the Council that we're in the right, and that is all that I can tell you. I don't know what kind of stance the Council will assume, who will they call upon, when will they call him upon, how will they react – nothing! It's all up to us, so we must not screw it up, Commander."
"We won't," Marcus stated firmly, looking down pointedly at Udina.
"I'm just saying, Commander," Udina raised his hands in placating gesture.
A pleasant feminine voice then spread through the great hall, calling all participants of the hearing onto the stage. There was a shuffling of steps behind them, and Executor Palin stepped onto the stage, followed closely by a turian C-Sec officer.
"Sir, I know Saren's hiding something," the younger turian spoke. "Can't you give me more time? Stall them?"
"Stall the Council?!" Palin looked at his companion as if he had grown horns. "Are you mad Garrus? The hearing is already starting. You'll just have to present the few things you've found."
Garrus sighed. "Yes, sir," he said resignedly.
Marcus turned back toward the Council platform and saw a large holographic projection of a turian on the left side looking down at all of them. The turian was unlike any other he had ever seen. His skin was exceptionally metallic gray, and his face was bare of any typical turian markings. His mandibles seemed to be fused to the sides of his face with some metal prosthetics, and the armor he wore looked disturbingly geth-like.
But what was the most striking were the turian's eyes. They were cybernetic blue, and they radiated arrogance and hate.
"That's Saren," Anderson spoke grimly next to him. "So, he has shown his ugly face."
Marcus turned and looked at Executor Palin who stood just a couple of paces away from him. The Executor looked grimly back at him as if he was saying: "I told you what he was like." Marcus nodded gravely.
When he turned back toward the platform, the Councilors were filing into their places from one of the side doors that they passed through. Councilor Tevos was the first one who spoke.
"We will hereby begin the hearing concerning the assault on the recognized Systems Alliance colony of Eden Prime, and the subsequent death of a Spectre agent, Nihlus Kryik," she announced. "Ambassador Udina, please state your case."
Udina nodded to Anderson and Marcus, and the three men approached the central podium in front of the Council platform.
"Honored Councilors," he began, "I will let Captain Anderson of the SSV Normandy present the facts from Eden Prime, as his ship was the first to respond."
Anderson stepped up and started speaking.
"Approximately 15:13 Citadel-standard-time, we have received this distress call," he began. "It had been agreed upon by both Spectre Nihlus Kryik and me to send a small strike team to recover the artifact we were originally sent to retrieve. Commander Marcus Shepard had led a three-person team on the ground, while Spectre Kryik acted alone as a forward scout. As a standard protocol, our N7 agents carry helmet-mounted recording devices. Both of our present agents have had one, and they had both recorded the situation planet-side."
"I'd like to see these recordings," Councilor Sparatus spoke up, skepticism heavy in his voice.
Anderson looked at Marcus and nodded. Taking his cue, Marcus stepped up and activated his omni-tool, linking it up to a second large projector in the chamber. He purposefully skipped the beginning and started the replay in front of the spaceport, right when the fighting had been the heaviest.
There were several minutes of silence in the hall as all of the people of interest, as well as numerous spectators and cameras, observed the fast-paced and frantic fighting against the synthetic enemies. Marcus chose a moment to pause right when one of the geth soldiers was close to the camera at the time of the recording.
"I trust that the C-Sec has verified the authenticity of these recordings?" Councilor Valern queried when the stream stopped.
"We have, Councilor," Executor Palin spoke. "They are genuine and unedited."
"I see," Valern nodded. "Then this truly was a Geth attack. This is a greatly disconcerting matter, indeed. Commander Shepard, tell us some of your observations pertaining to this attack."
"It was what you would expect: Geth were indiscriminate in their attacks, be it a military or a civilian target, but that's not the least of your concerns," he stated nonchalantly.
"Is that so?" Sparatus said as he narrowed his eyes. "Then what is, pray tell?"
"The fact that the Geth had bypassed all of the STG listening posts throughout the Skyllian Verge without raising the alert," he replied. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but other than the STG, only Spectres themselves have the access to those posts' feeds and MO."
Suddenly, Saren, who had stayed eerily silent up until that moment, spoke up.
"Is there something you're trying to say, Commander Shepard?" he sneered.
Councilor Tevos hurriedly spoke up, trying to calm the situation:
"We know that the Systems Alliance has accused Spectre Saren Arterius of participating in Eden Prime attack, but while this Geth attack is obviously a matter of concern, there is nothing to indicate Saren was involved in any way."
"Then you're in even more dire straits, Councilors," Marcus countered easily. "If Saren is involved, then it would only mean this was an inside job, but if he wasn't, then that means that the Geth have means of freely bypassing all of the Citadel's listening posts, wherever and whenever they want!"
All three of the Councilors shifted on their feet, sharing what was obviously a disconcerting look; their jaws were tight and eyes hard, darting to and fro as they considered the implications.
"These accusations are ridiculous!" Saren sniffed derisively, his voice laced with contempt and impatience. "The Citadel employs the most advanced technology! There is no way the Geth could parry it. Worst of all, you imply that a Spectre had sided with the Geth. But what can you expect from a human – especially since I see Captain Anderson with you! You always seem to be around when false accusations are made against me, Captain. Either show me the proof or be gone with this charade!"
"As you wish, Saren," Marcus said promptly without being fazed, and moved the recording tracker bar onto the designated spot, letting it play.
The video started at the place where he and his teammates were examining Nihlus's dead body and postulating what might have happened when they heard and made Powel the Smuggler show himself and start speaking. Marcus patiently let the recording go at its stride, as Powel spoke in detail what was going on until he came to the most relevant point:
"…Well, your friend called him by name: Saren. He wanted to know what Saren was doing here since, apparently, this wasn't his mission. Saren told him he was sent by the Council. Your friend then let his guard down – he started talking about the situation, how things were bad, and about that time I hear – BANG! That was when the geth came back, and a few minutes later I hear these sounds of battle, thinking an entire Alliance platoon was blasting its way toward this place. Imagine my surprise when all I saw was you four."
"This is ridiculous!" Saren exclaimed when the recording paused. "A testimony of one very obviously traumatized dock worker cannot be taken as hard evidence! There must be millions of turians called Saren, and how could he even be sure that the name was 'Saren', for that matter? He himself stated that was sleeping behind the crates – he could have dreamt it all!"
"No person can sleep through hours of battlefield explosions, no matter the species," Marcus retorted calmly. "It's against physiological preservation drive. This man was awake long before Nihlus's death."
Councilor Tevos intervened:
"Be that as it may, Saren has a point. This one dockworker's testimony is not sufficient evidence to prove Saren's guilt."
"Besides," Councilor Sparatus spoke up – though the skeptical and condescending tones of his voice were now completely gone, replaced by calculated focus, "this does not provide sufficient clarity as to how Nihlus Kryik died! The witness said that he only heard a gunshot, not who pulled the trigger. For all we know, it might have been someone else entirely – it might have been the Geth!"
While Sparatus was speaking, Marcus had already navigated his omni-tool to the other video he had in its memory banks and brought it up on screen. He spoke the moment Councilor Sparatus finished.
"This recording was made by spaceport's security camera that oversees the warehouse area. It, too, had passed checkup of the C-Sec tech experts for its validity."
As the recording played out, everybody in the great hall could clearly see the lonely figure, and everybody could see without a doubt that it was a male turian. They saw Nihlus's arrival, and the short exchange he had with the unknown turian, all until the point when the other turian raised his sidearm after Nihlus turned away from him, and shot him in the back of the head without any hesitation.
Rather than watching the vid he had seen several times already, Marcus closely watched the faces of the Councilors and Saren. He noticed with a tiny sense of satisfaction that Saren had been initially surprised when he must have realized that they had him on the vid.
The Councilors were obviously unpleasantly surprised at what they were seeing. Tevos and Valern were wide-eyed. Sparatus was seething. They were obviously noticing the similarities between the shaded turian on the vid and Saren, even though the image quality was too poor to properly identify.
Marcus kept the video going until his team appeared at the crest of the hill and started tearing into the numerous Geth forces, all the way until they met up with Powel, corroborating the validity of the video. He finished by rewinding to the scene of Nihlus's death.
"You expect anyone to be identified from this pathetically poor-quality recording?" Saren spoke with contempt. "The turian figure could have been anyone! The face is always in the shadow of the sun's glare!"
"Yet how many turians do have the temple crests on the sides of their heads?" Marcus countered as he pointed out at the vid. "The way I understand it, it is a rare genetic trait that manifests only in one in a million male turians on average. And what about that armor outline of that 'unknown' turian on the vid? That shoulder pauldron bears an uncanny resemblance to the one you now wear. How many of those turians hold the name 'Saren', as the witness stated?"
"Circumstantial, all of it!" Saren shouted out. "Is this what we're basing this hearing? How am I to defend my innocence if –"
"Saren, that's ENOUGH!" Sparatus shouted out, silencing every single person in the room. Sparatus continued much more quietly. "Where were you during the time of the Eden Prime attack?"
"I was following my own investigations!" Saren exclaimed angrily. "You can't expect me to divulge classified information!"
"You don't have to," Executor Palin suddenly spoke up as he took a couple of steps forward. "Your biometric data is gathered with every Spectre authorization you've made. The Council had authorized me to track it down."
"Executor," Tevos spoke up briskly. "What have you found out?"
Palin turned and summoned his younger associate. "Garrus!"
The younger turian stepped up and promptly tapped a few commands on his omni-tool. Galaxy map sprung up, and numerous points of interests were highlighted. Garrus spoke:
"Spectre Saren Arterius had made forty-six Spectre authorizations over the course of the previous month. All of them originated in various points throughout the Attican Traverse. His Spectre tracking beacon was active during most of that time, but it was suspiciously inactive exactly during Eden Prime attack."
"This proves nothing!" Saren sneered. "I told you I was performing an investigation! I had to turn off my transponder!"
"However," Garrus intoned, drawing everyone's attention back onto himself. "When Commander Shepard mentioned the possibility of someone bypassing the STG's listening post's monitoring feeds in order for the Geth to sneak through, I cross-referenced this with Saren's Spectre authorizations, and came up with a match!"
He tapped the control, and three points on the galaxy map started blinking.
"According to these logs, Spectre Saren Arterius had accessed these three automated listening stations at these times, authorizing a temporary cessation of monitoring, which lasted for thirty minutes for each of the stations – which was more than enough time for any decently-coordinated fleet to sneak through undetected!" he finished victoriously.
There was a long moment of stunned silence before Sparatus turned toward Saren's hologram.
"Saren," he spoke slowly. "You are hereby ordered to return to the Citadel, and surrender into the custody of the Citadel Security, while the further investigation is…"
Sparatus trailed off when he saw Saren tapping a command on his side of the link, making his hologram fade out of existence. Sparatus clenched his fists in fury. Saren had even refused to wait for him to finish speaking. He had refused to defend his actions.
Councilor Tevos, the most experienced and practiced of all the Councilors, spoke composedly:
"It is obvious that Saren Arterius has refused to acknowledge direct orders. This Council hereby suspends his Spectre status, and is issuing a detaining order."
"You know that's not enough, Councilors!" ambassador Udina pleaded quite loudly. "Saren's reaction when you ordered him to surrender is evidence enough that he has gone rogue! He will not surrender! What's to stop him from attacking another human colony?!"
"Saren may be a rogue agent as you say, but he's a man that's obviously on the run for his life," Sparatus replied, shaking his head. "He's been stripped of his status, he no longer has the resources and funding of a Spectre, and he will be in no position to do anything."
Suddenly, there was a thunderous, reverberating horning noise that echoed throughout the large hall, startling everyone. Nobody had noticed when Marcus had been tapping away on his omni-tool and had used the time to bring up a new part of his helm's camera recordings.
Everyone present looked with a start into a vid that showed the massive squid-like alien ship launching into the air from where it was landed behind the spaceport while issuing the thunderous noise that now echoed across the hall. Marcus rewound the clip and paused it while the ship was on the ground where it could be easily compared to the spaceport, and played a specific audio feed. Nihlus's voice could be clearly heard:
"I've spotted that strange vessel we saw on the distress call. It's standing right next to the star port. The damn thing's gigantic. Over two kilometers tall if my VI's visual comparison to the star port control tower is accurate."
The Councilors kept a wary watch on the strange vessel.
"A comparison of this alien ship's size to the spaceport control tower and the mountain's backdrop in the distance that was made by a VI, states with 99% accuracy that this ship is between 1997 and 2005 meters tall," Marcus said into the silence.
"Spirits," Sparatus muttered with his full attention on the vessel. "That thing is enormous!" he looked down at Marcus questioningly. "And that was one of the ships that attacked Eden Prime?"
"Are you sure that was not some kind of hologram, Commander?" Valern asked, agitation clear in his voice. "Or maybe a simple gas-filled blimp shaped like a ship?"
Marcus tapped in a new command, and an image of a massive molten circle on the ground next to the spaceport was depicted.
"It left this at the location where it landed at," Marcus replied. "The scar's large enough to fit a cruiser. With all due respect, Councilors, a blimp does not make that kind of damage, even if it were to explode."
"I see," Valern replied as the image shifted back to the massive ship. "Its element zero core must be at least five times as massive as the Destiny Ascension if the ship that size managed to land."
"Precisely," Marcus replied succinctly. "And ships tend to have kinetic barriers as well."
The heads of all three Councilors snapped to look at Marcus in horrified realizations, before returning their gazes back to the image.
"It must have barriers that far outclass anything of ours," Valern spoke in wonder.
"What of its weaponry?" Sparatus asked heatedly.
"Weaponry?" Marcus snorted mirthlessly. "Frankly, I'd like to believe that this thing doesn't have a coaxially-mounted main gun, as we don't really have proof… but we all know better than that, now don't we? You say that Saren has no more resources now that he is stripped of his status, but that ship came with Saren, Councilors. He has that ship, and he has Geth on his side – machines that do not use or need money and have certainly not allied with him for that; machines that would most certainly be able to maintain an industry to both resupply and rebuild his forces. Do you still think that stripping him of Spectre resources and funding has done you any good? With that kind of firepower and logistics, he can earn ten times as much in a day in the Terminus Systems than he would with Spectre funding in a year – and that's assuming he even needs funding!"
Udina chose the moment everyone was stunned into silence to speak up:
"You see how dangerous Saren is? You know he is hiding somewhere in the Traverse – send your fleets in!"
"We cannot send our fleets in, Ambassador, or the Terminus factions will tear into our open flank like a flood of hungry varren!" Sparatus replied bitterly. "And even if we do, a whole fleet cannot track one man!"
"Then what about Spectres themselves?" Captain Anderson provided. "They would know how to catch another Spectre."
"That's just the problem, Captain Anderson," Valern replied ruefully. "Saren also knows how our Spectres operate, and he would know how to track their current location. There is no doubt that he could dodge any one Spectre at every turn, and if we send more of them, we might open the Citadel to other venues of attack. And Spectres are not known to operate as a team."
Udina spread his arms helplessly, and then let them fall in defeat as he turned desperately to Anderson for some help into finding a solution. He was met with Anderson's soldierly tight-lipped frown.
"I have a solution," Marcus spoke up with an air of calm confidence that drew everyone's attention. "There is a way to track and chase Saren without him ever knowing where his chaser is; without him ever being able to tell from which side the punch will come, and for him to never have an adequate response even if he were to realize where it's coming from."
The Councilors looked amongst each other in confusion.
"We're listening," Councilor Tevos spoke at last.
"You need three things," Marcus spoke with his fingers raised. "The first of these things happens to be this one special ship that was made by joint turian and human engineering. It's the fastest ship in the Council space, and it has the technology to remain stealth and undetected by any sensors."
The Councilors looked amongst themselves. Of course, they knew what ship he was referring to. Anderson and Udina shared a look and smiled as Marcus continued his presentation.
"Secondly, you need to send a man after him who does not operate under usual Spectre MO. A man skilled enough to fight anything Saren would throw at him, be it a mercenary, a pirate, or a geth, and someone who Saren will not have an adequate response to.
"And thirdly, you'd need to do what each of our ancestors did when they used the mass relay for the first time: you need to take a leap of faith. Because if you think that doing nothing against Saren just because you don't have an adequate solution is acceptable, then you'd be betraying everything that you're fighting for as people who are sworn to preserve galactic stability, not to mention innocent lives."
There was a pause as an excited murmur spread throughout the balconies from where even more people seemed to have flocked as the hearing had progressed. The Councilors turned to each other in grim understanding, sharing a silent conversation amongst themselves. A moment later, they turned back to the assembly, and Councilor Valern spoke slowly but meaningfully:
"The kind of man you're proposing would need special operating privileges, and would require access to Special Tactics and Reconnaissance resources."
"You have stated your case well, Commander," Councilor Tevos acknowledged. "Your skills and abilities that we have witnessed here are undisputed! They most certainly justify your Spectre candidacy. Even though your candidacy wasn't the purpose of this meeting, we are willing to address that issue right here and now. In essence, you truly are the only logical choice for a man that would hunt down Saren."
Councilor Sparatus spoke up in turn:
"I still feel that something like that would be too soon for humanity," he said. "But unlike the impulsiveness and brashness your species had, unfortunately, became notorious for, you have conducted this hearing with calmness and precision that gives me hope, Commander." He then paused and nodded as he spoke, "I'm willing to take that leap of faith."
The three Councilors pressed a series of commands into their respective consoles, and then Councilor Tevos spoke:
"Commander Marcus Shepard, step forward."
Stone-faced Marcus glanced to the grinning Anderson and gave a barely perceptible wink of cunning before stepping up to the edge of the platform. He stood at parade rest, looking bored and unperturbed as if he was standing in a cashier's line at a market store, while the murmurs of the numerous spectators all over the great hall rose to be heard like a hum.
"It is the decision of the Council to grant you all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel."
"Spectres are not trained," Valern picked up. "They are chosen – individuals that were forged in the fire of service in battle, whose actions elevate them above the rank and file."
Tevos took over:
"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol, an embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council; instruments of our will."
Sparatus finished the most imperiously:
"Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the Galaxy is theirs to uphold."
"Congratulations, Commander," Tevos spoke. "You are the first human Spectre. This is a great accomplishment for your entire species."
"I thank you, Councilors," Marcus spoke a few seconds after they've finished. "But our work is just beginning. There is the matter of what steps must be taken in order to find Saren."
"Indeed," Valern spoke. "But it is clear that Saren is hiding in the Attican Traverse. We'll be sending you there, but we will be forwarding any relevant files through Ambassador Udina, of course."
"That's not what I am talking about, Councilors," Marcus retorted firmly, allowing a slight tone of exasperation show in his voice. "Saren may have gone rogue, but he has not gone crazy. He will not use old contacts and leads to leave a trail for us to follow him by. The most he will do is use intermediaries, and something like that cannot be tracked if it is in the lawless section of the Galaxy – not even by a Spectre. The majority of the intel you give me will be unusable. No; something else entirely must be done."
The Councilors shared a grim look of understanding.
"What are you suggesting, Commander?" Sparatus asked.
"We're so concerned with him attacking Eden Prime that we never asked why did he attack Eden Prime," Marcus said pointedly. "Something was there that he wanted bad, bad enough to attack with vicious intensity… and the only two things Eden Prime has are farms and Prothean artifacts."
"Are you saying that he came after the Prothean Beacon?" Tevos asked discerningly.
"I do, Councilors. Look," Marcus spoke as he activated the Eden Prime spaceport security cam recording once more. He skipped to the part that came some time before Nihlus's approach to Saren, and his subsequent death. The video showed the Prothean beacon being transported by the Geth into the spaceport.
"If the Beacon was what Saren was after," Sparatus spoke. "Then why did he leave it behind?"
"I don't think he was after the Beacon, but whatever is in it," Marcus replied. "You won't lug your terminal if you have the data on an OSD."
"Why would he leave it for us to uncover its secrets, and thus seek him out based on it?" Sparatus countered. "It makes no sense."
"He didn't plan to leave anything! He placed a ten megaton thermonuclear bomb to wipe out everything in a ten-kilometer radius!"
Sparatus was silenced.
"You really think this Beacon can hold the answers to what Saren seeks?" Tevos asked.
"It could point out a general direction where to look at," Marcus nodded. "If it holds some Prothean super weapon blueprints, he'd certainly need specialized resources to build it – resources which are produced at few locations. That could give us a place where we can stalk him at."
"That's actually a sound strategy, Commander," Valern admitted. "But your report says that you had shut down the Beacon in order to prevent its explosive overload. Understandable under given circumstances, but we might not be able to turn it back on."
"Trust me, Councilor, that thing will want to activate on its own," Marcus replied dryly. "The thing may be highly advanced overall, but its "on/off" switch was a Prothean version of Willard's transformer. The regulator equivalent within it was fried – probably degraded due to age – and it opened exponential loop in the quint-phasic current oscillator that the beacon was using. I just dampened the feed to the transformer and robbed it of its juice."
"So you're saying that all we'd need to do is target it with a sustained quint-phasic EM wave, and it would restart?" Valern spoke enthusiastically, then rubbed his chin. "But what frequency…"
"Just keep it between 25 and 30 megahertz, and you'll be fine," Marcus waved it off.
Valern perked up, then nodded. "Very well, Commander. We will arrange a meeting with the expert whose team we have assigned to work on the Beacon."
"Her name is Doctor Liara T'Soni," Tevos provided. "She may be young and unorthodox in her approach, but the results and advances she produced over her short career are undisputed – which has landed her a position as the head of the Prothean Research Center right here on the Citadel."
"In the meantime, we suggest you take a respite, Commander," Sparatus spoke. "This has been a trying day, and the days will be tougher still as it goes. As we said, we'll forward any relevant data on Saren, but as of now, you are also at liberty to conduct your own investigation. Now, is there anything else you might want to bare on this already long and arduous hearing?"
Marcus allowed a small smirk to appear at the corner of his lips. "No, Councilors, I do not."
The Councilors nodded, and Tevos spoke up:
"Then I declare this meeting of the Council is adjourned!"
The three Councilors moved from their consoles and started walking toward their exit with a bit more hurry in their step than what was usual.
Marcus turned on his heel and walked back from the platform with a swaggering gait. People with faces painted with victorious smiles awaited him.
"Congratulations, Commander," Anderson spoke with his rich commanding voice as he firmly shook hands with Marcus, obviously trying not to grin like an idiot. "Seeing how you handled yourself against that bastard, Saren, him hanging up the comm like that – it was like a long-overdue balm."
"An excellent job of handling the entire hearing!" Udina exclaimed as he took his turn in shaking Marcus's hand with both of his. "You sure have bludgeoned through their posturing, but you did it diplomatically. You might make an excellent politician someday."
"We'll see," Marcus replied completely disinterestedly, then looked at Executor Palin who still stood there.
"I suppose I should thank you for proving Saren's corruption," the Executor spoke. "It did seem that the evidence favored Saren's innocence before you brought other evidence to the fore."
"Your man here drove the deciding nail in Saren's coffin," Marcus spoke easily as he pointed, and then offered his hand to the younger turian who took it in a wholehearted handshake. "Officer Garrus, was it? That was some damn quick thinking when you connected Saren's authorizations with STG listening posts. Now we actually know how he succeeded in the surprise attack!"
"Thanks, Commander, and it's Garrus Vakarian, by the way," he introduced himself fully. "I wouldn't have done it if you haven't mentioned it to the Council as a possible scenario."
"I could still use C-Sec's help in finding clues as to Saren's whereabouts or plans," Marcus replied. "Is there a way we could work together?"
"Of course, Commander, you're a Spectre now," Garrus replied. "You can requisition C-Sec's help with anything."
"You should come to the C-Sec Academy the first chance you get," Executor Palin said. "I'll familiarize you with Spectre-C-Sec dynamics, and I'll show you to the rare stocks with our requisitions officer. You'll also be able to begin a further investigation with Garrus."
"That's right," Garrus added. "I have placed the feelers for the purpose of Saren's investigation before. I have plenty of contacts and snitches through the Wards – something is bound to come up. Until then, Commander…"
Garrus and Palin bid their goodbyes and descended quickly down the stairs.
"So, how does it feel to be the very first human Spectre, sir?" Ashley asked eagerly from where she stood with Kaidan and Jaina.
Marcus locked gaze with his wife's and noted the smoldering gaze she projected his way; there was a promise there of some very exciting things that were about to come very quickly for him.
"It's feeling better by the minute, chief," he replied without taking his eyes off Jaina.
Udina, who was still present decided to break that moment.
"Now that you're a Spectre, Commander, changes must be made so that your new status and responsibilities don't clash with the Alliance Navy."
"He's right, Marcus," Anderson nodded. "Alliance regulations could hinder your ability to operate as a Spectre. The methods of operations we employ demand that you respond to a superior, but that kind of thing cannot hold with your current status. We need to find a suitable solution."
"I'll call Admiral Hackett immediately," Udina said. "He'll want to hear the news, and he'll be the one that's instrumental in establishing your new status within the Alliance. Come on, Anderson, we need to set all this up!"
"You take the rest of the day off, Commander," Anderson spoke. "You've earned it after today."
With that, the two men left hurriedly. Marcus turned to the rest of them to say something, but before he could utter a single word, Jaina stepped in front of him.
She snuggled up to him, raising her hands over his shoulders as he almost instinctively embraced her around her waist. He felt the need and demand in her body, in her eyes, and the adoration they projected for him. Only for him.
He met her lips halfway in a deep, embracing kiss, enjoying the few seconds as if they lasted for an eternity. They separated with a gasp, and as she regained her breath, Jaina spoke with a smile on her lips:
"Congratulations, Commander Shepard."
"Why, thank you, Commander Shepard," he replied smugly.
A loud and pointed coughing came from their side.
"With all due respect, commanders," Ashley spoke with a grin on her face. "But shouldn't you find a room?"
"Oh, we will, Ash," Jaina promised, not taking her eyes off Marcus. "We will."
Marcus somehow managed to tear his eyes away from her, and called out:
"Come on, guys! Drinks are on me!"
A.N.
Well, there it was folks – my view on how the Council Hearing should have, and very much could have gone, and that goes without any Beacon images being implanted or mentioned. In essence, I think that this whole Spectre Achievement could have happened without ever recruiting Wrex, Garrus or Tali or Liara at all! They're really not needed if you think about it!
Now, that I've scared the bejeezus outta you all, I can tell you not to worry – all of the aforementioned who are our favorite characters will obviously be included in this story. The trick is that the circumstances will be obviously somewhat different. How much different? You'll just have to see. Judging by the pace I'm achieving, I think that the next chapter might come roughly sometime around the weekend. That one will be dedicated solely to Mr. and Mrs. Shepard.