AN:- Title is a bad pun based on 'alms for the poor.'

Chapter Nineteen: Arms for the Poor

One of the Docking Bays had been entirely turned over to the refugees pouring from across the galaxy. For now that was mostly a mixture of turians, batarians and humans. Shepard stepped out of the elevator to the bustle of hundreds of bodies, crowding around the reception desks making demands of the beleaguered staff. She didn't even bother to push through to talk to them. Hopefully she could find Dorner Vosque and Sayn without needing to bother the staff.

Scanning the crowds for any sign of her contacts she saw that one entire wall of the bay had been turned into a shrine of sorts. Names were carved into the wall, pictures had been hung up and people were slowly filing by it, adding their own memorials or gently touching those that were already there. From all the noise and activity it was the only place that was quiet, with a natural order to it as the people came by, no one shoving or causing obstructions.

She started to look closer at the little groups of people scattered around. Starting to move through the crowds she saw people everywhere crying, or holding their friends. A salarian comforted a human woman as she passed, and a batarian preacher had set himself up on a box, calling for unity and strength.

Over the hubbub she heard a familiar voice and quickly looked over to where most of the turians had been gathered. Garrus was in amongst them, giving out orders to find more medigel.

"Tell him I'll come up and talk to him directly if he can't pass the requisition order."

Shepard touched him on the arm and he turned to her, a weary smile on his face. "Shepard."

She gestured to the scene around them. "What's happening?"

"We convinced the Council to accept our wounded. Nowhere else to go."

"How bad is it?"

"More dead than injured. Eighty-five percent killed in action." She closed her eyes. "We'll need a morgue soon. Not a lot of flesh wounds when you're fighting Reapers."

She took a deep breath and let it out, opening her eyes again and forcing herself to look at those few wounded that there were. "Casualties are that high?"

He nodded, pulling her over to one side where they were less likely to be overheard. "Our front line units are being wiped out whole platoons at a time. A single Reaper can destroy nine or ten of them in one attack."

"That's not war, it's slaughter."

"They're called Reapers for a reason, and these guys found out why."

She rubbed her face, wishing she had any sort of practical advice. "Do what you can for them."

He nodded. "A few of them might get back on their feet, but the rest… Sympathy is about all we can offer."

"Any sign of your family?"

"Not yet." He looked away, and she could see the fear in him. "But I keep hoping. What about you? I'm starting to see some wear and tear."

"I won't lie. It's been rough."

"Well. Don't forget to come up for air. There's a lot more war to go."

"I know Garrus. But what would you do?" She waved at the crowd of turians. "Could you rest now, seeing this?"

He sighed. "No, you're right." A small smile came onto his face and he nodded to the back of the area. "I have something to show you though. Might give you a smile at least."

She followed him to the back of the lot, where a VI was being projected. She frowned seeing it, seeing something familiar in it.

"That isn't…"

"Good to meet you. I'm Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy."

"Oh for the love of-"

"Extranet says you're Alliance military. Take care of yourself out there officer."

"Meet the unofficial Commander Shepard VI."

Shepard looked back to the VI. It had a smile plastered across its face she was sure she had never given in her life. It actually gave her a thumbs up.

"There's nothing this galaxy can't beat if we all work together Except the Reapers. Ever see the size of one of those things?"

"I'm sure this must be copyright infringement of some sort," Shepard said.

Garrus leaned in close to the VI, examining it closely. "The likeness is remarkable. Doesn't the Alliance Military have the rights to your image?"

"I'm not sure. It all got confused after I died and came back. I don't think the laws are really supposed to handle anything like that."

The VI piped up again. "My personality matrix can predict what the real Commander Shepard would say with seven percent accuracy."

"I'm not sure I'd call it one percent."

"I come pre-installed with an SSV Normandy Flight Sim."

Shepard groaned. "I'm going to put a stop to this."

"Oh now hang on," Garrus said. "Joker might quite like that."

"Got any pets? You look like a Varren person."

"I don't really sound like this do I Garrus?"

"Well it does have a certain familiarity. But it hasn't tried to…"

"Anyone ever tell you you're one hell of a looker soldier?"

"Oh, never mind."

Shepard glared at him. "You know you're really not as funny as you think you are Garrus."

"Well that's just an outright lie."

"I'll leave you to it Vakarian."

"Captain."

While they had been talking to the VI a man had come over to the turian bay, leaning up against one of the cargo containers and watching them intently. She headed over and leaned on the wall next to him, not looking at him.

"Aria wasn't kidding," he said. "The great Commander Shepard on a leash."

"I'm here for my own reasons Vosque."

Her guess was clearly right. He nodded and sneered. "Sure you are. Anyway, tell her I'm impressed, but to do business, I still need my little problem taken care of."

Why am I not surprised. "Which is?"

"A turian general named Oraka has it out for the Blue Suns." The name rang a bell, but she couldn't place it. "He's raising a stink over our activity in this sector. I'll commit my gang to Aria as soon as Oraka's dead."

"There must be more to Oraka's complaint." Because the Blue Suns are usually such lovable, huggable guys.

"We're just making little raids along trading routes. With Aria's blessing, I might add." Shepard gritted her teeth at that. Disrupting supply chains in the middle of a war might just cost them everything. "Oraka's just some military fossil who came out of retirement to relive the glory days and justify his existence. Losing him won't affect your war in the least. But gaining the Blue Suns… well you know our work."

Unfortunately he was right about that. The Blue Suns were more like a private military than a mercenary company. She supposed she had Zaeed to thank for that. That still didn't mean she was going to just go along with this plan. "You seriously think I'll assassinate a turian general?"

"Aria seems to think so, or else why would she send you? She knew the price. The two of you work it out." He pushed off the wall and headed back into the crowd, stopping and turning back to her. "Oh." He chuckled in a way that raised Shepard's hackles at once. "Tell Aria I still expect her blue ass in bed with me."

Now that was definitely something that Aria wouldn't have agreed to. She had no idea what, if anything, the crime boss' preferences were, but he was utterly certain they wouldn't extend to creepy lechers like Dorner Vosque. She opened up her omni-tool and keyed in Aria's channel.

"What is it Shepard?"

"You knew about this?"

"Can you be more specific?"

"Darner Vosque expects me to kill General Oraka."

"Who cares what Vosque wants, what he needs is for Oraka to stop disrupting his operations. I figured you'd talk to Oraka, see if you can get him to lay off." There was a short pause before she came back. "And if he won't listen to reason call me, and I'll take care of it."

"I don't see the distinction."

"The distinction is that I'm giving you the chance to save his life."

"Right." Always covering all the angles. She didn't know why she had expected anything else. "Why didn't you just tell me this yourself?"

"Vosque needed to see you, needed to realise who he's dealing with. Plus if I have to suffer that scumbag staring at my tits one more time, I might have to kill him." Shepard was almost relieved to hear that part. At least she had understood Aria that much.

"Yeah, he mentioned that uh…"

"That I'm going to sleep with him? We all have our delusions."

"Alright I'll handle this."

"I would expect nothing less."

Even as she was closing the call a salarian was marching up to her, a turian on either shoulder. She recognised the insignia on his lapel at once. She held up her hands as he got nearer.

"Not here for trouble Sayn, I just want to talk about Jona Sederis."

"You're the one coordinating the release, right?" He waved his guards away and they stepped back, staying close by. Sayn came up to talk to her. "My idea you know? Aria came to me looking to gain Eclipse support. I'm leveraging it to bust the boss out."

The solution presented itself in a moment. "Sayn you should run Eclipse."

"Huh?"

She nodded, seeing the genius in it even as she spoke. "You can do it. Leave Sederis locked up and make the deal with Aria yourself."

"Hmm. Aria would be a step up. And you think she'd let me run things?"

"I don't see why not." If you consider her running you to be a step up.

"Right, right. Then that's the plan." He nodded, and a wide smile spread across his face. "Keep Sederis in jail, I'll call Aria right away."

"Good man."

She checked her map, finding Oraka listed as currently at the Presidium Commons. If I have to ride these elevators one more time…

On her way to the elevator her comm pinged again, this time with Bailey on the other end of the line. "Shepard the Council withdrew the release order for Sederis. Aria T'loak, of all people, got 'em to do it. Crazy."

"You can say that again."

"Thanks for your help Shepard."

"No problem."

/|\

General Oraka was easy enough to find, and when she saw him she recognised him. Last time she had seen him had been at the bottom of a bottle in Chora's Den. He looked much better now, lean and alert with a predatory glint in his eye. He clearly recognised her as well, though that was less of a surprise.

"General Oraka."

"Commander Shepard. Or Captain now, if the reports are to be believed."

"They are. You're looking a lot better since Chora's Den, General."

"Yes, neck deep in drink, just before I retired. I'm clean now. Reinstated."

She sat next to him on his bench. "And I hear you're taking on the Blue Suns."

"I need to do my part for the Citadel Captain. The Blue Suns are raiding C-Sec weapons shipments, I'm putting a stop to that. Those mercs are seriously jeopardising the Citadel's ability to defend itself if the war comes here. When the war comes here."

"There are other ways to secure weapons General."

He snorted. "You don't think I've tried? There's a black-market dealer on Citadel right now. But he won't sell his top-line arms." He leaned forwards, resting his chin on his hands. "The Reapers are destroying everything in their path, and I can't stop them. But I can stop the Blue Suns."

She stood and "Let me see what I can do for you."

He sent her a file with a location on it. "I'd appreciate your help, and I'll have a plan of action ready if things fall through."

The location was right there in the Commons, at Cipritine Armory. She jogged over, seeing a Salarian behind the desk. She walked up and smiled at him. He held up his hands and backed away. "Look Commander I don't want any trouble. I'm authorised to sell here and all my arms are legal, see?"

Well that's clearly a sign of innocence. She leaned against the desk and lowered her voice. He came over and leaned in close. "These are light weight weapons. Where's your top end inventory?"

"Shit, you slumming for C-Sec too? I already got harassed by the old turian with the bad attitude." He pushed back off the desk and waved her away. "Yeah I got much better stuff. But it's off the market. Galaxy's going belly up, credit won't mean anything when the Reapers rip through."

"So what exactly are you saying?"

"Whatever happens, I figure there'll be survivors. But it'll be chaos. I'm betting things will run on a barter system. So I'm getting a jump." Of course. Always a few opportunists. "My best stock only trades for hard goods and artefacts with real value."

"So what gets me access to your top shelf?"

"Heh." He leaned back close to her. "Turian just waved credits in my face and then spat on it. Nice to see you have flexibility. If you find any rare pieces when you're out saving the galaxy, bring them back. Then I'd be happy to share my top shelf stock with C-Sec, no problem. Outside of that, I gotta stick to my guns."

She nodded and walked away from the kiosk, bringing up her omni tool and syncing to Liara's.

"What is it Maia?"

"I need some Shadow Broker connections."

She looked across the way, seeing Liara still sitting at the table in the café. She stood and walked to the railings, leaning against them and looking across at Shepard. "What do you need me to do?"

"I've got an arms dealer here who wants to deal only in hard goods. Anything you can organise?"

"Someone's future proofing, let me see what I can do."

Shepard's omni-tool binged and she looked down to see a confirmed trade route had just been set up. "It's only trinkets," Liara said. "But it ought to make him happy."

"You're the best babe."

"Are we going with babe now?"

"Sorry, got caught up in the moment."

"No, I like it. See you soon, babe."

She headed back over to the salarian, who was checking his own omni-tool. "Done deal Captain. Check in with General Oraka, you'll see I'm making C-Sec very happy."

Oraka was right where she had left him, though at least now he looked slightly less tense.

"Captain Shepard," he said as she jogged up. "I was just contacted by a black market dealer who's donating high end weapons to C-Sec. He wanted you to know, sounds like you came through

"And the Blue Suns can go about their business."

He nodded and rose from the bench. "Now we'll be focusing on Citadel defence. It won't bring Palaven back, but it's something. Thank you Captain."

He saluted, and she returned it. "Do the best you can General. I have a feeling we're going to need it."

"Understood."

/|\

She had one last trip to make, and she found Aria still in Purgatory, glaring at the dancers. The bodyguards let her past and she lowered herself onto the couch.

"The Blue Suns, Blood Pack and Eclipse are in my pocket. I'll send them to war when you're ready for them."

"I have a request for you." Shepard had been thinking about it ever since Aria asked her to unite the mercenary groups.

"I'm intrigued."

"There's a mercenary in Eclipse. Elnora."

"I don't have unit rosters yet Shepard."

"When you get them, Elnora is out. And she gets blackballed or whatever it is you do."

"Such venom. May I enquire as to the reason?"

"You may not. But I want her out."

"Well I suppose you did just give me a not inconsiderable amount of power." Aria stroked her chin, then held out her hand. "Done. Elnora's out."

"Thank you."

"You're getting better at ruthlessness Shepard. Keep it up and I might start to like you."

She didn't have a response for that. And as she left Purgatory, she couldn't help but feel that some of the shine was gone.

AN:- For me the Blue Suns loyalty mission is one of the most morally questionable in the game. This is the middle of a war, and even if you manage to set up a supply chain for C-Sec, the Blue Suns are still disrupting supply lines. That's seriously messed up and potentially could have massive consequences and casualties. Like disrupting supply lines is the sort of thing that armies deliberately try and do to their enemies to make them lose, and now you're helping the Blue Suns to keep doing that? Eesh, not a fan.

I actually had to go back and reread my ME1 novelisation to check this, but yeah, there is a reference to my Shepard meeting Septimus in the first game. I reckon I probably did it as part of the asari consort's optional side mission thing.

The little exchange with Liara was just so I didn't have to either split this into two parts for when Shepard leaves and returns to the Citadel, or justify Shepard taking the Normandy out for a jaunt just to get some trinkets for Kannick. I feel like the little 'are we doing babe now?' exchange is very Brooklyn 99, which is appropriate since I've been rewatching it.

Also, yeah, Elnora. I don't like Elnora, and in the last novelisation Shepard had a pretty major freakout over letting her go, so I decided that she was going to remember that and get a measure of revenge.