Sarah walked into Doctor Michel's office, where Garrus was standing behind cover. A thug pushed the doctor to the ground, and said, "Where's the money?"
"I won't pay you another credit." the doctor said, standing back up. The thug moved to slam her back to the ground, when another turned to look at the Commander and her allies. At that moment Garrus turned out of his cover and opened fire, a spray of crimson blood flying from the head of the first criminal as he fell to the ground, dead.
The three remaining thugs turned to open fire, but were dead before they could react. The turian C-Sec agent turned to Sarah, and said, "You know, Commander, I should arrest you and your pals for three counts of homicide."
Sarah laughed, and said, "You could try that, Officer, but I think we both know that you don't want to get on my bad side."
The turian smiled, and said, "True enough, Commander. And you did help me take down those thugs. I suppose I can look over a few homicides, if you promise not to commit any more homicides in front of me."
Both laughed, and Sarah said, "I don't know. The job usually asks for me to kill at least a couple of people every few hours."
Garrus smirked, and asked, "What do you need?"
"I'm hoping you've found some evidence against Saren."
"I'm looking into a lead right now."
"What could the Doctor know?"
"I heard that she gave help to a quarian, one who claimed to have proof of a Spectre working with the geth, and present at the attack on Eden Prime."
Sarah nodded, and asked Michel, "Did you help a quarian?"
"Yes, I told her that if she was looking for protection the Shadow Broker would be her best bet. She asked me who she could go to in order to set up a meeting."
"Who did you send her to?"
"Fist."
"Shit." Garrus said, "Word on the street is that the Shadow Broker is angry with Fist. Something about betraying him."
"Fist is working for Saren now." Wrex said, checking his shotgun.
"Shit." Sarah sighed, "When was she going to meet him?"
"It should be soon... I don't know how long you have if you want to help her." Michel said.
Sarah nodded, and said, "We need to get moving."
"I'm coming with you, Shepard."
"You sure about that, you've got a pretty cushy job here on the Citadel."
"If it'll help take Saren down, then I want to take part in it."
"Alright, I guess we need to get back to Chora's Den." Sarah said, walking out of the door.
-=0=-
Fist slammed a datapad into his desk, and said, "Dammit! I told you that if I keep covering up your fuckups, Saren, the Broker would find out about it. Now he's got a goddamn krogan coming after me."
"Be silent, fool." the Spectre said, "Be grateful that I have even given you a chance to aid in the efforts to prove our worth to the Reapers."
"If getting killed by a krogan is your idea of saving the galaxy, I don't know what's going on in that head of yours."
"You humans, always so short sighted. Even should you die, it will be for the greater good, bringing an end to the cycle of extinction that has haunted this galaxy for eons."
Fist sighed, and said, "How am I supposed to cover up your mistakes, hide the information from the Shadow Broker, if I'm in a shallow grave?"
"Soon we will have found the Conduit. After that Sovereign will see how useful the species of the galaxy can be to him and his allies. If you can last a few more weeks, there will be no need to fear the Shadow Broker ever again."
"His krogan's on the station already, and Shepard is looking for any evidence she can find against you. She might even learn about the quarian."
"I grow tired of your cowardice, Fist. Prepare your bar for an attack if you insist, just make sure that the quarian doesn't manage to talk."
Fist glared at Saren, and said, "I'll do what I can, Saren, but there had better be a lot of credits in it for me, I'm going through a lot of risk taking out that quarian."
"You will be compensated properly, now focus on getting the job done before I go to the Citadel just to shut you up!"
Fist nodded, as he hit a few keys on his terminal.
-=0=-
Sarah marched into Chora's Den, where she was immediately fired upon. The Commander dove behind right beside the door, while Wrex charged in. He fired at the closest target with his shotgun, before placing it on his back, and drawing his rifle.
In the same motion that he pulled the rifle from his back he lined up a shot and killed the next target. At the same time, Garrus sprinted into cover beside the Commander and opened fire on a human thug.
As crimson blood flew through the air Sarah rose out of cover and finished off the last guard with three quick rounds to the head.
She grimaced as she walked through the pool of dark blue blood, and said, "God this is a fucking mess. I feel sorry for the poor bastard that has to clean this up."
Garrus laughed, and said, "I knew a guy who was on the official cleanup crew of busts like this, where the crooks tried to fight back. They really fucking hate us. Especially after that revenge job of mine."
Sarah laughed, and said, "At least there was only ever the one. Not like Zaeed, seemed like every couple of days he was finding someone who had earned the misfortune of being on his shitlist."
"Only every couple of days?" Garrus asked, "Seemed like we probably spent half our time after killing the Collectors taking out old grudges of his."
"At least it got a lot of mercenaries and drug dealers out of business. Not to mention a fuckton of batarians." Sarah sighed, as they walked into Fist's office.
He looked at them, terror clear in his eyes, as Sarah stepped towards him. She asked, "Where's the quarian, Fist?"
"Why are you looking for a quarian? And what makes you think that I know anything about them? Do I look like I spend my time with thieves?"
"No, to be honest you seem more like you would spend your time with drug dealers and thugs who demand 'protection' money." the Commander growled, "Now quit playing coy, and tell me where she is!"
"Why do you care so much about this quarian?"
"Let me at him, Shepard. I'll have him talking in two seconds, dead in ten." Wrex said, drawing his shotgun.
She looked at the krogan for a moment then said, "Gimme just a moment, then if he still insists on saying that he doesn't know anything, go wild."
Fist looked at her, terror clear in his eyes, and begged, "Don't let that krogan kill me, please! I'll tell you whatever you want to know!"
"Where is the quarian, the one that had information that would prove a Spectere has gone rogue?"
"A back alley, just outside the bar. My men will be meeting with her in a couple of minutes, and terminating her once they have the data."
Sarah shook her head, and said, "Why are you working with Saren? Why betray the Shadow Broker? Surely a Spectre can't pay that well."
"It was that or die." Fist said.
"A shame, you just delayed the inevitable." Sarah said, walking away. Fist started to shout at her, but was silenced by Wrex's shotgun tearing dozens of holes into him.
As they ran out of the building, towards where Tali was in danger, Sarah said, "Wrex, you'll take the target on the left, Garrus, you've got the middle target, I'll handle the one that goes right."
"Understood." Garrus said, while Wrex just nodded.
They ran as far as they could, but the last door to the alley was locked from the other side. Sarah swore, and slammed into it, energy pulsing through the seams, and then forcing the door open. As the door opened, they saw Tali through a flashbang, and dive behind cover. Before the would-be assassin's could react to the flash, all three were dead, killed by the eclectic team of specialists. Sarah walked towards the quarian, and asked, "Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya?"
The quarian seemed visibly shaken for a second then said, "That bastard Fist set me up! Who are you?"
"The name's Shepard, these are my pals Wrex and Garrus."
"Why did you help me? Most people would have just looked the other way."
"That's not my style, and I don't work with people who it is their style. I also heard that you have information. Proof that a Spectre named Saren is working with the geth. I need that information."
"Then it seems like I can pay you back for saving my life already." Tali said, "Let's go. I don't want to be here when their corpses start to smell."
"Sounds like a plan."
-=0=-
Udina glared at Shepard, and said, "Do you know how to do anything without it being cause for a political shitstorm, Shepard?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Udina."
"Word is already spreading of your little adventures on the wards! Gunfights in a medical clinic, Chora's Den, and an alley only a few hundred meters from that same bar! Can you do anything without it turning into a bloodbath?"
The Soldier smirked, and said, "No. It's why I'm such a good soldier, and such a shitty anything else."
"Do you at least have any solid evidence yet?"
"Yeah. I'll let our new expert on proving Saren's a rogue Spectre explain."
Tali stepped forward and said, "While examining a geth that I had just deactivated's memory banks I found this file, a recording of a conversation between Saren and someone else."
As it played, Sarah shut her eyes, and afterwards Anderson said, "The Council will have to listen to this! There's no way they'll be able to look the other way now."
"Don't be so sure, Anderson." Udina said, "What are these Reapers?"
"A massive pain in my ass." Sarah said.
Tali said, "According to the memory core, the Reapers were a hyper-advanced machine race, that existed fifty thousand years ago. They hunted the Protheans to extinction, then they vanished."
Udina said, "The Council is going to hate this."
"It doesn't matter, the Reapers are a threat to everyone. Everything. And Saren's trying to bring them back!" Anderson said.
"What about the quarian?" Udina asked. "Why is she even on the Citadel? Your kind don't normally leave the flotilla."
"I'm on my pilgrimage. A sort of quarian right of passage that each of us must complete before we can come fully into adulthood and join the crew of a ship. I got the memory core with that audio clip from a geth who I had hunted to a remote world, barely inside any kind of civilized space. Barely beyond the veil."
Udina nodded, and said, "What are you going to do now?"
Tali nervously scratched the back of her neck, or as close as she could to it in her environment suit, and said, "I was hoping that I could keep working with Shepard. Saren knows that I have evidence against him and has already sent one team of hitmen after me. If I stay on my own, he'll probably send more."
Sarah nodded, and said, "Assuming Anderson is alright with it, I see no reason for you not to come along. You've already proven to be useful, and quarian engineers are some of the best out there."
Anderson nodded, and said, "First we need to bring this evidence to the Council, there's still a chance that they'll look the other way because Saren is their top agent."
"This evidence has him claiming responsibility for Eden Prime, if they say he's innocent and hasn't gone rogue... I guess it'll be time for me to rogue and steal a ship." Sarah said, as they walked towards the car waiting for them.
-=0=-
A/N: Alright, another chapter. Soon we'll get back to the more non-rehashing canon stuff. But first gotta relive the past with Sarah. Build up to the big stuff. Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter, and if you did please leave a review/follow/favorite. Until next time!