Recap: You all saw what happened.

Now

The Normandy had just pulled into dock at the Citadel, but before he could get off, Shepard was presented with a problem by Anderson.

"What do you mean I can't go out until I wear that?" Shepard asked.

"Look, your armor has been broken. Saren will find out who you are since your mask is broken too, you need armor and this is better than your old armor." Anderson explained. The armor that he was trying to get Shepard to wear was Onyx Heavy Armor X. Now Shepard would have taken this with no problem at all if there wasn't something on it.

"What's with the red stripe and N7 logo on it?" Shepard said pointing to them. Anderson sighed.

"The N7 is a program we put only the most gifted soldiers through for elite training. The red stripe signifies the human blood spilt in service to humanity." Anderson explained.

"You got any other armors I could wear? I don't want my armor saying I'm something I'm not." Shepard said. Anderson raised an eyebrow.

"Shepard, after the crap you went through on Elysium, Akuze, and Torfan you would already be an N7. Now the only other armor we got is this light phoenix armor if you are okay with that-" Anderson turned to Shepard who was already wearing the Heavy Armor and putting all his weapons on.

"I would rather be dishonest than wear something with pink on it." Shepard simply said his back turned to Anderson. Anderson couldn't help but smirk at Shepard. That was easier than he thought. Afterwards, Anderson had left with Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley. On the way out Nihlus split of to give his report to the Council.

"See ya around Nihlus." Shepard said as Nihlus walked off. They then made their way over to the human embassy only to see the human ambassador, Donnel Udina, arguing with the Council.

"This is an outrage! The Council would step in if the geth attacked a turian colony!" Udina told the Council members. Shepard and the others moved to the other side of the room overlooking the presidium.

"The turians do not found colonies on the border of the Terminus Systems, Ambassador." Valern said with ambassador sounding like a term to put Udina down. Shepard just shook his head. Udina should have known that the Council wouldn't help them so long as it didn't affect them directly.

"Humanity was well aware of the risks when you went into the Traverse." Tevos said. Shepard noticed her voice sounded as if she was an adult talking to a child.

"What about Saren? You can't just ignore a rouge spectre. I demand action!" Udina said more forcefully. Then Sparatus spoke.

"You can't get to make demands of the Council, Ambassador." Sparatus said with his voice hinting that he thought this whole thing was a waste of time.

"Citadel security is investigating your charges against Saren. We will discuss the C-Sec findings at the hearing. Not before." Tevos said finishing the conversation. With that their images flickered out and Udina growled as he turned to everyone else.

"Captain Anderson, I see you brought half your crew with you." Udina said to Anderson. Shepard was confused, he wasn't part of Anderson's crew so why did- oh right N7 armor.

"Just the ground team from Eden Prime... and Ghost who was on the ground to." Anderson said pointing to Shepard. Udina then turned to Shepard as he looked over him.

"So you are Ghost? Where is your mask?" Udina asked skeptically.

"It was destroyed along with my armor when the beacon exploded in front of me and knocked me out." Shepard explained. That was when Udina exploded.

"Then it was your fault that the beacon was destroyed!" Udina accused him.

"Hey you asshole, it wasn't my fault it exploded!" Shepard shot back at him. Anderson finished the brewing argument.

"That was Saren's fault not his." Anderson said.

"Then we better hope the C-Sec investigation turns up any evidence to support our accusations. Otherwise the Council could use this as an excuse to keep us out of the loop in galactic politics." Udina said.

"That other spectre Nihlus' word should be enough to get them moving hopefully." Shepard said not really believing his own words.

"Saren is their top agent. Chances are they will take his word over another one." Udina said.

"It sounds like you managed to convince them to give us an audience." Anderson surmised.

"Yes though they were reluctant about it." Udina said.

"Come with me Captain, I want to go over a few things before the hearing. Ghost you can take the other 2 and wander around for a little until the hearing. I'll make sure you have clearance." Udina said as he dismissed them. Shepard glared at Udina's back as he left.

"Well I don't know about you 2, but I'm going to see the sights." Shepard said as he walked out and started wandering around. Ashley and Kaidan looked at each other.

"Maybe we should tag along in case he tries to make a break for it?" Kaidan asked.

"It would probably be smart." Ash stated as they both went after our wayward hero. After walking around for a while they came to a scenic overlook of the Citadel somewhere in the wards. The look was stunning with all the lights, buildings and cars flying around.

"Big place." Kaidan said aloud.

"That your professional opinion, sir?" Ashley said in a dry tone.

"Damn, this isn't a station. It's a freaking city." Shepard said aloud.

"There must be millions here. It can't be possible to track everyone coming and going." Kaidan observed.

"This makes Jump-Zero look like a porta-john. And it is the largest deep space station in Alliance space." Ashley said.

"Jump-Zero was big. But this is on a whole nother scale. Look at the ward arms. How do you think they keep all that mass from flying apart?" Kaidan asked stupified at it all.

"Guess the Council represents more races than I thought. No wonder they don't trust new people easily." Shepard said his own thoughts.

"I think they just want things to keep running. It must be difficult to keeping all these cultures working together." Kaidan responded to Shepard.

"Or maybe they just don't like humans." Ashley said in a skeptic voice.

"Why the hell not? We've got oceans, beautiful women, this emotion called love. According to the old vids, we have everything they want." Shepard replied to Ash. Shepard noticed Ashley smirked before she started talking.

"If you expect me to get in a tinfoil miniskirt and thigh-high boots, I want dinner first." Then she blushed, realizing what she just said.

"That will be all chief." Kaidan said smiling.

"Don't worry Kaidan. I have to admit though, now I'm a little tempted to see it." Shepard said with a grin. He and Alenko couldn't help but chuckle at Ashley's sputtering. They all decided to go to the citadel tower after that.

At the Citadel Tower

Shepard and the duo had just exited the elevator when they saw 2 turians arguing. They decided to listen in on the conversation.

"Saren's hiding something, give me more time. Stall them." the turian in blue armor said.

"Stall the Council? Don't be foolish! Your investigation is over Garrus." said the other turian in a suit

"Dammit Pallin this is serious!" Garrus shouted. "We even have a report from another spectre that Saren was the one who started the attack. Does that not matter?"

"It's out of your hands, Garrus. It's over, Council orders." Pallin said in an even tone as he walked away. That was when Garrus noticed the group that had been watching the argument. He zeroed in on one person in particular.

"Are you Ghost?" He asked talking to Shepard.

"Yea." Shepard responded.

"Garrus Vakarian, I was the officer in charge of the C-Sec investigation on Saren." Garrus admitted.

"With that argument earlier, it sounded like you want to bring him down." Shepard stated.

"I don't trust him. Something about him rubs me the wrong way." Garrus said.

"Yea, I got the same feeling when I first saw him." Shepard sympathized. Garrus gave the turian equivalent of a smirk.

"Good to see someone agrees with me. Unfortunately he's a spectre, everything he touches is classified. I can't find anything concrete on him." Garrus said with his smirk vanishing.

"Don't worry about it. Look I'm going to go see the Council now. With how they are, chances are they're only humoring us, now don't stop investigating I'm going to see if I can at the least buy some time for any evidence to pop up. Okay?" Shepard telling his plan to Garrus.

"Yes, that could work." Garrus said with a nod. Then he exited through the elevator. With a plan formulating in Shepard's head, they all went to the Council chambers to begin the hearing. When they arrived Anderson was already there.

"Good, the hearings already started come on." Anderson said not wasting any time. Shepard looked around and noticed the Council. He also noticed Nihlus was in the room and looking at something with the turian version of scowl. Shepard looked at what Nihlus was looking at and shared the same sentiment when he saw the hologram of Saren. When he saw Saren he could see that he was giving all the humans a hate filled glare.

"The geth attack is a matter of some concern. But there is nothing to indicate that Saren was involved." He heard Tevos

"The investigation by c-sec has turned up no evidence to support your charge of treason." Sparatus said smugly.

"You have to eye witness reports, including one from another spectre." Udina said.

"We read the reports, ambassador, but we still have no solid evidence on whether or not it was Saren." Valern said

"I resent these accusations. I was nowhere near your Eden Prime." Saren said in a cool tone.

"You really believe we will think that?" Anderson said. Saren looked at Anderson with a sneer.

"Captain Anderson, you always appear to be involved when humanity has false charges against me." Then Saren turned to look at Shepard.

"And who is this? Your protege?" Saren said as his eyes bore holes into Shepard.

"No, I'm not. I'm Ghost, or you can call me Shepard, you know the guy who backhanded you in the face on Eden Prime? Hows your mandible by the way?" Shepard said smirking at him. Now everyone who didn't know was looking at Shepard in shock. Saren quickly got his composure back.

"Ah Aria's spectre equivalent? Can't say I'm impressed, but then what would you expect from a human." Saren said with human sounding like a poison.

"Hollow words coming from a man who is not even in the room." Shepard shot back. That was when he started chuckling. Everyone was looking at him confused. Why was he chuckling in a hearing?

"Is there something you wish to share with us Shepard?" Sparatus said with his usual annoyed tone. Shepard looked right at him.

"Sorry, its just something I noticed about the situation." Shepard said grinning.

"What was it that you noticed that caused you to laugh?" Valern asked eager to find away to study Shepard somehow.

"Its just that, with the turian councilor, a representative of all his species, I'm a little surprised that he so easily took the words of a bareface." Shepard said without an ounce of decency. Suddenly the entire Council Chambers with silent. the only thing that could be heard was the footsteps of the citadel's keepers. The reactions varied from person to person. With Anderson, Ashley and Kaidan there was confusion. With Udina he looked as if he was going to have a stroke any second. With Tevos and Valern, they both looked shocked at how he said it so plainly. With Nihlus and Sparatus, they were in shock. And finally with Saren, well he was pissed.

"How do you know that term?" Saren said as calmly as he could. Everyone could see he was now wishing he was in the room so he could strangle Shepard to death. Shepard looked at him smugly.

"I lived all around the galaxy after I lost my home to slavers. I picked things up as I traveled." Shepard said cheekily. That was when Sparatus spoke up.

"I suppose that would be ironic in a sense. You know your cultures real well, Shepard." Sparatus said in a calm voice.

"Thank you." Shepard said.

"Be that as it may however, many turians, as well as myself, have started moving away from that belief. Besides I have known Saren for years-" Sparatus continued to say until he was cut off.

"Then you should not be part of the trial on the account of personal bias with the accused!" roared Udina, seeing an opening that Shepard had provided. Now everyone was looking at Sparatus telling him to get off the podium in outrage. Sparatus looked around finally realizing he had stepped on a political landmine. He looked to his fellow councilors for some support, instead he got shocked looks from both of them and no support. With everyone in the Chamber going nuts, Tevos had to put the hearing to continue later on in the day. With that Shepard looked at Saren's hologram which looked at him with hatred. Shepard put his middle finger up toward Saren in return.

'After this I'm coming for you personally. I don't like people who attack colonies for no good reason.' Shepard thought as he watched the hologram wink out.