DISCLAIMER: Mass Effect video game is the property of its respective owners and the author has no financial gain from it. Original Characters and story concept are mine though.

A/N: Here is the first part of Chapter 9 for your enjoyment. Dubois will meet his contacts and starts to sort out the espionage network. This part is about 7k words long. Hope you enjoy it!

My beta is still the one and the only Redentor

Chapter 9 – Of Cloaks And Daggers

Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.

Colin Powell

Citadel

Widow System

Serpent Nebula

Earth Year: 2172

It's been two months since our takeover of the Blue Suns and I was back on the Citadel to proceed with my original, and most important objective – establishing the Confederacy's espionage network. I travelled aboard the 'Coronado' and apart from Lox I had the pleasure of receiving two new crewmembers. One of them was Corporal Tabitha Rakehal from the Blue Suns Signal Corps, her job being maintenance of the communications with the company's military network. The other one was the young batarian navigator whom I'd also met when we were boarding the 'Omega Blue'. His name was Garem Rod'barr and he held the rank of a Warrant Officer. Garem's job would be to perform the duties of a navigator and partially those of a pilot to ease the burden on Lox, so the AI could focus on analysing the paperwork that I saddled him with.

Both Blue Suns were relatively young (still years older than my current body, though), but they already had a few years of service on 'Omega Blue' under their respective belts. They were put off at first by the presence of Lox aboard the corvette, but they were willing to accept him after I vouched for the AI's safety. The people who lived in the Terminus had a rather relaxed approach to Council law in any case, so it wasn't that much of a problem. And well... neither of them was a quarian. I was also under the impression that Garem Rod'barr found my attempt to smuggle an AI onto the Citadel quite entertaining; if slightly dangerous for us all, should Lox be discovered.

The day before yesterday, Lox provided me with a list of current assets the Security Branch had in the Mass Effect galaxy. Unfortunately and to my great dismay, it was a very short list and most of the people on it were some two-bit informers and low-level Alliance clerks who didn't really know who they were selling the information to. As the Confederacy was predominantly human (and non-human citizens would have been totally useless), most of our information sources were in Alliance space, but there was one very significant exception.

That was for later though. I decided that after two long months of constant work and catching up on the paperwork backlog I deserved to take some time off to relax. I invited Corporal Rakehal and WO Rod'barr for a beer in Flux, but they both respectfully declined, citing other commitments. We agreed to meet there later though, so for the time being I was walking alone through the Upper Wards.

I approached one of the windows and the view took my breath away. The Serpent Nebula looked absolutely spectacular, its majestic bright colours making even the grand 'Destiny Ascension' pale in comparison. Honoré de Balzac once wrote that there is not a more beautiful sight than a frigate in full sail, a galloping horse or a woman dancing. I wouldn't disagree with him on that matter, but if Monsieur Balzac could see the nebula as I saw it now, I have little doubt in my mind that he would gladly add it to his list. I understood now why the Upper Wards were such a popular spot for a romantic date – you won't get any more romantic than the stars above and beyond. As I stood there taking in the view I heard someone clear his throat behind me.

"Wonderful, isn't it?"

I was loath to turn away from the mesmerizing view, but I didn't want to seem rude. I looked at the person standing next to me and I recognized an Alliance officer in dress uniform who seemed vaguely familiar.

"I first saw the Serpent Nebula on a holographic postcard that my father sent me. It made me join the Navy when I was of age. I wanted to see such things every day." He continued with a fond smile.

He shook his head and then extended his hand toward me.

"By God, where are my manners? My name is Commodore Paulo Kahoku, Systems Alliance Navy."

Finally it clicked and I recognized the man, although he looked younger than in the game. It was Rear Admiral Kahoku, the one that was later killed by Cerberus for exposing their illegal operations. If I recalled correctly, Shepard found his dead body in one of their facilities, killed by the Rachni that Cerberus had bred for whatever nefarious purposes. Kahoku was a brave man who wasn't afraid to put his life at risk for the sake of his soldiers, and I could respect that. It took me only a moment to connect all the dots as I shook his hand.

'My name is Michael Westen and I used to be a spy…' I remembered the opening line from the 'Burn Notice'. I was very tempted to use it, but it wouldn't do.

"Peter Dubois, a freelance trader. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir. Have we ever met before?" I asked, wondering why he had talked to me in the first place. My work-related paranoia was catching up with me again – had Alliance Naval Intelligence put me in their sights? That would have been very bad.

Kahoku just smiled as we started to walk along the large window.

"No we haven't Mr. Dubois, but I couldn't help but notice the way you looked when you stood there. I admit that you reminded me a lot of myself when I was your age. Our galaxy is large and vast – it feels a bit overwhelming at times, doesn't it?"

"Yes it is, sir, but I've already seen quite a bit of it. I was born in the Terminus Systems."

That was part of my cover story. Many humans when the galaxy at large became available emigrated from the confines of Alliance-controlled space to find their own place in the universe. Mass Effect's humanity was filled with rovers, vagabonds and adventurers who chaffed under Alliance law and preferred to carve their own future in the lawless Terminus. Such a state of affairs made it easier for me to pretend that I was born there, because many of the worlds in the Terminus did not bother with keeping records of births and deaths. Had I claimed to be from Alliance Space instead, it could have been easily checked out, and discovered to be a falsehood. With the Terminus there was literally no way to either confirm or debunk it.

"Do you have Alliance citizenship, Mr. Dubois?"

"I'm afraid not, Commodore. I never saw the need to get one. Why? Am I in some sort of trouble?"

"Oh no, not at all!" Kahoku laughed out loudly. "I was merely curious."

We walked slowly along the Upper Wards, discussing places that we had visited so far, comparing our experiences. During the course of our conversation I noticed some very interesting thing about humanity in Mass Effect in general. Their culture was slightly different than the one I remembered from my Earth. For example, Commodore Kahoku had no qualms about approaching and talking to a virtual stranger like me. In my old life people were not that bold, but here it appeared to be a rather common behaviour. It explained why nobody ever called Shepard out for his (or her) curiosity and nosiness. I guess that we could chuck it up to the culture evolving of over a period a hundred and fifty years.

I noticed that Commodore Kahoku acted very differently than his older counterpart in the first Mass Effect video game. In the game he seemed constantly on the edge – not surprising, seeing as he was then looking for his missing soldiers, who as it turned out were led into an ambush by the Cerberus and killed.

He also lacked the aura of a combat veteran that was visible in the game. I remembered reading about him and he was mentioned in connection to the Skyllian Blitz where he earned his Admiral's chevrons. In fact, the Skyllian Blitz was the second full interstellar conflict where Alliance soldiers like Kahoku and his contemporaries had their baptism of fire. The generation which fought First Contact War had already been mostly retired by then and soldiers and officers who represented the new breed, Shepard among them, bloodied their sabers for the first time against the Batarian Hegemony. Hopefully, if we did things right, and by we, I of course mean I, the Blitz would not come to pass this time around. My meddling with the timeline was a dangerous game to play, but with the Reapers just around the corner I couldn't afford to be only reactive.

I bid goodbye to Commodore Kahoku and we parted ways in front of Flux. As I entered the club I noticed that it was much larger than was shown in the game. A whole upper story was dedicated to the casino, including the quasar gaming system. The dance floor was much more spacious than it appeared in the game – it could easily accommodate most of the patrons. There weren't that many of them as it was still around 3 o'clock in the afternoon by Citadel Time, but in an hour or so that was sure to change. The one thing that was exactly the same as in the game was the rather uninspired electronic music that played in the background. I wasn't a great connoisseur of electronic beats by any stretch of the imagination and I can't really say I know the genre very well. Still, I did like some of the more ambitious DJ's, especially the ones who were really good at mixing their music. Sadly, the generic thumping sound played in Flux was on the completely opposite side of the spectrum.

After a quick search I found an unoccupied table and sat there. As it happened I could use my omni-tool to place the order and I did so. After approximately fifteen minutes of waiting and no confirmation that my order was even received I got up and went to the bar. The battery of drinks and liquors behind the bar looked very inviting. A couple of human and asari females worked behind the bar, pouring drinks and shots, which with a heavy heart I decided to pass on for this afternoon. There was also a volus gentleman standing in his pressure suit, as he checked something on the holographic display. I recognized him as the owner of the joint, but I couldn't remember his name.

"Excuse me, sir. Is your omni-tool order system working as it should? I placed my request nearly fifteen minutes ago, but I received nothing?" I asked politely.

I could have potentially played the role of an angry customer, but I'd been on the receiving and of someone's ire enough times in the past for it to be even remotely entertaining.

And yes, when the volus answered my question, he was indeed breathing heavily between every other world he spoke. For the sake of brevity I will refrain from quoting him word for word and including all his 'hshnk-s'.

"My apologies Earth-clan, it would seem that our electronic equipment had failed us once again. What would you like to have?"

I took one last look of longing at the Scotch whisky at the very end of the bottle row and replied.

"One cranberry juice, please." Not really a fan of cranberry juice, but its taste kind of reminded me of the cheap wines that we used to drink back in high school.

'Might as well try to fool my own tongue and feel young again.' I smiled at my nostalgic thoughts, disregarding the fact that I was technically still in my early twenties.

One of the smiling girls passed me the juice and I went back to my table. As I sat there, nursing my drink my omni-tool beeped, signalling an incoming call.

It was Colonel van Koolwijk.

I wondered why she was calling me at all. We briefly discussed our 'relationship' before I was deployed and we agreed that it was better to cease it before it started to be a problem. Her work was done, as she kept me reasonably happy throughout my training period and taught me to use my body as a weapon. What we had was just a simple frontline fling, nothing special to it – or so I kept telling myself. Or maybe I was reading too much into this. After all, she was one of my commanding officers. She could just be calling for administrative purposes.

I answered her call, marvelling at the sheer ingenuity and usefulness of wormhole technology. She was probably broadcasting the signal through the 'Coronado's' wormhole generator. Time-space continuum, eat your heart out.

"Hello, Dubois speaking?"

"What is your status, lieutenant?"

Ah, so we were on the clock, once again. I should have figured.

"I'm in the Flux right now, about to meet my team, colonel."

"Good. We have received your report on the Blue Suns takeover, lieutenant. General Anjou thinks you've done an outstanding job in minimizing the casualties on both sides. We can hardly afford to lose experienced soldiers with the Reapers still at large."

That was true. Apart from Vido Santiago and his two security guards we only had to take two other loyalist compounds by force. There were casualties, but they paled into insignificance when compared with the number of lives that we'd saved.

Patricia was still talking, though.

"The General Staff of the Brigade is uncertain whether letting the Blue Suns management know about the Confederacy was the wisest course of action. Many here believe that the same result could be accomplished without disclosing your true identity. What was your reasoning behind this decision, lieutenant?"

'Well, fuck you too!' I thought angrily. Everyone and their mother can be a bloody expert when it's not their skin that is on the line. I had to make some rather quick decisions concerning the Blue Suns and I took the best option I thought possible. After all, the easiest explanation to accept was the one closest to the truth. And if they hadn't accepted it, I would have been lucky to keep all my bones intact. Despite my internal aggravation I responded courteously.

"I believe that with the information that I possessed at the time it was the most reasonable course of action, colonel. Moreover, it will give us benefits in the long run. At the moment the Blue Suns are more interested in the money we pay, but once we start recovering Reaper artefacts that are certain to still be around they will understand the full gravity of the situation, which will secure us their loyalty to our cause."

Throughout our conversation Patricia's voice was deceptively steady and polite. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that I was talking to some human-like android. I'd never admit it to anyone, but that woman with her smiles and deadly demeanour scared the living daylights out of me, even more at times than Galtieri and Sharpe combined. I could only be glad that she was on our side.

"Thank you very much for your feedback, lieutenant. We will keep in touch with you."

"Patricia, could we..." I tried to say.

Colonel van Koolwijk interrupted me with the air of finality, but I could detect a hint of emotion in her tone of voice.

"I'm afraid we haven't got time for any further discussion. Have a good day, lieutenant."

And she disconnected just like that. I felt a slight pang of regret in my heart, but steeled myself against it. Getting all emotional now would do me no good. Patricia honoured her side of our small agreement and there was nothing more to be said or done. As the Security Branch trainers drummed into my head, the mission always came first.

I leaned back in the comfortable chair nursing my cranberry juice and waited for my crew to arrive.

"Afternoon, boss!"

Rod'barr's cheerful voice made me look up from my holo-tablet and from another invoice forwarded by Lox, for which I was immensely grateful. My batarian navigator stood by my table with a cheeky smile.

"Have a sit, Garem. Where is Tabitha?" I asked him noticing the distinct lack of our redheaded comms specialist.

WO Rod'barr sat on the indicated seat and without any shame put his boots on the table. If it was anyone else I would have scolded him for breaking from the protocols of behaviour. I didn't because firstly, I got used to Garem's quirks over the two weeks we'd spent travelling together and secondly we had to maintain the cover of an unprofessional merchant crew and saluting and clicking heels were a sure way to blow it.

WO Garem Rod'barr was in general a quite unorthodox batarian, much like Garrus was a bad turian. He had nothing but contempt for their sacred hierarchical system and was a rather vocal opponent of the slavery (it's just so crass, el-tee!). It didn't stop him from working for the Blue Suns of course, but as they say, the money didn't stink. Don't get me wrong – he was an exceptional navigator, with much more raw talent than probably many others, but he also had a certain disdain for authority. Perhaps disdain was too strong of a word, but for people like Rod'barr who just didn't take life too seriously the strict military drill was annoying. It was no wonder that he immediately befriended my automatic rifleman PFC Espera. They went together like salt and pepper, both sharing a similar dismissive attitude toward commissioned officers and coining a derogatory term for them – 'Idiot Corps'. I was lucky (unlucky?) enough to avoid that label, since in Espera's words 'I wasn't a proper officer anyway and I don't even look that good in the dress blacks.' I wasn't even sure what to think about that, but I begged to disagree on the dress blacks. I looked bloody stylish in them, if I do say so myself.

Having said all that, you could see that batarian's relaxed pose and his devil-may-care attitude did not bother me even though it probably should have. I asked him once again instead, "Where is Tabitha, Garem? Don't tell me you lost her on the Citadel."

The young batarian scanned the Flux searching for our wayward communications specialist.

"She went to get the beers for both of us and for yourself, el-tee, while I was looking for you. Oh! There she is!"

He waved in her general direction like a mad man. Tabitha joined us with the beer glasses, which I accepted with a quick thank you and a smile. When we were all sitting, Garem started the real conversation.

"What's the plan now, el-tee? Do you want to stay on Citadel any longer? 'Cause you know that they don't really like the Blue Suns around here, especially in the Upper Wards and the Presidium."

"That's why I told you to wear your civvies and leave the uniforms aboard. We don't want any of the local law enforcers to get too curious about our activities, Garem."

Corporal Rakehal didn't look too convinced.

"I don't know el-tee. I would feel much more at ease in the Blue Suns warehouse in the Zakeera Ward. We are just too close to the C-Sec Academy for my comfort. I feel exposed here." She admitted as she looked around suspiciously.

"The darkest place is under the lamp, Tabitha. The Zakeera Ward has regular shakedowns conducted by C-Sec in search for illegal substances. Who's going to look for us in the Presidium?"

I patted her on the shoulder with a smile.

"Relax, corporal. We are just a jolly crew of misfits who happened to make it really big in the Terminus. Now we are back in civilized space to blow through our hard-earned money."

Our token batarian barked with laughter.

"You've got our story all figured out for the C-Sec's benefit, haven't you el-tee?"

"Of course Garem – I am the incredibly handsome captain of the ship and the main character of the story. You are my lovable, alien sidekick, slash comic relief with a great sense of humour and penchant for getting into trouble."

WO Rod'barr laughed so hard that he almost spit his beer at us. Corporal Rakehal also giggled as she asked, "And who am I going to be, el-tee?"

I responded with a completely straight face.

"Obviously, you are my main love interest. It creates a sense of sexually-fuelled dynamics between the three of us and is the basis for more drama later on. In the meantime Lox is the scientist who has no sense of humour, but thanks to his knowledge we manage to avoid the really dangerous situations."

Tabitha shook her head in amusement.

"I am sure that my husband will love this idea, el-tee." She said sarcastically. "Batarians are too possessive for their own good."

"He'll get over it. Besides, I'm your commanding officer now. You have to follow my orders. If I decide that we will to role-play space rogues, then we're going to do it," I said playfully.

Garem had a million-dollar smile and did a typical batarian tilt of the head that signalled his amusement.

"All we need is a couple of brown trench coats to wear outside. We'd look so badass, like in 'Firefly'."

He really caught me by surprise with that statement. Even in my times 'Firefly' was a rather obscure television series, before it was cancelled. It had some cult following back in the day, but it was never very big, apart from the feature film.

"How do you know about 'Firefly', Garem? That television show must be more than a hundred years old by now?" It was more than a hundred years old, actually. Jesus, I remember watching it in high-school. Was I really that old?

"Found it on the extranet by accident and I fell in love with it immediately, el-tee. It's a shame it was so short. As a matter of fact, I really liked the way you portrayed the Galaxy before humanity as a species reached the stars. So many cool ideas about what awaited you here. Reality seems rather bland in comparison, no?"

'He's right, it's always the same shit all over again, only now it's happening on a cosmic scale. We've learnt absolutely nothing from our history, have we? Still, I'd rather say that it's just one of the many realities.' I thought wryly. The multiverse could get tricky like that when you thought about it. I also noticed that the batarian was actually expecting an answer.

"Well, you could call it bland I guess. But then again, there are the asari," I responded with a lecherous grin.

Young batarian guffawed loudly at that, while Tabitha merely rolled her eyes.

"Idiots," She said with a fond smile.

"Now you sound like my girlfriend," I pointed out, still grinning.

"I didn't know you that had one, el-tee?" She asked with a grin of her own. "You just don't seem like the type to settle down."

This time the trip down memory lane didn't produce the same pain of loss as it did before. I was really getting better in dealing with my feelings.

'Just take all the pain and sorrow that you feel inside and put it in a box. Place this box deep inside your mind and deal with it when you have the time to do so. Avoid connecting your thoughts with the emotions.' I remembered Dr. Koeckritz's advice on compartmentalizing.

"You would be surprised, corporal," I responded with a slight smile. "But in a fashion you're right – we are no longer together."

'Yes we are. At least the real me is with her. I am just a clone, not even worthy of a real relationship. Prostitutes and booze, that's all I'm going to get,' I thought, somewhat morbidly.

There was no real feeling of anger or resentment in me this time around. I was becoming more and more apathetic toward my old life. Besides, would a person like me even have a place in a civilized society like the one we'd had on my old Earth? I've already done some bad things and the list was bound to get longer and longer. If I was given a chance to return home, would I take it? I had become a trained killer, a spy if not quite an overall ruthless bastard – definitely a different man than I was before. Still, it was better not the dwell on it now. The mission comes first.

I stood up and fixed a 'professional' smile to my face.

"Alright, Tabitha – you will go back to the 'Coronado' and wait for us there. In the mean time you will contact the Blue Suns and ask Executive Massani or Commander Tarak to forward me the report on the current combat readiness of all our units."

"Aye aye, el-tee. Anything else?"

"No, that'll be all. You can go now; I'm taking WO Rod'barr with me."

Corporal Rakehal stood up swiftly and left the club without further questions.

I looked at Garem, who also stood up and he was in the process of chugging down the rest of the beer from his glass.

"Are you up for a little trip to the Presidium, warrant officer?"

Batarian burped, apologized and patted his stomach. He said with an unrepentant smile and a tilt of his head.

"You call we haul, el-tee."

I noticed that the navigator automatically checked for his sidearm. I was well aware by now that his laid-back behaviour was mostly for show and I approved of his prudence.

"Alright, let's get out of here."

I used my omni-tool to pay the bill for our drinks and with a slight wave to the bouncer at the door we left the Flux.

We walked swiftly through the Upper Wards back the way I came from, this time not paying any attention to the view outside of the windows. Finally, we have reached the Citadel Rapid Transport station and hailed one of the air-cars. With a quiet buzz it stopped and hovered by the station opening its doors. We boarded the air-car without further delay.

"To the Citadel Presidium, please" I spoke to the microphone located inside the passenger compartment and we took off, the automatic air-car immediately joining the traffic overhead.

The air-car left us in the Citadel's Financial District, which suited me just fine. We disembarked our transport and the flying taxi took off immediately. I looked around the Presidium, still somewhat in awe of its grand and modern design. The green plants and trees cultivated near the lake added a touch of natural beauty into the area. It surprised me, but they fit perfectly and brought a calming presence to the busy streets of the Financial District. I signalled the batarian navigator to follow me, as I led us swiftly toward one of the smaller shops.

The office in question belonged to the volus financial trader, who was also the Shadow Broker agent – Barla Von. The fact that our volus traded information for the Shadow Broker was an open secret among the people in the intelligence community and the Council militaries. It created a perfect smokescreen for us, because since he was widely pegged as one of the Broker's people nobody thought to question his loyalties. As such no one, not yet even the Shadow Broker himself, had any idea that Barla Von had also been an agent for the Multiverse Confederacy for the last two years. He was the sole non-human source of information that the Security Branch had in the Mass Effect universe. As I said to Corporal Rakehal before – the darkest place is indeed under the lamp.

I entered Barla Von's bureau with a confident stride. The financier seemed rather apprehensive at seeing two unknown men, one of them a batarian, entering his office as if they knew him. As the volus eyed me I said congenially.

"Good afternoon, Brother Von. I believe we have mutual acquaintances."

"Have we, Earth-clan?" Despite his small stature, the volus knew his value and was not easily cowed. I also knew that he kept a heavy Carnifex pistol under his counter should things go south. Word of advice: never underestimate the rotund, asthmatic money traders – they could put a hole in you without any hesitation if they feel threatened. Somewhat like a hedgehog really.

"That's right. May the light of the Enkindlers shine on you, brother. I send you greetings from the Father of Light himself. I am Brother Dubois from the Terminus Chapter of our church and this is Brother Rod'barr."

Forcing the smile onto my face I quoted the parts of the hanar religious text. I felt like a Jehovah's Witness now. As stupid and random as it sounded in this situation, the traditional hanar greeting was actually our password. We agreed upon it a week ago when I left a message on one of the anonymous and encrypted voicemails, which I knew Barla Von checked on a regular basis.

The hanar religion seemed completely fake to my rational mind since it was essentially invented for the jellyfish people in a video-game. Despite that and my own training it still felt sacrilegious to use it for our own purposes so casually. Even if I didn't believe in it myself, there were people out there who did.

'Oh well... hopefully the omniscient Father of Light will surely forgive us this transgression, knowing what is really at stake,' I thought sardonically.

Due to his heavy pressure suit it was impossible to see Barla Von's face, but his posture relaxed ever so slightly. The volus trader raised his right hand in a polite greeting and answered.

"Welcome to my abode, brothers and may the light of the Enkindlers be with you. I am humbled that the Father of Light himself had time to reach out to me."

Despite the suit distorting Barla Von's voice and his constant heavy breathing I could hear genuine excitement in the merchant's tone. He really was a good actor. I responded as was customary.

"My brother, it brings me great joy to pass the words of the Enkindlers that speak through the Father of Light's mind. Is there a place where we could all sit down, for we are weary from our journey?"

"Please, follow me, brothers, so that we could speak in peace," said the volus. (1)

To make the cover story more believable Barla Von had made quite a few very generous donations to the church run by the Father of Light over the last six months. I have no idea how the volus managed to explain his sudden devotion to the Hanar religion to his business partners or to the Shadow Broker. You should have seen Zaeed's face when I told him that I'd created a gold account on the Father of Light's website.

We followed him to the back of the building as he used his omni-tool to close the office in the meantime. He let us into a small office room that looked rather quaint, with an elegant wooden floor. There were a couple of comfortable-looking chairs and a large digital storage cabinet that contained memory cards of some sort. The conversation began as we sat down.

"What can I do for you, Lieutenant Dubois?" His voice was suddenly serious and business-like.

"Can we speak freely here, Mr. Von?"

"Yes. This room is scanned for any listening devices every other day and I'm the only person who has full access to it."

I nodded my head.

"That should do for now, so let's get to business. As you undoubtedly know, I have been dealing with Zaeed Massani who himself was a freelancer agent for the Shadow Broker for a time. I need to know how much the Shadow Broker knows about the recent change of guard in the Blue Suns' management."

Volus answered without any hesitation.

"The Shadow Broker is concerned about the consolidation of power by Zaeed Massani. He is even more concerned that Mr. Massani was virtually unopposed by Solem Dal'Serah who still remains the visible face of the Blue Suns in the Terminus. The Broker suspects that an external force is supplying the Suns with money and materials, which could in perspective impair the balance of power in the Terminus Systems. I must say that he is not far from the truth."

I had hoped that we could keep the Shadow Broker ignorant of the happenings in the Terminus, but in retrospect it seemed like wishful thinking. The Shadow Broker had fingers, or paws rather, in many pies and the lawless Terminus was one of great importance.

"What does the Broker know about me?" I asked the volus. Outwardly, I maintained my calm presence, but on the inside I was anxious to find out.

"As far as the Shadow Broker is aware, Mr. Zaeed Massani was aided in his coup d'état by a squad of freelancers. A daring action and some might say – impossible, but in essence nothing that would surprise anyone who is aware of Mr. Massani's accomplishments to date."

Well, at least on this front we were safe for the time being. It seemed like the old mercenary's legendary operations in the Terminus actually helped to mask our involvement. To be frank, another maverick action by Zaeed sounded much more plausible than some shady government black operations squad.

So for the moment, instead of searching for his anonymous helpers, Shadow Broker's focus was fully on Zaeed Massani and possibly Das'Maral Tarak, who were busy consolidating and reshaping the company. Not a perfect situation, but still it was something that I found acceptable for the time being. The Shadow Broker was a powerful adversary, but he wasn't stupid and he wouldn't take on the Blue Suns by himself for little to no gain. If I were in his shoes I'd rather try and seek some sort of accommodation with the new management. I could at least hope that the Broker was going to be rational about it.

"Mr. Von, I need to you to keep me updated on any of the Shadow Broker's movements or decisions that concern the Terminus or the Blue Suns. If you receive any news suggesting that he has deployed his hit-men or any other assets in that area it is imperative that you let me know. Please use either the encrypted firm channels or the voicemail."

The volus nodded.

"I understand, lieutenant. Who do I report to now?"

I considered it for a moment. Barla Von was an able information broker and I could really use his help, but I was still not sure whether he could be trusted. My mission parameters stated that I was now his handler, so technically all his reports should go through me. I didn't like putting all my eggs in one basket, especially when it came to espionage, but I didn't have much choice.

"Please send every report to me directly and a second copy to your old contact. That way we can ensure that information reaches my superiors either way."

I was going back to Terminus soon. It meant that I wouldn't be on the Citadel to monitor the situation with the Council and I had to keep all my bases covered. Barla Von will oversee the happenings here and keep me informed about the situation with the Shadow Broker. Should Barla Von prove to be a liability rather than an asset then the Security Branch would have no trouble removing him from the equation. I would really prefer to avoid that, but we couldn't risk it – he knew too much.

I smiled, "That will be all for now, Mr. Von so we won't trouble you any further. Have a good day."

I stood up and motioned for the Garem to follow. Barla Von let us out of the back-door and we found ourselves in one of the back alleys of the Presidium. I took note that these parts of the Citadel were not actually shown in the game itself.

"Where to now, el-tee?" Asked the batarian navigator.

"Let's go back to the 'Coronado', warrant officer. Massani, Dal'Serah and Tarak need to know that Shadow Broker is interested in them."

Obviously, neither Garem nor Tabitha were fully aware of who I really was. As far as they were concerned I was merely a part of a human black operations agency that went rogue and was now playing the Great Game in the Terminus Systems for their own purposes. The presence of the illegal, fully-functioning AI seemed to confirm that.

We left the back alleys and found ourselves back in the main Presidium plaza just by the lake. We moved between the commuters, but they paid us no attention. As we walked along the lakeside Garem looked at me with a smile and said.

"This stuff with the Father of Light was pretty interesting, el-tee. Now I have an image in my head of you preaching to some gathered hanar on Kahje. You'd make a fun priest and I hear it's a pretty good business money-wise."

I sighed with exasperation.

"Don't remind me. This whole sham was Barla Von's idea. Apparently followers of the hanar religion are common enough not to raise suspicion. And they have plenty of converts including us now, Brother Rod'barr."

"I am grateful for your words of wisdom, Brother Dubois. You are the mouth of the Father of Light himself who is truly the mind of the Enkindlers in this life of ours."

It sounded wrong on many levels, but Garem said it all with a completely serious voice. The small tilt of his head betrayed his amusement at the situation, though.

"If you keep that up, I'd say you wouldn't be too shabby as a priest either, Garem. You should consider that as your next career choice," I retorted snidely, but the batarian only snickered.

I looked around the plaza, but I haven't seen any signs or holograms that would forbid me from smoking. Perhaps people did not indulge in that vice in the 22nd century anymore? Well, if the C-Sec has a problem with that I'd just tell them that I didn't know. Shrugging, I stood for a moment to light up a cigarette that I fished out of the inner pocket of my jacket. I took a drag of the cancer stick and as I inhaled the smoke I felt that my mind was working on overdrive. I freely admit that picking up smoking again was an awful habit. Still, it gave me the much needed kick and I just couldn't say no to it.

Garem eyed me, sanctimonious disdain quite evident in his pose. Nonetheless, all four of his eyes followed my cigarette greedily.

"These things are bad for your health, you know el-tee?"

I snickered at his half-hearted chastisement and rummaged through my pocket with my free hand. Finally finding the cigarettes, I extended my crumpled package of 'Morley's' toward Garem.

"Would you like one, warrant officer?"

The young batarian navigator pretended to ponder my question for a second.

"Well, if you're giving them away for free..."

I shrugged with an uninterested expression and made a motion of putting them back in the pocket. WO Rod'barr stopped me and quickly grabbed one of the cancer sticks, lighting it up with his omni-tool.

"I don't know this brand, el-tee? Are they from Alliance Space?"

"You must be joking. Cigarettes in the Alliance are more tightly controlled than Consort Shaira's shapely behind. My organization has their own brand distributed among their employees."

It wasn't exactly a lie either. 'Morley's' were a brand that was almost exclusively available in the Confederacy's Base Exchange stores. But the Batarian evidently didn't give a damn about my explanations. He waved in the general direction of the Citadel docks.

"Off we go to see the wizard, Brother Dubois!" Garem commented obscurely with a cheeky tilt of his head.

The Citadel had a tightly controlled ecosystem, maintained by the Keepers so it was always warm here like the summer months on Earth. Because of that, Garem and I decided to forego the Citadel Rapid Transit trip and we walked toward the nearby C-Sec Academy and our docking station. Two amigos: an abolitionist batarian and the human out of this 'verse. We strolled back to the ship in the swaggering manner of the Terminus Systems' spacers, happily ignoring the scandalized looks from the passers-by and the suspicious, icy stares of the patrolling C-Sec officers.

We talked about music, coffee, cigarettes and women. Just for a short moment I allowed myself to forget about the Reapers and the incoming war. It was a good day.

(1) The whole Father of Light discussion with Barla Von is my shout-out and a tribute to a wonderful fanfic by MizDirected called 'Mass Effect - Future Imperfect'. If you haven't read it yet, please consider doing so.

A/N: That's it for the first part of the Chapter 9. The next one will be dealing with the Batarian Hegemony and the situation there. Stay tuned for more of Multiverse Effect!