Ilos
"More than two months away and this place remade itself," April muttered in amazement when she peered out of the window of the shuttle. "Nothing like the prospect of a treasure trove to make them jump to."
Watching the onboard visual feed as the shuttle descended rapidly below cloud level, Liara agreed with that assessment. At that altitude, the foundations of the new complex lay exposed like an open wound. Piles and shafts jutted forth like jagged teeth from the surface. Heavy construction equipment and materials covered the ground. Faint lines of tracks and trenches, getting larger by the minute, intersected the construction site like a grid. The groundwork was near level with the surrounding terrain for most of the framework for the new underground facilities were completed. The speed in which it was accomplished was amazing but what really took her breath away was the scale of the substructure. Not having seen the designs for the complex, she could only make an estimation of the size once it was completed.
The view of the construction site gradually merged with the horizon as the shuttle touched down on one of the landing pads next to an enormous prefab that was the spaceport. The hatch opened to reveal a trio of suited up Alliance marines waiting outside. As she followed Shepard out, Liara found herself standing in the shadow of the spaceport. The ground shimmered brilliantly before her helmet sensors tone down the glare. The only signs of activity as she looked around was the sand and grit skittering over the ground in the wind of a sand storm.
Liara? {a touch on her arm}
It brought her out of her distraction. She hastily stepped after April. The marines formed the spearhead to the buggy parked at the bottom of the ramp of the landing pad. Once seated at the back, the buggy was started up and they went down a slightly bumpy road to the spaceport. Behind them, the shuttle took off in a cloud of dust.
It took no time at all for the buggy to reach the entrance of the defense wall that surrounded the spaceport terminal and the main base. The turrets swivel as they tracked the vehicle and then returned to watchful sentinel when the identity of the occupants was confirmed. The buggy came to a stop at the entrance to the spaceport terminal, beams from security scanners flicking off them as they passed through. Only one person, dressed in an exotic but familiar hardsuit was waiting for them in the large empty lobby. Upon their entrance, he turned off the omni-tool.
"Javik!" April greeted, consciously restraining herself from offering her hand.
"Shepard, Liara." Javik nodded to them. "Circumstances dictate that we meet again."
"I'm sorry, did we drag you away from hotbeds of jellyfish?" April returned laconically, hearing Liara's mental giggle and mild reproved.
Plainly not understanding the joke, Javik cocked his head. "I have never heard of such a species of fish on Kahje. There are thousands of mollusk specimens. Are you referring to one of those?"
"Not really." April shook her head solemnly "You seemed busy."
"Ah..," he said thoughtfully. He fell into step beside them as they followed the marines towards the exit at the far end. "I have recently completed several chapters on the book project we agreed on."
"Book, what book? What project?" April said in confusion. She didn't remember she had agreed to do any book with him.
Liara knew what Javik was referring and wondered that he never mentioned it in their correspondence.. "You have?" she said eagerly. "May I have a look at them?"
"Oh, that project." April recalled Liara telling her of Javik's interest to co-author a book with her. Stories from the last member of a race who were more dust than bones would be a great draw on the literary market. Who knew it wouldn't be one of the top galactic sellers?
"I was planning a presentation in a more conducive setting, I did not think we would meet here," he said before leaning closer to April. "A mistake perhaps?" he said an inaudible voice.
April almost halted in her tracks. She remembered a time when he was brusque, judgmental and tactless in his comments. His dismissive disdain of the people and the ideologies of the world he woke up to. He called himself the Avatar of Vengeance. Having tasted the depths of his pain and hatred in that moment when they inadvertently shared memories on Eden Prime, she understood what he was going through. With so much bottled within, he had to let it out. She haboured little illusions that he would try to survive the battlefield on Earth but he did and she was glad. Glad too that living on Kahje had apparently improved him. Perhaps peace, a new role, new goals and wholehearted support from the Hanar, even if it bordered on frenetic religious fervor, provided some balm for his wounds.
April shook her head. "Not a mistake. The TI situation dictates that nothing should be left unturned."
"I do not question your quest, only the judgment you made." He threw her a meaningful look as they passed through the exit into the passageway that connected the spaceport to the main base.
He knew or guessed that she locked down the technological archives. She supposed everyone involved in the study of the Prothean Archives would have arrived at the same conclusion; Shepard did it. So far, no one was coming out with the pointing finger which could mean a couple of things. Either they agree with her decision or they didn't want to engage in a slugging match with her. To try the latter was to first surmount the juggernaut of her reputation, impossible by any standards, and try to argue why she was wrong. She wasn't fond of the idolatry from most people. She'd rather they treat her as another soldier who did her duty. In this case however, she was glad that reputation served some good.
"Do you see something wrong with it?"
"That could not have been the only option you considered," he said.
"No." April glanced at the marines preceding them and slowed down her pace to put distance between them. "Unrooting is easy but a cherry tree will always bear cherries," she said softly. "We are all on the same technological standard that has been in use for who knows how long. There is nothing to prevent the growth of the same threat from an offshoot. Having a backup and plausible data doesn't hurt. At the moment, they're best locked away than add more fuel to the present fires."
Javik looked at her thoughtfully. "Defense and information. I cannot argue with that but your lifespan is finite."
"I do not intend to hold on to the self-imposed duty."
He nodded. "It is your choice." He gestured to the marines who noticed they had stopped and were waiting for them. They resumed their walk to the exit.
"How much do you know?" she asked curiously as they passed through the checkpoint of the main base, crisply returning the salutes the marine sentries threw at her.
"They said only what is needed." He glanced around them significantly before looking at her. His meaning was clear; not exactly the best place to talk. She nodded in agreement.
Having established the situation and mission parameters with Admiral Roux onboard the Glasgow, they headed straight to the main entrance of the prothean bunker instead of CIC. If the force field was similar to the one that Liara triggered on Therum, speed was of import to release the trapped personnel. Breezing through the checkpoint, they picked up a squad of Alliance marines waiting for them. They climbed into buggies parked at the end of the ramp to the trench and set off at the best maximum speed. Wincing at the wind buffeting his eyes, Javik tapped at his hardsuit collar and sheets emerged to form a helmet that somewhat resembled the blank visage of a Collector.
The helmet was an unending fascination to April. It looked articulated for it bent and flexed when Javik moved his head. No matter how she tried to persuade him; the first time she saw how the helmet was formed, he steadfastly refused to allow any examination of his hardsuit. If they wanted the technology, they would have to try harder to discover them by themselves, he said. Better yet, strike out in a different direction and create something better. If that was an oblique barb alluding to dependency on Prothean technical knowledge, she conceded he had a point. Everyone had swum up the ladder of advancement using Prothean accomplishments which in turn was based on an older civilization. The Reapers had made sure not a single civilization deviated from the path through millennium. The cycle kept repeating itself and would continue unless they break out of it.
Looking at it now, April felt odd. The metal felt alive somehow. If she reached out and formed a thought on what she wanted it to do, it would. As if he knew what she was thinking. Javik turned to look at her. She could read nothing on that blank visage but she thought he was startled.
Living metal?
I'm seeing...
What? {concern} What do you see?
I'm not sure. I think I'm seeing something from the Cypher.
From one of the avatars?
I'm not sure.
Liara nudged her bondmate with an elbow when the buggy passed by a large contingent of personnel. April saw they were marines, medics and SBAs. No doubt pulled from the Ilos taskforce. Crates of supplies and pallets were stacked high in preparation to help the people trapped in the force field. How many days had it been? Three? She hoped none had died. If her attempt to communicate with Vigil failed, people would die. In which case, part of the blame could be laid at her feet. If she hadn't locked the weapons and technical archives, that stupid salarian wouldn't have tried to break into it. She wondered if Kedar would survive the ordeal. What was he thinking right now?
The buggies came to a stop outside a familiar doorway. April ordered the marines to station themselves there instead of following her to the terminal, firmly overriding the sergeant's protest that his orders was to accompany her and provide backup. Having an audience to witness and record the conversation with Vigil was not in her book so she added another line of argument. They wouldn't be of much help if the V.I. decided to throw up a force field in response. That, the sergeant could not counter and was more than willing enough to station the squad several meters away from the doorway.
"I hope you are wrong," Liara said with some trepidation as they rode the elevator down. "I do not want to taste that kind of field again."
She shuddered at the memory of hunger, the itches that she could not scratch, the twinges from her limbs from prolonged suspension and the urgent need to relieve herself. If she were wearing a hardsuit, the latter wouldn't have been a problem but she wasn't. She hung on, refusing to suffer such indignity before her enemies who occasionally came by to check on her. April's arrival nearly sent her into hysterics that she nearly did soil herself.
"Don't worry, I'm expecting something worse," April turned to Javik. "Like a big B-O-O-M."
"There is such a possibility," he said placidly, gazing through the glass panels of the elevator and did not notice the long look April gave him. Not that he would be able to see it since they were all suited up.
"Do the two of you ever look on the positive side when it is bad?" Liara quipped as the elevator came to a stop and the doors open.
"Not when it is perpetually filled with floating windbags," said Javik, stepping through the doors, leaving the two gaping in astonishment at his back.
Did he just made a joke? {disbelief} Or was that an observation?
Those windbags must have done a number on the weather vane.
After locking down the elevator, they stepped out into a familiar passage. Everything seemed unchanged until April stepped to the railings that bordered the edge and looked over. The silvery glow of the force field was a few metres below. It was so large, it obscured the abyss. The barrier would last as long as the core continued to burn. Unfortunately, they couldn't wait for it to run dry. Turning away, she approached the terminal.
Ready? She looked at Liara who nodded as she stood beside Javik.
"Vigil!" she called.
The terminal glowed. The V.I. slowly materialised. It looked at her and a stream of incomprehensible words flowed out.
"Damn, they weren't kidding," she muttered for she couldn't understand what it said. The words didn't sound remotely prothean to her. "Any suggestions?" she regarded the V.I. sourly. "Javik, why don't you use those magic fingers of yours and figure out what went wrong?"
"I can read biological imprints, not machines and I do not have magic fingers," he added.
"You said it sounded like an ancient formulaic tongue." Liara ran the phrases she recorded through a language decrypt program in her omni-tool. "On what premise did you base that conclusion on?"
"Based on a few words I came across in old technological documents dated back to the first diaspora," said Javik. "History was a much research subject in my early years, especially papers on unresolved discoveries.
"You were trying to find new offensive approaches against the Reapers," said April.
"Yes."
"The archives here were built above and linked to an ancient site." Liara paused significantly as she looked at April.
"Inusannon?" April turned to stare at Vigil. "You're saying its program has somehow cross wired with some ancient Inusannon databit?"
"What does your other memory say?" Javik said.
April froze. "You knew about the Cypher?" she stared at him in disbelief.
"I sensed-," he hesitated, "the Other. When we touched."
"When we touched? When was that?"
"When I awoke."
She stared at him in disbelief. "Why didn't you say something back then?" she demanded.
"To what purpose? The Other had no relevance in the war," he said defensively.
"No relevance? How could you be so sure? There could have been some information about the damn Catalyst. Revealed what it was. It could have saved us a lot of time and lives!" she spluttered angrily, her finger jabbing accusingly at him. "Damn it, Javik!"
"April," Liara touched her arm gently to calm her down, anxious and surprised at the sudden flare of temper. She was startled when her bondmate jerked her arm away but not before she had a momentary glimpse of roiling darkness. "April." Her eyes widened fearfully.
"On the planet where I was born, there were no Avatars of Memory," Javik said softly, "My world was not that vital for a Zardiene to govern. The only knowledge I have about them was from those who spoke about them. Family, friends, superiors. They spoke of them during moments of darkness, recalling how in the past, their wisdom saved many and how they could have saved us from the ancient machines."
"What's your point?" April said angrily. "If they had the knowledge, why did you keep quiet?!"
"I did not believe." Bowing his head, Javik sighed. "I did not believe in their wisdom. If they were that wise, our battles would be victories. When I woke to this world, I did not believe we would win. I have anger, I have hatred, I have vengeance. I have no faith in my people. Unlike you."
Reaching up, he tapped his armor collar. His helmet retracted. He took a deep breath. The air was dank and heavy, very much like the smell of decay on his homeworld. Eyes dimmed with memory, he continued. "Unlike you, I saw only the night. I was scornful that the lowly species might accomplish what my people could not. Despite everything I put in the way, you never gave up. In the end, I saw where my people had gone wrong. Why we failed. We should not have looked into the past for victories. We should not have allowed fear and ambition to dictate our course. We should have believed in hope and freedom."
"You believe the Cypher will help now because we are dealing with the past," said Liara.
"Yes."
"Then help me." April reached out a hand to him. "Help me understand the Cypher if it could help me free these people."
He stepped back, refusing to touch her, shaking his head. "I cannot, Shepard. I do not know the esoteric disciplines of the Avatars of Memory."
"It doesn't have to be anything profound, just read something about it," April pleaded.
"I will not." Javik's eyes glinted stubbornly. "Do you know what happened to those who failed the memory transference? They devolved into madness and were destroyed. Those who became Zardiene were adepts of prothean abilities. There are safety measures to prevent intrusion. I will not meddle blindly in something I have no skill and no training in. I can not, Shepard. I will not. Not to my friend."
That silenced Shepard. She stared at the ground, half-wondering what trick she could pull to solve the problem. Touching her gently on the shoulder, Liara caught the strands of whispering anxiety before her bondmate stepped away. That was the second time April avoided mental contact. What was she trying to hide from her? Or was she trying to protect her? Liara forced down her own fears.
"You said you never knew how the Cypher helped you, only that it answers when you asked questions? Do you think it would work?" asked Liara.
"I don't know but I guess I have to try." Exhaling noisily, April faced Vigil again, hating and fearing what she had to do. Closing her eyes for a moment, she spoke again. "Vigil."
The V.I responded. This time, the stream of words sounded different.
Help me. What is Vigil saying?
Sparks seemed to go off in her head. Reeling, she would have fallen had Liara not grabbed her arm to steady her. Tempted though she was to follow her bondmate's thoughts, Liara knew she could not do so when April was in direct contact with the Cypher so she put up the strongest barrier she could form in her own mind and held on. Half-aware, April tried to make sense of the tumbling images and voices. They were going too fast for her to grasp anything. The images suddenly slowed and she found herself looking through someone's eyes, at a console, typing on it. Her hands were not her own.
...translated forms...{rustling}... proto-Inus {the obelisk behind the terminal glowed}...I'll try speaking {finger on keys}...three tiers, section three dash...
"Vigil," Liara called as April swayed, not knowing if her bondmate was in pain but wishing to get everything over with. "Respond."
Javik reached out to help and quickly pulled back before he touched April. "Vigil, respond," he added his voice.
The V.I. spoke again. April lifted her head as she listened. Vigil's voice slowed to a crawl, pitching into the deepest bass before it spun up again into a normal tone. Everything fell into recognizable words.
"...warning...intrusion alert...system wide purge imminent..."
"Ua'rzis...gara'z..."
Liara stared in amazement at the words from her bondmate. April pulled away, stumbling a little before straightening. She stepped closer to Vigil. The words issuing from her mouth sounded the same as Vigil's.
"April?" Liara said uncertainly and would have tried to touch her again except that Javik stopped her with a gesture.
"Wait. She should not be disturbed."
He listened keenly to Vigil's responses. Its tone. A rolling string with a lilt. A question from April. A reply from the V.I. Back and forth they went, with hesitant pauses from April, as if she was searching for words.
"It does not sound like she has the entire syntax," he said.
Liara wished the decrypt program running on her omni-tool would work faster. She felt uneasy standing by listening to April who sounded nothing like herself. The link between them was closed and she could not feel any emotion from her bondmate.
"I wonder how far back this memory is," Javik muttered and stiffened with surprise when Vigil's image flickered then abruptly vanished to be replaced by a tall figure.
Liara took a few steps back, shocked by this strange manifestation dressed in flowing robes. Its humanoid head was bald with deep-set eyes. Tentacles flowed down half its face. She was reminded of the alien statues around the archives. It lifted an impossibly long hand with talon-like fingers in a swirling gesture. A rolling rich tone reverberated around them.
"This cannot be a Inusannon V.I., can it?" she said faintly as April answered. The figure's tone went into a growling boom that sounded hostile.
"That is not good." Javik reached up to enable his helmet and shifted slowly over to April. The image flicked one of its hand in what seemed like a dismissing wave, its tone changing to inflections of displeasure. Or dismissal. "Be prepared," he said over his shoulder, poised in readiness to snatch April away at the first sign of trouble.
Swallowing nervously, Liara watched with rising tension. She didn't know what her bondmate was saying to the figure. Its responses was more animated than Vigil, infused with tangible tones of emotion in its voice. If it was a V.I., it was unlike any she had seen. An A.I.? If it was an Inusannon A.I. custodian of the ancient archives that held evidence of the Reapers, it could explain why the protheans believed in the threat of the synthetics so readily. She watched anxiously when the exchange became intense and awkward. The dialogue was evidently complex, judging from the long moments April took to search for appropriate responses. Despite the alien's clear animosity, her bondmate sounded determined to make her case. Would she succeed or would she fail?
She jumped in fright when it suddenly shouted, the sound thundering in the passage. Unfazed, April continued to speak. Frantically, Liara looked at her omni-tool and felt hopelessly wretched; not a word was distilled. There was no way she could provide any help. She looked at Javik's tense back, knowing he would immediately shield April at the first sign of any attack and was glad he was there.
Abruptly, the exchange of words ceased. April and the figure looked at each other before the latter bowed its head, raising intricately linked hands towards its chest, its forehead, spreading them wide before it vanished. April's legs began to buckle. Javik leaped forward and caught her before she hit the ground. Liara rushed over. The lights on the terminal flickered and Vigil reappeared.
"Systems online."
Over the comm, a cacophony of voices exploded.
"Captain Shepard, can you hear me?! Come in! Dr T'Soni!"
"...can't get to...*cough*"
"Can anyone hear me?"
"...dying down here, can anyone hear me?"
"...report, need help..."
"April, April!" Ignoring the beat of a persistent voice calling for them, Liara held her bondmate's helmet, trying to see into the visor. She dropped her own mental barrier but nothing came through their link. "April!" She looked down in horror when one of the undersuit biomonitor indicators on her bondmate's hardsuit collar flashed red. "April!"
Ilos
Central CIC
"Confirm that!" Roux barked, eyes fixed to the holo display of the base.
Checking the readings again, Commander Donev said firmly. "Yes, sir. It is confirmed, the force field is down. The slight fluctuation at the core is gone too." He resisted the desire to wipe his sweating brow. Not with so many turians standing around. Tension abated in CIC at that affirmation.
"Med evac teams, you are go." Ruox couldn't hide his relief as he gave the order. All around the room, he could hear the soothing assurances of techs at their work stations, responding to the flood of distress calls. That there were so many cries for help was a good sign.
Tarrhein nodded to the small squad he had assembled. They saluted before trotting off quickly. Their mission was simple, apprehend the salarian Dr Olor before he could set off more mischief.
"Get me Shepard..," Ruox started to say to Donev when one of the techs linked in. "Sir, Dr T'Soni requests emergency med evac."
"Patch me through," he said quickly, wondering what had happened.
Neither Shepard nor T'Soni responded to numerous attempts to contact them in the last hour. There were fears that they were similarly caught in a barrier and the squad that was supposed to accompany them reported that they were unable to access the elevator. Leaving them all to speculate and debate whether they should try more drastic means.
"Admiral Ruox," came a breathless voice which he recognized as T'Soni's. Faintly, in the background, he could hear someone counting over the roar of engines. "Captain Shepard requires emergency evac to the Glasgow."
Why not to the medbay on Ilos? Ruoz began to say before he realised medbay would be filled up with the people caught in the field. He nodded to Donev who went to the comm station, speaking rapidly to the tech.
"What happened down there?" he asked. "We lost all feeds once you went down in the elevator."
"I do not know, sir," her voice caught, "has the force field come down?"
"Yes, evacuation teams are on their way," he said when Donev whispered softly behind him. "The base shuttle is on its way and a medical crew is waiting at the landing pad." He didn't ask what was ailing Shepard, he would get a report later. Right now, he hoped she wasn't seriously injured.
"Thank you, sir." Liara turned to the squad medic, the buggy they were in rocketing madly up the trench. Across from her, Javik held on grimly to his seat.
"Bio signs are still weak and unstable," the medic muttered, "you flooring it, Checnks?" this to the driver.
"Pedal to the metal, damn it," came the answer.
Liara touched her bondmate again. Nothing. Panic threatened to well up but she shoved it down, choosing to focus on the problem. There should have been something. She had been trying and trying, from since she and Javik carried April into the elevator, rode it to the upper level and pulled her into the buggy. It was as if April was not there.
April, beloved. Where are you?
Local Cluster
Earth, Citadel
The link was gone. The beam that connected the Citadel to the Earth since the Reapers brought the space station to Sol was inexplicably cut off. Seated at the tail end of the wide table, Garrus examined the schematics of the tower hovering in the midst of the silent group. It was examined from every angle but there was no strange mechanism in evidence. A throat cleared softly. A salarian dressed in the station uniform that identified him as the head of station maintenance stood up.
"As you can see from station records, the beam was shut down at 1535. Due to causes that can not be determined at this time, the reactor core of the station was also affected, leading to power loss. The disruption lasted thirty minutes and affected the entire station. In the interim, all V.I. controlled services were suspended, resulting in station wide transit collisions, both on and off station."
"How was the reactor core operation restored, Melik?" asked Sparatus, hardly looking at his datapad. His eyes were fixed on the hologram.
"I'm afraid none of my crews are responsible." Melik blinked rapidly as he looked around the table. "We were trying to identify the cause of the shut down when it restarted."
"Are there any other strange disruptions since?"
"No." Melik sat down when Sparatus nodded. "How many casualties are we looking at?" He looked at Executor Kralinx who sighed.
"Thousands. Panicked flight, fighting, attempts to get out of stuck elevators, traffic accidents, you name it, it's all there. Some fools managed to space out the cabs." Kralinx nodded at the ward arms visible through the large windows. "We definitely lost a few out there despite our best efforts to track them down."
"What is the situation now?" asked Tevos.
"People are frightened. Most are keeping to their homes. A number have booked passage to their homeworlds or to the colonies."
"Thoughts?" Sparatus glanced at the other councilors.
"Despite the red flag raised by the turian politico for his illegal petition, I think this is too complex for him to arrange," Flewinne began cautiously, eyeing Sparatus who stared impassively at her. "TI and Cerberus agents are next to impossible."
"Who do you have in mind?" asked Tevos curiously.
Shifting in her chair, Flewinne leaned forward. "Keepers."
Such a suggestion would have been scoffed at and ridiculed more than eight years ago. However, Saren's attempt to take over the station and the Reaper War changed perception of the Keepers. The benign creatures were now regarded with suspicion. Hence, nobody laughed. Thoughtful frowns creased everyone's brows.
"It is hard to say." Melik rubbed his fingers nervously. "We are keeping close tabs on them and so far, they have never deviated from their customary routines. Their maintenance and repairs are sound. It is possible that they might have unintentionally clogged some systems."
"With an indenture as long as theirs? I find that hard to believe." Sparatus sat back, tapping a talon on the table.
"Perhaps there is a side effect lingering from the time when the Reapers brought the Citadel into the Sol system," Tevos suggested. "After all, we have no idea how they managed the feat."
"Strictly on the engineering aspect, I can only offer the assurance that my crews will try their best to correct any possible faults but it would take months, years, to trace them." Melik spread his hands helplessly. "The Citadel is too enormous."
Garrus nodded in agreement. Maintaining operational status of an infinitely active space station required an equally large effective taskforce. The Keepers were that taskforce but now, their reliability was suspect. He had no idea how many personnel there were currently in maintenance but he doubted there were enough to take over a job that was seen to by a silent legion that carried out their duties efficiently and effortlessly for hundreds and thousands of years. Not only that, the exact specifics of the Citadel would remain as enigmatic as the Keepers. He did not believe they found out everything about it.
He did not think they would be able to find out the reason behind the shut down of the reactor core but definitely, the disappearance of the beam had something to do with it. Perhaps the Keepers found the continued function of the beam an inimical effect on the station and chose to turn it off. Perhaps they didn't like the idea of the humans experimenting with the beam. Perhaps one of their masters was still alive and told them to do so. Perhaps they turned it off because they wanted to shift the station elsewhere.
Spirits, perhaps I should try a hand at writing a mystery novel.
"General Vakarian."
With a start, he realised Sparatus was speaking to him. Glancing around, he saw that the room was empty. The conference was over. What had they decided?
"Councilor?" He stood up as Sparatus approached to hand him a datastick.
"Primach Victus has assembled a squad and a frigate. They are waiting for you at docking bay 29D."
"Why...," he began to ask before realization dawned.
Victus told him and Lemelia to take a break at the Citadel. A surprising suggestion when they were in the midst of pushing back the TI on Palaven. Not the best of times to go on holiday, not when there was so much to do but Victus was insistent. Now he knew why.
"Where am I going?"
"The Systems Alliance intercepted a Cerberus taskforce in the Sahrabarik System and disabled a turian dreadnought. They requested that we sent our own investigative teams to board the disabled vessel." Sparatus nodded at the datastick. "Those are scans taken before and after the battle. Gather all available data on board that ship and report back to Victus."
"Cerberus?" Garrus was incredulous. How did they get their hands on a turian dreadnought?
"Given your past experience with Captain Shepard running down the renegade human faction, you are the best choice for this mission." Sparatus turned away before turning back to add, "Do keep this under wraps. We do not need another hysterical display at the Council Chambers."
Garrus watched him strolled out of the room and looked down at the datastick. Cerberus.