Disclaimer: I do no own Mass Effect, I do not claim to own Mass Effect, I am only doing this for fun.
Author Notes: This chapter fought me all the way, especially that final scene. That and I find myself struggling with the mood of the present day. Well either way, I hope you enjoy this.
Episode 51: Skyfall [Part II]
Two hours after the meeting with the detectives Shepard had finished with the medical examination. The lab was all whites and light grays, with plenty of metal surfaces and bright lighting. The medicine Nihlus brought her had kicked in about an hour ago, but the room was still much too bright for her tastes. She slipped her arms into the jacket of her fatigues and zipped it up, all the while never taking her eyes off the other two people in the room.
Bellacus stood by the door, arms crossed over his chest, one foot propped up on the wall. He had been there the entire time, as from that angle he could not see past the medical screen behind which Shepard was during the medical examination. Not that it would have bothered her much had he seen her in her undergarments.
The other individual in the room was Anise T'Veris, the medical expert. As soon as she finished her examination she made her way toward her desk and terminal, leaving Shepard to get dressed. The asari was a few centimeters shorter than Shepard, clad in pristine white lab suit, and her regal mannerism hinted that she was well past the eager maiden years.
Shepard stepped out from behind the screen silently, that way she could watch the forthcoming talk.
"Did you find anything?" Bellacus asked.
Bellacus had not even looked in her direction, but she was sure that he would have heard her.
"The commander is uninjured." The medical examiner replied, fast typing notes into her terminal.
"Really?" Bellacus asked.
"Really." T'Veris replied as she looked away from the screen. "I am as perplexed as you are. I analyzed the blood sample myself, and it matches the genetic profile from the Alliance database, and yet, the Commander is completely uninjured. And there is no scar tissue either. I've never seen a soldier with no old injury scars."
Shepard was perfectly content to let them talk about her as if she was not in the room.
"And you are sure the blood came from the circulatory system?" Bellacus wondered.
"Absolutely! Blood from other sources would have been mixed with cells from the tissue at the source. I would have recognized that." T'Veris replied.
Bellacus hummed.
"There was just one contaminant in the samples," T'Veris went on as resuming typing. "Fibers from the-"
Bellacus gave a sudden, loud, clearly fake cough.
The asari instantly fell silent, looked up, and turned her head around.
Shepard threw her gaze onto reference charts on the wall next to the desk in an effort to look utterly lost in thought. Bellacus had not stopped the medical examiner in time. What Shepard overheard was already enough to show her C-Sec's hand. The only thing that could leave fiber evidence were the polymers in the weave of an undersuit. They had basic material evidence, which explains why Castis got a search warrant for the whole Normandy. They would want to collect materials for comparison.
However, Shepard knew the killer's suit would not match hers. The possible variances were too numerous, ranging from the chemical formulation within the materials, the manufacturing process, then to the chemical treatments, coatings, and coloring. Banes could not know about Taetrus, nor about her subsequent armor swap. C-sec would also not find the killer's suit in the ducts.
In effect, the only evidence she had to worry about remained the DNA. Yet even there T'Veris had let slip an important detail. They had multiple blood samples. Shepard could connect the dots from that. Some had to be dripped blood, and some must be on the bullet itself. Pallin had grazed his attacker, and the bullet gauged her undersuit well enough to pick up fibers. There would be blood on the bullet or the fibers.
The question became which of those yielded her DNA profile? If they tested the bigger drops, which might be planted evidence, it made sense why they matched her. Had they tested the blood with the fibers? Shepard would have to maneuver Castis onto that line, and then push for a comparison of DNA between the key samples. If there was a match between those, she would need to reconsider her approach. However, if the two did not match, then it would be evidence to back the idea of someone framing her.
"Commander?" Bellacus called.
"What?" Shepard asked, making her best effort to appear like she he had just snapped out of some sort of trance.
"Are you alright?" The detective asked.
Shepard wondered, had he bought the ruse? "I'm fine, sorry…" She would not make an excuse. She wanted to look so confounded that she did not even know why Bellacus had addressed her.
"Well, we are done here, I will let Castis know about the examination. Bellacus, how about you show the Commander to a room," T'Veris said.
"Right," the detective pushed off the wall.
It did not take much to figure out why T'Veris was suddenly keen to see her gone. "Thank you, Doctor." Shepard said as she tried not to smile. In a way she was thanking the doctor for the slip up.
"You are welcome?" The doctor replied slowly.
This left Shepard little to do except follow Bellacus out of the lab. The corridor beyond was not as flood-lit, which was an instant relief for her. Bellacus started in the lead, but some length down the hall he slowed down just enough that she caught up to him.
Suddenly he cleared his throat with another clearly fake cough, his dual larynx made the sound utterly unconvincing. "Commander, may I ask you something? Entirely off the record?"
"Alright," Shepard replied. She could always refuse to answer if he tried to pull a fast one.
"During your interview you mentioned an illegal cloning operation. Was it operated by a Doctor Heart by any chance?"
Shepard grinned, of course Bellacus would remember that, and connect the dots. "It did." She would not thank him for his contribution to the job, simply because she knew he would want to keep his involvement under wraps. This was as off-the-record as a topic could get. "I am only at liberty to say that the good doctor is now out of business."
"I should think he would be," Bellacus said and chuckled. "Between a Spectre, Garrus, and yourself… It would probably be a case of there not being enough remains to fill a soup spoon."
"Teaspoon. They're smaller." Shepard corrected. "But I will neither confirm nor deny if, or what kind of spoon was involved."
Bellacus burst out laughing, and the sound echoed right down the corridor. Shepard let him laugh, but she wondered, why was he so relaxed around her? Her whole experience continued to feel odd, unexpected. Who treated a political assassin with this much courtesy? No one seemed particularly angry. Even Saren had hardly growled at her. Though, come to think of it, Saren's actions were not a good indication of his thinking. So what was up with C-sec? Could she dare hope that Castis Vakarian and his subordinates were beginning to doubt the veracity of the charges?
An Hour Later…
Charles stabbed at the key to end the connection attempt with Jezebel's communicator. This had been his third, each time he kept the system pinging for five minutes, and each time there was no response. Charles was out of patience.
One of his agents on the Citadel reported that Jezebel had attacked Pallin as planned and that Shepard was arrested. That had been the plan. However, Pallin was clinging to life. That was not in the plan. It was a critical problem. He could not count on Pallin thinking he was actually attacked by someone of Shepard's caliber. Shepard was many things, but sloppy was not one of them. No one would dispute her abilities, and she had a known perfectionist streak when it came to using them. Pallin would have to be an utter fool to mistake his survival for a miracle and not just a sloppy job.
Charles had meant to recall Jezebel, so her presence on the Citadel would not endanger the plan even more. There were still ways to reach the turian at the hospital, make it look like there was an accidental drug mix-up. But no, Jezebel's chose to disappear, and Charles knew why. His agent mentioned that she sustained an injury, giving C-sec a blood sample, and the Citadel News Network reported the swift arrest of a suspect. If Jezebel saw the report, then she must have connected the dots. Her encoded memories made her think she was her own person, and that meant she had a survival instinct. If she could not be recalled, then she was officially a loose end to tie up the old-fashioned way.
Charles reached to the communicator controls and typed in a different connection frequency. The communicator buzzed for a few moments, but then clicked. Charles leaned back in his seat, "Hello, Banes."
"Charles. Calling to congratulate me?" Banes asked, sounding every bit smug.
"Not at all." Charles replied, barely containing his anger. As much as he did not like the man's tone right then, this was not Banes' fault. This was all Jezebel. "I need Jezebel's tracking information. She is not responding to my communication attempts. As far as I'm concerned she went rogue."
"I see." Banes replied. There was the sound of glass clinking against metal. "I did warn you about the possibility of those sorts of uncontrollable reactions. She has too much… individuality."
"Yes, yes! I need that tracking information!" Charles hissed back.
"You will have it in a moment." Banes replied. "Also, please do remind whoever you send that they must retrieve her amp, intact and functional. I want the last batch of data from it."
"Easy enough," Charles replied coldly. Banes was a little too calm right then, and it grated on Charles' nerves. Did he not realize that should Shepard dig herself out of this, she would come after them? Maybe it would not be this week, or the next, but there would be no shaking her off, and she could very well become one of the Council's attack dogs. At the very least, she would have one at her side. If she wanted something done, Kryik's automatic approval meant she had Spectre clearance by proxy.
"There, I just sent you the relevant data," Banes said.
Charles knew that he needed to do everything in his power to prevent the situation from devolving. Charles would have to notify The Illusive Man himself, and he would not be happy. It was highly likely that Kai Leng would be sent to clean up the mess, and Charles was not eager to see him gloat, but he would have to take it on the chin. They were too close to their main objective. He could not lose everything now.
Charles' console pinged. "Here it is."
"That frequency will register like an omni-tool, and so our agents should be able to track her using the Citadel's own open network. Jezebel will not be able to leave the Citadel for the time being. Use that." Banes said.
Charles accessed the document. Inside were just a set of numbers, the frequency of the tracker in Jezebel's amp. "This is all I need, for now."
"Good, good… I can get back to work."
The line clicked, severed on the other side. Charles stared at the communicator for a long moment. Banes was prone to losing himself in his work, to the point that he forgot who his superiors were. Well, now was not the time for those considerations. Charles needed to place one more call.
Back on the Citadel…
Shepard was honestly surprised at the holding cell Bellacus took her to. The large headquarters apparently had a whole floor of holding areas. One wing contained the typical communal cells where people with petty charges waited for the paperwork to go through and for someone to pay their bail. The other wing had been offices at some point, but then redone for higher profile detainees who needed more security or privacy. The corridors were patrolled by armed officers, but her room actually had opaque walls. Though Shepard suspected there was more than one hidden camera in the room. What surprised her was the tiny glorified closet with a private toilet and sink, and the disposable necessities it came with.
The cell's furnishing were sparse. The bed had ratty-looking but perfectly clean grey sheets, pillowcase, and blanket. There was also small square table and chair, and complimentary months-old print-edition magazines. Shepard bypassed the magazines and plopped on the bed. It was thin, but not too bad. She put her back to the headboard, where she had the wall behind her, and could see the door.
There was little she could do to keep busy with her omni-tool still locked out. Within ten minutes she realized she could not keep her mind off her own problems without something to do. So what could she do? She brought up her omni-tool and stared at it. She did not keep any games on it, not even solitaire. She preferred more useful things. Then her eyes landed on the application that contained a compendium of the Alliance's star charts, and she smiled. It was a useful little tool for quick reference, containing little more than basic information, but it had a search feature, and there was something out there that she needed to find. Were it not for this mess, she would have already turned to the star charts. Let C-sec's camera catch her looking, they would not know what she was looking for.
Shepard closed her eyes and willed Nabu's map to materialize. The image appeared with an intensity akin to a direct experience, as if she had been in that room and stared at that monitor for an hour. Then, as she focused on the point within Alliance space information seemingly materialized in her mind. She knew what to look for: a garden-class planet, second around its star, in a system with five planets, orbiting a star similar to Sol, though slightly larger.
Shepard opened her eyes and opened her application, going straight for the advanced search. The first thing she put in were the obvious search parameters, a system within Alliance space, with G-class star, larger than Sol, having five planets, and only one garden world, second around the star. She pressed search and let the system run.
The application did not take very long to compile a list, and it was just seven planets. Right at the top was Eden Prime. Shepard blinked as she stared at the name. What were the odds of the ark actually being on Eden Prime? Her cynical side insisted it simply could not be this easy. When had the universe been this kind to her? Sure, Eden Prime's Prothean connection was hardly hidden, traces of their presence had been one of the main draws for colonizing the planet back in the 2150s, but still. Could the ark colony be hidden there?
She flicked over to the galactic view, and the application plotted the seven hits as dots over the galactic arms. Then she rotated the map to display exactly how Nabu's had been, and her mouth ran dry. The seven hits were scattered all over Alliance space, but the one that marked Eden Prime was very much in the right spot. Sure, at this scale the dot actually represented a cluster, but it was beyond the realm of pure coincidence. It had to be Eden Prime. Sure, some would tell her that she was latching on to a possibility, but her gut told her that it was Eden Prime. The certainty she felt transcended logic. Nabu somehow encoded basic knowledge of the solar system's properties, trusting her to identify it, and now, she just knew that she had.
Shepard rolled her wrist to turn off her omni-tool. The ark likely would not be as obvious as the ruins on Mars. That complex was found after satellites detected a highly localized magnetic field on the surface of Promethei Planum, near Mars' south pole. Initially that only interested scientists, as Mars was thought to be geologically dead, with no innate magnetic field. However, satellites failed to find an opposite pole for a hypothetical weak natural field, and the researchers at Lowell City identified flux patterns in the field. Someone on the team breathed the words "possibly artificial" to the media. That newsbreak led the prospector team under Mateus Silva working in the area to go looking for the source. They thought they were on the trail of a massive metal deposit, but they found the decaying power core of the Prothean research station in the Deseado Crater.
Shepard figured that could be a model to follow. They could search for the field of another fifty-thousand-year-old power core. Albeit, not from space, as Eden Prime's own magnetic field would interfere. Once they had some possible locations, identification would be as easy as using a compass. It would point incorrectly once within range of a localized field. After that, they could recalibrate the compass to point with the localized field. Assuming it had only one distinct pole, the compass would point right into it, right at the source.
The trickiest part would be finding the right general location. However, there was room for some educated guessing. Any planet with its own magnetic field was geologically active. As such, the Ark would need protection from seismic events. This meant the foot or side of a mountain. It would have a large core, generating a relatively powerful field over a small radius. Finally, it was likely that the entrance was hidden. An artificial structure out in the open in the middle of nowhere would give the whole installation away.
Shepard hummed to herself. In the long term she would need to find the right people for this, but she could ask Jenkins. The earliest Colonists at Lowell City, back in the late 2100s and 2110s, began referring to Promethei Planum as their Bermuda Triangle, saying weird things happened to equipment there. Most dismissed the talk as a story told by bored colonists, but it proved true in the end. Jenkins would know if Eden Prime's colonists told any similar stories.
The sound of footsteps outside her cell jarred Shepard out of her thoughts. She tensed, but the footsteps continued down the hall without stopping. Shepard sighed, it was likely the armed guards on their rounds.
On the Normandy…
Nihlus normally hated all the bureaucratic nonsense that inevitably came up, but just this once he was thankful for it. The process to obtain a search warrant had slowed Citadel Security long enough for him to get back to the ship and tell Alenko what Shepard wanted him to do. It also allowed Williams to get the worst of her outrage out of her system.
After that, it was only a matter of stepping back, and letting Alenko do what he did best. Within ten minutes of being told that Citadel Security would be arriving soon, Alenko had the whole crew, even the sleepy night shift, up and briefed on the situation. His first order was that until further notice the AI Core was to be referred to as the Server Room, they were not to breathe the words "artificial intelligence". For a good minute after that Nihlus heard people mumbling "server room" under their breath as if trying to burn it into their memories through usage.
Then came the obvious question of what to do with their synthetics. EDI, on Moreau's suggestion, adopted a rather amusing, almost mocking facsimile of Avina's tone and mannerisms. When eyes turned to Legion, the geth gave one flicker of their head plating, emitted a burst of geth chatter, straightened their spinal column, squared their shoulders, and immobilized the plates. Nihlus bit back his chuckle, Legion had to be trying to act like a Heretic prime. It might even work on those who did not know better.
After the emergency briefing Nihlus was perfectly happy to melt into the background and watch the others decide what to do. He did not have authority with the Alliance crew, and knew better than to try and establish it. It did not take Alenko long to organize things. Parts of the crew were directed to their routine stations, and Alenko roused others to guard engineering, the main battery, and the medbay. Williams was to be near engineering, and Jenkins at the "server room". As far as Nihlus saw, Alenko was positioning his assets according to requirement. Of the Normandy's three secrets, her stealth capability and artificial intelligence might remain secrets if the forensics did not look closely. Williams and Jenkins were to be Alenko's eyes and ears, to ensure just that.
When all the orders were issued, the crowd dispersed to carry them out. Garrus turned and went toward the main battery. Nihlus waited maybe a minute before he followed him. When he stepped into the main battery, the younger turian was already at what had become his post. "Planning on meeting your father here?" Nihlus asked as the door closed behind him.
"Maybe if I talk with my father I can convince him to omit this from his reports."
"Can you?" Was it possible to convince Castis Vakarian to do something like that? The Normandy was a sign that the Alliance was coming closer to absolute military parity with the Hierarchy. Castis Vakarian would be obligated to pass the information on. Shepard really should not have allowed Vakarian onto her ship. Nihlus did not care to report these things, but the Vakarians? Garrus was not really as bad a turian as he liked to think he was.
Garrus sighed and then turned away from the console. "I can try."
The younger turian's subharmonic announced his resignation for all to hear. Was he already castigating himself for his inevitable failure? Nihlus did not have it in him to use that. "Shepard will appreciate the attempt." It was the kindest thing he could say right then.
"Probably. She is… one of a kind that way." Vakarian rumbled with affection in his voice.
It was a good thing that they were the only Turians on the ship. "Yes. She is." This was some predicament they found themselves in.
"I know why you came here, so I will just say it," Garrus began as he leaned on the railing surrounding the Thanix and crossed his arms. "I have never met someone like Shepard, and yes… I do have feelings for her."
Nihlus could hear the other male's courage evaporate a little more with each word, but he forced them out. "That was obvious by the way you purr her name." The only reason Shepard was oblivious was because she could not hear it.
"Like you are any different!" Vakarian jumped, rumbling with anger.
"I am not denying that."
"Good! I will also not back down just because you think you would be better for her."
Suddenly he understood where this outburst was coming from. "I do not claim to know what is best for her. She decides that."
"Then what? You are here for a reason. You wanted to talk. If you are not here to try and intimidate me into backing down, then what is there to talk about?" Vakarian asked.
As a rule Nihlus hated when people made assumptions about him, but here he realized that maybe he had been at fault too. He had always treated the younger turian as a subordinate. There were also the seven years of age difference between them. No wonder Vakarian was defensive like this. "Alright…Garrus…" It felt strange to use his proper name, but he needed the other male to know that for once they were equals. "We need to come to an understanding between us. I do not want to fight with you, and Shepard would not want that either."
"Oh good, you realized that."
Nihlus would not react to the sarcasm in the other turian's subvocal reverberations. "We need an agreement to put her interests above our own. Her biggest challenge are not these charges, it is the Alliance. They want her to become a Spectre. If it was my decision to make, she would already be one."
Vakarian hummed, low and thoughtful. "Instead it is up to Sparatus. And Saren."
"Yes. I suspect Saren is partly responsible for the stalled decision. There is really no need for Shepard to have an extended training period, but the Councilors have to agree on that unanimously. Sparatus and Saren want her to make herself ineligible. These fabricated charges are precisely that. Sparatus would use any excuse he can get."
"You really think they want to discredit her that badly?" Vakarian asked.
"It is politics. Sparatus hates the mere thought of allowing Humans near a Council seat, and you know Saren."
"I hate politics." Garrus muttered, his anger right there in his voice. "I suppose I understand your reasoning."
Nihlus knew that was as close to open agreement as he was going to get. "Beyond that, there is the Alliance."
"The Alliance?" Garrus asked. "What have they-"
"Humans have a problem with relationships between commanding officers and subordinates. If I do anything, I will allow some to say she is not a real Spectre, that she got the position because she is involved with her training Spectre. I will not allow them to discredit her like that." It galled Nihlus to think that there were individuals like that out there, but he would not let them win. "Shepard does not need us complicating her life. So, we must agree… not to pressure her into making any decisions. And regardless of what those end up being, to support them." He chose to leave the rest unspoken. Vakarian would understand what decisions he was referring to.
"Fine, I will agree to that." The younger sighed, "And I hate it when I have to agree with you."
Nihlus knew that was a rather petty, half-meant jab at best. "The feeling is mutual." He replied blandly.
Vakarian's subvocals rumbled his amusement for a few moments, but then they went silent. "Do not think I will forget about Taetrus though."
Nihlus intentionally stifled his subvocal response to that. He never expected Garrus to forget, and he would easily get it out of Shepard if he asked the right way. "Now is not the time."
"Fair enough." Vakarian asked.
"Alright, I think all that needed to be said, was said. I will be at the airlock waiting for the forensics to arrive." It might sound like a tactical retreat, but it was just fact.
"Sure, and I will be here, restoring the settings to their Alliance specifications. Maybe if I make the guns look… barely operable… I can come up with something." Vakarian replied.
"Sounds like a plan," Nihlus replied as he turned and made for the door. It was not a good plan, and it would not work, but he would give Vakarian credit for the earnest effort. Maybe if there was enough of that today they could come out of this mess victorious.
An Hour Later…
It was as if some part of Garrus had known this day would come. He already had everything in place in case he ever needed to reset the Thanix back to its Alliance configuration. He saved his configuration and handed it over to EDI before applying the original, which he saved before he started working on the guns. This even undid the power draw optimizations Donnelly, Adams, and he had worked on. After that he cleaned up the access logs with EDI's full help. The final part, should it be necessary, was up to EDI as well. Should Shepard lose command of the Normandy, EDI would delete his configuration and overwrite the relevant memory sectors with junk data which would be deleted later during a routine defragmentation pass.
The Alliance would never learn that Garrus had worked on their system, let alone that he got the guns to work correctly. This was personal for Garrus. He had worked on the guns for Shepard, he owed the Alliance nothing. If they chose to betray her, then they would not benefit from his work. Yes, it would not keep him above blame with the Hierarchy, but that was a peripheral consideration.
Garrus had just finished arranging things with EDI when he noticed a sharp increase in the noise volume filtering through the closed main battery door. This was not the usual hum of conversation before a meal, the tone was entirely different. There were also voices he could not recognize, and some carried subharmonics. The forensics had arrived. Garrus tapped a series of keys on the console before him to set it into standby.
Two voices grew closer to the door. One he recognized as Alenko's, though he could not understand a word the lieutenant was saying. The other was higher pitched and talking in a clipped manner. Just that manner of speech told Garrus that the other individual was a Salarian. He turned away from the console and crossed his arms.
A moment later the door hissed open and he came face to face with a salarian wearing forensics unit overalls. The technician's gaze instantly landed on him and then slid around him to the twin cannons behind him.
"I'll leave this situation in your capable hands, Vakarian," Alenko said.
"Thanks," Garrus replied blandly as he saw the salarian's gaze snap right back to him.
Alenko turned and walked back toward the aft of the ship. Garrus suspected he would go and help Jenkins intimidate the forensics who would come dangerously close to EDI's hardware.
"You are Se-." The Salarian asked.
Garrus turned his gaze down on him, "I am Garrus Vakarian, yes."
"And those are-"
"Yes. Now go and find my father. This is well above your security clearance." Garrus finished for him.
The technician stared at him for a long second, but then turned and marched right out of the main battery. Garrus had to bite back his amusement, he would hear about that, but right then, he did not care. He leaned back on the railing and waited.
It was not long before the battery door hissed open again and his father appeared, trailed by the same technician. The salarian spared Garrus a glare and then moved into the room to get started on the search. His father had stopped in the doorway, and his subvocals had startled rumbling with the beginning of a lecture. But then they went silent when he actually laid eyes on the guns.
Then Castis stepped farther into the room, allowing the door to close behind him. "Those are… Garrus, did you work on them?"
"Yes." Garrus replied.
"And Shepard-"
"Did not tell me to. I had to convince her to let me."
Castis sighed. "Garrus, this will not look good on your record."
"I know, and I do not care."
There was a moment of silence between them during which Garrus realized exactly how those words had sounded. Would he take them back? No, he decided. They were true, they were his decision.
"Garrus you are aiding and abetting the Alliance!"
"No. I am helping Shepard." Garrus replied. "Dad, I am not a fool. If Shepard loses command of the Normandy I will ensure that the Alliance will not benefit from my input."
Castis moved closer toward the guns, eyes roving over their folded lengths. "I will not ask what inspires you to such loyalty… do you at least know how these were built?"
"They have to be reverse-engineered from a wreck or a scuttled ship. There is no VI control system to regulate the flux in the constriction field. I do not think the Alliance even cares why we use one, and they are flawed to match." Garrus knew why his father had asked. If the humans had somehow managed to steal a Thanix frigate then it would be an act of war.
"Are you absolutely certain?" Castis demanded, his subvocals ringing with urgency.
"They did not breach the treaties." Garrus replied.
His father's emitted a note of relief, but it was brief, almost choked.
Garrus knew it would be best if he explained his certainty. "If the Alliance took apart a fully-operable system these guns would not be so flawed. Everything about them is… poorly optimized. They fire white-hot, which increases the beam widening. The engineers either do not understand why we use lower particle temperatures, or they chose pure power over precision." Of course, they could be thinking that they could fix the problem. Garrus had been on the Normandy long enough to know that humans were very competitive. At times self-destructively so. They would push to succeed where others knew better, just to say they had.
"That is… good, but Garrus, no matter how flawed the guns are… I cannot pretend they do not exist."
"I know." Garrus did not bother to keep the resignation out of his voice.
"Did Shepard really not… order you to refine the system?" Castis asked, his disbelief plain for all to hear.
Garrus met his father's gaze, he could not blame his father for not believing that either. "No. I came to her first, and she tried to refuse me. I had to convince her. I swear on my honor. We even had this same discussion. She knew that this would not look good for me… and she never told her senior officers that I did anything with them… she is… just that way. I am also not a fool, I have precautions in place. The Alliance will not benefit from my input."
Castis sighed, and that told Garrus that he had made his argument. His father would know that he loved mucking with the innards of things. It was only because of their long family tradition of serving in the front-line forces that Garrus had not ended up an engineer on a capital ship.
Garrus turned to watch the salarian technician. He was moving about the space with a scanner, poking the reader into every crevasse, seemingly oblivious of the discussion taking place. Garrus was not worried. He would not find the murder weapons and armor in here, there was nowhere to hide them. This was a battery bay, with no access to the ship's maintenance tunnels. The guns were supposed to lower and extend into the void. For the few seconds between that and the closure of the bay doors around the cannon mounts the only thing preventing a vent-out would be a mass effect field. The inner door had magnetic seals, just in case the field failed.
"Dad, I have a theory…" Garrus began as he turned to face his father. "About which ship the Alliance salvaged. Water would not stop humans. It has to be the Valiant." The Valiant was a desperate possibility, but also a plausible one. His father would also know what he was talking about.
The Valiant went down during the early phase of the campaign on Shanxi. It was one of four Thanix frigates sent to obliterate the colony's space-port. The defenders picked them up on radar, and fired a volley of crude heat-seeking surface-to-air missiles right into their path. The Valiant was the only one hit, with the missile shearing off a nacelle and breaching its hull. The ships destroyed the space-port as ordered, but the Valiant could not return to orbit. Its captain ordered the crew to abandon it and remained behind to steer its final flight. The other three reported it plunging into the sea over a deep trench. After that, a survivor from the spaceport could have talked about a ship with a distinct weapon going down. The Alliance would have gone looking for it.
Castis hummed a thoughtful note.
Garrus pressed on, "Dad, I know that you cannot keep this off the reports, but all I will ask is that… do not implicate Shepard. She commands this vessel, but only that."
"I can understand that. Well, the only thing I can do is wait to file the report until her case is resolved… that will give me some time to consider what I will put in that report. You theory is plausible, and… I sincerely hope that it is close to the truth."
Garrus nodded. He knew that the Hierarchy would investigate the matter, and the Alliance would have to reveal what they salvaged, or risk an incident. If the Alliance indeed found and took apart some crashed frigate, doubly so if it was the Valiant, there was little anyone could do. The Hierarchy never negotiated for the salvage of the Valiant, and after two and a half decades, there was nothing to argue. However, would the Alliance come down on Shepard for causing them to admit to anything? Were they that petty and vengeful? Was there a way of salvaging her command?
Garrus hated questions without an easy answer. As far as he was concerned, the Alliance had no right prosecuting Shepard for the ship they told her to command. There was no justice in that. He hoped, with everything that he had, that things would work out. However, he knew that he would have to talk with Kryik about this. Maybe there was still something that he could do.
Twelve Hours Later…
Shepard woke up all at once and opened her eyes, recognized her surrounding, and groaned. The last day had not been a bad dream brought on by heavy medication. Still, what had woken her up? From her position on the bed she was looking right at the slot through which food was delivered when it suddenly slid open. A tray with a smoking cup of coffee and a plate of sandwiches slid in, onto a shelf attached underneath. A moment later the slot closed and Shepard heard a set of retreating footsteps. Which answered the question perfectly. Shepard sighed again, she had no choice but to get up. The coffee would be nasty if it got cold.
This was the second meal she had gotten in her cell. Last night she got chicken noodle soup, likely out of a can and heated in a microwave, but edible. The interesting part was that she got ceramic dishes and metal utensils. The efforts to make her stay as comfortable as possible continued, and they definitely did not view her as a hazard to anyone.
Shepard got the tray and transferred it to the table. Then she slipped into the small attached bathroom. Some small part of her felt a smidgeon resentful, and so vindictive. This should have been her time to get caught up on work. This stint in jail was wasting her time. She knew full well that thinking like that would not help her, but it was still there.
Ten minutes later she emerged from the bathroom, walked over to the bed and reached under the pillow for her pill bottle. Sleep had lessened her head pain some more, and maybe she would not need the medication, but it would not do to lose it. She stuck the bottle into the cargo pocket of her fatigues and then turned to breakfast. A single experimental sip of the coffee was enough to know that it was the cheap instant kind. On the other hand, although the sandwiches were plain, one with cheese and the other with salami, she could not say anything about them. She sat down and started eating.
She was not fussy, so the food vanished in minutes. The coffee had enough time to cool off, so she could drink it like medicine, letting it go down without excess tasting of it. After that was done, she collected the things back on the tray and got up to take it back to the pickup slot. As she had just set the tray back onto the shelf she heard approaching footsteps. Just one set of footsteps. Definitely not the armed guards then, they patrolled in pairs.
A moment later they stopped next to her door. Second later there was a series of beeps and the door opened.
"Good morning, Commander." Bellacus greeted as he stepped in.
"Morning," Shepard replied automatically.
"Detective Vakarian sent me to escort you, he wishes to discuss the case developments with you." He glanced at the tray, but then turned back to her, "We should go."
Shepard blinked, obviously they got that search warrant and must have searched the Normandy already. However, her gut told her that Bellacus would not be amicable if they found anything, or if all three of the Normandy's secrets had been compromised. The Thanix was out of the bag, but either Bellacus was not in the know, which seemed unlikely, or the IES and EDI were still secrets.
There was no point in stalling. Keeping Castis waiting might just cost her a few goodwill points too. "Lead the way?" She asked. The detective wordlessly motioned with his arm for her to exit the cell first. He paused only long enough to lock it again, and Shepard could only follow him.
There was no conversation between them the entire way, although he threw casual morning greetings to every passing coworker. Shepard was honestly not surprised at that attitude. Bellacus would not want to be too friendly with her. Yesterday's conversation on the way back from the lab had probably been as much as he would give her, and he may have even realized that she had played dumb after the little conversational slip-up.
She spent the walk doing observing the mood, though there was very little to observe. It seemed like the compartmentalization at the station was indeed impressive. It seemed like no one automatically connected who she was and for what she was hauled in. Well, she could live with them thinking she was charged with some petty misdemeanor.
Eventually Bellacus led her to the same meeting room they had used yesterday. Today the corridor up here was a little busier than yesterday, the surrounding meeting rooms seemed to be in use, but that just meant fewer people could stop and chat. Standing in front of the meeting room was the same lawyer, looking just as antsy as yesterday, and wearing just as ill-fitting suit.
"Good morning, Commander," he greeted as soon as she was within five meters of him.
"Morning," Shepard replied automatically.
"Feel free to go in and take a seat," Bellacus said, sounding positively sunny right then.
Shepard glanced through the observation window into the room and noted that it was still empty. She hummed, why was the lawyer so nervous? It was not like someone had left him alone for five minutes with Saren's glares. She would understand twitchiness caused by that cold, condescending stare Saren could muster. "Are we waiting for Spectre Arterius?" She turned to Bellacus.
"And Spectre Kryik. We are unable to deny him access." The detective replied.
Shepard thought she had a good reason to be wary with the two Spectres in the same room again. They could not continue to circle her indefinitely, one seeking to undermine, and the other to prove the first wrong, not with their personalities. They would eventually clash. She did not want to be the reason for them to argue, but there was nothing she could do about it. She just hoped that they would have that fallout where the detectives would not see it. With that thought she stepped into the meeting room, found a seat, and commenced waiting.
Fortunately it was not a very long wait. Apparently C-sec were on top of things with notifying people of meetings. Nihlus was the first to arrive, clad in his full armor, and glaring at everyone in lieu of flashing firearms they did not allow him to keep. He directed a particularly vicious one at Bellacus. Not that it worked, as the detective did not even shift from his lean on the opposite wall from the door, arms crossed, leg propped up. Nihlus could do little more than step into the room. The presence of both the lawyer and Bellacus also prevented Shepard from drilling Nihlus about the situation on the Normandy.
It was another fifteen minutes before the meeting came to order with the arrival of Saren and Castis Vakarian. Shepard did not particularly care for the fact that they arrived seconds apart, as if they had been talking on the way to the meeting. However, as Castis sat down opposite of her, and Saren resumed his post leaning against the wall, Shepard realized that the latter was glaring at her a little too much to be happy. Something was not going his way. Shepard had to suppress her urge to smile as she watched the detective prepare his terminal.
Castis eventually looked up and met her gaze, "Well, Commander. I wanted to discuss the developments in my investigation."
Shepard just nodded.
"I obtained a full search warrant for your ship, and my team duly searched the Normandy. Your crew was cooperative."
"They would be, and I do apologize if someone got a little… vociferous in my defense." Shepard figured best apologize pro forma, Garrus and Ashley were both of the temperament to speak before they thought. Then there was Joker. His biting commentary was indiscernible from humor, but to non-humans, it would just be biting. "I will hazard to guess you did not find what you were looking for." They probably found things they were not looking for. She would not dare ask how much though. Hopefully Castis knew better than to mention it, as Saren would have a field day with that knowledge.
"No, we did not." Castis replied blandly.
"Commander-" the lawyer stepped in.
Shepard suppressed her reactions even as she raised her hand to silence the lawyer's objections. She knew that Castis would be waiting for a reaction. "I see." She wanted to know where they stood.
A long moment later Castis turned to the console and gave the controls a few taps, "As of last night, as part of the search warrant, we took your complete armor suit, your combat knife, two Carnifex pistols, and three rifles as material evidence."
"I'm sorry, Detective, but three rifles?" She could think of just two, Nike and Vincent. Whose rifle did they mistake for hers?
"One from your locker, one from your quarters, and the third is of an uncertain make and model, but similar to the one possessed by your Geth crewmember. It was found in a separate locker, but we took it because it appeared to be an anti-materiel caliber weapon and its colors match your suit."
Legion colored their rifle to match her suit? What were they thinking? "I see," Shepard replied. "The one from my locker is my working rifle. The one from my quarters is my previous rifle. It was damaged beyond repair when I was thrown into a wall by that former Cabals soldier during the operation on Taetrus. The third one you mentioned isn't mine. Legion built that rifle for their personal use, I knew they were building it, but I did not know they finished it." Shepard explained.
Castis turned to the console to make some notes.
Saren made a sound that was almost a snort. "You foolishly allow that thing too much freedom."
"Legion is not a thing, Spectre. They are Geth, sentient and sapient, I can and do trust them." Shepard replied as she met his stare, then Saren's eyes darkened, and she turned back to the detective. She had taken an intentional dig at him, and he did not miss it. Castis either missed the nuance in the exchange, or just chose to pretend that he had.
A minute passed before he finally looked up, "Back to the topic, Commander, my forensic team completed comparison tests overnight. The damage on your previous rifle was identified as fracturing, shearing, and twisting caused by a single impact in the presence of a biotic field. You just confirmed my technician's theory, so thank you. Nevertheless, the technician extracted the rifle's ammunition cutter and obtained a sample manually. It was compared to the markings on the bullet that killed victim number two, and there was no match."
"The timing alone should have eliminated that rifle," Nihlus said.
"The timing was not confirmed at the time, and our experts like to be thorough, Spectre." Castis replied.
"Fair enough," Nihlus replied.
Just how many tests had the technicians performed overnight? Shepard was more than a little impressed.
"Ammunition cutter markings from the other rifles were likewise compared to the bullet that killed victim number two. No matches were found. Finally, markings on bullets from your pistols were compared to the round from victim number one. Again, no matches."
Shepard nodded. Castis was dragging it out, digging for a reaction.
"We compared the cuts your knife creates to those found on the first victim's body. Again, no match. Finally, your armor, we inspected it, and found the suit undamaged, though the technician extracted a sample to conduct fiber and spectrographic analysis. We found no match with fiber evidence collected from the third crime scene."
Shepard wanted to smile like the Mona Lisa. Castis mentioned the fibers. It was officially open season to hunt for a weakness in C-sec's case.
"And what about my client's alibis?" The lawyer stepped in.
Castis spared the lawyer a brief look. "As of right now, Commander, your alibis have been confirmed. Doctor Karin Chakwas was insistent your injuries were too severe for you to have shot victim number two, and in too much pain to have attacked Executor Pallin. I confirmed her opinion with our independent expert. I also talked with the individuals who had been on deck two the night of the first assassination. They were vociferous, insisting that you had not passed by them that night."
"Excellent, then my client-" the lawyer began.
"There is still the genetic material." Castis cut in, silencing the lawyer. "T'Veris told me that the medical examination she performed revealed no wounds, old or new, and yet we have multiple blood samples from the scene of the third crime that put Commander Shepard at the location. Due to the… nature of the crimes in question, I cannot disregard that match."
"No, and I do not blame you," Shepard murmured. Citadel Security needed someone, and she was unfortunately, the best they had. If the situations were somehow reversed, Shepard would have gone after the blood with everything she had. Weapons and armor were not everything. Material evidence could and did vanish. Then, even her injuries were not an absolute alibi. She had not been comatose in the medbay.
Castis gave her a piercing look, and Shepard knew why. Someone else would have been up in arms about now. What he did not know was that she knew something about their multiple blood samples and fibers. The chips had been pitched in, it was time to see whose hand came on top. She crossed her hands on top of the table, in fair imitation of Hannah's gesture. "Detective, you've mentioned… multiple blood samples and fibers. Now yes, the fibers don't match my suit, but I would think that a bullet that picked up suit fibers had to dig them up, and it must've gotten some blood with or on them. Is that sample consistent with the rest of your blood samples?" It was a soft way of explaining it, covering up the mistake that led her to the knowledge in the first place.
Castis' eyes darkened as he stared at her.
"I ask, because the sample with the bullet and fibers would definitely come from the actual killer, whereas the other drips may have been planted evidence." She turned to glance at Saren. "Spectre Arterius, you asked, perhaps in jest, whether I have enemies that would go as far as planting evidence against me."
Saren stiffened and his mandibles rose and pressed up against his jaw.
Shepard had to contain her urge to grin. "Nihlus, did you bring the materials pertaining to the matter with Admiral Kahoku?"
"Of course," Nihlus replied as he opened a compartment on his webbing and drew out an OSD. "Alenko packed everything, even the correspondence we found on Noveria."
"Thank you," Shepard made a mental note to thank EDI, then addressed the detective, "The mastermind behind the assassinations is Armistan Banes. I say mastermind, because he planned them but the actual killer is someone else. Banes worked for the Alliance, ostensibly researching thresher maws, before his espionage was revealed. The Alliance lists him as deceased, but I know he faked his death, and the Alliance found a dead clone. I have video evidence to confirm he's alive."
"You believe this is his way of eliminating someone who knows he is alive?" Castis asked.
"Being alive is the least of it, Banes is guilty of much worse. I was sent track down a missing unit, the same unit that found Banes' clone. We followed what we thought was their distress beacon, and found them with their ruined armored vehicle over a confirmed thresher maw nest. They were lured there. It was a message, a warning to their commanding officer, Admiral Kahoku, to abandon his investigation."
"That is… convoluted." Saren muted.
"I know. Banes is a piece of work, but he's no genius." Shepard replied. "But now I knew about the trap, and obviously… Admiral Kahoku only redoubled his efforts. Not long after that he located Banes' hiding spot. When killing the admiral's men did not work, Banes' men kidnapped the admiral himself. However by the time the Normandy arrived, he was already dead, and Banes also left a video message meant to discourage me from pursuing him. As I said, he's no genius." Really, how arrogant was that? "That video proves that Banes is alive. Second, he uttered an open threat against me. Third, well… if he cloned himself to fake his death, what's a couple million blood cells? It's means and motive."
"Perhaps," Castis said. "But this is not the vendetta of one individual."
"I never said it was the vendetta of one individual. Since then I managed to piece together something of what he's been doing, whom he works for, and their end-goals. There were multiple labs on Nepheron and Bintu, though they have now been abandoned. In one we found rachni parts." She glanced toward Saren as she said that. "Spectre Arterius, those parts were shipped there from the same place we investigated the first time we worked together. Doctor Brant was involved, she had email contact with Armistan Banes. Feel free to confirm it in your records, look for shipment confirmations and within Doctor Brant's emails for mentions of Project Cadmus."
Saren's brow plates dropped, hooding his eyes into deep shadows.
Shepard bowed her head a few centimeters, a wordless thanks if anything. He just told her that he recognized the name. "I have other evidence from other sources."
"Commander, I do believe you are… conjecturing," The lawyer spoke up for the first time in what seemed like forever.
"No. Up to that point, I have evidence… the more conjecturing element is my suspicions about whom Banes is and has been working for all along," Shepard replied, giving the lawyer a stern look.
"Commander, I must protest!"
"Noted," Shepard replied blandly and turned back to Castis. "Detective, have you ever heard about a group called Cerberus?"
The detective gave her a patently blank stare, but behind him, Saren turned to look right at her.
"As far as I'm aware they are a loose, amorphous grouping of individuals with greatly varying backgrounds. They are not an organization, per se, but they share certain ideological views. Which lead to shared goals."
"They are the human version of Facinus," Nihlus slipped in.
Shepard had not wanted to use that comparison, despite how apt and easy it was to make. Nihlus of course had none of those social graces, nor the need to exercise them. That sort of comparison would not sound as bad coming from him. "Calling them human supremacists is appropriate. The name has cropped up a few times since the late 2150s, though few take their existence seriously. I suspect they formed after and because of the First Contact War. Furthermore, I believe this ties in very nicely to why Banes is framing me with these assassinations. Ternus Erasion was chosen because of the circumstances surrounding his dismissal from his previous job position. Circumstances that I have never mentioned to my commanding officers." She would not say it, but the implication was there, Cerberus might have someone within the Citadel bureaucracy.
"I find the idea that you did not tell anyone hard to believe," Saren noted.
"She has not told Hackett anything." Nihlus said.
Saren spared Nihlus a glare that was impossible to misinterpret as anything except accusatory. Shepard knew there was a jab about loyalties on the tip of that forked tongue. Nihlus was not naïve, he would know that Saren would not believe him. She chose to push past it, she had not expected Saren to believe either of them. "I am also aware that Admiral Bellisario commanded the ship that fired the first shots of the First Contact War. As for Executor Pallin… I suspect the attack on him was meant to goad Citadel Security into action, make it personal." Or, more likely, Cerberus wanted to use the resultant chaos to boost the standing of their sympathizers within the organization. It was the sort of opportunism that seemed right up their alley.
"This is nothing more than an admittedly… masterful attempt to conceal your guilt," Saren said.
It would figure that the only time Saren would praise something she did, it was that. "I have evidence that backs up most of what I've said. Banes is the one behind this. The only thing that can remotely be called a conjecture is his Cerberus connection. Even then, there is evidence… Admiral Hackett has seen all my reports, and he is likewise… concerned." That was already implying too much, but it was an implication that had to be made. "Really, there is no smoke without a fire, Spectre. It's an apt saying here."
"I also reported everything we found on Binthu and Nepheron to the Council, including the Cerberus connection. Councilor Valern saw my reports... and told me to forward any other information we might acquire." Nihlus added.
"Then there is that," Shepard said calmly. It was that indeed, it was something Nihlus had never mentioned before. Still, if Valern was interested, then the STG were not far behind him. They would look into anything and everything if it would give them a tactical advantage over someone. Since Valern was interested in additional information it was safe to assume that they thought the whole thing had some value. They might have even made connections she would never know about.
Nihlus leaned over her shoulder and placed the OSD within Castis' reach. "Do not become Cerberus' accomplice by eliminating their obstacle for them."
Shepard froze, did Nihlus just say that? Really? Could he not go one conversation without trying to threaten, intimidate, or lean on someone?
Castis took the OSD and tucked it away into the pocket of his uniform. "I will look over the materials, but I cannot promise anything. However, I will request more tests on the blood samples. If there is any irregularity that suggests the blood was planted, T'Veris will find it."
Shepard nodded. She felt a little bit better about her position. The seed of doubt was planted. "Detective, may I ask one last question?"
"Of course."
"The DNA profile in the Alliance database was created for identification purposes when I enlisted. That was about ten years ago. Would it be possible to compare the sample to my current genetic material? I am willing to give a fresh blood sample."
"Commander, I must protest! It is unnecessary." The lawyer jumped in.
"They already have what appears to be my genetic data. Identity is not in dispute here. Maybe Banes used that data verbatim, and if so… maybe there is a slight discrepancy with the stuff in my veins right now. It literally can't hurt!"
The lawyer looked as if he was chewing glass right then, but Shepard really could not see how this could make her situation any worse.
"That will not be a problem, Commander. If you wish to provide our expert with a fresh blood sample for a detailed comparison, then we will take one," Castis said.
"Thank you." She wanted to try everything. That way, if the worst came to be, she could face the music knowing she had genuinely tried. Banes would not bring her down without a serious fight.
"Anything else?"
"No."
"Then that is all I wished to discuss. I have things to look over. I will have Bellacus escort you down to the lab, and in the meantime I will have a transcript of this discussion prepared for you to look over and sign." Castis said as he typed commands into the console.
The lawyer was staring at her as if she just chose to commit suicide. Maybe she had, but at least now all the cards were truly on the table. She could live with the consequences if she knew that she had tried everything.
Author Notes: You can probably tell why that final scene fought me. It is dense with material and I did not want it to balloon the word count. Half the battle was just how to make it concise. Saren is being a bit of a petulant brat, and Castis is getting a fine display of just what Spectres have to deal with, directly.
General Notes:
Martian Ruins – The little bit on the Prothean ruins on Mars was taken from the ME wiki/codex, including the names and places. I just detailed and polished it up a little. Promethei Planum is actually a real region on the Martian surface.
Chapter Notes:
Thanix Temperatures – In-game we see the Reapers fire red beams, the collector ship managed yellow, but the Normandy SR2's beam is white with a blue tinge. The only way to explain this is if the three vary in particle temperature and thus the Planck curve they emit. It's the same reason why relatively cool stars (M-types) appear red, our sun (a G-type) is yellow, but super-hot (O-type) stars are white-blue. Or why metal heated first stars to glow dull red, then as it gets hotter it brightens, reaching "white hot" eventually.
Heated Metals & Magnetism – Ferrous metals lose some of their magnetic properties when heated past a certain mark known as the Curie temperature. You can see that in effect if you heat a piece of iron red-hot, and put it under a magnet. It will not be pulled to the magnet until it cools. There is still the possibility of tweaking the magnetic properties artificially. I am using this as my personal head-canon for why the Normandy's Thanix requires constant attention.