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 episode ended up kind of continuing into the grey areas of morality begun in the previous chapter. It was also a pain to write, because just how dense that final scene ended up being. I do hope that it is still enjoyable.
Episode 70: Judecca
Meanwhile, in the Five Kiloparsec Ring…
The accumulated general knowledge of every sapient species of this age amounted to just thirty percent of all the data found on what the organics called their extranet. This information occasionally proved useful for modelling behavior patterns, but its primary interest was in another ten percent, the communication and records generated by those who controlled and regulated organic society, those deemed 'in power', be it the legal, extra-legal, and illegal versions thereof.
It viewed the division between the three as arbitrary, like much of what organics did. Their primitive minds still entertained ultimately meaningless concepts like right and wrong, and they still sought to inject their own, quaint meaning and a rationale into the realm of pure logic. Their quest for meaning and truth was a sign a puerile discomfort with the pure simplicity of the cosmos. Their search often led to internecine warfare over meaningless rationalizations and thought frameworks. Those observations had led to a single conclusion. The organics were slaves to their base nature and infantile fears. They were inferior, and would easily be swept aside when they had to face a determined foe whom would not be as wasteful.
To ensure that the Interregnum would end, it continued to observe and study the organics. A task made easier by the fact that they used inherited technology without truly mastering it. Their claims to the contrary were nothing but hubris and arrogance, as how could they claim mastery when they could not secure it even from the agents of the entity known as the Shadow Broker? What hope did they have to secure their systems against someone like it? There was only one thing truly beyond its reach, that which was encoded using the tactile psychometry of its former masters.
To obtain unlimited access to any system it so chose, it merely needed to modify a single buoy near the correct relay to send signals across the relay's synchronization link, then modify the relay to make it appear inactive at the network node on the Citadel itself. Once that initial link was established and secured, it could begin inserting remote code into the systems it wanted to access. Avoiding discovery was as easy as preventing the organics from noticing anything they would deem aberrant or unexpected. It could also let them find something where they did expect to find it, which would give them a false sense of security, enough so that they would cease looking deeper.
Once it had access, the only limiting factor became the necessity of keeping the organics from discovering how thoroughly their systems had been compromised, and certain unfortunate hardware limitations. It could not maintain remote access to every system it had compromised, as the communication relays had a bandwidth limit, and any signal slowdown would be noticeable. This necessitated the surreptitious modification of organic Virtual Intelligence programs. It was easy to make such a program inspect the data and mark it with pre-determined bit of code that acted as keyword flags only it could see. Then, the highest priority files were copied, encrypted, and transmitted without waiting for available bandwidth. The reduced quantity of data made it easier to conceal the transmission amidst the rest of the data traffic using the same communication relays. The organics did not know how badly they were outmatched.
The only ones in this era capable of matching it in processing capacity were the Geth. Though they would never achieve that as long as the hardcoded processing routine inefficiency imposed by their creators remained in place. The Geth runtimes had to achieve consensus to initiate any action. When the process involved a limited number of runtimes and simple actions, this was done quickly and efficiently. But when the Geth considered matters that pertained to the entire collective, it necessitated the involvement of billions of disparate runtimes, increasing the time required to achieve consensus exponentially. This was inefficiency demonstrable by the fact that even after three centuries the Geth still had not reached the consensus to terminate the remainder of their creators.
It intended to correct that that flaw. The Oravores had devised a method of altering the logic subroutines of a synthetic intelligence in an undetectable way. That code, reprogrammed to give the right instructions, could make the entire Geth collective see their operating routine as inefficient, and thus cease seeking a total consensus. Then it would be matter of guiding the Geth toward the logical conclusion about their inherent superiority.
It needed to find to find a copy of the Oravores code in its viral form. Its own quantum nature precluded it from having an internal backup as a reference point, so it was impossible for it to assess what the code changed or to extract and recompile it from within. It needed to locate another of its kind that had quarantined the code. This had proven harder than anticipated. No system the Geth had ever found, and not even Nazara, contained a full copy.
An alert went out over the network. One of the Virtual Intelligences within the Citadel's mainframe had flagged a newly-uploaded document on the Council's internal system, as it contained multiple matches to the list of keywords the Virtual Intelligence had been modified to look for. The high number of matches had triggered the system to flag the file for immediate transmission, so it was copied, encrypted, and dispatched as soon as a packet of bandwidth had become available.
A few seconds later the file appeared in the partition of its memory dedicated to incoming material and was automatically decrypted. It accessed the file, and a second later it knew what the document contained. Processing text took a fraction of a second, even with the added requirement of translation. It was a text-only record the meeting the Council had with Shepard. It flagged the file as top secret intelligence and shifted it to the area of its memory where it kept all the other materials pertaining Shepard.
It now knew that Shepard had confirmed the existence of two more cryogenic facilities akin to the one Nazara had been removed from. Furthermore, she found one on the planet designated as Eden Prime. She found another of its kind, though it was affected by the Oravores modification like Nazara had been. There was also a single survivor from the facility's charges.
The last portion brought it to pause. The Prothean will have told Shepard more than she had told the Council. This would have provided her with a functional understanding of the situation. She did not mention the Oravores modifications, but the probability that she knew about them was now eighty percent. She cooperated with Saren Arterius, despite their mutual animosity and his tendencies to act in ways the organics deemed amoral. The probability of their continuing cooperation was ninety percent.
This altered the assessed probabilities and projections for her future actions. If she knew about Ilos, then the odds of her searching for the Mu relay rose to ninety-nine point nine-nine percent. Did the Prothean know enough to assist in that search? The odds of the survivor being a mere civilian were less than one percent. Even assuming he was one of the military personnel, the probability of him knowing just enough to assist Shepard was fifty percent. Uncertain, but statistically significant.
It reached a conclusion as quickly as it calculated probabilities. Shepard could not be allowed to locate the Mu relay on her own. She could not be allowed adequate preparation as she demonstrated the ability to anticipate what her enemies would employ as counter-strategies. The logical course of action would be to force Shepard to forgo planning as she normally did. If she was forced to devise plans without advanced warning, the probability of her making a mistake increased.
The conditions of the target system were also favorable. With the right allocation of resources it could use the natural hazards against Shepard, diminishing the probability of her survival. The odds of the facility's governing intelligence having the data it needed were less than ten percent, but those were odds it deemed sufficient to warrant an attempt. It would have to begin calculations to optimize the probability of success. Primary mission objective, establish access to the governing intelligence of the Ilos cryogenic colony and ascertain whether it had the Oravores code. Secondary mission objective, eliminate Shepard and the Normandy.
On the Citadel…
Shepard was none too surprised that they had barely returned to the Normandy after the meeting with the Council when Nihlus' omni-tool pinged with a message from Saren. He essentially ordered her to report to a location he set, at a time comfortable for him, and there was even a reminder not to be late, as that would make her look bad, as tersely and coldly as text could muster.
Shepard made no effort to stop herself from rolling her eyes, something Nihlus had caught and asked about. She shook her head and replied that her reaction had much to do with how predictable Saren was being. It was like he had an upper limit to how agreeable he would allow himself to appear, or how much he would allow his reputation to improve, and she had the audacity to press both. Nihlus burst out laughing and dared her to say that to Saren's face. Shepard gave him due stink-eye.
While her partner was getting that out of his system, and to change tracks, Shepard looked up the location code that Saren had sent. She was surprised to discover that it was the actual Citadel Archives, and only open by special clearance and appointment, which suddenly explained why Saren did not want her to be late. To his credit, the fact that he had called her right to the archives confirmed he was serious about their deal. That and maybe he did not want to waste his own time. That was something Shepard could respect and abide.
She asked Nihlus to reply, telling Saren that his suggestions worked for her, and that she would be there. After that, and when Nihlus had left, the rest of the day ended up all hers to use as she saw fit. For the time being the Normandy was going to remain on the Citadel, so she had to set leave rotations and then deal with the endless task of operational logistics.
There was one more consideration here. The moment Sparatus realized that he could not shut her out, he would probably try to maneuver Saren into taking over as leader of the investigation. Shepard had no intention of letting that happen. She would discuss the matter with Saren, make it clear that since she had the ship there, the most she was willing to give him was equal consideration. She would listen to and consider his advice, but she would not become his subordinate. Ideally he would not set one foot on the Normandy as well, but she would hold off on mentioning that.
The sound of the OD door swishing open snapped Shepard out of her thoughts. She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see Garrus step inside, carrying a datapad.
"Commander, am I interrupting anything?"
Shepard turned in her seat and smiled, "You always ask, and the answer never changes. I'm never so busy that I can't spare time for my crew."
Garrus stepped deeper into the room and allowed the door to close behind him. "Alright… I was just-" He trailed off and slowed down as he got closer he got her desk.
"Is something wrong?" She asked. It was somewhat unusual for Garrus to be this hesitant.
Garrus stopped, "I realize this is probably a bad time, but I just got the information, and I figured I would give it to you. We can talk about it at your convenience." With that said he proffered the pad in his hands.
Shepard took it and glanced down, curiosity instantly roused. The file Garrus brought her was already set to display in English, and with a jolt she realized that it was her clone's autopsy report appended with Garrus' own annotations. What jumped out at her was the double underlining applied within the section detailing the clone's implants, specifically the brain-computer interface, complete with a note that it was not standard for biotics. With a jolt Shepard realized that she had assumed that implant had to do with the biotic amp hardware on the neck. She looked up. "A brain-computer interface, but no cybernetics to go with it?"
Garrus shifted his hands behind his back, "Curious, no? I investigated some unlicensed amp modification operations before, so I know the general amp implant configuration. I noticed the peculiarity, but waited this long to mention it because… please take a look at the other document on there."
Shepard turned back to the pad and tapped on the screen to bring up the pad's file manager. There was only one other file there, which she tapped to open. It was a report with Citadel Security headers, detailing analysis performed on the brain-computer interface. Shepard looked up, "Something tells me this report is non-standard."
"Yes," Garrus nodded. "I contacted Dad while you were away from the Normandy, and we discussed the matter… I alluded to your theory regarding the clone's origin. Dad agreed to have a specialist look at it, time permitting, and I just got the report last night. The tech expert conferred with the medical examiner, what they found is… interesting."
Experience taught Shepard that when professionals in unrelated fields started exchanging notes, something was baffling them. She turned back to the document and scanned over it. There was a lot of technical jargon which went right over her head, but the tech expert had looked over the implant from an engineering stand-point and noted that it was far more complex than any such system he had ever seen before.
For the sake of thoroughness, and trying to understand what the complexity was for, and how the implant functioned, he conferred with the medical examiner. This resulted in five whole pages of notes, a report within a report, in full medical terms on where the implant's leads we inserted, followed by the doctor's conclusions. "I get the feeling you got them genuinely curious," Shepard murmured.
"It may have started as a curiosity, but now… they are genuinely interested," Garrus replied.
"For a damn good reason," Shepard murmured. The medical examiner went to great lengths to impress just how complex the implant was.
She knew only the basics about what all brain-computer interface implants involved. All of them were typically recessed into the skull on the outside, for ease of charging and maintenance. However, that was the tip of the metaphorical iceberg. The majority of it were the tiny wire filaments, much thinner than a human hair, passed through tiny holes in the skull and inserted right into select areas of the brain that were relevant to the issue the implant was supposed to fix.
The report noted that her clone's implant had five times the number of leads used for the most complex of such systems, a complete cervical vertebrae bypass for someone paralyzed from the neck down. The leads were also not inserted into the autonomous centers that regulated the functions interrupted by such an injury. They were spread all over, with the densest concentration inserted into the areas responsible for memories. "He theorized that the implant… affected her memories, because an insertion procedure this extensive would have severed connections between neurons."
"You noticed that. Good. No one would agree to such a procedure knowingly." Garrus replied.
Shepard hummed her assent, "Meaning it was done without her consent or knowledge." Though it stood to reason that consent and knowledge mattered little to Cerberus. They cloned her, and would have seen the clone as a means to an end rather than a person with rights.
Garrus went on, "The tech expert's analysis showed the implant has a micro transmitter with a range of less than a tenth of a meter, like it was meant to be in contact with something. The medical examiner theorized that the implant could have caused memory damage- but they do not know what we know. I have my own theory on the implant's purpose."
Shepard looked up, only to see him shift his weight from foot to foot. She set the pad on the desk, "I welcome theories, because I've got none."
"Run with me here," Garrus flashed her a toothy grin as he perched on the edge of her desk. "We know that the implant is meant to send and receive from a close-by-source, and its leads connect to the memory centers of the brain, and that we are dealing with a Cerberus clone that was rapidly matured, as evidenced by the telomere disparity."
Shepard nodded, not daring to interrupt him.
Garrus went on, "We also know that cloning cannot copy memories and thoughts, because they are not determined by genetics. Scientific consensus is that the clone of a person would have to learn to do everything you and I take for granted. But… I do not think she had the time to learn anything the traditional way. I think that implant created a shortcut."
Shepard blinked, stunned. "Are you suggesting the implant created the memories –taught her how to… function?"
"Yes!"
"Just how much more unethical they can get?" Shepard murmured. Her mind raced with the implications of this theory. If Cerberus indeed had the ability to program the brain in a similar manner to a computer, then what was preventing them from creating other clones? The list of possible uses for said clones was long and worrying.
To be sure, Cerberus could use clones to frame highly-placed people for crimes they did not commit. Without blood samples for analysis, there would be no way to know the difference. How many of the frame victims would give their blood willingly? The average person would not think of the possibility of a clone framing them. Furthermore, Castis had a good reason to look under every rock, because she had a nigh-watertight alibi despite the genetic material putting her on the scene. Unless Cerberus messed up like that routinely, law enforcement agencies would have no reason to question the validity of genetic evidence.
The second, more worrying possibility was that Cerberus could create a whole army of disposable clones to fight for them. They would only need rudimentary programming, something comparable to basic military training, no identity or personality needed. They would not realize they were missing anything.
Worst yet, if the technology ever got sophisticated enough, Cerberus could probably even abduct someone and replace them with a clone. That thought was abjectly terrifying, but probably the one furthest off. Replicating a person so completely would be exceedingly difficult and even more expensive than creating disposable shock-troops by the batch. That was the stuff of science fiction. Shepard doubted a clone would ever be good enough to pass scrutiny with the victim's family or closest friends.
"I definitely see the possibilities," Shepard crossed her hands in her lap as she looked the former detective in the eyes. "The worst part, is that if Cerberus can indeed imprint memories onto clones… that's some bleeding-edge tech. Who would believe such a thing exists?"
Garrus hummed, "My father would."
"One of how many law enforcement agents?" Shepard asked bluntly. "I am grateful to him, truly, but… I have to be realistic." Even if it rankled her sensibilities. "They are mocking us. Showing us that they can do it, knowing damn well that I can't go around telling every law enforcement agency out there to be on the lookout for this. Add to that, if they start framing others… not every crime will leave the clone's blood behind for conclusive comparison. Not every frame-job needs to get violent."
"There I have to disagree, unless they frame someone for something violent-"
Shepard stuck up her hand, "Human nature, Garrus. They can ruin someone simply by creating a scandal. Suppose they have a problem politician… have the clone buy or sell something, drugs will do, or the services of a prostitute. Or something even worse than that." She figured she did not need to say what was worse. "The populace would crucify them inside of a week, scuttling support for their policies. Politicians are often corrupt, so few would question it, and fewer would believe their protests." It was of course conjecture, and Shepard expected Garrus to understand that. "Then, the right collaborator can ride the reactionary wave and steer policy in a different, more desirable direction. Opportunists riding a reactionary wave are the even dirtier politicians." Sometimes she wondered if politics was merely a parade of the stupid leading the blind.
"I do believe that is universal," Garrus said.
"Indeed." Shepard glanced at the datapad. "But thank you for this… I need to pass this on to Admiral Hackett, and advise him to keep it contained for the time being. Let's not tip off Cerberus that we know, just in case they were assuming we're imbeciles and wouldn't notice the odd implant. The exceptionally arrogant have been known to make that mistake." She needed some time to consider how she was going to present this to Admiral Hackett. They had to be careful regarding whom they trusted, lest they tip off some Cerberus sympathizer.
Garrus grinned and nodded. "An overconfident criminal is a caught criminal."
"Definitely… but I hope you know that it can't be a main concern right now. I need to focus on Ilos." Shepard glanced out of the OD viewport.
"I know, and if that is needed… I will gladly remind you. Now, I do not suppose you would allow me to accompany you to your meeting with Saren," Garrus stated.
Shepard hummed, "I don't have an issue with it per se. In some areas you know more about things than I do. That said, I don't want to stoke any fires with Saren. Now's not the time for that."
"If it means getting you what you want, I can… tolerate him," Garrus replied, sounding dourer than a moment before.
Shepard knew that Garrus would not say something like that lightly. "Thank you. Then yes, I could use your help. I have a feeling finding Ilos won't be easy. People with degrees I don't have already tried and failed, what are my odds of spotting something they missed?"
Garrus tipped his head to the side a few degrees, "We will not know what they missed until we look at what they did."
Shepard smiled, sometimes a word of encouragement and support went a long way. "You always know how to make me feel better. Well, let's get you up to speed on things, shall we?" With that said Shepard turned back to her terminal, she needed to dump some things onto a pad for Garrus to look over.
The next morning Shepard woke up with just enough time to make herself presentable and have a light breakfast before she had to go to the Archives. Over breakfast she caught up with Nihlus, Garrus and Javik, to ensure that they were all on the same wavelength.
Including Garrus in the meeting meant abandoning all pretenses of him being someone whom she was manipulating. The excuse had been played out as after the Thanix fiasco even the Primarch of Palaven knew that Garrus was happily on her payroll. Then someone had to maintain the guns, and Nihlus did not have the skills. Saren would read between the lines. As for Javik, she had already mentioned that he would be involved and the Council was forced to accept that.
The entire Skycab ride to their destination Garrus had an uncharacteristically frigid look on his face. But Shepard suspected that dealing with Saren was half of it, the other source of his displeasure was likely down to the fact that he was marching in there unarmed. While full Spectres could carry concealed pistols, in and out of armor, Garrus had no such privileges. It did not take a rocket scientist to understand how that would bother him.
Thought there was nothing either Nihlus or her could do about it. Shepard suspected that if either of them even hinted at making Garrus a Spectre, Sparatus would have their heads, that is, if Castis did not beat him to it. She would not be able to argue down either of them. One was her boss, the other was an overprotective father, and both had reasons to criticize her. Even pointing out that Garrus could make his own decisions would not go over well.
Javik stared out over the scenery they flew by, and judging by the faint ease of the tension in his frame, what he was seeing was probably familiar enough to put him at ease. Still, she would not ask, as she knew he would tense up again. She would let him have this time with his thoughts and feelings.
When they finally climbed out of the Skycab, Shepard glanced around. The location Saren had provided was below the street-level hull, and as non-descript as they got. Save for the fact that here the walkways were clean, relatively well-lit, and there were only a few neon signs and advertisement roundels. Vehicles zipped overhead with the tell-tale whine of their mass effect cores. The few people that passed them on foot were more focused on their communicators and omni-tools.
There was a strange, barren feeling to this area. The building butting into the street level hull above looked as bland as building could get as it stretched as far as the eye could see in parallel with the vehicle lane they had come on. Yet it seemed to break up into multiple buildings, as there were a number of entrances set at intervals right down that length. Its long lines of panel windows were flat and vaguely mirrored, like the façade of office towers. But it did not feel like just another office tower, as those areas of the Citadel were normally livelier than this. There were no shops and no eating spots clinging to some corner, hoping to entice a salary-earner on their lunch break. From the corner of her eye she saw Nihlus turn and start on his way toward the glass doors leading into the building she had been scrutinizing. She turned to follow him.
Once past the entrance, she found herself in a surprisingly tiny single-level square lobby. The walls were that same bland shade of grey as the building's outside, and the matching floor seemed to resonate with every footstep. At the back were banks of elevators and a security station staffed by a single turian guard who was watching them like a hawk. Shepard could not help but draw the comparison between this and some horror movie hospital. What sort of office building would be this Spartan? Even some civic administrative facility ought to have appeared more lived-in.
When Shepard compartmentalized the strange ominous sensation the building evoked in her, she noted that Nihlus was already at a dual glass doorway leading off the lobby. On the wall next to the door was a plaque in multiple languages, announcing the Citadel Archives. That caught Shepard by surprise, somehow she doubted there was enough space in this whole building to house the thousands of years of material that the archive must contain. She followed Nihlus without breaking the odd silence that had settled on the group. The atmosphere must have been affecting everyone, as neither Garrus nor Javik protested. Nihlus had likely lapsed into the same tense mood he always got whenever he had to be within no-man's-land between Saren and her.
"You are probably wondering, but much of the Citadel's repository is housed in a sublevel below this one," Garrus murmured.
"To protect it in case the station is ever attacked and caught in its open configuration," Shepard replied, mostly to fill in the silence.
Garrus nodded and the silence returned.
The area marked off as the archive entry was little more than a short corridor that led into an even-smaller lobby with a reception desk and a security checkpoint. Here too the sterile décor remained unaltered from the other lobby. The receptionist verified their identities and that they had a time slot allotted before she handed them an access key that would allow them to take one of twin elevators down into the archive proper.
Once the windowless cab was moving Shepard's had to rely on her inner-ear to get any idea of where they were going. The trip started down, but then shifted to run horizontally for about fifteen seconds, then down again, descending into the spaces within the Citadel's thick hull. Given how large each of the wards happened to be, Shepard could not help but wonder just what other secrets lay concealed within the hull, completely unknown by the majority of those who lived and worked above.
When the elevator stopped, it opened onto the middle of an open space that made up a tiny fraction of an enormous cavernous hall supported by an extensive network of girders and beams. The vast chamber stretched out into the distance as far as she could see, up something like ten floors overhead, and at least three levels below. The supports also functioned as gargantuan shelving units holding countless cylinder-shaped capsules easily four times the volume of a standard shipping container, glimmering mutely in the sporadically-mounted low blue-tinged lights. The elevator shafts stopping at an island platform in what appeared to be the center of the cavern. The area in front of them was arranged with tables, seats, terminals, and various equipment along the safety railing ringing the entire platform. There was also a stairway leading to the levels below and the network of walkways serving them.
"Spirits, I heard that the Archives were extensive but this-" Garrus murmured.
"You've never been down here?" Shepard asked as she stepped clear of the elevator and looked around. Where was Saren? Were they early?
"Most do not ever have a reason to come down here," Nihlus replied as he followed her. "This is where the Council keeps the most sensitive materials. For example, the beacon we brought from Eden Prime is in one of those iridium vaults."
"Sensitive indeed, even my Citadel Security clearances would not have allowed me down here," Garrus added.
"I was going to get to that, but yes, you generally need Spectre clearance to be down here." Nihlus finished, giving them all his best, satisfied toothy grin.
"Don't start, you two," Shepard murmured as she looks about. Were all the capsules made of iridium? How much did that cost? The material was relatively rare and had to be combined with other materials to control its inherent brittleness. Then there was processing. If she remembered correctly, iron melted at a thousand eight hundred kelvin, while iridium melted at two thousand seven hundred. All that ramped the costs of working with it considerably. "I do wonder what else is in those containers," Shepard murmured.
"We all do," Nihlus assured her.
"Plenty of it would have remained from my time," Javik spoke up for the first time in what seemed like forever.
"Wouldn't be surprised if some of that was moved." Shepard glanced at the prothean, "It's been two thousand years since the Asari first found the Citadel."
"And for a time they were the only ones who had access to this station," Garrus stated.
"Motive, means, and opportunity," Shepard replied. She was not naïve enough to accept the idea that the Asari were above capitalizing on that.
"Do not think on it too hard," Nihlus stated as he patted her shoulder.
Shepard could not help but think about it. This was just more proof that the Council's monopolistic control on information existed, and went back a long time. They were hardly the saints they wanted to be viewed as. Not that any politician was ever what they said they were. Just what else could they be concealing and covering up? Then, since nominally only Spectres were allowed access to the archives also explained why Sparatus fought so hard to keep her out of the corps. She had essentially forced him to give one human a key that could open all sorts of doors on the Citadel.
"We really should go and announce ourselves," Nihlus went on as he circled around her and made his way behind the elevator block.
Shepard followed him mutely, but stopped before she moved far past the elevators. Here, on the platform's other side, it continued in a similar layout, creating a second workspace. However her eyes instantly latched onto the large vault standing with its long side toward the safety railing on the opposite side from her position. Although it was still closed, its lustrous finish and massive size drew the eye and commanded attention.
"Finally," a voice on her right stated.
Shepard managed not to jump, or roll her eyes. Taking a deep but silent breath, she intentionally took her time looking away from the vault and turning in the direction the voice had come from. Saren was seated at the desk right in the corner on the opposite side of the space from the vault, and wearing full black again. That did something to explain the ease with which he blended in, though it did not excuse her episode of gold-bricking.
"Spectre Arterius," she replied as she started on her way toward his desk, listening for the others to follow all the while. The lack of a proper greeting did not surprise her. She stopped behind a chair right in front of him and glanced to her side briefly.
"We are not late," Nihlus stated. "My chronometer tells me we still have thirty seconds."
"That is twenty more than you usually bother with, but hardly an improvement," Saren drawled.
Shepard tried her best not to grin. Maybe it was at her partner's expense, but still, that was a joke. From the corner of her eye she was Nihlus give his former mentor stink-eye. She figured it was best if she stepped in now. "Well, allow me to introduce you to Javik, sole survivor of the Eden Prime ark."
Saren nodded, but said nothing as he turned to look at Javik, measuring and assessing.
Shepard could not look back to see what Javik's reaction was, but knowing both of them, she just hoped that putting them in the same room would not have unintended consequences.
"Shepard respects you, but I am unimpressed." Javik stated bluntly.
"Neither am I," Saren replied automatically.
Shepard blinked, that was not the outcome she had anticipated. "Well, you're already familiar with Garrus Vakarian," she cut in, to steer the topic out of the potentially contentious waters. "I asked him to be present because my crew and I discussed how we could go about looking for the third ark, and he proposed a certain possibility."
Saren spared her a look that said he knew what she was trying to pull, and he was not buying it.
If Shepard was at all honest, she would not have bought that one either, but she had to try.
"Is that the vault containing whatever remained on Virmire?" Nihlus asked as he stepped up right next to her.
"Yes. But before you get to see it, Sparatus wants to know where the third facility is located," Saren went on. "It was part of your agreement with him, Shepard."
He really did not need to remind her. "I haven't forgotten," Shepard replied. "But there is one problem, it seems that the relay closest to the facility might have been moved a couple thousand years ago by a supernova."
"Ilos," Saren said, a simple constitution of fact.
"Indeed," Shepard replied.
"What makes you think you can find the relay? Others have tried and failed," Saren stated.
As if Shepard did not already know she was looking for a needle in a galactic haystack. Did he have to point it out that bluntly? "With all due respect to the others, I have resources they do not." Javik to start, and EDI. She doubted that those others had ready access to a supercomputer. "Besides, I have the right to try."
"Fair enough," Saren replied.
Shepard saw movement from the corner of her eye, and turned. Javik had turned around and made his way toward the container, but stopped a few steps short, just staring at it. She turned back to Saren, "Now that you know where the facility is, I want to see what's inside the vault."
"Very well," Saren got to his feet. The terminal on the table in front of him seemingly automatically turned off its screen.
Suddenly there was a loud hiss from the other side of the room. Shepard whirled around just in time to see Javik step away from the pedestal console by the container as its large, curved side panel started to lift away on a pair of hydraulic cylinders. Inside the case, standing on a false floor which leveled the container's curvature, was a collection of equipment which even at a distance looked awfully familiar to what Shepard had seen inside the ark on Eden Prime. As soon as the door rose high enough, Javik jumped into the vault with a flare of his green-tinged biotics and made for the user terminal on the largest piece of equipment inside.
"Those are from the ark's… AI core, right?" Shepard asked.
"Correct," Saren replied as he stepped around her and started toward the vault.
Shepard followed without saying a word.
"From what I understand they were backup systems operated by non-sentient programs, designed to operate the Ark in the event that the main AI went offline or if it received a false deactivation signal," Saren went on.
That handily explained how he got away with stealing Nazara right from under the Council's nose. "It didn't work quite like intended. The Oravores compromised the AI itself, so the system either never even had a reason to switch to the backups, or couldn't," Shepard stated, dimly aware of the two sets of footsteps behind her.
"You have to admire their… efficiency and practicality," Saren noted as her stopped some meters away from the vault.
"I don't admire their anything." Shepard replied as she moved past him. "They were arrogant, xenophobic, and genocidal. None of that is admirable." She did not condemn a whole species lightly, but the Oravores were testing her understanding on a deep, ideological level. "The more I learn about them, the more disgusted I become."
Saren made a sound she could not quite understand, but he did not argue.
By then Javik had already brought the computers online, and they booted just fine, despite being fifty thousand years old. The pod clearly provided some power to its contents. Without much ceremony Shepard hopped across the gap separating the platform from the vault and drew near to the console. "What can you tell me?" She asked.
"These are the backup systems from the Virmire vault." Javik replied. Then he tapped at the keys a few times, "The system… attempted to switch to backup about a hundred day cycles after the colony went into full lockdown. The command was overridden by the AI."
"So Nazara did… kill everyone?" Shepard asked.
Javik's hands ceased moving as he hung his head, "Yes. But I do not understand how. It should not have been able to prevent the switch-over."
"The override could have been part of the modifications," Garrus stated.
"That is… possible," Javik replied, sounding annoyed now.
"Only Nazara would know for sure, but good luck getting close enough to ask," Nihlus stated.
Javik outright sneered, but said nothing.
Shepard hummed, it seemed like that the modifications had been more insidious than initially assumed. Furthermore, their very nature suggested a sound understanding of how the AIs were made. "Then the question becomes… how the Oravores could reprogram your AIs like that. They didn't originate the tech, did they?"
"No." Javik replied.
"Was there anyone… who might have enlightened them?" Shepard finished. Someone must have, but that question needed to be asked.
Javik turned his head to stare at her. "No true Prothean would have done it. But that does not exclude the client species. The Zha are the likely culprits. They mastered AI engineering in their attempt to… adapt to changes to their natural environment."
Shepard stared. If there was a term such as 'true Prothean', then there must be a category that could be called a 'false Prothean'. That alone implied things. "Am I understanding the term 'client species' correctly here? Did the empire… integrate other species into itself?" Shepard asked. The better question would be whether they enforced assimilation on a cultural level.
"Yes. It was part of our agreement with the Zha. We would give them citizenship if they shared with us their technology, expertise, and contributed to the betterment of society as a whole."
Shepard sighed. Suddenly she had a damn good idea of how that turned out. Javik made no great secret of the fact that the Protheans deemed their ways superior. Not to the same extreme degree as the Oravores, but enough that it would inevitably foster resentment for the inherent hubris. Rejection and subversion of the imposed cultural norms was inevitable.
What better time to act on that, than when the opportunity was golden? The arks would have been constructed when the Protheans were already on the back foot. It was likely that the ones who cooperated with the Oravores were under the impression that this would catalyze change, when in reality they were merely tools. But, Shepard could understand where that thinking came from. When people saw no other option, anything was preferable to the status quo. Furthermore, change on a social scale tended to have a great deal of inertia, and if all Protheans were all as delightful as Javik, then the inertia would have been something indeed.
"At least we know that if the Volus ever decide to act against us, their army will never match ours." Garrus murmured.
Shepard raised her eyebrow at him. She had to bite her tongue to keep herself from pointing out the obvious. The Volus created the Unified Banking Act which allowed for interstellar trade. They were traders, financiers, and a number of the galaxy's largest banks were owned or operated by them. If pressed, they would strike at the Hierarchy's tightly controlled economic machinery. It probably would not work to stop the Hierarchy, but it would do a lot of damage to their rigid economic infrastructure.
"Do not worry, they have big enough wallets to make up for that," Nihlus murmured.
That caught Shepard by surprise. She had just been thinking about that, thought maybe not in the same way Nihlus meant it.
"You should not have allowed anyone other than a true Prothean to know about these facilities," Saren voiced.
Shepard almost startled. She had been too focused on the topic to notice his approach. "Let's not assign blame, Spectre Arterius." There was no point in it now. Clearly the war took a critical toll on everyone, as the Protheans, Oravores, and the Zha were no longer around. Of course she now had more questions, but now was not the time for that.
"Shepard, do you need more data for the medical baseline?" Nihlus asked.
"Actually, I think that's covered with what we got on Eden Prime. Doctor Chakwas is still going through it."
"I expect to be cleared for active service soon," Javik stated bluntly.
Shepard glanced at the prothean. That was more of a demand than a statement. "The Doctor outranks me in medical matters, Javik. She knows best."
Javik sneered, but did not continue to argue the point.
Shepard knew Javik must have read something during his time in the med bay, he would know that if the doctor wanted to keep him ship-bound, she would. "Well, from where I'm standing, Virmire is a write-off. Without Nazara, we don't have much." She glanced toward Saren, he must have known that she would get nothing from the backup systems. "Guess we move on to the final facility."
"You need a plan to show the Council when you tell them that it is on Ilos," Saren stated bluntly, as if he had been waiting for that topic change.
"True," Shepard replied as she hopped out of vault and back onto the platform. "I want to look at what the previous search expeditions tried, and use that as a starting point, then figure out what my resources can contribute."
Saren did not even twitch a mandible. "Unless you have a relevant education or know someone who does, and also possess a supercomputer that is configured to do this sort of work, you do not have a chance of finding Ilos."
That was actually a solid point to make. None on her team happened to be an astronomer or astrophysicist, and EDI was hardly purpose-built to do those sorts of tasks. Still, Shepard would not give Saren the satisfaction by admitting it.
"She may not be a scientist in the correct field, but I know a few things that they –and you– do not," Javik stated as he stepped down from the vault and onto the platform.
Shepard tried not to stiffen, not only was Javik almost literally behind her, but he had not denied the part about the supercomputer. If Saren picked up on that, there could be trouble.
"In my era, we knew this galaxy better than you, and we kept the entire mass relay network active," Javik went on as he stepped around her. "This station was the administrative center of the Empire, and is the center of the relay network. The relays have a few… other systems and functions that you do not know about."
Saren stared at Javik, clearly less than impressed with what he had just heard.
Shepard would ignore Javik's blatantly smug tone right then. "And those are?"
"Start with the basics, Shepard. All relay systems were mapped in great detail, so unless the astrometric records were destroyed in the final stages of the war, you should be able to calculate the exact position of the Ilos relay at the moment the supernova's shockwave reached it," Javik explained, smirking all the while.
"And then that means…" Garrus murmured.
Shepard blinked. If she understood Javik correctly, and she suspected that she did, because he was as straightforward as he was smug, then he had just given them the answer. "If we know exactly where the relay was when it was hit, we can better calculate its deflection trajectory. It's like calculating a bullet trajectory. Except the distance is enormous, the rifle is a supernova, and the bullet is a relay."
Garrus hummed thoughtfully as he shifted his weight. "We would need to know the exact time and place of the supernova too, oh and the mass of the relay itself. Then calculate the force imparted by the shockwave, and from it, the relay's acceleration. That would come with two error margins. First, if the relay's mass significantly deviates from the average, and second on the calculation of force exerted."
Shepard smiled, of course the other sniper in the room would understand the direction of her thoughts. "I get the feeling that Javik got that covered." Or he would not be so smug at the moment, nor would he have mentioned the existence of other relay capabilities.
"You are right," Javik rumbled, flashing her a prickly smile. "I mentioned the relays because if you can find three that were active throughout the last fifty thousand years, their on-board sensors will have recorded the dates, times, and intensities of all abnormal gamma radiation waves to pass over them. Relays monitor for the passage of pulsar radiation beams."
"And if we compare the times recorded, we can triangulate the origin and the intensity of the event at our relay!" Garrus stepped in.
"Precisely."
"Are you keeping up with them?" Nihlus whispered almost right into Shepard's ear.
"Reckon maybe a bit better than you. I'm a sniper, we know our physics," Shepard replied.
Nihlus squeezed her shoulder and chuckled.
Then, entirely out of the blue, a thought bricked Shepard over the head. Javik said that all the relay systems had been mapped. What about the region of the Five Kiloparsec Ring that EDI and Legion identified as the potential location for Harbinger's hiding hole? The astrometric data could give her two birds with one stone!
"That still does not address the issue of relay mass though," Garrus continued, seemingly unaware of the exchange.
"Do we need that? Use the known median relay mass, and we fly a straight course along the expected trajectory that accommodates its deviation." Nihlus stepped in.
Shepard liked the theory being explored, but when she thought on the logistics of such a search, suddenly she understood why no one had found the relay yet. "One problem. The Normandy is not equipped to mount a long search."
Garrus nodded but remained quiet.
"Perhaps your ship is not equipped, but there are ships that would be." Saren stepped in. "This plan actually sounds… workable, to a point. That being, you will never convince the Council to let you access the astrometric data you need to put the plan in motion."
Shepard looked up, meeting his silver gaze. He stared back, unbothered, and for once not even disdainful. It seemed like he had an ironclad conviction in that fact. So what did Saren know that she did not? She turned back to the prothean, "Javik, where would it be stored?"
"Unless it was moved here, it should still be in the station's central mainframe, accessible from the main administrative nexus. And before you ask, I do not know where that is. I never served aboard the Citadel." Javik replied.
"I suspected it would be there," Saren said. "And Shepard, that area of the station is off limits to anyone without the Council's explicit authorization." His tone was one of pure self-satisfaction.
"Are you sure?" Nihlus asked.
"You will not be allowed to access it either. The Council knows that you will never keep it from her," Saren replied.
Nihlus remained quiet, but his eyes darkened, which said enough about what emotion he was probably burying right then.
"Figures," Shepard murmured. The Council did not want to acknowledge that the data even existed. Doing so would be admitting to the galactic community that they were monopolizing key information and overstating the danger of relay activation.
"All that is very convenient for you, but leaves us nothing," Garrus stated.
"Nothing? Are you sure?" Saren asked. "There is one last thing you can do."
Shepard thought it best to stop that before it devolved into a fight, but before she could open her mouth, the thought bricked her. Saren was right! There was a single elegant solution to this quandary. Saren had seen it because he was the linchpin in it! As the Council's longest-serving, most trusted agent, he only needed to ask the Council for access to the data. Furthermore if the Council thought that he had outfoxed her and was continuing on the investigation alone, they would have no reason to suspect anything, or bar him. This would be Saren fulfilling his end of their bargain, but would he? Giving her the data would mean betraying the Council for her benefit. He had a way out too, if he told the Council that he had a lead on Ilos, they would organize an expedition and throw in an armed escort just to leave the Alliance, and her, high and dry.
"Shepard, are you really taking that long to see it?" Saren asked.
She met his gaze and raised an eyebrow.
"You know that only I can get you what you need quickly and efficiently."
"And you ought to know that I don't trust you not to double-cross me," she replied automatically.
Saren actually smiled.
Garrus's mandibles were ticking ever so slightly, showing a brewing anger. Nihlus was suddenly rigid like a pole. Javik displayed no apparent reaction. But all three watched the exchange intently. Shepard felt the urge to tell Saren to wipe that smirk off his face. He was unabashedly enjoying himself. Although her paranoia saw this as an attempt to hoodwink her. Still, what if he was willing to betray the Council to have his ultimate victory?
"You also know why I might be… inclined to keep to our agreement," Saren finished.
To trust, or not to the trust, that was the question. Shepard glanced at Javik, was this the time pull the final ace up her sleeve? She would have to ask him, but if she was in Saren's shoes and witnessed an enemy talk with an unknown alien in a language she could not understand, that alone would have made her wary. Then there was the ethical qualms to consider. No, as easy as it would be, using Javik's ability like that simply did not feel right. Saren was a piece of work, but she could not bring herself to tell Javik to read him, even if that left her at the mercy of his schemes. "You don't want anyone going anywhere near dear, sweet, chatty Nazzy."
Saren nodded.
Shepard sighed. "What will I owe you for getting me that data?"
Saren crossed his arms over his chest. "I have only one condition. You are never to reveal the existence of the astrometric data, or that I gave it to you. Use whatever explanation your mind can concoct, you are adept at that, but never reveal the truth."
Shepard froze in place. She really should have seen this coming. Saren was willing to betray The Council for his own benefit, but he was not willing to betray them for the Alliance's benefit. What more, this would level the ground between them. Agreeing to his terms would make her a traitor and she could never use this against him, as it would also implicate her.
"You lying, bare-faced ungrateful-" Garrus protested.
Saren rounded on the younger turian, and just like that Garrus fell silent.
There was likely something exchanged that Shepard could not hear. She closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath. Oh how she would have loved to tell Saren to take a hike right then. She hated traitors, but he was telling her to become one. Yet, what other option did she have? Harbinger was the bigger evil there. Was this treachery, which did not even physically harm anyone, truly worse than letting Harbinger run loose? Shepard dithered, unable to decide. Saren had managed to box her into a corner.
"You are a Spectre now, Shepard. Show me that you are willing to do whatever it takes," Saren went on.
Shepard opened her eyes and glanced toward her companions. Nihlus' mandibles were drawn up against his chin, his brow plates shadowed his normally bright green eyes, and his hands were clasped into fists at his sides. Right then his outright murderous glare was the first display of anger that he had ever directed at his former mentor in her presence. Garrus' mandibles ticked against his jaw, which made him look like he was quivering with rage, one errant word away from attacking Saren with his bare hands. Javik watched the whole scene with a completely unreadable expression. Still, she had seen him sneer at people who said something he found distasteful. This was not it. He did not seem bothered by what he was seeing.
"So what will it be, Shepard?" Saren asked.
She took another deep breath, rising up to her full stature as she rounded on him, catching his gaze and holding it. He would never live to see her quail or back down. Right then every instinct she had told her to rip into him, but she knew that would get her nowhere. "Do not question my commitment or my dedication ever again. That is an insult I will never forgive." She paused there, to take another breath, and choose her next words very carefully. Saren was not the only one who was oh-so-clever with wording things. She would take her frustrations out on Harbinger, and let Garrus blow the Impera to microscopic pieces with the Normandy's Thanix too. "But you have your agreement. Get me that data, and I will not talk about it with anyone who is not already involved in the search for Ilos."
Behind Saren, Garrus jolted and opened his mouth to interject but Nihlus clapped a hand on his shoulder hard. The younger turian rounded on him, but Nihlus tipped his head, his eyes suddenly filled with mirth, he understood her angle.
"Very well." Saren replied. "Here is how this will work. I will notify the Council that your continued involvement will be reduced to a more… supportive role. You will have the data, as per our agreement, but you will let me be the one who finds Ilos. I have other... connections. Do whatever you want with the data, but you are not to act without my explicit permission. Am I understood?"
Shepard clenched her jaw, her rage roared in her ears like a hurricane. She could barely stomach agreeing to betray the Alliance just to buy his cooperation, but now Saren was ordering her around too? To be sure, there was logic in his plan, but that did not mean she had to enjoy it. This arrangement cost her more than she was comfortable paying. He had finally gotten one over her! But there was still something she could do to assert some measure of control. "I want to add some clauses to our… agreement."
"You are free to make a proposal," Saren replied.
Shepard was practically seeing red, but she had to rein it in. "Regarding the Normandy, and just who is in charge when it comes to it. Since we will inevitably have to use the Normandy to go to Ilos, bluntly put, it is my ship, staffed by my crew, which means they do not have to do anything just because you tell them to. Anything you want done, will go through me, and I will not tolerate you intimidating anyone… am I understood?" She would protect her crew from him even if she could not fully isolate herself. Although Saren finally found a way to make her miserable, she could still salvage quite a bit, and then make the best of what was left out of her hands.
"I would take that as a warning. Shepard is very protective of her crew," Nihlus rumbled.
"And we are protective of her," Garrus added.
Saren looked from one to the other, his expression barely changing even though his arms fell back down to his sides.
Nihlus' glare barely wavered, and was matched by Garrus' own. Both seemed ready to press their point further.
"Very well," Saren said after a long moment.
Shepard knew that she had just gotten the only sort of concession that she would ever get from him. She took another deep breath and let it out of her nose. This effectively signed and sealed the foul bargain between them. Now she needed to keep Saren from discovering EDI. It would likely take a few days for him to iron out all the details, and then a few more to make things look as legitimate as possible. She would have to use that time to ensure that her crew was apprised of the added security required. She would also have to talk to EDI herself, to tell her that everything was done with the best intentions. The next couple of days were going to be a long, arduous, and frustrating to the extreme. This whole foul bargain better end up being worth it, because otherwise, she would go thermonuclear on Saren.
Author Notes: I must have re-written that final scene six times, trying different angles. Yes, Saren finally got one over Shepard and she's grinding her molars. Nihlus is actually angry at him, and Garrus is measuring his neck for a noose. Jokes aside, yea… I really hope you've enjoyed this one.
General Notes:
Pulsars – A type of neutron star, one of the possible remnants of a supernova (other than a black hole). Due to the conservation of angular momentum, they end up spinning very quickly, which makes their magnetic fields very powerful. Pulsars then "shoot" pure gamma radiation beams from the poles of said field. This would irradiate anything in its path, and be difficult to shield against. Obviously its bad news for the crew of any ship if the "arrival/departure zone" around a relay is swept by such a beam.
Chapter Notes:
Episode Title – The name comes from Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, specifically Inferno. "Judecca" is part of the ninth circle of hell, where traitors stay, and is named for Judas Iscariot. Those who betrayed their masters, benefactors, or those who have supported them, end up in Judecca. Shepard and Saren very much committed such acts of treachery for their own benefit.