Chapter 3: Road to the Citadel

SSV Normandy, March 15th, 2183

Commander Nathaniel Shepard took a deep breath as he watched the smeared stars sweeping by like waves on the open sea, waiting at one of the small, cramped windows that showed their superluminal voyage, taking a sip of an energy drink as he considered the view.

It was a small picture of infinity, but he always found something new whenever he looked out at it all the same. Some new warp and weft, a new swirl of colors and patterns. It was probably going to be entrancing into eternity.

"So, you like warp-watching too?"

Nate looked up at Kaidan, dressed down to his uniform, as he sat at the seat across from him. "Yeah, I do. When I can, at least. I picked it up from my first CO on the Agincourt."

"Ah. Navigator Pressley's old posting." Kaidan nodded.

Nate smiled slightly thinking about the man that now steered this ship to its ultimate destination. "We never saw each other on there. He was after my time there. But I think Commander Shevchuk was still in charge when he went on."

He looked back out at the passing space. "She always said it served to keep a person humble. Remind them of their place in the universe."

"Wise words," Kaidan admitted, watching out the window with Nate for a little while.

"You do it too?"

Kaidan shrugged. "Not that often. There's plenty of other ways for a man to stay humble, I've found."

"Like what?"

Kaidan took a deep breath. "Well, for bionics like us, we just need to have a check-in with a doctor to keep us grounded."

"Yeah. That does help, doesn't it?" Nate mused darkly. He paused as he remembered their check-in with Doctor Chakwas. "You have L2s, right?"

Kaidan nodded, and Nate considered what he knew about the implants contained within his crewmate. They were more powerful than the L3s that he and most other current biotics users within the Alliance were implanted with, more powerful sometimes by far… but they came with a cost.

Kaidan nodded. "Yeah. It's a wonder I still get to serve sometimes, with doctors fretting over me like I'm made of glass. Can't say that I blame them. They're just doing their jobs. And with what L2s have done to other biotics…"

Nate nodded. There were plenty of cases that seemed, on the outside at least, to be far worse than Kaidan's. "It's hard enough sometimes just dealing with what people think." Nate mused. "Let alone with something like L2 side effects."

"Sometimes, yeah." Kaidan agreed. "But's that the crux of it, isn't it? It's so easy to use these sorts of powers to just… explain us away sometimes. The fact that most of us are military doesn't always help matters, I think."

Nate nodded. "So, you doing alright? I know L2s can be pretty nasty."

'Pretty nasty' fell a little short of migraines, synesthesia, hallucinations, and a host of other 'smaller' symptoms besides.

Kaidan shrugged. "It's fine. Some migraines, some bad ones at times, but nothing that'll keep me from doing my job."

Nate smiled slightly. "Good. I'd hate to lose someone who's good at watching our backs like you did on Eden Prime."

Kaidan smiled in turn, and Nate shifted in his seat. "So, besides the biotics," Nate began, "anything else I should know about my Staff Lieutenant?"

Kaidan considered the question for a moment. "Well, I'm something of a… well, I guess a snob would call it a connoisseur of old Earth media. Anything before 2100 that I can find, I'll give a try."

Nate hummed softly. "Got any favorites?"

"It's something of a revolving door," Kaidan admitted. "Right now, my interests slot in nicely with my instrument. A digital saxophone."

"To play what kind of music?"

Kaidan's smile became something of a grin. "You listen to much jazz?"

Nate's brow arched. "Not really."

"I should show you some good examples sometime," Kaidan said. "I've got a few saved on my omni-tool."

"And I'll show you some of combat programs," Nate replied. "I wouldn't exactly call it a fair trade, but…"

"I think it'll work just fine," Kaidan replied.

. . .

Daniel was sequestered away from the rest of the crew on his off-shift, sitting in a corner of the still rather empty cargo bay and focusing. He breathed deeply, slowly, getting his body under control so that he could focus on his mind. Or, more accurately, what had been implanted within it.

Blood… flesh and tendons… an autopsy of some kind?

Circuits… more advanced than anything he'd seen here… what could make such a thing?

Pain and sorrow… people desperately clinging to some sort of hope that…

"Lieutenant Theisman?"

Daniel's eyes blanked open as he looked up from his sitting position to see Specialist Duvinian and Ashley looking down at him. "Oh. Hey. Is it time for my next duty shift, ma'am?"

"Not yet," Duvinian replied. "I just wondered where you were and what you were doing, is all."

Daniel nodded as he stood. "And you, Sergeant Williams?"

"I was asked to find out where you were from Private Langley," Ashley replied. "She said you like to wander off on your own sometimes."

Daniel sighed quietly as he bobbed his head. "Well, she's not wrong there."

"So," Duvinian said as they made their way over to a foldout table that had made the cargo room a second gathering spot for the crew, "what were you meditating on?"

Daniel was silent for a moment as the trio took a seat. "Trying to make sense of what's in my head now. By now, I'm sure you've heard what the Commander and I experienced with the Prothean beacon."

"Yes," Duvinian said quietly. "The collective soul of the Protheans wants to warn us of something. Something powerful. But of what?"

"I wish I knew. I'm not entirely sure I want to find out." Daniel said quietly. It was silent for a moment before he leaned forward. "I must admit, Specialist, I'm only passingly familiar with turian spirituality. What do you mean by the Protheans'… soul?"

Duvinian cupped her chin in thought for a moment. "Well, the closest analog that I've read about from your species is the Shinto belief system. All things possess a soul. Given enough collective power, groups or objects or symbols come to possess their own souls. Our people, our military, our worlds, all have their own spirits."

"So something kind of like… angels, to some extent," Ashley said.

"Angels?" Duvinian asked. "What sort of creatures are these?"

"Well, they are… messengers, of God," Ashley said, clearly somewhat bashful. It cut a striking contrast to her bravery in battle. "They're largely human. Just filled with his power and often associated with groups or concepts."

"You're Christian, Williams?" Daniel asked with an arched brow.

"It's… not something I talk about much," Ashley admitted. "There's already plenty of weird looks from my own species talking about it. Makes it hard to talk about it to much of anyone else when God is seemingly on his way out."

"Who's to say that?" Daniel asked. "I've been around the galaxy a fair bit. Heard tell of plenty of gods. Who knows? One of them might be true. Or all of them. Or something in between."

Ashley hummed quietly. "I guess that's one way to look at it. Doesn't it get… confusing? No heaven to call home?"

Daniel's expression darkened slightly. "After some of the things I've done, Ms. Williams… I don't know if they'd let me in anyway."

It was silent again for a moment, then Daniel shook his head. "But enough of that. Have either of you been to the Citadel before? It'll be my first time seeing it on something other than a screen."

Ashley and Duvinian both shook their heads. "I've only ever heard of it," Ashley said. "It sounds… crazy. A United Nations building in space."

"I've seen pictures of that building in my studies." Duvinian chuckled. "Trust me, we could fit millions, billions of those buildings inside."

"I'll have to see it to believe it," Ashley said. "We should be getting close, right?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Daniel replied. "Maybe we can get up to the bridge, take a look."

"Unfortunately, as nice as this diversion's been," Duvinian said as they stood, "I'm still on duty until we reach the Citadel. Enjoy the view."

Ashley and Daniel made their way up to the bridge, Kaidan joining them as they stopped at the main pilot's window alongside Nate. They seemed to make it just in time, the warp field peeling away to show a vast, bright lavender-colored dust field.

They passed through it for a few moments before it began to part, revealing… an utterly massive station, larger than some moons, stretching into the distance towards an obscured, hazy light. Its perimeter was kept by a fleet of mixed ships, asari, turian, and salarian all mingling together in striking contrast.

As they approached, reaching the edge of the five slightly curved wings, Ashley pointed out the window towards the largest ship, going out towards the waiting void to link up with the rest of the fleet. "Look at the size of that one!" Ashley said, in awe of the smooth, graceful curves of the asari vessel, a hollowed ovaloid hull with wings to either side and a tower stretching out from the ventral and dorsal hulls that flowed into the rest of the ship.

"The Destiny Ascension," Kaidan replied. "She's the flagship of the fleet that guards the Citadel."

"Well, size isn't everything," Joker said glibly.

"Strange claim to make about a ship, Joker," Daniel said with a slight grin. "Got something else on your mind?"

"Not at all, my good wrench jockey," Joker said. "You need firepower, too."

"Yeah," Nate replied, "and with how big it is, its main gun could probably rip through just about anything in a single shot."

"Makes me glad it's on our side of the fence," Kaidan said quietly.

"Citadel control, this is SSV Normandy, requesting permission to dock," Joker said.

"Stand by for clearance." the Citadel's controller replied before going silent for a moment. "Clearance granted. You may begin your approach. Transferring you to an Alliance operator."

"Roger that. Normandy out." Joker said before closing the link.

They were guided into Docking Bay 422 by Alliance Tower, coming into the locks with a smooth glide only punctuated by the grav-clamps taking hold of the ship.

Those watching from the pilot's section turned to see Captain Anderson approaching them. "Gentlemen," he said, "I want you four with me when we go before the Council. You'll be temporarily relieved of duty until then."

"Very well," Daniel replied. "I'll inform Specialist Duvinian."

As they all walked off the ship and into the Citadel proper, making their way towards the ambassadorial suites, Anderson looked over at Daniel. "What's the progress on that geth data you've collected, Lieutenant Theisman?"

"It's been almost fully decrypted, sir. Took longer than I expected to, but we've figured out most of the new geth coding structure now." Daniel replied. "At this point, it's just a matter of translating whatever isn't unlocked video footage into something everyone can read."

"I see. Anything of note?" Anderson asked.

Daniel sighed quietly. "Not as of yet, sir. Most of it is just footage of the initial attack. There's still a small portion of the armature's 'important files' that I'm cracking that might contain something useful."

"Keep on it," Anderson said as they reached Ambassador Udina's suite. "That last bit of information might be exactly what we need."

The door opened, and they stepped into what was apparently a conversation already in progress. A heated one, at that.

Udina, an older man with tanned skin and graying hair cut short, looked at a holo-display of what must have been the Council, face drawn and jaw clenched. "This is an outrage! We all have colonies suffering from geth attacks, but so far you've offered only token assistance. If a turian colony were the first to be hit, we'd be willing to offer far more on our own than what you've acquiesced to."

"The turians don't found colonies on the borders of the Terminus Systems, Ambassador." the salarian Councilor said pointedly. "And as you have said, we all have colonies suffering from this attack. We can only give so much."

"And, as I recall," the asari Councilor, a slim figure with a voice that no one could really pin if it was male or female, said, "humanity was well aware of the risk of setting up colonies in the Attican Traverse. It's not surprising that such colonies have now become the front line in this conflict."

Udina sighed wearily. "Well, what about Saren? I've received reports that he was responsible for the attack on Eden Prime, and attempted to capture the Prothean beacon found there. Even beyond the madness of siding with the geth, it appears to me that he's gone in direct violation of your Spectre's charter and orders. You can't just ignore the possibility of a rogue Spectre."

"That is correct." the turian Councilor said. "But you don't get to make sweeping demands of the Council, ambassador. Citadel Security is in the process of verifying your claims against Saren, incredible as they are."

"Whatever findings do arise," the asari Councilor said, "we will discuss them at the Council hearing. Not before. Good day, ambassador."

With that, all three images of the Councilors disappeared and Udina looked over at the newly arrived group. "Captain Anderson," Udina said in a clipped voice. "I see you've brought a party to my suite."

"This is the ground team from Eden Prime that directly interacted with the beacon, Ambassador," Anderson said calmly. "I brought them here so they could clarify anything you might have questions on."

"I have the mission reports," Udina said wearily. "I would assume they're accurate?"

"There are things that were a matter of speculation that were only noted on," Anderson said. "Time has brought possible new evidence to light. Evidence it sounds like we'll be able to present to the Council."

"Tomorrow evening, but at least it's something," Udina said as he sat at his desk. "And they're not happy about it in the slightest. Saren's their top agent. Accusing him of treason is a tall order, and one they don't take lightly."

"That doesn't change the fact that he's a threat," Nate interjected. "And if I'm not going to stop him as part of my duty to the wider galaxy, I'll do it as my duty to the Alliance."

Udina smiled thinly. "Your patriotism is commendable, Commander Shepard. But at the moment, your candidacy for the Spectres is already in question with Spectre Nihlus in a medical coma. If he were dead, the chances would be even slimmer."

"If there's anyone to blame for this, ambassador, it's Saren," Anderson said firmly.

"Then let's hope the C-Sec investigation turns up evidence to support our accusations. Otherwise, the Council might use this to stonewall us, keeping Shepard here out of the Spectres." Udina paused. "Captain, if you'll remain here, there are some things I want to go over with you before the hearing."

Anderson nodded, looking over at the others. "Shepard, make sure you and the others obtain clearance to meet us in the Citadel Tower for the hearing. Otherwise… we're going to be here for a little while. I'll let the rest of the crew know when I'm done here."

Nate nodded, looking at the others. "Alright, let's go."

As they exited the ambassador's quarters, Kaidan looked around at the others. "So, what are we going to do for shore leave?"

"Good question," Nate replied. "Let's go see what's out there."

"Should we find some quarters first if we're going to be here overnight?" Ashley asked.

"The Alliance embassy should help us out there, hopefully," Daniel replied. "Let's go get that out of the way."

It took an hour to get quarters set up and their sidearms checked in and approved, and they spent the rest of their time wandering the massive station. Not far, of course, but enough to get them to a promenade close by to the ring, a massive window showing the length of the Citadel where members of several species congregated at a low wall on the far end. The group found an empty spot, Ashley and Kaidan leaning on the wall.

Kaidan whistled softly. "Big place."

Ashley looked over at Kaidan with an arched brow. "That your… professional opinion, sir?"

"He's not wrong," Nate replied. "This isn't just a station. It's a city, an entire colony, almost."

"It makes Jump Zero look like an outpost station," Daniel said quietly. "Our biggest station to date, compared to this…"

"It's on another scale entirely." Kaidan concurred. "Look at the ward arms. How is all of this staying in place and not… flying apart?"

"And the dozens of different species here…" Nate said, looking around and finding ample examples of his words. "'Melting pot' almost doesn't cover it, trying to keep all these races and cultures working together. No wonder they're careful with newcomers."

"Just keeping everything running seems like enough work as is," Kaidan said with a nod.

"Or maybe they just don't like humans for one reason or another," Ashley said grimly. "I'm sure there are plenty of turians who'd agree with that, at least."

"Aw, come on," Nate said with a grin. "We've got oceans, beautiful women, a little thing called 'love'... ask some of the old vids I've seen, we've got everything they might want."

Ashley scoffed. "I've seen a few of them myself. If I'm getting into a tinfoil miniskirt and thigh-high boots, you'd better take me to dinner first." she paused, blinking and blushing. "Ah, sir."

"That, I think, will be enough, chief," Kaidan said with a grin.

Nate chuckled. "At ease. We might as well relax as best we can before the hearing, so right now, I'm just Nate."

"Fair enough," Daniel replied. "I guess that means we're Daniel, Ashley, and Kaidan then."

Nate nodded. "Right you are." he paused for a moment before giving Ashley a meaningful look. "And I must admit, I can't exactly see Ashley in a skirt just yet, anyway."

"Damn straight you can't, si…Nate." Ashley said.

"We should probably get going, see some other sights," Kaidan said as he stopped leaning against the wall. "I wouldn't mind checking and seeing if there's somewhere to buy an amp."

"Amp?" Ashley asked as they walked. "Does that have to do with your biotics?"

"Yeah," Nate replied. "Every biotic link has room for a few boosters of various kinds. What were you planning on buying?"

"Probably a mid-range Polaris amp," Kaidan replied. "I'm good at releasing powers in bursts, but my sustainment has always been on the weaker side. It'll prop me up while I'm training."

"I wonder what else you could find here." Nate mused as they walked somewhere to find a store that sold such a device.

"With how big this place is?" Daniel said as he looked around. "I'm willing to bet if you look hard enough, you can find just about anything."

. . .

The Next Day

The Council chambers were a vast, open affair, situated at the top of the single tower that rose from the ring that rooted the whole megastructure. The room itself, covered in vines that stretched up and down the several viewing balconies and framed the garden that encircled the main meeting spot had a deep, circular pit with a ceiling of glass, showing yet more gardened space beneath,

Above the pit were two platforms; a wide one on the far edge and a narrow, almost bridge-like one reaching towards the former.

It was this platform that Nate and Daniel, the primary subjects in this hearing, were both heading to, Anderson waiting for them as anxiously as he was willing to show. "Come on," Anderson said as he turned and began to ascend the stairs that led to their platform. "We're just about to start."

The three men climbed the stairs quickly, Udina looking at them critically at the end of the platform.

"Thank you for your patience," Udina said. "Now, with our involved parties present, we can begin the proceedings."

The asari councilor nodded. "We will be fully ready to begin when one more joins us." they paused for a moment before glancing down at an omni-tool, tapping it for a moment, and looking over to the side.

Beside them, a hologram appeared. One of a turian that could only have been one person. "Good day to you, Councilors," Saren said calmly. "I hope this can be resolved quickly."

"As do we." the turian Councilor replied. "So, gentlemen, now that the accused is present, we can speak to our findings."

"Which are?" Udina asked pointedly.

"That while the geth attack is of necessary concern, the accusations leveled against Saren are, as of this moment, unfounded." the asari Councilor began. "There is nothing to indicate that Saren was involved in any way."

"Indeed." the turian Councilor said. "Our independent investigation into the matter gives us no reason to support your charges of treason."

"Nihlus himself corroborated that Saren was on the scene, and I have no reason to believe that Commander Shepard would lie for no reason than to recklessly pin something to an innocent man," Udina said firmly.

"We've read the Eden Prime reports, ambassador." the salarian Councilor said. "We cannot base any serious claims on one man's fractured, and potentially last, words, even a Spectre's. As well, your soldiers may well have seen Nihlus at one point or another, and the shock of battle, a strong thing indeed, may have mixed the memories."

"I resent these accusations," Saren said at last. "Nihlus is a fellow Spectre, a man who I consider my brother, and he the same for I. Whatever he might have said, I doubt it would be to accuse me."

"That would let you catch him off-guard easily enough, wouldn't it?" Anderson said pointedly.

"Ah, Captain Anderson," Saren said. "I find it interesting that whenever humanity makes false charges against me, you seem to be involved. And I imagine these must be your protogees? The ones who let the beacon get destroyed."

"The beacon was an unfortunate casualty," Nate said. "But Nihlus wanted us to seek you out. I won't rule out your involvement."

"Spare me the theatrics. If you want to follow Captain Anderson's example and shift the blame for your failures on another, I cannot stop you. What else can one expect of humans?"

"Councilors, if I may?" Daniel said, stepping forward. "There are two things I must say. One, that there is an obvious bias here in Saren that cannot be discounted in your investigations. Two, I have recently uncovered evidence that proves that Saren was on Eden Prime, that he and Nihlus met each other… and that he was the last to see Nihlus before his near-death."

"And where did you procure this… evidence?" Saren said as Daniel pulled up his omni-tool.

"A geth armature whose mainframe I managed to break into. I have spent the last several days decrypting relevant information. The latest was this partially accessed footage from the armature's saved memory, timestamped just before we arrived at the spaceport."

Saren, along with the rest of the Council, was silent as a screen appeared to the side, showing a monocular view of the spaceport entrance that was a ways away from it, with Nihlus creeping slowly in. Along with Saren standing unscathed. A sudden cut showed Nihlus standing in the place where they found him Saren walking towards him. "The retrieved footage has been spliced together to account for dead spots in the footage," Daniel explained.

The footage scrolled through more, Nihlus and Saren's conversation silent as Saren walked behind him. He turned, unholstered his pistol, began to raise it…

Then the footage jumped again, and Nihlus lay on the ground, unmoving as the viewpoint began to move on the still form of Nihlus. Then, the video ended.

"This is conclusive proof, Councilors, that Saren was on Eden Prime, and was one of the last people to speak to Nihlus before his grievous injury."

The council hall was silent for a moment. "My mission took me to Eden Prime," Saren said. "That he and I would cross paths was almost a given, especially with the attack on the geth."

"It is…" the turian Councilor began. "Rather interesting evidence. Evidence that we must take into consideration. We will have to ask for the data that you extracted from the armature, Lieutenant Theisman."

Daniel nodded and Saren's frills flared. "It's hardly what I would call 'evidence'. That footage could be easily doctored to falsely 'prove' my guilt!"

"That is for us to ascertain." the asari Councilor said firmly. "Until then, we're recalling you to the Citadel until we can fully prove or disprove these findings."

"This is fruitless," Saren said challengingly. "The humans are wasting your time and mine with this fabrication."

"That does not change the Council's decision." the turian Councilor said sternly. "Return here, and allow us to do our due diligence."

It was silent for a moment before Saren nodded. "Very well. I'm now well into the Terminus Systems for my investigation, so I will be there in about a week's time."

"See that you arrive by then." the salarian Councilor replied, and Saren's hologram vanished.

"Note that this does not resolve this in your favor." the asari councilor said. "However, with this new evidence, we will continue our investigation."

"There's still the matter of Commander Shepard and Lieutenant Theisman's interactions with the beacon," Anderson said. "The vision that it granted them."

"I'm unsure what bearing on our investigation such visions would have." the turian Councilor replied. "Such judgments require hard and fast evidence."

"This goes beyond this investigation," Nate said. "Whatever was in that beacon was designed to imprint on at least one person, likely as a message from the Protheans."

"And it is not simply a message," Daniel added. "From what I and Commander Shepard have been able to piece together, it is a warning of some danger that is coming. A danger that is likely coming soon."

"The Protheans were the dominant race of their time, spanning the galaxy." the salarian Councilor said somewhat flippantly. "What could make them fearful?"

The asari council looked over at their salarian counterpart, a concerned look in their eyes. "Are you sure you want to know the answer to that, Valern?"

"We will look into the matter of their visions at a later date, Tevos." the turian Councilor told them. "Right now, we have to turn our attention to this new evidence."

Tevos nodded. "Very well, Sparatus." they paused as they looked back at the gathered humans. "This council meeting is adjourned. The Council and C-Sec will look into this matter and reconvene with our findings."

With that, the Council exited the room, the humans departing as well and finding a side chamber. "Anderson, I think you should keep your distance from this for now," Udina said. "However correct you might be, you've just got too much history with Saren for them to not account for personal bias."

Anderson took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right. Even still, there's only one reason Saren's working with the geth; to finish what he felt the First Contact War started. Every world we control is in danger. Even Earth isn't safe from this sort of force."

"You must have had quite the history to be this sure, Captain," Nate said.

Anderson sighed quietly. "He and I went on a mission together a long time ago. Things went bad. Real bad." he paused for a moment as he shook his head. "We shouldn't talk about this here. It's not secure."

"Even still," he continued, "I know what he's like. And he has to be stopped."

"Now," Udina said, "your evidence was an important part of proving our case, Lieutenant Theisman, but we're still going to need more, I feel, to really shut this case in our favor."

"Where could we find it, though?" Nate asked. It was a salient enough question, one that gave them all pause.

Then, they noticed someone walking up to them, all of them turning to face a turian wearing the blue and silver of Citadel Security. He was distinguished by the blue face paint that curved over his cheeks and bridged his nose, curving down into his mandibles.

"I'm sorry," Udina said, "but we're discussing a private matter."

"You're discussing Saren." the turian said matter-of-factly. "Hell, every turian at C-Sec in the know is by this point. I think we could help each other."

"And who are you?" Nate asked, his curiosity piqued.

"I'm Officer Garrus Vakarian. The officer assigned to work the case you just presented to the Council." the turian replied. "I'll go ahead and let you in on a little secret; C-Sec's already considering shutting this investigation down, regardless of whatever evidence you might present. I've been damn near begging for more time, but they won't give me an inch."

"Then maybe we can work together on this, Officer," Nate replied. "Is there anything that you've found that we might be able to use to convince the Council?"

"Just a potential lead," Garrus replied. "But the problem is that I need to find them first."

"This is well-timed news," Udina said, "but I'm rarely one to turn a surprise gift down. Thank you for your cooperation, Officer Vakarian."

He looked over at Anderson. "Captain, meet me in my office when you can. We'll let Commander Shepard handle this investigation."

Udina walked away, and Anderson regarded the trio. "If you need anything from me, you know where to find me. Good luck."

With that, Anderson followed after Udina, leaving the three men alone. "Alright," Daniel said, "so, where do we start?"

"By getting some more friends," Nate replied. "I get the feeling this might get dangerous."