Disclaimer: I do not own the Mass Effect games. This story is written with no profit in mind. I make no money from it. It isn't for sale or rent.

Chapter 2

=DC=

Part 6

=DC=

23.04.2183

Citadel Tower

The Citadel

In the aftermath of the stunning Council meeting, the Spectres led a dazzled Tali out – all three of them. While a public ceremony with all the bells, whistles and circus that entailed would have to wait, for all intents and purpose Shepard was one now. His induction was positively anticlimactic too – the Council said so, updated his status within moments and a subdued round of congratulations from the Captain, Ambassador and his new colleagues – all told it took less than couple of minutes and it was done with.

"I honestly expected something… more." John admitted.

"Oh, I'm sure there will be a first grate political circus on your official induction ceremony." Vasir chortled. "However, we've got work to do. Bau, you're back to the Office, make sure the place is cleaned up. You'll be on Intel support for the time being. Find us everything you can about Liara T'soni, where she is and what Saren, her mother, the Geth or anyone else sent after her. Shepard, Tali, you two are with me. We're going to check what happened with Fist, then pick up some gear. By then your Ambassador should have cut through the red tape and the chain of command to get us authorization to use your ship."

Tali's brain finally rebooted. "Can't the Council just order it?"

"The Chain of Command is a thing. Technically they can directly order only C-SEC and the units attached to the Citadel Defence Fleet." Vasir waved at the other two Spectres. "Us too, naturally. There are two ways to go around it – request assistance from the relevant navies themselves or send a Spectre to requisition the necessary support. After Eden Prime and the accusations levelled against Saren, I don't believe that it would be prudent to go demand the Normandy ferry us all over the galaxy without clearing it with the Systems Alliance Admiralty. At best it will be a political blunder, at worst, who knows. I'm not up to date with internal Human politics. Shepard, take this as a learning opportunity, baby Spectre. There are times where our broad authority is left best unused for a myriad of good reasons."

"I'll forward you everything I can find once I'm reasonably sure we aren't compromised." Bau nodded and took his leave.

"Where to, ma'am?" Shepard asked.

"C-SEC Academy. Due its location, it contains one of the larger Spectre armouries on the Citadel. We'll be able to pick up some better weapons for you and get you measures and preference for custom made armour. However, besides a standard kit and various general mission load-outs, if you need something more fancy for personal use, or to outfit a squad or two, you'll need to pay for it yourself. That is one of the reasons while we're paid very well many a Spectre creates sources of additional income. That includes freely available funds to bribe people when we need. As a bonus we don't need to then justify those bribery funds to accounting." Vasir grimaced. "If you live long enough you'll learn that oversight, especially the demons who are our accountants are the true bane of our existence."

"That's not what Blasto claimed." Tali said in a small voice making Vasir freeze in place.

"Girl," The older Spectre hissed. "I do like you and that's why you remain blissfully not shot somewhere painful."

"Note to self, don't mention Blasto around Spectres..."

"Good girl."

=DC=

Chora's den

The Citadel

Smoke and blinking lights filled the infamous night club. The bar gleamed with shattered glass and spilled alcohol, like a reflection of the floor, which in turn was covered with broken bodies and pooling blood.

"I blame you for this!" Garrus glared at a certain smug looking Krogan.

"I waited for you to ask them to surrender." The mobile mountain of armour and muscle rumbled happily. "It's not my fault that once they saw me they opened fire." He poked the crumbled form of a much younger Krogan. The body stirred and let out a bass moan. "Heh, tough little bastard." The younger lizard had a visible dent on his still forming crest where Wrex head-butted him, repeatedly.

"They thought we were all mercenaries!" Vakarian spluttered and waved at the ERS people who were busy securing the casualties for the medics, while another unit was camped outside of Fist's office and talking him down. Their primary target currently hunkered behind his desk and if it wasn't for a pair of heavy duty turrets covering the only entrance he would have been bagged already. "All because of you!" He pointed an accusing talon at the giant lizard.

"Not my fault you don't look respectable." Somehow Wrex managed to shrug eloquently despite his heavy armour. "Oi, stop pretending. I smelled your blood rage kicking in. You should have regenerated enough to move." He kicked the downed Krogan.

"I'm not feeling particularly suicidal, thank you very much." Came the unexpectedly cultured response.

Wrex sniffed at the other Krogan. "I can smell some Urdnot in you, Pyjak. The other smell is familiar too..."

The other Krogan refused to speak any more.

"We aren't here for a family reunion, you know." Garrus shook his head in exasperation. Why did the Spirits hate him so to saddle him with this insanity?!

"Bah, most of my clan are bloody fools, just like the other idiots back on Tuchanka." Wrex grumbled in disgust. "At least the kid here has a quad."

Said younger Krogan remained sullenly silent.

"Aren't we going to dig out Fist or something? This is getting boring." Wrex continued.

"We do want him alive for interrogation." Garrus looked around in disgust. "If we let you at him, there won't be anything left but a smear on the wall." He pointedly looked at what little was left of a Batarian Wrex shot point blank with an explosive shotgun slug – most of the poor bastard's torso was in fact smeared all over a previously white wall. Now it was covered in blood, chunks of flesh and other less mentionable pieces.

"I can be very reasonable when I want to. I'm known for bringing back marks more or less intact when whoever pays for them wants them alive!" Wrex protested his innocence. The large grin and rows of even larger teeth somehow weren't reassuring.

"I though you were known about indiscriminate carnage." Garrus countered. He did check on what C-SEC had on the overgrown lizard that crazy Spectre saddled him with.

"That too. Good times." The Krogan nodded solemnly. "Yo, Fist! Surrender to those C-SEC Pyjaks or I'll come in and beat you unconscious with your arms!" Wrex roared in the general direction of their target's office.

"Screw that! I'm not moving while that maniac is on the Citadel!" Fist screamed back.

Garrus looked like he very much wanted to use the Krogan as target practice.

"My offer still stands." Wrex said in something that might have been placating tone, or it would have been if the bastard didn't look so pleased with himself.

"You're supposed to help, damn it!"

"Not really. I'm here to prove that I can take care of Fist without killing him for the Shadow Broker. I haven't killed him yet. The Spectre needs him in a good enough condition for interrogation. He doesn't need arms for than. When I think about it, he doesn't need legs either… Say do you want to pick up something to eat once we're done here? I'm feeling a bit peckish. We had to wait for eight hours until you let us come!"

"The place was packed until five in the morning! The last thing anyone needed was another hostage situation!" Garrus chocked off in desperation. Shooting the walking and talking menace sounded better and better with every passing moment.

=DC=

Part 7

=DC=

23.04.2183 GS

C-SEC Academy

The Citadel

A Turian Navy shuttle deposed them at one of the landing pads reserved for government use at the front of the C-SEC Academy building after a short and quiet ride. They arrived just in time to see a pair of ERS transports returning. After disembarking, it became obvious that the other people Vasir shanghaied into helping were back too – complete with a roughed up human who struggled in the grip of a pair of armoured Turians in a vain attempt to get as far as possible from Wrex's imposing form.

"Come on, Pyjak! I didn't really do anything to you!" The Krogan sounded quite irritated.

"This is police brutality! It's illegal! Wait till my lawyer hears about this! I'll sue you all!"

That gave Wrex a pause. "Me too?" He asked in a hopeful tone.

Fist, because that had to be him, suddenly paled and renewed his struggles with a new vigour. "Just get me away from him!" He pleaded.

"Wrex, old boy, what did you do to the Human?" Vasir's bearing changed again and she spoke in a sultry, seductive voice.

"I just hit him with his desk after he crawled under it. Lightly and carefully at that! It's not my fault he's a whinny little excuse for a Pyjak! And what's with the suing everyone and everything? That some king of Human cultural trait or something?" Wrex peered questionably at Shepard.

"Used to be a very big thing in one of our nation states back on Earth. Saner laws finally prevailed at the turn of the century or something." John's forehead scrunched in thought. "Those particular history lessons were quite boring..." Especially compared to early twenty first century history – which was simply surreal.

"See, my dear? I can behave myself." Wrex stopped paying attention to Shepard and graced Vasir with a teeth filled grin. "One Pyjak as ordered."

"You'll do." The Spectre nodded in obvious satisfaction. "Book him in, he won't need a lawyer, Spectre authority. Make sure someone doesn't kill him for being too irritating or something. Don't release him unless its in my or Spectre Bau's authority." Vasir ordered before tapping the relevant orders on her omni-tool and sending them in electronic format complete with her credentials.

"Will do, Spectre." One of the Turians answered and finally dragged Fist away.

"Where's Vakarian?" Vasir asked.

"Hiding." Wrex nodded at one of the ERS transports. "He doesn't appreciate my shining personality."

"You mean you went out of your way to drive the Turian insane." Vasir translated.

"He is a Turian and doesn't seem to have a proper sense of humour." Wrex explained without showing a shred remourse.

"Vakarian, drag your carcass outside, we've got things to do and places to be!" Vasir ordered aloud.

"Picking up more strays?" Shepard inquired.

"We've lost two Spectres. We still have one vacancy to fill and from his file and what little I've seen so far, Vakarian does have potential." Vasir explained.

"I must have done something to piss off all the Spirits." Garrus dragged himself out of the ERS van muttering darkly.

"By the time we make a proper Spectre of you, they'll love you." Vasir promised.

"Don't I get a choice?"

"Well, it's either that or we'll drag you around as a minion to do stuff for us."

"Stuff?" Shepard dared to ask, while wondering if he'll be able to maintain his sanity until he was free of Vasir.

"Stuff." The older Spectre nodded sagely as if explained everything. "Now, come on. We've got weapons to pick up."

Garrus perked up at that. "What weapons, why do we need them and how in the name of the Spirits did I get myself roped into this?!" Perhaps there might be a gun big enough to put down the Krogan before he decided to eat him or something…

"I'll tell you if I figure it out." Shepard commiserated. If he ever found out who nominated him for this shit, he would be damn tempted to shoot them and as a Spectre he might even be able to bullshit his way out of it!

After that brief exchange, Vasir led them into the depths of the C-SEC Academy building until they reached a bulky door. She swiped her omni-tool in front of it and a well concealed scanner on the ceiling flashed over the group. The door chimed twice before sliding away with a hiss to reveal a small bland office with a Turian in a black and blue armour sitting behind a desk. His most striking feature was the white face paint covering most of his head.

"Spectre and company, what can I do for you today?" He asked calmly.

"Shepard here needs to be put into the system, scanned and granted access to our stocks. Detective Vakarian can chose small arms from our standard selection." Vasir smirked. "I'm currently not trusting the Krogan with more firepower."

"What about me?" Tali asked quietly.

"You're along for the ride so we can keep you in one piece until we can get you home. I'll need a standard load-out as well." Vasir added.

The requisition officer lit up his omni-tool and scanned Shepard. He glanced at the results and then back at the Human before looking expectantly at Vasir.

"Keep it quiet for now, however Commander Shepard here is our newest colleague."

"I see. Saren?"

"Dirty as hell, though we have nothing substantial actually connecting him with Eden Prime."

Now it was Shepard's turn to look at Vasir.

"Captain Marius here can be trusted. Besides, he needs to know to either deny or fill up with tracking devices any care packages Saren requests while he's still officially a Spectre. The Council will be recalling him within the hour and until he refuses or fails to show up, he still legally is one of us."

"Congratulations I guess. I just wish it was under different circumstances. Come step in the back. What kind of armour and gear do you prefer?" Captain Marius asked. He pressed a button under his desk and the wall behind him opened to reveal a large armoury.

"Weaponry – medium to close range – assault rifles, shotguns, heavy pistols. I'm partial to heavy armours with enhanced mobility when available. I'm a combat engineer." Shepard listed.

"Then you'll love one of those new Serrice Council Savant omni-tools – you can't get anything better off the shelf, however our customized equipment usually is better for any given individual. You'll need to get back once you have a few spare days to get the ball rolling on personalizing gear and load-outs."

"Those cost an arm and a leg." John whistled.

"The custom gear could cost a few million or more per load-out per person – that's why you'll have to pay for it yourself once you've got the credits. You'd be surprised how many of our Spectres find it worthwhile."

"It has helped me get out of scrap or three intact." Vasir gave Wrex a pointed look.

"Your load-outs are in the right back corner, Spectre Vasir. You can outfit yourself while I'm gearing up Shepard here. What about you, Detective? I hear you're a crack shot with a sniper rifle?"

"I'm no slouch."

"Do you have any cybernetic enhancements? If that's so and if you're going after Geth as I suspect, you might want one of the Widow anti-material rifles. Otherwise, we've got various long range single shot beauties or semi-automatic Designated Marksman Rifles. Besides long range, what do you want? Heavy pistols, SMGs or assault rifles?" The Captain paused. "Shepard, you faced the Geth on the ground, right? What say you? AP or disruptor ammo for you all?"

"A mix of both. While the Geth primary do rely on their shields, we did encounter a few heavy armoured units on Eden Prime – we had to use explosives to deal with them. Basic ammo simply couldn't take them out fast enough."

"I see… I think I have just the thing… Armour wise, the best I can do is offer you some better mods – shield emitters and capacitors, reinforced, lighter plates for inserts… we simply don't have something that would fit a male human without extensive rework. Once I've got you measures I'll be making you a few suits – heavy, enhanced mobility, right? Those will go for the standard load-outs you can requisition."

"That sounds good." Shepard nodded.

"Aha!" Marius paused his scavenging through a large crate and pulled out a small light blue box. "Savant Mark VIII – the best off the shelf currently on the market. In a couple of weeks, once the IX get its bugs ironed out we'll get some of those to play with before they hit the market." He handed Shepard the box. "I'll get you some advanced feedstock for its fabricator as well as the software and schematics for some autonomous drones courtesy of STG..."

"We're going to be here the whole day, aren't we?" Wrex grumbled.

"You're just grumpy I won't let you at the nice toys at this time." Vasir shouted from the other end of the armoury.

"I would be if I saw something better than my..." Wrex trailed off while scanning the weapons from outside. "I take it back. Those singularity launchers do wicked things to people and the fact that they're short ranged doesn't really bother me..."

"Marius, be a dear and pack one of those, bill it on me." Vasir sighed. "Otherwise, we won't hear the end of it until two or three firefights in."

"You do remember!"

"You didn't stop yammering and proposing while we did our best to kill each other for days on end!" Vasir's voice was an odd mix of fondness and exasperation.

"You still haven't said no."

"Shooting at you or doing my best to warp your ass wasn't an answer enough?"

"That was merely an exciting foreplay!" The Krogan countered smugly.

"Keelah, I'm dreaming. Those polonium rounds must have been even worse than I feared..." Tali muttered to herself.

"I don't think either of us is that lucky, kid." Garrus whispered back.