8th July 2183, TCS Normandy, Citadel docking bay 422...

"Commander Shepard is ashore. XO Presley has the deck." After a considerable amount of time, the Normandy's VI finally announced the decon process end for everyone to hear as Shepard along with Garrus, Tali, Wrex and Ashley walked out of the ship for some rest and, as Douglas said, passive intelligence gathering:

"Remind me, why are we wearing civilian clothing?" The krogan veteran expressed his displeasure. Having only a hidden sidearm and no armor when any agent of Saren or wannabe riff raff could come for their heads made the situation perilous:

"To blend in." Tali piped up, unable to hide a slight smile, very glad that she didn't have to wear a mask. About 4 years have passed since she accepted the immunisation, but roughly only a quarter of the quarian population was treated, due to the difficulty in custom tailoring the gene therapy for every individual. She kept her old clothing style and still worn the mask when in missions, but she would never get used to enjoying the fresh air, or as fresh as the air in the citadel could get:

"A human spectre, a scarred krogan, an immuno-boosted quarian and a turian former detective. Am I the only one who has doubts?" Ashley sarcastically remarked:

"Unless any of us does something to attract the wrong kind of attention, we will breeze through without issues." Garrus gave his input. As the citadel would always be choke full with people of many species, status and disposition, the different classified as normal:

"Does pissing over the railing and into the void qualify as wrong kind of attention?"

Wrex asked:

"Sure, it breaks 11 rules and regulations and punished with a fine plus 3 months in jail, why you ask that?" The turian questioned suspiciously:

"Behind you." The mercenary showed something with his index and a smirk on his face. Garrus turned, and immediately wished he didn't, same as the rest. Except Tali, who just rolled her eyes:

"Keelah, not again." Shepard was really pissing over the railings overlooking the arms of the citadel without a care in the galaxy. There were moments she wondered if the man was completely insane, even though she got used to the craziness back in fort Gyurza:

"Again?" Ashley gasped curious. She heard the rumors about how eccentric commander Shepard could be, but she believed it was just that, rumors. Yeah, she witnessed his encounters with the council and freaked out a bit to his manners, but she never met a superior officer acting like this. It was vastly different from her trainee days under colonel Mbantuwe, oh how she hated that man, who was an adherent of strict discipline and harsh punishments for any misdeeds:

"Yes, for all his skills and abilities, I had to put up with his quirks back in the fort and you really don't want to know how creative he is when it comes to... well, being him." Tali answered, shuddering at remembering some of the not so fine moments she witnessed back then:

"So you're telling us that we are being led by a madman who is hunting another madman?" Garrus remarked:

"He did challenge me in unarmed combat, so there's that." Wrex reminded the rest:

"And let's not forget how he handled the council." Ashley also added, suppressing a giggle:

"Whether he is truly crazy or not is still up to debate , because I admit thay he does offer sound advice when not biting bears or strapping pirates on rockets, or throwing flashbangs to wake us up. If he could only cease his habit of sneaking behind me and..." Tali felt her hair rise for just a moment, Quarians only have hair on their heads. And she felt a hand fall on her right shoulder:

"And what, scare you halfway to death?"

Douglas replied smugly. Just like all the previous times, Tali gave a sharp yelp and jumped slightly. The rest of the squad also looked at alarm as no one noticed him moving, let alone coming so close:

"Commander." Ashley saluted on reflex. :

"Calm down sweetheart, we are civilians for now. By the way, you can pretend being my girlfriend if you want, less suspicion and all that." Shepard winked as he replied and pressed the elevator button, leaving a stunned and blushing Ashley behind. He didn't really mean it when he called her a sweetheart, did he? Tali, even though she was used to this behavior as she was Shepard's favorite target, couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy when she saw him talking like this to another woman:

'Okay, calm down Tali Zorah, he's just messing around like always. Or not? Grrr, why does he have to be such a bosh'tet prick?':

"What are you mumbling about Tali? Garrus noticed:

"Ah, nothing, it's just that... Douglas is... he is just so infuriating!" She blurted out:

"Yeah, I see he is eccentric, even for a hum... Wait, first name basis?" It was easy for the turian former detective to notice

what that meant. He raised an eyebrow, or whatever the species analogue is called, the quarian's face was such a deep purple:

"If you tell anyone about it I will gut you alive." She threatened in a deathly whisper:

"My mandibles are shut." Garrus promised. Despite knowing that the threat was real, he couldn't help but suppress a snigger, this was just too precious:

"Hmph, kids." Wrex monologued. Being the crusty old lizard he was made him wholly uninterested to matters of romance. Finally the elevator arrived and they got aboard:

"Commander, is there a reason you ehmm, relieved yourself back there?" Ashley asked to Shepard, her ingrained training refusing to leave:

"Apart from the obvious? Well, you know how slow decon is, then the walk to my cabin toilet, and I was bored so I chose the easy way. Besides, I have spectre privileges and I am going to abuse them. Who knows, maybe I'll be the first spectre to make a councillor die from anger, I am talking about Sparatus.":

"Heh, that I'd like to see." Wrex added. The rest hoped that Douglas wasn't serious, but you never know. What was certain is that the council would sooner or later regret making him a spectre, probably. A painfully slow elevator ride later, they reached the C-Sec junction, where the only elevator leading to the presidium existed. For all their brags of peaceful coexistence, democracy and equality, the upper class really loved their power and security, even being accepted in C-Sec required a recommendation from the species representative, in humanity's case that slimy piece of shit Udina, who always demanded a hefty compensation for his services. So much for fairness:

"Shepard. Commander Shepard. Humanity has questions." And so much for anonymity. A dark skinned woman, likely of Arab descent, greeted. An orb camera was floating over her shoulder, not recording. A journalist looking for a payday, thanks to an anonymous tip if Shepard's psionics worked correctly:

"Commander, maybe we should take another route..." Garrus started:

"Nah nah nah nah nah, if she wants a show, we will give her one. Just follow my lead people." Douglas gave his cheeky response. Just what is he going to do this time:

"Commander Shepard, Khalisah bint Sinan Al-Jilani, Westerlund News. Would you answer a few questions for our viewers?"

The woman introduced herself. Shepard used those precious few seconds to gather information. Dressed like a professional, smug and wears too much makeup around her left eye, someone punched her recently. Intrusive and provocative towards the interviewees, cares only for rates, not much of a challenge but requires careful wordplay:

"There is important business awaiting me miss Al-Jilani, so my time is precious. Give me one good why I should waste it on you." Insult credibility but give a hint that I am actually interested. Target takes the bait:

"People back home have heard a lot of wild tales about you. I can help set the record straight, what do you say?" Fool, actually believes I want that:

"What makes you think I want that? I rely on keeping the details sketchy and the rumor mill running, setting the record straight is the last thing I can handle." Reply with just the right amount of outrage, that's it, reporter on the defensive, go fo it:

"There's got to be something you want to say, it's not everyday you get the chance for it commander." Still thinks she has something I need, I will humor her:

"How about this? I make a live announcement and then you can ask me whatever questions you want. Be warned that I won't give away any classified information however, so don't push." She is annoyed, but knows this is the best deal she can get. Also, don't forget that important little detail, done:

"Okay, I can agree with your terms. Camera, activate." Voice activation huh, and the remote signal module is removed. Makes outside hacking impossible, suits me just fine:

"Hello extranet people, I am commander Douglas Shepard, the first human spectre. Yep, we finally did it lads and lasses of the coalition, one of humanity's finest joined the premier elite forces of the known universe. My mission, take down the rogue spectre Saren Arterius. I know what you're thinking, going after a turncoat spectre is unheard of, how could it happen and all that. But fear not, me and my mates, as you see some on the back here, are on the job and on his trail. Now, I am going to give my honest opinion about Saren, so if you are easily offended, underage or just don't like bad language, close your ears, auditory receptors or whatever you use to listen." At this moment, Douglas's expression became serious. Tali knew were this was going and sighed inwardly. 'Here we go':

"Done? Let's get to it then. Oh Saren, you thrice cursed fuckwit and devil's kith and kin. Killer of unarmed civilians and butcher of young children, capable of facing true soldiers only when they turn their backs to you, coward without equal who can't slay a lifeless rock without running away in fear. What in the name of sweet Mary, mother of Christmas possessed you to betray your people and the galaxy? If it is power you seek, know that we are not afraid of your robot army and will dismantle it piece by piece with relish and glee. You mentally defective twat, son of an abusive alcoholic father and a drug addicted whore mother, walking shame to your entire race and greatest of all idiots in this life and the afterlife. So this is what we declare you lowlife. There's nowhere you can hide and no matter how far you run, I will find you and drag your scaly ass to the citadel, either in shackles or in a body bag. And to conclude, as I have yet to visit whatever junkyard you made into your hidey hole, be sure that I'm going to rip your balls off, so you don't contaminate the rest of turiankind. So kiss my ass and rot in hell you ugly bastard. That is all." Shepard finished, just as a squad of heavily armed C-Sec agents headed towards the group.

During Shepard's speech, C-Sec surveillance and extranet traffic office...

"Ma'am, come take a look at this." A salarian tech pointed at a large display. An illegal recording device operated in the vicinity near the presidium and sending a live message in all of citadel space, clogging the broadband. Because of the enormous amount of data traffic and protection of privacy, the asari officer couldn't see who transmitted what, only that it did so all across the citadel and without proper authorisation:

"You know that orders are to shut down any and all unauthorised station-wide transmissions, shut it down." She ordered:

"I can't, it's transmitting through the emergency channels, I am searching for the source." He answered quickly and focused back to his console. The signal locked to the level of the C-Sec station guarding the elevator to the presidium:

"There, close to the elevator platform. Access their camera and disable it." The asari officer said:

"I can't find the access port, no wireless signal either." Now that raised a lot of red flags:

"Get me the local C-Sec garrison on the line, tell them to shut down the transmission and arrest the violators. I want visual on the target area and all adjacent sectors." The tech acknowledged and executed the necessary commands, but the screens showed nothing and no connection could established. As both the camera feed and call attempts failed over and over again, cold sweat started forming on the asari officer's scalp crests and tricking on her face and back. Few were the cases of communication blackouts, none of them good. Fearing possible terrorist activity, she did the only thing she deemed logical:

"Dispatch a squad of DISAT (Direct Intervention Special Anti Terrorism) units in the location immediately! And get me executor Pallin on the line." Every bad scenario imaginable started swirling in their heads. Almost every operator in the room stopped working and stared at the live footage of the dispatched specialist squad. Just what in the citadel was happening out there?

Back to the elevator floor...

"We have eyes on the suspects. 2 humans, a quarian and a krogan. Civilian clothing, but scans indicate they are armed. They are being recorded by a known journalist, no sign of distress, willing collaboration. Moving to arrest." The squad leader reported. As they moved however, the man in front of the camera turned and faced them, looking unbothered by their presence:

"Central? We have visual contact on spectre Douglas Shepard. He is the one

on camera... But sir, oh, yes sir, moving to arrest." He signaled the others to move:

"Commander Douglas Shepard, by the order of the council you are to be escorted to the chambers and answer for your actions. The rest of you are to come along too." The leader ordered, weapons ready but not pointed on them. Khalisah paled from fear, Tali, Ashley and Wrex became agitated, Shepard just stared with mild annoyance:

"Do you mind? I am in the middle of an interview. Besides, I do intend to visit the council after I conclude my business." Shepard snapped at the DISATs, who raised their rifles, forcing Shepard's team to pull out their own guns:

"The council demands it." The armored foe repeated in a sterner voice:

"Give me a reason princess." Wrex threatened with his pocket shotgun. A hand however fell on the barrel:

"Guys, guys, relax, there's nothing to fret about. Now, you little shits are about to witness a magic trick." Shepard snapped his fingers and immediately the armors of the 6 specialists seized up, making them drop their guns and yelp in surprise, their shouts garbled by static as they stood still like statues:

"DISATs? What are they doing here? Commander Shepard, what is the meaning of this?" Khalisah asked, pale and shaking:

"That miss Al-Jilani, is a demonstration of how ridiculously outdated the citadel's cyber-security is. For those who don't know, the geth aren't robots, they are programs and, as such, they can access systems with extreme ease. If I was capable of bypassing the system... Wellll, I believe you get the concept. Now to conclude this interview, keep your antivirus programs updated, go to bed early and remember, Saren will go down. Anything you little fucks want to add?"

Shepard turned to the completely still armored specialists, nothing but static and grunts:

"I'll take that as a no then. I should go now, bye bye, humanity is awesome." Douglas waved as he left, smirking, leaving the reporter gaping like a fish out of the water, his squad followed shortly after. Many C-Sec officers and other onlookers were watching the scene unfolding, those brave few who recorded the incident had their omni-tools disabled and memory chips wiped. And in the elevator they went:

"HA HA HA HAAA, nothing like humiliating C-Sec to make any day better, especially their shiny armor pyjak lovers." Wrex let out a bellowing laughter after the elevator doors closed:

"This is one of my finest jobs yet. I bet Sparatus must be having a heart attack right now." Shepard accepted the praise. Someone else had a different opinion however:

"Commander, I may sometimes question your methods but, ARE YOU TRYING TO GET US ALL KILLED?" Ashley accused, too late realizing what a mistake she made:

"What the hell makes you think I want that?" Shepard shot her a dark look, and as the marine stepped back, she would swear that Douglas's grey eyes glinted bright blue for a brief moment. Tali silently beckoned both Wrex and Ashley to stay quiet, knowing very well how badly Shepard was affected by Elysium and Akuze. Nothing but the elevator music could be heard until the human spectre sufficiently calmed down:

"I will explain when we pay the council a little visit, but I have to take care of a few things first. You three can go wherever you want, just rendezvous back here when you receive my message, code word is 'Petronius'. The elevator reached its destination and the doors slid open, allowing them exit. They reached a spot with a view to the artificial lake and Ashley was about to continue following the commander, but Tali held her shoulder and shook her head:

"When he says that, he means he will take care of it alone." That answer piqued the woman's curiosity:

"How do you know that? What is he going to do?":

"Well, I'm not really sure I can tell you..." Tali twiddled her long index fingers, big mistake of her part:

"What. Is he going. To do?" Ashley pushed further. After the previous debacle, which could easily lead to them being imprisoned, court martialed, killed or any combination of the above, she wanted, no, she needed to know what that maniac was about to do next:

"He only wants to... NO! It is personal and I will not betray his trust." Tali turned defiant, her silver eyes sparkling and expression hardening. Maybe she did learn something about intimidation after all:

"As much as I want to see who would win the fight between you two, look who's coming." Wrex showed an approaching man, which was captain Anderson with a barely contained smirk on his face. Ashley reluctantly stood at attention:

"Hehehe, I see you already got a taste of Shepard's crazy side. How are you feeling, any bouts of anger, desire to cackle like mad, temptation to kill everything in front of you? All of the above?" There was a hidden question there, what if Shepard left too much of his more... subtle nature go too far. Two important flaws that every psychic has, apart of the obvious vulnerability to inhibitor fields or psychic dampeners, is that their emotions are amplified. No, they are not easier to anger or be happy, their feelings are just stronger. Second, there is a tendency to leave emotional traces to the psyches of those around them which can cause unexplainable fits of anger, sadness, happiness or fear:

"Permission to speak freely sir?" Ashley requested calmly. Good sign Anderson thought:

"Go ahead gunnery sergeant."

"While I understand that the hunters are supposed to be the best humanity has to offer and the lax regulations can bring some... rather interesting quirks. I mean no disrespect sir, but I would like to know... IS THAT LUNATIC COMPLETELY OUT OF HIS MIND?" She snapped. Maybe Shepard went overboard with her:

"I'm going to be honest Williams, no one can answer that question, me included. He wasn't like that when I first took him in. Sure, he always had and still has his problems with all forms of authority, but I have no idea what riled him up against the council that bad." Anderson answered, even though he would have a word with Douglas about his conduct:

"He claims he is just bored, but I believe he is lying." Tali piped in:

"You are possibly right Tali'Zorah. Besides, you know him better than most. If someone can figure Shepard out, that's you." David encouraged her:

"Unless I go mad first, high risk." The quarian didn't have such high hopes:

"Captain Anderson, did you by any chance

see the council's reaction to Shepard's... whatever you call what he did?" Garrus changed the subject:

"Unfortunately no. I am sure that there will be piles of discarded bottles of liquor and

anxiety medication though." David commented...

Council chambers, earlier that day...

Tevos was helping herself to a generous shot of vodka. Ever since the discovery of the Terran Coalition, her workload, stress and consumption of spirits increased significantly. Now she understood why the humans invented such a huge variety of liquors, having to deal with each other on a daily basis would certainly be very exhausting. At least some good came out of it, in the form of Bekenstein. Previously an arid world with a thin atmosphere, hardly ideal for sustaining life, the coalition

stepped in and terraformed the place into an agricultural world with light civilian industry, simplifying food transport, bringing new products to the galaxy market along with jobs, money and investment opportunities. But, as expected, all that prosperity came at a price. The Volus Clans strongly protested of having their incomes reduced, the

Turian Hierarchy didn't like having a rogue power so close to the citadel, the quarians were smug as they no longer held the status of vagrants, and so on and so forth.

But the worst thing of all, and what the matriarchs really pestered her about, was the ideological crusade carried on by the Soviet Union and the Batarian Socialist Republic. Ever since the discovery of the citadel and the relay network, the Asari Republics prided their ability to slowly but gradually influence other civilisations utilizing their long lifespans, natural elegance, diplomatic prowess and economic power. But the humans once again proved to be annoyingly crafty and adaptable.

The Allied nations begun a massive advertising campaign to lure citadel citizens to visit Earth just 12 years after the Shanxi incident. Despite initial distrust and scepticism, many accepted and even more followed. Hanar tourists taking underwater tours in the Great Coral Reef, the Caribbean Sea and the Mediterranean, asari maidens visiting museums, art galleries, music festivals, casinos and nightclubs, salarians looking for new gadgets, aircars and electronics, mostly of the superior quality Japanese products, krogan engaging in new and mostly violent sports. Grasping the opportunity, the Soviets found many susceptible tourists to pass their ideals on. Seriously, if Tevos heard the words 'proletariat', 'class struggle' ,'bourgeois', 'socialism' or 'revolution', she would gut the bastard with a broken bottle. She looked at the vodka bottle and suppressed a deep sigh. She just downed the shot when an urgent message came through the council secure private channel:

'Tevos, get your blue rear in gear and come here now.'

Typical Sparatus, straight to the point. The asari councillor however knew when there was trouble ahead, so she made haste, leaving the vodka shot half empty on the bar. She walked to the conference stand as elegantly as possible. Sparatus and Valern had their eyes glued on a holographic display:

"What is the matter Sparatus?" Tevos asked. The turian councillor showed a talon to the screen. It was spectre Douglas Shepard, getting interviewed by Khalisah Al-Jilani live, sending a insult laced war declaration to Saren Arterius after crashing the data traffic control system and no one was doing anything to stop him:

"We have a squad of DISAT on standby, all they need is special permission to apprehend him. Would be a good chance to test them."

Valern said as Tevos added her own authorisation. All the hopes they held for a quick victory were dashed in mere seconds as the human spectre somehow managed to paralyse the armored troops with whatever counted as his omnitool.

That was the last thing they saw when when the feed froze in place. A few seconds of utter silence later...:

"Grrr, that insufferable, disrespectful, insolent..." Sparatus couldn't complete his rant, a hand clasped his shoulder:

"Calm down Sparatus, there's no use swearing. We will wait for him to come and explain his action." Tevos tried to calm the turian councillor down, to little effect:

"Explain his actions? Are you kidding me Tevos? That maniac spits on everything the council and the hierarchy stands for.

I say we kick him out of the spectres before he embarrasses us further or, spirits forbid, causes some major galactic incident." He snapped, practically fuming:

"And further weaken the trust that the citizens have on us? We are already on the verge after Saren's betrayal, if we dismiss Shepard so soon and without probable cause it will cause even more damage. That if we don't count the coalition and whatever crazy idea they might come up with as retaliation." The asari councillor dissuaded. That seemed to do the trick. A minute of heavy silence ensued:

"Why? Just why? Why are the humans worthy of holding such power? Not even 2 centuries as a spaceworthy civilisation but their influence and military might is on par with us. And if that's not enough they keep innovating and increasing both their influence and economical strength while we are lagging behind in nearly every field.

How far have we fallen?" Sparatus finally confessed. The past years of dealing with humanity really took their toll on him. Sparatus, like any turian, was a creature of habit, order, rigid structure and strict discipline. Complete antithesis to the chaotic, unpredictable, individualistic and highly adaptable nature of humanity. How did they manage not to blow each other up was a mystery:

"I may have found something that can answer that question." Valern piped up:

"What? Did the STG finally find a way to bypass the coalition security?" Tevos's hopes flared:

"Unfortunately no, but some distant relatives of mine recently came back from a trip on Earth. They visited museums, collected memorabilia, talked with different people and all that, one of them, my second cousin Shalek, is a historian. Together we compiled all our knowledge about humanity's history the last 300 years and came upon a revelation." The salarian took a breath and continued:

"Most of their miraculous technologies were invented between 1940s to 1960s, with the exception of atomic weapons, which were made in the 1970s. What in unusual is that nuclear fission was discovered in 1938. Do you see the oddity?" The salarian councillor waited for his colleagues to connect the dots:

"Wait a minute, so they spent so much time researching for new and unconventional equipments while they had the knowledge of atomic power all along?" Valern nodded at Tevos's question:

"But this doesn't make any sense. In a time of total war all sides strive to get a technological edge over their enemies. Personally, I find it quite preposterous that the allied nations would just ignore such a potent weapon, especially against a numerically superior foe." Sparatus did read about the wars that humanity waged over the centuries. He was impressed by both their tenacity and ingenuity. The Art of War by Sun Tzu and the On War by Carl von Clausewitz took a special place both in his library and his heart. He learned and understood how unconventional humanity could be, but outright ignoring the potential of nuclear armaments? In wartime nonetheless? No, something just doesn't add up:

"As informative as this piece of history is, I fail to see how it is relevant to the current situation." Tevos concluded after a brief pondering:

"This is not all. By compiling all known information, I have developed an interesting theory that could possibly explain the Coalition's technological supremacy. You both know about the prothean archives on Mars, yes?" 2 nods allowed Valern to continue:

"I assume you know that the protheans were researching terraforming, pseudo energy weaponry and mankind itself, as the coalition agreed with sharing knowledge and information and allowed most of our scientists to stay on Mars and conduct research. What is suspicious however is the claim that there are no ruins on Luna, Earth's moon. If the protheans truly wanted to watch humanity's evolution, it is only logical that there should be a facility there. However, the whole moon is a military training ground and we are not allowed access but think about it. What if there are prothean remnants there that the coalition refuses to share?" Valern finished, realisation dawning to the rest:

"Yes. This has to be it. No other way they could advance like that so quickly. To imagine they have the nerve to lie to our faces for so long..." Sparatus ranted, but was cut short:

"Calm down councillor, what we currently have is at best circumstantial evidence. Even if we had actual proof, I sincerely doubt the coalition would willingly share their secrets. We have to tread carefully and with utmost secrecy, even more than

before." Tevos instructed:

"A truly complex and challenging problem, the coalition. Willing and eager to negotiate, yet unflinching to their ideals, ruthless to their enemies, but capable of forgiveness. Oh, I am getting off topic. I also wanted to add that I may have figured out how they manage to root out all our spies and agents. You do remember director Omega's power, right?"

The other councillors visibly flinched:

"No need to remind me, it is impossible to forget the ability to read and control minds combined with the power to wreck entire buildings in seconds." Sparatus quipped:

"There is a possibility that they found a way to harness this... psychic energy and use it on their ship scanners. Detecting brainwaves and possibly thought patterns renders even our most sophisticated stealth systems obsolete. That also has to be how they weed out our agents so quickly and accurately." Valern finished:

"Good progress overall, we are no longer running blind and have a crude list of achievable objectives. Maybe this could be it, the way to finally restore the balance of power..." The turian's ramblings were cut off as Valern received a message:

"And we better do it soon or there will be more instances such as this." The salarian councillor showed new footage taken from a hangar security camera, where the TCS Normandy was anchored. Watching commander Shepard relieving himself without a care in the world and shooting a smug smirk to the camera. The councillors first felt disgusts, but then looked at each other determination, acknowledging the situation they had to deal with.

Same time, Financial sector, Presidium, Citadel...

"Welcome earth-clan... how may I be of service?" The volus banker declared:

"Barla Von, expert financial advisor, good at moving large sums undetected, agent of the Shadow Broker, knows a lot of things." Douglas answered. The rotund alien looked with intensity:

"Commander Douglas Shepard... coalition hunter, elite soldier...first human spectre... on mission to track down... former spectre Saren Arterius." The challenge was answered. Shepard knew very well how resourceful and dangerous volus could be. Sure, he could tackle almost anything this galaxy can throw at him, but having hired killers and mercs on your tail really complicates things:

"Well informed as expected, but I am after different prey. What do you know about Cerberus?" The human commander asked:

"A coalition black ops group... very secretive... very dangerous. Their mission, as far as we know..., is to protect coalition interests... from outside threats." Barla Von answered slowly due to the need to breathe:

"You are correct, to a point. I can't give too many details, but there is a possibility that at least some of them have gone rogue. I want to know who has information about their moves, locations and other points of interest." It was a really risky move to give information like that, so he just kept it as vague as possible to avoid angering the wrong people. But even after all these years, he just couldn't let it go, he wanted to learn what happened to his father and what is his connection to Cerberus. Of course discretion was required, as he had no desire of finding himself dead in a gutter courtesy of a spook squad:

"... Interesting tidbit of information earth-clan... not much, but considering your assistance at getting rid of Fist... I will give you this piece of intel for free... Look for an earth-clan admiral Kahoku... he is also searching for them." The volus answered:

"Thank you. Just keep your mouth shut about what we just talked about, if either Cerberus or the CISP get a whiff of it, none of us will see the end of the week. By the way, I need to exchange these." Shepard gave 50000 funds to change them into citadel credits:

"You have amassed a small fortune I see commander Shepard." The volus informant complimented:

"I won't be able to fight forever. Gotta build a retirement fund, provide for the family."

The human commander explained, the volus nodding. Sure, Douglas was trained to be a ruthless killer and at least half mad, but his adoptive parents were still important to him:

"With the current exchange rate, you get 65000 credits, 2 percent fee kept, so you get 63700 credits earth clan." Shepard was tempted to complain for the exorbitant rate but... oh well. A little fact, because the coalition didn't require element zero as much as the other races,

they sold it at far lower prices. The council species, especially the asari who heavily relied on eezo exports, would have their economies crippled if humanity was allowed to trade. In short, a bunch of deals, some negotiations and a bit of gladhanding later, they all agreed on a set eezo price, in exchange for the fund getting a higher value than the credit.

Back on track, Shepard started heading to the presidium, Kahoku's location, but a very familiar voice, if slightly older voice made him turn:

"Would you look at that. Douglas Shepard all grown up and ready for action." A clean shaved man said:

"Bloody hell, is thay you Finch? How the fuck did you end up in this shithole?" Douglas greeted, surprised at seeing a member of the Reds after such a long time in the citadel of all places:

"Did all that special training and super drugs make you forgetful Dougie? After we did that little job back on Earth, old Theo got us a shitload of money, a used space freighter and a good amount of weapons, made us go semi legit in the traverse and the terminus, selling mostly moonshine, guns and transporting other goods. Most of the lads were bummed for leaving our dear mudball Earth buuuut, you know how difficult it is to make a dishonest living there." Finch explained:

"Got tired of scraping on the streets and decided to expand huh? Are any of the boys around here too? What about Bryce?"

Douglas asked. It has been a while since he heard news about his brother, almost a whole year, and he didn't say what he was up to either:

"He's here to. We lost some of the lads but most of us are still kicking. Come on I'll show you our base in the citadel, also our most recent acquisition, you ever heard of Chora's Den? Some nutjobs shot the place up and blew the owner's head clean off, old Theo bought it at a low, low price." The two friends were walking at a brisk pace for the wards:

"Was it too hard to clean the blood and plug the bullet holes? Me and my crew mates really went a wee bit overboard at Fist. At least you got some shiny new digs as part of the bargain, eh?" Shepard hinted about the part he played in Fist's downfall, in a more British accent than before. Both civilians and military who spent long periods of time in warships, freighters or space stations had a tendency to lose whatever accent they had and speak in what is known as the spacer accent:

"Wait, you did that? Fuckin hell, what did those poor bastards do to piss you off? Actually don't tell me now, wait until your big brotha hears about it." Fitch went from dumbfounded to jovial:

"Bryce is here? Guess he decided to stick around, aye? How is he, been a long time since we last talked." Shepard admitted, slightly embarrassed. True, he didn't talk with his big brother for about a year and didn't know what he was doing or his whereabouts. Did he decide to remain with the Reds? He just prayed nothing bad happened to him:

"Don't worry Doug, he is fine and dandy, recently brought some hard earned cash for a delivered shipment, just ask him. Not as interesting as what you are doing though, eh?" Finch slightly elbowed him. The 2 friends reached Chora's Den, which was renamed Red Carp, no joke, like the pub where Shepard spent years in back on Earth. After they passed in a more private area of the club, he could already see and recognise some of the lads from back in tbe day, obviously aged up, but still recognisable, they headed towards the cluster of familiar faces:

"OI YOU MOOKS, LOOK WHO'S BACK!" The older man shouted. It took a few seconds to register, but those who knew him soon recognised their maskot/youngest member and quickly raised their glasses in greeting, followed by an avalanche of questions, laughter and drink ordering:

"THE FUCK IS THIS RACKET ABOUT? KNOCK IT OFF BEFORE I... Wait, Doug, is that you?" A taller, slightly hunched and more muscular than ever Bryce came out and locked eyes with his younger brother:

"Hey bruv, how you doing?" Douglas said with a grin. The silence lasted for a couple of seconds, until a pair of hands grabbed him, admittedly too fast for him to react. Was he really that nostalgic? But he had enough self respect to stop his brother when he started noogieing his head:

"Alright, alright, you missed me, I got it, can you please let me breathe?" Shepard joked, trying to save face from his slight embarrassment:

"Your heard him lads, give them some room." A strong, elderly voice ordered. When Douglas turned he saw the man who he considered an uncle all these years, wrinkled but spry, using a cane:

"Old man Theo!" The 2 hugged in greeting:

"Look at you, all grown up and already shaking the galaxy to its core. And provided us with a new business in the Citadel too." He motioned for him and Bryce to follow in a private room. When there, he grabbed a whiskey bottle and some glasses, pouring for each of them:

"I know you have questions about how we got here and what we are doing lad. I will not go to much detail, but we are a semi-legit business now." The old leader started:

"We mostly sell guns, trade precious materials, run moonshine, some gambling operations and some mercenary work outside council space. Not squeaky clean, but doesn't attract the wrong kind of attention. And we're no longer called Reds, we go by the name Talon." Bryce added. After a few more explanations, Shepard finished his glass:

"If you want to know, there is little that the council spectre files have on you, so you can breath easy. But for the love of god and any deity that exists, don't do anything stupid in council space or those council bastards will force me to arrest or kill you for their own sick amusement." Douglas said. Sure, he could act cocky and arrogant, but knew that after his stunt in galactic TV things would get a lot more serious and explaining himself to the 3 stooges would be a real pain in the ass:

"Don't worry, we are quiet as church mice and pure as newborns around these parts, nothing to fret about." Theodore assured:

"Well, there may be a small issue boss. Frazer was singing 'Ye ole asari hooker' on the way here, but he got in a fight with an asari matriarch and he's in jail now." Shepard's adoptive brother dropped the bombshell:

"Bloody fucking hell, can this Paddy bastard avoid causing trouble at least for a week?" Theo exclaimed, not really angry, just frustrated. The same time, Shepard's omnipad started blinking as it received a message. It was the council:

"The 3 stooges want me to explain myself in front of them. Oh well, I guess I can take my sweet time before I have to face the music. Tell me, where do they keep the crazy Irishman?" Douglas said to Bryce:

"You intent to help him out? I know you're a spectre but matriarchs can be bad fuckin news." The older brother warned:

"Compared to Saren, the Geth, the council and whatever else in the galaxy, I believe a angry blue bitch is the least trouble. Don't worry, I will help as a favor, I mean we are family, right?" Shepard answered. At that point, Theodore got up and clasped both of Shepard's cheeks with pride:

"You are right, but don't expect that we are just going to just take everything you give without proper compensation. Whether you need some extra muscle, weapons or intel about what is going around, just ask. Also, if you find something interesting across the galaxy, like pirate bases, ore mines, space hulks and other loot you can send it our way. Taking out the competition is also good. With a bit of luck, Saren goes down, we all get rich and you happily retire. Then find yourself a nice woman, give your old man some fuckin grandkids." Theo finished, making Shepard flustered enough to spit out his drink and Bryce to laugh uncontrollably:

"OH YOUR FACE DOUGIE!" The older brother was slapping the table:

"YOU'RE DEAD MEAT!" The human spectre, in an uncharacteristic lack of focus and patience, charged, making the 2 siblings wrestle with each other like so long ago.

AN

Hello again and terribly sorry for the year long hiatus. Combination of real life and major writer's block. Any way, here is the new chapter and off I go to write for my other fic too. Any useful advice about beating writer's block would be greatly appreciated.