Chapter 52
"Councilor Tevos, a probe of unknown design just emerged from the Widow array, and it's hailing the Citadel, asking for you specifically." a desk worker in the Presidium tower said after poking her head into the councilor's office. Tevos had been startled and scrambled to cover an opened package on her desk with some papers.
"Thank you, please patch them through." She said, with a tinge of irritation in her voice.
"Yes Ma'am." The employee said. A few moments later, having removed the incriminating package from her desk and composed herself, she activated a display on her desk and saw the last group of people she ever wanted to see.
"Councilor Tevos, how are you doing this evening?" Hannah Shepard said, sitting at the head of a desk along with the Quarian Admiralty, Wrex, Bakara, Simon Chambers and Steven Hackett.
"I'm doing well, Prime Minister Shepard, Admirals, Battlemasters, and you?" Tevos said with forced cheer.
"Well we just had to fight off some nasty fellas, you probably know them, the Batarians. The Damnedest thing is, their flagship was a Turian Dreadnought!" Shepard said, pausing for dramatic effect.
"Wait, you were attacked by the Turians?" Tevos said, feigning ignorance.
"Well that's what we thought at first, but when we boarded it an subdued the crew, the only Turian on board was some deranged Admiral who was quickly dispatched." Shepard said, Tevos' heart sank at this.
"So it was a rogue agent then?" Tevos said.
"That's what it looked like. We called up the Turians, and they were VERY helpful. They told us not only was that specific Turian considered an exile from the hierarchy, but the ship itself they'd gifted to you guys for the CDF!" Shepard said. Tevos visibly quaked hearing this, her blood turning to ice water.
"I see. Surely you don't think the Batarian attack was in any way initiated by the Council..." Tevos said.
"Oh no, of course not. You're our friends right? So anyway, we have this big Turian dreadnought and we have no use for it. We were thinking you guys would want it back." Shepard said, nodding to someone off screen. An alert appeared at the edge of Tevos' screen, before she could read it she was interrupted by the frantic voice of the poor flight controller D'venna who was getting entirely tired of working for the Council at this point.
"Councilor Tevos! Unscheduled arrival, Turian vessel, dreadnought class!" She said.
"It's ok, D'venna, the Alliance liberated it from some Batarians and are returning it to us." She said, not believing a single word coming out of her own mouth.
"If you say so, ma'am. " D'venna said, disconnecting the comm feed.
"We patched it up real quick but you're going to need to do some detail work, especially with the shield generators, we kind of fried them. Sorry about that. Have a good day!" Shepard said, disconnecting the feed abruptly. She then punched in another series of commands and opened another comm window, this time to a pale, worried looking Asari Maiden.
"Ms. D'venna, hi, I'm Prime Minister Shepard. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for putting you through the ringer like that." Shepard said.
"Prime Minister Shepard, it's an honor, and don't worry, I knew this job would have its... eccentricities." D'venna said.
"Listen hon, I just want you to know, if things get too 'Eccentric' for your tastes, the Alliance would be glad to have you. You're a sweet girl and you deserve better than this." Shepard said.
"Um.. thank you, I'll think about it. I do need to get back to my duties now." D'venna said
"Of Course, have a pleasant day." Shepard said, severing the communication. She looked up to see she was getting strange looks.
"What? Not that poor girl's fault her boss is the galaxy's biggest douchenozzle." Shepard said, grinning.
"What's a douchenozzle?" Raan asked.
"Uh, I'll tell you later. ANYWAY, Rothschild did everything go as planned?" Shepard asked.
"A little slower than expected, I had to teach the Geth how to do the zombie dance from Thriller but luckily they're quick learners." Rothschild said.
"No more spoilers! I'm looking forward to being surprised!" Shepard said. Everyone else chuckled at this.
"Normally I'm not the one to harsh everyone's buzz, but there is the matter of defending our borders to discuss." Rothschild gently chided.
"Agreed. We will be able to replace the ships lost in a few months, there's quite a bit going through shakedown at the moment. Personnel will similarly not be an issue, especially given the recent influx of Krogan recruits. We're going to be deploying temporary resupply stations along the border to supplement the permanent stations already in place, and each of them will be equipped with deep range sensor nets, the only reason we survived this invasion was the lead time we got in seeing the fleet buildup near their capital." Shepard said.
"We'll be able to defend against a similar invasion attempt but what about retaliation?" Admiral Zorah asked.
"We're going to stick to stealth raids on their slave transports for now until we know how the Asari and Turians will react. They haven't figured out how we scrambled their slave chip control frequencies yet, and we won't be limiting these raids to the Alliance/Batarian border, in fact we're going to be operating all over Batarian space. We're hoping the other races will lend their aid when they start seeing their people returning from slavery safely." Shepard said.
"That sounds good." Korris said.
"However, if the Turians and Asari are on board, or at least willing to stay out of it, I was not joking about toppling the Hegemony. Even if most if what we've been told is lies, we have witnessed their cruelty first hand, and we will not allow it to continue. I won't stop until every Batarian slaver is dead or in jail, or I am removed from office." Shepard said, steel in her voice. It was at moments like these that the Quarians and Krogan felt glad that they'd thrown their lot in with this strange pink species.
"Ellis Station has granted docking permission, Commander." Joker said.
"Excellent. Bring her in Joker." Shepard said, gently squeezing his shoulder before turning walking back towards the CIC. The Normandy's containment issue proved too much for even Tali and Adams' formidable skills, and required a total reactor replacement. This would take the station personnel roughly a week to accomplish so the crew had been granted shore leave on Earth, around which Ellis Station orbited.
The crew filed out, with Shepard and Tali bringing up the rear. Shepard looked up and noticed a commotion in the next bay over from where the Normandy was docked, a group of outraged Batarians were arguing about the unfairness of having to submit to physical examinations before being allowed to set foot planet side.
"This is unacceptable! We won't suffer this indignity!" The defacto leader of the group of Batarians said to the diminutive Quarian immigration officer.
"I'm sorry, sir, but this is standard procedure. We have been attacked three times by your people, and because of that security policy towards Batarian immigrants is tight.
"I don't care that you're afraid of us ,Quarian, we won't allow you to molest us with your perverted Quarian hands. " The Batarian said.
"What seems to be the problem here?" A booming, flanged voice asked from seemingly out of nowhere as a tall, menacing Turian sauntered over, conspicuously polishing a particularly dangerous looking rifle.
"Lieutenant Vakarian, sir. We have some Batarian refugees refusing to submit to security exams." the Quarian explained.
"He's probably looking to pick our pockets!" One of the crowd yelled. This started them all muttering angrily at the Quarian. This was met with the loud report of an unsuppressed rifle round fired harmlessly into the kinetic barrier separating the docking bay from empty space. The noise brought everyone's attention back to Vakarian.
"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to make one thing abundantly clear. You came here for looking for refuge. You sought this world and its peoples out for aid, which they have agreed to give you. However it seems like you're not interested in that and it's totally fine. Please let me direct your attention to the freighter over here." He said, pointing at a large, black ship of clearly human design.
"That is the Kingston, a cargo freighter bound for Omega. You will submit to a physical examination and search, or you will board the Kingston which will drop you off on Omega to await repatriation to Kar'shan. Have I made myself abundantly clear?" He said, his authoritative voice resonating.
"What do you care, Turian, you aren't one of them?" The leader asked, however his voice had lost a lot of its edge.
"The Alliance has asked me to help manage station security here on Ellis, and I take my job very seriously. Furthermore this Quarian is a friend of mine and I don't really appreciate him being called a thief by refugees who have come to his homeworld asking his people for help. So go through screening peacefully, get on the Kingston or I'll escort your ungrateful asses right out the nearest airlock, do you understand?" Garrus asked.
"Yes, sir." The Batarian said, just barely concealing the venom in his voice. Shepard walked over, assault rifle in hand and arrived near the group right as Kurg, Grak, Jameson, Reegar and Kowalski materialized seemingly out of nowhere behind her.
"Lieutenant, I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance navy. It seems like you have things under control here, however we'd be more than happy to help you screen this group and get them on their way a little faster." Shepard said.
"Thank you ma'am, it would be greatly appreciated. You, Kuural, go take a break, ok?" He asked the Quarian.
"Yes sir, thank you sir." the nervous Quarian said, saluting then making his way out of the docking bay.
"He's a good kid, and he does a good job when dealing with reasonable immigrants. Funny how these Batarians put up such a fight when you're just trying to help them." Garrus noted.
"Yeah, especially given the situation we pulled these people out of. I recognize a few of these Batarians from the dreadnought. The loudmouth there wasn't a slave, he just surrendered as soon as we kicked down the door." Shepard said, eyeing the shifty looking Batarian.
"I'll make sure a close eye is kept on that one. " Garrus said, writing a note down on his omnitool.
"So you said your name was Vakarian?" Shepard asked, frisking one of the few cooperative Batarians.
"Yeah, Garrus Vakarian. I used to work in C-Sec and left when I found out how useless the council is." He said.
"Are you related to a Castis Vakarian?" She asked.
"Yeah, he's my father. How do you know him?" Garrus asked.
"My crew saved him from a slaver ship a while ago, he was in isolation with an Asari woman. He seemed like a good guy." Shepard said
"Oh wow, so that must be the Normandy? Spirits, my Father wasn't kidding, it's a beautiful ship." He said.
"Yes, it is. Hang on you..." Shepard said to a now struggling Batarian. She pulled a pouch of red powder from a hidden pocket in his pants.
"Fuck, that's red sand." Garrus said, a scowl on his face.
"What is it, some kind of drug?" Shepard asked.
"Yeah, it's extremely addictive and withdrawal can be deadly. Better keep your gloves on, that stuff can get in through your skin." He said.
"Thanks for the heads up. Geth, could you send a platform to my location please?" Shepard asked her omnitool, a few seconds later a prime came stomping in, causing the Batarian caught in Shepard's grasp to struggle harder. She handed the bag to the Prime.
"Can you please go store this in evidence, and seal it in an impervious container? It's an addictive drug." She explained.
"Yes, Shepard Commander." The unit said, turning and stomping off into the distance.
"Now what should we do with this naughty little monkey?" Shepard asked, grasping the crazed Batarian by the scruff of his shirt and effortlessly lifting him a foot off the ground.
"Well, on Palaven, being caught with that much red sand is an instant death sentence. Firing squad usually." Garrus said, effortlessly communicating his wish for Shepard to play along, she nodded and grinned from behind the Batarian.
"Firing squad? That seems a bit quick doesn't it? On Earth usually we beat drug offenders to death with wooden clubs, drawing it out over days. How'd they handle it on the fleet, Reegar?" Shepard said, the Batarian started whimpering.
"Well, back before we met you Humans, when a Quarian was found with illegal substances, they were stuck in an airlock without their suit, and the air was slowly purged over hours, and the crew would take bets on whether the offender suffocated, froze to death or died of infection first." Reegar said. By now the Batarian was openly weeping. Shepard jerked him violently, spinning him around to be face to face with her.
"Let me make one thing absolutely, positively clear with you, my people have a long, sad, horrifying history with drugs and it's something we definitely do not take lightly. You will follow that officer into that building over there, and you will answer any and all questions she has to the best of your ability, and you will tell us where you acquired this red sand, and whomever else in this group has it, or I will make the few, remaining moments of your life a brutal, unbearable symphony of suffering am I making myself completely clear?" She asked, this time in a terrifyingly low, quiet voice. He nodded, crying louder, and she dropped him roughly to the ground and turned to the rest of the Batarians.
"Anyone else carrying contraband, if you give it up willingly right now, I might go easy on you." She said, and at once a dozen hands shot out holding bags of red sand, shivs, and in one case an improvised firearm. All were collected and given to the Geth, and the rest were processed without incident. The ringleader was lead off by a squad of security officers that Garrus had summoned while Shepard was busy terrifying the Batarian to death. Once he was away, Shepard, her squad and Garrus all started laughing simultaneously.
"Spirits it's been too long since I've been able to do that." Garrus said, offering a hand to Shepard which she shook.
"I do so love terrorizing assholes." Shepard said.
"Excuse me, ma'am..." A younger Batarian male asked, getting Shepard's attention.
"Yes, what can I do for you?" She said kindly, stooping so she could speak at the child's level.
"Were you serious.. when you said we had to go back to Kar'shan?" He asked, and a pair of Batarian girls she hadn't noticed appeared behind him, both grasping one of his hands. One of them was a toddler, and all three looked terrified.
"Only the bad guys sweetheart, we'd never send innocent refugees back. My job is to protect people like you and your sisters here. You guys have nothing to worry about. Are your parents around?" Shepard asked.
"They were on the first dreadnought, the one that went to what you called Shanxi..." He said, valiantly avoiding crying, but only just.
"Why were you on the Turian dreadnought?" Shepard asked. The boy unconsciously scratched at a nicely healed scar on the side of his head.
"We're sla... we were slaves. They took us to punish our parents for giving up to the Alliance." He said.
"Oh! Well that's probably good news, they're probably already on Earth! Why don't you go and see the nice Quarian lady over there, she'll get you some clean warm clothes and then you can tell her your parents name and what they look like and she'll reach out the refugee center down on the planet? I was one of the ones who cleared the dreadnought, the majority of the slaves made it out safe." Shepard said.
"Thanks!" the boy said rushing forward to hug her, followed by his sisters. She hugged them back and ushered them over to the Quarian woman.
"Great work there Garrus, good to see Ellis is in good hands." Shepard said.
"Thanks for the assist on that. We haven't been seeing a lot of riffraff, though, way less than at the citadel. Most folks looking to visit or immigrate here are grateful for the opportunity. I guess that's the difference between working for a competent government as opposed to a trio of autocratic shit whistles."
"Shit whistles? You sound like you've been hanging out with humans too much." Shepard said, laughing.
"It's hard not to pick up the local slang." Garrus said, chuckling. Shepard and the Normandy crew bid him adieu and boarded a shuttle to Vancouver, where after a quick debrief they were off to enjoy their week of shore leave.
Back in her office, Tevos was panicking. The Alliance knew it was them, specifically her that greenlit the attempted invasion. She was pondering her options, it looked as though if she simply stopped gunning for the Alliance they wouldn't waste resources going after the Council, especially with the Batarians breathing down their necks. However, doing so would earn her the ire of the Salarians, who were pushing the council hard to stop them. There was also the matter of her injured pride. As if summoned by that thought, a Salarian staffer knocked on her door.
"Come in." She said, rubbing her temples.
"Delivery, Councilor." The Salarian said
"If it's another crate, dispose of it like the rest please." She said, exasperated.
"No, this time it's smaller. Looks like a document or something." the Salarian said, handing it to her, then bowing slightly as he left. She opened the packaging to reveal a vid tablet with a companion book entitled 'Pelvic Floor Exercises to Achieve Better Bladder Control.' With an exasperated sigh, she activated the vid and opened the book to the first page.