Chapter 22 - Interrogation

Amelia
September 15th, 2188

"Amelia, come in, come in," Miranda said, giving me a quick hug. I strode into the house Garrus had set up for Miranda, looking around as I did. The interior was very spartan, even more so than that of the demo unit. The walls were bereft of any sort of decoration, leaving the neutral cream-colored paint the only difference of color from the white, tiled floors.

Miranda led me through the atrium into the living room, where the situation was much the same. A purple asari-style sofa sat in one corner, mirrored by a recliner on the opposite wall, added a much-needed splash of color to the otherwise drab room. "Miri, I know I'm not an interior designer or anything…, but this needs work," I said, snickering a little.

"What? What's wrong with it?" Miranda asked, surprised.

"It's… I dunno… a little bland?"

"Hmm, I suppose you're right," Miranda said seriously, before smirking and continuing, "I guess I could have some model ships in here."

I scoffed at her, and she started laughing, "I'll have you know I spent many hours on those ships!" I huffed, crossing my arms indignantly, trying to make it seem like I was offended when I was merely poking fun back at Miranda.

"I know it needs work, but I've never had a house, so I don't know where to begin. I put Oriana in charge of that." Miranda admitted after regaining her cool composure. "So, what's up?"

"Just seeing how you settled in," I said, moving over to sit on the sofa. It had been three weeks since Miranda had come to Palaven, and I hadn't seen her since dinner a few nights after.

"I'm doing good, I think. It feels strange to stay in one place for so long. Even on Earth, we were moving around quite a bit. Oriana seems to have already settled. She's out exploring Cipritine right now." Miranda said, sitting on the recliner.

"Jason called me this morning. I have a potential job for you if you want."

"Please. I'm beginning to get a little stir-crazy."

"Miri! Go out with your sister. I seriously doubt there are any Cerberus agents here. There aren't too many humans, with the radiation and all."

Miranda just waved me off, "I'll be fine. You said something about a job?"

"Yes. Jason just appointed a new ambassador to the Hierarchy for the Alliance, Myles Peyton. You'd be his chief of staff."

"Wow… That sounds perfect. Thank you, Amelia."

"Of course, Miranda," I put a hand on Miri's shoulder, "Now, I should go. I left Garrus home alone with the kids, and if I don't get back soon, he might try to calibrate their diapers or something…." I walked towards the door with the sound of Miranda's laughter following me.

-0-

I walked into the house, noticing Garrus walking down the stairs with a screwdriver in his hand, causing me to stand in the atrium slack-jawed before nearly doubling over in a laugh. Confused, Garrus continued down the stairs towards me. "What?"

I stood again, wiping a tear from my eye, "I made a joke to Miranda that if I didn't get back here soon, I'd find you calibrating their diapers or something, and I walk in, and you're coming down the stairs with a screwdriver."

Garrus laughed, the dual-toned sound warbling a little, "I didn't touch their diapers…. Their crib mobiles, however…." I couldn't help myself, doubling over in a fit of giggles again.

Garrus
September 16th, 2188

I stood in the observation room adjacent to the interrogation room, watching through the one-way glass at Tevos, who was strapped to a simple metal chair. Her hands and legs were secured, and she wore a blindfold and headphones, playing an awful screeching sound. Tears ran down her cheeks, and she was screaming into the void, struggling against her binds. Since she had arrived on Palaven, they had been running this torture in six-hour intervals, stopping just to ask her the same question over and over. Who else was involved?

It'd been a day and a half since Indion had delivered her back to Palaven, and she had yet to give up anything, not speaking when the interrogator removed the blindfold and headset, but everyone broke eventually.

The interrogator walked through the door, standing next to me, silently asking for permission to go into the room. I shook my head, "Do you have a mate, Macenus?" The question was purely a confirmation as the turian male had a very clear bondmark on his right shoulder, peaking out of the collar of his armor undersuit.

"Yes, sir."

"Go home, then," I unclasped my hands from behind my back and waved one towards Tevos, "She can wait until morning."

There was a slight twitch of Macenus's mandible as understanding dawned on him, but his features returned to stone almost immediately, "Yes, sir."

Captain Emmanuelle Sharon

I stood in the CIC of the SSV Belgrade, watching as the ship slipped through the endless blackness of space, cruising towards the mass relay in the Vetus system, headed back to Sol.

"Captain," The navigator called out, "Bogey, stationary, bearing three-four-five, 8,000,000 klicks out."

"How far from the relay?"

"About 400,000 klicks."

I hummed in thought, "Sounds like pirate bait. Scan the system, see if there are any other ships around."

"Nothing on the scope, Sir." The navigator answered back.

"Alright then, we know our mission. Let's go clear it out."

"Strike team, you're a go," I said into the comm.

"Roger, Captain. Strike team is oscar mike." Sergeant Yasin Garney replied. I watched the shuttle carrying the six marine squad fly the last few kilometers to the derelict ship.

Now close enough to see, from the cameras on the shuttle, I observed that the ship was a turian frigate, but I couldn't tell which ship it was. The hull was rent open, exposing the inside to the vacuum of space, making it certain there were no survivors. "What pirates could've done this?" I mused to myself, "Strike team, keep your eyes open. Something doesn't feel right…."

"Aye. The bridge is clear. Running diagnostics and system info on the drive core now."

I pulled up the marine's bodycam feed on my monitor. As he said, he was standing on the bridge using his omnitool to run a system diagnostic on the ship, the supremely dark room illuminated only by Garney's flashlight.

"Cut out the data core," Garney ordered one of his men. His omnitool beeped, and he said, "Okay. There is damage to the drive core; starting up emergency power now."

A few seconds later, the ship whirred to life, dim emergency lights flaring around the CIC. "Power level critical. Life support systems are offline. Primary defense systems are offline. Secondary defense systems are offline." The VI voice said from an overhead speaker.

"Huh…," Garney said, "The railgun has been stripped off, and all the ammo for the javelin batteries has been removed. I don't like this, Captain."

"Agreed. Get back to the Belgrade now."

"Captain! Six bogeys just appeared on the scopes, 80,000 klicks, and closing!" The navigator yelled.

"Captain, we've been target locked!" Another crewman yelled, "Missiles fired! Impact in ten seconds."

"Evasive maneuvers!" I shouted. A few seconds later, the ship was rocked hard by multiple missile impacts. "Fire missiles, full spread. Take down anything you can!"

I reopened the commlink to the marine squad, "Captain! What is going on!?"

"Garney! Get out of here. Get back to Earth. Tell them what happened!"

There was a moment of silence from the other end of her comm, "... Aye."

Another wave of missiles impacted the ship, rocking the hull once more and causing the lights to flicker and die. Emergency lights flickered on, following the Belarus's VI, "Drive Core damaged, shutting down…." A few seconds later, there was a blinding light, and then everything went dark.

Garrus
September 17th, 2188

I awoke to the pinging and vibrating of my omnitool, alerting me to a new message. I sat up, rubbing the pad of my thumb against my eye, rubbing away the grogginess. I activated my omnitool, reading the message. "She says she is ready to talk. - Macenus"

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Amelia grumble and turn away from the soft orange glow illuminating our room. I leaned over, pecking the side of her ear and whispering, "I have to go. I'll be back in the morning." I quickly got dressed and walked out into the cool night air.

Lavus was waiting outside near his aircar, standing with the door to the back seat open, ready to drive. I greeted the man warmly but sighed as I sat down. Ever since the attempt on my life, the Conclave of Praetorians had insisted on me having protection around any time I wasn't home. I resisted, telling them that it had been my job to be shot at for nearly the last two decades, but they pushed, eventually wearing me down enough to capitulate. I had hoped the issue would be dropped when we captured Tevos, but no such luck yet.

I had nothing against Lavus. On the contrary, I had nothing but good to say about the man, but I still didn't like to be escorted anywhere. It grated at my plates. It made me uncomfortable.

I was deep enough in thought that I didn't realize we had arrived until Lavus opened my door from the outside. Thanking the man, I got out and walked inside, striding down the corridor of the military prison.

Macenus greeted me as I entered the observation room, "Good morning, Sir." Macenus tried to mask the drowsiness in his voice, but I could tell he was just as tired as I was.

"Good morning, Macenus. Did I miss anything?"

"No, Sir. She said she would only talk to you." I hummed in thought for a moment, staring at the asari. She was still restrained, but the mask and headset had been removed. Her head was lolled to the side, and I could see the sign of perspiration across her azure skin.

Without another word, I moved forward and opened the door, walking inside the interrogation room. Macenus followed behind me, standing at the door while I sat down in the chair across from Tevos. The asari looked aghast, her tone a more pale blue than usual. Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.

I stared unblinkingly at her, my eyes showing no pity or remorse for her situation, waiting for her to speak. Tevos couldn't hold my vision, looking down and away. "If I tell you, what assurances do I have?" She croaked out, her voice barely a whisper.

"The only assurance you have is what will happen if you don't talk," I said, my voice even and my stoic face showing no sign of any emotion. I stared at the broken asari, waiting for her to crumble under the weight of it, "I don't believe for a moment that you attempted to have me assassinated. I know you were just some pawn in a larger plan. What I want to know is who, and why."

Tevos let out a shaky sigh, "The plan was to start a war between the Alliance and the Hierarchy."

"What? How?" I questioned, noticing Macenus standing from his relaxed position against the door.

"Kaora T'raoius killed a human, Joel Abbot, who worked for Alliance Intelligence as a deep-cover operative. DNA was left alongside the rifle used to shoot you, along with a paper trail that led directly back to Prime Minister Stone."

"To what end? Power? I can't believe that you are vain enough to want to kill billions just to retake power." I allowed some anger to slip through my mask, "Who orchestrated it?"

"Aria T'Loak."