A/N
Hello readers, old and new! It's been a pretty rubbish month for my family. It started alright with a family trip. Then there were three family deaths in the space of a week. A suicide, an old person and a mysterious circumstances death. My family has been pretty shaken up by it all. I am still writing though and sticking to schedule, so don't worry on that front. Please just be understanding if delays come up. The first of the funerals is this week.
Anyway, here is the next update of this story. I am glad that so many of you like the interactions with the MC and Shepard/crew. I enjoy getting the reviews you send; it helps me feel better with everything.
Sorry for spilling my family stuff. I wouldn't usually, but you come here for my stories so if there is a delay in giving them to you, I want you to know there are actual reasons for it.
The next update is already on pat-re-on. If you wish to see it now, along with some other content and original stories, look me up. Bored Peasant's Written Works. The 'wildcard' stories will be updated according to a poll that will be taken every month. Need to be on pat-re-on to vote.
Anyway, on with the story!
…
CHAPTER 34 – CITADEL AND NOVERIA
"So, what's the verdict, Doc?" I asked as I stepped in to the Medical Bay.
Torrin had been spending more time in the Medical Bay since he hopped on the Normandy than the last few months combined on the Balrog. After our brief chat following the Therum mission debrief, I had been concerned about what was going on with his biotic amp. Luckily, Doctor Chakwas was qualified to practice on turian physiology and not just humans, so it was reassuring that Torrin was in good hands. Maybe not as good as if it was Liserias, but good enough for now.
So when I was called in to discuss the medical issues that Torrin was facing, I also knew that I wasn't going to be jerked around. She would say it straight or she didn't know.
"Mr Nielson," the doctor acknowledged from her position next to Torrin's med bed. "Thank you for coming so quickly."
"Of course, Doc," I said breezily. "It concerns my friend. Obviously I would come as soon as I could."
"You are very unconcerned for someone who was dragged into a medical centre for a friend of yours," Chakwas noted with a frown.
I gave her a lopsided smile. "Well, I know enough to know that he isn't going to die immediately and he is healthy enough to not appreciate talking about him like this if he is in the room." I nodded my head towards a frowning turian.
Doctor Chakwas pursed her lips but nodded. "Very well." She turned on a holographic display, showing us scans of Torrin's head. "As you know, Torrin has been complaining of headaches and localised sensitivity in the region around his biotic amp. The scans show that there is a small amount of leaking from the amp that is affecting the tissues nearby.
"The specific problem is what we can see here," Doctor Chakwas continued, pointing out a section of the brain tissue closer to the stem. "The feedback from young Torrin's biotic amp is damaging the tissue in his brain. The more that he draws on his biotic abilities, the faster the brain tissue will degrade. At this rate, it won't take long before the damage is irreversible."
We stayed silent while we digested the information. I watched Torrin to see how he was affected by the news. The stiff mandibles, and the way his fists were tightly clenched, told me that he wasn't ok.
"What is the way forward?" I asked softly, levity left behind.
"We are fortunate that we caught this before it went any further," Dr Chakwas said, moving to her terminal. "The first thing is to immediately cease using your biotics," she told Torrin. "You will also need to change your biotic amp to one that will work for you much better than your current one. Then you will need to begin a rehabilitation program to repair the dying tissue in your brain."
Torrin swallowed. "How long will it take for me to be back on missions?" he asked, sounding desperate.
"That ultimately depends on how long it takes for a new amp to be integrated," Chakwas replied. "But that is the only dangerous part of the treatment. The rehabilitation is not difficult or dangerous, it's just time consuming. But with the current level of degraded tissue, I would estimate that it will be a month before you are able to return to full duties. As long as you don't make things worse before then by using your biotics," she finished with a stern look at Torrin.
Torrin gave a sigh of relief and I reached over and patted him on the shoulder. It may not be as obvious to people who were unfamiliar with Torrin, but I could he was a lot more stressed and concerned than he was letting on. "Can you do that here or does he need somewhere more specialised?" I asked the doctor.
"I could start the rehabilitation here," Chakwas said after a moment's consideration. "Unfortunately, I can't replace the amp and the further stages of rehabilitation will need more specialised equipment than I currently possess here. This is a warship and this medical bay is designed for combat injuries and minor diseases. Something delicate like brain work will need a better facility than this."
I nodded and exchanged a look with him, before I gestured to let him know that it was his choice.
"I'll begin the treatment now," Torrin said. "When we get to the Citadel, I can check in to a hospital and get myself sorted. Liserias can organise a turian-specific amp. If not, maybe we can have someone make one?" he addressed that last question to me.
I shrugged, having no idea whether or not there was anyone in my company that was a specialist in amps. "We can ask around," I said. "If we don't have anyone, we can always commission it from one of the major companies."
"Well then, it's settled," the good doctor declared, shutting down her display. "Until such time as the treatment is completed, young Torrin will be off the mission roster and will disembark the Normandy next time we return to the Citadel so that he can receive the proper treatment. Until then, you are to attend my office daily so we can do the preliminary treatment schedule. Understood?" It wasn't really a question, but we nodded anyway.
"Splendid. Torrin, if you stay, we can start now," Chakwas continued. "Mr Nielson, I am going to have to ask you to leave."
"Sure," I said, moving towards the door. "I'll see you later to talk logistics, Torrin." I stopped and gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm not letting my little brother suffer if I can help it."
Torrin inhaled sharply, then gave me a tight smile and nodded.
With that done, I headed out the door, determined to make a call to Liserias as soon as I hit my workstation. Because damned if I wasn't a man of my word.
…
The front door exploded in a shower of wood and metal fragments, leaving Halak to shiver in anticipation from the screams of the children inside. He sent the first two of his men, forgettable mooks who were convenient cannon fodder in case someone in the building had weapons training and the guns to make use of it.
Sure enough, shortly after the two no-names pushed through the front door, gunfire from the receptionist hammered over them, dropping the shields of one and hitting him a few times. The other mook dived back out the door, his shields flashing as a few stray shots splashed him.
"What are you doing?" Halak barked at the mook. "Get back in there before the gets the rats out of there!"
The mook looked at him stupidly, before he reached for a disc from his vest. Balaam quickly reached out and stopped him.
"The hells are you doing?" he growled. "Do that and you'll kill our targets. We can't make money from corpses." He pushed the mook away roughly. The mook grumbled but put the grenade away. Halak picked a flashbang from his belt and chucked it through the doorway. A few seconds later the flashbang exploded with a muffled thump.
The mook threw a look at him before he ran back through the door with a growl. Halak followed him and fired a burst at the desk where the asari whore was hiding earlier. He didn't want to kill her if possible. She would make him plenty of money if he could get her too.
A blue glow came from behind the desk, a sure sign that the whore was flaring her biotics. He fired a few shots into the desk, feeling annoyed. It looked like he wasn't going to get asari money after all.
A burst hit his shields from the left, making them sputter. He jerked his weapon that way to see a turian woman aiming a submachine gun at them. He growled and fired back at her, only to see a shield flicker up as she ducked behind a doorway.
He looked over at the mook, only to see the useless moron had been hit by a Singularity from the asari whore and was bobbing uselessly in the circle of zero gravity. He growled, feeling an urge to shoot the worthless mook and focussed on the turian, fired a burst into the doorway to keep her from sticking her head out.
"Boss, we are coming in from behind you," Laratek barked over the comm. He grunted an acknowledgement, too busy dodging a biotic throw to reply properly. A burst of assault rifle came from behind him, shredding up the asari's desk more. Halak felt a little relived, now that he could focus on the turian. A shotgun blast hit a moment later, tearing out a large chunk.
"Malaea!" a voice shouted from the doorway Halak was aiming at. "Barrier!"
The asari whore clearly knew what was being said because a moment later, a strong biotic barrier flared to life around the asari, blocking the shots from the four batarians shooting at her.
"Focus fire!" Halak barked. "Bonus to the one who kills her!"
The other three batarians all turned their weapons to the asari and held down on their triggers until the weapons all started blaring over heating warnings. The barrier flickered with each shot but the blasted thing held until the asari made it to the doorway. The turian kept firing shots through the doorway, making it impossible to stop the blue alien.
Halak cursed. Of course the whores had military training. They couldn't make it easy for him. "Move forward!" he barked. "We need to move faster!" Who knows how long it would take CSEC to discover their ruse.
The mook, recovered now from his zero-gravity trip in the Singularity, scowled at him and moved forward, firing a shotgun as he marched towards the doorway. A burst of submachine gun fire had him jump towards the desk the asari had hid behind.
"Enough of this!" Halak shouted over the noise. "Rush them! We need to get this finished!"
Laratek and his mook jumped up and both charged into the doorway, followed by Halak's mook coming around from the broken desk, charging behind the two…
Only to smash into another biotic barrier the asari whore had thrown up in the doorway.
"Back up and shoot the barrier!" Halak bellowed in frustration. This was taking far too long. They had been fighting for nearly five minutes now and thye still had to get the kids and drag them out. He just hoped that the rest of the group got here with the getaway cargo speeder soon.
The quartet opened up on the barrier, firing at it as the biotic shield visibly weakened. The weapons all beeped their overheating warnings. As one, they stopped shooting assault weapons, but this time, Halak drew his pistol to keep firing at the barrier while the rifles cooled. Laratek did the same but the two mooks just stood there looking stupid.
The barrier kept flickering slowly as the shots kept pinging into it. Halak was confident that another volley from the assault rifles would punch right through it.
Sure enough, the weapons were ready to go again. Halak holstered his pistol and, as one, the group aimed their assault rifles at the fading barrier.
The explosion caught them all by surprise.
Halak was blown off his feet and blasted into the wall to his left. The mooks who were both closer to the reception desk vanished in the flames of the explosion. Laratek had a piece of steel bar coming out of his helmet. Even in his dazed state, Halak knew his number two wasn't getting up.
He climbed unsteadily to his feet, looking for his guns to fight this new threat. His assault rifle was lying in the doorway the whores had retreated to. Foggy mind made up; he took a step towards it…
Then froze. He couldn't move, even if he wanted to, as he was surrounded by a blue glow that prevented him from moving a muscle. He strained against the biotic stasis, to no avail, his muscles flexing and bulging but ultimately impotent. He felt the briefest moment of panic before anger to over, refusing to believe he had been captured again.
"Go to the children," a smooth, feminine voice behind him spoke up. "They will need to be comforted."
The asari and the turian caretakers had appeared from the damaged doorway where his weapon lay. The asari nodded and left, leading the turian with her.
Halak fought against the stasis holding him in place but it was useless. He hated fighting against asari that used that attack. It figured that someone at this duct rat farm was able to use it
A tall, purple asari strode confidently into his line of sight.
"So," she purred as she walked towards him, glowing from her use of biotics, "you're the filth that thought you could get away with attacking an orphanage under our protection. What was the plan? A little slave run, steal some homeless children and get away to make some coin?"
She moved closer and raised a hand to his cheek, only prevented from physical contact by the barrier that came naturally with stasis attacks. Halak could only glared impotently at her, unable to spit on her like he so desperately wanted to do. He knew the outside team would be here real soon. He just had to be patient.
"How unfortunate," she mock-pouted. "You see, not every child here is actually homeless. In fact, the owner of this orphanage adopted his daughter from the ducts. Unfortunately, he has so many things on his plate, mostly killing slaving scum throughout the Terminus, that it just isn't the ideal scenario for his daughter to witness. So, she lives here, in this very orphanage."
Halak could only growl, being unable to open his mouth at all, at the asari whore. He knew that stasis attacks didn't last forever. This one surely had to be finished soon. Then he could put her on her knees and show her her place in the pecking order!
"Because of that, and because he is involved in hunting filth, just like yourself," the asari continued, "he decided that he was going to up the security at his orphanage so that if someone was stupid enough to attack, then his people would be able to respond before anyone was hurt. He doesn't trust CSEC to do the job, you see?"
The asari took a step back and her biotics flashed again, surrounding Halak in a fresh blue glow. He could only growl again impotently, realising that the whore had renewed the stasis before it could fade, restarting the time before it went off. He couldn't wait for his reinforcements to come
"You done here?" a heavy, raspy voice said behind him. "We got all the others outside. Idiots had a full team for extraction and diversion. We got them all."
Halak blinked. He hadn't even heard a krogan anywhere nearby. How by the Pillars did one get right behind him without him hearing it?
The asari aimed a smile at the krogan behind him. "That's wonderful, darling," she said, watching as the krogan stepped into Halak's vision. The whore wrapped her arms around the krogan, not caring about the blood that was dripping from it. "I was just waiting for you to get here so that you could take charge of this pathetic worm."
Rage bubbled up in his throat but Halak still couldn't do anything. But then, with a krogan here, even if he got free, he doubted that he would be able to do anything about it now.
"Right," the krogan rumbled, staring at Halak. "I guess that there is only one appropriate response for this."
The asari blinked before looking at the krogan in surprise. "Blood Eagle?"
The krogan nodded. "Blood Eagle. He did attack Brock's daughter, and the other kids. Brock would expect any attack on his family to be taken seriously."
Halak had no idea what they were talking about, but he couldn't help a trickle of fear pass down his spine and a droplet of sweat ran down his neck.
"Oh, I agree," the asari said conversationally, as if they were talking about a night at the vids. "It's just been so long since we have done one, I tend to forget that it is an option. Mostly you just shoot them."
The krogan grunted in agreement. "Yep," he nodded at the asari, as she glowed blue again, reinforcing the stasis one more time. "But we haven't had a direct attack against the orphanage before. That calls for something extra."
"Understood darling," the asari replied. "Now the only question is who is going to do… you want to do it, don't you dear?" She finished in an amused tone as the krogan somehow looked sheepish, to Halak's disbelief.
"… kinda," the large alien admitted. "Brock did the last one. I thought I could give it a go."
Halak just stared deadpanned at the conversation taking place in front of him, almost unable to process that these freaks who had beaten his men and taken him prisoner were talking as if they had forgotten he was here. He had never been so dismissed before.
He felt offended.
As if the purple alien could read his thoughts without a meld, the whore turned to face him. "I'm sure that nothing we just said will make sense to you, yet," she said with a condescending smile that made Halak grit his teeth. "Just know, that it will make sense very soon." Her smile turned sinister. "And you will wish for death a thousand times over before it happens."
Something in that tone stripped Halak of his bravado and the harsh chuckles of the krogan promised only pain.
…
Garrus was sitting down having possibly the most delicious tal'ta'a, a turian seafood dish from Digeris served with roasted spices and saltwater greens, he had ever had in his life and was keen to enjoy it in peace. He savoured the flavours that exploded on his tongue and he had to stop himself from making any audible sounds of delight. That just wouldn't do for his tough cop image!
Around the room were several other crew members that were busy enjoying their own meals. While he couldn't eat the levo-based foods without getting an upset stomach, he could imagine that the foods tasted much better than the standard Navy fare that would normally be provided on a ship like this.
Shepard was sitting across the table from himself, eating some sort of meat dish, having a conversation with Williams, who was sitting next to the Spectre eating her own meal; some sort of vegetable-based dish, going by the leaf matter sitting on it. Wrex was standing next to the weapons lockers, eating a large amount of meat off the bone. The big krogan was surprisingly dainty about it. Not a single drop of sauce, or the tiniest scrap of meat fell to the floor.
The young turian companion of his newest friend and friendly rival was sitting next to Garrus, enjoying his own meal, grilled halvak tail, if Garrus was any judge, with Tali sitting next to him, sipping on a dextro food pouch.
The faint hiss of the elevator let him know that that someone had just arrived from the garage. Sure enough, Brock came around the corner.
Garrus frowned. He was a detective, and damned good at it if he did say so himself, so he was experienced at reading body language in all races. Right now, Brock was tense as all hell, but putting on a false bravado and trying to seem normal. Something was wrong, but he was trying to seem in control. For everyone else though or for himself, Garrus didn't know yet. The human could just be refusing to show weakness or he could be trying to hold it all together because if he let go, he would collapse. He needed more information to solve this riddle.
"Spectre, good, you're here," Brock said jovially, striding over to the table. "I am going to ask a favour if possible. Once we get done with Noveria and Feros, I need to head back to the Citadel pretty quickly. Something has come up and I find that it is time sensitive and while I would prefer to get back today, I did make the commitment to be here for this mission and we have set goals that I will abide by, but once we have the chance, I really do need to head back to the Citadel."
Shepard considered for a moment. "It should be feasible," she said. "Anything we need to be concerned about?"
"Nah," Brock said, waving a hand dismissively. If Garrus didn't know any better, he would have thought his friend was genuine, but he did know better. Something was very much bothering the human right now. "I had some things come up and I need to sort it out. You know, shake hands, sign contracts, kiss babies. Things the rich people do."
"Ugh," Williams grunted in disgust. "Like you would know anything about children, Rich Boy. I feel pity for any child that you spawn on some unfortunate woman. I think I would probably just kill myself if I found out you were my father."
Brock's face twitched and his face hardened to dangerous levels for tiny moment, before it smoothed out to a dangerous smile. Looked to Garrus like there was history there that he didn't know.
"Spectre Shepard," Brock said, not looking away from Williams for an instant. "Before the conclusion of our mission on Noveria, I expect a full, grovelling, apology from Gunnery Chief Williams. I also expect a note from her mother apologising for failing to beat the idiocy out of her daughter. If this is not done before we hit lightspeed out of Noveria, I will pull all funding for this mission instantly. All promised equipment will be cancelled, all stores' orders will be rescinded, and I will be off this ship the instant it hits a port large enough to take an escape pod. Do I make myself clear?"
Garrus looked over at the Spectre, who looked a little caught off guard. "Uh, sure?" she replied uncertainly. That certainly seemed like an overreaction to Garrus. Probably something to do with the history that he doesn't know.
Without further comment, Brock left, heading for the elevator, leaving behind a quiet and confused group who were staring after him, as well as an outraged Gunnery Chief.
The silence was broken when Torrin snorted, the younger turian shaking his head at the human soldier.
"You're really an idiot, aren't you?" the turian asked rhetorically. "Brock had a kid once. A little boy that was murdered. I had hoped that you weren't just an absolute moron but I guess it was too much to think you couldn't possibly be both racist and a despicable person to your fellow humans. Have fun knowing that you will most likely die alone, unloved, unremarked and easily forgotten."
With that Torrin made his way into the Med Bay, leaving an awkward silence hanging in the mess.
Garrus stared at Williams, the soldier looking stricken at the information that the younger turian had given them, as well as slightly offended by his insults. Well, depressing as it is, he had more information that he needed to figure out why Nielson had come into the common area as tense as he had. Something to do with kids, clearly.
He turned his eyes to face Shepard. The human Spectre was watching the door of the Med Bay close behind Torrin, her expression slightly crestfallen. Then her face firmed up and she glared at Williams. The enlisted soldier straightened to attention out of reflex.
"Williams, my quarters," Shepard barked. "Now!"
"Sir!" Williams almost ran at the order, heading straight to the door that was led into the Spectre's cabin. The crew watched awkwardly as Shepard stalked after the soldier.
Everyone else in the room looked at each other uncertainly before they started to peel off to whatever duty they felt they had. Garrus considered for a moment, before he noticed the light on the door went red, indicating it was locked.
Well, if that wasn't an invitation for a detective, Garrus didn't know what was.
Mind made up, he walked quietly over to stand next to the door to see if could hear anything. The sound was muffled through the door, just enough for him not to hear properly. Not that he was put off by that. He opened up his omnitool and activated a CSEC-only program, designed to enhance sound. It was incredibly useful for listening to conversations through doors and walls. He turned the sound so it went to him only and aimed the omnitool at the door.
"… didn't know he had a dead kid, sir!" Williams' voice came through faint but clear enough. "How was I supposed to know he would react like that?"
"It doesn't matter Williams," Shepard snapped back. "We need his funding, his expertise and his support. And frankly, I need it a hell of a lot more than a racist soldier who causes friction in a team half-filled with aliens and can't keep her mouth shut because she has a chip on her shoulder."
There was a pause and Garrus had to refrain from smiling at the prejudiced soldier being brought to task. Williams hadn't said anything to him but he had noticed the way she would glare at him when she thought he wasn't looking. Too bad she didn't realise that a detective could see from the back of his head.
"You did fine on Eden Prime, Gunnery Chief Sergeant," Shepard continued, her tone becoming formal. "But if you can't work with this team then I can't use you. So, I will ask only this once; can you pull your head out of your ass and work together on this team?"
There was another long pause before the sound of someone exhaling came through the speaker. "Yes, Commander," Williams said, her voice sounding like it was grumbling through the speaker.
"Spectre," Shepard rebutted. "Commander might work in Alliance space but you need to practice calling me Spectre for the wider galaxy."
Well, wasn't that a surprise. The Spectre was learning.
"Yes… Spectre," Williams sounded slightly hesitant.
"Good," Shepard stated. "If you want to stay on this ship, you had better practice your grovelling. I would also suggest you contact your mother and get her to send something to forward on to Nielson. I don't want to take the risk he is joking, and Alliance or not, I need him a lot more than I need you right now."
There was a pause before Williams gave another affirmative response. Garrus took his cue and deactivated the spy program and moved away from the door.
Time to go help a friend. And, you know, solve a mystery.
…
The Normandy coasted into its holding bay and came to a stop. The small group at the airlock waiting to disembark consisted of Shepard, Liara, Wrex, Alenko and myself. It was a larger team than usually but there were still plenty of people available and it's not like there was going to be a fight in the first couple of minutes. With the Normandy docked in the station it meant that we could have the whole team groundside in moments if needed.
We stepped out into the freezing temperatures of the Noveria landing dock. I was not wearing my armour this time, having chosen to dress up in my expensive work suit, along with a warm heavy coat that matched it perfectly, because Persei would have killed me if I looked bad in the clothes she organised for me to have. That woman seemed to love running my life.
The others were all in armour, even Liara, who was wearing her armour that she had been able to collect from Therum before we left. It was the same white set that she wore in the games. And if it nicely emphasised her boobs and butt, well, who was I to say it was wrong?
We trudged through the snow to enter the quarantine area, when we saw the highly expected, to me anyway, members of the local security thuggery waiting for us at the entrance. I took the lead, seeing as it would make more sense if a businessman was to make a move here than a government agent.
"Hold it right there," the one in the middle, a dark-haired Asian woman, said as we approached. One of the female guards was holding her weapon in her hands in a clear threat to us. I had a feeling I knew who she was from the games. The dirty cop. Too bad for her I knew that already. I felt the urge to groan. I couldn't be bothered to deal with idiots right now, not when Klara and the orphanage had been attacked. I just wanted to get this done and get back to the Citadel.
I huffed and pushed those concerns to the back of my mind. I had a part to play here and damned if I wasn't going to do it right.
I stopped a few meters short of the security team, Shepard moved up to stand next to me. "Can we help you?" she asked.
"This is an unscheduled arrival," the leader said. "I need to see your credentials."
I took another step forward and activated my omnitool. "I'm Brock Nielson, shareholder and new board member," I said highlighting the information and flicking it over to the woman's omnitool. "This is Spectre Shepard and my security team. They're with me."
Shepard frowned at me quizzically. I shrugged back. "It seemed easier."
The woman looked at the information that I sent to her. "This checks out for you," she declared.
"I think they're full of crap, ma'am," the woman on the far right said roughly. "There is no such thing as a human Spectre."
I looked over at her. "Did Anoleis pay you to think that?" I snarked. She flushed angrily but was cut off from speaking by the leader.
"That's enough," she said. "I am Captain Maeko Matsuo from Elanus Risk Control Services. We are in charge of security here."
"I know who you are," I said, not letting Shepard speak, much to the redhead's frustration. "I also know that you are delaying me from moving forward to interview Anoleis myself, as is my right as a board member. You will either move or be moved."
Behind me, I could hear Wrex pull his shotgun off his back with an amused grunt.
Matsuo gulped for a moment while the angry one snarled and tightened her grip on the assault rifle she was carrying. "I'm afraid that weapons are not allowed on Noveria," she said. "If you will please give them to Sergeant Stirling so that she may secure her weapons."
The dirty cop stepped forward with an eager, feral grin on her face. Shepard immediately drew her pistol and took aim at the captain. From the corner of my eye came the blue glow of biotics, telling me that at least Liara was charging up. I don't think Wrex was but even without looking around I could tell that the big alien was aiming his shotgun at them.
"Yeah," Shepard drawled. "That's not going to happen. Spectre's rights and all."
"I also know that as a board member, I can have my own security team armed with their own weapons at all times on Noveria," I said, wishing I could just shoot them and move on. I was getting bored with dealing with idiots and this whole thing was just ruining my calm. I also wish I was able to be in my armour, but it would ruin the image that I had been trying to go for. The image I was going for was also the reason I didn't draw my holdout pistol hidden in my coat.
Next time, I was considering just letting Shepard go straight into soldier mode.
"Furthermore," I continued before anyone could respond, "I know for a fact that you allowed Matriarch Benezia, a person of interest in a case of treason against the Citadel come through with a fully armoured commando team. So, unless you want me push for the removal of Elanus contract at the next board meeting, as well as the removal of every non-board administrator on this ball of ice, you are going to back up, apologise, and let us on our way unmolested."
I looked at Shepard, who was staring back at me. I gestured with my head towards the security group but she just looked back at me stumped. I couldn't help release a sigh.
"Of course, seeing as you allowed a suspected traitor to pass through here, when I know for a fact that Matriach Benezia has an alert out for her to be detained for questioning," I said, feeling annoyed that Shepard was not able to get my message, "which is why the good Spectre is here as well, it would also mean that she could begin an investigation into you or just arrest you as a potential accessory to treason in association with Benezia or even on the attack on Eden Prime. So, choose quickly on your course of action."
I could feel Shepard gritting her teeth as she looked back at Matsuo, though I wasn't sure if it was annoyance at me, herself or even just having period cramps. Probably me though. I seemed to be good at getting under her skin.
Good for me.
Still, the threat made with Elanus team tense as they began to realise the situation they found themselves in. Stirling seemed to be ready to begin a firefight just because she adjusted her grip once more, her assault rifle slowly moving upwards to take aim at our group.
"That's enough!" a voice boomed out from the intercom speakers. "Mr Nielson is correct, Captain Matsuo. Board member rights means he is allowed to bring his own security team onto the base and Spectre Shepard's clearance has been confirmed. They can come through."
The tension that was building up in the docking bay finally seemed to burst and everyone on both sides slowly lowered their weapons.
"You are clear to go," Captain Matsuo said stiffly, clearly unhappy with how things worked out. "I hope you time here will be less problematic."
I gave her a bittersweet smile, in no mood for her pathetic posturing. "That depends on you," I said, stepping towards her and moving into her personal space. "If I have problems from any of your staff again, I will assume that a hostile takeover is being attempted and put a bullet in the head of every Elanus personnel that doesn't surrender immediately." My smile twisted into a sarcastic grin. "Good talk."
We stepped past them and moved into the reception area. I leaned into the good Spectre. "Did I overstep?" I asked softly. She was the type to care about that sort of thing.
She side-eyed me for a moment before she sighed but kept walking forward all the same. "Maybe a little," she replied quietly. "But I just keep forgetting how much authority and privilege I have as a Spectre. I really need a mentor or something. No offence, but I shouldn't really be learning my job from a businessman who is also a vigilante mercenary."
I gave an amused huff, never having thought of it that way before. "None taken," I grinned. "But in a perfect life, we wouldn't be needed and everyone would fart cinnamon and burp rainbows. We deal with the hand we have and move forward. If anyone can help out, regardless of their position, and they are actually helping, then why would anyone not accept the help instead of treading around half blind?"
I straightened up and put on my best winning smile as we made our way to face the hidden Internal Affairs officer standing in front of us. "Well, Spectre," I declared loudly, "it's time for us to meet a worm in salarian clothing."
That said, I strode further into the facility.
…
A/N Please Review and Follow/Favourite as you please.
So interesting stuff in this chapter. More crew interactions and now Brock pushing the mission, and Shepard, along.
As I said, next chapter is already available on pat-re-on and the one after that will hopefully be ready soon. Look me up there for early updates.
Special thanks to Ranger, BuzzGrave, FallenMetalGod and Ezoz for their support.