AN: This is an idea for another ME story - no crossover this time. What if the Council was actually reasonably competent and busy trying to keep the peace and stability that ensured the galaxy prospered ever since the end of the Krogan Rebellions. While Shepard will be special and will have a place to shine, this won't be a HFY story, more of the Turians and Council Fuck Yeah!

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

Die for the Cause

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Prologue: Case Black

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Part 2

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21.04.2183 GS /Galactic Standard/

Spectre Offices

Citadel Tower

The Citadel

The inner sanctum of the Spectre Office on the Citadel was aptly named – despite what popular media and the general populace believed, it in fact resembled a high tech office. Desks, complete with the best workstations and security money could buy, secure file cabinets and data storage that would make the STG proud, access to raw data and intelligence from all over the galaxy… and more often than not the Spectres used the power at their fingertips to solve mundane problems.

A fine example was Jondum Bau's second case after being initiated into the Spectres – one of the companies responsible for supplying and maintaining the Citadel fleet had been skimming off the top. That bit of corruption got both the Matriarch in charge of the Destiny Ascension, her Turian counterpart commanding the largest part of the fleet and the Salarian Rear Admiral rounding up the small triumvirate responsible for space defence royally pissed off and aimed in the same direction, a feat in itself. Soon enough their displeasure got the attention of the Council and thus Bau received a new case. As a consequence, he spent the last week all but welded to his desk going over copious amounts of data gathered by C-SEC, STG and couple of fellow bored Spectres. Once he was done, Jondum was pretty sure a major corporation or what was left of it after the dust settled and all the arrests and trials were over would be eaten by its competitors. Perhaps a bit of investment for a dry day might be in order?

"Jondum my friend!" The entrance door slid open with its characteristic whine meant to announce an arrival and Tela Vasir of all people came in like a too cheerfull a hurricane.

Bau pushed away from his desk and swing his rotating chair to face the rampaging Asari.

"We most certainly aren't friends, Vasir." He grumbled.

"Nah, your' my new best buddy! Come one, Council orders, we've got a few windbags to bag!" Vasir was too cheerful for comfort. What did she do this time?!

"Details!" Bau grumbled. He didn't need to look around to figure out that they had the undivided attention of the other five Spectres who were in the office space.

"As I said, a few of the old fossils back on Thesia apparently have their tentacles waist deep in the mess you're dealing with. They either tried to bribe or blackmail Tevos and she wasn't pleased so she's sicking us on them too!" Vasir actually bounced during that declaration. It was a public secret that certain Matriarchs within the Republics had various expectations both from the Asari Spectres and their Councillor, the kind that technically could be considered treason at the best of times. Spectre rumour had it that Tevos had been bashing heads with those for centuries now with mixed success.

"Come on! We've got work to do!" Vasir bounced again. She was excited enough to act like a maiden too, so this had to be the real deal.

"I'm coming." Bau grumbled and secured his station before following the sickeningly excited Asari to the armoury.

Once inside and alone, Vasir locked down the place and used her omni-tool to activate her electronic counter-measures and gestured him to do the same.

"This is more serious than Asari Matriarch being their unsufferable selves?" Bau focused his attention on Vasir's expression. The moment the counter-measures went into effect her excitement died a sudden and unlamented death.

"Nihlus is dead. The humans claim it was Saren who shot him and led the Geth attack on Eden Prime. The frigate that was supposed to haul him and the beacon here is on its way with the survivors from the ground team sent to recover it and what preliminary evidence they gathered. They'll be granted a meeting with the Council on arrival so we have about eighteen hours to figure out if Saren' let his hatred to humanity get the better of him. C-SEC will provide political smoke screen and we along with STG are doing the real work."

Bau blinked rapidly in shock while processing the news. It was obvious why Vasir lied – if Saren was dirty… "I'm the newest Spectre, least likely to be compromised by Saren if he's gone rogue." Jondum nodded.

"First, we're checking where he has been, where he is supposed to be and as Sparatus of all people suggested – if he had went to or near the monitoring stations watching the Perseus Veil."

"That Geth fleet had to come from somewhere and the first warning we got was the news after the attack was over." Bau frowned. "They either uncovered a new route that allowed them to reach human space, infiltrated and neutralized our outposts meant to warn us..."

"Or someone, like a possible rogue Spectre made sure there was a hole in the gird for at least long enough that their fleet could slip through."

"I'll go over his known movements. If he's rogue and planned things well, we might be unable to uncover conclusive evidence fast enough. Eighteen hours?" Bau's frown deepened. "If he has Geth support, any and all electronic records about him questionable…" He began to mutter to himself while going over scenarios and ways to expose anything irregular.

"Good, you're on the ball. I'm going dark for a few hours to meet certain contacts." She handed him a small data drive. "If I go missing or turn up dead, open this. You'll be able to figure out how."

"Those rumours about the Broker are true then?" Jondum refocused his attention upon his colleague.

"It has been a mutually beneficial relationship so far. Tevos at least is aware and I'm pretty sure Valern knows all about it too. They haven't asked me to go after the Broker so far."

"It has too much blackmail to release if dead or captured to make it potentially not worth it as long as their operations aren't too much of a disruption." Bau concluded.

"The moment that changes, well..." Vasir shrugged. She certainly wasn't going against the Council and the other Spectres over the Broker, especially if it acted up first. "I'm aware Saren had dealing with the Broker before so it might know something of value."

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Part 3

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21.04.2183 GS /Galactic Standard/

Rapid transit station K-21

Zakera Ward

The Citadel

Vasir glided through the crowds giving the impression of being just one more haughty Matron among many. Her outfit – an expensive not quite formal dress but not the height of fashion, the way she walked and carried herself – there was no trace of the experienced and deadly Huntress in the sensual swing of her hips nor in the way she carried herself. It took Tela decades to be able to competently hide her true nature in plain sight. As always it was frustrating, especially the way the holster, gun and blade along her inner tights chaffed, yet at that moment even a sophisticated biometric recognition program would have had a hard time picking her up within the crowd. True, the light skin-kissing mask that altered her features just enough helped too. Perhaps Vasir was paranoid, however even if she was far from convinced in Saren's guilt, given his close association with the Broker and long career as a Spectre, taking any chances would be foolish.

Tela slid into a nearby side alley once she had eyes on the closest rapid transit station, checked up to see if anyone followed her and once she was convinced the only living thing nearby was a Keeper slowly shuffling towards the far end of the alley, she activated a scrambler that would ensure a bit of privacy and called Barla Von – one of the top Broker agent's on the Citadel and her first stop in the quest for information.

"hsssk… Barla Von… hsssk… Miss Minerva, to what do I own the pleasure… hsssk…?" The banker slash Broker operative asked after checking the caller ID.

"I've heard a barefaced acquaintance of ours just became a very bad boy." Vasir's voice was silky velvet – a far cry from her real one.

"His accounts are suspended while we investigate accusations of corruption. We'll come back to you later, Ms Minerva. Have a nice day."

The channel went dead and Vasir removed the band of cheap omni-tool she used to make the call before turning it to dust with her biotics. A gesture deactivated the scrambler and she walked out of the alley moving straight towards the rapid transit station. All Von really told her was that the Broker had heard concerning rumours about Saren and his people were busy looking into it, just like she was. Until the Broker knew one way or the other or decided the heat was enough to cut its loses, it was unlikely she would get more information directly.

That left some of the less reliable Broker related contacts, like that slug Fist. A short, not too bumpy ride later, Tela dismounted at another RTS, this one just a few hundred metres from Chora's Den – Fists' personal den of debauchery. A pair of bored looking bouncers gave her a once over while she walked towards the entrance and waved her in.

Inside, Vasir grimaced at the assault against good taste that passed for modern music. Blinking headache inducing lights – check. Young scantily clad maidens and a few human women doing a sorry imitation of striptease on a stage above the bar and in not so private booths – check. The damned place hadn't really changed since the last time she had been in, was that two or three owners ago? At east the drinks used to be adequate, but she wouldn't hold her breath for it today. For a moment Tela was mightily tempted to go to the bar and get herself a very strong drink before she sighed puled back her shoulders just enough to emphasize her bust and put to work every little trick she had learned during her seven centuries as Huntress and later, Spectre.

Tela walked towards the back of the sorry excuse of a club and everyone who laid their eyes on her couldn't look away. She even saw a couple of the working girls give her jealous glares, the poor things and barely contained her snort of derision. The dancing crowd divided in front of her and in her wake people clamoured and pushed for a closer look. She put just a hint of extra swing to her hips and her smoky eyes searched for the guards protecting the back of the club. A Human and Batarian who were busy drinking her form – perfect.

"Boys..." Tela purred while eye-fucking them both. "I'm present for your boss by a very good friend of his." Her tone, the way she sensually twisted her lips in a smile holding so much promise and the aura of sex that simply radiated from her were more than enough to ensure those two already had blue balls. "Would you kindly help me surprise Fisk?" She licked her lips and leaned forward.

Both of them were already enthralled and nodded vigorously. They couldn't open the door fast enough. The human even offered her his arm – such a gentleman. She wanted to laugh at how easy this was. If she pushed her biotics a bit more to reinforce the way she shifted the harmonics of her voice for maximum effect she might just break those two.

"Mike, Boros, what..." There were three more guards – all wearing light armour and had older but serviceable rifles and a shotgun in hand. All were male, two Humans and one more Batarian.

"She's present for the boss..." Mike let out a forlorn sight.

"You don't day..." The Human who apparently led the trio leaned forward to better examine her.

"What can I say?" Tela let out a throaty, needy purr. "Fist has a few very good and generous friends."

"I'm wondering if he's man enough to handle you." The second Batarian chuckled and leered at her.

"Well, if he isn't you might just get lucky tonight… A girl has her needs..." Tela looked him in each pair of eyes in turn and her own held all kinds of dark promises.

"Lucky bastard..." Boros groaned.

"Shall we? Let's not make Fist wait." Tela suggested.

"I would be pissed off if someone made me wait for you..." One of the so far silent humans nodded emphatically.

The guards fell around her and led her down a short corridor that contained various containers and a single door to the left.

"Boss, you've got a guest!" The leader of the second group laughed aloud.

"The hell?! I told you fools not to interrupt me! I'm busy damn it!"

"You don't want to make her wait, boss!"

"The fuck you're talking about, Mike?!" The door opened to reveal Fist in all his… glory.

Well, he wasn't actually bad looking, though being a Human and thus so similar to Asari certainly helped. Short black hair in what Tela recognized as a military haircut, high end medium armour painted black and glowing with additional shield emitters, a heavy pistol on his hip – a decent one too, not one of those expensive pieces of junk gun-shop owners made a fortune of selling to wealthy fools who didn't know one end of a gun from the other.

"Saren sends his regards for a job well done." Tela ensured her eyes practically shone with desire and she licked her lips in anticipation. "You've been a very good boy, Mr Fisk and I'm here to reward you." Tela used he Biotics to rip the upper part of her dress down to mid-hip to reveal her leather underwear – that did more to accent her curves than to hide anything.

"Damn, that was fast..." Fisk shook his head in wonder. "I just sent my people to deal with the girl."

Tela beamed at Fist. Jackpot!

She made a show of glancing at the guards who looked at her ass speechless and winked at them. The motion was calculated to give fist a great profile view of her breasts.

"Do you want me for yourself, Mr Fist?" She whispered and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Leave us alone and make sure that no one bothers us! I mean it! Scamper!"

"I so love men who know how to take charge..." Tela purred. The guards behind her gave out moans and sighs of disappointment but soon piled out of the room.

As if in trance, Fisk walked towards her and went to grope her breasts. He took his hand in her own and cupped his cheek. "Tell me how good a boy you are, Mr Fisk." Tela cooed and her biotics flared making her tone deeper. For a moment her eyes shone with power before turning pitch black as she pressed the side of her face to his.

"Embrace Eternity!" Vasir demanded and as their nervous systems touched she dove into Fisk's mind.