The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
[Mass Effect Heroic Roleplaying] "This evidence is irrefutable!"
Captain Carrot
Alexandria, VARegistered User regular
Alexandria, VARegistered User regular
Commander Shepard and Lt. Kaidan Alenko
Fresh from the mission on Eden Prime, Captain Anderson has brought Commander Shepard, Lt. Alenko, and Sgt. Williams to the Citadel, to answer any questions that Ambassador Udina has before the hearing he requested on revoking Saren Arterius’ Spectre status.
The human embassy amounts to a large office, with desks, terminals, bookcases, and a great view of the Presidium, against which the four soldiers and diplomat are standing. If this is what Udina looks out at every day, it’s a wonder he gets much work done – though, judging from his perpetual scowl, perhaps not such a challenge for him after all.
“Ah, Captain Anderson. I see you brought half your crew with you,” Udina states coldly.
“Just the ground team from Eden Prime, in case you had any questions,” Anderson assures him.
“I have the mission reports. I assume they’re accurate?”
“They are. Thanks for convincing the Council to give us a hearing.”
“I’m telling you, Anderson, this is a mistake,” Udina counters. “I burned a lot of goodwill with the Council to get you before them, and you’re not giving me a lot to go on here.”
“Saren tried to blow up the colony, Udina!” Anderson fires back.
“So you say, and you may be right, but all the Council is going to see is Commander Shepard failing her first mission.” Udina replies.
Udina looks at Shepard, daring her to contradict him.
Garrus Vakarian
C-Sec officer Garrus Vakarian walks into his office to see Executor Pallin standing there.
“There’s a complaint against Spectre Arterius. You get to investigate it,” Pallin informs him bluntly.
If rubbing his hands together were a turian sign of eagerness, Garrus’ talons would be getting friction burns.
“Absolutely, sir. What clearance are you giving me for this?”
“None. You’re restricted to his unclassified files.” Pallin has never liked him, and seems to take joy in telling Garrus that his hands are tied.
His mandibles flare, as they always do when he comes up against regulations.
“Right. Should I scrub the toilet with my tongue next? Maybe arm-wrestle an elcor?” he asks sarcastically.
“Just do it, Vakarian,” he snaps. “Before I write you up for insubordination.”
Urdnot Wrex
Interstellar mercenary Urdnot Wrex has accepted a job from the Shadow Broker to kill a thug named Fist on the Citadel who betrayed him. Wrex heads to Chora’s Den, a wretched hive of scum and villainy seedy bar and strip joint on the Wards, intending to have a little fun mouthing off to his target. Ryncol's not bad there, either.
"Haven't seen you here in a while, Wrex," the asari bartender grunts. "What's going on?"
Liara T’Soni
Dr. T’Soni, an archaeologist and expert on the Protheans, is just finishing up the third month of her dig on Therum. Several of her colleagues left the previous day after news of the geth attack on Eden Prime surfaced, but she views her work as far too important to interrupt on the minute chance that some army would actually come to the dig site. She's the only one staying there, while the last of their equipment gets packed up and loaded on the transport.
"T'Soni, get your ass on there!" the chief barks.
"Nonsense," she replies. "Just because the geth attacked a human colony, you all think they'll come here? Why on Thessia would they be interested in an archaeological dig?"
"You're not seeing any similarity between Eden Prime, with a Prothean beacon, and this site, with hundreds of Prothean artifacts?" the chief asks, highly sarcastic. "To hell with it. You want to stay here, it's your funeral."
She does, however, shift her focus to what appear to be the controls for a stasis field; should anything happen, the doctor should be able to protect herself.
Tali’Zorah nar Rayya vas Neema
Tali is on her Pilgrimage, and has just extracted a geth memory core with dialog from Saren Arterius and Matriarch Benezia. She’s not sure what they’re talking about, something about Reapers and a Conduit, but they seem to be speaking of the former with approval, which seems inappropriate given that the Reapers supposedly destroyed the Protheans 50,000 years ago. Tali contacted the Shadow Broker for protection after coming to the Citadel to give the recording to the Council, and he agreed, in exchange for the log, which he would make sure received a proper hearing. Currently, she’s on her way to meet with Fist, the Broker’s agent in the Lower Wards.
"Hey, little lady. I hear quarians are all sortsa clever with those suits. Wanna give me a demonstration?" a drunken turian leers.
Fresh from the mission on Eden Prime, Captain Anderson has brought Commander Shepard, Lt. Alenko, and Sgt. Williams to the Citadel, to answer any questions that Ambassador Udina has before the hearing he requested on revoking Saren Arterius’ Spectre status.
The human embassy amounts to a large office, with desks, terminals, bookcases, and a great view of the Presidium, against which the four soldiers and diplomat are standing. If this is what Udina looks out at every day, it’s a wonder he gets much work done – though, judging from his perpetual scowl, perhaps not such a challenge for him after all.
“Ah, Captain Anderson. I see you brought half your crew with you,” Udina states coldly.
“Just the ground team from Eden Prime, in case you had any questions,” Anderson assures him.
“I have the mission reports. I assume they’re accurate?”
“They are. Thanks for convincing the Council to give us a hearing.”
“I’m telling you, Anderson, this is a mistake,” Udina counters. “I burned a lot of goodwill with the Council to get you before them, and you’re not giving me a lot to go on here.”
“Saren tried to blow up the colony, Udina!” Anderson fires back.
“So you say, and you may be right, but all the Council is going to see is Commander Shepard failing her first mission.” Udina replies.
Udina looks at Shepard, daring her to contradict him.
You may now speak, chiasaur and Century.
Garrus Vakarian
C-Sec officer Garrus Vakarian walks into his office to see Executor Pallin standing there.
“There’s a complaint against Spectre Arterius. You get to investigate it,” Pallin informs him bluntly.
If rubbing his hands together were a turian sign of eagerness, Garrus’ talons would be getting friction burns.
“Absolutely, sir. What clearance are you giving me for this?”
“None. You’re restricted to his unclassified files.” Pallin has never liked him, and seems to take joy in telling Garrus that his hands are tied.
His mandibles flare, as they always do when he comes up against regulations.
“Right. Should I scrub the toilet with my tongue next? Maybe arm-wrestle an elcor?” he asks sarcastically.
“Just do it, Vakarian,” he snaps. “Before I write you up for insubordination.”
Urdnot Wrex
Interstellar mercenary Urdnot Wrex has accepted a job from the Shadow Broker to kill a thug named Fist on the Citadel who betrayed him. Wrex heads to Chora’s Den, a wretched hive of scum and villainy seedy bar and strip joint on the Wards, intending to have a little fun mouthing off to his target. Ryncol's not bad there, either.
"Haven't seen you here in a while, Wrex," the asari bartender grunts. "What's going on?"
Liara T’Soni
Dr. T’Soni, an archaeologist and expert on the Protheans, is just finishing up the third month of her dig on Therum. Several of her colleagues left the previous day after news of the geth attack on Eden Prime surfaced, but she views her work as far too important to interrupt on the minute chance that some army would actually come to the dig site. She's the only one staying there, while the last of their equipment gets packed up and loaded on the transport.
"T'Soni, get your ass on there!" the chief barks.
"Nonsense," she replies. "Just because the geth attacked a human colony, you all think they'll come here? Why on Thessia would they be interested in an archaeological dig?"
"You're not seeing any similarity between Eden Prime, with a Prothean beacon, and this site, with hundreds of Prothean artifacts?" the chief asks, highly sarcastic. "To hell with it. You want to stay here, it's your funeral."
She does, however, shift her focus to what appear to be the controls for a stasis field; should anything happen, the doctor should be able to protect herself.
Tali’Zorah nar Rayya vas Neema
Tali is on her Pilgrimage, and has just extracted a geth memory core with dialog from Saren Arterius and Matriarch Benezia. She’s not sure what they’re talking about, something about Reapers and a Conduit, but they seem to be speaking of the former with approval, which seems inappropriate given that the Reapers supposedly destroyed the Protheans 50,000 years ago. Tali contacted the Shadow Broker for protection after coming to the Citadel to give the recording to the Council, and he agreed, in exchange for the log, which he would make sure received a proper hearing. Currently, she’s on her way to meet with Fist, the Broker’s agent in the Lower Wards.
"Hey, little lady. I hear quarians are all sortsa clever with those suits. Wanna give me a demonstration?" a drunken turian leers.
We'll be engaging in RP for a while, so feel free to enjoy yourselves. I may also add paragon and renegade interrupts, which anybody can take; if several players go for it, there may be different results.
Captain Carrot on
+5
Posts
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
Shepard stares Udina in the eye, daring him to respond. When he doesn't, she picks up where she left off.
"We have a major anti-human terrorist with an army of combat synthetics and a Prothean dreadnought that shits all over anything Alliance RnD can dream of. If we don't get some damn Council support, or at least get his license pulled, Earth could become another Mindoir. And you know I don't say that lightly. Cash in every chip you have, pull every favor, or else we can just get used to the Citadel, because it's going to be the last place with a single human left alive."
She sucks in a breath.
"Apologies for the language, Ambassador. It's been a long day. I'll be more composed when presenting my findings to the council."
Why I fear the ocean.
"For what it's worth, ambassador, what we saw on Eden Prime leaves little to speculation. Saren was there and he led that army of synthetics, he placed explosives... We have a solid case"
Kaidan smirks nervously
"The council won't be able to argue with those facts, we have a rogue Spectre on our hands and we can prove it, sir."
Check out my site, the Bismuth Heart | My Twitter
Why I fear the ocean.
"Well, I'm glad the two of you seem to have become such skilled political operatives suddenly. Let me explain why you shouldn't tell me how to do my job."
He starts ticking off items on his fingers as he talks.
"First, the Council doesn't care how many humans die, though at least there I'm with you that they should. We don't have one of our own there, and until we do they'll never really care about humanity. Second, I will grant that the geth attack will bother them, but of course not nearly as much as if it had been in Council space, or against a Council world. Third, Spectres die. It's the most dangerous job in the galaxy. Nihlus can be replaced; I'm sure Sparatus has a list of candidates already. The Council isn't pleased, of course, but it's not exactly shocking news when it happens.
"As for his ship, we don't know a damn thing about it, so don't assume we can't handle it. The Council certainly won't, since you've got less evidence that it's advanced than you do for Saren being rogue, and it being Prothean is just your conjecture, Shepard.
"Lieutenant Alenko, I'm sure you believe that Saren's a traitor, and for what it's worth I agree with you, but calling your case solid is extremely generous. You never saw him on Eden Prime, you didn't see anything that would lead you to believe he was there, and the only one who did encounter him is dead. The Council isn't going to take a lazy dock-worker's word over their top agent's.
"Lastly, Shepard, you don't have to tell me this is important, and your little speeches aren't going to convince the Council of that either, so I'm glad you'll be able to restrain yourself during the actual hearing. And it's not going to go well unless you can come up with something better than this." He holds up a datapad, presumably with Shepard's report on it.
At this point, Captain Anderson interjects.
"Ambassador, are you saying that Saren's going to get off scot-free? I won't let that happen."
Udina sighs.
"Frankly, Captain, I'm not sure you should be the one preventing him from doing so. You're far from the best candidate for the job, and you know it. I hope your crew will be able to do a better job." Ashley glares at him with that comment.
"Something to say, Sergeant?" he asks icily.
"Just wondering how you got those amazing people skills, sir," she retorts.
"Politics is no less brutal than the battlefield, Williams. No one will take Earth seriously if I don't push, and it's hard to do that by being soft."
"Anything else they should know, Ambassador?" Anderson asks, clearly wanting to spare the squad from any more time spent with Udina.
"The hearing's tomorrow. Try to get something more convincing than what's in this file, or it's going to go even more poorly than Eden Prime. That's all, unless one of you wishes to speak further?" Udina doesn't look to have much patience left, but he is professional, and he'll hear additional comments if they're important.
"I do have evidence on the Prothean conjecture. There's footage of the design, of course, which matches a few late period Prothean artifacts, and not much else. The wide spectrum emissions, what we could read of them, weren't a match for anything in Council space. It could have been a geth design, but that would make the Prothean aesthetics an unexplained point. No Prothean artifacts known in quarian space, and most of the late period designs we're talking about weren't made public before the Morning War. There'd be no reason for the geth to emulate it.
And to top it off, the beacon on Eden Prime had images of the design. Not that I could prove it, but with everything else, I'd say it's a good working guess. Which means Saren, if we can confirm him at the scene, was concealing precursor military technology. He could be Councilor Sparatus's favorite nephew and he'd still swing for that.
I did my reading on this one. You don't accuse a spectre of high treason without evidence if you want to keep breathing."
Shepard smiles a little.
"He's a turian, though. So he should crumple as soon as we accuse him."
Why I fear the ocean.
"Of course, Executor. Is there anything else I should know?"
Pallin handed him a data slate.
"Here are the official reports of the Alliance officers bringing the accusations."
Pallin then affixed Garrus with one of his most withering glares, the one a few of the young human CSEC rookies were calling "The Rectal Exam." Garrus forced all trace of amusement from his face as he reflected on the appropriateness of that nickname and waited for Pallin to conclude.
"Do your damn job, Officer Vakarian. A lot of eyes are on this one. Follow your orders to the letter. If I hear so much as a rumor that you break any regulations during your investigation, your next assignment will be an unplanned holiday. Are we clear?"
"Yes, sir."
Pallin dimmed his glare a few notches down to his standard glower.
"Good. I recognize the likelihood of finding any evidence under these circumstances is slim. No one expects the impossible from you. Simply fulfill your duty to the best of your ability and no one will have any room for complaints." With a sharp nod he left the office.
Garrus slumped over the data slate, rubbing his temples. The message was clear: regardless of Pallin's personal opinion on Spectres, this assignment was nothing more than a token gesture, a political play. Neither Garrus nor Pallin would be brought to task if the investigation bore no fruit, because for the Council, sanctions against one of their best Spectres was the worst possible outcome. Fools.
In reading over the reports, Garrus was surprised to see a human name famous enough that even he recognized it: Commander Shepard, hero of something or other. There was significant buzz from all the right quarters that this Shepard might well be the first human Spectre. All talk, though, and there'd been talk like that before with nothing coming of it.
The reports themselves were not particularly helpful. A collaboration between Saren and the Geth might make for a scintillating vid of the week, but save grabbing a transport into the Veil and asking the Geth very nicely if they'd run in to any rogue Spectres lately, it wasn't exactly a lead he could follow up on. Saren's ship might be unusual, but without access to his classified files, Garrus would have no easy means of discovering it's manufacturer. The Prothean artifact would be reason enough for someone in power to attack the human colony, but since the report showed that not only had the artifact been accidentally destroyed, but that in fact Saren had set charges which would have destroyed the artifact had they not been disarmed, it was far from clear what he hoped to gain.
None of it made any sense.
Also I wrote around the fact that no one has said which background this Shepard has, so maybe chiasaur or Carrot can mention in a spoiler which backgrounds she has?
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
She and Batarians... have a history.
Why I fear the ocean.
Darting around what remained of her dig, she wondered what she should try to salvage first before leaving. Was she going to leave? What was the likelihood the Geth would come halfway across the galaxy just to disrupt her site in search of Prothean artifacts? The thought seemed almost too unlikely to be true, but she knew her fellows were not completely wrong in being cautious. If the Geth were willing to rip an entire colony apart looking for a single Prothean beacon, there was no telling what else they might be capable of. Therum was not quite on the level of sites like Feros or Quana, but it was already proving to be full of valuable technology and hadn't been stripped clean by scavengers.
Thinking again on the list of recovered artifacts, her mind returned to one of the more enigmatic finds; the stasis field generators housed deep below Therum's surface in one of the old mining tunnels. She couldn't quite figure out why the Protheans had placed it where they did, and she was determined to find out more. She decided she would spend the afternoon examining the device and try to unlock it's control console. She would worry about what to do with the rest of the site and the artifacts, and any potential Geth, later.
As she began to gather her tools, she got a quick shiver up her spine, like a cool breeze had passed through her. She suddenly thought of her mother, and wondered for a moment where she might be right now. Probably on another religious pilgrimage, she thought. She hoped Benezia was safe, wherever she was.
Under the glow of the lava lakes that surrounded her, Liara began the trek to the mining shaft.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
"That might mean something to you, Shepard, and personally I think it's worth looking into, but you're a soldier, not a scholar. If you had your evidence examined by a Prothean expert, that would be an exhibit the Council couldn't ignore. Let me contact my associates, and see if I can find one."
Udina goes to his terminal and starts checking his mail, along with contacts currently available for discussion.
Anderson cocks his head when Shepard disparages turians.
"If we can confirm Saren was there, we won't need the beacon. His collusion with the geth will be proof in itself of treason. And crumpling? No. Turians don't do that. They're trained from early childhood to be hard as rocks, and Saren's one of the most determined men I've ever known. If we can prove something at the hearing, don't expect him to throw himself at the mercy of the court, or to have the whole business end there."
Udina harrumphs in surprise.
"Well, that was faster than I expected. Garrus Vakarian, a C-Sec officer, is working on the investigation into Saren's activities. It might be worth making time to meet with him. There's also the Shadow Broker, of course, though you might have to pay for that information. He has a dealer named Barla Von in the Financial District on the Presidium, as well as a few toadies who report to him in the Wards, particularly Chora's Den. I don't have much confidence in C-Sec getting anywhere, so that could be a better bet."
Anderson sighs. "Not great leads there, but I'll see if I can turn up anything more promising. Not to disparage your skills, Ambassador, of course. Shepard, Alenko, Williams, see what you can do."
"Yes," Udina agrees, not seeming to take offense at Anderson's inadvertent insult, "time is of the essence here -- I'm surprised I got anything at all given such short notice. You're dismissed, but Captain, we should work on your testimony."
The two of them turn away from the squad as they take the cue to leave.
"The vision is important, I'm sure of it!" Anderson argues.
"You can't back up an accusation of treason with your XO's dream, Captain," Udina retorts. "Granting for the sake of argument that it's real, it has nothing to do with Saren, and the Council would ignore it."
"Understood. Find a Prothean expert, get everything Vakarian and the Shadow Broker can provide, stay professional, stop watching turian crime dramas."
Then she turns to Alenko and Williams.
"Unless there's any objections, we should probably meet with the official investigation team. They might have something, and we'll at least get some history."
Why I fear the ocean.
Dr. T'Soni walks past tables with rows of carefully catalogued artifacts, datapads with preliminary records on them, and terminals primarily used for longer-form reports and heavy-duty analysis. One terminal starts chirping.
"Incoming ships! Incoming ships!"
Dr. Sivahn set up a semi-rudimentary radar dish and alert system to notify the team that they were being resupplied; he claimed it was to reduce uncertainty in their schedules, and provide more time for the researchers to finish what they were doing and prepare to help unload the ships. It was an open secret that the cargo often contained the latest issues of Fornax, primarily because Sivahn wasn't the only one to enjoy the magazine.
But the site wasn't due for a shipment for another three days, and Dr. Magan had told the university not to send anything until further notice anyway.
Whatever was coming, Liara knew it wasn't a replacement for the burnt-out lights.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
I assume we are not going to do it that way, then?
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
Tali forges ahead, eager to get this meeting over with but already second guessing the decision to hand over the log...
Soon he was in his civvies, strolling in to a dive called The Havinclaw. Mostly Turian patrons, but some Volus, Asari, Salarians, Elcor and even a few humans. No Krogans.
He'd briefly considered going straight to Chora's den, knowing of Fist's connection to the Shadow Broker. Even though he'd made some arrests there in the past, most humans couldn't tell the difference between one Turian and another. A change of clothes and ditching his visor would be enough to fool Fist. Fist's thugs were a different matter, however. Not that Garrus expected anything from the Krogan bouncers, but Fist did employ more than a few Turians and Asari.
So the The Havinclaw it was. Not that Garrus minded. He liked this bar. Even within the sterile gleaming whiteness of the Citadel, this place somehow managed to feel unpolished and rough. It was also one of the few places in this section of the wards where you might actually get the opportunity to chat up a female Turian. Even if he was here for business and not pleasure, he could at least enjoy the view.
Garrus orders a straight martialis and waits for his snitch to show.
Also side note: per the codex Turian society allows for the use of alcohol and drugs while on the job, it's only considered a problem if it actually interferes with doing your job (like with Harkin). Since CSEC is mostly Turians at this point I am assuming their rules are heavily influenced by Turian society.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
"Aww, come on," he protests. "You don't gotta be like that. I'm just lookin' for a good time -- don't you get all frustrated, spending your whole life on a ship? I can get us somewhere nice and private for some fun."
As the turian starts graphically describing the sort of fun he'd like to have with Tali, his mouth is smashed in quite thoroughly by an armored fist, from a batarian who'd been in an alley a few feet away.
"I believe the lady wanted you to leave her alone, Vuggis," she growls.
"None of your concern, Jem!" he snarls back. Vuggis swipes at her leg, which she barely counters. The two of them seem to be squaring off to fight; Tali isn't sure whether she should wait for her unusual benefactor to finish the fight (if she wins, of course), or just thank her lucky stars for the intrusion and hurry off to meet Fist. Either way, it seems that the Citadel is not quite the gleaming beacon of law, order, and civilization that the galaxy tends to see.
Garrus
A lanky vorcha with scars on his arms and face creeps in, and fumbles with a credit chit to get a bottle of vodka from the bartender.
"Garr-eh, Office Vakarian," he quickly corrects himself, remembering the turian emphasis on protocol. He sits down carefully, ready to rise in case of emergency.
"What do you have for me, Sarge?" Garrus asks tensely, ignoring the prominently-placed receipt for the moment.
"Few things going on. Hanar ambassador making more purchases for his mistress than usual, batarian ship movement near Nova Terra -- "
Garrus starts to stand up. "Okay, we're done here. I need something relevant to my investigation, and all you're giving me is crap."
"Wait!" Sarge cries. "May have something more interesting, if . . . " He trails off meaningfully, looking at the vodka receipt.
Garrus sighs, irritated. "I may give you half if you get me something good. May."
"Got two things," Sarge barks. "Urdnot Wrex in today. He works for Shadow Broker right now, and talking big about killing Fist. Talking much less about Saren, but Kira heard what she heard."
Garrus' mandibles flare. This could be big. He attempts to conceal his excitement, however, and puts a bored tone in his voice. "Uh huh. Anything else?"
Sarge nods eagerly, having seen Garrus' expression change. "You like this. Quarian gets hurt when she arrives, goes to doctor. She going to meet with Shadow Broker, and she got something with Saren talking. Don't know more than that."
Garrus thinks for a moment. "Hrrmm."
Sarge sits there patiently; if Garrus needs to think about it, there must be something to think about, right?
Liara checked the transponder signals coming from the ships just to be sure; they came back as a garbled mess of strange code and did not match the university transport's IFF signal. Not quite definitive proof, but at least she knew Sivahn and the others were not returning. But who else could know about the dig? How could the Geth have her position? Did they know she was still here? The university had been in close collaboration with various Council representatives to ensure the utmost secrecy for the dig. The lion's share of the Prothean relics were to be sent to the Citadel and other secure facilities for study. The potential value of the stasis field tech alone was worth the added security. Perhaps the Shadow Broker had let slip the details. Would he really be willing to work with the Geth? A thousand questions swirled inside the young asari's mind.
Hoping that the heavy metals buried throughout Therum's volcanic crust would be enough to shield her from any scans, she quickly made her way from the base camp in the mine's antechambers into the main chamber where the Prothean structures had been unearthed. Her mind was racing. Other then her biotics and the odd mining laser, she had no real means of defending herself from potential attack. The small security detail that had accompanied the archaeologists had already left with the rest of the team and taken their weapons with them.
Click. The scaffolding lift began it's slow descent down following the contours of the sterile Prothean building. Liara could see her reflection on the smooth surface of it's walls. She wondered if the stasis field would prove useful for defending herself in case of an emergency. She was more determined then ever to unlock it's secrets before her uninvited guests arrived.
Running out of the lift in the direction of the generator, she looked up briefly towards the top of the scaffolds into the faint florescent lighting illuminating the tunnels. All was quiet aside from the static hum of the lights and the low rumble of the idling mining laser nearby. Whoever was coming wouldn't be here for a little while yet, assuming they knew exactly where to look. Still, time was of the essence.
She unpacked her tools and set to work opening up the Prothean device.
It will do in a pinch, but it would be best not to activate it until then -- especially since she doesn't know how it's powered, and having it fizzle out when she's surrounded by geth would be awfully unfortunate. For now, Liara takes another long look at the controls, making sure she can get to safety in moments, and simply waits for company. She'll just have to hope Sivahn and the others send a ship back for her, or she simply gets lucky, and a rescuer appears.
Sarge quickly blurts, "No noo, forgot that part! Med Clinic in upper wards, near Flux! Quarian seen there!"
Garrus only let him sweat for a moment.
"Ok Sarge, you earned it this time."
Garrus threw back the rest of his martialis, then swiped his credit chit for Sarge's vodka.
Leaving the bar, Garrus began to almost feel pleased with his doomed assignment. He'd come in hoping for a ghost of a lead, and his favorite weasel had given him two good ones. Having the Shadow Broker involved was usually a bad sign for any investigation. It meant that key evidence or informants were about to become completely untraceable. What made it good news in this case was a Krogan bounty hunter with all the tact of a varren and one terminally stupid club owner. If Fist was really trying to cross the Shadow Broker, he was even dumber than Garrus thought, which considering the low opinion Garrus had for the small time gangster was an almost impressive feat. The important bit was that Fist's turnabout might just be enough obstruction to the Broker to allow Garrus time to find that Quarian.
Garrus stopped by CSEC headquarters long enough to resuit up in his CSEC armor, then make certain his side arm and sniper rifle were in good working order. With the Shadow Broker directly involved to this degree, things promised to get very messy very quickly.
Garrus heads towards Dr. Michel's Med clinic.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
It was not a good day by any metric. Nihlus and Jenkins were dead, it turned out the deadliest agent in Council space was on a "kill all humans" kick, she was reporting to a politician who was at least 90% sure that she was screwed from the start, and to cap it all off, she just was sent to a bar while on duty.
There were people, she thought, who would call it the worst day of their lives. Lucky them.
For now, she needed to decide on her play. An officer named Garrus Vakarian was assigned to investigate Saren's case before things had escalated, and he was supposed to be here. Unfortunate side of the math, he was a regular. She couldn't just look for someone standing around and feeling uncomfortable, he might be working undercover ruling out calling his name up, and she didn't get a picture to narrow down the pool.
Wait. Wait wait wait. He was a cop.
He was the only cop in this crappy little dive.
Which meant that if, say, someone pulled a military grade firearm and shot it in the air once or twice, he'd react differently than everyone else in the bar. Stand out like a beacon.
Of course, that also meant if she read the room wrong that she could get reported and would spend the Council hearing looking like a lunatic whose PTSD had finally kicked in and could safely be ignored.
She looked over the bar again. No-one looked like a solid enough citizen to bother with a noise complaint when it could lead to C-SEC asking... questions.
And what the hell.
She was probably going to regret whatever she did anyway. Might as well let off some stress.
Her Phalanx slid out of the holster. Concussive shot loaded, wouldn't want any...
And then she saw someone walking out the door with a lot more spring in his step than anyone had a right to, combined with posture that said career military, on duty cop, or both.
So much for stress relief. Shepard nodded to Ash and Kaiden. Time to tail a lead.
Why I fear the ocean.
Drunk Shep is best Shep.
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
The door closed behind the thugs of course, but CSEC clearance would allow him to turn off the automatics on most doors on the Citadel to open them manually and silently, for greater stealth. Garrus carefully thumbs the hidden keypad then slides the door open just enough to allow him to enter at a crouch. Scoping the room out, he quickly hides behind a short barrier between himself and the three men, who he can now hear are threatening the doctor.
Listening to the three dead men, all Garrus can think is, "What I could really use right now is a distraction."
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
"Williams, make a distraction in five. I'll leave it to your judgement beyond that. Alenko, force the doctor down gentle at the same time. It's not going to be a good time to be standing. If you have a better plan, say it now. Otherwise..."
She cloaks and draws her combat knife.
Yes. Things were looking up.
Why I fear the ocean.
Peeking inside the clinic from the door left ajar, he sees the three thugs crowding the Doctor. He doesn't pay attention to what they're saying, but sure notices the way they're saying it. Aggressive, probably organized crime. Yeah, even the Citadel can't be completely safe, it seems. concentrating the the doctor, Kaiden starts to ready a mass effect field. There's no room for error, as soon as Williams does something, he'll need to get the doctor down to make sure she doesn't get hurt... With Shepard involved, the odds of things getting messy are extremely high.
"i really can't mess up", he mutters silently. But he's ready. He has the mass effect field prepped up, a reverse lift should do the trick, and with some finesse and a counter-field below, the doctor will just be dropped instead of crushed. To make sure she doesn't resist, moving the legs towards the right would make her lose her balance.
Kaidan calculates the odds of success in his head, the vectors for the mass effect fields and then the odds again, just to be sure... For once, he's almost grateful for BAaT. Almost.
"While we're at it..." he mutters again, as silently as possible...
He whips out his omnitool, prepping up an overload. Jamming their weapons could really help if things get hairy...
Check out my site, the Bismuth Heart | My Twitter
She bursts in, fires a few rounds into the ceiling, and yells "Hands up, on the floor, scumbags!" The three thugs the squad can see are confused, then angry, and attempt to shoot her. Their guns refuse to fire, and they look confused for a moment before their heads pop.
Garrus nails all three shots in just over a second; he wasn't exactly expecting a helping hand, but he's been trained to take advantage in combat situations, and he doesn't hesitate when Ashley gives him the opening.
Dr. Michel swoops towards Kaidan, who catches her gently; Shepard, meanwhile, dives towards the counter in the middle of the clinic, and kicks off from it to hit the last two gunmen, taking them both out in a flash.
The doctor whimpers, and clutches Kaidan's chest. "Wh-what just happened? Those men came in, and then there was all this shooting and banging."
Kaidan sets her down gently. "It's all right, ma'am. You're safe now."
Shepard eyes the bodies. "The real question is, why were they here in the first place?"
Dr. Michel sits up on the floor, holding her knees to her chest. "They wanted to know where the quarian was, but I wouldn't tell them. Not that I would have had much choice, if you hadn't come along."