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—
Citadel
Human Embassy
The QEC came to life, and a blue hologram of Admiral Hackett appeared on the machine. "Anderson, what is happening there?" He heard some rumors about the Council losing their minds because Shepard—and of course it was Shepard—decided to build laser weapons and an eezoless anti-gravity field.
Anderson looked fatigued, as politics had sucked his soul dry. "The Council is all but ready to hand humanity a seat effective immediately if we can get Shepard to disclose his weapons technology and his anti-gravity generator."
"And what is Shepard's stance on this?" Since the offer wouldn't mean much without Shepard agreeing to it.
"He said he will think about it."
Hackett bristled, unhappy with the answer. "Tell him to do more than think, Anderson. I have to manage a fleet that is growing to twice its original size while charged with protecting the Alliance's new territorial gains. My workload is so ridiculous I even considered retiring. A council seat would give us a breathing room I can use."
"I'll tell him that."
"Good." Admiral Hackett began to calm down. "Anything on the Saren front?"
David sighed, sitting down himself to explain. "Yes, and you aren't going to like it, sir."
"Just get it over with."
"He rescued Liara T'soni, and she wasn't working with her mother, it turns out. What is interesting is the events in Noveria." Anderson began to recount Shepard's actions in the frozen corporate world, Saren's ship mind controlling Benezia, the resurrection of the Rachni and how he let them go, and how he saved Matriarch Benezia.
Hackett sat down, rubbing his head, and didn't talk for a couple of minutes, absorbing it all in. "I don't even know where to start. The Rachni? Why did he let them go?"
"He called the Council to arrange a pickup so they could decide the Queen's fate, but they were in a closed session and didn't think anything at Noveria could be important enough to interrupt the meeting. No one was expecting Rachni of all things, least of all the Council, so Shepard decided to let the Queen go on the condition she stays peaceful. I don't think we'll have a problem on that front." Unlike the Krogan, Anderson was sure Shepard could finish the Rachni off, permanently.
"Alright, now the important part. Mind control? Explain that to me." A Spectre with a grudge against humanity going rogue with a ship that outclassed anything in the galaxy was one thing, but now mind control?
This was getting dangerous.
David pressed some buttons, and a hologram of Saren's ship, Sovereign, appeared next to Admiral Hackett. "It's Saren's ship, Admiral. Apparently it is sapient and can mind control people who have been in close proximity for an extended amount of time. It was the case for Matriarch Benezia, and Shepard says she wasn't in control of her actions."
"What is her state now?" If the Matriarch could be questioned, she might be able to yield some answers for them.
"In a coma. Shepard had her initiate a meld and fought the ship off in basically what you would call a mental battle." Hackett was silent again and ordered a glass of cold water, wondering what the galaxy was coming to.
"Last thing we needed, mind-controlling dreadnoughts with unmatched firepower. What about these Reapers? Anything new on them?" They were obviously related to that ship, but in what capacity? Only Shepard was in any position to uncover them for now.
"Nothing concrete, but Shepard thinks the ship is actually a Reaper." Its mind control capability and the fact that it could and did refer to itself in the first person led Shepard to believe that, unless the actual Reapers were hiding themselves behind the ship for some reason.
"Wonderful, enormous cuttlefish are about to bring the apocalypse. Tell Shepard to release those weapons if he actually believes the Reapers are coming, because I read the reports of the black boxes, and it doesn't look good. We'll need better weapons to even think about damaging those ships." Even laser weaponry might not be enough, but it was better than what they had.
"Yes, sir, I'll get on that."
—
Normandy
"What in the name of the spirits were you thinking, Commander? Letting the Rachni go? Do you have any idea what they will do now?" Turian Councillor Sparatus wasn't happy to hear that the Rachni, who once almost brought the Citadel to its knees were let loose on the galaxy.
Shepard crossed his arms, raising a challenging eyebrow at the Turian. "Councillor, when I called, did you think it was something important or that I wanted to complain about something inconsequential?" He asked dryly, irritated at the politician.
"We were in a closed session." Valern lamely excused, and Shepard's eye twitched.
"Believe me, Councillors, if I call you to report something, it is because I have something more important to tell than whatever you were doing. Next time, pick up the phone."
"Very well, we will be more careful regarding any communications from you. We have also received information that may be critical to your mission against Saren." Rachni were far from being a threat again, so Tevos would let it go since they had more pressing matters.
"We've received an urgent message from one of our infiltration regiments in the Traverse." Valern continued since it was more his field of expertise.
"What did the STG find?" Infiltration in the Traverse, at least in parts that weren't under control, meant the Salarian Task Group was snooping around.
"Unfortunately, the message we received was little more than static. The infiltration team must be in a situation where they can't set up proper interstellar communications. But the message was sent on a channel reserved for mission-critical communications. Whatever they were trying to tell us, we know it was important." Valern's demeanor, which usually didn't give anything away, was almost jittery by his standards, which meant it was actually important.
"I'll go check it out."
They weren't done yet, and Tevos began to speak. "And Commander, I am sure Captain Anderson will inform you, but think on our offer."
"Whatever." Shepard ended the call, having seen enough of the Councillors for the day, and checked the information package they had sent over.
He would go to Virmire after he was done in Feros.
—
Anderson did relay to him the offer Council made to the Alliance brass, and Shepard was actually considering it, not to get Humanity a council seat, but with what he had on the Reapers, the mass accelerator cannons might as well be pea shooters.
Laser weapons, on the other hand, would be much more useful, but the ships power and power relay systems would have to be overhauled, along with thermal condensers for the heat issue.
He was going to have to work on that on the way to Feros, though helping Admiral Hackett came in first.
—
Attican Beta
Theseus System
Feros
Something weird was going on in this colony. A man named David approached, saying the colony's leader, Fai Dan, wanted to speak to them immediately since the Geth were preparing for another attack.
Then the said Geth ambushed and almost killed the man, prompting Shepard, Liara, Garrus, and Jenkins to scrap the synthetics.
They reached the colony after putting down the Geth, which is where the weirdness came in. Some colonists wanted to say something important, but it was as if they were physically unable to talk about it.
He found the leader, along with a very prickly woman with him, who quickly melted at seeing it was Shepard who came to the rescue.
Then the Geth attacked again, which led to another round of fighting. With the advantage the laser rifles gave, Geth, once again, didn't stand a chance.
Fai Dan was relieved when Shepard informed him that the assault had been pushed back, but Arcelia was sure they would attack again, and they gave Shepard the location of Geth's main base, and after helping the colony with their issues of food, water, power shortage, and clearing the Geth inside the tunnels, the team entered the Mako and headed to Geth's base.
Skyway did have a lot of Geth protecting it, but they were shredded to pieces, and just to their luck, the team found out what was left of ExoGeni.
"That's close enough." The man who looked to be in charge warned them, a look of dread settling on his face as he realized who he was talking to.
The woman he was talking to, on the other hand, seemed relieved. "Oh, thank God, Commander Shepard. See, Jeong, everything will be alright now."
Jeong, though, did not relax at all; if anything, he looked more nervous. "Shut up, Juliana. Why are you here?"
"To clear out Geth and find out why they are here in the first place." This guy's attitude was annoying, and he looked more scared of him than the situation the colony was in.
He was definitely hiding something.
"You're almost there, Commander. They're holed up in the ExoGeni headquarters, just a bit further down the skyway." Juliana informed them, glad that someone was finally going to get rid of the Geth.
Jeong stepped forward. "Those headquarters are private property, Commander. Remove the Geth, and nothing else."
Ignoring the fact that this moron thought he could order him around, Shepard took a step forward, getting real close to Jeong's face. "You know, Jeong, I have a feeling you are keeping things from me. You wouldn't happen to know why the Geth are here now, would you?"
"No." Jeong's shifty eyes and wavering voice told him all he needed to know.
"Uh huh. I won't press you since you are a civilian, but when I find out you are lying, I am going to charge you with obstructing a Spectre investigation and toss your sorry ass in jail for life." He warned, and the man looked ready to piss himself.
Shepard was about to leave when Juliana stopped him. "Commander, before you go, my daughter, Lizbeth, is missing."
He wasn't about to turn away a mother that was worried for her child. "Sure, I'll find her."
"Thank you." Juliana knew her daughter would be fine with Commander Shepard out there looking for her.
"They shouldn't waste time poking around. We can do a proper accounting of our casualties after the Geth are gone." Jeong decided to be a dick, acting as if the girl was already dead.
Juliana looked ready to punch her boss. "That's my daughter you're talking about. She's still alive. I know it."
"Jeong, one more word out of your mouth, and I am going to do the galaxy a service and shoot you."
He did piss himself now.
—
Shepard drove the Mako forward on the skyway, destroying more Geth as they proceeded forward.
They left the Mako when the road became too narrow for it to move forward and continued on foot inside the headquarters with the Geth waiting for them.
An Armature in sleep mode was activated when the team came close but didn't even have the chance to stand up before holes were blown in its chassis.
Further down, Shepard found a mass effect field blocking the entrance, and there was nothing on the other side to shoot, and he left in search of a way to deactivate the field. They stopped before the corpse of a Varen, and a shot rang out. The team scrambled for cover, while Shepard didn't even flinch, looking at the young woman who was responsible.
"Are you Lizbeth?" Shepard asked as a courtesy, since no one else was missing, and she did bear a striking resemblance to Julianna.
"Commander Shepard?" Lizbeth was shocked to see Commander Shepard of all people here. "Yes, I am. What are you doing here?"
"Cleaning out the Geth and looking for you since your mother asked. Are you alright?" A cursory glance at his omni-tool's scanner told him she was alright, besides the elevated stress levels.
"My mother is alright? Thank God."
"Lizbeth, do you know why the Geth are targeting this colony? I have a feeling ExoGeni is doing something they shouldn't be." He didn't really want to interrogate a civilian like Jeong in front of all those people, but if Lizbeth was anything like her mother, she would speak.
"I am not sure, but I think they are here for the Thorian." Lizbeth confessed, confirming that Jeong was indeed hiding something.
"Thorian? What is that?" Garrus asked, curious as to what could Geth, and by that he meant Saren, could want with it.
"An indigenous life form. ExoGeni was studying it."
"Do you know where I can find the Thorian?" If it was important enough for the Geth to kill it, then it must be related to the Protheans, and Saren was trying to cover up his tracks.
"It's beneath Zhu's Hope." Lizbeth revealed, and Shepard didn't like this at all. "I think they are after it because of it's unique mind control capabilities." Her confession was met with silent disbelief.
Shepard wanted to ask more about that, but Geth took priority. "You just sit tight and keep hiding. We'll pick you up on the way back."
"Yes, Commander." Lizbeth nodded, all too happy to stay out of danger, and handed over her ID card before going back to hiding.
"An indigenous life form capable of mind control? What do you think the Geth wants with it, Commander?" Jenkins knew it would be something for the history books, just like the Rachni and the Prothean beacon found back at Eden Prime.
"No idea. Let's go and find out."