[Book One] Chapter 03: Unnerving findings

Chapter 03: Unnerving findings

It took a bit of time, but the group convinced the quarian, who’s name was Tali’Zorah, that indeed Rick had saved her life and they were not after it. What they wanted was what she had on Saren to put him down. It was learning about what happened to Eden Prime that she agreed to help. Hurrying it up they reach the citadel’s tower with 10 minutes to spare.

They quickly joined Anderson and Udina who were discussing the situation.

“You’re late commander, our audience begins soon.” the ambassador said in a bitter tone.

“We’re late because we found damning evidence against Saren. The council will not be able to protect him or deny the charges.”

“Really?” Udina asked, surprised by the news.

“Yes, Tali if you’d please.” Shepard asked the young Quarian behind her.

“A quarian? Commander, what are you up to?”

“She’s the one who discovered the proof of Saren’s deeds.”

“Very well. Maybe you should start at the beginning, Miss…”

“Tali’Zorah nar Rayya.”

“We don’t see many quarian around here.”

“Probably because the council races have been prejudiced against them since their exile from Rannoch.” Rick muttered too loud but was thankfully ignored by Udina.

“I’m surprised you left the fleet.”

“I left to make my pilgrimage.”

“Pilgrimage?” Shepard asked.

“It’s a rite of passage to adulthood. Young quarians leave the fleet to explore the galaxy and find something useful to bring back. It’s to prove they are ready to give themselves to the greater good of their people.” Rick explained.

“You’re very familiar with our culture.” noticed Tali.

“I’ve met one quarian or two in my youth.” the colonist replied with a shrug.

Udina signaled Tali to continue her story as time was ticking.

“During my travels I heard reports of geths being seen beyond the veil, which they never did since our exile 300 years ago. I was curious, so I tracked down a patrol of them on an abandoned world. I waited for one of them to become separated from his group and disabled it fast enough  to remove his memory core.”

“Wait, I thought geths fried their memory core when they died as some kind of defense mechanism.” said Anderson, butting in.

“That’s correct, but if you’re fast and skilled enough, you can get a bunch of data before that happens. Most of the core was wiped clean, but I managed to save some files of his audio banks.”

Raising her left arm she brought up her omni-tool and played the file she recovered. To say Saren was screwed was an understatement. His voice was clearly identifiable. His voice, boasting of the success of his attack on Eden Prime. The record gave even more information. For one, he wasn’t working alone but with a woman. For two, he was searching for something called the conduit. And for three, something about reapers.

“I don’t recognize that woman's voice and I’m really good at that. One thing is sure, she’s not involved directly in the politics of the citadel; I’ve met everyone who's concerned.” Udina announced.

“What about this conduit?” Shepard asked.

“I don’t know but it must have something to do with the beacon. A prothean technology perhaps? Like a weapon?” Anderson thought out loud, but was quickly dismissed by Rick.

“Unlikely, it’s named conduit after all, not the Death Star. Chances are, it’s a technology that brings something from point A to point B.”

“You may be right on that.” the captain conceded

“What about the reapers? Is it a new species?” Garrus questioned and this time it was Tali who answered.

“According to the memory core. It’s a hyper-advanced mechanical race who lived 50 thousand years ago. They hunted down the prothean to extinction and then vanished, or so the geths believed.”

“Sounds a little far-fetched if you’d ask me.” The ambassador gave his two credits.

““But true.”” replied both Shepard and Rick in unison. The latter not missing a beat.

“The beacon on Eden Prime was some kind of warning, I think. I can’t decipher what it showed me, but the sounds… Nothing but dying screams and mechanical sounds. My take on this is that it was the protheans extinctions by the reapers.”

Shepard related the information she got from the beacon afterwards corroborating Rick’s statement.

“I don’t remember much about sounds, but the images were pretty colorful, without context though. I saw organics, being killed by machines.”

“The geths see the reapers as gods, the pinnacle of synthetic life. From the data, they seem to think Saren knows how to bring them back.” Tali explained.

“Maybe that’s what the conduit is for.” Rick wondered out loud.

“What do you mean?” asked Anderson.

“Reapers are synthetics, hence immortal since they do not age. Since Saren wants them back and is searching for that conduit which, if the name is literal, can transport something from A to B…”

“Saren plans to bring the reapers back through it from wherever they are.” finished the captain.

“Wonderful, the council is going to love this.” announced Udina pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Only if you tell them.”

“What?”

“Our objective is to bring Saren down. This recording is more than enough. The reapers and the conduit are irrelevant to the council.” Rick explained.

“Irrelevant? We’re talking about a synthetic race who wiped out the most advanced civilization in the galaxy!” Shepard exclaimed.

“To the council, yes. Do you think they will take seriously the words of a rogue spectre and the vision the two of us got from a beacon which we can’t have access to prove what we saw since it blew up? Unlikely.”

“So we do nothing?!” the redhead exclaimed again in clear disagreement.

“No, we’re playing it low key. We dismiss what Saren and his female friend are saying about it in front of the council, behind their back we do what we have to do.”

“Mister..”

“Wald.”

“Mister Wald’s idea has merit. Focusing on Saren itself and his deeds instead of his goal. It’s something concrete and not abstract. If we play it right we may be able to get the council to send its fleet after him.”

“Yeah, keep dreaming about that.”

“Excuse me?!”

“Saren is lurking around in the traverse, which is outside the council’s jurisdiction and is quite close to the Terminus systems. Sending the fleet there could spark a war and the council will not risk that.”

“Hmm.. true.” Udina conceded Rick’s point.

“So we’re stuck? We can’t do anything?” Shepard asked in anger.

“Oh, no, we can do practically whatever we want and with the council's blessing at that.”

“What do you mean by that, Mister Wald?” 

“If they can’t send their fleet, what or who do they send to deal with problems?”

“A spectre.” Anderson replied in realization at what Rick was leading them to.

“Correct. And since it’s an Alliance world that was attacked, we’re in our right to ask for it. A human one that is.”

“We’ve been asking for twenty years, they will never accept.” Udina clarified.

“Never bargained, ambassador? You make an outrageous demand that you know will be rejected, like I don’t know… sending the council fleet? Then come up with a more reasonable demand like having the first human spectre. I guarantee they would agree on that because A, just to throw a bone at humanity hoping we’ll shut up and B, to be seen doing something. They can’t let their best spectre turned traitor go free, it would ruin the council’s reputation and there’s nothing more important to a politician than their public image.”

His explanation left everyone in the group speechless. It was Udina who recovered first.

“Mister Wald, have you ever thought of doing a career in politics?”

“I’d rather die. Besides, I’m royalty, I don’t need to play the political game.” he announced and before anyone could comment on his statement an Asari interrupted the conversation to tell them that it was time for their audience.

Making their way up to the open hall, they were surprised to see a holo-projection of Saren in a gigantic size. Immediately Rick activated his omni-tool and began to fumble with it. When Udina made his accusations, Saren was quite dismissive about it, insulting humanity and for some reason Anderson. His haughty demeanor crumbled instantly when Tali played her recording, he tried to claim the evidence was fake, but between the recording and eye witnesses who survived his attack on Eden Prime he was toasted and broke the connection.

Udina followed Rick’s idea to the letter and everything went smoothly with the nomination of Shepard as the first human spectre. Her first mission was obviously to bring Saren down, a mission that everyone in the group was more than happy to get. More than that, they were in luck, the asari councilor, Tevos, recognized the voice of the woman on the recording as the Matriarch Benezia which gave them a small lead as to what to do.

With the audience over everyone, with the exception of Rick, congratulated the commander.

“You’ll need your own ship and your own crew commander. I can take care of the former, the latter is up to you.” was all the ambassador said before taking his leave. Shepard turned towards the non-human members of the group and asked them if they were interested in joining her. All accepted for their own reason. Wrex because there would be a lot of action, Garrus because he wanted to deal with Saren once and for all and that working with a spectre would allow him to bypass all the red tape and Tali wanted to help fight the geths and prove herself.

While she still felt that Rick wasn’t a bad person she couldn’t stand him after spending her morning with him, so she didn’t ask him to join her. Instead she ordered everyone to go and buy everything they would need and ignored him completely. Rick, on his end, was the last one to leave as he gave Anderson a few words.

“Good Luck with Udina.”

“Thank you.”

“And my condolences.”

“Condolences for what?” the captain asked, puzzled.

“You’ll see.” were his final words and left Anderson and Shepard alone.

“That was quite ominous.” stated Shepard.

____________________________________________________________

Three hours later, Shepard arrived at dock 422, where the Normandy was docked, after receiving orders from Anderson. There she met Anderson himself and Udina, the former seeming quite displeased.

“I have big news for you Shepard, Captain Anderson is stepping down as commanding officer of the Normandy. The ship is yours now.”

“She is quick and quiet, and you know the crew. Perfect ship for a spectre. Treat her well commander.” the captain said.

“Why are you stepping down, sir?”

“You needed your own ship and it was time for me to step down.”

“I want the truth, sir.”

“This is not the time nor the place. All I will say is that you’re in position to correct my mistakes. Mistakes made long ago.”

“I promise you, sir, I’ll make Saren pay. Once I found him.”

“Don’t even try, he’s gone. But we know he’s after the conduit and sent his geths scouring the Traverse looking for clues.”

“We had reports of geths in the Feros system shortly before our colony dropped out of contact. And there have been sightings around Noveria.” Udina announced.

“Saren has a considerable lead; find what he was after on Feros and Noveria. You must reach the conduit before him.” Anderson ordered.

“Understood. Anything else?”

“Yes, we have a lead on Matriarch Benezia. She has a daughter, an archeologist whose speciality is the protheans, her name is Liara T’soni. While we don’t know if she’s involved, she might have some information on her mother or Saren. The last time she was sighted, she was on an archeological dig in the Artemis Cluster.” the ambassador informed the commander.

“I’ll start with her, with a bit of luck she’ll know what Saren found on Feros and Noveria or lead us to her mother who might know.”

“Good luck Shepard and do not fail.” Udina said and left, leaving Andersone and the commander alone. Turning around to talk to Anderson she saw Rick leaning against the Normandy’s door.

“What is he doing here ?” she asked the captain.

“I called him here.”

“Why?”

“Because you need him.”

“I don’t…”

“You do. He’s a powerful biotic, an excellent fighter, is highly motivated to kill Saren and most of all he’s smart and cunning.”

“Alenko is a biotic and the crew I assembled have plenty of good fighters, including a krogan. As for the smart and cunning, the rest of the crew is the best of Alliance.”

“Shepard, he read the events leading to you becoming a spectre perfectly. How the council would react, how to play them. Hell, Udina barely finished saying he would get you a ship that he knew I was going to be forced to step down so you could command the Normandy. That and that Udina would be on my back for your adventures before the audience.”

“Sir?”

“The private clinic? The back alley behind the market? Chora’s den?”

“To be fair, sir, the first two were all him.”

“But you were with him, were you not?” replied Anderson, prompting a long sigh of surrender from the redhead.

“I had to give Alenko my gun so I would not kill him out of frustration. He’s… undisciplined. I need people to follow my orders, to follow me. He’s doing things his way regardless of authority. It’s not good for the team to have a solo player like that.”

“Then find a way to get him in line. If there’s anyone who can help you find Saren and what he’s looking for, it’s him. You can’t pass up on this kind of talent, help and resources. Besides, he paid for all the equipment that got delivered on board.”

“What equipment?” Shepard asked, puzzled.

“Armor, weapons, bio-amp, even company licenses. Anything and everything that you can currently find, he made sure you could get it.”

“Wait, I thought he was joking when he said that!”

“Clearly he wasn’t.”

“But that must have cost him a fortune! He’s a tech expert, how did he get access to that kind of money?”

“I do not know. I asked for help from Admiral Hacket for a background check.”

“And? What did the admiral find out?”

“Nothing. Until three years ago Rick Wald never existed.”

“And you want me to take him in my crew?! He could be anything, from a fugitive to a terrorist!”

“And that’s the second reason I want you to take him with you, so you can find out who he is. Hackett had his best people look him up and they found nothing but his fake identity which was created by hacking the Alliance database.”

“That’s impossible.”

“And yet it happened. You need to find out if he did it himself or the person who did it for him. We cannot have someone capable of accessing the Alliance secure database on whim at large, especially if he was the one who did it.”

“Sir?”

“I spoke with him briefly on our way here and he’s not particularly fond of the Alliance. If it’s him, he’s a dangerous threat, who knows what he could do?”

“Understood, sir.”

“Good luck commander.” Anderson said and left.

Shepard stood alone and looked intently at Rick who was twenty feet away. Gathering her resolve she walked towards, never breaking eye contact, until she stood half a foot away from him. Both stood there in silence for minutes. It was her who broke it.

“The moment you do not follow my orders, I’m locking you up.”

“Unless they are illogical or go against my morals, I will follow them. That’s the only deal I can offer you.”

“...”

“...”

“Good enough.” she replied and side-stepped to enter the ship.

“By the way, I did it myself.” he announced making her stop on the stop. She turned her head to look at him again.

“What?”

“Hacking the alliance database, it wasn’t easy, but I did it myself.”

“How did you…”

“Omni-tool.”

“Of course. Are you going to spy on me non-stop?”

“No. After the audience you clearly didn’t want me around, yet Anderson contacted me. When you saw me here you were surprised. I knew your conversation was about me, so I listened in. I do not intend to spy on your private life, you have my word on that.”

“Your word doesn’t mean much when even your name is fake.”

“It may not be my birth name, but it’s the name I chose for myself and that I’ve been using for more than half my life. It’s not a fake identity, it’s my real one for all intent and purposes.”

“Why? Why hack the Alliance’s database instead of legally changing your name?”

He didn’t answer right away. Instead he looked deep into her emerald eyes. She may not have seen it with his opaque helmet but she knew. After a minute he gave her an answer that she half expected.

“That’s… a very personal question. Why do you want to know? You already got my confession, the why is irrelevant.”

“So I can understand you and begin to trust you. Anderson wants you on this ship, on this crew, because he believes you can be useful. But I can’t work with you properly if I can’t trust you.”

“...”

“...”

“The answer is… I couldn’t.”

“So you’re a former convict then.” Shepard stated. It was a law made a century ago, to keep track of released convicts more easily; they were not allowed to legally change their name and have a real fresh start. At the time there was fierce opposition to the law, but in the end, after many scandals, which many believed had been staged, the law was passed and has never been changed since then.

“No, nothing like that, I just wasn’t of age.”

“Why not wait then?”

“I wanted and needed to get away from the situation I was in and so no one could find me.”

Shepard could think of a few reasons, on the top of her head, as to why an underage boy would more or less fake his death. Abuse, to get away from gangs or the authorities. She had heard of orphans on earth, who got raised in orphanages controlled by gangs, with the sole purpose of joining them once they were old enough. There was one thing that didn’t add up to her however.

“Why wait until three years ago to create… I mean make your identity official?”

“Because I never thought that one day I would be back into the Alliance systems.”

So either he lived in the traverse or the Terminus systems. While the Alliance is not really part of the Council’s space officially, in reality it’s already the case in some ways so he would have needed to make it official then. Shepard thought.

“Is that good enough for you?”

She wanted to ask more but felt she would be pushing her luck and decided against it. Giving a simple nod she entered the Normandy.

“We should go.”

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