Displaced Nobility (A:TLA/ME)

Okay here it goes.

Chapter 4 – Part 2


“What do you mean exactly with 'messed up'?” Azula harshly asked, her mood quickly turning sour. 'What the hell happened now?'


The turian flinched and averted his eyes as he started to talk in a low voice. “I was following a lead, a Quarian girl claiming to have information about Eden Prime and Saren,” he explained. “The last location she had been seen was a clinic in the wards, but when I arrived there…” he paused for a moment, as he took a deep, steadying breath; Azula almost told him to get to the point, but held herself back and allowed him to continue at his own pace.


“When I arrived I noticed a few people entering the clinic and I recognized one of them,” he continued in a more normal tone of voice. “He was a thug working for a local criminal called Fist, owner of a bar called Chora's Den: he normally works for the Shadow broker, but I heard rumors he betrayed the Broker and was working for Saren,” he immediately raised his hand, stopping Azula from speaking. “I'll explain later why I didn't go to him first,” he said.


“Anyway I… didn't follow procedure and called for backup, it would've become a siege and I thought that speed was of the essence; so I sneaked inside the clinic without them noticing me,” Garrus continued. “However as I was getting close to them another group of people entered and immediately opened fire on me. I dodged, but the other goons thought they were under attack and fired back,” he said, grimacing visibly. 'Probably reached the important part,' Azula thought.


“During the firefight the doctor, the person I wanted to talk to, was hit and killed,” he nervously passed his hand over the head crest in a very human-like gesture. “However I overheard enough to know that the Quarian and Fist are connected, but I can't go to his club myself. After what just happened…” he shrugged his shoulders apologetically. “My boss isn't going to let me go and I can't exactly go storm that place alone anyway; if Fist really betrayed the Broker he is going to have a lot of armed backup there.”


“Did you recognize anyone from the other group?” Azula asked. 'Saren is making a move; we must be getting awfully close to him,' she thought with a certain amount of satisfaction. “I mean the ones that started shooting.”


“Not really, no,” he said, shaking his head. “I bet C-Sec has records about them, but I have no idea of who they are or who they were working for.”


Azula shrugged her shoulders, it was worth a shot. “Well, I'm done with the Council; so I'll head there immediately.”


“One more thing,” he said, stopping her. “There is a Krogan mercenary called Wrex that is going after Fist too. If you can find him he might lend an hand.”


“I certainly wouldn't mind having a Krogan fighting with me,” Azula said, nodding. “But if I can't find him on time I will go ahead without him.”


“Fair enough,” Garrus answered. “I'll send you what I have on him.”


“Good, I'll head to Fist's club immediately then,” Azula hesitated for a moment, then continued. “And good luck with your boss.”


“I'm not the one going into a firefight, Commander,” he said, giving her a small, humorless smile. “But thank you anyway, and good luck.”


Azula nodded in thanks and closed the channel. A quick look around revealed Udina busy talking to an Alliance Admiral, whom was speaking rather animatedly with the Ambassador. Magnanimously, she decided to not bother the occupied Ambassador and made a beeline for her team; currently loitering near what looked like a Sakura tree.


“They did not condemn Saren,” Azula preemptively said as she reached them, stopping the two soldiers from voicing their questions, “but they agreed to extend the investigation period. Now come,” she said, motioning them to follow her, “we have things to do and I'm going to need my bag.”


“Here you go, ma'am,” Ashley said, giving Azula her bag as they reached the exit elevator. “What's going on?” she then asked as the doors closed.


“We've got a lead,” Azula answered, opening the bag to reveal her armor and weapons. “Officer Vakarian was on the trail of, apparently, really hot information about Saren, and we need to retrieve – probably rescue too – the one carrying it,” she continued as she got out of the dress uniform and started putting on the armor. “A Quarian, name unknown. A local criminal with ties to Saren is searching for her; we need to assault his base located at the Chora's Den, discover what he knows and neutralize him.”


“Neutralize how, Commander?” Kaidan asked as he passed her her weapons.


“That is entirely up to him and how the circumstances will evolve,” Azula answered, making a final check to her equipment at the same time. “But I don't want him to pull any last minute stunt, so we will use any means necessary to avoid that. Understood?” she turned to look at her subordinate, giving him a pointed look. “This is not about Eden Prime anymore; now there is someone living and breathing on the line, and I want that someone to remain that way if at all possible.”


“Understood ma'am,” Kaidan nodded in acceptance. “Any idea where this Chora's Den is located?”


“Not one,” Azula shrugged. “I figured we could look it up on the extranet, or ask that Citadel V.I.; Alina wasn't it?”


“I think so,” Ashley answered. “Any idea of what kind of opposition we are going to face?”


“Nothing military grade I believe,” Azula said. “And with a bit of luck we might even get a Krogan backup along the way.”


“No offense, but I hope not, Commander,” Ashley grimaced. “When Krogans get involved things tend to become a little… messy.”


“We'll know when we arrive, and if we arrive there,” Azula said, glaring at the elevator panel. “At this speed we might die of old age instead.”


“It's not that bad, Commander,” Kaidan said, chuckling.


Azula stared flatly at the lieutenant for a moment before going back to glaring at the panel, not dignifying his answer with a rebuttal. Thankfully they didn't have to wait long; and after retrieving the information they needed, the group made a beeline for the nearest taxi console to summon one of the many aircars available.


The bar itself was right next to a market and in front of a bottomless pit; Azula and her group stood in a nearby alley, watching the door leading to the bar and preparing themselves for the assault using some photos of the insides found on the extranet. Not that they expected to be shot at right from the moment they stepped in, but it didn't hurt to be careful. They were in the final phases when the sound of heavy footfalls closing in interrupted them.


Wordlessly they spread out as far as the alley allowed and positioned their hands not far from their respective weapons; waiting for the interloper to appear. A few seconds later a massive shape appeared at one of the entrances and stopped there, apparently looking inside the alley.


“Relax,” a deep voice – obviously coming from the Krogan in front of them – spoke. “I'm not here to fight. Not you at least,” he added at the end.


“And you would be?” Azula said, she had a very good idea of who this Krogan was, but she did not want to give anything away or make things easy in case he was not the person she was thinking of.


“Name's Wrex,” he said, not moving from his spot. “I know you are going after Fist and so do I; so, since we are both going after the same person, I figured we might join forces.”


“Commander…” Ashley started to say, as she saw Azula's hand moving away from her weapon.


“Welcome aboard Wrex,” Azula spoke, ignoring the soldier's unspoken request. “We've just finished going over the internal layout of the place, do you want to take a look too?”


“No need Commander,” Wrex said, unfolding a shotgun. “I've been already inside in the past.”


Azula raised an eyebrow at the sight of the gun, and then looked at the imposing Krogan. “You should be aware that we are not going in guns blazing,” she said drily.


“And if we are not getting shot the second we set foot in there, I'll put it back;” he answered. “Until then,” he patted the weapon, “I'm keeping this in my hands.”


Azula remained silent for a second, quickly considering the value of pushing the issue, then shrugged her shoulders. “Suit yourself,” she answered, then started walking towards the establishment.


“One last thing,” Wrex spoke as the group reached the door. “Fist is mine,” he declared. “I have a contract to fulfill that has his name over it.”


“After I extracted the information I want,” Azula answered, turning slightly to look at him and emphasizing the first word,”After that,” she repeated, “I won't care if you dress him up in a pink tutu and push him off the Council Tower,” a chuckle and a nod were her only answer, and she took that as her cue to finally open the bar's door.


Very loud music immediately assaulted her ears as she surveyed the room, easily spotting a couple of bouncers more than a few people carrying badly concealed weapons, and – more importantly – a door probably leading to the bar's personnel area; a door currently guarded by a rather large Krogan. Thankfully she had a large Krogan of her own in the form of Wrex.


“One o'clock, door with Krogan,” she announced to the team.


“He won't be a problem,” Wrex said with bored confidence, rolling his shoulders as he eyed the other Krogan.


Already aware that a quartet of armored strangers was definitely NOT good news and not exactly subtle, Azula discarded any attempt at trying to mingle with the clients and made a beeline for her objective. She was halfway there when quite few of the “clients” suddenly drew their guns and attacked her, the suddenness and sheer amount of firepower almost taking her by surprise. She had expected Fist to try an maintain at least a veneer of legality by responding to her violence, not this… panicked reaction.


'Too bad reality doesn't care about what you think and expect,' Azula thought as she jumped behind the counter right next to a dead Asari bartender, probably the victim of the poor aim of Fist's goons. A quick glance around showed that both Ashley and Kaidan had found refuge behind the counter like she did; and judging by the snarls and crashing sounds, Wrex was entertaining his enemy on the other side of the room. Unfortunately all three of them were pinned down by the amount of firepower directed their way, despite how inaccurate it was.


Ashley and Kaidan were firing back the best they could by sticking out their guns from behind cover, but with more than a few civilians still present the use of grenades was out of the question. A situation like this could be resolved with a bit of time, but time was something their objective might not have; especially if they took too long and C-Sec got involved.


As she was wracking her brain to find a quicker end to the battle, her eye fell on the cooling body of the bartender and an idea suddenly made itself known. With quick practiced motions, Azula took the extra shield generator she had on herself and put it on the Asari's body before activating it. Normally two kinetic barrier could not shield the same object at the same time, as the fields would interfere with one another; however by putting a bit of distance between the two fields, that particular problem could be circumvented.


As the sniper rifle unfolded, Azula rose up holding the corpse up with one arm and placed the weapon's barrel on the body's shoulder. Bullets immediately started raining around her and on her meat shield, but she ignored them and shot her first target; the powerful shot ripping through cover, shield and body alike. Absorbing the heat produced as fast as she could, she aligned the rifle for another shot and took out yet another enemy. She had barely the time to fire one more time before her hardsuit's shield dropped to a dangerous level, and had to duck back into cover.


But now there were three less guns firing at them, giving them more freedom to properly place their shots. And indeed less than a minute later all their enemies were laying on the floor dead or dying.


“Clear!” shouted Kaidan after scanning the room, immediately echoed by both Azula and Ashley.


“About time,” Wrex's voice rumbled from behind them. “I was starting to think I had to do your part too.”


“Just common courtesy,” Azula fired back as she dropped the mangled body on the bar counter, and then turned to look at the slightly bloody Krogan. “We wouldn't want our guest to feel… inadequate, wouldn't we.”


Wrex answer was an explosive and amused, “Heh!” before he turned and went for the door previously guarded by the now dead Krogan, closely followed by Azula and her team.

 

Here is the next segment, sorry for the beastly delay.

=====

Wrex answer was an explosive and amused, “Heh!” before he turned and went for the door previously guarded by the now dead Krogan, closely followed by Azula and her team. The area behind it looked like a storeroom of some sort, filled with metallic boxes and – thankfully – no enemies. A quick look around revealed a couple more storage areas, and another door from which a pair of muffled voices could be heard.


Wrex immediately started fiddling for a moment with his shotgun before pointing it at the door. In other situations she would have agreed with the Krogan's plan to simply shoot through the unarmored door, but she felt a more careful approach was required and quickly signaled Wrex to stop. Thankfully he merely frowned before complying and moving away, giving Kaidan and Ashley the chance to silently position themselves one at each side of the door in a crouching position.


Azula joined Ashley and leaned forward, activating the door's control panel and revealing two armed men right behind it; two armed men at that. Neither Wrex nor Azula hesitated in immediately opening fire at that sight, not even giving the two minions the time to realize what was going on before killing them. The group moved inside the room after a few seconds and congregated around what looked like the entrance to Fist's office.


“Locked!” Ashley angrily exclaimed as the green holographic interface suddenly turned bright red.


“Did you expect something different?” Azula asked rhetorically , as she moved in front of the door. “Let me get a look at it, maybe I can…”


“Clear the way Commander!” Wrex shouted, crouching and looking ready to charge; something that immediately gained Azula's full attention. She had barely moved to the side when with an angry bellow Wrex ran straight into the metal door shoulder first.


The door, while probably secure from hacking attempts, was not so secure from a large, adult Krogan in heavy armor slamming into it. The sheer force of Wrex's ramming action ripped the door from its placement, and threw it into the middle of the room; naturally this also put Wrex right next to the now bent metal sheet, and right in front of two armed turrets and one human. He immediately dived onto the floor right next to the fallen door and hoisted it up, using it as a makeshift shield from the incoming bullets. Barely a moment after that an hail of bullets punched straight through that sheet of metal, but that wasted kinetic energy gave Wrex those extra few seconds necessary for Azula and her group to deal with his attackers.


'Krogans,' Azula thought in exasperation as she saw Wrex's charge rip the office's door from its frame, and then make him stumble right into the middle of the room. The whine of a turret swiveling to track a target and the consequent torrent of bullets, quickly drew her attention back to the more immediate problem. She poked her head in, omnitool at the ready, and sent over a program designed to scramble the turret's coding; in this case, their IFF system. The results immediately became evident as the automated weapons turned on each other and opened fire, shredding their internals in just a few seconds.


A quietly cursing male voice could be clearly heard in the silence that followed the turrets destruction as Azula and her team entered the office. The criminal called Fist was huddling behind a rather massive desk, fully kitted out in some heavy armor, holding a gun, still cursing and completely not paying attention to Azula as she got close; however that quickly changed when she pressed the barrel of her shotgun over his ear, making him stand still as a statue.


“Would you kindly drop the gun and get out of there very, very slowly?” Azula said pleasantly , putting a bit more pressure on his ear as she spoke.


Fist nervously – and very, very slowly – complied and stood up with his hands in the air, walking until he was a few step from the front of the desk he was hiding behind. His eyes were wide with panic, and couldn't hide a faint glimmer of desperate hope from appearing as soon as he took in Azula's Alliance issue armor.


“I surrender!” he cried out. “Please don't kill me!”


“Despite of your ill advised attempt to kill my people and myself, I'm not actually after your miserable life,” she continued, keeping up the polite tone. “What I want is information, information about a certain Quarian girl that was sent your way,” she could see the flash of recognition in Fist's eyes and his badly disguised nervous swallowing. 'Garrus' information was true,' she thought with satisfaction.


“I don't know…” that was as far as Fist got before a powerful kick from Azula hit him in the midsection; the blow being strong enough to send him flying through the air until his lower back hit the desk, sprawling him over it. A bit dazed by the impact, he barely had the time to gather his bearings before he saw Azula lean over him, pinning him down, and then felt something sharp and pointy enter one of his nostrils.


“Would you kindly answer truthfully this time?” Azula asked, her voice being at the same time very sweet and dripping with menace to Fist's ears.


“Wanted to meet the Shadow Broker! Set up a trap with Saren's men in an alley near the market!” Fist quickly shouted, as he suddenly discovered that he was very fond of his nose. “The one right before the entrance, can't miss it!”


Azula smiled and removed her knife from the criminal's nose, eliciting a small yelp of pain from him. “See? It wasn't so bad, wasn't it,” she said as she took a few steps back.


“You… You are not going to kill me?”Fist asked, almost disbelieving his own luck.


“I do have better things to do with my time, you know?” she said as she picked up the shotgun from the floor where she dropped it. “Offense fully intended by the way,” Azula added before turning towards Kaidan and Ashley. “Well then, time to go.”


“What about Fist ma…” Ashley's question was cut abruptly when Azula grabbed her and started dragging her towards the exit.


“People to be saved, justice to be done, and so little time to do it,” Azula cheerfully said right before she started to glare at the soldier. “Now get your ass moving and double time it, Williams.”


The whole team had just reached the door leading out of Chora's Den when they heard a muffled gunshot coming from behind them; both Kaidan and Ashley briefly stopped and started to turn, only to halt their motion when Azula glared at them and gestured to keep moving. “Not our concern,” she bluntly stated. “The information and the Quarian are,” Kaidan grimaced and Ashley just nodded stoically, but they both started moving again without any further comment. They were just outside the establishment when an alarm blaring from Azula's omnitool made her stop instantly.


“Commander, what…” Kaidan started as soon as he noticed she was no longer walking.


“The hospital is under attack,” Azula replied curtly, Kaidan simply nodded and remained silent, not wanting to disrupt her concentration.


“You two,” she spoke a moment later, “will go after the Quarian, I'll call Officer Vakarian and head for the hospital.”


“Ma'am we can't let you go there alone,” Ashley objected, the volume of her voice a bit higher than normal. “If it is bad enough that they need help…”


“All the more reasons for you to go after the Quarian,” Azula interrupted the Gunnery Chief. “Now go,” she ordered them, putting as much authority as she could in her voice as she could.


“Yeah, don't worry about the Commander,” Wrex rumbled from behind them. “I can go with her if she wants.”


Ashley glared suspiciously at the Krogan and looked ready to say something, when suddenly the mercenary spoke again, stopping her. “You did me a favor with this job, Commander,” he said, shrugging his massive shoulders. “Helping you out in return with this problem of yours sounds fair to me.”


Azula remained silent for an handful of second, thinking about his offer. “Very well,” she said, looking Wrex in the eyes. “You'll come with me.”


“Commander!” Ashley half-shouted in surprise.


“Are you sure about this, ma'am?” Kaidan quietly asked her.


“I'm not going to turn down free help when offered,” she pragmatically said. 'And if Wrex really has the intention of betraying us, I want him right where I can kill him.' she thought, mentally going over what little she saw of his fight. “You know what you have to do,” she continued. “Go do it.”


As soon as both her soldiers departed at a jogging pace after saluting her, she turned towards the Krogan and motioned him to follow her. “You have a plan?” he asked her a few moments after they started moving.


“Make a call,” she said after a nod of confirmation, calling a certain Turian in C-Sec.


“Commander,” the half bust of Garrus Vakarian spoke to her from the holographic screen. “I've heard a firefight ensued in the Chora's Den and that several units are converging, I suggest…”


“No time, Central Hospital is under attack, Spectre Nihlus is there,” she said, ignoring the quickly silenced choking sound behind her. “Unknown number of assailants, but if my soldiers are asking for help it must be bad.”


Garrus gaped at her for a moment before shaking his head as if he could throw the surprise off him. “But…” he started to say before starting again. “Commander, there has been no alarm or request of help coming from the hospital, and with most available units converging towards Chora's Den…” he said, trailing off at the end.


“There is no one left to help us at the hospital,” Azula grimly finished for him.


“Also I wouldn't have the authority to send any kind of substantial reinforcements anyway,” he continued. “But I can still do a couple of things for you, Commander,” his hand starting to input some command on his omnitool. “I can give you my C-Sec override for an aircar and… my personal assistance,” he said after a small pause


Azula almost asked what would the consequences be for him if he could not even be present during the raid at Fist's hideout, but she stopped herself at the last moment. 'What would be the point?' she thought. “Every bit of help is welcome,” she said instead, nodding her head in thanks. “We'll see you there,” she then closed the channel and sped up for the nearest aircar call panel.


The override she was provided with made an aircar arrive almost immediately and, quite conveniently, also disabled nearly all limitations normally employed on civilian vehicles; the deactivation of the speed limiter and being able to ignore most traffic laws among them. They jumped in and in just a few minutes she and Wrex arrived at the hospital building, where a small crowd and the recognizable form of a Turian in blue armor stood in front of the doors.


Azula landed in the parking lot near the entrance, climbed out the vehicle and walked with Wrex towards the Turian; the people parting in front of Wrex as he and Azula got closer, “Situation?” Azula asked as she reached Garrus.


“The emergency lockdown is active,” Garrus started explaining immediately. “The whole building is sealed from the inside and all calls are redirected to other hospitals; and yes, my clearance is just high enough to get us in,” he said, anticipating her question.


“Ok, let's push aside the civilians then we get in,” Azula said.


Garrus nodded then turned to the small, murmuring crowd. “Everyone!” he shouted, catching everyone's attention. “We're going inside to investigate and we need you step aside from the doors,” immediately the people milling around the hospital' entrance quickly moved away, obeying Garrus' order – greatly enhanced by Wrex glaring at the few stragglers. “Thank you for your cooperation,” he shouted again once they cleared out the entrance.


“Ready?” Azula asked Garrus as he returned.


“Just give the signal, Commander,” Garrus answered, a small, grim smile on his face.


“In three, two, one, GO!” right after her order, the red holographic panel turned green and the door opened, letting Azula and her rag-tag team inside the hospital.

=====

On a side note I have been searching a good template for how an adult Azula should roughly physically look like (body, as Dolmheon already covered the face) for quite some time, but I think I finally found a good one.

 

Here is another segment. Sorry for the delay but I had to look for another house, then exams started and ended not particularly well. As a crappy excuse as it may sound, it was something that sapped my motivation.


====

“In three, two, one, GO!” right after her order, the red holographic panel turned green and the door opened, letting Azula and her rag-tag team inside the hospital. They moved quickly past the empty reception desk that was facing the entrance. As they approached the small corridor leading to the large waiting room behind it, they were brought to a halt by the sound of people talking.


Hugging the corner and carefully peeking past it, Azula saw a helmeted humanoid and a turian bickering over some loot; another was lounging on a sofa, smoking and with his weapon a few paces from him; and the last one was a large human apparently fiddling with some kind of antennae. Luckily for Azula and her team none of them were paying any attention whatsoever to the entrance, giving her ample time for a quick scan of the room before pulling back.


“Two hostiles sideways to us, one more on a sofa smoking and another fiddling with a device,” she whispered softly. “Dumb and Dumber are mine; Garrus, you get Smoker; Wrex, you take on Techie. I want the device intact. All clear?” at their nods she turned leaned past the corner again and took careful aim.


Moments later a hail of bullets ripped through the shields and armors of the two bickering mercenaries, killing them nearly instantly. Both their living teammates flinched and did not immediately move – their gaze fixed on the bodies of their friends – as they worked through the shock and surprise; by the time they started reacting however Wrex had almost reached them.


The one on the sofa dived for his weapon only to have his back pierced by the larger caliber bullet of Garrus' rifle, the force of the impacts slamming him to the floor and causing him to quickly bleed to death. The human working on the device pivoted on the spot and started to raise his pistol, when a huge three fingered hand firmly grabbed his arm and pulled. With a small grunt of effort Wrex twisted, sending the human flying through the air and then shooting him mid-flight. With the hostiles dealt with, Azula and her group waited a few seconds – weapons at the ready – to see if anyone came to investigate; moving to examine the device only when no one appeared.


“I think we found the jammer,” Wrex said after getting a good look at the piece of machinery.


“At least one of them,” Garrus commented. “People with the resources to trigger an emergency lockdown without anyone outside noticing are not a group that wouldn't have at least some form of backup.”


“Groups like that wouldn't be caught with their pants down like this either,” Wrex shot back, kicking one of the corpses for emphasis. “Not by squabbling over some near worthless loot.”


“Point,” Garrus agreed, grimacing slightly. “Then how…”


“Pointless,” Azula interrupted. “Our objective right now is Nihlus.” Gripping her gun tightly, Azula hit the the jammer with her rifle stock – knocking it down – and then started to stomp on the delicate instrument, destroying it utterly. “Let's focus on that, shall we?”


Wrex shrugged. “Fine by me,” he spoke, while Garrus simply nodded.


“This way then,” Azula said, as she started to move at a brisk pace; quickly followed by both her companions.


The path to the V.I.P. Ward was a relatively short one; passing beyond sealed hospital rooms and a couple of security checkpoints, ignoring the guard's – and a couple of mercs' too – corpses decorating them. As soon as the door of the last checkpoint opened the sound of an ongoing firefight exploded in their ears; almost at the same time they all raised their weapons and started advancing towards the battle ahead.


The new section Azula and her team were in consisted of a long, main corridor with several smaller ones linked to it leading to the intensive care rooms; gunfire and muzzle flashes made it quite obvious where the battle was going on. A quick look behind the corner showed her the attackers huddling behind some mobile covers and columns, just poking their guns out to blindly fire back at Azula's soldiers.


“So,” Wrex asked, “What's the plan?”


“Right now we have them between your soldiers and us,” Garrus spoke, “I say we attack from here; much safer and may even force a surrender out of them.”


“After what they did?” Wrex snorted in derision. “Not gonna happen. They'll become desperate and charge the soldiers, probably thinking that if they get some hostages they might make it out of this mess.”


“And make their situation even worse?” the turian shot back. “A siege like that usually does not end well for the criminals attempting it, you know?”


“I do,” Wrex answered. “Do they?”


“We will attack,” Azula spoke up, interrupting the argument. “Wrex, you take point and I follow; Officer Vakarian, provide covering fire.”


Garrus hesitated for a moment, before simply nodding; Wrex instead looked at her with a huge grin. “That's fine by me Shepard,” he said, “but can you keep up with me?”


“Get ready,” Azula simply answered, giving the large Krogan a flat look. Still grinning, Wrex turned the corner and sprinted down the corridor, Azula hot on his heels and covered by his bulk.


The first mercenary to notice the charging Krogan was a Salarian and Wrex's first target. Before the alien could recover from the shock, Wrex rammed him; his companion; and the cover they were using, sending all three sprawling on the ground to become quite the easy target for the Krogan's weapon. With Wrex's entry grabbing everyone's attention, no one noticed Azula's smaller figure following him until she too opened fire with her assault rifle killing two more mercs.


Slightly panicked by the appearance of an hostile Krogan and by the surprise attack in general, one of the mercenaries grabbed the familiar shape of a grenade and armed it. He rose up slightly from behind his cover to get a better view and angle for his throw, however that action also gave Garrus a clean line of fire to his head. The bullet went through the shield and hit the visor straight on, shattering it and the merc's head; making him slump on the ground with the live grenade still firmly in his grasp.


“Grenade!” Azula shouted, training taking over as she dived to the ground.


The grenade exploded just as she landed on the floor and she immediately rolled to the side, not wanting to remain still longer than she had to. Once on her back she was ready to lay down some covering fire so she could get up again, only to see the team she had come to rescue take advantage of the confusion and charging; quickly taking down the few remaining survivors.


Azula rose back up to her feet and took a moment to look around, noticing for the first time a couple of the specialized wheelchairs – called eezo chairs – used by hospitals to move patients around without aggravating their injuries. These however held no sick or wounded, but she noticed that they were strategically placed to provide as much cover as they could; a faint shimmer created by the air violently displaced by a mass effect field around the edges, gave her an idea of the reasoning behind their use.


Approving of the improvisation and mentally making a note to commend whoever came up with that idea, she walked towards the highest ranking soldier she could see. “Sergeant,” she called, getting the woman's attention. 'Sergeant Vasquez , Jenette,' Azula quickly recalled, “Give me a status report, Vasquez.”


“Ma'am,” the asian woman saluted, a bandage with a bright red spot right where the ear should be around her head. “We took heavy casualties, Commander,” she started, pointing at a few bodies covered by a white sheet. “And if Lieutenant Huang didn't set up a patrol we would have been taken completely by surprise,” the Sergeant paused and swallowed, clearly trying to recompose herself. “Marlow, Bishara, Visconti, Artemov, Huang and Jenkins all… all perished,” she quickly rattled off, only faltering at the end.


Azula nodded, remaining silent for a moment to give the soldier the chance to better compose herself. “The V.I.P?” she then asked.


“Unharmed,” Vasquez answered, straightening up a little. “Still out of it, but unharmed; those motherless shi… Uh…” she started to swear before stopping and starting again, a bit of a blush appearing on her cheeks. “Those hostiles never made it past our defenses,” she said, nodding towards the modified eezo-chairs. “Jenkins idea,” the Sergeant added. “He figured that if those things could hold up two or three people, they could be used as shields if overcharged; it basically ruined them though.”


“I could care less about some piece of equipment, Sergeant,” Azula said. “If doing that was necessary it is fine by me, and that is all you need to worry about.”


“Yes ma'am,” Vasquez replied, a touch of relief entering her voice. 'And for damn good reason, those things must be really expensive,' Azula thought before shrugging off that line of thought. 'I'll just send the bill to Udina, this was to protect Nihlus after all. Speaking of which…'


“We'll remain here until C-Sec shows up, just in case there are still any mercs around that we missed or there is another attempt,” Azula spoke, raising her voice slightly so everyone could hear her. “And while we wait, you can tell me how all this happened,” she added in a lower tone of voice, the perspective apparently making the Sergeant flinch slightly.


“Yes ma'am,” she answered, in a low subdued tone.


“Come,” Azula spoke, gesturing towards a corner away from mostly everyone. “You can begin with how Jenkins died.”


The Sergeant followed Azula and leaned on the wall, letting a couple of seconds pass before answering “He tried to do too much too soon,” she finally said. “First as 'cover' for the patrol, then later trying to help the wounded and even taking a couple of potshots at those motherfuckers,” she said, rage clearly coloring the word. “We were all too busy to stop him, until in the end his condition worsened and we couldn't do a thing to help him,” she met Azula's eyes with a small self-deprecating smile on her lips, as she shrugged slightly. “It's not like we were in one of the most advanced hospital in Citadel space, were we.”


Azula merely made a small smile of her own, and clasped a hand on the other woman's shoulder. 'I should have brought Alenko,' she thought. “And the others?” she instead asked.

=====

For the record, no it is supposed to end there. The next segment will have as main focus Alenko and Ashley.

 

RISE! RISE! RIIISEEEE!



-------

Ashley glared at the retreating back of the huge alien accompanying her Commander; silently fuming as they quickly disappeared from view.

“Don't worry about the Commander,” Alenko spoke, startling her. “She can handle him if he gets strange ideas.”

“She would handle him better with someone else along…” she muttered even as she acknowledged his point; N7 designations were not given away frivolously after all.

“Can't argue with that,” Alenko said, smiling a little, “but we really should concentrate on saving the Quarian.”

“Yes sir,” she said after taking a deep breath. 'Worry about the highly trained commando with top of the line gear later, would you Ash?' she chided herself, as she quickly fell into step besides the Lieutenant.

A couple of minutes later they finally reached the back street Fist spoke of; the sounds of a busy market clearly reaching them there. “Alley right next the market's entrance, this must be it,” Alenko spoke as he carefully looked inside the gently curving alley. Some tubes, crates, and exposed machinery were cluttering it, but there was no sign of the Quarian.

“She must be further in,” he said, speeding up as he ventured inside the alley. “Better hurry up.”

“Right behind you,” Ashley responded, matching his pace.

Thankfully the alley did not branch off and a minute later they spotted a female figure – clad in what looked like an envirosuit – walking ahead of them. The Quarian turned to look behind her and froze for an heartbeat before grabbing something from her belt, and throwing it on the ground between them; the object detonating in a blinding flash as soon as it hit the floor.

“Wait!” Alenko shouted, blinded and stumbling backwards. He could hear the Quarian running away and after a few moments he heard Ashley taking off as well. He silently cursed as he leaned on the nearby wall and waited for his sight to return; getting his neck broken because he couldn't see where he was going and tripped over some stairs or random junk would help no one. A couple of seconds later his vision cleared enough for him to start running after Ashley and the Quarian, quietly cursing every stumble when he failed to notice an obstacle in time.

Soon enough he spotted the two, just in time to see the Quarian waving the Omnitool on her arm, causing a jet of steam to explode from the wall right behind her and hitting Ashley. The woman instinctively slowed down and covered her head, but the hesitation lasted only a moment and then she was hot on the Quarian's tail again; Alenko himself barely slowed down, using his biotics to keep the steam away from him.

“I swear,” Ashley panted as he caught up with her, “when all this is said and done, I'm going to punch her.”

Alenko winced as he saw Ashley's reddening face; he wanted to point out that it was a pretty good move – wading through high pressure, hot steam without some ulterior protection was not something most people would do – but he held his tongue; wiser to save his breath and… His train of thoughts halted as soon as he came around a corner. Three unknowns – two Salarians in armor and a Turian in civilian clothes – were coming from the other way and the Quarian skidded to an halt the moment she spotted them.

Alenko immediately noticed the rising weapons carried by the newcomers and stopped, starting to charge his biotics; Ashley however kept going and tackled the now backpedaling Quarian. They both ended up rolling on the floor from the impact, and barely avoiding the shots fired from the Turian's gun. The two Salarians aimed their weapons at the two women's prone forms – following the lead of the Turian – prompting Alenko to let loose a biotic push and flung their apparent leader against one of the armored aliens, knocking them both on the ground.

The other Salarian instantly turned his gun towards him and started spraying bullets in Alenko's direction, forcing him to duck and scramble for cover. His victory however was short lived as Ashley and the Quarian managed to disentangled themselves enough to draw their weapons and open fire, quickly dispatching him. A moan of pain grabbed everyone's attention, only to see the surviving Salarian throwing his Turian accomplice off him and start running away. Ashley immediately raised her gun – imitated by the Quarian a second later – ready to finish him off.

“HOLD YOUR FIRE!” Alenko shouted.

Ashley obeyed, keeping the fleeing figure in her sights but not pulling the trigger; a move hesitantly imitated by the Quarian as the fleeing alien disappeared from view. With his departure Ashley and the girl they came to rescue carefully got back to their feet, while keeping a wary eye on each other.

“Are you both okay?” Alenko asked them as he joined them.

“Yes sir,” Ashley answered as she went to check on the Turian. “No injuries to report.”

“I'm okay,” the other girl replied. “I… guess I should thank you for helping me.”

“Not a problem, miss…?”

“Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya,” she paused for a moment to study their armor. “You're Alliance?” she asked with a hint of surprise coloring her voice.

“Yes ma'am,” Alenko answered. “I'm Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, and she is Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams.”

“Oh. I'm sorry I…” she said, glancing quickly at Ashley's reddened face as she rejoined them. “This was not the first attempt on my life today; sorry,” she murmured at the end.

“It's alright,” Ashley replied, relaxing slightly. “It just looks worse than it really is.”

“Still, I may have a way to apologize and repay you,” Tali said, activating her omnitool and turning towards Alenko. “This is why you were looking for me, right?” she asked as a familiar voice started speaking.

By the time the record finished playing, both Alenko and Ashley had huge smiles on their faces. “Yes it is miss Zorah, yes it is.” he said. “Just let me call the embassy for a pick up, you'll be safer there.”

“Thank you,” she said, bowing her head slightly. “And it's Tali.”

“Excellent,” he said with a warm smile. “Let me call the embassy for a secure car and we'll be off, Tali.”

Their ride arrived after a little while, and thankfully the voyage back to the embassy was very short and without further complications. As soon as the three of them landed in the embassy compound a couple of guards immediately escorted them to a waiting room next to the Ambassador's office. After some time they were finally admitted inside, and were greeted by the sight of Udina furiously tapping at the holographic keyboard; the human Ambassador barely sparing them a glance when they entered. After a minute or so Tali looked ready to speak up, only to have Ashley gently grip the Quarian's forearm and minutely shake her head.

They waited went on for a few minutes more before the ambassador finished his work and turned his attention on the trio.

“Sorry for the wait,” he began, “but I was dealing with the matter of your arrest warrants.”

“Our what?!” both Kaidan and Ashley chorused.

“Yes, your arrest warrants,” Udina said, ignoring their outburst. “Apparently killing everyone inside a bar and murdering a fellow Quarian are crimes around here.”

“I didn't kill…” Tali started.

“We were follo…” Kaidan began

“What the hell you two were thinking,” Udina suddenly stood up, shouting and interrupting both. “I am not here to clean up after some gung-ho ground pounders with less sense than an Hanar in a religious frenzy! Especially when they decide to start a massacre in a bar full of civilians!” He sank back in his chair, tiredly rubbing his eyes; as if the rant drained him of all the energy he had. “And then your commander had to top it all of by being involved in an hospital shoot out.”

“She what?!” Ashley nearly shouted.

“Not important right now,” he said. “Not when I've heard that your… 'little jaunt' might have produced important results,” he finished, turning to look directly at the Quarian.

“Before…” Tali began, her voice wavering a little. “Before we begin I would like to say that I did not kill Keenah; an assassin, probably hired by Saren, killed him,” she paused for a moment, bowing her head. “He was my friend.”

“I'm sorry to hear that Miss,” Udina spoke in a more gentle tone. “With your help we can hopefully bring Saren to justice for that too.”

“I will do whatever I can to help,” Tali said looking at Udina straight in the eyes. “This is some data I managed to extract from a Geth memory core before it self-destructed,” her omnitool activated and soon the voices of Saren and another woman filled the room.

“Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit,” a typical Turian voice came from Tali's omnitool.

“And one step closer to the return of the Reapers,” a female voice continued.

“Your experts should easily verify that it has not been tampered with and it is authentic.”

“I must thank you again, Miss,” Udina said after a moment of silence. “I don't recognize the woman, but the other voice is certainly Saren; this may exactly be what we needed to finally nail him,” he said, some energy returning to him. “It will take some time to organize an hearing with the Council, so while we wait you are free to stay here if you want.”

“I would like that, two assassination attempt in the same day are enough for me,” Tali said, shuddering a little.

“Very well,” Udina nodded somberly. “I'll tell the staff to prepare a room for you and have some food and drink brought to you; Turian only I'm afraid, a Quarian guest is unfortunately quite the rare occurrence. In the mean time,” he continued over Tali's mumbled thanks. “Lieutenant Alenko and Gunnery Chief Williams will help you with whatever you may need and will provide protection until the trial is over.”

The office's door opened, admitting a woman dressed in civilian clothes whom nodded at the trio. “Miss Winters will show you your accommodation; now – if you'll excuse me – I have a lot of work to do.” The words 'Because of you' going unsaid, but clearly heard. “You can go now, Chief Williams,” he continued when Ashley hesitated a couple of seconds, prompting her to quickly exit his office and join the others outside.

“If you don't mind me asking,” Tali started once they settled in the guest quarters, “why your commander was involved in a hospital shooting?”

Ashley grimaced at the question. Technically it was still classified information, but secrecy was not particularly relevant anymore with both the attack at the hospital and Tali's involvement. She turned to look at Alenko who had a similar expression on his face.

“It's not something we can yet speak freely about,” he said diplomatically. “But I guess I can say that someone tied to the case against Saren was being kept at the hospital.”

Tali nodded in acceptance – evidently not pushing for more information, much to the relief of both humans – “Could you please tell me about the Commander then?” she instead asked.

“Sure,” Alenko said after a moment, shrugging his shoulders. “I have not known her for long, but I can tell what I know.”​

 

And here is the lat and final part of tha chapter. Short, but it was just mostly wrapping things up.

-----

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

“Is it going to take much longer?”

“No.”

“Have we arrived yet?”

“No.”

“You would tell me if we arrived, right?”

“YES! WE ARRIVED!”

“Excellent!” Azula said, immediately getting off the C-Sec aircar and then cheerfully waving at the Turian Citadel Security officer that drove her to the base of the Citadel Tower, enjoying his twitch of annoyance. 'Hold me in a cell for 'security reasons' will you? Impound my armor and weapons as evidence too?' she thought as the aircar took off and left. 'If I didn't have bigger concerns I would enjoy making you incompetent lot pay.' Azula sighed and pushed her irritation back; indulging in some petty revenge may have been a good way to pass the time until now, but she needed a clear head for the upcoming meeting with the Council.

Thankfully the elevator ride to the top of the Citadel Tower was a long one, giving her more than enough time to center herself; when the elevator's doors finally opened Azula confidently strode out fully calm and composed. Immediately she spotted Ashley and Alenko waiting for her along with a slightly nervous Quarian girl if her slight fidgeting was any indication.

“Williams, Alenko,” Azula greeted them both. “And miss…?” she trailed off, looking at the suited alien.

“Tali'Zorah Nar'Rayya,” Tali promptly answered. “but you can call me Tali, Commander,” she hastily added.

“Well met, Tali,” Azula spoke. “I assume you are the Quarian Fist spoke about? It's good to see that you are in good health; I would have come personally but… Another equally important matter required my attention.”

“I understand,” Tali answered truthfully. “And your crew did a pretty good job saving me from my own mistake,” she added, nodding in Ashley and Alenko's direction. “Despite some initial… Difficulties.”

Azula almost asked for clarification – if there had been problems, she needed to know – but the slight twitch upwards of Ashley's lips and the general humorous feel she got from Alenko and Tali quelled her initial instinct. If anything actually relevant or important happened they would have already made her aware of it. 'Something to look into later in any case,' she thought, feeling her own smile forming. 'It may be worth a laugh.'

“It’s good to see that things turned out ok in the end then,” Azula said. “While we wait though, I was wondering if you could indulge my curiosity for a moment, Tali.”

“Uhh… sure,” Tali said, shrugging her shoulders. “Why not? I don’t know how I can help you, but ok.”

“Why go to the Shadow Broker first instead of the System Alliance?” Azula asked bluntly. “I know this may sound a bit biased coming from someone like me, but I’m pretty certain that dealing with us would have been a better choice and a lot more safer than with the Shadow Broker.”

“We tried,” Tali answered quietly after a moment. “After I recovered the data we tried to contact the authorities on Ilium, but they kept us on hold until Saren’s people found us and killed everyone from the Honorata but me and Keenah. We tried telling C-Sec and they ignored us because we had to stowaway to escape Ilium and we were not far from where C-Sec detained us when I was shot and Keenah fatally wounded,” she stopped and looked Azula straight in the eyes. “I went to the Shadow Broker because nobody else listened, believed or cared.”

Azula held her gaze with Tali a moment longer and then nodded, “Fair enough,” she said. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry that I poked a wound so fresh.”

“There is no need for apologies, Commander,” Tali said after a deep sigh. “It was something I would have asked too in your place.”

Azula opened her mouth to answer when she spotted Ambassador Udina coming in her direction, “I guess it is time to see if our efforts amounted to something,” she said instead, looking at the rapidly approaching Ambassador.

“Shepard,” Udian started, looking grimmer than usual and ignoring all pleasantries. “The Council has reached a decision and they are going to make a statement soon; they also requested for you to be present when they will do so,” then – without any further comment – he turned and started walking away.

Azula didn’t need any further encouragement to follow the Ambassador; his discourtesy utterly irrelevant given the importance of this meeting.

“Good luck, Commander,” Alenko suddenly spoke up, soon accompanied by a nod from Ashley.

“Ancestors be with you, Commander,” Tali said, surprising her.

Azula merely smiled and continued walking, until – once again – she was in front three of most influential people of the known galaxy.

“Commander Shepard, Ambassador Udina,” the Asari Councilor began. “We have have examined the proof you brought and heard the testimony of the Spectre Nihlus…”

‘Nihlus is already awake?’ Azula thought, caught a bit by surprise by the news. ‘Spectres really are a tough bunch.’

“…and since no proof of tampering or fabrication was found, we could reach only one conclusion,” Councilor Valern spoke, dragging Azula’s full attention back to the proceedings.


“We find Spectre Saren Arterius guilty on all charges,” the Turian Councilor said, continuing on. “His Spectre status will be revoked and all of his assets seized.”

“But that will not be all,” Tevos – the Asari Councilor – spoke again. “We also recognize the danger he and his allies pose to Galactic stability, therefore we decided to grant you, Commander, the status of Council Spectre.”

It took all of her willpower not to break into exultant laughter right then there as she heard those words, only a wide smile slipping through her control and betraying her true feelings.

“During this investigation you have shown all the qualities that all Spectres must have to be successful with their duties,” Sparatus continued, his flange cheeks twitching a bit.

“You will be given access to all the privileges and resources befitting your new status,” Valern spoke. “And you will need them, as your first mission is of the highest priority and difficulty.”

“Uncover Saren’s plans, stop them and bring him to justice,” Tevos finished.

Azula’s smile that appeared when they declared her a Spectre grew to a full grin as soon as the Asari Councilor gave her the mission. ‘What delightfully vague orders,’ she thought as she bowed slightly and thanked them for the honor bestowed upon her. ‘They clearly want him dead quietly and quickly, but they don’t want to actually say that out loud.’

She mentally shrugged and pushed those thoughts back as the meeting came to an end and she rejoined with the trio back at the elevator, sharing the good news with them. It was not the right moment for such things after all; now it was time to savor this victory she and her people worked so hard for.

 

Chapter 5

Run! Hide!

… The ^3&# screeched at her

Safe…

Anyone?

Azula slowly woke up in her cabin back on the Normandy, barely stifling a moan of pain as the migraine increased the more aware she became. “Spirits above,” she complained to the empty room. “Even my eyeballs hurt!”

After taking the pain medication doctor Chakwas had given her, she dressed up and started going through her daily messages and paperwork as soon as the painkiller started to kick in. After dealing with most of them, three messages stood out: one from a Council attache, one from Admiral Hackett and one from Nihlus himself. Unable to resist her own curiosity Azula opened the last one, which contained a simple invitation to meet Nihlus in his hospital room when she was able to.

'Why would Nihlus need to see me in person so soon?' Azula wondered. 'If he just wanted to thank me he could have done it with this message.'

A quick look at the other two messages – an appointment with a Ms. Nuraari at the Human Embassy and some congratulations for making it in the ranks of the Spectres – showed that she had plenty of time to visit Nihlus at the hospital. The increased security made reaching his room take a bit more time than she expected, but soon after she was in front of his room's door.

“'Ome in!” a muffled voice spoke as soon as she finished activating the door's holopanel.

Nihlus was reclining on his bed – his back supported by a large amount of pillows – and waved her in as soon as the door opened. “Greetings,” he spoke. “Nice see you.”

Seeing the lifeless left side of the Turian’s face Azula hesitates for a couple of seconds, unsure about what to say and masking it by reaching for a chair. “Well,” she started. “I have to say I’m surpirsed to find you already up and about,” ‘Yes! Good start!’

“Lucky,” he replied, attempting to shrug both his shoulders. “Alive. Not ‘rain dead. Is good.”

“Well then, now that we dispensed with the pleasantries,” Azula said. “Why did you want to meet me in person? I don’t think it’s just to say thank you right?”

Expression turning solemn, Nihlus simply nodded. “You hunt Saren,” he spoke, taking care to enunciate each word as correctly as possible. “I can hel… aid. ‘any contacts, fa’ors owed;” he added, prompted by Azula’s raising an eyebrow. “Also counsel.”

“Counsel?” Azula asked. ‘Is he talking about politics? Inter-office ones maybe?’

“Yes,” he answered, a ghost of a smile appearing. “Situation: Saren’s assets seized to your gain.”

Azula froze for a moment, mentally cursing herself for missing something so obvious she could do. ‘Well,’ she thought. ‘Nobody said I don’t learn from my mistakes.’

“Tell me more,” she spoke, reclining on her chair and giving the older Spectre her full attention; at her declaration the part of his face that was still mobile split into an enormous grin.

The impromptu lesson in Spectrehood nearly ate all the time she had left before her meeting with Udina and the Council attache, causing her to barely make it in front of Udina’s office in time. The door opened automatically as she approached, admitting her into the Ambassador's office currently occupied by Udina himself, Captain Anderson, and an Asari she had never seen before in an elaborate dress.

“Ah, Commander, you're here; please take a seat,” Udina spoke, resuming only as Azula sat down by Captain Anderson. “May I present to you the Council representative, miss Nuraari,” the Asari in question made a small bow at the mention of her name. “Who is here to brief you about you duties as a Spectre.”

“Don’t worry, Commander,” Nuraari said smiling. “This won’t take very long. In fact…” she rummaged through the folds of her dress for a bit before pulling out two datapads and giving both of them to her. “Here, one is for your eyes only and the other is a clue we’ve found after going through former Spectre Saren’s files,” she explained.

“That’s it?” Azula asked after putting the personal datapad in a pocket inside her uniform, unable to completely hide her surprise.

“That’s it,” the Asari confirmed, still smiling. “A Spectre is already allowed a great of deal of trust and is expected a certain level self-reliance, so – for this – overcomplicated security measures are usually waived.”

“All right then,” Azula spoke, pushing her lingering doubts down. “Before you go though, can you pass this along?” she asked, activating her omnitool and sending the document she and Nihlus wrote.

“Certainly,” Nuraari said, activating her own and starting the transfer. “I’ll pass it along as soon as I can. Have a nice day.”

“Something we should know, Commander?” Udina spoke.

“Not particularly,” Azula answered nonchalantly. “Just getting a head-start on the self-reliance angle. In any case,” she continued, straitening herself up on the chair. “There was something you wanted to talk about, right?”

“Yes,” he replied, only a slight narrowing of his eyes giving him away. “Analysis of the Quarian’s recording just came through and the female voice has been identified.”

“Apparently she is an Asari Matriarch,” Anderson interjected. “Her name is Benezia and she has a daughter, an archeologist called Liara T’Soni; her last known location was somewhere in the Artemis Tau cluster.”

“That’s still a pretty big chunk of space to look through,” Azula spoke, chin held in thought. “There must be something else that can narrow the search down.”

“The file on her says that she specialize in Prothean history and artifacts,” Udina said, reading from his holo-screen. “Focusing on planets with confirmed Prothean ruins yet to be excavated should be enough.”

“Indeed,” she said, reclining back on the chair. “Was there anything else?”

“Two things actually,” Udina spoke, giving Anderson a quick glance. “There have been sightings of Geth activity near our colony on Feros; nothing confirmed so far and with the Alliance is stretched pretty thin investigating other similar reports, it may take some time before a proper task force can be assembled.”

“What makes Feros stand out?” Azula asked. “Prothean artifacts?”

“A whole megalopolis,” the Ambassador answered. “Plenty of scavengers already went through it, but if the Geth are poking around there…”

“There might still be something in it,” Azula finished, “Yes it makes sense. However that was one thing, you mentioned another,” she continued, observing the Ambassador reactions; she did not miss the his previous glance at Captain Anderson.

“Captain Anderson is stepping down as commanding officer of the Normandy,” Udina spoke, his tone remaining neutral. “The ship is yours now.”

The news threw Azula for a loop, almost missing Anderson giving her small nod. ‘First becoming a Spectre and now even getting my own ship?’ she thought as she recovered from the surprise.

“She’s quick and quiet and you know the crew, Commander.” Anderson spoke encouragingly. “It’s a perfect ship for a Spectre and she’ll serve you well.”

“Are you sure about this, sir?” Azula asked, looking her former Captain in the eyes.

“My chance at this already came and went, Commander,” he answered, giving her a small smile. “Now it’s yours. Besides it was time for me to get off that chair.”

“Thank you, sir,” Azula said sincerely. “I won’t let you down.”

“That would be all, Commander,” Udina suddenly interrupted. “I guess you have a departure to schedule.”

That I do,” Azula said, “But first I want to pick a few people up.”

 

Azula walked towards the Normandy’s cockpit, the ship – 'My ship, her mind added – was fully resupplied and staffed; she was ready to go as she could be. Joker greeted her from his seat as soon as she arrived.

“Just making the final checks before clearing the dock, Commander,” he said, his hands flashing through the lists and commands on the holographic console. “If you want to make a speech, this is the moment.”

Azula paused for a few moments before nodding in agreement; she and her crew didn’t have a particularly long service record together that would make such things unnecessary. “Here you go, Commander,” Joker said as she activated the intercom.

“This the Commander,” Azula began, leaning towards the microphone; her voice coming through the loudspeakers on every deck of the ship. “By this point I'm sure you have have heard the news and guessed what probably our mission will be, so allow me to remove any doubts that may still linger: We are going to hunt Saren down and give him our appreciation for his treasonous acts.” Azula paused her speech, discreetly looking at the crew behind her and taking note of their pleased reaction.

“I'm not going to insult you all by saying that it's going to be easy, if it was they wouldn't have chosen us to go after him. We earned our fame by saving Eden Prime from destruction, and with the help of our allies, we will earn it once again by foiling his mad plans and bringing him to justice.”

“Nice speech, Commander,” Joker commented as soon as she finished. “Just be careful not to end up on the chopping block like Captain Anderson because of backroom politics.”

“Advice noted and appreciated Joker,” Azula answered. “But if Saren is any indication, as long as the results I produce outweighs the troubles that may crop up I think I'm pretty solid with my position.”

“Can't argue with that,” he spoke. “Undocking procedures complete and we are on the way to the Mass Relay; we got a destination?”

“Feros,” Azula replied after a couple of seconds. “Keep your eyes open, though, unconfirmed Geth activity has been reported in the area.”

“Aye aye, Commander,” Joker said. “If they were any more open they would pop out of my skull.”

“As long as you don’t ruin the seats...” she said as she started walking away.

“This cheap stuff?” Joker replied to her retreating back. “They should pay me for the improvement!”

Azula rolled her eyes at the irreverence of her pilot, ‘At least he’s skilled enough to afford it and smart enough to remain professional…’ Her musing however were suddenly interrupted by her XO, Pressly, coming towards her with a serious expression on his face.

“Commander,” he saluted as he reached her. “All crew is accounted for and we are fully stocked.”

“Very good, Pressly,” she replied as she continued to walk, mildly curious about the real reason he approached her. “Was there anything else?” she continued, trying to prompt her officer in stop stalling.

He hesitated for a moment before speaking; a faint expression of distaste appearing and then immediately excised from his face. “It’s those aliens, ma’am,” Pressly finally spoke in a low tone of voice. “I can understand the Turian…”

Azula could feel everyone’s eyes on her as she strode through the C-Sec office towards a particular cubicle inhabited by a familiar – if slouching – Turian.

“Hello Mr. Vakarian,” she said as she reached her destination.

The Turian turned briefly to look at her then went back to putting several items inside a box in front of him. “Hello, Commander,” he spoke softly, a dejected air clinging to him like a cloak.

“I heard you are in the market for a new job,” Azula said in a cheerful voice, ignoring how he suddenly tensed up. “And what do you know, I am looking for highly trained manpower,” she couldn’t stop her smile as she saw him turning to look at her no longer slouching, but standing straight and with hope shining in his eyes. “Interested?”

“…He basically is military and they were involved in the construction of the ship from the beginning, but the Krogan?”

Finding a specific half a ton of Krogan muscle on the Citadel was – strangely enough – more difficult than she imagined. Apparently everyone with even a whiff of power and/or money wanted a Krogan bodyguard looming behind them; treating them as some kind of status symbol like one would with a famous painting or a rare artifact.

Thankfully, her target was notorious enough for her to track him down with relatively little difficulty; especially after leaning a bit on C-Sec, who probably kept a lot of eyes on Wrex after being forced to release him due to being involved in “Spectre business.” There was so much bitterness and hatred around that particular affair among the C-Sec personnel, that she could almost physically taste it.

‘Still worth it,’ she thought as she slid a tall glass along the bar counter and right next to a large three fingered hand. The owner first looked at her then grabbed the glass and sniffed it cautiously, before grinning widely and downing a quarter of the contents in one gulp.

“Ryncol, Commander? And of decent quality too?” He spoke, still sporting a large grin. “Where you managed to find something like this on the Citadel?”

“Some would say a wild and poorly spent youth,” Azula replied, sipping her own drink, even if a far less extreme one.

“Ah!” Wrex snorted in amusement. “Okay, I agree.”

“What?”

“Alcohol produced by my people, Spectrehood and a really big and tough loose end that needs to be taken care of,” he paused for a moment as he turned to fully face her, clearly enjoying the situation. “You were going to offer me a job,” he concluded.

Some of her emotions about the abrupt derailment of the conversation must have showed on her face, because he suddenly began to laugh uproariously.

“And a Quarian too, of all people?”

The embassy’s guest rooms thankfully were not far from Udina’s office, and the presence of two armed guards just outside the door of one of those apartments made it obvious which one was occupied. After having her identity verified she was allowed access, and was greeted by the sight of Chief Williams facing off Tali over some kind of holographic board game.

“Commander!” they both exclaimed at the same time, Ashley even jumps off the couch to salute her.

“Ah, Chief Williams. Just the person I was looking for” Azula spoke, snapping off a salute of her own.

“Ma’am?” A confused Ashley replied.

“These are your transfer papers,” Azula continued, giving her a pad. “Gather your gear and give them to Pressly back at the Normandy.”

The woman numbly accepted the tablet and simply kept staring at Azula, only half strangled noises coming out of her. “I suggest you start moving Chief,” Azula spoke, barely keeping her lips from twitching upwards. “We are scheduled to depart the day after tomorrow and there is a bit of paperwork to be done to complete your transfer,” she paused for a moment, then continued in am ore serious tone. “That is if you…”

“Yes, ma’am! Going now, ma’am!” Ashley interrupted her and then bolting out of the room after saluting Azula again.

“Now Tali,” Azula spoke after taking the place on the seat Ashley just vacated. “You’ve done a great service to me and the Alliance, there is anything I can do to repay the debt?”

“You saved my life, Commander. That’s payment enough,” Tali answered, curling up on her couch. “But… Can I join your crew?” she asked, speaking so quickly it almost sounded like one word. “I understand that I’m not a Human and not a soldier,” she kept going. “But I can look after myself, I’m pretty handy with an omnitool and I’m pretty good at handling the Geth too!”

“Okay,” Azula simply answered.

“I promise I won’t get in your way and… Oh, you said yes,” the young Quarian pressed her hands on the faceplate of her helmet. “I’ll just shut up now.”

Pressly shook his head, his mouth set in a sour expression. “They are a huge security risk, the lot of them.”

“I understand your concerns, Navigator,” Azula answered calmly. “Let me assuage them one by one and let’s start by the young Miss Nar Rayya,” she continued as she stopped just outside the Bridge, out of earshot of the crew manning it. “Someone smart and capable enough to successfully ambush a Geth patrol and extract valuable data from them.

“Not to mention the Quarians as a whole have much bigger problems and heavily different priorities than worrying about anything our guest can uncover,” she paused for a moment to give Pressly an occasion to interject and continuing when he didn’t. “Continuing on with Garrus Vakarian, who – as you said – is a Turian and I can assure you that he sacrificed a lot while helping us prove Saren’s guilt.

“And last is Urdnot Wrex; leaving aside his mercenary reputation – which I checked and is very good – he is an excellent combatant and a biotic to boot. Considering the magnitude of our mission, I don’t need to tell you how valuable as an ally he can be, do I?” Azula asked.

“No, ma’am,” Pressly replied, looking as if he just bitten a particularly sour lemon. “I understand.”

“Good,” Azula spoke with a smile. “Carry on then.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he answered, saluting and walking back to the bridge immediately after.

Azula kept watching his retreating back for a second before turning and continuing on towards Anderson’s cabin – now her own – nodding and greeting the crew along the way. Once she heard the door closing, however, she let her composure drop a bit; trying to massage her stiff shoulders back to normalcy as she sit down at the desk and turns on the monitor.

“Orianna,” she spoke out loud, leaning back in her seat.

“Available,” the synthetic voice of the on-board V.I. replied.

“Initiate a search in all available archives, parameters: Feros, colony, history, background, economy,” Azula said. “Put them in written format, one tab for each document.”

“Complying… Download complete, displaying,”

Immediately several pages started appearing and Azula’s eyebrow rose as they kept going for a few moments more.

“Orianna,” Azula spoke. “Play some music, list A3,”

“Complying,” the V.I. obeyed as the notes began to fill the cabin.

‘Well,’ she thought as she began reading the first document. ‘At least I have something to keep me occupied during the voyage.’

She was already past her first pruning of redundant or pointless articles when the chime of an incoming message distracted her from it.’Nihlus?’ So soon?’ Curious – and a bit thankful for the interruption – she opened it.

Hello Commander,

I heard about your mission and I know you’ll have your hands full, so I’ll make this quick. I made some inquiries about one of your leads – Dr Liara T’Soni – and I managed to find where her expedition went; the location and some information about the planet are in the file. However the bad news is that someone hired a merc to capture Dr. T’Soni.

I suggest you hurry.

Nihlus.

“Joker!” Azula immediately barked in the intercom after reading Nihlus info. “New heading! Knossos system, max speed!”

“…Yes, ma’am,” he replied, his voice obviously filled with puzzlement. “But we’ll have to backtrack a bit.”

“Get it done!” Azula replied harshly, “And do your best Joker,” she continued in a smoother tone of voice. “One of our leads is about the get a very unfriendly visit.”

“I won’t let you down, Commander,” Joker answered, for once in complete seriousness. ​