"Shepard!"
When I approached the Normandy, I saw a rear admiral, next to whom were representatives of the Alliance. And this rear admiral was not well-disposed toward me.
"How is this to be understood?!"
"Rear Admiral, could you be more specific?"
"I was not allowed onto the Normandy, even though I'm supposed to conduct an inspection, and now that I've received an order to requisition the ship..."
I laughed quietly at the man's words.
"Rear Admiral, according to the laws of Citadel Space, once the ship Normandy was transferred to a Spectre—that is, to me—the ship is considered transferred to the Spectre corps as a whole. And taking it away by writing some little piece of paper is impossible. Or do you wish to commit theft of Spectre corps property?"
"This is Alliance property."
The man's words were quiet, and I could hear from his voice that he completely agreed with me. But he had an order.
"Rear Admiral. You understand that without my permission, you won't get onto the ship?"
"Yes..."
The man winced but didn't argue with that, while his companions grumbled slightly.
"Quiet!"
One short command and the companions shut up.
"Excellent. I can give you a tour of the ship. However, your people will stay outside."
"Fine... at least I'll partially fulfill my duties."
The Rear Admiral and I went into the airlock, and after decontamination, we boarded the ship.
"By the way, how should I address you?"
"Rear Admiral Pyotr Mikhailovich."
"Good, you can just call me John, or Shepard."
"Is it Shepard, though?"
A slight mockery was heard in the man's voice.
"Shepard, Shepard—changing a surname, getting a double one... none of that is forbidden. So you can call me Shepard. I took this name back when I was young and hoped the Alliance military was well-supplied and I could serve in it anonymously. But..."
I spread my hands as if to say, "It wasn't meant to be."
"...somehow it turned out the supply situation disappointed me and I had to tell my anonymity to get lost."
"I'm not arguing..."
Pyotr Mikhailovich sighed heavily.
"...I read your file, so I was just curious which you preferred."
"Shepard is more convenient, as Lawson... is a name that causes me a great deal of dislike. Но you're not here to listen to my story, are you? Where would you like to begin the inspection?"
"Show me what you think is necessary... I take it I'm correct in assuming that within half an hour to two hours, I'll receive a message from headquarters, and the previous order to seize the ship will be annulled?"
"That's correct."
"Well then, let's walk through the ship."
"In that case, I suggest we go to the cargo bay... there are a couple of complaints there which I, of course, submitted in a report, but it'll be better if you see everything with your own eyes."
"Ah..."
The Rear Admiral nodded understandingly.
"You mean the lack of space?"
"Exactly. And yet, judging by the blueprints I managed to obtain, the hangar could have been made half again as large... half again!"
I shook my head.
"However, we've gotten somewhat used to it; we even manage to hold training sessions there. So perhaps it's worth simply changing the requirements applicable to the ship regarding the landing party. Perhaps even doing away with them altogether."
"Doing away with landing parties?"
"Well..."
I rubbed my chin somewhat uncertainly.
"...it is a stealth frigate after all, and by dropping a Mako, it creates a signature. Yes, a small one, yes, it quickly disappears under stealth again, but a signature is a signature. An enemy, seeing it, will realize someone has arrived. And a Mako falling from the sky is also easily detected."
We went down to the cargo bay, where Pyotr Mikhailovich, frowning slightly, looked around.
"And this..."
He nodded toward Tali, who was engaged in physical training.
"...is it normal for an alien to be here? After all, the ship... even if its secrecy is somewhat nominal, she is... a Quarian..."
Noticing how my face began to darken, the Rear Admiral didn't say anything insulting, simply naming Tali's race.
"...there are some very unpleasant rumors about them. I understand, of course, that rumors are just rumors, but... taking a questionable individual onto the ship..."
"She is a very important member of the crew. Thanks to her, our tasks go quite smoothly... almost all of them..."
"Almost?"
"Well, she's working on it... studying under an advanced program so that her heroic impulses are either executed properly or not attempted at all."
"Hah, I see. Shall we move on?"
"Yes, I suggest we inspect the reactor, and after that, we'll walk through the less critical sections."
"Agreed."
** A view from the side. **
"I'm listening, Councilor Tevos. You don't call me that often, usually preferring to resolve matters through Ambassador Udina."
"Chairman Amul Shastri, glad to hear from you. Though you, most likely, won't be glad about my call."
"Not glad?"
Bewilderment was heard in the man's voice.
"Did something happen?"
"Yes... something happened. The Ambassador you appointed to the Citadel is crossing all boundaries. First, he threatens a Spectre, and he uses his position to do so. He says that if the Spectre doesn't obey him, he will use his authority in the Alliance and the corporation the Spectre leads will lose state orders, and then..."
Tevos shook her head, and her voice sounded such that it was unclear what she felt about what she was saying.
"...he also said he would pressure other races so they wouldn't cooperate with this corporation either."
"Ahem... he is... somewhat hot-headed, but believe me, he didn't mean anything of the sort, and he has no such authority."
The man smiled weakly, though mentally he was already cursing this Udina. Quite respected people had vouched for him in his time, and they guaranteed his professionalism. But... where was this professionalism?! Why was a Councilor calling him with such complaints?!
"May I ask which Spectre specifically he threatened? Perhaps compensation should be paid to him."
"Spectre Shepard. The very same Spectre the Alliance promoted so diligently. I'll tell you more: just now, bypassing all laws, Shepard's executive officer—who, unlike the Captain himself, is still an Alliance serviceman—received an order to seize the ship that was transferred to the Spectre corps."
"I gave no such order... believe me..."
"I believe you..."
Tevos nodded, with all her—
showing by her expression that she was pleased with how the conversation was going, while Amul was ready to sign this Bosh'tet's death warrant right then and there.
"I simply decided to contact you and report this extremely distressing news before taking any action."
"If you wait a couple of minutes, I will resolve all these issues."
The Chairman, of course, did not know exactly what Tevos might undertake, but he knew perfectly well that she would not throw such words around for nothing. Yes, usually the Asari are quite slow, considering all possible options for a very long time, calculating possible consequences—sometimes it could take several years...
But now... now, when everyone was preparing for war, they clearly would not act that way. And the list of economic sanctions alone that the Citadel could introduce without pain to itself... Moreover, Shepard himself, or rather Lawson, was quite a complex figure, and if they lost his production capacities, preparing for the war would become significantly more difficult.
"I will wait..."
Immediately, the Chairman of the Systems Alliance government, not wanting to waste the Councilor's time, found the Minister of Defense's number and dialed it.
"Krieg, what kind of disgrace is going on in your army? Why are some underlings, bypassing me, trying to seize a ship from Spectre Shepard?"
"Chairman, I..."
"I don't care whether you know or not. Here is a document for you..."
The Chairman forwarded the document Tevos had sent him to the minister.
"...deal with it. And fire those engaged in such amateurism. Not just the deputies and secretaries, but the chiefs as well. And if I don't receive confirmation that the situation is resolved while I am still talking to the Councilor, then it will be you who is relieved of duty."
"Understood!"
The call cut off, and next, the Chairman dialed the human Ambassador to the Citadel.
"Chairman? It is a great honor..."
"Shut up."
"Ah?"
"Tell me, why is Councilor Tevos calling me right now, reporting that you are threatening Spectre Shepard, and a short time later they are trying to seize his ship?"
"Chairman, this is all a misunderstanding..."
"A misunderstanding? You are the misunderstanding, and what you are doing is a crime against the Alliance. Have you decided to destroy the relationship between the Alliance and the Asari Republics? And that's at the very least—at the most, between the Alliance and the Citadel?"
"Oh, come on..."
Udina was sweating. He suddenly realized that the head of a corporation located in the Terminus Systems might very well have enough connections to actually reach the Chairman! Yes, he was a Spectre and likely took advantage of that, but...
"...no one is going to destroy relations between states for the sake of one single person."
"Seriously? And can you repeat that to Councilor Tevos, who is currently waiting for me to resolve this matter?"
"Well, if Councilor Tevos had contacted me, we certainly could have resolved the issue to mutual satisfaction."
Udina pulled at his collar, which had become very tight, like a noose constricting his neck.
"In short, you are removed from your post."
"But allow me..."
"I will not. I will send the documents regarding your transfer within the hour. Anderson will become the Ambassador in your place... I believe he should still be on the Citadel?"
"I am here, Chairman."
The Captain entered the frame, dressed as always in his military uniform.
"Just one question: why didn't you stop him?"
"They simply wouldn't listen to me. From the very beginning, former Ambassador Udina took a dislike to Captain Shepard. He handled the conversation with the Council with ease, without his help, and that, I believe, hit the former Ambassador's ego hard. Even now, I said from the start, when they tried to summon him through me, that Captain Shepard had retired to the reserve; the Admirals he contacted told the former Ambassador the same thing. So he decided to try and pressure him... And again, I warned that Shepard's psychological profile does not suggest he will fold, but..."
Anderson spread his hands slightly.
"I see. In any case, Anderson, congratulations, you are now the human Ambassador to the Citadel."
"Thank you, Chairman Amul Shastri, I will not fail your trust."
"I hope so."
The connection cut off, after which Amul Shastri shifted his gaze to the other monitor. No more than ten minutes had passed.
"As you can see, Councilor, I have resolved the matter."
"Yes, indeed... I am glad we were able to resolve this misunderstanding."
"Councilor, since we are speaking now, perhaps we can discuss some points... beneficial to both the Alliance and the Republic?"
"Well, I think there is such a possibility; the meeting had to be interrupted anyway because of your former Ambassador, moving it to tomorrow..."
** End. **
"Well, the order has reached me..."
Pyotr Mikhailovich looked at the order that had just arrived on his Omni-tool.
"...so we can end this farce. Will you see me out, John?"
During the inspection, we had somehow imperceptibly moved to a first-name basis.
"Of course, Pyotr, and you know, I feel like things with Saren won't be that simple, so use your channels to raise the combat readiness of our soldiers. So they are ready both here on the Citadel and in the nearby systems."
"Well, that's a bit outside my competence, but I'll talk to my acquaintances. I think something can be done about all this."
I nodded gratefully to the Rear Admiral, who turned out to be a very good man. Soon he left the SSV Normandy, and I received a message from Anderson. He was now the human Ambassador to the Citadel. So I decided to take a walk to the Presidium and congratulate him on this in person...
***
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