AEON EFFECT (Mass Effect / Trinity Crossover)

"...the reports are highly troubling-"

"Troubling? He's practically shaking hands with a mass murder!"

You had, in your time in the Legion, learned the practiced art of standing at attention, setting your face to 'grim militarism', then letting words wash over you. It came in handy in Ambassador Udina's office. The man was a class A prick - a sense you'd gotten from the descriptions that Captain Anderson had dropped and from your first impression as he had looked you and your team over, reviewed the footage, and muttered under his breath words you almost but didn't quite understand.

Still.

At least he seemed able to turn his dickishness to the force of good, if he focused it on the Council.

The holographic projections of the Citadel Council filled the side of the bright white office. It seemed even the Presidium wasn't secure enough for their dainty hides - either that or it was simply easier to broadcast down the kilometers of tower between us and them than it was for them to ride the elevator to the ring. You put even odds on either of them. The first was the Turian Councilor, Sparatus Qinnas. He was the third Turian you'd seen 'in the flesh' so to speak, and it was pretty interesting to note the subtle differences in texturing and coloration that made one Turian different from another. You wondered if they found it just as hard to spot the differences that made human faces unique. However, like with Nihilus, it was easier than you had expected to read his emotions.

Specifically, irritation. "Twelve seconds of helmet camera footage proves nothing. Saren is one of the best Specters we have...however, quality of skill, training and equipment matters very little when dealing with quantum-spewing aberrations against the natural order," he said, waving his hand dismissively. "For all we know, that Saren is a cloned replicant, a illusory projection, an alternate universe doppelgänger."

"Come now, Councilor-" Udina started.

"Such abilities are not beyond the registered lists of known novas in the Terminus Systems," the Asari councilor, a matriarch named Tevos, spoke up. "We have been lead astray before by not taking into account the unique abilities of novas into account when planning strategic and tactical operations."

"The loss of your research colony, and the Prothean data, is of course invaluable. The movements of the Geth beyond the Perseus Veil is deeply troubling. The reemergence of an Omega level threat like Divias Mal cannot be ignored," the Salarian Councilor, a nervous, quiet little slamander of a guy named Valern, added. "That is what we want to focus upon right now - we have put out a communication request for Saren, and have prepared several other Specters for interactions. If we can get him on the Citadel to explain himself, then we shall, of course, disclose everything to you immediately."

Captain Anderson frowned. "What about the message recorded off the Beacon?"

"Ah, yes, these 'visions' of your Commander Shepard," Councilor Sparatus said. "Unless you have evidence to the contrary, how are we to not assume they're an imprint by Divias Mal or one of his cronies?"

"We've had Commander Shepard's brain examined both medically and telepathically, the memory implantations weren't preformed using nova powers," Captain Anderson said, gesturing to you.

Councilor Tevos nodded her blue head. "Then please have these messages recorded - either via testimonials or via the use of a telepathic medium -and we shall add them to the investigation."

A few pleasantries were exchanged - and then the holograms shut off. Udina pinched the bridge of her nose, then sighed. "Well..." he turned to face you, and then frowned. "This is a complete cockup. Just as I expected." He glared, then, at Jenny. "And I would like to know what she's doing here."

"I was assigned to the Commander's fireteam by Apollo," Jenny said.

"I haven't-" Udina started, but then Jenny vanished. Udina scowled at the empty space where the nova had been a few moments before, then shook his head, turning to face you. "While we have the privacy of being around humans - the Council is going to drag their feet on this. Saren is one of their best operatives, and they'd rather imagine anything rather than him betraying them. It's-"

Jenny returned, holding a faintly amused looking, blond haired muscular man, dressed in a bathrobe, his face half smeared with shaving cream, a straight razor in his other hand. He glowed with a pale, shimmering golden light that made your face feel warm. He was Apollo, the nominal leader of Eden, and he looked at Udina as if he was teleported halfway across the galaxy while in his bathrobes every day. "I am assigning Slider to Commander Shepard's fireteam, officially." He shot Jenny a look, while Jenny tried to look less than completely pleased with herself - and then both vanished, leaving Udina shaking his head and scowling.

"I swear, she's worse than our own goddamn teleporters," he said.

"I don't see a big difference," you say.

"At least the Upeo have to have line of sight," Udina grumbled.

"So, what's our plan now, sir?" you ask, turning to Anderson.

Anderson frowns, then glances at Udina. Udina nods. At that signal, Anderson turns to you. "I...this was supposed to be a pleasant surprise, Ti. This mission was supposed to be a way for you to prove yourself to the Citadel Council...to become one of their first human specters." At that, your eyebrows go way up. Jenny punches your shoulder with a laugh, while you open your mouth and close it in shock. Anderson continued: "There's a lot of resistance from the Turians, and some from the Asari as well - the Asari have been used to being the only telepaths in the galaxy. Learning that there's an entire species that have telepathy and the other modes is...intimidating. But this mission has thrown a few wrenches into the gears."

"Not necessarily," Udina said, his deep, grumbly voice sounding faintly...schemey. "Specters have gone rogue before - either turning sides, going mercenary, being puppeteered. The best response the Council nominally has is to send another Specter after them." He rubs his chin. "If we prove Saren was acting under his own volition, or has been completely subverted by Divias Mal, then..."

You arch an eyebrow. "Then they can rush me through their training program and send me after him?"

"Saren hated humans even before he met Divias Mal," Anderson said. "We need to stop him and whatever he's planning - before another one of our colonies are hit. Or Earth."

"Or Eden," Jenny adds.

You nod. "Cool. Where do we start?"

"Right here," Kaiden said, shrugging. "Saren was on the Citadel before he jetted off to Bullseye." He held up his omni-tool. "Specters are famous, people were posting about it all over social media. I just ran a quick search, and he was seen in the Wards, the Presidium, near his quarters, up until 24 hours before the attack."

"Officially, you're on leave while we review the evidence," Udina says. "Unofficially...you're a psion, Shepard. Figure it out." He turned, grabbed Anderon's arm, and drew him aside.

You turned to your fireteam, shaking your head. "You know, they always put psions into situations like this in the vids - but for most of my career, I was just driving a big stompy robot," you say, grinning at Ash, Kaiden and Jenny. "Kaiden here's better at poking around-"

"Hey, don't look at me," Kaiden said, holding up his hands. "I worked in therapeutics while in the Ministry."

Ash snorted. "I'm a Legionary, ma'am."

Jenny stretched her arms up in the air, flexing her back - she was currently dressed in the same body armor the rest of you were, but the armor plating was resting atop the skintight weave of her eufiber. It made for a very...sexy martial look, you had to admit. Jenny's arms crooked behind her neck and she looked deeply smug. "Well, well, well, look who needs the old lady's help," she said, her voice deeply amused.

"You're, what, twenty five?" Ash asked. Kaiden leaned in, whispering in her ear. Ash's eyes widened. "...holy shit, ma'am!"

"You ever do work like this?" you ask.

"You could say that," Jenny says. "Right now, we know who is the bad guy - Saren. The Council can pontificate, but Divias Mal doesn't do mind control. He's too much of a...big brained egotist for that. He has to be right, but more importantly, everyone else has to agree that he's right. So, Saren would be working with him because he agrees, not because Mal zonked him. That means we can discount the puppeteering hypothesis. And, while it's possible he's any of the other things that Mr. No Fun suggested, even among novas, Occam's Razor still applies. Yanking stuff from other universes is hard, cloning takes a long time...robots tend to become sentient and try and kill you." She shrugs. "So, that leaves us with the simplest answer: Saren is an anti-human dickhead, Divias Mal is an anti-baseline dickhead, the two are close enough for horseshoes and Saren and he are working together on something bad."

You nod. "Where do we start looking then?"

"I hear C-Sec and Specters don't get along," Kaiden says. "C-sec are the cops, Specters are the hotshot lone wolves who get all the media attention."

"The more things change..." Jenny mutters.

"You said we also have sightings of him in the Wards, right?" Ash asks, frowning.

"Yeah, but finding out which are real and which are like spotting Elvis..." Kaiden mutters.

"Who the fuck is Elvis?"

Your omni-tool buzzes. You look down and see you got a private message, straight from an unknown source.

"Anyone ever hear of the Shadow Broker?" you ask.

"Sounds spooky," Jenny says as Kaiden and Ash shake their heads.

"Why?" Ash asks.

"Cause he just asked me to come and visit," you say, throwing up the text to all their omni-tools by ficking your finger outward. They all regarded it, and Jenny chuckled.

"Well, we have a few leads then," she says. "Where do we start?"

---
Where do you start?
[ ] Hit Da Bricks - check the Ward Sightings
[ ] Visit the Shadow Broker
[ ] Check out C-Sec
[ ] Write in