Author's Note: This story comes to you thanks to the help of many people who assisted with ideas, reviews of previous stories, and the wonderful author Myetel. Her story inspired me to start writing again, and now that I'm working on Mass Effect, I dedicate this story to her and her amazing ME story as well. Now, here are a few rules for the story to keep readers from getting confused.

Italics in this story mean that the speaker's voice is distorted, whether by communicator, voice filter, or other means.
Bold words are used to either mark the location/time at the beginning of a segment, or to indicate that something is in writing and not being read out loud.
Underlined words and phrases are used to indicate Codex Entries listed at the end of every chapter. (Thank you to SomethingProfound for this idea, and their awesome story).

OoO( 1 )OoO

2174 CE, September 25 ESD - 1725 EST
Qin Huang Capitol Building – Taiyuan City - Shanxi

It had already been a stressful day for Calius, the turian ambassador to Alliance Space. As soon as he landed on the planet, looks of despise and hatred were immediately aimed towards him and the army of accountants and treasurers from Palaven. The scar left on the planet by their kind was still fresh, something that was immediately apparent as he looked around at all the seething glares directed at them. As the tall Palaven native stepped from the airbus that flew them to the meeting site, he was immediately assaulted by a wall of sound as protesters shouted from across a security barricade. A lot of them were completely belligerent, screamed curses, slurs, and even threw food items at the airbus.

But he knew that was going to happen when coming here. He knew there would be resistance, not only to his presence on the hallowed battleground that was formerly occupied by his kind, but to the very idea of reparations for their actions during the Relay 314 incident. Some of them found the idea of monetary compensation for the loss of lives insulting, while others thought humanity should still be at war. But it didn't bother him. He was made the turian ambassador to the Alliance for a reason, and this was it. Looking out over the signs people were holding, most of them were in a human language that he didn't understand. After reading up on the incident before his appointment to his current position, he made a note that the majority of the people on the colony hailed from an Terran region known as the People's Republic of China. The strange symbols and curved, almost artistic looking language must be their local language. He even managed to spot a sign that only made him even more concerned; one bearing the image of a small avian animal known as a chicken. Further back, he spied another that had an articulate drawing of a turian eating a human child. The level of detail and hate that went into it made the NO BIRD FLU sign behind it look laughably weak.

Shaking the images from his head, he turned away from the crowd and stepped towards the large capitol building of the city Taiyuan. Once inside, he was among humans who knew what he was there for. But despite that, he could still feel tensions rising as he, and the five other turians following him, made their way down the cavernous hall that his people once painted with the colors of the Hierarchy. Despite the rivalry between the two races, he was determined to see this through and give these people what they deserved. As he walked, he was stopped by a human in a pressed suit and dark glasses. Looking up, he recognized the head of security by the oddly bright golden color of his hair. The man held up his hand in greeting. Calius looked down at the hand, before reaching forward awkwardly and grasping it. The human shook his hand firmly before offering to lead him to the conference room.

The media were everywhere in the lobby of the lavishly decorated building. Though they weren't using flashes, he could easily spot at least ten of them that were taking pictures of him. No doubt sending it to their sources back on Earth and on the Citadel. Soon, his face would be stamped on the screen of every tabloid in the galaxy, ensuring that he would be stripped of his honor as a turian. The Human Sympathizer they would call him after they went live. The turian who payed off humanity, who sold the honor of his own people. Knowing he was likely to be the target of more than just human aggressors in the future, he still walked on. This was what was right, even if it painted a target on his back.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the human opened a large set of double doors and allowed his people inside. Already in the room were several security guards, armed with the usual shock batons and body armor. In the memo, he was assured that mass effect propelled weapons weren't being allowed inside, or anywhere near the building. Even security used old-school, hand-to-hand weapons due to the fact Calius couldn't be assured the entire security detail didn't harbor hatred for turians and wouldn't shoot, given the opportunity. Waiting for him were several humans in suits worthy of the Citadel Council, all sitting around a circular table, taking up effectively one side of the surface. Breathing deeply, the turian pulled a chair back and sat down, his compatriots following his lead.

OoOoO

2174 CE, Harvest Season 22 PSD - 2228 PST
Karkarus Estate – Cipritine City – Palaven

The primarch had been on edge since the beginning of the season. As soon as the offer came up, he approved it with hesitancy. Both because the potential for something going wrong was extremely high, and because he was still of the opinion that after the blow dealt at Relay 314, his people paid more than enough with their lives, and the damage their fleet received from the human onslaught. But even his brother in arms, Sparatus, was not immune to peer pressure from the other Council members. So he must be the diplomat, and entertain the humans in their request for compensation. Despite his aversion to the concept, he never half-assed a job. Setting his pride aside, he selected someone who knew much more about the incident than he did as the ambassador.

Even with all the precautions he took, the entire thing gave him a feeling of dread. Which was why, when he noticed his home communicator ringing that night, he felt his crop tighten. Groaning, he set aside the book he was reading and grabbed the comm unit. The device was the one restricted for emergencies only, and it going off on that specific night couldn't be a coincidence. Finally, he answered it, seeing the older human's face appear on the hard-light screen. "Governor Ming...I was hoping not to have to hear from you on this line. What is it?"

"A small sect from an anti-alien group known as the Sons of Adam have entered the building and have taken all of the negotiators hostage," said the governor, getting straight to the point.

"You assured me when I agreed to the summit being held on Shanxi that they would be properly protected," said the turian as he stood out of his chair rapidly, glaring at the irritated features of the human on the communicator.

"We denied security accelerator weapons to prevent any itchy trigger fingers. It turns out that the Sons of Adam had been smuggling weapons onto the planet for the better part of the month, and the guards weren't able to fight back as a result. I've already contacted Captain Hackett with our Alliance fleet. They're sending infiltrators into the building to neutralize the threat," finished the man.

"I'm going to send a squadron of my people too," said the primarch as he searched through his communicator for the correct number.

"I don't think that would be wise..." said Governor Ming as he furrowed his graying brow in concern. "Having turians on Shanxi was enough to incite protest. Imagine the backlash if armed turians in military armor were seen."

But Tevarin glared at the governor. "Your assurance that they would be safe ensured that they were captured. I'm sending a squad of our special forces there to assist the Alliance," he snapped. Chen Ming sighed and reached up to rub his head in frustration, immediately killing the threatening fire within Fedorian. "I understand the concern you have with armored turians coming to Shanxi. But the best thing we can do right now is partner up to show them that we will not tolerate this kind of hostility among our people. Maybe if the masses see them working together, they'll start believing such a peace can exist."

Ming stared at the turian for a long moment, before finally nodding. "Agreed. I'll have a human ship ready with a trusted pilot docked on the Citadel. It will carry your squad to our rally point discreetly. In the meantime, I'll have security clear out a few blocks around so that nobody sees the teams. Don't want anyone tipping them off," said the human as he ran a hand through his graying hair. "Tevarin, I would highly appreciate it of your military kept its target sights on the extremists."

"The same courtesy would be appreciated from yours. I'll call you as soon as they arrive on the Citadel," finished the turian as Governor Ming nodded, then cut the communication. Tossing aside the device, Tevarin immediately pulled up the number for the praetor.

OoOoO

2174 CE, September 25 ESD - 2252 EST
Outside Qin Huang Capitol Building - Taiyuan City - Shanxi

The shuttle had landed smoothly behind one of the many offices situated around the capitol building. The entire flight, they flew low to the ground, using the other structures in the area as cover in order to keep from being seen by the insurgents that now occupied the main site. As they landed, the commander of their unit, a man known only as Spider, began explaining the mission in detail. He stood from his seat, easily too tall for the compact shuttle that they were currently occupying.

The newbie to the group, a fresh recruit, who had been picked up and adopted by the small intel detachment after only a year of service, stayed in her seat and looked up at him. She admired the man for many reasons. Hundreds of infiltration and reconnaissance missions under his belt, zero screw ups, and a record so clean that the Alliance brass barely knew who he actually was. He was a ghost, pure and simple, and he taught her everything she knew. Now, it was her turn to prove it to him. Sitting beside her was another, more grizzled veteran of the squad. An aged man by the name of Dukh. She hadn't seen much of his work, and he aimed to keep it that way.

Directly across from her, seated on the other side of the leader was a silent, dark-skinned man who looked as if he was deep in thought. Despite her own skills, he was the leading tech expert on the team. There was a joke that was once made about him, saying that if he wanted to, he could rob every bank and credit union on the Citadel blind and retire without a trace. And while they all had a good chuckle, she could sense a small tone of seriousness underneath the mirth. This man, again, was highly unknown to her. Besides his given name, which was Echo, he was a blank slate. He had also taught her plenty about how to improve her electronic sabotage and infiltration abilities.

A month after she joined the fairly unspoken of squad, she earned the name Torch. She wasn't aware if it was simply due to her red hair in contrast to her pale face, or the fact that the remains of any system she attacks might as well be on fire. But she liked it regardless. And despite the nickname, and their comradeship, that's all they were. Just nicknames, jokes, and a ring of trust that they would always help one another. She didn't even know if they knew each other on a personal level.

The only reason she knew anything about Spider was because of her initiation. As her first act in the squad, she was required to find and declassify a highly classified document from any nation on Earth. All of them were given warning ahead of time, but that didn't matter. Using her special skills, she managed to dive head first into an Alliance Network in Vancouver and uncover a mission relating to the destruction of a batarian cruiser that was drifting a bit too close to Alliance space. The newspapers reported on it, calling it a catastrophic mechanical failure. And even the intel received from transmissions between Khar'Shan and Camala referred to the incident as an accident. To the normal eye, it wouldn't look like anything more than a regular incident report. But she knew better, and when she offered it to Spider, she saw a smile split his face. He then congratulated her heartily for her skills and her wit, as she for her initiation she had handed him the document detailing his own first mission in batarian space.

Ever since, she was a member of the group. Though the group was hardly ever together. They mostly did solo missions out in the traverse, filtering information about the batarians back to Alliance intel. Or even attaining assets who tried to flee from the harsh, caste-based society that was the batarian home planet. But this, this was serious. It could spark a war, riots, outrage, and high tensions with humans on the Citadel. So, the group came together.

After the quick explanation of the situation, the redhead stood from her seat. Spider opened the door to the aircar and allowed them out. He had mentioned inside the car that they would be working with a team from the Hierarchy's own special forces. There were four of them standing outside their own vehicle as well, three taller ones with one about the size of Dukh on the end. This particular figure, outfitted in black and red armor with a black face shield, was staring directly at her. Taking her helmet, the lieutenant slid it on before walking with the others over to the Hierarchy team.

Immediately, Spider stepped forward and introduced them. Despite the situation, it was clear that nobody among the humans had any issues with the turians. Or if they did, they were keeping a straight face about it. "Glad to meet our turian counterparts," said the human commander as he stood before the tall alien at the head of their group. "I'm Spider, and back here we've got Dukh, Echo, and Torch."

The lead turian reached up and tapped the side of his helmet, making the faceplate turn from a solid black, to translucent. He then stared at Spider curiously. "Is it common practice for humans to use nicknames?" asked the black-armored figure.

"Only when we want to separate our work selves from our real selves. We all have families to protect," said the human.

"Oddly inspiring," remarked the turian as he turned to his own crew. "We are the Kasus Squad of the 26th Armiger Legion, or more simply put, Ghosts. I'm Squad Leader Tarkarian. Behind me are operatives Nikelik, Arondis, and Shevar."

When he mentioned the name of the turian at the end, the woman turned and stared at the operative once more, only to find that like their leader, they had undarkened their faceshields. From a once over look, she could tell just by the facial features on this turian, as well as the helmet shape, that she was female. Despite her xenolinguistics classes, she had never had the chance to encounter a turian woman. She had to say, she wasn't disappointed.

Speaking through the suit's helmet, Tarkarian got down to business. "We were told that some of our negotiators are being held hostage inside the capitol building here by a pro-human group. Given the likelihood of this turning into a bloodbath, we wanted to straight out ask if you even want us here."

"We have a choice in the matter?" asked Dukh, whose rough voice drew the attention of the four turians.

"Not exactly. We have to be here on orders regardless. But with respect from one infiltration unit to another, we don't want to bump spurs. If you think you can handle this without us, all the better, and less chance of a catastrophic political cataclysm," finished Tarkarian as he stared back at Spider.

The tall man stood for a moment, staring at the turian with a curious smile on his face. "Let's make a deal. The side who takes out the most hostiles buys beer for the other," he said firmly.

Tarkarian let out a small chuckle and nodded. "There may be hope for you humans yet," he joked as he turned to his squad. "That's fine, but we'll need to secure the negotiators first. Don't want them to get caught in the crossfire."

"Already on it," said Echo as he stepped forward. On his omni-tool, the man brought up a holographic display of the inside of the building. "Already got the room spotted, just need to avoid the walkers and take out the three standing guard over the hostages."

"A spy drone?" asked the turian leader as he examined the map.

As the two continued with their planning, the turian woman grabbed the lieutenant's attention with a hand wave. Torch looked over at the curiously tall figure, then saw her point to her omni-tool. Getting the signal, the infiltrator brought up her own display, and connected their comms on a private channel easily enough. "How are you with that Mantis?" asked Shevar, her voice clearly more feminine than the leader's.

"Pretty good. You?" asked Torch as she spied a particularly nasty looking Punisher on the woman's back.

"Pretty good. Though I prefer to let my blades do the talking," replied the turian.

Torch smiled at the woman. "That'll be interesting to see."

"Same goes for you. Can't wait to see you in action," the operative said as the two leaders finally concluded the meeting.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Here's the plan..." said Spider as he used Echo's holomap to lay out their entry point.

OoOoO

CODEX ENTRIES

CE – Acronym – Human
Short for 'Common Era,' it became used almost unanimously after many world governments broke away from religious governing around the year 2060. Preceding the former AD, it lines up almost to the year with the Citadel Standard Year.

ESD/EST – Acronym – Human
Standing for Earth Standard Date and Time (formerly known as Julian and Zulu), the time and date from Earth is used frequently in colonies that do not require consistent and expert time cycles commonly used by farmers.

PSD/PST – Acronym – Turian
Palaven Standard Date and Palaven Standard Time. Both are used on ships of the Hierarchy Fleet across the galaxy that do not have a permanent berth.

Sons of Adam – Religious Cult – Human
The Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve are both cultist sects that spawned from the fundamentalist portion of Christianity in the early 2100's. These sects are highly militant and tend to segregate themselves from other civilized society when they can, reverting to an archaic and traditionalist way of life where men are workers, and women are servants. Given that this dimorphism often conflicts with the laws of spousal abuse, child abuse, and borderline slavery, these sects often have run ins with law enforcement that have driven them further and further away from civilization.

Praetor – Military Rank – Turian
Roughly the equivalent of an Alliance commander, this rank is often given to those who lead battalions or specialized squads of soldiers. This rank is exclusive to the military branch of service, and not the civilian branch that serves the Citadel.