[Codex entry: Council Accountability Committee]

First founded in 900CE soon after the Krogan Rebellions the CAC was established as an investigative body to examine harmful accusations levelled against various departments of the Citadel government for alleged criminal activity undertaken during the insurrection; subsequent investigations led to the eventual prosecution and imprisonment of at least twenty individuals on a variety of charges ranging from bribery and extortion to much more serious allegations of state-sponsored espionage; in the subsequent centuries the CAC roll remained relatively the same while their sister organization the department of special tactics and reconnaissance took on a more proactive and some might argue more visible approach to crime, as a result the CAC has relatively vanished from public view only being seen when they announce their findings on cases they are currently investigating.

[Codex entry: Council Accountability Committee: Sub-entry: Office of Special Investigations]

Little is known of this extremely secretive branch of the Citadel government, originally believed to be a sub-division of the spectres the Office of Special Investigations or OSI for short was revealed to be in actuality under the authority of the director of the CAC and is believed to be tasked with investigating only the most serious of federal crimes within Council space.

12/5/2183 CE

1800 Standard Galactic Time

"Tonight on CNN at six we look at the stories that are currently topping the public forums, but before we get into that we have a special report on the seeming tragic fate that befell the colonists on the planet Trebin in the Antaeus system, for our listeners who may not know the exact circumstances leading up to the event, communications were lost with the colony more than two galactic standard weeks ago, subsequent investigations by independent parties revealed the complete and utter destruction of the human settlements." the news anchor vanished to be replaced with a picture of a burnt and blackened landscape surrounding a noticeably large crater.

"The Council Accountability Committee has released a statement saying that all evidence points towards a critical failure located within the colonies main reactor which triggered the massive detonation, the CAC also goes on to calm that it was the colonists themselves through the use of unlicensed and illegal modifications that caused the meltdown..." the rest of the news announcement was cut short by Councilor Sparatus as he terminated the feed with a flash of his omni-tool.

"It looks like the general public is buying the cover story we created." commented the turian dryly as he took a long sip of his drink. "Which I for one am deeply grateful for"

"We all are." countered Councilor Tevos as she glanced over at her Salarian colleague "How is the extranet handling this information?"

"As well as can be expected." replied Valern coldly as he slipped into a bored tone "Most of the major news outlets are running our version of events and even those that aren't are no closer to finding out the truth."

"Good, let's keep it that way." grumbled Sparatus as he glanced at the fourth member of this little gathering. "Onto more pressing matters, how is the current investigation going Director Shore?" the human head of the CAC remained silent for long moment as he took a long drag on his cigarette before answering.

"I've got teams combing through the digital paper trail as we speak, it won't be long before we know exactly what happened."

"I think we should be more focused on preventing such an incident from happening again in the near future." stated the asari pointedly as she glared at the man. "Do we know how they managed to come into contact with such an artefact?"

"From the footage that we recovered from our operatives' helmet we suspect that it was brought in from off world, probably in a cargo shipment." explained the director.

"Then we should turn all our resources to finding the source of this contamination."

"I second that" snarled Sparatus as he agreed with Councillor Valern. "The last thing we need is a repeat of the Kyleios 4 incident." the council members as one flinched in recognition.

"What a nightmare that turned out to be." sighed Tevos as she ran a hand across her face. "Ten thousand people dead and a shortage of thruster fuel across the eastern half of the Attican Traverse that last for nearly three years."

"That was not Director Shores fault, it was his predecessors!" countered Sparatus sharply as he came to the man's defense. "In the nearly two decades that he's been in charge of the CAC there has never been such a severe security breach."

"I wasn't accusing Mr. Shore of anything" countered the matron evenly as she took a sip of her wine. "I'm just concerned about the ramifications of a large scale outbreak."

"I won't allow that to happen." declared the human firmly as he took on a resolute tone. "We'll know where the ship came from soon and then the OSI will be sent in to take care of the problem."

"I take it that you'll be using that particular operative." countered Valern coldly.

"Thank the spirits that we have that man, even if he's completely out of his goddamn mind." the turian said with a grimace.

"I wouldn't say that he's insane, just very dedicated to his mission." replied Shore evenly.

"That's one way to describe it." whispered Tevos as she went pale.

"We're getting off topic." stated the salarian representative sharply as he took control the conversation. "We need to keep this matter as quiet as possible, if the media get hold of this they may make a connection to previous events and then everyone will start asking questions." he turned extremely pensive "And I for one am not going to explain to them where argent energy comes from."

"It won't come to that." reassured Director Shore as he took another long drag of his cigarette. "Operative DG has never failed, all we need to do is make sure that he gets there as quickly and as quietly as possible."

"I think I know exactly which ship you need" chuckled Sparatus as he grinned evilly.

A few days later:

"Captain Anderson, we've got an encrypted message coming through the secure line, do you want me to divert it to your personal data pad?" the man in charge of the Normandy glanced up from talking to his rather chatty helmsman to glance at his chief navigation officer.

"Thank you Pressyly, make sure transfer it to my pad and then scrub it from the system." the man saluted before turning sharply away as he caught sight of a rather unmistakable individual makings his way up the command deck towards them.

"Captain."

"Specter Kryik" the pair exchanged polite nods. "Is there something I can do for you?" the turian shook his head.

"Just having a look around your ship, she is extremely impressive." the veteran alliance officer raised a single eyebrow in mild surprise.

"I would have thought that a turian spectre as well-known as you would have been keeping an eye on this particular cross species venture." the agent let out a small laugh.

"I know this will come as a bit of a surprise to most humans but not every turian is a fan of military ships, I myself prefer a good piece of classical literature, I found Moby Dick by Herman Melvill to be a fascinating read."

"Really, I always like Chaucer myself." Nihlus seemed actually interested for once.

"Is that so? I'll have to look that particular human writer up when I get the chance." the conversation was rather unfortunately interrupted by a quiet ping from the captains' omni-tool telling him that the data transfer had finished.

"I do apologise agent but I need to read this." the turian waved away the apology calmly.

"I completely understand. If you need me I'll be looking over the Normandy's stealth systems."

"I doubt it will be anything important, probably just the ambassador requesting an update on our schedule." muttered the man tiredly as he excused himself.

He couldn't be more wrong.

"Commander Shepard please report to the captains quarters at once, Agent Nihlus do the same." the two individuals in question raised their eyebrows and eye ridge plates in silent confusion.

"You wanted to see me Captain?" stated the redhead as she came strolling into the privet space.

"Take a seat" instructed the middle age man as he point towards an empty chair.

"I take it that the message wasn't a scheduled request." comment the turian drily as he stepped in over the threshold.

"It wasn't." replied Anderson grimly as he held the pad up for both of them to see. "Unfortunately, I wish I could tell you more than the basic details but apparently I do not have the necessary security clearance." he held it out to the spectre "Perhaps you'll have better luck."

"What did it tell you?" questioned the agent as he took on a serious tone. "Did something happen on Eden Prime?"

"Why, what's on Eden Prime?" enquired Shepard not particularly liking being left out of the conversation. "Captain?" her superior grimaced.

"A construction team unearthed some ruins on the planet a few weeks ago, judging from their construction they seem to be Prothean in origin, both the Alliance and the Citadel Council are concerned about the security of the site, we were supposed to use the cover of this dry run to land near the dig site, retrieve the suspected prothean beacon and take it to a safe location for study."

"While at the same time easing you into the idea of becoming a council spectre." the agent glanced up from the data pad, only to notice the looks of complete and utter disbelief that were plastered over his associate's faces. "To blunt?" he stated.

"Just a bit," groined the captain as he ran a hand through his hair. "but as I said that 'was' the plan."

"Am I no longer being considered for the roll?" queried the women a slight note of disappointment creeping into her voice.

"Don't worry Commander this has nothing to do with you. Besides after your actions on Elysium it would be hard not to consider you for the roll." reassured the turian as he finished entering his personal security code, it took him a few seconds to scan over the information contained with, but after he did all the smug hummer vanished from his faceplates. "Have you read this?" he questioned sharply.

"What parts of it I could." replied Anderson "What does it say?"

"To Captain Anderson, Commanding Officer of the SSV Normandy, you are hereby ordered to report with your ship to docking bay 422 on the citadel, where you will take onboard a Council operative and transport him to the Cartagena station in the Nemean Abyss, upmost secrecy is required for this undertaking, after the operative has been delivered you stand one kilometer off until signalled for retrieval, once this is done return to the citadel, it goes without question that the operatives directions should be treated as if they came from the Citadel Council, do not ask questions and complete your mission, its signed by Councilor Sparatus and co-signed by Ambassador Udina." Anderson let out a long sigh as he poured himself a drink from his personal stash.

"What do you think it means?" he questioned.

"That something extremely serious is going on." replied the turian grimly as he ran his gaze over the message a second time. "That can be the only explanation for ignoring a Prothean beacon like this."

"I'm more interested in this operative we're supposed to retrieve." commented Shepard drily. "It sounds like another spectre, but it could be also be STG, what do you think Nihlus?" the spectre had gone strangely silent as his eyes remained fixed on the text. "Nihlus?"

"It wouldn't be STG they have their own ship for this kind of thing." muttered the spectre darkly "It could be another spectre."

"But you don't think it is?" interrupted the commander.

"No, the wording is wrong, we're normally referred to as agents in official dispatches, not operatives." he jerked a talon down at the glowing display. "I can only think of one other organization that would fit the description here."

"Who?" demanded Anderson.

"The Office of Special Investigations."

"Shit." the female officer glanced at the two men uneasily.

"I'm lost" stated Shepard in mild confusion. "Who are we talking about?"

"Look them up in your galactic codex." instructed the captain tiredly as he took a swig of his whiskey.

"Basically." commented Nihlus drily "They're federal investigators empowered to find and prosecute those guilty of breaking the law in Citadel Space."

"But I thought you spectres did that." countered the woman.

"We tend to be rather more proactive when it comes to stopping crime then the OSI and their parent organization the CAC, they tend to only get called in to investigate after a crime has happened."

"Which kinds of points towards the fact that something serious is going on." muttered Anderson darkly.

"Indeed." the three of them fell silent as they considered the developing situation.

"Well there's no point in worrying about it." stated Shepard evenly as she rose to her feet. "We have our orders so we better get to it, we can try and figure out what's going on when we get to the Citadel."

"I second that." commented the spectre as he too rose to his feet. "We can't do anything about this until we pick up this operative, and even then I doubt we'll get anything out of him, the OSI members I've met don't tend to be the chattiest of people."

"Sounds lovely." grumbled the Captain as finished his drink. "Well I'll leave the two of you better get acquainted, I have the fun task of informing the crew of our course change."

"Just tell them that we're going to the Citadel for some specialist supplies, I'm sure they'll buy it."

"Let's hope so, it's your idea after all Shepard." chuckled the middle aged man as he ushered them out.

"That's cold Captain, even for you." all she got for an answer was the bellowing laughter of her superior ringing in her ears.

The trip to the citadel was, for all extent and purposes extremely dull, with only the crew constantly whispering conspiracy theories, the main source of which turned out to be, surprise, surprise, Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, their pilot.

"I'm just saying spectres are bad news, they don't just tag along on shakedown runs to observe and what kind of shakedown run is this anyway, I've been on more stressful walks to the bathroom in the morning."

"We can't all have two foot long dick Joker." commented Shepard drily, earning her a spluttering snort from the pilot as she reclined in one of the seats at the front of the command deck. "Some of us have to settle for less." she winked playfully at the biotic member of her ground team

"And there she is ladies and gentlemen, our executive officer and the pride of the alliance navy, Commander Jane Shepard." grumbled the lieutenant as he shook his head at his commanding officers colorful choice of language.

"Damn straight." declared the woman as she held up her fist in salute. "And don't you forget it." the three of them let out muted laughter as they desperately attempted to avoided Navigator Presslys attention as he did his rounds.

"Citadel Control to SSV Normandy, come in SSV Normandy." an asari voice barreled out of the cockpits speakers quickly putting an end to the trios festivities.

"SSV Normandy responding Citadel Control." stated the helmsman as he quickly switched to a professional tone.

"Good to hear from you Normandy, sending you your designated flight path now, we hope you enjoy your stay"

"Much appreciated Citadel Control, Normandy over and out" the pilot glanced up from his controls. "And that my friends is how it's done"

"Be sure to buy her dinner first Jeff" chucked Shepard as she got out of her seat. "I bet go inform the captain that we've reached our destination"

"Was it me or did the commander seem distracted?" questioned Joker as he quietly glanced at the retreating figures back.

"Maybe one of your crazy theory's are right for once" countered Alenko as he took a pot-shot at his long time friend. "Stranger things have happened"

"Hay!"

"Is that our guy?" muttered Shepard quietly as the three high ranking individuals wait patiently outside the cargo bay.

"looks like it" muttered Anderson darkly as he court site of the heavy armoured figure striding across the dry dock towards them, large duff bag in hand.

"What kind of armour is that?" murmured the Commander as she ran an approving eye over the man's green plate work.

"Its praetor armour" stated the veteran officer grimly " I've only ever seen archive footage, I didn't think it ever got out of the R&D thesis"

"Why, was it not there good?" Questioned Shepard with interested.

"The exacted opposite, it was ground braking in nearly every field" admitted the man, a note of sadness slipping into his voice.

"Then why wasn't it produced?" countered Nihlus.

"Because the development team and all of the prototypes were on Jump Zero when it exploded back in 59" explained Anderson as he grimaced at the memory "The Alliance top brass said they couldn't justify the astronomical cost of restarting the project from scratch so they scrapped it"

"Interesting, I wonder how OSI got their hands on one" whispered the spectre as the armoured figure drew level with them.

"Captain." the voice that echoed out of the suits speakers was low and rasping as if the man inside wasn't used to talking with people.

"Operative." the captain held out a hand in polite greeting, only for it to be ignored as the imposing man simple stepped past the officer and boarded the waiting vassal.

"Not a very talkative one is he." muttered Shepard unhappily as she cast a disapproving glare at the man's back.

"Not from what I've heard no." agreed the turian as he took on a grim air.

"You know this man?" countered Anderson sharply.

"I know of him." corrected the agent "He has a bit of a reputation in my field of expertise."

"A good or bad reputation?" muttered the Commander as she noticed the look of uneasy that surrounded the spectre.

"The kind that makes you rather concerned about what we're being sent into." answered Nihlus grimly as the three of them followed after the operative.

"Well that's not reassuring." whispered the redhead.

"What do expect from a guy whose call sign is 'Doom Guy'." retorted the turian as the hatch closed behind them.

The next few days turned out to be extremely dull, the excitement of an actual live assignment had quickly worn off for most of the crew once they realised that they we're nothing more than a glorified taxi services for the reclusive figure that isolate himself down in the cargo hold.

"That guy gives me the creeps." grumbled Joker over a mouth full of mass potato. "You can't tell me you don't feel the same way." the woman whipped a hand over her face.

"Say it don't spray it Moreau." muttered his superior as she glared at him over her bowl of noodles.

"Sorry Commander." chuckled the pilot nervously as he rubbed the back of his head in rather obvious embarrassment. "Won't happen again."

"Good and to answer your question; no I don't find our 'Guest' creepy. A massive pain in my ass yes, creepy no."

"You're just pissed that he straight up ignored you the last two days." chuckled Alenko as he dropped down into the vacant space next to her, his plate nearly overflowing with food.

"It should be illegal for someone to eat that much food without gaining weight" grumbled the woman jealously.

"You're changing the subject." teased the biotic lightly as he took a massive bite out of his sandwich.

"Ok, so maybe I'm a bit pissed that he ignored me. But in my defense I was only asking him about the weapons he'd brought with him." that court Jokers attention.

"Is it true that he uses one of those old chemical propellant assault rifles?" he questioned eagerly.

"It's more like a light machine gun, it just looks like an assault rifle." commented Shepard lazily. "I looked it up yesterday; it's one of those old MG98-Enforcers. They were the last propellant weapons ever mass produced before the Alliance brought in the M-7 lancer line of assault rifles."

"So it's an antique." snorted the helmsman. "That's good to know."

"An antique that sends ten rounds the size of your thumb down range every second." stated the redhead evenly. "I don't care what the manufactures say; there isn't a personal shield system in existence that can stop that."

"And there goes my confidence" muttered Joker as the three of them court site of the captain exiting his cabin.

"Flight Lieutenant Moreau you're needed up in the cockpit." stated their commanding officer as he drew level with the table. "The rest of you to your stations. We're half an hour out from our target." he raised a hand to stop his second in command. "Not you commander your coming with me"

"Yes sir." the pair moved towards the cargo bay.

"Let's see if we can finally get some answers." muttered the middle age man as they exited into the lofty space.

"Just in the nick of time Captain, now if you don't mind can you tell him to let me go?" wheezed the spectre as he found himself daggling by his neck a good few inches off the deck.

"Drop him marine!" bellowed Anderson as he stormed across the hold "That's an order!" it was like a switch was flicked in the man's head and no sooner had the words left the captains mouth then the spectre found himself on the floor, gasping for breath.

"Explain yourself marine!" the helmeted face turned to stare pointedly at the pair.

"Keep him away from my equipment, I won't be held responsible for my actions if you don't." warned the operative coldly as he dragged the strap of the assault rifle over his armored shoulder before grabbing what looked like an old solid slug combat shotgun from the nearby workbench. "How far out are we?"

"Twenty minutes at most." replied the captain, the operative nodded.

"Have your pilot hold his position at five hundred meters from the target." the heavily armored man fixed the trio with an unseen stare. "Under no circumstances are you to attempt contact with the station." the man glared at the spectre. "Agent Kryik you are ordered to enforce the councils health organizations quarantine regulations once I board the space station."

"I understand" muttered the turain as he took on a cold tone. "Good luck with your mission" the operative nodded in silent acknowledgment before heading towards the waiting elevator.

"What the hell was that all about!" demanded Shepard once the imposing figure had vanished from view.

"I was interested in having a look at my colleagues other equipment since he was wearing such exotic armor, I do believe he didn't take kindly to the decision."

"You think?" countered the woman sharply. "If we hadn't arrived when we did he would have snapped your neck like a twig!"

"I have to agree with the commander, not only did you put yourself in a compromising position you all also forced me to intervene in a cross department matter, which is something that I would like to avoid in future"

"I've learned my lesson captain." chuckled Nihlus as he ran his fingers over his aching throat. "That'll be the last time I get court going through a superiors belongings."

"What, he out ranks you, I thought that spectres didn't answer to anyone but the council?" questioned Shepard mild confusion.

"Under normal circumstances we don't, but in the rare occasions when the two departments collaborate its standard protocol that the OSI operative has seniority due to it originally being his assignment."

"And yet you still attempted to antagonize him." muttered the captain disbelieving as he ran a hand down over his face. "Are you trying to get me sectioned 8 agent because it's working" the remark earned him a grin from both the spectre and his second in command. "But we seem to be getting off topic a bit, what was this about a quarantine?" the humor vanished to be replaced with grim resignation.

"Simple version is that nothing is allowed to leave the infected area unless the individual in charge approves it."

"What happens if someone tries?" enquired the woman, already fearing the answer.

"We have council authority for a reason commander, nothing and nobody leaves that station alive."

"This is going to be a long day." muttered Anderson quietly.

"We are in view of Cartagena station, Jez she looks she's been through hell, are you sure you want to go in there sir?" enquired the helmsman nervously as he glanced away from the holographic display, he wasn't exaggerating either, long streams of what looked like atmosphere were leaking from the central control tower and the habitation ring was totally blacked out with only the occasional flashes from the external lighting on top of the three outer towers to hint at its presence.

"You have your orders Joker." instructed the captain firmly as he came to a rest next to the pilot. "Get us with in five hundred meters of the target and put in to a stationary orbit."

"Understood Captain." murmured the flight lieutenant uneasily as he turned his attention to the ships controls. "ETA two minutes." Anderson turned his gaze back towards the slowly spinning space station.

"I take it you're going to do an EVA to get on board." stated the ranking officer as he glanced at the operative.

"Yes."

"Piece of advice son, don't miss." the man let out a dismissive snort as he stepped into the airlock.

"Let's get this done." and with that he was gone.

Well folks what do you think, I throw this together to see if it was possible to write a compiling crossover story and yes I know there isn't any fighting in this but I designed it as an intro of sorts so don't take get to angry.

Please let me know in the review section what you all think and if you want it continued, I can't promise that if I do decide to take this on that I'll start writing it right away as I have over projects that I wish to focus on.

Gods-own.