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It's been a long time, so no answers for past reviews. But basically, I'm still alive and so is this story.

Mass Effect: Shadow of the Sith

Chapter 14 part 1– Investigation

ACCESSING STREAM: CITADEL NEWS NET

LOADING...

"Welcome to Citadel News. I'm your host Emily Wong, bringing you the story live from the Presidium right outside C-SEC headquarters. Here a massive crowd of Citadel citizens has gathered. All are demanding answers from C-SEC Executor Venari Pallin, and who can blame them? In just one night two Citadel Councilors, representatives of their entire species, were attacked."

"Thousands of citizens last night witnessed a high speed pursuit in the skylanes of the Persidium, supposedly the most crime free and safest place in the known galaxy. The chase ultimately culminated in the hospitalization of Alliance Councilor: David Anderson, whose whereabouts are at the moment, a complete mystery. Wherever he is, this reporter wishes him a very speedy recovery."

[A CLIP OF THE CHASE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF AN OBSERVER FROM A STREET BELOW IS SHOWN]

"What is not a mystery is who the Councilor's assailants were. None other than the infamous mercenary company known as CAT6, whose members are known to be dishonorably discharged from the Alliance military. This has led some to wonder if perhaps the attempt on Councilor Anderson's life was politically motivated."

"Adding to this shocking event, in the exact same night, the apartment of Councilor Tevos, representative of the Asari Republics, was bombed. The resulting explosion resulted in the deaths of over three dozen, among them the Councilor herself."

[THE STREAM SWITCHES TO FOOTAGE OF THE APARMENT BUILDING LAST NIGHT, STILL ON FIRE FROM THE EXPLOSION]

"It comes as no surprise then, that the majority of the crowd gathered outside of C-SEC headquarters are Asari. Some are angry, others are mourning, but all of them place the blame at Executor Pallin's feet. And who can blame them? Throughout her career as the Republics representative on the Council, Tevos was well loved by her people. Some Matriarchs have been quoted, calling her 'the most complete representation of our people in generations'."

"The death of their Councilor has certainly struck deep with the Asari. On Thessia, plans for a funeral honoring Tevos have already been put forward by Matriarch Betora, as well as a ten rotation mourning period. Many of the Asari's most revered Matriarchs have announced that they will be attending. The funeral is expected to be broadcasted over a number of-"

[THE CROWD BEHIND EMILY SUDDENLY BEGAN TO SHOUT]

"Hold on..."

[THE CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON THE FRONT ENTRANCE OF THE C-SEC BUILDING. THE DOORS OPEN, AND OUT STEPS EXECUTOR PALLIN. IMMEDIATLEY MANY MEMBERS OF THE CROWD, MOST OF THEM ASARI, BEGIN TO HURL INSULTS. SOME DO MORE, RUSHING AT THE EXECUTOR ONLY TO BE PUSHED BACK BY C-SEC OFFICERS.]

"It seems that Executor Pallin has finally decided to give an address. I wonder what he'll say."

[INSTEAD OF SAYING ANYTHING. PALLIN IS ESCORTED INTO AN ARMORED C-SEC TRUCK. AS THE TRUCK TAKES OFF, SOME OF THE CITIZENS HURL ITEMS AT IT ANGRILY.]

"I guess he had nothing to say. Not unlike Councilors Sparatus and Valern, who have not yet made any statements on the situation. Most suspect that they are currently in hiding, given the recent events. Others however, have begun to question if the Council even knows how to react to the current situation. A Citadel Councilor has not been assassinated since-"

[AN OFF SCREEN EXPLOSION IS SUDDENLY HEARD, IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY PANICKED SCREAMS]

"Oh my god!"

[THE CAMERA TURNS TO SHOW THAT THE TRUCK CARRYING PALLIN HAS TURNED INTO A BALL OF FIRE]

In an undisclosed location...

Cipher Nine turned off the stream.

"There's one more off the list," the Imperial agent said.

"Looks like at least some Cipher Agents know how to do their jobs," Kaliyo said with a cruel smile.

Stretched out on a couch, satisfied with the chaos the team's efforts had aroused, she looked like a feline who'd just eaten the pet bird. Sitting on the couch next to her feet, Lokin was currently engaged in a tense game of holochess against SCORPIO, who had contented herself with standing. Neither of them seemed interested in Kaliyo's verbal jabs towards their leader.

After they had completed their assigned tasks, each member had returned to their Presidium safehouse, the location of which was known only to a few outside of their team. The single room was not particularly spacious and not luxuriously decorated. But it did contain enough amenities and equipment for them to be comfortable, such as a jamming equipment to keep them hidden, a number of security alarms, and full weapons lockers. More importantly, the safehouse also had the team's only functioning long range transmitter. Without it, the only way for them to contact Imperial command was located on their ship.

"Maybe its time for you to retire Agent," she continued, "now that you're perfect score is ruined. Best to quit before you become a hasbin."

"Though she could put it more delicately, Kaliyo does have a point," Lokin added, though his eyes remained fixed on the board. "The Councilor of the Alliance is not yet dead. A very unlikely outcome considering it was you who was after them Cipher Nine."

"Nobody's perfect," the Agent shrugged, "and besides, the primary objective was accomplished. Chaos and panic are on the rise, just like we wanted. Anderson might not be dead, but he is out of the game. All that's left to lead the Citadel are a paranoid and a warmonger."

"True," Lokin stroked his chin thoughtfully and moved a piece forward. SCORPIO responded immediately by taking that piece, causing the doctor to curse.

"More importantly, our mission here has become complicated. I would have finished Anderson, were it not for the intervention of a Jedi."

A heavy silenced settled inside the safehouse.

"What an interesting development," said SCORPIO, speaking for the first time since returning and breaking the silence.

"A Jedi, are you sure?" asked Lokin, turning from the board to look Cipher Nine in the eye.

"Jedi Master Iris Kai swung a lightsaber at me doctor, I'm fairly certain," the Agent replied evenly.

"Damn, been a long time since I blew up a Jedi," quipped Kaliyo. "Are we going after her? There's a bounty on all Jedi right?"

"No," replied Cipher Nine. "First, we need to send a transmission informing the Empire of the Jedi's presence. I wanted to wait until Cipher Thirteen returned from her mission so I could inform you all, but we're out of time. We need to send the transmission now and move to our secondary safehouse. The Jedi are no doubt already looking for us."

The Imperial Agent paused briefly to give his team a moment to process everything that he had told them. Then he climbed over Kaliyo and the couch she was laying on, causing her to make a rude gesture. Cipher Nine ignored it and gestured for her and Doctor Lokin to move. They both complied, allowing the agent to move the couch back, revealing rectangular panel beneath. With some assistance from Lokin, Cipiher Nine pried the panel open, revealing the long range transmitter.

"I'm going to get the message out. The rest of you, initiate burn protocols. We don't want a single piece of this place to be found by anyone."

"You mean I finally get to blow this place up too? Nice," Kaliyo nodded appreciatively and immediately set to work.

"I'll get the acid," said Lokin as he moved towards the supply locker. Any weapons or equipment that could not be taken with them would be covered by the acid and rendered useless. More than likely it was an unnecessary step, as most of it would be destroyed by Kaliyo's bomb. But the team had long since learned not to leave things to chances.

"I shall begin purging the systems," said SCORPIO.

Cipher Nine booted up the transmitter and prepared to send the message that he had prepared. But before he could do so, the machine's holo-projector suddenly came to life without his input. Unexpectedly, the holographic image of a young and attractive human woman appeared before the Imperial Agent. Though her image was tinged blue, like all holograms, Cipher Nine could see that her jaw length hair was red and matched the color of her midriff baring top.

"Hello there Imperial spies!" the mystery woman said in a voice that seemed artificially cheerful and exaggerated.

"SCORPIO, run a trace," Cipher Nine ordered calmly. The droid did as instructed and plugged herself into the transmitter's data port. "You two, keep going. It seems we have a breach."

"You sure do!" said the woman. "But if it makes you feel better darling, it was a real pickle trying to find my way in. But with just a bit of help from my dear Tharan, I managed to get crack your security encryption, bypass your firewalls, and find my way here."

"SCORPIO?" It usually only took the droid a few moments to counter any and all cyber intrusions.

"Fascinating," the droid's photo receptors narrowed like eyes. "What are you?"

"I'm Holiday," the woman said with a smile. "I'm a sentient holographic lifeform. The only in the entirety according to my Tharan, but then he is such a flatterer."

This day was taking a very strange turn, Cipher Nine decided. He didn't like when he found things strange. He seen enough of the galaxy that just about nothing was strange to him. When things did become strange from him, it usually meant trouble.

"But enough about me, let's talk about all of you," Holiday continued. "Recently, you all did some very very bad things. I have a friend that would like to have a talk with you about that. She should be arriving right about...now."

With a teeth grinding screech of tearing metal, the door to the saferoom was blown off its hinges. Cipher Nine barely had time to duck and avoid being flattened. SCORPIO on the other hand, had been too distracted by Holiday, and found herself sandwiched between the wall and the door.

Standing in the entry way, illuminated by the light behind her, stood Jedi Master Iris Kai. In one hand she held her activated lightsaber, it's brilliant sky blue blade hummed a dangerous promise. Her other hand was stretched out from using the Force.

At first, nobody moved.

"You get once chance," said Iris Kai, breaking the silence with her stern voice. "Surrender, or I'm taking you down."

Cipher Nine's lips turned into a wry smile. In a flash he drew his pistols.

In that same moment, the Jedi Master leapt forward, her lightsaber swinging toward his neck.

In the Presidium...

Shepard looked down at Anderson's body.

C-SEC's techs had done a scary job of recreating the Councilor's likeness. If not for the fact that Shepard had been informed that Anderson was indeed alive and well, being given medical treatment in the Black Box, he very well might have believed the body lying before him was Anderson himself. But thanks to Jondum Bau's willingness to share, and the fact that the projection flickered whenever the Commander ran his hand through it, Shepard knew that he was simply looking at a holographic recreation of Anderson at the time when C-SEC found him.

Still, that knowledge didn't make it any easier for Shepard to see his mentor is such a sad state.

"I'll get them for this," he privately promised.

"The Councilor was lucky, damn lucky," said Garrus from behind the commander. "I mean look at this place. Explosion tore it apart."

Shepard nodded and turned to face him. "Nothing short of a miracle."

"Don't know about that," Garrus said as he moved to stand beside the commander. "Look at the residue from the explosion. It covers the whole store, but in this spot there isn't a single scorch mark."

Shepard had noticed the same. Everywhere he looked he could see the effects of some explosive device. Shelves had been shredded and every surface was blackened. But here, where Anderson had been laying, there was nothing. More than that, it almost looked as if the explosion had been turned away from the councilor. The floor at Shepard's feet, bore the same black residue as the rest of the store. But as it neared Anderson's hologram, it gradually curved around him in the shape of a parabola.

"If I had to guess," Shepard began, "I'd say some sort of shield had been placed in front of the councilor, saving him from the blast."

"Agreed," Garrus nodded. "But the question is: how? If it had been a shield that Anderson had been wearing, it would have activated earlier and saved him from the of other injuries that he had taken. Based on that hologram though, it doesn't look like that's the case."

"Maybe some kind of emergency shielding?" Shepard suggested.

"Maybe..." Garrus crossed his arms. "Or maybe something else. Did you see that footprint at the front of the store?"

Shepard frowned. "Footprint?"

Garrus motioned him over towards the front of the store. There, they did indeed find a footprint.

"Human I think," said Garrus. "Too narrow for a Batarian and too wide for an Asari. Humans have...five toes, right?"

"We do," said Shepard as he crouched down to better inspect the print. It was a fairly unremarkable as footprints went. Except for one detail: it had been imprinted into the solid tile floor. It almost looked like someone had stomped a foot, hard, into this part of the floor.

"These floors are meant to handle Elcor. I don't know too much about Humans, but I've never met one strong enough to match an Elcor, at least not without biotics. You could do it I think. Jack could probably do it too. But..."

"But not many others," Shepard finished.

"Exactly. Can you tell anything about who it might belong to? I'm a little rusty on my Human anatomy."

"It belongs to a woman," Shepard said almost immediately. "I'd say around 5 foot 8 inches in Human measurements."

Garrus moved his mandibiles in an expression of surprise.

"That was fast," the Turian noted. "Didn't know you knew so much about feet."

"I don't," admitted Shepard. "But when Ash and I...when we were together. I bought her a pair of boots once as a present. It took me forever to find her size and by the end of it, I was pretty familiar with the shape of her foot."

Garrus gave the Turian equivalent of a smirk.

"Not like that," Shepard groaned.

"Hey, what you Humans do in between the sheets is none of this Turian's business."

"Anyway," Shepard began, wishing to changed the subject. "This print, it's a lot like Ash's."

"Alright, so we're looking at a Human woman who is about the same size as Williams. But possibly weighs more than an Elcor, or at the very least can hit like a Krogan on steroids. That's...an interesting image."

"Look at the blast residue," Shepard pointed. It was the shape parabolic shape as the one they had found around Anderson's hologram. "Do you think maybe this belonged to the person who was responsible for the explosion? One of the assassins maybe?

"Not enough evidence to be sure," said Garrus as he took a scan of the footprint with his Omni-tool. At the same moment, Shepard's own Omni-tool began to chime from an incoming call.

Shepard answered and brought up a holographic screen from his forearm.

"This is Shepard."

"Commander," Samara greeted. "As you requested, Kala and I are at the C-SEC morgue."

"What up Shep!" Kala called from off screen.

The Asari spectre sounded like she was on some great adventure, as usual. Samara, less so. There was a certain tightness in the Justicar's voice that Shepard would have missed had he not been familiar with her. He began to think that maybe sending Samara to the C-SEC morgue with Kala had been a mistake. The two had a history, one that he wasn't sure of. He had thought before that Samara had simply been surprised by her former pupil's presence. That's why he had put them together, to let them have some time to catch up.

Now though, Shepard wondered if Samara would have preferred to have never seen Kala again. He couldn't imagine why. Did something bad happen between the two?

Now wasn't the time to think about that.

"So what did you find?" he asked.

"The chief forensic, Doctor Favarius, can explain better than I," said Samara. The screen shifted to show the face of a female Turian with dark scales and green face paint.

"Commander," the Turian greeted him in a surprisingly deep voice. "It's an honor to meet you and...Vakarian? Is that you?"

"Hey doc," said Garrus.

"You're alive? I heard some officers talking, but I assumed the Terminus was the end for you."

"Heh, it almost was, but not quite yet. Do have a few new scars though," he gestured to his face. "So you're the lead on this case huh?"

"Yeah. Executor Pallin wanted C-SEC's best on this one, so here I am."

"Then we're in good hands. Why don't you tell the Commander and me what you've found."

"Of course. Justicar, if you could please show them the body."

The image on the screen shifted again as Samara turned her Omni-tool's camera towards a body lying on an operating table. It was dressed in a familiar armor, specifically, the standard battle armor of the mercenary group CAT-6.

Shepard had received a message from C-SEC's Exectuor, Pallin, saying that something relevant to the investigation of the attempt on Anderson's life had turned up. Wanting to look at the site of the attack personally, he had asked Samara and Kala to go in his stead. Now though, he was wishing he had chosen to go personally.

Despite the carnage he and Garrus had found, they had not found a single body. They had found plenty of blood, but nothing else. It had been clear that someone had taken the time to sweep their tracks.

But apparently they hadn't done as good of a job as they had hoped.

"Subject is a Human male. Age 35 standard years. In good physical health. X-rays show several old wounds that are likely irrelevant to his death. I'm told that you are already familiar with this uniform," said Favarius.

"Yeah, you could say that," Shepard responded.

"Then I shall skip to something more interesting. Justicar, if you could move a bit closer?" Samara did as asked, zooming her camera in to focus on the dead mercenary's chest plate. Shepard immediately spotted the hole that had been punched through the merc's chest.

"The wound is completely cauterized and reaches all the way through," he heard Favarius say. "It's incredibly clean, the cleanest I've ever seen. But some of the armor surrounding the wound was partially melted, indicating extreme levels of heat. The scorch marks around the hole seem to confirm that. If I had to guess, he was hit by-"

"An energy beam," Shepard finished.

"Yes. You've seen a wound like this before?" asked Favarius, catch the graveness in Shepard's voice.

"Unfortunately, yes." Recently too, Shepard thought bitterly. The wound on the mercenary was nearly identical to the one that had recently taken Jacob's life. "It's a wound inflicted by a...laser sword."

"I beg your pardon?"

"It sounds ridiculous, I know," said Garrus. "But I swear on the spirits of Palaven doc, it's true. The weapon that did that is blade of pure energy."

A moment of silence followed as Shepard guessed, Favarius and Kala tried to process what Garrus had told them. Predictably though, Kala did not stay silent for very long.

"Cool," said the Asari Spectre. Off screen, Samara must have given her former pupil a scolding look. "I mean...if it weren't being used by the enemy to kill our friends and loved ones."

Shepard suppressed an amused smile. "Anything else you can tell us?"

"Only that every bone in his body is shattered. I'm guessing it had something to do with the fall he took."

"Fall?" asked Garrus.

"Ah that's right, I forgot to tell you. The officers who found the body had to peel him off the hood of some poor fledgling's aircar. Shame too, it was a nice car. But the fall this one took was hard enough to leave decent dent."

"Can you tell if it happened before or after he died?" asked Shepard.

"Definitely after," replied Favarius.

Shepard shared a look with Garrus. "I guess now we know how they cleaned the place up so quickly. They just threw the bodies over the side of the street."

"Must have been in a big hurry," said Garrus. "It was a rush job. They needed to get out of there before anyone else showed up."

"Then question then is: who are they?" asked Shepard.

"I concur," said Samara, still off screen. "As far as we know, only The Wrath has ever wielded such a weapon. Yet it is not hard to believe that others might. Had the victim been anyone else, it would be easy to conclude that the wielder was one of the enemy. Instead, one who is the enemy bares the wound. Your question is therefore indeed important Commander. Who are they?"

Garrus thoughtfully scratched his cheek. "I'm not so sure we should throw out the possibility that this wasn't just friendly fire. But yeah, Samara is right. There is a possibility there is a third party involved. Maybe even a potential ally."

"We need more intel," said Shepard, "and we need to find it fast. Before something else-"

The commander's omni-tool chirped as another call requested his attention. He checked the caller's ID, it was EDI.

"Stay on the line Samara," he ordered. Then he switched lines and answered the second call. "EDI? What's going on? Has something happened?"

"I am afraid so commander. Approximately 10 minutes ago, Executor Pallin was killed."

"Killed?! What?! How?!" Garrus demanded.

"Reports say that the Executor had chosen to leave the C-SEC offices by armor aircar. As they lifted off, the aircar was destroyed." Before anymore questions could be asked, EDI sent a clip to Shepard's Omni-tool, showing them the event as seen through the CNN live stream.

"Spirits preserve us," Garrus whispered. "I can't believe...it's just...right in the middle of the Citadel?"

Shepard stayed silent but agreed with his friend's sentiment. First two Citadel Councilors, and now the head of C-SEC. Was anyone safe? As he watched the footage of the Executor's aircar exploding again, Shepard decided that the answer was a resound: no. No one was safe now. Not until he found the bastards responsible and put a bullet in their heads.

"There is more," said EDI.

"More? What else could have happened in the past 10 minutes?" asked Shepard, even as he dreaded the answer.

"The Alliance Embassy on the Citadel has been attacked. Reports indicate that the attackers, wielded glowing swords."

AN:

Alright, so yeah, it's been somewhere around 8 months.

And for such a long time with nothing to show, this chapter is abysmally short. I apologize, I really do. Honestly though, I just haven't felt like writing anything for a very long time. I needed a break from everything. It wasn't like I just sat on my hands the whole time though, I did put down the outline for this chapter and a lot of stuff to come. It's just that it took forever for me to finally sit down and put it all into words.

This chapter was originally going to be much longer, but given that I've been on hiatus for so long, I thought it more important to give you guys something to read. The rest of the chapter will hopefully be released soon, depends on how badly Darth Real Life decides to fuck with me.

But until then, I hope that you enjoyed what I managed to give you.

Thanks for sticking with me.