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Turnabout-	By : Spiritwolf71 Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 7688 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This story takes place within Bioware's Mass Effect Universe, their creative property. I do not own any of Bioware's stories or characters or locations. The Author recieved no money from this story and is writing it purely for entertainment.

Chapter List
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Shepard paced with her arms crossed over her chest. She had almost left the chambers on a successful note when the Human councilor had requested that she meet her in her office. Request was putting it mildly, Cayle had the distinct impression that if she did not meet the councilor that bad things would happen. She really did not want to think about what type of bad things, she just knew she did not have a good feeling about this meeting.
She had come alone and now paced in the woman’s office alone. She could not help but notice it was in the exact same spot as Udina’s office had been in, built a bit differently but in the spot. She could only wonder if that was a bad omen.
She paused in front of the large fish tank that adorned the wall. She watched as two Thessian porier eels glided by. They were so graceful and elegant, much like the Asari themselves. The tank also contained a school of millet seed butterfly fish and three jelly fish. It was almost as big as the one Shepard had enjoyed on the Normandy, except with less dead fish. She remember how happy she had been when she had purchased that fish feeder on the Citadel prior to the war, she had been getting sick of spending thousands of credits on the things. She found herself wondering how her fish were doing now.
The middle of the room was decorated with a circular rug with definite Asian designs on it; on the rug sat a desk and three chairs.
When Udina had his office here had a straight desk, made of some metal and nothing really special stuck in Cayle mind. This councilor had an antique maple president’s desk and it was in impeccable shape. Shepard could smell the old wood; it was always one of her favorite smells.
The Spectre took a second to look around the room. The woman seemed to have good taste. The room was sparsely decorated that being one thing the two of them had in common. Cayle did not like a lot of clutter either. The councillor had a fondness for abstract as Cayle noticed she had a few Salvador Dali reprints as well as the more modern Visions of Ilos series painting. Other than that the room had an abundance of plants, something the councillor and Shepard did not have in common. Green things tended to die when the Shepard touched them.
Chuckling to her herself she moved over to the imposing older woman’s desk and picked up her name plate, Councillor Vicky Burnett.
“Well Vicky,” Shepard said lowly, “Is this going to be a love, love relationship or are you going to throw me to the wolves.”
Udina would have been furious. He hated not being in the loop and not because he really needed to be in it, he was just a controlling bastard. She knew that was the reason he had hated her being a Spectre was that he had no control over her. That was also why he had named Williams as a Spectre. It was the same reason he eventually turned to Cerberus, he had no control over the council.
Ashley would have some day made a brilliant Spectre, but, at present, she was a soldier and she followed orders, Alliance orders. Ashley would always look out for others but Humanity would always come first, the marine was slowly changing and Cayle had faith that she would be the Spectre the council was looking for someday; it was just not right now.
She had, after all, been the one that had killed Udina when he tried to backstab the council. Shepard had almost taken the shot then. Her finger had twitched more than once on the trigger but in the end she trusted Ashley to the right thing and her friend had, that was all that mattered.
Shepard gently placed the name plate back on the desk and looked to a picture; she smiled as it was obviously a wedding picture. The woman was pretty, Shepard guess maybe fifty, fifty five years of age. It was her skin that gave her age away, the slight wrinkle around the eyes. She still had that ginger coloured hair with no signs of white. The councillor didn’t seem to wear any makeup but obviously did not need any; she was that natural sort of pretty. In the picture she was smiling and when she smiled her whole face smiled, Cayle had always liked that. In the council chambers though, there had been no such smile on her face.
Shepard was surprised to find that the Councillor was married to a Turian, she thought of Garrus and Tali. The councillor was much younger in the photo, maybe ten or fifteen years younger.
“We were married a couple years before the war,” the Councillor stepped into the room from her private hallway. “He returned to Palavin in the first wave, I was lucky though, he came home after the war.”
“I’m glad that worked out for you Councillor, a lot of families were destroyed during the invasion,” Cayle said in earnest.
“Yes, lucky, that and he is a fine warrior,” Burnett said. Cayle was surprised that her husband would not have been a politician as well.
Shepard looked up to the woman not having anything to add to the conversation. She had no idea of who the councillor was or what she was thinking. Cayle imagined she was probably angry, the Spectre had gone behind her back and approached the council without her knowledge. She had no idea of what to expect. Instead of moving behind her desk Councillor Burnett stood directly in front of her.
Shepard noted she looked taller from far away. Standing in front of her like this Cayle realised how short the woman actually was. She could actually see the top of her medium length ginger hair and she note she had green eyes which usually denoted temper.
“You made a fool of us today,” The woman said glaring up at her. “Imagine how it looked that the Human Councillor was the last person to know that the most famous human ever was alive. You by passed me and the Human government in favour of grand standing in front of the council.”
“I wasn’t trying to grandstand anyone, honest,” Cayle said, not grandstanding per say anyway. Councillor Burnett looked at her for a few moments before sitting down at her desk. Shepard turned to watch her.
“You figured by turning yourself into the council you would escape persecution by the Alliance parliament and military.”
“I wasn’t really thinking,” Shepard paused, “Persecution is a big scary word. Do you think I deserve persecution?”
The politician leaned back in her seat. “I don’t know, do you think you deserve persecution, that was what you expected when you came here, was it not?”
“I came to make a confession, my crime was…”
“You worked with Cerberus for five years regardless of who was in control of you. I am not saying we would not have come to the same conclusions the Council did but we deserved a right to be trusted, we are you people Shepard,” The woman argued.
“I humbly disagree Councillor, Yes I am Human and yes I am part of the Alliance, but first and foremost I am a Spectre. My people are all the races and those in this galaxy we don’t know about yet. The Alliance Parliament and the military knew this when they allowed me to be appointed Spectre. I did not come here without the intention of going back to Earth, this was my first stop.”
“And you did not think to come to me?”
“I don’t know you. I figured you would have stopped me.”
“Perhaps,” the woman said, “But it would have been the respectful thing to do.”
“If Commander Shepard had come to you she would have already be tried and hung.” This came from Hackett who had slipped in the room undetected. Shepard let out a breath, glad to have an ally.
“The Salarians blamed us for the death of their Dalatrass,” The councillor stated simply.
“They blamed us for the lack of security; they blamed Cerberus for the Assassination. I blame the Alliance for their lack of information on Cerberus. Shepard was not responsible for her actions at the time. I doubt you would be able to find anyone who would not see it that way, especially now.” Hackett sat down across from the Councillor, leaving Shepard as the only one standing. He lifted one leg up onto the other and made himself comfortable. Cayle had a hard time not smiling seeing how angry this made Burnett. “You’re just angry she didn’t come to you first and give you control over what happened.”
“We both know if Shepard had gone to Earth first she would never have made it here.” The Admiral continued. She was amazed at how smoothly political he could be. That was one area she was not the best at. “They would have locked her up and interrogated her. Then they would have kept her locked up thinking that it would placate the Salarians. No one would win in that situation. This was the best way out for everyone.”
As Shepard watch the two she could not help but think of the arguments Udina and Anderson would get into, most of the time over her as well. It was too bad that things had ended the way they had, with both men dead.
Unlike most people, Shepard didn’t think Udina was completely unredeemable. She honestly thought he was pushed into siding with Cerberus when the Council repeatedly ignore Humanities pleas for assistance, first in the Traverse then when Earth was attacked. Cayle doubted that Udina had been in Cerberus circle for very long. He was just easy to recruit given his frustrations. Udina truly wanted what was good for humanity; he was just blinded in the end.
She had been with Anderson when he died but she had never had a chance to mourn him. She had tried, after opening the arms, to be with him, but as she rested beside him she had been called upon again because nothing was happening. Then she thought she had died, she had sacrificed herself to destroy the Reapers, the Catalyst has said she would die. She remembered pain like she had never felt before, then calmness, then vaguely waking up and more pain, then Cerberus found her. She never had the chance to go through the mourning process. She was not even sure where to start it now.
“She had an obligation to the Alliance,” Burnett stated banging her finger against her desk, “And while I understand the whole Spectre thing she moved behind my back and the back of her people.” The woman sighed. “What’s done is done; we can’t go back and change it now.”
“My point exactly,” Hackett said threw tight lips. Shepard realized that it had been Hackett that had filled up the chambers. He would probably never admit to it but he didn’t have to.
“So what happens now?” Shepard asked.
“Now we discuss this device and your plan on getting it back. I will go and talk to the Alliance Brass about reinstating you and seeing that you are granted amnesty for the crime that Cerberus committed while in control of you. I am sure Councillor Burnett will be able to assist you with anything you might need.”
“Reinstate me?” Cayle said slowly, she obviously did not have a choice the matter. “What does mean, exactly?”
“Well Shepard, the SSV Vigil has now completed construction and its first Commanding officer will be Ashley Williams. That leaves a spot for a Commander open on the Normandy,” Hackett said looking up to her; both the Councillor and Shepard looked at him in shock. Shepard bit her lip and spun around.
She wanted to be back on the Normandy, she had always felt as though it was an extension of her, almost as much, if not more, than Joker did. In thinking that there was one thing she did want more and that was Liara. Things were going far too fast at the moment. She was not sure what she had expected from this day but being thrust back into her old life in one fell swoop was not it.
She wanted the Normandy, she wasn’t going to be able to hide that, she just was not sure how Liara and children fit into that. She would never want a family on a ship like that. She did not see Liara as a stay at home mother either, she was the Shadow Broker and she was a very successful Shadow Broker. She twisted her fingers together as she struggled with herself.
“It’s not printed in stone,” Hackett said sensing her internal discord, “Shepard I still have to go back to the Alliance Brass and see what they have to say in the matter.”
“I think you’re pushing things along a little too eagerly Admiral,” Burnett said. “Before we give the Commander a ship, especially one as essential as the Normandy we need to do some test. Figure out what Cerberus did to her and be damn sure it can’t be done again.”
The small woman stood and moved over to her, “I understand who you are, Commander,” she started, “and I respect and appreciate the sacrifices you have made for everyone. I even think you are a hero despite what it may look like, but you just admitted that Cerberus had control over you for five years. I am not saying I do not trust you, because I trust and admire Commander Shepard very much, even though you went behind my back, but we really need to make sure Cerberus can’t speak a word and control you again.”
“They can’t, Miranda Lawson made sure of this,” Cayle argued.
“Miranda Lawson is an Ex-Cerberus agent herself,” Burnett started but Shepard held up her hand.
“I trust Miranda with my life, Councillor.”
“Miranda Lawson has been a valuable and loyal asset to the Alliance since she defected from Cerberus,” Hackett surprised Cayle by adding.
“What I am saying is that Shepard has pretty much not even been back a day. There are hoops we all have to jump through to figure out exactly what that means. We need to slow down,” the older woman said.
“I wish we had time,” Shepard said turning, “Cerberus is on the move and they have Harbinger and they have some device that was extracted from Harbinger that is supposed to be powerful. I’m not sure anyone knows exactly why but I do know they wanted it back pretty badly. The rumours alone, about it, warrant us taking it out of their hands and destroying it.”
“Destroy, is a pretty strong word,” the Councillor said after a few moments of silence. She was obviously calculating some sort of plot in her head.
“Councillor, with all due respect, you have no idea of how close we all were, of being completely annihilated. I don’t know what this device does but it’s Reaper technology,” Shepard could not help but think of the warning the catalyst had given, that someday the cycle will be restarted. Maybe not in her life time but it would come to pass. She hoped in her heart that it was wrong. This device scared her. “I don’t think that it’s wise to just give it to one race, if we go to get it we should be destroyed it. It could have, well it could do anything.”
“What about if we re-open a joint task force on it with all the races taking part,” Hackett added. “There are actually quite a few since the crucible; Cru Tech is a joint interspecies government funded research foundation. It is maintained by the Council and as said, funded by each race.”
“I still don’t know. We don’t even know what it does or what it means. What if it wakes up the reapers, what if it restores Harbinger? We cannot duplicate what I did to stop the invasion,” she said, nor was she sure she wanted to, not if it could all be avoided.
“I think it would be a shame to destroy it before we even figured out what it did. Cerberus must have some idea, it must be documented somewhere. They took out a large part of the Eclipse to get at it,” the Councillor said. Shepard looked from Hackett to the small woman.
“We need to stop Cerberus first and foremost. They have this technology and they have a bad habit of being careless with stuff like that. They seem to believe in the test first, consequences later theory. I know, I still have Lissa’s memories. We need to confront them and hit them hard,” Shepard looked to Hackett. “I have already contacted Aria; with her aid we could probably take Omega right out from underneath the Ambassador.” She stopped and for the first time thought about the man, she turned away from the other two. The Ambassador…
Becoming Lissa had been his project. He had been present since the day she had been found. She saw him in her first real memories after the explosion. She remembered the pain she endured and he would simply watch and she could hear him talk to others how her pain made her weak and susceptible to the hypnosis.
He had created Lissa’s background and helped feed it to her. He had been the one that created the relationship the two of them had. He had used her in ways she never dreamed she would ever be used and it hit her in that second like a sudden slap in the face. She shook it off the best she could.
“Commander?” Hackett was concerned about her sudden quiet.
“The Ambassador,” Cayle continued, “is the Head of Cerberus. He killed off their council and took over the operations himself. He is Cerberus in more respects then the Illusive Man ever was. The Illusive Man headed the largest branch of Cerberus, mostly the Military and weapons research. The Ambassador had taken over when he was killed but then Mr. Ambition decided it was not enough. He wiped out the Board that over looked the day to day operations of all the branches. I don’t know if that was the top of the ladder or not, but that is where he controls.”
Cayle turned and looked to Hackett. “I will go with Aria and a small team to Omega; she already has several of her people on the inside and had her mercenary groups ready to attack. If we can get in we can rally the populace and Cerberus would not stand a chance. It would look like Aria planned the attack and they would not suspect that the Allies are involved.”
“That’s a bold plan, Omega four is protected by an IFF interface,” Hackett said.
“True, the Normandy is already fitted with one of those, we can replicate it or we can take the IFF off the Cerberus ships that would be stranded on Omega.”
“You mentioned the allies; do you think they will join in?” Burnett asked, Cayle could see she was actually considering her idea. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all.
“They will have to; I don’t think we can take on Cerberus alone. While we were healing and using our funds to rebuild they grew. I can tell you that beyond that relay is a sizeable force. With most of the council races still not even close to rebuilding their military they would wipe out any one of us, but together we have already proven how strong we can be,” Shepard said turning to Burnett. “You need to get them on board.”
The councillor seemed to think about this as she moved slowly to her desk, “I will do what I can,” she said finally. “However that does not mean we are done addressing the assassination. I will need to talk to the Salarian Ambassador about that.”
“I understand,” Shepard said earnestly. She truly did, she knew had a Salarian killed a Human diplomat that the Humans would want someone to answer for that. They might have even mistaken it as an act of war. Salarians were different than humans, perhaps the most different of all the races, save maybe the Hanar. They lived short lives and as such they tended to go through emotional cycles much quicker than most. They were also scientist and analytical thinkers and as such would be able to see who the real enemy was much clearer than humans ever could. Even knowing that, Shepard still found herself worried about confronting the Salarians. This was a race that condoned genocide.
“Sounds like the beginnings of a plan, Shepard,” Hackett stood and allowed himself a slight smile. “It is good to have you back, Commander.” He held his hand out and Shepard took it.
“I’m glad to be back.” She said with a smile, now she just needed to figure out what she was going to do with herself.
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