[IC] Mass Effect: What Came After

[Ambiguity]

Mass Effect: What Came After

---

Blake finally had a break in her case. Spending upwards to three months following a particular set of presumed gang activity, she was convinced this was bigger than the Reds or the Back Alley Gentlemen.

The news of the Reapers, and the legendary feats of Commander Shepard’s deeds, had spread throughout Earth. Alliance activity had been picking up while space docks worked day and night to output more ships to the fleets patrolling the Sol system. An increase of protests of Alliance military brutality was on the rise as well. It was silly really. Blake was a part of the task force that vetted the Citizens United group. Their mission was to challenge the recently instated Alliance policies that infringed on some human rights. Humanity, the universe, was at war. Why the protestors couldn’t see the necessity of the limitations on rights astounded her. Luckily, the protest didn't escalate to violence. Things like that were ill tolerated.

Showing her badge to a guard at the Alliance London Military Headquarters, Blake strolled right on in. Her uniform matched that of the Alliance military personnel. The only distinction was instead of the Alliance military sign, a silver shield with three stars underneath it took its place. The mark of the law enforcement branch.

Walking up to the reception desk, Blake stood patiently until the receptionist looked up. “Appointment?”

“Agent Bellastrum here to see Commander Shepard.”

The receptionist typed away at her screen. “The Commander isn’t seeing anyone. Honestly, if you--” The woman grew silent as she looked at her screen again. She grunted. “DID. I’m surprised a blue’s allowed in here. I suppose we’re all fighting on the same side. Take the elevator to the sixth floor. Here’s the Commander’s room number.”

Blake wanted to smack the woman but thought better of it. It took significant pull to arrange the meeting with the Commander. Cerberus was the prime suspect in her investigation so far. She needed an expert to piece together and validate their MO. Ensure she had enough to go on to start coming up with a direct intervention protocol. The organization was as tangible as mist. There was barely anything on them. Her only concrete source was the woman she was about to meet.

Giving the receptionist a forced reply, Blake went and entered the elevator and pressed the button for the sixth floor. Once she was on the sixth floor, she prowled about until she came upon the Commander’s door. Pushing down the unfamiliar sensation of nervousness that filled her, she pressed the call button to the side of the door controls.

“Commander Shepard,” she said into the intercom above the call button, “Agent Bellastrum. I’m your 1500 appointment. Whenever you’re ready.”

[The Game Master]

The Collectors had been destroyed, and Shepard had been on her way to turn the Normandy and her crew over to the Alliance when Admiral Hackett sent her a message, requesting her help in the Batak system. She of course agreed, as she was technically still outside of Alliance channels and they needed to keep this assignment that way. Oh how she wished now that she had insisted it been an officially sanctioned mission by Alliance brass. Even if it had been she doubted it would have improved her current circumstances by much.

She had been immediately placed under house arrest when she returned to Earth. She was waiting to stand trial for working with Cerberus and for causing the destruction of the Bahak system and its 300,000 batarian colonists. She was stripped of her rank and title, for the time being anyway. Granted, almost everyone still called her Commander. She was confined to her quarters for the most part, permitted to leave for meals and if she was summoned by Alliance brass for some meeting. Not that she wanted to leave her quarters much anyway. She'd fallen into a bit of depression when they took the Normandy away from her.

The crew of the Normandy had not kept in touch with the Commander. She knew it was because her communications were being tracked and no one wanted to be on Alliance brass radar anymore than they already were. No, for the time being it was best to distance oneself from the Commander.

Shepard had the option to customize the quarters she'd been given but felt no need, it wasn't like she was going to live her forever, no matter how much it felt like that. The apartment was sparsely decorated with functional furniture. A coffee table and some chairs, a small dining table and the bedroom had a single twin bed and a small desk with an extranet terminal. Shepard knew every stroke she made on the GUI interface would be relayed back to high command and so spent little time on it. In all honesty, she was beginning to feel like a caged animal.

The Alliance had started to take her warnings about the Reapers a little more seriously but not as seriously as Shepard would have liked. They needed to be making alliances with the other races, not investigating the role the Normandy had in destroying the collector base or the Bahak system (which had been necessary to stop the imminent Reaper threat). She rarely got visitors and had almost forgotten that Agent Bellastrum would be stopping by to see her from DID.

Shepard was wearing the new Alliance "fatigue" uniform, muted tones of navy blue with shoulder pads that extended just beyond the edge of the shoulder with gold trim. She wore the sleeves rolled up revealing the white underside but it was still in regulation. Her boots were polished to a mirror like sheen, she hadn't had time to pay that much attention to her boot polishing when serving on the Normandy, there had been other priorities. Here she wasn't constantly getting mud and blood all over her boots so they stayed shined longer, leaving her with less things to do during the day. Her auburn hair was slightly too long to be worn down according to Alliance regulation but she didn't care, it was too short to pull back into an effective bun. All that mattered to Shepard was that her hair was out of her bright green eyes, it was a habit of always needing to be able to see what was going on without wiping hair out of her face to do so.

When the intercom rang to let her know that agent Bellastrum had arrived she didn't respond, simply buzzed the agent in and waited. She offered the agent a salute when she entered though she technically wasn't required to with her current status in the Alliance up in the air. "Agent Bellastrum," Shepard stuck her hand. "Commander Shepard. How can I help you?" She wasn't entirely sure what DID wanted her assistance with but she had nothing better to do than talk to them so why not?

Shepard motioned her over to the couch so they could sit, no need to stand and talk when there was a perfectly good and hard couch to sit on.

[Ambiguity]

Blake didn't have to wait long before the door to the Shepard's room opened. Unable to stop her habit of casing a room, Blake's initial thought was spartan. Not too surprised at the minimalism Shepard showed, perhaps it was a bit too minimalistic. There was the typical looking table with a small twin. Other amenities had been laid out economically, but the room lacked a personal touch. Perhaps the blandness was purposeful. Military life hardly seemed like the area for luxury and indulgence.

Surprised at the salute, the law enforcement branch didn't adhere to that practice, Blake offered one back before moving towards the first human spectre. The hero that was obviously getting shafted. She shook Shepard's hand. "It's an honor, Commander Shepard." Taking a seat at the couch Shepard gestured to, Blake situated herself to get comfy on the stone hard furniture. "I don't know how much you've been informed about me, but I work within the Direct Intervention Department. Not something I readily advertise. This is an exception.

"Unlike the military, we deal with more domestic issues that require a militaristic solution." Taking out a data pad from one of her pockets, Blake's warm violet eyes scanned the screen before she handed it over to the Commander. "I've been working on a case. Real ugly one involving deaths of prominent people. To save you a lengthy recap, I have reason to suspect that the gang involved is a front. Covering something up, if you will. Violent gangs and terror cells can certainly be organized, but the pattern of the activities I've been tracking is a step up."

Her eyes studied the Commander. While she came here looking for insight, what information she revealed had to be limited. There wasn't any opportunity in checking the room for bugs. She didn't know who was potentially listening into their conversation. But she had to at least give enough for Shepard to go on. "If you look at the second file on the data pad, I've posted up some images of what I've found during raids and deep covers. The smuggling is typical. Picture five to ten depicts technology and advanced weapons procurement. But picture thirteen." Blake switched to the image and pointed at a spot. A hint of orange-black symbol peeked behind a cargo crate "What does that look like to you? Gangs with that much ordinance? Hardware? In my experience, connections to high places is the only way."

Sitting back, Blake decided that was enough talking on her end. It was time to hear what the Commander thought about all of this. "I have a very strong suspicion, Commander. And if it's something you share, just from looking at that logo in image thirteen, then we have a lot to talk about."

[The Game Master]

Shepard listened with rapt attention as Agent Bellastrum briefed her on the situation, well briefed her as much as she was willing at this point in time. Shepard was certain the DID agent was not sharing everything and given the situation the Commander was in, that couldn't be helped. She took the data pad when offered and flipped through the images, enlarging certain things she spotted on the images for a better look. She made small "hmm" sounds as she looked over the files on the data pad. She finally scrolled to image thirteen and as she suspected, just as Agent Bellastrum obviously suspected, was the unmistakable Cerberus logo, if only partially visible.

Shepard's green eyes focused on Bellastrum's for a moment, fixing her with an intent gaze, trying to discern something from the woman. Perhaps if she should trust the DID, they were another branch of the Alliance afterall, and sharing information about Cerberus could land her in more hot water.

"I believe we go have a lot to discuss," Shepard admitted before glancing around the room. She picked up the pristine ash tray on the coffee table and flipped it over for Bellastrum. An obvious listening device was stuck to the underside as though Shepard would not have though to check for bugs in her room, it wasn't even a good attempt at hiding it really. "Perhaps here is not the best place. I'm sure Admiral Anderson would be amenable to allowing me to have some free time outside of my quarters."

[Ambiguity]

The agent allowed the veteran to view the documents a little more. Though only a partial, Blake was confident in her finding. There were only so many logos out there that resembled the human extremist group. In fact, there weren't many. Information on Cerberus was nil to none. She had to dig into the darkest of places to get what info she'd acquired so far. It wouldn't surprise her if the organization kept their identity as dark as possible. Yet why make such bold, unsubtle acts now? Blake didn't like this one bit.

Following the Commander until she lifted an ashtray, Shepard didn't need to show her for Blake to realize that Shepard's office was a luxurious prison. It was funny. Bugging places was something she did on all suspected targets given to her. Never in her life would she ever expect the Commander to fall victim to such means.

Blake nodded. "In most circumstances, I would assume this would take time," she said. Blake frowned. "Unfortunately, time is something I can ill afford at the moment. If this request can be granted now, that would be for the best."

[The Game Master]

Shepard nodded as she mad a video call to the Admiral. She quickly explained what she wanted and Anderson approved it without any fuss, it was why Shepard liked him so much, the lack of bullshit he made people go through to get things done. A few moment's later and Shepard's omni-tool blipped, alerting her to a message from Admiral Anderson, the authorization to leave her quarters in the DID Agent's custody.

"Come on, I know just the place," Shepard inclined her head towards the door. Shepard was saluted by every member of the Alliance military that they passed, it was clear her reputation among the troops remained untarnished, even if that wasn't the case with Alliance brass.

Eventually they found their way to a little hole in the wall bar that seemed to primarily cater to Alliance soldiers. Loud music, dancers and dim lighting made it easy for them to fit in. Shepard and Anderson came here to talk in private so she knew it was a safe place to bring the DID agent. They took a booth in the back away from other patrons where they wouldn't be disturbed and they'd easily be able to tell if someone was trying to listen in on them.

"What questions do you have for me about Cerberus? I want to make one thing very clear, I worked with them not for them."

[Ambiguity]

Blake tried to give the commander as much privacy as she needed. Listening in one conversation between such high ranking officers, military or not, was something she thankfully didn't have to do in her job. She targeted the gangs. The people who were actively harming others while dealing on the streets. All the means to gather evidence against such people was nothing but a pleasure for her. No matter how hard she tried, she heard the conversation between the two military personnel.

When Shepard finished her conversation, Blake followed after her immediately. Military personnel saluted the commander as they walked towards wherever Shepard was bringing them. If she were in uniform, she'd do the same. Shepard and her story was an inspiration. Something she looked up to. No matter the odds. Shepard was the perfect teacher for the motto they perhaps had in common.

They eventually stumbled upon a bar hidden away from the world. Alliance personnel mingled about the place. Loud music, probably cheap booze, and other stuff drew the crowd she supposed. Blake wasn't surprised to see that all personnel wore military uniforms. She doubted law enforcement knew about this place.

Following Shepard to a booth in the back, she took the seat opposing her. There was something very discomforting with her back facing others. She liked to have the dominant position. When Shepard started to talk, Blake nodded at the last part of her sentence. "Off the record? Everyone in the DID get the 'enemy of my enemy is a friend'," she said. "You won't find many from DID chasing you for that. So Cerberus. I suspected, but I needed validation from someone. When you worked with them, what was their MO? They're subtle. From what I was able to dig up. DID's file on them is one folder. That's nothing. So, why don't you fill me in on their MO? Organization structure. Etc."