Stance of the Alliance and the Citadel Council

A few days later-

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*Chish!* The door opened in the conference room. Liara, Jane, and a clone of Shiala had already processed the Cipher. Liara's understanding of Prothean increase a great deal and help contribute to the legitimacy of some of what the Shiala clone said.

Wrex was also in the conference room with a few of the Krogan that they captured. They would be used in trying to smear Exogeni and help Leo buy the company out. With Doctor Juliana Baynham as a material witness as well, it would go a long way.

The proceedings ent by quick after Jane gave her accounts of what she found. The Thorian was "killed" as far as they knew. They destroyed the main body by collapsing the place after a brief firefight. With the creature having escaped using its tendrils, they were none the wiser.

The Council was divided on how that should have gone. The Turian Councilor was happy to have such a creature taken out. Explaining its controlling abilities alone made it an extreme threat.

The Salarian Councilor only mentioned a slight interest in it overall. Close to feeling the same way as the Asari Councilor. But more for study purposes.

The Asari Councilor wished the creature could be saved and expressed deep regret it perished. Offering full Asylum to the Asari Clones that "remained" alive. The actual Shiala would be "detained" for her involvement.

"Commander Shepard, return to Citadel space to hand over the other prisoners." The Turian Council, Sparatus said. "The colonists themselves are to be handed over as well for their involvement overall."

"What?"

"Do not fret to much, it is formal. They are needed to help against Exogeni. To help testify to bring them down. Zhu's Hope has been labeled as a hot zone. For now anyway."

"And the work down there?"

"Work has lead to dangerous news coming forth. Which brings us to another issue." The Asari Councilor, Tevos clicked a button. "A member of your crew has been caught using technology that is banned by the Council. Your pilot Jeff "Joker" Morea according to this report. An IFF device that bypasses most Council communications is in use."

"You had us bugged?"

"You are a Spectre and two are on board at that. Do not forget the ship is was also done mostly by the Turians and your Alliance, Commander Shepard." Sparatus looked toward Leo. "If not for your "studious" assistance we would not have been able to expose this problem. On the behalf of Palaven, I think you."

"This should have been brought to me first." Jane turned to Leo angry. "He is my pilot."

"Who reported on me. I sent the report to the Alliance, have no control over the Council getting a hold of it." Leo said composed. "Obviously he didn't have enough respect to let you know what he was doing himself, so why should I? Or are you telling me he was spying on me on your orders?"

"Ehem!" Wrex cleared his throat. "You two can beat each other up later. I need a word with the Turian Councilor." Sparatus looked over to him. Meeting the gaze of the Krogan Battlemaster with ease. "This General of yours has been involved in shady work before, need some guarantees you won't eliminate the Krogan captives."

"You have my word I will have no hand in it or give any orders to do so." Sparatus said. The moment he said that a file was released to him containing the maneuvers of General Invectus, and a turian by the name of Adrien Victus. Another General, who later causes problems during the Reaper through his son. He was not a bad General now but his son is given command later resulting in several problems. "This.. I will handle it personally."

Increased safety measures to deal with the Reapers when they arrive.

"That's all I needed to hear." Wrex sat down and just listened. 'The information Leo gave should keep them alive until I can get my people involved more. Know way can they be lost here.'

"The samples you sent have been illuminating Doctor Shepard." The Salarian Councilor, Valern stated. "However, I received a report that your Squad was close to the area the Thorian was located. Much longer than Commander Shepards' team. How do we know you are not infected?"

"Experimental medicine to resist the process. I am sure when we arrive that C-sec will be happy to "escort" my people for testing. Since my tests could be considered compromised." Leo said smugly. The Salarian just stared at him. Aware that he didn't care either way. A simple nod was given. "I look forward to what you find."

"One last matter," Tevos said. "your experiments on Asari.. has come to light. When you are done with quarantine come to my office." She closed off her communication followed by the others.

"That went better than I expected." Nihlus muttered. He spoke to soon. "That looks like your human Admilitary board." The display was blinking constantly.

"That is because it is." Jane muttered looking at the new holo projections. They looked pissed. "Why am I not surprised you are present." She looked at Ambassador Udina.

"You are not the one in trouble. The Council already sent a report on your mission. Keep up the excellent work. As for the other Commander Shepard." Udina trailed off.

"We will take it from here." Admiral Hackett stated. He looked to the room at all the different people present. "We need the room. Just the Commanders, and the accused."

The others left with Joker coming in a few minutes later. Not a single peep was made until he arrived.

Admiral Hackett started first.

"Not only did you send reports on a covert mission, but you also put us at risk with the Council." Joker kept his head up not daring to look away. "After checks, several transmissions were intercepted. Which led to the Mercenaries heading to the area in the first place. Not to mention the increase in Geth."

"I didn't have a choice." Joker stated. "Commander Leo's activity was suspicious and needed looking into. Emails, short-range transmissions, meetings, and even the people he works with are suspicious. General Invectus contacted me with troubling information I took the chance. I don't buy he is not an Operative of the Council. Jane is a Spectre, if she was doing this I would have nothing to say."

"You could have come to me with your concerns." Jane stated.

"And ruin your already tenuous relationship," Joker shook his head. "I couldn't do that to you, Commander. The report was not going to go forward until later. After we took down Saren."

"The credits received must have made it all the better I suppose." Leo displayed the deposits entered into an account under his sister and himself. "Now, that looks more like payoffs than anything."

"General Invectus wouldn't help unless I took the money!" Joker clarified quickly.

"He is right." Admiral, Tadius Ahern says. "I know that Turian well. My investigations picked up the unusual activity of his lately but didn't think it was tied to anything important. Should have reported it to your superiors."

He was taking some of the heat off Joker this way.

"However, sending the message to the Alliance with out any extra precautions should have been accounted for." Admiral Hackett stated. Knowing that Leo would have pieced together the Council would have picked up the transmission. "You put the Alliance in a bad position."

"Jeff Monreau put the Alliance in a bad position." Leo would not play games with the Admiral. Or by of them for that matter.

"Both parties will receive marks on their records in regards to this. As well as ..."

"The fuck I will." Leo said simply. "You should be happy I don't blow his brains out for causing trouble in my work." He pointed his finger at the Admiliraty board. Use to dealing with their types in his previous earth. "Put a reprimand in my jacket and see what happens."

"That is quite enough!" A woman shouted. It was Admiral Shepard. Technically the birth mother of Leo in this Dimension. "Your career is at stake here as well as your freedom!"

"As I was saying, a reprimand in both of your files with restriction to pay times 2x." Admiral Hackett finished. "I hope you understand the course of your actions and the problem they will cause?"

"Oh, I understand." Leo typed away on his omni-tool. A smirk plastered on his face. "Pull all funding and maneuvers on Alliance personnel. Activate Protocol Burnout." Several beeps of acknowledgment came in. "Good luck with your next actions... Admirals."

The Admiralty Board just looked at one another before signing off. Messages coming in one after the other.

Leo walked out of the room not worrying about the calls to come back. A smile on his face at everything that transpired. Not perfect but good enough for him in most cases. The pay reductions was small considering he would receive over 45 credits amount month more with the various charity organizations no longer funded.

The Alliance had received enough benefit from him now. It was to increase defenses across the Galaxy and adjust racial connections.

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Officer Quarters-

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Citadel Space had several on the ship feeling a lot better. After a few encounters with Geth pursuer ships, the group thought death was imminent more than once. But Joker, having earned the ire of some crew pushed the Normandy to it's limit.

"I can not believe you did this." Maya stared at the tablet seeing the drastic changes in overall Alliance approval. "You have made it a lot easier for Cerebus to move as well as the Asari, Turian, and Salarian's to get involved. Weakening the overall hold of the Alliance and control of the Media with increasing Human Xenos relations. The Asari have invested quite a bit of capital filling in the vacuum left by your pulling out."

"With Cerebus filling the majority for the hard hitters. As long as Anti-Xenos propaganda is not push further, I will not get involved further on this front." Leo stated clearly. "The odds of backlash is high if not handle carefully."

"I will make sure it goes as smooth as possible." Maya sent some more data over to her people. A message back had her slightly spooked. "The IIllusive man wants to meet with you. I need to arrange that with everything going on."

She grabbed some data cards and headed out the room. Not before staring at Leo oddly for a bit. Leo was already working on his computer about a particular matter.

'It can wait for later. Defintely for later.' Maya kept those thoughts to herself regarding him blowing up a part of the Citadel. Framing the Batarians for the act.

*Chssh!* The door as Maya left, Nihlus came in.

"Commander.. no Leo, we need to talk. Its important." Nihlus sat down as Leo stopped what he was doing. Hitting his omni-tool to signal Zaeed to come in as well. "That plan for the Blue Suns..."

"Its horseshit!" Zaeed spat out. "They are nothing like when I lead them! Monsters and slave traders! They even had your son!"

"Haaa," Leo signed not correcting him on the matter. "That is why we take them over." He passed over files on the Blue-Suns. The good and the bad. "All the bad ones stay here and get new direction under our people for the Reaper War. They want money so they will get money."

"The Turians in the group are getting removed altogether. Sending them back to Palaven for.. reconditioning. The Intel provided by Leo will make it easy as well as make it possible to induct them into the military. The Turian Council will make sure their families know what has been going on."

Nihlus was all for the idea. Especially considering what is going on in the Private military prison. Purgatory is a political nightmare waiting to happen further in the coming months. Warden Kuril, a Turian could be turned back to working for the Turian causes. As long as they work harder on capturing prisoners and tightening up on the law.