Jenkins
Saren’s appearance being different than I had expected didn’t actually do anything to influence how the trial was going to go, but It was concerning for another reason. It meant that, at least partially, this world was not the same as the games I had played. So far it was the only difference I had noticed that couldn’t be attributed to my own actions, but if this was different then it meant anything could be different. Which had the potential to be a huge problem. Like a getting me violently killed kind of problem.
We walked up to the podium, Shepard standing up beside Anderson, directly behind Ambassador Udina while the remaining three of us remained further back and out of the way. The Councilors were already speaking, as it appears we had stepped in just after the hearing had begun. Udina gave us the wrong time intentionally being the most likely reason.
“The Geth attack is a matter of some concern. But there is nothing to indicate Saren was involved in any way.” Tevos, the Asari Councilor, spoke softly, almost apathetically about the whole situation.
“The investigation by Citadel Security turned up no evidence to corroborate your accusations.” Sparatus, the Turian Councilor, was less kind in his tone. He sounded significantly more annoyed about the whole thing then Tevos had. Although that paired in comparison to Udina, who had the rare ability to sound annoyed about everything at all times.
“An eye witness saw him kill Nihlus in cold blood!” He was keeping his posture and physical composure together, but was raising his voice.
“We’ve read the Eden Prime reports, Ambassador. The testimony of one traumatized dock worker is hardly compelling proof.” Nevermind what I said about Tevos. She sounded downright sympathetic compared to the Salarian Councilor Valern. While Salarian tones tended to be less empathetic than other races, he truly sounded like he could not care what was happening. Complete uninterest.
“I resent these accusations. Nihlus was a fellow Spectre. And a friend.” Saren spoke, his massive orange glowing hologram flickering as he did so. Anderson’s eyes lit with rage, as he suddenly joined the outburst.
“That just let you catch him off guard!” Saren looked down at where Anderson had shouted, giving a smirk that would have been barely noticeable if his hologram wasn’t nearly 6 meters tall.
“Captain Anderson. You always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me.” He scans the group gathered at this trial, eyes barely registering any of us before pausing on the Commander. “And this must be your protégé, Commander Shepard. The one who let the beacon get destroyed.” His look was condescending, as though he barely considered her a nuisance much less a threat. I’m sure to the Commander it was incredibly frustrating, but I had to fight to not laugh. Saren is so below Shepards eventual weight class watching him underestimate her is incredibly amusing. Shepard however, lets some of that anger slip through.
“The mission to Eden Prime was top secret. The only way you could know about the beacon was if you were there!” She shouts looking up at the hologram in defiance, who only chuckles.
“With Nihlus gone, his files passed to me. I read the Eden Prime report. I was unimpressed. But what can you expect from a Human.” Everyone on our side of the podium looked annoyed, infuriated even, and again I had to stifle my desire to laugh. Shepard looked ready to speak again but Udina spoke up instead.
“Testimony and C-Sec evidence aside, we have, and submitted, audio evidence of Saren’s transgression. Evidence that corroborates the testimony of our eye witness.” Ah here we go, how were they going to try and bury my sudden little surprise. To my immense pleasure, and seemingly to Andersons as well given how he smirked, Saren gave a frown of annoyance that vanished as quickly as it appeared.
“Ah yes, that was an interesting piece of ‘evidence’. Oddly convenient you happened to have a piece of unregistered, experimental technology that just so happens to record its surroundings.” Saren tried to hide his annoyance behind a more nonchalant attitude, but it was noticeable if you knew to look for it.
“That evidence was fairly gathered and inspected by C-Sec before submission! They found no evidence it was faked.” Udina spoke up, and tried to jump to its defense but was quickly stomped out by the Turian Councillor.
“And there was no way to verify it’s legitimacy either. Without proof that the recording was in fact made at the time claimed, it’s as easy to assume it was falsely produced.” Oh you had to be kidding me, I wasn’t an idiot, the audio had time stamps. While it was possible to fake those it was extremely difficult, and could be discovered by someone of enough skill. Either they assumed it was fake and didn’t bother, or they rushed this meeting so there wasn’t time to verify. Maybe trying to solve things in house without having to publicly admit fault. Unfortunately I wasn’t going to back down. I stepped forward before Udine could speak and spoke to myself.
“Actually there is a way to verify its legitimacy.” Everyone silenced for a moment to look at me, all seemingly surprised. I had left a detail out of my explanations to Udina and Anderson. Not for a lack of trust of course, well, I didn’t trust Udina as far as I could throw him, but Anderson I trusted completely. No, I kept it hidden so it wouldn’t end up in the report logs, in case Saren happened to get his hands on a copy beforehand and tried to prepare for it. The Council would be able to call him out without interference now, if everything goes according to plan.
“I apologize, you say you have evidence that proves the audio’s legitimacy? Please state your name and rank for the record.” Councilor Tevos spoke, seemingly intrigued by my outburst as everyone else stared at me. Saren in particular had a look that was a mixture of surprise and annoyance. He didn't believe I had anything of course.
“Corporal Richard L. Jenkins ma’am. I was the one who designed the omni tool upgrade that recorded the audio in question. And yes I have a rather simple way to confirm the audio was not manufactured.” She looked pleased by respect, but the Turian Councilor, who looked less pleased, spoke up instead.
“Then let’s hear it, and if you are wasting the Council’s time then expect there to be consequences.” Yup still a dickhead, but Turians had a habit of being hardasses, a military hierarchy ran their culture so they all tended to be very serious folk.
“You see, Nihlus and I actually met before the mission began. At the time we spoke briefly about the upgrade I had designed, and I gave him the copy he carried into combat, and that recorded the audio in question. As this was in my bunk aboard the ship there is no audio of the interaction, but the Normandy’s camera in the hallway did catch video of the initial meeting.”
I raised my omni tool, and slid over a copy of the video file I had gathered to the councilors, who took a moment to view it. They nodded after confirming that I had indeed met with Nihlus and gestured for me to continue. I spared a glance toward Saren and saw that he no longer looked disinterested, and was instead staring at me with a fierce intensity.
“At the time of the discussion, he seemed impressed by work.” I’m cut off by Saren who seemed fed up.
“Please, as though the engineering work of a common ‘Human’ Corporal could be of any value to Spectre. Councilors dismiss this man’s testimony, even if it proves he spoke with Nihlus it has no method of confirming that the device he designed was capable of recording audio at the time.” Oh looks like I struck a nerve, poor Spectre was feeling worried. I looked to the Council waiting for them to chide his outburst interrupting my discussion but was surprised to see them nodding in agreement.
“Indeed, Corporal, if you cannot contribute to the issue of evidence at hand we will have to ask you to step back.” The Salarian looked ahead, still sounding as uncaring as usual.
“Right. The point I was trying to make before I was interrupted, was that NIhlus asked for a copy of the coding of the upgrade. I gave it to him and he said he would pass it off to the Council when he got a chance. That code would include the feature that allows it to record it’s surroundings, which should prove I didn’t add the feature after receiving the claim about Saren from the dock worker. Unless of course the great and powerful Spectre Saren wishes to imply that a ‘common human Corporal’ somehow knew that Geth were going to attack Eden Prime, that Nihlus would die, and that the beacon would be destroyed, all without having even been briefed on the details of said mission.” I stared up at the beacon of Saren, trying to project the image of me flipping him the bird through my mind.
The council was silent for a moment, and whispered among themselves for a bit before turning back. To face me. Spartacus spoke first.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“The Council unfortunately never received such code from Nihlus.” Hm, well that wasn’t great. But it wasn’t world ending, plan b still existed.
“Ah well it would still be among Nihlus’s files, which I had recently been informed all fell into the hands of Saren here.” I glanced up towards the Hologram. Oh wow. He was pissed. Like royally pissed off. He wasn’t even seeing Shepard or Anderson in the room anymore, both eyes focused directly onto me. The Councilors turned to look at the Hologram, expectantly. He stood in silence for a moment, likely wishing I would just drop dead or something, before turning to face the council, a look of rage replaced by uncaring, unbothered eyes.
“I read through Nihlus’ files, there was no such code anywhere in them.”
“Well that’s awfully convenient that the file you had sole access to suddenly disappeared.” I interrupted Saren before he could continue speaking, maintaining the eye contact I had been giving him from the start. He looked flustered by the act of being interrupted, before once again the council jumped to his defense.
“Corporal Jenkins if you cannot avoid outbursts you will be asked to leave the hearing.” Oh you have got to be-
“You have to be kidding, Saren has done nothing but interrupt this meeting and our attempts to present evidence. Now a crucial piece of evidence that should be in his possession is missing and you’re giving us a warning!” Shepard stepped up beside me shouting as well, she looked angrier than Saren had, the Council seemed to have pissed her off.
“Tell me do you have any way to prove this code was given to Nihlus?” Saren spoke next, staring down at the two of us, his hologram flickering lightly. Well fuck. There was the big catch wasn’t it.
“No. I have no way to prove that the code was sent to Nihlus in the first place. But even the Council must see how suspicious it is.” They glanced at each other, but said nothing before Valern spoke.
“Suspicion is not enough for a sentence. The burden of proof lies on the accuser, and as such without a way to prove the code was sent we have no choice but to ignore it’s entry as evidence, including the audio.”
“Wait you can’t just -” Once more I’m cut off by Saren
“Thank you Councilors, if I’m not needed for anything else then I will be going. I have actual Important work to attend to, not worrying about the false claims of humans who don’t even deserve a seat on the Spectres, much less the Council itself.” He gives a smirk to Shepard as he prepares to turn his device off, but I don’t give him the chance, Shepard, Udina and Anderson all look ready to explode and are too important to get in shit from the council. The benefit of being ‘just a Corporal’ is that there’s only so much people expect from you.
“Oh you have to be fucking kidding me! It’s the third damn time he’s interrupted this hearing to preach about proper behavior and respect. The man’s a hypocrite to his core, shows a blatant disrespect and hatred towards the humans and you all just let him do it.”
“Jenkins, watch your-” I don’t let the Turian Councilor get a word in edgewise as I continue. I always hated dealing with the Council's bullshit in these games, and the pleasure to go off on them was not an opportunity I was going to miss.
“He has sat there and claimed innocence this entire time but hasn’t bothered to so much as even give an alibi. You all are so worried about protecting your image as Councilors you are willing to let a major threat to an entire species just walk off scott free without even concerning with an investigation.”
“Corporal Jenkins if you cannot watch your tone you will be asked to leave.” The Turian Councilor roared, not allowing me to interrupt him this time. Saren watched the whole thing with a bemused smirk and for the first time I failed to hold in my laugh. The council and even Saren looked at me in confusion.
“I apologize but I can’t help but laugh every time Saren looks so smug up there. You have no idea how screwed you are.” I lean forward on the railing of the pedestal we stood at and make eye contact with Saren, who’s expression hardens. “We will find proof you killed Nihlus, and once that happens we are coming for you. Doesn’t matter how many geth you hide behind, I promise you there is no version of this story that ends well for you.” Any amusement from my tone disappears as I stare directly at the enemy of this first game, a man who would be forgotten as nothing more than a useless pawn of a true foe. His glare at me stayed focused, unflinching, and I felt I had done all I could here.
I didn’t bother waiting for the council to shout at me, I turned and left. Walking away from the hearing as Udina began to apologize for my outburst, promising I’d be punished for that kind of behavior. I walked through the gorgeous center space of this tower before sitting at the bench. I was surprised to see I wasn’t alone. Shepard sat next to me, looking up at the same view of the nebula that could be seen through the window.
“Shouldn’t you be finishing the hearing?” I asked her, curious as to why she had followed me out.
“What would be the point? The Council clearly made up their minds. Besides you said pretty much everything I wanted too.” She didn’t look at me, still staring up through the window. For the first time I really noticed how young she looked. Shepard wasn’t even 30 when this game started, she may be a trained soldier, and a natural leader. But she was also just a young woman, given far far too much weight to carry, weight that would only get heavier.
“You alright?” I asked her, trying to keep the conversation gentle.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? You’re the one who just had a massive outburst in front of the most important people of the galaxy.”
“Yeah but honestly that was therapeutic for me. That Saren guy is a monster, and while I know seeing him standing there so smug should have been infuriating, it was mostly just funny.” I chuckle a little at the thought.
“Funny how? He’s got the council on his side, we have no lead on where to go next, and he could be planning something that ends countless lives.” Her words might sound harsh, but for the first time she looked at me and I realized what she was really asking. How can I laugh? We were losing, so how could I be positive enough to still laugh?
“It’s funny because we are going to win. He looked down on us, didn’t even consider us to be a threat to his plans. And despite his lack of acknowledgement, we are going to crush him. We will find evidence, get his spectre status revoked, and you’ll be promoted. Then we’ll hunt his armored hide down and put an end to whatever he's planning.”
“How can you be so sure of that?”
“Because I can’t accept the alternative. We are the heroes. We have to win, because if we don't, who's going to stop him?” I looked her in the eyes and watched as she listened to what I said, before her gaze hardened and she nodded, before laughing.
“I can’t wait to see the look on his face when we ruin his almighty plans.” Her laugh was sweet, a gentle sound and one I realized I couldn’t recall hearing in the games. I’m sure Shepard laughs in the games, but I can't recall a moment where it's anything more than a chuckle or sarcastic comment. I liked the way it sounded. I had to tear my eyes away as I realized I was staring and noticed Udina and Anderson approaching with Ashley and Kaidan in tow. Shepard and I both stood at attention.
“It was a mistake letting you into that meeting, Jenkins, any goodwill we earned with the council you burned with your little show.” Udina practically spat at me in annoyance, god I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to punch this dickhead.
“The Council was never going to decide in our favor, at least someone saying what he did got the message out there.” Anderson was the one who stepped to my defense, and from there the discussion shifted to what was similar to the games. Udina accused Anderson of having too much history with Saren, which he deflected the information on when questioned by Shepard. Slowly discussion filtered down to what we would need to do to turn this in our favor, and finding more evidence climbed its way to the top of our priority list. Eventually Kaidan made the suggestion I was waiting for.
“What about Garrus, that C-Sec investigator? We saw him arguing with the executor.”
“That’s right, he was asking for more time to finish his report. Seems like he was close to finding something on Saren.”
“Any idea on where to find him?” Shepard asked the question, turning towards Anderson and Udina.
From there we got the information we needed, having to track down a contact named Harkin. Udina tells Anderson to stay on the sidelines, that with my presence our team would have enough trouble making the evidence appear as unbiased fact, and that Shepard would take point. Udina leaves and Anderson gives us one more additional target, to check with a Volus named Barla Vonn that apparently works for the Shadow Broker, as he may have intel we could use. Heading for the elevator it’s Kaidan that makes a suggestion that surprises me.
“We should split up our approach, two go after Harkin, two investigate this Vonn. The more time we waste the bigger a headstart Saren has.” That… was not a bad idea. I hadn’t even considered splitting the group but it would allow us to divide interests and move twice as fast. If that was the case though then we needed to split in a way that makes sense. Plus it means we could have both Garrus and Wrex for the fight to Fist, which would be huge.
“Not a bad idea, how do you want us to split Shepard?” Ashley asks the question as we step on the elevator. She thinks for a moment before deciding and speaks.
“Kaidan and I will take Barla Von. Anderson said it would be expensive and I have the authority to spend credits on behalf of the mission if needed. Ashley, you and Jenkins will go after Harkin, hopefully he knows where to find Garrus.” Ashley grimaces for a moment before glancing at me, and then giving the Commander a salute.
“As you wish Commander, we won’t let you down.” Oh, I was hoping I’d have Kaidan or Shepard on my squad, but this setup makes sense. Ashley was fire power and I was intelligence, together we would almost certainly be able to convince Harkin to talk. On the other team Shepard and Kaidan were both biotic powerhouses, and If the Shadow Broker contact revealed itself to be a trap they would absolutely be able to handle it. I nodded in approval of the team loadouts. And as the elevator landed we stepped on our respective paths, and I began my first mission with just Ashley. Yeah, I’m sure this will go well.