Re-uploading this chapter because there were a few too many grammatical/spelling mistakes. Sorry.

Various equipment made steady noises as they kept track of Vega's vitals; he lay there unconscious in the hospital bed, looking atypically stringy and weak. Garrus found it unnerving, seeing such a man look so vulnerable. The room was spacious, and with a large viewing window along the wall facing the Presidium, soft brightness filled the air. He imagined that Vega would interject, claiming that a space station's artificial lighting was nothing if compared to bathing under the rays of a real star. Garrus would agree; he missed Palaven's.

Verran interrupted his thoughts. "He'll need a full debriefing," he muttered quietly, as if talking to himself.

"He needs his rest, first," Garrus asserted, "Spirits know the man's earned it." He'd heard and read enough accounts of those who had been made captives of Karva to have more than just an idea of what sort of hell Vega must have endured. "Make sure the others know this too. I don't want anyone bothering him until he's ready to talk."

By 'others', he was referring to the Councillors, the Alliance brass and whoever else that might want to attack the soldier with a barrage of questions.

"The guards already know not to let any non-medical personnel have access to him without your permission," Verran said. He'd done that the moment the injured soldier had been rolled into Huerta Memorial; Garrus would need to obtain, confidently and exclusively, any intelligence that Vega had to offer. It was better not to rely on the discretion of a man who had undoubtedly gone through extreme trauma, and instead to keep him away from prying eyes. Equally or perhaps more relevant, was the personal connection between the two war buddies; Verran knew how much Garrus cared for his people. Vega meant more than a mere pawn to him.

"Good," Garrus approved as he continued staring down at his old friend, so still that he would have thought that the man had died. He swore to himself that he would see to it that Vega regain his health and get back onto his own two feet. He was sick of watching those close to him die; he wasn't going to let it happen again. But he couldn't spend too much time on sentiment; the galaxy would fall apart without him. "So, you were telling me about those mining companies?" he asked as he made his way to the door.

Following his boss out of the room, Verran took out the datapad he had tucked in his jacket. He opened up a news article and handed it over to Garrus. Four members of the councillor's security detail surrounded them immediately as they entered the hallway.

"Public Eezo Goes Private: Boom Imminent?'" the older man read aloud as he skimmed through the article. The journalist, in passionate writing, talked about several eezo mining companies aggressively expanding into batarian space under the leadership of new executives, replacements of those who had died at what the was now being called the Citadel Bombing. He grimaced at the thought that some of them had undoubtedly been celebrating at the news of the terror attack. He remembered the fresh new eezo mines that even the batarians had just found for themselves, the ones that Vega had gathered intel for him about.

Ever since the batarians had joined the galactic community, they had kept their eezo to themselves, locked away from the other races. Not even the majority of their citizens could get their hands on the resource; all trade involving eezo had been heavily nationalised, regulated and controlled by the Hegemony. That way, all of the players at the top got to stay there; the one with the full canteen has all the power in a desert.

Now, things were different; they had to be.

Garrus and the other Councillors had come up with the Cultural Resuscitation Program, when he had strongly suggested that prolonged peace couldn't be secured with temporary military occupation of batarian space. The costs, in terms of both finance and public opinion, would be too heavy were they to install a permanent military presence on Khar'shan. Which lead to only one solution; they had to change the Hegemony at the core. They had even gotten Hegemon Gadar to agree to their terms, with strong persuasion from the new batarian Councillor, Karn, who in turn had been coerced into it by Garrus. Trade embargos were lifted and borders were opened; within several weeks the batarians were watching legal copies of the newest Fleet and Flotilla with ice cold Astro-Fizzes in their hands. The companies selling those products were reaping the benefits, of course, and so were the citizens of the Hegemony; they had made sure that the public would see it that way. Just another form of spectacle; taking 'societal invasion', packaging it and selling it to them as 'cultural enlightenment'.

That kept them distracted from the real game changers; real estate, defence contracting and, of course, energy. Honestly, Garrus couldn't think of anything better than what they had come up with, so he forced himself to ignore how uncomfortable it made him.

"So, some mining companies are expanding into batarian space. What about it?" Garrus asked. The news that the article detailed had been expected; the Cultural Resuscitation Program was started with gaining better influence within the Hegemony in mind, and having a large stake in its energy market would do just that.

"Look at the names of the companies," Verran answered as he pushed the elevator button.

Garrus brought his eyes back down to the datapad, searching for the answer his subordinate alluded to. Vanus Corporation, RTL-Tireen, the Alehnia Group. His eyes widened at the realization; all asari. He looked back up to Verran, who returned a confirming nod, careful not to speak about their matters too openly in front of their security detail, no matter how trusted.

"They got in first, almost immediately after the Program was rolled out. Shut out their competitors," Verran said thoughtfully, allowing Garrus to step inside the elevator first as it arrived, before following. "Makes you wonder if they'd already been preparing for it," he continued suggestively. The security detail poured in after them, the spaciousness of the elevator leaving plenty of room between them.

It may have just been coincidence or it may have been a leak that the asari companies took advantage of, but Garrus wasn't willing to bet the safety of the galaxy on a 'maybe'. In fact, he would rather bet that this had been Salini's plan all along. If that were the case, and she had been indoctrinated just as Kasumi had said, it could have dangerous implications on the situation at hand. If the former asari councillor had really been under the control of the Reapers, they wouldn't have let her die without having extra pieces in play.

Garrus felt his weight return normal as the elevator slowed down its descent, stopping at the lobby leading out into the Presidium. "Organise a meeting with Gianna Parasini for me," he said, "She just might be able to help us here." His voice trailed off as he saw two men in Alliance blues, each with an air of authority around them, approaching from the opposite end of the lobby. He already had a good idea what, or who, they were here for.

"Councillor Vakarian, Mister Kol," Admiral Hackett greeted them with a nod.

"Admiral," Garrus returned, and then turned to his old shipmate, "Alenko."

Kaidan, who looked a little tense, let up a thin smile, "Vakarian. It's been a while." The man wore his uniform well, the stars on his shoulders glimmering slightly under the lights. "I'd imagine that being the showrunner's been keeping you pretty busy."

"It's not all bad. No more grunt work," Garrus joked, "That's Verran's job now." The four of them shared an almost obligatory laugh, Alenko not pulling it off quite as well as the others. "How are things on your end?"

Kaidan opened his mouth to speak, but the admiral answered in his stead, "The general has been heading a number of special ops missions. He's been quite successful, actually."

It felt strange, hearing praise of Kaidan's leadership; Garrus had never really seen him as much of one, but he guessed it was only natural. Shepard tended to outshine the abilities of those around her in terms of leading, something she had actually confided in him as a concern of hers; what if, by serving under her command, some of her crew were being held back? He'd told her that she was being ridiculous, of course; personally, serving under Shepard had taught him only the most valuable lessons one could ever learn.

Praising their star child in public only made sense though, Garrus guessed. The Alliance wouldn't pass up such a doubly beneficial deal; by promoting Alenko to the rank of major general, they were getting the most out of his skillset and his political value. With a Spectre as a high ranking officer, they were able to take advantage of the legal leeway that came with the title. On the other hand, by ensuring that Alenko didn't climb up the ladder too high, the brass would be able to avoid having their affairs meddled with by the Council through their authority over the Spectre's actions. The man wouldn't be promoted to a full-fledged general any time soon.

"I see," Garrus said, "I always knew you'd be a strong leader, Alenko."

Kaidan nodded and showed a smile that looked earnest, if not a little anxious. "Thanks. That's why I'm here, actually." He straightened his posture. "I'd like to check up on Commander Vega, see how he's doing. I've read the reports already, but seeing him in person would really put my mind at ease."

Garrus had known that it was what they were here for, but it was difficult to reject them in any case; he was an old friend, after all, and he knew what it felt like to have someone under your command getting seriously hurt. He gave a sigh, "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that the commander is being sequestered under the Council's authority. The only people who have access to him are the medical personnel and security who are responsible for his well-being."

"And you two," Hackett added pointedly, his stare suddenly becoming dangerously close to a lethal glare, "Like I said before, councillor, Vega is one of the Alliance's own. You can't just deny us access to one of our people."

"Unless he were a criminal," Garrus replied, "Unless Vega had been accused of something, maybe money laundering, on the Citadel, and he'd been given unfairly disproportionate treatment."

Kasumi had been more than happy to help out in that part; countless cases of white collar crime went on unsolved each and every day, so it was only a matter of finding one which had occurred before Vega's deployment, and getting the master criminal to make it appear as if he had committed it. Almost all white collar crime was digital, and with such a complex information network, it was equally as difficult to convict someone for committing one, as it was to prove that they were not guilty.

Alenko looked confused, Hackett was fuming. "We framed him," Verran interjected in a whisper, trying not to let his subharmonics betray how wrongly smug he felt, "And we labelled him as a potential threat to the station's security."

"So he's officially under our detainment until he regains his health," Garrus continued apologetically, very well aware of the ethical ambiguity of his actions. He wouldn't have done this had there been any other conceivable way to guarantee Vega's well-being; he could order the other councillors under his command to stay away from the officer, but the other party of interest, the Alliance, he had no authority over. "When Vega recovers, we'll give him a full pardon. The public knows nothing, of course, so it'll be as if this never happened. I suggest you keep it that way unless you want to tarnish the commander's career."

Alenko, now in understanding of what had happened, wore an expression of resignation rather than anger. "Well, at least it'll keep him safe."

"What? And we can't?" Hackett blurted out, shocked by his subordinate's lack of repulsion. He then turned back to Garrus. "Don't think you can pull off something like this and get away with it. We'll be coming for you."

"With all due respect, sir," Kaidan interjected firmly, "If he is already under the protection of the Council, it may just be a better idea to let this be, instead of fighting them on this. Isn't that what we want after all? For the man to be safe?"

Garrus was surprised at what could be taken as insubordination on Alenko's part; he never would have expected that from someone so fiercely loyal to the Alliance.

"You're out of line, general," Hackett reprimanded, his voice husky in an attempt to cloak the anger so as to not draw any unwanted attention. "You'll be hearing from our legal branch, councillor. Good day." And with that, the admiral spun around and stalked off, the three of them watching as he disappeared into the crowd.

A few moments passed as the three men stood in silence, surrounded by the crowd oblivious to what had happened in front of them. Kaidan let out a heavy sigh, before turning back to Garrus. "You free for a drink right now?" he asked tiredly.

Caught off guard, Garrus couldn't help his mandibles from fluttering. "Sure," he replied simply.