"Khalisah..."
The crazy reporter's drone shone right into my eyes as soon as I stepped out of my corporation's office, and I immediately, on pure reflex, drew my pistol and fired. And only after that did it occur to me that it wasn't a Geth light...
"Aaaaaah!"
The girl collapsed onto her backside and tried to crawl away from me, while I, taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling, slowly holstered the pistol. People and representatives of other races also began to scatter; however, that didn't bother me much.
"Khalisah, tell me, are you an idiot or just immortal?"
"I... I... I..."
"Tell me, you do realize that I just returned from a combat mission where I had encounters with the Geth?"
"But..."
"And you, without asking my permission, activated a drone whose shape is similar to a Geth drone, and it even has the same light glowing?"
I gestured to stop the C-Sec officers who had lunged toward us; they didn't even think of stopping, and soon guns were pointed at me.
"Weapon on the floor!"
"I am a Spectre, returned to the Citadel after a mission where I encountered the Geth..."
I had to repeat the story for the C-Sec representatives, and it generally satisfied them, as after checking my documents, they stepped aside. However, they didn't lose sight of me.
"Do you even realize that I could have not only wrecked your drone but also provided you with an extra hole between your eyes?"
"I... am a journalist!"
"Oh yes... I would have stood at your funeral afterward and even given a moving speech about how you died on the job, unable to put two and two together. I think your relatives and colleagues would have been touched."
"You!"
She finally stood up from the ground, and undisguised hatred could be read in her gaze.
"Anyway... I don't give a damn who you are, what TV channel you represent, or who is behind you. However, I want to notify you that if you catch me and try to interrogate me right on the street, I will send you to a C-Sec station for interfering with a Spectre's work, however..."
I raised a finger, silencing her.
"...I can meet you halfway and give an interview."
I activated my Omni-tool and looked at my schedule.
"So, I'll be on the Citadel for another five hours. During that time, you must decide if you need this interview, then send it to this address..."
"I need it!"
"Fine, then you have an hour to prepare. Get a new drone..."
I grimaced, showing I wasn't very happy about it, but I wouldn't interfere.
"...prepare a list of questions, then come to the SSV Normandy; I'll come out, and we'll conduct the interview with my ship in the background. If you don't show up within the time I spend on the Citadel, I will consider that you simply don't need it. Is that clear?"
"Yes!"
And without waiting any longer, she practically ran; I called my representative on the Citadel.
"Alexey..."
"Yes?"
"Are the cameras working?"
"Of course. Clean up the recording?"
"By no means... organize a leak, but the right kind. I need people to start doubting this journalist's mental abilities. Well, compare the drone she used with Geth drones, reveal some information about how I've been encountering them too often lately... basically, make it so this reporter is considered a complete and utter fool who doesn't think about what she's doing and when."
"It will be done."
Having given the order, I went on with my business. And as I thought, forty minutes later the reporter was already in front of the SSV Normandy, so I had to appear before the camera after all.
"This is Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani, Westerlund News, and with us is Captain Shepard, the first human Spectre! To start, wouldn't you like to apologize for opening fire in the center of the Citadel and destroying quite expensive equipment?"
"- Captain, this is a live broadcast, but I can cut the signal at any moment, and she won't even realize it."
Tali reported quickly over the internal comms, luckily I was wearing the earpiece for her.
"No..."
I shook my head carelessly.
"...as I said before, you are to blame for this yourself. I have been meeting Geth too often lately, and you couldn't have not known that. After all, wasn't it you who published that scandalous article on Eden Prime? And you mentioned the Geth there... and now you, without warning, activate your camera, which looks so much like a Geth drone..."
"That's no excuse..."
"Miss al-Jilani, a second's delay in a combat situation could cost me or my comrades our lives. And if I start thinking about what kind of drone it is when it appears in front of me unexpectedly—civilian or Geth—it could end quite sadly."
"But we are on the Citadel and..."
"And that changes absolutely nothing."
"So you're ready to shoot every Batarian you meet? They are very often pirates, after all."
"Well, why so? Only if the Batarian is in armor. Since pirates usually wear it. But in general, Batarians as pirates are already a familiar matter, and over time some understanding develops as to where they might attack and where not. Geth, on the other hand... are programs. Programs that are not tied to a platform, at least that's what my engineer says. So theoretically, they could have ended up on the Citadel."
"Don't you think that's a bit far-fetched?"
"No... Geth are a new threat, and until a strategy for countering them is developed, until it becomes a matter of reflex... it's better to shoot a couple of drones in a peaceful setting than to miss some drone in a combat one."
"Fine, let's leave this topic for now..."
"- Captain, your idea with the preliminary leak paid off. On the forums, they're mostly mocking this lady."
"...tell me, is it true that as a Spectre, you were given the ship SSV Normandy?"
"Yes."
"Can this be considered a bribe?"
"No."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yes."
"Captain Shepard, do you even realize how this looks from the outside?"
"Yes."
"And you still claim that giving you the newest and most secret ship is not a bribe?"
"Yes."
"Are you mocking me?"
The lady was clearly starting to get irritated.
"No."
"Captain..."
The lady's voice became like a snake's hiss.
"...can you give more detailed answers to my questions at all?"
"Yes..."
"- Give it to her, Captain!"
Tali was very pleased; apparently, on the forums, this journalist was being roasted thoroughly.
"Then give a more detailed answer!"
"Fine, Miss al-Jilani, if that's what you want. To start, I won't argue about it being the newest, but the most secret? Are we definitely talking about the same ship? Or have reporters forgotten how to put two and two together? Miss al-Jilani, tell me, who took part in building the ship?"
"How should I know?!"
"Imagine that... and yet you so confidently claimed the ship was secret... To start, this is an open inf—"
Information, so anyone who wants to can verify it. The Normandy was created by the Alliance with the support of the Turian Hierarchy and the Asari Republics. The latter, of course, participated only nominally, but both of the aforementioned states, as well as the Alliance, have access to all the documents. So what kind of secrecy can we talk about here?
"But..."
"Furthermore..."
I didn't even let her get a few words in.
"...regarding what you call a bribe. I have the right to perform assignments from my own state, provided they do not interfere with my duties for the Council. I'll go further: while on these tasks for the Alliance, I will still be a Spectre, and high-ranking representatives of the Alliance cannot fail to know this."
"So..."
"Furthermore, once more regarding the bribe. Do you really think the Council would have approved of this and not immediately suspended me from duty if they even suspected I had been bought?"
"Will you let me get a single word in?!"
The reporter's voice was extremely angry.
"Didn't you ask for detailed answers? So I gave one, and not even a fully detailed one at that, as I could tell you much more about each of these points. Now... next question."
"Commander Shepard..."
The girl's eye began to twitch.
"...is it true that you attacked ground structures on Noveria?"
"True, however, I am forced to correct you... since you, as in previous times, have done your homework very poorly. Not just structures, but defensive installations, in which no one but mercenaries and representatives of Noveria Security could have been present. So if anyone died there, it is solely the fault of the Noveria administration, which thought that the authority of a Spectre was a joke and that I wouldn't be able to exercise it."
"But that is inhumane!"
"Miss... are you sure you're talking about humanity with the right person? Just for context, I am a soldier—a good soldier, I dare hope—and for me, the order sits at the head of the table. Of course, if there were an opportunity to avoid casualties, I would have taken it, but in this situation..."
I shook my head.
"...delay could have resulted in the loss of invaluable information, which we ultimately obtained and handed over to the Council. So I do not believe I acted wrongly. And if faced with the choice again, I would do exactly the same."
"But, as I understand it, you collaborated on Noveria with a certain Aria T'Loak... and she is a known criminal. Don't you think you should have arrested or destroyed her?!"
I saw triumph in the reporter's eyes.
"And why? Is there a warrant out for her in Citadel Space?"
"Ah?"
Khalisah was caught off guard.
"Just so you understand, Aria undoubtedly works with pirates, mercenaries, and other scum, but she conducts her business exclusively in the Terminus Systems, which means that before the laws of the Citadel, she is as clean as a babe."
"B-but..."
"Anything else?"
"Yes! You destroyed data in the Peak 15 complex!"
"I didn't destroy it; I restored a Virtual Intelligence that had malfunctioned. As I said before, I had to complete the task set before me, and for that, I needed to use the monorail, which could only be done by repairing the VI. And it is not my fault that, besides the VI, the reactor was also faulty, and repairing both caused some error that erased the data. As my mentor used to say: if the information is important, make backups."
"I see you have an answer for every one of my questions?"
A note of hostility crept into the reporter's voice.
"Yes, and in fact, you will soon have to answer some questions for the Spectre office yourself, because your excessive knowledge of my actions raises questions for me."
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Why not? I already have..."
I demonstratively activated my Omni-tool and sent a request to the corps to investigate this journalist's activities.
"...don't worry, if you have nothing to hide, they'll just check you and let you go."
"I..."
She began looking around quickly.
"...am forced to cut our interview short..."
A message arrived on my Omni-tool. I read it, and immediately a pistol was in my hands.
"Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani, you are under arrest on suspicion of espionage. Do not move and allow yourself to be restrained. If you resist, I will open fire to kill."
The girl, who had already taken a few steps to the side, froze, and a tremor ran through her body.
"I... I surrender... just don't shoot!"
"Don't worry, behave like a good girl and I won't shoot. To all the viewers, thanks for watching; the interview is over."
"Signal cut."
"Now, Miss al-Jilani, let me tie your hands with zip-ties, and we'll wait for the investigative team from the Spectre corps..."
***
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