"How many of you were there?"

"Sixteen. Most of them were idiots... but I'm still gonna rip Saren a new one for getting them killed. Fucker has a lot to answer for."

"You'll get your chance. Stick with me." She's glaring into space.

Mort clears his throat. "Should we find an aircar stand?"

>:l nod

They find an aircar stand with a waiting aircar outside the embassy building. Mort opens the back door and bows. "Ladies."

Teddy arches both eyebrows at Zanna and gives her an 'oh no, after you' gesture, stepping to one side.

Zanna sweeps into the aircar in a manner which suggests a ballgown while also making it incredibly obvious that she's wearing armor instead.

Teddy physically bumps Morty out of the way, which he was not in. It is even more clear that she's wearing armor.

Mort takes his place in the driver's seat, then passes his omni-tool over the console.

"Citadel tower," he says. "Top floor."

"Authorization required," says a condescending VI.

"Ugh. Commander, can you authorize us?"

"Yup. Commander Theodora Ndikima Terentin, Systems Alliance, authorizes the previous order." She pulls out a canteen from somewhere in the bulk of her armor. Sip.

The VI accepts this, and the skycar engages.

Mort looks out the windows as they rise into the air. "Man. I don't love the starfield view, honestly, kind of rather be fully enclosed, but the Presidium itself is great."

Sip.

"I don't have a problem with it, it's just really big nighttime."

Mort struggles with his words.

"It's down. I don't like that."

"Just do the gravity calcs in your head, it's what I do." It is not.

"...that might actually help. Huh."

He looks out the window, doing math in his head. "-yeah, this is better. Cool!"

"Nerd. Just excise fear from your soul like an adult."

Teddy is never surprised when a shot in the dark works. That would be unprofessional. But it's nice that it worked and that Morty gets some peace!

"I dunno, Shi, sounds boring. I'm supposed to, what, raise a single eyebrow when I almost get sniped? Ice in my veins? If I didn't like the fear then I'd have kept running track instead of..." She indicates her lap, the armor, the insignia. "This."

"Also why would Mort do things like an adult."

"Hey!"

"Hah. I guess I'll accept that. I get by on bloodlust, most of the time."

How promising! We are spreading our legs a little bit more companionably than rank ought to denote. 

"Takes all kinds. I just like to be present and mindful." Is Commander Terentin serious? Who can really say.

(:P at Morty in the rearview)

The skycar pulls into the loading area of the Citadel Tower pinnacle.

The pinnacle is an enormously high-ceilinged chamber, laid out like an indoor park, tiered with waterfalls and shallow steps. At the far end of the room, they can distantly see the Council platform.

"-stall them for time," a turian is saying to another turian a few feet away from their parking space. "Saren's hiding something, and I need to get to the bottom of it."

     "What you need is to stop wasting everyone's time," the second turian says harshly. "You want me to stall the Council? Get your head out of your cloaca and stop sucking your own dick, Vakarian."

"...understood, sir," the first turian grinds out. His apparent superior stalks off.

The turian gets a thorough, brisk stare, full of scanning eye contact and finished in just a few seconds.

"Don't tell me. Hard to investigate a spy who works for the people overseeing the investigation?"

He grimaces and nods. "How'd you guess. Commander Terentin, right? I'm Garrus Vakarian, with Citadel Security. I don't know why they even assigned me this damned case if they're going to shoot me in the foot."