"Someone hates you, someone wants you tied up, someone thinks you're bad at this, the other guy wasn't available..." She doesn't condescend to counting out the possibilities on her fingers. Do turians even count on their fingers? It doesn't seem like it would be worth the effort. "Or maybe Saren Arterius asked them to put you on it, as part of some obscure plan that will somehow also involve both a nuke and shooting me. If I'm going to keep guessing."

Terentin closes her eyes for just a moment. For herself.

"This is Mort Halliwell and Zanna Shi, my fellow witnesses slash my subordinates."

"My pleasure. I don't want to delay you getting to the Council, but..." He lowers his voice. "I do have some sources. Afterwards, you can find me in the C-Sec office, and I'll help you pin the bastard any way I can."

Terentin nods. She could kiss him. If he weren't a dude that she just met. Who let his boss insult him using his own dick. Still, though.

And now to walk into the Council meeting like it's someone else's execution. Positive mindset.

Udina and Anderson are waiting. "You made it," Anderson whispers, sounding exhausted. "They started the hearing early - it's not going well."

"This is absurd," Udina growls. "Do you think your own Spectre candidate is somehow being strongarmed by Earth's military? You've never met the girl - we tried to pull that kind of scam, she'd turn us over in a heartbeat!"

     "You're right," the Salarian Councilor says, flicking his nictitating membranes rapidly. "We've never met her. We have met Spectre Arterius, and we know that he's always done the right thing - not for the Turian Hierarchy, not for himself, but for the Council and the galactic community."

"Ambassador, if the problem was just that the Councilors had never met me," Commander Terentin starts to say, then just stops and gestures at herself. Well hello, says her posture. Don't focus on the guy who met me for the first time ten minutes ago and just referred to me as 'the girl', it doesn't bother with. If the Council wanted a good ambassador for humanity then they'd have gotten themselves one. "Should my unit not have attended today? If you've already come to a decision that Saren is innocent of all charges." There's no sarcasm in her voice and her head doesn't tilt an inch.

     "We have not yet come to our final conclusion," the Asari Councillor says coolly. "But the burden of proof falls to you, and so far it hasn't been reached. Your biotic was concussed in the geth attack, and enlisted with benefits hours after giving her testimony. Your technician has a rich history of the kind of psychological disorders to which humans are all too prone -"

"Councillor Tevos, that is an ad hominem attack and a racist-" Udina starts.

     Tevos sighs, clearly feeling very put-upon. "Fine, strike it from the record. Your technician's testimony is questionable for other reasons. It is, more or less, the word of a single human against that of a Council Spectre whose loyalty and competence have, almost literally, never been questioned... except, coincidentally, by members of the Systems Alliance. Such coincidences eventually grow tiresome."

"I'm grateful to the Council for providing me the benefit of the doubt," Saren says tartly from his holographic projector. "After all, I have only a lifetime of service, the telemetry of my shuttle showing I was nowhere near the colony, and the fact that the murder of which I stand accused was of one of my oldest and dearest friends to back up my case."

"Because of course you've never shot anyone in the back before, Arterius," Anderson grunts. "That would be completely inimical to your strong moral backbone."

Saren snorts. "Keep talking, human. This is a pathetic display of your personal vendetta."

     "Enough, both of you," Tevos says sharply.

Saren inclines his head minutely. "My sincerest apologies, Councillor."

A muscle is pulsing in Terentin's jaw, and it's because she is absolutely ignoring the fact that Saren spoke. It would not be good to launch herself across the room in front of the ruling arm of the entire galaxy and start attacking a hologram.

She lets the silence hold for just long enough that it might be chastening. Probably not.

"I don't have any evidence that you haven't already seen. I'll point out that telemetry logs can be faked– I could do it, easily, Halliwell here could as well, Shi could do it if I left her a page of instructions; that the Alliance is in the business of hiring good soldiers, especially right after a geth attack; that we blame Saren for the concussion that Shi took, not the geth, which she is fantastic at destroying. I'm not a prosecutor, though. I was not brought here to do your job, to determine what the truth is. I'm a reliable witness, I know what the truth is, and you have my testimony. I will answer any questions you ask, but first I'm asking all of you a question, Councillors."

She catches her eye on Saren. Damn it. He's smug.

"If your unquestionable, most highly skilled, most trusted Spectre wanted to murder someone, or commit treason, wouldn't it look exactly like this? Would you be able to tell?"

    Councillor Tevos clenches her jaw. The salarian closes his eyes for a full second. The Turian Councillor, thus far silent, makes a noise in the back of his throat and slams one claw into the interface in front of him. "This is a waste of everyone's time," he snarls.

"That would be you stating that you have no interest in questioning the only eyewitness to the murder of a Spectre?" Udina asks acidly. "For the record, Sparatus."

     "For the record, Ambassador," the turian spits, "I think she's an Alliance shill. She came across Nihlus' body, reported it to her commander like a good girl, and waited for him to tell her what to say. If she didn't kill him herself."

"You have astonishing confidence in the Commander's putative abilities. For her to willingly and fluently lie to the Council she'd have to have faked every psych assessment in her file, and now she's killing Spectres! A woman of such diverse talents is hard to find, even for the scheming Systems Alliance."

     At this, Sparatus actually hisses, a tearing-metal sound reminiscent of the birds of prey from which his species evolved. "Twist my words however you like, Udina, I've already cast my vote."

She'll show Udina 'abilities'. Later.

"Just keep Saren under your thumb until the dust settles." Her eyes are on the other two Councillors. Apparently, even the bigot and the policy wonk aren't as intractable as the quiet one. "Paid vacation at the Citadel. Shore leave. Make him go back over his paperwork for a week. Just don't let him run around free and clear." It is incoherent that she's having to beg for this. She's right.

     The Salarian Councillor looks almost guilty. "Spectre Arterius is on an important mission the details of which obviously cannot be disclosed. We know where he is, however, and if further evidence arises it will be little enough trouble to apprehend him."

Saren looks slightly hurt. "Really, Valern?"

     The salarian shrugs. "I try to keep an open mind. It's nothing personal, Saren, and I would think you of all people might recognize that."

     "Are there any closing comments before the remaining council members cast our votes?" Tevos asks.

"Each day that Saren walks free after the atrocities he has committed is an insult to humanity," Udina says grimly.

     Tevos sighs and casts her vote. "Noted."

     Valern casts his.

     "Two votes innocent, one abstention. The Citadel Council finds insufficient evidence to connect Spectre Agent Saren Arterius to the murder of Nihlus Kryik or the attack on Eden Prime," Tevos declares. "Commander Terentin, Captain Anderson, you are free to go, but remain on the Citadel until further notice; we may wish to question you further regarding the accusations you have levied. This session of the Council is concluded."

The tension drains out of Terentin's jaw like something punctured. She just knows there was a way to get this right, but she didn't find it. I mean, clearly.

Moving on.

She's going to contact that Garrus guy the first free moment she gets, but for now she's following Anderson and, again, editing Saren out of her mindscape to cope.

"Well, that was a shitshow," Udina says bluntly as they walk away. "I didn't expect Tevos to go for the throat like that. She's usually more conciliatory."

Honestly, that was so much concentrated delusion in the Council session that Teddy's estimation of Udina is rising a couple notches just from how frank this postmortem is.

"I didn't expect Captain Anderson to get into a slap-fight with the war criminal we're trying to prosecute." Usually he's kinda a dud.

Anderson sighs. "Sorry about that. He's always gotten on my last nerve in record time, but I should've kept my cool."

"Yes, you should. And I'm going to be making sure you don't get us any deeper. Terentin, you were damned good in there, and much as it burns me, I'd like to formally apologize for doubting you every step of the way both internally and externally. I'd like you to try to find us some solid evidence - something that proves the bastard's guilt. Do you have any leads?"

There is nothing in space more ideal than when someone believes that Teddy is the answer they're looking for. She gives Udina a handshake and a cuff on the shoulder.

"I've got an in with the guy running the investigation. He likes me." Very minor finger-twitching and a wire-thin minimum of holograms indicate that she's looking him up. She stays engaged in the conversation. "Everything else is my, well. My bone-deep certainty that horror and death is coming for the entire known universe." Twitch. Pause. Thumb-swipe. "Which isn't admissible, obviously. Does make me think that this was more than a crime of passion. And as I understand it, you don't just 'join up' with the geth... is there some other faction? That's more questions than it is leads, but that can change fast."

Terentin turns to her minions. "Hi, guys. Any theories?"

"Definitely worth checking in with Scales McGoodCop. Even if he's secretly a moron, he'll have groundwork - and he sounded like he was chasing down a lead or something, which implies he's not a moron."

"It is still weird that the geth would follow Saren. And for some reason I've still got that flagship on my mind. It doesn't match the profile of a geth dreadnought at all. I wish I knew more about the geth's fitness calculations. - I know this isn't directly relevant, but that whole thing kind of rattled me, I'm having trouble staying on task."

"Morty, you do actually have permission to focus on the question that I asked." Terentin sends him her been-rendering-for-close-to-a-day data on the Geth dreadnought, because Citadel wifii is free and good. It's more than likely that he has a matching data packet that he made himself, but she likes to feel like she's got one hand on his projects. "If the ship seems weird, then let's assume it is. Beat it up until a clue falls out." Or until his rigidly-enforced lights-out.

She texts someone who is, in her private hologram screens, named Scales McGoodCop that he can expect her imminently.