Mass Effect: The Forgotten Soul

Chapter Thirteen: Detention

Martin sat in a small room no larger than eight-by-eight. He sat on one of the chairs on either side of the table; a sizeable double-sided mirror was on the wall facing him. He was surprised when they detained him. They didn't cuff, shackle, or restrain him in any way. He stared at the mirror, watching his reflection.

"What do we have on him?" Colonel Gaissac asked. Lieutenant Hathaway handed him a PDA with the information.

"Not much, He confirmed his name was Martin Winters; their transport landed here a week ago from Omega; its home port is registered as the Citadel as expected."

The Colonel inquisitively asked the Lieutenant, "Are we absolutely sure this is our man?"

"AIS did say he would be landing on the day he arrived; he matches the general description and even verified the weapons he would be carrying." Gaissac returned the PDA to the Lieutenant and entered the room.

The Colonel took his seat in the chair directly across from Martin. Hathaway and an armed guard followed Gaissac into the room, taking positions on the wall.

The Colonel straightened out his neatly pressed blue jacket and shimmed the chair closer to the table.

"Mr. Winters, I believe you know why you're here." Martin slumped in his chair, his face projecting his annoyed mood.

"Actually, I do not, Colonel."

"You are under investigation for your involvement with a known terrorist organization."

Martin's left eyebrow raised questioningly.

"I think you are mistaken; my partner and I killed two Cerberus agents for the leader of Omega."

He paused, thinking back to everything that had happened on Omega.

Gaissac had the LT pass a PDA to Martin; it contained photos of him and Dallas meeting at Afterlife and shaking hands during one particular mission: his mind flashed back to the Colonel.

"Were you not aiding a known Cerberus operative by releasing their scientists back to them?"

Martin remained calm; there wasn't too much he could do otherwise, but he also didn't want to act too defiant.

"Unfortunately, yes, we didn't know at the time who they were."

"So you take work without knowing your employer?" The Lieutenant butted in.

"Working in the Terminus systems tends to be that way, and to repeat myself. I was not knowingly working for them."

Martin knew he had to be careful what he said. He wasn't an Alliance citizen; hell, he wasn't technically alive. They could hold him without a trial until the end of time, and he did not want to piss off any major government.

For all their hype, you could get away with having a Terminus 'government' or organization gunning for you; You could always find another organization or planet to hide in. But Council governments had ways of hunting you down; if they wanted you.

Martin hoped his half-truths would be enough to convince them; his thoughts were starting to drift to Velpia's safety.

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Velpia was alone driving the buggy back to a rented Motel room on the outskirts of town. It started to snow lightly.

She felt horrible leaving Martin alone with the Alliance, but what more could she have done? She could only wait and hope he could get a message out.

Velpia also had to worry about herself; she was an Alien, a Turian for that matter, on a human colony. It wasn't so much a problem with Martin around; he could handle the xenophobes, but the looks the other humans gave weren't very welcoming.