The Citadel

When Shepard came to, it was to the concerned faces of his squad mates and a puzzled Dr. Chakwas. Looking up from his medical files, she examines him for a second before speaking "Good, you're awake. From what I can see, physically you're perfectly fine. However, you seemed to have an increase in rapid eye movement and unusual beta waves that normally correlates with psychological trauma."

"Normally?" asks Ashley

"Yes, normally. There is absolutely nothing normal about this situation and whatever that beacon did to him."

"I saw something." Shepard says. "It was a nightmare full of... No not nightmare, more like a vision. I barely understood any of it. The only thing that I understood was the genocide."

"Genocide?" asks a worried Ashley.

"Yes. An alien species, that I don't recognize was being massacred." replies Shepard.

"Hmm." intones Dr. Chakwas. "While that is worrying, Captain Anderson wants to speak with you to debrief before we arrive at The Citadel."

"Right." answers Shepard.

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Arriving at the captain's office, Shepard enters to see Captain Anderson and a troubled Nihlus waiting for him. Captain Anderson looks at Shepard and says "Good you're here. Now we can get started. Nihlus already explained the circumstance to me. However, I'd like to know your side before you joined up with him."

As Shepard describes the situation, Captain Anderson becomes more and more somber as the briefing goes on. With the report done the group sits in silence to ponder.

"This is troubling." says Anderson. "If the Alliance finds out about Malphas' kidnapping, there'll be an uproar." Looking at the room's other occupants he continues "The beacon's destruction is a non-issue. From what you've explained it seems that the beacon's content were somehow transferred to your mind. While it's not ideal it can still be salvaged. However, an N7 Shadow getting kidnapped is cause for concern. Especially one as prominent as Malphas."

"I thought that a Shadow's civilian identity is supposed to be a secret?" asks Shepard.

"While that's true, you don't get to be as successful as Malphas without drawing attention to yourself, especially from your superiors." Anderson frowns before continuing "Even if they don't know his civilian identity, which I doubt, they can definitely find out that he's the one missing by having all the others report in or track down the docking bay where he last checked in as a civilian."

Turning to face Nihlus, Anderson asks "Do you have any idea what Saren could want with an operative, a human one at that"

After taking a second to ponder, Nihlus answers "From what I've gathered, your N7 Shadow Infiltrators are humanity's version of spectres for internal affairs. The only information that he has that could interest Saren would be classified information about the human race. But that still doesn't explain his interest in the human race."

"We have another problem. How do we explain this to the council?" questioned Shepard.

"We don't tell them everything. Not yet anyway. We tell them of the geth attack on the colony and the beacon's destruction. Later we gather proof of Saren's betrayal and report it in, otherwise it'll be my word against his and to be honest I don't like our chances against those odds." explained Nihlus.

"What about Malphas?" asks Shepard.

Nihlus considers for a bit before he answers "We make no mention of him and hope that he still lives once we find Saren. If the individual races learn of a spectre abducting an operative unjustifiably, no matter what race, there will be an outcry. The chaos from that would make it easier for Saren to hide." As Nihlus finishes speaking, Joker's voice comes over the speaker "Sir, we've arrived."