RoboCops and Robbers 1

"What about Shepard?"

The question is asked by an aging man of African descent, to another man who leaned back against his chair.

"His record does speak for itself," David Anderson nods, "but that could be a problem."

"What do you mean?" Donnel Udina asks, his brow furrowing

"You ever wonder how he got the title, The Butcher of Torfan?"

"I don't need to wonder, I've read the report, and the witness statements from his men and the surviving Batarians that he captured."

"The Council may not approve of him."

"For killing slavers?"

"The Batarians kicked up a hell of a shit storm when he wasn't given a trial."

"And? They left the Council, why should their opinion matter?"

"Well, look at the history of Batarian/Council interaction," Anderson taps his hand against the table in front of him, "Centuries of appeasing them, and then we're the first species and governing body to actually retaliate. We made both of them look bad, and Shepard is who we have to thank for that."

"How is he still only a Commander, anyway?"

"Politics, again," Anderson sighs

On the last third of the table, Admiral Steven Hackett looked between the pair and wondered if he should arrange for them to swap positions or something. Shaking his head, he sighs then says, "so, it seems that Shepard is out, who else do we have?"

"We've got a laundry list of candidates, and almost all of them have something the Council will no doubt hate," Udina tells him, "I say we put forth Shepard's name, he was sponsored by the Spectre, after all."

"We should put someone else in there as well," Anderson suggests, "maybe O'Hara."

"O'Hara is on his way to commanding his own ship," Hackett shakes his head, "he would never agree, the man's a sailor, not an interstellar cop."

Udina blinks as Hackett says this, and starts to rub his chin, "well, if we want to put a cop forth, why not Murphy?"

"Murphy?" Anderson asks, rifling through the stack of dossiers in front of him, trying to find the name

"He's not on the list," Udina tells him, "I mean, why not RoboCop?"

Anderson stops and looks at Udina like he's crazy, "I thought the council hated him?"

"They did," Hackett agrees, "but that was twenty years ago."

"Now he's a respected member of C-Sec, and OCP helped fund two of the three current Councilor's campaigns."

"So you think they'll go for it?"

"I do."

"Then we put both names forward?"

"We do."

It takes them only an hour to draft their proposals and submit the applications. It takes two for the Council and the Spectre office to get back to them. The three men are called to the office of the Salarian councilor, which possessed the biggest screen so that they could all stare at the same thing.

The Asari Councilor, Tevos, was the first to speak, "These are your applicants?"

As she spoke, the profiles of John Shepard and Alex Murphy were displayed on the massive screen. Shepard was a clean shaven man with an angular face, a perpetual scowl of passive anger playing across his lips. Murphy's expression on the other hand, carried a passive, bordering on serene smile on his.

"They are," Udina nods, "Shepard was recommended by Spectre Nihlus Kyrik, and Murphy has been a man of the Law for close to two centuries."

"He also isn't directly affiliated with the Alliance," Hackett adds, "his first love is the law, so there is less likely to be a conflict of interest."

"Are you trying to sell us on this Commander Shepard, or the RoboCop?" The Turian Councilor, Sparatus, asks.

"Both," Udina tells him, "we believe both would make excellent candidates for the Spectre program."

The Salarian Councilor, Demos, leans towards Sparatus and notes, "Detective Murphy current partner of former Spectre candidate Garrus Vakarian, work well together, may be able to convince Vakarian to join if we get the cyborg."

Sparatus's eye ridges rise at the information, and he nods, "I could see that working, Tevos?"

The Asari presses her hands together and thinks, "I believe it would be prudent to see what both can manage, this Shepard seems he could be a Spectre on the lines of Saren, if given the chance. The RoboCop on the other hand could very easily become a second Jondum."

The other two councilors look like they enjoy the ideas, and they nod along with her. The humans remain silent, waiting for the verdict, but growing more assured with each moment that one or both of their selections would be chosen.

The councilors finish their small meeting and Tevos, ever the voice of the council, tells the human representatives, "we will have both of your candidates observed."

Udina nods in satisfaction and stands, "Thank you, councilors, we await word from the Spectres chosen to evaluate them."

Tevos nods and smiles as the three humans stand and exit. Once the doors seal behind them, she turns to her fellow councilors and asks, "real opinions?"

"I think Detective Murphy would make an excellent Spectre," Demos tells them, seriously, "loose ties with human government, loyal to the law, and friendly with other species."

"I like the other candidate, too," Sparatus tells her, "But if we give him the position then we invite some retaliation from the Batarians. If we do pick him, we're going to have to be terrible to him so the Batarians are convinced we're only accepting him because of human pressure."

Tevos sighs and rubs her eyes, "True enough, I truly despise those four eyed monsters."

Demos raises an eyebrow and the Asari glares at him, "You know full well if it weren't for the mess that our predecessors left for us in regards to the Batarian situation, we would have declared war by now!"

"I know, I'm just not used to you talking so bluntly," the Salarian tells her

"We're in your office, not mine," She reminds him, "everything I'm saying, your people already know. I can't say what I want in my office without the Matriarchs thinking I'm a war monger and calling for a change in power."

Sparatus snorts, Asari had always been in favor of unreasonable peace, and to meet one that was not so keen on the idea was always fun. He bet Tevos had been one of those girls that was a mercenary rather than a stripper in her formative centuries.

"Regardless of our opinions on the Batarians, we are agreed?" he then asks, so as to move the conversation along

Tevos and Demos nod, and the Turian claps his hands together, "So, who shall we send to observe Commander Shepard?"

"Nihlus put his name forth, he should be the one to observe him in action," Tevos tells him

"And it will give us an excuse to go over the Normandy designs, as well," Demos notes, reading from the dossier, "Commander Shepard has been assigned as Executive Officer to the Normandy, under Captain Anderson."

"The same Anderson that was in this meeting?" Tevos asks, "The same one that was the last human candidate?"

"The very same."

"They knew we would agree to Shepard."

"No, actually, it looks like all of their possible selections for Spectre status were assigned to the Normandy," Sparatus notes as he opens the file for himself, "It would make sense that for their new frigate design they'd want only the best as crew."

Tevos nods, seeing that the matter of Shepard's observer had been settled, and asks, "And the RoboCop?"

"We can observe him ourselves," Demos suggests, "We have years of collected footage on him, and we can observe him in action right now."

"I think I prefer him, honestly," Sparatus notes, "We know he won't need to come to us for funding, and we won't have to refuse him."

"A definite benefit," Tevos nods, thinking of how much money annually travels into the bank accounts of Omni Consumer Products, and by extension, its CEO and President Alex Murphy.

On the subject of the Detective, he was currently staring down a Krogan Warlord.

The massive red crested Urdnot Wrex glared down at the human in fancy armor and demanded, "What've you got on me, human?"

"You, Warlord Wrex, are a suspect in the murder of one Froleus Gri'ol," is the reply, a metallic hum echoing his voice.

"Who?" Wrex demands

"This man," there is the glow of an omni-tool, and the image of Turian in a posh suit is shown

Wrex blinks, furrows his brow, narrows his eyes, and shakes his head, "Never seen him, or killed him. Look, human…"

"Detective Murphy," the now named human supplies helpfully

"Detective," Wrex addresses the man by his title, after all, any man who can beat him in a contest of strength was worthy of respect, "I've never seen that Turian before, and I think you're keeping me here so I don't go after Fist."

The image disappears and Murphy leans forward, clasping his hands together and nodding, "I will admit, that you being a suspect in the murder of Mr. Gri'ol has proved useful. And the fact that we are legally entitled to hold you for forty-eight hours gives us time to shore up our investigation of the criminal known as Fist. But the two are not connected."

"Oh yeah?" Wrex raises an eyebrow, a certain level of respect sounding through his voice at a cop so willing to play the system to his advantage

"Indeed," Murphy nods, and then passes a drawing across the table, "A witness to the murder of Mr. Gri'ol gave a description of the attacker, and this is what our sketch artist was able to make of it."

Wrex picks up the image and sees that the image seems to be a generic Krogan, with the exception of the complete carapace. He had to admit that there weren't many Krogan as old as him, and certainly not old enough to have a fused head piece, especially not on the Citadel. He huffs, "You've got nothing but that to go off?"

"We have claw prints and weapon's discharge residue as well, but both of those take time to process." Murphy tells him, "As it is, we are bringing in all high profile Krogan that could match the description."

Wrex narrowed his eyes, and a thought comes to him, "Fist's bodyguard has a fused carapace."

"He does," Murphy nods, "And he will be brought in as soon as we're done here."

Wrex cracks a smile, "You know he won't go with you quietly."

"I suspect as much," Murphy nods, "But I must uphold the law."

"And if things get violent?"

"Then I'll have to bring in Mr. Fist as well for having an unstable employee in a public resaurant."

"Which will put him in the same cell as me."

Murphy tilts his head, and nods, "I suppose so. Unfortunate, but C-Sec has indeed been forced to make due with a single wide style holding cell for the last few years."

Wrex chuckles, "Alright, Detective, I'll stay quiet."

"Thank you, Warlord," Murphy smiles serenely at him in gratitude. He then stands, moves around his table, and the sound of whirring electronics accompanies his motions as he walks to the door.

On the other side is a uniformed Salarian patrolman, "Sir?"

"Please escort Warlord Wrex into the overnight cell, Holst," Murphy tells the officer

"Yes, sir," the Salarian nods, and then holds the door open, "Warlord, if you would follow me."

The Krogan and the Salarian disappear around a corner as Murphy's partner enters the office, "You managed to talk down a Krogan Warlord, never thought I'd see the day."

Murphy smirks, "Please, Garrus, have a little faith!"

Garrus Vakarian rolls his eyes, "I have plenty of faith, just not that much."

Murphy snorts, then open s his desk and pulls out his gun. His leg opens and he slides the weapon into its holster, "So, you ready to piss off a crime boss?"

Garrus shakes his head at his partner's cavalier attitude, then opens his own desk and pulls out his weapon. Attaching it to his side he turns to nod at Murphy, "Let's get it over with."