The following is excerpted from issue #20 of the Sol Bulletin, an ad hoc news sheet distributed electronically among survivors of the Battle of Earth in the chaotic period following the firing of the Crucible. Issue #20 was released twenty two days after the Crucible fired.
Persephone Arrested On Independent Cruiser
The Alliance is reporting that the rogue operative known as Persephone has been arrested on Alpha, an independent cruiser that took part in Operation Sword as part of the so-called Terminus Fleet. "The Alliance received intelligence that Persephone was aboard Alpha," reported Alliance spokesman Commander Chris Larson. "At approximately 2300 hours Sol Standard Time, Alpha was sequestered by a wolf pack of Alliance frigates. A team of N7-rated marines boarded Alpha and successfully captured Persephone." Persephone - who Larson said Alliance officials had identified as Kasumi Goto, a high-tech thief with known Cerberus ties - was apparently renting quarters from one of Alpha's many part-owners.
Goto's arrest has led to a new focus on the complex status of Alpha and other Terminus ships in the delicate power-sharing arrangement in Sol. The Terminus Fleet is not represented in the Inter-species Summit, though it does have representatives with various military high commands. Larger Terminus ships like the Alpha have in certain cases begun to operate more as space stations than as vessels, receiving large amounts of incoming traffic and serving as lawless centers of black-market trade. The Summit has been unable to agree on a multilateral approach to these independent ships, while the various military commands have thus far been unwilling to commit to unilateral actions.
The captain of Alpha, the Salarian Kido Sayn, was allowed to address the Inter-species Summit to protest Goto's arrest. "The Alliance soldiers who attacked Alpha are criminals and they should be treated as such. The Alliance forced their way on board by threatening to kill anyone who resisted - or blow us out of space if we fired on their shuttles. It was an act of piracy against an independent ship, and it will not stand. The ships of the Terminus Fleet will not stand for this kind of treatment again."
Lieutenant James Vega, the N7 operative who led the team that arrested Goto, went before the Summit to defend his team's actions. He said they received intelligence regarding Goto's identity and location, and had to act immediately to prevent Goto from escaping as she did on Luna. He provided the Summit with the intelligence provided to the Alliance, including surveillance footage and com records that seem to tie Goto to the Persephone recording. When questioned, Lt. Vega declined to identify the source of the intelligence, citing operational security.
The Summit did not provide a joint comment on the affair. Matriarch Lidanya said that while she is glad Goto has been caught, she regretted the Alliance's heavy-handed approach. The Conclave of the Quarian Fleet issued a statement supporting the right of a captain to decide who is permitted aboard hir ship.
This issue has been edited for strictly "Doylist" (as opposed for Watsonian) reasons. The original version contained a reference to the Shadow Broker as the source of the Alliance's intel. This was meant as a clue about what's really going on behind the scenes with Persephone and the mystery surrounding Shepard's whereabouts. I was always iffy about including the reference, but I really wanted to introduce the idea that Liara is operating as the Shadow Broker.
ReplyDeleteUpon re-reading, the reference seemed forced and extremely out of place. Liara would be unlikely to use the Shadow Broker persona in a way that would compromise her identity, especially while trapped in the Sol system, and very few people who did know she was in the system would be likely to announce that fact in public without good reason.
With that in mind, I took out all reference to the Shadow Broker and left the source of the Alliance's intel vague.
While I'm making director's commentary-style comments, let me note that I love James Vega, but as a special forces soldier he's a little hard to work into Sol Bulletin entries - especially if he's working as an N7, which I thought he should be. This is the only appearance he's made thus far.
He'll make at least one more appearance (I write this as of Sol Bulletin #24), but it'll probably be regarding what he was doing during the Battle of Earth, not what he did after.