Lieutenant Saren Actius' Case files [Declassified]. (Citadel, Open)

Case File: 201589632-J

Investigator's notes and Report: This was a bad,bad case from start to finish. It all started four days ago....


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I stand up from my extranet terminal and crack my neck. A new case has just come across my desk and this one's a homicide. My partner, a salarian named Tolik Arneon, stands up as well, and flexes his hands. Like all Salarians, he's of taller height than most, and amphibian in features. Behind his back the others call him Mr.Coffee because of his hyperactivity. Regardless, we know what needs to get done. After a brisk look at the file, I grab my M3 Predator and M-98 Widow, while slipping a knife into my boot and checking the Omni-Blade. Tolik does largely the same, but with smaller weapons.

We take an elevator, and head down to the crime scene. As part of the Investigation Unit, we often see grisly and grim scenes, and this one was no different. After heading past the crime scene holotape, I found our Forensic Tech,a purple skinned Asari named Lylis Shegos poring over the victim. He was a drell, maybe six feet tall standing up, and his throat'd been cut. Right away, I knew this wasn't going to end well. "Lylis, What do we have?" I said, cracking my hands. She stood up and waved her Omni-tool. Instantly, mine received a file, but she continued on to brief me. "Drell, approximately 25 years of age, no ID on him. His Omni-Tool was wiped clean. I've already sent the data to Cybercrimes. Check with Davis, see what he can come up with. Cause of death is the cut across the throat, but there's also some bruising around the legs, and it looks like he was kneecapped. You'd have to go to the Coroner to find out more, but She says prelim is sometime around four to five hours ago."

A proud female Turian crossed the crime scene holo with a ping, drawing the attention of a few of the C-Sec officers attention. Two of the Turian officers outright saluted her and a few others bowed their heads in respect. Neela was wearing her dress uniform, a crisp, white trousers and shirt, her bars and stars on her breast and shoulders. She wasn't a very high ranking officer, but she was an officer and a war hero, amongst turians that counted for something. She nodded acknowledgment to the officers and walked over to the detective in charge.

Lt. Cmndr. Neela Laelius, Executive Officer of The Nephertity. She offered him her hand and a winning smile as they shook. You have my Head Engineer here Lieutnant. She told him with a note of sadness in her otherwise chipper voice.

I turn as a female Turian enters the crime scene, highly decorated from the look of her uniform. I had served in the Reaper War, on the front lines of Palaven and its moon, so When I gave her the Hierarchy salute, a sense of camaraderie and pride swelled in me. My Asari Forensic tech mouths "Red Sand" and Shows me her Omni-Tool reading. An almost imperceptible nod slips from me as I return my attention. "Lt.Commander." I say by way of greeting. "My name is Lieutenant Saren Actius, C-Sec detective and Hierarchy Marine Lieutenant. I have some bad news for you. Your engineer had red sand in his system. Any idea as to how it got there?"

Red Sand? Xid? That cant be right... Neela kneeled by the corpse and undid the buckle of his pants, pulling the left hip of the waist band down, exposing a tattoo of thessian rose. A heavy sigh, emphasized by the thick flanging of her voice signaled her affirmation of the drell's Identity.

Lieutenant Xidean T'Sorya, we were out celebrating his 24th last night... The woman drifted into memories of the night, partying with the drell and six other enlisted men, drinking till the world got fuzzy and quit caring, ending up back in a cheap motel with him and bawling her eyes out to him about life. The comfort he offered...

A tear dripped from her eye and Neela snapped back into the present, wiping the single tear away with a filed claw and forcing the anguished look from her face, replaced with a calm, neutral expression she usually kept when dealing with superiors.

When he didn't report for role call this morning, I assumed he was still passed out and sent a couple of men to drag him back to the ship so he could sleep it off without being charged with desertion. My men, The officer paused and two soldiers approached the holotape, but didn't cross it, dressed in full, navy issue, hardsuits, vindicators and vipers on their backs and carnifexs and tempests on their hips. The twin soldiers in navy patterned black armor addressed Neela with crisp salutes, which she returned, giving them a sorrowful nod, before turning back to the C-Sec lieutenant before her.

Found the room Lieutenant T'Sorya had been staying in trashed, an obvious struggle having happened. When I caught wind of a drell having been found... No officer, I have nothing to offer as to why Lt. T'Sorya has Red Sand in his system. Last night my crewmen only had alcohol, if there was any drug use, I was unaware of it.

I was surprised to finally make an ID, but knowing this Drell only had alcohol last night left me with more questions than answers. Why was the Red Sand in his system? Who would want to kill him? I shoved these questions aside and bore down on the Lt. Commander. "Listen, Ms. Laetius. He was found in the Wards, and in a blind spot of the cameras. What little evidence we pull off of him is going to send us down a path that may take weeks to solve based on forensics alone. So, tell me. Did he have any enemies?" I asked, knowing full well that the response too often was that none came to mind. Tactically, and in hindsight, it might've been easier to bring her to HQ and [REDACTED] her into talking, but that never came to pass. So instead, I waited for a response.

As I did so, I had no idea of what was happening across town....


[Compiled from various Witness Statements and camera footage as well as forensic Psychology]

The human woman raced down the streets in a rush, dodging angry volus and huffing out of breath, but too scared to stop. She knew that HE could catch up to her at any time. It was almost as if HE could appear out of thin air. She took a right at a T junction, not even pausing, always looking over her shoulder every few seconds. Her name was Sarah Wilkeos, and she was high. The medical report would later list it as a Red Sand overdose, but that wasn't the truth. This wasn't ordinary Red Sand, nor was its dealer an ordinary being. Sarah skidded to a halt and raced up the stairs of her apartment complex, hastily unlocking the door and sitting down in a chair, struggling for several moments to catch her breath. Suddenly, a light clicked on across from her, and in the chair, sat a red skinned Salarian. Apart from the red hue, he was visually indistinguishable from his brethren save for his facial scar running from his neck to his forehead. In his hand he held a Carnifex Hand Cannon. Sarah gasped involuntarily, and he shushed, calm and composed. When he spoke, it wasn't in the rushed, erratic tone common to most of his species, but it was slow and methodic, each word was measured, and made to evoke a reaction.
"Calm down, Sarah. You knew this was coming. You knew I would find you. and You knew that when I did, I'd kill you." He pulled the trigger, and down she went, crumpling on the floor like a flung ragdoll. The Salarian snorted, and stood, whistling a slow tune.
[End Compilation]

Neela saw the cogs churning in his head and suppressed a laugh, reminded of Gren trying to figure out something. Her efforts were to waste at his next question. She hooked the tear away from her eye with a claw as she caught her breath.

Oh where to begin.... First off, Xid was an ex-compactee, didnt exactly leave on good terms there. Next, he joined the Navy, which no doubt ruffled some scales somewhere. But this kind of enemy... Neela scratched her mandibles in thought , sifting through what she knew. Imperceptible to other species, the Lt. Cmndr. paled, her eyes widened and she stood froze a moment. She jerkily snapped into action and brought up her omni, flicking through it with the speed of an engineer. She brought up a holo of a sinister looking turian, slowly revolving. The information above and to the side of the picture labled him as

Lucien Dace, 76 years of age, charge him with anything in the book, you'll get a conviction. She was still typing away furiously at the interface, checking records and release dates. But he is still in prison... The holo of Lucien disappeared, replace but a rapidly moving list of accomplices accompanied by busts of the criminals. She isolated a string of four people, bringing them up.

The Nephyrtity assualted and captured a smuggling vessel two months ago, Lucien was aboard that vessel. We took him into custodand he was tried and convicted on 372 counts and sentenced to death by hanging. His second in Command, Neela motioned to the first person, a human with bad teeth, Amon Casonov, is just as rotten as Lucien, but he was sentenced to life in the prison colony on Tarithe, so he isnt a worry, but these other two, the Krogan and the Salarian, they are still on the streets. I would start with them. I know that the krogan, She highlighted the bust of the krogan and his information enlarged, Tomaj Isadore, is here on the Citadel now. He used to run with Lucian and Amon, pirating in the traverse and a couple of incidences in C-Space. I can take you to him if you want to question him, a good place to start. Neela was visibly uncomfortable offering up the Krogan, but her sense of duty demanded that she be thoruogh in this case, now that it involved her crew.