[b]"Better than your ugly-ass face. Sir."[/b] Harken smirked back as the drunken Turian staggered past. Harken was a touch concerned when he first encountered his commander. He worked spec ops long enough to smell trouble coming. Someone like this Galen, a drinker and someone who clearly attacked every authority figure he encountered - being pushed into a high-danger situation, like messing around with Krogans, by the authorities who clearly didn't like him? This was beginning to sound more and more like the Council were trying to get Galen to commit 'suicide by Krogan'. He just really hoped Galen wasn't the kind of guy to commit suicide with a lot of collateral damage.. Well, anyway. Time to get his stuff and get out.

 Galen's apartment was paid for by C-Sec, but since he was leaving that would be running out and damn soon - plenty of new recruits and even seasoned officers needed accommodation. He packed a light bag and arranged to have the rest put in storage or sold off, giving himself a little time to take one last look over the curving Presidium waterways. This place had been really nice. A shame he spent so long undercover, in shoddy Wards rubbing shoulders with gangsters and mercs. It was peaceful here, even if that peace was an expensive illusion. 

His omni-tool beeped, an incoming message. A small holographic display of Councilor Vakarain popped up, but it must have been a fairly tightly encrypted channel, where the holo-representation had some layering issues and showed the entirety of the councilor's eyeballs through his transparent head and his voice crackled a little. [b]"Councilor. Something you forgot?"[/b]

"No. Something I couldn't say in public.You've probably figured out that the Skal'kus situation is extremely sensitive and that your commander is most definitely [i]not[/i] sensitive." Harken rolled his eyes in a 'well, obviously' fashion. Vakarian continued. "We can't afford another Krogan Rebellion, Calibos. The Krogan may not have had much time to repopulate after the Genophage, but they're still a formidable threat to galactic peace if they decide to be."

[b]"You're worried Galen will do something stupid."[/b] Harken cut ahead a little in the conversation - he had a ship to catch, after all. 

"I'm worried he'll do something [i]catastrophic[/i]. The other councilors think his renegade attitude will appeal to the Krogans, fit their culture and social values. That might even be right. But if it isn't, you need to be prepared to take whatever steps necessary to prevent things from getting out of hand." A pregnant moment hung in the air between them, before Vakarian restated, slowly and carefully. "Whatever. It. Takes."

Harken hefted a duffle bag of his belongings onto his shoulder, looking at the door. [b]"I'll do what I can, sir. But I'm not sure why you're coming to me about this."[/b]

"Because I know you can make it look like an accident, mechanical failure or natural causes. Because I know about what you and your squad did on Agessia." 

Harken stiffened and tapped the communication closed. And today had been going so well. He turned and stalked out of the apartment without another word, down to the loading bay where the Normandy and the rest of the new Spectres awaited. His personal room was near the engines, which he didn't quite like in case something really catastrophic happened while he was sleeping, but he supposed he just had to trust in the other people around him. He had enough technical training to chip in if need be, he supposed, though most of his mechanical and electronic was... well, not in how to keep the ship running in tip-top condition. Quite the opposite in fact. After that, he began pacing the ship to learn the corners of it, the routes and the gathering-points, the quiet places and the shadows. Along the way, he happened to catch sight of the human woman, Claire, coming the other way. He affected a jovial manner as he came past. "Alright love?" he gave his best Northerner. "What's occurin'?"