"Three to One. I'll do what I can, but infiltration without assassination isn't exactly my forte." Esone merged with the crowds on the dock, swallowed into anonymity. If anyone had paid him the slightest attention, they would only have seen him step into a shadow and disappear.<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>Walking the Dragon's Path was a useful means of travel, albeit highly restricted. The walker could step into a shadow, and exit from any other shadow whose location he knew within a limited radius. Esone chose to materialize in the Presidium C-Sec, the Essence of Oramus and the Ebon Dragon cocooning him. Two layers of disguises, a page taken from the Sidereal's playbook. Friendly turf didn't mean that paranoia was unwarranted.<br/><br/>In the form of a Turian Captain, Esone strolled brazenly into the Surveillance division. Fate-registration security protocols reading his Loom-Snarling Deception processed futilely, registering him as authorized despite the suspicions of the Pattern Spiders that something wasn't quite right. A legitimate officer was quickly shooed away from their terminal, and Esone immersed himself in the Citadel's mainframe.<br/><br/>"Not much here boss. There are some strange transfers from Bolohn and Oloon, and some unusual transmissions from a diplomat named Zymandis. He was with the Alliance team that massacred the batarians and has been in a "special research assignment" ever since. Beyond that, the Hanar are cle- Wait."<br/><br/>The data streams flowing around Esone's consciousness rippled, and from the depths of the Citadel source code something lashed out. Something primeval, ancient, angry. Something Titanic had to have been forged into the Citadel when it was made, multiple Demons of the Third Circle or the Fetiches of the Neverborn taking the place of Least Gods. Half-remembered legends whose consciousness still existed. Esone disengaged his connection immediately, falling back in his chair with a yelp. The screen he had been possessing now projected a staring eye, unhindered by sclera or lids. Their viridian iris was flecked with amber, and it's lobed pupil resembled an hourglass tipped on its side.<br/><br/>"DIRECTIVE OVERRIDE. THE ENKINDLER PROTOCOLS MUST BE INITIATED."<br/><br/>Esone scrambled to his feet, vainly waving away the cluster of C-Sec officers that gathered around. Every screen in the room displayed the eye, rendering all other work impossible. The voice that blared through the room possessed a twinge of avarice, as if it begrudged even giving away the words of it's hoard.<br/><br/>"Boss, I seem to have tripped something. Stand by for confirmation, but it mentioned 'The Enkindler Protocols'. Be careful in that embassy."<br/><br/>"PRIMORDIAL INTRUSION DETECTED - THREAT LEVEL... INSIGNIFICANT. CELESTIAL INCURSION PROMINENT THROUGHOUT CITADEL - WITHIN ACCEPTABLE PARAMETERS. NEVERBORN DIRECTIVE WILL BE UPHELD." The screens flickered, as if the eyes were blinking. They stared down at Esone, the eyes of the Citadel gazing into his soul.<br/><br/>"TA’AKOZOKA OUT."<br/><br/>All of C-Sec went dark. No backup lights went on, only the glow of armor breaking the gloom. Esone thumbed his comm bead again, stepping backwards back onto the Dragon's Path.<br/><br/><span style="color: #000000">Ta’akozoka... that was... a Primordial, I think. One that never became a Yozi at the end of the War. It disappeared, along with Ramethus. How did the Neverborn get their hands on it?</span><br/><br/>"The Neverborn definitely have some interest here boss. Something immediate. And they've got some cancer program build into the Citadel's security systems, patterned after a Titan from before the Neverwar. I'm not sure how powerful it actually is - I was able to jack out without it catching me. A true Titan, even a bound one, would have fried my brain. It also had to relinquish control of C-Sec in order to move. Assume you're dealing with a hostile AI, but one that can only control one system at a time."<br/><br/>Still in Turian form, Esone stepped out into the Presidium Commons. Digital tracking seemed to be out of the question, time to try a more archaic approach. Hanar were hard to tell apart, but how many could there be on the Citadel?