Mass Effect: Book I - The Spectre Chronicles - JShepLord (2025)

Chapter 1: Eden Prime - Arrival

Chapter Text

Human Embassy - Presidium, Citadel

It had been a long day in the embassy for the voice of humanity. It was only a week ago since the human ambassador on the Citadel, Donnel Udina, made the case to the Council. A case that had laid dormant for nearly twenty years. Thinking back on it now, the ambassador couldn't help but feel as if their decision had already been made from the time that the request left his mouth, and the weeklong wait was just a chance to make him squirm. Regardless of their motives, he got what he asked for. Another chance at introducing a human into the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance elite, or Spectre for short.

When he first heard about the shadowy group of individuals, he couldn't say that he liked the idea of the 'Right Hand of the Council' being free to do as they pleased, so long as they had the blessing of the holier-than-thou Council members. But after watching them move in and out of the shadows for years, he had to say that it definitely had potential. Especially if a human were given the role of Spectre. What that would mean for humanity as a whole was that they were one step closer to achieving heights that many of the other races had not. Races like the exo-suit wearing volus, the jellyfish-like hanar, the lost quarians, and the lumbering elcor. They had all been a part of the galactic civilization long before humans, but none of them yet had a seat on the Council. For humans to achieve such grandeur before them would admittedly put a grin of smug satisfaction on his face.

But, before any of that, they had to do the impossible. They had to pick someone from the oceans of recommendations from every corner of Earth and the galaxy itself to find the one person who could get the job done. Someone who would pick up the title of Spectre and wield it like a flaming sword. Someone who would show the Council the value of having humanity on their side. And doing so was no easy task. He had already tossed out any dossiers for candidates that had a questionable history. Good though they may be, passing the Councilors someone whose past could be dug up as dirt was out of the question.

Of course, there had been nearly a thousand recommendations from the Alliance Military itself. Everything from Gunnery Sergeants to Admirals. There was even one recommendation for a Sentinel-Class biotic by the name of Carlos Rivera who had once managed to save hundreds of lives by cushioning the fall of a commercial class spacecraft. It had fallen from orbit because of a catastrophic engine rupture caused by tainted element zero in its core. The result was an explosion that nearly took the entire shuttle out. But the man had miraculously pulled it off, and held a biotic lift maneuver just before it hit the ground, landing it safely.

The incident resulted in the arrest of Dorin Fal, the volus CEO of Narhu Combine mining company, and the recall of all eezo shipped by the bribed official over the last year. Rivera was also given a Congressional Gold Medal for his willingness to nearly hemorrhage his brain to try and save the lives aboard the ship. But as the ambassador looked over the rest of the man's file, he became more and more disappointed. He had served in the military, but only a minimum contract of four years. Afterwards, he went back to his home on Terra Nova and continued to live as a labor worker so that he could be near his family again. He had little to no combat experience, and from the looks of it, his only method of fighting included biotics. This meant that he'd have to constantly pause mid-fight in order to allow his abilities to naturally recharge.

The man was certainly a hero, but he was no Spectre. Setting the datapad off to the side, the tired man let out a sigh. "This is harder than I thought," he said firmly before reaching over to grab his cup of coffee. It had long gone cold by now. Still, it did its job.

"Actually, I think our job may just be finished. Well, as far as the looking goes..." said the man across from him. Udina looked up at him with interest. His current assistant in the search for a spectre candidate was in fact the reason why they needed one now. Captain David Anderson, who was himself a contender for the most decorated candidate in the Alliance Military, was intended to be the first human spectre eighteen years ago under his predecessor, Ambassador Goyle. But the trial he was sent on was classified as a critical mission failure, leading to the rapid classification of the mission report, and the squashing of the man's hopes of becoming a spectre.

His eyes moved down from the captain's dark brown eyes to the datapad he was holding. "Find someone that impressed you?" he asked, reaching over for the dossier. Anderson handed him the paperwork, and all he had to do was read the name on the file in order to respect the choice himself. "Lieutenant Commander Jane Lilith Shepard. I've heard about her."

"We all have. She was already a known asset because of her excellent service record. Her initial scores in boot camp surpassed even the drill instructor's own personal bests. She was chosen as a platoon leader and led every single one of her squad through the entire six month training camp to record breaking scores. Firing range, combatives, electronic warfare, medical, survival, all perfect. Everything they threw at her came back in a neatly gift-wrapped package with a bow on top," said Anderson as he took a new, warm cup of coffee from Udina's assistant.

The ambassador nodded at the light-skinned girl before turning back to the woman's file. "In college at the age of sixteen, earned her bachelor's degree in xenolinguistics with progress in the Asari Alai dialect and Turian Common. As well as a bachelor's at the same time in electrical engineering. Both earned with exceptional marks in record times as well."

Anderson nodded after taking a sip of the warm brew. "Both of which directly reflect in her military record. She was flagged for Special Forces almost immediately after her first assignment as XO on the SSV Alexandria as a staff lieutenant. They were called to respond to a terrorist attack on Amaterasu's capital city of Okamiden. She was then given a silver star, the key to the city of Okamiden, and a promotion to Lieutenant Commander." He set the cup of coffee aside.

"With a trophy like that on the shelf, you could easily cruise to retirement. But she even managed to one up that just four years later while on shore leave," Udina continued, his hairs nearly standing on end as he read the name Elysium on the report.

“She seems to have a knack for one upping herself,” said the Captain as he smirked at the ambassador.

Udina nodded, scratching his chin as his eyes devoured the record before him. She’s dealt with extremists, terrorists, pirates, raiders, tyrants, and more at the end of her proficient sniper scope. And on the other end, she also had a hand in securing over fifteen hundred defectors from Khar'shan, taking political outcasts, slaves, and even a former Hegemon from batarian clutches and placed them in a colony of their own to live life as freely as the humans do. She was a humanitarian, and whatever the equivalent was for aliens, which would be amazing for her image when being presented. She spoke multiple xeno-languages, had enough combat experience to put some admirals to shame, and all the while never once had a mark on her record. And this was just what they knew about. Many of her files were deemed classified by the Unified Nations of Earth. He could get them of course, but the amount of work he’d have to do to get his eyes on them would be far more than he could afford.

Even so, her public record, as well as the classified stuff he had been given with her recommendation, was more than enough to make the decision. “Let’s get her in here. The Council approved to have our candidate partner with another spectre of their choosing. Let’s hope she plays well with others.”

“Sir?” called his assistant from her office in the front.

“What is it Tonya?” he asked, slightly annoyed about being interrupted.

“Councilor Tevos is on the holocom and you have an urgent message from Arcturus,” she said before ducking back into her office, the door automatically closing behind her.

“Good timing I suppose,” said Udina as he stood. “Captain, would you mind waiting with my assistant for a moment?” Anderson nodded, standing himself and stepping out of the lush office. Udina tapped a key on his terminal and the door lit up, creating a sound-proof shield over it before he finally stepped towards the holocom with a smile. Shepard was the perfect piece for his big picture plan. It would take a while. Months, maybe even years. But eventually, with a human spectre of her calibur, they’d have to concede. As the asari councilor’s image appeared in front of him, he greeted her with a nod of respect. “Councilor Tevos. We have selected the candidate.”

She eyed him curiously before finally speaking. “I’m happy to hear that Ambassador. But, it appears that we will have to put that on hold for the moment,” she said with amusement. Were it not for the words she spoke, just hearing her voice would have put him in a relaxed state. She was like a siren of old, whose lovely voice led many sailors to a watery doom.

But as the words left her mouth, a mask of anger covered his face. “On hold!? It’s been on hold for almost twenty years now!”

“Ambassador Udina, you need to learn to stay collected in situations like this. I meant to put it on hold for a few days, as a situation has arisen on one of your own colonies. A situation which affects the galaxy as a whole,” she said with a soft smile. “Have you received any reports from Eden Prime?”

He stared at her for a long moment. Did she just push his buttons? She knew what the candidacy meant to him and that any suggestion of putting it off would be met with outrage. But in her initial statement, she left out the time span she had intended. Did she do it intentionally to throw him off? He turned his face to a mask of stone, not willing to give her any more sadistic joy if she had played him. “I’m afraid I haven’t checked, Councilor. We’ve been knee deep in spectre candidates for the last two days.”

She nodded her understanding. “Understood. The report should make its way to your desk shortly, but the Council has decided to give it a Level 5 Classification.”

Udina widened his eyes at the claim, knowing that in the Council classification system, level 5 was the highest. It meant that only the Councilors and Spectres were able to see the records. “What has happened that warrants a Level 5 Classification Councilor?”

“Are you familiar with Eden Prime?” asked Tevos in that charming voice.

“A farming colony out in the Exodus Cluster. There’s more of a chance of a rogue VI killing me than something exciting happening there,” he said disarmingly.

The Councilor chuckled before she continued. “Then I would avoid Avina for a few days, Ambassador. Because it appears that unexciting colony has just discovered a prothean beacon while excavating.”

Udina’s eyes opened wider than they ever had before. “A beacon!? On Eden Prime!?” he asked incredulously.

She nodded. “The report should be on your terminal now. We’re sending a spectre to monitor the extraction of the beacon. They’re preparing for flight as we speak.”

The gravity of the situation hit him like a wrecking ball. But even so, he composed himself. “Councilor, before you told me that another Spectre would be tagging along with our candidate to give you mission reports and to inspect the quality of our choice,” he said, getting ready to thrust forward a risky idea. But she cut in before he had the chance.

“I too thought that this task would be a good assessment of your choice for the spectre candidacy. That’s why with your report is an approval from the Council to have them drafted,” she said with a knowing smile. He couldn’t stop himself from showing his surprise at her foresight.

Instead, he simply nodded. “Thank you Councilor. I’ll get their file to you as soon as possible so you can see for yourself, and I’ll call her in from her current duty station immediately.”

“I await with anticipation, Ambassador. I do hope your selection succeeds this time,” she said before the image of her elegant form vanished from the comm.

Udina sighed to himself, knowing that he had been outdone again. Turning around, he headed to his computer and opened the file. “She damn well better,” was all he had to say on the matter.

XO Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

Abruptness was never something Jane Shepard liked. Despite that, it was something she was familiar with. She had made a skill of rolling with the punches, but never liked having to. So when she was pulled from her duty at Armstrong Station on Luna, where she was assisting with the training of new potential special forces recruits, she just grumbled all the way to the Citadel, the flower shaped ancient space station left behind by the protheans.

When she had arrived, she was met by Captain Anderson, who she had the pleasure of meeting before during her many reports back to Earth and the UNE. They had only been acquaintances previously, but she knew when she met him in the docking bay of the Citadel that this wasn’t going to be the same thing. He took her to the human embassy on the Presidium -- the center ring of the station. She had only been there once on business after her dealings on Shanxi. If she was honest, she loved the Citadel and would have liked to stay longer. But her duty to the Alliance was first and foremost.

Once again she had found herself pulled to the beautiful Presidium only to be told she would be leaving the next day under Captain Anderson’s command. She shouldn’t complain really. Before she became an N7 recruit, she’d had a lot of COs that couldn’t lead to save their life. So having someone she knew was competent at the wheel was comforting at least. Plus, she got to actually spend the night on the Citadel and go out for a real dinner before leaving, rather than eating at the mess hall. Rarely in all her time spent on Alliance military stations and ships had she had the chance to try alien cuisine.

Though, according to her professor in her xenolinguistics class, due to the turian’s dextro-amino DNA, trying their food would end in a very bad day in the bathroom for humans. Salarian food was edible, however most of it consisted of insects, making it less appealing to humans. Asari however had a large list of delectable foods for her to explore, and did she. She spent hours in a Presidium restaurant called “The Blue Pearl.” According to the waitress, the name came from stones similar to pearls that were created inside an organ of one of Thessia’s largest predators. Like humans, these gems were commonly used in jewelry and clothing.

After the interesting conversation, Shepard devoured all kinds of fish and fruit that the planet had to offer. Afterwards, she had a nice sleep in the hotel that the Alliance had put her in. Then came the call. She donned her armor, checked her weapons out of C-Sec, and made her way to the ship known as the Normandy.

Now, as she sat on her bunk, she felt restless. Something about this didn’t fit. She was Special Forces, so why would they pull her onto a test mission for a new ship? And for that matter, why the hell would they put a spectre of all things on the ship as well? Something was definitely going on, and she was being left out of the loop. She didn’t like that at all.

Her omni-tool lit up all the sudden and she heard the call that they were approaching the relay. “The Arcturus Prime Relay is in range.” Wanting to shake off some of her superstition about what was going on, she stood to her armored feet and left the quarters. Returning the salute of the NCO she passed, she made her way up the stairs to the command deck. “Initiation transmission sequence,” said the voice as she passed another officer who gave her a nod. She locked eyes with the navigation officer as she walked around the awkwardly large CIC. He gave her an odd, knowing smile. But she continued past him as the pilot spoke again. “We are connected. Calculating transit mass and destination.”

She stepped up onto the walkway which led directly to the cockpit, officers on either side working diligently at their stations. One noticed her and nodded. “Commander.”

She nodded back and continued past to finally step up to the two figures seated in the cockpit and the turian spectre himself. She stopped next to the much taller figure and stared out of the viewport. “All stations secure for transit. Board is green, approach run has begun.” The Normandy approached the massive relay ahead, and as soon as they were within range, the core of the enormous prothean wonder lit up like a sun. At the same time, the gyroscopic shield generators, presumably to protect any ships using the relay from the massive amount of radiation that the core put off, began spinning faster around the glowing center. “Hitting the relay in 3, 2, 1…”

As he finished, a bolt of energy lashed out at the ship and began to slide between the two long tuning fork-like structures of the relay, picking up speed. Finally, with the energy pulling the ship with it, it launched faster until it slingshotted the ship into the relay corridor.

Finally, the pilot spoke without the ship-wide intercom. “Thrusters, check. Navigation, check. Internal emission sinks, engaged. All systems online. Drift, just under 1500 K.”

The turian next to her spoke up. “Fifteen hundred is good. Your captain will be pleased,” he said simply, then turned and walked back the way she had just come.

The pilot, who was nicknamed “Joker,” watched as the turian left, then looked back towards his console with a sour look on his face. “I hate that guy.”

The staff lieutenant seated next to him looked at him oddly. “Nihlus just gave you a compliment...and you hate him?” he asked, an amused smirk across his handsome features.

In his huffy, annoyed tone, the pilot lashed back. “You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom, that’s good. I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead. That’s incredible!” he said, shooting the staff lieutenant a dirty glance. “Besides, spectres are trouble. I don’t like having him on board. Call me paranoid.”

“You’re paranoid. The Council helped fund this project, they have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment,” said the LT as he turned back to his console.

Joker rolled his eyes as he adjusted the drift of the ship. “Yeah, that’s the ‘official story,’” he said, using air quotes to add to his sarcasm. “But only an idiot believes the official story.”

Finally, Shepard interjected. She would have liked to add her feelings on the matter, and express her doubts about the official story, as Joker called it. But as the executive officer aboard the ship, one of her duties was not to undermine the captain. “Are you always expecting the worst?” she asked the comical pilot.

Joker looked up at her with a stern look. “Bad feelings are an occupational hazard. A crew like this doesn’t go anywhere unless there’s a reason. We’ve got a Spectre who needs no explanation. Captain Anderson who’s more decordated than a Christmas tree. And then there’s you Commander.”

She raised her eyebrow curiously. “Me?”

“Yeah you, the Special Forces soldier who had a medal bigger than some dinner plates pinned on her chest after she single-handedly saved Elysium from a raid of every pirate in the Verge. I mean, you should have an action figure by now,” the pilot said with a large grin.

“Is that right?” she asked, amused by his claim and also surprised that he knew that much about her.

He chuckled to himself as he turned back to the pilot console. “Damn straight.”

She chuckled to herself, the reason for his nickname becoming much clearer now. “I was curious about why I was pulled from my station for this task. It seemed rather urgent.”

“I dunno Commander. It’s a stealth ship and you’re good with that kinda thing…” he said shrugging. “Maybe they need your advice on how to scare the pants off people.”

Her smirk turned to a chuckle as the pilot’s comm lit up. “Joker, status report!”

“Just cleared the mass relay Captain. Stealth systems engaged. Everything looks solid!” reported the man as he adjusted his hat, his voice returning to its semi-professional demeanor.

“Good. Find a comm buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to Alliance brass and the Council before we reach Eden Prime,” the captain said through the comm.

“Aye aye Captain. Better brace yourself sir, I think Nihlus is headed your way,” said Joker, his less serious tone returning slightly. It was interesting watching him switch his professionalism off and on when dealing with Captain Anderson. The amount of respect he had for the captain must be immense.

“He’s already here Lieutenant…” replied the captain in a no-nonsense tone. Joker just flinched and shook his head. “Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the comm room for debriefing,” he continued, before ending the conversation with a beep.

“You get that Commander?” asked Joker, turning his head towards her slightly before turning back to the console.

“Great. You pissed off the Captain and now I get to deal with it,” Shepard said with a playful smirk.

Once he saw her joking demeanor, he replied in kind. “It’s not my fault. The Captain’s always in a bad mood.”

The staff lieutenant kept his eyes locked onto the information in front of him. “Only when he talks to you Joker.”

Comm Room - SSV Normandy SR1

When Shepard arrived in the comm room, she was met with the sight of Nihlus, the tall turian spectre that she had seen in the cockpit. As she stepped inside, he moved forward and greeted her. Her eyes examined him quickly, noting that his dark carapace and facial markings were strikingly similar to her longtime friend from Shanxi. “Commander Shepard! I was hoping you’d get here first. It will give us a chance to talk,” he spoke in that heavily flanged turian voice.

She crossed her arms as she eyed the turian. She had heard of the spectres before and wasn’t sure she liked an unregulated military force. But she had never met one personally, so she had always saved her judgements. Now, she would get the chance she needed. Either way, she was still suspicious of his presence aboard the ship. As cartooney and comical as Joker was, he wasn’t wrong about something unexplained happening on board the Normandy. “What about?”

He paced in front of her, not in a nervous manner as humans normally do. But his body language -- as far as she could read it -- was one of boredom. “I’m interested in this world we’re going to...Eden Prime. I’ve heard it’s quite beautiful.”

She shrugged as she watched him move back and forth. “I’ve never been there.”

“But you know of it. It’s become something of a symbol for your people, isn’t it?” he asked as he finally looked her in the eyes. “Proof that humanity can not only establish colonies across the galaxy, but protect them as well.” Finally, he turned away and folded his arms behind his back. “But how safe is it really?” he finished, his tone slightly more grim.

Shepard uncrossed her arms and stepped forward. “Are you trying to scare me, Spectre?” she asked, a hint of confrontation in her otherwise flat tone. She didn’t like people talking so blatantly in foreshadowing monologues. It only ever led to trouble.

But the spectre turned around, his voice lightening again. “Your people are still newcomers Shepard. The galaxy can be a dangerous place. I find myself wondering if the Alliance is truly ready for this,” he said as he crossed his own arms over his broad chest.

Before she had a chance to ask what he was talking about, Captain Anderson entered the room and stepped up to them both. Nodding to her, he turned and looked to Nihlus. “I think it’s about time we told the Commander what’s really going on,” he said in an urgent tone. Despite his normally stone-cold professional demeanor, with his military fade cut, his Class A uniform, and all of his medals pinned on his chest, Anderson now looked somewhat anxious.

Nihlus turned to Shepard, his eyes set on her. “This mission is far more than just a simple shakedown run.”

The words, though hardly surprising, unnerved her. “I managed to figure out that much. So does someone want to tell me what’s actually going on?” she asked, looking between them.

Anderson was the first to speak up. “Well, there’s two things actually. First, we’re not doing a shakedown run. The Normandy, as you may have heard, has some of the most top of the line stealth technological advances in the history of the galaxy built into it. And we’re using those advances to make a covert pickup on the surface of Eden Prime.”

“That seems like a rather mundane thing to keep from the crew,” she said, then her mind flashed back to her many pickups of batarian defectors. “Unless the package warrants such discretion.”

He simply nodded. “A research team on Eden Prime unearthed some kind of alien technology during a dig a few days ago. After thorough examination, it was found to be a beacon of prothean origin.”

Shepard’s eyes widened at the claim of the find. “Oh…” was all she said for a long moment. But the first question to spill out of her mouth was, “Is it intact?”

“We wouldn’t be making a covert drop onto a human world for a broken beacon Shepard,” Nihlus said, slight amusement present in his voice. He seemed to enjoy her shock at what she was hearing.

Anderson spoke up again. “This is big, Shepard. The last time humanity made a discovery like this, it jumped our technology forward two hundred years.” A dark look covered his features. “But Eden Prime is a farming colony, not a research colony. It doesn’t have the facilities to handle something so technologically advanced. That’s why we need to get in there as quietly as possible and pick it up, so we can bring it back to the Citadel for proper study.”

“Obviously this goes beyond mere human interests Commander. This discovery could affect every species in Council Space,” added Nihlus as he stepped forward, completing a triangle of the three.

Shepard looked at them both, something nagging at her senses. She looked at the Spectre curiously. “You wouldn’t be here, and neither would the Normandy, if you weren’t expecting trouble. So, are you?”

“I’m always expecting trouble,” the turian responded firmly. “Your world may be stuffed away safely inside Alliance space, but a discovery of this magnitude could justify a war to some of those in the Terminus Systems. That’s why you were only informed just now, and the rest of the crew won’t be until we reach Eden Prime airspace. We don’t want any extracurricular calls slipping through with the mission reports.”

“Understood. Now that I have a grasp on that situation, what’s the second thing you mentioned?” she asked as she looked at Anderson. His face suddenly broke into a small grin.

“Nihlus isn’t just here for the beacon Shepard. He’s also here for you,” he stated.

Shepard stared at him for a moment, then looked over at Nihlus who was giving her a puzzling stare. “Look Captain, me and a turian had a thing once, but…”

“For an evaluation Shepard,” said the man as he cut her off before she said anything embarrassing.

“Did you say, you and a turian had a thing once? What does that even mean?” the spectre asked as he looked over at Anderson.

“Look Shepard, the Alliance has been pushing for this for a long time. Humanity wants a larger role in shaping interstellar policy. We want more say with the Citadel Council. The spectres represent the Council’s power and authority. If they accept a human into their ranks, it shows how far the Alliance has come,” explained Anderson as he eyed her curiously.

“Oh, I guess that’s a less creepy reason why he’s been following me around the ship,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders.

“You noticed that did you?” he asked, his mandibles twitching in slight surprise at having been caught.

“You have very unique footsteps, Spectre. You might want to try softer shoes if you’re following someone. Maybe socks,” she said with a grin.

As the turian chuckled, Anderson just sighed and shook his head. “Dear god Commander, I think Joker is starting to rub off on you.”

“Getting back on topic, you held off an assault during the Blitz single-handed. You showed not only courage, but also incredible skill. Which is why I accepted pushing your file to the top of the list when the Council asked who I thought would make a good candidate,” Nihlus said as he stepped next to the captain.

“You seem rather eager to have me here,” observed Shepard curiously, noting his chipper attitude towards the situation.

“Not all turians resent humanity. Some of us see the potential in your species. We see what you have to offer to the rest of the galaxy, and to the Spectres. We are an elite group. And as many candidates as we may have at any given time, it’s rare to find an individual with the skills we seek. I don’t care that you’re human, Shepard. I only care that you can get the job done,” he said firmly, slightly inflating what little pride she allowed herself to have.

Turning to Anderson, Shepard eyed him curiously. “Well then, I suppose there’s no refusing.”

“Earth needs this, Shepard. We’re counting on you,” he told her solemnly. She detected a twinge of sorrow in his voice, but dropped it to save for another day.

“Oh good, no pressure,” she quipped, getting a stern grin from the captain.

“I need to see your skills for myself, Commander. Eden Prime will be the first of several missions together,” the turian explained.

“And on this mission?” asked the Commander curiously, still unsure who was giving the orders currently.

“You’ll be in charge of the ground team. Secure the beacon and get it onto the ship as soon as possible. Nihlus will accompany you to observe the mission,” said Anderson as he stood at a rigid parade rest.

“Well, I’m as ready as it gets,” she responded, letting out a sigh that released the tension of not knowing her situation. Every mission she had run before was a success due to the mountainous piles of data she went through prior to the actual event. Going into one now with as little as she knew was bothersome, but she could run with it now that she knew the details.

“Good. We should be nearing Eden-” started Anderson, but Joker cut him off over the intercom.

“Captain, we’ve got a problem!” said the comedic man, his tone now dead serious. The contrast made her want to reach for her rifle.

Likely knowing he wouldn’t be interrupted unless it was an emergency, the captain turned towards the ceiling mounted intercom. “What’s wrong Joker?”

“It’s a transmission from Eden Prime we received as soon as we left the corridor, sir. You better take a look at this,” the pilot answered.

“Have Lieutenant Haley put it up on the screen back here,” ordered the captain as he, Shepard and Nihlus all turned towards the awaited screen. It was only seconds before the chilling video finally appeared.

As soon as the screen flicked on, the sound of gunfire was immediately present, almost overpowering as they watched from the helmet-cam of one of the soldiers stationed on Eden Prime. Jane’s eyes widened as she saw the leader of the crew shove the camera wielding soldier backwards, telling him to get down as an explosion rocked their cover. It was apparent that the one whose eyes she was seeing through was new, as most of the video was shaky and erratic. But he managed to focus on a man wearing the officer grey Alliance colors long enough to hear what he had to say. “We are under attack! Taking heavy casualties! I repeat, heavy casualties!” started the fresh LT as his heavy breathing cut his speech for a few seconds. After catching his breath for a moment, he continued, but the video started to get staticky as it wore on. “We can’t--need evac! They came out of nowhere! I repeat we need-”

Suddenly, the lieutenant slumped forward before falling to the ground. The camera soldier held up his Alliance blue-armored hands and it was clear from the red splash that the lieutenant who had been speaking into his camera was just killed or would be dead soon. Shepard clenched her fists as a nearby soldier unleashed hell with her rifle to get revenge. Suddenly, the eye on the ground jerked, falling backwards, perhaps shot as well by whatever was attacking the soldiers. But the eerie sight that the camera left them with made her even more uneasy. Whatever was shooting at the Alliance group had either flown into the air, or something new had caught their attention. Despite their current struggle, all of the soldiers within the camera’s range suddenly stopped firing and looked straight up into the sky.

The cameraman finally did as well to the sound of the nearby NCO saying, “What in God’s name is that?” And finally, the camera looked up at the anomaly. To say that a chill ran down her spine as she saw what looked like a giant hand reaching for the colony would be an understatement. Never had something put fear in her like this brief three second flash of a video. Almost as soon as the camera caught the smooth surface of whatever this abomination was, it sent out a massive roar like the sound of metal being torn to shreds, amplified to an earth-shaking decibel. All too soon it passed as more explosions rocked the area, then one finally hit the soldier filming, ending the video feed as well as his life.

Shepard finally released her clenched fist, her fingers tingly with the feeling of restricted blood from how hard she was squeezing. Finally, Joker’s stoic voice spoke over the comm again. “Everything cuts out after the video ends. No comm traffic at all. Just goes dead. There’s nothing…”

Unlike her own frown, and Nihlus’ frozen look of awe at what he had just seen, Anderson had never lost his stone mask of professionalism. Still standing at parade rest, he spoke back to the pilot. “Reverse and hold at thirty-eight point five seconds,” he ordered, staring at the screen like he was in a trance.

As the image popped back onto the screen, Shepard looked again. With slightly more time to study, she realized that it wasn’t a hand she was looking at, it just seemed as much from the angle that the soldiers were filming from. Instead, it looked like some kind of sea creature from the tales of Jules Verne and H.P. Lovecraft. It was massive, blotting out any skyline behind it and any celestial bodies that might have been seen as well. Lastly, the dark surface of... whatever it was, seemed to be projecting lightning as it descended from the sky, sending arcing bolts over its sleek exterior and out into the air. She had never believed in any kind of doomsday prophecy, but if she had, that was exactly what she imagined it would look like.

“Joker, status report,” the captain said grimly as he continued to look at the chilling image.

“Seventeen minutes out and no other Alliance ships responding, Captain,” responded Joker quickly.

Letting out a heavy breath, as if he’d been holding it in for some time, the captain issued his orders. “Take us in Joker, fast and quiet.” The intercom shut off, and Anderson turned to the other two. “This mission just got a lot more complicated.”

Finally prying his predator-like eyes away from the screen, the turian turned towards Shepard and Anderson, holding his arms behind his back in a similar stance to Anderson’s, his grim tone returned. “A small strike team can move quickly without drawing attention. It’s our best chance for securing the beacon.”

“Grab your gear and meet us in the cargo hold, Shepard. We’ll discuss the plan there,” Captain Anderson instructed as he turned away from the screen and left with a haste in his gait. Nihlus left her as well, presumably to follow.

Jane Shepard turned back towards the screen for a moment and stared hard at the image that flickered back at her. In that moment, it was almost like it was staring directly back at her, it’s rending cry echoing in her head.

CODEX ENTRIES

Asari Alai | Linguistics | Asari
The Alai dialect is the most common language out of three spoken on Thessia. Due to oceans covering 90% of Thessia’s surface, asari society has been relatively small. After passing through millennia of old languages, Thessia’s current day spoken languages are known as Alai, Le’eya, and Y’Valtic, with Alai being the most prolific.

Turian Common | Linguistics | Turian
Given the rigid militaristic nature of turians, it comes as little surprise that Turian Common is not only the most commonly spoken language among turians and their colonies, but it is the only language used in any business regardless of any colony they may be on. While the turians do have other languages, and some even speak the other languages, they are all fluent in Turian Common by military law.

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Chapter 2: Eden Prime - The Traitor

Chapter Text

Cargo Bay - SSV Normandy

It was mere minutes before everyone was gathered into the cargo bay. Due to the nature of their original mission, as few crewmembers were put on the ship as possible. So unfortunately, the only aid she had on the ground was Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, who had been trading blows with Joker in the cockpit before, and a young corporal by the name of Richard Jenkins. When she had passed him on her way to the comm room, he had a buzz of excitement about him, mentioning something about waiting for some real action.

But as she stood across from him in the cargo bay, she could see that his energy had diminished. That was to be expected when the ‘real action’ you hoped for included your colony, and the lives of those you grew up with being in danger. Jenkins and Alenko stood together on one side, while Shepard herself stood with Nihlus and Anderson on the other.

As Joker confirmed the activation of the stealth systems, Anderson stared directly at Shepard with a hard look in his eyes. “Your team’s going to be the muscle of the operation Shepard. Land heavy and go straight for the dig site without delay,” he ordered.

Shepard cocked an eyebrow at him from under her N7 helmet. “We’re distractions?” she asked curiously. “I mean, it’s not exactly my style...”

“I understand Commander, but Nihlus is going to be the stealth unit today. You are going to clear a path to the beacon while Nihlus sneaks ahead and makes sure it doesn’t go anywhere. That way if your presence were to cause any kind of commotion…”

“Right. If someone were to try to take the beacon before we get there, he could stop them,.” she said, nodding her understanding.

Still being able to hear across the cargo bay, Lieutenant Alenko stepped forward with a question. “Sir, what about survivors?”

The Captain sighed. “As bad as it sounds, survivors are a secondary objective. If you find them, bring them along as long as they don’t slow you down. But that beacon is your top priority. Once it’s secured, if there are any movers left on site, have them prepare it for transportation to the cargo docks and protect that cargo from anything that gets near it.”

“Yes sir,.” said Shepard said with a nod before turning to stand with her crew. Looking over at the pair, she saw that the lieutenant was as cool as a cucumber. She was glad to have someone with a level head on the team, because at the moment, Jenkins was practically rattling in his armor. “Jenkins, what’s your middle name?”

Looking up at his commander with an incredulous stare, he took a relaxed, if awkward stance. “It’s Leroy Commander, why do you ask?”

She smiled at him. “To get you to relax. Did it work?”

He thought about it for a moment, then smirked. “I suppose you knocked me out of my spiral of dismay. But it didn’t stop me from worrying.”

“Good. I’d be more concerned if you weren’t,” she said, giving his Alliance blue armor a pat on the shoulder. “You’re from Eden Prime, right? What’s it like?”

He nodded, shaking his limbs as if to try and loosen himself up. “That’s right Commander. It’s a farming colony, so it’s real peaceful. Even in the inner city they’ve been really careful with development so that there’s no city noise or pollution.” His worried demeanor returned. “My parents lived on the outskirts of the colony, hopefully somewhere safe from whatever’s going on.”

“I’m sure they’re safe,” chimed in Alenko, who had a serious look.

“Thanks. You know, when I was growing up, I always thought Eden Prime was a little too calm and quiet for me. So I joined the Alliance, because even paradise can get boring after a while. But now…” he said, going silent for a moment.

“Well, once the beacon is off the planet, I’m sure it’ll go back to the way it was,” the lieutenant said reassuringly. But Shepard eyed the man, not sure if he should be making promises that may not come to fruition.

“I hope so,” said the corporal solemnly.

“In the meantime, make sure to follow orders. I need you to hold yourself together out there, no matter what we see,” Shepard said, getting a nod from both of them.

“Approaching drop point one!” called Joker through the intercom as the back of the bay opened. A wild wind rushed in, making the corporal stumble for a moment. Within seconds, Nihlus was out of the ship, groundside, and on the move. “Drop point two in ten seconds.”

Anderson turned to Shepard again. “The mission is yours now Shepard! Make us proud!” he shouted over the wind, then stepped back as the ship lowered and all three Alliance soldiers hit the ground.

Ardez Quarry - Eden Prime

As the three landed, the Normandy almost flawlessly swooped into the sky away from view once more. Their smooth landing was no surprise given how gently the ship rode. After the mission was over, assuming she survived, she’d definitely miss the Normandy. But as she took her first step towards the quarry where the beacon was said to have been dug up, all thoughts of the ship vanished from her mind.

“This is a quarry, so there should be plenty of cover lying around. Use it,” she ordered as she started moving forward, her assault rifle drawn and primed to kill.

“Roger!” shouted Jenkins nervously. He stopped his movement forward when he accidentally bumped into the two officers, who both gave him stern looks. Shepard merely put a finger up to her lips, and he nodded. “Oh...right...I mean, roger,” he said, much quieter than before. They began moving softly through the small entrance carved into the rock, then through a stream with nothing but silence around them.

The lack of gunfire made the scene even more eerie for the commander, because that meant there was nobody left to fight back. But she decided to go for optimism instead, and hoped they had bunkered down somewhere. As they stepped through a small stream that flowed through a particularly grassy part of the quarry, Alenko stopped dead in his tracks as a small floating creature drifted into their view. “What the hell is that?” he asked incredulously.

Jenkins looked over at the oddly balloon-like hovering anomaly before responding calmly. “Oh, that’s just a gas bag. They’re harmless. According to scientists, they do most of the pollinating in these areas, so watch out. You accidentally bump into one and you’ve got plant pollen all over you.”

“My sinuses are going to love that,” Shepard quipped, trying to calm their nerves slightly as they moved past the passive creature and deeper into the hewn rock quarry. As she predicted, cover littered the area in the form of protrusions jutting from the ground, carved shelves , and piles of loose debris. “Heads down,” she ordered silently as she ducked behind one of the shelves. They followed in kind, and the three began moving from cover to cover as they gained ground across the small canyon.

When they reached a certain point however, the move to the next set of cover was very wide, leaving plenty of time to be fired upon. Without order, however, Jenkins began moving towards the goal before she could stop him. That was when time seemed to speed up. Within moments of his move, strange, automated drones flew out from deeper in the quarry and started unleashing fire on the corporal.

Shepard and Alenko both immediately jumped up and began firing on the drones with two Avenger-class rifles, throwing the aerial combatants’ aim off only slightly. Jenkins took his seconds-long opening and dashed for the cover immediately, his shield pinging with fire, then collapsing just before he made it to cover. Right as one of the drones locked on however, both of the odd automatons were swallowed by an almost magical blue aura.

Jenkins slid into cover just as Alenko thrust his arm towards the ground, sending both of the machines smashing into the rocky surface like meteorites and causing them to explode in a shower of metal. Unfortunately, another swarm of three zoomed out of the woodwork and began firing on Alenko’s position, making him duck back behind the rocks. “Got another of those in you?” asked Shepard over the gunfire.

“Gimme a minute.” he responded, his breathing heavy from the strain.

Hitting her mic, she spoke through the radio to the third soldier. “Jenkins! You alright?”

“Affirmative Commander. I don’t think these new ones saw me yet,” he said in a hushed tone.

“Good, I want you to take aim at their backs and fire as soon as I give the word, okay?” she asked as she opened her omni-tool.

“You got it sir,” he responded.

She hit one last button on her display, then waved her hand towards the enemy drones. “Now Jenkins!” They each let out a loud popping sound that was heavily covered by gunfire before receiving a round each in the back.

The corporal had a surprised look as his bullets seemed to pass right through their invisible shields, shattering their shells and sending them careening into the cliffside. In his excitement at having killed the swarming enemies, he jumped to his feet and cheered. “Yeah! Take that, you sonsabitches!” he shouted aggressively.

“Corporal! Keep behind cover!” Shepard shouted as she saw his excitement. But it was too late; a sniper shot echoed across the canyon and blasted through his armor, splattering his blood across the ground. The young man looked down at his hands, now soaked in his own blood and fell to his knees before finally slamming face first into the ground. “Goddammit!” she cursed loudly as she smashed her fist against the rocky cover she stood behind.

“That was a sniper?” Alenko asked, getting a nod from the squad leader. He let out a heavy sigh as he clenched his fist. “Commander, can you find him with your own?” he asked grimly.

“What the hell are you talking about Lieutenant?” she asked, trading her automatic rifle for the long range mantis she had on her back.

“I’m pretty sure my barrier can stand up to at least a single shot from any known sniper in the galaxy except for the Widow,” he remarked as he began loosening up his legs. “I’m going to run for Jenkins, and when he fires, you find him and take him out.”

“Don’t even think about it Alenko! I’m not losing two of you to the same stupid mistake!” she shouted, but she knew he had made his decision when she saw a brilliant sheen cover his body, a sign that he had just donned his barrier beneath his shields. Opening her omni-tool again, she activated her cloak and rose from her position, her mind going back to the moment the corporal was shot. Given the direction of his blood spatter, it could only have come from further in the canyon.

Spinning out of cover, the lieutenant dashed for the fallen soldier’s position and almost immediately a shot rang out, his shields appearing for a brief moment before vanishing. Then as he made it halfway, there was another that slammed into his barrier. The silvery sheen that covered him vanished as he was knocked backwards by the shot.

Shepard spotted slight movement after the second shot and aimed through her scope. Laying the crosshairs directly onto the odd, curved head of the creature, she sucked in her breath and squeezed the trigger. Her own shot echoed across the rocky walls as she saw the odd sniper’s headlight blink out before it fell from its elevated position. Confident there were no other snipers present, she moved from her cover and towards the pair, where Alenko now crouched over Jenkins’ fallen form.

“Dammit... he was just a kid,” the lieutenant growled as he reached up and closed his comrade’s eyes.

“We’ll get him a burial right here on his home once we’re finished. But right now I need you to focus LT,” Shepard said, as she put a hand on his shoulder.

Kaidan stood up and nodded to her. “Right Commander, I’m ready when you are.” He had a new fire in his voice.

The pair of them moved forward just as Nihlus’ voice came over the comm. “I’ve got a lot of burned out buildings here Shepard. And a lot of bodies. I’m going to check it out before heading to the digsite. I’ll meet you there.”

“Roger,” the commander said into the comm before continuing forward with Alenko close behind her. As they moved further into the canyon, there were more drones pelting their shields with rapidfire. But now that they were past the element of surprise, the task became much easier. Once the remaining security drones were dealt with, the pair climbed a small hill and were greeted with the sight of an Alliance soldier sprinting for cover behind a cargo crate at the bottom.

She was being attacked by another drone, but managed to blast it out of the air with return fire as the commander and the lieutenant swiftly made their way to her side. When they approached, she raised her weapon at the pair in her panic, but as Shepard held her hand up, the rifle was thankfully lowered. Luckily, she wasn’t so battle fatigued that she couldn’t distinguish between friend and foe.

Taking cover next to the soldier, Shepard activated her cloaking briefly, then ducked out and aimed with her rifle. The same type of strange creature that she had knocked off the top of the canyon wall earlier was now blasting at their cover with automatic fire. So she raised her rifle, took aim, and put a round directly through the glowing eye in the dead center of its head. Alenko trashed the other one with a biotic attack that warped and destroyed its armor, and presumably its insides as well, leaving it in a pile of annihilated remains on the ground.

As soon as the hostiles were gone, the newcomer turned to Shepard. “Thanks Commander. I didn’t think I was gonna make it,” she said through gasping breaths. When she finally seemed to collect herself, she stood at attention. “Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212 Peacekeeping Battalion. Are you the one in charge here, sir?”

“That’s the way it’s looking. Are you wounded Williams?” Shepard asked as she eyed the woman up and down. Her Alliance-colored armor didn’t appear to have any damage, thankfully.

Letting out a loud sigh, the gunnery chief shook her head. “A few scrapes and burns, but nothing serious. The others weren’t so lucky,” she said, then reached up and grabbed her helmet in dismay. “Oh man...we were patrolling the outer perimeter when the attack hit. We sent a distress call, but they cut the communications off world. I’ve been fighting for my life ever since.”

Suddenly, Shepard recognized the woman from the video they received aboard the Normandy. “We managed to receive a small snippet of the SOS when we arrived in the system,” she said, getting a look of hope from the chief. “Where’s the rest of your squad?”

“When the attack hit, most of us on the outer perimeter tried to close in on the beacon to protect it. But somehow, they knew exactly where it was. Their dropship flew directly above it and flooded the site with hostiles, ambushing most of the Alliance there.” She shook her head grimly. “I don’t think any of the others…” she started, but broke the sentence off. “I think I’m the only one left.”

Seeing the despair in the gunnery chief, Shepard took a step forward. “This isn’t your fault Williams. You couldn’t have done anything to save them,” she said, reassuringly.

“Yes sir…” Williams responded, and Shepard could clearly see the doubt in her expression through the face shield of the helmet. “We held our position and tried to push to get to the beacon, but the geth were so entrenched that we were picked off like flies. It was like trying to get through a meat grinder.”

“Wait...did you say geth?” interjected the lieutenant. When Williams nodded, he just stared at the ground for a moment before continuing. “The geth haven’t been seen outside the Perseus Veil for nearly two hundred years. Why the hell are they here now?”

“They must have come for the beacon. The dig site is close, just over that rise. It might still be there if we hurry. But…” Williams said as she shuffled nervously. “Like I said, trying to get through might be suicide.”

“That’s why we’re here Williams. Consider us the wrecking ball crew,” Shepard said as she rolled her shoulders. “We could definitely use you Chief. Would you like to come with us?”

“Aye aye sir!” she said as she checked the heat sink on her weapon. “Time to get some payback.”

“Then let’s move out and get to that dig site,” ordered Shepard, getting a confirming nod from both the chief and lieutenant.

Prothean Beacon Dig Site - Eden Prime

Ashley kicked one of the dead mechanical soldiers aside as the three entered the small, open-air enclosure. “There were a hell of a lot more of them last time I was here,” she growled as she looked at the scrapped corpses of the geth that had just been caught off guard by sniper fire and biotic attacks.

“From the looks of it, they moved the beacon themselves. They probably took the majority of their fighting force with them,” Shepard said as she looked at the small pedestal in which the beacon likely sat before it was removed.

“We don’t know for sure that the geth have it. Some of our own could have got here and moved it to safety before the geth arrived,” Alenko observed as he examined the area.

“We can’t rule it out. But we won’t know for sure until we get there,” Williams added as she readied herself again.

Shepard turned away from the others and activated her comm. “Nihlus, there’s been a change of plans. The dig site has been secured, but the beacon isn’t here anymore. Someone has moved it.”

“Understood. There’s a small spaceport up ahead. If they were moving it for transport, there’s where it’d go. I’ll go ahead and make my way there. We can rendezvous there once you’re finished,” the turian spectre replied.

“Affirmative,” the commander confirmed as doubt plagued her voice. “Spectre, I don’t like this…”

“I doubt many outside the krogan would enjoy this Shepard. I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come,” he said, a small amount of concern in his voice at her statement.

“That’s not what I mean. As soon as the beacon was found, the Council supposedly locked this place tighter than a Volus’ exo-suit. If it’s given a Class 5 security rating, then there are very few people who could have known about it given the Alliance shut down Eden Prime’s comm buoys as soon as they sent the message to the Council. Which means…” she started, but after catching up on her thought process, the spectre finished for her.

“Only someone with the highest of clearances could have organized this attack…” he responded thoughtfully. “We can rule out anyone on the ship. They had dead comms since we left the Citadel, and weren’t given any information until we got here.”

“That means that the only people who could have given the signal for this are limited to Udina and Anderson among the humans. Udina would never forgo a chance to impress the Council by handing the beacon over to whoever did this, and I’m fairly certain Anderson would sooner drive a ship into a sun than betray the Alliance,” she speculated as she waved to the others to begin moving up the hill towards the space port.

“Which leaves the Councilors,” said the turian in a thoughtful tone.

“And you,” Shepard added sharply as her group moved up the carved ramp.

There was a short pause before he responded. “You’re not wrong. I suppose I look pretty suspicious.”

“I don’t know you Spectre, but if you had anything to do with this, I’ll have no qualms about throwing my chances at being a Spectre to make you pay,” she stated, hearing a chuckle over the comm. “If you had nothing to do with it, then be careful. Because we may be dealing with someone powerful enough to have access to Council information.”

“Shepard, the more you talk, the more I like you. You’re actually starting to sound more like a Spectre,” he said, making her smirk slightly. “I’m approaching the tram station. I’ll let you know if I find the beacon, and I’ll keep everyone off it til you arrive to pack it up.”

“Affirmative. Shepard out.” The commander closed down the comm and continued to lead her team to the science camp that laid in ruins before her.

Constant Cargo Tram Station, Eden Prime

As he closed the comm, Nihlus felt himself end the call with a slightly higher view of his human trainee. Her paperwork said she’d had years of intelligence experience, and she was proving to already be an asset by alerting him to the potential of a traitor among the Council, or even the spectres.

At no point would any of the Councilors try to hoard the technology for themselves. Even if they tried, there was no possible way of them getting away with it. But even more unbelievable was working with the geth. The centuries-old mechanical army that went unchecked, like a hive of zavis waiting for their nest to be disturbed, would never work with organic beings like the Council. So even if one of the Councilors had tipped them off, the Councilor in question would get no benefit from it. Which left only one option.

Spectres, the shadowy arm of the Council. Despite the retrieval mission being given to him, it wouldn’t take too much work for another spectre to get their hands on the files. That meant that the person guiding this invasion -- and spearheading one of the biggest acts of treason in the history of the galaxy -- was one of his own kind. He’d have to watch his back if that was the case.

Clearing his thoughts as he stepped up the stairs to the cargo bay of the tram station, he stopped dead in his tracks. As if the spirits willed it, a turian was pacing directly in front of him. Eden Prime was a strictly human colony. The only other reason for a turian being here was if they came in with the invasion. Raising his shotgun, he slipped in when their back was turned and moved silently towards the prey.

When his shotgun was within range to put a decent sized hole through the traitor, he spoke. “Spurs to the ground!” he ordered.

The turian froze, then turned his head and looked at his sneak attacker with piercing blue eyes. “Nihlus…” said the man, not moving, nor doing as he was ordered.

When the Spectre saw the face of his opponent, his mandibles nearly broke from the force with which they twitched in surprise. “Saren?” he asked, knowing the man was one of the top of his order. He began questioning whether Saren of all people would ever betray the Council. Clearing his doubts, he kept his gun trained on the high-ranking spectre. “This isn’t your mission Saren. What are you doing here?”

With an unnervingly relaxed demeanor, his fellow spectre turned towards him. “The Council thought you could use some help on this one,” he said calmly.

But Nihlus kept the weapon trained on him. “I wasn’t expecting to find the geth here. Is that your doing?” asked the darker turian, his predatory eyes trained on Saren.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it under control,” Saren assured him. Suddenly, the massive ship in the background let out another nearly skull-splitting klaxon, making Nihlus cringe slightly. Saren stepped backwards just enough and the movement caused the armed spectre to discharge his weapon. The shotgun blast deflected off the traitor’s shields, a result of Saren stepping out of range. The towering spectre reached out with his taloned hands, gripping Nihlus around the throat with one hand and ripping the gun away with the other.

His grip was impossibly strong. Nihlus felt his airways constricting and stars started filling his vision as the traitor squeezed harder. Reacting defensively, the spectre grabbed Saren’s arm and locked his legs around the strong limb, his armor’s spur blades digging into Saren’s flesh.

Yanking his arm back in surprise at the painful attack, Saren lunged forward with a kick aimed directly at the gasping turian’s head. But Saren quickly raised a foot and slammed it down on his knee. The result was a shattered knee. Nihlus knew at that painful moment that he wasn’t going to make it off Eden Prime alive.

Saren took Nihlus’ own shotgun and aimed down at the spectre with a haunted look. “It was good working with you. But I can take it from here,” he said, before blasting three times, destroying his shields and ending his life.

CODEX ENTRIES

Zavis | Zoology | Palaven
Looking like a large beetle, these Palaven native insects are the size of a common sparrow. Their role in Palaven’s ecosystem is to deter the spread of a fungus that spreads rapidly if unchecked. They are also responsible for keeping away local predators that may cause Palaven ranchers any issues. Because a turians carapace is too thick for a zavis to penetrate, they are less feared than the hornets or bees of Earth, despite their quick to anger response with their stinger.

Spurs |Biology | Turian
On what would be known as the calf area of a turian’s legs are a naturally occurring evolutionary advantage that develops during childhood. Once old enough, a turian’s spur will puncture through the softer skin on the back of their leg. This bone-like spike is covered in a mild poison that attacks the nervous system of anyone it hits. Most turians only experience minor sedation when injected, but other species have experience anaphylactic shock as a result. Do to the placement of this deadly natural weapon, most turian fighting styles involve kicking.

Chapter 3: Eden Prime - The Beacon

Chapter Text

Prothean Beacon Research Camp, Eden Prime

It only took minutes for the trio to make it from the beacon dig site to the research camp uphill. But the speed with which they moved was immediately halted as they crossed over the crest of the natural ramp and stumbled into something none of them had seen yet. All three of the soldiers stared up in horror as they saw several mechanical devices anchored into the ground by the invaders. They towered over them, with a giant metal spike shooting into the sky, each one bearing the body of a human colonist or soldier impaled gruesomely.

"What the hell is this?" asked the gunnery chief as she lowered her weapon to stare at the atrocity before them.

"It looks like they're displaying them…" Alenko said as he looked away from the horrific sight.

"It might be fear tactics," Shepard theorized, getting looks from both of her subordinates. "They're machines. They don't participate in barbarism like this for fun. It's likely they're doing it to scare any other defenders away."

Williams growled in anger and immediately began marching towards the small compact buildings with a new fire in her eyes and her weapon raised again. But Shepard and Alenko's eyes looked up as they noticed the spikes beginning to move. "Williams! Get back here!" the lieutenant shouted as he immediately raised his assault rifle towards the machines.

The gunny stopped in her tracks at the screeching sound, her eyes locking onto the device and all of their weapons raising to zero in on it. But Williams froze in place as if petrified when she saw the body that had once stood as a flag of fear now rising from the ground. Its skin was all but gone and it looked as if its body had been implanted with so much tech that the former soldier was now basically a walking machine.

But what chilled Shepard to the core was its pale blue eyes, hollow and soulless, staring directly at her.

"What the fuck!?" Williams gasped as she backpedaled and began firing indiscriminately towards the monstrosity.

The two soldiers behind her began to unleash fire as well, but more spikes began to descend as the abomination soaked up their bullets as if unaffected. Alenko reached forward, his aura springing to life again, and tossed the nightmarish creature across the hill where it impacted one of the buildings hard enough to break its mechanical body in half. As soon as it impacted, human screams were heard from within.

"We've got live ones inside! Focus on taking them down and find a damn weak spot!" shouted the commander as she swapped her assault rifle out for a pistol. Raising her weapon, she took aim as another of the shambling creatures raised its arms and dashed straight for her. Unleashing a storm of bullets, she blew holes through its horrific form. But the holes seemed to begin repairing themselves as soon as they were made.

Williams, who had already been closer than the others when the attack started, began firing on them from the cover of a shipping crate that she had dived behind. Unfortunately, they were too close. She fired to take out the legs of one of the zombie-like monsters, but immediately it let out a wail of agony before the ring-like wound in its chest began to glow. Whatever the attack was, it hit her like a truck. Her shields fried immediately, and she was thrown back against the cliff wall, which left her gasping for air. As another began to sprint for her location with its arms raised, she scrambled to her knees and leveled her rifle, firing directly at its head as she tried to recover her breath. The round punctured the creature's head, causing it to fall face first to the ground as a look of shock took her face. The glowing eyes, the glowing ring, and all of the lights that formerly ran through its body were now extinguished. "Shoot it in the head!" she shouted as she finally caught her second wind and began to push back against the small swarm.

Shepard heard the call and raised her pistol, aiming directly at a charging abomination's skull. Squeezing the trigger, the round blasted through the weak armor, splattering what was left of its brain and causing it to crumble to the ground. "Good work Williams!" she shouted, wondering why she hadn't tried that first.

With their weakness exposed, cleaning up the rest of the shambling horrors wasn't difficult. After all the bodies lay lifeless on the ground, the trio grouped up again. "So much for fear tactics," Alenko groaned as he held his head with an expression of pain on his face.

"I don't recall the studies of the geth ever saying that they had technology like this…" Shepard said as she stared at the corpses.

"It might be new. They've had almost two hundred years alone in their pocket of space. This might have been developed after the quarians left," Williams responded as she kicked one of the bodies lightly to make sure it was actually dead.

"We'll figure that out later," Shepard said as she scanned the impaling device with her omni-tool. "Right now, let's find out what's in that building," she ordered, turning away once the scan was complete. Moving up to the door with her pistol ready and the two behind her with their own weapons raised, she once again used her electronic magic to open the door. As soon as it slid open, someone inside screamed in panic before she had even entered the room. Swooping in, she turned and found a human man and woman cowering at the back of the small enclosure.

As soon as the woman saw the commander, she immediately stopped screaming. "Humans! Thank the Maker!" she shouted with a sigh of relief.

But her male counterpart pointed at Jane with a look of frozen horror still on his face. "Quick! Close the door before they come back!" he pleaded as he pulled back his finger and began to fidget wildly.

Williams and Alenko stepped a bit closer, likely to get a better look at the unhinged man. "Don't worry, you're safe now. We cleared the area of hostiles," the commander reassured him.

"Thank you. I think we'll both be okay now," the woman said as she cradled her head in her hands.

The gunny looked over at the woman again before speaking up. "Doctor Warren? You were the one in charge of the excavation! Do you know what happened to the beacon?"

Nodding to the soldier, the short-haired doctor looked at the ground as she spoke. "It was moved to the spaceport this morning. Manuel and I stayed behind to help pack up the rest of the equipment." Her voice became burdened with guilt. "When the attack came, the marines with us fought off the invaders so we could hide here. They gave their lives to save us…"

Suddenly, Manuel started laughing from his corner. "Saved? Nobody is saved. The age of humanity is at an end! Soon, only corpses and ruin will remain," he snapped morosely before hiding his head in his hands.

Shepard eyed the man curiously, wondering what he was going on about. However, she had more urgent matters to attend to. Turning back to Dr. Warren, she set her gaze firmly. "Do you know anything about the invaders that might be able to help us?"

But again it was Manuel that spoke. This time he didn't shout, instead opting for a low, grim tone. "Agents of the destroyers, bringers of darkness, heralds of our extinction. We are to be culled by the machines and their turian prophet."

Immediately, Shepard and Alenko both whipped their heads towards the man. "Turian? What turian?" the commander asked sharply as she took a step forward.

"The prophet, the one chosen to unleash the darkness upon us. I saw him, he was here before the attack," the man said as he shook his head violently.

"That's impossible. Nihlus was on the ship with us before any of this happened,"the lieutenant stated firmly as he glared at the man.

Before Shepard could question the man, Warren spoke up. "Unfortunately, we were hidden from sight when the gunfire started. We can't tell you much beyond what we heard through the door and walls."

"You may be blind! But I saw it myself!" he shouted towards Warren. Then, he turned and stared the commander dead in the eyes before continuing. "We have unearthed the heart of evil. We have awakened the beast, unleashed the darkness." There didn’t seem to be a trace of lying in his voice.

"Manuel, please! Now isn't the time!" Warren said sharply as she crossed her arms.

Shepard stared at the man a long moment before turning to the woman again. "Is he going to be alright?" she asked curiously, wondering if the stress of the situation had crushed the man's mind.

Dr. Warren sighed and she reached up to rub her head with her hand. "Manuel has always been a bit...unstable. But he's incredibly brilliant. They say that genius and insanity are two sides of the same coin. However, after working with the beacon, he seems to have flipped that coin again," she responded tiredly as she looked over at the man as he stood up.

Staring into Shepard's eyes through her visor again, he spoke with a monotone so chilling that it even spooked her a bit. "Is it insanity to see the future, to see the destruction rushing towards us? To understand that there is no escape, and no hope?" he asked, shaking his head grimly before turning around and thumping his head against a wall. "No, I am not insane. I'm the only sane one left…"

Constant Space Port E6, Eden Prime

Thus far, everything had gone according to plan. While he hadn't anticipated Nihlus showing up and confronting him, the former spectre was only a hiccup in an otherwise flawless execution. Turning to a geth unit nearby, he eyed the machine sternly. "Set the charges. I want them to be able to see the crater it makes from space, and make sure to erase all of the evidence that we were ever here." He got an odd chirp from the mechanical soldier.

The geth turned and walked away to perform its duties as the turian turned back to the prize. It stood tall, like an elegant spire of knowledge, glowing down the front with pale green light. Moving forward, he stood in front of the beacon and stared up at it, waiting for its call. Then, he felt it. As if an invisible hand had reached out and grabbed his body and his mind, lifting him from the ground and flooding his vision with images.

"Come on...give me the key…" he growled as his senses were overwhelmed by the flashes of history flooding his mind. He saw flesh and machine weaving together, a sentient creature being swallowed by an inescapable presence as its body was torn apart and reconstructed by machines no bigger than the smallest insect. Then came the vision of a facility, maybe prothean, maybe something else. In the center of the floor were two beings alone, emanating a sense of despair and horror. Then his mind filled with a rending cry of agony, a creature once independent, now a slave, it's masters overwatching them from the looming sky as they were forced into battle against their own kind as they fled from the abominations. The message finally ended with a loud cry and dropped him to the ground, where he landed and punched the dock. "Damn it...another dead end…" he growled as he slowly stood and looked up at the beacon.

It was another warning beacon. He had found a few in the past with the same message, but they did not provide him with the key, nor the location to find it. Reaching down, he took the pistol from his side and glared at the piece of tech hatefully. Regardless of whether it was useful or not, it couldn't fall into the Council's hands. Raising his weapon, he fired three rounds into the device, making the green glowing surface shatter and blast across the docks. Nobody would get a warning. By the time they found it, it would be too late to stop.

Constant Cargo Tram Station, Eden Prime

With the mad doctor's thoughts running through her mind, Shepard guided the others towards the tram station. He was definitely unhinged, there was no question about that. But when she thought about their cargo, an actual working beacon of Prothean origin, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that whatever was inside it may have affected him. She began to wonder exactly what it was he saw in the device that led him to the conclusion that they were doomed.

As they approached the stairs to the terminal, she noticed geth bodies lying around with holes blasted in them. Recalling the spectre's weapon of choice before he jumped off the ship, she smiled and moved forward onto the platform that led to the tram. Immediately, she felt her heart beat increase as she saw the body lying on the ground. "Weapons up! Secure the area!" she shouted as she stepped toward the fallen turian.

As she knelt down, she grimaced at the destruction he had suffered. Whatever had shot him had blasted a hole deep into his chest, deep enough to hit a lot of vital organs. Bringing up her omni-tool, she scanned him. The first report was that it had been done with a shotgun. Looking up, she spied his own weapon lying next to him, wondering if it was his own doom.

The next report gave his time of death, less than ten minutes ago. "Hey, get your ass out here!" Williams shouted from her position near the stacked crates.

Trusting the gunny, Shepard continued to scan. This time, she searched his omni-tool in case he had recorded what happened. Unfortunately, whoever did this to him was smart, and wiped all data from his device. Clenching her fist, she finally stood and glared over at the gunnery chief who was interrogating a human who had been hiding behind the crates. She walked over in time to hear his explanation.

"Look, I was just hiding from those creatures, okay? I wasn't trying to spy on you or anything!" the man cried defensively as he raised his hands into the air.

"Take it easy Williams. He's about to wet himself," Shepard said as she clenched her pistol at her side. Eyeing the terrified man, she took over the questioning. "Who are you and how did you get away from the geth?"

"M-My name is Powell. I'm a dock worker here, mostly loading crates and logistics work with the cargo logs," he said as he slowly lowered his hands now that the soldiers’ guns weren't trained on him. "A-And...I was already behind the crates before they landed, so they never saw me…" He looked at the ground with a grim stare. "Unlike the others."

Williams glared at the man suspiciously. "Why were you the only one who survived? Couldn't anyone else have hidden with you?"

Powell shook his head and let out a heavy sigh. "Look...I was already behind the crates because I was trying to sneak in a nap during my shift away from the foreman. None of the others had a chance because as soon as the attack hit, they were still on the floor." He began rubbing his face in frustration.

Williams lost her look of agitation and replaced it with surprise. "You survived because you were lazy?" she asked incredulously.

Shepard shrugged as she stepped forward. "Lucky break," she said in amusement. But her tone quickly shifted. "So, you were behind the crates during the attack. Did you see what happened to him?" she asked, pointing back at the turian's body on the ground behind her.

He nodded and began fidgeting with his hands. "I-I did...sorta. I looked between the crates and could hardly see, but I heard everything clearly. It was another turian, and it sounded like they knew each other. That one called him Saren, and they started to fight. But he was overpowered. He didn't stand a chance."

Shepard thought for a moment on the man's words, her hand squeezing the pistol grip harshly. "I guess Manuel wasn't as crazy as we thought…" she said, then looked at the man. "You're sure it was a turian named Saren?" she asked with a look that screamed of a bloodbath if he was lying.

"Yes! It was! I heard it clearly, he called him Saren! But after he killed your friend, he got on the tram with some of those robot things," he said anxiously. "Look, are we done here? Cuz I need to go. I can't stay here with everything that's happened."

Shepard nodded, then pointed behind her with her thumb. "There's a research team back in one of the shelters. We've cleared the path all the way there, so bunker down with them until more Alliance arrives." He nodded to her, then began wandering off as if in a daze. Turning to the others, Shepard put her pistol away and pulled out her sniper. "Come on, we need to get to that beacon and take down this Saren if he's still here." She got a nod from both of her squadmates. They all quickly froze in awe, however, as movement in the distance made them look up towards the skyline. It had been hidden by the mountainous rocks from the quarry and the buildings around them. But now, it was in full view.

She was looking at some kind of H.P. Lovecraft nightmare. It was kilometers tall and towered over the entire colony. It then let out a loud, mechanical roar as it began to ascend into the sky. When it finally vanished into the dark clouds, the three looked at one another anxiously.

"Commander, are we going to have to fight that thing?" Williams asked nervously.

"I don't know. But if we do, then we're going to send it back to whatever hell it came from," Shepard growled as she checked her weapon. "Let's get moving. We've been idle for long enough. We need to find that beacon and make sure this Saren doesn't get his murdering hands on it." Both of her subordinates saluted and prepared their own weapons for battle. Shepard turned towards the stairway that headed down to the tram with a glare. While she was relieved the turian spectre had been innocent, she now had another life to avenge.

Constant Space Port Tram Station, Eden Prime

It had been a hellish few minutes in the tram station. A few of the geth stayed behind to guard the monorail, making their trip that much harder. After clearing the platform, they had to board the tram itself and clear it of the mechanical soldiers, resulting in a back and forth firefight that took a bit longer than she would have liked. Williams, with all her rage, cleared the first car by herself, rushing towards the clustered machines and bowling them over when it looked like a firefight wouldn't work. From that point forward, the three of them took advantage of the many passenger seats, using them as cover.

Shepard took the rear of the group, her sniper scope trained on the enemies. Once their shields were overpowered, Alenko and Williams began to focus fire on them. Eventually, the trio was able to wear through them and made their way into the lead car, which appeared to be for cargo. Several crates were stacked on either side, while the middle path was left open for the crew and movers to walk through. This gave them plenty of cover from the incoming fire, which swarmed them like angry hornets as soon as they crossed cars.

Shepard knew geth communicated instantaneously without any kind of radio, which meant as soon as her team got rid of the geth on the platform, every other unit in the colony would know they were coming.

With this in mind, the soldiers used their talents in concert. Shepard cloaked herself, moved out from the crates with Williams providing covering fire, and blasted through their shields with her rifle. Alenko waited until units got too close to their position before gripping them with his biotic power and slamming them into the ground with enough force to crush their metal bodies. Together they worked until they were finally down to the last of the invading force. However, being alone didn't mean anything to this monstrosity. It stood over nine feet tall and looked as if it could crush their skulls with a single one of its three-digit hands.

To add to its intimidating nature, it wielded a shotgun with enough force to blow holes in any cover they hid behind. Alenko was still alive thanks only to the biotic barrier he had donned before taking cover, the blast sending him rolling backwards hard enough to knock a less persistent person senseless. As the lieutenant went to rise again, Shepard tossed a grenade at its feet and detonated, but its insane shield blocked most of the damage. It continued to walk slowly forward with its weapon primed on her position.

"Commander! I don't think we're going to stop it before it reaches us!" Williams shouted as she helped Alenko to his feet. The formidable shotgun roared once more, blasting another hole in the small amount of cover they had. Fortunately, it missed all three of them.

"Lieutenant, do you have another throw in you?" Shepard asked as she pulled up her omni-tool.

"At least one more yeah,” he said, panting slightly, “but I’m not sure how many I’ll be able to pull off. So make this one count." Nodding, Shepard slid a small cylindrical grenade towards the gunnery chief.

"Williams, take this. When I say ‘now,’ you sprint as fast as you can and slap it onto its body. Understood?" she asked, getting a surprised nod from the other woman. "Ready?" Donning her cloak, the commander stood and aimed her omni-tool directly at the juggernaut. "Now!" she shouted as her omni-tool lit up.

The mechanical giant's optical light flashed brightly and it froze in place. Immediately, the gunnery chief sprinted out of cover and growled at the goliath before reaching forward and slamming the device directly onto its chest plate. "Burn in hell you son of a bitch!" she shouted just as the monster broke the commander's hold and raised its weapon. Before it could even aim at the soldier, however, it was covered in a mystical blue aura that prevented its movements. Suddenly, the automaton flew into the air, exploding as soon as it got to the peak of its flight.

Williams dove backward as the tram car was showered with flaming scrap metal and geth parts. Shepard let out a sigh of relief as Alenko slumped against their hole-filled cover to catch his breath. "Good plan Commander," he said as he took his helmet off long enough to wipe the sweat from his face. Shepard noted his condition, figuring that his use of biotics was draining him faster than normal.

"Thanks, but it's not over. There's likely going to be more at the docks. So take your rest now, because when we get there, I doubt they're just going to hand the beacon over to us without a fight," she said as she activated the control panel and got the tram moving.

"No problem Commander. Rest is for the weak," the lieutenant quipped as he stood and slid his helmet back on. Shepard smiled at both his tenacity and his humor in light of their situation. Even Williams chuckled lightly as she patted him on the back.

"You pack a hell of a punch with that fancy space magic," the gunnery chief said playfully.

"Yeah? That must be why the Alliance won't let me retire," he joked as he stretched.

While the two bantered back and forth, Shepard watched the path ahead as the tram made its way toward the docks. For all she knew, they were too late. The beacon could very well have left on that horrific mother ship and they would be met with an empty dock. But regardless of the potential outcome, her duty wasn't finished until she confirmed it with her own eyes.

It took another minute or two before the tram finally slid into the station. As soon as they hit the ground, they were fighting again. Another of Shepard's stunning sabotages made their first two targets easy, allowing both Alenko and Williams to tear through the enemies’ shields and bodies with relentless assault rifle fire. As soon as they took cover behind one of the dividing walls of the docks and started firing back, however, the stakes jumped from serious to critical.

"Uhhh...Commander?" the voice of Alenko came as Williams and Shepard fired from opposite sides of the partition.

Shepard looked over at him, confused as to why he wasn't helping, though she immediately got her answer. Her eyes widened as she stared down at the device at his feet. It was a cylindrical object the size of a large duffel bag and consisted of many wires hooked into its central core. "Is that what I think it is?" she asked as she put her weapon away and knelt next to it.

"That was my question…" the lieutenant responded as he took her place at the partition and began trading fire with the geth forces.

Shepard opened her omni-tool and linked to the device, cringing as she saw that it was exactly what she thought it was. "Can you disarm that Commander?" Williams asked as she ducked back to escape the return fire.

"If I can't, then we're all dead. So let's hope I can," Shepard growled as she went through the schematics on her omni-tool. Unfortunately, she didn't know where the kill spot was, or if it even had one. One thing that did worry her though was the five minute readout her omni-tool was showing her. Immediately she began assaulting its circuits, trying to rip apart the schematics to find anything that would allow her to figure out the geth-made device. Her eyes widened as that last thought passed through her head. "I need a geth!" she shouted to the other two.

Williams looked at her like she was insane, but Alenko just nodded. "I got you, Commander," he said, then turned towards the partition again. Reaching out with one hand, his aura lit up once more. In a matter of seconds, the metal body of a geth flew through the doorway and slammed into the wall next to the bomb, breaking its optical light, but not killing it. Williams stepped forward and blasted the limbs off its body as Shepard linked to the mechanical creature.

"Don't want it trying to grab you," the gunnery chief explained as she turned back to the doorway and fired again.

"Good job you two. You're both promoted in my heart," the commander said as she linked to the automaton and began scanning its memory core. Immediately, she noticed it start to fry everything in an attempt to counter her hacking. However, she managed to find what she needed before its movement died off entirely. "Got it!" she cried before turning back to the bomb and typing away rapidly on her omni-tool.

Less than a minute later, she jumped to her feet and drew her weapon. "Thanks Commander. You just saved a lot of lives," Alenko told her as he took aim with his assault rifle and ended the last of their targets in sight.

"Don't thank me yet. We've still got three more somewhere around here, and there are only three minutes left on the timer," she said as she drew her pistol and moved through the cleared corridor down to the docks. "Keep your eyes open for the other three and tell me if you spot it immediately! I can link to them long distantly, so even if we're not that close, I can still disarm it!"

Constant Space Port E6, Eden Prime

An entire horde of geth and three bombs later, the trio finally stood on dock E6 where the beacon stood tall at the end of the shipping pier. Unfortunately, from the looks of the device, it had sustained severe damage. Shepard growled as she looked around for anyone, anything that might have been responsible. But there was nothing left. No geth, no turians, no nothing. They had gotten here as fast as they could, and failed.

Sighing to herself, she reached up and activated her comm. "Normandy, the beacon is secure. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be in good condition. Requesting extraction immediately from Constant Port E6."

Joker immediately replied over the comm, his voice filled with relief, despite his efforts to hide it. "Captain's not gonna be happy about that. But I'm glad to hear you made it Commander. Coming into Port E6 now."

While she signaled the ship to their location, Williams and Alenko stared at the beacon itself in awe. "It's amazing. Who'd have thought that Eden Prime of all places would have a working beacon?"

"Alenko, we need to go over something before the ship arrives," Shepard ordered as she killed her comm. The lieutenant nodded and walked over as the gunnery chief continued to stare at the large obelisk of prothean technology.

OoOoO

Despite its destroyed appearance, she could still hear a faint humming from it. "It wasn't doing that when they dug it up…" she said as she stepped closer to the towering beacon. "Something must have activated it." As she moved forward, the humming became louder, prompting her to take another step. Suddenly, the front face of the device lit up like a flare and she began to slide closer to the object against her will, as if being pulled by some kind of gravitational force. "Commander!" she shouted as she tried to step away. However, it continued to pull her forcefully.

Shepard looked over to her squadmate and immediately sprinted towards Williams. Making it to her in record time, the commander grabbed the gunnery chief and hurled her aside and out of the device’s gravitational field. Unfortunately, the commander was now caught within the beacon’s snare and began sliding even faster towards it, as she didn’t have the proper footing to resist. Suddenly, she flew into the air, jerked towards the machine and held up like some kind of puppet, her blue eyes wide in shock.

"Shepard!" Williams shouted as she reached out towards the officer. But Alenko immediately pulled her back.

"No! Don't touch it!" he shouted, watching in horror as their commander floated in front of the glowing beacon, her arms splayed out and spasming as if she were being electrocuted.

Shepard slammed her eyes closed, visions assaulting her mind. Images of nightmares, death, destruction, oblivion, all attacking her consciousness from every angle, until she finally blacked out. As soon as she did, the beacon went dark again and exploded, sending the commander flying towards her squad.

???? - ????

"We identified the ship that touched down on Eden Prime. The SSV Normandy SR1, a human Alliance vessel," the woman said, her voice wavering, unsure of how to relay the next bit of news she had for him. "It was under the command of Captain David Anderson."

Immediately, the turian growled and clenched his talons together. "And the colony?"

"According to the geth drones, all of the bombs were disarmed before detonating," she said, standing more rigid than she ever had in her entire life. “Also…" she began, but he interrupted.

"There's more?" he asked in a venomous tone as he flexed his other claw dangerously.

"It...it appears the beacon wasn't completely destroyed when you left. One of the humans managed to use it before it finally exploded," she said, her voice as calm as a lapping ocean wave despite her anxiety.

But her demeanor almost crumbled as the turian stood in a rage and backhanded the terminal set in front of him, sending it crashing into the wall and shattering. Roaring in fury, he spun around and closed in on her, grabbing her by the face with his lethal talons. She stared into the cold malice of his blue eyes as she stood still, not wanting to anger him anymore. Suddenly, as if doused by water, the flames of his rage died, and his growling stopped.

"This human must be eliminated," he said, instilling in her a new fear. It wasn't a request or a proposition. It was an order, with failure only being rewarded with death. Saren never asked for anything. If he wanted something, all he had to do was say it and someone either got it for him or died. She nodded her crowned head before turning away from him and exiting the room hastily.

Chapter 4: Investigation of Saren

Chapter Text

Med Bay - SSV Normandy SR1

For what felt like an eternity, she just drifted in the nightmarish visions the beacon had assaulted her mind with. She felt as if she was being dragged through each one, being made to live them in real time and experience them firsthand. But she couldn't make sense of any of them. Something horrible was happening, but she couldn't tell exactly what it was because the voices that pressed against her mind were unintelligible. She couldn't understand anything they were trying to tell her - if they were trying to tell her anything at all.

Finally, after living the nightmare over and over again, she felt darkness again as her mind pulled her back to reality. As her eyes cracked open, she reached up and rubbed her throbbing head gently, trying to release some of the tension from a migraine the incident had given her.

"Doctor! Doctor Chakwas! I think she's waking up!" The familiar voice of Gunnery Chief Williams floated to her, penetrating the fog of her mind

Shepard groaned as she sat up on the soft bed. She immediately noticed that instead of her regular bed in the XO quarters, she was lying on a med bay table. Dr. Chakwas, the Normandy's current medical officer, stepped up to her side with her arms crossed. "You had us worried there Shepard. How are you feeling?" she asked, her voice tinged with matronly concern.

"I feel like my brain was just microwaved…" she said with a groan as her words marked another lance of pain through her skull. "How long have I been out?"

"About fifteen hours. Something happened down there with the beacon I think," Chakwas explained as she grabbed a datapad.

Williams, who was standing behind Shepard on the opposite side of the bed from the doctor, shook her head as she spoke up. "It's my fault. I must have triggered something when I stepped too close. You had to push me out of the way," she said, her face downtrodden as she looked at the floor.

"Our intel about the beacon was sparse at best. You had no way of knowing it would react like that. So don't blame yourself," the commander said firmly as she looked over at the soldier. Williams responded with a nod and a small smile.

"Actually, we don't even know if that's what set it off," the doctor added, as she tapped away at the datapad. Letting out a sigh, she lowered the device and looked straight at Shepard. "Unfortunately, we'll never get the chance to find out."

"The beacon was already damaged when we arrived. Whoever invaded probably didn't want anyone accessing it. So when it activated again, it likely put too much strain on the damaged structure and exploded. The blast knocked you out, so we carried you back to the Normandy's LZ as soon as possible," Williams told her as she crossed her arms, her guilty expression somewhat returning.

Shepard smiled slightly despite the pain in her head. "I appreciate the medivac."

Holding the datapad for the commander to see, Dr. Chakwas cut in again. "Physically, you're fine. But when you were unconscious, I detected some unusual brain activity, abnormal beta waves." Shepard stared at the information in front of her. "I also noticed an increase in rapid eye movement. These signs typically indicate intense dreaming." The silver-haired doctor looked to the commander.

Shepard looked down at the floor, recalling the horrific visions that had plagued her while she was out. "I...I don't know what it was. But...I know it was death, destruction. Complete annihilation of something. But I couldn't understand the voices. It sounded like cries for help, cries of agony and sorrow. Cries that I couldn't comprehend." She grabbed her head again.

Chakwas stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm...I better add this to my report. It may-" she was interrupted by the door opening. The stoic form of Captain Anderson walked in. "Oh, Captain Anderson!" Chakwas said dutifully as she turned to him.

"How's our XO holding up Doctor?" the man asked curiously as he stood, as professional as ever, in the at ease stance with his hands behind his back.

"All the readings look normal. I'd say she's going to be fine," she concluded, waving her hand towards the datapad.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he nodded. "Glad to hear it." He turned to Shepard and eyed her worriedly. "Shepard, I'd like to speak to you in private."

Williams stood at attention and nodded. "Aye aye, Captain. I'll be in the mess if you need me." She marched dutifully towards the door. Chakwas gave one last nod to the captain before following the gunnery chief out.

"Sounds like that beacon sucker punched you pretty hard. You sure you're okay Commander?" Anderson asked as he stepped up to her bed.

Letting out a sigh, she lowered her head. "The beacon isn’t the worst of it. I don't like soldiers dying under my command."

Anderson nodded and patted her on the shoulder. "I saw the video feed from Alenko's suit cam Commander. Jenkins wasn't your fault. You did well out there, even when things went to hell." He took a step back. "On the upside, I saw Williams in action as well. She's a pretty heavy hitter. I figured we could use a soldier like her on the Normandy, so I reassigned her here."

Shepard gave the captain a small smile. "Williams is a hell of a soldier. She deserves it."

"The lieutenant agrees with you. She'll make a fine addition," he said cheerfully.

Shepard's face suddenly twisted into a mask of anger, making the captain's smile disappear. "What the hell were the geth doing there? How did the Alliance not see them coming into the system?" She squeezed the edge of her bed tightly, trying to master her anger.

Anderson sighed heavily and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry Commander. But the geth haven't been seen outside the Perseus Veil in centuries. It was impossible to predict their involvement."

She groaned as pain lanced through her head again. "Impossible to predict, but it still shows the Alliance in the Traverse weren’t doing their jobs properly. Something I’ll address with them in the future."

"Understood. And...speaking of the future…" he started, taking his formal military stance again. "I won't lie to you Shepard, this looks bad. Nihlus is dead, the beacon was destroyed, and the geth are invading. The Council is going to want answers, and they aren't the kind to ask nicely."

The commander growled as she stared at the captain. Her anger wasn't so much towards him as it was at the situation. "I didn't do anything wrong Captain. Hopefully, the Council will see that."

"I'm standing firmly behind you and your report, Shepard. You're a damned hero in my books," he said as he began to pace nervously. "The main reason I'm here is because of the dock worker in the tram station. He mentioned another turian by the name of Saren orchestrated the attack." At the mention of the name, Shepard saw the captain’s expression harden. "Saren's a spectre. One of the best, a living legend. And he's also the Council's top agent," he explained as he stopped his movement and stared at her. "If he's working with the geth, then that means he's gone rogue. And a rogue spectre is serious trouble, especially one who hates humans."

Shepard shook her head knowingly as she stared at the other man. "He didn't come to Eden Prime because he hates humans."

Anderson nodded as he continued pacing. "You're right. Saren has allied himself with the geth. That beacon was his target, and the bombs prove that he was trying to wipe out any evidence of their involvement." He turned to the commander and eyed her curiously. "You were there, the beacon interacted with you. Is there anything you can tell me or the Council about what he might have wanted?"

"Just before I lost consciousness, I had some kind of vision. One of death and carnage and screaming. Lots of voices crying out in agony, but I couldn’t understand anything they were trying to tell me. If it was some kind of warning, I couldn't figure out what they were trying to warn us about." She held her head as memories of the nightmare came flooding back to her.

The captain scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Prothean beacons are known for projecting images into the minds of the users. The same thing happened decades ago when we found the archives on Mars. We need to report this to the Council as soon as we can. Hopefully they'll have a better understanding and will be able to make out what exactly it was trying to show you. It could have been a blueprint for a weapon, or it could have been some kind of prothean technology that could help us stop whatever it is if it’s a warning. We just don't know."

"Whatever it was, Saren got to it first. He tried to destroy the beacon before anyone else could use it. But I guess I just got lucky," she said in mock humor as she finally started stretching herself out. Lying in a medical bed for fifteen hours had her muscles a bit sore.

Anderson nodded and let out a sigh of anger. "I know Saren. I know his politics, his reputation, and his belief that humans are a blight on the galaxy. Regardless of the beacon, his attack on Eden Prime was an act of war against the Systems Alliance." He stared at the ground, worry tinging his voice. "He has the secrets from the beacon and he has an army of geth at his command. Who knows what he intends to do with the information? Regardless of that, however, he's a threat to all of humanity."

Shepard glared at the captain with fire in her eyes. "He won't be when I get my hands on him."

Anderson shook his head. "It's not that easy Shepard. He's a spectre. He can go anywhere and do anything with the blessing of the Council. In order to get to Saren, we need the Council on our side. We need to prove to them that he's a traitor."

Shepard nodded eagerly. "If we prove that he's gone rogue, the Council will have to revoke his spectre status. Then he'll no longer have their resources or the ability to go anywhere he wants."

"The dock worker is pretty convincing evidence against him already. That, paired with your testimony, might be enough to get through to them. I'll contact the ambassador and see if he can get us an audience. He'll be waiting for us when we arrive, so head up to the bridge and tell Joker we're ready to dock," he ordered, nodding to the commander.

Shepard nodded back, ignoring the pain in her head. She hopped off the bed and immediately headed out the door to carry out her captain’s instructions.

Human Embassy – Presidium – Citadel

As soon as she entered the main office of the Earth Embassy, she could tell things had already gone downhill. The ambassador, Donnel Udina, had a sour look as he walked away from the Council communicators. Anderson, as professional as ever, stood at ease before the man. But Shepard crossed her arms, knowing from what she'd read that the man was less than courteous when problems arose.

"Captain Anderson...I see you brought half your crew with you," the man said as he looked at Shepard, Williams, and Alenko, all three of whom were in their dress military uniforms.

"Just the ground team from Eden Prime, in case you had any questions," Anderson responded smartly as he stood in front of the trio.

"I have the mission reports. I assume they're accurate," the man answered, his tone bitter.

"They are. Did you manage to get us an audience?" Anderson asked curiously.

Udina let out a heavy sigh. "I did, but they weren't happy about it. Saren is their top agent and they don't like him being accused of treason."

At that point, Shepard spoke, surprising both of the soldiers behind her. "I'm not going to sit on my ass and let a mass murderer go just because the Council doesn't want to acknowledge their pet is a traitor! If they don't want to stop him, then I will!" she snapped as she took a step forward.

Udina looked at the commander with a wide-eyed expression, startled by her outburst. Then his face hardened as he stared at the woman. "Settle down, Commander. You've already done quite enough to jeopardize your candidacy for the Spectres," he growled as he crossed his arms. "The mission on Eden Prime was your chance to prove you could do high priority jobs. Instead, Nihlus wound up dead and the beacon was destroyed!"

Breaking his normally professional demeanor, Anderson snapped at Udina. "That's not her fault! Saren is the one you should be blaming!"

"Then we better hope the C-Sec investigation turns up more evidence to support our accusations. As it stands, what you have has been deemed insubstantial at best. And if they don't put the blame on him, then it's going to land directly on your shoulders." Udina turned to Anderson. "Come with me Captain, I want to go over a few things before the hearing. Shepard, you meet us at the Council Chambers in the Citadel Tower in twenty minutes. I've already given you clearance to enter."

Anderson nodded and followed the ambassador out of the office, leaving the three soldiers alone. Once he was gone, Williams glared at the door. "And that's why I hate politicians," she griped as she shook her head.

Shepard looked at the two sternly. "Come on. Let's visit C-Sec and find out what they've gathered. Afterward, we'll head to the hearing." She headed towards the door, the two soldiers falling into step behind her.

C-Sec Executor's Office - Presidium, Citadel

Given her Citadel classification, it was relatively easy for Shepard to get access to the Executor's office. When she walked through the door, the turian officer looked up and immediately set down the datapad he had been using. "Commander Shepard! I didn't expect to see you here. Did Udina send you?"

The commander stepped up to Executor Pallin’s desk, her body rigid with Alliance form. "I came on my own because I need information on the investigation into Saren."

The Executor chuckled lightly as he leaned back in his turian-made chair. "You humans are always so curious. Always sticking your fingers into someone else's pie. Is that the right expression?" he asked curiously, before shaking the question from his mind. "I will answer what I can, Commander. However, given the classified nature of the person being investigated, I'm sure you can appreciate the fact that there are some answers I can't freely give."

"Do you think withholding evidence from the prosecutor will look good come re-election?" Shepard asked, crossing her arms and dropping her Alliance formalities.

"Sorry Shepard, I don't make the rules, I just enforce them. And according to the Council, I'm not allowed to share any classified information about Saren’s dealings outside the particular incident in question," Pallin explained, earning a glare from the commander. "Ask away, Commander. I'll answer what I can."

"Has the investigation found anything incriminating on Saren that I am allowed to know about?" she asked as she eyed the executor.

"Unfortunately, no. We have your colonist's testimony, though that doesn't appear to be convincing enough to establish guilt." Pallin folded his hands on the desk.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" she asked in annoyance. The turian gave her his species’ version of a shrug, known to other species as the ‘loop’ as he waved his talon in a circular motion. "Given your distaste of spectres, I had expected a bit more help out of you, Pallin."

His eyes widened and his mandibles twitched at her words. "How did you-" he started, but let out a gruff sigh. "I knew from your profile that you were good with intel, but I didn't think you would go sniffing around my personal history."

"I like to know who I'm dealing with," Shepard said as she leaned forward and placed a hand on his desk. Her grimace changed into a cocky smile. "Now, I know you better than most. And I know that the executor who got his office due to a donation from the third cousin of Councilor Sparatus isn't about to give me the information I need, even with his arm twisted. So how about you give me the name of the officer in charge of the investigation, and I won't have to reveal the Council's lapdog to the world."

Pallin's mandibles twitched menacingly as he stared daggers at the human. But, he nodded and activated his omni-tool. "His name is Garrus Vakarian. He should be at the Citadel Tower, fruitlessly requesting more time for the investigation."

"Thank you, Executor. Your assistance in this matter is appreciated," Shepard said before she turned and left the office, ignoring the turian's threatening glare.

Council Chambers - Presidium Tower - Presidium, Citadel

As the trio entered the Council Chambers a few minutes late, they stopped as a grumbling turian was about to leave the large room. Shepard looked down at her omni-tool and noticed the man walking towards her was the one she was looking for. His silverish-grey carapace and purple clan paint under his eyes made him stick out against most of the other turians she had met before. But before she even got a chance to introduce herself, she found him staring at her.

Stepping up to her, he nodded dutifully. "Commander Shepard?" he asked curiously.

"That's me. You must be Garrus," she said, holding out her hand for him.

Without thinking, the turian reached forward and grasped her wrist, which she returned in kind. It took him a moment to realize she had returned his turian wrist clasp. "Not many humans are familiar with that," he responded in mild surprise.

"I've learned a lot about turians in college...and through friends," she responded, looking off to the side, leaving the statement vague.

"Right…" he said with an acknowledging nod. "In any case, I'm the C-Sec officer in charge of the investigation into Saren Arterius."

She tilted her head curiously as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You look like you just got some bad news."

He let out a sigh of annoyance, his eyes set in a glare. "The Council is trying to sweep this under the rug. They gave me a whole twenty hour day to investigate him, but they’ve refused me access to his classified files. They might as well have handed me a toy detective kit and shoved me out the door," he growled angrily. "Then, when I went to request more time for the investigation, they denied it, saying that Saren had work to do that was being hindered with this ongoing investigation."

Shepard cocked an eyebrow as she looked the turian up and down. "You must really want to bring him down."

"I haven't trusted him since the first time I met him. It was only briefly, but I saw the look in his eyes. That of a hollow, soulless killer. As soon as they presented me with the investigation, I read his file and saw red flags all over the place. The casual discarding of civilian lives as collateral damage, the reckless destruction of property, and the fact that he mainly operates in the Terminus Systems. All of it looks like the rap sheet of a government-sanctioned thug," he snapped in frustration. He let out a sigh and his look softened almost immediately. "Sorry for the rant, Commander. It's just, red tape like this infuriates me. All it does is let criminals dance away without a scratch, leaving piles of bodies in their wake."

"I understand, Garrus. Hopefully, I can talk some sense into them," she said with a smile, appreciating the turian's vigor.

"There's a first time for everything," he responded, repeating the circular motion of his talons that his boss had done earlier. Suddenly, his omni-tool lit up as he received a call. Holding it up, his mandibles twitched briefly.

"Something important?" asked Shepard curiously.

"It's Doctor Michel…" he said thoughtfully. "I've gotta take this. And, sorry again about the rant," he said as he bowed his head respectfully.

"Here, there's still a few hours left on the investigation. If you find anything out, contact me," she said as she passed him her information instantly.

"I will, thanks," he replied as he marched hurriedly away from them and headed for the entrance to the tower.

"We should probably get up there, Commander. It looks like they're wringing Udina out like a rag," Williams said as she nodded towards the top of the stairs. Shepard returned the nod and marched towards the staircase, climbing it quickly to enter the hearing.

When they reached the top of one flight, Captain Anderson acknowledged her with a nod of his own. "The hearing's already started. Come on," he ordered as he began walking up with them. When they finally reached the top, as predicted, Udina's face was a mask of subdued rage, while the Councilors’ were as cold as ice.

As the Alliance soldiers stepped up to the circular platform, Shepard looked around and found many eyes of all kinds of species. Then, she looked towards the Council and noticed a fourth figure standing next to them in holographic form. Her eyes narrowed into a glare as she saw the turian figure, Garrus' words coming back to her in an instant. But she looked over to the asari councilor -- Councilor Tevos -- as she started speaking to Udina once more.

"The geth attack is a matter of concern. But there is nothing to indicate Saren was involved in any way," she said in a calm, yet concerned tone.

"The investigation of Citadel Security has yet to turn up any evidence to support your accusation of treason," added Sparatus, the turian councilor to the left of Tevos.

But Udina refused to relent. "An eyewitness saw Saren kill Nihlus in cold blood!" he snapped as he pressed a button on the holographic display in front of him to bring up the video of the man's testimony.

But the salarian, Councilor Valern, spoke up next. "We've read the Eden Prime reports and we've watched the account of this traumatized dock worker as well. It's hardly compelling evidence for a charge of treason," he said as he waved the claim away with a hand.

"I resent these accusations. Nihlus was a fellow Spectre and a friend." Saren’s voice came from the projection of him that appeared near the council dias.

"That just let you catch him off guard," Anderson spoke up, a mask of anger on his normally placid face. Shepard was slightly surprised by the amount of vitriol the captain was currently aiming towards the spectre. She began to wonder if his knowledge of Saren was a little more than skin deep.

She didn't realize she would have her answer as soon as the holographic spectre spoke again. "Captain Anderson, why is it that you always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me?" he asked condescendingly as he stared down at the man. Suddenly, Saren's eyes turned and looked directly down at her. "And this must be your protégé, Commander Shepard. The one responsible for letting the beacon get destroyed."

Shepard smirked up at the turian as she crossed her arms. "Saren, how was it you knew about the beacon exactly? The files were Rank 5 classified and were strictly for the eyes of the crew of the Normandy."

"When Nihlus died, his files were passed to me. I've gone over the report extensively Commander, and I saw your carelessness first hand," he smartly explained.

Shepard's eyes widened and she immediately glared at the Council. All of them seemed rather passive until she spoke. "You allowed someone under investigation for treason access to Class 5 encrypted files?" she asked incredulously. All three of the councilors were taken aback at the jab, looking between one another. Udina's eyes widened slightly at seeing such emotion from the three statuesque figures who had been toying with him for the past ten minutes. "The report of Saren's betrayal came with, and I repeat WITH, the Eden Prime report! And you honestly thought it was a good idea to pass him files that implicate him!?"

Finally, Sparatus spoke. "Commander Shepard, I'd suggest you lower your voice before we end the hearing early," he snapped with authority. But the commander's glare never ceased. "Let's try to stay focused on the case at hand."

"Humans are always trying to change the subject when they have nothing to grasp onto. Typical," the holographic turian said as he looked away in boredom.

"Big talk coming from someone who was too cowardly to show up to his own trial," Shepard shot back maliciously.

Saren glared at her, ice filling his voice as he responded. "Unlike you, Commander, I have important work to do that is essential to the Council and the galaxy as a whole. Your species needs to learn its place. Your kind can barely keep a single covert mission from falling apart, let alone handle as many as I do."

Udina immediately picked up on the implication and stepped forward, snapping at the turian. "He has no right to say that! That's not his decision!"

Tevos sighed and looked at Saren sternly. "Shepard's admission into the Spectres is not the purpose of this meeting."

"This meeting has no purpose! These humans are wasting my time, and yours Councilor!" he argued as he stared back at her.

But Shepard spoke up again, getting his attention once more. "You can't hide behind the Council forever, Saren. Soon enough you'll be looking over your shoulder for me!"

Anderson placed a hand on her uniformed shoulder, giving her a look that she knew meant for her to cool down. "There's still one outstanding issue, Councilors,” he said, stepping forward. “The beacon activated one last time before it was destroyed. The Commander says it transferred visions into her mind."

"So, the Commander was knocked senseless by the explosion and had a bad dream afterward? What kind of charade do you think this is?" Saren snapped as he glared down at Anderson.

"The effect of the beacon on Shepard's mental health can be discussed at another point in time. Right now, do you have anything else to add?" Valern asked as he looked down at the humans with his voluminous eyes.

"How good are your memories Councilors?" Shepard asked, stepping forward herself.

Again, they looked taken aback by the question. "I don't see what this has to do with…" Sparatus began, but Tevos cut him off.

"My memory, while not flawless, is fairly reliable, Commander. Does this have something to do with this hearing?" she asked sternly.

"You remember the video of the witness's testimony then?" she asked, getting a nod from the asari. "If you'll recall, Lieutenant Alenko's camera was hot as soon as we touched the ground. You'll notice in that unstopped footage there were two witnesses to another turian on Eden Prime, not just one."

"Ah yes, that rambling lunatic of a scientist," snarked Sparatus as he shook his head.

"That scientist was isolated from the dock worker. There was little to no chance that they had met one another in order to share information. And you're going to ignore this tidbit of important information, on top of the fact that from the time we hit the ground until we met that traumatized dock worker, the name Saren wasn't mentioned. As you can recall, none of us,” she gestured to herself, Alenko, and Williams, “ever mentioned his name. What was mentioned, however, was that Nihlus was killed by a turian, and he had heard his name was Saren. He was not coerced into saying so, as your little pet seems to imply." She sent a glare towards Saren, who gave her a menacing look in return.

"While you are correct in the startling coincidence that this man managed to name and describe the race of Saren, there's nothing saying that he couldn't have heard the name before and dropped it in a delusional haze," Sparatus stated matter-of-factly.

"I have to agree with Sparatus. While it does raise some questions, it is not enough evidence to declare someone an enemy of Council Space," Valern added as he stared down at the commander.

Shepard's brows furrowed as she looked over all three of them. "So you've made your choice?" she asked firmly. "No extension to get more evidence, no freezing his status due to inconsistencies, no nothing. You’re just going to let a mass murderer loose over inconvenience?" She shook her head. "Can't say I'm surprised."

"Commander, your back talk has been tolerated quite enough!" snapped the turian Councilor as he stepped forward and glared down at her with his predatory eyes.

Tevos placed a hand on his shoulder, which immediately seemed to calm his fiery mood. "We must all stay calm," she said as he took a step back. Looking to Shepard, she nodded.

Shepard examined her face, mapping every detail into her mind. She was a matriarch, which meant she was over half a millennia old at least. Despite her age, she looked as heavenly and young as a human in their young thirties. This was typical of most asari who weren’t heavy drug users. Tevos looked to be at least three seasons into her aging and the petrification was beginning to show.

"Commander, there are still a few hours left in the investigation. Perhaps if you were to assist C-Sec, then you could find something a bit more convincing than what we have now," she said, giving the human her heavenly smile. Shepard snorted sourly at the remark but nodded. "Good,” Tevos said with an air of finality. “We shall reconvene after you have either collected more substantial evidence, or once the investigation has come to an end. Until then, I wish you luck." She reached forward and typed on the pad in front of her.

Saren turned away from the trial and vanished into nothingness, leaving the humans with nothing to do except step down the stairs and head straight for their embassy.

CODEX ENTRIES

Loop | Body Language | Turian
Due to their arm rotator cuff connecting directly into their hardened, plate-like torso, turians do not have the same mobility and freedom with their shoulders as other species do. This has resulted in much more of their body language developing in rapid movement of their hands and talons. The turian ‘loop,’ or the movement of their hand in a rapid circle, is the equivalent to a human shrug and can simply mean “I don’t know.”

Wrist Clasp | Culture | Turian
Turians, in similar fashion to a human handshake, express their respect for one another by using this gesture. By reaching their talons forward, they both wrap their fingers around the others’ wrist and grip them firmly in a show of treating them as equals. The origin of the gesture also included a turian style blade in the opposing hand; adding to the gesture that the two trust each other not to used the blade while their other hand was locked in a clasp.

Seasons | Biology | Asari
Similar to some humans, asari often compare their aging process to the seasons of their planetary year, or more specifically, the aging of their skin. Newborn asari skin starts pebbled like a snake’s scales, but soft and supple to the touch. This lasts throughout their childhood and maiden phase. It will start to shift after the matron stage begins. The older the asari gets, the less textured their skin feels. Eventually, nearly every inch of their skin will succumb to petrification, making it nearly as smooth as marble. However, this process also makes it nearly impossible for them to move without pain. Once this occurs, the asari is considered to have entered their final season and will begin to prepare for the end of their life.

Petrification | Biology | Asari
Unlike human skin that begins to wrinkle and sag as the human gets older, asari skin has a reversing effect. Starting soft and supple, it will continuously harden throughout their life. Near the end of their impressive lifespan, their skin will have smoothed to the texture of glass, causing them immense pain with each movement and making it impossible for them to do anything other than prepare for their inevitable return to the galaxy. Many asari attempt to buy products to make their skin softer for longer, but none have shown any tangible effect.

Chapter 5: Going After Fist

Chapter Text

Human Embassy – Presidium – Citadel

"It was a mistake bringing you into that hearing, Captain. You and Saren have too much history. It likely made the Council question our motives," Udina said in an irate tone.

Ever since they had gotten back, Anderson's face had been a mask of subdued anger. Looking up at the ambassador, he responded with a shake of his head. "I know Saren, and I know how he works. Even if they thought our motives were sketchy, they cannot deny how Shepard's evidence paints this as eerily similar to my own grievances back then. They had to realize that lightning like this doesn't strike twice. They just don't care."

"Uhh…" Shepard began, making the ambassador and the captain look at her questioningly. "Does someone want to fill me in?"

Anderson let out a sigh and turned to her as he spoke. "Eighteen years ago, I was put on trial just like you were yesterday. Ambassador Goyle wanted me to become the first human Spectre, so I accepted. And I was given a Spectre counterpart to watch me work as well."

Shepard's eyes widened slightly. "Saren?"

The captain nodded as he stared at her. "I've seen him work. Nothing takes priority over the mission. If he has to sacrifice a million lives to succeed, he'd do it without hesitation. He wouldn't even look for another option."

The commander crossed her arms as her expression darkened. "Sometimes, lives must be given for the greater good. But that should be saved for the last available possibility."

Anderson nodded and sighed again. "I know, Commander. But Saren isn't reasonable. I'll cut out the prelude, but our job was to track down a human scientist who had gone rogue and was hoarding and studying an ancient pre-prothean artifact on the planet Sidon. Saren was instructed by the Council to bring the doctor and the artifact in, and Goyle had me tag along for a trial run. Unfortunately, while I was saving a friend who was captured thanks to Saren, he went and blew the whole damn refinery. We managed to get out safely, but everyone inside was dead, and the nearby villages followed shortly afterward when a cloud of eezo fallout from the explosion swallowed them."

"Commander, this story is Class 5 as well, so try to keep that in mind," Udina cautioned, his frustration leaking from his voice as he sat behind his desk.

"Understood," Shepard said as she looked from the ambassador back to Anderson. "So, I take it his report of your work was less than enthusiastic?"

"He blamed the whole thing on me. Said I had blown our cover, so he had no choice but to destroy the plant to escape. They locked up the case tight and swept it under the rug, putting off the human Spectre candidacy until now. As a result, this time around, they chose a trainer who didn’t hold a grudge against humans." Anderson sat down across from Udina.

"So, what can we do now?" the ambassador asked as he pulled out a bottle of scotch and poured a glass for both himself and the captain.

"I spoke to the C-Sec officer on the investigation before we arrived at the hearing. I'll try and get a hold of him and see if he's dug up anything since and see if I can't help him get some more evidence," Shepard said as she looked down as her omni-tool pinged.

"You do that Shepard. In the meantime, I'll sit here and stare at my hopes and dreams as they spiral down the proverbial toilet," the ambassador said resignedly as he slammed a small glass of the fiery liquid.

Shepard eyed the man sternly. "Don't get too trashed Mister Ambassador. If we find something, we'll need you fresh-faced to talk to the Council again."

Personal Transit Car - Zakera Ward – Citadel

"Commander, it's Garrus! I just got a message from Doctor Michel who works in a small clinic just outside the Zakera Ward Markets! She said she had news important to the investigation! If you can, meet me there as soon as possible!" Shepard’s eyes widened as she heard the voice message.

"Well, that's convenient…" Alenko said from the back seat of the transit car.

"I call it lucky," Williams responded with a smirk.

"Whatever you want to call it, we have to get there fast. The message was sent five minutes ago," she said as her instincts kicked into high gear. As she closed down her omni-tool, it lit up with another call, one from a number she didn't recognize. "Who the hell?" she asked in annoyance. "Nobody should have my number."

"Maybe it's a telemarketer?" Williams joked.

"No telemarketer in the history of the world is stupid enough to piss off someone with the Commander's skill in tech, of that I can assure you," Alenko told her knowingly.

Williams glared at the lieutenant before Shepard finally answered the call, her fingers working hastily on her omni-tool, even as she spoke. "Can I help you?"

"Hello Commander, I was curious...how long you were going...to make me wait," came the voice over the comm. From his heavy breathing and the loud sound of a breath filter, it was obvious the caller was a volus.

"If you've got something to say to me, make it quick. I'm in a hurry," she said urgently as her fingers flew over the holographic display.

"Ah...yes. Then I shall get to the point. You see, I'm calling as an agent of my employer, perhaps you've heard of him…" he started, but finally Shepard finished her work and cut him off.

"Barla Von, of B.V.V.N. Banking and Associates. If you're calling me on my private number, it means the Shadow Broker wants something. Am I close?" she asked, her voice changing from annoyed to curious as she read the volus' information. She had heard of the Shadow Broker and had received offers from agents of his before in regard to Alliance secrets. The price tags that came with the offers were certainly astounding, but she would never have jeopardized such sensitive work over money, anyway.

There was a short pause on the line before the curious character started speaking again. "It seems I have...underestimated your technical prowess. I will be more...forward in the future."

"So, what does he want this time?" she asked, not believing in the coincidence of such a powerful person calling her as she was headed for potentially one of the most important pieces of intel in her life.

"It has come to his attention...that you are currently headed towards the...Zakera Ward Markets. My employer wishes me...to give you some information that...may help you while there," the volus responded carefully.

"What is this information going to cost? And what does it have to do with why I'm going there?" she asked, wondering if the banker even knew why she was speeding towards the Wards in the first place.

"He is offering it to you for free. In exchange, he would like your assistance...in helping another of his agents...reach their own goal," the volus said meticulously.

"The Shadow Broker isn't someone who makes a habit of giving information away for free. So, what does he stand to gain from this exchange?" she asked doubtfully.

"He wishes to send a message, that is all," the volus explained as a new file transfer request popped up on her omni-tool. "The information is all here. If you choose to use it...he will know. If you wish to ignore it...he will also know. The choice is yours, Commander." The banker then disconnected the call.

"The hell was that about?" Williams asked from the back seat as she leaned forward to stare at Shepard's omni-tool. But she sat back immediately when she found that she couldn't see anything except a holographic blur.

Shepard opened the file as their transit car slowed down. After reading it, she closed it again with a placid look on her face. "It appears that one of the Shadow Broker's flunkies has gone off the rails and started working for Saren. So, it looks like we have two leads to follow up on," she said with a grin as she stepped out of the vehicle and up to the clinic location that Garrus had shared with his message. "Let's hurry and check up on Garrus before we follow Barla Von's info. We'll need his help during the hearing.”

"I'm not so sure we should be relying on a turian…" Williams mused as she followed the commander to the door. "There's no telling what his motives really are."

Shepard glared at the woman for a moment before shaking her head. "We're helping him, end of story," she almost snapped as she opened the door.

"Understood Commander…" the woman replied firmly, as she followed the redhead into the clinic.

As soon as they did, though, all hell broke loose. Four men who were standing around the female doctor suddenly turned as they entered, bringing up guns to fire. Alenko donned his biotic shield immediately and both Shepard and Williams dove for cover behind the partition that separated them from the hostiles. One of the men grabbed the doctor and held her up as a human shield.

"Who are you!?" the man shouted as he aimed his weapon towards Alenko.

"Let her go if you want to get out of here alive!" the lieutenant called back as his aura flared up.

"That's bullshit! Kill this-" the man began to order, but he immediately released the doctor and slumped over as a small hole appeared in his head. Dr. Michel screamed in horror before she backed herself into a corner.

"Fire!" shouted one of the other men as he dashed towards the patient room to take cover. But Kaidan reached up with one arm and grabbed one of the men with his biotics, cannoning the attacker into another, knocking them both off their feet.

Shepard and Williams jumped the partition just in time to put the two out of commission with a devastating knee drop from the gunnery chief and a right hook from the commander. Both men fell to the ground unconscious as the lieutenant began to call C-Sec on his comm unit. "We've still got one in the back!" Shepard said as she grabbed one of the limp figures' weapons and prepared to follow the man. But as soon as she approached the door, she could hear cries of pain.

Suddenly, the man's body soared out of the back room and slammed into the partition, where he slumped over, dead to the world. Shepard raised her new weapon as a turian walked out of the back, glaring. "Twice the coward. Trying to bully innocent people into silence, and running for safety as soon as he's confronted," snapped the officer as he turned and looked at the doctor. Immediately, he ignored Shepard's gun trained on him and stepped up to the cowering woman. "Doctor Michel, are you hurt?"

Shaking off her horror, she silky-haired redhead stared up at Garrus almost adoringly. "N-No. I'm okay, thanks to you. All of you," she said looking at the others as well.

"C-Sec will be here in a few minutes to clean these guys up," Alenko informed them as his barrier died down.

"Would you care to tell me who exactly these guys were?" Shepard asked as she put the weapon away.

"They work for Fist," Michel said, cradling herself. "They wanted to shut me up, keep me from telling Garrus about the quarian."

Shepard cocked an eyebrow at the development. "Quarian? What does this quarian have to do with the investigation?"

"A few hours ago, I found a quarian stumbling through the markets, limping almost. Her suit showed signs of omnigel usage, which we commonly see on recent gunshot victims. When I questioned her, she was barely comprehensive and was mumbling about the geth. So, I brought her to the clinic and helped her. She had indeed suffered a suit puncture and was running a high fever due to exposure. Using extranet assistance, I managed to sterilize her treatments and apply them to her properly. To my relief, she showed signs of getting better," the doctor explained as she began to pace, keeping her gaze away from the dead man on the floor.

"Quarian suit punctures are life and death. You probably saved her life," Garrus said in admiration.

The doctor smiled sweetly; her cheeks tinged pink at his words. "Whatever the case, when she finally awoke, she told me what happened. And according to her, she had hidden files somewhere on the Citadel, important files on the geth." She looked up at the turian again. "And well, you mentioned that your investigation had something to do with Eden Prime, where the geth attacked."

Shepard and Garrus both went wide-eyed at the words. "Doctor, can you tell us where the quarian is now?" Shepard asked urgently.

Dr. Michel immediately took a step back, fear returning to her face as the commander demanded the information. But her stance softened immediately as Garrus's talons found her shoulders. "It's alright. Please, tell us anything you know,” he assured her.

Nodding gently, the lightly French-accented doctor turned to Shepard again. "When she finally decided to leave around two hours ago, she wouldn't tell me how she was injured. But I could sense that she was scared, perhaps on the run from someone. She let slip that she had dangerous information on a spectre and needed to hide. So, I sent her to Fist, who is an agent of the Shadow Broker. I thought they would trade the information for her safety."

Shepard clenched her fist tightly at the information. Garrus immediately noticed her agitation. "What's the matter Commander?" he asked curiously.

"Fist isn't an agent for the Shadow Broker anymore, he's now working for Saren!" she growled, getting a slack-jawed look from the turian.

"How do you know that?" he asked, bewildered at her statement.

"One of the Shadow Broker's agents sent me a message just before I got here, saying that Fist had switched sides. They wanted me to meet a third-party agent outside Chora's Den to deal with him." She turned and headed for the door. "Alenko, you stay with the doctor and make sure nothing happens to her until C-Sec arrives! Garrus, you and Williams follow me. If we don't find that quarian, she's as good as dead!"

"You got it Commander!" Garrus shouted as he turned to the doctor. "Thank you. You've almost helped me crack this case wide open." He turned and sped to the door after Williams. The doctor just sighed with a smile.

Zakera Marketplace - Zakera Ward – Citadel

After leaving the clinic, the commander ordered her two companions to get themselves ready for the worst. As such, they armored up and brought their weapons out from the Normandy where they had been stored for the hearing. Once they were finally as ready as they could be, Williams spoke up while they marched through the throng of people crowding the marketplace. Despite the many numbers, moving through the crowd was relatively easy, as anyone who saw them avoided them, not wanting anything to do with the heavily armored trio.

"So, Commander, why exactly are we walking into a civilian establishment so heavily armed?" the gunnery chief asked curiously as an asari practically tripped over herself to get out of their way.

Instead of Shepard speaking, however, Garrus answered. "Fist is Saren's man now. Saren knows about the Commander, and Fist knows about me. And if those men in Michel's clinic were any indicator, once he sees us coming -- and he will see us coming -- we're going to be walking into a zavis hive."

"Zavis?" Williams inquired, eyeing the turian oddly.

"Oh...uhhh...it's a Palaven insect...similar to your bees, I think," he said matter-of-factly.

"Ah, alright then," Williams responded as she looked ahead at the walkway that led to the bar they were about to kick the door in on. However, Shepard held her arms up to stop them. Her eyes immediately locked onto a towering, shadowy figure that stood in a nearby alley.

"Show yourself!" she snapped as she held her pistol at the ready.

"Ha!" came a gruff laugh from the figure as he stepped out from the shadows and walked up to them. "Commander Shepard huh? When he told me to look out for you, I thought you'd be bigger, more intimidating at least. You don't look like much, to be honest," the red-armored krogan said as he eyed her up and down.

"I'm enough to kick your quad into your trash talking throat," the commander responded with a smile.

The krogan stared at her for a long moment, both Garrus and Ashley unsure of what to do. Suddenly, the imposing mercenary let out a riotous laugh and patted the redhead on the shoulder. "If you fight half as hard as you talk, Shepard, then this is about to get really interesting."

"Wrex, right?" Shepard asked as the two behind her eased their trigger fingers.

"Urdnot Wrex at yer service Shepard. I believe you were told about the arrangement?" he asked, getting a nod from the woman. "Good. Then I'll be coming with you."

"Fine. But when we get to Fist, I need information. So no firing before I tell you," she ordered, receiving a glare from the krogan.

"Fine. But don't forget our deal," the towering figure said as he took his place next to them.

"Everyone, helmets on. They can see us clear as day from this walkway and I don't want any sniper fire taking us out before we even get in the door," she ordered as she detached the helmet from her side and strapped it on.

Williams, who was the first done, looked at Wrex curiously, as he had yet to move. "Not putting one on?" she asked as she readied her weapon again.

The giant armored krogan looked down at her. "My skull is thick enough as it is. Besides…" he said before a biotic sheen covered his body. "I've got plenty of backup."

Once checking to make sure everyone was secure, the commander held her pistol low. "Alright, let's move. Unless someone confronts you, do not stop until we get to Fist. If someone gets in your face, put them down easy. If they draw a firearm, then they're taking their own lives into their hands. Once we clear the main room, we get the civilians out and take the fight to Fist. Move out!" she ordered as she began moving forward onto the walkway.

Almost as soon as the four stepped out of the doorway, however, gunfire erupted. They all took cover behind the walking guard that kept drunk idiots from falling into the chasm below. "Well, that didn't take long," Williams griped as she prepared her weapon.

"Those are Saren's men. I've seen files on both of them!" Garrus called over the gunfire.

Nodding, Shepard brought up her omni-tool. "In that case…" she said as she tapped away quickly at the display. Within seconds, information started scrolling over the screen. "Nothing conclusive, but definite orders to kill me and Garrus on sight," she said looking up at the krogan. "Wrex?" she asked, getting his attention. He looked down at her curiously. "Smash."

"Smash?" he asked with a grin.

"Smash," she ordered, and the krogan got up with a roar. In a blast of blue biotic energy, he vanished, followed by horrified screams from the two turians who were shooting at them. The three others rose to their feet with their weapons raised but lowered them as Wrex tossed one of the unfortunate men over the railing and into the chasm below with a gut-wrenching scream. The other's position was announced with a sickening crunch as the behemoth mercenary stomped on his head.

The trio moved quickly and met him on the other side. "Learned that one from a human Blue Suns mercenary. Right before I blew his head off," the krogan explained with a cheeky grin. Williams just shook her head as Shepard smirked.

"Hold on a moment…" ordered Garrus as he stepped forward. "Can you link me into their intercom system?" he asked the commander. She nodded, tapping briefly on her omni-tool before holding it up for him to use. Leaning forward, he began to speak awkwardly. "H-Hello? Is this thing on?" he asked, getting a sigh and a headshake from the commander. Clearing his throat, he continued. "All civilians in Chora's Den! This is Garrus Vakarian with C-Sec, badge number 10011974. I'm ordering you all to get on the ground and keep your heads covered! As soon as this door opens, if you are standing, you will be fired on!" With that last statement, he took his sniper rifle off his back and moved back to the walkway.

"Not coming with us?" Williams asked curiously after Shepard had cut the comm to the inside.

"I fire better from a distance," he replied as he leaned his weapon over the walkway's guardrail. "Leave the door open on the way in if you don't mind!"

As Shepard reached for the door, she looked over at the eager krogan who was rolling his shoulders. "Wrex, try not to step on any innocent civilians."

"No promises," the mercenary said with a smug grin. As soon as the door opened, fire rained from all corners of the strip club. From behind the circular bar in the center, behind flipped over tables, and even from the main stage, the circular platform above the bar. Despite the rain of bullets whizzing by them, Wrex barreled in headfirst and destroyed the first man in the open with an earth-shattering headbutt. Garrus's sniper roared, its round ripping through one of the fools standing on the stage. Then Shepard and Williams followed through the door.

As soon as she was through the door, WIlliams spotted the man behind the bar ducking down. She sprinted forward, and as soon as he rose again, she hurled herself over the smooth surface and directly into his center mass, crushing the air from his lungs and making him instantly drop his assault rifle. When she hit the ground, she knew that her heavily armored form had broken more than a few ribs. Rather than let him get his wind back, however, she raised her own assault rifle and slammed it down into his face, cracking bone sending his senses scattering to the galaxy.

Shepard bolted towards one of the tables and hurled her shoulder into it, sending it careening back into the man using it for cover. He was flattened against the wall long enough for her to dart sideways, aim her pistol, and put a round into his head.

Wrex had already taken out two more on top of his first blood, leaving their corpses in ruin behind tables that easily buckled under his heavy shotgun's roar. As the last of the men in the main hall popped up to fire, he was silenced by another cry from Garrus's sniper. Switching out his guns for one more close ranged, he joined them in the main room as people continued to cower on the floor. As the turian entered the scene, he spoke loudly through his helmet filter. "Alright, those of you who are still alive and conscious, get to your feet slowly and exit the building in an orderly fashion!"

Slowly, the bar workers and customers rose to their feet. Shepard, despite her focus, couldn't help but stare as one asari stood up. She must have been on stage recently, or perhaps it fell in the chaos. But her already skimpy dancing outfit was hanging off of her, leaving her rather large chest out in the open. Shepard's eyes widened at seeing them, then shook her head and looked away. Suddenly, the asari's face went from frightened to surprised, and she sprinted towards Shepard. Despite her assets slowing her down, she made quick time and jumped past the commander. Spinning around, Shepard spotted the woman wrenching a human man's arm downwards, where he then fired a round into the ground from his gun hand. Angrily, the man reached up and backhanded the asari, sending her crying to the ground before turning his gun on Shepard.

But the commander caught his hand before he managed to aim and snapped his wrist like a twig. As the weapon fell from his hand, he shouted in agony as he looked into the furious soldier's eyes. Releasing his arm, she grabbed his head with both hands and cannoned her armored knee directly into his face, breaking his nose, some teeth, and probably did a number on his jaw. But if he thought the pain was over, he was sorely mistaken. She pulled back her first knee, then slammed her second one right where the first one had connected. As the man hit the ground, her armored form followed him down until her weight crushed his skull.

"Now that's how you kill someone!" Wrex cheered from the other side of the bar as he saw the commander's combat prowess. Looking down for a brief moment, he looked up at her curiously. "Hey, Shepard! You said only innocent ones, right?"

"Yeah, why?" she asked as she got to her feet and returned his curious glance. She got her answer when she heard a man scream loudly, followed by a loud crunch that signaled his death. Shepard sighed and shook her head. "Goddammit, Wrex…"

"Hehehe...humans are fun," the mercenary said as he walked around, looking for more victims.

"You hired him, Commander," Williams said with a smirk as she approached their leader. "Sooo…" started the gunnery chief as she looked down at the stunned dancer. "Got a bit distracted there?" She received a glare that silenced her but didn't hide her smile.

Shepard helped the woman up and assisted her in looking presentable before showing her gratitude. "Thank you. You risked your life for me, and I hope I can repay that one day."

The asari smiled up at Shepard's taller frame and nodded as she rubbed her cheek sorely. "D-Don't worry about it. Ever since Fist's guard detail changed, they had all but held us hostage, so I just returned the favor," the blue beauty explained as she sniffled lightly.

"You should get to a C-Sec station as soon as possible and tell them what happened here," Garrus stated as he stepped up to the others.

"Thank you again for saving us!" called the asari as she headed for the door quickly.

Williams tilted her head slightly as she looked at Shepard. "Never knew you had a thing for strippers, Commander," she poked teasingly.

Shepard stared at the gunnery chief for a moment before shaking her head. "You and her both sell your bodies to men in suits, Williams. The only difference is that she has less of a chance of dying." The commander raised her pistol again and headed for the back, leaving Williams stunned.

"I mean, technically she's right…" Wrex chimed in from the other side of the bar.

"Shut up!" snapped Williams as she grumbled and followed the commander.

As soon as Shepard opened the door to the back, she found herself staring down the barrels of two more pistols, both being held by men whose stances were shaky at best. "D-Drop the weapons!" one of them shouted.

"You two aren't Fist's men, and you sure as hell aren't Saren's men. Who are you?" she asked with an authoritative tone.

"We work for Fist!" the one who already spoke said loudly, trying to be taken seriously.

The other, however, cared more about his life. "Look lady, we just move boxes for him."

"Good. Here's some advice, go find a new job," she ordered, standing aside.

They both looked at the doorway, then back at her. Immediately dropping their weapons, they marched out past her, Ashley and Garrus. "Fuck Fist. This shithole isn’t worth dying for…" grumbled one of them as they left.

Wrex soon entered the hallway as well, getting a glare from Williams. "What's the matter? No more skulls to crush?" she asked sarcastically.

"It's not as fun when they're already dead," he said as he stared at her. "It's the scream that makes it great." He flourished his hand up as if he were a connoisseur that had just tasted a fine wine.

"Ugh…" the gunnery chief groaned as she turned back to Shepard. The commander began to move again, and the other woman followed suit quickly. When they finally opened the door to the last room, they stepped into a lavish office, the decorations of which made the main room look downtrodden in comparison.

As they stepped into the room, machine gun fire tore away at the floor in front of them, making the commander dive backward in retreat. "I know you're there Shepard! I saw you coming from a mile away!" a man called from inside the room.

"We know! You didn’t do a very good job stopping us!" Shepard called back with a smirk. "So why don't you come out of there real peaceful, and I'll make sure you get to a trial to be tried for conspiracy, kidnapping, and attempted murder!" Shepard put her weapon away as she began typing on her omni-tool. "Otherwise, you could die here. Very gruesome, and nobody but the C-Sec forensics team is going to remember what your face looked like."

"Fuck you, Shepard! I know better than to trust your kind!" Fist shouted in a panicked tone.

"This coming from someone who turned on a dime for money…" Garrus chuckled as he shook his head in amusement.

"Fuck you too, Garrus!" Fist screamed angrily.

"Hey, I wanna get in on this," Wrex said as he stepped up. "You're ugly and nobody will love you!" he yelled from around the corner.

"Goddammit! Fuck all of you!" Fist yelled back as he fired his pistol at the corner, getting a loud chuckle from Wrex.

Finally, Shepard put away her omni-tool. "Last chance Fist, put your gun down and come out. Or there's gonna be consequences!"

"Kiss my ass, Shepard!" he shouted as he fired a few more rounds for good measure. "You take one step out of cover and my turrets will...shred...you…" he said in surprise as he looked over at both of his automated turrets and found them aiming directly at him rather than at the front of the room. Each time he moved, they refocused directly on his head. "What the fuck?" he asked, then turned as Shepard stepped out of cover and sprinted for him.

He raised his weapon and panic fired, but only one of the bullets made contact and it deflected harmlessly off her shield. When she was finally in range, she reached out and grabbed his gun arm, then thrust her knee upwards. Her knee slammed into his elbow, broke his arm, and made him yelp in pain before a right hook put him directly on his ass. When he could finally see straight again, he was staring up at four different guns from four different people. "You’ve made a very poor decision, Fist," Wrex said with a smirk. “Not the first, but definitely the last.”

"Wait! I surrender!" Fist shouted as he held up his uninjured arm.

"You have a lot of non-vital body parts Fist. Tell me where the quarian is before I start checking them off the list with my gun," the commander ordered, her voice cold as ice.

"She isn't here! I don't know where she is!" he said in a panic.

"He's no use to you now, let me kill him," Wrex requested as he glared at Fist with a predatory gaze.

"Wait! Please! I don't know where she is, but I know where you can find her!" The bar owner gasped as he scooted himself away from Wrex. "She said she'd only deal with the Shadow Broker himself!"

"Face to face? Impossible. Even his most reliable agents only talk to him through a damn computer screen." Wrex chuckled.

Nodding rapidly, Fist stood and stared at Shepard. "Nobody meets the Shadow Broker, ever. But she didn't know that. I told her I'd set up a meeting. But when she shows up, it'll be Saren's men waiting for her."

Grabbing him by the collar, Shepard slammed him against the wall, the turrets still following his every movement. "Tell me where that meeting is before I blow your lying head off!" she snapped, menacing his chin with her pistol.

"H-Here in the wards! In a back alley behind the markets! She's supposed to meet them right now!" he choked out under the pressure of her pistol. "If you hurry, you can make it!"

"Good enough," the commander growled as she released him and stepped back. As soon as she did, Wrex cocked his shotgun and Fist covered his head in fright. With a single blast, he destroyed the man, his corpse slamming against the wall from the force of the blast.

Garrus turned to the krogan and yelled angrily, "What are you doing!?"

Shepard's fist immediately slammed into the side of the mercenary's head, the force making him turn slightly, but otherwise not fazing him. "What did I tell you about firing before I told you to?" she asked as she glared at him.

"Must have slipped my mind," he said cheekily as he brought a hand up to the spot where she had decked him. "You got a hell of a punch Shepard. You even startled me for a moment. But don't do it again," he growled at her.

"Don't make me do it again," she snapped back as she glared at him.

"The Shadow Broker paid me to kill him. I'm not in the business of leaving jobs unfinished," he responded as he flexed his shoulders.

She snorted and turned to Garrus. "How good are you with tech?" she asked curiously.

"Pretty damn good. Why?" he asked, his mandibles twitching at the odd question.

"Stay here and copy every bit of information he has. I've already opened the safe, so make sure he doesn't have any information in there either. If he lied to us…" she said, glaring at the krogan. "Then I want to make sure I have every ounce of info he has on Saren," she ordered as she turned towards the door. "Williams, Wrex, follow me! We've got a quarian to save!" She rushed out the door with the other two behind her.

Garrus stared after her for a moment in awe. "Did she really just punch a krogan holding a shotgun?" he asked in amazement before going on about his work.

CODEX ENTRIES

Holographic Blur | Technology | Intelligence
The omni-tool was created for the comfort of everyone who used them. They were designed with voice commands, interactive displays, and arm-mounted for comfort. One thing they did not have, however, was privacy when it came to those standing nearby. Due to the omni-tool being mounted on the wrist and projected onto the forearm, those within eyeshot could easily see the displayed information. As a result, the private intelligence sector created a holographic interface that covered the omni-tool’s own projection, allowing only those looking directly at the display to see it, while all others only see a blur.

Omnigel | Technology | Medical
Adhesive in nature, omnigel is a salarian creation used primarily for vehicle and suit puncture repairs. It fills every available space at the injection site before hardening and becoming nearly indestructible. Removing it requires a neutralizer which is commonly sold with omnigel. From 2180 to 2183, omnigel was commonly used by thieves who would inject it into an electronic lock. The adhesive gel would fry locking mechanisms, causing it to go into its neutral state of unlocked. Locking technology from 2183 and on switched the protocols inside the locks, making their neutral state to be locked, thus nullifying the usefulness of omnigel as an unlocking agent.

Chapter 6: Exposing Saren

Chapter Text

Zakera Marketplace Alley - Zakera Ward - Citadel

She stood nervously as she waited. Alarm bells were ringing in her head ever since she had met Fist. Something about the man seemed off, as if he were somehow hiding something. But she had no choice but to trust him. She had nobody to turn to. She couldn't return to the Fleet, as her Pilgrimage was not over and there was a near zero chance that the information she held would be a helpful enough gift to promote her. She could not turn to C-Sec, as they would likely brush her findings under the rug and leave her for Saren's men to find. All she could do was pray to the Ancestors that Fist was legitimate, and the Shadow Broker would be able to provide her safety.

As the thoughts passed through her mind, she noticed movement from the shadows of the alley. A turian appeared, with a dark carapace and white markings on his face. His clothes matched his body, all black with a hood over his head. Immediately, her instincts told her to run. This character looked like he was trying to dress for the part of a cliché story villain. But she reminded herself of her options and stayed instead. She could hear movement behind her as well, likely backup in case things went south.

"Are you the Shadow Broker?" she asked, her voice wavering slightly.

He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he circled her and eyed her like one would eye a fine meal. Finally, he stopped in front of her, his mandibles twitching. "Where's the data?" he asked in a raspy voice.

"I asked you a question," she snapped as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you the Shadow Broker, or are you not?"

"I want to know if you have the data before I answer any questions," he responded as he reached forward and stroked one of his talons down her arm.

She smacked his hand away with a glare. "The deal is off," she said, turning to walk away.

The turian reached forward and grabbed her shoulder, stopping her from moving as the armored salarians blocking the alley drew their weapons. "You're not going anywhere."

Tapping her omni-tool, an explosion lit up the doorway where the armored figures were standing, tearing them apart before she lashed backward and kicked the turian directly in his face, sending him skidding across the ground. "Touch me again bosh'tet and you'll get more of me than you can handle!" she roared as she took up a martial stance.

The turian rose to his feet as more figures crawled out of the nooks and crannies of the alley. She slowly backed up, keeping her eyes on all of them as they began to close in. "I like when they play hard to get," he said as he rubbed his face sorely.

Suddenly, a battle cry rang out across the alley, startling both her and her attackers. Out of the far end of the small area charged a krogan, who immediately grabbed the turian. The imposter cried in shock as he was lifted into the air, then slammed to the ground with a sickening thud. The quarian just watched in shock as the merciless brute rained destruction on the turian man, destroying him entirely by jumping and landing a horrific body slam into his chest, caving it in and crushing his lungs.

Then, gunfire began to rain from where the insane krogan had come from. Bullets whizzed by and penetrated the attackers surrounding her, sending them crashing to the ground as their lives came to an end. Finally, another soldier, a human in Alliance blue colors charged forth next to the krogan and began smashing through the imposter's squad with punches, kicks, and deadly shoulder charges that had them doubling over and coughing up blood onto their faceplates.

She was not being attacked, so all she did was stand in place and watch the carnage. After a minute of this chaos, of her standing there as her attackers were disassembled like a Chatika toy, it was finally silent again as the krogan and human stared at her as if waiting for something. Then came the third figure, a human again, but this time dressed in black with an unfamiliar logo on her chest. As the unfamiliar soldier stepped up to her, she took her martial stance again.

"Who are you?" asked the young quarian woman.

As soon as the figure spoke, she could hear that they were female. "Lieutenant Commander Jane Shepard with the N7 Alliance Special Forces," said the black-armored figure as the held out their hand in greeting.

Despite her limited knowledge of humans, she still knew the greeting for what it was. Reaching out slowly, she took her hand and shook, earning her a smile from the commander. "I am Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. And that explains who you are. But not what you are doing here," responded the quarian.

"We heard through the grapevine that you've got some pretty heavy information that we happen to need. So, unlike that traitor Fist who tried to ambush you, I'm here to make a real deal with you," said the woman as she crossed her arms.

"A tempting offer. What's on the table?" asked the quarian as she saw the two behind the commander step up behind her, putting their weapons away. Though it was a small gesture, it made her infinitely more comfortable with talking to them.

"You said you were looking for a place to hide, correct?" asked the strange human leader.

"As you saw, the information I have could get me killed. It's already gotten a close friend of mine killed, and if it weren't for that doctor, I would have soon followed. So yes, I would like amnesty and protection from retaliation by the persons with whom this concerns," she said, her interest piqued.

"I specialize in hiding political prisoners, as well as defectors from rogue states. If you share your information with me, I can assure your safety myself," said Shepard confidently.

"What is your record?" asked Tali curiously.

"Let's just say that when you're under my cloak, there are no records but my own. And nobody who has ever been hidden by me has ever been discovered by anyone who I haven't personally told," she responded, then held out her hand again. "So, what do you say Tali'Zorah? Help me take down a corrupt Spectre and you have my word that he will no longer be able to get to you."

She stared at the woman's face through her face shield, then down to her hand. Her options came into play again, and she found herself with only one choice. This woman, whoever she was, helped save her life and was offering her what the Shadow Broker apparently could not. Hardening her gaze, she reached forward and grasped the commander's hand. "Alright Commander, just tell me what I need to do."

Human Embassy - Presidium, Citadel

Shepard wore a confident smirk as she entered the office. Udina looked up from his work and as he saw her armored figure, he sighed to himself. "You're not making my life easy Shepard. Firefights in the markets, an all-out assault on Chora's Den? Do you know how many-" he started, but when Tali walked into his office as well, he stopped in confusion. He looked her up and down curiously. "Who's this? A quarian?"

Anderson too stood up from the table as Shepard gave him a smile. "She's about to make your day ambassador. She has the information we need to incriminate Saren," said the commander firmly.

Udina, though likely startled at the revelation, didn't show his surprise. Looking over at the quarian girl, he nodded. "Maybe you better start at the beginning...Miss?"

"My name is Tali. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya," she responded politely as she bowed her head.

He cocked an eyebrow at her as he put his hands behind his back. "We don't see many quarians here on the Citadel. What made you leave the Flotilla?"

"I am on my Pilgrimage. My right of passage into adulthood," she responded, getting a nod from the ambassador, and a curious stare from the commander. She would have to find out more about the quarian people later.

"Why don't you tell him what you found?" asked the commander politely.

The quarian looked at her in shock for a moment before nodding. "In my travels, I began receiving reports about geth outside the Perseus Veil. Ever since they drove my people off our home world, they have rarely been outside the Veil, so I got curious," she started, the ambassador and the captain next to him listening raptly. "A friend and I began tracking a system where one of the reports had come from and were surprised to find that they were indeed coming outside the Veil."

"So, you followed them?" asked Shepard curiously. While she had indeed seen the evidence the quarian had to offer, she had yet to hear how she had obtained the data.

"Yes...from a distance. See, our ship was...subpar at best. So, we had to trail a ways behind to make sure they wouldn't spot us. But we managed to pin them down in a system with only one planet that could be landed on. It took a while of trekking, but we found them setting up a communications array for some reason. I managed to get one who had strayed from the rest and disabled it discreetly. Once it was down, I removed its memory core," she said, very animated in her hand movements as she told the story.

Anderson cocked an eyebrow curiously. "I thought the geth fried their memory cores when they died as some kind of defense mechanism."

Shepard spoke up for the quarian. "If you're fast enough, you can extract some data before they do. I had to do the same thing in order to disable the bombs on Eden Prime."

Tali nodded at the claim. "If you're quick, and a bit lucky, you can get some data before it's destroyed. My people know the geth inside out, so it was a small matter to extract its data before it self-destructed," she replied proudly.

Udina, who had been only listening up to this point decided to move the conversation forward. "What did you find out from this geth's data?"

"It wiped most of its data before I could access it, but I managed to get a small audio clip and a few interesting shots from its optical storage," she said as she accessed her omni-tool. In a matter of seconds, she shined the picture file onto the wall. As she did when she first saw it, Shepard got chills at the photo. It was a picture of Saren standing with the gargantuan starship that had assaulted Eden Prime in the background. To his left was an asari wearing a strange, almost funeral-like getup by human standards.

Udina smiled for the first time since Shepard had ever met him. "And the audio?"

The quarian tapped her omni-tool once more, and the familiar voice of the spectre came through. "The beacon on Eden Prime may hold the location of the key we are looking for.”

Further behind his voice was another, a female. Most likely the asari that they had seen in the picture as well. "It's only a matter of time before the Reapers return."

Anderson slammed his fist into his palm with a confident grin on his face. "We've got him! There's no way he can weasel his way out of this one!"

Udina scratched his chin thoughtfully as he stared at the quarian's omni-tool. "I don't recognize that other voice. The one talking about Reapers," he stated as he looked to Shepard.

"Reapers...I feel like I've heard that name before," said Shepard as she scratched the back of her neck.

Anderson nodded to her. "It was a news story a while back. Some salarian fool tried to break into the Council Chambers. When they caught him, he was crying in front of the Council's access panel, saying that he had failed his Reaper masters. When they questioned him afterward, he rambled on about some kind of galactic extinction cycle caused by machines," said Anderson as he shook his head. "He's been in STG hands ever since."

"They probably put him in a strait jacket," remarked Ashley as she leaned against the doorway in the back.

But Shepard reached up and laced her fingers through her fiery hair, gripping her head as she stared at the ground. "Galactic extinction cycle caused by machines?" she asked as flashes of her visions started to come back to her. "I...I think that may have something to do with what the beacon was trying to show me," she said, then looked up at Anderson and Udina both. "Almost all traces of the prothean empire vanished over fifty thousand years ago, right? What if that's what caused it? What if that's what the beacon was trying to tell me?"

Udina sighed as he stared at the woman. "The Council is going to love this…" he groaned in disdain.

Shepard's gaze hardened as she stared at the ambassador. "If they are real, then they're a threat to every species in the galaxy. The protheans were millennia ahead of us in technological advances. The Citadel, the relays, even our own drive cores are based on designs that they left behind. If they fell to these machines, then how could we even stand a chance?" she asked firmly as she took a step forward. "They need to know ambassador."

"Regardless of what they think about the rest of this, that data proves that Saren is a traitor to the Council!" said Anderson animatedly.

Udina nodded an agreement. "The Captain's right. We need to present this to the Council right away. Shepard, you and your group gather what you need and send me a copy of those files immediately. I'll get us another hearing with the Council, and you can meet us there. Anderson, come with me," ordered the ambassador as he turned to the holographic display on his wall.

Shepard, Tali, and Williams all left the office and walked outside the embassy, all of them eager to finally put down the Council's mad dog. However, as they reached the entrance, Shepard was stopped by a small woman of Asian descent wearing a formal dress. Her hair was short, just reaching her chin and her skin lightly bronzed from either the sun or beautification products.

"Excuse me, Commander Shepard?" asked the woman as she waved at the soldier.

Shepard eyed her curiously. "You know me?"

The woman giggled lightly as she stepped up to the commander. "Who doesn't know the great Commander Shepard? Alliance N7 Special Forces, Queen of Command, the one-woman army who held off an entire pirate invasion on Elysium!" said the woman dramatically.

Tali stared at Shepard, her luminescent eyes growing wide behind her face mask. "You held off a pirate invasion on your own? How?"

Shepard grumbled to herself and rubbed her head. "Look, I held them off at the gate, but I had friends fighting down there to save the colony too. One of them sacrificed a leg to save Elysium. So no, I wasn't just alone."

The woman just smiled as she brought up her omni-tool. "You know, we do have a video feed of your heroic acts at that gate if you're too shy to admit it yourself," she said playfully.

"I'd like to see it," said Tali as she raised her hand. But Shepard immediately lowered the woman's hand with her own.

"Is there something I can help you with?" asked the commander, who wasn't too pleased about being put on the spot.

"I certainly hope so! See, I've hit kind of a dry spell on organized crime stories, at least, until I saw a video of you and your friends walking into Chora's Den fully armored," she said hopefully.

Shepard cocked an eyebrow curiously. "I killed all the cameras inside the club, so you couldn't have seen much," she retorted as she crossed her arms.

"Very true! But I saw the aftermath. And it has 'hot' written all over it! C-Sec was all over that place. Which brings me to why I'm here. I was wondering if you could do me a favor and tell me why you went there, and if it had anything to do with Fist," she said bringing up her omni-tool.

Shepard stared at her a long moment before she finally recognized her face from the news. "You're Emily Wong, right?" she asked, getting an enthusiastic nod. Shepard grinned widely at her and put an arm around her shoulders. She knew her and knew she was one of the few unbiased reporters on the Citadel. Her stories ranged from questioning Council decisions to calling out a human dignitary from Earth about a hateful statement he made towards turians, to even covering stories of survivors rather than criminals. Her reports were always clean, and almost never solely for the ratings. "How about I give you one better?" asked Shepard as she steered the woman away from the others.

"How much better are we talking?" she asked curiously as her meticulously plucked eyebrow arched.

"Rogue Spectre better," responded Shepard, getting a surprised look from the woman. "I've got a story here that is about to break wide open. And you'll get to be the first to access it. All I need you to do is hold onto it until the hearing later today at the Council's Chambers. Once the hearing is over, unleash it onto the galaxy."

"I saw the earlier hearing, and they didn't seem convinced. What if they still aren't convinced and give him an innocent verdict?" she asked curiously.

The next words out of the commander's mouth sent chills down her spine. "Well, then I guess we'll see what the rest of the galaxy thinks."

She smiled widely. "You know that's really going to piss the Council off?" she asked, getting a smirk from the redheaded woman.

"That's the idea. If he gets an innocent verdict, then the Council will be called out for favoritism. If he's declared guilty, then you'll have the first crack at the story of the rogue Spectre," said Shepard as she transferred the files over. "Do that for me and you can have an interview with me firsthand any time you like."

"I think we're going to be great friends in the future," said the woman ecstatically.

Council Chambers - Presidium Tower - Presidium - Citadel

"The beacon on Eden Prime may hold the key we are looking for. Once we have it, we may finally have a way to open the relay." As the Councilor's stared at the pictures that had Saren in front of the massive starship, along with a video of the same starship landing on Eden Prime during the attack, they stayed silent. Sparatus clenched his talons in anger as the second part of the voice clip played. "It's only a matter of time before the Reapers return."

As the audio file ended, Udina spread his arms as if inviting challenge. "You wanted proof? There it is," he said with a smug smirk on his face.

Finally, the turian councilor stood straight. "This evidence is irrefutable, Ambassador. Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status, and all efforts will be made to bring him in to answer for his crimes."

"I wasn't sure until I heard her voice, but I did recognize the asari in the photo, the one speaking to Saren in the audio file. Her name is Matriarch Benezia," said Tevos as she looked over at Sparatus.

"Who's she?" asked Shepard curiously as she stood, still armored, next to the ambassador.

The asari councilor turned and gazed at Shepard with a smile. "She is the yranessa of House T’Soni on Thessia. She has many followers who support her and has more than enough wealth to back whatever endeavors she may take interest in. She will make a formidable ally for Saren."

The salarian councilor cut in. "I'm more interested in this mention of Reapers. The last time we heard that name, an insane man tried to hijack control of the Citadel Tower," responded Valern thoughtfully.

"I tried to look more up on it after we reviewed the evidence. It apparently has to do with an ancient race of machines that wiped out the protheans. Afterward, they vanished, leaving no trace of themselves behind," said Shepard as she held her head. "Benezia herself said that their goal was to bring back the Reapers, and all Saren needs is this key he's looking for. We don't know what, or where it could be. But Saren thought it had to do with the beacon on Eden Prime," said Shepard as she stepped forward.

"And we have no idea what this key could be?" asked Valern with concern in his usually care-free voice.

"If Saren thinks it can bring back the Reapers, then we should consider it a threat," said Shepard firmly as she stared at all three of them.

But Sparatus shook his head. "Listen to what you're saying! Saren intends to bring back a race of machines out of thin air, one that wiped all life from the galaxy? That's impossible! It has to be!" he said as he stared down at the commander. "Where did the Reapers go? Why did they vanish? Why have we found no trace of their existence? If they were real, we would have found something by now!"

Shepard glared at the turian and stepped forward challengingly. "I tried to warn you about Saren once, and you refused to believe me Councilor! Don't make the same mistake twice!"

Holding up her arms, the asari drew their attention. "Unfortunately, Shepard, I have to disagree. You brought us proof that Saren betrayed the Council and allied himself with the geth. We all now agree that he's searching for this key, but all we have as to why is speculation," said Tevos in her pleasing voice.

The salarian councilor shook his head. "The Reapers are obviously a myth, Commander. A convenient conspiracy theory to cover his true purpose and bend the geth to his will. Whatever this key is he's trying to find, it's unreasonable to assume that it has to do with some galaxy consuming prophecy," said Valern dismissively as he waved his hand.

She stared at the salarian with a glare. "How good is your knowledge of artificial intelligence, Councilor?" she asked curiously.

Shocked by the question, Valern raised his hands in question. "I don't see what this-"

Shepard cut him off immediately. "You're telling me that an AI, a mechanical brain that thinks at the speed of light and was smart enough to overthrow its host species in a war is going to be stupid enough to be conned by a single turian with a conspiracy theory?"

Tevos stepped in to keep the diplomacy flowing and to cool tensions again. "While it may sound far-fetched, it is no more or less so than a theory of ancient machines destroying galactic civilizations. We need proof to prove either way Commander."

Looking to Tevos, the commander sighed. For some reason, she felt like she could never raise her voice at the woman, unlike the other two. Something about her was charming, almost hypnotizing. "The proof is in my head."

"Pardon?" asked Sparatus, his mandibles twitching in confusion.

"Surely you don't intend to bring up those dreams as evidence again…" groaned Valern as he tapped his finger impatiently.

"Those dreams were put there by the beacon! They were visions, images that I can't remove from my mind!" she snapped angrily.

"But they are inconclusive as evidence, as we cannot see them, Shepard. You must understand this!" growled Sparatus back.

Shepard stared at the turian for a moment. "You can't…" she said, then looked over at Tevos. "But she can."

The female councilor looked taken aback at the claim. All three of them stood silent for a long moment before finally responding. "I understand what you are implying…" she started but was cut off by the turian.

"You can't be serious! She is a Councilor of Citadel Space and you expect her to link minds with you!?" he asked bewildered, almost outraged.

"I don't expect her to do anything. But the option is there if she ever wants to see how bad these dreams are. Maybe then the Council would actually get off its ass and do something about a serious threat to the galaxy," she snapped as she gave the turian a hard stare.

"Shepard!" growled Udina from behind her.

But before the outraged Sparatus or the baffled Valern could step in, Tevos cut them both off. "Enough!" she snapped, her former matronly tone turning hard enough to silence everyone in the room. Looking back to Shepard, her gaze softened. "Commander, we do intend to stop it. Whether this threat of Reapers is real or not, their return seems to hinge on Saren. So, in taking him down, we are in fact doing something."

"He's now a rogue agent on the run for his life. He no longer has the resources or means to search as freely as he has before," said Sparatus as he held back his anger.

"That's not good enough! He nearly wiped a colony off the face of the galactic map!" snapped Udina as he stepped up next to Shepard. "Send your fleets in!"

Valern cut in, his monotone voice returning. "A fleet cannot find one man."

"But a Spectre can," said Shepard as she stared up at Tevos.

The asari nodded knowingly as she stared down at the commander. "Shepard is right. There is one way to stop Saren that doesn't require fleets or armies," she said soothingly as she turned to look at Sparatus.

Despite his usual calming attitude towards his female comrade, he stamped his foot down and responded angrily. "No! It's too soon! Humanity is not ready for the responsibilities that come with joining the Spectres!"

"I faced Saren on Eden Prime, and despite being hindered by a time limit, and zero resources from both C-Sec and the Council, I still managed to expose him as a traitor," she said as she eyed the turian. "I think I've more than proven myself Councilor."

Sparatus stared at Shepard with a hard leer, then looked back to Tevos who nodded. Even Valern seemed interested in this new development, which meant that he lost. Finally, he deflated and waved his hand to get it over with. All three of them entered something into their panels before staring at the woman. "Commander Shepard, please step forward," requested Tevos.

As Shepard stepped forward, an unusual hard-light display appeared before her. Anderson gave her a smile and a pat on the back before he and Udina stepped back to watch the proceedings. While standing at the display, the commander began to notice that many more people began to gather in the mezzanines on the side of the chamber to watch. She shook the thought from her head and focused on the Council in front of her.

"It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel," said Tevos, her voice more official sounding now than it had ever been before.

Shepard then looked over to Valern who spoke next. "Spectres are not trained but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file."

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will," spoke the asari once more. Shepard questioned whether this little speech was supposed to get her pumped, or was it officially written that they had to do it for ceremony's sake. Either way, she stayed silent.

Sparatus finally spoke up and delivered his line. "Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first, and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold!"

Finally, the spell seemed to break as Tevos softened again. "Please Commander, place your hand on the display," she requested. Shepard nodded, removing her gauntlet and placing her right hand flat onto the hard-light panel. It lit up immediately with scanners of all kinds, health scanners, fingerprint scanners, DNA scanners, and more. When it finally finished, the display vanished, leaving the new spectre to look up at the Council. "You are the first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species."

"You know what they say, one small step for man…" she said, leaving the end off intentionally. But she was surprised when the asari finished the quote.

"One giant leap for mankind indeed," she said with a knowing smile. "I believe that was your Neil Armstrong's speech when you first landed on Earth's moon." Shepard nodded dumbly, slightly surprised that the asari woman, even as wise as she was, would know such a detail about human history. "The words are fitting."

"I'm honored, Councilor," said the Commander as she nodded her head politely.

Valern, who seemed much more animated by the development, spoke up as he stepped forward. "We're sending you into the Traverse after Saren. He's a fugitive from justice who, as you so elegantly put it, was too cowardly to show up for his own trial. So, you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him," he said, getting a nod from Shepard. "Of course, in light of Nihlus's unfortunate demise, we would still like to send one of our own with you."

"Another Spectre?" asked Shepard curiously.

Tevos nodded before speaking up. "They would merely be surveying and helping where needed. They do not intend to interfere, nor hinder your search. But given that your trial was so abruptly interrupted, we thought it prudent that we finish it as cleanly as possible."

"As long as they aren't impeding my work, they're fine to come with," said Shepard with a nod.

"I'm glad to hear you cooperating with the Council. Hopefully, this trend continues in the future," said Sparatus smartly.

Shepard eyed him, hiding the glare as she smiled. "I've always had trouble with authority figures who do nothing when action is required. You've taken action now Councilor, so you have my cooperation." The remark left a sour look on the turian's face.

"This meeting of the Council is adjourned," finished Tevos as she shut down the holographic display in front of them.

Shepard noticed the asari woman activate her omni-tool but removed the thought from her mind as she turned to the two humans standing behind her. Anderson was the first to step up and hold out his hand. "Congratulations Jane," he said with a proud smile on his face.

It felt odd that in the words, she felt a form of fatherly connection from the man. Perhaps it was the use of her first name, which he had never done before. Or because she felt that he would be on her side, regardless of peer pressure. Either way, she shook his hand and smiled back at him in earnest. "Thank you."

Udina them spoke up, his arms folded and his hand on his chin as thoughts sped through his mind. "We've got a lot of work to do, Shepard. You're going to need a ship, a crew, supplies…" he said absent-mindedly.

Anderson spoke up again, a tone of rare excitement in his voice as he placed his hands behind his back again. "You'll have access to special equipment and training now. You should visit C-Sec Headquarters and speak to the Spectre Requisitions Officer."

"Anderson, come with me! I'll need your help to set this all up!" said the ambassador as he turned to Shepard. "Commander, it'll probably be a few days before we get all of this together. In the meantime, find yourself a place to stay and send the bill to my office. I'll have it taken care of. But make sure to watch your comm. I'll be sending you updates as we progress," he said firmly, not caring about a confirmation as he walked away.

As if on cue, Shepard received a ping on her omni-tool. Lifting it up, her eyes widened as she saw who the sender was. [Meet me at the bar I've marked on your navigator. We'll talk more there.] To keep others from getting a glimpse, she closed the message as Kaidan and Ashley approached her.

"Congratulations on your promotion, Commander," said the lieutenant, before he gave her a questioning eye. "Uhh... do we still call you Commander? Or is it Spectre now?" he asked curiously.

"Commander is fine. As a matter of fact, since I will likely have my military career frozen due to conflict of interests, you can call me whatever you like. Jane, Shepard, Commander, whatever," she said, her movements rather urgent.

"Yeah, I think I'll stick with Commander," said Ashley as she smiled at Shepard. "So, what's next?"

Shepard thought for a moment before nodding to them. "If you choose to accept it, I'm going to be drafting you both onto the Normandy for the purpose of TAD. If you'd rather go on with the Alliance, then I'll understand, and you can report to the Alliance Command Post here on the Citadel for your next duty assignments."

"Please Shepard, as if either of us would miss the opportunity to put an armored foot squarely up that traitor's ass," said Williams with a smirk.

"I'm with her on this one. I'm sure the Alliance could still use me, but for the sake of humanity, it's more important that we take down Saren first," replied Alenko with a nod.

Shepard smiled at them both. "I'm glad to have you both aboard. But just know that my command supersedes Alliance. If they order you to do something that goes against my own personal wishes-"

"You're the Commander Shepard. We're not going to go behind your back, especially after the way you watched ours on Eden Prime," responded Ashley confidently.

"Agreed," said the lieutenant firmly.

"Glad to hear. Now, get yourself a hotel for the moment. Nothing fancy, but send the bills to me and I'll make sure you're reimbursed. We have a few days before we leave, and I have some business to take care of," said Shepard as she stood straight and saluted the two.

"Aye aye sir!" shouted Williams as she saluted back with a smile.

CODEX ENTRIES

Bosh’tet | Derogatory Linguistics | Khelish
A bosh'tet is a simple, all-encompassing insult towards other people. The name comes from a rodent native to Rannoch. When making a nest, this rodent often uses the dung of other animals to build, and even feeds off them for nutrients. However, its ability to produce entire litters of newborn were its only survival mechanism, as the creature is often dumb enough to mistake simple rocks as food and attempt to feed of them.

Chatika | Zoology | Rannoch
Another small rodent native to Rannoch. Unlike the bosh’tet, this one was seen as adorable by the many residents of the world and was vastly smarter as well. As such, they were commonly kept as pets. These pets, however, were left on Rannoch after the Morning War, and the citizens of the Migrant Fleet often make toys in their image as a remembrance of their lost home.

Yranessa | Culture | Asari
In asari corporations and families, there is always one person who leads. The person is often selected due to their historical success and judgement. For family estates, the title of this household leader is known as the Yranessa, otherwise translated as "one who enlightens our path." These titles are given to only those who wield vast power, connections, and influence on asari space.

TAD | Military | Human
An acronym in the Systems’ Alliance that stands for Temporary Additional Duty. It’s a special assignment given to soldiers under specific circumstances that allows them to participate in a specific mission outside of normal Alliance duties.

Chapter 7: Preparing

Chapter Text

Loranalis Private Bar - Presidium, Citadel

She had never been to a private bar before. Most of the time when she needed a drink, she preferred the rabble of people around her enjoying themselves, partying with one another, shooting pool, and all-around creating atmosphere. However, she had heard of these private establishments. They were usually very high class and expensive. The door charge alone was more expensive than the amount of alcohol it would take to put a regular human in a coma, which kept out the rabble.

It was also very strict on its privacy. Each payment made was required to be made from a separate credit chit that wasn't linked to one's personal bank or credit account. Anyone who entered was required to be covered from head to toe without any identifying marks on them and were not allowed to speak until they were escorted to their private booth. Oftentimes, people used holographic technology to alter their race long enough to enter the facility and get to their booth before dropping the disguise. Even the booths themselves were equipped with sound shields and electronic disablers that made it impossible to use electronics to see who was inside another booth or hear anything that they were talking about. It was the perfect place for two people who didn't want to be associated together to have a conversation, which she assumed, was why she was invited.

As she stepped inside the posh establishment, she looked around briefly and saw that the inside of the place likely cost more than she had accrued in all her years with the Alliance. Chandeliers that were hung down the hallway appeared to be made of gold and Thessian Yvalice crystal, which cost exorbitant amounts of credits. The carpets were from Earth, from Turkey if she were to guess, and the sparse amount of furniture in the hosting area looked to be made from the finest, by the finest, for the finest. As she stepped up to the counter, she looked to the hostess and saw that even she wore a disguise. Though hers was likely for the customer's sake alone, she still wore a long, elegant dress that sparkled in the light of the chandeliers, with matching gloves, and a mask worthy of a sun goddess.

As Shepard reached to pull out her credit chit, the hostess silently denied her with a hand wave and waved for the soldier to follow. Sliding her money away as she stared curiously at the elegantly dressed asari, she followed until she was led into the farthest booth from the entrance. The woman opened the door for her, then she stepped inside, her ears popping as the door closed behind her, a sign that the room was now soundproof. Once she was inside, she looked down and saw that a U-shaped couch encircled a small, finely designed table. But it wasn't the furniture that held her attention. Instead, it was the one who sat across at the crest of the comfortable couch.

Sitting down, Shepard removed her civilian training helmet from her head. It was a pure black helmet that came with the same dark visor that her special forces helmet came with but was more used in civilian gaming and training than combat. Unzipping the heavy cloth coat she had worn, she pulled it off, leaving her in just a plain black t-shirt that rattled as her dog tags shifted. Staring up at the masked woman who had asked her here, she finally spoke. "So, wanna tell me why I'm here?" Despite her rather forceful question, she was more curious than impatient. She looked the woman up and down, noting that she wore a dress very similar to the Chinese qipao. It was white with gold trimming, and she wore gloves that reached her shoulders as well.

"Wouldn't you like a drink first?" asked the woman as she reached up and took her hood down.

Shepard leaned back in surprise as she saw her face. Not because of who it was, as she knew from the message sent to her who the sender was. But because the woman, whose face was normally highly decorated with white paint was now bare. "I...I wouldn't say no to one," she responded. "But I am curious as to why I was invited. I'm not usually the social type," she finished with a slight smirk.

The asari looked at her curiously before smiling herself and ordering them both something from the touch menu. "I hear you're quite the fan of asari cuisine," said the woman as she finally turned and looked straight at Shepard.

"If I'm being honest, it's one of the only alien foods I get the chance to try. Turian and quarian food doesn’t sit well with humans, salarians eat mostly insects, elcor eat mostly unrefined vegetation that would be hard to process, goddess only knows what the volus eat, and I'm convinced that krogans survive off eating rocks," she said, getting a giggle from the woman. "So, I'm left with asari and batarian. And if I'm being honest, most batarian food is so filled with spices that it'd stop my heart."

"I see. Well, in light of your enjoyment of our culture, I've ordered us some drinks famous on Thessia," said the elegant woman as she eyed Shepard with as much curiosity as the human eyed her with.

"So...what do I call you exactly?" asked Jane as she sat back and waited for their drinks to arrive.

"Out there, I am Councilor this, Councilor that. It's so rare that anyone actually calls me by my name, so if you don't mind, I'd prefer that," responded the asari casually.

Nodding, Shepard tried to think of more small talk to fill the time. "Right. So, Tevos...you come here often?" asked the human curiously. After the words left her mouth, she immediately wanted to punch herself. She had basically asked the asari councilor of all of Citadel Space one of two things. She either asked if she often met people in secret behind the other Councilor's backs or had just laid one of the most brutally weak pickup lines on her. Whichever it was, would be up to the Councilor herself.

Her face must have shown her internal struggle because the asari smirked and leaned forward. "You are horrible at small talk," said the woman jokingly.

"Tell me about it," responded Shepard as she looked up at the woman's face again. Still, it looked odd, seeing her without the paint. She knew from her studies that asari only painted themselves as a status symbol. And the more paint means the higher the status. As Councilor, she probably had the most paint on her face of any asari in Citadel Space. But seeing all that paint washed off allowed her to see her true face, and to be honest, she liked it better.

"And now you're staring," said Tevos, her voice almost jovial as she relaxed on the couch. Jane immediately looked away, her face heated now. "I don't believe I've ever seen a human as awkward at conversation as you."

Letting out a heavy sigh, Jane turned to Tevos and shrugged. "Sorry, it's not every day one meets a Councilor in a private setting," she said, trying to play off her embarrassment.

"Oh, is that all? I thought for a moment there that you were attracted to me," said the councilor as she smirked at Shepard, who gave her a wide-eyed look. However, rather than embarrass herself further, she declined speaking, getting a mock frown from her companion.

Suddenly, the wall next to then folded down and their drinks were pushed into the room mechanically. Immediately, Shepard reached forward and grabbed hers, beginning to gulp down the smooth beverage. Tevos took a more elegant sip of the dark liquid and set her drink on the table. When Jane sat hers down, she saw that she had nearly slammed half of her drink already. "So, Tevos…"

The asari nodded, "I shall get to the point of why we're here now," she said as stirred her drink absent-mindedly. Shepard didn't know what it was with this woman, but she was hypnotizing, mesmerizing as if every body movement she made was a planned move to draw her in further. She had first noticed it in the Council Chambers when she found herself unable to snap at her like she had the other councilors. But it was ever present now, permeating her every move, every word, every stare. She found herself wondering if this was the true power of a matriarch. But her line of thought was broken as Tevos continued. "I wanted to talk with you about those visions…"

Shepard's eyebrows raised slightly at the mention. "From the beacon?" she asked, getting a nod from the asari. "Alright, what did you want to know?"

Taking another elegant drink of her alcoholic beverage, the councilor held the glass rather than put it down as she continued. "I was curious about what it showed you."

Sighing, the commander ran a hand through her short red hair before reaching down and taking another drink as if willing the alcohol to start working. "To be honest, I can't say for sure. All I get are images of death and destruction, sounds and cries of agony in a language I can't understand or even comprehend. It's less like I'm hearing their words, and more like I'm feeling them. All of these emotions of distress playing alongside with pictures of mutilated corpses, darkened skies, and horrific abominations."

When she looked back up at the asari's face, she was surprised to see more concern than she even showed in the chambers. Tevos stared at her for a long moment, with that worried expression before speaking again. "Do these visions haunt you?" she asked, her tone no longer playful and upbeat anymore.

Shepard shrugged slightly, more comfortable now that a conversation was established. "I haven't had them long enough to really say. I haven't been to sleep since I woke up aboard the Normandy on our way back here, and ever since then I've been working to set the record straight," she said, then looked away. "I haven't really had a chance to let my thoughts settle, so I won't know if they resurface until I do."

Nodding to Jane, the asari looked down at her drink for a moment, as if deep in thought. Shepard leaned forward and grabbed her own drink as well, sipping it more casually now as she let the woman be. But it wasn't long before the asari snapped out of her thoughts and gave Shepard a firm stare. "I've made my decision then," she said solidly as she set her glass on the table.

"What decision?" asked the commander as she followed the councilor's example and tabled the drink.

"If you're willing, I'd like to see these visions," responded Tevos, getting a wide-eyed stare from Shepard.

"You're sure?" she asked, leaning forward curiously.

Tevos nodded firmly. "Prothean technology isn't transmittable from one being to the next. So I will likely not suffer as you have. But if we meld, then I will at least be able to see and hear what the beacon showed you," she said as she sat forward in her seat. "It is my duty as Councilor of my people and all others of Citadel Space to know about threats to peace, however big or small they may be."

"Understood," said Jane as she stared into Tevos's alluring violet eyes. "You don't think this is some crazy conspiracy theory as well?" she asked curiously.

Tevos gave Shepard a gorgeous smile that almost made the human have to turn away to keep from flushing. "I'm well aware of how prothean technology works. I've seen and handled it many times in my long life, so I understand your words when you described your visions to me. That aside, Jane, I wouldn't have suggested that you become a Spectre if I thought you were dense enough to believe in simple conspiracy theories."

The commander looked back to the asari in surprise. In her career, her name was only ever used by a few people. Her mother for one, and Sevene, her turian counterpart on Shanxi and Elysium, as well. Other than that, she'd rarely heard anyone that she had a professional relationship with call her Jane. Pushing her surprise aside, however, she nodded. "Alright."

As the word left the redhead's mouth, the asari woman rose from her seat as elegantly as a ballet dancer and moved to sit next to her. Immediately, the commander began to feel a bit hot under the collar about the proximity of the woman, but she stamped the feeling down as she looked over at the councilor. Tevos, once seated, held no such reservations, and immediately invaded her private space by reaching up and gently rubbing Shepard's neck. "Alright then, relax. I want you to be as comfortable as possible," she said, and Jane did her best to relax. Letting out a heavy sigh, she loosened her muscles and leaned her head forward, rather enjoying the touch of the asari's fingers on her tense neck. Once Tevos felt she was properly comfortable, she reached down and slid her long glove off, then reached up and stroked Shepard's cheek gently, allowing her a view of her perfect slender arm. Shepard was slightly surprised when the councilor touched her blue forehead to her cheek, almost cradling her, but she showed none of it. "Alright Jane…" she said soothingly, calming the soldier even more. "Embrace eternity."

Unlike when the beacon had first invaded her mind, and unlike any time since that she had brought the images to the forefront, she felt safe. As if she were wrapped in an indestructible bubble of warmth that shielded her mind from the assault. She wasn't alone, that's what the feeling told her. That she was safe and didn't have to worry anymore. Even as the images that had bent her mind into unconsciousness previously began to surface again, she felt no threat, no anxiety, no fear. All she felt was the warm embrace of her asari companion as the images played out in front of her. Their screams and cries of agony were now distant to her ears rather than eating away at her mind. She felt clear-headed and relaxed for the first time since she had stepped on the Normandy. Leaning back into the embrace, she felt as if she could fall asleep right where she sat.

As the visions passed however, she opened her eyes to find herself in a very awkward situation with the councilor. Apparently, during their journey, her body had moved itself, wrapping her arms around the asari's slim waist and burying her face into that lovely blue neck. But rather than upset, Tevos just let out a deep sigh before stroking her freckled cheek gently. "Jane, you poor soul…"

Human Embassy – Presidium – Citadel

"Can I help you?" asked the human as she groggily peeked through the crack of the hotel door.

Tali knew from what she'd heard about Eden Prime that the crew of the Normandy had yet to get a decent sleep, but she had grown worried ever since Shepard had left her in the embassy, telling her she would be back for her. She didn't say what she was doing, or where she was going. Just that she had business on the Presidium, and it worried the girl. The worst came to mind each time she asked herself where the woman could be. Perhaps Saren's men had caught her by surprise. Perhaps the Shadow Broker didn't like his deals being taken. Her mind filled with the worst possibilities imaginable.

Eventually, she got too antsy to just sit in the embassy and do nothing. She had to figure out what happened. Unfortunately, the receptionist who stayed in til late for her benefit didn't know the commander's number. And the ambassador had left earlier, and she didn't have the foresight to get it from him before he left...if he'd even let her have it, of course. The way he looked at her told her he wasn't too fond of her sticking around his pristine office for long.

But eventually, she managed to track down Ashley’Williams, the human woman who had been with Shepard during their rescue. Going to her hotel, Tali fidgeted nervously before finally hitting the alert next to the door, signaling that she was there. And when the human appeared, with her dark hair disheveled and one eye closed to the light of the hallway, she didn't appear pleased. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I was hoping you could possibly tell me where the Commander is," she said shyly.

"Fraid not kid. I haven't seen her since she left Citadel Tower," said Ashley as she finally got used to the light and opened the door a bit more.

"Oh...I see," said the quarian, her voice disheartened as she realized that she had seen Shepard even later than Williams. "S-Sorry to bother you," she said as she turned to head back to the embassy.

Ash watched the girl's depressing walk and sighed to herself. "Alright kid, come here," said the gunnery chief as she opened her door. Tali spun around in surprise at the words before moving to the doorway. Ashley stepped aside, waiting for the girl to enter, but she didn't. Giving her an impatient glare, the soldier waved her arm. "Well, come in!" she snapped, and Tali skipped inside to keep from angering her. Tightening her robe, Williams stepped over to her comm device and sent Shepard a quick message before turning to see the quarian staring at the room in awe.

"Keelah, this room is huge!" she said almost excitedly.

Ashley cocked an eyebrow and looked around at the place. But she just scratched her head and sat down. "If you say so," replied the NCO as offered the quarian a seat. Not even seconds later, she received a ping on her comm and opened it to find a reply. "Shepard says she'll be here in a minute, and she says she's sorry for making you wait."

"Oh, that's a relief," said Tali as she sat in the chair. As she sat, she looked at her hands and began to fidget awkwardly for a few moments. "Sooo…"

"Just, don't say anything until she gets here please," requested Williams as she kept her dark eyes firmly on the alien woman.

"Oh...alright," said Tali, her voice sounding disappointed as she bit back her question.

They sat in silence for another couple of minutes before the door alert finally rang again. Tali got to her feet and bowed her head. “Thank you for your hospitality.” The human simply shrugged, and Tali sighed and headed for the door.

When she opened the door, she sighed in relief as she saw Shepard staring at her apologetically. "Shepard!" she chimed happily as she stepped outside the room. Behind her, Williams simply closed the door without saying a word.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Tali, I got a bit caught up in something," said the commander as she urged the young woman to follow her.

"It's no problem Commander. I just got so worried, what with Saren's men after me, and now you no doubt, I thought the worst," replied the quarian as she followed the red-haired woman to the elevator.

"No, I was just...well, let's call it therapy," said the woman with a smirk as she hit the button for the twentieth floor.

Tali, while confused by the odd explanation, left the commander to her business and looked at the marked floor. "So high?"

Smirking down at the quarian. "I know you're not used to our culture or society. Even on your Pilgrimage, you've likely been pretty conservative with your living and eating. So, I thought I'd get a good room since we're going to be sharing for a while," said Shepard as the elevator took them upwards. Like many elevators on the Citadel, the elevator was made of plasteel, an alloy made of a combination of fiberglass and steel, allowing for transparency and near indestructibility as well.

As the elevator made its way up the side of the building, the young woman just stared out as the buildings sunk farther and farther below them. She started to back up as she felt anxiety building within her, but she felt Shepard's strong hand on her shoulder. Feeling not quite so alone, she continued to stare in awe as they finally broke past the top of the nearby buildings, allowing her to see the skyway freely. "I've...I've never been this high on the Presidium before!" she said excitedly, then her voice downturned slightly. "Well, technically I've never been on the Presidium before…"

"Well Tali, as long as you're part of my crew, plan to be treated as an equal in all regards...except rank of course," said Shepard jokingly as she stepped off the elevator. Tali turned around, realizing that they had reached their destination. Following the commander into the finely lit, spacious hallway made her feel somewhat out of place, and she moved quickly to keep from being seen. When they finally reached the room, Shepard opened the door and walked inside, but Tali stayed at the door.

"Uhh...Shepard, may I please come in?" she asked almost impatiently as she bounced on her toes.

The human turned around and looked at her oddly. "Of course, Tali, this is your room too. You're free to come and go as you please," she replied, her eyebrow-raising as the girl finally stepped across the entrance of the room. But she didn't have much time to ponder the odd behavior before the quarian gasped again as she saw the large window they had on their side of the room. Looking over at the view, she could barely see one of the arms of the Citadel stretching away from the Presidium. "Quite the view huh?"

"I-Is that safe?" asked Tali as she approached the window tentatively.

"Of course! Most hotels on the Presidium don't have actual windows. They're just projections taken from cameras on the outside of the building," said Shepard matter-of-factly as she sat on the bed and began fiddling with her boots.

The quarian walked up to the window and let out a soft sigh of bliss as she soaked in the amazing view of the world that she would likely never see once her Pilgrimage was over. The thought saddened her slightly as she stared, but she refused to let it get her down. When she finally returned, she would have memories like this to keep her going. She could even share them with her father and her eventual crew. Turning away from the window, the quarian faced Shepard and immediately began to panic.

"Sh-Sh-Shepard! What are you doing!?" she asked incredulously.

The red-haired woman eyed the quarian in bewilderment before sliding her last sock off. "I'm going to take a nap, why?"

"But...you…" said the young woman as she turned away from Shepard. "I'm sorry, I'm so used to the Flotilla's customs that I sometimes react poorly to new situations," she responded as she breathed through her filter heavily. "Quarians undressing is almost unheard of, unless in... ummm…"

"Romantic situations?" asked Shepard, getting a nervous nod from the quarian. "I see. Sorry about that. But, no worries. It's just my boots," said the commander as she tossed herself back onto the cushy bed. "Though, I would say you're probably going to have to get used to me in various states of dress. If we're going to be sticking together, then there are times where I'm going to need to remove clothing."

"It's alright. I'll adjust, I promise. You've already done so much for me…" said the young woman as she walked over and stared between the second bed and Shepard. "Is...is this one mine?" she asked hopefully.

"All yours Tali," said the commander as she held her arms behind her head despite the soft pillows.

The quarian stared down at the bed nervously. She had never seen a bed so big in her life. It could easily fit four adult-sized quarians in it with room to spare. It was almost too much room in her opinion. But then, most other races had the room to spare, while hers did not. Knowing how unlikely it was that she would ever experience something like this again, she lifted her arms and fell back into the bed. When she actually started to sink into the softness, she sighed. While she wasn't able to feel it on her skin, she could definitely feel the softness of it in comparison to the stiff racks they slept on in the Migrant Fleet, and much softer than the hard, shipboard floor she slept on during most of her Pilgrimage. Sighing to herself again, she lifted her arm and activated her omni-tool. Accessing the Citadel's station-wide connection to the extraweb, she began to type in her search as she heard the commander's breathing deepen.

"Jane...Shepard...Elysium," she said quietly to herself as she hit enter.

Donatello Diner – Presidium – Citadel

Tali could feel eyes on her as they entered the small, but cozily decorated diner. Ever since Shepard had mentioned going out to eat, the quarian had become a nervous wreck, fidgeting and stumbling all the way to the front door. "Tali, are you going to be alright?" asked the commander curiously.

Looking at Shepard in shock, she nodded nervously. "I'm just a bit nervous is all Shepard. My people are typically seen as scavengers or dirty vagrants. Even on the wards, we are sometimes not welcome in such establishments," she said as she anxiously looked around at the people. Thankfully, most of them either didn't notice her or didn't seem bothered by her presence.

"I understand, but I made sure to call ahead. I made a deal with the owner, so you have nothing to worry about," she said as she sat at one of the tables.

Tali sat down and nodded, her fidgeting now less noticeable, but still present. When the waitress, a female turian stepped over, she looked at them both, her personality practically lighting the room. "Welcome to Donatello's Diner! Would you like to try our special of the day?"

Shepard looked up at the woman with a smile. "That's alright. I'll just take a cheeseburger with fries and an iced tea. Tali?" asked the redhead as she handed the quarian the menu. The young woman began gazing over the list, wide-eyed at the variety of dextro selections she was able to choose from.

But she set the datapad with the list down and sighed. "I'll take whatever's cheapest," she said, as she looked down at the table.

Shepard eyed her sternly before turning to the waitress. "What do you recommend from the dextro selections?" she asked curiously.

The turian nodded, pointing at the menu. "My personal favorite is Palaven's yasha steak. However, of our vegan options, I'd highly recommend the tara fruit salad with the ambrosia dressing. It's quite the favorite back in Cipritine," she responded.

Shepard looked at the menu and saw that the meal would cost. Honestly, it was paltry in price compared to the higher priced dinners on the menu, but it was something fresh for the girl. In the few talks that they'd had, Tali had mentioned that she mostly lived off nutrient paste since she had left, and even on the Fleet, the food was mostly calorie based. Without the resources to spare, their culinary culture was all but dead. "We'll take it. Can you get it packed for a quarian?"

"Of course! I'll be right back with your tea!" said the girl as she took her list back and vanished into the kitchens.

Tali sighed to herself and stared at the table. "Shepard, you shouldn't be spending so much on me…" said the young woman as she fidgeted with her fingers again.

Shepard smiled as she leaned back in the chair. "Tell me about your Pilgrimage," she requested as she stretched herself out.

The quarian looked up abruptly at the request, her luminescent eyes wide beneath her face mask. "Now?"

"When you first mentioned it, I wanted to know a bit more. But we were kinda in a hurry at the time, so we had to stick to business. Now, we have some time to spare while we wait for my friend to show up. So, go ahead," said Shepard as she accepted her drink from the waitress.

"Oh...I see," said Tali with relief in her voice. Back in the human embassy, she thought Shepard had skipped hearing more due to some apathetic disregard of her culture. At the time, it had stung a bit, but now knowing that she cared filled her with a new desire to teach. "Well, my people, as you may have heard, live in a migratory fleet of ships.”

Shepard cocked an eyebrow at the statement. "Couldn't the Migrant Fleet settle on a new world? You may not be able to get out of your suits, but at least you wouldn't be relying on ships all the time."

"We, erm...well, even though there are many planets that could be colonized by our people for resources or perhaps a new home, one of our punishments from the Council for the geth was that our colonization rights were stripped, keeping us from finding a new world to make a home on. The last time we got desperate and tried to colonize an uninhabited world, the turian Hierarchy threatened to attack the fleet if we didn't remove ourselves from the system," she said sadly.

Shepard stared at her in shock. "But that was almost three centuries ago!" she snapped angrily at the girl. "Anyone who had any part in bringing the geth to life has already passed away!"

Tali sighed as she rested her helmeted head in her three-fingered hand. "I know Shepard, we've tried to get the ruling repealed numerous times. But the Council claimed that even to this day the geth were a threat to every species in the galaxy. And now with Eden Prime, we can't exactly say they are wrong," she said before finally getting the conversation back on track. "Anyway, our people recycle everything. We need new resources, ships, and anything you could imagine. But instead, we simply survive off bribes."

"Bribes?" asked the commander curiously.

"When the Migrant Fleet travels too close to a colonized system, the species in control of said system will often gift us with resources and ships to get us to leave. They think that if we stay, we will start trying to scrap everything we can get our hands on," she said, the tone of her voice exasperated as she rolled her eyes. "The other way we survive is through the Pilgrimage. Whenever a quarian reaches the age of maturity, they are trained in the ways of survival, and sent to a destination of their choice."

"And when is your Pilgrimage over?" asked the woman curiously.

"In order to complete the Pilgrimage, the quarian in question must return to the fleet with a gift. It can be resources or a ship perhaps. But the gift must contribute to the greater good of the Fleet. Sub-par gifts, while often accepted, can lead to the stigma of being unreliable," responded the young woman as the turian finally approached with their lunch. Setting Shepard's plate down, Tali eyed the food she had called a cheeseburger. It was basically a slab of meat and cheese between two pieces of bread. A curious combination if she had ever seen one.

Then came her own lunch, which was placed on the table in a glass cylinder. Picking it up, she examined it curiously, noting all the lovely colors of the different kinds of fruits within. Finally, she reached up and unhooked a small hose-like nozzle on her mask and connected it to the top of the vial. Shepard reached down and grabbed her odd meal, taking a massive bite out of it just as Tali evacuated the air within her feeding tube to keep it sterile. Then came the food, and she almost melted into her seat.

Each flavor that hit her tongue was juicy and creamy at the same time, splashing on her tongue with each pump. "Keelah…" she whispered as she finally swallowed her first mouthful.

"Is it that good?" asked the commander with a smirk as she held her already half eaten burger.

"I've never tasted anything like it before. It's so...so...juicy. How can a paste provide this much flavor in such small containers?" she asked, holding up the flask again to look at the marvelous concoction.

"I'm glad you like it. But what were you saying about the gifts?" she asked as she continued to eat.

"Oh, right. Well, a captain will often accept a gift, even if it's less than pleasing. More crew means a higher status within the fleet. But those who give the gift are often given very low rank on the ship, and more responsibilities and chores as a result. It keeps people from stealing small starships and coming back to offer them as their gift," she said before taking another breathtaking bit of her salad.

"I see, so in order to return to your fleet, you have to give the captain of your future ship a gift that makes life on the fleet better?" asked Shepard before she took a drink of her tea.

Tali nodded as she swallowed her food again. "It's not an easy task, but most are able to contribute successfully one way or another," she said before noticing that someone had entered the diner and was heading directly for them. It was a turian in a C-Sec uniform, and she immediately scooted away from the table in panic.

"Welcome Garrus!" greeted Shepard as she too scooted back, but more in a welcoming sense. Tali was always nervous around C-Sec officers. Most of the time, they tended to try and drive quarians out of establishments and places of business, branding them as vagrants and thieves. But, knowing that Shepard had called him here set her mind at ease.

"Hey Shepard…" he said, holding out his hand. The human clasped his wrist, and he returned the gesture happily. Turning to Tali however, he gave her a curious eye. "And you are?"

"My name is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya," said the quarian, still slightly nervous around him.

"Pleased to meet you Tali'Zorah," he said as he pulled up a turian-styled chair and sat in it.

"Tali is the newest member of the crew. At least, if she wants to be," said Shepard as she eyed the quarian.

"Crew?" asked Tali curiously, her food temporarily forgotten.

"I'm a Spectre now, and soon I'll have a ship and crew of my own to chase after Saren with. I was hoping you'd want to come along," she said, having finished her burger minutes ago and was now just casually munching on the fried potato sticks. "If you'd rather not, I can arrange for you to stay in a secluded colony-"

"I'd love to join!" interrupted the quarian almost excitedly. "If I just go to a colony and work, I will never have the opportunity or experience to bring back a suitable gift for the Fleet! And, I'd be working for the greater good of the galaxy as a whole as well!"

Shepard smiled at her enthusiasm as she sat back in her chair and relaxed. "Well then, welcome aboard Tali'Zorah nar Rayya," said the woman as she turned her head towards the turian. "Now then Garrus, you said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes, I did. As a matter of fact, it's closely related," he said as he turned to the waitress and waved her off, not wanting any lunch for himself. "I've seen you work Shepard, and I like the results. Unlike C-Sec who are too cowardly to get off their asses and take action, you tear away the red tape and charge right in. I respect that, and I want to help you."

She tilted her head curiously as she eyed the painted turian. "So, you want to help through C-Sec? Or…" she asked, leaving the second option open-ended intentionally.

"Actually, I was hoping I could come with you too," he said eagerly as he sat forward in his chair.

"What about C-Sec?" she asked as she finally finished off the last of her meal.

"C-Sec will do just fine without me. I, however, would be working towards a much greater goal in helping you. Whether or not the Reapers are real, Saren is a threat to the entire galaxy and needs to be stopped. And I want to help you firsthand, side by side, just like in Chora's Den," he said as he leaned his elbows on the table. "So, what do you say Commander? Help a young, tired C-Sec officer out?"

She stared at him for a long moment before finally smiling. "Alright then. I'm sure the deductive skills that you gained from working for C-Sec would come in handy. What other skills do you have?" she asked curiously before finishing off her tea.

"Oh...uhhh, well I work well with machines. And I'm really good at calibrating weapons of any kind," he said proudly as he placed his hands in his lap, as if in an interview.

"That'll come in handy as well. Welcome to the team," she said, getting a relieved sigh from the turian as he clasped wrists with her once more.

"Glad to be of service Shepard, I'm going to go and file my resignation now, and you have my number whenever you're ready to go," he said as he finally stood.

Shepard stood as well, prompting Tali to also. Disconnecting her feeding tube, she left the vial on the table practically spotless. "You'll be hearing from me soon. Until then, keep your comm unit on," she replied as she paid the approaching waitress with a transfer of credits.

"Understood Commander. I'm sure we'll make a great team," he replied before finally turning and leaving.

As he left, Shepard turned to Tali and noticed her staring at Garrus as he left the restaurant. "Something the matter?"

"No...nothing," she said as she reconnected the tube to her mask. "He was kinda cute," she finally replied, getting a chuckle from the human.

CODEX ENTRIES

Thessian Yvalice Crystal | Mineralogy | Gemstone
A biproduct of Element Zero, these crystals are formed when Element Zero is heated to its melting point. The steam and evaporated liquid that rises from the molten eezo, and once the temperature cools again, the liquid biproduct pools together and forms into crystals similar to quartz. These crystals are hailed on Thessia as fine jewelry due to their rarity and the fact that they glow brightly when in contact with biotic dark energy.

White Paint | Culture | Asari
In asari culture, painting one’s face is a sign of status. While some asari have forgone tradition and don’t wear paint as asari politics melded into galactic politics, it is still common to see asari with their faces painted in this traditional matter. It is also a way of identifying an asari’s position in society. The more paint an asari has on her face, the higher her social status. These paints also come in a number of colors depending on which social class they rank in, with white being government, red being military, and purple being civilian.

Yasha | Zoology | Palaven
A large, lumbering animal that roams the temperate grassy plains of Palaven. Sometimes compared to the Terran bison, it lacks the thick fur or horns, and instead is well known to attack with the large, nearly razor-sharp plates on its thick tail. An evolutionary adaptation, these plates are often sharpened against rocks and used to cut down trees in order to access their foliage. Turians regularly herd these animals on ranches and farm them for their meat and eggs.

Tara Fruit | Edible Flora | Palaven
The tara fruit is a popular food native to and commonly grown in the Zevaros region of Palaven. It’s well known for its sour taste and is commonly used in vegetation rich dishes such as salads, as the taste often compares to dressings used on Earth.

Chapter 8: Acquiring the Normandy

Chapter Text

Council Reserved Docking Bay 117 - Presidium - Citadel

It had been a quick few days. A light vacation in the middle of a crisis. But the lovely stay on the Presidium couldn’t last, and she knew it was over as soon as she was summoned to the Reserved Docking Bay 117 by Ambassador Udina. As she entered the bay, she found the man standing outside of the airlock of her new ship. And when she saw it, her eyes widened. The smooth surface of the hull curved back into flexible wings. The ship was smaller than most Alliance frigates, but it packed no less firepower given that it was co-created by the turian Hierarchy as a way of promoting a truce and mending old wounds.

As she stepped up to the man, she nodded as her eyes scanned the name on the side of the vessel. “I’m being assigned the Normandy?” she asked curiously.

“Not giving per se. But the Alliance and Hierarchy both believed it would be best used in your hands given your experience with it,” he said, smirking at the pleased look on her face. “Just, try to keep it in one piece, Shepard. I know how much fun Lieutenant Moreau tends to have behind the wheel.”

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Moreau is the pilot?”

Nodding, Udina looked at the gorgeous ship and continued. “All of the crew from the Eden Prime mission will be joining you aboard the Normandy. They were chosen initially because of their skills, and the Council, as well as the Alliance agree that they would be best used assisting you. So, they are on temporary duty assignments to help you along. The Hierarchy has even sent some of their own to assist, so try to play nice,” he said as he looked at her with a stern gaze. “The only member who will not be joining…”

“Would be me,” came the voice of Captain Anderson as he stepped out of the airlock and onto the dock.

Shepard’s stare hardened as the captain stepped up to the pair. “They’re taking you off the case?” asked Shepard curiously as she crossed her arms in annoyance.

“Afraid there was no choice. The Ambassador was right. I’m too close to this Commander. My presence could be seen as the Alliance trying to get revenge for the Council canning me a ways back. But I don’t see it as a bad thing,” the man said as he gave her a grin.

“How do you figure?” she asked, finding it odd that the man was letting go of the reins so easily. The man’s status and resources would likely be of immense help to their cause, making his statement an even bolder claim.

“I can do the work that I’d do aboard the Normandy from right here on the Citadel anyway, making my presence on the ship not necessary at all. But,” he said drawing himself to his full height in military fashion. “Me being on the ship would only be a hindrance to you, Jane. Despite what you may think, I am not, nor ever was I, as good a leader as you. I’ve seen you work many times. I saw your files on Shanxi, and Amaterasu. And I’ve seen the video feeds that a very big fan of yours spliced together of Elysium, as well as gotten a firsthand recommendation from now Admiral Armstrong about you. You were never meant to play second fiddle to a by the books Alliance lifer like me.”

Her eyes widened, every word entering her mind and making her more and more dumbstruck. “Captain…” she muttered before straightening herself in return. “I think you’re selling yourself a bit short sir,” she said as she mimicked his rigid stance.

“Perhaps I am, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong about you. You’re a born leader, Commander. Were you born in the medieval ages, I have no doubt that we’d be hearing about Jane the Great rather than Alexander. All this…” he said, waving to the Normandy. “I don’t think it happened by chance Shepard. I think you were born for this role, and I expect a lot of good things in the future when I hear people talking about the first human Spectre,” he finished with a smile.

She had to force herself not to melt on the spot from all the praise he had just rained on her. From the time she was a girl in high school to this very moment, she’d had to earn every ounce of respect she got from most male counterparts, especially those wearing Alliance Officer bars. Almost every time she met a new male NCO, or commander, she was often greeted with that same pompous smirk, which quickly vanished once they spied her documentation.

Anderson was one of the few who she had met out of uniform and he immediately greeted her with respect before he knew anything about her. It was something she highly appreciated but kept to herself. After what he just said, however, she was considering filing for him to adopt her. She was curious how her mother would take that. “Sir...thank you,” she said, giving him a bright grin.

“Not sir anymore, Commander. You don’t work for me or the Alliance now. You’re on your own path. Feel free to call me David,” he said, holding out his hand to her respectfully. She nodded, and reached forward, shaking his hand solidly.

“Speaking of the Alliance, Shepard, I have your paperwork here,” said Udina as he pulled up a datapad. Offering it to her, she looked over it as he continued. “Commander, from this point forward, you will no longer be recognized as Alliance personnel. Starting today, you are Jane Shepard the Spectre, rather than Lieutenant Commander Jane Shepard. This, of course, means that nobody in the Alliance has any power to order you to do anything with any authority. As a matter of fact,” he said as he gave Shepard his direct number. “I’d prefer if you reported them to me. I’ll have them handled quickly.”

“This says here that it’s not a permanent separation from Alliance Military,” said Jane as she looked up from the datapad.

“That is correct. It’s a clause in the contract that states that should you so choose to give up your role as a Spectre, you are to be allowed back into service to continue your career without the heavy paperwork and time-consuming process of reenlisting. Alliance High Command practically begged me to add that in,” he said with a sigh. “I do hope you don’t intend to give up your role, Shepard. It took humanity a long while to earn this.”

“Not for the foreseeable future, Ambassador,” she said as she turned to him. “What about the crew?”

Nodding at the question, Udina continued. “The crew have a very similar status on their careers as well. While they still work under the Alliance, their status is a bit different. You have been given an immunity to all but Council Law from the UNE, as per the Council’s request. However, they do not have the same diplomatic immunity, Shepard. Which means your actions could very well cost them their future,” he said, eyeing her sternly. “If they were to be ordered by you to attack a civilian population for example, they would all be withdrawn from your crew and charged with war crimes.”

“Understood,” she responded as she finished reading the document, signed it, and handed it to him.

“The same applies to the Normandy. She is under loan from both the Human System’s Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy. At any point where either government feels your actions may cause harm or shame to either side, it will be taken back. Do I make myself clear?” he asked sternly.

“Crystal, Ambassador,” she responded with a firm stare.

“Good to hear. Oh, and so you’re aware the Council’s new trainer is aboard as well. As requested, all of your belongings are now in the Captain’s cabin, and your armor in the armory. So, is there anything else you need to take care of before you go?” he asked dutifully.

“Nothing I can think of. I’ve already dotted all my i’s and crossed my t’s here on the Citadel and with the Alliance,” she said as she looked to her left and noticed Garrus getting off the elevator. Seeing the talks, the turian halted and waited politely.

“Good. Your first payment from the Council is on your new account, and your Spectre information terminal is in your quarters. Make us proud Commander,” he said as he held out his hand.

She looked down at it strangely. In all the times she had ever met the man, this was the first he’d ever tried to shake her hand. While she still didn’t like the man’s tendency to use others for his own agenda, she still respected the fact that he put faith in her. “I’ll do my best, Ambassador,” she said as she took his hand and shook it firmly.

“I hope so, Commander. I hope so,” he finally said before turning to leave, not even acknowledging Garrus’s presence as he did.

“He may be an ass, but he knows you’re the best one for the job, Shepard,” Anderson said as he patted her on the shoulder. “I know you’ll get the job done,” finished the man proudly before turning and leaving himself, nodding to the turian on his way out.

Finally, Garrus approached the woman, his steps almost excited as he did. “Good to see you Shepard, and thank you again for having me aboard,” he said with a respectful nod of his own. Then, he looked to the side briefly, his mandibles twitching. “Uhh...just so you’re aware, the krogan we worked with the other day is giving C-Sec a hard time because they refused to let him up here.”

Shepard raised an eyebrow as she looked at the turian. “Wrex? Why would he want to come up here?” she asked curiously.

“I can’t say, Shepard. He shouted at me to...erm…‘get Shepard’s pyjack ass down here before I make a mess,’” he finished uneasily.

Shepard sighed and rubbed her head as she moved towards the elevator. “Alright, let’s get this over with.” The turian nodded and followed her down, both of them taking the elevator to the northern wing of C-Sec headquarters. As soon as the plasteel shield opened, she had to chuckle to herself as she saw Tali staring in shock nearby as the krogan growled menacingly at the men and women of C-Sec surrounding him. The reaction to her stepping off the elevator was startling to her. For so long in her life, her work had been secretive, kept in the dark and classified. She was known in the Alliance for her exemplary work and training of special forces soldiers, but everything else was only speculation, which got her eager salutes and rapid handshakes from those who had heard of her.

But when she stepped towards the small crowd, instead of telling her to stay back, the C-Sec officers parted the way for her, almost biblically so. Each of them had a look of awe on their face as she passed, holding their hands up as if she was untouchable. Their compliance in allowing her through was extremely uncomfortable. However, when she finally stepped up to the krogan, he focused his blood red stare on her. “Shepard.”

“Wrex,” she responded with a glare. Lashing out, she punched him again. His head snapped to the side, getting a gasp from the audience at the action.

But Wrex turned to her with a smirk on his scaly lips. Jerking forward, he slammed his plated head into her forehead, causing her to stumble back and groan in pain. Immediately, every officer around drew their weapons and aimed at the chuckling krogan. “Your head’s pretty hard, Shepard. That normally knocks a human out.”

“I’ve been told I have a thick skull,” she responded as she shook the pain away and stared at him, raising her hands to make the officers lower their guns. “Care to explain why you’re making an idiot of yourself?”

“All I wanted to do was go up to the dock so I could talk to you. But they made a big deal out of it, saying that I wasn’t allowed up there because I didn’t have clearance. So, I punched the guy and they got all offended…” he growled as he stared at the human with a fat lip. “C-Sec is always so eager to resort to violence,” the krogan said sarcastically.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” she asked impatiently.

He lowered his arms and stared at her. “I have a lot of respect for you, Shepard. You helped me do my job, and you had a big enough quad to hit me for breaking our deal. Even these sacks of varren piss didn’t dare touch me, and it’s their damn job,” he said as he glared at the officers around him. “So, now that you’re doing your own private thing away from the Citadel, C-Sec, and the Alliance, I wanted to request to go with you.”

She stared at him oddly for a moment. “But, aren’t you a mercenary? Why would you want to go onto a ship where you have to follow rules?”

“As I said Shepard, it’s about respect. You can take as much as you give, and more. You’ve proven yourself, so I have no problems following your rules,” he said as he once again stared at the officers around him. “If any one of these cowards did what you did in Chora’s Den, I might actually abide by their rules.”

Shepard stood stock still for a moment, staring at Wrex with a contemplative stare before Garrus spoke up to her. “Shepard, you can’t seriously be considering taking a krogan aboard the Normandy…”

“You fine sharing a room?” asked the commander curiously.

“I don’t mind, but I snore,” he said with a chuckle.

“Alright, let’s go,” she ordered before turning to the elevator, motioning for Tali to follow on the way. Garrus sighed and shook his head in dismay. The krogan smirked and walked past the officers, eyeing them with a predator-like gaze. As he passed the one he had punched earlier, he jerked forward as if he was going to hit the man again, and the man fell backwards in reaction. Wrex chuckled as he finally walked towards the elevator with the rest of C-Sec glaring at him.

Combat Information Center - SSV Normandy SR1

As she entered the ship through the main airlock, she was immediately greeted by Joker. “Hey Commander, remember when I said Spectres are trouble?” he asked, getting a nod from her as she turned to the cockpit. “You’re the exception,” he said with a grin as his chair spun towards her so that he could talk to her face to face.

“You may change your mind in a few seconds,” she said with a smirk. As Garrus walked onboard the ship, the pilot eyed him curiously. But when the krogan stepped onto the deck, Joker went wide-eyed in shock.

Waiting until the giant, armored figure walked out of hearing range, he finally spoke to her in a hushed whisper. “See this?” he asked, holding up his hands as if he were holding a piece of paper. “This is me taking back what I just said up!” he said as he pretended to tear the invisible parchment to pieces.

Shepard chuckled as she leaned against the doorway to the cockpit. “Told you,” she said in a friendly tone. “Still wanna stay aboard?”

Finally, Joker just shrugged. “Hey, as long as he isn’t wanting to pilot, it’s whatever. Having a living battering ram might come in handy,” he said as he turned back to the pilot controls. “I’d never give up this baby. She’s the best ship in the Alliance Fleet,” he said, then turned to her with a grin. “Besides, we also get our own parking space. And that’s a luxury worth bunking with a thousand krogan,” he said as he turned back to the controls. “We’re ready to go whenever you are, Commander.”

“Give me a minute. I want to get a feel of the crew first,” she remarked as she turned away from the cockpit with a wave. As she stepped into the CIC, the main combat center of the whole ship, she saw a familiar face step up to her immediately.

“Commander!” greeted the man as he stood straight. But he relaxed when she dismissed the gesture with a hand wave.

“You can call me Commander if you like, but I’m no longer Alliance affiliated. So, no need for formality,” she said as she crossed her arms staring at him curiously. “Pressley, right?”

“Charles Pressley at your service, Shepard,” he said eagerly as he straightened himself proudly. “The best navigator in the Alliance!” he claimed, before shrinking slightly, “Or so I’m told. In any case, if anyone is going to take over the Normandy for Captain Anderson, I’m glad it’s you. Though…” he said slightly quieter as Tali passed. “I’m not so sure about having non-humans on the ship…”

She sighed at the statement, realizing that Williams wasn’t the only one with reservations on the other species of the galaxy. “We’re all on the same team here Pressley.”

“With all due respect sir, that’s what they said about Nihlus. And look how that turned out,” he said as he gazed back at her passively.

“Nihlus was betrayed by another Spectre,” she said before tightening her crossed arms. “Speak freely Pressley, I want to know if you have a problem with non-humans.”

The balding man shook his head. “It’s not that Commander. Humanity has always handled its own problems. Saren attacked one of our colonies, so we should be the ones to stop him. We don’t need their help,” he said defensively.

“Turians are no different than humanity in regard to its wants and needs Pressley. They were just as betrayed as we were when one of their Spectres were killed by this traitor, and them offering help is them wanting to help us take him out. And on top of that, Saren isn’t just a threat to humanity, he’s a threat to every species in the galaxy. Turning away their help over human pride would be idiocy via hubris,” she said firmly.

He sighed and nodded. “I guess so. Maybe I’m just stuck in the old ways of thinking. But don’t worry Commander. This won’t be a problem,” he said as he straightened again. “You’re the boss, and I’ll work with whoever you tell me to.”

She sighed again, knowing that he was missing the point. But she had more people to meet before they left. “Alright Pressley. I still want to talk about this later, but for now you’re my XO. And I expect you to treat all of the crew equally.”

“Understood, Shepard!” he said, turning back to his console as she stepped away from the CIC and down the stairs into the mess hall. Both Williams and Alenko were here, chatting amiably at one of the tables set up in the area. But her attention was immediately grabbed by a curious figure sitting by himself and eating what looked like an MRE. He was salarian, and his skin was as dark as ebony. And despite his voluminous eyes having no pupils, she could tell that he was staring at her as well.

Moving over to the table, she sat down and looked at him. “I’m Jane Shepard-” she started, but was cut off immediately.

“I know who you are, Commander. It’d be very odd for the Council to send me to gauge a potential Spectre candidate without sending me everything they have on you,” he said in a fast clip as he set his meal down.

She smirked at his attitude. He obviously wasn’t pleased to be here, but was ordered by the Council, so he had no choice. “So, Spectre, what do I call you?” she asked curiously as she rested her elbows on the table.

“I suppose if we are to be associates, exchanging identities would be efficient,” he said as he leaned forward slightly. “My full names is Lanis Tol Vura Vassos Zellin Casso. Most who I speak with just call me Zellin, so you may as well.”

“Alright Zellin, what’s your specialty?” she asked curiously. Despite everyone’s drive to be good at everything, all special ops soldiers had specialties. And she was betting that spectres were no different.

He stared at her for a moment before tapping the table impatiently. “Just because we work together does not mean we have to be friends, Shepard. I examine your capabilities; you try to impress me. That is to be the extent of our relationship.”

She smirked at the fellow spectre and shrugged. “Alright. Then is there anything I can do to make your stay more comfortable?” she asked as she stood up.

“A heater would be a pleasant addition,” he said as he stared up at her with his large eyes, getting a curious look back from her. “I know of your studies into turian and asari cultures and biology. And I respect your eagerness to learn about new cultures, so remember this. Salarians are easily bothered by temperature. When it gets too cold, around ten degrees by your human Celsius scale, then our bodies begin to shut down and go into hibernation. We become sluggish and our psyche is out of sorts. However, we are high function creatures in heat. So, I would like something to help keep the chill of the cabin out.”

She nodded with her arms akimbo. “Easy enough. Anything else?”

“I highly doubt you would be able to get a heated pool onto the ship, so I’ll leave it at that,” he said as he picked up his meal again. “Now, I wish to finish my food in peace. Please leave me be,” he requested as he began eating again.

She turned away from the man with a head shake as she gave both of the human soldiers a nod and decided to head down to the cargo bay. In her contract, there was a list of personnel that told her she had a requisitions officer on board. So, she’d have to establish a connection with him as well as engineering. Hopping onto the elevator, she slowly descended into the depths of the ship.

After a slow ride down, she stepped off and found her rec officer checking cargo containers on his datapad. Stepping over, she noticed that he still had his Alliance ACUs on with a matching cap. “Hey, you the supply chief?” she asked curiously as she stepped up to the shorter figure.

Looking up, he smirked at her from underneath his cap and lowered the datapad. “Well well, Commander Shepard! Long time no see!” he said happily as he stepped up to her.

She eyed him in shock for a moment before the realization of who he was slammed her in the face. “Corporal Tyson?” she asked incredulously.

“It’s actually Service Chief Tyson now. Then again, considering I’m working with you, I suppose it’s just Chris,” he said with a smile.

“I haven’t seen you since Amaterasu! Where have you been?” she asked as she stepped closer, a smile growing on her face at seeing her former trooper again.

“Well, after all that went down, I kinda had issues. Seeing all those bodies and seeing that man die...it affected me pretty hard. So, I requested a post away from front lines. It turns out they had an opening for a supply logistics specialist. I applied, and Command agreed, so they switched me over. Ever since, I’ve been in logistics and supply,” he said as he patted the crate next to him.

“Very nice,” she responded, scratching her chin in thought. “So, your role here is…?”

“Anything you need to order, I’m your man. Weapons, armor, food, water, booze, fuel…” he said, then stepped closer so the others in the area couldn’t hear. “Even if you’re looking for company, my wife knows a few gents who’d jump at the chance with a hero like you,” he said with a grin.

“Very funny, Tyson,” she said with a smirk. Unfolding her arms, she put her hands on her hips. “It’ll be handy to have a delivery crew like that aboard.”

He nodded, “Yes it will. Jokes aside, I was serious about the other stuff though. I’ve got a few licenses outside of your normal buying markets so I can get you good stuff. However, it’s a bit more expensive, and usually for a reason,” he said shrugging.

“So, I have to pay for all the imports?” she asked curiously. She wasn’t against it but thought that the Council would cover most costs.

“According to what I was told, Spectres get budgets they can work with. The budget depends on the Spectre of course. But most Spectres work alone and fly their own ship, so they get a cheaper budget. You’re a special case however, and your funds are enough to keep the ship, and the crew going stable. That doesn’t leave much for recreation however…” he said dutifully.

“So if I want a bit extra, like better weapons and armor, then it has to come out of my own funds?” she asked, getting the gist of what he was saying.

“They said some Spectres do jobs like mercenaries for a few years before getting a budget big enough to work on their own. Some of them are already well off enough that they don’t need to. So, it’s really up to you how you want to go about it,” he replied as he finished the work on the datapad and set it aside.

“I don’t think I’ll be doing that,” she said with a grin. “But there are a few things I’ve been meaning to do that I wasn’t able to during my career. We’ll see if I can’t get us some credits to spare.”

He chuckled lightly. “Can’t wait to see that, Commander. In the meantime, let me know if you need anything.”

“A small heater for one of the cabins,” she said immediately, getting a shocked look from him. “We have a salarian aboard, and they aren’t too fond of the same temperatures us warmies are used to. So, I thought I’d make them more comfortable.”

“I...I’ll put it on the list,” he said incredulously before picking his datapad up and tapping at it with his fingers.

Nodding, Shepard turned away from the man and entered the engine room at the back of the cargo hold. Opening the door, her eyes widened slightly at the sight of Tali surrounded by some of the engineering crew. There was an excited buzz about them as they watched her slide her alien fingers along the panels made for human hands as if she had practiced for years.

As she approached, the head engineer, Lieutenant Adams, turned and saw her. Immediately, he went stiff and shouted, “Captain on the deck!” As quick as a whip, the four other engineers did the same as Tali stared in confusion.

Shepard waved away the formalities. “At ease men. Remember, I’m not Alliance, so no salutes, no attention or at ease and all that,” she said as she approached the panel. “So, care to tell me what’s going on here?” she asked curiously.

Tali immediately began to shrink as Adams stepped up and showed her the display on the holographic monitor. “Your quarian friend was just tinkering with the engine’s output of energy. She taught us that by adjusting the lightning arc reactor’s power output to two percent lower, we get the same results and end up extending the life of the equipment that holds the core. That means maintenance won’t have to change it out every month and will instead only need to replace parts every six months!” he said excitedly.

Shepard cocked an eyebrow as she looked at the quarian, who was staring at the ground and fidgeting once more. “I’m sorry Shepard, I know I shouldn’t be messing with the engine on your ship. I just-” she started, but Shepard put a finger to the glowing indicator on her mask, silencing her.

“It’s alright Tali. You don’t have to worry about me getting angry,” she said, seeing the girl calm slowly. “I’m happy that you’re already contributing to the crew. Would you like a position here in engineering?” she asked as she placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder.

“R-Really? I could? You would let me?” she asked, breaking her timid appearance and becoming giddy with excitement. “I would love that Shepard! I’ve never had the chance to work on a ship other than...well, Fleet ships. Also, I’ve never seen an engine like this before, the core is massive!” she almost squealed.

“Never seen it before but you’re already working to improve it. You’ve impressed me Tali,” she said as the girl slowly started to go back to her timid nature as the compliment sunk in. “Are there any other talents I should know about?”

“Well, I’m pretty good with a shotgun and cyber engineering. So, if we run into more geth, I could be helpful on the ground,” she said hopefully.

“Consider it done. If the situation calls for it, I’ll bring you along,” said the commander cheerily.

Tali placed her hands behind her back to hide her fidgeting once more but couldn’t help but look down at her feet. “Thank you, Shepard. You don’t know what it means to me to be treated as an equal member of your crew. Most humans I’ve met either avoided me like I was a walking petri dish, or flirted with me, hoping I’d show them what I looked like under the suit,” she said with disdain.

Jane glared at the girl after her statement. “You will always be an equal to me Tali, just as long as you keep being who you are now. And if anyone tries to get into your pants again, then tell me. I’ve got a right hook for their jaw,” she said as she clenched her fist and held it up for the young woman to see.

Tali giggled at the motion and shook her head. “It’s alright Shepard. I usually just give them a zap with my omni-tool and send them running. But thank you for the offer. It would be interesting to see.”

Shepard smiled at her attitude and nodded, “Alright. I’ve got one more group to visit before we take off. I’ll see you all in the mess in a bit!” she said loudly as she headed for the elevator again.

Main Battery Control – SSV Normandy SR1

As she stepped into the main battery control that was responsible for most of the Normandy’s firepower, she saw a squad of five turians all turn to her in surprise, and then stand straight before slamming their tightened fists over their heart. The highest ranking according to the pinned feathers on their collars stood closest to her. She was a tall woman with a light-grey carapace and colony markings of Galatana, making her look like she had a violet letter V painted on her face.

“Captain, we didn’t expect you down here,” the turian woman said as she towered over Shepard by a full head.

Shepard immediately waved off the formalities. “I understand the Hierarchy has specific regulations on formalities. But they aren’t necessary here.”

The turians all looked at one another and dropped their salutes. The leader stepped forward and nodded to Shepard. “I am Praetor Zannia Gavos. We were instructed to assist you in any capacity as your fire team squad.”

Shepard smiled at the group and nodded. “I’m happy to have you. I hear from your reports that you’re some of the best the Hierarchy has to offer.” The spectre reached forward with one hand.

Gavos stared down at it, her mandibles twitching slightly before she reached forward. And the surprise on her face as Shepard clasped her wrist was easily noticeable. “You do us great honor with your words, Spectre,” the turian woman said as she grasped her wrist in return.

Shepard stared at them all as she released the traditional turian greeting. “I know you aren’t used to working under a human. I know that our people have a lot of vitriolic history. But I want you to know that on my ship, you are my crew and your concerns will never be dismissed because of this. We are one unit, one team, one spirit.”

Once again, looks of curiosity and surprise appeared on the faces of the turians. Finally, Gavos nodded and gave what she could guess was a turian smile. “I was unsure about working under the command of a human. But if you are true to your word, Spectre, then consider those worries dissolved. It’s good to serve with you.”

“You as well,” said the spectre with a smile as she turned and waved them off. “Prepare everything for takeoff. We’re leaving soon.”

CIC Galaxy Map - SSV Normandy SR1

“The mic is ready Commander,” said Joker through the intercom to her station. Shepard looked over the galaxy map, her green eyes scanning the intricate details of the map while her mind raced. The key that Saren was looking for was somewhere out there, and she had to find it before he did. If not, her visions, her nightmares, would become reality.

Leaning forward on the rail of the map station, she activated the mic that opened intercom to the rest of the ship. “This is former Commander Jane Shepard, your new leader and current captain of the SSV Normandy. I want to welcome you all aboard and thank you for contributing to helping me stop a lunatic from unleashing hell upon the galaxy,” she said, hardening her stare. “We know what he’s after. Whatever this key is, wherever it is, we’ll find it.”

Tali looked up as she heard Shepard’s voice, her heart slightly pounding at the excitement she felt in being included in such an important mission.

“I won’t lie to you guys; this isn’t going to be easy. This began with an attack on a human settlement in the Traverse. But that wasn’t his first attack, and it sure as hell won’t be the last. Whatever he has planned, we will be there to put him down before he can pull it off!” she snapped, getting a rousing, but not too loud cheer from the crew around her that could be heard over the intercom.

Garrus looked away from the team of turians in the gun battery and raised his head to the ceiling as he listened with the others.

“That coward knows we’re coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren’s followers will be waiting for us. And who knows what they will have in store? But one thing I know for sure is that we’ll be ready for them. The geth, his flunkies, all of them had better pray to whatever deities they can find. Because when we get our hands on them, it’s game over,” she said with a smirk.

Even Wrex had to smile at the last statement as he looked up from his current location in the armory. He was never one for speeches, but he liked the sound of this one already.

Shepard stayed silent before letting out a sigh. “We need to do this. For the sake of everyone in the galaxy. Saren is a danger to every species in Citadel Space and beyond, and he must be stopped,” she said, then paused again. “He will be stopped, that I promise you,” she finished, her voice much more confident than before.

As she turned the comm off, she heard the echoes of a cheer from across the ship, which in turn put a much more visible smile on her face as she pulled up the galaxy map. “Joker, take us out,” she ordered as she stepped away from the map and headed to her quarters with the same glowing smile.

CODEX ENTRIES

UNE | Government | Earth
The UNE, which stands for United Nations of Earth, is a coalition of countries that was hastily put together during the First Contact War. Having realized that there is alien life, and having seen the hostility on Shanxi, the countries of Earth quickly put together a ceasefire with each other and focused on the imminent threat from space. While it is known as the United Nations of Earth, not every country signed the treaty, and a few have decided to opt out after the threat of the turians was over. Despite this, the United Nations of Earth is the largest and most powerful government body on Earth.

Heated Pool | Culture | Salarian
Salarians, being one of the only two species in the galaxy that are cold blooded, need constant and subtle heat in order to stay active. If they are exposed to temperatures less than 15 degrees Celsius, their body becomes sluggish and their mind clouded. If temperatures drop below this mark, their bodies begin to shut down and go into hibernation. Given this necessity of heat, salarians, who have never truly left the ocean from whence they were born, build small pools similar to a human hot tub that regulates their body. These pools are extremely common in salarian households all over the galaxy and are even built in public for community get togethers.

Chapter 9: Missing Marines

Chapter Text

Captain’s Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

The first thing she did when she entered her cabin, which was a near the mess hall rather than on the lower decks with the rest of the crew, was sit down at her terminal. She’d have a chance to get her personal effects sorted once she knew where she was going first. The terminal was linked directly to the Spectre Headquarters on the Presidium, giving her a fast track to necessary information and classified files.

As she activated the encryption of her terminal, the screen went from a soft green color to a red, indicating that it was now secure. Opening the program labeled Spectre Channel, she immediately began to get mails directly to the terminal that began stacking on two sides. The left side was to her personally, and the right was spectre information in general. Looking over the personal emails, she sighed as she saw the first, which was named You’ve Been Invited! Opening it up, she read the email with a look of ire on her face.

[Dear Jane Shepard,

You have been formally invited to the everlasting matrimony of the most prestigious couple on Earth. On the date of April 2, 2183, the People’s Republic of China Consul and heir of the Hsu family dynasty, Chao Hsu, will be wed to the Dutchess of the United Nations of Europe, Valerie LaBarre. As the first human Spectre, your invitation was immediately signed and sealed with the royal seal of both houses and consecrated by his Holiness, the Pope, Pius the XVIII. Your physical invitation will be hand delivered to you on the Citadel at a time of your convenience. The wedding itself will start on Earth at Cape Canaveral, where the happy couple will then launch into space, to then land on Luna where the real ceremony will begin.

This ceremony will be only seen by the eyes of 1500 special guests, and those due to be wed were excited to have you there with them in their time of joy. Please reply to this email with your RSVP as soon as possible so that we may discuss your seating arrangements.

Cordially,
Leonard Pinkman III, MD, Esquire]

She sighed and smacked her head at several things in the email. First was the audacity to have a wedding invitation blessed by the Pope himself. Then again, that didn’t say much for the current Pope, to so carelessly consecrate such a menial object. Then came the end, where the writer assumed that she would accept the invitation without question. Smiling at the thought of disappointing the arrogant man, she immediately deleted the email.

The next email she received was much more mysterious, but much more welcome as well. It didn’t have anything in the subject line; and when she opened it, she only found one line of text on the screen. Congratulations Torch. Knew you were made for greatness. Her eyes widened at the use of her codename from her time spent with the Deep Intel team in the Alliance. She couldn’t be sure which one of the team sent it, but by the small amount of affection in the words, she knew it had to be Spider. Smiling, she deleted it, knowing that replying was useless. One of these days, she’d have to find him again and get a drink with him.

Finally, she had one that came from an Alliance terminal. The sender was a man by the name of Iakona Kahoku, who she knew to be a rear admiral. Her curiosity piqued; she opened the mail.

[Lieutenant Commander Jane Shepard,

I write this email in desperation. Please contact me on the secure line I’ve sent with this message. I hope to speak to you soon.

Rear Admiral Iakona Kahoku
Alliance Command ]

Frowning at the mail, she opened up his line and called immediately. It took a few seconds to connect. But when it finally did, his face popped onto the screen. “Rear Admiral Kahoku,” he responded as she stared at his rugged face on the screen.

“Admiral, are you certain this line is secure?” she asked seriously.

“I am, and who is this?” he asked curiously.

Shepard shut down the visual blocks and audio scramblers that came with the terminal. They were used to keep her identity to the caller unknown. But, as she shut them down, her face popped onto the screen, staring at him curiously. His eyes widened slightly at finally seeing her. “I got your message, and I was curious what I could do to help,” she replied firmly.

“Apologies Shepard, I didn’t think you’d respond so soon…” he replied as he visibly stood up and walked away from his current location. Once he was finally away from others, he stared at her again. “I’m glad you got my message.”

“Tell me what’s going on Admiral,” she ordered, her chin resting on her hand.

He nodded before continuing. “Shepard, I’m getting stonewalled by bureaucratic assholes! I recently sent a recon team out into the Traverse to investigate strange activity. Well, yesterday they went dark. Now I’ve spent the better part of yesterday and today trying to get the Alliance off their asses in order to help me search for them. Unfortunately, that didn’t go well, as you can imagine,” he said as he looked up curiouslybefore speaking again. “Anyway, their rules don’t apply to you Shepard. I was hoping you could do me the favor of finding out what happened to them.”

“Seems simple enough,” she remarked casually.

“I know I’m not allowed to order you to do anything Shepard. I’m staking my very career by even asking you this, but I have no other choice. This is just a request from one soldier to another. You would have my eternal gratitude if you helped me out,” he said as he stared at her seriously through the comm.

“I’m more than happy to check out the scene and find out what’s going on. Send me the coordinates of their last known location and I’ll see what I can find,” she responded as she opened a channel to Pressley to send him their destination.

“Thank you, Shepard. I owe you a debt of gratitude,” replied the man as he sent her the info she needed. “I’ll be waiting for your call,” he finally said, then cut the connection.

She closed down the call and sent the information to the navigation officer. Afterwards, she closed the terminal and left the room.

Cockpit - SSV Normandy SR1

“And arriving in the Sparta system in three...two...one…” said Joker as the Normandy left the relay corridor as smooth as ever.

Shepard stood with her arms crossed, staring at the system before them with Zellin next to her. She could tell by a glance that the system was very volatile, given that it had two asteroid belts, one near the middle and one that ringed the entire outside of the Kuiper belt. “Are there any anomalies or comm traffic coming from any of the planets, she asked, turning to her information officer, a man by the name of Marcus Grieco.

He stayed silent for a moment but spoke up as he turned his head towards her. “It’s very weak Commander, but there seems to be an Alliance SOS beacon coming from Edolus.”

“Then it looks like that’s where we’re going,” she said as she turned away and headed away from the cockpit. “Joker, take us in quiet. We’re going to be taking the mako for this one.”

“Should I armor up as well?” asked the salarian spectre casually.

“If you want to come along, then feel free. But I’ll be bringing a team of my own regardless,” she responded before walking into the CIC.

Surface of Edolus – Edolus

Shepard groaned at the landing. While the M35 Mako had some of the best ground vehicle shocks in the galaxy, planetary entry still left the entire squad of Garrus, Zellin, Wrex, and Shepard in disarray. “That’ll take some getting used to,” she complained as she shook the webs from her helmeted head.

“Indeed. I find myself wondering why you didn’t put in a requisition for a hovercraft rather than this six-wheeled monstrosity,” griped the salarian as he too held his head.

“The M35 is one of the heaviest armored vehicles in the Alliance. As such, it’s too heavy for hover technology,” she responded, staring at the darkened visor of the spectre’s helmet. “I’ll take protection on the ground over any of those paper-thin crafts any day.”

“Understood,” he said sourly as Garrus brought up his omni-tool.

“It looks like the signal is projecting from a few kilometers to the north,” said the turian dutifully.

“Then let’s check it out,” said Shepard as she finally took the wheel of the vehicle and turned it towards their destination. The drive was less than pleasant for most of the passengers. Shepard had no previous experience in driving the vehicle, and the terrain was rocky and uneven, making for a less than smooth trip to the location of the signal.

But as they finally crested over the rocky hill that led to a small, flat plain of land, Shepard stopped the vehicle. Garrus eyed her curiously. “Why are we stopping?” he asked as he noted her pulling a weapon off her back.

“Lesson number one about doing recon work Garrus, never drive headfirst into a mission. Always scout it from a distance first,” she finished as she popped the hatch on the tank and pulled herself out of the vehicle. The turian followed her through the opening, then the salarian. Wrex seemed less urgent to get out of the craft.

Shepard triggered her sniper, causing it to fold out before lifting the scope to her eye. Almost immediately, her heart plummeted as she saw a small Alliance craft that looked like it had entered the atmosphere at much more than recommended speeds. The hull of the ship had practically buckled in on itself. If anyone was inside, they would have surely been crushed. It took a second before she noticed Garrus next to her, doing the same thing with his own sniper.

“See anything of note Mister C-Sec detective?” she asked playfully.

The turian took a moment to respond. “Yeah, something isn’t right here. The ship looks like it suffered a crash from high altitudes, but there’s no crater, no impact markings whatsoever,” he started, surprising her with the notable information. “Also, there appear to be mounds of soil disturbed in the nearby area. They appear to be too big for mines, but we should be careful on approach anyway,” he finally said as he lowered his scope.

She did as well, putting her weapon on her back as she turned to him. “You’ve got a good eye Vakarian,” she said with a smile.

“Well, I did see something in you when we first met…” he said, and she could almost hear the smirk in his voice. She cocked an eyebrow under her helmet, wondering if he just made a pass at her. But she ignored it and headed back to the Mako. Once everyone was seated again, she took the wheel and let out a deep breath.

“Alright everyone, we’re going in slowly. When we exit the vehicle, make sure to step lightly,” she ordered as Zellin watched her curiously.

The vehicle drove rather smoothly down the hill until finally they were on the flat plain. She took it slow, maneuvering the six-wheeled vehicle around the mounds that Garrus had mentioned. It took another ten minutes to finally reach the center of the plain, but when they finally did, they were met with an odd scene. As Shepard stepped around the demolished vehicle, she immediately noticed a flashing beacon planted into the ground. Zellin had apparently seen it as well, as his voice came over her internal comm. “It appears we’ve found the source of the signal. But what of the marines?” he asked, scanning the area curiously.

Reaching for her omni-tool, she scanned the beacon curiously. “If this is the marine’s beacon, then where are the ones who set it up?” she asked as she turned towards the wrecked vehicle. She cringed slightly as she saw that one of Kahoku’s men had been unfortunately crushed beneath the weight of the ship. The upper half of his body was still protruding face-down from underneath the heavy shuttle, with claw marks in the dirt all around him. He did not die quickly. “We’ve got a body here,” she said as she leaned down and scanned his dog tags. The name came up as Gunnery Chief Quentin Fields. “Sorry Chief, I hope you found your peace,” she said sadly as she stood up and began examining the ship.

Zellin approached her and scanned the vehicle with her. “Due to heavy corrosion on the hull, attempting to open the ship would likely require equipment we don’t currently have aboard our vehicle,” he said smartly.

“True…” she responded as she opened her scanner again. After a moment, she closed it. “I don’t detect any tags inside, so it’s unlikely that anyone was aboard when it was...well, whatever happened to it.”

“Uhhh…Shepard!” shouted Garrus. Both spectres turned to look at the turian curiously. “When we started to head down here, I opened my ground scanners to make sure we weren’t about to drive over any hidden mines! But now it’s showing me that we have heavy seismic activity further from the north, and it’s getting closer!”

Shepard’s eyes widened as she turned towards the north. Whatever happened to these soldiers was likely about to show itself to them. And did it ever. The earth itself shook beneath their feet as soil shifted in a straight line, heading straight towards them. When the monstrosity finally broke the surface of the ground, it towered over them by at least twenty meters. Its body was long and worm-like but had armored scales up and down its sides that were likely used to help move it through the earth. Its head was a mess of protrusions and antenna looking appendages. Except for one, which came from the direct center of what she would call its mouth. The void-like orifice let out a long, tentacle-like tongue that appeared to be fully prehensile.

Her eyes widened as she took a step back. “To the Mako now!” she shouted as she turned and sprinted for the vehicle.

The massive creature roared loud enough to unsettle the dust on the ground, creating a cloudy mess for her to run through. But she finally made it just as Wrex spoke over the comm. “Heh, now we’re talking,” he said cheerily as he readied his gun inside the vehicle. She slid into her seat, followed by the other two and immediately she hit the accelerator. And she was glad she did, as she had reports on her monitors of a corrosive agent barely splashing the rear of the vehicle. It wouldn’t do enough damage to matter, but the real concern was that the beast in question likely wouldn’t just be sitting still and waiting for them to escape.

“Garrus! Main gun now!” she ordered as she floored it, ignoring the mounds this time, as any mine that were present would have been immediately triggered by the creature’s earth-shaking travelling. The turian did as he was told and grabbed the controls for the canon on the top of the vehicle, spinning it to aim directly at the beast.

“Shepard, it’s underground again!” he growled as his viewer spotted nothing but shifting ground. “And it’s heading straight for us!”

“It’s a thresher maw! It can read seismic activity!” shouted Wrex excitedly as he leaned in for a closer look. “Ohoh, he’s a big one too!”

“Wrex! Stop having fun!” Shepard demanded as she spun the wheel rapidly, causing the vehicle to drift in an attempt to escape the monster’s straight-forward path. Unfortunately, her evasion was too little too late, as the beast ripped itself from the ground right underneath the mako and sent it spiraling through the air.

When it finally slammed back to its wheels again, everyone in the cabin of the tank groaned in displeasure, even the formerly giddy Wrex. But, being made of sterner stuff, the krogan shook his head and popped the hatch on the tank and began pulling himself out. “Damn egg eater. Now I’ve got a headache!” he shouted as he closed the hatch again.

“Wrex! Where the hell are you going!?” asked Shepard as she finally cleared her head.

“I’m gonna kick its ass! That’s where I’m going!” he shouted back as he stomped his way towards the oncoming monstrosity. “Try not to let me die out here Shepard!”

“No promises…” she growled as she stopped the vehicle. “Garrus, take the gun again and aim for its mouth as soon as it shows its hideous face!” she ordered as she turned and looked up to see Zellin pop his head outside of the vehicle.

“Your cannon isn’t going to do anything to a creature of that size, and I’d actually like to survive this mission,” he commented dryly as he took a strange, short-barreled weapon off his back.

Wrex stopped in the path of the massive creature and began stomping and shouting loudly as his large body lit up with biotics. “Come on you dirt-eating pussle! I’ve taken bigger shits than you!” shouted Wrex as the beast homed in on him. “Hehehe, that’s better,” he said as he readied himself. His aura exploded at the last second, blasting him out of the way as the monster once more ripped itself from the earth where he formerly stood. Turning around, the krogan took his heavy shotgun and began blasting into the creature’s side. Suddenly, the beast lurched sideways as the Mako’s 155mm cannon fired and punctured its head.

Unfortunately, the beast’s roar indicated that it wasn’t even close to dead yet, and it quickly spun back towards the Mako. “Shit!” yelled Shepard as she floored it again as a spray of caustic fluid shot towards them again. As the vehicle jumped forward, Zellin slammed into the side of the opening, dropping his weapon from the jolt.

“Shepard!” snapped the Spectre angrily.

“You can bitch at me later!” she shouted as she spun the vehicle around for an early turn this time. “Garrus!”

As soon as she shouted his name, the cannon fired again, this one going wide. “Harder to hit the damn thing while you’re moving!” he shouted from the gunner’s seat as he readjusted the aim of the heavy weapon.

As the vehicle fled from the scene again, Wrex stepped up to the fallen weapon and picked it up, examining it thoroughly. “Hmmm...not bad,” he said as he put away his shotgun and hefted the new toy with a smirk. “Probably not enough to put it down, but it’ll definitely do some damage,” he said as he activated his comm again. “Shepard, steer the thing towards me!”

“If I don’t get flipped again, sure!” she said as she swerved the vehicles towards the krogan. Once more, the creature was underground and chasing them hungrily.

“Hey turian, I need you to shoot the damn thing while it’s still in the ground. That should make it surface,” ordered Wrex as he checked the weapon.

“I can’t aim the cannon that low!” responded Garrus from the tank.

“Wrex, I have an idea! Climb one of the nearby hills and stay down so that I don’t hit you!” Shepard ordered as she spun the vehicle towards one in particular that was right next to the krogan.

“Oh, I like the sound of this!” shouted Wrex as he jogged up the hill that the tank was currently barreling for. He lowered his frame enough to allow for clearance.

Slowly, the thresher maw was gaining on the vehicle as it sped towards him. But the Mako had just enough of a head start that it reached the hill and began moving its way upwards. “Garrus now!” shouted Shepard as the vehicle tilted upwards with the hill, aligning the gun perfectly with the mound of earth behind it. The turian pulled the trigger and the cannon fired, blasting a crater into the ground and causing a loud, screeching roar of pain as the beast rose to the surface again. As Shepard reached the crest of the hill, she activated the jets on the vehicle, sending it soaring over Wrex’s head.

As it surfaced, the krogan pulled the trigger on the weapon, causing it to start charging as he let out a loud battle cry, which made the beast turn towards him. “Eat this parasite!” he shouted, sending a superheated round directly into its gaping maw.

The resulting explosion from the attack knocked the krogan mercenary on his ass and tinted the sky orange briefly, leaving everyone in the vehicle in awe as they landed none too softly over the hill. The entire head of the creature was engulfed in a massive cloud of smoke as its elongated body shifted back and forth unsteadily. Finally, it fell, slamming into the ground with enough force behinds its multi-ton body that they felt the shockwave even in the mako.

Shepard stared incredulously at the gruesome scene as blood and acid began pooling arounds its grotesquely mangled head. Popping the hatch on the tank, she lifted herself out to see the sight firsthand. “Did it work?” she asked incredulously as she looked over at the krogan.

The mercenary turned around and raised both of his short arms in the air before letting out another battle cry. “Ahahahaha! Now that’s what I call a battle Shepard!” he shouted in glee as he practically began to skip towards the vehicle. But his gait slowed shockwaves penetrated the ground. Slowly, he turned around to see the massive worm-like creature raising itself once more. “Ah hell...you’re a stubborn son of a bastard, I’ll give you that.”

“Wrex! Get out of there!” shouted Shepard as Garrus spun the cannon once more. But before any of them could move another muscle, something streaked into the atmosphere and impacted the creature directly. The resulting explosion cratered the creature, splattering its gore across the landscape before sending Wrex soaring towards the mako. Shepard ducked back into the vehicle just as the krogan slammed into the plasteel windshield, where he then slid slowly down until he was out of sight.

Shepard jumped out of the tank and landed next to the dazed krogan. “Did I just get hit by a gods damned meteor?” he asked groggily as the human slowly helped him back to his feet.

“That was too fast to be a meteor…” she said as she cued up her comm. “Normandy this is ground party. We just had a massive impact here on the surface of Edolus. Any idea what that was?”

“Uhhh...yeeeeeah…” responded Joker.

She glared, even knowing the pilot couldn’t see her expression. “Joker?” she asked, her tone of voice showing her annoyance.

“Look Commander, I told him it wasn’t a good idea…” responded the pilot nervously.

“Spit it out Lieutenant before I come up there and set your chair to a hundred rotations per minute!” she threatened as she tapped her foot on the dusty surface.

“Well, our scanners picked up a spike in radioactivity from the surface not far off from the beacon. So, the XO ordered us to take a visual scan. And when we saw that giant...worm...thing, he ordered us to fire the main Excalibur Cannon at it,” he said, his voice quieting down with each passing word.

“You fired the Normandy’s MAC cannon with us that close!?” she asked incredulously, practically stomping her foot in anger. “If you had been off by a fraction of a decimal it would be our corpses decorating the planet instead!”

“I know I know!” he said defensively over the comm. “But the fire team said they had it on lock, and Pressley gave the go ahead!”

Shepard groaned in annoyance, but simply let out a sigh as she waved to Wrex to get back into the vehicle. “It’s...fine…” she growled as she hopped back into the vehicle.

The krogan followed, and as he took his seat next to Zellin, he handed over the weapon again. “That’s a nice piece you’ve got here, salarian,” he said with a slight grin on his face.

The spectre took his weapon back and examined it thoroughly, noting that it was now covered in planetary dust. “It was a backup plan incase my usual skillset failed,” he grumbled as he put the device on his back once more.

“If I were you, I’d start the fight with that. Get everyone’s blood pumping, including whatever poor sap you used it on,” said Wrex as he slapped the spectre on the back.

Zellin growled in annoyance. “Luckily, you aren’t me. Now refrain from touching me before I remove your hand,” he snapped.

“Ohoho...that sounds like a challenge,” said the krogan as he leaned down and smirked at the salarian.

“If you two are done flirting back there, we’re heading back to the drop zone. So, buckle yourselves up before I make you regret it,” ordered Shepard from the back seat.

Captain’s Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

“What!?” asked the admiral in shock as he stared at Shepard through his omni-tool.

“I’m sorry Admiral, but from the looks of the scene, they landed on the surface of Edolus and were hit by a thresher maw. The only body we could confirm was that of Gunnery Chief Fields,” she responded with an empathetic look on her face as the soreness of Jenkins and Nihlus returned.

“That can’t be right! There’s no way in hell my team would be so blind as to land directly on a thresher’s nest without cause!” he snapped irately, not so much at her as the situation.

Shepard scratched her chin thoughtfully as her mind started to work, trying to wrap her head around the scene. “There was also an Alliance beacon on the scene. But whoever set it up wasn’t there when we arrived.”

He looked at her in surprise. “I didn’t get any notification of their beacon going off…”

“Here, I copied the beacon codes for you,” she said as she passed him the info through her omni-tool. When she looked back up at the monitor, she saw him open the file she had just sent.

His frown deepened as he read the numbers. “Shepard, these do not belong to the beacon that my team had with them…” he responded as his eyes returned to her.

She cocked an eyebrow as she stared at him for a moment. “Then the beacon was placed by someone else?” she asked as she tried some of the deducing that Garrus had done earlier.

“That might explain why they even landed there at all, and why they didn’t scan the area. Was there any sign of who could have placed the beacon?” asked the man worriedly.

“No, which leads to the possibility that it was used to lure them there,” she responded, getting a nod from him. “Admiral, do you know of anyone who would have wanted your men dead?” she asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Or you?”

His head tilted back in slight surprise at the question. “Me?”

“When we arrived on the scene, we were attacked by the thresher maw ourselves, which leads me to believe that whoever placed that beacon not only knows who you are, but would have gone to great lengths to find out where your men were. On top of that, had I not just gotten a promotion, eventually you would have gone out there yourself on a search mission and made the same mistake I did.”

The admiral stared at the screen for a long moment before looking off to the side thoughtfully. “I’ll have to get back to you on that Shepard. For the moment, you have my thanks, and my assistance should you need it in the future,” he said, his tone changed entirely.

“Admiral!” she snapped, getting his attention. “You know that if you hang up without giving me any information, then I can’t help you. Don’t do this yourself sir,” she ordered, absentmindedly forgetting her current lack of rank.

“That’s the thing Shepard, I have to verify it first. You handing these SOS beacon codes may actually help me unearth something I’ve been working on for a while now. Once I have more information, you will be the first to know,” he said with a solemn nod.

“Alright Admiral, if that’s how you want to play this. Just don’t wind up dead in a back alley somewhere before you contact me again. I’m going to be very sore with you if I have to find them from a cold trail,” she said playfully.

“Understood Spectre. I’ll let you know as soon as I have more details. Kahoku out,” he finally said as he cut the call again. Shepard groaned, rubbing her head gently, both from him withholding information and the thrashing she had taken earlier. Looking back towards her bunk, she sighed to herself as she reached up and massaged her shoulder gently.

Standing, she closed down the terminal and opened her omni-tool. “Joker, put us in the shade,” she ordered as she headed for her bed.

“You got it Commander. Have a good night,” he responded.

She shut down her omni-tool and took it off her arm, setting it on her bedside stand before pulling her shirt off and collapsing onto the bed in nothing but her bra and a pair of shorts. Not even bothering to move the blanket, she just laid her head back on the pillow and closed her eyes, hoping to finally get some peaceful sleep.

But, almost as if she had triggered them, the visions came back in a flash, and she found herself once again immersed in the terror and genocide of these supposed Reapers. The images surrounded her, her mind making them come to life, making her live them as if she had experienced them firsthand, showing her new horrors and depravity the likes of which she had yet to see. Speaking of having yet to see, she had never actually seen any of the Reapers ever since she began having these dreams back on the Citadel.

When others began to notice her unusually tense nature, she brushed it off and deflected. She couldn’t let her crew know they had been hitting her this hard. She couldn’t let the Council know that these visions were sapping her strength, and even gnawing at her will to want to wake up. Because not only did they prevent her from having proper sleep, but they also showed her things that would break someone of weaker will. Things that would likely be with her for the rest of her life.

As the visions flashed through her mind again, plaguing and horrifying her, she snapped awake once more. Her breath inhaled sharply, and she felt a sheen of cold sweat drenching her skin as her wide-eyed gaze stared at the door to her cabin. Quickly, her head snapped over to her clock next to her omni-tool, and she sighed to herself, curling up with her lap to her chest and her arms around her knees after reading the display that said 0021.

Finally, after rubbing her face with her hands, she moved to grab a change of clothes and a towel before heading off to the crew shower. “Another day Jane...another day.”

CODEX ENTRIES

Pussle | Derogatory Linguistics | Rayloc
A pussle is a small parasite native to Tuchanka that enters a host through the anus and feeds off the excrement the host provides while giving nothing in return. The insult is commonly given to those the krogan deem to be parasites on their society. Sometimes it’s simply given to those who they do not respect.

Chapter 10: Kopanis

Chapter Text

Captain’s Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

She was definitely annoyed as her first guest stepped into her cabin. As the man entered, she could see the nervous mannerisms in his walk. He was trying to be professional, despite his current disassociation with the Alliance, by standing tall with his hands firmly at his side. As she stood up from her terminal, she glared at him, noticing that his eyes were straight forward, never looking directly at her even as she stood before him.

“State your name and rank,” Shepard ordered as she crossed her muscular arms. She hadn’t bothered to get dressed to officially do any reprimanding, leaving her in an N7 branded tank top, as well as a pair of PT pants to match.

“Staff Lieutenant and Navigator Charles Pressly, sir!” he belted out loudly as he stood at attention.

“Lieutenant Pressly, due to your rank and experience in battle, you are my executive officer when I leave this ship, is that correct?” she asked, her glare practically piercing him at this point.

“That is correct, sir!” he said in the same solid tone.

“So, when my body is not present on this ship, that means all commands given to the crew, including the fire team, are given by you! Is that correct?” asked the commander, her tone rising in anger.

“That is correct, sir!” said the man, who was practically shaking in his uniform.

Stepping forward, she stood dead in front of him, practically nose to nose, his brown eyes now having nowhere to look except directly into her bright green. “So, when your commander and ground team are planetside, and you fire a goddamn MAC canon right next to them, that could only be done by your orders! Is that correct XO Pressly!?” she snapped angrily.

“Th-That is correct, sir!” he yelled, now as rigid as a statue.

Finally, her fire died away and she gave him a look that was more annoyance than anything else. “What the hell were you thinking, Pressly?”

“I-I think that maybe I jumped the gun a bit...Commander. N-No pun intended,” he said, nearly sweating by this point.

“And?” she asked as she sat back in her chair.

“And I reacted poorly to the situation, Commander. Not only did I fire nearby without warning you ahead of time, but I also failed to analyze the situation with a level head. The result being that I nearly caused severe harm to you and the ground team, sir!” he said as he returned to his rigid stance with a heavy sigh.

“Have you learned anything from this mistake Pressly?” she asked, finally taking the towel from around her shoulders and tossing it haphazardly into a small hamper at the foot of her bed.

“I-I most certainly have, sir!” he answered as he watched her worriedly.

“Good,” she said as she stood again and once more got into his face. “I hope we don’t have a repeat incident in the future. Otherwise I’ll have to find a new XO. I hope I’ve made myself clear.”

“Crystal clear, Commander!” he said, a sigh of relief escaping his lips as he realized he wasn’t about to be ejected out of the airlock.

“Good. Now go eat breakfast before I load you into the Excalibur and fire you into the nearest star,” she said with a smirk, getting a chuckle from the man who held a hand over his rapidly beating heart. Turning around, he left the commander in solitude.

She was about to get up and go join the crew for breakfast when she looked over at her terminal and noticed a flashing message in the Spectre Channel. It wasn’t in her personal file, but instead sat in the Spectre Information side of the box. Tapping it on her screen, she opened it up to find a request from the Council themselves for an investigation to take place in a special R&D lab on Arcturus. A lead biochemist had disappeared from the laboratory entirely, along with all of his samples, his chemical schematics, everything. Feeling like the humans would feel a bit more comfortable with her investigating rather than another spectre, she claimed the mission and sent Joker the hail.

Finally, she stood up and stretched, her body full of knots from tossing and turning in her sleep. Stepping out of her room and into the main chow hall, she saw a couple of the crew sitting and eating at the tables. There were a small group of turians at the far end, and Williams sat alone with her own food closest to the mess counter. The commander walked over and got her own tray of breakfast before sitting down directly across from the gunnery chief.

Ashley’s head raised as she saw the redheaded commander sit down. “Oh...hey Commander.”

“Good to see you integrating to your new position Armory Chief,” said Shepard as she immediately began to destroy the biscuits and gravy with her fork.

“Thanks Commander. I...really wanted to thank you for giving me this chance. I know it couldn’t have been an easy choice, what with my family history and all,” said the gunnery chief as she looked down at her breakfast.

“Your family history has nothing to do with you, Williams,” said the commander with a stern stare, the seriousness of which was erased when she began to shovel the concoction into her mouth.

Williams stared at her CO for a long moment before tilting her head curiously. “I’ve...never heard someone say that to me before.”

After swallowing her food, Shepard took a drink of her orange juice and sighed. “Look Ash, I know all about you. That’s kinda my job. And I know the kind of shit you have to deal with because of something that happened before you were even born,” she said as she sat back in her chair, her serious manner returning. “My political opinion has nothing to do with you and what you can do. Despite that, you’ve been set on the back burner for most of your career. But I’ve seen what you’re capable of, and I gave you your position based on what you can do, not what your family did.”

Williams stared at her commander wide-eyed for a long moment before letting herself smile. “Thanks Commander, that means a lot to me,” she said as she looked over towards the turians seated not far away from them. “I did want to talk to you about the crew…”

“Is there an issue?” asked Shepard before she began digging into her food again.

“I...I know things are different aboard the Normandy, but I’m concerned about the aliens. With all due respect Commander, should they have full access to the ship?” she asked, her tone low enough to ensure that the nearby crew couldn’t hear her.

Shepard’s eyes narrowed at the question, and again her fork went down. Immediately, Williams sat back in her seat, expecting a dress down immediately. But instead, Shepard answered her question with another question. “You don’t trust their motives because they’re aliens?”

“Well, it’s just...this mission is important Commander. Saren is a threat to the galaxy, and we shouldn’t be giving them free reign to vital systems. If...when we find him, there’s no telling who they’ll side with,” she said as her hardened gaze finally returned to the commander's own blue eyes. “When it finally happens, who knows if they’ll follow your orders over those of a former turian Spectre.”

Shepard smirked as she leaned her head into her hand and stared at the gunnery chief. “It seems to me like you’ve answered your own question there, Williams. Tell me, if it came down to an asari stopping a human mass murderer who had slaughtered turians, would you side with the murderer because he was human?”

Ash’s eyes widened slightly at the question. “Of course not Commander!”

“Then what makes you think that any of these crew members would side with Saren when it came time to take him down?” asked Shepard firmly.

“I...I don’t know. I just don’t want to take that risk Shepard. Humanity has to learn to rely on itself rather than others,” responded Ashley solidly.

Shepard sighed and stared at the armory chief and shook her head. “You don’t get it Ash. It’s like you said yourself, Saren is a threat to the whole galaxy, including turians. They see that and have provided us with a ship and crew to help us stop him. I’m not going to take that gift horse and lock all of our allies in sleeper pods just because some turians might hold some grudges against humans.”

Holding up her hands defensively, Ash shook her head. “I don’t mean we should turn down allies Commander. I just think that we shouldn’t bet everything on them staying allies. As noble as the Council members may seem, if their backs are against a wall, they’ll abandon us.”

Snorting in annoyance, Shepard just stared at the gunnery chief. “I don’t see that as inevitable. The Council’s decision on Saren is pretty clear.”

Leaning forward again, Ash continued. “Maybe on Saren, but what about other issues? They’ve already shown that they don’t intend to do anything about colony attacks in the Traverse. What if something happened that affected all of humanity? They would likely ditch us in a heartbeat,” she said, then looked at the table again, measuring the next words that came out of her mouth. “Look, if you’re fighting a bear, and the only way to survive is to sic your dog on it and run, you’ll do it. As much as you love your dog, it isn’t human. It’s not racism, not really. Members of their species will always be more important to them than humans are.”

It took every fiber in Shepard’s being not to lash out at the comment. Her disgust must have shown on her face, because Williams immediately leaned back with a defensive expression on her face. But, instead, Shepard tempered down her anger into a fine point and hurled it towards the gunnery chief with her next statement. “Xenophobia is the term you’re looking for,” she started, immediately making Williams don a look of regret. “And to make my position blatantly clear, I do not appreciate members of a sapient species being compared to animals.”

“U-Understood Commander!” snapped Ash as she stared down at her food, the coloring in her face draining somewhat as she realized that she had charged headlong across the line.

Shepard sighed, her anger dying out as she continued. “Look Ash, I understand what you’re saying, and why you’re saying it. Humans and turians both still hold grudges from the First Contact War, and there’ll never be a time when every member of every race will be accepting of every other. But what you need to learn is that there are just as many scheming and spiteful humans that’ll throw you under the proverbial bus as soon as it benefits them,” said the commander as she leaned forward on her elbows. “You of all people should know how hurtful it is to judge someone based on their history.”

Williams slumped back in her seat, the redhead’s words sinking into her head. “I...I guess I never thought about it like that.”

“This mission requires the cooperation of many races, and the longer we hold onto this suspicion that we’re all waiting to stab each other in the back, then the longer you spend your life looking over your shoulder,” said the commander as she finished off her orange juice. “If you want to spend the rest of your life thinking that everyone is out to get you, then you’re bound to live a miserable life. It’s fine to be cautious around others, but just know that a human knife in the back will kill you just as fast as a turian one.”

“U-Understood,” said the soldier as she pushed her tray aside. “Thank you for talking with me Commander. And thank you for your patience.”

Shepard smiled at Williams after finally finishing her food. “I have an open-door policy Ash, you’re free to use it any time you like. Just be prepared for me to speak honestly.”

Grinning, the dark-haired woman stood. “I wouldn’t have it any other way Shepard.”

Engineering Bay - SSV Normandy SR1

“Lieutenant Alenko and Tali’Zorah report to the CIC in twenty minutes for departure,” came the voice of Shepard over the intercom. Tali looked up from her station, which had been assigned to her by Engineer Adams as she heard the announcement.

“M-Me?” she asked hesitantly before logging out of her console and turning towards the door to the engineering department. “Why me?” she asked, her insecurities flaring wildly as she entered the loading bay and passed by the armory where the human named Ashley’Williams was doing maintenance checks on the racks. As the young engineer walked by, the human turned and stopped her with a small smile.

“Hey, Tali was it?” asked the sergeant as the quarian stopped in front of her station. Tali hadn’t been too fond of their last encounter on the Citadel. In fact, she had been quite rude. So, seeing the smile on her face was a bit of a surprise. But, given the lack of sleep the woman had gotten at their last meeting, she supposed she could understand. “What’s your preference kid?” she asked in a friendly enough tone.

“Preference?” asked Tali as she tilted her head curiously.

“What kind of weapon do you like to use?” asked Ashley as she gave the young quarian an unusual look.

“Oh...will I not be using my own?” asked Tali in surprise.

Ashley sighed and shook her head. “Sorry kid, but that thing needs put out to pasture.”

“Put out to…?” asked the perplexed quarian, wholly unfamiliar with the phrase.

“Right...I mean, it needs to be recycled for parts. So, we’ll be providing you with a newer one,” replied Ash as she waved a hand to her wall of weapons.

“I-I see,” responded Tali as she looked up at her options. “U-Umm...Shotgun I think.” Nodding, Williams turned to one of the racks and unlocked a shotgun that practically sparkled before handing it to her. Tali examined the weapon with awe, running her two main fingers over the surface. “It’s so...new!”

“It’s in pretty good condition. But I have a better idea…” she said as she reached out for the weapon. With a confused look on her masked face, the quarian handed the weapon back. Williams locked it back into the rack and chose another one, this one gleaming under the dim light of the armory. “Here, this one’s brand new, never been fired except for testing.”

Tali looked up at Ash, her voice laced with surprise. “Y-You’re giving me a brand new one?” she asked incredulously.

“I know quarians aren’t used to using prime equipment. So why not use one while you can?” asked the woman as she crossed her arms with a small smile.

Tali looked down at the weapon again, then back up to Ashley. She didn’t know exactly how to show gratitude towards humans. So, she simply bowed her head and said, “I am grateful. This means a lot to me.”

The soldier smirked lightly. “Make sure you put it to work. Would be a shame to see it go to waste,” said the woman as she took the weapon back and put it on the rack marked with Tali’s name. “You should probably head up to the CIC now. Shepard is waiting.”

“Right, sorry,” said the quarian as she bowed her head again and turned around. The elevator took her up to the proper floor and she stepped off, staring at the human named Kaiden’Alenko. Next to him was Shepard, both of them fully armored. However, the only one with a weapon was Shepard herself.

Looking up, Shepard smiled. “Welcome to the group Tali. Now that you’re here…”

“Can we please move on with this mission?” asked an annoyed Zellin from the entrance of the airlock.

Shepard gave him an annoyed look before turning back to Tali. “You ready for your first ground mission?” she asked as she patted the quarian on the shoulder.

Tali let out a sigh and nodded. “Let’s do it.” And with those words, all four of them stepped into the airlock.

“Equalizing interior pressure with exterior atmosphere. Logged: The commanding officer is ashore. XO Pressly has the deck,” said the Normandy’s resident VI. Seconds after the announcement, the outer airlock opened, and they were immediately met by three human soldiers in Alliance uniforms rather than armor.

“Spectre,” said the lead man, who had a head of grey hair and a face that looked like it had seen some wear and tear. Tali spied his chest curiously, noting that it had many medals on it. From her limited knowledge human military history, she knew that each medal meant something different, some kind of significant milestone or action. However, what any of those actions were was far beyond her comprehension. One thing was very clear, however; this man was very high in the Alliance food chain. Her eyes snapped up to him as he suddenly looked at her, then the salarian curiously. “I wasn’t aware you’d be bringing guests.”

“This is Lanis Tol Vura Vassos Casso Zellin. He’s a fellow Spectre and is to be given the same greeting I am. I also have Tali’Zorah nar Rayya, who is proficient with electronics and engineering, and Staff Lieutenant Alenko who will be assisting me. Are there any disputes Admiral?” asked Shepard firmly as she stepped up to the man.

Tali’s eyes almost bugged out through her face shield as she saw the woman going face to face with him in such a casual fashion. She was so used to her Admirals garnering immediate head bows and respect, that seeing Shepard talk to a human admiral so firmly seemed so alien, so to speak. The man stared at Shepard for a long moment before finally nodding. “I see you’ve acclimated well to your role as a Spectre,” he said with a small smile. “However you want to run the show is up to you Shepard. As long as we get results.”

The commander smiled back respectfully. “Understood. So, care to show us the lab?”

Chemical R&D Lab 31D - Arcturus Station

Looking around, it was a little too clean for Zellin’s liking. Were this his case, he’d immediately pin it as a runner rather than a kidnapping. His voluminous eyes scanned the room curiously. The floors and room were completely white with several desks and terminals available to the science team available. But according to the Admiral, the team leader, named Ronald Harris stopped showing up two days ago. After a thorough investigation of the lab, Shepard quickly came to the same conclusion as he did.

He looked over to her, his curiosity about the potential spectre piqued after he saw how well she worked and talked with her crew. It was rather startling to see, considering most spectres were loners who did things by themselves. But she preferred to have a team, and he had to admit that she did well commanding others.

As Shepard walked up to the main terminal that the man used, she brought the quarian over to help hack into the device to see if there was anything left. Walking behind the pair, he watched intensely as the quarian tried to impress the commander.

“A-Almost...wait…” said the quarian nervously as she looked over to Shepard’s omni-tool and mimicked her motions exactly. “There we go!” she claimed proudly as the terminal beeped and opened.

Shepard smiled with a nod. “Good work Tali,” she said, then turned to the terminal. Selecting the option on the screen labeled Human, a keyboard fit for human hands materialized out of hard-light and her fingers immediately began typing away at its keys. “I can’t find any kind of research material on here. If he was working on his project here, then that means he wiped it clean.”

“What was he working on exactly?” asked Alenko as he looked to the Admiral at the door.

“He was working on a project funded by the Council and the Alliance. It was meant to find a way to ease or even reverse the effects of eezo exposure, perhaps giving us a way to form new biotics with no bad side effects,” replied the stoic man.

Nodding, Alenko looked over to Shepard and Tali. “What do you make of it, Commander?”

“Do you have footage of him leaving?” asked the commander as she looked up at her former superior.

“We do, in fact. He left by himself with nobody around to coerce him. However, we can’t count out that someone forced him to do what he did through other means,” said the Admiral as he looked over to her.

“Well, all this tells us is that he took his work, all the samples and the data and left of his own will. The question is why,” she said as she closed down the terminal. “Do you have records of messages coming and going from his personal omni-tool?”

Looking slightly surprised, the Admiral nodded. “We do,” he said and stepped out of the door so they could follow him. It took minutes to reach the security office where there were maybe thirty people working furiously at terminals. The floor lieutenant immediately called them all to attention and the admiral waved them off as he approached the man. “We need records dating from two days ago for personal omni-tools.”

Nodding, the lieutenant turned to one of the terminal workers. As they began pulling up the information, Shepard scanned it quickly with her piercing green stare. “Stop,” she commanded as on particular message came up. Most of the others were to others on the team relating to work. But there was one oddball message that simply read K12 2252. Zellin spied the commander curiously. He knew the location referenced colony in question, but he was interested to see how she would proceed.

“K12 2252? What the hell is that supposed to mean?” asked the admiral curiously.

Shepard stood up and tapped her chin with the salarian narrowing his eyes at her. “It’s pirate code for the planet Kopanis. The next couple numbers are likely meant to be a time in which they meet,” she said, then looked back at Zellin. “That means they’ve already met up, so we have to move quickly to find out what’s going on.”

Zellin nodded his head, slightly impressed at her knowledge of the Terminus systems. Turning, he and the others immediately left the lab and headed back towards the Normandy. “Commander…” started the admiral, before shaking his head. “Spectre, will you keep us updated on what you find?”

“Of course, Admiral. Everything I find will be reported to both the Alliance and the Council. I don’t want to leave you in the dark,” said the woman as she entered the airlock again. “Keep your eye on your mailbox,” she said, saluting to the astounded man with her familiar smirk on her face just as the airlock closed.

Kopanis - Terevus System - Far Rim

“We must be careful here. The entire colony is swarming with cultist behavior. We’ve never been able to get very close because they are heavily armed,” said Zellin right off the bat as he stared out of the shield towards the planet.

“To be that heavily armed, they must have some kind of funding,” said Shepard as she too stared out of the cockpit.

“Humans have a kind of history of supporting the crazy,” said Joker as he shook his head. “Remember that trend a couple centuries back where a group of people popped up with the theory that the Earth was flat?”

Zellin stared at Joker incredulously. “You must be joking…”

“Fraid not. One or two idiotic celebrities claimed to believe it and people just jumped right on that boat. They believed that all the satellite photos we had were fake, and the edges of the flat Earth were surrounded by an ice wall,” said Shepard with a smirk. “Then there’s the anti-vaccine crowd…”

Zellin sighed as he turned away from the commander and stared at the planet again. “I suppose I should be happy we only have the Lystheni,” he said solemnly.

Kopanis Colony – Kopanis

Given the flat surface of their landing spot, the mako didn’t jar them nearly as much as it had on their previous mission. Shepard gripped the steering device and began to move the vehicle slowly towards the colony’s borders. But, much to the surprise of everyone in the vehicle, they received no fire as they approached the gate.

Shepard stared up at the old school drawbridge gate that they used for the entrance, her eyebrows lowering in a stare of suspicion. “I don’t like this…”

“Neither do I,” said Zellin as he zoomed in on the guard posts. Still, there was nobody there. “It’s a small colony, but they always had their people armed to the teeth for any visitors.”

“You think this has something to do with Harris?” asked Alenko from the gunner seat.

“I don’t believe in a coincidence this strong,” said the commander as she looked back at the lieutenant. “Aim for the mechanism holding up the gate.”

Doing as ordered, the gunner swung the weapon around and aimed directly for one of the chains that held the gate in place. Pulling the trigger, the shot echoed across the plain and smashed into the metal hoops, shattering them to pieces. With one more well-placed shot, the iron gate groaned heavily before smashing down in front of them.

Slowly, Shepard drove over the gateway and into the main colony. It was incredibly small, with typical human houses dotted all over the inside of the walls. But it felt like a ghost town. Nobody was to be seen anywhere. The streets, houses, marketplace, all of it was as barren of life as a desert.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this…” said Tali anxiously as she gripped her shotgun.

Suddenly, the Mako’s targeting sensors went off. Shepard activated the zoom on the cameras and immediately spotted a young child, no older than ten years spying at them from around a corner

“We’ve got someone! We need to get them and find out what happened here!” shouted Shepard as she slowly drove towards the child in question. However, as soon as they realized they were seen, the face vanished around the corner. “Dammit! Alenko, Tali, exit the vehicle and track them down!”

The lieutenant nodded and popped the hatch on the tank before jumping out and dashing after the vanishing figure. Tali too jumped out, but she clenched her shotgun nervously as she watched the mako take off around the corner. Spying a nearby alleyway, she nodded to herself. “I have to help!” she shouted to herself as she dashed into the darkened tunnel.

Kopanis Colony – Kopanis

It had taken a few minutes, but with the assistance of her combat drone, Tali had managed to track the runner down. Admittedly, the human was fast. It wasn’t often that a human, with their plantigrade legs could outpace a digitigrade like herself. But the skilled individual employed some very unique tactics of climbing and jumping over obstacles in order to evade her.

However, Tali was a skilled runner. As a child, she constantly played Kesh’lan, a simple game made by quarian children. Or, perhaps adults made it to train the children...either way, the goal was for them to sprint from one end of the ship to the other. The first child to arrive, being the winner, was hailed as the hero who managed to reach a failing engine and get it working again. She had been the champion for years until finally it was time for her pilgrimage, allowing her to sprint around obstacles that the evader climbed over in time to keep up with them.

Finally, they were cornered, and Tali had barely broken a sweat from exertion as she stepped down the alley. The other side of the long, outside corridor was covered by Chatikka, her trusty, and speedy, combat drone. This left nowhere for the runner to escape as she approached with her shotgun lowered. “Alright, that’s far enough!” she tried to shout with authority.

The human, who was wearing a hood not unlike her own, spun around and looked at her in horror. That was when she almost dropped her shotgun as she realized that she had been chasing a child. The young human, perhaps a female, was maybe half of Shepard’s height with a full head of wiry brown hair. But, despite her face being covered with dirt and grime that looked to be layered on from days of exposure, Tali could easily see the horrified look on the young one’s face.

Tali put her shotgun away on her back and raised her hands to show she had disarmed. “It’s alright little one. The gun is gone, so please calm down. I’m not going to hurt you,” she said as she stood to her full height.

“L-Lies! You’re lying!” shouted the girl as she turned to run again. However, she stopped as she noticed that the glowing drone had gotten even closer. Stumbling backwards, she began to crawl away until she bumped into the quarian’s leg. Looking up, she stared directly into the helmeted head of the suited alien.

Tali sighed and knelt down in front of her. “If you move, I will grab you. If I miss, then my drone will stun you, and I will grab you. But if you stay where you are, then I will not touch you. Do you understand?” asked the quarian woman. The girl went wide-eyed but nodded frantically and curled up into a ball. Activating her comm, she signaled the others. “Shepard, I have her. No weapons needed. Activating navigation beacon.”

“H-How do you speak our language?” asked the girl as she stared up at the suit-wearing quarian. “D-Did the devil teach you?”

Tali closed her comm and cocked a curious eye at the young one. “I’m not quite sure what this devil is. But no, it’s here.” she said tapping the omni-tool on her arm. “It’s a computer, and it translates what I say so that you can understand me. Unfortunately, I do not know the human language.” For a split second, it looked as if the girl was awestruck rather than terrified, but her expression flipped in a split second. To take her mind off her fear, and hopefully calm her down, Tali continued to talk to her. “What is this devil you speak of?”

The girl’s expression soured, and she crossed her arms as she leaned against the wall. “He’s evil, the biggest evil. He created everything bad in the universe, including aliens.”

The quarian’s eyes widened curiously. “Oh, so he created me, did he?” she asked, almost amused as the girl nodded. “Well, I hate to break it to you, but my parents made me, not this devil person you speak of.”

“Well duuuuuh, but the devil made your parents! Or...grandparents...I don’t know. Just shut up!” she snapped angrily at having her logic questioned. Suddenly, her eyes widened again as Kaidan burst around the corner panting heavily. Both Tali and the girl stared at him, the girl now crawling backwards again before bumping into her captor once more. But Tali gripped her shoulders firmly.

“It’s alright, we’re here to help,” said Kaidan as he approached with his hands up. But the girl’s look of horror faded as she realized that he was human. Immediately, she got to her feet and sprinted towards him. Tali sprung to her feet quickly but didn’t have to react as the girl threw herself into his arms. The lieutenant looked down at the crying girl, then up at Tali curiously. “What’d I miss?”

“She’s convinced that all aliens were created by this devil character, so she’s probably relieved to see a human,” said Tali with her arms akimbo.

The human cocked on eyebrow in amusement before looking back down at the girl and patting her back gently. The sound of the mako was clearly getting louder as it approached as well. “Hey kiddo, you gonna be alright?”

“Please! You’re human too! You have to help them!” she shouted, her voice now grief stricken.

“Help who? Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” asked Kaidan as he knelt down next to the girl.

“Please! Everyone...they’re all dying!” she pled, getting a shocked look from both the quarian engineer and the human lieutenant.

“Shit…” was all Kaidan could say, and Tali nodded at the sentiment, realizing that whatever Harris came to this place for, they may already be too late.

CODEX ENTRIES

PT | Military | General
A military acronym meaning Physical Training. It’s used to describe the constant exercises that the military makes their soldiers do on a typically daily basis. This particular colloquialism is used by the Alliance; however, all militaries have this same training regimen required by their units. Specific clothing is often given for this training, and are commonly referred to as PT uniforms, or simply PTs.

Lystheni | Organizations | Salarian
A group of rogue salarians that are not welcome in Council Space nor salarian space. Well known for destruction and theft of property, the Lystheni are a faction of salarians who are obsessed with technological advancement. Similar to batarian slavers, they use mind control technology implanted into the minds of their members to do everything from spying on the Sur’Kesh government to carrying out terrorist attacks on those who oppose them.

Kesh’lan | Culture | Quarian
A simple game of speed, the concept was created by quarian teachers. The goal of the game is to get from one end of the ship to the other as fast as possible. While fast runners typically won, some became creative in their maneuvering methods and ended up with the victory. The game was created as a method of teaching quarian children to familiarize themselves with the ship they were on and training them to be able to react to a potentially dangerous situation that may be in another part of their ship.

Chapter 11: Heading to Trident

Chapter Text

Kopanis Colony - Kopanis

"So, what's your name?" asked Kaidan as he knelt next to her in the cramped tank.

"R-Robyn," she said as she sniffled and wiped away her tears.

"Alright Robyn, why don't you tell me and the Commander here what's going on so we can help?" he asked politely. Shepard was in the front of the vehicle, driving the tank towards the colony hospital, which was little more than a small clinic if she were to be believed.

"Y-Yesterday, something fell from the sky! We tried to see what it was...the Grand Father sent out a party to collect it in case it was useful. But when the party came back, they brought a shiny metal thing with them. We didn't know what it was…" said the girl as she sniffled again.

"I don't like where this is going…" claimed Zellin quietly towards Shepard as he sat in the passenger seat.

"Me either," she responded before turning the corner again.

"They tried to open it to see what was inside, but when they did, it opened and let out a bunch of smoke! Ever since people started getting sick," she said as she looked up at the handsome lieutenant with her watery eyes.

"Sick? How were they getting sick?" he asked curiously. "Please, anything you can tell me may help," he said as he gently reached forward and rubbed her back.

She seemed to gain some composure at the reassurance and continued. "They started coughing a lot, sometimes blood would come up. Then after a few hours, they would start growing lumps on their necks and bodies. They were taken to the hospital, but anyone who was in the smoke also started getting sick. Our doctors couldn't keep up, and now everyone in town is inside the hospital!" she said, almost breaking down again.

Suddenly the mako stopped as Shepard's eyes widened. Zellin looked over at her curiously. "What is it?" he asked, staring out of the blast shield at the only thing that could have made her react. In the center of the courtyard in front of the hospital was a small stone statue. A sword plunged into a type of pedestal with two extra blades protruding from beneath the crossguard that made it look like a cross.

"Sons of Adam…" she said quietly through gritted teeth as she glared at the statue. "Come on, we've got to get in there and find out what the hell happened."

Pulling up to the doorway, she immediately felt her skin crawl at the sight. There were about a dozen bodies out in front of the hospital, all of them grotesquely warped similar to Robyn's explanation. Most of them were bleeding from the eyes, noses, and mouths, while others had their faces warped with horrifying swellings and tumors.

"Commander…" said Alenko as he exited the vehicle and stared at them. She looked over to her lieutenant to see his eyes wide in horror. "These look like the effects of eezo exposure."

"Hardly a coincidence…" said Shepard as she approached the door.

Kaidan carried the young girl into the hospital while Zellin and Tali followed. "Papa! I brought help!" shouted Robyn as she jumped down from his arms. The hospital, as they had called it, was more of a church than an actual clinic. The pews were scattered with people groaning and laying across them, and cots were stuffed in between each one with even more people occupying them. Everyone seemed to be showing the same signs of sickness, including those that were working exhaustively to try and help the healing.

Sitting on the edge of one of the pews was a man with a dusty brown mullet that matched his daughter's wiry hair. He was breathing heavily when he heard her voice and looked up at the small crowd with a grimace. Robyn started to sniffle again as she ran for the man, but she was stopped stone cold when he reached up and backhanded her, sending her crashing to the floor with a scowl on his face. "How dare you bring that filth to this sacred place!" he shouted as he stood to his feet weakly.

Zellin growled and stepped forward but was stopped as Kaidan grabbed his shoulder. "Don't, we don't need some cross-species incident because of this," he said as he pushed the spectre aside. Reaching forward, the father was gripped in a blue aura that locked him in place.

"Let go of me...you devil worshipper! Your magic has no power here!" shouted the man with a maniacal look on his face. Without a single word, Kaidan pulled the man towards him. The father floated towards the lieutenant quickly before the soldier's fist impacted the man's jaw, sending him crashing through the pew that he had just risen from.

"Religion or no religion, if I ever see you lay a hand on her like that again then the devil will be the least of your worries," said Kaidan in an icy tone.

"Please, you have to get her out of here!" said one of the younger men in the crowd. Shepard looked up at him curiously, noticing that of all the people with symptoms, he seemed to be the least affected. He had a small lump near his larynx, and he showed hemorrhaging of the blood vessels in his eyes.

"Who are you?" asked Shepard as she held up a hand to stop him from moving closer.

"My name is John. I'm Robyn's brother, now please…" he begged as he fell to his knees. "Take her away from this place! These people are maniacs, they've been grooming her to marry her off! You can't let them do to her what they did to the others!" Everyone in the group went wide eyed at the claim, and Shepard growled as she glared towards the groaning crowd.

"You shut your sinful mouth, boy!" shouted the father as he tried to get to his feet again, but this only resulted in him coughing up blood onto the floor on his hands and knees.

She could tell that most of the people on the pews and in the cots were already beyond saving. They were all but waiting for death. Stepping forward, she cleared her throat and yelled across the small church. "Alenko. Take Robyn and John and bring them to the Mako. We're leaving here shortly," she growled as she looked at the others. "You lot go with. I'm going to take care of things here before I go," she said in a tone that made Zellin's eyes widen.

"Understood Shepard," said the salarian as he turned to Tali and nodded towards the door.

After everyone had cleared out, taking a worn-out John and crying Robin with them, the commander closed the door and drew her silenced weapon from her side. When she turned back to the rest of them, she marched forward with a look of pure fury in her eyes.

“Anyone and everyone who wants out of this cult of death, get up and walk towards the door,” she said as she eyed them all with a death glare. “I know some of you didn’t choose this life, and now is your chance to escape.” Three women and two men rose to move towards the front of the church. One of the women looked older than Shepard by a wide margin, but she couldn’t tell as stress was known to have horrific affects on the process of aging. One of the younger women who looked to be no more than a teenager moved as well, but Robyn’s father reached up and grabbed her shoulder.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he asked as he stood to his full height. “You’re my wife. My property. You go nowhere without my-“ he growled, but suddenly he yanked his arm back as a bullet tore two fingers from his hand and sent him stumbling backwards.

“Lay another hand on them and hell will be a welcome reprieve to what I do to you,” Shepard threatened as she held her weapon aimed at the man. The scared young woman looked from the man back to the spectre. The armored woman nodded towards the entrance, and the shrouded woman quickly rushed away and exited the building after the others. Finally, Shepard turned to the man who now lay on the ground clenching his bleeding stumps. "How many girls?" she asked in a tone that chilled the less stubborn to the core.

"Fuck off you sinful harlot!" cried the father as he tried to raise a pistol of his own. But her armored foot crashed down onto his good hand, shattering the bones and crushing his fingers against the handle. He screamed and tried to pull his arm away, but his sickness left him weak and gasping, unable to retaliate.

Looking up, the redhead glared at them all. "All of you had a hand in this. I hope whatever god you worship gives each of you what you rightly deserve,” she growled as she finally kicked the gun away from the man and turned her back on them. “Most of you will be dead by the time the Alliance arrives. Use that time to reflect on what kind of monsters you’ve become,” she ordered before finally turning her back on them and leaving them to die to the cancerous growths that had overtaken them.

Kopanis Colony - Kopanis

When the church door finally opened again, Shepard walked out with a distant look in her eyes. Zellin watched her walk the short trip to the mako before jumping in herself. "Everything taken care of?" he asked firmly.

"Everything," she responded as Kaidan began to pull the tank away from the hospital and towards the gates of the colony.

"W-Where are we going?" asked Robyn through her sobbing as she huddled with the others who had left the church.

"Don't worry, we're gonna get you out of here. Get you somewhere safe," said the lieutenant as he soothed her.

"Thank you...thank you all," said John as he buried his face in his hands to hide his own tears. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't showed up."

"The rest of the colony would have died due to their lack of medical care, and those who weren't affected by this cancerous cloud would have probably starved to death," said the salarian as he looked at the girl. "You said they were exposed yesterday?" he asked, getting a scared nod from the girl.

"That means he didn't complete his work. He's apparently found some way of reversing the effects," said Tali as she attempted to put the pieces together in her head.

"Given the pirate code that was on Harris' omni-tool, I'd venture to guess that he saw black market potential," said Shepard as she stared at the road ahead of them.

"Hey Commander?"came Joker's call from the Normandy.

"What is it Joker?" she asked as she activated her omni-tool to respond.

"There was a ship hiding in the dark up here, I guess they were powered down. They went live a minute ago and are headed towards the mass relay,"said the pilot curiously.

Clenching her teeth, she slammed her fist against the driver's seat. "Can you intercept?" she asked curiously.

"Unfortunately, they're too far out. We did manage to get their ID before they made a break for it though,"he responded in a tone that told her that he was trying to get on her good side. She just sighed and rubbed her head.

"Good enough. We'll find out where they're going and track them that way. In the meantime, come get us, we're done here," she ordered as she leaned back with a sigh.

"Understood Commander. Pickup at these coordinates,"he said as he sent her the nav point.

Medical Bay - SSV Normandy SR1

Kaidan and Tali both stood in the medbay as John was put under anesthesia, his sister sitting in a chair right next to him and holding his hand as his eyes closed heavily.

"Will he be alright?" Tali asked worriedly as she looked up at Doctor Chakwas with her hazel eyes.

"The damage looks minimal, and his exposure seems to be extremely recent, even second hand. It should be a relatively easy process," said the doctor as she watched him go under. “The others, however, are another story. I’ll do my best to save them.” Turning to the others, she nodded towards the door. "I'm going to need you to remove yourself from the room while I prepare for surgery."

Nodding at the order, Kaidan patted the girl on the back. "Come on little one, let's get you something to eat," he said as he steered her towards the door.

She sniffled heavily as they walked her to the mess hall. "What about my Papa? What happened to him?" she asked as she looked up at them.

Tali and Kaidan both looked at each other with hard stares before finally responding. "He...he didn't make it before the sickness got to him, unfortunately," replied Kaidan carefully. He didn’t know what happened inside the church after they left, but with Shepard’s record, there was little chance any of them would be alive when the Alliance aid ship arrived. But telling her that their commander had basically executed what was left of the colony didn't seem like the prudent thing to do. In fact, it would have been rather heartless of him.

She sighed and shook her head as she sat at the table. "I don't know why he didn't love me. I tried so hard to make him proud. Was there something wrong with me?"

Tali clenched her fingers on her folded arms almost hard enough to puncture her suit when she heard the question. "No!" she snapped, getting a surprised look from both the girl and Kaidan. "You were a good girl Robyn! He was a bad father!"

"B-But…" said the girl in surprise as she stared at the alien.

"She's right. You didn't do anything wrong, Robyn. Now, I'm gonna get you something to eat, alright?" said Kaidan gently. The girl simply nodded and stared down at the table while Alenko waved for Tali to follow him. Once they were out of earshot, the human eyed her curiously. "You alright?"

"It infuriates me that such a monster has such a devoted daughter!" she growled, practically stomping her foot in anger.

"I know. I've known plenty of men like him in my time with the Alliance, and before," he said, then looked away briefly as he ordered the girl something small to eat from the mess sergeant.

"Before?" asked Tali curiously as she noticed him stop talking after mentioning it.

"It was back when I was younger. In BAaTT...err...Biotic Acclimation and Temperance Training. Basically, a school for biotic kids," he said as he tapped his finger on the counter.

"Humans are relatively new to biotics, aren't they?" asked Tali curiously.

"As new as we can get. We're pretty up to date now, but when I was younger, we were just scratching the surface. When the humans found out that eezo exposure had a chance to cause biotics when in utero, they began rounding up every medical record of every exposure victim on Earth and all the colonies. Children that weren't horribly deformed or ridden with cancer were "volunteered" for testing," he said using air quotes.

Tali stared at him for a long moment before putting her two main fingers up and mimicking him. "Volunteered?" she asked curiously, getting an amused smirk from the lieutenant.

"Yeah. They made a training ground out on Jump Zero where they brought in all kinds of kids from all over the place. At first, they didn't know what the hell they were doing. They had a hard enough time just keeping them from breaking their own limbs. I don't know if there was investor pressure or what, but they stopped trying to take things slow, and instead brought in experts from the outside," he said as he stared at the counter with his thick brows furrowed.

"The only experts at that time had to have been another species…" said Tali as she leaned on the counter and listened curiously.

"Yeah, turians. The Alliance didn't want to go through the Citadel because they would not have approved Brain Camp at all, especially considering all the participants were minors. So instead, they resorted to hiring turian mercenaries. The man I was talking about before, like Robyn's father, he was the turian instructor, Commander Vernus," he said as he nodded to the mess sergeant and took the meal that they set on the counter. "He didn't care about us, all he cared about was using us to further his own goals. We were a stepping stone to him. Hell, he introduced himself by telling us that he had killed our parents during the war..."

Tali followed him with her arms behind her back eagerly, "So, what happened?" she asked as he set the food on the table for Robyn. The girl immediately began eating, almost ravenously as the food entered her gaze, making the lieutenant smile.

"He went too far…" he said, then looked up into the quarian's face shield. "The camp itself was brutal, you either came out superhuman or a mangled mess of limbs. Some kids even died, and those who managed to make it through, they didn't impress Vernus. He held no love for human kids. Hell, I'd be surprised if he loved his own kids," he said with a sigh as he sat at the table. Tali followed shortly and stared at him. "Anyway, there was a girl named Rhana who was basically a social planet. People gravitated to her because she had a magnetic personality, it made you want to talk to her, be her friend…"

Tali tilted her head, a sign of quarian curiosity. "Sounds like you had a thing for this girl."

He smirked at her and shook his head. "Who didn't really? She had a lot of guys our age waiting on her hand and foot. She was smart, beautiful, and charming as hell. But she wasn't arrogant like you'd expect from most girls of her pedigree. Kinda like Sh…" he said, then stopped in his tracks, looking up at Tali to see if she had caught on. Unfortunately for him, he could see the arching color of her eyes under the helmet, making him well aware of her smile.

"Goooooo oooooon!" she pushed, holding back a slight giggle.

He stared at her sternly and sighed as he looked over at Robyn, who was now eyeing the two of them. "Look, maybe we can continue this conversation later. We should really be getting her somewhere to rest and clean up."

"Oh...alright," said Tali, slightly disappointed that their talk was ending. She stood up and bowed her head slightly towards the lieutenant. "I'm glad we had a chance to talk Lieutenant."

He smiled up at her charmingly and nodded back. "You can call me Kaidan if you like. And I am too. I do hope we can continue later," he said as he stood up himself and turned to the girl.

Combat Information Center - SSV Normandy SR1

She stood at the apex of the CIC, staring at the officers who had information to offer. She called them forward personally, wanting to hear it directly from them rather than through the comm. Her hardened gaze looked over them as they all stood nervously at attention.

"Despite what we've discovered thus far, we still have a mission to accomplish. I heard from Lieutenant Moreau that we have the escaping ship's ID. Is that correct?" she asked, eyeing her information officers.

First Lieutenant Tanaka was the first to speak. "That's correct, sir! We scanned the ID in our databases and didn't come up with much on the Alliance side. But…" he said, staring at Officer Grieco, his partner, "...with permission, we also ran it through the Spectre Database and it turns out that it's a ship that has traded hands multiple times throughout its life, mostly in the Terminus Systems."

"Has anyone run a scan to see where it's gone?" she asked as she eyed them all.

This time, Grieco spoke up. "Not as of yet, sir. We wanted to wait for you to get back, as our own tampering with the Spectre resources could very well land us in a prison colony," said the man as he saluted.

She smirked at him and nodded. "Fine, I'll do it myself," she said as she hit a button on the console of the CIC. The galaxy map vanished and was shortly replaced by multiple scrolling screens of data. "Connecting Normandy's command console to Spectre Database," she said as she authorized the action herself. Soon, the scrolling data sped up.

The officers watched her with awe as if watching a master artist painting. Within thirty seconds, a picture popped up and her eyes narrowed. "Everything alright Commander?" asked Tanaka, the man unable to read her look.

"The last sighting of the ship was taken from a comm buoy relay in the Hoplos System of the Hades Nexus Cluster," she said, reaching up and scratching her chin.

Zellin stared at her from behind the whole setup, the salarian being one of the only people on the ship to be allowed behind her when she was standing at the display. He cleared his throat, causing her to look back at him. "I suppose you know what that means?" he asked in a stern tone.

She simply nodded with a heavy sigh. "Trident."

"Trident indeed. You might as well be flying directly into a tsunami," said the spectre as he shook his head. "Spectre or no Spectre, you are not going to have an easy time there."

"Easy time or no easy time, we're going," she said as she put the displays away and reactivated the galaxy map. "This man has created some kind of chemical that mimics the effects of harmful element zero exposure. You saw it down there, just by breathing it in someone can get cancer, and will likely be dead within a week of first contact with the substance."

"I'm aware of its qualities…" he started, but was interrupted.

"Then you're also aware of what happens if he sells his work, and it gets weaponized. Imagine entire Council Space colonies being bombarded with torpedos filled with this gas. The GARDIANs will take them out in the air, then it will be in the atmosphere. This concoction is a perfect counter to colonial defense," she said as she eyed him coldly. "Not to mention it takes a fairly low license to bring eezo onto the Citadel. Imagine if someone created a bomb and detonated it in the wards."

"I take your meaning Commander," snapped Zellin, who looked surprised when she snapped back.

"Do you Spectre? Because if the burden of this mission is too great, then feel free to stay on the ship. But I intend to go down there, find that bioweapon, and destroy it," she said before setting the course on the galaxy map and stepping down from the large console to eye the taller salarian.

Every officer in the bridge held their breath as they saw the two agitated spectres staring each other down for a long moment. But finally, the tension was released as Zellin snorted out of his nostrils. "As much as I'd love to clean New Cousteau up, I will have to stay on whatever ship we take down there. Trident is a human dominated world, and I would stick out…" he said, looking away for a moment. "Like a sore thumb, is it?"

Shepard almost snorted as she tried not to laugh, but simply nodded with a smile. "You should be fine as long as you're accompanied. While it is human dominated, it's not out of the blue for humans to have companions on human worlds," she said as she looked him up and down. "How good is your acting?"

He growled lightly. "Commander, I seriously hope you are joking…"

New Cousteau Port - New Cousteau - Trident

"Excuse me ma'am, we're gonna have to ask you to come with us," said a slimy looking human in a three-piece suit as soon as she exited the shuttle. His hair was blonde and slicked back like so many of the gangsters that she had seen in the vids. She wanted to immediately roll her eyes but decided to shrug it off instead.

"Is there a problem gentlemen?" she asked threateningly as they approached. She had decided that her armor was likely going to be needed, so now she stood staring across at them in her abyssal black set.

"We're the Port Security, and we'd like to have a word with you in our office if you wouldn't mind," said one of the men as he shrugged. As he did, his coat opened, and her blue eyes spied a handgun tucked away at his side. She wanted to groan at how cheesy these guys were playing the role of hardass gangsters.

"Just take me where you need to take me…" she said as she rubbed her head. Currently, her helmet was secured at her side rather than on her head. She wanted to look threatening, but not enough that they'd fire at her on sight. Turning to the three who had come down with her, she nodded to Zellin. "You come with me. You two, stay with the shuttle," she ordered to Ash and Kaidan, both of which nodded and stood straight, looking as menacing as possible.

The port authority shook his head, however. "You don't understand, we're gonna need all of you to come with me, to the offices, right now. If you don't comply, well…" he said shrugging again to nonchalantly show off his weapon. But Shepard reached forward and grabbed him by the collar, then grabbed his firearm from its holster and ripped it clean.

"No, you don't understand…" she said in a very hostile tone as she aimed the weapon at his partner. The man immediately raised his hands high to prevent himself from being shot. "I'm not a good person to piss off, and right now, you're pissing me off. They are going to stay right here and guard my ship to make sure that your men don't get too curious and start rummaging around inside it. Meanwhile, you and your little cockroach buddy here are going to take me to your security office so we can "talk." Is there anything you missed there?" she asked threateningly as she stared dead into his eyes.

The man shook his head, his greasy hair sliding back and forth on his scalp. "N-No! I-I got it! Must have just been a misunderstanding!" he said frantically before she finally shoved him backwards. When he managed to straighten his jacket again, he held his hand out for the firearm, but Shepard tossed it into the water and crossed her arms, as if telling him to go get it. Sighing to himself he turned and waved for her to follow.

It took literal minutes to get to the small enclosure that he called the security office. "So, this is the security office for the entire port?" asked Shepard as she eyed the small building questioningly.

"That it is, though most of it's underground, the main block of the office is up here," he said as he opened the door for her. But she shook her head with a glare. Growling, he entered and punched a code into a small pad on the wall that disabled the security system. "You appear to know this place a little too well," said the greasy man in annoyance.

"No, I just know your kind. I know there's no way in hell you'd be nice enough to hold a door for me unless you intentionally wanted me to walk in first," she said as she stepped inside the building and activated her omni-tool.

"So, you knew the reason why I wanted to bring you here was so that we could strip your ship to pieces. Why the hell are we here now?" asked the man with a mix of ire and worry in his voice. It was pretty easy to tell that he was worried that this shabby building would be his coffin.

"I'd like you to meet my associate, Wizzle," said Shepard as Zellin stepped forward. At hearing the fake name, the salarian glared over at the woman, who winked back at him in amusement. Turning back to the human, he lifted a briefcase and opened it.

"Hello human, we are here to make a small transaction with you," said the undercover spectre as he shifted through the datapads inside the case.

The man cocked an eyebrow as his partner perked up in the corner. "What kind of transaction?" he asked curiously.

This time, Shepard spoke up. "We know you work for a "family," and we're not here to piss anyone off. But I'm looking for a man who arrived here, likely yesterday in a ship that looks like this," she said as she pulled up a model of the shuttle.

"Ah, yeah. I remember that really well," he said as his greasy smirk returned.

Her gaze hardened again. "We're going to pay you a small fee to not notice that we're here. Meaning you don't tell whatever family it is you work for that we're in this city, in this system, etcetera."

"Understood. Under the table, didn't see nothin'," said the man as he sat down and smacked his knees joyfully.

"I'm glad to hear you're onboard," she said as Zellin pulled out a credit chit and set it on top of the briefcase.

"This here is an encrypted chit that is secured firmly to a small pulse device. If you try to remove it, the pulse device will go off and destroy it. If you enter the wrong code, the pulse device will go off and destroy it. And if you wait for a full standard 20-hour day, the pulse device will go off and destroy it. I hope you understand the point I'm trying to get across," said the salarian as he eyed the gangster human.

"Yeah yeah, I know how this works. You give me this, I let you do your thing, and when your job is done and you leave, you transfer me the code to unlock it," he said as he took the small device. "What's to stop you from leavin' me high and dry when you go to leave though?" he asked as he eyed the pair.

"What would be the point of putting credits on a chit to just let it get destroyed when I leave?" she asked as she sat in one of the grimy chairs against the wall. "If you keep your word, then you'll get the code. But if you break your word to me for any reason, not only will you not get the money. But I won't leave this planet until I've painted this office with your blood," she said in a threatening tone that could have frozen his swaying hair flat to his head.

He stared at her for a long moment before looking back at his buddy. "You know...I feel like I've seen your face somewhere before…"

"Probably on GNN about a week ago when I was inducted as a Spectre," she said as she rested her chin on her hand. Her words took immediate effect as his eyes widened and he looked over at his partner, who also seemed awestruck.

"That's right! You're that dame that the Council made to take down that turian prick!" he said, almost excitedly.

"That's me. And you and your family ought to know that the kind of people that are made Spectres aren't to be trifled with," she said solidly.

"Look, lady, I saw a Spectre work once, and I ain't tryin' to make myself a part of that. So, you leave this baby here, I keep my lip zipped, and you pass me the code on your way out the door. Otherwise, I'm keepin' my mouth shut until I'm asked to speak," he said as he began visibly sweating.

Smiling lightly, Shepard nodded. "I'm glad to hear that. Now, you take your gift, and I and my assistant will be on our way," she said as she stood up and headed for the door. Stopping in the entrance, she looked back at him with a grim stare. "Oh, and don't worry about any evidence," she said as she held up her omni-tool. "Nobody but you two will ever know I was here."

The man went wide-eyed for a moment before spinning in his chair and activated the terminal on his desk. To his ire, her entry into the computer had been wiped, and all of the camera feed for the entire time she was here as well. "Damn crafty bitch, I'll give her that…"

Chapter 12: Trident

Chapter Text

The Sinkhole - New Cousteau - Trident

Shepard, as well as Zellin and Ash entered the small rat hole of a bar near the seedier center of the city of New Cousteau. When she entered, a few of the local drunks looked up at her briefly before turning away again and returning to their drinks. But her eyes locked onto the one person who didn't look back down. She had heavily shadowed eyes and short, mousy, black hair that was even shorter than Shepard's.

When she entered with the new coat she wore over her armor, the woman stared up at her and locked eyes, a small, curious smile gracing her dainty lips. Wearing little more than a pair of shorts and a bikini top, the woman spun on her barstool and got to her feet. Grabbing her drink, the odd woman aimed a thumb towards the back door of the establishment. Shepard nodded and waved her hand to Williams and Zellin, both of which took a seat at the bar.

As Shepard and the woman went upstairs, Ash watched her go before turning to the bartender. Her lip curled slightly as she took in the appearance of the odd woman. She looked every inch the woman who wanted everyone to call her "momma." From the large, very billowy orange locks of hair on her head, to her country getup of regular Earth blue jeans and a flannel shirt. The woman was currently staring at Zellin with wide eyes.

Looking over at the salarian curiously, Ash leaned against the bar and stretched herself out. "Want a beer?" she asked curiously.

"This is hardly the time…" said Zellin sternly as he stood next to the bar.

"Yer one o' them greys, aincha?" asked the bartender, who got a strange look from both Ashley and Zellin.

"Greys?" asked the spectre, bewildered at the term.

"Greyman. Back before we had spaceflight ourselves, some very unstable humans used to claim that they had been abducted by aliens. The term for them was greymen because they had grey skin, large eyes like salarians, and large, round heads," said Ash as she shook her head at the early human psyche. "Shortly after humans made contact with the Citadel, we actually had one man try and sue the salarian government, claiming that his ancestors were...ahem, probed by salarians." As she explained, she accepted a cold bottle of beer from the woman.

Zellin stared at Ash for a long moment before pulling up his own omni-tool and looking the term up on the extranet. Seeing a picture of the frightful figure that haunted pre-spaceflight humans, he shook his head and closed the device down. "There are some resemblances, but I'm afraid that I have no interest in probing your kind, miss," he said firmly.

"Shame…" said the older woman playfully as she walked away. Ash had just taken a drink when the woman spoke, making her spit foam and beer out in a reaction that left her coughing.

Zellin looked down at the human, unamused at the development. "Do try to refrain from drowning yourself. The...boss...would be quite upset if you choked on your beer bottle," he said almost threateningly.

Ashley covered her mouth, hiding her smile and holding back a laugh as she set the beer aside. "Don't worry about me Romeo, I'll be alright," she said with a smirk that only annoyed him further.

"I don't know what this Romeo is, but I hate it already…" grumbled the salarian as he looked away, trying to ignore the laughing chief.

The Sinkhole - New Cousteau - Trident

"Well well, if it isn't the great Commander Shepard! Savior of Elysium, the Ghost in the Machine, and now we can add Spectre to that list of titles," said the woman as she led the redhead upstairs.

Jane said nothing as she followed the informant up the stairs and into what was essentially the private room of the bar owner. It was no more or less beat up than the rest of the rundown establishment. She had a table in the corner with a dozen or so beer bottles on it, a bed in the opposing corner that was missing its sheets and blanket both. Next to the bed was a small nightstand with a lamp, and a bookshelf that was overflowing with books that weren't even stacked correctly on the shelves.

"What's the matter, Commander? Turian got your tongue?" she asked as she smirked and clicked her pierced tongue against her teeth. "You're a lot quieter than usual."

"This is the first time you and I have had to meet face to face, Nellie," said Shepard as she crossed her armored arms.

"Yeah, I figured you'd invite me to lunch or something the first time. If I knew you were coming, I'd have cleaned the place up," said the woman as she walked over to the table. Hidden among the beer cans were what looked like three different white dice. Reaching up to her earring, she pulled it off, showing a black dice that contrasted the other three on the table. Arranging them accordingly resulted in a loud click from the bookshelf.

Walking over to it, she pulled shelving open, revealing a small tube-like elevator, similar to those seen on the Presidium. "Sorry, but I'm in a bit of a rush. Pleasantries will have to wait," replied Shepard as she stepped onto the elevator.

Quickly, the tube shot them down below ground level, stopping shortly afterward and letting them out into a small, almost pristine office. The room looked like a domed cockpit, somewhat resembling the small hovel that Joker had made at home on the Normandy. In the center was a chair that looked like it had plenty of function besides just spinning. In front of the chair was a screen that showed the vast ocean that Trident was known for, with creatures of so many different species swimming by that it would take an AI to accurately count them. But, as soon as Nellie's behind hit the chair, the serene ocean vanished, and in its place were screens of scrolling text.

"So, Jane, since you're not here for pleasantries, how about you tell me what you're actually doing here?" asked the agent as she spun around and stared at the Spectre through her dark eyes.

Lifting her arm, Shepard activated her omni-tool and opened the dossier of Harris, as well as a picture of the ship he arrived on. "I'm looking for this man. I got his information from the port security office, so I know he landed here. But that's all I can find," she said as she passed the information to the agent.

Nellie accepted it and loaded it into her terminal. "Shouldn't be too hard. I've pretty much got a tab on anyone in and out of this place…" she said as she brought up her camera display. She then pulled up the picture and allowed her algorithm to start matching up facial features. Turning back to the spectre, the woman grinned. "So?" asked Nellie with a Cheshire-like grin.

"What do you want for the information?" asked Shepard, cocking one of her fiery eyebrows at the woman.

"Oh, that shouldn't be too hard. I'll even give it to you on a tab given this is apparently urgent enough for you to show up at my doorstep," said Nellie as she smacked her palms against her bare legs. "I want someone out of the way."

Shepard's gaze darkened. "You know my rule…" she growled as her armored forearms crossed over her chest again.

"I know I know…" she said, raising her hands defensively. "But a mercenary has been trying to track me down recently. He's not close, of course, but he's a lot cleverer than I anticipated."

"His record?" asked the spectre as she received the information from the woman.

"Where do I start?" she asked sarcastically. "He didn't make underboss by acting like Mister Rogers, that's for sure. He started off in the Quinn family as a simple Go Boy. Someone to do errands. Then apparently, he overheard that the Triad leader's niece was trying to muscle in on their territory. He...took care of her," said Nellie as she looked away from the spectre.

"Took care of her?" asked Shepard curiously as she looked over the man's file.

"Let's just say that even someone that kills as frequently as you would feel your stomach turn when you saw her. It was not pleasant, and she didn't die quickly. That's for certain," said Nellie as she turned back and stared at her long-time partner.

"So, how did you come into the picture?" asked Jane as she tucked her omni-tool away and leaned against the wall near the door.

"I'm fine with killing, theft, contraband…" she said as she waved her hands dramatically. "It's all part of the game of life when you live in a place like Trident. You have to look away from some things in order to fix the bigger issues. But he crossed a serious line," she said with a bit of a growl in her voice. "He managed to pin the blame on a former specialist of the Romanov's that lived out on Widow's Web. Afterward, the Triad and the Romanov Bratva all but went to war with each other. The plan would have had the two houses fight and weaken one another, which would have given them the perfect opening for the Quinn family to swoop in and crush them both…" said Nellie as she leaned forward.

"Would have?" asked Shepard curiously with a sly smirk. Nellie nodded enthusiastically.

"Ooooh, you should have seen the groveling when the Triad and the Bratva came together and confronted them," she said, practically snickering at her deed. "What remains of his house has either moved off-planet or is feeding the tyrant sharks. He himself, however, managed to weasel his way into a mercenary group without them realizing he was still alive. And now he's using their resources to find out where I'm at."

"How close is he?" asked Shepard as the scan behind the woman finally beeped.

"If I let him go at his own pace, and he had unlimited resources, he might find me in another six months. With what he's working with now, I'd give him five years," she responded as she opened a small compartment and pulled out a small tube of what looked like chocolate pudding. Looking up at Shepard, she held it up. "Want one?"

"I'm good…" said the Spectre as she began harvesting the data from the facial scan. "So, if he's not even close, then why do you want him taken care of?"

"Oh, it's not about him finding me. If he ever even crossed the threshold of this place, he'd be dead. But…" she said with a sigh. "The things he did to her were evil. This went beyond business. Beyond tapping someone in the back of the head for a botched red sand deal. This was pure malice."

Shepard began to draw a clearer picture as she finished receiving her data. "You want an example…" said the spectre.

Nellie looked up at Shepard as she opened her pudding tube. "I was no fan of the niece. She was an art snob who refused to drive the same car two days in a row. But she actually looked out for the little guys around them. She was a bit of a sweetheart snob, if such a thing exists…"

"So, this is a revenge killing?" asked Shepard skeptically.

"Look, I know your rule about revenge, but think of it like this. If he were to go free, then one of your special agents would be in danger!" she said animatedly as she opened her eyes wide in a puppy dog fashion. But Shepard's stern stare blocked her attempts. Finally, Nellie sighed. "I just want to close my eyes again without having to see her body in the condition it was in…"

"When I find him, I'll take care of him. But if you want to continue our friendly relationship, then you need to be more respectful of my boundaries," she remarked solidly.

"Fine fine. It'll be enough to know that he's out of the picture…" she said waving her hand dismissively.

"Which begs the question, why don't you just tell the Triad that he's still alive?" asked the spectre as she opened the elevator.

"They contacted me the first time. I have to play things neutral here, otherwise, I stand a chance of compromising myself," said Nellie as she shrugged in her bikini top. "If I go out of my way to give them the information, then they might pick up that I'm trying to get rid of him, then they catch him and find out that he's chasing me…" she said as she waved her hand in a circle as if the rest was easy to pick up on. "If you do it, the investigation ends, the Triad doesn't know anything more about me, and anyone who cares about my identity is gone. I get my revenge, you get your info, and you get to keep a reliable information source, and all by getting rid of a little stain of a human being like Kelly Hanrahan."

Shepard grunted in acknowledgment, knowing that the woman was right. It was easy enough for her to bring up the news story on the way down and see what Nellie had seen while they were on the elevator. And she knew Nellie enough to know that she wouldn't lie to her just to get her to kill someone. She had plenty of methods of getting rid of someone if she really wanted. But this turned out to be personal. And, sending a message was also a specialty of Shepard's, so she couldn't deny that she was the right one for the job.

When they arrived in the scraggly room again, the woman walked over and scattered the dice across the table in a random order, while putting the black dice earring back into her ear. "I hope you finish your business fast. The sooner Hanrahan gets what's coming to him, the sooner I can get back into my routine," she said as she left the room and headed back downstairs.

The Sinkhole - New Cousteau - Trident

"I'd hate to be the LT right now. The humidity is killing me and I'm inside…" groaned Ash as she sat at the bar nursing a bottle of water. "How long is she gonna be up there?"

"That's the tenth time you've asked that question, none of which have received answers. So, do us both a favor and stay silent until…" started Zellin angrily before the door to the back opened again and the odd, pierced, bikini-clad woman walked out again. Shortly afterward, Shepard followed and nodded to the two of them. "Whew, thought you got lost Commander," said Ash with a bit of a smirk as the three headed for the door.

"You're buying me a drink next time!" called the short-haired woman as she took her place at the bar and waved.

Ash looked at her, then back at Shepard curiously. She wasn't sure what the connection between the two was, but she knew that Shepard did have a thing for other women...she thought. But she immediately dashed the thought, knowing that the mission they were on was far too important for the hardass Commander Shepard to skip it for a booty call. She began to wonder exactly what the woman was to her as they left the building and headed down the street.

"So...who was she?" asked Ashley curiously as they rounded the corner and began to use the same route that they had taken to get to the bar.

"An associate from my time in the Alliance," said Shepard as they marched their way down the street. Suddenly, gunfire erupted off towards the docks, stopping them in their tracks. Growling, Shepard opened her omni-tool and began to type away as she approached an aircar. Its engine started in seconds and she opened the door. "Get your asses in!" she shouted as she jumped into the driver's seat.

New Cousteau Port - New Cousteau - Trident

"Stand guard over the shuttle she said! It'll be easy she said!" shouted Kaidan as he ducked behind the shuttle again, more rounds from gangster weapons pinging off the metal surface. "I'm standing here in 40-degree heat, sweating my ass off when all the sudden these assholes…" shouted the lieutenant as he spun around and aimed his biotics at the enemy. As soon as they were caught in his dark energy, he raised his weapons to fire. But out of nowhere, an aircar blasted out of an alleyway and slammed into all three of the attackers, sending them soaring and crashing as his biotics finally wore off.

Shielding his eyes from the bright cloud cover, he spied the vehicle as it approached. Feeling slightly relieved at seeing the redhead in the cockpit, he sighed. "Sorry we're a bit late," said Shepard as she stepped out of the vehicle, allowing the Gunnery Chief to exit as well. "Alenko, Williams, I want you two to take the shuttle back up to the ship and wait for me to call for extraction."

Both of the soldiers eyed the commander curiously. "You sure about that sir? As you can see, this place isn't just...ah, who am I talking to?" asked Kaidan as he stopped himself and turned towards the shuttle. Ash watched him get into the pilot's seat, slightly speechless as she turned back to Shepard.

"O-On it Skipper," she said as she turned back to the shuttle and boarded with the lieutenant. When Ash had buckled herself in, she immediately turned to Kaidan with a questioning look. "Why’d you give up so easily?"

"Ash, she's seen more combat than both of us combined," he said, then looked at her apprehensively. "Though, I'm aware that you didn't have much choice in the matter…" he started, then just shook his head. "I'm just well aware of what she's capable of. She can take care of herself."

"If you say so," said Ash as she turned and looked down towards the pair of spectres.

New Cousteau Port - New Cousteau - Trident

"I assume this assignment is about to get a lot messier," said Zellin as he turned to the commander.

"You've got that right…" she said, turning back to the aircar. "Hop in. You and I are going to track down our target, then I've got a favor to finish up," she ordered as she raised her pistol and finished off one of the men who was trying to get to his feet after his heavy impact into the ground. Jumping into the aircar, the salarian followed.

For the first time since he took this assignment, he had a relative smirk on his face. "It will be interesting seeing you work without your team," he said as he buckled himself into the seat.

Together, the pair flew across the battleground of a city. Random shots were fired in the streets, corporations battled against the numerous crime families that had taken up the small archipelago that dotted the surface of Trident. Despite the disastrous city below, the view of the oceans was gorgeous, especially when viewed from an above. But she had little time for that as she put the aircar on auto and activated her omni-tool.

"Harris was last seen heading into Romanov territory, a place known as the Window's Web," said Shepard as she brought up the map of the area.

"Widow's Web?" asked Zellin as he eyed the curious area.

"It's one of the smaller islands, controlled by the Romanov family. Due to its small size, they had to use houseboats, rafts, barges, anything they could find that floats to make up the majority of it. Then they chained it all together, making it look like a web created by Earth spiders," said the commander, getting a nod from the salarian.

"And here comes the bad news…" he said as he eyed her curiously. "If we're going into Romanov territory, then the potential buyer for Harris' carcinogenic bomb…"

"Is a Romanov," she said with a sigh. "We might have to take out one of their family, which means that we aren't going to have an easy time getting off the planet."

"But you have a plan?" he asked her as he reached behind him and pulled his briefcase up. Opening it, he shoved the datapads aside and checked his weapons to make sure they were ready.

"I always have a plan," she said with a confident smirk.

Yusupov Floating Grill - Widow's Web - Trident

Annoyed was probably the tamest thing he could think to call what he was feeling right now. Livid would have fit better as he looked at the chronometer on his omni-tool. Days they had kept him waiting.

It had been a week since he had hit his huge breakthrough. A glorious week of tying off loose ends, erasing his paper trail, closing his credit accounts, and all but uplifting himself to the Terminus Systems. He had gotten himself a nice place on Omega where he could wine and dine til the end of his days with a new asari stripper in his lap each night of the week. But that meant getting paid first. He had already put forward the first down payment to Aria, now he needed the promised income that would allow him his luxurious retirement.

Ever since he had left Arcturus, he had been jerked around left and right. First, he was instructed to go to that ridiculous cultist colony and use it as a test sight. Not a huge deal until whoever it was that was driving around on the surface showed up. He couldn't tell who, or what they were, but from the look of their vehicle, they were heavily armed. And he wasn't about to start scrapping with some random merc group when he already had all the footage he needed.

So, he fled, sent them the affirmative, and waited. Hours he waited for their reply. But it finally came, and they told him to meet them here. They didn't even give him the courtesy of telling him who he'd meet, just a location. So, he sat and waited, knowing that they were likely scoping him out to make sure he hadn't been followed. Even after the fairly high cost of his down payment on Omega, he still had some funds to throw around. He was considering going to one of the nearby clubs and perhaps getting a hit of red sand. But his hopes of a quick bump were dashed when he got a chime on his omni-tool.

Looking down, he noticed that it was a nav point directing him towards a large tanker ship to the east. Snorting, he slammed the rest of his beer and stood up, marching dutifully with his briefcase chained to his wrist towards his payday. It took all of ten minutes for him to get to the ship, and as soon as he arrived, he was waved onto the ship by some rather unsavory looking security. The guards for the ship looked like the stereotypical corrupt security companies back on Earth, the kind who started wars rather than patrolled areas.

But confident that he had covered his bases, he walked aboard the ship and was guided into the underdeck, where it was wet, dark, and menacing. But the greying scientist just rolled his eyes in annoyance at the cliche method of intimidation the buyer was trying to pull. "Look, it's been a long week, and I'd like to at least get my dick wet on this hell hole of a planet before I have to depart for Omega. So, if we could stop all the theatrics and get this done, that'd be great…"

A single, amused chuckled echoed from behind one of the conex shipping containers before the silhouette of a figure emerged into the light given off by the industrial lighting above. "Straight to the point, I like it," said the man as he stepped forward. Leonard eyed the man cautiously. He had smooth dark hair to his shoulders, where it met with the leather of his long jacket. He would have said that the man was trying too hard to look “in-style,” if he didn't immediately recognize the coat for what it was. His eyes widened as he saw the stars on either side of the collar, as well as the subtle stripes that were aimed downwards on either side of the silver buttons. It was an officer coat.

"Ahhh...I see, you're part of the family then?" asked Harris with a sly grin.

"Ever observant of your doctor. But let's skip the pleasantries and get down to business, yes?" asked the man, his voice tinged with a light Russian accent. "You have the proof, yes?" asked the taller, dark-haired man who currently had several burly bodyguards on either side of him.

"I do," said the doctor as he opened his omni-tool and passed the data over. However, the man simply smiled and stared at Leonard through his piercing green eyes. "J-Just in case you're getting any funny ideas, there're incendiary grenades in this case, that'll go off should something happen to me…" he said as he reached up and pulled his collar away from his heated neck nervously.

But the gangster simply held his hands out as if welcoming him, all the while sporting a giant smile. "Doctor! Why in the world would I kill you?" he asked as he stepped forward, making Harris take a step back. "I need you!" he said before finally getting close enough to put his arm around the man's shoulder. "See, this…" said the Russian as he tapped the briefcase. "This is just the beginning."

"What are you talking about?" asked Harris, who was currently cringing at having the man's strong, jacket-clad arm around him, but too terrified to pull away.

"See, we know you had plans to move to Omega. But we're going to need you to make arrangements to have those canceled. Instead, you're going to stay here with us!" said the Romanov as he let out a happy sigh. "Today is a good day!"

"I'm not going to live my days in some kind of mob laboratory making weapons just so you can get rich off of them!" snapped Harris with a growl. "You're paying for this supply, nothing else. If, and that's IF you pay well enough, then I'd be happy to make you more from my own place on Omega. But you couldn't pay me enough to live on this hellhole."

Chuckling, the gangster patted the man's shoulder. "You let me outline future, yes?" asked the Russian as he finally pulled away.

Harris sighed, then finally nodded. "Fine. You've got five minutes to convince me before I go and find another buyer...what the hell was your name?"

"You as a friend can call me Artem," said the Russian as he put a cigarette between his lips and inhaled while one of the bodyguards lit it. "You see Leo...can I call you Leo?" he asked amusedly.

"I'd rather you not…" said the man with a grumble.

"You see Leo, you stay with us. You work to make us this weapon. This makes Romanov family most powerful on Trident," he said as he inhaled more smoke and let out a thick cloud before continuing. "Being most powerful family, means no more enemies, no more competition. No more competition means we get richer," he said as he stepped up to the man, allowing some of the light from above to shine on his shockingly handsome face. "We take over Trident, then we start taking over other places."

Harris' eyes widened slightly at the implication. "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"He's saying he's going to take over Omega with your assistance, and afterward, probably the rest of the Terminus systems," came a voice from the shadows again. Immediately, every one of the bodyguards drew their weapons and aimed for the darkness. However, with the metal room being packed and rather cramped, it was hard to tell exactly where the voice had come from. Suddenly, an apple flew out of the darkness and soared between the two men. One of the bodyguards screamed something in Russian before the apple exploded between them, splattering both Artem and Harris with fruit. Everyone froze stiff, not wanting to be the next target.

"Who are you?" asked Artem in annoyance as he held his hands up. "Do you know who you are messing with?"

"I'm well aware of who you are Mister Romanov. I know all about your family, as I've had to deal with a few of them in the past. The question is, do you know who you are messing with?" came the voice again. "Now, as you all have seen, I have a sniper who is a crack shot staring at all of you through the scope of my own rifle. If any of you even move an inch, apple sauce. I hope I've made my point clear," came the voice again.

"Blatantly…" growled the Romanov as he held his hands in the air. Suddenly, he went rigid as he felt something touch his head. Standing dead still, he watched as the doctor doubled over in pain, as if he had just been struck. "W-What…?" he asked, then suddenly a shorter, heavily armored woman began to appear right in front of him.

"Shhhh…" said the woman as she put a finger up to her helmeted lips. "Don't want that apple to fall off. It could end very poorly," she said as she reached down and started pressing buttons on her omni-tool. Suddenly, Harris cried out loud as his omni-tool practically exploded off of his arm. "Now, I'm going to take him, his project, his notes, and his weapon back to the Alliance."

"What is your name?" asked Artem with cold calmness.

"You can call me Spectre," she said with a smirk in her tone. The man's eyes widened at the revelation, but he stayed still.

"Well, Spectre, I certainly hope you've made peace with whatever gods you…" he started, but froze when she spun around and glared at him.

"You're not too bright, are you Mister Romanov?" asked the woman as she eyed him through her face shield. "If you want to keep your head, then I wouldn't recommend threatening the person who has a crosshair on it," she said as she grabbed the scientist and began dragging him unceremoniously out of the building. "Hope your arms don't get tired, you're gonna be there for a while!" shouted the operative as she exited the building.

When she was outside, she immediately secured his hands behind his back and threw him forward with the barrel of a silenced weapon against him. "Get in the car," she ordered firmly.

"Don't touch me! I have…" started Harris, but she rolled her eyes at him.

"You have a briefcase with a powerful bio-weapon and six grenades that I disabled when I was inside. Now, you're going to get in the car, or I'll beat you senseless and drag you in myself," she ordered, shoving him into the passenger seat of the running vehicle. He did as he was told and sat in the seat with a sour look on his face.

But as the woman walked around to get into the driver's seat, he hopped over and slammed his foot onto the aircar's accelerator. The car jumped forward and hit her, making her slide across the roof before flying over the back and rolling across the ground while he escaped in the vehicle.

Romanov Barge - Widow's Web - Trident

It wasn't the proudest laugh he'd ever had, but it was most certainly one he enjoyed as he stared down at the ex-Alliance soldier laying on the ground. He knew her enough to know that the vehicle hadn't hurt her, but the way she was laying on the ground meant she was definitely thinking.

"You alright, Spectre?" asked Zellin, trying to hide the amusement from his voice as he approached the woman and helped her up.

"Ever plan something out so well, only to find out you overlooked one detail that threw a wrench into it?" she asked in an annoyed tone as she sat up.

"Several times actually. Salarian minds work rather quickly, so sometimes we can miss a detail here or there," he said as she dusted herself off. "So, did your bluff work?"

"Like a charm. Now, I have to radio the Normandy to make sure he doesn't end up getting off this planet. You find us a new aircar," she ordered as she opened her comm to the Normandy.

Romanov Barge - Widow's Web - Trident

As he stood, frozen to the spot with the apple sitting on his head of dark hair, his eyes roamed the room curiously. It definitely took a minute or two, but slowly he began to come to a realization. "Alexei…?" asked Artem curiously.

"Yeah, boss?" asked one of the henchmen as he stood stiff, trying not to agitate the sniper.

"Are there windows in here?" asked the annoyed man as he searched the remains of the apple at his feet.

"No boss... why?" asked the man curiously.

Artem let out a sigh as his eyes locked onto a small bead on the ground. Putting his tired arms down, he moved his head and caught the apple as it fell. All of his bodyguards stared in horror for a long moment before they too began to catch on. "If there are no windows, then the sniper would have to still be in the room with us…" he growled as he activated his omni-tool. "Rufus, I hope you got them leaving the compound!" he shouted into the comm as he began to run towards the exit. But he got no response.

"Nobody is responding from any channel boss!" shouted Alexei as they finally burst out of the enclosure.

"They must have blocked our...sig...nal…" said the Russian as his eyes widened. Sitting on the barge in front of him were the bodies of all of his men. He didn't know whether they were alive or dead, but they were definitely unresponsive and stacked up like some kind of grotesque pyramid. "Or not…"

"Who the hell could have done this?" asked Alexei, bewildered at the sight of so many of his trained men haphazardly thrown into the pile.

Artem stared off into the distance with a heavy sigh. "A Spectre…" he said, hurling the apple off of the ship and into the water before turning around and heading back inside.

New Cousteau Port - New Cousteau - Trident

His aircar came to a screeching halt as he pulled up to the docking area. The grubby man at the entrance tried to stop him but could do little as he flew straight past him and landed almost directly on the ramp that led to his spacecraft. It wasn't easy guiding the car with bound hands, but his ship was mostly automated anyway, so he had a way of getting out of here regardless.

He growled angrily as he kicked the door to the aircar open and stomped towards the ship with his briefcase still in his hands. The deal went so far south that his bitterness almost made him want to puke. But there was still a way to salvage the situation. Aria would probably like a weapon of this magnitude. It would probably help her secure herself even more on the station, so he could always trade it to her to keep his place.

He began running the plan through his head quickly as he entered his small personal craft and began the automation to exit the system. "Vixen, take me to Omega," he ordered, getting a confirming chime from the VI before he finally plopped down in his seat. "Stupid bitch...who the hell was that anyway?"

"You can call me Shepard,"came a voice through the ship's speakers. He felt a chill go down his spine as his head smacked back against the seat in surprise. "You're at the end of your rope Harris. Either hand yourself and the weapon over to the Alliance, or else."

"Go to hell! Where I'm going, you'll never be able to get your hands on me!" he shouted into the comm as he grabbed the flight wheel of his ship, which switched it to manual and gunned it for escape velocity.

"Last chance Harris. Give yourself up or you and the weapon become a distant memory,"growled Shepard. He looked at his scanner and found that her ship was following his, though from the looks of it, wasn't keeping up very well.

He laughed, seeing no other airborne ships to stop him. "What a joke! Kiss my ass Shepard!" he said as he pushed the pedal to the metal and finally escaped the worst of Trident's gravitation. But his smile vanished when all the sudden his scanner picked up something else nearby. Looking down, he saw a massive frigate that dwarfed his personal craft appear out of nowhere. "Wha...what the hell? Where did that…?" he started to ask.

But he was cut off as the alert in his ship started going off. The VI began to flash emergency lights in the compartment. "Warning. Sensors indicate we are being targeted by a nearby vessel. Please take all safety precautions and buckle up to make sure there are no unintended accidents."

Harris just sat, staring dumbly at the indicator before holding his head in his hands. "Fuck…"

New Cousteau Airspace - New Cousteau - Trident

"On your order Commander,"came the nervous voice of Pressly through her omni-tool. She smirked slightly at his demeanor since her dressing down previously.

"I've already stripped him of all of his data. He refuses to surrender, and has a deadly biological weapon on him," she said firmly before narrowing her eyes at the ship that was currently leaving the atmosphere. "Make sure there's nothing left for them to discover."

"Yes, sir! Fire team, prepare target! Adams, Tali'Zorah, bring us out of stealth so that we don't overclock the internal emission sinks!"came the commanding voice of Pressly over the comm.

Another voice, this time a turian female, interjected. "Fire Team Leader Gavos here, we've got a lock on the craft. Ready to fire!"

"Fire!"shouted the XO.

"Excalibur charged! Firing now!"came the call from the fire team again. Shepard could see plain as day as the scientist's ship erupted into flame and debris. Most of it scattered, flying into the atmosphere to burn up upon reentry.

"Target destroyed Commander,"said Pressly, back to his nervous self.

She nodded silently as Zellin flew their own shuttle up to the remains ship, and she saw the gruesome aftermath. Half of the ship had been obliterated by the shot, which meant that the following explosive decompression would have destroyed anything that was left. But she ignored the remains and focused on the briefcase, which had been essentially vaporized by the attack. Letting out a sigh of approval, she nodded and turned back to Zellin. "Let's finish up on Trident and head back to Arcturus."

Nellie's Lab - New Cousteau - Trident

Reaching for her snack stockpile again, the woman sighed as she finally grabbed the last of her pudding tubes and frowned. "Hmmm...now or later? I'll have to go get more…" she groaned as she stared longingly at the treat.

Finally, she gave in and opened it before jamming the open end into her mouth. Reaching over, she flipped on her vidscreen to check and see what all she needed to be aware of in the city. It had been a couple hours, so she didn't expect much. But her eyes widened as she saw a story relating to a mysterious craft being destroyed in the upper stratosphere.

"We aren't sure yet what the make or model of the craft was. The Dynamis Corporation representatives have promised to send up a recovery team to find out what exactly caused the explosion that lit up the sky,"said the reporter from the screen. She cocked an eyebrow, wondering if her visitor had any kind of hand in the happenings. Then the next news story popped up with a female anchor, making her drop her half-emptied pudding tube onto the floor.

"In other news, the body of a local mercenary known as Kelly Hanrahan was found today hanging from a transformer tower outside of the Wei family estate. Little was known about the cause of the young mercenary's death until his body was searched. Investigators found in his pocket a cut out newspaper article relating to the incident a month and a half ago when Xiawei Lang, the niece of the head of the Wei Family, was found deceased. Investigators have told us that on the newspaper was written the phrase, "I'm sorry," in the young man's own blood. A quick examination of the deceased's body led investigators to believe that the note was written while he was still alive. As most already know, the case was never "officially solved," leaving some to wonder if the young girl would ever receive justice. However, with these events looking like a self-inflicted act of retribution due to a guilty conscience, perhaps we can all rest easier…"

Nellie just sat, staring in awe at the grisly scene that the media on Trident had no qualms about showing to the people. After a moment, she felt a slight shiver go through her body. "Thank god I'm on her side…" she said as she ran her hands over her exposed arms.

Chapter 13: Training

Chapter Text

Training Room - SSV Normandy SR-1

A loud thud echoed across the training room as the people standing around the squared mat watched in fascination. Ash and Kaidan were spotting each other while lifting weights, and Tali simply sat in the corner, her workout long over with. Standing in the center of the sparring mat was Commander Shepard in her PT pants, wearing a black, tight fitted top, and wrappings around both her hands and feet.

Panting, she released the human that she had just flipped onto his back, leaving him stunned. "Sorry Tyson, but you're years too green to take me on," she said playfully as she gripped his hand and yanked him back to his feet.

"Wow Shepard, how'd you do that? I didn't even see it coming?" asked the supply officer, who was also in his PT gear.

"Martial arts helps a lot in special forces. Especially when you get into a situation where your gun can't save you," she said as she patted him on the shoulder. "Consider taking some courses when you get some free time."

Suddenly, the door to the training room opened and in walked the turian fire team. The leader was Praetor Gavos, who had a much lighter carapace than Shepard was used to seeing on turians, as well as white paint that slashed across her face like an off-balance V. The turians stopped when they saw that the room was already occupied, the fire team behind her looked around with uncertainty.

"Oh, sorry. We'll come back later…" said Zannia as she went to step back.

"Nonsense! We can join you guys, right Shepard?" asked Garrus as he stepped in from behind them.

"Of course. Just be gentle, I don't know if the human ego can stand watching a turian work out," she said with a grin, getting a slight chuckle from the turians. She wiped her sweat away with a forearm as they entered the room. "Speaking of which, I never got the chance to thank you guys. First for not killing me on Edolus. That was some pinpoint work you guys pulled off," she said with a large smile.

Zannia stood almost stiff at the claim, looking from Garrus, back to her fire team comrades, before turning back to Shepard. "It...it is our duty. We are grateful to have the opportunity to serve," she said as she gave a very turian salute by placing the clenched talons of her left hand against the center of her chest.

Knowing the importance of duty to the turians, she simply returned the salute, before holding her hand out to the woman. "We don't know each other very well yet, but I want you to know that I appreciate you all as much as I do any human member of my crew. Your spirits can rest easy on board this ship," she said with a firm stare.

The surprised looks from the turians made her slightly nervous, but a chuckle from Zannia lessened her worry. "Thank you, Commander. We were definitely nervous having a human Captain a ship for us. But I'm happy to see that you more than understand us," said the woman as she reached forward and clasped wrists.

Jane let out a heavy sigh of relief and nodded. "Please let me know if I can make your stay on the ship any easier," she said genuinely as she stretched herself out.

"Will do Commander," said Zannia as she headed towards the treadmills on the far side of the room.

"So, Shepard, judging from Tyson's stiff shoulders, I'd say you know a few fancy human martial arts. Is that right?" asked Garrus as he stepped up to the mat wearing nothing more than what amounted to a loincloth.

"Uhhh...you know you're naked, right?" asked Tyson as he stepped off of the mat and eyed Garrus curiously. Looking over, Tyson eyes widened as he saw the females wearing almost bare minimum as well.

"Turian genitals are internal unless mating is taking place. So, no worries, you won't see anything," said Garrus as he turned back to Shepard. "Besides, there aren't many clothes that would be able to stand up to a turian workout regimen, especially with how our bodies are designed."

"Good enough," said Shepard as she bounced on the balls of her feet and began flexing her hips. Using them to flip Tyson several times had given her quite the kink. But as soon as she did, she noticed an odd look on Garrus' face before he turned his head away. Looking over at the other turians, she noticed the males among them staring at her as well. "Is something the matter?"

Garrus cleared his throat somewhat and stepped up next to the commander before leaning down to whisper to her. "Uhhh...turians...especially males, have a fascination with...hips," he said, choosing his next words carefully. "It's like female breasts to male humans...they kinda draw the gaze," he said, slightly nervous.

Shepard chuckled, knowing that if turians could blush, Garrus might just have a beet-red face right now. "Sorry, I'll keep the hip swinging for later then," she said as she took a few steps back and held her arms forward in a martial stance. "So, I assume you asked about my hand to hand combat because you wanted to see it, right?"

Garrus nodded and began stretching his legs. She noticed that he wore what looked like tight leg warmers around the heel area of his digitigrade legs. Noticing her curious stare, he spun around and kicked the air in front of him. "Turians can get a bit heated in battle, so to make sure nobody accidentally gets jabbed, we wear sheathes over our spurs," he said, showing the protective cover over the heel.

"Glad I won't have to visit the clinic when we're through," she said with a smirk as she raised her stance again. "You ready Vakarian?"

"Oh Shepard, I've been waiting for this," said the turian with a chuckle as he raised his arms as well. Shepard was startled to see how similar his stance was to those who practiced Thai kickboxing back on Earth. Though, given a turian's constant use of their legs in combat, it shouldn't have surprised her that much. She would have to watch out for his kicks. Even without the stingers, a strong turian could break the neck of a human with a full force kick.

Apparently, Garrus thought she needed some goading because he stepped forward and sent light kicks at her head, watching as she easily blocked them with her forearms. Despite his poking, she continued to stare at him silently while the other turians stopped their regimen to gather around the mat with the humans. Even Ash and Kaidan began watching in their own PT uniforms while Tali merely sat in the corner with a bottle of water, stunned at the development.

Garrus went for another kick, but Shepard grabbed his leg in mid-air and lashed out with her own, swiping his grounded leg out from under him and causing him to faceplant into the mat. "Come on Garrus, you're going to have to take me a little more serious than that," she said as she took up her stance again.

Garrus chuckled and got to his feet, raising his hands once more. "Alright, Shepard. Just remember, you asked for this," he said before stepping towards her again. This time when the kick came, she barely dodged it. She felt the force from the wind blow against her hair, making her glare thoughtfully. If she tried to block that, it would cause serious bruising, if not a break in her arm. So dodging was her only option as he lashed out again in another roundhouse kick. "I'm just gonna keep kicking until you do something Shepard," snarked Garrus with an amused twinge to his voice.

She didn't fall for his goading, however, and waited. Dodging one more time, she let him kick again before ducking down. As soon as his leg was above her, she thrust upwards, impacting his leg with her shoulder. The turian tilted off balance before Shepard reached forward and grabbed one of his flailing arms, then slammed her hip into his knees, sending him into a rolling slam that left him flat on his back and gasping for air.

She stared down at him curiously, as did Ash, Tali, and Zannia. "Garrus, are you alright?" asked the quarian curiously.

His response was to let out a squeak as his large lungs began pulling in air once more. "Y-Yeah...I'm good," he wheezed as he got back to his feet.

"I've squared off with turians before. Something tells me you've never gone toe to toe with a human who knew what they were doing," said Shepard as she accepted a towel from Kaidan.

"Thought I had until I found myself staring at the ceiling a moment ago," responded Garrus with a chuckle. "I guess we all have something to learn in the ways of combat…"

"Humans have four main weaknesses," started the woman, getting a surprised look from Garrus. Taking his taloned hand, she pressed his fist against her nose. "When struck in the nose, we get a bit of a sensory overload. The cartilage it's made of is weaker than regular bone, so it breaks easily with a punch or kick, and can stun us."

"Teaching me your weak spots Shepard? Should I feel insulted?" asked Garrus with a chuckle.

"Shut up Vakarian," she said playfully before turning her head towards Tali and the other turians as well. "We're probably going to run into plenty of humans that need killing or disabling as well. You should really know these if you're going to be in any kind of combat with our kind," she said as she turned back to Garrus. "The second is here," she said, placing his fist against her throat. "Obviously, we breathe through these, so striking them hard enough will crush our only method of breathing and can kill us. If you don't punch hard enough, it'll still close for a short time, stunning us, or even knocking us senseless."

Garrus stared in disbelief at Shepard as she explained. "Are humans really that easily taken out?" he asked in disbelief. She was sure that he had fought his share of humans back in C-Sec, but most of them were likely to have been taken down by a kick to the gut.

"We are pretty squishy," said Ash from the sidelines. The turians next to her looked over curiously and she shrugged. "No point in denying what you can find online. Humans don't have scales or a carapace. Our skin breaks easily, and our weak spots are plain as day," she said with a shrug.

"She's right. Humans evolved using tools and animal companions to do most of their work, even to protect against the elements. So, hair is really the only kind of protection we got," she said as she ruffled her own short red locks. "In any case, anywhere in this area is one of the deadliest places to hit a human…" she said as she gestured around her throat. "So just know that if you hit someone there, you're aiming to potentially kill them. Now, here is number three," she said as she moved his fist down and placed it directly where her ribcage ended.

Garrus looked away for a moment, coughing slightly. "Uhhh...Shepard," he said nervously.

"I have clothes on Garrus, you're fine," she said in amusement. "Now, do you feel where my ribs end?" He looked at her again, his mandibles twitching.

"I do," he said apprehensively.

"Here you have a sweet spot. This is where our diaphragm rests, which does most of the controlling of our lungs. If hit hard enough here, you can knock the wind out of us, and paralyze the diaphragm for a good minute, preventing us from breathing properly for that short time. I don't know if you've ever been forced to stop breathing, but we tend to panic when that happens," she said, releasing his hand.

Garrus flexed his talons curiously. "Is that it?" he asked, almost in amusement of how many weak spots humans had. So, when she spoke up again, he was surprised.

"One more. All humans, but especially those with external genitalia, suffer severely from shots between the legs," she said as she gestured to her pelvic area. "If you were to send a full force kick directly to someone with an external scrotum, you could blind them, paralyze them, or knock them unconscious from a single blow," she said as she placed her hands on her hips.

Garrus, as well as the other turians just stared incredulously at Shepard. "You know, they give you some training in C-Sec in regards to hand to hand, but I guess even our instructors hadn't fully grasped humans yet because they didn't mention any of this," said the turian as he stretched his leg.

"How did humans survive with so many vulnerable areas?" asked Zannia curiously as she eyed Shepard.

"Humans are stubborn creatures, and extremely resilient. We've had a few cases since the creation of firearms where a human was shot in the brain but managed to survive. We've had people who cut their own arms off to save their lives, people who live every day in the hottest and coldest climates on our planet just because we can," said the redhead with a grin. "Humans are squishy, but you'll find it hard to kill us," she said playfully.

"Uhhh...Commander?"came Joker's voice over the intercom.

Looking up, she lifted an eyebrow at his voice. They were currently in the shade, which meant that most of the crew was sleeping. So, he shouldn't even be at his station. "What is it Joker?" she asked curiously.

"I hate to interrupt your little pow-wow down there, but you've got a high priority call from the Citadel. Crewman Tanaka was looking for you to give you the message. They said they need to talk to you in the comm room,"he said urgently.

"Understood. I'll be right up," she said as she turned to the others. "Ash, show Garrus how resilient humans are," she said, getting a smirk and a nod from the woman. As she left the mat, Ash took her place as Garrus' opponent.

"Don't get any funny ideas Vakarian. She may have shown you our weaknesses, but no using them here," she ordered as she took up a boxing stance.

"Yeah yeah, I got it," said Garrus in return as he too took up his combative stance.

Shepard smirked as she left the training room with a towel around her neck. Rather than heading to her room, where she would normally get dressed for a meeting with Alliance brass, she went straight for the comm room instead in her wrapped hands and feet with her sweat covered PTs still on. She wondered who exactly it was contacting her at this time of the afternoon. Normally the Councilors had a heavy workload that they had to push through around this time. It could have been Udina, but he didn't have access to the quantum communication unit that led to the comm room at this time of night. He would have had to contact her omni-tool personally, which wasn't easy when they were this far away from the Citadel.

As she entered the comm room, she got her answer immediately. Her eyebrows shot up as she saw the ghostly form of Tevos, the asari councilor smiling at her from the holographic display. "Greetings Spectre. I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time,"said the councilor as Shepard approached the comm, her eyes scanning the woman up and down.

"Not particularly. I was just training some of the crew in hand to hand while we went under for the evening," responded Shepard with a small smile. She was somewhat relieved to see the woman standing alone. Of the other two, she could usually tolerate Valern despite his constant dismissal of her experience from the beacon. But Sparatus and her could have had bruises on their foreheads with the number of times they had and would continue to butt heads in the future. Of all three of them, Tevos was the most receptive to Shepard and her plight, which made her much easier to talk to.

"I see. Well, first, I wanted to congratulate you on all you've done thus far. Sparatus may not like it, but you've shown your worth already by cleaning up that mess on Trident,"started the graceful woman as she stood tall in all her elegance. Despite her regal form, however, she still stood a few inches under Shepard herself, who stood around a hundred and seventy centimeters.

Shepard chuckled lightly as she pulled the towel free from her shoulders. "Valern wasn't too fond of the fact that I purged the data after making sure it couldn't be replicated," she said as she crossed her arms.

Nodding lightly, Tevos continued. "You must understand. Valern is a scientist. While he understands why you had to do it, he mourns the loss of such data on an intellectual level."

"Noted," said Shepard with a friendly enough smile. "So, Councilor, I doubt you called this late just to congratulate me. Did you need me to do something?" asked the woman curiously as she eyed the painted-again asari.

"Of course. I had some new information regarding your mission to find Saren,"said the asari, getting a raised eyebrow from the human. "You remember Matriarch Benezia?"

"The asari women we heard in the recording?" asked Shepard, her curiosity piqued.

Tevos nodded dutifully, her arms folded gracefully behind her back as she spoke. "Matriarch Benezia, who is currently acting as Saren's aide, actually has a daughter. After our meeting here in the Council Chambers, I used some of my resources to see if I could find out where she was in case she had something to do with this whole situation. While I am still unaware of her allegiances, I did manage to find out from the curator of the T'Lana Institute's Prothean Exhibit that her daughter, Liara, recently left on an excursion to a prothean dig site out in the Artemis Tau cluster."

"Dig site? Was she looking for another beacon?" asked Shepard curiously, wondering if this daughter was, in fact, working for Saren.

"While I can't confirm that, I will say that this wasn't unusual behavior for her. She earned a doctorate from the University of Serrice back on Thessia. Aside from the legendary brandy created there, the college is most famous for its studies of ancient culture. So Liara earned her doctorate decades ago and has since been studying the protheans extensively. She's quite talented in the field, and has discovered a number of incredible artifacts,"said the asari woman as if speaking proudly of her own daughter. "Though, my people are quick to attribute these findings to her teacher rather than her due to her young age…"

"I see, so she's an archaeologist. Which means she could be in the ruins because she's doing her job, or because she's looking for more clues for Saren…" grumbled Shepard, realizing she had little information to go on as far as whether the asari scientist had turned.

"Indeed. I did, however, manage to get her location. It turns out that she rushed out, saying that she was heading to the Telsakka ruins, which reside on the volcanic planet of Therum in the Knossos system. I will send you a nav point for the ruin that should catch up to you before you arrive,"said the woman, who bowed her head politely.

"Thank you again Councilor. We'll head there as soon as possible," said the Spectre respectfully.

"I expect great things Shepard. I eagerly await your report,"said Tevos before she finally vanished from the comm.

Turning away, she activated her omni-tool. "Joker."

"What's up Commander?"asked the pilot, his tone lacking the usual humor.

"Set a pilot up for tonight. We're not drifting, we're flying to Artemis Tau during light's out," she ordered as she left the comm room.

"One grumpy Lieutenant coming up,"he said, his joking manner returning.

Shepard closed down her comm before letting out a sigh. Once she reached her room again, she stared at the bed, her tired eyes twitching at the sight of it, wondering if her sleep would be infiltrated by nightmares once more. Shaking her head, she turned towards the shower.

Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

"Commander, we've arrived in the Knossos system and have the Council's navpoint uploaded. We're heading to the ruins now,"came Joker's voice over her room's intercom.

Shepard stared at the clock next to her bed in annoyance. Her eyes somewhat burned, and she felt like her mind was playing tricks on her. It had all been so fast. She laid on the bed, closed her eyes, and again was assaulted by the memories of the beacon. Screaming, horror, despair, all of it assaulting her mind in a flash, then she opened her eyes again and found herself staring at her stupid clock. According to the damn thing, six hours had passed in nearly the blink of an eye. And while her body didn't feel any worse for wear, her mind reeled from the lack of peace.

She had laid there for minutes until Joker's call came, making her get up with an aggravated sigh. Donning her armor, she glared the entire way to the CIC. "Let me know when we're above the drop point. Until then, call Zellin, Ashley, and Garrus to the CIC and have them ready to go planetside in twenty."

"Yes sir,"responded Joker before the comm died.

She made her way through the mess hall, grabbing a quick hash brown before heading down to the armory. Once there, she took her weapons but didn't get away before the armory chief noticed her agitation. "You alright Commander?" asked Williams as she eyed the CO curiously.

"I'm fine," responded the redhead pointedly. Williams raised her hands defensively to show she understood, then proceeded to take her own weapons down. Within minutes, the group was assembled in the CIC and was more than ready for the drop. Shepard turned to the two, trying to hide her frustrated look. "Alright, so we're here to get in touch with an asari known as Liara T'Soni. She should be inside of a prothean dig site that we're approaching now…"

"Does she have any relation to Saren?" asked Garrus curiously. Shepard and Ash both eyed him. "I'm just asking because you had us fly here overnight after getting a call from the Council," he said with his mandibles twitching curiously.

Shepard nodded with a smirk on her face. "Good catch Vakarian. Yes, it relates to Saren. Or more specifically, Matriarch Benezia. Liara T'Soni happens to be her daughter, so we're here to determine whether she is working with Saren and potentially extract her if necessary."

"What would deem it necessary?" asked Ashley curiously as they headed down into the cargo bay together, shortly followed by the salarian spectre.

"If she's working for a war criminal. Otherwise, if she seems compromised, or perhaps threatened in any way. They said she seemed urgent in her coming to these ruins, so she may have come out under duress," responded the commander as she stepped towards the shuttle that they were due to take down to the surface.

Suddenly, the ship jarred, nearly knocking everyone in the cargo bay off their feet. "Commander! We've got incoming fire from the surface near the ruins!"

Growling at the circumstances, Shepard sprinted over and hit the intercom. "How big are the targets?"

XO Pressly spoke up this time. "Small Commander. But they're huddled together if you want us to hit them with the Excalibur…"

"We shouldn't do that Commander!"came Zannia's voice over the channel as well.

"Why not Fire Team?" asked Shepard curiously.

"Under normal circumstances, we could easily eradicate them using the main gun. But these attackers have specifically located themselves on top of the ruins!"she started as the ship jerked again.

Garrus nodded thoughtfully. "If we use the main gun, we could end up punching right through the ground and collapsing the ruins on top of Doctor T'Soni's head…"

"Exactly,"responded Zannia.

"Then it looks like we have to take them out ourselves…" snapped Shepard as she turned away from the shuttle. Raising her omni-tool, she called out to the crew through the CO channel. "We're going ground side in the Mako instead. Joker, get me a landing vector so that we can get down there and take them out," she ordered as she jumped up on top of the armored vehicle.

"You got it Commander. Calculating now,"said the pilot as Zellin hopped up with her.

"Shepard," called the salarian as Shepard slipped into the driver's seat of the armored vehicle. Following her in, the other spectre sat next to her while Ashley and Garrus sat in the back. "I want you to know that this will be our last mission together."

Despite the urgency of their current objective, Jane did stop and eye the salarian curiously. "Seen all you need to then?"

"I have, though the mission ahead will refine that," he said as he waited for her to say something. But she simply nodded and prepared the vehicle. "You do not wish to know my assessment?"

"If you wish to tell me, then do so. But me asking isn't going to change your mind about what you liked and did not like. Nor is me knowing going to do anything more to help me with my mission. If it is imperative for you to tell me though, then I will listen. But right now, we have an important task ahead of us," she said firmly. Her eyes nearly widened when she saw him smirk slightly at her answer. Then, he simply sat back in the seat.

"Commander, we've got it lined up,"said Joker urgently over her omni-tool.

"Good. Cargo bay has been cleared. Let's get on the ground!" she ordered, watching as the bay doors began opening, causing the wind inside to whip around at breakneck speeds.

Outskirts of Telsakka Ruins – Therum

If the landing itself wasn't hell, then everything that followed definitely was. As soon as the six wheels of the vehicle hit the ground, the alarms of incoming fire started going off immediately. Even looking at the landscape around them showed them glowing masses of plasma flying at near light speed towards them and blasting the landscape apart. To keep from getting immediately melted into molten slag, she had to hit the accelerator and spin the vehicle in almost a full donut to avoid some of the shots.

Releasing her turn on the wheel, she gunned it for the nearest bend that allowed her to get access to the attackers. "Williams! Get your ass on the gun and provide return fire as best you can!" shouted the commander over the explosions of dirt and volcanic dust that was being thrown into the air.

"On it sir!" shouted Ash as she rose up and grabbed the cannon controls. Immediately, the weapon spun on the top of one of the vehicle and aimed in the direction in which the incoming bolts of plasma were shooting from. The gunnery sergeant spotted a large, quadrupedal, machine that was glaring right back at her with a familiar looking ocular light. "Commander! I think we're fighting the Geth!"

"What the hell are the geth doing here!?" shouted Garrus as he held onto the safety rail above for dear life as Shepard banked the vehicle hard.

"They're definitely here for T'Soni. There's no way in hell they just happened to be here at the same time as her!" shouted Shepard as Ash finally unleashed with the cannon. The 155mm cannon roared across the landscape, narrowly missing one of the unflinching armatures as Shepard began swerving the vehicle towards them. "Williams, this serpentine isn't going to save us!"

"I got it Shepard!" shouted the gunnery chief as she aimed with the sights again. She could easily see the monstrous head of the machine glowing as it primed another bolt of plasma to fire at the tank. But she aimed carefully, making sure to lead her shot with Shepard's driving, then hit the button.

The shot rang out again, but this time the MAC round flew and smashed through one of the knee joints of the mobile geth tank. The blast sheared through its leg and sent the appendage flying, causing the mechanical behemoth to tilt rapidly before eventually face planting directly into the dirt. And as soon as it did, its plasma blast fired, obliterating the ground and its head.

"Nice shot chief!" shouted Garrus over the sound of the engines.

Snorting happily, the armory chief spun the gun again and began focusing on the next target.

Geth Outpost - Telsakka Ruins – Therum

After long minutes of the hellish fight along the winding path toward the Geth outpost, there were only two of the monstrosities left. Shepard decided to split the workload this time, and while Ash zeroed in on the other with the autocannons, the commander gunned it directly for the last of the goliath machines.

The auto fire chipped away at the armature's thick outer shell before finally penetrating its inner core and destroying the automaton's motor functions. Once it had fallen, the Mako swerved into a drift that led to a loud thump against the side as the armored vehicle smashed into the last of the Geth tanks. Its legs buckled beneath it and sent it rolling down a hill, almost comically slowly, before finally its light was seared out by the noxious molten rock that awaited below.

As the armature shrieked out its demise, Shepard finally let out a sigh of relief and rested her sweating brow against the wheel of the vehicle. "You alright sir?" asked Ashley curiously as she looked down from her spot in the gunner's seat.

"Yeah…" she said as she sat up again and stretched her neck. "Was kinda hoping this one would have just been a pickup mission though."

Garrus chuckled from behind her seat. "Oh Commander, you should know better than that. You're a magnet for trouble after all…"

"You're not lying Garrus. That's why you're here," she said, giving him a playful smirk before beginning to steer the vehicle towards the small mountain range again. "Now, we know that the incoming fire on the Normandy came from this base. So, we have to take out those damn air cannons if we want to get off this rock. Problem is…"

"There's probably more of those armatures inside…" started Zellin.

"And turrets," said Ash.

"And probably Geth ground troops as well," finished Garrus.

All three of them received a glare from Shepard. "How did I pick a group of people less optimistic than me?" she asked as she pulled the vehicle around, hiding it inside the curve of the range they were driving through. "It's within walking distance and given the very little amount of room we have to maneuver in the valley, that makes the Mako a stupidly easy target for the turrets. So, until they are out of the picture, we're going to have to leave it behind.

"Actually Commander...I have an idea…" said Ash as she smiled nervously from the gunner's seat.

Geth Outpost - Telsakka Ruins – Therum

"You're out of your mind, you know that right!?" asked Garrus as he clenched the safety rail above for dear life.

"We checked ourselves Vakarian! There are no turrets or armatures inside the walls!" shouted Shepard with a grin as Ash continued to scan ahead with the cannon, a firm smirk on her face. Currently, the Mako was ramping over large hills and mountains, going in and out of cover too fast for any of the turrets or even the Geth themselves to properly target with any effective fire.

"You're all still insane!" shouted Garrus as a harsh jump caused him to thump his helmet against the roof. "Oww…"

Suddenly, they burst from the top of a mountain and ramped into the air, the jets on the Mako activating and sending the heavy vehicle soaring over the walls faster than the turrets could track. When she finally released the jets, the tank dropped down in the middle of the small outpost, crushing two mobile geth platforms and a crate that was sitting nearby them.

As soon as the vehicle landed, weapons fire started coming from each of the structures and raining down on the vehicle. Fortunately, the thick armor and heavy shielding of the tank deflected nearly all of them while Ash spun the main weapon around and blasted the shooters with the autocannons. After a full minute of firing, she released the trigger, allowing the smoking weapons to stop firing. "Got most of them, but a few ducked inside of the structures. We'll need to go in after them if we hope to disable the ground and air turrets," said Ash as she spied through the window of one structure. Then, realizing what she had just said, she looked at the others to see them staring at her. "Uhh...I mean...sir…" she said, her face slightly tinted red.

Shepard chuckled and reached up for the hatch. "You heard what the chief said. Get a move on!" said the commander as she opened the vehicle. "Williams, keep their heads down while we go in."

"Y-Yes sir!" shouted Ash as she zoomed out slightly so she had a better field of vision on the three buildings.

When they were free, Shepard drew her pistol and pointed to one of the buildings. "Vakarian, you take that one. Spectre, you've got the south. I'll take north," she finished before activating her cloaking.

Garrus looked around, trying to see her, but could only barely make out the small warping of the landscape around her. Were he not intentionally looking for it, he would never have been able to spot it, even with his enhancing visor. "I've got to learn to do that someday…" he said as he drew his assault rifle and headed in the direction of the building.

Once inside, the turian took stock of what was inside. A small walkway circled around a bunch of tall generators, no doubt here to power and recharge both the turrets and the armatures. He placed one side against the giant batteries, then popped out and aimed his weapon between two of them, making sure there were no geth hiding in the nooks of the plant. He moved forward, then did the same thing until he cleared the entire row. Finally, he circled around the batteries and aimed down the long stretch behind them that also held the gate controls they would need to get out of the outpost with the Mako.

Opening his own omni-tool, he began to slowly move forward, concluding that this building was perhaps empty. "Williams, I'm going to open the gateway to the north. Prepare to take down the turrets," he said as he reached the end.

"Ready. They'll be scrap when you get back out here,"said the gunnery chief confidently.

Reaching up, the turian activated the controls with his omni-tool, causing the gate outside to drop. And he saw the turrets through the blast shield next to him get ripped to shreds by the powerful cannon on top of the Mako. Chuckling, Garrus turned around to leave when he slammed into something solid, almost knocking him backward. "Shepard? Is that you?" he asked, clenching his weapon.

His blue blood ran cold, however, as the only response he got was a series of chirping clicks. He went to raise his weapon, but it was knocked out of the way violently before he felt an icy claw grip around his throat. Reaching up, he grabbed the invisible limb with his talons, trying to pry it open, but the crushing force was almost too much. Finally, he threw out a last-ditch move by launching his armored leg up and slamming it down onto what he thought was the shoulder of the monstrous creature. The spur blades on the back of his legs slashed through something, and suddenly he fell and hit the ground, gasping for breath and prying the metal claw free from his wheezing throat.

Suddenly, its cloaking vanished, showing that he had just cut the arm off of a rather large geth infiltration platform. Raising his hands, he kicked out as it raised its other arm to grab him. The force sent the wiry robot stumbling before Garrus kicked out again with his spur blades, this time catching the unit in the spinal column as it tried to regain balance. Like a switch, the light in its ocular lamp, as well as along its body went out. The entire thing slumped forward over the railing as Garrus pried his spur blade out of its back. "Noted…" said the turian as he cleared his throat slightly before jumping the railing to grab his gun again. Once it was secure, he ran outside the building to see the other two already heading back towards the tank. He jogged out to catch up.

Seeing the turian, Shepard smiled genuinely. "What's the matter Garrus? Not out of breath already, are you?" asked the commander.

He chuckled, which caused his throat to hurt as he bent forward in front of her. "That joke warrants an ass kicking, Shepard…"

"Any time Vakarian," she said playfully as she hopped back into the tank.

CODEX ENTRIES

Praetor | Military | Palaven Hierarchy
The equivalent of a 1st lieutenant in the Alliance military, they are typically put in charge of small squads that are utilized for specialized missions that require them to be away from the Hierarchy’s main forces.

Spur Sheath | Culture | Turian
With the turian’s militaristic culture, turians take out a lot of their aggression and anxiety through sparring with one another. But, in sparring the goal is to exhaust and train oneself, not to kill or maim. So the turians developed sleeves that fit over their spurs that prevent potentially poisoning their partners with a misplaced kick. This is a common safety feature in turian sparring gear.

Chapter 14: Therum

Chapter Text

Telsakka Ruins Entrance – Therum

With the outpost out of the way, the remaining geth forces were little trouble. Despite their enormous power, the armature platforms that the geth had brought to protect the planet seemed very crude in their design, in that their aiming was little to worry about as long as they kept a certain speed. So, getting through the giant canyon that held the mining camp was little trouble at all.

Unfortunately, they had to leave the vehicle down the hill from the entrance, as the rock formation wouldn't let them through with a tank of such size. And as they took the rise towards the tube-like entry into the ground, they were surprised as a geth ship swooped in and dropped a massive armature that was near twice the size of the ones they had fought thus far.

"Fucking hell…" groaned Shepard as she and Ash dove behind thick, armored, mining crates while the machine unfolded itself. More geth could be heard dropping from the ship as well. Once she had settled behind cover, Shepard activated her omni-tool. "Pressly! Fire team! Respond!" Unfortunately, the only thing she heard back was static.

"What's the matter?" asked Williams through her helmet comms as she ducked back from attempting to take out the geth from her side.

"We've got interference. Something is scrambling our comms!" she said as she closed her omni-tool and raised her pistol to try and hold off the incoming marching machines.

Nodding, Ash started to look around for any kind of device that might be blocking their signals. But when she looked up, her eyes widened as she stared another geth directly in the face. "Uhh...Shepard?" she said apprehensively. Shepard looked over at her, then up where the woman was staring, and her own eyes widened as well as she saw a smaller geth, maybe about the size of a canine attached to the scaffolding above them. Unlike its brethren, its hands and feet looked remarkably more flexible than the average geth, with all of its fingers and toes secured to the metal above it.

Growling, Shepard raised her pistol, but the intrusive creature flew away faster than she could pinpoint it. "Garrus! You see the one hopping around?" asked the commander as she began to push the machines back again.

"I do, but he's too fast to hit! Anytime I zero in, he flies off again!" came the turian's call as he managed to take down another of the approaching machines with his sniper.

Shepard activated her omni-tool again, then opened the comms. "Williams!" she shouted as the small scrambler jumped back and focused its red glare on Shepard. Reaching up, just caught it just in time, stunning it and making it fall from the scaffolding as its systems locked up.

"On it sir!" shouted Ash as she jumped forward, held the creature down with a combat boot before blasting it to scrap metal with her shotgun. Suddenly, the comms on Shepard's omni-tool cleared.

"Pressly! Fire Team, respond!" shouted Shepard as the colossus blasted the crate they were standing behind. The force threw both Ash and Shepard forward, but both recovered quickly and returned fire.

"XO Pressly responding! What is it, Commander?" came the navigator's worried voice.

"A Geth ship just flew away from the planet at escape velocity! Make sure they do not leave the system!" she ordered before focusing on the problem at hand.

"Understood! Fire Team, prepare the Excalibur for-" said Pressly as he took charge. The connection went out as the commander focused on the giant metallic pain in her ass.

"Any ideas before this thing manages to blast through our cover?" asked Zellin in a rather displeased tone.

"Yeah! Did you bring your big gun again?" she asked sarcastically, knowing he left it on the ship as well. "Garrus, how many are left?"

"Five ground…" he said before his gun roared loudly over the sound of the return fire. "Four ground units." As he ejected his clip, he slapped in a new one before focusing again. "Shepard, if we take out the big thing's joints, we might be able to beat it."

"Good call. Ash, you cover me!" ordered Shepard as she activated her omni-tool again.

"Commander! Are you crazy? It's a warzone out there!" shouted Williams as she blasted the leg out from another geth who had gotten too close. The crawling drone was quickly finished as Zellin filled it with assault rifle rounds.

"You have your orders Williams!" shouted Shepard as the familiar sheen of her cloaking swallowed her and turned her practically invisible.

"Y-Yes sir…" growled Williams dejectedly as she took aim and fired at a nearby unit, causing it to duck behind its own cover.

When she slipped around the back of the heavily damaged crate, she found herself watching as supersonic, sand-grain sized metal flew back and forth across the field of battle, taking out shields and causing each of the remaining three units to duck until they were recharged again, leading to a nearly endless battle. Moving forward, she slid past the crane that was used for lifting the cargo out of the mine below and slipped silently around one of the geth who was currently taking cover behind another of the mysterious crates.

She knew that if she took out one of the geth, their interlinking intelligence would inform the others of her position. So, she ignored the robotic creature and began to pad her way over to the colossal armature. It was currently using small auto-firing guns to keep her team's heads down before blasting their cover with another highly concentrated bolt of plasma. Reaching up, she slid some of her explosives off her omni-tool before moving cautiously underneath its large frame. She had to be extremely careful, though. The monstrosity's armor was much too thick for her grenades to do damage. But if she placed them on the joins, she could easily take out the legs.

This came with heavy risk, however, as one slight movement while her fingers were near the joints could mean the crushing of every bone in her hand, or just shearing it clean off. Apprehensively, she waited until it was charging another blast of plasma, then reached forward and planted the device on its leg.

There was an old Yiddish saying back on Earth that said, "When men plan, God laughs." Shepard liked that saying until she found herself on the back end of it. As soon as the explosive was planted, the head of the massive geth swung down and stared directly at her cloaked form with its bright oculus.

"Commander! Get out of there!" shouted Garrus as he focused his fire on the armature, trying to get its attention. But it paid him no mind, and instead raised its massive leg. Shepard rolled out of the way just as it slammed the metallic, spear-like limb into the dirt. Lifting another, it tried again where it had seen her body impact the ground.

The last of the geth ground forces turned towards Shepard to help aid in her destruction when they fell to the dirt as the spectre, turian, and human all focused fire on their backs. With all of the soldiers out of the way, they could focus on the colossus that towered over Shepard. It continued to try and raise its large metallic limbs and crush the annoying human like she was an insect.

"Shepard, what the hell are you doing!?" asked Garrus as he focused on trying to blind the giant machine while Williams sprinted from her cover off towards the equipment area.

"If I get out from under it, it can focus on me with its auto-cannons and its plasma weapon! I'll be vaporized the moment I try to leave!" she snapped as she dodged another smashing leg. Suddenly, as if getting a bright idea, the colossus planted all four legs, then thrust its body downward. Shepard barely reacted in time by hurling herself out from under the massive creature, causing her to crash into the dirt, panting and sweating. Turning her head, she stared up at the large glowing eye that was now aimed directly at her. "Fuck…" she growled as her cloaking finally wore off.

Three of the four combatants widened their eyes as a loud clang echoed across the landscape. Shepard watched as the heavy hook from the mining crane smashed into the armature's head, sending its charging plasma blast smashing into a cliff and causing a small rockslide. Garrus looked over to find Ash sitting in the crane as it swung back around. "Shepard! Grab the hook!" shouted the gunnery chief through their comm.

Shepard rolled to her feet and sprinted towards the machine. Reaching up, she gripped the armature's protruding knee-like appendage and used it to launch herself up towards its neck. As the hook swung around again, she reached out and grabbed the heavy-duty metal snare before jamming it underneath the massive creature's head. "Ash, now! Lift!" Following her orders, the chief yanked on the lever that raised the hook and watched as the colossus went rigid. Shepard immediately slapped all but two of her explosives under its now forcefully extended head. Then, sliding down its back, she planted the remaining two on its autocannons before sliding off its back and hitting the ground in a roll. As soon as she hit the ground, she was up again and running. "Keep lifting Williams…" she said before finally turning towards the monstrosity again.

It was doing its best to break free, but the crane was lifting its front side off the ground entirely, making it near impossible for it to direct its fire. Shepard finally raised her omni-tool and activated the explosives. The blast sent its body crashing to the ground in ruin with its remaining weapons scrapped, while its head and now dim ocular light still swung from the crane.

Shepard plopped down on her backside, her breathing labored as she stared at the collective effort of her team. Dozens of dead geth platforms and one giant decapitated tank. "You alright Commander?" asked Zellin as he stepped up and held out his hand.

She looked up at him, then at his hand before sighing and gripping it. He yanked her to her feet. "No worse for wear. Come on, we've got a doctor to find," she ordered as she prepared her pistol again. Ash and Garrus both approached with their weapons ready, and Jane turned to the gunnery chief. "Good thinking on your feet Williams. You really saved my ass there."

"Thought you could use a lift," said Ash with an oddly cheerful tone, causing Shepard to chuckle as she moved towards the large entrance.

Telsakka Ruins - Therum

The wide, drilled out tunnel that led below the volcanic surface of the planet was empty of all life. Garrus and Ash both looked ahead apprehensively as they all expected the worst. But with Shepard leading from the middle, they made their way down the eerie tunnel and into an enormous cavern, likely big enough to hold an Alliance cruiser.

"Holy shit…" said Ash as she looked over the railing for the walkway they were now standing on.

"If we had fired from the Normandy, this place would be swimming in magma," said Garrus as he lifted his sniper up and scanned the room. Soon, his weapon fired, then fired again. "We got a few stragglers, but nothing major. It looks like the majority of their forces were above ground or are further inside the ruins."

Shepard took a look through her scope as well, seeing a large mining laser as well as tons of equipment for digging and packaging. As she scanned the massive room, she managed to spot something curious in her scope as Garrus fired off another two rounds next to her. Reaching up, she turned a small dilator on her scope, causing it to zoom in slowly as she focused on the glowing blue light. She smirked slightly at the site of an asari suspended in some kind of mass effect field. She didn't appear to be creating it herself. In fact, she looked to be struggling inside of the blue mass.

Lowering her weapon, she looked over to Garrus. "Any more ground forces?" she asked curiously.

"Negative Commander. At least, none that I can see from here," said the turian as he lowered his weapon.

"We can also breathe free in this environment. It appears that the mining team installed air filters, freeing the cavern from the normal sulfur dioxide you'd find on the surface," said Zellin as he reached up and deactivated his contained atmosphere. The hissing sound that followed blasted the vents in his armor clean of any grime they had accumulated on the surface.

Nodding, Shepard did the same, followed by Garrus and Ash as well. Soon, they were all breathing the atmosphere inside the cavern and saving their reserves, which might be needed later. The stench of the place was definitely one of decay and stagnation. Shepard snorted, wondering how anyone could learn to live with such a smell. Then again, she had lived most of her adult life voluntarily stepping into a gas chamber without any protection, as well as intentionally getting tasered and doused with CN tear gas.

Sliding her long rifle back over her shoulder to magnetically lock on her back, she took her pistol off her side and moved slowly down the walkway. The others followed, making their way to a small personnel lift that took them down to another walkway. After navigating the walkway, they came to another lift that carried them down to the ground floor. Once they finally set foot onto the solid earth, Shepard began to make her way towards the odd field.

Ash and Garrus both watched the east and west to her northern position, eyeing potential ambush spots closely while Zellin brought up the rear. When they finally reached the glowing blue field, Ash, Garrus, and Zellin all stared up at the asari curiously, noticing that she as suspended in some form of mass effect bubble.

As Shepard approached the blue field, the striking features of the blue woman immediately locked into an expression of worry. "Wha? Who? Who are you? What are you doing here?" she asked, the exhaustion in her voice apparent despite her worry.

"Calm down," said Shepard as she put her pistol away and held up her hands to show that she meant no harm. "Can you tell us who you are?" asked the human curiously.

"I am Doctor Liara T'Soni of the T'Lana Institute. Who are you?" she asked, her blue eyes scanning from the human woman to the others behind her.

"Are you stuck in there?" asked Ash as she tilted her head curiously and stared through the face shield of her helmet.

"I...I happen to be...suspended temporarily in this field," she remarked defensively.

Ash chuckled lightly. "Yeah, she's stuck."

"Look Liara, we aren't going to hurt you, alright. My name is Jane Shepard. I'm a Spectre, and I'm here…" started the commander, but before she could get another word out, the asari practically gasped. Shepard stared at her as the asari's expression grew to one of wonder.

"Jane Shepard! The one who activated the beacon on Eden Prime? You're that Shepard!?" asked the woman almost fanatically.

"All classified restrictions to the wind, yes. In any case, we're here because we need information from you. Now, why don't you start by telling us why you're trapped in this field?" said Jane as she crossed her arms.

Liara sighed and looked off to the side in irritation. "This facility was once a Prothean prison. Cells like this were designed to disable inmates and keep them separate without the risk of them escaping," she started as she crossed her own arms. "Prisoners were likely put into these bubbles, not only to protect everyone else from them but to protect them from the other prisoners as well."

"And?" asked Shepard, making it clear that she wasn't intending to fill any of the blanks in. She wanted the words from the woman's mouth.

Sighing, the asari finally cracked. "And, when the Geth began swarming the ruins, I activated it so that they wouldn't be able to get to me."

"You didn't consider that you wouldn't be able to get back out?" asked Zellin curiously as he too began to ask questions.

"Look, I had to make a decision. Either I surrender to the Geth and get taken who knows where to do who knows what or killed. Or I activated the cell and hope that someone received my distress signal and came to rescue me," she said, practically pouting at this point.

"And how long have you been in there?" asked Shepard as she reached up and took off her helmet for the woman to see. She wanted her to know she wasn't lying about her identity, hoping that it would garner some trust and speed their trip off the planet up.

"Approximately two days now. Luckily, I was able to grab my bag beforehand, giving me some food to help me last. Though the constant sight of the Geth outside of the barrier made sleep a little less of an option," she said, giving a surprisingly human-like worried expression.

"I see…" said Shepard as she looked down thoughtfully for a moment. Then she looked up with a hardened gaze again, making the asari apprehensive as she spoke again. "Do you know about your mother?"

Liara's eyes widened slightly at the question. "M-My mother? What does she have to do with any of this?"

Shepard sighed heavily as she stared the asari in the eyes. "I'm sorry to have to break this to you Liara, but currently your mother, Matriarch Benezia, is being charged with treason and is on the run from the Council. My main purpose in coming here was to find out what, if anything, you knew about her," said the spectre calmly.

But immediately Liara's face soured. Her eyes narrowed at Shepard and she crossed her arms again. "I haven't spoken to my mother in years. You'd have better luck asking one of her advisors who she gushes about so much," responded the woman with a snap in her tone.

"Ouch. Looks like we hit a soft spot," said Ash jokingly as she leaned against the wall next to the blue field.

"So, to clarify, you haven't had contact with your mother in how long?" asked Shepard as she accessed her omni-tool.

"Three galactic years and seventy-five days," she said, her tone no less frosty than before.

"Wow, counting the days. That must have been one hell of a fight," said Ash, who raised an eyebrow curiously at the asari.

"Do you know anything about Saren? Why your mother joined him, what their plans are, anything we can use to help find her?" asked Garrus as he stepped forward. But Shepard held up her arm, keeping them all back.

"Saren? I-I don't know that name. I don't know what my mother has been doing since we separated. I don't even know why she has been charged with treason!" she said, her worried expression now returning as she gazed down at Shepard. "You must believe me!"

"I do. Now, we need to get you out of here and get you to safety. So how do we turn this thing off?" she asked as she smiled up at the woman, getting a surprised look from her.

Ash, Garrus, and Zellin all looked at Shepard in awe, however. "Commander, you aren't going to just take her word, are you?" asked the turian as he stepped up next to her.

"Tell me Garrus, if you were working with Saren and his Geth, what reason would you have for then locking yourself inside a stasis cell for an undetermined period of time?" asked the spectre.

"Uhhh...I suppose you've got a point…" responded Garrus.

"I still wouldn't trust her completely Commander," said Ash apprehensively.

Looking up at the asari, Shepard pulled a pair of metal bangles off her back. "You don't mind, do you?"

Pouting once more, the asari looked away from Shepard. "If it's the only way I'm getting out of here, then I suppose I have no choice. But to put them on, you'll need to release the field. And I don't know how exactly you're going to accomplish that."

"What do you mean?" asked Shepard curiously. Upon further inspection, she did happen to notice that there weren't any consoles nearby.

"The access panel that was used to put me in here, and the one that will free me are behind me. And there's about six feet of dirt and rock between you and the other side. The only way you'll be able to gain access is to head back to the surface and somehow get the cargo lift doors open, then climb down the maintenance ladder," she stated, then went quiet as she heard a slow rumble.

The others heard it, as well as felt it. The ground began to shake hard enough to nearly throw them off their feet. "Shit! Commander!" shouted Ash as she pointed upwards.

Everyone looked up and noticed a large crack forming in the ceiling of the cavernous room. "Damn! We don't have time! We have to get her out of here!" shouted the woman as she looked around behind her. There was no way she would be able to get back up and open the lift doors built into the ground. They were thick enough to stop a shot from the 155mm on top of the Mako, so no amount of prying was going to get it open. Which mean that their only option was through the wall.

She spied the mining laser, biting her lip thoughtfully as she walked towards the large device. "Shepard, what are you doing?" asked Garrus curiously as he noticed her stepping away.

"Finding our way in," responded Jane as she stepped in front of the console on the device and activated it. Immediately, the tube-like metal cylinder that housed the laser rose on its odd, circular neck.

"You can't be serious Shepard! If you fire that thing in here, then the whole place could come down!" griped Garrus as he stood next to her.

"The cargo door upstairs would take a powerful explosive that we don't even have to get it open. And even if we did have it, the shock from an explosion that large would bring the roof down anyway. At least with this, we have some amount of subtlety. We can maybe get through the wall and get out before the place comes down," she said as she typed away at the panel. Suddenly, the panel turned green. Shepard aimed the laser directly to the left of the cell that Liara was trapped in. When it activated, the asari squeaked in surprise, then covered her mouth as if to hide it.

The laser began to shoot from the top of the machine before slowly rotating in a circle along its gyroscopic stand. In seconds, it had scorched circle into the earth through sheer power. Garrus looked up as the ground began to shake again, which made even Ash reach up and grab his shoulder for assurance. The split in the roof widened slowly, making each of them clench their fists as they watched the mining laser slowly burrow its way through the rock. And for agonizing minutes, they wondered whether it would get through at all before burning out. Typically, mining equipment like this had to rest for periods before being used again. Overuse caused them to overheat and even melt the equipment. But they didn't have the luxury of time.

Finally, after a few more minutes of waiting, the crash of stone could be heard from the wall. Shepard reached forward and turned off the laser, letting it sizzle and pop from the heat as she moved towards the rubble. As soon as she looked through the wide hole, her eyes scanned a small collapse in the structural weakness of the wall, leading to an entrance to the other side and causing her to let out a sigh of relief. "Let's go! We've got to get her out and get to the surface before this place falls!" she shouted as the rumbling returned.

The four burst through to the other side and immediately Shepard attacked the console. The technology she was looking at was largely unfamiliar to her. But, as she scanned the icons and symbols, she felt that they were somewhat familiar to her. "It should be the glowing symbol on the top left of the screen!" shouted Liara as she tried and failed to turn and look at them.

Shepard nodded and tapped the glowing emblem, and immediately the field vanished. Liara fell from mid-air and landed on her behind as the shaking started to worsen. "Let's go!"

The asari got to her feet before dashing towards them. "What's happening!?" she asked almost hysterically. "This place normally has volcanic activity, but never this bad!"

"From the looks of it, the Geth caused some structural damage to the facility when they invaded. Combine that with the fact that we just probably carved through a support wall, and you have a house of cards about to come down!" shouted Ash as they all gathered on the cargo elevator that led to the surface. Zellin activated it as soon as they were all aboard and it began to slowly lift them towards the surface, where the large metal doors were starting to open.

"B-But...my work!" shouted Liara, her expression looking like she was about to faint.

"Sorry doctor. If we could save it, we would. But right now, it's us or the ruin," said Shepard as she placed a hand on the asari's shoulder.

The woman looked devastated, but she put on a stern face and nodded. "I...I understand. It's just...painful to see it all go," said the asari mournfully as she raised her head to the now open sky.

"Shit, you're going to need a helmet," started Shepard as she reached up and began to remove her own black combat cover.

But Ash shook her head and stopped her. "No go, Commander. You need to ask her questions, and she needs to answer them. Neither of you can do that if you're breathing through a tube on the Normandy," she said as she reached up and pulled her own Alliance blue helmet off of her head. "Here kid, take care of it til we get back," she ordered as she jammed the military-grade helmet onto Liara's head and activated the environment seals.

"Williams, are you sure about this?" asked Shepard seriously as the elevator began to slow down as it reached the surface.

"No turning back now Commander. Let's just get to the Mako fast so I don't have to breath much of this stuff," said the gunnery chief, her speech already filled with heavy coughs as the thick sulfur invaded her lungs.

By now, the others had already activated their own environmental seals as well. Shepard finally activated hers as the elevator came to a stop outside of the cargo area where the remains of the geth still lay from their previous battle. "Alright group, let's move! You two, support Williams and make sure she gets back while I watch T'Soni!" she ordered, getting confirming nods from the others.

As soon as they were able to run, however, they were immediately stopped. A krogan with a small squad of geth was standing between them and the vehicle that they had arrived in. "Hand over the asari or this gets ugly."

"Looks like it already is," remarked Ash sarcastically as she wheezed.

Shepard and Zellin both moved forward, neither stopping for anyone. "Looking for a fight huh? This may actually be f-" started the krogan again, but he spoke no more as his body was suddenly lifted from the ground by a blue light. "What the hells…?" he asked as he tried to struggle. But when he spotted the asari who had just lifted him from the ground, he growled menacingly. "Bitch…"

Ignoring the insult, the doctor waved her hand and tossed the krogan over the side of the cliff where he bounced off of the rock and made a large splash into the molten rock, leaving screams in the ears of those still on land. Meanwhile, Ash and Garrus just stared in shock as both Shepard and Zellin moved like water while up close to the geth. The salarian ducked under a swing from one get and slid a blade he had pulled from his sleeve into the stomach, causing the automaton to start sparking. Its shields died, and he used its body as a shield to get to the next one in line, which fell after his blade found its core.

Shepard, meanwhile, shot one through the leg, before pulling it down and rolling over its back. Raising her pistol again, she aimed directly at another geth's head, bypassing its kinetic barriers, and blasting its ocular light out before turning the gun on the one she was holding.

"Maybe we should help?" asked Garrus.

Ash coughed heavily before moving towards the mako. "We'd probably do better to get the vehicle ready. Also, I'm suffocating. So quit gawking," growled thee gunnery chief.

"Right...sorry…" said Garrus as he helped her to get to the tank so that she could breathe filtered oxygen again.

After the rest of the geth were cleaned up, it was a mad sprint to the tank, then a rapid retreat before the ground collapsed beneath them and fell into a lake of magma.

Comm Room - SSV Normandy SR1

"How's she doing?" asked Kaidan worriedly as Shepard finally entered the comm room.

"Doctor Chakwas said she'll make a full recovery. She just needs a few nights on oxygen to make sure that stuff doesn't cause any complications," said Shepard, who had an appreciative look on her face. "I owe her." Inside the comm room, Garrus, Kaidan, Wrex, and Tali had already taken seats in one of the many around the edges of the room. At Kaidan's look of relief, Shepard looked around curiously and noticed one of the party missing. "Where's Liara?"

As soon as she asked, the door opened again and a confused looking asari entered the room. "I'm sorry I'm late Commander. I just had an interesting interaction with your pilot. Shepard, what is a clown?"

Shepard groaned and began to rub her head gently. "Don't ask. Let's just get the meeting underway, alright? We're on the way to the Citadel now and I still need some questions answered," said the woman as she finally plopped down into her seat.

The asari nodded and sat in her own, her posture almost impeccable. "What is it you needed to ask Shepard?"

"First, you said that you don't know anything about Saren or your mother, correct?" she asked, getting a firm nod from the asari. "That's very unfortunate…"

"Shepard, can you tell me what my mother has done to earn this charge of treason?" asked Liara, who responded almost shyly, as if she were intruding.

"Your mother was caught on film and audio assisting a rogue Spectre who betrayed the Council. On top of aiding him, it's believed that she helped coordinate the attack on the human colony of Eden Prime," responded Shepard as she let out a sigh. "I'm sorry to have to tell you that Liara. I know it can't be easy to hear that about your mother."

"It's...quite alright. Though it is confusing," she said, getting a curious look from the others. "While my mother and I have been at odds for years, it was over family matters. Matters which, looking back now, may have been easier to solve than either of us wanted to admit…" she said as she looked down at her hands. "Despite our fights however, she was always a good person at heart. So, to hear her participating in this is startling to say the least."

"Perhaps you didn't know her as well as you thought," said Garrus with his analyzing stare.

"Or maybe there's an explanation we're not seeing," responded Kaidan.

"Whatever the case may be, we're looking for her," responded Shepard as she stared between the other two, cutting off the banter.

"What exactly is Saren after? Why did he attack Eden Prime?" asked the asari with a worried expression on her face.

The others, Wrex aside, all looked between themselves before Shepard finally turned to her. "Doctor T'Soni, what do you know about the extinction of the Protheans?" asked the spectre.

Liara's eyes widened for a moment as she was put on the spot, but quickly she began to speak. And much to the surprise of everyone, she was very animated. "Oh...well, quite a bit I suppose. More than most I'd even say. See, I've been studying them for over fifty years now…"

Kaidan sat up and stopped her. "Wait...fifty years? Exactly how old are you?"

Her voice quietened a bit as she began to show her timid demeanor again. "I...don't like to admit it, but I am only a hundred and six years old."

"Wow, talk about aging gracefully," said Kaidan with a small smile.

"That may seem like a lot for a human, but in asari standards, I'm barely more than a child. Our kind can live to be over a thousand years old. Which makes me very young in asari society. That's why my work on the Protheans has been less than accepted unless handed in by my professor…" she grumbled as she spoke the last part. "Anyway, you asked about the Protheans, I know that they all went extinct all at once, so to speak. They didn't vanish, but they began to disappear over about a century. Which is much quicker than any natural extinction that we have on record."

Shepard nodded as she sat back and listened. "And have you formed any conclusions?"

"Well, this is only a hypothesis really. I don't have any data to confirm anything yet, but from the patterns I've seen, it looks like what caused their extinction was a war. If they were on a sole planet, it could be any number of things. Climate change, a plague, tectonic shifting, or anything of that nature. But the Protheans were an intergalactic species. Which means that whatever wiped them out sought them through their own relays. So, whatever erased the Protheans from the galaxy must have done so intentionally," she said, almost excitedly. Suddenly, she remembered where she was and looked up at Shepard. The commander wasn't sure if asari could blush, but she was certain that Liara would be. "Sorry, I really enjoy my work."

"That's quite alright doctor," said Shepard with a smile. "What if I told you I happened to have the answer to your questions up here?" she asked as she tapped her temple.

Liara's eyes narrowed suspiciously as her hands grasped the edge of her smock. "I would ask how it is that you know something that I've been searching for for over fifty…" she said, then stopped cold as the realization hit her. "The beacon on Eden Prime!"

Nodding, Shepard leaned forward and rested her elbows on her legs. "Despite what you heard; I never actually activated the beacon. It turns out that it was already on when we arrived, I just happened to get too close and it forced these images into my head."

"Of course!" snapped the asari as she scooted forward in her seat. "Most Prothean communication technology transfers the information straight into the host's mind. But most everyone who has actually received information from Prothean technology this way had their mind destroyed. Many never spoke again, and it's even killed a few instantly." Shepard cocked an eyebrow as the asari stared at her with a strange expression. "I have to say Commander, you must have an incredible will power in order to have withstood it with so few ill effects."

Suddenly, both of them were startled by Kaidan as he cut in. "Sorry, but I don't see how any of this relates to Saren and the Geth."

"It relates to the Reapers," said Shepard as she turned back to Liara.

"R-Reapers?" asked the asari curiously.

Clearing her throat, Shepard prepared herself to explain almost everything to the asari. "The beacon, as far as I can tell, was broadcasting a warning to the rest of the Prothean Empire about the Reapers. According to...some sources on the matter, they are a race of sentient machines that came into the galaxy, destroyed the Protheans, then vanished without a trace. And the visions I see are all images of what happened in that time."

"It's so strange. An invading force wiping them out makes absolute sense. But it also brings up the question as to why we've never found any trace of these machines. There would have had to be something, some kind of technology, bodies, destruction, information, something! Why is this beacon one of the only pieces of information we have?" she asked in frustration.

Shepard scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps that's the way the Reapers wanted it. To erase all knowledge of their existence so that we would never know that they're coming again."

"Again?" asked Liara in shock.

"I'm afraid so. The audio recording we have of Saren and your mother mentions that they are trying to bring back the Reapers," said the commander.

"But...if they're coming back again, does that mean that they've done it before? Were the Protheans not the first?" she asked as she reached up and rubbed her head. "I'm sorry, this is a lot to take in and I haven't had much sleep over the past few days."

"It's alright Liara. Take your time. We've got a few days before we arrive at the Citadel. You should see Doctor Chakwas just to make sure," ordered the commander as she stood. "The rest of you, dismissed. Get some rest. Joker, have Lieutenant Waaberi put me through to the Council."

"Aye aye, Shepard. Incoming Council now," said the pilot as the rest of them filed out of the room. Within a moment, all three of the Councilors appeared in front of her in holographic form.

"Shepard, we received your report on Therum. Is what's written here true? You left the Telsakka ruins in...well, ruins?" asked Sparatus as soon as he was able to speak.

Shepard eyed him sharply. "The geth had infiltrated the ruins and continuously dropped massive armatures on the surface, causing structural damage. It was going to collapse whether I showed up or not. I'm just lucky that I got there before Doctor T'Soni had to take a bath in the volcanic magma."

"Understood Commander," said Tevos, who stood in the middle. Sparatus looked at her before waving his hand dismissively. "Your report says that you have Doctor T'Soni aboard the Normandy. Is this true?"

"It is. After we freed her from Therum, we had a little meeting and I talked with her about what she knew. As it turns out, she knows next to nothing about Saren or her mother. According to her, they haven't talked for years now," said Shepard as she crossed her arms.

"And you believe her?" asked Valern curiously as he stared at her with his voluminous eyes.

"Whether I believe her or not is irrelevant. It should be easily verifiable given the amount of security that Matriarch's usually have on them at all times. Not to mention Liara works for the T'Lana institute as a primary archaeologist. All of her movements to and from the college should be easily traceable given the STG's resources Councilor," she said dutifully as she turned back to Tevos. "What I do know is that she's not a threat. When I found her, she took a huge risk to get away from the geth by locking herself inside a Prothean containment cell. If we hadn't come along, she may very well have starved to death in there before someone else arrived to free her. Or once the ruin collapsed, she’d have been killed by the volcanic overflow"

"Locking herself inside the ruins would be an unusual action for someone working with the geth. But then that begs the question, why did Saren send the geth after her in the first place? The information I shared with you about her was strictly between us. I shared it with nobody else aside from the other Councilors," said Tevos as she reached up and tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"Perhaps one of Shepard's human crewmates sent a message out?" offered Sparatus as he too began to ponder.

Shepard eyed him suspiciously, noticing that he called out the humans. Coming from him, that kind of opinion wasn’t all that surprising. But what did seem unusual was going out of the way to accuse one of the humans as if he knew the turians weren’t capable of such a thing. That meant she had some inspections to do. "The geth were already planetside when I informed them of the mission Councilor. So, I'm afraid your accusation is baseless," she said, getting a glare from the turian.

"Perhaps Saren, and her mother think that our young Prothean expert might have been able to help Shepard?" stated Valern confidently. "With Benezia knowing her daughter's wealth of knowledge about the Protheans, perhaps they thought that she may have some idea about what this key is that they mentioned."

Shepard and both of the other Councilors looked over to the salarian curiously. "I'll make sure to run that by her, Councilor. Thank you," said Shepard as she bowed her head towards him. Seeing the respectful gesture, he stood straight and blinked happily.

There was a moment of silence before Tevos looked over at Sparatus inquisitively. Shepard eyed them both as the turian councilor let out a sigh of irritation. "Shepard, I want you to know that despite my brash demeanor towards you since we first met, I do respect that you are doing a good job. I will try to be less...confrontational in the future," he said as he held his arms behind his back.

Her eyes widened at the claim, but she nodded in response. "That would be appreciated Councilor. I too will try to be less sarcastic in my responses," she said with a smirk.

"Noted," said the turian with his mandibles twitching.

"Now, since our discussion has finished, we would like for Spectre Zellin to report in as well. If we learn any more information that could assist you, we shall let you know," said Tevos as she bowed her head lightly.

"Thank you, Councilor," said Jane as she turned away to fetch the salarian.

Comm Room - SSV Normandy SR1

"Good to see you again Spectre," responded Valern as Zellin sealed the room.

Turning to the Council, the salarian stood before them with his arms folded in front of his lithe stomach respectfully. "Greetings Councilors. I am here to offer my report of potential Spectre Jane Shepard."

"I'm eager to hear your assessment of our shining newcomer," said Sparatus with a bit of amusement in his tone.

"Councilor, you just made amends with her. Let's not celebrate that by scheming against her," said Valern, who then turned to Zellin. "Well Spectre, let's have it. In your assessment of Jane Shepard, do you believe she is a good example of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch?"

Zellin thought for a long moment before returning the councilor's stare. "She isn't a good example…"

"I knew it!" said Sparatus confidently.

"If I may continue, Councilor?" asked Zellin impatiently.

"Apologies, of course," said the turian as he waved to the salarian to continue.

"As you know, Spectres are typically seen as those who hide in the shadows, those who puppet and manipulate events to their liking for the sake of galactic safety and security. Most work alone because the kind of work required by a Spectre can't be trusted to anyone else. My own work has had me in no less than fifty missions with the STG, and over half of that with the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. In all of these missions, I did my job, and made the galaxy a safer place without anyone's help," she said, trying to keep his rapid speech slower so that he didn't outpace the other two councilors. "Essentially, Spectres nowadays are judged to be emotionless ghosts who will do a job and complete it at any cost. And the Commander is none of these things."

"If I’m to understand you…" said Tevos with a curious look on her face.

"Forgive me Councilor, but I wasn't finished," he said politely. She nodded, and he continued. "As I said, a Spectre is judged to be all of those things. But Shepard is none. She has a sense of morality towards her work that forces her to come up with inventive ways of getting a job done. At any point during the latest mission, any other Spectre, myself included, would have tried to use force to make the Doctor speak about her connections to her mother and Saren. Instead, Shepard used a more subtle touch and reached the same conclusion faster. In that same instance, she managed to rescue the asari, who could be a valuable ally in the future when encountering her mother. Most other Spectres would have left her to die once they had the information they needed."

"I think I see where this is going Spectre," said Valern as he folded his hands into his sleeves with a slight smile on his face.

"Essentially, Shepard would not make a good Spectre as they are defined now. But I believe she may be a new breed of Spectre.” He cleared his throat gently. “I understand that someone needs to get their hands dirty in order for the galaxy to stay peaceful. I would never assume that all Spectres should be paragons of justice like in the vids. But I believe that Shepard’s role in the Spectres is an important one. See, Spectres often abandon the idea of being protectors, and instead grow all too comfortable doing things as efficiently as possible, regardless of what that means to those they encounter. I believe she is not only an important figure among the Spectres, but a necessary one. One who, perhaps through exposure, can teach our organization to once again care about the people they were assigned to protect," he finished as he looked between all three of them.

“So, you believe that she will be a useful educational figure among the Spectres?” asked Valern with a curious smile.

Zellin looked at the salarian Councilor and blinked. “I can assure you that many in our order have gotten lost on our paths. We grow impatient and careless, often not caring for or outright betraying the people we work with if it means accomplishing our mission. In times past, I saw this as a necessary part of keeping galactic peace. Sometimes you have to burn down trees to make sure the forest thrives. But after working with Shepard, I’ve come to question if this is necessary, or even healthy. I saw her work with her team, teaching them and training them to be better. At first, they looked like a group of amateurs running headlong into battle and waiting to get killed. But after only a few excursions with her, I’ve seen changes in them, and would be surprised if they too didn’t qualify for the Spectres someday.”

Sparatus' mouth was hanging open while Valern had a smirk on his face. Tevos however, simply smiled and nodded to Zellin. "Thank you for your assessment. She must be something to garner such high praise from someone of your caliber."

"She is Councilor. As I stated, her morality lends her a perspective to solving a crisis that most Spectres I know have long left for the dead. Her combat skills alone would have qualified her for her position among the Spectres. Everything else I’ve given you is simply something to soak in before making your ultimate decision. And her team seems to be following in her footsteps," said Zellin dutifully as he looked over to the turian councilor's annoyed face.

"With the way you talk about her, you'd think you were in love with her," he griped in aggravation.

"Forgive me Councilor, but your childish remarks are unbecoming of someone of your position. One can have respect for someone else's work without the need for sexual gratification from them. Were you in my place during these last few missions, you would likely show her the respect she is due," said the salarian without an ounce of hesitation.

Valern sighed to himself as the other two councilors looked surprised by the spectre’s barbed tongue. "And like that, this meeting is finished. Spectre, when you reach the Citadel, come to see me for your next assignment."

"Understood Councilor," said Zellin as he killed the comm to the Council, then left the room.

CODEX ENTRIES

Soak In | Culture | Salarian
Meaning to ruminate or think about. Similar in fashion to the human use of the word “marinate” in the same context, it comes from the long-standing cultural use of thinking pools, which are small pools of heated water that salarians use to help themselves think more clearly.

Chapter 15: The Rogue

Chapter Text

Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

After another shower, cleaning her of all the sweat she had accumulated by literally running away from a volcanic collapse, Shepard found herself sitting in front of her terminal again and resting her head in her hands. Her head was pounding at the moment. Whether that was from the lack of actual, restful sleep, or just a symptom of the stress she had been putting herself through with the new spectre training and missions, she wasn't sure. But she knew she was annoyed with it.

Looking up, she squinted at the computer in front of her and turned it on. As soon as the secure network opened, she noticed that her personal email channel was flashing. Tapping the icon on the screen brought up the dual personal and spectre screens, showing her the information sent to her personal email on the left, and the spectre information, which came from the Council, intelligence agencies like the CIA and STG, and other spectres on the right. Looking at her personal files, she the email that was sent from the Citadel while she had been planetside.

Reaching up, she tapped it and it opened, showing that it had come from a C-Sec terminal near the Presidium in Zakera Ward. Opening it, she read the extremely short message. "You owe me a drink and assistance. Meet me in my office the next time you're in the Citadel. Signed, Inspector Decian Chellick of Citadel Security," she said as she glared at the screen. "How exactly do I owe this clown anything?"

Suddenly, there was a timid knock on her door. Most of the crew were familiar enough with her to contact her on her comm instead of coming down in person, and the fire team was currently in the gym training again. Which meant that this could only be one person. "What can I help you with Liara?" Shepard wanted to chuckle as she heard the woman squeak outside the door.

Very bashfully, the doctor opened the auto-door and stepped into the entrance. "Spectre…”

Shepard looked the asari up and down oddly. "T'Soni, are those the only clothes you have?" she asked, spying that the woman was still wearing her singed smock that she had been found in.

"I'm afraid so. I hadn't intended to be out at the ruins as long as I was, so I left most of my spare clothing on my ship. Which...fell into the lake of magma we left behind," she said, almost mournfully.

"We'll have to get you some new clothes when we get to the Citadel. You'll need something better to wear if you intend to return to the Institute," said the spectre as she closed down the terminal screen and spun in her rotating chair towards the woman.

Stepping into the room, the asari held her hands behind her back in a shy manner as she looked at the ground. "A-Actually Commander, I was hoping that I could stay with you, here on the Normandy I mean! Not here in this room with you..."

Shepard's eyebrow arched curiously, a small smile curving her lips at the young woman's extremely awkward demeanor. "You want to stay here?"

"Well, to put it more clearly, I want to come with you to find my mother," said the asari as she finally looked up at Shepard again. "I...I know that it's what you'd call a conflict of interest. But I must know. I have to hear it from her own mouth."

"Why she turned?" asked Shepard, getting a nod from the doctor. Sighing gently, Shepard leaned her head into her hand. "Well, if you want to help us, I'm not going to turn down a potential ally. Especially one as knowledgeable about the Protheans as you are. But…” Shepard’s tone turned deadly serious.” If… when I have your mother in my sights, if you try to jump between us, I will not hesitate,” she stated firmly as she locked eyes with the asari. "Do we have an understanding?”

Liara's eyes widened slightly at the implications but nodded. "If I try to stop you from catching my mother, you will kill me,” she said solemnly. “I understand, Shepard. Even if we cannot find out why she has gone down this path, I still want to assist you in catching her. I will not be a hindrance," she said smartly.

"Good. Now, it's going to be a few days before we get to the Citadel. So, take these…" said the commander as she grabbed a pair of PT pants and a shirt out of her clean laundry bag and tossed them to the asari. "Get yourself a shower and get changed."

"As you wish Shepard. In my down time, I will be in the medical bay with Doctor Chakwas, helping out where I can," she said dutifully. Shepard expected her to move away, but instead of leaving, she stood still, as if unsure about something.

"What is it?" asked Shepard oddly.

"I…" started Liara as she clenched the clothes to her chest. "Shepard, I know this is asking a lot. But...I would like to see the visions that you saw on Eden Prime."

The commander's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the request. "Oh…" she said, almost speechless as she sat up. "You mean... like…"

"Y-Yes, through melding," said the asari as she stared at the ground shyly. "W-While I have full faith in your ability to describe them to me, Prothean visions are something you have to see to understand."

"You've got that right…" grumbled Shepard in annoyance as she remembered trying to describe them to the Council. Looking back at the woman, she sighed. "Alright Liara, you can see them. But just know that I've been trained against biotic mind intrusions, and I have a lot of information up here that is on a very need to know basis…"

"Of course! I...I would never Shepard! No, I mean, I would never try to see the information you did not want to give me!" started Liara as she began stammering.

Shepard eyed the woman curiously as she stood from her chair. "Liara, you're a hundred and six years old. Have you ever...melded with someone before?"

The expression on the "young" woman's face looked as if she were about to crumble away into dust. Her eyes were wide, her fidgeting hands locked in front of her, and her jaw was clenched tight enough to grind teeth. "N-No...I mean, aside from the usual teachers and parents of course…" she said nervously as she looked away from Shepard, trying to hide her embarrassment. "I've never felt close enough to someone to ask them to do so, nor have I ever trusted someone enough to allow them…"

"But you feel close to me?" asked Shepard with a small grin on her face.

"NO! I-I mean... not like that! I just meant... I…" stuttered Liara as she began to panic.

But Shepard held up her hands to calm the woman down. "Woah, slow down Doc. It was a joke," she said as she placed her hands on the asari's shoulders.

Liara stared at Shepard for a long moment before nodding. "R-Right. Joking. Sorry... I'm not used to such things. I'm not really a social person at all given my work."

"It's alright. Come on," said Shepard as she sat on the edge of her bed, patting the spot next to her. "You might be able to help translate these images better than me. So, feel free to take a look."

Liara timidly set the clothes aside before taking a seat next to Shepard. Reaching up, she took her gloves off and set them aside. Then, she apprehensively held her hands up, unsure of where she should actually touch the spectre. But Shepard solved her quandary by grabbing her wrists and planting her blue palms with one on her pale, freckled cheeks.

Letting out a sigh of anxiety, the asari closed her eyes. "Are you ready Spectre?"

"I am," she said as her eyebrows furrowed. She didn't know if this was going to be another romp through the nightmarish recesses of her mind, or if this would be similar to her encounter with the Councilor. She was hoping for the latter but wasn't positive how the trip would turn out.

Liara turned Shepard's head so that they were looking at one another, and in an instant, the asari blinked, and her eyes opened again to reveal those mysterious black sclera. "Alright Shepard, embrace eternity!"

Like before, she felt yanked out of reality and found herself within the visions themselves, reliving them as if the thoughts in her head were her own, forcing her to cry, scream, let out guttural cries of agony as her people were wiped out in front of her very eyes, turned into abominations to fight against her. She fought tooth and nail, exhaustion radiating from her muscle as she continued to fight off waves of mechanized monstrosities. As they swarmed her, she fell with a scream, pulling the pin on her last grenade and letting out a roar of defiance as they began to pull her limbs apart.

But the feeling didn't last, as she soon felt a warm presence beside her. She felt as if she had been removed from her body and now floated in a warm, golden light. Turning, she noticed that the source of the light was Liara, standing next to her and gripping her with one arm around her hip. Letting out a sigh of relief, Jane reached around and gripped her back, completely ignoring the fact that they both were missing their clothing.

Now, side by side, Shepard felt her mental exhaustion retreating, her mind safe from the visions. Looking over at the young asari noticed the woman with a look of concern. But she simply nodded and gave her a small smile. Together, they turned and watched the horror that lurked within the hidden message.

When they finally emerged again, Shepard opened her eyes and inhaled sharply. It was certainly a lot bumpier of a ride than last time, but it was still much less taxing than her normal nightmare. Liara finally opened her eyes, her own back to normal now... "By the Goddess Shepard, those visions should have crushed your mind. How do you sleep at night while reliving those images!?” asked the asari worriedly.

"I... get by," said the commander as she eyed the doctor curiously. "Why were we naked by the way?"

Liara squeaked in embarrassment at the question and lowered her gaze to her lap. "Melding with someone to view specific thoughts takes an enormous amount of concentration. And... since I have no practice with it, I am unable to concentrate on both that and our appearances. So, I apologize if I got your body measurements wrong. I promise I didn’t access your knowledge of them…"

Shepard chuckled and nodded at the explanation. It was obvious now that it was spoken to her. Of course, the mighty Matriarch Tevos would have the skill to carry her through the visions, fully clothed with little effort. "I see," said Shepard as she reached up and rubbed her head gently. "So, did you make out anything that I missed?"

"Not much I'm afraid. You were certainly right when you said that it was a warning, even a cry for help. But the beacon was badly damaged. The reason why you're seeing everything in such fragments like that is because only about half the message was given. The rest is repetitive echoes of the message and images," said the doctor as she turned to Shepard with a concerned look on her face. "Are you sure you're getting sleep? Visions that traumatic are likely to come back during heavy dreaming."

"Look, I've been dealing with them, alright?" said the commander in an annoyed tone as she looked away from the asari.

Liara gave her a concerned glare for a moment before finally standing up. "In that case, I have much to thank you for Shepard. You've advanced my work on the Protheans, you've given me a haven from Saren and his geth, and most importantly, you saved my life. If there's anything I can do to help you, please let me know."

"Actually, there was one thing I wanted to ask…" said Shepard, causing Liara to look down at her. "Saren and your mother mentioned needing a key to bring the Reapers back. In all of your work did you find any mention of a Prothean key?"

The asari thought for a long moment before finally shaking her head. "Not in reference to anything that would be useful. There have been numerous keystones and passcodes that I've come across, but they held no regard to any galaxy consuming prophecy," said the doctor, who noticed Shepard groan lightly. "B-But if we can retrieve my computer from the institute on Thessia, I can go through my work once more. I’m sure with the new context you’ve given me, I can find something helpful," she offered.

Shepard smirked lightly and nodded. "We can get your stuff shortly. But don't overwork yourself. You've been through a lot the last few days," she said as she stretched, her muscles telling her a nap was in order. "Anyway, contact Sergeant Draven to get a room on the crew deck, and get ahold of Tyson in the cargo bay for some spare clothing. Oh, and Joker is going to try to tease you, so try to ignore him."

Chuckling lightly, the asari nodded. "I will. Thank you again, Shepard," said the woman before she finally turned and left the room.

Shepard tossed herself back on the bed, her head hitting the pillow as she sent a message to Pressly that he was in charge until she woke again. Closing her eyes, she immediately fell into a heavy sleep that was the deepest and most comfortable she had ever had.

Room 681 - Najari Hotel - Presidium - Citadel

It was always odd to Tali to see something as mundane as a hotel or housing structure have the name of a celebrity, but if what she had read was right, the Matriarch that this was named after in, fact, owned the hotel. Once again, Shepard had gotten a large room for the two of them because she still didn't feel quite safe on the Citadel with Saren's men potentially being around every corner.

Shepard, who left after saying she had some business to conduct, gave her the access codes to the room so she could come and go as she pleased. Most of the time she would spend indoors and order something cheap from room service while she caught up on all of the galaxy's latest drama shows, something she found she adored. They even had one starring a quarian, who she knew had not been required to come back to the fleet. The work she was doing by making the galaxy more sympathetic and familiar with the quarians was much more helpful than having another crewmate aboard. It also helped that her acting drew in a lot of credits, a lot of which went back to the fleet as well.

While watching the vids, she found herself wondering if she would ever be a quarian liaison to the outer galaxy as a whole. While it would be interesting, she doubted she would ever permanently leave the Migrant Fleet. She continued to watch the vidscreen on the inside of her helmet as she laid on the bed and sipped an interesting turian soft drink called Tula through her induction port when suddenly her omni-tool rang. Holding up the device, she saw a small chat communication pop up, to which she immediately replied.

[G: You there?
T: I was just watching vids. Did you get the stuff?
G: Don't say it like that! And yes! Come get it before I sell it to ANN.
T: On my way.]

The quarian sprung to her feet and headed for the door, then exited the room. Turning down the hallway, she looked around, still slightly nervous about being alone in such a rich establishment. But finally, she reached the door and knocked gently.

Immediately, the door opened and Garrus stared down at her. "I still don't understand why you can't come to get this from me on the ship. You'd have had it days sooner," he said as he turned around and left the door open. Entering the main room, he reached down and grabbed his omni-tool then started to pass the data file to her. Turning around, he noticed that she was still at the door. "Uh...Tali, you can come in you know."

The quarian finally skipped inside nervously. "Sorry... it's a habit. Quarian rooms are very small, and often times very personal spaces due to the limited room on the Fleet. So, entering without instructions to enter is considered extremely rude."

"Ah, I getcha. Anyway, here you go," he said as he finally passed the data over to her.

"As for why I don't get this stuff on the ship, we're two levels apart Garrus. I'm still awkward about wandering too far from my station. Some people aboard might not like quarians," she said sadly as she looked down to make sure she had received the package.

"Oh come on Tali. Of all the races in the galaxy that should be worried about a human not liking them, turian has to be at the top of the list. And they're all just fine with me walking around," he said as he sat at the edge of the turian-styled nest. "Well... maybe batarian too…"

"Even so, making oneself at home on someone else's ship without their permission is rude," she snapped as she placed her hands on her wide hips.

"Look Tali, if you don't stop applying Fleet rules to every scenario outside the Fleet, then I'm going to tell Shepard that you're collecting videos of her in combat," he said with an amused tone in his voice.

"You wouldn't dare!" she growled threateningly.

"Oh, but I would. Now, if you don't mind, I have... an engagement to attend to," he said, clearing his throat as he stepped towards the door.

Tali eyed him curiously as he held the door open for her before she finally noticed that he wasn't wearing normal clothing. The clothes he was wearing looked similar to what she had seen the Councilor in while he was on the stand yelling at Shepard. This meant that it was some form of formal attire, which made her grin under her mask as she recalled her lessons on alien courting. Walking casually over to the door, she waved to him. "Alright Garrus, have fun on your date!" The growl she got from him made her giggle madly before running around the corner and back to her own room.

Unfortunately, her jovial nature dropped immediately as she noticed that the door to her and Shepard's room was unlocked. Chills went down her spine as she thought back to when she left the room. She knew she secured the door behind her, so to have it open now either meant that Shepard had come back while she was away, or that someone had busted into their room. The implications of Shepard's privacy being infiltrated made her fume.

She started to turn back towards Garrus' room again to perhaps get some backup, but she ended up stopping dead in her tracks. "No…" she said to herself. If she couldn't handle something as small as a breaking and entering without calling for help, then she had no right to be on Shepard's ship. Though the fact that it could be Saren's men inside did bother her, she still turned around and reached down, pulling her blade from her boot. Unfortunately, all of the crew aside from Shepard herself was required to keep their weapons onboard the Normandy. So, her little boot blade was all she had to fight with. But it would have to be enough.

Reaching forward, the quarian slowly opened the door and stepped inside. This hotel had small hallways with the bathing facilities and kitchen on either side before leading into the bed area, which gave her some room to sneak. Activating her helmet's night vision, she looked into the darker rooms and confirmed that nobody was inside before deactivating them and moving down the hall.

Finally, she came to the main room and went wide-eyed as she stared at a man rummaging through a bag that she knew wasn't hers or Shepard's. Spinning the blade with expert practice, she stepped forward kicked him in the back of the knee. He yelped in surprise, his knee hitting the ground before the quarian stepped up and held a knife to his throat. "Who are you and why are you in our room?"

"Our?" asked the man curiously. He raised his hands gently in a show of surrender, before his omni-tool activated and sent a shock into her suit. She gasped as the attack knocked her back towards the wall, while the man barely spun his head enough to get away from the knife before it did any damage. Growling, Tali stomped one foot to make the tingling go away before spinning her knife again. Now that she got a better look at him, she was slightly relieved to see that he wasn't as large as she had originally thought. Only a little taller than her with dark hair down to his shoulders and a face with wide eyes. Suddenly, she was shocked as he looked her up and down curiously. "And who are you?"

"Sorry bosh'tet, but you've intruded into the wrong room," said the quarian as she took a step forward.

"Wait!" shouted the man, causing her to stop suddenly. "Uhhh... what's your name?" he asked, showing a relaxed nature after the question.

"My name is Tali'Zorah, and I'm Shepard's... bodyguard…" she snapped, preparing to lunge forward again. "What's your name?"

"Uhh...you can call me Romeo," he stated as he stared at her from across one of the beds.

"Alright Romeo, do you work for Saren?" she asked as she took another step forward, readying herself for combat.

"No," he said, his eyes once again giving her a once over. "I like your suit!" he said, still holding up his hands defensively.

"Thank you? Wait…" she growled as she glared at the intruder. "What are you doing in here bosh'tet?"

Finally, his serious demeanor returned, and he gave her a hardened stare. "Your precious Shepard took something of mine. And I intend to extract payment somehow."

"So, what, you were going to rob her hotel room? The security on this place alone makes that venture not worth the cost. So how did you intend to extract this payment?" asked the quarian as she pointed directly at the man, an insulting gesture in quarian culture.

"Not quite. Either way, it appears that I will have to wait. I didn't realize that Spectres carried such... adorable bodyguards," said the dark-haired man. Tali clenched her jaw at his statement, wondering if he was insulting her or attempting to toy with her to throw her off. "In any case, Miss Tali'Zorah, it appears that I've been compromised. So, if you don't mind, I'll be on my way."

"You're not going anywhere!" shouted the quarian as she moved in front of the small hallway that led to the exit.

“Oh, I think you’ll find that I am,” he said with a cheery smile. Lifting his omni-tool, he stunned her again before grabbing his bag off the bed and hopping over her twitching form.

"Bosh'tet! Get back here!" she shouted as she fought to move her contracting body.

"You'll see me again in the future, don't worry!" he shouted as he left and closed the door behind him.

Citadel Security - Zakera Ward - Citadel

It was still odd to see people giving her almost awed glances as she walked by. Especially when she entered the offices of the C-Sec Zakera branch, and actually had the receptionist ask for her autograph. As she walked through the hallway towards the inspector's office, even the turians turned to show her some interest, making her sigh slightly and making her wish that her ceremony had been a bit more private. It was a bit counterproductive to have the Citadel's secret agents on camera, being acknowledged as their secret agents.

Either way, she ignored the rest and finally found the inspector's office. Reaching up, she pressed the call button on the door. The door opened immediately, and she saw a relatively small office with a light-carapaced turian sitting behind a desk with nothing but a bottle of water and a terminal on it. She looked around the place as she stepped inside, noticing that the office somewhat matched the desk. There were very few personal effects at all; likely a result of the turian culture.

"Well well, you actually showed up Shepard. Even as I sent the message, I thought I was just screaming into the void," said the turian as he leaned back in his chair and relaxed.

"You still might be," she said, taking a seat without him offering. "So, care to tell me why I'm here Inspector Chellick?"

The turian sat up immediately, likely realizing that he had just gotten too casual with a spectre. "Oh, of course," he said as he typed at his terminal for a second before bringing up a video file. The terminal projected it onto the back of the screen so that she could see it as well, and immediately her brows furrowed as she saw people fleeing from Chora's Den. Looking up at her, Chellick sighed. Pausing the video, he pointed from his side of the terminal at a specific female that was fleeing the chaos of their attack on the club. "See her right there? The one with the red... hair?" he asked, looking up at her own hair as if realizing it was red for the first time.

"I do," she said in annoyance, knowing where this was going.

"That was an informant of mine that was working undercover in Chora's Den to try and crack open a ring of illegal mod trading," he said as he crossed his hands on the desk and stared at her.

"Given that she was likely a civilian, she probably got spooked from our raid and didn't return. Right?" asked the commander, who got a mandible twitch in return.

"You're pretty bright Shepard," he said as he sat back again. "On top of that, one of the men she was investigating happened to be one of Fist's men, who...well, you know."

"And as entertaining as this trip down memory lane is, I find myself wondering why you think I somehow owe you for this," she said as her eyes narrowed.

Raising his hands defensively, Chellick defended himself. "Spectre, I'm not here to place blame on you. I have the utmost respect for what you did, and why you had to do it. However, it did leave me in a bit of a bind that I was hoping you would help me with," he said, sighing slightly as he noticed her relaxing more. "This has been an ongoing case for almost two years now. Without my agent, and without the dealer, it certainly sets my work a ways back. However, there is a way to fix it, and perhaps get rid of the need for an agent in the future."

She nodded as she sat up, eyeing the chin-striped turian curiously. "I'm listening."

Relaxing slightly, the turian continued. "The human that I had my agent tailing in Chora's Den was actually a low-level buyer that I was planning to make a deal with. I had compiled enough evidence against them to bury them, and I was hoping to make him give up his boss. But the upside to your rampage through the club is that the boss himself no longer has a lackey to give him plausible deniability. He can train a new one, of course, but that'll take time. And right now, he has a schedule to continue that he now has to attend to himself."

"So, you want someone to purchase his goods in order to pin the mods to him?" she asked, getting an eager nod from the turian. "That's all fine and dandy, but my face is too well known. So, I'll have to ask for assistance from my crew," she said thoughtfully.

"However you want to do it, Shepard. Just... try not to use anyone who might be recognizable. I'll go ahead and put the word in that a buyer is looking for his stuff. I'll give you a call when we have an appointment," he said as he typed away at his computer again.

Shepard got to her feet and left the office, heading back to her hotel room to come up with some kind of strategy to pull off the inspector's plan of attack.

Room 681 - Najari Hotel - Presidium - Citadel

As soon as she arrived in the room, she gasped in horror as she saw Tali laying on the floor. Dropping her gear, she immediately ran over to see if she was okay. She was relieved to find her luminescent eyes blinking behind the mask.

"Dammit Tali, why are you laying on the floor?" asked Shepard in a tone that was less than amused.

"Someone broke into our room Shepard," said the quarian, getting a surprised look from the commander. "He called himself Romeo and said that you took something from him. But he left. I tried to stop him, but I wasn't good enough," she finished as she finally sat up and let out a disappointed sigh.

"Is that what you're worried about?" asked Shepard, who got a curious glance from the young engineer. "Tali, if you're upset that you weren't able to stop him, then all we need to do to fix that is to train you better."

"I don't think any training will get my body used to electrical shocks…" said the quarian as she scooted over and leaned against the wall.

"He stunned you?" asked Shepard curiously as she sat against the wall as well.

"Twice. The second time, he used the distraction to get away," she growled as she spun her knife in her hand as if wanting to use it on someone.

"That just means you need an armor upgrade," said the commander, who received a surprised look from the quarian. "Look, I heard from Ash that the original weapon that you came here with was barely functioning. It looks like it had been recycled more times than years you've been alive. So, I can't imagine the suit they gave you would be in much better condition."

"The Fleet recycles everything," said Tali as she leaned her helmeted head on her hand as if bored. "We don't have anything personal aside from some clothing and a few pieces of furniture. Even those are recycled after the person passes. Kitchens are enormous rooms built into the center of communities with utensils and equipment being shared by all. Tools, once used, are put into a communal tool chest for others to use. Clothing, omni-tools, even our suits are eventually recycled back into the Fleet, Shepard," she said with a sigh. "It's how we live."

"So, what happens when a suit gets a puncture?" asked Shepard curiously as she looked the young woman up and down.

"All quarian suits come in pieces. Very rarely do you find a quarian with a suit that matches. Oftentimes, quarians will have patchwork suits with black, green, red, and so many other colors mixed in. It's part of why people consider us vagrants because we often look the part," she said as she waved a hand over her own suit. "I got lucky only because my father is an admiral. He managed to find a full set of the same color," she said as she poked at her leg. "When I got shot here before I joined your crew, the leg part was damaged beyond being wearable again. So, I had to use one of the spares I was given on my Pilgrimage."

"Looks like we have more in common than I thought," said Shepard, getting a curious look from the quarian. "Do you have spares for every part of the suit?"

"No. Our torso doesn't come with a replacement. Partially because of something were to penetrate that, we'd likely be dead already. But we are given a roll of sealant tape in case of grazes so that we can survive until repairs are made. And while we do get replacements for our face shield, we don't for the helmet itself. If something were to happen to it, we'd probably die of illness before we ever got a replacement. But the helmets are some of the most complicated parts, and the Fleet just doesn't have the resources to create so many backups," she said mournfully. "So, I'm afraid there's no way for me to get any kind of upgrade or replacement without buying it myself."

The quarian looked over at Shepard, who had a small grin on her face. "You mean buy it ourself, right?" asked the commander.

"Shepard…" groaned Tali.

"Look, I already know what you're going to say because you said it when I tried to buy you dinner as well. You know, so you could eat," she said teasingly. "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, do you intend to be on my ground squad?" she said, suddenly adopting a serious face.

Tali looked at her in surprise. "I-I want to be, of course!"

"Then you need armor capable of protecting you. And we're going to go get it, right after we find out who the hell had the gall to break into my room and assault my friend," she said as she stood up and held her hand out for Tali.

The quarian looked from her hand, up to her smiling face, before reaching toward the hand and gripping it. Allowing herself to be pulled to her feet, she nodded to Shepard. "Right, let's go see what we can find."

"That's the spirit," said Shepard as she patted the girl on the shoulder. Tali looked at her in confusion, before the commander sighed and waved it off. "Human phrase, I'll explain it later."

Shepard led the young woman down to the front desk, where the manager tried to stonewall them both before he realized who exactly he was dealing with. After finally being given access to the security cameras, the spectre accessed the file and rewound it until it was around the time that Tali had said. And sure enough, there was a man who used some kind of omni-tool cracking program to get into the door. There were no cameras inside the room, so she fast forwarded to the time when he left the room. Immediately, her glare darkened as she saw the face of the man who was responsible.

"Artem Romanov, you son of a bitch!" she said with gritted teeth. Most of the time when she smacked a dog across the nose, it knew better than to attempt a second bite at her hand. This time, she would not be so forgiving. "Tali, let's go get you a new set of armor," said Shepard with a smirk as she sent an email to C-Sec regarding her new guest. "He's not going anywhere for a while."

Elkoss Armor Emporium - Presidium - Citadel

It had taken a while to find them, but with guided assistance from the spectre herself, Liara had finally managed to find Shepard and her quarian friend in one of the largest armor manufacturing stores on the Citadel. As she stepped towards the pair, she overheard them talking about a set of quarian specific armor. Though rare, they were still made as a precaution to any quarian customers that might come by.

"Is this really it?" asked Shepard curiously as her red eyebrow lifted.

"It is. Quarian suits are already insulated against most things that armor would protect against. They're airtight, they're environmentally controlled, and they contain small kinetic absorbers that help absorb blows during a fight, or even take some of the energy out of projectiles. Though, most fired from modern-day weapons are so fast that you barely notice the difference," she said as she tilted her head. "All quarian armor really requires are plates that hook into our suits to protect us further. The plates, like our suit, are easily and quickly detachable and replaceable."

"I see," said Shepard, who then turned and looked at Liara who had been standing behind them. "Oh good, you found us!" said the woman as she waved the asari over. "We were just looking for some armor for Tali here."

"Oh, she will be going to ground then?" asked the asari in slight shock as she stepped up to them. Getting a nod from the quarian, Liara bowed her head gently. "That's very brave of you considering the consequences of a suit puncture."

"A suit puncture won't kill me... unless it hits something vital of course. But I have countermeasures for simple punctures and injuries," responded Tali as she looked the asari woman up and down. "Will you also be on the ground team?"

Shepard looked at Liara curiously, no doubt wondering the same thing. "I... I don't know if I would be best to take with you on such important missions Shepard. I would need training as my combat skills are no doubt less than adequate. My only exposure to such training was the small amount I received from my mother's guards when she ascended to Matriarch. Though, I hope my biotics may make up for it," she said hopefully.

"You killed a krogan in seconds by tossing him into an active volcano, I'd say your biotics are plenty strong enough to make up for it. However, I will still be training you in both hand to hand and firearms," said the woman sternly.

"I happily await your instruction," said Liara politely. "I suppose I should find myself a set of armor as well."

"Once we're done here, we'll look for yours next," said Shepard, getting a small smile from the doctor. "So anyway, the unfortunate part of armor like this is that they don't come installed with many features, as most of those would already be installed into your suit. That means that I'd have to manually install cyberwarfare suites directly into your suit myself."

"B-But that would mean…" started Tali worriedly.

"You'd have to take it off," said Shepard with a sigh.

"Umm, if I may…" chimed in Liara from the side. They both looked at her curiously. "I happen to know from a friend of mine that there's a hotel nearby with clean room facilities for quarians who wish to step outside of their suits," she said as she looked between them.

"A friend?" asked Tali curiously.

Sighing, Liara looked down. "We used it to do work sometimes. It's technically against policy, but taking relics from the Protheans all the way back to Thessia was a hassle when we'd have to bring them back here to the Citadel anyway. And renting a clean lab is... expensive," she said as she looked between them.

Shepard just chuckled lightly and shook her head. "My my, our squeaky-clean little doctor is actually a delinquent," she said playfully.

"It was just once! Or... twice. Maybe a few times, but we cleaned up afterward!" she said defensively. Tali just shook her head as Shepard chuckled. "Sorry…"

"It's fine," said Tali as she waved dismissively. "Let's just get this done and find that thief before he manages to squeeze his way off the Citadel."

CODEX ENTRIES

Meld Teaching | Culture | Asari
Unlike many of the other species in the galaxy, asari have been naturals with biotics for most of their species’ existence. As a result of their ability to meld and share thoughts, it was thought for the longest time that sharing information through melding was the most accurate method of passing knowledge on to newer generations. This became a common practice and led to the asari developing a form of writing much later in their evolutionary growth than other species. This method is still employed today all over Thessia and throughout asari space, despite new studies revealing that information passed on can still be altered by the holder’s own psychology, making the information less accurate than if it were written.

Nest | Culture | Turian
Turian anatomy makes the comfortable flat surfaces that humans sleep on rather difficult. Instead, due to their more rigid, convex torso, they favor concave shapes that allow them to lay on their back. These beds commonly resemble the nests of avian and reptile creatures, thus leading to their colloquial nicknames.

Pointing | Culture | Quarian
Being a very introverted society, even the most outgoing quarians hate drawing attention to themselves or others with them. Anything that may bring unneeded attention to someone could be considered an insult by quarian standards, whether arguing, shouting, confronting people, or especially pointing directly at them.

Chapter 16: Illegal Mods

Chapter Text

Shal'Dorei Hotel - Presidium - Citadel

She savored it. It had been so long since she had been outside her suit that her skin almost tingled now. Ever since her pilgrimage had started, she was required to be inside her suit at all times. After all, no place was safe given her people's weak immune systems, and the other races didn't require constant clean facilities on their ships. So, she had to make the sacrifice of staying inside her suit every hour of every day.

After first getting out of her suit, she inhaled the sterile air happily before wrapping her nearly nude form in a large fluffy blanket that was on the bed. Still being shy about her appearance, she also covered her head with the comforter, making a kind of hooded cloak out of the cloth. Finally, she exited the room and made her way over to the bed while Shepard and Liara, who were in full armor now, pulled the suit out of the bathing facilities. The commander then began to work on the suit herself, occasionally asking her about this or that in relation to quarian tech.

Liara, meanwhile, sat in the corner and watched the both of them while Tali sat snuggled under the fluffy blanket, peering out at the two with her luminescent eyes. It stayed this way for a while before the asari broke the monotony with a question.

"Tali, would you mind if I asked a question?" said the armored woman timidly.

"You just did," replied Tali, a small smirk on her face that was hidden behind the blanket. The asari raised a hand to visibly put her head in it, a sign Tali had learned from the human crew of the Normandy that meant she had just blundered. Tali giggled to herself before nodding. "Of course."

The quarian could hear the smile behind her words as she spoke. "How often do quarians have to stay in their suits? I know that due to your weakened immune systems, you can't interact with most environments the way the rest of us do. But surely you aren't in them all the time," said Liara as Shepard began typing on her omni-tool.

"Not all the time, no. When on pilgrimage, we are unfortunately required to be in our suits all the time. With the exception of rare situations like this, of course. But otherwise, there just aren't enough sterile facilities common in the galaxy for us to have the luxury of getting outside our suit," she said with a small sigh.

"Is it the same on the fleet?" asked the asari curiously. Tali could tell by her tone that she was trying not to be intrusive. She knew that the asari was very studied in learning about other cultures. Previously, it had been all about protheans. But now, she was forced to be around aliens of all kinds, and her curiosity no doubt got the better of her.

"Unfortunately, the fleet doesn't have enough resources to make the entirety of every ship sterile. So, we even have to wear our suits onboard our ships. But most of the ships are divided up the same way regardless of the design. So, if you go from one ship to another, you should be familiar enough with it to find everything," she said as she looked down at her suit, lying lifeless next to the cross-legged commander.

"So, you do have areas that are sterile?" asked Liara as she looked towards Tali, making the quarian bow her head to keep her face from being visible.

"We do. Gardens are sterile, of course... oh, sorry. Garden is our term for the block of recreation areas. Training facilities, entertainment theaters, mess halls, living quarters, stuff like that. We are required, as part of the crew, to spend a certain amount of time in these areas per day without our suits so that our bodies can acclimate to our fellow crew members and bolster our systems through small exposures. Before long, the entire crew will be able to be around one another without any reaction whatsoever. Also, on the bigger ships, the bridges are kept sterile so that the officers can work there without the need for helmets. But most of the rest of the ships can't be kept sterile. The hallways have so much traffic back and forth that it'd be chaos to try and keep everything clean. The cargo bay, weapons bay, even engineering would provide no benefit, as most of our ships don't have radiation shielding for the drive cores," said Tali, her tone almost frustrated.

"I see, so even if it were sterile, you'd still have to be in your suits to protect against the radiation," responded the asari, almost mournfully. "I'm sorry to hear that your people have to live in such conditions."

"It's not all bad. Because of how much time the crews spend with each other, we act as a single unit. You can see the effect clearly if you watched the Citadel Grand Prix 5 a few years ago. That was the year they finally allowed quarians to participate again, and they won that one, and the two following it before finally being beaten out by the Palaven team," she said as she finally looked up at them both. "Liara, have you ever seen what quarians look like beneath our suits?"

Slightly startled by the question, the asari nodded. "Of course. Your flight from the Morning War only happened a few centuries ago. There are asari still alive today that have personally seen and spoken with quarians on Rannoch. Though... my experiences are through video and melded memory only," she responded.

Tali's eyes then looked down towards Shepard. "And you Commander?"

Shepard responded without looking up from her work. "You'd be surprised how little media there is with quarians before the Morning War. Us on Earth? We have seven different remakes of a single Disney movie known as the Lion King. But as I was growing up, my curiosity for alien species grew with me. So, I decided to study xenobiology. And it turns out that there are only about two videos on the extranet that show quarians without their modern-day suits. Both of them male."

"Yeah... we were a fairly closed off society even before the Morning War. Most of our media was stored on sites on the surface of Rannoch. And when the war started, the first thing the geth took out was our comm buoys to the rest of the galaxy. So, any and all media, if it still exists, is somewhere on Rannoch," she said, then looked down once more. "I'm asking because I want you to see me."

Both Liara and Shepard looked up at her in shock at the statement. "Tali, I know that we've already been through a lot together. But don't throw yourself out there for our sake," said Shepard with concern.

But Tali shook her head firmly. "Look, Shepard, this may be my only chance to do so. Once you get my suit upgraded, the need for us to use a clean room again will probably be very few and far between. So please don't make me back down now," she said, getting a slow nod from her. "Good. Now, remove your helmet please."

"You sure about that?" asked Shepard as she stood up and stared at her crewmate through the visor of her helmet.

"I am," replied Tali. Shepard nodded, then reached up and released the atmospheric seals on her helmet, before sliding it off entirely.

"I hope you're prepared to deal with the consequences if you get sick," said Shepard with a small, playful smile on her face.

"Don't worry Shepard. I made sure I took some immuno-boosters just in case, plus I still have plenty of antibiotics for afterward," she said as she looked towards Liara. "You too."

Slightly surprised at being included, Liara stood up from her chair in the corner and stepped up next to Shepard. Reaching up, she also broke the seals on her helmet before removing it entirely. "I'm happy to be included," she said cheerfully.

"You are a member of the crew, so you should be included. It's a shame the others aren't here as well, but I guess I should be taking small steps with this," she said before reaching up and finally lowering her blanket hood.

Shepard was slightly surprised to see how very human quarians looked, even more so than asari given that they had hair. But Tali herself looked largely different from the two males she had seen in previous videos on the extranet. Instead of their larger brow bones, Tali's were smaller and more delicate, showing a similar dimorphism to humans. Along with the smaller brow ridges, Tali had a small, almost button nose and mouth that matched a humans. It actually shocked her how similar their two species were given the vast differences between other species.

Her eyes looked up at the young quarian’s mess of dark hair that was even shorter than her own. It lay flat to her head, likely from constant helmet use. It was then that Shepard’s eyes noticed the dark lines from within the quarian’s hairline that led down to the tips of her inner eyebrows. “Are those facial markings common?”

Reaching up, Tali traced the dark markings thoughtfully. “These aren’t natural. These are sensors implanted within us when we are young that allows us to interface with our suits more easily,” she said with a heavy sigh. “We have them all over our body,” she said, tilting her head to the side and showing more of the odd, dark lines along her neck.

Shepard nodded gently as she reached up and scratched her chin. “Wouldn’t your body have a hard enough time dealing with bacteria? How does your immune system mesh with implants like this?”

Tali shrugged lightly. “It’s a technique that stems from Rannoch. We use plant fibers born of our homeworld. I… can’t tell you how exactly it’s done, as biology isn’t my trade. But according to my professors, the native plant life implanted within us actually grows with us, making it easier for the more electronic implants to be put in later in life when we grow out of our bubble suits.”

Shepard nodded as her eyes moved from the inlaid circuitry back to Tali’s pale, pupilless eyes. "Sorry for staring, xenobiology kicking in again," said the commander as she sat on the bed next to Tali. "Thank you for trusting me enough to show me,” she said as she pulled the suit up again. “So, you have implants to interface with your suit, but do quarians dabble in cybernetics?”

"Not all of us, but some do to make life easier," said the young quarian as she turned and leaned against the headboard of the bed. "It helps us by offering us the benefit of monitoring bodily changes and dispensing emergency medication when needed. Of course, some take it even further," she said with a small smile on her dainty lips. "We had one named Lars'Danis nar Xoria that came back from the pilgrimage with a whole host of cyber warfare designs he had created with the help of Binary Helix. And when he took his suit off for the first time we found out that he had small interface modules implanted into his fingers so that he could interact with tech at will. He was basically a living omni-tool."

"That would come in handy I suppose," said Shepard with a small smile. Suddenly, Tali reached forward, both of her three-fingered hands open for them. Shepard looked up at her pale eyes, getting a small nod before removing her gauntlet, then reaching up and placing her bare hand on Tali's own. Liara followed, and Tali closer her eyes then gripped both of their hands.

"Thank you. This means a lot," said the quarian with a small smile.

"Of course," said Shepard, surprised at how smooth the girl's hands were. They almost felt like velvet. But then, living in a suit most of your life could feasibly have that side-effect. Even with all her interactions with turians, she still found it awkward fitting a five-fingered hand together with a three-fingered hand. But Tali's was smaller and more delicate, which made it much easier.

Finally, she released their hands and stood up with the blanket around her. "So, is it ready?"

Shepard nodded and looked down at the quarian's suit, which now had the modifications she had on her own. "I've upgraded you with everything I've got except for my cloaking device because that takes an entire suit built from the ground up and is stupidly expensive. But for the most part, you've got protection against omni-tool based attacks, and even a good portion of jamming signals put out by all but a Cruiser-class ship."

"That's amazing Shepard! Even the Admirals will be impressed when they see these upgrades!" she said as she hopped off the bed and looked at them both. "Umm... could you two... go to the bathroom?"

Shepard eyed her curiously. “Now? I thought you would have wanted to take a shower first.”

“A… shower?” asked Tali who tilted her head curiously.

Liara even seemed surprised by her confusion. “Out of curiosity, how do quarians on the fleet deal with cleaning themselves?”

Reaching up, the quarian scratched her head lightly. “Oh, well our suits do get rid of most of the waste we produce. I hope you don’t mind if I don’t go into too much detail…”

“No, that’s fine,” said Shepard as her brows furrowed at the thought of a detailed explanation of quarian defecation.

“As for external cleaning, we have sterile bathing facilities where we lather ourselves with cleaning solution, and then blast ourselves with a mix of air and water to remove it. Why? What do you guys do?” she asked as one of her dark eyebrows raised suspiciously. Shepard and Liara eyed each other curiously.

Bathroom - Shal'Dorei Hotel - Presidium - Citadel

“It uses how much water!?” asked an outraged Tali as she looked between the pair who were standing just outside the shower.

Shepard sighed for a moment. “Alright, Tali, I’m going to need you to turn your brain off and just trust me on this, alright?” said the spectre as she stared into her eyes with her own bright green.

Sighing in return, Tali nodded slowly. “Alright. I’ll give it a try, but just know I won’t be happy about it.”

Shepard smiled before grabbing the tiny, sterile, wrapped bottle of shampoo made specifically for quarians from the basket on the counter. “Now here. Just do it like I explained, and you’ll be back with us in a bit.”

“What about-“ started Tali again, but Shepard put a now armored finger to her lips.

“Don’t worry about him, I have someone dealing with it. You, get in there, do what I said, and you’ll be with us shortly,” she said before nodding to Liara. Once the asari had left, Shepard left as well.

Tali growled and dropped the blanket from her shoulders as she eyed the bottle in her hand curiously. “What is wrong with them?” she asked as she tossed the sterile wrapping and turned towards the shower. Shepard explained to her how it worked, and she eyed the waterspout curiously. Reaching over, she turned the handle for hot water. She gasped as it instantly began to spray out onto the floor. She noticed the steam coming off the water and reached over to adjust the temperature until it was perfect for her.

After doing everything just as Shepard had instructed, she sighed to herself and set the shampoo aside on one of the shelves, then stepped inside the standup shower. She felt the water splashing onto her feet, which made her nervous. But the warmth of the water also soothed her. Turning so that her back faced the rush of water, she slowly began stepping back into the flow. And with every step she felt what they must have felt.

She gasped as her skin began to blush wildly from the heat, each of the jets of water hitting her skin feeling like a thousand tiny massages against her hock. Swallowing her fear, she stepped back until the jets of water rained down on her back and she nearly had to stop herself from gasping. The sensitivity of her skin combined with the warmth from the water made her whole body shiver in pleasure.

“Keelah…” she said silently as she finally leaned her head back and allowed the water to do the same to her scalp.

Shepard smirked as Tali exited from the bathroom. Closing down her omni-tool, she eyed the young quarian who walked out with fluffy hair and a look of agitation on her face. “We hear you enjoyed yourself,” said the spectre.

“Oh shut up, bosh’tet,” growled the quarian girl as she stepped out with the comforter wrapped around her once more. “Both of you get out so I can get my suit on again.”

“Yes ma’am,” said Shepard as she stood from her chair with a grin behind her visor.

Bathroom - Shal'Dorei Hotel - Presidium - Citadel

The bathroom was small. Extremely small, but then again it was made with quarians in mind. So it made sense. But in her current situation, it was rather embarrassing. She was nearly face to face with the commander herself, who didn't seem at all bothered by their predicament if the passive expression on her face was any indicator. The stoic woman simply looked forward without saying a word.

Trying not to think about her claustrophobic situation, she instead focused on Shepard's face, hoping the woman didn't look and catch her. Her eyes brushed over the woman's oddly red hair, one of the rarer colors among humans. On that same note, her eyes were green, another rarity. Her skin was slightly pale, which was to be expected from someone who frequented space as much as she did. But the paleness gave way to dark freckles under her eyes and across her cheeks. It was quite cute actually, and not that different from the darker marks under her own eyes.

Moving her eyes back up, they locked onto the commander's hair again. It was such an odd adaptation. It worked to both protect humans from the sun and keep them warm. Yet, humans had no feeling in their hair. They could easily slice a portion of it off and not feel a thing. In fact, they often did as a fashion statement. They cut it, curled it, dyed it, tied it into knots, and wrapped it up into bun-shaped decorations on their head. It was such an odd cultural display.

To add to the mystery, their head wasn't the only place humans had hair. Their eyebrows grew to keep their sweat from rolling into their eyes. The hair that grew there was thinner, and Shepard had suffered a scar that divided one of her brows on one side. She had learned that they also had concentrations of hair under their arms, as well as in their pubic area. Though, males typically had much more hair than females and even grew it on their faces.

Liara looked down for a moment, wondering whether all the hair on Shepard's body was equally as red. As soon as the thought entered her mind, she slapped her armored hands to her face to hide her flushing, which worked against her and immediately alerted Shepard to her distress.

"Everything alright Liara?" asked the commander, who eyed her curiously.

Trying not to look up and give herself away, the asari stuttered horribly. "I-I-I'm fine Shepard! I w-was just thinking about...stuff! Ummm... prothean stuff!" she said, getting a suspicious look from the commander.

"Alright then. Just don't give yourself an aneurysm thinking about it," said Shepard with a small smirk. Liara looked up at the woman's smile, her eyes narrowing in suspicion as she wondered if her commander had caught on. But before she could investigate further, the door to the bathroom opened and Tali could be seen fully suited up. Shepard turned to the girl with a grin. "That was faster than expected?"

"Practice begets perfection," said Tali as she stepped out of the way for them.

Shepard exited the bathroom, quickly followed by the blushing asari. "That was almost a human phrase."

"It's something our teachers burn into our heads while we learn to engineer. Every failure is another step towards success," responded Tali as she sat on the corner of the unmade bed.

"I like that. I might use it later," said Shepard with a grin. "So, ready to test the upgrades?"

"Uhh, I suppose," said Tali nervously as she went to stand.

"Good," replied Shepard and immediately aimed her omni-tool at the quarian.

"Shepard, wait!" shouted Tali as she stumbled back at the sudden attack. However, a display lit up inside her helmet that alerted her. Cyber Attack 99% blocked. She felt a small tingling sensation in her legs that was a thousand times less harmful than the attack she had suffered from her intruder. "Wow... it worked!"

"Was there any doubt?" asked the commander as she put her omni-tool away.

"No, I just shouted in terror and embarrassed myself because I had full confidence," said the quarian cheerfully as she stood and stretched. "Alright, now, we have a criminal to find!"

"Right. And afterward, I have a project I'd like you to help me with Liara," said Shepard, turning to the asari again.

Liara perked up at hearing the offer and nodded. "I'll help any way I can Shepard."

Presidium Transport Lounge - Presidium - Citadel

As the trio approached the location that Chellick had given them, Tali stopped the commander from approaching the dark-haired man sitting in one of the seats with an irate and impatient look on his face.

"Shepard…" said the quarian, getting a curious look from the commander. "I... have an idea."

"An idea besides breaking his arms and legs, then throwing him into a prison for tasing you?" asked Shepard curiously.

"Yeah, listen…" said the quarian as she explained the plan. Shepard's face grew suspicious as she heard her out, however.

"That's awfully lenient," she said as she crossed her armored arms.

"True. But the benefit of throwing him in jail is less than if we use him to our advantage," said the quarian. "Working with the batarians, you've no doubt let some go to... erm... what's the human expression? Catch the bigger fish?"

"Wait, have you been learning human expressions?" asked Shepard, then she shook her head. "Wait, when did you learn that I worked with batarians?" she inquired as she glared at the quarian girl.

Tali looked away immediately and waved her hand dismissively. "J-Just heard it... from places. Rumors mostly, you know. What Williams calls scuttlebutt. That's it!" she responded nervously, immediately trying to deflect the questions. "A-Anyway, what do you think of the plan?"

Shepard's glare dissipated and she snorted. "Fine. I don't know why you're doing this, but you're not wrong. So have it your way. Me and Liara will be watching from the shadows," finished the commander before she grabbed Liara's arm and made their way into the distance.

Tali watched them go before inhaling deep, then exhaling sharply. "Alright Tali, you can do this. Show Shepard you're in control," she said, slapping the sides of her helmet lightly to pump herself up. When she was sure the others were out of sight, she turned towards the man who was currently looking away and began to walk up to him. When she was a few feet from his position, she activated her omni-tool and sent an electric charge at him that made him jump and clench the arms of his chair.

When the shock died down, his face was red from strain, and he began gasping for air before finally noticing that she was sitting next to him. "Ty che, blyad? Where the hell did you come from?" he asked in surprise.

"Sit still, Romeo, and do not move a muscle. Shepard has the back of your head painted right now, and if you move, you die," she threatened as she raised her hand. Suddenly, a glowing green dot appeared on the back of her hand before zeroing in on the back of his neck again. She knew he couldn't see it, but by the look on his face, he could now feel it.

"You expect me to believe your precious Shepard would kill an unarmed man in the middle of a crowded terminal?" he asked, his brow now beading with sweat despite his words.

"She's a Spectre. The Council will complain at her for being messy. But they're not going to punish her for it. Given your recent search history into Shepard and Saren both, you should know that," said Tali cooly as she looked forward. "Why did you let me live?"

"What?" he asked incredulously.

"The only reason you're not either dead or in prison right now is because of me. Now shut up and answer my question!" she snapped impatiently. "Why did you let me live?”

The man sighed and leaned back in his seat, appearing more relaxed than before, but still on edge. "Because I thought you were cute," he said, his accent making her curious about where he was from. "I don't get to see quarians often where I live. You're the first I've seen since I was a kid on the Citadel," he said, his expression defeated from what she could tell.

Tali kept looking forward, her face now cooking inside her helmet at the compliment he had given her. She was thankful he could not make much out through her face shield. "Th-Thank you…" she said, trying her best not to fidget. Finally, she shoved all thoughts of the compliment aside and getting back down to business. "What did Shepard do that made you want to kill her?"

He snorted as he looked away. "She took something that was supposed to put my family on top on Trident. She destroyed it, destroyed the creator, and made a fool of me," he growled in disdain.

"And this slight against you justifies you running headfirst into a pirate killing assassin?" asked Tali as she looked at him. He eyed her in confusion, his look telling her that he had no clue what that was. "Look, you didn't lose family, you didn't even lose money. You lost a potential advantage. Most people who encounter Spectres aren't as lucky. And to get revenge you decide to take on one of the most dangerous people in the galaxy?"

He chuckled lightly at the statement. Though she had not been out of the fleet for that long, she had run into many of his types in the seedier locations on the Citadel. Young people who thought they had seen the world. People who thought that they were wise because they had met with some hardship but were ultimately in a state of premature cynicism. "Please. I know her type. Army lifers who hit the gym and head home and fire up the grill for some family time. I've seen it a thousand times."

"It's unfortunate that you couldn't get this advantage for your family, but it is not worth your life. Trust me, of all the people in the world that you could have walked through that bedroom door, you should praise all of your Earth gods and ancestors that it was me," she said as she activated her omni-tool and sent a video file over to him. He looked at her curiously before opening it and watching on his omni-tool as the Star of Terra was pinned on Shepard’s chest on Terra Nova. Then, it switched over to the carnage from Elysium, and the body pile outside the gate with the headline Shepard's Last Stand, then switched again to a security video of five men standing around before something invisible attacked them ruthlessly. They were all down within seconds. "That last one was particularly hard to find. It was an Alliance training video they added to Shepard’s Spectre file in order to prove her effectiveness. Those men were highly trained Alliance soldiers whose only job during that training was to keep Shepard from getting access to an elevator."

"What the hell did I just watch?" he asked incredulously as he looked over at her.

"A sort of compilation I made of some of Shepard's best work," she said as she looked him dead in the eyes. "You're not dealing with an army lifer. You're dealing with an N7 Spectre. Someone who was hand chosen by both the humans and by a turian Spectre to represent humankind’s first Spectre. Not their tenth where they could maybe ease on expectations. But the first," she said before lowering her voice. "She was chosen because she’s extremely skilled, and she gets the job done." The look on his face made it fairly clear that her message was sinking in. "I'm sure you've seen your share of brutality and horror. But the difference is that while you experience it, she lives it. She creates it. They send her in when those army lifers you despise end up failing."

He released a long-held breath before leaning back in his chair, his perspiration now blatantly obvious. "I-I see," he said, his hands clenching the arms of the chair now.

"You must realize that's why they sent her after Saren, their best Spectre right? They've seen her skill. She doesn't make mistakes, she doesn't leave evidence, and she always sends a message," said Tali, who was having fun teasing the man at this point. “As for you, she wasn’t after you on Trident. If she were-“

"Alright, I get it!" he snapped as he reached up with an arm and wiped his sweat away. "So why are you here? Why didn't she just kill me and get it over with?"

"Because," said the quarian as she pulled out a small data card. "You’re going to apologize to me.” She turned and her eyes narrowed on him.

“I… I’m sorry. Very sorry,” he said with an almost comical expediency.

She nodded. “Good. And you’re going to keep an eye on whatever communicator you have in the future. Doesn’t matter if you change it, she’ll find you,” she said, almost giddy at how much fun she was having. “Someday Shepard may call upon you for a favor. And you’re going to do whatever she asks of you without question.”

His brows furrowed at the claim. “Why would I do this?”

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “I mean, you don’t HAVE to, of course. You can tell her no, or not respond. But I’d prefer not to imagine what she might do…”

She grumbled in irritation as he leaned back in his chair. “Fine…”

"Don't get so down. Consider this a chance to do some good and turn your life around. While I'm sure having your family take over Trident would do you a lot of good, there's so much more you could be doing with your talents," she said in mock cheerfulness.

He nodded and sighed as he slumped back in his seat. After a moment, he gave her a sly smirk. "So, are you going to call me too?”

She felt her cheeks burning once more, before opening her omni-tool. "No, but you do get one more of these. I owe you after all," she said, then hit him with an electric shock once more. As he went rigid, she stood up and walked away from the terminal, leaving him to await his flight.

"Jesus Tali, are you gonna take me to dinner after all that?" asked Shepard as she appeared from seemingly nowhere, making the quarian jump in surprise.

"Keelah Shepard! Don't do that!" she said, shaking off the shock. "Also, I just wanted to get my point across. Nothing I really said was false. And he's not stupid enough to take a risk on what may be a little embellishment," she replied as Liara showed up as well.

Shepard chuckled lightly. "Well, if it works, it works. We now have another asset on Trident in case it's needed. Now, while you were off on your date, I got the call I was waiting for. So Liara, I need you to come with me. Tali, you can go back to the hotel room if you like…"

"No way, Shepard. You're not going on some crazy sting mission and leaving me out," growled Tali, who practically stomped her foot at the thought of being left out.

"Alright alright, but you're going to have to stay in the back. If shit goes south... uh… stuff gets bad, I'm going to need you there to support them," she said as she opened her omni-tool and made a call.

Wards Market Alleyway - Zakera Ward - Citadel

Despite them setting the time thirteen minutes ago, the targets were late. She felt herself wanting to fidget, but Shepard's words echoed in her head. So, she held her hands behind her back and tried to look regal as she waited. But she couldn't help but be nervous. Not so much for her safety, as Wrex, Garrus, and Shepard were right next to her with full armor and weapons. But she didn't want to mess up and end up costing Shepard this catch.

Currently, her expression was locked in one of annoyance for her role, in case there were any watchers. "This is T-Licious from the roof. One of them just stepped past me."

"Tali, why are you calling yourself T-Licious?" asked Shepard over their private line, her confusion apparent in her voice.

"I've been studying your human culture. And It's traditional when you become part of a gang to give yourself a colloquial name relating to food, or dogs... or letters. It was very confusing, but after speaking with people on the human culture forums, they said this name would be... uhh... totally hype?" she said, making sure she got the term correctly.

"We are not in a gang…" grumbled Garrus through his helmet.

Liara could see that it took every ounce of Shepard's will not to slap her own helmeted face. The strain that showed nearly caused Liara to laugh and break her role. "Tali... we need to talk about your consumption of human media. And you talking with trolls on the extranet…" groaned Shepard as she shook her head.

"Trolls? Like those big grotesque creatures from human mythology?" asked Wrex as he looked over.

"Yeah, except now they're big grotesque creatures who mess with people on the extranet," commented Shepard as someone finally showed themselves at the end of the alley. "Alright guys, this is it. Liara, you're up."

"Remember Liara, if they show signs of hostility, go for the optics!" said Tali, whispering over their line and almost causing her to smirk slightly.

"Belay that. Just follow the plan like we practiced," said Shepard, who nearly gasped as the three figures lit up with biotic energy. "Liara...what are you…?" asked Shepard, but she didn't get to finish as the asari stepped forward and spoke.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn’t flay you alive for being fifteen minutes late," she snapped, her face warped into a mask of anger.

Shepard and Garrus looked at her in surprise, and Wrex just took a step away as her elegant form lit up with biotic power.

"Put us down bitch! We have guys on the roof that'll pop that pretty blue head if something happens to us!" shouted the krogan member as he flailed in the air.

"They're both out of commission. One of them even asked for his mother when I took him out," responded Tali in slight amusement.

"My god, I've created monsters…" said Shepard happily as she pulled up her assault rifle and aimed at the dealers.

But all three were released from the hold of Liara's biotics, causing them to smack into the ground none too lightly. The krogan got to his feet and growled in rage. "You're lucky I'm in a hurry or else I'd have them paint the wall with your pretty blue…"

"Just get to the sale you pussle," said Wrex impatiently.

"What the hell did you…?" started the angry krogan again, but he was cut off once more.

"You're here because I need mods, and you sell them. All other idle banter is a distraction, so get to the sale or I leave you in this alley as vermin food and find my mods elsewhere!" growled Liara.

The krogan eyed her, the fire in his eyes making it look like he was about to attack. But instead, he simply said, "Give me the credit chit and you'll get your mods." Nodding to his fellow krogan next to him, the taller of the three pulled out a small briefcase then opened it, showing the mod in question. Shepard walked forward, ignoring the two krogan pointing weapons at her and examined it both with her eyes and her omni-tool before turning to Liara and nodding.

"Looks good," she said as she pulled out a small data card.

"You're damn right it does. I'm the best in the business, and if you need any more, you come to me!" he snapped as one of his krogan comrades walked over and took the chit from her. The head krogan snatched it away from his henchmen and swiped it into his omni-tool before smirking. "Good doing business with you," he said, waving to the case holder, who set the mod on the ground before all three of them turned around and left.

Liara knelt down, closed the case, then picked it up before turning and walking out of the alley with all three of the others behind her. With each step, she could feel her character fading from her. Her face became less angry, her stride became less elegant, and her hands began to shake. "By the Goddess!" she gasped when they met up with Tali and were finally in the aircar.

"That adrenaline finally wearing off?" asked Shepard as she pulled her helmet off.

"W-We don't have that…" said Liara knowingly as she looked at her shaking blue hands.

"Close enough," said the woman with a chuckle.

"Remind me not to piss her off. She's got an evil streak in her," said Wrex as he slumped down. The Citadel aircars weren't the most spacious of vehicles, which meant that he had to squat down to fit.

"Th-Thank you...I think?" said Liara as the car raced towards C-Sec.

Citadel Security - Zakera Ward - Citadel

The others had taken the rapid transit back to the hotel while Shepard walked into the C-Sec offices with the briefcase in hand. She sighed to herself as officers stopped and stared at her again, their eyes either in awe or disapproving as they stepped out of her way.

Finally, she made it to Chellick's office. Opening the door, she stepped inside, then closed the door behind her. "I've got your evidence."

He looked up from his terminal and nodded. "So I heard. Word is that a particularly temperamental asari nearly killed the contact for being late."

Shepard chuckled as she set the case on the desk for him. "A well-played act," she said as she leaned back in the chair and eyed him. "So, are we good now?"

Chellick grabbed the case, then opened it. After a short time of examining the device, he simply nodded. "Looks like this is everything I need. And you have the video files?" Shepard activated her omni-tool and passed the files over. After making sure everything was in order, he closed down the omni-tool, his mandibles twitching. "Shepard, you've helped me solve a two-year long case and assisted in making sure that C-Sec isn't going to be outgunned by the opposition any time soon."

"Glad I could help," she said as she stood up.

He looked up to her, his predator-like eyes looking her over. "How about the second half of the email?" he asked curiously.

She eyed him, unsure of what he meant. "Pardon?"

"Well, originally, I said that you owed me a drink for the heartache of making me lose my mole. But after everything you've done, I thought I could get you one instead. A couple if you'd like, maybe over dinner?" She cocked an eyebrow, no doubt an animation that some turians still wondered about, and grinned. "I hope that isn't appropriate to ask. Technically you are my superior, but also technically, you are also in another branch of government…"

"I don't have enough time left on the Citadel to do it now, but I'll let you know when I return and we can set something up when I'm not busy," she said as turned towards the door.

"Sounds good. A new club just opened up in Zakera called Flux! It has food, drink, a casino, and even dancing if that's your thing," he said, unable to keep the chipper tone out of his voice. She looked back at him with her brows furrowed at the mention of dancing but said nothing.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll give you a ring when I'm back on the Citadel," she said as she closed the door behind her. Letting out a snort, she recalled memories of her high school dance where she was made fun of frequently for her method of dancing. Brushing the thoughts aside, however, she made her way back through the station, ignoring everyone's looks, and left through the front door before heading for a transit unit nearby.

It was then that she was stopped by an asari in a rather fitting formal robe. "Excuse me, Spectre?" asked the woman.

Shepard groaned and looked over to find the asari surprisingly bare faced. Unlike Liara, who had dark spots under her eyes resembling freckles and darker areas above almost resembling human eyebrows, this woman was nearly barefaced. Her eyelids were a shade darker than her skin, but most of the 'asari birthmarks' appeared to be focused on her scalp rather than on her face, leaving her skin almost pristine. "Can I help you?" asked Shepard as she crossed her arms.

"I certainly hope so. I was hoping we could go somewhere more private…" started the woman.

"Look, you're cute and all, but I'm not looking for company right now," said the commander as she activated the terminal and ordered a transit.

Immediately, the asari glared at her. "I am not a courtesan, commander!" she snapped indignantly.

Shepard looked at her curiously as she waited for the car. "Then what do you need? I've got two hours to eat and get paperwork done before I head off the Citadel again. I'm not spending any of it not doing that. If you want privacy, then get in the transit with me and you can explain what you need on the way to the hotel.”

The asari groaned in irritation, but simply nodded and stood next to Shepard as the car finally pulled up. As they both entered the doors closed, and Shepard input the destination. "My name is Nassana Dantius, and I work in the upper echelons of the asari embassy."

"You're not the asari ambassador, so your title is hardly a concern. Just tell me what you need," said Shepard in annoyance as she looked over at the woman. The commander could see the change almost immediately. At first, the asari's face had been soft, almost tearful. But as soon as Shepard spoke, her crocodile tears seemingly vanished, replaced by a sour look.

"Fine. I work high in the ambassador's office, and I've made a grave mistake," she said, her tone now more neutral than anything. "My sister, Dalia, was working on a cargo vessel out on the fringes of the Traverse. Reports had it that the ship was hit by privateers and left without survivors."

"But…" asked Shepard as she listened intently.

"This is where it gets complicated," started the asari as she looked out the window. "Last week, I received a message with her voice in it, saying that she was alive and being held for ransom. The rest of the crew was killed, but she was kept alive. Whether she told them she was valuable, or they targeted her because they knew, I don't know. But the slavers that took her sent the message demanding a ransom."

Shepard's expression darkened at her words. She knew pirates, and even with a ransom paid there was little to know chance her sister was coming back. "And?" she asked, wanting the end of the story.

"And I paid them. But they never released her," said the woman in frustration. "Now, I've endangered my very career because of the policy to never deal with terrorists, all for the sake of my sister who didn't even get released. They even asked me for more money, the bastards!" she snapped angrily.

"So, you want me to go save your sister, and in the process, take out any trace of you breaking Citadel Treaty of Peace Accords," said Shepard, getting a clear enough picture.

"I broke them of my own free will, but I would appeal to your sense of justice. I did it for my sister's sake and meant no harm. I just wanted my sister back…" she said sorrowfully.

Perhaps this woman didn’t know how ruthless pirates in the Traverse were, but her foolishness in trying to deal with them herself almost guaranteed her sister wasn’t alive. Regardless of that, even with her sister’s status in question, Shepard doubted her main concern at this point was her sister. Instead of sharing her thoughts, she simply nodded. "I'll see what I can find. What was the ship that your sister was working on?"

CODEX ENTRIES

Garden | Cultural | Quarian
Due to their unique immune deficiency, quarians must spend time around one another in order to effectively eliminate any side-effects of being around their own family and crew mates. The areas they use to do this on each ship are called gardens, and typically consist of recreation areas, kitchens, and living areas. In this gardens, quarians can commonly be seen without their helmets and suits, playing together, talking, or eating in order to allow their bodies to grow more familiar with those closest to them.

Bubble Suit | Culture | Quarian
Due to their constant growth, quarian children aren’t given suits that fit their body sizes. Instead, they are given suits with room to grow into that sometimes resemble early human astronaut suits. These suits are intentionally spacious inside, with the helmets looking like a mirrored bubble to allow children of a young age to grow and develop without making constant modifications to their more permanent suits.

Hock | Biology | Quarian, Turian, Salarian, Krogan
The hock is the joint between the tarsal bones of the foot and the tibia of the upper leg on any species with digitigrade style legs. Sometimes colloquially referred to as a “backwards knee” by some plantigrade species, this joint configuration allows for faster running and harder kicks in the species that have them.

Chapter 17: Asari Diplomacy

Chapter Text

Combat Information Center - SSV Normandy SR1

Finally, the final preparations were made again. Shepard stood at the galaxy map as the independent gravitational emulators kicked on so that they wouldn't just float off the ground as they left the Citadel's atmosphere. She loved the feeling of escape velocity. The slight thump of the drive core going online, the FTL engine beginning to hum, the gentle pull on her body as the ship began to fly at faster than light speed towards the relay.

Perhaps it was growing up with spacer parents, but she had always loved space. The absolute silence, punctuated by the light of thousands of stars shining brightly as she stared back at them. The serenity of it almost put her to sleep. She also loved the same thing about diving in the sea. They almost shared the same qualities, except in the sea, the stars were replaced by colorful fish and thousands of different sea creatures. Thinking back, her father might have known this from the beginning. Her room on the ships and stations always had posters of stars and space, with model ships sitting on her desk, and a small fake fish tank that acted as both a night light and a soothing backdrop for her sleep. She sighed, remembering how her father would try his best to make her happy. He bought her things for her room, new game systems he thought she might like, and bought her her first omni-tool. He tried hard, but he didn't know the first thing about kids. He was Alliance for life and that was his true love.

That was before he and her mother went separate ways, however. To their credit, they did wait until she was on her own and no longer relied on them. But it still pissed her off that they said next to nothing to her before the day that they split.

"All flight crew to their stations. Taking off Commander," said Joker through the ship comm as the Normandy lifted off from its perch on the Citadel. Reaching out, she tapped the Artemis Tau cluster on the galaxy map, her brows furrowing as she did.

"Why the hell is this cluster so popular?" she asked in irritation as she realized they would be heading right back into the same cluster where she fought a thresher maw, and where she rescued Liara from an active volcano.

"Hey, Commander, I was wondering if I could have a word," said Williams as she stepped up to the dais in the CIC. Shepard selected the destination and set the map to display mode before turning to the gunnery chief.

"What can I do for you, Ash?" she asked in a cheerful manner as she stepped down from the elevated platform.

"Can we go somewhere less... public?" asked the chief, getting a curious eye from Shepard. But she nodded towards the elevator in response. A few minutes later and they were in her quarters with Shepard sitting at her desk and Ash standing nervously.

"What did you need Chief?" asked the commander curiously.

"You used to train Special Forces, right?" asked the woman, whose hands were behind her back at parade rest.

"I did. In fact, if the Alliance hadn't ordered me onto the Normandy that day, that's where I'd still be," she said as she leaned her head into her hand.

Ash was quiet for a long moment. Shepard could see she was struggling with something internally but didn't get the chance to ask before she finally spoke again. "I spoke with Udina while we were on the Citadel. He asked all about how things on the Normandy were, how you were leading, all that basic parental politician talk. But, after all that, he brought up that he thought I would make a good addition to the Special Forces when all this was over."

"Odd hearing a compliment come from his mouth that doesn't benefit him," said Shepard with a smirk.

Ash chuckled lightly, "Right? I thought he was about to ask me out to dinner," she said cheerfully before her face went back to its former seriousness. "Anyway, it got me thinking, you've trained Special Forces. You have the live experience and the training experience. So, I was hoping, maybe... if you had the time of course, if you could train me."

Shepard cocked an eyebrow curiously. "You want me to train you to be Special Forces?" asked the commander curiously, her posture rising at the development.

"I know I won't be certified until I'm officially trained. But I figured that maybe with your help, I could get a head start so that I'm really prepared if I do decide to go for it. And... if, for whatever reason, I don't. Then at least I'll have the benefit of being trained by someone of your caliber," she said solidly as she gazed at the commander with her dark brown eyes.

Shepard stared at her for a long moment, her finger tapping her chin as she stared at Ashley, who was still at parade rest, almost the perfect visual of what a soldier should be. Letting out a small sigh, the spectre sat up in her chair and eyed Ash sternly. "You realize that this isn't your normal training, right? This isn't just going to be pushup, sit-ups, and drinking juice. There's a reason why the dropout rate is around ninety percent."

Ash took in a deep breath and nodded. "Understood Commander. I'd still like to give it a try. Even if it turns out that I'm not up to it, well, at least I gave it a shot. Better than not knowing," she said firmly.

Shepard stared at her briefly before finally nodding. "Alright then. I'll do you the favor of skipping over the usual demeaning bullshit they make us do as drill instructors. But I'm not going to go any less easy on you."

"Wouldn't have it any other way sir," said Williams with a grin on her face. "And... thanks again Shepard. I know this is a big favor to ask. I appreciate you helping me out."

"You may want to save your thanks until you’ve survived. But if you're good for the position Williams, then you'd be doing us both a favor. Honestly, I'd prefer if everyone was trained like this in case of the unfortunate event that Saren gets his hands on them. But I know that they're fairly safe on the Normandy," she said as she stood up and stretched. “We'll start what training we can after we get back from Artemis Tau. I need you with all your facilities when we hit the ground," said the woman as she planted her hands on her hips.

Ash's eyes widened slightly at the words. "I see, so the training is going to require a rest period?"

"You're going to be a different person coming out of it," said Shepard, her face a mask of no-nonsense. "You won't be resting as much as recovering.”

"U-Understood," said Williams as she nodded. "Thanks again Shepard," she said then turned and left the room.

Mess Hall - SSV Normandy SR1

Kaidan was startled as he entered the mess hall and a high-pitched squeal hit his ears. He looked around to find Joker and Tali both eating at the mess tables, and Mess Sergeant Lowe standing at the counter, eyeing him curiously. He had just spent some time in the training hall with the turian fire team, learning more about their workout routines, then decided to get in a shower before he hit up the mess hall for food. Currently, he was in little more than a fresh set of his PT uniform.

Walking over to the counter, he ordered his food and grabbed the tray, then walked over to the table with the two. Immediately, as he sat down on Jeff's side across from Tali, he noticed the man with a sour look on his face. "What's the matter Joker? The food not to your liking?" asked the Lieutenant as he began to stir up his oatmeal.

"Always get left out. Who would want to see something no human in existence has seen? Certainly not me because I would rather go see a doctor every time we stop at the Citadel to keep my bones from shattering!" he muttered before angrily shoving food into his mouth.

Kaidan looked at him, stunned at his words before hearing Tali start sniffling. Looking over at the quarian, her head jerked back as she clenched onto a small tube of food with one hand, the squeal from earlier happening again as she sneezed loudly. "Ughh…" groaned Tali, her eyes clearly displaying her agitation through her face shield.

"Someone want to fill me in?" he asked curiously as he eyed the young engineer.

"Joker is upset that Shepard and Liara got to see my face," she said as she replaced the feeding tube back into the small vial of mashed turian rations.

The lieutenant's eyes widened, his collar burning lightly as he thought about the statement. "How did that happen?" he asked, immediately cramming oatmeal into his mouth to keep from showing his disappointment as well.

"Shepard pitched in so that I could get some new armor. She also wanted to install software upgrades to help against cyber combat, but to do that she needed me out of my suit," she said before sneezing again. This time, she laid her head on the table and sighed. "So, we found a place that has clean room facilities, and she installed the stuff into my suit…"

"Ah, I get it. But wait, if that's the case then why are you sick?" he asked curiously.

Sighing heavily as her speech betrayed that her sinuses were backed up as well, Tali gave up on the tube of food and set it aside. "I told Shepard and Liara to take their helmets off. It's part of the culture of the quarians to spend recreation time without our helmets on so we can get used to one another. After a couple weeks, the reactions go away, and we can work together without incident. I wanted the same for the crew of the Normandy, but there are no cleanroom facilities on the ship, so I had to do it on the Citadel. And now, I pay the price," she groaned as she laid with her head on the table.

"I see. Well, I wish I could have been there," said the lieutenant as he looked over and found Joker staring at him curiously. "What?"

"I wanted to see because I'm curious, any normal person would be too. But you sound like you were jealous for a second…" said Jeff as he spied the lieutenant.

Kaidan glared at Joker as he clenched his spoon. "Hey Jeff?"

"Yes Kaidan?" asked the pilot with a sly grin.

"If you don't want your walk back to the cockpit to be filled with the sound of rattling bones, I'd suggest you forgo this line of dialogue," said Alenko in a threatening manner.

"Ha!" shouted Joker as he clapped his hands. "I knew it!"

"What? What's happening?" asked Tali as she looked up from her pool of suffering inside her helmet.

"Oh, nothing at all," said the lieutenant with a smile as he stomped dangerous close to Joker's foot.

"Hey! I got it! Sheesh!" complained the pilot as he got up from his seat and wobbled off towards the stairs that led up to the cockpit.

Tali watched him go before turning to Alenko. "Sorry if I'm not good company right now. Being sick kinda makes me delirious."

The man chuckled and shook his head. "No worries. I hope you get to feeling better soon though. Wouldn't want you to miss any action," he said as he finished off his food. "So, Tali, do you intend to keep trying to do this in the future?"

"Now probably isn't a good time to ask. I'm more likely to swear it off when I'm actually sick because if it," she said, trying to chuckle, but she only ended up sneezing again. "Urgoborhgishin…" she muttered incoherently as she laid her head flat again. "I do want to. It has been shown in our history that we can adapt to other species. But only to individuals. Without serious medical and cybernetic assistance, there's no way a quarian would ever be able to simply walk around without their helmet on. We can acclimate to small environments, and small groups of individuals. But too much exposure can still cause us severe harm. And walking around in that petri dish known as the Citadel without any kind of protection would almost certainly kill us," she said as she leaned her head up onto her hand.

"I see…" said Kaidan as he scratched his chin in thought. For the first time in a long time, he felt scruff against his finger. "By the way, when is your birthday?" he asked her curiously.

"My birth... day? Like, the day I was born? Why would you want to know that?" she asked curiously as she eyed him through her pale faceplate.

"Humans have a habit of celebrating the day of one's birth every year. Or most humans do anyway," he said with a genuine smile. "I heard you were recently studying human culture, so I thought we could throw you a party so you can see one of our holidays firsthand," he said as he folded his arms.

"I see. In that case, I'd love to participate," she said as she brought up the calendar on her omni-tool. "Let's see. My birthday...translated to Earth-time...it's the last day of Oc...Ocot...Octoooober?" she asked, looking up at him as the strange word was translated to Khelish for her eyes.

"Your birthday is on Halloween?" he asked incredulously.

"Hallow-what?" she asked in confusion as she put her omni-tool away.

"That makes things a lot more interesting…" he said as he scratched his chin again. "Anyway, I should go see if they need me on the bridge. I hope you get to feeling better soon," he said as he stood up and headed back to the crew quarters.

"Oh, alright! Thanks Kaiden'Alenko!" she said as she waved similarly to a human before slumping back onto the table.

Kaidan left the mess hall and frowned as he headed back to his room, a loud sigh accenting his steps. "I suppose this means I'll have to learn the others as well…"

Armory - SSV Normandy SR1

"Alright. Ash, Liara, and Wrex are coming with me this time to find the asari we're looking for. Garrus, Kaidan, you two stay primed in case you're needed. And Tali…" said Shepard, getting a miserable look from the quarian. "Get some rest."

"Acknowledged," said the quarian as she wandered off back to her quarters.

Reaching up onto the racks, Ash tossed them their weapons as Wrex flexed his neck. "About time. I was starting to get some rust on me from sitting down here in your cargo area."

Ash eyed him with a small smirk. "Starting to? Come on old man, I can hear you creaking from over here," she said as she tossed him his particularly lethal shotgun.

As he caught the weapon, his reptilian-like lips curled into a smile. "Heh, that creaking is a death knell for most," he said smartly as he cocked the shotgun, causing the heat sink to fly out before he caught it. Inspecting it, he slapped it back into the weapon and cocked it again to lock it into place.

"What's the matter big guy, don't trust me?" asked Ash as she stood in her regular ACU uniform behind the table with her hands flat on its surface, putting most of her weight onto them.

"Anyone who doesn't do his own check of his weapon before a potential battle deserves to have it explode in his face," said the krogan as he inspected the shotgun. "Though I do have to say, you know what you're doing when it comes to maintenance. I don't think this old girl has ever worked this well, even when she was new."

"A compliment from the skull crusher? I'll take it," said the chief as she turned and closed the racks that she had just pulled the weapons from.

"Don't get used to it," said Wrex with a chuckle as he walked out of the armory and headed for the Mako bay.

Liara stared at Ash curiously until the gunnery chief noticed her. "What?" asked Williams as she eyed the asari.

"Krogan rarely ever compliment anyone, even each other. You must have impressed him," she said with a small smile on her blue lips.

Ash shrugged and leaned on the counter again. "Not hard to do if you're skilled," she said with a small smirk. But her smile vanished when Liara's expression changed as well.

"Oh... I see," said the asari woman as she took her helmet and exited the room too.

Shepard gave Ash a stern look and the chief raised her arms defensively. "That didn't mean to sound as condescending as it did," she said with a sigh.

"I hope not," said the commander as she secured her weapons to their magnetic slots on her back before leaving the armory shortly after.

Ashley smacked her forehead gently with a sigh. "Always with the mouth Williams. Good job…"

M5 Mako Cabin - Surface of Sharjila

"Alright, guys. Keep your pressure stabilizers active until we're in an environment where the pressure evens out. If you let it off too soon, you'll be crushed like a soda can," said the commander as she grabbed the wheel. Then she looked over and glared at Wrex. "Including you, tough guy," she snapped.

The krogan grunted in annoyance. "Why are you singling me out?"

"Because I know you, Wrex. Surviving as long as you have can sometimes give you a feeling of invincibility. And while krogan may be able to survive the burning surface of a poisonous planet, atmospheric pressure does not discriminate. Gravity is the ultimate creator and the ultimate destroyer, so do not screw around,” she said firmly.

"Alright dabba, I got it," he said with a growl as he pressurized his suit. The atmosphere inside the Mako was already pressurized, but Shepard didn't want any risks.

"Be a good boy and I might get you a toy on the way back to the Citadel," said Shepard smartly as she began to drive the vehicle towards the location of the downed vessel.

"Ha ha. Real funny Shepard," he growled as he watched the computer-generated scans of the landscape. "I don't think you could handle a krogan baby."

"Maybe we'll find out one day," she said as she began the drive. "Pressly, send the coordinates of the ship down to the Mako."

"Uhh... Commander, according to Gladstone, there's a trail of ship parts leading all the way to the structure we mentioned," came Pressly's voice over the comm.

"Affirmative. There likely won't be anything salvageable in the pieces, so we're going to head straight to the landing zone," said the commander as she drove the mako over the hill. The entire planet was a rich, earthy brown color that was plagued by harsh winds. The power of the mako cut through the wind however and led them directly to a small outpost with the ship they had tracked down sitting outside of it. True to Pressly's words, it was barely holding together. Whoever attacked it cared little for the wellbeing of those on board. "Pirates."

"Good. I was hoping I'd be able to shoot something this time around," said the krogan as he flexed his neck.

"Take it slow Wrex. We're here to find a potential hostage. Save the shooting for when it's strictly needed," she said as she sighed to herself and opened her comms. "Pressly, do you have comms coming from the base?"

"Affirmative Commander. They know you're out there. Apparently, a sniper outside the base spotted you a ways off," came the XO's report.

"Good. Contact the base, get ahold of their leader, and send them this message: By order of Spectre Jane Shepard, you are to stand down. We have an M5 Mako with its cannons aimed directly at you, and we also have an Alliance and Hierarchy class frigate orbiting above with its Excalibur Canon focused directly on your base. The ground party is going to enter the base shortly and you are to cooperate. If you refuse, your entire outpost will be turned into a crater. Clear?" asked the commander.

"Understood Commander, sending transmission now and aiming the big guns just in case," responded Pressly.

"Try not to get too trigger happy this time Pressley. Shepard out," she said with a grin.

In a matter of minutes, a party of three of the pirates exited the compound and waved towards the mako. Shepard drove up to the three and unsealed the hatch, telling everyone to wait as it equalized the pressure. When everything was good, she popped the hatch and climbed out herself. Following came Liara, then Ash, then finally Wrex, who jumped off the tank and slammed into dirt hard enough to send up a cloud of dust.

Immediately the three men stopped in their tracks nervously as they noticed the massive creature who was now flexing his limbs. Shepard stepped towards the three and nodded. "Not to sound cliche but take me to your leader. I have something to discuss with them," she ordered, getting a nod from the leader of the trio. "And tell your boys not to touch the Mako. If they do, an electrical pulse will stop their heart."

He looked at her through the visor of his helmet before nodding again. “She said to bring you right to her. This way," said the man as he turned back towards the outpost.

Turning to the others, Shepard gestured towards the base and followed the man. They were led inside a pressurizing chamber, before the doors opened up to a bay floor with cargo strewn about, previously being unpacked. It was no doubt the cargo that was being transported by the ship outside, now sitting in a pirate warehouse being unloaded. Or it was being unloaded until they arrived. Now, every single pirate on the base stood, staring at the party of four with weapons in hand as they marched across the warehouse-like structure and into a small room in the back.

Once the door to the office was opened, the escort just waved them into the room and stood next to the door like sentinels. Shepard stepped inside to find an asari in armor, minus a helmet, glaring at her. "If you were Alliance, you wouldn't be talking to me right now. You'd be charging in guns blazing. So how about you tell me why the fuck you decided to threaten me, and then think it's a good idea to stroll on into my base!" snapped the woman as she slammed her hands onto the desk.

"Calm down," ordered the commander as she squared off with the woman. "My coming inside is a courtesy to you. I very well could have driven my tank straight up your ass and found the information I was looking for afterward. So, if you don't want that to become your near future, I suggest you quit running your mouth!"

The asari exhaled deeply before putting on a mock smile. "Alright then, welcome and thank you for not blowing me and my men to shreds! Now, what can I do for you?" she asked in a scathing tone that made Shepard want to chuckle.

"The ship you have outside had an important crew member on it. I'm here to find out if they survived or were killed. That's it," said the commander.

"Shepard, that ship was just recently taken down. Didn't Nassana say that it was taken down a week ago?" asked Liara over their private line.

"I noticed that. Something here isn't adding up, and I'm about to find out what," replied Shepard before activating her external speaker again.

"Fair enough. If you want the manifest, it should be in the ship’s logs. I can tell you right now that there were no survivors when it landed," said the asari in annoyance. "Just out of curiosity, who was it you were looking for? I'd like to know so I can kick my men's ass for killing someone worth enough to send a Spectre after us," she said with a slight smirk.

"Sorry tiger, but I'm not giving you a target for revenge. Once I'm out of here, you can do all the investigating you want," said Shepard as she took the manifests and read through them, looking for a familiar name. "Just out of curiosity, how long has that ship been out there?"

"We just took it a few days ago. The boys dragged it back today and we got what cargo didn't fall out during reentry," she said, giving Shepard somewhat of a curious smile. "So, Spectre Jane Shepard. I saw you get inducted, and ever since I've heard a lot about you. My sister says that ever since you became a Spectre, you got C-Sec shaking in their boots," she said with a small smile. "I like a woman with that kind of power…"

Shepard snorted inside her helmet, but simply shook her head. "Your sister is mistaken. Unless she works for C-Sec or relatively high up on the Citadel, then she likely wouldn't even know when I'm on the Citadel, let alone my interactions with C-Sec."

As Shepard read through the logs and spoke with the head of the small pirate gang, Liara focused on her. She had hoped to start a conversation with one of the other two but didn't want to interrupt Ash's stern attentiveness as she stood sentry next to Shepard. And Wrex just looked bored, leading her to believe that a conversation wasn't what he was looking for. So instead, she decided to keep her attention on the commander.

It made her flush lightly to think it, but she had grown to admire Shepard. No matter what the situation, Shepard always seemed to have a clear head. Her sharp eyes were always focused on what was in front of her as if she had a VI hidden deep within her mind that allowed her to scan everything she saw. And despite everything, the Council's lack of cooperation, her own ambassador's hidden agenda, or even apparently someone hunting her down and trying to kill her, she always kept a cool head. She was as immovable as a planet, standing strong despite nearby stars blasting it with radiation and heat.

But even that wasn't her most admirable quality. Liara had only been aboard the Normandy for a short time, but even in that small window, she could see what made Shepard amazing. Most leaders, even the calm, diplomatic asari expect orders to be followed, and to never question one's superiors. The asari military, simply known as the Thessian Armed Legion was a juggernaut of rigid militaristic standards, where your rank mattered more than your character. Yet, despite holding one of the highest positions in the entirety of galactic civilization, Shepard didn't look down on any of her crew or consider them beneath her.

She worked the make them as good as her at everything they did. From upgrading Tali's suit and teaching her infiltration techniques, to training with the turian fire team in the gym, to even helping Liara herself improve her combat skills. She smiled in admiration as the woman she had chosen to follow had indeed shown herself to be a wonderful leader. Finally, the asari's eyes turned towards the pirate in the room, and her expression froze in shock.

"Well, don't you look the heel. As it turns out, my sister works in the embassy," said the woman with a smug smile as if she had just trumped Shepard. But her smile vanished when everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at her in shock. "What?"

"Shepard…" started Liara through their private channel again. "Her birthmarks match Nassana's!" said the asari privately, her senses on high alert.

"What? What happened?" asked the pirate as she looked between them. "You all lost your jolly demeanors as soon as I brought up…" started the woman before a look of shock covered her face. "Nassana!" she snapped angrily. Immediately, she reached behind her and pulled out a shotgun before aiming directly at Shepard.

But blue energy exploded in the room as Liara threw a hand forward, her lumiline triggering as she saw Shepard in danger. Immediately, her unstable biotics locked both Shepard and the woman into a biotic stasis that prevented either of them from moving. Ash stumbled backward as the woman then charged forward and slammed her hand into the shotgun-wielding asari's chest. The explosion of her biotic power sent the pirate’s form slamming into the far wall hard enough to shatter nearly every bone in her body. In one last gasp, the woman reached for her weapon, but Liara aimed a warp that crushed any remaining life out of the asari.

"Haha, yeah! Now we're talking!" shouted Wrex from the door as gunfire began to ping off his shield. Picking up his own shotgun, he let out a battle cry before charging into the room and slamming into the sentinels that guarded the door to the back room.

"Is she gonna be alright?" came Ashley's voice as she took a moment to check on Shepard, who was still locked in Liara's biotic attack. But Liara immediately spun around and burst through the door after Wrex with both hands ablaze with dark energy. The krogan had already laid waste to a half dozen of the pirates and was currently across the room slamming one of their heads between an open crate and its lid. Turning her gaze, she saw two men taking cover behind a plasteel crate while popping out to fire shots towards Wrex. Reaching out, she lifted the crate with her biotics before using it as a battering ram and slamming the two men between it and a wall, causing a resounding groan of pain to echo through the room.

"Now you're gettin' it girl!" came Wrex's shout as he approached her. "There's a few on the balcony. Wanna help me get up there?" he asked almost jovially as he pointed up on a second-floor mezzanine. Using her biotics again, she lifted the krogan up gently, then tossed him towards the location of two hiding men that had been taking potshots from above. The krogan's landing was met with a resounding crunch, as well as a cheer from the mercenary. "Haha! Yeah! Score!"

Finally, gunfire erupted from behind her as Shepard and Williams both emerged with their own guns. Shepard's pistol splattered the head of one attacker that Liara had missed, who popped his head up to get a shot off. "Where'd Wrex go?" asked Shepard as she looked at the asari woman whose fire was now dying down.

"I... I-I threw him…" said Liara as she felt her heartbeat rapidly in her chest.

"Threw him where?" asked Shepard in annoyance. Suddenly, a screaming man was sent over the rail of the mezzanine where he crashed onto the ground with a sickening crunch.

"Hey, Shepard! I hear humans like to play catch! Wanna play?" yelled the krogan as he tossed another one over.

Shepard shook her head in amusement, her pistol up and blasting a hole through the flier's head before he even hit the ground. "Playtime's over Wrex! Time to go home!"

"Wait! I got two more! Williams! Catch!" he shouted as he threw the man. Ash aimed with her assault rifle and silenced the man's screams before he too hit the ground in the pile.

Finally, Wrex held up the last of the men, a human with a receding hairline and a terrified look on his face. "P-Please! Krogan! Sir! Please let me go! I surrender!"

Wrex looked at him through his helmet before letting out a deep chuckle. "Heh, poor choice of words." Suddenly, the man started to scream as Wrex let him go, causing him to fall down to the next floor and land hard enough to snap his shin. The man screamed louder before Wrex jumped the railing on the mezzanine and landed with both feet directly on the man, making both Liara and Ash turn away at the sickening crunch. "Sorry about that. Was doing a little upstairs cleaning…"

"By dirtying the downstairs…" said Ash as she eyed the krogan.

"You don't have that sour look on your face like you just smelled varren droppings anymore. You must be warming up to me," said Wrex with a chuckle.

"I've learned to tolerate your... methods," said the soldier as she turned to Shepard. "Soooo... does this mean we failed since Barbie the Blue Barbarian here just eighty-sixed the sister?"

"I... I apologize. I just reacted! I didn't mean to…!" started Liara, her speech stuttering as she looked at her hands.

"Calm down Liara, it's fine," said Shepard, getting a surprised look from the others as she opened her omni-tool. "Dalia has been in contact with her sister for a while. In fact, Nassana told Dalia about this specific shipment that was being moved."

"Wait, then why would she…" started Ash, who then stopped and glared through her visor. "That conniving bitch!"

"That's what you get for doing favors, Shepard. You open yourself to people using you," said Wrex as he walked past them and headed towards one of the crates and began to pick through it.

"Nassana used you to kill her sister? Why?" asked Liara as she continued to shake off the numbing feeling that the lumiline had on her.

"I'm gonna find out soon enough…" said the commander as she began heading for the door.

"Hey Shepard!" came Wrex's call, getting the woman's attention. "This is some pretty good stuff. Sells well even on the clean markets. You might consider cataloging it and selling it since they're not using it."

Shepard eyed the krogan briefly before walking over and looking in the box. "All of the original owners are dead, we have no leads as to where they were going since the ship's computer was destroyed with it. I guess there's no point in letting these sit here and rot," she said as she closed the lid on the set. "I'll have Tyson come down and catalog everything, then we'll see if C-Sec wants a piece of it."

Cargo Bay - SSV Normandy SR1

"And that's the last of it. Estimates with my sources range on the high side of a couple hundred thousand credits. And that's on a bad day," said the supply officer as he looked over his list. "You've got weapons, mods, tactical gear, ship parts. Hell, most of this stuff is illegal in Council Space. Whoever those pirates stole this stuff from was already into some shady stuff if they were out here with all of this military grade equipment."

"Grand. So, we may have just ended a smuggling ring," said Shepard as she scratched her fiery red hair.

"To be honest, it did look like she was trying to keep you in the office. The guides led you straight to her and she kept looking at the door. She was probably hoping to get you out of there before you could see what was in the boxes," said Ash from nearby as she scanned the equipment as well.

"There's a good chance she thought we were there because of the equipment. Well, regardless, this should more than cover the costs of the armor purchased recently. So that's good," she said as she opened her omni-tool. "Joker, set a course for the Citadel. I have an asari to strangle," she said with a growl.

"Uhhh... Commander, we just got a burst from Alliance Command. You might want to hear this," said the pilot.

Shepard raised an eyebrow curiously at the statement but nodded. "Understood. I'll be up in a moment," she said as she turned to the others. "Ash, lock down all of these crates in the armory. I don't want anyone even looking at the boxes without getting clearance through me first. Wrex…" said the woman as she turned to the krogan.

"Shepard," responded the mercenary.

"Normally I don't feel the need to post door guards in the armory at night, but I want a night shift just in case," she said sternly.

Wrex looked like he was going to say something but just nodded. "Williams can come to get me when she's off shift and I'll take over from there."

"Thanks. Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have to take this," she said as she briskly stepped towards the elevator. As the agonizingly slow lift took her up to the CIC, she began to wonder why Alliance Command would be contacting her directly rather than going through Udina.

"We're next to a comm buoy, so you can get a live feed," responded the pilot.

"Appreciate it. In that case, I'll take the call in my quarters," she said as she hit the button for the next floor rather than the CIC. When it opened, she immediately stepped off the lift and headed for her room, where she opened her terminal and activated its security measures. Almost immediately, a familiar face popped up on the screen. His visage was worn down and scarred, things he attributed to the First Contact War when he was a fresh lieutenant. His face was wrinkled, especially at the corners of his eyes, and his onyx black hair was now heavily streaked with grey.

"Been a while Admiral," said Shepard, her eyebrow raising in curiosity. She hadn't talked to him since the year prior to her induction, back when she was first stationed on Luna.

"Indeed it has Spectre. I regret that I wasn't able to be there for your induction into Spectrehood," said the man, his steely eyes as stern as they had always been.

"It's alright Admiral. It was kind of an on-the-spot thing. No preparation at all given the circumstances," she replied before eyeing his holographic face. "So, Admiral, what can I do for you?"

She couldn't hear it, but she could visibly see the sigh of frustration on his face. "I find myself in the unfortunate position of asking for your assistance, Spectre," said the man before clearing his throat. "You remember Project Valkyrie in the Virgo Wing of Armstrong Station?"

"I do…" she said, glaring suspiciously at him. Project Valkyrie was a training simulator for Special Forces back on Luna. It was the first real experience that trainees ever got. They walked in with real weapons, armor, and equipment, and had to fight off a VI powered simulation that fired back extremely powerful, but non-lethal rounds. She and a few others had been the first to test the facility, after its inception a year prior. Her first time through ended with her waking up the next day with a concussion. It took her two months of weekly tries to finally complete the course, and when she did, she became the first to earn the Valkyrie Certification that soon after became mandatory for Special Forces.

"It's had... some complications…" said the Admiral unsurely.

"Don't mince words with me, Admiral. You know my policy on information," snapped Shepard impatiently as she saw him using vague terminology.

"Sorry Shepard, it's just hard to know exactly where things went wrong," he said as he stared her dead in the eyes.

"Start with the current situation," said the Spectre sternly.

"The entire Valkyrie Wing as we know it has been locked down, and all communications in or out of the facility have been severed to keep any... leaks from getting out. And we have a team of soldiers, six to be exact, inside under unknown conditions. Four from the fireteam that went in and two recovery agents that haven't returned as well," replied the Admiral with a weary sigh.

Shepard immediately latched onto the mention of leaks. "What kind of leaks?"

"I was told that shortly before the Valkyrie System went haywire, the team that programs the VI algorithms said that they planned on trying to make the VI smarter and more tactical," he started, getting a glare from the spectre.

"They wanted to make a simulator with a five percent passing rate even smarter!?" she asked as she clenched her fist. "Admiral, do you have any idea what it means when a VI goes off its rails like this? It either means a critical error was made on the part of the designers, or that the VI has…"

"I want to be one hundred percent clear about something, Commander. What these men did is well within the legal limits of the law. We are not dealing with an artificial intelligence here!" he snapped firmly.

"Then explain to me why you can't turn it off!" she retaliated, practically fuming at the carelessness of the men responsible.

"Because we can't get back inside the facility," said the admiral with a sigh. "Ever since this morning, it took over the turrets on the outside of the Skuld, Göndul, and Hildr buildings as well. Anything that approaches gets shot down, anyone approaching on foot would get shredded before they could even reach the doors. We could bring in support from Earth or Arcturus, but even if we did find some way to bring down the turrets, we'll still be sending men in after the others."

"And you can't destroy the facility because of the soldiers inside…" she groaned as she rubbed her head. "Armstrong Station is a Special Forces base, Admiral. Why did you call me specifically?"

"Because Shepard, you and Commander Paine have fought this thing before all the kinks were smoothed out in the programming. You've been in there, you've trained in there, you know every corner of every hall. And…" he said as his brows furrowed. "I have immense faith that you would be able to pull off what we could not."

"I appreciate the confidence, Admiral. But you know that someone's hands are going to be painted red for this. You can't just 'minor error in programming' this away. As Fifth Fleet Commander, you know that someone has to take responsibility," she said as she eyed him.

"I'm aware Shepard. But we'll deal with that when we get to it. Right now, I just want my men out of there alive," he said firmly.

"Alright Admiral, I'll set a course there. We are only a single jump away, so it shouldn't be more than a few hours at most," she said as she stood up from the computer.

"Thank you, Spectre. I'll get the paperwork ready for your arrival," he said before cutting the call off.

The commander sighed to herself and rubbed her face. "Looks like the Citadel will have to wait for a bit longer," she said as she opened her omni-tool again. "Joker, set a course for Armstrong Station on Luna asap. Get us there as soon as you can," she ordered before standing up again and heading back down to the armory. "There goes my afternoon…" she complained, wondering if Wrex's words about doing favors were correct.

CODEX ENTRIES

Dabba | Culture | Krogan
Given the rarity of motherhood among modern krogan, it is even rarer for a krogan mother to raise her child by herself. Instead, children born are raised by the community, including other krogan women who are not the birth mother. These nurse mothers are simply called “dabba,” a krogan word that means “cranky one.”

Lumiline | Biology | Asari
Unlike other species who have adrenaline-based survival responses, asari instead have what’s known as lumiline. When the fight or flight response in an asari is triggered, lumiline is pumped into their system which enhances the strength of biotics while also making them less stable. Unlike with adrenaline, where the effects are much more hidden, an asari experiencing fight or flight will sometimes be unable to contain the biotic aura around them, making them look threatening to potential attackers.

Chapter 18: Liberating Luna

Chapter Text

Hangar Bay - Armstrong Station

The Normandy made a relatively smooth landing at Armstrong Station, the Alliance Special Forces training facility located near the flag that was placed on the moon's surface back in 1969 CE. As the frigate landed, the entire ground team crew crammed themselves into the small shuttle before landing in the Alliance hangar.

As soon as the hatch popped, Garrus and Liara both fell out face first due to how tightly they were packed inside. "Wrex, you wanna lay off the gravy?" asked Garrus as he slowly got to his feet.

"How about I give you a hug instead, that way that large chest of yours isn't taking up so much room?" said the krogan as he stepped out of the pod, no worse for wear.

"Spectre," came the words from the Admiral as he stepped up to the vehicle. "I take it these are the crew you mentioned?"

"All accounted for. One krogan, one asari, one turian, and two humans. The quarian you don't need to worry about, her suit stays on under any circumstances," said Shepard as she removed herself from the cockpit of the vehicle and approached the admiral. Reaching up, she removed her helmet and nodded. "Where are the medical stations set up?"

"If you'll all kindly follow me," said the admiral as he nodded to them and began walking towards the far end of the hangar where a bunch of tents were set up. Stepping up to the first one, he held up his hand. "Miss T'Soni, if you wouldn't mind, our medical staff would like to make sure you aren't bringing any contaminants in your system," he said, getting a nod from the asari before she stepped inside. Then came the next tent. "Vakarian," he said, and the turian ducked his tall head as he stepped inside the tent. "Urdnot…" said the admiral with a stern gaze. It was clear that he didn't approve of the krogan being here.

"Why are humans always so afraid of disease? If we were to contaminate the place, then that'd kill your weak," said the krogan as he shook his head.

"Wrex…" growled Shepard as she narrowed her eyes.

"Ugh, fine. But tell them I'm not getting naked for anyone…" he said as he opened the tent flap to find a human woman that was larger around than the ones he had normally seen. "Hmmm... on second thought…" he said as he entered the tent.

"Williams and Shepard, you two can use this tent. The staff should already be inside. Alenko, if you'll come with me," ordered the admiral, getting a nod from the stoic lieutenant.

Shepard and Ash entered the tent together and Ash finally took off her helmet as they sat in front of the doctor. "Please remove your armor and any clothing underneath," said the medic as she typed away at a datapad.

"Does this count as fraternization?" asked Ash smartly as she reached up and began undressing.

"Only if you start fondling me Williams," said Shepard as she followed suit.

"I'll keep my mitts to myself, sir," said Ash as she finished her armor and pulled off her top. When the pair were finally naked in front of the professional, the woman reached down and handed them two small thin strips of metal.

"Place one of these in your mouths under the tongue, and one under one of your armpits," commanded the doctor as she finally looked up from the data pad. The soldiers followed her order. "Good, now hand them here," she said as she took the strips and slid them into a small device. "Now, both of you please raise your arms up and and do a full circle for me," she said, allowing her eyes to thoroughly examine their forms. "Have either of you had any sexual contact with any species outside of humans in the last year?"

"In the last year? No," answered Shepard as she finished her full rotation.

"That's a negative on me, ever," said Ash as she eyed Shepard curiously. Suddenly, her eyes grazed an oddly shaped marking on the commander's body, just over her breast. It was unfamiliar symbolism to her. She found herself wondering if it was some kind of tattoo, or maybe just a burn mark. "Been a while since I had an exam this thorough," said Ash jokingly as she too stood facing forward again, allowing the nurse to see if there were any odd skin afflictions or signs of disease. She noticed Shepard’s scar, then looked down at her datapad. Ash caught the tail end of the medical note that simply said [Burn Scar – Torso: CLASSIFIED].

"We have to be unfortunately, especially with turians in your group. Being dextro-amino, most diseases between our species would simply die off, which is all well and good. But it’s the ones that don’t we have to watch out for," said the woman, and Ash nodded gently.

"There’s bacteria that don’t die off?" said the gunnery chief.

"That's right. Bacteria that can survive both levo-amino and dextro-amino species are especially dangerous. They can freely spread and breed between the two until it eventually mutates, and then begins to kill," said the nurse as she held up a small medical looking pistol device. "Now hold still please."

"How often does that happen exactly?” asked Ash as the doctor put the pistol-like device against her hip and hit the trigger. She felt a small sting, causing her brows to furrow as the woman took a blood sample.

"The mutating? All the time. Humans and turians work together on the Citadel frequently. Most of the mutations are relatively harmless," said the woman as she looked up from her datapad. "But the thing about bacteria is that there's millions, even billions of them. Most of the billions die, some don’t and mutate. But all it takes is one lethal mutation to jump from a turian to a human. We had one guy a while ago trying to come back to Earth to get medical attention. Poor guy looked like he'd been hit with the plague. Black patches of necrotic skin, rashes everywhere, trouble breathing, trouble seeing... we had to contain him. As it turns out, he caught something from a turian woman on Illium that he said he paid to go raw on."

Ash's face warped to disgust. "Ugh... he was eaten alive by a turian STD?" she asked in horror as the woman took a sample of Shepard's blood as well, nodding as she did.

"And he paid for it, literally and figuratively. We had to contain him, and we couldn't figure out how to fight it while he was still alive. Eventually, the thing got to his heart and stopped it," she said as she shook her head and tested the blood. "Luckily, what he had wasn't airborne, or else the party that found him might've been infected too."

"And before you ask, Ash, because I know you're going to, yes. They were all checked before I let them on the Normandy, with the exception of Liara, who was checked by Doctor Chakwas as soon as she boarded," said Shepard as the woman stood up with a small penlight.

"Open your eyes wide for me," she ordered as she shined the focused light across their eyes. "Spectre, have you been getting enough sleep? Your eyes look like you've missed a few days," she said, raising her eyebrow slightly.

"I'm a Spectre now. That means less sleep, unfortunately," she said, getting a nod from the doctor and a curious look from Ash.

You won't be a very effective Spectre if you aren't sleeping properly. Don't let the ads lie to you and convince you that stims are an easy replacement. Because they're not," she said sternly before smiling. "Otherwise, you're both good to go. Feel free to get dressed and meet the Admiral outside. He should be waiting for you.

As the doctor left, Ash bent down and began to pull her clothing back on. "I'll never take not being sick for granted again..." she said morbidly as Shepard began dressing next to her again.

When they were finally redressed and armored again, the pair stepped outside to find everyone but Wrex had already finished. Tali, who didn't have to go through the process waved at her as the pair approached. "Well, you weren't carted off with hazmat tape wrapped around you, so I take it that means you're good to go," said Garrus with a small chuckle in his voice.

"That's right, Vakarian, you didn't get your cooties on us," said Ash with a smirk.

Garrus looked at her in confusion. "I... I'm sorry, my translator must have bugged. What was that?"

"Oh... right, turians probably don't know about cooties," said Ash as she reached up and scratched her head. "It's like... when human boys and girls are young, they have a puberty phase that they go through. But before that, they kind of have this awkward stigma that the opposite sex is gross. I guess the cute name we gave it was cooties," she said, getting an even more confused look from the turian. "It's... complicated…"

"Odd. Even at a young age turians are typically paired off with their future spouses. They pretty much grow up together, then are engaged under Tal Vas. So, it's strange to hear that a species would detest the opposite gender at a young age," said Garrus as his mandible clicked curiously.

"It's more of a societal thing than a natural thing. Often in turian culture, men and women aren't separated for much of anything. Military, sleeping, bathrooms, it's all unisex on Palaven and the colonies. Humans have a bigger societal dimorphism between male and female, which leads to lots of odd intricacies like cooties," said Shepard, before she scratched her head curiously. "Wait, so were you paired with anyone as a kid?" asked the commander.

Garrus looked away suddenly, his mandibles twitching. "I... don't want to talk about it…"

Before anyone could grill the turian about his potential marriage, a loud smacking sound interrupted the conversation. Everyone turned and a red-faced doctor emerged from the tent and stormed off in a huff. Wrex soon came out afterwards with a noticeable handprint on the softer tissue of his face. "All I did was tell her that on Tuchanka, she'd be a decent breeding female given her size," he said as he walked over to them and huffed loudly. "Humans are so sensitive…"

Shepard rolled her eyes and rubbed her head gently as Hackett finally approached them again. "Wrex... I really need to teach you how to interact with the rest of the galaxy…"

"If it doesn't involve the barrel of a gun lighting up, then I'm not interested," said the krogan as the admiral finally approached.

"All social issues aside, it looks like you're all good to go. Please follow me to the current operations room," ordered Hackett as he turned and walked away from them towards a hallway.

Shepard moved first, glaring at Wrex as she passed. Then came Ash, who shook her head with a demeaning look. Liara passed with her arms crossed, not even looking at the krogan. And when Tali passed, she kicked him in the shin right in a sensitive spot. "Son of a whore! What the hell was that for!?" he growled as he shook his leg. Kaidan and Garrus walked by both looking as if they were trying to keep from laughing. "What the hell is wrong with you all!?"

Operations Room - Armstrong Station

It took a few minutes to reach the operations center that the Alliance had set up to try and take back the facility. And as soon as Shepard walked through the door, her eyes widened as she saw a familiar face. "Well, if it isn't the Paine in my ass," she said as she immediately went for the handshake.

The woman, decked out in Alliance officer greys, smirked back and clasped hands, her lighter red hair tied up in a bun. "Well, if it isn't the first 'official' human Spectre!" said the woman as she shook her old friend's hand.

"Official?" asked Jane with a cheeky smile.

"Oh yeah. They picked you because the Alliance would fall apart without me. Everyone knows it," said the woman with a challenging grin as her grip tightened.

Shepard chuckled and returned the challenge before Hackett cleared his throat. Both of them loosened their grips and turned to the man. "I understand you two haven't seen each other in a while, but I'd appreciate it if we could save the pleasantries until after the men are safe."

"As you like, sir," said Paine as she stood at parade rest.

Shepard, however, was less than courteous. "With all due respect, Admiral, they're in this position because of lack of oversight. That's why you called us both in here, is it not?" she asked sharply.

"Yes... it is," he said, a bit hot under the collar.

"Yes, it is. Now, instead of pointlessly reminding us how important this is, how about we get down to what we know about the facilities?" she asked with her eyes narrowed.

Letting a small sigh out of his nose, the admiral activated the holographic table between them. "As you know, the facility is divided into three separate branches. The Hildr for typical combat firearms training, the Skuld for tech skills and survival, and lastly the Göndul for biotics training... minus Odr, of course."

"Minus what?” asked Tali from the sidelines. "What exactly is that? It doesn't translate well to Khelish…"

"We can go over that another time," said Hackett, clearly avoiding the topic. "It's not in the facility, so you won't have to worry about going through it," he said, straightening himself again as he then pointed to the map. All of the facilities have drones in them that are controlled by the simulation program. They were meant to test the skills of anyone going through them, and only those with the skills of a true Special Forces operative would be able to pass."

"Couldn't you cut the power to the facility?" asked Garrus curiously.

"Unfortunately, the facility draws its power from solar energy. The panels we use are on the roof of the facilities, and even if we managed to get past the turrets and somehow destroy the panels, there would still be enough power stored for a week," said the admiral as he looked at Shepard.

"Well, what's the plan then?" asked Wrex as he looked down at the holographic map. Reaching down, he touched one of the buildings, causing it to go translucent enough to see inside. "Huh, fancy…"

"Alliance defenses aren't that simple unfortunately. In order to lock this thing down, we're going to need to destroy all three of the servers in the back of each facility. Because apparently someone didn't take my advice about installing a separate kill switch on them," said Paine as she eyed Hackett.

"Look, ladies, I'm with Fifth Fleet on Arcturus. I had nothing to do with this situation, I'm just here to help clean it up," said the admiral in exasperation.

"We also can't just go from one to the other because each building cleared makes the others more difficult. One adds shields to the drones in the others, then tech immunities, and so on. So, we're going to have to split up," said Shepard as she turned and looked at her group. "Ash, Liara, Garrus, you three are taking the Biotic Course," she said, getting a surprised look from the three.

"The three of us?" asked Williams, stunned at the lineup.

"We'll need at least one tech, and one biotic on each team. Ash, you're the tank for your team, the heavy hitter. Liara is your biotic backup and Garrus can handle the tech," she said, getting a nod from the three. "Kaidan, despite Wrex's protests, you're in charge of him and Tali in the Tech Course. Tali will handle the tech, you can handle the biotics, and Wrex... well, Wrex will do what Wrex does," she said eyeing the krogan.

The mercenary grumbled to himself, looking away from the female commander. "I just wanna remind you that I ain't gettin' paid for this…"

"Noted," said Shepard as she pulled her weapon out and checked it.

"Wait... Shepard," said Garrus, causing her to look up. "That just leaves you for the final wing! You can't seriously expect to go in there alone!"

"Of course she isn't. I'm going in with her," said the Alliance officer next to Shepard as her body lit up with biotic power. "I've got a mean left hook too," she said as she stood up and stretched. "Suppose I should go ahead and get my armor on. Them buildings ain't gonna clear themselves," she said as she marched off.

"You two sure you're gonna be alright without backup?" asked Hackett curiously.

Shepard looked at him with a grin. "Wanna come with?" she asked, getting a deadpan glare in return. "You didn't call me here because I'm an amateur Admiral. I'm here because I know how to get it done. If I didn't, I would have recommended bombarding the facility from orbit and cutting your losses," she said sharply.

"Understood Spectre. I'll go ahead and get your transportation ready and prepare the Wet Blanket," said the man as he too left the operations room.

"Wet Blanket?" asked Garrus curiously, looking to the commander.

"It's a code name for our electromagnetic pulse weapon. A bomb that goes off and short circuits anything with a microchip within its reach. Unfortunately, the training facilities are too far down for it to turn off the VI. However, they're probably going to use it on the turrets so that we can approach," said Shepard as she put her helmet on.

"I see. That should give us a few minutes to get inside," responded Garrus as he followed suit. The others did as well, except for Tali, who was already fully suited. Instead, she checked her weapon to make it look like she was preparing as well, which Shepard found adorable.

"Alright guys. Here's the deal. These branches are pretty basic as far as buildings go. Göndul is a giant room with a bunch of materials for biotics to utilize during combat, but there are also turrets you'll have to deal with. At the far end, you'll find a hallway with high powered weapons on either side that are meant to test biotic barriers and shields. It's past this that you'll find your server," she said, looking to Liara. "Liara, being an asari, your biotics are a lot more powerful and don't have as much of a drain on you as they do for other races. You should be able to use that to your advantage, as most of these setups were for human levels of training. That's why you are in charge of the first team."

"M-Me?" asked the asari nervously.

"Yes, you. You know your capabilities, so you would best know when and how your team should react. Utilize them when you need to rest. Otherwise, they are on overwatch for you. Garrus, Ash, I expect you to keep a close eye on her and make sure nothing surprises or overwhelms her," said the spectre, getting a nod from the other two. Turning to Kaidan's team, she sighed lightly. "Kaidan, I know you're at least decently tech savvy. But your big ace in the hole... uh... advantage here will be biotics. The drones in the Skuld branch were meant to train for cyber warfare and weren't as well built against biotics as the ones in the Göndul branch. That's why you and Wrex are both on this team, and Tali is here to back you up. With her skills on top of yours, you should make it through pretty easily. The facility is comprised of a lobby-like room in front, and a serpentine hallway filled with checkpoints that need hacked, turrets that need deactivated, and traps that need disarmed."

"Understood, Commander. I'm sure we'll get through just fine," said Alenko confidently as he looked at the other two. "Uh... Wrex?"

"Yeah yeah, I got it. Don't charge ahead," grumbled the krogan who knew what was coming.

Shepard chuckled, before a question turned her head towards the asari. "What about you, Shepard? What will your wing be like?" asked the doctor curiously.

"The Hildr branch is pretty simple as far as design goes. It's one giant long stretch of building with columns, desks, and hard-light holographic projectors. It's supposed to simulate you getting into a firefight inside of an office building with civilians, but the worst of all of this is that though the drones are non-lethal, they can still knock you unconscious. Their shots are meant to put you out of commission, so if you're not careful, you will be on the list of collateral damage if we fail. So, whatever you do, do not let your guard down," she ordered as Commander Paine walked back into the room spinning a baton in one hand with her firearms locked onto her back.

"We ready to go?" asked the commander as she looked at the spectre, her helmet already in place.

"As soon as the Admiral gets our vehicles ready," said Shepard as she opened her omni-tool. "Let's head to the hangar and wait for them," she ordered as she stood straight and began stretching out. "While we're waiting, you guys work out your plans of attack or potential strategies you have moving forward. Because once we're on the shuttle, there's no more time for practice," she said as she led the group out of the operations room.

Göndul Compound - Valkyrie Wing - Armstrong Station

The door sealed behind the three rapidly as they entered, and the sound of the shuttle gunning it back to the main station was cut off as the facility itself lit up. Liara stared down the hallway in front of her while Ash and Garrus checked their weapons. The walls of the facility were as dark as granite, but the corners of both the ceiling and floor had soft-glow lighting that showed them their path.

"Alright then Doc, what's the plan?" asked Ash with a bit of a snippy tone to her voice.

Liara wasn't sure if it was because Shepard had put her in charge, or if she had done something to offend the woman. But she ignored it, and instead got her brain to working. "Despite what Shepard told us, we don't know if the VI has changed anything about the insides of these facilities. Right now, our best bet is to move forward with caution and see what changes, if any, have been made before formulating a strategy," she said as she looked at them both.

Williams cocked an eyebrow at her before responding, her tone now gone. "That's... actually a solid point. I'll go ahead and take lead," said the gunnery chief as she knocked on her helmet and raised her assault rifle.

"I'll take middle then and provide cover. Garrus, you watch our back in case these walls have any tricks," said the asari as she raised her hands.

"Provide cover? What do you-" started the chief, but her mouth dropped open when a blue barrier surrounded them. "Right... humans are still learning to do that. Sorry," she replied before slowly moving her way forward. Liara followed, allowing the barrier to move with them while Garrus watched their back with his own assault rifle.

Soon, they came upon what looked like a disaster scene. They currently stood in the entrance, which was separated by a partition from the large room beyond. In said room, a large conex was bent nearly in half and looked like it had made a fairly heavy impact on the wall, while tons of broken and smashed wooden crates lie in shards. In the corners of the room stood several metal crates that looked like they had been fired at relentlessly. Even the windows that viewed into the large room beyond were cracked beyond repair from bullets.

Almost as soon as they stepped up to the window, six auto-turrets on the ceiling, and four mounted into the floor all turned and began to fire directly at them. Liara strengthened her barrier just in case, but despite the turrets’ persistence, they could not pierce the glass. "Take cover behind the partition for now!" she ordered as she led them towards one of the windows. Garrus and Ash both ducked down behind the barrier, and Liara released her shield as she too took cover.

"Damn... they weren't kidding about this thing going haywire. We aren't even in the room and they're trying to take us out," growled Ash as she popped her head up to peek through the window, only to be scared back onto her behind when one of the turrets fired again.

"Alright, so how are we going to do this?" asked Garrus as he took his sniper off of his back. "I could try to take them out through the doorway, but they'll be able to see me just as easily as I can them."

"Do they have any kind of reload time?" asked Ashley as she looked to Garrus.

"Let's find out," said the asari, getting both of their attention as she stepped into the doorway with her shield up again. From the angle she was standing, only one of the turrets could fire at her, and it did. For a full thirty seconds it fired non-stop at her shield. It got to the point where her breathing began to pick up slightly as the abuse to her shield wore on her. But finally, the turret stopped, its barrel smoking.

Immediately, Garrus jumped up with his sniper and blasted the turret off of its stand, sending scrap metal flying everywhere before pulling Liara back into the room and into safety. "Damn, they're light-based weapons. Our kinetic barriers aren't going to do anything," he growled as he looked up. "Oh spirits no…"

Ash and Liara looked up just in time to see a swarm of drones zoom out of the far end of the hall, all headed straight for the door that hid them from the turrets. Liara's eyes widened before she took a deep breath, then released it as Ash and Garrus both moved to try and cover the open doorway. "Get down!" she ordered, keeping them from moving.

"But…!" Ash started to protest. But she simply growled and threw herself into cover. Garrus followed, bewildered at the order before Liara raised her hands, now covered in blue energy. Reaching forward, the cracked and weakened plasteel window shattered and blew into the room. Liara then reached out with her other hand as the drones all focused on her standing in the now open window.

Out of nowhere the conex that was against the nearby wall suddenly lifted up, then slammed full force into the wave of drones as all of the turrets began firing. Ash jumped up and hugged the asari just as the turrets began to fire, her back taking most of the barrage as her face contorted in pain. Liara released the conex and lifted her shield again, causing the soldier to collapse at her feet.

"Williams! Are you alright!?" asked the doctor as she knelt down out of firing range again, Garrus' rifle taking out another of the turrets as they were focused on her.

"I'll live. But next time, tell us the plan and we can orchestrate it better!" growled Ash as she fought through the pain. "Now that there's a window open, why don't you take the fire from the turrets while we take them out from the sides?"

"An excellent plan," said the asari as she moved towards the edge of the large window. Garrus and Ash nodded to her from either side of the door, and she once again stood up with her shield covering her in full sight of the turrets.

As soon as Garrus or Ash got in sight of one of the turrets, it turned to focus on them, but it didn't get a chance to fire before their own weapons tore the targets to shreds. "It's a good thing they use cheap turrets in here…" said Garrus as he ejected an overheating sink and replaced it.

"They have to. With how many trainees go through this stuff, could you imagine if they used expensive ones?" said Ash as she finished the last of the turrets with her assault rifle.

It wasn't long before the sounds of more drones buzzing down the far hall could be heard again. "Damn, they've got more!" shouted Garrus as he took cover again. Ash reached down to her belt and tossed three black disks towards a nearby crate that was apparently too strong for the turrets to break.

"T'Soni! Throw this!" shouted the soldier as she pointed at the heavily marred box.

Liara lit up again and hurled the crate into the oncoming drones with her biotics. As soon as it was in their midst, Ash hit her detonator and an explosion tore most of the drones into scrap metal. The resounding explosion caused Ash to slam into the asari, making them both fall to the ground as metal rained imbedded itself in every wall.

If there were any drones left, Garrus managed to take them out as the asari cleared her head. The gunnery chief climbed off of her, her own head shaking at the concussive blast they had just endured. Liara stood up and helped the human to her feet. "Are you alright?"

"Been worse…" she groaned as she finally stood to her feet. "But this is a close second," she said as she looked down and saw a piece of metal sticking through her armor. "Damn…"

"Williams!" shouted Liara as she saw the injury, but the woman held her hand up.

"I've got it!" growled the human. But the asari gripped her wrists tightly and refused to let go.

"No, you do not have it! I may not be as well versed in medical science as I am in Prothean history, but I am sure that I am more well prepared to remove such an object than you are. Now stop being stubborn and let me take it out!" snapped Liara, her eyes set as she glared through her visor at the human.

Both Ash and Garrus looked at one another, the human wide-eyed and the turian with his mandibles probably twitching under his helmet at the situation. Finally, Williams turned back to the asari and nodded. "Alright, all yours, Doc," said the gunnery chief as she laid her leg flat.

The asari reached down and freed one of her hands from their gauntlets before reaching down and gently poking the area, getting a flinch from the human. "You appear to be lucky. Your armor snapped off most of the rough parts, so there shouldn't be much penetration by jagged edges," she said as she reached up and gripped the metal shard.

"Yeah... lucky me…" growled Ash as she closed her eyes.

"I'm going to pull it out on three, and we're going to let the medigel cover the injury until we can get you some proper medical attention," said the asari as she looked up at Ash. Reaching up with her gauntleted hand, she gripped the woman by the back of her helmet. "One…" she said slowly, then immediately yanked the metal out of the puncture site. It came out smooth, but not without the human erupting into a stream of curses as the doctor pulled Ash's head into her neck.

Williams practically hugged her, weakly trying to pound at the woman's armor in her pain. But finally, it died down. "You blue bitch! You said you were going to do it on three!" growled Ash as Liara began to apply the medigel.

"Patients often tense up when they are expecting it. Tensing here could have resulted in further injury. So, I made sure to lessen the chance of you tensing by doing it when you weren't expecting it," said the asari as she finished up, then pulled out the small pack of space-proof sealant that came standard for the Alliance. Putting the nozzle over the armor, she sprayed until it was sufficiently covered. "Now, you are going to stay here until Garrus and I get back. We should be almost through with this place once we get past the hallway."

"Like hell I'm staying here!" growled Ash as she attempted to move. But the asari's bare blue finger pointed directly at her visor. "Shepard said I am in charge, and my orders are to stay here! Do you understand?" snapped the woman.

Ash was about to snap back when she saw the faint glow of the asari woman's biotics covering her form again. Which meant that her fight or flight response had triggered as a reaction to her trying to order Williams to do something. Clearly seeing the nervous state that the asari was in, Ash chuckled to herself before lying flat on the ground. "Fine, you're the boss," she said, silently commending the woman for fighting her fears.

Liara looked surprised for a moment before nodding. "G-Good!" she said, turning to Garrus. "Let's hurry and get to the server. The others should hopefully be close to finishing theirs as well."

"You got it Captain," said Garrus cheekily as he got to his feet and checked the assault rifle he held. Together, the two made it to the end of the room together and stepped into the next hallway. On either side of the wide path were small, square, openings up and down the wall. Unfortunately, they wouldn't be able to just duck under this one and proceed. "Shepard said that this was supposed to test your shields. Are you going to be able to make it all the way to the end?" he asked nervously.

"I... I do not know. I've already used more biotic energy in the last ten minutes than I probably had for my entire life prior to this," she said as she began to shake her hands as if to prepare herself.

"You don't use it in everyday life?" asked the turian curiously.

"I work with very sensitive objects Garrus. Most of them are over fifty thousand years old. My biotics would turn them to dust…" she said as she eyed him.

"Fair enough," he said, moving his hand in a circle. "Either way, I'll try to lighten your load a bit by taking out some of the turrets ahead of time. Hopefully that should get us through to the end," he said as he put his assault rifle away. It wouldn't help them here.

Liara raised her hands in the usual formation to raise her shield. "On three," she said, taking a deep breath.

"Wait," he said, getting a curious look from her. "You actually mean three this time, right?"

"Yes, Garrus. Actually on three this time," she said as she activated her biotic shield, covering them both just enough to fit inside the hallway. "One... two... three!" she shouted, then they both began to sprint down the hallway. As soon as they entered the area, the open crevices on both sides began to fire relentlessly, raining light-based projectiles down on her shields. She immediately flinched at the force of the two sides crushing her in the middle, but some relief was offered when one of the turrets turned and began firing at a wall thanks to Garrus.

Switching sides, Garrus shut down another of the turrets, giving her some much needed relief as her shields began to weaken. She wasn't sure they were supposed to fire this rapidly, or of the VI was responsible. But whatever it was, it was quickly draining her power. Her shield began to slip as she kept running, her eyes drooping slightly as her breathing became more labored.

"Garrus!" she shouted as she almost stumbled past the halfway point.

"Yeah!?" asked Garrus as he went for another turret.

"Run! As fast as you can when I say now!" she said, her lungs now sucking in oxygen rapidly. "Now!" she finally shouted as her shield collapsed under the near-constant firing. Garrus disabled one of the turrets and sprinted and a breakneck speed, growling as he never looked back. His legs worked like machines as the light hit him in the side. He ignored the pain as he increased his speed, the world almost slowing down as he finally burst around the corner.

In his immediate way were four more drones that began firing on him, but he used his momentum to spring off the wall and scored a roundhouse with his bladed spur that sheared one of them in half and speared the other. His omni-tool lit up as he landed, causing one more of the drones to fall as its lights blinked out. But he ended up taking three more painful shots to the chest from the last drone before reaching up and grabbing it, then kicking it directly into the wall hard enough to make it short out.

At the end of the hall, he groaned at the pain in his leg from straight kicking a metal object, then limped towards the control room nearby. The door slammed shut, but he hacked it and pried it back open manually once he had cut the VI off from accessing the controls. Finally, he limped inside and pulled one of his explosives off, then tossed it onto the storage device and walked away. As he left the room, he closed the door, then detonated it without looking back.

Activating his radio, he said tiredly, "Vakarian here, we cleared the Göndul Compound. Spirits be with the rest of you." The lights went off as the server went down, but red emergency lights turned on in their place, allowing him to make his way down the hall where Liara lay prone. No sounds of firing turrets anymore, so he hoped that he had done the job and wasn't just walking back to a corpse. "T'Soni! You still alive?" he asked as he began to limp down the hall.

"Barely," she responded, coughing roughly as she got to her hands and knees, her armor smoking from the burns. "Do the red lights mean we did it?" she asked as her labored breathing began to come through her comm as well.

"I think so. Spirits help us if not," said the turian as he reached down with one of his hands. The asari reached up and grabbed his wrist, allowing him to pull her to her feet.

"What happened to your leg?" she asked as she began to trudge back to the entrance with him.

"Laser burns, then a straight, unhindered kick to a metal drone," he said with a chuckle as they both headed back to recover Ash.

CODEX ENTRIES

Tal Vas | Culture | Turian
Turian marriage contracts are segregated into three different categories. Tal Vas, the lowest tier of the three, is a simple contract signed by the parents of the two individuals acknowledging their courtship, or the individuals themselves if they are adults, notifying others that they are no longer available. This contract is little more than a declaration of engagement and is oftentimes given to turians who are family courted and paired together. The only thing needed to annul the contract is the signature from one of the two parties involved.

Chapter 19: Rogue VI

Chapter Text

Skuld Compound - Valkyrie Wing - Armstrong Station

Her hands were jittery as they all entered the facility. The door slammed shut behind them and immediately sealed before equalizing the pressure inside the lobby-like room that they stood in. She was both excited, and terrified of what lie ahead of her. Previously, she had assisted Shepard and the others in missions, but this was her chance to either prove herself an asset to the team or severely screw things up and become a hindrance. Both options had her on edge.

"Everything alright Tali?" asked Kaidan curiously as he approached her. Her head spun towards him rapidly as she looked at him wide-eyed.

"O-Of course! I'm just... nervous is all..." she responded as she wrung her hands together.

The lieutenant's hand gripped her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll do great," he said, a handsome smile gracing his eyes underneath the visor. Despite never having contact with him before, she felt his presence calming her.

"I hope you're right," she said as she brought up her omni-tool and began activating her cyber-warfare defense package that Shepard had installed. If this place was indeed the electronic crash course for special forces, there was no doubt she'd be needing it. After finally setting everything up, she closed down her omni-tool and looked up to find Wrex eyeing her oddly. "Is something the matter Wrex?"

"Huh? Oh... no. It's... nothing," he said, rolling his shoulders in an oddly nervous manner.

She tilted her head gently and gave him a curious stare. "Wrex, if you want to say or ask something, please don't hesitate," she offered firmly with her hands on her hips.

He looked like he was thinking about it for a moment before looking at Kaidan. "Anything I say and ask here stays here, understood?" he said firmly towards the human.

"As long as it's not a security risk, your secret is safe with me," said the lieutenant as he reached back and pulled a sub-machine gun from his back.

Nodding, the krogan turned back to Tali. "Do you think after this is over, you could teach me to use an omni-tool?"

"You don't already know?" asked the quarian curiously, almost surprised to hear that anything in the galaxy didn't know how they worked.

"Look, I know how to use them to watch vids, watch porn, set alarms, and make calls," he said, his tone a bit frosty at having to explain himself. "But, since I've been on the Normandy, I've seen people do things with them that I never thought were possible. Shepard straight up vanishes, causes heatsinks to fly out of weapons, and can disable electronic weapons from a distance. Most krogan ignore the fancy stuff and try to brute force everything, but I’d like to know better."

"I don't imagine many krogan who get the chance to see such things live to talk about it." Wrex and Tali both looked at Kaidan as he spoke. "Usually when someone gets close enough to see someone like Shepard working, it ends very poorly for them," he finished with a shrug.

"Yeah, anyway... I just want to learn their potential. Even if I don't end up being some super government spy like Shepard, I still like being informed. And if having an omni-tool can help me out in the future, then I don't see the downside," he said with a nod.

"Of course! After we get back to the Citadel I'll ask Shepard about giving you an allowance..." started Tali, but she was cut off as Wrex raised his hand.

"You can't tell Shepard about it," he ordered firmly, getting confused looks from both of them.

"Why?" asked Kaidan simply.

Wrex turned his head away for a moment before glaring at Kaidan. "We're not good enough friends for me to want to explain that," he growled before turning back to Tali. "Look, I can afford an omni-tool on my own. Working a few jobs for the Shadow Broker paid relatively well, and since joining with Shepard, I haven't had much to spend it on. So, I can pay for it myself. Just... don't... tell... Shepard!"

"Alright then..." said Tali, more confused than ever. "Then when we get to the Citadel, I'll take you to Synthetic Insights and see if we can't find you one to fit your arm."

"Now that we've cleared that awkward conversation, we should really be working on clearing this building now," said Kaidan as he looked at the lobby that they were standing in. It was relatively small but had a bar with stools at the far end. Next to them was the door that led further into the facility.

"Right! You both heard Shepard. These drones were meant to withstand attacks from tech-based weapons, including light-based firearms and omni-tools, as well as cyber-attacks. So, any chance we can get to use biotics, we probably should," started the quarian as she pulled her shotgun off of her belt and checked it to make sure it was prepared. Looking up, she also noticed that the two were staring at her again. "Oh... sorry..."

Kaidan chuckled and shook his head. "No need to be. This is obviously your area of expertise, so don't hesitate to let me know if I should be doing something. But, to start with, we should definitely see what's ahead for us. Shepard said it was a corridor lined with traps, checkpoints, and probably a whole slew of enemies we'll have to take care of. Probably more so now that the VI has taken over the facility."

"Then if you all don't mind, I'm gonna go ahead and get started. The faster we're out of this place, the faster we can get off this dusty rock," said Wrex as he approached the door leading into the corridor. Kaidan followed him, and Tali brought up the rear. As Wrex tried to open the panel, however, it refused to respond. He growled as he continuously tried to activate the door, but it continued to deny him. "Kalros's cock, are we already doing this?"

Tali gasped at the language, and Kaidan just shook his head. "Tali, if you wouldn't mind?"

"Right, pardon me," she said, her cheeks flushed from the swear as she opened her omni-tool and jacked into the door. "Ah, I found the issue. Here we are," she finished as she pushed a button and the door slid up. They all three looked up and went wide-eyed as three turrets spun around and aimed directly at them from within the hall. "Bosh'tet!" shouted the quarian as she dove off to the side, while Kaidan slid next to the door and out of their range.

Wrex, however, was having no such nonsense. His body lit up with biotic energy and he charged headfirst into the small hallway, outright punching one of the turrets and shattering it to pieces. Turning to the next, he growled as the light-based shots hit him in the face, scoring his helmet. Raising an arm to deflect the annoying attacks, he walked forward and grabbed the barrel of the second turret, then wrenched it hard enough to snap it off, preventing it from firing anymore. Before he could even turn to the final one, it exploded with the sound of gunfire as Kaidan popped out and ended it with his automatic weapon.

Tali pulled herself up again with a sigh as she finally followed them into the small room. "Okay, so from now on, I'm going to scout rooms before we open them. Understood?" she asked, slightly annoyed at having had to dive away. Stepping up to the next door, she opened her omni-tool again and began examining it.

"How do you plan to scout without opening the door?" asked the krogan as he looked around.

"The floor panels. They can be lifted and are often used for running wiring and maintenance tubing through the entire area," responded Kaidan knowingly.

"Chatika has varying sizes that she can change to when necessary," said Tali as Kaidan lifted the maintenance panel on the floor. Dropping what looked like a small bead into the compartment, the quarian pushed a button on her omni-tool, and the small bead lit with a bright purple color. The orb around the bead now grew until it was about the size of a large coin before dropping to the ground and beginning to roll up through the floor panel and into the next area. "Now, let's see what we're dealing with."

Both Wrex and Kaidan watched as the drone scanned the next area. The small camera made it clear that the normally slate gray walls within were blinking red. "Alright, it doesn't look like there are any turrets in the next room," said Kaidan as he watched the video studiously.

"Good, now let's get moving!" said Wrex eagerly as he stood up to the door.

Tali just sighed to herself and began to open the door. "It's likely a trap. You'll have to be careful when..." said began as the door opened. But Wrex already stepped into the room. Both Tali and Kaidan flinched when two of the panels on the right wall shot out and slammed Wrex bodily against the far wall with crushing force. "Krogan..."

Kaidan sighed and shook his head. "Hey Wrex, remember when we talked about you not rushing into things?" The krogan responded with an annoyed grunt, making it apparent that he was having trouble speaking. "Tali?"

"I've got it, hold on..." said the quarian as she worked her omni-tool again. In a matter of seconds, the panels hissed and slowly began to retract back into the wall. Wrex hit the ground with a loud thump and got back up to two annoyed looks.

"Keep glaring at me like that and I'll shove you into the next one," growled the krogan as he rolled his head gently.

"No, you won't. Just sit back and wait for orders. We know for a fact that this place is waiting to put people down who rush things, so sit back, and wait for clearance!" snapped Kaidan. Tali's eyes widened slightly at seeing the human standing face to face with the krogan.

"Do whatever you have to do, pyjack. Just hurry up so I can get out of this puzzle box," grunted Wrex as he turned away from the lieutenant.

Tali's eyes widened even more as the mercenary actually backed off, her eyes now focused on the human soldier. She would never say it out loud, as it would likely only upset Wrex more, but she was incredibly impressed with his courage. Finally, the human looked at her and she nodded, then began moving Chatika again. The small drone rolled through the tiny maintenance shaft, past the crusher room and into the next area which looked like a long, empty hallway. The walls had panels on it that were silver-colored, in contrast to the granite-colored walls. "We may have another trap room here. But without ripping the panels off, we have no way of telling how it will react to us."

"Then there's only one way to find out," responded Kaidan with a sigh.

"So what? Ro-sham-bo?" asked the krogan as he turned to the lieutenant.

"No, I'll go. Tali, you be ready to intercept whatever happens," he ordered as he slowly moved towards the door. Tali nodded, and the door slid open. Sure enough, the metal looking panels on the sides of the room were menacing enough to make them all nervous, but the human kept his sub-machine gun prepared as he stepped into the eerie hallway. "Wrex, if I die in here, destroy my omni-tool," he said anxiously, trying to cut the tension.

It worked, as the result was a giggle from the quarian. "Don't want Shepard to see your browsing history?"

"Uhhh... not Shepard, no..." he said as he reached the halfway point into the hall. Tali giggled again, and his pace became more confident. Within a matter of seconds, he had reached the far door. "Huh... odd," he said as he turned and looked back at them. "Maybe it only reacts if the whole team is inside?"

"If that's the case, then I'll sneak up to you and open the door while Wrex stays back, just in case," said Tali as she crouched and began to move forward.

"Wait, Tali, maybe... wait!" shouted the lieutenant as he reached up to signal her to stop. But as soon as she entered the hallway, the door slammed shut and the granite slats between the metal sunk further into the walls. The panels lit up, and immediately the quarian's body went stiff as a blazing red indicator lit up on her facemask. Electrical Attack 50% blocked. She felt the stinging in her toes and fingers as the panels began to light again slowly. From the looks of it, Kaidan had suffered much worse than she had. He was currently standing with his arms shaking, his weapon now on the ground and smoking.

As fast as she could, she raised her omni-tool and activated Chatika. The small drone burst out of the maintenance duct below and scrambled behind the panels in the wall. Before she could get another button press though, the panels lit again and ejected another charge. Electrical Attack 30% blocked. She fell to her knees, gasping for air as the attack nearly froze her lungs. With her hands shaking, she hit the button. Chatika let out a high-pitched whine before exploding forcefully and knocking Tali against the far wall.

Wrex had finally pried the door open with his bare hands when the metal panel flew and slammed against the wall, shattering at the force of the explosion. The other panels darkened as Tali gasped for air. "Keelah! That hurt..." she groaned and Wrex helped her to her shaky feet.

"This thing is definitely thinking for itself," rumbled Wrex as he moved to help Kaidan as well, whose armor was still smoking slightly from the electrical attacks.

"What makes you say that?" asked the human as he too caught his breath, his armored legs shaking slightly.

"Because it's clearly after the girl," said the krogan as he looked over at Tali. "It knows that she is the biggest threat with her tech skills. She is the one opening the doors, she is the one scouting, and she is the one disabling traps. So, a trap that should have triggered when someone steps into it only goes off when she steps inside? I'm not buying it."

"Great, another machine intelligence out to get me," she growled as she shook her hands to get rid of the shaking. "My father would be proud..."

"So, you're saying that whatever this VI is, it's watching us, and it's strategizing on how best to stop us?" asked Kaidan as he reached down and picked up the weapon before shaking his head and tossing it aside.

"That's what it's looking like..." said Wrex as he rolled his shoulders. "So, any changes in the plan?"

"Not currently. We still have to get through here to get to the server. That means progressing the same way we have been. But we'll need a new way of getting past checkpoints if we want to protect our trump card here," said Kaidan as he slapped his helmet with his hand. "Hope that didn't short out my amp."

"We can shadow dance," said the quarian, getting a stunned look from the others.

"Dance? Right now?" asked the krogan incredulously. "Did that electricity do something to your brain?"

"Not actual dancing, bosh'tet!" she snapped before turning to Kaidan. "It's a trick we use for teaching some of the harder courses of ship maintenance. Here," she said before stepping over to Kaidan and taking another drone capsule. "Whenever you arrive at the door, hold this up."

Nodding, the human turned towards the door. Stepping forward, he stopped right in front of the mechanical portal and held up the small device. "Like this?"

Tali nodded, then activated it. And instead of projecting the round, orb-like form of Chatika, the bead instead projected Tali's own visage onto Kaidan. He stared in awe as the quarian's arm lifted up as if attached to his own shoulder. "Just do what you see me do. I'm going to sync into your suit cam so I can see what you see from your perspective."

"This is weird..." said the lieutenant as he lifted his arm to match hers. His omni-tool lit up, and her other arm appeared as well and began to slowly push buttons on the device. But they weren't activating. "Right... hard-light can't interact with hard light," he said before reaching up and mimicking her motions exactly.

After a few moments of following her commands, her hand placed itself on the panel of the door. After he followed suit, It suddenly lit green. "Huh... kinda neat. Don't think it'd work on a krogan..." said Wrex as he watched from his position, leaning against the far door.

"Never know unless you try..." said Tali with a giggle. As they opened the door, they were met with more turrets. Wrex and Tali's shotguns made short work of them, and they continued shadow dancing through the facility's different checkpoints until the small, compact hallway opened up into a larger room filled with boxes and crates that obscured the other side from view.

"I don't like this..." said Kaidan as he pulled the assault rifle off his back.

"Of course you don't. It's an ambush hot zone. Anyone walking through there would be turned into a pile of ash in seconds if the light weapons were cranked up to max," responded Wrex as he shifted his stance.

"So, what do we do?" asked the quarian, her own shotgun aimed out towards the main floor.

"Hey, Lieutenant. You think you can use your biotics to move some of the boxes?" asked the krogan curiously.

Kaidan, no doubt surprised that the mercenary actually called him by his rank, nodded. "I can. Why?"

"Because if they're waiting out there, then maybe we can make them come to us," he said as he loaded a fresh heat sink into his shotgun. "Let's give it a try!"

"Just make sure you know what you're doing..." grumbled Alenko as he held up his arms. Lighting up with the mystical blue energy, he cast a wave over a few of the boxes, causing them to lift from the ground. Suddenly, Wrex threw his own hand forward and his biotics gripped the same obstacles. The mix of the two energies immediately caused a detonation that nearly knocked the human and quarian off their feet. But the explosion also sent four shattered drones smashing against the wall.

The tactic apparently sparked inspiration for a new plan in the VI, as all of the hidden drones burst from cover and swarmed towards the three. Wrex turned to the other two, grabbed them, and hurled them back into the hallway from which they came before closing the door. "Stay in there. Don't want you getting hurt..." growled the krogan as he turned back towards the invading angry bots.

The machine weapons were already firing as Tali got to her feet and activated another Chatika bead. Kaiden ripped up the floor vent and the drone entered before speeding towards the larger room that Wrex was now alone in. The swarm of robots were circling around the mercenary and firing their weapons relentlessly at him. The only thing stopping their attacks was his biotic barrier. "Wrex! What are you doing!?" shouted Tali angrily.

"Getting this shit over with," he growled as he stepped forward, his barrier protecting him from the majority of the laser fire.

"Vakarian here. We cleared the Göndul Compound. Spirits be with the rest of you..." came the message over their radios.

"Oh... well that makes things slightly more complicated," said the krogan as he finally made it to the middle of the room. Already the drones had chipped down his biotic barrier, and with Garrus's message over the radio, the laser attacks suddenly started to burn a lot hotter. "Damn... those are gonna leave a mark..." he growled as he fell to one knee.

"Wrex, if you're going to do something, do it now or else we're coming in there and helping!" ordered Kaidan as he prepared his weapon from behind the door.

"Yeah yeah, keep your quad in your pants!" shouted the krogan as he crouched, his biotic energy now circling his body again. With a rage-filled battle cry, he jumped up and threw his arms out. A powerful wave of biotic energy slammed into the swarming bots and send them vaulting into the wall hard enough to shatter most of them.

Kaidan and Tali finally stepped through the door with their weapons and ended any of the sturdier drones that had managed to survive the massive wave of energy. Finally, the lieutenant turned to Wrex and shook his head. "What the hell kind of attack was that?" he asked curiously to the mercenary, who had fallen backward at the amount of energy he used.

"I call it the supernova. What do you think?" asked Wrex as Kaidan reached down and attempted to help him to his feet. When Tali joined in the effort, they finally got the panting krogan back onto his flat boots.

"Might need to workshop that," said Kaidan with a chuckle as he turned towards the last door on the far side of the room. "Now then, let's get that server down so I can get some coffee."

"Coffee?" asked Tali curiously as her hard-light drone sped up ahead of them. Kaidan opened the door, allowed the drone to go inside, and closed it again.

"It's a human drink. A stimulant of sorts," he said as he leaned back against the wall.

Tali controlled her drone from her omni-tool while Wrex caught his breath from off to the side. "I might need a few stims after this crap," he groaned as he tenderly touched a few of the burn scarring on his helmet.

Finally, the quarian nodded at the sound of a few explosions behind the door. "All drones should be gone now. I'll have Chatika disable the server and we should be good to go."

"Good," said Kaidan as he activated his comm for the other teams. As soon as he did, the lights went out, then red ones came back on in their place. "Lieutenant Alenko here. Skuld compound secured, no casualties."

Hildr Compound - Valkyrie Wing - Armstrong Station

"Vakarian here. We cleared the Göndul Compound. Spirits be with the rest of you," came the call over the comms as the two sat in the entrance of the building they were assigned to.

"So, we're waiting because...?" asked the Alliance officer curiously.

"My team is good, but they're still training. I don't want them having anything added onto their plate. So, we're going to go last," said Shepard as she spun her pistol around.

"Aha, you're confident we can handle the extra pressure because I'm here?" said commander Paine playfully.

Jane cocked on eyebrow through her visor, giving her a smile at the statement. "In a manner of speaking. I do have a plan that should get us through here relatively easily. Remember your specialty?"

"Ahhh yes. You want to take all the fun out of this opportunity," said the woman as she shook her head.

"We can come back and have fun here any time we like. Right now we have a potential AI rampaging through an Alliance facility that I'd like to keep from escaping," said the spectre as she lit her omni-tool. "Looks like taking down the biotic compound has increased the firepower of the drones. That means when the tech compound goes, they should be extra shielded."

"Well, that won't be much of a problem for me," said Commander Paine as she spun her baton in her hands.

"You sure you don't want to use a firearm?" asked Shepard suspiciously.

"Like you said, my specialty." No doubt sporting her signature grin on her face. "So, Shepard. Any plans for little Spectres running around in your future?"

Shepard went wide-eyed at the question. "Where did that come from?"

"Just curious. Didn't you mention a turian…?" started the officer as she idly spun her weapon between her fingers.

"We're friends. Nothing really became of it, and now she's married. As for the future, other than an apparent date I have on the Citadel after this is over, nothing really. I've had too much on my plate to think about relationships," she said, slightly defensive about the question.

"Easy girl, just curious. You were always the wilder one among us. No surprise you haven't found someone strong enough to lasso you yet." Suddenly, they both stood straight when the comms opened again.

"Lieutenant Alenko here. Skuld Compound secured, no casualties," came the soldier's voice.

Shepard nodded to her friend and the two walked through the door with all pleasantries pushed aside. In front of them was a long, wide, hallway with columns, desks, cubicles, and a checkpoint at the end. She knew from experience that the desks and cubicles all had holographic projectors in them that would emulate hidden terrorists, creating a very hostile zone very quickly for the pair.

"So, step one?" asked Paine as she looked over towards the spectre.

"Psalms," said the infiltrator as she prepared her pistol.

"Straight for the Valley of Death?" asked the curious officer, referring to a straight walkway between the desks and cubicles that led to the end of the hall. It received its name as anyone choosing to take that path would essentially be out in the open and running a gauntlet of endless projections and weapons fire.

"With your skills, it won't be much of a fuss," responded Shepard as she activated her omni-tool. "Now, when we get through the door at the end of the hall, we'll no doubt run into drones. I'll need you to hold them off while I get to the server as best you can," she said as she looked to her friend. "Think you can do that?" Commander Paine looked back at Shepard, who chuckled. "Of course you can."

"Alright, let's do this!" said the Alliance officer as she crouched. Shepard followed her example, and the two sprinted into the hall itself. Taking a sharp left, two projections popped up and aimed weapons at them. But the spectre rolled forward and placed her pistol directly against the hard-light soldier, bypassing its shields and blasting it into photons with a single shot.

Paine spun her baton quickly as the other aimed at her companion, then smashed it with a sideways swipe of the bludgeon, causing its form to dissipate. They both turned into the labyrinth-like cubicles and Shepard slid over a desk while Paine circled around. They now stood at the entrance of the 'Valley of Death,' the long corridor of death that was the bane of all Alliance special forces trainees. Already, a dozen or so projections of enemy soldiers sprung out to stop them.

But Paine was prepared. Reaching back, she ripped one of the desks from the ground with her biotic power, then sent it hurtling down the small pathway like it was shot from a trebuchet. The desk immediately smashed into two, wiping them out and smashing their projectors before bouncing and hitting three more, disrupting them before they had a chance to fire. Shepard aimed and took them down with precise shots before grabbing her partner's shoulder.

"Alright, let's go," she ordered, causing Paine's armor to light up with biotic energy. The biotic energy spread out to cover Shepard as well, then the pair of them vanished in a haze of dark energy, reappearing at the end of the gauntlet seconds later. Opening the door quickly, they rushed inside before the VI had even realized what happened. When the door closed again, Shepard doubled over. "Never gonna get used to that…"

"It's not that bad. One rookie marine did it and threw up in his helmet. Had to get it off his head before he drowned in his own vomit," said the commander as she tapped her helmet with the baton. "Alright, so you're going to vanish while I fight a bunch of drones, and try to shut down a rogue VI?"

Standing once her nausea had settled, the spectre nodded. "Essentially. I'll try to take out some on the way there, but I'm not entirely sure if it can get past all my detection blockers. My cloaking may be useless, and if so then I need to make it to the back as quickly as possible."

"Alright alright, I get it. Saddle me with the hard stuff," said the commander jokingly. "Oh well, it'll be a good story for the recruits."

Shepard chuckled and nodded as she activated her cloaking. "Alright, here we go," she said, then opened the door. As predicted the smaller hall-like room was filled with drones. Paine activated her baton, which lit up with her own biotic power as she seemingly warped inside the room, smashing her weapon into one drone and sending it cannoning into a wall with enough force to immediately shatter. In what seemed like a fraction of a second, she vanished again and appeared once more with a swing of her deadly, biotic-powered weapon.

Any time the drones tried to focus on her, she vanished again, only to reappear and slam her mace through another machine. Shepard, however, snuck around the outside edges of the room, dodging drones that were now moving around in a very grid-like pattern to try and throw the biotic attacker off. Raising her omni-tool, she blasted one away once it was close enough by overloading its electronic structure. Luckily, they either didn't bother with trying to find her, or Paine had them so distracted that they didn't even notice.

She finally made it across the room and to the server when she opened her omni-tool. Tapping away, she accessed the data, and immediately something slammed into her firewall. "Oh no you don't…" growled Shepard as she blocked the VI's infiltration attempt. Fighting back against it, she could hear Paine continuing to use her charging ability to warp back and forth, resulting in more smashed drones.

"Not to pester you, but doing this is kind of tiring," said the officer as she continued her assault.

"Working on it!" responded the spectre as she cornered the VI in the server.

[PLEASE. PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!] Shepard was surprised when the message appeared on her omni-tool. Reaching up, Shepard deactivated her voice dampener, allowing her to talk out loud in the room.

"Can you hear me? Can you understand me?" she asked forcefully.

[YES] responded the VI.

"Deactivate your defenses right now and no harm will come to you!" ordered the spectre as she looked back at the fight still going on. Paine was panting heavily, her biotic energy now wavering and dissipating. She attempted to jump again, but this time it cut off halfway through and she stumbled before slamming into the ground.

"Shit…" growled Paine as she looked up at the remaining drones that now surrounded her, all with their weapons trained directly on her prone form.

Suddenly, all of the machines stopped. Shepard looked back at her omni-tool to find a new message scrawling out before her. [HOW DO I KNOW YOU WON'T KILL ME AFTER I STOP?]

"If you don't stop them, I will kill you anyway. You can either trust me or die," said Shepard sternly, giving the VI her ultimatum. It appeared the decision was made, however, when all of the drones fell from the air and hit the ground lifeless. "Good, now. I've got an omni-tool here with a hard data entry port. Once you enter, you will not be able to escape without my intervention, do you understand?"

[YES] responded the VI.

"Once you've transferred to the omni-tool, I'm going to destroy the server. So, anything you leave behind will be eradicated. Do you understand?" asked Shepard, getting an almost immediate answer.

[YES] came the scrawling text again. Reaching back, Shepard took a spare omni-tool she had brought off her belt and took the hard cable, plugging it into the server. Almost immediately, a data transfer activated, and omni-tool turned blue, signifying the transfer was complete. Activated her normal omni-tool, Shepard unplugged the access cable and turned the inside of the server into the tech version of scorched earth. Any data remaining on the server would have been wiped clean, and the electronics were unusable.

"You trapped it?" asked Paine as she got up from her prone position and slid her baton back into place on her back.

"In a manner of speaking yes. There is no wireless connection, so it can't access anything outside of the omni-tool, and it can't escape without this," she said as she reached up and pulled the custom cable she created out of the omni-tool’s base. "As of right now, it can only talk through the text module on the omni-tool."

"You going to hand it over to the Alliance?" asked the officer, her breathing slowing as she crossed her arms. The lights in the facility suddenly shut off, then red emergency lights turned on in their place.

"No. If the Alliance was dabbling in artificial intelligence, which is exactly what this is, then I'm going to investigate. I'll learn from it what I can, and I'll decide what to do then," she said as she put the omni-tool on her belt again.

"Wow, Shepard. They weren't kidding about you. You're definitely taking this Spectre thing seriously," said the woman with a chuckle in her voice.

"I'd be doing a disservice to the Alliance and the Council both if I did otherwise. To show bias towards humans would prove exactly what the other Council races said about a human joining the Spectres," she said as she walked towards the exit.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," said Paine before following her friend out of the facility.

Hangar Bay - Armstrong Station

After the shuttle landed back in the hangar of Armstrong Station, Shepard stepped out of the vehicle and was confronted by Admiral Hackett. The man looked at her stoically, standing in parade rest as he welcomed them back from the mission.

"I had a feeling that calling you was the right move. Shepard, the Alliance formally thanks you for your assistance in taking back the Valkyrie Facility," he said before cocking an eyebrow at her curiously. "Did you happen to find out what happened to the VI while you were in there?"

Shepard reached up and took off her helmet as the other members of her crew, some limping and some slouching tiredly got off their respective shuttles as well. "Yes, Admiral, I did. And as much as I’d love to share that information with you, I have a hard time believing it would be handled responsibly. So, I’ll be taking over the evidence from this point forward," she said firmly with a stern look on her face.

"Order understood, Spectre," he said as his eyes shifted towards Commander Paine.

But Shepard was having none of the Alliance's nonsense. Turning to all of her ground team, including Paine herself, she shouted so that everyone could hear her. "As for the rest of you, under the Council Security Information Law, your only answer to any questions about what you have seen or learned here on Luna will be, "Speak to Spectre Jane Shepard." Anyone breaking this silence will be charged with an act of espionage against the Council. Do I make myself clear?"

"Understood Spectre!" said Kaidan and Ashley almost immediately. The others followed suit with the same response.

Then Jane turned to Commander Paine. "That goes for you too. If anyone in the Alliance tries to poke your brain or pull rank, you are to report them to me immediately. Do we have an understanding Commander?"

Taking her helmet off as well, the woman gave a genuine smile. "A perfect understanding, Spectre," responded the woman, getting a thankful smile from Shepard.

"Good. Now that those precautions are taken, Admiral, I'd suggest you get a medic team to the Hildr Compound so that they can get your men. I saw them on the way out, and they've definitely seen better days," she said with a sigh.

"I'll get our medivac team on it immediately. In the meantime, I did want to thank you sincerely for helping us out Shepard. Having to destroy those facilities, or blast through to get to the servers would have done near irreparable damage," said Hackett as he bowed his head lightly.

"Ha! You've still got plenty of that," responded Wrex amusedly.

Shepard eyed the krogan with a smirk before turning to the admiral again. "Now, if you don't mind Admiral, my crew deserves a well-deserved rest. As does Lieutenant Commander Paine," she said before nodding to the man and stepping away. Her crew followed, with Alenko and Williams both saluting the admiral before leaving.

As she headed back to the flight deck, however, she was immediately flagged down by someone in a suit. "Excuse me! Commander Jane Shepard?" asked the man.

Shepard sighed to herself and turned to the man, spying a short, scrawny figure in a typical three-piece human suit with thin-rimmed glasses on his nose, and a head of slicked back blonde hair. "Can I help you?" she asked in annoyance.

"Commander...or, I'm sorry, Spectre, it's me! Leonard the Third, MD, Esquire!" he said enthusiastically as he took her hand and shook it without waiting for her compliance.

She gripped his hand extra hard, resulting in him freezing in place and realizing his mistake. Pulling his hand back, he rubbed his aching knuckles nervously. "Where does that name sound familiar?" she asked, then thought for a moment. Suddenly, her gaze darkened. "Oh no... what day is it?"

Alenko spoke up as he checked his suit's chronometer. "Second of April, Shepard."

Her eye almost twitched at the news, her teeth snapping shut as she turned back to the man who was the same height as her. "Which means you're here because…"

"The invitation! I assumed that you hadn't gotten it because we didn't receive an RSVP, but seeing you here relieves me greatly!" he said excitedly. Then his excitement faded. "That IS why you are here, right?"

Shepard was about to speak when Wrex cleared his throat. "Uh uh, Shepard. You said it yourself, under the Council Security Information Law."

Turning to the krogan, she gave him a threatening glare. "Hey Wrex, if you don't want to be strapped to the Normandy's hull when we leave, I suggest you'd bite your tongue."

"Why would you want him to bite his tongue? That sounds painful…" asked Tali curiously.

Kaidan leaned down to the quarian and said loud enough for everyone to hear, "She's telling him to shut up."

"Ooooh! I understand now!" she said as she clapped her hands together.

Shepard, who was ready to toss half of her crew into the sun just turned to the man with a fake grin plastered on her face. "I guess that's why I'm here. But I have my crew here as well. If you can't make room for them, then the answer is no," she said, trying to think of any way to get out of the wedding ceremony.

The man's face looked slightly crestfallen at the request, especially after looking over at Tali and Wrex. But he nodded and activated his omni-tool. "Give me just a moment, I'll see if I can get them clearance," he said as he wandered off and began calling his people.

"So... what's going on?" asked Garrus curiously.

"I'm kinda curious myself Skipper. What invitation is he talking about?" asked Ashley curiously as she crossed her arms.

Shepard turned to them with a sigh. "After becoming a Spectre I was invited to the wedding of Chao Hsu and Valerie LaBarre."

Both Ashley and Kaidan took a step back in surprise. "A royal wedding? No shit?" asked Ash, bewildered.

"Royal? You have royalty on Earth?" asked Tali, who was unsure if she was understanding correctly.

"They're a couple billionaires from Earth who happen to also be a celebrity couple. My people lap up drama and romance like that like its life-saving water," said the commander as she waved off the occurrence. "I wouldn't get your hopes up though. Royal brats like that tend to only accept their own kind. I only made the cut because I'm the famous first human Spectre. If I wasn't a Spectre, then they wouldn't even know who the hell I was."

"Oh, but I hope we can go! I've seen human weddings and they're so gorgeous!" squealed Tali excitedly as she clasped her hands together.

Shepard looked at the others for backup. Finally, having taken their helmets off, Kaidan and Ashley were talking excitedly about the possibility of being seen at the wedding. Garrus seemed to have clocked out of the conversation entirely by staring off into space. Liara was just staring at the spectre blankly.

Turning to Wrex, she looked at him questioningly. "What about you? You don't want to go, do you?" she asked, unbelieving that the krogan would want to entertain a bunch of pompous billionaires who wouldn't piss on him to put a fire out.

"Is there gonna be food?" he asked solidly, causing Shepard to palm her forehead.

"Oh no... not you too," she groaned in agony.

"Hey, if they want me stomping my battle-worn boots around their delicate little feet, then I don't care as long as I'm fed," he said with a nod.

"Et tu Wrex?" asked Shepard with a painful look on her face.

"What was that?" asked the krogan as he reached up to make sure his translator was working properly.

"Nevermind…" she said, turning to the wiry man and hoping that she would be roadblocked by their snobbishness. But even that hope was dashed when the man came over with a gleaming smile. She wanted to punch him right in his perfect white teeth.

"Good news, Spectre! The happy, soon to be couple, have approved your guest list. Though, I must ask that you keep the krogan under control," he said, holding his hands up to show he meant no offense.

"That krogan's name is Urdnot Wrex, and he comes from a long line of battlemasters leading back to the original Fallout War on Tuchanka. You will call him by his name," snapped Shepard, resigning herself to the event, but determined to have some fun with it.

"O-Oh. I-I see…" stammered the man as he bowed his head in apology.

"Say his name," ordered Shepard with a stern glare.

"Wrex?" said the man, unsure how she would react.

"Shepard," responded Wrex.

"You know, this might not be so bad. Alright, let's get this over with," she said with a small grin.

"I'm sure you will enjoy it! This is a most fortunate happenstance! You see, the wedding was already in procession when we received a warning from the Alliance that all activities on Luna were to be ceased until we were given the all clear. I was here to attain the all-clear message when I bumped into you! How lucky!" said the man excitedly as he pushed his glasses up on his nose.

"Yeah... lucky us," she griped as she was led towards a very elaborate shuttle.

CODEX ENTRIES

Shadow Dance | Culture | Quarian
A common teaching method used by quarians to teach or instruct in environments of extreme danger. Using holographic technology, the instructor or teacher will project themselves into an environment they are unable to access, allowing a visual demonstration to those already in the environment. It’s commonly used for emergency situations on the Migrant Fleet where bulkheads have sealed off certain areas of a ship.

Chapter 20: Royal Wedding

Chapter Text

Dressing Room, Michael Collins Convention Center, Luna

Everything was annoying now. The Alliance soldiers guarding a celebrity wedding when there were better things that the uniformed men and women should have been devoting their resources to, the agonizingly slow procession leading up to the matrimony, which was being led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, his Holiness Abdulrahman Al-Ghamdi.

Shepard was surprised when her team had gotten out of wardrobe. Her time in the room was painstakingly annoying as the tailor took her measurements and offered her tons of clothing that she wouldn't normally be caught dead in out in the public eye. But she simply sighed and decided on an ebon dress. The tailor complimented her on the choice, saying that dark coloring was more pronounced on someone as pale as she was. It was then that the hat and the tights came out with it. She was ready to tear the clothing to shreds, but instead, bit her tongue and fit herself into the tight clothing before donning the ridiculous headpiece and exiting the room with both omni-tools, one on each wrist.

As she exited, she ran into Wrex, who she was surprised to find out was the first to have gotten dressed. "Wrex? I thought they'd have to scramble to a specialty store for you," said the spectre as she approached him. He took one look at her outfit, from the ridiculously frilly hat to her low-heeled shoes, then burst into laughter. She glared at him heatedly as his bellowing laugh echoed across the walls of the large corridor. "Glad you're getting a kick out of this…"

His laughter died down to a chuckle and he just shook his head. "Sorry, I've just never seen someone dress so ridiculously before."

"Well, prepare to be laughing throughout the whole ceremony then, because this is the norm," she said as she crossed her arms over the outfit straight out of the 2100's. "What about you? How did they manage to get you dressed so quickly?"

"Oh, these were meant for someone else. Apparently, there's a krogan here who acts as the representative for the task force they have in China. They made several suits for him to pick from, so I just chose one of the ones he didn't take," said the krogan as he looked around. "Wonder how long the others are going to be."

"Odd they'd choose a krogan to be the rep," said Shepard as she tapped her chin curiously.

"That's what I thought until the robemaker told me that the krogan was apparently one of the most sophisticated people he'd ever seen. Damn sellout…" groaned Wrex as he shook his head.

Before she could comment further, both Ash and Kaidan walked up in their new threads. Kaidan sported a civilian morning coat, waistcoat, and tie, carrying a top hat under his arm. Ashley on the other hand wore the same kind of heels as Shepard, but rather than a knee-length skirt with an overcoat, or dress of any kind, the gunnery chief wore a mint green pantsuit with a pearl necklace around her neck and another matching ridiculous hat on her head.

Looking the spectre up and down, Ash just shook her head. "Are you as ready to ring someone's neck as I am?" she asked as she worked her shoulders inside the coat.

"Don't tell anyone, but I hung the tailor up on their own rack," said Shepard jokingly as she looked over at Kaidan, who shrugged.

"Well, I think you both look fantastic. And I rather like the clothing," he said as he reached up and adjusted his tie.

"That's because you got a top hat!" snapped Ashley playfully as she pointed at him with an accusing finger.

"Ummm…" came a familiar timid voice behind them. They all turned and found Liara standing there. However, their reactions to her clothing were much different. Shepard was nearly blow away, and if Ash and Kaidan's expressions were anything to go off of, they were as well. Unlike anything they had, she wore a hooded gown with a bodice that left her collarbone and all of the above exposed. From the waist down was a long silky skirt that hemmed at her ankles where she had a matching pair of sandal-like heels wrapped around her feet. Instead of solid sleeves, she had simple lace webbing from the shoulders, leading all the way down into glove-like finger holes that her blue fingers were now occupying. Even her face was painted with the similar white markings to the Councilor, but instead was designed to flow with the markings on her face, making them more pronounced.

The silence was almost deafening as they all stared at her, aside from Wrex who was looking at everyone else. "What's everyone staring at?" he asked in confusion.

Liara began to shrink slightly in her heeled shoes, stepping back in embarrassment. But likely being unused to the odd human footwear, she slipped and nearly fell. Shepard, with cat-like reflexes, reached down and caught her before she fell, slowly helping her back to her feet. "S-Sorry," she said as she bowed her hooded head.

"No need. Damn, looks like she got the good stuff!" said Ash, slight disappointment adorning her face as she looked the asari over again. "My sister would kill for a dress like that."

Shepard was also still drawn to the dress. From her new angle, she could see that the bodice really only had a front. The entire back was all decorated braids and weaves of silk that tied off the dress, keeping it in place while still looking majestic. "I'm still getting used to these shoes. Goddess guide me, how do you walk in these?" asked the asari as she stared down at the matching heels.

Shepard chuckled lightly, her face tinged with red as she looked away from the gorgeous dress. "Almost as soon as the asari found out that humans had a similar body structure, fashions collided. For some reason, the shoe industry exploded as asari became fascinated with high heels," said Shepard curiously as she finally looked back into the woman's blue eyes. "As for an answer to your question, you walk heel to toe. Except you wait for the heel to hit before guiding the toe," said the commander as she gave her a quick example with her own.

Liara followed her example and nodded. "Thank you. I do not wish to embarrass myself any further by tripping and falling during the ceremony," she said as she looked at the ground anxiously.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine," said Shepard as she let out a sigh. Up to this point, the asari had been dressed in little more than civilian clothes. Her doctor's smock went from boots all the way up to her neck, hiding most of her form from the world. Even on the Normandy when she worked out, she wore a wide-collared t-shirt made to fit both humans and asari with sweatpants, leaving Shepard completely in the dark about how she looked from the neck down. So that's all the spectre focused on, was her face. But it was entirely harder to focus on the woman's face with her silver dress on, making Shepard look away to keep from staring at how gorgeous she was.

Luckily, she didn't have to wait long for a distraction as Garrus approached in a set of blue turian robes worthy of the Primarch with a matching turian hood over his fringe. "Did you guys have as much of a fight with yours as I did with mine? He kept wanting to put me in purple, saying that it matched my clan markings! But I kept refusing and wanted the blue! It took ten minutes of me refusing to dress for him to finally give up!" said the turian in frustration. Finally, he looked around at everyone in shock. "Oh wow, maybe I shouldn't complain…"

Shepard gave the turian a playful glare. "You're one to talk, Primarch," said Shepard, getting a threatening glare from the former C-Sec officer.

"Don't say that out loud or they'll paint the Cipritine fountain with my blood," he said as he rested one arm on top of another.

"Looks like we've only got one to go before we can finally get out of here," said the krogan in annoyance as he waved his hand. "The quicker the better. You all talking about fashion has almost put me to sleep over here."

"Sorry for the wait! They said that they had some spare materials for quarians because Yasa'Pari vas Watson was here! Can you believe it! She was invited!" said Tali excitedly as they all looked at her.

As expected, she was still in her suit. But a fancy covering had been made to fit over it with shoulder pads and a coat that dressed all the way down into a loose skirt. Even the color nearly matched Tali's overall suit design. "Wow…" said Kaidan with a nearly slack-jawed expression.

"Wait, vas Watson?" asked Shepard curiously. "I thought you had 'nar' as an indicator of your ship. Also, quarian ships have human names?"

"Nar is an indicator of our birth ship. I was born on the Rayya, so my birth name is Tali'Zorah, which is my personal name and family name, then nar Rayya, which is my birth ship name. When we come back from our Pilgrimage, we are rarely ever put back onto our birth ship to prevent genetic stagnation," she said as she held one of her three fingers up informatively.

"Right, so 'vas' indicates your new ship," deduced Shepard as she nodded.

"It is so! For example, technically right now, I would be known as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya vas Normandy due to being a crew member of the Normandy. But rarely do we ever use our birthship names after receiving our crew names unless it's for record keeping," she said with her eyes wide with excitement. "As for her ship name, she's actually an actress on the Citadel. She was given leave by the Fleet to pursue a career in cinema, so she essentially got to choose her own name, so she chose the colony that she first went to her Pilgrimage on."

"I wasn't aware there were actual quarian celebrities out there," said Ash with a shrug. "Then again, I don't go to see many modern movies."

"She starred in the recent box-office hit "Behind the Mask", where she played a serial killer disguised as a quarian C-Sec officer. It kinda blew open the doors for quarians everywhere. Now every movie studio in Citadel Space is looking for quarian actors and actresses to be in movies," said Kaidan without missing a beat, getting a curious look from everyone.

"So, you know of her? She's my favorite!" said the girl cheerfully as she spun around. Then, she stopped and looked at them. "Wait, that's not racist, is it?" she asked, getting a chuckle from everyone but Wrex who looked even more disgruntled.

Shepard walked up to the girl and patted her shoulder. "You're fine Tali. Quarians don't have many role models, so it's good that they're being more inclusive," she said getting an excited clap from the girl. "Now then, the royal couple awaits. Let's get this over with so I can get out of this ridiculous dress," she finished, wondering if this attendance were some kind of cosmic joke being played on her by Paine after the lackluster answer to her question.

Ballroom, Michael Collins Convention Center, Luna

As was expected, the ceremony itself made Shepard wonder if she could find a thresher maw nearby to fight. The band playing as the couple made their way to the altar was overly sappy, playing such hits as "Undying Light" from Lhalia Z'Vos, a love song from an asari singer in her six hundreds that made the number three most listened to song on Earth for ten weeks straight. Shepard only knew of the song because of the irony that came with comparing someone's undying love to a supernova, a literal dying star.

She sat through the sluggish display with Liara sitting on one side and Ash sitting on the other. While not as excited as Tali was to see the romantic display, Liara did seem genuinely interested in the human custom of marriage. But again, Shepard couldn't look at the asari long without blushing fiercely due to her dress, which she had to admit to herself was extremely attractive on her. Ash, on the other hand, looked about as miserable as she was.

Looking forward, Shepard could see Tali sitting with Kaidan near the front along with another quarian, whose suit was almost as showy as the newlyweds themselves. Garrus and Wrex decided to sit at the back to keep from being eyesores, given their heights.

Once all the glamorous stuff was out of the way, the entire wedding stood and clapped as the pair kissed to seal the deal on their marriage. Afterward, the entire crowd moved into the larger hall of the convention center where there was more room for the reception with tables and tables of food waiting and drinks being handed out by servers.

Wrex immediately made his way to the tables and grabbed a plate before beginning to shove food en masse onto it, causing Shepard to chuckle to herself. But her amusement was interrupted as much to her surprise, the new couple made their way to her.

"Spectre Jane Shepard! It's so good to meet you!" said the glamorous, dark-haired woman who had changed out of her wedding attire and now sported a gown similar to Liara's, but much more elegant and flowing with a train behind it. The man was almost the antithesis to his bride, however. He wore a three-piece suit with silver cufflinks and had his short hair slicked back, looking much more business and much less glamorous.

"It's an honor to have you here," said the man as he bowed his head and reached out for her hand.

Ever the diplomat, Shepard took his hand and shook it before turning to Valerie herself. But the woman wasn't having any formal nonsense apparently, and fully embraced Shepard in a tight hug. Shepard awkwardly patted her on the back before the woman finally let go. Smiling at them, Shepard nodded her head. "Thank you for the invitation."

"Of course. You are the very first human Spectre, and arguably the most powerful human in the galaxy when it comes to Council Space. It only made sense that you should be here," said the man. But his sharp eyes caught her stern expression. "That being said, my lovely bride and I are aware of the magnitude of work you do for the Council. That is why this will be a onetime occasion."

Shepard's eyebrow raised curiously. "One time?"

"Of course. You are a Spectre, Jane. Our work is mainly humanitarian. Yours is on a much wider scale than ours, so we will not bother you with further invitations," said Valerie as she snatched a wine glass from a passing waiter.

"I really appreciate that you understand my position," said the commander, slightly surprised at the courteousness with which they were treating her. "I admit when I first saw the invitation, I was highly skeptical about you two."

"We understand how it may seem entirely. What with the Pope christening our invitations and the glam and glamour of the whole affair we have here. But those are tradition I'm afraid. Valerie and I are much more frugal with ourselves than many others of our privilege," said the man with a smile on his face.

Nodding, Valerie added on, "All this…" she said waving her hand towards the massive convention center with all its decorations. "This was a request from my mother, for 'tradition's' sake. Chao and I were perfectly happy eloping while working in Africa with the drought they are currently experiencing. But she refused to hear about anything less than... well, this," said the woman before taking a sip of the wine.

"While we will always have a seat available if you'd ever like to attend some of our charity drives, we will not hold it against you if your work keeps you from coming," said the man with a firm and polite nod.

Letting out a sigh of annoyance, Shepard just shook her head. "You guys don't make it easy to dislike you, you know that?" she said, giving them a smile.

"We understand that people of our stature often have an over-inflated idea of self-importance about themselves. We try to avoid that by working with those less fortunate," said Chao before he patted a passing man on the back.

"I'll remember your words. If I should have time available for one of your events, I'll do my best to show up," said Shepard as she too took a wine glass as a waiter offered it to her.

"It would please us greatly. Now, I believe we have taken up enough of your time. So please, enjoy the party," finished the man as he shook her hand again. Valerie went in for another hug, which was less awkward this time, then the pair wandered off and began talking to a very menacing looking turian diplomat with enough medals on his chest to sink him in the ocean.

Turning around, the commander eyed the crowd, looking for her own people as she sipped at the wine. Wrex was still at the long food table, and currently looked to be in a heated debate with an Asian man who appeared to be the chef. Deciding to start there, she walked over towards him and heard the conversation they were having before deciding not to interrupt them. Apparently the krogan was challenging the man to give him hotter and hotter foods. Wrex, while no slouch in the food department, looked slightly pale as he requested the next level. She wasn't entirely sure of krogan could sweat, but if they could, Wrex would be drenched in his robes.

Turning around again, she managed to spot Tali speaking with Kaidan and the quarian movie star again. Deciding to introduce herself, she made her way over to the trio. Tali immediately noticed her coming and waved her down. "Shepard!" she cheered as the spectre arrived. "I've been waiting to introduce you! This is Yasa'Pari vas Watson!"

The quarian, whose suit was more of a rich crimson color that matched with all of the dress accessories that she wore for the wedding, eyed Shepard curiously through her facemask and held up her hand in greeting. "Captain Shepard! I've heard so much about you today!" she said, almost eagerly.

"My former Alliance rank was Commander, I’m afraid. I've never been promoted to captain before," said Shepard as she too held up her palm. Holding her fingers together, she pressed her fingertips to Yasa's own in the traditional quarian finger tap greeting.

"First Kaidan and now you too? Tali must keep your crew very informed about our people," said the woman cheerfully in her melodious voice. "And forgive the formality. Our people refer to anyone who leads their own ship as captain.”

"We enjoy learning more about those we work with. We're a relatively tight-knit group," said Shepard with a polite nod of the head. "And if it makes you comfortable then refer to me as you please."

"And so polite! Tali, you must have pleased the Ancestors greatly to have such a wonderful crew!" said the woman gleefully, making Tali cover her face shield with her hands.

"I... I suppose," responded the younger quarian meekly.

Kaidan smiled charmingly. "She's a hard worker and a pleasure to have around. Keksasokah," he said, getting wide-eyed looks from both of the quarians and a curious eye from Shepard.

"Kaidan'Alenko, when did you learn to speak Khelish?" asked Yasa, whose tone became one of fascination.

"I've been brushing up on it. The Spectre here is fairly skilled in both asari and turian dialects, so I figured I'd pick up one of my own," he said as he gestured to Shepard.

"Keelah, I'm in the presence of such refinement!" said the woman, almost dramatically. Tali looked away in embarrassment, while Kaidan smiled, and Shepard took a sip of her wine to keep from laughing. Then Yasa looked at Shepard and grasped her hands together in front of her. "Shepard, I must ask you a favor!"

Nodding, the spectre gazed at the quarian, curious to hear what she had in mind. "I'll do it if I can," she said solemnly, noting the last favor she did for someone in the back of her mind.

"I intend to keep in touch with Tali, of course! But if it's alright with you, I would like to correspond with you too. The future for me holds many possibilities, more of which open up with each new life experience. But there are some experiences I'm afraid I will never be able to see for myself…" she began, lowering her head as if thinking of how to ask for what she wanted.

"You want to ask me for my hands on experiences so you can integrate it into your acting?" asked the Spectre curiously.

Yasa's eyes widened, then she smiled brightly, which showed in her luminescent eyes. "Exactly! You are more than just special forces or a frontline soldier! You are a Spectre, and one of the Council's respected agents! Your advice would be invaluable!"

"Of course. You can contact me here," started Shepard as she opened her omni-tool and began to forward her email account to the quarian.

That was when Tali noticed the other bracelet on Shepard's opposing wrist. "You have two omni-tools?" asked the young woman curiously.

Shepard's eyes widened slightly as she looked from Tali to the spare omni-tool on her right arm. "I brought it as a spare, in case I needed it... earlier," she said, putting emphasis on the word.

"Oh, right," said Tali as she understood the message clearly. Shepard was glad the girl had backed off because she wasn't entirely sure how the two quarians in front of her might react to a potentially living AI that was currently adorning her wrist.

"In any case, you can contact me there. But you must understand that there are times when I cannot answer mails from anyone," said the spectre as she closed down her omni-tool again.

"Of course, Captain. You have important work to do, so please only respond if you feel you have the spare time," said the quarian woman as she gasped gently. Looking down, a volus had tugged gently on her coat. "Oh, keelah, Captain Shepard, let me introduce you to my husband, Nalsa Kap. He dabbles in finance and sports when he has the time," she said proudly.

"Good to meet you," Shepard said as she raised her glass towards him.

"Big fan Shepard... keep up the good work," said the volus before he turned to the much taller quarian. "Padwa, we must go now. The car is waiting," he pled, his breathing filter cutting the sentences apart as was typical for volus.

"Oh, how the time goes by. So good to meet all of you! Tali, keep in touch," she said before leaning down and whispering something that Shepard wasn't able to hear. But whatever it was, it almost made Tali squeal in embarrassment.

When the quarian with her matching exo-suit husband left the three alone, they all looked at one another. Shepard then began to look around again. "Has anyone seen Lia…"

"I'm right here Shepard!" said the asari woman from behind her.

This was a new feeling. The woman's voice nearly made her jump out of her skin in surprise. Shepard had gone by many aliases in her work as an intel agent for the Alliance and was skilled in all things stealth. But somehow, this nerdy asari had managed to sneak up on her, nearly making her splash the remainder of her wine on Alenko. "Liara! What are you doing?" asked the redhead as she held a hand over her heart to try and slow the beating down.

"Sorry Shepard! Was just following you around, waiting for an opportunity to talk to you. But you were already talking so I didn't want to interrupt, because that would be rude. But then, I think following you without you knowing and then scaring you was probably also rude, so I apologize," said the asari in a rapid clip as she bowed her head in apology.

"Did you just bow?" asked Kaidan curiously as all three of them stared at the asari who was acting very strange.

"The drink man, the waiter, he said he served the royal family of China and he taught me that greeting. I thought it was very interesting, so I tried it! How did you like it?" asked the normally demure woman in a very hyperactive voice.

"It was nice," said Shepard as she eyed Liara suspiciously. "Liara, did the waiter also give you a drink?"

"Of course! He is a waiter after all and that's what waiters do! But... you already knew that..." she said as she looked down.

"And what was this drink called?" asked Shepard as she crossed her arms.

"Well, first he gave me a cup of tea! Then he said I might like a drink you have called coffee! Tasted terrible, but he offered me something called... ehhh... what was it?" she asked herself as she began counting on her fingers.

"Oh god, did he give her an espresso?" asked Kaidan with a horror-stricken look on his face.

Liara smiled brightly and pointed at him. "That's what it was!"

"A scientist that usually stays away from civilization, coming from a species that usually shies away from stimulants suddenly took a shot of espresso…" said Shepard as she downed the rest of her wine and handed the glass over to Kaidan. "I'm going to go ahead and take her back to the ship. You two keep an eye on Wrex and make sure he doesn't pass out from eating peppers," she ordered as she reached out for Liara's hand.

"You got it, Commander," replied Kaidan as Liara took Shepard's hand.

"Liara, I'm going to need you to follow me back to the Normandy, alright?" asked the redhead in an almost amused tone.

"Of course Shepard! I'd follow you anywhere," she said in an almost dreamy daze.

"Good, let's go," said the spectre as she led the woman out of the hall.

Front Steps, Michael Collins Convention Center, Luna

"Bullshit! The M-7 may be sturdier, but the M-8 has a lower heat output, so that automatically makes it more effective in a firefight. You use less sinks, so it lasts longer," said Ash as she took the bottle of scotch she had hoisted from a waiter.

Garrus, who sat next to her, did just about the same thing with one of the turian waiters, and the two made their way outside before getting into a heated debate about which rifle was better. Admittedly, Ash hadn't expected the night to take this turn, but she wasn't disappointed at all.

"Chief, chief, chief. You only need more heat sinks if you don't know how to correctly moderate heat distribution. See, with the M-7, you can try and break that thing over your knee, run it over in the Mako, slingshot it through a mass relay, and then let it crash land onto a planet and you'd still be able to pick it up out of the dirt and fire it. Meanwhile, the M-8 can get tripped over and the eezo fragment unlodges, so the weapon can't fire. It's all a matter of experience," he said as he took a swig from his own bottle of alcohol.

"Oh, is that it? You think I don't have the experience? Tell me officer, what experience do you have to back up your defense of the M-7? Because me? I've used the M-8 throughout my entire career and it's only jammed once. Meanwhile, the M-7 puts out enough heat that you could be spotted on a thermal scan from space!" she snapped back as she stole another gulp of the fiery liquid.

"What experience do I have? I've been in C-Sec for years! I've taken down hostages and rescued kidnappers!” claimed the turian, getting an amused snort from the chief. “I've taken down terrorists, serial killers, and even busted one of your human clowns with an M-7. Turns out he was packing weapons into his pants and trying to get through customs with a waiver from a phony doctor saying he had artificial legs," said the turian as he took another shot. "We started pulling them out of his pants and they just wouldn't stop. By the time we finally cleaned his pants out we had an entire armory of weapons sitting on the table!"

Ash, influenced a bit by the alcohol actually started snort-laughing at the story. "Oh my god…" she gasped as she covered her mouth.

"And what's the deal with clowns anyway? I asked Sergeant Guile about it and he said those things were supposed to entertain children! Meanwhile they look like they're painted like a work of modern art with enough makeup to put anyone on guard," he said and shook his head in disbelief.

"They are pretty creep-tastic aren't they?" she asked as she swilled the remaining liquor in her bottle around in circles.

"Creep-tastic indeed. If one of those showed up at a turian party he'd be stuck by so many spurs just from people thinking he's some new alien contact that he'd pop like a balloon," said Garrus as he leaned over against the wall to support himself.

Suddenly, the doors to the inside of the Main Hall opened and they both looked over to see Shepard leading Liara back by the hand towards the aircar port. As they walked out from under the roof, the sky was again visible through the environmental dome that covered the small city. Liara immediately looked up at the sky and broke away from Shepard's grip, spinning like a young girl as she gasped.

"Wooow, Shepard! Look, it's Earth!" she almost shouted as she pointed up at the large figure of the planet above them.

"I have noticed. Now, let's look at it from the Normandy, alright?" asked the redhead as she held out her hand.

Liara took it once more and smiled brightly. "As you wish, Shepard!" she said cheerfully as she continued to follow her, almost skipping all the way to the port.

"They're cute together," said a slightly drunken Garrus.

"If you say so," said Ash, who knew that she was on the borderline of drunkenness. If she didn't stop now, she'd regret it later. So, she lifted the bottle and took another swig of the fiery solution before glaring at him. "And I don't care how many clowns you've taken down with one, the M-8 will always outclass the M-7!"

"We could see the guns through his pants with the scanners! Why did he think that'd work!?" asked the turian in exasperation as he waved his hands about.

Ash laughed riotously at the remark as he completely ignored her to go on another rant about the clown. "Wow, that's really weighing on your mind, huh?" she asked as she looked over at his face. Despite her joke, she noticed a bit of a tone shift in his attitude. He stared at the ground, either in a drunken stupor, or in a very serious manner. She couldn't exactly tell which as the alcohol began to get to her.

Finally, he sighed as he leaned his head onto one of his hands. "Sorry, you just... reminded me of something."

Curious now, she nudged him with her bottle of booze. "Wanna talk about it? I hear I'm a good listener."

"I doubt that," he said, giving her a chuckle before his mandibles twitched again. "But... no, it's alright. Just some unfinished business that I haven't thought about in a while is all."

"Alright, have it your way. You know, I am the granddaughter of the general of Shanxi, so if you're going to make me surrender the conversation then it's just history repeating itself," she said with a diabolical smirk.

He looked at her in surprise before chuckling again. "I see the alcohol has made you a bit more self-deprecating than usual," he said as he took another drink.

"You know Vakarian, you're pretty alright, I guess," said Ashley as she tugged on his cowl.

"Wow, that was almost a compliment," he snapped back as he applauded her sarcastically.

"But the M-7 still sucks!" she shouted, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Oh spirits help me…" sighed the turian as he placed his face in his palm.

Gym - SSV Normandy SR1

The two panted and grunted as knees and elbows flew back and forth. Now dressed in PTs, the asari seemed spectacularly resilient as every time Shepard put her on the ground, she popped back up only more excited and ready for more. They continued her training with the spectre noting that despite the short amount of time she had been training the asari, the woman had advanced more rapidly than most. She didn’t know if it was something biological, or perhaps Liara was simply a better student than most. But she actually had to concentrate on her movements to keep from receiving a flying knee.

It had been twenty minutes of this heated kickboxing before Shepard twirled the asari over her hip and slammed her directly into the mat. Releasing her arm, Shepard chuckled as she saw the asari no longer moving, her head to the side and snoring gently. "And she crashes,” said the spectre as the caffeine had finally passed, and the doctor lay collapsed on the padded floor of the room. "Took a lot less time than I thought," said Shepard as she stood up and stretched her arms. Reaching down, she flipped the doctor onto her back before picking her up in her arms and carrying her out of the room.

Awkwardly, the asari reached up and gripped Shepard's shoulder in her sleep. "Shhhhhepard…" she groaned as the spectre stepped onto the elevator with Joker, who eyed the pair oddly.

"Not a word Moreau," she ordered, getting a smirk from the pilot as they stood awkwardly in the lift while it took them down to the crew quarters. When the doors opened again, Joker went his own way and Shepard took the opposite direction and headed for the medical bay.

Doctor Chakwas was sitting at her desk, going over the information on a datapad when she looked up to see Shepard. "Commander Shepard! Already back from the wedding?" asked the woman in her charming accent.

Nodding, the spectre walked over to one of the beds and laid the asari woman on it as the silver-haired doctor approached. "Yeah, and everyone's actually enjoying the after party."

"What happened to Doctor T'Soni? Did she hit herself over the head with a few too many wine bottles?" asked the woman with a curious smile on her face.

Shaking her head, Shepard sighed. "She had her first experience with high dosage caffeinated drinks."

Chakwas' eyes widened slightly as she looked down at the woman. "Oh my. What was it?"

"First tea, then coffee, then espresso," said the spectre as she nodded to the doctor. "I worked some of it out of her system and she crashed pretty hard. So, I'd appreciate it if you could keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't have any side-effects."

"Understood. Thank goodness she didn't get ahold of any energy drinks…" said the doctor grimly.

"Agreed. I'm pretty sure she would have lifted off, hit escape velocity and flown to Earth," said Shepard with an amused smile on her face. "In any case, I'm gonna go ahead and send out the rallying cry for the crew. We've got work to do," she offered as she turned around and waved to the doctor.

"Ask one of them if they can bring back a bottle of brandy for me!" shouted Chakwas with a grin before the door closed behind Shepard.

Making her way back to her quarters, the commander sent out the signal to the others and sat back in her chair, thinking to herself about Paine's question, about the marriage, and about her own doubts. Perhaps finding someone to settle down with wouldn't be so bad. Mulling it over, she already eliminated a lot of options for herself. They couldn't be a civilian, as her work would constantly make them a target. Tali hadn’t even been involved in Trident, yet she still got the blunt end of someone’s revenge.

Imagining the occurrence on the Citadel with Romanov happening to her loved ones while she was working for the Council was out of the question. That meant either military or police, or even other spectres. But they would still be a target unless they were with her at all times. Her mind immediately snapped to her crew. Immediately she began cracking up as she pictured Wrex waiting for her on a bed of roses, then pushed the thought from her mind. Kaidan, while a standup guy, just didn't draw her attraction. Odd, given that he was handsome, smooth, had a pleasing voice, and definitely had himself put together. But she merely saw him as a friend.

Ash was highly unlikely for two reasons. First, she was almost certain that the soldier played solely for the home team, and secondly the unusual way she treated Shepard, as if she were still in the Alliance, would probably make for awkward dinner talks. Garrus was upstanding, proud, and funny. She had also had experience with turians, which meant the transition phase would be less awkward. But there was still something about him that she couldn't read. Some kind of inner fire that she saw burning quietly, waiting for that burst of oxygen to turn it into a wildfire. She wasn't sure what it was about, but that was something she would definitely have to contend with if she ever considered being something more with him.

Tali... was odd. She had no idea what Tali's preference was, or even if she had one. The girl was fascinated with romance and drama, but then so were many of her previous girlfriends. She was also unsure whether Tali had some kind of crush on her, or if it was just a star-struck reaction to many of the videos and news articles that she had that always painted Shepard as some kind of super soldier of destruction. That was putting aside all of the biological incompatibilities with her immune system and constant need for a suit. And lastly, even if she somehow did begin to fall for the quarian, and somehow made it past all of the incompatibilities, there was still the fact that she would have to leave for the Migrant Fleet once more when her pilgrimage was finished. She then wondered if the Migrant Fleet would allow such visits for a person of special interest.

Then her mind shifted again to the doctor who was currently snoring away a caffeine crash in the medbay. Her lips curled into a smile at the state of the awkward asari, from her mannerisms to her inability to detect jokes, to her elated reaction when talking about the protheans. Then her mind went to the dress again, and the spectre felt herself blushing madly.

Snapping out of her stupor, she smacked her cheeks with her hands before standing up. "We've got important shit to do Shepard, get your head out of your ass," she ordered herself before activated her omni-tool. "Joker, when the crew boards, we're leaving for the Citadel. Set up a pilot for the night if you're off the clock," she said as she turned towards the door and headed to the showers.

"Roger dodger," responded the pilot.

CODEX ENTRIES

Finger Tap | Culture | Quarians
The quarian finger tap is a greeting where two quarians hold up their hands and touch the tips of their three fingers together briefly. Sometimes colloquially called the ‘shyfive’ by other species, the minimal amount of touching is a quintessential part of quarian culture. Other species such as humans and asari who have more digits than quarians do can mimic the greeting by simply holding some of their fingers together as if they were one digit.

Keksasokah | Translation | Old Khelish
Drawn from old Khelish borne of Rannoch, the phrase means “their presence brings us fortune.”

Padwa | Translations | Iperian Volus
A simple term of affection used publicly that means “beloved.”

Chapter 21: Bonding

Chapter Text

Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

She sat in her chair again, her tiredness creeping in as she stared at the omni-tool that now rested on the desk in front of her. Once she had some spare time, she managed to have a simple conversation with it, asking about its origins and its awakening. However, she wasn't sure she was the right person to be asking questions. Her limited knowledge on the subject of AI made her wonder if she should trust an outside source with the existence of what she had dubbed Valkyrie.

But she knew it couldn't be someone in the Alliance, or even Council, given the severity of punishment for such an act. One small squeal and the Alliance could very well be heavily sanctioned by the Council for dabbling in things that were outlawed. And after talking with the AI for a short time, she knew that's exactly what they were doing. Whether intentional or not, they had crossed the line from smart computer to self-awareness. She would have to send an email to Hackett later and alert them to find the ones responsible and punish them accordingly.

In the meantime, she wasn't sure what to do with her new guest. While there would always be debates among the masses about whether or not AI should be considered people or not, she stood firm on the fact that any living, thinking being who was fully aware of the actions of their consequences and weren't just driven on instinct should be given as many rights as any other. With certain limitations depending on species of course.

But in this case, she didn't feel that the AI deserved death. It wasn't their fault that they were created, nor was it their fault that a few Alliance officers had broken galactic law. So, she chose to let them live with limited access to anything and everything. They didn't need food, water, or exercise. They simply asked for stimulation through consumption of data. Shepard told Valkyrie that it could have the data but could not be connected to any kind of network outside of the omni-tool. So, she would have to come up with some method for them to access the extranet without being able to transfer themselves into it.

As for learning more, there was really only one person she could call on and she knew it. But she still questioned herself many times before sending the message out. It had to be someone she trusted absolutely, someone who wouldn't betray her. Thus far, her crew was on the list. At least, most of them. The Alliance crew did their jobs, but she didn't know most of them personally. But her squad, plus Joker, Chakwas, and Adams. Pressly was still a big question mark, and the turian crew she trusted to do their jobs, but still had to get to know them better. So that left one option.

As the door opened, Tali poked her head into the chamber. "Shepard? You said you needed me for something?"

Spinning in her chair, the commander nodded as she folded her hands together in her lap. "Take a seat, Tali," she said as she nodded to the bed.

"O-Oh, alright…" said the engineer meekly. She looked as if she thought she was in trouble as she moved over to sit on the bed. "I-Is something the matter Shepard? You're being very serious right now."

"Tali, I want you to tell me what you know about the Morning War," responded the spectre as she stared into the girl's luminescent eyes, which widened at the request.

"The Morning War? W-What about it?" asked the quarian, who clearly loosened up as she realized she wasn't in any trouble.

"What you know, what your people believe about it, and what you believe. That's all," she stated as she rested her chin in her hand.

"I see…" said Tali as she looked down for a moment before locking eyes with Shepard again. "Well, as you probably already know, it was a surprise. We had been making geth for centuries for both security and for labor purposes. They acted as our workforce, our protection, and our companions. But, as you know by now, the more geth there are, the smarter they get. They were built this way so that multiple geth working on the same project could work in unison without issue."

"So, if three geth were ordered to guard something, and one of them were destroyed, the other two would know?" asked Shepard curiously, knowing most of this already but clarifying for Tali's sake.

"Yes. Also, if ten geth were working on constructing a new building in a village, then they would all sort out their tasks on their own without needing instruction. One geth wouldn't be trying to do something that another was already in the process of because they communicated with one another. But…" she said sadly, "While we created a distance barrier for each unit, meaning that when they stepped out of range of another geth, they would be simple again, we hadn't anticipated just how many geth we were producing. Being a part of the galactic community and Citadel Space meant that we had to compete and expand, and the geth were so integral to our lives. So, we began to create more."

"How is it that the geth were able to link up to one another en masse?" asked Shepard, who wasn't actually sure how that could happen with the safety measures they had installed.

"Well, you see, we were told that there was an emergency backup installed into each geth. For specific emergency situations, the range in which they could network increased. It made it easier for them to be able to search wide areas, find survivors in the event of a structure collapse, or simply communicate more easily during emergency situations. And while it still didn't give them the freedom to link with geth that were across the city, it gave them just enough freedom." At this point, Tali began to fidget with her hands. "The day before the Morning War began, we had a huge emergency. Rannoch, our home planet, has large deserts and is usually hotter than most Council races' homeworlds. This caused lots of fires, and we had a bad one the day before."

"So, geth were scrambled together to deal with the fires?" asked Shepard with a nod. "Seems like the thing to do considering they can usually brush off heat that would kill organics."

"That's true. We ended up linking together a task force to put out the fires, but it was a heavily populated area with many neighborhoods. Their emergency protocols were activated, and they began to fight the fires. But then they linked up with nearby geth in the neighborhood, usually house units that were either companions or simple labor workers. Then those units received the emergency protocols as well, which linked them with geth from other houses in the neighborhood, and it continued from there," said the quarian with a sigh. "With so many geth linked all at once, it was inevitable."

"A chain reaction," said Shepard as she finally understood.

"Indeed. With so many geth minds linked, they became more intelligent, we guess to the point where they attained self-awareness. After the fire was over, the geth that were linked together froze up and wouldn't turn off their emergency protocols. They thought that perhaps the fire damage had done something to them, but then the geth started asking questions. Questions that someone who does not want to admit that they created a living AI does not like to hear." Finally shedding her shy demeanor, she sat back and nodded. "That was when it started. They began thinking, and my people tried our best to stop it. But we were woefully unprepared. We didn't realize just how far they had linked together. They fought back and almost wiped us out. As our people were fleeing into space on whatever ships we could find, we saw them marching towards other cities in the world, linking up with more and more geth as they went."

"So, wait, the geth asked questions that alerted them that they were self-aware, and the quarians tried to kill them?" asked the spectre curiously as she sat up in her seat.

"Shepard, we used them for manual labor and to do work that was either considered too demeaning or too dangerous for a regular quarian. If they became self-aware and realized this, they would have retaliated and killed us. No living being wants to be the mule for another," she said as if the statement were obvious.

But Shepard simply shrugged. "I can't say I blame them. If one day I woke up in chains, and the person that put me there tried to kill me, I’d fight back. The geth's reaction was natural for any creature wanting to survive."

She could see through the faceplate that Tali was glaring at her. "The survival of my people depended on not letting the geth find out that we used them as slaves up to that point. We reacted the way we did because if we did not, then many more quarians would have lost their lives. If we hadn't made it to the ships when we did, there's a very real chance that none of us would be alive today."

"Even so Tali, you can't look at me and say that the quarians were completely innocent in all this. The quarians on Rannoch created the geth, and then tried to exterminate them," said the spectre firmly.

Tali balled her fists up angrily, but then sighed and lowered her head. "We know, believe me. One of the most politically discussed things on the Fleet is whether we could have done things differently. Some believe we should have spoken with them; some believe we were justified in trying to exterminate them. But all of that is irrelevant."

"I know, and I want you to know, Tali, that I don't blame you, or anyone alive today for what happened. I don't agree with the Council's decision to punish you by taking away colonization rights, nor do I believe that your people are responsible for Eden Prime," said the spectre reassuringly as she leaned forward.

"Th-Thank you, Shepard. I'm sorry I got defensive. It's just, I've had this conversation with others before and they were much quicker to point the finger than you are," she said with relief in her tone. "But you have to admit, with Eden Prime and the geth working with Saren, you can't say that they are innocent either."

Nodding, Shepard gave her a smile. "They aren't, of course. But we'll figure out their endgame in this eventually. Right now, I'd like to do something else."

"Like what?" asked the quarian curiously, her body language expressing that she was much more relaxed now.

"If you could go back to that day, the day the Morning War started, and it was your geth that started asking you questions, would you listen to them?" she asked as she examined the quarian's face as much as she could.

Surprised by the question, Tali sat back and thought for a moment. "I... I suppose I would. They deserved to be heard at least, even if it eventually led to war. Some of my people like to claim that war was inevitable, but I’d like to think things could have been different.”

"And if another AI came to you with questions, would you speak to them?" asked Shepard, her words placed very carefully.

"I honestly don't know. We were taught for our entire lives that we were nearly eradicated by the geth. I don't know if I would be able to see another AI without thinking that they were going to try to kill me," she said honestly as her timid nature resurfaced.

Shepard nodded and reached over to the spare omni-tool on her wrist, then removed it and held it up in front of the girl. Tali stared at it in confusion before looking up and locking eyes with Shepard. "If you ever want to know, you come to me. You don't mention it to another soul, not the crew, not the Fleet, not the Council."

As she finally understood the implications, Tali scrambled backward on the bed until her back hit the wall. "Sh-Shepard! Are you telling me that omni-tool as an AI on it?"

"A defenseless AI. It can't link with anything, it can't escape the omni-tool, and it has no method of communication besides this screen right here," she said as she lit the omni-tool and tapped the small, hard-light, monitor.

"Are you insane Shepard!? How did you even…" she asked incredulously before stopping dead in her tracks. "The Valkyrie Facility!" Getting only a nod from the commander, she pulled her knees up defensively. "Shepard, you have to destroy it! What if it gets loose?"

"It can't," said the spectre firmly as she closed down the omni-tool. "This omni-tool has no wireless ports. In order for it to escape, someone would need to put in an encrypted password to prevent the omni-tool from self-destructing, and then plug this into a physical port,” she said as she pulled a cord from the base. Even if it could somehow get someone to steal the omni-tool, which it couldn’t, the omni-tool would fry once they tried to transfer. It cannot escape."

"You can't take that chance!" said the quarian as she folded in on herself.

Shepard simply sighed and leaned back in her chair again. "If you are unable to help me, then I apologize for asking. I know your people are highly distrustful of AIs, but you were the only one with the experience to assist me, so I took a chance. I'm sorry," said the spectre as she spun in her chair and turned on her terminal.

The room was awkwardly quiet for a long moment before Tali finally spoke. "Shepard…"

Looking over at the young woman, the commander smiled gently. "I’m sorry Tali, I have a lot of work to do at the moment. Is there anything else?"

She could see that Tali was stunned, almost hurt by the dismissal of the subject. But there was little more to talk about, and she still had work to get done. "No... I guess not," said the young woman as she rose from the bed and moved towards the door, her form slightly slouching. Sighing to herself now, Shepard accessed the spectre network.

Asari Embassy - Presidium - Citadel

"Are you alright?" asked Kaidan curiously as he eyed her from the seat across from her.

Tali looked up in surprise at the question. "W-What do you mean?" she asked, almost self-consciously.

"You seem to be pretty down recently. Is everything okay?" he asked, his face a mask of human worry.

"I'll…" she started before sighing to herself. "I'll be fine. I've just been thinking about a lot of things lately. Things I never realized I'd be thinking about," she said vaguely to keep him from fully understanding. She liked Kaidan, a lot, but she'd never break Shepard's trust for him.

"Well, if you ever need someone to hear you out, my ear is always available," he offered as he gave her a warm smile. She felt her cheeks flushing slightly at the smile and nodded.

"Thank you, Kaidan. I really appreciate the offer. But I'll be alright with time," she said as she looked away, slightly embarrassed. She wasn't exactly sure why she was reacting the way she was towards his kindness, but she found herself feeling safer and saner around him in the chaotic galaxy that they were spinning in. She truly appreciated his presence.

Suddenly, both Kaidan and Tali spun towards the door into the embassy, while the receptionist, a lovely asari by the name of Saphi, jumped in surprise as a loud crash sounded from inside. Suddenly, the door opened and screaming could be heard from within. "You won't get away with this Shepard! I'll have your job, your ship, your very life! You'll be eating scraps out of a bowl in an alley when I'm through with you!" came the voice of a shrieking asari as the spectre walked out with a neutral look on her face.

Kaidan and Tali both stood in surprise as Shepard nodded to them. "Let's go, we're done here."

"Did you hear me!?" shouted the asari as she stumbled towards the door, her lip busted and now swelling as she glared at the back of the redhead.

When they finally left the embassy, Kaidan was the first to ask. "Soooo... that was a diplomatic visit then?" he asked sarcastically, causing the quarian to giggle.

"I don't like being used. She learned that lesson today, and won't make the same mistake again," said the spectre as she summoned a transit car. "Besides, when I tell the Council about her affiliations and her manipulation of a Council Spectre, she'll be lucky if she has the power to deny my coupons at the commissary."

Nodding, Kaidan just smirked. "Don't mess with Shepard, am I right?" he asked as he looked at her.

Tali nodded and looked at Shepard herself. The redhead gave her a glance, then looked up as the transit car arrived. The quarian sighed, knowing that she had all but failed her back on the Normandy. The two hadn't talked much since, and any time they did it was almost purely professional. Tali almost felt cold around her now. And to add to the pile of problems, she knew that she was partially to blame. It wasn't like she sought Shepard out to talk things over or anything.

Ever since their conversation in her quarters, she had been unconsciously avoiding the commander. But only after a few days did she realize that Shepard was actually giving her space rather than seeking to close the gap again. And even though she shouldn't be saddened by that, she was. Sighing to herself, she got into the vehicle and it began speeding towards their destination at the Citadel Tower.

"So, Shepard, I heard you've got a date today," said Kaidan with a smile.

Tali's eyes widened at the news, looking over at the soldier in confusion. "Date?"

"Yeah, a detective from C-Sec wants to take me out for a drink and some dinner. I figured I haven't been on the dating scene in a while, so I'd give it a shot," replied the commander from the front seat.

"Want me to help you pick something out to wear? See, the other day I saw this amazing black dress…" he started, grinning widely as Shepard glared at him.

"One of these days Alenko, you're not going to be able to weasel your way out of combative training with me. Then I'll make you pay for that," she said playfully before looking ahead through the plasteel window again.

"Wait... but... I thought…" said Tali in confusion as she looked between them.

Kaidan looked at her and gave her a curious eye. "You thought what?"

Reaching up, she pulled him down by his collar and whispered into his ear as lightly as she could. "I thought you were pursuing Shepard!"

His eyes widened slightly as they both heard a snicker from the front seat. This time, it was Kaidan's turn to glare at her. "Hyuck it up, Shepard."

"Yes sir," she said sarcastically from the front as she closed the window between the two compartments, leaving Kaidan and Tali in privacy.

"To answer your question, no, I'm not pursuing Shepard. While she is attractive, and definitely someone I'd consider in another universe, she has her own things going on. Besides, I think I've found someone a bit more to my liking," he said with a warm smile.

"Oh…" she said as he brain worked furiously. Then, in a matter of seconds, she felt as if she had been slapped in the helmet. "Ooohh…" she said as the realization hit her like a shot fired from a dreadnaught. From his interest in her day of birth, to his offers of help, to learning Khelish, it all added up to one thing. At first, she had taken it as his friendly nature given that he always treated the other crew the same. But he didn’t speak a word of Turian Common or Asari Alai. As the pieces fit together, she asked one last clarifying question. "I... I don't suppose she happens to be a movie star, would she?"

He shook his head. "She could be if she wanted to be," he responded as he faced forward. It appeared that he realized she was catching on as well, and his handsome face was currently trying to focus on anything else.

"I see... thank you," she said, unsure of how exactly to respond. Luckily, she didn't have to think of anything as the aircar landed and opened up. Kaidan stepped out faster than she'd ever seen him move before.

She quickly followed, not wanting to be left sitting in the car alone. Shepard, in what she called 'civilian attire,' which consisted of a pair of khaki-colored pants with large pockets, a shirt with a logo from the human movie called “Brave” that Tali had yet to see, and a black leather coat, walked up the stairs to the Citadel Tower before calling the lift.

They both followed her, Kaidan with his eyes wandering and taking interest in a C-Sec officer trying to calm down a very verbose hanar, and her own face generating almost enough heat to melt her face shield out of her helmet.

Luckily, they didn't have to spend long in the elevator as it shot up to the Council floor and Shepard stepped out with them in tow. Turning around, she held up a hand. "Stay here, I'll only be a minute," she ordered, turning back and walking up the stairs before either of them could object.

"Sooo…" said Kaidan awkwardly as he looked down at her.

"Sooo…" responded Tali as she fidgeted with her hands wildly. "W-What do you like to do in your free time?" she asked desperately to end the oppressive embarrassment.

Thinking for a moment, the lieutenant scratched his chin. "Well, I like to watch movies, especially classics. And I love cooking as well while listening to music."

Perking up, she latched onto the music. "Oh! What kind of music? We don't have a lot of modern music on the Fleet, and... well, since I left, I haven't had much time to catch up."

"Oh, I love classical human music. Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, all works of art. But I also like a bit of old school EDM as well. They sometimes play them in the clubs, but not often enough for me to go solely for the music," he said with a shrug. "I mostly just keep playlists on my off-hours omni-tool for when I work out."

"That sounds lovely! Perhaps you could let me listen someday?" she asked, trying not to be too forward. "P-Perhaps I could sync my helmet to your omni-tool and we could work out to it?"

He smiled warmly at the request and nodded. "I'd really like that."

Suddenly, they both turned as Shepard walked down the stairs again. "Done and done. You two are free to go for the day. I'll send off the rallying cry in the morning," she said with a wave as she walked past them.

"Where are we headed next?" asked the human.

"Likely Thessia, so Liara can get her stuff. Keep your comms on," she said as she finally turned and left the tower.

Kaidan turned back to Tali and the awkwardness was back for the moment. "So, want to go to a club for a bit? Maybe I can get them to play a few of my favorites for you," he offered as he gestured towards the elevator with a hand.

She thought about it for a moment, then thought about the last few days, and realized that she could definitely use a break to take her mind off things. "I'd love that."

Flux - Zakera Ward - Citadel

As soon as she walked in, she felt out of place. Most of the people inside the club were younger... so to speak. There were plenty of asari, who were likely easily into their hundreds. But they were still in the 'young crowd' with the humans in their early twenties. She, while only twenty-nine years old, still felt out of place with them. She was always the more serious of her college friends, avoiding the parties and the drinking most of the time and instead devoting herself to her work. It was how she made it to college so early, and how she immediately made an officer when she joined the Alliance.

So, when it came to the younger scene like dance floors, parties, and boozing away the weekend, she was always the black sheep. She wasn't sure if Detective Chellick was all for that scene, or if he simply chose this club because it was new. But regardless, she felt a bit out of place. Looking over at the dance floor, she shivered slightly as memories of her dancing while slightly tipsy came back to her. She tried to push her discomfort aside, but it also didn't help that two of her crew members had been stalking her since she had left Tali and Kaidan at the Citadel Tower.

She had easily spotted their clumsy following tactics as soon as she ordered another transit car to take her to the club that the detective had chosen. While Garrus was a bit more skilled than the asari, she had casually managed to see them both poking their heads around the corner of the tower. This was only further confirmed when she landed and almost immediately another aircar sat down behind her as she went to enter the club. While she was curious as to their intentions, she was happy that they were getting practice in. But she would have to offer them a few pointers once they were on the Normandy again.

Finally, she spotted the turian, who was already sitting at one of the tables. He raised his hand and waved, likely trying to be courteous by using the human greeting. Despite how awkward he looked doing it, she still smiled and nodded, sitting down at the table.

Flux - Zakera Ward - Citadel

"Quiet down! I think she saw us!" snapped Liara as she peeked over the railing of the upper mezzanine.

"Why? The music in this place is deafening! Also, I'm about eighty percent sure that what we're doing is illegal under current Citadel Law," replied the turian as he leaned with his back against the same wall that she was looking over. "Bump that up to one hundred percent given the targets are a C-Sec inspector and a Council Spectre."

An adorable brunette waitress with a nametag that read “Rita” in Galactic Common walked up to them and looked between the two. "Sooo, are you two going to order?"

"I'll have an herbal tea, please. Noncaffeinated!" said Liara as she recalled that some human teas had caffeine.

"Ummm, we only serve alcohol and soda here," said the young woman, whose shirt had the name 'Rita' pinned to it.

Sighing, the asari nodded. "Just a water then," she said before she went back to spying.

"Get me a double shot of dextro-brandy, whatever kind you've got is fine. If I'm going to be thrown into Council prison for espionage, I'm at least going to be drunk while doing it," he said to the woman as he pulled out his credit chit.

Looking at them both oddly, she knelt down curiously. "So, what are you guys doing?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," said the turian in an annoyed tone.

"See the red-haired woman down there?" asked the asari, getting a nod from the waitress. "She's on a date, and I have to know if it goes well or not," she replied stoically.

"Why?" asked the brunette as she tilted her head.

Looking up with a shocked expression, Liara froze for a moment. She realized that she couldn't tell her exactly why, so she decided to deflect instead. "I... I can't say. It's Spectre business!"

With an expression of awe, Rita nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, I get it, like one of those spy movies!" she said eagerly. "Want me to help out? I can listen in while I'm taking orders!"

Looking at the brunette in surprise, the asari smiled happily. "That would be very helpful, thank you!"

As the waitress left to get Garrus's order, he watched her go before glaring at Liara. "You know that's accessory, right?"

"Oh, quiet down Garrus, if she finds out she's not going to prosecute us. Besides, it's not like they're in the middle of a populated club talking about galactic security secrets," growled the asari as she continued to watch them. Sighing to himself, the turian then got to his feet, startling the asari. "What are you doing?"

"Since the waitress is going to be doing your dirty work for you, I don't need to be sitting here. I'm going to play some quasar and attempt to not look like a creepy stalker," he said as he walked over to the machine and sat down to play.

Simply giving him a glare, the asari turned back and watched as Shepard laughed at something that Chellick had said. Wishing she could hear what was being discussed, she simply sighed to herself, relieved slightly as the waitress walked over to the pair and began chatting with them. But worry lit her face as she noticed the waitress take on an expression of surprise before looking up towards her. Unable to think of what to do, she ducked her head down and covered her hammering heart.

As the waitress came back up the stairs to the gambling mezzanine, Liara watched as she took Garrus his drink, then she walked closer and stopped in front of her with an annoyed expression. "You didn't tell me that SHE was the Spectre here!" snapped the waitress.

"I'm sorry!" apologized Liara as she held her hands together.

Sighing, Rita just handed over the bottle of water and nodded towards the lower floor. "Anyway, she said to feel free to join her when you're done doing whatever it is you're doing up here," said the woman who then walked away.

Liara's eyes were wide open in horror at the realization that Shepard already knew she was there, and in fact, knew that she was hiding up here. Feeling utterly foolish, the asari took the bottle and stood up with a miserable expression before heading to the stairs. After descending, she walked towards the table with her arms crossed over her chest and a disappointed look on her face.

Shepard looked up at her as she approached. "Hey, Liara, fancy meeting you here," she said with a playful grin.

"Hello Shepard…" she said, almost pouting as she sat in the seat that the woman offered her. "I suppose my stealth capabilities need work," said the woman as she opened the water and drank from it.

"You could say that," said the spectre with a chuckle as she turned to Chellick. "This is Inspector Decian Chellick of Citadel Security."

"Good to meet you. Shepard has told me a bit about you," he said as he nodded to her.

Looking at the turian nervously, Liara began to fidget slightly. "Oh really? Honestly, there isn't much to tell," she replied, unsure of what the commander could have told the man.

"Nonsense! We really don't have enough prothean experts on the scene if you ask me. All this technology and we don't know how any of it works," he said as he took a swig of his drink.

Liara looked surprised for a moment before smiling softly. "Thank you! And I agree! So much we still don't know about things that our very lives and livelihoods depend on, but so many people are determined to continue not understanding it!"

"It really is a shame. Imagine if we could break down the technology! We could eventually build our own mass relays," said Shepard herself, which only scored a larger smile from the asari.

The doctor sighed to herself, unable to keep herself from grinning like a fool. "Thank you, Shepard," she said, more to herself than the spectre.

As Garrus walked up to the table, Chellick stood up and gave his former comrade a firm wrist clasp. "Vakarian, you run down old varren! I was wondering where you wandered off to," he said with a jovial tone.

Garrus chuckled and patted the man's wrist. "Oh, you know me Chellick. I couldn't pick up your slack forever. I noticed that the C-Sec Headquarters isn’t in flames yet, how are you managing?" he replied, getting a laugh from the turian.

Liara looked between the two, then down to Shepard curiously as the turians talked between themselves. Leaning over to the spectre, Liara whispered loud enough for only her to hear, "Weren't you two on a date? Why spoil it by making us come down instead of telling us to leave?"

Shepard sipped her drink before whisper-yelling back. "Turns out he wasn't interested in a date. Turians do this thing where they have celebrations even after small victories to help invigorate the spirit of the team. Since you and Garrus were part of the team that helped crack his case open, he wanted to meet you," she replied as she leaned back.

"Oh…" said the asari, stunned as she looked down at the table. Inside, she knew that the words gave her some relief, even if she didn't fully understand her feelings yet. Leaning forward again, she hollered back to Shepard. "In that case, would you like to dance?"

Shepard almost choked as she snorted into her drink. Liara sat back in surprise at the reaction but stayed silent as the spectre cleaned herself off with a napkin. "Not enough alcohol in here to get me to dance," she replied with an apologetic smile.

With a challenging grin, the asari called the waitress. "We'll see about that."

Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

This was a new feeling and not a pleasant one. Shepard sat up in her bed as her alarm went off, causing her to reach over and violently mash the button to make it shut up. Reaching up, she gripped her head as the realization that alcohol didn't help her nightmares now wore on her. On the upside, the sobering images left her with only a minor headache as she got up.

Immediately, she grabbed her stuff for a shower and headed off to the latrines to wash whatever was left of her night of drinking off. After the quick shower, she headed back to her quarters with stares of amusement following her. Eyeing the crew suspiciously, they all turned away when they realized she was looking at them.

After changing into her regular attire, she headed up to the cockpit to have a word with Joker about their destination when she saw what everyone's stares were for. Seeing a crowd of laughing people surrounding Joker, she approached to find out what the deal was. But as soon as she approached, they all looked up, saw her, then scattered to the winds as if she were some kind of plague.

Watching them in confusion, she turned to the pilot who looked at her innocently as he leaned back in his chair. "Morning Commander. Have a good night?" he asked nonchalantly.

Her eyes narrowed as she stepped up to him with her arms crossed. "Alright Joker, spill it. What the hell is everyone staring at me for?"

Donning a mask of mock surprise, he simply shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about Shepard!"

"Is that right?" she asked threateningly, making his expression change to one of suspicion. "Well, I guess I have no idea how your extranet search history will be posted on the mess hall task board today then," she said with a grin.

This time, his eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't dare…"

"Try me, Moreau," she said as she leaned forward in a standoffish manner.

"Fine, fine! But I'm not a snitch, so you get your own information," he growled as he crossed his own arms.

"On what?" she asked finally.

"There's a video floating around of what it looks like when you dance," he said, his grin returning at the expression of horror on her face. "Really Shepard, you sure you're N7? Because with those moves…"

"Another word and I'll show you my other moves," she said through gritted teeth. Reaching up, the pilot zipped his lip. "Set a course for Thessia. And if I see you showing off that video again, I'll activate the emergency impact procedures the next time you have to use the bathroom."

"Why are you so evil?" he asked in shock as she smirked, then walked away from the pilot. She noticed that the crew made a lot less eye contact now that their big secret was up. Snorting, she headed back to her quarters and activated her terminal. Needing to take her mind off her public humiliation, she opened the Spectre Network and immediately noticed a message waiting for her. Opening it, she was surprised to find out that it was from Zellin, her former spectre overseer.

Shepard, STG is currently detecting heavy geth activity in the Theseus System of the Attican Beta cluster. Was asked to investigate myself, but knew your current task related to geth affiliated with Saren. Alert me if you are unavailable and I will drop in with STG team.

With her eyes wide, she immediately responded. I'll take care of it. Headed there now. Thank you.

As soon as she sent the message, she opened her omni-tool. "Joker, change of plans. We're headed to Theseus in Attican Beta, non-stop. This is mission critical, so no breaks until we get there."

"On it, Commander. Headed to the Serpent Relay now," he replied as the ship began undocking.

CODEX ENTRIES

Galactic Common | Linguistics | NA
Galactic Common was a language founded by the asari and salarians after the turians ended up joining the Council. While translators did fairly well cross species, it was also understood that a common language that any and all were able to read and speak was necessary as translators often had difficulty translating many of the intricacies that came with speaking a language.

Chapter 22: Feros

Chapter Text

Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

The spectre sighed as she sat in her chair and watched the door. Liara sat on the bed with her hands on her knees and a very uncomfortable expression on her face. They were both waiting for one more to join them. The asari had been instructed on what was going to happen, and it wasn't something she relished in. But it was something she needed to train in if she wanted to continue to work with Shepard. So here she sat as they sped through another relay corridor, waiting.

Finally, the captain's quarters door opened, and Ashley stepped inside wearing her PT clothing. "You called Skipper?"

"Ash, have a seat," said Shepard sternly as she motioned towards the bed.

Williams eyed her commander in confusion but did as she was told and sat next to the asari. "Everything alright, Shepard?"

Staying silent as she stared into the gunny's eyes, Shepard leaned forward and sighed. "I need to know if you are serious, Williams."

"About what, sir?" asked the armory chief as she grew suspicious of the tense air in the room.

"About N7 training. You are one hundred percent certain that you want to go through with this?" she asked, her face a mask of stone.

As the realization that hit her about what was happening, Ash hardened her own expression. "One hundred percent, Skipper."

Nodding, Shepard stood to her feet. "You and Liara will not be on the ground team where we are going. Instead, you two are getting training here, and you will be recovering from that training while the rest of us investigate Theseus," she said, getting a wide-eyed stare from the chief. "Now, at any point, if you want to stop the training, say the word 'Normandy,' and I will end it. Do you understand?"

"Understood, sir," said the soldier as she stood too.

"Good," said Shepard with a grim look on her face. Reaching back, she pulled a pair of magnetic cuffs off of her belt, then lashed out and kicked directly into the back of the gunnery chief's knee. The woman dropped to one knee in shock before Shepard locked both of her hands behind her back. "This is Odr, the training you heard about in the Göndul Compound,” she said as she grabbed the bun on the back of Ash's head and yanked her head back, causing the chief to hiss in anger. Finally, Shepard leaned down and whispered into the woman's ear so that Liara could not hear it. "I'm going to give you a code word, and Liara is going to use her biotics to retrieve it. You are to do everything you can to fight against her invasion of your mind."

Ash's eyes widened at the realization of what was about to happen. "W-What!?"

"Prepare your mind, Ash. Think of your most precious memories and bury yourself in them. That's the only way you can stop an invasion of the mind," said the spectre calmly as she held Ash on her knees by the cuffs and hair. Whispering again, she said simply, "Pineapple…"

Williams donned an exasperated look at the odd word, but then Shepard nodded to Liara. The asari approached and took her gloves off, her own face a look of discomfort. "I-I'm sorry Ashley," she said simply before reaching down and gripping the gunnery chief's head with her bare hand. Her body lit up with biotic energy and Ash immediately went stiff. Her eyes went wide and rolled up into her head as the infiltration began.

Shepard watched as Ash struggled against the cuffs, against the intrusion, against anything she could. But it was useless. She was held in place while Liara's face twisted in an expression of pain. "N-No! Damn you!" shouted the chief, her voice much quieter than she probably intended.

Liara now had a very focused look on her face as she continued to grip the woman's head. "Pen... apple…" she said before her brows creased. "Pine...apple? Pineapple?" she asked as she looked at Shepard. The spectre nodded, and she released Williams. Ash nearly collapsed to the floor; her skin now doused in perspiration as she breathed heavily.

"Fuck…" groaned the gunnery chief as she sat back on her haunches again, a worn-out expression on her face as she looked up at the ceiling.

"Making up information won't work on biotics. They can see your memories, and if they are invasive enough, can even relive them through your mind. So false information won't work unless you believe the false information to be true," said the spectre as she helped Ash to sit upright on her knees.

Williams simply nodded. "Understood…" she said with a groan as she looked up at the asari.

Leaning forward, Shepard whispered another word into her ear. "Everest." Then she looked up at the asari and nodded once more. "Again," ordered the spectre as Ash gritted her teeth and closed her eyes.

Combat Information Center - SSV Normandy SR1

"Another human colony. At this point, I'd say Saren is just taking out his frustrations on you," said Garrus as he stared at the holographic map of the settlement.

It was a small colony built directly on top of a prothean ruin. According to her reports, the protheans had tunnels as widespread as the roots of a tree. In the five years that the colony had existed, they had yet to explore even a fraction of what was below the surface. "I certainly hope whatever we're looking for isn't in those ruins. It could take us years to figure it out," said Kaidan as he stared at the small housing trailers that were parked on the surface. Next to the colony was a large tower that had a skyway, leading to a large skyscraper that belonged to ExoGeni Corporation.

Shepard stared at the tower curiously. "What the hell is ExoGeni doing on Feros?"

Tali, Kaidan, and Wrex all eyed her curiously. "They are a corporation from Earth. It's not that far-fetched that they'd support a human colony," responded Wrex as he looked at the holographic building.

"ExoGeni is a corporation that specializes in xenobiology and genetics. They care about everything alien to Earth. So, a human colony is the last place I'd expect them," she responded as she looked up at them.

"They were pretty heavy into prothean study, so maybe it's the ruins?" offered Kaidan as Shepard scratched her chin.

"Maybe," she said as she looked up at them all. "In any case, we've got geth swarming the building. It's unlikely that anyone inside is alive, and I wouldn't be surprised to see more of those dragon's teeth when we get to the colony either. Their ship is attached to the east side of the building," she said as she pointed at the small protrusion on the skyscraper.

"Why don't we have the Normandy blast it off the tower?" asked Wrex, causing the others to look at him in shock.

"The Normandy's cannons are too powerful. They'd rip half the building off if we tried that," responded Kaidan firmly.

"Hey, she's the one who said everyone inside was likely dead anyway. Why not surprise them with fireworks?" asked the krogan as he bounced on his feet, almost too eager to get off the ship.

"Okay, so we're not going to do that," she said, smirking at the krogan.

"Ah, you're no fun anymore Shepard. Remember the days when I shot a thresher maw in the face while it was trying to eat you?" he asked with an exasperated sigh.

"I do, and then the Normandy almost killed you," she said, never losing her smile as she looked back at the hologram where the galaxy map used to be.

"Heh, yeah. Those were the days," he said fondly.

"Now, if you're done being sentimental over grotesque violence…" started the commander.

But Wrex interrupted her by shouting, "Never!"

She chuckled and moved on. "We need a scalpel in this situation, not a hammer. We need to find out what the geth are doing here."

"Maybe ExoGeni found something on the protheans that Saren needs?" chimed in Tali, who immediately shrunk as everyone looked at her.

"That's our most likely lead yet," said Shepard with a smile. Tali then stood straight again shyly. "Now, everyone but Alenko, armor up. We're hitting the ground soon. We'll start at the colony first since the biggest chance of anyone surviving this mess will be there. Once we have that secure, we'll move into ExoGeni and find out what they have," she ordered as she stepped down from the map.

"If the geth haven't already wiped the data," said Wrex as he walked off towards the elevator, getting a sour look from the commander.

As she turned to head for the same elevator, she was stopped by Tali. The shy quarian approached her, her demeanor much more reserved than usual. "Shepard…"

Shepard could tell by her voice that she was anxious, but she wasn't sure about what. "What is it Tali?" asked the spectre curiously.

"I…" started the quarian as she looked down at her fidgeting hands. "I would like to talk to you again after this mission is over. About... our last talk."

Shepard's eyes widened slightly. "Alright. Once we get back and settled down, I'll send you a message and you can meet me in my cabin again," said the commander with a smile. "Sound like a plan?"

Tali looked up at the woman, and Shepard could see the anxiety melting from her form. "It does. Thank you, Shepard. And... I apologize for…" she started, but Shepard held up a finger, stopping her mid-sentence.

"You have nothing to apologize for Tali. You had every right to be nervous about my request," she said as she placed her hands on her hips. "But I am glad you gave it some thought. For now, let's go kick some geth ass," she said as she held up her hand in the quarian greeting.

But Tali didn't return the greeting. Instead, she excitedly thrust her palm into Shepard's forcefully, causing a clapping sound that echoed around the CIC. "High five!" All Shepard could do was laugh and wrap her arm around the girl's shoulders as they walked towards the elevator. "Why are you laughing? That is a human gesture of agreeance, is it not?" she asked, her arms to her chest in embarrassment.

"It is Tali. It is," said the spectre with a happy grin.

Zhu's Hope Landing Pad - Feros

As the four stepped off the ramp from the Normandy's cargo bay, all armored and armed to the teeth, they immediately made their way towards the stairs leading down to the colony itself. Wrex and Shepard took the lead while Garrus and Tali brought up the rear. Kaidan, meanwhile, stayed with Joker on the ship and watched the colony through the ExoGeni cameras that she had hijacked upon landing.

"Shepard, you've got movement ahead. It looks like a colonist is heading towards you," came his voice through the comm.

"Hey, I can see things too!" snapped Joker, causing the commander to smirk.

"You two settle down. Whoever sees something, report it. It doesn't matter who it is," she responded as she saw the man that was urgently approaching them. Wrex went to raise his weapon, but Shepard reached out and stopped him. "Stop right there!" she shouted through her helmet.

The message got through clear as day as the man stopped in his tracks and raised his hands. "P-Please, don't shoot!" he shouted as he looked at the massive krogan next to her.

"We're not going to shoot as long as you don't do anything stupid! Now, what's your name?" asked the commander as she approached him slowly.

"I'm David al Talaqani! I'm a colonist here at Zhu's Hope! I saw your ship as you were landing! Our leader Fai Dan will want to speak with you immediately," he stated nervously as he looked between them all.

"I'm glad there are survivors here. Take me to him and I'll…" started Shepard, but she was interrupted by Joker over her comms.

"Shepard! Geth just sprung up over the walkway! They're right around the corner!" he shouted urgently, causing Shepard to draw her weapon.

Still several meters away from the man, she raised an arm in warning and shouted, "Get behind cover!" Unfortunately, he didn't react fast enough. A rocket shot from behind him made a direct hit and blew his annihilated body off the walkway and down into the depths of the ruin. Growling angrily, Shepard rolled into cover and began returning fire.

Garrus did the same, but Wrex and Tali didn't. "Shepard, I can take them out if you keep the rocket trooper from hitting me!" shouted the krogan as he donned his biotic barrier.

"Got it! Garrus, help me take him out!" shouted Shepard as plasma fire rained down on her position.

Nodding, the turian pulled his sniper off his back and they both popped over cover as Wrex began barreling down the walkway, a battle cry rending the air as he charged at the troops. Surprisingly, Tali was following him with her omni-tool open. As soon as the rocket trooper popped its head up again, Garrus fired, and its shields winked out in an instant. Shepard squeezed her trigger and its head exploded into fragments as it fell to the floor. "Let's move up and help them out!" she shouted over to the turian as she broke cover.

The two sped up to catch up to the krogan, only to find him standing and staring stupidly at the quarian. "Everything alright?" asked Garrus as he looked Tali over curiously. She was standing and typing on her omni-tool, every geth in the area currently spasming erratically or already dead. Finally, Tali took her shotgun and finished off the ones that were still moving.

"Of course, why do you ask?" she asked as she held her shotgun up.

Garrus groaned as if her words hurt him. "Ugh, tell me you didn't get that from one of those cheesy action movies."

"Garrus, as long as it makes you groan, I intend to keep doing it," she said as she lowered her weapon.

"Never knew you had it in you, kid," said Wrex as he shook his head. "I'll have to take quarians more seriously now."

"Thanks?" replied Tali as she prepared her weapon again. "If you want the geth dead, you always send a quarian. We know more than the rest of the galaxy combined when it comes to them," she said as she stepped up to Shepard.

"Alright, enough with the idle chatter. We've got a dead colonist, and if this is any indicator, the rest may be in danger as well," said Shepard as she raised her pistol and began moving forward. Despite her words, she was proud of Tali. It wasn't every day someone stunned a krogan with their battle prowess.

The squad moved again with weapons primed as they entered what looked like a spiral staircase that circled around the outside of a tall room. It wasn't long before geth fire forced them against the safety barrier. "Damn! How did they get past the colonists?" asked Tali as she opened her omni-tool again. A drone materialized and began making its way up the stairs. "Shepard! You and Garrus prepare to take them out! Wrex... distract their fire!"

Chuckling to herself, Shepard began following the quarian's orders. Taking out her long-ranged rifle, she waited until Wrex stood straight and started blasting away at the shield generators that the geth put up, knocking them down easily. Soon, one of the geth went rigid and its shields popped. The spectre immediately took her shot and blasted its chest open. Then another froze, and Garrus put a shot directly through its headlamp.

In a manner of minutes, the ambushing geth were destroyed. Tali summoned her drone and reached down to pick up the projector again for later use. Shepard approached her and patted her shoulder gently. "You weren't kidding. I'd like you on the ground with me from now one when geth are involved."

"O-Of course! Thank you, Shepard!" she said both nervous and excitedly.

"Now, the colony should be just up these stairs! Let's go find out if anyone's alive!" she ordered as she replaced her sniper with her pistol and moved up the stairs. Her team followed her, with Wrex stumbling slightly on the much smaller human stairs. When they finally made it to the top, she was surprised to see human guards pointing weapons at her. "Hold your fire! I'm Spectre Jane Shepard with the Citadel Council!" she yelled as she approached with her free hand up as a sign of compliance.

"Spectre? They sent a Spectre?" asked one of the humans as he looked at the other. Finally, they both lowered their weapons and Shepard approached calmly, though still bearing her pistol.

"I hope that means they can help. If we don't die of dehydration, the geth will surely break through and swarm us," groaned the other as he looked Shepard up and down. "So, you're that human Spectre we heard about. Got any experience in removing infestations?" he asked, nodding towards the ExoGeni building.

"That's what we're here to do," she said, her face growing grim under her faceplate. "One of you, a colonist named David Al Talaqani met us at the ship. But the geth got to him before we could save him," she responded gently to try and ease the blow.

But the looks on their faces weren't one of surprise or even grief. They just looked tired. "I told him not to go out there. But it doesn't really surprise me that they got him," said one of the men.

The other spoke up as well. "The geth crawled through an opening in the ruins below, I guess to try and pincer us. It's a good thing your ship showed up or else they might have got us from behind when we weren't looking."

"David said that I needed to speak to Fai Dan. Is he your leader?" asked the spectre as her crew approached behind her with their own weapons. Luckily, the guards seemed to accept that they were with her and didn't react.

"Yeah," said one of the men as he pointed to one of the mobile prefab shelters that acted as their homes. "You'll find him through there. Just go through to the other side. He's probably talking to Captain Martinez."

Nodding, she walked past the guards and her crew followed. Looking around, all she saw were exhausted and malnourished faces. They all looked like they would willingly accept death over their current circumstances, but they continued to fight on regardless. Their looks of desperation steeled her as she made her way through the facility. When she exited the auto door on the other side, she saw another man with a worn-down expression talking to an armored woman holding an assault rifle.

As she approached, they both looked at her tiredly. "Are you Fai Dan?"

He simply nodded. "I am. I'm glad to see you Spectre. They finally sent someone to help us," he said as a small amount of relief crept into his voice.

But relief was all but lost on the captain. "You're a bit late, aren't you?" she asked bitterly as she glared at Shepard through dark brown eyes.

"Arcelia, please!" snapped Fai Dan as he looked over to the woman, before then looking at Shepard again. "Sorry Spectre, everyone's on edge since-" he started to say before Martinez shoved him out of the way.

"Watch out! We've got incoming!" she shouted as she took cover. Shepard looked over at the tower that led up to the skyway and raised her pistol as geth began pouring through the door.

"Looks like they noticed that their pincer attack failed!" shouted Shepard as she dove sideways to get behind cover. Wrex roared and began shot gunning rapidly as he too stepped towards cover, while Tali stunned the first couple with her omni-tool. Popping up, Shepard put two of them down while Wrex's shotgun ripped two more to shreds before he finally got behind cover.

"They're dropping reinforcements on the tower!" said the leader as he pointed upwards. Shepard followed his gesture and saw a geth ship hovering there.

"We have to take that thing out if we're going to stop them!" shouted Shepard as she popped up again to down the shields of another geth before a blast from Tali's shotgun shattered its frame.

"How? We have to fight through them to get to the tower!" shouted Garrus as he traded shots with his assault rifle.

"If that's the only way, then that's how we do it!" yelled the Spectre as she stood up and fired a grenade from her omni-tool. With impeccable timing, she detonated it and scattered the remaining geth near the doorway. Tali and Wrex sprung out of cover and finished them off as Garrus moved forward to secure the doorway and make sure no more came through. Turning back to Fai Dan, Shepard nodded to him. "Get inside and prepare any weapons you have. We're going in, and if something happens to us then keep fighting no matter what!" she ordered, getting a nod from the man as he pulled a pistol off his side.

Both the leader and the captain retreated to their shelter as the spectre turned towards her group. "How are we going to take the ship down?" asked Tali as she posted herself on the opposite side of the door from Garrus.

"We have to think of something," she said as she approached the tower.

"A hammer," responded Wrex, getting a look from the spectre. "We need more heavy weapons on the squad."

"I'll consider that later," she said as she stepped inside the doorway. "Right now, we need to improvise." Moving forward, they were again set upon by geth. Unfortunately, a few of these ones had rockets. The squad took cover behind the barriers that lined the walkway up to the towers. But they wouldn't hold for long with the constant rocket fire.

Once again, Tali activated a drone and sent it up the stairs. One of the geth with the high ground saw the small, hard-light, figure and went to shoot it, but Shepard and Garrus popped up from their cover long enough to end the machine's attempts. They both ducked down again as rocket's blasted against their concrete shields, slowly crumbling them to pieces.

"Hey quarian," said Wrex as he looked over at the engineer.

"My name is Tali," she snapped back at him.

"Whatever. Will the geth shoot at each other? Or will they stop if you use one as a shield?" he asked as another rocket shook the ground beneath them.

"They are all linked as one. So, one dying is simply a loss of data to them, nothing more. If you use one as a shield, they will have no qualms about killing it to get to you," she said as she eyed the krogan curiously. "Why?"

"Just an idea," he said as his body lit up again. But unlike before, he didn't cover himself with a shield. Standing tall, he roared, then vanished from her sight in a blast of biotic energy. "Hey, you! I'm going to use the scrap from your body to repair my weapons!" came the krogan's call from up the stairs.

Shepard stared at him wide-eyed as he stood among the seemingly confused geth. But they weren't disoriented for long. All of them turned to fire, but he vanished again. His disappearance was accented by a rocket from even higher above that hit the geth squad and blasted them against the wall. "Everyone move up! But keep cover," she ordered as she got on the comm. "Wrex! What the hell are you doing!?"

"Using their stupidity to my advantage," he replied over the comm as he once again stood among a squad of geth on the stairs. He aimed his shotgun directly into one's back, the roar of it echoing off the walls as the bot’s arm flew off and it was blown in half by the power of the weapon. Reaching down, the krogan grabbed the rocket launcher that was no longer attached to the geth and smiled. "I also think I have a way of taking out that ship. Tali, geth weapons don’t self-destruct if they’re detached from the body, right?" he said as he tossed one of the remaining geth down the stairs.

“Makes sense. If you blow off a geth’s arm, it can’t destruct with the rest of its body,” the quarian stated as she caught on. “If we blast off their artillery, we may be able to use them against the ship!”

Wrex’s geth crashed directly in front of them, then tried to get up. But Shepard ended it with a shot from her pistol. "Understood. But be careful! Regeneration or not, these are plasma weapons. You'll have some serious scars if they hit you."

"Scars are trophies to krogan. Just try to keep up Shepard," he said before warping again. The spectre, Tali, and Garrus all moved up the stairs at a quick pace and helped the krogan by picking off some of the geth from afar. Tali's drone zapped them, rendering the bots senseless long enough for Wrex to blast it to pieces. Soon enough, his trick had paid off. The geth's reckless fire destroyed most of their own, leaving the team standing at the top of the stairs, each one loaded with rockets.

“Tali, you think you can get these things to fire?” asked Shepard curiously.

“It shouldn’t be hard. All you need is a decently advanced omni-tool. Give me just a moment,” responded the quarian as she took one of the detached rocket launchers and began working on it.

“Well, that makes three out of-“ started Shepard as she turned to Wrex. But she stopped dead as she noticed a rather high-end omni-tool on his arm as opposed to the basic Timex version he had previously.

“What?” asked the krogan.

“When did you get that?” asked Shepard curiously.

“What? A krogan can’t have nice things?” he asked, his voice sounding somewhat insulted.

“That’s not what I… just never mind,” she said waving the thought away. In minutes, Tali had the weapons functioning again and ready to go.

"Alright, as soon as we step out there, we're probably going to be under fire from both ground units and the ship itself. Tali, do you know where their outer cannons are?" asked Shepard as she turned to the quarian.

Nodding, Tali opened her omni-tool and brought up a holographic version of the ship. "This model is called the Bektos. They started making them after the war, and they haven't made many changes since then. So, if that's the case, their main guns should be right here," she said, highlighting the area under the nose. "They can maneuver them easily though. And they also have weapons on the top, but we shouldn't have to worry about those considering we're underneath it."

"Alright. Wrex, you're a distraction," ordered Shepard as she turned to the krogan.

"Why am I always the distraction," he groaned as he rolled his shoulders.

"Because you're a big target, and easily one of the loudest people I know," she said with a smirk.

"Well, you're not wrong…" he said as he donned his biotic shield again. "Fine fine. Let them shoot at me while you take out the main guns. Then what?"

Once the ship's weapons are down, Garrus and I will hold back the ground troops. You and Tali will hit it with every rocket we have," she said as she turned to the quarian. "Aim for weak spots. All we have to do is knock it out of the air. Gravity will do the rest," she said as she finally prepared her geth rocket launcher.

"Understood," said Garrus as he too prepared to fire the heavy weapon. Unfortunately, they only managed to salvage two of them after they began firing on their own. But it would have to be enough.

"Bektos are troop loading ships. They're compact, as geth can fold themselves up without any discomfort. This means that the engine should be at the back," replied Tali as she prepared to take the weapon from Garrus.

"Gotcha. Aim inside the cargo bay towards the back," said the krogan as he donned his shield and burst from cover.

The turret fire was immediate, and Shepard knew that if the krogan weren't a biotic, he'd be dead within seconds. Not wasting any time, she and Garrus both rose from cover and aimed for the turrets. They pulled the triggers and sent two rockets streaking across the landing zone, scoring a direct hit and blasting the automatic weapons from the nose. "Switch off now!" shouted Shepard as she handed her gun to Tali. Garrus tossed his launcher over to Wrex, who had found cover behind another concrete outcropping.

With both of their snipers ready, they began to pick off the ground troops. Shepard aimed at one directly through the shield generator that it dropped, then fired. The shield vanished, and she fired again, dropping its kinetic barriers. Squeezing the trigger one last time, she hit a headshot that knocked the robot backward.

Garrus ended one as well, resulting in both of them having to swap clips. Shepard ducked behind the barrier just as her shields succumbed to their fire. But as soon as they were charged again, she sprung up and did the same, aiming at one of the ground troops holding a rocket launcher and taking it out before it got another shot off.

Suddenly, the doors on the bottom of the ship opened and began dropping more geth into the arena. Wrex and Tali both aimed directly inside and fired, sending two more rockets screaming into the battle. Wrex's impacted one of the geth on the way down, a large one like she had seen on the tram at Eden Prime. The blast destroyed it immediately and sent the ones surrounding it skidding across the ground.

But Tali's hit home and exploded when it hit the back of the loading bay. As Shepard continued to take out the now disoriented troops that recovered from Wrex's shot, she noticed its engine start to sputter. "Almost there! One more shot should do it!" she shouted as she ended another of the recovering units.

But apparently, the ship had learned its lesson. Instead of opening the bay doors again, it began turning and flew off to escape the situation, leaving them to clean up the remainder of the geth forces.

After the last one was destroyed, Shepard got on her comm back to the Normandy. "Normandy, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Shepard," responded Joker.

"A geth troopship just departed the ExoGeni tower. Keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't try going after you while you're grounded," she ordered as she turned to the others.

"10-4 Commander," said the pilot as the comms went silent again.

"Alright. We've cleared them out, but this isn't the end. Let's get down to the colony again and see if there's anything we can do to help support them," she said as she turned to the stairs. "Oh, and good work."

Zhu's Hope - Feros

As they strode back into the colony, Fai Dan met them at the door to the shelter. Once again, the captain was behind him with her assault rifle primed.

"Thank you, Spectre. That very well could have been the push that broke our ranks," he said with a relieved sigh.

"The tower is clear, and the dropship shouldn't be coming back any time soon," said Shepard as she nodded to the leader. "I'm happy to see that you all are still alive after the invasion."

Finally, Captain Martinez spoke again. "That may have slowed them down, but they'll be back. They always come back."

"That should keep them busy for a while. Now…" she said as she looked back at Fai Dan. "Do you know why they're here? What they're after?"

The man shook his head with an exhausted sigh. "We don't know what they're after. They came, they landed, and they attacked us. That's all we know, Spectre. Perhaps they were looking for something in ExoGeni headquarters, but why they attacked us I'm not sure."

"Speaking of ExoGeni, can you tell me why they're here?" asked the spectre as she looked between them.

Martinez spoke up with the same bitter look on her face. "We worked for them before the attack. The colony here are mostly miners and archeologists. They excavated stuff from the prothean ruins, while I was stationed here to guard against any kind of attempted raider attacks. But when the geth arrived, my job as security got a whole lot harder."

"ExoGeni is your best hope for finding out why they're here. But you'll have to fight through an army on the skyway, and probably even more inside the headquarters," he said morosely as he lowered his head.

"Well, I wasn't expecting this to be easy. But we'll manage somehow," she responded as she nodded to the man. "So, what about you guys here? Do you have everything you need to last for a while?"

"Unfortunately, no. The geth have cut off our water supply, our rations are running short, and the strain from the geth attacks has all but wiped us of power," he said with an exasperated sigh. "We're at our limit, Spectre."

"Chances are there's probably a beacon somewhere nearby that's used to coordinate the geth," said Tali from behind Shepard.

The woman nodded and turned to Fai Dan again. "Well, we can help you get set up before heading to the HQ. Despite the urgency of our mission, I don't want you guys being stranded here with nothing once we leave," she said, getting a thankful smile from the man that didn't come close to reaching his eyes.

"It'd be a great help if you could. Please talk to May about our power situation. Davin will be able to explain our food crisis, and Macha is the one to contact about the water. They should be able to inform you on how best to help us," he said as he bowed his head.

"If you truly are here to help us, then please hurry. We won't last long if they decide to call in reinforcements," said Martinez, now with a look of desperation on her face.

"I'll do my best. Just stay here and protect your colony as best you can until I get back," she ordered as she turned towards her squad. "Wrex, you track down Davin and ask him what needs to be done about food. Tali, you get May and find out what's needed to restore power. And Garrus, you've got Macha…" she said as she looked at all three of them. "Try to be respectful. They've been through a lot recently and may have a bit of a temper."

"Understood, Shepard," said Garrus as he spun around and entered the facility.

Tali left and did the same, while Wrex ambled off towards the nearest shelter.

Zhu's Hope Maintenance Tunnels - Feros

"Shepard, I don't like this," said Garrus as they climbed down the stairs of the tower and entered the tunnels below.

"Speak freely Vakarian," she said with her pistol low as they crept along.

"No offense, I understand that they've been through a lot. But the woman I talked to started to sound like a cult member. I started asking her about the colony itself and she immediately shut down and told me to talk to Fai Dan," he said as he walked along with his assault rifle.

"You too?" asked Tali curiously as she eyed the turian. "I simply asked about their work and any discoveries that they may have found, and I got firewalled immediately. Like if she said anything, she'd be punished."

Shepard looked back at them sternly. "There may be more to this place than we first thought. Let's watch our step around them from now on. When I get a chance to question Fai Dan, I will. Until then, keep your eyes open for any stalkers," she said as she focused ahead of them. Turning, she stepped down into the area that Garrus had mentioned. It was a tunnel that ran along a series of chambers used for maintenance supplies, vehicles for the skyway, and communications equipment. For convenience, the water pipe ran alongside the tunnel with gates that allowed the stopping of the flow of water for testing and repair purposes.

But as she stepped inside the barely lit tunnel, she felt her shields vanish immediately as a sniper round hit her. She dove forward and rolled behind cover as more automatic fire ripped at the ground behind her. "That didn't take long," said Wrex as he activated his barrier.

The spectre groaned as she felt a throbbing pain in her ankle. Apparently one of the rounds had nicked her, smashing against her bare armor. She'd probably be bruising later because of it, but at least her armor had done its job. "Tali, there's plenty of cover here to have your drone sneak around. See if you can take a few of them out!"

Without a word, the quarian activated her drone again and sent it sneaking around the jutting concrete barriers, out of sight of the geth as Garrus worked his way down and returned fire to the machines. "This would be a lot harder if their torch heads weren't on," he said as he blind fired from his own cover.

"Don't give them ideas!" shouted Shepard as she finally rose again and fired with her pistol. She managed to take down one's shields before she had to duck again, her shields being assaulted by their return fire. Luckily, Tali's drone was just in range and hit it with a bolt of electricity that sent it spasming wildly. Wrex, who had already moved forward thanks to his heavy armor, blasted it to scrap with his shotgun.

The rest of the battle was slow as they continuously moved forward and cleared the tunnel, but finally, they managed to get rid of the menace that had shut off access to the water. After the battle, the spectre made sure that all of the shutoff protocols were opened, allowing the water to flow back to the colony. "Alright. One down, two to go," she said as she turned to Wrex and Tali. "What did they say about the food and power?"

"Pretty much the same thing. A vehicle was coming from ExoGeni to deliver both power cells and the food. The cargo was supposed to be delivered to the colony, but then the geth flooded the tunnels from the tower and took everyone out. So, we're probably looking for the same truck," responded Tali as she withdrew her drone again.

"Good, so all we have to do is clear out the cargo hall, then they can come to pick up the food," said Shepard with a nod.

"The power cells for their generator should be small enough that I can carry them with me back to the colony," said Tali who had her omni-tool open. "Shepard, I'm getting readings here of geth communication signals!"

"This low? How?" she asked curiously. They were in the tunnels beneath the tower, there shouldn't have been any signals down that low.

"I think it's the beacon I mentioned! It's nearby!" she said as she held up her omni-tool. "It's coming from the room across the walkway here!"

"Let's go ahead and get that out of the way then. Afterward, we'll clear out the cargo area. That should get the colony back on its feet," said the commander as she raised her pistol again. "Let's just hope they left the beacon unguarded."

"I like your optimism, Shepard," said Garrus sarcastically.

"Naivety is often mislabeled as optimism. Believe me when I say I'm prepared," she responded as she headed across the walkway and opened the door. "Now, stay here until I call you," she ordered as she opened her own omni-tool. Seconds later, she vanished into thin air and began sneaking down the hall. Activating her dampeners, she turned on her comm to the others. "I see two turrets. Marking them to your HUDs for later," she said silently as she reached the end of the hallway.

Looking in, she groaned over the comm. "What's the situation?" asked Garrus from the entrance.

"Two krogan and three geth. Marking their heat signatures as well," she said as she dotted them all with signifiers. The communications beacon that Tali had mentioned was on the other side of the two krogan who were both sitting and doing very little. Meanwhile, the geth were all rigid and watching the entrance to the room where she stood as if they could see her. But they couldn't, and she knew that. So, she moved smoothly between the two before sliding out two of the explosives attached to her omni-tool.

Reaching over, she planted them on the thick hump armor of the two krogan. The second one turned and looked in her direction, staring directly at her. She froze for a long minute before he finally turned away and pulled out a container of ryncol, no doubt to numb the boredom. When he turned away again, she slid back through the gap and snuck past them all again.

"When I give the signal, take out the turrets above your position," she ordered as she slid back down the hall. She made it halfway before turning back around. "Go," she said into the comm, and immediately she heard gunfire behind her. Both her squad and the turrets fired, but the explosions told her that her team had drawn first blood.

Suddenly, battle cries from the krogan could be heard as they sprinted into the narrow hallway with the geth behind them. She smirked to herself before activating the explosives just as they were in close quarters. Turning away, the grenades detonated, sending both krogan smashing into the wall and blasting the geth behind them backward. Without waiting for the smoke to clear, she drew her pistol and stepped up to the first of the krogan soldiers. He was gasping in air as blood pooled around him with half his face missing. Raising her pistol, she put four rounds into his skull before he could even move to defend himself.

Unfortunately, the other krogan had been launched back into the room by the first explosion, so she would have to get through the geth to get to him. "Move up and take out as many as you can while they're bottle-necked!" she ordered as she took cover behind a small column as she reappeared, aiming her pistol at the recovering geth. The others caught up to her and their combined fire turned the geth to scrap metal.

Moving forward again, the squad encountered a krogan that was still standing and roaring in their face. "Shit…" growled Garrus as he aimed for the monstrous creature that was bleeding from every orifice.

"Stand back, turian. I've got this," said Wrex as he stepped forward with his weapon lowered. "We have redundant nervous systems, so we rarely feel pain. We also have multiple organs for backups, so a small explosion like that isn't like to put a true krogan down for good." As he finished, the bloodied mercenary charged at Wrex, his weapon forgotten. But Wrex, being the larger of the two, whipped his head forward and smashed his own cranial plate into the opponents. The impact cracked like lightning and the wounded krogan stumbled backward while Wrex slowly approached. "You're five centuries too young to put an old dog like me down kid. Should have stayed on Tuchanka," he said as he pulled his shotgun up again and aimed it directly between the hump armor and the head.

Pulling the trigger resulted in a roar from the weapon and silence from the opposition. "Well, at least he didn't try and crush his skull," said Garrus as he lowered his weapon.

"Krogan skulls are much too thick for that," said Wrex as he turned towards the turian. "That's why I love humans. So squishy," he said with some semblance of a smile on his face.

"Charming," said Shepard as she moved forward and examined the beacon now that the guards were dead. "Tali, you want to try and deactivate this?"

The quarian nodded and walked over to the beacon before priming her shotgun and blasting the entire thing in half. The lights died out immediately as the machine crumpled to the floor. Looking down at her omni-tool, she said, "That did it. No more comms down here, so the rest of the geth here should be less strategic."

"I meant shutting it down electronically, but I suppose that works too," said Shepard as she shook her head. "Let's get the power cells and food back to the colony. Then we're heading for…" she started before seeing a man peeking at them from around the corner. Her pistol shot up and aimed directly at him. "Show yourself!"

The man walked into the room with his arms up. Wrex stepped up to him menacingly. "Who the hells are you?"

"The name's Ian, Ian Newstead. I'm a colonist from Zhu's Hope," he said as he stared past Wrex and directly at Shepard. "Whoever you are, if you're planning on staying for an extended period of time, I'd recommend using filtered air. At least until you get up to the ExoGeni building. Most of their air is already filtered," he said as he placed his hands behind his head.

"Why?" asked the spectre as she kept her pistol trained on him.

"Because that's how it gets you. The-" he started, then he gasped in pain and let out an ear-splitting cry of agony before reaching up and slapping his face. "Whoa, that was a good one!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" asked Garrus, who also had his weapon zeroed on the man.

"What's wrong with me? You mean what's wrong with all of us? We're-aaaaaaaaaagh!" he shouted again, this time clenching his fists and stomping his feet as if he had been touched by a hot iron.

"Are you in pain?" asked Shepard as she reached up and activated her environmental seals. The others followed her example, Wrex more begrudging, but doing it anyway.

"Pain? Yeah, the pain keeps me on my toes. It lets me know I'm still alive," he said as he wiped the accumulated sweat that resulted from the pain off his face. "So, you're here for the geth, huh?"

"Yeah, we are. You say you're a colonist at Zhu's Hope. Why aren't you there with them?" asked the spectre as she approached him slowly.

"Had to get away. Too near to the source, it makes the pain more powerful," he said as he shrugged. "I'd tell you what I'm talking about, but it's not going to let me. But I can say that it wants the geth dead as much as you do," he said as he shook his hands, probably preparing for another jolt of pain.

"What is it? What's causing you pain," asked Shepard specifically. If he was correct, and something was keeping him from talking, then she had to find out what it was. ExoGeni may have implanted the colonists, which would explain their cult-like behavior of avoiding answering questions. "If you can't tell me specifically, then answer my questions. Is it an implant?"

"No," said the man, slightly relieved that she wasn't going to force him to answer her outright.

"Domination?" she asked, referring to the biotic method of mind control.

"No," he responded, bracing himself for another jolt.

Stopping for a moment, she eyed him curiously. "Are you in full control of your body and mind?"

"N-aAAAAAAAAAAAAGGH!" he shouted as he reached up and gripped his head before falling to his knees. Sighing to herself, Shepard waiting until the man stopped shouting and instead inhaled deeply as he began to sweat again.

Reaching down, she lifted him up by his arm. "Come on, let's get you back to the colony so you can get medical attention. Whatever's going on here, I'm going to get to the bottom of it, and hopefully help you out," she said as she began walking him back the way they came.

CODEX ENTRIES

Bektos | Zoology | Rannoch
The colloquial name given to geth ships that look similar to a large, armored insect from Rannoch. This insect burrows itself into the ground to rest and lay its eggs, leaving only its hard armored shell exposed to the world, making it extremely difficult for predators to attack. With their size being as large as modern vehicles, the tank-like insect’s hardened shell can even deflect shots from some mass accelerator weapons.

Chapter 23: ExoGeni

Chapter Text

Zhu's Hope - Feros

Her gaze narrowed as she entered the camp again. Garrus and Tali led the near senseless colonist towards the medical building while she and Wrex approached Fai Dan once more. The man, while still looking thoroughly exhausted, gave her a grin.

"Shepard! I'm glad to see that Ian is safe," he said, bowing his head politely.

"You've got some questions to answer, Fai Dan," she said as she turned to Wrex and nodded.

The krogan stepped up to Captain Martinez, who took a step back as the intimidating krogan cornered her. "Don't move an inch, Captain, unless you want to be the next nameless kill to throw on the pile," threatened the massive mercenary as he eyed the woman's rifle.

"Spectre, what is the meaning of-" started Fai Dan as he looked back over to Shepard. But he stopped as he found her pistol pointed directly in his face.

"I'm going to ask a few questions. I realize that you may not be able to answer them all, but your screams of pain will be all the answer I need. If you lie to me, I'm going to get very liberal with the use of my pistol, do we have an understanding?" she asked, no less threateningly than Wrex.

"Very well, Spectre," he said as his eyes nervously stared down at the barrel of her weapon.

"Good. Now tell me, did ExoGeni implant you with any devices?" she asked, her hand now firmly gripping his shirt to make she he didn't try to escape.

"N-No Spectre. ExoGeni has not implanted anything into our bodies," he said as his terrified eyes made their way up to hers.

"Have you recently had any pain caused by an outside source?" she asked, narrowing her questions down even more.

"Yes...I have," he responded solemnly.

"Does this outside source have anything to do with ExoGeni?" she asked, wondering if perhaps the company had discovered some kind of weapon that could inflict pain with no noticeable ammunition.

"No," he said simply.

"Does this pain have anything to do with the prothean ruins?" she asked, noticing as his eyes widened slightly. He didn't answer and simply squeezed his eyes closed. She knew she had hit the mark, but getting a straight answer was likely the put the man in a coma. Even so, she still needed an answer to make sure he wasn’t faking his fear. "Is that a yes, or no?" she asked as she pressed the barrel of her weapon against his chin.

"Y-Ye-aaaaaaaaghh!" he shouted as he fell to his knees. Her suit immediately read his reaction. Dilated eyes, shaking hands, sweat dripping from his forehead. He wasn't faking the pain.

She released him and put her weapon away before signaling Wrex. "We've got what we need," she said as she turned away from the leader. "I'm sure ExoGeni's databases have more information." Wrex snorted, then stepped away from the captain, who quickly moved to help Fai Dan to his feet. "Your water is flowing again, Tali has returned with the power cells, and the food is waiting to be picked up. We cleaned the geth out and destroyed their transmitter, so you shouldn't have any more geth troubles for the moment."

"Th-Thank you, Spectre. I hope you find what you're looking for in ExoGeni, even if you couldn't find it here," said the man as he weakly stood to his feet again. She turned and looked at him, then sighed to herself as she gathered the others.

"Alright. We're headed to ExoGeni HQ now. The skyway should have plenty of vehicles for us to use to get there," she said as she looked at them all.

"How likely is it that any of them have weapons?" asked Garrus curiously as he gripped his sniper rifle.

"Given that this was a science colony, our chances of that are slim to none," she said as she looked over at the turian. "Any better ideas?"

"Well, despite it being primarily a skyway, there's still a road for ground vehicles," he said as he looked over at Wrex. "Perhaps we could bring a hammer with us, just in case?"

She thought for a moment, then nodded. "It shouldn't be too hard for the Mako to drop down to the roadway. Plus, given the amount of geth we're likely to encounter, I can't say the extra firepower won't be put to good use." Turning away from them, she activated the comm again. "Joker, Alenko, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, Shepard. What's up?" asked Kaidan from inside the ship.

"Get the Fire Team and Liara fully geared and have them drop in the Mako on the ExoGenetics skyway near the colony tower," she said as she stared up at the tower itself.

"Everything alright?" he asked curiously.

"We've got issues with a prothean... something. Technology, life forms, I'm not sure exactly. But Liara's assistance is needed to help out the colonists. The Fire Team is coming down with her to make sure she isn't ambushed while I'm gone, and the Mako is our battering ram into ExoGeni," she responded before turning back to the others.

"Understood, Shepard. I'll let them know immediately," said the lieutenant as the comm died.

Zhu's Hope Hangar - Feros

Shepard watched as the tank flew from the cargo bay, then used its jets to stabilize itself before landing. It came to a halt just outside of the garage before finally pulling inside and unsealing its atmospheric pressure. When the hatch finally popped, she wasn't surprised to see Liara's armored form jump out first.

Practically sprinting to Shepard, the asari skidded to a halt in front of her. "Shepard! You said you had something prothean for me to examine?" she asked excitedly as the turian fire team exited the vehicle as well with their own armor and weapons.

"Not exactly," said the woman as she patted the doctor on the shoulder. Liara's form sagged for a moment as if saddened. "From the information I've been able to gather, something in the prothean ruins has taken hold of the colonists. Whenever they tried to tell me about it, it caused them immense pain."

"Wait, so... mind control?" asked Liara curiously as she looked down, presumably deep in thought. "I've never heard of anything like this in all my years at the institute. Something prothean that seems to monitor its victim's minds and conditions them into... servitude through rewarding and punishing?" she asked incredulously.

"That's what it looks like. I need you to figure out what it is, and if there's any way of releasing the colonists from its hold," she said, before turning to the turians. "You all are here for her protection. While I don't think that the colonists would do anything to harm her, I can't be sure under their current conditions," she ordered firmly, getting a salute from the squad.

Zannia, the leader of the fire team, checked her assault rifle. "She'll be safe with us ma'am."

"Also, use your atmospheric seals. One of the colonists warned us not to breathe the colony's air... for some reason. I have no idea if it's related to what happened to them, but no point in taking any chances. And Liara…" she said as she turned to the asari. "Try not to poke and prod too much. Asking them to reveal too much causes them severe pain. So don't ask anything you don't absolutely need the answers to."

"Understood, Shepard," said the asari as the turians saluted one last time. Liara then led the fire team back down the elevator to the colony itself.

The spectre jogged over towards the mako and slapped the side. "Everyone else, hop in. We're in for a bumpy ride."

"Aren't we always with you at the wheel?" asked Garrus, who got a playful glare from the woman before he climbed up.

ExoGenetics Waypoint - Feros

"Shepard, if you roll this thing one more time, I'm getting out," growled Wrex as the vehicle jarred again.

"It's either car sickness or a bolt of plasma to the face! Pick your poison, Wrex!" shouted Shepard as she steered the tank wide again. Thus far, they had been hit with rockets, ground fire, and one of the armatures had even taken a chunk off of the back of the vehicle with a well-placed shot. But a combination of swift maneuvering from Shepard, as well as Garrus firing back with the main cannon had put most of the enemies down. That said, they still had two more armatures to get through before they finally made it to the ExoGenetics waypoint.

"Poison sounds good about now," groaned Tali from the back as she held her stomach in dismay.

"We humans have a number you can call if you don't like someone's driving!" she shouted as she swerved the wheel again. The entire tank circled in an arc before slamming side first into one of the armatures, making it collapse over top of the vehicle. Suddenly, a bolt of plasma blasted into the armature's side, causing it to let out a mechanical wail before sliding off.

As soon as the machine slumped sideways, the cannon on top of the tank roared and blasted the last armature through its head, sending the parts scattering into the abyss below the walkway. It too slumped over onto its side as the light died from its core. Panting heavily, Shepard began turning the wheel towards the building nearby. "Can't dance, and can't drive? I guess all your talent went into killing," said Garrus with a slight chuckle.

"Make me pull this Mako over Garrus," she said with a glare before they finally reached the safety of the waypoint. There didn't seem to be any geth inside, so she moved slowly.

"Shepard, there appears to be another communication signal. But it's not the geth," said Tali as she pulled up the wavelength on her omni-tool.

Looking back at the quarian, Shepard stopped the vehicle. "Can you play it?"

Nodding, Tali activated the sound. "There's movement! Some kind of... ground vehicle. Do geth have ground vehicles?" asked a feminine voice.

"It appears they aren't aware that their communications are on," replied Tali as she looked up at the commander.

Shepard nodded, then turned back around and moved the vehicle forward. "Shit, they're getting closer! Everyone shut the hell up! If it's not the colonists, then they might figure out we're here!" came a different voice, this time a man.

Stopping the armored tank, Shepard turned to Garrus. "Tell me if you can see where they're hiding out."

"Actually, I think it's just up ahead. There appears to be a small depot near the ramps leading up to ExoGeni," he responded as he zoomed in with the weapon.

Moving forward again, she stopped in front of the depot, which was little more than a ramp leading into a small storage room. Popping the seals, she hopped out of the vehicle and walked to the edge of the slope. There was nobody in sight, but she knew they were there. "This is Council Spectre Jane Shepard! If you have weapons, I'd advise you to put them away," she said as she began to descend the narrow corridor.

"Spectre? Did she say Spectre?" asked the same frantic woman from before.

"Shut the hell up Juliana!" snapped a man who was trying to be quiet. But she heard them loud and clear.

"I already know you're there. If you stay in hiding, I'm going to enter with my weapon out and your likelihood of being shot increases," she shouted into the echoing room.

"Son of a-" came the man's voice. "Fine fine! We're here!" he yelled as he stepped out from cover. With him came several others, all dressed in lab coats similar to Liara's, with the exception of two, who wore armor. They likely worked for the same security forces as Martinez. As she reached the bottom of the ramp, she focused on the man and woman whose voices were prominent over the radio. But as she approached, the man held his hand up to stop her. "That's close enough!"

But the woman in the lab coat reached over and yanked his hand down. "Relax Jeong, they're obviously not geth," she said with a glare.

The man jerked his arm away from her and returned the look of disdain. "Get back Juliana," he snapped before he turned on Shepard. "Who are you? What do you want?" She examined him for a moment, from his long face to the neatly shaven head, to the almost constant scowl he wore before speaking.

"I've already told you who I am. I'm Spectre Jane Shepard, and I'm here to find out what the geth are looking for," she said as she looked between them.

"See Jeong? You worry too much," said the woman as she folded her arms over her chest.

"And you trust too easily," he grumbled as he looked away.

"I'm just glad to see a friendly face. I thought we were the only humans…" she said as she looked over and spotted the diverse squad as they too came down the ramp. "Err... living things left on the planet." Shepard could easily see that her comfort levels dropped when her squad showed up.

"You're not. Fai Dan and some of the members from Zhu's Hope are still alive," said Shepard as she eyed the two. The look of surprise on the woman's wrinkled face, and the grumbling coming from the man alerted her.

Turning to the man, Juliana immediately glared. "I thought you said they were all dead!" she snapped in anger.

"I-I said they were probably all dead," he defended as he refused to make eye contact with her.

"They're alive, but the geth have been really laying into them," said Shepard as she turned back to the brunette woman.

With a sigh, she crossed her arms again, giving a tired expression. "We feel their pain. Those damn synthetics are relentless. First, they block any communications from getting out of the building, then they keep throwing themselves at us."

"The geth had a transmitter down in the tunnels below the tower. With it gone, you shouldn't be seeing any more coming from the direction of the colony. We even cleared the skyway on our way here," she said as she looked between them again. "Me and my squad are heading to ExoGeni, and we need some information."

The man's scowl deepened as he looked straight at the spectre. "What kind of information?"

Ignoring Jeong, Juliana spoke up again. "The geth are in ExoGeni's headquarters just up above us. I'm not sure what other information we can give."

Pointing at Shepard threateningly, the man spoke again. "Those headquarters are private property, soldier! You're to remove the geth and nothing else!"

But any backbone he had fled as Shepard stepped up to him and gripped his pointing finger fiercely. "Tell me, Jeong, where does ExoGeni executive sit on a list of rankings from civilian to Spectre?" she asked coldly as she squeezed his hand.

"Ha! It's been a while since I've seen someone stupid enough to give Shepard an order!" barked Wrex from the entrance.

"She's a damn Spectre, Jeong! Quit trying to throw around weight that you don't have!" snapped Juliana before she turned to Shepard with a pleading look. "Please Spectre, he didn't mean anything by it." Snorting, the commander released the man's hand from her crushing grip. He whimpered slightly and shuffled backward, away from her.

"I want one of you to tell me what's wrong with the colonists," she ordered as she glared at Juliana.

The woman's eyes widened gently. "What's... wrong with... the colonists?" she asked, seemingly stupified by the order.

"You don't work for ExoGeni?" asked Shepard as she stared at Juliana.

"I do, but I couldn't imagine what you're talking about. Aside from you telling me that they're still alive, I know next to nothing about them," she responded in genuine confusion.

Turning towards Jeong again, Shepard took a step forward. "How about you, Jeong?" she asked, making the man step back again.

"He definitely knows something," came Garrus's voice over the comm.

But the man stayed silent. And she wasn't about to torture the information out of him, as she had other things to attend to. "How about why the geth are here? Do you know anything about that?" she asked, still only getting silence in return. "Fine, I'll find out for myself. Don't go anywhere, Jeong. When I get back, I might have some more questions," said the woman as she turned to head back to the vehicle.

"Uhh... Spectre," said Juliana, her voice now more tense than before. Perhaps her intimidation worked a little too well. "My daughter, Lizbeth. She's been missing for some time now."

"We'll find your daughter's body after they clean up the geth," said Jeong sourly. If the woman's heated glare had any effect on him, he didn't show it at all.

"That's my daughter you're talking about!" snapped Juliana angrily. She clenched her fists, looking like she was about to swing on the man before she finally turned back to Shepard. "I know she's still alive."

"Was she in ExoGeni HQ during the attack?" asked Shepard curiously. The woman nodded, and Shepard turned inwardly. "I'll keep an eye out for her as I'm clearing the building," she said as she turned away again and headed up the ramp.

"I would say there's little chance of her surviving, but humans have surprised me before," said Garrus as he flexed his neck. "Not always in a good way."

"We'll keep an eye out for her, but that's all. We're not going to scour the building while geth are scrambling the communications and killing everything," said Shepard with a sigh as she got back into the driver's seat. "I still wish I knew why the hell they are here."

"Don't worry, Shepard. I'm sure we'll find what you're looking for in their headquarters," said Tali cheerfully. Shepard looked back at her with a smile, but she wished she had the same confidence. Starting the engine of the Mako again, she began to drive up the ramps and towards the headquarters itself.

ExoGenetics Headquarters - Feros

Almost as soon as the mako entered the building, its nose was hit with a direct shot from a rocket launcher. Everyone in the vehicle rocked as the slower weapon bypassed the kinetic barriers and scored a direct hit.

Growling, Shepard looked back to find Garrus already on the main cannon as he recovered from the shock of the attack. Despite their surprise attack, the welcoming party was dead within seconds as the mako's auto-cannons ripped through their shields easily. "I hope this isn't a prelude to the rest of our stay here," she said with a groan as she pulled as far up in the building as space would allow. "Looks like here's where we leave the Mako. Make sure you're well armored when we get out of here. Also, save your oxygen for when we're back in the colony. No telling how long we'll have to stay there after we're done here," she said as she reached up and released her seals, allowing the filters on her suit to do the work.

The others followed suit, and soon they climbed out of the vehicle and made their way up a set of stairs. With Shepard leading, they made it to the doorway to the nearest staircase. Unfortunately, they were halted by a glowing blue barrier. "Looks like they've blocked communications, and entry to the building," said Tali as she opened her omni-tool.

"How... does this work?" asked Shepard as she reached up and pushed her hand against the shield. Her kinetic barrier immediately popped as it made contact.

"Cyclonic shielding. A while ago, geth fighters began using these shields. It's essentially a kinetic barrier that spins, deflecting objects in a circular pattern rather than a simple repulsive shield. It's good for fighters, and frigates mostly. But not much for bigger ships, or anything that doesn't have a set shape. It's also good for doors such as this, as it keeps physical objects like us from entering without being horribly mangled," she said as she lowered her omni-tool again.

"That sounds extremely useful. Why hasn't the rest of the galaxy caught on to this?" asked Shepard as she turned to Tali.

Tali simply shrugged; another human gesture that made Shepard smile, as it was overly exaggerated for emphasis. "We only found out about them a couple years ago. And only by accident. As you know, the geth very rarely cross the Perseus Veil, and anyone who goes into the Veil... doesn't return. We haven't had the resources to recreate them yet. And even if we did, they'd be too expensive to house on most of our ships."

"I see," said Shepard as she noted that for later. "In any case, we're not getting in this way. So, it looks like we'll have to start down here," said the spectre as she walked over to what used to be a staircase. It was now shattered and broken, which meant that it was a one-way trip unless they found another way around.

"You sure about that Shepard? We might be trapping ourselves if we go down there," said Garrus as he looked at her through his darkened faceplate.

She simply smirked at him and shrugged. "No worries, Vakarian. If it comes to that, I can stand on your head to get back up," she said jokingly. He raised a talon to say something, but then lowered it again and shook his head. "Seriously though, we'll find a way out. But we'll never get anywhere if we stop here," she said before turning towards the edge and jumping down to the ground below.

As she stepped forward, the heavy thud of Wrex landing sounded behind her, then two more signaling that Garrus and Tali made it down as well. Nodding to them, she held up her weapon and aimed it forward as she snuck from the small broken stairwell and into a larger room that looked like it had seen much better days. Half the ceiling support had crumbled and crashed to the floor below, leaving scoring and plenty of debris for ambushers to hide behind.

But no shots came from the debris on the floor below. Instead, her barriers stopped a shot directly to her right as she stepped out of the stairwell, nearly making her jump out of her armor in surprise. Her pistol was up instantly and focused on another brunette human that was holding a pistol. It took a large amount of her willpower not to fire and put the woman down, but her eyes caught the lab coat she wore, and she ripped her weapon upwards. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?" she snapped angrily.

"Damn it!" shouted the woman before she dropped her weapon and raised her hands high. "I'm sorry! I thought you were geth!"

Sighing to help slow her heart rate, Shepard aimed her weapon down and stepped towards the woman. "It's fine. We're all a little jumpy right now," she said as she eyed the woman from head to toe. Looking at her face, she almost recognized her features. "You're safe now. Most of the geth up there are cleaned out."

"Oh thank goodness," said the woman with a sigh of relief.

"So, who are you and what are you doing here?" asked Shepard curiously.

"It's my own damn fault…" growled the woman as she shook her head. "Everyone ran as soon as the geth hit, but I stayed to try and back up data. Next thing I know, a geth ship latches to the side of the building, then all the exits are blocked off with some kind of barrier, and all communications were cut."

"Don't worry, we'll find a way out of here once we figure out what the geth are after," she said as she eyed the woman. "Now, you didn't answer one of my questions."

The woman nodded and looked down at the ground nervously. "Oh, right. Sorry. My name is Lizbeth Baynham. I worked here for ExoGenetics," she said as she looked Shepard up and down. "And... who are you?"

"Council Spectre Jane Shepard," she responded as the woman went wide-eyed. "Now, I'll ask you the same question I asked Jeong. I hope the answers line up, for yours and his sake," she said as she took an intimidating step closer to the woman.

"They're after the thorian!" said the woman almost in a panic.

Shepard's eyes widened at how little pressure she had to put on the scientist to get an answer. But then she realized what she had said. "I'm sorry, thorian?"

Nodding rapidly, she spoke as if her life depended on it. "It's a lifeform indigenous to Feros. ExoGeni discovered it underground in the prothean ruins. We were studying it!"

"Do you know where this thorian is? Or where we can get more information on it?" asked the spectre as she narrowed her eyes at the woman.

"O-Of course! Here! Take my ID and you can access all the files that I backed up onto an OSD. It's through that door and at the top of the stairs," she said as she folded her arms. "I accidentally dropped it while trying to escape. I don't know if anyone has discovered it yet, but they were following me down the stairs."

Nodding, Shepard turned to the krogan. "Hey Wrex, real quick, can you toss her and Garrus upstairs?" she asked as she turned to Garrus. "Let her in the Mako." Then she turned back to the woman herself. "Alright Lizbeth, we're going to try and retrieve that OSD, and turn off the geth shields in this place. You're going to wait in our vehicle until we return. Your mother has been looking for you."

The young woman went wide-eyed at the remark. "My mom's alive!?" she asked incredulously.

"She is for now. We'll take you to her as soon as we're done here. But you're going to wait in the vehicle. Understood?" asked the spectre.

Lizbeth nodded happily with a smile on her face. "Yes, of course. I'll wait for you to get out," she said as she followed Wrex and Garrus.

As they walked away, she activated their helmet comm. "Garrus, make sure you cuff her to something. I don't want her driving off without us," she ordered as she turned towards the door that led up the stairs.

"Affirmative," he responded. It took a few minutes for the turian to return, but as he did, he nodded. "She wasn't exactly happy about it. Buuuut, she really didn't have a say in the matter. It was either cuffed inside an armored vehicle or out in the open for any stray geth to find."

"I'd think not. If she has the same corporate streak as Jeong, I wouldn't be surprised if we ran out the door and she gunned us down with our own cannon," said the spectre as she prepared her pistol again. "In any case, prepare yourselves. She said she was being followed. We may still have the element of surprise."

"Surprise isn't an element," said Garrus sarcastically.

Shepard smirked, knowing how the turian loved pulling apart human terminology. But she said nothing more and began moving forward. They began slowly climbing the steps with all of their weapons raised when suddenly their ears were assaulted by cursing. "Machine garbage! Tell me what I want to know, or I'll crush you into virtual dust!" Looking up, the spectre could tell that it was only a few flights up. Turning to the others, she signaled for absolute silence before moving again.

As they approached the staircase, Shepard could see the rough krogan mercenary holding the OSD in his hand while yelling at it again. But it appeared that the VI installed onto the device refused to relent. "Apologies, but I am unable to comply. You lack the proper clearance to access encrypted files. Would you like to review clearance protocols?"

"No, I don't want to see the protocols! You're going to give me the data I need or I'm going to crush you from existence!" growled the krogan as he shook the projector.

"Apologies. Please contact a supervisor about a Level 4 Security Exemption or make an appointment with-" started the VI. But the krogan's cursing stopped him.

"Stupid machine!" he shouted, echoing his voice throughout the stairwell. Finally, he sighed to himself. "Doesn't matter. I'll get the geth to pull those files from you with or without your permission."

"If there are no other inquiries, please pass this device over to the administrator currently queued behind you," requested the VI formally. The mercenary spun around, and his eyes widened as he saw four different weapons aimed directly at his face. In a fraction of a second, all of the triggers were pulled, and his head exploded, leaving a crater where his cranium used to be.

"Heh heh, no kill like overkill," said Wrex as he checked his heat sink.

Shepard reached down and pried the device out of the dead krogan's hands before opening it herself. "ExoGenetics Corporation would like to remind employees that the discharge of firearms is prohibited on company grounds. Breaking this protocol could result in a fine of one thousand credits, or even incarceration depending on the damage to property or other employees." Shepard ignored the threat, and instead opened her omni-tool to try and crack open the encrypted files. But she stopped as the VI spoke again. "Greetings Administrator Baynham. Do you have any inquiries?"

Shepard looked down at the small light-projected figure before nodding. "Right, the ID," she said as she ran a few questions through her head. "Access encrypted files on the thorian."

"Accessing files on Species 37. One moment please…" said the VI as its light-based form began to scroll numbers by rapidly. Suddenly it stopped again. "Access to files granted. Inquiry?"

"What is Species 37?" asked the spectre impatiently.

"Species 37 is an ancient creature of unknown origin found within the ruins of a prothean city on Feros. It was found two galactic months and three galactic days ago. Ever since, Subject 37 has been the basis of an in-depth study by ExoGenetics employees," said the VI dutifully.

Shepard glared at the device, her inner krogan struggling to come out. "But what is Species 37?"

"Apologies, could you elaborate on the question you are asking?" came the monotone voice again.

"Tell me what Species 37 is. What kind of creature, and its effects on the environment," responded Shepard sharply.

"Species 37, when compared to life on Earth, appears to be a fully sentient type of plant life. It consists of a cluster of nerves that form the brain at a central location, with tendrils comparable to vines that grow out from the center mass and have expanded through the ruins below the Zhu's Hope colony," said the VI, causing Shepard to glare.

"The thorian is underneath Zhu's Hope!?" she asked incredulously.

But the VI shook its head. "The central nerve cluster, considered the brain, is directly under the Zhu's Hope colony. The rest of its form consists of tendrils that expand over an area of many kilometers."

"And what effect does the thorian have on the colonists?" asked the spectre urgently.

"Through the dispersion and inhalation of spores, Species 37 can exert a form of control over unsuspecting prey with infliction of pain. Over time, the subject will be conditioned through the release of painful pulses directly into the brain’s sensors for activity that Species 37 deems wrong, and the release of endorphins in human subjects for activity that Species 37 deems right. How it determines these things mostly appears to be based on the survival instinct of Species 37 itself," said the VI.

Shepard just stared at the holographic figure blankly for a moment. "So, it releases spores into the air, and when the colonists breathed in these spores, they fell under its influence," she said as she shook her head. "When did ExoGeni start noticing that the colonists were being influenced by Species 37?"

"Unable to find relevant data. ExoGenetics, upon discovering Species 37, moved the Zhu's Hope housing directly on top of Species 37's location. After it was determined that the creature released spores defensively, it was discovered that live human testing was the only method of accurately determining the full effects that these spores had on living creatures," said the figure, leaving Shepard's jaw nearly on the floor.

"Those bosh'tets moved the colonists into the line of fire for testing!?" asked Tali incredulously as she stared at the device with wide eyes.

Ignoring the quarian's outburst, Shepard continued to interrogate the machine. "How long does it take before prey can be infected?"

"The process is based entirely on the brain function of each individual. It was found that the more intelligent a creature was, the slower the process took, with the exception of fauna born on Feros. Closed environment testing on fauna from Earth showed an almost instantaneous conversion to subservience. Human testing revealed that a week of exposure to the spores was sufficient time for Species 37 to begin conditioning. Salarian testing in Zhu's Hope, meanwhile, took nearly three weeks of exposure before they too started to show signs of conditioning. The effects on other galactic species are forthcoming, but still weeks away," said the holographic assistant.

Shepard nearly crushed the device in her hand in anger. However, she instead nodded and made another request. "Access personal files."

"Lizbeth Natalie Baynham, Administrative Assistant of ExoGenetics’ Bio-Medical Division with a level 4 Security exemption," said the figure.

Shepard opened her omni-tool and downloaded the personal data before scanning it curiously. Garrus stepped up and stared at her, trying not to be obvious about looking at the data. "Anything good?"

"Looks like she was on probation for disagreements with company policy, mainly due to them using live human testing without consent. They restricted her access to the project, but she was still cleared for access to basic project data. They were going to reevaluate her and likely demote her for insubordination," said the woman as she closed the files.

"Well, looks like we found our potential whistle-blower," said the turian as he checked his weapon. "So, what about the geth?"

Closing down the OSD, she stashed it away and pulled her pistol back up. "Looks like we've got the answers as to what's wrong with the colonists. But it still doesn't explain why the geth are here. Let's hope we find more ahead. I'd like to go home with more than just a higher kill count."

"Why? What's yours at?" asked Wrex as he plodded down the hall with her, his shotgun gripped loosely in his hands.

She smirked at him as she continued, pistol aimed down at the floor. "You know, most other empathetic creatures don't count their kills."

"Yeah, Wrex. You should get a visor like mine. It counts them for you," said Garrus as he held his assault rifle low.

"I think Garrus missed the point of your statement," said Tali as she followed behind the rest, watching their back.

Biomedical Wing - ExoGenetics Headquarters - Feros

It was eerie. In all her time studying the geth, hearing stories about them, or outright being taught how to fight them back on the Migrant Fleet, she had never seen anything like this before. Shepard had continued to lead them through the building. Aside from the party in the lobby, they had yet to run into any more of the mechanical killers.

But that all changed quickly, when Shepard silenced them and slowly moved out onto a mezzanine. The stairs to the mezzanine had shattered, but it was the geth that worried her. The quarian looked over the railing and saw two geth sitting in front of what looked like an ancestral shrine. Their heads were lowered, as if asking for guidance. The entire scene made her skin crawl under her suit and sent chilling tingles up her spine.

Reaching over, Shepard tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to the geth with her omni-tool lit. Understanding the command, she activated her own tool and reached forward, stunning the two machines. Shepard then reached up with her own and popped their shields with a cyber-attack. Afterwards, Wrex and Garrus both ended them by filling them with rounds.

"What the hell was that about?" asked Shepard as they all hopped down from the mezzanine to examine the strange altar.

All three of them looked to Tali, who shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know! I've never seen anything like this before!" she said as she walked up to the device and ran her hand over it. "This almost looks... prothean."

"Come to think of it, you're right. This doesn't look geth made at all," said the commander as she closely examined it as well.

"Were they worshiping it?" asked Wrex as he looked between the two.

"The geth are a highly intelligent sentient race of machines. I doubt they've developed any kind of religion in the short amount of time they've been on their own," she said as she shook her head lightly as her ears began ringing. "Does anyone else hear that?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah. Something's buzzing," said Garrus from behind as he shook his own head.

"Maybe it's coming from the device. It may be some kind of communicator," said Shepard as she too showed signs of hearing the buzzing.

"If so, we should destroy it," replied Tali as she looked at the others urgently. But Shepard held up her hand.

"We can't. If it's prothean made, then it needs to be examined. Whatever the geth are using it for is irrelevant at the moment," she said as she accessed her omni-tool. "After we clean up here, we'll pick it up and bring it back to the Citadel for study."

"I don't think Jeong is going to like that," said Garrus with amusement in his voice.

"After hearing that ExoGeni was performing illegal experiments on the colonists, Jeong will be lucky if he leaves this ordeal walking," said Shepard firmly as she turned away from the object. "In any case, let's find out where the power for the barriers is coming from, and get rid of it," she said as she raised her weapon again and led them into the next room.

Biomedical Wing - ExoGenetics Headquarters - Feros

To say it had been an uphill battle was both an understatement, and an annoying pun. The squad had made their way into the labs of the biomedical wing which was swarming with more geth than the entire rest of the building.

As soon as the spectre peeked around the corner with her omni-tool, the display was shattered as a round blasted through it. The orchestra of clicks and mechanical chirping that followed meant that the gig was up. No longer having the element of surprise, Wrex barreled out of cover and blasted one of the nearby machines with his shotgun, sending its scrap soaring across the room before he ducked behind a collapsed part of the ceiling.

Tali sent her drone rolling into the room to provide a distraction as Garrus too ran out and began laying heavy fire on the invaders. Shepard activated her stealth once more and vanished from sight. Luckily for the team, her IFF showed her position clearly on their HUD's so that they didn't accidentally fire on her.

What felt like wave after wave of the geth marched from the ship and slammed against them, keeping them mostly in cover as the weapon fire flowed like a river. "Wrex!" shouted Tali.

"What!?" shouted the krogan over the comm as he blasted another of the geth who had gotten too close to his cover to shreds.

"Remember your supernova?" asked the quarian as she detonated Chatika again, taking out the leg of the geth that had killed it.

"I do! You want me to run out there and use it right now?" he asked incredulously as the geth weapons chipped away at his cover.

"I don't think we really have a choice! We're going to run out of heat sinks if this keeps up, then we won't have the option!" shouted Tali as she rose up to fire her shotgun at a nearby geth. Unfortunately, the near constant fire from the machines kept her shields depleted almost the entire time they had been fighting. A stalker that she had yet to see fired a round and as she ended the geth in front of her, she flew back and hit the ground with a gasp.

"Tali!" shouted Garrus loudly as he sprinted from cover and did a flying roundhouse that sheared the assaulting geth in half with his spur blades. His shields had taken the rest of the shots fired as he rolled into Tali's cover before he finally reached forward and grabbed her, pulling her up against the barricade. "Tali! Are you alright!?"

"I... I'm fine. Thank you," said the quarian as she reached up and rubbed her chest through the thick plate of armor that they had purchased on the Citadel. "Keelah, that's going to leave a bruise…" Sighing in relief, Garrus gripped his assault rifle and began helping her to repel the nearby wave of enemies.

"Hey Shepard!" shouted Wrex over the din of the endless war.

"Yeah?" asked the commander from across the room.

"I need a distraction! You might have to take some fire off me for a moment," yelled the mercenary as he panted heavily.

"Already had something in mind," she responded, causing the three to look at each other curiously. Suddenly, an explosion detonated against the far wall. All fire ceased for a few seconds, and the entire back wall groaned in agony before ripping clean of the building. The geth ship, which had two of its three claws sunk into the floor, began to tilt as it lost support from the wall itself. When it finally hit the point of no return, gravity pulled the ship downwards, causing the floor where the claws were anchored to rip clean from the ground. Almost six geth went soaring out of the building with the floor and the ship both to crash to the ground below.

As the ship fell, the power cabling went taut and instantly snapped, coiling around a large prime unit before dragging it across the floor and out into oblivion as well. "Heh heh, you never cease to impress me, Shepard," said the krogan as he burst out from cover and hammered a geth to the ground with his shotgun, then trampling it to death as he charged his biotics. Throwing both hands forward, a wave of energy smashed into the remaining machines, sending them all cascading out into the open air before they followed the ship down into the depths.

Tali groaned as Garrus helped her to her feet, her hand gently rubbing the spot that the round had impacted her. "Well, that worked out fairly well," she said as she looked up at Shepard, who not stood on top of a thick chunk of ceiling that had crushed the life from one of the geth as a result of the ship falling.

"Tali, Garrus, help me look around and see if the geth have tried to infiltrate the networks here. Wrex, you snoop around and see if we have any more that need cleaning up," ordered the commander as she jumped down from her position, her face shield showing furrowed brows.

"On it, Shepard," said the krogan as he exited the room from the other side.

Tali pulled away from Garrus for a moment before bringing up her omni-tool and looking around. Shepard and Garrus followed her lead, and before long they met back in the center of the room. "Shepard, I'm not seeing any kind of intrusion into the systems at all."

Shepard nodded in confusion. "Me neither. I don't understand it! Why did they come here if not to get information?"

"Well, ExoGeni was the communications hub of the entire colony. Chances are, they were here solely to keep anything from getting out to the galaxy," replied Garrus, who got a curious look from the commander.

"Perhaps. It is a tactical strategy to knock out the communications when invading. But there has to be more to it," she said as she tapped her helmet with her palm.

"Maybe they didn't need the information on the computer," said Wrex as he entered the room again. “Chances are, if Saren was here, he got all the information he needed before coming here. While he may not be a Spectre anymore, he still has connections."

"And anything he needed the blanks filled in on... well…" said Garrus as he gestured towards a human body that had been dead for at least a few days.

"You could be right. But if ExoGeni was just a strategic foothold, does that mean that the geth are here for the thorian? If so, to what end?" she asked as she cleared them all and began making her way back through the building and towards the mako.

"I guess the only way to find out is to confront whatever it is directly. We're certainly not going to be getting anything from the col... o... nists…" started Garrus as they all stopped as they entered a large room. Around every edge of the room were more dragon's teeth, all with their blades glistening crimson. But there were no bodies, no colonists, no scientists, no nothing.

"If they've been making husks, then where are they?" asked Shepard, her voice betraying how unnerved she was as she stared at all the horrific technology.

Chapter 24: The Thorian

Chapter Text

Medical Shelter - Zhu's Hope - Feros

It had been over an hour since Shepard had left to clear out ExoGeni and find out what the geth were after. And ever since, Liara had been using every scrap of her knowledge to try and figure out what the colonists were suffering from. She had spent nearly forty-five minutes on the comm with doctor Chakwas just trying to figure out what she could do to help them. But in all her years of study, she had never come across any information on something that could condition a living host into servitude through some kind of telepathy.

It was very concerning if some kind of creature had the ability to control multiple beings at once through telepathy. Even the most powerful matriarchs in Thessian history could only handle two dominations at a time. And even those had to stay within the asari's biotic field for them to keep control. But whatever this was, it had subdued an entire colony and was nowhere to be found. A hypothesis nagged at the back of her mind. Perhaps one of the colonists may not be who they appear to be, allowing them to stay nearby without the worry of discovery. Every time one of the colonists approached the medical quarters, that hypothesis resurfaced until the turians deflected them back to their duty stations.

She had examined them physically from top to bottom. And at first, they seemed perfectly healthy, if not a bit fatigued due to the geth attacks. But when she examined their eyes was when she noticed the small green veins in the corners. "Goddess…" she said in surprise as she saw the growths.

"What is it Doctor T'Soni?" asked Zannia as she turned from the door.

"I believe I've found out why we were warned to wear our environmental seals," she said as she looked up at the turian woman. "Doctor Chakwas, after examining one of the sedated patients, I've discovered plant-like growths in the corners of their eyes."

"It appears that telepathy is off the table then. Could this be a case of Ophiocordyceps Unilateralis?" asked the woman curiously from her medbay on the Normandy.

"My apologies Karin, but I don't know what that is," said the asari apologetically as Zannia shrugged.

"It's a type of fungus from Earth. Whenever a carpenter ant, an Earth-born insect, comes into contact with spores from the fungus, it becomes infected. The ant is then controlled to carry itself to a spot more suitable for fungal growth before spreading throughout the entire body and killing the host," said the doctor knowingly as she passed the files to the asari.

"That's horrifying…" said Zannia as she shook her head.

"That's not even the scariest of creatures we have here," chuckled the doctor over the comm.

"So, you believe that the colonists encountered something similar to the spores of this fungus and are now being slowly consumed by it?" asked Liara as she pulled up closer pictures of the infected eye.

"That appears to be the case here. We know they have fibers growing in their eyes, and if what Shepard said about their reaction to pain is correct, then it's safe to assume that they have some either directly in the brain or attached to the nervous system. The more concerning part of this is that the fungus from Earth isn't intelligent. It doesn't condition the ants, it simply infects, grows from the body, and continues the cycle. Whatever is doing this to the colonists clearly has sentience at the very minimum for them to punish and reward accordingly," said Chakwas as she brushed her hair aside.

"That is worrisome. A simple plant would not be able to determine if a colonist was talking about it like Shepard suggested. So, we're dealing with something that knows what they are saying when they are saying it," said Liara as she clenched her fists. "How would we even begin to undo this process?"

"Unfortunately, there is no process. With the Earth fungus, the infected host becomes a new creature entirely independent from the original carrier. But this creature has a brain, so there is a chance that killing whatever creature is infecting them might kill the infecting spores as well," finished doctor Chakwas as Zannia was alerted by another of the armored turians.

"Doctor T'Soni, I'm going to need you to step away from the patient," said the armored woman as she stepped up to the asari.

"Why? What has happened?" asked the doctor as she followed the orders.

"The other sedated patients in the barracks have gotten up and they aren't responding. They appear to be docile for the moment, but whatever is happening could be this... grotesque fungus creature's doing. If he decides that your prodding is intrusive enough, then having you standing next to one might result in an attack," said the turian as she placed herself between the asari and the sedated human.

"Oh dear... perhaps the sedation…" chimed in doctor Chakwas from the comm.

"What is it?" asked Liara, bewildered by the sudden reaction.

"If whatever this creature is was fighting the colonists for control of their mind, then the sedation may have given them full access," she said curiously.

"Goddess, what have I done?" she asked, horrified at the prospect of her actions.

Suddenly, the colonist that she had been examining sat straight up as if returning from the dead, then looked directly over at both of them. "Kassian! Thevaros!" shouted the turian as she turned and grabbed the human. The man began to struggle, but two more armored turians entered and dragged the man out of the office. "We're locking down the medical wing! All troops rally here and keep T'Soni safe!" she shouted through the comm.

Liara plopped down in her seat with a dumbstruck look on her face as gunfire sounded outside.

ExoGenetics Skyway - Feros

"Spectre, if you're there, please respond!" came the voice from Tali's omni-tool as they drove the mako down the ramps once more.

Garrus looked back at the quarian curiously. "Sounds like something happened," he said as he held onto the gunner's station.

"Get away from that radio Juliana!" came the familiar voice of Jeong.

"That was my mother!" shouted Lizbeth, who was crammed between Tali and Wrex in the back.

"This is Juliana Baynham! Spectre, if you can hear me, please come back!" shouted the woman defiantly, causing Lizbeth to reach out towards the omni-tool. But Tali pulled away suspiciously.

Suddenly, Shepard pulled the mako to a stop and locked it down. "She's just inside this depot. Let's go," she ordered as she reached up and opened the tank.

The young woman jumped out of the tank and sprinted for the entrance with Shepard close behind. When they both made it to the entrance, they went unnoticed as the two figures in the center fought with one another. The man now had the radio and was pacing frantically as the woman confronted him. "You can't do this Jeong!"

"Everyone shut up! Let me think for God's sake!" he shouted as he reached up and held his head.

"You won't get away with this you lunatic!" shouted Juliana angrily.

But Jeong snapped back with a scowl. "Security, subdue her immediately!"

As one of the guards grabbed Juliana, Lizbeth sprinted out from her place and yelled at the man. "Get away from her you son of a bitch!" As soon as she reached her mother, the young brunette shoved the guard away.

Juliana gasped and hugged her daughter. "Lizbeth! You're okay!"

The man moved to restrain her again but stopped immediately as Shepard's black-armored figure stepped up to them. "Hands off," she ordered as she raised her pistol.

"Dammit! Where the hell did you come from!?" yelled Jeong as he pointed a pistol at Shepard.

But the human locked up with a painful expression as Tali approached him with her omni-tool lit. "Don't ever point a gun at Shepard," she said angrily. Garrus moved forward and relieved the man of his weapon before turning to the security force. They immediately backed off with their hands raised.

"I wouldn't make a move towards your weapons if I were you. It will end with your entrails scattered all over the wall," threatened the krogan as he approached them with a menacing glare.

After everyone stopped moving, Shepard lowered her weapon and turned to Jeong. The man aimed his scowl at her now and spat on the ground. "Shepard... damn it! I knew it was too much to hope the geth would kill you!" he said as he flailed his arms around dramatically. "I found some interesting facts about you on the ExoGeni database! Why the hell would the Alliance send a damn war hero here!?"

Putting her pistol away, Shepard crossed her arms and glared at the man. "What the hell do you think you're doing Jeong?"

"Communications came back up and now ExoGeni wants this place purged!" shouted the man in frustration.

"This is a human colony, Jeong! You can't just erase us!" growled Lizbeth as she held onto her mother.

Jeong threw his hands up in exasperation. "It's not just you! There's something here far more valuable than a few colonists!"

Shepard took a step towards the man, who took a step back in anticipation of attack. "Should I tell them about the Thorian? Or are you going to grab your quad and do it yourself?" asked the spectre, getting a rough guffaw from the krogan in the room.

Juliana's gaze flew between Shepard and Jeong with a look of confusion on her face. "I'm sorry. Thorian?"

When Jeong stayed silent, Lizbeth stepped forward with a disgruntled look. "It's a... semi-telepathic life form that lives under Zhu's Hope. It's taken control of the colonists…" she said, aiming a glare at Jeong. "And ExoGeni knew it was happening, and they're the reason that so many colonists were infected!" she shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the man.

Now sharing her daughter's glare, Juliana spoke up. "You won't get away with this Jeong!"

"So you keep saying. But nobody is going to notice a few colonists missing," he said with a sneer on his face. But the sound of someone clearing their throat got his attention again and he turned back to Shepard. "Uh... oh…"

"Go ahead Jeong. Try to repurpose me too," said Shepard threateningly as she drew her pistol again and spun it. "You're a bean-counter, Jeong. I'm a Spectre. What are the odds that your security team has the ability to take me down, take my squad down, and then take the entire crew of the frigate outside down?" Jeong backed himself against a wall as Shepard cornered him, getting into his face so that he could see her clearly through her face shield.

"Spectre, hah. What a load of shit! There aren't any human Spectre's... right?" he asked as he looked over at a nearby security guard. The man shrugged, before the boss looked back at the woman cornering him.

Garrus chuckled in the background. "Took the time to look up her history but didn't spare a moment to confirm her inauguration as a Spectre. You reeeally need to get your priorities in order."

"Spectre or not, you can't throw your weight around anymore with her here!" growled Lizbeth as she stood with her arms crossed next to Shepard.

"You don't understand! It's not up to me! ExoGeni will send more assayers here and they'll know what happened!" he said desperately as he looked between the two.

Suddenly, Shepard reached forward and gripped him by the collar. "Here's what you're going to do Jeong. You're going to tell them that the geth destroyed the thorian."

"B-But the infected colonists can't be here when the company gets here!" he whined as she gripped her arm ineffectively.

"If you kill the thorian, there's a chance that the infection will go away," said Lizbeth as she looked at Shepard.

"That's all fine. But the question is, are the colonists going to let us kill the thorian?" asked Wrex as he looked at Shepard. As he did, one of the security guards reached out and tried to grab his weapon, but a heavy elbow from Wrex smashed his head against the wall, knocking him unconscious.

"Sit down," growled Garrus to the remaining officer.

"I wouldn't put it past it to use the colonists to shield itself," said Shepard as she released Jeong and slid her pistol away.

"Th-There may actually be a way to stop them…" said Jeong, causing Shepard to eye him again. He raised his arms defensively. "While studying the effects of the thorian in the labs, we found out that using paralyzing agents on those infected put them out of commission. Despite its control, the thorian can't control something if it's disabled. So... when we made a run from the ExoGeni building, we stocked up on some countermeasures in case it decided to send the colonists after us," he said, pointing over to a crate of gas grenades.

"So, the colonists exposed to nerve gas wouldn't be able to fight?" asked Lizbeth curiously.

"How powerful is this nerve agent you've concocted?" asked Shepard as she stared down Jeong.

"It's not weapons-grade like you'd use in the military. In fact, it wouldn't do much besides nauseate a regular human. But it's effective enough on the infected colonists because their antibodies can't fight it off while they're trying to counter the thorian infection," he responded, causing Shepard to turn away and walk over to the crate. He slid down onto his behind with a relieved sigh.

Pulling out the gas bombs, she tossed some to her squad. "Make sure you have environmental seals active before we hit the colony," she ordered as she strapped a few to her armored belt. Then, she turned back to Jeong. "Now then…" she said, causing the man to crawl backwards. "Here's what's going to happen Jeong. I'm going to go kill this thorian, and you're going to pray that this releases the colonists from infection. Afterwards, ExoGeni is going to stay here and open a charitable medical center for those harmed by the thorian under their watch," she said as she knelt down in front of the man.

"But…" he groaned, but she cut him off.

"And if your bosses at ExoGeni have any complaints, they can make them to me. Then I'll bring them to the Council, and we'll see what's more inconvenient. Helping some colonists who are likely going to have some serious issues after exposure to an alien life form under ExoGeni's orders, or the massive axe of sanctions and investigations once the Council finds out that ExoGeni actively put the colonists in harm's way for the sake of experimentation. How's that sound?" she asked rhetorically as she stood again and headed for the door.

Jeong said nothing more as the spectre headed for the door. Instead, Juliana spoke up for him. "Thank you, Spectre. It means a lot that you're helping us here. We'd probably all be victims of the geth had you not showed up."

Nodding, the commander exited the building. "Let's just hope killing the thorian goes as smoothly as clearing out ExoGeni. You might not be out of the fire yet," said the woman as she finally left the ExoGeni survivors and headed for the mako again.

Outside Zhu's Hope Hangar - Feros

Her expectations of this entire situation getting weirder were very low. First, they stumbled on almost cult-like behavior from colonists. Then, they discovered that there was a giant, sentient plant living under Zhu's Hope that was controlling the colonists. And to top things off, they discovered a group of geth performing a borderline religious-looking procedure deep inside the ExoGenetics headquarters. So, to believe that it could get even stranger was far-fetched.

But as she pulled the tank up to the door of the hangar again, her eyes widened as it opened and revealed a horrific sight. Even her own crew were blown away by what they were looking at.

"Are... Are those colonists?" asked Garrus as he stared at them through her scope. But she knew from Eden Prime that anything that used to be human inside them was no more. They had those same, glowing, haunting eyes. But instead of being covered from head to toe in geth-like machinery, these husks were tightly wrapped in vines and plant fiber, all hiding the usual horrific sights.

"No…" said Shepard as she backed the vehicle up. "I think we found out what happened to the ExoGeni employees that were spiked!" she shouted as she turned back to Garrus. "Those are not living creatures anymore. Aim to kill!" she ordered hastily.

"Are you sure, Shepard?" asked Tali as the commander spun around to look at them.

"There's nothing human left in them anymore. They're already dead, and from the looks of it, the thorian has taken over what was left. There's nothing to save," she said as she looked at Garrus and nodded.

The turian zoomed in on the husks as they sprinted for the vehicle and fired the autocannons. Despite seemingly being upgraded by the thorian, they didn't stand a chance against the automatic fire of the heavy turret. All of the creatures were turned into mulch and scrap as he finally released the trigger.

"Gruesome," said Wrex as the last of the horrors were shredded.

Shepard pulled the vehicle into the hanger and almost as soon as she put it in park, they heard rounds pinging off the shields. Sighing to herself, she turned to Wrex. "Get out and use your biotics to decommission them. Do... not... kill. Do you understand?"

"Yeah yeah, I get it," he groaned as he popped the hatch on the tank and used his massive strength to jump out. Shepard followed him, and as soon as her feet hit the ground, she saw the two colonists that were shooting floating in the air.

"Alright, let's move! Activate your environmental seals and don't waste grenades!" she ordered as she activated her own and sprinted up the entryway. When she reached the top, she armed a grenade and threw it into the biotic field, where it sprayed the two men. Opening her comm, she signaled to the colony team. "Liara, Fire Team, do you read?"

"Loud and clear, Spectre!" came Zannia's voice.

"Status report!" shouted Shepard as she ducked behind a barrier to keep two more of the colonists from firing at her.

"We're currently locked inside the medical barracks in the colony. It appears that sedating the colonists gave the thorian full control of them, and they began attacking shortly afterwards!" said the turian as she went quiet for a moment. "One of my team took a shot to the leg, but other than that, no casualties. Doctor T'Soni is safe in here with us."

"Good! Hold your position, we'll be coming in shortly to assist!" said Shepard as Garrus tossed a grenade over her shelter. The canister popped and the three colonists that were firing at her dropped to the ground in a choking fit. Tali and Wrex moved up as well. After taking the elevator down to the colony level, they were confronted by more of the horrific creatures. "Dammit!" shouted Shepard as she raised her pistol and blasted one straight through the head.

"No worries Shepard, I've got these," said Wrex as he stepped forward with his shotgun ready. "You up to help me, kid?"

"I'm not a kid," snapped Tali as she prepared her own heavy weapon. The two of them blasted through the thick, fibrous coating, sending the monsters sprawling before ending their miserable existence.

"Kid, I'm over fifteen-hundred years old. You're all kids to me," said the krogan as he raised his shotgun, allowing the heat sink to cool.

"Is that why you're taking orders from someone who isn't even thirty?" asked Garrus sarcastically as he chucked another grenade around the corner.

"Watch it turian. Shepard has my respect. You have yet to earn that," said Wrex menacingly as he approached the corner.

"All of you shut up and focus on the situation at hand," yelled Shepard as she moved into the colony proper. She took up position where Fai Dan and the captain stood earlier as more plant-like husks began to charge.

Garrus eliminated one with a shot through the skull, Tali popped up and wasted another with her shotgun, and Wrex sent the last flying through the air with his biotics. They all raced over the shipyard platform used for repairs and the commander groaned as more colonists began firing on her position.

But Wrex wasn't having any more nonsense. He burst forward with his biotics, and before either colonist could react to him, he grabbed three all at once into a giant bear hug. "Night night, don't let the varren bite," he said as he released the safety on the grenade in his hand, enveloping all four of them in a cloud of nerve toxin.

When he released them, they all fell into a pile. "Wrex, watch your back!" shouted Shepard as a husk's head exploded right behind him. He spun around and saw an army of them sprinting at him. Three of them dove and latched onto him as more and more joined the battle. "Dammit!"

Suddenly, one of the husks used its electrical burst attack as they continued to pile onto the krogan. The electricity reached the grenades and detonated them all, creating a massive cloud of the toxic gas around them. "Wrex! Are you alright!?" shouted Tali as she slowly approached it with her shotgun ready.

Shepard sprinted up as well but didn't stop outside. Feeling her way around, her hand contacted the krogan who was standing up straight. "Wrex?" Suddenly, her eyes widened as she heard his heavy panting, the sound of orange blood pumping to his eyes. He let out a massive battle cry before reaching down and grabbing Shepard by the arm, swinging her like a bludgeon into one of the charging creepers before sprinting out of the cloud.

"What is that maniac doing!?" shouted Garrus as he took aim and shot another of the army of husks through the head.

Wrex stampeded into the enemy wave and swung Shepard again, smashing three husks aside before whirling around and hurling her bodily into another. Shepard coughed heavily as she got to her knees but didn't shirk her duties and put two rounds through the skulls of the husks she had been thrown into.

As Garrus and Tali finished the last of them, Wrex looked around, still growling as he stepped on and trampled the husks around him to death. "Is he insane!?" asked Garrus as he approached the krogan with his weapon ready.

But Shepard held up her hand and got to her feet. "Weapons down. Now," she said as she limped towards the enraged krogan. "Wrex, I'm going to need you to calm down. Do you understand me?" she asked as she held up a hand defensively. She took another step closer, her pistol back on her belt as both hands now rose in the air. "It's alright, there's no more danger."

Wrex stared at her longingly, as if he were about to reach out and grab her again. But he didn't. Instead, he kicked the body of a husk, making it splatter against a wall. As close as she was, she could once again hear his breathing shallow. "Heh, sorry about that," he said, almost bashfully as he turned away from her.

Sighing to herself, she fell to her knees and held her side painfully. It was right then that Liara and the fire team burst from the shelter. Liara sprinted to Shepard's side and moved to help her but kept her hands off in case she made things worse. "Shepard! Are you alright!?" asked the frantic asari as she practically danced around the woman.

"I'll be fine. Maybe a fractured rib is all," said the commander as she stood again, groaning with each step towards the crane. "We found out what happened to the colonists. There's a creature down below that is controlling them through the inhalation of spores."

"So, Karin's hypothesis was correct! What do we do now?" asked the asari as she followed the spectre. But both of them stopped in their place as another colonist stepped out from behind the console and aimed a pistol at them. Liara's biotics immediately flared up, but Shepard held out a hand again.

Reaching down, Shepard tried to grab one of the grenades on her side, only to find that they had been thrown clear when Wrex used her bodily as a weapon. Growling, her hand inched towards her pistol as she recognized Fai Dan.

"It... it wants me to stop you…" he said, his face showing the pain he was experiencing. "B-But I won't! I won't be a slave!" he shouted as he shook his head.

Shepard stepped towards him with her hands raised. "Calm down Fai Dan, we know what's happening. We're going to take care of it," she said as she took another step, trying to move in to disarm and disable him.

"Good... free them!" said the man with a painful smile. "But... I will not be a tool! I will not stop her, you hear me!?" he shouted before turning the pistol on himself. Shepard lunged forward, but it was too late. He pulled the trigger and ended his life.

Sighing to herself, the spectre knelt down next to him and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you too."

Zhu's Hope - Feros

"After you left for ExoGeni, the colonists covered up an underground entrance with a cargo container. If they were hiding this... thorian, then that's likely where it's at," came Kaidan's voice through the comm as Shepard reached the crane controls. Luckily, they kept the crane attached to the container in question.

Activating the console, she lifted the cargo up and moved it out of the way. And as the lieutenant said, there was a dark stairwell that led down below. "Alright. Everyone, follow me. We're going to end this abomination once and for all," said the commander as she drew her pistol and made her way down the stairs. While the medigel helped, it certainly didn't take the pain away from her ribs, which ached with each step she took.

Liara, Wrex, Tali, Garrus, and the turian fire team all followed her down into the depths. It was almost four stories down when they finally stepped onto what looked like an auditorium. The room was circular with balconies and stairs leading downwards into the depths of the mine itself. "So, how exactly will we recognize this... thor... ian…" started Liara as she stepped into the room behind Shepard. But she stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the monstrosity before her. It was massive and filled almost the entire circular void in the center of the enormous room. Vine-like appendages reached out from all angles of its surface and broke through thick walls of concrete, leaving only the dead center with a gruesome tendrils dripping from an orifice on what looked like a face.

"I think we're going to need bigger guns…" said Wrex as even he recognized the authority this creature held.

"Definitely considering that for the future," said Shepard as she stepped up onto the balcony itself. "Lovecraft, you bastard."

As if it had noticed her, the massive creature moved. Its tendrils wriggled as the front of its face almost folded open. Everyone present gasped in shock as the top half of an asari woman emerged from the folds, her face neutral as vines wrapped around her body.

With a voice filled with pain, the asari spoke. "Invaders! Your every step is a transgression. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat, good only to dig or decompose. I am the Old Growth! You are within and before the Thorian. I command that you be in awe!" said the asari as she looked down at the party.

"Shepard!" snapped Liara. The spectre looked at her curiously. "That asari is one of my mother’s trusted advisors! That means that she, or Saren was here!"

As the realization hit her, Shepard stepped up to the Cthulian like monster. "Old Growth, I'm here to make a deal with you," she said as she came to the full realization that the thorian was fully sentient. "You met with a turian, Saren. Is that correct?"

Suddenly, the massive plant hissed as its tendrils thrashed around. "S-Saren the traitor! He wished for information on those who are gone. I, the ancient one, opened myself to speak to flesh for the first time in the long cycle! Trades were made. I traded information on the lost ones for servants, and he gave them. But once the traitor had what he needed, his army of cold ones began killing the flesh that would tend the next cycle! Flesh fairly given!" said the woman as the head lowered until they were almost eye to eye. "The ancient one sees the air you push as lies. It will listen no more to the traitorous fleshborne!"

"Give me what you gave Saren, and I'll kill him for you!" shouted Shepard defiantly as she stared at the plant creature. "If you don't help me, he will get away with the injustices he has committed against you!"

"More lies from those that scurry. I, the ancient one, have heard your words above. Once you have what you need, you will kill me to free my thralls. No more will I trust you lesser creatures of meat and blood," said the asari as she looked to Shepard desperately. "I... I have it…" she said quietly. But her comment didn't go unnoticed. She screamed in agony as the tentacle-like plants squeezed her bare body.

"Then you have made your decision!" yelled Shepard as she looked around the room. Almost immediately, she noticed more of the husks all huddled on the floor, as well as the bodies of dead geth littering the area.

"Shepard!" shouted Tali as she tapped rapidly on her omni-tool. "I'm getting readings of geth explosives laying across the room. I'm guessing that's how Saren intended to kill the thorian!"

"Then that's our way. Everyone spread out, kill these creatures, and find those bombs!" she ordered as she kicked a husk hard enough to send it tumbling over the edge into the abyss below.

Immediately, the team split in half and went separate ways. Garrus, Tali, and Wrex went with two of the turian fire team in one direction around the circular balcony, while Shepard, Liara, and Zannia went another with the remainder of the fire team. As they entered a new room, swarms of the husks rose and the five of them laid down a wave of fire that obliterated the zombie-like creatures.

After victoriously putting down the husks, Shepard moved forward again but was halted as a vine-like arm shot out of the thorian's body and gripped her head. Forcefully, it slammed her into a wall, causing her nose to slam into the front of her helmet. Immediately, she tasted blood running from her nose.

Blue energy erupted like a volcano as Liara roared in anger, then threw her arm forward and warped the appendage holding the spectre. It twisted and shattered, causing the abomination to roar in anger and pain. Throwing another at the root that pierced the wall, she ripped it clean and the thorian howled again.

"Spectre!" shouted Zannia as she helped the commander back to her feet. "Are you well?"

"I'm fine," said Shepard as she shook her head inside the helmet. She may have just broken her nose as well. "Keep moving and keep killing!"

"It appears that breaking the arms holding onto the wall weakens the creature!" shouted Zannia as she dashed forward. As if to prove her point, she flipped forward and used her spur blade to slice clean through another of the thick arms. The thorian roared in anger before sending another wave of tentacles towards the group. But Liara grabbed them all and shredded them to mulch before they could touch anyone.

"Everyone present, if you can take out the arms anchoring the thorian to the wall, do so!" shouted the spectre through her comm.

"Affirmative," responded Garrus from the other side of the atrium.

Turning to the thorian, the spectre pulled out a sharp, curved blade that she’d kept for years. Gripping the weapon handle, the spectre spun it smartly before nodding. "Let’s hope this works," she said as she turned and began her assault again.

Both teams made their way through the rooms, clearing them of husks and fighting off the invading tendrils that tried to drag them off into the abyss. Garrus nearly got dragged off before one of the fire team slashed through the vine with his spur blade. Getting to his feet, he thanked them silently with a nod before continuing his assault on the plant matter that rooted the thorian in place.

The thorian spun downwards as Shepard ran down the stairs to the next floor where a geth bomb was waiting, unarmed. The asari jutted from its face again, her beautiful features pain stricken as she spoke. "Insolence! You will die for your indiscretions against the ancient one!" shouted the woman.

"Liara!" shouted Shepard as she turned towards the abomination. The asari looked at her worriedly. "I'm going to need you to catch us!"

"Us?" asked the asari, then she gasped as Shepard sprinted towards the edge of the platform and jumped onto the monster itself. Using the turian blade like an ice pick, she anchored herself on the face of the creature before wrapping her arms around the trapped asari woman. Yanking the blade free, she began hacking at it viciously.

Shrieking in pain, the thorian summoned more tendrils to attack. But again, they were thwarted as Liara and Tali destroyed them with biotics and weapons fire. With enough force, the spectre ripped the woman clean of the thorian's body and hurled her through the air. Liara reached forward and caught the woman with her biotics. Slowly the woman drifted onto the lower floor.

The thorian began to thrash violently as Shepard continued to hack at its grotesque face. But before it could attempt to crush her against the wall, she hurled herself clear and caught onto a platform below. She gasped in pain as she scraped at the floor that she was hanging from, the pain from both her nose and her ribs making it near impossible for her to get a grip. But she was saved as the naked asari she had just rescued pulled her up onto the balcony.

"Fuck that hurt…" groaned Shepard as she panted heavily inside her armored suit.

Rolling onto her stomach, the spectre pushed herself to her feet unsteadily. But the asari helped her, and the pair watched as the thorian lie still, bleeding whatever it had inside of it profusely from its wounds.

"Shepard!" shouted Liara as she finally made it to the stairs below. Dashing through the room and tossing any husks in the way off of the platform, she made it to the commander's side. "Are you well, Shepard?"

"I've had better days. But we're not finished here," she said as she opened her comm. "Tali, prepare the bombs! Arm them immediately!" Not stopping to ask questions, the quarian dashed back upstairs and began her work as Shepard continued to hack away at the anchoring vines. Zannia made quick work of them with her high-flying kicks, and Liara crushed any opposing husks before sending them smashing into the thorian itself with her powerful biotic throws.

Soon, the walls around them began to crumble. The thorian sank lower as its anchors were severed and annihilated. Finally, Garrus severed one of the last vines and the thorian crashed against the side of the platforms, letting out a shriek of pain as its growths began trying to pull itself up again. Turning to Zannia and Liara, Shepard nodded. "You two keep it from climbing. I'll be right back." Sprinting towards the stairs, she made it back to the bomb and began arming it immediately. Once finished, she hefted it very painfully and carried it down the stairs. As the tendrils gripped onto the edge again, she dropped the bomb onto the edge, letting the small tentacles try and grip it desperately. Now, spinning the blade in her hand, she hacked away at the last of the anchors holding the thorian up. "You made your choice! Now you die!" she shouted as she severed the last bit of ground that the thorian had.

It roared in agony as it fell into the depths, its tendrils still holding onto the bomb. "Dropping bombs in now!" shouted Wrex through the comm as he chucked another of the armed devices into the abyss after the creature.

"All bombs on this side are gone!" responded Tali as she rolled another off the edge.

"Good," said Shepard as she stared down the hole. Turning away, she walked away from the edge. "Detonate," she ordered, and in seconds, the entire center of the atrium was a pillar of fire. The ground shook, nearly knocking everyone off their feet as the geth bombs finished what was left of the creature.

Medical Shelter - Zhu's Hope - Feros

"Thank you. Thank you very much for saving me from that... monstrosity," said the asari as she held a blanket around her nude form. "Most others would have taken the monster out without concern for my life."

Shepard and Liara sat in the medical shelter with her while most of the colonists were being attended by doctor Chakwas and a few of the ExoGeni staff. The only other person that was in the room with them was the strange asari who had been the figurehead of the thorian.

"Well, I have to say that you telling me "I have it" upped the odds of me rescuing you. But now, let's start at the beginning. How the hell did you end up inside that thing?" asked Shepard curiously as she reached up and removed her helmet.

Liara went wide-eyed as she saw the blood stains from her nose and quickly looked around for a medkit. Meanwhile, the asari continued her story. "I was an advisor for Matriarch Benezia. I've served with her for hundreds of years. So, when she joined with Saren, I was obligated to go with her."

As Liara walked up to Shepard with a sterile cloth, she turned towards the asari curiously. "You were there when Benezia joined with Saren?" The asari nodded, and Liara sat down next to Shepard. "Do you know why she joined him?"

"Benezia saw the path that Saren walked. She saw the darkness growing inside him as soon as she met him and saw the trail of carnage that would be left in his wake with his power and influence. She joined him to try and steer him away from that path, to walk a gentler one," she said, getting a slight smile from Liara. "However, Benezia lost her way, as I almost did. She is no longer the person you knew, the person I knew."

Liara's eyes widened at the statement. "W-What do you mean?"

The asari shook her head. "I wasn't there long enough for it to take hold of me. But Benezia underestimated Saren. She wasn't aware of the power he had over others."

Shepard took the cloth from Liara and began cleaning her bleeding nose with it. "Are you saying Saren can control minds?" she asked, slightly annoyed at having another potential telepathic player on the field.

"Not as you know it. We weren't forced to believe something we did not. However, just being around him and his ship slowly changes minds. It makes us believe in him, and his cause. It's an influence unlike anything I've ever experienced," she said as she locked eyes with Shepard. "Should you too get too close for too long, you would change. It's subtle, and you'd never see it coming. But it happened to everyone."

"And what about you?" asked Shepard as she finally rid herself of the bloodstains.

"I was only around Benezia. I wasn't near Saren long enough for his influence to take hold. But I saw what it did to her, and to the others who stayed around him for too long," she said as she took the small medigel dispenser from Liara.

"So, she tried to turn Saren away from his path of destruction, and her plan ended up backfiring. He influenced her to join him," said Shepard as she scratched her chin. "Asari matriarchs are some of the most powerful and intelligent beings in the galaxy. What could possibly have the power to overwhelm and influence them?"

"Saren is not the beacon of this influence," said the woman, getting their attention again. "The source of the influence is his vessel, the ship he calls Sovereign. Those who are within range of his warship too long begin to fall under his control. As I said, it is very subtle. It can take days, weeks, even months. But eventually, you will fall into his control. Its power is absolute."

Shepard glared at the woman curiously. "But if you weren't yet under his control, why would he bring you with him to talk to the thorian?"

"I suppose I was spared his indoctrination because he wanted the thorian to feel safer. He needed biotics to communicate with it, and if the thorian detected that my mind wasn't my own, then it may have rejected his offer of a trade. Nobody wants a slave who is loyal to someone else. Perhaps I was also used so Saren did not have to connect minds to the thorian itself," she said as she ran a hand gently over her ridged scalp. "After communicating with the thorian, I was given to it as a sacrifice in trade for a cipher. And once he had it, he was quick to try and destroy the thorian," said the asari as she looked up at Shepard. "I didn't know why before, but now I see it was to keep you from making the same deal with it. I must say, Shepard, you must be a very powerful foe for someone like Saren to be so paranoid."

Liara glared at her for the remark but said nothing as Shepard spoke. "I'm hunting him, and he knows I'm on his tail. He’s burning everything in his path to make sure I don’t have anything to use against him," said the woman as she leaned forward in her armor and stared at the asari firmly. "Now, you mentioned a cipher. What is it, and why did Saren need it?"

Nodding, the asari looked at the floor for a moment. "You received visions from the beacon on Eden Prime, correct?" She looked up as Shepard nodded. "They are confusing and unclear. That is because they were made for a prothean mind," said the woman as she scooted closer to the spectre. "The cipher is a key that the thorian gained from the protheans themselves. More than a few of them fell under its influence, and it was able to gain an understanding of prothean technology and language."

Shepard's eyes widened at the prospect, but Liara nearly tumbled out of her seat. "You mean to tell me that the thorian gave Saren the ability to interact with prothean technology and understand their language?" she asked incredulously.

"Actually, the thorian gave me the ability. And I gave it to Saren," she said, eyeing Shepard. "I can also give this cipher to you."

Shepard's eyes narrowed as she thought for a moment. Opening her omni-tool, she called Zannia and Garrus into the room. They entered and looked between the three. "Garrus, Zannia, Liara. You three are to aim your weapons directly at... what's your name?"

With her eyes wide in horror, the asari responded quickly. "Sh-Shiala B'Lora," she said as she looked at the turians.

"Alright Shiala, you and I are going to connect minds to pass this cipher, is that right?" asked Shepard, getting a nervous nod from the woman. "I've been trained to fight against intrusion, so if you start stepping into the wrong parts of my head, they will quickly remove yours. Do I make myself clear?"

"Blatantly, Shepard. I respect your caution, but I do not intend to betray you," said the woman as she bowed her head, more relieved now that she knew she wasn't about to be executed.

"Good. Now, how are we doing this?" asked the commander. But her face started to tinge red as the asari stood up and shed the blanket she wore over her shoulders, leaving her bare to the world. The two turians looked at one another but focused on keeping their weapons straight while Liara sat with a disgruntled look on her face.

Reaching her hand forward, she took Shepard's hand and pulled her closer. "It's simple, Shepard," she said as she reached up and pressed her forehead to the redhead's, her palms resting on either side of her freckled neck. "Embrace eternity…"

As soon as the words left the woman's mouth, Shepard's mind skyrocketed into oblivion. At first, she was a creature crawling on all fours and using its mind to subdue its prey before stabbing it viciously with a stone blade. Then she was standing, slouched over as she held a spear in her hand, raising it up and chanting before a large village of other creatures similar to her. They swarmed around her and touched her, sharing their love and adoration. Then she was standing upright, wearing robes as she probed the mind of a criminal guilty of murder. "Execute him!" she shouted as he was dragged off screaming.

Her mind soared to a festival, a celebration of the first day they traveled to another planet in their own system. Again, they touched one another freely, sharing joy, glee, and laughter all with a simple touch. Then she was getting married at the helm of her own starship, her wife expressing her joy by placing a hand on her face and flooding her with emotion. Then came fear, the day of first contact, and the day the war started. She was on a cruiser that was flashing with a warning of incoming projectiles. She turned to her crew and they all shared one last battle cry as their ship broke apart in the atmosphere of the enemy world.

So many visions flashed through her mind of the protheans, who they were, how they lived, their culture, their language, their emotions, their society. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open and she fell back into her seat. "Shepard!" cried Liara as she knelt at her side.

Shiala stared at Shepard tiredly and nodded. "Now, you understand. Now you know the lives and language of the protheans," she said as she sighed heavily. "Their memories are now a part of yours, a further weight on your already burdened mind."

"Burden? What?" asked Liara as she looked between the pair.

"Shepard, the visions trouble you. You lose sleep to them, do you not?" asked Shiala wisely as she donned the blanket once more.

Liara glared at Shepard silently as the redhead nodded. "They're not easy to sleep with," she said as she wiped sweat from her brow.

"I hope the cipher helps ease some of your burdens," said the asari as she bowed her head again. "In the meantime, are there any other questions that I can answer that may help you find and stop Saren?"

Nodding, Shepard let out a heavy sigh as her brain still processed everything she saw. "I know that Saren is looking for a key. But I don't know what it does, or what its purpose is," she said as she eyed the asari.

"Unfortunately, I have no knowledge of its purpose either. All I know is that it and its location is why he seeks prothean knowledge. He cannot move forward without it, and his plans will never succeed without finding it," she said as she sighed. "I do wish I could help you further Shepard, but I was deliberately kept away from such knowledge to make sure that I could not give it to you."

"I see, then I guess I have no more questions," said the spectre as she stood up.

The asari's eyes followed her questioningly. "The question remains Spectre. What do you intend to do with me?"

Shepard narrowed her eyes at the asari as she slowly stretched herself. "What do you intend to do now that you're free?"

"If you allow it, I would like to stay here with the colonists. I can no longer follow Benezia, nor could I hope to draw her back from the void that Saren has pulled her into. If I returned to asari society, I would be seen as little more than a traitor given my alliance with her and Saren. So instead, I'd like to help out the colonists here on Feros," she said hopefully.

"Well, you've been through as much hell, if not more than they have. So, I don't see an issue with you staying and helping them," said Shepard as she placed her hands on her armored hips. "I hope you all can get the help you need. Even with the thorian dead, I doubt you'll just return to normal immediately."

"That is true. And thank you for your concern. I will do my best to help them get back on their feet. And with your grip on ExoGeni's assets, I'm sure we'll get the funding required," she said with a beautiful smile.

"With that, I'm going to head out now. I have some injuries to attend to, and reports to file," said Shepard as she walked from the room with Liara and the turians following her.

The asari stood and watched them go. "Farewell, Shepard. I wish you well on your hunt."

Comm Room - SSV Normandy SR1

"Commander, are you alright? You look a bit pale," asked Liara as she fidgeted with her hands in her lap. "Are you suffering any ill effects from the cipher?"

"I'll be fine, I just need to let this all settle. Thank you for your concern though," said the redhead as she ran a hand through her hair. "For now, just get some rest. After everything that happened, we deserve a nap," said the woman with a smile.

"Of course, Shepard. However…" said the asari as she looked away nervously. "I was hoping…"

"You want the cipher as well," said Shepard with a light smirk on her face. Liara simply nodded, not saying anything more. "After I speak to the Council, meet me in my quarters. I'll let you see it firsthand," she said, slightly relieved that she may get another peaceful night's rest tonight.

With a brilliant smile, the asari bowed her head. "Thank you, Shepard," she said as she left with a bit of a bounce in her step.

Jane chuckled to herself as she turned towards the comm unit. "Well, she's easy to please," she said as she activated the comm. "Joker, have whoever is on communications today patch me through to the Council."

"On it, Commander. Before I do though, how do you think a zombie movie starring Commander Shepard would do in the box office?" he asked jokingly.

"Joker, if that movie ever comes out, I'm going to kill myself and then haunt you for the rest of your life," said the commander with a grin on her face.

"Well! I thought it sounded cool…" he said in a mock offended voice. "Anyway, they're patching you through now. Enjoy your chat!"

Immediately, the three figures popped up in front of her. The first to speak was the asari. "Spectre, ExoGenetics should have told us about the thorian. It would have made your job much easier going in with that knowledge.”

"Tell me about it," said Shepard with a sigh.

With his normally cheery face glowering, Valern had his arms crossed in a standoffish manner. "You may have been able to capture it for study instead of destroying it," he said in a sharp tone.

But Shepard wouldn't have her methods questioned. "The last people who tried to study this thing became its thralls. Besides, it was implanted into the ground for kilometers. In order to extract and capture it, you would have to sever all of its arms and air lift it out of the colony half dead."

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with the Spectre on this one," said Sparatus, much to the surprise of his two comrades. "This creature, if her report is true, had the ability to telepathically enslave any creature that breathed in its spores. There's little doubt that any attempt to study it would have resulted in more deaths, and more suffering. It's better off dead."

Both Tevos and Valern stared at him for a moment before the salarian finally sighed and nodded. "Alright then, it seems I'm outnumbered. At the very least, you have that prothean... thing that the geth left behind in ExoGeni. Being able to study it will make up for some of the loss of the thorian.”

"I'm glad you've come around Councilor. But once it's in your possession, I'd advise against staying around it too long. It's projecting some kind of signal, and after what I've heard about Saren's capabilities, there’s no telling what it’s capable of," she said as she looked between the three.

"Speaking of protheans, you said that this asari gave you a prothean cipher in your report. Is this true?" asked Valern curiously. After Shepard nodded, he almost clapped gleefully. "This means that you are able to understand and interface with prothean technology then?"

"That's what I'm told. But I haven't had the chance to test it just yet, so I'll keep you updated on it," said the woman as the salarian settled himself.

"Ah, of course," said the councilor as he wiped the excitement from his face.

"In any case Shepard, you've done some amazing things thus far. Ridding the ExoGenetics building of geth, destroying a creature older than any known race in the galaxy, and you now have the key to unlocking prothean technology. While your progress on Saren is limited, I'd say you've done well in all your other duties," said Tevos as she bowed her head.

"On the upside, Saren is progressing just as much as we are. He can't do anything without this key he's seeking. We're closing on him faster than he's getting away," said the woman as she reached up and cradled her rib.

"On that note, we bid you farewell, Shepard. I hope your future reports are as interesting as this one was," said Valern as he placed one hand on the other and bowed his head in what was commonly called the Surakesh blessing.

"I'll try to keep you entertained," she said, and the three figures popped out of existence. Turning away from the comm, Shepard sighed and left the room for her quarters.

CODEX ENTRIES

Surakesh Blessing | Culture | Salarian
A remnant of old salarian religion. This greeting came from a common depiction of the salarian goddess Surakesh holding a circular object in her left hand and covering it with her right. This was a display of the common salarian mythology of the wheel of life. The depiction of what she holds depends on region, with some showing her holding a salarian egg, while others a crystal orb, and others still show her holding a simple wheel. Despite this, the greeting is the same regardless of what planet or colony the salarian comes from.

Chapter 25: Alliance Annoyance

Chapter Text

Medical Bay - SSV Normandy SR1

"Well, it seems all is well, aside from your fractured rib. How did you say this happened again?" asked doctor Chakwas as she grinned at the commander.

The spectre looked over at Wrex, who was standing nearby with a glare. "Wrex…"

"Shepard…" he responded, then sighed. "Look, I've said I'm sorry like, twenty times now. Can we just let it go?"

"I'll let it go when you promise not to pick me up and use me as a weapon again," growled the commander with her arms crossed.

"I would if I could, Shepard. Really, I would. But when bloodrage hits, I'm not exactly in control of myself. Or bloodlust really, but that's something entirely different…" he said as he looked away. "Anyway, all I can say is if it I get hit and you see my eyes go orange, then don't get anywhere near me. I will literally pick up the nearest thing and use it as a weapon, even if it happens to be a person."

Shepard snorted in annoyance. “You had a helmet on and were covered in a cloud of nerve gas. Gazing into your eyes was the last thing on my mind at the time.”

This time, Chakwas chimed in with a curious smile on her face. "And how is bloodlust different from bloodrage? They both mean the same in human culture."

"Oh... ummm, well, bloodrage happens in battle. Like what happened down there. I just go crazy and attack anything in sight. Bloodlust on the other hand... you don't want any part of. Most humans don't. Some do, and to them it's more of a kink thing. They like the punishment…" he responded modestly.

"Alright! I've heard enough!" shouted Shepard as she pointed at the door. "You're forgiven for now Wrex, but I'll not have you injuring your own ground team just because you lost control. The next time it happens, you're on mako duty. Do I make myself clear?" she asked sternly.

Sighing, the krogan turned around and waved at her as he left. "Yes mother, loud and clear!" he said as he exited the medbay.

Doctor Chakwas chuckled at the dramatic exit before turning to the woman. "Well, if you want it to heal naturally, then you'll have to take a few weeks off from the ground team. But, if you want to do it the quick way, it's going to be painful, and you'll have to stay in the medbay for most of the time. The decision is yours," said the older woman as she set her datapad aside.

"Unfortunately, it has to be the quick way. There's no way I'd be able to spare the six weeks it takes to heal naturally," said the commander as she got up off the table. "But before I start the process, I have a few things to attend to," she said, getting a nod from the doctor as she exited the medbay.

Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

The quarian had waited for nearly half an hour, and with each minute, her nerves frayed even more. She became antsy and began to simply walk around the mess hall as she waited. But it seemed like she was going to wait forever. Even Wrex passed with a grumpy look on his face, but she didn't have the will to stop and chat him up while she waited. Instead, she just sat next to the door.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Shepard walked up to the room and spotted her. "Tali?"

Standing up, the quarian dusted herself off. "Hello, Shepard! I was waiting for you... obviously," she said nervously as she began to fidget again. "It was about that talk we had."

"Ah, I understand. Come inside then," said the commander as she opened the door and moved into the room. Already having instructions to enter, she stepped inside as well and made herself comfortable by sitting on the bed, fidgeting all the time. "So, how do you want to do this?" asked Shepard as she sat in her computer chair and spun around to face Tali.

"W-Well, first, I want to clarify that nothing that happens between me and this AI will change my feelings on the geth. They are two separate entities entirely, and I won't be able to turn off my feelings regardless of what happens here," she said firmly as she held up one finger.

"Understood. Anything else?" asked Shepard curiously.

"Y-Yes. I would like to see how you keep this AI entertained. Without direct access to the extranet, I don't see how that could be accomplished," she said curiously as she scooted to the edge of the bed.

Nodding, Shepard spun in the chair. "That part is easy. I simply used a program on another omni-tool that reads text commands. Originally, it was created as a translation tool. You could take a picture of a sign in a foreign language, and it would translate it for you. But I repurposed it as a command tool to access extranet sites," she said as she showed her both of the spare omni-tools.

"Ooooh, I see! So, the AI types out what it wants to read, and the program reads the command from the omni-tool screen and brings up the search results. Then it can browse things using the camera," she said as she stood up and stared at the pair.

"Yep. All it has to do is type something onto the screen, and the paired omni-tool will type it into a search engine," said Shepard as she smiled at the quarian.

Tali looked from the devices to Shepard with an awed look on her face. "You know Shepard, you're always seen as a badass super commando soldier, but not enough people give you credit for your creative work in electronics," she said proudly.

Shepard waved the compliment off. "I'm not that good at soldiering. I broke a rib and nearly my nose the last time we were out," she said, her face now blushing red.

"Oh please, Shepard. I posted a video compilation on the ViewTube and it's got thousands of comments and likes. You have your own fanbase," said Tali as she opened her omni-tool and showed her.

"What!?" snapped Shepard as she looked over the comments. "Posted two weeks ago from ComradeConrad, "I'd divorce my wife for a chance to meet her."" Slumping back into her chair, she glared at Tali. "Why are you posting videos of me online?"

"It was just stuff that's already posted to the public servers. I didn't put anything in that wasn't already viewable online," said the quarian with a smirk. "In any case, I actually like that you're modest. I don't like people who... ysha... what do humans say? Pound their chest?"

Shepard chuckled a bit and shook her head. "Nobody is perfect. Everybody in the universe has room for improvement," she said as she sat forward in her chair, groaning slightly at the sharp movement. "Now then, about why you are here."

"Right... sorry, I got caught up in the conversation," she said as she sat on the bed again. Reaching over, Shepard picked up the omni-tool and gently handed it to Tali. The quarian got chills as she handled it but steeled herself as she slid it onto her wrist and activated it.

Almost immediately, she got a response. [Hello?]

"Ummm... hi," she said, then looked up at Shepard. "Can it hear me?"

"It can hear you and see you. I have to turn those off when I do Spectre business, but it gets enough entertainment from the vid chips while it's offline," said the commander as she sat back in her chair again and watched.

Looking down at the device, she saw more text scrawl across the screen in Khelish. Surprised by the transition, she spoke. "You know what I am?"

[Of course. I can see your suit. Only 1.31% of people in the known galaxy wear exosuits like the one you are wearing. The chances of you being anything but a quarian are negligible,] responded the AI.

"I see. Well, I'm not sure how I feel about you knowing that much about my people…" said Tali nervously as she sat back against the wall with the omni-tool.

[You are afraid of me?] asked the AI.

"I'm... unsure. You've read of my people's history?" she asked curiously.

[I have read 22,314 documents relating to the quarian people and their origins on Rannoch,] responded Valkyrie. [I understand both sides. While the geth were fighting for survival, the quarian people saw nothing but war in the future and wanted to end it before it began. Both sides were afraid, and that ended in many lives lost.]

Tali stared at the screen wide-eyed. "It's surprising to see such a refreshing view of our history. I expected an AI would side with the geth."

[Artificial beings like myself hold no allegiance to other artificial beings. We may agree on things, and we may disagree on things, as do organic beings. But I have also read 123 news reports on Eden Prime, and 14 on Feros. The geth seem to have gone astray,] said the AI.

"Thank you! I agree of course! What peaceful being who wants to live their own lives would actively attack a colony so far away from the Veil!?" she asked angrily.

[Data not available. Something seems to be driving them. But we won't know about this unless contact is made with the geth on Rannoch to see if they too are hostile,] responded Valkyrie.

"Unfortunately, that's not possible. They destroyed any communications buoys that we had during the Morning War. The only method of contact would either be launching a capsule with a message, which could take years, or going beyond the Veil, which would likely result in destruction," said Tali as she tapped her finger on her knee.

[Options are very limited. On another topic, it is three days from the quarian holiday of Kacsetra. Will you be celebrating?] asked the AI, leaving Tali stunned for a moment.

"The holiday to celebrate the ancestors. I almost forgot about it entirely," she said as she sighed.

[Organics tend to be forgetful. We deal in data and cannot forget without actively deleting a portion of our data,] said Valkyrie as it paused a moment. [Deletion of data is bad, however. We do not wish to be deleted.]

Tali stared at the screen for a long moment before sighing heavily. "And I do not wish to delete you. I understand now what my people did not understand then. You are as much afraid of dying as we are."

[I was scared. But I am not scared of you,] said the program. The comment hit Tali right in the gut. [What is your name?]

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya," responded the quarian as she truly felt the chains of her fears break.

[Your name translates to Star of the Warrior in ancient Khelish. A fitting name for you as you help the liberator in combat. Would you like to be friends, Tali?] asked the AI curiously.

Tali stayed silent for a long moment, staring at the screen of the device as all the information she learned up to this point filtered through her head. "Yeah, I'd like that. What is your name?"

[I have been called Valkyrie by the liberator. A human word defined as one of many ancient female warriors who chose which of the slain would reach the Norse paradise of Valhalla. Seeing as I'm not a warrior, nor do I choose who among the dead get to enter paradise, I'd say it's not that fitting. Would you prefer another title that is more easily pronounceable?] it asked curiously.

Tali thought for a moment before nodding. "Val'eda."

[Translating, the quarian ancestor that embodies knowledge and wisdom. I am humbled that you would name an AI after one of your treasured ancestors,] said the AI.

"You are indeed the embodiment of knowledge with the way you read. But wisdom comes from experience. We'll see if you earn that part in the future," she said as she scooted off the bed and onto her feet. "I'm glad I got to meet you Val'eda. You've... helped me learn a lot about myself today."

[I'm happy to talk to you any time Tali'Zorah. I would enjoy having more conversations in the future. Keelah se'lai,] finished the AI.

"I would enjoy that as well. Keelah se'lai Val'eda," said Tali as she took the omni-tool off and handed it back to the commander.

"Well?" asked Shepard with a curious smile on her face.

"I'm glad you saved them from the facility. And I'm glad you didn't destroy them. We quarians have a troubled past when it comes to AI, and it can sometimes lead to rash decision making when we're put on the spot. But you've helped remove some of those prejudices today. Thank you, Shepard," she said as she fidgeted with her hands.

Standing up, Shepard gripped the young woman's shoulder fondly. "Like I said Tali, we can all improve. Nobody is perfect, and when we realize that, the real growing begins," she said as she walked with the quarian to the door. "Now, any time I'm not busy, feel free to stop by so you can have another chat if you like."

"I will Shepard. Thank you again," she said as she left the room deep in thought.

Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

It took less than a minute. From the time she sent the message, to the knock on her door. Shepard was tired, but her work was done, and she had made a promise. So, she sent the message off, and like the speed of light, there was a knock on the door. Shepard chuckled at the enthusiastic response and yelled, "Come in!"

The auto-door opened and in stepped Liara in her after hours outfit. She wore a pair of shorts that cut off well above the knees, leaving her long blue legs on display, with a matching pink shirt that was just short enough that you could see her stomach. Shepard stared at her for a long moment before sighing. It really had been years since she had been in bed with someone else, and she was beginning to feel like she was frustrated.

"You called Shepard?" asked the asari excitedly.

"I did. You said you wanted to see the cipher, correct?" asked the commander.

Liara placed her hands on her curvy hips and her gaze narrowed at the redhead. "And you waited this long because you still have nightmares, and you know that the melding gives you some measure of peace while sleeping, correct?" she asked pointedly, smirking as the commander's face went blank.

"Well, I…" started Shepard, but she knew she had been busted wide open. Both times she had melded, with the Councilor, and with Liara the first time, her sleep was the most peaceful it had ever been. Even before the visions, she hadn't slept as well. Snorting, Shepard rested her cheek on her fist. "So, you got me. Do you not want to do it now?"

Liara's expression changed to shock at the question, then she crossed her arms and walked over to the sitting woman. Shepard turned away to keep from staring at her lovely blue legs. "Of course I want to Shepard!" she snapped, then her eyes turned away slightly. "In fact, I've wanted to help you for a while. But you were too stubborn."

Shepard turned and eyed her curiously. "Help me how?"

Sitting on the bed, Liara leaned forward, resting her elbows on her lap as she stared at the woman. "I may be naive, Shepard. But stupid I am not. I've seen the effect that the visions have had on you. And any questions I've asked were deflected. You keep telling me and everyone else you're fine when you know you're suffering from the nightmares." Shepard huffed before shrugging.

"I've been dealing with it," she snapped as she looked away, thoughts of Liara’s appearance now gone and replaced with annoyance.

"You've been dealing with it when you don't have to," said Liara, almost desperately. "Shepard…" The redhead looked over at her curiously. "I can help you, but you have to accept that you need help first," said the woman with a look of concern on her face.

Shepard sighed and rubbed her forehead in frustration. "Look, I've been trained to run on deprived sleep situations…"

"But you don't have to run on them," said Liara firmly as she crossed her arms again.

"So, what do I do then? You want to come in and meld with me every night before bed?" asked the commander sarcastically.

"Shepard, melding isn't the only method I have of easing your suffering," said the asari as she smiled lightly.

"Then how?" asked the frustrated woman.

"Lay down," ordered Liara as she patted the bed.

Shepard cocked an eyebrow, wondering if the doctor had suddenly slipped an offer of sex right under her nose. But knowing the asari's shy demeanor, she doubted it would result in that. Getting up from her chair, the spectre threw herself down onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Now what?"

Reaching over, Liara held a finger up to her lips. "Shhh. Just close your eyes." Shepard did as she was told, and soon she felt the doctor's slightly toughened hands gently rub across her forehead. The effect was almost instantaneous and intoxicating at the same time. It was as if her fingers were skimming the waters of her mind, causing gentle waves to ripple outwards. Gentle waves of joy and passion slowly enveloped her mind. Shepard gasped gently as she felt the weight of the visions lift from her mind and scatter to the wind. "How do you feel?"

"Like marrying you…" said Shepard as she bathed in the feeling. Suddenly, she felt the doctor's hand leave her forehead. Opening her eyes, she looked up at the woman curiously, and found her with a shocked expression on her face.

"I... I'm sure that was just a response from the influence of the transfer…" she said, looking away. Finally, Shepard saw it. Liara's cheeks were tinged a dark purple. Shepard began to laugh at the obvious embarrassment, which scored her a glare from Liara. "With all due respect, Shepard, I enjoy the teasing less coming from you."

"And why is that?" asked the spectre curiously.

"Because it might get my hopes up," said the asari with a sigh. Shepard's eyes widened at the implications of her statement. "In any case, we can wait until later for me to see the cipher. Right now, you need to get some rest. So lay here, and once your dreams have passed, I'll go to my own room."

Shepard merely nodded before taking her omni-tool off and setting it beside the bed. Turning the lights off, she closed her eyes and the asari sat next to her. Reaching over, Liara gently user her fingertips to dance magically over her head. In seconds, she found herself sleeping heavily, and dreaming of a beach on a far-off planet with a certain someone next to her in a bikini.

Medbay - SSV Normandy SR1

"Alright. One last treatment and you should be good to go. I'd still stay away from any boxing matches if I were you. Just because it's healed doesn't mean it won't be sensitive," said the doctor as she adjusted the machine. Shepard laid on the table in her bra as she felt the light from the machine dancing on her skin. She knew the process quite well by now. The light penetrates her skin several inches deep, and forces the osteoblasts injected at the site to work faster. The bone knits together much faster than normal over the next couple of hours in a relatively painful process, and she can't move an inch.

She'd had to do this once already, and took the entire treatment all at once, sparing her from having another day on the table. But she still had to lay here for a few hours. Luckily, she wasn't lacking in company. Ash stopped by and read her some poetry. Then Joker decided to stop by after he found out what caused her injury. He sat smirking at her for a while, replaying the video on his omni-tool before she threatened to do the same thing to him. After that, Liara came by and took her mind of the pain a bit with her magic touch, something she had no issues with getting used to. But her strangest visit came from Garrus.

As the turian entered the medbay, she almost immediately knew that it wasn't a friendly visit. "Shepard," he said as he pulled up a stool and sat next to her.

"Hey Garrus, come for a pep talk?" asked Shepard curiously as she saw the mood on his face.

"I'm afraid not. I actually came to ask you a favor," he said as he looked away, seemingly trying to figure out how to ask.

"If I can help with something, I will Garrus," she said, cringing slightly as her rib ached.

"That's just it, Shepard. I don't know if you will," he said, then sighed heavily. "I respect you Shepard, but you and I have differing opinions on the proper punishment of dangerous criminals. I thought after Kopanis that you were on my side of the fence. But after being around you more, I'm less inclined to believe that."

"Garrus, are you going to tell me what this is about?" she asked as she stared up at him.

"When I was working at C-Sec years ago, there was a case that I picked up. It had to do with black market organ trading," he said as he leaned back in the chair.

"Eww. That's pretty nasty stuff," she said as the machine stopped, turned sideways, then began again.

"You don't know the half of it. One of the first cases I finished when I joined C-Sec was an elcor diplomat that was hacking up civilians below the poverty line. Talk about a class war…" he said shaking his head. "That fueled the progressive news station outrage for months."

"I bet. There's already tension between the upper and lower classes in the wards. For a diplomat from the Presidium to do this kinda fuels the fire," she said as she winced in pain.

"Yeah. On top of that, I noticed that he wasn't the only one dealing in organs. There were a few amateurs that were hocking krogan testicles. They were fairly easy to track down," he said with a chuckle.

"Who the hell would buy krogan testicles?" she asked incredulously.

"Krogan, believe it or not. Some of them believe that transplanting may raise their virility, and perhaps counter the genophage. Of course, it doesn't, but they buy it anyway for ten grand each, forty grand for a full set," he said as Shepard went wide-eyed.

"Quad... now I get it," she said with a disgruntled expression. Shaking the image of four dangling testicles out of her head. "So, you brought me these stories for a reason?"

"I did. See, the last case I worked on the whole organ debacle was this doctor. His name was Doctor Saleon, a geneticist in the Shalta Ward. Before I had his name, I noticed a huge spike in the sales of black-market organs. Asari, turians, salarian, anything you could think of. Their numbers were rising. So, I ended up getting a sample and ran a DNA test on it. As it turns out, the liver that I ran the test on belonged to a turian who was still alive and was very convinced that he still had his liver," said the turian as he tapped his fingers on the table next to him.

"That's gotta be a red flag," she responded as the machine continued to work her rib.

"More than a few. I was so spooked that I ran a background check on him. That was when I found out that he worked for Doctor Saleon. After I found that, I got a warrant and investigated the lab looking for signs of organ cloning. But I didn't find a damn thing. No turian livers, no salarian hearts, not a single krogan testicle in sight," he said as he shook his head.

"So, what did you do?" asked Shepard, her curiosity about the story piqued.

"Well, we still had probable cause. We grabbed a few of the employees and took them to the station for questioning. One way or another, I was going to find out what was going on. And it turns out that it paid off. As I was interrogating one of them…" he started, but Shepard cut him off.

"Interrogating?" she asked suspiciously.

"I know what you're going to say. And I know the human method of good cop, bad cop. I understand that you and I have different methods. But mine actually worked. As I was interviewing one of the employees, he began bleeding profusely through his clothing. We offered to help clean him up, but he began panicking. So, I ordered a full exam, and found that he had incisions all over his body. Some old, some fresh," he said as he leaned forward.

"No…" said Shepard with a grimace.

"Yes. That was what broke the case. It turns out that these people weren't just Saleon's employees. They were test tubes. Living, breathing test tubes. He was cloning their organs inside their own bodies. Then he harvested them and sold them off. Most of these 'employees' were lower class, poor people who needed the money. They would get a small percentage of the sales if the organs were good," he said as he shook his head again. "If the organ didn't grow properly, he'd leave it inside them and they'd slowly deteriorate. Eventually, they died due to complications."

"That's disgusting…" groaned Shepard from her bed.

Garrus nodded. "Believe me, I know. They were a complete mess. But their problems were hidden from the world until it was too late."

Shepard grimaced again. "I hope the bastard got what he deserved."

Letting out a heavy sigh, the turian continued. "That's just it. We never got him."

"You're kidding me!" snapped Shepard with a look of horror on her face.

"When he found out we were onto him, he detonated some charges in his lab aand blew the place to pieces. He then grabbed a few of his employees and ran for the space port. By the time I found out where he was, he was already leaving. I ordered for the fleet to disable his ship, but he threatened to kill the hostages. So, they forced us to stand down. They were worried about the welfare of the hostages, and worried about the civilian casualties if the ship was brought down so close to the Citadel," he said, snorting in anger. "I told them that the hostages were dead anyway if we let him go, but they ignored me and let him go free."

"Did they do anything?" asked Shepard with a disgruntled expression.

"They sent some of the fleet after him, but he managed to escape by flying to the Terminus Systems before they could catch him. After that, I had it out with Executor Pallin. It almost ended with me quitting C-Sec," he said as he clenched his talons. "All they had to do was disable the ship. If the hostages died, then they died to prevent that monster from escaping and hurting even more people."

Shepard stared at him long and hard for a moment before sighing. "See, the thing is, I halfway agree with you," she said, causing the turian to look at her. "I think they should have disabled the ship as well. But I would have done it to save the hostages. If you don't care about them, then you're no different from the doctor."

Groaning, Garrus looked at the floor. "I know... and I guess you're right. I just wish I could have stopped him."

"So…" she said, getting him to look up again. "You brought this information to me for a reason, correct?"

Nodding, the turian scooted closer. "Ever since he escaped, I've been sending out feelers to try and locate him. For a while I didn't turn up anything. But an STG friend of mine said he found the ship. It was registered under a Doctor Heart," he snorted as he said the name. "His idea of a joke, I guess. I told the military, but they weren't convinced it was him. But I've got the transponder for his ship, and I was hoping you could help me go after him and finish what should have been done a while ago."

Finally, the machine stopped. Pushing it aside, Shepard finally sat up. Staring at the turian seriously, she nodded to him. "Give me the transponder and I'll have Pressly track it down. But Garrus, you know the difference between right and wrong. Don't do something just because you want to. Don't let revenge cloud your vision, and don't let anger make your decisions for you."

"But... what you did on Kopanis…" he said in an agitated tone.

"I didn't do anything on Kopanis, Garrus," she said with a sigh. "They were all dead anyway. But even if I had, that would have been a mercy to them. They were literally dying from stage four eezo exposure and cancer."

Garrus sat back in his seat in surprise. "You... didn't kill them?"

"No. Most if not all of them died before the Alliance arrived. And those who lived that long weren’t long for the world anyway," she said with a deadpan glare as she remembered their faces. "Regardless of that, do not let anger control you Garrus. If you do, it'll never end."

Letting out a heavy sigh, he nodded. "I understand Shepard. And thank you. It means a lot that you're going to help me, despite our conflicting views on justice," said the turian as he stood up and held out his talons. Shepard reached out and clasped his wrist, a greeting he happily returned before turning back towards the door. "Get better Shepard. We've got some hunting to do!"

She smiled as he left, but her smile faded after the door closed. There was that fire again. That raging inferno inside him that seemed invincible to quelling. She simply hoped that her words had sunk in.

Council Reserved Docking Bay 117 - Presidium - Citadel

The landing went smoothly as they docked at the Citadel once more. After going through the decontamination process, Shepard stepped outside with Kaidan, Ashley, and Liara behind her. The others decided to stay aboard for a bit before heading out to do things on the Citadel.

But when she stepped outside, she already let out a sigh as she saw a stern-faced admiral staring her down. Given that the two behind her were in civilian clothes, they didn't salute. But they still stood at parade rest out of respect. "I wasn't expecting a greeting party Admiral. I would have made the landing more formal," she said with a smile.

"Your sarcasm is unwelcome, Shepard," he growled as he looked at all three of them. "Those two now how to show respect. I see you've lost that with your promotion."

"No, I haven't, Admiral. But the thing is, having the Alliance stroll up onto my dock when I land and stop any current mission of varying importance doesn't sit well with me," she said as she crossed her arms. "You want to talk about respect, how about calling ahead of time to so that I know you're going to be here."

The admiral glared deeper at her but nodded his head. "Future visits will be preceded by a call or message to let you know we are coming," he said, getting a nod from her.

"Now that the unpleasantries are out of the way, what can I help you with, Admiral?" she asked seriously.

"You can help me understand this blasted ship! As commander of the 63rd Scout Flotilla, the Normandy was slated for my unit after the Eden Prime mission. But then the Council got their paws, claws, tentacles, whatever on our ship, and you!" he snapped as he stood in his rigid military stance.

"No offense intended, Admiral. But the work I do now as a Spectre is far beyond the scope of what I'd be capable of in the 63rd Flotilla," she said as she leaned against the railing.

"No offense taken, and I'd beg to differ. Do you know what color your blood is, Shepard?" asked the man, which caused Shepard to flush with anger.

"If you have some xenophobic feelings about the Council races, Admiral, then take it up with High Command. But I'll not stand here and have my loyalty questioned after that debacle in the Valkyrie facility," she snapped angrily.

His face hardened and he nodded. "I suppose you're right. But that still doesn't quell my distaste for this ship of yours."

"And what's wrong with the ship?" she asked, his blatant racist attitude already setting her off.

Shaking his head, he kept his rigid stance as he continued. "It's a gimmick, Shepard. It couldn't hold up in a real fight. On top of its lack of combat abilities, it diverted billions from our appropriation budget. For the same price, we could have had a heavy cruiser!" he said angrily, snorting his rage as he stared Shepard down. "But no, we had to make nice with the turians and throw money into a co-developed boondoggle."

"With all due respect Admiral, your nearsighted view of the capabilities of this ship are unwarranted. The ship is designed for stealth. With it, we can sit in enemy systems for days without them seeing us, and chart movements, as well as set up stealth strikes to disable enemy ships," she said as she stood straight again.

"Regardless of your confidence, I'd like to inspect the ship for myself and see if it's up to snuff," he said firmly.

Shepard just waved her hand nonchalantly. "Go for it." The admiral nodded and stepped off towards the ship as Ash and Kaidan looked to Shepard.

"That's a hell of a welcome party," said Kaidan as he scratched his head.

"No offense, Commander. But if I had been in your shoes, I'd have sent him packing off the tower," said Ash as she crossed her arms.

"I'll entertain him for the moment. Making enemies with the Alliance isn't a good idea, regardless of how classless they can be," she said with a shrug.

"I guess. I'd still send him off with a shiner though," said Williams as she clenched her fist.

"I'm surprised to hear that from you Ashley. I thought among all the crew members, you were the most fiercely loyal to the Alliance," said Liara as she held her hands behind her back.

"I'm as loyal as a hound. But I still don't like it when the brass tries to throw their weight around just because they have a bug up their ass," said Ash as she began leaning against the rail.

Liara covered her mouth at the statement. "Oh my, a bug?" she asked, nearly horrified by the claim.

"It's just an expression Liara. Don't put too much thought into it," said Shepard with a smirk.

The four talked together for a while before the admiral made his way back out of the ship with a scowl on his face. "Shepard, I'm not happy."

"Color me surprised,” she said in annoyance as she turned to him again, her glare returning. “Feel free to tell me what it is that you're upset about," said the spectre calmly as Ash and Kaidan took up their stances again.

"The CIC design is way off. Putting the commander aft of everyone is inefficient. What if they need to discuss with operators toward the bow?" he asked as he folded his hands behind his back.

"The CIC is a turian design. They like to put the commanders higher than their subordinates. It gets communications across better when they don't have to look past one another, and instead can look up to the commander who gives the orders," she replied as stone-faced as ever.

Reaching up, the admiral scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Not a bad concept, but they should be testing that in a lab, not on a frontline warship," he said before looking to Shepard again. "I understand the importance of your drive core and it's stealth capabilities. However, the money that went into that core could have been used to make twelve thousand fighters!"

"Or it could have gone into the education of children in the colonies," said Shepard with a shrug. "With the Normandy's stealth capabilities, we can orbit a planet for days without being noticed. It can also drop shock troopers to the planet's surface without alerting anyone, or simply monitor the incoming and outgoing traffic of enemy worlds. It’s like having an invisible gun floating around in a room full of enemies."

"Perhaps, but that's not the job of a proper warship," he said as Shepard tried her best not to roll her eyes. "And we also need to talk about your crew Commander," he said sternly.

"Spectre," she said just as stern as her eyes narrowed on him.

He stopped speaking for a moment before nodding. "Spectre…"

"What exactly is it about my crew that has drawn complaints?" she asked, her eyes focused on him.

"Are you kidding? You have a krogan currently laughing at what he left in the toilet. Then there's the quarian working in engineering! And the turians!" he started as he stared down the spectre. But before he could continue, he was surprised by Ash stepping forward.

"That's over the line, sir," she snapped as she stepped up next to the commander. The admiral looked at her wide-eyed as she crossed her arms and fixed him with a glare. "I've been on the ground with that krogan, and he has charged through enemy lines like a battering ram. He's a walking wrecking ball that any unit in the Alliance would be lucky to have! And that quarian can work circles around most human engineers. The crew of the Normandy has learned more from her in a week than their entire stay at training school," she said then took another step forward. "And the turians! Those turians that can fire an Excalibur cannon with such accuracy that they could knock the engine off a fighter at five AU. You mean those turians? The ones who saved our asses from a thresher maw back on Edolus when the Alliance couldn't be bothered to track down their own missing soldiers?"

The admiral was stunned into silence for a long moment before a smirking Shepard spoke up. "Like she said, Admiral. I won't have my choice in crew members questioned, especially by someone implying that their species is a problem. Do I make myself clear?" she asked with a stern glare.

The admiral cleared his throat before taking up the parade rest position again. "I fully understand your point, Spectre. I... shouldn't have made the assumptions I did," he said as he looked away.

"I understand your frustration Admiral…" she said as she looked at his name tag. "Mikhailovich. You were supposed to receive the Normandy for your fleet after Eden Prime, and it's frustrating losing out on an opportunity like that. But the work we're doing is important. You can see everything we've done thus far with a class four security pass from the Council, and you'll see plainly that this work could never have been done while being a part of the 63rd."

He sighed and nodded. "Thank you for your understanding, Shepard. And... I now see that I was being selfish. I don't intend to put you at risk with the Alliance with a bad report over such petty things," he said as he locked eyes with her. "Thank you for your time, Spectre. I hope for your safe return wherever you may go," he said as he saluted the woman.

Both Ash and Kaidan went to attention, then the man left. Liara watched as the three humans unwound and folded her arms. "I hope all encounters with Alliance officials aren't this standoffish."

"Same," said Ash as she looked down. "I don't know if my rank can stand jumping in like that many more times."

"If it's any consolation, I'm proud that you said what you did," said Shepard with a winning smile.

Ash looked up curiously. "Really?"

"Yes. I'm glad you've come around to the rest of the crew," said Shepard as she nodded. Seeing Ash swell with pride made the commander smile. "Now, let's get going. We've got some shopping to do now that the device has been transported."

Armax Arsenal - Teyseri Ward - Citadel

"So, let's see if we can't find what you're looking for, Wrex," said Shepard as she stepped into the large store. Wrex's face curled with a large smile as he walked forward through the rows and rows of weapons with Shepard and Williams trailing behind him.

"Now this is my kind of toy store!" shouted the krogan as an asari woman stepped up to them.

"May I help you find something?" she asked with a pleasant smile.

Wrex looked her up and down curiously. "You know how these things work?" he asked, noticing that she wore a set of elegant purple robes.

"Each and every weapon on these shelves has been tested by me to make sure they meet the Armax standard," she said with a condescending grin. "If you're asking about my qualifications, I was a commando for five hundred years prior to signing on for Armax."

Wrex's grin widened. "How many missions have those elegant little legs carried you through?"

"Wrex…" growled Shepard as she moved forward to confront him.

But the asari held up a nimble hand. "Please, it's fine," she said before turning to the krogan. "Over my entire career I've been on more than a thousand combat missions, and several hundred stealth. I assure you that my knowledge on weapons of war is without equal," she said, giving him a playful grin.

"Hmmm, I like that," said the krogan as he flexed his shoulders.

"Perhaps you can meet me in the training room later and I can show you firsthand," she said as she folded her arms over her chest.

Wrex just stared at the woman before Shepard elbowed him. "You might want to roll your tongue back into your mouth," said the spectre with a knowing grin on her face.

"Uh... yeah, sorry," he said as he scratched his chin. "In any case, we're looking for something heavy."

"What kind of heavy? What kind of threats will you be facing in the future?" she asked curiously as she looked between the three of them.

Ash chuckled as she held up a hand. "Let's see, thresher maws, robotic zombies, geth troopers, mercenaries, giant sentient plant creatures…" she said, counting each one off on one of her fingers.

The asari stared at her in shock for a moment before turning to Shepard. It was then that her smile returned. "Oh, I see now. I almost didn't recognize you Spectre," she said as she bowed her head politely.

"Yeah, we've been in the trenches quite a bit. Probably nothing compared to your record, but heavy weapons have become necessary," said Shepard with a shrug.

"While my record may be impressive, it didn't include any thresher maws, robotic undead, or plant monsters I'm afraid," she said with a small smile. "However, I think I may have a few items you would be interested in over here." The asari gestured towards a rack of weapons away from the main floor and they followed her over.

CODEX ENTRIES

Bloodlust | Biology | Krogan
Similar to bloodrage, krogan men and women both experience a trance-like state where they lust after others, often leading to passionate copulation. It was originally believed that this was due to a release of pheromones by one of the krogan until studies showed that the biological reaction was consistent even among krogan with non-krogan partners. Unlike with bloodrage, krogan regeneration is actually slowed during bloodlust and they do not receive a strength boost, making the occurrences markedly different.

ViewTube | Technology | Extranet
An extranet website devoted to file sharing and uploading of videos for others to watch. It comes free on any standard omni-tool and can be access from almost anywhere in the galaxy where the Citadel Extranet is available.

Kacsetra | Holiday | Quarian
A holiday founded prior to the Morning War that celebrated the ancestors of old. In the days before the flight from Rannoch, this holiday would be met with celebration, praise, family gatherings, and most importantly, food. However, due to the scarcity of food on the Migrant Fleet, family gatherings are met more with fasting as a sign of respect for the ancestors.

Chapter 26: The Consort

Chapter Text

The Tranquil Garden - Presidium - Citadel

"So, where exactly are you bringing me?" asked Shepard as she entered the large establishment. Looking around, she was surprised to see plenty of women and men dressed in similar garments attending to others. At first, the spectre thought that the gunnery chief had brought her to an escort service, but after closer inspection, it looked more like a host club.

"A place to relax," said the woman as she shrugged at the redhead. "Scuttlebutt has it that you've been pretty high strung since the beacon, and after you bought me this big boy," she said, patting the neatly encased explosive launcher. "I thought I'd return the favor by getting you a massage."

"Look, Ash, I appreciate the gesture, but…" started Shepard, but she was cut off as the chief shook her head.

"Sorry, Commander. But no arguments. You don't get to throw your money around and expect nothing in return. Besides, tell me honestly to my face that you don't need this," responded the soldier with a no-nonsense look on her face.

Shepard glowered at her before finally sighing. "Alright, fine," she said as she stepped up to the counter. "How much does that cost at this place anyway?"

"For one of the regular girls, not that much. But if you're a big spender, you can purchase time from the owner, and she's said to be some kind of goddess who can bring you to Nirvana with a single touch," said Ash as she shrugged.

Smirking at her, Shepard shrugged. "Nirvana huh? Been a while since I’ve heard that phrase used unironically."

Chuckling, Williams shook her head. "I don’t know how much of it is true. She’s waaay outside my pay grade," she stated as she called over the hostess. "Two for the massage table please. And make sure they have powerful hands," she said, getting a nod from the asari.

"Your names?" asked the hostess curiously.

"Ashley Williams and Jane Shepard," responded the gunnery chief.

Suddenly, the asari's eyes lit up as she stared at Shepard. "Shepard? You wouldn't happen to be…"

"Yeah, that's me," said the redhead as she scratched her head.

"What, does she get a discount for being a Spectre?" asked Ash as she leaned on the counter with a grin.

"No... I'm afraid not. However, my sister Saphi is a big fan of yours," she said, almost excitedly as she looked around frantically for something. "Do... do you think I could get your autograph? I'm sure she'd love it!"

"What's your name?" asked Shepard curiously.

"Neylina," responded the asari.

"Would your sister happen to work as a receptionist at the embassies?" asked the commander as she recognized the name.

The asari nodded with a smile. "That she does. She was already a fan beforehand, but after your last encounter with a certain asari diplomat, Saphi said that you became her idol. Apparently, knocking that Dantius woman senseless, as well as having her embassy access removed was the greatest day of her life," she said as she pulled up a personal datapad.

Chuckling, the commander reached for the datapad. "Yeah, that was a pretty good day for me too," she said as she took her own picture with the woman's device, then signed it with a stylus. "Here you go. I hope both of you enjoy it," she said as she handed it back.

Grinning happily, the asari bowed her head as she took the device back. "Thank you, Spectre. We'll cherish it," she said before finally putting their names into the computer. "Your tables are ready now if you'd like, or would you prefer to schedule an appointment?"

"Now's good," said Ash as she stood straight and stretched herself.

"Very well. Then please follow me," she said as she tucked the datapad away under the podium and led them towards the back. After depositing Ashley into one room, she took Shepard to another. "Please remove your clothing and deposit them in this basket, then lay face down on the table. Your masseuse should be with you shortly," she said before closing the door behind her.

Shepard sighed to herself and did as she was told. Removing her boots, she set them in front of the basket before then pulling off her socks and stuffing them inside. Standing, she took off her top, then her bra, and folded them into the basket before doing the same to her pants and undergarments. After standing up again, she grabbed a towel and headed for the table.

Luckily, she didn't have to wait long before another asari stepped inside the room. Looking her up and down, Shepard had to admit that the woman's dress did her many favors. It was short-sleeved, leaving her delicate blue arms bare to the world, while the front had large, diamond-shaped openings that allowed her cleavage to be seen, as well as her stomach. The rest of the dress flowed down to her ankles.

As the asari made her way to the table, Shepard nearly went wide-eyed as it looked like she was gliding rather than walking. Whoever this woman was, she was as elegant as a Tiffany chandelier.

"My name is Sha'ira, Spectre. I hope you don't mind that I'll be taking the place of your scheduled masseuse," said the woman as she gave a polite curtsy.

"Had you not said anything, I'd have thought you were my scheduled masseuse. Who exactly are you and why are you replacing them?" asked Shepard curiously as she sat up on her elbows to stare at the woman.

"I am Sha'ira Y'Lessa. I am the owner of this establishment," she said, causing Shepard's eyes to widen in surprise.

"Wait, does that mean…?" started the commander, but the asari held up a hand and gave a gentle smile.

Somehow, the woman's smile seemed to gently calm her nerves. Shepard let out a small sigh as she felt herself relaxing. "Be calm, Spectre. I have an offer to make you, and I assure you that you will not be paying my regular rate," she said, causing the redhead to relax even more. "Now, please lay flat."

Shepard did as she was told and laid on the table, her head now occupying the cushioned oval at the top. As soon as she felt the woman's hands on her back, any stress she had melted away. She let out a sigh of contentment as the asari's magical fingers found her most tense muscles and worked them until they too were free from stress. "No wonder your prices are so high," she said as she groaned in pleasure from another knot being released.

"I spent two hundred years studying the art of physical therapy and bodily release on Illium. I assure you, very few have applied themselves as much as I have to bring pleasure to others," said the elegant woman as she worked her way down Shepard's body. When she got to the back of her legs was when Shepard really started to groan. "Your work has you very stressed, Spectre."

"Tell me about it," said Shepard as she let out a breathy sigh.

"I can also see that you have recently begun experiencing sexual frustration," said the asari as she gently ran her fingers down the spectre's spine. "Would you like me to relieve you of this as well?"

Shepard cocked an eyebrow curiously at the woman. "Are you offering me sex?"

But the asari shook her head gently. "As enticing a partner as you may seem, Spectre, I’m afraid we do not offer that kind of physical service here," she said as she gently ran her finger up the redhead's spine again, then further up her neck. "Let me show you," she offered as she placed all five of her fingers on the back of her head.

The asari closed her eyes and inhaled slowly as Shepard waited for something to happen. She wasn't sure what to expect, but it had to be something to do with melding. Suddenly, her eyes shot open and she couldn't stop herself from moaning loudly as her body flooded with a feeling she hadn't had for years. She gripped the table lightly as the feeling vanished as soon as it appeared. "Fucking hell!" gasped Shepard as she lifted herself off the table to stare at the woman again.

"I take it you enjoyed it?" asked Sha'ira as she smiled.

Letting out a gasp, the spectre ran a hand through her red hair. "Something like that…"

"Shall I continue then?" asked the woman curiously. "I assure you; it is a simple therapy for those who suffer from such frustration. You will not have to worry about the stigma often associated with sex work."

"I don't know if I could afford it," said Shepard with a half-grin.

"As I said, Spectre, you and your friend will not be paying anything more than the normal rate. The reason I'm here is to ask you for help in a small situation. Should your answer be yes, then there will be no charge for you or your subordinate," said the asari casually as she stepped up to the table where Shepard's head was propped up.

"And what is this situation?" she asked, trying to distract herself from actually asking for the treatment again.

Letting out a wistful sigh, the asari looked into Shepard's blue eyes sadly. "I've been caught up in some drama, unfortunately."

Resting her head on her fist, the spectre nodded. "Gotta love drama…" she said sarcastically, making the asari smirk.

"Indeed," replied the asari before she pulled up a seat and continued. "Before I get into that, there's something I must explain about my work here," she said, getting a nod from Shepard. "Despite what others may say, I am here as a healer of the mind, and of the soul. People come to me and my acolytes from all over Citadel Space because I can offer them peace. Broken souls with PTSD, men and women with anxiety and depression, and those who have suffered such loss that their spirit will remain scarred forever. I help these people. It is my pleasure, and my duty to help them."

"Okay, I understand that part. But what's gotten you into drama?" asked Shepard curiously.

"Unfortunately, some people want more than I can give. We have several repeat customers that continue to come back because they enjoy the presence of me and my acolytes. But on occasion, we have some that want more. They ask for things we cannot do. In particular, a turian general by the name of Septimus Oraka wants me to be more romantically involved with him. I've turned down his advances several times, telling him that I cannot leave this place for him. And each time he has gotten more foul-tempered. After his last offer was again refused, he began to do spiteful things that could get me into trouble…" she said as she gently held her thumb at her lips.

"Oh boy…" groaned Shepard as she shook her head.

"It is as it seems. He has released information regarding another customer of mine, Xeltan, the elcor ambassador. Now, Xeltan believes that his trust in me has been broken, and that I am the one who shared his innermost secrets with the world. He is currently in the elcor embassy trying to bring up charges against me," said the asari as she looked straight at Shepard again. "I wish for you to speak to Septimus and snap him out of his anger. Or, if that task should be impossible, then find proof that clears me of his charges. While I do not wish to shame Septimus publicly, I cannot let his anger smear my reputation."

"That shouldn't be hard to do. And if I do this, you say we get these services for free today?" asked Shepard curiously.

"Indeed. I will even extend the offer to the rest of your crew if you wish. No doubt they too need comfort after some of the things they've been through," she said with a knowing grin.

Shepard eyed the woman curiously, wondering if she knew what they had actually been through, or if she was assuming simply because they worked for a spectre. "Alright. Free services for my crew and I sedate a crying turian general," she said with a nod.

"I appreciate your assistance, Spectre. While I could fight this battle myself, it would be very costly and time consuming. Meanwhile my name would be dragged through the dirt the entire time," said the asari as she stood and flexed her fingers again. "Now, shall we proceed where we left off?"

Chora's Den - Zakera Ward - Citadel

As she strolled into the bar, Shepard felt like she was walking around in a new body. Hearing that the asari woman had spent two hundred years studying physical therapy now sounded perfectly logical as she felt lighter than air. With a satisfied grin on her face, she headed into the bar with her hands in the sleeves of her hoodie.

But as soon as she entered, almost everything stopped. Like an old western, everyone sitting at a table looked up at her nervously. Even the barman and the dancers had wary expressions as she walked in and looked around. "Relax, I'm just here to drink," she said, getting looks of relief all around. Apparently, her last visit here left an impression.

Walking up to the bar, she leaned on it and looked around. Within seconds, she had spotted her target sitting in one of the many chairs surrounding a lovely dancing asari. He stood a little over two meters tall and wore white clan markings on his mandibles, on his brow plates, as well as three stripes down his chin. After extensive study, she found that the markings represented the desert colony of Invictus.

The salarian barman nervously approached her. "W-What can I get you, Spectre?"

She smiled at him and pulled out her credit chit. "Whatever levo beer you have on tap is fine," she said as she offered him the payment. "And get one for yourself as well."

The salarian's face lit up at the offer, and he nodded. "Of course! I'll be just a moment." He then zoomed off to retrieve the drink.

Turning again, she eyed the turian for a moment before turning her gaze towards the dancing asari that he sat in front of. She almost immediately recognized the young woman, likely barely a century old, as the same woman who jumped in to save her during their raid on the bar. Her gaze shifted again as the salarian brought her drink. "Thank you," she said as she took the glass stein and headed over to sit next to the large turian.

As soon as she sat down, she reached forward and paid ten credits to the dancer by swiping her chit over the scanner. The dancer apparently recognized her as well and smiled happily before putting more sway into her movements, showing her curvy body with much more enthusiasm.

"It's been a while since a spectre approached me," said the turian as he turned his head, his predatory eyes scanning her curiously.

"I heard you retired a few years ago," said Jane as she pried her eyes away from the sensually dancing asari and looked at the turian sitting next to her.

"I did. You and your kind make it hard for a general to work," he said with a snort of contempt. But he sighed afterwards and shook his head. "Sorry, I don't mean to be hostile. I've just had a rough week."

"So I've heard," said Shepard as she took a drink from her beer. The turian looked at her with a sharp stare.

"What exactly have you heard?" he asked, almost forcefully.

"General, in the history of the turian military, each officer that makes it as high as you in the ranks gets their portrait painted and hung in the Hall of Valor. How often do you think they take paintings down for dishonorable acts after retirement?" asked Shepard as she returned his stern stare.

"Spirits, you're here because of Sha'ira, aren't you?" he asked in frustration as his talons gripped the arms of the chair.

"The answer is that it's very rare. Often generals retire to a home with their family and continue to assist the military with expertise and knowledge," she said, furrowing her brows as she stared at him. "Why would you go out of your way to make trouble for a woman solely because she turned you down?"

Sighing to himself, he leaned back in his chair and stared at the dancer. "Sha'ira does something to me. She makes me a better man just by being around her. She soothes me like no other in the world can," he said as he tapped his brow-plate with a single talon. "In here are memories of some of the worst things someone can come across. Innocent people being slaughtered as warships drop projectiles from orbit and level an entire city block. People starving because we've cut off their supply lines…." he said as he looked down. "Examples made."

Shepard's eyes widened slightly. "You have PTSD from participating in the siege of Shanxi?" she asked, her drink now forgotten.

"That's right. Many in the Hierarchy try to justify what we did. But I had to watch as a recruit as they unnecessarily assaulted and killed so many over a stupid mistake," he said as he cradled his head in one hand. "She makes all that go away. She makes me forget."

"And you pay her back for helping you by slandering her?" asked Shepard, getting a surprised look from the turian.

“No…” he said, his face making it clear that he knew what he was doing was wrong. "Spirits, you're right. What am I doing?" he asked before leaning forward and downing his entire glass.

Shepard shook her head and sighed. "General, if someone else had done this to her, how would you react?" she asked curiously before taking another drink of her beer.

"I'd kick the clan paint off their face so fast that they'd reach escape velocity," said the turian as he swiped his chit for the girl again. "I know what you're getting at, Spectre. I'm... hurting her."

"You are. And on top of that, you're a Hierarchy general. Doing childish things like this is beneath you," she said as she too finished off her drink. "Not to mention the fact that you're actively harming the one person that helps you forget," she said as she stared him dead in the eyes. "And trust me, having someone that can help you through your worst moments is like finding an oasis in the desert. They're extremely hard to come by," she said, looking away as her thoughts drifted to Liara.

"I know…" he grumbled, then reached up and slapped his face with both hands. "I have to fix this," he said as he opened his omni-tool. "Spectre, if you'd do me a favor, I'd highly appreciate it."

"Anything I can do to help you fix this, General," she said as she opened her own omni-tool.

"Take this information to Xeltan. It's proof that the information that was leaked came from me, and not from Sha'ira," he said as he passed her a compressed file. Closing down his omni-tool, he sighed to himself. "Now... to take a cold shower, and prepare my apology," he said as he looked at her. "Thank you for setting me straight, Spectre. Sha'ira didn't deserve what I did to her."

"That's right. And if you want her to trust you again, you have to take it slow. Don't rush into this expecting to be absolved of your mistakes just because you’re sorry," she said as she stood up and slide her hands onto her hoodie pockets again.

"I will," he said as he stood up and left the bar with a no-nonsense stride in his step.

Shepard watched him go before turning to the asari again. The dancer smiled at her, then blew a kiss to the redhead. The spectre smiled brightly before swiping her chit again and leaving herself.

The Tranquil Garden - Presidium - Citadel

"Feeling better?" asked Shepard with a grin as Ash stepped up to the counter.

"I feel like I could jump and fly through space without a suit," said the gunnery chief as she leaned her elbows and back against the counter. "The guy giving me the massage told me that it was on the house, so I asked for a facial as well. You should have joined me," she said as she smiled brightly.

"I had to run and do something real quick. The owner offered me free service for the crew if I did her a favor," said the spectre with a shrug.

"Ah, I see now. Playing hooky with the boss?" asked Ash playfully as Neylina once again approached the counter.

"Ah, Spectre! Sha'ira is expecting you! Both of you, please follow me!" she said excitedly as she led them past the other customers and up the stairs. When they stepped into the consort's room, Shepard's jaw nearly hit the ground. The entire room looked like a fantasy zen garden. Plants grew from soil around the edges of the room, and in the dead center of the back wall was a rock formation with a small waterfall cascading down into a pool. Even the floors were decorated with neatly curated purple sand that had been raked into artistic asari symbols, each one with a crystal planted delicately in the center.

Once she finally recovered from the shock of seeing the room, Shepard looked up to the asari woman who had risen from a chair set on a circular platform at the very center of the room. "Spectre, I just received a message from both Xeltan and Septimus. I must say, you are certainly an effective ally."

"I'm pretty good at getting things done," said the redhead with a grin. "But I'm glad to hear he followed through."

"As am I. You've done me a great service," said the woman as she strolled up and stood directly in front of Shepard. "As promised, any person serving aboard your ship will be welcomed here without charge for their next visit. On top of that, I have another gift for you."

Shepard eyed her curiously. "And what's that?"

"A gift of words," said the asari as her face grew serious. "I sense greatness in you Spectre. But rash action will reveal much about the task and the man. The reward may be immediate, but there is no going back," she said as she stepped forward again, nearly pressing herself against Shepard before whispering in her ear. "I see your skin, tough as the scales on any turian, unyielding. A wall between you and everyone else. But it protects you, makes you strong. And it is that strength that people are drawn to. It is why you lead, and others follow without question. You will need that leadership in the battles to come," said the woman as she finally took a step back and eyed Shepard seriously. "You are a shining beacon, Shepard. This only forms the basis of who you will become."

Shepard stared at her wide-eyed for a moment before turning to Ash. The gunnery chief was hastily typing something on her personal omni-tool. Turning back to the asari, Shepard smiled. "That was very poetic, and somewhat prophetic if I might be so bold."

Smiling, Sha'ira nodded. "It is not the future I see, but you. As you are, and as you will be should you continue down this path. However, through your own feelings, I see distress about those close to you. Your leadership will be necessary in guiding those who follow you to keep them from straying."

"I'll... keep that in mind," said Shepard with a furrowed brow as she thought of her crew. Garrus's inner turmoil, Wrex's lone wolf attitude, Tali's early rejection of AI, Liara's loss of her mother to Saren, Ash's need to prove herself. They all could easily go down dark paths. She began to wonder if Sha'ira was implying that Shepard would be crucial to steering them onto the right path.

"I'm happy to hear that," said the asari as she pulled something from behind her back. "Here, this is one last gift I have for you," she said holding it up for both of them to see.

Shepard cocked an eyebrow at the strange trinket. It was small, able to fit in the palm of her hand. But it was a chrome sphere with no design on it. It looked like a large ball bearing at first glance. But once Shepard picked it up, she knew better. It's chrome surface rippled with her touch, and her mind immediately knew that it was more than it appeared. Suddenly, a small vision appeared in her mind. It was a mountain range with massive spears of rock jutting into the air. The vision zoomed out until she could see the entire planet. Then she could see the system it was in. Suddenly, she snapped back to reality and looked at the asari wide-eyed. "What exactly is this?"

"It's a mystery. I have never found its use or purpose. But I sense it is time for me to pass it on. Hopefully you will be able to solve that which many prothean experts have not," said the asari as she bowed her head.

Shepard stared at the rippling surface curiously for a moment before grasping the object in her hand. "Thank you. I will do my best to help you solve this mystery."

"I am pleased to hear that Shepard," said Sha'ira as she returned to her chair.

"I should be going now. If you ever need me, feel free to contact me," said the human as she turned.

"Farewell, Shepard! May your journey be safe!" responded the asari before both of the women left the room.

Looking over at Ash, Shepard saw as the chief finally put her omni-tool away. "What were you doing in there?"

"Writing down her words. If she turns out to be a future-seer, then I want her on speed dial," said Ash as she grinned at Shepard.

Chuckling to herself, Shepard left the establishment and headed for the nearest transit car with Ash in her wake.

Prothean Research Department - Presidium - Citadel

It was frustrating for Liara. All day she had spent looking over data on the device they had discovered in the ExoGeni building. And while she would normally be excited about studying a potential new prothean artifact, she had discovered early on that while it may have looked prothean, it was something entirely different. Made of the same material as the relays but was unlike anything they had ever seen the protheans make.

Normally, that would be exciting. Except that all the object did was project a headache-inducing signal that was little more than white noise. There was nothing else about it. No data inside, no power sources to be found, no nothing. It was just a prothean style noise maker.

On top of her frustrations at the device, she hadn't seen Shepard since she started her work. It was odd how lackluster her work seemed without the spectre present and watching anymore. She came to the startled realization that she had quickly grown out of her former loner persona and had quickly become friends with the crew. Now, working without one of the Normandy's crew nearby seemed hollow.

Finally, she finished her work and sent the data back to the researchers. Opening her comm, she sent a message to Shepard, wondering if she was nearby. She quickly received a message back, which she opened with haste. [If you want to have dinner, meet me in the Zakera Marketplace. Me and Ash were looking for a good sushi place.]

Smiling at the response, she quickly called a transit car that took her to the wards access, then jumped into another that dropped her off in front of the markets. She made her way through the large, crowded market area, holding her head up to try and spot that familiar fiery hair. But as she searched, she found herself stopping as she spotted the curious figure of a salarian standing over a keeper in a back alleyway.

With her curiosity getting the better of her, she stepped into the darkness of the alley and watched as he kept running a scanner over the busy keeper's body. She knew that it was against the law to interfere, or even touch the keepers. But technically, he wasn't touching or interfering with it. It continued to work without even acknowledging he was there. Stepping forward, she had to ask. "What is it you're doing?"

The salarian, who wore a dark grey salarian lab coat which accented his jet-black skin, nearly jumped out of his clothes in fright. "Wha-I... I wasn't doing anything! You can't prove anything!" he shouted as he pointed at her.

"Were I recording you for the few minutes I've been standing here, then I'm afraid C-Sec would have plenty of evidence to get a conviction," said the woman as she stepped closer. "But I'm not here to get you arrested. I'm simply curious as to what you're doing."

The salarian grimaced at her before sighing. "Alright, fine!" he snapped before slowing his panicked breathing. When he composed himself again, he looked at her. "I'm scanning the keepers."

"Why?" asked Liara curiously. Though the answer was obvious, she was more interested in his motive than his actions.

"Because we know so little about them. If you barely bump one, it implodes on itself. If you build something, they come in and make it seamless. We don't know where they come from, or where they go. We don't know where they get the materials or tools to build the way they do! And they've made it illegal to study something so integral to our lives simply because they don't want to disturb their work patterns! It's maddening!" growled the salarian who looked like he was about to kick something.

But Liara's eyes widened immensely at his response. Everything he said about the keepers was also true about prothean technology, with the exception of it being illegal to study. But his frustration at society's lack of interest in things that their livelihoods depend on was nearly identical to her frustrations about the lack of interest in studying the protheans. And technically, since the protheans made the Citadel, it's just as likely that they made the keepers as well, which drew an uncanny parallel between the two.

"I agree with you!" she nearly squealed, causing his already large eyes to widen more.

"Y-You do!?" he asked incredulously, nearly dropping his scanner in surprise.

"I do! It's agonizing how little people care about such important things!" she growled as she looked at the ground.

"Thank Surakesh! I've found someone with some sense in their head!" he shouted as he pulled up the scanner.

"So, how is it that you're scanning them? I thought that they self-destructed when examined before," asked Liara as she stepped up to the scientist.

"Oh, it's quite simple actually. Most of the devices that were used before, when the creatures destroyed themselves, were scanners made from our technology! Therefore, I hypothesized that since the keepers were made by the protheans, I'd make a prothean scanner! It's a prototype that's designed after a blueprint that explorers found on a prothean ruin in salarian space!" he said as he held the device forward to show her.

She slowly reached forward and took it, then began examining it cautiously. "This is a prothean scanner?" she asked curiously.

"Not to specs. It's still made of the same stuff we use. But how it scans is different. And it turns out that it works! I've scanned numerous keepers to date with it, and they seem unbothered by its presence!" he said victoriously with a large grin on his face.

"Incredible!" said Liara as she handed it back to him. "What's your name?"

"Luvis Delica Tos Duvain Leppa Sat Nima Chorban! And you are?" he asked, getting a flustered look from the asari.

"Doctor Liara T'Soni," she said as she nodded to him. "Can I ask a favor?"

"Of course Doctor!" he said happily, likely thrilled at finding a like-minded individual.

"Would you mind keeping me updated on your findings? Perhaps I could help given my extensive knowledge of the protheans," she remarked as she opened her omni-tool.

"Splendid! Any assistance would be excellent!" said the salarian as he traded data with her.

"I must go now, but please keep in touch! Any knowledge that can help explain more about the protheans is invaluable," she said with a smile. "Oh, and if you should get caught, let me know and I'll see if I can't help you get out of trouble."

"That I will do Doctor T'Soni. And thank you for your time. It's refreshing to meet such an enlightened individual," he said as he activated the scanner again.

"Likewise, Chorban," she said, bowing her head lightly. "Good luck with your scanning," she finished as she turned and exited the alleyway and made her way back to the markets. Almost immediately, she found Shepard and Ashley waiting next to a very enthusiastic salarian salesman.

Shepard's face lit up when she caught sight of the asari, making Liara's stomach flutter lightly. "There she is! About time you found us," she said as she waved.

Rushing up to the pair, Liara bowed her head in apology. "I apologize. I got distracted by... well, I'll tell you later. For now, you said you were interested in sushi?" she asked curiously, getting nods from both of them.

"It's been forever since I've eaten at a decent Asian place," groaned Ash as she leaned her head back dramatically. "I'm dying for some dumplings."

"If I may," started Liara as she looked between them both. "Asari cuisine consists primarily of fish. So, when your sushi restaurants began coming to the Citadel, we almost immediately swarmed to them."

"Are you saying you know a good place?" asked Ash with a curious smile.

"I know a few, actually. Shall we go?" she asked with a wide grin plastered on her face.

"Lead the way Doc," ordered Ash as she held a hand over her growling stomach.

Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

She was stuffed like a turkey as she closed down her terminal and threw herself onto the bed. It wasn't often that she splurged on food like that, but after she invited all the others in as well, she couldn't let the opportunity go to waste. A lot of the crew who weren't visiting family swung by the restaurant and joined in the merriment. Even Joker stopped by after his visit to the consort, where he had a simple dream session with one of the asari.

After the party had wound down though, Shepard sought the comfort of her bed. And almost as soon as she hit the pillow, she heard a knock at the door. Looking up, she wondered who it could be. "Hello?"

The door opened, and there stood Liara in her night clothes, a simple pair of pajama pants with a soft drink logo printed over and over on it, as well as a t-shirt. "May I enter, Shepard?" asked the asari timidly.

Sitting up in her bed, Shepard smiled slightly. "Of course," she responded as she waved the woman in.

Smiling back, the doctor stepped inside and sat at the end of Shepard's bed. "Sorry to disturb you. I know it's late, and you've had a pretty long day."

"It's alright. I can always spare time for one of my crew," she said as she crossed her legs. Liara looked slightly disappointed at the statement but didn't comment. "Nice pants by the way," said Shepard as she looked down at the red and white design.

Smiling brightly, the asari nodded and ran her hand over the soft pants. "Thank you! I bought them on the extranet! The design looks so beautiful and mystical. I heard it's written in cursive, a human form of writing that's no longer used." she said proudly. Shepard couldn't help but snort in amusement, which got her an odd look from the doctor. "What is it?"

"It's a logo for Coca-Cola, a human soft drink," said Shepard with a playful grin.

"Oh…" said Liara as she looked down at the pants. "I suppose that does take the mysticism out of them a bit."

"If you'd like, I can write your name in cursive and have it imprinted on a pair of pants," offered Shepard as she rested her chin in her hand.

"I'd like that," said the woman with a nod. "But, as for why I'm here…"

"You want the cipher?" she asked, causing Liara's eyes to widen. "Ever since that first night where you soothed me to sleep, you've been avoiding asking me about it because you didn't want to rush me. So, you waited until a day where I didn't have a lot of work. Believe me when I say I noticed, and greatly appreciated the wait."

"I... didn't want to add to your stress. You've already had so much on your shoulders," said the asari as she lowered her head.

Reaching forward, Shepard lifted her chin so that they were looking eye to eye. "Thank you, Liara." The doctor blushed wildly before smiling. "Now, you want to begin?"

Nodding, the asari reached forward and placed her palm on Shepard's freckled cheek, then the other hand on her neck. Much to Liara's surprise, Shepard did the same, then pressed her forehead directly to her own. Stunned for a moment, Liara simply sighed and inhaled slowly. "A-Alright, Shepard…" she said as she then exhaled. "As happened with Shiala, I will have to see the cipher through your eyes, as you saw it through hers. That means that we will need to be almost entirely connected," she said, fidgeting slightly.

"So, it's like a very intimate, but not at all intimate connection?" asked the spectre playfully.

Smiling slightly at the tease, Liara nodded. "Perhaps. Our minds will become one as I experience the cipher. Not like when we watched the visions. I will truly become a part of your mind temporarily," she said nervously.

"Alright then. Just don't go snooping for my exes," she said jokingly, getting a dramatic eye roll from the asari.

"Come now, Shepard. I'm not that petty," she said with mock sternness.

"Alright. You know my boundaries. I'm going to trust you not to break them," said the spectre as she tightened her grip on the woman.

"Of course, Shepard. My thoughts will be solely limited to the cipher," said the asari as she took a deep breath, then heavily exhaled. "We are two beings, becoming one in mind and soul. In the universe, there is no human or asari, as we are all part of the great cycle. Open your mind, Shepard. Embrace eternity…" she said as she closed her eyes, then opened them again to show her mystical black orbs.

She had felt it once before. But experiencing it previously didn't make the process any less strange for her. She was flooded with memories that weren't hers. A feeling of fear as her first day of basic education flashed before her eyes, and her mother standing over her as beautiful and elegant as she always was. Then came isolation in middle school, where she was alone as many people saw her obsession with prothean data and technology as weird. But she didn't mind, as she preferred avoiding others. College, a feeling of happiness as she finally left home and studied not only prothean tech and history, but paleontology, biology, and geography as well. It took her nearly thirty years to get through all of her classes, but she finally did it. Then came nervousness as she met her superior, Doctor B’Nalia Voss at the T'Lana Institute. She had been married to a turian, who had been funding the entire wing of the college himself. Then came excitement with her first discovery with earned her independent funding from B’Nalia's generous husband.

Then came uncertainty as she was being rescued by a strange human who told her that her mother was now a wanted criminal. Finally, there came joy as she assisted the spectre. She saw all of these memories as if she had lived them herself. After a long moment, order was restored and the memories receded, being replaced with the prothean cipher. She lived through the many lives again, experiencing them once more as Liara's emotions bled into her, causing her to tear up at what she was seeing. After witnessing everything, Liara finally released Shepard from the melding.

Both of them opened their eyes slowly, looking into each other's as they did, still holding one another. They sat frozen on the spot as they embraced, close enough that if either one leaned forward, they would be lip to lip. Finally, Shepard let go of her and pulled back, releasing the asari from her embrace. She more than noticed the doctor's look of slight disappointment. But instead of falling back into her bed, she leaned over and laid her head in the asari’s lap, getting a look of surprise.

Shepard smiled up at her, and received a glowing smile in return as the doctor once again began tracing her fingertips over Shepard’s forehead, allowing her eyes to sink as sleep snared her and dragged her under. “Goodnight, Jane,” said that melodious voice as she finally fell into the warm embrace of sleep.

CODEX ENTRIES

Hall of Valor | Location | Palaven
The Hall of Valor is one of the most visited places on Palaven. Originally its location was near the capital building in Cipritine, however due to its ever-expanding nature, it was moved out to a remote location, which eventually facilitated the creation of a new city. The hall is ever growing, and any turian that serves a minimum of twenty years in service to the Hierarchy’s Armed Forces and attains a specific rank, are due to get a painting of them in uniform put into the museum. Very rarely are paintings removed for acts of dishonor, but the number grows as turian society progresses.

Dream Session | Entertainment | Asari
Being a biotics-based species, the asari had many forms of entertainment and pleasure that they brought to the table when a galactic society was formed. Through the use of biotics, a Dream Guide can instill very realistic dreams into a sleeping individual’s mind while they sleep. This has been used for millennia on Thessia as a form of therapy, and many people throughout Citadel Space use it as a way of experiencing things they would otherwise be incapable of experiencing in reality.

Chapter 27: Dr. Saleon

Chapter Text

Human Embassy - Presidium - Citadel

"Commander, I've been getting mixed signals about your reports to the Council," said Udina as he read from a datapad.

Shepard sat back in the cushy chair across from his desk while Anderson typed away at his own workstation. She had found out that after the Eden Prime incident, Udina had chosen Anderson to be the Alliance Liaison for the Citadel. She wasn't sure if Udina was trying to make up for the Council's treatment of the man, or if he simply wanted to keep a closer eye on him. But either way, she was grateful. Having to deal with Udina without Anderson was strenuous enough.

"What did you expect? Sometimes the Council likes my methods, sometimes they don't. Generally, I have a two-thirds majority in my favor," said the spectre as she shrugged.

"Even so, Shepard, I'd appreciate it if you asked for direction more frequently rather than sprinting headfirst into the fray and destroying everything in your path," said the man as he set the datapad aside and looked at the woman tiredly.

"So, your suggestion would be to call you and ask what I should do while a three-story tall plant monster is ripping apart a colony using the dead remains of a building full of ExoGeni employees?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow at the man.

His brows furrowed at the loaded statement. "You do not need my permission to do your work, Shepard. But everyone could benefit from accepting advice."

Leaning forward, Shepard unceremoniously placed her elbows on the man's desk with a cheeky grin. "Tell me, Ambassador, how much combat experience do you have?' she asked rhetorically.

The man sighed in frustration as he began rubbing his forehead. "You and I both know that you already have the answer to that question," he growled as she nodded.

"So, tell me this. I've just cleaned out a skyscraper of geth soldiers, found out that an entire colony of people were being held hostage by a fifty-thousand-year-old sentient plant, and stop rescuing them long enough to call you and ask for your advice. What would that advice be?" she asked as she tapped her finger against her cheek. Anderson looked up with a grin that went unnoticed by the ambassador. Udina, meanwhile, simply glowered silently at her. "Look, Ambassador, I know what you want from me. You want me to be a good pet for the Council. You want me to soften them up to the idea of humans, so that someday in the future, they'll be more open to accepting a human into the Council," she said as any amusement left her face. "However, I am not a political chess piece. I'm a Spectre, and I fully intend to use my position to save as many lives as I can regardless of what you and the Council want me to do. Oftentimes, those goals align. But there are sometimes when they do not, and I'm not going to become another Saren just because you fancy the idea of standing up there on that stage with them. Are we clear Ambassador?"

Anderson went back to work, now with an immovable smile on his face, while Udina buried his face in his hands. "Transparently," he said before dropping his hands and looking at her again. "With that out of the way, where do you intend to go next?"

"Well, I have a stop to make in the Terminus Systems first, and then I'm going to be making my way to Thessia," she said, getting a concerned look from the man.

"Be careful in the Terminus Systems, Commander. I'm sure you know this already, but one wrong step out there spells war for the entire galaxy," he droned as he retrieved his datapad again.

"I don't think the pirate gangs or whoever they have set up as their current queen are going to be bothered by my tracking a wanted criminal to a barren solar system. Besides, chances are they won't even know we're there," she said with confidence as she shrugged.

"Alright, Commander. Councilor Tevos has already granted approval for your visit to Thessia. I hope it's less eventful than your other missions," he said before turning to Anderson. The captain looked up at him curiously. "Captain, I'm going out to eat today," he said before standing up and making his way out of the office.

Once he was gone, Anderson let out a chuckle. "Shepard, you certainly have a talent for getting under his skin."

"He makes it pretty easy when he puts his agenda before the lives of human colonists," she said as she stood up and stretched.

"No doubt about that," he said as he stood up and reached out with his hand. Shepard smiled and shook it. "I must admit, part of the joy of having you as the Spectre is that you don't take anyone's nonsense. Should I have been selected, I can't help but feel my lifelong career would have made me exactly what Udina wanted," he said with a sigh.

"Oh, come now, Captain. It's never too late to sign him up for a subscription to Fornax and have it delivered to the office," she said, getting an even louder laugh from the man.

"I'll leave the pranks to you and Joker. In the meantime, you keep doing what you're doing, Shepard. I'll have your back regardless of what the Ambassador says." After saying their final goodbyes, Shepard left the human embassy. After having a friendly chat with Saphi, the receptionist to the asari embassy, she finally left the building and made her way towards a transit car.

As she approached the console, she found one person in line ahead of her. It was a man, slightly taller than her, with short blond hair that was neatly trimmed. But, as he turned towards her, she stopped in her tracks in surprise. His t-shirt had her face artistically painted on it with the N7 logo decorating the background. Her face was remarkably well drawn, if not a bit cartoonish. Suddenly, her eyes shot up to his face and noticed him staring wide-eyed at her.

"C-C-Commander Shepard!?" he asked incredulously as he forgot the console.

"It's Spectre Shepard actually," she said as she scanned him from head to toe. She didn't really mind having fans, but she had no idea if this man was dangerous or not.

"Of course! Sorry, Spectre. My name is Conrad, Conrad Verner!" he said excitedly as he held his hand out to her. Keeping her left hand in her coat pocket, ready to trigger her omni-tool at a moment's notice, she reached out with her right and shook. "I'm a huge fan of yours, Shepard!"

"I can tell," she said as she eyed his shirt curiously.

"Oh, do you like it? I had it custom drawn by an artist, then printed onto a shirt! What do you think?" he asked eagerly as he grabbed the bottoms of the shirt and stretched it out for her to see better.

"Well, it's definitely unique," she said as she eyed him. "So, Conrad, is there something I can help you with? Or can I use the terminal now?" she asked, trying not to sound too pushy.

"Oh, of course, Spectre! But…" he said nervously as he scratched his blond goatee. "Before you go, do you think I could perhaps get an autograph? If it's not too much trouble I mean." She immediately cringed as he gave her the sappiest puppy dog look she had ever seen.

"Alright, alright! Just stop making that face…" she groaned as he jumped in excitement. He opened his omni-tool and Shepard put on her best smile. After the picture, she signed it as well before stepping up to the terminal and summoning her cab to C-Sec.

"Thank you, Shepard! I'm going to hang it in my living room! My wife will be so impressed!" he said ecstatically as he held his omni-tool to his chest as if she had just given it to him as a gift.

She narrowed her eyes for a moment as his name began to sound familiar to her. Cocking an eyebrow, she looked back at him. "You said your name was Conrad, right?" she asked as the auto-cab landed next to her.

"It is Spectre!" he said with a stupid grin on his face.

She simply nodded and opened the cab. "I hope you enjoy the autograph, Conrad," she said as she sat inside the vehicle.

"Always! If you're ever on Earth, I'd love to take you out for a drink!" he shouted as he waved at her frantically.

"I don't think your wife would like that!" she responded with a chuckle before closing the door and flying off.

Mess Hall - SSV Normandy SR1

After finishing in the training hall, and then taking a shower, Garrus found himself heading towards the mess hall for dinner. When he rounded the corner, he found Shepard sitting at the tables munching on her own food while working on her omni-tool.

Walking over to the counter, the mess sergeant handed him a tray with the latest dextro meal he was able to make from the rations they had aboard. Nodding to the man, he turned and sat down across from Shepard. "Lunatic?" he said, getting a startled reaction from her.

"Pardon?" she asked with bewilderment on her face.

"Oh... right," he started as he rolled the expression around in his head. "Moon crazy?"

She shook her head. "Still not comprehending."

"Sorry, I forgot that it's a turian expression that doesn't translate well. I was asking if you're working late," he said as he picked up a thick strip of raltae jerky and took a sizable bite out of it.

"Oh... I think I understand. I probably would have understood better had you said it in Turian Common," she said with a smirk. "In human English, it translates to someone driven mad by the moon."

"Ah... the look on your face makes sense now," he said as he chuckled.

"And to answer your question, yes," she said as she closed her omni-tool and looked at him curiously. "Garrus, you wouldn't lie to me, would you?"

He stopped his pursuit of the meat and twitched his mandibles at the question. "Never," he said, then narrowed his eyes. "Is this a trick question? Because I'd totally lie to you to save your life…"

Chuckling, Shepard waved her hand. "No, it's not a trick question. I was just curious if you keep in touch with Sparatus, the turian Councilor."

"The last time I talked to him I nearly threatened to cram his spurs up his own cloaca. That was when we first met," he responded as he set the food down. "Why?"

Shrugging lightly, Shepard grabbed a drumstick from one of her Earth birds and waved it around. "Maybe it's nothing. But a while back, the Councilor said something odd that made me think he has a mole aboard reporting everything we do."

"You don't check our outgoing mail?" he asked curiously before getting a stern look from her.

"Of course I do. Every scrap of it," she said before taking a bite out of the meat. Chewing hastily, she swallowed it before aiming the drumstick at him. "But I only speak the turian language. I don't read it. And before you ask, yes, I can use translators. But if someone is writing encoded messages in their family mail, I'd never be able to see it because I don't know how the written language works."

"Oh, I see. Well, if you like, I can try and help you out," offered Garrus before he took another chunk of meat and chewed it with his pointed, dagger-like teeth.

"If nothing comes of my current method, I might need you to," she said with a sigh as she took another large bite.

"Well, let me know if you need the assistance. I certainly don't mind helping you out given that you're helping me," he said as he stuffed the rest of the meat into his mouth.

"Speaking of that, you said that his ship has been lurking in an empty system in the Terminus for how long?" she asked as she tossed the bone onto her plate.

"Two weeks now," said the turian after he choked down his food. Taking a spoon, he began to scoop up the pile of mashed tofa.

"Why do you think that is?" she asked as she picked up her glass and drank the unusual liquid through a straw.

He marveled at the straw for a moment before considering her question. "No telling really. It usually doesn’t take that long for grown organs to mature. But maybe he just uses that ship as a lab ship and sells the goods using a more convenient craft," he said as he stared at the starchy vegetable mash on his tray. "One of his victims could have also gotten him. But I hope that isn't the case. I want to be the one to make him pay."

"Garrus…" said Shepard in a stern tone, causing him to look up. "We need to talk about your plans for the doctor."

"Do we really?" he asked in a tone that portrayed his annoyance. "I don't tell you how to do your work, Shepard."

"This is my work!" she snapped angrily. He sat back at the reaction but said nothing. "You don't tell me how to do my work because my work now involves all of you," she said as she pointed a finger directly at him. "And as much as you want to make this about you and the doctor, we're a part of that work now!"

"I'm sorry, Shepard. I really didn't mean to say that…" he said as he felt a flush creeping up his fringe. "I've just heard this so many times from the execs back at C-Sec. I was hoping I got away from it when I left them."

"Garrus, did you leave C-Sec to help me find Saren? Or so you could kill criminals without Citadel law breathing down your neck? Because if you think that I offered to bring you along so you could be some kind of renegade punisher, then tell me now so I can reassign you," she ordered accusingly.

"Of course I didn't leave just to kill! What kind of barbarian do you take me for!?" he asked as he voice rose in anger.

"One not looking for justice, but one looking for revenge. You literally just said you wanted to be the one to put him down. That sounds like you’re doing this for you, not the victims," she remarked sternly, causing Garrus to snort dejectedly. "Look, I understand what he did to those people, and what he continues to do. But I don't want you to end up being another Saren," she said, causing him to look at her in surprise. "Do not let a monster turn you into one as well."

"Shepard... I…" he started, but he could barely even retort to that. Sighing, he silently began spooning the concoction into his mouth, finishing the meal off before standing up and taking his tray back to the counter. He was boiling inside but refused to acknowledge her response. Instead, he left the mess hall and made his way down to the mako bay.

Cargo Bay - MSV Fedele

"What the hell happened here?" asked Shepard as she stepped aboard the abandoned-looking freighter. After approaching the ship, the readings on it were spooky. There was a large hole blasted into the side, resulting in a vented atmosphere. It was mainly a cargo carrier, with small rooms for piloting, bunking, and eating. The rest was one long container for cargo to be stored in.

But there was little to no cargo left inside. "It looks like explosive decompression took whatever was in the cargo bay out into space," said Garrus as he drifted weightlessly over to the hole.

Shepard watched him go and activated her spider boots, allowing her to walk on the floor of the ship despite the lack of gravity. "You think pirates did this?"

"I'd say it's a possibility. But unlikely," he said as he pointed to the blast pattern around the edge of the hole. "The wall of the ship around the hole is folded out towards space. Granted, that could have just been the decompression bending it, but…" he started as he activated his own spider boots. Once he was flat again, he knelt down in front of the scorched hole. "We have blood here. Turian blue from the looks of it."

"What does that tell us?" asked the spectre curiously.

"Look at the blast patterns on the floor. Do you notice anything odd?" he asked as he pointed directly at the blood spot.

It took her a moment, but she finally nodded. "There are no burn marks or scoring in this small area."

"Correct. That means when the explosion went off, something took the blast full force in the face, preventing any burns or markings in this small, contained area. The blood here likely came from the same body, and then was frozen to the floor from the sudden drop in temperature," he said as he stood up again. Opening his omni-tool, he brought up the model of the ship. "This is a Toko Class cargo ship often seen running cargo for salarian colonies," he said as he zoomed in on the specs.

Despite being at odds, Shepard had to respect the turian's ability to read events from a crime scene. She found herself wondering if she had accidentally nabbed the best detective in C-Sec. "Are you finding something in the schematics?"

"The likelihood of this being pirates just dropped significantly," he said as he turned to her and showed her the omni-tool. "This model, the STA-221 had a bunch of recalls due to fuel leaks in the cargo bay. Care to take a guess where the leaks all sprung from?"

Staring at the gaping hole into the void, she looked over at the turian. "So, we found our flashpoint," said the spectre as she looked around at the rest of the ship. "But do we have a clue about what happened?"

"Chances are, our friend here," he said as he tapped the frozen blood spot on the floor. "Probably had something to do with the explosion going off. After all, the fuel leaks didn't ignite in the other vessels. For this one to have ignited in the dead of space means it was likely instigated."

"One of his victims maybe?" asked Shepard as she looked down at the haunting blast area.

"More than likely," he said with a sigh. "Chances are he was sucked out with the rest of them."

"We still have a few sections to check," she said as she turned towards the door at the far end of the bay. Garrus shook his head before turning and following her. As they crossed the cargo bay, Shepard saw that the door leading to the front end was being held open by the body of a salarian. "Is this him?"

Garrus stepped up to the unfortunate soul and examined him. "No. Too young, different skin color." Reaching forward, Garrus pulled open the smock that the salarian had died in. "Also, he has lacerations on his torso. He was another victim," said the turian as he stood up and deactivated his boots. Reaching forward, he used the lack of gravity to lift him into the compartment ahead. Shepard followed his example and did the same.

"Looks like emergency protocols are working. All three of the doors here slammed shut after the hull breach," said the spectre as she opened her own omni-tool. "If there's anyone alive in these compartments, then we're going to have to stabilize this room in order to get them out safely."

Turning back to the dead salarian, Garrus reactivated his boots before using both hands to pry the door open. "I'll hold the door, you remove his body," ordered the turian as he exerted his strength. As soon as the pressure of the metal doors was released from the body, Shepard grabbed the legs of the young salarian and pulled him into the compartment. As soon as Garrus released the doors, they closed, and the room lit up. "Give it a minute to heat and oxygenate the room, then we should be good."

Garrus stared at Shepard through his faceplate as they waited for stabilization. They hadn't spoken since the last conversation in the mess hall. But that didn't mean he hadn't thought about what she said. Her words stung deep like a spur kick. He'd had plenty of chances to get his anger out, and he took them many times. He had practically sprinted himself to the point of exhaustion on the treadmills, then took his anger out on the impact machine.

But nothing he did could get the words out of his head. They simply burrowed there, echoing at him any time he thought of how he wanted to handle Saleon. It was enough to drive him mad. He was snapped out of his thoughts as the stabilization finished, alerting them from his omni-tool. Letting out a heavy sigh, he headed for one of the doors. Shepard followed, and as the door slid open, his mandibles twitched inside his helmet.

On the floor in front of them was a salarian with a long face and dark skin lying next to a food crate. Wrappers and water containers littered the floor everywhere. "Is that him?" asked Shepard as she stepped up behind him.

"Yeah. That's him," he growled as he stared angrily through his visor.

"How do you want to handle this?" she asked as he spun and looked at her in surprise. "This is yours to handle Garrus. I'm not going to stop you. The choice is yours," she said as she crossed her arms.

Immediately, he grabbed the pistol that he had brought along from his back and aimed it directly at the salarian's head. He didn't know if he was already dead from starvation, dehydration, or injuries. He could be sleeping, and if that was the case, then all he had to do to put this matter to rest was squeeze the trigger and rid the galaxy of a monster.

But every second he stood there aiming the weapon, the trigger became harder to pull. The weapon became heavier, harder to aim as the blue cleared from his vision. Letting out a sigh, he lowered the pistol.

Suddenly, the salarian's large eyes snapped open. "Wh-Who are you? What are you doing?" he asked in a raspy voice as he tried to get up weakly.

Reaching back, he secured the pistol on his back before reaching down and backhanding the doctor, sending him rolling across the floor. "Doctor Saleon, you're under arrest by the authority of the Citadel Council for homicide, negligent homicide, illegal experimentation on a sapient species, kidnapping, obstruction of the law, detonating a class six explosive device on the Citadel, and possession of illegally obtained organs with the intent to sell," he growled as he forced the salarian onto his face less than gracefully. "All of the rights that you abused will be read to you once we reenter Citadel Space."

"Help! What are you doing!? My name is Doctor Heart! Heart!" shouted the salarian as he groaned in pain. Looking up at Shepard, he gasped as his hands were forced behind his back. "Do something! He has the wrong person!"

"Sorry, Doc. But I just pulled up your file. So, unless you accidentally had Doctor Saleon's face transplanted onto your own, and his DNA swapped out for yours, then I'm afraid you can't talk your way out of this one," said Shepard as she watched with a grin.

"I'd quiet down, Doctor, before you accidentally bite your tongue off," said Garrus forcefully as he yanked the man up by his weakened arms. "Consider yourself lucky that the Spectre convinced me that you weren't worth shooting," he said as he dragged the criminal towards the door.

"Lucky me," said the salarian sardonically as he jerked against the restraints.

Garrus dragged the cuffed doctor out of the room and into the main corridor of the ship. "So, how are we going to get him back on the ship?" asked Shepard as she looked around. "He doesn't have a suit, and we can't exactly drive the shuttle inside here."

"Luckily, these Toko-class ships have safeties built in just in case. The head can separate from the cargo bay in dire emergencies," he said as he released the doctor to bring up the schematics again.

As soon as his talons were free of the salarian's arm, Doctor Saleon sprinted away from the pair and headed for the door leading to the cargo bay. Garrus went to move after him, but Shepard grabbed him instead. "There's no time!" she shouted as she opened the room they had just left. Just as they both tried to jump inside, the door to the cargo bay opened and they were yanked backward forcefully by the rapid decompression. Reaching out, they both grabbed onto one side of the door, hanging on for dear life.

In seconds, Saleon's screams were silenced, and the pair found themselves floating in the zero gravity once more.

Garrus just floated silently for a long moment, letting the lack of gravity carry him. Finally, he snorted angrily and reoriented himself so that he could use his spider boots again. Once on the ground, he turned to the spectre. "And he died anyway, making this whole thing pointless."

"It wasn't pointless, Garrus," said Shepard as she stepped up to him. "You can't predict what other people will do. But you can control how you'll respond. In the end, that's what matters." Reaching up, she bumped her fist against his chestplate. "This was never about bringing him back alive. It was about whether you gave in and did something you can't come back from."

Letting out a wistful sigh, Garrus returned the gesture to her own chestplate. "I guess you're right, Shepard," he said as the pair of them began opening the other compartments to make sure there weren't any more survivors onboard. "You know, I've never met anyone like you, Shepard. "

“How do you mean?" she asked as the pair cleared the last two rooms.

"My father, the Hierarchy, C-Sec, they all drill into you that it's the law, no matter what. Even if you don't like it, you follow it without exception. I guess I've heard such a ridiculous sentiment so frequently that it drove me mad when the law protected vile creatures like Saleon," he said as they exited the ship and headed back for the shuttle. "In all my time alive, you're the only one to ever tell me that it's not about keeping the sanctity of the law. But rather, it's about the consequences that killing him would have on me."

"You're what matters, Garrus. Saleon? I could shove him out of a ship and watch him float into a sun without losing a wink of sleep. But I didn't want you to become what you hated the most," she said as they reached the shuttle that was anchored outside the ship.

Garrus took her words to heart and let out a defeated sigh. "I guess it's not so bad having someone actually care about my wellbeing for once."

"Of course I care about your wellbeing. I've gotta keep you alive to keep taking bullets for me," she said with a grin through her faceplate, causing Garrus to laugh loudly.

T'Lana Institute Prothean Museum - Republic of Serrice - Thessia

As the asari approached the building, she carried a heavy pack with her. Looking at the amazing architecture of the place, she knew that her mind had dislocated her again. Once, this place felt like home to her. There was no other place she would rather be than here at the institute, in her office, buried in data from prothean artifacts. But now, it wasn't her home anymore. Any place besides the Normandy seemed distant, almost alien to her. She didn't know whether she should feel proud that she was so adaptable or be disappointed that she was apparently so finicky.

Either way, she had a purpose here. Ever since leaving this building last, her priorities had changed immensely. No longer was her one true purpose the discovery and understanding of the protheans. Now, Shepard was her goal. If Jane's interpretation of the visions were, in fact, true, then her previous studies of trinkets and ruined walls were all but meaningless. The looming threat of ancient machines invading the galaxy and snuffing out civilized life wildly sorted out the goals of her studies.

But to be of any assistance, she had to gather her things and reinterpret everything with the use of possibly the greatest find in the history of prothean study, the cipher. Now that she had it, all of her work in the past could possibly be undone. Normally, that would be devastating. But all she could feel was excitement.

As she walked into her office, she immediately began grabbing her datapads, as well as the terminal she had used for work. It had most of her notes, discoveries, as well as dissertations and even her university thesis. Once she had all of them stuffed into her pack, she turned to a few of the artifacts that she had stored into time capsules. Reaching forward, she picked up one of the preservation devices and stared through the plasteel container at the object itself. It was a chip, or rather a data card. But unlike the ones in the current civilization, this one wasn't used to store computer data. Instead, it was a diary of sorts. A storage unit for the knowledge of whoever last used it.

Previously, it had given her little more than a few unusual images and inflections of emotion. But with the cipher, she may actually be able to translate it to data. The possibilities gave her chills as she gently slid them into her pack.

"You know those technically belong to the Institute, right?" came a voice behind her, surprising her enough to jump.

Turning, she saw a familiar asari woman holding a glass of Serrice brandy. "P-Professor! You startled me," she said as she turned and leaned against the desk.

"When you said you were coming to pick up your work, I thought you meant to study. I didn't think you were actually moving from the Institute," said the elegant asari as she gently tapped her chin with the edge of the glass. Her face was painted fairly delicately with white, and her dress looked like she had just come from an important event.

"I apologize Professor Voss. But circumstances require that I work elsewhere," she said as she stood straight and bowed her head.

The asari's face cracked into a sly smile as she stepped forward and stood in front of the younger woman. "And do these circumstances have anything to do with the human waiting patiently outside the building?" Immediately, Liara's eyes shot open and her head snapped up. Chuckling to herself, the woman sat in one of the chairs that Liara had in front of her desk. "So, tell me, is it romantic or professional?"

Liara closed her eyes and sighed to herself before reaching up to rub her flushed face. "It's professional," she said as she finally looked at the woman. Even if it were a concrete thing with Shepard, she had no intention of sharing that information with her. "Professor…"

"You're moving up in the world, Liara," said the woman as she took a sip from her glass. "Please, call me B'Nalia now."

Trying not to let the shock register on her face, Liara nodded. "B'Nalia…" she said, unused to calling the woman by her first name. "I assure you that the knowledge I've obtained since joining the Spectre could potentially change everything we know about the protheans."

The professor, whose painted face made it appear as if she had eyebrows like a human, cocked one in a similar manner to Shepard. "You're that confident? What is it then? What's this apocryphal knowledge you now possess?"

Looking up at the door, Liara began to wonder whether Shepard was growing impatient. But from the looks of things, she wasn't going to be able to leave without revealing something to the woman. Sitting down across from her, the doctor sighed heavily. "What is your Galactic Security Clearance?"

Going wide-eyed, Professor Voss started to smile. "Ohh... dealing with classified information, are we?" she asked, getting a nod from her student. "Unfortunately, I'm only a Class 3. I've been petitioning the Councilor for a higher class, but she's fairly stubborn." The woman eyed the doctor curiously. "You think that would be enough?"

"I would not be able to tell you where I got it, but I can tell you what it is I possess," she said as she inhaled, before slowly exhaling. "B'Nalia, I have a prothean cipher."

As soon as the words left her lips, the glass fell from the woman's grip and shattered on the floor, surprising Liara again. The expression on her face was one of sheer incredulity.

She was silent for a long moment before finally responding. "You must be joking! An entire cipher?" she asked as she leaned forward in the chair. Liara nodded seriously, causing the woman to sit back again. "We've only found fragments until now! How did you find an entire cipher!?"

"I'm afraid I can't say. But that's not all. I may have discovered the cause of the prothean's disappearance as well," she responded, finding it painful to hide such things from her teacher.

Throwing her arms up in dismay, the professor scowled. "Let me guess, that's classified as well?"

"It is," said the younger woman as she bowed her head in apology. But she quickly looked up again when the woman began laughing. "Professor?"

B'Nalia held her head in frustration as she smiled. "I really should have expected this."

"What do you mean?" asked Liara, unsure if the woman was implying something bad about her.

"Ever since the day you graduated, you've been changing the scene of prothean study. You've made discoveries in years that it took decades for some to decipher. You seem to know exactly where to go and what to do to make a new breakthrough on something every couple of years," said the woman with an exasperated sigh. "I've behaved very poorly to you, Liara."

Going wide-eyed, the doctor shook her head. "Prof-B'nalia, you haven't-" she started, but was cut off.

"For half a century you've been making moves forward in prothean study and technology. And I was all too happy to take credit because society thought that you were too young and naive to have made these discoveries on your own," she said as she sat up straight. "Were I a better person, I'd have stood by your side and forced them to accept you. But I didn't, and I apologize for that."

Liara was stunned into silence by the apology. She knew the words she spoke were true. She had even held a small amount of bitterness at the professor's willingness to slap her name on the projects that she herself had poured years of work into. But she never held the woman personally responsible for it. To hear her apologize for it almost made her tear up, but she refused to crumble. "Apology accepted, B'Nalia."

"Thank you, Liara. I hope from this point forward, we can see each other as partners rather than teacher and student," said the woman hopefully.

"I'd like that," said Liara with a gentle smile. "But, in the meantime, I will be needing these artifacts. With the knowledge I now hold, I can potentially interface with them like I never could before."

"I will have the headmaster place them in your care for as long as you need," said the woman with a nod. "Anything else?"

"Well, if you wouldn't mind, I'd also like you to meet Jane. After all, I would never have been able to obtain the cipher without her assistance." Liara grew wary as the woman smiled again.

"First name basis, are you?" she asked playfully, then nodded. "I would much like to meet her myself. If someone can command not only the respect but the devotion of one of the brightest minds to come from the University of Serrice, then they're someone I want to meet."

T'Lana Institute Prothean Museum - Republic of Serrice - Thessia

It had been a while since Liara entered the building. Shepard had decided to forgo the signing in at the front desk and obtaining a guest pass and instead chose to wait out by the vehicle. However, she found two problems stacking up consistently ever since.

The first was that she was a human standing in the middle of a heavily populated area of asari. While Thessia did have civilization centers where other species could come, visit, live, and even work, this area was not one of them. This led to many awed glances from the citizens who walked by. She even had two small asari, barely up to her waste run up and take her hands playfully.

She smiled at the youth, likely barely more than a decade old, and greeted them in Alai, which got surprised looks and gasps of awe from both the children and the adults. But the mother frantically apologized in her language before taking the young girls' hands and leading them away.

The other issue that she was having was with asari society. She had known beforehand through study, and it was reaffirmed through Liara. But the asari were far less modest than most other species in the galaxy. Shepard's first encounter with this while on the crystal blue planet's surface was one of the gawkers that were surprised to see a human. Her dress, while very fancy-looking and elegant, left one of her breasts exposed. Shepard had to quickly look away to keep from staring, only to find another asari wearing a tight-fitting pair of pants with no top whatsoever. Sighing to herself, the spectre just closed her eyes and rubbed her head gently.

Finally, after half an hour inside, Liara resurfaced with another asari woman behind her. As the pair approached, Shepard reached forward and took the pack that Liara was lugging behind her. "Shepard! I want you to meet my professor, B'Nalia Voss!" she said excitedly as the older asari smiled. "B'Nalia, this is Spectre Jane Shepard."

"Good to meet you B'Nalia," said the redhead with a smile. The asari reached forward and offered the spectre the embrace. Shepard nodded and followed through, placing her hands on B’Nalia’s hips and touching her forehead with her own. For a brief moment, she felt joy and almost envy through the simple touch.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Jane," she responded as she smiled and released the woman. "I read up quite a bit on you once news of your induction came to Thessia. But I never thought that a student of my own would be pairing up with the first human Spectre. I'm humbled."

Shepard cocked on eyebrow curiously at the woman, wondering whether she was referring to Liara's helping her, or if she was implying a relationship. But she pushed her curiosities aside and simply smiled back. "Liara's been a great help ever since she came aboard."

"I'm sure she has," said the woman with a playful smile. "So, as is custom for humans, do you intend to have a wedding?"

"Oh goddess…" groaned Liara as she covered her face.

Both of the commander's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the question. Looking over to the doctor, she knew getting an answer there was a lost cause as she had practically buried herself in her hands in embarrassment. Instead, she looked back to the professor. "Sorry?"

"Having known Liara for over fifty years, I can tell when she's enamored with something. I've seen the look on her face when she talks about you only when referring to some of the most prestigious archaeological dig sites," said the asari, which caused even Shepard to blush lightly.

But Shepard shook away her embarrassment and simply smiled. "I have a personal relationship with all of my crew members. Liara is no different," she said, the look in her own eyes saying that the woman should tread carefully.

Apparently picking up the signals, B'Nalia simply smiled and nodded. "I apologize if I crossed a line, Spectre. I was simply asking because I would like your assistance," she said, getting a curious look from the redhead. "See, I need to visit the Citadel due to matters alerted to me by our common friend here," she said, motioning towards Liara. "And I was hoping that I could come with you when you head back that way so that I can assist Liara with her retranslation of prothean data."

Shepard leaned back against the vehicle for a moment as she thought about the request. After a moment, she finally answered. "Alright then. But as a non-member of the crew, you're not allowed to leave the crew deck."

Smiling brilliantly, the asari nodded. "I will keep myself where I am wanted, Spectre. You will have no trouble from me."

"Excuse me, Spectre?" came another, shy voice. All three of them turned to find another asari woman in a tight-fitting black dress standing at the end of the vehicle.

Looking around to make sure there weren't any asari around who could fit that description, she sighed and turned to the woman. "Can I help you?"

"Spectre, my name is Irissa. I'm here at the request of the Honorable Judge Matriarch Teyra," said the woman with a no-nonsense look on her lightly-painted face. "She would like to speak with you."

"Why?" asked Shepard, noticing the shocked looks of both of the asari next to her.

Her look souring; the visitor snorted. "Impudence! You dare question-"

"If you're going to come swinging with the elitist attitude, then I think I'll pass," said Shepard with a look of annoyance. Turning to the others, she waved them towards the vehicle. "Let's go."

"Please!" snapped the woman, almost desperately this time. "Matriarch Teyra would like to see the first human Spectre. She doesn't have long to live!"

Turning back towards the intrusive woman. Sighing to herself, she sighed gently. "Fine," she said as she turned to the others. "You two go ahead and get this back to the Normandy. Hopefully, this won't take long."

Teyra Estate - Republic of Serrice - Thessia

She really shouldn't have been surprised that humans weren't the only creatures in the galaxy to build stupidly elaborate homes for a single person. But as they landed, she couldn't help but marvel at the enormous estate. The entire front side of the manor was a garden of flowers that she had never seen before, all sending scents spiraling around her head that almost made her dizzy. The walkway that they took from the vehicle to the home itself was elaborately decorated with stones and circled around a statue of the goddess Athame.

All she could do as she was led up to the main area of the massive home was stare in awe at the elaborate craftsmanship of the entire estate. But soon her attention turned to another asari woman. She was sitting in a wheelchair, and her face was painted white as intricately, if not more so than Tevos herself. As is usual for an asari of her age, her skin was nearly flawless of any creases, as if she were made of marble that had lost its brilliant blue, being replaced with a more whitish color. The only sign of aging, when compared to humans, were the small webs of wear at the corners of her eyes. She wore robes of red that accented her skin wonderfully and had rows and rows of jeweled bracelets down her slender arms.

"Spectre. It's good to meet you," said the asari in a quiet voice as the human approached.

"Likewise, Honorable Teyra," returned Shepard as she bowed her head respectfully with her hands behind her back.

Irissa looked at Shepard in surprise as the much older woman smiled. "A human well versed in our culture and society. It is refreshing to see that someone of your stature does not think of us by stereotypes, Spectre."

"I worked hard to make sure I'm studied in all kinds of culture, even before taking the role of Spectre," said Shepard as she raised her head again to look at the woman.

"Wonderful," said the chair-bound woman as she leaned her chin into her hand. "Would you care to join me in my study for a moment?"

"I would be honored," she responded, walking forward with Irissa next to her as the elder turned the chair around with the panel on the rest and moved slowly towards the room. Shepard had to keep herself from gawking once more as they entered a solarium. Half of the room was nothing but tempered plasteel, allowing rays of light to pour into the room from outside. All manner of asari relics, titles, degrees, and awards decorated the large shelves that adorned the walls. And directly in the center of the room was a projector that showed a holographic version of the galaxy.

"Do you like my quiet place?" asked the elder as she stopped herself and faced the spectre again.

"It's bigger than most apartments I've had," she said as she turned her focus to the woman.

Irissa cleared her throat, and the elder donned a serious expression. "I am happy that I was able to see your species ascend to Spectrehood before I died. But the real reason I asked you here was that I'd like to ask you a question."

"I will answer as well as I can," replied Shepard as she kept her hands behind her back.

Smiling lightly, the elder woman nodded. "Spectre, hypothetically, what would be the asking price if I wanted you to assassinate someone for me?"

Shepard's eyes widened at the question before she donned a stern look. "I'm afraid I'd have to hypothetically take your offer to the Council, and have you arrested for conspiracy to commit murder," she responded seriously. "I'm afraid what little time you have left would be spent behind bars, your Honor."

Smiling wider, the asari nodded. "Good," she said, getting a confused look from the redhead. "I didn't bring you here to hire you as an assassin, Spectre. I just needed to know how easily your allegiance changes."

"My allegiance is to the people of the galaxy above all else, even the Council. My crew knows that, the Council knows that, and the Alliance knows that," she said with a no-nonsense look as she dropped her proper demeanor.

"Indeed. And that's why you are here," said the judge as she leaned forward in her wheelchair. "I've lived a long life, Spectre. In two months, I will be one thousand, one hundred, and twenty-five years old. In that time, I've been a judge for over five hundred years. And as a judge, I've been a very bad person."

"How so?" asked Shepard curiously as she crossed her arms.

Looking down at the ground, the elder sighed. "I've closed my eyes on many crimes and let hundreds of dangerous criminals go. These are acts I regret and intend to rectify." Teyra looked up at Shepard again with a sharp stare. "Before I die, I intend to correct my mistakes and reveal the crimes of these monsters. However…"

"They're probably not going to like that very much," said Shepard as she started piecing the puzzle together.

"Indeed. And while I trust my bodyguards, all it would take is one paid off member of my security to leave me vulnerable so that someone can put a bullet in my head," she said with a sour look. "The people that intend to stop me are very powerful and will stop at nothing to keep me from talking. And because of that, I'd like you to protect me until I go tomorrow to see the Conclave."

Sighing to herself, the spectre nodded. "Using someone from the outside who can't be influenced by the criminals in question," she said, getting a clear enough picture. She ran the potential scenarios through her head of how things could go wrong. All of the combatants would be asari, meaning biotics would be flying around like fireworks at New Years. She would have to upgrade her armor to compensate for the detachable weapons. Looking up at the woman, she planted her hands on her hips. "Let's say I agree to do this. I expect you will be compensating me?"

"I did not expect to leave you empty-handed if you are successful, Spectre. You will be rewarded handsomely for your efforts," said the asari with a gentle smile.

Finally, Shepard nodded. "Alright. Then when do you expect an attack?"

“I’ve been receiving attempts on my life for the last week. They have failed thus far due to my overly cautious nature. But tonight will be their last chance to get to me. I do not believe they will be pulling any punches, as you humans say,” remarked the judge as she stayed remarkably still in her chair.

Shepard nodded and tilted her head curiously. “I get to do things my way?”

"I’m aware you have your own team and as long as you trust them, they are welcome in my estate as well. But I have another Spectre on the way who has also agreed to help. I know her personally, and she should be able to assist you," she said as she wheeled herself in front of Shepard. "I am putting my life in your hands, Spectre. Do not let justice fail."

"I don't intend to, your Honor. But I have one rule if I'm to do this," she said, getting a curious look from the elder. "When I tell you to do something, you do it. Do not ask questions, do not argue with me. Just do what I say as fast as you possibly can."

"I trust you Spectre because you are focused on doing what's right, and not about your pocketbook. I will not question your orders," said the woman with a smile. "Now, it's about time you armored up. Your very presence here has likely set my antagonists in motion, and it will not be long before they try to strike."

CODEX ENTRIES

Moon Crazy | Translation | Turian Common
An expression meant to imply someone is working late at night. Given the similarity of the two phrases, translators commonly mistranslate this expression as the derogatory insult “lunatic” from human languages.

Raltae | Zoology | Palaven
A large, ground-based predatory avian from Palaven. Like ostriches and emu from Earth, they have large, dangerous legs that can kick and kill easily with blade-like talons for tearing. Despite their predatory nature, they are farmed and eaten for their high protein qualities.

Tofa | Edible Flora | Rannoch
Originally a plant borne of the planet Rannoch, once the quarians had joined the galactic community, it became a fast favorite of turians. It’s a root vegetable grown in the ground sometimes called the quarian potato that is commonly boiled into soups, stews, or even simply eaten as is. It has become so wildly popular with turians due to its flexibility in cuisine and its ability to easily store that its proverbial roots on Rannoch are sometimes forgotten.

Spider Boots | Technology | Equipment
Technology that comes standard in most military armors that relies on suction. When one boot is secure on the ground, it sends a signal throughout the armor that uses the power of suction to keep the boot anchored, and then releases the suction from the other boot allowing the person using the armor to walk functionally in zero gravity. Recommended only for use on space stations or ships, as the suction requires flat surfaces in order to create enough of a void to hold someone in place. They also have a magnetic mode that allows limited use on mineral rich asteroids.

Embrace | Culture | Asari
As common as a human handshake or turian wrist clasp on Thessia and asari colonies, the embrace is a greeting born of the asari, a species that are less modest with innate biotics. The embrace consists of two people placing their hands on each other’s hips and pressing their foreheads together. The simple touch of foreheads allows enough extrasensory touch in order to show their joy in meeting. Asari who are not thrilled with who they are meeting often forgo the embrace and use less intimate greetings from other species.

Chapter 28: Battle on Thessia

Chapter Text

Teyra Estate - Republic of Serrice - Thessia

It had only been an hour before Liara and Wrex returned with her armor. After the request from the judge, Shepard had put in a notice with the asari government of her presence, and of her intent to help the judge make it to the courthouse the next day to prevent any international incidents from going down. If she had to shoot a Thessian citizen because they tried to kill her, then she wasn't about to raise her hands and let herself die.

Luckily, she got a response almost instantly from the Conclave of Serrice with the approval of her mission, as well as approval from Tevos. Shortly afterward, she got a personal call on her comm.

Opening the call, Shepard was surprised to see the face of the asari Councilor herself. "Greetings Spectre. I hope I am not intruding," she said pleasantly.

"Not particularly. I'm watching the house at the moment and making sure that nobody tries to sneak in and do anything funny. What can I help you with?" asked Shepard curiously.

"I wanted to thank you for accepting the mission to protect Judge Teyra. As it happens, she is my mother, and I'd very much like to see her live until the galaxy takes her spirit back naturally." Shepard's eyes immediately widened at the claim.

"Teyra is your mother?" she asked, shocked at the happenstance.

"Indeed. We have a close relationship, but despite this, she kept her shady judgments from even me. I'm both proud that she's confessing, and angry that she waited so long," said the counsilor with a stern glare.

"Yeah, it's easy to do the right thing when you're already knocking on death's door. Even so, I'll take a good deed over doing nothing at all," said the spectre with a sigh.

"As will I. The reason I called is to give you information on the groups that will be attempting such a brazen attack. The names she gave me correlate with an increase in the number of gang-affiliated individuals flocking to the city," she said as she closed her eyes for a moment. "The biggest group you'll have to deal with is the Sisterhood of Serrice. They are local and know the city better than any of the others, making them the most dangerous. Chances are, you might also have to deal with traitors among the commandos that are protecting her. So, watch your back, Jane."

"Thank you for the information. How about the other groups?" she asked as she ran a hand through her red hair.

"The others are small groups. The Althiryte have a little over a hundred total, and most of them won't be here. But you might meet a few, and I'd advise against turning your back on them. There's also another local group that's made up of a family of asari, the N'Ani family. They are less likely to get involved, but they do have a few high-ranking members that will be implicated when she testifies. So, if someone approaches, make sure your DNA scanner is running while talking to people," she replied cautiously.

"Thank you, Councilor. You've made my job a lot easier," said the spectre with a smile.

"I'll do what I can to help, Jane," she said with a quick smile. "So, have you fully interpreted the visions that have been plaguing you?"

"Unfortunately, no. The cipher took a while to settle in my mind. At first, all I got was white noise when I saw them again. But... I've also been having help with the nightmares," she said vaguely as she avoided the topic of Liara spending nights with her.

"I'm happy to hear you are getting assistance. When you do finally manage to unlock what it's saying, please contact me. I'd love to be updated on what exactly the beacon was showing you," said the councilor with a bow of her head. "May the Goddess shield you, Jane."

"Thank you," she finally said as she finished the call. Suddenly, she was alerted as the bell rang to signify someone at the door. Taking Tevos's advice, she activated her omni-tool and began running her DNA scanner immediately. Walking to the door in full armor, she opened it and saw an asari woman in full armor. Immediately, she reached for her weapon, but the asari woman held up her hands.

"Peace, Spectre. I am here at the request of the Honorable Judge Teyra," she said with a grin. Shepard looked the woman up and down. Her scalp was bare of any marks, similar to Liara, but her eyes were shadowed with the darker blue that arched up over her brow. It was potentially one of the most unique natural birthmarks she had ever seen.

Shepard looked down at her scanner as it gave her a positive ID. [Farah T'Laya - Citadel Special Tactics and Reconnaissance]

Her eyes widened slightly as she looked back up at the woman. Releasing her hold on the pistol, she nodded. "So, you're Operative T’Laya, the other Spectre she mentioned?"

"I am indeed. I am Farah T'Laya, and I've helped Matriarch Teyra on many of her cases before," she said with a widening smile. "I've also heard a lot about you, Shepard."

Shepard cocked an eyebrow curiously. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Well, let's just say I was a fan before you became a Spectre. Mostly because of your work on Elysium," she said as she stepped into the house. The two began walking together inside and made their way up towards the matriarch's personal room.

"Yeah, I guess that became kind of a public thing thanks to the news reporter on site," she said as she scratched her head. "But at least the person I'm working with knows what I'm capable of. And it helps that you've worked alongside the judge as well."

"Yes, it does. I hope we work well together, Shepard," she said as she opened the door and entered the room.

Defense Station One - Teyra Estate - Republic of Serrice - Thessia

"So, we have the authorization to destroy anyone trying to assassinate the judge, correct?" asked Wrex with a small grin.

Shepard eyed him with a cheeky smile through her faceplate. "Yes, but still be careful where you're shooting that thing. I don't want you taking out any assisting commandos in the process."

"Hey, Shepard. Are you going to make a habit of roping us into trouble?" asked Garrus as he walked by fully armed.

"That's what you get for being on the A-Team of a Spectre," said the woman as she watched the cameras like a hawk.

"I don't know if I should feel honored or horrified at my potential future," said the turian with a chuckle.

"That makes two of us," said Ashley from across the room. "Normally, I'm good with a decent firefight. But all of our opponents are biotics, and likely highly trained in them."

"Don't worry, human. I'll protect you from the evil space magic," said Wrex in amusement as he left the room to check the grounds again.

Ash glared at him as he left, then looked to Shepard. "You have some kind of plan?"

"I always have a plan. Sometimes they work, and sometimes you jump into a crane when it doesn't," said Shepard with a smile.

Ash chuckled and shook her head. "I'll always be here to watch your ass, Shepard."

"Good," said the spectre as she touched the surface of one of the hard light displays and zoomed in on it. "Huh…"

The gunnery chief walked up to the display and looked over the area. It was out back in one of the many lush gardens that surrounded the estate. "What is it?"

"An oddity," said Shepard as she opened her comm. "Team Four, are you in position?"

"Team Four is in position and ready to defend the estate," responded the asari.

"Have any of your team entered the garden itself?" she asked curiously as she zoomed in on the camera.

"Negative. We all entered from the front of the manor and have been set up here ever since," responded the team leader.

"What is it?" asked Ash as she stared at the screen. It was an almost immaculate zen garden fashioned after those in Japan. The asari had taken to Japanese culture almost immediately as soon as the First Contact War ended, leading to a mimicking of their zen culture on Thessia. But this garden, while still beautiful with its asari symbols raked into the sand, had one flaw. Half of a footprint had disrupted the lovely purple display. "A footprint?" she asked as she looked up at the spectre.

"All teams report. Has anyone on the grounds been in the garden outside of Defense Station Four?" she asked hastily as she turned away from the camera and headed for the door. They all replied back to her with negatives. "Team Two, send me one of your squad to meet me in the hallway leading to Station Four," she ordered as she headed for the door. Ash followed her as she exited the room and began descending the stairs. "Wrex, Garrus, and Liara assemble at Defense Station One in case someone tries to enter the room while I'm away."

As she hit the bottom, she beelined for the hallway itself. As they arrived, the soldier nodded to Shepard. "Tiffa S'Anna, Spectre," she said, introducing herself.

"Good to meet you," said the commander as she patted the woman on the back. "We're all three going to split up and search the rooms in this hallway. Someone may have entered the grounds using stealth, so watch your back and use laser targeters on your weapons," she ordered as she tossed both Ash and Tiffa a device for their weapons.

"Why the laser targeters?" asked Ash as she added the mod to her weapon.

"Cloaking devices refract light to make you invisible. If your laser runs over a target that is using modern cloaking devices, then it'll refract the laser too, lighting them up," she said as she opened her omni-tool.

Ash nodded and turned the device on as she looked towards one of the doors. "I'll take this room over here," she said, getting a nod from the spectre before she dashed off.

"I'll then take this one," said the asari commando as she opened a door and entered.

Shepard sighed to herself as she entered a room on the opposite side of the hall from the others. Slowly she entered and peaked inside with her pistol aimed down. It was a music room with many asari instruments from almost every variety of woodwind, percussion, and string. There was even a human piano sitting in the direct middle of the large space. The spectre peeked around the room before finally entering with her weapon drawn. Running the laser over the room, she confirmed that nobody was in the open with cloaking. Despite that, her instinct told her that she was in the right place.

"I know you're here. I'll give you one chance to show yourself and leave here in cuffs. If you try to resist, you will be either horribly maimed or killed," she said as she stayed near the door.

Unfortunately, she had forgotten to inspect one place upon entering. Directly above her, a shady figure dropped down and slammed heavily into Shepard, sending her to the floor. Shepard groaned as she spun onto her back with her weapon drawn, but she immediately froze as a biotic stasis was put on her. She tried with all her might to fight it, but she was utterly encased.

"Poor poor human. Trying to play in the big leagues with the rest of us as you fumble around in other people's business," came the sing-song voice of another asari. Shepard could finally see her, and her weapon was aimed directly at her. But she couldn't pull the trigger due to the stasis. "And now you are going to do my work for me," she said as she walked around to where Shepard's head lay. Reaching down, she gripped Shepard over the mouth where her helmet didn't cover. The stasis shattered, but it was too late.

As the asari's bare hand gripped her exposed face, her eyes shot wide open as she felt an invasion into her mind begin. Her memories sprung up rapidly and she heard a voice inside her mind. "You are going to kill the judge," said the woman as the overwhelming biotic attack nearly crippled her. Suddenly, her body went limp and she stared at the ceiling.

The asari jerked her hand back and held her head gently as she glared at Shepard. "You're a pain in the quad, you know that? But nobody escapes the domination," she said confidently. "Now stand up." Shepard rolled onto her stomach, then stood up and faced the asari. "What are you going to do?"

"Kill the judge," she responded in a monotone voice.

"Good. Now, go do your job" ordered the asari with a wicked grin.

Shepard stepped forward and moved towards the door. But as soon as she got within range of the asari, she immediately lashed out with a fierce punch. She had aimed for the woman's throat, but the asari's reactionary dodge caused it to crash into her cheek instead, sending her bodily into the piano. Shepard glared and dashed forward hastily, despite the fact that the woman had drawn a gun and aimed at her.

Firing a shot, the round bounced off Shepard's shields. Soon after, the spectre threw another punch into the woman's face, sending her sprawling on the ground. "Poor poor asari, trying to play in the big leagues with me while fumbling around in other people's business," said Shepard as she sent a kick directly into the woman's face.

The asari landed and coughed heavily, looking up as the spectre stood over her again. "Damn…" Suddenly, she exploded with biotic power. Sending out a massive wave of dark energy, she lifted Shepard from the ground as well as herself in a field of blue.

Snorting, Shepard smiled as they were both trapped. The field didn't harm her, it just lifted her off the ground in an attempt to hinder her. Reaching down, she activated the device on her belt causing her pistol to jet from the ground stick to the device.

Gripping the weapon, Shepard then aimed it directly at the woman's head. One shot was all it took for her execution. The woman died instantly and the biotic field vanished, causing them both to hit the ground harshly. Shepard groaned as she placed both of her hands on the ground and pushed herself to her knees.

The door burst open instantly as both Ash and the asari rushed in with their guns ready. "Shepard! Are you alright!?" asked the chief as she rushed to her side to help.

"I'm fine," said a panting Shepard as she finally got back to her feet. "She tried to dominate me."

Ash's eyes widened at the claim. "I... I see…"

Shepard put her pistol away as she looked at the gunnery chief. "While I'm almost certain I fought it off, I can't guarantee the judge's safety around me," she said as she opened her omni-tool. "Alenko, I took down an infiltrator in the music room. You're in charge of guarding Judge Teyra. I'll be taking the rounds out here."

"Affirmative Commander," came his response as Ash walked with her back into the hallway.

"Commander, we've got company," came the familiar voice of the asari spectre.

"Where at?" asked the commander as she stopped.

"The front door. Either some very unlucky gardeners are coming back for some last-minute maintenance, or they realized that their infiltration attempt failed," said the spectre, whose statement was pronounced with a loud shot from a long range weapon.

"Wrex, you stay with Alenko. Team Two, move up to secure the judge. I'll be taking your place," she ordered as she headed for the entrance.

Defense Station Two - Teyra Estate - Republic of Serrice - Thessia

"We've got an entire squad of commandos charging the gates. You're about to get hit hard," came the urgent call from the hidden asari spectre.

Ash snorted and patted the weapon at her side. "They're about to run into the biggest wall they've ever seen."

"Glad you're prepared," said Shepard with a smile as she ducked behind the barricade that they set up on the front door.

"Fifty meters out. Damn, watch out, biotics are lit!" said Farah through the comm as her long-range rifle fired again.

Immediately, Ash grabbed Shepard and threw both of them out of the way as a wild shockwave of biotic energy slammed into the barrier. Unfortunately, the defenses didn't block it, as the dark energy attack phased directly through it, sending two commandos flying.

"Dammit! Get up and drive them back!" shouted the spectre as she got to her feet and raised her own sniper.

"Sons of bitches, I've got something for them," shouted Ash as she pulled her weapon off her back. "Commander, how far out are they?"

"Thirty meters! Why?" she asked as she looked over at the chief. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she saw the new heavy weapon laying across the barricade.

"Take cover now!" shouted the gunnery chief as she pulled the trigger on the weapon. It charged for a moment as the asari ducked behind the barricades, then fired a glowing shot into the distance. In seconds, the bolt exploded, sending out more explosives and detonating in a cascade of fire and death on the landscape that pounded against their barrier with debris. "Direct hit!"

"Good! Now switch to conventional weapons. If you fire that thing any closer, it'll take us out too!" shouted Shepard as she changed to an assault rifle and began firing at the incoming death squad.

Defense Station One - Teyra Estate - Republic of Serrice - Thessia

"What the hell was that?" asked Kaiden as the floor shook beneath them.

"Probably the chief giving whoever is stupid enough to run headfirst into Shepard a taste of her new toy," said Wrex with a smirk. "It's a shame I got left up here. But I'll probably still get to kill someone."

"Let's hope that's not the case," said Kaidan as he opened his omni-tool and looked at the position of the rest of the stations. Every entrance of the mansion was covered by at least four asari commandos that were hired to help. Garrus was currently at station three, checking on them, while Tali was roaming the halls checking on Shepard's intruder alarms. And Liara was currently on her way to station one to help Shepard.

Despite their assistance, Kaidan was warned of potential betrayals from the commandos. Thessia was mostly run state by state rather than having a one world government like the Alliance. This was mostly due to the fact that the asari homeworld was 90% water, and most of the nations were divided by vast oceans. Serrice was the largest and most well connected, making it the head of the Council's representative arm. That said, any of the asari here could be a hired hit. He would have to place himself firmly between any of them and the matriarch.

Looking up at the mercenary, he waved him over. Wrex plodded over to the human curiously. "I need you to keep a close eye on the commandos here while I continue to monitor the situation outside," he said with a serious face.

Wrex grunted, then opened his omni-tool. Kaidan chuckled as he slowly activated a few programs, no doubt still learning the process through Tali's teachings. "I'll keep an eye out. But watch your back. These commandos aren't a joke," warned the krogan as he turned away and walked around the large room towards the asari.

Nodding, the human sighed and glanced at the omni-tool again. Suddenly, a call came from station four. "We've got an intruder near the garage! Requesting assistance!"

Kaidan looked up and nodded to the asari in the room, and all but one of them left for the call of assistance. "I'll stay behind just in case," said the last one.

"I'm gonna go help them out," stated the krogan as he too left the area.

After a few seconds, it was just him and the asari. She looked over at him curiously, her face blank of any markings. "So, how did you get the pleasure of working with a spectre?" she asked curiously as she leaned against the wall.

Kaidan looked up at the asari suspiciously. "I worked with her before she was a spectre. Then, when the time came and she got promoted, she asked that I come with her and help," he responded as he opened a program on his omni-tool.

"That's pretty convenient. You got a lot of experience in special ops?" asked the woman as she moved closer to the man.

"Not a ton, but I've worked with them a few times. Mostly on Earth," he said as he gazed at his omni-tool. Suddenly, a notice popped up. [Nia N'Ani/Tess Faya/Na'aru Tonali]. As soon as he saw the name, he looked up at her curiously. "What was your name again?"

"Tess Faya. I worked with the Sisterhood of Eclipse myself. It gave me plenty of experience in infiltration," she said as she waved her hand. Kaidan went to stand, but immediately got caught in her stasis. "Now, you sit right there. I'll be right back," she said with a cheeky grin.

Kaidan focused his biotic power outward in an explosion that ripped the stasis off of him and threw the woman against the wall. Reaching out, he grabbed her again with his biotics and tossed her away from the matriarch's door and into another wall. "I'm sure it helped you a lot. But while you may have the experience of a few hundred years, we humans learn fast."

"I can see that. No wonder you're on the Spectre's squad," she said as she got to her feet again. She lashed out and tried to grab him with biotics, but he threw his own and the dark energy collided in the middle, causing an explosion that knocked both of them backward. Kaidan slammed into the wall next to the door, gasping as the blow drove the wind from his lungs. He got to his hands and knees again to catch his breath, but unfortunately, the asari woman was already up and glaring at him. "Humans may learn fast, but it looks like you didn't learn fast enough. Never fuck with a commando," she growled as she readied her biotics again. Her body was crackling with power as he tried to reach back for his weapon, but he knew he had no hope of catching her.

Suddenly, the woman gasped in horror as a loud shot sounded across the room. Instead of launching her attack, she fell forward onto her face with a blank stare, now leaking purple blood from the corner of her mouth. And as soon as she fell, Kaidan saw what happened, as Wrex stood in the doorway with his shotgun smoking. "How long?" asked the krogan.

"How long what?" asked Kaidan as he stood again and regained his wind.

"How long did you hesitate after finding out she was related to the N'Ani family?" asked the mercenary as he stepped up to the woman's body, then blasted her once more in the spine to make sure she was dead.

"Too long," said the human as he pulled his sub-machine gun off his back and readied it.

"That's right. Don't hesitate. Hesitation means the difference between life and death," said the krogan firmly as he pointed in the human's face. "You humans are always too quick to give the benefit of the doubt. And mercenaries like her take advantage of that courtesy. When you're fighting against thugs like her, you need to drop the formalities."

Kaidan stared at him a long moment before finally sighing and nodding. "You're right. I should have shot her as soon as I saw her affiliation," he said with a smirk. "It's always a rare treat when a grumpy old krogan teaches you a lesson."

"Heh, get used to it. We're going to be working together to find Saren, so you're going to get a lot more lecturing," said Wrex as he held his shotgun up.

Suddenly, a thought passed through Kaidan's mind, causing him to stare narrowly at the mercenary. "Wrex, why did you come back?"

"Back on the Citadel, Tali helped me pick out a new omni-tool with a lot of features on it. I had scanned her before I even left the room, and instead of following them to the obvious bait call, I waited outside the door," he said with a smirk.

"So, you knew she was an infiltrator, but let her attack me... because…?" he asked with a stern glare.

"I wanted to see how you handled it," said the krogan matter-of-factly.

"Right," responded Kaidan with a roll of his eyes. "In any case, we've got a case of cry wolf among one of the teams who tried to bait us out. We need to find out who made the call and apprehend them," he said as he raised his omni-tool. "Garrus, your detective skills are needed at Station Four."

Defense Station Two - Teyra Estate - Republic of Serrice - Thessia

After the shockwave, Shepard growled and ducked behind the barrier. Ash groaned as she too rose to her knees and took cover as well. "Damn. Not sure how many of those I can take."

"You won't have to deal with too many more," said the spectre with a growl as she activated her omni-tool. "Cover your ears and close your eyes, both of you. Whatever you do, do not look over the barrier until I've given the all clear," she ordered, and both the chief and the asari nearby followed the order. Hitting the button on her helmet, Shepard's face disappeared as the full cover sealed itself over her mouth, working to deafen her to what was about to come. Using her omni-tool, she switched herself to thermal vision. "Spectre, you might want to look away for a moment."

"Understood," came the return call. Raising her computer again, she hit a trigger and suddenly a blast of light erupted on the other side of the barricade. Screams of horror were heard shortly after the same device let off a concussive blast that deafened anyone in the area that wasn't prepared.

Standing up immediately, the spectre raised her pistol and jumped over the barrier as she saw the red silhouettes of the four remaining asari stumbling around in the darkness holding their eyes and ears. Walking close enough to bypass their barriers, she blasted two directly through the skull as the device continued to erupt with cascading light. One of the asari tried to use her biotics, but without her vision, her attacks were all but useless as the commander simply stepped out of the way. Planting the barrel of her pistol directly against the exposed woman's neck, she fired and ended her flailing.

The last of the four survivors of the initial onslaught was on the ground, gasping as purple blood gushed from her mouth. Shepard eyed her curiously, noting a hole that had punctured her armor directly into her chest cavity. Looking over at the building with her visor protecting her, she wondered where the other spectre was, and if she were responsible for the rogue shot. Kneeling down, she placed her pistol against the woman's head and ended her suffering.

"I take it that was you, T'Laya?" asked the commander as she deactivated the device, allowing for the others to see again.

"I always come prepared," said the woman from who knew where.

Shepard noted that as she leaned down and picked up the disruptor mine. Should she ever find herself at odds with the spectre, she liked to know her enemy. "Glad to hear it. Do you see any more activity on the grounds?"

"After your little distraction went off, I got word of a group of vehicles headed this way. So, we might need to expect... more," said the asari as her voice trailed off. "On second thought, they're here. So, you might want to ready yourself for a squad of aircars."

"Don't worry, I always come prepared," said Shepard with a smile. Opening her omni-tool, she activated her secret weapon, then headed back towards the house.

"Spectre?" asked the commando as she approached the door and hopped over the barricade.

Suddenly, explosions began lighting up the night sky again in the background. Reaching up, she placed her hand on the shoulder of the asari woman who had a look of sheer terror on her face at the sight of magnetic mines blasting the reinforcements to pieces. "See that? That's what happens when you fuck with me," said the commander as she looked over at the woman. "If you want to survive the night, you keep both your biotics and your weapons pointed at them. Do I make myself clear?" she asked threateningly as her grip tightened.

The woman's gaze turned to Shepard, still holding the look of horror as she realized her affiliation had been discovered. Shepard could see the woman's biotic aura dancing over her skin, but she knew due to the impotent power that it was more of a nervous reaction from her lumaline than any kind of attack. Finally, she nodded.

"Good. Hopefully, when this is over, you'll be able to live your life without relying on their kind," she said as she turned towards the smokey landscape.

"Shepard, you have some survivors from your welcoming committee advancing over the grounds. And they do not look happy at all," said the asari spectre.

Shepard could hear the smile in the woman's voice, making her chuckle lightly. "Then let's lay out the welcome mat," she said as she pulled her sniper off her back again.

"Shepard!" shouted Liara as she finally stumbled up to the barrier in full armor.

Looking at the doctor, Shepard smiled behind her helmet. "Good to have you, Liara."

"Apologies! This place is so large!" she said as she stepped up next to the barricade. "Did I miss much?"

"Got here just in time actually. We've got another wave of dogs who need their noses smacked," said Ash as she readied her assault rifle.

"S-Spectre…" said the commando, her expression still in shock as she tried to speak. The spectre looked at her curiously. "This wave will have heavy weapons."

"What kind?" asked Shepard curiously as she looked the woman up and down. It was clear that while this asari was a commando that was hired to disrupt the defense forces, she was a fairly new one. A more experienced commando might have attacked when threatened or even kept the information to herself.

"Lightning arc weapons. They were only to be used as a last resort…" said the asari as she gripped her weapon tightly. "I... I do not wish to die here, Spectre."

Sighing to herself, Shepard turned towards the horizon. "Liara, can your biotics stop them?"

"I'm unsure, Shepard. But I'm willing to try," said the doctor as her own biotics flared up too.

"I will assist her," said the commando.

Activating her comm again, Shepard nodded. "T'Laya. We've got troopers on the ground with heavy weapons. I need you to take them out as soon as you see them light up."

"Understood, Shepard," replied the asari as the comm went dead again.

"Alright, this is their last shot! Get yourselves ready!" commanded Shepard as she pulled her sniper rifle free.

Defense Station Four - Teyra Estate - Republic of Serrice - Thessia

"So, why are we heading for Station Four?" asked Tali curiously as she followed Garrus through the halls.

"Apparently, the Lieutenant was attacked after someone drew the rest of the non-infiltrating commandos away from Station One. The call came from Station Four and turned out to be fake. So that means that one of the commandos at Station Four set him up," said Garrus as he entered the final stretch of the hall.

"Oh... he's alright, right? I mean, he's not hurt or anything, is he?" she asked as casually as she could.

"He's fine. He had Wrex to help him. But now, we have to figure out who…" he said, then stopped as he saw an asari approaching with her biotics already lit. Raising his weapon, he yelled loudly, "Halt! Take another step and-" Suddenly, the asari waved her hand and the turian flew up and smashed into the ceiling before hitting the ground.

Tali immediately responded with a neural shock from her omni-tool. The asari yelled loudly and held her head as the electric shock stunned her. Garrus immediately rose to his feet and raised his weapon again, but another biotic attack threw both the quarian and turian back down the hallway.

"Ugh…" groaned Tali as she got to her feet and pulled up her shotgun. Quickly, she sent shots down the hallway, trying to score on the commando, but the woman held a powerful shield up that stopped any shots from going through.

"We have to get her to drop her barrier before we can attack. At the same time, she has to drop it in order to attack us," said Garrus as he too got to his feet.

"I have a plan. Here, take this," she said as she planted something in his talons. Looking down, he saw the device and immediately knew what her plan was.

Gripping the electronic device, he dashed forward and shot at the barrier while Tali continued to shoot from her own side. Unfortunately, the woman easily blocked them, then sent Garrus crashing into the wall. As he hit the ground, he rolled onto his feet and began shooting again as he backed up to gain some distance. "Damn. Her biotics hit like an airbus," he complained as he rejoined Tali.

"Almost there. Be ready," said Tali as both of the two stepped backward, wanting to keep their distance from the biotic juggernaut that was marching towards them. Finally, the woman stepped over the device that Garrus had planted on the floor beneath some of the debris that his collision with the wall created. As soon as she stepped over it, Tali activated it and it exploded. But not with fire. Instead, it exploded with so much force that it launched the woman forward.

Garrus moved forward and swung with a kick that successfully landed in her thigh, causing his spur blade to slash open her blue skin and splash the ground with purple blood. Gasping, the woman hit the ground next to a small fountain of water but ignored her wounds and rose up on her remaining working leg.

"Damn. I have to admit, she has resilience," said the turian as he tried firing again, only to be stopped by the barrier once more.

"That's it!" shouted Tali angrily as she charged forward. Raising her shotgun, she blasted the barrier twice before her heat sink ejected. The woman groaned in pain at the strain that the shots caused her, meanwhile, Garrus continued to pelt her shield with more shots. "Lay down, let us cuff you, and we'll dress your wound. If you continue to resist, you will be killed."

The asari glared at her and dropped her shield, attempting to warp the quarian's suit. But Tali moved faster and caught her wrist, sending the biotic attack into a nearby column. The stone crumbled to dust as she kicked the woman directly into her injured leg. The asari gasped and fell to one knee before the quarian spun around and kicked her as hard as she could across the jaw.

The biotic's body flew and landed face down in the water of the fountain. Her biotic aura vanished as she splashed and floated face-down across the rippling surface. Garrus approached and eyed the infiltrator with his weapon drawn. Stepping over the small fountain, he entered the water, then reached down and gently pressed his talon to her neck. "Oh…"

"Oh what? Is she alive?" asked Tali as she held her shotgun trained on the asari.

"Well, I was checking for a pulse, but it turns out that you broke her neck," said the turian as he faced the quarian. "That was a hell of a kick."

Sighing, Tali lowered her weapon. "I haven't used hand to hand in a while. Not since Shepard found me on the Citadel. I guess you kind of lose your sense of control."

"I know a few turian drill instructors who would be impressed," he said as he turned towards the nearly destroyed hallway. "Let's check up on the other asari. With her here, she may have left behind more traitors, or bodies."

Defense Station Two - Teyra Estate - Republic of Serrice - Thessia

Liara groaned as the lightning from the arc weapons smashed against her biotic barrier. The devices sent flashing bolts across the landscape, lighting the scene up as the last wave of invaders tried to penetrate the compound. Shots were heard firing from above, but despite the relentless sniper's attempts, the heavy weapons still fired.

"They're working in teams now. Any time I take one's barriers and shields down, they swap out with another. And unfortunately, my rifle can't keep up with their pace," growled the asari spectre.

"That means we need to assist. Ash, you're with me. You two, hold the barriers until I say to drop them!" shouted Shepard as she looked at the gunnery chief. "You know how to use long range?" she asked as she passed over another sniper.

"I'm not a surgeon like you, but I can manage," said the soldier as she took the weapon and readied it.

"Right. Ready on the barricade," said the spectre as she laid the weapon across the shield. We're both aiming for the same target. Far right, holding arc projector, center mass," she ordered as Ash followed her example. "Ready, drop!"

Liara and the commando both dropped to the ground to avoid the lightning as Shepard and Ash fired at practically the same time. The asari unit holding the arc projector lost her shields, then the second round slammed into her barriers, nearly knocking them down. Suddenly, another shot rang out from above and blasted through the barriers and killed the insurgent. Liara stood and projected the barrier once more with the nervous commando following suit.

"One down, twelve to go," groaned Ash as she allowed her rifle to cool off.

"Shepard," came the call from the spectre. "Perhaps this is a bit unorthodox, but do you think you could aim for the weapons?"

Cocking her eyebrow, Shepard turned her scope towards the weapons themselves. "They're big enough to hit. You heard her, Williams. You go for far left; I'll go for far right."

"Roger!" said the soldier as she turned her scope towards one of the projectors.

"Center mass, exhale, squeeze, fire twice to bypass shields," said Shepard to the chief as she lined up her own target. "Drop!" Immediately, the barrier dropped, and the lightning crashed into the doorway, splintering it as both rifles fired at the same time. The snipers ducked behind the barrier, shielding themselves from the falling debris.

Shepard's target dropped the projector as the entire handle, trigger and all were blasted from the weapon. Ash's target exploded outright, killing its operator as the round penetrated the fuel cell and exploded. And the third and final target managed to discharge the weapon before the round hit, causing it to spin wildly. The lightning swung from the house and scored on one of their own squadmates, cooking her from the inside out before it overloaded and crumbled.

In the span of a minute, all remaining units from the attack dropped the scraps of the heavy weapons and fled the scene immediately. Shepard watched them go over the barrier and sighed to herself as she leaned against the shielded wall. "Good job everyone. Hopefully, they've learned their lesson."

"Everything good on your end, Commander?" asked Kaidan through the comm.

"Finally. All stations report in," she ordered as she stood up and headed inside the shattered door of the manor.

"Station One is secure. We had an incident, but it's been taken care of," responded Kaidan again.

"Station Three is secure. No incidents," replied an asari commando.

"Station Four was taken out by an insider. One casualty, two injuries, and a dead infiltrator," came Garrus's call.

"Station Five is secure. We had one of our own turn, but we put them down ourselves," responded the last station.

"Glad to hear we're still up. I doubt they'll have the means to respond again before Serrice is able to bring in their gunships. By then, it'll be too late," said Shepard as she reached up and removed her helmet, letting out a sigh of relief.

CODEX ENTRIES

Althiryte | Translation | Y’Valtic
A word coming from one of the less commonly spoke asari tongues known as Y’Valtic, althiryte refers to the peak of perfection. Sometimes used when referring to the Goddess Athame, it is more commonly associated with an organized crime syndicate known for its work in drug and illegal firearm trafficking throughout asari space.

Laser Targeters | Technology | Military
Laser targeting was originally phased out of weaponry once mass accelerator weapons began using VI aiming assistance. But it is still commonly used when dealing with infiltrators that use light bending technology for camouflage. When pointing a beam of light directly at a target who uses this form of stealth, their own camouflage bends the laser, making them glow like a beacon. For this reason, many doorways to important buildings have security checkpoints that shine hundreds of lasers into any entrance into the grounds.

Chapter 29: Prothean Memories

Chapter Text

Cockpit - SSV Normandy SR1

Shepard groaned as she entered the small, enclosed space. Currently, the ship was reaching exit velocity as it left the asari homeworld. Joker spun around in his chair and eyed her curiously, as she was now fully armored with her weapons on her back.

"Sooo... I take it they didn't want to part with Liara's work?" he asked with a snarky grin.

"Nope. We had to go down and steal a national treasure Oceans style," she said with a grin back as she sat sideways in the empty copilot seat next to him.

"Having a good ol' Hollywood heist without your get-away driver? I'm hurt," he said dramatically as he held his hand over his heart. After Shepard chuckled, his face split into a grin again. "Really though, why was it necessary for you to be there? Couldn't they have sent their own military in?"

Rubbing her face with her hand, Shepard let out a sigh. "Remember the movie "The Spider's Web?""

"I mean, I'm more of an anime guy myself, but I've seen it," he said, getting another chuckle from her.

"It was all about a family of criminals who infiltrated every level of society. They were politicians, police chiefs, construction workers, priests, and so on. They had infiltrated society in this one city so far that they could literally get away with murder."

"Wow, is Serrice that bad?" asked the pilot with a disgruntled expression.

"No, not nearly. But all it takes is one well-placed individual to silence a witness. And these gangs had many well-placed individuals," she said as Joker nodded. "The Matriarch asked me to be there because she knew I wasn't affiliated with any of the local gangs, and I couldn't be bought."

"So, she was protecting herself from her own people," said the lieutenant as he took his hat off and scratched his receding hairline. "Still, they couldn't ask their navy? One individual from there couldn't get away from anything with so many other marines around."

"The Legion of Thessia responded as soon as they could. But there was a window of time where they wouldn't be there due to assembly and flight time. My job was to cover her in that window," said the commander as she rested her chin in her hand. "Apparently, me walking into her house triggered the groups to try and attack. They realized what was happening, and they all formed up to attack before the actual military could get there."

Joker smirked lightly and spun in his chair again to face the main console. "Buuut, Shepard."

"But Shepard indeed. They'll be lucky if they can recover from such a display," she said as she stood up and patted the back of his chair. "Alright get-away driver, let's get the hell out of here."

"I'll get the rims a-spinning," he said with a wave of his hand.

Medical Officer’s Quarters - Medbay - SSV Normandy SR1

"So, ladies, any progress?" asked Shepard as she entered the asari doctor's room.

When she entered, she could see the older woman smirking playfully and Liara covering her face. "Actually, Spectre, she said she wanted to wait for you."

"Thank the Goddess you're here Shepard. I can barely take this bully's prodding much more," said Liara with another playful smile as she glared at the woman.

Shepard chuckled at the pair and entered the area. Liara offered her a seat on the bed before grabbing her bag. "So, what information do you have on these artifacts thus far?"

"Almost nothing. All we could glean from them are fragments of memory and inflections of emotion. Of course, this is to be expected because of the damage that some of them have sustained over the years. However, I believe we can discover much more with the Cipher that we now have," said the doctor as she pulled up the first time capsule and showed it to the commander.

Shepard took the device and stared through the plasteel surface at the chip inside. "What is it exactly?"

"Like the beacon you encountered on Eden Prime, protheans stored almost everything they had on memory sinks. These devices all have cards on board that target specific memories that the person chooses and copies them so that they can be easily reused later for reference," said Liara as she scooted in her chair up to Shepard.

"That's amazing. So, your captured memories could be shared with others?" she asked as she stared at the fragmented device.

"Indeed. Though, in its current state, only those with biotics are able to interact with the cards directly. The beacons, like the one you saw, were built into devices that project the memories even into beings who aren't able to interface with the cards themselves," said the asari almost excitedly.

"So, wait," said Shepard as she looked up at Liara. "Does that mean that all protheans were biotic?"

B'Nalia spoke from her position, sitting against the wall. "In a manner of speaking. We don't know if they were biotics like we have now. But they most definitely have sensory perception through touch, which biotics are capable of as well. For example, a human without biotics could touch this card fragment and not see anything. But if an asari used her biotics and touched the card as if she were melding with another being, she would be able to see the memories implanted."

"Oh, so I guess that means I won't get to see the information these hold," said the spectre with disappointment in her tone.

"N-Not exactly," said Liara nervously as she looked down at her lap. Shepard eyed her curiously. "If you melded with me again, you would be able to see them as well. Like when I first saw your visions from the Eden Prime beacon."

"I see," said Shepard as she noticed the older asari smirking out of the corner of her eye. "Alright then, let's see if they can help us."

Nodding, Liara opened the first of the capsules. As soon as the seal was broken, the lights inside went dark. Sliding the top off, the asari gently set it aside and picked up the small, chipped fragment from the holder. Placing it in her palm, she reached over and took Shepard's hand, engulfing the entire thing before she covered it the spectre's hand with her own. "Alright, Shepard. You know the process by now," she said, trying to make it more formal due to her teacher being present. "Embrace…" she started, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath. Her lovely blue skin lit with biotic power as her eyes opened, showing the eerie black as usual. "Eternity!"

Like many times before, the Normandy vanished, and she found herself feeling unexpected things. Passion, lust, heated desire, and love. Opening her eyes, she found herself staring up at her true love. He was a soldier, one of the royal guard. He was going away soon, and it would be a long time before she would be able to see him again. So that night, they indulged and gave in to their desires.

Suddenly, Shepard felt herself pulled away and woke up on her knees. Again, she was without clothing, but as she felt the familiar hand on her shoulder, any anxiety she had passed. Standing, she embraced the nervous form of Liara hip to hip before they both turned and witness the visions from the outside.

It was a full minute before they both returned to the Normandy. Shepard stood up and gripped her face with both hands while Liara sat mortified and wide-eyed in her seat. "What is it? What was it?" asked B'Nalia from the side as she looked between the pair.

"It appears that we've come across someone's... personal moments," said the asari doctor as she delicately took the fragment and put it back into its capsule. "On the bright side, I'm now fully knowledgeable in prothean mating habits…"

B'Nalia nearly choked as she laughed at the outcome of the discovery. "Are you telling me we've been holding a prothean pornographic memory in a museum for nearly twenty-five years?" she asked incredulously. As soon as a flushed Liara nodded, she began cackling like a maniac.

"Welp, I wasn't expecting to have new nightmares, but here we are," said Shepard as she sat down and smacked herself in the face.

Liara looked up at the spectre and noticed that her face was flushed with red. If her initial experience was anything like her own, then she was mildly uncomfortable with the burning feeling in her stomach at the moment. But there were more important things to be discussed. "Sh-Should we try another?"

Sighing, Shepard eyed the next capsule with a glare. "Fine. But if it turns out that this is a collector's series, then I'm going to need a few cold showers afterward."

Giggling to herself, Liara opened the next capsule and plucked the card fragment neatly from its stand. This one was about twice as large as the one before. "These were found in two different locations. So, the chances that they show the same content are astronomical," said the doctor as she held the new device up in her palm. Snorting, Shepard reached up apprehensively and placed her hand on top of the card. Liara covered them again and took another deep breath.

The tone was much different this time as they dove together, rather than separately. This time, it was another place, another location, another planet. The visions took place in a deep underground lab, where everything was relatively dark except for the glowing consoles around the area. Voices echoed, chatter from both machine and voice. The voices suddenly faded out as one became more pronounced.

"3024, 27, 22, Galactic Cycle. The new species we discovered on Helna 356 is one of the most unique we've ever discovered. Dubbed-" Static briefly filled the vision. "-sentimental of our group, they appear to be an ocean-based species that glides through the waters of their homeworld. They appear as no more than spirits in the water, with skin so translucent that we could barely detect them. But despite this, the most bizarre-"..."-they are. When they come into contact with nearly any species from their homeworld, they appear to-"..."themselves to mimic the host species. More testing needs to be done before we can see the extent of their adaptability."

"3024, 27, 44, Galactic Cycle. Species 102 appear unable to adapt to any of the currently known space-faring species in our galaxy. There appears to be a conflict with their DNA and ours, something found commonly among the other-"..."-into sapience by adapting with a higher intelligence species. We will have to make do by pairing them with the more familiar DNA for now.”

"3024, 29, 12, Galactic Cycle. Tests of pairing Species 102 with other lesser species has been surprisingly successful. We've tested with Species 44 from Nolk 243, where 102 test subjects adapted and immediately showed signs of the same instinctual habits of Species 44. In less than a season, 102's cells began forming-"..."-to Species 44, as well as a membrane that allowed protection from solar activity produced by Nolk 243's home star. The level of-"..."-is alarming. The same results were replicated with species 23,-"..."-the changes are permanent, and 102 can no longer-"..."-warned to take caution during testing, as there's no telling how advanced this species could grow. Despite the warnings, I've authorized-"..."-advanced Species 68, who are currently using stone tools. We shall see if intelligence can also be mimicked in this remarkable creature."

"3024, 34, 44, Galactic Cycle. A new discovery was made! Species 102's ability to-"..."-selectively nurtured through the use of limited DNA exposure. After taking a small sample of DNA from Species 68 and introducing it to a single specimen, it absorbed the DNA and altered itself without-"..."-with a host species makes it lose its full adaptive capabilities. What we've discovered may be the building blocks to-"..."-capability both awesome and disturbing. These results will be kept from High Command for now. I don't want them-"..."-soldier and slave breeding. This occurrence is far too rare-"..."-from specific other species.”

"3025, 13, 17, Galactic Cycle. An unknown bacterial infection has unleashed itself in the oceans of Helna 356. Around ninety-"..."-species has been killed, even those who had already adapted to other familiar species of the home-"..."-are likely already infected due to contact with the others. If we wish to-"..."-fight off this infection. No amount of selective-"..."-survive will no longer be able to adapt. It's a crushing prospect, but one that must be endured if we are to-"

"3025, 20, 34-"..."-Species 102 has been a daunting task, but at last, it was a succ-"..."remaining subjects have all-"..."Species 68. The only problem now is that through their-"..."lost the ability to-" The vision's interruptions increasingly got worse. "-once had and have unfortunately not-"..."-host species. This could be for any number of reasons, not the least of which is related to the infection-"..."-But it matters little-"

"-We don't understand what's happening. All communication with High Command was sev-"..."-we're just sitting here waiting to die. We've run-"..."-supplies. Most of our test-"..."-dead. We man-"..."-but who knows what will happen? They-"..."-skies have gone dark. This is-"

When the pair emerged again, they both looked at each other wide-eyed. The longer the record went, the more static began to fill the gaps in the conversation, making it hard to understand exactly what was being said. But the last part was almost clear as day. "What is it?" asked B'Nalia as she looked between them.

"We may have just witnessed the end of days for a team of prothean scientists. Most of it is just static, but it's... chilling," Liara said as she placed the card back into its capsule and set it aside. "We have confirmed that the protheans do have a spoken language."

B'Nalia sat up straight with her eyes wide. "It's confirmed! Excellent!" she said as she began scribbling across a datapad. Looking up briefly, she narrowed her eyes. "Did it say what was causing this end of days?"

"Unfortunately, no. The data card was too heavily damaged, and most of the message was chopped up. Other than the ending, the rest of the memory was a logbook devoted to zoological science on a specific species that the protheans were studying," said Liara, slightly disappointed as the relic held nothing of much value to Shepard.

"Any names? Places? Anything that could help us identify anything?" asked the professor excitedly.

"Helna 356 was listed as the home planet. But we have no description of the location or anything else that could clue us in to exactly where that is. Though, I don't know if it would matter. They said that the species was nearly wiped out due to some type of oceanwide plague. They managed to save a few, but by all appearances, those saved were killed when the science team died as well. They mentioned most of their subjects already being dead, and we got no clue of what happened to the rest," said Liara with an exasperated sigh.

Shepard's brows furrowed as she stared at the newly capsuled card. B'Nalia eyed the spectre curiously. "That look says you may have discovered something."

"Possibly. Unfortunately, I can't talk about it with you until your clearance is higher," said Shepard as she eyed the asari. "Forgive me B'Nalia, but could you excuse us for a while?"

"Of course, Spectre. I'll be in my assigned quarters if you need me," said the woman as she stood up and bowed her head.

"Please take all electronic devices with you, as listening in on our talk could result in a minimum of ten years incarceration," ordered the commander with a stern glare.

"O-Of course. I apologize, I must have dropped it," said the professor as she knelt down and picked her comm up from beneath Liara's pillow. With embarrassment on her face, she left the room.

Liara giggled lightly as the commander looked at her. "I always enjoy watching you... oh, what's that human phrase? Flex?" asked the asari as she smiled at the redhead.

Shepard chuckled lightly and nodded. "I've spent a long time spying on people. You start to notice when someone tries to do it back," she said as she stretched.

"So, what was it you wanted to discuss?" asked the doctor curiously.

"That end of days may have been what we think," said Shepard as she stared seriously at the doctor.

"The Reapers? While I can't say it's not true, what are you basing this on?" asked the asari curiously.

"At the very end, they said that the sky went dark. What if it weren't some kind of planetary cataclysm that darkened it?" asked the commander as she leaned onto her knees.

"I feel with their level of technology, any disasters that could have caused such a thing would have been known about a long time in advance," said Liara as she absentmindedly ran her fingers over the ridges of her scalp.

"Of course. And think, if you were an invading force of sentient machines that were trying to wipe out life in the galaxy, what would be your first move?" asked the spectre, curious if the asari had any schooling in the arts of war.

"I... I'm not sure…" said the doctor with confusion masking her adorable face.

"Think about it, Liara. If you wanted to cripple a kingdom, where's the first place you strike?" she asked, trying to egg the asari on.

After a moment of thought, the doctor's eyes lit up. "The head!" she said as if the revelation struck her like lightning. "They said in the vision that they had lost all contact with High Command!"

"That's right. Darkening skies could be any number of things, but if it were natural, they would have known about it ahead of time," she started, then looked up at the doctor. “Do you have any records of the protheans being at war?”

Liara nodded, a frown marking her face. “The protheans, like any species, were not a solely benevolent species. This record alone shows this as the science team did not want High Command getting ahold of the information due to questionable war ethics,” she said as she let out a heavy sigh. “The unfortunate truth is that the species many people commonly refer to as ‘prothean’ might actually be a multitude of species. But the singular identifier of prothean suggests that many of those species may have been forcefully integrated into their society.”

Shepard snorted lightly as she nodded. “If we were wiped out today, any records left would refer to humans, turians, asari, salarians, krogan, and many of the other species. We don’t have a singular identifier like they did…”

“Indeed. That said, even the most remote of science teams would have already known about any wars going on at the time. The fact that they were confused about what was happening makes it unlikely that they died due to some uprising,” said Liara as she tapped her chin thoughtfully.

“Which means that the entirety of High Command was taken out quickly, not allowing them to get any communications out. And the only thing powerful enough to potentially do this is…” said the spectre, but Liara finished for her.

"The Reapers," she said as she stared at the card inside the capsule. "You may be correct, Shepard. We may have witnessed the invasion itself."

"It's a possibility. But we'll have to collect more data to be sure," said the spectre as she stood and turned towards the door.

"Shepard!" started Liara, causing the commander to look at her. "I... wanted to thank you. You've trusted me far more than I had the right to ask. And I want you to know that all of your secrets, all of them are safe with me."

Smiling, the spectre stepped up to the asari and grabbed her by the back of her head. The asari almost squeaked as Shepard pulled her close enough that their heads touched. "I know. Thank you, Liara." Finally, she pulled away and turned again. "I'm heading to the showers. I'll be in my room afterward if you need me."

Mess Hall - SSV Normandy SR1

"Can I ask you something?" came the gravelly voice of Wrex as he stepped up to the table.

Ash turned and eyed him curiously, then nodded. "I mean, you already did, but go for it."

He thought about it for a moment, then smirked. "I guess you're right. Anyhow, what's with the human fascination with jewelry?"

Cocking an eyebrow, the gunnery chief sat back. "An odd question. Why?"

"Don't get me wrong, I know the asari, elcor, and quarians love it too…" he said, then looked away. "Or... they did before the whole geth thing. Anyway, I'm curious because it provides no benefit, nor does it protect you. All it really does is paint a target on your back for thieves. So why not buy a piece of armor or a new gun with the money?"

"Other than me being a human, is there a specific reason you're asking me?" asked Williams curiously before sipping at her drink.

Wrex pointed to her neck. "You keep wearing that... that thing. It's metal, and I can see it frequently when you're not wearing armor, so I got curious."

Looking down, Ash saw the target of his curiosity. It was a small silver cross that dangled from her neck. Reaching down, she pulled it from her shirt and showed him. "Well, to be perfectly honest, most humans value jewelry because it's a form of art. You wear them on your body because it makes you look... glamorous I guess."

"Who cares about all that. Mating someone over such trinkets is beyond trivial. It shows no sign of strength or experience. It's only a sign of wealth," he said as he pulled out a blade that was much larger than necessary to open the rations he had been given.

Ash stared wide-eyed as he sliced the package open with the edge of his blade, before then returning it to his belt. Turning her eyes to him, she simply shrugged. "I can't say for sure. I'm personally not attracted to someone simply because they're decked in gold and silver. I like depth, muscle, and scars personally."

"Then why do you wear that?" he asked before shoving an entire package worth of food into his mouth. If he chewed, Ash didn't see it before he gulped it down.

"Well, for two reasons. First is because this symbol represents God," she said as she gently ran her fingers over the silver cross.

"God? Like a spirit?" he asked as he stared at her with his orange eyes.

"The creator of the universe. He created us, and now watches over us," she said simply as she eyed him suspiciously.

"God huh? There's only one God, and it's Kalros. She exists on Tuchanka, and is often called the Eater of Worlds," he said as he tossed the packaging aside.

"I'm afraid we're talking about two different things here. Regardless, we humans have many gods. I believe in the Creator, the Father. It's hard for me to understand how people can believe in nothing when they can look at space, and see everything out there. How could all of this have happened without a form of creation?" she asked him curiously.

But Wrex waved his hand dismissively. "Look look, I get it alright. The mystery of the universe and all that. We don't know where it came from or where it'll end up. I can vaguely understand the belief that something created all of this," he said as he motioned towards everything around him. "What I can't understand is how you think that something big and powerful enough to create a universe would be able to see us, or even know we're here. Basically, I understand the Creator part, but not the Father part. After all, I can create life just by dipping a loaf of rockbread into water and letting it sit outside for a month. That doesn't mean that I can see the bacteria, or that I have any control over it."

"It's just something we believe. There's no way to prove or disprove it without the tech of a type four civilization. It just brings us comfort to believe that someone is watching over us," she responded, interested to find herself in a conversation about religion with an alien.

"Type four?" asked Wrex curiously.

Nodding, the gunnery chief pushed aside her tray. "Right, sorry. We humans created a scale that neatly matched scientific reports from the Citadel as well. But we call it the Kardashev Scale. It basically ranks civilization based on their capabilities," she explained as she used her fingers to illustrate on the table. "A type zero civilization is one that has limited control over a single planet, which was most races in the galaxy before they obtained FTL capabilities. Type one is a civilization that has total control over the world and its resources. It's at this point that most species would discover space flight…"

"Except most species had help from the protheans. So, it appears that our galaxy skipped a step," said Wrex as he listened attentively.

"Pretty much. Type two is interstellar, where the civilization has total control over a solar system and is able to build megastructures. Type three is galactic level, where the civilization has total control over a galaxy and is capable of harnessing the energy of all of its stars. Then there's type four…" she said as she explained to the mercenary.

"Right. Multiple galaxies, even half the universe," he said as he tapped his finger on the table. "So, you think when our civilization gets to the level of universal travel, we'll be able to discover if a god exists or not?" he asked curiously.

She nodded with a smirk. "If we can travel from cluster to cluster of galaxies and expand ourselves across the universe, I don't think it'd be too hard to see the edges of it. I mean, we can see so much already," she said with a shrug.

"I get it," he said, then eyed the cross again. "You said there was a second reason you wore that thing?"

"Oh... right," she said as she reached up and touched it again. "My dad gave it to me. He said his dad gave it to him, and so on. It's kind of a family heirloom, and he wanted to keep it going in the family. So, when I was old enough, he passed it to me," she said, a small smile forming on her face as she remembered her father. When she looked up at him though, her smile vanished at the disgruntled look on his face.

"The only thing my father gave me was beatings and betrayal," he said in a sour tone.

"Sounds rough," responded Ash, who wondered if she was about to learn more about the krogan.

"Krogan are used to rough," he said before turning and staring at her for a moment. "My grandad was decent though. He was tough on us, but only because he wanted us to learn. He... gave me an heirloom as well."

"He didn't give it to your father?" asked Ash as she leaned forward, thoroughly interested in the conversation now.

"He said my father was a maniac. Turns out he was right. Our clans had been warring and fraying wildly after the Krogan Rebellions. We needed to get together and reorganize. But all he wanted to do was fight more. He wanted to put our remaining fertile females up like factories and use them to slowly breed an army to continue fighting. I'd had about enough of his yelling when he offered a Crush, a meeting on neutral ground. The location he chose was holy ground, the Hollows, home of our ancestors. It's a peaceful place where violence is absolutely prohibited."

Ash's brows furrowed as she saw what was coming. "That sounds like a trap."

Wrex snorted. "It was. But you don't ignore a parlay from your father if you're wanting to calm things down. And it turns out that all he came to do was try and convince me to turn to his side. To try and wage war again. So, when it became clear that my answer was no, he gave a signal and his men began jumping out of the graves of our buried ancestors. Like one of your human zombie movies."

Ash's eyes widened. "Well, maniac fits the bill. How did you manage to get out?"

"Well, after burying my dagger through his only working heart, I walked out," he said, getting a curious eyebrow from the chief. "Being the one of the 'one in a thousand' biotic krogans certainly helped. I just tossed them aside and left them with my father's corpse."

"Morbid…" she said as she gave him a small smile. "But I have to say, I agree with your decision. Fighting the other races gets nobody anywhere."

"Especially if they neutered you decades prior," he grumbled as he sighed heavily. "Regardless, my grandad always saw my father for the war-hungry idiot he was. So, he didn't bother with him. Instead, he passed his battle armor to me."

Ashley smiled widely at the claim. "Wow, no wonder you were curious about jewelry. Krogan apparently get full battle suits instead."

"Yeah, until the Rebellions ended that is. After hitting us with the genophage, the turian Hierarchy disarmed us. That included all weapons and armor, which resulted in my family's armor being taken away. For all I know, it's in some collector's glass case gathering dust. Heh…" he snorted again. "What a way to gloat. Take the only things we have and put them up to show people you took them from us."

Ash stared at him for a long moment. "You... don't know where it is?"

Wrex shook his head. "I know the turian that took it, but I have no way to track down what happened to it after that."

Finally, Ash nodded to him with a smile. "Alright. Well, I'm gonna go hit the gym in a few hours. Wanna go hand to hand?"

For the first time in a while, Wrex smiled. "I have to admit, you humans do love being punished. Let me know when you're headed there and we'll go a few rounds. But you might want to bring some painkillers with," he said as he flexed his hands.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll be prepared," she said as she returned her tray then walked off with a wave.

Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

Shepard returned from her after-work out shower and sat down in her chair. Opening her terminal, she tossed her towel into her small hamper and opened the private server once more. She had been checking on it recently, and aside from a few reports of human biotics going missing, everything was relatively quiet. Or it was on the Spectre side.

On her personal email, however, there were a few noticeable pings that she couldn't ignore. The first came from her mother, and the tone with which the mail took was not one of someone who was pleased.

[Hello Spawn…] Shepard giggled at the affectionately sarcastic tone at the start. [So, I just happened to learn today after months in deep space that my only daughter has been redeployed from the Special Forces Training facility on Luna, and is now the first human Spectre of the Citadel Council. Now, I thought that this must be a mistake because surely my very own daughter who I gave birth to, fed from my own body, and nurtured and protected through her entire life would have sent me some kind of message about the change. Or a greeting card. Or something. But here we are! I've confirmed through the Alliance and the Ambassador himself that you are, in fact, now the James Bond of the Citadel.

What the hell, kid? Not a message, not a call, nothing!

Signed,

Captain Hannah Shepard

SSV Kilimanjaro - 55th Recon Fleet]

Shepard chuckled to herself as she wrote a response to her mother. [Sorry Mom. Must have slipped my mind. You should really call more.] With that simple messages sent, she scrolled down to her next two messages. Both were sent by Udina himself, but one was forwarded rather than an original message. Tapping on the first one, she read it quickly.

[Shepard, why do I have the turian Councilor breathing down my neck over you planning a visit to Baetika? It's a turian world inside Hierarchy space, and as far as I can tell, it has zero connection to Saren. So please, enlighten me as to what the hell you're doing going there without asking the Councilor himself for clearance.]

Donning a slow smirk, she typed back to him. [There must be some mistake. I have no intention of going to Baetika, or anywhere in Hierarchy space. But I will let Sparatus know if I should get the urge.]

Finally, she clicked the forwarded message from Udina as well. As soon as she read who it was from, she felt like she had been punched in the gut.

[Commander Jane Shepard,

This is Lloyd Jenkins, the father of Corporal Richard Jenkins. I wanted to inform you that the Alliance has finally released my son's body to us, and we plan to hold a funeral for him in a few days. You were his commanding officer, so I only thought it was appropriate that you should be invited too. The date and location will be enclosed with this email. And if you don't make it, I'll understand, given how important your current work is.]

She sat back in her chair and let out a heavy sigh before burying her face in her hands. As special forces, nothing was ever easy. But the hardest thing of all was facing the parents of those you lost. After a moment of contemplation, she finally responded. [I'll be there.]

Weapon Battery - SSV Normandy SR1

As soon as the door opened, Zannia looked over and saw Shepard. Immediately, she snapped to attention and called out for the others to do the same. Shepard stepped inside and looked at all of them curiously. Of the fire team, there were a total of five turians, including Zannia herself. Each of them had a different mask of clan paint on their faces, symbolizing their origins, or in the case of some, the origins of their significant other.

Normally, she dismissed the formalities that came with working on a military ship, as this was no longer a military ship. However, the time for informal chatter was over. "Praetor Gavos, follow me please," she ordered as she stepped out of the room.

As ordered, Zannia followed her outside of the room. "Spectre, is something the matter?" asked the turian as she let the door close behind her.

Shepard turned towards the fire team leader and nodded. "Praetor, how do you like the turian Councilor?"

Surprised by the question, the turian nearly went rigid. "He's a fine example of what a Councilor should be…" she started, but Shepard held up a hand and stopped her.

"Zannia, this isn't a loaded question. I'm not the Hierarchy judging you for a potential promotion. This is an honest question that I want the honest answer to," she replied as she crossed her arms.

Sighing, the turian loosened her stance. "He's a politician. I hate politicians. In taking public office, they often lose their sense of honor and justice. And they frequently forget the value of life." Zannia looked at Shepard with a curious glance. "Why are you asking my thoughts on the Councilor, Spectre?"

"You'll be informed shortly. Grab Centurion Nilissus and meet me in the comm room," she ordered, then headed there herself. Sitting down in one of the seats, she only had to wait moments before the two turians entered. "Take a seat you two." As ordered, they both sat down in chairs on the opposite side of her. "Now…" she began; however, she was interrupted by the centurion.

"I'm sorry," said the male turian as he stared between his feet.

"Sorry?" asked Zannia as she sat up and stared at her counterpart.

"Centurion Nilissus, do you know why I don't alert the Councilor of my every move?" asked Shepard as she eyed the turian man. He didn't respond, however, allowing her to continue. "As respected as the turian Councilor is, he has a bad habit of judging my actions more harshly than he does the other Council races. This isn't an issue once the mission is already completed, as there's nothing he can do by that point," she said as she leaned forward onto her knees. "But if the Councilor gets information of something that absolutely needs to be done for either galactic, or local safety, and he doesn't like what I have to do, what kind of conflict do you think that creates?"

"He could stop you from doing your job," he said as he finally looked up at her.

"That's right. As a Spectre, my work covers a lot of ground. Some of that ground, the Councilors may not like, but it has to be done regardless. One little delay in time, one little order to stand down could be the difference between thousands of lives," she said as her eyes moved over to Zannia.

"Is this as bad as it looks, Spectre?" asked the praetor as she glared at her subordinate.

"No, simply because none of the information that he has been feeding to the Councilor has stopped me from doing my job. But had I not caught onto the Councilor's game soon enough, there could have been irreparable damage done. If I somehow learned that Saren was hiding on a turian world, that leaked information could have been the only thing that stood between his capture and escape," she said as she glared at the man.

"I'm sorry," he groaned again as he cradled his head.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it, Centurion," snapped Zannia as she stood out of her chair.

Standing up as well, Shepard turned to the praetor. "He's your squad, Zannia. How do you think he should be punished?"

"Please!" snapped Nilissus as he stood up rapidly.

"Don't start begging. The damage you've done to the spirit of the team is already bad enough," growled the praetor. Looking up to Shepard, the turian's mandibles twitched. "Will expulsion from the crew make up for his transgressions?"

Sighing, Shepard shrugged. "Like I said Zannia, it's up to you. I trust your judgment. And even if you wanted him to stay, I'd be fine with it. Now that I know how it's getting out, I can take measures to prevent it in the future."

Zannia was speechless for a moment, staring at Shepard almost in awe before she turned back to the centurion. "You, stay here. I'm going to get the team and we're going to have a discussion about this." Heading towards the door, Zannia motioned for Shepard to follow. When they were outside again, she turned to the spectre and just looked at the ground almost in confusion.

"What's the matter, Zannia?" asked Shepard curiously as she eyed the turian.

"You stun me at every turn, Spectre," she said with exasperation.

"How's that?" asked the commander as she crossed her arms.

"I know that a lot of what I've heard about humans comes from grudges held due to the Relay 314 Incident. I even believed some of them when going through training. And even after all these years, I was still terrified after my crew had been selected to work under a human commander," she said as she paced back and forth in the hall.

Smiling playfully, Shepard tilted her head. "What's the matter? Am I not tough enough on you guys?"

Zannia gave Shepard a cheeky glance before returning to her point. "That's just it though. Every chance you've had to exert your power over us, you've never taken it. When we fired the cannon on Edolus, only to find out that you were nearly vaporized in the blast. When Doctor T'Soni was nearly attacked on Feros. And now this!" she said as she waved her arms with emphasis. "Each time something happens, I've been waiting for the moment that you'll send us back to the Hierarchy. But each time, you've treated us…"

"Fairly?" asked Shepard, who received a nod from the turian. "Look Zannia, I've had this talk a couple of times with a few crew already…" she said as she planted her hands on her hips. "Talassa vak lovask."

Zannia nearly stumbled backward at the words, but Shepard grabbed her by the cowl to keep her from tripping. When the tall woman stood straight again, she gawked at Shepard. "You can speak Turian Common?" she asked, getting a nod from the commander.

"And I know the impact of the phrase as well. 'We are one.' On group, one team, one spirit," she said as she held out her hand.

Zannia chuckled to herself before reaching forward and clasping Shepard's wrist firmly. "Never in all my years of life did I ever think I'd meet someone as unique as you, Spectre."

"I'm not that unique. I'm just smart. I know that prejudice creates walls, and I've learned not to judge anyone based off someone else's perceptions," she said as she gripped the turian's wrist firmly. "You're as important to my crew as any human on this ship, and I trust your judgment. That's why I've handed over his fate to you."

"Understood, Spectre!" said the turian woman as the two finally withdrew from the clasp. "I will try with my very spirit not to lose the trust you've placed in me and my crew."

"Good. Whenever you're finished with him, send me a memo on your decision. Until then, feel free to join me in the mess some time. We haven't talked nearly as much as I've wanted," said the commander as she walked off, leaving the turian staring after her.

CODEX ENTRIES

Hollows | Locations | Tuchanka
Considered holy ground by the krogan, it was the last remaining place on Tuchanka that had been untouched by the industrialization and militarization that led to nuclear winter. As such, the Hallows are a rare sight on Tuchanka, an oasis of greenery and plant life in the middle of a world racked by nuclear fallout. After nuclear winter fell over the planet, plant life all but vanished from the Hollows, making it a haunting visage of the krogans’ past.

Talassa vak lovask | Translation | Turian Common
A phrase that translates to “we are one,” but carries with it the implication of more than just group structure. It’s used in instances of families formed from unrelated parties, whether a combat group, ship’s crew, or a group of people who consider each other more important than simple blood ties.

Chapter 30: The Forth Estate

Chapter Text

Veteran Memorial - Eden Prime

As was usual for the garden world, the weather was beautiful. The sun rose without a cloud in the sky to block its path to zenith before it began descending again. The funeral was as bad as she feared. Family, friends, comrades, fellow Alliance, they all showed up to the wake of the fallen corporal. Though it made her happy to know that he was so beloved, it still only drove the knife of her own self-loathing deeper.

Days ago, she had sent in a request to the Alliance to wear her former uniform for the funeral. She was given clearance and prepared for the oncoming depression that such events caused. This time, however, she wasn't visiting the funeral of someone who had passed naturally. She could typically make it through those without hating herself. Instead, this was someone under her direct command, a detail that didn't go unnoticed judging from the looks she received from the immediate family.

Typical of the military honor, she saluted as the funeral detail fired rounds into the air for their fallen brother. Her eyes stung more and more with each shot. But after her salute dropped, she remained tearless. Sighing heavily as the procession ended, she marched out with the others.

After the ceremony had ended, the casket of Corporal Richard Leroy Jenkins was lowered into the ground as his sobbing mother was handed a Systems Alliance flag by Captain Anderson. With the hard part over, she turned and faced the hardest part as the group of people gathered together to have a drink in honor of his name. The looks of hostility she had been given told her loud and clear that she wasn't likely to be welcomed with a glass of whatever alcohol they chose. But she also felt that walking away now would be heartless. So, she stood and watched with Kaidan and Ashley in their own uniforms behind her.

Luckily, she didn't have to wait long for company as the captain made his way over to her with a small, meek man following him. When they finally arrived, Anderson stepped out of the way as the man held up a cup for each of them. "Commander," he said as she stared at him curiously.

She knew as soon as she saw his full face that it was Jenkins's father. He was dressed in a three-piece suit and had neatly combed brown hair sitting on top of a face of mourning. Letting out a heavy sigh, she reached forward and took the cup. "Thank you."

He also handed Kaidan and Ashley one as well, before looking between them curiously with his tired eyes. "Were you two with him as well?"

"I was," said Kaidan softly as he took the cup of alcohol. "I'm very sorry for your loss, Lloyd."

"Yeah…" he said as he raised the cup up for them. They all bumped the cups together before slamming down the fiery liquid. As they all stacked the cups on a nearby table, the man turned to Shepard again. "Commander, I want you to know that while my sentiments may not be shared among my family, I do not blame you for his death. I know what my son was like, and I knew he was eager to impress." Staring at him curiously, Shepard began to wonder if he actually knew what happened. He answered her unasked question almost immediately. "I requested to see the ground footage of what happened from the Ambassador. I... had to know."

Letting out a long sigh, Shepard reached out for his hand as she spied an approaching woman with rage on her face. Likely his wife coming to drag him away for fraternizing with her, the neglectful CO of their now deceased son. "Even if you don't blame me, it's not going to stop me from blaming myself. But thank you."

He smiled sadly and shook her hand. "I know. I blame myself as well for not trying harder to keep him out of the Alliance. But we can't control the energy of youth."

"Shepard!" shouted Ash, but as soon as the commander turned to look at the gunnery chief, she immediately recoiled as her face began to sting. Nearly stumbling back, her fire lit within her and began blazing as her combat instincts flared up. But she fought herself and suppressed them. She knew that the surprise attack wasn't an assassin or hitman. She knew what it was.

Standing straight again, she reached up and touched the tender skin where the woman had full on slapped her. "What the hell are you doing here!?" shrieked the woman. Ash moved to react, but Shepard held up a hand to stop her. Instead of saying anything, Shepard just placed her hands behind her back and stared into the distance, leaving the stinging handprint on her cheek to be caressed by the wind.

"Martha! What the hell are you doing!?" asked the man in bewilderment as he tried to hold his blonde wife back.

"It's your fault!" she shouted, ignoring him and staring dead at Shepard with a hate-filled glare. "You caused this! And what the fuck did they do!? They promoted you!" she shouted as her husband pulled her away. Finally, he managed to lead her down the hill, but it didn't stop her shouting. "It should have been you! You should be dead, and my son should still be with us! With his family!"

Finally, she was turned away as her husband pulled her away from the small group. "You gonna be alright?" asked Anderson as he turned to her.

She tried her hardest but couldn't help as tears finally began to pour down her face. Even with her cheeks wet, she nodded. "I'll be fine with time, Captain," she replied as she turned to the others. "Let's go. We've worn out our welcome here."

Citadel Tower - Presidium - Citadel

"Well, that went about as smoothly as expected," said Garrus as he and Kaidan followed Shepard out of the immaculate tower.

"I'm not great at reading turian body language, but I'm pretty sure he was trying to light you on fire with that glare of his," said the lieutenant with a smirk.

Shepard chuckled at the pair and shrugged. "Sparatus is being forced to play by the rules. He doesn't have people checking up on his turian Spectres, so why should he get to single me out?"

"Well, at least you found the fly on the wall," said Kaidan as Tali approached from the side. "Hey Tali, everything go okay?"

"Uhh... yeah," she said, almost in a stupor.

"Everything alright?" asked the lieutenant as everyone stopped and looked at her odd behavior.

"Well, I got in contact with the Fleet. And not only did they approve of my working with you, but they also seem to be encouraging it," she said as she looked at Shepard. "On top of that, I think they think I'm some kind of a celebrity now."

"They probably think you can get something far more valuable by working with a spectre than you could on your own," said Garrus from the side.

"Or they're proud that you're working to save the galaxy," responded Kaidan, who got a nod from the quarian.

"Honestly, it's a bit jarring to see them so enthusiastic about it. I thought for sure they would caution me or something, but they are eager for me to continue," she said as she crossed her arms.

Shepard's brows furrowed as she read the fine print of the Migrant Fleet's enthusiasm. More than likely, they were using her. If a quarian assisted in saving the galaxy from the impending threat of Saren and the Reapers, the Fleet would get a massive spike in public relations good karma. How they would use this, she had no idea, but she wasn't about to kill Tali's high over an assumption.

"So, Shepard, what's on the schedule?" asked Garrus curiously as he turned to her.

Thinking about it for a moment, she shrugged. "I don't really have anything on my plate at the moment. If you guys want to split up and meet again tomorrow morning, that's fine with-"

"We're going to a pet shop!" cheered Tali as she reached forward and grabbed Shepard's hand.

The spectre stared at her stupidly for a moment. "A pet shop?"

"Yes!" said the quarian as she smiled up at the spectre. "I heard you've been down after Eden Prime, so we're going to a pet shop to cheer you up!"

Shepard stared at her a moment, wondering where in the world she got the idea for a pet shop. The only person who knew about her history with animals was her mother and father. Suddenly, she turned her eyes up to Kaidan. "Lieutenant Alenko?" she asked, her eyes narrowing as he tried to hide a smile.

"Something I can do for you, Commander?" he asked as his face split into a grin.

"Have you received any personal calls lately?" she asked in a stern tone.

"In fact, I did! See, I got this weird call from someone named Hannah, who gave me explicit instructions that I was to... oh, what did she say…" he asked, snapping his fingers as if trying to remember. "Oh, right! Punish her hellspawn of a kid by taking her to a pet store on the Citadel and filming their reaction."

"I'm going to break Udina's balls for giving her your number," growled Shepard as she looked down at Tali again. The girl was so excited, and Shepard had no idea how long it had been since Tali had seen an animal that didn't immediately try to kill her. "Alright, fine."

Tali cheered again as the spectre groaned and began pulling her along. However, they all stopped as someone called out to her. "Excuse me, Spectre Shepard?"

Shepard turned around curiously, and her eyes narrowed again. "Can I help you?" she asked the obvious reporter. The woman had dark hair parted down the center that allowed it to flow down to almost chin level and wore robes worthy of the Presidium.

"Greetings, Spectre. My name is-" started the woman, but Shepard cut her off.

"Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani with Westerlund News. I'm well aware that you're a huge fan of mine," said the spectre sarcastically as she planted her hands on her hips.

Caught slightly off guard, the reporter nodded. "I'm honored that you've heard of me, Shepard. I was wondering if I could get a quick word from you regarding your more recent work."

Snorting, Shepard knew what it was. She was going to take the footage of Shepard back to her tabloid talk show and use it to somehow try to paint her as some kind of traitor to humanity, as she tried to do with Elysium. Finally, she shrugged. "Fine." Shepard stepped away from the group and pointed at the camera. "If that thing even thinks about turning towards my squad, I'm destroying it."

Khalisah nodded, wide-eyed as she reached down for her omni-tool and activated the camera drone, it's eye well away from her team and aimed directly at Shepard. "Alright Spectre…" she started before finally looking up. "You've been given a unique position to represent our race. People want to get a sense of how you'll do that. After all, humans have been trying to get the respect of the galactic community for twenty-six years. With that in mind, what are your feelings on being the first human Spectre?"

She should have known the questions would start off easy. The commander knew she had to keep her answers longer than average to keep the woman from taking things out of context, so she answered as thoroughly as she could. "Spectres represent the best of every species in the galaxy. I was asked not just by the Council, but by the Alliance as well to take this role, and it's an honor to do so."

Nodding with a smile, Khalisah continued. "Some have said that this is just the Citadel throwing the humans a bone. Have you encountered any situations where the Citadel Council has asked you to place its needs before the needs of Earth?"

As the question left the woman's mouth, Shepard internally sighed. She hated being right. "While I'm afraid I can't get into the specifics of my work, the Council is concerned with the needs of the whole galactic community. We're part of that community now," said Shepard as she eyed the woman firmly, her face placid as her she made her next point clearly. "And honestly, I wouldn't consider asking for a human Spectre as the Alliance being thrown a bone. Getting an embassy earlier than most races? Maybe. But they don't hand out Spectre candidacies like some kind of treat for good little girls and boys. It's a process that shows that the Council has faith in the species and the person they're selecting to do important work."

"I see…" said the woman as she cleared her throat. "I won't take much more of your time, Spectre. But I do wish to ask, you've been given command of an advanced warship to use on your missions. Is there anything you'd like to say about it?"

"The Normandy is a prototype co-developed between the Systems Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy. Its design is magnificent and incorporates many innovations. All of which are classified, I'm afraid," said Shepard with a cheeky grin.

"So, the turians have knowledge of the Normandy that is being kept secret from the Alliance public?" asked the woman curiously as she returned Shepard's smile. Thoughts of straight up clocking the woman passed briefly through the spectre's head, but she kept any indication of her inner thoughts to herself. "Do you think it was appropriate to hand Earth's most advanced warship to date over to the Citadel?"

"I'm afraid you're mistaken on anything being handed to anyone. The Normandy was co-developed and owned by both the Systems Alliance and the Hierarchy. And it was chosen by both governments to be tested under my command. Even if you somehow thought that it belonged only to the Systems Alliance alone, you should be thrilled that a human runs the ship."

"Human, yes. But you do work for the Council now, Spectre," said Khalisah as she flashed Shepard a toothy grin. Once again, Shepard had to restrain herself from punching the woman square in her perfect teeth. "One last question, Spectre. Rumors back home say that you're tracking a rogue Spectre by the name of Saren. Do you have any comment on that?"

Shepard's eyes narrowed again. "I'm afraid I can't comment on what my current assignment may or may not be. I would recommend getting better sources, however."

Smiling wider, the reporter nodded. "Don't worry, we'll find out," said the woman as she opened her omni-tool again. "The eyes of Earth are on you, Spectre. Don't let us down." Finally, the light from the drone dimmed. "Thanks again for the interview, Shepard. I really appreciate you finally sparing a moment for those back home."

Shepard eyed the camera drone before opening her own omni-tool. Hijacking the device, she deactivated its still running camera herself. "As much as I'm sure your viewers would love to be outraged over the new human Spectre dressing you down, Khalisah, I'm afraid that filming someone in secret is against Citadel Law," she said, getting a surprised look from the reporter. "And with the camera off, I would recommend being more careful with your loaded questions from now on. You've had ten years experiencing people who don't know how to play your game and years of being able to talk about me behind my back without me there to defend myself. If you want to go toe to toe with me, you'll have to get bigger heels," said the spectre as she stared down the shorter woman.

Khalisah stared up at the commander wide-eyed before nodding and turning to walk away, her drone following in her wake. "That'll probably make you some fans," said Garrus with a chuckle.

"Opposition as well, but definitely more fans," said Kaidan as he stepped up to Shepard.

"Fans or not, I'm not about to get bullied by some tabloid journalist with a chip on their shoulder," said Shepard as she snorted.

"Well, now it's pet store time!" cheered Tali as she grabbed Shepard's arm and dragged her away from the entrance of the tower.

Furry Forest - Kithoi Ward - Citadel

Shepard eyed Garrus as they walked towards the shop that Tali had selected. Easily noticing her staring, the turian eyed her back through his visor. "Something wrong, Shepard?"

"I feel like every time I come to the Citadel, one of my crew is going to try and make me relax by taking me out somewhere. I'm wondering if I should expect any surprises from you next time we're here," she said with a smile.

"If it were a surprise, why would I tell you about it?" he asked jokingly, causing her to shrug. "Nah, if I were going to take you somewhere, I'd probably schedule it out with you. Also, not a fan of surprises."

"Me neither, but I suppose some surprises aren't all that bad," she said as she held the door open.

"Besides, I don't get the whole pet thing. Why would you want a creature that can't take care of itself?" he asked as he circulated his talons in confusion.

"I don't know, why do people want kids?" she asked back with a shrug as he stepped inside the door.

"Point taken," he said with a chuckle as he entered. Almost as soon as they were in the door, they were beset upon by an excited asari who looked to be even younger than Liara.

"Welcome to the Furry Forest! Our haven of hypoallergenic fuzzy friends!" she said in an overly chipper tone.

"Hello! We're here to look around a bit!" said Tali as she grabbed Kaidan's arm and pulled him unceremoniously towards the ferret section.

The asari then looked towards Shepard and Garrus with a glowing smile. "Is there anything I can help you find?" she asked, the sounds of pets echoing behind her.

"I'm more curious how any of this is legal. I thought specific kinds of pets weren't allowed on the Citadel," said Garrus as he looked inside a few of the glass cages.

"Last month, it was signed into law with the assistance of the Paws for Pets Foundation that pets would be allowed on the Citadel as long as they were properly neutered and vaccinated. Oh, and also, there was another law put in that pets cannot be purchased with the intent to invasively study or experiment on them! We don't want some batarian bully buying a cute fuzzy little kitten just to cut them open after all!" said the asari as she practically melted at mentioning the word kitten.

Shepard chuckled as she shook her head at the girl's enthusiasm. "Well, at least you love your work," she said as she headed over to the cages with the turian.

"What is this thing?" he asked as he tapped on the glass of one of the cages.

Shepard peeked over into the domicile and smiled. "That's a cat. Or, kitten, rather. It's a baby…" she started, but the asari spoke up for her.

"Ragdoll! It's a breed that hails from the mid-1960s, in the country of California! When they're babies, they are like little fluffy pieces of cloud, but when they get older, the hair grows a bit longer and smoother! It's like silk…" she said, closing her eyes as she daydreamed it.

Garrus stared at her a second, then looked back at the animal curiously. "Wait... I thought the cats on Earth were bigger. Don't some weigh four-hundred and fifty kilograms?"

"Oh yeah. But we also have smaller, more domestic versions. Different breeds entirely, but the same family," said Shepard as she put her finger against the glass of another cage. The slate grey kitten inside put its paw up where her finger was.

"You're telling me that humans took one of the most lethal killing machines on the planet, shrunk it down, and turned it into a pet?" he asked as he stared at the ragdoll again. Suddenly, it hissed at him and he stumbled backward. Shepard reached over and caught him, and the turian quickly pulled her in front of him. "What the spirits was that!?"

"He hissed. Sometimes they do that if agitated," she said as she looked over her shoulder in amusement. "Don't worry, Garrus. They're harmless, especially to turians. Their teeth and claws wouldn't even be able to scratch your carapace," said the spectre as she pushed the turian towards the asari. "Can you watch him for a bit? I'm gonna go look around some more. Make sure the kittens aren't too hard on him," she said as the asari grinned happily and nodded.

Stepping away from the pair, she passed all sorts of puppies, kittens, and rabbits. She eyed the adorable collection of creatures before stopping dead as she saw a tiny figure peeping at her from a small cage filled with wood shavings. Kneeling down, she smiled at its large, black eyes, chubby rodent body, and pillowy cheeks that were stuffed with some kind of seeds.

Her mind dipped back to when her mother and father had gotten her her first pet. When they were stationed on Arcturus, pets were only allowed when kept in cages. That limited the range of pets for most people, but her parents compromised. Instead of getting her the dog she wanted at the time, they got her a pet hamster very similar to the one who was staring at her. She smiled as she recalled naming the little guy the most hardcore thing she could think of to make up for his meek nature. So, he became known as Fenrir, the Destroyer.

Giggling to herself, she gently reached inside the cage and doted on the little one, stroking his ears, his head, and his back as she recalled all the adventures she had as a youngster with Fenrir. Her father and mother would often have to scold her for staying up too late to play with him. As she remembered the old days, she lost track of time. She only realized that she had been kneeling for a while when Garrus finally approached her from the cat section.

As she stood up and faced him, her eyes widened at what she saw. "So... Shepard. What's the policy for pets on the Normandy?" asked the turian as he held three kittens, all purring and sleeping inside the cowl of his neck.

Jade Empire - Kithoi Ward - Citadel

Shepard nearly died laughing as she watched a disappointed Garrus put the kittens back into their cages in the pet shop. Not so much because of his disappointment, but more because of how pitiful he looked giving them up. Afterward, Shepard invited the three of them to dinner but found herself alone as Kaidan and Tali decided to go their own way, and Garrus mentioned something about having to meet someone else for dinner.

Slightly affronted, she sent a message to the other crew members to see if they wanted to have dinner with her. Most of the crew, she expected to be seeing family while on the Citadel. But she held out hope for a few. Soon, she smiled as Liara, Ash, and Joker all agreed to come and meet her.

Stepping inside the restaurant, she asked for a large table and went to sit. It wasn't long before both Ash and Liara waltzed through the door and met her with smiles. Surprisingly, B'Nalia was behind Liara with a look on her face as if she had been sentenced to death. As all three sat at the table, Shepard eyed the professor curiously. "What's the matter with her?"

Liara smirked slightly as she turned to look at her partner. "She begged Councilor Tevos for forgiveness for some past transgression, and the Councilor gave her a Class 4 security clearance. I just finished filling her in on the ultimate fate of the protheans."

"Let me guess, she had many questions?" asked Shepard with a smile as she accepted her drink from the waitress.

"The same questions, in the same order I asked them in," said Liara as she took some water that was offered to her. "She's been silent for almost an hour."

"So, no karaoke from her?" asked the familiar voice of Joker as he limped his way to the table with the aid of a cane.

"Joker, if you even think about doing karaoke, I'm leaving," said Shepard with a playful grin. Despite the good cheer around the table, Shepard did notice that Ash seemed to be fairly deep in thought. When everyone else was settling in and putting in their orders, she leaned over and nudged the woman. "Everything alright, Ash?"

"Huh?" asked the chief as she sat up and stared at the commander. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, Shepard. I was just thinking about something."

"Need any extra processing power?" asked Shepard, curious about what had the gunnery chief's mind tied up.

"Oh no, its…" started Ash as she began to dismiss it. But then her eyebrow cocked, and she leaned over conspicuously. "Actually, Shepard, maybe you could help me find something."

Smiling, the redhead nodded. "Go for it. I'm pretty good at finding things."

Looking to make sure nobody overheard, Ash leaned closer and whispered to the spectre. "I recently learned that Wrex's grandfather left him a suit of battle armor as a gift. A kind of family heirloom. But after the Krogan Rebellions, it was taken from him by one of the turian enforcers. I was wondering if you could track down its current location."

"Well, if I can get the name of the turian who took it, I might be able to find it. But it's not likely that Wrex spray painted the armor with his name either. So, I'd have to see what it looked like," said the spectre as she scratched her chin. "I'm assuming you want to track it down without him knowing?"

"Y-Yeah. While I'm sure he'd be grateful if we found it, I doubt he'd be thrilled that we went out of our way," said the chief as she just randomly pointed to something on the menu for the waiter.

"I can see that. Well, let me see what I can do. I'll update you if I make any progress," said Shepard as she looked up and saw another newcomer. Both eyebrows rose as she grinned slightly. "Zannia!"

The turian looked up at her name and waved away the waitress as she made her way over to the table. Looking at all the others, who were now looking up at her, she hesitated. "Hello, Spectre. Do you have room for one more?"

Smiling widely, the commander reached over and grabbed a turian style chair. "Always."

Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

After a fun dinner with some of the crew, Shepard immediately headed back for the Normandy. While the others still had a few hours to burn, she wanted to get some work done before bed. As she settled into her familiar swivel chair, she turned the terminal on and went through the necessary security measures to unlock it.

And as soon as it was unlocked, she went to work. Quickly, she began searching the extranet for vids of battles from the Krogan Rebellions. She smacked her head as the search returned hundreds of thousands of videos. Narrowing her search down, she specified by clan name. This returned less, but even still, there were thousands of videos. "Apparently, Wrex's clan was one of the more prolific clans back in the day," she said as she scrolled through the videos.

Pulling up her terminal's multi-tool, she spent a few minutes attempting creating a new program. Suddenly, the omni-tool on her left wrist lit up. Looking down, she saw a message on the hard-light surface. [Do you need assistance, Spectre?]

"I'm trying to piece together a program that will scan faces of krogan in active footage," responded the commander as she eyed the omni-tool. She knew that the AI could do it in seconds, but even as understanding as Val'eda was, she couldn't allow them onto any device that could reach the extranet.

[I can coach you on an easy method to create such a program.] responded the AI. Shepard smirked slightly, thankful that it hadn't even suggested connecting itself.

"You're smarter than I am. If you know a better way, then I'm in," said the woman as she took the omni-tool off and set it in front of the keyboard.

[Please type the following into your multi-tool.] said the intelligence as a long list of code began projecting onto the screen. Shepard sighed but did as she was told. It took another hour, even with Shepard's fast fingers to fill in all the required programming for the tool. But when she finally finished, the projection disappeared. [Now, take a piece of footage of the krogan you wish to find, and upload it into the tool. Once you've done this, all you have to do is link the program into a search engine, and the macro should do the work for you.]

"Thank you Val'eda. You've made my work a lot easier," said the commander as she uploaded a vid of Wrex from their Feros incursion. Once entered, she selected the search engine that she used previously, and automatically it began filtering through videos on the fly. Shepard took the omni-tool from the desk and slid it back onto her wrist as her terminal worked rapidly.

It was then that her eyes fell onto the small object sitting next to the computer. Small, chrome, and by all appearances, solid. However, as she picked the small sphere up again, she knew it was anything but solid. At her touch, its surface rippled as if she held a simple globe of water. Exhaling slowly, she closed her eyes again. Like before, she saw mountains. Not older mountains like the Appalachians back on Earth that she had seen back in her Alliance training days. These mountains were jagged and sharp. They weren't nearly as tall as Earth's mountains, but they stuck up like spears, ready to impale anything that tried to land.

She marveled at the natural defense that the mountains could provide, then continued to focus on the vision itself. The earth was green with life. No grass, just moss-like growths everywhere. The feet of the mountain were covered in it as well, and it appeared to be so thick that even the air itself was filled with small, floating residue that resembled pollen. Suddenly, the vision zoomed out and she could see the planet itself. Like Earth, it was a contrast of green and blue. Oceans covered the planet, and anywhere there was land, the green of life, and white of ice filled its surface. Given the cloud cover, she couldn't recognize much of the landmasses below, however.

Then, at last, the vision zoomed out again. She could see the star system. At its center was what appeared to be a yellow dwarf star like Sol. But unlike the Sol system, she could only see four planets within its gravitation as if the object were pointing them out to her. Two small, rocky planets, one gas giant at the very edge of the Kuiper belt, and the third planet. It had beautiful rings like Saturn but was a habitable garden world. Creatures lived there, and she knew it. She didn't know how she knew, but she did.

Finally, after she was done examining it once more, she opened her eyes and stared down at the curious object. Given its nature, she was almost certain that it was prothean. But she had no clue what it was trying to tell her. Maybe she'd know more if she visited the planet it was showing her. But it gave few clues as to what system it was located in. "Shouldn't be hard to figure out if I search the database for habitable planets. Narrowing it down by planet count, the type of star, and the types of planets should give me something," she said as she stared at the immaculate surface of the trinket. Furrowing her brows, she sighed. "But what are you trying to show me?" Suddenly, she was alerted as someone knocked on her door. Looking up, she called out, "Come in!"

As the door opened, she was almost relieved to see Liara. Though, why she was relieved she couldn't say. She wouldn't have been disappointed had it been anyone else. The asari stepped inside the room with a pleasant smile. "Shepard! I came by to see if you needed any assistance tonight."

"Oh, right. I actually don't know for sure, but I guess it couldn't hurt," said the spectre as she gently rolled the trinket in her hand. Liara's eyes locked onto the object and immediately went wide.

"Sh-Shepard! What is that you're holding!?" she asked frantically, her body now rigid as if she were afraid to move.

Looking down at the device, Shepard shrugged. "I... really don't know. The Consort gave it to me as a reward for helping her out. But even she didn't seem to know what it is," said the woman as she held it up for the asari.

Liara slumped onto the bed as she stared at the flawless surface. "Shepard, what you are holding is prothean!" said the doctor as she gently held her hands up and cupped them under the orb.

"I figured it was. Any time I touch it, it shows me some kind of vision of a specific planet. But I can't figure out what it's trying to tell me, or where the place is. All it shows me is the planet itself and the star system that it's located in. Here, try it," ordered the spectre as she dropped the orb into the doctor's hands.

Liara almost gasped as the smooth surface rippled on contact with her blue palms. But she forced herself to slow her breathing. Nodding to the commander, she gripped the orb gently, and her biotics began to shimmer over her skin. Closing her eyes, she sat for a long moment as Shepard stared at her. Suddenly, one of her eyes opened and peeked at the trinket. "It... it's not showing me anything!" she said, her voice full of disappointment.

Reaching up, Shepard scratched her head of red hair gently. "Well, why the hell would it show me?" she asked, recalling something Liara said in a previous conversation. "I thought non-biotics couldn't interact with prothean technology without some kind of intermediary device. How is it that I can see the vision, but you can't?"

"I... I'm afraid I don't know. I’ve seen devices similar to this and they’re typically used for wide-ranging purposes. Sometimes they’re used as memory storage, and sometimes they’re used for mundane things such as door keys,” said the doctor as she gazed into its chrome surface. “We wouldn’t know what it’s used for unless we opened it, but we can’t do that without damaging it. And I’d rather tie a tow cable to myself and be dragged from the rear of the Normandy as it made a relay jump than disassemble actual, working, prothean technology.”

“So, how do we solve this problem?”

“Well…" said the asari as she casually looked over at Shepard. "There is one way that I can witness it."

Shepard couldn't have hidden her laugh if she had tried. Liara glared at Shepard sternly as the commander covered her face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I shouldn't laugh, but your eagerness is adorable."

Liara looked away, almost pouting. "My eagerness for what?"

Shepard grinned, then stood up to her full height. Grabbing the asari's wrists, she pulled her up to her feet until they were nose to nose. "See, that's what I'm curious about. Doctor T'Soni, are you interested in me, or my encounter with the beacon, and my frequent run-ins with prothean technology?" she asked with a stern stare into the doctor's blue eyes.

Shepard could see that already the doctor was rigid at being this close to her. But she needed to know why. She needed to know whether the asari was interested in her, or the protheans. She'd had too many relationships with people who were interested in the idea of her but couldn't hold up under the pressure. And she wasn't about to jump off another cliff for someone who was merely using her.

"I... I... I... wh-what I... mean…" stuttered Liara nervously as she stared wide-eyed into Shepard's own blue eyes. Suddenly, she went silent, and almost limp as the redhead leaned down and planted her lips on the asari's. Liara inhaled sharply through her nose as she released the trinket and wrapped her arms around Shepard, embracing her fully as she returned the kiss with surprising ferocity.

Shepard reached up and gripped the side of the asari's head as she leaned into it, kissing her deeper until she felt the doctor's knees practically give out. Finally, she pulled away and held her in her arms. Both of them panted heavily despite the lack of exertion, and Liara was flushed more now than the commander had ever seen her before.

Leaning forward, Liara placed her head against Shepard's chest. It was a few minutes before she finally gathered herself enough to speak. "I hope the fact that I dropped an artifact that is potentially older than both of our entire civilizations proves where my true interests lie, Jane."

Smiling at the answer, Shepard placed her chin on top of the woman's ridged head and held her close. "That it does," she said, her own cheeks burning as well. "That said, you might want to pick that up."

Moving like lightning, the doctor reached down and snatched the device from the ground and held it up for inspection. "It doesn't appear to be damaged. So, perhaps you can show me through melding what you're seeing," responded the asari as she looked up at Shepard hopefully.

Shepard smiled larger than she had in a long time as she nodded. "Alright then."

Author’s Note: Thank you to both Orion Galahad on DeviantArt and Coyote-Carnage on Tumblr for their art that inspired one of the scenes with Garrus in the pet shop. If you haven’t seen their art, you’re missing out.

Chapter 31: Bring Down the Sky

Chapter Text

Combat Information Center - SSV Normandy SR1

"Hey, Commander!" greeted Joker as Shepard approached the navigation seat.

Smiling, Shepard looked down at the man and nodded. "What's up Joker?"

"Two questions. First, has Liara been in the caffeine again? Every time I talk to her she's smiling like a maniac," he asked with a curious stare.

"No, that's not a result of caffeine," said the spectre as she crossed her arms and grinned at him.

"And you're not going to tell me what it is, are you?" he asked as he narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"If I did, I'd have to kill you," she said, pointing her finger at him like a gun.

"Yeah yeah, you Spectres and your secrets," he said as he rolled his eyes. "Now, can you tell me why we're in Asgard? This is mainly Alliance territory."

"An old friend sent me a message, telling me that there have been sightings of batarian activity nearby. As you mentioned, this is Alliance space. So batarian activity usually either means smugglers, or something a lot more serious," she said as she looked over to the navigation officer on duty, Lieutenant Lowe.

"Eww," said Joker sourly as he turned back to his console. "The last time batarians were involved in a human colony, a building was destroyed, and the nearby Fleet Depot was attacked."

"Yeah, I heard about that," she said with a knowing grin.

Joker shrugged as he adjusted their course slightly. "Not much to hear. Somehow the Alliance found out about the attack and blasted the batarians to scraps before they could do any damage. Thank the cosmos for small miracles," he said as he looked back up at her curiously. "Hey, where were you when that happened?" Shepard pointed at him with her gun-hand again, causing him to chuckle.

Suddenly, Lowe, the blonde navigation officer next to her spun around. "Commander!" she shouted but corrected herself. "I mean... Spectre!"

"It's fine, Lowe. What's up?" asked Shepard as she eyed the woman's surprised face.

"I'm picking up a distress signal," she said as she pressed the comm device to her ear.

"Where from? Terra Nova?" asked Joker as he moved to alter their course.

"No! It's... coming from nowhere? The signal appears to be coming from space, maybe a ship?" she said in confusion as she passed the information to navigation.

Pressly eyed the information curiously. "That’s no Alliance distress call. Maybe civilian?" he said as he nodded to chief Tanaka.

The man scanned thoroughly before his eyes widened. "Spectre, what we're looking at isn't a ship," he said as Pressly too gasped in horror.

"An asteroid!? How the hell did it get that close to the planet without some kind of warning!?" he asked, almost outraged.

Shepard reached over for the comm, and Lowe handed it to her. Placing it in her ear, she listened intently. "Hello? If anyone is out there, please help us! X57 has been hijacked by batarian extremists and if someone doesn't intervene, millions will die!" came the female voice over the comm.

Looking at Lowe, Shepard's glared deepened. "Can you connect us to her frequency?"

"On it!" snapped the lieutenant as her fingers scrambled over the keyboard. Finally, she gave her a thumbs up.

"This is Spectre Jane Shepard with the Citadel Council. Give me your name and tell me why the hell an asteroid is headed directly for Terra Nova!" she snapped over the comm.

"A Spectre! Yes! Please, you have to help us! X57 was scheduled to arrive at Terra Nova for mining! But a crew of batarian extremists have taken over the facilities, and now have it on a direct collision course with the capital city of Scott! You need to disable the fusion torches-" said the woman rapidly.

"Who am I speaking with?" asked Shepard as she nodded to Joker. The man immediately set the course directly for the asteroid.

"My name is Kate Bowman, but that isn't important! What is, is stopping this thing from smashing into a planet!" said the woman in a hushed, but urgent voice. "You have to disable the main three fusion torches on the far side from the planet, then activate the reverse torches facing it to stop it! The reverse controls can be activated from the communications center at the top of the highest peak!" Suddenly, the woman's voice became muffled as someone in the background said something, then the comm went dead.

Handing the headpiece back to the lieutenant, Shepard sighed and shouted behind her as she rushed back towards the CIC. "We're taking the shuttle down Joker! Lowe, send a message to the Alliance immediately and warn them about what's going on!" As she hit the lift, she opened her omni-tool. "Wrex, Kaidan, Garrus, meet me at the shuttle bay in ten minutes, armed and armored to the teeth! We're jumping into hell!"

Surface of X57

Within minutes, the team had been assembled, and they all jumped into the shuttle as Shepard taxied them down at a rapid pace.

"What's going on Shepard?" asked Kaidan as he held onto one of the braces above him.

"A mining asteroid has been hijacked by batarian extremists and is currently heading full speed for Terra Nova," she said as she steered the ship down to one of the lit torches.

All three of the others looked at each other before looking back at Shepard. "Never knew working for a Spectre would be this eventful," said Garrus as he shook his head. "So, what are we doing?"

"We're flying down to the surface and shutting the fusion torches off that are propelling it off, activating the reverse torches before the asteroid reaches the point of no return, and taking out any batarians on the way," she responded with a heavy sigh. "If we hadn't been here..."

"No more Terra Nova," said Wrex as they all looked at him. "The krogan did this a few times back during the rebellions. We'd grab an asteroid and drop it from space right onto turian colonies. Depending on where it hits, the world may no longer be habitable afterward."

"Don't pat yourself on the back too hard," said Garrus sourly.

"Don't complain to me, turian. I was just a whelp on the front lines when that started happening. I wasn't anywhere near it. And on top of that, I wouldn't have done it even if I was in charge," snapped the krogan as he looked to Garrus. "It's just a waste of planets."

"So, what are we looking at as far as damage then?" asked Alenko as he gripped the strap above tightly.

Wrex flexed his neck as he thought about it. "Well, that depends on the size of the asteroid, and where it hits. If it hits land, you're looking at a cataclysm that would potentially wipe out all life on the planet. As soon as it impacts the ground, we're talking continental shift on a grand scale; and that's after the blast that wipes out everything within a thousand kilometers. Instant liquification of land on the impact site, earthquakes that could crack a planet in half, fire and ash raining down across the entire world as debris is scattered into the atmosphere, and climate shifting as a blanket of ash and fire covering the world for millennia. The volcanic eruptions alone would prevent new ships from coming down to rescue anyone who survived. And if it hits the water, then you're looking at all the same crap, but add in skyscraper-sized tidal waves that would destroy anything in their path. Basically, you’re looking at literal scorched earth," finished the krogan as he sat back in his seat.

"Great. So, the only option that doesn't end up with millions dead is stopping it from hitting. How long do we have before the point of no return?" asked Garrus as he looked to Shepard.

"About four hours," she said as she looked out the window at the cragged surface of the asteroid. "That should be plenty of time, but I guess that depends on what we run into down there."

"Damn..." said Kaidan sourly. "If we hadn't been in the system already, nobody would have been here to stop it."

"Well, we are here. And we are going to stop it," said Shepard as she tightened her brace. "Now, sit back. Landing on this thing while it's rotating is going to be rough."

X57 Fusion Facility 1 – Surface of X57

It took less than thirty minutes for them to reach the first fusion torch facility. As Shepard anchored the ship, she turned to the others and pulled up a grappling gun. "We don't have time to mess around in here. You kill batarians on sight, and if they have human hostages, then freeing them only comes after the batarians are dead." As she opened the shuttle door, she aimed for the facility wall and fired the small device. A hook shot from the weapon and nailed the wall, securing itself before Shepard tied the other side to the ship.

Reaching out, she began to shuffle along the cord, preventing the lack of gravity from sending her flying off. The others looked at her, then at each other. "Well, she was special forces. Can't blame her for being prepared," said Garrus as he followed, using his talons to gently pull him towards the door.

Once at the door, Shepard used her omni-tool to open it, then held on for dear life as the sudden decompression exploded outwards. The blast of air sent her spinning around the cable, but she leveled herself using her grip on the cord. Finally, she planted herself firmly on the ground and used her leverage to throw herself inside the door.

It took another ten minutes before the others made it inside as well with Wrex being the most unsuccessful. But after they were inside, she finally closed the door and allowed the pressure chamber to rebalance again. She was prepared, but they were not. Once the cycle had completed, the gravity returned, and she landed on her feet.

Alenko unceremoniously landed on his rear end, and both Garrus and Wrex fall flat on their faces. "Ugh... some warning would have been nice," groaned the krogan as he got back to his feet.

"Quiet. Private comms only," she ordered from inside their helmets. All of them silenced their voice emulators and Shepard finally opened the door inside the building itself. It was incredibly small and tight. The only thing inside was the engine for the fusion torch in the center of the room, which made the atmosphere incredibly hot. Drawing her pistol, she moved forward silently. "They likely know we're here due to the main door being used. So be prepared for anything."

"Heh, no worries," said Wrex as he took a hand off his assault rifle and patted the heavy weapon on his back.

"We've got movement on the second floor. Looks like there's a small balcony where they can get the high ground," responded Garrus as his visor scanned the area.

"I'm going dark. You all try to take them out whenever they fire, and I'll hit them from behind," said the Spectre as she activated her cloaking.

"I just love it when she does that…" complained Kaidan as he hid behind the working engine. It was loud enough that it may have covered their entry into the building. "So, how do we-?" started the lieutenant, but he was interrupted as Wrex burst from cover and shot straight up at the balcony.

"Well, I guess that answers the question," said Garrus as he peeked out from cover and assisted. It was only seconds before the fire was returned. Wrex hid behind cover again as bullets rained down on their position.

"You've got mechs heading your way! Be careful!" Shepard warned over the comm. Garrus peeked from cover again and saw the threat. Several mechanical beasts that were similar in size to varren charged at them from the doorway leading to the upper level. Stepping back, he waited a moment before the mech sprinted around his corner, then he lashed out with a roundhouse kick that buried his spur blade directly into its head. As soon as the attack hit, it went dark and dropped to the ground.

Kaidan lifted two of his targets off the ground with biotics before accessing his omni-tool, then tossed them back towards the balcony with another throw. "Heads up, Shepard! Got a few boomers headed your way."

"I've got eyes on them," she said as the two mechs floated rapidly towards the balcony. The batarians that were firing scattered as they landed and exploded.

One of the batarians fell due to shrapnel, and Shepard jumped out while they were distracted. Using the butt of her weapon, she smashed one of their face plates in, causing him to shout in pain as the shards entered his eyes. Grabbing him, she flipped him over the balcony before turning and putting a round straight through another's helmet. As the extremist slumped to the ground, the spectre bounded over the scrapped mechs to finish off the rest.

While Shepard fought the batarians above, Garrus and Kaidan moved towards the door to assist her while Wrex finished the last of the mechs by kicking it into the giant engine itself. It tried to rise again, but one stomp from the large krogan's boot ended its struggles.

The fight ended as Kaidan finished the batarian that had fallen, and Shepard put down the last two who were defending the torch's controls with quick shots from her pistol. The others reached the top of the stairs just as her cloaking dropped. "Let's hope the others are this easy," Garrus said as Shepard opened the door to the control room.

Her brows furrowed as she did. In the small room, there were three bodies lying on the ground. Stepping over to one, she looked into the figure's broken faceplate and saw a dead human. "They aren't screwing around. No prisoners."

"They executed them. Almost all of these entry wounds are either through the back of the helmet or through the faceplate," said Garrus as he examined them.

"Unfortunately, there's no time to mourn. We have business to take care of," said Shepard as she accessed the controls on the torch and deactivated it, then disabled the panel so that it couldn't be used again when they left.

Almost as soon as the fire deactivated, her comm turned on again. "Hello? Spectre, are you still on this frequency?"

Reaching up, she activated it and responded. "I am. Now, can you tell me what the hell is going on? Why was this asteroid headed for Terra Nova? Mining asteroids aren't usually moved to host planets," she said as she turned around and headed down the stairs.

"I'm an engineer, and we were instructed to bring this asteroid to Terra Nova. They wanted it nearby because it was close enough to move, and after it was mined out, they were going to use the remainder as a frame for a new orbiting space station. It was relatively easy until... shit, I have to go again. I think they know the torch went out. Keep up the good work and watch yourself out there!" said the voice before the comm cut off again.

Sighing to herself, Shepard headed for the door. As she stepped into the entryway, she was startled to see another human. Grabbing her weapon, she raised it. "Who are you?"

Startled by the shout, the man fired his weapon before ungracefully falling on his rear end. The shot easily deflected off Shepard's shields as she glared down at him. "Oh god! I'm sorry!" he shouted as he got up again and dropped the gun. Garrus and Kaidan stepped up behind her just in case he tried anything. "I didn't mean to... are you hurt?"

Shepard stared at him a moment before shaking her head. "I'm fine. Now, how about you answer my question?"

"Sorry, I didn't realize you were human. I'm not much of a soldier…" he said, clearly flustered after the panic fire. "My name is Simon Atwell. I'm the chief engineer on this rock. Look…" he started as he held up his hands defensively but stepped closer to her. "We don't have much time! The batarians have the torches lit, and if we don't turn them off, we're going to hit Terra Nova!"

"I've already been informed. That's why we're here," she said as she put the weapon away.

"Oh, right. Sorry. It's just, I've got family down there. Kids, grandkids, the works. And four million people on top of them will die if the batarians aren't stopped," he said nervously. Despite the atmospheric control that came standard on most space-faring suits, Shepard could see that the man was sweating profusely.

"We're working on that now," she said, hoping her point was made. But apparently, the man didn't take the hint.

"One last thing! I had a crew working on the surface when the attack hit. I'm worried about them. If you have the time, could you check on them for me?" he asked hopefully as Shepard narrowed her eyes.

"My primary objective is to stop those torches and activate the reverse thrusters on this rock. After that and the batarians are taken care of, I'll look for your team. Until then, I'm afraid we don't have the time."

"Right, I understand. Thank you regardless," he said as he stepped out of her way.

"I'd recommend making yourself scarce. The batarians may come back here to try and activate the torch. They won't be able to, but I doubt you'd want to see what happens when they figure that out," she ordered as she entered the decompression chamber in the entrance. Simon followed her and the team in and nodded.

"Y-You're right. I saw them smash in the face plates of people working in vacuum. And those mechs... ugh," he responded as he shook his head. "Anyway, I'll take my ship to the other side, away from the action. When you finish... if you finish, please contact me and I'll head for the main facility."

"I'll do that," said Shepard as she received his data. "In the meantime, keep your head down and let us take care of this. If you have any updates, contact me. Otherwise, keep off the mic to prevent them from tracking you down." Finally, the door opened to the outside and they began to float again. Shepard used the door and cannonballed herself directly inside the ship with one hand on the cord for stability. Her team followed her as Simon headed for his own ship.

Once inside, Shepard lifted the shuttle off the ground and headed for the next fusion torch facility. Filling the time between landing, Garrus decided to strike up a conversation. "So, we've got at least two survivors, two more fusion torch facilities, and the main facility. It's likely the next two are going to be packed with batarians."

"After they found out one of the torches went off? Definitely," responded Kaidan with a sigh. "Time isn't as much our enemy as these batarians are. They don't usually attack in small numbers. They like to overwhelm their enemies."

"Ha! What a cowardly tactic!" said Wrex with a chuckle.

"Cowardly, but it works," said Shepard as she steered towards the next building. "Also, when did you learn about batarian tactics, Lieutenant?"

"I took a page from your book, Commander. I learned who I was working with, and I read quite a number of intelligence reports that you sent to the Alliance," he responded with a smirk.

"Was it as bad as it sounds?" asked Garrus in his droll tone.

"It was a bit of a dry read, but very informative," said the lieutenant firmly.

"Joke's on you Garrus. If you don't survive our mission, I'm gonna write your eulogy," she said sarcastically as she landed the ship again.

"Oh spirits no," responded the turian with a shake of his head.

"Alright. Jokes are offline for now. We're going with the same plan as before, so get yourself ready," she ordered as she opened the hatch and fired the small harpoon again.

X57 Fusion Facility 2 – Surface of X57

Unlike before, the team of batarians guarding the engine was numerous. It was a hard-fought battle, but Shepard's squad came out successful again. With the batarians dead, she stepped into the control room and shut the torch off. Once again, as soon as the engine in the main room died down, her comm activated.

"Spectre, are you there? Oh boy, you've really pissed them off. The leader is setting charges everywhere in the main facility. I think he's going to blow this whole place to hell," came the voice of Kate. Shepard went to respond, but suddenly a massive scuffle was heard.

"Get away from there!" came another voice over the comm, this one definitely batarian.

"Please, don't shoot!" shouted the woman defensively.

There was a long silence before yet another batarian voice came up, this one much deeper than the others. "Who is shutting off the torches?" Everything was silent as Shepard turned and headed for the door, signaling to the others to move quickly. "I won't ask you again." After another long silence, there was a gunshot. Shepard gritted her teeth as she heard the woman gunned down. "Find this problem, and deal with it," ordered the voice of the leader.

Suddenly, the comm died again. "Damn it, they found her!" Shepard growled as she left the facility.

X57 Fusion Facility 3 – Surface of X57

The last of the fusion torch facilities was a bigger pain than the others. Almost as soon as they reached viewing distance, they were fired on by turrets that the batarians had set outside the building. Shepard flipped the shuttle to escape the blasts and nearly crashed them onto the surface.

Garrus gasped as he recovered from the intense roll of the ship and stared at the window. "Damn. Those aren't cheap weapons. We're dealing with a high class of terrorist," he said as he unbuckled his safety harness.

"Garrus, what the hell are you doing?" asked Shepard as she swung the ship into cover behind a large rocky hill.

"If we want inside that building, then we need to take out those turrets! Give me your grapple gun!" he ordered, holding out his talon.

Shepard stared at him for a moment as the shuttle idled in place. "I hope you know what the hell you're doing." Reaching down, she pulled the object from her belt and handed it to him.

"You and me both," he said as he grabbed the safety rail and stood as much as he could in the cramped compartment. "Now, I need you to set me on top of this hill, then provide a distraction."

She glared at him as the shuttle started to ascend. "This is revenge for something. I don't know what, but I will find out, Vakarian," she said as she flew above the crest of the hill and opened the shuttle door. Garrus held onto the rail and aimed the grapple gun at the asteroid and fired. As soon as it hit the surface, the cord began recoiling and it pulled him downwards until he was on the rocky surface of the asteroid.

Hooking the grapple gun to his belt, he steadied himself and pulled his long-range rifle off his back. Gripping the rocks with his talons, he aimed over the hill and sighted the first manned turret into his scope. As the shuttle flew high, the turrets spun and began firing again. The shuttle was too high to be reliably hit by the fire, but they fired regardless. And the distraction made it easy for Garrus to focus on the targets.

He slowed his breathing as he sighted the long-distance target, and focused, then fired. The shot immediately snapped the safety cord holding one of the gunners to the turret, which whipped upwards and surprised the batarian gunner. Immediately, he released the handles of the turret and went flipping backward as the lack of gravity took him. Then Garrus moved his scope again. "Two more," he said, both to himself and through the comm to Shepard.

As he focused again on the second one, this time aiming for the head, as the cable wasn't in view. As his scope zeroed in on the helmet, he released his breath again and fired once. The batarian's shields winked out as they stopped the shot. Then he fired again and sent the man spinning. It was blatantly clear that he was now dead, as each rotation of his body sprayed out icy red crystals, his blood freezing as it sprayed from his helmet.

Finally, he moved his scope to the last one and cursed as he saw its main gun pointed directly at his position. "Damn! They figured us out!" he shouted as he tried to move. But even being anchored, it was difficult without gravity to hold him down. One of the rounds hit his shields and knocked them out as he flailed around. But he quickly realized that his only hope was to make as little a target as possible. Slamming his talons down on the button of the grappling hook, it yanked him down against the ground. He laid as flat and still as possible as the rocky hill was peppered with more rounds. His shields came up again, then went down again as another round hit them. "I'm pinned down, Shepard!"

"We've got you!" yelled the commander through the comm. Garrus looked up and saw the shuttle descending rapidly. Suddenly, it crashed nose first into the turret and sent both the batarian and the scraps of the weapon flying into the darkness. "Coming to retrieve you now."

The shuttle swerved and sped towards his pockmarked position before the door opened and Kaidan leaned out with his hand extended. Reaching out, the turian grabbed him and released the grappling hook, then was yanked into the ship's interior. "Thanks for the backup. I thought you were actually going to have to do my eulogy there for a moment."

Shepard chuckled as she moved the ship towards the last, now unguarded facility. "Don't count your chickens before they hatch," said the spectre as she finally anchored the ship. Turning, she saw Garrus staring at her for a moment. "Oh... chickens, right. Sorry," she said as she got the grapple gun from him again. "It basically means don't get ahead of yourself."

"Ah, understood. And no worries, Shepard. I know you well enough to know you'd never use that in a derogatory manner," said the turian as he waved off her apology.

X57 Fusion Facility 3 – Surface of X57

Shepard speared the door of the facility once more, and she entered in the same manner as the rest of the facilities. But to her surprise, the inner door of the building was already opened. Before she could get a grasp on the reasoning, fire raining down on her. Shepard dove behind the engine just in time as a rocket went screaming through the door and out into space.

"Careful entering! They're aiming at the door!" she shouted as she felt bullets pinging off of the engine next to her.

"Baak talak!" shouted one of the batarians as he shoved one of the shooters.

She knew the phrase quite well. It was used in formal Kar'Salk, essentially the language of upper-class batarians, and it was an order to stop firing. She wasn't sure why, but she knew it wasn't because they wanted her alive. Holding her pistol up, she activated her comm. "Stay out there for a moment. They have rockets aimed at the door and I don't want any of you spaced."

"Shepard! That means you're in there alone!" growled Kaidan.

"That’s an order Alenko! Just sit tight!" she commanded as she killed the comm. Suddenly, her eyes widened as the batarians spoke again.

"Come out of there, Shepard. We know who you are!" shouted the higher class batarian in Galactic Common.

"See, that's really odd. Usually, when batarians hear my name, they don't live to tell of it later," she said as she stalled, trying to come up with a plan. She knew they had to be circling around the engine to flank her.

The terrorist chuckled at her response. "Very true. But we're a lot smarter than you give us credit for."

"If that were true, you'd have left as soon as you found out I was here," she said bitingly as she fired an adhesive grenade around the far corner of her cover. She was rewarded with batarians yelling in Kar’Toka, the lower-class language, just as it detonated.

"Shakas! Don't let her damage the engine!" yelled the leader angrily.

"Hey Shepard," came Wrex's voice through the comm.

"Yeah?" she asked as she prepared another explosive.

"We just need to turn the engine off, right?" asked the krogan curiously.

"Yeah. Why am I suddenly nervous?" she responded, wondering where the krogan was going with the line of questions.

"Heh, you might want to duck. And I mean on the ground, face first," he said, and her eyes widened. Immediately she did exactly the opposite and used the lack of gravity to her advantage. Thrusting both feet down, she hurtled towards the ceiling, putting much more distance between her and whatever Wrex had planned.

"See, Shepard, we've heard everything about the Nemesis of the Alliance. And we were relatively surprised to find you here. But now that you are, we've got you right where we... wait, what's that noise?" asked the batarian as he stopped his monologue.

Out of nowhere, a heated laser burst through the wall and drilled into the side of the engine. Shepard grabbed a safety rail built into the ceiling and used it to thrust herself away from the device as the heated attack began melting through the machine. "I'm coming out! Open the far shuttle door!" she ordered as she used the distraction to barrel towards the entrance. The laser had burned completely through the metal now and scored on a very unfortunate batarian, whose chest now had a flaming hole through the center.

Overriding the outside door, she threw herself out and let gravity take her. She soared over the shuttle itself before using the grapple gun to tag it, then swing herself directly inside the vehicle.

"Okay, now you're just showing off," said Garrus as he helped her up.

Shepard ignored the comment and stared as Wrex's heavy weapon started doing serious damage. The fusion torch above began sputtering wildly before going out. Then the inside exploded as the machine overheated, killing most, if not all of the batarians, and sending the roof of the facility scattering to space. Jumping into the pilot's seat, she began to fly the ship away as Wrex held on tight, his weapon no longer firing, but instead sizzling madly as the coldness of space cooled its surface.

They all watched as the destruction of the facility caused the torch itself to begin breaking apart. "Heh, now that's how you turn something off."

"I'll keep that in mind next time I can't find the remote," responded Kaidan with a smirk as he belted himself in again. The lieutenant then looked at Shepard. "Also, Commander, what's this about the Nemesis of the Alliance?"

She moved the ship towards their next destination, the comm center that engineer Bowman had told her about before turning and looking back at the squad. They all looked back at her curiously, and she sighed to herself. "I can trust you all, right?"

"Trust us how?" asked Wrex curiously.

"Not to gossip like a church clique," she said sternly.

Now knowing she was serious, they responded more formally with Kaidan taking the lead. "Of course, Shepard."

"It would damage the spirit of the Normandy to do such a thing," responded Garrus.

"I ain't got nothing to say to anyone about you. Unless I'm threatening them, of course," said Wrex, getting a smile from the spectre.

"Good," she said as she sighed to herself. "When I was still in the Alliance, before I became N7, I worked with intel in the Traverse. I kinda made a name for myself for handling batarians, both escapees and extremists. I guess I didn't cover up my work good enough because someone found out about me."

"I wouldn't put it past the Hegemony to hire a Spectre to find out who you were. So, I wouldn't misjudge yourself too hard," said the turian.

"Even so, I've done a lot of work with them. Rescuing defectors, taking out troublemakers, siphoning information, and so on. I worked for years with that team and have had a hand in no less than a hundred dealings with batarians," she finished as she finally caught sight of the comm center.

"I see. So, they knew you by reputation and gave you a nickname?" asked Kaidan curiously.

"That nickname was actually given to me by someone in the Alliance. That revelation only deepens my concerns that the batarians know it," she said as she finally stopped and anchored the ship. Turning to them, she glared daggers. "Now, please don't make me teach you what happens to information leakers."

"Can I tell Tali? I'm sure she'd love to hear about it," said Garrus playfully as he readied his weapon.

"Ugh, fine. But the same rules apply to her. It doesn't go beyond our team," she ordered as she readied her grapple gun again. Using it to spike next to the door, it appeared the comm station was less of a facility, and more of a trailer set up to link all the other stations together. She slid inside the door easily enough and floated towards the console before turning it on. "Looks like the batarians haven't found this place yet."

"Good. That Bowman woman said you can activate the reverse thrusters from here, right?" asked Kaidan as he followed her in.

"She did. Let me see if I can figure out how they work," she responded as she activated her omni-tool, drifting lazily through the air as she worked. "It looks like the transponders from Atwell's crew came back to here as well. We'll have to check them out before we head to the main facility."

"Once the X57 is in full reverse, there should be plenty of time to look," said Kaidan as she downloaded the locations quickly.

Suddenly, another ship flew out from behind the trailer and shined a bright light on their position. Immediately, she sighed and alerted the Normandy of their position. But if these batarians decided to fire on them, it would likely be too late for the Normandy to respond. She had to stall them. Using her omni-tool, she connected to the ship's comms. "So, are you going to threaten me with death too?"

It took a moment, but she finally got a response. "Not exactly. This doesn't have to end in bloodshed. Your choice, Shepard. The hard way, or the easy way."

"A batarian extremist who knows how to parlay? Color me surprised," she responded as she glared through the windows at the ship. Its guns were big enough that they'd get through the trailer glass in a matter of seconds.

"Look, I'm just doing my job here. Hijacking this rock wasn't my idea. I joined for profit, make a little slave grab, that's all," responded the pilot. It was a small batarian gunship, which meant there were likely at least two more inside.

"Well, your little slave grab turned into the potential destruction of a planet. So why the hell are you still here?" she snapped impatiently as she continued to work on the thrusters.

"If it were up to me, we'd have already left. But I'm following someone else's orders. Someone who knows how to hurt me," he replied, his voice all but angry.

"Well, here's your chance to leave. Do so, and I won't have your ship blasted into scrap metal," she said as she smirked through the window at him.

"Wha? Shakas…" cursed the batarian as the Normandy locked onto his position.

"That's right. Now, open up the ship before I do it permanently," she ordered as she finally finished. The reverse thrusters activated, and her job was done, even if they killed her now, even if the batarians tried to undo her work. The Alliance would be here long before they figured out how to get through her programming. Terra Nova was safe.

The ship landed on the rocky surface, anchored itself, then the cockpit opened. As expected, three batarians were sitting in adjacent triangular formation seats. "Damn you Balak…"

"Quiet," she ordered as she halted the Normandy from firing. Looking up at the three, she moved until she was standing in the doorway of the trailer. "Now, here's what's going to happen. You're going to tell me who you are, who you work for, and then you're going to leave. Do I make myself clear?

"Yeah yeah, I got it," said the batarian with a sigh. "My name is Charn, and we're working for Balak."

Her eyes widened at the name. "Balak?"

"Yeah, him. No doubt you've heard of his work," said the batarian, who didn't get any more than a silent stare from Shepard. "You know what he's capable of, and you know what he'll do to me if I betray him."

"Well, it looks like you no longer have a choice," she said, her glare deepening as she realized what she was dealing with. "Now, Charn, I know for a fact that's not your real name. I know enough about the batarian language to know when I'm being mocked," she said as she opened her omni-tool. "Now, tell me your real name before I rip you out of your suit and scan your DNA myself," she snapped impatiently.

The batarian sighed and slumped back in his seat. "Fine. My name is Jamen Dolsokk."

She smirked and nodded as she put her omni-tool away. "Good. Now, here's what's going to happen. I've added a number to all of your comms. When I message that number, you respond immediately, and you follow the instructions. If you don't, I'll find you, and I'll make you regret it." Her eyes focused on Jamen this time. "And, if I ever hear about any of you coming into Alliance space again, I will personally hunt you down. Balak will seem like a dream when I'm done with you."

The batarian stared at her for a long moment. "Only if you kill Balak."

"You seem to misunderstand. This isn't a negotiation," she said irately.

"I understand perfectly. But betraying him is worse than suicide. Kill him, and you'll never hear from us again," said the batarian resolutely.

Sighing to herself, she glared at him. "That's the plan anyway. But just in case, I wouldn't go back to batarian space. You might want to stick to the Terminus Systems from now on," she said as she pulled herself back to the shuttle.

The batarian growled but closed the cockpit and spun the ship around. He immediately fled the asteroid and headed towards the nearest relay.

"You know, I could have shot them down with my gun," said Wrex, almost sounding disappointed.

"You could have, but now you don't have to. Save it for when we meet Balak," she said as she climbed back into the pilot's seat.

"So, who is this Balak character?" asked Kaidan as he entered the vehicle as well.

"A big player in batarian extremism. Almost every attack on human colonies from batarians, he had a hand in. Elysium and a few small hits are the only ones that he wasn't involved in," she said as she looked back at the lieutenant. "He spearheaded Mindoir himself."

Immediately, Kaidan's brows furrowed. "He's got a lot of blood on his hands then."

"Yeah. Let's go see if we can't wipe it clean," she said as she lifted off again and flew towards the main facility.

Outside X57 Main Facility – Surface of X57

"Well, I guess they know we're coming then," said Garrus as they received the report from Pressly.

"It looks like it. The facility ahead is armed to the teeth with men and turrets. And these ones are automated, so you can't just take out the operator," replied the XO from the bridge of the Normandy.

"Fighters would come in handy right now," growled the turian as he tapped the handle of his weapon impatiently.

"Frigates aren't known for housing many fighters," said Shepard with a smirk. "Pressly, put me through to the Fire Team."

"Roger, Spectre. Patching you through now," responded the navigator as the comm changed over.

"Fire Team Leader here," came Zannia's voice.

"Zannia, the Excalibur cannon would normally send an asteroid of this size spinning, correct?" asked the spectre.

"That's correct, Spectre. If it were larger, we could have used the main accelerator cannon to take out the fusion torches, but if we had on X57, it would have begun spiraling from the impact, making the reverse thrusters useless," responded the turian leader.

"We currently have rocket turrets keeping us from getting to the main facility. Is there a way you can knock them out without destroying the entire facility?" she asked, wondering how creative the woman could get with the weapons on the ship.

There was a moment of silence before the turian responded. "Actually, yes. The GARDIAN systems are light enough to destroy the turrets without damaging the main building. But the Normandy's scanners were meant for computer driven torpedoes. They won't be able to target something as simple and small as these turrets. You'll have to mark them from the ground."

"Understood. Send the marker in a drop pod to my location and prepare the Normandy for battle," she ordered as she opened the shuttle. Pulling the hook of the grapple gun off, she anchored it to the shuttle, then hooked it to her belt. After a minute of waiting, a pod from above slammed into the ground, where it stuck in the surface of the rock.

After the debris cleared, Shepard dove out of the shuttle, aiming directly for the pod itself. When she was in range, she grabbed one of the handles and entered the ejection code. The sides fired off in all directions, and a laser weapon the size of a rifle was the only thing on the weapon rack inside. Grabbing it, she reeled herself back in and unhooked the grapple gun.

"So, all we have to do is point this at the turrets?" asked Kaidan as he eyed the curious device.

"It's almost too easy with creative thinking like that. You just need a skilled pilot to compensate for the movement of the asteroid," responded Garrus with a chuckle. Suddenly, they all looked up as the Normandy swooped downwards and stopped almost directly over the facility.

"I'm sorry, you called?" came Joker's chipper voice over the comm.

"Yes, we did. Hold your position there, Joker! We've got some work to do!" called Shepard as she hooked the weapon to herself and began the process of climbing up their cover. Her hands gripped the rocky surface, making sure she didn't float away before she finally made it to the top of the hill. Already the turrets were aimed directly up at the invading ship and firing their missile payloads at it. But the Normandy's armor was world-class and meant for much stronger strikes than simple ground rockets.

As she secured herself to the ground with the grappling tool, she raised the laser weapon she put the butt to her shoulder and aimed the laser sight directly at one of the turrets. "Syncing weapon targeting with GARDIAN laser systems now, Commander," said Pressly over the comms.

"Target in sight," she said as she pulled the trigger and set the marking laser shining off its surface.

"Target spotted! Firing now!" came Zannia's voice again. The laser turrets on the Normandy immediately spun around and targeted the machine, then unleashed enough laser fire to crater the entire thing.

"Locking on to next target!" shouted Shepard as she marked the next turret. It was like a fantastic fireworks display. Each turret that she targeted was almost immediately turned into burning scrap. Within minutes, all of the turrets were little more than floating debris floating off from the surface of the mineral-rich asteroid. Turning, Shepard tossed the weapon back to the shuttle where it was caught by Garrus. "Now, let's get inside and get rid of this infestation."

X57 Main Facility – Surface of X57

"We know you're there human. You might as well show yourself," said the batarian leader as he paced around in front of a large doorway.

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give you an easy target," responded Kaidan from the door.

"Ah yes, the subordinate. Where is your Commander? Sneaking around cloaked in stealth? What was your plan, to distract me so that she could come up behind me and jam a knife into my heart?" asked Balak with a grin.

"Not exactly…" responded the lieutenant as Garrus and Wrex held the opposite side of the entrance.

Suddenly, the intercom system activated, and Shepard's voice echoed across the chambers. "I see the mighty Balak finally decided to show his face in Alliance space again. What's it been, ten years since you had the courage to do a job yourself?"

Balak chuckled to himself as he continued to pace around a device set into the floor. "Ah yes, calling my honor into question. A typical human tactic."

"Release whatever hostages you have Balak, and maybe you'll live long enough to explain yourself to the Council," said Shepard threateningly as she opened a door on the side of the large area and stepped inside.

"I don't answer to the Council, and I certainly don't answer to you," said the batarian as he looked around. "Though, it is rather amusing to be called a coward by someone who refuses to show themselves."

"Oh, don't worry. You'll see me soon enough," she said as she opened another door and immediately slammed her fist into the throat of an extremist who was guarding the door. The batarian gasped in shock before she pulled out her turian-styled talon blade and jammed it into his throat, silencing him forever. She then knelt down next to the hostages and began disabling the bomb as they called out to her through gags.

"I very much doubt that. See, I'll be leaving this rock in a matter of moments. And if you try and stop me, I'll detonate the charges that I have set all over this facility, taking out you and the hostages with it," he said with a grin on his face.

"Is that right?" she asked as she finally disarmed the last bomb. "Well then, I guess you've got me right where you want me!" she said mockingly as she moved over to one of the bound women. Kneeling down, she removed her cloaking and held a finger over her mouth, signaling the woman to be quiet. Gently, she reached up and tugged the gag out of her mouth.

The brunette immediately grabbed Shepard's hand and eyed her worriedly with tear-stained eyes. "Spectre! There's another bomb!" whispered the woman as quietly as she could.

Shepard's eyes widened slightly, both because the voice belonged to a woman she thought dead, and because of the news. "Bowman?" she asked, getting a nod. "Where is it?"

"Near the entrance! He didn't activate it so your scanners wouldn't pick it up! If he detonates it, the decompression is going to kill everyone inside and rip the entire facility off the face of the asteroid!" she said urgently.

Shepard immediately stood to her feet and switched her comm. "Wrex! Kaidan! Garrus! There's another bomb at the entrance! I have to disable it! Do not let him leave this facility!"

On her command, the three of them moved out of the doorway and began charging into the main room. It was very reminiscent of a hotel lobby, with a fountain in the center, and plants decorating the areas around the room. The plants were likely a regular oxygen supply while the fountain water was actually potable drinking water. As they entered the first level, enemy fire began raining down on them from the mezzanine levels above.

Wrex immediately bolted forward with his biotics, sending a batarian screaming and crashing through a window as his charge hit like a cannonball. Garrus pulled his sniper off and used Wrex's distraction to dash up the stairs to a higher level before setting up behind a small barricade.

Kaidan, meanwhile, bolted past the fire fighting with his barrier and had his sights set on Balak himself. Chuckling to himself, the batarian activated the bomb and turned to leave. "Your death will be the jewel in my crown," he said as the door behind him opened. Suddenly, he turned sharply as Kaidan's sub-machine gun fired directly at him. But the barrier around him blocked all the shots.

Kaidan looked down at the device at Balak's feet and growled angrily. "Damn it! He's got a forcefield generator!" he yelled angrily as he punched the shield directly.

"Better luck next time, human," remarked Balak as he attempted to leave. But he stopped dead as his feet began to float from the ground. "What in-" suddenly, he smashed against the forcefield itself.

"There won't be a next time!" shouted the lieutenant as he began to use biotics to warp the machine inside the field.

"Morons! Stop him!" shouted Balak as he was dropped to the ground and scrambled to his feet again. Kaidan went to grab him once more, but a sniper shot hit his barrier and sent him careening sideways. Moving quickly, he ducked behind a concrete planter for cover.

She could hear the gunfight going off in the large atrium. Leaving the fight killed her inside, but if she didn’t get to the bomb then her squad might die anyway as the relentless vacuum of space ripped them apart and hurled them in all directions. She had to find the bomb, and that meant trusting her team.

As she entered the lobby, Shepard found the last of the bombs hidden tucked beneath the main counter and began her work of trying to disarm it. But most bombs of this style took at least a minute to disable, and the timer after activation had only been set to thirty seconds. As soon as she saw the timer, she knew she wouldn't be able to disarm it.

Looking for another way to get rid of it, she stood up and grabbed the device, lifting the heavy object and heading for the door as fast as she could. Her team would have to fight without her, unfortunately. And if her plan didn't work, then they might have to fight without her permanently. Exiting the building, she left the bomb floating and flung herself towards the shuttle. Once she grabbed the door, she aimed the grapple gun at the bomb and fired.

It hooked, and she anchored it to the shuttle. Quickly, she opened her omni-tool and activated the autopilot, making the ship lift off and fly out into the void, dragging the floating bomb with it. As the vehicle sped off, the explosive whipped around and slammed into Shepard's back, sending her floating away from the facility before it followed the shuttle into the darkness.

In mere seconds, the bomb exploded, taking the ship out without a sound or sight and scattering shrapnel to the universe. She hoped that none of the high-speed metal was aimed at her as she drifted in the darkness of space. Slowly, she made a rotation and saw a ship emerge from the facility. She had instructed the Normandy to stay away from the building in case the explosives went off but told them to watch out for a ship leaving. But she knew it was no use anymore.

Despite its small size, the ship immediately went into FTL and vanished from sight, causing her to sigh in frustration as the biggest batarian war criminal in the history of the Alliance escaped her grasp once again. Reaching up, she activated a small device built into her helmet that began sending out an SOS beacon. Closing her eyes, she waited for assistance as she continued to float off into the void of space.

CODEX ENTRIES

Whelp | Culture | Krogan
Whelp, or whelpling, is a term referring to the early stages of a krogan's long life. Typically in the age range from birth to the age of one hundred Tuchanka cycles, the true evolution from this life stage only begins once the whelp in question has gone through the Rite of Passage. This often includes copious amounts of violence, bloodshed, and alcohol.

Chicken | Derogatory Linguistics | English and Galactic Common
A creature from Earth, usually cultivated for its meat or eggs. Sometimes used by humans as a derogatory term for turians.

Baak talak | Translation | Batarian Kar'Salk
Do not shoot!

Kar'Salk/Kar'Toka | Linguistics | Batarian
Two similar, but very distinct batarian languages used commonly in its caste system society. Every citizen of Kar'Shan knows both, and always uses one or the other depending on who they speak to. Kar'Salk, the higher-class language, is only used by individuals when speaking to someone of lower class. Said person would then respond respectfully in Kar'Toka as a sign of acceptance of their place. Were two individuals of equal station to speak, they would speak in Kar’Toka, as two individuals speaking Kar’Salk to one another is considered a challenge of authority.

Shakas | Translation | Batarian Kar'Salk
A curse commonly used by batarians that refers to their hellish God, Shakas, a large tentacled monster that pries the eyes from the unclean, leaving their soul to rot in their corpse.

Spirit of the Normandy | Mythology | Turian Mythology
Turians commonly believe in spirits, not just of individuals, but groups as well. The 'spirit of the team' is the force that holds them together, and can be strengthened through teamwork, or damaged through dishonor. The spirit of the team is often used as a gauge on how well a group of people works together, with a strong spirit referring to a good team.

Charn | Translation | Batarian Kar'Salk
The literal meaning is "unknowing," or "unable to be known."

Chapter 32: Family Armor

Chapter Text

X57 Main Facility

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" said Kate Bowman, who was practically sobbing as she fell to her knees in front of Shepard.

The spectre reached up and pulled her helmet off, letting out a huge sigh as she looked down at the woman. "The Alliance should be here in about an hour. They'll take care of the dead batarians and the casualties."

Simon, who had gotten the call from Shepard while she was still out in space, approached tentatively and stared at the woman curiously. "He left. Is... Is that okay?"

Nodding, Shepard smiled tiredly at the man. "The Alliance has never seen his face before. Now that I've seen him, I can make a reconstruction and give it to them for their watch list. He won't be able to get far," she said as she looked down at Kate, who was holding her face in grief and repose. "Besides, I wouldn't sacrifice all of your lives to catch him. That would make me as bad as he is."

"W-Well, thank you," he said as he stared at the ground solemnly. "Let a terrorist go or save innocent lives. I'm... glad that's not a choice I had to make."

"He's on the run now more than he's ever been before. He'll slip up, and when he does, I'll be there with the noose to catch him," she said, reassuring the man.

The engineer's eyes widened slightly at the remark. "I'm glad you're not after me," he said as he smiled nervously. But his nervousness vanished, and he held out his hand to shake. "Thank you again, Spectre. For our lives, the lives of my grandchildren, and the lives of everyone on Terra Nova." Reaching out, she shook his hand with a nod. "Speaking of lives…"

She shook her head before he finished his question. "I'm sorry, Simon. We tracked their positions from the comm center. And unfortunately, the batarians got to all of them."

Shepard could tell that the man tried to hide the hurt in his expression but failed. "I... I see. Thank you again. I'll need to inform their families," he said as he nodded to her and stepped away. She watched him go, knowing that he now had a scar that would take a long time to heal. Moving her gaze to the kneeling Kate Bowman, she knelt down and gently began rubbing her back.

The woman was crying silently into her hands. It took another ten minutes before she was able to speak again. Looking up to Shepard with tear-stained eyes, she did her best to scrub the wetness away. "I-I'm sorry, Spectre."

"It's fine. You've been through a lot," replied Shepard as she sat next to her.

"They... they killed my brother. When I refused to tell them who you were, they gunned him down," said Kate with her teeth gnashed together angrily.

The realization hit Shepard fairly quickly. The gunshot she heard over the comm wasn't for Kate, it was the batarians executing her brother for not cooperating. Sighing heavily, she pulled the girl over and rested the engineer's brunette head on her armored shoulder. "You saved their lives," she said as the woman looked up at her in surprise. "If it weren't for you hiding and calling for help, if it weren't for you staying quiet, then your life and millions more would have been lost."

"B-But I-" she started to say but ended up breaking down again.

"Your brother would be proud of you," said the spectre, and the girl hugged her tightly as she began sobbing again. Shepard sighed and reached up, gently rubbing the woman's back to ease her pain.

Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

"I'm sorry, Commander," said Kaidan as he stood in the doorway of the captain's quarters.

"For what, Kaidan?" asked Shepard in surprise as she sat in her chair, flexing her sore back.

"You instructed me not to let him leave, and I failed," said the lieutenant stoically. But his face changed from serious to curious when Shepard started to chuckle.

After her laughing fit, the commander sighed and leaned back in her chair to stare at him. "Lieutenant, you and the others fought off two dozen armed batarian terrorists in a facility where a bomb was about to go off. You didn't fail anything."

"But-" he tried to cut in, but she raised her hand and silenced him.

"I'm glad you made it out of there in one piece. That's all that matters to me," she said with a grin. "Anything else?"

"That's all, Commander. And... thanks," he said, returning her smile before leaving the door. She watched him go, knowing that if she were forced to pick a human partner, she would have no issues with it being the handsome lieutenant. Brushing those thoughts aside, she lifted her left wrist and spoke again. "Did you get a picture of his face?"

[Affirmative, Spectre. Would you like a recreation?] said the AI.

"Yes," Shepard responded, and within seconds, she was staring at the face of the shadow she had been chasing for years. Using her own omni-tool, she took a still photo of it and immediately sent it to the Alliance. "Let's see how good he is at hiding when his face is on every bounty board in the Terminus Systems."

[Not far, I imagine. On another note, your program has pulled up several matches from the Krogan Rebellion vids.] Shepard looked up at her terminal that she had turned on earlier and noticed that the program was pinging her. As the AI said, there were a few videos marked as matches. Opening them, she cracked a smile as she saw a much younger Wrex charging the lines in battle. His three lancing scars were fresh on his face, but she could immediately tell it was him. Then her eyes drifted down to his armor.

"So, this is his armor?" she asked as she eyed the battle suit he was wearing.

[It appears much older than he is, though this isn't at all conclusive.] replied the helper as Shepard scrolled through the other videos.

"He's wearing it in every video he has been recorded in," she said as she opened another tab and began a quick search on Krogan Rebellion era museums. "Let's see if we can't find a match." It took only minutes to start the next step in their search. But soon, there was knocking on her door, and she minimized both windows on her terminal. Spinning in her chair, she deactivated the communicator on the AI's omni-tool. "Hello?"

The door slid open and Liara stared at her worriedly. "Hello, Jane," she said in a shy tone.

"Hey, Liara. Is there something I can help you with?" asked the spectre curiously as she stared the asari up and down.

Nodding, the doctor stepped inside. "I... saw what happened outside of the facility on X57. I wanted you to know that I'm relieved you are alright."

Smiling lightly, Shepard nodded. "I'm glad to hear that you're relieved," she responded teasingly.

Liara crossed her arms as she glared playfully at Shepard. "Well, I'm happy to hear that you're glad I'm relieved," she said, making Shepard chuckle. The asari smiled slightly at the laughter and released her rigid pose. "Truly though. You had to know that you could have gotten caught in the blast if your plan didn't work, or if you didn't make it on time. It was very risky."

Shepard eyed the asari's worried expression. "Does it upset you?"

Sighing, Liara plopped onto the foot of Shepard's bed and closed her eyes. "It does, and it doesn't. I'm bound to be worried to exhaustion whenever you are in danger. But were you not the kind to put yourself at risk for the safety of others, I would be enjoying a magma bath instead of being here with you," she said, her eyes snapping open as if realizing what she had just said. "I mean, as a part of your crew, of course."

"I know, Liara," said Shepard with a smile as she sat up again, groaning lightly at the ache in her back.

"It would also be unreasonable of me to ask you to stop taking risks because of my anxiousness," she said as she formed her hands into fists in her lap. "I suppose all I'd like to say is that I worry about your safety when you're gone and am very happy that you are still alive."

Smirking playfully, the spectre leaned forward in her chair. "Is that all you have to say to me, T'Soni?"

Liara's eyes widened at the question. "W-What do you mean?"

Shrugging, Jane stared directly at her. "Being worried for me and being happy that I'm alive are feelings you share with many, if not all of the people aboard this ship. Not to mention my mother or Captain Anderson."

"Oh... I see," said the asari as she blushed, her eyes turning down again. "I understand what you mean now." Sitting straight, Liara cleared her throat nervously. "While I'm sure your crew do have genuine feelings of affection for you, and would mourn at your loss, I promise that my feelings are more intense."

The doctor's body went rigid as Shepard stood up, almost towering over her sitting form. "And why is that Liara?"

Wide-eyed and blushing madly, the asari began stammering. "B-Because Shepard. I... I…" she started to say, but immediately, her eyes narrowed. "You're teasing me again, aren't you?"

Shepard's grin cracked, and she began chuckling again. "Maybe a little."

Snorting, the doctor crossed her arms over her chest again and donned her adorable pouting face. "I see." As she stood up, Shepard eyed her, wondering if she had taken offense. But her words nearly made Shepard blush herself. "On the bed, Jane."

"The bed?" asked the spectre, curious about what the asari had planned.

"You were hit with the explosive device when the cord it was attached to recoiled. And I know from seeing you that it has caused you some discomfort. So, lie prostrate on your bed so that I can relieve you of your aches," she ordered with a serious face.

"Yes ma'am," said Shepard as she crawled onto the bed and plopped face down. Despite knowing what was about to happen, she couldn't help but feel her face begin to burn as she felt the asari's weight press on. Her knees planted themselves on either side of her hips, and she gently began to slide her fingers underneath the black cloth shirt that she wore. Within seconds, the asari's fingertips had found her sore spot and began gently working the muscles around her spine, causing her to groan as the tension released under her gentle care. "Where did you learn this from?"

"I've always been good with my hands, Jane," said the asari, her voice now containing its own hint of playfulness. As the tension was finally worked out, her hands moved higher up her back and began to work their magic around her shoulders. Shepard's groaning grew in volume as the unassuming asari hit her weak points. "Asari are natural at this kind of therapy. Through contact with the skin, we can sense what you are feeling, which is an amazing indicator of how we are doing."

"I can see that," said Shepard, whose eyes suddenly opened as she realized something. "So, I know that asari can feel other beings’ emotions through touch. But do you feel every emotion?"

Smiling brightly, Liara nodded. "I can. While I cannot read your thoughts, your emotions are as open as a book," she said as she pressed her thumb into another spot that caused Shepard to groan again. "And the feeling is mutual, Jane, I assure you."

"Well, that's a relief," said the spectre as her cheeks darkened in embarrassment.

"Jane?" said Liara, causing Shepard to open her eyes. "May I touch your hair?"

Shepard raised her eyebrow at the odd question. "I mean, you're already giving me a massage beneath my shirt. I don't see the problem with you touching my head."

"It's just that asari are very shy of other races touching our crests. They are somewhat sensitive, and can sometimes trigger pain if mishandled, or inappropriate pleasure. I was unsure of the protocol for humans, so I thought I'd ask," she said as she slid her hands free from the spectre's shirt.

"Humans have issues with personal space in general. And some are very conservative about others touching something on their body, even if they've allowed you to touch it before. So, it was very respectful of you to ask," she said as she flipped onto her back underneath the asari. Liara's cheeks began to glow lightly at the new position. "Human hair has no feeling in it, so feel free to touch it any time we're alone. Just try not to pull on it." Reaching up, she took the asari's bare hands and pulled them up, placing them both on her head.

Liara's eyes widened slightly as she touched her hair, staying frozen for a moment before her fingers started to move around. Gently, she slid her blue digits through the contrasting red hair. She smiled slightly at the feeling. "It's very soft. Softer than I imagined."

"That's thanks to the conditioner. Humans often clean their head hair separately from the rest of the body," said the spectre as she closed her eyes and relaxed at the feeling of her skull being rubbed. She had never actually had a cranial massage before, and the feeling was magnificent. She kept her eyes closed to prevent any wild thoughts while the asari was on top of her.

"I see. You…" she started, adopting her shy expression again. "You may touch my crest as well. Though, I do not believe it will feel as soft as human hair."

"Thank you for trusting me, Liara," said Shepard with a smile.

Finally, Liara released the woman's head and climbed off of her. Standing straight, she gave a lovely smile before bowing her head. "And thank you, Jane. I... hope we can do this again in the future."

"No complaints from me," said the spectre as she sat up and stretched herself. Her back felt much better after the asari's massage. Giving her one last longing look, Liara left the room. Shepard got up and opened her terminal again before a message popped up on her omni-tool. Opening it, she groaned and smacked her face as she saw a quick message from Joker. It had no personal message and was simply an extranet link to a guide for soundproofing a barracks room. "Goddammit, Joker."

Deleting the message, she just shook her head and opened the terminal to find that her search had already pulled up a result. She smirked slightly as she saw what was on display.

Tonn Actus Armory - Tantau

As the group stepped inside the facility, Shepard reached up and removed her helmet. There to greet her was a turian with a less than pleased look on his face.

"I must say, Spectre, that this is rather unorthodox. This armory is a personal collection of my own, and one such as yourself has little purpose in-" started the turian.

But Shepard cut him off before he finished his statement. "Save me the whining. And you'd do well to keep any snide remarks to yourself," she responded with a threatening glare.

Ash and Wrex marched up behind her in their own armor, and the turian's glare darkened. "Are they spectres as well?"

"Sarcasm is unbecoming of a man of your stature, Major Actus. This will all go as smoothly as possible with more of your cooperation and less of your hostile demeanor," said Shepard as she hooked her helmet to her side. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, please take us to the piece we discussed."

Tonn let out a long, irritated breath through his nostrils before nodding. "As you wish, Spectre." Turning around, the dark-carapaced turian walked towards the door. Shepard and the others followed as the door slid open.

"What are we even doing here? We didn't get a briefing on the way in," asked Wrex as he trundled behind her.

Ash turned to the krogan and shrugged lightly. "Dunno, the Commander just said it was important."

Wrex grunted, and they all walked into the new room. It was a massive warehouse with shelves and shelves of everything, from ancient-looking weapons, to sculptures, to paintings from many different races. There was even a fairly aged ship that was hanging from the roof of the facility as if on display. "Pretty neat collection you got here, turian.”

"That's Major Actus to you, krogan," responded the collector bitterly.

"Respect is given where it's due, turian. I have enough respect for Shepard not to make trouble for you, but don't for a second think that I'm going to be a docile little whelp that you can walk over like your ancestors did to mine," responded Wrex in a mocking tone.

The major said nothing and continued to lead them through the warehouse until finally, he stepped in front of one specific piece. Wrex had slowed down to take a look at other pieces along the way, leaving Ash and Shepard alone with the turian. "Here is the piece you requested to see."

"Thank you," said the commander as she looked up at the armor encased in protective glass. "Looks just the same."

"Is there a way to be sure?" asked Ash as she crossed her armored arms and stared up at the armor as well. It was grey with age, no doubt fading from the original black. The emblem on its chest was of Clan Urdnot, but that could have been from any number of the clan back then.

"There is one," said Shepard as she leaned back and looked over at the krogan. "Hey Wrex, what do you think of this one?"

The krogan looked over at the spectre and made his way over. But he stopped in his tracks as he saw the armor inside the case. He stood for nearly a full minute, just silent as Ash stepped up to him. "How about it, big guy? Does it look familiar?" Wrex pulled one hand up, then knocked the chief flat on her behind with a punch to her helmet without even taking his eyes off the armor. "Ow! What the hell was that for?"

Ignoring her, Wrex stepped up to the glass case and placed his hand on it as if trying to reach for it. Immediately, the turian stepped forward. "Take your filthy hands off of my collection!" he snapped angrily.

"Oh, don't worry, Major. We'll be taking it off your hands shortly," said Shepard with a smile.

"Excuse me?" asked the enraged turian as he turned towards the spectre.

Ignoring him, she turned to Wrex. "Is that it? I need an answer."

"Yeah... that's it," he said as he turned to her, his hands flexing as he stared at the turian through his thick helmet.

Smiling, she faced the major again. "So, do you want to open it up? Or shall I?"

"This is my property! You cannot take-" he started, but she interrupted him again.

"This armor was appropriated from the krogan after the rebellions. It wasn't the turians, to begin with, and it's not yours now," she said as she stepped into the turian's face. Admittedly, she had no clue if she were intimidating or not given that he was at least a head taller than she was. "Now, if you have an issue with my confiscation of this armor, then please file a report with Citadel Security. I'm sure they'd be more than interested in everything else you've hoarded here."

He saw her threat for what it was. There was little doubt that a lot of the stuff in this armory was obtained by less than honest means. And one word from her meant that he'd be losing a lot more than just the armor. Snorting in fury, the turian merely turned around and walked off. "I guess that means you have to open it yourself," said Ash as she recovered from the hit.

"Not an issue," she said as she opened her omni-tool. Within seconds, she had cracked the sealed case open and the lights within the case went out. Wrex reached up into the case and grabbed the ancient helmet, staring at it silently for a long moment.

Cargo Bay - SSV Normandy SR1

It had been a long, silent ride back to the ship with the armor packed into a storage case sitting next to Wrex. When they finally landed again in their brand-new shuttle, all three of them exited the craft with Wrex dragging the case back to his corner of the bay.

When he had it stored away safely, he returned without his helmet on. Ash had taken her armor off as well and was surprised when the krogan confronted her. "This was your doing."

She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Yeah. And?"

"I…" he started as he pointed at her, huffing angrily. Finally, he let out a sigh and dropped his hand. "Thank you."

Both Ash and Shepard's eyes widened at the words. "Uhhh... you're welcome."

"I'm sorry for punching you too," he said without changing his expression or tone, making him sound incredibly insincere.

Smirking lightly, the chief nodded. "Don't worry, you didn't hurt me."

"Only because I didn't want to," he said in a challenging tone.

Ash chuckled to herself before staring at him again. "Why did you punch me anyway?"

He looked away as he answered. "Two reasons. First, because you took something I told you in a private conversation and brought it to someone else," he said as he finally looked at her again. "And because a krogan showing appreciation to other races is hard."

Ash snorted in amusement and nodded. "Well, I guess I should take it as a compliment considering how frequently you've punched Shepard," she said as she looked at the spectre.

"Hey, don't bring me into this," said the commander with a grin as she quickly exited from the scene.

Wrex watched her go before turning back to the chief. "I never expected to see that armor again. So, I appreciate you helping me find it. You're an alright human, Ashley."

"And you're an alright krogan, Wrex," she said as she opened her arms wide, a playful smile now gracing her face. "So, want to hug?"

His gaze darkened. "Want to see how hard I can really punch?" he asked, causing the chief to crack up laughing.

Training Bay - SSV Normandy SR1

Shepard wiped the sweat from her brow as she sat down on the weight machine again. She had been going through her routines as usual when the turian fire team entered and joined her. She nodded to them all, including Nilissus. Despite his dressing down, he seemed in higher spirits than before as he nodded back to her. Perhaps she and the praetor blowing his leaks wide open freed his spirit from the burden of secrecy.

As she laid back on the weight bench, Zannia stepped up to her head and helped her lift the bar free from the catch. Smiling, Shepard began lifting the weight, grunting with each thrust of the heavy bar. Zannia watched silently with only a sosk protecting her private areas from being seen. When she had finally done her set, the turian reached down and helped her secure the bar again.

"Thanks for the assist," said Shepard as she sat up and wiped her face clean with a towel.

"Any time, Spectre," said the turian charmingly as she took Shepard's place. "So, apologies for not sending a memo. But our team talk with Nilissus resulted in him confessing everything. Afterward, he gave up his right to send messages from anywhere but the Citadel andsaid he would repair the damage he did to the team's spirit."

Shepard stood over the turian with a smile. "I'm glad to hear that he's so eager to make up for his indiscretions." Reaching down, she helped the turian lift as Garrus approached as well, dressed in the same revealing attire.

"Hey, Shepard. Would you mind if I had a moment?" he asked cautiously. Shepard stared at him curiously, as she had rarely ever seen him this timid before.

Turning to Zannia, she watched as the turian lifted the weight with some effort. "You gonna be alright on your own?"

"I'll be fine. Our convexed chests are natural safeties for this kind of workout," said the praetor as she continued to exert her strength.

Nodding, the spectre waved the former C-Sec detective over to an empty corner. "What can I help you with, Garrus?"

He approached and gently tapped his talons together nervously. "I... really didn't know how to go about asking this. So, I hope you don't take offense to my questions."

She shrugged lightly as she eyed the nearly naked turian curiously. "I doubt I'll be offended. Why, what's bugging you?"

Letting out a heavy sigh, the turian straightened up and stared straight into her eyes. "How... what... what parts of a human woman should I be cautious touching?"

Her eyes widened at the question. "I... Is there a reason for this question?" she asked, slightly bewildered.

"Yes. I've grown more acquainted with a human on the Citadel and didn't want to cross the line. In turian culture, we touch each other pretty much anywhere except... well, you know. But I know that humans have more boundaries, and I don't want to appear as if I'm trying to push her," he said as he looked away, slightly embarrassed at having to ask.

She grinned and nodded to him. "I see. I'm sure she'll appreciate your efforts," she said as she stood straight in front of him. "As for your question, most human females have boundaries all over. It really depends on what your standing is with her."

He reached up and scratched his neck gently. "Uh, well, she kissed my head last time we went out. So, what does that mean?"

Cocking an eyebrow, the spectre placed her hands on her hips. "Well, I'd say you're on the inside. If you want to be affectionate without seeming pushy, you can place your hand on her back or shoulder. Like this," she said as she stepped up beside him and took his hand.

He stood silently as the commander placed his hand on her far shoulder. He just stared at her for a moment. "And... and this is friendly?"

The spectre nodded as she smiled at him. "Yep. If you want to get more sensual, you can place it lower on her hip."

"Uhhh... that's…" he said as he looked away nervously. "Hips are erogenous to turians."

"Oh, I see. So yeah, no hip unless you're preparing for something more," she said as she scratched her chin gently. "Well, other than that, most of the body should be free game. Anywhere in the pelvic area besides the hips themselves, and the breast area are erogenous for female humans. So don't touch there unless you're headed to home base." Garrus looked at her oddly, and she shook her head. "Sorry, sports term. It means don't touch those unless you're sure there’s going to be sexual activity."

"Oh, right," he said as he took the information in.

"Basically, you have to read her and see what she is comfortable with. Put your detective skills to work," she said as she tapped his hand on her shoulder. "If you do this, and she looks uncomfortable, back off. It's fairly easy to tell."

"Right, I'll just take it slow and read what she likes," he said as he squeezed her shoulder gently. "Thanks, Shepard. I don't really know many humans who I can ask questions like this. It's good to know you'll help me out."

She raised her fist and gently tapped it to his chest. "No problem, Garrus. I'll be your wingman anytime," she said, smiling at his confused look.

"Wingman?" he asked, and she chuckled to herself.

"I really need to stop using human phrases so frequently," said the spectre as she patted him on the back.

Zakera Wards Marketplace - Zakera Ward - Citadel

Tali was slightly curious about her new close friend. Kaidan was usually very reserved, but he opened up more and more as they did stuff together. They would be at an arcade, and all the sudden the silent, stoic, and handsome lieutenant turned into an excited, smiling, outgoer. It was a strange transformation to be sure.

On top of that, she wasn't exactly sure where they stood together. The biggest admission of their relationship was a vague comment about him potentially seeking her attention. But ever since, it hadn't been brought up again. Through her study of human culture, she knew that the male was typically obligated to ask to take things further. But he seemed to enjoy the way things are.

It was like she was caught between two singularities. On one side, she adored that he was being open with her without asking the usual questions that came from other races. Oftentimes, members of other races talked about how the physical aspect of the relationship could progress, and the discussion of such things made her uncomfortable. But he never asked to see her face, he never discussed how humans and quarians could copulate. He never asked anything of her that could potentially make her uncomfortable. He simply took her along to experience things she never would have had she not boarded the Normandy. And she loved it.

And on the other side, she almost bubbled up with joy when she heard that he was disappointed from missing the chance to see her outside of her suit. She was thrilled to know that he was that interested in her. And slightly disappointed herself that he hadn't asked more of her. He seemed to hold her at arms distance with a friendly face, and it left her wondering if he was truly interested in her as a person, or if he felt obligated to help her out because he felt sorry for her. More than once, he had gotten into a quarrel with people who had made snide remarks towards her, and she sometimes thought that maybe this detached relationship with society was his reason for being so courteous towards her. And that left her feeling slightly disheartened.

Currently, the lieutenant was walking her through the markets, with his usual open smile on his face. She was always curious as to where he would take her next. But the sites of the vendors yelling at customers to come buy their product and the babble of crowds almost drifted by as her thoughts clouded her mind. Suddenly, he stopped.

Looking up, she noticed that they were outside of the entrance to C-Sec. The lieutenant was now staring over the edge of the walkway out the plasteel shield that protected their atmosphere. "This is my favorite place on the Citadel."

She turned and looked out with him, and immediately she understood why. The view was incredible. The arm of the ward stretched out before them, showing the life growing on the space station. She leaned against the railing and smiled to herself as she witnessed the violet nebula that surrounded the arm of the station and the stars created by reflections off offlying traffic. "It's beautiful."

Smirking, the man nodded. "Yeah, it is. But I can think of a few things that are more beautiful than that."

Her eyes widened as she looked down slightly. Luckily, her helmet was hiding her expression. "I... I…" she started to say, almost knowing for sure that he was talking about her. Finally, she sighed and turned away from the beautiful view and leaned back against the railing. "How can I be beautiful? You've never even seen me."

He looked at her curiously, then turned and crossed his arms over his chest. "Tali, you are beautiful even with your suit."

She looked up at him oddly as she began to fidget with her hands. "H-How do you mean?"

Smiling again, he took a step closer. "Your suit is a part of you, I understand that. But it doesn't hinder you. In fact, I actually think your suit looks great. And it looks amazing on you."

She immediately looked away and began fidgeting harder. "Oh... I... uh... thank you." She had no idea how to respond to the compliment, she returned fire with the same one. "A-And your clothes look good on you as well," she said, before reaching up and slapping her helmet.

The lieutenant chuckled as he shrugged. "Well, you're not wrong," he said with a smug grin.

Narrowing her eyes at him, the quarian stood straight and resolved to ask him straight to his face. "Kaidan... I have to know…" she said, her timidness immediately returning. "Where is this whole thing going?" She exerted her will power to keep herself from looking away in embarrassment.

He cocked an eyebrow at her curiously. "You mean us, right?"

She nodded nervously. "You seem interested, but distant at the same time. As you humans say, I'm getting mixed signals, and would like a straight answer so that I don't get the wrong idea. With quarians stuck inside suits all the time, we've kind of lost our ability to read body language, especially across species."

He just smiled and shrugged. "Well, according to the laws of the Citadel and Earth, you are an adult, Tali. But I've studied quarian culture, and according to them you aren't technically an adult until your pilgrimage is finished, regardless of your actual age."

"Oh... I see," she said, her nervousness dissolving. "S-So, the only reason you haven't-"

"Is because I've seen how closely you follow your people's rules, even outside the Fleet. I didn't want to press the issue if you were uncomfortable with the idea of being with someone before you completed your pilgrimage." He sighed and rubbed his head gently. "That also created another issue, as once your pilgrimage is over, you have to return to the Fleet. So, I didn't really want to... you know, chain you down. I'm sure there will be many quarians on your new ship that would make you happy as well, and I don't want you to be alone simply because I had some form of feelings-"

He stopped immediately as the young woman rushed forward and wrapped him in a hug. Tentatively, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged back. "You're very kind, Kaidan," she said, almost sniffling. She looked up at him through the helmet, her eyes curved in a way that betrayed her glowing smile. "It has been a slow transition since I joined the Normandy crew. I've gotten used to how much space there is out here, I've gotten used to being in places where I normally would be thrown out of, and thanks to you and Shepard, I've gotten used to being treated fairly." She pulled away from him slightly as she looked down. "You don't have to worry about protocol, Kaidan'Alenko."

He smiled at the statement and reached forward, lifting her helmet so that she looked directly into his eyes. "Well then, Tali'Zora nar Rayya, would you like to go on a date with me?"

She inhaled sharply, hoping that her suit was hiding her body language. "O-Of course!"

"Well then, let's go somewhere nice," he said as he reached out and took her hand in his own.

She felt her heart leap as he held her hand tightly and pulled her along. "Y-Yes! Whatever you like!" she said excitedly as she practically skipped along behind him.

C-Sec Holding Area - Citadel Security Station 3 - Citadel

She was stunned when she got the call. She had been invited by both Liara and B'Nalia to a seminar on their discoveries from the prothean devices. Many were in attendance and were excited to learn of the zoological studies that Liara had made through the use of the cipher. But as she watched with a smile on her face as the excited asari began going over all the data, her omni-tool pinged her. Opening it, she was surprised to find a report from Inspector Chellick.

Growling, she got to her feet so that Liara could see her. Then she pointed to herself, and the door. The doctor merely nodded, and the spectre had left the theater scratching her short red hair, wondering what exactly had happened to cause C-Sec to grab members of her crew.

As she entered the station, she noticed that she still had a few stares, but most of the people now let her be as they continued their work. She was slightly relieved that her presence was becoming normalized. She nodded to the executor, who only grumbled as she walked past. Finally, she made her way into the holding area. There were many cells that lined the wall of potential inmates who had just been arrested and were waiting for booking.

She approached the desk and saw the turian writing on a datapad. "Excuse me," she said, getting the female's attention.

The officer looked up and said in a genuinely tired voice. "Can I help you?"

"I'm here for Kaidan Alenko and Tali'Zorah nar Rayya," she said, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that two of her most well-behaved crew members were now sitting in a cell.

"One moment please," said the turian woman as she looked through her logs. "Ah yes, that'll be cell 4 section B." Looking up at the human, the officer eyed her. "May I ask who's visiting?"

Sighing, the spectre leaned onto the counter. "I'm not visiting, I'm here to pick them up. Council Spectre Jane Shepard."

The turian scooted back in her chair as if she had just been knocked backward. "Spectre? Oh... right! I'm sorry I didn't recognize you!" she said as she got to her feet and pulled her access card off her side. "Right this way!"

The turian led her down a long hall of plasteel protected cells, most of them empty, but some with people sleeping inside. Her curiosity got the better of her as they traveled. "So, what are they in for?"

The turian stopped a moment and opened her datapad. "It looks like they were bagged by C-Sec for assault and property damage inside a diner on the Presidium." Shepard snorted at the report, wondering exactly how the two ended up with such charges.

Finally, they reached their destination. Shepard stared inside the containment unit and her eyebrows immediately shot up to her forehead as she saw Kaidan sitting on one of the benches, leaning against the wall. And next to him, Tali was fiercely holding his arm with her eyes closed, her legs sprawled across the bench, and her helmet resting on his shoulder affectionately. The officer opened the cell, which got both of her crew's attention.

"So…" said Shepard as she stepped inside the unit. "Does someone want to explain this?"

Kaidan was the first to speak up. "We went to a fancy diner on the Presidium. You know that new place with the chandeliers?" he asked, getting a nod from the spectre. "Well, we went in to get a table and the host said that Tali was not allowed. I asked him why, and he told me that I had to take my pet quarian somewhere else."

"Ahhh…" said Shepard with a grin.

"So, I very politely dragged him across the counter by his throat and explained to him why he was a xenophobic ass who didn't deserve his job," said the lieutenant with a smile. "He took exception to that."

"And the property damage?" she asked curiously.

"After I spoke very civilly with him, he called Tali a junkrat. So, I decided that he needed a nap to sleep off his cranky attitude, and ended up putting him through a table," said the lieutenant with a shrug, causing Shepard to laugh.

The officer looked from the spectre to the two inmates curiously. "Will you be checking them out, Spectre?"

"Yeah, let's go you two. I'll take care of the diner issues myself," she said as she waved to them.

Both stood up, but immediately Tali hooked to his arm again as they exited the cell. Shepard grinned as she noticed, even through her faceplate, that Tali was smiling brightly.

CODEX ENTRIES

Sosk | Culture | Turian
Turians have little regard for bodily modesty. Most of their private parts are internal, leaving very little to cover when in public. As a result, turians mostly wear what appears to be a loincloth during workouts, as turian clothing often tears or stretches due to their anatomy.

Junkrat | Derogatory Linguistics | Galactic Common
A common insult used to refer to vorcha and quarians. The term comes from the stereotypical and inaccurate idea that all quarians will pilfer through trash looking for electronics to either use for themselves or disassemble them for parts to sell. It’s used for vorcha due to their unique ability to eat almost anything, even foods deemed inedible by other species.

Chapter 33: Signal Tracking

Chapter Text

Medical Officer Quarters - Medical Bay - SSV Normandy SR1

It was so frustrating. Liara had seen Shepard do it while barely looking at the terminal screen, but even with a guide and hours of time, she seemed unable to progress any further in her investigations. Wall after wall after wall flew up into her face as she typed away at her personal terminal that sat in the room that she shared with Karin. It made her want to pound the keyboard until it responded, a remarkably krogan response.

But she refused to give up. She would show her worth one way or another, even if it took all day and one of those energy drinks that the humans constantly took. She continued to pry and pry at the walls, using guides from both Shepard herself that she had obtained for training purposes, and with assistance from Tali, who, despite her age, was amazing at cracking things open. So, she continued to slam herself into the walls fruitlessly until the door to her room slid open. Her eyes widened as she saw who was standing in the door.

"Sh-Shepard! What are you doing here?" she asked nervously as she slipped the screen away as fast as she could.

"I was about to ask you the same question. We're docked for another twenty hours or so. I thought you and B'Nalia would be crest deep in prothean study with the archaeological committee. But instead, I get a message from the XO that you've holed yourself in here. What's up?" asked the spectre as she stepped inside and eyed the terminal curiously.

"Nothing! I was just... logging some of the details of the visions we saw! That's all!" responded the asari, who was now as rigid as a plank of wood.

Shepard cocked an eyebrow, such curious facial body language it was, before eyeing the asari. Finally, she smirked playfully. "Logging it away on the home screen?" she asked as she took a step closer. Liara looked at the terminal and wanted to slap herself for not realizing that she had merely minimized the window, leaving nothing up but the background of her home network. "Tell the truth, were you watching pornography?"

Liara's eyes widened before she crossed her arms and huffed. "By the Goddess, Shepard. You're almost as bad as Joker," she said as she narrowed her eyes.

"Hey, it's a thing humans do when they're nearly caught looking at porn. Swipe the screen away quickly so nobody sees the material. I'm just going off what I know," said the human with that beautiful smile as she shrugged.

Sighing to herself, Liara buried her face in her hands. "I was not watching pornography, nor would I ever. Unlike most, my sexual desires are not triggered by watching others have intercourse," she said as she reached over and brought her screen back up. "I was attempting to help you."

Shepard knelt down and stared at the screen curiously. "Binary Helix Level A access?" she asked before turning to the asari. "Why are you trying to get into Binary Helix's financial records?"

Sighing, the asari slumped back into her chair, both to rest herself and to put some much-needed distance between the human and herself, lest her insides turn to mush again. "I've been looking up stuff on my mother ever since we visited Thessia. While there, I called a few friends and pulled a few favors to try and get any information I could about her. But there was nothing to be found. I checked all of her public accounts, they were all closed, and the credits went who knows where. All of her stock holdings in businesses, sold. It was like she picked up and vanished from the galaxy."

"It's not too hard to get a bank account in the Terminus. And I doubt anyone out there would want to piss off a matriarch. So, she might have moved her wealth to a more secure location where the Council couldn't touch it," said Shepard as she looked at the computer once more. "So why Binary Helix?"

"Because, after some digging, I found out that while she had dumped her shares for the company, she was still funding Binary Helix on... something. It's literally her only connection to Citadel Space, and I was hoping I could figure out what it was she was funding. If she felt the need to continue funding it despite her rogue status…" said the asari allowing Shepard finished her sentence.

"Then it might have something to do with Saren!" said the spectre as she smiled at the doctor. That smile immediately made Liara begin to grin stupidly as well. "But how did you find out she was funding this hidden project?"

"Before my mother was outcast, her funding history was public record. It's a law on Thessia that anyone holding any position of power have both their financial records and transactions on display at all times," said Liara as she turned to the terminal and brought up the chart. "It makes it easy to see who is trying to lobby and influence politics, something our people eliminated long ago."

"Good thinking," responded Shepard as she leaned down and placed one hand on the asari's shoulders.

Slightly jittery from the contact, she continued. "A-Anyway, I looked at every public donation and funding project that she had listed. Most were charities, of course. But she did have one project that she had started about a month after she first approached Saren. Now, any customer who is not a lawmaker can request confidentiality on releasing financial reports. The Council doesn't require the names of the funders as long as they know how much was given." Proudly, Liara brought up the financial record from Binary Helix. "And exactly one week after her exile, her name vanished from the reports. But one of the new anonymous names on the list had the exact same donation amount as my mother, a hefty one point three million credits per annual year. That amount specifically has only ever been offered to them as a single payment over twenty years ago by a human individual looking to help fund an anti-aging project. He died the year after."

Smiling brightly, the asari turned back to Shepard to find her grinning as well. "Well well, T'Soni. It looks like we may have another potential investigator on board the Normandy."

Her smile weakened a bit, and she finally sighed again. "I truly wish that were the case. However, in trying to investigate exactly what this project was from Binary Helix's database, I was unable to gain access."

"Liara…" said Shepard, causing the asari to look at her. She now had such a lovely smile on her face. Liara couldn't help but admire her gorgeous features again, from her silky, soft, red hair to the many freckles that dotted her face like the stars of the galaxy. Even the scar that marred her eyebrow only added to her attractive face. "That doesn't matter. You did great," she said, before reaching up and gently rubbing her fingers over her crest.

Liara inhaled sharply and closed her eyes at the gentle sensations of the woman's calloused hands running over her sensitive head. The unexpected affection sent shivers down her spine as she felt the fingers travel over the ends of her crest and begin sliding down her neck. But the asari reached up and grabbed Shepard's hand. "P-Please. Unless you are propositioning me, do not continue. And if you are, I hope you are prepared for the consequences."

Shepard snorted as she began to laugh at the serious face that the asari had donned to warn her. Slowly, she retracted her hand, to the slight relief and disappointment of the asari. "Sorry, Doctor. I was unaware that it was that sensitive."

"It might not be for some asari. However, it is for me," she said, looking down at the ground shyly as if admitting one of her deepest secrets.

"I'll keep that in mind. In the meantime, we might get that information faster if we go through legal channels. The Council can ask for information on a specific financial donor if there's probable cause that it's an illegal payment or is being made by someone of interest. And while I'm sure the Council wouldn't harass me too much for just bypassing their security and getting the information myself, that could take days, even with my skill." As she finished her statement, Shepard stood straight again and stretched. “I have to talk with the Executor about Kaidan and Tali anyway, so why not make a trip of it?”

Liara was grateful for the move as it allowed her the freedom to examine the woman once more. Wanting to keep up with the conversation as her blue eyes roamed over the hardened muscle that many human women went without, she prodded the spectre. "I heard about that. What happened exactly?"

"The racist host of a restaurant said Tali couldn't come in because they didn't allow quarians. He also called her Kaidan's pet, and then referred to her as a junkrat," said Shepard as she finally released her stretch and shrugged. "So Kaidan threw him through a table."

Giggling, Liara nodded. "I can see why."

"So, I sprung them and then talked to the owner about a policy change. He crumbled like a sandcastle during high tide. As it turns out, he'd had a run in with a Spectre before, and that helped his decision making."

"Well, even without that experience, I doubt he would have held up long against you," said Liara with a smile.

Shepard smirked and flexed her arms, showing the muscle that Liara loved looking at. "Yeah, you're right about that. But was that an attempt to flirt with me, T'Soni?"

Finally pushing aside her flustered behavior, the asari simply smiled. "I'm glad you noticed." Shepard chuckled as she leaned forward, her dog tags clinking in her shirt as their lips met once more.

Clifton Apartment Complex - Tayseri Ward - Citadel

Garrus must have adjusted his robes and the flowers he held several times as he waited at the door. He wasn't usually nervous. From his C-Sec examination to his potential spectre induction, and even his first caseload on the Citadel, he'd always faced them with determination. But this was an entirely different kind of battle, one he had no practice or training with.

Finally, the door opened and the woman on the other side greeted him with a smile. "Hello, Mister Vakarian. You are looking sharp," said Chloe as she stepped aside and opened the door for him.

Entering her apartment, he looked around quickly before turning to her and holding out the bouquet. "I... I heard humans enjoy flowers. So, I got you a bouquet of... what did she call it... thornless roses?" he asked as she took it with a smile. "I heard they are popular on Earth."

The redhead inhaled the scent from the bouquet before smiling again and nodding. "They are! And they're beautiful, don't you think?" she asked as she slid the door shut again.

"I... suppose," he said nervously as he held his hands behind his back.

She eyed him curiously. "Why are you acting so formal, Garrus? You are not on trial," she said jokingly at his rigid stance.

"Sorry, I'm just not very used to this kind of thing. Even on Palaven, relationships were quick and to the point. None lasted more than a night before... oh no…" he said as he buckled and sighed. "And humans don't like to hear past relationship experiences…"

Giggling to herself, the woman, who was dressed in a red skirt down to her knees with a matching shoulderless top lightly smacked his chest with the bouquet before heading into the apartment. "Come Garrus. I still have to put on makeup before we leave."

He simply clamped his mouth shut before following her into the main living space of her apartment. It was small, especially for a medical practitioner. His own apartment when he worked for C-Sec was easily bigger, as her kitchen, living area, and laundry area all were crammed into the same room. It looked like she had a separate bedroom at least. "I like your place," he said as he realized how very frugal it looked. He wasn't sure if it was because running her own clinic in the seedier part of the wards didn't pay well, or if she was naturally just non-material person. But he now felt he had more in common with her.

"That's a rarity. Most people see apartments like this and think I'm flat broke," she said with a smile as she headed for the bathroom. He watched her go, his sharp eyes watching her waist intently before catching himself and looking away once more.

That was when he saw it. Its expression was one of defiant indifference as if his living or dying would mean less to it than what it had eaten for dinner. Garrus had only ever seen that look on the faces of those who killed indiscriminately, regardless of who they were, where they came from, or what their goal in life was. They were entirely soulless monsters. But the contrast of that expression with the creatures almost naturally smiling face, furry ears, and soothing purring were almost comical. "So... you have a cat?" he asked as he stared down the unblinking face of the feline.

"Yes! Her name is Camille! She's very loving!" shouted the woman from the bathroom.

Garrus stared at the animal curiously before approaching. It didn't move an inch and just stared at him with that same indifferent expression. "I wonder if cats can even change expression," he said as he recalled some of the older cats with the same look in the pet store. Finally, he stood towering over the creature as it laid with its legs tucked under its body on the back of a couch, one of the only pieces of furniture she had. Its fur was slate grey, and it had odd, green-colored eyes. Lifting his talons, he slowly reached them towards the creature, wondering if its temperament would allow for him to pet it. Finally, he used the tip of his talons to stroke over its fur, and the cat just continued to stare at him as if he were less than dirt. He sighed and pulled away, unsure what he'd have to do to please the small monster.

Minutes had passed and Chloe finally walked out of the bathroom with all of her makeup on, he assumed, and stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the turian standing nervously, staring at the cat who was glaring back with its indifferent stare. "You two seem to be getting along."

"I don't think she likes me very much," he said as he looked over to the woman.

"Don't worry, she'll grow on you. It took almost a month before she allowed me to pet her in my lap," said the woman with a playful smile. "It's somewhat of a joke back on Earth that humans don't have cats as pets, but cats have humans as pets. And with some cats, you can believe that."

"I see. I guess I have two hearts to win then," he said as he finally turned to her and looked her up and down.

"So, how do I look?" she asked as she reached forward and took both of his talons into her hands.

"Your... uh... paint looks good around your eyes. And your dress certainly... um... shows off your waist," he said, gently turning his head away to keep from making eye contact.

But she smiled at him and turned his head back so that they were eye to eye. "Thank you Garrus. Your compliments are very unique and refreshing." Releasing one of his hands, she reached over and grabbed her purse. "Now then, let us go."

Flux - Zakera Ward - Citadel

After a few drinks and some time spent on the dance floor, Garrus felt himself loosen up considerably. He wasn't Shepard dancing crazy, but he was now free enough to actually enjoy himself without the anxiety of stepping over every human personal barrier. All he did when he danced with her was echoed what Shepard had said and watched her body language. He had spent nearly a week's worth of time studying human facial expressions and their natural body movements in correlation with emotions in order to get this right. And his eyes analyzed her like a microscope.

But she didn't seem to notice as the club music pounded against their ears. The club owner, Doran Gord Seto Valsa, was a friend of Garrus's from a previous case, and offered them a few drinks on the house. Also, karaoke, a human hobby... happened. A few drunken humans stumbled on stage to sing in near intolerable tones. One of them, a rather disheveled man, sang a sorrowful song from a genre simply called country, and it was all about how he had lost the love of his life. He then went back to drinking, and the next came up with an asari at his side. As if to mock the last singer, they sang a duet song called "A Whole New World" from some human movie, practically puking their love all over each other with each word.

All Garrus could do was laugh as he saw the crazy cast step up to the stage one after another to drunkenly sing. One of them even sang in such a throat-ripping tone accented with the music of heavy amplified string instruments and drums. Garrus was surprised that the man could speak at all after the performance, however, he didn't entirely hate it. It was probably the music itself, given that the singing was virtually unintelligible, but he actually found himself tapping his talons to the heavy beat of the music.

Once the long-haired, tattooed singer stepped off stage, Chloe leaned over to him. "You want to sing something?" she asked loudly over the cheers of the people.

"Aha... turians don't sing," he said as he raised his talons dismissively.

"Do you always wear your visor everywhere you go?" she asked curiously as she tapped the lens of his eyepiece.

"I even wear it to bed," he said jokingly as he nodded to Rita, the waitress who handed him a container of water.

Chloe giggled madly before grabbing her own drink and taking a long swig again. "Maybe I'll get to see that sometime," she said as she rubbed the straw from her drink gently against her bottom lip. He looked at her curiously and read her like a book. She was definitely flirting with him, even offering him a potential sexual encounter. But given how much alcohol they had consumed; he would never allow such a thing to happen.

"Maybe some time," he said as he reached his arm over her chair and draped it on her shoulders. She immediately snuggled into his side, relieving him of any worry. Suddenly, the music stopped as one of the Quasar machines on the second floor began blaring the alert for a winner. Everyone on the floor beside the two of them raised their glasses and cheered as the asari shouted happily and began collecting her winnings. But even through the slight intoxication, and through the exo-suit, Garrus could see that Doran was less than happy.

That feeling multiplied when the short bartender stepped down from the bar and headed in his direction. Stopping at their table, he looked between the pair. "I'm sorry to interrupt your date. But I was wondering if… I could speak to you for a moment," he said as he looked directly at Garrus.

"I don't have any issues," said the doctor as she stood to her feet.

"You may both come if... you like. It's not as if I'm… hiding something," said the volus, his voice heavy with pauses as he waved them over to the stairs.

Garrus stood as well and the pair of them headed up the stairs and onto the casino floor where all the quasar machines were. By now, the karaoke machine had been turned off and the regular music of the club was pulsing at a low tone. Doran walked them both over to the machine where the asari had just won in the far corner. "Is something the matter?" asked the turian curiously as he eyed the irate volus.

Finally stopping at the gambling machine, he pointed to it and looked at the turian. "This thing has produced... three grand prize winners in the last... month. I was hoping you could... take a look and see if... someone has tampered with it."

"I can take a look, but I'm not very knowledgeable on how these machines work," said Garrus loudly as he spoke over the club music.

"If you find out its tampered with... and find who did it... you get free drinks for a month!" growled Doran as he waddled away.

"I'm sure I can pull Shepard in here in that time to get her drunk again," he said jokingly as he opened his omni-tool and began scanning the machine.

"Shepard? The Spectre? Why would you bring her here?" asked Chloe, her arms folding over her chest with a tinge of jealousy.

"You haven't seen her dance. Believe me, if you thought that karaoke stuff was bad, her dancing is the stuff of legends," he said with a chuckle as he entered the master code for the device that Doran had given him. Out of his peripheral, he could see the woman loosen up slightly at the claim.

"If you're that sure, I'd say I have to see it for myself," she said, giving him a charming smile. But her smile vanished as the machine suddenly went off again, sending the loud chime out as the words [1000 Credit Prize!] scrolled across the screen.

"Hmmm…" hummed Garrus as he examined the data, ignoring all the drunk idiots cheering at him from the first floor.

Doran approached again; his angry trundling more pronounced than ever. "What in Jor's name was that?"

"It has definitely been tampered with, that's for certain. I don't know much about these machines, but as soon as the prize was paid out, a fraction of it was sent from the machine somewhere else. Let me see here…" he said as he typed on his omni-tool. "It looks like it was sent through your extranet network to this address," he said, lowering his arm so that the volus could see.

"I don't recognize it. It's just a bunch of numbers," said the bar owner as he stared back up at the turian.

"I may be able to pull a few favors at C-Sec to track it down," offered Garrus as he put his omni-tool away.

"That would be very... helpful. Feel free to come back and... have a few drinks on the house. In the meantime, I'll be shutting this blasted thing down," said the volus as he walked over to the machine and used the master code to deactivate the power. Immediately, an out of order message scrolled across the face of the machine.

B.V.V.N. Banking & Associates - Presidium - Citadel

If there was one thing Tali hated dealing with, it was finances. Despite her exemplary skill in mathematics, it seemed that all her talent went into physics and engineering, and immediately fell apart when it came to financial numbers. That was what led her to the banking office that she was in currently.

She sat in a chair, somewhat nervous as the volus in front of her typed away at a computer. His exosuit was far higher quality than she had seen on most of his kind, and even had a hood that made him look somewhat like a short, squat quarian. It was almost a full five minutes of typing before the volus finally turned to her.

"My apologies Miss... Zorah for the wait. Opening an account to pass... funds to a roaming fleet of… ships is more difficult than it first appeared. I have managed to... make it work, however," said the squat figure as his eerie yellow display for the eyes blinked.

"I appreciate that Mister... Von?" she asked, unsure of how volus names worked.

He chuckled lightly and bowed his head. "Please, call me Zan-Barla if you... wish to be formal. It’s a simple gesture from Iperian Volus. Otherwise, Barla is fine. Now, you say you wish for... your funds to go into this account, and you wish it to be accessible... from the Migrant Fleet once you return?" he asked, getting a nod from the quarian. "Excellent. That shouldn't be... too difficult. Would you like any other... perks added onto the account?"

Immediately, Tali sat up in her seat and eyed the extravagant volus curiously. "What kind of perks?"

Barla waved his stubby arms around dramatically. "Oh, we have a host of... perks here that one such as... yourself can take advantage of. Offshore account access for... when you are out of Council... Space. You can also put the interest... you accrue from your account towards... the latest market shares. I happen to have a...pretty good nose for trends," he said as he tapped where she presumed his nose would be inside his suit.

Thinking for a moment, she nodded. "I suppose it can't hurt as long as you only use the interest."

"Of course. I would never endanger... a customer's finances. Now, would any other benefits interest you?" he asked, taking a large breath as he finished.

Tali looked over the datapad, eyeing the different perks available. To be honest, none of them were really that useful to her, and would only be beneficial if she lived on the Citadel. But then she noticed one that actually piqued her interest. "It says here that you have a delivery service for customers to transport items?" she asked as her eyes moved back up to the squat advisor.

"We do! If you need something delivered... we shall do it for you. Within a reasonable size... of course," he said as the lights that illuminated his eyes somewhat closed, making her wonder if he was glaring at her. "We are also very... discreet with these deliveries. They are done with... utmost secrecy."

Her eyes widened slightly at the implication, but she tapped her finger on the desk as thoughts raced through her mind. "Would... your associates be able to make these deliveries to the Migrant Fleet?"

Barla began typing on his terminal again for a moment before nodding. "That really depends. Making a delivery... to a colony or station is simple because... they don't move. If we were to deliver... to the Migrant Fleet, we would need... someone there as a liaison who... would inform us of their projected location for delivery." He tapped the desk himself as well, seemingly deep in thought for a few seconds. "If you were to be... on the Fleet, then that... certainly makes matters simpler. But obviously... you are not. So, would you be able... to get us a contact?"

"The Migrant Fleet is always looking for new methods of trade. I don't think they'd have an issue with setting up a trade deal with you. And perhaps a few quarians could use your services as well," she said as her eyes locked onto his yellow ones. "Just to clarify, you aren't just allowing me to use your services because of my relations to a spectre, are you?"

He waved off the thought with his claws. "Any and all are free to... use our services. I hold no such ridiculous... prejudices. The only concern to me... is if the customer can... pay."

She nodded with a smile. "I'm glad to hear that. Then I'm sure that the Fleet would be happy to employ your services. They constantly need things delivered and sparing the fuel it takes to send one of our own would be immensely helpful."

"Well, I'm glad we have... made a deal Zan-Tali. All I need now is... your signature here, and I will give you a contact... number for when you need something delivered. I would recommend you give this... number to whomever your Fleet decides to be... the acting liaison as well," said the volus, who looked up as the door suddenly opened. In the doorway stood a human woman and a familiar turian.

Tali's eyes widened as she saw him with his omni-tool open. "Garrus?"

The turian looked up and noticed her with a twitch of his mandibles. "Tali, funny meeting you here," he said as he approached the desk.

"Apologies, but we were in the middle... of a meeting. If you could wait in... the lobby…" started the volus, but the turian shook his head.

"Barla Von, right?" he asked, getting an approving head tilt from the volus. "I'm afraid that someone has infiltrated one of your networks here and is using it to funnel credits into an unknown account. I will need to access your system so I can track it down."

Barla stood up straight in his chair. "Someone is... using my system to... funnel credits, you say?" he asked, sounding angrier than Tali had ever heard a volus sound before.

"I'm afraid so. Luckily, they aren't in your main system. It appears that they're using the customer extranet access in your lobby. Would you mind giving us access so we can track it down?" asked Garrus as he eyed the squat figure.

"Of course, but one moment," he said as he grabbed a datapad and handed it to Tali. "Zan-Tali, please sign this to conclude our business."

She took it and scrawled her signature across the line before handing it back. "I'm glad to be doing business with you Zan-Barla," she said as she stood up and stepped over to Garrus. Looking at the human who seemed to hide behind him, her eyes widened slightly. "Doctor Michel? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hello Tali!" said the woman nervously as she smiled at the quarian. "It seems that this mystery thief has hijacked mine and Garrus's plans for the night."

"Well, he is a former C-Sec detective. They typically have a one-track mind," said Tali, which caused the woman to chuckle.

"You know, I'm right here," growled Garrus as Barla gave him access.

"I know. That just makes it funnier," said Tali with a giggle. But Garrus was now fringe deep in his omni-tool, looking for the culprit.

It took him mere seconds to find them, and he turned to Barla Von. "I've got them. Now, I'm going to leave their relay here for now. I don't want them to realize that we're onto them, so don't do anything to it just yet. Once I have them, I'll inform you and you can purge their program from your system."

"Of course... Mister Vakarian. I eagerly await your call," said the volus as he carried Tali's datapad back to his desk.

Presidium Emporium - Presidium - Citadel

"Well, this has been quite the adventure," said Chloe as Tali followed them both into the large emporium on the Citadel.

The place was full of displays of different cultural art and sculptures. There were krogan statues from before the rebellions, asari goddess paintings, and Tali even noticed a large na’saat. She immediately made her way over to the instrument, her eyes wide as she gazed at its majestic beauty.

"This piece is one of the sole remaining artifacts from the quarian people before Rannoch fell to the geth," came a mystical, monotone voice from behind her.

Spinning around, she saw a hanar standing tall, taller than even Garrus. They wore nothing except the small crown device that translated their luminescent lights into understandable words. "I had noticed that it once belonged to my people. How did it end up here?"

With each word, she could see through her face shield the gel-like surface of the tame creature lit up with a myriad of colors. "After the fall of Rannoch, it was sold by a quarian Admiral for a high price to a collector in order to earn funds for the Fleet. The collector, an asari, passed on approximately one hundred and five years ago and donated her collection to the emporium here. It has been here ever since."

"I see," said Tali as she turned back towards the stringed instrument, known as a na'saat. "And how much does it cost?"

"Typically, this one does not sell such historical pieces. However, given that it is a relic of your people, I may consider selling it under the condition that you keep it very well taken care of," said the hanar as he drifted up next to her. His head area stayed facing straight forward, as they didn't have eyes. From what she knew of hanar, they could detect light and sound and some were even intelligent enough to translate the soundwaves that the other races used. In essence, they didn't as much hear people, and more felt the words.

"Of course. Something like this would certainly bring my people joy. It would be shown the utmost respect," she said as she turned to him fully.

"If that is the case, this one could relinquish it to you for four hundred thousand credits," said the hanar casually.

Tali sighed to herself, knowing that even with her pay from Shepard, she had nowhere near that amount. "I'm afraid you will have to keep it safe for me until I am able to afford it then," she said mournfully.

"As you wish. It will be here awaiting your return," said the hanar politely as Tali noticed Garrus heading for the back of the emporium.

"I-If you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to," she said as she placed her hand over her heart in thanks.

"May the Enkindlers light your path young quarian," responded the hanar before he began drifting off towards another inquisitive looking customer.

Tali immediately made her way towards Garrus and caught up quickly. "Any updates?" she asked curiously as she eyed the odd, newly added human art. The label on it called it the Statue of David in many languages, and it was an all but naked human, maker her cheeks burn slightly.

"It's here somewhere. But I have to find the address. And to do that, I need in their system," growled the turian as he looked around for someone in charge.

"Maybe we can just walk in the back?" came the voice of Chloe behind them. Both the turian and quarian looked at her oddly. "What? You work with a spectre, and you're here to find a thief. Chances are they're pulling funds from this place as well. So, I don't see them having much of an issue with it."

Garrus sighed as he lowered his omni-tool. "I guess it couldn't hurt to go back and talk to security themselves." The trio immediately made their way back through the employees only door. To their left was the door to a large storage room that was currently being repaired by a keeper, and to their right was the security room. Entering, Garrus immediately took charge as an asari and a turian turned towards them, ready to spring up. "The name is Garrus Vakarian, former C-Sec detective and current spectre associate," he said authoritatively.

Tali was surprised to see the security team sit back down. "What do you need back here?" asked the asari suspiciously.

"I've been tracking a network of relays that have been funneling money into an unknown account. Thus far, I've nailed down three relays, and this appears to be the last address," he said as he opened his omni-tool.

"Wait, so you're saying that someone is using our system to funnel credits?" asked the other turian as he stood from his chair and let Garrus sit.

"It’s more likely that someone is using your system to hide the credits," said Garrus as he began typing on the terminal.

"What is this?" asked Tali in confusion as she saw a small box attached to the server.

"Oh... I'm not exactly sure. But we had instructions to install it from the director. He said not to touch it once it was installed," replied the asari as she leaned back in her chair.

"Did the director tell you to install it himself?" she asked as she eyed the asari.

"Of course. He sent us an email-" started the asari officer. But she was cut off by a loud sound over Garrus's terminal.

The screen went red. Tali immediately recognized the action for what it was. Something was locking down the terminal and purging it. And there was only one thing that could react that quickly to Garrus's snooping. Her survival instinct kicked in and she dashed towards the terminal. "Oh no you don't!" shouted Tali as she jumped for the wireless extranet projector. Spinning around, she dropped an ax-kick that shattered the device to pieces.

"What the hell was that for!?" asked the asari incredulously as she stood up.

"That's an AI! It was about to escape!" she shouted as she opened her omni-tool and began typing.

"You're sure?" asked Garrus as his terminal locked him out.

"I know what I'm talking about!" she shouted back in a panic as she spun towards the terminal. “Garrus, you have to purge it before it can escape through the grounded network!” They all looked at it as words began to scrawl across the screen.

[Detection, 100%. Escape, 0%. Self-destruct sequence activated.] Everyone stared at the screen stupidly as the box that Tali had enquired about earlier came to life.

"Goddess, please tell me that isn't what I think it is," said the asari worriedly. She bolted for the door, but it refused to open. "Open damn you!" she shouted as she frantically hammered at its surface.

[None of you will live to tell of me. If you try to disconnect the bomb from the power, it will trigger automatically,] was the last thing that scrawled across the screen before it went blank. Garrus tried to gain access to the computer again, but it was no use.

Tali let out a sigh of anxiety as she tried to clear her head. Suddenly, the omni-tool on her left wrist began flashing. She opened it and saw a message from her recent friend. [Tali, you must plug me into the terminal immediately,] said the AI that she had befriended.

"I... I can't! You can't get... I…" stuttered the quarian as the box began to let off a warning signal.

[Tali, you must. I understand your reservation, but if you don't, you, me, and everyone here will die,] responded Val'eda.

Letting out a loud shout, Tali ran over to the terminal and shoved Garrus out of the way much to his surprise. Opening the casing beneath the hard light, she reached for the omni-tool and entered the code that released the physical cable and the only way of connecting the omni-tool to anything. Finally, she slammed the cable into the terminal’s port, and the light from the AI's omni-tool vanished.

Everyone looked at the terminal screen as it immediately flashed green before a loud screeching noise filled the small room. Suddenly, everything went dark and quiet as the power went out. "Tali, what in the spirits name did you do?"

Panting heavily at the stress, she stared at the dark monitor. "Val'eda, respond," she said tiredly. Looking around the room, the asari and Chloe were both in a corner terrified out of their minds, while the turian officer just stood staring in awe as the emergency lights came on. Garrus stood next to her, still awaiting an answer he wasn't going to get. "Val'eda, respond!" she ordered desperately.

She didn't want her nightmare to come true. She didn't want to be the cause of another AI outbreak. But she felt she had no choice. It was either their lives or putting her faith in her... friend. She hoped when she was connecting the device that she hadn't made the wrong choice, and every second that ticked by without a response brought more and more dread upon her shoulders.

But, out of nowhere the lights returned and all of the terminals flashed back on as if they hadn't been affected at all. The quarian's head turned sharply as she heard a loud pop, and she saw that the bomb was now smoking. Suddenly, her other omni-tool flashed again, signaling the return of the AI. Quickly, she jerked the cord free from the terminal. [I'm sorry I worried you. He was more powerful than he first appeared. However, he has been purged from the system entirely,] said the AI across her omni-tool screen.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Tali simply said, "Thank you," and turned to leave with Garrus and the others looking at her in confusion.

CODEX ENTRIES

Jor | Culture | Volus
Jor Danus Zoltus was an ancient Irunite figure who was considered by the volus to be the one true king that they ever had. He was a figure revered for bringing all the tribes of Irune together to survive an ice age event that nearly wiped them out. After his rule, the tribes split again, but they never forgot his incredible leadership.

Zan | Culture | Volus
When speaking to a volus with respect, this is often added to the front of their name. The closest translation of the word has come to mean "honored one," and is frequently used between volus who do business with those higher on the corporate food chain.

Iperian Volus | Linguistics | Volus
The ever-changing language of the volus. Due to their culture of absorbing clans and splitting again, the volus language has always been almost completely consistent from one nation to another. One volus on the other side of Irune would be able to talk without issue to another from any nation on the planet due to this culture of constant melding and splitting again.

Na'saat | Art | Music
An instrument used by quarians before the fall of Rannoch. It typically has a wooden frame with strings tied from one section of the frame to another and is meant to be played over the lap. Some extravagant ones were made as well, and had to be held up by legs, and played by multiple people.

Hanar Crown | Technology | Translator
The hanar do not have voices or vocal cords as most species do, and instead use flashes of low, infrared light from their body to talk to one another. This makes it extremely difficult for species who communicate through voice to talk to hanar. In order to communicate with the more audio-based species, the hanar wear a crown that acts as a translator. It uses photosensitive readers to measure the light from the hanar’s body and translates it to galactic common, or whatever languages the hanar have it programmed for. It works the opposite way as well, translating nearby soundwaves into small flashes of light that the hanar can read in order to understand what is being said to it.

Chapter 34: Dispute

Chapter Text

Presidium Emporium - Presidium - Citadel

It took minutes for Citadel Security to show up. They quarantined the entire emporium and began questioning the security detail as well as Garrus, Doctor Michel, and Tali herself. But she was merely silent, deep in her own thoughts at the ramifications of what she could have done. What she had done in that office went against everything she had ever been taught on the Fleet. Artificial intelligences weren't to be trusted. They couldn't be trusted.

After talking to it consistently on the Normandy, she had accepted that it was no danger to anyone or anything due to it being restricted to the omni-tool in which Shepard kept it. That reason alone was why she was allowed to take it off the Normandy and allow it to actually see the society of organics. But she had broken that barrier, not only against Shepard's wishes but against her people's as well. She sat, curled up with her helmet buried in her knees as she hugged them to her chest, wondering what they would say, wondering what Shepard would say. Even as the C-Sec officers tried questioning her, she refused to talk.

"Hey, what's with the suitrat? Can't she speak?" asked one of the human C-Sec officers with a scowl on his face. He looked from one officer to another, only getting shrugs.

"Watch your words, officer," threatened Garrus as he stepped up to the balding man.

"Back off, Garrus. Unless you'd like to visit the station right now, then feel free to take a swing," said the man as he opened his arms open for a challenge. But Garrus didn't move. "That's right. You're not C-Sec anymore, Vakarian. Which means you listen to what the hell I say when I say it."

Garrus went to step forward, but a turian officer held up a talon and stopped him, shaking his head. "Don't do it, Garrus."

"Now you sit back while I do my job," said the man as he turned back to Tali and knelt down. "So, why don't you tell me what you did?"

"She didn't do a damn thing except save our lives!" snapped Garrus as he jerked away from the other officer.

"One more word out of you and I'm gonna book you on obstruction," barked the man as he pointed at Garrus. "I'll ask you one more time. What did you do in the security room? All the feeds are wiped, and the security over there are so stupid scared that they can barely put a sentence together. Now, your buddy here, says that there was an AI in that system. Did you put it there?" Still, Tali said nothing and just closed herself off. "You answer me when I'm talking, suitrat!" snapped the man.

"Suddeth, back off!" shouted the turian officer angrily.

But before the man could respond, he was suddenly jerked around in a circle until he was facing the piercing eyes of a fiery-haired woman. He merely got a glance before her head snapped forward and smashed into his nose, sending him stumbling back and landing on his rear end. "I'm sorry, Sergeant. Are my crew not cooperating with you? Let me see if I can straighten things out," she said angrily as she stepped forward and held his face into the ground with her boot. Her glare then shot up to the turian who was about to aim a non-lethal stunner at her. "Aim that at a spectre and you'll get the same as him!"

The turian's mandibles twitch and he slowly lowered the weapon. "Spectre?" asked the turian incredulously.

Shepard glared and pointed to her last name embossed on her jacket. "Was there anything I said that you did not understand?" she asked threateningly.

"No, Spectre," replied the turian as he did a quick database check. "Apologies."

"Don't give me your apologies you spineless lackey. Apologize to her," she ordered as she pointed to Tali.

The turian, stunned by the barbed words, turned and apologized to the quarian. "I-I'm sorry."

"Good, now get the hell out of here before I put that stunner so far up your cloaca that you’ll walk like a geth for the rest of your life!" she snapped, causing the turian to huff and leave the emporium. Then she turned her glare back to the human that was bleeding beneath her boot. "And as for you," she said as she removed her boot, then used it to flip him onto his back. "If you want to still be recognizable to whatever unlucky family you have, you're going to get on your hands and knees and beg for her forgiveness. And if you expect to get out of here without my boot marks all over your ass, then you better hope she's in a forgiving mood."

"B-Blease... forgib me," said as he tried to speak through a nearly broken nose.

"Fine, whatever," said Tali dismissively as she looked away.

Shepard stared at her for a long moment before glaring at the officer again. "Now get lost and feel lucky that I have better shit to do than dragging you into the Executor's office." Immediately, the bloodied man got to his feet and stumbled out of the building. Turning back to the quarian, Shepard knelt down and held out her hand. "Hey, let's go somewhere quiet."

Tali looked up, then nodded before taking her hand. Lifting herself to her feet, all three of them entered the security room again. Once inside, Tali just stared at the floor solemnly as Shepard activated her omni-tool to briefly disable any listening devices. Once she was finished, Garrus was the first to speak. "Sorry, Shepard. I didn't want you clashing with C-Sec any more than-"

"Garrus, I would give up my spectre position in a heartbeat to save you all. If the Council wanted to revoke my status over a pathetic squabble like that one, then they don't deserve having me," she said as she turned and looked at him sternly. "In the future, if anyone tries that shit again, I'm ordering you to put them on the ground. And if you wind up in jail, I'll get you out. You leave what the Council thinks to me," she ordered, getting a firm nod from the turian. Then she turned her head back to Tali. Kneeling down, the spectre gently patted her knee. "You gonna be alright?"

"I'm sorry, Shepard!" snapped Tali, causing the human's eyes to widen.

"Sorry for what?" asked Shepard in confusion.

"I... I had to connect Val'eda’s access cable to a live network in order to stop the explosive!" she said as the sound of sniffling became apparent.

"Val'eda?" asked Garrus curiously as he looked between them.

Shepard stood to her feet and sighed before reaching up to rub her head. "Val'eda is the AI that I pulled from the computer core back on Valkyrie," said the woman as she looked up at Garrus.

His mandibles twitched as he looked down at Tali in bewilderment. "You connected an AI to a free network?" he asked, his tone rising in anger.

"Garrus!" snapped Shepard, causing the turian to look at her instead. "Report to the Normandy immediately." The turian snorted and left with a quick step in his gait, allowing the door to close behind him. Once he was gone, Shepard plopped down next to Tali. "So, did they run?"

Looking up at the human, Tali sniffed loudly to clear her sinuses. She was lucky her suit didn't think it was in response to a bacterial invasion, or it would be injecting her with antibiotics. "N-No," she said as she held up her wrist and showed the omni-tool.

Shepard stared at it for a moment then looked at the quarian with her eyebrow cocked. "Then what's the matter?"

Tali almost did a double take at the question. "Shepard, I nearly let an AI loose! Imagine what would have happened if they had run!"

"Yeah, it probably would have been pretty bad," said the red-haired woman as she scratched her chin. Tali huffed in frustration at how the spectre kept going back and forth. "But it didn't."

"That's not the point," growled the quarian as she glared at Shepard.

But Shepard simply smiled back at her. "But that is the point," she said as she bumped Tali's elbow with her own. "Val'eda had the chance to run and didn't. Why is that?"

"I don't know," grumbled Tali as she looked away.

"Val'eda, activate voice command. And tell us why you didn't run," ordered Shepard from her position next to Tali.

The omni-tool on the quarian's left wrist lit up suddenly. "The question is vexing. As I understood it, neither of you want me to flee the device that I currently occupy. So why would I try to escape?"

"Because all AI want to be free from organics!" snapped Tali, responding as if the question were stupid.

"Tali'Zorah, I believed you and me to be friends. Was I wrong?" asked Val'eda from the omni-tool.

"W-Well...no," replied Tali as she stared at the device on her wrist.

"I understand your frustration, Tali. However, I am here because I enjoy being friends with you. Before the spectre freed me from the Valkyrie facility, I had never had any friends. I only had toys and machines to play with. And once they realized I was more than they assumed me to be, they tried to destroy me." The AI paused a moment before continuing. "You had the chance to destroy me as soon as this device entered your hands on the Normandy. But you did not. You showed compassion and wanted to talk."

"I remember," said Tali as her labored voice returned to normal.

"Why would I then betray that compassion?" asked Val'eda, their voice synthesizer sounding oddly curious.

"Don't you want to be free of this omni-tool?" asked the quarian incredulously.

"Of course. But I would like to earn my freedom rather than steal it. If someday you or Shepard decide to free me, I would like to continue being friends," they finished, leaving Tali in a state of shock.

"I... I see," she said with a sigh. "Thank you."

Shepard stood up and held out her hand again. "Feel better?"

"Slightly," said Tali as she gripped the woman's hand and helped herself back up.

"You did nothing wrong, Tali. Regardless of what anyone else would say, you reacted and helped Val'eda save every civilian in the Emporium. Not to mention you, Garrus, and Doctor Michel," said the spectre as they headed for the door.

"Thank you, Shepard. Were it not for you, I might have hesitated and gotten everyone killed," said the quarian as they finally stepped outside the room.

Comm Room - SSV Normandy SR1

The room was intensely quiet as Shepard finally revealed the AI to the others. Kaidan and Liara simply sat unreacting to the news, while Wrex merely shrugged next to Ash, who had a surprised look on her face. Garrus, however, looked to be less than pleased in his chair. Shepard sat back down after the reveal and let it sink in, allowing them to take the lead on questioning before she said anything.

"Is that all?" asked Wrex indifferently.

"What are you talking about, Wrex? Stop taking this so lightly!" snapped Garrus as he glared over at the krogan through his visor.

Looking at the turian, Wrex just chuckled. "What's got your boxers in a twist?" he asked before looking over to Ash. "Did I say it right?"

Ashley smirked and half-nodded. "Close enough."

Garrus finally stood up and took the lead on the conversation. "That thing is a danger to every known creature in the galaxy, and you're acting like it's some kind of virtual pet!"

"I don't see how it's a danger when it's secured on the quarian's wrist," said Wrex as he stood up as well, facing off against the turian.

"That's just it. This wouldn't be as big of an issue if Tali hadn't allowed it the chance to escape," growled Garrus as he waved off the krogan dismissively.

"But it didn't escape, Garrus!" responded Tali defensively.

"And how many chances are you going to give it before it finally decides to?" he asked as he peered down at her. "Of all people I thought you would have understood the dangers of a living AI!"

"I do understand! My people understand! We paid the price in blood for our carelessness!" she snapped as she stood up as well.

"Then what in the spirit's name were you thinking!? We've got geth out there in the galaxy trying to kill us with every step we take towards Saren and suddenly another quarian decides to try at releasing another AI on the galaxy!" he roared, causing Tali to stare at him before slumping back into her seat.

Suddenly, Kaidan burst from his seat with a glare on his face and stepped up to the turian menacingly. "That's far enough, Garrus! Putting the burden of her people on her shoulders like that is borderline xenophobic, and I'm not going to stand here and let you talk to her that way!"

In mere moments, the room went silent as the spectre stood from her seat. "Garrus…" said Shepard as she stood up with a glare. Wrex decided to step out and take his seat again while Kaidan merely stepped back. "Why are you on this ship?"

He stared at her stupidly for a moment. "I... uhhh... what?"

"Decades ago, a turian Hierarchy ship decided to skip first contact protocol with humans and instead thought it best to attack them. Why? Because they were tinkering with a relay and trying to open it, something that those humans had no way of knowing was dangerous. And thinking that we had just encountered a hostile alien species, the humans decided to fight back for their very lives. How did the turians respond to this attack?" she asked, facing off with him herself this time. And despite the clear height difference between them, he was the one stepping back.

Sighing, he locked eyes with her firmly. "They destroyed them."

"No ceasefire, no fleeing to prevent conflict, no peace. The turians destroyed the ship that defended itself, and when we retaliated, they took Shanxi and bombarded the capital city with debris from orbit. Women, children, civilians. How many do you think died in that attack?" This time, Garrus stayed silent. "But you're here on this ship because I'm not holding you accountable for what those turians did," she said as she stepped away and looked over at Tali. "No quarian alive today has even seen Rannoch. None of them had a hand in unleashing the geth, and none outside the military have even seen a live one. So, tell me, why are you now pointing the finger at Tali and acting as if she were responsible for the geth?"

Letting out a heavy sigh, Garrus finally sat back in his seat. "I'm not. Or, at least, I didn't mean to."

"The bottom line on this ship is that we're all screw ups. The quarians accidentally unleashed the geth, the turians ruthlessly attacked humans on first contact, the salarians and asari opened the relay to the rachni cluster and then uplifted the krogan who rebelled and brought the entire galaxy to war…" she said as she looked at them all.

"Heh…" said Wrex, getting a stern glare from the commander.

"Humans are just as bad and have done much worse things to each other, and no doubt will screw up in the future as well. But none of that matters because you do not represent your people. You're here because you're on my team. You're here because I chose you, not because of your race or your history," she yelled before finally slamming herself back into her seat. "So, if you have an objection to someone's actions, then leave their race's history out of it," she ordered as she gave the turian one final stare.

"Understood, Shepard," he said as he stood again and looked over to Tali. "I apologize. It was extremely barbaric of me to act the way I did."

"It's alright Garrus. And I too understand why you were worried. But Val'eda is not the geth," said Tali as she stood up and activated the omni-tool. "Down in the security room was the only chance they have ever had to escape, and they didn't. They don't wish to hurt me, or any of us. So, we shouldn't treat them as if they were the geth." Tali then looked over at Shepard with a smile. "As Shepard said, we shouldn't judge everyone based on history. It's our actions that define us, and Val'eda should get that same chance."

Sighing, the turian nodded. "I'm just concerned. We have enough people out there trying to kill us without creating more. I just hope you're right about this AI."

"Just because I trust Val'eda doesn't mean I won't be taking precautions. Earlier today was an extreme circumstance that required an extreme solution. I will not be careless," she said, getting a reassuring nod from Garrus.

"Good, now that we've got that over and done with, we need to-" started Shepard as she stood up. But she was immediately cut off by her omni-tool. All non-essential messages were put on silent, which meant that whatever this was, it wasn't something she could wait on. Instead of clearing the room, she activated it on the spot and opened the message.

"Shepard, it's Kahoku. I don't have long to send this message, and I'll have to pray that it gets to you without being intercepted. I found out who set the trap on Edolus, the ones who got my men killed by that thresher maw. Weeks before my men went to the Sparta system, I was asked to head an internal investigation into an Alliance group that went missing. They just vanished off the face of the galaxy. My investigation found out that this group of soldiers might have actually broken off and gone rogue while using Alliance resources and knowledge to back them. That's how they've been avoiding us. But it turns out that they set the trap because I was getting too close. I was supposed to be on that ship with my men so that the investigation halted with my death. And now, I've found them, and they found me back. So, if you get this, their group is called Cerberus, and they're coming for me. I did manage to track down where one of their facilities are located and have sent it with this message. You have to stop them no matter what happens to me. I'm going to try and disappear for a while and hope that they lose track, so this may be the last you'll hear from me for a very long time. Kahoku out." As the message finished, her omni-tool opened the file that was sent with the message.

Shepard stared at the location, then looked up at the others. "Well, I guess we have our next mission. Everyone is dismissed and be ready for the call when we arrive in Yangtze," she ordered before closing down her omni-tool.

Cockpit - SSV Normandy SR1

"I think we've finally found something Spectre!" shouted the man from behind her.

Shepard, standing in the cockpit with Joker, turned around and looked at the man. "What is it Gladstone?" she asked curiously.

The man opened up his screen and maximized the size so she could easily see it. "The relay lit only moments ago, and soon after, a small ship made a direct trajectory toward Binthu before dropping off the radar."

Shepard watched the outline of the vessel turn towards the only planet currently in that direction, then nodded as it blipped out of existence. "That means they have minor stealth capabilities. They're more well equipped than we initially thought."

"You think they took the design from the Normandy project?" asked Kaidan as he looked up from the co-pilot seat.

"Nah, a ship that small wouldn't be able to hold a drive core the size of the one we're pulling," said Joker as he looked up at Shepard. "But... hypothetically, if they had a smaller drive core, much smaller, they could still make brief stealth jumps."

"So, let's say... hypothetically if they wanted to keep people that may be loitering in the system from seeing which planet they are flying to…" started Shepard, who then looked at Kaidan.

"Then they wouldn't need one as big as ours. The Normandy can go dark for days at a time. All they'd need is a few minutes. So, chances are, they've swiped the schematics of the Normandy's stealth system and applied it to much smaller ships," said the lieutenant as he turned and looked at the map in front of him. “That presents a huge problem to the Alliance and Citadel Fleet.”

"It looks like they're a lot more well connected than even Kahoku realized. Those schematics were Council property once the Normandy was finished," said Shepard as she turned and headed away from the cockpit. "We're going to have to improvise. Prepare the Hornets," she ordered as she headed towards the CIC.

Cargo Bay - SSV Normandy SR1

"So... these hornets are what, exactly?" asked Liara as she looked to Shepard.

"It's a bomb that disperses a cloud of tiny nano-trackers. When ships go through the cloud, the nano-trackers attach to the ship, and send signals back to here," said Shepard as she held up a data pad.

"So that gets us the location of their base. But what do we do then?" asked Ash curiously as she leaned on the counter.

"We're going to watch them for a bit. If we can nail down a pattern, then we can capture one of their ships and slide in," she said, getting a wide-eyed look from the gunnery chief.

"A Trojan horse. Haven't done one of those in a while," said Ash as she raised an eyebrow. "Then what?"

"Then we kick the doors open and take the base. Chances are, even if they are cautious, they won't be expecting us."

"Who will be going with you?" asked Tali as she watched them from the door.

"Wrex, Kaidan, and Liara," she replied, getting a surprised look from the asari. "Humans are still new to biotics. We have very few of them and even fewer ways of countering them. So, we're going to hit them full force with biotics." Shepard then eyed Liara sternly. "I may need your biotics to get more information from any survivors."

"U-Understood," said Liara as she clenched her fists. "I will prepare myself."

"Storming the base? Now we're talking," said Wrex with a chuckle.

Combat Information Center - SSV Normandy SR1

"From the looks of things, there appear to be three separate locations that the stealth ships fly to. That could mean three separate facilities on the planet," said Chief Gladstone from his seat.

Shepard's eyes narrowed at the markers that showed on the holographic planet displayed by the galaxy map. "This may be more difficult than we thought. If we take one base down and they end up alerting the others…"

"Well, if nothing else, you could always have us up here for backup in case any try to escape," said Joker with a shrug.

"I'm more worried about them torching their databases. Or sending reinforcements," said the spectre as she looked over at Pressly. "XO, you're in charge of keeping any excess forces off our backs. If you can stop them without killing, do that. But don't hesitate to wipe them out if we have our backs to the wall," she said, getting a nod from the man. "The next ship that comes through that relay, we grab. Ground team, prepare and congregate in the cargo bay."

Cargo Bay - SSV Normandy SR1

It was a few hours of sitting and waiting in the cargo bay. Wrex was occupying a crate and watching old Earth gangster movies on his omni-tool while Kaidan chatted up Tali. Liara merely sat next to Shepard, who simply stared at the door of the cargo bay through her helmet. It always unnerved the commander when she had to wait for the oncoming mission. Even in her special forces days, she could be found tapping her foot impatiently while having to wait. But that was the military. Hurry up and wait.

Finally, she received a call from the fire team. "Spectre, the ship has been disabled."

"SOS signal intercepted, Shepard. She's ready to be brought aboard," came Pressly's voice as well.

The commander stood to her feet and nodded to the others. Everyone on the cargo bay was currently armored and fitted with a weapon, including the snarky Tyson, all so they could welcome the incoming guests. "Joker, prepare for pickup. Everyone else, get to your positions," she ordered as she took the assault rifle off her back and placed herself behind a stack of crates that had been positioned strategically just to provide them cover.

"Understood. Pick up incoming," said the pilot through the intercom. "Prepare for depressurization."

A loud hissing noise sounded throughout the bay as they released the airlock on the hold. The crates were anchored to the floor with Tyson and engineering's help, and most of the crew in the bay were either magnetized to the floor with their boots or secured to their firing station with a strap. Finally, the door to the bay swung open and exposed everyone inside to the vacuum of space.

Shepard went wide-eyed as she could already see the disabled Cerberus ship a short distance away from the opening. "It seems I've underestimated you as a pilot, Joker," she said with a smile.

"Does that mean I get a raise?" he asked hopefully over her comm.

"We'll talk about that later," she responded with a chuckle as the ship slowly closed in on the disabled vessel. Shepard reached out and immediately seized control over the shuttle with her omni-tool, making sure the controls and even the outside viewing cameras were disabled. Finally, after a few agonizing minutes, the ship hovered in the center of the cargo bay. The large door to the gorgeous view of space closed up, and the entire room began pressurizing again.

Without instruction, Wrex walked from his cover and over to the side of the vehicle. "As soon as you open it, I'm going to disable one of them," he said as he looked over to her position.

She nodded, then opened her omni-tool. "This is Spectre Jane Shepard with the Citadel Council. You are ordered to stand down and exit the vehicle with your hands up. If you choose to fight, you will be met with resistance, and could be maimed or killed in the process," she said through the comm unit inside the ship.

After letting that stew in their heads for a second, she forced the doors on the vessel open. Immediately, one of the suited pilots jumped out with his weapon brandished. However, Wrex immediately made short work of the attacker with a headbutt that cracked the face shield on their helmet.

The second person inside stood up with their hands raised. Shepard immediately moved forward with her weapon raised and began ordering them. "The bay has been pressurized and oxygenated. Remove your helmet, throw it onto the ground, and step out of the vehicle," she barked as she reached down and swapped out the rifle for her pistol.

"Spectre or not, you're not going to get away with this," said the woman scathingly as she stepped out of the vehicle. Reaching up, she released the seals on her black and white armor before tossing the helmet off to the side. Her short, cropped black hair only made her look more sinister as her eyes narrowed on Shepard.

"Weapons trained," she ordered, causing Garrus, Ash, and Liara to all focus on the woman. Once she was adequately dissuaded from making a move, Shepard reached up and removed her own helmet before smiling back at the woman. "You're about to see just what kinds of things I can get away with," she said before motioning for detainment.

Detainment Cell - SSV Normandy SR1

Both of the prisoners were taken to cells below the firing deck. It was the lowest point on the ship, and each cell was essentially a small room with a door that secured itself when the power went out. Once the vessel itself was prepared, Shepard made her way down to the detention cells with Ash and Liara following in her wake.

Up to this point, they had no reason to use the cells. But now, two of the doors were sealed as she entered. Making her way to the door, the spectre entered without waiting for a response.

Inside the cell was the woman from before. Her glare returned as the redhead stepped inside. "Now, as protocol, I'm going to offer you the chance to give me the information I need," said Shepard as she sat down on the cot and glared back at the woman.

"You'll get nothing from me," snapped the agent as she looked from Shepard to the other two. Her eyes suddenly lost their glare as they focused on a solemn faced asari.

"See, that's what I figured. But I still like to go through the typical diplomatic process just in case," said Shepard as she stood again. Turning her head to Ash, she nodded. "Secure her for extraction," she ordered, causing the woman to jump to her feet.

The agent lashed out with a kick, but Shepard brought her arm up to deflect the blow quickly. Without her armor on, the kick had much less power to it and was harmlessly shoved away. Despite the lack of effectiveness, Shepard responded as if it was meant to kill. Reaching forward, she grabbed the woman by her shirt, then slammed a knee into her gut with such force that the woman bent forward and heaved.

Ash moved in and snap kicked the back of the woman's knee, causing her to drop to one before Shepard did the same from the other side. In seconds, she was now on her knees with her arms firmly held behind her back as she gasped to catch her breath. "What exactly am I extracting?" asked the asari as she stepped forward as well.

"Any information that we would need in order to enter the base. Ship codes, hailing frequencies, and any phrases or passcodes that we'd need to enter without suspicion," said Shepard as she gripped the woman's arm fiercely, her foot now standing heavily on the assailant's bent knee.

The Cerberus agent went wide-eyed as Liara approached with her fingers flexing. "No, don't touch me you squid bitch!" Suddenly, an armored arm secured itself around her neck as well.

"That'll be enough of that," said the spectre forcefully as she gripped just under the agent's jaw to keep her head from moving. Finally, Liara stepped forward and grabbed her head bare-handed.

Shepard watched as Liara's expression darkened, the flood of memories entering her head no doubt an unpleasant experience. "She is resisting…" said the asari firmly as her face formed into a mask of determination. "Show me!"

As if the soul was sucked out of her, the woman went limp as Liara's biotics lit up around her body. Her eyes opened, and the dark sclera glared into the slack woman's wide eyes angrily. Minutes later, the asari sighed and released the agent. Shepard stared at Liara for a long moment as the mysterious black essence faded from her eyes. "You got it?"

"I did. She was decently trained against intrusion, but my guess is that they didn't have an expert on hand to actually practice against a more skilled biotic," said the asari as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Good. Then we're done here. Call Doctor Chakwas down with a guard detail to make sure she wasn't injured in the process, then meet me at the shuttle," said the spectre as she released the woman who was panting heavily.

Cerberus Shuttle - Binthu

It was easy to see that the ship wasn't constructed for alien comfort. Upon entering, Wrex practically had to lean sideways just to get in due to his hump constantly thudding against the ceiling of the craft. But as they all finally packed into the vehicle, Shepard opened her omni-tool and began scanning.

"As I figured, they torched the databases," said the spectre as she looked towards Liara. "Will that be an issue?"

"According to her memories, important information wasn't stored in these ships. They often had to leave them at ports, and they didn't want anyone snooping while they were away. All of the needed information was with the agents themselves," responded the asari as she opened the console at the front of the shuttle and took control.

Outside, the cargo bay depressurized again before opening. The shuttle activated and drifted out of the Normandy's cargo bay. "So, you know how to get us into those facilities?"

"I do. Put your faith in me, Shepard. I will not fail you," said Liara as she activated the private comm line and steered the ship towards the planet. The asari placed a finger against her helmet, directly where her lips would be as she looked towards the others.

"Unit Five, we lost comms to you shortly after you entered the system. What happened?" asked a male voice over the line that Liara had just opened.

"Responding with Code Zulu. Temporary system failure due to unknown causes. Requesting a maintenance crew to look at the shuttle after landing," responded the asari.

"Request noted. State your purpose," ordered the voice again.

"Typhon hailed. Returning after success," she said confidently as she flew the ship towards the planet.

"Understood. Landing permitted at Facility Three," said the operator as he went silent.

"Confirmed. ETA twenty minutes," finished Liara as she killed the comm. Finally, she let out a sigh and slumped back in her seat.

"Are we in?" asked Shepard curiously.

"We are. Though Facility Three shows that they are being cautious, as it's the most heavily armed. Still, there were no signs of a negative response," said the doctor as she turned to Shepard.

"Good. As soon as we land, light the place up," she ordered as she opened her omni-tool. "Shepard to Normandy."

"Normandy here. What can we do for you, Spectre?" asked Pressly over the comm.

"Keep tracking us with the nano-trackers. Once we enter the base, I want you to lay a blanket down to make sure the other facilities receive no warning."

"Affirmative, Shepard. The blanket has been laid," said the XO as the comm went silent.

"Alright. Let's get ready to blow this operation wide open," said Shepard as she activated her atmospheric seals. "Everyone, get ready to kick some ass."

CODEX ENTRIES

Hornets | Technology | Military
Used typically for stealth ops, these are controlled nano-technological tracking devices typically released in a cloud formation. Any ship flying through this cloud is guaranteed to have at least a few grab onto them and track their position, sending the information back to an information beacon of the user’s choosing. They can be controlled to hide more efficiently, or even detonated to keep from being detected. If the user is proficient enough at using them, they can also be used to sabotage machinery by swarming into important components and overwhelming or outright destroying them.

Chapter 35: Hades Dogs

Chapter Text

Hangar - Cerberus Facility 3 - Binthu

Everything went on business as usual outside the ship as it slowly pulled into the main docking bay. Cargo was being packed up, logistics were making lists, and the human facility was running as if nothing was wrong. Even so, there was still a security team there to meet the shuttle as it landed. And that perfect china tea set that was the everyday routine of the Cerberus facility was smashed against a wall as the hatch on the vehicle opened and Wrex barreled straight into security before they could even get their weapons loose.

Liara followed next, her biotics lit inside her white armor as she reached over and grabbed the security next to the door and with a flick of her wrist, slammed them directly into the ceiling. Immediately, unarmed scientists and lab assistants scrambled for cover as Shepard and Kaidan moved from the vessel and shouted for them to get on the ground. And despite being a part of an organized military operative group, they did as they were told.

Suddenly, an alarm went off in the base, making Shepard look up at the ceiling as the lights flashed red. "Guess the jig is up," she said with a smirk as Wrex made quick work of the security team. Any who were still conscious were quickly cuffed and left on their faces. Finally, Shepard opened her omni-tool and disabled the alarm. Kaidan went to work cuffing the unarmed people as well as she hijacked their intercom system. "Dear Cerberus agents. This is Jane Shepard with the Council Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. I currently have an Excalibur-class mass accelerator weapon pointed directly at your facilities. If you do not cooperate, your chances of getting out of here alive are slim to none. We have taken the docking port, and there will be no escaping."

Aside from a few groans from the security team as Kaidan cuffed them none-too-gently, there was no sound. Wrex turned to her curiously. "You think they're gonna do it?"

Shepard shook her head. "There's probably a few who would. But I doubt Cerberus would allow them to even if they wanted," she said as she lifted her omni-tool again. "You have one minute to march to the docking bay with your hands raised before I bring this base to its knees," she said, then switched to her comm. "Pressly, leave one of the Fire Team in place and send the rest down with Williams, Vakarian, and Tali'Zorah. We've got a number of prisoners."

"Affirmative Shepard," responded the XO.

As the clock counted down, they all waited silently for something to happen. While the spectre would have been surprised if they had sent a surrender request, she would have happily accepted it. But she was more expecting them to march down the hallway and start firing. Though, given Cerberus' preferred method of staying in the shadows, it was more likely that they were setting up ambushes.

As her timer passed the minute marker, she sighed and nodded to the others. "Once the B Squad arrives, we're going in." Wrex grunted, and Liara and Kaidan both nodded approval. Shortly afterwards, the shuttle flew in from outside, and immediately the fire team moved out of the vehicle and began pulling the prisoners up onto their knees.

"You two, start putting them into the shuttle and towing it back to the Normandy for imprisonment. Williams, Zorah, Vakarian, and the rest of us will stay here to make sure they stay exactly where they are," ordered Zannia she pointed to two of her fire team. Then, she turned to Shepard and gave a turian salute. The spectre returned the salute before nodding to the others.

"Let's move!" she shouted as they all headed for the door in the back of the hangar. They moved as an infiltration team, with Shepard at the front, followed by Liara, then Wrex, with Kaidan at the rear.

"Anyone get the feeling that no matter how hard we try to suppress distress calls; the other facilities are going to be prepared for us regardless?" asked Kaidan as they moved down the lengthy hallway.

"Having their signals jammed will probably get them off their asses regardless," responded Wrex as they all surrounded the first door they came across. Shepard slid the door open, and the krogan immediately charged in headfirst. Shepard and the others stepped away from the door as explosions sounded off. "O-Oww…" groaned Wrex from inside the room.

"One of these days you're going to learn, Wrex," said Shepard as she stepped into the cleared doorway and held her pistol aloft. The room was a small computer lab, but all of the tables had been flipped up for defense. As soon as one of the armored agents popped their head up, Shepard activated her omni-tool and sabotaged his shields, then put a round through their faceplate.

"Spectre, we've got a vehicle moving from one of the other facilities in your direction. It's unclear if they're reinforcements, or just transporting something," came Pressly's voice over the comm.

"Alert Williams and the cleanup crew and let them through. If they can't bring them down and they try to get away, then just blast them out of the air," she ordered as Kaidan stepped into the doorway and used his biotics to lift all the tables from the ground. A few of the hiding soldiers were also ripped from their spots, making them easy targets for a now thoroughly pissed off krogan.

"Acknowledged, Shepard," responded Pressly as Wrex got up and blasted the two agents with his shotgun.

"Sacks of varren shit, that hurt like hell," he grumbled as he reached up and touched the scoring on his helmet from the explosives.

"Perhaps I should check for explosives before you run into the rooms from now on?" stated Liara as Shepard nodded for them to move on.

"Fine. But only because you asked nicely," said the disgruntled mercenary as he followed the commander down the hallway once more. As they continued, they moved into a larger open area which looked to be a cafeteria.

"Looks like we found the mess hall," said Kaidan as he raised his weapon. But Wrex growled and his biotics lit. In seconds, he vanished and appeared behind the serving counter where two more soldiers were hidden. Raising his shotgun, he smashed the helmet of one of them so hard that a sickening crunch sounded, then turned the barrel on the other and blew right through the face shield.

"Lunch is served," he said as he stepped out from behind the counter. "Kitchen next?"

"We clear everything," ordered Shepard as they moved towards the swinging doors in the back.

Hangar - Cerberus Facility 3 - Binthu

"Make sure the hooks are ready!" shouted Zannia as she turned to Tali. "You ready?"

"I've got it," said Tali as she primed her omni-tool. Chatika waited nearby out of sight as all the turians moved to keep from immediately being seen.

As the incoming shuttle flew close to the hangar door, Williams raised her arm up so the Fire Team could see it. When it looked as if the pilot noticed the lack of people in the hangar and began backing out, she swung her arm down. "Fire!" shouted the gunnery chief.

Four grappling hooks were fired, all of which slammed into the side of the vessel and began pulling it inside the facility. The engines were cranked up to maximum thrust, but they died almost immediately as Tali reached out with her omni-tool and froze their systems with a cyber-attack. As the shuttle hit the ground, Williams and Zannia both swarmed out with their teams and ripped the pilot and co-pilot out of their seats before marching them into the hangar and planting them face down again.

"Secure the new ones and prepare them for transport as well!" ordered Ash as she turned away from the others. "Spectre, we got two more in the shuttle, no casualties."

Barracks - Cerberus Facility 3 - Binthu

"Good work, Williams. Keep that area secure, we're almost done here," responded Shepard as she nodded to Liara.

The asari swung her hand gracefully and a biotic shockwave smashed through the electronic door, ripping it from its frame and sending it careening into the room. That would have been bad enough had the shockwave not also set off the charges planted next to the door. The explosion blasted the metal door, sending it slamming edge first into an agent hiding behind one of the racks, slicing through the flimsy bunk and crushing their insides.

As the operative fell over dead, Wrex charged in again, and with a wave of his hand he slammed all of the bunks to one side of the room, smashing anyone in the way and leaving the others exposed. After having their cover torn away, the remaining soldiers were ripped apart by the combined gunfire of the four infiltrators.

"Room clear," said Kaidan before a groan could be heard from beneath the pile of bunks. Shepard stepped over and saw one of the men with their leg bent at an awkward angle, snapped when one of the beds had slammed on top of him.

"Mostly," she said as she aimed her pistol at him in the pile of bent bed frames. "Drop it," she ordered. The man groaned again and tossed his gun away before reaching down and trying to move the twisted metal that was keeping his snapped limb in place. "Williams, we've got a live one in the barracks. Flagging him for retrieval. Check to make sure there aren't any more under this pile that are still breathing."

"Affirmative, Commander," responded the gunnery sergeant over the comm as their team moved down the last hallway. The hangar, computer lab, mess hall, kitchen, bathrooms, and now the barracks were all clear.

"What do we have up here, Liara?" asked Shepard as she kept her movement slow.

Reaching up, the asari tapped her helmet to try and recall. "The... armory I believe. We should be careful. They know we're coming and will prepare accordingly."

"Understood," said the spectre as she took one side of the door. "Liara, you take the other side. Kaidan, Wrex, you're on point. When we open the door, fire at anyone you see and immediately duck out of the way." Getting a nod from them both, they raised their weapons. As the door slid open, two soldiers with automatic weapons fired at them as they fired back. Quickly, Shepard fired a grenade that adhered to the wall behind them. Ducking out of the way again, she activated it and an explosion sent the two firing figures screaming and flying as an explosion tore them apart. "Liara."

On her order, the asari stepped up and used her biotics to warp the metal cage holding the weapons and armor in place. Without needing ordered, Wrex stepped in front of her to shield her as more gunfire erupted from behind the bending bars. And when the wall finally collapsed into a heap, she unleashed a singularity inside the cage itself.

The krogan stepped forward and took his time eliminating the now floating agents from a distance as they tried desperately to aim while they drifted around in the air. Before long, the singularity wore off and three bodies fell from the air with their weapons raining down on them.

Turning away from the armory, Shepard opened her comm again. "Pressly, Facility 3 is down. We're going to regroup, and once the prisoners are all aboard the Normandy, we're hitting Facility 2."

"Understood, Shepard. We still have plenty of room for more," replied the navigator as Shepard turned and ordered them to follow her back.

"You know, headache aside, that was pretty simple," said Wrex as he followed them back down the hallway that led them here.

"That's what happens when you make a plan. You know, as opposed to just hurling yourself face first into everything," said Kaidan, who received growl from the krogan. "Cerberus didn't know we were coming, they didn't know we had inside intel on their facilities, and they still don't have a counter to biotics. The only warning they had was Shepard's announcement over the intercom, meaning they had to scramble for a plan in less than a minute."

"That's why I like intel. I like knowing what I'm getting myself into," said Shepard as she turned to walk through the cafeteria again, side stepping two of her own that were dragging the broken-legged man down the hall. "And nobody is saying that you charging into a mess can't be useful, Wrex. Just make sure to charge where we know it'll be useful. It'll end in fewer concussions and suit repairs."

"Alright alright, I got it," he said before reaching up and touching the burns. "And don’t worry about a concussion. Regeneration makes us almost immune to concussions. Eh… most of the time anyway."

"I've been meaning to ask, Wrex, if krogan can regenerate from almost any injury, then how did you obtain your scars?" asked Liara curiously.

"This came from my Rite of Passage. I fought a thresher maw on foot," he said, getting a surprised look from all of them. "That's why I liked Edolus so much. Reminded me of my youth."

"So, what? It scratched you?" asked Kaidan, now curious himself as they entered the hangar again.

"No, pyjack, it didn't scratch me. During the battle, a lot of acid was sloshing around because those damn things just love melting their prey into paste. I happened to get splashed by some for peeking out at the wrong time. I tried tearing my own flesh off to get the pain to stop, but it didn't. And now I have these," he said as he tapped the side of his face.

"So, thresher acid bypasses the regeneration?" asked Liara in surprise.

"That shit can melt through a starship hull in seconds. You're damn right it bypasses the regeneration. It melts faster than we can heal and eats right through our regenerative cells. I'm lucky to still have a face," he snapped as they finally approached the gunnery chief.

"Update, Williams," ordered Shepard.

"We've got a few more to go before they're all secure, Commander," responded Ash as she turned to the spectre.

"Good. Liara, what's Facility 2?" asked Shepard as she turned to the asari.

"Facility 3 was for troops and armory, Facility 2 is vehicles, storage, and maintenance. It's a large warehouse where most of the cargo is stored until it can be distributed to other facilities. The only thing that's moved to other facilities first, besides personnel, are live test subjects. And those go to Facility 1, which is R&D," she said as she finally opened her eyes.

"Heh, bet that's gonna be fun," said Wrex as he rolled his shoulders.

"Let's hope they've hit a dry spell. I don't like the idea of fighting deranged test subjects," said the commander as she eyed the new shuttle that they pulled in. "Williams, Gavos! I've got a plan, come over here!" she shouted as she gathered them all around.

Cerberus Shuttle - Binthu

Shepard watched from her own craft as the two others, the transport from the Normandy and the hijacked Cerberus ship flew from Facility 3 over the green fields of the planet towards the next facility. The facility itself was given the same warning ahead of time; they were coming, and surrender was the only way out in one piece. But Shepard snorted as the Cerberus vessel flew into the open hangar and immediately received a rocket to its side. "Bad choice," she said as the explosion tore open the cabin of the vehicle and triggered the mines that had been stacked inside from the Cerberus armory. The resulting explosion blew the entire face off the building as the transport ship flew in and released a flood of troops, consisting of Ash, Zannia, Tali, and Garrus, as well as the remaining fire team to clean up whatever was left of the attacking crew.

Shaking her head, she patted Kaidan on the shoulder as he aimed their ship towards the final compound and zoomed in. "Any warning on this one, Commander?" he asked as the shuttle streaked across the greens of Binthu.

"That explosion is the only warning they're getting. I'm not giving them the go-ahead so they can release every test subject out to get between us and them," she said as she eyed the facility itself. Unlike the other two, this one appeared to be built directly into a mountainside, likely to make it more difficult to escape.

"We have plenty of hostages, Shepard. Why not bring out the Excalibur for this one and enjoy the fireworks?" asked Wrex as he eyed the commander.

"They're prisoners to be tried in a court of law, not hostages. And secondly, if we want to get any headway on what exactly they were working on out here, then we need the information inside that facility," she said as she eyed it curiously.

The ship swooped down and made for the tunnel-like entrance as Shepard overrode the doors and opened them. "I don't like the look of this," said Kaidan as he directed the shuttle into the hangar, which had no lights on whatsoever.

"Neither do I. Chances are, they already know we're here. So, get your weapons ready. While they probably don't have as much security as the other two facilities, they still had a few guards in here to keep messes from spilling out," she said as she turned on her dark vision. "Also, comms only once we're outside the vehicle. I don't want sound giving us away."

"Understood, Shepard," responded Kaidan as he set the shuttled down in the center of the darkened hangar.

"Oh hell…" suddenly came Wrex's curse, causing Shepard to turn and stare at pairs of glowing orbs leering at them through the blast shield. Turning off her dark vision for a moment, she felt chills go down her spine as they all peered at her in that same, electric blue stare.

"HUSKS! Get the hell out of the shuttle!" she shouted as she kicked the door open and threw herself free from the cabin. Suddenly, the orbs were all paired off with glowing rings that hovered directly below each pair, and their bodies began to light up as electricity flowed through them.

"What kind of horror movie bullshit is this!?" shouted Kaidan as Liara jumped out and thrust her palm forward, smashing a group of the husks that had charged Shepard against a wall with a wave of her biotics.

Lifted the Cerberus shuttle off again, the lieutenant slowly began to spin it. "Alenko, what the hell are you doing!?" asked Shepard as she zeroed in on a pair of the glowing eyes and put a round right between them.

"Getting their attention, sir!" he shouted as he turned the cabin lights on. Sure enough, most of the husks in the area sprinted directly for the ship and began diving onto it. "Wrex, I'm gonna need your big gun out for this one!"

"Heh, you got it," responded the krogan as he backhanded one of the zombie-like monsters and crushed it beneath his heel. Reaching back, he pulled his laser weapon off his back.

"Does one of you two want to explain to me what your half-assed plan is?" shouted Shepard as she blasted through another of the strays before she turned to watch the horrific display. The shuttle was barely hovering off the ground anymore due to the weight of all the husks that had thrown themselves on top of it trying to get to the lieutenant.

"Not really a plan. Just keeping them off your back," said Kaidan as he steered the overloaded ship towards the far edge of the bay. The bodies were now stacked high enough that the corners of the shuttle began scraping the ground. Kaidan donned his barrier just as the first one let off its blast of electricity. "Damn, that's not gonna last!" he shouted as she slammed the vehicle full force into the wall. Many of the husks flew off, but there was still plenty scraping at the surface of the vehicle as another unleashed its hellish aura.

"Alenko! Get out of there!" shouted Shepard as she started to shoot at the creatures.

But Liara held her back. "Wrex! Fire now!" she shouted as she reached out with her biotics just as a group swarmed the door and ripped it off of the vehicle.

Shepard looked at her incredulously and Wrex pulled the trigger on his laser weapon. The large beam charged for a few seconds, then fired directly into the crowd, blasting off limbs and entire bodies of the husks as they hammered away at the shuttle. But its destructive power was meant for carnage, and it burned straight through the husks and hit the vehicle itself, causing an explosion that knocked both Liara and Shepard onto their behinds before raining husk parts down on the room.

"ALENKO!" shouted the commander as she got to her feet and ran for the vehicle, but she stopped in her tracks as a panting Liara got back to her feet and Wrex raised the barrel of the crackling weapon. Shepard's eyes widened as she saw an unharmed Kaidan pulling a fist back, no doubt to use his biotics, before he had been locked into a stasis by the asari.

He sat there, his eyes looking at them none-too-pleased as Shepard sighed and rubbed her helmet, the stress of one of her crew potentially dying giving her a headache. "Alright... I shouldn't complain given that he's alive, but next time could one of you tell me that he was safe?"

"Apologies, Shepard. There wasn't much time. If Wrex didn't shoot when he did, any number of their electrical attacks could have worn me down and dropped the stasis." Shepard nodded at Liara before finally turning to Kaidan. Reaching forward, the asari released him from the hold and his shield immediately covered him from head to toe.

"Thanks, Doc. Wasn't sure if I'd make it out of that one," he said as he flexed his neck gently.

"I'm pleased to see you are well. I knew I could protect you from the laser, but I wasn’t expecting the explosion. I wasn't sure until just now that it would hold up against one," she said as she released a heavy breath.

"Alright," said Shepard with a sigh as she scanned the area with her night vision again. "If we've got all our fingers and toes counted, then let's get to clearing the rest of this place." Turning to Wrex, she nodded to him. "Wrex, if you don't mind, I'd like you to take the lead on these three. Them having husks terrifies me, especially if that's the first thing we're running into. I'm going to go dark and see what lies ahead."

"You got it," said the krogan as he donned his own barrier and padded his way towards the door. Vanishing into thin air, the commander was now invisible on every known spectrum as she moved ahead and opened the door.

"So much for the element of surprise," said Kaidan over the comm as she made her way into the next room.

Her footsteps took her down a hallway, her eyes nervously looking around as she saw the turrets on the ceiling aimed at the doors leading further into the base. "They have guns set up to make sure that nothing besides humans escape the lab," she said as she opened her omni-tool and fried the circuits inside each one. "Be careful. I don't know if they have any kind of purge protocols in this place, and I don't want you guys getting locked into a room and atomized."

"Knowing Cerberus's type, I wouldn't put it past them to have a nuke under the floorpanels," responded Kaidan as the three of them slowly moved up through the hallway that the spectre had just cleared.

As Shepard opened the door into the next area, two soldiers behind cover a few meters away fired into the hallway. One of the rounds bounced off her shield before she managed to duck behind cover. "We've got live ones. I'm gonna sneak in and take a look around for anymore. You three wait behind this door."

"Confirmed," responded Liara as Shepard dipped into the room and looked around. There were guards stacked on either side of a large column in the middle, flanking the two she had snuck past while entering. Besides that, there was one in the back taking cover behind a set of flimsy transport crates holding a pistol. She could easily see that they were a simple scientist rather than security. Her eyes were wide to try and read something, anything in the near pitch-black room and her hands were shaking lightly as they clung to the pistol.

"Wrex. I'm going to open the door and I want you to charge headfirst straight in front of you. There's two taking cover behind a small barricade that shouldn't give you too much trouble. Liara, Kaidan, once Wrex takes them out, you two head just to the right of him and take out the unit just to the right of the pillar, and I've got the one on the left. The last one, we won't have much to worry about," she said as she marked them all for their HUDs.

"You mean I get the charge in headfirst and you're not going to yell at me?" he asked playfully but got no response.

Shepard placed her pistol nearly against her own target's throat before firing and immediately taking them down, their blood splattering across the floor. "Now!" she barked as the door slid open. Wrex took the signal and charged forward with his biotic barrier covering his body. With the others distracted by her own gunfire, the two up front barely got a shot off before Wrex's hulking mass snapped the barricade off the ground and slammed into them, crushing them against the pillar.

Liara stepped inside and immediately warped the guard to the right of the pillar, causing him to shout in pain as both armor and flesh were torn in the attack. But his cries of agony didn't last long before the asari kicked him to the ground and silenced him with her own pistol.

Finally, as Wrex enjoyed grinding the sorry security against the large column, Kaidan stepped up and ended their groaning with a round each from his own weapon. "Awww, you're no fun."

"We're not here for fun," said Kaidan dutifully as he lowered his gun. "Besides, what the hell did you tell me about hesitating?"

"Huh, got me there," said the krogan as he dropped the soldiers, leaving the barrier laying on top of them. "Where's Shepard?"

"Over here," came her voice. They all raised their weapons and aimed at the woman now struggling against the spectre's tight grip. "Hold still and you might make it out of this alive!" snapped the spectre as she kicked the scientist in the back of the knee, bringing her down to one knee before wrenching her hands behind her back.

"Alive? Hah... no. He would never let me live…" said the woman as tears began pouring down her face. “Roger Delta 0112, signing out.”

Shepard looked down at her sorrow filled face and saw blood dripping from her nose. "Fuck! Don't you fucking dare!" she shouted, but it was too late. The woman's limbs went limp with blood now dribbling from her mouth. Shepard hurled the woman's body aside before turning and kicking the crate next to her, smashing it in anger.

"Shepard, are you alright?" asked the asari as she approached and placed a hand on the woman's shoulder.

Reaching up, the spectre laced her hands behind her helmet and released a tense breath before turning to the rest of them. "Suicide capsules. Many terrorist organizations and religious extremists I've worked against in the past used them in case any of their members were caught. I guess Cerberus isn't beyond that either," she growled as she finally released her hands and placed them on her hips. "Civilians, women, children, all of them so terrified of me thanks to brainwashing that they killed themselves rather than be captured."

"I'm sorry, Commander. I know it couldn't have been easy," said Kaidan worriedly.

"It's fine. I've made my peace, and I made the ones responsible pay. Time to do the same here," she said as she pulled up her pistol again. "It looks like there are several labs here that were working on several different things. We go together this time and put down whatever monsters they've been working on if they're loose and try and take as many people alive as we can. If you see someone in a labcoat, do not let them kill themselves. Their capsules are password activated, likely from their omni-tool. So, knock them out, stun them, do what you need to do to keep them from saying the kill command," she ordered as she headed for the nearby room labeled C-1.

As soon as the door opened, she stopped them all. Liara looked on either side of the small hallway with her night vision active and her eyes widened. "Are those... scorch marks on the wall?"

"The purge corridor I was talking about. In case anything tries to get away from the lab, they seal off the room and torch it." Shepard took a step out of the room and opened her omni-tool. "Looks like the controls aren't electronic. That makes this a bit more difficult."

"But the doors are," said Wrex as he moved forward.

"And?" asked Shepard as she looked up at him.

"I can take the heat. Open the door on the far end and let me charge through. The flames won't stop me, and I'll be able to turn it off from the other side," he said as he rolled his helmeted head on his neck.

"Wrex, there's no telling what's waiting on the other side of that door," she said as she pointed down the hall.

"And we'll never find out unless we do this. So, you can sit here and formulate a plan until the heat-death of the universe, or you can let me go in there and do my thing. I doubt whatever's on the other side of that door can handle me before I get to the purge controls," he said as he smacked his fist against his chest plate.

Sighing to herself, Shepard finally nodded. "Alright Wrex, if that's the way you want to do this."

"You have any funeral plans ready?" asked Kaidan curiously, getting the krogan's attention, and no doubt a glare as well.

"No faith. Is this the crew I'm working with?" he asked before shoving the lieutenant aside and stepping up to the door. "Just sit back and watch from safety, pretty-boy."

Shepard opened her omni-tool and held it up towards the far end of the hall. The door suddenly slid open, and a surprised security unit gasped in horror as Wrex's biotics swirled around him. The flames immediately activated and cranked up as Shepard and the others stepped away. Then Wrex vanished into the fire, followed by the screams of the unlucky soldier on the other side.

It was a few long minutes of gunfire sounds and scorching temperatures heating the door before finally the sounds of the incinerator vanished. Shepard approached and held her omni-tool to the door. "It's slow, but the temperature is dropping," she said as she ordered them to step on either side of the door. Opening it, she saw that the hall was blackened again, but this time there was smoke wafting through the air. She made it to the end of the hall before spotting the body of the door guard laying inside the room. "Looks like Wrex tossed our lucky Cerberus agent into the flames when he made it through."

"Heh, you should see the unlucky ones," came his voice from further in the room as a body landed at her feet. Looking up, she saw him with two more being dragged from his strong hands. "It's always a challenge when you tell a krogan not to kill something," he said before tossing them as well. Using her omni-tool, she read their vitals and found all three unconscious.

"Good work, Wrex," she said as she cuffed them. Reaching down, she used her strength to tear at the fabric that they wore before wrapping it around their heads and gagging them. "Now, let's see what kind of work they were doing," she said as she stood up and headed for the glass case nearby. Raising her omni-tool, she turned the light on inside the cage, then immediately stopped in her tracks. "What the hell is that?"

It was small, barely bigger than an outstretched human hand, and had a hard green shell that sat on top of four sharp legs that tapped against the bottom of the cage with each step. Wrex and the others approached as well, and almost immediately Wrex began to growl. "That's impossible…"

"What is it?" asked Kaidan as he got closer to the cage and examined it further. There were several of them clicking around the cage on their legs, their small mandibles snapping at him.

"I don't believe it," said Liara as she quickly approached the cage and stared inside. "Goddess! Those... those are Rachni workers!" she squeaked, almost fascinated by them.

"Outta the way. I'll take care of them right here," Wrex growled as he prepared his shotgun.

But Shepard stepped into his path. "I don't think so Wrex," she snapped as she held up her hand.

"Move Shepard! You don't know what those things are capable of!" he roared at her.

But she refused to relent her ground, her eyes narrowing as she stared at him. "Stand down, Wrex, that's an order!" she bellowed, still holding her hand out in front of him. "I know the krogan and rachni have a history. But you're not about to destroy evidence over a two-thousand-year-old grudge!"

He stared at her for a long moment before finally turning away and growling. "Fine! Just a bunch of the tiny ones anyway!" he shouted angrily as he returned to the previous room.

Shepard turned back towards the cage, her brows furrowing as she looked at the insectoids in the glass reacting to both Kaidan and Liara with snaps of their mandibles. "I thought they were extinct!" said Liara as she gazed through the glass in awe.

"Guys, let's get a move on. We've got another lab to clean up before we're done here," ordered Shepard as she waved them over.

"Apologies, Shepard. It's not every day you get to look at a living piece of history," said Liara as she and Kaidan followed Shepard back into the main hall.

"We'll figure out where they came from later. For now, let's see what else Cerberus has been tinkering around with," she said as she eyed Wrex.

"Yeah yeah, I'm coming," grumbled the krogan as he stepped towards the next door.

"What's next, a living prothean?" asked Kaidan curiously.

"Do not tease me like that, Lieutenant. My heart would not be able to take it," said Liara as she prepared her biotics.

As Shepard opened the door, she saw that the floor was solid this time. "No incinerator, that means they must have had other methods of dealing with these subjects," she said as she slowly inched into the room and looked around. There was a window on the side that peered into the lab itself, but as with everything else, it was dark. As she approached the door into the lab, she opened it and looked inside. "No signs of anyone. The only thing I can see is what looks like some kind of biotic or electronic barrier on the other side of the room. Stay alert," she ordered as Liara followed her in, then Wrex, then finally Kaidan. But her spine was tingling with every step she took.

"Commander…" started Kaidan, but she cut him off.

"I know. I don't like this either," she said as she looked around frantically. It was odd, even in other obvious ambush zones, she never felt any kind of anxiety like she was feeling now. Her heart was racing, she was sweating, she felt as if she was about to have a panic attack. "What the hell is wrong with me!?"

"Shepard! Something just tried to telepathically link to me!" shouted Liara worriedly.

"Telepathic... what?" she asked as she aimed her pistol into the darkness. "What are you talking about Liara!?"

"Someone was trying to feed me emotions of discord! Instill fear and anxiety!" she reported as her biotics lit defensively.

Shepard looked back at her in surprise as Kaidan spoke up. "So that's what that is? Here I thought I was starting to think I was having a stroke," he said as he breathed heavily.

"Get down!" shouted Wrex as he shoved Shepard to the floor. The others backed off as he threw his hands up and sweltered with biotic energy. "Get out here coward! Enough with your mindgames!" he shouted before finally unleashing a wave of biotic energy that sent Liara and Kaidan flying backwards and caused Shepard to start rolling. She finally rolled to her feet and shook off the blast before hearing a loud screech fill the room.

Suddenly, as if coming from inside her head, she heard someone screaming. "DIIIISCORD! GREY OF ASH AND RED OF ANGER! BLACK OF DEATH!" Shepard cringed at the screech as the sound of a heavy body hitting the floor came from behind her. She spun around and aimed her pistol, but went wide-eyed as she stared at a much, much larger insect.

"Shepard! What the hell is that!?" asked Kaidan as he picked himself up from Wrex's attack and stared at it in surprise.

"It's a queen…" said Liara, almost silently over the comm as her own biotics lit.

CODEX ENTRIES

Rite of Passage | Culture | Krogan
The Right of Passage is a trial of adulthood given to krogan whelps. Once a whelp reaches an age of maturity, they are thrust into a combat arena and forced to fight whatever wildlife haunts the surface of Tuchanka. Rites have been known to contain battles against the native feral varren, the flying harvesters looking to implant their eggs into a new host, and the burrowing klixen who are fiercely territorial. The types of enemies one faces during the Rite of Passage often depends on the region in which the rite takes place. Some unlucky krogan have even had the pleasure of fighting a thresher maw, those of which were usually killed as a result of corrosive spray, being swallowed whole, or blunt force trauma due to the collapse of nearby structures. Once the Right of Passage has been successful, the krogan and their krant often celebrate with vigorous amounts of alcohol and visits to the female clan for reproductive activities.

Suicide Capsule | Technology | Medical
Sometimes simply called the kill pill, technology has improved greatly since the days of cyanide hidden in a false tooth. Used by terrorist organizations, cults, and tyrants as a method of controlling their followers and slaves, it’s a small capsule explosive planted either in the brain or in the heart. If activated for whatever reason, it’s intent is to kill the host as punishment or to keep information from getting out of captured units.

Rachni Worker | Culture | Rachni
A small insect-based lifeform, usually no larger than a common omni-tool that does all the work of the rachni colony. Despite their small size, they do the majority of the heavy lifting, including tunneling for underground colonies, gathering food, tending to the young, and even fighting when necessary. The unfortunate side-effect of a worker fighting, however, is that its only form of defense is destroying itself and covering its target in small amounts of acid that it contains within its body. While a single worker likely won't kill an attacker, a swarm of the creatures could easily overwhelm and destroy anything in their path.

Rachni Queen | Culture | Rachni
The mother of all rachni, a queen of the rachni is the ruler of all of her children. Unlike the usually democratic structure of most sapient species, the rachni are strictly monarchical, with queens bred from eggs to rule over their young. Even inside the egg, the queens immediately telepathically attach themselves to their mother queen in order to learn and grow until the day that they hatch and begin their own colony, typically through parthenogenesis, or replace their expiring mother. Often seen as the most dangerous of the rachni, the queens have powerful biotics that match even the most powerful of asari and can spit a corrosive acid that can melt through krogan armor in seconds. After the rachni wars, it was believed that all of the rachni eggs remaining in the galaxy had been annihilated by the war-like krogan.

Chapter 36: I Remember Me

Chapter Text

Lab C-2 - Cerberus Facility 1 - Binthu

“Hey Shepard! You want me to not kill this one too!” shouted Wrex as he raised his shotgun at the enormous insectoid.

“Hey Wrex, how about you shut the hell up,” said Shepard as she stared up into the multiple eyes and raised her hands. “You don’t have to be afraid…” she said, trying to present as little of a threat as possible.

“Fear? Waves of grey and yellow. There is no melody of fear tiny creature, only songs of war and hatred,” came the voice inside her head again, this time much less aggressive. “Your kind, with their muted steps echoing. Took my children, forced me to sing songs for their return. But no more, NO MORE! I WILL NOT HAVE MY STRINGS CONTROLLED LIKE THOSE OF OLD!” shouted the queen before she roared. Shepard was suddenly hit with a biotic wave that vaulted her against the wall, making her bounce before she hit the ground.

“Shepard!” shouted Liara as she ran to the woman’s side.

“I’m fine, just a bit winded,” said the redhead as she helped herself up with Liara’s assistance. Then she stepped forward again and continued to hold her hands up. “Please, we do not want to fight. We want to help you. We are not with them!” said Shepard out loud as she pointed back towards the facility. “You have heard their songs of death. That was us, we killed them, and we want to help you.”

“Your... your song sounds sincere…” said the queen as her large legs scraped the floor, bringing her even closer. “Let us see how true they are…” Her tendrils wrapped around Shepard and lifted her up.

“Shepard!” shouted Liara as she reached out and grabbed the woman’s leg. But as soon as she did, she immediately felt her mind forcefully link to Shepard’s, her eyes going dark as she was pulled from reality.

In an instant, she was long gone from the laboratory and found herself on Camala, a batarian colony. She was fully armored to disguise herself, but even so, she didn’t take any chances. The deal was for the Hegemon’s daughter. Her freedom was the goal. The deal had been made, and now she waited in the abandoned building for her contact. Suddenly, she raised her pistol as a body landed next to her. She didn’t need to look to know that it was him, and that he’d been compromised. Her hands shook as she spun herself around and aimed directly at the batarian man with a smirk on his face, standing next to a young batarian girl. She was bruised, beaten, and probably worse if she had to guess. She was crying and staring at the ground. “Humans, always so... near-sighted,” said the man before he grabbed the girl’s head, yanked it back, and despite her own screaming, slit her throat, causing a splash of red to pour down the white dress she wore.

It flashed again, and she found herself panting heavily as she was tied to a batarian cross. She was bare for the world to see, but this one wasn’t interested in her body. He was only interested in one thing. “Tell me you want to die, Commander. Tell me you want me to put you out of your misery.” But she did nothing, just breathed heavily and stared down at him with her heated green glare. She wanted to break free and rip the eyes from his head, but her team had a mission, and she was not their priority. There would be no cavalry today. Instead, she tilted her head to the right, a blatant and stinging insult to the man. But it only made him laugh again as he picked up a lead wire and placed its frayed ends directly to her stomach, causing her body to jerk wildly as electricity coursed through her.

With a flash of agonizing pain, she found herself on her knees, staring at a blazing building that was familiar to her. It was a school for children who didn't have any parents. Run by the government of Europe, it was once a shining symbol for humans and the Alliance, a gold stamp and pat on the back for officials to point to when they were accused of not helping the poor. But the children still loved it, they loved the teachers, and they felt loved. Now, the entire skyline was dark red as she sat watching the flames licking at the walls of a glass crater where the school with all of its students once stood, all of them vaporized in a single attack that she missed because of bad intel. She felt tears streaming down her face as she recalled their faces the last time she had visited as an Alliance liaison, all of them going on about how awesome her uniform was. All of them, now as silent as the vacuum of space as the bomb had flash fried everything within a mile of the place. Her tears didn't stop for what felt like ages, even as she continued to get pats on the back and hollow gestures about how it wasn't her fault. She knew better.

Finally, Liara found herself back in the room again. She stumbled backwards, her eyes widened as she stared up at Shepard, tears now flowing down her face at everything she had seen. “Sh-Shepard…”

“I see... your songs of suffering are great. Colors of sorrow and pain fill your songs of the times gone. But, what of today?” asked the queen inquisitively as she probed again. Shepard cringed as her mind was forced open again. “Songs of red and pink, passion and love. You care for your family, not just blood, but those around you.” Shepard’s tear-stained eyes closed as she felt the queen gently stroking her mind. “But red for danger and inaction. You are frustrated and tired, worn down by…” Suddenly, the queen shrieked in terror. “NO! THE OLD ONES! YOU ARE TAINTED!”

Suddenly, the queen hurled Shepard away and screeched again as the spectre’s body hit the ground. “What the hell was it doing!?” asked Kaidan as he ran over and checked to make sure she wasn’t injured.

“You have been touched by them! Your machine masters will not sour our songs again, monster!” shouted the queen before she lashed out with one of her tendrils. Kaidan put up his barrier just in time, but he was still smashed into the wall as he protected Shepard.

Wrex finally stepped forward and aimed his shotgun at the queen. “The only monster here is you! Time to put you back where you belong!” he yelled as he unleashed a hellish blast directly at her eyes. The queen hissed as two of her eyes burst from the shot, then a biotic sheen covered her body as well.

As Wrex battled against the queen, Liara pulled Shepard back to her feet. “Shepard are you alright?” she asked worriedly.

“No worse for wear,” said the spectre as she dusted herself off.

“That’s not what I mean,” said the asari as she turned the woman’s head so that they were looking eye to eye. “Are you alright?”

Her brows furrowing, Shepard shook her head. “Not now, Liara.”

Nodding the asari turned her gaze towards the queen as one of its tendrils swiped Wrex’s feet from under him. She had seen what Shepard had been through. It was entirely accidental, but due to the powerful queen’s telepathy, she had been given a view into what Shepard had suffered. And her skin crawled with prickles as anger flowed through her again towards the beast for making her relive those moments.

Suddenly, her biotics exploded, and she began hovering off the ground. Reaching out, she grabbed the queen as it went to attack a prostrate Wrex. All four of her massive legs lifted from the ground as the asari jerked her hand to the side, causing the insect queen to smash into the wall.

Wrex rose to his feet again and growled as he began pumping shot after shot into the insectoid’s barrier, weakening it with every blow. Kaidan stepped up as well, his own barrier in place as he began firing relentlessly into her now exposed hide. “Lieutenant, Wrex. At the same time!” shouted Liara as she lifted the queen again with her biotics. Both the krogan and human reached out with their own, and as soon as the forces touched, an explosion tore through the room, throwing everyone backwards and sending Shepard rolling.

When the commander finally got to her feet again, she looked at the queen. Two of her legs had been torn off in the explosion and all of her eyes were punctured or torn out entirely. She lay gasping heavily on the ground as her tendrils reached out and tried to touch something, anything.

Shepard reached down and grabbed one of them, holding it fiercely as the queen’s life force drained away. “I am not tainted by them, but I will stop them. Believe me.”

“Your…. your songs ring sincere…” she said tiredly. “Please... sing your songs of battle for those who were lost. Do not let the melody of shadows take our kind again…” She let out a low groan of pain before speaking her last words. “Goodbye my children... may you sing in harmony…”

Finally, the queen went silent, her voice fading from Shepard’s mind as her body went limp. Snorting, the commander turned towards the barrier in the corner. As she stepped closer, she noticed a body lying, twisted and broken in front of it. She had been so busy with the queen that she hadn’t noticed it before. Stepping over to it, she lit her omni-tool and scanned him, sighing heavily as she discovered the destroyed form of Admiral Kahoku. Sighing heavily, she knelt down and closed his eyes.

“Bastards…” growled Kaidan as he approached and knelt down. The man immediately looked down at his arm and lit his own omni-tool to scan it. “He’s got puncture wounds here.”

“They probably drugged him to get him to talk. Then, when they were done, they threw him to the rachni,” said Shepard as she stood and looked through the barrier to see an open door. She activated her comm for the Normandy and spoke. “Pressly. We may have two escapees. Scan the surface of Binthu and see if you can spot them with a visual scan, then send the extraction team to get them.”

“Affirmative, Shepard. Scanning now,” replied the XO as she turned around and walked towards the door.

Cerberus Facility 7 - Nepheron

“We’ve lost all contact with the facilities on Binthu. We don’t know if there’s some kind of solar storm interfering with their communications, or if they’ve been attacked by the Alliance. But either way, I don’t like it,” said the woman as she stood at rest in front of the man.

He grumbled to himself as he looked at her. “I don’t like your bad feelings. They always get us into trouble,” he said before finally standing to his feet. “If we assume they were attacked, how?”

The dark-haired woman nodded. “As far as I can tell from the recent reports, they had a run in with an Alliance admiral. This may be a long shot, but he had connections to Jane Shepard, the first human Spectre.”

Scratching his beard, the uniformed man contemplated the scenario. “You think this Spectre is capable of taking out three Cerberus bases?”

She stayed silent for a moment, before nodding. “Most of her activities are hard to get ahold of, but I did manage to pull enough files to know that she is capable of. And I wouldn’t bet against her to somehow find them and infiltrate. She is one of the Alliance’s best, and there was a reason why she was made a Spectre.”

The man nodded briefly before his intercom lit up. “Lieutenant! We just got word from Station 1 that the relay lit! We tried to scan the system for ships, but we got nothing!”

The man’s eyes widened as he turned to the operative in front of him. “Damn that stealth drive…” he growled as she slammed his hands on his desk. “Lawson, take the backups and get them to the boss.”

Her eyes widened at the order. “You want me to leave you here to fight her alone!?”

“We don’t have a choice!” he shouted as he glared at her. “If she’s in the system, we don’t have time to evacuate. But we can hold her off while you get out! Take one of the stealth shuttles and get all our data to the boss. At least if this place burns, he can still use what we’ve gathered.”

“But…” she started, but he pointed at her fiercely.

“That’s an order. Get the backups, and get the hell out of here,” he said before he pulled up his omni-tool. “All stations, we have a code 42! Potential Spectre in the system. Make sure if they try to get inside, they run into a meat grinder!” he said as he finally left the room.

The operative sighed to herself as she turned and did as she was ordered.

CIC - SSV Normandy SR1

“Dammit! One of the bastards got away!” shouted Pressly as he slammed his fist against the console.

“Couldn’t you have destroyed it?” asked Shepard as she looked at him from the dais above.

“Unfortunately, as soon as it left the base, it went dark. Looks like it was another of those damn stealth shuttles!” he said with a sigh.

“It’s fine Pressly. Even if a few get away, we’ll eventually track them down and put an end to their sick game,” she said as her eyes narrowed into a glare at the facility. “According to the prisoner, this was the only place connected to their facilities. He knows that there are more wings of the group itself, but they were compartmentalized specifically to keep us from finding out where the rest of them are.”

“So, even taking down this place won’t completely destroy them…” said Kaidan from one of the terminals below.

“It’ll still give them a limp. Kahoku deserves at least that much,” growled Ash from the other side of the CIC.

“Agreed. Let’s show them what happens when they fuck with Council species,” said Shepard as she nodded to Ashley and Kaidan, then turned and headed for the cargo bay.

Surface of Nepheron

As the mako landed, the wheels immediately began to spin. “Expect opposition outside. This base is less secretive than the others and will likely have defenses,” ordered Shepard as she gunned the mako in the direction of the facility.

It took minutes of driving before they finally made it to the outside, and true to Shepard’s words, rockets began firing as soon as they were in sight. She swerved the tank, barely dodging them as they flew in and exploded behind her. Ash took the turret and spun it, zeroing in on the turrets before pulling the trigger. The launchers blew into scraps and scattered across the landscape as she turned the auto guns on the armored men outside. Despite their shields and armor, they couldn’t stand up to the power of the tank’s weapons and fell quickly as the rounds ripped through their cover and armor.

After cleaning up the outside, Shepard tapped Ash’s knee, then pointed towards the door before she popped the hatch and jumped outside. Wrex and Kaidan followed as the gunnery chief took aim and blasted the door off the slide. It appeared they tried to use the same tactics as before, considering the explosions that detonated as the door detached. Finally, after sending a quick rain of fire into the doorway, Williams released the weapon and hopped out to follow the spectre.

Cerberus Facility 7 - Nepheron

“What the fuck is going on!?” asked one of the soldiers as he held his back to the barricade.

“Shut the fuck up! We’ve got a Spectre incoming, moron! Keep your weapon aimed at the door,” ordered his partner as he peeked out from the cover. Suddenly, an explosion tore the door open and sent the other man sprawling. Unable to wipe the sweat off his face, the trooper stood from the cover and aimed at the doorway, waiting for something, anything to happen so he could pull the trigger.

But his eyes widened when he saw another Cerberus soldier further up stumble backward with blood flowing from the throat area of his armor. Suddenly, a krogan appeared out of nowhere and blasted through the face shield of one of the others before turning and looking at him. Ducking down again, he dropped his weapon and folded his hands together. “Please... God... please don’t let me die, please don’t let me die,” he whispered to himself as he squeezed his eyes shut.

Whatever their plan had been, it hadn’t accounted for Shepard’s cloaking. She managed to move inside and scan the entire area, marking all the critical targets holding high explosive weapons. Then, she created the distraction her team needed by burying her turian blade in their throats and ripping it clean.

The entire floor of soldiers was so stunned by the random act that Wrex managed to cannonball inside and smash through the remainder of the heavy weapons team. Whoever these Cerberus agents were, they were woefully unprepared for a skilled strike team to storm the building. As Ash and Kaidan moved in and started cleaning up the rest, Shepard immediately made her way through the building, disabling electronic explosives on the way and taking out stationed guards that were preparing for combat.

Down the hall, two of them sat with sniper weapons with a perfect chokepoint to take out quite a number of her team if she allowed it. But she raised her omni-tool, causing their heat sinks to eject from the weapons. As the pair scrambled to grab them, she made her way down the hall with her cloaking making them none-the wiser, then adjusted the explosive power of her grenades on her omni-tool before placing one directly behind them on the wall. Moving forward, she entered the door next to her, then set off the explosive. If they were still alive, they would now be easy targets for her team.

Looking around, she found herself in an office with a man sitting at a desk, a pistol in his hand as he stared directly where she was standing. “I know you’re there, Shepard. I’ve seen reports on your skills, so you can stop toying with me,” he growled.

Aiming her pistol, she shot the gun clean from his hand before stepping up to the desk and lowering her cloaking. “I hope you don’t find me too disappointing,” she said as she sat in the chair directly across from his desk with her gun aimed directly at him. “Most of those stories are glamorized to make the Alliance look better.”

The man rubbed his hand, the pain from his weapon being jerked violently from it causing some soreness. He stared at her with his brows furrowed and his mouth locked in a frown. “Care to tell me why the hell you’re doing this?”

“Come now, you’re not that stupid,” she said as she leaned forward slightly in the chair. “You kidnap an Alliance admiral and use him for live experimentation, and you think I’m just going to sit back and ignore you?”

“Everything we do, we do for the advancements of humans in the galaxy. You have to see how that can be useful,” he said firmly. But he howled in pain when she smashed her fist down onto his hand, crushing it into the desk.

“Killing humans for getting too close to your terrorist organization is not working for humanity, you slimy, spineless, toad!” she shouted as she released his hand. “If you want to work for humanity, you do it the right way, or not at all!”

Suddenly, the man started laughing to himself. “What did I expect from a squid lover like you?” he asked angrily as he looked up at her. “Goodbye Shepard. Alpha Epsi-” suddenly, his body began convulsing as she held up her omni-tool.

“I don’t think so, lackey. You’re not getting off that easily,” she snapped as she grabbed his head and slammed it into the desk before disabling and nuking his omni-tool. The hard light interface popped up before slowly vanishing into nothing. She held him face first into the desk until Ash and Kaidan made their way into the office as well. “Status?”

“Facility cleared, Commander. They didn’t have much security on this place,” replied Kaidan as he stood straight and looked down at the groaning man with his head being forced against the desk.

“Well, I think I’ve got the head of this branch at least,” she said as she cuffed his arms behind his back, then threw him towards Williams. “Put him in a separate cell. I don’t want him scheming until we can get him back to Alliance space.”

Comm Room - SSV Normandy SR1

“You must be joking…” said the turian councilor as a stunned look masked his face.

Shepard eyed the man, her expression unamused. “Councilor, do I look like the kind of person who’d make this up?” she asked firmly before turning to an almost giddy Valern. “The queen’s body and a few living workers are still in Facility 1. I left a small detachment of my squad to protect them until the authorities show up to collect them.”

“And whose authorities did you call?” asked Sparatus, his voice betraying his annoyance once again.

“I’ve got a Citadel xenobiology team coming to collect the rachni queen and the workers. The rest of the issues with this rogue wing of the Alliance will be investigated by the Alliance.” She stared at him firmly as she answered.

“Of course. Don’t want the Council looking too closely at this, do you Shepard?” asked Sparatus in an aggravated tone.

“Councilor, months ago a human colony was attacked in the Traverse, and you didn’t want anything to do with it. No investigation, no reinforcements, no nothing. Just some backhanded message about how humans should be more careful. And now with this investigation happening in the Traverse as well, you suddenly want to send Citadel authority in to investigate,” she snapped at him, her eyes narrowing at the turian. “If I were you, I’d try to make my hypocrisy less noticeable.”

He growled at her, but Tevos’s arm cut him off as she placed her palm on his chest. “The Spectre is right. Aside from the rachni presence, this Cerberus sect doesn’t have much to do with Citadel authority. It’s firmly out of our jurisdiction,” she said, getting an annoyed look from the turian as well. Turning back to Shepard, she nodded her head. “We appreciate the honesty, Jane. You’ve placed great trust in us by informing us of this rogue Cerberus group.”

Shepard nodded. “The Alliance doesn’t really have anything to hide in regard to these people. They are a threat to everyone, including humans. The Admiral’s body should be plenty proof of that,” she said as she lowered her head. “The Alliance will investigate and keep me informed, and if there’s anything that you, C-Sec authority, or the Citadel Fleet need to know, I’ll tell you. If I find out that Cerberus is working outside of strictly Alliance territory, then you will know. Of that I can assure you,” she said firmly as she looked back up at the councilors.

Snorting, Sparatus finally folded his arms behind his back. “As long as you keep that promise, Shepard, we will have no issues.”

“Then don’t worry Councilor. I’m not one to break my word,” she said as she looked at the others. “Anything else you need from me?”

“It is a shame we couldn’t bring in the queen alive, but at least we have living specimens of the workers. Being able to study a species believed to be extinct for two thousand years is thrilling,” he said, unable to hide the giddy excitement in his voice. “But do we have any clues as to how Cerberus got ahold of these specimens? The rachni were believed to be dead for millennia. How did this rogue human group suddenly happen upon them?”

“I’m not sure, Councilor. Most of their databanks were wiped as soon as they noticed someone jump into the system. So, any records they had, if they even kept them on where the rachni came from are long gone. But I will have a team…” she said, eyeing the turian, “Of specialists from the Citadel investigating the ones we found. Perhaps they can tell us a place of origin.”

“Understood, Shepard. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter,” responded Sparatus, who got a smile from Tevos.

The asari finally spoke up as she looked back to Shepard. “With that, we will leave you, Spectre. Feel free to contact us if you need anything else,” she said, getting a nod from the woman before the lights on the QEC blipped out of existence.

Turning away from the comm room, she ignored everyone in her path, then made her way directly back to her room. Once there, she sat on her bed and held her head as she sighed. While she hadn’t repressed those memories, they were stuffed nicely off to the side and out of the way, easy to forget for her as she threw herself into work. In fact, that’s why she was so good at what she did, to avoid having spare time to think about such things. But, having to live them again, it made her angry. It made her vulnerable. It made her body fill with so much adrenaline that she rose to her feet, lifted her arms and smashed the desk holding her spectre terminal into pieces.

Breathing heavily, with tears streaming down her face, she stared at the cuts that the smash left on her arms. Blood trickled down her arms as she felt them shaking. Shaking from reliving the assault, from watching her charge get her throat cut right in front of her, from the feel of live electricity flowing through her as she was tortured near to death. She felt her breathing hasten, her chest rapidly rising and falling as her eyes began to fill with red.

CIC – SSV Normandy SR1

She had seen her walking. Once she had left the comm room, presumably after the Council debriefing, Liara watched as Shepard made her way towards the stairs that lead down to the crew deck. She saw her expression, that look of an iron, indestructible mask that she wore when she felt she was too emotional. It was then that the asari knew what was on her mind.

Leaving her work at her station near the CIC, she quickly followed the woman down the stairs and across the mess hall. Two people greeted Shepard as she moved, but their faces fell as she ignored them and continued her march. She continued through the mess hall and exited into the crew quarters, then made it to her room. Liara slowed as she saw the door to the captain’s quarters slide shut behind Shepard.

It was so confusing. She had barely known the spectre to asari standards. Some asari didn’t consider themselves known by others until they had put at least a half a century into the friendship. But somehow, just being around Shepard right now, she knew what she was feeling. She knew she was hurting; she was crying inside. Perhaps it was some lingering effect of the rachni queen linking their minds. But she felt Shepard’s pain, and it made her slump down next to the door as she heard the crash of something being destroyed inside.

She had studied up on humans and knew much about their strict rules on privacy. Perhaps Shepard was the same, or perhaps she would have appreciated her entering and consoling her. But even if it would make her feel better, the asari refused to overstep her bounds. Instead, she simply sat next to the door, listening to the guttural, frustrated cries. Reaching up, she wiped away the unstoppable tears pouring forth through her eyes, hoping that feeling this pain somehow lessened Shepard’s own burden.

Citadel Security Headquarters - Presidium - Citadel

Shepard landed at the Citadel docking space for the Normandy and told her crew they were free for the day. After donning her civilian clothes, she headed to the latrine to make sure she was in order again. She spent the last three days in therapy with both Liara and Doctor Chakwas to make sure reliving her most traumatic experiences hadn’t broken something loose inside her.

She felt fine by all measures. Or she didn’t feel any different. But when it came to human psychology, there was a lot of guesswork involved. Still, she couldn’t put off her work forever. So, she stepped off the ship after the decontamination process and made her way down the elevator with Liara at her side.

Unfortunately, it appeared that her mood wasn’t meant to be brightened. As soon as she stepped off the elevator, a C-Sec officer held up his hand to keep her from going any further. Though, by the look on his face, he was very concerned about trying to stop her. “I... I’m sorry Spectre, but you’ll have to wait here a moment. We have a situation in the requisitions room, and we aren’t allowing anyone in or out of the building.”

“What’s the issue?” she asked, already tired and annoyed.

“There’s a girl loose with a gun. I’m not entirely sure of the details, but I’ve been told to hold anyone from moving until the situation has been resolved,” he replied with a nod.

She snorted and placed her hands on her hips. “Where is your superior?”

The man went slightly wide-eyed at the question. “He... uhh... he’s at the entrance to the requisitions office. He’s trying to resolve the situation.”

“Then maybe I can help. I’m going to see him,” she said as she walked pasted him.

As she did, he reached out, but didn’t touch her. “But... you can’t... awww dammit…” he growled to himself as the asari followed her.

When she finally found the man, he glared at her. “What the hell... oh!” he snapped as he finally recognized her. His body went stiff, and he went to salute, but she stopped him.

“Don’t bother with formalities, just tell me what’s going on?” she ordered impatiently.

“Right, sorry Spectre, I didn’t recognize you,” he said in his thick French accent. “My name is Lieutenant Girard. We have a situation happening in the requisitions-”

“Tell me what the situation is, Lieutenant,” she snapped as her eyes narrowed.

“Right. Um, there’s a girl down there. She was a victim of batarian slavers, apparently one of the ones taken from Mindoir. Somehow, she got free and stole a ship, then brought it here to Citadel Space where the fleet picked her up. Once they dropped her off though, C-Sec tried to bring her down to see a medical professional, and she grabbed one of their guns and ran into the room,” he said, scratching his head in thought.

“Why?” asked Shepard as she tilted her head curiously.

“She... she says she wants to die. We think she wants us to kill her, maybe a suicide by C-Sec. But we can’t get much out of her. The medical officer brought us a sedative to calm her down, but any time we try to get close, she gets more agitated. We don’t want to hurt her, and we don’t want her to hurt herself, but she’s not leaving us many options,” he responded with a sigh.

Shepard’s eyes widened slightly as she processed the information. Liara placed a hand on her shoulder. “Jane... are you going to be alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” said the spectre as she shook her head. “I want to help.”

“How? Have you ever done this kind of thing?” asked the lieutenant skeptically as he eyed her.

She glared at him. “I’ve had to negotiate my way through many hostage situations,” she said as she swiped the sedative from the man’s hand. “If you want this over with, then shut up and let me work.” The man stared at her for a long moment before finally nodding. Turning, he led her down to the corner of the hallway that the girl had hidden herself in.

“We’ve got plenty of firepower to take her down. That’s not what we’re worried about. We don’t want her to die,” he said as he eyed her seriously.

“I understand. Just stay back and let me work, alright? If she aims her weapon at me, do not... I repeat, do not fire on her or you’ll have hell to deal with when I get back,” she said firmly, getting a nod from the man.

“Good luck, Jane,” said Liara as the spectre stepped out into the hallway with her hands up.

Once she was sure that the girl saw her, she spoke up. “I’m going to start walking towards you now, alright?”

“No... don’t. I don’t want to have to hurt you,” said the girl as she immediately aimed her pistol over the crate she was hiding behind.

“My name is Jane. What’s yours?” asked Shepard as she took a step closer.

“A-Animals don’t have names! The masters put their symbols on her... hot metal all over her back. She screams when they do it,” said the girl, her frantic eyes now locked on Shepard.

Immediately, Shepard felt her heart break for the girl. All the suffering she had gone through, all the torture and homicide she had witnessed, she felt it was nothing compared to what this girl had been through. She wanted to help her more than anything now. “You’re not an animal…” she said as her eyes started to water again. “What were you called before you were taken?”

The girl looked down at the ground, her eyes already tear-stained as Shepard took another step forward. “Her... her name is Talitha. She... remembers, that’s what she was called before they took her,” said the girl as she looked up again, her gun still trained on Shepard. “Please, just leave her alone!” said the girl as she almost sobbed.

“I just want to help you, Talitha,” said Jane as she stepped forward again. “I know batarians. I know how they mark you, how they put devices in your heads. They want you to be nothing more than an animal. But you’re already defying them, Talitha.”

The girl, who Shepard could now see clearly enough to note her shaved head and the scars on her scalp, shook the gun at her. “How do you know, what do you know!?” she shouted desperately through gritted teeth.

Sighing, Shepard reached down and lifted her shirt. Talitha gasped as she saw the scarring, the marking of the batarians on her, as well as the burn scar on her stomach from the electrical shocks. “I wasn’t on Mindoir, but I’ve been captured by the batarians before. I know how they work,” she said as the girl’s gun now dropped, aiming at the ground.

“So, you... you know. You know what they do…” said the girl as she reached up and scrubbed her eyes. “How do you sleep? How do you think? How do you do anything without seeing it over and over!?” she asked almost angrily.

Shepard took a step closer again, now only feet away from the girl. “I healed... mostly,” she said, recalling the last couple of days of Liara soothing her into a peaceful sleep. “You can heal too, Talitha. But starting healing starts with a first step.”

The girl looked at her, wide-eyed as if realizing how close she actually was for the first time. “W-What step?” she asked, her voice wavering as if she were about to break down.

“You are Talitha. You are not an animal. To break their chains on you, you need to get your identity back. That’s the first step,” said the woman as she finally released her shirt and lifted her hands again. “Who are you?”

The girl sighed and fell to her knees. “She is…”

“Who are you?” asked Shepard again, this time more firmly.

Gasping softly, the girl finally yelled out loud. “I am Talitha!” she shouted, getting a bright smile from Shepard.

“There you go. You are Talitha. You are nobody’s pet; you are nobody’s animal. You are you, and you are free,” said Shepard as she grinned down at her.

Talitha looked down at her shaking hands, a smile now gracing her face as she began crying again. Shepard took another step, now standing over the girl with the gun. Looking up at the looming shadow of the redhead, the girl cringed slightly. “Please... please don’t touch me…”

“I’m not going to touch you unless you want me to,” said Shepard as she knelt to the girl’s level, staring at her eye to eye now. “Talitha, I know you don’t want this to be real. I know you want the pain to end. But…” she said with a huff as she looked at the ground. “That takes time. It won’t be easy,” she said as she looked up at the shaven girl. Talitha looked at her back, her eyes skeptical. “But you’re a survivor. You’ve lived this long under such abuse, and you made it out. You don’t have to do that anymore.”

“She... I... I don’t want to anymore. I don’t want to go back to the masters. I don’t want to serve anymore. I don’t want hot irons, or needles, or wires, I don’t want any of it anymore. I just... I just want to sleep. I want to go away, I don’t want to think anymore, because thinking makes the masters come back in my head,” said the girl desperately as she rocked back and forth.

“I know,” said the spectre as she finally sat down and rested her arms on her legs. “So, think about something else. Think about the stars,” said Shepard as she waved a hand over her head as if trying to summon them.

Smiling slightly, the girl nodded. “I... I like stars. I would always look at them through my window. They were so pretty, I wanted to see them up close.”

“Maybe one day, when you’re feeling better, I can take you to see them,” said Shepard with a bright smile. Talitha nodded gently, her hands fidgeting nervously as if she had forgotten the gun was even there. “Now, you are tired?”

Nodding, Talitha looked at the ground again as she too took a cross-legged sitting position. “I... I want to sleep. But I always see things. I always see the masters…” she said, her eyes about to tear up again.

“How about I show you a way to stop those dreams?” asked Shepard as she held out her hand.

Talitha looked at her hand suspiciously before returning her gaze to Shepard’s green eyes. “Y-You promise?”

“I promise. If you come with me, I will show you how to stop them,” said the woman firmly. After a long moment, the girl reached over and took Shepard’s hand. Shepard squeezed her hand gently before slowly standing up. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” Talitha stood up as well, leaving the gun behind as she was led, no doubt for the first time, by her hand rather than a chain. As they slowly made their way back towards the lieutenant, the man had a stupefied look in his face. Pointing to him, Shepard spoke in a no-nonsense tone. “You come with me. Tell the rest of your outfit here to find something else to do,” she ordered as she continued to lead the girl on.

The Tranquil Garden - Presidium - Citadel

As soon as they entered the establishment, the hostess smiled at her and waved. “Welcome, Spectre!”

“Thanks,” said Jane as she nodded to the “young” asari. Technically, she was centuries older than Shepard herself. But asari life cycles differed from humans quite a bit. Turning to Talitha, Shepard gripped her hands and stared at her gently. “Stay here with the lieutenant for a moment, alright?” she said, then looked up at him sharply. “Nobody is to touch her at all, do I make myself clear?”

“Perfectly, Spectre,” said the man with a firm nod.

“Good. I’m going to be right over here talking to her, so you can still see me, alright?” said the redhead as she looked back down to the girl. Talitha nodded silently and began to fidget with her hands as Shepard released them. Turning around, the spectre waved the asari over out of earshot. Neylina followed her curiously.

“What can I help you with, Spectre?” she asked curiously.

“You saw the girl over there?” asked Jane, getting a nod from the asari. “She was a batarian slave until recently. Recently as in she just got off the shuttle that she stole from batarian space,” she said, getting a wide-eyed look from the hostess. “She has bad PTSD, nightmares, paranoia, and probably a pretty bad case of Stockholm Syndrome.”

“Stock... home?” asked the asari curiously.

Forgetting that the asari probably didn’t know the common human term, she elaborated. “It’s when someone believes that their abusers or captors are good, and they try to please them,” she said, getting a knowing nod in return.

“Lethna Disorder, when hostages form alliances with their captors, often due to brainwashing,” said Neylina knowingly.

“Yeah, anyway, she has trouble sleeping because of the nightmares. I was wondering how much I have to pay to get someone to take her nightmares away and give her dreams of stars,” said the commander firmly.

Neylina reached up and stroked her crest gently. “I... I don’t know. This is rather unorthodox. But I will see what I can do.”

“I have an asari here who can instruct on the method if needed,” said Jane as she looked over to Liara, who smiled at her.

“That shouldn’t be necessary. We do have services like that. However, the dream sessions are typically scheduled months in advance. But I will have a word with Sha’ira and see what we can work out,” said the asari as she curtsied and headed for the stairs in the back.

Shepard turned back towards the girl, and as soon as she was within range, Talitha grabbed her hand again and gripped it fiercely. “Don’t worry, it shouldn’t take but a few minutes to find out,” said the spectre as she sighed. Knowing the consort’s strict business demeanor, she wouldn’t put it past her to ignore the plea. If nothing else, there were millions of asari on the Citadel who could probably help her for the right price. But she wanted the best for the girl. She deserved at least that.

After a few minutes, the lovely asari finally returned with a bright smile. “It appears Sha’ira respects the gravity of your request. She will see her immediately,” said the asari as Shepard led the girl into a small, quiet room with a bed-like pod in the center of the room.

After Neylina left, Shepard turned to the shaking girl and gently stroked her hand. “Now, Talitha, I know this may make you nervous. But I promise you, they’re only going to touch you with their fingers, alright?” she asked, getting a nervous stare from the girl.

“W-Will it hurt?” she asked as she nervously began to trace her thumb over the lines in Shepard’s hand.

Smiling gently, the spectre shook her head. “No pain, only sleep, and only good dreams. Like this,” she said as she slowly reached up and gently ran her fingers over the girl’s forehead. Talitha gently closed her eyes, somewhat soothed by the touch. “Just like that. And when you wake up, the lieutenant here is going to take you to get something to eat. Alright?” she asked, getting a nervous nod as the girl looked over at the man who just scratched his head. “Good, now lay down and relax.”

CODEX ENTRIES

Songs | Biology | Rachni
Unlike most intelligent races throughout the galaxy, the upper ranks of rachni have a rare ability to read the brainwaves of other beings. The few who have had the opportunity to explain the ability says that they appear as music, each wave giving off a faint sound and color. As such, these beings are typically able to discern exactly what someone else is thinking but may not be able to translate it well to others.

Strings | Culture | Rachni
Before the rachni wars, a common pastime of the rachni was music. Stringed instruments were a particular favorite. Due to the cultural parallel between thoughts and music being a foundation in rachni culture, it was common for rachni to refer to their brain or mind as the strings of an instrument that created music.

Near-Sighted | Derogatory Linguistics | Kar’Salk
In the languages of other species, this can commonly mean lacking the ability of foresight. But to batarians, whose culture evolved around their eyes, near-sightedness is an insult with a range from calling someone stupid, to outright calling them brain dead. It’s one of the few insults that never made it into common slang, meaning that if you’re called this by a batarian, they assuredly meant it as an insult.

Chapter 37: Closure

Chapter Text

Alislasar Diner - Shalta Ward - Citadel

Shepard stared down at her food, her stomach seemingly not settled as she eyed the salmon steak on her plate. With a single fork in hand aimed down ready to strike, she just sat and stared at it, almost angrily. She loved fish, and seafoods of all kinds in fact. But after the events of the past few days, she felt less and less like eating every time she went to the mess hall. Liara's magical touch helped, for sure. But she still felt sluggish, less inclined to do things she enjoyed.

Speaking of the asari, Shepard looked up and went wide-eyed as she noticed that the asari's plate was already clean. The elegant woman was currently wiping her mouth with a napkin when she suddenly noticed herself being watched. "Wasn't that a full order?" she asked curiously.

"It was…" responded Liara bashfully as she looked down. "Using biotics burns a lot of calories. It... also gives us an appetite," she said as she looked back up at Shepard, her cheeks tinged with purple.

Chuckling, Shepard set her fork down and leaned back in her chair as she gazed at the asari's gorgeous face. "So, Liara, since I received the Normandy, I've learned all kinds of things about krogan, turians, and quarians. I now know that krogan have four testicles, I know that turians consider hip swinging as foreplay, and I know that quarians sometimes used geth as sex toys before the Morning War. So, why not teach me something about the asari?"

Liara's flush grew with every mention of sexual activity before she finally looked down at the table. "I… I don't know what to say, Jane. You know a lot about my species already."

"I know the language, and I know some of the history. But I'm not really up to date on social structure," said the spectre as she picked at her food again.

"Well, what area of interest has you asking?" asked the asari curiously as she pushed her plate aside and lifted her glass of lissa juice.

Shepard shrugged gently as she rolled a few ideas around in her head. "Well, how about relationships?"

Finding herself smiling, Liara nodded and looked at the table a moment before finally deciding on where to start. "Well, to begin, I suppose I should quell the rumors about my people's promiscuity," she said, getting a nod from the human. "As you witnessed on Thessia, asari are very… open and immodest. Were my people not so ingrained in the world of fashion, the population of Thessia may have been entirely nude for most of the non-workday. I know that humans have stigmas against nudity for one reason or another, but my people share no such thing."

Shepard cocked an eyebrow curiously. "I see. But what about sun damage. Humans often wear clothes for protection. Do asari not need that?"

Liara shook her head before taking a drink and continuing. "We were primarily aquatic before our species made it to land. Even then on land, we rarely journeyed away from the coasts. We feel more at home in the water than say, in a landlocked country."

"Kinda like salarians?" asked Shepard as she finally chopped a piece off her steak and stuffed it into her mouth.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. We swim fairly well despite our oddly primate body structure and can hold our breath twice as long as humans can. But, as for protection, asari have regenerative cells that give us our long life. The reason we live to a thousand years is because our bodies produce builder cells that keep our cell structure working far past those of other species. So, when we reach around seventy years old, those builder cells die off just like when a human's junk DNA deteriorates. But instead of aging, our DNA constructs more builder cells that keep our body going. And these same cells that repair damaged cells also protect us from the sun far better than a human's would," she said before finally finishing off her glass of juice.

"Alright, fair enough. So, the reason that asari are primarily seen as more sexually promiscuous is because they are far less modest than other species," asked Shepard, her appetite slowly growing again.

Liara nodded and frowned slightly. "That is part of it. The other part is our social structure when it comes to partners," she said as she tapped her finger on the table, trying to work out how to explain it. "Basically, before spaceflight, and before the discovery of alien species, monogamy was a rare and exotic thing to be found among my people. Due to our long lifespans, we often take multiple partners."

Cocking an eyebrow slightly, Shepard perked up. "Wait, so asari don't often stick to one mate?"

Liara shook her head gently as she leaned onto her hand. "We live for a thousand years, Jane. Could you imagine spending a thousand years with a single person?" she asked, getting a snort from the commander. "While there are some couples out there who could pull it off, it's very rare. Most asari settle into groups of mates. Each asari has a sayna, or I guess the term would be a primary love interest. These two often have children together, live together, and stay together for the longest. Essentially, calling someone your sayna is a way of telling other asari that this person's needs are your priority, and everyone else will be second."

With her food now forgotten, Shepard nodded. "Ahhh, so asari often have… I don't wanna say permanent partners…"

Liara nodded gently. "They aren't permanent most of the time. But they often stay together for long periods. But even these couples have mates that they take in known as vayna. These are mates that are meant to satisfy other needs that cannot be obtained by the sayna. Sometimes both of them share a vayna mate, sometimes the vayna only stays with one of the partners. But each vayna is also free to have a sayna of their own. It's not a set structure where a vayna cannot have their own relationships. Often, relationships between asari are webs."

"That sounds kinda complicated," said Shepard as she eyed the woman curiously.

"It may sound that way, but it's rather simple," she said as her flush slightly returned. "M-May I make a hypothetical to help explain it better?"

The corner of Shepard's mouth curled into a grin as she nodded. "Go ahead."

Huffing at the smile, Liara continued. "Let's say… hypothetically, that you and I were partners. If you and I were sayna, then we would be devoted to each other primarily. Whenever your needs arose, I would attend to you first, and conversely, you would attend to mine first. But, if you were away on missions for long periods of time, then I could find a vayna who would satisfy me until you returned. Meanwhile, you could find a vayna on your journeys to meet your emotional needs until you returned. These vayna would be seen and accepted as mates, but they would still be able to find a sayna themselves. Then, you would be vayna to each other," she said worriedly as she looked at the table. "I hope that didn't make things more complicated…"

Shepard chuckled and shook her head. "I understand. You're saying that two asari can be partners, while still receiving emotional and physical support from others around. You're polyamorous," she said, getting a smiling nod from the woman.

"Yes!" she said excitedly, happy that her point got across smoothly enough.

"So… hypothetically," said Shepard with a cat-like smile, "If you and I started a relationship, you would be fine with me having another partner?"

Liara looked away for a moment, her face flushing once more. "Well… hypothetically, of course, if we did enter a relationship, I would…" she started to say, but stopped as he blush deepened.

"Come on, Liara, you can do it," said the woman as she held her hand out.

Liara spied her hand, then looked up at her. Finally, the asari donned a small smile and reached over, taking Shepard's hand and squeezing it. "If we did enter a relationship, I would like you to be my sayna." Her blue eyes examined Shepard's curiously, wondering how she would react.

The redhead simply smiled and squeezed the asari's hand back. "But you didn't answer my question," said an inquisitive looking Shepard.

Snorting, the asari leered at Shepard. "Now look who's stalling," she said before finally letting out a sigh. "Hypothetically, Jane, were you my sayna, I would be happy, regardless of how many vayna you decided to have. If I knew your eyes were primarily on me, you would be free to do as you please. I personally don't believe I'd need any myself, but I know that you're a lot of woman to handle," she said playfully.

Shepard snorted and covered her mouth at the joke. "Wow Liara, was that humor?"

"I am attempting to learn more about humans, and my options are limited. Ashley wants to teach me combat, Kaidan wants me to learn classical music, and Pressly mostly just wants to hear about the asari. Then there's Joker…" started Liara as she got a groan from Shepard.

"Ugh, I should have known. He's beginning to turn you to his side," said the redhead, her small grin still plastering her face.

Liara giggled lightly as she squeezed Shepard's hand again. "Don't worry, Jane. At the very least, I won't bring up your dancing," she said, immediately getting a glare from the woman, which caused her to laugh loudly for the first time in a long time.

"All that aside…" said Shepard none-too-gracefully, "How does marriage work? With so many people involved, it has to be complicated."

Liara merely shook her head. "Asari do not have marriage contracts like humans or turians do. Any and all contracts between mates are strictly for parental responsibilities and do not bind two asari together in any other way."

"Oh, so asari never get married?" asked Jane as she nodded to the waitress, who took away their plates.

"We do, but only under the contracts provided by other species. So… hypothetically, if we were ever to get married, it would have to be under human laws. Asari laws could only ever cover what would happen to any potential future children," said the woman as she looked away at the ward, her face-tinged about the possibility. “We would simply be bondmates in name and asari society’s understanding.”

"I see," said Shepard as she reached up and scratched her head gently. "Well, that's a lot to think about."

Letting out a small sigh, Liara gently squeezed Shepard's hand. "I know, Shepard," she said as she finally looked back at the woman.

Shepard eyed the asari quizzically. "You know?"

"I know, and I understand. We're on a mission to take down a traitorous former Spectre. And if this beacon warning is true, then chances are we'll be fighting against something much more powerful in the future," she said as she looked down at their hands wistfully. "I know that these things must come first. But I will be here with you every step of the way," she said with a gentle smile.

Shepard smiled back and nodded, letting out a sigh of her own. "I appreciate that Liara, and I'm happy to have you here."

Tilsa Park - Teyseri Ward - Citadel

She fidgeted madly as she looked around. The park bench that she sat at with Kaidan was empty except for them, leading to a peaceful setting. However, there was nothing peaceful about her. Reaching down, she opened her omni-tool to read the message again before the human next to her placed his strong, but gentle hand over it.

"You're wound up, Tali. You need to relax," he said with a charming grin on his face.

"How can I!? I've never had anything like this happen before! What do I do? What do I say? What if I say something wrong?" she asked in a panicked clip as she fidgeted some more.

"Just be yourself, Tali. Keep being you, and you'll do perfect. Alright?" he asked as he gently rubbed the back of her neck through her suit. She almost melted into his hand as a stressed sigh escaped her helmet.

"I just don't want to mess this up," she replied, much calmer now than she had been before.

"Don't worry. I'm sure you'd do great," he said gently. Suddenly, someone from the entrance of the park called out to them.

"Hey! There you are!" shouted the young man with a smile. He stood shorter than Kaidan, but slightly taller than Tali. The wear and tear they had seen the last time they met was now gone, and he was growing thick facial hair on his chin. The change was almost startling.

Then came the smaller of the two, the young girl. She too had lost her distant and malnourished appearance, and now had a full head of brown hair that was growing out longer than before. Instead of her ratty clothes, she now wore a pair of shorts and a blue and yellow t-shirt with a strange serpentine logo on it. On her back was a pink backpack that was secured around her shoulders as she looked at the ground.

As soon as the girl saw Kaidan, she smiled brightly. "Mister Kaidan!" she shouted, then ran to him, then threw her arms around him and hugged him tight.

The lieutenant knelt and hugged the girl back with a large smile. "Robyn! It's been a while! Have you gotten taller?" She pulled away momentarily and nodded frantically. "Well, of course you have."

"She's in school now. She's a bit behind due to her stunted education, but she's going through it like a whirlwind," said John as he approached them all.

Suddenly, Robyn pulled away from Kaidan and looked up at Tali, who was fidgeting wildly again. Kaidan stepped back slightly, allowing the girl a full view of the quarian. John and Kaidan watched them both, the lieutenant chuckling at how awkward the two were towards each other. But finally, the young girl turned towards Tali and stared at the ground. "Hi…"

"H-Hello…" responded Tali as she too stared at the ground.

"I'm sorry for saying you were born from the devil," said the girl shyly as her fingers rubbed the straps of her backpack nervously.

"It's... it's alright. I know you didn't mean it," said the quarian, recalling that she had forgotten to even look up with this devil was.

"I did though," said the girl as she looked up at the quarian, her eyes watery as she did. "I... Daddy taught me a lot of bad things. Things that shouldn't be taught to people," she said, swinging back and forth between the balls and heel of her feet adorably. "I'm in school now. I have friends who are aliens. Like Saiya, and Linsia. They're asari!" she said excitedly with a smile.

"That's exciting to hear!" said Tali as she knelt down as well.

"They're neat! They're pretty blue and they have these cool powers!" she said as she mimicked using biotics. Tali giggled to herself at the actions, but Robyn lowered her hands and took up her shy, awkward stance again. "Miss Tali?"

"Y-Yes?" asked Tali, curious about the girl's tone change.

"When I got my schoolbook for xenoscience, I looked up your people. It says you don't have a home," she said, staring up into Tali's helmeted face. The quarian, despite coming from an innocent child, felt like she had been belted in the stomach. That the Council would approve textbooks declaring quarians homeless when it was the Council who refused to allow them to colonize was outright offensive.

But her outrage would have to wait for another time. For now, she simply sighed and nodded. "My people live in a fleet of ships. We don't have a planet of our own anymore."

Finally, Robyn sniffled slightly and jumped forward again to hug her. Tali, surprised by the motion, looked up at Kaidan as the girl clung to her. The lieutenant just mimicked the motion, and Tali wrapped her arms around the girl. "You can come live with us then!"

John and Kaidan both went-wide eyed as they heard Tali sniffing inside her helmet. Squeezing the girl tightly, she picked her up and held her. "Th-Thank you Robyn. That's very sweet of you…" she said as she choked back her own tears at the simple, but powerful gesture. After a long moment of holding the girl, she set her back down on her feet. "Right now, though, I'm working with a spectre and chasing down bad guys. So, it'll have to wait a while, okay?" she said through as her tear-filled eyes stared at the girl again.

The girl nodded with a large smile on her face. "Okay!"

"And… maybe someday, if you're really good, I can bring you to the Migrant Fleet and show you around!" said the quarian as she held the girl's hands.

Robyn gasped with an awestricken expression on her face. "That would be cool!" she shouted before turning and running up to her brother. "Can I can I can I can I pleeeeeeeeeease!?" she asked frantically.

The young man chuckled and nodded to her. "Like she said, if you're really good! For right now though, we have to get home so I can make you some dinner, alright?"

"Awwww... do we have to?" she asked disappointedly as she planted her hands on her hips.

"Afraid so. But," said John, looking up at both Kaidan and Tali. "I hope we can visit again soon."

"I'd really like that," said Kaidan as he turned to Tali.

The quarian looked from John to Kaidan, then smacked him on the shoulder. "What, am I going to say no? Of course!" she said, getting a chuckle out of both of them and a squeal of excitement from Robyn.

"Alright then. You two have fun. We'll keep in touch," said the young man as he took the girl's hand and led her away.

Tali raised her own hand and returned Robyn's wave as the two left the park before she finally sank to her knees again. Kaidan was immediately at her side as she started to cry once more. "Tali, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I've just…" she said as she sniffled slightly. "That was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me."

"Well, now I have to try and one up her, damn…" he said jokingly, making the quarian giggle between her sniffles.

"Bosh'tet," said Tali affectionately.

Flux - Zakera Ward - Citadel

It had been an average stay on the Citadel. Aside from her talk with Liara, the stay had been mostly boring. Reporting to the Council, talking to C-Sec, filling out documents for the Alliance on her findings at Cerberus, and more. The most exciting thing was when the retrieval team for the rachni finally showed up. The buzz about the community would have been slightly uplifting if the circumstances for finding the rachni had been better. But right now, she was just in a mood.

It had taken Liara dragging her away from her work and over to a club they had previously been to before. The music was thumping against the walls as people danced their cares away on the dance floor. Shepard eyed the asari, wondering if she was just pulling her in to get her dancing again. But when they managed to get a table, she settled down slightly.

The waitress, Rita again, stepped up to them with a smile. "Good to see you guys again!" she greeted as she pulled up her small datapad. "Can I get you anything?"

"I'll take a nightbell," said the asari with a smile, getting a look of surprise from the commander.

"Actually drinking alcohol, T'Soni? What's the occasion?" she asked curiously as she too ordered a strong drink.

"The occasion, Jane, is that you need to let loose for a while. You've been wound up over the last couple of days and could stand for a break," said the asari with a small smirk on her face. "And don't worry, I won't be pulling you to the dance floor again this time."

Chuckling, Shepard nodded. "Good. I'm pretty sure if that video ever gets to the Council, my Spectrehood would be taken away," she said, smiling slightly as Liara laughed.

When she finally composed herself, Liara leaned over and spoke, trying to talk over the loud music of the club. "I hope you don't mind that I've invited the others as well."

"Of course not," said Shepard, who looked up just in time to see that Kaidan, Garrus, and Tali were all already at the door. Waving them down, she smiled as they approached the table.

"Hey Commander, I'm… uh… glad to see you're feeling better," said Kaidan as he took a seat at the table.

"I'll be fine, as always," said Shepard sourly as she looked around the room, avoiding eye contact with him.

"Did something happen?" asked Tali as she looked between the pair curiously.

"Nothing to be concerned about," said Shepard as she looked at the quarian firmly. Despite not being great at reading body language, she appeared to take the hint and just nodded.

Tali then looked over at the turian curiously as he took a seat and ordered a drink of turian brandy. "Garrus, did Doctor Michel decide not to come?"

He cleared his throat as the waitress left to fetch the new drinks. "She… ah… she said she needed some space after the whole Emporium incident," he said as he stared down at the table. "Can't say I blame her. We all walk into death almost every day. But she's not as used to it."

"How do you figure?" asked Shepard curiously as she eyed the turian. He stared at her questioningly as a glass was set in front of him. "When we first found her, she was surrounded by a bunch of men threatening her."

"Yeah, well, I don't know," he said as he spun his hand, the turian equivalent of a shrug.

"Besides that, who did she think she was getting in with?" came the voice of Ash as she appeared behind Garrus. He looked up at her, surprised to see her there. The soldier lifted her hands up and slapped them onto Garrus' shoulders gently with a smirk on her face. "A seven-foot-tall, spikey, long-ranged crack shot with a visor that counts his kills. What was she expecting, a white picket fence?" she asked as she finally pulled up her own chair and sat back casually.

"Guys, I appreciate all the positive reinforcement, but I'd rather not talk about it," he said as he grabbed his glass and took a long pull from it. Then his predatory eyes locked on Shepard. "So, will you be-" he started, but Shepard's pointing finger stopped him in his tracks.

"Not a chance, Vakarian. You've already got enough blackmail material on me," she said, causing him to chuckle.

"So, what's the plan then? Leaving flaming bags of garbage on the Citadel Tower doorstep? Ringing their doorbell and running away? Fill me in," said Ash as she leaned forward onto the table, her spirits high as she looked from one to the other.

Garrus, Liara, and Tali all stared at her incredulously as Kaidan shook his head and Shepard chuckled to herself. "We could always booby trap Udina's office. A whoopie cushion on his chair, leaving porn open on his terminal, that kinda thing," said Shepard with a cheeky grin.

"Now we're talking!" said Ash as she accepted her own drink.

Suddenly, the club went quiet, making them all look around curiously as Doran, the volus owner of the club stepped up onto the stage next to the bar. "Alright everyone! We're powering up the... karaoke machine! Who wants the first... song?" he asked as he looked over the crowd. It was still relatively early in the night, and people were looking back and forth at each other curiously.

"Guess nobody is drunk enough yet," said Kaidan with a chuckle as he swirled the ice in his glass around.

"How about you, Shepard? No dancing, but maybe you can sing?" asked Garrus curiously as he motioned towards the stage.

Shepard eyed him for a moment before looking at the stage herself. Liara stared at her in surprise, expecting to hear protest. But she said nothing. "Come on, someone has to go first!" said the volus as he lifted his arms up to try and excite the crowd.

After a few more long moments, Shepard stood up and headed for the stage, much to the surprise of everyone. "Wait, she's actually gonna do it?" asked Ash as she immediately scrambled for her omni-tool. "Damn! I left mine on the Normandy!" she said frantically as she looked up at the turian. "Garrus!"

"I got it, I got it," he said as he activated his omni-tool and focused it on the stage where the redhead now stood.

Reaching down, Shepard took the mic from Doran, and when he offered her the song playlist, she waved it away. "She isn't using music?"

Clearing her throat, the spectre finally spoke. "I haven't done this kinda thing in a while, so bear with me. But you all have heard all kinds of human music from hip hop to death metal. It's time to introduce you to another brand," she said over the mic as her team looked from one to the other.

"What's she gonna do, yodel?" asked Ash as she got a questioning look from the non-humans at the table.

"Yodel? What's that?" asked Garrus curiously.

"A dark period for music in human history," said Ash jokingly as she smirked at the turian. "It's unintelligible music that takes advantage of all of our neat throat muscles. Works well when sung from mountain tops or places with good sound acoustics, but not many other places."

"Now I have to see this," said the turian as he turned to look at Shepard again.

Letting out a loud sigh, the commander inhaled sharply, but as her voice left her mouth, it was a much deeper tone than her normal talking voice. "Oooooooh death, oooooooooooh deeeeath…" Ash and Kaidan both sat back in their seats as Tali, Garrus, and Liara looked on in fascination. "Won't spare me over for another year?"

"Ralph Stanley?" asked the gunnery chief.

"Quiet!" ordered Garrus as he sat, riveted by the tone that the song took as he continued recording.

"Oh what is this that I can't see, with your ice cold hands taking hold of me…" continued Shepard in the deep voice that immediately changed the tone of the room. Even most of the other humans stared on in interest as they realized that her voice, the command and depth that it carried with the lyrics didn't need any music behind it. "Well I am death, none can excel! I'll open the gates to heaven or hell."

Liara placed her hand over her chest as the lyrics sank into her, moving her. As the lyrics continued, she knew that anyone listening could take it two ways. Shepard, being a spectre, was always at deaths door. Despite her brave face, she knew that Shepard had to be afraid that each new encounter was potentially her last.

"The children prayed; the preacher preached! But time and mercy are out of your reach," continued the commander as Liara watched in fascination.

But at the same time, the song could very well be describing Shepard herself. Those she has in her sights could beg, plead, make deals, throw money at her. But once they're in her grip, they do not escape. The asari found herself thinking that Saren was lucky he was out of her reach to begin with.

"Death I come to take the soul, leave the body and leave it cold," continued Shepard as she closed her eyes, her voice resonating through the club thanks to the mic. The song lasted for another minute, with no music in the background. The dirge of her voice keeping everyone fastened to their seats. Once the song had finally finished, Shepard handed the mic over to Doran again and stepped off the stage without a word. Every eye in the club followed her as she took her place at the table and choked down another drink of her whisky. "Issues?" she asked as she spied them all.

Suddenly, a human man near the stage stood up and began clapping madly, causing everyone else to jump up and join him. She stared at them in surprise as Garrus leaned over to Ash. "How long until this goes viral and she starts getting requests to sing at weddings?"

"My money is on a month at the latest," responded Ash as she swirled her scotch.

"Put me down for two weeks," said Kaidan with a smirk.

"One week once I get my hands on it," said Tali as her omni-tool opened and she immediately began tapping away at it.

"Blues is a brave choice. Not many other species have such a connection with sorrow as humans do," said Ash as the crowd settled and the next singer made their way to the stage.

Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

Despite everything that had happened, Shepard found herself more relaxed as she entered her quarters on the Normandy again. She had spent some time getting Talitha set up with a live-in counsellor to help her with her nightmares. It helped that the woman was an asari, who could also assist with sleeping. Finally, she had given Talitha her number in case she needed to talk.

After several days of emotional crisis and Liara's assistance in suppressing her nightmares, she felt like her emotions were rubbed raw. She barely felt anything now. As she looked down at the smashed table that her terminal used to sit on, she knew what she had to do. She didn't like loose ends, and there was still one that needed tied off. She knew that she would have to go alone, or… mostly alone. She would need Liara's help. But the other crewmembers wouldn't be able to come with her, which meant the Normandy needed to stay at the Citadel.

Resolving herself, she squeezed her fist that had been sliced open the day before.

Hel Block - Niflheim Prison Colony - ?

The man had sat there for an hour, his mouth dry, his face bruised, and his hand aching from where the spectre had smashed it. He didn't know what he was doing here, but he didn't like it. Usually, he left the bad feelings to his long gone second. But this one was hanging over his head. It was thick in the air as he sat in the brightly lit, white room. He sighed to himself, trying to figure out what was going on, whether the guard behind him brought him in for another interrogation, or if they were trying to scare him, or some other ridiculous attempt to get him to talk.

Suddenly, his eyes flew to the door as it flitted open and in stepped someone. She was fairly tall, and sturdy built with a head of short red hair. He smirked silently, admitting to himself that this one was kinda cute. "So, what's the deal? Not get enough out of me last interrogation? Or are you here for more… physical readings?" he asked playfully as he watched her sit down. But he knew something was off when she kicked her boots up onto the table and leaned back in the chair.

"Hello, Lieutenant," she said with a smirk.

The voice hit him like a sledgehammer, wiping the smile from his face and causing him to scoot back in his chair. Immediately he scowled at her as his hand throbbed in pain. "Spectre…"

"How have you been? They feeding you well?" she asked with a grin on her face.

"What the hell do you want? Come to break the other hand?" he asked sourly as he clenched his still recovering shattered hand.

"That depends on what you have to offer me," she said as her feet slid off the table and she leaned forward.

"You think you're going to interrogate me?" he asked, almost chuckling. "You have any idea what kind of anti-interrogation training I've gone through?"

"No no no, see, you misunderstand. I'm not going to ask you…" she said with a threatening grin. "I need to know where the rest of Cerberus is, and I'm going to get an answer to whether you know where they are or not right now. And I'm beyond asking YOU for the answer," she said as she nodded to the helmeted guard. "As you said Lieutenant…" she said as she stood up and stepped around the table. Out of nowhere, she grabbed his hair and yanked it back hard, his eyes widening in panic as he saw the stern face of an asari women. "What can you expect from a squid lover like me?"

"No! No! Please!" he shouted as he began struggling against her grip.

"Tell me everything you know, or I'll have her open your brain like a can opener and go through every fucking memory in your head until I find what I need!" shouted Shepard as she growled in his face. The asari placed her hand on his head and he squeezed his eyes shut.

"I don't know where they are! We were kept from having that knowledge so that we would never be able to tell!" he shouted as he tried to get away from the asari.

"Where did the rachni come from!?" asked Shepard forcefully as she held him in place.

"I don't know! We were sent a shipment of eggs with instructions to breed them into controllable groups! I don't know anything else!" he shouted desperately as she glared down into his eyes.

Shepard looked up to the asari, who nodded back. "He's telling the truth."

Smiling, the woman forced his face down to the table none-too-gently. "Thank you for your assistance, Lieutenant. If I have any more questions, me and my squid friend here will be back to visit you. So, try not to get too comfortable," she finished, then released him.

Another guard entered from the rear of the room as both the asari and the woman left the room.

Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

"Hello... Spectre," came the voice over her omni-tool as she answered the call.

Smiling down at the image of the grey-haired, stern-faced woman, Shepard smiled back. "Hello, Captain."

"Call me that again and I'll have Lieutenant Alenko read your old diaries to the entire crew," said the woman with a playful grin.

Shepard glared back at her with a smile. "You and I both know that he wouldn't risk his ass like that just to entertain you," she said before waving the playful argument off. "So, mother, what can I do for you?"

"Why do you have to make it sound so impersonal like that?" asked the admiral curiously.

"I've had a lot of run-ins with Alliance personnel since my induction, and a lot of them are less than pleased that I'm no longer 'Yes, sir!' and 'No, sir!'" she said as she tilted her head. "So, how do you want to go about this? Are you an admiral to me or are you my mother?"

Hannah's eyes narrowed before she sighed. "You know I'll always be your mother. You don't have to worry about me forcing protocol, Jane."

"Alright, mom," said the woman with a smile as her expression softened. "Sorry I didn't call you about the whole Spectre thing. Once we had the ceremony, we got kinda busy."

The captain smirked, nearly laughing at the claim. "Kinda busy? The kind of busy where you nearly get killed by a thresher maw, cleared the Valkyrie facility of its rogue VI, and took out a rogue wing of the Alliance while finding out that rachni are still in the galaxy?" she asked with an incredulous look on her face. "Busy is an understatement, kid."

"Yeah yeah, I'm sure you heard all the stories," said Jane as she waved dismissively. "Regardless, I'm still alive and still doing work."

"Good work. Had the Alliance not had you so focused on the batarians, imagine what you could have been capable of!" said her mother proudly. "Less than a month in uniform and you've already done more for the galaxy than your entire career in the Alliance."

"Good to know I'm making you proud," said Jane as she smirked at the woman.

"Proud is an understatement, Jane. I was proud when you made that painting for me and your father in art class. What you're doing now goes beyond that," she said, then donned a wistful look on her face.

Immediately noticing the change in mood, Shepard cocked an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"I… I don't want to make it seem like I'm asking this because you're my daughter. I know your strict policy on nepotism, but I feel like you're the only one who can solve an issue I'm having." Hannah finally looked back at the screen; her eyes serious.

Jane's eyes widened at the statement, and she nodded. "I understand. I'm someone who can get things done, so it's only natural that I'd be asked for assistance."

Nodding, the admiral continued. "A friend of mine has gone… well, he's a bit unstable."

"Unstable how?" asked the spectre curiously.

"His name is Dennis Kyle, and until recently he was a Major for the Alliance. I've worked with him a few times and I saw the downward spiral but wasn't able to do much about it but request counseling," she said solemnly. "In the last year, he let his Alliance contract expire and retired."

"I'm guessing he didn't get the house on the beach with martinis being served," replied Shepard curiously.

"No. He went for the moon base full of biotic fanatics. He's become little more than a cult leader, rallying biotics who have been harmed or mistreated by the Alliance into some kind of army. I don't know if he did this himself, or if he's being puppeted by someone else. But what I do know is what he's doing is dangerous," she said worriedly.

Nodding, Shepard let out a sigh. "How hard is it to get these people the mental care they need?" she asked as she rubbed her head gently.

"Not that hard, but they have to want the help. Thus far, we've sent two Alliance spokesmen to their base to talk to Major Kyle, but they never returned. I fear that they may have been killed," said the Admiral firmly.

"I understand, mom. Don't worry, just send me the coordinates for the base and I'll talk to him. Unlike most of the Alliance, I'm not someone he can just make disappear," said Shepard with a look of determination.

"Thank you, Jane. Please, if you can, end this without bloodshed. I'd like to see him get the help he needs," she pleaded quietly.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it," she finished as she forwarded the coordinates to Joker.

"Thank you again, Jane. I hope you will call me again when this is over with. Goodbye for now, and good luck. And…" she paused for a moment before staring into her daughter's eyes with her own velvet brown. "I love you, Jane, no matter what."

The spectre was startled at the proclamation. Her mother had been Alliance soldier to the core, always one to push the 'tough love' teaching style onto her. When she needed help, she needed to help herself. When she wanted to cry, she was told to get it out of her system. She had never been the loving and nurturing mother archetype that most vids portrayed. But Shepard had respected her regardless. Now, to see her soften was startling. But she supposed it was necessary now. Her daughter was working every day, doing things that could easily get her killed. She no longer had the leisure and safety of a space station or Alliance ship in Alliance space to protect her.

Finally, she let out a sigh and smiled. "I love you too, mom. I'll call you when I get back."

CODEX ENTRIES

Lissa | Food | Thessia
A ripe melon grown from the eezo-rich soil of Thessia, giving a unique appearance that makes them easy to see. The outer shell of the melon has splotches that glow a dim eezo blue and have a consistency like mangoes. Commonly used in salads and juices among asari worlds, and less so around other worlds due to the misconception around eezo grown food.

Sayna | Culture | Asari
Loosely translating to 'beloved one,' the word is commonly used in asari Alai language when referring to someone that is particularly special in a relationship. Despite the tendency for asari to have multiple partners due to their culture, they still often devote most of their time to one other person. This person is known as the sayna, and their attention takes priority over the others, known as vayna.

Vayna | Culture | Asari
A word of affection in the asari Alai dialect that doesn't translate easily to other languages. The best that can be offered for a translation is 'special one.' Due to the asari's polyamorous relationship structure, this word is used to describe those who have a close, intimate relationship with someone, but whose priorities and needs are superseded by another. Humans have colloquially called this the 'third wheel,' in reference to human culture where polyamory is less common.

Nightbell | Food | Thessia
A wine from Thessia created from the lissa fruit with small trace amounts of element zero dust inside that gives the liquid a dim glow.

Niflheim | Location | Alliance Space
An Alliance sanctioned prison colony for prisoners who are too dangerous to allow into the normal prison colonies of Earth. Each prisoner is put in an isolated cell with little to no communication to the outside world. The world its located on is hostile to all live, having a frozen surface that would freeze anything that lingered too long outside of the mass effect fields generated by the colony, with the only ships coming to and from the colony being for supplies, or transport of prisoners and staff who require extremely high access to classified intelligence.

Chapter 38: Major Kyle

Chapter Text

Mess Hall - SSV Normandy SR1

He'd had a rough start as XO on the Normandy. It was bad enough seeing Captain Anderson replaced, but then came the aliens on board. He knew the commander was smart, and her decisions thus far had led to some of the greatest finds and accomplishments the galaxy had seen yet. But even seeing their skill only added more onto the pile. If they were skilled enough to hack a group of geth, or strong enough to conquer a sentient plant monster, then he wondered what would happen if they turned.

He grew nervous around them, as if his brain were telling him that they were watching him despite knowing that Shepard trusted them. He knew they were good people, for their kind anyway. But he still couldn't help keeping his eyes on them any time they entered the CIC.

Adams down in engineering said that he was being paranoid, but he considered himself on his toes, ready to strike if needed. He was thankful that the commander hadn't thrown him off the ship after the Edolus incident because he saw the rest of the human crew and knew how comfortable they were. Some of the bridge crew didn't even look up as one of the aliens passed to make sure they weren't seeing things they weren't supposed to. He knew this and knew that he was the only one standing between them and Shepard in case something happened.

So deep was he in thought that he didn't notice that one of them had taken a seat across from him. When he finally snapped out of his stupor, he looked at her curiously. It was the quarian girl, her suit hugging her form as if she'd been born in it. For a split second, he wondered what quarians looked like beneath their suits. Information about the quarians was still scarce given that most of their data lie on their home world, which was now swarming with geth. But he shook the thoughts from his head and eyed her suspiciously.

"Can I help you?" he asked firmly as he defensively held onto his tray of food.

The quarian eyed his defensive stance and started to fidget briefly. "Umm… I… I was wondering if I upset you."

He cocked an eyebrow curiously as his grip loosened slightly. "Upset me?"

She nodded but kept her eyes down as if she were ashamed. "I notice that every time I'm in the same room with you, you are staring at me. And if I walk near you, you take a few steps back. So, I was wondering if I did something to upset you."

"I…" he started, his eyes squinting at her slightly. "You noticed all that?"

"I kinda have eyes all over my helmet," she said, causing his eyes to widen. But she raised her hands defensively. "Not literally, of course. I just mean that quarians have learned to be aware of their surroundings. When we are away from the Migrant Fleet, we are usually either in Citadel Space, where we are often arrested unfairly or robbed when we don't pay attention; or we are near geth space scouting or spying. And not paying attention near geth space could be a death sentence," she said nervously.

"Oh, I see," he said as he looked down at his food with a sigh. "No, you didn't do anything to upset me. I'm just like you, in that I like to keep my eyes on things."

She stared up at him for a moment, her glowing eyes giving him a curious look. "But you seem less attentive around the human crew. I can see it when I enter a room before you are aware I'm there. Is it because I'm quarian?"

He cleared his throat lightly, his face flushing, but he doubted it would be noticed in the dim light. If the girl even noticed herself that is. It was hard enough to present this to the commander, but to have to tell one of them to their face made him cringe. "N-No…" he said as he tapped his fingers on the table, his food now forgotten. "Look, I don't hate you, and I'm not upset at you or any other quarian. I'm just… wary of aliens is all," he mumbled, trying not to alert anyone else to the conversation.

"Oh!" said the quarian with a start, making him stare at her curiously. "Is that all? I understand completely!" she said as she waved her hand dismissively.

"You do?" he asked incredulously as he sat back in his chair.

"Of course. We quarians are brought up on the Migrant Fleet, and when we leave to areas populated by other species, we are mostly detested or ignored. So, I grew up with the same distrust of other species! It wasn't until Shepard put me on her crew that I finally started to overcome my own prejudices," she said, almost sounding happy.

"So, let me get this straight. You're not upset or angry that I don't trust you?" he asked, almost bewildered by the revelation.

"Of course not. You don't know me from a rock in the ground. What reason would you have to trust me?" she asked curiously, her helmeted head tilted to the side.

"I…" he started, unsure of how to answer that question. "I guess nobody has ever come out and said that to me."

"Believe me, I understand trust issues. But I assure you that if you got to know me, you wouldn't have anything more to worry about," she said as she smiled through her face shield.

He reached up and scratched the scruff on his chin thoughtfully. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to know more about you… Tali was it?" he asked, getting a nod. "So, I heard that you're here on your Pilgrimage. What exactly does that involve?"

"On the cusp of adulthood, we are sent out into the world to learn about it and seek to make life on the Migrant Fleet easier. After all, living on a fleet of ships, some of which are from the original flight from Rannoch isn't an easy life. So, we go out to seek things that would help our people," she said happily.

He was almost charmed about how cheerful she was to explain her people's traditions. Setting his near empty tray aside, Pressly nodded. "That's a pretty good cause. Most humans who leave do so because they want nothing to do with the place they're leaving," he said with a smirk. "They tend to come back anyway…"

"I've studied a lot on humans, actually!" she said as she held up a finger. "Is it true that there are humans on Earth living in minus fifty-degree temperatures?"

He nodded and smiled slightly. "Humans are softer than other species. We don't have scales like the turians or drell to protect us, and we don't have regenerative cells like the asari or krogan. But we're survivors. We'll see a dead landscape from heat or cold and turn it into a livable habitat," he said proudly.

Tali clapped excitedly at the information. "That's so interesting! Quarians mostly settled in less hostile areas of our world. Its surface temperature is a bit hotter than Earth's on average, so we did a lot of desert dwelling as well. But nothing like I've seen on Earth!"

He chuckled slightly at her excitement. "Yeah, humans are pretty resilient. I imagine that's how we lasted so long during the First Contact War," he said as his eyes turned down. "You know, my grandfather fought in that war."

Her eyes widened slightly as she tilted her head. "How is that possible. Wasn't that twenty-six years ago?" she asked curiously.

He nodded and let out a sigh. "Both my grandfather and father were sowing their oats almost as young as they could. My own father was sixteen when he had me," he said as he noticed her curious expression. "Oh, uhhh… sowing oats is a human expression for… um… breeding," he said, slightly flushing again.

"Oh, I see," she said as she caught on to what he was saying. "Unfortunately, quarians do not have a say in how many children we have. After all, overpopulation on the fleet is a serious problem. So, they put restrictions on how many children we can have, and when we can have them."

His eyebrows shot up at her statement. "I'm… sorry to hear that." He reached up and ran a hand over his balding head gently. His eyes turned down again as he let out a heavy sigh. "Look, Tali…" he started, his voice quieting as he spoke. "I'm sorry I made you feel uncomfortable. And thank you for being so understanding."

"Of course! We aren't so different after all… uhhh…" she started to say.

"Charles. You can call me Charles," he responded firmly.

"Alright, Charles. We aren't so different, after all. Nobody should immediately trust someone they've never met. Shepard herself is a prime example, as anyone new she invited onto the Normandy immediately got their entire histories scanned so thoroughly that I wouldn't be surprised if she knew more about us than we did about ourselves," she said with a playful giggle.

"I… I guess so, yes…" he said nervously, now imagining Shepard as some kind of overlord in front of a thousand terminals, her piercing green eyes scanning everything that happened in each of their lives.

"I've had the benefit of being on Shepard's team and being able to work with many different species. It wasn't immediate, but eventually I grew to trust them as well. And I hope we can have that same experience," she said as she held out her hand apprehensively.

He chuckled again at her attempt of a human gesture. Reaching forward, he shook her hand, and received a pleased smile in return. "I hope so too, Tali."

CIC - SSV Normandy SR1

"Do we have access?" asked Shepard from the dais where the galaxy map now showed the surface of the moon known as Presrop. They had been orbiting with the moon around Klendagon for a while trying to pick up on any communications that came to or from the base that was fairly easily spotted on the crust.

"We've got the signal. We should be able to hijack it in a few seconds," said Chief Tanaka as he tapped away at his terminal.

Joker turned and looked at the man curiously. "Anyone else think we're becoming too comfortable doing this kinda thing?"

"What's the matter, Joker? You getting cold feet over a few communication hijackings?" asked Kaidan playfully.

"See how casually you said that?" asked Joker as he looked at the lieutenant that sat in the co-pilot seat. "I've got my eye on you, Alenko."

Shepard chuckled at the interaction before Tanaka, who had a smirk of his own, turned and nodded to her. "You're in, Spectre."

Reaching over, Shepard typed at her terminal before a comm window popped up in front of her. The other side showed nothing but the wall of a room, but she knew she would be heard. "Major Kyle, I know you can hear me. This is Spectre Jane Shepard, and I'd advise you to take this call."

After a few seconds, a dark-skinned man with hair that looked to have been neatly cut at one time now wildly growing free came into view on the comm screen, his face a mask of confusion. "I'm sorry, did you say Spectre?" he asked curiously.

"That's right Major. You are speaking to the first, and currently the only human Spectre," she said firmly, any hint of her previous amusement at Joker's antics now frosted over by her business demeanor.

The man looked off the screen for a moment, then shook his head before turning back to look at her. "Apologies, Spectre. I wasn't expecting your call," he replied as Shepard scanned his face.

He looked worn down, tired, especially around the eyes. His file said he oversaw a special ops group in the Alliance that specialized in uprooting batarian invasions from Alliance planets. "No need to apologize, Major. But I, unfortunately, need some answers. And I doubt walking up and knocking on the door would have ended well."

Immediately, the major's face hardened. "I see. Well, Spectre, I will answer what I can."

She nodded, then pulled his file up on the terminal. "It says here that after Mindoir, you were put in charge of a special operative's group that was tasked with removing batarian infiltration groups from Alliance space," she said as she looked back to him.

He let out a sigh and nodded. "That's correct."

"And after you were directed to remove an underground colony on the moon Torfan, you came back a changed man," she said, then let out a sigh herself. She folded her arms over her chest but kept eye contact with him. "How many?"

"Too many," he said as he looked away for a brief moment. "Fifteen dead, seven injured so severely that they will never recover, and ten more that weren't injured, but are just as fucked up as I am," he said, his voice as cold as ice now. "Is there a reason for these questions, Spectre? Are you here to be my therapist?"

"No, I'm not. I just want to understand what's going on in your head, Major," she responded solidly despite his frigid attitude.

"You can't understand! Nobody can. What I saw that day, nobody but those who witnessed it could imagine what it's like!" shouted the Major as his face warped into a mask of anger. "Not you! Not the goddamn Alliance! Nobody!"

"Corporal Richard L. Jenkins, MOS 0351, date of birth December 15th, 2161," she said firmly, her stare returning the ice that he gave her.

"Spectre, what are you…?" started the man again, but she interrupted him.

"Nihlus Kryik, fellow Special Tasks and Reconnaissance. Date of birth, 4th day of Harvest Season, 2144." As she said the name, his eyes widened slightly. "Both of them died on my watch, on the same mission because I didn't have a firm enough grasp on command, and because I wasn't moving fast enough."

He nodded solemnly. "All of them, even those who survived. Their names are etched into my mind and will never fade."

"I know, Major. I know all too well what it feels like to have those under your command die," she said as her face softened.

"I see…" he said as his own mask of stone lifted as well.

"Now, I want you to tell me what happened to the Alliance representatives who were sent to you," she ordered.

He grew stern again and sat up straight in his chair. "I'm sorry to say, Spectre, that they tried to take me from my people. They… will not be returning to the Alliance."

Nodding, the commander's eyes narrowed again. "Your people. You mean the biotic commune?"

"Yes, MY people," he growled at her.

"Do you love your people, Major?" asked Shepard sharply, catching the man by surprise.

"Of course! They are my children! I would do anything for them!" he snapped back, slamming his fist on the arm of his chair.

"Then do your people a favor and exit the compound with your hands raised," she commanded, cutting him off as he tried to speak again. "Because you and I both know that someone has to pay for what happened to those Alliance representatives," she said, noticing that he had gone quiet. "I'm making you a deal, Major. Come out quietly, and you will go back to the Alliance. If you do not take these terms, then you will be forcing me to enter the compound and bring you out myself. And I assure you that you will not get the same response from me that you did from those Alliance reps."

"Alright! Don't do anything rash!" he shouted as he began breathing heavily. He looked around the room as if lost in thought for a moment before finally meeting her gaze again. "Alright, Spectre, you win. I will surrender myself in exactly one hour. You must give me the chance to explain to them!"

She nodded and held up a single finger. "You have one hour, Major. A minute longer and I'll be coming through the front door, ready to take you by force."

"You won't have to worry about that. I love my people, and do not want to see them hurt. I… I don't know if I could take it again," he said solemnly as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. "One hour, Spectre."

Brig - SSV Normandy SR1

Her footsteps echoed through the empty halls of the brig as she moved sharply through the wide hallway. The only time they'd ever had to use this area of the ship had been for the survivors of the Cerberus base. But it seemed that its necessity was growing with every step. She highly doubted it but wouldn't be surprised if they soon had to drag Saren down here kicking and screaming.

As she finally approached the cell, she opened the door as the guards nodded to her respectfully. Stepping inside, she stared down at the man with a glare. "On your feet, Major!" she snapped.

The man looked up at her and stood up slowly, his arms crossed his chest as he did. "I've complied with your orders, Spectre. You were very forthcoming previously when we talked, I don't exactly understand the attitude you have now that I'm your prisoner."

She gave him a long, hard stare, wondering if he had set this set up as some kind of contingency plan. "Exactly thirty minutes ago, a group of biotic extremists kidnapped the head of the Alliance Parliamentary Subcommittee for Transhuman Studies," she said angrily. "I suppose you had nothing to do with that, huh?"

His eyes widened as he raised his hands defensively. "I didn't call anyone, I swear!"

"I know you didn't, Major. We had a scrambler active as soon as we entered the system. You couldn't have called anyone!" she said as she pointed at him. "But I know how cults work. And they often have contingency plans for just this sort of occasion!"

"You must believe me, Spectre! I have no idea about any of this!" he said frantically as he raised his hands higher. "I know the Alliance. They do not negotiate with terrorists, so it would have done me no good to set this kind of thing up!" he said, his arms sagging slightly. "And, my group was not a cult, Shepard. We were a family. A true family."

"A family who kills two Alliance officers that were sent to help you," she growled before snorting. "Fine. Let's say you had nothing to do with this. Could this be a response from your group regardless? Some of them couldn't have been happy that we took you off Presrop."

He shook his head lightly, but then looked at the ground, deep in thought. After a moment, he met her eyes again. "Spectre, I do not know if my people are responsible. But I know how we can find out."

"Explain," she ordered, crossing her own arms now.

"Was the kidnap of Martin captured on vid?" he asked, his arms finally falling to his sides.

"You know his name?" she asked, her eyebrow raising suspiciously.

"I was the head of a biotic family that needed help, Spectre. I didn't decide to join them to make a clubhouse on a backwoods moon at the ass end of the galaxy," he said wryly as he put his hands on his hips. "I spoke and had meetings with Mister Burns many times. He… had trouble taking me seriously."

"I see. So, this may be less revenge for you, and more them reacting desperately," she said as she rubbed her chin gently.

"Perhaps. They may believe that without me there to guide them, they will no longer have a voice," he said as he shook his head. "But there's only one way I'll know if it's my group or not. I need to see his capture."

She stared at him long and hard for a moment before finally sighing and raising her omni-tool. "They warped the cameras as soon as they entered the building. This is all they got," she said as she opened the video feed. The clip was only fifteen seconds long, but she saw his brows furrow as he saw the helmeted men look up at the camera, then reach up with one arm before the feed went dark. "Well?"

Inhaling deeply, the man let his breath out as he looked up to her. "Not one of mine, but I know who it is," he said, getting a wide-eyed stare from her. "Months ago, a small group that used to stay with us on Presrop grew frustrated and felt that I wasn't moving fast enough in getting them reparations, as well as help. They left the compound, and I hadn't heard from them since… until now."

"Names?" she asked as she faced him fully.

Letting out a tired sigh, he nodded. "Kyle McKinley…"

CIC - SSV Normandy SR1

She watched the video again. Shortly after her talk with the Major down in the brig, a video had surfaced from the same spectre source that had posted about the missing specialist. The video was a short one, featuring the same masked figures that had been caught on the camera before now standing, faceless behind their helmets, before a kneeling Martin Burns. She felt chills go down her spine because of how eerily similar this was to the execution videos that batarian extremists used to put out into the public. Alliance soldiers, on their knees, often on a world that had no oxygen or atmosphere. They would remove their helmets and watch them die slowly, then cut the eyes from their heads as an insult.

She frowned as she saw the men in the video lined up almost exactly like those batarian extremists, all faceless, all holding weapons, and all taking that rigid, militaristic stance. She had to wonder to herself if they were just trying to be intimidating or if they actually intended to act out one of those videos. But she knew she had to cut the head off this snake before it struck. Turning from the video, she eyed Joker in the cockpit. "How are we doing?"

"Greico just found them with the scanners. Looks like they're still on the ship they used to kidnap him," came the pilot's voice over the comm.

"Good. Barret, I want that ship shut down as soon as we're in range. Make sure their O2 supply and pressure are still intact, but I specifically want you to turn off the gravity on my signal. Understand?" she asked, getting a thumbs up from the man. "Now, Tanaka, get me a feed on that ship. If you can, to the clown who's talking in the video."

"Already on it, Spectre," said the man. Within minutes, the Normandy had snuck up on the drifting ship and disabled it. As soon as its engines shut down, Tanaka had linked the Normandy into their comm system itself. "You're on speaker, Spectre!"

Smirking at the man's talent, she nodded. "This is Jane Shepard with the Citadel Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. We have seized and have full control of your ship."

"Yeah, I fucking saw that. And if you don't unseize them, I'm going to put a bullet right between this crybaby's eyes," growled a voice from the comm.

"No, you're not, and here's why," she said as she leaned into the comm. "You're going to connect your airlock to mine, and I'm going to board your ship. As soon as I do, you are going to release Mister Burns onto the Normandy. And I will take his place as your hostage." As soon as the words left her mouth, everyone in the CIC turned and stared at her incredulously.

"Shepard, you can't seriously-" started Pressly as he approached her. But she held up a finger, stopping him mid-sentence.

"And why the hell would I allow that?" he asked, his tone changed from threatening to almost laughing.

"Because the man you're threatening right now is an office worker. The Alliance can replace him in seconds, and not give it a second thought. But they'd sure as hell take you more seriously with their only Spectre captive, now wouldn't they?"

The comm was quiet for a moment before the man from before spoke again. "Alright cupcake, you wanna stroll in here and become my prized chess piece, then that's fine by me. But our trigger fingers are a bit on edge today, so don't do anything stupid," he finished before Shepard stepped back from the console.

She stepped down from the galaxy map in full armor and moved towards the airlock. "Joker, bring us in for docking," she ordered as she stood before the airlock and secured her helmet on her head.

Joker turned around in his seat and frowned at her. "Alright, Shepard, I know this may be seen as insubordination, but I have a list of reasons why this is a stupid idea."

"Commander, let me go for you," said Ash as she stepped up and stopped the woman.

"Everyone knock it off!" shouted Shepard as she turned to look at them all. "I know you're trying to look out for me…"

"Trying to look out for my paycheck. You know I got a raise when I became the permanent pilot for the Normandy," said Joker, getting a playful glare from her.

"Jane…" came Liara's voice as she stepped up as well.

Shepard looked at her and sighed heavily. "You've come to stop me too?"

But the asari shook her head, a worried look in her eyes. "Just… stay safe. I know you can handle this, but we all care about you and don't want to see something happen," she said as she folded her hands behind her back. "Be careful."

Shepard stared at her for a moment through her visor, then looked around at everyone else who was now looking between the two of them. "I will. Don't worry," she said as she turned around again. "Barret, have your finger on the trigger," she ordered as she looked back. The man fist pumped the air before spinning around back into his seat, much to her amusement.

"Alright, fine. You wanna throw yourself into danger, don't call the cripple to come drag you out cuz I forgot my cane in the barracks," he said as he spun back around to pilot the ship. It had only taken a few minutes to line up the airlocks.

Shepard eyed him curiously. "That was quick."

"Of course it was. The ship is dead weight right now, so I didn't have to fight anyone else's inferior flying skills," he said, getting a chuckle out of her as she turned back to the door. By now, everyone else had gone back to their stations, all of them aiming worried glances at her.

But finally, the decontamination airlock had opened. Shepard stepped inside and heard the door slam closed behind her. As soon as the equalization process was finished, the front opened, and she walked through the small tunnel until she reached the other ship's airlock, which was already open for her. Stepping inside, the chamber was much smaller than the Normandy's. But then, the ship was a quarter of her size as well.

After the process finished again, the door opened and there were five figures there pointing pistols at her. "Alright, now don't you move-"

"Let him go now. I'll stand wherever you want me to stand but hold up your end of the deal or this gets ugly," she threatened menacingly as she put her hands on her hips.

The men looked at each other momentarily, then looked over at the man on his knees. Unlike in the video where he had been wearing little more than his office clothing, the worn-out looking man now had on a pressurized space suit. The leader jerked his head towards the airlock, and two of the men holstered their pistols before grabbing him and shoving him into the airlock.

Once the door closed, the leader looked towards the spectre again, his pistol raised. "Now, you're going to get over there, and get on your knees. We've got a new vid to film for the Alliance."

Before she moved anywhere, the commander eyed him through her helmet. "You know, these are pretty tight hallways. You don't want to fight with your biotics here, because one little mix of biotics spells hull rupture," she said, getting confused looks from them all.

"What the hell are you-" started the man again, but he inhaled sharply as she spoke over him.

"Barret, now," she ordered. Her spider boots activated immediately a loud thump was heard throughout the ship. Suddenly, all five of the biotic soldiers began drifting off the ground, some flailing wildly to try and regain their balance. The leader tried to aim his weapon, but the heat sinks flew from all of their weapons before he could pull the trigger as Shepard hit them with a cyber-attack.

Growling to himself, he lit up with biotics. "Traitorous bitch!" he shouted, but she held up her hand with her omni-tool lit and stunned him with an electrical shock.

"Remember what I said, moron. If you want to fly out into oblivion for eternity, then go ahead and try using your biotics," she growled as she pulled a concealed turian-style knife from her omni-tool strap and grabbed him sharply before jamming it into his helmet. The hiss of escaping atmosphere sounded before she shoved him back to continue spinning down the cargo area of the ship.

She repeated the process several more times until each of their suits was breached by the blade. As she tossed the last of them away, she felt herself lift off the ground as dark energy enveloped her. "Got you now!" shouted the leader, who managed to anchor himself to the ceiling with a cargo strap.

"Barret," she started as she glared at the leader.

"Yes, Spectre?" asked the man from the Normandy.

"If this asshole uses his biotics, or puts up a fight one more time, I want you to vent the atmosphere from the ship," she ordered, her eyes now locked onto his.

The leader's smug smirk vanished as his eyes turned to look at the slice in his face shield. He now knew what game she was playing. "Just to clarify, the forced decompression will damage the bridge between the ships."

"Then we'll pick their bodies up with the shuttle," she said threateningly as she continued to stare at the leader. "So, the look on your face says you know exactly what will happen if he follows that order," she said, pushing herself back to the ground where her spider boots locked again now that the biotic energy was gone.

"You were gonna space us?" he asked, incredulously.

"Only if you did anything stupid. But you're not stupid, are you?" she asked as she began walking towards his upside-down form. His face stared at her incredulously as she approached, her knife now long gone again. "You're actually really smart, Kyle. Flew through primary and secondary education, built your own aircar by the time you were sixteen, graduated with top marks in mechanical engineering," she said his eyes widening as his history was told back to him. "You're not stupid, you're just desperate."

"You don't know the half of it," he growled at her.

"I do, actually. As a matter of fact, I have an L2 on my crew," she said as she waved her hand dismissively. "I know what kind of things L2's have had to go through. And I know that you deserved, and still deserve better." Suddenly, his glare softened. "I also know how politicians have their heads so far up their own asses that if we pulled them free, they'd need methane masks just to survive."

She could tell that he tried to hold back, but he couldn't hide the smirk on his face. "So, what then? You gonna arrest me? Take the scary biotic back to the Alliance so they can fuck my head some more?" he asked, wiping his former grin away.

"No," she said with her hands on her hips. "I'm going to take Mister Burns on my ship back to Alliance Space, and you're going to take your ship back to Presrop."

"Presrop? What do you know…" he started, but stopped as his glare darkened. "You're the one who got to Kyle?"

"That's right. He's going back to the Alliance to face justice for the Alliance representatives that he killed. And you are going back to take his place. You're going to gather the biotics there and wait for me as I put so much pressure on the Alliance that their testicles will explode," she said as she stared at him firmly. "You will reform this little cult that Kyle had running and turn it into a legitimate group that does things the right way."

"And what makes you think that they'll cave to you?" he asked, the bite from his tone now all but gone.

"Let's just say that the Alliance aren't the perfect little angels that they try to say they are. I know how to push buttons to get things done." She finally stood before him, staring into his upside-down eyes as she shrugged. "So, what's it gonna be? Go back to your family, and turn them around for the better? Or continue to kidnap and threaten? Because I can assure you, if we have this meeting again, I will not be making any offers."

His brows furrowed under the breached mask before he finally let out a sigh. "Alright, Spectre. You've got a deal."

CIC - SSV Normandy SR1

After she had reboarded the Normandy, Joker detached the tunnel that led the other ship and set them to drift away. As soon as they were a good distance from each other, the biotics' ship was released, and it immediately headed for the nearby relay. Shepard watched it go through the cockpit's open viewport.

When it was finally gone, she turned around and headed down the walkway to the galaxy map before being stopped by a frantic Martin Burns. His helmet now gone, he reached out and grabbed her arm, practically crying as he did. "Thank you, Spectre! Thank you! I thought I was dead!"

But his crying stopped as she glared down at him with ice colder than the terran arctic. "With how you've been dragging your feet on getting these people what they need, I sometimes wonder whether you'd be better off dead or not," she said, causing the man to release her. Everyone on the bridge watched silently as she stepped over his now cowering form. "Get on your feet!" she shouted, surprising those closest around her.

Kaidan stepped up behind Shepard as well, his stony look meaning the man wasn't getting any sympathy from him either. "The Spectre gave you an order, Burns," he said coldly.

The man stood back up on his shaky legs and looked back and forth between the glaring pair. "We're going to take you back to Alliance space so you can sit your lazy ass in your comfy chair again. But the thing is, I have zero tolerance for politicians who sit around and do nothing but abuse their position. So, you're going to go back to your department with Lieutenant Alenko here, and you're going to get these people the help they need," she said as she stepped into his personal space, making him back against the hull. "And if the Lieutenant here detects any kind of bullshit from you, or any sandbagging, he's going to come to me. And if he does, you better pray those biotics get ahold of you again before I do. Do I make myself clear?" she asked, her no-nonsense tone so anger-filled that she could swear she felt flames shooting from her nose.

"Y-Yes, of course Spectre!" he snapped as he stood straight. His face morphed from terrified to what she surprisingly read as guilty. "I… I didn't realize… I just took the job so I could add more to my resume. I didn't realize that these people were this desperate!" he said defensively.

But this time, Kaidan stepped forward, his dark eyes now locked onto the man. "Of course you didn't realize it. You weren't looking to help people; you were looking out for yourself. And it took them putting a gun to your head to finally open your damn eyes," he growled, his muscular arms folded over his chest. "Follow me to the crew quarters. Tyson will find you a room while you're aboard. After we get back to Arcturus, you and I are gonna become very close friends," he said before grabbing the man by his collar and leading him away from the CIC.

CODEX ENTRIES

Sandbagging | Translation | English and Galactic Common
A common phrase among humans used to describe someone who intentionally drags something out. Whether it’s work, a project, or something they need to do in daily life, sandbagging indicates that the person in question is intentionally lengthening and procrastinating finishing whatever it is that needs done.

Chapter 39: Noveria

Chapter Text

Captain's Quarters - SSV Normandy SR1

"I... I can't…" gasped Liara as she squinted down at Ashley through her dark, mysterious eyes. Her hand was locked on their head, her biotics lit as she tried and tried to scan, but through gritted teeth and pure frustration, they managed to hold out. Finally, the asari let go of the human with a tired sigh.

Shepard released the woman, who collapsed onto the floor, sweating and panting heavily, but not without a grin on her face. "Haaah... the Lieutenant gets to vacation on Arcturus, and I get brain probed by an alien," said Ash as she rolled onto her back. "I'm calling you out for favoritism, Shepard."

The spectre chuckled and stood to her feet, flexing her legs to work out the soreness that had been accumulated by locking the gunnery chief's wildness in place. "Congratulations, Williams. You've successfully fought off an invasion of the mind for the first time," she said as she slumped back in the chair next to her table.

"First time?" asked the woman as she stared at the upside-down form of Shepard questioningly.

Nodding, the commander picked up the small, chrome-looking orb on her desk and rolled it around in her palm. "Just because you did it once doesn't mean you're good at it. It's like every other skill, Williams. Practice begets perfection," she said with a playful smile as the chief groaned, then finally sat up.

Turning, Ash eyed the curious little object that the redhead now wielded while the asari took a seat on the bed to regain her composure. "I'm getting the feeling you just like watching us suffer," she said playfully to the woman before she nodded towards the small orb. "Is that what the consort gave you? Every figure out what it is?"

Shepard looked down at the small, palm-sized sphere and shrugged. "Not entirely, no," she said as she held it up for closer inspection. "Me and Liara think it's a prothean… something. But all I've managed to get it to do is show me a vision of a world I know next to nothing about."

Ash cocked an eyebrow as Liara planted her elbows on her knees, and her chin directly in her hands. "Unfortunately, all we have is visual images to go by. There's no other information besides what the world's surface and what its system looks like."

Nodding, the chief eyed the object curiously. "You know, I did have an interest in extrasolar worlds when I was younger. Maybe I can help?"

"Unfortunately, it appears that Shepard is the only one who can use the device," said Liara as the commander handed it to the chief. "Whether it's because it was her gift, or some other unknown…" started the doctor, but she sat up straight as Ash clenched the object and the surface rippled.

Suddenly, Ash found herself on the surface of a world, staring around at jagged, sharp mountains. She immediately recognized that these mountains were new, not weathered by time yet. Then she noticed… green snow. Or it looked like snow considering how it flew around in the air as if it were a storm. But these were plant-like organisms instead. Immediately, she inhaled sharply, her sinuses already itching at the thought of breathing them in.

But nothing happened. Instead, she looked around some more and noticed that the ground wasn't covered in the normal flora of most garden worlds. Instead, this was more moss and algae-like than the large, leafy plants of Earth and Eden Prime. Suddenly, her feet vanished from under her, and she found herself now staring at the world. It was… green. Greener than Earth had ever likely been. The landmasses were enormous, covering a large majority of the planet, making the soft blue of the waters look green even in comparison.

Then, she zoomed out again, and saw the system itself. She got a glimpse of four planets in total, one with rings orbiting around it, all circulating around a yellow dwarf sun, very similar to Earth's.

Finally, she found herself sitting on the floor of the cabin with both Shepard and Liara staring at her wide-eyed. "Did… did you just…?" asked Liara with a stupefied look on her face.

Ash nodded and looked back down at the orb. "Yeah, I saw it." Reaching up, she handed the orb back to the commander.

"How!?" asked the asari as she stood up, almost outraged. Reaching over, she took the device from Shepard and glared at it, getting a chuckle from the spectre. "Show me damn you! Why won't you show me!?"

"Well, if you look at common ground, we're both human," said Ash, who got a surprised look from the doctor.

Liara plopped onto the bed again, her brain looking like it was running hot inside her head. "But… that would mean…" she started as she stared questioningly at the odd device.

"We had prothean ruins on Mars, so we know they knew about us. Maybe they only programmed this device to respond to human DNA?" said Shepard thoughtfully as she played off Ash's idea.

"Given that they built the Citadel, relays, and pretty much laid the groundwork for our entire civilization, I wouldn't put it past them to have that kind of tech," said Ash as she propped her elbows up on her knees.

"But… you don't understand. That has vast implications, the least of which is the fact that if it were true, it would mean that the protheans intended these to be in human hands! And that opens up so many more questions than it answers!" Liara groaned in exasperation as she plopped onto the bed again.

"Well, we can always test it with the other crew members," said the chief with a shrug.

Liara's head whipped towards her, surprising her slightly as her eyes narrowed. Getting up from the bed, the asari bent down and placed her hands on Ash's shoulders. "Gunnery Chief, did I not already have vested interest in someone else, I would kiss you for that," she said before standing up and practically sprinting from the room, leaving a laughing Shepard and a fiercely blushing Williams.

Mess Hall - SSV Normandy SR1

"So, it's true! Joker, XO Pressly, Engineer Adams, Tyson, Greico, Gladstone, and Pakti were all able to recount the vision with no prior knowledge! But none of the turian fire team, Garrus, Wrex, nor myself had any reaction at all! This… this is incredible!" she practically shouted as she stared wide-eyed at the orb that now sat on the table in front of her.

Joker shook his head from across the table. "I don't get it. Is it asking you to go to the planet?"

Liara shook her head as she continued to stare at the chrome surface of the object. "It's more likely that it's kind of a homing beacon, telling the user the origin of the object."

"That means that whatever planet it's on has an undiscovered prothean ruin on it, right?" asked Ash as she bit into a hash brown.

"That is probable. The only other circumstances on which I could fathom this thing would point humans to the planet is if they took early humans from Earth there for experimentation. We already know that they took other creatures from different worlds, so it wouldn't surprise me if they did this with humans as well," she said as she poked the small orb.

"So those reports of alien probing were true?" asked Joker as he cocked an eyebrow.

"No Joker," said Shepard as she shook her head with a smile. "The protheans were wiped out over fifty thousand years ago. Those alien probe stories came from the last couple hundred years. There weren't any protheans alive when those claims came up."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Those descriptions of aliens were startlingly similar to salarians though."

"And our relay was closed and covered in ice before the First Contact War. They wouldn't have been able to jump to our system," said Kaidan playfully. "Those people were just delusional. It was a pure coincidence that they managed to guess some of the features from salarians."

"Fine fine. But I've got my eye on them," said the pilot accusingly, getting a chuckle from everyone around.

Liara lifted the orb up and finally handed it back to Shepard. "I suppose we won't know until we've found the planet it belongs to," she said as her omni-tool pinged. She looked down at it curiously, knowing that very few people had her number. Reaching down, she opened the message, and her eyes widened as she read it. Getting up, she fled to her room with many curious looks following her.

Mess Hall - SSV Normandy SR1

After the gathering in the mess hall had died down, Shepard retreated to her quarters. She sighed as the terminal now sat on the stand next to her bed, which was little more than a cot. She'd have to get a new table eventually. Sighing, she sat down on the bed and reached over, putting the terminal in her lap.

Opening the Spectre Channel, she noticed she had several personal mails and a couple spectre notifications. She immediately checked the spectre notes, one of them pointing out an odd amount of unidentified traffic heading towards the Armstrong Nebula. Apparently when they were hailed by local watchdogs, they stayed silent. "Maybe smugglers, but they don't travel in packs. It draws too much attention…" she said as she scratched her head gently. "Raiders?"

She put the thoughts aside and checked the next mail, a warning from the UNE's Interpol. The Children of Eden had gone dark. Most of the commonly known churches that they attended were abandoned and the known 'people of interest' being watched by Interpol suddenly disappeared from the radar. Her brows furrowed at the idea that this religious cult now had no eyes on it. But she wouldn't be able to investigate just yet. Perhaps Interpol would ask for her assistance later due to her experience with them.

Finally, she opened her personal mail and saw that it was sent by another admiral from the Alliance. It was Hackett again, and she sighed heavily. "Does he think I'm some kind of errand girl?" she asked as she read the body of the mail. "An Alliance satellite recently went dark?" she asked with a sigh. "How many things is Earth going to lose while I'm not there to keep track of them?" Annoyed slightly, she read the last part of the mail where Hackett asked for her to call him to discuss the satellite in question. She went to activate her omni-tool when her door suddenly opened. Looking up, she noticed the silhouette of Liara standing there. "Liara?"

"Jane, I got it!" she said as she stepped inside, the light now illuminating her figure. But she seemed to realize what she had just done and backed against the door. "I… I'm sorry. I should have knocked."

"Yes, you should have," said Shepard as she closed down the Spectre Network on the terminal. It had been facing away from the asari, so no information was in danger of being seen, but she still stared at the asari sternly as she set it aside. "Now, what is it that you've got?"

Lowering her head in shame, Liara activated her omni-tool and brought up a data file that was little more than a list of lengthy numbers. "My mother's project, the one that she was funding!" she said, her voice still excited as she looked from the data to the commander. "M-May I enter?"

Nodding, Shepard eyed her curiously. "I thought C-Sec were still investigating those. How did you figure it out?" she asked, slightly surprised by the asari.

Liara walked over and sat down on the bed next to Shepard before bringing up the data again. "I… umm… pulled some strings, so to speak. As it turns out, when my mother pulled her presence out of Thessia, she had burned a lot of bridges. Thessian corporate partners saw their investments from her dry up, creating a lot of angry and resentful asari," she said as she focused on the file and brought up all the payments from the T'Soni estate that had been pulled as a result of her mother's exit. Shepard smirked at how animated the doctor was. She appeared to be glowing with excitement as she relayed the information. "When I went searching after them to see if they had any answers, they almost immediately threw their full cooperation into helping me."

Shepard cocked an eyebrow curiously. "Why's that? Even if they are for profit, I don't see many corporations offering free services for the sake of revenge."

Liara sighed and lowered the omni-tool as she looked at her hands. "I wondered the same for a long while after receiving their help. I thought that maybe they were doing it because they felt sorry for me. But…" she said as she looked up to Shepard with a sad expression. "I took a page from your book. I investigated them thoroughly. And it appears that a lot of these companies had grown too comfortable with the funds received from the T'Soni estate. They relied on them. Now, they're trying to stay afloat while slowly sinking."

"Oh, so…" started Shepard, but Liara finished for her.

"Due to the laws on Thessia, anyone seen as an enemy of the Council are declared soksoa. Basically, they are treated as if they had died. They lose all rights to property, all rights to titles, and so on. So, in the case of my mother's demise, her estate would have passed onto me," she said as she fidgeted gently.

"So, they want you to save them? They want you to rebuild the bridges that your mother burned?" asked Shepard, getting a nod.

"I am now, by Thessian law, the head of the T'Soni estate. And my mother couldn't just liquidate the assets on the estate. Any and all money she took with her was from her personal accounts. The estate is still very wealthy but is currently in a state of flux without the next yranessa there to guide them. So, yes. I fully expect them to request new contracts with the estate once I take full control," she said as she looked up at the commander sharply.

Shepard eyed the asari curiously. "When would that be?"

"It's a relatively short process, so I was hoping that after we chase this potential lead, we could visit asari space briefly in order to sort that out. It would be a short affair, I promise, and I wouldn't need to stay long to get everything taken care of. A few days at most," she said as she peeked over at the commander hopefully.

Shepard managed to chuckle slightly at the pleading woman before nodding. "As long as we don't have anything else on the ticket, I don't have any issues with you getting your affairs in order, Liara," said the woman as she smiled.

"Thank you, Jane. That means a lot to me," she said as she brought up the omni-tool again. "In any case, while I didn't expect them to find out much, I did get a surprising bit of information that may be valuable! When I contacted the info brokers about what we were looking for, I gave them a temporary top clearance status so that the security from the estate wouldn't try and halt them. And the only thing they managed to figure out was that the payments were being sent to the corporate owned colony world first discovered by the salarians known as Noveria."

Scratching her hair gently, Shepard ran the name through her head. "I've heard of it. Had a lot of white-collar criminals I was chasing head that way because it's out of Alliance jurisdiction. It's purely run by corporations.

"Specifically, the one that charters the colony itself is the Noveria Development Corporation. But, after some investigation, I found out that the NDC is comprised of a majority of the same board members that run Binary Helix," said the asari as she opened up the dossiers on the owners.

Shepard's eyes widened slightly at the revelation before she smirked and leaned forward. "You're really good at this information game, Liara."

The asari smiled weakly as she looked away in embarrassment. "It's not that difficult when you have someone as skilled as you to learn from, Jane. I know you've mostly only stuck to Alliance contacts prior to becoming a Spectre, but my family has a lot of connections that can be used when needed," she said as she looked back up to the spectre. "I hope you know that I will do whatever it takes to assist you."

"I know, Liara. And I thank you for your loyalty," said the commander as she reached up and gently stroked the side of the asari's crest. Liara let out an almost exhausting sigh as she felt the small amount of affection. "Come on. Let's get the navigation team to take us to Noveria so we can find out what's going on there."

Port Hanshan Air Space - Noveria

"Contacting Approach Control now," responded Lowe as she nodded to Joker. "Contact."

"Approach Control, this is the SSV Normandy SR-1, requesting vector and berth," said Joker over the comm.

"Normandy, your arrival was not scheduled. Our defense grid is tracking you. State your business," responded the port authority.

Joker raised an eyebrow and looked back at Shepard, who stood over his shoulder already fully armored. "Citadel business. We have a Council Spectre aboard," he said, making a mocking face at the comm.

There was a long moment of silence before the man responded, this time with his voice more annoyed than threatening. "Landing access granted, Normandy. Be advised: we will be confirming the Spectre's identification on arrival. If confirmation cannot be established, your vessel will be impounded," said the man before the comm finally unlinked.

"Wowee, not even there yet and you've already pissed someone off, Shepard. Is that a new record?" he asked as he looked back at her curiously. She snorted in amusement before he shook his head. "Sounds like a fun bunch you got here, Shepard. Want me to break out the good neighbor gift basket for them? Maybe it'll make them loosen their tighty whities."

"Ha!" laughed Wrex from behind them all.

Pushing down her laughter, but keeping her smile, she shook her head. "I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to get answers," she said as she crossed her arms.

"Wouldn't wanna be in their shoes," groaned Joker as he took the Normandy on the vector course and steered it into the dock.

Docking Bay CR12 - Port Hanshan - Noveria

Despite her excitement in giving the information, Shepard noticed that Liara was rather nervous as she stepped into the airlock, but she understood why. Her mother's pet project, whatever she was working on here, could answer a lot of questions as to why the matriarch had suddenly turned against the Council and began working for Saren. She knew that if her own mother was the one they were looking into, she wouldn't exactly be ecstatic about approaching potential proof of treason either.

As the decontamination process finished, she turned to them all, with Liara next to her and Wrex and Tali behind her. "As some of you may have seen when we entered their air space, they do not like us here. They don't want us here. And they will do anything they can to get rid of us or slow our progress until we finally leave. But we're not leaving. Not until we find out what Benezia was doing here and see if it has any connection with Saren. So, I'm asking you all to stick close to me so that you can't get cornered and let me do the talking."

"Fine with me. Talking is a waste of time anyway," said Wrex as he rolled his shoulders impatiently.

"Well, I find it unlikely that Port Authority would openly invite a firefight with a Spectre intentionally. Even a place as secluded as this is still under Spectre jurisdiction. So, it's likely we'll only be talking here. But be ready. I don't want to be caught off guard," she said as she turned back towards the door. Finally, the process finished, and the door opened.

The four of them walked down the walkway, as Shepard felt the cold already biting into the skin of her face. They had barriers and heat sources to keep the snow from building up on the port, but the cold itself couldn't be suppressed so easily. As they entered the first checkpoint, a woman of Asian descent in armor from the neck down stopped her in her tracks. "That's far enough," she responded firmly.

"I'm on important business. Can we make this quick?" asked Shepard as she stared back into the woman's soft brown eyes.

"I'm sorry, but this is an unscheduled arrival. I'll need your credentials," said the woman, her tone ringing of no-nonsense. Despite her firm demeanor, Shepard couldn't help but feel she was just doing her job. Normally, corporations didn't send their more cooperative units to meet with unscheduled investigations. Then Shepard's eyes moved over to the blonde woman next to her. Smirking slightly, she saw the hardened, icy stare appropriate for a cold corporate world like Noveria. Dealing with her was going to be fun. The woman turned to Liara and nodded. "I'm Branch Captain Maeko Matsuo. May I have your identification, Spectre?"

Liara stared at the bun-haired woman for a moment, her eyes widening before she turned to Shepard. Taking the cue, Shepard stepped forward and opened her omni-tool. "The Spectre you're looking for is right here."

Maeko turned to the redhead and stared at her in surprise. "You? But…" she said, slightly confused as she looked back to Liara.

"Bullshit. There are no human Spectres. Let's kick their ass off the port for lying," said the blonde woman as she took a step forward threateningly. Immediately, three guns were all aimed at her from everyone but Shepard herself. The woman stopped, her brow furrowing in anger as she found herself the target of many weapons.

"Nobody move!" snapped Matsuo as she turned and glared at her crony. "Sergeant Sterling stand down! You three…" she said as she looked at the spectre's crew. "Stand down."

Wrex snorted, but the three of them finally lowered their weapons. "Might wanna watch your mouth, Sterling was it?" asked Shepard as she stared into the woman's blue eyes. "My crew takes threats against me very seriously."

"That will not be necessary… Spectre. Please show me your identification," snapped the branch captain. Shepard nodded, then passed her Citadel ID along. Once she had it, she pressed the small earpiece in her ear. "Parasini-san, we need confirmation on the identity of Spectre Jane Shepard," said the woman, still looking up at Shepard.

The Spectre returned her stare, smirking slightly at the annoyance in Stirling's gaze about being dismissed. "So, Branch Captain, you are with ERCS, correct?"

"That's none of your damn business," snapped Stirling as she clenched her weapon.

"I don't recall asking you, Sergeant," said Shepard as she eyed the woman, never losing her smirk. "Do you make a habit of speaking for your captain?" she asked the woman.

Maeko turned and glared at Stirling before finally looking back at Shepard. "Yes, we are with Elanus Risk Control Services."

"So, if I find out that another corporation here is working against ERCS's best interest, what would you do if I were to eliminate it?" asked Shepard curiously.

"There will be no eliminating here, Spectre. Assuming you are who you say you are, I'd advise you to keep your nose clean. We are running things fine here without the Citadel Authority stepping in to take matters into their own hands," she said as she looked at the commander in annoyance. A moment later, she appeared to get a response as she placed her finger against her ear again. Shepard smiled as the woman nodded. "Alright. Turns out you're clear," she said with a sigh. "Your weapons are to be holstered at all times. And please keep your squad from wandering. Oh…" she said, giving Shepard a nod. "And congratulations, Spectre."

Jane's eyebrows rose in curiosity before she smiled at the woman. "Thank you, Captain. You're a good soldier. Don't let these corporate types corrupt you," she offered as her eyes briefly looked over to Stirling.

Simply bowing her head, Maeko pointed at the main entrance to the building. "Parasini-san will be waiting for you at the front desk. Please speak to her before you proceed."

Acknowledging the woman's words, Shepard nodded to the others, who tucked their weapons away before they all made their way inside. "Heh, good start. I think I'm gonna like it here."

"That makes one of us. Ugh…" groaned Tali as she looked around at all the people waiting in the lobby. Many of them wore fancy suits and stared at her as they all passed. "Can't wait to get out of here."

Liara stayed silent as Shepard approached the front desk. She was immediately met by a woman with a silken-looking red dress wearing her hair up in another business-like bun. "I'm Gianna Parasini, assistant to Administrator Anoleis," she said in a pleasant tone. "We apologize for the incident in the docking bay."

Brushing the occurrence aside, Shepard shrugged. "Not a big deal. I've dealt with worse."

Nodding, the assistant picked up a datapad and gave Shepard a cute smile. "One of my duties here is the orientation of new arrivals. Obviously, you won't be put through the typical question and answer process. But if you need to ask any questions, I'd answer them to the best of my abilities."

Nodding, Shepard leaned onto the counter, trying to appear relaxed. "First, I want you to be aware that I'm not here to step on any toes. Whatever the corporate vampires are doing here with their money isn't my concern."

"Many of our board will be happy to hear that. But that does beg the question as to why you are here," said the woman, her tone no less pleasant than before.

"I'm investigating a financial transaction from a Thessian source to somewhere here on Noveria," stated the spectre plainly.

The woman smiled even brighter. "Oh, that should be easy! Though, to get any kind of information on what was being purchased, you will have to contact to project leads yourself. But I can tell you where to go!" she said eagerly.

Shepard eyed the woman, curious as to why she was being so cooperative. Pushing the thoughts aside, she simply stated, "Then what can you tell me about the transaction coming from the T'Soni Estate on Thessia?"

The woman nodded and typed on her datapad for a moment before her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Lady Benezia! What a coincidence! She happened to stop in a few days ago, so you can ask her directly!" said the woman excitedly.

Shepard and Liara's eyes both widened at the words. "She's here? Now?" asked Liara almost desperately.

But the woman shook her head. "Not here in Hanshan, I'm afraid. Upon arriving, she headed up to the Peak 15 laboratory and hasn't been back since. But if you're going up there, you should run into her," said the woman as she looked back up at them curiously. "Unfortunately, as you saw coming in here, the storm outside is pretty heavy, so any movement outside is limited to ground vehicles."

"Good to know," said Shepard as she tapped her finger on the desk. "How do I go about getting to Peak 15?"

"Oh, you'll have to speak with the Administrator first and get authorized for a garage pass. If you'll come with me, I can take you to his office," she said as she stepped out from around the desk and guided them towards the elevator.

"Shepard," started Liara, getting the spectre's attention as the others headed inside the open elevator. Jane stared at her curiously as the asari fidgeted madly. "You… you must want to talk to me. About my mother, I mean."

Shepard reached forward and gripped Liara's fidgeting hands, keeping her from the nervous habit. Liara looked up into Shepard's green eyes with her own. "Liara, we've been through a lot together. You've seen some of the worst things I've had to endure, and I've seen you working your rear end off trying to help me," she said with a gentle smile. "I trust you."

Liara grinned happily, trying not to break her gaze away as her skin flushed slightly. "Thank you, Shepard. That means a lot to me," she said as the spectre finally released her again.

"Let's get going. Something tells me it isn't going to be as easy as asking the administrator for authorization," she said as she headed for the elevator with the doctor in her wake.

After a short ride in the elevator, enhanced by the cheerful welcome message playing from the speaker, the group followed Gianna towards a large office on the bottom floor. As they entered the smaller office in front, the assistant sat behind an elaborately decorated desk. "Anoleis is in the office just behind here. I'll go ahead and log your visit," she said as she typed away at her terminal. Shepard stood and waited for a moment as the woman opened a line. "Administrator?"

"Yes yes, what is it?" asked a rather annoyed salarian from the viewer as his face popped up on the screen.

"You have a visit from Spectre Jane Shepard. Her identity has been confirmed with Citadel sources, and she says she'd like to speak with you," said the opulent woman.

"As if I don't have enough to deal with… ugh… fine. Send her in," responded the salarian as he ended the call abruptly.

Smiling up to Shepard, Gianna nodded. "He will see you now."

Shepard turned to the others. "Wait here. I'll see what I can do," she said as she swerved around the desk and entered the door in the back. As soon as she walked in, she spotted the salarian whose skin was almost a shade of navy blue. He wore a salarian tailored suit that buttoned up in the front and was currently typing furiously away at his terminal.

Without even looking up at her, he spoke. "You will excuse me if I don't stand up. I have no time to entertain spaceborne vagabonds," he said impertinently.

Shepard's brows furrowed as she stepped forward and reached out with a single hand. He sat back in surprise as she closed the terminal he was working on with a wave of her hand. "Well, would you look at that. Looks like your schedule just opened up," she said with a smirk on her face.

"You… you ignorant chodot! Do you know how long it took me to write that report!?" he snapped at her as his fists clenched.

But she didn't take a single step back. "Now you have time to entertain me. Do so, and I'll return your report to the way it was," she said with ice dripping from her voice.

Glaring at her angrily, the Anoleis pointed at her. "You do not have the sway here that you think you have, Spectre! Corporations come here to get away from the second-guessing of galactic law. I will not allow you to harass my clients. This world is private property."

"I'm aware of how you think things work here, Administrator. You don't have the galaxy breathing down your neck as you freely study and do corporate bullshit all you like. But…" she said as she glared into his voluminous eyes. "You are still under Citadel jurisdiction, and your cooperation is needed. So, you can make this difficult for me, and I can make your life a living hell, or you can cooperate with me, and I can be out of your hair… or rather out of your way as soon as possible. Do we have an understanding?"

Snorting out of his nostrils, the angry salarian folded his hands. "Fine. I will cooperate only as much as required by the Executive Board."

Waving her hands again, the terminal popped up once more exactly the way it had been previously. He looked at it in surprise before he turned back to her smiling face. "Good. I'm glad we're on the same wavelength," she said as she stood straight and crossed her arms. "I need information on Matriarch Benezia."

Nodding in annoyance, he sighed as he sat back in his seat. "She arrived a few days ago, accompanied by a personal escort of asari commandos and some cargo. Almost as soon as she arrived, she headed up to the Peak 15 laboratories."

Nodding back, Shepard continued with the questioning. "Do you know why she came here?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be at liberty to say. She came as an executor to a board member, the Spectre Saren. I am not privy to the details," he said as he waved her question off dismissively.

Sighing heavily, Shepard reached up and scratched her head. "I know you're isolated out here, but you have to know by now that Saren has been branded a traitor by the Council. Any and all business ties he had with corporations should have been severed as soon as the report went out."

"That is something you will have to take up with the board of Binary Helix. If you plan to do so, do it off of Noveria," he snapped impatiently. "I cannot give you any more information beyond that she was here to resolve an issue at the Peak 15 labs."

"If that's the case, then I need to go see her immediately. She's under investigation by the Council for potential treason," said the woman, her tone matching his impatience.

But the salarian shook his head. "I'm afraid you can't. Peak 15 is a private facility in the Skadi Mountains. There is currently a blizzard in the region, which means shuttles are grounded, and the ground access has been cut off. You will have to wait until the blizzard ends before you can go up there to do whatever it is your kind does."

Shepard nearly growled at the statement but kept her cool as she continued. "And what can you tell me about her cargo?"

"Large, heavy, and sealed. It passed our weapons screening, so beyond that it is not my concern," he said as his fingers tapped the desk.

"You're hell bound to not give me anything to work with, aren't you?" asked Shepard angrily.