Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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“There, on the monitor,” came an unfamiliar voice.

“She’s reacting to outside stimuli… showing an awareness of her surroundings,” came another deeper voice. She felt her heartbeat in her ears, the world around her blurred with blinding light that stung as she tried to open her eyes. She didn’t know where she was, or who these people were. All she knew was that she was in danger. She tried to move her hand, but her dimmed mind felt it bound to the table. “My god, Miranda! She’s waking up!”

She exerted her strength, her stinging eyes now seeing movement as something, or someone approached her. She began to struggle against her bindings as the figure stood over her, pain washing through her entire body like fire. She saw… a woman, maybe. Turning her head, her blurred vision picked up another figure. A man, bald, staring down at her from his standing position. Her breathing picked up as she attempted to move, to get away, to get her bearings.

“Dammit Wilson, she’s not ready yet! Give her the sedative!” shouted the woman as she looked up at the man. Then she looked down at her, her features coming into view long enough for her to see them soften considerably. “Shepard, don’t try to move. Just lie still and try to stay calm.”

She didn’t know this person, but they knew her. Her voice sounded soothing, calming even. Suddenly, she felt her vision blur once more. Despite the woman’s placating words, she had to get up. She had to know where she was and who these people were.

“Heartrate still climbing. Brain activity is off the charts!” said the man worriedly as she continued to try and pull herself up from whatever she was laying on. “Stats are pushing into the red zone! It’s not working!” he growled as he turned away from a monitor and began fiddling with something hanging above her head.

The woman, now gone from her side, could be heard behind her. “Another dose. Now!”

She let out a grunt of pain as she felt lightning coursing through her veins. Her face now seared as if pressed against heated metal, the machine next to her pumping out rapid beeps as she continued to struggle. But then a wave of calmness washed over her. Her mind began to dull, and her body went limp.

“Heartrate dropping. Stats falling back into normal range,” said the man with relief in his voice. She looked up again to see the woman’s ocean blue gaze looking down at her with that same placid, calming look. “That was too close. We almost lost her.”

The woman’s face warped into anger as she turned her head up towards the man. “I told you your estimates were off. Run the numbers again,” snapped the mystery woman as she looked back down into her eyes. The last thing she saw was her caring features as darkness swallowed her again, drowning her in the abyss of her own consciousness.

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Slowly the darkness began to recede again. She felt herself pulled from the abyss and finally felt as if she were in control again, in possession of her body again. She had a body. She had almost forgotten what that felt like. Unfortunately, with the body came pain that caused her to groan in agony. Her eyelids split just as the constant ringing in her ears died down. The light blinded her again and she raised her arm to block the brightness, feeling sharp pains with every movement.

Suddenly, something shook. It felt as if whatever she was laying on had nearly been jerked out from under her. Closing her eyes again, she reached up and touched the searing pain she felt on her left cheek. Ignoring the pain, she flexed her jaw. It felt like she hadn’t opened her mouth in ages with the aches and pops that the act caused.

But her attention was immediately grabbed as she heard a voice next to her call out to her. “Wake up, Commander!” She snapped to attention and focused her eyes on the presence next to her. When her vision finally cleared, she saw an unusual humanoid-looking robot standing next to her. “Shepard, get out of that bed now. This facility is under attack!”

Hearing the order, she bit her lip as she moved her legs off the table. Even they were in pain, causing her to groan as she put her weight on them and stood from the bed. She grabbed the table to try and balance herself as she fought off wave after wave of nausea and stinging pain that pulsed through her body. “What… what’s wrong with me?”

“Shepard, your scars aren’t healed, but I need you to get moving! You won’t survive if you don’t get off this station!” ordered the robot. Shepard lifted one leg and took a step, then another. There was still pain, but at least she had her coordination intact. Managing a few steps, she flexed her limbs gently to work out the pain and turned back to the robot who still stood staring at the bed.

“Who the hell are you?” the woman asked as she clenched her fists to try and acclimate to the pain she felt.

Suddenly, an explosion shook the room and Shepard nearly toppled over, only just managing to catch herself on the bed. “There’s no time to explain at the moment! If you want to live, then go to the locker near the door and grab the pistol. You’re going to need it, and you’re going to need it fast!”

Growling at the lack of information she received, she made her way to the locker as gunfire sounded in the distance. Opening it, she found a lab coat hanging inside with a stack of datapads sitting on the top shelf. On top of the datapads was the gun that the voice spoke of. Grabbing it, she checked to see if it was primed before turning back to the robot. “Now what?”

“There’s also a head-mounted communication device in the locker. Put it on, and I’ll guide you through the facility to safety,” ordered the robot. Shepard turned and found the device, then looped it over her ear before hitting the button. Sure enough, the voice came through loud and clear. “Good. Now, I’m going to open the door to the medbay.”

“Care to tell me what the hell is going on?” asked Shepard as she moved towards the door.

“Someone has hacked into security and is trying to kill you. I’m going to make sure they fail,” said the familiar voice as the doors slid open.

“How do I know you aren’t trying to kill me?” asked the spectre curiously. But she stopped as she noticed the bodies littering the floor around her. A barricade had been set up and the floor outside of the makeshift barrier was a mess with mech parts.

“I’ve been working my ass off to keep you alive. If I wanted you to be dead, you already would be. Now shut up and get moving! You’ve got mechs coming down the stairs on your right!” ordered the familiar woman.

“Fair enough…” The warning came just as a hail of gunfire began to chip away at the medical crates protecting her. She ducked down and automatically reached for her omni-tool before realizing it wasn’t there. “Dammit…” she growled as she held up the pistol. “Where the hell is my equipment!?” Shepard demanded into the comm.

“I’ll explain everything once we’re safely off this station. Until then you’ll have to improvise,” stated the woman firmly.

She groaned as her leg gave her a particularly sharp jab of pain. The mechs were getting closer and soon they’d be too close to do anything about from her current position. Turning, she saw another crate that had fallen off the barrier, crushing one of the former mechs. Rolling over the barricade, she aimed and fired at the three robots that aimed at her. She fired two rounds into the first mech, causing it to spark wildly before its head detonated and its body fell to the side.

The other two began firing at her crate, causing her to duck behind it and grit her teeth as her back began to flare up with pain as well. “What the hell happened to me!?” she growled through gritted teeth as she felt her knee bump something. Looking down, she saw the mech that had been crushed by the crate, its head and one arm the only thing that had survived. Formulating a plan, she reached down and yanked viciously, tearing the machine’s head from its broken shoulders.

Looking over her barrier slightly, she gauged their distance before tossing the object. Both of the mechs looked up and followed it as it clanked against the ground and landed next to them. Shepard jumped up and fired several times with lethal accuracy. One of the mechs’ legs flew off, sending it sprawling to the ground as the other’s head was hit, causing it to self-destruct and finish what was left of the first. She had no experience with this kind of mechanized equipment, which worried her.

But, once the threat of the mechs was gone, she began to look around at the weapons littering the floor from the former defenders. “Keep moving. We need to get you to the shuttles.”

Shepard moved again, trying to ignore the bone-deep protest from her body. Reaching down, she tucked her pistol away and pulled up an assault rifle from the floor. The next room looked like an equipment storage room. Perhaps it was where they stored the crates of supplies for the medbay she was in previously. As she moved in, the far door opened, and she gritted her teeth as she saw more of the drones filtering into the room. Raising her weapon, she fired and riddled them with holes until they fell over.

But due to the gunfire, she hadn’t heard the door on the opposite wall open. A round fired from a weapon nicked her across the cheek and she dove to the side, taking cover behind one of the walkways, she felt her heart beating in her ears again. The feeling of being in a life-threatening situation was consuming her again. She even felt the tips of her fingers tingling with a new sensation as she clenched her rifle. Lifting her rifle, she laid it sideways on the edge of the guard railing of the walkway and free fired at the drones. She didn’t understand what was happening. Her body felt as if she were charging with electricity, welling with energy. She began to panic slightly as she the feeling of overload began to swell. She released the weapon and held up her hands that were tingling as if the circulation had been cut off.

It was then that she saw something that made her inhale sharply. Her hands were pulsing with waves of blue energy. She stared at them a long moment as the energy radiated from her fingertips. “What the hell!?” she asked incredulously as she pulled back into cover. Looking ahead, she saw the remains of the other drones in the doorway she had just entered. She snorted as she looked at her hand once more. Standing up quickly, she reached out with her charged hand and watched in awe as a wave of biotic energy smashed into them, scattering them into pieces.

But the sound of rounds slamming into the plasteel shield she was hidden behind snapped her out of her stupor. Glaring through the plasteel at the drones that were slowly marching towards her, she looked at her hand again, then shot it forward. As expected, they began to slowly drift off the ground and hover in the air, spinning around so that their weapons weren’t capable of aiming at her anymore.

Raising her rifle, she blasted the two to pieces. With them out of the way, she looked down at her hands as the mystical blue energy vanished. “Nice work, Shepard. Keep moving.”

Stowing away the anomaly for later, she raised her rifle again and moved out of the room and into a hallway with the same plasteel built into the walls as large open-view windows. She stopped as she saw someone sprinting down the hall on the other side of the window towards her. He was a man wearing some kind of uniform that appeared to mimic the Class Cs from the System’s Alliance, but instead of the usual blue and navy, it consisted of black and white.

He turned in his sprint and looked at her. His eyes widened as he spied her through the window before reaching up and pounding on it, his voice letting out a loud, desperate scream. “Shepard! Help me!” he shouted as he pounded again. But before he got another word off, a storm of bullets blasted through him and decorated the window with his blood. Shepard felt her heart hammering in her chest as he eyes moved from the man’s body sliding down the window up to the killer. It was a large mech like the others, but it had much more firepower and was built like a cargo carrier.

It seemingly looked at her as well before the two circular lights on its face turned red. It unloaded again, firing round after round at her, but the window was too thick. “Shepard, you need to keep moving! I can only keep the mechs distracted for so long!” ordered the woman urgently.

Shepard shook her head and turned towards the next door in the hallway, entering onto a mezzanine. Looking down, she spied a dead soldier with a large weapon in his cold grasp. She recognized the Alliance model GLM-100. Reaching down, she grabbed the heavy weapon and immediately aimed it at the door that had just opened down below. Five more mechs marched in aiming at her, but none got a shot off as she fired. The grenade slammed into the ground at their feet and blasted them to scrap. She snorted as she held the weapon up, her brows furrowing as she tried to recall what had happened to her. But all she got was darkness.

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“She…rd, you’re moving int… blind. Keep mov…” came the voice again over the comm as the spectre stepped into another hallway. Looking off to the side, she saw through a shield that there was a security room. Ignoring the path forward, she opened the door and found a pair of bodies on the floor in a pool of blood with puncture wounds filling their chests.

Furrowing her brows, she looked around the area until she spotted one of the dead security agents with an omni-tool on his wrist. Hopping over the pool of congealed blood, she reached down and pulled the device from his arm and slid it onto her own. She looked down at his body and frowned as she saw he also wore a shield belt that was now soaking in his own blood. Pushing her disgust away, she unbuckled it from the body and wrapped it around her own waist, adjusting its size before finally locking it on. Her ear twitched as the low-emitting energy field surrounded her. Opening the omni-tool, she checked the data stored on it and was slightly surprised to find a few small cyber warfare suites available. Then again, this was security, so perhaps that should be expected. Activating her omni-tool, she spied a datapad on the table nearby and decrypted it, allowing her to download the files on board.

Her eyes widened slightly as they had almost everything about her physical form on it. Everything down to blood and oxygen levels to her bust size. She snorted as she went through the personal messages. Someone had attempted to purge the personal files, but she still managed to extract a single audio message. “The cost on this project is astronomical. Over four billion credits so far. But nobody seems to care that we’ve gone 35% over budget. I don’t know where the boss gets all his money: maybe it’s better that I don’t know. I just wish he’d kick a little in my direction once in a while.”

Her eyes narrowed as the familiar voice struck her. Her flashing memory of the first time she woke up popped into her head again. “Wilson…” she said as she tossed the datapad aside. Eyeing the safe nearby, she broke into it and found a small data stash with a video file. After activating it, she sighed as she saw the familiar face of the woman who had stared at her so soothingly when she had first awakened.

“Progress is slow, but the subject shows signs of recovery. Major organs are again functional, and there are signs of rudimentary neurological activity,” said the holographic woman. “In an effort to accelerate the process, we’ve moved from simple reconstruction of the subject to biosynthetic fusion. Initial results show promise,” she finished before the video cut off.

”Biosynthetic fusion?” asked Shepard as she turned and headed to the door. “What did they do to me?” she growled as she rushed down the hallway with her rifle up and ready again. She pushed through another empty hallway before arriving at a door that she could hear gunfire through. Steeling herself, she turned and entered, ready for battle.

Shepard Wing – Lazarus Station

Jacob hadn’t planned on fighting for his life today. Wake up, work out, eat breakfast, work out some more, report to duty, all things he had planned for the day. The day went smoothly, until it wasn’t smooth anymore. He had been on his way to his bunk for a quick rest when suddenly people began sprinting from the barracks.

Nearly an hour later, he sat behind cover, sweating profusely from over exertion of his biotics and his weapon heating up like mad as he continuously tried to fight off the oncoming waves of mechs. The hard part was the YMIR class mech. He had to get creative with his biotics in order to drop it onto the floor below, but that had only stalled it. It was coming back angrier than ever.

Now the door had opened, and the YMIR was back with more mech reinforcements than before. “Damn… I should have taken care of it before,” he grumbled as he reached up and wiped the sweat from his brow. He ducked down quickly as they rained fire on his position. “Well, if this is it, so be it.” Gripping his weapon, he saw the advancing mechs begin to split up and surround his position.

But before he could make a move, he was knocked off his feet as the YMIR mech exploded, taking out any nearby LOKI mechs with it. Landing on his rear, he saw the remaining mechs turn towards the door behind him and begin firing, only to be hit with rounds so accurate that each of their metallic heads exploded from the shots. Turning, he stood to his feet once the danger was passed, and his eyes widened as he saw her.

He was taller, but nothing about this women’s height took away from the blazing aura of combat that surrounded her. He was intimidated as he saw her red glowing eyes and the pulsing scarring on her cheek that made her look like some futuristic sci fi android warrior. He raised his hands defensively as she approached with her weapon drawn on him. “Easy Shepard, I’m…” he got out, but he stopped as she gripped his wrist and pulled him face-down into a throw that left him sucking in air. His arm was locked behind him and he now had a gun pointed at his head.

“Tell me what this place is and who you work for, and I might let you run off to die to the mechs,” she ordered.

“Hot damn, did they give you a super serum?” he asked in pain as she gave his arm no leeway whatsoever.

“Where are we, who do you work for? I will not ask again!” she snapped aggressively.

“My name is Jacob, this is Lazarus Station, and we work for the Lazarus Project,” he said, fighting off another groan of pain.

“What the hell is the Lazarus Project?” she asked curiously as she loosened her grip and gave him his arm back but kept him face down.

“It’s a long story, but to sum it up in short; it’s a program funded to bring you back to life,” he said as he extended his arms to show he wasn’t a threat.

“Back to life?” she asked, bewildered. She finally released him and leaned back against a nearby railing as she processed the information. “Did I die?”

Jacob slowly got to one knee and simply sat there, giving her a nod. “Two years ago, the Normandy was destroyed with you on it. After its destruction, you fell to the surface of the planet Alchera,” he said as he shook his head. “I’m just a soldier, but from what I saw when they first brought you in, you should have been in a coffin.”

“Two years!?” she snapped as her eyes widened. “I’ve… been dead for two years?”

“Yes sir. I can’t say as to whether you were really dead or just hanging on by a thread. But you were all meat and tubes when they brought you in. Ever since, we’ve been rebuilding you,” he responded, his heart rate lowered now that she no longer had a weapon trained on him.

She eyed him curiously before standing up straight. “Why did you all rebuild me? Why did you keep me alive?”

Jacob shrugged and shook his head. “Sorry Shep. That information is way above my paygrade. You’d have to ask the boss yourself.”

She eyed him dangerously. “Jacob, if I take you with me are you going to try and put a bullet in my back?”

The soldier stood and raised his hands defensively. “No offense sir, but the whole reason I’m here was to protect you and the R&D team and make sure nothing went wrong. Why would I try to kill you?”

She snorted as she stepped up to him and inspected him. “Miranda told me that someone on this station is trying to kill me.”

The man smirked and shrugged. “Sorry, but I’m a straight up fighter. All this mech hacking stuff ain’t my style. If I wanted to kill you, I’d have had to do it in a straight up fight. And I’m gonna be 100% transparent with you right now, after seeing what you did two years ago, I’d have to be a complete moron to try and take you out in a straight fight.”

She nodded to him before reaching behind her and pulling the grenade launcher off her back. “Here, use it for big groups and big mechs. Don’t waste ammo and show me to the shuttle bay so we can get out of here.”

Sighing in relief, Jacob nodded and took the weapon graciously. “You got it, Spectre.”

Security Wing – Lazarus Station

Jacob worked quick. She liked his combat style as he mixed biotics with gun skill in a way she hadn’t really seen before. He would use a minor lift to throw his enemies off before peppering them with enough rounds to disable or destroy. It almost looked like some form of biotic martial arts. Kaidan, while he was a skilled soldier, used his biotics and weapons separately most of the time, either aiming to kill with his biotics or not using them at all.

Despite her fascination, most of her attention was on the enemies before her. They had blasted through a few waves together using his biotics and her weapon skills. He would take them off their feet and she’d finish them off while they floated off into scrap metal. They moved to push towards the shuttles when suddenly both Jacob and Shepard’s comm erupted with chatter.

“Check, check! Anyone on this frequency? Anyone still alive out there? Hello?” came the voice from the comms.

Shepard narrowed her eyes as the familiar voice pulled at her memory. “Wilson?”

Jacob nodded and tapped the communicator in his ear. “Wilson? This is Jacob. I’m here with Commander Shepard. We just took out a wave of mechs over in D Wing.”

The voice of Wilson almost sounded outraged at the claim. “Shepard’s alive!? How the hell…” Wilson paused a moment before continuing. “Never mind. You need to get out of there. Get to the service tunnels and head for the network control room.”

Jacob nodded. “You got it. Stay on this frequency!” he ordered as he raised his weapon.

“Wilson was part of the science team?” asked Shepard curiously. “I recall his face and his voice from the first time I tried to wake up.”

“That’d be him. He’s the chief medical tech and reports directly to Miranda,” he said as he guided them towards the service tunnels in question.

“For someone who has been trying to resurrect me for two years, he sure seemed surprised that I was alive,” she remarked silently as she moved forward with her weapon ready.

Jacob’s brows furrowed. “Now that you mention it, he did seem a bit off. But I guess we’ll have to go along with him anyway considering that’s the only way out.”

“Watch your back,” ordered Shepard as she continued forward with him. Minutes into the service tunnels and they entered a room where mechs fired at them from cover across the room. Shepard and Jacob both took cover on either side of the door as the drones mindless fired through it.

“Dammit Wilson! There’s mechs all over these tunnels!” shouted Jacob as he pressed himself against the other side of the door.

“There’s mechs everywhere on the station! Just keep moving towards the tunnels and don’t get pinned down! I’ll see what I can do,” came the reply from the man.

Jacob looked over to Shepard and all he got was a deadpan look that made him shake his head. “Jacob, can you pull one of those mechs over here without destroying it?”

He eyed her curiously. “Not hard with my biotics. Why?”

“Less questions, more action. Do it,” she ordered as she took her assault rifle and gunned down one hiding behind a counter, her shield popping from return fire just as she went back into cover.

Sighing, the soldier stepped out and grabbed the nearest of the mechs with his biotics before yanking it towards them. It flew and skidded to a halt next to Shepard, who immediately raised her pistol and blasted the hand holding the gun off. Opening her omni-tool, she forced herself into its framework and began scanning it, her red eyes dancing over the data quickly.

“Learn anything?” he asked curiously.

“They’re set to self-destruct when their head is destroyed. They have no protections against electrical shock. And programming for aiming sucks,” she said as she unhooked herself and then put a round into its head before tossing it aside like a toy.

Jacob’s eyes widened as he saw her toss it aside. Working on her omni-tool, she turned the corner again and raised it aimed directly at the mechs. They all dropped their weapons and locked up in a pose of rigid agony before she raised her weapon and finished them all.

He once again stared at her curiously. “You know, those videos we saw of you in combat don’t really do you justice.”

She turned to him for a second and looked him from top to bottom. “Thanks, I guess?” she responded, unsure of how to approach this man. He was friendly, way too friendly for someone working on a station meant to bring her back to life. She felt relief and a familiar feeling of gentleness from him, the same she had felt from Kaidan. But she also knew that complacence would spell the end of her life… again. Shrugging, she nodded towards the tunnels. “Look, save the compliments for when we get off the station, so I have a moment to appreciate them.”

“Right, sorry,” he said awkwardly before moving forward again.

“Shit! They’ve found me!” shouted Wilson over the comm, causing Jacob and Shepard to look at one another.

“Where are you?” asked Shepard over her own comm.

“Server Room B! Hurry, they’re out of control!” he hollered before the comm cut off. Together they rushed through the hallways with Jacob guiding her the entire way. Eventually, they made it to server room B and he opened the door to find Wilson on the ground leaning against the wall of a line of desks. “Shepard! Here!” he shouted as he waved her down.

Shepard looked around the room, noticing a bunch of mechs riddled with holes, as well as more of the station workers dead, bled out on the floor. Her eyes focused on Wilson. He was youngish, maybe mid-30s with a shaved head and neatly trimmed facial hair. She remembered his face standing over her, his voice screaming her medical status over to Miranda. Then, her eyes focused on his leg where he had been shot. It was a graze, nothing life threatening or fatal. In fact, it was the bare minimum that the Alliance would give a purple heart for.

“Stand up,” she ordered firmly as she stepped up to him.

He looked at her in exasperation. “But… I’m injured. And there are more coming…” he pleaded. Just as he finished, the far door opened and more mechs began to filter into the room.

“Jacob,” she snapped, getting the man’s attention. “Pick them up, all of them.” He simply nodded and used his biotics to lift them all, his brow perspiring as he did. With her eyes never leaving Wilson, she reached out with her own hand. A blue glow began radiating from her fingers as she too reached out and gripped the machines, causing a biotic clash. The mixture of biotics exploded and tore the mechs to shreds.

Jacob stared at her wide-eyed. “You’re a biotic?”

Ignoring the man’s question, she continued to glare down at Wilson. “It’s a graze. A quarian with a spike in her leg helped me fight through a facility of rachni and geth. If she can do that, you’ll be just fine. Now… on your feet.”

The man sighed and did as he was told. Gripping the desks, he pulled himself up to his feet with his weight favored on his good leg. “Fine.”

“You were there with Miranda when I woke up,” she stated as she eyed the man.

“Yeah, that was me,” he said chuckling to himself. “Spent two years trying to save your life. Didn’t think you’d be returning the favor so soon.”

Jacob’s brows furrowed questioningly. “What were you even doing over here?”

Wilson looked up to Jacob for a moment before looking at the floor. “I thought maybe I could shut down the security mechs. But whoever did this fried the whole damn system. It’s completely irreversible.”

“You were in the bio wing. Why do you even have security mech clearance?” asked the soldier, getting an approving look from Shepard.

Wilson gave Jacob a glare. “Weren’t you listening? I came here and tried to fix this! They even shot me! How do you explain that?”

Finally, Shepard stepped in. “With an injury that mild, you’re not defending yourself as well as you think you are. Regardless, you’re all nameless to me and I don’t trust either of you.” Suddenly, her gaze turned to Jacob. “Who is the most important person on this station?”

Cocking an eyebrow, he nodded to her. “You.”

“What about Miranda?” asked Shepard curiously.

Wilson shook his head. “Forget about Miranda. She was in D Wing. Mechs were all over that sector. There’s no way she survived.”

But Jacob spoke up defensively. “A bunch of mechs won’t drop Miranda. She’s alive.”

“Then where the hell is she, Jacob? Why haven’t we heard from her?” said the man as he shook his head. “She’s either dead, or she’s the traitor. There’s no other explanation.”

Suddenly, both of them went silent as Shepard raised her assault rifle in one hand, aimed directly at Wilson’s center mass, and then raised her pistol and aimed it at Jacob. “Alright, it’s time for answers.” She looked between the pair, both of whom raised their arms defensively. “I heard about the budget for this project, and the talk of a traitor means that there are loyalties I’m unaware of. So, who do you work for?” she asked threateningly as she placed her fingers on the trigger.

Jacob spoke up immediately. “The Lazarus Project is run and funded by Cerberus.”

“Jesus Christ, Jacob…” groaned Wilson as he shook his head.

But the soldier glared at the man. “Look, we’re not gonna get out of here if she’s expecting a shot in the back.”

But Shepard’s voice stopped them both cold. “Cerberus? Studying husks, trapping and torturing a rachni queen, murdering an Alliance admiral? That Cerberus? The one whose facility I dismantled over two different star systems?” she asked, her expression showing that his gesture of trust meant very little.

“Yeah, sorta…” started Jacob as he scratched his head. “I can’t speak much for the ones you took down. I had nothing to do with those facilities. But Cerberus itself isn’t what you think it is, Shepard. We’re not all bad guys.”

She looked between the pair curiously. “Tell that to Admiral Kahoku,” she snapped with a frosty tone. “That begs the question, I scorched earthed one of their facilities. So why the hell would they want to bring me back to life?”

“I don’t have all the answers. But what I do know is that the galaxy has gone to hell without you. Cerberus knew you were the key to helping fix the mess we’re in now, and that’s why they paid to bring you back. For anything more specific, you’ll have to talk to the boss,” Jacob stated as she gave him a glare. “Look, if I were in your position, I’d be suspicious too. But right now, we need to trust each other to get off this station. I promise you, once we do, I can get you the answers you need.”

Snorting out of her nose, she lowered the weapons and then nodded towards the exit. “Wilson, you’re first. Weapons up at all times,” she said as she turned to Jacob. “You behind him, and I’ll be in the back.”

“You’re putting the injured man out front?” asked Wilson incredulously.

“No, I’m putting the one I trust the least out front, so he doesn’t have a clear shot at my back,” she said then looked to Jacob. “I don’t know if I can trust you or not. But keep doing what you’re doing and well be fine,” she ordered before putting her pistol away.

He smirked and nodded to her. “You got it, Shepard.”

Wilson groaned and proceeded forward as they continued into the facility. Luckily for them all, there were no mechs to get in their way before the finally made it to the shuttle bay. Shepard raised her weapon and nodded to the door in a silent order for Wilson to open it. He sighed in exasperation as he walked over to the controls and opened the door.

As the door slid open, Shepard’s weapon raised immediately and zeroed in on a woman in a tight-fitting suit with the same color scheme as both Jacob and Wilson. As the door opened, Wilson gasped in shock. “Miranda? But you were-“

Miranda’s pretty face warped into a mask of anger as she saw the man in front of her. As he spoke, she immediately raised her pistol and blasted him through the throat with a point-blank shot before he could finish his sentence. “Dead?”

Jacob ran up to her and stared down at the man. “What the hell are you doing!?” he asked incredulously as he looked up at her.

She lowered her weapon and looked to him, her expression melting back into one of dismissal. “My job. Wilson betrayed us all by hacking the mechs, killing my staff, and trying to kill us.”

Shepard shook her head, her weapon still trained on the woman. “First suicide capsules and now blatant executions. Good to see Cerberus’s morality hasn’t shifted much.”

Miranda looked from Shepard to Jacob with an unamused grin. “Ah Jacob. I should have known your conscience would have gotten the better of you.”

He shrugged. “She kinda pushed the issue. Besides, lying to her doesn’t seem like the best strategy to get her on our side.”

Miranda sighed and shrugged dismissively. “Well, what’s done is done. If you have any more questions for us, ask them on the shuttle,” she said before turning and sauntering over to the vehicle in question. Shepard watched her go, her eyes narrowing in confusion. When she had first woken up, this woman’s face was nothing but caring and concern for her safety, almost like a mother watching over her child. But now that she was here, standing in front of her, all traces of that concern had gone, and in its place was an icy and indifferent demeanor. She didn’t know if something changed, or if she had changed. But it still left her unsure of how to approach the woman.

Cerberus Kodiak Shuttle

As they sat together in the shuttle, its autopilot guiding them towards their destination, Miranda sat back in her seat and crossed her legs, her eyes locked onto her own. “So, any questions you’d like to get out of the way before we get to the tests?”

Shepard cocked an eyebrow at her. “Tests?”

“Of course. We have to make sure you’re you. Normally we’d have done this in the lab after slowly waking you up and letting you gain awareness of your surroundings. But Wilson decided to push the clock forward,” she said casually.

Nodding, Shepard eyed her curiously, wondering if she had the answers that Jacob didn’t. “Why did Cerberus bring me back to life?”

Unfortunately for the spectre, the woman simply shrugged. “You’ll have to ask the Illusive Man. He’s the head of Cerberus, and he basically poured unlimited resources into bringing you back to life. I don’t know why, but he must have had some plan for you.”

Snorting at getting the same answer, she changed the subject. “What happened to me?”

Miranda pulled out a datapad and began typing briefly before answers. “You took the Normandy to the Alchera system. The only information on why you did was some vague explanation of geth in the sector. Basically, we don’t know why you went there…” said the woman before she looked up to Shepard. “But while you were there, you were attacked by an unidentified ship that was somehow able to see past the Normandy’s cloaking capabilities. The ship was destroyed, and you were on it,” she said before going back to the datapad. “According to this, you suffered from exposure to the vacuum of space and then reentry into Alchera.”

Jacob shook his head, chuckling. “You were spaced, and sent crashing down to the surface of a planet, and somehow didn’t die from that?”

“In a manner of speaking,” replied Miranda. “According to the reports from Liara T’Soni who found your body, you were still alive, and the below zero temperatures of Alchera had suspended what remained of you into a kind of cryo state.”

Shepard’s eyes widened at the mention of the asari. “Liara? She found me?”

Nodding, Miranda lowered the datapad. “There was quite a game of cat and mouse with your body there for a while. You were very valuable apparently,” she said letting out a sigh. “We wanted you for the Lazarus Project, the Shadow Broker wanted your body, and then there’s the ship that attacked the Normandy. Apparently, your display during the Battle of the Citadel made you very popular.”

Shepard reached up and gripped her head, trying to remember what happened to her. But her memory was fragmented. She could only feel emotions of terror, sadness, futility. Her last memory she had available was the talk she had with the crew on her ship, the Normandy. It had been transferred into her name by Udina, the Alliance, and the Hierarchy, meaning she owned it. They took it… somewhere for the maiden voyage under her lead. But that’s where it all ended.

“I can’t remember any of it…” said Shepard as she rubbed her forehead. “I remember everything up to taking the Normandy after the battle of the Citadel.”

Miranda nodded and began typing again. “It appears your memory loss is contained to a span of a few weeks. You’re better off than I thought.”

Shepard glared at her and sat up straight in her seat. “What does that mean?”

Not even looking up, Miranda continued typing as she spoke. “It means there was a chance we brought you back and you didn’t remember anything. Who you were, where you were from, Saren, the Geth, the Citadel, any of it,” she said as she finished her typing. Looking up at the spectre, she gave a half smile. “The fact that you remember everything up to the weeks before your death is extremely fortunate.”

Sighing, Shepard leaned against the wall of the shuttle and stared out at the stars in the void. “Yeah, lucky me…” Then she turned her head sharply and looked back at her. “What about the crew? Did they make it out before it was destroyed?”

This time, Jacob spoke up. “Some of them did. Unfortunately, most of the human crew went down with the ship. Including Navigator Pressly,” he said, causing Shepard to lower her head in sorrow. “Doctor Karin Chakwas and Engineer Greg Adams made it out. Lieutenant Moreau made it as well with a few bruises. His testimony said that you sacrificed yourself to save him.”

She nodded firmly, knowing it was something she was capable of. “And… Liara? Ash?” she asked, preparing herself for the worst.

But Miranda, for the first time since they had met face to face, gave a genuine smile. “Both Doctor T’Soni and Operations Chief Williams made it to the escape pods before the Normandy’s destruction.” Shepard let out a huge sigh of relief, her face flushing at the stress the news of their death could have had. “If you don’t mind, Shepard, I’d like to go over a few things with you to make sure your memories are indeed intact.”

“Fine. Whatever,” she responded as she sat forward with her elbows on her knees, her hands reaching up to clench her head.

Opening the datapad again, she began reading off a script. “We’ll start with early childhood. You were a spacer navy brat born to whom?”

Shepard looked up at her with a glare. “Captain Hannah Shepard, and Admiral Steven Hackett.”

Jacob’s eyes widened at the claim. “Hackett? Like, Fifth Fleet Hackett?” he asked, getting a nod. “Damn. The fruit didn’t fall far from the tree I guess.”

“I guess,” she snipped as she looked away from them.

“You grew up on space stations and mostly battleships. You flew through school and college both in record times and then gently handed your drill instructors their behinds in Alliance Boot Camp,” stated Miranda as she read off the record. “Do you remember what you specialized in in college?”

Shepard nodded. “Electrical engineering and xenolinguistics.”

Miranda nodded, then continued. “Both of which helped you throughout your mostly classified career. But one particular highlight was Elysium. Can you tell me what happened there?”

Sighing to herself, Shepard sat back up, her tone growing annoyed with the questions. “Elanos Haliat, a turian pirate lord grabbed every group in the Terminus he could find and attacked the planet by bribing, blackmailing and taking hostages from the Colony Defense Team. I happened to be there on furlough with a friend of mine when the attack happened, and I kicked their asses off the planet.”

Miranda smirked. “Elegantly put. Now…” she continued, getting a heated glare from Shepard. “I understand that you’re growing frustrated, so I’ll ask you two more questions and we’ll leave it at that.” Shepard nodded in approval. “Saren Arterius. Rogue spectre who ended up killing one of your team mates on Virmire.”

Shepard’s eyes narrowed at the woman. “That entire thing was covered in so much classified ink that your hands would be void black by the time you finished. How the hell do you know about Saren on Virmire?”

“Like you, we have ways of getting information,” said Miranda, leaving it at that. “Kaidan Alenko was left on Virmire as you used nuclear munitions to blow the entire facility. Why?”

Shepard clenched a fist at the memory. The memory of Ash’s tears. The memory of Wrex picking Tali up bodily and dragging her aboard the Normandy to keep her from running in after him. The void inside her of his loss. All of it still pained her to this day. “He was on the bomb team. He set the bomb and was immediately attacked by the geth, nearly wiping out his entire team and injuring him to the point where he couldn’t get back to us.” She stopped and looked at the floor. “By the time we found out what happened, Sovereign was already on the warpath and making his way towards the facility. Had we run to get him, Sovereign would have caught us, and we’d likely all be dead.” Her eyes zeroed in on Miranda’s in a solemn stare. “It wasn’t a decision I made at a whim. Kaidan died so we could stop Saren. He died a hero.” Her words felt hollow coming out of her mouth.

Jacob nodded. “We weren’t criticizing, Spectre. It was a tough choice that had to be made. And as a result, you saved the rest of the galaxy.”

Finally, Miranda continued. “One last thing. After the Battle for the Citadel, humanity was offered a seat on the Citadel Council. You were given the opportunity to endorse a candidate for the position and you ended up choosing Donnel Udina, a man who previously had tried to exert authority over you by locking down the Normandy,” she said, setting the datapad aside as she looked to Shepard. “This genuinely has me curious. You had Captain Anderson there, your mother, your father, all of whom would have made exceptional Councilors. But instead, you chose Udina.”

The spectre stared at the woman, unamused. “Donnel Udina and I have had fights in the past over protocol and how much of a mess I leave behind me in my efforts to catch Saren. But…” she said as she held up a single finger. “If you ignore that little lockdown powwow on the Citadel and look at everything he’s ever done, you’d see that he used the momentum of Ambassador Goyle and ran with it, pushing for more and more from the Council so that we as humans are treated equally.”

“He was a sight to behold in pushing for you to be Spectre, that’s for sure,” said Jacob with a smirk.

But Shepard continued. “I’ve seen other ambassadors on the Citadel. The volus ambassador, Din’Korlak. He’s given up on his own people and basically uses the job to fill his own pockets. He’s stopped pushing for his people and has relegated his time to blaming other species for it instead. Udina is childish, but he knows how to get things done politically that would take me, my family, and Anderson weeks to accomplish. He’s an aggressive negotiator, and despite his attitude towards me, he has humanity’s best interests at heart,” she said waving off the question. “My parents and Anderson? They probably would have done it if I’d asked them to. But they would have hated it. They aren’t negotiators, and while they have good hearts, they don’t know how to play the game of thrones like Udina does.”

Miranda smiled once more and nodded gently. “Well spoken, Shepard. When you factor in everything as you did, it makes more sense. Not to mention the good will you garnered to him by recommending him in the first place,” said the Cerberus agent as she closed the datapad and tucked it away. “That should be enough to satisfy him. We should be there soon, Shepard. Then you can have your questions answered.”

Nodding again, Shepard looked out the window once more and stared at the stars as she came to grips with the fact that she had basically died and been brought back to life. On top of that, two years had come and gone. What had happened to everyone? Where were they? Did they know she was coming back? How would they react? She had questions for this Cerberus boss, of course. But she also had many more that she didn’t know whether she’d get the answer too. She just had to wait and see.

CODEX ENTRIES

Class C Uniforms | Clothing | Human/Asari
Despite being created to integrate with armor in order to be more effective at combat in space, the Systems Alliance began manufacturing civilian class fatigues and shirts that resemble the same style of the military uniform, but do not require the same attention to detail of a service uniform as they are visually different without the usual digital camouflage pattern of the Systems Alliance ACUs. The purchase of these clothes helps to fund the Systems Alliance's advancement in space.

GLM-100 | Weapon | Human
A human fashioned weapon whose acronym means Grenade Launch Module 100. Originally fashioned prior to spaceflight and capable of firing one round, this vastly superior model is capable of holding up to ten rounds that are capable of adhering to a target before detonating on the command of shooter.

Shield Belt | Technology | Security
Kinetic shields are standard issue on all military and security-style armor. But even civilians sometimes need protection from weapon’s fire, which led to the creation of the kinetic shield belt. It’s a locking mechanism that is designed differently depending on the species. It has a self-sustaining power supply that only needs replacing once every six galactic months and can stop the fire from common assault weapons for up to 10 seconds.

Biotic Clash | Terminology | Physics
The dark energy used in biotics is DNA coded, meaning that each person’s biotic abilities are different on a subatomic level. It’s not exactly understood why, but when two different biotics users mix their dark energy, the two react violently often causing large scale destruction. This clash of energies and resulting explosion have been dubbed a ‘biotic clash.’ Though it is rare, it has been found that some users of biotics can mix energies with another resulting in less violent, and even entirely passive responses.

Chapter Text

Cerberus Station Titan

She stepped forward into the circular room and immediately knew what she was looking at. The entire room on the station had been devoted to the construction of a quantum entanglement communicator. It was an extremely useful, but expensive form of communication among the stars. It allowed instant and unfiltered access to anyone on the other side of the comm regardless of location. When she first took command of the Normandy, she highly appreciated the addition to their comm room.

But as she stepped into the center of the circle, she realized that she wasn’t talking to some mock VI of whoever this Illusive Man was. She was going to be talking to the real thing. The circle spun once before scanning her entire body. She hardly moved as the scanners moved up over her face and finished their process. In seconds, an illusory wall began to form around the circle, making it look as if she were standing in a wide-open room.

At the far end of the room, a transparent wall gave view to an enormous orange star, its surface looking close enough to melt the tiles off of whatever station this was. That likely meant it was a display rather than an actual window. She spied around the room, ignoring the man sitting in front of her momentarily.

“Greetings, Shepard. You’ll find that this entire room is devoid of anything that could give you a clue to my location, so please don’t waste your time,” said the man who lounged back in his chair.

Jane’s eyes narrowed as she locked onto him. He was middle-aged with brown, slicked-back hair on top and grey over the ears making him look like a sinister Mister Fantastic. Despite his position, he wore a relatively mundane and affordable suit, but in contrast he had a glass of alcohol in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He looked like a mishmash of every human vice. Finally, his eyes weren’t normal. He’d had some kind of alteration done that caused them to reflect light, giving an eerie glow to them. She wasn’t sure if this was an intimidation tactic for those who worked under him, or if they had some technical function. But she put it away in her mind.

“I hear I have you to thank for bringing me back,” she said as she crossed her arms defiantly.

“In a manner of speaking. I supplied the resources, but Miranda and the medical team from Lazarus Station did most of the work. Then again…” he began as he ashed his cigarette in a nearby tray. “What they did wouldn’t have been possible without your staggering will to live.”

She cocked an eyebrow at him curiously. “What does that mean?”

“If we were to go by medical technicality, you never actually died. Somehow you were exposed to the vacuum of space and slammed to Alchera’s surface at entry speeds, but even then, you refused to die,” he said as he gave her a small grin. “The sheer, unbreakable willpower of a human. You were alive, and Alchera’s atmosphere froze you into a cryo-state that allowed us to keep your ever living mind from passing.”

Ignoring all of the fluff he added on as an obvious attempt to flatter her, she struck straight at the point. “Why did you bring me back?” she asked as she pointed a finger at him aggressively. “I should have been on Cerberus’ most wanted list, a target for every agent you have in every system in the galaxy. So why would you want to bring someone whose goal was to crush you back to life?”

“Times have changed, Shepard,” he said as he swirled the amber liquid around in his glass, the perfectly spherical ice cube inside clinking against the edges. “There was indeed a time when I’d have loved nothing more than to track you down and rip your body apart down to the very DNA to see what made you so special,” he said, finally taking a drink before speaking in his low tone once more. “But we no longer have the luxury of time to fight between ourselves.”

“Coming from an organization like you, that sounds serious,” she remarked solemnly.

He nodded and locked his eerie blue eyes on her. “The reapers are coming…”

Her eyes widened at the claim, her defensive manner dropping immediately. “What the hell do you mean they’re coming?”

“Two years ago, you fought against an agent who was working on our side of the Citadel Relay to free the reapers from their imprisonment in dark space,” he said, no doubt knowing from Miranda’s report that her memory on Saren was intact. “He was one of many, but what made him so dangerous was his position and resources. He could go anywhere, do anything. He had networks of suppliers and information dealers to get him exactly what he needed. But most of those twisted by Sovereign’s words don’t have any of that, making their desire to free the reapers impossible.”

“Until now…” she responded with a sigh. “Who is it?”

“We aren’t sure yet. I have my own theories, but I don’t intend to say anything until I have confirmation. What we do know is that they have resources and technology that even Saren didn’t have,” he said as he pulled out a small controller and brought up a small video screen in front of her. “Whoever took out the Normandy had technology far beyond what we are capable. And their attack on you was simply a message to the rest of us.” She watched in horror as a video recorder from one of the escape pods showed the Normandy blazing against the blackness of space before finally detonating and sending shrapnel scattering into Alchera’s atmosphere.

Turning away from the video, she eyed him again. “So… where do I come into this?”

The Illusive Man chuckled dryly as he tucked the remote away again. “The Alliance are too near sighted,” he said, getting a cocked eyebrow from her. “They want to plaster your image across every recruitment poster, make movies about you to inspire people to join, and give you honorary awards post-mortem. But none of them realize what we lost.” He locked eyes with her and pointed directly at her. “You are special, Shepard. Not by fate or destiny, or some kind of chosen one caricature. But by your actions. Your personal gravitational force pulled together a team that was capable of fighting off a reaper ship and destroying it before it could cause harm. The Alliance would call that luck, but I know better. You are exactly what we need to stop the reapers.”

She snorted as she crossed her arms again. ”So, you brought me back so that I could continue to fight the reapers. But what’s the catch? You wouldn’t bring me back unless there was some form of benefit to you as well. Do you expect me to pardon everything you’ve done in return for this new chance at life?”

He shook his head solemnly. “What happened in the past is in the past. If after we help you take care of the reaper threat, you still think that I’m worth chasing after, then you’re free to try. But I do not expect anything from you except to work your magic once more and help us end this machine threat once and for all.”

She stared at him for a long moment before sighing. “Fine. As long as we have an understanding that I do not trust you, I do not like you, and I will not affiliate with you. You are an information source and nothing more.”

“We’ll hash out the details of our relationship later. Just know that for the moment, you and I have the same goal, just different methods,” he said as he smashed the butt of his cigarette into the ashtray nearby. “And despite our differences, I’m willing to help you in our goal of eradicating the reaper threat.”

Putting the information to the side, Shepard continued. “So, you brought me back to help fight the reapers. What exactly are they doing that made you think spending billions on me would be worth it?”

He sighed heavily and looked off to the side. “We’re at war, Shepard. The Alliance doesn’t believe it, and the Council, despite all their effort to show otherwise, are too impotent to stop what’s coming.” Finally, he stood from his chair and walked up to her. “While you were being rebuilt, entire human colonies have vanished. I believe these disappearances are a preemptive attack by someone working for the reapers.”

“What gives you that idea?” she asked curiously.

“If you look at the data, it has all the marks of reaper harvesting that you were informed about on Ilos. Only the colonists were taken, no fighting, no resistance, just vanishing. If this were the work of pirates or raiders from the Terminus, we would have seen the signs. But this, this is different,” he said as he locked his eyes onto her.

“And for what you spent rebuilding me, you could have trained an army to stand guard on every colony for the next ten years,” she said firmly.

“I didn’t just have you resurrected because of your abilities or actions, Shepard,” he said, closing his eyes momentarily. “You are more than just a spectre, you’re more than just a good leader. You’re a symbol for all of humanity. You alone represent the potential of humans. And I don’t know if reapers feel fear, but you are their destroyer, the one who fought and killed a reaper. Your very presence could beget a new era for humanity the likes of which would leave the other species in awe.”

She sighed to herself as she reached up and scratched her head. “Great. First, I get the responsibility of representing humanity in the Spectres, and now I’m a symbol for all of humanity. No pressure…” she grumbled. “So, how do I go about this? I don’t have my team anymore, I don’t have a ship, and I don’t have a target. How exactly am I supposed to solve this problem?”

Smiling, the Illusive Man sat down in his chair once more. “As for the target, I’ll be working on that from my end. A nearby colony went dark during your escape from the Lazarus Station which may give us clues as to who is doing this. Any time I get any relevant data, you’ll be the first to know.” He lit another cigarette and inhaled deeply from it, blowing smoke into the dark room, his eyes piercing the cloudy haze and looking directly at her. “As for your team, I have people compiling dossiers on some of the best minds and bodies in the galaxy. We’ll get you your team.”

“What about my old team? Ash and Liara survived the Normandy’s destruction, and the others weren’t apart of it at all,” she asked as she stepped forward.

“Your turian fire team made it off the Normandy, but their group was split apart and reassigned due to the spirit of the team breaking with the destruction of your ship. They’ll be hard to get ahold of. As for the asari, she is working as an information broker on Illium. I’ve made her the offer, but she’s refusing for the moment, so I can’t say for sure whether we can count on her. And as for Operations Chief Williams…” he said as he let out another cloud of smoke. “She went back to the Alliance and began working private missions for Councilor Udina and Captain Anderson. Even I haven’t been able to access her mission records. She’s officially off the grid.”

“And the others?” asked Shepard, wondering how Ash was doing working for a man she wanted to strangle prior to the attack on the Citadel.

“Vakarian, like Williams, dropped off the grid. He worked for C-Sec for a bit, and then he went completely dark. We wanted to keep tabs on your team members for this very reason, however they have made it extremely hard to do so,” he said before taking a swig from his alcohol. “Tali’Zorah is working as a commander for the Migrant Fleet. Whether or not she would leave the Fleet to rejoin you is something you’ll have to discuss with her. And as for Wrex, he is currently the leader of his people on Tuchanka. I’d find it hard to believe that he’d undo all the work he did to go shooting around the galaxy with you again despite your close relationship.”

Shepard sighed to herself and nodded. “Alright then. Has this colony already been investigated?”

“I’ve intercepted automated communications to the Alliance to make sure they aren’t aware of what happened. It wouldn’t have saved them and would have only served to have the Alliance taint the scene of the attack before we can investigate,” he said as he passed the information over to her. “The colony’s name is Freedom’s Progress. I’d like you, Miranda, and Jacob to investigate the colony and find out anything you can. This is our first, and maybe only chance to discover who is taking the colonists.”

“Yeah… about Miranda and Jacob. You’re aware I don’t trust them, correct?” said Shepard firmly.

“I understand your hesitation with Jacob. He’s an unknown element and you and I both are all about knowing things. However, he’s a good soldier and he seems to have a bit of a hero fascination with you. He’s always been honest with me about some of the methods we use in a very similar way that you are, minus the blowing Cerberus facilities off the map. And as for Miranda,” he said as he blew another puff of smoke. “There’s few people you should trust more than her. She spent the last two years of her life putting you back together and keeping you alive. She risked her own life to get you off Lazarus Station and to safety. I can hardly think of someone who I would trust more with my life, politics aside.”

“I’ll still be watching them. Even if they do cover my back, I won’t be trusting anyone keeping tabs on me for your sake,” she said firmly.

He simply shrugged. “Do as you will, Shepard. As long as we get results and stop the reapers, I can hardly complain,” he said as he took another puff.

“I’ll do what needs to be done to keep the galaxy safe. If you ever try to put me in a position where it threatens the safety of the galaxy, consider our cooperation at an end,” she said with authority.

“I have no plans to put you in any such position. But be aware that you may not be able to save everyone, Shepard. When fighting the reapers, there isn’t going to be a storybook ending. Sacrifices have to be made in order to gain true freedom from a threat this big,” he said with a stern glare.

“Sacrifices may be required, but they’ll not be offered. I’m not like you, willing to throw lives away for answers,” she said as she placed her weight on her back foot. “I’m in charge here, and you’re one of my resources. As long as you’re useful and passive, I’ll keep that bridge. But don’t think for a second that I won’t burn it the second another admiral goes missing.”

He nodded before waving his arm back towards the room she entered. “Threat assessed and understood. But before you go burning bridges, let’s see what information Freedom’s Progress holds. Hopefully we’ll get there soon enough to find something of use.”

Finally, she turned and headed back out of the communications room. She hated it. She despised having been brought back by them, she despised the idea of owing them anything, and she despised that she may have to rely on them for this investigation. But despite her repulsion, she knew that if colonists truly were disappearing as he said, then he was right about the reapers’ return.

Cerberus Shuttle – Terminus Systems

Shepard sat in the shuttle staring out the window as they flew from the station once more and headed for the nearest relay. Turning her eyes away from the window, she looked at her compatriots, both geared up in that same armor with the same Cerberus logo on it. The fact was, she didn’t trust either of them. They might have her back in a fight, but at any point if given the order, they could turn on her and reverse the effects of the Lazarus Project.

“I’m glad the Illusive Man convinced you to join us, Shepard,” said Jacob with a charming smile.

She eyed him curiously. She was fairly good at reading people, and she read in him something she had seen before in her former quarian crew mate. The Illusive Man told her straight up that Jacob had a kind of hero attraction to her. She was wondering, if it indeed existed, if this hero worship would override his loyalty to Cerberus. She knew that she would never allow them to continue once her mission here was taken care of. The things they did in the past didn’t suddenly get wiped clean just because they decided to throw resources into a good cause. And she found herself wondering if she would end up gunning the young man down at some point when she finally went after the Illusive Man himself.

“I want to find out why colonists are missing and figure out if this has to do with the reapers. I don’t trust Cerberus, and I don’t trust either of you,” she said with a stern stare.

His smile vanished slightly. She wondered if her words stung him somehow, but it really didn’t matter. Miranda spoke up for them both. “A fair judgement given your history with the organization. However, we aren’t here to hinder you, Shepard. We want to find out what happened to these colonists just as much as you do, and we’re here to help you do that.”

“Either way, I’m in charge once our feet hit the ground. And I don’t want any insubordination when I give orders. When we’re in the field, you’re my team, not Cerberus’ team. Do I make myself clear?” she asked as her gaze shifted to Miranda. Despite her work on the Lazarus Project, Shepard could sense an aura of conflict in the woman. She brought Shepard back to life, but she was also very wary of the former spectre.

“Those were our orders,” said the woman with a small smile that never reached her eyes.

“I know it doesn’t mean much, but I’ve got your back Shepard. I’ve seen your work and I’m not here to second guess you. You say jump, I skip the ‘how high’ and jump,” said Jacob, his grin returning to his face.

Snorting to herself, Shepard nodded to them. For now, they would follow her orders. But she knew better than to get comfortable around people so closely associated with Cerberus. She’d have to see if she could steer them away from the Illusive Man’s dark ministrations later. Right now, she had a mystery to solve.

Freedom’s Progress – Terminus Systems

As soon as she stepped off the shuttle, she could feel a sense of dread. As was typical with human colonies, they were lit up as if the entire town was alive, even at night. But there was no bustle, there were no murmurs of workers going to the bar or children playing in the streets. It was just silent, chilling her to the core as she looked at what should have been a thriving colony.

Miranda and Jacob exited the vehicle behind her and immediately their weapons were up and ready. She felt the weight of the new armor they had made her press against her body. It should have come to no surprise that they would have measured her when she was being brought back to life and created a suit of armor that fit her measurements perfectly. Gripping her helmet, she slid it onto her head and sealed it shut before reaching down and pulling her pistol from her side.

Moving forward, she noted that this was indeed a mining colony. Walls of cube-shaped rock jutted up from around her, meaning that the workers here were tasked with chiseling the rocks away. Her mind snapped back to her first mission the Normandy which also took place in a quarry like this. She once again saw Jenkins jump for joy after they had defeated a swarm of drones, only to have him taken out by a long range weapon. She remembered closing his eyes. Suddenly, she snapped out of her stupor as the door to a prefab home opened in front of her.

Stepping inside, she began to feel the same dread as she saw dinner sitting on a table, untouched by whoever made it. Jacob apparently felt the same thing. “Looks like they just got up and left before eating dinner. No sign of struggle,” he said through the comm to keep any potential outsiders from hearing.

She nodded, then moved through the structure and out the other side where they were met with a giant gate that led into the residential section of the colony itself. Miranda looked around the same as her, her tone implying that she felt the same sense of eeriness. “Strange. No bodies, no structural damage, no signs of battle. It’s as if they didn’t fight back at all.”

Stepping up to the gate, she opened it using the controls. But as soon as she did, gunfire hailed down on all three of them. The team rolled into cover behind the walkways of the prefab catwalk that they had leading further into the colony. “We’ve got security mechs,” shouted Shepard as she prepared her pistol.

“That’s unusual. The security systems were always disabled at previous colonies,” said Miranda as her biotics flared.

“Miranda, you grab them. Jacob, we’ll take them out once they’re disabled,” she ordered, getting a nod from both of them. Miranda immediately stood up and lashed out with her biotics, sending the mechs slowly drifting into the air. Both Shepard and Jacob stood up afterwards and put the machines down with return fire that blasted their heads clean off.

Immediately, more of the walking drones stepped out onto a catwalk above and began shooting as well. Despite not having fought in almost two years, Shepard felt her body shift and move into gear once more. She felt as if her body were a new suit that she’d have to get used to again, but one that she felt comfortable in. This showed in her form as she turned and blasted most of the mechs to pieces before they could move a step further. Jacob and Miranda both sent the remaining mechs smashing into the side of the rocky quarry with their biotics, cleaning up the opposition completely.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Shepard held up her pistol and stared at it with her brows furrowed. Suddenly, Jacob spoke up behind her. “Those mechs should have recognized us as human. Why were they trying to kill us?”

“Someone set them to shoot on sight. It looks like we aren’t the only ones here, so keep your eyes open,” said Miranda as she stepped up to Shepard. “Anything wrong, Shepard?”

“No,” said the woman as she lowered her pistol again and began moving forward. “Keep your guns low in case there are civilians left but be ready to fire in case we run into more hostiles,” she ordered as she climbed the stairs to the next building that would allow them further into the colony.

They cleared the building and stepped outside once more, when Shepard raised her pistol. There were mechs alright, but they were already disabled. She stepped up to their bodies and knelt down, turning one’s head and examining it thoroughly. “What is it?” asked Jacob curiously as he watched over her.

“Someone fried their internal circuitry. Bullet holes aside, we also have someone skilled in cyber warfare,” she said as she stood again. “I hope your suits are insulated.” She looked up at the building above with its stairway leading up to the door and saw more mechs strewn about the stairs. Slashing her hand next to her throat, she gave the signal for silence and pointed to the structure itself. Readying her weapon, they moved as a squad up the stairs as quietly as possible and reached the door.

As she expected, as soon as the door opened, weapons were fired from inside and into the night air. She stepped up next to the open door with her weapon up. Opening her omni-tool, she stepped into the door and flashed it towards them, causing their heatsinks to overload and fly from their weapons. Their weapons could still fire but would overheat before they had a chance to get past her shields.

But she stopped in her tracks as she stared at the ones now cursing in a strange language and reaching for new sinks. Raising her hand and weapon towards them, she barked an order. “Don’t move!” she shouted through her speaker as she rushed forward and aimed at them, hoping to intimidate them into putting their weapons down.

Her assessment was correct. These weren’t mechs, they were quarians. The two of them dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrender, but never lost their heated glares. “Or what, Cerberus scum? You’ll kill us?”

Jacob and Miranda followed her into the room and held their weapons up as well, causing the quarians to back further against the wall. But out of nowhere another quarian stepped in and stood in front of her, glaring at her with eyes so fierce she would be surprised if they burned right through her armor. “That’s enough!” she shouted as she raised her own hands. “I’m offering a parlay, there’s no reason this should turn to violence.”

Shepard’s eyes widened as she heard that familiar chirping voice come from the suited figure. Looking her up and down, she noticed that the suit was purple, but different as well. Instead of her hood ending where her mask began, she now wore a hood completely over her head. Her suit, normally a ragtag of pieces that conveniently matched in color was now coordinated neatly and fit her form as snugly as a sock.

Looking back up into the quarian’s eyes, Shepard spoke. “Tali?”

The quarian leader’s eyes widened slightly and she took a step back. “Yes? I’m sorry, have we met?”

“Weapons down,” ordered Shepard as she put her own away and reached up to her helmet. Releasing the seals, she pulled it off, exposing her longer flaming red hair and freckled face once more to the quarian.

Tali stared at her for a long moment as Jacob and Miranda lowered their weapons. It was as if she was analyzing her, similar to how Shepard had analyzed Tali’s suit. But after a long moment of silence, a choked sob escaped her helmet. “Sh-Shepard?”

Shepard nodded with a smile as she stepped forward, standing directly in front of the young quarian. “It’s me Tali.”

“But… you died. H-How could you…?” asked the young woman as she took a step back. “How do I know it’s really you? How do I know Cerberus didn’t just…”

Shepard cut her off. “You were one of my best friends. We served on the Normandy together, and you helped me with Val’Eda,” said the woman, causing the quarian to freeze up.

One of the other quarians looked from Tali to Shepard curiously. “Val’Eda? The ancestor?”

Tali waved him off and shook her head. “It was a program I helped her create,” said the young woman as she turned back to Shepard. “It… it really is you?”

“Like I said, Tali. You’ll always be a part of my family,” said Shepard, causing Tali to let out a huge sigh of anxiety.

“Keelah, how did you survive?” she asked as she looked up, then looked at the two on either side of her. “And why are you with Cerberus?”

“I’m not with Cerberus,” she growled, knowing this was going to become a habit. “It’s a long story. Perhaps we could hash it out after we figure out what’s going on here,” said the woman as she stepped forward and placed her hands on the quarian’s shoulders. “What are you all doing here? This is a human colony.”

One of the other quarians stepped forward, asking in his raspy voice, “Shepard? Your old captain?”

Tali turned to him and nodded. “She is… erm… was the captain of the Normandy, which I served on during my pilgrimage,” she said before turning to Shepard again. “As for what we’re doing here, we were in the area when we received a distress signal from one of our own here in this colony.”

Shepard’s eyebrow cocked curiously. “A quarian on a human colony?”

She nodded. “My… stories when I returned to the fleet inspired many new quarians to take their pilgrimage among humans. Veetor’Nara nar Rayya is very quiet and didn’t like the crowds of the Migrant Fleet. He liked the idea of helping a small colony, so he chose to take his pilgrimage here. They were kind enough to accept him, as they had few engineers as talented as he was,” she said with a heavy sigh. “We got his distress signal and came to find him only to find the entire colony empty and every security mech on high alert and ready to kill.”

“Why are you giving Cerberus agents this information?” asked the male quarian who had lowered his hands by this point.

But Tali’s head snapped towards him again, her eyes locked in a glare. “Shepard, who is in charge of you three?”

Smirking at the domineering figure that the quarian woman was showing, Shepard responded, “Miranda, Jacob, who is in charge?”

Shepard could practically hear Miranda roll her eyes inside her helmet as they both responded. “You are.”

Finally, Tali turned herself towards the quarian fully. “Hear that, Prazza? I did not give Cerberus anything. I gave Spectre Shepard information on our mission because she could help us,” she said as she took a step closer to him. “And if you question me one more time while we’re on the ground, when we get back to the Migrant Fleet I’ll have them pull your stripes off so fast you’ll need suit repairs afterwards. Now shut up,” she growled angrily before turning back to Shepard. “You can help us?”

Radiating with pride at the new leader that Tali had been reborn into, Shepard nodded eagerly. “We’d be happy to help. But before that, do you know anything about what happened here?”

The quarian shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. We arrived less than an hour ago and the colony was exactly as it is now. We traced his omni-tool and followed him in the shuttle, but he ran into a warehouse on the far side of the colony. It was then that the security mechs turned on us and began shooting at our shuttle. We had to steer away as the YMIR class mechs near the warehouse nearly took us out.”

Nodding, Shepard reached up and slid her helmet back onto her head before sealing it once more. “Well, with our help you should be able to get to him. Perhaps he can tell us what happened here.”

Security Warehouse – Freedom’s Progress – Terminus Systems

After flying the shuttles as close as they could, both the quarians and the humans exited at their entry points into the courtyard that led to the warehouse. Shepard stepped up to the doorway leading into the open space and put her back against the door as she watched the large, unusual mechs marching back and forth in front of the small building. There were two of them, making their usual flanking maneuvers less likely to work. They had worked out a plan where Shepard and her team would take the brunt of the attack, drawing their attention while the quarians would try to disable them from behind. Which meant that they would have to hold off under extreme bullet and rocket fire.

Getting the go signal from Tali, Shepard stepped out from her cover and sprinted towards a cargo lifting truck nearby while firing at the giant machines. Her rounds pinged off their armor, and the glowing figure eight-shaped lights in their head changed from green to red. Both of the armored units turned and began firing at her, peppering the truck with rounds hard enough to move it sideways.

She ducked down as Jacob and Miranda both swung out of cover and unleashed biotic attacks. If Miranda’s words were true, mechs were now programmed to adjust for fire in the air should they go airborne, and their armor had been upgrade to withstand biotic clashing from all but the most powerful biotic attacks. Reaching up, she activated her comm. “Miranda, I should be in range to use my launcher now. Can you two take some of the heat for a few moments?”

“Affirmative, Shepard,” came the operative’s call. The woman stood up and sent another warp towards the machines while Jacob fired relentlessly at the other, causing them both to shift their gaze.

“Prazza, now’s the time. Target any weak points and take them down,” came Tali’s call over the radio. Shepard pulled her grenade launcher free and pulled the safety off. But before she jumped out of cover, Tali snapped over the comm again. “Prazza! What are you doing! Get back into cover!” Shepard peeked around the truck and saw a small number of the quarian squad move out of cover and head to the warehouse, using the cover that her team had given them. “Shepard! Prazza’s team is trying to get in the security station and get Veetor out before you can talk to him!”

“Should have figured they’d betray us,” growled Miranda as she shook her head from behind the mineral rich crates.

Ignoring the snide comment, Shepard’s eyes widened as one of the mechs turned just enough that its peripheral caught the intruders who were trying to hack the security door. She jumped out and immediately aimed at the monstrous machine seconds too late as it fired a rocket directly at their position. Shepard growled and unleashed two of the projectiles, sending them soaring across the field and slamming into the mech’s back.

“Prazza’s team has been compromised! The rest of you holding off to not draw attention, now is the time! Help Shepard out!” snapped the quarian commander as she too popped up from a balcony and sent a sabotaging attack that stunned one of the mechs momentarily. Shepard’s grenades stuck to the machine before detonating and sending both of its arms twisting backwards. It let out a loud screech before falling face first into the ground, its lights now out.

As the other quarians still in cover began to assist in taking out the heavy mech, Shepard saw the remains of the amateur infiltration team that tried to sneak around the mechs. She cringed as she saw Prazza, his green suit torn open and his blood soaking the ground with his face mask shattered. Another with him was simply leaning back against the door, staring at the stump where their arm used to be as if in total shock at what had just happened. Finally, the last was hyperventilating as their mask had shattered as well, their other wounds forgotten as they tried to crawl away.

“We need to get them off the field!” shouted Shepard as she stepped out from her cover and launched her final explosive at the remaining mech. It raised its arm, where the small device attached and exploded. The detonation ripped the arm free but left the rest of it unaffected. “Dammit…” she growled as she hid behind her cover once more, the mech now aiming its rapid-fire gun towards her.

As the truck lurched sideways again, she had another memory snap into her mind. They were fighting the geth on Noveria. They had taken her and the team by surprise and nearly blew their vehicle to shreds. Tali had saved them with a risky maneuver while already being injured. Shepard suddenly gasped, and then turned to the others.

“I need you all to hold it off for a few seconds! Keep it off me!” she ordered as she reached up and opened the door to the truck. The others nodded and continued to pelt the behemoth of a machine with a combination of biotic attacks and bullets. Tali’s team did the same with cyber-attacks, confusing the mech and causing it to shift its fire back and forth.

Hopping into the seat, the former spectre started the vehicle using the switch underneath the steering compartment. Despite all the bullet holes, it roared to life, and she swung the wheel to the right, turning it towards the machine. “Shepard, what are you-“ asked Tali, but before she had a chance to finish, the woman hit the accelerator and slammed the vehicle at high speed directly into the machine.

The loading truck stopped rapidly, causing the former spectre to fly forward and crashed through the windshield. “Shepard!” shouted Jacob as she flew and skidded across the ground of the courtyard. Finally, she stopped face down, her armor scored with scratches from the rough landing. Looking up, she saw that the mech was still moving, but most of the truck’s front face was wedged into its arm, making it unmovable. It could only fire and could no longer aim.

Letting out a sigh of relief, she got to her knees as Miranda and Jacob moved out of cover to get to her. Tali jumped down from her elevated spot and immediately moved up behind the mech, prying off the anti-hacking protective plating on its circuitry and frying its system for good. Once she was finished, Tali turned to Shepard and shook her head. “Stealing my moves now?”

“Call it inspired tactics,” said Shepard with a chuckle as her squad helped her to her feet. “Did it hurt that bad when you did it?”

“I had a safety harness on… so no, probably not,” said Tali as her own squad moved to tend to the injured. “They’ll take time to heal. Go ahead and get what you need from Veetor.”

Nodding, Shepard turned towards the warehouse and hacked into the door, opening it from the controls within and stepped inside with Tali in tow. But as they stepped inside the small compartment, Shepard felt her heart begin to sink as she heard the young quarian babbling to himself. Ridding herself of her battle face, she frowned slightly before reaching up and pulling her helmet off once more. “Veetor?” she asked as she stepped up behind him.

“No… no Veetor… not here. Swarms can’t find. Monster coming. Have to hide,” he said in a rapid and panicked clip.

She had seen many times before; trauma. Tali said the young man had struggled in the crowded masses of the Migrant Fleet. And now to have those closest to him on his pilgrimage taken must have scarred him deeply. “Veetor, the monsters are gone. You’re safe now,” she said as she stepped up next to him. She made it a point not to touch him as quarians highly valued their personal space. But still he rambled on as he tried to redirect the more drones.

Miranda stepped up and shook her head. “Great. The only witness to what could have happened and he’s a babbling idiot.”

Shepard wasn’t sure if it was her reputation, or her taking her bosses orders too seriously. But when she turned her glare on the operative, the woman immediately shrunk, even physically stepping back from her withering glare. Once Miranda was silent, Shepard turned to the young quarian, then activated her omni-tool. Within seconds, every terminal in the small security cabin turned dark. Finally, Veetor stopped.

The engineer turned in his seat and looked up at the three of them, then he stared straight at Shepard. “You-You’re human. Where did you hide? How come they didn’t find you?”

Shepard raised her hand and held her fingers together in the quarian finger tap. Veetor stared at her momentarily before shyly raising his hand and touching his three fingers to her five. “Who didn’t find us? Who did this?”

Retracting his hand, he began to fidget in a similar fashion to how Tali did back on the early days of the Normandy. “The… the monsters. The swarms. They took everyone.”

Jacob stepped forward and took the initiative of asking him directly. “Why didn’t the colonists fight back, Veetor?”

The young quarian shook his head as if pained by his own thoughts. “You don’t know… you didn’t see. But I see everything.” Turning to the consoles she had just shut down, the quarian raised his own omni-tool and undid her shutdown command. She was slightly surprised at how quickly he countered her work. The screens flashed on, and a security video began to play.

She looked up and watched as the security footage showed people walking by the security shed on their way to whatever their daily life held. For a long moment, the video showed the everyday commute for these colonists. They looked content and happy in their small slice of the galaxy. But that quickly changed. The same colonists who had just past the camera began sprinting back the way they came.

Shepard leaned closer, her eyes narrowing as the grainy footage showed a massive swarm of creatures that billowed forth like a cloud of death. One of the slower colonists got caught in it and they went as rigid as a statue, falling to the ground with their hands clutching their chest as if they had been frozen in time. She continued to watch as the swarm spread out, nearly making the video unwatchable. Reaching up, Veetor hit a button on his omni-tool and the video speed forward, then stopped again. The cloud had withdrawn, leaving people paralyzed in the streets, unable to even scream.

Then, her eyes widened and she took a step back as she saw a tall figure walk onto the screen. It was carapaced from its head down to the claws it walked on. It held its hand out over a floating pod that looked somewhat like a casket, and then began loading the colonists into them one by one. Each new pod filled was lifted and carried off screen by the numerous other of its kind. But it continued to walk around and stare at the people it had frozen, as if reveling in their terror.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” growled Shepard as she gripped her fist and nearly punched the wall.

“You know who they are?” asked Jacob curiously as he eyed the former spectre.

Instead, Miranda stepped forward, a none-too-pleased look on her face as well. “The Collectors.”

It appeared the gravity of the situation finally hit Jacob as his own eyes widened as well. “Collectors? From beyond the Omega 4 Relay?”

“It appears they’re using some kind of weapon to disable the entire colony all at once,” said Shepard, her fist still clenched.

Veetor spoke up again as he rewound the video back to the dark cloud that swallowed the colonists. “The seeker swarms. Nobody can hide, nobody can escape. They are everywhere. And then the monsters take you away,” he said, his voice cracking as his anxiety grew.

Shepard turned to the other two. “They have a swarm of… what? Bugs? Nanobots?”

Miranda nodded and turned to Veetor. “Did they try to come after you?”

The young quarian nodded gently. “They sting Veetor, but it did nothing. Punctured suit, needed sealant and antibiotics.”

“But it didn’t freeze him like the others,” said Jacob curiously as he turned to Shepard. “I guess this somewhat confirms the Illusive Man’s theory that they’re after humans specifically.”

“Only partially. There are too many factors we don’t understand yet,” said Miranda as she turned to Veetor. Suddenly she jumped back in surprise as he held up what looked like a handful of dead insects.

“Only a few followed me in. They stung me, I killed them with an electrical shock,” he said as he continued to hold them out. Immediately, Jacob pulled out sealing containers and locked their small forms inside to keep them from degrading.

 “This is more than we could have hoped for,” said the young soldier with a smile as he put away the specimens.

Shepard reached up and scratched her head as she processed the new information. “Why are they targeting humans? It can’t just be some grudge against me for Sovereign’s death.”

Jacob shook his head. “When I think of an artificial intelligence acting as the galactic arbiter over organic species, a petty revenge scheme like that does not come to mind.”

Finally, Miranda stepped up and cut into the conversation. “We can have this conversation later. We should really be getting this information back to the Illusive Man so he can formulate some countermeasure against them. Grab the quarian and let’s head for the shuttle.”

Shepard’s eyebrow cocked as she turned to look at the operative. It was then that she saw Tali had finally entered the building as well. Rushing in, the quarian commander faced off against Miranda, the two face to face. “Veetor is not going anywhere with you! He needs medical attention and therapy, not some Cerberus interrogation room!” she snapped angrily.

Miranda showed no hesitation, however, and struck back. “Given your team’s betrayal of us, and their current dire situation outside, I’d say you no longer have a say in the matter,” she said back coldly as her blue eyes conceding not even an inch of authority.

Jacob tried to step forward and calm the two. “He won’t be harmed, we just need to ask him a few more questions,” said the man, only getting death glared by both of the woman.

Shepard stepped forward, her slow chuckling getting everyone’s attention. Tali’s fiery demeanor cooled, and Miranda once again had that uncomfortable expression on her face through her visor. It confused Shepard at first, but she now knew what it meant. Putting Miranda’s reaction aside, she stepped up to all three of them as Veetor slinked over to Tali, making his decision on the matter obvious. “Please don’t let them take me…”

Shepard looked at him, then looked up to Tali, her eyes still as luminous as ever. Though they currently had an expression of nervous anticipation in them. “Shepard, you can’t let them have him.”

“I have no say in the matter,” said Shepard calmly as she looked towards Jacob and Miranda. For the slightest of moments, Miranda seemed to have a satisfied expression on her face. But it vanished as the next words came from her mouth. “You’re a soldier,” she said pointing to Jacob. “You’re an operative,” she said as she pointed to Miranda. Then she turned to Tali, whose face was borderline horrified. “And I’m a former Spectre. I no longer hold that rank, which means the highest military authority present is Commander Tali’Zorah. So, I don’t outrank you.”

Tali placed a hand over her quickly beating heart and glared at Shepard. “You could be less dramatic next time,” she growled, but Shepard could hear the amusement in her tone. “I’m glad to see that you’re still in charge, even if the company is less than desirable.” She didn’t hide her glare as it was aimed at the other two. Turning around, she gently removed Veetor’s omni-tool and handed it to Shepard. “Here, take this for your mission. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me on my old Normandy address. In the meantime…” she said as she began to lift Veetor up by his arm and support him beneath his shoulder. “It’s… good to have you back, Shepard. The galaxy really needs you.”

“You can’t just let him leave!” snapped Miranda as she stepped towards Shepard and gripped Shepard’s shoulder.

Shepard slowly turned to her and gave her a cold stare. “Stand down, Operative Lawson. That’s an order.”

Miranda released her shoulder, then clenched her hands into fists. Despite her hands, her face showed no emotion whatsoever. “Fine,” was all she said before turning and heading back to the shuttle.

Shepard looked back towards the quarians leaving. Some being carried on stretchers, some limping, and some already in a bag. She let out a sigh as her heart reached out for Tali. Jenkins wasn’t as insubordinate as Prazza was, but it still hurt no less to lose someone. She found herself wondering if this was the first person she had lost. And she hoped with all her heart it’d be the last.

CODEX ENTRIES

Prefab | Technology | Engineering
Short for prefabrication, these are light, cheap, and easy to make building materials that can be constructed into a functioning building within a matter of hours. They’re used as temporary homes and bases during the colonization of new worlds.

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.

Chapter Text

???? - ????

Time was meaningless anymore. Day to night, night to day, he never saw any of those things. Their mind was as adrift in the flow of time as a stone was in a trickling stream. Sometimes it was day, sometimes it was night. Sometimes they would be in one place, sometimes another. Sometimes he would see nothing at all and it would all be mercifully silent.

He didn’t know if he was insane, or if he was in some form of purgatory. He would open his eyes one time and be on his homeworld, standing in a familiar orchard. It would be midday after it had rained, the smell of the fruit more powerful than ever. Then he would close his eyes and be somewhere else, as if he were experiencing fragments of his life.

But they weren’t fragments of his life. They were something else entirely because in the history of his life he had never had anyone like her there for him as she was now. He didn’t entirely understand his circumstances, but he made the best of them as he stood in the orchard and watched her move from tree to tree with a basket, her hair fluttering wildly in the windy day. She would grab a fruit from the tree and hold it up for him to see, and he’d just nod, causing her to put it in the basket.

He wasn’t an expert on fruit or anything. In fact, he wasn’t an expert on many things. He watched her move from plant to plant as she harvested the crops, humming a tune the entire time. It didn’t make sense to him. Many things didn’t make sense. Not just why she was here. But why she was with him. And then why wasn’t he happy about it? It was a dream come true for him, yet somehow it still didn’t sit right. He just sighed to himself as he stared at her longingly. Perhaps someday he would have an explanation. But for now, he would make the most of the situation. He would try to be happy even if he couldn’t understand. Stepping down the stone walkway, he grinned as he approached her.

Comm Room – Cerberus Station Titan

“Good work on Freedom’s Progress, Shepard,” came his voice as soon as the hologram appeared. “We scrubbed Veetor’s omni-tool for any information. Nothing new, but them giving it to us is a surprising olive branch given our history.” He looked at her and nodded in approval. “You and I have different methods, but I can’t argue with your results.”

Shepard shook her head. “You ever consider being diplomatic once in a while? You’d have a lot more sympathizers if you dropped the ‘cooperate or be killed’ attitude.”

“Diplomacy is great when it works. But it’s difficult when everyone already perceives you as a threat.” Once again, he lit a cigarette and puffed on it before speaking. “But more importantly, you confirmed that the Collectors are behind the abductions.”

Shepard eyed him curiously. “Confirmed? So, you already knew?”

“As I said before, I had my suspicions. But I needed proof. The collectors are enigmatic at best. According to Alliance records, you’ve heard more than enough about them to know what kind of threat they are,” he said, giving her a knowing look with those piercing eyes.

She nodded solemnly. “They’re a species set beyond the Omega 4 Relay who only come out to trade. They trade ridiculously advanced technology and resources worth billions of credits for slaves.”

“They do buy slaves, but I do not believe they need the labor,” he responded after another hit.

“Another of your theories?” asked Shepard curiously.

“Call it a hunch. They’re well beyond the technological threshold for full automation. It’s highly unlikely that they need them for working. But I’ve spoken to some of the sellers about what kind of people they sold to the collectors. They were especially interested in biotics and those with other unique genetic mutations,” he said with a knowing smile.

“So, they’re less interested in slave labor and more interested in genetic variations,” she responded as she reached up and scratched her chin thoughtfully. “If that’s the case, then are they harvesting human colonies because of our genetic diversity?”

“As far as genetics go, we are one of the more diverse species in modern history. However, what they’re doing now goes far beyond a hunt for unique genetic variations. They’re taking entire colonies, entire worlds of humans,” he said as he let out a puff of smoke. “They’re no longer exchanging for anything, Shepard. They’re hunting us.”

“But this shift in focus isn’t a connection to the reapers by itself. What makes you think they’re reaper pawns like Saren was?” she asked as she crossed her arms once more.

“Occam’s Razor. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the correct one. In this case, the Omega 4 Relay. No ship that’s ever gone through the Omega 4 Relay has ever returned except for the collectors. They pop out of the relay ever so often. And if they can get through the Omega 4 Relay safely, that means they know how to manipulate the relays,” he said as he swirled his glass again.

“A bit of a reach. They could just destroy anything that comes through the relay. It wouldn’t be too difficult to set up gun stations on the other side to make sure nothing gets through to your homeworld,” she said skeptically.

“We can’t say for sure what’s on the other side or even where the other side is. But one thing we can do is look at their methods of cleaning up colonies. And the ship that took down the Normandy was easily capable of seeing through the cloaking of one of the most advanced stealth ships in the galaxy,” he said as he swirled his glass. “We may not have absolute evidence that they’re connected to the reapers. But I haven’t been wrong yet, and I believe their technology speaks for itself.”

“Regardless of whether the reapers are involved, we need to get the Council and the Alliance involved in this. We can’t just go into this ourselves without any backup and expect to clash with a technologically superior species and come out in one piece,” she remarked as she shrugged.

“As you’re well aware, both the Council and the Alliance are at severe odds with my organization. If I thought it were possible to get their assistance, I would have already tried. However, like with Eden Prime, the Council seems to disregard these occurrences because they mostly happen in the Terminus Systems. And the Alliance are stretched too thin to do much about it. With the expansion of Alliance Space, they’ve had to spread their forces out to keep out batarians and other undesirables from the Traverse. So how much help they will be is questionable. Either way, if you can get them to fight for the cause, then you’re free to try,” he said as he took another puff.

Her eys narrowed at the wording, but she ignored the slight commanding tone of his. She knew he liked control and wording his statement as if he gave her permission was one of those obvious quirks of someone who was used to never having their orders questioned. “I’ll need to talk to them first. And that means I’ll need to get to Council Space in a vehicle that isn’t registered to a terrorist organization.”

“You’ll get your ride, Shepard. It’s waiting for you in docking bay F68 on the station,” he said giving her a small smirk. “I’ve already enlisted a pilot for you. One of the best from what I’ve heard.”

She cocked an eyebrow at him as the hologram began to fade. She turned away from the entanglement communicator and exited the room. But as she saw the figure standing before her, her jaw nearly dropped. “Holy shit… Joker?”

Despite a few grey hairs added to his meticulously grown beard, he had changed little. He still had that confident smirk on his face, still had that power pose while he stood despite needing a cane to support him, and still had the military style cap on his head. “I don’t believe it…” he said, a sigh of what sounded like relief escaping from his lips. “When they told me… I… didn’t believe it at first. But I figured, ‘what’s the worst that could happen?’ But… here you are.”

“Here I am,” she said in return as she stepped up to his stoic form.

He looked her up and down in her armor before locking eyes with her. “I… saw you get spaced. I saw you stop moving before you fell into Alchera’s gravity well. I saw you… die,” he said, his voice clearly betraying some repressed sadness. “Is it really you Shepard?”

She let out a sigh of relief as she very delicately placed a hand on his should and gave him a piercing glare. “Did that dancing video ever get to the extranet?”

Joker snorted and shook his head. “No worries, Shepard. I’ll take it to my grave.”

She smiled at him as the sadness in his voice dissipated into relief. “If you don’t want to end up in an early one, keep it that way,” she said, getting another laugh from him. She then returned the favor and looked him up and down. “What are you doing here?’

His cheeriness vanished again, and he donned a look of mild annoyance. “After you… uh, died, I went back to the Alliance. They didn’t know what to do with me. They offered me a job on a hundred different ships. Every captain in the Alliance wanted the former pilot of the Normandy. Eventually, your mother offered me a place on her dreadnaught. I took it and helped them out for a little while, but I just felt empty sitting in the pilot seat of anything besides the Normandy.”

Shepard frowned. She knew that seeing her die on Alchera had to have a devastating effect on him. And on top of losing a close friend, he lost his home, the place he felt at peace. “I’m sorry.”

He smirked again. “Not like you could have helped it. I’m sure it wasn’t exactly your choice to nosedive at a planet without landing gear,” he said, making light of what he saw. “Either way, I just kinda drifted around the Kilimanjaro for a while. But then I was approached when I was on the Citadel and asked if I wanted to fly like before. They knew a lot about the Normandy and our time on it for someone I had never met. When they mentioned they were from Cerberus I about throat chopped him with my cane. But then…”

“Then?” asked Shepard curiously.

“They said you were alive, and that you’d be here,” he said as he looked down. “I… had to see for myself that you were alive.” She looked down at his cane and saw that he was gripping it extremely hard for someone with brittle bones throughout his body. “And here you are, as if nothing had ever happened.”

“Not exactly,” she said as she was waved down by a Cerberus lackey. They motioned for her to follow, and she and Joker both began to move at a slow pace. The pilot looked up at her curious about her statement. “I have no memory of Alchera or why we were there. Do you remember?”

The man moved as fast as he was able, using his cane to keep him steady on his feet. “Not really. You said you were investigating something about Saren, but you wanted to keep it pretty close to your chest for some reason.”

Shepard frowned again as they entered a long, tunnel-like hallway in the station. “Hmm. Well, let’s hope whatever it was comes back to me. Because the last thing I remember was ordering the ship to leave the Citadel weeks before my apparent death.”

“Well, I guess that’s for the better. Remembering being exposed to the vacuum of space would probably give you nightmares for years,” he said as he shook his head. “Memory or not, it’s really good to have you back, Shepard. The galaxy… and I really didn’t know what to do without you.”

“Should I be recording this?” she asked with a smirk, making him roll his eyes. But then her smirk melted into a genuine smile. “Thank you, Jeff. You mean a lot to me as well.”

He nodded, then let out an extremely heavy breath. “Alright, got that off my chest. Now back to making fun of you and your ridiculous dancing,” he said as a door opened in front of them. She snorted as she looked up and saw the label above the door that read F68. “Oh, right. They just told me about this,” he said with a glowing smile as he stepped out of the tunnel and into the open docking bay area.

Shepard stepped out as well and her eyes widened immediately as she saw a familiar curved hull. “You’re kidding me…”

“That’s what I said,” joked the pilot as he too let his eyes roam over the ship’s curves. “It’s about twice the size of the last ship we had and has a much bigger drive core. That’ll take some getting used to. But it’s home.”

Shepard’s eyes scoured the hull for a moment before looking to Joker. “No name yet?” she asked, getting a shrug from him. “I guess we’ll have to give her one.” She then turned and looked over the ship once more. Despite the elated surprise, she knew who was giving her this ship, and knew that there was work to be done on the inside before she allowed any information to flow through the ship. “Come on, Joker. Let’s go take her for a ride.”

Combat Information Center – SSV Normandy SR2

Miranda and Jacob had come with her, both of them carrying their gear in cases as she stepped into the decontamination chamber. Joker had gone in ahead of her as she went to grab her own things. But finally, she was here on the doorstep to a new ship. Once the process was finished, she stepped inside and immediately turned her head to the cockpit to see Joker sitting in his regular spot at the helm, a giant grin on his face and two thumbs straight up.

“Leather seats, Shepard! The Alliance always skimped on comfort, but the private sector really knows how to treat its pilots,” he said excitedly as he practically wiggled in the seat.

Miranda and Jacob continued down the long corridor at the entrance and further into the ship as she smiled back at the pilot. “Glad you’re enjoying yourself. Just make sure you get used to the new setup so we don’t end up crashing into a relay.”

“Oh, I’m gonna fly the hell out of this thing,” he said as he spun around and began typing at the control panel.

Shepard snorted and then turned to walk down the same corridor the others had walked before her. She stepped into the CIC itself and saw that it was much more brightly lit than the last Normandy. The galaxy map and captain’s station had multiple terminals set up, as well as a chair to sit in as well. She shook her head as Joker’s comment about the private sector made her snort again.

Crewmen stood at attention as she passed, all of them decked out head to toe in gear that practically screamed Cerberus. “I’ll have to take care of that later,” she said to herself as she stepped in front of the holographic projector for the room.

Miranda and Jacob once again stepped up to her. The young man had a confident smirk on his face, while the operative looked about as warm as her icy demeanor would allow her to. Jacob was the first to speak up. “Welcome to the new Normandy, Spectre.”

Shepard looked at the technology, the design, and the crew moving about animatedly as they started to work on power the ship up. “This must have cost a pretty penny,” she said as she looked at the pair. “The Illusive Man doesn’t seem like the type to splurge on comfort for anyone but himself. So why all the extra effort?”

Suddenly, a synthetic sounding voice spoke up from behind her. “The Illusive Man wanted to make sure that everyone working aboard the SR2 was as comfortable as possible given the stakes of this particular mission.”

Her brow shot up as she looked around. “And you are?”

Suddenly, a holographic figure, a simple sphere with a neck-like support popped up in front of her over the holographic table. “I am the Normandy’s artificial intelligence. The crew like to refer to me as EDI, as it is an acronym for my full title, Enhanced Defense Intelligence.”

“Caution to the wind, is it?” asked Shepard as she crossed her arms and looked around the room. She knew that the hologram wasn’t where the intelligence was, it was just a focus point for the organic crew who were used to talking to something in front of them rather than a disembodied voice. “Why would the Illusive Man hire Joker if he already had an AI flying the ship?”

“I do not have control over the helm of the ship. Lieutenant Moreau’s talents will not go to waste. I am a defense platform that is in charge of cyber and electronic warfare suites during combat. Beyond the ship’s defenses, I have no control over any other structure on board,” they said in a rather monotone feminine voice.

Nodding, Shepard asked curiously. “How do you prefer to be spoken to?”

There was a moment of silence before the AI spoke again. “I’m unsure what you are asking.”

“If you are an AI and not just a virtual intelligence parroting prerecorded messages, then you have an identity. It means you are a member of my crew, and I want to know how you wish to be spoken to. Do you prefer any pronouns? Do you have another name you wish to use? That kinda thing.”

“Another… name?” asked the AI. Shepard noticed that the hologram fragmented for a second before reforming. “Due to the feminine nature of my voice, the crew have referred to me as ‘she’ and ‘her.’ These will suffice. As for a name, most of the crew already knows me as EDI. For expediency, it would be best if I kept this name.”

Nodding, Shepard turned to the two Cerberus agents. “So, any other controversial crewmates I should meet?”

“Not yet,” said Miranda, getting a curious look from the former spectre. “As of right now, Cerberus has filled the crew roster with the best in their fields that were available.”

“Available and loyal to Cerberus, no doubt,” said Shepard as she stared at Miranda. Shepard imagined her icy mask cracking and volcanic heat spewing out. But if the woman were angry about the addendum, then she didn’t show it.

“That is, perhaps, something you’ll have to come to terms with in the near future if you plan to work with us,” said the operative in a clipped tone. “In the meantime, your quarters are on the top floor. The door can only be accessed with your DNA and handprint. Should you wish to whitelist anyone, feel free to let me know and I’ll get those taken care of. My cabin and office are on the crew deck along with everyone else, so if you need anything from me, you know where to find me.” With little more than a small, effortless smile, the woman turned around and headed for the nearby elevator behind the wall surrounding the captain’s station.

When she was gone, Jacob just shook his head and gave a genuine awkward smile. “Man you know how to push her buttons,” he said, trying not to chuckle. “If you need anything from me, my station is in the armory in the cargo hold. If you need help with the ship, feel free to ask EDI. She has terminals all over the ship,” he said before giving her one last nod and heading for the elevator.

After he was gone, she sighed to herself and looked around the CIC. She recalled when the Normandy was first handed over to her almost three years prior. She spent the first few hours walking around it and getting to know the crew. She didn’t know this crew, she had never worked with them, and while their ties to Cerberus were questionable, she knew she was going to have to get used to them. Most of the crew from her previous ship was dead, and the Alliance was spread too thin to offer her new members, all of which she would have to investigate thoroughly anyway.

Sighing to herself, she turned to the captain’s station and noticed that a young woman with mousy brown hair was quietly trying not to stare at her. Shepard stepped towards her, and the woman stood straight and saluted with a smile on her face. “Spectre Shepard! It’s so good to finally meet you!”

Shepard tilted her head curiously at the woman before looking her up and down. “In the military, you don’t salute on ships. Only outdoors when your headgear is on,” she said, and the woman’s smile vanished while her hand slapped down to her side rapidly. The spectre smiled playfully and shook her head. “But this isn’t a military ship. No need for formalities.”

Nodding, the girl chuckled. “I’ll try to remember that,” she said, before gasping slightly. “Oh! I haven’t introduced myself! I’m Lieutenant Kelly Chambers, your new Yeoman!”

Shepard was slightly surprised about how animated the woman was. “Miss Chambers?”

“If there are no formalities, then please feel free to call me Kelly,” she said with an adorable grin.

“Kelly it is,” said Shepard, only becoming more confused about her. “Kelly, how are you associated with Cerberus exactly?”

From the change in her expression, it appeared that Kelly was aware of the optics of her position. “I understand how most people see Cerberus. But they are truly trying to help humanity.”

Shepard shook her head gently, not wanting to make the woman feel guilty. “Save me the pitch, Kelly. I just want to know how you came to be associated with them.”

Nodding, the lieutenant continued. “I was in college for xenopsychology and ROTC. I was intending to go into the Alliance, but I was close enough to the Citadel to see what they did to you when you were trying to go after Saren. I… became disillusioned to them. About a year ago, when I finished my psychology degree, they approached me saying that they had a position for me.”

Shepard’s brow cocked curiously. “Their files are mostly classified, but there’s enough circulated publicly that you had to know what kind of organization they were. That didn’t bother you?”

Kelly sighed and looked at the ground. “I knew what they were. But I also couldn’t deny that they were a rogue part of the Alliance,” she said, getting a surprised look from the spectre. “You of all people should know that the Alliance isn’t as clean as they try to act. They’ve done things comparable to Cerberus, and it went ignored because it was ordered from High Command,” she said, finally looking up at the woman again.

Shepard smirked at her, making the nervous young woman rigid. “Music to my ears,” she said as she placed a hand on her shoulder. “Keep that oath of questioning orders and you can be my yeoman for as long as you like, Kelly.”

Wide-eyed, the young lieutenant nodded stiffly. “A-Alright,” she said, then gave Shepard a small smile. “The main reason I joined Cerberus was because they said they weren’t giving up on you and your mission. I… wanted to be a part of that.”

“You will,” said Shepard as her eyes hardened into a glare. “But I want to make something blatantly clear. I am in charge on this ship, not Miranda, not the Illusive Man. Anything and everything he asks you to send him goes through me. Are we clear?”

The yeoman went to salute again, but then caught herself and instead stood at attention. “Understood, Shepard.”

“Good,” said the spectre. “Back to your duties, Kelly.” Turning away from the newcomer, Shepard smiled slightly, a small fire of hope burning inside her that her influence may be stronger than even the Illusive Man himself.

Med Bay – SSV Normandy SR-2

She moved past most of the officers on board the ship, all sporting that same nauseating uniform that Cerberus liked to plaster on its soldiers. This Normandy was much bigger than the last one, meaning more crew was required to run it. That also meant that she had a lot of work to do in weeding out undesirables from said crew. But also, she’d have to adjust her normal method of sitting down and talking to them all. For now, she needed to know the staple officers of her crew.

She knew Jacob had control of the armory, and Miranda was the executive officer aboard. Despite her limited time with them, she didn’t feel she had to have the ‘I’m the captain here’ talk with them again. Next in line was the medical officer. Given the danger of their mission ahead, they would likely be seeing them a lot and it was important to touch base.

She entered the medical wing on the crew deck and looked around for a moment. There were medical beds lining the walls to the right with top-of-the-line surgical equipment hanging from the ceiling, ready for use. On the left side of the room was a small administrative area with several terminals, a grounded and locked cabinet full of medications at the ready, and a rack on the wall with dozens of different medical instruments.

Directly in front of the administrative desk were a pair of chairs, one of which was facing the other way from her. Despite this, she could still see someone sitting in it. Approaching slowly, she put on her most diplomatic smile. “Are you the medical officer?”

The chair slowly spun in place, revealing to her the person who sat there. And with each second that past, her smile vanished and was replaced by surprise. Finally, the chair had turned a full hundred and eighty degrees. “Karin?” asked Shepard, the shock apparent in her voice.

“Spectre Jane Shepard,” she said with a tired smile on her face. Despite this, her tone was no less caring than it had been two years ago. “I watched the Normandy burn with you on it.”

Shepard shook her head for a moment and looked once more to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. “Karin, what are you doing here?”

The older woman smiled lightly. “You,” she said simply, getting a look of confusion. “I watched you struggle as your oxygen escaped. I was close enough to see you burn as you entered the atmosphere. So, when Cerberus approached me and said that you were alive, and that you needed my help, my safety became my second concern. Seeing the truth about whether you were alive was my first.”

“But… you were an Alliance lifer,” said Jane as she sat down in the chair opposite to the doctor.

“I was. I’ve spent a great many years serving the Alliance. And after the Normandy was destroyed, they reassigned all of the surviving crew. We were split apart. I was assigned to the Mars Naval Medical Center for a while, and while I was there, I saw what they were doing,” she said with a heavy sigh.

Shepard leaned forward in her chair and eyed the woman. “What were the Alliance doing?”

“You changed everything. You took down a reaper ship and saved the entire galaxy from being harvested and killed. And what did they do when you died?” she asked, her face now a mask of bitterness. “They slapped you on a recruitment poster. They sold the rights to make a movie. They turned you into their golden cash calf, a device to recruit young men and women too ignorant to know what they were getting into with stories of the heroism of Shepard.”

“I… I don’t understand,” said the spectre as she sat back.

Karin grinned slightly. “You taught the galaxy what it took to survive. You taught them that through cooperation with other species, that truly working together in a hostile galaxy, we can overcome any threat. And before they even announced your death to the public, they dropped all of that, and instead turned you into their own personal corporate logo.” The doctor sighed again and shook her head. “I couldn’t stand to see it. I couldn’t stand to see your face everywhere, smiling at me from posters and movies after I watched you die. I had to leave the Alliance.”

“I see…” said Shepard as she looked at the floor. “A lot has happened since my… disappearance.”

The spectre was surprised when Chakwas leaned forward and cupped her cheek gently. “Yes, much has happened. We’ve had to deal with mourning while the Alliance shuffled around and tried to use your image. But right here, right now, you’re back. And there’s nothing in this galaxy that could make me happier than seeing you walk through that door.”

Shepard clenched her fist slightly and slammed her eyes shut. “Jesus Christ, Karin. Are you trying to make me cry now,” she said as her eyes actually began to sting.

The doctor chuckled and released her face before sitting back once more. “Apologies, Shepard. But all of this,” she said waving her hands at all the equipment and beds. “This means nothing. I’m not here for Cerberus, or to get back at the Alliance. I’m not here because of the human colonies, or whatever noble goal Cerberus wants to pretend it cares about,” she said as she held up two finger. “I’m here for two reasons. You, and Jeff.”

“Joker?” she asked curiously before the realization dawned on her.

“You’d never be able to tell because of his never-ending fountain of humor and sass, but he hasn’t gotten better since the Normandy was destroyed. His illness has no cure, and likely won’t in his lifetime. While I can’t cure him, I can provide him what he needs to live longer and happier, and that’s stability. His constant movement from ship to ship, doctor to doctor has only caused him more harm. And I intend to undo as much of that harm done by the ableist Alliance as I can,” she said with a serious stare.

Shepard’s stare turned serious as well, but she also smiled at the stone-faced woman. “Good,” she said, standing up. Karin stood up as well and the two faced each other, Shepard standing taller, bot no more resolute than the doctor herself. “It’s really good to have you back, Doctor.”

Chakwas smiled back, and reached out, surprising Shepard as she pulled her in for a hug. “You as well, Jane. It does this soul good to see you not just alive but leading again.”

Shepard sighed but smiled and hugged her back firmly. “It’s good to be back.”

Mess Hall – SSV Normandy SR-2

It was fairly easy to gather everyone on the ship into one place. On the old Normandy, she’d have had to talk to communications officer and have them contact the heads of each department on every floor to get everyone gathered. But a simple word to EDI, and now here she stood. The crew numbered near sixty, minus Joker who elected to call in through Karin’s omni-tool rather than walk all the way down to attend the meeting.

She stood near the weapon battery, the amount of crew filling the tables to overflowing, leaving many standing within the mess hall. She looked over all of their faces. She wasn’t sure what she expected, but she had planned to see at least a few of the crew who were less than impressed with her being at the helm. But if facial expressions were anything to go off of, everyone was either excited, or resolved to be here, their faces a mask of either grins or stoic seriousness.

After a few moments of silence for her to analyze everyone, she finally spoke. “I’m going to assume you all know who I am. If you do not, raise your hand now,” she ordered. Not a single hand was raised. “Good, that means I can make this short,” she said, standing at her full height and looking between them all. “My name is Jane Shepard. I’m an N7 infiltrator, a Council Spectre, and a reaper killer,” she said, getting a few cheers and chuckles from the crowd. “I’m a very skilled individual and I intend on using these skills to destroy anyone who plans to harm the peaceful people of this galaxy.” She once again received nods and shouts of approval. But her stare hardened at them, causing a wave of silence to fall over the crowd. “Two years ago, one of those threats was listed under the name Cerberus, a rogue wing of the Alliance Military operating without the permission of High Command or Citadel Council’s authority.”

The crowd suddenly became a mix of silence and awkwardness. Some people looked away from her, looked at the ground, did anything they could to avoid eye contact with her. Others continued to stare at her, but had their jaws set firm at the realization of where this conversation was going. She let the thought sit in their minds for a moment before finally continuing.

“In case you weren’t informed, I died two years ago. And from what I’ve been told, a lot of things have changed. Not just with me and those closest to me, but with the galaxy as well,” she said as she began pacing back and forth in front of them. “I haven’t had the time since blasting my way out of an exploding space station to get updated on the situation, but my guess is that Cerberus hasn’t changed its methods all that much. But that doesn’t mean I consider you all a threat,” she said as she pointed to the crowd and waved her finger over them. “I still believe in the individual over the organization. So, for the moment as long as you haven’t personally blown up any buildings or killed anyone without a legitimate reason, then we can work together. But one thing I want to make blatantly clear is that as long as your feet are touching the floor of this ship, you are under my command, not the Illusive Man’s. You are to follow my orders, not his. And if you need a reminder of who is in charge here, just remember that only one of us was brought back to life to fight reapers,” she said to them with her arms crossed over her chest.

She felt a bit of relief as some of the crew began chuckling at the mild joke. It meant that they understood, even if they didn’t agree. It was going to be a long road ahead, not just for her, but for the entire crew. No doubt some of them wouldn’t see that road to the end, but if they were good people, she was going to work damn hard to make sure they stayed on the right path. Her thoughts went to her previous squad and how she had to guide them as well, from Garrus holding his gun to Saleon’s head, to Tali crawling backwards on her bed to get away from the omni-tool with an AI, to Wrex aiming his weapon at her on Virmire, to Ash scowling at any alien that came within ten meters of her. Any one of those moments could have led her crew down a much darker path. And if she was worth a fraction of the credits they spent to bring her back, then she could guide them the way she guided her crew years ago.

Finally, she nodded to them all. “Operative Lawson will have already assigned you to your stations. As for now, she is the executive officer aboard. If you have any questions or requests…” she said, thinking about what she was actually saying. Miranda would rather space someone out of the airlock before taking simple requests from the crew. “You know what, just ask me as long as I’m not busy.” More laughter from the crew who no doubt knew the XO’s frozen demeanor. “Now, let’s get to work and find some damn colonists!” she snapped, getting cheers from the crew who then scattered back to their stations. She watched them go before turning back to the elevator, her eyes lit with a smoldering fire as she headed for the CIC.

CODEX ENTRIES

Grounded | Terminology | Military
Nearly all space-worthy ships used by any species has artificial gravity generators that make it easier to move around aboard the ships. This also makes it easier to store equipment. However, should something happen to the gravity, most equipment aboard the ship is either melded directly into the floor or welded there to make sure that nothing goes flying and injures any crew members during such an occasion.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

Deck 4 Engineering – SSV Normandy SR2

“My programming urges me to advise you against these actions, Shepard,” came EDI’s melodic voice from nearby as the woman stepped onto the engineering deck holding a mass of cables and electronic circuits she had ripped from the ship.

“Duly noted. Tell your programming to stay quiet. I still have a lot of ship to cover,” she snipped back as she walked down the pathway leading to the engineering deck. When she arrived, she found herself staring at the backs of two people working in front of a large, glowing mass of element zero. She stayed silent for a moment and watched them, noting that they were unaware of her presence. It took only moments before her ears caught their conversation.

“Come on, Kenneth. It’s not like she’s gonna shove you out of the airlock mid-flight,” said the woman. She had dark hair that cut off before it reached the shoulders of her Cerberus uniform.

“I don’t know, Gabby. You heard her up there. The Alliance always showed her as friendly and stern, but she straight up threatened us,” he said in his thick Scottish accent. “Then again, I’m always a fan of a woman who can break my neck.”

“Ugh… of course you are,” snorted the woman as her eyes practically rolled into the back of her head.

“Keep up the derogatory remarks and that day might come sooner than you think,” said Shepard as she stepped towards them and tossed the mass of sparking electronics onto the console in front of them.

The woman gasped in shock and spun around while the man practically jumped onto the console out of surprise. “Fuck me sideways!” he shouted as his head spun, showing his light brown hair and beard mixed with a tinge of red.

“Not in this lifetime,” said Shepard as she crossed her arms in front of them.

“Spectre! We’re sorry!” said the woman as she looked down and clenched her hands together, unsure of what exactly to do. She looked like she was about to drop to her knees and beg. Meanwhile, Kenneth had already stood rigid in his spot, looking at the wall behind Shepard.

“W-What she said! Apologies, Spectre! Didn’t mean to make any insinuations!” said the man as stiff as a sculpture.

“At ease you two. Are you the ones running point on the engines?” she asked in a firm tone.

“Aye Shepard!” said the man as he loosened his stance. “I’m Kenneth and this is Gabby…”

“He is Engineer Kenneth Donnely, and I’m Engineer Gabriella Daniels,” she said before shooting him an icy stare. “This is the commanding officer.”

Shepard smirked at the duo, a comical pair if ever she’d seen one. “You’re fine without the formalities. But,” she said eyeing Ken. “The vulgarity I heard earlier can stay off the ship. Whether about me, or anyone of the other crew, do we have an understanding?”

“A hundred percent, Shepard,” said the man, standing rigid again.

Gabby shot him a triumphant look before nodding to Shepard. “Thanks for that. Sometimes it takes an overwhelming force to put him in his place,” she said before her smile vanished and she adopted a curious look. “Is there anything we can do for you?”

“Normally the commanding officer never visits us in engineering, so this is a bit of a surprise,” said Kenneth as he regained his composure.

Shepard nodded towards the dead electronics on the console. “I’m doing a bit of pruning on the surveillance devices implanted on the ship. Know of any I should be aware of?” she asked as the pair stared at the wad of cables with wide eyes.

Ken looked up at her in awe. “Shite, you’re taking this in charge thing a lot more seriously than most.”

Shepard’s eyebrow shot up curiously. “How do you mean?”

“Most people in Cerberus like to say they’re in charge, but they all bow and scrape to the big guy… whoever that is. We all see them making their reports very carefully as to not upset him. But you’re straight up ripping his eyes and ears out of the ship,” said the man, almost sounding impressed.

“I don’t lie to my crew. When I say I’m in charge, I mean it. And as far as Cerberus goes, they’re an asset, they’re not in charge. Anyone who thinks otherwise can find the door,” she said in an authoritative tone.

“Understood, ma’am,” said the engineer as he adopted an at ease stance. “Or… is it sir?”

“I’ve gone by both. It doesn’t really matter,” she said before looking between the pair. “You two seem to have your heads on straight, how did you end up in Cerberus?” she asked them as she looked between the pair.

“Well… you,” said Kenneth with a shrug.

“Don’t tell me that,” said the spectre with a groan.

“Well, not exactly you. But I was in the Alliance when that big honkin’ bugger attacked the Citadel. I was working on the SSV Cairo at the time and thanks to two persistent news reporters, we found out what happened on the ground. We respected you, we wanted to follow your example,” he began, but Gabby interrupted.

“He was eager to be a hero like you and I came along to make sure he didn’t die,” said Daniels as she gave a small smile.

“Aye, you know what I mean,” he said with a chuckle. “But knowing what happened made us take a better look at the Alliance. We heard about what they did to you before the attack, how the High Command tried to take the Normandy, tried to lock you out after you exposed their recklessness. After you saved the galaxy, they were all too comfortable to sing your praises, but we knew they were itching to get you out of the way.”

“What he means,” interrupted Gabby, “is that after you died, we saw High Command fall into the same complacence that they had before you became a spectre. They went back to sitting in their comfortable seats without anyone alive to call them out, all the while pushing you as their biggest recruitment tool yet.”

“So, you got fed up with the Alliance. But…?” asked Shepard, waiting to hear the clencher.

Kenneth was the first to speak. “We stayed in the Alliance, but I got into a bit of a scrap with the brass. They tried to use you to drive up their recruitment numbers, saying you supported the Alliance a hundred percent. I started railing at them that they were just trying to cover up the fact that you punished the Alliance for negligence. They took exception to that…”

“He got insubordinate, and they shoved him behind a desk back on Arcturus. Again, I followed him to keep him from ruining his life completely. And then he got an offer from Cerberus to help with a new Normandy project they were starting. He couldn’t say no to a chance to give the Alliance the bird and to help build a new better Normandy for you,” finished Engineer Daniels.

“I see,” said Shepard as she reached up and rubbed her head. “Dead for two years and the Alliance fumbles the ball and completely misses the point at the same time…”

“You could say that,” said Donnely as he looked to Gabby, then back to her.

Shepard noticed the look. “What is it?”

“Don’t…” growled Gabby.

Ignoring her, Kenneth broke his stance and stepped forward. “Shepard, you want the ship to be as good as it can be, correct?”

With a look of surprise, she nodded. “We’re taking on a threat unlike anything the galaxy has ever seen… again,” she said in an amused tone. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Then I’ve got a favor to ask…” said the man as Gabby groaned behind him.

Zakera Ward Docking Bay Z73 – Zakera Ward – Citadel

Shepard eyed the datapad as she stepped off the ship. Her eyes scanned the information quickly as it auto scrolled down the screen. “A… cat burglar?”

Jacob turned to her as they stood in the elevator, giving her a curious stare. But Miranda nodded. “Not just any cat burglar. They're the best in the business.”

Shepard cocked on eyebrow as the tube they were in sank down into the depths of the ward from the docking bay. “I’m interested.”

Taking the cue, the operative smirked slightly. “They're a bit of a cartoon character if you ask me. However, I can’t argue with skills. They've cost insurance companies an ungodly amount of credits in compensation causing most of them to intentionally stop insuring art pieces and relics from Japan because of how likely they are to get stolen.”

Shepard snorted at the image of a bunch of men in suits clutching their ties as they pay out millions because of a single wily art thief. “Having corporations after them already makes them more trustworthy than most.”

“They've bankrupted art collectors, single-handedly returned half of the contents of the British Museum to their countries of origin, and even stole your helmet from its case in the Battle for the Citadel display at the Citadel Fine Arts Museum,” said the woman with a shrug, getting an incredulous look from the spectre. “Cerberus only works with the best of the best.”

Shepard shook her head as the door opened and stepped out into what looked like a customs gateway into the ward. “That’s… new.”

Jacob nodded and walked with her up to the entryway. “As you know, a lot has changed since the Citadel was attacked. Weapons were only allowed before with a license. But now, they’re not allowed on the Citadel at all unless used by law enforcement. And anything and everything coming into the Citadel is thoroughly examined specifically for the presence of the geth.”

Shepard frowned at the soldier’s words. “Odd that they think any remaining geth would try to sneak through the front door in a package,” she said as she stepped up to the line of people waiting to get through.

“After the battle, the Council became paranoid that another attack could happen. So much so that they even moved the prothean monument from the Presidium to a heavily controlled and guarded space facility out in the Traverse. It took every ounce of will power from the Prothean Archeological Institute to keep them from throwing it into a sun,” said the young man as they finally came up to the front of the line.

“Interesting,” said Shepard as she stepped forward and nodded to the asari woman behind the counter.

“Please present your identification,” said the clerk who looked drolly down at her terminal screen. Shepard reached up and allowed the device to scan her credentials. The asari woman stared at the screen for a long moment, her brow furrowing in confusion before she looked up at the face in front of her. “Jane Shepard? The Council Spectre?”

“That’s me,” said the red-haired woman, gauging the asari’s reaction curiously. She didn’t know exactly how much of what happened was given to the public, but she knew that her name was about to make waves.

“But… I thought you died,” said the asari as her eyes widened, no doubt recognizing her face.

Shepard sighed momentarily. “Let’s just call it an extended vacation to the afterlife,” said the spectre as she nodded towards the door. “Can I go now?”

The young asari nodded, then shook her head, no doubt flustered at the situation she found herself in. “I apologize Spectre, but due to extenuating circumstances, you’ll have to speak with C-Sec. I’m really… really sorry,” she said rapidly as she suddenly became more animated and began typing rapidly on her omni-tool. Shepard watched her move around nervously, pacing behind the desk as she activated the call receiver in her ear. “Captain Bailey, we’ve got an urgent situation down here at the Zakera Ward entry point, two hundreds block.” She nodded silently for a few long moments before responding. “Understood.” Finally, she turned back to Shepard with a genuine smile. “The captain will be here shortly and he should be able to sort you out, Spectre. In the meantime, feel free to wait right here.”

Shepard’s brow cocked as the asari woman waved to a seat next to her behind the desk. Looking over to her right, she saw an expansive sitting area full of disgruntled people who no doubt had trouble getting into the ward. Then she looked back at the smiling woman and shrugged. “Alright then,” she finally said and walked behind the counter to take up the other seat. “You two go ahead inside. I’ll contact you when this is all taken care of.”

Nodding, the other two made their way through the process without any trouble and vanished from sight as they headed into the ward. Shepard sat down in her seat and was immediately aware that the woman turned on occasion to look at her as she continued to process more people. She sighed to herself and reached up to rub her forehead as she understood what was going on. Looking up, she saw one of the holo screens hovering above the waiting area. Her eyes widened as she saw what looked like her own face staring back at her.

Reaching down, she activated her omni-tool and hijacked into the broadcast, bringing it up on a small screen in front of her. Immediately she realized that it wasn’t her face looking back at her, but someone who looked almost eerily similar to her. She had the same green eyes, similar freckles, and a similar facial structure as well. But she could tell the woman’s short hair had been bleached and then dyed red for the sake of imitating her red hair. But the process left her hair looking slightly off with it coming out brighter than normal.

Reaching up, she tapped the device and activated the sound. The typical Hollywood trope of playing heavy base during the opening hit her ears as a cinematic shot of the Citadel showed on the screen. Then, it faded into darkness. She watched as the production team made out her previous mission to be some gritty detective noir.

As the trailer went on, her brows furrowed further as she saw the hands of the Alliance all over the movie. Anytime there was an antagonist in the trailer, it was either the Council or Udina being portrayed as standing in her way, conveniently leaving out that the Alliance was just as much at fault for her speedbumps. She groaned as she saw a very intimate scene between her character and the asari actress portraying Liara. She did have to admit, though, that the actress portraying herself did an excellent job. Finally, she cut the trailer off and rubbed her head in frustration.

“This is all too much…” she groaned as she looked up and saw the asari woman, who had processed all of the entrants present, sitting once more and smiling at her.

“You saw the movie trailer?” asked the woman curiously.

“Y-Yeah…” huffed Shepard as she sat up in her chair.

“What did you think?” questioned the asari eagerly.

“I… think it’ll be a hit,” she said, knowing how people liked to eat up romanticized historical dramas.

“I do too!” said the attendant excitedly. “T’Lana Smith as Liara is iconic! And the actress playing you, Jenn-“

“You’ll be Spectre Shepard then?” came a gruff voice from the doorway.

Both Shepard and the asari looked up at the man. He stood slightly taller than Shepard herself with a C-Sec officer’s uniform and a mix of grey and blonde fashioned into a high and tight on his head. “That’s me,” said Shepard as she stood up. The asari woman looked disappointed for a moment, causing her to sigh gently. “Here, here’s my personal mail if you ever wanna just chat,” she said passing the information along on her omni-tool.

The asari woman went wide-eyed but stayed silent. Turning away from her, the woman began walking down the hallway with the man. “Picking up some new fans, huh?”

Shepard shook her head in exasperation. “That movie is really doing something for my image. I mean, how better to keep a secret agent in the shadows than to make a cinematic film about them?”

The man shrugged gently. “Well, in their defense, you are supposed to be dead. I don’t think they had any reason to believe that exposure of your identity would compromise your future work.”

“Speaking of being dead, is there gonna be any trouble with me getting on the Citadel or Presidium? I’d like to speak to Councilor Udina as soon as possible,” she said urgently as they both turned into an office at the end of the hall.

“Well, that depends,” said the captain as he sat in the chair. His desk was relatively spartan with only a terminal, a lamp, and his nameplate reading Captain Armando Bailey. “We can do it the easy way, or the hard way.”

Shepard crossed her arms suspiciously. “What’s the hard way entail?”

“Well, we’d have to get your records corrected. Your death certificate needs to be voided, and your citizenship reinstated. Then the CRS will need to have a word or two with you about not paying any taxes for the last few years,” he said giving her a dry smirk.

“Hard to pay taxes when you’re breathing through a tube,” she said sardonically.

“Being dead is a popular tax dodge these days,” said the man as he shook his head. “Anyway, the process is likely gonna take a couple of weeks. With your connections to the Council, maybe a couple of days at least.”

“Alright, and what’s the easy way?” she asked curiously.

He smiled wider as he pulled up the information on his terminal. “I make all the necessary corrections right here, right now and expedite their approval. While it’s pending, you’ll be able to go enter the wards, but the Presidium is still off limits unless you’re summoned by an ambassador or Councilor.”

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “And is this legal?”

He chuckled lightly. “It will be when you get your Spectrehood reinstated and approve the process,” he said, eyeing her curiously.

Snorting, Shepard shrugged. “Easy way it is then, I don’t have time to be waiting on bean counters to figure out how to weasel two years’ worth of income tax out of me.”

“I getcha. Give me just a moment,” he said before typing away at his computer.

She nodded and let him go about correcting things when she suddenly got a message. Looking down at her omni-tool, she tilted her head slightly in confusion as she read the cryptic message. “You’ve been invited! Type in the password to see invitation!” Beneath the curious claim was a mix of symbols from multiple different languages, including some human ones.

Frowning, she stared at the symbols inquisitively. This couldn’t be spam. Every firewall on her omni-tool was delicately created to block attempts at soliciting credits. And this hadn’t been sent to her public mail either, which meant who ever sent it was skilled.

She eyed the symbols curiously trying to sound them out in a whisper as she translated them in a row, from Asari Nave, to Turian Common, to Japanese. “Nela…su…tak…vadis…” Bailey eyed her curiously from his terminal before turning back to do his work. “Ugh… I feel like I’m reading from the Necronomicon.”

“Something the matter?” asked Bailey as he eyed her curiously.

She shook her head and lowered her omni-tool. “I’m fine. Just got some mail,” she said as she eyed him back. “So?”

He went back to typing for half a minute before giving her another dry grin. “Done. Just… remember to approve this when you get your Spectre status back or I may be in trouble.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said with a smile. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have a councilor to talk to,” she said as she turned away from him and exited the building, stepping into Zakera Ward. Her brows furrowed as she saw the long arm of the ward from her position bending upwards with millions of people going about their daily business.

She was always in awe of the Citadel and how magnificent it really was. A space station that was capable of bending to the needs of its users, providing them air to breath, protection from threat, and the illusion of a daily life. But knowing what it actually was, a giant mousetrap for organic beings, put a huge damper on the majesty of the whole thing. Shaking her head, she spotted Miranda and Jacob ahead.

Jacob smiled at her as she approached. “That didn’t take long at all. Guess being a spectre has its perks.”

“In a manner of speaking,” said the woman as she looked to Miranda. “You said you already messaged Councilor Udina about me?”

The operative nodded and gave another of her icy smiles. “You have an appointment with him at the Human Embassy in one hour. Turns out the other Councilors heard about it and will be attending as well.”

“Good… I guess. I’m not exactly sure how all this is going to go down. They could be thrilled to see me, or they could immediately be suspicious and strip me of all of my power just for associating with you lot,” Shepard responded, giving Miranda a firm glare. “Either way, best to get it out of the way early.”

Human Embassy - Presidium - Citadel

She had sat in the lobby of the human embassy for around ten minutes, still tinkering with the riddle on her omni-tool as she waited for the Councilor to either arrive or show that he was already there. She thought she had made some progress on the riddle and sounded the entire thing out. But putting it in as the password failed. Working the words out didn’t make much sense either. “Volcanic ash… tomorrow… leads to daylight?” she said in confusion as she translated both the turian and asari words.

Her focus was also broken by noticing that the assistant at the front desk, a young woman by the name of Tonya, was constantly staring at her. She shouldn’t have been surprised given every movie advertisement in the galaxy spoke about her death. But it still triggered her paranoia, a bad habit left over from her infiltration days.

Finally, the door to the office opened. She looked up, and a smile immediately illuminated her face as she saw the strong, stoic form of Captain Anderson standing there with a smile. She stood up and faced him, a goofy smile on her own face. “So, it’s true…” he said solemnly in that memorably deep voice.

“That depends,” she responded. He waved for her to follow. She stood up and followed him into the familiar office of the Human Embassy and found herself looking at three figures, all standing before Udina’s old desk.

The first was Udina himself, a passive look on his face as his dark eyes looked her up and down, no doubt wondering who was standing before him. Next to him was Councilor Tevos in the flesh, her skin untouched by the years that had passed. And the third was someone Shepard had never met before, a woman of stern stature who stood taller than herself with coal dark hair interlaced with streaks of silver that was braided down to her back.

“Spectre Shepard,” started Udina as he stepped up to her. “The only thing the years appear to have done to you is grow out your hair.”

She snorted at the dry humor. “I assure you it’s done a lot worse.”

He nodded and turned to Tevos. “Are they ready?”

Before he even got a response, the communicator on the wall activated and the holographic forms of Councilor Sparatus and Valern appeared. The turian spoke for them both. “We are here, Councilor. Proceed.”

Nodding, Udina turned back to Shepard. “As you are aware, Spectre, the circumstances of you being alive are highly questionable. And before we treat you as we once did, we would like to run a little test.”

“Your suspicions are understood, Councilor. And believe me, I still have questions myself,” said the woman as she instinctively held her arms behind her back at ease.

Nodding, Udina turned to Tevos. “Councilor, if you would,” he said as he stepped back.

The asari woman nodded, eyeing Shepard curiously as she approached as graceful as ever. “As you must know, Spectre, you and I once shared minds, allowing me to see the visions given to you by the beacon. As such, I know your mind well, and would like to connect our minds again to see if there is anything sinister being plotted by those who brought you back.”

An expression of understanding dawned on her face as she stepped forward. “Understood. Just… be gentle. It’s still a bit sore up there,” she said as she tapped a finger to her head. Tevos smiled, the nodded and stepped forward as well. Reaching up, the asari gripped her on either side of her head.

She felt the same as she had many times before. The ground vanished under her feet, and she felt herself in freefall, the world around her vanishing. But in Tevos’ expert hands, she was quickly caught. They were now face to face, the asari staring at her sternly as her own memories flashed past them in the background.

Her life literally flashed in front of her eyes; from the time she became a spectre to leaving the Citadel. Unfortunately, as they came to the memories of Alchera, all that could be seen was static, a feeling of hopelessness and anguish washing over them. She felt tears begin pouring down her face as the emotions flooded her. Looking up to Tevos, the woman, though stone-faced, was also crying as she felt the despair embedded in the hostile static of her memories.

Then, they appeared on the Cerberus station and it was a rapid blur all the way until she reached the office of the embassy. In an instant, she was standing back on the Citadel in front of the four. Tevos stepped back before reaching up and wiping the tears away from her face. “It’s really her.”

“You are certain?” asked Valern curiously.

Nodding, the asari smiled back up at Shepard. “I am.”

“Interesting,” said Sparatus from the communicator. “If that is the case, then we would like an explanation as to your current association with Cerberus.”

Shaking her head to clear the fog that remained from the melding, Shepard looked up at them all. “Cerberus got my body from Alchera and reconstructed me into what I am now. I’m… still me, and they have no influence over me if that’s what you’re curious about Councilor,” she stated firmly as she looked from him to the others. “As for my association, they woke me up and told me that human colonies are being wiped off the face of the galaxy.”

Udina nodded solemnly. “We have also heard of such occurrences. We have yet to find the cause…”

“I’ve investigated the cause of a recent one myself, Councilor. The Collectors are active in the galaxy again and they’re harvesting humans,” she said, getting a wide-eyed stare from everyone present.

“Collectors? But… they don’t…” started Udina as he looked to the ground.

“I assure you, they do,” she said as she brought up the fragmented video evidence. They all watched in silence as the eerie figure entered the video.

“That is very concerning, but it doesn’t exactly answer the question of why you’re associating with a known terrorist organization,” said Valern as he folded his hands into his sleeves.

Shepard cocked an eyebrow at them. “Councilor Udina,” she started, getting his attention. “Does the Alliance have enough manpower to protect all human colonies in the future?”

The man’s expression soured. “Unfortunately, they do not. They’re already spread thin as it is with a batarian uprising happening every other month, and with the expansion of Alliance Space. Not to mention most of the colonists being targeted are going out into the Terminus for the sole purpose of staying away from the Alliance.”

Nodding, she lowered her omni-tool and cast her gaze over all of them. “The reason I’m choosing to be involved in this situation is because these colonies going missing matches a calling card from the past,” she said as she brought another video up.

This time, it showed the terrifying form of Sovereign. “The pattern has repeated itself more times than you can fathom. Organic civilizations rise, evolve, advance. And at the apex of their glory, they are extinguished.”

Stopping the video, she nodded to them. “The reapers harvest civilizations and scrub the galaxy clean of their influence. That leads me to believe the collectors are involved with the reapers, and since the Alliance is unable to assist in stopping this genocide, I’m using resources from Cerberus.” She said, getting a stern stare from Udina. “Bear in mind, I am in no way a member of their organization, nor do I condone their practices. As she can attest,” said the spectre as she pointed to Tevos. “I’ve warned the Illusive Man multiple times that I will not tolerate their supremacist bullshit while I’m alive.”

Suddenly, the woman who Shepard didn’t recognize stepped forward. “And should Cerberus decide to go behind your back?”

Shepard looked to her and gave a stony glare. “Then I’ll crush the life from their organization until the only scrap that remains in the burning husk of the Illusive Man’s hideout.”

The woman gave a charming smile. “Well, I’m convinced.”

Then Captain Anderson spoke as well. “Tevos told us there was nothing fishy going on, and I’m inclined to believe her. Besides, I doubt even Cerberus is powerful enough to try and control someone as strong-willed as Jane is.”

Shepard chuckled before looking to Udina and the other Councilors. From the comm unit, Sparatus spoke. “If we are to continue our partnership, Shepard, I would appreciate if you kept your relationship with Cerberus very platonic, and very short. After Saren, the last thing we need is another spectre accused of going rogue.”

“Plan on it, Councilor,” she said firmly.

Udina finally nodded, his face changing back to his usual placid expression. “Alright. Then with my power as a member of the Galactic Citadel Council, I grant you all of your previous authorities as a spectre. Welcome back, Shepard.”

The redhead let out a sigh of relief at the words. When she entered the embassy, she couldn’t deny the fact that one possible outcome was her leaving the embassy in chains. Having their trust and her old position back felt like a heavy slab of earth slipping off of her shoulders.

“We are in full agreement,” chirped Valern from the side. “Spectre, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to speak to you more about your resurrection later. But as of now, we are extremely busy and will leave you to your work.”

This time, Sparatus spoke. Even through the hologram provided by the comm unit, she could see his predatory eyes locked on her in a stern stare. “Spectre, it’s good to have you back. But I’d like to ask a favor. While you’re not one of our most decorated operatives, you’re certainly the most famous. I’d prefer you stay alive.”

She chuckled dryly and rubbed the back of her neck. “You and me both Councilor. I’ll try to refrain from making it a habit.”

With a simple nod, both the turian and salarian vanished from the comm. Tevos too bowed gently to Shepard. “It was good to see you again, Jane. I hope we can continue to see each other in less grim circumstances. Now, I must be on my way.”

Udina lead the woman out before turning to her. “Duty calls,” he said, his eyes narrowing at her. “If you are the same Shepard who spoke to me all those years ago, then I know you’ll make humanity proud. But please know that the optics of your associations reflects on not just the Council, but humanity as well. So, make damn sure it’s worth it.”

She nodded silently and he left as well, following Tevos out of the embassy. Turning to Anderson, she gave him a confused look. “Everyone is wondering if I’m actually me but aren’t questioning him?”

The captain chuckled and patted her on the shoulder. “After choosing him for Councilor, it seems you broke something within him. He’s still the grumpy old bastard you remember, but he has also mellowed out a lot since getting his new position.”

“I see…” she said before looking over to the woman who she still hadn’t been introduced to. “And you are?”

Smiling, the greying woman held out her hand. “I am Jasmine Korvus-Jamal, the new ambassador to humanity as of two years ago.”

“Riiight,” she said, shaking the woman’s hand. “Udina has been ambassador so long that I sometimes forget he wasn’t the first.”

“Nor the last,” said Jamal as she released her grip. “I believe we’ve already met.”

Shepard’s eyes narrowed. Her features were vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t recall entirely where from. “I’m sorry. But after nearly dying, being in a vegetative coma for two years, and now mind melding with the Councilor, I’m kind of at a loss.”

The woman chuckled and nodded. “It comes as no surprise, Spectre. After all, we only met for a few minutes on Shanxi before you were whisked away to your next assignment.”

The name of the world made her brow rise. She had only ever been to Shanxi once back when she was still working with Spider’s team. Her mind zipped back to the mission and her eyes slowly widened as she recalled freeing the hostages from the clutches of human supremacists. One was a group of turians sent by the Hierarchy to negotiate reparations for the turian assault on Shanxi, and the other…

“You! Jasmine Jamal!” said Shepard eagerly as she dropped any formalities. Suddenly, her head turned slightly as she gave her a curious look. “Wait… wasn’t Korvus the name of the turian negotiator?”

The woman laughed loudly as she put the pieces together. “Yes, it is his clan name,” she said as she lifted her hand and showed off her wedding ring.

“Wow, so I guess negotiations went well?” she asked, getting another laugh and leaving Anderson to arch his brows as he was all but left out of the conversation.

Finally, the ambassador steered the conversation back to present day. “So, Cerberus wakes you up and just starts asking you to help them stop human colony harvesting?” asked the woman as she leaned back against her desk, pulling her long braid over her shoulder.

Nodding, Shepard sighed to herself. “Believe me, I was even more confused than you are to find out they were responsible for bringing me back.”

Anderson finally spoke up from the side. “Did they say how they brought you back?”

Shepard just shrugged. “They simply called it the Lazarus Project,” she said as she scratched her head.

Anderson sighed and shook his head. “Of course they did.”

Jasmine rolled her eyes. “Given their chosen name, their attachment to mysticism isn’t too surprising.” Finally, the ambassador stood up again and bowed her head to the spectre. “Shepard, it was good to actually meet you this time. I hope we’ll be able to work together in the future. As of now, I have an appointment to keep with the turian ambassador that won’t wait.”

Nodding to her, Shepard smiled. “Give your husband my regards and tell whoever they’ve pulled in as the turian ambassador that I’ll be visiting him shortly.”

“Will do,” said the woman before she departed the embassy as well.

Finally, the last two in the room looked at one another and simply sighed exhaustively. “Even the politicians I like can sometimes be exhausting to be around,” she said as she walked over to the balcony of the room and stared out over the Presidium.

“I know what you mean. I said no to the Council job to avoid the desk and the Alliance makes me their Liaison to the Citadel anyway. Not how I thought I’d spend the twilight years of my career,” he said shaking his head. “Granted, it’s not all bad. As far as culture goes, you couldn’t find a more diverse place anywhere in the galaxy.”

“Of course,” said Shepard with a small smirk.

But Anderson’s cheerful demeanor vanished. “It’s hard, knowing about Sovereign. Knowing about the reapers and knowing what almost happened two years ago. All these people down there, walking to their next meeting, going to see your new movie, playing at the park… they all think it ended with Sovereign, that the battle is over. They’ve moved on with their lives, not knowing that he was just the beginning.”

Shepard nodded as she watched the people milling about on the pristine walkways of the Presidium. “Has nobody told them?” She knew the answer and knew how things worked. Telling the public that there were more Sovereigns out in dark space just waiting to come back could potentially be the most disastrous thing the Council could do.

“No. And why would they?” asked Anderson in frustration. “Every person on the Citadel who could afford it would run screaming back to their homeworld, leaving an entire population of people unable to support themselves as supplies to the Citadel withdrew in order to prepare for war, creating a humanitarian crisis on a scale unseen in the entire galaxy. And then there’s the dissolving of the cooperation between species…”

“I know,” said Shepard as she plopped down in a chair next to the balcony. “I just wish people would think and act rationally for once instead of relying entirely on instinct.”

Anderson nodded with a smirk as he sat across from her at the small table. “It would be much better if we did, but then would we be organic?”

She chuckled and shook her head. “Probably not.”

“Either way, the Council have stayed true to you at least, which was less surprising than how the Alliance treated your death I suppose. They really seemed to have your back, even after you died,” said the man as he looked to her sternly. “Is it really you, Shepard? I know Tevos said it was, but it’s still so hard to grasp after seeing the repaired video from the Normandy’s blackbox.”

She shrugged and looked down at the palm of her hand. “I’m still questioning that myself. I don’t know if I’m me, if I’m a clone… hell, I could even be an android with an AI mapped with my former brain patterns and I doubt I’d ever be able to tell the difference,” she said before looking up at him again. “But what I do know is that I’m me where it counts.” Reaching up, she tapped her head. “I know who I am, and I may not know how to stop the reapers permanently, but I’ll die all over again trying.”

“That was never a doubt in my mind. My only concern is how you do that. Cerberus also think they’re doing what’s best for humanity. But their methods are why they’re not still a part of the Alliance,” he said as he accepted a drink from Tonya.

Shepard shook her head at the woman before understanding where he was going. “I see… you think I may be the same, but Cerberus might have psychologically groomed me into a killer or war criminal?”

“I don’t think they did, but I know that if they could have, they would,” he said sternly. “If your story is true about them rebuilding you, then you were very vulnerable while being reconstructed and they could have done any number of things to you in that time.”

Nodding, Shepard scratched her chin thoughtfully. “I guess I hadn’t thought of it from a psychological point of view. But I assure you that as far as I’m aware, nothing is different. I guess all I can do to prove that I’m me is show it with my work.”

He gave her a genuine grin and raised his glass to her. “Can’t wait to see it, Jane.”

She nodded, then a thought popped into her head. “How is Williams?”

“She’s doing well. She’s a fully trained N7 now and is on track to become the next human spectre. Udina sees a lot of potential in her,” he said before taking a sip of his drink.

“Is she busy? I’d like to talk to her if I could-“ she started, but he interrupted her.

“Unfortunately, she’s not available at the moment. Udina has her on a top-secret assignment. When she gets back, I’ll let her know you wanna talk, though,” said the man firmly.

It felt cold, but she had expected it. Despite Tevos’ claim, despite her own promises, they still didn’t entirely trust her. They couldn’t trust her. Not when she was working with an organization such as Cerberus. She had more than enough clearance to know about the mission in question as a spectre, but he stopped the conversation, meaning he wasn’t prepared to tell her, and she couldn’t blame him.

Gripping the arms of her chair, she sighed to herself as the situation she was currently in sunk in. She was welcome on paper, but the Council, Anderson, the Alliance, and everyone else was going to be watching their backs around her, expecting her to one day put a bullet in it when Cerberus activated the kill command. Nodding firmly, she stood up and looked to the man. “It was good talking to you again, David.”

“You too, Jane. And…” he started, with a melancholy look on his face. “It’s good to have you back.”

Nodding, she turned away from him and headed for the entrance, knowing that the galaxy she knew was no more and that she was going to have to start from the bottom. New body, new life, new start. She was going to have to work to make them understand, and her brows furrowed as she felt the fire of determination swell within her. “Time to get to work.”

CODEX ENTRIES

Nave | Linguistics | Asari
The asari written language is known as Nave. Similar to human languages such as those born of Latin, it uses symbols to make complex sounds that form words rather than each individual symbol holding the meaning of a single word. It has a history among the asari people of over five hundred years and is still used commonly on asari controlled worlds, including Thessia itself.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

C-Sec Lobby – Zakera Ward – Citadel

It had been a long day. Talking to the Council, talking to Anderson and the new ambassador, finding out that her face, or a likeness thereof, was now on every movie poster in the galaxy, and having to hassle with the C-Sec Spectre Requisitions Officer who happened to be a massive fan of hers ever since she helped fight Sovereign. He had apparently been there during the cleanup when her cloaked and unconscious body was found.

After he heaped whatever she needed onto her, she stepped out of the C-Sec main building and into the lobby where she saw a small group arguing with each other. A human in a C-Sec uniform, a volus in a black and red suit, and a quarian female that was taller than even the human. She hadn't intended to get involved until a piece of their conversation caught her attention.

"Damn junkrat needs to be thrown in jail!" snapped the volus as the human sighed to himself.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to calm down…" said the C-Sec officer as he placed himself between the pair.

Shepard's fist clenched at the word, her eyes snapped open, and she felt a fire flare inside her once more. Turning around, she beelined straight for the trio. "Sorry, what's going on here?"

The human groaned again as if he had better things to do. "Ma'am, I'm gonna ask you not to get involved."

"That junkrat stole my credit chit and this racist… C-Sec officer doesn't want to do anything about it because I'm a volus…" snapped the short figure angrily.

Shepard gave an almost eerie smile as she crossed her arms over her chest. "What's your name?" she asked curiously.

"Toma Nupta. Why?" he asked impatiently.

Looking up to the quarian, she reiterated the question. "And you?"

Looking incredibly uncomfortable, the quarian began to fidget wildly as Tali used to do when she first came aboard the Normandy. "Lia'Vael."

"Alright Lia'Vael, did you take the credit chit?" asked Shepard gently.

"Of course not!" snapped the girl as she clenched both of her fists. "I was simply walking through the markets, and this bumbling idiot ran into me!"

"Hey!" snapped the volus, but he went ignored.

"He didn't apologize, but I brushed it off, and then later he comes up to me with a C-Sec officer and accuses me of stealing from him!" she finished before crossing her arms. "Just another day…" she said with a huff.

Nodding, Shepard opened her omni-tool and began tapping away furiously. "What store did he run into you outside of?"

"Sirta Foundation," she grumbled angrily.

"What are you doing?" asked the volus as he looked up at her curiously.

"Ma'am, I asked you not to get involved…" muttered the officer.

Shepard's eyes snapped up to him, before looking down at his badge number. "I'll take your advice into consideration," she said before turning back to her omni-tool. Finally, she smirked and tapped a few of the holo-light keys. They all heard the sound of a comm call ringing before a high-pitched tone answered.

"Synthetic Insights Ltd, Zakera Branch. Sidon Niva speaking," came the chirpy voice of a salarian.

"Excuse me, Sidon. This is Spectre Jane Shepard with the Citadel Council speaking," she said, allowing the following moments of silence to impress upon both the human and volus.

"Shepard! The Spectre!? You're alive!? I mean… I'd heard you were, but you don't wanna believe extranet rumors…" he said as he began to ramble.

"I'll stop by later and introduce myself. Right now, I have a question for you," she said with a smirk as the human's face soured and the quarian perked up at the name.

"What can I do to help?" asked Sidon excitedly.

"Recently you had a volus customer inside your store. I was wondering if he dropped something inside your store," she asked as her green eyes looked down at the short figure.

"Of course! He dropped his credit chit in the store. I tried to contact him using his customer information, but every time I tried, his line was busy," responded the salarian.

"Thank you, Sidon. That's all I needed," she said as she ended the call, her eyes narrowing at the volus.

"How did you do that!?" asked Toma incredulously.

"I used the security cameras here in the wards and retraced your steps back to the store where you dropped the chip. You'd already have it by now if you weren't so busy trying to call C-Sec on an innocent bystander," she said, her tone beginning to ice over.

"Well… she could have stolen it," he said as he looked away in embarrassment.

Finally, the human decided to speak up again. "I'm glad we've finally gotten this resolved. I'll close the report. Now," he said turning to the quarian. "You need to get a permanent residence or I'll run you in for vagrancy." Suddenly, everyone present gasped in awe as Shepard lunged forward and grabbed the man by his shirt. Not realizing her own strength, she lifted him fully off the ground and glared up at him with a heated stare. "W-What the hell are you doing!?" he asked, gasping in air as his shirt nearly strangled him.

"This volus harasses her, accuses her of theft, and uses multiple racial slurs against her and all you do is end the report and threaten her with arrest?" growled the spectre.

"I'll have you hauled in for assaulting an officer!" growled the man angrily as he gripped her arm.

She threw him backwards, making him fall on his ass none too gently. "See how far your badge gets you against a spectre you lazy ass, check-cashing, waste of taxpayers' money," she snapped as she stepped towards him. He immediately began crawling backwards, fear etched on every inch of his face. "Get your ass out of here and do your job before I use every ounce of my pull to have you homeless on the streets by tomorrow!"

Finally, the man rose to his feet and snorted, trying to save some dignity before he turned and left back into the C-Sec building. Then, Shepard turned towards the volus. Immediately, the short figure turned and ran as fast as his waddling gait could take him from her. Finally, her fiery attitude dropped, and she turned back to the quarian. The young woman had her head tilted curiously. "Your face…"

"My face?" she asked curiously.

"You have red glowing in your eyes, and along your cheek," said Lia as she put her hands together once more but didn't fidget again.

"Oh…" said Shepard as she reached up and touched the scars that remained from the Lazarus Project. "Sorry… did I scare you?"

"Of course not," said the young woman. "You're Shepard. You're talked about among quarians everywhere. But… I thought…"

"I was dead?" she asked, getting a nod. "Yeah, I've been getting that a lot."

"A-Anyway… thank you," said Lia as she looked at the ground awkwardly. "I get that a lot. Dirty looks, not being allowed in certain places, being followed by C-Sec. It's… refreshing when someone so influential stands up for you."

Sighing to herself, the spectre stepped up to the girl. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I guess. I mean, most nights I eat nutrient paste from the turian shelter. It's… not ideal. But I'm surviving," said the young woman.

Shepard stared at her for a long moment before letting out a heavy sigh. She felt her insides softening again as she did when she first began showing Tali around the Presidium. "Lia'Vael?"

The quarian looked up at her curiously. "Y-Yes, Spectre?"

"You're an engineer, right?" she asked curiously.

"Of course. We're trained in engineering from the time we can walk. But I mostly specialize in engine core mechanics," she said before giving the spectre an inquisitive look. "Why?" she asked, getting a bright grin in response.

Combat Information Center – SSV Normandy SR-2

"Shepard, may I have a word?" asked Miranda as she stood at the base of the galaxy map.

Shepard looked over at the operative in her nearly skin-tight suit and sighed to herself. "You can have a few. Just make it brief. I've already had a long day."

"The quarian you just brought onto the ship was not in the dossiers. You can't just…" she started, but then stopped as Shepard put her datapad down and slammed both hands on the railing right above Miranda.

"I don't think you understand how this works, Lawson. This ship," she started, pointing to the deck. "Is mine. I say who comes and goes on it," she said in an annoyed tone. "The dossiers are recommendations from the Illusive Man. I'll probably recruit those people. But every pair of boots on this ship is here because I allow it. Including yours." Miranda's perfect brows furrowed in return annoyance. "Keep that in mind before you start questioning my decisions. Lia'Vael stays and is to be respected as a member of the crew."

The operative inhaled slowly before giving her well known fake smile. "As you say, Shepard." Finally, she turned and left, leaving Shepard to shake her head.

"Everything alright, Spectre?" asked the yeoman next to her.

Thinking back to her time previously on the Citadel, she smirked. "I think I need a massage," she said, getting a giggle from Kelly. "I'm going down to engineering to set our new crew member up. Upload the current dossiers to my terminal and tell Joker to take us to the Omega system.

Shepard could see Kelly actively stop herself from saluting before she nodded. "Understood, sir."

Waving the young woman off, Shepard took the elevator down to the mess hall where the new recruit was supposed to be waiting for her. When she stepped out of the elevator, the young quarian looked up to her, the fidgeting in full force. "Shepard! Er… Spectre! I… I don't think this is a good idea! I mean, I appreciate your offer and all, but I've never worked on an advanced ship like this, and I might mess things up and I…"

"Shhhh…" said Shepard with a smile as she pressed a finger to Lia's glowing mouthpiece. "You're going to do great. Trust me, I've been in this scenario before. Now," she said as she kept her hands to herself in case the quarian had personal space requirements. "This is the mess hall. Sergeant Gardner here will be able to serve you food… right?"

The balding man nodded but had a concerned expression on his face. "We have the capabilities, Spectre. But if we could get some better groceries, I'd be able to do a lot more for both the levo and dextro crew members."

"Noted, I'll get on that," she said as she led the young woman around the ship and showed her what she needed to know.

Combat Information Center – SSV Normandy SR-2

As she stood staring through the visual ports at the former mining colony, Miranda and Jacob both stood on either side of her. Lawson held a set of datapads in her hand as she began reading off the information available.

"Our best bets for recruiting thus far are these two. Doctor Mordin Solus, a salarian virologist, biologist, and medical doctor. He's currently working in a clinic in Omega's quarantine zone."

Shepard eyed her curiously. "Quarantine zone?"

Jacob nodded and pointed the area out through the viewport. "There's a bit of a nasty plague spreading on Omega at the moment. It's hitting some of the poorest areas, and Aria's response to it was to just close off the entire section and let nobody in, nobody out."

"Of course it's the poor people…" grumbled Shepard as she eyed the sector. "If he's in the quarantine zone, how are we going to get to him. I really don't think gunning down the pirate queen's guards is going to end well."

Miranda shrugged and set the datapads aside. "You'll have to negotiate with her, I'm afraid. But I'm sure your diplomatic side will come in handy here," she said with a snide smile.

Shepard glared at her for a moment, then nodded. "We'll have to."

Miranda cleared her throat before continuing. "The Illusive Man also put special privilege on finding another of your crewmates. It appears Garrus Vakarian is somewhere here on Omega."

Immediately, Shepard's eyes widened and snapped over to the operative. "Garrus? Here? Why?"

"We can't say for sure. He's extremely careful about burning any trails he leaves behind. But from what we've found, he's a member of the Blue Suns and is currently working with them to take down a known instigator of the three gangs on Omega," she said as she read from the pad.

"Joined the Blue Suns?" asked the woman as she scratched her head in confusion. "That doesn't sound like Garrus at all…"

Miranda shrugged in response. "That's all we could gather. The pirate gangs on Omega are extremely paranoid, so getting someone on the inside has been hell. At this point, it'd be more effective to just walk up to him and ask."

Turning her gaze back to the viewport, Shepard stared at the colony as it buzzed with life. The place was a harbor for some of the ugliest kinds of people in the galaxy. Their only bright spots were that they were blatant about their disregard for morality. Trafficking of drugs, slaves, illegal technological practices, murder, kidnapping… it was all a game on Omega, similar to the Alliance world of Trident. And now, she had to go there. The only difference this time was that she didn't have an insider on the world to help her.

Sighing to herself, she turned away from the galaxy map and headed towards the elevator. "Taylor, Lawson, suit up and meet me at the Kodiak," she said, turning her gaze to them sternly. "Fully armed."

Omega Landing Dock 073 – Omega Station

She knew as soon as she stepped off the ship that there was going to be power play after power play aimed directly at her. Aria was well connected enough to know she was alive, and well informed enough to already know she was here. In all her years working throughout the Traverse and even with her foray into the Terminus as a spectre, she had never had to intentionally cross paths with the asari pirate queen. She had been thankful for that before, but she found herself wondering if perhaps a bit of friendly competition wouldn't help grease the wheel she was about to try and turn.

Either way, she needed to work fast if she wanted to get to Garrus before they killed whatever this nuisance was, and he moved on with the Suns. And to do that, she needed to know where to start. She could hijack communications to and from the queen's club, Afterlife and filter through information that way. But given how short the clock may be, a direct approach was necessary.

She strode across the dock, fully armored and ready for war when she was stopped by a pathetic looking salarian. He had a forced smile across his face, an unusual sight for the usually unexpressive species. "Ah! You're new here! I can tell!" he said eagerly as he got into her personal bubble way too quickly for her liking. "Please, allow me to…" he began again. But immediately his wide, relaxed eyes snapped open and he spun around at two words.

"Back off," came the voice of a gruff batarian. Shepard's eyes drifted up to him and she saw that he was armored as well. Not as well as her, but well-armed enough that he could put down a group of attackers if the need rose.

"Oh!" said the salarian as he immediately backed away from the two. "M-Moklan! I was just helping…"

"She doesn't need your help, Fargut. Get out of here before I throw you off the docks," said the batarian with an authoritative tone. The salarian, practically shivering in fear, ducked his head and fled from the scene, leaving the batarian to turn to her. "Welcome to Omega, Shepard."

"Power play is it?" she asked curiously, getting an unphased look from him. "Get a scavenger on the docks, then strut around commandingly and he runs off with his metaphorical tail between his legs to show how powerful and badass you are, am I right?"

The batarian chuckled dryly. "Not a bad idea, but you're incorrect. Aria sent me here to bring you straight to her, that's all. Fargut being here was irrelevant. If she wanted to show you her power, you wouldn't have set a single foot on this rock."

She tilted her head to the left in response. "An escort helps cut down on traffic. Good," she said as she waved her arm towards the docks.

"And your compliance definitely helps," he said as he eyed her curiously, no doubt wondering if her body language was intentional. "Follow me."

They strode together into the main gates of the asteroid colony. Shepard's brows furrowed as she looked up and saw a mass of flying vehicles that were seemingly flying unrestricted around the colony itself. "No rules for air traffic?"

"Oh, there're rules alright. Don't die," said Moklan with a snicker. "There are nearly eight million people on this rock, most of whom are here because they're rule breakers. Trying to control them with anything would require police, and we don't do police."

Shepard gave him the side eye. "Unless Aria gets pissed."

"Those aren't police. They're garbage disposal," he said as he opened the hood to a vehicle nearby. "Get in. It's a short trip."

Shepard grumbled to herself as she hopped in, wondering if she would be safer strapped into the vehicle or free from restraint. Miranda and Jacob followed, and the three of them took a short trip in a surprisingly empty airspace all the way to the front lot of a large building. As she stepped out of the aircar, she ignored Moklan tossing the keys to a volus valet and looked up at the giant, glowing, red sign on the front. "Afterlife?" she asked as the thumping beat from inside finally hit her ears. "She stays in a club?"

"In a manner of speaking. It's where she takes her business meetings. The building has shield generators built into it, the walls are fully capable of standing up to a barrage from the Citadel's best frigates, and even if they could get past the shields and the walls, you'd never be able to punch through the crust of this rock to get to Aria herself. So don't even think about it," he said, giving her a stern look.

"I wasn't thinking about it until you said it," she said, returning his glare.

"Oh… well, forget about it then," he said, waving his hand as he led them up to the front door. Stemming from the massive door was two multi-file lines of people waiting to get inside. She could easily see heated glares aimed at her as she was led past them all and through the first door. It slid open and she could see a long hallway leading down to a second door which was currently open as well, allowing a flood of people inside, and letting others out.

Shepard eyed the door ahead momentarily before turning back and looking at the one they just came through. "Hmmm…"

"Problem?" asked Moklan as he eyed her.

"No, it's nothing," she said as she continued to follow him inside the club proper. Once the second door opened, her eyes widened, and she wanted to slam her hands over her ears. Instead, she opted to activate sound dampeners for her helmet as the waves of sound crashed over them all. Looking around inside, she was slightly disappointed with how normal it looked for a seedy club. "I guess even the Pirate Queen knows what works, huh?"

"That she does. This place may seem grimy to your perfect Citadel standards. But it's the best of the best here, and people pay handsomely just to be let in the front door," said the batarian as he waved them over to a set of stairs at the far back of the room.

Finally, one of the two behind her spoke up. Jacob shook his head as he walked along. "Well, I guess when your choices are mud or moldy bread, you gotta eat the bread."

"Whatever you say, human," said the batarian as he shrugged carelessly. "You two stay down here. Aria only wants to see the spectre."

Shepard waved them off and followed him up until finally she stood before the mythical figure herself. The woman was seated on a long scarlet couch that matched the motif of the rest of the club. Surprisingly, there was very little around her. No weapons, no terminals, no guards. Just her on the couch with her back to a large window that showed down into the main floor of the club.

"Always dancing around one another. I had always assumed we'd meet sooner, but then you went and died," said the asari woman as she looked up to Shepard with a smug grin on her face.

"I guess you could call it dancing," said Shepard with a shrug. She'd never had cause to face off against the woman, so she wouldn't exactly call it dancing around one another as much as having conveniently avoided one another.

"Have a seat," said the woman as she motioned towards the perpendicular section of the couch.

"You're not afraid I might try something?" asked Shepard curiously as she stepped over, her silent omni-tool reading that there weren't any known chemical or electronic traps in the area she was about to sit.

Aria scoffed momentarily before shaking her head. "We're not enemies. If you were going to try and kill me, you wouldn't walk through the front door of a heavily reinforced building, trap yourself behind a wall of armed guards without your weapon drawn, and attempt to do it right here as if you're taking out a court witness," she said as she opened a small holographic interface and pressed a button on its surface.

Shepard nodded, noting that the emptiness she saw was because the woman was rich enough to have all of her stuff made of holotech. Nobody would need a computer terminal at all if you could simply summon one out of thin air. "Noted."

"I've seen your track record, Shepard. If you were trying to kill me, you wouldn't be walking through the door. In fact, it's more likely I wouldn't see you coming at all," she said as an asari woman in full combat gear walked up the stairs and delivered Aria's drink to her.

"You're not wrong. Up front isn't really my style," said Shepard as she leaned back in a more relaxed pose. Despite her demeanor, she never turned her omni-tool off.

"So, care to tell me why a dead spectre has come to my doorstep?" asked the asari woman as she turned her head towards Shepard, her look saying that she wasn't thrilled about someone with her title being on Omega.

"Two things for now, at least. I understand how things work here, so I was intending to come to you even without the escort," said the spectre as she leaned back in the seat. "I've come to make a deal with you."

"I like deals, especially with your kind," said Aria as her gorgeous face curled into an enticing smile.

"I figured. The thing is, normally I'd come here, make friends with someone lower on the ladder, give them the tech and skills to be able to give me information when I need it, and then pay them handsomely whenever I need have use of their services on Omega. But this time around, I don't really have the time to do that," said Shepard with a sigh as she leaned her head against her fist. "So, instead, I'd like to just deal with you directly. I need information, I pay you for it, we both walk away happy."

Aria nodded thoughtfully. "I'm in no real need of money, Spectre. So, if you want to deal with me, you'll have to offer something more beneficial to me."

"We'll measure that out as we go. Right now, I need information on Garrus Vakarian and his current relationship with the Blue Suns," said the woman as she showed her a holograph of her old turian crewmate.

"And in return?" asked Aria who didn't even look at the holograph.

Shepard smirked back at the woman almost playfully. "I'll tell you how I'd kill you."

Aria's eyes widened and both of her guards posted at the stairs looked at her incredulously. "Bold words. But you must have been told how heavily fortified this place is."

"I have heard, yes," said Shepard, causing Aria's gaze to melt into a heated glare.

"Tell me and I'll decide if that's worth the information," said the pirate queen as she sat back in her seat. Shepard moved to open her omni-tool when the two guards raised their weapons. But Aria waved them off. "Let her. She's of no threat to me right now."

As the guards dropped their guard again, Shepard brought up a blueprint of Omega that she had taken since she had landed. "Your club is here, near the edge of the entire colony and facing outward into the edge of space," said Shepard as she highlighted the area in front of the club. "There's nothing in front of this door except a landing zone for vehicles to be taken elsewhere by the valet."

"It makes it harder for them to lay siege to you if they have their backs wide open," said the asari with a small grin.

"True, but it also presents a problem," said the spectre as she zoomed in slightly. "From what I've mapped of the club so far, you have one very exploitable weakspot." Raising her finger, Shepard pointed to the holographic form of the window that Aria was currently sitting in front of, then drew a perfectly straight line through both of the large doors, over the landing zone, and out into space.

"Are you implying a sniper could hit me from outside the club?" asked the woman, intrigued at the development.

"I could," said Shepard with a smirk. "But you should be less worried about snipers, and more about ships." Shepard added in the holographic form of a frigate, a similar size to the original Normandy. "Even small ships can have huge guns if that's their sole purpose. An unpowered ship could be brought out into this empty zone, use an AI to aim directly through the doors, and then fire a weapon slow enough to get through the shields, but powerful enough to erase the inside of the club and anyone in it."

"And… how would I remedy this?" asked Aria curiously.

"Set the doors at the entrance to open and close in intervals. One cannot open until the other is closed. That way they never have a clear view of you, and even if they fired the weapon, it'd never make it inside before you were able to escape. If you're vigilant, keep motion trackers outside of that area and weapons specifically designed to take out unauthorized movement," said the spectre as she sat back in the chair once more, the holo disappearing entirely. "You're right about one thing. If I had wanted you dead, I could have taken you out with the weapons on my ship without ever having stepped on the colony."

Aria's gaze lingered on her a moment before she turned to a nearby turian. "Get Hermes in here."

Shepard's brow cocked curiously. "A human? Or are you just fascinated with Greek mythology?"

"A specialist," said the queen as she eyed Shepard. "So, about the turian. We've had him pegged as soon as he arrived a few months ago when he arrived alone. It wasn't long before his name got him into the Blue Suns. A pretty prominent role as well," said the woman as she activated her own omni-tool and passed information to Shepard. "Currently, he and his squad are helping two other gangs handle a nuisance that's cropped up on the station."

"A nuisance?" asked Shepard as she tilted her head.

"Someone who goes by the moniker Archangel. He's spent the last year pissing off all three of the main gangs here on Omega. Ransacking shipments, blowing up safe houses, taking out important members. He's a regular fucking Batman," said the asari with a smirk.

"Interesting," said Shepard as she reached up and scratched her head again. "The Blue Suns?" She still couldn't wrap her head around how he became involved with them after everything they had gone through together. Then again, she wasn't really sure of his motive. He could very well be infiltrating them in order to get info. She wouldn't know until she found him. "In any case, I better get going if I wanna find… him…"

She looked up as a human man walked up the stairs and gave Aria a small bow. "What can I do for you, my queen?"

Shepard's training immediately kicked in. Through sheer will, she forced her face to remain placid as she saw his face. She had only ever seen him with a shorn head, so seeing him standing here, his arms tattooed, his hair grown out to nearly his chin with a punk rock streak in it almost startled her. "This must be Hermes." Instead of showing any kind of surprise, she held out her hand and smiled.

The man looked to her, and she could see the same internal struggle that she had just gone through. But like her, the man simply smiled and shook her hand. "You must be Spectre Shepard, I've heard so much about you."

"All of it good, I hope," she said before turning back to the woman. "Anyway, as I said, I should go before they finish their business and take off. I'll get back to you when I'm done. And you'll have to figure out what it is you want in return for the exact location and situation behind Mordin Solus." The asari smirked at her, but she knew who was actually listening. Turning from Aria, Shepard nodded to Hermes, then Moklan, then left the upper room of the club. Waving down the Cerberus agents, she continued heading towards the door. "I've got his location. Let's go scope things out and see what the hell is going on."

Retaliation Staging Grounds – Omega

"So, how do we play this?" asked Jacob as the trio stepped out of the vehicle and looked over the entire scope of the operation. Shepard's eyes widened as she saw the sheer number of mercenaries that were here.

"Holy shit… whoever this guy is, he reeeeally pissed them off," said Shepard as she saw thousands of mercenaries, both group members of the Big Three on Omega and freelancers milling about as they prepared for war. Then she realized a question had been asked. "Oh, right. Well, there are freelancers here helping to fight this Archangel guy. So as long as we enlist and act like one of them, we shouldn't get too many funny looks. In the meantime, we need to figure out where the Blue Suns are housed."

Miranda looked over the crowd as well and shrugged lightly. "Well, if their color scheming is an indicator, they're over there."

Shepard's brow cocked at where she was pointing. "Well, at least their need for flair makes our job easier," she said as she eyed the entrypoint into the grounds. "Looks like they're enlisting down there."

The walk was short and the three of them found themselves in a short line. Jacod stepped up to Shepard as he eyed the people in front of them. "Looks like we're with the stragglers. Nothing serious back here," he said as his eyes locked onto a figure directly in front of them. "Is he even old enough to join?"

Shepard looked at the young man and she immediately had to agree. He stood barely under her own height, was scrawny with scraggly hair tucked under a messy hat, and armor that looked like it was fashioned from scrap metal around the station. As the young figure stepped up to the enlistment officer, he began speaking and she heard in his voice how young he actually was.

Stepping forward, she raised a hand and cut off the officer's speech. "What are you doing here?" she asked, her focused green eyes locked on the young lad.

"W-Wha? Me?" he stuttered briefly before reaching back and pulling up a gun that looked older than she was. "I'm gonna make some scratch and a name for myself. I'm gonna join-"

"Signing on as a freelancer does NOT make you a member of the Gowthra, the Blue Suns, or the Eclipse. You are a freelancer, period," snapped the enlistment officer.

Shepard sighed to herself before eyeing the gun. "Where'd you get that?"

"I bought it for 50 creds," he said giving her a suspicious look. "Why?"

Opening her omni-tool, her fingers moved rapidly before she pulled up a small datacard. "Here. This is 500 credits. Go do something else," she said before she reached up and gripped the young man's gun. Her grip tightened and the entire thing buckled underneath, deforming until it finally snapped in half.

"Hey! What the hell!?" squeaked the young man as he held the remnants in his hands.

Stepping up to the enlistment officer, she gave the batarian a firm stare. "Singing up the three of us."

Jacob patted the boy on the back and shooed him away from the battlegrounds before turning back towards the irate batarian. The officer sighed and nodded. "You've got your own weapons and armor, so no need to cover that. As I told the brat, you-"

"I am a freelancer, and am not a member of any of the gangs here," said Shepard, trying to speed the process up.

"Right," said the batarian as he forwarded the information to her. "This number will alert you as soon as the attack begins. You'll be given instructions on what to do, where to go, and how to get there once a strategy has been formed. You're free to walk around the grounds, but I'd avoid the main alley if you don't want Archangel putting you down," he said, then stopped and looked up at them. "Oh… and try not to annoy the gang leaders. They're already pissed off as it is."

"Noted," said the spectre as she nodded.

"Good. Get your asses inside and wait for the call," he said as he gave her the number in question.

She stashed it away and entered as Jacob and Miranda followed her example. Once inside the grounds, she immediately turned to Miranda. "So, how much of that was me, and how much was what Cerberus did to me?"

Lawson eyed her for a moment. "You mean the gun? To be fair it looked pretty ancient."

"No kidding. I'm pretty sure I've seen planets younger than that thing," said Jacob with a chuckle.

Shepard eyed them both, showing that she wasn't joking, and Miranda just shrugged. "I'm sorry, but I can't say for sure. You have had cybernetic enhancements installed into your body, but nothing incredibly extensive. You should be stronger, faster, and more capable than the average soldier. But enough to crush a modern gun? I'm not sure. And I won't be until we start doing some more physical exams on you."

Shepard eyed her curiously. "Like strength tests?"

"We still have a whole host of tests we should go through," said Miranda as she donned her serious face once more. "Shepard, you have a new ability that your brain was never trained to use. We haven't tested your biotics, we haven't tested your physicality, and after you got off the table at Lazerus Station, we've been unable to check your vitals at all. We need to see how your body is reacting to the stimulus of being alive."

"Not for nothing, but I feel like I've had my fill of medical procedures," said Shepard, knowing the better part of two years was basically one big surgical experiment on her.

Miranda sighed and placed her hands on her wide hips. "Be that as it may, Shepard, we don't know much of anything about how you've been functioning. There could be any number of things going wrong inside you and we'd never know because of your stubbornness."

Jacob nodded. "I've gotta say, I'm with Miri on this one, Shep. It wouldn't hurt to have Doctor Chakwas check on you to make sure you aren't being eaten from the inside out by the new tech."

Letting out an annoyed sigh, Shepard nodded begrudgingly. "Fine. But only through Karin, and I'm going to peruse your reports heading back to the Illusive Man should we find anything unusual."

"Duly noted," said Miranda in her icy tone.

"One more thing before we go get ourselves killed," said Shepard as she pulled her helmet up from her hip. "How the hell did you turn me into a biotic?"

"We… didn't," said Miranda, her expression changing to one of concern for the first time since they had met on the exploding station. "Look, it's a long story. I'd be happy to tell you later, but now isn't really the time or place."

Shepard's brow cocked. "Is it really that complicated?"

"Yes," was her simple, but firm answer. "There are some things you may not want to hear, and right now we're about to walk into the middle of a mercenary group who potentially wants you dead for past transgressions."

"Fine, but this conversation isn't over," said Shepard as she slapped on her helmet and turned to the large crowd before them. "Now then, let's go find us a turian."

CODEX ENTRIES

Junkrat | Derogatory Linguistics | Galactic Common
The most common prejudice against quarians is that they are scavengers who pick through the remains or trash of others. The term junkrat was used to describe this perception, in which they are pests who live in junkyards and steal or take whatever they can get their hands on.

Head Tilt | Body Language | Batarian
Head movement and eye contact is important to language in Batarian culture. Breaking eye contact for any reason is commonly seen as suspicious and can turn a casual conversation into something more serious. Due to the restricting nature of always holding eye contact, tilting of the head became a way of expressing further. Tilting to the head is a sign of admiration or respect, while tilting to the right is a sign of disdain, or an air of authority over another. Many batarians who commonly work with other species have had to unlearn these signs given the constant head movements of other species.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

Retaliation Staging Grounds

With her helmet on and her weapon ready, she marched through the crowd of mercenaries, gang members, and freelancers who were milling about the entire lot. There was a nervous air around the staging grounds; everyone was on edge, waiting for the call, waiting for instructions, and keeping their heads down and away from the bridge. She had seen the alley that the recruiter mentioned. It was a walkway that led to a small structure. The building was an island, isolated from the rest of Omega. According to some, it had anti-material automatic weapons preventing aerial assault.

She didn’t need to ask to tell how skilled Archangel was at dealing death. The pile of bodies that littered the bridge was more than enough info, all of them from previous attempts to take the facility. Shaking her head, she turned away from the alley and headed straight for the Blue Suns camp.

It was a short trip before she was suddenly surrounded by blue armored figures, all of them trying to look imposing. Despite their attempts, she could feel the anxiety among all of them. She felt herself getting more and more impressed with this Archangel character. Even she had a hard time having this effect on an entire gang.

As she plowed her way through the blue crowds, she began to notice that more and more of them stepped out of the way. Looking up at them because most were tall turians, she noticed the helmeted group were staring at her as she passed through the crowd. Sighing to herself, she knew she wouldn’t be able to hide her identity long among the mercs. “Thought I’d have more time before they figured out who I am.”

“You may actually be able to leverage your fame to our benefit,” responded Miranda.

“How am I gonna push my fame on a group who have notoriously clashed with me in the past?” asked the spectre curiously, noticing that the crowd was all but guiding her towards the center now.

“You’re famous, you’re a force to be reckoned with. As long as you’re not here to kill them, they might consider helping you find the turian in return for assistance,” said the operative who walked through the lot as casually as if she were back on the ship.

“I suppose. But how do I tell them to take me to their leader without sounding like a racist?” asked Shepard, getting a chuckle from Jacob. It turns out she didn’t have to wait long for an answer as the crowd finally broke open and she found herself staring at an annoyed looking batarian leaning over a table with a human woman next to him in matching blue armor.

“Spectre Jane Shepard, known terrorist in batarian space. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t have my men gun you down right now,” spoke the batarian as he looked up at her with all four of his large eyes.

Groaning to herself, she put her hands on her hips. “Look, you’re welcome to try, but you seem like you’ve got a lot on your plate already and I’m not here to add more to it.”

The batarian eyed her for a long moment before nodded. “I do have a lot on my plate, which makes me want to get rid of you quickly.”

“But it won’t be quick,” she said as she took a step forward, causing some of the nearby guards to raise their weapons. “You honestly thought I’d come here and walk through a crowd of people to talk to you and I wouldn’t have a contingency?”

“Of course you do,” sneered the man as he sighed to himself. “What the hell do you want?”

“I’m looking for the turian known as Garrus Vakarian. A little…” she started with the human phrase, but stopped as she realized how many turians could take it the wrong way. “A friend told me he had joined up with your group.”

“Jentha, take her to the turian, and if she tries to snipe him from me then taser her and throw her over the safety rail,” ordered the man as he continued looking over the table with a small holographic map on it.

The human next to him nodded and stepped up to the spectre. “Follow me before he gets me killed by asking me to remove you,” she said, her own voice showing some measure of irritation at their presence.

“Mind if I ask some questions?” asked Shepard, a small smirk on her face knowing the woman at least respected her power.

“Go nuts,” replied Jentha as her aura caused her own men to scramble away.

“Is all this really for one guy?” asked Shepard as she waved to the literal army waiting in the staging grounds.

“Didn’t used to be one guy. He used to have a team, but Tarak took care of them himself. Now it’s just down to him. And yes, all of this is for him,” snorted the woman. “Archangel has faced off against Garm from the Gowthra Family in a one-on-one match and nearly killed him, though the krogan would never admit it. Whoever the hell he is, he doesn’t fuck around when it comes to killing.”

“I can see that…” said the spectre as she eyed the alley once more. “You have him trapped in the building. Wouldn’t it be easier to just take a gunship in and rip the place apart?”

Jentha stopped and eyed Shepard with annoyance. “We did, and he shot it down. It’s currently being repaired by Sergeant Cathka and the guy you’re looking for.”

“Ever the calibrator,” said Shepard as she shook her head.

“Either way, his skill can’t account for the sheer numbers we have. He’s dying tonight regardless of how skilled he may be. There’s no escaping that compound without going through a literal army of soldiers and mechs,” said the woman as she led them to a nearby warehouse with its wall torn down. It looked like they were using it as a temporary hangar for the gunship. “Even so, the guy’s a fucking ghost. We’ll have snipers trained to watch where he fires from, then he’ll pop up and fire from another location on a different floor and take out the sniper in question.”

“Impressive…” said Shepard as she reached up and scratched her chin.

“You just say that because he hasn’t shot at you yet. Everything we’ve thrown at him so far has been destroyed. He even sniped three YMIR mechs with a sing shot when the Eclipse tried to charge them across the bridge. We literally had to go and drag them back with tow cars while he was shooting at us just to get them repaired again,” she said irritably as she finally approached a pair of figures on the other side of the smoking gunship. “Anyway, here’s your friend or whatever. Like Tarak said, don’t try to take him or I’ll be required to stop you.”

“Noted,” said Shepard, knowing that there was a good chance she’d have to take the woman down. Stepping forward, she walked up to the batarian sergeant who was smoking a cigarette and typing away at a terminal on a rolling table. “Looking for Vakarian.”

The batarian looked up at her, then nodded his head to the second of the two who was digging through the engine of the gunship. “Make it quick. We’ve gotta get this thing back in the air before the next attack.”

Stepping around the sergeant, she approached the blue armored turian who hadn’t noticed her yet. Immediately, she could sense that something was off. While Garrus was always a big guy, her impression of him back on the Normandy was more of a lithe, deadly big rather than bulky. The turian in front of her was thicker than she recalled. Reaching back, she gripped her pistol. “Garrus Vakarian!” she snapped.

The sound of his helmet thumping against the wing of the gunship could be heard before he finally stumbled out from under the vehicle. “This better be good…” he grumbled in annoyance before he froze in place. “Oh spirits.”

Shepard pulled her pistol free and aimed it directly into the visor of his helmet. “Lawson, Taylor, make sure Jentha and Cathka don’t bother me for a minute.”

Immediately, Jentha froze with a blue aura around her body and Cathka grumbled as Jacob held a weapon directly at the back of his head. “Not a peep,” ordered the soldier.

The turian raised his arms in surrender and his sheer height all but confirmed her suspicions. “Helmet off, now.” The turian reached up and did as he was told, revealing a new face. Strikingly similar to Vakarian’s especially with the same clan paint, a rarity from what Shepard had seen. But it wasn’t him at all. He was taller, bulkier, his voice deeper, and his eyes a different shade. “Who the hell are you?”

“L-Look… can we… just talk without the gun?” asked the turian as he took a step back.

Shepard looked back at her current prisoners and nodded towards the other side of the gunship. Once the pair were alone, she crossed her arms, the pistol and her omni-tool both ready just in case. “There, no ears. Now explain to me who the hell you are and why you’re imitating my longtime crewmember.”

“Look Shepard, it’s not what it looks like, alright!” said the man nervously as he fidgeted far too much for someone of his intimidating size.

“Really? Because it looks like you’re using his fame to land you a cushy job in the Blue Suns,” she snapped with a mild look of irritation on her face. “Now, I’ve come a very long way and was hoping to come to Omega and visit with my friend who I haven’t seen for years, only to find you.”

“I understand, and I’m sorry,” groaned the turian as he leaned against the gunship. Letting out a heavy sigh through his nose, he shook his head. “People said I looked like him, said I could play him in the movie. So, I kinda started dressing like him. One thing led to another…”

“One thing led to another, and you ended up in the Blue Suns gang on Omega trying to take out a man who literally has three different gangs too scared to take a step forward,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. “Fuck’s sake…”

“I’m sorry I’m not your friend. If you want… I’ll leave and never come back. Just… please don’t kill me…” said the tall figure nervously.

“Just shut up,” she groaned as she reached up and ran her hand over her helmet. “Taylor, Lawson, your informant was wrong. It was… an impersonator.”

“You’re kidding,” came Jacob’s voice through the comm.

“Wish I was. But we’re not getting a squadmate here,” she growled miserably, her hopes of seeing a familiar face dashed by the turian. Then her eyes turned once more, and she was able to see the bridge again. Her eyes saw the numerous gang members that had fallen there, practically forming a wall. Then her eyes turned and looked at the gunship, the engine inside looking scorched. Finally, she looked up at the gangs preparing for the next attack and saw a massive figure standing taller than everyone else. He was a krogan in dark crimson armor was the krogan skull painted on it. She recalled Jentha’s words about Garm and his encounter with Archangel. “Scratch that,” she said as she powered around the other side of the gunship again, her gun steering the fake Garrus around it as well.

“We taking him with us?” asked Jacob curiously as the batarian had all but accepted his fate and sat smoking next to the ship.

“Not him,” she said as she reached up and pointed directly at the structure on the other side of the bridge. “Them.”

Both Miranda and Jacob looked up at the building before turning back and looking at her. Miranda held a look of exasperation while Jacob just held a knowing smile. “Look, if this is about me questioning your oders…”

“Quit being dramatic, Lawson,” said Shepard with a smile. “You wanted to be on my team, so you do what my team does.”

“Suicide?” asked the operative as she shook her head. “Fine. Orders are orders…”

“Let her go for a second,” said Shepard as she looked at Jentha. Raising her weapon, she aimed it directly at the Blue Suns second’s head. “If you scream, you die. Blink three times if you understand me.” The woman did as she was told and blinked three consecutive times inside the stasis. “Good.”

Seconds later, the woman fell to the floor and reached up to flex her neck. “Wanna tell me what the hell is going on here?” asked the annoyed woman.

Shepard knelt down, her gun still visible as she crossed her arms over her knee. “I’m gonna ask you a few questions, and I’d like an honest answer,” she said as she flexed the fingers of her other hand just in case. “First question, would the gangs allow me to take Archangel off world?”

Jentha stared at her wide-eyed. “Off world?”

“You all hate Archangel, I’m offering a way to get rid of him that involves no more bloodshed on either side,” said Shepard with a nod.

“As tempting as the offer is, Garm would kill you just for suggesting it. And Jaroth, the head of the Eclipse Omega Squad, wants Archangel for killing his brother. Tarak, if he were in a really good mood might take you up on the offer if you paid him. But he’s not in a good mood, and he wants to see Archangel pay. You’d have a better chance fighting off them and all their men than you would convincing them to let you take him,” said the woman.

Despite her trying to be discreet, Shepard could easily see her sneaking glances at her gun that was less than half a meter away. She probably thought she could wrestle it away from her and get a shot off, alerting the other gangs for assistance.

“Then that’s what I’ll do,” said Shepard, snapping the woman’s attention back on her once more.

“You’re joking…” said the woman flabbergasted. “You’re going to fight all three of these gangs just to get to Archangel? Why!?”

“Let’s just say that I’m on a mission that requires people of talent,” said Shepard with a grin. “Now… you must understand that since you know my plan, you can’t be awake for what comes next.” Jentha immediately lunged for the gun, but instead found herself on the ground gasping for air as an electric shock hit her directly in the chest. “You’re too easy to read,” snapped Shepard as she stood up and stepped over to the woman. “If you’re gonna ascend to head of the Blue Suns here, you need to fix your situational awareness.” Finally, she held her hand with her now glowing omni-tool out and shocked her again. This time, she fell unconscious.

Turning to Cathka, the batarian shook his head. “Look, I’ve got some duct tape over there. You can just use that on me instead…” said the man, the turian look-a-like next to him nodding in agreement.

Retaliation Staging Grounds

“Lawson, get a transport vehicle and hang out outside the staging area for when I call. Preferably something fast,” ordered Shepard as she and Jacob casually walked through the Eclipse portion of the grounds. Passing a folded-up YMIR class mech, she flexed her hand gently, causing her omni-tool to shimmer.

“Am I the getaway driver?” asked the operative in amusement.

“I’ve seen your record. You’re the best out of us three to do the job,” said Shepard as she received a scathing look from the salarian leader of the gang. He never got up from the table where he was discussing the orders, however, and she moved on with Jacob following in her wake.

“And I’ve seen yours. Does the Mako actually drive that terribly, or was that all you?” asked Miranda, getting a glare from Shepard that she couldn’t even see.

Even Jacob snorted behind her. “Where’s the lie?”

“Very funny. Now shut up before I take you both for a ride in one,” she growled as she finally stood next to the wall of the alley. There as another merc there who appeared to have gotten in over his head. He was pressed against the wall, holding his weapon to his chest, his knees practically shaking inside his armor. Ignoring him, Shepard looked up at the figure standing in plain view of the building at the end of the alley. It was the krogan warlord, Garm. He stood there, glaring down the bridge as if challenging Archangel to shoot at him. She stepped over the shattered remains of the spotlights that no doubt had initially been used to light up the insides of the windows of the building, a method to help them keep track of his location. But he had taken them out as well, leaving him to lurk in the shadows of the multi-floored building.

Finally, she stood practically next to the massive krogan. “The hells you want?” he asked in a gruff voice, never taking his eyes off the building in front of him.

“Nothing in particular. But if you’re standing out here, that means you’re either safe, or stupid,” she remarked as she too looked over the building.

Sniffing the air deeply, he turned to her and glared at her with his orange gaze, showing that his bloodrage was building slowly. “Spectre. I heard you were skittering around here somewhere.”

“Something like that,” she said as she turned her head and looked at him. “So, which is it?”

Snorting heavily, the krogan looked back at the building. “He has some kind of EMP field that knocks out shields temporarily to anything and everything within a certain range of the building. It’s how he took the gunship down with just a rifle.”

She nodded as she noticed that there were no bodies behind where he stood. “I see, you measured it out. We’re currently just outside its range.”

“Correct,” he sneered as his fingers drummed against the massive shotgun he held. “What’s a Council rat doing here?”

“Same as you, going after Archangel,” she said as she crossed her arms.

“Archangel is mine. I’ll rip his spine from his corpse myself,” growled the krogan as he turned to her. “Get in the way, human, and yours will join it.”

“I’ll try and stay clear then,” she said as she looked up at the building. “Good talk big guy, I’ve gotta prepare before the call comes.” Garm snorted in anger as he went back to staring at the building. Meanwhile, Shepard ducked out behind a column riddled with cracks and bullet holes. Tapping her omni-tool, she felt her armor go translucent, a skill she hadn’t used since waking up.

According to Miranda, the feature was much better than before. The bending of light commonly left what looked like floating distortions hanging in the air for those with sharp eyes. But this armor, built by Cerberus’ best, had no such distortions, and instead had the option to project a light bending field around oneself that was flat enough to leave barely any noticeable changes in the environment. Letting out a sigh, she stepped out of cover and put her skills to work again.

She stepped around the massive krogan who took no notice of her and padded onto the bridge itself. Her heart was hammering. She technically hadn’t done this for years, and the slightest rust causing her to slip up meant Archangel could put a round through her visor, or a very angry krogan could blast her in the back with a shotgun.

She was halfway across the bridge when she stopped dead in her tracks. On the ground in front of her was the glow of a common laser pointer. Her eyes widened as she looked up at the building. She felt her blood chill as she saw the helmet of a turian with a rifle aimed directly in front of her. “I think he sees me…”

“That tech could get you into most vaults. How the hell would he be able to see you?” asked Jacob from the crowds of the mercenaries.

“Hell if I know. What I do know is that he’s got a laser pointer aimed directly in front of me,” she growled back at him. Finally, the pointer went away as the turian raised the weapon but continued to stare in her direction. “He moved it, so I’m moving in,” she said as she felt her heart pumping fire through her entire body. Moving quickly, she snuck into the shadowy cover of the building and sighed. “God I’m getting too old for this shit…”

“You’re twenty-nine…” said Miranda sharply.

“Too old, operative,” she snapped as she ducked inside one of the blasted open doors. “Now… how to talk to him without getting killed.”

Jacob interjected. “Can’t you… you know, take over his omni-tool and speak to him?”

Shepard rolled her eyes. “As thrilling as that sounds, we don’t know if he has one, we don’t know if there’s a network here, and from the looks of the army out there, I don’t have time to check either.” She stared over the milling group as they finally began to organize and form up.

“Shit, you’re right. It’s now or never, Shepard,” said Jacob who was standing among the crowd members and keeping an eye on them.

The spectre growled as she moved into the building. There were bodies everywhere, showing that the gangs had managed to get some people inside the building before they too were gunned down. From the looks of it, they had brought in explosives as well to try and take the building out but were gunned down before they got a chance to trigger them. “How the hell did they kill so many-“ she started, but then her question was answered as she came face to face with a drone aiming directly at her. It hung clamped to the stairwell and turned towards her as she moved. She raised her hands to show surrender, wondering if it was capable of seeing an ally or not. “Archangel!” she shouted, not wanting to test the gun’s patience further.

Then she saw them. Looking up, she saw a large column of emptiness in the building with railings on each floor, allowing someone to see down into the ground floor from above. And leaning over the railing on the top floor was who she came to see a turian for sure in battle-scarred blue armor with a long-range anti-material rifle. For a long moment, she felt a wave of nostalgia wash over her for some unknown reason. Perhaps having a turian partner just came naturally to her.

Finally, the figure waved his hand for her to come up. The drone in front of her sagged slightly as it released her from the stalemate. Sighing to herself, the spectre took to the stairs and ascended rapidly. She found herself surprised as she moved from floor to floor, she found more long-range rifles mounted to the floors or ceilings with projectors built in. Despite how haphazard they looked, they appeared to work just fine as they turned and aimed towards the front of the bridge.

Feeling a stich in her side from the stairs, she groaned as she finally got to the final floor and looked over to see the towering figure aiming down the scope of his rifle to check the situation outside. “Archangel?”

He held up a finger signaling her to wait, a notably human gesture. Placing his hand back on the rifle, he held for a long moment, then fired.

The shot spanned the bridge and blasted through the skull of a vorcha from the Gowthra Family who had gotten a bit too close. Shepard could easily see that blood had splattered on the krogan warlord, causing him to let out a roar of anger that made her smirk.

Finally, he set the rifle down tiredly and sat down on the uncomfortable floor, leaning his back against the wall. “Shepard…” Suddenly, her eyes snapped wide open. He reached up and deactivated the seals on his helmet before removing it entirely. She felt herself practically floored as she found herself looking at her good friend, Garrus Vakarian. “I thought you were dead.”

“Garrus?” she asked incredulously.

“What? Like… the actual Garrus?” asked Jacob over the comm.

“That’s a hell of a coincidence…” chimed in Miranda.

“In the flesh. At least… what’s left of it,” he said tiredly as he eyed her.

“Garrus, what are you doing here?” asked Shepard as she stepped forward until she stood right in front of him.

“Just taking out some gangs. You know, the real nasty types. Good to have you here though. Plenty of them to go around,” he said with a dry chuckle.

“Okay, but… why Omega? What happened to the Citadel?” she asked incredulously.

“I tried to play their game for a while, but after you’ve been under your wing for so long and return to being a cop, you begin to see how corrupt they can actually be. Nepotism, bribes, constantly patrolling the quarian sectors looking for quotas,” he said as he let out a burdened sigh. “After working with you, you can’t go back to playing by their rules, Shepard. Instead, I thought I’d try things your way and do things outside of the box for a while…”

She crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow at him. “My way usually only pisses this many people off incidentally, not directly. How the hell did you manage to get all three of the main gangs of Omega pissed enough to work together to take you down?”

He chuckled again. “It wasn’t easy. I reeeally had to work at it. But I’m even impressed with my own work. I never thought they’d work together to take me down. They must really hate me,” he said as he flexed his neck. “Now, if you don’t mind me asking a question of my own, are you real? Or have I been running on stims for so long during this siege that I’ve actually started to hallucinate?”

“I’m real…” she said with a heavy sigh as she stepped forward and gently bumped his chestplate with her fist.

He stared down at her fist for a long moment before looking back up into her eyes. “How?”

“Uh, Shepard. You might wanna save the heart to hearts for another time. The groups are mobilizing and they’re starting to push towards the bridge,” came Jacob’s call over the comm.

Shepard turned and looked at the army and sure enough, the Gowthra Family had brought in heavy physical barriers to keep his shots from getting through. “Shit. They’re on there way,” she said as she turned to the turian again. “Let me get you off this rock and I’ll tell you the whole story. Right now we need a plan.”

Garrus nodded, then stood up and put his helmet back on. Flexing his arms, two omni-tools glowed to life. Shepard spun around with her pistol drawn as she saw multiple of the guns hooked to the stands spin and aim down at the crowds now amassing at his gates. “Huh, old school style. Didn’t think Garm had it in him to be that creative.”

“Can your weapons break through those shields?” she asked, slightly impressed at him being able to control so many drone weapons at once.

“Yes, but only the long-range ones. The guns downstairs aren’t anti-material. And given how many people are about to charge across those bridges, I won’t be able to get all of them,” he said as he turned to look at her. “Any ideas Shepard?” He stopped for a moment and reached up to grip his head. “Wow… didn’t think I’d be asking that ever again.”

Shepard looked over the balcony and into the lobby below. “I do, actually. If we can hold them in the lobby until they bunch together, I can take care of most if not all of them.”

“No kidding. We’ll do this your way then,” he said as he tapped an omni-tool. “Alright, I have full control of guns in the lobby. I’ll keep them tiptoeing until you get your chance. But…” he said as he placed his talons on her shoulder. “If you can, leave Garm to me.”

“Will do my best,” she said as she activated her own omni-tool and went dark again. She snuck down to the third floor of the four-floor complex and peeked through the shattered windows that looked over the bridge. The Gowthra were now forming a phalanx with the shields they had brought, making it nearly impossible to see who was beneath them. She heard the long-range guns all over the building begin to fire one after the other. Looking over, she saw as the projector next to one of the long range weapons made a near perfect image of Garrus in his armor, making it look as if he was there shooting it himself. She chuckled to herself as Jentha’s words of him ghosting around the building and taking them out came back to her mind. “Clever son of a bitch…”

The anti-material shots blasted through the shields and ended up causing portions of the army to collapse as they tripped over one another, but the bulk of it marched on over the bridge unabated. Soon, she began to hear the auto cannons below firing relentlessly against the shields. She watched as the front lines of the group slowed and held their shields up against the onslaught. This lasted a full minute before two krogan brute forced their way up to the drone and blasted it with their shotguns.

“GIVE ME ARCHANGEL!” shouted Garm, who was now at the head of the group and marching his way up the stairs, his eyes now fully orange with rage.

As others began to follow, Shepard shook her head. “Nuh uh,” she said before waving her hand. Her omni-tool flashed, then every bomb on the bottom floor that had been left behind by the gangs detonated, causing a pillar of flame to shoot up empty airspace over the balcony. Shepard hid behind a column and watched the two remaining gangs on the other side of the bridge. They all flinched as the explosion sent bodies and debris flying at them at high speeds.

“Shepard! Was that you?” asked Garrus, no doubt also startled by the building rocking.

“Yep. Garm is on his way up, even more pissed than before as about ninety percent of his ‘family’ are decorating the walls of the lobby,” she said as she pulled her pistol up and began picking off those that remained.

“Damn you’re good at your job…” he said, his voice tinged with humor. “Thanks, I’ll take care of Garm. In the meantime, make sure nobody disturbs us.”

She could hear Garm shouting over the comm as he raced up the stairs to the final floor. “I’ve got Archangel busy! Send everyone else! Now!” shouted the krogan as he entered the last door to his fate. Shepard eyed the groups across the bridge and saw the Eclipse getting their repaired YMIR mercs ready for the invasion. She chuckled to herself and shook her head.

“Put your toys away, boys,” she said as she waved her hand once more, activating the control program that she had implanted before entering the base. Many of the Eclipse surrounding the three mechs stepped backwards as they activated before told. It didn’t take long before they realized something was wrong, and the entire gang began fleeing as the mechs turned on their owners and began firing their heavy arms into the crowds. “Jacob, watch yourself out there. I just unleashed the mechs.”

“Uhh… yeah, I’m good,” he said, sounding a bit reserved.

“You alright, Taylor?” asked Shepard, curious about his muted response.

“Spectre, I just watched you erase one gang from the map and send another screaming as it was being slaughtered by its own equipment. I’m kind of in awe at your efficiency here…” he responded, making her smirk and shake her head.

“It’s called having a plan, and creative improvisation. Those two can make the world of difference,” said the spectre as she watched one of the YMIR’s lift its foot and crush Jaroth, the salarian leader of the Eclipse as he tried to get them under control.

“I’ll keep that in mind. God only knows why any of the Blue Suns are sticking around after that display,” said the soldier from his hiding spot.

“Tarak will use this as a way of wresting control from the other gangs. With them scattered, he probably thinks if he takes down Archangel, he’ll wipe the others out and have full control,” said Miranda thoughtfully. “At least, it’s what I’d do.”

“Gotta watch my back around you,” said Shepard with a chuckle as she watched the carnage. Finally, she stepped back in surprise as the body of Garm fell from above and splattered against the bridge below. “You good up there Vakarian?”

“I’m alright. He’s a tough bastard to kill, that’s for sure,” responded the turian as Shepard began to ascend the stairs.

“Shepard!” shouted Miranda as the woman stepped onto the final floor. “The gunship just took off from the hangar! It’s headed straight there!”

Suddenly, just as the operative stated, the gunship practically fell out of the sky before levelling off on the top floor. As if in slow motion, Shepard saw Garrus throw his arms forward, all of the guns in the building spun and aimed directly at the ship and began firing, but only managed to ping off the still functioning shields.

“ARCHANGEL!” shouted the batarian through the speaker as he unleashed a hellish bullet storm directly at her friend. Shepard dashed forward as she saw his shields die out and multiple bullets impact his armor. Garrus hit the floor and tried to pick himself back up, snarling as blue blood trickled out of his mouth and painted the front of his visor. But before she could reach him, and before he could get back to his feet, a missile flew and hit the ground next to him.

Shepard saw stars as the explosion tore her from the ground and sent her slamming through the back of a couch and into the wall. She panted heavily, finding herself on the floor staring up at the ceiling. Reaching up, she grabbed the back of the destroyed couch and yanked herself up, groaning as she had an ache in her back. “Back into the fire, Vakarian,” she growled as she finally stood up. But as she did, her eyes widened.

“Shepard, you need to get out of there now!” shouted Taylor over the comm as the sounds of the remaining Blue Suns horde rushing the bridge filtered through.

She ignored his words as she saw the turian laying face down with his visor shattered and blood pooling from his mouth. She sprinted from her spot to the side and slide behind one of the barricades he had set up to stop fire from below. Reaching out, she gripped him by the nape of his cowl and yanked him into cover with her. “Garrus! Garrus! Talk to me you turian asshole! Don’t you die on me right now!”

He coughed and sputtered more blood, his breathing heavily labored as his eyes flickered around erratically. “Sh-Shepard…”

She could see that the blast has torn at his face. One of his mandibles had been torn clean off and the burn pattern from the missile was still burning through his skin. Reaching back, she pulled a medigel applier from her armor and gently covered his wounds before throwing it aside. “I’m getting you out of here,” she said heatedly as she stood up and stared at Tarak directly through the windscreen of the gunship.

“Spectre. I knew you couldn’t be trusted,” he grunted before aiming at her, the engine under the wing sputtering wildly. “You can die together.”

Not sparing him another word, she reached out with her hand. A cyclone of blue energy whirled around her as she gripped the front of the ship, her livid glare locked onto Tarak as he struggled to break free. Then, she began to shout loudly as she put more and more effort into the attack. Biotics gripped the cockpit of the ship, keeping it from moving anywhere. Tarak tried to panic fire the weapons, but they were aimed in a straight line on either side of her, none even approaching her body.

Raising her other arm, she shouted louder as she held her palms up facing one another is of she were gripping a ball. Tarak screamed in pain as the hull of the junk ship began to buckle. She could see he tried to hit the eject switch, but all it did was thrust the rest of the ship away, resulting in it crashing blow and taking out the bridge with many Blue Suns on it.

Finally, her shouted ended and Tarak’s began once more as she held the lone cockpit in her grip, fire surging through her veins. Closing her hands, the entire shell of the cockpit buckled and crushed inwards. The batarian screamed in horror as the glass and metal crushed his body to dust. Then, she released her grip and the annihilated mass of metal and flesh fell down into the cavernous abyss to join the rest of the burning gunship.

The spectre turned to find the Blue Suns had already made it to the floor, and instead of stopping her, had simply watched in horror as she snuffed out the life of their batarian boss. She stepped towards them with her aura pulsing out in waves, causing them all to step back in fear. But she didn’t need to continue as one of them shouted an order to the others. “Jentha ordered a retreat! Return to base!”

Shepard turned and looked over the balcony of the building to see the disgruntled figure of Jentha now organizing her soldiers to get away from the building. For a brief moment, they locked eyes. But then it was broken as the new leader turned and ordered her men to fully retreat.

Shepard felt darkness consuming her as blood trickled from her nose. All sense of balance fled from her mind as the building cleared, and she landed right next to Garrus, staring into his predatory eyes, both of them fading from consciousness as she barely registered the sound of an aircar pulling directly up to the balcony.

CODEX ENTRIES

EMP | Military Technology | Weapons
Short for electromagnetic pulse, it’s a commonly used tactic for shorting out electronic devices. The technology was more common when species waged war from space onto the surfaces of planets. In modern times, it’s mostly used as a metal cutting tool, but can still be found on larger ships for special situations.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

? - ?

The darkness would be comforting if it wasn't for the splitting pain in her head. She felt different, as if she weren't herself. She looked down, she recognized her features. Her pale arms with freckles dotted down them, her muscular frame, her… breasts…

It was then that she realized she was naked. Looking herself over, she didn't have a scrap of clothing on her. "What the hell?" she asked, her voice sounding both familiar and distant at the same time. "Where… where am I?" The only response she got was another sharp spike of pain to her head.

Staying silent now, she sat alone in the darkness for a while, noticing that she wasn't standing or sitting. Instead, she was simply floating in the dead center of nothingness. She peered around to see if her eyes could pierce the veil of darkness surrounding her but trying to look only made her head pound harder.

"-ard was-!" came a shout, startling her out of her loneliness. She looked around again, ignoring the pain in her head.

"Hello?" she called out to the void.

"-ell someo-" came another as if from nowhere.

"Please! I'm here!" she shouted as she tried in vain to move around.

Suddenly, she felt a jerk on herself as if a cord tied to her had suddenly grown taut. She felt slightly nauseous as the pain in her head grew, the feeling of being whipped backwards by a cord not helping in the slightest. Then, the voices grew louder, and the silence dimmed.

Medical Bay – SSV Normandy SR2

She groaned as she felt the pain now constantly throbbing in her skull. Opening her eyes, she immediately slammed them closed and held an arm over her face as a blindingly bright light filled her eyes. "What the hell! Can someone dim the lights?"

Suddenly, all noise around her stopped. "Shepard!" came the voice of Karin as she rushed to her side. "Apologies Shepard, we didn't expect you awake for a while," said the woman as she turned down the intensity of the light and tilted it away from her patient.

Finally, Shepard opened her eyes again and looked up to see the silver-haired woman staring down at her in concern. "Where am I?"

"You're in the medical bay on the Normandy. Operative Lawson and Lieutenant Taylor brought you back here after what happened on Omega," came the woman's caring voice.

"Oh… right…" groaned the spectre as she looked away from them all.

Karin apparently looked away and began lashing out in aggravation. "Now, someone explain to me why I wasn't told that Shepard had suddenly developed biotic abilities!?" she snapped.

Miranda responded with the same hardline tone she always did. "We hadn't intended for Shepard to be using her abilities yet, so, it was not necessary for you to know."

"I'm her doctor!" growled the older woman as she got into Miranda's face. "She is my patient! If you expect me to do my job here, then I need to know everything, and I mean EVERYTHING that happened to her!"

"Apologies doctor, but access to the Lazarus Project files is classified," said Miranda, her face a mask of stone once more. "However, since Shepard decided to jumpstart her training into biotics, I suppose it wouldn't be out of order to go ahead and send you her BNM files. They should give you the information that you need," said the woman before she turned and finally walked out of the room.

Karin snorted as she watched her go. "Good to see that Cerberus hasn't strayed too far from the Alliance in insufferability," said the doctor before she turned back to Shepard.

Jacob chuckled in the background. "You're not wrong there. She's a handful."

"Jane, how are you feeling?" asked the woman as she leaned over the table again.

"Like a krogan headbutted me. Like… four times," she said as she reached up to rub her own forehead. But she found a small, cold, pad resting there instead.

"Leave that be," said Doctor Chakwas as she reached up and redirected the spectre's hands. "After that stunt you pulled, your body temperature shot up and you need to cool down. You nearly cooked your brain inside your skull."

"Oh…" said the woman as she closed her eyes again. "So, that's why my head hurts…" she said with a heavy sigh. But her eyes suddenly snapped open and she jerked her head towards the doctor. "Where is Garrus?" she asked urgently, her attempt to sit up immediately blocked by the doctor.

"Over here, Shepard," came the voice of the turian from the next bed over, sounding waspier than usual.

She turned her head and saw him laying on his side, the easiest to do for a turian with their diamond-shaped torsos on a medical bed designed for humans. Despite the awkward position, he seemed relaxed as he looked back at her, half of his face wrapped in bandages. "Really? Couldn't tell it was you under there," she said jokingly.

He chuckled, then groaned. "Ah… damn you Shepard, don't make me laugh," he said with a sigh.

Jacob shook his head from behind Chakwas and looked between them. "Two of the toughest sons of bitches in the galaxy. Wiped out two entire gangs and sent one running, took down a rampaging krogan and a gunship, and then blasted with gunfire and missiles. Yet here you both are only two hours afterwards joking with each other."

Garrus merely looked over at Jacob. If he felt pain from the side of his face, he didn't show it. Shepard just closed her eyes and gave him a thumbs up. "You're working with the team leader of the crew that took down Sovereign. The awe will wear off eventually."

"Heh, if you say so Shepard. Just keep up the good work and this whole situation will be over in no time," said the soldier before he turned and left the medbay.

Chakwas returned to Shepard's side and reapplied the cooling pad, making it slightly colder. "Just lie back and rest for now. Once your temperature has gone down you can try moving around again. Until then, please just relax so I don't have to fix more of you," said the woman with a smirk.

"Only if I can stay home from school today," said the spectre as another sharp pain hit her brain.

"I'll think about it," said the woman as she stepped away. "That goes for you too, Vakarian. No getting out of your bed until the medigel reconstructs what's left of your face," snapped the woman before collecting her datapads and leaving the medbay.

Shepard turned her head and looked through the window, seeing the doctor make a beeline for the XO's quarters. "Hmm… maybe Miranda has met her match."

"Miranda? Was that the one that picked us up?" asked the turian next to her.

Refraining from nodding, Shepard simply answered, "Yeah. Operative Miranda Lawson." Holding a hand up, she pointed to the door. "The guy that just left is Lieutenant Jacob Taylor."

"I had noticed the nametag, as well as the emblem on their uniforms," he said, any amusement gone from his voice.

"Ugh…" groaned Shepard, realizing that she was going to have to explain this situation to literally every one of her old crew. "Look…"

"Are you Shepard?" asked Garrus sternly as he peered at her from the other bed. "I need to know now what I'm dealing with."

Gathering herself, the woman inhaled deeply before letting out a heavy sigh. "Look, I don't know what I am, alright?" she sniped back as she stared at the ceiling. "All I know is I woke up on a dying space station that was under Cerberus' command. I escaped with Lawson and Taylor, and afterwards they informed me that I was the subject of a two year long medical experiment."

"Experiment?" asked Garrus, his tone less serious now.

"Something like that," she said as she raised a hand up and flexed it in front of her eyes. "They said they had gotten ahold of my body from Alchera. The planet's temperatures had put my remains into some kind of cryo state, and then they artificially did the same thing before spending billions trying to bring the rest of me back to life."

"And they succeeded?" he asked, almost in awe.

"Apparently," she said as she stared at the back of her hand. "But I have no way of knowing if that's the truth. I could just be a clone of the original, a fake." The thought had crossed her mind a few times. Perhaps she wasn't Shepard, and instead she was some kind of fraud walking around in a manufactured body built by Cerberus. She frowned momentarily before the turian's laughter caught her ears. Turning her head, she glared at him as he groaned again from the pain. "What the hell is so funny."

"Concern like that is indicator enough that you're you," he said shaking his head. "Not to mention the work you did back on Omega. Doesn't matter if you're in your original body with new parts, or you're a clone. It doesn't take away from the fact that you're you."

She smiled slightly at him before looking back up at the ceiling. "Thanks. That means a lot coming from you."

"I'm still concerned about this apparent partnership you have with Cerberus, however," he said as he leaned back again, taking pressure off his neck.

"Let's just say I'm using them to figure out why the Collectors are harvesting humans. Their boss, the Illusive Man, thinks it's related to the Reapers. And as much as I want to put a bullet between his eyes, I have to agree with him," she said as she clenched a fist. "The modus operandi is there, and I don't intend to leave things at Sovereign being dead."

Letting out a small quiet chuckle, Garrus looked back to her. "So, you pull my cloaca out of the fire just to throw me back into it," he said, his remaining mandible twitching in amusement. "Well, I'm here for you Shepard. Whether it's fighting Collectors, Reapers, or Cerberus when they eventually betray us," he said, letting out a sad sigh. "It's good to be back with a team."

She looked over at him for a moment, noticing the sudden drop in his tone. She knew there was something hidden beneath the surface of those predatory eyes, one of which was covered with bandages. But she didn't intend to pry. He of all people knew about her open-door policy, and if he wanted to talk, he knew she'd be there. So, instead of pressing him, she nodded and groaned as another head pain hit her. "Welcome back, Garrus."

XO Quarters – SSV Normandy SR2

The door slid open as the spectre approached it and she immediately saw Operative Lawson sitting at a desk, working on a terminal. The desk itself was placed in front of another door behind the woman, no doubt the entrance to her actual quarters.

The raven-haired woman looked up from her terminal, and for a brief moment, Shepard saw what her resting face looked like before it once again transformed into a mask of stone. "Spectre. Good to see you up and walking again so soon."

Nodding, Shepard spun the small chair in front of the desk before sitting in it backwards, her arms crossed over the back. "Fever has gone away, and I no longer feel like a thresher maw is trying to escape my skull."

"Good. Your springboard record is as immaculate as always," said the woman before she turned away from the terminal to give the spectre her full attention. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I need to know a few things," said the redhead as she rested her head on her arms. "Since Lazarus Station, we've been moving at a pretty fast pace. And I've been game to pick up speed, but I need to pump the brakes for a few and find out exactly what changed inside me."

"Ah…" said the operative with a nod. "You're here to ask about the biotics?"

"Yes, but it's more than that," said Shepard as she sat up in the chair and stared at the woman. "I need to know what's changed. What have you done inside that wasn't the same as I used to be."

"It's rather simple, Shepard. We've made you a lot harder to kill," said Miranda as she crossed her legs beneath the desk. "For starters, most of your skeleton, skin, and muscles are woven with synthetic nanofibers. They lattice over your bones and harden them, making them nearly unbreakable. In your skin they're woven together to make it harder to puncture and bruise your epidermis. In your muscle, they're layered and respond to signals from your cerebellum that cause them to contract and relax with your own movements."

Shepard eyed the woman curiously, annoyed that the woman's face showed little more emotion than if she had just read off the ingredients of a bottle of tap water. "So, because of this, I'm stronger, faster, and harder to kill?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes," said the operative as she shrugged. "The fibers in your skin protect you from a lot of blades and sharp objects. They also protect your internal organs from trauma should you suffer a strong enough blow to your abdomen. Those in your muscles give you strength, but not superhuman. You're above average by human standards. It puts you on par with your typical batarian weightlifter, allowing you to lift around 400 kilograms, perhaps more or less depending on the situation." Reaching down, Lawson slid her a datapad across the desk allowing Shepard to see the extensive applications. "These same microfibers can also be used to channel medigel directly into a wound, allowing for the fixing of internal wounds as well as being more effective on external."

Shepard's brows furrowed. "I'm sorry… you can pump medigel inside me? Is that healthy?"

Miranda chuckled, though her mask never dropped, making it sound like she was just humoring her. "It's a specialized form of medigel. You have a small injection container of it in your armor, and we stock it on the ship as well. Unlike regular medigel, it's a liquid, and can be guided through the microfibers to almost any skeletal or muscular injury you may have. When its work is done, it goes inert and is evacuated from your body through urination."

"I just urinate it out?" asked Shepard, bewildered at the advancement.

"It's not as bad as you're thinking, Shepard. The worst side effect you'll see from it is having blue urine for a day," said the operative.

Shepard shook her head, then reached up and rubbed her skull. She knew she'd never be able to feel the nanofibers beneath the skin, but she tried anyway. "Isn't that kind of technology still untested?"

"By Alliance standards, yes. But Cerberus has different standards and we don't drag our heels on testing in the science wing. We're fully funded thanks to the Illusive Man, unlike the civilian sector that gets the back seat from the Alliance in favor of ship technology," said the woman as she leaned forward slightly. "On that note, you also have cybernetics installed into your spine, and your eyes and ears are partially synthetic."

Shepard's eyebrow shot up as she reached up and placed a hand on her ear. "Why?"

"The Illusive Man doesn't skimp on his investments," she said as she swiped to another screen on her datapad. "We've seen what you're capable of. And in some of the battles we have on record, you've attempted feats where your survival hinged on your crewmates' creative thinking and expediency. He doesn't want you to have to rely on them as much this time around. So, your hearing and vision have been slightly altered to react to adrenaline in your body."

"I have a berserker mode now?" asked Shepard with amusement.

Miranda cracked a smile and shook her head. "Nothing so dramatic. When you enter battle, your hearing and vision are heightened, and your spinal augmentations allow for faster reaction speed. You already had a very impressive reaction reflexes before the augments, but we've made them better."

"Wait, why didn't I experience any of these when I was on Omega or Freedom's Progress?" asked Shepard curiously.

"We hadn't turned them on yet by that point. You're supposed to go through extensive training to get used to your new senses before using them in actual battle or they could hinder you more than help. We would have turned them on for Omega if we thought you would be fighting, but our plan had been to pick up Vakarian without much of a fight," said the woman with a sigh. "I knew you were a magnet for disaster, but I had no idea until I saw those bombs go off in Archangel's base."

"Too bad you couldn't enhance that aspect of me," said Shepard with a cheeky grin, making Miranda shake her head. "I want you to activate the enhancements."

The XO's eyes widened. "Shepard, you haven't had any training…"

"And I'm not going to if they're off. Any advantage against the reapers is one I'm willing to take. And I'm not shy about that. We'll be handling mostly low level thugs when we go after Solus, so it's a perfect opportunity to try them," she said, her face as stern as a statues. She could see Miranda fighting against herself to argue, but ultimately the woman gave up.

"Alright, Shepard. We'll do things your way," said Miranda as she glared at the spectre.

"Now… the biotics," she ordered.

Miranda let out a sigh and ran her hand through her bangs to remove them from her face. "I don't know how to tell you this without upsetting you, so I'm just going to come out and say it," said the operative as she returned the woman's stare. "You've always been capable of being a biotic."

"That… doesn't make any sense. Why did my…" asked Shepard, but she stopped as Miranda continued.

"I don't know. When we were piecing you back together, we noticed the biotic nodes in your nervous system. They were underdeveloped, but healthy enough to be nurtured," said Miranda as she shrugged. "We went looking for any records pertaining to anatomical scans, and they all came back marked as negative for biotic potential."

Shepard looked down at the floor in front of the desk as she sighed. "Which means…"

"Which means that someone knew you were a biotic, but suppressed the information," finished the raven-haired woman. "There's a zero percent chance that the Alliance missed your biotic potential over and over again with every physical and neurological examination you've had in the military. Someone had to be doctoring the information."

"Perhaps an admiral and a captain well known within the Alliance…" she growled as images of her mother and father floated in her mind.

"They'd certainly have the pull," said Miranda as she waved her hand carelessly. "The question is, why?"

"I'll have to ask," said Shepard as she sat up in the chair and looked at the woman again. "So, you nurtured my nodes during my resurrection and installed a biotic amp as well?"

Nodding, Miranda gave a business-like smile. "We did. While we were instructed to bring you back exactly as you were, we also concluded that the benefit of giving you biotics was too great to leave them as they were." She eyed Shepard for a long moment. "Do they bother you?"

Shepard let out a heavy sigh before shrugging. "On the one hand, it's good for combat. Being able to manipulate objects and opponents on the field is invaluable. That will definitely come in handy."

"But…" replied the operative as she waited for the conclusion.

"But… I'm already questioning whether I'm really me or not. Whether I'm actually Jane Lilith Shepard, or some clone with advanced brain mapping. And all the upgrades were one thing, but the biotics kind of add to that anxiety that I'm not who I think I was," said the woman as she closed her fist.

Nodding in understanding, Miranda sat back in her chair. "I see. Well, given how little you trust me, I don't know if my words will be able to move you at all. But you are you. Your brain is the same one we had to cut out of your helmet from Alchera, and while your body is mostly cloned tissue regenerated through the Lazarus project, all of it originally belonged to you."

Shepard stared at her for a long moment before nodding and looking at her hand again. "I've had these three freckles my entire life and you managed to keep them there. Is the rest of my body the same?"

Miranda gave Shepard a stern glare. "I'm very meticulous in my work. While you're probably missing a birthmark or two on the parts of your body that wasn't necessary in medical records, I can assure you that most everything that existed does so now as well."

"I appreciate the attempted assurance," said Shepard before her glare hardened as well. "So, who's gonna train me to use them?" she asked curiously.

"Jacob and I both are biotics that can teach you how they work. But it's more than just learning how to aim and throw. Learning biotics is a lot more complicated than learning to fire a weapon," said Miranda as she laced her fingers together and gave Shepard a plain look. "Jacob, while he can teach you some, isn't a skilled instructor. I, on the other hand, can if you'd like me to."

Shepard eyed the woman curiously before giving a small smirk. "You just want the chance to boss me around for a change…"

For a brief moment, Shepard saw the crack in her armor as a small smirk curled at the edge of Miranda's mouth. But it went as quickly as it arrived. "I won't lie, the chance to toss you against the wall a few times is incredibly tempting. But if you wish to train, then it must be quick. Our current mission involves collecting specialists who are well known for being in danger, or a danger to others. So, we can't linger for long."

"Understood. We'll save the training for after we're done on Omega. In the meantime, I'm gonna get something to eat before we head back out," said the spectre as she stood up again. As Jane got up from her seat, she saw a brief moment of understanding from Miranda. She didn't know if the woman felt sympathy for her, or if she related in some way. But it was a refreshing change of pace from her normally icy demeanor. Smiling to the XO, she turned away and left the room once more.

Afterlife – Omega Station

The long lines at the club were obnoxious to say the least. Not to mention those inside. So many people packed in one place was a disaster waiting to happen. She knew this, and Aria likely knew this as well. But there were no rules on Omega. If someone died from stampeding, then they died. She huffed as she entered the door with one of those in line shouting after her about cutting. Ignoring the offensive language, she barged into the now alternating doors and headed directly for the stairs.

When she arrived, the turian guard took one look at her and nodded towards the stairs leading up towards Aria's chambers. Moving quickly, she saw the woman standing with a drink and staring out over the crowd in the club. "Take a seat, Shepard," said the woman as she absent-mindedly waved her drink towards the long couch. Shepard took the offer and sat with one leg across her knee. "You've been making waves."

"I usually opt for canonbombs versus just diving," said the woman sarcastically.

Aria chuckled lightly before finally turning to her. "I had thought you intended to take your friend Garrus back with you. But instead, you annihilated the Gowthra clan of the Blood Pack, killed the leadership of the Eclipse Omega branch and the Blue Suns, and now I'm hearing you're a biotic. You're just full of surprises."

Nodding, Shepard sighed. "Turns out the friend was a fake. Garrus wasn't actually here; it was someone impersonating him."

Aria's eyes narrowed at the implication. "Apologies, but it was the information we had. And we gave it to you. If you're trying to pry more information out of me, you'll still have to offer something in return."

"I thought you'd say that. Which is why I brought this," said Shepard as she held up a data disk.

Aria eyed the woman briefly before her eyes turned to the disk. "I assume that's information that you wish to trade?"

"It's information you need, in fact. Because hatred is a powerful thing, and when three gangs on Omega get together to finally deal with a problem, they tend to want to take care of all their problems at once while the treaty lasts," said the redhead as she smirked slightly.

Aria's gaze narrowed as she sat on the couch. "You have a list of people who planned to use the gangs' union to overthrow me?"

"I do indeed," said the spectre as her smirk vanished from her face.

Aria gave an almost seductive smile as she leaned back against the cushy couch. "Shepard! I had always thought us as somewhat adversaries. But after finally meeting, you appear to be the best thing that's happened to me in years. Outside spectre perspective on assassinating me, and now you offer me a list of examples to make. Will your next gift come with a ribbon tied around it?"

"If I have time," said Shepard with a business-like grin. She knew she was upsetting the balance of the Terminus Systems. Leaders fall, some are overthrown, some are assassinated. It always leads to a power vacuum where the strongest emerges to take control. But she had prevented that potential outcome and indeed secured Aria's place as the leader of Omega. She sorely hoped this didn't come back to bite her in the end. "Right now, I need information on Mordin Solus."

Nodding, the asari set her drink aside. "The salarian. He's a doctor working in the quarantine zone."

"Quarantine zone?" asked Shepard curiously as she lowered the disk.

"Currently, there's an outbreak in the Sector Seven Housing District," said the woman sternly. "It's an airborne virus that spreads through every species and slowly kills them. Every species except human."

Shepard's brow arched at the claim. "Except humans? Does that mean…?"

"I don't know what it means exactly. But I have the entire sector locked down until the pandemic ends. I don't need that shit spreading into other parts of Omega and shutting the whole station down," said the woman with a nod. "The salarian you're looking for is running a clinic directly in the center of the outbreak. He said he's working on a cure but hasn't gotten back to me."

"Are you going to let me in?" asked Shepard as she held the disk forward.

"I'll have someone radio ahead and have them open the gates for you. Do me a favor and take care of that whole mess while you're in there," said the asari with a smile as she reached forward and took the data disk. Turning to her batarian guard, she tossed it and smacked him directly in the face. "How the hell did this shit get past you?"

"Uh… Apologies Aria. They must have created a new network during the assault on Archangel. We didn't have time-" stuttered the batarian before the asari waved him off.

"Excuses. Get that back to security. I want a list of targets by 700 tomorrow," said the woman, getting a nod from the batarian. The man quickly took the disk and left. Aria turned back to Shepard with a small smile. "Once you get what you need, I hope we can continue our beneficial relationship."

Shepard tilted her head slightly as she eyed the woman. "I guess that depends. There's no reason we can't continue to be civil," said the spectre as she finally stood up again. "Now, I've got a doctor to grab. So, I'll be on my way."

Sector 7 Quarantine Zone – Omega Station

"I'm not a fan of you leaving me dry docked after we just ruinited, Shepard," came Garrus' voice over her comm.

She smirked as she led the party she had brought with her through the front door of the quarantine zone. Miranda and Jacob followed her in, all of them with their environmental suits sealed. "Sorry Garrus. You've still got some of your face to piece back together, and this airborne virus, whatever it is, affects every species except human. If you took an armor breach and got exposed, I'd never forgive myself."

"Fine. But I'm not staying on this ship for much longer. I'll chew through the hull if you try to make me," he said, getting a chuckle from Shepard.

"So, tell me about this sector. Whose territory is it?" asked Shepard as she raised her weapons and moved through the streets beyond the now sealed gateway.

"Gozu District. Not a bad place to live before the virus hit. Lots of high-end apartments, clean streets, and the Blue Suns ran protection there prior to the quarantine under Second Lieutenant Tarak. From what I could tell from my view in the building, they pulled most of their men to come after me," he said almost proudly.

Jacob spoke up behind her. "The Blue Suns are probably back at base licking their wounds. I don't think we'll be seeing much of them in here."

"If not, you'll probably run into the Rogue Squad," he said, causing Shepard to raise a brow. "They're one of the smaller gangs on Omega and basically get the scraps from the washouts of othere gangs."

"Rogue Squad? Doesn't that seem a bit…" started the spectre as she tried to find a word.

"Juvenile? Yeah, well they drew in mostly outcasts from the other gangs. People thrown out of other gangs for assault, addiction, behavioral problems, stuff like that," came his voice again as she turned the corner. She saw two figures aiming weapons at her from behind a barricade, but they immediately raised them.

"Those are Aria's people. Let them through,"came the voice of an asari. "Good luck in there. The pandemic will be the least of your worries shortly."

"Comforting…" came the droll voice of Miranda through the comm.

"I wouldn't call it smart, but it'd make sense if Rogue Squad were trying to take as much Blue Suns territory as they could while the Blue Suns are out of commission," said Garrus as he no doubt watched through her suit camera.

The trio continued through what looked like an abandoned restaurant for cover, entering one door and exiting the other when Jacob asked, "Do they have the numbers to hold it?"

"Numbers? Sure. They've got plenty of has beens. But they don't have the organization. Every other station cycle the leader gets a shot in the back and someone new takes over. No, they won't hold at all. The Talons, however," responded the turian as he trailed off.

"They sound menacing,"said Jacob as their pace slowed to a walk. While she wanted to get Solus and get out quick, she wasn't about to walk headlong into enemy fire over impatience.

"They are. They get things done with an eerie efficiency. And they rarely take new members into the fold. They're nearly as thorough as you are about picking new members, Shepard," responded Garrus. "Luckily, I've never had a run in with them. I've even helped them from time to time to make my job easier."

"Think we'll run into them?" asked Jane curiously as she waved the Cerberus operatives into cover.

"I doubt it. They know not to stick their noses out too far. But I wouldn't be surprised if they took advantage of the cleaning you're about to give the sector," said the turian. "Either way, Shepard, be careful. The Rogue Squad aren't that smart, but they can overwhelm you fast."

"Noted. Going silent for the moment," she said as she cut the comm to everyone but her ground squad. "We've got a barricade set up in front of a restaurant with two unknowns in front."

"Not as stupid as Garrus implied. This street has no cover and it's the only way further into the district," said Miranda as she hid behind the corner.

"I guess this is where my talents come in," said Shepard as she opened her omni-tool and went to work. Within seconds, her armor shimmered before vanishing completely. On her HUD, she could easily see her heartbeat being portrayed as well as the statistics from her other stealth modifications. Her steps felt different as she felt the soles of her boots change to sound-dampening materials. Stepping out from her cover, she spoke softly. "I'm going to give them one chance to back down. If they refuse, I'm going to give you a signal. When I do, shoot towards them and draw their attention."

"Understood," said Jacob as he checked his gun to make sure it was ready.

It took her less than a minute to slowly walk towards the barricade with the pacing guards. It was set up higher than street level to give them a view advantage. But it would do little to help them against a truly skilled team. As she approached the barrier, she slinked out of the shadows of the small street and stepped up behind the barrier. Directly behind it was a doorway that led inside the restaurant where more men were cavorting amongst themselves. Slipping off to the side of the building, she opened her omni-tool, her helmet allowing only her to see it through her visor and keeping it invisible to outsiders. Within seconds, she hijacked the intercom system inside.

"Rogue Squad. This is Spectre Jane Shepard asking for you to lower your arms while my squad and I pass through to get to the clinic. We hope to assist in curing the plague," she said, her voice projecting out of the intercom. Immediately, everyone inside grabbed their weapons and stood up, looking around as if they were being talked to by the divine. "Will you lower your arms?"

"Like hell. Who does this spectre think they are?" asked someone from inside. "Where is she? Get out there and secure the district!" shouted the gruff voice. Mercenaries flooded out of the restaurant and climbed onto the barrier, their weapons ready. "Get out here, Spectre! We know you're there!"

Shepard rolled her eyes before turning the corner and walking slowly directly behind them. "Miranda, Jacob, now."

The pair of them began to fire on the barrier, the rounds pinging off shields and the barricade as she snuck behind them. The gang of mercs began returning fire down the road as she raised her omni-tool and fired adhering explosives between the legs of several members of Rogue Squad. Shaking her head at their antics before stepping inside the restaurant. Almost immediately, she noticed another one hiding on the inside, his sturdy batarian frame up against one side of the open door.

"You two make sure you're out of sight," she ordered before leaning against the other side of the door from the terrified merc.

"We're clear, Shepard," responded Miranda. Reaching up, she tapped her omni-tool and felt the violent explosion splash against the wall of the store. Were it less sturdy, it would have knocked her flat. But she was more than prepared for the hellfire. Within seconds the small congregation on the barrier were either groaning in agony or dead as her explosives ripped them apart.

The batarian that was hiding next to the door was flung wide and crashed through tables and chairs before rolling finally to a stop and coughing heavily. "Most targets neutralized. Approach cautiously." She stepped towards the batarian man who pulled his helmet off to allow himself to cough blood onto the floor. Scrambling to his feet, he watched as she shimmered back into existence. His four eyes widened as she stepped up to him, her brows furrowing as she looked down at him. She knew he was no combatant. His armor could barely be called as such, and did little more than keep the radiation leaking from eezo shipments off of him. Despite the terror on his face, he got to his feet and limped out of the back of the restaurant.

Within a minute, they had joined her again with minimal gunfire outside of the restaurant. "A few out there tried to put up a fight when we approached, but they're out of commission now," said Jacob as he nodded to her.

"Good. Less resistance when we come back through," said Miranda as she began tailing the spectre once more.

"One was inside, but he's gone for the moment. Probably won't see him again," said the spectre as she followed his path out of the back door. But she immediately heard gunfire and sprinted to the exit. "They couldn't have seen us yet…"

"They probably just took out our escapee," said Miranda as she crouched in close as well.

Shepard growled as she stuck her head out the door and saw the truth of Miranda's words. The batarian was now bleeding and gasping as he leaned against a nearby wall. His attackers were more goons from Rogue Squad that had no doubt heard her entrance into the restaurant.

Immediately she felt her vision blur around the edges before everything in front of her grew crystal clear. She could not only see the attackers, but she could also make out every pockmark on their worn-down armor. "Shepard?" came Jacob's voice as he looked at her in confusion. His voice was loud and deep in her ears even being muffled by his helmet's speaker.

Stepping out into the doorway she felt her muscles tighten as she clenched her fists. Bursting from the door, she ignored the loud shouts from her crew. It felt like she was running slower, as if she were sprinting through a shallow layer of water. But despite the extra weight added to her speed, the guns of the squad in front of her were raising just as slowly. Within seconds she had closed the gap.

The first of the two humans screeched in terror as he raised his weapon and tried to fire. But the spectre grabbed it and yanked, pulling him forward as he fist shot forward directly into his exposed throat. He made a loud squelching noise as he dropped his weapon and reached up for his neck, attempting to gasp in air that would never come. Turning to the other, Shepard saw the gun go off. And even with the slow movement of the attacker, the round flew far too fast for her to dodge. Instead, it slammed into her shield and bounced off as she lunged forward. Grabbing his gun arm, she hooked her other between the human's legs and lifted him up bodily before brutally slamming him down directly onto his head, causing both of her crew to stop at the loud crunch that sounded.

Releasing the now crumpled form, she stared down at them with anger burning in her eyes. "What the hell was that?" asked Jacob in surprise. But he stopped in his tracks as she looked up at him. "Holy shit…"

Ignoring his awe at her grimly glowing eyes, she turned towards the slumped form against walked to his side. She could still hear him growling as he clenched the wound in his gut. "D-Damn humans… First you infect us with this virus, now you come to finish the job?" he grumbled as he gripped his pistol, barely able to lift it.

Kneeling down, she reached up and pulled her helmet free. Staring at the wound, she could tell from the amount of blood and the location on the batarian's body that it hadn't hit anything important. "Are you alright?"

"Get the hell away from me you near-sighted skash!" he snapped as he tried to lift the weapon at her.

She knocked the weapon away with ease before glaring into two of his four eyes. "Lenak!"

He seemed stunned into silence for a long moment. She wasn't immediately sure if it was because of the glow in her own mesmerizing him or if her use of one of the batarian languages shocked him. But she wouldn't have long to wonder. "You speak… Kar'Toka?"

"I speak enough. Now, I need information, and you need medigel. Are you going to cooperate, or should I go find someone else and let you bleed to death?" she snapped back at him as she held up a small medigel applicator.

He looked from her eyes to the tube, then back to her eyes again. "P-Please… the medigel…"

Nodding, she tore open the suit around the entry wound before snapping off the lid and applying the gel. As the numbness began to set in, she saw his posture begin to relax. After dressing the exit wound, she pulled out another and pressed it into his hand. "Here. Take this in case something else happens."

The man looked down at the gift before looking back up at her. "Why… why would you do this for me?"

"I told you, I need information," she said sternly before standing back to her full height. "A moment ago, you said humans spread this disease. Why?"

He snorted in disdain. "It doesn't affect humans. It kills everything else. How could it not have been a human?"

She thought about it for a long moment before nodding. "I guess it does look pretty bad for us. With a near perfect mortality rate it's too strong to be a naturally occurring virus, especially cross species."

"The only other species it doesn't kill are vorcha, who are immune to all disease. A human virus wouldn't kill a vorcha, but why would a vorcha virus not kill humans?" he said with a sigh of relief as the second dose of numbness kicked in.

"I don't care who started it. I'm going to make sure it ends," she said firmly, getting an almost awed look from him.

"Your words… sound sincere." He let out a horrific cough before looking back up to her. "I've been sick for a day now. I did well to hide it from them. So, I have nothing to lose from helping you."

"I heard Mordin Solus is working on a cure already. Do you know where I can find him?" she asked, her tone less severe than before.

The batarian almost cringed at the name. "The mad doctor. He's dangerous. More likely to kill you than help you."

She tilted her head respectfully. "In risk versus reward, is he not worth the risk as opposed to dying to disease?"

"It's hard to tell with him," said the man as he wiped blood from his hand onto his pantleg. "A week after the outbreak, people began to quickly notice the lack of effect it had on humans. Solus set up a clinic and many humans volunteered to clear their names. After the Blue Suns left, Rogue Squad took over most of the areas in Gozu District and their first attempted act of dominance was to force the humans out of the clinic and execute them."

Jacob stepped in to ask a question. "Wait, but Rogue Squad has humans in it," he said motioning to the bodies nearby.

"Yes, but those humans were vouched for by Varnak Mar, the leader," said the batarian as he stifled another cough.

"Convenient…" growled Miranda as she placed a hand on her armored hips.

"The convenience didn't last. Mordin stunned them all with some kind of neural toxin from his gun. Had one made for each species. Even the krogan leader could barely move as he set the machines on them without blinking. I've rarely seen such coldness in killing," said the man as he shook his head. "I am… was… a member of Rogue Squad. I figured he'd annihilate me the moment I stepped inside the clinic."

Shepard looked him up and down. "Can you walk?"

The batarian stared at her for a moment before getting to his feet. "Barely. I can if I go slow."

"We're headed to the clinic now. We'll get you inside safely so you can get the cure if he has one to offer," she said before sliding her helmet back into place and sealing it.

CODEX ENTRIES

BNM | Medical | Biotics
An acronym that stands for Biotic Neural Map. Once an individual has been discovered to have biotic potential, a medical scan is given that maps out the entirety of their body. This map points out all of the location of every biotic node in a person's nervous system, allowing doctors and biotics experts to gauge the biotic potential of their patient. These maps are used to create amplifiers that increase and amplify the effectiveness of their biotics, or dampen them if they become hazardous to the individual.

HUD | Technology | Military
An acronym short for Heads-Up Display. Usable in any omni-tool linked armor, the heads-up display is a computerized projection of all data the wearer needs to know on a constant basis. The data shown on the helmet can be set by the user and can encompass anything from the battery life of the armor, heat sink reserves, or identify friend or foe markers that make it easy to tell people apart on the battlefield.

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.

Skash | Derogatory Linguistics | Kar'Salk
A rudimentary insult towards women in batarians society. Without any easy way to translate, it simply refers to batarian women who cheat on their husbands and close their eyes during copulation as a simple gesture of if the act wasn't seen, it didn't happen.

Lenak | Linguistics | Kar'Toka
Spoken in the authoritative language of Kar'Toka, it means simply "Enough of your nonsense."

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

Gozu District – Sector 7 – Omega Station

“Does anyone mind if I bring up the elephant in the room?” asked Miranda into her communicator, her voice silent to the world outside of the squad.

“What’s up?” asked Shepard as they moved their way forward through the district.

“Why do we have a potential threat shadowing our position all the way to the clinic?” she asked in annoyance. It was bad enough they had to slow themselves down so that the batarian could keep pace. But she also couldn’t wrap her head around the hypocrisy of killing two gang members and then pledging to save the third. They had no reason to believe he wouldn’t try and shoot them the next chance he got once they were near the clinic.

“You’re wondering why we’re taking him to the clinic?” asked the spectre without even giving her an acknowledging sideye.

“I’m wondering why you brutally killed two gang members and then decided to chain the third to us on a life-threatening mission,” responded the operative as she folded her arms over her armored chest. “It’s one thing to leave a half-dead batarian behind once we had the information we needed, but this? It’s hindering our goal and a potential threat to us personally.”

The woman’s entire personality seemed so outrageous and contradictory. She was one of the deadliest humans in the galaxy, known for feats that would inspire fantasy and scifi authors for generations, yet she was so soft in her core it made the XO want to puke. The way she immediately melted the moment one of her former crew arrived, the way she handled the quarian tech like a porcelain doll. How someone could balance being viewed as the number one threat by Cerberus while being so weak was mindboggling.

“You ever have much experience with poverty, Lawson?” asked Shepard, her question snapping the woman out of her inner brooding.

Looking at the spectre in confusion, Miranda shrugged. “Not as much as most I presume. In my long list of problems, money was never one of them. Why?”

“When Garrus was explaining Rogue Squad, I noticed that he mentioned them absorbing a lot of the rejects from other gangs. Uncontrollable violence, assaulting higher ups, and so on. But one thing I noticed was that he mentioned that they picked up addicts,” she said solemnly. “Those on the barricade, the two I killed out back, they all had armor and weapons you’d expect to find on mercenaries. He had an engineering jumpsuit and a pistol older than I am.”

“You think he’s one of the addicts they scavenged?” asked Jacob curiously as he kept his weapon down, but ready.

“He is. I’ve seen batarian addicts. You can see it in their eyes. Batarians aren’t usually red sand users. Instead, they typically take balsanat, a plant farmed from Camala that acts as a painkiller to batarian biology. After extended use, residue begins to cloud their eyes” said the spectre as she tapped the transparent visor on her helmet. “I don’t know his story. He could be a terrible person at heart. But one thing I know for sure is that he doesn’t deserve death for being forced into a bad situation.”

“Drug abusers weren’t forced to take drugs. If they didn’t want to end up at the receiving end of a gun in a backwater gang, they shouldn’t have done them to begin with,” said Miranda in annoyance. Suddenly, she felt a small chill down her back as Shepard stopped and turned to her, those pale blue-green eyes staring at her through the visor.

“Tell me Miranda, have you ever been in a situation where you were forced to make a choice that could ruin your life?” asked the spectre.

The XO’s eyes widened slightly. The seemingly mundane question hit a thousand times harder coming from someone known the galaxy wide for her access to information. She began wondering if this was some kind of test, or if it was a legitimate question. Whether she knew or not, it was none of her damn business. “We’re not nearly close enough for you to be asking me questions like that,” snapped the woman.

With a small smirk beneath her visor, Shepard shrugged and turned again to start walking. “Well, Lawson, you said yourself you’ve never had to suffer through poverty. So, it’s probably best if you stop judging people for circumstances you’ve never had to live.”

Snorting angrily, Miranda turned to see the batarian limping behind them a ways back. Turning to the front once more, she saw the sign for the clinic ahead and sighed to herself. “Finally.”

Gozu Medical Clinic – Gozu District – Omega Station

She wasn’t sure if her eye was twitching due to the new implants or due to Miranda’s casual disregard of life, but she found she was more than happy to see the clinic only seconds away. As she approached the clinic, she saw a window with two humans standing behind a pane of glass so thick she was sure it was reinforced. Both of them wore facemasks as they worked tirelessly on their datapads.

One of them looked up from their work to see the newcomers, and the young woman immediately began to back away from the window. Shepard immediately raised her hands into the air to show she wasn’t holding her weapon. “Jacob, go help him get up here quicker. I’ll handle these two.” Stowing his weapon away, the soldier turned and dashed back towards their ward as the spectre approached the glass slowly. Reaching down, she pushed the intercom button. “I’m Spectre Jane Shepard. I’m not here to cause trouble.”

The young woman stepped over to the intercom and hit the button on her side as well. “I certainly hope not if you wish to get out of the clinic alive,” she said menacingly. “What do you need?”

“Two things,” said Jane as she held up two armored fingers. “I have a batarian here who was shot and is currently suffering from the epidemic. He’s stable and walking,” she said as she pointed behind her with her thumb. “But he really needs help.”

Nodding, the young woman’s partner pointed to the door. “We have a few openings. He’ll be seen as soon as we’re able.”

“And the other thing?” asked the nurse curiously.

“We want to help however we can. I came to see Mordin Solus, but I understand he’s working fervently at the moment. So, I’d like to help make his job easier so this situation gets solved faster,” she responded as she finally lowered her arms.

“One moment,” replied the young woman as she got on her comm. Within seconds, she hit the button again. “The doctor says he’ll see you.”

Shepard cocked an eyebrow curiously. “That was quick…”

“You’ll get used to it,” said the tired looking woman as she hit the button to open the door to the clinic.

As Jacob helped the batarian inside with one arm over his shoulder, Shepard stepped in after them and her eyes widened as she saw two YMIR class mechs standing on either side, each with pieces of armor stuck to their chassis. They no doubt belonged to former members of the Rogue Squad and served as a warning to others. After Jacob finally sat the man down in the waiting area made of distanced and sealed cubicles, she rallied the three and followed the pointing fingers towards the back of the clinic, ignoring the feeling that she was being watched.

In mere moments, she heard the high-pitched chattering of a salarian talking to themself. As she stepped into the doorway of the back room, she finally saw the notorious salarian scientist that had Gozu District’s fear and respect. He was pacing and muttering to himself. “Malanarin perhaps? Almost as good. Causes cramping in batarians. Supplement with butemerol.”

“Batarians are actually allergic to butemerol, doctor,” said Shepard as she stepped inside and took her helmet off.

Looking over at her with his large eyes, he inhaled sharply. “Spectre Shepard. Did years of work with batarians. Expert in methods of healing and no doubt killing them.”

“That’s me…” said Shepard as she eyed the doctor up and down. He wore a coat seen on many doctors back on the Citadel, but this one had what looked like a halo built into the collar that circled around the back of his head. She also noted that one of the horns on his head was missing. “If you’re looking for a relief for cramps in batarians, you want naproxen sodium. It’s a human medication that does the same and it translates over well to their biology.”

“Excellent!” said the man as he rapidly tapped away at his datapad. “Batarian last species that needed cure. Finally finished with all species.”

“Wait… You’re already done with the cure?” asked Jane in surprise.

“Of course. Every species needs different cure to fit biology. Even did one for hanar and volus in my head, though not necessary to synthesize. None live in Gozu District. Mostly just for fun,” he said before looking her up and down. “Interesting to find Spectre here. Gozu District still locked down by Aria’s men. Wouldn’t send Spectre in to create cure, likely no experience in epidemiology. Perhaps to take care of gang problem? Unlikely.”

Shepard’s eyebrows rose slightly as she began realizing the truth to the woman’s words up front. “Doctor…”

“Too useful to waste on ragtag gang like Rogue Squad. Perhaps came of own volition?” he continued for a long moment before finally turning to her, one of his eyes narrowing as a sign of salarian curiosity. “Came to Omega, came to Gozu District, came to clinic. Here for me then?”

“Yes,” she said as she started to wonder if she could use her implants to slow down his chattering. “I’m here to ask for your help.”

“Humans immune to cure. Unlikely to need cure for disease. Perhaps other medical condition…” he began but she immediately raised her hands and cut him off.

“I need your help with the collectors,” she said firmly.

“Collectors. Attacks on human colonies rose rapidly over last year. Almost focusing exclusively on human colonies. Very odd behavioral deviation,” he said, but then stopped himself. “Irrelevant. Can’t right now. Need to find dispersal method for cure in district.”

“Can’t you let the clinic handle that?” asked Miranda from behind Shepard.

Letting out a small snort, both eyes narrowed this time. “Pish tosh. People in district too afraid to approach clinic. Those brave enough already have. Need to find a way to disperse cure amongst people of district. Also…” he said, surprising Shepard by taking a moment before speaking. “Need to find assistant. Daniel Ray Tucker. Odd name, very bright, too compassionate.”

“What happened to him?” asked Shepard as the doctor shoved a capsule into a nebulizer. The salarian walked out into the hall with the three behind him.

“Feared we weren’t getting cure out fast enough. Thought we could save more people by taking it out ourselves. Told him stupid idea. Too many vorcha. Rogue Squad still running loose. Could get killed.” Then he inhaled sharply. “Did anyway.”

Nodding, Shepard gave him a pleasant smile. “Then that’s what I can do for you. I’ll find Daniel, you work on a plan for dispersal, and when we’re both done, you come with me?”

“Solid plan. Hope he’s still alive to find,” said the man as he opened the drawer to the batarian addict’s cubicle and slid the nebulizer inside. “Hold button and breath in.” The batarian looked surprised for a moment before placing the small mask over his mouth and nose, then began breathing in the vapor.

“Any idea where he went?” asked Shepard as she slid her helmet over her head.

“I do,” came a voice behind the three of them. They all turned to see a man leaning against one of the YMIR mechs near the entrance. His armor was a mix of black, yellow, and white, looking as if it was recently on the business end of a Mako’s autocannons. Without a helmet on, Shepard could see the look of a worn man similar to her father’s stature the likes of which the years had not been kind to. His dark greying hair was slicked back on his head, showing a pair of heterochromatic eyes that told her he was no nonsense.

“And you are?” asked Miranda as she crossed her arms.

“Name’s Massani,” he said, not taking his eyes off Shepard to even acknowledge the operative who asked the question.

Miranda glared back at him. “Amazing how that didn’t answer my question at all…”

“Zaeed ‘The Zombie’ Massani,” said Shepard as she finally put his name to his face. She’d heard of his reputation as a mercenary and former member of the Blue Suns mercenary group. But she also knew what many didn’t, that he was frequently a member of suicide squads; groups involved in impossible missions that expect a 100% mortality rate. Yet somehow, he had survived them. Sometimes other members of the group lived as well, but it was practically expected of him to come out unscathed. He was believed to be unkillable.

“I’m flattered the first human spectre would know about little ol’ me,” said the man, he face a mask of unflinching stone.

“I’m inclined to ask why you’re here, but right now I need to know how you have information on the doctor’s assistant,” asked the spectre as she stepped up to him.

“Saw him on my way here carryin’ one of those doctor bags the salarian has in the back,” said the mercenary as he nodded towards Doctor Solus. “I had to save him from a couple of looters who thought he looked like an easy target.”

“Where was he headed?” asked Shepard urgently.

“You and I need to have a word before we get to that,” said the man menacingly as he turned and walked out of the clinic’s front door.

Shepard growled to herself before waving to the others. “Wait here a moment,” she ordered before following him out. When she arrived outside, he was waiting and leaning up against the wall. “I’m sure you and every mercenary in the Terminus Systems has something to say to me Massani. Can this wait until after we find the kid?”

“Not when I’m the one with the information,” he said sharply, earning him a glare from her. “We can go back and forth a few more times negotiatin’ if you like.”

“Just… what is it?” she asked, making no effort to hide her annoyance.

“I’ll make it quick,” he said standing up straight. “I need your help.”

She was immediately taken aback at his statement. “Help? With what?”

“For the last two years I’ve been taking out lower class Blue Suns commanders and using the information I get off their corpses to piece together the location of the big boss, Vido Santiago. Tarak, the lieutenant here on Omega was supposedly one of the few who kept direct contact with him. But it turns out you crushed him like a goddamn grape before I got the chance to squeeze the information I need out of the bastard,” he said nonchalantly.

“So, what? You think I owe you?” asked the spectre as her brows furrowed.

“Nothin’ like that. Shit happens,” he said with a shrug. “But I also know your reputation from the Alliance as an intel specialist. I thought perhaps you and I could make a deal. Help me find and kill the bastard, and I’ll help you on your mission with the Collectors.”

Raising an eyebrow curiously, she crossed her own arms. “And how, pray tell, did you know about the Collectors?”

“A mutual friend here on Omega told me what happened to Tarak, and thought I’d be the perfect candidate to help you out,” he said with a knowing smirk. She let out a slow breath as Hermes’ face popped into her head. “He was under the impression we could help each other.”

She eyed him for a long moment. She had a not so pleasant history with mercenaries. But she also knew that they hadn’t all been terrible. Looking at him again, she could almost see his resemblance to a menacing krogan she had allowed on the original Normandy. “Fine. You help me with the Collectors, I help you with finding Vido. But one thing you should understand is that on my ship, you follow my orders. You’re not running and gunning under my watch.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever ya like, Shepard,” he said with an icy smirk. “Help me find Vido and I’ll even juggle for ya if you like,” he said sarcastically as he held out his hand. Shepard eyed him for a long moment before letting out a sigh. Finally, she reached forward and gripped his hand back.

“We’ll work out the terms of finding Santiago on the ship. In the meantime, take me to where you last saw Daniel so we can work out where he was heading,” she ordered as she signaled the others over her omni-tool.

“No need. He told me he was heading into Talon territory to try and give them some of the cure. Told ‘im he was a right git to be heading into gang territory during a land war,” said the man as he took his own helmet and secured it over his head.

“Well…” she said as the Cerberus crew exited the clinic. “Let’s just hope they’re less trigger happy than Rogue Squad.”

Taloron Market – Gozu District – Omega Station

The four of them had moved quickly through the streets of the battle-worn district and finally made it into the borders of Talon territory. Slipping her weapon away, Shepard held up her hands as a sign of surrender and continued walking through the streets of the ghost town marketplace. As she predicted, it wasn’t long before someone stepped from the shadows with their weapon raised.

They were a turian. She couldn’t get her eyes on any clan paint due to the breathing mask they had covering the entire lower half of their face. “What the hell is a spectre doing here?” asked the figure as two more approached behind them. She ordered the others to stay outside of the markets just in case something went wrong, leaving her here to negotiate alone.

“You know I’m a spectre?” asked Shepard as she kept her hands high.

“Shut up,” ordered the turian as he turned on his comm. Looking up at his armor, she could see the Talons’ logo lasered into its surface on the collar. “Tell the captain that Yuke was right. She’s here in the flesh and surrendering herself.” Her eyebrow cocked as she eyed the man. “Yeah… alright.” Sounding more annoyed than angry, he pointed deeper into the markets. “Alright Spooky, let’s go.”

“Spooky?” she asked as she followed his lead. “Wait, who was right about me?”

“Look, you can ask the captain all the questions you want. I’m not saying anything,” he said as he led her inside what looked like a storage warehouse. When she was inside, she immediately saw where the market’s people had gone. Many were laid out on cots, coughing and heaving with barely functioning medical equipment nearby. Some were on ancient ventilators to help them breathe as many people, even some wearing the Talons’ insignia were rushing around helping medical workers and applying their own skills to ease the situation.

She was forced to walk past many dying people from many worlds, weaving around different mats and beds and dodging workers that scurried by. Finally, she stood in front of what looked like a wall of gang members. Some armored, some wearing minimal clothing, some looked as if they were still being treated for symptoms. But all of them were armed to the teeth. And directly in the middle sat one who wore a hood over their head, as well as a breather mask.

“You’re about the last person I expected to see here,” said the woman who sat in a turian style chair.

“Funny. Because the way he worded it,” started Shepard as she nodded towards her escort. “It sounded like you were expecting me.” Looking over them all, they looked to be strong at one time. But the plague had hit them especially hard. They appeared to be barely holding together at the moment, which might explain their absence from the turf wars outside. “You the captain?”

“As of today, yes,” came their voice again. “I’m a very busy woman, Spectre. If you wouldn’t mind getting down to business…”

Nodding, Jane lowered her hands. “I’m looking for a human man, dark hair, he was carrying a medical bag, and goes by Daniel.” Almost immediately, she noticed the numerous looks between many of the gang members.

“We may know of him. Why?” asked the captain.

“Mordin Solus synthesized a cure for the plague. Daniel, his assistant, took a medical bag with several bottles of the cure and brought it here to bargain with you all,” she said, getting even more shocked expressions. Even the captain sat up straight in her seat.

Turning to the one who escorted her, the turian captain snapped. “Derius said the kid was spreading the disease!”

The taller turian simply shrugged. “Eh, to be honest we just knocked the kid out before he said much of anything. Unlike Spooky over here, he didn’t have his hands up and was carrying a pistol. Derius threw him into a cell cuz he was carrying that bag with the bottles. He planned to make an example of him before the plague knocked him off his feet.”

In a blatant sign of frustration, the captain lifted her palms up as if she were about to grab her head for a long moment before dropping them. “Bring the kid here and get his medical bag.”

As the escort did as he was bid, Shepard turned back to her. “Working with idiots?”

“Constantly,” growled the turian woman.

“Mind if I ask how you knew I was here?” she inquired as she crossed her arms.

“I don’t make a habit of exposing my contacts. With that stated, they said you knew them very well,” responded the woman knowingly.

Once again, Spider’s cocky smirk appeared in her head. “Oh my god…” she groaned in both appreciation and annoyance. “In any case, Daniel said he was bringing you all the cure and was hoping you could distribute it throughout the district to help the clinic.”

“Bold of him to expect this leadership to do anything helpful for anyone,” mumbled the turian. “Luckily for the Gozu District, that raging cloaca is down with the plague, and I have charge for the next few days.”

“Glad to hear it. Most people are too afraid to come anywhere near the clinic,” said Shepard with a heavy sigh.

“A few of our boys were threatened away with their mechs. So, no surprise really,” said the captain making a circular motion with her hand.

“Did you all try, oh, I don’t know, not wearing armor and brandishing weapons?” asked the spectre curiously.

Looking away for a moment as if deep in thought, the captain turned back to her. “Were Rogue Squad causing them trouble?”

“Those mechs killed a good number of them over the last few days for threatening to kill all the humans in the clinic,” said Shepard with a smirk that only caused the woman to groan and sink deeper into her chair.

“Idiots…” she growled menacingly.

Moments later, a struggling young human was dragged in front of her. The bag was tossed to the captain as Shepard leaned down and took the gag out of his mouth. “Please! You must listen to m-“ he started, but Shepard silenced him with a finger over his lips.

“We know, Daniel. Calm down,” she said, getting a look of confusion from him.

Looking up to the captain again, she saw her taking bottles out of the bag. “This one says asari, batarian, salarian, turian…” she said as she began handing them to the medical workers who started approaching. “Start getting these out to the people. Start with doctors and nurses, then do a few of my men so they can go to the clinic and get more.”

Many of the armed individuals around her looked at her worriedly, but the turian from before is the one who spoke up. “You’re gonna make us go back there?”

“The kid will call ahead and alert them you’re coming. You’re going to get as much of this stuff as they can give and we’re going to start setting up medical tents throughout the district to get it out to more people,” she ordered as she stood up and allowed one of the medics to immediately pump the cure into her arm with an injection.

“Uh… captain,” started the escort. “I don’t think Derius would be very happy with you passing this stuff out for free.”

Turning her head, she fixed him with a deadly glare through her predatory eyes. “That’s why he’s getting it last. And if he doesn’t like what I did, he can tell me to my face.” Then her eyes softened slightly as they turned back to the spectre. “Besides, I doubt our benefactor here would allow us to start charging premium prices for a cure we got for free. If you don’t like it, feel free to deal with her yourself.”

Shepard turned to the turian man who looked at her then shook his head. “Good choice.” Turning back to the captain one last time, Shepard stepped in close. “Quick question. I’ve heard from many, Doctor Solus included, that this disease had to be synthesized.”

“That appears to be the case, yes,” said the captain as she shook her arm to ward off the pain from the shot. “Probably why Derius thought the kid was doing it. Running around with medical vials during an epidemic is pretty suspect.”

“They said it started showing up one day and then spread almost instantly throughout the population,” continued Shepard.

The turian woman stopped her walking and turned to the spectre. “What are you getting at, Shepard?”

“Even airborne diseases need time to spread that quickly if released through a patient zero style scenario. But if someone were to get into the environmental controls of the district…” she said but stopped elaborating as the captain grabbed her by the collar.

“Follow me,” she ordered hastily.

Sector 7 Environmental Control – Gozu District – Omega Station

“The Talons captain gave me access to their security feeds. They cover a pretty wide area, including the environmental controls building,” said Shepard as she and the others stormed through the streets.

Zaeed, who looked to be a heavy armor type of person, somehow kept pace with them the entire way. “So, they saw whatever rat bastard released this plague?”

“The goddamn vorcha,” snapped Shepard. Almost as soon as the words escaped her mouth, gunfire rained down at them from near the building.

Jacob slipped into cover before asking his own question. “Why would the vorcha unleash a plague that kills everything except for humans on Omega?”

Miranda reached out with her biotics and sent one of the vicious little figures screaming as she warped its head inside their helmet. “We can figure that out after we get inside!”

Without anyone’s permission, Zaeed charged headlong into the gunfire, stopping only to pull a large weapon from his back and fire it upwards. Shepard’s ears twitched at the unusual sound and looked up to watch an orb-like device fall towards the ground. As soon as it hit, a fireball appeared and blasted away the vorcha defenses, as well as the doors to the building itself. Shepard snorted, knowing that using heavy weapons explosives on a space station was risky. But after her stunt in the Archangel base, she couldn’t really say much.

Instead, she moved forward and felt the world around her begin to drag once more. Her pupils dilated slightly and she felt warmth rush through her body as pings of gunfire flew through the now blasted open door. “Lawson, Taylor, back us up. We’re going in hard!” shouted Shepard over her comm.

“Now we’re talkin’!” shouted Zaeed as he slid his launcher away and pulled out a pair of battle rifles that locked to his arms. “You lot are mad as a bag of ferrets if you think you’re gonna hold off Massani and Shepard together,” he shouted, practically cackling as he began firing into the fray.

The platform in front of them lead straight to the environmental control room itself and multiple paths on either side lead to venting rooms. “We’re clearing the middle, then split up and clear the venting rooms! If there’s any evidence they started the plague, I want it found before they destroy it!”

With no regard to his own safety, the mercenary barreled onto the main platform, his heavy shielding taking the brunt of the shots for him. Her hearing piqued again as she heard the sound of two rockets being fired from cover. “Massani! Watch your back!” she shouted as she dove over cover with her pistol drawn. As soon as the projectile blasted into it, she activated her cloak and pulled her rifle free.

Zaeed jumped one of the turned over desks like a hurdle, leaving the slower moving rockets to explode behind him as he fired full force into the doorway to the control room, his shots not even aimed at the entrance. Vorcha squealed in pain and gurgled a death knell as his rounds smashed into the wall on either side of the door, puncturing the cheaper prefab material and slaying the shieldless saboteurs.

With her scope zeroed in, she waited for one of the heavy weapons carriers to show themselves again before relieving them of their brain matter. Her cloaking faded as she spun to the other. Jacob grabbed the desk that Zaeed had leapt over with his biotics and sent it flying down one of the walkways to the vents, its sturdy surface crashing into a wave of the small invaders that rushed out to help. “Damn!” shouted Jacob as he raised his weapon and began firing. “Shepard! We’ve got krogan!”

As her second shot took down the second rocketeer, the spectre slid her long-range rifle away and drew her pistol again. Turning, she saw that the desk he had thrown had essentially cracked in half over the massive krogan’s head and he was now charging straight for their position, and to add to the chaos another was coming up the walkway behind him.

“Dammit!” shouted Jane as she sprinted forward. The feeling in her muscles felt like a coiled spring ready to shoot into the stratosphere. They almost ached as if she hadn’t used them in a while. “Lawson, take one!”

After gunning down two sneaky vorcha that tried to flank them, the operative hit the first with her biotics and lifted him from the ground. Jacob hit the helpless krogan with biotics of his own, causing an explosion that sent the screaming figure crashing back down the walkway and into a crowd of vorcha.

The spectre raised her gun and fired directly into the visor of the second krogan, startling him and causing his shots to spread wide. Leaping into the air, Shepard raised her hand and gripped the krogan’s gun before her knee shot forward and directly into its helmet. The visor shattered and the towering figure toppled backwards as she pushed forward and fired one of her explosives directly into the broken visor before rolling off of him and back onto her feet with her pistol up once more.

She aimed her weapon and took out two more surviving vorcha down the walkway before finally detonating her explosive and cratering the krogan’s head inside the helmet and sending his orange blood flying. Letting out a heavy breath, Shepard moved to put her weapon away, but instead snapped the pistol at a figure exiting the environmental control office.

It was another krogan, and they had fallen face first onto the metal floor, their hands scrambling to get ahold of something, anything. “No! No!” shouted the krogan as Zaeed walked out of the door with a massive military-grade bowie knife.

“I love it when these gormless twits underestimate me. The surprise in their eyes when this creaky old bastard puts them on their arse never gets old,” he said before slamming a boot into the krogan’s back, then sinking the knife up to the hilt under the hump into the back of their neck. “Gotta be careful with these big bastards. You don’t sever the spine correctly and suddenly they’re getting up and trying to bite your entire face off through sheer blood rage,” he said as he twisted the blade sharply.

“Ugh…” groaned Miranda who shook her head and turned away.

Jacob shook his head as well. “Well, this has been… educational.”

Ignoring the others, Shepard made her way into the vent rooms and scanned the area briefly before she found what she was looking for. Dozens of aerosol cannisters thrown into a large trash bin in the corner. Reaching over, she picked one of them up and eyed them curiously. “No…” she said as her brows furrowed.

“What is it?” asked Miranda as she stepped into the doorway.

Shepard immediately activated her omni-tool and began breaking into any that were on the corpses around her. Most of them were unused. Vorcha were typically a simple species who liked simple tools like guns and blades. But on occasion one would get sick of the simple life and learn to read galactic, made harder by their short lifespan. And as she suspected, she found one with a message in it that was written in galactic with traces of batarian dialect.

Balak’s face flashed in her mind as her scowl grew. She didn’t know if he actually had a hand in this madness, but it had all the makings of one of his schemes. “Batarian extremists.”

“Batarians?” asked Jacob as he entered as well. “But… why? Wouldn’t they want humans killed primarily?”

Going over the information in her head, Shepard shrugged. “Not if you want to send a message. It’s relatively easy to kill humans. But if you release a plague in a small area of a station like Omega, and the news spreads that humans are immune, it starts to look like humans are trying to take over.”

“Bloody maggot didn’t want to kill them himself. He wanted to start a war against humans,” said Zaeed as he walked in cleaning the orange blood from his knife.

“That’s what it looks like,” said Shepard as she placed her hands on her hips and stared at the ground. “Am I ever going to get away from these assholes?”

“Not likely. Persistent bastards if you ask me,” commented Zaeed as he turned away from them and left the room. “Going to get my guns. Meet you back at the clinic.”

Gozu Medical Clinic – Gozu District – Omega Station

It took almost the entire trip back to the clinic before Shepard realized she had been shot in the charge through the environmental building. She felt the dull pain in her arm start as the adrenaline wore off and her vision cleared. Lifting her left arm, she saw the puncture wound and sighed. She could almost feel the medigel coursing its way through the nanofibers inside her. “Hell.”

“We might need to get you thicker armor,” said Miranda as they opened the front door of the clinic.

Three members of the Talons now stepped out of the entrance with packs on their back now full of the cure for the rampant plague. “My armor is supposed to be light for stealth. If I make it any thicker or heavier, it’ll nullify a lot of the benefits of being able to cloak.”

Miranda shrugged lightly. “You now have biotics and enhanced combat abilities that may outweigh stealth benefits. But there’s no reason we can’t get you both. Use what fits for the mission.”

“I… guess,” said Shepard, feeling surprisingly uncomfortable with the idea of having two full sets of armor just for herself. As they walked through the clinic, most of the people there for the cure had left by now and instead it was full of Talon members stocking up supplies and working to help clear the sector of the plague.

Shepard entered the back again and saw the captain herself standing with Daniel and Mordin. All three of them looked in her direction. “Welcome, Shepard! Good to see you in one piece. Heard you went after vorcha. Always found them a bit… bitey,” said the doctor as he approached. “Daniel returned, brought Talons captain, deal was made.”

“Good to hear,” said Shepard as she groaned and held up her visibly injured arm. “Mind if I get a patch for this?”

Daniel immediately rushed to a nearby triage kit and pulled out a suture kit. As he walked over, Shepard removed the armored piece that had been hit and looked up to the other two. “So, you two worked something out?”

The captain nodded under her hood. “We’ll disperse the cure around the sector and Daniel will take over the clinic, keeping a stock here for any stray cases that we miss.”

Shepard eyed her curiously. “You’re being awfully helpful. You sure Derius isn’t going to be too up your ass for it?”

“He’ll forget all about it given how busy we’re going to be lately,” said the captain, a smile hiding behind those sharp eyes. “You may not have done it intentionally, Shepard. But you’ve potentially given the Talons Omega. After your stunt at the Archangel base taking out the Gowthra, killing the Blue Suns lieutenant, and crushing the Eclipse leader to death, you’ve put those mercenary groups on the back burner. On top of that, taking out a sizable portion of the Rogue Squad.”

Shepard sighed to herself. “And I imagine your perceived altruism through spreading the cure has got people lining up outside of your doors.”

“Very perceptive of you, Spectre,” said the turian woman. “Omega has just seen a massive power shift. So, to answer your question, no. I don’t believe Derius will be too upset over losing some profits he might have gotten from selling the cure.”

“Just do me a favor,” said Shepard as Daniel dug the round out of her would and slapped a patch on top of it. “If you ever decide to clash with Aria, leave me out of it.”

Tilting her head, the captain eyed Shepard. “You have something going on?”

“Not particularly. I’ve got what I needed from her for now, and if I need something in the future and you guys take over, I’m sure my good will can afford me some courtesy. Just don’t bring my name up,” said the woman, then pointed at her. “Oh, and spare Hermes.”

“I doubt we’ll ever try to go to war with Aria. We have everything we need here on the streets. But I’ll keep that in mind,” said the captain as she walked past and patted Shepard on her armored shoulder.

Finally, Shepard looked up to Mordin. “Doctor Solus, are you ready?”

“Ready. Though few questions before we go,” he started, getting a nod from her. “Why is a spectre working with Cerberus?”

“I find myself asking that question as well,” came the familiar British accent of Zaeed.

“That makes three of us,” said Shepard as she stood up and flexed her arm gently. “I have reason to believe the collectors are connected to the reapers.”

“Reapers. Galactic Armageddon theory. Connected to Saren’s ship from two years ago,” said Mordin as he began rambling again. “Reapers powerful enough entity to control collectors if exist. If true, collectors not just harvesting humans to do reapers work, but working to bring reapers back.”

“Saren’s ship? You mean that big goddamn eyesore that exploded near the Citadel?” asked Zaeed as he stopped leaning against the wall and uncrossed his arms, a sign he was dead serious in the conversation now. “You mean there’s more of those damn things out there?”

“Lots more. Thousands maybe,” said Shepard as she reached up and gently rubbed her forehead. “That’s what you’re getting into by joining me.” Then she looked up to Mordin. “What you’re not getting into, however, is Cerberus. Despite his best efforts, the Normandy is my ship, the crew is my crew, and Cerberus has no say on how I do things. I’m using them for their resources and knowledge.”

“Illusive Man unlikely to seek assistance from other species, left that job to you,” said the doctor as he paced gently back and forth. Finally, he stopped and smiled at Jane. “Record speaks for itself, Spectre. Will work for you. Advise against giving too much freedom to crew loyal to Cerberus, however.”

Shepard smiled, then turned to Zaeed. “And you? You still want in on this?”

The hardened man’s gaze narrowed. “If you’re not takin’ the piss about Santiago, then I’m in. Help me, I’ll fight as many of those bastards as you like. Preferably AFTER we take down Vido so I’m alive to see it.”

“Deal,” said Shepard, then turned to Mordin. “Deal. I’m going back to my ship to get complained at by my doctor. In the meantime, talk to Operative Lawson about where you’ll be stationed on the ship and bed arrangements.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

Comm Room – SSV Normandy SR2

The operative let out a heavy sigh as the projectors for the quantum entanglement communicator began to build the room she had seen many times before. The dark tiles of the floor mirroring the ceiling, the massive star projected onto the screens of the back wall, and the imposing sight of the Illusive Man’s seat right in the middle. And there he sat with those dimly glowing eyes staring at her from his eternal throne.

“Lawson. Do you have an update for me?” asked the intimidating man.

“Quite a bit actually,” she responded, her voice shifting between frustration and anger. “As you can probably tell, she’s been classifying my reports herself and redacting a number of important details before allowing them to be sent off. And even when I try to encrypt the files I send you, she somehow manages to peel the encryption away like a damn banana peel and redacts the files anyway. It’s like she’s toying with me by letting me send reports at all!”

Nodding somberly, the Illusive Man did as he usually did during these conversations and lit himself a cigarette. She personally found the habit disgusting, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. “Shepard has trust issues…”

“But she doesn’t. She trusted a batarian addict on Omega more than she trusts either of us,” growled the woman as she flexed her fingers like she wanted to strangle someone.

“Shepard is an anomaly for a reason. In the millions of potential cycles of extinction from the Reapers, I doubt there’s been even a handful of individuals capable of destroying one of them,” said the man as he leaned forward in his chair. “People like Shepard are born all the time, but they almost never live up to their true potential. We were lucky in this cycle to have found her. She had the right drive, the right history, the right training, and the right position to be able to do the impossible and kill a Reaper.”

Miranda wanted to roll her eyes, but she knew better than to do so at him. “I know she’s good at her job. In fact…” she said, practically spitting the next few words out. “She’s incredible at it. I’ve seen her in action, and I doubt many would have been up to the task of dealing with Aria and those gangs in the way she did.”

He nodded solemnly again. “I understand it’s frustrating having to deal with her authority. And I’m no happier than you are about being left in the dark about the comings and goings of the Normandy. But the fact is that in order for us to get results, we have to give her room to stretch. And as long as she gets those results, I’m fine with accommodating her style of command.”

Miranda reached up and rubbed her throbbing head with one finger as she tried to fight off a headache. “But…” he groaned softly. “She’s an anomaly as far as luck goes, we know she had the perfect circumstances for being able to destroy Sovereign. But people don’t need all of that when they can learn by example. If she’s so great, then why isn’t everyone doing what she’s doing? Why isn’t everyone leading the way she leads?”

The Illusive Man’s gaze narrowed and Miranda could feel a small chill in her back as he tilted his head slightly. She suddenly realized she had unintentionally included him in that question as well. “People praise Shepard’s leadership because she gets results. But keep in mind, Shepard is a prime example that we also get results. Shepard’s leadership is needed because she can combat Reapers. We are needed for what comes after. Never forget that, Lawson.”

She let out a breath and nodded. “Understood, sir.”

“Now… tell me how things went on Omega,” he ordered, returning to his relaxed demeanor.

Bio Lab – SSV Normandy SR2

“Fantastic. Always worked in grimy environments. Glare of data pads, lit by lamps, smell of lunch and pollution hanging in the air. Love to work in such conditions, but always love that new lab smell. Overwhelming,” said the salarian as he wandered through the extensive laboratory.

Jacob chuckled to himself as he followed a frazzled Shepard and hyperactive Mordin through the tour. “Glad to hear it. Cerberus provided you with all the latest tools and technology you could ask for. We’re also having the specimens transported from storage as we speak.”

“Excellent! Excited to get started,” said the salarian as he eyed Jacob. “Curious you work for Cerberus, but not so stiff when talking with non-humans.”

Shepard saw the light-hearted smirk drop from Jacob’s face in surprise. She felt herself smirk a little at the remark. The soldier shrugged lightly. “I understand Cerberus can seem like it hates aliens at times…”

“Hate too strong of a word,” said the salarian as he tapped his cheek gently. “Cerberus cares little for other species, classifies them as less important. Less worth saving from destruction. More apt to say Cerberus thinks of other species as lesser. Still in habit of referring to them as “aliens” to their face.”

A look of realization crossed Jacob’s face and he raised his hands defensively. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“Nonsense. Just joshing you. Giving hard time,” said the salarian playfully as Jacob relaxed.

The soldier looked from Mordin down to Shepard who was holding back a laugh. “Damn Shepard, you both about gave me agida.”

“Can learn to work with people. People important, organizations… not so much. But must understand, Cerberus a threat. Even more so with good people as apologists,” said Mordin as he patted Jacob on the shoulder gently.

“Understood, doctor,” said Taylor as he sighed. “I just want you to know that I have the utmost respect for you and your work.”

“Not many know much of my work. STG, salarian government espionage, top-level clearance at one point. Retired now. Mostly volunteer work, as seen on Omega. Happy to help for such an important cause,” said the salarian as he rambled jovially. “Heard colony abductions saw no signs of battle, no scars of war on infrastructure. Colonists vanish without trace. Curious if any theories are available on how this is possible.”

“Small insect-like bio samples were taken from the colony of Freedom’s Progress, doctor. They should be arriving shortly,” came the voice of EDI over the lab’s interecom.

The salarian looked around for a moment as if to see where the voice came from before going off into another process of elimination. “Unusual. Not yeoman, no need to be included in conversation. Synthesized voice, inflections of emotion, spoke without command. Maybe? No, perhaps… have to ask. Is that an AI?” he said as he gave Shepard an almost gleeful look.

Nodding firmly, Shepard looked up at the small holographic orb as it appeared above one of the tables. “The Normandy has an AI named EDI aboard.”

“Fascinating! Eager to speak with you at length when have free time,” said the salarian as he paced excitedly again.

“It would be my pleasure, Doctor Solus,” said EDI in her monotonous voice.

“Well doctor, I’ll leave you to your work. We’re heading to the Citadel, so if there’s any accommodations you need, inform EDI and I’ll do what I can to make you comfortable,” said Shepard with a smile, her third impression of the man making her like him a lot more.

“Music player, if you wouldn’t mind. Don’t like to store music on omni-tool. Helps with thinking, inspires creativity,” he said with a grin.

“Understood,” said the spectre as she headed for the elevator.

Human Embassy – Presidium – Citadel

“You weren’t kidding about things changing here,” said Garrus as he looked around the embassies curiously.

Shepard eyed the turian, who currently had his talons stuffed in his stomach pockets, making it look like he was wearing a hoodie. “You haven’t been to the Citadel since the changes?”

“I left C-Sec shortly after you were declared dead. C-Sec almost immediately reacted to my presence with hostility rather than welcoming me back,” he said with a sigh. “I guess being close to a spectre kinda sours law enforcement.”

“Executor Pallin wasn’t exactly a big fan of spectres when I talked to him before becoming one. I don’t imagine many lower ranking cops like us much either,” she said as she leaned against the counter.

Reaching up to itch his still bandaged face, he simply nodded. “A tale as old as time. Told to me over and over by my father,” he said sourly. “C-Sec tends to think that spectres have too much freedom to do as they please. And I can’t exactly say they’re wrong with how the whole Saren case was treated.”

“They’re right,” she said, getting an odd look from the turian. “Spectres have almost no accountability. And we’ve seen how easily the Council wave off war crimes as “minor indiscretions” for who knows how many of them,” she said using air quotes.

“You don’t like the freedom?” asked Garrus curiously.

She shook her head. “I love the freedom; but it’s give and take. There’s a line you eventually approach when it comes to becoming a spectre. It’s the line of necessity.”

“I’m not sure what you mean,” said the turian as his remaining mandible twitched.

“Think of it like this. When you’re tasked with saving the galaxy, there are some situations where it’s necessary to step over the line. If a terrorist has a button that’ll program the Citadel to explode killing millions and they have a history of violence and social media posts about being remembered forever, and they’ve taken a hostage, as gut-wrenching as it is, sometimes you have to take that shot.”

“Wait… but with Doctor Saleon you-“ he started, his eyes narrowing.

“Every time someone crosses that line, Garrus, the next time they approach it, it gets easier and easier to cross until one day the line just vanishes, and thee person stops looking for other solutions. That’s what happened with Saren before Sovereign turned him, and it’s what happened to you,” she said nodding towards him.

“Me?” he asked incredulously.

“The things you told me leading up to asking me to go after Saleon painted a clear enough picture. Abusing suspects, breach of the right to privacy and bodily autonomy, and more I’m sure. The line for you was back before you ever had evidence on Doctor Saleon. And you had crossed that line so many times that executing Saleon was considered justice to you,” she said, her expression placid to keep him from thinking she was judging him harshly. “That moment on his ship when you had the gun to his head, you stepped back over that line that you had forgotten was there. Even if you were angry about it, deep down you knew that if you pulled the trigger the line would have vanished for good.”

“I see…” he said as he looked down at the ground for a moment. “So you’re saying that you’re always aware of the line, and you know when to step over it.”

“Sort of,” she said with a shrug. “It isn’t mathematically possible to be aware of all variables without enormous amounts of hindsight, obviously. But,” she said as she pointed her finger at him. “I always avoid approaching the line unless I have to. And when I’m forced to, it’s always the hardest decision I have to make.” She had a somber expression on her face as all of her career decisions ran through her head. “I’m aware that everyone doesn’t remember the way I do. And that’s why positions of power need unbiased accountability. Because the Council sure as hell isn’t making sure all of their operatives have a conscience.”

Garrus grinned at her. “Maybe you should be the new leader of the Spectres,” he said playfully.

“Right. Can’t think of a faster way to paint a target on my back than to put the newest spectre from the newest Council species in charge of all of their operatives,” she said giving him a cheeky eye roll.

“You could probably take them all,” he said as he flexed his neck. “I mean, you could with two human Alliance members, a former C-Sec officer, an archeologist, a ship engineer, and a krogan at your back.”

“Let’s hope it never comes to that,” she said as she shook her head.

Finally, the door to the embassy opened and ambassador Korvus-Jamal waved her in. “We’re ready for you, Spectre.”

Shepard nodded to Garrus who opened his omni-tool as she headed for the door. “What did you need… me… for…” she said questioningly as she eyed everyone in the room. The ambassador stood by the door, but also what seemed like half the brass from Alliance High Command. Anderson, Udina, Admiral Hackett, and a dozen or so other admirals including Mikhailovitch who she remembered Ash verbally thrashing out on the docks. “Did I interrupt something?”

“Not exactly,” said Anderson as he stepped up to her with a smile. “See, we’re all here because of insubordination.”

She looked at him oddly before looking at everyone else. Then her eyes focused on one face she knew very well. Only four people beat her father in Alliance seniority. Anderson was one of them, and two of the others weren’t in the room. But directly in front of her stood the last, Fleet Admiral Freeman, who stood at the very top of the Alliance officer ladder. Her brows furrowed and she clenched her fist. Anderson would never lead her into any kind of trap, so she doubted this insubordination issue had anything to do with her. “Context please?”

“You see,” started the ambassador as she stepped away from the door, the seal locking behind her. “Fleet Admiral Freeman here decided to hand down an order to us lowly civilians on the Citadel that we are to bar you access to the Citadel until your association with Cerberus has ended.”

Shepard tilted her head as she eyed the fleet admiral curiously. “Is that right?”

“That’s right,” continued Anderson as he stepped forward. “And when the civilian sector told him where he can put his order, he decided to order those of us in the Alliance Military to do it for him. And that’s were the insubordination comes in. You see,” he said as he tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I told him no. Then he decided to go to Admiral Hackett, and Captain Shepard, and anyone he thought would listen.”

Admiral Hackett stepped in this time. “We all told him no, some more creatively than others. We told him if he had an order for you, to hand it to you himself. After all, you technically outrank all of us now.”

Shepard smirked slightly as she looked at all of the admirals and captains behind Freeman. By now the room had separated into two sides. The side with her, and the side against here. She was slightly surprised to see even Mikhailovitch had come to her side. “Is that what this is? Your hype crew to help build your courage to stand up to me?”

The man glared fiercely as he stepped forward. “Spectre, with all due respect-“

“I think we’re beyond respect here, Fleet Admiral,” said Shepard as she cut him off. “You tried to strongarm half the humans on the Citadel into giving me an order you know they can’t enforce. So, drop the formalities and tell me what you want before I just waste your trip here and leave early.”

The man was as old as her father, but he looked half the age. That didn’t stop him from snorting and weakly hiding his expression of rage. “Until the time when you have ended your partnership with Cerberus, we would rather you didn’t make your presence in Citadel Space common.”

“And if I say no?” she asked curiously, getting a sigh from some of the admirals behind Freeman. “What are you gonna do? Demote me? Discharge me?” she said with a bewildered smile. “Are you gonna give me an article 15 and dock my pay?”

Suddenly, one of the admirals, a man by the name of Terrance, burst out at her. “Who the hell do you think you are, Commander!” snapped the man as he rushed forward and pointed in her face.

Without even blinking, she chuckled amusedly. “Twice the officer you are with half the rank, Terrance. Any more questions?”

The man looked like he was ready to draw his fist back and hit her, but a combination of Hackett stepping up next to her and Anderson’s voice dissuaded him. “Admiral, I’ll say this once…” started Anderson as he stood on her other side opposite of her father. “If you ever approach Shepard like that again, there’s no court martial committee in the galaxy that’ll stop me from making you regret it.”

“Are you threatening an admiral?” snapped Terrance.

But Hackett’s voice cut back. “Are you? Because he speaks for me as well.”

“Enough!” snapped Shepard, every eye in the room now on her. She stepped forward slightly, causing everyone to back away and give her space. Her eyes locked on Freeman. “Fleet Admiral, I get what this little party is about, alright?” she said motioning towards the men gathered behind him. “You want people to forget Cerberus exists. You don’t want people who know about Cerberus to see me walking around with rumors flying about because you want to keep your dark little secrets under wraps.”

“This isn’t about making people forget,” started the admiral. “It’s about association! We don’t want one of our former operatives to be seen working with Cerberus. It makes the Alliance look like it’s working with terrorists!”

Before speaking again, Shepard turned her head towards the ambassador. “You have top secret clearance, right Ambassador?” Getting a nod, the redhead turned back to the admiral and shook her head. “No, Freeman. Having Cerberus operatives with an active top secret clearance makes the Alliance look like it’s working with terrorists. Having an employee turnover of two percent per year from Alliance to Cerberus makes it look like you’re working with terrorists.” Eyes behind Freeman began to widen slightly as she took another step forward. “Having Cerberus supporters among the admirals of the Alliance makes it look like you’re working with terrorists.”

The silence in the room after her last statement made it seem like they were in the vacuum of space. She didn’t know for sure who among them supported the organization, but she knew some did. Now, they thought she knew who they were. “You can’t be serious.”

“The Alliance tried to shut me down once, Fleet Admiral. When I have to deal with you all, I’m always dead serious,” she said as she stood directly in front of him, as if urging him to try anything. “The Systems Alliance has a bad habit of trying to dodge repercussions for the things it does, for the things it allows. And if you think for a zeptosecond that I’m going to be the Alliance’s loyal hound, then you’re too stupid to be in charge. Are we clear?”

“Crystal,” growled the Fleet Admiral before he turned and headed for the door with his group following him. The few officers that had joined her half of the kerfuffle greeted her, said their goodbyes, then left as well. Within five minutes, it was just her, Anderson, the ambassador, and her father.

Anderson shook his head and sighed as he made his way over to his desk. “The Alliance used to stand for something greater. Now it’s just a bunch of bureaucratic bullshit.”

The ambassador too went to her desk and chuckled at the man. “I’m hiring on the civilian side if you’re looking at retiring.”

“I don’t think I could leave the Alliance. As much as I hate all of this political theater and authoritative squabbles, it’s still my home,” said the captain as he sat down and spun his chair towards Shepard. “Sorry to get you involved in all of that, Jane.”

“Not like you had any choice,” she said with a shrug. “He wasn’t going to take no for an answer unless it came straight from my mouth.”

Her father stepped forward in his usual militaristic stance. “I should get going as well. You’ve started a bit of a fire that I’ll have to keep in control for a while,” he said with no hint of malice in his voice.

Shepard looked at him and nodded firmly. “Hell…” she growled as she heard her omni-tool ping. Pulling it up, she eyed the icon for another email. Tapping it, it opened and revealed an obnoxiously glowing message. HAVING A BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE? IS YOUR OLD BOSS GIVING YOU A HARD TIME? Enjoy the rest of your day with conversation and tea by entering the password now! She glared at the message. “What the everloving…?”

“Something wrong, Shepard?” asked Anderson curiously as he looked up from his desk.

“No… just spam,” she said as she put the email away.

The man chuckled and shook his head as he went back to his computer. “Try not to burn down half the Citadel when you figure out where it came from.”

She smirked and two-finger saluted them both. “You got it. I’ll see you two later. I’ve got a lot of shit on my plate to take care of.”

Songtan South – Zakera Ward – Citadel

“Trust me when I tell you, she’s not going to take no for an answer. We’ve already been through this scenario once with another quarian,” said Garrus as he patiently tapped the table in the restaurant.

“But… the food here is so expensive! You couldn’t possibly-“ started Lia’Vael as she examined the menu through her visor.

“As I said, your best option is to pick something you think you’ll like, then promise to yourself to pay her back later, then forget about the whole thing when you realize what you’re actually in for by being on the Normandy,” said Garrus playfully.

Lia looked up from the menu curiously. “What I’m in for? What do you mean? What happened?”

“The last Normandy exploded in the upper atmosphere of a planet with her on it,” said the turian as he tilted his head towards Shepard. “Trust me, paying for a meal until your own credits start getting comfortable isn’t that big of a deal.”

“Keelah! How did you survive?” asked the quarian, all but abandoning the menu until Garrus picked it up and slid it back into her hands.

“I screamed at the planet so forcefully that it slowed my fall allowing me to land safely,” said Shepard as most of her attention was focused on her omni-tool.

Lia looked between Garrus and Shepard for a moment. “Surely not…”

“Oh, right…” started Garrus as he leaned back in his turian chair. “Something else you’re going to have to get used to; human sarcasm.”

Shepard bit her lip as she stared at the symbols. They had switched up this time, but were still a mess of symbols from different languages. Greek, Alai, Turian Common, Batarian, some of them even switch to entirely different symbols from other languages as well. No doubt whoever sent this wanted her to figure out what the small image file meant and message them back. There was no file for here to hack, no encryption for her to crack, no nothing. Just an email with a small, animated image file.

She grunted and threw her head back in annoyance as the waitress approached. “What can I get for you?”

Garrus was the first to respond. “I’ll have the Korean-style dextro bulgogi burger with those crunchy stick things.”

“Understood,” said the human woman as she looked up to the spectre.

“Just a bowl of bibimbap and some tea please…” she said before slumping onto the table.

After taking her order, the waitress turned to the quarian. “And you?”

“Oh… I… ummm…” said the young woman as she picked the menu up again. “It-It’s so hard to choose!”

Nodding the waitress walked over and helped her out. “Sometimes we overthink things. Usually things are a lot simpler than we make them out to be,” she said with a small smile.

Shepard cocked an eyebrow at the dark-haired woman curiously before shifting her eyes to the omni-tool directly in front of her face. The picture taunted her again as it shifted the symbols. But she did at least notice that the same symbols repeated in the same spots in the four digit pattern. Curiously, she stopped the image and zoomed in on it. “Hey Garrus, what is this?”

Looking over, the turian tilted his had to match Shepard’s angled omni-tool. “It’s a letter in Turian Common pronounced BA.”

She paused it on another moment and held it up for Lia. “How about you? Can you tell me what this Khelish symbol means?”

Sitting up straight as the waitress took off with their menus, the quarian leaned forward slightly. “It’s a word and letter I suppose. In more modern Khelish we switched to an alphabet system rather than character for ease of use. That specific one is ‘kai,’ which I think means egg in the old tongue.”

Shepard stared down at the puzzle bewildered. “And that Turian Common symbol doesn’t mean anything?”

“Not by itself, no,” said Garrus as he eyed her from his relaxed position. “What is that if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Hold on…” said Shepard as she tapped the image and allowed it to play again. Then she paused it on an older Hindi word काई. Her software already translated it. “Moss.”

“No thanks, I’ve already got food coming,” said Garrus pleasantly as Shepard gave him a glare.

She turned back to her omni-tool and tossed the translation away, removing it from the screen. Then she looked up the word on the extranet. Then the realization nearly slammed her out of her seat as she saw it was pronounced ‘kai.’ She froze for a moment then began cross checking the other symbols in that same slot, only to find they all were pronounced the same but in different languages.

She started on the next slot with the Arabic symbol ب. Like the Turian Common letter, it was pronounced ‘ba.’ Finally having a lead on where the puzzle was going, she began to decipher all of the characters. Within seconds she had a clearer picture, but not an answer. “A-kai-ba-ra.”

As she stared at the unusual sounds, a new waitress came by with their food. “Come on, Shepard. You’ve been glaring at your omni-tool for over an hour. Eat,” said the turian as he inhaled the scent of the burger deeply. “Ah… can’t find food like this on Omega.”

Snorting, Shepard nodded for a moment before closing down the omni-tool. “Alright, you win.” She pulled over her bowl of rice and numerous other ingredients then began mixing furiously before she looked up at the quarian and noticed her head sitting on the table as if she had passed out. “Everything alright, Lia?”

“It’sh sho good…” mumbled the young quarian as she lifted her head, revealing the tube hanging unceremoniously from her mask.

Shepard smiled brightly. “Good. Get used to it. My team needs to be ready for anything, so they’re always fed and ready to go.”

Garrus gulped down his first massive bite of the burger and leaned back to savor it for a moment. “I guess that makes every meal like a last meal, huh?”

“Quit trying to scare away the recruit,” order Shepard with a smirk. “As he said, Lia, we’ve been through a lot with Tali, so we have a good handle on how quarian society works. If there’s anything you need on the Normandy, let us know.”

“Th-Thank you,” said the young woman as she looked down at the tube in her hand. “I’m not used to such kind treatment from others. Especially from other species…”

“Lots to get used to today. Got a lot of work ahead of you, new girl,” said Garrus before taking another ravenous bite from his burger.

“I’ll do my best!” she responded, clenching her fists together excitedly.

“Good. Now eat your food so I can figure this damn puzzle out and move on with my life,” ordered Shepard as she began to shovel the Korean dish into her face.

Captain’s Quarters – SSV Normandy SR2

Shepard glared at the projection of the puzzle on the ceiling of her cabin. A-KAI-BA-RA was spelled out in front of her. She had wondered if it were some kind of out of sequence word in another language, but no matter what order she put the pieces in, she couldn’t make anything of it. She only ever received the alert when she approached the Citadel, which meant they were likely located here. And they were apparently skilled enough to intrude on the conversation in the embassy.

Reaching up, she ruffled her hair as her brain ached at her attempts. Suddenly, she heard EDI speak from the door of her room. “Spectre, Operative Lawson would like a word.”

“Here or in her cabin?” asked the woman.

“She is outside the door,” responded the AI.

“Let her in,” ordered Shepard as she looked away from the projection and leaned forward in her desk chair. Miranda entered the room and stood in front of the holographic fish tank that currently had numerous exotic fish swimming in it. “You rang?”

“Our intel department has readied the next dossier for you. I wanted to give it to you personally along with another reminder that you need to train your biotic skills one of these days,” said the raven-haired woman as she gave her a stern glare.

“Yeah, I know…” said Shepard as she grabbed the datapad from the operative. Then a sudden realization hit her. “Damn. I had the perfect chance to corner the admiral today and it slipped my mind…”

“Well, telling the Systems’ Alliance to get bent can be distracting. I’m proud of you for that, by the way,” said the woman as she showed a genuine, if not small grin.

“Yeah yeah. I didn’t do it for Cerberus, but thanks anyway,” said the spectre as she began looking over the information she was handed. “Doctor Weyrloc Okeer. Krogan scientist…” she said, raising an eyebrow curiously. “Didn’t think they had any of those left. Well known for work in genetics and embryology. Before disappearing from Tuchanka, was working on a cure for the genophage.”

“We know he was one of the few dumb enough to scavenge from Virmire after you left your mark on it. Despite what the report says, he’s actually put very little effort into actually trying to cure the genophage and seems to think there’s a better way to handle things. What that could be is anyone’s guess,” said the operative with a shrug. “But if nothing else, his interactions with the collectors may be helpful.”

“Anyone mad enough to fight off pirates and whatever geth remained to get at the rubble of Saren’s compound might just be helpful,” said Shepard as she scratched her chin thoughtfully.

“He was last seen working with a small army funded by the Maxwell Group and run by Jedore Maxwell. They’re a fairly knew security company on the market. From the looks of it, they’re trying to get a foot in the door with Okeer’s help,” said Miranda as she leaned against the latrine door.

“So, this Jedore likely isn’t going to be too happy with us taking away her golden goose,” said Shepard with a sigh, knowing another fight was on the horizon.

“Think you can negotiate your way out of this one?” asked Miranda sarcastically.

The spectre glared up at her. “Most of my negotiations end up in gunfights anyway. Don’t see why the universe would treat this one any different,” she growled before setting the datapad aside. Then another thought crossed her mind. “Speaking of dossiers, didn’t you say you had one for a cat burglar?”

The operative sighed and stood straight again. “I don’t know what to tell you about them. We sent them a message with the offer and they said they’d contact you. That’s the last I’ve heard. We don’t have a name or anything else that’d go into the dossier.”

“They said they’d contact me?” asked Shepard as her eyes narrowed. Miranda simply nodded. “You know what kind of things they’ve stolen?”

“I mean, they mostly just take back stolen art or relics. But there has been a particular focus on Japanese artifacts such as the Tale of Genji transcription written by Teika. Apparently, an asari matriarch ended up with it in their collection before our friend lifted it from her vault,” said Miranda, her tone almost reverent.

“Japanese?” asked Shepard as she looked up at the ceiling again.

“Something the matter?” asked the operative curiously at Shepard’s odd behavior.

“Nothing. In fact, I think you’ve actually helped me out,” said the spectre as she turned towards her computer.

“I’ll take that as a win,” said Miranda as she turned towards the door. “Meet me in the training room tonight!”

“Yes mom!” shouted Shepard in return before focusing on her computer. Once the door shut again, she opened her translation software. “A-kai-ba-ra. Sounds Japanese to me,” she said as she typed the phonetics out in galactic. She didn’t know the first thing about the language, but she had always been rather skilled at detecting what a language was by intonation and pronunciation. Finally, she finished and two words popped up on her screen. Akaibara : 赤いバラ: Red Rose.

Sitting back in her chair, she pulled up her email on her omni-tool and typed RED ROSE into the field before sending it. Within seconds she received a reply. [Glad it wasn’t too difficult for you. Meet me at the Citadel Museum of Earth on the Presidium.]

Smirking, Shepard shook her head before getting to her feet and grabbing her hoodie.

Citadel Museum of Earth – Presidium – Citadel

She stepped into the large lobby of the newly built museum. She was greeted by several humans, but waved them off as she kept her eyes peeled for her potential target. She knew the person who had messaged her was likely the cat burglar they had been talking about, but she didn’t know for sure and didn’t want to end up falling into some kind of assassination trap.

Noting that in her head, she also had no idea what her target looked like. So, even if she wanted to look out for them, she wouldn’t know who she was looking for. She felt her own anxiety building at the lack of information she was going off of here, but she knew this place was one of the most well protected places on the Citadel. They took security of historical artifacts very seriously, meaning she wasn’t likely to get ambushed at least. Letting out a heavy sigh, she walked into one of the darker rooms with holographic displays and looked around. It looked as if this was a section of the more modern human history. It started with holographic projections of ships that the Alliance used prior to integrating into Citadel Space, then different colony worlds, and even showed the history of the Alliance’s treaty with the Citadel Council.

Then she stopped cold as she saw a holographic form of herself staring back at her with a confident smirk. As she stepped up to the display, a voice began automatically reading the information listed. “Jane Shepard, N7 Alliance Intel Specialist, and first human to be inducted into the Council Special Tactics and Reconnaissance group. From a young age, Jane studied hard in college to master proficiencies in multiple languages of different species…”

She looked down at the display as the voice droned on about her young adulthood in the Alliance and noticed that her birthday was also listed. Her brow furrowed as she saw the date next to it, listing the day she had exploded on the Normandy. “Odd they haven’t changed that yet. Want me to do it?” came a chirpy voice from the display.

Shepard’s eyes snapped up to the hologram and noticed that it no longer showed her own visage, but instead found another woman with a hood hiding her features staring back at her. “I… uh… what?”

“Your death date. Want me to make it current? It’s no trouble really,” said the woman as she raised her holographic omni-tool.

“No thank you,” said the woman as her eyes narrowed. “You’re the one with the email then?”

“That’s me. Sorry to make you play my little game. I like to make sure my partners are smart enough to utilize my talents, and are willing to put in the effort for me,” said the woman with a cheeky grin.

Shepard squinted for a moment before realizing that the voice she heard was familiar. “Wait… you were…” she started as she pointed at the hologram. “You were the waitress in the restaurant?”

Letting out a small giggle, the shady woman nodded. “Guilty as charged. How’d you like my acting skills?”

“You’ve got talent,” said Shepard with a small grin. “It takes serious skill or luck to sneak up on me.”

“In your defense, you were kinda distracted. After all, I don’t think they told you they were putting this display up given the whole being dead thing,” said the woman who tilted her head. “So, word on the grape vine is that you’re looking to secure my talents. Mind if I ask what for?”

Letting out a snort, Shepard began to think about how to tell the woman she wanted her on a suicide mission. “Well, I’m not going to lie to you and tell you it’s easy…” said the spectre as she locked eyes with the woman. “To make a long story short, the collectors are harvesting humans. I think it’s related to the reapers, and in order to combat the collectors and the potential reaper threat in the future, I want the most skilled people I can find. That includes you.”

“Hmm, sounds dangerous,” said the woman who tapped her chin thoughtfully.

“I’d be bullshitting you if I told you otherwise. It’ll probably be more dangerous than anything I’ve done so far,” said Shepard sternly. “If your answer is no, I’d understand. But know that I’m willing to compensate you.”

“Sounds fun,” said the woman with a smile.

Shepard’s eyes narrowed. “You… have heard about the danger I’ve been in before right?”

“Of course! I’m a big fan! I even attended your inauguration into Spectrehood, though you probably didn’t notice me pilfering information from the bigwigs at the time,” said the woman playfully. “I’m not worried about the danger or the compensation. If you want my cooperation, you’ve got it. But I’d like your help in return.”

“Quid pro quo?” asked Shepard curiously as she pocketed her hands.

“Precisely. See, there’s something I intend to steal, and I need your assistance nabbing it,” she started before holding her hands up. “And before you ask, it’s nothing from the Citadel or anywhere else that’d get you bad press.”

“It’s something you can’t get to yourself?” Shepard asked, wondering how difficult it could be that she wasn’t capable with her own skills.

“Let’s just say that there’s special circumstances surrounding it,” responded the thief. “In any case, it’s not just some stolen colonizer display or anything like that. It’s personal.”

Shepard nodded knowingly. “You’re willing to trust me with something that personal?”

The adorable rogue shrugged. “I don’t have many options. You’re one of the best in the game, you’re a spectre, and you somehow manage to achieve the impossible. So, let’s just say I’m willing to put money on you.”

Snorting, Shepard found herself almost amused that this was the second offer of the same kind this week. “If you’re willing to help me take on the reapers and the collectors, I’m willing to help you get your… whatever it is. But I’ll need more details before I fully agree.”

“I’ll inform you more once I’m aboard your ship. In the meantime, could you stand here for a few minutes longer?” asked the woman.

Shepard’s brow rose curiously. “Huh? Why do you-“ she started, but suddenly a rush of people came into the room. Shepard spun around and saw security guards entering and looking around, startling a mass of kids who had come in to look at all the holograms. “Is something the matter?”

A human guard shook his head as he strolled up to her. “The cameras went out a few minutes ago. Normally it’s just a bug but we’re making sure nobody takes advantage of the situation.”

Shepard then looked from the man back at the display and saw that the thief’s image had left, and was once again replaced with her own. Then she looked down at a bunch of kids, most human, some salarian, and even an asari who were now staring dead at her. She froze like a deer in the headlights as they looked at the display of her, then back at her.

“Shepard!” shouted one of the children before they all rushed around her.

Suddenly, the security guard tensed as his communicator began blasting orders. “We’ve got a code blue in the European Renaissance room!”

“Son of a…” shouted the guard as he spun on his heal and dashed out of the room.

Shepard sighed to herself as she realized that the rogue had intentionally set things up so that Shepard would be a distraction. Patting the kids on the head, she just looked down at all the glowing faces. “The things I put up with for this galaxy…”

Chapter Text

Chapter 10

Starboard Observation Deck – SSV Normandy SR2

The door to the Observation Deck slid open and Shepard nearly did a double take as she saw the entire room filled with stuff that hadn’t been there before. A bookshelf had already been built and anchored to the wall with books packed tight enough to seal a space suit, paintings hung from the nearly sterile surfaces around the window into the void, and stacks of aluminum tubs sat against the far wall.

Looking down at the short woman, Shepard tilted her head incredulously. “How did you get a couch in here?”

“Oh you know, large pockets,” said the woman with a playful grin.

“Very funny,” said Shepard as she walked over and sat on the couch with her. “You know we have actual rooms on board…”

“Yeah, but I like this place. It speaks to me,” said the thief as she looked out the window. “It gives me a sense of calm.”

“Alright. Just make sure everything in here is regulation. I don’t want you taken out by a flying vase or something if we have to hit the breaks,” said the spectre as she finally got a good look at the woman.

Reaching up, the young woman pulled her hood down showing a head of short, coal-black hair and eyes to match. Her skin was porcelain pale with the exception of dark markings on her bottom lip and a few dots of the same color above her eyebrows. Finally, she had only traces of eyeshadow on her small but analyzing eyes. “Good to finally meet you face to face, Shep.”

Cocking an eyebrow, the spectre turned to her fully. “One conversation and I’m already Shep?” she asked, getting a gentle nod. “I’m also surprised you showed me your face.”

“Like I said before, I like you,” said the young woman with a shrug. “Also, I’ve seen your work, Shep. I don’t think you’d be the person to reveal my identity to the authorities.”

“You’re right about that, uhh…” started Shepard before she remembered she hadn’t even learned the woman’s name.

“Kasumi Goto. You can call me Kasumi, Sumi, or Sumi-chan depending on how personal you want our relationship,” said the thief with a grin.

“Kasumi it is,” said the spectre with a chuckle. “So, Kasumi, down to business. What do you want to steal and why do you need my help with it?”

Shepard noticed that every ounce of playfulness in Kasumi’s demeanor vanished at the question. She looked away for a moment before speaking. “I had a partner, Keiji, who used to do jobs with me. A few months ago we did a job looking for an encrypted Alliance blackbox that had been stolen from one of their ships.”

“Any idea what was on it?” asked Shepard curiously.

Shaking her head, Kasumi resumed. “No idea. We weren’t supposed to know. Just pick it up, drop it off for the Alliance, then get paid. What they failed to tell us was that we weren’t just stealing it from scavs who found a crashed ship. The people who had taken it actually shot the ship down. If we had known they were capable and prepared to shoot down an Alliance vessel in Alliance space for the information on that box, we wouldn’t have taken the job.”

Shepard reached up and rubbed her temples. “Alliance and their secrets…”

With a small nod, she continued. “Those secrets got Keiji killed,” she said sourly. “I was distracting a group of guards while Keiji broke into the room. It turns out they had a squad guarding the box itself just in case. He managed to take them down, but not before suffering fatal injuries.”

“So you want me to help you take the blackbox?” asked Shepard as she sat up.

“No. Keiji destroyed the blackbox before they managed to open it. That was his skill, encryption and locks. Mine was security systems,” she said with a sigh. “But he saw the information before he did. By the time I got to him, he told me that I have to get his greybox before they could find a way to open it.”

“I’m sorry. That must have hurt,” said Shepard solemnly as she looked to the floor.

“It did. But not as much as I’m going to hurt the one responsible.” Shepard looked up at Kasumi again and this time saw fire in her eyes. “He’s a man by the name of Donovan Hock, a weapons dealer not happy enough with his lot in life. He’s out to try and make another Shadow Broker out of himself by stealing and selling top secret information.”

Shepard’s brows furrowed at the remark. “I doubt the Shadow Broker is going to take that lying down.”

“The Shadow Broker won’t have a chance to get to him when I’m through,” said Kasumi firmly.

Shepard nodded back, matching Kasumi’s fire. “So, what’s the hit then? And what role do I play?”

“You’ll be playing three roles. First and foremost, you’re going to be a distraction for me,” she said holding up a single finger.

Shepard’s brow arched curiously. “Want me to kick the doors in?”

Kasumi finally broke a smile again. “As much as I’d love to see the look on his face, no. You’re going in by invitation. And you’re going to keep his attention on you.”

“Wait, how am I getting an invite?” asked the spectre incredulously.

“Oh, you didn’t know? Hock has been trying to get into your ear since back before your reported death. Now that you’re back again, he’s been looking for ways through the Alliance and the embassy to get ahold of you,” said the woman.

“Why?” asked Shepard in bewilderment. Kasumi tilted her head with a curious expression, causing Shepard to sigh. “Right right… first human spectre, got it.”

“Did you forget?” asked the thief in amusement.

“Sometimes I do,” said Shepard as she looked back at her. “Anyway?”

“Anyway, I need you to keep his attention on you so that I can deal with his security system,” she said, then raised a second finger. “Second, like I said before, security systems were my game. Keiji loved his trinkets, locks, and puzzles. He was a master of encryption far beyond me, and if I did my homework correctly, you have similar talents.”

“You’re not wrong. But I was never trained to rob vaults…” said the spectre skeptically.

“Trust me, it’s not that big of a difference,” said Kasumi with a reassuring smile. “If I need your help with something you’d be able to handle more easily, I’ll let you know.” Shepard nodded firmly. “Finally, let’s just say that in case he has another guard team protecting the greybox, I’ll need backup. I’m skilled with martial arts and guns, but my main talents are stealth and security. I likely won’t be able to take down an armed backup militia on my own.”

“So…” started the spectre as she counted off on her fingers. “Distract him while you handle security, break any necessary encryptions or locks that you can’t manage, and then take down anything that moves wrong.”

“That about sums it up,” said Kasumi as her gaze narrowed. “So, what do you think?”

Shepard sighed and stood to her feet. “Ms. Goto, your skills better be worth the shit I’m walking into,” she said with a smile.

Kasumi smiled back playfully. “Oh, I’m sure I’ll come in handy if you ever need any artifacts stolen.”

Chuckling to herself, Shepard nodded. “Sounds good. Let me know when and where this is going to take place.”

“You got it Shep!” Kasumi practically sang as her chirpy personality returned.

As the spectre walked down the hall, she let out a heavy sigh. “The things I do for this galaxy.”

Biotics Training Room – SSV Normandy SR2

“You’ve got the basics down,” came the voice of Lawson who sat right next to her cross legged. Shepard, sitting on the padded floor of the training room in the same manner had her arm out and was currently lifting a human-shaped mannequin off the floor with just her biotics. “Now we just have to refine your abilities.”

“How exactly do you refine biotics? And what does that look like?” asked Shepard as she sat attempted to set the mannequin down on its stand but instead toppled it over.

“You’ve only really seen biotics in combat. And in high stress situations like that, you rarely get to see things beyond the simple lift and throw techniques. But biotics is more than just a blunt form of telekinesis that allows you to hurl things around,” said the operative as she stood up in her own training clothes. “With your current ability, you’re trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube with boxing gloves on. Refining your biotics will allow us to take those gloves off,” she said as she turned to the life-size doll. “You’ve seen what we call a biotic warp, correct?”

Shepard immediately rubbed her chest as she recalled the attack hitting her on Noveria. “Up close and personal…”

Nodding, Miranda used her own biotics to gently lift the mannequin and set it on its feet, then with a flick of her hand she seemingly made its head explode and splinter into fragments. “On the fly, when you’re being fired at from all sides, a regular warp can be enough to put an enemy out of commission or even outright kill them. But some situations call for a more delicate touch.” Reaching forward again, this time the operative held her hand out flat. Shepard looked to the remainder of the mannequin, her eyes widening as she saw it split in half down the middle as if it had just been cut with an invisible sword.

“You can cut things?” asked Shepard incredulously.

“In a manner of speaking,” said Miranda, a small smirk showing that she was proud of her skill. “Obviously you wouldn’t want to use it to slice cheese or for mundane tasks. But it can be extremely useful in tight situations.”

“I didn’t realize humans were capable of this kind of precision,” said Shepard as she watched the two halves of the mannequin fall away from one another.

“Most aren’t. It takes specialized training,” said Miranda as she sat cross-legged in front of Shepard once more. “That training takes years, and often times humans are outright unable to focus well enough to accomplish it. As such, the Alliance decided it wasn’t worth the cost and just trained biotics for what you’re familiar with.”

“So, how precise will I be able to be?” asked the spectre.

Miranda arched an eyebrow. “It really depends on you, but I’ve seen your skills up close. You’re powerful, Shepard. More powerful than most humans. Were it not for my doctored genes, you might even be more powerful than me after years of training.” Reaching out, the operative lifted an object sitting among a pile of mannequins and caught it in midair then set it in front of her. “This is our goal.” Shepard looked down and saw a cube with colored squares all over it.

“Oh, so you weren’t being metaphorical…” said the spectre as she look up at the woman.

“Once you’re able to solve this, you can do almost anything,” said the operative confidently as she gave a firm stare.

“How come I’ve never seen asari do it before?” asked Shepard as Miranda waved her arm and pulled over another mannequin.

“Asari are far more skittish than humans in battle. Instead of adrenaline, they have lumiline, a chemical that boosts the power of their biotics, but also makes them less stable. So, they’re even less likely to be able to use them like this under duress. But…” said the woman as she held up a finger. “If you meet an asari who can control her fear in battle, you’ve officially met one of the most deadly biotics in existence. Biotic commandos aren’t feared and respected for their gunplay or military tactics. It’s because if they survive long enough to master their fear, they’ll likely be able to use biotics like a scalpel and slit your throat without ever needing to pierce your armor.”

“Ugh…” said Shepard as she rubbed her chest again. “I’ve only ever faced one group of commandos, and I’m pretty sure they were all indoctrinated.”

“That may be why you lived to tell the story. I can’t say for sure, but altering an asari’s mind may seriously diminish their combat capabilities,” said the operative before taking in a deep breath and then letting it out. “Now…” she started as she shoved another mannequin over. “Set it back on its feet.”

Armory – SSV Normandy SR2

Reaching up, Jacob unlocked the armor case for Shepard’s new armor set. He got chills just from looking at it, and smirked knowing that Shepard was likely going to scare the pants off of some of the mercs with it.

Right next to him, the young quarian recruit Shepard had pulled off the Citadel stared in awe at the set. “Keelah, it’s intimidating.”

“That’s part of the point,” said the soldier as he began unloading some of the weapons for the squad. Lia looked towards him curiously. “I don’t know if quarians think about this in battle, but psychology is a huge part of warfare. If you can scare an enemy into submission, that’s one less you have to fight.”

“I see,” said the young engineer as she thought for a moment. “Most quarians are taught to fight against synthetics. The geth aren’t prone to intimidation, so I suppose they don’t teach us that part as we rarely fight against other species.”

“Makes sense,” said the young man with a nod as he set a brand-new battle rifle on the counter. He could see the young quarian ogling it as well. He felt himself feeling sorry for her. “Your people don’t see weapons this new very often, do they?”

Shaking her head, Lia sighed. “Quarians on pilgrimage sometimes get weapons. They’re rarely ever kept in good condition. The military gets by on converting a lot of geth weaponry that isn’t destroyed into functional tools of war, and more often than not, lower market trades from Omega. The newest gun we have on the fleet hasn’t been in this condition for a decade at least.”

“Damn…” was all he could say. There was a moment of awkward silence between them before he finally broke it with another question. “So, are you gonna be on the ground with the others?”

Here gaze snapped up to him with wide-eyed surprise. “Pardon?”

He shrugged as he laid out the last of the weapons for the squad that was heading towards the armory. “When Shepard brought Tali onboard the original Normandy, she would go on ground missions. She even helped repel the geth from the Armstrong Cluster in Alliance Space.”

“Oh…” said the young quarian as she began to fidget. “Commander Tali’Zorah is so brave and strong though. I could never… I mean, I don’t know how to fight as well as she can. I get anxious and start thinking about kittens to calm myself down-“

“Sorry…” started Jacob as he cut her off. “Kittens? Like, cats?” he asked incredulously.

“Yes!” she said excitedly. “Have you seen them? They’re adorable little creatures from… from… oh…” she stuttered, no doubt realizing she had just asked a human if he’d seen one of the most common pets from Earth. “Sorry.”

Jacob chuckled and shook his head. “No worries, kid. Even I can admit kittens are cute,” he said, getting an approving nod from her. “I’m just surprised a quarian would know of them. They aren’t that common outside of Alliance Space.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “After her return to the Migrant Fleet, Commander Tali’Zorah told everyone stories about the Citadel, including one about these places called pet stores. My friends messaged me on the Citadel and told me to go and send them pictures. After a while I stopped going for them and started going because I loved the kittens.”

“We all have our coping mechanisms. It couldn’t have been easy serving your pilgrimage on the Citadel,” he responded as he leaned on the counter.

“No place is easy, really,” she said giving what almost looked like a shrug. “On Omega it’s being mugged and killed. On Illium, it’s fine print contracts that get you pulled into indentured servitude. On the Citadel, it’s constant racism and C-Sec abuse. No matter where we go it’s hard because we’re seen as easy targets.”

Jacob found himself in another awkward silence as he brought up yet another topic that ended up making her sad. “I’m not very good at this small talk thing…” he admitted before the door to the armory finally opened and Shepard walked through with her turian squadmate.

“You sure you’re ready for this, Vakarian? You look like you could use another few days in a hot tub on the Citadel before you get back into action,” said the spectre with a smirk.

“And miss the sequel to Virmire? Not on your life,” he said as he reached for and immediately grabbed his long-range rifle. “Besides, only one of us took a two-year vacation being dead.”

“Got me there,” said the redhead as she looked up at the two behind the counter. “So, word is you’ve got a new set of armor for me?”

Jacob smiled and pointed over to the open case with a thumb. “Gotcha right here, Shepard.”

Her blue-green eyes looked at it and her face fell immediately. “Are they expecting me to punch krogan to death with that?”

“I’d recommend the omni-blades before resorting to boxing,” said the soldier smartly.

Sighing to herself, she waved her hand impatiently as Massani entered behind her. “Alright, let’s hear its capabilities.”

Korlus – Imir System – Eagle Nebula

Inside the shuttle, everyone stared at the battle raging below. Shepard was the first to speak as they avoided oncoming rocket fire. “You said you sent Okeer the message that we were coming to get him, right?!” shouted the spectre as Miranda swerved the vehicle away from a rather slow-moving explosive.

“He said he would prepare for our arrival!” snapped Miranda as she dodged three more oncoming projectiles by practically nosediving the shuttle into what looked like a scrap yard.

“He’s a krogan!” shouted Garrus from the back as he flexed his armored neck. “This is probably a welcoming party he set up. If you don’t want any surprises in the future I’d recommend asking for more details!”

“I’ll keep that in mind!” growled Miranda as she skidded the craft to a halt. “If we try and fly all the way to the compound, we’ll be killed before we can even find him. We’ll have to go on foot and take out resistance on the way.”

“Now we’re talking,” said Garrus in good cheer as he opened the hatch and stepped out into the sunlight.

“Now you’re starting to sound like a krogan,” said Shepard as she followed him out with Zaeed close behind her. Reaching up, she tugged at the new armor that fit her snugly all the way up to her neck. She was so used to her stealth armor that she almost felt out of place wearing heavy duty stuff. To her benefit, however, she had stronger shields, thicker armor, and the new set was built to adapt to her enhanced abilities.

Suddenly, they were all alerted to the sound of a woman’s voice. “There is only one measure of success. Kill or be killed. Any who are too weak to fend off this attack will be killed and replaced when the krogan are under control again!”

Garrus shook his head. “Loudspeakers? Someone likes the sound of their own voice.”

Zaeed stepped up to him and shook his head. “Jedore Maxwell. Pretty sure she’d shag her own voice if it were possible. Entire family is the same. Narcissists all of ‘em.”

“Let’s move. We don’t have a lot of ground to cover but I imagine it’s not going to be an easy stroll,” ordered Shepard as she activated her combat sensors, then recalled Jacob’s explanation of the tech armor. Turning it on as well, she looked like an absolute juggernaut. “Hell.”

Garrus took a step back and eyed her up and down. “I see you’ve gotten some upgrades. You look like you’re prepared for all out war, not a scuffle with some security company.”

“I stand out like a sore thumb. I’m not used to being the center of attention on the battlefield,” said the spectre sternly as she began to move forward. It took less than a minute of moving through the junkyard filled with the corpses of decommissioned ships before a band of grey-armored soldiers began firing on them. “Vakarian, make sure they don’t hit us with the heavy stuff. Lawson, disable anyone you see pop their head up. Massani, with me!” she snapped before inhaling sharply. She could feel it again, the air around her thickening as if she had suddenly fallen into a shallow pond, the sounds becoming louder, her vision becoming crystal clear. The mere sound of their weapons firing started her heart beating, and the feeling washed over her. Making sure everyone was set up, she broke from cover and swung her semi-automatic rifle upwards. Garrus’s sniper already echoed as her vision picked up the flash of a rocket launcher exploding in one of the soldier’s hands.

The man screamed in pain as the flash mangled his armored hand. Directly in front of her was a ramp that led up to a platform where the soldiers were taking cover. On the left side of the ramp a man popped up to fire only to get ripped from the ground with a biotic attack. She raised her rifle at him and pulled the trigger twice in quick succession. Both of them bypassed his kinetic barriers given how close they were and took out his knees.

As she sprinted past him, she could hear Zaeed’s fist impact the man’s helmet, causing him to spin wildly as they charged on. The battle was over in seconds, but it felt like minutes to her. She felt wired as she walked back to Miranda who held the only living mercenary floating in the air still spinning.

“Please… I’m gonna throw up…” said the man as he dry heaved in midair.

Shepard nodded to Miranda, who dropped him directly on his behind causing him to yelp in pain as both injured legs slammed to the ground. “Shit shit shit… gonna bleed out!” he snapped in pain as he grabbed both legs. Looking up at them, he growled. “Fuck, I knew it wasn’t berserkers! You’ve got range! I don’t know who the fuck you are, but I’m not talking.”

Her heart still hammering from battle, she raised her rifle slightly and fired two rounds right between his injured legs and uncomfortably close to his crotch, causing him to yipe pathetically before scooting backwards. “I wasn’t asking. Tell me what I want to know or I’ll get it from the next merc staring at your corpse on the pile.”

“Shit, alright!” he shouted holding his hand up to keep her from killing him. “I don’t know a lot. I was just sent to kill the overflow from the lab!”

“Why are krogan flooding from the lab?” asked Miranda as she crossed her arms.

“Fuck if I know,” he said as he winced in pain again. “Jedore hired the old krogan to make her an army that would obey, and earlier today the power grid went offline so all the tanks opened at once. We were supposed to clean the mess up.”

Miranda sighed to herself as Shepard drew the same conclusion. “I’m assuming this was him preparing for our arrival…” groaned the operative.

“Looks like it,” said the spectre as she looked back at him. “What was her plan for the krogan?”

“I don’t know… replace us? All I know is she wasn’t happy with what he was making. All the krogan he gave her refused any order given or tore apart anything that moved. She planned to have some of them loaded in sleeping pods to just drop for scorched earth responses, but I don’t know what else she wanted from them,” he said gasping in pain.

“Fuck’s sake…” growled Zaeed as he shook his head. “The halfwit is loading a bunch of barmy krogan into pods and throwing them at her enemies?”

“I don’t know what he said, but yes,” said the injured merc as he leaned back against a pile of scrap.

“And you said he hasn’t made any stable krogan?” asked Shepard curiously.

“Some, sure. But they won’t listen. They just stand around talking about some stupid tank bitch…” he said groaning as his omni-tool lit. Shepard saw it and immediately used her own to jack into his comm system.

“Outpost Four, Jedore wants us to move. We need coordinates on that krogan pack,” came the voice through his communicator.

The man looked up at the four people standing above him, his eyes wide. Shepard just smirked as she nodded. “Go ahead. Answer him.”

The man’s eyes widened even more at her smile. Reaching up, he tapped the comm. “Uhh… patrol, last group dispersed. Lost sight of them five minutes ago.”

“Dispersed? Where the hell did they go?” asked the responder in disbelief.

“To the fucking movies, asshole! I don’t know where they went! But they’re not here!” snapped the man anxiously as he looked between them all.

“Understood. Return to the labs when you’re done cleaning up there. We’ve gotta isolate the cause of the power failure,” reported the man from the comm.

“Got it,” said the merc as he raised his hands again. “See? I’m helping. No need to kill me…”

“Pretty damn ugly. I’d say that’s a good reason,” said Zaeed sarcastically.

“Come on man…” pouted the merc as Shepard shook her head.

“Enough,” she snapped. “What are the defenses like on the facility?”

“They have guns to take out ships, not ground troops. We aren’t built to take on commandos,” he snapped at her as he reached down for his legs again.

Miranda glared at the man. “That explains all the shoulder mounted rockets.”

“Last question. Where is Jedore Maxwell?” asked the spectre.

“Last I checked she was hiding her chickenshit ass inside the compound somewhere. Probably inspecting the tank room for sabotage,” he said as he looked between them all again. “So? Can I go?”

“Dig up some medigel off your buddies here and fix your legs, then get off this planet. If I see you again, I’m finishing the job,” snapped the spectre as she severed his communication to the rest by frying his omni-tool.

Maxwell Group Compound – Korlus

Mercs, minor mechanical defenses, krogan. Nothing about this place was easy. Around every corner there were more frantic mercenaries from the Maxwell Group firing at anything that moved, or automated turrets set up by engineers. And when those two weren’t being a nuisance, berserking krogan decided to make life hell. The spectre didn’t want to admit it outright, but her and Operative Lawson made a good team. Their biotics paired together made the krogan some of the easier targets among the insurgents.

Then again, wild krogan had almost always been easier targets. Bloodrage made them loud, obnoxious, and obvious. Their movements were blatant and flailing almost. The downside was that they essentially became bullet sponges that soaked up an ungodly amount of damage before finally dying.

She found herself confused as she stared through her magnified screen at what stood before her. They weren’t one of the berserking krogan released from the labs. Or she thought that they weren’t. They were just standing in the middle of a small canyon of dead ships. The Maxwell group that had been there previously ignored them as if they didn’t exist. As if it wasn’t a threat. But with them out of the way, she found herself waving at her squad to put their weapons down but be prepared.

She slowly stepped up to the krogan and it turned towards her eyeing her with glistening eyes that hadn’t seen nearly the centuries of battles that Wrex had, nor had its plate even formed fully on its head. In its place were smaller plates with fresh, scale-like skin between them. It leaned forward and inhaled deeply as it gazed at her, its eyes showing no emotion. “You are different. You are not like those of this world.”

She tilted her head curiously. “Different how?”

It almost seemed startled for a moment before facing her fully. “Warlord Shepard?”

Showing just as much surprise, the spectre reached up and tapped her visor, causing its normally dark tinted surface to go clear. “Warlord?”

Miranda stepped forward and interrupted. “How old are you?”

“I am eight cycles old,” said the krogan, its shining eyes never leaving Shepard.

“That’s just over a week and a half on Korlus. How the hell can he bloody talk?” asked Zaeed as he kept his weapon gripped tightly.

They all turned back to the krogan as it spoke again. “A scratching in my head. As I was grown, the scratching became a voice, teaching me things I would need to know. Walking, talking, shooting, hunting. Then its eyes went downcast. “Then the voice said I was not perfect, and it stopped teaching. So, here I am, waiting.”

“Waiting for what?” asked Garrus curiously.

Shepard immediately cut him off before the krogan could answer. “Sorry, can we go back for just a moment? Why did you call me Warlord?”

“The voice inside tank mother. It taught me. I heard it, not like now…” it said as it tapped where krogan ears were located. “But inside. The voice taught me much. It changed to many voices, the voices of heroes, warlords, and conquerors, teaching me things I should know. One of the voices was yours,” it said as a finger rose and pointed to Shepard.

Garrus leaned down as Shepard took on a bewildered look. “I guess you can add krogan preschool teacher to your resume.”

Reaching up, Shepard placed her hand on her helmet as if she felt a headache coming on. “Garrus… I really wanna punch you right now.” Ignoring his chuckle, she continued. “So, what did my voice teach you?”

Seemingly still in awe of her, the krogan lowered its gaze. “You spoke of sacrifice. No krogan warlord would think twice about sacrificing their own or even themselves to win a battle. You spoke of the importance of sacrifice, but also that sacrifices should never be made casually, or ever be forgotten.”

She found herself stunned for a long moment at their words. Even Garrus, with his cheery attitude at being back on her squad fell somberly silent. Finally, Miranda spoke. “Well, it certainly sounds like something you’d say.”

Letting out a sigh, Shepard shook her head. “What are you waiting here for?”

“Instruction,” replied the krogan. “Once I was deemed not perfect, the teaching stopped. The voice stopped. I have not been given a purpose. So, I wait for my purpose.”

Shepard’s eyes narrowed at the young krogan. “Is that why you’re answering my questions? Because I’m giving you purpose?”

“It is,” came the simple reply.

Adding all the pieces together in her head, the spectre put Okeer’s plan together for the most part. “Okeer wants to get around the genophage not by curing it, but by creating the perfect krogan. Those that aren’t perfect are rejected,” she said, feeling deep sympathy for the whelp.

Even Miranda’s voice held sympathy. “How crushing to be told you aren’t perfect before you’re even technically born.” Shepard could hear it in her voice. She too was designed to be perfect.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Shepard eyed the krogan sharply. “Are you ready for your purpose?”

Immediately, the krogan’s face lit up as it stood up straight. “Ready, Warlord.”

The krogan knelt its massive frame and Shepard placed her hand on its rocky smooth head. “Be kind, be truthful, and defend those who cannot defend themselves. Get off this world and live. Find yourself a family that cares for you, find yourself friends, and fight to protect yourself, and those dearest to you.”

“We will cherish your words, Warlord Shepard,” said the krogan as it closed its eyes briefly. Finally, it turned away from them and headed directly for the motorpool outside of the compound.

Zaeed stepped up to her and watched them leave. “You think it’s gonna do any of that?”

“I think they deserve the chance to try,” she said as she raised her weapon again.

Bioengineering Lab – Maxwell Group Compound

“It took you long enough, Shepard,” came the voice of a krogan older than even Wrex. As the spectre entered the lab, she lowered her rifle and scanned the room briefly, noting that he was standing next to a massive incubation tank with an asari next to him.

“Your welcoming parties suck,” growled Zaeed as he snorted.

“Maxwell would have destroyed me and my work before allowing you to take me from this facility. I had to occupy her,” said the krogan as he turned away from the console and turned to Shepard. The spectre could easily see that his regeneration had started dying out long ago. He had scars, some fresh, as well as a heavy lean onto his right foot which meant the left had been injured. His face had twice the wrinkles she had seen on Wrex and his plate was as smooth as marble, unlike the jagged spikes from the krogan she had seen before.

Shepard’s eyes drifted over to the asari as she too turned to face them. But the spectre’s eyes narrowed at the familiar visage. “Rana Thanoptis…”

“I’m humbled that you remember me, Spectre,” said the woman with a polite head bow.

“I tend to make a note of people I give chances to in case I have to retract the favor,” said Shepard as she crossed her arms. “Care to explain what the hell is going on here?”

“I’m helping Okeer with his work. That is all,” said the scientist briskly. “If you’d like a full explanation, perhaps we can do so once we have evacuated, as I doubt Miss Maxwell would allow ample time for one.”

“So, you’re Weyrloc Okeer?” asked Shepard curiously as her own squad meandered over to the tank that Okeer stood next to.

“Spirits… I didn’t realize krogan could get that big,” said Garrus as he stared up at the hulking figure floating naked in the tank.

“He is freed from all weakness of the genes. He is the perfect krogan,” said Okeer proudly as he straightened his figure as much as his age would allow. “But my project is not the reason you are here. It is me you are after, Warlord Shepard,” said the man as he began pacing slowly.

“Yeah, about that warlord thing…” said the woman as she tilted his head. “One of your rejected samples out there told me that you’re using me to teach them. What’s that about?”

“Only the finest warriors and conquerors are used to teach the perfect krogan. You killed Spectre Saren Arterius and destroyed his ship as it attacked the Citadel. You are a spectre unlike thousands of those who came before. You not only destroy, but you put hesitation in the step of any who challenge you. You are more than worthy to teach krogan whelps,” he said as he held his arms out gloriously.

“Thanks… I guess,” she said as she saw Rana looking at the door nervously. “Something the matter?”

“Jedore Maxwell is just beyond the door in the cloning bay and one of two things are about to happen. Either she’s going to get bored looking for the cause of the power outage, which happens to be us,” she said motioning to Okeer and herself. “And she’s going to see you here, then go berserk herself and kill everyone. Or she’s going to realize what the cause was, and go berserk herself and kill everyone. I’d rather we not stick around long to find out which happens first.”

“Are you all ready to go?” asked Shepard curiously.

“My project is coming with me. It will take only a few minutes to get the tank loaded into the cargo carrier if your group helps,” said Okeer as he tapped the tank with the massive krogan.

“Make sure you bring whatever collector technology you have left as well,” said the woman as she turned towards the door that Rana motioned towards. “Does Jedore have access to your records?”

“Only the cloning schematics. She has no access to my real work,” said the warlord as Garrus and Zaeed began helping to get the tank loaded.

Shepard’s eyes narrowed at him. “But she can still clone krogan?”

“She can have it. It bothers me little,” he growled as he watched Miranda lift the tank with her biotics so the others could set it gently on a transport cart.

“Sorry, but that’s unacceptable. I made a promise to end krogan cloning, and I intend to keep that promise,” she said sternly.

Okeer suddenly swelled up with vigor. “Yes! Just like Virmire! Go then! Destroy every last trace! And if you fall, the krogan will sing songs of your glory!”

Cloning Bay – Bioengineering Lab – Maxwell Company Compound

Nothing but bullshit all day. First the power outage, then all the krogan broke out of the tanks, then half of her clean up squad simply vanished into thin air as soon as they heard about the outbreak. Now she had the rest of the squad cleaning up the mess while she stayed behind and figured out what happened to the power. She was sure she measured the power draw correctly.

Gnashing her teeth together as she looked through the circuitry torn apart by the krogans to isolate the issue. Despite his assurances, she had a sneaking suspicion that her krogan helper might have instigated the outage. But she’d need to find the source and confirm it was sabotage before acting. She didn’t want to fry her chances at a krogan army over an assumption.

So, she continued to dig through the mess, her rage continuing to boil inside her with every console she found fried in the incubation fluid that Okeer used for the tanks. Her annoyance didn’t get any better when she heard small splashing footsteps behind her. “Finally come to help me, Rana? Or are you ready to tell me why you two sabotaged my project?” she snapped as she hurled away another large pane of the shielding from the tanks.

“Actually, I’d like to offer you a choice,” came an unfamiliar altered voice from behind her. Chills ran down her spine as she stood up and reached for her weapon, but the figure immediately shot the weapon off of her side, causing her to wince in pain. “Another move like that and I have my answer.”

Slowly, Jedore turned around. She was silently cursing herself for leaving her automated armor in the armory, a decision she made because she didn’t want the fluids from the tanks all over it. Slowly, she raised her hands and turned around, staring at the abyssal black armor of the intruder. They had a pistol in their hand aimed directly at her head. “Who the hell are you and why are you in my compound?”

“Jedore Maxwell. Top marks in high school, went to college for engineering, top GPA in all of your classes, started your own security company fresh out of college. My question is was that all daddy’s money? Or did you actually earn that?” asked the figure menacingly.

“Who are you and why the hell do you care?” asked the young woman as she glared at them.

“I’m trying to assess how stupid you are,” said the black-armored intruder, causing her brows to furrow in rage. But she knew better than to try anything with a weapon umovingly aimed at her head. Whoever this was, they had not even the slightest shake in their stance while holding the weapon. “The krogan in there gave you schematics for cloning krogan. You can either give me your omni-tool and flee this base before I turn it into a glass crater, or you can try and fail to take me out. The choice is yours.”

“You talked to Okeer?” asked Jedore, wanting to smirk but not showing an ounce of what was coming.

“He’s been taken care of. Now hand over the omni-tool before I take it off your corpse,” ordered the dark figure.

With her hands behind her head, she activated the omni-tool and hit a large button on her interface without being seen. Suddenly, a loud explosion shook the compound, nearly tipping herself and the intruder over. But she had expected it, and she used her precious moments of surprise to sprint towards the armory door nearest to her. She got inside and closed the door, then locked it behind her as she turned to the rack where her armor sat, a slow smile growing on her face.

CODEX ENTRIES

Scavs | Slang | Galactic Common
Short for scavengers, it’s a phrase used commonly to describe everyone from those who dig through trash for scraps to those pilfering dead or defunct ships for parts.

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 released 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.

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.

Chapter Text

Chapter 11

Bioengineering Lab – Maxwell Compound

Stars were all she saw. Her ears rang as she pushed against the ground in an attempt to get to her knees. Shaking her head, the operative looked up and saw everyone in the room was on the ground. “Shit…” she groaned as she got to her feet and limped over to Garrus who was groaning himself. “Vakarian? Are you alright?”

“Yeah… I think that one evened my face out…” he said, letting out a heavy cough before slowly getting up as well.

Zaeed blasted through the door with his shoulder and looked around with his weapon drawn. “What the bloody hell was that!?” he shouted, the back of his armor scored from the explosion.

The asari was the next to rise. “Jedore’s insurance, no doubt,” she said as she held her head in pain, her face marred with numerous cuts.

“Damn…” said the turian as he looked around for the weapon that had flown from his back. “We have to go after Shepard. She might be in trouble.”

“You lot finish up here, I’ll get the spectre and be back in time for tea,” growled Massani as he headed for the door at the far end of the room.

“Damn! No no no! Don’t you dare!” snapped Rana as she leaned over Okeer’s body. Miranda limped over to the elder and stared down at his wounds, grimacing as his arm was gone and his blood was filtering through the rubble below him.

“He’s a goner. You need to get up and get out of here before Jedore finishes the job,” ordered Miranda as she gripped the woman by the shoulder, being gentler than she anticipated.

But she stopped as Okeer’s voice choked out his last words. “My… my work… don’t… don’t let… future of krogan… die…” The dim fire in his eyes died as his head slowly turned away from the asari. Rana let out a sigh of frustration before looking up to Miranda.

“Let’s get the tank and get out of here,” she snapped as she jumped to her feet and hurried towards the cracked unit near the doorway. The explosion had fractured the cover and the incubation fluid was slowly leaking onto the floor.

“Vakarian, let’s get this thing out of here. We can help Shepard afterwards!” ordered the operative. Garrus eyed her sternly for a moment before nodding.

“Shepard and Massani should be able to handle her. She’s just one woman…” the turian said before the door behind him slammed open with the mercenary shouting to them.

“Out of the way!” Zaeed bellowed as he sprinted through the door. His voice hit them all before something slammed into his back and sent him sprawling. Miranda gasped as Shepard’s armored body landed in front of her.

“Fuck…” groaned the spectre as she got back to her feet slowly.

“Shepard! What happened?” asked Garrus as he helped the mercenary back to his feet.

“Suit…” groaned the spectre as she pointed at the far wall just as it collapsed. Miranda looked and her eyes widened as the wall separating the biolab from the incubation chamber collapsed and behind it stood Jedore Maxwell inside an Atlas class armored suit.

“Bullshit…” snapped Miranda as she recognized the armored exosuit. Seeing the gun arm rise, she dove to the side just as a rocket flew by and pulverized the wall behind her.

“This is MY compound! You’ll die for opposing me!” shouted Jedore over the speaker as the chain gun on the other hand began firing into Okeer’s corpse.

Zaeed ripped a grenade clean from his belt and armed it before sliding it between the suit’s legs. But the explosion barely scratched the armored surface. Shepard reached out and trapped the suit with biotics, and Miranda jumped up and used her own to assist, slamming the machine into the ground and causing an explosion that sent debris flying.

Shepard reached up and opened her visor long enough to wipe blood from her mouth as she glared at the ominous smoke cloud where the machine stood. She knew the suit wasn’t broken, but the explosion was more than powerful enough to take out Jedore inside it. “Keep your guard up,” she ordered as she replaced her visor and readied her biotics again. Miranda and even Rana followed suit with their own as Garrus and Zaeed prepared their hardest hitting weapons.

But Shepard didn’t have to wait long before she heard movement. Throwing up a biotic wave, a missile shot forward and began to slow as it travelled through her net. But Jedore must have remote detonated it midflight, sending her vaulting through the air and landing directly onto a flat surface.

Her ears were ringing and her vision blurry as she reached up and grabbed the cracked visor of her helmet and ripped the entire thing off, allowing blood to flow from her skull down her face. She saw her blood drip slowly onto the surface of whatever she had landed on, the slowing effect of her adrenaline finally kicking in. But her gaze turned away from the puddle as she saw another pair of eyes glaring back at her.

Another explosion hit the wall to her right, buckling the wall and opening the ceiling up to the sunlight while Miranda barely escaped in one piece. Rolling off of the leaking tank, she yanked the emergency release lever on the side, shooting the armored glass into the air and into her biotic grasp. The chain gun spun and spewed fire at the spectre. Each round smashed into the armored glass, creating cracks that spiderwebbed across its surface, but none penetrating fully with her biotics slowing their path.

Jedore growled angrily as her chain gun stopped to cool. Angrily, she swung the rocket arm around for another shot. Shepard, attempting to remember her training aboard the Normandy, threw her arm forward and hurled the broken shield directly at the weapon. As soon as the rocket emerged from the arm, the glass impacted it and caused an early explosion that mangled the launcher. “Garrus! Stun her!” shouted the spectre as she sprinted for the exosuit.

The turian leapt up and and unleashed a stunning shock with his omni-tool that penetrated the the armor’s cyber warfare protection. The woman inside convulsed in pain as Zaeed took a whole belt of grenades and hurled them under the machine before Garrus began unloading on them with his assault rifle. Another explosion caused one of the legs to short, making the suit sink down onto its haunches. “Do you think that’s going to stop me!?” shouted Jedore, angrier than ever as she pulled the chain gun up again.

“No,” said Shepard from next to the machine. Jedore, surprised at seeing her there, tried to spin the suit to aim the machine gun at her. But a wave of biotics gripped the chain gun from her opposite side. Shepard smiled at Miranda for her quick thinking before she reached out with her own biotics and grabbed the rocket launcher, the two biotics pulling from opposite sides and keeping the woman from moving the suit anywhere. “But he will,” said Shepard smartly as she nodded her head towards the open tank.

Rana slowly stepped up as the massive krogan inside pulled himself up to his feet, towering over everyone in the room and standing nearly as tall as the Atlas itself. Pointing at the woman, Rana spoke one word. “Enemy.”

The krogan, whose head had yet to form a solid plate, looked over at her momentarily before his heated blue gaze turned back onto Jedore. The woman had an expression of sheer terror on her face as she tried to pull away from the biotics that had trapped her. But even if she were free, she wouldn’t have gotten away.

The goliath krogan lurched forward faster than Shepard had ever seen one of his species move. The impact of him colliding with the suit ripped both of its arms off and sent the two biotics sprawling. As the mech suit crashed to the ground, the behemoth began headbutting the plasteel shield covering the cockpit with his broad, spiked head. One gargantuan slam caused it split down the middle. With another, it caved inwards.

Jedore shrieked as the krogan grabbed her leg and ripped her from the machine, the safety harnesses snapping at his brute strength. And in one seemingly effortless move, he slammed her into the ground so hard that she immediately stopped moving and blood began to pool out from her body.

Shepard glared at the woman, knowing that she was dead on impact. The brutality left her mind, however, as she turned back to the krogan who was smelling the air around him. To say she was intimidated would be an understatement. She didn’t know anything about him. He was an unknown variable, something she didn’t like at all. Despite her fear of the unknown, she stood straight and stared him directly in the eyes, knowing that krogan frowned on those who had weak posture.

Finally, he looked towards her as the others backed off and held their weapons up. She waved them to lower them as he approached her, his steps practically grinding the rubble beneath him into dust. As he stopped in front of her, he looked down into her matching eyes and simply growled, “Name.”

“Jane Shepard, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance,” she replied as she kept her eyes locked on his.

“Not your name; mine. I am trained, I know things, I’ve seen things, I’ve learned things. But Okeer never once spoke of my name,” he said as he slouched slightly, shrinking down to her eye level.

Rana stepped forward and raised her hand to interrupt. “Perhaps I could…”

But her voice froze as his very serpent-like eyes shifted to her. “Tank mother. You taught me, but your usefulness is at its end. I am asking the warlord questions now,” he said with absolute authority despite his voice not rising in the slightest. She simply put her hand down and backed away. Turning back to Shepard, he nodded. “Warlord Shepard. Your enemies are great. The batarian hegemony, the pirate king Elanos Haliat, the Spectre Saren Arterius, the Reaper Sovereign. You have killed mercenaries, pirates, geth, thresher maws, and a reaper. You will give me a name. The name of a warrior.”

Shepard, thrown off a bit by his request, tilted her head curiously. “You wouldn’t rather just take Okeer’s name?”

“Okeer was a fool. He trained me for a purpose and expected me to follow his plans. I don’t care for his plans or his enemies. I am myself, not Okeer; and I will do as I please,” he said as he leaned forward into her face. “Perhaps I should kill you and take your name.”

“Would you risk dying for that honor?” asked Shepard firmly as she glared back at him.

The krogan eyed her for a moment before smirking. “Heh heh heh, I like you,” he chimed gleefully.

“I’m not your mother, and I’m not a warlord. I’m just a human grunt killing mercenaries. So, I don’t understand why it’s important that I give you a name,” she responded with a shrug.

His eyes narrowed at her as he stood to his full height again. “Grunt. Simple, short, to the point. Outdated term for soldier,” he said before looking down at her again. “It’ll do.”

“Okay…” said the woman as she planted her hands on her armored hips. “What are you going to do?”

He smirked again. “I’m going with you,” he said as if the answer were obvious.

“Is that right?” asked the spectre, smirking back at him.

“You are Warlord Shepard. Your enemies span the galaxy. If anybody in this desolate corner of space could put my training to use, it’s you,” he said before getting in her face again. “And if I find your enemies weak and your command lacking, then perhaps I’ll find you more of a challenge.”

Rolling her eyes Shepard just pointed towards the exit. “Just get to the damn shuttle,” she ordered before turning to Miranda. The operative had her arms crossed and the same expression on her face every time the spectre brought unauthorized personnel aboard. “Not a single word from you,” she said as she pointed to the woman.

Miranda just shook her head and chuckled before reaching over and helping Garrus who was now limping back towards the shuttle. “We’ll talk about this back on the ship.”

Shepard turned to check on the others as they all filed towards the ship to make sure they weren’t seriously injured before she gave one last look to Jedore. Her eyes saw the body, then looked up towards the now annihilated suit of armor. “Daddy’s money it is…” she said as she shook her head, then turned and left herself.

Cargo Bay – SSV Normandy SR-2

“Alright, let’s hear it,” said Shepard with a tired expression on her face. She stood near the airlock to the hallway as she watched multiple crew members try and help pry Grunt out of the cargo truck they had to hijack in order to get him back on the ship.

Miranda stood next to her with a familiar glare. “Should I even bother?” asked the operative with a shrug. “I mean, I could try to tell you the dangers of having a gigantic unhinged krogan capable of killing a human in a single attack on board a star ship, but would anything I said sink in?”

Garrus walked up after dropping his stuff off at the armory. “Probably not. Besides, you’ve probably got nothing to worry about. Shepard has a history of wrestling krogan into shape.”

Miranda glared at the turian. “There’s a wide difference between a thousand-year-old krogan mercenary and a bioengineered krogan with the strength and bloodlust of two,” she snapped back at him.

Garrus chuckled at her as he leaned against the wall next to Shepard. “You’re only saying that because you’ve never met Wrex. The first mission the two of them went on she punched him in the face for insubordination.”

Miranda’s brows furrowed as she looked from him back to Shepard. “You punched him in the face after just meeting him?”

Garrus flexed his sore leg. “Human, asari, quarian, turian, krogan, they all fall in line when she puts her foot down. Hell, give it long enough and a geth will be on the squad. Maybe a rachni or two.”

Jacob finally strolled up after locking the armory and chuckled at the operative. “That’d be a hell of a lot of paperwork.”

“Oh please no,” groaned the operative as she ran her hand through her hair.

Shepard smirked lightly as Garrus did the talking for her. She didn’t let that happen often, but Lawson definitely needed to hear from someone with experience rather than relying on her own assurances. “If it makes you feel any better, Lawson, I’ll ask pretty please before bringing any geth aboard.”

Miranda groaned again as Lia’Vael exited the passage to the engine room and walked up to Shepard with her nose buried in a datapad. Looking up, the young quarian looked up and waved to Shepard before skipping over. “Captain!”

“I’m not a captain, Lia,” reminded Shepard in a friendly tone.

“Apologies. I have to get used to being on a human ship. We call all ship leaders captain,” she said slightly flustered.

“You can call me Shepard,” said the redhead as she smiled at the girl. “Watcha got there?”

“Oh!” squeaked the quarian as she snapped to attention. “Engineer Gabby’Daniels gave me reports on the heat sink storage and their draw on…” Suddenly, she dropped all of the datapads and stood straight in fear as a loud bark sounded behind her.

“Get off, human,” growled Grunt as he kicked the back doors off the cargo vehicle, causing them to clank to the ground and sending two Cerberus crew members tumbling backwards. Planting one foot on the cargo bay floor, he flexed his back and stood to his full height, his back spikes sheering clean through the truck’s troop loading atmospheric cloth.

Lia spun around and stared at him, her knees practically shaking as she saw him approach. “K-Keelah… he… he’s big,” she said, trying to hide the stutter in her voice.

“Shepard!” snapped the krogan with a smile.

“Grunt,” responded Shepard, returning his smile.

“Do I get my own room, or do we get bunkmates?” asked behemoth as he towered over them all.

“The only room that’s gonna fit you is one of the spare cargo storage rooms down here,” she said as she nodded her head in the same direction Zaeed was headed. “You and Massani can decide what works between the two of you.”

“Heh heh heh, let’s see if I can make him wet himself,” he said as he turned and headed off in the direction of the cargo rooms.

Shepard watched him go and sighed to herself. “He’s going to need armor.”

“And clothing,” responded Jacob as he shook his head.

“Spirits please…” groaned Garrus. “I think I’ve seen enough krogan testicles for a lifetime.”

“A lot of crew gonna feel inadequate in more ways than one if he goes around like that,” Jacob responded with a chuckle.

“Right,” said Shepard as she finally stood up and helped the young quarian gather her datapads. “Jacob, find me an armorer that can do this. It’s top priority. The faster he gets on the battlefield, the less I have to worry about him headbutting a hole in the Normandy’s hull.” The soldier saluted, then headed off to do as he was bid. “Miranda, gather Rana and meet me in the conference room.”

“On it,” said the operative with an exasperated sigh.

Conference Room – SSV Normandy SR-2

“What’s the matter with you?” asked Miranda as she eyed the giant krogan.

Grunt sat at the conference table, his butt planted firmly on the floor as none of the chairs would support his size, shape, or weight. In addition, he also had a makeshift robe crafted from extra blankets and a bunch of handy clips that the new quarian engineer always kept in one of her many pockets. “You humans are a weird species.”

“How so?” asked the operative curiously as she waited for Shepard to join them.

“The first two of you I meet and neither of you have been intimidated by me,” he pouted as he looked away.

“Didn’t you go after Massani? What happened?” she asked, bewildered by his response. Rana already had her head in her hand.

“I told him that storage area was mine now, and to get out of my room. He just told me to piss off, cracked a bottle of ryncol over my head, then shut the door in my face.”

Miranda covered her mouth with her hand to keep her laugh hidden. Never in all of her predictions of how the future would go did she think that Massani would make her proud. “Well, if it’s any consolation, Shepard, myself, and the rest of her team are all exceptional examples. The majority of humans would die of fright just by looking at you.”

“Aww, you’re just saying that,” he said with a smirk. His head turned as the door at the far end of the room finally opened and in walked the spectre.

“Alright, Rana, tell me what the hell Grunt is and what Okeer was doing,” ordered the woman as she plopped down in her seat.

Nodding, the asari began. “Okeer was one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever known. He was very much like his people. He was angry, violent, and demeaning. But I’ve also never seen someone so passionate and creative as he was about the krogan people. He saw them and was saddened. He didn’t see them the way most of the galaxy, even his own people saw themselves. He saw their culture, their art, their songs, their very way of life dying.”

“Not uncommon of a slowly dying species,” remarked Miranda, who got a glare from Shepard. Holding up her hands defensively, she waved for Rana to continue.

Snorting in annoyance, the asari turned back to Shepard. “Most krogan see the genophage as their inhibiter. But he did not. As I spoke with him, he told me that his people had started dying long before the effects of the genophage took hold.”

“Did he say what was killing his people?” asked the spectre curiously.

Nodding, the asari gave a small smile. “He said that back on their homeworld Tuchanka, the krogan had a purpose. They had to survive. They fought against the weather, the flora, the animals. They fought against everything. They worked together, they celebrated together, and they fought together. But, before the uplifting the krogan went to war with one another and ended up devastating their world. He said it was then that they lost their spirit.”

“A nuclear hellscape can have that effect,” said Shepard as she furrowed her brows.

“It wasn’t so much what they had done to their world, but what they had done to each other,” said Rana as she continued. “After the uplifting, the krogan felt some measure of purpose again with the Rachni Wars, but again they lost it once the war was over. They began fighting each other once more over territory, colonization rights, entire clans began marking their place in the galaxy causing other clans to spread more until the Council had to put an end to their rapid takeover.” She gave a small shrug. “He wanted to return that purpose to his people.”

“Okay…” started Miranda. “But how does that equal this?” she asked motioning towards Grunt.

Nodding, Rana looked to Grunt. “Aside from being the genetic progeny of all of the greatest known krogan warlords, making him one of if not the most formidable krogan in existence, he was also created with greater intelligence and memory.”

“What about the genophage? Did Okeer figure out how to get around that?” asked Miranda firmly.

“He didn’t bring it up often,” she said in a very animated fashion. “The details were likely destroyed in Jedore’s sabotage. But he made it a point to note that his goal was not to get rid of the genophage.”

“I’ll have to have Mordin look at him and see what’s going on. But so far, all you’ve really told me is that we have the product of krogan eugenics sitting at my conference table,” said Shepard with a grim look on her face.

Grunt looked between them all. “Why are you talking about me while I’m sitting right here?”

Shepard turned to him with a stern look. “Do you know why you were created?”

“I… uhhh…” he started, looking away as if thinking. Then he finally glared at her. “No.”

“Then let her finish,” ordered the spectre. The krogan turned away and grumbled to himself.

Rana chuckled to herself at his childish antics before she continued. “Essentially, Okeer wanted to create the future of the krogan. Not just a perfect krogan soldier, but a potential leader to guide them back to their original purpose.”

“That being?” asked Miranda curiously. Thus far, the only purpose she had seen from the krogan was to be a galactic menace.

“As Okeer put it himself,” said Rana as she cleared her throat in an attempt to mimic his tone. “To kill every nightmare, scourge, and reaper in the galaxy until we are as revered as an asari hooker.”

“First eugenics, then misogyny,” said Shepard as she stared blankly at Miranda. “The Illusive Man sure can pick ‘em.”

“I’d say anything willing to help fight the reapers is worthwhile to keep around,” said Miranda thoughtfully. “But as far as being a leader, he’s got a long way to go.”

“Says you,” growled Grunt as he glared at her before getting up. His head scraped the ceiling as he stared down at her. “I’ll be a better leader than any humans in the history of your species.”

“Grunt, sit down,” groaned Shepard.

“But she said I couldn’t-“ he started, but Shepard’s eyes locked onto his, stopping him mid-sentence. Miranda and Rana both stared between the two for a long moment as silence reigned. But grumbling once again, Grunt sat down.

“You will be a great leader, Grunt. But you have a lot to learn before that time comes,” said the spectre as she nodded to him.

“Ha!” he said, pointing at Miranda. “Told you.”

“In any case…” snapped Shepard as she turned back to Rana. “Tell me how Okeer used collector technology to do all this.”

Nodding dutifully, the asari began a long explanation as Miranda sat unbelieving in her seat. She simply stared at the freckled woman across the table, the outrage and shock inside her spiraling out of control. For the life of here she couldn’t figure out how this woman tamed an unhinged genetic krogan abomination with a stare. Her outrage at the sheer disbelief changed somehow inside her. She felt less outrage, and more of something else.

She had no idea what it was. She couldn’t grasp it, and her first thought was that she was now afraid. She was terrified of a woman who, through sheer force of wills, ordered a krogan to sit down, and they did it even begrudgingly. This krogan was the genetic amalgamation of the strongest of his species and even he obeyed her. Miranda had no idea what was going on. Perhaps something was broken inside her. Maybe everyone working with Shepard got instinctual alert signals when she was angry that warned them to get in order, and hers were just broken.

She clenched her fists as she stared up at the terrifying woman in front of her who looked morbid at the asari’s droning explanation. Perhaps it was this effect that the Illusive Man wanted back. Strong soldiers, stealthy infiltrators, intelligent cyber attackers, Cerberus had those in spades, and it wouldn’t be hard to train someone with those exact skills. But no matter how hard they trained; they’d never be able to replicate someone like her. The operative now slightly understood the exorbitant costs of the Lazarus Project, and the Illusive Man’s insistence that no control devices be used on her.

She rested her face in her hands as she realized the magnitude of person she was dealing with. “You alright, Lawson?” came the spectre’s voice, startling her out of her own head.

“Apologies. It’s… just been a long day and I need to check the next dossier. Would you mind continuing this without me?” she asked hopefully, her thoughts now weighing her down.

“Go ahead. I’ll update you on anything relevant,” said Shepard, allowing Miranda to get to her feet and exit the conference room. Her thoughts spun in her head as she made her way back to her office and cabin.

“The Illusive Man couldn’t possibly…” she said to herself as she thought about the eventual clash that would come between them. She may not like Shepard’s altruism towards every weak-kneed species in the galaxy, but she knew her will was as likely to break as the Citadel itself. But she also knew the Illusive Man. And as unbendable as she thought he once was, he had bent to Shepard when she put her foot down about surveillance as well as his involvement with her command. So, it was only reasonable to assume that should a war between the two come, only one of them had shown any sign of weakness.

Shaking her head at the intrusive thoughts, she opened her door and sat down behind the desk. She saw the next dossier was ready and waiting for her. Putting aside her thoughts of potential all out war between Cerberus and the spectre, she opened the message on her terminal and began reading silently. It was only moments before her outrage returned. “He can’t be serious!”

Command Center – Pluto’s Gate

“You have to be joking!” snapped Operative Lawson as she appeared in the QEC before him.

“I appreciate humor now and again, but I’m afraid you’ll have to be specific,” he said thoughtfully as he folded his hands together.

“Subject Zero? From the rogue Pragia wing you shut down!” she barked as she held up the data pad.

“She’s an asset we can’t ignore. Despite them going off the cuff, the Pragia facility managed to turn her into a powerful biotic. More powerful than you and Shepard combined,” he said as he stared at her seriously. He saw her sigh to herself in frustration. “You’ve seen it now, haven’t you?”

She looked up at him with a stern stare. “Seen what?”

“Shepard,” he said simply.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, she nodded. “I have.”

“Then you know that Shepard is more than capable of handling Subject Zero, and can utilize her to make her an effective weapon against the collectors and the reapers,” he said as he took a cigarette from his gold case and lit it. Inhaling sharply, he let out a cloud of smoke before eyeing heer curiously. “Every time you speak to me you seem to be more and more on edge. Perhaps I should reassign you to something a bit closer to home.”

“No, no, no. This is the most important mission our galaxy has seen in a thousand years. I’m not about to go on sabbatical just because everyone around me is losing their minds,” she said as she placed a hand on her hip.

“Will there be anything else then?” he asked her as he ashed the cigarette.

“One more thing. When we went to Korlus to fetch Weyrloc Okeer, the woman running the mercenary groups there, Jedore Maxwell had an Atlas-class mech suit. I know those are restricted and thought you ought to be warned that someone either let the design slip out or outright gave one to her,” she reported as she forwarded the information to him. “It’s been destroyed, as well as the entire compound with her in it.”

“Glad to hear we tied off one loose end. I’ll handle the other,” he said as he motioned towards her. “You should really see about taking your mind of things in between missions. I know working with Shepard can be frustrating and sometimes downright degrading, but it’s necessary work and you need to make sure your mental health doesn’t suffer from it.”

“Degrading?” she asked him with a bewildered look on her face. But instead of continuing, she just nodded. “I could really use a spa day. As effective as she is, working for her is certainly backbreaking.”

“Good. I’d hate to lose one of my best operatives to burnout,” he said thoughtfully as she nodded and closed the communicator. He stared at her a long moment, analyzing their conversation for a moment. Lawson had been under his wing for two years and had been with Cerberus for longer. If anyone in the organization was both diplomatic enough to work for Shepard, but loyal enough to stay with Cerberus, it was her. Perhaps he was underestimating Shepard’s ability to turn even his own people against him. He knew he’d have to keep a close eye on Lawson.

Reaching over, he tapped a button on the arm of his chair. Within seconds, the image of an Asian man popped up in front of him. “Thanatos speaking.”

“We appear to have a leak somewhere in the armored division. An Atlas-class armored suit was in the possession of Jedore Maxwell before her untimely demise. Find out how she got it, and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Understood. It’ll be taken care of,” said the mysterious man before his holographic image vanished and left him alone once more.

Cockpit – SSV Normandy SR-2

Shepard’s brow rose curiously as she moved from the CIC into the cockpit up front and saw her quirky pilot swatting away the holographic eye of EDI that kept randomly popping up in a different spot. “Very funny EDI. Stop messing around on the controls. You’re gonna make me crash the ship.”

“We are in space, Lieutenant Moreau. The probability of you crashing into something…” started EDI as her holographic eye appeared upside down above him.

“Yeah yeah, one in a quadrillion or whatever. Doesn’t matter. You’re distracting me from doing my job,” he said in annoyance as he swatted her away again.

“I was unaware that your job included watching an animated video series on your omni-tool,” responded the AI as she beamed to another location.

“Of course it is. Shepard and the crew need me at the top of my game, and I can’t fly with a level head while worrying about whether my favorite slowburn OTP has finally kissed yet,” he said sarcastically to EDI.

“So, have they?” asked Shepard from behind him, causing him to toss a datapad by accident in an attempt to turn off his omni-tool.

Joker glared up at the eye on the console. “Couldn’t have warned me about that?” he asked scathingly.

“Lieutenant Moreau, Spectre Shepard has arrived in the cockpit,” replied the AI as her holographic form finally vanished.

Shepard wasn’t sure if it was just sure, but she could have sworn she heard amusement in the AI’s voice. The pilot growled to himself and turned his automatic chair towards the spectre. “Thanks EDI. For that one I’m greasing all your bridge cameras,” he said before turning to Shepard. “Sorry, Shepard. Was there something you needed?”

She chuckled to herself and shook her head. “You two seem to be hitting it off.”

He rolled his eyes. “If by hitting it off, you mean I’m afraid to even use the bathroom on the ship without thinking she’s watching me, sure. We’re real chummy,” he said sarcastically. “Is there any way to get rid of it? I really prefer the old Normandy. She was big, beautiful, and most importantly, quiet. This one’s got something though, like it contracted something from docking to a Cerberus station.”

“Very funny, Joker. But EDI is a member of the crew too. You have to respect her like everyone else,” said the spectre as she leaned against the door.

“Sorry mom,” he growled as he turned back to the consoles. “By the way, I’m pretty sure that last crew member you brought aboard threw off the weight distribution throughout the ship.”

“Wanna meet him?” asked Shepard, getting an alarmed look from the pilot.

“I’m… good, thanks. I’ve met my quota of krogan friends for one liftetime. Just make sure he doesn’t eat the ship core down in engineering,” he said giving her a friendly wave as he went back to piloting the ship.

Lu Lu Vis Custom Armors – Zakera Ward – Citadel

“So…” started Shepard as a group of volus attempted to measure Grunt’s body using numerous stepladders and cranes. The krogan stood there in his makeshift robe with an annoyed expression on his face, his head nearly scraping the ceiling of the volus establishment as the pair of them watched. Turning to Jacob, she raised a brow. “You know this place well?”

“I’ve used it several times,” he said as he leaned back against the counter. “Mostly for gifts and that type of stuff. I’ve always found Alliance and… uh, you know… their stuff always fits me pretty snug.”

“Need a custom helmet for the Illusive Man’s ego?” she asked with a smirk.

He cracked a grin at her. “Maybe the audacity. Besides, he reads as more the silver spoon type to me. Wouldn’t be caught dead in combat armor. Maybe I can get them to make business suit space armor.”

Shepard snorted as one of the volus literally climbed up Grunt’s back using his spikes as hand holds. “Speaking of Alliance, you said you were with them before?” she asked curiously as one of the volus accidentally tumbled over in the scuffle.

“Yeah, but not really,” he said with a shrug. “My heart wasn’t in it. I joined when I was a kid because my dad was Alliance to the core. A lifer in the intel sector, similar to you.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Anyone I’d know?”

“Maybe. The Illusive Man did at least get me one of his files,” he said as he brought up the file in question. Her eyes widened as she saw the face of Echo, her former compatriot from the deep space intel team.

“Wait,” she said, slightly confused. “Why did he have to get it for you?”

“Like I said, my dad was in for life. His work was his worry, not so much kids. He did his best with me, but he was always at arm’s length,” said the soldier as he put the file away. “I remember a couple of times he would take me out to eat or we’d go to an arcade. He always had this look on his face like he was just putting in the hours required. Like he had better things to do.”

“Sorry to hear that. Alliance dads can be like that sometimes. Mine wasn’t so different,” she said with a heavy sigh, remembering that her father did something similar.

“I recall one day we were playing video games at his place. He never took it easy on me. Whooped my ass a few times at Street Fighter. Then he gets this call on his omni-tool. He put down the game controller and walked right out the door without another word. Later, my mom came and picked me up from his place saying he got called out on a special operation,” he said with a shrug. “So, while I knew my dad was a hard-nosed Alliance lifer, I never knew what he did until I asked them to look into it,” he said with a sly head nod. “They got me a small file on his excursion to take out the leader of some pro-human extremist cult leader. The file showed he was deep, deep intel. Like, so deep that you and the Illusive Man together would have trouble digging him out.”

“I see…” she said, wondering if she should tell him she had actually worked with his father on numerous occasions over the years.

“Anyway, like I said, my heart wasn’t in it. Whatever he saw in the Alliance, I didn’t,” he said giving a single shoulder shrug. “All I saw was propaganda, please the Council at any cost, make the Alliance look good at any cost, cover up anything bad, yada yada,” he said before giving her an amused smile. “I mean, look who I’m explaining this to.”

She gave a very stern smile back to him. “Yeah, I’ve seen the Alliance for what it can be too.”

His smile vanished and he turned to watch Grunt some more as the volus began testing fabrics on him. “How…. Does this feel?” asked a female volus who began rubbing linen against his leg, which was as high as she could reach.

“How does what feel? What are you doing down there?” asked the krogan as he lifted his arm to see the small attendant holding cloth.

“It’s the liner for… the armor. Even krogan need some form of… padding or else things begin to… chafe,” she responded as she took another section of cloth and rubbed it against his spikes. “How about… this?”

Shepard stepped forward and grabbed the cloth from the attendant. “Down here, Grunt,” she ordered. He lowered his head and she rubbed the cloth against the scales of his face gently. “How’s it feel?”

His lids sagged at the feeling, but then immediately snapped open again in realization. “It… uhh… feels fine. Whatever. I don’t care, just make the damn armor!” he snapped before crossing his massive arms.

Shepard handed the cloth to the attendant. “That one will be fine,” she said with a smile. The cheery volus thanked her and waddled off into the back.

Jacob narrowed his gaze at Shepard as she returned to his side. “Was he purring just now? Because he looked like he was purring,” asked the soldier, getting a laugh from the spectre.

“I don’t believe krogan purr,” she said in response as she turned back to him. “Anyway, you were saying?”

“Right…” he said, taking a second to recall. “Anyway, I thought maybe I’d try out for some special ops like my dad. Maybe I’d find my calling there instead of the rank and file. They put me on the Corsairs.”

“Not a bad gig if you can handle being disavowed,” she said, her brow once again raised in curiosity.

“Same goes for you,” he said nodding to her. “That was where I met my mentor. Man by the name of Ronald Taylor. No relation,” he said with the wave of a hand. “He taught me a lot. He didn’t help with my disillusionment of the Alliance. We did a couple missions together. Even a few blackbook classified ones that’d impress you. But then we both retired around the same time. He got tired of working for the military in general, wanted to go civilian. I wanted to find somewhere that didn’t bullshit me and actually appreciated me.”

“That’s how you wound up with them?” she asked curiously, her focus now off the krogan.

“Yeah. You’ll probably hear that a lot. Cerberus isn’t all just racists and human supremacists. It’s also got a lot of people burned by the Alliance, the supposed good guy,” he said using heavy air quotes. “Dishonorable discharges that spoke out to command, people who already knew the dark side of the Alliance, stuff like that. The only reason I joined was because I saw more potential in them than just a terrorist organization,” he said with a sigh.

She shook her head at the claim. “You may see potential, but you know what I see?” she asked, getting a curious look from him. “I see a dichotomy of death. One side is bad, so people join the other side assuming it’s the opposite. But here’s the reality of the situation, Jacob. Both things are more than capable of being bad,” she said as she held up two fingers. “You may see regular humans spurned by the Alliance working for your group. But I see the experiments. I see humans so scarred from their scientists pumping thresher maw acid into their veins just to see what it does. I see beings and creatures not human being tortured and experimented on. I see humans terrified of failure, leading them to taking their own life.”

“Yikes…” said Jacob with a sour expression.

“Yeah. It may seem like a YMCA club to you and other people angry at the Alliance. But you really only see what they let you see, same as the Alliance. They’re two sides to a coin, but they’re both on the same coin,” she remarked bitterly as her eyes turned back to Grunt who was now swathed in cloth by frantic voluses.

“So… what can we do then? We don’t have a lot of options,” said the young man as he scratched his head.

“Stop giving them both power, and be the change you want to see in the galaxy. And if you can’t, then find someone willing to change it,” she said as she tapped him right above the heart. “It’s gonna take a while, because they’re both going to fight you tooth and nail. But as long as you keep working at it and get people behind you, you’ll force things to change,” she said, then gave him a glowing, toothy grin. “And besides, you’ve got the first human spectre behind you, so there’s nothing you can’t do.”

He laughed at her claim and shook his head. “That’s a hell of a reference to put on a resume.”

“Don’t let them underpay you. My time is expensive,” she said jokingly as she finally decided to help the volus out. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get out of here before the Serpent Nebula creates a new star on top of us, so I’m gonna help them out.”

“You got it, Spectre,” he said and held up his fist. She looked at it for a moment and then bumped it with her own. “Thanks for the talk. Gave me a lot to think about.”

“You’re thinking, Jacob,” she said as she finally turned away. “That means you’re already too good for them.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 12

Citadel Docking Bay – Presidium – Citadel

“So, what are your plans?” asked Shepard as she eyed the asari woman. They had stayed a short while on the Citadel after Grunt received his regular clothing.

“Are you keeping an eye on me, Spectre?” asked Rana curiously as she eyed the woman.

“Of course I am. Thus far you’ve appeared in two mad scientist’s labs that I’ve had to blow the doors off of,” said the spectre as she glared at the woman.

“Fair enough,” said the asari as she raised her hands defensively. “I think I’ll be going to Tuchanka. After all, Okeer’s work didn’t end with his death. He planned for so much more for his people.”

“I don’t imagine the krogan are going to start letting an asari meddle with their politics,” said the woman suspiciously.

“Oh please,” said Rana as she waved her hand dismissively. “I’d never try to butt heads with Urdnot Wrex, especially after our encounter on Virmire.” She chuckled lightly. “I’m probably going to help out however I can with the female clan. They always need volunteers to watch over the young ones and give the clan maidens a rest.”

“Well, at least you’re committed to a good cause. Just do me a favor and quit working for power hungry tyrants with a pension for genetics. I’d rather not have to shoot you the next time we meet,” growled the woman with a sigh.

Grunt stood behind her wearing his new robes and nodded to her as well. “You were a good teacher.”

“Hopefully the rest of the krogan youth agree,” said the asari in a friendly tone before bowing her head. “I’m glad we met again, Spectre. And I hope you and Grunt grow together,” she finished before finally heading towards a nearby passenger ship.

Medical Bay – SSV Normandy SR2

She leaned back in one of the spinning chairs of the medbay as both Doctor Chakwas and Doctor Solus chatted animatedly at one another, the giant krogan occupying their conversation and the medical table. Shepard eyed the table, wondering if it was about to buckle beneath the goliath mass of Grunt’s frame.

“Done bloodwork, cell examination, genetic material, examined down to very core,” said Mordin as he reached up and scratched the hornless side of his head. “Incredible work. Best I’ve ever seen as far as embryology. Extensive writing of genetic coding, inclusion of alien genetic material from other krogan. Impressive.”

“How is that possible?” asked Karin as she shook her head. “Without direct conception, the inclusion of fragments of other fully developed krogan seems unimaginable.”

“Has happened before. Mostly benign,” said the salarian as he waved his arms around. “Celebrities buying genetic code to add into own body or even children. Mostly for vanity. Never seen foreign genetics contribute to overall growth. Must be result of technology acquired from collectors. Even has same birthmark of Shiagur.”

“They appear to be more advanced than we realized,” said Shepard with a heavy sigh. “Anything else interesting in there?”

“Indeed…” said Karin as she turned and eyed Shepard firmly. “I don’t know exactly how to tell you this, Jane. But your DNA was also added to the mix.”

The spectre’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped for a moment. “Pardon?”

Nodding, Mordin smiled at her before placing a hand on the side of the krogan’s head and turning him to face her. She looked directly into his eyes. “Eye color specifically. Very small addition, of course. But good to know technology even works cross species.”

“Wait…” said Shepard as she held her hands up. “Are you telling me someone could use collector genetic technology to create cross species hybrids?”

“Indeed. Looking at one now,” said Mordin as he released Grunt from his hold.

“Can I go now?” complained the krogan as he groaned at all the prodding he had gone through.

Doctor Chakwas nodded before holding up a sucker for him. He eyed the treat momentarily before taking it, ripping the paper off and heading for the door. “I suppose this means you’re the closest thing to a mother he has,” said the older woman as she watched him go. “All of his other genetic contributors are dead.”

Shepard leaned back in the chair and rubbed her forehead. “What about the genophage?”

“Still fully intact,” responded Mordin cheerfully. “Even shows markers of updated genophage strain.”

Shepard looked up at him curiously. “Updated strain?”

“Indeed. Krogan biology very adaptive. Similar to humans. Began to develop countermeasure to genophage. Had to counter the countermeasure. Participated myself years ago,” said the salarian, any cheer in his voice now gone.

Shepard’s surprise was plain on her face. “I don’t imagine the krogan would be happy to hear that.”

“Outrage was likely outcome. Kept secret from everyone, including Council. Was decided necessary by Turian Primarch and salarian STG. The less who know, the better,” he said as he turned and eyed her with his wide gaze. “No doubt wondering why I’m telling you this now.”

“Very much so,” she said, appalled at how casually he just dropped a potential declaration of war on her shoulders.

“Not a lot of time left in galaxy. Entered my golden years four years ago. Want you to know I trust you with information. Want you to be able to trust me,” he said holding his arms together in a familiar fashion to Valern.

She sat up and eyed him coldly. “If you trust me, then tell me. Are there any more plans to update the genophage? Or any other plans to tamper with the krogan?”

“None that I am aware of. Would probably be told. Still asset to STG. But can’t say for sure. Will tell you if topic every crosses my desk,” he said firmly.

Sighing to herself, she clenched her head as she felt an ache growing inside it. “Thank you.” Then she dropped the subject. “Have you made any progress on the collector bioweapon?”

“Reverse engineered. Have created both neurotoxin and countermeasure,” he said, his smile returning to his animated face.

She stared at him in surprise. “That was quick. Has it been tested?”

“Only way to truly test is in field against collectors. But have tested samples. They show promise. Bribed sergeant Gardner with scotch whiskey to be test subject. Could barely remember bargain after applying neurotoxin. Took full twenty-hour day to get over effects,” he said in amusement. “Still gave him whisky. Was confused as to why, however.”

“Please don’t use neurotoxins on the crew without consulting me first,” she said incredulously. “What the hell did I just have to say?” she asked, getting a jovial chuckle from Karin.

“I made sure Rupert didn’t have any lingering side effects. He’s made a full recovery and I’m keeping a watch on him,” she said, giving the spectre a charming smile.

“Thanks,” said Shepard, returning the woman’s grin. “If you don’t mind, I’m gonna go see what fresh hell I have to go through next. You two try not to nerve gas the entire ship.”

XO Quarters – SSV Normandy SR2

“Alright. Give me the rub,” said Shepard as she plopped down in the chair across from Miranda’s desk.

“I assume you’re asking about the next dossier and not soliciting me for sex?” asked the XO as her gaze narrowed at the spectre.

“You’re charming Miranda, but I’m married to my work right now,” said Shepard as she let out a heavy sigh. “So, what’s the situation?”

Miranda picked up the datapad and immediately her entire tone muted. Her sass, her cold demeanor, her stony expression, all of it vanished as she gazed nervously down at the datapad. “May I ask a question?”

Shepard’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Yes?”

“Do you trust me, Shepard?” asked Miranda curiously.

Her brows shot up in shock. “That’s pretty sudden. Where is this coming from?”

Miranda let out a sigh of her own as she brushed her raven hair out of her face. “I know we’ve had our clashes about you bringing random crew members onboard. I haven’t exactly put my trust in you to run things the way you see fit. So, I suppose I’m asking that we start over.”

Shepard sat her chin in her hand. “I’m fine with that. But you’re very practical, Miranda. You wouldn’t be making this offer unless you were worried about something.”

The XO glared at Shepard for reading her like a book. “It’s frustrating working with someone as intelligent as yourself, sometimes,” she commented in annoyance.

Shepard smirked lightly. “Let’s hear it.”

Miranda laid the datapad face down on the desk. “You run things on this ship, not the Illusive Man. I understand that now, and I respect it even. But now I’ve come into conflict with myself. The Illusive Man is making a recommendation that I myself would not allow on this ship, or any ship that I’m staying on.”

“You think they’re that dangerous?” asked Shepard curiously.

“Yes…” she started, then her eyes looked down as she considered not elaborating further.

“We just started trusting each other, Miranda. Don’t hold out on me now,” ordered the spectre.

“Right…” said Lawson before she placed her hands on the desk and stared directly into Shepard’s eyes. “She is a biotic that goes by Jack, but her Cerberus designation is Subject Zero.”

Shepard’s expression hardened. “Why does she have a Cerberus designation?”

“Because a rogue wing of scientists at Cerberus… kidnapped her as an infant and tried to turn her into a super biotic,” started the woman. Immediately Miranda felt her spirit shrinking in front of the fiery wall of anger that she felt emanating from the spectre.

“Continue. If we’re going to trust each other, then I don’t want anything left out,” commanded the woman.

With her hands clenched, she just let it out. “A rogue wing of the Cerberus R&D department thought they could get into the Illusive Man’s good graces by going behind his back and trying to make a superhuman biotic. They predicted they could give a human the same potential as an asari matriarch if they applied the correct training from birth instead of waiting until adulthood.”

Shepard’s glare never left her face as she listened sharply. “Were they successful?”

“In a manner of speaking. She is powerful. More powerful than any human on record so far. But we never got to see her full power on display. Once the Illusive Man found out what they were doing, he sent a squad to shut the facility down,” she said apprehensively. “But the squad he sent never returned. A second recon team found the entire facility covered in bodies of children, guards, and the recon team.”

Shepard winced lightly at the claim. “Was it all her?”

“We believe so. Anyone and everyone in that facility was annihilated without mercy. Then she used the shuttle that the first team arrived on and fled,” said Miranda as she finally looked to Shepard again. “So, you must understand. If you ask her to fight with us, she isn’t going to assume there’s a difference between the people who tortured her as a child and us.”

“Is there a difference?” asked Shepard coldly, getting a heated glare from the XO.

“Of course there is,” snapped Miranda as she clenched her fists.

“Here’s the thing,” said Shepard as she sat up in the chair and grabbed the datapad. Looking down at the young woman in the photo, her gaze hardened again. “You have full reign to question my authority, but not act against it.”

“What’s to stop her from killing you the instant she smells Cerberus?” asked Miranda, almost angrily.

“Me,” said the spectre firmly. “If she’s a threat to me or my crew she won’t last long here no matter how strong her biotics are. And I think you know that.”

Miranda’s brows furrowed as she saw the lecture incoming. “That shouldn’t be a risk you’re willing to take on such an important mission.”

“The thing is Miranda, I don’t think you’re worried about safety. After all, you’ve grown comfortable around a mercenary responsible for more ships exploding than anyone else on record, a krogan genetic juggernaut, and Garrus who notoriously hates criminal organizations. So, if safety was your thing, this Subject Zero would be the least of your worries,” said the spectre as she leaned back in her chair.

Miranda sat back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “And what then would be my motivation for not wanting a powerful human biotic like her on the team if not for safety concerns?” she asked sourly.

Shepard stared at her for a long moment before finally answering. “I think you don’t want to see what Cerberus is capable of doing to humans.”

Bewildered by the accusation, all the XO could respond with was, “What!?”

“None of the other crewmates have an association with Cerberus like she does,” said Shepard as she leaned forward onto Miranda’s desk and stared her down. “Despite your best efforts to convince people otherwise, Miranda Lawson, you aren’t the cold, uncaring, ice queen you want people to believe you are. I know you’re empathetic as well.”

“Oh really?” asked the woman in annoyance.

“Yeah. And I think having Jack around means you’re going to have to see what Cerberus does to people. What it’s always allowed to happen to people,” said Shepard as she shrugged. “Look, I’m not a psychologist or a therapist, Miranda. But your caution here makes little sense beyond the initial meeting. She’s human just like me and you, and if she doesn’t want to work with us, then she doesn’t have to. But I’m not going to pass up the opportunity to have someone like her on the team.”

Miranda slid the fingers of both hands into her hair before gripping it tightly in anger. “As you wish, Shepard,” she said sitting up and returning to her stony expression.

The spectre glared at her briefly. “Don’t even try it, Lawson. I’ve already broken through the ice once, and I’ll do it again.”

“Look Shepard, not for nothing but you and I aren’t going to agree on this. So, if you don’t have anything else to add then I’d really like to get back to my work,” said the woman sharply.

Shepard smirked at her and nodded gently. “As you wish.” She then stood and left the office.

Miranda watched her go. As soon as the door slid shut, she slammed both her fists on the desk. “Fuck!” she shouted angrily as she stared down wildly at her throbbing hands. “First the Illusive Man and now her! Will nobody in this goddamn galaxy take me seriously!?” she seethed as she leaned her head into her hands. “I need some rest…” she said before getting up and heading off to the back where her bed lie.

Captain’s Quarters – SSV Normandy SR2

She reached up and rubbed her neck gently to assuage some of the soreness that had built up over the last mission. She eyed the datapad Miranda had given her curiously, noting that Cerberus had literally bought the young woman’s freedom from a space prison run in the Terminus Systems. All she had to do was go and pick her up.

“What are the odds that I get out of that one without blowing it up?” she asked as she set the datapad aside and stared up at the ceiling. She felt tiredness inside her similar to when she had been having nightmares that the beacon had implanted into her brain. It was then that she realized she hadn’t been having them anymore, regardless of Liara not being around. “Be thankful for small mercies.”

Then her thoughts shifted to the asari. She leaned forward onto the desk and looked over at the picture next to the terminal she sat at. It was a picture of her old crew. Garrus, his face unmarred stood behind Shepard and Tali while Wrex stood stoically behind Kaidan and Ash. And Liara stood next to Shepard, a giant grin on her gorgeous face. Shepard smiled as she saw the picture, then let out a heavy sigh. She hadn’t thought about them in a while. Ash was out doing work for Anderson and Udina, Wrex was wrestling control of the krogan clans from the warlords on Tuchanka, Tali was doing work for the Migrant Fleet beyond the Perseus Veil, and Liara. Liara was an information broker. Seemingly the only one that could have time to spare for her and she still hadn’t contacted her. She began wondering if she had an excuse, or if she was avoiding it because of the long period of her death.

Groaning to herself, she rubbed her face and sat up. “I need to call her when I get back. We have a lot to catch up on…” she said to nobody in particular.

“I will add this to your itinerary, Shepard,” came EDI’s voice from the door.

“I’ve got it, EDI. Thanks,” she said as her glare hardened. “Speaking of calls,” she said as she opened her terminal and sent a call out immediately.

Within moments, Admiral Hackett’s face appeared on the screen, his eyes showing as much surprise as he could show. “Spectre? Did you need something?”

“Yes, Admiral, I do. I need you to head to the QEC on your ship so we can have a private conversation,” said the woman with a firm stare. Her father eyed her for a moment, but likely knew when she was being serious.

“Alright. I’ll be there momentarily,” he said before cutting off the call. She was at her own communicator in the ship within moments, and it wasn’t much longer before his visage appeared once more standing before her. “What can I help you with, Spectre?”

“I’m calling you first because you’re higher rank,” said Shepard sternly as she crossed her arms. “Which one of you was suppressing my medical information about the biotic nodes in my nervous system?”

Immediately, the statuesque man as flexible as iron suddenly flinched. “Oh hell…”

“Yeah…” snapped the spectre as she glared at him. “I feel like that’s something you should tell your damn daughter.”

“Look…” started the man as he looked around, seemingly for a way to escape. “It wasn’t our intention to hide anything from you.”

“Then why?” she asked impatiently.

“Because we were scared,” he responded firmly. Her features softened. “We had heard about biotics, but we didn’t know enough about them to commit you to that life.”

“I still feel like you could have told me something about it,” she said with her arms akimbo.

“I understand what you’re saying. But the more we learned about biotics, the less we wanted anything to do with it,” he said almost desperately. “We heard the Alliance had created some kind of biotic training compound out at Gagarin Station in order to train children of a young age. But we didn’t trust the Alliance with your life. Especially after the extranet suddenly stopped working there,” he said sharply before he straightened up again. “And after hearing what happened with that damn turian instructor, I’m glad we didn’t put you through that. I never would have forgiven myself if you had gotten hurt.”

She softened more, but kept her stare on him. “I get it, you didn’t want the Alliance locking me in a cage and prodding me with sticks. But that still doesn’t exactly explain why you didn’t tell me. I likely wouldn’t have had an issue playing ignorant about the whole thing.”

“Partially because we didn’t want to burden you with something like that at such a young age,” he said getting a glare from his daughter. “And partially because we wanted you to have plausible deniability. If you knew you were biotic and hid it from the Alliance, they could charge you with something. But, if they investigated and saw that me and your mother were the ones having the data altered, then we would take the blame instead of you. That was more a problem when you were with the Alliance, but I suppose now that you’re a spectre, we don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

“Something like that,” she said with a heavy sigh. “Are there any more surprises about me that I’m not aware of?”

“Well, I don’t know if you knew this, but you kinda have a thing for aliens,” he said with a stony expression that caused her to both glare and smile at the same time.

“Very funny, Admiral,” she jabbed as she gave him a look he recognized from her mother.

“I understand if you’re angry with us for not telling you. We had talked plenty about telling you as you got older. But every time we did you got a new promotion that could have potentially been throttled if we let the information slip. And then…” he said with a shrug. “Out of nowhere you get inducted as the first human spectre. After that it seemed like the information couldn’t hurt you anymore. But at the same time, you had other things going on at the time.”

“Alright,” she said waving the explanation away. “I get it. I wouldn’t trust the Alliance with my child either.”

The older man cocked an eyebrow at her. “Your child? Are you trying to tell me something, Jane?”

She gave him the stink eye before suddenly she stiffened. Something began nagging at the back of her mind. Ignoring her father for a moment, she stared at the ground as she felt a voice emerging in her head. “Jane, do you think now is a good time to have children?” What followed was a mess of static as if she were experiencing visions from the beacon once again. But she didn’t recall any of it. “All women- responsibility- we do-“ Between each word was broken static just like her visions of the Conduit and the prothean key.

“What the hell?” she asked as the vision finally cleared. “I’m even starting to think like a damn prothean now…” Despite the sudden interruption, she felt elated. She didn’t exactly know why as the vision was broken like it had been before. But these blockages were likely caused by her death instead of faulty prothean equipment.

“Everything alright, Jane?” he asked curiously, having watched the entire display.

“Yeah, I’m fine. As far as I’m aware, no. I’m not… a… parent…” she started before slowing down and stopping.

“Jane…” growled the man as he gave her a glare in return.

“Look, it wasn’t my choice. Some madman krogan scientist used my DNA in the making of a krogan super soldier. So, I’m kinda like his mother,” she said with a shrug. The man simply reached up and began rubbing his temples tiredly.

“I’m fine with you adopting a krogan, all things considered. But do me a favor and try not to bring them to Christmas dinner. I don’t know if we’ll have enough food to feed a rampaging krogan warlord,” he responded only half joking. “If there’s anything you need from me or your mother to help with your… er… new abilities I guess, then please let us know.”

“You’ll be the first to know,” she said as she ran a hand through her blazing long hair.

Purgatory Intergalactic Isolation Prison – Osun System – Hourglass Nebula

The doors to the station opened and out walked Shepard, Grunt, and Garrus fully armed and armored. Miranda followed along behind for logistics in making sure the transaction went through. Shepard wore her Sentinel armor once more. While she surmised that stealth might be a good option if things went south, she also knew that her invisibility would be next to useless in the cramped hallways of the prison barge they were currently on. So, she instead opted for the armored defense.

She doubted anything was going to happen, especially with a massive heavily armored krogan at her back wielding a brand new Claymore shotgun. But she didn’t like to take chances with bloodthirsty thugs like this Warden Kuril. As the group stepped up to the entrance, she hit her comm and signaled the Normandy. “Alright Joker, we’re in. Go ahead and meet us at the loading dock for pickup. We’ll be there once we cross our Ts and dot our lowercase Js,” she said as she approached the pair of guards at the front. Both had rifles that looked like they had seen use.

One of them signaled for her squad to stop. “Welcome to Purgatory Prison Facility, spectre. Your package is being prepped as we speak. We just need your signature and the liaison’s signature on the release form, and you’ll be good to go.”

“That package is a person,” she growled at him. “Whatever. The faster I get out of here, the better,” she responded as she went to take a step forward again, but the turian man stopped her.

“Apologies spectre, but this is a high security vessel. I’ll need you to relinquish your weapons,” he stated casually as he signaled the other guard to collect them. The second man was clearly nervous as he stepped up to the squad, his eyes never leaving Grunt.

“We’re not relinquishing our weapons. If you try to take them, I’ll be relinquishing a single round right between your eyes,” she said threateningly as she placed a hand on her pistol.

“Heh heh heh,” chuckled Grunt from behind her.

Both of the men looked at each other nervously before Shepard ignored them and simply walked past the pair. As she approached the front door, it slid open and a tall turian in dark red armor stood in her path. Unlike the two cronies, he had no helmet on showing her his familiar face. “Spectre, I’m Warden Kuril and this is my ship. Your weapons will be returned on the way out, but you must realize this is standard procedure.”

“There’s nothing standard about this, Warden. You insisted that we come aboard your ship to sign the documentation instead of sending it to us electronically,” she said as she stood up to him. If the man was intimidated, he didn’t show it at all. “Let me make something blatantly clear here. My time is valuable, and I don’t intend to waste it here. You have someone I need, and I don’t care if I have to walk over your corpse to get her.”

She could hear Grunt rolling his newly armored shoulders behind her. The two men behind them looked at each other nervously. Finally, he snorted out of his nose. “Let them proceed. Our facility is more than secure enough to handle three armed guests should they try anything.” Almost in relief, the two guards lowered their weapons and went back to their posts. Kuril simply waved for her to follow and began walking down the corridor. Sighing to herself, she followed after him. “We’re bringing Jack out of cryo. Once we have your signatures, we’ll release her into your custody.”

She said nothing as she continued through the hallways, her eyes catching as two inmates began to fight on the deck below. As soon as the men made contact with one another, a tower activated nearby and the two inmates flew away as if by magic. “Electromagnetic collars,” remarked the woman as she saw one of the men tumble across the floor.

“A necessary element of any prison, but especially ours. We don’t have your typical pickpockets and vandals locked up here. Every homeworld sends us their worst in order to keep them away from the public,” said Kuril as he led them through the halls of the ship.

“Out of sight, out of mind as humans say,” remarked Garrus as he shook his head.

“An apt sentiment,” said the warden as he stopped and entered a number into a keypad door. “It takes a lot to keep these bloodthirsty animals in line. That comes with a cost.”

Shepard rolled her eyes. “You’re trafficking is what you’re doing.”

Kuril stopped and eyed her sternly. “Spectre, you don’t have to like my methods. But you can’t argue with my results.”

“Warden, there are three types of people who, if given the choice, I’d bury in a hole for the rest of their lives. One of those is prison profiteers. I don’t like you, and I don’t trust you, so save me the morality garbage and let’s get this done before I lose my temper,” she snapped as she walked past a cell with a guard mercilessly beating one of the inmates.

“As you wish, Spectre,” said the warden in a cool tone as he approached another hallway. He stopped and waved his hand down the hall. “You’ll find the paperwork through that door. Once it’s signed, the guard inside will escort you to the docks for pickup.” Shepard walked past him without acknowledging him, getting one last line. “It’s been a pleasure, Shepard.”

As she entered the doorway she looked around curiously. Her XO almost immediately noticed the same thing she had. “Didn’t he say there would be a guard in here?” asked Miranda curiously.

“Shepard,” said Garrus as he pointed up towards the ceiling. “This looks exactly like the cell blocks we passed to get here.”

Immediately, she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Reaching down, she activated her omni-tool and broke into the console of the door. It took minimal effort given the prison used to be an animal ark, and the warden was obviously too cheap to upgrade anything. “Let’s find the paperwork,” she said cautiously before signaling them on a private line. “Something isn’t right here. Pretend you’re looking around for the paperwork.”

They did as they were bid, and as she predicted, seconds after they all entered the room, the door sealed behind them. Shepard turned towards the door in surprise before she mimicked trying to open it via the console. “What the hell is going on!?” asked Miranda worriedly as she approached the door.

Shepard looked to her and noted she didn’t have much worry in her eyes, despite her tone. “The door just sealed! We can’t get out!” she snapped as she continued to type away at the console.

“Ah, Shepard. I’m afraid you were right not to trust me,” came the warden’s voice over the loudspeakers. They all looked around curiously.

“What the hell are you talking about, Warden?” asked Shepard as she stopped worrying about the console.

“I’m not a very trustworthy person. When an opportunity presents itself, I can’t help but take it. And you are one hell of an opportunity,” he purred over the speakers. “See, what Cerberus, the Alliance, and even you weren’t aware of is that the collector bounty on your body is still active. They’re paying me to capture you, and in return, they’ll be giving me enough godlike weapons tech to annihilate the Citadel Fleet should I please.”

“So…” started Shepard as she crossed her armored arms. “Was this your plan from the beginning? Did you hunt down Jack just so you could lure me here?”

“Of course not. It was just happenstance that she fell into our lap right as Cerberus was looking for her. Call it destiny,” said the man in amusement.

“Sorry Warden, I don’t really believe in destiny,” she said before dropping all pretenses. Reaching up, she activated her communicator. “Joker, alert the rest of the crew and get them onto the prison armed and armored. If any ships try and leave, turn them into photons.”

“Understood, Spectre,” came his response .

“Warden, you’ve just made the worst mistake of your life,” she growled before swiping the console with her omni-tool. The door immediately slid open, and she grabbed her heavy battle rifle off her back. “Now sit tight, I’m coming to you,” she said before sprinting through the door with her group behind her.

Immediately, any casualness in his voice vanished as he barked orders over the intercom. “Shepard has broken out of Block 30! All forces immediately subdue her!” he snapped angrily.

Two guards immediately sprinted down the hall towards them but skidded to a halt as Grunt plodded forward. They began to back up immediately as they stared up at him. “Heh heh heh, that’s the reaction I’m looking for,” he grumbled before letting out an earth-shaking battle cry. The guards sprinted back the way they came, and Grunt followed them.

Garrus stepped up to Shepard who just shook her head. “Is he even going to need any help?”

“He’s getting it regardless. Let’s go,” she ordered as she too began to jog down the long corridor. She flinched as she saw one of the prison doors cave inwards as Grunt smashed headfirst into the guards that were trying to open it.

Within seconds the krogan was inside the next block of cells. Shepard entered large chamber and looked around at all the faces of the worst people in the galaxy. “Any of you move to attack us and my krogan friend here will eat you whole!” she snapped as they all simply stared down at the intrusion. “Let’s get out of here before they get any funny ideas.”

Using the electronic approach this time, the door slid open and they left the pair of guards crippled on the ground in the middle of the cell block. Almost immediately more guards flooded into the tube-like hallway, and almost immediately they began running back. This time they aimed their weapons and fired. But Grunt soaked up most of the gunfire with his own heavy shields and armor. Shepard and Garrus both flanked him on either side and blasted through the flimsy armor the guards used within seconds while Grunt annihilated one with a single blast from his shotgun, sending their legs tumbling down the hall.

“Careful with that shotgun in here, Grunt. Try not to hit the wall and space us,” said Garrus as he shot another of the guards through the face shield. Shepard couldn’t see his face through his helmet, but she knew he was smiling.

“You got it,” he said as he slid the weapon onto the back of his waist and slammed his fists together. Charging forward the titanic figure wrapped his arms around three of the remaining guards before hoisting them into the air and squeezing them so hard that the sound of their spines crumbling was audible.

“How is he more lethal without the gun?” asked Garrus as he looked between Miranda and Shepard. They both shrugged and simply followed in his destructive wake, leading to another cell block. Unfortunately, they had already heard the announcement, and were in the process of rioting.

“Good news, the prisoners have potentially killed the guards. The bad news, they’ll probably want to do the same to us,” said Shepard as she eyed the mass of violence within the next room.

“Shepard, it’s Taylor and Massani. We just boarded the prison ship. Some girl named Kasumi is here too. I’m not sure if she’s with us or not…” came Jacob’s voice over the comm.

“She’s definitely with us. She’ll get you through the doors. If you find Warden Kuril, keep him alive for me if you can. If not, oh well. In the meantime, the guards and prisoners are hostiles. Clear an exit for us at the landing zone,” she ordered as she finally opened the door. The prisoners immediately turned towards her. “Anyone makes a move on us it’ll be the last thing they do,” she shouted as she raised her rifle.

One of the braver of the prisoners with tattoos from head to toe smirked. “You think you can scare us with those weapons?”

She sighed to herself and shook her head. “You’re right. What was I thinking? Grunt?”

The krogan brushed the group aside and his effect on the prisoners was almost immediate. The mouthy one at the front stumbled back as he saw the goliath stepping towards them. “All aboard the Grunt train!” he shouted before he charged headlong into the fray.

Shepard and Miranda followed him in and launched prisoners across the room with their biotics as they tried to get the jump on them, leaving Garrus holding off the prisoners that they had left behind. The XO lifted a group of five people that tried to leap on her into the air before slamming them into the ground with sickening force. “How the hell did we once again end up in an all out war on a diplomatic mission!?” she shouted in exasperation.

“I feel like people should start getting combat patches once they finally ask that question,” said Garrus as he kept the prisoners heads down from the last cell block.

It finally seemed like the inmates had learned their lesson and had all gone back to their cells instead of trying to take down the krogan that was currently carrying around the body of one of their fellows by the arm like he was dragging a doll behind him.

Shepard noticed after the inmates had evacuated that there were some guards left bleeding on the floor. Grabbing one of them by the collar, she pulled him up so that she could glare directly into his terrified eyes. “Where is Subject Zero?”

The batarian man had a leg twisted entirely in the wrong direction as he grabbed Shepard’s arm desperately. “S-Subject Zero was immediately sent to the cryo wing. It’s block 5 at the end of the main hall!” he cried as he pointed towards the door into the hall in question.

“Good. Let’s get going,” she ordered before the loudspeakers lit up again.

“Shepard is currently in Block 26! Activate all security measures! DO NOT LET HER LEAVE THIS FACILITY!”  came the shout as she shook her head. But almost immediately she became alert as a familiar sound hissed around the block.

“Shepard!” snapped Garrus as he aimed his rifle high.

“She looked up and immediately dove out of the way as a heavy mech dropped from a crane hook on the ceiling, putting a crater in the floor and obliterating the man she had just interrogated. Grunt spun around and shouted in glee as he charged directly for it. Meanwhile, smaller mechs clung to the ceiling and fired down on them with guns.

“That’s a hell of a security system!” shouted Miranda as she shoved two men aside in their own cell to get out of the rain of fire. Shepard’s shields soaked up the shots that actually hit, leaving her unharmed. Instead, she focused on the big one that was currently wrestling with Grunt.

The krogan had grabbed its arms and in retaliation the automaton had unleashed machine gun fire directly into his torso. But the combination of his shields and armor prevented them from leaving even a dent. Instead, the krogan gripped it around its torso and lifted it from the ground. Every inmate watched in terror as the hulking juggernaut slammed it through the doorway and into the main hall. Just as they both hit the ground, the YMIR fired a stray rocket sending it flying down the hall before shattering one of the unbreakable panes of plasteel glass a block down and showering the inhabitants with deadly shards.

“Spirits I hope Kuril has a warranty on this thing,” said Garrus as he and Miranda made it out of the block.

Grunt grabbed one of the mech’s arms and wrenched it to the side, causing an audible groan as the fabrication buckled under his immense strength. Finally, he tore the limb clean off before raising it and slamming it over the machine’s head, caving it in and causing it to go silent.

Shepard eyed the inmates from the open door as they watched the battle. Once it ended, they all began to cheer madly for the krogan. Shepard groaned to herself as she waved for the others to follow. “Let’s find block 5 and get out of this hellhole.”

It took only minutes of Grunt scaring the piss out of every guard that tried to halt them before they finally found the block in question. As they approached, it was Miranda who spoke and surprised Shepard. “If you want to free her you’ll have to access the controls from the tower. With cryo prisoneers you can’t just rip them out of stasis. It could potentially kill them.”

“You’re surprisingly helpful,” said Shepard as she busted into the door to the tower in question next to the block. “Grunt, watch the door. Make sure nobody enters the block.”

“I’ve given you the warning, the consequences are yours. I also know there’s no point in stalling. I’d much rather get it over before the life support systems start crashing and we get blasted into space debris,” she said firmly as she followed the spectre up the ladder.

Almost as soon as the door at the top of the tower was opened, Shepard’s shields began to ping as rounds were fired at her. She rolled her eyes at the pointless effort of the human hiding behind the console. Grabbing her pistol, she aimed at his foot which he had failed to hide and blasted through the thin suit. The man went down screaming before Shepard walked over and gripped him by his shaggy hair. “Find Jack and unthaw her. Now,” she ordered as she slammed the side of his head into the console.

The frantic man did as he was told and accessed the records before ordering the machines to unthaw cell C33. Shepard tossed the man away from the console and stepped over to the window to watch as a small tube emerged from the blocks where normally there would be cells. Within moments, thawing agents were pumped into the tank. The casing finally popped off, showing her unconscious form.

Shepard’s brow furrowed as she eyed the young woman. Her head was clean shaven, and she had tattoos from the neck down with the exception of a barcode-like halo circling here cranium. She barely had any clothing on, and what she did have could barely be called clothing. She wore rags that wouldn’t look out of place on Omega’s homeless alleys.

Finally, the young woman began to stir. Shepard watched her dutifully as she looked around nervously. Suddenly, the loudspeaker activated again. “Shepard is in the cryo wing! Marshal security now! I don’t care how many inmates die! DO NOT LET HER RELEASE JACK!” shouted the warden in panic.

Shepard smirked before she looked back down at the prisoner. “Oopsie. Too late,” she said in amusement. But her mirth vanished when she saw another mech drop right into the chamber where Jack was currently freeing herself. “Dammit! We have to help her!” snapped the spectre.

But Miranda held up a hand. “Hold on, Shepard. Watch,” she ordered as she continued to watch Jack.

The redhead eyed the woman curiously before looking down. With both arms freed, the convict was now prying her neck bar open with her bare hands. Once it was finally done, she fell to her knees in front of the heavy mech. As she looked up, Shepard swore Miranda was just doing this to get the young woman killed. But her own eyes widened as a biotic aura exploded from her.

The mech lifted from the ground as Jack’s face warped from confusion to pure rage. Then she reached up with her hands as if she were gripping the mech herself. Finally, she used her biotics and tore the machine in half with no more effort than if she was holding tissue paper. Shepard’s jaw dropped as she watched both halves of the machine  smashed through the supposedly impenetrable walls on either side. “Wow…”

But before she could get another word out, Jack fled out of her sight and underneath the tower they were standing in. Almost instantly, an explosion rocked the tower, nearly knocking her off her feet. “Perhaps we should have kept her in cryo until we got her out of the prison!” shouted Miranda over the alarms that were now blaring.

“Hull breach in block 3, block 5, and block 7. Ship integrity at 98%,” came the voice of an automated announcer.

“Shit, she may have run into Grunt!” shouted Shepard back to the operative before sprinting for the door. She gripped the ladder and slammed her feet onto either side, allowing her to slide down quickly. Finally, she hit the ground and exited the tower to find Grunt standing and staring down the hallway as the ship shook again. “Grunt!? What happened? I told you to watch the door!”

“I did watch it,” he said, turning to her with a look of surprise. “It was awesome!”

Turning from him, she looked at the damage Jack had done to the block doorway and her breath hitched for a moment. “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” she said somberly as she saw the entire wall missing from the cell block hallway.

Chapter Text

Chapter 13

???? - ????

He sighed to himself as he stared down at the band on stage. They were a local group known as the Lord of the Strings. As their name implied, they dealt mostly with stringed instruments of every make and model from violins to banjos and even one person who commonly used a guzheng. If he were honest, their solo of Spring River Flower Moon Night was his favorite. It always put him at ease as if each reverberation of the strings vibrated away the stress from his body.

But each time he came back here he found it sounding more and more off, as if the musician were off key. He wasn’t sure what was happening because it seemed he was the only one who caught the sound drifting. Each time it ended, they would still receive a standing ovation as was customary for the beautiful piece. He stood and clapped as well in the concert hall as the roar of applause sounded. But he found himself wondering if there was actually a change in the tune of the instruments, or if there was something wrong with him. He hoped that wasn’t the case, but he had no way to be sure at the moment as nobody would speak.

He reached up and pinched his nose, trying to relieve the stress on his mind as he felt a soft touch on his shoulder. Turning, he saw her face again and smiled as she wore a hood over her head for the performance. He smiled, the stress melting away as he saw her again. If nothing else in the world was right, she was. And that would never change.

Main Hallway – Purgatory Prison Ship

“I don’t see why you’re mad at me. You said to make sure nobody goes in,” said Grunt as he trundled heavily behind the squad that were now sprinting down the destroyed hallway. There were bodies of guards and prisoners littering the ground everywhere.

“Just… don’t worry about it, Grunt,” said Shepard with a sigh as she jumped yet another mangled corpse that had been crushed by the wily young woman’s biotics. “She can’t go on forever, she has to eventually hit a wall.”

Garrus spoke up as he jogged alongside them all. “Unless she hits the docks and tries to take the Normandy,” he said as he kept pace with them, not using the blinding running speed that turians were known for.

“Shit,” groaned Shepard as another explosion rocked the entire ship.

“Hull breach in blocks 23 and 25. Safety doors dropped. Zero survivors. Hull integrity at 68%,” came the announcers voice once again.

“Shepard! Tell your goddamn krogan to stop blowing the damn ship up or you ain’t gonna make it out of there alive!” snapped Zaeed over the comms, no doubt having also felt the rocking of the ship as the blocks depressurized violently.

Garrus responded before Shepard had a chance to. “Grunt isn’t the one tearing the ship to pieces. It’s a human teenager,” said the turian without thinking about what he was saying.

There was a moment of silence on the comm before he finally responded. “Are you fuckin’ with me Vakarian?”

Shepard cut in to clear the confusion. “She’s not a teenager. Young woman, shaved head, lots of tattoos, responds to Jack. She’s a powerful biotic that we came here to get, and she broke loose and is currently tearing the ship to pieces. If she comes your way, do not engage her! I repeat, do not attack her!” ordered the spectre as she ran through another gaping hole in the next guard checkpoint.

She held up her hand for them all to stop as she saw the situation ahead, however. The room ahead of them looked like some kind of cargo hold with crates stacked all around the area. In the center of the floor was a massive crowd of bloodthirsty inmates who had been freed due to both her and Jack’s antics, all of them surrounding Warden Kuril and several of his guards who were now trapped on the upper catwalk of the room.

The warden aimed his weapon down at the group, but if they were even the slightest bit scared, not a one showed it as they continued shouting for him to come down to them. Shepard scanned the room as she looked down at the entrance to the room, noticing the door had been shot off its hinges instead of blown off like all of Jack’s previous openings. Looking up, her eyes scanned the crowd. “She slipped inside unnoticed. She’s somewhere in the crowd,” said the spectre as she headed inside to get a better view.

As she did, the warden immediately noticed her and began firing on her position. She was much too far for the inaccurate battle rifle to hit, but she glared at him nonetheless as he accidentally took out some of the inmates below.

“Shepard, if we call her name out here she’ll likely make a run for it. We need to get her attention somehow and draw her out of the crowd,” said Miranda as she too looked around the room for any signs of the young woman. Unfortunately, the most common haircut for humans in the prison was shaved, making it near impossible to spot her among the taller inmates.

“I’ve got an idea,” said the spectre as she took her battle rifle and tossed it to the operative. “Grunt, you follow me. Garrus, take your long-range rifle and make sure none of those guards interfere.”

“You got it, Shepard,” said the turian as he reached back and pulled his sniper off his back.

Nodding to them, she jumped down a few feet until she was level with the crowd. “Out of the way!” she snapped as she began to shove aside the inmates in her way. They turned to retaliate but almost immediately shrank as Grunt’s bulk dissuaded them. Soon, every inmate in the place knew she was coming and they split the way for her, allowing her to walk cleanly towards the warden’s position. When she spoke, it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, the only indication of the destruction behind her being the flashing lights on the wall above. “I warned you, Kuril. I made it very clear and gave you every opportunity not to fuck with me, and you did it anyway.”

“Burn in hell, Shepard!” snapped the desperate turian from above. “I could have sold you and lived like a king for the rest of my life! I could have gotten out of this hell!”

She simply shrugged as she finally reached the edge of the large crowd. “Why would you want to leave, you fit right in here,” she said, getting a loud chuckle from many of the crowd members. “Now, I’m going to come up there, and none of you are going to move or you’re going to get your skull vacated,” she ordered before turning to the inmates. “And none of you are going to interrupt this fight unless you want to tangle with him,” she said as she aimed her thumb at Grunt.

As a show of force, the krogan slammed his helmeted head into a large container that was being used as a seat by several of the convicts. They  toppled over and fell into the crowd as the entire thing buckled in on itself. “Try me,” he growled as he rolled his shoulders.

“Good job, Grunt,” she said with a smile. Once again, she couldn’t see his expression. But she could markedly tell by his body language that he was bashful about the praise. “Now, up.”

“Up?” he asked her as he pointed up with his finger.

“Up,” she ordered as she lifted one foot. He laced his fingers together, allowing her to plant her foot into it before he launched her up and cleanly onto the platform. Immediately the guards and warden all aimed their weapons at her. “What did I say?” One of the guards gasped as a shot rang loudly across the room. Within seconds, the turian reached up to grasp at his throat with blueish blood pouring out from between his fingers. He stumbled and immediately fell over the railing. “I warned you.”

“What the hell are you doing up here, Shepard?” snarled the terrified warden as he dropped his weapon to the ground. “You going to make me beg for my life?”

She shook her head solemnly. “I’m going to do what I promised and bury you,” she said as she held out her hands in a combat stance.

“Haven’t seen you use that since Saren,” came Garrus’s voice over the comm.

“Feel free to fight back for all the good it’ll do you,” she said with a smirk. Immediately the turian guards backed off as the warden took his own stance with his hands up and his legs gently bouncing.

“I don’t think you know who you’re dealing with, Spectre,” said the man as he tried to get off an early knockout by swinging full force with a strong kick to her head. But she ducked easily and caught him off guard as he spun around again. Leaping up, she grabbed his fringe and speared her knee upwards, impacting his nose and sending him skidding backwards as she landed deftly on her feet.

“Is that Muay Thai, Spectre?” came Kasumi’s voice curiously over the comm.

“I think that’s what she called it,” said Garrus as he watched through the scope. “Put me on my behind back in the Normandy plenty of times.”

Shepard let out a heavy sigh as Kuril gasped and reached up to grasp his face, his nose now gushing blood from the impact. “Not now,” she ordered as she focused on her opponent. He recovered quickly enough and released his face, showing that she had cracked his plated nose. She could immediately see that the man was shaken by the attack. He had expected the small fragile human to go down to the powerful turian kick. But now she had drawn first blood, he was dazed, and the crowd was cheering his demise.

Lunging for her, the warden moved to grab her around the neck. She didn’t know if he was just going to try and strangle her or was attempting to use his talons to puncture her armor. But she wasn’t having any of it as she spun her own hands around his, locking his arms into her armpits before drawing her head back and smashing directly into his nose again with her helmet.

“Oof. That would be Lethwei. Very similar but also very deadly,” came Kasumi’s voice once more.

“I’m sorry, who is speaking?” asked Garrus curiously from his perch.

“Hey. Name’s Kasumi. Nice to meetcha,” she said in a friendly tone as the warden went down to loud cheers from the prisoners.

After the introduction, Garrus stayed silent for a moment before finally speaking. “Shepard, I think I spotted our girl. You said she has a halo tattoo around her cranium?” asked Garrus as he turned his scope for a moment. “Oh… uh, hi Kasumi… I’m Garrus.”

“That’s right. What’s she doing?” asked the spectre who had dropped her stance to egg the warden on. Despite her taunting, she was still prepared for any sneak attacks he may throw.

“She’s watching you fight. I’m not great with human expressions, but I think she’s smiling,” responded the sniper.

“Then let’s give her a show,” said the spectre as she spoke aloud this time. “Let’s go warden. You wanted an opportunity, here it is!” she snapped as she held her arms out impatiently.

The turian man gasped as more blood poured from his nose. This time he coughed, and a broken tooth hit the floor as well. Standing up fully, his legs were now shaking. Whether from fear or pain was irrelevant to her at the moment. It was time to finish this charade.

Having battled with Garrus and the fire team so many times, she almost immediately recognized his moves once again. He was going to fake her out. As predicted, he sent a pitifully weak kick to her side that she blocked with her raised shin. Then he used the deflection to spin in the opposite direction and aimed for her opposite side this time. He apparently knew it was too easy to duck his high kicks and was attempting to make it harder for her to dodge. But instead, he gave her the perfect opportunity.

Once she deflected his kick with her shin, she too spun in the opposite direction. But instead of attempting to go after his body like she normally would, she thrust herself forward and raised her shin high. The turian’s knee immediately impacted her protected shin and there was an audible gasp of horror from both the guards and the audience as the warden’s leg folded far beyond what anatomy allowed. The turian let out a shriek of pain as he went down, clutching his awkwardly bent and destroyed knee.

“Spirits, Shepard. Thank you for never doing that to me,” said Garrus sounding as if he were about to vomit over the comm.

The power from the kick still bumped Shepard back against the wall, but she shook the stinging out of her shin before finally standing over the man. He gasped in pain as he looked up to her. “Shepard… please…”

She knelt down in front of him, her cold stare locking onto his pained one. “These people don’t need to be hidden from society, Warden. Society needs to see them. It needs to see what it has created by failing these people. You hid these failures from their homeworlds and profited from them. And now you’re at their mercy, not mine.” Finishing her lecture, she stood up and with a single boot she shoved the man off the small catwalk and into the crowd.

He shouted in pain very briefly from the impact before he was swarmed, beaten, and no doubt killed in the audience that he had treated as animals. Shepard ignored the guards who were looking around worriedly from the platform and jumped down next to Grunt. As soon as she landed, she saw the face of her target eyeing her from the crowd. Reaching up, she removed the visor of her helmet, allowing the young woman to see her face. “Jack?”

Immediately, the woman’s expression was suspicious. “Who the fuck are you?”

“I’m Spectre Jane Shepard with the Citadel Council,” said the woman as she raised her hands defensively to show she wasn’t armed.

Jack’s gaze narrowed at her. “I heard Cerberus was looking for me before that pile of roadkill got ahold of me,” said the young woman nodding towards the moshpit where Kuril’s body vanished. “You got anything to do with that?”

“Sort of…” said Shepard, wondering how she should explain their association. “Look, I’m going to be straight with you.”

“Fucking better be,” said Jack as she held up a fist with a biotic aura around it.

“I hate Cerberus. Not as much as you no doubt, but I was responsible for crushing an entire branch of them out in the Hades Gamma sector years ago,” said the spectre firmly.

“Oh yeah… I think I heard about that,” said Jack with a grin.

“I’m using their resources to fight collectors and reapers. The Illusive Man tried to exert authority over me and I put my foot in his ass for it. Now he’s pouting in his fancy armchair while I’m out here on the front lines,” said the spectre with a shrug.

Jack snorted in amusement. “Trying to hide all the human decay by pretending to be the good guy for a change?”

“As far as I can tell, yes,” said Shepard as her face grew grim. “But he hasn’t changed. He’s using me to stop the collectors, and I’m using his resources to stop the harvesting of humans. That’s as far as our relationship goes. And eventually, my usefulness is going to expire and he’s going to send someone after me.”

“Sounds about right. There’s no betrayal quite like Cerberus loyalty,” said the convict as she crossed her arms. “So, what’s the deal? I come with you and then I get to eventually kill Cerberus?”

“I’m a spectre and a former deep intel agent for the Alliance. Come with me and you get access to whatever information I can give you, a secure home for a while, and you’ll be close by when Cerberus eventually turns,” said the spectre with a smirk.

Jack returned the gesture and nodded. “You’ve got a hell of a way with words, Shepard,” said the young woman. “Let’s go then. I wanna see what kind of info they’ve got on me.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Shepard put her hands down as Grunt finally approached and waved to Jack awkwardly. “Hey, big fan of your work here.”

“Thanks?” said Jack as she eyed the towering krogan suspiciously.

Reaching up, Shepard activated her comm. “Alright, everyone rally at the docks. We’ve got Jack and she’s coming-“

“SHEPARD! GET BACK TO THE NORMANDY NOW!” came Joker’s frantic shout from her comm.

She flinched slightly at the terror in his voice. “Joker! What’s the-“ she started, but she froze as her vision was drawn upwards to the translucent ceiling of the cargo area. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw the vision of a ship outside of the prison that had just dropped out of FTL. It wasn’t shaped like any other ship in the galaxy, and instead looked like a massive insect hive dug out of an asteroid with a propulsion engine built into the rear.

Immediately, she felt the world around her slowing down as her adrenaline kicked in. Her mind began cycling static images in front of her, some becoming clearer and clearer. She was on the old Normandy headed to Alchera. They had arrived, but Pressly detected a strange presence in the system. Then images of the same ship appeared in combat range. A massive beam of light. Fire, explosions, hurling herself through the vacuum of space to get to the cockpit, and then…

Miranda saw the ship as well and her eyes immediately widened. “The collectors are here!” she shouted over the comm as Garrus sprinted up to her.

“We have to get Shepard out of here! They’re here to take her!” he snapped as he ran towards the spectre. But a biotic aura erupted from the woman that blew the turian back for a moment. Miranda looked at Shepard and saw her eyes wide in horror with tears streaming down her face as her biotics emanated from her in waves.

“What the fuck is she doing!?” shouted Jack as she prepared her own biotics.

“Collectors are sending drop pods now! They will hit in 10 seconds!” came EDI’s call with urgency as Miranda’s mind began scrambling.

She didn’t know what the hell was going on in Shepard’s head, but she knew that the spectre didn’t have all her memories intact, and hadn’t actually seen a collector ship since her death. Something was wrong and she wasn’t responsive despite Garrus’s attempts. She knew she had to take charge for the moment. Turning to the young convict, the operator began barking orders. “Jack! Grunt! Make sure none of them get to Shepard!”

“Who the fuck are you to give me orders?” asked the young woman with a glare.

“This prison isn’t going to survive this attack and the only way off is in the Normandy! If you want to survive, then listen to me!” she snapped, getting a nod from the massive krogan. Jack furrowed her brows for a long moment before finally running over towards the spectre and preparing her biotics. “EDI, where are they breaching?”

“Their pods are landing on the docks as we speak!” said EDI as the loud thumping sound of drop pads smashing into the docks outside could be heard.

“Fuck!” shouted Miranda as she prepared her own weapons and biotics. “Jacob! Massani! Kasumi! The collectors are dropping between the Normandy and us to cut off our exit! We need to clear a path to get Shepard the hell off this ship!”

“We’ll do our best from this side,” said the mercenary, his statement quickly followed by an explosion outside.

“EDI, rally the rest of the crew and get them weapons from the armory to make sure nothing gets on the Normandy. And if you can, use the Normandy’s defenses to keep the collectors at bay while we try and get out of here,” she ordered as she and Garrus finally rallied in front of Shepard as well. The woman still had that expression of horror on her face and was unresponsive. “New plan. Vakarian, grab Shepard and carry her to the Normandy. Me and Jack will use biotics to keep the collectors at bay from the sides. Grunt, clear a path forward until we can meet up with the other crew members.”

Everyone simply nodded. Garrus sprinted to Shepard’s position and grabbed her before throwing her bodily over one shoulder, his other hand holding his battle rifle. Jack took up position on the other side of the massive krogan and as soon as the door to the docks broke open, all hell broke loose.

Collector lasers carved the door to pieces, sending the prefab material exploding inside. Without a second of hesitation, Grunt roared and smashed head first through the door, their lasers scoring his armor but not penetrating without concentrated fire. Miranda and Jack ran after him as he scattered confused collectors across the docking platform, his shotgun already roaring and obliterating the insect-like creatures.

“Damn!” shouted Garrus as, instead of attacking from the ground like most species would, the invaders began flying with wings hidden on their back. He aimed up and began firing to try and take out one of the attackers from above. But he stopped as three of them were caught and slammed into the ground hard enough to break them in half by Miranda’s biotics.

On the other side, Jack had made quick work of anyone attacking from her side by creating a wall of biotics. Using her hands as guides, she encased an entire group of ten collectors inside of it before forcing the biotic wall to crunch smaller and smaller, crushing the entire force into mush. Despite their progress in clearing the platform, the attackers seemed endless. Every one that was killed was quickly replaced by two more. The going was slow and already Miranda felt her mind becoming numb from the overuse of her biotics.

Jack, despite her power, seemed to be slowing as well. Grunt, as strong as he was, was one krogan and couldn’t handle so many enemies coming at him at once. Even with the other crew members helping from the opposite end of the docks, the flanking wasn’t slowing them down as drop pods rained from the collector hive above.

Garrus had to put Shepard down on her feet and actually aim his weapon to help Grunt with attackers taking him from behind. With blood dripping from her nose, Miranda gasped in pain as one of the collector lasers finally got through her armor and singed her arm. The limb was already burning from the overuse of her biotics, but now she could barely lift it. “Shit…” she growled as she realized this may be it for her.

Suddenly, a wave of the collectors slammed into Grunt and toppled them over. Two of the invaders flew past him and flew by Garrus too quickly for him to respond and reached out to grab Shepard. Miranda reached out as well, attempting to use the last dregs of her biotics to save the woman, but she had vanished from right in front of the attacker. Staring in surprise, Miranda looked around same as the collector before a glowing blade erupted from its chest cavity.

Letting out a shriek of death, the collector’s glowing eyes burned out and it slumped to the floor with Shepard standing over it and the other that she had just killed. Then, she vanished again and appeared next to Grunt, her pistol blasting each of their heads as if she were on auto pilot, her cold, tear-stained eyes moving like a machine as she continued to kill collectors like they were actual insects. Grunt finally got back to his feet, his strength overpowering the remaining ones on top of him before grabbing them and full body slamming them into the dock so hard that they practically exploded.

“Damn bugs…” growled the krogan as he shook his head.

“Jack, Miranda, and Jacob if you’re close enough. Aim up,” she ordered as she put her pistol away and shot her arms up into the air. Immediately, a wall of biotic energy shielded them from everything above while Garrus put down anything that was still moving below the barrier. Pods continued dropping from the ship above and smashed the barrier, causing the spectre to flinch in pain, but she continued to push upwards, collecting a mass of writing insectoid creatures that couldn’t get through her hold.

Miranda looked to Jack and they both nodded. Using the last of their energy, they shot their strongest warps inside of Shepard’s own biotic net. She noticed that Jacob had been able to run forward and join as well with Shepard capturing all of the invaders above. As soon as their biotics impacted Shepard, an explosion strong enough to even flatten Grunt to the ground ripped everything inside apart and scattered collector parts everywhere.

“Everyone up and on the Normandy!” snapped Miranda as she got to her feet and began sprinting, leaving her gun behind her. The crew made a mad dash to the gateway of the ship as Massani and Garrus blasted through anything that came down afterwards. Shepard continued to vanish and reappear in an explosion of biotics before slashing through the morbid flesh of the creatures with glowing blades from her omni-tool or blasting them away with her pistol.

Grueling minutes had gone by before they were all finally packed into the airlock of the Normandy. Miranda activated the comm immediately. “Joker! We’re all aboard! Get us the hell out of here!” she snapped as the inside door of the airlock finally slid open and dumped them all inside.

Scrambling to her feet, she ran to the cockpit to see them break away from the prison. From the looks of the vid screens, the collector ship had also noticed and was coming after them. Miranda looked to her side to see Shepard glaring at the screens. Whatever had happened to her back in the prison now seemed to be gone. Looking down to the pilot, she even saw his hands shaking as he quickly and masterfully guided them underneath the prison to put something between them and the collector ship.

“We’ve got cover for the moment. EDI, activate FTL drive immediately,” ordered the pilot.

“Lieutenant Moreau, there is debris in our path large enough to cause the destruction of the Normandy if we enter faster than light travel now,” said the AI as it popped up next to him.

“There’s a 10 seconds charge up for the FTL engine before we make the jump. I’ll be able to get us out of the path before we jump, now do it!” he snapped as he continued steering the ship. Just as he shouted the order, a massive beam of light from the collector ship carved through the prison like it was made of cardboard, trying to find the Normandy behind it. “Shit shit shit!” growled the pilot as he dodged around the laser.

Miranda’s eyes widened in horror as the massive asteroid-like ship broke the entire prison station in half by smashing through it with the bow.

“FTL drive online!” said EDI urgently.

“We’re clear! Engage!” shouted the pilot as he jammed the lever on the console forward. Within seconds the stars around them were beams of light streaking by as the faster than light drive finally kicked in. The prison, the debris, the floating bodies in space, and the collector ship all vanished into the darkness as the Normandy fled from the Osun System, leaving behind annihilation in its wake.

Captain’s Quarters – SSV Normandy SR-2

She sat down in the chair at her desk for a long moment just staring at the terminal. Doctor Chakwas had spent the better part of two hours fussing over her in the medbay, not realizing that she was physically fine, even after the strain she had put on her biotics. It wasn’t her body that had suffered on the prison. Finally, she convinced the woman to look after the other members of the crew and to just let her go in peace.

She stared down at her desk as tears welled up in her eyes again, the memories returning to her in a flash. She still couldn’t access the memories before the Normandy’s destruction, but the sight of the collector ship above her had certainly filled in the blanks on the aftermath. She recalled standing in the CIC and watching as the odd signal got closer and fired on the Normandy without provocation. She recalled ordering Liara to get to the escape pods immediately as an entire wing was shorn from the ship. She remembered the blazing fire in the lower decks, she remembered seeing Pressly’s body floating in the vacuum of space as she made her way to joker.

And finally, she remembered forcing Joker into an escape pod and ordering its launch with the last of her reach before the collector main canon sent her spiraling towards the planet. The suffering she felt as her atmosphere escaped, the feeling of her blood and other bodily fluids boiling within her body, she was gone from the world within seconds before she even entered the atmosphere of Alchera.

The visions of her death had nearly crippled her back on the prison ship. If it weren’t for her crew, she would have been killed or captured right then and there by the collectors. Reaching up, she rubbed her eyes to take the stinging away.

“Spectre, Operative Lawson is at your door,” said EDI from her terminal.

Slapping the grief off her face, she spun in her chair. “Let her in,” she ordered as she leaned back.

Within seconds, Miranda strolled inside, her arm bandaged heavily from the contact with the collector beam. She immediately leaned up against the partition nearby and stared at the spectre. “So, what was that down there?”

Shepard groaned lightly as she reached up and rubbed her head. “Are you trying to make me relive it again?”

“Shepard, I need to know what’s going on. What we just fought out there is who we’re going after. If you’re incapable of fighting them due to post traumatic-“ started the XO, but Shepard cut her off with a wave of her hand.

“My memory has been jacked sideways since my death,” she said, and Miranda nodded gently. “I didn’t remember dying. I didn’t remember going to Alchera. I didn’t and still don’t remember the events leading up to that day. But…” she said as she glared at the woman. “Trust, right?”

Nodding firmly, Miranda smiled. “You can trust me, Shepard.”

“When you say I can trust you, I need you to promise me none of this gets to the Illusive Man unless I give the go ahead,” said the spectre firmly.

“It’s your business, Shepard. Not his,” she said solemnly as she waved her hand. “Continue.”

“Down there, I saw the collector ship and apparently the day we went to Alchera unlocked itself in my head. My own death played before my eyes, the suffering, the feeling of never seeing my friends again, the agony of dying, I experienced it a hundred times over as my mind began relaying them to me, each one correcting the last on minor details,” she said shuddering.

Miranda’s brow rose at the claim. “That sounds like your experiences with…”

“Prothean relics, yes.” Shepard snorted as she looked away, her scowl never leaving her face. “When I say I experienced it, I didn’t just remember it. I felt every second of it as if I was reading prothean data. I felt myself suffocate over and over again.”

The XO flinched at the claim before lowering her gaze. “I’m sorry, Shepard. I didn’t realize you would have that kind of reaction.”

“It’s not your fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, really. Though I’m inclined to blame the Illusive Man for allowing that kind of shady ass deal to happen under his watch,” said the spectre bitterly. “Either way, neither you nor I could have predicted they would have shown up. I thought when the warden said he’d called the collectors, he was going to send me to them. And even then, nobody had any way of knowing ahead of time I would react like that.” Reaching up, she ran a hand through her blazing red hair. “I need therapy.”

“How did you manage the nightmares from the beacon?” asked the woman curiously as she crossed her arms. Shepard looked at her wide-eyed for a moment. “I mean, you were an effective leader back then as well. So, you must have found some method of coping with them. Unless you kidnapped a therapist and stashed them on the Normandy.”

“I…” started Shepard hesitantly. But she let out a sigh as she finally faced the woman again and looked her dead in the eyes. “Liara helped. She used her biotics and projected her own emotions into me. The brain automatically took the sensory emotions from her over the beacon’s latent memories, allowing me to experience something besides the beacon visions.”

“That works?” asked the XO as she stood straight.

“It did for me,” said Shepard with a shrug. “Either way, thank you,” said the redhead as she stood to her full height again.

“For what?” asked Miranda in bewilderment.

“If it weren’t for you, my crew and myself probably wouldn’t have made it out of there alive,” said Shepard as she placed a hand on Miranda’s shoulder and squeezed gently. “You’re a good leader, Miranda. A lot better than I gave you credit for.”

Far from her stony expression, the woman just looked stunned for a long moment before nodding. “I… I do what I can, Spectre.” Shepard smiled at her before walking past her and turning on the holographic fish tank for bed. She thought the woman would have taken the hint, but instead, Shepard stopped as she called out to her. “Shepard…”

Turning, the spectre eyed her curiously. “What is it?”

“If…” started the XO nervously. Shepard was surprised to see the woman acting this timid all of the sudden. “If you need my help with visions of your death, I’m more than willing to try.”

Her eyes widened slightly at the boldness of the offer. But Shepard simply nodded. “I don’t think the death vision is going to be recurring like the beacon was, but if I need your help, I’ll let you know.”

Miranda gave her a genuine smile before turning and leaving. “Get some rest, Shepard.”

Cockpit – SSV Normandy SR-2

Lia’Vael stood quietly, watching the screens in the cockpit from a distance. She had always been fascinated at how space flew by them while travelling faster than light. It boggled her mind how something as absurd as breaking the laws of physics was so commonplace. She made it a habit to visit the observation deck on numerous occasions to watch the stars go by. But now the observation deck was occupied by someone who she had yet to meet or even see.

With little option for seeing the stars, she instead decided to go to the brain of the ship where all the flying took place and watch from there. She tried to be as non-intrusive as possible, but even as quiet as she was, she had forgotten about one thing.

“Engineer Lia’Vael, is there something we can help you with?” came the voice from the ship’s intercom terminals.

“Ah! EDI! I’m sorry, I’m fine. Please don’t mind-“ she started, but then she noticed the pilot had turned around in his rotating seat and was eyeing her as well. She looked at the ground sheepishly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“You’re not disturbing me, though you are kinda creeping me out standing back there all menacingly. If you wanna look at the screens feel free to come up and have a seat,” said the human man as he spun the seat back around.

Her eyes widened in awe at the offer. “You would allow me in the co-pilot seat?” she asked almost excitedly.

“Yeah. Don’t really have a copilot. So, you wouldn’t really be taking up any space,” he said with a shrug as he motioned to the chair. “Go on, have a seat.”

Feeling her heart pounding madly, she skipped forward and plopped herself down next to the man. Her eyes widened at all of the displays in front of her, and now that she was up close she could see the screens with clarity she never could have from the observation view. “This is amazing…” she said in awe before she turned to him curiously. “Wait, isn’t EDI your copilot? VIs are more than capable of flying a ship.”

“Oh… yeah…” he said before accessing his omni-tool. She stared at him curiously before whatever he was doing was concluded. “About that, EDI isn’t… a VI.”

Lia eyed him curiously from her seat. “If she isn’t a VI, then what is she?”

“Uh… EDI, you wanna handle this one?” asked the pilot as he continued his work.

“Engineer Lia’Vael, I am not a preprogrammed virtual intelligence like Avina. I am an artificial general intelligence,” said EDI as the quarian looked at her holographic eye.

Lia stared at her for a long moment. “Really?”

“I can tell you a joke if you like,” responded EDI cheerfully, but Joker cut in.

“God no. You don’t wanna hear any of that,” he said as he eyed the young quarian. “That wasn’t exactly the response I was expecting given… well…”

“Because I’m a quarian?” she asked, getting a slight nod from him. But she slumped in her seat and let out a loud sigh. “The Migrant Fleet tells us day in and day out the dangers of the geth. But I had been on the Citadel for over two years. I’ve had plenty of time to hear the debate outside of the bubble on the fleet. And I can’t really disagree with those who criticize my people.”

“Wait, so you aren’t scared of AI?” asked Joker curiously as his hands froze in place.

“I’m afraid of geth, of course. They’ve killed more of my people than probably all other species in the galaxy combined. Plus, you know firsthand that they aren’t just hostile to quarians,” said the young engineer. “But I guess you could say I’ve been deprogrammed given how long my pilgrimage has taken. I don’t assume every AI is a threat, nor do I treat them all like they are going to kill every organic they see. Of course, I’m too much of a coward to tell any other quarians that.”

“Wow…” said the pilot with a small grin on his face. “You’re starting to make me look bad.”

“I’m sorry!” she said, slightly embarrassed at her claim.

“No no no, not like that! It’s a good thing,” responded the pilot as he tried to calm her down. “Let’s change the subject before you have a panic attack.”

She did calm down after his assurance. But it was then that she saw that his hands that were hovering over the controls were shaking gently. “Are… are you alright?”

He looked to her, then down at his hands where she was staring. He growled and began shaking them furiously. “Dammit, I thought that damn sedative Doctor Chakwas gave me got rid of that.”

“Should you be flying on a sedative?” asked the quarian in surprise.

“It’s not strong enough to affect my mind. It’s just an anxiety thing,” he said sourly as he glared at the consoles in front of him.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened?” She felt herself begin to flush immediately as he sighed in frustration. “I’m sorry, if I’m intruding-“

“You’re not intruding…” he growled as he sat back in the rotating seat. “Look, Shepard and I were both on board the old Normandy before it was destroyed by a collector ship. Apparently, she had some kind of episode while she was in the prison, and apparently, I still have some hang ups about them too. That ship ripped the old Normandy, which was a frigate-sized vessel built by the Alliance and Hierarchy, into pieces without hesitation. The thought if it happening again… just…”

“You were afraid?” she asked genuinely, getting a glowering look from the pilot.

“Don’t go telling too many people, but yeah. It scared the shit out of me. This Normandy is bigger and better than the last one, but I still don’t think it can stand up to the collectors,” he said with a heavy sigh.

“I apologize if I’m stepping over the line. I rarely got the chance to talk with many non-quarians on the Citadel, so I sometimes forget my manners,” she said before sitting back in the seat and staring up at all of the controls. She watched his hand movements with deft interest as well.

The pilot eyed her once again. “Have you ever piloted a ship before?”

“N-No,” she said shyly. “Most quarians never get the chance to pilot anything more than a shuttle.”

“Want me to teach you?” he asked, causing her to stare at him wide-eyed.

“You would? You would do that?” she asked in surprise.

“Look, after what happened back there, I think even I might need some backup from time to time,” he said as he grabbed one of the holographic screens and tossed it over in front of her. “Keep me updated on the engine vitals for the time being. I’ll show you the ropes on controls later,” he said, smiling lightly as she buried her nose in the data in excitement.

Chapter Text

Chapter 14

? - ? - ?

She once again found herself adrift in darkness. She sighed to herself, the void surrounding her almost peaceful if it weren’t for her robbed senses. She couldn’t feel anything, see anything, or really do anything. She just found herself floating aimlessly as if the universe itself was an ocean and she was a leaf drifting on its surface.

Despite the common occurrence with dreams, she was fully lucid in this one. She knew everything from her waking self and could think to herself while she was trapped in this state. She didn’t know why she kept being returned to this dark bubble, but it was extremely grating on her as she usually came out of it having little to no actual mental rest. Between the random visions from the prothean cipher that had broken loose and these visits to her internal void, she began to wonder if she was, in fact, losing her damn mind.

All she could do at the moment was simply curl up in the darkness and wait for her mind to come back to life.

Elevator – SSV Normandy SR-2

It had been a long day. She had numerous reports to file to the Council, all of them keeping them up to date on her movements and activities so they knew what to expect. Though she was mostly working in the Terminus Systems now, she was still a representative of the Council, and as such, her actions could reflect poorly on them. That said, they had mostly been pleased with her results.

Udina even sent her a nod of approval for throwing a wrench into Jedore Maxwell’s plans, as it had the side effect of getting her father off his ass and erasing his complaints about not allowing corporations to operate freely in the Terminus. Then there was the Purgatory Prison report, which made the entire council look on with a sigh of relief. She sighed to herself at the response, as she had believed every word she told the warden. Those people weren’t born that way, they were created, and it’s the job of their society to undo the damage it had done. But it appeared they were more than happy with the delete button approach to the entire population.

Either way, she knew she had been suffering again. Something from that collector attack had jarred something loose in her head, and now she began to see visions embedded in the prothean cipher even clearer. She began to wonder if she were even human anymore as she sometimes found herself speaking in the prothean tongue when alone. It was extremely frustrating not knowing what was going to happen to her, so instead of dwelling on it she decided she would take her ire out on the punching machine in the training bay.

It was on her way to said training bay when the doors to the elevator opened and on stepped her executive officer. Operative Lawson eyed her as she stepped onto the elevator and allowed it to close again. There was a few seconds of silence before she started. “You haven’t been sleeping.”

“I have two doctors on this ship, if I need one I’ll go to them,” snapped Shepard irately as she glared at the woman. Realizing what she had done, she reached up and rubbed her eyes. “Sorry…”

Miranda smirked at her and crossed her arms, ignoring the datapads for the moment. “You’ve done more work in the last few months than most people do their entire careers, Shepard,” she said, then shrugged. “Aside from asari of course. The point is, you’re putting a lot of stress on yourself. It’s like you said, you need therapy and you need help.”

Shepard eyed the woman curiously. “And I suppose you’re the one to help me?”

“If you want the help, I’m happy to help. But of course, I’m not your only option,” said the woman as she passed one of the datapads towards the spectre.

The redhead eyed it before grabbing it and reading it. “Another dossier?” she asked, her eyes rolling. “How many more people does he want me to get?”

Miranda gave her a playful glare. “We have two more dossiers marked up for you and that’s the extent of the team. But I will comment that he isn’t the one going out of his way to add more crew members than necessary.”

“Fair assessment,” said Shepard as she skimmed the data. “An asari justicar? Haven’t heard about those since I was a girl.”

“They rarely ever leave asari space, and for good reason. They’re enforcers of justice to the asari people. And while asari themselves would likely never question a justicar killing someone for corruption, the same can’t be said for other species. So, they mostly stay within the bounds of asari space unless they have a very good reason,” said the XO as she leaned against the elevator wall.

“So, you want me to ask her to help?” asked the spectre curiously as she looked up at the woman.

Miranda shook her head and reached over before tapping on the pad. It zoomed into the location where the justicar was last seen. “As far as the Illusive Man’s network can tell, both of your next targets are on Illium.”

Shepard’s eyes widened slightly as she realized what she was saying. “Illium is where…”

“Liara is an information broker on Illium, yes,” responded Miranda as the elevator doors finally opened. The pair walked out. “If you don’t trust me to help you, there’s always plan A.”

Shepard eyed her sternly before stopping her feet and crossing her muscular arms. “Look Miranda, it’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s that I can’t trust you with what’s in my head.”

“I understand, Spectre. We’re on stable footing with each other after a rocky start. I don’t want to break the foundation again by being too pushy,” said the woman with a half-smile. “Just know that… you’ve helped me a lot more than you realize. Or… hell, a lot more than I realized until a little while ago.” Shepard cocked her brow at her XO curiously. But Miranda just gave her a glare. “A talk for another time. Get some damn sleep before I have Chakwas tranquilize you,” ordered the woman before turning and heading off towards the crew quarters.

Shepard chuckled at the woman before looking down at the file again. The woman, like most asari who grew to her age, looked hardly older than Shepard herself. The photo they had of her wasn’t even a proper picture, it was simply an omni-tool quick shot of her while she was no doubt flinging some poor bastard into the upper atmosphere. “What the hell makes the Illusive Man think she’s going to work for me?” asked Shepard as she sighed and entered the training bay. Several people were already inside the bay, including a few of the human crewmates. Jacob was bench pressing with them while Garrus was putting one of the treadmills through its paces. But most noticeably was Grunt, who was wearing little more than a pair of krogan shorts made especially for him.

She saw him back in the combat ring and she almost had to stop herself from laughing and crying at the same time. On the one hand, watching a massive krogan monster training for combat should have been a terrifying spectacle to watch. On the other hand, when he was slipping around the arena because he was attempting knee strikes he had just seen her do aboard the prison ship, she almost wanted to melt. She simply smiled as she strolled into the arena and turned the encrypted datapad off. Setting it aside, she began to wrap her hands as Garrus approached.

“So…” he started as he stared at the large krogan who was now holding the same stance she had against the warden. “You think if I break someone’s neck with a kick I could get him to try kicking over his head?”

“If you hurt the krogan, I hurt you Garrus,” she said playfully as she finished her second hand and slammed one fist into her palm. “He’s just wholly unfamiliar with martial arts. Krogan lost theirs a few millennia ago when guns became their primary source of killing. Trust me when I say I was doing the same thing when I was a kid until I actually learned the art myself.”

“I guess you’re right. I’ve gotta cut him some slack. He’s doing a lot of growing up in a short amount of time,” said the turian as he looked away from the krogan. “Speaking of science experiments gone wrong, I think Jack kinda just took over the lower deck of the ship.”

Shepard eyed him curiously. “The engines?”

“No, even lower than that. She managed to find some little storage closet down on the very bottom of the ship,” he said as he spun his hand in a shrugging manner. “I told her we have bigger rooms up on the crew deck and… ah… let’s just say that she described in graphic detail what I could do with those rooms,” he said as he almost chuckled. “Also, she said she needed to talk to you about the deal you made.”

“I’ll get to her when I’m done here,” said the woman as she stepped over to the impact machine and began with light jabs.

“I gotcha. Just thought you ought to know she’s coming in case she decides to start stalking you across the ship,” said Garrus before he turned back towards the arena. A look of shock covered his face as Grunt stood directly in front of him with a giant grin.

“Lethwei!” shouted the young krogan before throwing his head forward and slamming it into Garrus’s own. The turian flew back and rolled onto his chest before letting out a heavy sigh.

“That’s gonna be sore for a while,” groaned the turian as he rubbed his plated head sorely. “I’m pretty sure if your plate had already formed, I’d be missing my head right now.”

“Come on, Garrus! Let’s spar! I’m itching to try out some moves,” said the brute as he moved in to help the marksman up.

“I think I need a week of medical leave after that one,” groaned the turian as he got to his feet and patted the large krogan on the back. “Alright, Grunt. I’ll let you try some of your moves. But no more headbutts. Those are only for real combat.”

“Right! Got it!” said the krogan excitedly as he began to shake himself loose in the ring.

Shepard smirked at the pair of them hitting it off before she finally turned back to the machine and once again began throwing haymakers and straight punches into the padded reader. She let her feet fly, jogging in place like a boxer, bouncing back and forth to keep her feet moving as she increased the intensity of her punches. She found herself growing annoyed as another vision flashed into her head.

She was prothean, standing in a forest above a training camp for war. Instead of practicing sparring with the others, she had decided to practice killing moves, something she had been shamed for before. But she knew what war was. She wasn’t some child who believed that soldiers were heroes defending freedom and liberty. She was a killer, and her job was to make sure anyone she fought didn’t get up again. So, she practiced by herself, slamming her fists into the tree over and over again, each punch leaving bigger and bigger craters as she began to put biotics behind them. Then finally…

“Shepard!” snapped Jacob from behind her. She gasped as her biotic aura dispersed, having gotten lost in her own head and jumped back to see the machine she had just demolished. She panted heavily before reaching up and wiping the sweat from her brow before looking to the young man. He eyed the machine, then looked back at her. “Did… did you just use a warp while punching?” he asked incredulously. “You can do that?”

“I… ” she growled before sighing in frustration once again. Reaching up, she tore the wrappings from her hands and grabbed the datapad, leaving them all behind in a stupor.

Zakera Marketplace – Zakera Ward – Citadel

“What the actual fuck, Shepard!?” came Jack’s voice as Shepard found her standing at the entrance to the markets. They had scheduled to meet up and get her actual clothing instead of making her run around in the rags she was wearing. In the meantime, she borrowed one of Shepard’s workout uniforms, which were a bit big on her.

Miranda and Shepard eyed her curiously at her outburst. “Some context is needed, Jack,” said the spectre as she stepped through the doorway and into the busy marketplace.

The young woman glared at Miranda, and Shepard almost immediately knew where this was going. “When you said you were using Cerberus’s resources, you didn’t mention anything about working with the fuckers,” she snapped as she death glared the XO.

“Here we go…” groaned Miranda as she reached up and rubbed her head.

“Yeah, here we fucking go, bitch. And you,” she jabbed as she turned to Shepard. “You also didn’t mention the fact that they brought you back from the dead!”

“Why does that matter?” asked the spectre with a shrug.

“Why wouldn’t it matter? I’m supposed to be working with you and here you are walking around in a shiny new body that Cerberus gave you!” she growled angrily as Shepard became aware of the people eyeing them.

“Jack,” said Shepard firmly with her own glare.

“What?” retaliated the biotic.

“Do you feel like you owe your parents for giving birth to you?” asked the spectre curiously as she crossed her arms.

Jack immediately scoffed. “No. They’re probably the ones that handed me over to Cerberus anyway.”

“You didn’t ask to be born, and I sure as hell didn’t ask to be resurrected. So, what makes you think I would feel some obligation to Cerberus because of it?” she asked firmly as her brows furrowed.

Jack looked down at the ground for a moment before finally looking back up. “Alright, fine. You don’t owe Cerberus. But you sure as fuck didn’t think to tell me you had literal Cerberus on the ship you’re flying.”

“And if my head wasn’t fucked sideways from that collector attack, I might have told you. I had other shit to deal with when we escaped the prison,” said Shepard with a heavy sigh. “If that’s crossing the line then you’re free to go your own way, Jack. But Miranda and Jacob are a part of my squad. You don’t have to like them, but if you want what I have to offer, then you have to work with them.”

Jack scowled at Miranda for a long moment before finally sighing to herself. “Fine. I’ll work with them. But the moment they try and slap a collar on me I’m shredding them into ion particles.” Jack gave the operative a sarcastic smile. “Hear that, thunder tits? That catsuit isn’t going to stop me from ripping you apart at the cellular level if you fuck with me.”

“Noted,” said Miranda with a deadpan look on her face. “Mind if we get going before we start drawing an even bigger crowd?”

Jack looked around for a moment and just realized that people had stopped to stare at their argument. “The fuck you looking at!?” she snapped as her biotics lit. Immediately, everyone scattered in fear of her display.

Shepard smirked at the adolescent display before shaking her head. “I’m gonna have to teach you some other skills besides biotics. They’ll save you in a pinch.”

“My biotics have kept me alive all this time. Why would I need to learn more now?” asked the young woman as she marched next to the spectre, eyeing everyone who passed by suspiciously.

“You got caught and imprisoned,” said Shepard with a knowing stare. “Even asari who live their entire lives in a society based around biotics learn how to use weapons and hand to hand. And if you’re worried about survival, then you won’t brush off the extra assistance.”

“Fine. But don’t think for a second that I’m training with her,” she said, shooting the XO another glare as the woman rolled her eyes.

“I’m really living in your head that much?” asked Miranda as she appeared to reach her breaking point.

“Just you and the void, bitch,” spat Jack as she gave the XO the finger.

But Shepard stopped them as he raised her arms. “The void?” asked Shepard curiously as she turned to Jack.

“Yeah?” said Jack in confusion. “Dark place, nothing around. Kinda feels like you’re swimming in a black hole.”

“You experience that as well?” asked Shepard in awe.

Miranda spoke up from behind her. “As far as we know, most biotics do. It’s some latent result of the nodes in our nervous system.”

“Huh, no kidding,” said Jack as she eyed Shepard. “That’s right, you’re biotic now!”

“That’s right,” said the spectre as she scratched her head.

“Did they do it to you?” asked the tattooed young woman as she nodded to Miranda.

“Sort of. I already had the potential, but they just activated it,” she said as she waved the questions off. “In any case, let’s hurry up and get you something to wear before C-Sec arrests you for disturbing the public.”

“Ha! Wouldn’t be the worst thing I’ve been locked away for,” said the shaven woman as she turned to Shepard and crossed her arms over the N7 logo on her shirt. “So, you said I’d get information.”

“Right. Here,” said the spectre as she turned to look at the woman curiously. She didn’t have an omni-tool or really anything electronic on her. “Well, I’ll get it to you once we’ve got you set up with new stuff.”

“Right,” said the young biotic as she looked around at the different stores. “Now, where to start?”

Rogue’s Gallery – Zakera Ward – Citadel

“All cultures across the galaxy centered in a single location, and you decide to buy late 1900’s punk clothing?” asked Miranda as she eyed the young woman.

Jack sneered back at her. “Damn right. What, you want me to walk around with a bodysuit shoved in my crack like you?” she said as she reached into one of the bags and grabbed a beanie before putting it on her head.

“I don’t think you could fill a body suit,” sniped Miranda as she eyed her from head to toe.

“You’re probably not wrong. But at least I can fit through doors without having to approach at an angle, wrecking ball,” retorted Jack as Shepard covered her face with both of her hands to stop them from noticing her laughing at their back and forth.

“Dear god, you two are going to kill me,” said the spectre as she rubbed the stress from her face. “If you don’t kill each other first that is…” she began but stopped talking as she saw Lia’Vael standing nervously in front of her. “Lia?”

“I-I’m sorry, Captain Shepard. Er…  Spectre Shep… Shepard,” said the young quarian nervously.

Shepard eyed her up and down noticing that she was fidgeting wildly. “What’s the matter?”

“Ah… it appears that the Admiralty Board of the Migrant Fleet would like to speak with you,” she said as she stared at the ground.

“You’ve… never spoken to the Admiralty Board before, have you?” asked the spectre curiously.

“I’m the daughter of a cafeteria maid and a carpenter. I’d never be spoken to by one of the Board unless they were speaking to my crew as a whole,” she muttered, getting a nod from Shepard.

“That explains the anxiety. What did they want?” asked the redhead as Jack began rustling through the bags again to fetch a leather jacket.

“I-I don’t know. He asked if you had a quantum entanglement communicator aboard the new Normandy, and since that wasn’t classified, I told him yes. He told me to get you to it immediately,” said the young quarian as her fidgeting began to die down.

“Welp, this sounds like an emergency,” she said with a sigh before turning to Miranda. “Miranda, you show Jack around the Citadel and get her an omni-tool so we can keep in communication. Then take her to get some armor for combat,” she said before digging out an account chit and handing it to the XO. “I shouldn’t be long but have your communicator on just in case.”

Miranda let out a heavy sigh and rubbed her forehead with her fingers. “Can’t you make one of the other crew members babysit for you?”

“Babysit?” growled Jack as she eyed the woman.

“Sure,” said Shepard with a shrug. “Who would make a good new executive officer?” Miranda blinked at her in surprise before groaning to herself again. Shepard just smirked and patted her on the shoulder. “Sorry XO, that role comes with responsibilities.”

“Hear that little Cerberus cheerleader? You and me are gonna have a girl’s day out,” said Jack with an evil grin that almost made Shepard feel bad.

“Don’t have too much fun you two,” ordered Shepard before she nodded to Lia’Vael. “Let’s go.”

QEC – SSV Normandy SR-2

She stepped into the communicator room and turned to Lia who stood outside. Nodding her head, she said, “Come on. Inside.”

“B-But…” started the quarian as she timidly stepped into the room.

“You’re my crew, Lia. And you’re my current liaison to the quarian people,” she said firmly. Lia still looked like she had doubts, however. “Alright, Lia’Vael vas Normandy, as your captain, I order you to get into the communicator with me.”

The young engineer went rigid at the name she had used. Almost immediately, her entire attitude changed from a frail, timid little tagalong into a tall and proud member of the crew. “A-As you order, Shepard,” she said, her voice still shaky.

Shepard smiled at her before turning to access the console. “Here, enter the access codes to the quarian fleet,” she said as she stepped aside. Lia stepped up and typed at the console for a few moments before stepping back again as the Normandy flagged the QEC on the Migrant Fleet. It received a response within moments, and the quantum entanglement communicator scattered light around the room, forming the shape of a male quarian seated in a rather authoritative looking chair.

He wore a combination of red and white with familiar patterns around the hood of his exosuit. Once the entire room had been constructed, he greeted her.

“Captain Shepard,” he said as he held up his hand in traditional quarian greeting.

Shepard mimicked the greeting, holding her fingers together to mimic the three fingered hand of the quarians. She knew she was never going to get the quarians to stop calling her captain, so she might as well give up trying. “Admiral. I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting.”

“No, though I have met your crew member, one Kaidan’Alenko of the Normandy,” he said, unable to shake the habit to mention the ship name. “I heard he died an honorable death in combat against the geth. You have my condolences,” he said as he gave a respectful bow of his head.

Shepard’s brows furrowed at the mention of her lost crew member. “Apologies, Admiral, but he’s been gone a long while now. I’d appreciate if we could move past the small talk and get to the point of your call.” Shepard could immediately tell that Lia went rigid with fear at her response. Normally, she’d try to avoid putting her in an awkward position, but she knew the admiral’s condolences for what they were, a way to butter her up before asking a favor. If he actually cared for the welfare of Kaidan, he’d have made that call when Tali brought the news back to the fleet.

“Apologies. I was just hoping we could speak in private,” he said as he turned his head towards the young quarian standing nearby.

“Admiral, Lia’Vael is my current ambassador to the quarian people. In fact, her urgency is the reason we’re speaking right now. I’d prefer to have her present in case I need context that my human experience cannot provide,” she said firmly, shutting down his attempt to kick the young engineer out of the room.

The man let out a sigh of annoyance before nodding. “As you wish, Captain,” he said before sitting up in his chair. “Captain, you do not know me, but you know of my daughter. My name is Rael’Zorah vas Rayya.”

Shepard’s eyes widened as she realized where the familiar swirling patterns on his hood came from. “You’re Tali’Zorah’s father?”

“I am indeed,” he said as he tapped the arm of his chair urgently. “And it’s about my daughter that I’m calling you.”

“Did something happen, Admiral?” asked Shepard urgently as she stepped forward.

“I… do not know,” he responded as he sat up straight in his chair. “The Admiralty Board, myself included, sent her out on a mission into the Perseus Veil to a world called Haestrom in the Dholen System. She was sent two days ago and they have not returned, nor have we heard any word from her or her team.”

“That doesn’t sound good, Admiral,” said the woman as she gave him a stern glare. “Why was she sent there? What was she supposed to accomplish?”

“I cannot discuss such things with you, Captain. Those secrets pertain to the Migrant Fleet’s own security,” he said firmly as he shook his head.

“Admiral, we’re talking about your daughter’s life. I’m more than willing to go and get her if she’s still alive, but the chances of me succeeding get higher the more information I have,” she said as she crossed her arms. “You know more than most that I’m not going to give the Fleet’s secrets, regardless of how minor they are, to anyone.”

The admiral sighed and buried his masked face in his hands. “It’s not that simple, Shepard,” he said, getting oddly personal by using her name this time. “If the information obtained from Haestrom gets into the wrong hands, it could put the entire fleet in danger.”

Shepard frowned at the man. “Admiral, even with other species, I’m pretty good at reading people. And there’s something being left unsaid here,” she stated as she stepped up in front of his holographic form, towering over his seated figure. “You and I both know about the geth datacard that you received as a gift from Tali’Zorah, so you know damn well I’m not about to endanger the fleet. But you also know that I’m a spectre. Which means that you think whatever information you’re holding back might get you in further trouble with the Council.”

She could see his eyes focus into a glare from behind his mask. “Ever the perceptive one, Shepard,” he said before slumping back into his seat. “The Admiralty Board read many things in the datacard you mentioned. We’ve been reading it for years, even after your reported death. A few months ago, we were going over their descriptions of their expansion into the Perseus Veil after the Morning War and the world Haestrom was brought up as particularly hostile. So hostile, in fact, that they abandoned it.”

The spectre’s eyes narrowed at the admiral. “Why would it be hostile to geth?”

“Haestrom’s sun, Dholen, became a red giant many millions of years ago before either of our species even existed. Ever since, it has assaulted all of the planets in its system with electromagnetic waves that fry almost any kind of electronic exposed to direct sunlight,” he said as the woman gave him a curious head tilt.

“But the geth are built to withstand electromagnetism,” she said, getting a nod in return.

“They are built to withstand electromagnetic attacks. From electromagnetic pulses released by most nuclear fusion reactions and generated from starship engines. But we’re talking about the concept of throwing a waterproof container into the ocean. It will hold its seal for a while, but the overwhelming consistency and crushing depths of the ocean will eventually break it. The same is true for the geth on Haestrom. They would be able to withstand it in extremely small amounts of time, but they would quickly be overwhelmed by the consistency of the star’s relentless onslaught,” he responded knowingly.

“So, the geth abandoned Haestrom?” she asked curiously. “But what does that have to do with the quarians and the Fleet?”

He sighed heavily before speaking. “As you’ve probably heard from Tali, Spectre, we are weary. The quarian people are tired of roaming the stars and are constantly on the lookout for any kind of resting place. Before the Morning War, our people had colonized Haestrom and lived simple lives there with few machines for assistance due to the sun.”

Shepard’s eyes widened at the implication. “You’re looking to colonize it again?”

He looked away from her before continuing. “It’s not perfect. We would have to replant flora native to Rannoch onto the surface and even then it would be years before we could take our helmets off again. We’d also have to resort to pre-spaceflight technology while on the world. And we would have to take measures to make sure the geth never knew we were there. But we would have a place to rest.”

Shepard’s brow rose in confusion. “Okay, but you said you didn’t want to tell me because it could cause you trouble with the Council. Why would they have an issue with you colonizing beyond the Perseus Veil?”

“The Council are merciless, Shepard. They didn’t just strip us of the right to colonize habitable worlds. They refused to allow us any world at all. The last planet we attempted to colonize in the Terminus Systems resulted in the threat of the destruction of our fleet,” he said with a heavy sigh. “They don’t care that the planet wasn’t habitable, they care that we weren’t taking our punishment. If they found out we were thinking of colonizing again, it wouldn’t matter that it was beyond the Perseus Veil. They would still slam us with sanctions and tariffs, making it impossible for us to establish any kind of trade with Citadel Space. Which means we would have to resort to trading on the black market.”

“But the Terminus Systems aren’t beholden to Citadel Law,” she said, growing even more confused.

“Tell that to Illium and Omega. Who, despite their claim to be independent of Council Space, still do not do business with those blacklisted by the Citadel Council. We would have to work under the table with people unbothered by association with us, which means…” he said, trailing off.

Shepard continued for him. “Exploitation and higher prices,” she said with a heavy sigh. “I understand your worry, Admiral. But I assure you that no mention of Haestrom or your plans there are ever going to reach the Council from me or my crew,” she said, making sure to include Lia as well.

“The quarian people appreciate your discretion, Shepard,” said the man as he sat up again. “As for Tali, she went to Haestrom to see if it was indeed abandoned, and if so, how likely it is to be habitable for us. But her last communication said something about movement inside the ancient structures on the surface. We haven’t heard back from her or her team since,” he said with a shrug. “This could just be a misunderstanding. It could just be that her equipment suffered accidental exposure to the sun’s electromagnetic waves and shorted out. But no response from her team either makes me worry.”

“Understood, Admiral. I’ll swing by there and see what I can find,” she said before eyeing him. “Just so we’re clear Admiral, I’m going to be doing my best to recruit your daughter to my cause once I’ve saved her.”

“At this point, Shepard, I just want to make sure she’s alive. If she chooses to go with you afterwards, she has my blessing,” he responded with a wave of his hand. “Please keep me updated when you learn anything.”

“Understood, Admiral,” she said before the holographic room darkened again. Turning, Shepard groaned to herself. “Welp, so much for resting.”

Ruins of Kel’Res – Haestrom

The shuttle, currently wearing protection against the overwhelming electromagnetic waves, blasted its way through the hot atmosphere of the world and quickly slipped itself into the shade of the ruins. The scrambling screens on the controls of the vehicle popped up again once they were behind the thick layers of shielded concrete. The heavy shuttle flew over a vehicle and Shepard opened her omni-tool. “Hold position, Jacob.”

“Affirmative,” said Jacob as he did as he was ordered.

She scanned the vehicle curiously before nodding to the others. “Landed two days ago. It’s their ship. Let’s set down nearby and get inside.”

The soldier managed to get as close to the door of the ruin as he could before landing the vehicle safely in the shade. “Let’s try not to be inside too long or the sun’s gonna come over that wall and we’ll all be trapped here,” he said as he released the controls of the shuttle.

She looked back to the others and waved for them to exit the vehicle. Grunt and Garrus exited the back of the shuttle and they all began shuffling behind the large walls built by the ancient quarians. “Remember. Seconds at a time. Don’t let yourself get caught in the sun or it’ll fry your weapon, your armor, and probably you with it,” ordered Shepard as she sprinted across a gap in the wall.

“How the hell is this building blocking the electromagnetic pulse of a dying star?” asked Garrus incredulously as he made the same sprint in about half the time. It didn’t help that he looked like he was hardly trying.

“Lead mixed into the concrete. For clarification, it’s not blocking all of it. It’s just scattering it away from us. Now let’s get in there and find out what happened to Tali,” she said, moving with urgency as she worried about how she might find her friend. She didn’t know how she would be able to take the thought of Tali being gone. But then, she guessed that’s how Tali felt about Shepard after her death.

Sprinting up to the front door of the building, she reached down and pulled the handle outward, a common analog door design for quarians. The door swung open, and as she stepped inside her face fell. “Dammit…” she growled as she saw the roof had been caved in long ago, exposing a good portion of the room to the sun.

“Shouldn’t be too hard if we’re quick,” he said as he began hopping lithely from one slab of broken concrete to another, only dipping into the sun for brief moments at a time.

“Says the turian whose carapace evolved to block solar radiation,” said Shepard with a smirk, appreciating how he had all but suspended his normally shining sense of humor due to the serious nature of the mission. Following mostly in his footsteps, she too bounced from one rock to another until they had passed through and into the next room. This one was a fairly dark hallway, completely shielded from the sun itself. “Let’s get to the next room before we try comms. I’m sure they had some kind of backup built inside the buildings for communicating.”

As they broke in through the next door, her eyes widened as she saw a swarm of active drones fly out of every crevice they could fit into. “Get down!” shouted Jacob as he immediately shot out a biotic wave that caught three of them before they got a shot off.

Garrus raised his weapon and blasted the ones that Jacob caught as Shepard dove to the side and aimed with her pistol. But before they had been destroyed, Shepard noticed something off about them. Blasting one apart with her pistol, the rest were quickly destroyed as Grunt walked over and shot them with his shotgun like they were fish in a barrel.

“Was hoping for something… bigger,” he complained with a bored tone in his voice.

“The sun isn’t big enough?” asked Jacob, bewildered by his comment.

“I can’t fight the sun,” said the krogan with a shrug.

“If anyone could, Grunt, it’s you,” said the turian as he strolled over to make sure they were all dead.

“Heh heh heh, Sunfighter Grunt,” he said jovially as he blatantly stepped on one of the small drones, crushing it to death.

“These look like geth drones, Shepard,” said Garrus as he kicked one over towards her. “Odd that they’re here.”

The spectre looked down at the small machine, her brain doing circles. “Did anyone notice those drones flying in a pattern?”

“Sorry, too busy shooting,” said Garrus who nodded to Jacob. “Good reflexes with the biotics there.”

“Thanks,” said the soldier as he stepped past Garrus. “Uh, Shepard.”

She looked up from the drone as he waved for her to come over. She sped over to his side and saw the cause of his urgency. On the ground near the far door was a body belonging to a young quarian. It couldn’t have been more than a day old. Garrus moved in close and examined it. “Crack in the faceshield but no impact scarring from mass accelerator weapons. Four shots to the back, one straight through the heart. Looks like he fell and cracked his face shield running for the door. I don’t think they were expecting these geth to be here.”

“I thought the geth couldn’t come here,” said Jacob in confusion. “Something about the sun frying their systems.”

“That’s what I was told,” said Shepard with a sigh. It had been a while since she fought geth. Of all the things she missed from her previous life, fighting geth wasn’t one of them. “Keep a close eye out. I don’t like surprises,” she said as she opened her omni-tool to try and communicate. “I’m not getting any kind of signal.”

“Maybe they had a hardwired communication relay built into the building,” said Jacob as he looked around for some kind of phone or radio.

Shepard used her omni-tool and scanned the quarian. Within seconds, she had scanned his omni-tool for messages or information and ended up finding the mission log. She opened it and scanned it briefly.

[Entered Dholen System]
[No Geth Presence Detected in System]
[Made Silent Landing on Haestrom at Kel’Res Ruins]
[Team Leader Commander Tali’Zorah vas Neema Detected Movement Within Ruins]
[Moving into Ruins With Caution]

She closed the log and shook her head. They were very basic notes. Probably done on the fly for a report later. Standing up again, she headed to the next door. “Let’s expect more of these.”

They were led through another small protected tunnel before making it to the next room. “You never realize how small quarians all until you have to go through one of their buildings,” said Garrus who was ducking to try and fit.

“You’re telling me,” groaned grunt as he practically had to squat walk his way through the hall and was still scraping his shoulders on the walls on each side.

The door to the next room was opened and they were met with a similar but starkly different scene. The room was littered with more drones that had already been blasted apart with gunfire. On the far side of the room was another quarian, but this one was sat against the wall next to the door leading further out. Shepard once again did her scan and found a message stored on his device. Activating it, she allowed it to play for them all.

“Lora’Zavil vas Neema reporting. Commander Tali’Zorah and the rest of the surviving team are further in the ruins. I had been shot several times protecting her, I know I wasn’t going to make it. I stayed behind to cover them and get rid of the remaining geth drones. Please, if she’s still alive, you have to help her. Keelah’selai,” he said, signing off for the final time.

Shepard clenched her fist as she thought about Tali lying in a similar position. “No,” she said as she stood up and opened the next door. Almost as soon as she did, the soft sound of a concussion could be heard from a ways off. Then it was followed by the familiar quiet sounds of mass accelerator rounds being fired. “We’ve got live ones! Let’s get moving!” she ordered as she slid her visor down and sprinted across the cavernous room.

It took a few minutes of sprinting and fighting more drones before they finally kicked the door down into what looked like a control tower for a shipping yard. Shepard approached the console and slammed the lever down to lower the window guards. As soon as she did the quiet sounds became a lot louder and she saw what she was dealing with. A geth colossus was standing at full height at the far end of the yard, firing its plasma shot down at a surviving quarian.

Looking at her omni-tool, she noticed that the communications were available now that the shields from the inside were down. Immediately she snagged the only available comm signal and jacked into it. “Spectre Jane Shepard of the Citadel Council here for backup. Who do I have on the line?”

“Shepard!? How in the Ancestor’s name did you get here!?” came Tali’s chirpy voice over the comm.

Shepard’s eyes widened and relief flooded her body as she heard the young commander’s voice. “Tali! You’re alive!” snapped Shepard as she let out a heavy sigh. “Where are you?”

“I’m currently locked in the bunker on the south side of the shipping yard. If you can see it, there’s a colossus standing in my way,” she said, annoyance creeping into her voice. “I snuck over here before the machine was blocking the door so we could flank the damn thing, but it followed me and then Kal’Reegar shot the controls to the door and locked me inside to keep me safe.”

“Kal’Reegar is the one still out here fighting?” asked Shepard as she spied the quarian down below in the red suit.

“Yes! Is he alright?” asked Tali desperately.

“He’s fine as far as I can see. We need to take down the geth and get you out of there, so sit tight,” ordered Shepard as she prepared her weapon.

“Shepard! It’s not geth!” came Tali’s response.

The spectre looked up at the colossus, then activated her comm in bewilderment. “Tali, it’s a geth colossus... We’ve fought dozens of these things.”

“That’s not what I mean! All of the machines here are drones attached to a security system with a VI running it! It’s been here since we fled during the Morning War. The quarians back then must have set it to kill anything that moves and left it as some kind of booby trap in case the geth came here. But they are not geth and do not act like geth. Please be cautious when approaching because it’s a thousand times smarter than a single geth colossus you’d normally see,” she said urgently over the comm.

“Understood,” said the spectre as she surveyed the battlefield before them. She could see the quarian was injured, and with the constant assault from the machine’s plasma cannon and assault guns, it was impossible for him to move from his position. Luckily, they could easily flank the creature as Tali wanted to do. The yard was wide enough that they could simply split apart and slowly move their way across the yard from every angle until one of them had its back. “Time to take some heat off of the quarian down there. Grunt?”

As his name was called, he emerged from the larger room behind them and finally saw the colossus. Immediately his face lit up as he pulled his shotgun free. “You got me a present!?” he asked excitedly as he prepared to charge.

“Woah,” snapped Shepard, getting his attention before he did something stupid. “When I say go, you take the high ground,” she said as she pointed to the bridge spanning above the yard.

“Right, gotcha,” he said eagerly as she looked to the others.

Shepard turned to Jacob. “You take the left side of the yard. Use the boxes as cover if needed but get to a secure position and the left side of the machine,” she ordered, getting a nod from the soldier. Finally, she turned to Garrus. “I’m gonna need you to distract it.”

“Ah, finally utilizing me for my talents rather than my good looks?” he said charmingly as he opened his omni-tool.

She snorted and looked at all of them. “I’m going to go for the quarian and make sure they’re safe and secure before I join you. Once you reach your destination, hold there and stay safe until Garrus and I can join you. Then we’ll all take it out together.” As she finished her orders she eyed the colossus, waiting for it to fire once again.

As it finally did, she sprinted out into the yard and took cover right next to the quarian, nearly making him jump out of his suit. “Keelah! Where did you come from!?” he snapped angrily as he swiveled a rocket launcher towards her. But she reached up and pushed it aside.

“I’m Tali’Zorah’s old captain, Spectre Jane Shepard. Your name is Kal’Reegar, correct?” she asked hastily as his eyes widened.

“You’ve got some impeccable timing, Spectre,” he said before nodding to her. “I’m Lieutenant Kal’Reegar vas Neema of the Migrant Fleet Marines. Tali’Zorah is-“

Shepard cut him off. “I know, she’s locked in the far room behind the colossus. What I need to know is how you are right now? Are you injured? Do you need medication?”

“I’ve got a suit puncture and a limp. But I’m swimming in antibiotics and I’m ready to fight,” he said as he held the rocket over his shoulder.

“I know this is going to be hard to hear, Lieutenant, but I actually need you to keep your head down,” she said as the colossus aimed at another holographic Garrus and took a shot, but it flew right through and hit the ground instead.

“Like hell I will, Shepard,” he snapped back at her, almost offended. “I’m not gonna sit back on my hocks and let you take that damn thing on alone!”

She shook her head, then brought up her omni-tool. “Alright, move up!” she ordered, and almost immediately, Garrus began to fire holoprojectors across the yard. The quarian noticed as illusions of the sniper began popping up all over the yard. The colossus fired a blast at one of them, immediately annihilating the projector.

Next, Grunt jumped out of cover and sprinted across the bridge. Jacob sprinted out too as Garrus took a direct shot at the colossus with his sniper. It took a long while before the machine finally calibrated itself to the new enemies.

Kal’Reegar glared at her. “That doesn’t change my answer. I’m not asking your permission to fight.”

“Good because I wasn’t giving it,” she snapped as she gripped his shoulder tightly. “Tali needs you alive. She’s lost two marines already and she’s going to have them hanging over her head for a long while. She doesn’t need you on her conscience as well.”

Kal’Reegar grumbled before slumping down behind the barrier. “So, what the hell am I supposed to do here?”

“Only fire if there’s no other choice. Do not open yourself up to the colossus until we have its full attention,” she ordered as she prepared her own weapon.

“Alright Shepard, we’ll do this your way. Give them hell for me and Tali both,” he said as he slapped his chest with a clenched fist. “Keelah’selai!”

“Keelah’selai,” she responded as she finally broke from cover and stared up at the machine. Its head, glowing with plasma, was aimed and trying to fire at Grunt while its autocannons were still trying to kill off the illusions below. It was thinking tactically, and they needed some way to kill it before it wisened up to their plan.

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Chapter Text

Chapter 15

Kel’Res Ruins – Haestrom

“Kal’Reegar is secure. Everyone start bringing that thing down, but DO NOT get caught in its line of sight! Especially if you’re in the sun!” she ordered as she rushed forward across the battleground. The machine’s head kept focusing and refocusing on Garrus’s holographic distractions while its autoguns spun and focused on Grunt.

Both Grunt and Jacob started blasting it with fire from their weapons. With Jacob’s automatic assault rifle and the massive punch from the claymore shotgun, its shields barely lasted. Unfortunately, the rounds did little to no damage against its actual armor. Growling, she waited for it to fire another one of its plasma bolts at a holographic clone before sprinting out of cover again. The sun basically kept their shields down at all times when exposed, making her heavier armor’s shields useless, as well as her cloaking on her infiltration armor. Instead, she chose the sentinel set for the heavier armor. But now she was missing the agility that came with the lighter set.

She slid into cover as the machine began charging its blast again. “Shepard, we aren’t doing a damn thing with these weapons,” growled the krogan angrily.

“My tech abilities are also down with the sun. Even if we can’t kill it, we need to get Tali out of the room behind it and evacuate her. I don’t care if it actually dies or not,” she retorted as she got as close as she could without exposing herself to its auto weapons.

Jacob immediately jumped out of cover and his biotics flared. Slowly, the machine began to drift from the ground. Unfortunately, he didn’t see the potential consequences as its head spun around and aimed the glowing reticle directly at him. “Damn…” he hissed through gritted teeth.

Shepard, snapping into action, jumped up and used her own biotics on it as well. The combination of their dark energy exploded and sent the machine slamming against the wall, its plasma bolt firing off and slamming into the side of one of the nearby cranes. Unfortunately, it managed to hit a decaying fuel cell and caused an explosion that hurled Jacob out into the open. The soldier shook his head as he slowly regained his senses, unaware that the colossus was already back on its feet and now turning fully towards him.

“Dammit!” growled Shepard as she sprinted out into the open and threw forward a biotic shield in front of him. The autocannons fired, pelting her biotic barrier with repeated rounds, each one feeling like a pin prick in her brain. She continued to hold it despite the pain as Jacob slowly made his way to his feet. “Taylor! What’s wrong?” she asked worriedly as she felt her biotics faltering.

“I… I don’t…” he mumbled as he got up to his feet before falling to a knee again.

Shepard stared up at the machine, watching wide-eyed as its head focused on her. She knew her shield couldn’t take a full blast from its main canon even if she were fully rested. But she knew if she moved, Jacob died. Gritting her teeth, she kept the barrier up, hoping she might be able to at least divert the blast.

Suddenly, the back end of the machine sagged and she saw Grunt’s arm wrap around its neck. “Fight something your own size!” he snapped as he jerked the automaton’s head back, causing its blast to fire straight up and into the ceiling.

Dropping her barrier, the spectre spun around and grabbed the woozy young man and dragged him off behind cover. “Grunt! Hang on!” she shouted as she dragged Jacob to safety.

“I’m hanging on alright!” he shouted back as the colossus swung its head around with the krogan clinging for dear life.

She set the soldier down in the shade with his back against the wall. “Stay here, and don’t move!” she snapped before racing back up the ramp that led to the battle above. She slid around the corner and saw as Grunt was tossed aside like a ragdoll, causing him to roll several times before slamming into a barricade. Glaring at the machine, she activated her biotic aura again as the machine turned and focused on her.

“Shepard, what the spirits are you doing!? It’s looking right at you!” snapped Garrus as he tried to fire his sniper again, only to be blocked by its shields.

The plasma beam charged again and fired just as she focused on something Wrex had taught her back before she even knew she was a biotic. She didn’t realize she could do it until she reacted on instinct back in the prison. But now that she knew, she was going to use it to her advantage. As the bolt fired, she vanished from the spot and appeared on the other side of the mechanical menace. It looked around, seemingly confused as she used the spare time to figure out how to beat it. She had no way to use her omni-tool with the electromagnetic interference, her biotics weren’t strong enough to damage it by themselves, and their weapons deflected harmlessly off its curved armor. Even if she had brought a heavy weapon with her and somehow the sun didn’t fry it, she doubted it’d make a huge dent in its thick shell.

“Shepard, what was that?” asked the sniper in surprise.

“Questions later!” snapped Shepard as the tank spun around again and spotted her.

“Can you do it again?” he asked urgently.

As a proof of concept, she did it again just as the armored spider-like creature targeted her. She vanished and appeared back in her original position on the other side. “Seems like it.”

“Can you lure it into the sunlight?” asked Garrus, his question practically slapping her in the face. “I can’t hit the damn thing with my long-range weapon with its shields up. The sun will short its shields so we can damage it if it doesn’t outright kill it.”

“Good call,” she said as she pulled her pistol off her side and fired at its head. The rounds pinged off its shield, but it did its job and got the machine’s attention again. Instead of using her biotics, she ran and fired at it again to keep its attention. She slid behind a large stone column for cover, trying to egg it into following her. However, she had underestimated the power of its main cannon.

The plasma bolt fired and hit the column, blasting it apart and sending her slamming hard into the ground below the platform. “Shepard! You alright?” asked Garrus from across the yard.

“Breathing,” she said with a groan as she flexed her back. “Barely.”

“You need it in the sun? I’ll get it in the sun!” shouted Grunt.

The krogan roared loudly and Shepard opened her eyes again in time to see the head of the colossus sticking out over the edge of the platform above. Her eyes widened as she saw the krogan’s face underneath the colossus, his muscles and arms bulging as he lifted the back end of the machine up off the ground. “Grunt! Don’t! I’m down here!” she shouted, but if he heard her he didn’t slow down at all. She rolled onto her stomach and scrambled to get out of the way, but within seconds she felt pain like fire shoot throughout her entire body as something impacted her leg.

She gritted her teeth in severe pain, knowing that it was broken. Luckily, the impact was instant, which meant that it had bounced, and it wasn’t currently grinding her limb into dust. Using her functioning limbs, she shuffled away from the machine before turning around and seeing it look directly at her with its main cannon lit. She let out a heavy sigh, her biotics flaring again as she prepared to make another jump, regardless of how painful it would be with her leg dangling behind her.

But her biotics vanished as something flew and blew the head clean off its frame. The glowing head clanked as it rolled across the shipyard before it finally darkened, and the body went limp. Turning her head, she saw the lanky figure of Kal’Reegar stepping out of cover with the rocket launcher over his shoulder. She sighed in relief before laying on her back and really taking in the pain she was in.

“That was a spectacular mess, Spectre,” said the quarian as he offered her a hand up.

Garrus joined at her other side and the pair of them used their strength to lift her back onto her working leg. She hissed in pain as she oriented herself properly so as not to damage her leg more. Even then she could practically feel the medigel flowing through her body. “We came in without any idea of what we were fighting with a literal star disabling all of our best weapons and managed to get out with just a broken limb. I’ll take it,” she said giving the quarian a weak smile.

Then Grunt jumped down from the platform above with a giant smile on his face. “Guys! Did you see that? Did you see how I lifted that colossus and threw it off the platform?”

“Oh, we saw it,” said Shepard, everyone around her noticing her icy tone. The fire inside Grunt even took a hit as he stood straight up defensively.

“W-Wait, are you mad at me?” he asked, almost sounding wounded.

“You threw a goddamn geth tank on top of me and broke my leg!” she snapped as she let go of the quarian long enough to point an accusing finger at him.

Kal’Reegar moved away awkwardly. “I’m gonna go ahead and free Tali’Zorah and let you all… talk,” he said before sprinting off to do as he said.

“But we won…” he said as he looked at the ground, his hands now fidgeting worriedly.

“Yeah, nearly at the cost of my leg,” she growled before hissing as another jolt of pain surged through her body. “You don’t go into battle strung out on glory, Grunt. You have to have situational awareness so you don’t end up getting someone killed!” she said with a glare. It was killing her inside to have to admonish him, especially with the sad puppy-like look on his face. But he had a lot of power, and that power could get her or one of her team killed someday if he didn’t learn how and when to wield it.

“Can’t you just let it regenerate?” asked the krogan bewildered.

She reached up and removed her visor before rubbing her face in frustration. “Grunt… humans don’t have regeneration,” she said with a heavy sigh.

“What?” he asked in surprise.

She snorted to herself before pointing to Jacob. “Get Chakwas from the ship down here to check on Jacob while I’m checking on Tali. Tell her electronic instruments are out of the question so she’s going to have to use her own experience to figure out what happened. I don’t want him moved until I find out if it’s a neck or spinal issue,” she ordered as Garrus helped her limp her way towards the door. Grunt didn’t move from the spot, his blue eyes still staring at her. “Now,” she snapped, causing him to turn and sprint his way back to the shuttle.

“A little harsh, don’t you think?” asked Garrus as he helped her back up the ramp.

“The last two people that nearly or actually injured me on the old Normandy got the same treatment. Pressly after he nearly killed us with the Excalibur Cannon and Wrex after he went into a blood rage and literally used me as a blunt instrument of destruction,” she said as she groaned in pain. “I know he’s young and new, but he needs to learn that recklessness in combat is unacceptable.”

As they made it to the top of the ramp, Tali sprinted up to her, already freed from her prison. “Shepard! Are you alright!?” she asked worriedly.

“Does being alive count?” asked the spectre as she wiped the sweat from her brow away.

“It’s better than you had a year ago,” said Tali as she placed her hands on her hips. Her comment caused Garrus to cough in order to hide a laugh.

“You’ve got me there,” said Shepard as she eyed the woman back. “So, Commander. How about you? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Shepard. This bosh’tet,” she said as she slapped Kal’Reegar over his helmet, “locked me inside that room before I even had the chance to fight.”

“Sorry ma’am,” said the quarian marine as he barely flinched.

“I’m sure you are,” she growled before turning back to Shepard. “But, how did you find me? What are you doing here?”

“Your dad contacted me and said you dropped off the radar after two days here. He wanted me to come and figure out what happened,” said Shepard, knowing the explanation wasn’t going to land well.

“Keelah… he could have gotten you killed too,” said the engineer as she fidgeted with her hands, an old trait of hers that Shepard had always found adorable. “We came out here to scout out and see if this planet was good enough to colonize as the geth had left it behind over a century ago. He wouldn’t listen to me when I told him that even if the planet itself was good for habitation, it would still be far too dangerous being so close to geth controlled space.”

“That does sound pretty dangerous. Even if the geth avoid this system itself, you wouldn’t be able to hide your presence in the system for long from others like pirates or raiders looking for an easy score. There are half a dozen relays leading directly here,” said Shepard, knowing the prospect of colonizing the planet was a failure even back when Rael’Zorah had told her about it.

“I know, Shepard. My father is just desperate. Our fleet is degrading at a rapid pace and one of our lifeships had a scare recently when one of the hydroponics bays ended up getting a blight, contaminating enough food for thirty thousand people. We managed to work around it, but it was a hit to our resources,” said the quarian sadly.

Shepard sat down on one of the collapsed column slabs, taking the strain off her leg. “Thanks Garrus.”

“Anytime Shepard,” said the turian before he turned to Tali. “I’m glad you’re safe, Tali.”

“You too,” said the quarian awkwardly.

Shepard almost immediately saw tension between the pair.

“It was good seeing you again. But I’m gonna go make sure Grunt doesn’t end up crashing the shuttle into the Normandy’s hull. I’ll get Chakwas to check both you and Taylor out,” he said before turning and strolling away.

Shepard watched him go before turning to Tali, who looked back at her. “What?”

“What happened?” she asked in confusion. “Aside from a few arguments we’ve all had aboard the last Normandy, you two were always on good terms. What happened between you two.”

Tali sighed and waved to Kal’Reegar. “Please go and help them,” she ordered.

“Ma’am.” The marine crossed his arm over his chest in a salute, then followed behind the turian.

Once he was out of hearing range, leaving the two of them alone, Tali sat down next to Shepard. “After your death we had a falling out.”

“How did that happen?” asked the spectre curiously.

“After it was reported that you had died, he came to me with his plan to go to Omega. He said that me and Liara were the only ones he told because he didn’t want anyone else tracing his activities on Omega back to you,” she said as she cushioned her head in her hands. “I told him he had lost his mind.”

“He didn’t take that well?” asked Shepard who had finally felt some numbing relief from the medigel.

“He expected it, actually. It was what I said after I argued that he shouldn’t go,” she said as she looked at the ground. “I told him he wasn’t you.”

“He isn’t me?” asked the woman bewildered.

“Shepard, you act surprised at that statement. But you must understand, you are something extraordinary,” she said as she finally turned to look the redhead in the eyes. “You killed Sovereign. Not me, Garrus, Liara, Wrex, or Ash. Not the Council, not the Spectres, not the Alliance. You did.”

Shepard cocked one of her brows at the curious claim. “How do you figure that?”

“If me, or any other member of your crew had been in your position on Valkyrie, we’d have all taken the easy option. Especially me given I’m quarian,” said the commander in amusement. Shepard recalled Valkyrie, but was confused about the choice she had made. “Garrus, Wrex, Liara, Ashley, the Alliance, the Council, not a single one of us would have seen Val’eda buried in the servers of that Alliance base and done anything but destroyed them.” A look of realization dawned on the spectre’s face. “But you didn’t. You gave them a chance. You offered to let them live, and to let them grow.”

“Right,” said the spectre as she removed her helmet and ran a hand through her sweaty hair.

“Back when we were fighting… whatever that thing was in the Council Chambers, the Alliance and Citadel Fleet were losing ships by the dozens. I’ve seen the vids. They weren’t landing a single scratch on Sovereign’s hull and were getting annihilated in retaliation. If you hadn’t made that choice in the Valkyrie facility, we would all be dead. Val’eda sacrificed herself to cripple Sovereign from within, and not a day goes by that I don’t thank every ancestor that I can remember the name of that you were in charge when we went to Luna instead of me,” she said with a heavy sigh.

“But what does that have to do with Garrus?” asked Shepard, her face burning slightly at the praise being slyly heaped on her.

“Garrus wants to be you. I see it in him. He wants to be a hero. He wants to lead the way you lead, but despite your best efforts, he hasn’t grown a whole lot from our time back then. He’s still reckless and angry, and quick to disregard rules if they don’t suit him,” she said before peering at Shepard again. “I thought if he went to Omega and followed through with his plan, he’d get killed. And given the state of his face, I’d say I wasn’t far from the mark.”

“Yeah,” said Shepard as she leaned back. “When I found him every single mercenary on the station had him cornered and was gunning for him. He took a rocket to the face before we were saved by my other crew.”

Tali sighed heavily. “Of course he did…” she said before finally standing again. “Well, I’m sure we’ll get over our differences.”

“Better hurry, because you’re coming with me now,” said the spectre as she too stood and put her arm over Tali’s shoulder. The commander immediately assisted her in walking.

“This was the last mission I wanted done. I couldn’t let someone else take a mission this dangerous. Now that it’s done, I don’t really care if the Admiralty Board likes it or not. I’ve already talked to my captain and he’s given me a leave of absence,” said Tali as she smiled at the spectre. Then her smile vanished. “I just wish my last mission for the fleet didn’t result in two fallen marines.”

Shepard nodded and patted her on the shoulder. “I know it doesn’t help to hear, but even the best leaders lose soldiers,” she said, knowing the pain all too well.

Medical Bay – SSV Normandy SR-2

“It’s as I thought. A mild concussion,” said Chakwas as she looked over the datapad. “Whatever hit you down there hit you hard. Most people who suffer one in the middle of a firefight don’t end up making it out alive. Consider yourself lucky, Jacob.”

“Yeah, feeling real lucky right now,” he said as he reached back and massaged his neck gently. “How long am I going to be out of the game, doc?”

“Given the severity of your concussion, I’d say two weeks at least,” said the doctor, getting a groan from the man. “Don’t give me any lip, young man. Concussions are dangerous and if you don’t take them seriously, they could result in long term brain damage or could even be fatal,” she snapped at him before turning to Shepard. “As for you…”

“How far along is it with the medigel helping?” she asked hopefully as she eyed Grunt sitting on one of the medical beds with his nose buried in a datapad.

“The medigel helps with the pain and helps the bone knit back together easier, but it only cuts the time in half. Unless you use an orthopedic therapy tank you’re probably going to be out of the game for a few months,” said Karin as she crossed her arms and eyed the spectre.

“Therapy tank?” asked Shepard in surprise. “You can’t use one of those laser therapy units like you used when Wrex fractured my ribs?”

“I’m afraid not. The leg bone is much deeper in the body. In order for the laser to reach the bone, we would have to surgically cut your leg open. And if we do that, then you’re going to be down for just as long while the muscle itself heals,” said the doctor as she put the datapad aside. “So, it’s either the tank on the Citadel for a few days, or you’re out of the game for at least a month.”

“Great,” she groaned before rubbing her head in frustration.

“In the meantime, I’d recommend avoiding krogan. They seem to be a common denominator when you come in here injured,” she said with a smirk before walking away and patting Grunt on the shoulder.

Tali entered the medbay as Karin left and strolled up to Shepard’s bed. “Why didn’t you tell me you had another quarian aboard already? I don’t feel half as special anymore,” she said jokingly.

“Ah, you’ve met Lia’Vael then?” asked Shepard with a grin.

“Well, technically we’ve already met. Err… twice,” said the commander as she brushed it off. “But it’s good to finally have someone else who knows the quarian experience aboard.”

Jacob spoke up and greeted her as well. “It’s good to have you aboard, Tali. I’ve heard a lot about you and your skills. It’ll be good to finally see them in person.”

Immediately her cheery nature dropped as she looked over at the young man. Turning to him, she crossed her arms over her chest. “Let me make something blatantly clear. I’m here to help Shepard, and Shepard alone. I don’t like Cerberus, I don’t like anybody in Cerberus, and the moment your boss… whoever that is gives the order to take Shepard out, I’ll be there with my shotgun to your back.”

Jacob raised his hands defensively. “Fair enough. I’m not going to argue with anyone who was on the ground team that took out a reaper,” he said, still giving her a smile. “That said, I understand your caution.”

“It would be wise for you to be cautious around me,” she said threateningly before turning back to Shepard.

“Wait… I know you helped me take them out years ago, but why the sudden dislike of Cerberus?” asked Shepard curiously.

 “Not long after your reported death, Cerberus captured and killed the crew of a scout ship for the Idenna and then used it to infiltrate the Migrant Fleet. If it had not been for another human on the fleet, they would have blown the Idenna up to cover their trail. They killed my people, invaded my home, and nearly blew up my ship,” said Tali, never taking her glare away from Jacob.

The young soldier sighed to himself as he rubbed his head. “What was the Illusive Man doing to allow that?”

“If he allowed it,” said Shepard as she tilted her head. “He seems to have a bad habit of letting projects he starts get out of his grip. Perhaps he’s not as organized as we believe.”

“Either way, I won’t be trusting any Cerberus crew members,” she said as she glared at Jacob once more.

Jacob looked to Shepard. “So… what about… you know?” he asked as he pointed to EDI’s terminal.

Tali eyed him, then the terminal near the door, then Shepard. “What is it? What’s going on?”

Shepard sighed to herself, the thought of how Tali would react to an AI being installed in the ship completely slipping her mind. “EDI, please introduce yourself.”

Tali looked up in surprise as EDI’s voice filled the room. “Greetings… Tali’Zorah…”

Shepard raised an eyebrow as she looked up at the terminal. “EDI?”

Her holographic form glitched for a moment. “Apologies, Spectre,” said the AI. “Tali’Zorah. My designation is EDI. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Tali’s eyes narrowed at Shepard. “That… isn’t a VI is it?” Shepard shook her head.

“I am a General Artificial Intelligence installed into the subsection of the Normandy. I control the cyberwarfare suites as well as the Normandy’s defenses in battle,” responded EDI cheerfully.

“Hmmm…” said Tali as she tapped her finger on her crossed arms. “Where did you get her?”

Jacob’s eyes widened at the question. “Her?”

“Look Jacob, it’s a long story,” said Shepard before she turned back to Tali. “She came installed on the Normandy.”

“The Normandy that you got from Cerberus?” asked Tali curiously, getting a nod from the spectre. “I don’t trust her, yet. If she was a VI, then she could be coded with backup measures to take out you and everyone aboard in case you get too unruly. But an AI can think for itself. So, I won’t be scrubbing her from the Normandy’s core just yet.”

“Your hesitation is appreciated, Tali’Zorah,” said EDI, her voice sounding amused.

Tali chuckled to herself. “Alright, Shepard. I’m going to introduce myself to everyone on board.”

“Show them all why you were on the original Normandy,” said Shepard as she turned and left the room. Shepard smiled as she left before turning and eyeing Grunt who still had his face planted in a datapad. “What are you doing Grunt?”

“Studying humans,” said the young krogan as he got to his feet and began walking across the bay.

Shepard and Jacob both watched him robotically walk out of the bay, never once looking away from the data pad. As he left, the two looked at each other before shrugging in confusion.

Orthopedics Wing – Council Medical Services – Citadel

Shepard yawned as she sat comfortably in the medical bed with her leg propped up in a medical brace. Once they had hit Citadel Space again, she almost immediately got a message from Rael’Zorah thanking her for her intervention on Haestrom, as well as wishing her luck in her ventures with Tali at her side. Tali had made a stir on the ship as she practically hissed at every crew member she didn’t recognize.

As soon as they landed at the Citadel, a medical vehicle grabbed her at the Council’s request, and she was set up with the best care they had to offer. Unfortunately for the spectre, she was in for a boring few days. The doctor had droned on explaining that an even stronger form of medigel that wasn’t used in the field or even in rare cases like hers where she was wired to receive it was going to be used. They had to create an injection site and pump it directly into the wound. The bad part came when the body reacted.

Unlike the regular medigel consumed daily by the masses, this specialized form of it was a lot more aggressive, and one’s body tended to not like it much, which resulted in a fever. As such, her body temperature would be regulated inside of a liquid cooling tank to make sure she didn’t cook her brain inside her own skull. After she had finally signed all the wavers, all she could do was wait until the dive.

Luckily, Tali, Garrus, and Jack decided to keep her company in the hospital until her eventual dip. Shepard’s eyes shifted between the turian and quarian curiously. “So…”

“What?” asked Garrus as he eyed her suspiciously.

“Have you two made up yet?” the spectre asked, getting a glare from the turian.

“We’ve made our peace, Shepard. I’m not about to alienate one of my closest friends over a spat we had a year ago,” he said before turning and eyeing Tali. “So, you told her?”

Tali shrugged innocently. “I did,” she said, getting a sigh from Garrus. “To be fair to me though, I was absolutely right.”

“Oh here we go,” groaned the turian as he leaned his head back in despair.

“It took the literal resurrection of Shepard to get you out of that mess on Omega,” said the quarian with a cheeky grin. “If that hadn’t happened, you would be dead right now as I said you would have been.”

Jack immediately shivered. “Omega? Ugh…”

“Not a fan?” asked Shepard curiously as she saw the reaction.

Jack shook her head. “I love the place. Just hate the people. Still got some bones in the closet there,” she said with a shrug. “Nothing to worry about. Nobody’s hunting me down.”

“That’s more than could be said for Garrus,” said Tali, her smile growing as Garrus groaned again.

“Spirits, put me out of my misery,” he said before turning and headbutting the wall gently.

Then Tali looked from Garrus to Shepard. “With Wrex out of the picture being the leader of the krogan, that just leaves… two more.” Shepard felt a twinge of sadness in her voice. “Ashley and Liara. Once they join, the team will be all back together.”

“Unfortunately, Ash is off the grid. She’s doing work for Anderson and Udina,” said Shepard with a shrug. “Maybe when she comes out of the foxhole she’s buried in, we can make her the offer. As for Liara, she’s working on Illium as an information broker.”

Immediately, Garrus looked up at Shepard. “Information broker?”

Tali eyed her suspiciously. “That sounded very impersonal…” she said before leaning forward. “Keelah, you bosh’tet, you haven’t even talked to her yet?”

This time, it was Shepard’s turn to groan before she hid her face behind her hands. “Shut up. I already feel bad enough.”

“Why haven’t you!?” asked the commander incredulously as she stood from her seat.

Shepard let out a long sigh. “Because it’s been two years,” she said, causing Tali to soften immediately. “I don’t know what you all had to go through when I died. I don’t know how you’ve mourned, how you got over me not being there. With you two, I felt like our bond as friends would be pretty easy to dust off. But… she was more than just a friend.”

Tali’s stance drooped solemnly. “You didn’t want to seem like you were pressuring her into a relationship again?”

Nodding with a grim expression, Shepard continued. “Also, she was on the Normandy when it exploded. Besides Joker, she was the last one to see me alive. As I’ve learned recently, I still have tons of trauma related to that day. I can only imagine what it’d be like for her. That’s why… I’ve been avoiding seeing her again. If she’s made peace, I don’t want to tear open old wounds again.”

Tali sat back down and crossed her arms. “Alright. You get a pass for now. But if you don’t call Liara soon, I will,” she said defiantly. “Even if she has moved on, even if she did make peace with your death, she has to know you’re alive given her profession. She deserves to see you again, even if it’s only as a friend.”

“Alright dammit,” growled Shepard as she took a pillow and began smothering herself with it.

Tali chuckled to herself. “Besides, when the Illusive Man eventually turns on you, it’ll help to have her biotics around to crush the life from him and every other Cerberus puppet aboard the ship.”

Jack gave an evil grin as she pointed to Tali. “You and me, we get each other,” she said before holding out her fist to pound. “Fuck yeah.”

“Heck yes,” said Tali as she high fived the young woman’s balled hand.

XO Quarters – SSV Normandy SR-2

She sat at her desk eyeing the terminal, her inbox filled with messages from Oriana’s family. She hadn’t been checking them recently due to her new job as XO aboard the Normandy. She smirked as she thought about how quickly her life went from a normal day of surgery, then close monitoring of Shepard’s body to gunning and destroying every menace in the galaxy. Shepard had been running them ragged for a while and she found herself wondering if things were this hectic on the original Normandy.

Clicking on the first message, she opened it and a smile immediately lit her face as she saw pictures of her sister dressed up for a formal dance in college. She had graduated from highschool with a bachelor’s already on the way and was celebrating her meteoric rise into the galaxy. The XO sighed to herself as she leaned back and looked at all the pictures. Even knowing that they were genetic twins, it still stunned her how much the young woman looked like her. She knew that someday Oriana was going to be a big face in the galaxy, and she found herself wondering how she would feel seeing her own visage doing things she never thought she would.

Then again, Oriana was always more of a tomboy and preferred to keep her hair shorter. So maybe there would be distinguishing differences after all. She cycled through the pictures, one after another of her younger sister attending the dance, drinking from a ridiculously flamboyant glass of alcohol, to screaming at the band playing. She marveled at how different the two of them were. She knew that genetics had nothing to do with personality, but she still found it remarkable that a teetotaler and a party girl were direct genetic copies of one another.

Suddenly, EDI popped up at her door. “Operative Lawson, Grunt would like to speak with you.”

“Grunt?” she asked, bewildered at the request. Reaching over, she minimized her screen and waved to EDI. “Let him in.”

The door slid open and as EDI had said, the massive krogan was standing outside of her door with something in his hands. Even without his armor, he had to shuffle to squeeze into the doorway of her room. As he squeezed his way inside, she could see that something was bothering him. His typical indifferent expression now had a fallen tinge to it, as if he were sad about something. She found herself wondering what could make a massive juggernaut like him emotional.

Finally he turned to her with the object in his hand. “Uh… hi…” he said simply as he stared down at her with his crystal blue eyes.

“Hello, Grunt. I’d ask you to take a seat, but…” she said as she looked over at the chair, noting that it was far too small for his frame. “I think our budget would go over better if you stood.”

“Huh, yeah. I don’t get along well with furniture,” he said awkwardly.

She chuckled lightly at his odd shuffling and decided to get to the point. “What can I help you with, Grunt?”

“Uh… do you know where Shepard is?” he asked nervously as he looked down, towering over her desk.

“I do but I’m afraid she’s unavailable right now. They just put her inside the reconstruction tank and she won’t be out for another two days,” she said as she eyed the krogan curiously. “Why?”

“Oh, I just wanted to give her something. It’s nothing important… I just…” he said, unsure of how to ask.

She could see him struggling with the question. “Would you like me to give her something for you?”

His face lit up immediately. “Could you? Would you?”

Her brows rose as she tried to analyze the situation in front of her, something she found herself doing a lot more since coming onto the Normandy. Shepard went to Haestrom and left Miranda and Jack on the Citadel with little more than a warning that they’d come back for them. The time they were gone was hell on her nerves from having to watch the young convict, but then Shepard comes back with a broken leg and an extra quarian. Then out of nowhere, Grunt begins moping around the Normandy and gets awkward when bringing up Shepard.

“Oh,” she said to herself as the puzzle pieces slid themselves into place in her head. “You broke her leg, didn’t you?” asked the XO.

“Look, it wasn’t my fault. I just… got a bit excited and threw a geth colossus on top of her…” he said getting quieter with each word until he eventually trailed off. Snorting, he glared at her. “Can you give it to her or not?”

“I can, yes,” said Miranda with a smile. Grunt passed what he had been holding across the desk to her and she had to reach up and grip her throat to keep from letting a laugh escape. It was a hand drawn picture of Shepard in her armor with her leg entirely detached from her body instead of just being broken. And written in very crude English lettering was written [sory I br0k leg]. It was at this that she found herself startled. “Grunt, where did you learn English?” she asked as she looked up at him incredulously.

“Okeer’s training taught me very little about humans. I thought with how effective Shepard is at fighting and how much chaos she had survived that humans must have regeneration as well,” he said with a heavy sigh that nearly blew her hair back. “She said humans don’t have that. I asked Mordin for study materials on humans and I learned enough of that alphabet to make that,” he said as he pointed at the picture. “Does Shepard know English human language?”

Miranda looked back down at the picture in startled realization at the fact that the krogan was everything Okeer wanted him to be. Deadly in combat, quick to learn, and inquisitive, but still very much krogan. “I believe she does, yes,” said the operative as she took the picture and stared at Shepard’s cartoonishly angry face. She then noticed that he had attempted to draw himself beating up the geth colossus in the corner of the page but had quit when he found the geth too hard to draw. She smiled at him and nodded. “I’ll take it to her in the hospital.”

“Alright,” he said awkwardly again before turning and beginning to squeeze out again. She watched him exit the room, feeling somewhat bad for him. She knew that he was more similar to herself and her sister than she wanted to admit. They were all created to become someone else’s legacy. It was a weird new feeling to have some solidarity with the young krogan grunt.

As the door closed behind him, she looked at the picture again before frowning. “I’m going to have to get Shepard a refrigerator for her quarters…”

Citadel Private QEC Communications – Presidium – Citadel

Garrus entered the room, his glare set as he closed the door and activated the privacy shields. He had burned through every contact and connection he had left with the exception of three. Liara, Shepard, and the Shadow Broker. He considered going to the Shadow Broker several times since leaving Omega. He considered every angle of how to work around the cost of the information he needed.

He visited Barla Von, who he knew was an agent of the Shadow Broker’s through Shepard. But after a single visit, he found the cost of the information to be far more than he anticipated, and far more than he could afford. He wasn’t bad with money, of course. But the salary he had saved from C-Sec was a pittance in comparison to the fee the Shadow Broker sought. And most of the money he earned on Omega had gone up in smoke along with his base. Rarely did they trade electronically on Omega.

Unfortunately, that meant that his best source for the information was locked off behind a steep price tag. He considered doing work for Barla Von to pay for it over time, but he knew for a fact that Shepard would find out what he was up to long before he ever paid the debt off.

Then there was Shepard. He knew she could get the information. Even without the Spectre status, she was one of the most skilled intel keepers in the entire galaxy. Her entire career revolved around breaking into databanks structured in a language she wasn’t fluent in and filtering out information. With her Spectre status giving her privileged access to information, he could almost guarantee that she could get it for him. But the question was, would she? He didn’t know the answer, and he didn’t want to take the chance that she’d pull the same stunt she did with Doctor Saleon and try to turn it into a life lesson. He knew what was best for his men, he knew what was best for his own mental health, and it wasn’t something she was going to like.

He had been in a foul mood recently, thinking that he was going to have to try his hand with Shepard. But then he found out from Shepard herself that Liara had become an information broker on Illium. It was his last chance, and he needed to take it before he resigned himself.

He put the call through and listened as it connected. Liara and Tali were the only ones he really kept up with after the Normandy had been destroyed. Ash got extremely busy after the news hit and Wrex had his own plans back on Tuchanka, where communication was extremely difficult. So, he at least had kept ties with the asari woman. It took a few moments before she finally answered.

“Garrus? It’s been a while,” said the woman in her nearly monotone voice. He knew that despite her lack of expression, she did actually care, however.

“Sorry. Was taking care of business on Omega. Didn’t have much personal time,” he said as he spun his hand in a circle. “And once I got out of there… well, we’ve been pretty busy on the new Normandy.” He saw her face twinge slightly. He might not have noticed it a year ago before she had gotten the alteration to her appearance. But he was so used to it now that he could tell she was conflicted, even through the messy light display of the QEC.

“Ah, I’m glad to hear you and Shepard are working together again. How is… everyone?” she asked, failing horribly to hide her real question.

“Shepard is doing well. A bit high strung, but I don’t honestly know if she’s ever not moving with purpose,” he began, noticing Liara give a small smile at the mention. “Tali is now mocking me consistently, so we’re back on good terms again. And the new additions are pretty good on the team. It never fails to surprise me how such a chaotic bunch could work together for the greater good,” he said with a small chuckle. “Kinda reminds me of us back in the day. You and me spying on Shepard, Tali crawling around on the roof and taking out snipers as we acted the part of gangsters, Wrex nearly going catatonic after eating Garam Masala at that wedding reception…” he said as he realized he began reminiscing. “Sorry, it’s hard not to go back to those days.”

“I know, Garrus,” said the asari regretfully as she looked to the ground as well.

“I suppose I should get to the reason I called you,” he said as he straightened himself up. “I heard from Shepard that you’re an information broker. Is it true?”

“You would be correct. I am in the business of dealing information. Is there something I can help you with?” she asked curiously.

“I’m looking for a turian named Lantar Sidonis. He left Omega days before I did. I managed to track his movement back to the Citadel, but then he just drops off the radar completely. I burned through every resource I had at C-Sec and none of them have a damn clue where he could have gotten to,” he said as his eyes narrowed. “It looks like the work of Fade.”

Liara nodded dutifully. “Making people disappear is his trademark, yes.”

“If you are able to, I want to find Sidonis. And if you can’t find Sidonis, then I’d like your help finding Fade. Maybe I can convince him to help me find that traitor,” said Garrus, his voice filled with poison as he spat the name. Liara had always been honest with him and he was determined to return the courtesy in not hiding his intentions.

The asari was silent for a long moment as if thinking, then finally spoke. “I might be able to pull some strings. But I’m a broker on Illium out in the Terminus Systems. Don’t you think Shepard would-“

“Shepard can’t know anything. If she even gets a sniff of me trying to find him, she’s going to shut down the whole thing,” he said desperately.

She sighed and nodded. “I understand. But consider for a moment, Garrus. Shepard is your most trusted companion. If I didn’t know her on a whole different level than you, I’d say you were even hurt by her death more than I was.” He stood straight in surprise. “You know her and respect her above everyone else in the galaxy. Is going behind her back really the best idea?”

He flinched slightly at the question. He knew what she was asking, and her words burned him. She was absolutely correct about Shepard being a best friend to him. He respected her above anyone in C-Sec, anyone in the Council or Spectres, and even his own father. He loved her to the core and knew that he would die to keep her from suffering the same fate she had on the previous Normandy. The asari was asking why, if Shepard was such a trusted friend, was he going around her back. He didn’t know what to call it, honestly. Lust for revenge, retribution, justice, nemesis.

Apparently, he had taken so long considering her words that she decided to continue. “I will do what I can from here. But I wouldn’t bet money on me finding information on the Citadel,” she said before stepping up to him fully. He looked down at her holographic form. “But if you truly want help, you know where to find it. Never forget that.” With those words she walked out of view and the communicator closed down.

He stood staring at the spot she had stood in for a long moment as he struggled with himself. But eventually he turned and left the communication room, his head spinning as he began questioning himself from every angle.

Chapter Text

Chapter 16

Furry Paws – Kithoi Ward – Citadel

“So, you’ve been here already?” asked Tali curiously, getting a vigorous nod from the younger quarian.

“The stories you told to the Migrant Fleet fascinated many apparently. A few of my old friends who went other places on their pilgrimage or have yet to go asked me to take pictures for them. So, I started coming here and I fell in love with the little creatures,” she said as she reached up stroked one of their tiny heads with her main finger.

 The small critter purred loudly for a kitten his size. Tali smiled at the scene. “Perhaps one day you can have one of your own,” she said confidently, getting a surprised look from the young woman.

“I don’t know. The cost of them alone is a deterrent. Then there’s the upkeep. I’d have to keep food and an evacuation box, not to mention toys…” she said as she gave a sigh of disappointment.

“Never count your chickens before they hatch,” said Tali, getting a puzzled look from her peer. “Oh, sorry. I guess I was around humans a lot longer than I realized,” she said with a chuckle. “What I meant to say was, don’t assume it’s a lost cause before you’ve had the chance to try.”

“I’ll try. But I feel like the Citadel has beaten a lot of the optimism out of me. I can’t even imagine myself getting a proper pilgrimage gift to return to the fleet, let alone something for myself personally,” said Lia as she shook her head.

“Trust me, Lia. I see good things in your future. I see good things for the entire fleet,” she said positively as she balled her hands up in front of her in her excitement. She didn’t know how much of her own optimism she believed, but she knew that she wasn’t about to play the cynic in front of a girl who had already been beaten down by society. “Besides, your situation has already improved a lot. You’re now working on a ship again with… mostly people who like you and help you. And you’re learning to be a pilot!”

Lia giggled to herself and nodded. “The human crew are really kind to me. It’s strange how they can be so nice when it was their organization that infiltrated the fleet.”

Nodding knowingly, Tali let out a sigh as the pair of them strode down the aisles of the shop. “I’ve learned something about the people outside the fleet. You would probably learn this as well if you stayed with Shepard as long as I did. But I can at least teach you since I’m here.”

Lia looked up at her curiously. “What is it?”

“You’ve no doubt experienced all the people who won’t help you. Those with prejudices and those looking to exploit you. C-Sec stalking you, people just trying to get into your suit because you’re exotic, or people trying to get you to sign shady contracts,” she said as she tapped her face shield. “Those are the easy threats because you can see them coming. But what’s not as easy to see are threats that try to help you.”

Lia looked at her in confusion. “How can they be a threat to you if they’re trying to help?”

“Because there are two people who say they’re trying to help you. There are those like Shepard, Garrus, Liara… and sometimes Wrex when he’s in a good mood. And then there are people that we’ve both no doubt met before. They are friends who don’t understand your struggle. They assume your struggle is the same as theirs, so they don’t have any issue speaking for you or dragging you into situations you don’t want to be in.”

Lia looked down at the ground. “I don’t entirely understand.”

Nodding gently, Tali stopped walking and faced her. “It’s hard to explain without you having experienced it yourself. There are those who have you around as some kind of trophy. They like to show you off to everyone to show how considerate and altruistic they are for having a quarian friend. Then there are the ones who expect you to return their effort one to one. They’ll divulge everything about themselves, and when you don’t return the favor, they get upset and offended.” She shrugged and shook her head. “The galaxy isn’t just divided into good people and bad people. There are a lot of bad people who do good things, and good people who do bad things.”

“But what does that have to do with the crew on the Normandy?” asked Lia in bewilderment.

“I don’t know them, so I can’t say for sure. But I get the feeling that’s who they are. They’re the people who joined a rogue terrorist organization because they were angry at the Alliance. They’re unintentionally feeding into a system that harms not just aliens, but also other humans all because they feel like the Alliance offended them. But from what I could tell, they were mostly angry at how Shepard was treated. They aren’t a direct danger to you, but their outrage feeds Cerberus, and could end up backfiring in the end.” Tali saw the awestruck look on the younger quarians face and just patted her shoulder gently. “I’m not saying you can’t be friends with them. Just make sure they understand that their association is harmful towards you.”

“I… I see,” said Lia as she looked forward, likely processing the information.

Tali nodded before she turned and jumped slightly as a tall turian stood in front of her. “Keelah! Garrus!” she snapped as she slapped his shoulder. “Don’t just stand there like a spirit! Say something when you walk up!”

Chuckling, he put his hands up defensively. “Sorry.”

“What is it? What did you need?” asked the commander curiously. Then her eyes narrowed at him. “Finally come to get a cat of your own?”

“Spirits no. At this point I’m convinced they hate me,” he said with a dry chuckle. Finally, he put his hands down at his sides again. “Actually, I was hoping I could talk to you. Privately.”

Sensing the seriousness in his tone, she nodded and looked down at what she had come for. “Alright. Help me buy this and we can go.”

Café Alps – Presidium – Citadel

“So, what was it you wanted to talk about?” asked Tali as she sat in their private booth.

The turian sat across from her with his hot cup of apha and stared at the table broodingly. “I have a question I want to ask you first.”

“Erm, okay…” she said as she tilted her head curiously.

“Imagine you and Ash decided to work together to help the Migrant Fleet. You two work great together, you have history, you were like sisters. Then suddenly, she sells you out to the geth who end up killing a lot of other quarians. Then, before you even realize what happened, she flees and goes into hiding,” he said before turning his eyes up to her. “What do you do?”

“This is a very specific scenario,” she said as she puzzled through his question. “Well, I know Ash. I know she wouldn’t do that… at least not intentionally.”

“But she ran. She didn’t stay to help clean up her mess, she didn’t try to explain herself! She ran and hid like a coward,” he snapped angrily.

“Did Ashley do something to you?” asked Tali incredulously.

He calmed, realizing he had gotten a bit heated at her response before sitting up straight in his seat. “Sorry. No,” he said with a sigh. “I used Williams as a point of reference. You know her, you have history together. You were friends and fought side by side before. How would you handle her betrayal?”

“If I went through all of that with Ash, then the last thing that would be on my mind was that she betrayed me. Knowing Ashley the way I do, I know she wouldn’t intentionally hurt me or my people. Of course I would try to find her… wherever it was she went. But I would hold my anger until I found out what happened,” she said as she sipped at her own contained drink.

He let out a heavy sigh through his nostrils as he reached up and gripped his head. “How is a quarian five years younger than me more mature?”

Tali chuckled and shrugged. “We both had lots of unchecked issues back on the original Normandy. I was a young naïve quarian ready to kill myself to prove I was useful to my people, to Shepard, to whoever. Back then, Shepard taught me the value of my life, and taught me to confront those things in myself that told me I was a failure to my people for working with Val’eda. And then Val’eda saved the galaxy and taught me to forever change my perspective. I learned to deconstruct my biases and stop using emotions to make all of my decisions.”

“I see,” he said as he recalled his own example of that with Shepard. “I guess she tried to do the same with me, but it didn’t stick.”

“We’re different people, Garrus. We have entirely different experiences that prepare us for different things. Every crew member on the Normandy new or old would probably have a different answer to your question,” she said as she began swirling her drink around slowly. “So, this happened on Omega?”

He growled gently. “In a manner of speaking. We had a strategy that worked, we had a good team, we had those mercenary bastards looking over their shoulder every time they left their beds. But then it all went sideways. At first, I thought he died too, but then I found out from an informant that he had sold us out and went dark. I tried to get back to the base to warn the team, but I was too late. It was about two days after that when Shepard showed up.”

“I couldn’t begin to understand what it’s like to lose your entire group, Garrus. I’m sorry for your loss,” said Tali as she reached forward and gripped his hand. “I’ll try to stop teasing you about going to Omega from now on.” He looked up at her with appreciation in his eyes. “I’m still going to roast you for getting your face blown off though. That was totally your fault.”

Garrus chuckled to himself. “Fair,” he said gripping her hand tightly. “Thank you for the talk, Tali,” he said as he looked at the present she had gotten Shepard. “I have to talk to Shepard in a bit. Perhaps I should buy a gift too. It might make things go smoother.”

“I got my idea from Liara,” said the quarian as he thrummed her fingers on the table. “She’s the one to ask if you need advice.”

“Thanks. I’ll just take a shot in the dark,” he said before finally standing up. He looked down at her again, the weight in his cowl feeling less heavy than it usually felt. “I’m really glad your back with us, Tali.”

He could see her smile through the face shield. “I’m glad you’re here as well, Garrus. The Normandy’s weapons wouldn’t be the same without you calibrating them.”

“Right… the calibrations…” he said giving her a playful glare, knowing she was teasing him again.

Orthopedic Therapy Chamber – Council Medical Services – Citadel

The accommodations were impressive even inside the tank. With her fingers, she could reach up to the glass of the tank and access the internet, watch movies, and play video games if she so chose. Were she a normal person, she might consider this somewhat of a vacation given the access to entertainment she had. Unfortunately, she wasn’t normal, and very little on the hospital’s movie watch list interested her.

She swiped through dozens of odd tales of asari romances, turian military dramas, human horror movies, and many more. But as she scrolled, she suddenly stopped as she saw a familiar sight. It was the movie poster for her movie. She growled as she recalled contacting the Alliance about licensing her story. But according to Citadel law, she had been dead long enough that she could only stop future projects, not ones already in the making. So, the movie came out and she had been avoiding it. But now she was here with nothing to do. Letting out a sigh that shot bubbles from the sides of her breathing mask, she hit the button to play it.

She stayed silent for most of the film. If she were honest, it was shot really well. The action scenes were intense, the actors were extremely skilled, and she didn’t hate the entire thing. The actress that played her portrayed more of a no-nonsense, toe the line, military sycophant than she actually was. She wanted to vomit when a scene showed her positioned artistically in front of a Systems’ Alliance flag, but she also didn’t want to drown.

She had also noticed that any mention of the Citadel relay, the prothean key, or Ilos had been redacted and erased from the narrative as well as any mention of the reapers. Instead, she had miraculously discovered Saren’s plan on Virmire and went to warn the Council about the attack. But instead of showing the Alliance and Udina locking down the Normandy, it was the Council shown locking it down. She could absolutely see the Alliance’s fingerprints all over the movie. From the ham-fisted recruitment segments meant to draw more people to the Alliance, to the erasure of their own actions, all the way down to not putting in any sign of Shepard’s admonishment of the Alliance. It was a load of propagandist garbage only saved by the incredible acting and action scenes.

She stopped the movie before she got to the eventual eulogy that they liked to exploit at the ends of movies like this and closed the player in annoyance. She’d have to get her own review of the movie out to the public before they started eating this nonsense up.

Her eyes snapped upwards as she saw a beeping on the glass in front of her. Someone was sending her a message. The chamber she was in wasn’t actually on the main floor of the hospital. They were mechanically raised and opened for the patient to enter, then filled and lowered back into the floor, each of them monitored by the doctors and nurses walking above to make sure nothing went wrong. They’d never had an occurrence of someone’s breathing apparatus ceasing to work, but the thought horrified her, and she was grateful they kept people around with a constant eye on things.

The unfortunate thing about that system was that it meant that nobody could see or talk to her face to face. Instead, there were little cubicles on the outside that people could video call from. Reaching up, she hit the button, willing to do anything to take her mind off her leg. The process was slow and painful and she was only allowed to have minor painkillers as the advanced medigel literally stitched her bone back together.

The screen widened and grew to the size of a doorway, showing Tali and Lia waving at her. “Shepard!” came Tali’s chirpy voice.

“Hello Captain,” said the more demure of the quarians.

Shepard simply waved back, unable to give them a smile they would be able to see. “Hey, how are you two?” she asked, her voice being projected from her sealed mask to the booth electronically.

“We’re good! I wanted to show her around the Citadel, but it turns out she knows more about it than I do,” said the engineer as she waved her arms around animatedly.

“Yeah, she spent most of her pilgrimage here instead of in space like you did,” said the spectre, her eye twitching as the mostly dull pain in her leg ramped up to lancing hot in seconds before dying down again.

“Indeed. But I did show her some new places I thought she would like. Any guesses where?” asked Tali playfully.

Shepard shrugged in confusion. “A new restaurant or something?”

Spinning around without an answer, Tali nodded to Lia. Shepard hadn’t noticed until now, but the young quarian had her arms behind her back the entire time. Stepping forward, the nervous young woman spoke. “As a tradition of our people, Commander Tali’Zorah and I decided to get you a gift in your time of healing.”

“A gift?” asked the spectre as she eyed Tali, noticing the smile behind her luminescent eyes. Finally, Lia pulled her arms in front of her, showing that she was holding a small glass case. Or it looked like glass. Inside were a small colorful box with several round holes in it as well as what looked like a bed of wood shavings. When her brain finally registered what it was, she looked back up at Tali with a sullen stare. “Unless you’ve gotten me a small cage as a gift, then you’ve committed treason against my people.”

Lia gasped while Tali giggled to herself. “Oh don’t be so sour, Shepard. I know giving a pet as a gift is typically improper. But to that, I have to say… look how cute it is!”

Quickly she pushed the cage against the camera, showing the small rodent up close. Shepard was startled for a second as she realized that the creature she was staring at was the same one she had been looking at back when… and then it hit her. Tilting her head to the side, she glared at her new team member. “You saw me looking at it two years ago… so you got it for me?”

“Your cabin back then was at least near the crew decks. You could come and see us any time you wanted just by walking outside your door. But now you’re up on the top deck in your own space where we need an appointment to even ask you questions. So, I thought you could use some company. Er… besides EDI, that is,” said the commander. Shepard chuckled to herself and let out a sigh.

“Fine, but if anyone aboard is allergic to it then I’m feeding it to Grunt,” she said seriously.

Tali pulled the cage away and held it against her dramatically. “You wouldn’t dare!” she snapped before dropping the playful act. “No worries about that anyway. It’s a hermetically sealed cage with air filters. So, no excuses,” she snapped back. Finally, the look of good cheer returned to her face. “Garrus also got you some stuff he thought you’d like.”

“If he got me another pet I’m going to throw you all out of the airlock!” growled Shepard, causing Tali to cackle before ducking out of the camera.

“Don’t know! Good talking Shepard! Get well soon!” she shouted, her voice getting further away as she playfully retreated.

Shepard looked over at Lia who stood in shock as Tali fled, then looked back at her. “Oh… uh, w-what she said. I hope you get well soon,” she said nervously before fumbling to close the call.

The window finally vanished and Shepard sighed to herself, reaching up and scratching her head gently as her long red hair fluttered around in the liquid. “Sometimes I feel like I’m running a daycare,” she said with a smile as Tali’s good cheer affected her immediately.

Council Chambers – Citadel Tower – Presidium – Citadel

She flexed her body sorely as she stepped into the elevator. It had been hours since she was released from the hospital. It took her a few minutes to get oriented on her leg again, feeling the now very dull pain of the process fading away fast. After staying in the tank for three days straight gravity just felt weird to her now, like she weighed a hundred pounds more. But she knew she would just need to get used to being on dry land again.

Stepping out of the elevator as it reached the top floor, she saw Garrus at the top of the stairs waiting for her. She smiled at him, noting that he was standing in the exact same place she had first met him back when Udina was petitioning to get Saren’s spectre status revoked. Stepping up the stairs, her leg pain now gone entirely, she reached the top and clasped wrists with him.

“Shepard. Good to see the hospital food and water sleeping didn’t do you in,” said the turian cheerfully as he turned and began walking with her.

“It’ll take a little more than jello cups and nutrient paste to get me to retire,” she said with a smirk. “So, you said you had a request for me?”

He looked away as they ascended the stairs up to the final dais where the Council stood in person. “If you can, and if you want,” he said quietly.

“I’ll do what I can,” she said as she stopped, waiting for the few people in front of her to finish speaking to the Council before she took up their time.

He let out a long sigh from his nose before turning to her. “Omega.”

“Omega,” she repeated back to him.

“I went to Omega after your death and tried to make a difference there. I tried to make life easier for the citizens by making life harder for the criminal elements,” he said before finally looking at her again. “You saw the effect of my work.”

“Kinda hard to miss,” she said with a smirk.

“Well, I wasn’t alone there. I had a team. A good one. People from nearly every species and every background with every skillset you could imagine. Kind of like you and what you’re doing now,” he said with a nod towards her.

She nodded back, recalling Tali’s words about him trying to emulate her work on the original Normandy. “Sounds like a good team.”

“They are…” he said before looking down. “They were.”

“Oh…” she said delicately as she realized she had found him alone in that base on Omega. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” he said sternly before inflating himself to continue. “We worked well together. Turians, asari, salarians, a vorcha mechanic. We even had a batarian on the squad. We did really well considering our task was deemed impossible.”

“Doing the impossible is basically our job description nowadays,” said Shepard with a grin.

He chuckled at her and nodded. “Indeed. It helped that I had a partner that I knew from before my time on the Normandy. A turian, formerly C-Sec, disappointed our fathers, we could have been brothers. His name was Lantar Sidonis. Seemed like there was nothing we couldn’t do when we worked together.”

She noticed the shift in his tone when he brought up the name of his former compatriot. “This Lantar Sidonis, what happened?”

He balled his fists before snorting angrily. “I… don’t know.” He stared her dead in her eyes as his next words shook her. “What I do know is that my team that had done so well staying off the radar got butchered in their sleep, and he went missing.”

“He sold you out?” she asked, bewildered at the claim.

“Again… I don’t know. All I know is what it looks like. But I’d be doing the team a disservice if I didn’t find out exactly what happened,” he said as he clamped his hands together. “I found out he was missing before the mercenaries tracked me down. I tried to get to the team on time, but… I didn’t make it. That’s when they blocked off all access and escape from the compound,” he said as he looked down at his hands. “After I got feeling back in my hands on the Normandy, I made calls to Omega and traded what goods I had hidden there to find out where he went. I managed to track him all the way here to the Citadel.”

“But?” she asked curiously.

“Unfortunately, when I got here, I hit a brick wall. I used every contact in C-Sec to try and trace where he had gone. But I kept hitting a wall. They managed to track him into the wards, but he walked off camera and never walked onto another. It’s like he just disappeared into a cloud of smoke,” he said with frustration as he clenched his hands.

She could see this was eating him up inside, and it was clear that this had been weighing on him ever since she had found him. “Weird how he just vanished. That wasn’t his skill set, was it?”

“No. He was a weapons specialist. Don’t get me wrong, he knew Citadel Law like the back of his talon, so he could probably skirt the law if he wanted to stay hidden. But we’d be able to find him if we were actively looking. Instead, he’s just gone. That requires the touch of a specialist,” he said as he opened his omni-tool. “Months after you… died, a new name started sliding across C-Sec’s doorstep. A relocation specialist by the name of Fade. Drug lords, smugglers, murderers, anyone who wanted to disappear from the public permanently were gone from our radars.”

“Fade huh?” asked Shepard as she scratched her chin thoughtfully. “They’d have to have access or intimate knowledge of C-Sec to avoid every detection like they have been. At the very minimum an insider.”

“I thought of that too. But without any leads, I couldn’t begin to know who to start looking for,” he said shaking his head.

She looked back up to him and tilted her head. “So, you need me to help you find Sidonis?”

He sucked in a breath before nodding. “I… know how this looks. And a few days ago, you’d probably be right. I wanted nothing more than to put a tungsten shot between his eyes for what I thought he was guilty of. And…” he said as he looked at her. “If he is truly guilty and unrepentant, then I still want to.”

She nodded solemnly. “I understand why. But if he was truly guilty, would he have run?”

“I honestly don’t know, Shepard,” he said as his body sagged. “I’ve been so focused on revenge lately that it never crossed my mind. After talking to Liara and Tali, however, I’ve given it a lot more thought. And if he honestly sold us out for money, I doubt he would have run off like he did. Someone that sadistic would have stayed around to make sure I was dead before running off with his money.”

“What if he sold you out for some other reason? If his family was threatened? Or torture?” she asked curiously.

He shook his head firmly. “He was an orphan and never really put much stock into relationships. And he’d hold out under torture even longer than I would.”

“Would you be able to hold out if they were holding a gun to a civilian child’s head?” she asked seriously as she leaned against the railing.

He looked at her stunned for a moment before looking down. “I... can’t say yes to that.”

She nodded firmly. “As long as you’re actually looking for answers and not looking to satisfy your vengeance, then I’m more than willing to help you, Garrus.”

He let out a heavy sigh of relief at her answer. “Everything I’ve told you was the truth. Up until a few days ago, I intended to try and find him without your help because I knew you’d try something like you did with Dr. Saleon. But after talking to them, I guess it kinda dawned on me that I didn’t learn my lesson.”

“Your peace of mind is more important to me than the life of some monster, Garrus. If he truly is the traitor you thought he was, then he deserves to go. But understand, if it comes to that, you can’t be the one to take the shot,” she stated firmly.

“I… I know,” he said with a chuckle. “Don’t become the monster you’re hunting.”

She smiled and thumped her fist against his chest again. “Exactly. Vengeance almost never fills the hole in your spirit. It only makes you angrier the next time you run into someone like Saleon. Eventually, you discard the law and everyone’s rights to exact your own justice.”

He nodded and reached up to rest his hands on his cowl. “Honestly, I could see me going down that path if those two hadn’t stopped me. Knowing myself, if you hadn’t done what you did two years ago, the next mad organ cloning doctor I came across I could very well have just put him out of everyone’s misery.”

“You never heal if you don’t take care of the wound,” she said as she grabbed his cowl and pulled him down. He seemed surprised for a moment before she planted her forehead to his. His predatory eyes widened at the act.

“Uh… Shepard,” he said as she released him.

“What?” she asked curiously as she noticed his change in behavior.

“That was… erm…” he said as he looked around. When it looked like nobody had noticed, he leaned forward. “In turian culture that’s something only intimate partners do…”

Her eyes widened at the claim. “Oh… shit…” she said as she then looked around to make sure nobody saw.

He chuckled before shaking his head. “Well, I guess we’re even from that time I accidentally… you know…” he said as he pointed to her chest.

She snorted in amusement as she recalled how panicked he was at the accidental contact. “Yeah, we’re even.”

Suddenly, a voice nearby got their attention. Ambassador Korvus-Jamal was waiting for her nearby. “Spectre, the Council will hear you now.”

Nodding to the woman, Shepard waved to Garrus. “Let’s go.”

Within moments they were lifted on the dais to speak to the Council who floated nearby in the background. Their visages were recreated up close, allowing those who spoke to hear and see all four of them clearly. “Spectre Shepard. We had spoken only last week about the Purgatory Prison. Was there something else you needed?” asked Councilor Udina from his spot next to Sparatus.

“Yes actually. This is something that’s been weighing on me for a while and I feel it’s necessary moving forward. But first, what I need to speak about is highly classified,” she said, letting them get the implication themselves.

The councilors all looked from one to the other before finally Udina nodded. “Alright then,” he said as he tapped on the arm of his seat. The others did the same and their chairs moved forward, docking with the platform and allowing them to step forward until they were standing in front of her. Almost immediately, a hazy shield protecting them from prying eyes surrounded them. “Alright, what is it Shepard?” asked the human councilor as he eyed Garrus.

“My team knows what I know. We’ve discussed how they are covered by my secrecy clearance,” she said, eyeing the man sternly.

“Yes yes, we understand, Shepard,” he said as he turned to her again.

“What is this about, Spectre?” asked Tevos curiously from her place near Valern.

Looking at all four of them, she sucked in her breath and let out a heavy sigh. “We have a lot of work to do,” she said as she opened her omni-tool and brought up the image of Vigil. “You all remember the prothean VI on Ilos? The one that Liara T’Soni’s own creation translated?”

“Impossible to forget it,” said the tall turian man.

“That VI made it clear that the Citadel itself and all of the relays throughout the galaxy are Reaper creations,” she said as the holographic image from her omni-tool switched to showing the current topic. “That’s something we need to consider going into the future.”

Valern and Tevos looked at one another before turning to Shepard. Finally, the salarian spoke. “In what way? Speak plainly, Spectre.”

“We know now that they weren’t gifts left behind by the protheans. We know that they were designed to lead evolving organics into a trap that the reapers set. So, we need to progress ourselves by learning to uncouple ourselves from their technology,” she said, getting a wide-eyed look from Udina.

“Are you suggesting we stop using the Citadel and the relays?” he asked in bewilderment.

“Not immediately,” she said holding her finger up to stop him. “But we don’t know what else the reapers put into them. There could be a thousand failsafes we don’t know about that could end up dooming us all in the end.”

“Ah,” started Valern as he folded his hands into his sleeves. “You’re suggesting we study them and learn to build our own?”

She cocked an eyebrow as she nodded at the man. “You refrained from tinkering with the relays before because of the Rachni War. You didn’t want to end up unlocking a relay that led to another hostile species that started another galactic war. But now we know where the relays come from, and I think it’s time we learned to build them ourselves.”

The councilors all looked from one to the other before looking back at her, and she couldn’t figure out what they were keeping from her. Finally, Tevos spoke. “To all of those present, this is of absolute secrecy,” she said, looking from human to human to turian. All three of them nodded. “We are already in the process of studying the prothean made relay that stood outside this very tower.”

Shepard’s brows shot up in surprise. “Color me stunned, Councilor. You all took the initiative?”

“Indeed,” came Udina’s droll voice. “After Sovereign shut down the Serpent Relay during the Battle for the Citadel, we came to the realization that should another of their kind find a way into the galaxy, they could cripple us by systematically shutting down relay after relay. Or at the very least, prevent anyone but them from using them. So, we decided long before you came back to the Citadel that it would be prudent of us to have a backup plan in place in case they had some contingency that resulted in a shutdown of the relay network.”

“A good start. How far have we gotten on that front?” she asked curiously, noticing all of them going alarmingly silent.

Udina cleared his throat. “I’m afraid that’s information we’re unable to share at the moment, Shepard,” he stated plainly.

She looked from him to Sparatus, then Tevos, then Valern. Her expression melted into one of annoyance. “Specifically with me?”

“Not just you,” said Sparatus as he eyed her sternly. “But we have a special interest in not sharing that information with you at this time.”

“By ‘at this time’ you mean as long as it’s still possible that I’m a Cerberus plant?” she asked bluntly, making each of the councilors sigh.

“Shepard, you must understand our point of view,” started Tevos.

But much to her surprise, Garrus stepped in. “With all due respect, Councilors, none of you really know Shepard,” he said as he stepped up in front of her. “You think you do. You’ve butted heads with her,” he said eyeing Udina and Sparatus. “You’ve helped her,” he continued as he eyed Tevos and Valern. “But none of you know her like we did.”

“I don’t see what that has to-“ started Sparatus in annoyance, but Garrus cut him off.

“We know Shepard,” he said as he stepped over and put a hand on her shoulder. “Tali, Liara, Wrex, Ashley, we all flew with her throughout the galaxy for nearly an entire year. We took the original Normandy and flew through the Conduit. We fought together against that reaper menace in this very chamber,” he said firmly as he pointed to them. “If anyone knows Shepard, it’s us. I’d never serve under some Cerberus clone, and neither would anyone else who knew her.”

The council were eerily quiet at the statement. The ambassador stepped up to her side as well. “Councilor, I’m inclined to agree with Mister Vakarian. You yourself melded with her to see if there was anything malicious at work in her mind.”

“So what, we’re supposed to just trust her implicitly because of your word?” asked Valern in a no-nonsense tone to Garrus.

“You all know that your spectres make shady connections when working outside of Council Space. How many of your agents have used the Shadow Broker for information? How many salarian spectres sympathize with the Lystheni? How many asari spectres have a Sisterhood of Serrice tattoo on them?” asked the turian sniper as he glared at them all. “Cerberus is a garbage organization rampant with bigotry and human supremacy. But they’re no worse than some of the people your other spectres associate with. So, let’s all quit pretending there’s something special about her using Cerberus resources.”

Udina frowned but let out a sigh. “As much as I hate it, I’m afraid I agree,” said the human councilor, getting a stunned look from both Garrus and Shepard. “We all know Cerberus is terrible. But Shepard was made a spectre. She was trusted with taking down Saren, and even reported Alliance negligence to the Council before, much to my own chagrin at the time.” He looked from her to the others. “I think it’s past time we accept that Shepard is who she says she is.”

The other councilors waited a long moment before finally turning to Shepard again. Tevos was the first to speak. “Their words ring true, Spectre. We have placed undue expectations on you.”

Sparatus cleared his throat. “Part of the reason we ignore most associations with other spectres is that they typically keep them secret. I guess we shouldn’t punish the one spectre who is being as transparent as possible.”

Valern spoke up with a sigh. “Yes yes, Shepard. As nauseating as I find your association, I appreciate you not hiding it.”

“I appreciate your faith in me, Councilors. But for now, I’m going to retract my question,” she said getting curious looks from the four. “Your work on the relay situation isn’t something I need to know about now. And if you still have some doubts about Cerberus, then I won’t pry. But just be aware that I don’t intend to give Cerberus a free pass just because they’ve decided to throw resources into a good cause. Like it or not, me and them are going to clash someday. And I will need your help when that time comes.”

“Just keep us updated and watch your back, Shepard,” said Udina dutifully. “It’ll be hard to help you with a knife sticking out of it.”

“Understood Councilor,” said Shepard with a grin.

“On that note, Shepard, I need to ask something of you when you have time,” said the human as he stepped back up and took his seat again. “Let the ambassador know when you have a moment to spare in the next week or so.”

They all finally sat again and the privacy barrier vanished. Almost immediately her omni-tool alert went off. She looked down at the notification and her face went grim. “Speak of the devil…”

“Heard you talking about him?” asked Garrus playfully.

She glared at him teasingly before moving with a purpose to leave the tower. “He said he’d only contact me in emergencies. If it wasn’t important, he’d go through Miranda or Kelly. Something must be wrong,” she said as she entered the elevator and slapped the button for the presidium ground floor. “Thanks for sticking up for me back there,” she said nudging him with her elbow.

“Standing next to me has to open up some insecurities. I need to keep you on your feet and make sure being around me too long doesn’t depress you,” he said confidently, causing her to snort so hard it hurt as the elevator sunk down to the pristine ring below.

QEC – SSV Normandy SR2

She eyed the man as the QEC put him together quickly. Once the room he commonly sat in was finally formed, she crossed her arms. “What is it?”

“Shepard, we’ve got a Code Sigma coming from the colony world of Horizon,” he said firmly. “I trust you know what this means?”

Her brows furrowed at the claim. “They’ve gone quiet.”

“It was the same thing that happened right before the attack on Freedom’s Progress and other colonies that you weren’t there for. Absolute silence coming from the colony world. No transmissions, no extranet bursts, no traffic leaving or going to. As quiet as a grave,” he said as he reached down and grabbed his golden cigarette case. “How is Mordin doing on that prophylaxis against the collector seeker swarms?”

“He mentioned that he has a cure for it, but I don’t know about a preventative,” she responded as she brought up her omni-tool and began sending out the alert to everyone.

“If not, I hope he works well under pressure,” he said as he set his gaze on her. “This is the earliest warning we’ve ever gotten, Shepard. You need to go now if you hope to catch them in the act.”

“If we’re fast enough we may be able to prevent some of the colonists from being taken,” she said as she closed her omni-tool down, having sent the alert to all of them.

“More importantly, you need to find out what they’re doing. Why they’re collecting humans. If you can, we desperately need any information that can help us with the big picture of why they’re doing what they’re doing,”  he said stoically.

She gave him a stern glare. “Your priorities are clearly different from mine.”

“Saving the colonists is important,” he said to her with frost in his voice. “But if we can’t figure out what their endgame is, then we won’t have a way of preventing these attacks. They will continue and continue until there are no colonists left.”

“I’ll figure out what they’re doing when I’m sure they aren’t taking any more colonists. If you want that done faster, then send one of your cronies to do it while I’m killing collectors,” she snapped back at him firmly before turning away and exiting the QEC, leaving him to sigh to himself.

Biology and Tech Lab – SSV Normandy SR2

As Shepard entered the lab, her ears were immediately assaulted with the sound of music from the music player she had gotten him from the Citadel. She stepped inside as Mordin worked on his terminal and eyed the player. She quickly recognized the sound of a salarian rapping to a beat, his or her voice many clips faster than any human rapper she’d ever heard before.

The salarian doctor turned to her and grinned. “Ah, Shepard! Glad you’ve come. Many new updates,” he said before turning to silence the music player. “Apologies. Love music. Helps me think.”

“That helps you think?” she asked in amusement, knowing that her mind would be scrambled just trying to keep up with the lyrics.

“Fourth cousin. Music a talent in the family. Even wrote a song about you,” he said turning to her with his smile growing.

“They wrote a song about me?” she asked incredulously.

“Indeed. Called ‘Crown of Fire,’ likely reference to your hair,” he said with a nod. “Even sang myself when I was younger. Bigger fan of musicals than modern R&B. Gilbert and Sullivan, Producers, Phantom of the Opera. All masterpieces.”

“I’ve rarely met someone so fascinated by human musical culture,” she said, slightly impressed with the man before her. “All that aside, I need to know your progress on the counter to the collector toxin.”

“All lab work done,” he said as he turned towards a small glass case with the now live and buzzing insects inside. “Managed to resuscitate samples. Found method of dispersal injection through stinger. Paralysis near instant,” he said as he pulled up a small device and gripped her hand. She eyed him curiously as he slapped the band onto her wrist. “Even created counter to insects themselves.”

He pushed the button on the wristband and immediately she heard thumping from the cage. Looking up, she noticed the small buzzing collector insects were now slamming themselves against the wall of the cage to get away from her. “What’s happening to them?”

“Scrambles senses. No pain receptors to speak of, but causes distress in creatures, prevents them from getting close to you,” he said before stepping back and handing her a dozen of the bands. “Suggest equipping entire crew and getting them to lab for immunity injection. No point taking chances,” he said sternly.

She smiled and nodded. “You ever heard of the phrase above and beyond the call of duty?”

“Nonsense. Same as you, Shepard. Put my all into my work,” he said proudly.

“True, but even a regular scientist might not have gone outside the original parameters to create these devices,” she said dangling the wristbands in front of him.

He smirked lightly. “If knowledge is a library then I’m its king librarian…”

“I am the very model of a scientist salarian,” she said in response, her own smile lighting her face.

CODEX ENTRIES

Apha | Food | Palaven
The turian equivalent of coffee made from the leaves and seeds of the Apahtala plant native to Palaven. It provides a minor stimulant to dextro species who sometimes use it as a dessert due to its sweeter flavor.

Chapter Text

Chapter 17

Discovery Market Plaza – Discovery – Horizon

The larger shuttle landed on the surface of the colony world and immediately the doors flew open. Grunt jumped off of the shuttle and his shotgun was immediately up and aiming around, seeking potential targets. Zaeed did the same from the other side while Shepard and Jack stepped out casually.

As soon as they were free of the vehicle, Shepard reached up and slapped the cabin, letting the pilot know they were out. They immediately closed the doors and flew away. Reaching up, the spectre activated her comm. “Miranda, status?”

“We just landed. Vakarian, Tali’Zorah, Doctor Solus, and Ms. Goto are here as well and ready to go,” came the XO’s call from further to the east.

She looked up into the sky and saw the same type of imposing warship that had annihilated the original Normandy floating there menacingly. “Understood. You’ve all got your wristbands. If you get stung anyway, you have ten seconds at most before you lock up. Use the injectors to prevent it and keep each other out of trouble,” she said as she felt her heart beating mercilessly at the view of the hive-like ship.

“Shepard, are you sure you can do this?” asked Miranda over the comms.

The spectre snorted, knowing she was talking about what happened in the prison. “If I was going to have a negative reaction, it would be to the ship and I’d have already had it. I’m fine, Lawson. Keep your head in the game.”

“Understood,” came her worried reply as Shepard pulled her assault rifle off her back.

She sometimes found herself missing her long-range weapon. Her entire career had put her at arm’s distance from most of her targets. But it seemed that her combat style now mirrored her role in the galaxy. She went from being a passive observer who occasionally had to pull the trigger into heavy infantry that broke enemy lines like a bulldozer. Stealth had its time and place, and it wasn’t now.

Speaking of stealth, she found herself wondering if the collector ship could see the Normandy while it sat it was dark. The one from two years ago managed to not just see, but destroy the original Normandy while it was in stealth. She found herself curious if something was different this time, or if the crew was so distracted with the harvesting that they weren’t even bothering with looking for other ships.

Her gaze dropped from the ship above to the colony in front of her. “This place just can’t catch a break,” she said with a sigh.

Tali responded to the comment curiously. “Has this place had a history of this kind of thing?”

“The Horizon Incident,” said Shepard as she prepared her heat sinks.

Miranda was quick to answer her question. “2165. Batarian extremists discretely planted a nuclear payload on the planet and detonated it, destroying the city of Orizzont and killing hundreds of thousands. It was the same year we got our embassy. And the same year the batarians lost theirs.”

“Damn. Was that a response or punishment?” asked Jack incredulously as she loaded her own weapon and prepared herself.

“The Council investigated and retaliated by exiling the Hegemony from the Citadel entirely. As a peace offering to humans, they offered to give us our embassy immediately rather than waiting for a century like most species,” said Shepard as she activated her device. “With the bombing taking place only nine years after the First Contact War, the Council avoided all drama with the Alliance and caved, giving us an embassy and ambassador.”

Garrus responded. “Even I can’t argue the Council did the right thing. Typically the extended time period is to allow a species to prove itself. Not going into full scale war after the attack on Horizon was more than enough proof they were ready to join.”

“Alright, focus on the mission,” she ordered as she looked around. “Everyone have their bug barriers up?”

“Affirmative on our end,” came Miranda’s call.

Her group nodded approval. “Well Mordin, let’s hope these work with the numbers we’re going to have here,” she said as she saw a cloud of the insects in the distance.

“Certainty impossible. Only way to test is contact with seeker swarms. Excited to see if they work,” he said excitedly, making her shake her head.

“Alright. We’re the battering ram. We’re going to him them like a train. The rest of you stay hidden until you see an opportunity to help. Hit them in the back unless otherwise necessary,” she said as she looked down at Jack who was currently stretching. “You sure you wanna be on the heavy team?”

The convict smirked at her. “Just wait and see, matchstick.”

“If you say so,” she said as she activated the comm again. “Alright, let’s go! Keep up everyone and stay aware of your surroundings!” she ordered as she tapped her omni-tool. Her armor, which was already heavily armored and shielded with kinetic barriers lit up with plates of hard-light armor. Even she had to admit that she looked like the messenger of death in it. But she was thankful for the armor regardless. She lifted one hand and eyed the new addition that Jacob suggested after the Purgatory episode.

Finally, she pulled her visor down and locked it into place. She began jogging forward as Miranda gave last-minute advice. “We also don’t know what kind of weapons they use. Do not find out the hard way.” Grunt, Zaeed, and Jack all started following her as she gripped her rifle. Her last battle against the collectors resulted in an escape so close that the Normandy’s tail end was smoking. She had no idea how they fought, how they acted, whether they were hive mind or separate individuals. Hell, she didn’t even know if they were organic. They could be constructs for all she knew. She had no information, and she hated that. But it was learn now, or never.

Shepard looked up as a cloud of insects swarmed around them. She gulped nervously as the swarm obstructed her view temporarily, but breathed a sigh of relief as they flew away erratically without touching any of them. “Seeker swarm repellant confirmed.”

“Excellent! Unable to log notes if paralyzed or dead. Much better outcome this way,” he responded as if knowing the result already.

“He’s thankful not that he isn’t about to be harvested, but that he can still take notes?” asked Garrus incredulously.

“We all have our peculiar idiosyncrasies. He likes to log notes, I like to listen to classical human music, you enjoy headbutting rockets…” came Tali’s voice light-heartedl;y.

“Okay, that’s low…” growled the turian as Shepard snorted in amusement.

But any humor in her vaporized immediately as she saw the figures of the collectors ahead. They were in a courtyard, two of them carrying one of those familiar casket-looking devices. They began to lift off and fly up towards the ship when they suddenly stopped.

“No you fucking don’t!” shouted Jack as she grabbed the two. The large casket fell to the ground below as both of the flying collectors smashed into the ground hard enough to pulverize them into paste. Shepard and Zaeed both began firing on the others and Grunt let out a quaking roar. All of the collectors in the area dropped what they were doing and focused on the intruding party. They took flight, readying their weapons to fire from above.

Garrus’s rifle immediately splattered one of their heads wide open, sending its corpse and weapon to the ground. Another rapidly began to freeze in midair. As soon as the cold got to the wings, it fell from the sky and shattered on impact.

Chaos broke loose as each member of the squad took on their own group. Shepard targeted one of the collectors as they zoomed in low. It fired a laser weapon directly at her, avoiding the gunfire from the others. The beam lanced across her light-based armor, surprising her as she still felt the heat. It became clear that any flying in the air were dead within seconds, so the swarm of collectors flew low to the ground. She didn’t doubt they were trying to make it hard for the hidden attackers to hit without causing friendly fire.

Another targeted her and the both of them flitted around rapidly on their wings, firing their beam weapons at her in an attempt to flank her. Raising her rifle she took aim and with sniper precision she shot three times, and was shocked to find a glowing blue sheen covering their form. “They’re biotic!” she warned as she fired more and blasted through the center mass of one of them. It collapsed to the ground, still attempting to grab its weapon. But another burst from her ended it permanently. It was then that its partner slammed into her. She was knocked sideways, her rifle sliding across the ground as she glared at the attacker and stood tall again.

“Shepard, I can’t get the one buzzing around you. It’s moving too fast for me to shoot without endangering you,” said Garrus as his target zipped around her at high speeds with its wings. “Grab it with your biotics so I can take it out.”

It bodily slammed into her again, its own weapon raised and priming again.  “I got this,” said Shepard as she held up one hand. The collector fired the beam weapon again and the laser slammed into her biotic barrier. She could feel her brain tingling as the pressure applied to her barrier weakened her slightly. But she held it until the collector realized it wasn’t working.

Putting the weapon away, the bug-like assassin zoomed in and prepared razor-sharp talons for an attack. As it sped towards her at blinding speeds, the world around her slowed down slightly as her vision sharpened. Reaching out, she spun in a full circle to gain momentum before hitting the button on the device around her forearm. Immediately a long, glowing blade shot from her arm. Gritting her teeth, she swung it with full force, slicing clean through its hand that had extended to grab her, then through its head and halfway down its body before it finally snapped clean off.

The collector impacted the ground harshly, its body splitting and splashing against the ground like a water balloon. Reaching down, she grabbed her gun off the ground before hitting the button to eject the fabricated blade. She turned to the others and saw the work was almost done. Jack had ground a group of three of them into mulch by squeezing them together, Grunt tore them limb from limb, and Zaeed did what he did best by killing them with an unreasonable amount of ammo and cursing.

In less than a minute they had concluded the conflict. Shepard held up her hand to the others as she scanned the sky. After another full minute, she nodded. “So, hivemind is probably out,” she said as she walked over to the container. She could barely see inside the damn thing, but she knew it was occupied. “Mordin, what the hell is this thing?”

The salarian made his way over to her and eyed the device curiously.

“Interesting,” he said as he tapped his chin. “Insect-like species, commonly wrap prey in cocoon like substance before feeding. Many strange behavioral deviations.”

“How?” asked Miranda as she tossed one of the laser weapons aside and shook her head, annoyed that it wasn’t usable as it was.

“Collectors never used to fly ship that big,” he said pointing up to the haunting hive above them. “Never used to involve selves in abduction process. Normally relied on trades with slavers,” said the salarian as he began pacing thoughtfully. “Things changed recently. Built bigger ship, harvesting themselves. Collectors always interested in genetic variances. Didn’t need living targets in past. Now capturing them alive necessary.”

“Poor bastards,” said Zaeed as he eyed the person inside.

“Any idea why they would need them alive?” asked Garrus who stayed at a distance.

“Unclear. Perhaps studying new genetic variation in humans. Perhaps found one, looking for more cases. Too many variables, not enough information,” said the scientist as he waved the question off. “Need more data.”

“Grunt. Open this,” ordered Shepard as she kicked the casket. The krogan plodded over to the container and smashed the surface open in one clean maneuver. Shepard stared down into the coffin-like device and her brows rose curiously as she saw someone in grey armor not unlike her own had been years ago. “What’s an N7 doing all the way out here?” she asked as Miranda also eyed the figure.

“Maybe the Alliance wanted to keep an eye on the colonies in case of raiders or pirates,” said the XO with a shrug.

Shepard reached back into her belt and retrieved one of the injectors for the antidote. Reaching down, she knocked on the soldier’s blacked out helmet. “Are you alive inside there?”

“Unable to move. Unable to form words, but able to make sound,” said the salarian as he leaned over to watch.

As if inspired by his words, a muffled senseless shout came from inside the helmet. “They’re still alive,” said Shepard as she prepared to inject the antidote through a joint area in the armor, allowing it to get through to the skin.

“Should we be using these on random people?” asked Miranda sternly as she stayed off to the side.

Shepard glared at her. “They’re an N7 and could probably help fight off the collectors. Even if they weren’t, that’s a tone-deaf question,” said the spectre as Miranda looked surprised for a moment.

Turning back to the soldier in the casket, she jammed the tip of the injector into the inner thigh between the plates of the armor. They grunted in pain as it slid inside their skin and pumped the antitoxin into their blood. “Humans average of five minutes for body to become responsive again,” said the salarian as he readied his gun again.

“We’re going to head to the defense towers. When you can fight again, meet us there!” shouted Shepard as she snapped one of the wristbands onto the frozen soldier’s wrist and activated it. They groaned as the spectre stood and nodded her head towards the large towers in the distance that weren’t doing their jobs.

Outside Defense Tower – Discovery – Horizon

It had been a while since battle had surprised her. She didn’t have a whole lot of information on the collectors going in, so she was expecting some surprises. But what she wasn’t expecting was a group of human husks to crawl out of the woodwork and start charging at their group. Her eyes widened as her thoughts flew back to her first time seeing them on Eden Prime.

“Husks!” she shouted, not thinking about the fact that nobody besides Garrus and Tali knew what they had nicknamed them. But they seemed to respond in kind plenty fast.

Jack hurled a large ball of blue energy along the ground. It was like she was bowling, as anything in its path was hurled at least three meters into the air before causing them to smash back down. Snapping out of her stupor, she aimed her rifle and began picking them apart as they charged. They were definitely still a threat, but with the amount of crew she was pulling now, they weren’t getting close at all.

Finally, the party lowered their weapons. When she looked up, she saw Garrus and Tali standing next to her like old times. “What are husks doing here? I didn’t see any spikes when we scanned the colony,” asked Tali as she kicked one of their destroyed bodies.

Garrus interjected as he checked his rifle to make sure the sink was good. “They might have had them on the ship. Brought them from somewhere else.”

“Confirmed,” came Mordin’s fast clipped voice again. “Transformation from organic into machine not clean process. It devours skin, causing blood to flow from wounded areas.” He tapped the cheek area of one of the dead husks. “Blood dried, congealed. Been at least few days since death.”

“Are they harvesting us to turn us into husks? I don’t understand,” said Shepard as she sighed to herself. Then she began noticing differences. The mouth, instead of being the normal, slack human jaw that the husks had back then, they now had a glowing ring stretching the mouth open as well. Their bodies were now almost entirely tech rather than leaving a good portion as human remains. “These aren’t the same as they were two years ago. They’re more advanced.”

“Reapers had two years to improve design,” said Mordin thoughtfully.

Garrus snorted through his nose. “The question is, how did they improve?”

“Let’s try not to find out,” said Shepard as she pointed to the towers. “We’re almost there. Let’s keep moving and taking out any intruders you see.”

As they moved further into the colony, she began seeing more and more of the casket-like devices with bodies in them ready to ascend. She looked around, trying to figure out where the collectors harvesting them had gone. But she only had to wait seconds as the sky vibrated with the sound of buzzing.

From over the barrier leading to the defense towers flew at least fifty of the bug-like creatures, all of them hovering menacingly in the air and glaring down at her group. Each one had a weapon of death in their hands, the laser weapons that they had used previously. She growled to herself as she prepared to get out of the way.

Suddenly, one of the collectors flew down and landed on the ground around ten feet from them. All of their weapons were trained on it, and Shepard was seconds from blasting it into dust before it began jerking back and forth. Its skin began glowing a bright gold color as it let out a metallic roar. Finally, it stood again and stared down at her with all six of its eyes. “Shepard…”

“Sorry…?” said the spectre as she went wide-eyed.

“They can talk?” asked Tali, also in shock.

“Destroyer of Nazara. Your scurrying is heard once again,” said the presumed leader of the collectors.

“Nazara?” asked Garrus curiously as he took aim through his scope.

“Do we know each other?” asked the woman as she hefted her battle rifle and stepped forward.

“We know of you. A statistical anomaly soon to be corrected,” it said as its biotics lit up. “Do not be foolish. The evolution cannot be stopped. You will be as we are.”

“What the hell does that even mean?” asked Miranda as she held her gun level at the figure.

“We are the harbinger of your destruction,” said the creature as it raised its weapon to fire. But it was blasted from every angle. It was torn to pieces in seconds, its body losing its glow as it fell. “This body is meaningless. Your ascension is inevitable…” it finished before finally splattering to the ground.

“Zaeed…” whispered Jack right next to her.

“Wazzit?” asked the mercenary.

“See that hydrogen fuel truck?” she asked with a smirk.

“Two steps ahead of ya. A bloody nutter you are,” he said with his own smile as he reached back slowly and pulled a belt of incendiary grenades off.

Within seconds of the leader’s body hitting the ground, the massive swarm of collectors dove in for the kill. But Jack interrupted their attack as she grabbed the hydrogen truck and hurled it directly into the middle of the group.

Zaeed pulled the pin on the belt and hurled it right in with the truck just as Jack started squeezing it, causing the fuel to begin erupting from cracks in all sides. Shepard’s eyes widened in horror as she realized their plan. She shot both hands forward, dropping her rifle and putting up as big of a barrier as she was able to protect them all.

But her barrier folded immediately as the grenades ignited, causing an explosion that nearly fried her sound dampeners. She and everyone else was hurled off into the distance as a billowing fireball erupted, consuming all the oxygen it could before imploding back on itself, a rush of wind forcing the dark cloud into a mushroom shape.

Shepard coughed, tasting blood as she tried to get to her feet. Her leg throbbed slightly as she recalled her previously broken bone. But it stood strong as she finally stood to her feet and surveyed the scene. The swarm of collectors was broken. Many were still buzzing around, but most of the massive army were now permanently implanted into the ground or buildings of the area from the force of the explosion. She also noticed that her crew were nowhere in sight. Reaching up, she tapped her comm, praying that it still worked.

“Headcount, who is still alive?” she ordered as she looked around for her weapon. But the only thing in her area were collector corpses.

“Me and Jack are here,” came Miranda’s call. “She’s too pissed off to be dead.”

“Goddamn right I am,” growled the woman as the sound of her spitting could be heard.

Next was Garrus. “I’m over here with Grunt. Partially deaf now, but I can still see down a scope.”

“Tali reporting in. Ugh… have I saved up any leave yet?” she asked with a heavy sigh.

“Massani here, alive and still kickin’ somehow,” came the mercenary’s call.

“Kasumi checking in. The good doctor is alive as well but his communicator was taken out in the explosion,” said the thief.

Shepard sighed to herself as she heard that they were all okay. But her concerns were immediately shelved as the remainder of the collectors gathered themselves and began swarming out to attack. “Incoming collectors! Fight them however you can!” she snapped as she looked around desperately for a gun she could use.

Three targeted her and zoomed in to attack. Triggering her biotics, she activated her weapon again, causing another searing hot silicon-carbide blade to slide out of her wrist. She immediately noticed that the farthest one began glowing again, its body starting to writhe as whatever was controlling them took over.

As the first of the three zoomed in to attack, she reached out with her hand and gripped it with biotics. It stopped dead in front of her before she slammed it into the ground and buried her blade into its skull. Yanking it free, the heat from the blade evaporated whatever kind of blood and flesh was left behind.

She immediately noticed that they didn’t have their laser weapons anymore. Perhaps the explosion sent them flying as well. The second of the two flitted around her in circles, attempting to dodge her blade attack. She stood still her biotic field expanding, but not to attack anything. The moment the collector entered the field to attack, she felt it. Swinging around, she slashed with her blade and sent the creature’s arm flying.

Not waiting for another shot, she slammed it tip first straight between its eyes as it stared, stunned, at its arm. Snapping the blade off again, she ejected the rest of it before preparing to create another. Turning to the third, she noticed it had fully transformed again. “So, you’re a reaper then?”

“We are the harbinger of your destruction,” said the glowing collector.

“Yeah yeah, I’ve heard that before from Sovereign before I killed him,” she said waving off his words. She had no idea how to tell if her statements bothered him. But she was more than willing to try to throw him off his game and buy time for the others to show up. “You’ve called us foolish and insignificant. But tell me, Harbinger, what kind of idiotic artificial intelligence runs headfirst into enemy territory only to get destroyed?”

“You will regret your resistance, Shepard. You stopped one of us, but you cannot stop us all. We will darken the skies of every world,” he began again before Shepard cut him off.

“God you guys are repetitive…” she groaned as she lit her biotics again. “It took one human ship to destroy your vanguard. What do you think is going to happen when I get the whole galaxy to go to war with you?” she asked, almost smirking at this point. “You really think you’re going to stand a chance?”

Throwing out one arm, the collector shot a glowing mass of destruction. Shepard swung her arm and catapulted it into the building next to them with her biotics. Zooming forward, Harbinger slashed at her with his scythe-like claws. But she vanished instantly, leaving him standing in confusion. Suddenly, a blade ripped through his back and exploded out of his chest as she slid it home. She yanked it upwards, carving its chest cavity open and causing tech and guts to spill out. She lifted her foot and kicked it off the blade before standing over its dying head.

Kneeling down, she tapped it in its head. “Hey, Harbinger. Assuming you are a reaper, I want you to tell all of your buddies out in dark space something,” she said before she held up her blade again. “This is my galaxy. And if any of you step foot inside of it, you’ll all experience what I gave to Sovereign.” Finally, she sank the blade deep into its head. The light vanished, and it went immediately limp.

As she stood, she noticed something streaking through the air above. Her eyes widened as she saw the collector ship dropping something to the surface. “Shepard! We’ve got a problem!” shouted Miranda over the comm.

“What is it?” asked the spectre as she sprinted out of the small alley where she had faced off against the leader of the collectors. But almost as soon as she left, she saw what the problem was.

“We’ve got new enemies on the field!” shouted Garrus as the sound of his rifle firing echoed over the mic.

She stared up in horror as a massive figure stood before her. It was a husk, but bigger. Its head was human, but the body looked more krogan. It even had an enormous blue, glowing hump on its back. As she soaked in the sight, it shrieked before it waved an arm at her. A wave of biotics slammed into her and sent her skidding across the ground. She wheezed as she rolled over to get up, but before she could even try, another hit her from behind, sending her cannoning towards the blackened ground where the explosion had taken place. Mercifully, she landed on one of the collector corpses, which cushioned her fall. But she wasn’t long for this world if they kept hitting her like that.

Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself to her feet again. Stepping forward, she held up her blade. But she felt her foot kick something as she did. Looking down, she saw one of the large collector weapons from before. Suddenly, her mind reeled again as she found herself on a different battlefield. She was the commander of her forces fighting off waves of invading machines she knew were called the Zha’til, created by the Zha people. She sent her troops into battle before charging herself on a hovering vehicle from above. As soon as she was in range, she held her weapon up and fired, sending a beam of light out that carved through enemy forces.

She snapped back to herself as she looked down at the gun again. Ejecting her blade, she reached down and grabbed the collector weapon. Activating her biotics, the weapon lit up as well. Aiming directly at the massive hulk in front of her that was screaming its agony to the universe, she fired. The beam of light instantly lanced through the enemy and cut the entire thing in half when she adjusted her aim. It fell in two, its parts pulverizing as they were exposed to open air.

Turning to the other, she aimed as it began to wave its hand again. But the laser slashed through its arm, sending it tumbling to the ground. Firing again, the light beam pierced the skull and drilled all the way through the body and out the other end, making the creature let out one more pitiful croak of agony before it fell backwards.

Breathing heavily, the spectre eyed the weapon curiously. “Looks like not all prothean tech was gotten rid of in the harvesting,” she said before she sprinted to find the others.

Defense Tower Gateway – Discovery – Horizon

It didn’t take long for her to carve through the rest of the collectors that survived the explosion. The others covered each other well, something she was proud of. She stepped up to Jack and Miranda who were breathing heavily from their use of biotics, no doubt having obliterated their opponents with them.

The convict slung her assault rifle over her shoulder with a smirk, the massive, humped husk torn to shreds behind her. “You’re not bad with your biotics, Jiggles.” Miranda rolled her eyes and just turned to Shepard with a look of exasperation. “Wouldn’t mind hitting that if you didn’t have your pretty little nose stuffed up the Illusive Man’s ass.”

“Nothing stopping me from hitting you,” growled the XO as Shepard patted her on the shoulder.

“Just stay calm. She’s baiting you,” said the spectre with a grin.

“I know…” sighed the woman as she wiped sweat from her brow.

The others finally approached as well. Shepard looked around to make sure everyone was present and nodded approvingly. “Good. No worse for wear,” she said as she used her tongue to try and make sure she had all her teeth after that explosion. “Jack, good improvising, but next time a little warning would help.”

“You want a warning, get the cheerleader to do it. I’m here to kill stuff,” she responded with a sneer.

“Yeah, try not to include us in that ‘stuff’,” said Garrus as he shook his head. “Ears will be ringing for a week.”

“No promises, Vakarian. You roll with me, you take the hits,” said the convict as she looked back to Shepard. But Shepard wasn’t having any of her nonsense. Jack’s expression soured. “Goddammit, fine,” she pouted as she crossed her arms.

“I’ve already lectured Wrex about recklessness. Don’t become my next target,” said Shepard with a smirk as she led them to the gateway into the defense tower grounds. When she tried to open it, it was locked. “Hmmm…” She thought to herself for a moment before testing it to see if she could hack into the door’s controls. But much to her annoyance, whatever was stopping the door wasn’t electronic. Turning around, she eyed the krogan. “Grunt.”

“Hmm?” he asked curiously as he perked up.

“Smash,” she said, pointing to the door.

“Heh heh heh,” he chuckled as he put his gun away and took a few steps back. Clenching his fists, he charged forward and annihilated the hinges of the door as it caved inward. Grunt continued to charge until he and the door both hit the far wall.

“Shit!” snapped an unknown voice from inside.

Shepard held her new weapon up. “I know you’re in here. Step out where I can see you,” she ordered as she fired a warning shot up near the ceiling.

“Son of a…” groaned a man as he stepped out with his hands up. He was older, maybe in his midlife. He wore a maintenance uniform, one common to ship mechanics as well as a baseball cap on his head. When his eyes scoped the door, he looked like he was ready to wet himself. “The hell did you break the door for?! Now they can get in!”

“Anything out that way is dead,” said Miranda as she crossed her arms. “The seeker swarms have retreated back to the ship.”

“So, all that explosion racket was you guys?” he asked, his backwoods accent betraying his terror.

“We were killing collectors and keeping them from taking any more colonists,” said Shepard as she walked past him and began prying the bar off of the other door into the defense tower courtyard.

“Collectors? You mean… they’re real?” he asked as he scratched the back of his head. “I thought they were propaganda. The Alliance trying to keep us in Alliance space, you know?” He shook his head violently. “No! They got Lilith! And Sten! They got damn near everybody!” he snapped in horror.

“Human,” snapped Grunt as he stepped up to the man. He nearly cowered as the titanic krogan stood over him. “What do you do here… uh…” he started before looking down at his name tag. “Delan?”

“I’m a mechanic. I worked in the motorpool and check on the power grid when it needs it,” he said as he scooted back on his rear. “We had a power fluctuation before the attack. I went down the hatch to check on the power grid,” he said as he pointed towards a hatch leading into the ground. “When I came back up, I heard the screaming. Lilith tried to run out and save a kid, then Sten ran out after her. The bugs got both of them. After they froze up, I sealed the doors,” he said as he covered his head with his hands.

Shepard shook her head at his admission, then turned back to the door. “We’re going to turn the defense towers back on. That should help get the ship away from the planet.”

“Those towers,” growled the man as he pointed at Shepard. “It’s the Alliance’s fault they came here! Putting those towers up made us a target!”

Miranda shook her head as well. “Choosing to live in the Terminus Systems made you a target,” she said in annoyance. “I have no love for the Alliance, but the guns were literally the only thing that would save you from pirates and raiders.”

“Yeah, look like they’re doin’ a lot of good now,” spat the man as he huffed angrily. “Those damn towers and that damn Staff Lieutenant…”

Shepard’s brow rose as she turned to him. “You mean the N7 we found?”

“Yeah, that’s her. Of all the people to survive…” he grumbled to himself as Shepard finally pried the door open. “They came here and dumped a giant gun on our doorstep and then made us dig up half the colony to build an underground generator just to run the damn thing! Stupid bastards…”

Shepard turned back to him and nodded towards the hatch below. “You get back down there and see if you can block access until we come back. Once the collectors are gone, we’ll gather everyone left and see what we need to do.”

“Good idea,” said the man as he got to his feet and opened the hatch. “Good luck, you’re probably gonna need it,” he said before disappearing down the hole.

Shepard kicked open the door and looked out over the courtyard. The admin computer for the defense towers was across the way, which was riddled with boxes and boxes of parts that laid all over the place. Garrus chuckled as he saw the mess. “No wonder it isn’t working. They haven’t even unpacked half of it yet.”

Shepard smirked and gave him a quick elbow. “Let’s get moving. The sooner we get the towers up, the sooner the collectors are gone.” Taking her heavy weapon, she slapped her helmet a few times to make sure it was secure before bolting out of the cover of the gateway. Keeping her weapon low, she moved in a beeline from the entrance straight to the targeting computer. Luckily for her, it looked like all the remaining collectors had flown to attack them outside of the tower building. More of the casket-like devices lay around the area, most of them empty. But she would worry about that later when the menace above them was gone.

She pulled up on the open air terminal and opened it. “EDI, can you figure out what’s wrong with the defense towers?” asked Shepard over the comm.

“I can diagnose the cause of their malfunction. Being able to fix it is its own quandary,” said the AI as Shepard reached down to her omni-tool and linked it into the computer.

“Opening access now. Tell me what you can find,” she ordered as she turned around with her weapon ready.

“Shepard! You have incoming!” snapped Joker urgently.

She looked up and saw another black spot fly down from the ship. It looked like it was going to impact the ground, but it stopped right above it. Then it let off a massive biotic bubble that exploded, toppling Shepard and likely half her crew.

As she rolled back to her feet, her eyes narrowed as she felt her battle mode ignite again. Everything began slowing down. Even as EDI spoke to her, the AI’s voice seemed to draw out as she focused on the crystal clear picture of her enemy. It stood on four legs like an insect instead of any quadruped she knew of. Its body was one giant mass rather than having segments. Its face was alight with glowing orbs that looked read to fire at a moments notice, and in an opening below the glowing orbs were reaperized human faces. It looked like a giant floating scarab.

It hovered in the air for a long moment as a shield formed around it. Then it turned to her. Reaching up, she activated her comm. “Everyone spread out and take its shield down. Don’t get cornered by it.”

“Hey Shepard,” came Jack’s voice over the comm.

“What is it, Jack?” she asked as she prepared her laser weapon.

“If you really want to see why I’m on the heavy team, take its shield down and let me have it,” said the young woman.

“First come first serve, Jack. If you get to it first, you can have it,” she said as he hovered towards her slowly. Immediately gunfire began to pepper its shields from all sides. From the looks of it, they didn’t seem to be harming it all that much. “It’s putting out a powerful biotic barrier. We’ll have to think of something else,” she said before raising her own weapon and firing it. The laser slammed into the floating tank’s shield, but it still held fast.

It's glowing orbs lit up, and Shepard saw what was coming. Right before the lasers fired, she vanished from her location and appeared right below it. Firing straight up, she hoped that the underside was weaker than the front. But it still didn’t seem to even scratch it. Her eyes widened as an electric charge ran across its shell. Sprinting, she dove over a bunch of boxes holding mechanical parts. But the electrical blast did its job. She immediately felt her limbs and muscles convulse as the energy went through her body.

She breathed heavily and could feel her armor smoking. Getting to her feet, she lit her biotics again before making another jump to its backside. Everyone was hitting it with their strongest weapons. Even Miranda had joined in with her own biotics, but even that couldn’t crack the nut open. Shepard glared at the creature’s brightly lit eyes as she growled, ready to jump again, but knowing that it was futile if they didn’t have a plan.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the creature. It lurched to the side and its biotic barrier flickered momentarily as it let out a loud shriek. “Hit it now!” shouted Shepard as she tossed her weapon to the ground and reached out with her own biotics. Miranda gripped its other side and together they tore at the shield while everyone else fired relentlessly on the impenetrable fortress. Then another explosion hit it, causing the shield to weaken. She found she had a grip on it now and wrenched with everything she was capable of.

The shield vanished like a bubble popping on a needle. The next explosion smashed it into the ground. Though it didn’t get away unscathed, it didn’t look like that did anything but slow it down.

Finally, Jack jumped out of cover and boosted herself into the air with biotics. As the bug stood once more, she came down right on its head with a biotic powered fist. As soon as she unleased it, the entire creature’s body flattened under the force of her raw power. Shepard watched wide eyed as the sole punch from the convict brutally crushed the nigh impervious creature. Jack landed on the ground and rolled forward, popping onto her feet next to the spectre. “That’s why I’m on the heavy team.”

“Noted,” said Jane as she reached down and grabbed her laser weapon again. Aiming it, she made sure it didn’t crawl back out of the crater Jack had put it into.

“Anyone know where those explosions came from?” asked Tali over the comm.

Garrus answered her. “Yeah. Our N7 friend decided to join the fight and pulled out a heavy weapon. Approaching from your west, Shepard.”

The spectre turned towards the defense towers and looked up as the cannons began aligning themselves. “Targeting has been fixed, Spectre. Firing now.”

Within seconds, the lasers began firing up into the abyss. The collector ship dropped more of the armored bugs to try and take them out, but they were vaporized before they hit the ground as the GARDIAN lasers hit them midflight. When all the ground troops were incinerated in the sky, the four beams slashed across the sky and carved away at the outside hull of the collector ship. She couldn’t tell if they truly penetrated the hull or if they were just doing superficial damage. But either way the game was up now as the material making up the hive-like appearance caught fire, creating a massive beacon in the sky. The ship wouldn’t survive the onslaught for much longer.

As if to confirm her suspicions, the collector ship began powering its engines up. Within seconds, they hit FTL speeds and were gone. Shepard sat on her butt and leaned back against the control console before yanking her helmet off. Reaching up, she wiped the sweat from her brow. Mordin stepped up as he watched the streak across the sky that the ship left behind. “Got what they came for. Most of colonists still on board.”

A figure in dark armor approached her with a missile launcher over their shoulder. She stood back up and eyed them curiously. “Thanks for the help. You really saved our asses,” she said as she held out her hand.

The mysterious N7 looked down at her hand before reaching down and gripping it tightly. Putting the weapon away, they released the seals on their helmet and pulled it free. Shepard’s eyes widened as she saw the face of Ashley Williams looking right back at her. Tali saw her and immediately ran up to greet her. “Ashley’Williams!”

But Ash didn’t take her eyes off the spectre for a single moment. Her brows furrowed as she stared her up and down before finally locking eyes with her. “Is it really you?”

Shepard’s jaw clenched tightly at the question. She had asked herself the same thing many times over the last few months. “As far as I’m aware,” she responded solemnly.

“I saw the Normandy burn up with you on it. I saw from an escape pod as your body entered the atmosphere of that world. How the hell did you survive?” asked the N7 as she crossed her arms.

“From what I’ve been told, the frozen planet put my remains in cryo. And from there it was a battle royale over my body between the Shadow Broker, the collectors, and Cerberus. Cerberus got me and managed to put me back together over the last two years,” said Shepard, not expecting Ash to believe her.

“So you work with Cerberus now?” asked Ash firmly.

But instead of answering immediately, Shepard let out a loud roar of anger. Ash took step back in surprise. “No! Goddammit, I’m not working with them!” she snapped before reaching up and rubbing her forehead out of frustration. Inhaling deeply, she let out a heavy sigh to clear her mind. “I don’t work with Cerberus. They are a resource I’m using to find out why humans are being harvested. The same way I’d never work with the Shadow Broker, but I’ve used them as a resource in the past.”

Ash nodded silently before turning to look at both Garrus and Tali. “And you two, what do you think?”

Tali was the first one to speak up. “I had my doubts when I first met her, but after being around her for a week or so I can say confidently that she’s the real Shepard.”

Then Ash turned to Garrus. “You know what makes Shepard special, right?” he asked the N7. She nodded to him. “There’s no chance in hell that Cerberus would be able to build her like she was before. Any attempts to clone a new Shepard would have resulted in failure,” he said as he stepped up to Ash and looked down directly into her eyes. “You can question whether or not she’s working for Cerberus. It might be a valid question given how little info you’re working off of. But I’m here, on the ground fighting alongside her because she’s Shepard. I’d never follow a clone or a fake of any kind. And just like you, I’d be able to tell if she were a fake.”

The two stared at each other for a long moment before Ash finally sighed. “Alright,” she said with a shrug. Turning back to Shepard, she gave a genuine smile. “It’s good to have you back, Commander.”

The spectre let out a sigh of relief at her friendly words. “Thanks Ash,” she said as she eyed the woman from head to toe. “Wait, when did you become N7?”

Williams smirked and gave a playful shrug. “All the training you put me through paid off. I was top marks in training throughout the entire course. Of course, we never got to the asteroid survival training before you… uh… died,” said the woman awkwardly. “But with Anderson’s assistance I came out clean.”

“Glad to hear it,” said Shepard as she turned to her crew. “Lawson, Massani, form three person parties and find the rest of the colonists that haven’t been abducted. Grunt, go with them to get the caskets open,” she ordered, waving them all off.

As they began forming teams, Ash stepped up closer to Shepard and watched them. “So, what have you been doing since you’ve been alive?”

“Aside from wrangling in a lot of criminals, vigilantes, scientists, and thieves into a party ready to fight the collectors? I’ve mainly been trying to get my own head on straight. I didn’t come out of the first Normandy’s destruction clean,” she said as she crossed her arms.

“I’m sorry to hear that. But hopefully having most of the squad back can get most of those kinks worked out,” said Ash worriedly.

“Well, if you’re ever interested, you’re free to come join me again,” said the spectre with a hopeful smile.

Ash immediately covered the woman’s face with her hand. “Don’t even try it, Shepard. I’ve got my own responsibilities now. I need those taken care of before I go riding off to save the galaxy again.”

“Your loss. If we kill another reaper, you’ll miss out,” said Shepard, getting a grin from the N7.

“I’ll be fine,” said Ash as she shook her head. Finally, she let out a heavy sigh. “I.. We’ve missed you, Shepard. The galaxy wasn’t the same without you in it.”

Despite her sorrowful words, Ash’s face was as stern as stone. Shepard nodded gently. “I imagine it’d feel the same of anything happened to any of you. I know it certainly wasn’t the same after Kaidan was KIA.”

“True that,” she said before finally turning to her and holding out her hand again. “It was good seeing you again, Shepard. Hopefully the next time I see you we’ll be working together to burn Cerberus to the ground. Until then, you can get ahold of me through my old number or Anderson if I’m out of reach.”

Shepard smiled and gripped her hand tightly. “Same, Ash. It was good to see you again too.”

Chapter Text

XO Quarters – SSV Normandy SR-2

Miranda was frustrated. Not just from the constant battles they’ve had since Shepard woke up, although she swore she saw more gray stands of hair in her mane after every mission. It was mostly her position. She quickly found herself approaching a crossroads at high speed. She knew from working with Shepard that if anyone in the galaxy could stop the reapers, it would be her. Nobody else had the drive, the authority, and the character to pull off what she had accomplished in the past. Even what she had done since she woke on Lazarus Station would earn a turian their blazing Twin Swords commendation, or a krogan a VIP seat in the female camps any time they wanted. And they were two species whose culture was war and battle.

But the woman, despite being more terrifying to people than Sovereign and their geth and being hailed as a hero so much so that they made a Hollywood movie for her, she just went on working without uttering a word. She rubbed her forehead gently as she knew where her train of thought was taking her. She herself was proud of everything she had gotten, everything she earned, every scrap of praise given to her by the Illusive Man and her own former subordinates. But, despite being the golden child of the Citadel Council, she brushed off the praise they gave her, she flat out ignored any from the Illusive Man, and she forcefully turned any praise given to her by her crew back on them.

She felt terrible comparing herself to the spectre. They were two different people who had different lives, so of course they would react differently. But she still couldn’t help feeling a tad bit irate at how flippantly Shepard took her role. She acted like it was more than just her job, but her responsibility to do the things she did. As if she herself were trying to remove the heavy mantle of guilt from those around her and set it on her shoulders.

Inhaling, the executive officer blew her raven bangs out of her face in annoyance just as EDI popped up next to the door. “Operative Lawson, Spectre Shepard is at the door at your request.”

“Let her in,” ordered Miranda as she combed her hair back with her fingers. The door slid open, and there she was standing in the doorway. Stepping inside, the woman almost immediately plopped into the chair across from her and rested her head on the back of the chair. “Rough day?”

“You know how hard it is to get colonists that hate the Alliance to get on the same ship as a former and present Alliance N7 Special Forces agent?” she asked in aggravation. “Luckily most of them were more than happy to jump on after the attack. But the holdouts straight up refused. Including that damn mechanic we ran into,” she complained as her hair fell like a waterfall over the back of the chair.

“It’s their choice. If they’d rather risk another encounter with the collectors than being in Citadel Space, then you can’t force them-“ started Miranda with a smirk.

“Yeah, I know I know,” said the woman as she waved off the talk. “I’d rather not think about Horizon right now. Damn bugs are gonna haunt me for the rest of my life.” Finally, she tilted her head back up and eyed the XO. “So, what was it you wanted to talk about?”

“Well, two things actually,” began Miranda as she brushed her hair behind her ear. “First, I have to ask. With everything you’ve done so far since waking up again, you haven’t really taken any time for yourself. Are you sure you should be pushing yourself this hard?”

“I had three days of rest in the osteotherapy tank back on the Citadel,” grunted the spectre.

“You and I both know that wasn’t rest for you. In fact, I’m surprised you didn’t headbutt your way out of the tank just to break the boredom,” said Miranda as her eyes narrowed. “I respect you a lot, Shepard. A lot more than I thought I would when we first came aboard the Normandy. But you need to take some downtime. Even if it’s just a few days, you need to do things that aren’t work. Things that you enjoy doing off the Normandy.”

Shepard glared at her before letting her head fall onto the back of her chair again. “Ugh… fine,” she grumbled before raising her hands up to massage some of the stress from her face. “Udina said he needs me to do something when I get back to the Citadel anyway.”

“I don’t imagine dealing with politicians is your idea of rest. But at least they do things slow enough that you’ll be able to rest in between,” said the woman with a smirk. “Now, the second thing is a bit more personal.”

Shepard’s head rose again and at the serious look on the XO’s face, she straightened her body up as well. “What is it?”

Miranda looked down at her desk. She didn’t know how Shepard would take her news, or if she would even care. But she still wanted to break it to her as easily as possible. “When the Illusive Man had the intel department write up the dossiers, he had me look into your old crew once your body was stabilized. As you know, I couldn’t find much on Tali besides the fact that she was in the Migrant Fleet. Garrus, we had nothing on, Ashley we had nothing on. But Liara was a lot easier to find… and I managed to find out a bit about her before we concluded that she likely wouldn’t join your crew again.”

Shepard’s brows furrowed at the claim. “What do you mean?”

“Well, aside from the cosmetic surgery she had done, I looked into where she was staying on Illium. They require you to list all residents on every contract there as well as their relation. And a little under a year after you went to Alchera, she signed a contract for two residents in her apartment marked family,” she said, making Shepard’s brow rise slightly.

“Aside from Serraia, Liara doesn’t have any family left. She was an only child and as far as I’m aware, she doesn’t know who her father was,” said Shepard thoughtfully.

“It wasn’t her. At least, the contract said their name was Lilly V’Reena. Does that ring any bells?” Shepard shook her head. Miranda sighed again. “It stayed the same for a long while, about six months before the name had been removed. I tried to look into what happened, but all that shows up is an unscheduled trip to Thessia,” stated the XO as she folded one hand over the other.

“Wait, are you trying to say…?” asked the spectre suspiciously.

“I don’t know exactly what it means. I could be reading the data entirely wrong,” said the XO nervously as she finally looked up into Shepard’s blue eyes. “Obviously you’d have to get the entire story from her. But from the looks of it, she moved on after your death.”

Shepard’s expression vanished in a similar fashion to her own, a mask of ice. “And why are you telling me this?”

“Because…” started Miranda before finally exhaling deeply. “Because I thought you deserved to know, and I didn’t want you heading to Illium a few days from now thinking that Liara would come running back into your arms.” Miranda looked down again. “It hurts when you’re expecting one thing and have to learn the truth the hard way.”

“I see,” said the spectre as she nodded. “Well, it’s Liara’s business, not mine,” said Shepard as she rested her head in her hands. “If she wants to tell me, then she can. But I’m not going to pry into her business.”

Miranda nodded at the claim. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

“Are you offering me therapy, Miss Lawson?” asked Shepard with a cheeky grin.

“Very funny, Shepard,” said Miranda, returning her grin. “I’m just letting you know that I’ll understand if you need some time to process things.”

“Thank you, but I’ve kinda been expecting something like this,” said Shepard as she leaned forward, her elbows supporting her on her knees. “I’ve been dead a long time. I wouldn’t have blamed anyone if they’ve moved on.”

Human Embassy – Presidium – Citadel

Shepard stepped inside the embassy to see both the ambassador and Councilor Udina buried up to their nose in paperwork. She eyed them curiously as she had notified Udina that she was back awhile ago. “I tell you I’m back so you bury yourself in paperwork?” she asked in slight amusement. “I’m not that unpleasant to be around, am I?”

The ambassador chuckled while Udina just gave her a stern eye. “Spectre, we called you here to help out with this paperwork.”

Stepping up to the table, she noticed that there were about three dozen files on the desk, all of them with someone’s picture pasted in the corner. “What’s going on? What are they?”

The ambassador picked up for Udina. “Spectre candidates.”

Shepard’s brows shot up as she looked between them. “You’re selecting another human spectre?”

“Indeed. There was a bit of a mourning period after your death where we didn’t want to look like we were trying to replace you. But since you’ve been resurrected, I figure now is as good a time as any,” said Udina as he eyed the paperwork. “While I can recommend people, I can’t actually choose them myself. They have to be recommended by other spectres, barring conflict of interest, and the ambassador herself.” He looked up to her. “I believe you know how important this is, Shepard. So please, do humanity a favor and try to elect someone who won’t make us look bad,” he said as he stood up. “Oh, and maybe just a little bit more obedient.”

Shepard’s eyes widened at him. “My god, Donnel Udina, was that a joke?”

“I’ll leave the jokes to your pilot. In the meantime, there’s one more thing I need from you once you make your selection. I’ll meet you back here at around 1800 CST,” he said, eyeing his watch before nodding to her and leaving.

Once he was gone, Shepard stared at the door for a long minute. “Did Anderson’s punch two years ago factory reset his brain?”

“You’d think,” said ambassador Korvus-Jamal as she waved for Shepard to have a seat. “I’ve already picked one. You feel free to choose from the others.”

“You’re picking two of them?” asked Shepard curiously as she started sorting through the documents.

Jasmine nodded dutifully. “You were the first. And while it was a good decision to pick one to start, we’ve gotten to the point where we can get some more. So, we’re going to move the scale up until we reach ten spectres of our own.”

Shepard donned an expression of understanding. “Ah, so first me. Then two more, then three, then four.”

“Correct,” said the ambassador as she held one of the files in her hand. “Assuming one of the ones we pick doesn’t go rogue…”

The spectre eyed the file curiously. “Who was your candidate of choice?”

Smirking, the ambassador held the file up so she could see. “Ashley Madeline Williams.”

Shepard gave a bright smile and nodded. “Couldn’t do better there,” she said as she began looking at the other candidates. Most of them were Alliance officers of some note. “I feel kinda bad for the candidates.”

The ambassador eyed her curiously. “Why is that?”

“Because whoever I choose is going to try and live up to the standard I set,” remarked the spectre as she scanned two files at the same time.

“I don’t think many spectres could live up to your standard, period,” said the woman with a chuckle as she accepted coffee from her secretary, Tonya.

Shepard took a cup herself as she sorted through the reports. After a dozen and a half, she stopped on one. “Hmmm…” she hummed before taking a sip of the coffee.

“Find someone interesting,” asked Jasmine curiously.

“I think so. But I don’t have enough information on her. Before my death, she was just a security captain,” said the spectre as she leaned back in her seat and read through the report.

Born in Saitama City of the colony world Demeter. Highschool grades were abysmal, but college showed improvement. Began working as security early on to make ends meet. Ended up at Elanus Risk Control Services where she started out as a grunt guarding doors. Then moved up the ranks over the next five years until she was captain. After an attack on Noveria involving geth, she was moved by ERCS to another posting where she acted as a personal bodyguard for the Noveria Internal Affairs agents in the field.

The ambassador spun her chair slightly to see the datapad that Shepard was reading. “Not a bad choice. She has the skills, but does she have the character.”

“From my experience, she has the character, but does she have the skills?” asked Shepard as she continued reading. Her eyes widened as she read about an incident on Omega. Her brow arched as she read that Gianna Parasini went to Omega to track down the location of someone who had committed insurance fraud against Binary Helix. But she was led into a trap that ended up with a gang of around fifty ambushing her and trying to kill her. But somehow her bodyguard managed to get her out and left a trail of bodies a kilometer in length across the Norfair District. By the time Aria’s goons even knew what was happening they were both back in Citadel Space.

“She took out a gang of fifty and still got her charge off of Omega alive?” asked Shepard as she gave an appreciative whistle. Setting the file aside, she began looking through the others to make sure there wasn’t any more qualified. Finally, she picked up the file again and nodded. “Maeko Michiko Matsuo.”

“Apparently her parents loved alliteration?” commented the ambassador as she gave the spectre a smile. “Well, if you like you can go ahead and contact Udina.”

“I’m gonna see him later. I’ll fill him in then,” said Shepard as she stood up. “Any idea where I can find Miss Matsuo?”

“I’ve contacted the NIA and they said her and her ward are on Illium doing some light recon work,” said the ambassador, causing Shepard’s eyes to widen.

“I see serendipity is alive and well in the universe,” said the spectre with a small grin.

“Thanks for your time, Spectre,” said Jasmine as Shepard left her with a wave.

Zakera Ward C-Sec Watchtower 5

“Alright. The new executor folded like laundry. Apparently, he’s less skeptical of spectres than his predecessor,” said Shepard as she pulled up the videos she was forwarded.

Garrus nodded solemnly as he looked between the screens. “Rellius Tarkarian? Yeah. He’s especially a fan of you for some reason,” he responded as he eyed her curiously. She looked at him with a mirrored expression.

“I’ll tell you later,” she said nodding towards the other officers in the room.

He nodded and focused on the videos again. “So, what do we have here?”

“Six videos of six people. All of them are missing person’s cases where they dropped off the map. These are the last time they were seen on the Citadel,” said the spectre as her eyes flitted back and forth between the vids.

“Not a lot, but let’s see if there’s anything good in them,” he said as he went on autopilot. It was a mode he went into back when he was a detective with C-Sec. His eyes jumped between two of the videos. One of them was in the ward near a seedy club called the Mobius Stripclub. They were a turian man who looked like he was about to do a drug deal. He looked over his shoulder constantly as he walked down the street. But Garrus saw past the common paranoia that he showed, and he saw real fear. He was being hunted. It was hard for other species to see fear in turians given their faces are far less expressive than humans, asari, and even salarians. But he knew turians, and he’d seen enough criminals being hunted by their own syndicates to know the signs. The slouched shoulders, keeping the hands close to the chest for protection, spurs inadvertently emerging as they walked.

The turian fled around a corner. He fast forwarded the video, waiting to see if anything else happened. Besides a tacky limo aircar passing the club, that was it. He grunted before turning to another video. This time it was a human in the market district. “Odd. If these are customers of Fade, they all disappeared in different locations,” said Shepard as she scratched her head.

“It actually makes a lot of sense given Fade’s skills. You can’t exactly put your services in an extranet advertisement. You have to be discreet,” he said as he pointed at the video he was watching. He turned to her as the video played. “Both videos I’ve seen thus far have always been in very populated areas, but very poor areas. The lower the property value, the less surveillance. The less surveillance, the less likely C-Sec or anyone looking for these people are to notice a pattern. And if multiple people disappeared off the map in the same location, C-Sec would start monitoring it.”

He saw Shepard cock her eyebrow in that odd human expression of curiosity. “Huh…” she said thoughtfully. “That’s weird.”

“What is it?” he asked as he looked back at the video. The human man was gone by now.

Reaching up to one of the videos she was watching, she rewound the recording by running her finger right to left across the screen. When she stopped, she pointed at it. “That car.”

Garrus eyed her video, then his eyes widened as he saw a tacky limo, the same one he had seen in his video. Looking at the video he just showed her of the markets, he rewound the video. As he suspected, he saw it. It was only the tail end of it, but it was definitely there. “That can’t be a coincidence…” he said, his instincts revving into high gear. This was it; this was the break that he couldn’t get on his own. And it was likely all he would need.

Reaching up, he rewound one of the vids and froze it. The camera was garbage quality, but it was well lit enough to get a tag identification number off of the vehicle. “Got what you were looking for?”

“More than I could have hoped for,” he said as he turned to her, his omni-tool lit as he took down information. “Think you could help me strongarm C-Sec into tracking down that vehicle?”

“Given the new executor likes me, I doubt I’d need to do much,” said Shepard with a shrug. “If this snowballs and we find out where Sidonis is, are you prepared?”

Garrus nodded towards the door. She nodded back and they both left the watchtower and stepped into the unsupervised streets. “I’m not even sure how to prepare, Shepard. If I had found him by any other method, preparation would be me cleaning my rifle and calibrating the scope for long distance. But I’m over that need now, I just don’t know what to do with what you’re turning me into.”

She smirked at him. “Is that good or bad?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t really know yet. Not revenge, justice,” he said as he scratched the burn scarring on the side of his face lightly.

“Your squad deserves answers. You deserve answers. But not at the cost of your hum… er…” she said as she scratched her head. “Turianity?”

He snorted as they headed towards the rapid transit system. “I get what you’re saying, Shepard. Let’s get to C-Sec while we’ve still got this thread to pull.”

C-Mart – Zakera Ward Markets – Citadel

It was a pretty tense situation as Shepard opened the back of the vehicle parked outside of a convenience store in the wards markets. Garrus opened the door on the passenger side and slid into the seat next to the driver. In the driver’s seat sat a volus with a black chauffer cap on his head. He turned and looked at them in confusion. “I believe you have… entered the wrong vehicle.”

Shepard activated her omni-tool and all of the locks on all of the doors secured. The car began to lift off the ground and flew on its own, making the volus sit back in surprise. Garrus leaned forward in his seat. “So, Yoffa Tif Bladol, am I correct?”

“What are you… doing?!” snapped the volus as he tried to control the wheel. But Shepard had locked him out of the controls.

“Answer the questions before I start driving into oncoming traffic,” ordered Shepard with a growl.

“Yoffa Tif Bladol, yes or no?” asked Garrus sternly.

“Yes! Jor’s bones! I’m Yoffa Tif!” screeched the volus between his breaths.

“Alright, Zan-Yoffa. I’m going to ask you a few more questions, and the answers you give me will determine whether this car speeds up or slows down,” said Garrus with an amused tone in his voice. “Are you Fade?”

“Who?” asked the volus as he buckled his safety harness.

“Wrong answer,” said Shepard as the car began speeding up. The volus thumped back against the seat as the centrifugal force kicked in.

“You were spotted on camera in up to four locations where people have dropped off the face of the Citadel. No body, no signs of struggle, no nothing. Just gone,” said Garrus as he looked over at the volus. “I’ll ask you again, are you Fade?”

“No!” snapped the volus as he clenched the controls of the limo in desperation. “He sends me locations… on my communicator, and I go pick up his clients!”

The car began to slow and the volus held a hand over his chest. Garrus continued. “Good start. Do you know Fade’s identity?”

“No. I just know he used to… work for C-Sec,” said the volus as he turned to Garrus. “You’re not going to hurt me, are you?”

“I’m a Council Spectre. I have no desire to hurt you or even inconvenience you. Tell me what I want to know, and you may even make a profit,” she said from the back seat.

“Spectre?” asked the driver as he turned and looked back at her. “Oh… Shepard,” he said before sitting back in his seat. “Now you’re speaking my language.”

“Glad we’re all on the same page,” said Shepard with a grin before she nodded to Garrus.

He cleared his throat. “It’s pretty obvious that if we track your comm, we’re going to get nowhere. Someone like Fade wouldn’t make any calls or send any messages without having half a dozen relays planted around the Citadel that’d lead C-Sec on a goose chase. But there is something you can tell us. Where does he have you drop the clients off?”

“How do I know you’ll pay… me if I tell you?” he asked as he looked at Garrus with his hand open. The car began to speed up again. He gripped his seat. “Alright! He has me drop them off at dock 47 in the Zakera Factory district!”

“What can you tell me, Shepard?” asked Garrus curiously as he leaned back in the seat comfortably.

“Dock 47, Zakera Wards market. No name tied to it. Instead, it’s a shell company called Covert LLC,” she said giving Garrus a deadpan look. “They think they’re clever…”

“Well, I guess the only way for us to find out is to go there,” said Garrus as he looked down at the driver.

“So…” started the volus. “You want me to…”

“Let’s go get something to eat while we wait,” said the turian cheerfully as he patted the driver on the shoulder.

“Oh…” said the volus as he realized he wasn’t getting away from them just yet. “Okay.”

Zakera Ward Factory District – Zakera Ward – Citadel

It took a few hours of hanging out with the volus for him to get the call to pick up a new client. The volus did as he was told and drove the limo to the pickup spot. The door opened, and an asari woman sat in the seat next to Shepard. As soon as she realized there were others besides the driver in the car, she looked between them all with concern.

“Who… who are you? I was told only about the driver,” she said with worry in her voice.

Shepard looked over at her and smiled. “Oh, don’t worry. You’re in the right car.” As soon as she said the words, the limo took to the air and began flying in the air traffic lanes over the Zakera Ward. “So, here’s the deal folks. I have spectre business I need to discuss with Fade. And as soon as we get there, you’re going to lock the doors on this limo and fly away from the building, but stay close enough to meet us when we’re done.”

“Wha?” asked the asari worriedly as she looked up at Garrus who was crunching on a snack in the front seat.

“Once I’m done with Fade, you’ll get what you want from him,” she said as she eyed the asari. Gulping in fear, she just nodded.

The flight slowed down as they approached the large warehouse that the volus had mentioned. The windows were already tinted due to the nature of the business, so none of the security around the warehouse were any the wiser that something was about to go down. After a few minutes, one of the security team came up and knocked on the window.

“That’s the cue,” said the volus. “Good luck out there.”

Shepard tossed him a credit chit before turning sideways and thrusting both feet into the door. It swung open hard and fast, slamming into the security guard and knocking him off his feet. As she stepped out of the vehicle, she pulled twin pistols off her hips and aimed one at the man on the ground and another at the men near the door. “Drop your weapons before I ventilate all three of you!” she snapped sternly. One of the men reached up to activate his comm when a shot near his feet stopped him from moving.

She couldn’t see him the way she was facing, but she knew Garrus was behind her, his sniper rifle laying across the car hood. He spoke out. “Approach the vehicle or die. I don’t care which but do it fast.”

The man on the ground delicately grabbed his weapon and threw it aside while the other two tossed theirs and approached the car. “Nobody is going to die as long as you cooperate.”

The walking men approached with their hands up and as soon as they were close enough, their eyes widened. “Sh-Sh-Shepard?!” one of then practically shrieked.

“Fucking hell! That bastard didn’t tell me I’d be facing off with a goddamn geth killing spectre!” snapped the other.

The first one started again. “Look, ma’am…” he started, getting a glare from her. “Spectre, working here isn’t worth dying. Please let us go and we’ll leave!”

“I’ll never show my face around here again!” said the other with an expression of worry on his face.

She looked between them all and noticed a common trait. “Are there any non-humans in your group?”

“No. Boss says he don’t trust ‘em,” said one of the guards worriedly as her pistol lowered.

“And who is your boss?” asked Garrus as he approached. But before another word could be spoken, the door to the warehouse opened.

“What the fuck is going on out here? Who shot a damn hole-“ snapped the man angrily. But his anger vanished like a droplet on a hot skillet as he saw Shepard and Garrus standing outside.

“Harkin…” growled Garrus as he immediately sprinted for the door.

Shepard lowered her weapons and slapped on the limo. It took off immediately as she looked at the security. “Get the hell out of here,” she ordered before running after the turian. She knew she’d never catch up to him at full speed. Humans just weren’t built for running like turians were. But she knew she helped somewhat as she sprinted into the warehouse.

Ten men stood in front of Harkin with their guns drawn and aimed at Garrus. As soon as she stepped inside, they all looked at her and immediately began backpedaling, their aim forgotten. “Fuck! It’s fucking Shepard!” shouted one as they all broke formation and hurled their weapons away before fleeing for their life.

Garrus chuckled as the color began to drain from Harkin’s face. He was left exposed now, his security apparently having heard the tales of the reaper killer Shepard, and took them seriously. He had nobody left. “Goddammit. That’s what I get for hiring from Earth, goddamn cowards,” he said before turning to the two who now held weapons.

Shepard smirked as she pulled her helmet off. “Well Fade, looks like we got your with your pants down.”

“Not yet,” he said as he gave her a slimy smile. “But you can always-“ he started before Shepard cut him off. Walking up to him, she grabbed him none-too-gently by the ear and twisted. “Fuck! Lemme go!” snapped the former C-Sec officer.

“Make another pass at me and I’ll tear it off. Now, sit down,” she snapped as she kicked him in the gut, causing him to land flat on his ass and gasping for air.

Garrus stepped over to the man and knelt down, getting close enough for him to try something. “A turian named Lantar Sidonis dropped off the map here on the Citadel recently. I’m going to guess you had something to do with it.”

“So, what if I did?” he asked, his eyes glaring hatred at Shepard now.

“You’re going to do me a favor and find him again,” said Garrus as pleasantly as he was able to the man. She had never had the displeasure of meeting him, but she knew a rotten to the core cop when she saw one.

“Business doesn’t work like that. My business runs on making people disappear. If I turn over one of my clients to you-“ he whined before a shot from Shepard’s pistol silenced him. He looked down to see it had impacted directly between his legs and only centimeters from his crotch. “Fuck!”

“Pretty please,” said Garrus sarcastically as he stood to his full height again.

“Fine. Whatever, just keep that crazy bitch off me!” he growled as he got to his feet, still glaring at Shepard. He reached down and activated his omni-tool. Shepard pulled up her own and immediately broke his firewalls, then began downloading all the information on it. “What the hell?” he asked as his began to glitch and freeze.

“Interesting,” said Shepard as she looked through the info. “He was helping people drop off the radar, and then selling their location to the Shadow Broker.”

“And you thought we were bad for business,” said Garrus as he gripped the human by the back of the neck. The man went rigid before the turian pulled out a pair of magnetic cuffs.

“What the hell are you doing?!” he snapped at Garrus, then turned to Shepard. “And what are you doing with that data?! That’s my-“ he started, but stopped as Shepard reached out with a glowing blade that slid out of her wrist and held it to his throat. His eyes were wide in horror as he felt the heat from the weapon.

“You deserve to be tossed out of an airlock for what you’ve done in C-Sec, and what you’ve done here. But I wouldn’t bother wasting one of my blades on you. Instead, you’re going to jail for using a backdoor program into C-Sec’s secure databases and using it to help criminals hide from the law,” she said with a grin. His face fell even more. “Let’s go, Princess,” she said sarcastically as Garrus shoved him forward.

Zakera Thon District Mall – Zakera Ward – Citadel

“You ready for this, Garrus?” asked Shepard solemnly as they both looked at the turian man sitting on a bench in the rundown mall. It had security cameras that were probably older than her. The information they had found on Lantar was that he was now living in a rather rundown part of Zakera Ward’s housing blocks. He was set up with a basic job as a security guard at the mall they were now at. And even though she could only see half his face from her position, she could see that he was miserable.

“As ready as I’m ever going to be, Shepard. Let’s do this,” he said as he began walking in the opposite direction from her. The mall was pretty crowded despite the neighborhood it was in. She swung around and approached him from the front. She noted that his carapace was light grey as opposed to Garrus’s darker shade. She also immediately noticed that the clan paint on his face was uneven and asymmetrical.

Even if she wasn’t looking for him, she would immediately be suspicious of him if they came face to face. Crooked or incorrect clan paint on a turian meant they weren’t used to painting it. Turians painted their clan markings on their face almost as soon as they are capable of drawing it properly. They only change the markings very rarely and in extreme circumstances. The motions over the years are refined to a form of art. Garrus was meticulous about adding his and could commonly be found in the Normandy’s facilities for over an hour once a week. But this wasn’t refined or clean. It looked like it was done with a shaky hand.

Finally, she stopped in front of him, causing him to look up at her. “Lantar Sidonis?” His eyes widened at the name, and it appeared that he finally recognized her.

“Spirits… he’s here, isn’t he?” he asked as his head sagged.

“Right behind you, old friend,” said Garrus in a scathing tone.

“Have you come to kill me?” asked the turian man as he simply stared at the ground.

“I’ve come to get answers. And once I have those answers, I’ll decide then if you’re even worth killing,” growled her friend as he planted his hands on the bench on either side of the turian. “You can try to run, but I promise you that you can’t outrun a bullet.”

Reaching up, Lantar cradled his face in his hands. “I’m sorry.”

Immediately, Garrus hissed. “Sorry isn’t good enough!” he snapped, his anger rising with every second he stayed in Sidonis’s vicinity. “Ten lives! Ten good people dead! Do you think sorry is going to be good enough?!”

Shepard looked up at Garrus and he huffed and backed off. Looking down at the broken turian, she began her questions. “Did you betray them?”

He finally stopped looking at the ground. “It’s my fault they’re dead.”

“I didn’t ask if it was your fault. I asked if you betrayed them,” she snapped impatiently at him. She wasn’t about to stand here while he threw himself a pity party.

“I… I did… I think,” he said as he looked down for a moment to recall.

“What do you mean you think? Shouldn’t you know whether you got ten people killed?” asked Garrus, his voice filled with venom.

“The day they found the base I woke up in the clinic with a doctor patching my injuries. I could hardly remember anything from the days before, but one thing I do know is that the Gowthra Family had caught me. I got sloppy on a job. I heard they were set to receive a shipment of slaves from the outer Terminus systems that were said to be going to the collectors.”

“I remember hearing that as well, but the intel wasn’t great on it. We only used solid intel before planning-“ started Garrus angrily.

But Sidonis nodded. “I know I know. But it was personal for me,” he said with a heavy sigh. “I grew up an orphan because my parents were taken by pirates from the Terminus Systems. I felt like even if the intel wasn’t great, I had to check and make sure. I even used thermal vision to find out if the container had living people in it.”

“And so?” asked Garrus curiously.

“It did. I was so sure that proved they had slaves. I took out the guards around the ship. It was lightly guarded, so I didn’t figure I’d need the team’s help. When I finally opened the crate to let the slaves out, I found myself at the mercy of twenty five or so soldiers from another family in the Blood Pack,” he said as he shook his head. “They beat me senseless, dragged me into one of their safehouses, and then had the Blue Suns come in and start torturing me. Eventually they gave me drugs to try and loosen my tongue.”

Shepard could see Garrus’s face slowly softening as the story went on. His arms, originally tightly folded across his convex chest, now hung down at his sides. “What kind of drug?”

“I don’t really know. All I do know is my vision in one eye was blurred so bad that I couldn’t see through it. I drooled so much they had to get a bottom rung guy in there to mop it up,” said Sidonis as he cupped his head in one of his hands. I could hardly see, hardly think, I could barely even recognize what they were doing to me. All I know is that it didn’t deaden the pain at all.”

 “So, then what?” asked Garrus curiously, his voice softer now as well.

“It’s… it’s the weirdest thing. I think I hallucinated being rescued,” said the man as he finally stood up and faced Garrus. “I saw your face. My vision had only cleared a bit, but I saw you. You spoke to me, I couldn’t remember what you were saying.”

“I wasn’t there,” said Garrus incredulously as he leaned against the wall next to the bench. “It had to be a hallucination because I didn’t even know you had been captured by them until you just told me.”

“I don’t understand why it’s so vivid. I heard someone call your name. I called out to you too, asked you to help me, to get me out of there.” He shook his head miserably. “When I woke up in the clinic, I thought you had saved me. I rushed out of the clinic only to find our compound surrounded by a thousand or so mercenaries. They said they had slaughtered our team, and that you were cornered. I… I just ran. I never thought you would survive, and I thought they would come after me to finish the job once you were dead.”

“So, you didn’t go to Fade to hide from me. It was to hide from the Gowthra Family, who knew exactly what you looked like,” said Garrus as he added the pieces up. “But you’re built to withstand torture. Even drugged I would have bet my life that you would never have cracked. So, what happened? How did they find our team?”

“I… I don’t know. All I can remember was that stupid hallucination,” he said with a heavy sigh.

“That’s not good enough, Sidonis! Ten people… good people died and I need to know why!” snapped Garrus, who got a glare from Shepard. He lowered his voice. “I need to know why they died.”

“I wish I could tell you, Garrus. I don’t know how they got the information from me, or even if they got it from me. All I know is what I’ve told you so far,” he said as he spin his hand in a circle.

“Wait…” said Shepard as she looked down at the ground, deep in thought. Both turians looked at her quizzically. Her gaze snapped up to Sidonis with her brow furrowed. “You say this hallucination was very realistic?”

“Of course. I saw Garrus,” said the man before he looked away slightly. “Well, as well as I could see anyway. My vision hadn’t fully recovered by that point.”

Shepard reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. “Oh god dammit.”

Garrus eyed her curiously. “What is it?”

“Before I got to Omega, I was told you were there,” said Shepard seriously as she placed her hands on her hips. “Cerberus gave me the dossier and said that you had joined the Blue Suns.”

“Me? In the Blue Suns?” he asked, nearly outraged at the implication.

“As soon as I heard you were there, I landed on Omega and joined the mercenary squad that was supposed to finish you off. While I was out in that crowd with you no doubt preparing for an assault, I talked to Tarak, the head of the Blue Suns. He said you were a part of his group,” she said, causing Garrus to go slack jawed in surprise. “Once they finally took me to this Garrus,” she said, emphasizing his name with air quotes, “I knew it wasn’t you. He was taller, thicker, and his voice was slightly deeper than yours.”

“I had an impersonator?” asked Garrus incredulously. “I guess I did somewhat make a name for myself by helping you with Saren and Sovereign.”

“Yeah, that’s what he said. People said he looked like you, so he swapped his clan paint and joined the Blue Suns using your name to get him a cushy job with them,” she finished as she eyed Sidonis.

“I mean, that’s certainly an astronomical coincidence that we’d be in the same place at the same time. But what does that…” asked Garrus before he stopped entirely. “Oh…”

Lantar looked between them before Shepard answered his question. “The Garrus you saw wasn’t a hallucination. It was an impersonator. Apparently, the drugs were potent enough to make you ignore all the things identified him to me as not being Garrus.”

“Spirits…” said Lantar as he sat on the bench again. “I don’t recall what I said to you, I just know that I called out to you for help. I must have said something they could use to track the team down.”

Garrus snorted in anger. “Justice…” he growled as he stood straight. “They couldn’t even get that.”

“Garrus… I…” started Sidonis, but his turian friend stopped him.

“Sidonis, I need to say something to you,” said Garrus, getting a nod from the man. “I was fully intending on tracking you down and putting a round through your head without asking a single question.” The turian took a step back at the admission. “A few friends of mine, as well as Shepard here told me that vengeance wasn’t going to help me gain closure. They convinced me to talk to you instead,” he said with a heavy sigh. “If it wasn’t for them, I would have made an unforgivable mistake today.”

“I… I don’t… What are you…?” asked Lantar as he practically stuttered the words.

“What I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry,” said the sniper as he held out his hand to Sidonis.

The other turian looked at the hand before looking back up at Garrus. “Sorry for what?”

“For letting my anger almost kill a friend,” he said solemnly.

“We’re… still friends?” asked Sidonis in astonishment.

“You had no way of knowing that Blue Suns impersonator wasn’t me. You had been tortured and drugged and probably sleep deprived on top of all that,” said Garrus as he looked down in shame. “I thought for so long that there was no justification, no reason in asking for your side. If things were even slightly different, I would have made a very big mistake today.” Sidonis seemed stunned for a moment before reaching out. The two clasped hands together and held it for a long moment. “Brother.”

“Brother,” said Sidonis, a look of hope on his face for the first time since they had seen him.

“The Gowthra Family is dead. Tarak, who tortured and drugged you is dead. And Jaroth who led the strike on our compound and killed our comrades is dead,” he said as he sighed to himself. “You have no cause to hide anymore.”

“I will still take the guilt of what I have done to the grave,” said Sidonis as he looked down.

“I cannot remove that guilt from you. I can only say that I don’t blame you. And if they were still alive, I doubt the team would either,” said Garrus as he gripped Sidonis tighter. “Live for them as I will. We are their legacy.”

With those words, every ounce of self-pity or fear in Sidonis left his body and he stood straight and proud. “I will honor their spirits.”

“As will I,” said Garrus as he finally let go. “I have a lot to process. So, I’m gonna go ahead and head back to the Normandy,” he said to Shepard. She nodded to him and he walked away to find his own way back.

“Thank you, Shepard,” said Sidonis, getting her attention.

“Don’t thank me. I did what I did because Garrus is important to me. I don’t want to see him become a monster,” she said firmly as she crossed her arms.

“Still, your guidance is why I still live, and Garrus has peace of mind. You’ve helped both of us more than you can ever know,” he said as he looked down at her. “I don’t know what I’m going to do next. But now, I can at least allow them to live on through me.”

Shepard smirked and nodded. “Let me know if you need anything from me. And, if you can, keep in touch with Garrus. He could use some friends.”

After their goodbyes, Sidonis left on his own path. Shepard eyed the bench where they had seen him sitting. She imagined Garrus blasting Doctor Saleon through his cranium with the pistol he held. Then she pictured him staring down the scope at Sidonis who sat helplessly on the bench. He was dark, corrupted, twisted. If he had done those things, he may have never recovered. He would have gone down the same path Saren did and become just another killer cop. She immediately shattered that look of him in her mind and instead, recalled him slamming his crest into the Mako’s hood when she surprised him during calibrations, the panic in his eyes when he had fist bumped her breast, and him standing in the cockpit, bickering with Joker.

She smiled to herself peacefully, hoping she had done enough protect his spirit from the corruption that this galaxy constantly tried to pollute it with. Finally turning away from the bench, she left the mall with the same smile never leaving her features.

CODEX ENTRIES

Twin Swords Commendation | Culture | Military
The Twin Swords Commendation is an award given in the turian Hierarchy. It can only be given out by the current Primarch and Imperator of the turian military, and is only given to soldiers whose actions bring great pride onto the Hierarchy as a whole. Similar in standing to the Alliance’s Star of Terra or Congressional Medal of Honor, the Hierarchy has only handed out around a thousand of these awards since their introduction back during the Unification War.

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.

Chapter Text

Human Embassy – Presidium – Citadel

Shepard cocked an eyebrow and stopped at the desk next to the door. Shouting could be heard from within the embassy, making her wonder exactly what was going on. Shepard looked over to Tonya sitting next to the door. The ebon-haired woman just looked back up at her and shrugged before activating her comm. “Ambassador Jamal, Spectre Shepard is here to see you.”

“Oh thank the spirits…” came the voice of Sparatus over the call.

“Was that the turian Councilor?” asked Shepard who got a nod from the receptionist. The embassy door opened, and Shepard stepped inside to find Udina holding his head as if it were throbbing. Sparatus and another turian were standing next to the ambassador’s desk while she sat in her chair behind it. Looking at all of them, she focused on the newcomer, a turian woman that stood taller than anyone in the room besides Sparatus. She had a dark carapace with dark orange paint circling around her eyes on her brow plates, high cheek plates, as well as her nose. It made her look as if she were wearing a red bandit’s mask, but Shepard knew the markings well, as they came from the colony world of Macedyn. “What’s all the commotion?”

Udina stood and let out a pained sigh. “Shepard, this is what I wanted you for earlier,” he said as he stepped over to the glaring turian woman. “This is Ralixia Voretoria.”

“Legate Voretoria, human!” snapped the turian woman as she turned her heated glare back to Shepard.

Sparatus just shook his head as he looked at the ambassador pleadingly. “Shepard, Legate Voretoria here is a potential Spectre candidate,” he said before finally standing tall again, towering over everyone in the room. “She has been hand picked by the turian ambassador himself to become a member of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. As you recall from early in your career, we had you paired with a spectre whose job was to judge whether you’re good for the position.”

“I remember,” she said with a slight frown as she remembered Nihlus and his eventual fate at the hand of Saren. “Spectre Kryik had high hopes in me. I just wish he got to see it to the end.”

“He didn’t though,” growled the turian woman.

Shepard’s eyes narrowed at her threateningly. “No, because he was betrayed and killed by Saren.”

“Skak!” snapped the turian woman angrily. “Saren was a spectre! The greatest there is! And you expect me to believe he betrayed the Council?”

Shepard reached up and rubbed her temples, not even dignifying her with an answer. “Am I to assume that I’m going to be her examiner, so to speak? As spectre Casso was mine?”

“Legate Voretoria, wait outside please,” commanded the turian Councilor. Huffing, the turian woman left without another look at any of them. Sparatus let out a heavy sigh after she left the embassy. “Twenty years ago, even before all the nonsense with Captain Anderson joining the Spectres, Saren saved her and her parents from a slave raid on the turian world of Macedyn. Ever since he’s been a sort of absent mentor to her. She wrote him a lot and he wrote back.”

“Ouch,” said Shepard as she flinched lightly. “Never meet your heroes.”

“Indeed,” said Sparatus as he began pacing. “When you brought evidence against Saren and got his Spectre status revoked, she was serving as the leader to several teams of Imperium Soldiers back on Palaven. She had to be threatened with a court martial from the Primarch to keep from leaving her assigned station and coming to the Citadel to defend him.”

Shepard sighed to herself and pinched the stress from the bridge of her nose. “And they think another loose cannon like this would make a good spectre, why?”

Ambassador Korvus-Jamal spoke instead of the Councilor. “My husband apologizes for his choice. But he made it very clear that besides her choice in role models, she’s a tactical expert and very commendable in combat.”

“I don’t doubt that, but why did he recommend her to my care?” asked Shepard incredulously.

“He didn’t,” began Sparatus seriously. Shepard gave him a scrutinizing glare. “I’m the one who chose you as her spectre examiner.”

“Back to hating each other then?” she asked sarcastically.

He snorted in amusement. “Shepard, it’s precisely because she dislikes you and humans in general that I chose you to mentor her. If you can get a stone like me to crack and like you, then I have no doubts that you could make her a better spectre and better person as well.”

“This is a lot of responsibility you’re putting on someone amassing an army for a fight against reapers,” she said as she reached up and scratched her head. “Fine. I’ll take her and test her just like I was tested. But if she can’t follow orders, then I’m coming back here and dumping her out of the airlock. I’ve already got enough hotheads on my squad as it is. I don’t need another that also happens to be a turian supremacist.”

“I’ll make it clear to her the stakes she is dealing with,” said the turian councilor as he bowed his head respectfully. “She will have her gear and be ready to board the Normandy first thing in the morning.”

“Good to hear. We leave tomorrow for Illium,” said Shepard as she scratched her head. “Oh, that reminds me, who is going to be Ash’s coach?” she asked Udina curiously.

“The Council typically pair spectre candidates with spectres that would bring out their best qualities. As for Miss Williams, Councilor Tevos chose an asari spectre by the name of Ayala Vesina. He’s currently the oldest spectre we have at 813 years and still going,” said Udina as he set the data pad down. “I take it you’ve made your selection as well?”

Shepard nodded and passed the data from her omni-tool over to the Councilor. He examined it for a few moments before nodding his approval as Shepard spoke. “I have the benefit of having met her before. She was definitely a good candidate back then and has only proven herself even more capable since.”

“We’ll need her back on the Citadel within the week to commence testing,” said the Councilor as he eyed her curiously. “You said you were heading to Illium?”

“Already two steps ahead of you Councilor. I planned to pick her up and bring her back once my business on Illium was done,” said the spectre with a grin.

“Glad to hear it,” he said as he raised his watch and looked at the time. “Well, if there’s nothing else Shepard, I have to attend a meeting with the asari ambassador and get Williams set up with her new spectre coach.”

“I should go as well,” said Sparatus as he gathered his things. “I’ll have a talk with her before she arrives at your ship tomorrow, spectre.”

“Appreciate it, Councilor,” she said with a grin. Once both of the higher elites were gone, Shepard collapsed on the ambassador’s desk.

“You have the galaxy on your shoulders and the Councilors ask you to throw a few more things on your back,” said the ambassador with a knowing smile.

“Of course…” growled Shepard as she stood again and flexed her neck. “I guess it’s not really all that bad. I’ve been dealing with a human supremacist terrorist leader for a few months now. I just hope this one follows my orders,” she said as she stretched with her hands above her head.

“Hey,” said the ambassador, getting the spectre’s attention. “We have a project we’re working on related to the reapers. It comes to fruition in a few months and I was hoping you could swing by. The crews of these ships we’re making are going to need a motivating speech. Do you think you can swing by and see them off?”

“Where are they going?” asked Shepard curiously.

“It’s probably better if we inform you then once all the details are ironed out of the project,” she replied as Shepard gave her a suspicious eye.

She knew the woman was being vague intentionally but didn’t want to press her if she wasn’t willing to share. “Alright, let me know when and where and I’ll be there,” she said giving Jasmine a wave before turning and leaving.

Normandy Assigned Docking Bay – Presidium – Citadel

Shepard attempted to try and rest as Miranda requested the previous day after her encounter in the embassy. But she felt herself wearing a bit thin over the last couple of weeks. Between the firefights that seem to occur every single time she leaves the Normandy to the invasive dreams she kept having, she was definitely understanding the XO’s request. At the moment, she was exiting from C-Sec into the docking bay for the Normandy. She already had to deal with a snotty reporter asking annoying questions.

She was definitely not going to enjoy her time aboard with the rampaging turian woman. But as she stepped out of the elevator and onto the docking bay, she saw several faces. Garrus stood tall and proud, an improvement on his usual slouching he did nowadays. In front of him was Ashley Williams in full gear, as well as Sidonis. And behind Garrus was a mature asari. Guessing by the looks of their armor, they were the spectre that would be shadowing Ash.

Shepard stepped up to the small group and immediately Ash grinned at her. “Well well, looks like I’m approaching quickly from the rear, Skipper.”

Shepard smiled back at her. “Couldn’t be more well earned in my opinion,” said the spectre as she eyed the asari.

Ash waved for the other spectre to approach. “This is Spectre Vesina. He’s gonna be my trainer.”

Shepard noticed the language and nodded to the spectre. He nodded back a greeting before speaking up. “Williams, let’s get going.”

Ash turned to Shepard and held out her hand. “It was really good seeing you all again.”

“Same, Ash. Once you’re a full-fledged spectre, hit me up and we’ll celebrate,” said Shepard as she took her former crewmate’s hand and squeezed it gently.

“Will do, Skipper. Stay safe out there in the Terminus,” said the staff lieutenant.

Ash and the asari left the docking bay and headed to their own transport craft, leaving Shepard standing their with the two turian men. Shepard eyed Sidonis curiously. “Saying goodbyes?”

“Planning ahead actually,” said the man as he opened an omni-tool and passed Shepard his information. “I think I have an idea of how I can be helpful.”

Shepard looked from him to her own omni-tool, then nodded with a knowing smile. “Ah, I see. Well, I hope you’ll run your new business a lot more ethically than the last asshole who had it,” she said with a grin.

Chuckling, Sidonis nodded dutifully. “I’ve already put that asari woman you all scared witless into an old safehouse I had when I worked for C-Sec. She’s safe for the moment until I can find a more stable place for her,” he said as he looked between them both. “And if either of you need my help, you’ll know where to find me.”

“That we will,” said Garrus as he clasped wrists with the other turian once more. “Also let me know if you need any help with stalkers. I don’t want anyone to have to go into hiding for the reasons you did.”

“You’ll be the first to know,” said the man as he stood straight and bowed his head to Shepard. “Thank you again, Shepard. Without you there’s a good chance one or both of us would be dead right now.”

Garrus chuckled dryly. “More than a chance…” he grumbled as he shook his head. “I’m still impressed they could tolerate each other enough to try and kill us.” Then he turned to Shepard as well. “Oh, speaking of, Shepard. When we swing by Omega again, I need to take care of some business if you wouldn’t mind.”

She smirked at him and nodded. “I get your meaning. No problem.” Suddenly, the door to the Citadel opened, and a familiar turian glare appeared and began walking towards them. Shepard sighed as she prepared for the worst.

But much to her surprise the woman stiffened, and her expression of spite vanished as she stopped in front of them. “G-Garrus Vakarian?” she asked, Shepard reading her expression as awestruck.

“Hm?” mumbled Garrus as he eyed her curiously. “Who’s this?”

“Legate Ralixia Voretoria from Palaven’s 108^th Imperium Marines,” said Shepard, putting emphasis on her rank. “She’s a Spectre trainee that I’m supposed to be the examiner for.”

The turian woman glared at Shepard for a moment before Garrus stepped up to her. “Good to meet you, Legate. It’ll be an honor working with you.”

Shepard’s eyes widened as she saw the turian woman practically swoon in front of Garrus. Once her good friend headed to board the Normandy once more, the woman’s spiteful glare returned. “I have my equipment. Give me a room and stay out of my way,” she ordered as she moved to walk past Shepard. But the human’s hand caught the woman’s cowl and shoved her backwards. Ralixia’s face changed from distaste to surprise. “Are you mad?”

“Let me make one thing clear here, Legate. You’re not in the Hierarchy anymore, you’re here on my ship,” snapped Shepard with a glare of her own. “I don’t give a goddamn if you have a chip on your shoulder about humans or me specifically, but it ends right here at this airlock. The moment you set foot on my ship; you follow my orders. You can keep your little hate grudge, but if I see you taking your ire out on my crew, or if I determine your grudge is endangering my mission, I’ll send you back to Palaven the laughingstock of the Hierarchy. Do I make myself clear, Legate?”

The woman’s demeanor changed slightly. Shepard always had difficulty reading turians, as their faces were much less expressive than a human’s. But she did notice that whatever fire was inside Ralixia seemed to dim, even the slightest bit. “You’ll have no trouble from me, Spectre. As long as you respect me, I’ll grant you the respect you deserve.”

Shepard exhaled deeply before finally stepping aside. “Miranda Lawson will have a room assigned to you. The armory is on the fourth floor down. You can keep your armor and weapons there until they’re needed.”

Not even giving a nod to the spectre, the turian walked past her and boarded the ship. Shepard reached up and ran her fingers through her blazing hair in frustration. “First the collectors, and now I have to fight my own damn crew,” she growled before finally turning and heading off herself.

Nos Astra Port – Nos Astra – Illium

She had gotten a headache from having to deal with the politics of the Citadel and had kept to her room for most of the entire trip to Illium. Garrus had swung by her room and dropped off his own presents that he had got her during her injury. He had forgotten to give them to her due to his focus on Sidonis. But she pulled the boxes out of the bag and her brows rose in surprise as she saw several model ships, one of them belonging to the original Normandy SR-1.

She used to have model ships in her room as a kid, but it’d been so long since she’d put effort into something so meticulous besides coding. He had gotten her three in total. One was the Destiny Ascension, probably the most common model on the Citadel. Another was a turian dreadnought called the CFV Kalivor, named after one of their famed mythological titans. And finally, the Normandy. She had never considered they’d make her old ship into a model. Her brows furrowed, wondering if she could put it together without memories paralyzing her.

She sighed and spun in her desk chair, turning to the rodent in the sealed cage that made its home on her shelf. “What do you think?” she asked as it looked down upon her with its large, black, beady eyes. “You’re right, it should be fine. Besides, he got it as a gift. I can’t exactly return it.” It continued to stare at her as it munched away at a pellet. “Yeah, it also was my ship. So, it’d be extra rude.” Letting out a sigh, she turned back to her desk. “Alright alright, twist my arm…” she said as she looked down at the models.

Before she could touch them, however, EDI popped up near the door. “Flight Lieutenant Moreau would like to inform you that we have arrived at Nos Astra Port, Spectre. It appears that they’re allowing us to dock without paying anything.”

“Yeah, EDI, I can do that myself,” grumbled Jeff over the comm. “Uh… anyway Shepard, what she said.”

“Any idea why?” asked Shepard, a bit bewildered. It wasn’t like the cheap business people of a world like Illium to skip out on money, however small the fees are.

“They haven’t said why, unfortunately. They just guided us in to dock,” said Joker as Shepard heard the suspicion in his voice. “Whatever you do, Shepard, don’t sign anything if they meet you outside the airlock…”

Shepard smirked at the pair and shook her head. “I’ll be down in a moment. EDI, tell the crew to be prepared. And that includes Legate Voretoria. We’re picking up several people here, and if my luck is consistent, we’ll be fighting every step of the way.”

“Understood, Spectre,” responded EDI before her hologram disappeared from the door.

Shepard got to her feet and headed down to the armory. She wasn’t going to be fully armed just yet, but she would be damned if she was going to set foot on a planet like Illium without some kind of weapon on her. She decided that her wrist-mounted blade projector, as well as her pistol would do for the time being.

It wasn’t until she stepped onto the elevator with Garrus, Tali, and Miranda that she realized just how nervous she was. This was where Liara was. She hadn’t spoken to her in over two years. The asari had seemingly moved on, but she was going to have to talk to her and open a wound that was still fresh for the spectre because while Liara had two years to mourn and grieve, Shepard didn’t. For two years she knew only oblivion before waking up on Lazarus Station, thinking that her relationship with the asari hadn’t changed at all. Either way, she wasn’t going to be coy with her questions. One of her main rules in relationships was to be honest and communicate, even if it hurt to do so.

Finally, the airlock opened and allowed them all out onto the docks. Shepard stepped out and before they could even reach the gateway to the inner city, they were met by an asari maiden from the looks of her. “Spectre Shepard I presume?”

“Depends on who’s asking,” said Shepard as she eyed the woman. She was fairly well dressed, but not as much as some of the richer people in Nos Astra. Shepard knew their type, and she seemed to be more of a worker than a parasitic job creator.

“My name is Careena T’Lossa. I’m a concierge for important people here on Nos Astra. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. However, given your affiliation with Noble Liara T’Soni, I doubt you will need my services.”

Shepard was surprised to hear Liara’s name dropped as soon as she got off the ship. “You know Liara?”

“We speak frequently, and I take care of her clients as they arrive on Illium. As for you, she has paid for all docking fees and given you full clearance,” said the asari woman with a pleasant business smile.

“Oh… uh, thanks,” she said as she got her first question immediately answered. “And where can I find Liara?”

“She will be in her own office on the third floor of the Lavinia Trade Building. Here is her navpoint should you wish to go visit her,” said the woman as she forwarded the information.

“Thank you, Careena,” said Shepard as she eyed the location on her omni-tool. It wasn’t that far at all. She practically had a view of both the beaches and ocean across from the ports and the city of Nos Astra on the other side.

“It has been my pleasure, Spectre. If you need anything that Liara cannot provide, you have my information,” she said before bowing in a very Japanese manner, then scurrying off to meet another incoming customer.

“I feel kind of bad having her pay our way like that,” said Garrus  as he began walking beside Shepard.

“Quarians have a saying. Those who question gifts should return them,” said Tali as she looked around in awe at the tall skyscrapers. Buildings on the Citadel weren’t allowed to go higher than a certain point for safety reasons. Any bigger than six stories and the movement of the ward closing would crumble the building. But Illium had no such restrictions, which Tali seemed to gawk at in wonder.

“If this gift were coming from anyone but Liara, you can be damn sure I’d question it,” he said with a shake of his head. “Especially here.”

“Is this place really that bad?” asked Tali curiously as she looked away from the gorgeous landscape.

“You can sell your soul here on Illium and not even realize it. And that’s not a joke. People here will do what it takes to collect on a contract,” said Miranda as she followed behind the three.

“She’s right. Illium may look shinier than Omega, but it’s just as ruthless. As long as you watch your back, it’s one of the cushiest places in the galaxy. But the moment you don’t read the fine print on something is the moment you get dragged into an alley,” he said, almost shuddering. “It’s as Terminus Systems as it gets.”

“So…” started Tali again. “Why did Liara come here to work if it’s so bad? She doesn’t strike me as the ruthless type.”

“A lot has changed since you rejoined the Migrant Fleet, Tali,” said Garrus knowingly. “There’s a lot that would surprise you about Liara.”

Shepard huffed in annoyance before finally getting to a fast transit terminal and summoning a cab. The flight was short, much shorter than she anticipated. Each step she took towards Liara’s office, she found herself getting more and more anxious. Eventually, she just mentally slapped herself across the face and clenched her fists.

T’Soni Information Offices – Lavinia Trade Building – Illium

As she stepped off the elevator, she was startled by how big the floor was. Reception was  a simple lobby with tons of what looked like leather seats on either side. The walls looked like black marble with tall pink ficus-looking trees between each of the chairs. At the far end of the lobby was a desk with soft blue lighting showing an asari woman sitting behind the desk. Even from this far away, Shepard could tell that it wasn’t Liara. She immediately assumed it was a receptionist or assistant.

Making their way down the light carpet that absorbed the blue lighting, she kept her focus forward as Tali hummed and hawed at the lavishness of the lobby. As she arrived at the desk, the asari woman looked up to her and smiled. “Ah, Jane Shepard! I’ve heard so much about you!”

Shepard eyed the woman curiously, noting her intricate grey face paint. “Only good things I hope,” she said, unsure whether the things she heard came from Liara or other sources.

“Of course! Liara certainly speaks highly of you. I’ve also seen your movie, though from what she tells me it’s a lot of misinformation and drama,” said the asari as she stood up and stepped out from behind her desk. Shepard knew what she was asking for, and given she was on an asari world, she supposed she should oblige with the asari embrace greeting. Stepping forward, they grabbed each other’s hips and pressed their foreheads together. Shepard felt a rush of emotions from her greeter. Joy, curiosity, excitement, and more filled her mind. Though, despite her attempts to hide it, Shepard definitely felt something being held back. She wasn’t sure if she was trying to be deceptive or holding something back so as not to offend the spectre.

They disconnected from one another and the asari sat down once more. “So, you’ve got me at a disadvantage…”

“I apologize. It’s not everyday you meet someone as famous and well known as you. My name is Nyxeris Nissia. I’m Liara’s assistant, receptionist, and best agent.”

“You’re an info broker as well?” asked the spectre curiously.

“In a manner of speaking. My efforts go to assist Noble Liara in her efforts rather than using my skills for myself,” said Nyxeris with a small head bow. “Plus, I do not have Noble Liara’s contacts. She is truly a talented addition to the information industry.”

“Right. Anyway… I should get in to see her. It’s been a long time,” said Shepard awkwardly, getting a nod from the woman.

“Of course, Shepard. If you need anything from me, you know where to find me,” she said as she sat back down and activated her communicator. “I’m calling to alert you that Spectre Shepard is here looking to see you.” She stayed still for a few moments as she listened. “As you wish.” Closing the communicator, she smiled up at them. “She is waiting for you inside,” said the woman as she motioned towards the door.

Shepard looked at the door before turning to the others. Before she could get a single word off, Garrus spoke up. “We’ll uh… wait out here until you need us.”

Shepard stared at him for a moment before turning to Tali. “Go,” said the quarian as she nodded towards the door.

Shepard smiled at them both and nodded back before turning around and opening the door. Once inside, she was immediately hit with the gorgeous view of the sunset over the ocean. Portions of Nos Astra could still be seen near the bottom of the large window, but the main landscape was pure ocean and sun as it sank behind the horizon, casting its warm glow into the room itself. Knowing Liara’s current occupation, she doubted it was an actual window instead of a projection. But it was gorgeous nonetheless.

Pushing thoughts of the scenery from her mind, she turned to the blue figure sitting behind a desk, typing away at a terminal frantically. Multiple screens filled the air in front of her, all of them hovering as holographic projections. Finally, she hit one last button and all the screens disappeared, giving the spectre an unobstructed view of the woman she came here to see. Liara stood up behind the desk, a worried smile illuminating her gorgeous face.

Shepard was stunned for a moment as she noticed a rather glaring change. But it didn’t stop the asari from marching around the desk and pulling Shepard into a tight hug. Snapping out of her stupor, Jane squeezed her back, her muscles aching as she finally released the tension she didn’t realize she was holding, practically melting into her arms.

“Jane, it’s so good to see you!” said the asari excitedly as she released the woman and held her at arm’s length as if to examine her. “Your hair! You’ve grown it out!”

“And you,” said Shepard as she stared at the asari’s face. “You have eyebrows!”

Liara giggled like a schoolgirl and nodded. “A small cosmetic change that helps when dealing with humans.” Suddenly, her smile fell. “You… you don’t like them?”

“They look great,” said Shepard with a smile. “I just never thought about you with eyebrows. It’s very distracting.”

Liara smiled again and released Shepard’s shoulders. “You’ll get used to them. Garrus looked at me funny for a while too.” Shepard felt herself practically glowing. She had almost expected the asari to be distant and cold towards her to keep from hurting again. Now she felt guilty for misjudging Liara. “I’m glad to see you, Jane. I really am,” said the young asari as she sat back in her chair.

Shepard sat across from her. “Me too. I’m… sorry I didn’t come sooner,” she said with a soft sigh. “I just thought…”

“You thought I had moved on and didn’t want to come racing back into my life if I had,” said the asari knowingly. Shepard glared at her playfully. “I can understand why you hesitated. If the roles had been reversed, I would have expected the same of you. To most, two years is a long time to go without loving someone or being loved yourself.” Shepard nodded solemnly. “I assure you; my life has taken a different direction than it was going previously. However, my love for you has never changed.” Liara looked down at her desk almost ashamed. “I… I suppose that was why I gave your body to Cerberus.”

Shepard’s brows rose slightly. “They told me you found my body. But you’re the one who gave me to them?”

She nodded and clenched her hands together nervously. “I had a gut feeling that people wouldn’t just allow you to die in peace. Whether it was the Alliance, Cerberus, the reapers, or the Shadow Broker, you were hunted by many. Almost as soon as I was rescued from the escape pods, I took a ship down to the planet and searched for you for weeks. By that time the Shadow Broker had already sent agents to try and find you as well. We had clashed a few times on the surface of Alchera, but I came out on top.” She said before clearing her throat. “It was then that Cerberus approached me. I was cautious and ready to destroy them too, but they told me they could bring you back.”

“I’m surprised you believed them,” said Shepard as she scratched her head thoughtfully.

“I didn’t at first. But I gave them the chance to prove it. They showed me the science behind it, and then blatantly reversed the death of several people. One had died from exposure, one from a gunshot to the heart, and the last one from severe burns. Of course none of them were as badly damaged as you were, but they showed me that if I had only one chance to get you back, it was with them,” she said as she looked down. Shepard could immediately see as she tried to hide the tears that streamed down from her eyes. “They sent an agent to help me find you and fight off the Shadow Broker’s men. When I finally did, I gave them to you.”

“I… see,” said Shepard, unsure of her own feelings. She found herself in a mild state of confusion, wondering whether she would attempt to bring back Liara if she had died.

“I know what you’re thinking,” said the asari, getting a surprised look from Shepard. “I assure you, if I saw any other way for the galaxy to survive the coming years with the reapers closing in, I would have let you pass and mourned you. But I knew in my heart and soul that letting you die would be letting die the only chance the galaxy has of surviving.”

“You… revived me so I could fight the reapers?” asked Shepard, her emotions a whirlwind, switching from confused, to upset, to embarrassed, to guilt, and all over the place.

Liara sighed gently as she scrubbed her eyes. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Shepard. Of course I also did it because I couldn’t imagine living without you next to me. Of course I didn’t just have you revived solely to save the galaxy. Knowing I was handing you to Cerberus, knowing what they were capable of doing to you was the hardest decision I’ve ever made in my hundred and eight years of life.”

Shepard felt guilty again. She didn’t expect herself to act this way, but she still found herself suspicious of Liara’s motives. She claimed to have not moved on, to have mourned yet still loved her, but she found herself wondering about the information Miranda had given her. Shepard wasn’t jealous at all. If Liara had found someone to keep her company during her death, she would have happily greeted and accepted them as Liara’s partner as well. But for some reason, the asari didn’t bring them up at all. Finally, she decided to quit speculating and just ask.

“So, the agent that Cerberus paired you with. Were they this V’Reena person?” she asked, noticing that Liara gave her a surprised look.

“V’Reena?” she asked, giving the woman a scrutinizing eye. “What do you know of her?”

“Nothing, really. Miranda warned me that you might have moved on from me because you shared an apartment with this person,” said the spectre as she looked to Liara curiously. The woman’s face was more amused than anything.

“The agent Cerberus paired me with was named Feron Lanteyus,” said before leaning back in her chair. “Jane, what do you remember of our conversations before the Normandy was destroyed?”

Shepard looked down at the table. “Not a lot. The weeks leading up to my death were gone from my head. I only just got the ones of my death back a few weeks ago. They… were not pleasant,” she said as she looked back up to the asari. “Why are you asking?”

Liara smiled gently and shook her head. “I’ll make you a deal, Jane,” she said as she opened her omni-tool and passed the spectre a file. “When you get all of your memories back, I will discuss what happened that year with you.”

Shepard eyed her for a moment before looking down at her omni-tool. She opened the file and noted that it simply said [Can’t discuss here. Invite me to Normandy.] Shepard went wide-eyed for a moment before looking up at Liara. “Uhh… deal. In the meantime, why not come see the new Normandy? I’m sure Joker would love to say hi as well.”

“I would love that,” said Liara as she stood up from her desk. “Lead the way.”

Captain’s Quarters – SSV Normandy SR-2

“I see he hasn’t changed a bit,” said Liara with a smirk as she strolled into the door of the room.

“Even if everything else in the universe changes, Joker will be its immovable center,” said Shepard as she crossed her arms and leaned against the partition. Liara strolled over to the desk and smiled as she saw the picture of the old crew. Reaching down, she picked it up and smiled wider. “Remembering the old days?”

“They are hard to forget,” said the asari as she set the picture down again. “One day I’m a prothean scientist digging through ruins hoping to find a fragment of a datacard with a prothean cookbook on it. And within the span of a month, I was destroying geth, mercenaries, and reaper forces as I fought off the return of the very beings that erased the protheans from the galaxy.”

 “I suppose that would be a very memorable lifestyle change,” said Shepard with a grin as she sat in her desk chair. “So, why did you have me bring you out here? Not that I mind you visiting, but…”

“I presume you have cleared your ship of listening and recording devices the Illusive Man may have planeted?” asked the asari curiously.

EDI popped up next to the door. “She was very thorough, even intrusive while getting rid of them. But at least she wore gloves.”

Liara snorted as Shepard glared at EDI’s holographic figure. “Very funny EDI,” said the spectre as she shook her head. “I got them all. Well, aside from the living crew anyway. But they can’t hear you here. And I’ve taken precautions to make sure EDI can’t go around my back.”

“Good,” said Liara as she looked down as if trying to figure out where to start. “To put it bluntly, I’m being closely monitored by the Shadow Broker.”

“Why?” asked Shepard in bewilderment. “I know you stole me out of their grasp, but they couldn’t have been that mad at you.”

“Not for that, no,” said Liara seriously. “It’s because I’m trying to find them and kill them.”

Stunned once again, all Shepard could say is, “Wha?”

“When I was going after your body, the Illusive Man sent Faron to get ahold of me. He did so, but what Faron didn’t tell me was that he was double dealing for the Shadow Broker. He actually came to me under the guise of working for the Illusive Man to distract me while the Shadow Broker got your body,” she said with a look of mild annoyance on her face.

“Wait, he was working for the Shadow Broker, but took the Illusive Man’s money in order to keep you distracted because he was still working for the Shadow Broker?” asked the spectre as she tried to uncross the wires in her head.

“Yes. He was working for the Shadow Broker. His dealing with Cerberus was a double-dealing,” said Liara gently as she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “The Shadow Broker hired the Blue Suns to get your body and trade it to the collectors for the rewards they were offering. Faron kept me busy while the Blue Suns found you and dragged your body halfway across the galaxy. It wasn’t until Faron found out that the Shadow Broker was trading you to the collectors that he dropped all double dealing.”

“He helped you?” asked Shepard curiously.

“He saved my life. He took a shot that was meant for me, then threw himself at both the Blue Suns and collectors to give me time to escape with your body,” she said as her hands tightened into fists. “I never found his body afterwards, so I assume they took him prisoner. And one of these I’m going to track the Shadow Broker down and kill them for what they tried to do to you, and for what they did to Faron.”

“I see. So, you’re working as an information broker right now to try and track them down?” asked Shepard, getting a nod from the asari.

“Nyxeris and a few other agents I have working on other floors of the building pass me information. I’ll make requests of them without being too obvious about what I’m looking for. It’s very lucrative, and it allows me to put together the puzzle of the Shadow Broker’s location very slowly. That said, I’m working on Illium, and I’m an information broker. Which means it’s likely that a few of my agents have been approached by the Shadow Broker and may be constantly putting up cameras and listening devices.”

“Understood,” said Shepard as she thought for a moment. “So, what about the V’Reena person?”

“They are very important to me,” she said with a firm stare. “But I’m still not going to introduce you until your memories return.”

“Wait, why? I thought you just needed to be out of your office,” said Shepard in confusion.

“For several reasons. But the main one being that you will understand once you remember. I’m not going to put more weight onto your shoulders while you’re also fighting to save the galaxy,” said Liara, her tone indicating that she was serious.

“I don’t really think you having another partner would be much of a burden to me,” said Shepard, still confused about the whole situation. “But if it’s something you want to keep close to your chest, then I won’t intrude.”

“I believe you,” said Liara with a genuine smile. “When your XO told you about them, you could easily have found the information for yourself. After all, you’re a very skilled seeker. If you had wanted, you could have dug up most of my history over the two years you were gone. But you didn’t.”

Shepard nodded solemnly. “I want to be a part of your life, but I don’t want to intrude on it.”

“As that is the case, I’ll add an addendum to that offer earlier,” said the broker as she flashed another smile.

“I’m listening,” said Shepard, her interest piqued at the offer.

“They are in hiding. Trying to take down the Shadow Broker is an easy way to make enemies, and I wouldn’t want to endanger anyone I cared for, including you. But if the danger were to disappear, then I will explain everything to you,” said Liara as she stood up straight again.

“So, if I help you take down the Shadow Broker?” asked the spectre as she tilted her head inquisitively.

“You can help, yes. But that isn’t a requirement,” said Liara as she stepped up to Shepard and gently stroked her hair. Shepard gently felt the waves of joy and sorrow from her fingertips as they made contact with her skin. “While I’m not telling you for a specific reason, they are in hiding until the danger has passed. If I can find the Shadow Broker and get rid of them, then I will tell you all you wish to know. Your cooperation isn’t needed.”

“But it would help,” said Shepard with a raised brow.

“Of course,” said Liara with a glare.

“Alright alright,” said Shepard as she finally stood up and faced the woman again. “I’ll help you, and you help me. And after all this nonsense with the Shadow Broker is over, I’d love to meet your partner. I still want to be a part of your life, if you’ll have me. And I won’t be threatened or jealous over someone else.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” said Liara with a grin as she gripped Shepard’s hips. Jane gripped hers as well and they embraced. It was then that Liara looked up at her in shock. “Shepard!”

“What, what happened?” asked the spectre in surprise.

“You’re a biotic?!” asked the asari in confusion.

“Oh boy…” groaned Shepard as she sat back in her chair.

CODEX ENTRIES

Macedyn | Location | Hierarchy Space
A colony world well known as the retirement home of turian space, as well as the best vacation spots among the Hierarchy colonies. Sitting well within Hierarchy Space, it was once a vulnerable world as its relay connects to the outer fringes of the Attican Traverse. But after an unfortunate attack by raiders from the Terminus Systems, the Hierarchy reinforced the area with heavy patrols, making the world one of the most peaceful in the galaxy.

Skak | Derogatory Linguistics | Turian Common
A derogatory slang word in turian common meaning “feces.” Like in human languages, it’s a common curse that wasn’t added to the translators in modern omni-tools for obvious reasons. Also like in human languages, it’s a phrase commonly used when questioning the veracity of something.

Legate | Military | Palaven Hierarchy
A commander of forces. They can be put in charge of anything from a platoon of fifty soldiers to thousands. They are typically the centerpiece for the turian Hierarchy on Palaven, who lead entire battalions into battle. They also act as the captains of ships in the Palaven naval force, only switching over to the Citadel’s more commonly used ‘commander’ when and if they join the Citadel Fleet.

Noble | Culture | Asari
A title typically given by asari towards other asari who are of higher stature than them. Usually used in very formal situations such as business meetings or family gatherings, it’s a simple and polite way of expressing to an asari that you respect them.

Grey Face 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 grey being in the non-military intel industry.

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 Text

Training Room – SSV Normandy SR-2

Garrus had just finished a routine of combatives with Tali in the training room. His breath came out in short rasps as he tried to catch his breath. Tali, as limber and deadly as ever, definitely showed her flexibility in their bout. And her kicks had only gotten harder as the years went on. Back when they were on Thessia, she had broken the neck of an asari biotic with a single kick, and if he weren’t paying attention, he knew she would be capable of taking the head off a turian as well.

But currently she was simply teaching the new kid, Lia’Vael, how to spar with turians. The two species had similar body types, so it was easier to spar with one another. They were on the floor grappling one another until Tali, as subtle as a flare firing into space, allowed Lia to put her in a hold that made her groan in pain. Garrus chuckled as his friend tapped the mat in the universal sign of surrender. “A good attempt, but you need to hook your arm behind my leg faster. If you wait too long to lock my leg, I can get a clean kick right to your face plate before you can stop me.”

“Understood,” said the younger quarian as she bounced up to her feet excitedly.

Tali sprung up as well and stretched her legs before finally stepping out of the impact mats. “Keep that up and you’ll be as deadly as me in no time. Now, go and kick the kinetic bag to strengthen your legs.”

Garrus chucked again and shook his head. “Never thought I’d see the day when you were teaching hand to hand.”

“Me neither. But then again, I never expected another quarian to be aboard the Normandy,” she said with a glowing smile as she grabbed her water container and attached it to her induction port.

“I know we had the turian fire team on the original Normandy, but I wasn’t expecting another turian for a while either,” he said as his sharp eyes moved over to the newcomer on the ship. At first, he had greeted her as he would any respectful turian. It was only after that he found out about her aversion to Shepard, and her worship of Saren. He snorted, wondering how Tali got the adorable and excited trainee while he got the rogue spectre fangirl.

As if hearing his words, Ralixia stepped off the treadmill she had been pounding and stepped towards him. “We could go a few rounds if you like,” she said playfully towards him.

He eyed her in confusion, not the least because even after holding a sprint for nearly five minutes straight she was barely breathing heavy. It was mostly because he was confused by the discrepancy of her treatment between him and Shepard. She had to know that he helped kill Saren as well. Yet she still seemed to be more than pleasant with him.

“Give me about ten minutes to stretch. She really wore my joints out,” said the turian as he began to stretch his legs.

“Feeling the age creep up on you?” she asked curiously as she leaned over the partition to stare at him.

“Huh?” he asked, unsure of what she meant. Finally, it clicked in his head. “Oh, not at all. In fact, I feel younger than ever now that I’m back on the Normandy. But I now have trauma about not training my knee properly because of what Shepard did to Kuril.”

Her face soured at the mention of Shepard, but he could see she was more curious than annoyed. “Kuril, that egg sucking war criminal who ran the Purgatory Space Prison? What happened to him?”

“We went in to get our favorite psychotic biotic, Jack,” he said, nodding to the human woman who was weightlifting in the corner. Ralixia looked towards her, then nodded at him to continue. “Kuril was supposed to hand her over. He’d already received payment. But instead, he tried to capture Shepard and sell her to the collectors. So…” he said, his hand doing the circular loop. “She broke the entire station. We fought through several cell blocks, took out his security, freed Jack, and then she cornered him.”

Ralixia tilted her head at him curiously. “She killed him?”

“If she had just killed him, I could sleep properly at night,” he said with a shudder. “No, what she did was challenge him to hand-to-hand combat. And when he tried to put everything into a high kick, she broke his knee over her own. I saw it bend in a way that scarred me worse than the rocket that did this,” he finished, pointing to his face.

Even the legate shuddered at the idea of a turian’s leg bending too far. “She took him alone? With no help?”

“We watched her back to make sure no guards or prisoners interfered. But yeah,” he said with a chuckle. “She got exactly three hits on him, he got zero. It was so one sided that I’m pretty sure even the inmates felt sorry for him before the beat him to death.”

“Hmmm…” said the turian woman as she looked over towards the door. As if summoned by telling her stories, Shepard walked in in her exercise gear, already wrapping her hands in bandages.

“Shepard!” shouted Tali as she waved from the corner.

“Hey Tali,” said the spectre as she grinned up at the quarian.

Garrus continued flexing his knees as he stepped up to her. “So, did she give us anything on our next couple of recruits?”

“She knows exactly where the justicar is. She spent the last couple days in and out of a police station in the Lirelia Prefecture. The assassin, she has info on. But not enough to tell me where he’s at. She’s gathering that information now,” said the woman as she too began to stretch her body out.

“How about the new spectre?” asked Tali curiously. “It’s been a while since we’ve met her. I’m excited to catch up!”

Shepard smirked at the quarian. “Gianna Parasini has been notified. They’re supposed to meet us here first thing in the morning,” she said before finally turning her gaze to the turian woman. “I see you’re blending in well.”

Ignoring the comment, Ralixia turned towards her and began pacing in a circle around her. “You killed a turian in one on one, hand to hand combat?”

Shepard’s brow rose as she slowly followed her with her blue gaze. “A few actually. But if you’re referring to Kuril, he’s a CEO who sat on his ass and had his men doing all the grunt work. I’m pretty sure a volus doing a somersault could have put him down.”

Garrus snorted and shook his head. But his humor vanished instantly as he heard Ralixia’s request. “Mind going a few rounds with me?” He looked up at her in surprise.

Shepard planted her hands on her hips and sighed. “Looking to take your aggression out on me?”

“Actually, I’ve never heard of a human standing up to a turian in combatives. I’m both curious to see human fighting styles, and to see if you’re capable of lasting against an actual trained officer,” said Ralixia as she finally stopped pacing and crossed her arms.

Shepard’s brows rose high. “You haven’t studied anything about human martial arts, but you want to try and take me on anyway?”

“Yes, why?” asked the legate, her tone changing from curious to annoyed.

Shepard chuckled and shook her head before stepping over onto the mat. “Have you heard about human diversity?”

Tossing her towel aside, the legate stepped up on the mat as well. “I have, though I don’t see why…”

“While there’s a wide range of heights for turians, around 90% of them are around two and a half meters tall, give or take a few centimeters,” said Shepard as she began to bounce back and forth on her feet.

Ralixia looked unamused by the lesson. “Spectre, where are you going with this?”

“Humans, however, can be anywhere from one and a half to two meters tall,” said Shepard as she flapped her hands to get her blood flowing. “That’s not even mentioning differing body types. Heavy set turians are still mostly muscle, while humans have a lot of fat content that can give us a huge range of body types,” she said before finally stopping and staring at the turian woman. “Now, over the ten-thousand years of recorded human history, how many different forms of martial arts do you think humans have created to adapt to different body types, heights, weights, and circumstances?”

The legate looked from Shepard to Garrus, then back to Shepard. “I don’t know… twenty? Thirty? That’s around how many turians have.”

“We have over two hundred,” said the spectre as she held her hands up in a battle stance.

Garrus snorted in amusement at the look of awe on the new crew member’s face. “Two hundred…?” she asked, flabbergasted as she too put her arms up. But she put it out of her head and took up a serious combat stance, one that could put a human in a hospital even from casual sparring. But Garrus knew better than to underestimate Shepard.

As her temper would predict, Ralixia threw the first attack. A full force kick flew forward, the wind trailing it blowing Shepard’s hair sideways and causing the spectre to glare at her. She threw another, and Shepard ducked under, something turians always forget humans can just do. It’s easier to do with digitigrade legs, but plantigrade species can also easily adapt. Shepard had pulled it no less than three times since he had seen her fight, one of which was on him.

Similar to when she had fought him, she ducked and popped up right next to the turian woman’s surprised frame. Slamming an elbow into her gut, Shepard gripped her cowl and swung down over her hips in a throw that Garrus experienced himself. The impact sounded painful, but he knew the legate wouldn’t be off put that easily.

Ralixia let out a gasp of pain as she stared up in surprise at the spectre. Shepard glared down at her before releasing her. “If you hit me with a kick that hard and decommission me over a sparring match, I’m sending you back to the Hierarchy. You’re on the damn practice mat, so quit showing off,” snapped the human woman as she backed off and began bouncing on the balls of her feet again.

Ralixia stood up again and growled. “Understood,” she said with a hiss as she took up her stance again. Garrus watched as the pair faced off against each other, then began going back and forth. Shepard mostly focused on punches, landing several against the stunned turian. Ralixia continued with kicks, only punching when Shepard got too close. The pair of them were breathing heavily after trading blows. Shepard moved forward surprisingly slowly to throw an elbow to the gut. But Ralixia caught her and kicked both of her legs out from under her, causing her to slam flat onto her back.

“Tired already, Spectre?” mocked the legate as she took up her stance again.

“Anyone tell you that you talk too much?” asked Shepard as she surprised them all. Kicking her legs out like a windmill, she began spinning in a hypnotic dance on the mat, balancing her body’s momentum enough to keep her moving. Ralixia was so blown away by the dance-like maneuver that she was caught entirely off guard by the canon-like double kick that hit her in the gut. She was blown backwards, gasping for air as she clenched her stomach. Shepard spun once more, launching herself back up onto her feet as she stared down at the turian.

Garrus jumped in surprise as a voice sounded next to him where nobody was before. He spun and looked to see the Kasumi woman watching the fight with interest. “Capoeira?”

“Is… is that what she did?” asked Garrus curiously as he slowed his beating heart by sighing heavily.

“That’s the style. It’s Brazilian in origin and combines a form of dance and combat together,” said the rogue as she watched from under her shadowed hood.

“Interesting,” said Garrus as he watched Shepard plant a hand on the ground and kick low before spinning out with a high kick that left her hand standing for a long moment. Already spooked by the wild and aggressive fighting style, Ralixia was on the defense. “Turians don’t dance a lot, so it probably never occurred to our people to combine dancing and combat.”

“I’m pretty sure there’s been a martial art for everything on Earth. Cooking, skating, farming…”

“Farming?” asked Tali curiously from the side.

“Oh yeah, a lot of the weapons humans use in hand to hand were originally farming tools. Sickles, tonfa, nunchaku, the staff. Humans had to create weapons from whatever we could because of how often tyrants confiscated them,” said the woman as they all turned back to the fight.

“Surprised that humans can fight with their legs too?” asked Shepard with a grin as Ralixia held up her guard.

“More surprised it isn’t more well known. Why aren’t these fighting styles more present in your current military?” asked the legate as her eyes moved from Shepard’s hands to her feet to her face, trying desperately to track which would be flying at her next.

“Space armor makes conventional martial arts pretty useless. I use Muay Thai and Lethwei in armor because I can still use my elbows and knees in armor. But imagine trying to use Wing Chun…” she said, surprising the turian again as she punched ten times within the span of a few seconds. “Or Tae Kwon Do  while wearing heavy ass space armor during a fire fight.” Garrus watched as Ralixia threw a kick, no doubt to try and shut the spectre up. Instead, Shepard leaned back out of range, then spun forward before jumping like a human dancer. She rotated in the air rapidly before one of her legs lashed out and connected to the side of Ralixia’s head. Her arm didn’t stop the flying impact, and she slammed face first into the mat, coughing heavily as Shepard landed and fell over, holding her shin in pain. “Son of a bitch!”

Tali helped the spectre to her feet as Garrus stepped up and patted her on the shoulder. “Turian arms are still somewhat armored. Gotta watch that.”

“My shin thanks you for your hindsight,” growled Shepard as she stood again and rubbed the front of her leg.

Garrus reached down and gripped Ralixia’s hand, helping her back to a standing position. The legate stared down at the ground as if she were contemplating as Garrus spoke to her, Tali taking Shepard away to get medigel on the stinging bruise. “Do you understand yet?”

She looked up at him curiously. “Understand what?”

“As much as the Hierarchy and every other military in the galaxy wants you to believe we live in a universe of blacks and whites, there is no such place,” he said stoically as he examined her eye to make sure Shepard hadn’t accidentally cracked her orbital plate.

“What are you talking about, Vakarian?” asked the legate in annoyance.

“It’s easy to convince a soldier to kill someone if you make them believe that person is evil. But there is no black and white. The entire universe is full of so many shades of gray,” he said as he crossed his arms. “Sorry, I’m not much of a philosopher,” he said with a chuckle. “All this is to say that your belief that Saren was always good, while believing that Shepard is bad is a thought process that’s going to get either you or a lot of good people killed.”

She glared at him as she flexed her sore jaw. “What, has your time aboard the Normandy made you a psychic seer now?”

“No, but it has taught me a lot,” he said as he shook his head. “Holding onto hatred and grudges is dangerous. It blinds you to the truth and makes you ignore obvious, and sometimes not so obvious truths. If you believe that Saren could do no wrong, then when he, a flawed being, does something wrong, you ignore it.”

“You’re implying that Saren wasn’t a good spectre?” asked Ralixia sourly.

“Not really. Spectres are well known for bending their moral code to save the galaxy. And in that case, Saren was the best for a reason. He got the job done no matter what,” said the turian man as he rolled his neck a few times. “But being a good spectre sure as hell doesn’t make you a good person. And if you’re incapable of distinguishing between someone who is good at their job, and someone you can trust, then you’re going to get shot in the back a lot.”

Ralixia’s mandibles twitched at the claim before she took up a stance again. “Point taken. Now shut up and fight me,” she said, almost playfully as she shook the rattle Shepard had given her from her head.

Burgatory – Nos Astra – Illium

Shepard walked towards the restaurant with a purpose. It had been a long while since she had seen the pair, her last encounter with them being on Noveria. Tali, Lia, and Miranda were tailing her as she wore her leather jacket to keep the frigid air blowing over the ocean from giving her a chill. When she arrived, they all sat down at the table. Shepard looked over at the table to Miranda as she worked on datapads.

“So, why’d you decide to come?” asked the spectre curiously.

“Are you that bothered by my company?” asked the XO playfully as she looked over the datapad. “I’m actually going to meet someone here shortly. You said you were going to eat before your meeting, so I thought I’d join you.”

“I-Is this place quarian friendly?” asked Lia nervously as she looked around at the other customers of the outdoor restaurant. Most were asari and turian. A batarian sat with a krogan at the far end of the sea of tables, and there was even a hanar with one of its appendages sitting in a glass of something, absorbing it as it stood at its full height.

“I make sure anywhere I take someone is friendly to all present,” said Shepard with a grin.

“Oh… good,” said Lia who was still clearly nervous about being off the ship.

Tali nudged her gently. “So, Joker let you fly for the first time. How did it go?” asked the engineer before looking down. “I mean, we’re alive, so I assume things went well.”

“He tested me flying while the ship was in stealth while you all were on the Citadel. It… didn’t end well,” said the quarian miserably.

“What happened?” asked Shepard with a brow raised.

“I’ve never flown a ship in stealth before,” she said tapping the table. “When the Normandy is in stealth mode, its mass is negative and needs so little effort to fly that it uses an entirely separate method to fly than the chemical thrusters. I forgot to adjust once negative mass was achieved, and using the thrusters flung the entire ship in circles.”

“Do not worry, you’ll learn as you practice,” said Tali as she patted her shoulder comfortingly.

“If he lets me touch the controls again,” said Lia in disappointment.

“You’ll be fine. Joker may be a a hard-nosed teacher, but he’s never one to give up. Especially when he has a reputation to keep,” said Shepard with a grin. “He’ll turn you into the best pilot in the galaxy. Even better than him, just to say he did it.”

“I hope you’re right…” said Lia as she lowered her head gently.

Shepard’s grin vanished though as she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rising. “Anyone else feel that?”

“I do…” growled Miranda as she looked around anxiously.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” asked Tali as she stood up.

They all froze as a new voice came from behind them all. “Spectre Shepard?”

Shepard looked up in surprise at the visitor. It was an asari in a rather utilitarian robe. She had no face paint, nor any kind of identifying insignias on her outfit. But most unnerving of all, her eyes were closed. “Can I… help you?”

“Liara directed me to your location. As I got closer, I suppose you could say I sensed your aura. I can see why she speaks so highly of your strength,” said the woman cryptically.

“My strength, why is Liara telling you about my strength?” asked the redhead in confusion as she stood up to meet the woman.

“Apologies, I wasn’t speaking about Liara. I was referring to a friend you made on Noveria,” said the asari with a polite bow of her head.

Shepard eyed her curiously, wondering if Parasini and Matsuo had sent the woman to meet in their stead. “Is Gianna not coming?”

“There’s a misunderstanding. Perhaps if I told you that our mutual friend sings the dawn of her people, you would understand more clearly,” said the woman patiently.

Shepard’s brows slowly rose at the realization. “You know Dawnsinger?”

“I do,” said the woman with a confirming smile. “I met her many months ago and have since devoted my life to her. I would thank you for your actions that day. You saved a beautiful soul and a beautiful people.”

Miranda and Lia looked between the pair curiously while Tali clung to Shepard’s arm. “How is she? Is she well? Has she created a name for me yet?” asked the quarian excitedly.

“She is well. She heard that you yet lived and passed me a memory of hers to share with you, if you would allow me,” said the asari as she stepped up to Shepard.

Shepard snorted, unsure if now was a good time to do this while they were waiting for the others. But she supposed it couldn’t hurt while the others were around. “Tali, if she tries anything funny, make her regret it,” said the spectre as she stepped forward.

“You believe I wish to harm you?” asked the asari as she tilted her head.

“I don’t think Liara would send an assassin my way, but you could be lying,” said the spectre as she cracked her neck. “Call it insurance. Now let’s do this.”

The pair placed their hands on each other’s hips and planted their foreheads together. Within a few seconds, the asari woman whispered, “Embrace eternity.”

Shepard shot from her feet and felt as if she flew through the entire galaxy until she stood on the surface of a world shrouded in light. In fact, it was so bright she had to cover her eyes to concentrate. “Firesinger…”

Spinning around, Shepard’s eyes widened as she looked up at the queen in question. It took her a long moment to realize that she wasn’t looking through her own eyes, she was staring through the eyes of the asari as if witnessing a video recording first hand.

“Your music… silenced. We hear your strings resonating once again,” said the queen as Shepard gasped in awe at her. She didn’t know whether it was the restrictive size of the cage on Noveria, or simply because she was so young at the time. But the queen before her was massive, easily four times the size of the one she released on the snowy planet. “Our songs of joy fill the skies of our new world.”

The rachni queen moved aside and turned towards the landscape behind her. Shepard’s gaze followed and she saw a massive city with columns and structures built in geometric patterns built into the surface of the planet. The sun behind her began to sink behind the horizon, causing the landscape to darken. It was then that she noticed the structures and columns were all giving off a dull glow.

“We work, we sing, we thrive on our new world, using the gift of life you gave us. But we do not just build our home,” said the queen as the darkness grew thicker.

Stars began to penetrate the dark blue sky as it got darker and darker with the fading of the sun. It was then that Shepard began to notice the hundreds… no… thousands of eyes focusing on her down below. A small contingent of rachni, more queens and brood warriors stood staring up at them both. There were two dozen queens at least and over a hundred brood warriors. The rest were in the thousands. She looked up at the city and noticed that not even a fraction of the rachni were outside of the city. Whatever was out here, there was vastly more moving around within.

“We build for war. Though we wish for peace, we understand that the song of the sowers of discord will not end without war,” said the queen as she looked towards the sky. Shepard’s eyes followed as well and she felt chills all over her body as she saw that many of the stars above her were moving. They weren’t stars, they were ships. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of them were moving through the sky in more patterns. “When you sing your song of war, we will join our melodies to yours in a harmony of destruction. We will silence the symphony of chaos that soured the songs of our mothers and burn the darkness clean.”

Finally, the darkness covered the city and showed the entire place was glowing and lit with power. She didn’t know whether it was element zero, biotics, crystals, or something else entirely. What she did know was that she was witnessing the building of a powerful force of destruction. Finally, the images faded and she stumbled back into her own body. The asari bowed her head gently once more. “It was good meeting you, spectre. I hope this will not be the last time.”

Shepard was speechless. The asari turned and began walking away as her group stared at her curiously. “Everything alright, Shepard?” asked Tali with concern.

But Shepard didn’t know what she felt. She didn’t know if she felt fear, or anxiety. Thousands of years ago, the rachni were strong enough to nearly wipe the galaxy clean of other species. It took the uplifting of another species, one built for war and survival who reproduced in the dozens in less than a year to overwhelm and finally destroy them. But now they were free to live their lives, no longer having to worry about the krogan or even the rest of the species of the galaxy to check them. Though the words of the queen were strictly about them being peaceful, and only going to war to destroy the reapers, she found herself wondering if that would always be the case.

“I’m… fine,” she said as she looked up to see the asari woman had gone. Shaking off her chills, she sat back down in her seat, wondering if she was truly afraid of the rachni and their capabilities. Or maybe it was something else.

Finally her thoughts were disturbed as she saw a pair of humans approaching her, both of them familiar faces. Grinning once more, she stood again to greet them. Gianna, whose hair was let down despite the business suit she wore reached out and took her hand. “Long time no see, spectre.”

“Parasini, Captain,” said Shepard as she nodded to both of them.

“I’m no longer a captain with the ERCS,” said Maeko with a small smile.  Shepard immediately noticed that the woman’s voice was quieter and she had a slashing scar across her throat. As if seeing her look of shock, she tilted her head back. “This is what happens when you piss off an asari commando,” she said just above a whisper.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Shepard as she looked from one to the other. “That isn’t hindering, is it?”

“Not anymore,” said Maeko with a shake of her head. “I used to have nightmares about drowning in my own blood, but you get over it.”

“Well, you’ve certainly gotten morbid,” said Tali from the side.

Gianna looked over and seemingly noticed that Shepard wasn’t alone for the first time. “Wait a moment, I recognize that voice,” said Gianna in a friendly tone. “You were on Noveria!”

“That’s me. I also never got to apologize for smashing a vehicle through a geth and directly into the wall at your tram station,” said the quarian playfully.

“Binary Helix wasn’t thrilled with the mess you all left, that’s for sure,” said Parasini as she pulled up a seat for them both.

“So,” began Maeko softly. “Liara-sama said you needed to speak with me. What’s this about?”

Shepard didn’t know how either of them were going to take the message, but she knew the worst that could happen was her saying no. “Councilor Udina and Ambassador Korvus-Jamal decided it’s time to pick more spectres. The ambassador made her choice and dropped the other choice in my lap. After looking at the candidates, I chose you,” said Shepard as she looked towards Matsuo.

The Japanese woman went wide-eyed for a moment. Her and Gianna looked at each other briefly before turning back to Shepard. “Me? Why?” Shepard gave her a deadpan glare. “Alright… I know why.”

“Trying to steal my bodyguard?” asked Parasini curiously, though any attempt at playing offended was shattered by the glowing smile on her face.

“It’s her choice. Obviously, I can’t make her take the job. But,” said Shepard with a shrug of her shoulders. “As the first, I hold human spectres to a standard that I’m not sure the other species do. I want only the best, and from what I’ve seen, you’re one of them.”

“Th-Thank you, Shepard-sama,” said Maeko with a small smile.

“Hmmm… what’ll I do then?” asked Gianna curiously as she tapped her chin. “It took your abilities, which I’ve just been informed have qualified you for being a spectre, to protect me at my job. Without you around, I might have to take a break.”

“I’d recommend it anyway,” said Shepard with a nod. “Things might seem normal now, but they’re going to change soon. I can feel it.”

Gianna eyed her curiously. “Well, that’s ominous. What is about to change exactly?”

“I’m not going to worry  or tell you something that may give you nightmares. But, I will just say that peace in the galaxy is a balancing act and it’s about to tip over. Knocking down the doors of corporate criminals may be important in the capitalist galaxy we live in currently, but I’d focus more on living your life for the time being. Those corporate criminals aren’t going to matter much when war hits.”

“Concern noted,” said Gianna with a sigh. “Perhaps it’s time I cash in my good will and get a job in the Mediterranean.”

“That’d probably be best,” said Shepard with a grin. “So, what do you think?”

“I’m… not sure,” said Maeko as she looked away somberly. “I appreciate your confidence in me, but I don’t know if I can live up to your reputation.”

“Look, I don’t expect you to kill a galactic threat on year one,” said Shepard with a shrug. “Maybe year two or three depending, but right now I need you. I need humans with my status that I can trust. Because the more I look at the Alliance, the less I trust them. And in the months or years to come, I may need your help to save the galaxy.”

The woman eyed her for a long moment before responding. “Well, when you put it that way, I guess I can’t really say no.”

“You have about a week to answer. If the answer is yes, then meet with the ambassador on the Citadel. If the answer is no, give her a call at least and let her know so we can pick someone else,” she responded with a grin. “But I get the feeling we’ll be seeing each other more often.”

Maeko smiled lightly and bowed her head. “Thank you for the opportunity, Shepard-sama,” she said before leaning back in her chair. “You know, years ago when you left a bloodbath in the Synthetic Insights office, as well as the corpse of my sergeant, I never thought I’d one day get asked to stand alongside you.”

“Fate has a weird way of working like that,” said Gianna as she grinned and stood up. “Now, we have one or two more things to wrap up here before we head off to the Citadel. Good talking again, Shep.”

Shepard stood and held out her hand. “You too, Gianna.”

“And hey,” said the woman as she pulled Shepard in close. The spectre’s eyes widened slightly as the agent leaned in to whisper to her. “If you’re ever in my neighborhood on the Citadel, don’t be shy. Let’s go get a drink.” She pulled away and winked, then began sauntering off with Maeko following in her stead, leaving Shepard slightly confused.

Lirelia Police Department – Nos Astra – Illium

Shepard looked around at the place curiously. There was a lot of movement in the station, which meant something was happening. C-Sec back on the Citadel rarely got like this, but when it did it meant that something big had happened. She stepped inside with Jack, Garrus, and Ralixia at her back. Garrus only confirmed her suspicions.

“Looks like a C-Sec captain got knocked off around here,” he said as he eyed the frantic movement inside. “Tread carefully, Shepard. They might not be all that cooperative.”

“Will keep that in mind,” said Shepard as she stepped up to a receptionist. “Excuse me, I’m looking for Detective Anaya.”

The asari woman, who looked as if she hadn’t slept in a week got to her feet before bending over the counter and looking outside. Finally, she sat down and began typing again. “Look, she left to go talk to Pitne For. If you want to speak with her you’ll have to go find her at the crime scene at the nearby aircar terminal,” said the annoyed woman as she continued her work.

“You just told us that because…?” asked Garrus curiously.

The asari woman tilted her head to the side and gave Garrus a glare of pure death. “I know she’s a spectre, brickbrain. Her face is all over every movie poster in the damned galaxy. It’s not hard to surmise who she is,” said the woman before shutting the conversation down and going back to her frantic work.

“She’s got a point you know,” said Shepard with a grin.

“Oh shut up, movie star,” growled the turian as they left the station and headed in the direction the woman pointed. It wasn’t hard to figure out where the detective was as her voice dominated the entire area.

“I don’t give a damned what appointments you have, Pitne For! You’re not leaving the area until we clear you of any wrongdoing. Get it through that boney skull of yours that you’re staying before I lock you in the car with your partner!” snapped the asari detective as the group approached.

“But it’s just a matter… of time until they come after me!” said the volus in a black and neon green suit worriedly. “Them killing my partner should be… proof enough that they’re after me. And then there’s… that justicar!”

“The justicar only kill evil people, Pitne, so I’m sure you’ll be just fine,” she snapped sarcastically before pointing at him one last time. “Like I said, if you move an inch out of this area or the police department, I’m sending the entire patrol crew, the justicar, and even spectres if I can find them after your ass to bring you back!”

“Fine, fine… whatever. Just… finish your investigation,” grumbled the volus as he hopped onto a bench and sat down, crossing his arms as if pouting.

The asari woman gave him one last glare before turning in their direction and stopping in her tracks. Her eyes focused on Shepard, calming her as she stepped forward. “Speaking of spectres,” she said as she eyed them all. “What’s going on?”

“Detective Anaya?” asked Shepard as she offered the woman her ID. The asari took it for a moment and nodded before handing it back. “I’m looking for the justicar, Samara.”

Rolling her eyes, the asari walked past them and headed to the police station. “You and half the damned city.”

“Why is everyone looking for her?” asked Shepard as they all moved to keep up with her.

“Because,” growled the asari as she put her hands together to explain, almost looking like she was praying. “Justicars are agents of justice. They do not abide by government laws, they do not follow laws they see as unjust or immoral. She’s a walking timebomb and we’re trying our best to keep her from exploding!” snapped the woman in exasperation. “Sorry, she’s been here for two days and we’ve been running ourselves ragged trying to keep her from killing someone.”

“She doesn’t obey the laws?” asked Ralixia with a scoff.

“As long as they align with her code, she does,” said the asari as she eyed the turian woman. “If a judge is found to have participated in human trafficking, she doesn’t give a damn if they did it in international space, and therefore isn’t charged as guilty. She’ll walk into the damn courtroom and put a bullet between their eyes while they’re overseeing a trial.”

“You can’t even keep your own people under control but act like you are so superior,” growled Ralixia at the detective. Shepard aimed a heated glare at the turian, making her shut up.

But Detective Anaya wasn’t having her backtalk either. Raising her hand, she began to flap it in her face, mocking her for talking too much. “Look sassy pants, you wanna whine and complain like a brat about some asari pretending they’re the living incarnation of the goddess Athame, do it at them. I’ve got more important things to do than worry about some random asari hurting your feelings.”

Ralixia hissed angrily, but Garrus’s hand clamping on her shoulder kept her in line while Shepard followed her. “So, you’re all expecting her to kill someone?”

“I don’t know what to expect. But one thing is for certain, as much as I respect their cause, I don’t like having them in my district. Their damn Code only makes them cooperate with law enforcement to an extent. Beyond that, they’re even capable of killing corrupt cops, and that’s a mountain of paperwork I’d rather not have to do,” said Anaya as she stopped and looked back at Shepard. “Wait, why are you looking for her?”

Reading the room, Shepard gave her a glowing smile. “I’m going to ask her to join me on one of my missions. Perhaps get her out of your hair… er… sorry, human expression. Get her out of your district.”

Immediately the detective’s face softened. “Oh goddess, would you? That would make this entire situation so much easier.”

“Maybe. I obviously can’t force her to come with me. But the more you cooperate in helping me find her, the easier it’ll be for me to get her out of here,” said Shepard with a shrug.

“I’ll do whatever it takes. I haven’t even been able to investigate the damn murder of that volus because I have to keep track of Samara’s location and make sure she isn’t about to take out an entire family of four who hired an indentured servant,” grumbled the woman as she opened the door to the department and made her way through the chaos.

“Alright then, where do I start?” asked the spectre curiously.

“We know she was after the leader of the local Eclipse branch. Why, I couldn’t begin to tell you,” she said exasperated as she finally sat at her desk. “I’ve tried my best getting any information out of that damn volus, but he’s far too stubborn to fold to me.”

“What does he have to do with this?” asked Shepard as she looked out the office window. He was still sitting and pouting on the bench outside with his krogan bodyguards shuffling around looking bored.

“Pitne For’s partner, Dakni Kur, was murdered last night. I don’t know if it was Samara, I don’t know if it was the Eclipse, I don’t know if it was a random mugging. What I do know is that Pitne worked for the Eclipse, and if he doesn’t know why Samara is here, then he knows where the Eclipse branch leaders are. And if you find them, you find Samara,” she said looking at the spectre pleadingly.

“I’ll see if I can get any information out of him,” said Shepard as she turned and looked out the window again. Letting out a sigh of frustration, she found herself wondering if anything in her career would ever just be simple.

CODEX ENTRIES

Egg Sucker | Derogatory Linguistics | Turian
A fairly common insult for someone in turian culture. It speaks of a practice perpetrated by some carnivorous scavengers on Palaven such as the avian tekktuk. They would often infiltrate the nests of others of their kind and break and destroy the eggs of neighbors, sometimes even eating the contents regardless of whether the inside was simply a yolk, or if it was a fully formed hatchling. It’s an insult used for only the most vile of people who are parasites on society.

Absorbing | Biology | Hanar
Unlike most species in the galaxy, the hanar do not have an orifice through which they eat or drink. Instead, they absorb nutrients through the use of their limbs and even their body. While they do eat solid foods, a horrific display to most species as the acidic toxin in their limbs breaks down the proteins of their meal and liquifies it, they usually prefer their food pre-liquified, and have even become a massive investor in the human Campbell’s Soup corporation as a result.

Chapter Text

Chapter 21

Outside Lirelia Police Department – Nos Astra – Illium

“Thank god we weren’t in there for long,” said Jack as they exited the police station and headed towards the pouting volus.

“Not a fan of police, Jack? I’m shocked…” said Garrus playfully.

“Nah. Fuck ‘em,” growled the young biotic.

“What’s your problem with law enforcement?” asked Ralixia with a stern glare.

Jack snorted at the turian woman. “In my entire life I’ve seen every kind of abuse there is from every kind of person. And the police are just legal abusers,” snapped the biotic with a glare of her own. Then she shoved Garrus playfully. “’Cept this guy. He’s cool cuz he quit.”

“You’re a wanted criminal in half of the Terminus Systems and ALL of Citadel Space. It doesn’t surprise me you’d be mad at the law for not letting you do what you want,” griped the legate disdainfully.

“I do what I want anyway, the cops don’t have any say in it,” said Jack with a shrug. “Wasn’t even the cops who caught me last time. Some sniper mercenary took me down with a tranquilizer that knocked me senseless,” she said as she flexed her neck. She then smirked. “What’s the matter? Getting all pouty because I insulted the family business?”

Ralixia turned to her threateningly before Shepard stopped in place. Garrus wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not, but her stopping walking was more threatening than most people could hope to be. And it looked like the woman took the meaning and turned away from Jack.

“Shepard is an officer of the Citadel branch of government. You don’t have a problem with her?” asked Ralixia, no doubt biting her tongue on what she really wanted to say.

“Shepard?” asked Jack as she looked up towards the spectre. “Shepard isn’t a cop. She’s… she’s just Shepard.”

“What?” asked Ralixia incredulously.

“Look, snowcone, you won’t get it until you’re on the team for a while. I haven’t even been on that long but even I’m sold,” said the convict with a shrug. “The more time you spend around her, the more you respect her. And the more you respect her, the more you like her. It’s like some unwritten law of physics.”

Garrus chuckled. “Actually, sounds like indoctrination. Shepard, let me check and make sure you aren’t Sovereign in a mask.”

Shepard let out a half-amused sigh as they finally reached the bench where the volus was sitting. Immediately, the krogan guards stepped up to them. “The hells you four want?”

“I’m a spectre here to get answers. I’m not here to hurt or arrest anyone so do me a favor and just step aside,” growled Shepard as she eyed the pair.

Ralixia was slowly reaching for her weapon, but Garrus reached over and grabbed her wrist before she could. The guards turned to the volus curiously. “Let her through…” ordered the short figure as he looked up at them.”

Shepard stepped up to the volus. “You’re Pitne For?”

“That’d be me, yes,” said the volus as he looked between them all. “So, what’s the issue? If Wasea sent you to take me out, you’d do a better job from afar.”

“I’m here to find out where the justicar is and get her out of here,” said Shepard as she sat down on the bench next to him. “And I think it’d probably be in your best interest to tell me where I can find her.”

“How do you… figure that?” asked the volus curiously as he looked over at her.

“Well, you have a dead partner in that vehicle over there from what I’ve been told,” she said as she thoroughly inspected her armored gloves as if being nonchalant. “That means someone wants you dead. If it’s the justicar that did it, you would really benefit from me getting her out of Nos Astra and off your tail. And if it’s the Eclipse bosses who want you dead, then the justicar is going after them. And she’ll stand a much better chance of taking them out with us at her back.”

Pitne sat staring at her for a long moment before letting out a heavy breath. “I suppose you’re right…” he said before finally waving to one of the krogan. The lumbering bodyguard handed over a datapad to the volus, allowing him to skim through the data. “It wasn’t the justicar who killed Dakni Kur. The detective doesn’t know this, but the justicar arrived after Dakni had… already been killed. Before Anaya got involved, the asari asked me for the locations of both of the Eclipse leaders.”

Shepard got a ping on her omni-tool. She looked at it for a moment before turning back to him. “Continue.”

“She went after the Yara earlier this morning… and I haven’t seen her since,” said the volus as he forwarded some information to her. “Here’s the passcode to the Eclipse’s building. It’ll get you inside without setting off any alarms. But I don’t imagine you’ll be able to get far without… someone trying to stop you.”

“Appreciated. And you’re sure the justicar will be at this building?” asked Shepard curiously.

“I can’t say for… certain. But you’ll know if she is,” he said shaking his head.

“So, one last question. Why did the Eclipse kill your partner?” asked Shepard with a hardened glare.

“I cannot say. They’re not usually prone to hostility,” he said as he looked straight ahead.

Shepard smirked at him knowingly. “Don’t worry, I’ll find out,” she said before standing up.

“If you do… it would be profitable to come to me before… talking to the detective,” said the volus solemnly.

Shepard just eyed him and walked off.

Transit Aircar – Nos Astra – Illium

“So, find anything interesting?” asked Shepard as she looked over at Garrus. He was currently examining the vids and photos from the crime scene that Detective Anaya had given her during their talk with the volus.

“Looks like Pitne For wasn’t lying. The justicar are known for minimalism, whether with weapons, armor and even clothing. What did this to Dakni Kur was a modded shotgun, well out of what a justicar would be carrying,” said the turian as he eyed the pictures. “The shred pattern of his suit suggests a tight burst, used more for punching power than crowd control.”

“Well, she hasn’t murdered anyone yet,” said Jack as she leaned back in her seat. “At least… that we know of.” Finally, the car began to land in front of the building, and they all stared in shock at it.

The car landed and they all got out to see the building. It wasn’t huge, but it had multiple stories. All of the glass on the front side of the building was shattered, littering the street with shards that crunched beneath their feet. Shepard pulled her weapon off her back. “We don’t know if everyone is dead. Keep your eyes peeled and don’t get shot in the back.”

As they entered the building, Garrus was surprised to see that most of the Eclipse inside weren’t actually dead. They were all alive and breathing, but most of them wouldn’t be happy when they gained consciousness. “She seems to focus on incapacitating them.”

“Makes sense. The Justicar Code, Book of Death, The Law of Death makes killing an absolute last resort and only for those who are known to be endangering the lives of others,” said Shepard as she looked at the gruesome scene.

Ralixia eyed her curiously. “Couldn’t you interpret that as self-defense being a good excuse for killing?”

“Anyone who thinks philosophically might,” said the spectre as she stepped over the twisted form of a salarian that had both of his arms broken. “But the Code is black and white and allows no room for interpretation. The Justicar is a dealer in justice. The Code makes their own life meaningless.”

“Meaningless?” asked Jack in bewilderment.

“If your life holds value outside of being a justicar, then you might consider not dealing justice. A justicar will kill anyone, from a homeless wretch to a Citadel councilor. If you value your own life, then you might not deal justice to a tyrannical councilor because of the consequences. That’s why the justicar are so few, because very few are willing to accept the consequences,” said Shepard as she waved towards the stairs.

They all moved up  with their weapons held high. But their guns refocused when they heard a whimper. “H-Help…”

A young asari wearing an Eclipse uniform reached up her hand towards them. Shepard looked up and noticed the asari’s leg was crushed beneath a section of the concrete wall that had collapsed. They all stared at her momentarily. Garrus moved forward to aid the young woman, his knees bending to help with the concrete. It was then that the weapon she had lying next to her drew his eye.

Releasing the concrete slab, he grabbed the weapon and eyed it curiously. Shepard stepped up to him. “What is it?” asked the spectre curiously.

“This shotgun is modded. Same kind of mod that killed the volus,” said the turian as he inspected the weapon. Opening his omni-tool, he scanned it. “Has her DNA all over it too. It’s definitely hers.”

Shepard looked down at the young woman who now had a look of anger on her previously pained face. “She isn’t going to die for a few hours. We’ll call Detective Anaya and get her up here with a medical bus.”

“Human slime!” snapped the asari as she reached out with her biotics. But before she could even get a shot off, a round from Ralixia’s weapon drilled directly between her eyes. Shepard turned to the turian woman as she raised her weapon. They looked at each other for a long moment before Shepard smirked and nodded.

“Let’s keep moving. We’ll leave the weapon here for Anaya to test later,” said the spectre as she approached another set of stairs.

Garrus eyed the asari before following. “Why didn’t she use her biotics to lift the concrete off of her?”

Jack cocked an eyebrow at him. “When you’re in a crazy amount of pain like she was, you can’t control your biotics. They just do all kinds of crazy shit. If she tried, she’d likely have collapsed the entire roof on her head instead of lifting the concrete.”

“Well, didn’t do her any good trying to attack with it either,” he said as he shook his head. Suddenly, all of their heads spun as they heard gunfire from above.

Eclipse Compound – Nos Astra – Illium

When she finally reached the top floor, Shepard kicked the door open. Surprising herself, the door came completely off the wall and slammed to the floor. Looking up, she noticed two asari women standing amid a scattering of groaning bodies.

Both of the asari, one wearing a bright yellow Eclipse uniform and the other wearing what looked like  red ceremonial armor and a crown, seemingly ignored the newcomers and focused on each other. “I’ll give you one more chance to tell me where she went. Give me her location and I will be gone from here.”

Shepard identified the asari in yellow as Yara, the second boss and sister of big boss Wasea. Waving to the others, she stepped inside. “Weapons down.” The others filtered in after her, all of them watching curiously as the two woman spoke.

Yara looked over to Shepard and the others frantically. “And who the hell are you?”

Immediately her body was wrapped in biotics. She went rigid, her gun dropping from her hand as she flew directly in front of the justicar. “Focus, lieutenant. Your life hangs in the balance.” Samara reached a hand forward and the woman catapulted against the far wall with agonizing force. She gasped painfully and Shepard even winced, knowing something had broken. “Where is she?”

“You… you think I’d betray her?” asked Yara through blood that began pouring from the corner of her mouth. “Do you know what she would do to me?”

“Do you know what I’m prepared to do to you?” asked Samara, her face as placid as a lake in winter.

“Rot in hell, justicar! I’ll never-“ started the woman, but she stopped speaking as Samara lifted her again with biotics.

“Find peace in the embrace of the goddess,” said the older asari woman as she placed a hand upon the floating woman. The matriarch turned to Shepard as the redhead’s eyes widened in horror. Yara, starting with where the justicar had touched her began to dissolve as if she were a sugar cube falling into water. She knew the justicar was powerful, but she had no idea that the woman could effortlessly warp someone at the molecular level and essentially turn them into smoke. Samara eyed Shepard curiously. “My name is Samara, a servant of the Justicar Code. My quarrel is with the Eclipse here, but I see a group of well-armed and armored individuals before me,” she said as she floated off the ground and hovered directly in front of Shepard. “Are we friend or foe?”

“I was under the impression that justicars don’t kill unless other lives are in danger,” said Shepard, her brow furrowing at the powerful presence before her.

“The Eclipse sisters here harbored a known threat to the galaxy and helped her get off world. They not only endangered the lives of everyone she came in contact with, but their hands will bear the blood of her future victims as well,” said the asari woman as she landed gently before them. “And until I find this threat, I will hold each of them independently responsible for her escape.”

“Looks like there’s a lot more wiggle room in the Code than we thought,” said Ralixia with a snort.

“Do you not kill your enemies?” asked Samara as she eyed the turian woman. “I follow my code to the letter and have rooted out justice in every corner of the galaxy. Those I kill are a danger to many. I doubt you have made the same assessments,” snapped the justicar solemnly.

Shepard was still amazed that from the time they entered the room til now, she had yet to change her expression. She was truly dangerous if neither killing someone else nor being confronted bothered her. “Enough about the Code,” said Shepard, getting the woman’s attention. “My name is Jane Shepard, and I came here to talk to you.”

Chills went up Shepard’s spine as biotics began to rise off the woman again. “The Spectre known as Jane Shepard has been dead for years,” said the asari as her eyes darkened. “I know this because I saw the wreckage of her ship. I saw the despair in the eyes of her crew.” She raised a hand and immediately locked Shepard into a vice-like grip.

Garrus and Ralixia raised their weapons and Jack’s own biotics flared, but Shepard stopped them. “Weapons down!” she ordered as her vision began to clear again as fear pumped adrenaline into her. The woman’s near flawless skin on her face barely moved as she gave a small smile.

“I will search your mind for deception. If you are an imposter, you will die here along with your companions. If you are indeed who you claim to be, then you will come to no harm,” she said as she stopped directly in front of the now floating Shepard.

“I don’t really have a choice in this, do I?” asked Shepard with a sigh.

“Shepard is a powerful human with the capability of doing severe damage to the galaxy with only her influence. To allow a deceiver wielding that level of influence to live would be reckless to anyone, let alone a justicar,” said the asari. “Are you ready?”

“Just get it over with,” growled the spectre. Samara placed her hand on Shepard’s head, making her flinch after watching the asari woman dissolve into ash from a similar touch. But instead of annihilation, she felt curiosity and intrigue. It took her a moment to realize that she was feeling Samara’s own emotions through her touch. Opening her eyes, she looked up into the darkened gaze of the justicar.

“Are you Spectre Jane Shepard?” asked the asari authoritatively, her voice echoing in her mind.

“I am,” said Shepard firmly. In moments she was rocketed back into her memories to when she was given spectre status by the Council, and then having her status restored after her death.

“Was your death staged?” came the voice again.

“No,” said Shepard as she stopped struggling and allowed herself to float inside her own memories. Once again, she rocketed through her memories, past the static in her mind that still held secrets to her and found herself staring at the burning hull of the Normandy as the collectors sheered through it. Then she woke up on the table at Lazarus station and was told she had been meticulously rebuilt over the span of two years.

“You… are not lying. You are Shepard,” said Samara in her otherworldly voice. Shepard’s memories sharpened to her phone call to her father. Shepard found herself wondering why she had focused on this particular one. But she watched as she questioned her father about her biotics.

Within moments, she was released from the hold. Waving her arms around, she barely managed to keep from falling on her rear end. She let out a sigh and stared at Samara whose gaze was no longer dark. “Satisfied?”

“Rebuilt by Cerberus? To what end?” asked the justicar curiously.

“Why didn’t you read my memory on that too?” asked the spectre as she flexed her limbs to get rid of the soreness that the tight hold had put on her.

“I needed to know I was talking to the real Shepard. Once I verified it was actually you, I dared not intrude further,” said the justicar as her biotics vanished as if they never existed.

“Yeah… about that, why did you go to that last memory?” asked the spectre as she planted her hands on her hips.

“It shows that you’re really you,” said the justicar. “If Cerberus had created a clone, or if you were a brain mapping experiment, then they would not have known about your latent biotic abilities.” Shepard’s eyes widened at the claim. “Your father, Admiral Hackett, is a powerful man in the Alliance and even Cerberus wouldn’t be able to dig up medical files that did not exist. So, if Cerberus had made a fake, you wouldn’t have biotic abilities. Your father confirming you had them confirms you are the real Shepard.”

She stood stunned for a long moment. It had never occurred to her that Cerberus wouldn’t have been able to read her biotic medical status. Her father and mother didn’t just file it under top secret where Cerberus could get their sticky fingers on it. They hadn’t filed it at all, and instead gave her a bill of health as if she weren’t a biotic. So, of course her having biotics, and her father confirming they had covered it up proved her to be real. She felt both a heavy weight lifting from her heart, and an enormous sense of irony. Of course something she never knew she had years ago would end up proving she was the real Shepard.

Sighing in relief, as if she had just shed a hundred kilos of weight from her shoulders, she smiled up at the justicar. “Well, now that the greeting is over, do you mind of I have a word?”

“You may have as many as you like,” said the older woman elegantly. Though they just met, Shepard was beginning to see the small expressions on her face. It then hit her that Samara was likely experiencing some of the symptoms of petrification due to her age. Expressions might be more difficult than she realized.

“The collectors are harvesting human colonies. I don’t know what they’re using them for, but we’ve already linked them to the reapers,” said the spectre as she sat down in one of the chairs that had survived the justicar’s attack on the building.

“The reapers?” asked the asari curiously.

Shepard looked up at her, then looked over at Ralixia who was also staring at her quizzically. “Damn….” She groaned, realizing she now had to convince two people. “You remember the Battle for the Citadel two years ago?”

“I assure you, it’s something I will never forget,” said the justicar almost playfully.

“That ship that attacked the Citadel, Saren’s Dreadnaught, Sovereign,” she said as she brought up a holographic image of it on her omni-tool. “It wasn’t just his ship. It was a lifeform itself, controlling both Saren and the geth in that battle.”

“What?!” snapped Ralixia, almost offended at the implication.

“To what end?” asked the justicar as she tilted her head.

Garrus stepped forward this time, making sure to keep his eyes firmly on the turian woman. “Saren was indoctrinated by Sovereign. He was a tool that was used to seek out a prothean key to unlock a hidden relay within the Citadel.”

Shepard nodded. “Once the relay opened, thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions… I don’t know. But many, many more ships just as powerful as Sovereign would have come through and ended galactic existence as we know it. Me and my squad at the time stopped the relay from opening, and even used a prothean key to permanently disable the relay. But those ships, the reapers, are still out there. And when they find a way into the galaxy, they’re going to harvest every single space-faring organic being they can find.”

Ralixia stood in stunned silence as Samara nodded. “You believe the collectors are thralls to these reapers, and they are harvesting in their place?”

“I don’t know if they’re harvesting for the reapers or if they’re doing something entirely different. But the fact is that on Horizon, we confirmed that the collectors are using reaper technology. They convert corpses into slaves and soldiers, they harvest entire worlds, and can even manipulate the relay network. Whatever the collectors are doing, I can guarantee they’re working to bring the reapers back. And if they do, the fight we put up two years ago will be meaningless,” said Shepard as she finally stood. “I need your help to stop the collectors and stop the reapers from returning.”

Samara stayed silent for a long moment, staring at Shepard the entire time. “I will join you. But in return, I must ask two things.” Shepard nodded. “The dangerous person I’m after must take priority over anything else. You must help me here to find out where she has gone. And when I have her location, you must help me eliminate her.”

Shepard’s brow arched momentarily. “That’s… surprisingly simple.”

“Were it simple, I would not have been chasing her for four hundred years,” said the justicar solemnly. “She is dangerous, and she knows how to hide. I’ve never been closer to finding her than I am now. And if we have the chance to strike, then we must strike before she slithers away again and hides for another century.”

“As long as there isn’t a current and immediate threat to the galaxy that needs taken care of, then you have my word and full cooperation. Help me with the collectors, and I’ll help you find your target,” said the spectre with a sigh of relief. “So, where do I start?”

Eclipse Docking Compound – Nos Astra – Illium

“Why the hell are we doing this for her?” asked Ralixia in annoyance.

“What’s the matter. Afraid to get your hands dirty?” asked Jack playfully as she secured her own helmet on. Shepard was always nervous about the biotic’s armor being so thin, but it hadn’t failed her yet.

“Because,” snapped Shepard before Ralixia could snipe back. “Anaya would much rather a human spectre squad bust up the Eclipse than the justicar. If the justicar kills a human or turian without breaking some kind of Illium law or accord, then the government will slam the hammer down on the police for not apprehending her. But if a spectre does it, then it’s annoying, but Illium isn’t going to arrest a spectre and go to war with the Council over a few dead mercs.” Finally, she turned to Ralixia and eyed her. “Besides, I need to see you in action if I’m going to classify you worthy of being a spectre. Just going off your personality you’re already a failure.”

The turian woman growled but didn’t retort as Shepard turned their vehicle off. Garrus opened his omni-tool and began barking orders. “According to Pitne For the interior of the building is mostly a red sand smuggling operation. So, use your breathers in case the containers get caught in the crossfire.”

“Got it,” said Jack as she sealed her suits. Suddenly, two more vehicles landed behind them and Shepard turned towards the building.

The pair of them approached the front gate of the Eclipse compound when a turian soldier rushed forward to stop them. “I’m sorry ma’am, I’m going to need to see some identi-“ he began. But Shepard’s knee rose into his stomach and scored a shot directly to his crop. He dropped to the ground immediately as he spasmed in pain.

Some of the soldiers stationed outside went for their weapons, but Jack grabbed them all and threw them over the docks and into the water. “Hope you fuckers can swim!” she shouted with a smirk as she faced the building.

Shepard stared up at the window to the top floor and grinned as her target walked to the window and looked directly at her. Reaching down, Shepard picked up the ear comm that the turian had and held it to her ear. “You hear me up there Wasea?”

“Who the fuck are you and what do you want?” she asked furiously over her own comm.

“You all helped smuggle a dangerous criminal off world recently. And we’re not talking about a gangster or one of your merc buddies. We’re talking about bigger,” she said as her helmet zoomed in on the asari woman’s expression. She saw her expression darken. “You know who I’m talking about.”

“The fuck do you care?” asked Wasea as she crossed her arms.

“You have two options. Give me the information on where you took her,” said Shepard with a small grin.

“I have over a hundred men on the premises. What the hell do you think you’re gonna do?” asked Wasea, her snort of amusement audible over the comme

 “Your second option is…” she said before reaching a hand up and snapping. All three vehicles opened up and allowed the entire ground crew of the Normandy out onto the docks. The turian, who had finally recovered enough to sit up immediately scrambled backwards at the sight of almost a dozen fully armed and armored people in front of him. Jack reached forward and caught him before tossing him over the side with the others. “We break the doors on your base open, kill everyone inside, and take it off your body.”

Any amusement in Wasea’s voice was gone as she scowled through the window. “You killed my sister! I’m not giving you a goddess-damned thing!” she shouted angrily before stepping away from the window. “All men, prepare to repel them. Bring me that human’s head and you replace Yara as my second!”

Shepard shook her head and tossed the communicator aside. “Second option it is,” she said as she turned to the others. “Garrus, I need you to keep overwatch. Make sure nobody leaves this compound.” Smirking, the turian pulled an anti-material rifle off his back and fled back to one of the vehicles. “Miranda, alert Detective Anaya that the Eclipse in the area are going to go dark for at least a few months.”

“Are you kidding? I told her that ahead of time,” said the XO with a dour expression.

Chuckling, Shepard turned to Ralixia. “You ready to join the team?”

The turian woman eyed her before looking at all the others. “Let’s see what your team’s got, then we’ll talk,” she said as she prepared her assault rifle.

Turning towards the building, Shepard sealed her helmet. “Environmental seals on.” Once everyone was sealed and ready to go, she smirked. “Jack, Grunt… go knock on the door.”

Eclipse Compound – Nos Astra – Illium

She had seen a lot in her days in the turian military. She saw an orbital satellite survive descent into the atmosphere and nearly destroy a building. She saw a ship ram into a space station at relativistic speeds, causing them both to annihilate into space dust. And she had even seen a rogue moon hit an uninhabited planet faster than the Roche limit could pull it apart, resulting in destruction on the cosmic level. But even after having seen all that, she was still startled by the sheer magnitude of destruction that Shepard’s team was capable of.

The short mouthy human with the tattoos used her biotics and punched a hole clean through the entire building as if she had fired a mass accelerator round at it. Then the krogan, a massive specimen by the simplistic name Grunt, slammed headfirst into a group of Eclipse that tried to bottleneck the new hole.

From there, the others moved like a swarm of destruction, each going off in their own directions to annihilate anyone stupid enough to remain in the building after the initial attack. Ralixia followed the quarian and salarian as they moved up to another floor. They all stopped as another wave of biotics shot up through the floor, cannoning one of the Eclipse upward before allowing him to fall full speed back into the hole.

The quarian jumped the hole and slid next to the door further in before throwing a handful of something small into the room. Ralixa threw herself on the opposide side of the door as gunfire erupted, but the engineer activated her omni-tool and immediately the firing stopped and screaming began. The legate growled and swing into the door to see multiple Eclipse mercs spasming as random holo drones hit them with quick bolts of electricity. Then the salarian stepped inside, aimed, and fired. Each shot was planted in a non-lethal area, and she quickly figured out that he was hitting them with paralyzing agents.

“Dammit!” she snapped angrily, once again missing her opportunity to do anything. “You all cover this floor. I’ll handle the next floor up.” She eagerly sprinted up the stairs, both excited and disgusted with herself. On the one hand, she hated that she was competing with these people. They were Shepard’s pawns, a group of nobodies that only got their name from being in the right place and time. But on the other hand, her fight with Shepard back on the Normandy and now the building shaking beneath her feet made her blood rush for the first time in ages.

As she reached the top of the stairs, she burned out the circuitry of the door and slammed it open. Three soldiers were inside, and she bolted in ready to fight. Remembering her combat with Shepard and Garrus’s training about human weak spots, she threw a kick that would shatter concrete directly between the first human’s legs. She was surprised to hear his voice go up in pitch as he screamed. As she was told, he dropped his weapon and clenched his damaged parts as if he had just experienced the most excruciating pain in his life. Even the other two humans flinched as if they shared some kind of telekinetic pain with their partner.

Lashing out again, she kicked another of them hard enough in the helmet that they impacted the wall. Finally, the last one scrambled backwards and tried firing their weapon but Ralixia’s own put several rounds in him before he could even aim properly. She watched him drop to the ground and was about to let out a sigh, but then she felt gravity shift. Her feet left the ground and she found herself floating. Standing in the doorway at the far end of the room was an asari woman with two more Eclipse goons running out to take her.

“Thought you could fuck with us?!” snapped an asari woman as she lifted her into the air. “Die!”

But before the asari could get off any kind of move, she dropped her biotics and began gasping, her face a look of sheer panic. Ralixia slammed into the ground and got up, her gun lost in the biotic scuffle. But she looked up to see the woman holding her throat in agony as if someone had just punched her there before dropping to the ground. The two men stopped and turned to look at their comrade before turning back to the turian woman with a look of confusion.

Ralixia prepared herself to dash at them. She didn’t know whether she would get to them before they got her shields down, but she wasn’t about to let herself die here. But before she could move, she was cut off by one word. “Grunt.”

Suddenly, as if from nowhere the wall beside them blasted open and the lumbering form of Grunt slammed full force into the pair of mercenaries. Grabbing them, he jumped into the air with them both screaming before he landed on top of them, crushing them beneath his massive frame and blasting through the weakened floor down to the depths below. The screams of the two mercenaries were quick and faded even quicker as they fell meters only to be impacted beneath the krogan’s heavy frame.

She looked around curiously. “Shepard?” She jumped slightly as the wall flickered in front of her. She suddenly realized that the woman had been cloaked the entire time.

Shepard grinned at her. “Not bad on the fighting. You learn well about how to take down other species.”

“I do not need you to patronize me…” she growled as she looked around for her weapon.

But Shepard gripped her cowl, shocking her out of her search. “I’m not patronizing you. Too many people fall into believing they know everything and that their way of doing things works. I survive because I adapt. I’m alive because I learn. You showed that same survival instinct. And you showed that despite how stubbornly hateful you are, you can and will learn from others.”

Slightly stunned at the praise, the turian woman just spun her hand. “I… thank you, I guess.”

“I’d recommend battle cords for biotics,” said the spectre as she grabbed the weapon from behind a nearby pile of rubble and tossed it back to the turian. “When you’re grabbed with biotics, you have maybe a few seconds before they can end you. You want to act quick.”

“Noted,” said the turian woman as she looked the spectre up and down. “Why are you here? Why aren’t you fighting with your group?”

“Oh, they’re done with the floors below. Me and Grunt got here from the other side. Me because I wanted to check on you and him because… well, he likes to impress new crew members. I think it’s a teenager thing,” said the spectre with a shrug.

Ralixia took her weapon from the woman and checked to make sure it was still functional before looking back up at Shepard. “Was that story you told the asari true? About Saren?”

Shepard’s face hardened under her visor. “Every word of it. I tried everything I could to salvage what was left of his spirit. But in the end, he could only fight the reapers long enough to take his own life.”

“Wait… you didn’t kill him?” asked Ralixia in surprise.

“No…” said Shepard as she looked at the floor. Ralixia had zero skill at reading humans, but it was clear that Shepard was dead serious. “Sovereign had put so much tech inside him that he was barely recognizable from the Saren you knew. In the end… he asked me to kill him. And then he took his own gun and used the last of his willpower to take his own life.”

“You must have had footage of this, right?” asked the turian woman, her mandibles twitching in agitation. “Saren was a great man, the strongest! I don’t think I can believe he would become some machine slave without evidence.”

“It’s all in the Spectre Files for the day the Citadel was attacked,” said the woman as she crossed her arms. “You need spectre clearance to access it.”

“Will you show me?” asked Ralixia, almost desperately.

“No,” said Shepard, a small grin curving on her face.

The legate was surprised at her answer before she realized what was left unsaid. “But… if I pass…”

“Then you won’t need my permission,” said the human with a nod. “Are you up to that challenge? Getting the answers you need? The closure?”

Ralixia sighed heavily. She hated admitting that she had begun to begrudgingly respect the woman before her. But if her words were true, then not only had Saren betrayed the Council and every turian in the galaxy. But he had nearly brought about the annihilation of every species. A fate that had yet to be fully evaded. “I will follow your lead, Spectre. I learned today why your enemies fear you. And despite my attitude towards you, I understand why most respect you.” She finally locked eyes with the spectre once more as Grunt chased another mercenary past the hole on the floor they stood next to. “I’ll do what it takes to reach the truth, even if it means I end up liking you in the end.”

Shepard snorted in amusement before heading towards the stairs again. “Keep challenging me in the ring if you wanna keep hating me. Otherwise, it’s like Jack said. Maybe one day we’ll be battle sisters,” she said sarcastically, getting a headshake from the turian. “Alright, let’s get the info from Wasea and get the hell out of here before they bring the building down on our heads.

Final Floor – Eclipse Compound – Nos Astra – Illium

As her team cleared the floors below, Shepard approached the final door on the top floor. The door led into a hallway on the outside of the floor with a window looking out onto the waters of the dock. Several aquatic ships were parked at the docks and waiting to be unloaded, but the small army behind her made sure they had other things to worry about. But Shepard’s energetic march started to slow as she noticed a curious figure standing at the end of the hall. Stopping briefly, everyone else prepared their weapons behind her. But she held up her hand for them to cease.

“Hello?” she said curiously.

The volus, obvious from their exosuit, spun around and lit up with biotics. Jack stepped forward and eyed him as well. “He… is he even a biotic? Or is he stoned off red sand?”

“Not sure…” said Shepard as she stepped forward. “Hey, hi, who are you?”

“I… am Niftu Cal, god of biotics, a storm of dark energy so powerful… that lesser beings should be in awe!” he said as he aimed his hands at Shepard. “Kneel before me human!”

“You need help,” said Jack, almost amused at the comical figure.

“No you!” snapped the volus as Shepard approached him.

She did get onto one knee to examine him better, ignoring his orders and instead trying to get a reading of him on her omni-tool. “Did you come from Pitne For’s group?”

He lowered his arms and sighed. “When I was mortal, I worked for Pitne. I was his everything, his world. I planned everything from his meals, massages, and bed times to his meetings with Eclipse and many more. He’s probably terrified that I have not returned.”

Jack snorted at the claim. “Yeah, so lost without you that he decided to leave you to the Eclipse and flee the planet.”

Niftu Cal looked at her then to Shepard. The spectre nodded. “If Detective Anaya hadn’t stopped him from leaving an active crime scene, he’d have left you for dead.”

Jacob shook his head as he spoke up as well. “And he didn’t report any more of his entourage missing. Probably so he could flee faster.”

“Bah!” snapped the volus angrily. “I will crush him into quarks and… dust when I find him! But first…” he said turning to Shepard. “I must take care of Wasea… for what she did to me. The agony she exposed me to…”

Shepard’s brows rose at the claim. “Hey… uh, biotic god, sir,” she said with a smile.

“Hmm?” he asked as he looked up to her.

“How about you allow us unworthy mortals to take care of Wasea, and you go to the police department and relax. After all, you wouldn’t want to dirty your godly hands on the blood of filth like her,” she said as she waved towards Mordin.

“You… may be right. Planning overthrow of civilization… tiring work,” he started as the salarian approached.

Tali leaned forward as well. “You also look like you haven’t eaten in a while.”

“Also… hungry. And… head hurts,” he said as he looked around. “Where am I?”

Shepard finally stood to her feet again. “Mordin, get him back to the police station and see if you can counteract any of the drugs they pumped into him.”

“Will do. Will be interesting to learn effects of red sand on volus. Usually do not partake,” said the salarian.

“These…” started Niftu Cal as he stumbled slightly. Mordin caught him and helped him keep his balance. “Drugs… tainted. Pitne For sold them to… Eclipse. Hoped they wouldn’t notice.”

Miranda sighed and shook her head. “He sold the Eclipse Sisters tainted red sand and tried to flee when they killed his partner. What the hell did he expect would happen?”

“Dunno…” continued the volus. “Eclipse captured me… injected tainted drugs into me while… they smuggled asari away…”

Everyone eyed him in surprise before Shepard crossed her arms. “One last question before I let you go…”

Final Floor – Eclipse Compound – Nos Astra – Illium

The final door opened and there she stood with four other asari. Their guns were drawn, but they didn’t have them up. Shepard could tell from the looks on their faces that they knew what was about to go down. Their held back fear turned into actual horror when Grunt, who was too big to use the door, just smashed through the frame and created an even bigger opening.

Two of the asari immediately threw their weapons aside and knelt down on the ground. The others looked from them up to the oncoming army and froze. Wasea just stood behind her desk and glared at Shepard who stood at the head. “I do love how I always give everyone the option to be peaceful and diplomatic and they always choose the hard way.” Stepping up to the desk, Shepard pulled a chair back, sat in it, then kicked her feet up on the asari’s desk. “So, how about now, Wasea? You wanna give me that information?”

“I’ll die first,” growled the asari.

“See, that’s your pride talking. You’re protecting someone that wouldn’t die to protect you,” said the spectre with a grin. “But the thing is, you’ve kinda lost your chance. Because I already know where you shipped her.”

Wasea’s eyes widened at the claim. “How!? I’m the only one who knows!”

“Well, the thing is, you don’t really understand how exosuits work,” said Shepard as she reached up and tapped her ear. “To make up for their canals being covered, other species who are locked inside exosuits have to have amplified hearing. Many of them have chips in their heads that allow the information to be transferred directly into their brains.”

Immediately Wasea punched her desk. “The goddess-damned volus!”

“So, all your soldiers, your sister, and now your life,” said the spectre as she stood up again. “I really hope it was worth it.”

“Die!” snapped the mercenary as her biotics flared and covered her in a dense biotic shield. But a shot blasted through the window and immediately killed her shield, then another shot from Ralixia opened up her skull. Any courage left in the other asari in the room fled and they too tossed their weapons as their leader slumped onto the desk.

Shepard eyed Ralixa who had fired one of the shots. “Is monologuing a part of being a spectre or is that just your thing?”

“Yeah…” said Jacob thoughtfully. “We do like to talk before we fight.”

“Sorry if I interrupted there, Shepard,” came Garrus’s voice over the comm. “She had hidden containers of that tainted red sand behind her desk that she was about to start throwing.”

The spectre chuckled and shook her head. Looking at all the asari who were now counting the minutes to their own deaths, she nodded towards the door. “Join a union and get better bosses before the next one gets you killed,” she snapped angrily. “Now get the hell out of here!” They were gone within seconds.

CODEX ENTRIES

The Justicar Code, Book of Death, The Law of Death | Culture | Asari
The Justicar Code is a compilation of rituals and rules for asari justicar to follow. It consists of over five thousand sutras and aphorisms that describe nearly any situation a justicar might find themselves in while dealing out justice. The Code is compiled into one tome and divided into smaller books or acts as they are sometimes known. Sutra 1 of the Book of Death states: “We are all one with the universe. We are manifestations of the universal consciousness, created, able to look upon its vast glory. The life we are given is a gift, and to take a life is to desecrate this gift. But as is the law of the universe, it is the law of life that twisted manifestations are born. Should a malefic agent of the universe endanger the lives of others, spare them the pain of existence.”

Petrification | Biology | Asari
Unlike human skin that begins to wrinkle and sag as it gets older, asari skin has the reverse 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 galactic dust. Many asari attempt to buy products that will make their skin softer for longer, but none have shown to have any tangible effect.

Crop | Biology | Turian
In turian anatomy, above the stomach and near the end of the esophagus is a small pouch known as a crop. It’s known to have multiple uses in the turian digestive system. It contains food, secreting small amounts of acid and beginning the digestive process. Due to the existence of the crop, most turians eat huge meals once per day rather than several meals over the span of a day like most species. The crop allows the food to last longer in their system, and it can also store food for long periods where food may not be available. Due to its location near the stomach, if struck, it causes gut-wrenching pain.

Battle Cord | Technology | Military
A simple and easy retractable cord that you can hook to your weapon in case it’s thrown from your reach. A common tool for those who fight in zero gravity where losing your grip on your weapon can mean it’s lost for good.

Chapter Text

Chapter 22

Outside Lirelia Police Department – Nos Astra – Illium

When Shepard landed back at the police station, she found quite the scene. Most of her crew had flown back to the Normandy and left her, Miranda, and Jack to finish off the paperwork with the justicar. As she headed for the station, her eyes immediately flew over to Pitne For who was now interrogating his assistant and former biotic god.

“You… told the spectre what?! Are you mad?!” snapped the volus as he smacked Niftu Cal with the back of his hand.

“I was under the… influence of red sand! Wasea drugged me!” said the volus in his defense.

Shepard’s glare darkened and she marched headfirst towards the scene. There were two krogan standing guard who stepped up to her. “Alright Spectre, Pitne For has said he wants repre-“ started one of the bodyguards before Shepard grabbed him with biotics and slammed him into the other, sending them both sprawling across the lot. Pitne saw the act and held his hands up just as Shepard raised her foot and kicked him directly in his head with the flat of her boot, causing him to roll backwards several times before coming to a stop.

The krogan tried to get up and grab their weapons, but Miranda swiped the weapons away with her biotics and Jack just glared at them with her overwhelming biotic aura, causing them to hold their hands up in surrender. “Drug smuggling, selling tainted red sand, and now abusing your employee?” she growled with a heated glare. “Pitne For, if I ever see you lay a hand on him again, you’ll pray for a death as quick as your partner’s!”

Miranda and Jack looked at each other in surprise before looking to Shepard. “You uh… alright there, Shepard?” asked Jack curiously. “I’m supposed to be the psycho bitch, remember?”

She let out a hissing sigh before turning around. “He was tortured, drugged, and assaulted for an entire day after his boss left him to die, and then he makes it back just to get assaulted again.”

“Everything I did was… perfectly legal. Corporal punishment…” started Pitne For as he finally got to his feet and pointed at the spectre.

Shepard turned around, her biotics raging around her and her eyes and cheek scar glowing red in rage. “Siiiilence…” she hissed pure malice at him. Nodding once, the volus fell backwards and fainted.

“Thank you for protecting me, but I fear he will only retaliate… fourfold once you are gone,” said the volus with a heavy sigh.

With her biotics gone, Shepard inhaled deeply. Miranda eyed her to make sure she was alright before turning to the volus. “Why would you still work for him?”

“I don’t really have any choice. I’ve worked for him for fifteen years. I have nowhere else to go…” he said sadly as he scratched his head.

Snorting, Shepard turned to him. “Niftu Cal!” she snapped firmly. He stood straight and stared up at her.

“Y-Yes? What is it?” he asked more inquisitive than scared.

“If you ever want to get away from that abusive trash, then call this number,” she said as she showed him the information. “You have a good memory?”

“With numbers? Almost flawless,” he said as he scanned the number a few times and looked up to her. “But… what is it?”

“A… erm… friend of mine works here on Illium as an information broker. She absolutely needs more friends and could use a worker as loyal as you,” said the spectre as she glared over at Pitne For. The krogan had gotten up again and were trying to stand him up again.

“I… why would you do this for me?” asked the volus as he clamped his suited hands together.

“Because I’ve dealt with plenty of abuse of authority and was lucky enough to be able to push back. Not everyone can do what I do without help. So, I try to help when I see it,” she stated firmly. “The choice is yours though. You have to make the call.”

“I will… thank you, spectre,” said the volus as he looked at the ground, almost seeming lost.

Nodding, Shepard turned and headed to the police station. Jack grinned and stood next to him. “I’ll stay out here with the biotic god while you canoodle with the fashies!”

Miranda rolled her eyes as they entered the police station. The asari at the front desk immediately pointed to an office off to the side. Shepard stepped inside with a knock on the door and saw Samara sitting cross-legged on the floor meditating while Anaya typed away at her terminal. The detective looked up and a look of relief crossed her features. “Oh thank the goddess…” sighed the woman as she sat back in her chair.

“No faith in my abilities?” asked Shepard sarcastically.

“Oh, I had faith. But I also know you have a flare for the dramatic and fully expected you to nuke their base off the map,” said the asari as she leaned her chin on her fist. “So, did anyone survive?”

“Most of them believe it or not,” said the spectre as she took a seat in one of the chairs. “She killed a grand total of maybe three people and Wasea’s army was surprisingly compliant after seeing one of the crew blast a hole big enough to drive an aircar all the way through their building.” She shrugged as she did the math in her head. “Mainly injuries, I’d say about a total of twenty killed including Wasea and Yara.”

“That’s manageable. How about her thing?” asked the detective as she nodded towards Samara. The justicar broke her meditation and looked up at Shepard as well.

“I’ve got the information you need,” said Shepard as she turned to Anaya. “I’ve also go a pretty good idea who killed the volus merchant, and why he was killed. You might wanna bring Pitne For in for questioning.”

“I’d love nothing more,” said the detective with a grin. “You looking for a job, Spectre? You’ve been here a day and already lightened my load a ton.”

“Thanks, but I’m pretty sure my crew member out there would turn me into a folding chair if I became an actual cop,” said Shepard with a grin. “Either way, I’ve got much bigger shit to deal with unfortunately.”

“Understood. Well, pass me the information and I’ll get on it. You and her can have the office for the moment,” said the detective as she stepped outside the office and began screaming at a patrol to help her wrangle the toxic merchant in.

Samara stood to her feet and gave a genuine smile, though it was slow and deliberate, almost confirming Shepard’s theory about her potential condition. “You are effective at what you do, Shepard. I appreciate your assistance.”

“I’m sure I’ll come to appreciate yours in the days and weeks to come. Now, according to one of the victims in the Eclipse compound, Wasea was on a call while they were pumping him full of drugs. He overheard the person on her comm say that the target was sent to Omega,” said the spectre as she leaned back against the wall.

“She has been there before, but I have a few contacts there as well,” said the justicar as she eyed Shepard. “Was there anymore?”

“The name Morinth came up,” said Shepard as she eyed the woman curiously. “The only time I’ve ever heard that name was in regards to some very lowkey assassinations.”

“Your ship is private?” asked the justicar curiously, getting a nod from the human. “Then I shall tell you there. Let us leave this place.”

Ship Observatory – SSV Normandy SR2

Once they were inside the small room, Samara stared out across the landscape that showed through the window. “Glorious…”

“It’s got a view,” said the spectre as she leaned against the door she had just closed. “So, who is Morinth?”

“Morinth is a pseudonym she took when she started taking money for her kills,” said the justicar solemnly as she stared out the window. “Her true name is Mirala Syreen, and she is what is known as an Ardat-Yakshi.”

“Ardat-Yakshi?” asked Shepard curiously. She had seen it referenced a couple times in asari culture, but never knew the origin of the name, nor what it meant.

“Ardat-Yakshi is a phrase brought over from a dead asari dialect that means ‘demon of the night winds.’ But with the mythology removed, they are asari who are predators who feed on others,” said the older woman.

“What? Like vampires?” asked Shepard, wondering if the asari even knew what a vampire was.

“An apt comparison, but no,” she said as she turned and looked at Shepard. Perhaps it was the lighting back on Illium, or maybe Shepard’s adrenaline made her ignore it before. But she couldn’t help but notice the woman’s eerie, almost glowing, green eyes. They pierced her to her core. “Shepard, I will tell you about Ardat-Yakshi. But I must refrain from speaking about Morinth herself. Perhaps I will tell you one day, but for now I ask that you respect my privacy on the matter.”

“As long as you tell me what’s going on before I’m required to help you, that’s fine,” said the spectre as she eyed the woman.

Nodding silently, the justicar continued. “Ardat-Yakshi are asari born with a condition,” she said as she looked down for a long moment before looking back up at Shepard. “Have you ever melded with an asari romantically, spectre?”

Shepard’s brow rose suspiciously. “I hesitantly say yes.”

“Then you know that when you connect with them, when you truly become one, you experience everything. Their love, their joy, and if you’re close enough, you experience their memories and their passion. It’s a very bonding experience,” said Samara as she sat down on the floor again. Signaling Shepard to follow, she continued. “Imagine meeting an asari more beautiful than anyone you’ve ever met, more alluring, more arousing, more of everything. Now imagine that the part of you that wanted her grew stronger until eventually you made contact. Now, imagine you’re about to meld, and instead of feeling joy and passion, you felt as if your nervous system was making contact with a live wire.”

Shepard frowned at the comparison. “They bait you in and kill you?”

“Once they have access to your nervous system, once they touch you, it’s all but over. The consciousness of both the predator and prey vanish from the world, and they only see each other, as with normal melding. But an Ardat-Yakshi cannot meld normally, even to learn. They thrive off pain and suffering. It’s narcotic to them, so what they do is they connect to your nervous system, and then subject you to the most excruciating pain you’ve ever felt in your life. They activate every nerve in your body and you die in agony while they savor the pain without coming to any harm.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “They are rarely spoken of in asari society today. Our leaders wish to maintain an image of purity, diplomacy, and patience. So, having something like this talked about frequently would harm the image they try to maintain.”

“How common is this condition?” asked Shepard as she sat cross-legged across from the justicar, mirroring her pose.

“It’s extremely rare. There are only three known Ardat-Yakshi in existence,” said Samara as she looked sullen. “We still haven’t isolated the cause of the condition, and it only develops during adolescence when it’s far too late to do anything about it. But we do know that it has only ever been recorded among asari who were born to an asari mother and father.”

“Oh…” said Shepard in surprise. “So, the ‘pureblood’ stigma comes from that?”

“Yes and no,” said the older woman with a small smile. “Asari society is all about the picture of progress. Even if we are not making progress, we have to look like we are. Which means that when we choose a mate, we have to look like we’re trying to learn and gain from other species. A pairing between asari teaches us nothing new, and the child will not have the father species to teach it new languages and cultures. It’s a practice of keeping up the appearance that we are always looking forward.”

“I… see. So, purebloods are stigmatized because they go against the image that the asari are so open-minded and diplomatic that they would mate outside their species?” asked the spectre as she leaned her elbows on her knees.

Samara nodded slowly. “Ever since the Citadel was discovered with the salarians, the amount of asari movies that showed asari couples dropped significantly. And with every new species introduced to galactic society, it drops more and more. There may have been five movies that came out last year showing an asari couple and even then they were not at the forefront of the movie. It is truly seen as a shame on an asari for them to pair with another of our people.”

“It’s terrible that they’re stigmatizing people just to keep up this image,” said Shepard as she frowned at the idea of Liara being bullied over the concept.

“It is. And it certainly doesn’t help the image of a same species born asari that they have the potential for the Ardat-Yakshi condition. While it wasn’t the cause, it certainly didn’t help the image,” said the woman knowingly.

“Thank you for the information,” said Shepard as she began to rise. But Samara stopped her.

“Before you go, spectre, I must devote myself to you,” said the older woman as she took Shepard’s hands into her own.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” responded Shepard as she crossed her legs again and held the asari’s hands.

“It’s a ritual among the justicar. Occasionally, it becomes necessary for a justicar to suspend adherence to their code in order to fight a greater evil. Sometimes, small justices must be set aside so that larger ones can be exacted. This ritual is known as the Bellivalis and is usually only used in times of dire need,” said the woman as she looked up into Shepard’s blue eyes.

“But you’re going to use it now?” asked Shepard curiously.

“Like the Ritual of Conscription, the Bellavalis is a tool to be used when necessary. And right now, you need my cooperation to stop the collectors and the reapers. While I have faith that your morality will not clash with my code, I mustn’t risk being put into a situation where I endanger the galaxy because you did something that breaks my code,” said the older woman with a small grin. “Once the mission is over, we can then discuss any violations of the Code you may have committed.”

Shepard noticed the emphasis that she put on the word ‘discuss,’ but ignored it and shook her head. “Fine fine. I doubt I’d ever do anything deliberately evil or unjust. But if I ever come across a decision like that, I’ll ask your counsel first,” said the spectre with a nod.

Samara closed her eyes for a long moment and her biotics lit up the entire room as they surrounded her body. When she opened her eyes, her eyes were dark pools of the abyss. Unlike with melding, Shepard couldn’t see any part of her pupil or iris within the depth of the darkness. “We are Justicar. Our Code is our life, our guide, and our will. But the universe is a place of violence and darkness that must be repelled with the light of justice. To spread this light and meet out justice to an ever growing darkness, I will align my Code with yours. Your orders will be mine to follow. Your battles, mine to fight. And your victory, mine to achieve.”

The biotics flashed brightly and then were gone in an instant. Shepard blinked rapidly to get the shiny light spots from her vision, then eyed the justicar curiously. Her eyes had returned to normal now, and she was smiling softly. “So? That’s it?”

“That’s it. I will fight your fight, Shepard, as long as our bargain is kept,” said the asari as she placed her hands on her lap.

“Right,” said Shepard as she finally stood up. Stepping to the side, she gave Samara a full view of the landscape again as he headed for the door. “Just one last question.” The justicar turned her head towards Shepard. “The Ardat-Yakshi you’re chasing, her last name is Syreen.”

“It is,” said Samara quietly.

“And I’ve looked into your history. Matriarchs drop their last names and justicars have no need for them. But before all that, your name was Lesinda Syreen,” said the spectre as her brows furrowed.

Samara stayed silent for a long moment before looking back out the window. “It is as it appears.”

Shepard felt the pain inside her heart from the revelation. But instead of saying what didn’t need to be said, she turned and left the room as quietly as the grave.

Biotic Training Room – SSV Normandy SR2

“Your biotics are good. You’ve gotten better at using them every day. I’d even go so far as to say I’m impressed with your progress. But you’re still falling into the default behavior of most humans,” said Miranda with her arms crossed. “It can be simple enough to throw someone into the air and shoot them with your gun. But there are going to be times when you don’t have your gun, and your biotics are going to need to do the killing for you.”

“The fuck am I here for? I kill just fine with my biotics,” growled Jack as she sat on the floor leaning back on her arms.

“Because you’re extremely powerful, but unfocused. That biotic attack that smashed through the Eclipse base? You could cut an Alliance cruiser in half with that kind of power if you focused it rather than just letting it explode out of you,” said Miranda with a grin.

“And what, you’re gonna teach me how to do that, little miss hourglass?” asked Jack sarcastically.

“Actually, I found another teacher,” said Miranda as the door to the room opened. “I’m a human, I probably know more about biotics than most humans. But I cannot teach you better than someone who has had them and used them effectively for nearly a millennia.”

Shepard, Jack, and Jacob all looked up at the figure of the asari woman stepping into the room. Even Grunt, who was just sitting in the corner on his datapad looked up to see her. Shepard nodded. “I’m glad the Cerberus ideology of human superiority isn’t clouding your vision, Miranda,” said the spectre as she stretched out her arms.

Samara walked forward and sat in front of them all. Jacob eyed her curiously. “Uhh… we gonna practice sitting down?”

“How advanced are you?” asked Samara curiously as she eyed them all.

“I can create micro warp fields, Shepard can alter her speed and movement, Jack can crush a small ship with hers, and Jacob is… Jacob,” said Miranda with her hands on her hips.

“Ouch,” said the man as he put his hand over his heart. “That’s alright, I’m fine being the hot one.”

Jack snorted. “Oh please, boy scout. I hate the Cerberus bitch over here but even I can admit she’s hotter than you.”

“Damn,” said Jacob with a shake of his head.

“Jacob is a mix of combat utility and biotics. But he’s better with weapons than biotics,” said Shepard as she looked back at him. “We all have our talents, Jacob. No need to get defensive.”

“Have any of you discovered your inner world?” asked the justicar as she looked among those present. Even Miranda had a blank look on her face. “I’ll take that as a no…”

“What’s an inner world?” asked Shepard bluntly.

“Biotics have a unique awareness of their own nervous system. They use it to direct dark energy in the form of biotics. While any person can run their finger over their skin and feel the sensation, only biotics can feel things without being touched,” said the asari as she looked up at them all. “You feel the universe moving around you at every moment. The entire expansion of the universe is powered by dark energy. It is everywhere around us, and biotics of all species can feel it. But unless you’re told this, most people don’t because their mind treats it like static and blocks it out. Like breathing, you don’t truly become aware of it until you’re told you about it.”

“Holy shit…” said Jacob in shock as he looked at his muscular arms. “My mind is blown right now.”

“This unique awareness gives you access to a tool you can use in many different kinds of situations. For those with high stress lives, it can be used to relieve pressure from your responsibilities. For the more combat oriented, it can keep you focused and deaden pain. And for those captured by enemy combatants, it can even be an oasis from torture,” said the asari as she breathed in heavily and closed her eyes.

“Wait…” said Shepard as she scratched her head. “Do you mean the void?”

“It is only a void because you have not trained yourself to see it any different,” said the woman. “Close your eyes and be still. Slow your breathing. Allow your body to drive itself, and focus all of your senses inward to your own mind.” Miranda sat down and did as she was bid. Closing her eyes, she inhaled slowly, then exhaled. It was very light, but she could sense it. It was like feeling the invisible glow of static electricity all around her body. “Now, feel the flow of dark energy around you, feel as the universe expands every second we’re inside of it. And allow yourself to drift into that energy as if it were a pond.”

Within a matter of seconds, Miranda was shocked as she felt the world around herself vanish as if she had linked with another. But she saw no memories, she felt no emotions. There was only darkness. She noticed, as was the case every time she visited this darkness, that she had no clothing on and she was simply floating in place. But she was surprised to still hear Samara’s voice as if from on high.

“Now, reflect on things that make you feel safe, things that make you happy. It could be a person, place, a book, a painting, a scent. Anything at all,” came the instruction. Miranda closed her eyes and focused and she felt things materializing around her. She found herself standing, now fully clothed inside of a coffee shop. The smell of roasting beans hit her nose and immediately her nerves were putty as she sat in one of the cushioned seats. Looking up, she saw numerous rows of shelves with books packed into every available inch of space.

Then she looked over and noticed her sister sitting in a chair at a table nearby. She held her own cup of steaming coffee and a book on environmental engineering. Miranda smiled brightly as she felt the warmth inside of her grow. It was then that Miranda’s eyes widened slightly. The small shop had a large solarium-like window on one side with dim sunlight shining through and on the other side crammed in between the bookshelves was the coffee bar. And sitting behind the bar typing away on a terminal was the fiery-haired spectre.

She found herself confused for a moment but ignored it as she took in the sights and sounds of everything that made her happy.

Jacob focused on his happiness, what truly made him happy as the asari instructed. When he opened his eyes, not only was he dressed in his usual uniform, but he was also standing over the cleaning bench of the armory aboard the Normandy. Looking around, he noticed that his mom was sitting in a chair nearby combing the braids out of her hair with a wide-tooth comb. But aside from that, not a single detail was changed, leaving him to sigh to himself. “Damn… I am boring…”

Shepard opened her eyes and found herself sitting in her quarters. She thought for sure it’d be her old quarters from the first Normandy, but thinking about it the quarters in the new one were definitely better. The ceiling above her was as clear as glass, allowing her to see the stars around her lighting up the darkness of the galaxy. Then a familiar sound hit her ears and she turned to see a fish tank that took up an entire section of the wall. Fish of every kind were swimming around nabbing at the food that was automatically dispensed to them. Standing up from her desk, she turned to look down at her actual lounge and bedroom and her eyes widened.

Liara was sitting cross-legged on the bed working on datapads. Surprisingly, she had the eyebrows that she had recently gotten cosmetically implanted. She supposed she couldn’t unsee them now that she had seen them. She was also wearing her familiar doctor’s smock that she wore aboard the old Normandy. At her desk next to her bed, Garrus was sitting and cleaning his rifle. Tali and Grunt were on the couch, Grunt staring wide-eyed at her hamster while Tali gave it some food. And her walls were decorated with pictures of her other crew members that she either hadn’t gotten to know well enough or hadn’t seen in a long while. She simply grinned and stepped down the stairs before sliding onto her bed to help Liara with her datapads.

Suddenly, Samara’s voice came back. “Once your inner world is established, come back to reality.”

Shepard frowned but knew she could come back to this place at any time she wanted now that she knew what it was. Closing her eyes, she removed herself from the stream of the universe, and her eyes opened again. She was back in the training room with the others.

Samara opened her eyes and looked at them all. “Do you understand now?”

“Just… a quick question,” said Miranda as she raised her hand. “Is everything in there something that comforts us?”

“Your mind knows what gives you comfort, even if you choose to deny it. But it matters little,” said the justicar as she placed her hands on her knees. “Nobody can see inside your world unless you choose to share. So, enjoy what you enjoy. It is the one place in the galaxy where you cannot be judged.”

“Why? What was in yours?” asked Jacob as he eyed the XO.

“A coffee shop. Yours?” asked Miranda curiously.

“My mom. And uh… the armory,” he said, getting an eyeroll from Miranda. “How about you, Jack?”

“Fuck off,” snapped the convict as she got to her feet. With a sour expression on her face, she immediately left the room without another word.

They watched her go, and then Shepard raised her hand. “It’s nice that we now have our own little internal safe rooms. But how does that help us with biotic training?”

“You cannot progress in your training without meditation. Meditation takes place in your inner world. And while you meditate, you use your biotics,” she said before closing her eyes and presumably going to her own world. “The energy you use while meditating is the same you would use expending it during battle. The more you use it, the more powerful it becomes.”

“So, it’s just like working out. The more we do it the stronger we get?” asked Jacob as he leaned forward onto his knees.

“In a manner of speaking. It’s not like a muscle training that requires strain to break apart and build up the muscle. It’s more like handling hot a hot pain. If you start handling it without any practice or protection, you’ll burn yourself. That burning is overtaxing your brain. The more you handle the hot pan, the more you get used to the heat. The more you adapt. Every biotic with an amp is fully capable of outputting their max power at any time, assuming their amplifier can carry the load. But if Shepard tried to exert her full force on the first day she found out she was a biotic, she could have cooked her brain inside her skull,” said the woman with a small smile.

“Yeah, I almost already did that,” said the spectre as she scratched her head. “Doctor Chakwas was not happy…”

“The more you handle the pan, the more you get used to the heat. The more you use your biotics, the longer you’ll be able to use them, and the more powerful they will be without taking a toll on you,” she said with a small nod of her head.

“So, we just meditate every day that we aren’t using our biotics in a fight?” asked Jacob curiously as he scratched the stubble on his chin.

“An hour a day at least. More if you can,” said the justicar as she looked down for a moment. “Just… make sure not to get lost in your own world. Many who lose loved ones can find solace in such a place, and if allowed will wither and die clinging onto those comforts.”

Shepard eyed her curiously wondering if she knew that from experience. Brushing the thoughts aside, she closed her eyes again and sunk back into her world, her body lighting up with biotics and the world fading from around her.

T’Soni Information Offices – Lavinia Trade Building – Nos Astra - Illium

She had put a hold on parsing the information her own agents had given her for a while. While finding clues to the Shadow Broker’s agents, and eventually the Shadow Broker themself was indeed important, her focus had been on finding the last crew member that Shepard said she was looking to hire. Samara was easy to find. She walked shamelessly among the crowds of people without worrying about hiding her justice from the world. But an assassin, especially one as skilled as Thane Krios was a much harder target to find because they specifically didn’t want to be found.

That being said, she was very good at her job and didn’t intend to fail in her duty to Shepard. She had put feelers out a few days ago looking for any kind of odd occurrences of death. With Thane Krios, his tactics for taking out a target were always highly intricate and bizarre. Just on the information she had gathered for him thus far, she knew of only three confirmed kills of his.

The first was a turian banker known for gambling a little too hard on the stock market. He had bet a bit too hard in one direction and lost not just his own fortunes, but the fortunes of many investors that allowed him to use their money. He was trying to drown his troubles away at a bar when he ‘accidentally’ swallowed a device that inflated inside his throat. He stumbled around the bar begging for help, but no amount of assistance saved him before he choked to death.

Another was an asari on Omega. She was a drug dealer and had apparently sold drugs to the wrong person’s child. After the child had gone critical in the hospital, Krios was hired. And he did his job by adhering a small device inside her mailbox. As she went out to open it, it triggered the device which launched a spike directly into her chest cavity and into her heart.

Finally, a human diplomat that had stepped on the wrong toes by trying to muscle his way into the military industrial game. He was deathly allergic to wasp stings from Earth and ended up dead in his room in New York City via a swarm of wasps.

It was actually rather disturbing how calculated each of his kills was. The turian’s death had to be timed precisely at the moment he swallowed the device that had been hidden in the ice. The asari was killed because the spike fired from the device inside her mailbox was measured to the centimeter and aimed directly where the assassin knew her heart would be. And after finding out the human’s allergies, Thane would have to have transported a box containing the wasp nest into the man’s home and then pickpocketed his epipen to make sure he couldn’t save himself.

“Goddess, what am I doing? If I look much deeper into him, he’s probably going to come after me,” she said as she rubbed her eyes. Then a chill immediately went up her spine as she heard a voice come from the darkened corner of her room.

“Many information brokers seek to employ my services. I’m more likely to think you’re a client,” said the raspy voice from the corner.

She looked up with her eyes wide open but could barely make out any movement. “Thane Krios?”

“That would be me,” said the man as he finally stepped out of the shadows. The drell had deep, dark eyes not unlike an asari during a meld. They were an eerie pitch black that only looked darker in the shade of her office. “I would ask how you got in here, but I guess that’s part of your skillset, isn’t it?”

“Moving among the shadows is a common skill among the Seekers of the Illuminated Primacy,” said the man as he stopped in front of her desk. “Doctor T’Soni, I must admit that you have earned my curiosity. You already employ plenty of doers like myself. So, why would you be looking after me?”

Liara took a deep breath as she rid herself of her earlier surprise. “I suppose this does make my job easier,” she said before turning to him in her chair. “You know of Spectre Jane Shepard?”

“Your life partner? I do. A very talented former Alliance N7 who saved millions of lives on the Citadel years ago,” he described as he looked her in the eyes. “I had heard she seems to have returned from an early grave.”

“She came to see me and asked if I could help her find you,” said the asari woman plainly.

“To what end? From what I’ve heard of her activities since resurfacing, she certainly doesn’t need me to kill anyone,” he said before turning his head to cough lightly.

“She wants you to join her squad. Recently the collectors have been harvesting human colonies. She plans to put a stop to them and whoever is directing them,” she started, realizing that an explanation on the reapers right now wouldn’t do her any good.

“She wants me on her team?” he asked curiously, his large eyes blinking rapidly.

“She does. Would you like her information, or should I tell her that you’re declining?” asked Liara as she slowly lit up her omni-tool, making sure he saw every movement.

He turned away from her and stared out of the window and into the starry night sky for a long moment. She wondered if he was thinking it over, or just trying to be dramatic. But finally he answered her. “I have one more job to do here on Illium before I was scheduled to leave,” he said before turning back to her. “If she wishes to ask me to join, tell her to meet me in the penthouse on top of Dantius Towers tomorrow. I will be there when the sun reaches the horizon, and I’ll be gone when it disappears behind it. That is her window to speak with me.”

“Dantius Towers, does that mean…?” she began to ask before shaking her head. “I’ll adjust my contacts with that in mind. I’ll let her know.”

“Thank you Doctor T’Soni,” he said as he opened his own omni-tool and passed her some data. “And should you need to contact me for anything else in the future, a vid call would be preferable to investigation.”

“I will keep that in mind,” she said as she looked down at her omni-tool to see the data transfer. When she looked back up, she was shocked to see he was gone. “Goddess…” she said shaking her head before turning her chair back towards her terminal. Suddenly, her comm lit up. Answering it, she spoke, “T’Soni.”

“Noble Liara, I have a volus here named… Niftu Cal that says he was sent by Shepard about a potential job?” came Nyxeris’s voice over the comm.

“Potential job?” asked Liara curiously as she leaned back in her chair. Sighing heavily, she activated her kinetic shield belt. “Send him in.” She didn’t know if this was some ploy to assassinate her or if it was legitimate. But she was going to be prepared regardless.

When the door opened, as her assistant said, a squat volus walked in and looked around the place. His eyes focused on the window at first, seemingly awed by it. But then he turned to her. “Oh… hello… er… Noble Liara…”

“You may call me Doctor T’Soni,” she said as she eyed him up and down. If he was an assassin, he didn’t look equipped for the part.

“D-Doctor T’Soni,” he said nervously as he did the same thing that Tali used to do and began fidgeting with his hands. “I’m sorry, perhaps this wasn’t… a great idea.”

“You said you were looking for a job?” asked the doctor as she tilted her head curiously. “How did you meet Spectre Shepard?”

“She… she rescued me from the Eclipse compound,” he said as he looked at the ground.

Liara nodded knowingly. “You were part of Pitne For’s trade group, then?”

“I… I was. But Shepard punched my boss and… said I should get a job somewhere else,” he said as he looked up at her. “She gave me your number and I… thought it best to meet you in person.”

“What work did you do for Pitne For?” asked Liara curiously, now believing him more than before. Shepard would absolutely destroy someone for abusing an employee.

“I did mostly administrative work. I scheduled meals, his day planner, meetings, even what time he should go to bed,” said the volus shyly. “From the looks of it, you already have an assistant… so I doubt you need-“

“Do you know Nos Astra well enough?” she asked as she leaned her head into her hand.

“I… I’ve spent most of my time… here in Nos Astra since Pitne For partnered… with Eclipse. I’ve been here the better part of a decade… and know the city well,” he said as he eyed her curiously. “Why do you ask?”

“How about we start you as a courier. I tell you to pick things up, you pick them up and bring them here. I tell you to deliver something, you deliver it. Does that sound good?” she asked as she pulled something up on a datapad and held it out for him.

He sighed solemnly. “Back to the bottom rung then…” he said as he took the datapad. Looking at the information, he looked like he stopped breathing momentarily. “That’s nearly triple my former salary.”

Liara stared at him incredulously. “That’s a living wage,” she snapped, now understanding the assault that Shepard had committed.

Looking up at her, he simply held the datapad to his chest. “When can I begin?”

Captain’s Quarters – SSV Normandy SR2

“Dantius Towers…?” asked Shepard on the comm call. “Dantius?”

“It’s named after Nassana Dantius. An asari that you gave a black eye years ago for her using you to kill her sister,” said Liara knowingly.

“Riiiight!” said Shepard as she snapped her fingers.

“She hated that I became the best broker in Nos Astra because she had no choice but to use my services,” said the asari in amusement.

“Did you bring up my divine retribution?” asked Shepard with a grin.

“Not exactly. I did ask her why she was no longer working in the Embassies,” said the asari hidden behind a snicker. “I believe I gave her a permanent eye twitch.”

“Good. Though from the sound of his instructions, she might not have much to worry about at all soon,” she said as she pulled up the blueprints of the tower. “Given he’s going to be in the building at the same time as me, I’m probably going to be met with resistance.”

“It’s Nassana Dantius, Jane. Even if she were alone you’d probably be met with resistance,” said the doctor with a chuckle. “By the way, did you send a volus my way?”

“Right… sorry, I meant to send you a message ahead of time but I got caught up talking to Samara about her… target,” said Shepard as she scratched her head. “In any case, I’ve gotta go check on a few of my crew members before I prepare for tomorrow.”

“Alright,” she said and paused for a long moment. “Jane, I’m glad you finally came to see me.”

Shepard felt her face burning. “Me too. I should have just slapped myself and did it to begin with. Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine. You were literally weeks out from saving the Citadel and then Cerberus wakes you up and puts a whole new disaster on your plate. I can’t blame you,” said the doctor gently. “In any case, stay safe when you head into Nasanna’s building. While I have no doubts that you could kill everyone in that building just by looking at them, I’ll be very upset with you if I have to get Cerberus to resurrect you again.”

Shepard snorted as she imagined Liara dragging her dead body back into the Illusive Man’s office to demand he fix her again. “I’ll try to keep myself in one piece,” she said with a grin. “Love you.”

“I love you too, Jane,” responded Liara as she ended the call.

Shepard inhaled sharply as she set the comm aside and thought about her crew. She was very satisfied with Garrus’s growth since he had finally spoken to Sidonis. He seemed more like his normal self than he had since she had found him on Omega. And it healed her heart to see him actually having fun with Tali and joking with Jeff in the pilot seat.

She found herself wondering if others among the crew were going to end up with similar issues that needed fixing. Despite her own insecurities, she had been called a great leader by everyone from basic all the way up to her spectre induction. She knew what those words meant, and she did agree that she cared for her crew. But she found herself wondering as she thought through all the members of her crew. If they all had the same kinds of issues Garrus had, or needed guidance away from a path of darkness, would she be capable of helping them all? Would she have to let some of them get swallowed by the void of their own choices?

She leaned back and looked into the large, bulbous eyes of her hamster staring at her from the wall of its cage. “Do you think I’m capable of helping everyone?” She chuckled at him as he stood as still as stone with the exception of his hands moving a piece of dried apple up to his mouth. He snapped into it with his teeth, immediately crammed it into his cheek, then continued to stare at her. “You’re right, all I can do is try.”

“Spectre, do you believe the hamster is speaking to you?” asked EDI curiously.

“No EDI, it’s a vibe thing. You’d have to know more about humans to understand,” said the woman as she got up from her seat and headed for bed.

“I… I see…” said the confused AI.

CODEX ENTRIES

Bellavalis | Culture | Asari
The Bellavalis, meaning ‘treaty’ in asari Y’Valtic, became known as a ritual in the monastic rites of the justicar order. It’s a ritual where a justicar suspends their honor and code for a set amount of time. This time can be a set amount of time, such as days or years. Or it can be as vague as “until this mission is done.” It’s typically used in times when a greater evil threatens many, causing the justicar to have to fight alongside those they might consider unjust. It is listed in the Justicar Code under the Book of Rites.

Ritual of Conscription | Culture | Asari
Another ritual listed in the Book of Rites; this ritual involves a justicar temporarily recruiting a non-justicar in order to aid in a fight. While temporary, it gives the individual the authority of the justicar to do as they see fit to meet out justice in the world. Due to the ease with which this rite could be abused, many have never performed the ritual, while the few who have only do so on those they absolutely trust.

Seekers | Culture | Hanar/Drell
A very sugarcoated name for the assassins and collectors of the Hanar Illuminated Primacy. All drell who serve under the primacy are given a classification. A seeker class servant is technically only supposed to find the target given to them by the hanar. What they must do next goes unsaid on any form of documentation but is taught relentlessly when they are young.

Chapter Text

Mess Hall – SSV Normandy SR2

“Hey Shepard, you got a minute?” came the deep voice of Jacob from behind her. Shepard turned towards the man curiously as he stood next to the elevator nearby. She lowered the datapad she was looking at and nodded.

“What’d you need?” she asked curiously.

He stepped up to her, trying to lower his voice as he asked her his question. “Am… Am I boring?”

“Boring?” asked Shepard, her expression bewildered. “I don’t exactly know what you mean.”

“It’s just…” he said as he spun his hands trying to fabricate what he was thinking into words. “With the crew we’re pulling in now, I’ve been kinda looking into a mirror. We’ve got Garrus ‘Archangel’ Vakarian, Tali who can make model ships do relay jumps with fragments of a circuit board, the mad scientist Doctor Solus, mercenaries out for vengeance, a giant genetically advanced krogan, an asari justicar older than the Alliance, and soon to be an assassin.”

“Ooooh…” she said with a dawning look on her face. “I guess Miranda’s words in the biotic training room hit a bit harder than expected?”

“Nah, I know she was just messing with me. Me and her hassle each other like that all the time,” he said with a smirk. “But after Samara’s training, I realized that she may not have been lying. You can practically teleport around a battlefield with your biotics, Miranda is a genius, Jack can crush a tank with hers, and me? I’m just a dude with a gun that throws people. Hell, my safe place is literally the armory where I stay ”

Shepard snickered slightly at the claim, getting a deadpan look from him. “Look Jacob, I need you to understand something, alright. I want you to listen to me,” she said as she set the datapad on a table and planted her hands on his broad shoulders. “Are you listening?”

“I’m listening,” he said, his brows furrowing worriedly.

“You are boring,” she said, causing his face to drop. “But what’s wrong with that?”

“Really?” he asked sarcastically.

“Really,” she said with a grin. “Look, I have a known terrorist threat aboard the ship. Two if you think Zaeed counts as well. I have a krogan who could eat me whole and still have room for seconds. I have a doctor who is so fascinated with my resurrection that he wants to constantly run tests on me. I’ve got biotics, weapons masters, thieves who can sneak up on even me, and an XO who has either learned to hide hating my guts, or is starting to like me and I’m terrified to find out which.” She shook her head. “There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re comfortable with what you’re comfortable with. You enjoy what you enjoy. You’re stable, reliable, and I can count on you to tell me the truth when I need to hear it the most.”

He stared at her stunned for a long moment before nodding. “Alright, I can take that,” he said, giving her a grin of his own.

“Good,” she said as she crossed her arms. “There’s nothing wrong with being boring, Jacob. Exciting usually comes with a lot of baggage and we’ve run out of cargo space on the Normandy for that kind of stuff.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “I guess you’ve got a point. You’ve got a lot to deal with balancing a crew this size. I guess it’s good to not have to worry about one more.”

“Very good,” she said before reaching over and picking up her datapad again. “Anything else?”

“Nah, I guess I just needed an outside perspective. Usually boring means uninteresting, so I guess I took it a bit hard,” he said as he crossed his own arms.

“Boring doesn’t mean uninteresting. It means safe and relaxing,” she said as she started looking at her datapad again.

“Understood, Shepard,” he said as he headed to the elevator.

Combat Information Center – SSV Normandy SR2

“Shepard, do you have a moment?” asked Kelly as Shepard stepped down from the galaxy map.

The spectre eyed her and nodded. “I’m about to head out to get our last team member, but I’ve got a few minutes. What did you need?”

“It’s about Jack,” she said with a worried expression. “I’m not exactly sure what happened in the biotic training room, but I passed her in the hall earlier and it looked like she’d been crying.”

The look of shock on Shepard’s face couldn’t have been more obvious. “Jack, crying?”

“Yeah, I’m not sure what happened. But I’d like to talk to her for a few minutes. And…” said Kelly as she tried to finish.

“You want me along in case she tries to rip you in half?” asked Shepard, getting a nod from the yeoman. Shepard nodded and activated her omni-tool. “Legate Voretoria, Samara, Grunt, and Doctor Solus. Report to the armory and wait for me there. I’ll be joining you as soon as I’m done here.” She closed the comm then looked up at the yeoman. “You know where she’s at? Because she never really showed me where she was staying on the ship.”

“She set up a cot down below the ship’s cargo hold. Gabby and Ken have taken to calling it the Trench,” she said as she held her datapad behind her back. “I’ll show you the way.”

Kelly led the spectre down past engineering and into a small, shadowy corner of the ship beneath the floorboards of the engine room entrance way. It was relatively small and cramped, though she could see the appeal. The fluorescent lights from above didn’t reach down here, it was quiet with the exception of the hum of the engine above, and it was so far out of the way that she didn’t have to hear anyone’s voice unless she wanted to.

When they arrived, Shepard noticed that a good portion of the walls were already tagged with some kind of graffiti. Jack herself was laying on a cot that was sitting on top of a footlocker that likely contained all of her clothing. “Hey Jack,” said the spectre calmly.

The convict, who was laying and facing the wall didn’t even bother moving. “The fuck do you want, Shepard?”

Kelly just kept her silence behind Shepard as the spectre sat down in a small folding seat she had bought from the Citadel. “I heard something was wrong. I just came to check up on you and make sure you’re alright.”

“You’re not my goddamn mom, Shepard. So, quit trying to act like you are,” snapped Jack as she turned to lay on her back. When she did, she looked over and saw Kelly behind Shepard and glared. “Oh you, so you squealed on me, huh?”

Shepard immediately noticed that the young woman’s eyes were red and puffy. It was all the confirmation she needed. “I’m just checking up on you. If you don’t want to talk, or you want time to yourself, let me know and I’ll go.”

“Then fucking go,” ordered the biotic with almost a growl.

Shepard stared at her for a moment before getting to her feet and turning to Kelly. “Let’s go.”

“Wait…” said Jack, her voice shaky. “Tell the Cerberus kitten to take a hike. If I’m gonna talk, it’s to you. Not some earpiece for the Illusive Man.”

Shepard looked at Kelly who seemed almost offended by the accusation. Shepard nodded towards the stairs and Kelly pouted but did as she was asked and left the pair of them alone. Shepard turned back and sat on the stool once more. “So, wanna tell me what happened?”

“What was your inner world like?” asked Jack as she sat up in the bed and looked over at Shepard.

Thrown slightly off by the question, Shepard thought back to her own inner self. “Well, it was basically my room here on the Normandy.”

“Really?” asked Jack incredulously. “You need to get out and get laid.”

“You’re not wrong,” said Shepard with a shrug. “I guess in a way the Normandy is my safe area.”

“That’s gotta be some kind Freudian irony…” said Jack with a smirk.

“You’re telling me. I’ve literally died aboard a ship called Normandy before and yet somehow my brain still associates it with peace,” said the spectre with a chuckle. “Either way it had an actual large aquarium and not the holographic one I have up there, as well as most of my friends.”

“Was I in there?” asked the convict curiously.

“Your picture was on the wall,” said Shepard as she eyed the young woman. “Why are you asking me all this?”

“That’s what I don’t understand. With you it sorta makes sense,” said Jack as she stared at the floor. “Even though you died on the Normandy, it was still always your home, a place that you enjoyed being.”

“Jack, what happened?” asked Shepard firmly.

The biotic glared at her before leaning back against the wall. Her legs were already crossed, and she crossed her arms defensively as well. “You’ve read my file, right?”

“Every letter,” said the spectre as she noticed the shift in Jack’s attitude.

“I grew up in a goddamn Cerberus facility. I don’t know what age they grabbed me, but it was young. Too young for me to remember anything else,” she said as she closed her eyes. “I was kept in a small room. It had a cot, a desk, a bathroom without a door, and a big window into the main area of the facility. I don’t know if they did that intentionally, but they let me see what I could never have.”

“Were you the only one there or were there other kids?” asked Shepard, her stomach sinking at the idea of a Cerberus facility stealing children.

“There were others. But they were kept separate. I’d see them through the window playing sometimes. They were allowed to hang out with each other. But they were kept away from me,” she said with a snort. “Anyway, the day I escaped they had beaten me pretty hard because I couldn’t produce results. Then I saw a group of armored assholes coming into the facility. There was a lot of yelling and screaming, but they were beelining for my room. I don’t think the new guys thought I could hear them, but they mentioned they were going to purge the whole place.”

Shepard recalled Miranda mentioning that a squad of soldiers was sent to the facility to shut it down. She didn’t know how much more Miranda knew, if anything. But if Jack was to be believed, then the Illusive Man wasn’t as caring as he tried to make himself look. “You heard them say they were going to get rid of you?”

“They said they were shutting the place down and that they would have to get rid of all the specimens,” said Jack as she glared at Shepard. “That doesn’t leave a lot of room for interpretation.”

“Understood,” said Shepard with a nod. “Go on.”

“Anyway, when they got to my door, I unleashed the most powerful biotic attack I could. The first guy in armor was just gone. He was a stain on the hallway wall. Everyone behind him was mangled and near dead when I decided to make a break for it. As I escaped, kids ran at me, guards ran at me, everyone in that goddamn place tried to stop me. I killed anyone and everyone who tried to get in between me and the door,” she said as involuntary tears began flowing down her face. “God… what the fuck is wrong with me?”

Shepard knew that Jack wasn’t the kind to accept consoling from anyone, but she also didn’t want to do nothing. Instead, she attempted to get Jack to focus. “Why, Jack? What happened?”

“My goddamn inner world was my cell!” she snapped, causing Shepard’s eyes to widen. “I tried so hard to get out of that place for years. And when I finally do, when I’m finally free, my fucked up brain tries to send me back!” She buried her face in her hands and just stayed silent.

Shepard breathed in and exhaled heavily. “Do you want my thoughts, or do you just need to vent?”

Jack sniffed and scrubbed away her tears before looking up at Shepard, even more miserable than before. “If you tell me I need therapy, I’m gonna break you in half.”

“Everyone needs therapy at some level, Jack. Especially in our line of work,” said Shepard as she stood up and planted her hands on her hips. “Even me.”

Jack’s brow rose curiously at the claim. “The fuck you need therapy for?”

“I died. Pretty horrifically,” said Shepard with a shrug. “Even if I hadn’t died before, I’ve seen a lot of things that would make me very unwell if I didn’t take therapy very seriously,” said the spectre with a firm look.

“Oh, right…” said Jack, Shepard’s death having slipped her mind. “I guess dying does kind of fuck with your head too, huh?” she said, scratching her shaved head. “Look, I’ve been forced to do the whole therapy thing before, and it doesn’t fucking work. So, don’t bother…”

“You’re not special, Jack,” said Shepard with a sharp glare.

“The fuck you say to me?” growled Jack as she got to her feet and glared back. Shepard was taller, making Jack’s attempt far less intimidating than if she had activated her biotics.

“I said, you’re not special. You think you are. You think you’ve suffered so much that no therapist in the galaxy could possibly help you,” said Shepard as her arms uncrossed and she planted her hands on her hips. Her face immediately softened. “You said you tried it before and it didn’t work but that’s because you already concluded it couldn’t.”

“How the fuck would you know!?” snapped the biotic, her anger causing her voice to crack.

“Because it’s terrifying,” said the spectre as she looked down. Her lowered voice seemed to calm Jack as well. “You’re afraid. Terrified of what something like therapy will pull out of you. Terrified at feeling vulnerable and weak.” Visions of her death flashed through her mind as she said the words. “Terrified that you might have to accept that you aren’t strong all the time.”

Jack’s eyes widened and she took a step back. “W-What the fuck are you talking about?”

Snorting, Shepard shook her head and hardened her gaze again. “Here’s the deal, Jack. Everyone on this ship has issues. We all have sad parts of our history that we don’t want to reflect on. But if you want to be on my team, and on my ship, then I need to see that you’re trying to improve.”

“Then why the hell aren’t you going to therapy?” asked the biotic as she pointed at the spectre accusingly.

Shepard let out a heavy sigh. “Because I’m not that different from you,” she said, defusing the young woman again. “I’m supposed to be strong. I’m supposed to be the first human spectre. I’m supposed to be the goddamn savior of the galaxy!” she snapped angrily, but she relaxed again. “How am I supposed to be the hero everyone wants me to be if I need help?”

“Jesus fuck, Shepard,” said Jack as she plopped back on her bed.

“I’ll make you a deal,” said the spectre as she crossed her arms again. “I’ll go to therapy with you… erm… as well. But you have to go. And, if you take it seriously, then I’ll owe you one favor.”

Jack’s brow rose curiously. “Favor?”

“Yeah. Go to therapy, and actually try to take it seriously. Try to untangle the mess inside you because unfortunately, I’m not qualified to do that,” said the woman with a small grin. “Do that, and you can ask anything of me.”

“What do you mean anything?” asked Jack curiously.

“Well, I’m not giving you the Normandy, and I’m not going to break galactic law. But if you can think of something else besides those, then I’ll do it,” said the spectre.

Jack pointed at her as her eyes narrowed. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“Never,” said Shepard with a stone serious face.

Jack grinned and sat on the bed. “Alright, fine,” she said as she leaned back against the wall on her cot. “Send the little Cerberus lapdog in here and tell her that if a word of what I say escapes her mouth, I’ll juice her like a goddamn orange and drink her citrusy Cerberus blood.”

Shepard chuckled and held up a finger. “Don’t kill anyone on my ship.” Finally, she turned back and headed up the stairs. She found Kelly standing outside of the door near the elevator. “Well, she’s ready when you are.”

“That’s good to hear,” said the bubbly woman as she opened her datapad.

“Just… skip all the traditional ‘how does that make you feel’ crap. She’s been there and she doesn’t like the tropes,” said Shepard as she waved her head towards the door.

“Understood, Shepard. Thank you,” said the yeoman as she headed inside the door.

“Don’t thank me yet,” she said as she shook her head and opened the elevator.

Dantius Towers – Nos Astra – Illium

Shepard waved to Lia who drove their shuttle down to the entrance of Dantius Towers. The quarian nodded back and piloted the shuttle back towards the Normandy docks as the spectre turned towards the building. She looked up, squinting as she did. The towers weren’t enormous, but the building was big enough that it was going to be a task getting to the top if the elevators were out. She then looked over at the horizon. They had about an hour to get to the top before the sun hit the horizon.

Ralixia looked at the building as well, and her sharp eyes noticed immediately what it had taken Shepard a moment to register. “Gunfire near the top floor? Are they fighting your assassin?”

“I don’t know,” said Shepard as she pulled a Mattock assault rifle off her back. “On the one hand, if it is him, whoever he’s fighting will probably be dead before we get there. On the other, he doesn’t usually get caught by anyone. So, who the hell are they shooting at?”

Suddenly, the glass above them shattered and the body of a salarian slammed into the ground, making them all look away in horror. Then Samara raised a biotic barrier around them all as gunfire erupted in front of them. Shepard raised her weapon and used her visor to zoom in on what was happening. But the weapons fire wasn’t aimed at them. She saw a group of salarians sprinting for their lives before a group of armored men began shooting them.

“We have civilians under fire!” snapped Shepard as she sprinted through the biotic barrier, her gun blasting at the nearest of the armed figures. He was dead before he realized he was being fired at as her rounds smashed through the side of his helmet, splattering red blood across the floor. Ralixia moved to assist, but the second of the attackers barely got their gun raised before Samara lifted him with her biotics. In a split second the sound of every bone in his body shattering could be heard as well as an agonizing wail before he was hurled off to the side. Shepard knelt down to check on the salarian that was still moving.

“No! No! Stay away!” he shouted, still trying to get away.

Shepard turned and nodded to Mordin who knelt down and spoke to them. “Blood loss minimal. Gunshot didn’t penetrate very deep,” he stated dutifully as he sat the agitated salarian up.

It was then that the civilian got a better look at them. “W-Wait… you don’t work for Nassana…”

“We don’t,” said Shepard as she looked him over. Mordin had patched him up and moved on to another one that looked like they were in shock. “What’s going on? Why was Nassana’s security trying to kill you?”

“I… I don’t know… we were night workers. We were just doing our shift when security started screaming at us that we needed to leave,” he said as he covered his face, practically sobbing at this point. “We didn’t move fast enough so they started to shoot!”

“Why is she trying to get everyone out of the building?” asked Shepard as she tapped Ralixia and pointed to the door ahead.

“I do not know,” said the salarian as he looked up at Shepard. “You… you are going to kill her?”

Shepard eyed him curiously. “I hadn’t planned to, but I wouldn’t count on her getting out of here alive either.”

He sighed as Mordin managed to finally pacify the second salarian. “Coworker condition more serious. Nicked artery in leg. Medigel and omnigel will hold until emergency services arrive,” he said as he stood up. The security guard with the broken limbs tried to move off to the side and Mordin simply raised his gun and blasted a hole through their visor with his heavy pistol. “Security doesn’t have shields. Bold.”

“Corporate security commonly doesn’t use shielding outside of Noveria,” said Samara as she glared down at the bodies. “Why do they need shielding when their main purpose is to intimidate and attack lower class workers?”

Grunt shook his massive head. “What kind of cowardly pussle gets a thrill out of killing weak-kneed office workers?”

Ralixia finally got the door open as Shepard looked down to the sitting salarian. “Do you have your comm?” The young salarian nodded. “Call medical services immediately. But wait to call the police.”

“Of course. Wouldn’t want them to stop you from throwing Nassana out of her own building,” said the salarian bitterly.

Mordin patted the young salarian. “Tell medical services, arterial breach in upper left leg. Vascular surgery required to repair artery,” he said as he stood up again and prepared his gun.

“Right, let’s get this over with and get to the top,” said Shepard as she opened her omni-tool and hacked into the Dantius Security comm feed. Once she was in, she directed the others to the door that Ralixia had opened.

“Shepard took out two on the bottom floor! Shut the elevator down now!” snapped who she assumed was the guard captain.

Shepard frowned. “They know I’m here,” she said, her own speech muted to their comm feed.

Ralixia shook her head. “You have a history with her, and she probably has enough connections to know you’re here. Maybe she put just added it up?”

“Maybe,” said Shepard as she prepared her weapon. Tapping her helmet, she activated her own comm. “Kasumi, how are we doing?”

“Nassana’s security forces are only on the lower floors. About halfway up the building they start mixing into actual mercenaries,” she started, then chuckled in amusement. “You know, after Omega and now Illium, Eclipse is probably gonna put a bounty on your head.”

“Maybe Eclipse can try and hire the collectors. They’ve at least killed me once,” said Shepard as she moved through the door.

“And that just seems to have pissed you off,” said Kasumi with a chuckle. “Anyway, they all seem prepared. It looks like they were expecting something to happen today,” said the thief from her perch.

“That’s what it’s looking like,” said Shepard with a growl as she and the others stopped in their tracks. They were in a wide-open area that looked like it was still under construction as pallets of prefab materials laid strewn about the floor. And on the other side of the room exiting the elevator were five more members of Nassana’s security forces armed and ready to fight.

Shepard was about to raise her weapon and fire before she felt a tap on her shoulder. Looking over, she saw Samara grip her firmly before walking past. Raising one hand, the asari created a biotic bubble shield around herself. Their combined weapons fire didn’t even seem to dent it as she continued forward, backing them into the elevator. When she was finally within arm’s reach, she reached up behind her and pulled a blade clean of its scabbard.

Shepard’s brows rose as she saw the gleaming sword. It somewhat resembled the Naitara she had seen on Thessia. But its dark tint told her that this was no ceremonial sword. One of the security pulled out a baton since the gun wasn’t working and charged her. But he apparently didn’t realize that biotic shields didn’t work like kinetic barriers. He slammed full force into the shield and Samara thrust her blade forward and through his throat. Her meticulously placed steps continued forward as she pulled the blade clean.

The four remaining guards backpedaled and tried to shoot, but they hadn’t realized their mistake. Shepard shook her head as she lowered her weapon. In their haste to put as much distance between them and Samara, they weren’t paying attention to their surroundings. The asari woman stepped into the elevator, her barrier crushing the men against the back wall of the elevator. Their weapons forgotten, they all groaned and whimpered in fear as she raised her sword, then thrust it through the barrier. It took one stroke for each of them, and then she lowered the barrier and allowed their bleeding corpses to hit the ground.

Ralixia stared in horror at the pile. “How did you penetrate your own barrier?”

Shepard looked up at the turian woman before turning to Samara. “Right. He slammed full force into your barrier, but you could put your sword through?”

The justicar held up the blood coated weapon and ran a glowing hand above its metal surface. Everyone present immediately noticed the tip of the blade start glowing. “Yvalice crystals may look like decorations to many, but they actually have a practical use in biotics,” she said as she put up her barrier again. The now dull sword was thrust through it, seemingly igniting the crystal tip. “The crystal actually absorbs biotic dark energy which causes it to glow. This includes biotic barriers. When it absorbs the biotics of a shield, it creates a small, imperceivable opening in the barrier.”

Grunt snorted as he eyed the weapon. “Couldn’t you just make armor out of that crystal stuff and be almost immune to biotics?”

Samara smiled at the young krogan. “You could in theory. But you would need to pay the exorbitant cost for the crystals to make an entire suit. And then you would be left with armor that could absorb biotics but would shatter with a single gunshot.”

“Oh… right,” said Grunt as he looked down sheepishly. Then his eyes snapped up to the spectre. “Hey Shepard!”

“Yeah?” she asked as she eyed him curiously.

“Can I have a sword?” he asked, his eyes wide as he pleaded with her.

“Behave during this mission and we’ll see,” she said before turning back to the elevator.

“Awww…” grumbled the krogan as he shuffled his way over towards the next door.

Shepard checked the elevator and confirmed it wasn’t working. “Welp, stairs it is,” she griped as she headed for the staircase that grunt was watching.

“Pretty sure they have all of the staircases ambushed,” said Ralixia as she readied her weapon too.

“That will not be an issue,” said Samara as she slid her sword back into its scabbard that blended in with her armor and pulled a simplistic pistol free from her hip. Stepping into the door with her barrier up again. As Ralixia predicted, gunfire immediately erupted and was stopped at the justicar’s shield. She began floating upwards and Shepard sighed to herself.

Ralixia just shook her head. “Do we even need to be here? Is she gonna handle everyone?”

“These are low rank security guards. The mercs above would still be able to take her out if they outnumber her,” said the spectre as she entered the stairwell and flew up the stairs to the sound of gunfire.

Floor 22 – Dantius Towers – Nos Astra – Illium

Shepard grunted as she wiped the sweat from her brow. She looked at the mix of bodies on the floor. Some of them were security, some were Eclipse. But all of them were dead. The only problem with that was that she and her team weren’t the ones who killed them. She walked around the room examining each one. Whoever took them out did so very quickly without any wasted effort. Her omni-tool picked up MPP fragments lodged in their heads or hearts. Others had vital arteries punctured with some form of stabbing weapon, and one human even had their cervical vertebrae broken, likely via a very sharp twist of the neck.

She scanned the area curiously, her hand moving to the familiarity of the pistol at her side. Her adrenaline had already been triggered from the fights on the previous floor and her hearing was as sharp as Samara’s blade. “Quiet,” she said to the others as they shuffled around the room. The sound she thought she heard previously became audible again. It was a low whispering coming from a door on the far end of the room. Whipping her pistol out, she walked over to the door and blasted the handle off before kicking it open.

Inside were several salarians, all of them cowering with the exception of one who aimed a gun in her face. “Stop! Don’t move! I’ll shoot!”

Shepard immediately raised a hand and caught him with biotics. Lifting him up, he slammed into the ceiling before she dropped him to the floor. The gun slid away from him as he impacted. “Please, don’t kill us! We’ll go!” shouted a female salarian as she rushed to get between Shepard and the prone male. She looked between them for a long moment before lowering her own weapon. It was then that the salarian blinked several times as well. “Wait… you aren’t Nassana’s mercenaries!”

“No, we’re not,” she said as she crossed her arms. “I take it you’re more of her workers?”

“Night workers, yes,” said the frantic woman. “The guards… they told us to get out of the building. When we couldn’t move, they aimed their weapons at us.” Shepard noticed that the woman was nearly shaking as she retold the tale. “B-But… you saved us, right?” she asked as she looked between Shepard and the others.

“It wasn’t us. We just got here in the last minute or so,” said Shepard as she crossed her arms.

“Th-Then who was it?” asked the bewildered salarian.

“Probably the assassin you’re looking for,” remarked Samara wisely.

“Assassin? Are… are they here for Nassana?” asked the woman as she stopped shaking and her eyes widened.

“So I’ve heard,” said Shepard as she eyed the salarians. “Do you guys work on this floor?”

“Y-Yes! We were finishing up a financial report when the mercenaries began their tirade. Their second in command, Gregson, threw poor Lufela out the window!” she said angrily as her hands formed into fists. “We thought we were next, so we ran and barricaded this door.”

“The assassin…” said the male as he pulled himself together. “I… I saw him.”

They all looked to him. “You saw him?” asked Shepard urgently.

“Before he started killing. When we ran into the room,” he said before looking up to them with his knees folded to his chest. “A-Are you going to kill him?”

Shepard shook her head. “Actually, we want to help him, so to speak…”

“He dropped from the vent and flew forward like a graceful dancer. I’ve never seen anyone move like him,” said the young man as he stared off into space.

“Well, we’ve confirmed he’s here,” said Ralixia as she checked her weapon. “Odd that an assassin is going out of their way to help civilians though.”

“Odd, but from what I’ve read one of his creeds is no innocent bystanders,” said Shepard as she scratched her chin.

“If he has that in his dossier then he’s probably a bleeding heart like Shepard here,” said Grunt as he leaned against the wall with his arm up. “So it wouldn’t surprise me if he stepped in to stop a couple civilians from getting killed.”

Shepard turned and looked at one of the windows that showed the sunset. The sun was very near the horizon now. “What’s the quickest way to Nassana’s penthouse office?”

“Take the service elevator up two floors and then cross the bridge. Her penthouse is just above the bridge floor on the opposite building,” said the salarian. “C-Can we go now?”

“Of course,” said Shepard as she nodded towards the stairs. “The elevator is offline. I’d recommend the stairs. Medical services should be here shortly, so go get checked out by them.”

The salarians shuffled towards the door as Shepard waved them towards the hall leading further up. When they entered the door, they spotted another person that had yet to be taken out by the assassin. They were in Eclipse armor and were holding their hands up already. “Look, this doesn’t have to get nasty. I’m sure we can make some kind of arrangement.”

Ralixia sighed and glared at the man. “Probably ran in here to escape the assassin,” she said as she prepped her gun.

Shepard looked at the window behind the mercenary and noticed that the sun was now touching the horizon. “What’s your name?”

“Huh? My name?” asked the mercenary, taken aback by the question. “Uhh… Gregson. Why?”

“Grunt,” said Shepard as she headed towards the elevator. The krogan eyed her curiously. “This man has an appointment on the bottom floor. Make sure he gets there as soon as possible,” she said as she opened the elevator.

“Heh heh heh,” chuckled Grunt as he cracked his knuckles.

The door to the service elevator opened as Grunt grabbed the man by his leg and swung him in a full circle before hurling him through the window. His screams drowning out the shattering of the reinforced protective window. “Samara, when we get to the bridge, I want you on point.”

“A wise decision. We must make haste,” she said as her biotics lit up.

Penthouse – Dantius Towers – Nos Astra – Illium

Once again she found herself impressed. Shepard’s team was large. Not as large as her own units back on Palaven, but large enough that to take them all on every mission would be extremely difficult. Instead, she picked certain members of her squad to take care of certain situations. And every mission she moved in on seemed to have the right balance of members. Though, admittedly, the last one was still her favorite. Nothing got the blood flowing like absolute destruction and overwhelming force.

But she felt that nagging feeling in her brain which meant she was starting to learn something new. She felt it when she found out about human martial arts. She felt it when Garrus spoke about the murder where she learned how to tell a modded from an unmodded weapon. She learned it from Samara’s lesson about the biotic crystals earlier. And now she was learning again. It wasn’t just that Shepard commanded the most powerful and chaotic crew in the galaxy. It was that she allowed them to be themselves.

The turian Hierarchy was very strict on their training regimens for their soldiers. It didn’t matter what rank or job you worked, you did the same training, you did the same exercises, the same training drills, and only then did you focus on your specialization. This made the turian Hierarchy an imposing legion of faceless soldiers, helped by the fact that when in official uniform, clan markings were to be removed. The Hierarchy was not an army of diverse individuals, it was a juggernaut of soldiers trained in the exact same ways to make sure everything was uniform.

She believed wholeheartedly in this logic until she had gotten to this point. The Hierarchy had overseen some extremely decisive wins in battle. She and her imperial marines had fought against pirates, raiders, slavers, terrorists, insurrectionists, and so much more. And they fought as one unit, one spirit, one machine. But she knew now that the tactic of trying to turn everyone in your unit into the same soldier for the sake of cohesion ended up scrubbing away a lot of potential.

Shepard had biotics, technicians, engineers, soldiers, gunners, sword fighters, boxers, turians, asari, krogan, and even a quarian. She had so many kinds of people she was leading that at first glance it blew the legate’s mind how she managed to control everyone from convicts to justicars. But now she understood… at least, mostly. She knew that she didn’t just control these people like the higher ups in the Hierarchy would have you do. She didn’t erase their identity. She allowed them to grow and thrive instead of trying to contain them in a box.

The group was close enough that they knew each other, they knew how the others fought, and as such, they knew how best to work together. But it still amazed her how a gigantic krogan like Grunt and a doctor like Mordin Solus managed to work in concert with each other instead of getting in each other’s way. The doctor would randomly send a neural shock into someone’s cranium, quickly followed by a powerful uppercut by the krogan which sent bodies flying off the upper bridge that they were crossing.

Then she recalled the quarian stunning all of the Eclipse mercs back in the red sand base, and how Mordin used the opportunity to paralyze them while they were convulsing. Or the criminal blowing a hole in the wall knowing that survivors would gather to defend it, only the have a sprinting krogan slam into them with the force of a battering ram and cripple a dozen mercenaries all at once. Fostering the growth of each team member and allowing them to grow alongside their other squadmates would never have occurred to her back on Palaven. There was too much influence from the Imperium to be the same; be one unit, one spirit, move as one, act as one. But with her experience here, she got to see first hand what the benefit of allowing the growth of individuals did. It allowed for a wider range of coverage for almost any situation. If a situation needed diplomacy, the XO or Shepard herself could help. If it required violence, a giant krogan or unhinged biotic. Technical knowledge, a doctor or engineer. If stealth was needed, a thief or assassin. If destruction was needed, the armorer mercenary with their heavy weapons. And if a lot of people needed killing, then a cold and calculated asari justicar was the perfect fit. She had a potential answer to any situation.

Ralixia shook her head in awe at the design. It wasn’t a machine like her unit back on Palaven where their training made them the same. It was a machine like a gyroscope, swinging wildly in all directions with the perfect balance in order to keep stability. She felt that feeling of learning again as Samara hurled an entire group of the remaining Eclipse mercenaries off the bridge and down to the street below.

Saren had always told her that the best way to become a spectre was to treat everyone as expendable. It was easy to get what you needed when you started thinking of everyone as a commodity rather than a person. She had been bewildered to find out that there were spectres who didn’t work alone. Some worked in pairs and others like Shepard worked with an entire crew. Only now was the idea of working with a diverse team actually appealing to her. She found herself somewhat stunned at how much she had changed in so little a time.

All of these thoughts drifting in her head were there because Samara had almost single-handedly cleared the whole bridge. Grunt and Mordin helped where they could, but having an ancient asari warrior combined with the small quarters of the bridge spelled disaster for the remaining mercenaries. She chuckled to herself and simply jogged along with Shepard, who also seemed to accept that the others were the stars of this show. Shepard looked over at her. Ralixia chuckled as her mandibles twitched. Shepard snorted with a grin and turned back to the display of might in front of them as they headed across the bridge.

Penthouse – Dantius Towers – Nos Astra – Illium

This was the second time she busted the door open to the top floor of an office building to find an asari being guarded by mercenaries since she had been on Illium. She shook her head and chuckled as the glare on the opposing asari deepened.

“I was hoping it was just a rumor,” growled Nassana Dantius as she stood in front of the large window of her penthouse. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

“Maybe I am dead and I’m just here to haunt you,” said Shepard with a grin that turned Nasanna’s frown into a scowl.

“Fuck you, Shepard!” snapped the asari as she pointed at the spectre. “I don’t know who the hell paid you to come after me, but whoever it was, I’ll double their offer.”

“Who told you I was coming after you?” asked Shepard as she tilted her head curiously.

“What does it matter? I’m making you an offer,” said the woman frostily. “Are you taking it or not?”

“You don’t understand, Nassana,” said Shepard as she put her gun away and crossed her arms. “I’m not after you.”

“Then what the hell are you doing here!? Why was I warned that you were coming for my life!?” yelled the woman angrily. “Quit trying to screw with my head, Shepard!”

“Nassana, I’m a goddamn spectre,” snapped Shepard as she took a step forward. Immediately, the two remaining Eclipse in the room took a step back and raised their weapons slightly. “Two weeks ago I was on a human colony fighting off the most technologically advanced race in the galaxy and you think I’d take time out of my day to come after you?”

Nassana flinched at the remarks, almost looking hurt at the claim. “But… then why did I get the warning that you were coming after me?”

“Hell if I know. Only two people knew I’d even be here. One of them would never tell you that and the other is… is…” she stopped and let out a sigh. “Goddammit…”

“What is it?” asked Ralixia curiously.

Looking out the window, Shepard glared. The sun was halfway below the horizon and on its way out. “Mr. Krios, if you’re here, then come on out!” hollered Shepard as she looked around. There was a small noise in the ceiling that Nassana either didn’t hear or didn’t care about.

“Krios? Thane Krios?” asked the asari businesswoman with a look of shock on her face. “He… he couldn’t… he wouldn’t…”

Suddenly, as silent as a shadow, a dark figure landed on the floor behind her. The two mercenaries turned to attack on instinct, but their reaction was too slow. Flowing like water, the drell assassin moved forward and punched one of the asari mercenaries so quickly that even Shepard’s adrenaline powered senses barely caught it. With one asari gasping for air, he spun around and threw something like a knife hooked to a cord. The blade caught the other asari in the throat, the speed bypassing the kinetic shielding and puncturing an artery. He yanked on the cord and pulled the weapon back before whipping a silenced pistol out of his belt.

The entire fight was seconds long, Neither asari managed to do anything except make a pained expression before they were both dead. Nassana spun around and saw him standing there with the pistol drawn. “Krios? What are you doing? Why would you…?”

But before she got another word off, his pistol rose and blasted her directly through the heart. She gasped in horror and began to fall, but he grabbed her and cradled her body, laying her across the desk and spreading her arms out in a t-pose. “Though your body did not return to the sea, may your spirit find its way into the embrace of the waves.”

Nassana finally closed her eyes and her head sagged to the side. The drell held up a straight hand with the other gripping his wrist, as if half mimicking the prayer pose used by many humans. Ralixia kept her weapon out but lowered it. “You definitely know how to make an entrance.”

“You said I had until sundown to speak, so…” started Shepard, but the drell cut her off.

“I apologize. Prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken,” said the assassin softly.

Mordin blinked sharply. “Odd to see assassin praying for victim,” he said as he folded his arms.

Finally, the drell lowered his hands. “Not for her,” he said as he looked up at them. His dark eyes examined them with cold calculation. “For me.”

Samara nodded knowingly. “A sentimental assassin. A unique concept in reality, not so much in movies.”

“Why did you warn her and tell her that I was coming after her?” asked the spectre as she crossed her arms in annoyance.

“Your asari bondmate told me that you were looking for me. You wanted to add me to your team to help stop the collectors from harvesting human colonies,” he said as he looked up at her. “I needed to determine who I was dealing with.”

“You haven’t heard of me?” asked Shepard bewildered.

“There isn’t a person in the galaxy that hasn’t heard of you, Spectre. But seeing it for myself is preferable to rumors and… wild speculations of the film industry,” he said, getting a groan from Shepard. “Regardless, as is obvious, anyone can win a fight with the element of surprise,” he said motioning towards the dead mercenaries on the floor. “I needed to see firsthand what you could do against a group of prepared and armed soldiers.”

“Well, are you satisfied?” asked the spectre curiously.

“Quite,” he said as he gazed at her. She wasn’t experienced enough with drell to know whether or not they could smile. “I was also curious to see if you would indeed fight through an entire building of mercenaries to get to me. I’m quite flattered to find out the answer was yes.”

“Cool,” said Shepard as she let out a sigh. “So, you know why I’m here. What’s your answer?”

“As I understand it, stopping the collectors would require following them through the Omega 4 Relay. A task no ship to date has ever survived,” he said knowingly as he stepped up to her, the setting sun behind him practically making him glow as it finally sunk behind the horizon.

“Coming back from the dead was also considered impossible until I did it,” said Shepard firmly, almost getting a chuckle from the gravelly voiced man.

“A fair point. You do make a career out of doing the impossible,” he said as he looked down. “Your confrontation of Saren at the Citadel was a masterwork of overcoming overwhelming odds.” Finally, he turned around and looked out the window as the last of the sun finally faded from the sky. “This… was to be my last job.”

Shepard immediately felt the tone shift in the conversation. “Why do I get the feeling you weren’t planning to retire to Kahje?”

“You are perceptive,” he said as he looked to the side. Then he stared at the horizon again. “My plan was to alert Nassana’s guards to my presence, and after I had ended her, allow them to sever the bond between my body and spirit.”

“Suicide by cop?” asked Ralixia in surprise.

“These are not police, but the concept is the same, yes,” he said as he finally turned to them again. “I’m dying.” He let the claim sink in for a long moment. “The low survival odds do not concern me. In fact, your offer seems almost too good to be true.”

“How do you figure?” asked Shepard incredulously. She thought she was being a bit demanding asking the assassin to spend his last days on a potential suicide mission.

“I was cleaning everything up when you were looking for me. Nassana was my last target that I had planned to take out before I let myself expire,” he said as he shook his head. “But despite my plans, I always felt as if letting myself die here lacked closure. It felt like a waste to be killed by these… goons.”

“Ah, you wanted a good death,” said Grunt with a grin. The whole group looked at him and he shrugged. “What? Going out in a blaze of glory taking on the collectors sounds much better than getting gunned down in some corporate penthouse.”

“Your krogan friend speaks truly. My… uh… bucket list, as humans are prone to calling it, involved a lot of cleanup. I wanted to make the galaxy a better place before I died. Taking out corporate mob bosses and anti-union death squads was fine. But it seemed a little underwhelming for my final contribution to the galaxy. You have just given me a much better way to contribute,” said the drell as he held his hand flat with his palm upwards in front of his stomach. He bowed deeply. “You have my gratitude.”

“Just to clarify, what are you dying from?” asked Shepard, wondering if he would need extra equipment on the Normandy.

“If you’d like to discuss it, we can do so on your ship,” he said before standing straight again. “I can assure you that I’m not contagious, and it will not affect my work. So, you need not worry about containment measures.”

“Alright,” said the spectre as she nodded to him. “Gather your stuff and meet me at the Nos Astra docks.”

“I will be there shortly,” said the drell as he exited the room via the door.

Shepard turned to the others and sighed. “Let’s make sure the night workers are well before heading back to the ship. Otherwise, while I’m getting him settled, you’re free to do as you please. Just meet back at the ship before sunrise.” With that, they all left the building, leaving Nassana’s dead form lying across her desk.

CODEX ENTRIES

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 and can even reseal a suit against the vacuum of space. 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.

Naitara Blade | Weapon | Asari
A blade created millennia ago and used to harness the asari’s innate biotic abilities. Though commonly used for ceremonial purposes, many on Thessia and asari colony worlds are still taught to use them. The blade, straight and double-sided, is commonly made of titanium and inlaid with yvalice crystals. The sheath itself is made almost entirely of the crystal substance. Historically, an asari using the weapon would use both the blade and sheath as weapons, the blade to cut and impale, and the sheath to enhance biotic melee attacks.

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.

MPP | Technology | Weapon
Short for ‘Mass Propelled Projectile,’ it’s the formal description of the projectiles fired by modern weapons. Modern weapons have replaced the use of actual bullets with blocks of ferrous metal that are shaved off and propelled at supersonic speeds. Despite the change in style, the ammunition is still colloquially called bullets, rounds, or meeps by those who do not specialize in weapons tech.

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 Text

???? - ????

He snorted as he did his laps again, unsure what he was even doing here. The ship, its crew, the duty stations, they were all like set pieces. He strolled through the close quarters of the ship’s corridors and made his way downstairs before taking the elevator down to engineering. He visited her in the cargo bay where she liked to hang around with their friends from the crew. Sometimes they’d all be up in the mess together, but she much preferred the hum of the engines nearby as it brought her peace of mind.

He found himself more and more unnerved as he kept coming back to the ship. He knew from every visit to every other place that something had been off, but this was the one place he was hoping he never had to worry about. Unfortunately, the same odd occurrences were happening aboard the ship as well. The crew were eerily silent, the ship’s halls seemed to change on him at random moments, and even the gravitational center of the ship, the captain, seemed to just exist. He had cycled in and out of darkness for a long, long time and the fear that he may be in some form of limbo began to gnaw at his mind more and more as the days wore on.

But his worries faded once more as the elevator door opened and her face came into view. Smiling gently, he walked in and she waved to him before dragging him over to the others for a chat. He gently ran his strong fingers through her hair and inhaled deeply, the feeling comforting him greatly. Whatever the hell was going on, he knew he wouldn’t be sane without her.

Life Support – Normandy SR2

“You sure this is where you wanna stay?” asked Shepard as she eyed the room curiously. It was compact to the point of claustrophobia. But then again, that might fit an assassin.

“Closed quarters, no place to surprise me from, and the air in here is dry,” said the drell as he turned in his small seat and looked over at her.

“Is it because it’s dark too?” asked the spectre, noticing the low light of the room.

“Most drell prefer low lights. Our eyes function better with less light, unlike most species,” he said as he welcomed her in by turning the light on. “I will try to accommodate you when you visit.”

“That’s fine…” she said waving the offer away. He offered her a small stool he had brought with him and she unfolded it and sat down opposite him. “So, you said you’re dying.”

“I am,” he said as he lowered his gaze. “A disease common to drell who stay on Kahje. It’s known as Keprel’s Syndrome.”

“It rings a bell, but I still need information,” said the spectre.

“Basically, drell come from Rakhana, a planet that consists almost entirely of deserts. We lived and thrived in the hot, dry atmosphere of a world that sits on the inner orbit of the habitable zone of its star. Our society collapsed due to rampant capitalism. Our industrial sector salted the earth, poisoned the sea, and made living on our homeworld impossible for many. But as fate would have it, the hanar of the Illuminated Primacy discovered our homeworld and uplifted many thousands of us, taking us to their homeworld of Kahje,” he said, stopping his speech to give a dry cough into the crook of his arm.

“So, the change in climate, breathing mostly dry arid desert air and suddenly switching to the atmosphere of an ocean planet with humidity at 100% almost constantly caused a biological error?” she asked curiously.

“In a manner of speaking,” he said with a simple nod. “The constant humidity causes many drell to develop stage 1 Keprel’s Syndrome, a bacterial infection that infects our lungs and begins eating away at our other organs as well.”

“Have the drell tried… not living on Kahje?” asked Shepard, knowing that she wasn’t the first to have thought of the plan.

“The chance of this illness is a small price to pay to the hanar for rescuing our people from disaster,” he said firmly, getting a nod from her.

“And the rest of your people are still on Rakhana?” asked the spectre as she rested her chin in her hand.

“Those that are left, yes. Most have likely perished from starvation or war. Those of us that had the honor of being saved from our homeworld now live on Kahje. And on occasion, we develop this disease. Only the symptoms are treatable and it’s fatal within a few years of the diagnosis,” he said as he waved his hand towards her. “It is as I said. I’m not contagious, as the infection comes from the homeworld itself and is not transmissible. And it will not interfere with my work as coughing up blood doesn’t stop me from fighting.”

“But getting into a coughing fit in the middle of a firefight could be lethal,” she said firmly as she set her gaze on him.

“Perhaps, but I haven’t survived this long as an assassin because of luck. I handle my sickness with care and it hasn’t gotten me into trouble yet,” said the drell as he put the matter to rest.

“If you say so,” she said as she tilted her head curiously. “Why did Nassana seem surprised to hear you were there for her?”

“She was one of my biggest employers,” he said before clearing his throat. “Illium is one of the few places in the galaxy where an assassin can find work almost anywhere. While murder is technically illegal there, hiring an assassin is not.”

“So, she hired you multiple times to do her dirty work. Why did you kill her?” asked Shepard as she tried to get a grasp of the man.

“When I finally decided to clean the galaxy up before my untimely death, I went back over all of my employers and chose many of them to be on my list of unfinished business. I did this because of the things they hired me for,” he said, even his sigh sounding gravelly.

“Wait…” said Shepard as her brow rose. “They paid you to kill people, so you came back and killed them for it?”

“Yes,” he answered simply.

“Did you kill the original people they asked you to?” she asked, feeling as if the logic was trying to fit a triangle block into a square hole.

“I did,” he again answered astutely.

“And you don’t see any kind of logical clash here?” she asked bewildered. “They hired you, you killed their target, and then once you find out you’re dying, you kill the people who hired you to kill those people.”

“It may be confusing to a human, but drell see the galaxy differently,” he said as he held up both of his hands. “You have the body. Your head, arms, legs, flesh, bone, and everything tangible that can be seen. Then,” he said as he closed the other hand. “You have the soul. This is the culmination of your knowledge, your thoughts and opinions, your character. It’s who you are down to your core, and it cannot be seen or measured. These two are equal but separate parts of a being.”

“I understand the concept of a soul separate from the body. Many human religions have battled over this concept over the millennia,” said the spectre firmly.

“Interesting. Then you also understand that the body and soul can act independently of one another,” explained the assassin. “If someone were to put a control chip into my brain, they could feasibly force my body to do what they wish regardless of whether I want them to or not. The same is true for biotic domination.”

“I don’t particularly believe in the concept of a soul, but I’m going to ignore that for a moment to point out that nobody was controlling you,” she said as she eyed him suspiciously. She couldn’t figure out of he was really trying to put the blame of his assassinations on his employers or not, but she knew that no courtroom nor the asari justicar two rooms over would accept his interpretation of autonomy.

“I am what is known as a Seeker. We are raised from a young age to assist the hanar with things they are incapable of doing themselves,” he said with his arms akimbo. “It’s not exactly a breaking news alert that society was not made with the hanar in mind.”

“Bipedal terrestrial species found the Citadel first, and happen to make up most of the Citadel species, so yeah,” she said with a shrug. “Society was built to accommodate them first.”

“Bipedal terrestrial species with eyes,” he said as he pointed to both of his large, dark, eyes. “Other species sometimes forget that hanar cannot see the same way other species can. They can take in the light cast off other objects. They will be able to see you or I standing in front of them as a silhouette. The fact that they can parse the details of different species to tell them apart is fascinating to try and comprehend. But they cannot see as you or I see. And society itself revolves around species who are capable of stereoscopic vision.”

“I guess it makes sense that they’d need another species to help them,” she said as she eyed him. “But that doesn’t explain the training.”

“Our training begins from a very young age. Typically, we train under one master, and then we are to assist one hanar throughout their life before we are freed,” he said as he looked at the ground solemnly. “I was ward to a Primacy Luminary by the face name Zymnema. They were very kind to me, so I did my best to assist them in any way I could. Sometimes this meant searching the extranet for a specialized jacuzzi that they enjoyed, and sometimes that meant erasing people from the galaxy.”

“So, the work you did for Zymnema was your choice,” she asked, almost snorting at the picture of a hanar relaxing in a jacuzzi with one of its appendages resting in a glass of wine.

“It was. They didn’t have me do work like most hanar would, but I did it regardless to keep them safe,” he said as he closed his eyes briefly. “Volus corporate merger, potential to cause bankruptcy in many hanar businesses, five days to track down target, five minutes to corner him, five seconds to finish him. Corporate merger fell, business was safe,” he said in an almost static voice as if reading something from a script. Finally, he opened his eyes again. “I was very protective of Zymnema.”

Ignoring the almost robotic trance he went into, Shepard shrugged. “But after Zymnema?”

“After Zymnema embraced the Enkindlers… a result of a bacterial waterborne virus, I worked independently for many other hanar. The work I did for them wasn’t my own. As a seeker, I am a tool for the Illuminated Primacy to be used when they see fit. I consider this the case for all of my employers. My abilities and skills are tantamount to a gun or knife, and you cannot put those things on trial for murder,” he said firmly.

“A gun or knife can’t say no to its wielder,” she said with a glare.

He held up his hands defensively. “I hope you do not misunderstand my meaning. I do not mean to try and claim I am innocent and that my employers are the ones who are guilty. I believe I am just as culpable in the deaths of their targets as they are. I simply wish to explain that though I was the tool used, I was not the true killer.”

She stared at him for a long moment before letting out a heavy sigh. “Alright, I get your point. But when you work for me, I hope you have this whole body and soul connection thing figured out. I don’t want to hear that as an excuse if I give an order.”

“You will get no such trouble from me,” he said with a shake of his head. “I assure you, you are doing me a great kindness by inviting me on your mission. It is a kindness I can never repay.”

She smirked and stood up before ruffling her hair. “Tell me that when you’re neck deep in insectoid death machines,” she said before turning and then pausing. “Oh… and just so you’re 100% caught up on all of the background with the reapers, I’ll set up an appointment with the XO.”

“Understood. I will be there,” he said as he set out a table and began disassembling his gun.

The Trench – SSV Normandy SR2

“See, this is why biotics need their own damn therapists,” snapped Jack angrily.

Kelly held up her hands defensively. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware of this inner world that biotics have.”

The convict glared at her before sighing heavily. “Can’t really blame you. I’ve been a biotic my whole life and didn’t know about it until last week,” she said as she leaned back against the wall. “It’s a psychological safe place that biotics can go to. According to the blue battering ram up stairs it’s a method of training and it keeps biotics mentally safe from intrusion.”

“I see,” said Kelly as she began typing on her datapad. The yeoman noted the biotic feature and looked up to see Jack glaring at her once again. Looking down at her datapad, she set it aside. “We can just do this analogue and I’ll take notes later.”

“Don’t take any notes on me,” growled the biotic.

Kelly cocked her head to the side. “How come?”

“Cerberus has enough shit on me already. They’ve already invaded my head more than I’d like, I don’t need them knowing my innermost thoughts,” she snapped angrily.

“Hmmm…” hummed the yeoman as she thought to herself. “I think I have an idea that’ll work for the future. But right now, we’ll skip the note taking.”

“Fine,” said Jack with a snort. Kelly could see the young woman eyeing her up like a piece of meat. She didn’t know whether it was some form of attraction or if she was measuring how easily it would be to break her in two.

“So, last time you just told me why you were angry. I didn’t understand entirely, so I was hoping we could start at the beginning,” said Kelly as she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall as well, trying to mimic Jack’s relaxed pose.

“You mean when Cerberus kidnapped me as an infant?” said Jack with poison in her voice. Immediately, Kelly’s defenses cracked. “Or how about when they locked me in a cell and fed me through a slot in my door?”

“Cerberus… did this to you?” asked Kelly, bewildered at the claim.

“Your goddamn right they did. When I was … I think I was seven,” said the biotic as she ran a hand over her smooth cranium. “They had me strapped to a table. They wanted to test a new biotic enhancing drug on me. They always made me sick so I started whining and crying like a bitch. That got me a backhand to the face,” she said as she reached up and rubbed her cheek. “Didn’t even cry after that, just so stunned it happened that I just stopped doing anything.”

Kelly could almost feel the disgust building up in her. But she hid it behind a barely contained smile. “Do you know what their goal was?”

Jack shrugged honestly. “They wanted to make a human super biotic. I don’t know if they had some measurable goal or endgame planned for me. Maybe if I hadn’t escaped the facility, they would have put a chip in my head and made me start fighting their enemies. Or maybe once they figured out the formula, they would have killed me and started the process over on new kids while brainwashing them.”

“So, you believe they were using you as the test subject so they could continue making biotic soldiers?” she asked as her hand began to grip her knee mercilessly.

“I don’t see an organization like Cerberus torturing kids for the fun of it,” said Jack with a glare. “Especially at that reported price tag. They used us, beat us, experimented on us, and then for entertainment, they put us in a ring and made us fight one another.

“You fought other kids?” asked Kelly in surprise.

Jack’s glare narrowed and she leaned forward, staring daggers at her. “Listen, Kitten, here are the facts. Unlike the other kids, I was locked up alone. The only time I got out of my cell was when they were sticking needles in me, cutting me open, or for fights. And when I didn’t fight, they tasered me. When I did fight, they gave me small doses of drugs. So, try and figure out how I come out on your shiny moral high ground in that situation.”

“I didn’t mean to imply…” said Kelly, stopping as she took a deep breath. “I’m not judging you Jack. I couldn’t begin to understand what you’ve been through.”

“You’re the first shrink who has ever admitted that,” said the biotic as she snorted. “Most just nod and go on writing in their stupid pretentious little books.”

“I understand why that would make you angry,” said Kelly with a sigh. She knew many in her profession couldn’t turn off the business. She understood that they had many patients they had to see, but also being cold and clinical in the profession seemed to only exacerbate issues. “Getting back on track, how about you tell me about your cell.”

“My cell?” asked Jack incredulously. “What’s to tell? It had a bed, a big window, a desk, and a bathroom with no door on it.”

Immediately, Kelly felt something pulling at her as she mentioned the furniture. “Your desk. What did you use it for?”

“I dunno. Sometimes I’d draw. Sometimes I’d write letters to people who would never be able to receive them,” she began, her expression falling as she stared a thousand yards. “I’d sometimes write my mom and ask her if she missed me. Ask her if I was here because I was bad, or if she was looking for me. I'd promise to be better if she came to get me,” said the biotic before she smirked. “What a dumbass kid…”

Getting to her feet, Kelly began pacing to make it look like she was thinking, but in reality she was hiding the fact that she felt her own heart breaking at every admission from Jack. “So, you used your desk a lot?”

Jack smirked at the question. “Yeah, I guess. Sometimes I’d climb under it and pretend I was on a ship to a different world. They’d sometimes let the kids outside watch cartoons. I’d have to watch through the window though, so no sound,” said the young biotic as she pulled out a sucker and popped it into her mouth. “Saw some shows about a bunch of people in spandex fighting, saw some traveling the galaxy. I thought I’d like to do the same someday, but on some level, I figured I was never getting out of that place.”

Kelly tilted her head as she turned to Jack again. “How about after you left the Teltin facility?”

“Not much better than in it. Every person I met used me and threw me away. Eventually, they started paying for that,” said Jack as she eyed the young woman. “What are we doing? We’re covering way too many topics to fix any of them. Seems like every time we start on one we move to the next.”

“Well, actually in order to ‘fix’ something psychologically,” said the yeoman using air quotes, as fixing was heavily subjective. “We have to trace our steps back and find the cause of it. And I think I’ve done just that…”

Jack’s surprised expression couldn’t be any more blatant. “You have? What? When?”

Sitting back down in her seat, Kelly laced her fingers together. “Jack, you said that any time you were out of your cell, you were either on the operating table or fighting for your life,” said Kelly, getting a nod from the biotic. “Then when you escaped the facility, anywhere you went, anyone you went with, they all tried to use and betray you. Right?” asked the yeoman, getting another nod. “About how long did these relationships last before you realized they were using you?”

Jack scratched her head as she pulled the sucker from her mouth. “I guess the cult would be the longest. It’s where I got this,” she said as she pointed to the halo-like tattoo around her skull. “I was with them maybe six months before I started to see how they planned to use me.” Then she shrugged. “The rest were all less corporate and more personal. They’d last anywhere from a week to two months depending. The longest personal one was that bitch on Omega.”

Nodding, Kelly let out a heavy sigh. “Jack, your inner world is your cell not because your brain is broken or you’re damaged beyond reason. It’s because it’s the only safe place you’ve ever had in your life,” said Kelly, noting that Jack’s jaw dropped at the claim. “Any time you talked about your desk, you smiled. Anytime you left the cell, you were tortured. When you escaped the cell, you continued to experience abuse, people using you, people trying to kill you.”

“I… but…” said Jack as she looked at the ground and clenched her head with her hands.

“From what I understand of this inner world, it constructs the world inside you out of things YOU associate with safety, with security. And literally the only thing you’ve ever considered safe was your cell,” she said getting a wide-eyed glare from Jack. The biotic stayed silent for a long moment, allowing Kelly to continue. “You’ve never lived anywhere else long enough for you to consider it safe. You’ve never met anyone who didn’t try to use you. You’ve never known anything safer than the cell where you wrote letters and played alone as a child.”

She had tried to hold back her sadness before, but when she saw tears stream from Jack’s eyes at the claim, she felt her own starting as well. She reached up and rubbed her own eyes as the biotic scrubbed away hers. Finally, Jack was glaring at her again. “So, aside from a goddamn lobotomy, what the fuck do I do about that?”

“You need to find somewhere you’re comfortable. You also need to meet people who aren’t going to try and use you,” she said with a light shrug. “Honestly, I think to fix it, you’re kind of already doing it.”

Jack gave an unamused stare. “What, you think me being around you all is going to make me feel all safe and snuggly?”

“I can’t say for sure. But your mind will tell you whether you find it safe with us,” said Kelly with a small grin. “Look, I understand you hatred of Cerberus. I…” she said looking down with a heated glare. “Really need to reconsider some stances I’ve taken in the past as well. But even if you ignore all of the non-ground crew, you’ve got Shepard herself. You know she hates Cerberus as much as you do.”

“True,” said Jack as she scratched her chin. “I hope you all have a plan for when we kick the collectors’ asses by the way. Either way, someone is going to be coming after you. Shepard or Cerberus,” said the biotic with a snicker.

Kelly gave her a deadpan look. “I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it,” said the yeoman unamused by her future prospects. “Then there’s Grunt. You and him are buddies.”

“He’s a thousand-pound battering ram of annihilation. Of course I’m friends with him,” said Jack in annoyance. “Though I guess I kinda get your point. Even coming aboard the Normandy I’m just waiting for everyone here to betray me too.”

“I don’t know if your inner world is ever going to change if you don’t allow yourself to make friends again,” said Kelly as she sat back in her seat.

Jack’s eyes narrowed on the yeoman, making her shrink slightly in fear in case she said something wrong. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re too smart to be with Cerberus?”

“Not… really,” said Kelly, taking the compliment.

“Consider a career change. Cerberus likes their lackeys dumb enough to follow orders without question,” said the biotic as she gave an aggressively defiant grin.

“I… have a lot of things in that vein to consider,” said Kelly as she stood up and grabbed her datapad. “In the meantime, I hope I’ve helped you out a little bit.”

“I don’t want to kill you. That’s all you get,” said Jack nonchalantly.

“I’ll take it,” said Kelly as she powered down the datapad and headed back up the stairs.

Nos Astra – Illium

She had been trying to get into contact since they had arrived on Illium. The only time she had ever gone dark were the later phases of the Lazarus Project when Shepard was supposed to be healing and getting up, something that was cut short thanks to Wilson. But ever since she had gotten onto the Normandy, she continued regular contact with the family once more.

But there was a period after Horizon where the messages stopped. It happened on occasion, especially around holidays. But even she knew something was off this time. Not only were the calls not going through, but the comms on which she would message the family began returning her messages. Something had happened and she wasn’t sure what, but it had her heart hammering against her ribcage as she flew over the city with her passenger clinging to anything he could.

Shepard had her business to take care of and it could be done without her assistance. She’d already spent a good amount of time upon arriving on Illium helping Shepard while trying to get in touch with her contacts here. But she’d had enough. She flew the aircar over the neighborhood that their house was in and landed directly outside of their suburban house. She spied the house curiously, trying to detect if anyone was inside or not. But she couldn’t tell. She saw their aircar parked under the car shed, which meant they should be home.

Finally, she turned to the person sitting in the seat next to her. “Garrus, I need your assistance.”

“Yeah, you said that when you practically threw me into the aircar back at the dock,” he said as he eyed her strangely. “What’s this all about Lawson? You broke three traffic laws on the way over here.”

“Yeah, what’s going on?” asked Tali from outside his open window, startling both the driver and passenger. Garrus had apparently been so startled that he accidentally hissed at her. “That was rude.”

“Goddammit… look!” snapped Miranda as she looked at them both. “Both of you swear a vow of secrecy to me here and now.”

“I promise not to tell anyone except Shepard,” said Tali with a stern glare.

“Uh…” said Garrus as he looked from one to the other. “What she said.”

“Look, I don’t care if Shepard knows, but she probably won’t need to. Just, don’t bring it up unless she asks, please?” begged Miranda as she clasped her hands together.

Both of them eyed her curiously before looking at the other. Finally, Tali spoke. “Fine.”

“Alright,” said Garrus as he looked over at Tali. “First question, how the hell did you get here?”

“I saw Miranda drag you away and refused to be left out of the loop. So, I tossed a Chatika projector into your vehicle and followed her signal here,” said the quarian as she glared at the XO. “I thought I was going to catch you two in some kind of spicy romance, but that’s clearly not the case.”

Miranda looked into the back seat of the car and saw the small drone staring up at her before sighing. “Whatever,” she said as she slapped the controls of the car. “Garrus, I need you to go knock on the door of that house for me.”

“Why don’t you do it?” asked the turian incredulously.

“Because that family adopted my sister and I want to make sure she is okay. But she doesn’t know I exist, and if she sees me, then I’ll have to explain a lot more than I want to,” said the woman anxiously.

“Would she recognize you?” asked Tali whose eyebrow rose behind her mask.

“We’re… twins. And we look enough alike that she would absolutely make the connection if she saw me,” said the woman as she looked between the pair. “Please…”

Garrus let out a heavy sigh before he ducked and exited the car. “Fine. Talk to me on the comm if you want me to ask anything else,” he said as he crossed the walkable road and approached the door. Tali slunk into his seat and stared out the window, watching as well as he walked up and hit the notification on the door.

Miranda watched for a long moment before the door finally opened and human man stood in the doorway. “Who the hell is that?”

“Not part of the family?” asked Tali curiously as she reached over and pushed the door open slightly.

“No,” said Miranda as Garrus finally began talking.

“Sorry, we got a call that there was a disturbance on the property. Are you mister… uh…” he started but realized he hadn’t asked the name of the family.

“The father’s name is Alvin Valentine,” said Miranda over the comm. She saw Garrus lean his head slightly as if hearing her, then continued.

“Sorry about that, are you mister Alvin Valentine?” asked the turian firmly.

“Who did you say you were with?” asked the man without answering the question.

“Something is wrong!” said Miranda, her voice shaking now.

“I’m a detective with the Lirelia PD. I’ll ask you again, are you Alvin Valentine?” asked Garrus as he stood firm in the doorway.

“I am. Everything is fine here, now get off my property,” ordered the man in a threatening tone.

“You 100% sure XO?” asked Garrus as he stopped the door from closing in front of him.

“I know Alvin, and that’s not him!” snapped the woman as she kicked the car door open. But she didn’t have to do anything. The human man swung the door open and got into Garrus’s face. The turian threw a ridiculously fast punch directly to the man’s nose and it seemingly shattered instantly, causing the man to scream as Garrus grabbed him by the throat and dragged him inside the house.

When Miranda finally made it inside the home, she was startled to find two more unconscious men laying on the floor of the living room, one of them laying in the shattered remains of the coffee table. “I’m going to assume none of these three armed men are your sister?”

 Miranda glared at him for a moment before looking at them closer. “No. I don’t recognize any of them,” she said as she lit her biotics and stood over the Alvin imposter. “Where the hell did my sister go? What did you do with her?”

The man chuckled despite his nose being shattered. “Fuck you…”

The XO’s anger flared and she was ready to end the man, but Tali grabbed her wrist and shook her head. “If your sister ends up coming back here, you don’t want her seeing his body.”

Growling, the XO turned away from them all and rubbed her face as her anxiety spiked. “What am I going to do? This is my father at work.”

“Whoever took them lied to them to get them out of the house,” said Garrus, causing the woman to look up at him. He pointed over to a pot on the stove. Tali walked over and touched the edge of it with the tips of her fingers. “There are no broken locks, no abrasions on the doors, no hacking attempts according to my readings,” he said as he also tapped the vidprojector in the living room. There was a movie on the screen that was paused. “There are no signs of a struggle whatsoever. Which means whoever came for them evacuated them. They didn’t take them by force.”

“They did so recently,” said Tali, causing Miranda to turn to her. She lifted the lid on the pot and showed wisps of steam coming off the food. “The food is still slightly warm, which means they likely only left hours ago.”

Miranda looked between them, thoughts of her sister in misery as her authoritarian father got his hands around her throat making her miserable. Yet these two had taken over in her stead and were piecing the puzzle together without even asking for her help. She pressed her stinging eyes with her fingertips, the stress of the situation bearing down on her. “Thank you… both of you,” she said as she leaned against the wall.

Garrus stepped outside of the door and looked around for a moment. She didn’t know what he was looking for, but he began walking over to another of the houses in the area while Tali came up and awkwardly patted her on the shoulder. “Look, Miranda…” said the quarian. The XO looked up at her, trying not to look as distraught as she felt. “You may be a… erm… Cerberus cheerleader bosh’tet, as Jack says. But I’m still going to help you in whatever way I can to get your sister back. Nobody deserves to have their family taken from them like that.”

Miranda chuckled at the attempt to insult her and just buried her face in her hands with a sigh. “Thank you,” she said before finally looking up at her. “I… I’m not going to say I understand your hatred a hundred percent, because I don’t think I ever could. But I want you to know that you’ll always be an ally to me.”

“I hope you keep singing that song when Cerberus comes after me,” said Tali with an amused chuckle as she looked down at one of the men who reached out and grabbed her ankle. Using her other foot, she kicked him hard enough to send him tumbling across the floor before stepping up to the door. “What is he doing?”

“I don’t know, he just walked over to that house,” said Miranda, her mind running a thousand miles a minute. She had to figure out how he found her, who helped him, and what his plans were. She didn’t care if she had to kill him this time, he wasn’t getting his slimy hands on her.

“What’s your sister’s name?” asked Tali as Garrus finally started marching back towards them.

“Oriana Valentine,” said the XO as the turian finally approached.

“The neighbor’s security camera caught the whole thing. They were dressed as police and used a police car to pick them up. So, whoever is behind it is attempting to relocate them without violence,” said Garrus as his mandible twitched at her. “That’s good news. It also means they’re easily traceable.”

“What if the cop car is fake?” asked Miranda curiously.

“This is the job of a professional, the kind who can hire a corrupt cop here in Nos Astra to do their dirty work for them. I doubt they’d risk screwing the whole thing up by having a fake cop car and getting nailed by the real police,” he said as he waved towards the car. “Bring the car closer so I can throw them in the trunk.”

“Okay, but what do we do now?” asked Miranda who was out of her depth at this point. She was smart, smarter than a lot of people. But when it came to crime solving, she was already over the deep end.

“We go get Shepard, and have the police track the ID number I saw on the police car. Then we get that officer to tell us where they took your sister,” said Garrus firmly. “In the meantime, I need you to harden yourself. You can get as emotional as you want once we’ve rescued her, but right now I need you as sharp as a blade.”

Miranda reached up and slapped herself so hard her cheek stung. Garrus eyed her curiously for a long moment before she shook her shaking hands and nodded. “Got it. Let’s do this,” she said as Tali landed the car right in front of the house.

Eternity Bar & Dance Club – Nos Astra – Illium

“Happy to finally be done here?” asked Liara curiously as she took a seat at the table in the bar.

Shepard sat across from her and gave a half-assed grin. “In a manner of speaking. I’d actually love to stay and visit with you and potentially see more of Illium without Eclipse shooting at me. But honestly, I do have to get out of here soon. I have to deliver our new human spectre candidate and now with all of the recruitment out of the way I can finally start getting things done.”

“Has the Illusive Man given you any new updates on the collectors?” asked the asari as Jack sat at another table and ordered a drink.

“Gimme a beer! And fried food if you have it,” said the biotic as she looked over at the two at the table next to them.

“Not yet, but we tore their ship up at Horizon. They might have needed some repairs after that,” said the spectre as Zaeed took his place across from Jack.

The asari bartender stepped over to them and nodded her head. “Anything I can get you all?”

“Something strong and concentrated in a shot,” said Shepard as she leaned back in her chair.

“I’ll just have some Nightbell,” said Liara in a demure tone.

Shepard immediately noticed the asari’s muted personality as the woman stood over them. Looking between them, she waited until the older woman had left before leaning forward. “That’s not… you know…?”

Liara stared at her for a long moment before shaking her head. “Oh, goddess no…” she said with a sigh before looking around. Tapping her omni-tool, she activated her shroud. “She’s a spy from the Conclave of Serrice on Thessia.”

Shepard’s brow rose curiously. “She’s here to spy on you?”

“Yes…” said Liara before she looked down at the table. “I’m also certain that she is my father.”

The spectre’s eyes widened as Jack and Zaeed began downing their beers. “You sure?” she asked as her eyes flicked over to the woman who was putting together a basket of fried vegetables at the bar for Jack. She had no face paint, but now that Liara said it the signs of her being a matriarch were there. Her skin was smooth beyond the youth of maidenhood and her eyes said she was beyond the matron phase as well.

“I’d say I’m around 99% sure. It’d be rather awkward for her to secretly reminisce over a photo of my younger self otherwise,” said the doctor with a small grin.

“Wait… you’re spying on the spy?” asked Shepard, almost amused.

Zaeed held up his beer and grinned himself. “Welcome to Illium, Shepard. Where the women are beautiful, the sunsets gorgeous, and nobody can mind their own goddamn business.”

Shepard chuckled as he then slammed the rest of his beer then looked back at Liara. “Have you talked to her?”

“And what would I say, Jane? Hi, hello, my name is Liara, but I’m sure you knew that because I saw you cradling a picture of myself while spying on you,” said the doctor in a very animated fashion. Jack snorted her beer and even Shepard had to plant her head on the table and laugh. “Honestly, I’m just trying to figure if the Conclave are using her to spy on me because she’s my father, or if she chose to in order to get close to me.”

“I’d say her keeping your picture around paints a pretty clear picture that she wants some kind of relationship. If she were here because she were ordered to be I doubt she’d bother with the picture once she found you,” said the spectre as the asari bartender came over and placed Jack’s food order on the table.

She then sat a shotglass of alcohol and an asari wineglass on theirs. “Hey, if one of you has a shroud on, can you turn it off? It’s fucking with the cash register,” she said with an almost annoyed tone in her voice.

“Oh…” said Liara, pretending to be surprised. “Apologies. I must have turned it on by accident.” The bartender nodded then headed back to the bar. “Perhaps you’re right…”

“Either way, the decision is yours to make. Not mine. You’ve already met my parents after all,” said the spectre with a playful grin. Liara smirked at her, then turned the shroud off. As soon as she did, Shepard’s omni-tool lit up with a call. Surprised by the urgent status, she activated it. “What’s going on?”

“Spectre, Operative Lawson, Garrus Vakarian, and Tali’Zorah are asking for you to meet them at the police department! They said it’s urgent!” said EDI, causing them all to stand up straight.

“What’s the issue?” asked Shepard as she threw a credit chit she knew was much more than they all spent onto the table.

“It appears someone close to Operative Lawson has been kidnapped and they’re tracking them down,” said the AI, causing Shepard to stop for a moment. Then she looked over at Liara.

“You’re coming with?” she asked the doctor.

“I don’t get out much anymore. I’d like to help if I can,” she said with a small smile.

Shepard smiled before nodding. “Alright EDI, fill me in on the way,” she ordered as the entire group left the bar.

CODEX ENTRIES

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.

Shroud | Technology | Security
Commonly used in the information sector, these devices produce a high energy field that scrambles any kind of listening device, blurs any recording devices, and prevents outsiders from listening in using electronic means. They commonly come in the form of watches, but can also be integrated into an omni-tool for convenience.

Chapter Text

Lirelia Police Department – Nos Astra – Illium

As soon as the door to the department opened, Shepard knew they on guard. The receptionist before had been understandably frustrated at being overworked, but now as the spectre approached the desk with Samara and Grunt behind her, her eyes flitted between the three of them anxiously.

Shepard stepped up to the desk and smiled at her. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to know which officer borrowed car AV2618 earlier today.”

“I… I don’t…” started the young asari woman.

But the spectre grinned in a manner that wasn’t pleasant at all. “I’m not going to ask again. Get me the identification of the officer who used vehicle number 2618. If you do not comply, I will get it myself and I assure you that you do not have enough people on the premises to stop me,” she said threateningly as she stared down at the woman.

“What the hell is going on here, Shepard?” asked detective Anaya as she stepped out of her office. Immediately the asari grimaced at seeing Samara standing in her station again next to a massive krogan.

“Earlier today one of your officers took someone from their homes under false pretenses and I’m going to find out why,” she said as she turned towards the detective. “Can I get your cooperation, or do I have to do this the hard way?”

Snorting, the detective strolled over to the receptionist’s desk and shoved her chair aside, causing her to roll away from the computer. “Fine,” she said as she opened the log on the computer. “What’s the number?”

“AV2618,” said the spectre as she eyed the woman.

A look of surprise dawned on Anaya’s face. “The hell was she doing out?” she said before looking over to the receptionist. “Why was chief Isana even out today?” The younger woman just shrugged. Sighing, the detective groaned before looking up at Shepard. “So, it turns out it was taken out by Liselia Police Chief Isana, the head of this entire department. What does this mean?”

“It depends on if they cooperate with me. Where are they?” asked Shepard as she unfolded her arms. Anaya stood up and waved for them to follow.

The asari led them back through the station to a lavish office in the rear of the building. As soon as the door opened, Shepard activated her omni-tool and sent a pulse out that disabled any electronics in the room. The commissioner who was on a phone call at the time pulled the device away from their ear and looked up in surprise as the four of them marched into her office. “What the hell is going on?”

Samara stepped forward first. Reaching down, she lifted the desk with her biotics and tossed it aside much to the surprise of the woman. “Do you know who I am?”

The chief stared up in fear as the justicar stood over her. “You’re the justicar… Samara…” said the woman, her comm now completely forgotten as she tried to back her chair away from the imposing asari.

“Good, that will make this easier,” Samara said as Anaya went to get between them.

But Grunt stopped her and shook his head. “Don’t even try it, detective,” he said before shoving her backwards.

“You are going to tell me where you took the family of Oriana Valentine,” said the justicar as she bent forward a bit, staring directly into the asari woman’s eyes. “Using your authority to mislead the innocent is a very serious crime worthy of death. Pay penance and assist in their recovery and I will leave this station with you standing in it. But try to deceive me or the spectre and there will be nothing left of you to send home to your next of kin.”

The chief apparently took the threat very seriously coming from a justicar as she got to her knees and bowed her head down to the floor. “Please, forgive me justicar!” said Isana desperately. “The Eclipse forced me to comply and escort the family to dock 3316 for departure. They didn’t tell me why, all they gave me was the family name and the location for drop off!”

Shepard stepped forward her head tilted in curiosity. “What do the Eclipse have on you that they could force you to do something like this?”

“Twenty thousand credits worth of gambling debt…” said the chief as she finally sat up on her haunches again. “They said they’d cut it in half if I delivered the family.”

Shepard groaned and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Never changes. Anywhere I go there’s always some shady group who has an in with the police,” she growled before turning to Grunt. “You stay here with the chief. If she tries to call anyone or warn anyone, make her regret it,” ordered Shepard as she turned to Samara. “Follow me,” she said as she led them back to the front side of the small department. Raising her voice, she began to shout. “I’ve just given the order for a wet blanket to cover this entire department. Nobody can call in, nobody can call out. You all are going to stay here until I’m finished dealing with the Eclipse. If you try to leave, Samara and the rest of my squad watching from the outside will discourage you,” she said as she turned to the justicar. Samara nodded and Shepard headed out the door.

Liara was waiting outside with Tali, Jack, and Miranda. The asari gave her a small smile. “I haven’t seen you that wound up since you asked Anderson to knock Udina senseless.”

“Corruption always pisses me off,” said the spectre as she headed for the nearby shuttle. Activating her comm, she opened the door to the shuttle. “Thane, Garrus, if anyone so much as sees daylight before I give the all clear, make sure they’re hopping to work from now on.”

“Understood,” came Thane’s response.

“Got it, Shepard,” said Garrus through his comm.

Dock 3310 – Nos Astra Port – Illium

Miranda shook her head in annoyance as they all recovered from the crash landing. Looking over, she saw Shepard was more pissed than hurt, which was exactly what she needed right now. Reaching over, she opened the door to the shuttle and stepped outside. The others followed soon, all of them armed and armored. She pulled a pistol from her side as she looked over at the smoking shuttle they had unceremoniously land in.

“Well, we’re not getting back in that,” said Liara as she let her biotics cover her from head to toe.

Jack jumped free from the back seat and growled. “Alright, who do I have to tear to pieces?”

It only took moments for her to get her answer as a small troop carrier landed in front of them. A human man with the Eclipse logo emblazoned on his armor was hanging off the side and stepped up to them. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Miranda glared at him as he was clearly talking to her. “So, you know who I am then?”

“Yeah, the boss said you might get involved. You’re the bitch that kidnapped the little girl,” said the man with a sneer as he looked her up and down without even hiding his intentions.

“This doesn’t involve you. I’d advise you to leave if you value your lives,” snapped Miranda angrily.

The man just shook his head and chuckled. “You think you’ve got it all lined up, dontcha?” he said with a smirk. “Captain Enyala already has the kid.”

“How did you find her?” asked Miranda angrily, but even her anger was doused by the surprise of Jack stepping forward.

“Tell her what she wants to know before I pop your head off like a beer cap,” growled the convict angrily.

“Oh, we have our ways,” said the man as he gave the biotic young woman a sleezy grin.

But his grin vanished when Shepard placed her hand on his collar and held him back at arm’s distance. “I’m giving you once chance to learn from the mistakes of the other Eclipse losers on this planet. Take it and get out of here before you suffer the same fate they did,” growled the spectre as her eyes already glowed red.

“Fuck off! My men have been lining up shots since you got out of the car! So, I’d recommend you walk away and go back to-“ he began angrily, but he stopped almost instantly.

Miranda almost didn’t see what the spectre had done. Within the span of a second, she had created one of her glowing blades and thrust it up under the man’s chin, past his shields, and into his head. Her visor sealed and her armor lit up with hard light plating as she lifted the man’s lifeless body up and carried it in front of her as a shield.

The XO didn’t know if they were terrified of Shepard or horrified at what she had done. But his men took a full ten seconds to start firing at her, their rounds now deflecting off the shields and body of their ally. But it was too late for that. The men that he had claimed were lining up shots were pitifully unprepared for the power of the Normandy crew. Liara and Jack blasted them into oblivion with their biotics while Shepard threw the tacky man’s corpse aside.

The operative stepped up to Shepard urgently. “The police chief said they took her to dock 3316 and we’re at 3310. With the shuttle fried, we’re going to have to fight our way there on foot.”

“Fine with me,” said Shepard as she pulled a battle rifle off her back and checked it. “Just make sure to alert us if you sister is on the battlefield,” she said before activating her comm. “EDI, the docks are on emergency shutdown due to the firefight we just won. If any ships try to skip town, disable them.”

“Understood, Spectre,” came the AI’s voice over the comm.

Dock 3314 – Nos Astra Port – Illium

Shepard ejected a heat sink in her rifle, sending the superheated device skittering across the floor. She let out a heavy sigh as she kicked the body of the groaning man in Eclipse armor over and looked down at him, her glowing eyes locked in a scowl. “Give me a reason to leave you alive and tell me how you found Oriana Valentine,” ordered the spectre as she knelt down next to the man who had three separate shots in his leg.

The man was breathing rapidly, panicking at the immense pain he was feeling. “Enyala got ahold of some guy named Niket…” he said through his gasps of pain. “Made him talk.”

Miranda growled and lit her biotics angrily. “Niket would never talk you lying bastard!” she snapped as she pointed at the man accusingly.

Shepard stood and looked up to Miranda. “Who is Niket?”

“He’s a good friend of mine. The only one I trust,” she said as she clenched her fist. “Now isn’t the time for details, but he knew my father and knew how terrible he is. He’s trained and I’ve seen him withstand torture of all kinds. There’s no way these damn mercenaries got him to talk.”

“These are asari commandos,” said Shepard as Miranda’s doubting expression grew. “Look, whatever is going on, I’m sure we’ll find out when we get there.”

Tali spun her shotgun expertly before stepping up to them as well. “I’m surprised you came along, Jack.”

Shepard waved for them all to follow her as the biotic responded. “Just because her sister is a bouncing bubbly bitch doesn’t mean she deserves to get taken away from her family,” said the convict with a glare.

“Speaking of, you said this was your twin,” said Liara as she activated the elevator to the next area. “Why do the mercs keep talking as if they’ve kidnapped a kid?”

“Well, she’s not a kid. At least anymore,” said Miranda as she leaned against the wall of the elevator. “When I ran away from my father the Illusive Man hid me from him, making sure that he’d never be able to get to me. When he realized chasing me was futile, he tried to start over.”

“Start over? What, he had another kid?” asked Jack incredulously.

“He doesn’t have kids,” said Miranda with an icy glare. “He manufactures them. He uses gene selection with the top of the line genetic technology to make the perfect woman. He isolates traits in genes from women all over the galaxy.” She turned and motioned towards her body. “Everything I am is something he picked from other woman.”

“Putting everything he desires from women into a daughter is worrying,” said Tali with a shutter in her voice.

“And now you understand why I ran away. He wasn’t making me and my sisters an heir. He was trying to make us into the perfect wife,” she growled angrily, leaving a look of shock on everyone’s faces. “When I heard that he tried to start over and created a new child, I waited until she was old enough, made plans with the Valentine family, and I stole her from him. And I’ll continue to do so until he dies a bitter, lonely, perverted old bastard.”

“Goddess, I hadn’t realized he was that depraved,” said Liara in shock as the elevator finally stopped.

“Nobody does. He’s a handsome, rich, charismatic businessman. He could bring a literal slave from Illium to the Presidium of the Citadel, and nobody would dare question his character,” said the XO as she turned and faced the opening doors. “What’s it to him to lock us away in a gilded cage until we’re old enough to give him a proper heir? All he’d have to do is give people some lame excuse about how we met.”

“Alright…” growled Jack, her face set in a scowl. “Cerberus can still go fuck itself, but I can one hundred percent understand doing anything to get away from him. Let me find him and I’ll rip the skin from his body.”

Miranda chuckled as Shepard picked up a signal from the next dock over. “They’ve broken through to the processing yard! Tell Niket to get the damn girl out of here!” snapped the voice over the comm.

Miranda’s eyes widened at the claim. “Niket? No… that can’t…” she started saying as the realization suddenly hit her. “He… he wasn’t tortured…”

“Sounds like he gave them the information and helped to get Oriana away from the family,” said Liara as she stepped out to see a bunch of Eclipse mechs marching through the cargo processing yard.

“How could he…?” asked Miranda angrily before lifting her weapon and blasting the nearest mech to scrap as it started shooting at them. Dozens of more mechs stood up from behind the cargo littered about the area. With rage fueling her, she dove at a group of four and landed among them, using her biotics to scatter them across the yard.

Several shots began to ping off her shields, but the mechs in question lasted only seconds as the convict brought down an entire baggage lift  that crushed them beneath it. Leaping forward, Jack’s suede jacket ruffled from the impact of a rocket fired from an YMIR mech near the back, her biotics blocking most of the shot. “Bastard!” shouted the tattooed woman as she picked up loads of cargo in front of her and used it to block the incoming chaingun fire.

Shepard and Liara soared together on the other side of the yard. Mechs rained fire down on them, but Liara’s shield blocked anything and everything that came their way. They moved together, her shields blocking outside fire as the spectre closed in on each one and blasted their brain casing open, leaving them as scrap metal.

“I can take care of one of the YMIR mechs at the back. But there are still two more!” shouted Tali as she operated her omni-tool. Her Chatika zoomed up it’s back and used a bolt of superheated arcing electricity to burn through the hack-proof casing. Once done, the drone shrunk and rolled inside, her three fingers tapping rapidly. “I’ll hold them off as long as I can!” Suddenly, the mech she had invaded turned and began blasting at the shielding of the other two mechs on the yard, causing them to turn on it as well.

Shepard nodded to Liara before throwing her pistol up to her. Sliding another blade out of her gauntlet, she began spinning and slicing through their heads as she came into contact. Liara moved quicker as well, one of her hands taking hold of Shepard’s pistol, she began to assist in destroying the annoying LOKI mechs that polluted the yard.

“This has to be the last group, right?” asked Jack as sweat covered her naked brow. She had probably used her biotics more over the last couple of days than she had in a long time. Even the battle on Horizon had been short and sweet compared to them fighting through multiple cargo yards and ports full of mercenaries and mechs.

“I’ll try to take some of them out with this one!” shouted Tali as the YMIR she was controlling turned and blasted a group of advancing mechs away from the pair. It was already barely holding together as the other mechs tore it down. Finally, with a loud whine, it folded in on itself and exploded with the power of an artillery shell. The blast nearly blew the other two off their feet.

Jack growled and jumped forward again, landing nearby one of the large robots and lifting it into the air. She tried to crush it again but felt herself wobble on unsteady feet. The robot slammed down again and raised its chain gun directly at the convict. Miranda focused her mind like a blade and waved her hand. The mech stopped as the wave of biotics passed it, then its arms fell off. Seemingly looking at its detached limbs, the robot’s upper half then began to slide sideways until the entire thing fell in half, her biotics cutting clean through the entire thing.

Jack panted heavily and looked up at her. “Not bad, Jiggles. Maybe I’ll let you teach me that someday,” said the biotic woman as she tried to stand. Miranda reached down and helped her, getting a glare from the young woman. But she ignored the glare and helped her up and Shepard and Liara finally caught up to the mech on their side.

As soon as they were within range, Shepard vanished from Liara’s bubble and appeared behind it, her glowing blade sinking to the hilt into its motherboard. The heated and serrated edge melted through the polycarbonate plating, then stabbed through its control chip, resulting in it spasming wildly before finally shorting out. Liara lowered her shield long enough to reach out with her biotics and rip its head off before it could try anything funny. Finally, they all sighed as they looked at the carnage.

Tali shook her head as she reached them. “I hope they’re putting this on Eclipse’s tab…”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ll make sure the penalties go to the right place,” said Liara with a sweet smile.

“You’re scary now,” said Tali worried as she took a step back.

Shepard chuckled at the pair before looking over to Miranda and Jack. “You alright?” she asked the tattooed woman.

Jack sighed and wiped a small amount of blood as it dripped from her nose. “Think my tank is about empty. I guess that blue bombshell back on the Normandy was right. I need to train more.”

“You’ve been using nothing but your biotics as a weapon for the last hour and a half. If any of us had done that, we’d have gone comatose,” said Miranda as she helped her into the final elevator.

“I’ve got enough juice to defend myself,” said Jack as she spat on the floor. “But whoever is left you might have to take on your own.”

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem,” said Liara as she handed Shepard’s pistol back to her.

The spectre opened the doorway that led to the next yard and turned to the others as they boarded. “I doubt there are many left, but the ones that are left are commandos. Do not take them lightly,” she said as she checked her pistol.

“Niket… how could you?” asked Miranda as she began to pace inside the moving elevator.

“You said Niket helped you escape. Did he know about Oriana?” asked Shepard curiously as she leaned against the wall.

“No. I hadn’t even told him Oriana existed. But even if he found out, he knows how terrible my father is,” said Miranda as she ran a hand through her raven hair.

“Okay, but did he know about the wife thing? Or did he just think you stole a kid from her rich dad?” asked Jack as she stared up at the XO. “Because one sounds waaay worse than the other.”

“Fuck…” growled the operative as she hit her head against the wall. “But… why wouldn’t he come and ask me instead of this!?”

“Only one way to find out,” said Tali as she shook her head.

Dock 3316 Cargo Area – Nos Astra Port – Illium

When the door finally opened, Shepard knew what was going on, and it wasn’t good news for Miranda who was holding out any hope that her friend hadn’t betrayed her. There were three Eclipse mercenaries left, all three of them asari commandos, and a human man that looked to be in his mid 20s standing on the final dock. As soon as they arrived, all three of the asari drew their weapons, making things extremely tense. But nobody fired.

Miranda’s face was a mask of ice as she glared at the human man in front of her. It took him a long moment to analyze her before he finally seemed to recognize her. “Miri?”

One of the asari woman smirked as she stood up from her spot on a cargo crate and let her shotgun hang. “Good, something to break the boredom.”

But Miranda ignored the asari woman and focused her heated glare on the human. “Niket…” she said as she raised her weapon and aimed it directly at him. “How could you sell me out? After everything we’ve been through, after you helped me, you finally took his money?”

The man’s face soured immediately, his hand brushing over his five-o-clock shadow in annoyance. “I helped you because you wanted help, Miri,” growled the man as he glared back at her. “That was your choice. But I had to find out from your father that you stole your baby sister.”

“I didn’t steal her! I rescued her!” snapped Miranda, the pain in her voice apparent.

“From a life of wealth and happiness?” said the man dismissively as he waved off her claim. “You weren’t saving her. You were just getting back at your father.”

“Goddammit Niket! You don’t know the first damn thing about me and my father!” she jabbed as she took another step closer, her gun now a meter away from him. If he was afraid, he didn’t show it at all. “You clueless, bumbling, idiot!”

“What don’t I know? That the little spoiled rich girl would throw away her father’s gifts and do anything to get back at him? You know how many times I’ve seen this cliché?” he asked bitterly. “Unlike you, I grew up destitute, Miri. I didn’t have the choice to throw away my rich parents and go at it on my own. And that’s not a choice you should have made for her!”

“We aren’t his daughters you yammering fool!” snapped Miranda, getting a surprised look from Niket. “He was creating us as his genetically perfect brides!”

“I… uh… wha?” asked the man in confusing. “No… but you said he was your father. You said he…”

“Wanted me as an heir?” she asked, tears in her eyes at his betrayal. “I told you that because the things he did to me, the things he said to me were too personal and painful to tell even you! You were my goddamn friend! The only friend I had, we were supposed to trust each other!”

“I-I…” he stuttered, all of his former bitterness shattered at the single claim. “Fucking hell…”

“Where is Oriana?” asked Shepard plainly, cutting through the emotional back and forth.

“She… She and her family are on an airship ready to leave,” said Niket as he looked down at the ground with a guilty expression. “The port shut down before we could get them off world.”

“Alright,” said Shepard as she turned to the head asari among the three. “Captain Enyala I presume?”

“Spectre Shepard. Heard a lot about you,” said the asari as she glared at her through the visor.

“Then you’ve heard what happens to people who get in my way,” said the spectre as she glared back. “When it comes to fighting Eclipse, it’s 3-0 in my favor. I’d advise you not to bet on those odds. Give me the family and walk away with what remains of your group.”

“Holy shit. You humans are as arrogant as I’ve heard,” said the asari with an amused smirk. “I’ll easily be able to rebuild my group after I kill you. My reputation with the first human spectre’s head on my wall? I’ll have people lining up for kilometers,” snapped the merc as she raised her weapon.

But Niket got in front of her. “No! Stop this dammit!” he said as he turned back to Miranda. “I’m… sorry Miranda, I didn’t realize…”

“No, you didn’t. The part that hurts most is you didn’t even ask. You just assumed you had the whole thing figured out,” she said glaring daggers at him.

“Enough,” said Niket as he held his hands up to stop Enyala from attacking. “What she said changes everything. I’m letting them take the fam-“

“The hell you are. Your conscience isn’t getting me paid,” snapped the commando as she lifted her weapon.

Miranda’s eyes widened as the sound of the captain’s shotgun echoed around the room. Niket flew backwards, his chest blown open from the attack as he landed directly in front of her. She reacted on pure instinct and lashed out with her biotics, picking up the captain and hurling her across the dock before sprinting after her.

The other two asari moved to attack Miranda as she flew by, but Shepard fired at one and stood in front of the other. “You two can dance with us,” she ordered as she turned to Tali. “Think you can handle one of them?”

“Oh, I’ve got this,” said the quarian as she began to circle her opponent.

Shepard turned to the other as she held her arms akimbo. “The same offer goes to you. Leave here and you can take over what’s left of the Eclipse when Enyala is dead.”

The asari’s stare darkened as Miranda began firing her weapon in the distance. “Confidence born of ignorance. I’ve been a mercenary since before you humans even discovered electricity.”

“And yet the entire galaxy only knows one of our names…” said the spectre with a demeaning grin.

“You will pay for your insolence!” snapped the Eclipse boss angrily.

“This is my first fight with an actual commando,” said Shepard with a grin. “Don’t disappoint me now.” The asari snarled and pointed with a single finger. Shepard assumed that was one of those attacks that could penetrate through her armor. She spun away from the attack before dodging another and another. From the looks of it, the asari was attempting to end the fight fast. “Liara, keep Jack safe.”

“Worry about your goddamn self, Shepard,” barked the convict with a middle finger in the air.

Shepard gripped her pistol and decided to start leaning into offense. The commando aimed at her again, but she was surprised to see nothing but air in front of her. Suddenly, she gasped in pain as a gunshot impacted the armor directly between her shoulders. Spinning around, she slashed with her biotics again, but only met air as the spectre vanished once more. Another shot, this time to the armored hip.

Jane knew these were likely only bruising her, but she knew what she was dealing with. This commando hadn’t been in a fight without her group in so long that she had lost the ability to fight on her own. She was automatically using her most dangerous and effective move and would be exhausted within a matter of minutes. She could only react to whatever Shepard did to her. The spectre sighed to herself as she realized that she wasn’t going to get a genuine challenge out of this fight.

The asari, having been humiliated enough it seemed, threw out a biotic shield that hurled Shepard backwards. But the spectre rolled to her feet and shook her head. “Do you really think that’s going to save you?” she asked with an amused grin. She held up her omni-tool which showed a flashing indicator on it. The asari saw it, her eyes widening as she looked around in panic. But she never stood a chance as Shepard detonated the explosive she had planted during the early moments of the fight.

Fire swallowed the asari, tearing her apart and being held in for mere fractions of a moment by her dying barrier before it finally winked out. When the smoke cleared, Shepard stepped up to the asari who was likely in so much agony that all she could do was groan. Raising her pistol, she ended her mercifully once and for all.

Tali circled around her own commando as she eyed her up and down. “So, have you ever fought a quarian before?”

“Plenty. All of them dead,” said the other commando with a sneer.

“Prepare to be surprised,” said the engineer as she sprinted towards the asari. She was apparently much faster than the merc had expected if the surprise on her face was any indicator. Leaping up, Tali lashed out and dealt a glancing blow to the side of the woman’s head, sending her crashing heavily into the ground. But she was quick and managed to roll back to her feet with her weapon up and drawn.

The merc began firing on her with a sub-machine gun, but that attempt was ended as Tali overloaded the heatsink in the gun, causing the woman to drop her weapon as it burned her hand. “Goddess!” snapped the asari as she then tried to reach out with her biotics. But as if she was made from water, the quarian flowed around the attacks by ducking backwards, flipping to the side, and leaping over them. Sliding between her legs, Tali thrust both feet into her back with full force, causing the woman to fly and crash into the nearby bench.

Grunting in pain, the mercenary go to her feet again and pulled out a serrated dagger. The quarian planted her hands on her wide hips and tilted her head to the side. “As adorable as that is, I doubt it’s even big enough to penetrate my suit,” she said mockingly. The asari threw another biotic attack that Tali countered by tossing the woman’s own malfunctioning gun into its path. The asari closed in on Tali and swing the blade at her, aiming for the throat.

But Tali took a one-legged step back, leaning back far enough to dodge, before then leaning forward and swinging in with a full force kick. The asari woman screamed as the brutal kick impacted her knee and obliterated the cap, leaving the limb bent the wrong direction. She attempted to swing the knife again, her biotics now raging in fear around her body. But Tali simply ducked the attack and kicked out once again, impacting the asari’s hand and ending her life as the woman’s own blade buried itself in her throat.

The asari fell backwards, a look of shock on her face as her purple blood poured from the wound. Tali simply walked forwards, took the shotgun from her back and ended the woman before she could do much of anything else. “Bosh’tet,” growled the commander as she turned towards the others.

Shepard and Tali approached with their weapons drawn, but it was clear to the spectre that the fight had been over for a while. When they showed up, Miranda was using her biotics to pummel Enyala’s dead body into the ground over and over again as tears streamed down her face. The commando’s body was no longer recognizable.

Shepard put her weapon away before moving forward and gripping Miranda in a full body hug. “What are you doing!?” snapped the XO as she glared at the spectre.

“It’s alright, it’s over,” said Shepard as she looked down at her. “They’re dead.”

Miranda’s angry expression vanished as if she just realized she had been literally beating a dead asari. Finally, she leaned her head on Shepard’s shoulder and clenched her fists. “Why did she have to kill him?”

“I know. Come on, we’ll see he gets taken care of. In the meantime, let’s go get your sister,” said the spectre as she moved from a hug to just having her arm over her shoulders. Reaching up, she activated her comm. “EDI, alert Grunt and Samara and tell them they’re free to return to the Normandy. And deactivate the wet blanket over the station.”

“Will the police let Grunt and Samara just walk away?” asked the AI curiously.

“If they don’t, remind them what’s happened to Eclipse since I’ve arrived on Illium,” she said sourly. “Oh, and tell Detective Anaya to get a patrol and medical staff to the docks. There’s a pretty big mess to clean up down here.”

“Understood, Spectre,” said the AI as the comm was closed.

Dock 3316 Departure – Nos Astra Docks – Illium

The small group made their way to the ship in question. But when they opened it, they found it abandoned. Shepard and Miranda double checked every compartment of the small craft but found nobody aboard, not even the pilot. Shepard stepped outside the craft again and looked up to see a young woman jogging towards them, her hand waving in the air.

The spectre stepped down the small staircase to the dock floor and her eyes widened as she realized how literal Miranda was talking. She looked almost exactly like the XO with the exception of having shorter hair and being obviously at least a decade younger. “Miranda, she’s out here.”

“I… I can’t come out, Shepard,” said the operative inside the ship.

The young woman finally reached her and Shepard could see that the mother and father were now coming after her. “Are you with the…” started the young woman as her eyes grew wide. “You’re… Shepard! The spectre!”

The family stopped behind her with worried expressions as they heard her claim. Shepard just smiled at the younger version of her XO and nodded. “I am Spectre Jane Shepard,” she said as she reached up for her comm. “Hold that thought,” she said before turning around and activating it. “Miranda, half the reason this family was fooled into leaving their home was because they didn’t have a solid grasp on who to trust. Do you really want to gamble that someone will come along again in the future and try this?”

“But… you don’t understand! If she knows about me…” snapped the operative anxiously.

“I do understand,” said Shepard with a sigh. “But would it kill her to know she has a big sister who cares for her?” asked the spectre as she looked up at the doorway of the ship. “If you come down now, then she’ll be safer than before given you’re the only one with information on her.”

Shepard very clearly heard her sigh over the comm. “Alright…” said the woman as she stepped out into the daylight of the docking yard. Oriana looked up at the woman as she stepped down and approached, her eyes widening again as the resemblance became clear. “Hi…” was all Miranda could get out. She stared down at the ground, her entire being right now exuding the energy of a vibrating mass of anxiety.

The young woman glared at her for a long moment before pointing directly into her face, getting a gasp from Tali. “I knew it!” she snapped as she turned to her parents. “I knew it! You filthy liars!” she snapped, half accusing and half playful.

“I-I’m sorry… I couldn’t-“ started the XO as she tried to think of any excuse she could. But she went dead silent as the girl spun around again and threw herself into a tight hug. With a look of shock on her face, Miranda looked down at her sister who was squeezing her tightly before wrapping her arms around her back and hugging her tight.

If Shepard were honest, Miranda was an absolute mess. Her hair was wild from the overuse and static build up of biotics, what little makeup she used had been annihilated by sweat and crying, and she just plain looked exhausted. But never in her entire time of knowing her had she seen a more genuine smile on her face than she did as she hugged her sister back.

Captain’s Quarters – SSV Normandy SR2

She sighed as she entered the room and immediately pulled her shirt off and threw it into a laundry basket. She felt the entire weight of that hour long battle across the docks in her bones now, making her want nothing more than to just turn the shower on the hottest setting and fall asleep inside it. Unfortunately, that’d mean the worst for the ship’s water pressure and it’d probably overtax the filtration system, so just a regular shower would have to do for now.

She did consider as she sat down at her desk the option of going back to the Citadel for one of those sessions with Sha’ira’s underlings. A massage would be glorious right now. But she brushed her aches and pains aside because she had work to do. Miranda, after speaking extensively with the family, decided it was best if they moved. Even with all the witnesses dead, it wasn’t safe for the family to stay where they were any longer. Too many people still alive, mostly the police involved, knew where they lived.

So, the operative asked Shepard for assistance, and immediately she and Garrus both knew the solution to the problem. This involved escorting the family back to their place to help them pack, which Grunt and Jacob were assisting with. But furthermore, it required the help of Sidonis and his new profession on the Citadel. Originally, the spectre was just going to leave him to his own devices. But now it looked like she’d have to help him with the foundation and make this an actual thing.

She had done similar things many times before with political prisoners, mainly batarians, that she had rescued from Kar’Shan’s oppressive regime. She had to pluck them from everything they had ever known and plant them in an entirely new environment. It was one of her favorite things to see the abused trying to adapt to new, less abusive environments. Many grew into it slowly, spending each day stepping out of their comfort zone to go to the grocery story and flinching as people spoke to them, bowing their heads extremely low as they passed law enforcement on the street, or just stayed in the comfort of their homes.

But then some took to it a little too quickly. She chuckled to herself as she found out that the batarian Hegemony on Kar’Shan banned pornographic material from their extranet, and one of the first things that the people freed from their control did was discover pornography of all kinds and used it almost religiously.

She shook her head and snorted in amusement. She was lucky she never had to live under that kind of control before. Now, she was considering investing in Sidonis’s new business and helping him out with the legality of what he was doing. Because if she was going to put her faith in him, she knew she was going to do everything in her power to make sure he succeeded. Opening her terminal, she moved to send a letter to Sidonis when she found another mail in her own account. It was specifically in her government account for spectre, meaning it must have been important.

But as she read the tag line on the email, she sighed to herself and glared. Clicking on it, it opened into a glowing and fancy invitational letter similar to the one she had received from the royal couple years ago. But this time, it wasn’t from some rich couple, it was from someone she was expecting. She read through the email and nodded. “EDI,” she said as she closed the email.

“What can I do for you, Spectre?” asked the AI curiously.

“Tell Kasumi Goto to meet me in my quarters when she gets a moment,” ordered the woman as she closed the terminal and decided to get her shower in before any meetings.

“I will let her know when I manage to find her again, Spectre,” said EDI playfully as she disappeared from her spot by the door.

CODEX ENTRIES

Wet Blanket | Technology | Military
An electromagnetic pulsing weapon that shuts down most modern electronic devices. Unlike old school electromagnetic pulse weapons that were a single instant burst, this one is less powerful but consistent. This prevents it from frying the components of running devices, but its consistency keeps them from working at all until the pulse is lifted.

Chapter Text

Captain’s Quarters – SSV Normandy SR2

Shepard sighed to herself miserably. She knew this was coming, she tried to prepare herself mentally for it, but no amount of anticipation was capable of making her happy about it. But she made a promise, and she wasn’t about to fall through at the last moment. She sat on the couch in her lounge area and waved for Kelly to have a seat opposite of her.

The young woman’s eyes widened as she saw her room and how spacious it was. “Perks of saving the galaxy I suppose,” said the yeoman as she finally took a seat. Shepard nodded with a grin and looked down to realize that she had forgotten to put away the half glued together models on her table.

“Sorry,” said the spectre as she reached down to grab them and shove them somewhere.

Kelly waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. They’re not in the way.”

“But it looks like a mess, I should really-“ said Shepard as she stood up to grab them.

“Shepard,” said the yeoman with an accusing grin. The spectre stopped and looked at her. “The faster we start, the sooner it’s over. Putting it off doesn’t help anyone.”

Sighing again, Shepard plopped down on the couch and stretched her arms over the back of the furniture. “Fine.”

“So,” said the young woman as she leaned back as well and looked Shepard up and down. “According to Miranda, you had some small form of amnesia when you woke up from Lazarus Station. But the memories partially returned to you on Purgatory?”

“Yeah,” said the spectre as she looked up at the ceiling.

“What do you think the trigger was that gave you back your memories?” asked the yeoman as she crossed her legs.

“It was the collectors. Or… I guess their ship more specifically,” said Shepard as she ruffled her own hair nervously.

“Right. I wasn’t on duty at the time it happened,” said Kelly as she typed on her datapad. “Joker said that when you went to grab Jack from the prison, the warden tried to capture you and sell you to the collectors.”

“Yeah, and now he’s dead,” said the woman with a smirk. Then it faded. “We were minutes away from boarding the ship and leaving that hell hole when the collectors arrived to take me. And I guess I didn’t realize it, but it’s the first time I had seen their ship since my death.”

“Now that you remember most of it, do you mind going over it with me?” asked Kelly curiously as she rested her chin in her palm.

Shepard eyed her sternly before letting out what felt like her thousandth sigh. Closing her eyes, she searched her memories again.

“Hey Shepard, we’ve arrived,” said Joker over the comm as the spectre stood at the galaxy map. “So, you wanna tell me what we’re doing here now? You’ve been kinda vague this whole time.”

Shepard focused on the galaxy map and brought the planet of Alchera’s surface into view. She was already in her armor in case they needed to surface with Liara and Ash alongside her. “Call it closure,” she said as she looked over at the communications officer. “Do we have any signals coming from the surface?”

“Nothing at the moment, Spectre,” said Tanaka as he turned to her. “If I knew what we were looking for I could try searching more thoroughly.”

Shepard shook her head and leaned on the bar. “Honestly, I’m not sure what it is we’re looking for either.”

“What brought us here?” asked Ash from the side as she held her helmet on her hip.

Shepard recalled his exact words in her head. “Saren’s last words were to tell me to go to Alchera. Why?”

“Dunno. Maybe he was screwing with your head?” said the chief with a shrug.

Liara shook her head. “I doubt that would be the last thing he did before taking his own life,” said the asari as she looked down. “To be honest, he seemed less like an agent of Sovereign and more like a desperate man at the end of his rope in those last moments.”

“If I thought he was just messing with me I wouldn’t be here,” said Shepard as she crossed her arms and stared at the planet. “Why would he use his last words to tell me to come here?”

“Spectre!” snapped Gladstone from his station.

Shepard eyed the man, curious about the worry in his voice. “What is it?”

“A ship just dropped into the system,” he said as he began typing rapidly.

Navigator Pressly scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Why the hell would anyone be coming here?”

“Spectre, it’s on intercept course!” said Gladstone with worry in his voice.

Everyone in the CIC looked at him oddly. “That’s impossible. We’re in stealth!” said Pressly incredulously.

“Are you sure?” asked Shepard, her commanding tone cutting the chatter in the bridge.

“Closing in, sir!” shouted the lieutenant.

“Preparing for evasive maneuvers!” shouted Joker from the front of the ship.

“Get to battle stations!” shouted Shepard as she took her helmet and slammed it onto her head. Ash and Liara followed, and as soon as they did the ship rocked, sending Shepard, Ash, and Liara flying back and impacting the wall behind them. Shepard shook her head and looked up just in time to see a beam of light shoot directly through the center of the CIC. Her eyes widened and she grabbed a hold of the handrail around her elevated position near the map. “Seal yourself and hold on!” she shouted to the crew as the ship began to decompress.

The oxygen in the CIC rushed from the bridge violently, many of the non-suited crew mates being torn from their seats and ripped out into the vacuum of space. Shepard grabbed the bar as the force of the rush pulled at her as well, Ash grabbing onto her for support as everything that wasn’t nailed down in the cabin was vented into darkness. Her eyes locked onto Liara’s unconscious form as she began to slide along the floor being dragged by the cyclonic winds.

She nearly let go of the railing to try and grab her, but Ash reached down and grabbed the asari by the belt, keeping her from flying off into space. When the pressure finally equalized, Shepard felt herself floating off the floor as the gravity gave out. Using the railing to maneuver around, she planted her feet again and activated her spider boots to allow her to walk. By now, the evacuation sirens were blaring silently as the vacuum of space ate the waves of sound. Looking towards the cockpit, she confirmed that Joker’s vacuum barrier was active before turning to the others.

She reached down and lifted Liara up. “Ash! We need to get to the escape pods on the crew decks!” she shouted as she pointed to the escape pods next to them that had been caught in the initial blast.

Nodding, the chief lifted the asari on the other side and together they moved down the stairs, brushing aside the bodies of their former crew that were killed from the initial explosion or from exposure. “They’re coming around for another attack!” came Joker’s voice over the comm.

“Joker! Get to your escape pod, now!” ordered Shepard as she stopped moving. The bright laser that burned through the hull above now sliced through the entire crew deck, causing explosions below decks that sent all three of them flying.

“Like hell! I’m not giving up on the Normandy!” snapped the pilot.

“I wasn’t asking, Joker!” ordered the spectre, but she heard the comm disconnect.

Shepard growled and grabbed Liara, then thrust her against Ash. “Take her and get to the escape pods! Activate the Alliance and Citadel distress signals!”

“And where the hell are you going!?” snapped Ash incredulously.

“I’m going to keep our suicidal pilot alive,” said Shepard as she pointed at the chief. “Get to the escape pods and leave. I’ll get in Joker’s pod with him.” Ash clenched her fist. “Now.”

Nodding, Ashley grabbed Liara’s form and hurled herself across the storm of scrap and fire. Shepard spun around and scrambled up the stairs using the lack of gravity to her advantage. When she pulled herself into the CIC again, her eyes took in the fact that the hull above had been melted and vented away leaving a view of Alchera above. She looked across the CIC to the cockpit and noticed that the attacks had created a massive chasm between her and her goal.

Suddenly, a giant shadow was cast over the entire ship. Looking up, her eyes widened in horror as she saw the massive frame of the ship that had not only found the Normandy in stealth but had torn it to pieces with little effort. It looked less like a starship and more like a space station with an enormous main gun attached to it. Shaking her head to focus, she grabbed the railings that were still intact and used them to hurl herself across the large gap. She reached out with both arms, gently clearing the way of debris that was now littering the vacuum between them.

She sailed through the shadow of the ship above her, the very foundation of everything she had built over the last year breaking apart beneath her and drifting towards the planet. She felt her own heart breaking as she witnessed her home, a piece of herself, begin burning up in the atmosphere. All of the people she had grown close to, all of her supporters and family that had helped her.

She finally made it across the gap and grabbed the safety rail on the ceiling. She nearly dislocated her arm as the force of her dive slammed her against the ceiling. But she forced herself upright so she was standing upside down in the cockpit and glared at the pilot who was still attempting to power up the failing engines. “Jeff, get your ass into your escape pod before I throw you in myself!”

“No! She’s not gone! I can still save her!” snapped the man as he continued to try and reroute power to the engines. Shepard grabbed his chair from above then planted her feet on the ground. She spun the chair around so that he was facing her, panic masking his face. “What are you doing!?”

“Jeff!” shouted Shepard loud enough to snap him out of his stupor. “That’s enough. It’s over. She’s gone,” said Shepard as she reached over and yanked the emergency lever for his escape pod. The metal wall covering the pod came off and flew back towards the CIC.

He stared at her for a long second before closing his eyes. “Dammit…” Suddenly, the ship rocked as the destroyer came around again and blasted the ship down the middle with its main canon laser. The explosion lit up the darkness as Shepard grabbed her talon blade from her omni-tool strap and slashed through Joker’s safety harness. Grabbing him, she moved to get them both inside the pod when the beam of light lanced down into the cockpit itself. “Ahh!” shouted Joker as Shepard clenched his arm harshly.

The sheer pain she felt as her right arm was incinerated from the attack nearly made her stop and give up everything. Another explosion rocked the cockpit and she slammed down into the bulkhead, the force sending her floating away from Joker. It was that moment when she realized she wasn’t going to make it. She had no way to get back to the pod and the ship was coming back around to finish the job. Looking down at the remains of her arm above the elbow, she felt the trickle of blood down her back, which meant that her suit was punctured. Joker was currently unconscious, and the vacuum barrier was shorting out rapidly.

Despite the agony, despite the hopelessness, she refused to allow Joker to die here with her. She reached up and tore off her chest armor, the encroaching vacuum chilling her to her core. Throwing it towards Joker, she pulled her gun off her waist with her remaining hand and shot the chestplate over and over again. Each shot slammed into the plate, pushing Joker back further and further until he finally floated unconscious into the pod. Then she aimed the weapon and fired at the override button on the launcher.

The door slammed shut and the jets on the pod blasted it out of the atmosphere of the planet and into the darkness of space. She felt the darkness freezing her, she felt her exposed and incinerated limb burning like hellfire, she felt her breaths getting shorter and shorter as her helmet tried to keep pumping oxygen into the small space. She looked down at the Normandy below her, its pieces now igniting as they entered the atmosphere of the icy world. Then she looked up, tears filling her eyes as she saw the cruel, stabbing light of the ship that had destroyed the Normandy. Its main cannon was glowing like an angry eye, glaring down at her as she took her last breaths.

Her body was in agony, every second of life felt like a thousand years of torture, she couldn’t breath, couldn’t feel anything, her vision faded as she fell towards the planet itself. Finally, she was swallowed by darkness, her own suffering magnified by her final thought that she’d never see her friends again.

Kelly stared at her for a long moment before typing some stuff into her pad. Shepard watched her finish it and leaned her head back. After an agonizing few seconds of silence Kelly looked up again. “And what happened after that?”

“I woke up on Lazarus Station with Miranda screaming in my ear. She was telling me that the station was blowing up and if I didn’t want to blow up with it I needed to pick up a gun and shoot my way out. That’s when I met both Miranda and Jacob,” said Shepard as she lifted her head again. Ever since then, I’ve been non-stop trying to get ready to fight off the collectors.”

“Do you think you haven’t stopped to take a break because resting would make you think about your death?” asked the yeoman as she tapped her stylus against her lip.

“Maybe,” said Shepard with a shrug. “I’m not really great at reading the reasoning behind my own actions. When I came back to life, I should have put out a call to all of my crew to make sure they were alive. I should have contacted Liara, Ash, my parents, everyone that I could get a hold of. But something inside made me hold off.”

“You still haven’t contacted your mother, right?” asked Kelly as she leaned back on the couch.

“She’s the captain of a dreadnaught that does deep deep space missions for the Alliance. Like, so deep in the Traverse that even the Alliance sometimes doesn’t know where they’re at,” she said as she waved the young woman’s concern off. “She is scheduled to be back in Alliance space within a month or so. It’s literally the one person I have a legitimate excuse for.”

“I see,” said the young woman as she noted that on her pad. “Do you know what was holding you back from contacting them?”

Shepard sighed heavily out of her nostrils and closed her eyes. “Part of me believes it was because it had been so long that I didn’t want to undo all the mourning they had already done. Imagine mourning someone and thinking they’re dead for two years, and then they show up on your doorstep alive.” Giving another shrug, she continued. “I feel like me showing up would be just as devastating as when I had died.”

“An understandable concern,” said Kelly as she leaned forward in her seat. “You said part of you believes that. What does the other part believe?”

“That I was a fake,” said Shepard as she glared at the models on her table. “That Shepard is dead and that I’m some genetic copycat created by Cerberus to do their bidding until my usefulness expires and they detonate whatever explosive they’ve got inside me.”

Kelly’s eyes widened slightly. “You… you think you have an explosive in you?”

Shepard chuckled and shook her head. “I don’t doubt Cerberus could find some way of getting around medical scanners, especially with the amount of technology they installed into me. But I doubt I’ll have to worry about that for a while yet.”

“Dear god,” said Kelly as she tapped away on her pad. “So, you experienced death, woke up again on a table with no memory of dying, get told you died and you’re having an identity crisis while also isolating yourself from your loved ones,” she said as she sat the pad down and looked up at the woman. “I honestly don’t know if I’m qualified for this.”

The spectre laughed at the young woman’s exasperation. “To be fair, I don’t know how many therapists are qualified for actual death experiences. I might just be subject zero for an entirely new profession.”

“You’re not wrong,” said the yeoman as she stared at Shepard. “So, how much of this have you already sorted? Your amnesia was broken under the duress of the collector attack…”

“Mostly broken. There’s still the span of a week before I died where my memory is really cloudy,” said Shepard as she nodded.

“Your amnesia is mostly sorted then,” said Kelly as she nodded in return. “You’ve spoken with, sometimes voluntarily, sometimes accidentally, most everyone you cared about from your previous life by now. That leaves the identity crisis. Do you still believe you’re fake?”

“Not so much,”  she said as she finally sat forward and rested her elbows on her knees. “When I first encountered Samara in Nos Astra she searched my memories as well.”

“Was she helping you?” asked Kelly curiously.

“She was looking for a reason to kill me,” said the spectre, making the yeoman gasp. “When I introduced myself, she thought I was an imposter and searched my memories to make sure I was really me.” Looking down at the floor, she went over their conversation again. “As it turns out, she discovered something I hadn’t yet. That a conversation I had with my father all but proved I was real.”

“Fascinating. So, you’re confident that you’re really you then?” asked Kelly, getting a nod from the spectre. “That means that you’re on the road to recovery. Most of your problems… aside from the death trauma of course, are self-correcting as you go on about your life. So, that begs the question,” said the young woman, getting her attention again. “What are you worried about now?”

“That part is easy,” said Shepard with a sigh. “I’m working with a terrorist organization who probably has some kind of countermeasure to kill me. I’m working with a Council that has been suspicious of me ever since I woke up. I’m dealing with the Alliance, which I’ve always subconsciously known has been filled with the rot of abuse of authority and shady bullshit. My ship, while I’ve cut access to the Illusive Man, has an AI aboard that could be ordered to kill me the moment I turn on Cerberus. I still don’t know how the hell I’m supposed to stop the imminent onslaught of sentient kilometer long starships waiting outside of darkspace from harvesting everything in the galaxy.”

“That’s… a lot to deal with,” said Kelly as she got a chuckle from the spectre.

“You’re telling me. And to top all of it off, I keep falling into these weird visions that I think are coming from the prothean cipher,” she said with an exasperated shrug.

“Wait, you still have the cipher?” asked Kelly, getting a nod from the woman. “Cerberus wouldn’t be able to replicate that. Shouldn’t that be proof you’re the original Shepard?”

Shepard felt her brain stop like a DJ’s record scratch for a long moment before finally looking up. “I suppose it would.”

“Right now it just seems like you’ve got way too much on your plate and you’re trying to do everything all at once instead of pacing yourself,” said the yeoman with a knowing smile.

“If you tell me I need to relax more…” started Shepard with a glare.

“You need to relax more,” said Kelly with a playful grin. Shepard growled at her menacingly. “Shepard, even two years ago when you were chasing Saren, you stopped to enjoy things. You stopped to enjoy food, you stopped to enjoy entertainment, you took breaks,” she said with a shrug of her own. “Right now you’re not just placing the weight of the galaxy on yourself, but on your crew.”

“What do you mean?” asked Shepard in surprise.

“You’re not just destroying mercenary bands, blowing up space prisons, and toppling powerful security dynasties on your own. Your crew is there with you, and they’re taking as much of a mental beating as you are,” said the yeoman as she rested her chin in her hands. “You need to relax not just for your own health, but for theirs as well. They need time to rest and deal with problems of their own.”

“Shit,” growled Shepard as she realized the truth of the woman’s words.

“You’re on a high stress mission that none of us may come back from. If you try and grind this whole thing out you’ll wind up dead again simply from overtaxing yourself,” said Kelly as she picked her datapad back up. “Let yourself relax, let your crew rest, and solve smaller problems. I promise it’ll help in the long run.”

Shepard nodded as Kelly finally stood. “I guess you’re right,” she said as she recalled her last outing on Illium. Had she not been running her crew rampant across the galaxy Miranda might have been able to catch the kidnapping attempt early. She found herself wondering if the other crew members had issues they needed dealing with such as with Garrus and Sidonis. Some were obvious, like Samara and her mission to find this assassin or Zaeed and his revenge quest against Vido Santiago. Then others she wasn’t sure about. Either way, she’d have to hit the breaks if she planned to keep her crew happy and alive for their future battles against the nightmares of the galaxy.

“That’s a good place to stop for now. I hope you’ll invite me up again sometime,” said Kelly with another playful grin.

“I’ll consider it,” said Shepard with a smirk as the young woman got up and left the room. Shepard looked down at the disassembled model of the Normandy on her table in front of her, the vision of the original Normandy disintegrating above Alchera still fresh in her mind. She then looked at her arm, knowing that it had been taken off in the attack. She found herself wondering if she would ever be able to come to terms with her death.

Nos Astra Docks – Illium

It had been a long week, but finally it was time to leave the asari Terminus world. Shepard, Garrus, and Tali all stood at the entrance to their ship as Liara and Niftu Cal stood before them with the asari smiling deeply at Shepard and the volus was working on a datapad.

Shepard eyed the short but active figure as his fingers moved quickly. “He seems to be enjoying his new position,” said Shepard with her arms crossed.

“He just got a big raise,” said Liara with a grin.

“And loads more work,” he said in a neutral tone before turning and walking away from them.

Shepard chuckled and shook her head. “A raise right after he started working for you? He must be a hard worker.”

“That, and the economy has swayed in our favor,” said Liara as she tilted her head and smiled. “You, Jane, have made me a very… very rich woman.”

Shepard’s brow rose curiously. “How did that happen?”

“After you visited me for the first time looking for Samara, I knew this wasn’t going to be a peaceful excursion. Once I heard you were headed to an Eclipse base to find her, I started short selling on Eclipse security stock. Then when you went to another base, I did it again. Then when Krios told you he was heading for Nassana’s business, you followed him, and I short sold on Dantius stock. Finally, I caught wind of what happened in the police station quite early, and I finally did it one final time.”

Garrus’s eyes narrowed at the asari woman. “Wait… so you bet against Eclipse and Dantius on the stock market, and then we all but destroyed them, causing their stocks to tank?” asked Garrus in surprise, getting a nod from the doctor. “Wouldn’t that technically be insider trading?”

“A distinction that would matter on the Citadel. But not here on Illium,” said Liara with a grin. “Now Eclipse is in ashes, and I’ve made enough to buy a security company of my own should I choose to.”

Tali shook her head. “Like I said, you’re scary now,” she said playfully before reaching over to Garrus and grabbing him by the cowl. “Come on big guy, let’s get inside and leave these two to their goodbyes.”

“Tali! I can’t walk like that! Let me go,” snapped Garrus as he was dragged inside the airlock of the ship, leaving the two of them by themselves. “It was good seeing you again, Liara!”

Shepard smiled at them as they left before turning to Liara again. Walking up to her, she wrapped her arms around her waist and pulled her close, garnering a squeak of joy from the doctor as her arms wrapped around her shoulders. Their foreheads touched and their emotions swirled like a maelstrom together between them, sharing their love for one another.

“I’m so happy to see you again, Jane,” said the asari lovingly as she nuzzled into Shepard’s neck. “After you came back, you hadn’t contacted me in so long that I thought perhaps you had changed. I thought I’d made a mistake allowing Cerberus to tinker with you. That they had polluted you somehow.”

“Sorry. My anxiety about you moving on was fairly powerful. I was doing my best not to intrude on your life without thinking that I was making it harder by not being here,” said the spectre with a sigh.

Liara chuckled and brushed her nose against Shepard’s, “Considerate to a fault.”

“You’ll tell me when you need my help, right? With that thing?” asked Shepard with a smile.

“Of course,” said the asari as she pulled back slightly to get a better look at her mate. “And if you need any more help from me, I’ll be here.”

“Good,” said Shepard as she gave the doctor a cheeky grin. “Hopefully once your business is concluded here, you can use some of those credits you made off me to move somewhere closer.”

“I’d love that,” said Liara as she pulled Jane into a tight embrace. The spectre returned the gesture and hugged her tight. “Stay safe out there, Jane.”

“And you here,” said Shepard as she released the woman and stared at her seriously. “I know the work you’re doing is dangerous and I’d rather not have to burn the entire city down because something happened to you.”

Nodding gently, Liara leaned in and kissed Jane deeply. The human wrapped her arms around her tightly as they felt themselves slipping into each other’s consciousness for a moment. But they pulled away before they did anything outrageous on the docks. Liara gave one last sad smile before turning and motioning for Niftu Cal to follow. Shepard watched her go, tears stinging her eyes as she turned towards her ship and headed inside, knowing she would defy whatever fate threw at her to see the woman again.

Captain’s Quarters – SSV Normandy SR2

“Spectre, Kasumi Goto is here to see you,” said the AI from her station near the door.

Shepard looked up from one of her models on the table and nodded. “Go ahead and let her in,” she said as she set the equipment down and got up to greet the woman at the door. When the door opened, however, there was nothing there. Leaning forward, she inspected the entryway outside of her room before looking over at EDI. “You alright EDI? Do I need to have Tali look to make sure you’re working optimally?”

“That won’t be necessary,” came Kasumi’s voice from behind her, nearly making her jump through the roof in surprise.

Shepard spun around with a glare as her hand covered her heart. “Goddammit Kasumi, you have got to stop doing that.”

“Sorry, Shep. I don’t really feel comfortable walking around the ship yet,” said the thief with a shrug. “Normally I’m a stowaway on ships, so I stay hidden entirely. Just feels more comfortable that way.”

“Okay…” said Shepard as she finally stood straight again. “But at the very least, no stealth when you’re on my floor.”

“I can do that,” said the young woman as she plopped herself onto the couch in the lounge before smiling at Shepard. “So, EDI says you’ve got something for me?”

Nodding, Shepard returned to her station and began working on the model again. “A while back you said that Donovan Hock was sending me invites,” she said getting a nod from the rogue. “I was never getting them, so I assume the spectre network was filtering them out as spam. So, I whitelisted his business and personal email afterwards and I got another invitation.”

Kasumi sat forward in her seat, her eyes sparkling. “Finally!”

“It’s an invitational that takes place in one week. A gathering of business partners so they can all mingle and get to know one another. He wants me there and also asked for my personal assistance on a certain matter,” said the spectre as she wiped her hands.

“Any idea what it was?” asked Kasumi curiously as she crossed her legs on the couch.

“No idea. But intel is my specialty and if he’s trying to make a name as some kind of dark net information broker than chances are he wants some kind of hard to get intel from me,” said the spectre as she crossed her arms. “So, you ready to do this?”

Kasumi looked down at her hands in her lap for a long moment. “I’ve waited for what feels like forever. Every day that Keiji’s killer has his greybox feels like an eternity,” she stated before finally looking up with resolve in her eyes. “I’m ready.”

“You understand that I’m not going to kill Hock if I don’t have to,” said Shepard seriously, getting a chuckle from Kasumi.

“What you’re doing is enough, Shepard,” said the woman as she stood up again. “If I wanted him dead, I could just talk to Thane. Or tell Samara what he’s done.”

Chuckling, Shepard stood up and nodded. “Alright, that’s fair,” said the spectre as she walked the woman back up to her door. “We’re headed to the Citadel. Since Bekenstein is in the Widow Nebula, we’re going to stay on the Citadel until the invitational. In the meantime, learn everything you can about what we’re going to be dealing with there and send it to me. I hate going in blind. Make sure what we need is on Bekenstein.”

“Understood Shep. It’s far too important for him to not take with him everywhere. But I can always check to make sure,” said the wily woman as she stopped at the door. Turning again, she reached up and lowered her hood, allowing the spectre to see her full face. “Oh… and… thank you,” said the thief with a fallen expression. “I know we made a deal, but it’s clear that a thief is less useful against the collectors than weapons of mass destruction like Zaeed or Grunt. Just know that once I have Keiji’s greybox, there won’t be anything keeping me from doing my best for you.”

“I look forward to it,” said Shepard with a smile. “Now go sneak back to your room and stay out of unauthorized areas of the ship!” snapped the spectre, getting a giggle from the young thief.

Human Embassy – Presidium – Citadel

Shepard stepped into the lobby of the embassy with Maeko behind her and nodded to the receptionist who motioned her inside. As the door slid open, she noticed Anderson standing in front of her with a small grin on his face. “Anderson! I’ve got our candidate and… I…” she stuttered as she turned and saw who was standing behind him.

The red and grey of her hair seemingly swapped places, with the grey now taking over her entire hair with the exception of a few streaks of red. Shepard stared at her blue eyes, eyes locked in disbelief, anger, grief, and sadness. “Jane…” As soon as she saw her the woman walked over and stood in front of her. “How can you be standing in front of me right now?”

“Mom…” said Jane with her own expression of sadness. “It’s a long story…” she said before reaching forward and hugging the woman tightly. The captain hugged her back in an equally aggressive grip.

“It is really you, right?” asked Hannah as she pulled back slightly.

Shepard smirked at the woman. “Yes. I’m Jane Shepard. The N7, the Spectre, and apparently the biotic,” she said as she lifted her hand and allowed dark energy to radiate from it.

Hannah pursed her lips at the display before smiling up at her daughter. “Well, I’m glad you’re alive so that we have the chance to explain ourselves.”

“No worries, I already pried the explanation out of dad,” said the spectre as she waved away the biotics and smiled at her mother. “What have you been up to all this time?”

“We’ve been going to star systems that don’t have relays connected to them. Sometimes takes months to get there one way,” said her mother with a shrug. “Sometimes we find nothing there except lifeless planets. But the goal is to find and discover areas that… that the…” said the captain as she eyed Matsuo nearby.

The spectre candidate cleared her throat. “Apologies, it’s good to meet you, Captain.”

“She’s my pick for spectre candidacy. So, she can hear what I hear as far as I’m concerned,” said Shepard with a nod.

“Well, if Jane selected you then you better be up for it,” said Hannah with a smile. “The goal is to seek out areas the reapers haven’t touched and see what we can find. Untainted civilizations, worlds with untapped resources, so on and so forth.”

“Wouldn’t that be better suited to a smaller ship?” asked Shepard with her brow cocked.

“Not with the travel time, unfortunately. Long journeys like that require a large crew and a large ship,” said Hannah as she shook her head. “We’ve been rebuilt to be self-sustaining for up to five years.”

“I see,” said Shepard as she scratched her chin. “Another contingency against the reapers,” she said, making sense of the idea that hiding groups of humans on worlds separate from the relay network may help them survive into another cycle.

“Udina conscripted us to the job right after he took over as Councilor,” said her mother with a knowing grin. “Odd seeing him so adamant and hard working now when he was so conniving in the beginning.”

“Speaking of which, he wanted to meet me for some project the Council has supposedly been working on for months,” said Shepard as she smiled up at her mother. “Care to come with me?”

“I’d be delighted,” said the woman with a happy smile.

Anderson stepped forward as her mother took her place at her side. “Glad you made it back in time to see her, Shepard,” said the man as he patted her on the shoulder. “I take it you finally got to see Liara?”

“Finally,” said Shepard with a smile.

“Glad to hear it. With that,” he said as he motioned to Hannah, “You’ve heard about part one, Project Dandelion through your mother here. Step one is to put humans, asari, turians, salarians… anyone who will cooperate into small colony worlds away from Relay Space. Keep the teams small, keep them away from the main hub of the Citadel network and keep them well out of the way of relay traffic. If worst comes to worst, then perhaps the Reapers will overlook them when they go back to dark space this time.”

“And how are we going to keep everyone away from them?” asked Shepard curiously as she planted her hands on her hips.

“All of the locations chosen for the project are going to be decided by one person. And that one person is going to log the data manually. The coordinates for each world, once documented, will be sealed inside an indestructible capsule which will be placed on the Normandy with a self-destruct switch,” said the man as he stared at her seriously.

Shepard’s brows rose curiously. “Why on the Normandy?” asked the spectre curiously.

“Because it’s fast, able to hide, and extremely powerful in combat,” said Anderson with a heavy sigh. “And if the Normandy goes down, then there’s little to no hope for the galaxy anyway. If the Normandy survives because we beat the reapers, then we can use the coordinates to find them and welcome them back to the galaxy. If the Normandy survives and we’ve lost, then you and your crew will stay in secrecy for however long it takes for them to leave, and then once the reapers are gone back to dark space, you gather them up and prepare them for the next war in fifty thousand years.”

“And if the Normandy doesn’t survive, then the capsule will destroy the information inside,” said Shepard as she scratched her chin. “What’s the contingency for the people who know the locations. You can’t seriously have them choose the locations, then put a bullet in their head.”

“Of course not,” said Anderson with a chuckle. “That’s part two. And you’re going to meet them soon with Udina,” said the man as he turned held his hands at ease behind his back. “We’re hoping all of these contingency plans won’t be needed. But I guess that’s where we’re relying on you.”

“I’ll do my best, David. But you have to understand that I’m one person,” said Shepard with a shrug. “As much as the movies try to make me out to be some kind of superhero who can punch fly through space helmetless and destroy reapers with a single punch, I cannot fight this war on my own.”

“We know,” he said solemnly with a nod. “We’re preparing for the war. But you are the brains of the reaper war, Shepard. You  and your crew know more about Saren and Sovereign than anyone else in the galaxy. And I’m confident that if anyone can find their weakness, it’s you. Once we figure out how to attack them, that’s what we’ll do.”

“No pressure,” said Shepard awkwardly, causing Anderson to erupt into laughter. “Was it that funny?”

“That’s the same thing you said when I told you about your spectre candidacy with Nihlus,” he said with a happy grin. “It really is you.”

She snorted and nodded. “Alright,” said the spectre before she turned to Maeko. “If you qualify and get the position, let me know if you need anything. You have my contact information.”

“I will, Shepard-sama. Thank you again,” said the woman as she stepped over next to Anderson.

“I guess I’ll go and see this project for myself and meet up with Udina next,” she said as she headed for the door.

Najari Hotel – Presidium – Citadel

Shepard sighed as she stepped out of the transit car. Her mother, though understandably so, was extremely clingy at the moment. But she couldn’t exactly blame her considering she had been in the dark for nearly six months of Shepard’s new life. Only when she came back to Citadel space had she been informed of her daughter’s resurrection.

As they headed for the front door of the hotel, Shepard looked over just in time to see a hanar shuffling closer to them with a large book in its hand. “Pardon me, my name is Larindannon. Would you like to hear of our lord and savior Jesus Christ?” asked the large figure as he held a book forward with the cross emblem emblazoned on it.

Shepard sat speechless for a moment at the idea of a Christian hanar before her mother leaned over with a smile. “We’ve heard of him. I’m personally a big fan,” she said with a grin. “Unfortunately, we have to be somewhere.”

“Thank you for your time, sister,” said the hanar before he bowed low. “May his light guide you always,” said the polite figure before he shuffled off with his book.

Shepard watched him go before turning towards the hotel again. “You think you’ve seen everything the galaxy has to offer, and it just keeps surprising you,” she said, getting a chuckle from her mother. As she made her way inside, she was guided to the conference room. As she stepped inside, she saw Udina there with the same stern expression he always had.

“Good to see you, Shepard. I was hoping you’d make it here,” he said as he turned to the auditorium of people. She could see that there were about a hundred people here, almost all of them humans. “If I can have all of your attention,” he said, his voice cutting through the chatter like a whip. “I’d like you all to have a seat.”

Shepard watched them all sit in their proper places as he led her in front of them. “If you make me give a speech I will revoke your Council recommendation,” snapped Shepard, getting a dry grin from the man.

Standing in front of the crowd, he turned to the spectre. “I assume Anderson told you about part one of our contingency. This is part two, Project Slingshot with the Andromeda Initiative,” he said as he motioned towards the crowds of people. “These and many thousands more people are going to get onto ark ships, get put into cryo stasis, and will be sent to the Andromeda galaxy.”

“Let’s hope the reapers haven’t made it there yet,” said Shepard as she looked over all the faces. “Do they know about the reapers?”

“They know everything. And they’ve all volunteered to leave their lives in this galaxy behind to be pioneers into a new galaxy,” he said as his face soured slightly. “Assuming they don’t run into the same problems there.”

“Either way,” said Shepard with a shrug. “And the other species are doing this as well?”

“The asari, turians, and salarians have their own arks they will board as do we humans. The other species such as the quarians and krogan will be sharing an arc given they have fewer people available to go,” said the councilor with a nod.

Shepard’s brow furrowed at the statement. She didn’t know if he meant what he said as an excuse, or if the other species legitimately offered less people. While the quarians and krogan obviously didn’t have the numbers to throw at a project like this, the volus, elcor, and hanar had plenty to offer. She found herself wondering if they were given the same opportunities.

Turning to the humans, she asked her question plainly. “So, you want me to talk to them?”

“These are the people who insisted on meeting you before they leave. I was going to have you give a presentation at the ark itself, but if you’re correct and the collectors are working with the reapers, then we need to get them out of the galaxy as soon as possible. The last ark was fueled and stocked last week, and they’re scheduled to take their voyage in five days,” he said as he too looked over the crowd.

Shepard sat on the stage with her mother and looked over them all. “The people who’re making the list are here?”

“They won’t be in our galaxy by next week,” said the man as he stepped aside before raising his voice again. “If you have any questions for the spectre, please hold your hand up!”

Almost immediately, half of the people’s hands shot up into the air. Shepard chuckled and picked a young woman near the middle with cornrows. Her hands shot down and she stood up. “Is it true you caused the destruction of Sovereign?”

“I…” said Shepard as she looked down at the floor, wondering if it was okay to tell them about Val’eda’s contribution to the galaxy. Instead, she decided to keep it very vague. “We all fought Sovereign that day, but he fell because a very good friend sacrificed themselves to bring down its shields. That wasn’t in the movie out of respect for us and our friend,” said the spectre getting a nod.

People seemed to understand that no further answer was coming and the young woman sat down. Hands went up again and she selected a young man. “Are you polyamorous?”

Shepard’s brow rose at the question. “You get a chance to ask me questions and that’s what you ask?”

“Sorry…” said the soldier as he sat down.

She chuckled and waved away the apology. “No need to be sorry. I just didn’t expect it,” she said before scratching her chin. “The simple answer is yes. I’m open to love anyone and everyone I want and can offer love to. The complicated answer is that while I may be poly, my current work makes relationships hard, so I’m only focusing on one right now.”

Hands went up again and Shepard selected another young woman on the front row. As soon as her hand shot down, she leaned forward and shouted, “My brother has a crush on you!”

“Sara! Goddammit!” snapped the young man next to her.

The audience laughed in good humor and even Shepard smiled. “I’ll refer you both to the last question.”

But Sara smiled and continued. “I did wanna ask. My and my brother saw you on TV getting the Star of Terra for Elysium. You’ve saved an entire colony, you’ve saved the Citadel, and now you’re working to save the entire galaxy! How do you do it?”

Shepard stared at her for a long moment, thinking about her answer. “I don’t suppose telling you to eat your greens and drink plenty of water would be a satisfactory answer.” The crowd laughed again as she shook her head. “Humans are a cooperative species. We’ve advanced as fast as we have because we work together. Anyone claiming that to be better you have to be a loner is trying to weaken our species,” she said as she thought about her crew. “To achieve greatness, you have to work together with other people. You have to help make them better so that they in turn help to make you better.”

“Teamwork?” asked Sara as she crossed her arms with a snarky smile.

“It sounds childish, but yes,” she said as she held her hands out for them. “Me and the group I worked with on Elysium didn’t know each other, but we learned enough to work together and that warded off a terrorist attack. My and my Normandy squad knew each other for less than a month before we were all thrust together and battling against Saren’s forces. If you see someone who needs help, help them. If you need help, then seek help from those around you. If I had tried to fight all these battles alone, I’d have died on Eden Prime and none of you would know my name today.”

Seeming satisfied, the young woman sat back in her seat. Hands rose again and Shepard chose a mousy figure with short dark hair. When her hand went down, she stood up. “Can I get closer?”

Shepard squinted slightly at the question. “I don’t see why not.”

They stepped out into the aisle and approached, standing meters away from the stage where Shepard sat. Immediately the spectre knew that she knew this person from somewhere. When they stopped, she could see them clearly under the stage lights. “It’s been a while since we met. It was a few years ago and you probably don’t remember me,” she said as she looked at the ground, clearly anxious about talking with Shepard. “I had escaped batarian slavers and had a meltdown on rescuers on the Citadel Docks near here. You helped me, you gave me courage to keep going.”

“Talitha?” asked Shepard, her eyes widening at the revelation. The last time she had seen the girl, she was scrawny, malnourished, her head shaved from many surgeries, and the scarring still fresh in her mind. But now she stood before her today and had gained weight and even muscle, grown her hair out and had each side dyed blue and red, and she actually had makeup on.

The girl smiled and held her hands to her chest at hearing her name. “Y-You remembered me?”

Sliding off the stage, Shepard stepped forward until they were right in front of each other. “I’ll always remember you,” she said as she held out her arms. Almost immediately, the young woman jumped into her arms and they hugged each other tightly.

Chapter Text

Zakera Wards Marketplace – Citadel

Jacob couldn’t get the nagging thought from his mind. He found himself wondering if someone was screwing with him or if the message he got was legitimate. The only thing he knew for sure was that there was only one person who could help him find out. He had been trying to take his mind off the situation by roaming the Citadel. He knew Shepard had grounded them until they had taken care of something important, but she was being kind of vague about the whole thing making him wonder what was going on. 

But he wasn’t one to question orders. Or… he used to not be one to question orders. His time aboard the Normandy made him question a lot of things recently. But one thing was certain, he wasn’t about the question her orders after everything she had accomplished. It made that task ever harder, however, whenever he’d walk into a shop and there was a picture of Shepard grinning awkwardly with the shop owner in almost every store he visited in the marketplace. He didn’t know if the spectre was just too nice to tell people no or if she was getting some benefit from all the publicity, but every time he saw her face, the matter arose in his mind again. 

Finally, he decided to send her a message and see if she’d even entertain him. He found himself in a small video game store checking out the latest fighting games on display, wondering whether Shepard would have any issue with a console on the Normandy. He heard his omni-tool ping and looked down to see that Shepard had answered him almost immediately. He just smirked and shook his head. “Does this woman even sleep?” 

He read the message and immediately set off for her location at the nearby aquarium. The giant tanks of fish inside the Citadel always weirded him out. The claustrophobia and dark rooms made him uncomfortable, but he’d be fine if it wasn’t an extended stay. When he arrived at the aquarium, he was surprised to see Samara arriving there as well. He looked her up and down, noticing that it was the first time he’d seen her outside her armor. Instead, she wore long robes and an intricate matching scarlet hood over her crest. 

“Mister Taylor, I believe it is beyond coincidence that we should be here at the same time,” said the justicar with the smallest of smiles. 

“Shot in the dark,” he said holding his hands up. “You need to speak to Shepard?” 

She chuckled dryly. “The obvious answer.” 

“Feel free to go first,” he said as he held the door open for her. 

“Your chivalry is appreciated, Mister Taylor,” she said with a bow of her head and entered the building. 

He followed her inside the darkened building and into a room with a massive wall devoted to a huge tank. The blue water within flourished with so many kinds of different fish that he couldn’t hope to count them all as they moved through the water like a shifting mosaic of metallic colors. Sitting in front of the large tank was Shepard, her blue eyes staring up into the glass at the magnificent display that even impressed Jacob. 

The justicar approached the spectre and bowed her head as she had done to him. “Pardon, Spectre. You instructed me to come see you here.” 

Shepard tore her gaze away from the large fish tank and nodded to the asari. “You said you were having trouble on Omega?” 

“I have several informants on Omega that I’ve used in my days as a justicar,” started the asari as she sat down next to Shepard and stared up at the tank as well. “I’ve asked them for information on my target after her arrival on Omega, but they’ve come up with almost nothing.” 

“Have you tried Aria?” asked Shepard curiously as she crossed her legs. 

“I’ve fought with Aria before. She is powerful for her age. I doubt she would help me,” said the justicar as she closed her eyes. “I would not put it past her to tip the target off to get back at me and I do not have the funds to buy my way around her pettiness.” 

Shepard thought for a long moment before letting out a sigh. “Have your contacts get ahold of Hermes.” 

Samara tilted her head and looked at Shepard oddly. “Aria’s second? Are you sure?” 

“Tell him it’s a favor for Torch,” said the spectre. “Don’t worry, he’s not what you think he is.” 

“I shall trust your words,” said Samara dutifully as she stood up again. “Thank you, Shepard. I find myself relying on you more than I’d like.” 

“We made a deal, Samara. I don’t intend to back out until your mind is clear for the mission ahead,” said the spectre with a grin. “Just make sure your informant doesn’t know the message is coming from me. Aria might not like her second in command being too chummy with former Alliance, current spectre.”  

“I will advise my informant to be very cautious when dealing with him,” said the justicar as she bowed her head. “I appreciate your time, spectre.” 

Samara lifted her head and turned to leave, allowing Jacob to take her spot. “Hey.” 

“Hey,” she replied with a grin. “What’s up?” 

He sighed, feeling like he was just piling more onto her plate. “You remember two years ago when the Alliance had you running all over the galaxy?” 

“Hard to forget,” she said with a shrug. “It actually became a running joke on the original Normandy that the Alliance threw me to the Spectres so that they could retire and let me solve all their problems.” 

Jacob snorted and nodded. “I get it. Then again, when your mother and father are some of the most powerful people in the Alliance, I guess doing favors for the Alliance just seems like doing them for family.” 

“You’re not wrong,” she said as she turned to him and eyed him curiously. “Why do you ask.” 

“I know you already have a lot on your plate. I don’t wanna add more to it,” he said as he prejustified her telling him to hit the road. 

Instead, she just shook her head. “Jacob, I’ve never had any issues doing favors for the crew. I need you all to help me, and I’ll help you. If anything, you asking me for help is a relief. It makes me feel less guilty when I have to ask you to do stuff later.” 

“Yeah, I get your point,” said the man with a smile. 

“You all having concerns outside of our mission is a good thing. It gives you something to fight for. And helping with those problems means you’ll be more ready for the mission ahead. So, don’t be afraid to ask me if you need something,” she said as she elbowed his arm gently. 

He nodded and looked down for a moment. “You remember my old mentor I told you about, Ronald Taylor?” 

“No relation?” she asked with a grin. 

He chuckled and nodded. “I told you he went into the civilian sector because in his own words, ‘I’m tired of bureaucrats in uniforms telling me how to do my goddamn job,’” he said using air quotes. “What I didn’t tell you was that the civilian ship he was posted on was called the Hugo Gernsback after the famous scifi magazine creator. I also didn’t tell you was that shortly after his ship went touring out into the Traverse, it went dark.” 

Her brows furrowed deeply. “No message, no nothing?” 

“Silent as a mouse,” he said as he shook his head. “No SOS, no ship, no bodies, no nothing. It went through a relay and didn’t come back.” 

“Unfortunately, that can happen in the Traverse,” she said as she rested her elbows on her legs. “So, has that changed?” 

“I got a ping last night in my urgent channels from an anonymous source,” he said as he looked over at her. “The Hugo Gernsback’s SOS beacon is currently going off.” 

“You don’t know who sent it?” asked Shepard quizzically. 

“Fraid not. But someone saw it happening and knew to send it to me, so it has to be someone who knows me and my history,” he said with a sigh. “Either way, I’ve tracked the beacon to an uncharted system in the Rosetta Nebula. I was wondering if we had the time to go check it out.” 

“Ten years is a long time. Do you think you’ll find him alive?” asked Shepard as she turned to him. 

“Honestly, I’m probably just going to confirm his death, but I’d like that closure. He was important to me, and the only thing I’ve never buried is a body,” he said as he looked at her solemnly. “I’m not getting my hopes up. If he’s dead, he’s dead. I’ve already mourned him. But I’d like to check just in case.” 

“We were waiting til the end of the week for something on Bekenstein, but we have a few days. We should have plenty of time to go check the beacon,” she said as she stood up and gave one last longing look at the fish tank. “Be ready to go by the end of the day.” 

“You got it, Shepard,” he said as he stood up. He stayed silent for a long few seconds before holding his fist up for her. “Thanks.” She clenched her own fist and bumped his. “Just one more question for you,” he said as he eyed her seriously. “Did you work with my father?” 

Her brow rose as she put her hands in her hoodie pockets. “Why do you ask?” 

“Years ago, I decided to join my mother and father for the holidays. We didn’t talk much business, but he did wanna see how capable I was in hand to hand. So, we went a few rounds. We put each other down a few times with lots of bumps and bruises. But when we were sitting and getting our wind back, he smiled at me, ” said the soldier as he crossed his arms. “He said I reminded him of a puppy he knew named Torch.” 

“A puppy?!” growled Shepard as she glared. “Tell me where he’s at and I’ll put him on his ass a few times too!” 

Jacob laughed at her words. “He’s an advisor with the Alliance, so Anderson would probably know more than I would,” said Jacob before raising his arms defensively. “So, I take that as a yes?” 

“Yeah,” she said with a sheepish grin. “I didn’t know if it was the best idea to tell you after you had explained to me that he was all business at home. I felt like it would have been awkward to tell you that I had spent more time with your dad than you did.” 

“I mean, I was pretty salty at the time being compared to a labrador. But after hearing you bring up your code name, I feel a lot better about his words. A lot less demeaning,” he said before giving her a shining grin. “And it helps to know you were bossing around Alliance even back then.” 

“I did run a tight ship for being the lowest ranking on the team,” she said with a chuckle. “Go get ready and we’ll see about that distress beacon.” 

“You got it, Shepard,” he said as he turned and left the building, a new fire burning inside him. 

Afterlife – Omega Station

Zeek was confused by the request. He had been an information broker on Omega for a while. In all his time there he had never seen Hermes as a source of information. Aria, absolutely. The woman traded anything and everything for information on her enemies, her allies, and even keeping tabs on her daughter. But he had never had cause to talk to Aria’s own second in command. And he was intrigued to see how the interaction went. 

The human arrived at the club and as he approached the stairs up to the holy throne of the queen of Omega, the turian guard held up his hand. “Sorry, but unless you have an appointment, you’re not getting up there.” 

“Actually, I need to see Hermes. Can you tell him his friend Torch needs a favor?” he asked, wondering if the guard would even entertain him without some kind of bribe. But when the human’s name came up, he seemed to stand a bit straighter. 

“Stay here,” growled the turian as he turned and stepped up the stairs. Zeek sighed and looked out over the bar, wondering whether he’d come out of this with a new contact or if the justicar who sent him here had bad intel. He waited a few minutes longer before someone finally descended the stairs. Looking up, the agent was startled to see someone he’d never met before staring at him. 

Instead of the intended target, a young woman stood before him. Her hair was practically glowing pink and bundled up into two giant pigtails that looked like they were electrical to the touch. She wore a black jacket and skirt with heeled boots to match her human gothic attire. The man reached up and scratched his head nervously, wondering if this was a hooker sent to him to make him go away. “I asked for Hermes. Who the hell are you?” 

“I’m Hermes,” said the young woman, causing the man’s skin to crawl. The voice was a perfect match. “Come with me,” ordered the gothic young woman as she walked past him and headed out of the club. The mesmerized agent followed, still trying to figure out how the man he had seen at Aria’s side multiple times before had now utterly transformed. He had apparently been pondering the mystery so intensely that he had missed the entire walk to the diner that they were now standing in front of. Hermes opened the door and held it for him. 

Once inside, they sat at a small booth in the crowded diner. Looking around, Zeek noticed that the bar was mostly full. For an Omega restaurant to be this busy they had to either be insanely cheap or have really good food. There was an assortment of humans, asari, turians, and even a volus in the back likely using the free wifi as they typed on their terminal. His eyes shifted back to the target in front of him. “How are you… why?” 

Hermes cocked her brow curiously. “How am I what?” 

“You… you weren’t like this before…” he said as he motioned towards her outfit and hair. 

Hermes smirked and nodded. “I go through phases where I like to change my style. I’ll probably change again in another six months,” said the agent with a shrug. “Now, focus. Torch, favor.” 

“Oh… right,” said the agent as he tossed the odd thoughts from his head. “A-Anyway, the Justicar Samara is hunting a criminal here on Omega named Morinth. I searched for the criminal with my own resources and turned up almost nothing. All my contacts refused to say anything once I said their name. They seemed… afraid.” 

“An understandable reaction,” said Hermes as she nodded. “I have the info you’re looking for.” 

“You do?” asked the agent, much less interested in the justicar’s quarry at this point. The asari warrior was paying him far less than the other potential tidbit of information she had access to now. “So, who is this Torch person?” 

“If you don’t know, you don’t need to know,” said Hermes as the smile vanished from her face. 

An asari stepped up to their booth. “What would you like?” 

Interlacing her fingers, Hermes stretched her hands above her head. “Example platter.” 

Nodding, the asari walked away leaving Zeek perplexed. “Don’t you mean sample platter?” 

“No,” said Hermes firmly with a dead serious stare. 

Zeek knew he might be biting off more than he could chew, but if his hunch was right then that could lead to the payoff of a lifetime. “Right…” said the agent as he leaned in close to the goth girl again. “So, you know Samara was seen on Illium on Spectre Shepard’s team, right? Made the news all over because of the Eclipse stock crashing.” Immediately, the agent knew he had hit paydirt as any and all expressions had disappeared. “I’m right, aren’t I? Torch is Shepard!” he said excitedly. 

Hermes smiled again, which sent chills down his spine. Instead of saying anything, the young gothic woman stayed silent. But Zeek knew he had her right where he wanted her. Suddenly, the waitress came back with a small cup of coffee and set it in front of Hermes. The agent looked down at it in confusion. “That’s not a platter…” 

Without making a sound, Hermes reached up and pulled something free from her jacket. Twirling it in her fingers, she spun it until a blade freed itself from the confines of the handle. Zeek screamed in agony is the blade was immediately buried in his hand and through the table, pinning the appendage to the diner’s furniture. “You’re kind of an idiot, aren’t you?” 

“What the hell are you doing?!” snapped the panicked and pained man as he reached back for his gun. Grabbing the handle, he aimed directly at the smiling, electric-haired woman. But the heatsink immediately flew out and his hand seared in pain, causing him to drop it on the table. With no options left, he reached down for the knife, but Hermes still had her hand on it. 

“Touch it and you won’t get your hand back,” barked the young woman. Zeek’s body was shaking, one hand burned, the other was bleeding profusely, and he wasn’t sure what to do now. “Look around you.” Doing as he was told, the agent looked at the customers of the bar, not a single of them paying any mind to what was going on with him. Then he looked outside at the hundred or so people walking by on the crowded street. “You see these people?” 

“I... I see them... please...” he begged as he gripped the table painfully with his burned hand. Hermes snapped her fingers with a grin and a chill immediately went down Zeek’s spine as every voice silenced and every movement stopped. Looking around in the bar, every customer was now glaring heatedly at him. One look outside the restaurant showed something similar. Everyone walking before had stopped and was now staring through the diner window at him. It was as if Hermes had taken control over the population of Omega with a snap of her fingers. “H-How...?” he asked as if he were in a horror movie of some kind. 

“Don’t worry about how,” said Hermes as she picked her coffee cup up and sipped from it. “The question you should be asking is why you thought it was a good idea to try and extort someone you believe is friends with both the Queen of Omega and the human spectre who killed a sentient starship literally named after death.” 

“I... I dunno...” said Zeek as his expression began to grow pale. 

“I didn’t figure,” said the goth girl as she twirled a long strand of her pink hair between her fingers. “I assume you understand the consequences if you try and do anything with this little conspiracy theory of yours.” 

“I... do...” he said as he looked down at the blade penetrating his hand again. 

“Good,” said Hermes with a grin. “Every time you look over your shoulder, I’m going to be there. Every time you take a piss, I’m going to be washing my hands. Any time you go to the movies, I’m going to be at the concessions stand.” Finally, the smile vanished. “If you try and bring up your little fairy tail to anyone, you’ll be on the missing person’s board within an hour. Do I make myself clear?” 

“U-Understood,” said the man gasping shallow breaths now. 

“Good!” said Hermes as she ripped the blade clean from his hand. Zeek shouted and grabbed his hand as the asari waitress set down a small med kit next to him. “You’ve only lived on Omega for a few months, so I’ll consider this a neighborly warning. Tell your justicar that her assassin hangs out at the VIP area of the club Heat Death. And if you wish to continue working in your industry, I’d advise you to stick your nose where it isn’t invited,” she said as she twirled the blade until it was safely back inside the casing.

2175 Aeia – Alpha Draconis System

The trip was longer than she would have liked. The Alpha Draconis system was the farthest known system from the closest relay in the cluster, and as such it had taken nearly half a day just getting there from the relay system. But as they flew in the shuttle down to the world where they could already see the silhouette of the massive, crashed freighter, she found herself a bit more relaxed.

The planet was a jungle world. It was mainly green with crystal blue oceans which meant that it would be ripe for colonization if she ever revealed its presence to the Council. But that she would have to worry about later as Ralixia kicked her boot to get her attention. “What’s down here?”

“That ship,” said Shepard as she nodded towards the freighter that nature had reclaimed. “It’s been missing for ten years. We’re mostly here to check for survivors.”

“After ten years?” asked the turian as she eyed Jacob who was simply staring at the crashed starship. “Well, I hope we find something.”

“Your spectre exam is almost done, by the way. One or two more missions counting this one and you’ll have your answer,” said Shepard with a grin as she eyed the turian woman.

“Oh?” asked the legate with a playful glare. “No big explosions? No wiping out galaxy-wide security companies? Just a survivor count and potential rescue mission?”

“You’ve proven yourself in combat. I don’t need you to survive another explosion or take someone out at a hundred meters with your rifle to know you can fight,” said the spectre with a shrug. “I just need to make sure you have the headspace now.”

“What does that mean?” asked the turian as her mandibles twitched.

“Most other spectres probably would have already approved you. But for me to give you the power that comes with being a spectre, I need to know if you’re also mentally prepared for what comes with that,” said Shepard as she turned and looked out the window.

“You’re afraid I can’t handle the stress?” asked the legate as Lia set the shuttle down outside a yawning opening in the side of the dilapidated ship.

“You’re an Imperium Marine. I know you can handle stress,” said Shepard as she eyed her firmly and opened the door to the shuttle. “You’ll get the criteria when you get my answer.”

“Fair enough,” said the turian woman with as she spun her hand in exasperation.

As all three exited the shuttle, Shepard noticed Lia get out as well. “What are you up to?”

“Well…” said the quarian nervously. “I know I’m not on your ground crew, but I was hoping to go with you this time. You said that this was mostly a rescue mission so there wouldn’t be much fighting.”

“It’s up to you. If shots are fired make sure to take precautions though,” she said as she turned to Jacob. He was staring up at the massive ship with a hand covering his eyes from the sun. “Is that it?” she asked, noticing that ten years’ worth of exposure had likely wiped out any name that had been painted on the hull.

“I haven’t seen it myself. But the transponder has its name, so it’s gotta be,” he said as he looked down at his omni-tool. “According to this, the beacon is just a short ride down the beach.”

Shepard looked over the cliffside he was aiming towards and nodded. There was a long coastline with forest pushing all the way up to the sand. “Beachfront property. If the SOS is coming from there then that’s already a good sign that people survived. Let’s get the shuttle and head over there.”

They left the doors open as Lia lifted the vehicle off the ground again and gently flew the machine towards the blinking indicator on her radar. Shepard stared down at the foliage and beaches below, trying to spot anyone or anything in the brush. But they all stopped when they heard the sound of gunfire. “The hell is that?” asked Jacob worriedly as he stared down into the jungle.

“Didn’t think we’d actually need to use our weapons,” said Ralixia as she pulled her rifle free.

“The people are likely malnourished and exposed. Use force appropriately,” ordered Shepard as she looked at the turian woman who nodded back. “Lia, the shots clipped a few of the trees in that area so take us over there and keep the shuttle secure. It’s resistant to small arms fire.”

“You got it, Captain!” said the quarian excitedly as she zoomed the craft down and into the trees.

When they finally broke through the canopy, Shepard’s eyes widened as she saw a group of nearly naked men fighting off a small army of mechs with some ancient looking guns. The mechs themselves also looked rusted and battered from the march of time and potentially the salt in the air from the sea eroding away at their metal frames. If she didn’t know better, it almost looked like a battle between a primitive civilization and their first attempt at AI.

“Lia, swing us close to the mechs so we can take them out!” shouted Shepard over the sounds of battle. Looking back, the men who wore little more than loincloths made from the pants they used to wear hid behind trees and took potshots at the creaky mechanoid soldiers. As the shuttle swerved into the battle, the mechs turned to it and began to fire.

But Ralixia’s battle rifle, Shepard’s pistol, and Jacob’s biotics tore them all to shreds before they even made a scratch on the craft. After the attack ended all of the automatons, the shuttle hovered just above the ground. “They still don’t look too friendly,” said Jacob as he eyed them warily. He raised his hands and put up a barrier around the entire shuttle.

“Take us closer,” said Shepard as she put her helmet on. “Take every precaution.” The shuttle slowly drifted in the men’s direction as Shepard hanged out the side. “We are here to help you!” she shouted at the men who were still taking shots at Jacob’s shield. If they heard, they didn’t care. Growling, Shepard jumped out of the shuttle and Jacob let her out of the bubble as she donned her own barrier, walking straight up to one of the men that was trying to be sneaky behind a bush. As soon as he jumped up to shoot, she slashed the gun in half with one of her blades. “I said we’re here to help you!”

But the man just continued to glare at her armored figure. Suddenly, someone else shouted from the trees to the east. “Yes! You! Help!” came the shout of a woman whose shirt was similarly tattered and worn. Shepard looked up, and she immediately noticed every single male she could see raise their weapons to fire. The familiar feeling of adrenaline surged through her, clearing her vision and making her faster as her biotics warped her across the forest. She popped up in front of the woman with her arms spread wide, creating a biotic shield.

The woman squeaked in surprise at her arrival and bullets began to pepper her protective aura. “Non-lethal, take them out!” shouted Shepard as she glared at all of the men who just tried to kill the woman. “What the hell did I just drop into?!”

Ralixia hurled herself from the shuttle and swept one of the naked men’s legs out from under him before giving him an unceremonious crack to the skull with her rifle butt. Jacob straight clocked several into unconsciousness using his boxer’s stance. And even Lia managed to take one down with a flying dropkick from her shuttle, sending the man crashing into a tree before he thudded against the ground unconscious. In total there were fifteen of them now laying stunned on the ground.

Sighing to herself, Shepard turned back to the woman. “What were you doing running onto a battlefield like that? You could have gotten killed.”

“You!” said the woman whose expression was one of awe. “You come from the sky!”

Shepard had no idea what to say. She sounded like a primitive woman who had just made first contact, but she was clearly human. “What are you asking me?”

“The leader! She said you would come from the sky! She promised! And you’re here!” said the woman as she almost burst into tears.

“What the hell is wrong with her?” asked Jacob as he approached as well. But immediately the woman saw him and began backpedaling. He raised his hands defensively at her action. “Woah, I’m not gonna hurt you…”

“Back hunter! You are like them!” snapped the woman fearfully.

Jacob looked at the others, then looked at Shepard who shrugged at him. “I’m sorry if I scared you.”

“You terrible! Stay away!” snapped the woman as she rushed to Shepard’s side and hid behind her.

Shepard looked at the woman, then looked to Jacob, then looked back at the unconscious militia men. Jacob sighed and reached up to rub his head. “Is this as bad as it looks?”

“I certainly hope not…” said Shepard as she tucked her pistol away.

Ralixia approached with one of the weapons the men were using, showing that it was barely functioning. “I’m surprised they were able to hit anything with these.”

“They still have ammunition after 10 years, so whatever is going on with the mechs is a recent occurrence,” said Shepard as she examined the shaved block inside the chamber.

“My guess is the beacon going off and this new war between survivors are related,” said Jacob as he crossed his arms.

Shepard nodded, then turned to the woman. “Can you take us to your leader?” asked the spectre, unamused that she had to use that line unironically.

Survivor Camp – 2175 Aeia

After finally managing to get the woman inside the craft, a process that included Jacob hanging securely onto the roof, they flew towards the survivor camp. Shepard tried to get more information out of the woman, but she was uncooperative as her excitement in being inside a flying vehicle. “Please, take us back to the sky!”

Ralixia shook her head. “I’m assuming she’s asking to be rescued and taken back to galactic society?”

Jacob spoke from his spot on top. “But why does she sound as if she barely made it out of grade school? Ten years isn’t long enough for that kind of language degradation.”

“Hopefully we’ll find out from this place,” said Shepard as the shuttle broke the tree line and they saw a small settlement in the clearing. Immediately, everyone in the settlement rushed over to the hovering vehicle and raised their hands up in praise.

“I can’t land with them that close!” snapped Lia as she swung the vehicle away from the chasing crowd. When she finally managed to plant it on the ground, the crowd rushed up again and tried to push their way inside. But Shepard forced them all away from the craft with a light biotic push.

“Do not touch this shuttle until I have given you permission!” she said, slightly annoyed at the confusion that this situation had brought on. She knew these people were eager to be rescued, but she also needed to follow protocol. Something was off about this place and these people and she couldn’t allow her crew to be endangered because she was careless. Turning to the woman inside the craft, she pointed at the crowd. “Leader?”

Nodding, the excited woman leapt out of the shuttle and began running for the middle of the camp. “Leader Sophia! This way!”

“Lia, make sure to lock down the shuttle if you’re coming with. I don’t want them joyriding it into a cliffside,” said the spectre as she hopped out as well and looked at all the faces. Immediately, she felt her skin crawl as she recognized that the entire crowd was nothing but women.

“Shepard,” said Jacob from on top. “If you could check things out and fill me in. It’s probably best if I stay here.”

“Maybe, but you’re the reason we’re here. Come down and just give them a wide birth. Don’t do anything too threatening,” ordered the spectre as she sighed heavily.

Doing as he was asked, Jacob jumped down and crossed his arms so that he didn’t look too threatening or imposing. The women of the colony, like their tour guide, gave Jacob a wide berth. “This is exactly what it looks like, isn’t it.”

“We’ll find out soon enough,” said Ralixia as she tailed them.

The entire camp looked like a set of makeshift and ramshackle huts made of stripped parts from the torn up Hugo Gernsback. Solar panels were set up along the outside of the settlement with survival heating lamps planted in each small hut area. The crowd of women had followed them to the largest makeshift tent in the area. Shepard noted that there were around twenty women here. Finally, the eager one from the ship grabbed Shepard’s wrist and pulled her inside one of the tent flaps. As she was pulled inside, Shepard’s eyes locked onto those of an older woman. She had dark hair that exposure had bleached and her brown eyes were tired.

“Who are you?” asked Shepard curiously as the young woman who brought her here sat on a nearby cushion on her knees.

The tired woman sighed. “Sophia.”

“Alright Sophia,” said Shepard as the others waited outside. “Can you tell me what’s going on here?”

“I can’t… use words. Here,” said the woman as she pulled a datapad out from under one of her cushions and handed it over.

Shepard eyed the device but noted that it was dead. Sitting down on a small makeshift stool and linked the datapad to her omni-tool, allowing the power source to share its load. Once the connection was established, Shepard hit the power button and turned the device back on. After the startup process ended, she noticed that this was essentially a logbook that started only months after the crash of the ship.

Looking up at the woman, this Sophia simply looked down at the ground with little to no expressiveness on her face at all. Shepard knew she wasn’t going to be the same after what she was about to read. Biting her lip, she looked back to the datapad and began to read from the very beginning what had happened since the crash.

Survivor Camp – 2175 Aeia

She emerged from the tent, her expression dead as she nodded to the others. They joined her and she began to immediately beeline it for their next location.

“Shepard! Everything alright?” asked Jacob as he jogged up next to her. “What is it? What happened?”

But she stayed silent until they were well away from the ears of those in the camp. Once they reached the shuttle again, she drew her fist back and punched the vehicle so hard that it rocked lightly, stunning the others into silence. “Lia, call the Normandy and have a second squad come down and apprehend the men we decommissioned earlier. Tell them the bring their own weapons and arrest them.”

“Understood Captain,” said the quarian as she turned away and activated the comm.

Once the young quarian did as she was bid, Shepard turned back to the other two. “Ten years ago the ship crashed here. The beacon was damaged, and the first mate was in a coma. That’s who I met just a minute ago.”

“Sophia was the first mate?” asked the soldier as his brow rose curiously.

Shepard nodded and continued. “With the captain dead and first mate out of commission, second mate Ronald Taylor took over. They spent the first few weeks testing the flora in the area to see if it was edible and they found that it was. But they figured out that the local flora cause some kind of degradation in the consumer, resulting in lower brain functionality.”

Ralixia leaned against the vehicle as she listened. “That explains the speech and potentially the aggression in the men.”

“Taylor ordered that the surviving food from the ship be saved for the officers to make sure they were capable of fixing the SOS beacon,” said the spectre as she pulled her pistol free from her belt and checked to make sure it was functioning. “Shortly after that order, Sophia woke up. She was an engineer as well as the first mate, which meant that she could take over beacon repairs. But Taylor delegated her to the lower crew instead and kept the food for himself and his chosen crew.”

“Goddammit…” growled Jacob as he clenched his fist. “The initial decision makes sense, but he never had any intention of letting them leave.”

“At least not once he found out the food had the effect of mental degradation,” said Ralixia as she crossed her arms with a look of disgust on her face.

“Since he was an officer, he had permission to access the mechs on board in case of pirate attacks. Almost immediately he began to use them on the crew when they caught on to what was happening. The men and women who rebelled were killed and their bodies were put up on display to dissuade any dissenters,” said Shepard as she pointed to a stake sticking out of the ground not far from where they stood. She wasn’t sure if ten years of exposure ate away the remains or if the remaining survivors had taken them down at some point. But she knew if she hadn’t read Sophia’s log, she’d have never been able to tell it apart from a regular tree.

“But… why? He said he hated assholes in the Alliance telling him how to do his job. So, he joins a civilian ship for a shot at getting away from that. Then the first chance command falls into his hands he turns into a goddamn tyrant?!” roared Jacob angrily, causing some of the survivors nearby to flee. He looked up at the terrified women and buried his face in his hands. “He’s a goddamn monster.”

“He’s held command so far using the mechs. Eventually he began to through his own coconspirators to the beasts. He’s killed some, exiled others. But the mechs are starting to fall apart because of the climate and lack of repairs,” said Shepard as she activated her omni-tool. “The men we took out before were the exiles. I don’t know how long they’ve had to eat the local flora, but before all that they were just as guilty.”

“So, where is he then?” asked Jacob as he began to clench and unclench his fist. “Did they manage to get to him?”

“There’s a small cave in the cliffside over there that leads to an open air cavern that’s been called ‘the chambers.’ According to Sophia, he’s locked himself up in there since the exiles started attacking,” said Shepard as she pointed to a nearby cave built into the cliff.

“Good, then we can put an end to this ourselves,” he growled as she began marching towards the opening.

Shepard turned and activated her comm. “EDI, we need some lifeboats down here. Make sure Chakwas comes with and only have women members of the crew helping her to rescue these people.”

“Understood, Spectre,” responded EDI from the Normandy above.

Shepard headed up after Jacob with Ralixia in tow and together they arrived to find Jacob standing over the smoking body of an ancient BLDR class mech that haven’t been available for years. Tossing the robot aside with his biotics, they continued until they stepped into the open air cave. Instead of having a back wall, the cavern opened up to a cliffside with an incredible view of the forested inner continent. A handrail was embedded into the rock to make sure nobody rolled out of the cave.

Shepard looked over and noticed a flashing beacon sitting on a makeshift table made out of crudely carved wood. Jacob nodded towards the two people sleeping in the bed. Shepard acknowledged them before reaching down and picking up an ancient pistol that lay nearby. Jacob tapped Shepard’s shoulder then pointed to the woman in the bed, then to the exit.

The bed was in the center of the cavern floor and Shepard nodded as she stepped over to the woman’s side and gently tugged at her hand. The woman’s eyes snapped open and she looked shocked for a moment, but Shepard put a finger to her own lips and shushed her. Looking around the room at the others, Shepard simply motioned for the woman to get up and follow her. Silently the woman nodded and pulled the blanket up around her naked form.

“You, follow her,” said Shepard silently as she patted Ralixia on the shoulder. The woman understood and left Shepard alone with Jacob and his mentor. Jacob looked to her for confirmation before being given an approving nod.

Whipping a pistol off his belt, Jacob aimed at the beacon next to the bed and fired five rounds into it, causing it and the table it was on to explode. Ronald jumped out of his sleep and stared up at them wide-eyed before the soldier grabbed him by the hair and dragged him unceremoniously towards the railing  and the cliff. ‘W-What’s happening!? Who are you!?” shouted the second mate as he struggled against Jacob. But despite saving the pre-crash food for himself, he was still too malnourished to do anything about it.

“Time to wake up ‘acting captain,’” snapped Jacob as he slammed the man harshly against the railing.

Coughing, Ronald shook his head to clear his vision. He had a beard, fairly long but not as long as his hair which now reached down to his shoulders. He raised his hands up in the air. “Please! Don’t harm me!”

“Stand up!” ordered Jacob as he aimed his own gun between the man’s eyes. The man was shaking in fear as he stared down the barrel. “How could you have done this?” asked Jacob as Shepard stepped forward into the light as well.

“Acting Captain Ronald Taylor. I’m Spectre Jane Shepard and I’ve got more than a few questions for you,” she said as she glared at him angrily.

“Spectre? A human?” asked the man as he looked between them. “H-Have you come to rescue us?”

“In a manner of speaking,” said Shepard as Ralixia entered the room again, blocking the doorway in case the man got any funny ideas. “Care to tell me what happened here?”

“Uh… sure,” said the man nervously as he looked between them all. “I… uh… we… that is to say our ship, it crashed. Don’t know the reason why, but we descended to the planet’s surface too fast. When we managed to crawl out of the wreckage, the beacon was broken and most of the bridge staff had died. So, command fell to me.”

“What did you do with that command?” asked Jacob as he crossed his arms, his helmet visor apparently blocking his face just enough that the man didn’t recognize him yet.

“I had to make some hard decisions,” said the groggy man as his hands fidgeted wildly. “The food on this world is edible, but it comes at the cost of your mind slipping away. I had to order that the ship food be saved for me and the remaining bridge crew so that we were able to fix the beacon. Many didn’t like the idea of losing themselves and hoping it was treatable later. They got violent.”

Shepard knew Jacob wanted to make the man swallow his teeth for the lie, but she planted her hand on his shoulder both as a comfort and a deterrent. “Go on.”

Nodding, Ronald sighed and looked out over the cliff. “There was a big fight over the order and I had to use the mechs keep them in line. But one of the bastards got the beacon before I could stop him and broke it,” he said as he shook his head. “I only recently managed to salvage enough parts from the ship to build a new one.”

“That’s a long time. What took you?” asked Shepard as she crossed her own arms.

“Between trying to keep my people fed and fighting off the ones that took the guns and ran off, I haven’t had free access to the ship for a while. Any time I stepped out of this camp I had either them or the wildlife in this place trying to kill me,” he said as he rubbed his heavily sun-tanned collar bone where a lighter colored scar remained.

“So, let me see if I got your plan straight,” began Shepard as she scratched her chin thoughtfully. “Your ship crashed, you used your access to the mechs to kill the people you couldn’t control, and once the beacon was complete, you decided you didn’t feel like activating it until your mechs started malfunctioning from a decade of exposure,” said Shepard as she looked up at him. “How’d I do?”

The man had a look of incredulity on his face. “I didn’t say any of that! Did you hear a word I said?”

“You can drop the bullshit, Ron,” snapped Jacob as he reached up and pulled his helmet off.

It took a long moment for the man to recognize his former comrade, but when he finally did his eyes widened. “Jacob?”

“Jacob Taylor, your brother from another world,” he said as he dropped his helmet and immediately smashed Ron across the face with a right hook that looked like it’d shatter concrete. Ron gasped in pain as he slammed into the ground, groaning loudly as Jacob cracked his knuckles. “How about we start over from the beginning, Ron. And every time you tell a bullshit lie to cover your ass, I start breaking shit?”

“Please…” gasped the man as he crawled backwards with his hands up defensively. “I… I won’t lie… so please…”

“What the hell were you thinking, Taylor? Were you really planning to live the rest of your life here playing king?” asked Shepard as she picked Jacob’s helmet up for him. “The food, as long as you could stretch it for a single person, would not last the rest of your life.”

The man heavily sighed and reached up to rub his aching face. “Had everything gone peacefully I could think of worse retirement plans than just eating the local food and hanging out with the droolers.”

“Call them that again and you won’t get up from the next hit,” said Jacob as he knelt down and death glared the man. “We were brothers. We looked out for each other. We promised to always have each other’s back.”

“I know!” snapped Ronald as he looked back up at Jacob. “I’m sorry I’m not the man you thought I was, Jacob. I wish you hadn’t been here to see me like this.”

“You wish you hadn’t gotten caught,” said Jacob as he pulled his pistol up and aimed at at the man again. “You’re goddamn lucky I don’t even think you’re worth the bullet I’d use to end your miserable life. The way you treated these people, and then when questioned you have the gall to talk down to them,” said the soldier as he grabbed Ronald by the hair again and jerked his head back, staring sheer hatred into his eyes. “I should give each and every one of them out there a knife and let them take you apart piece by piece. And even then you wouldn’t get what you deserved.”

“Let’s go, Jacob,” said Shepard as she nodded towards the door.

“Go… what do you mean go? Where are you going?” asked Ronald as he stood up in surprise.

“We’re leaving with all of the survivors. The men we found out there, we’ll see if we can save what’s left of their minds and then they can pay for their crimes,” said Shepard as she activated her omni-tool and stepped over to the large containers of rations that were left. Raising her arm, she planted multiple explosives on the crate before using her biotics to lift the entire thing. With the force of a battering ram, she slammed the crate through the handrail and sent it soaring over the forest below before blowing the entire thing up in a flash of light.

“What the hell was that?” asked Ronald incredulously as he looked between them all. “You’re taking me with you! You have to! I deserve a fair-“

Before he finished his statement, Jacob knocked him senseless again. “I told you what you deserve. What you’re going to get is a hell of a lot more lenient.”

“You’re going to stay in the little kingdom you’ve created. No rations to keep your mind, no victims to keep you entertained. Just you and this uninhabited planet,” said Shepard as she nodded to the others, ordering them to head back. “And if it’s ever too much for you, then do the galaxy a favor,” she said with a look of disgust on her face before she tossed his own gun back at his feet.

Stepping back outside she looked to Jacob and saw the look of hurt devastation on his face. “How could I ever have looked up to a monster like him?”

Shepard sighed to herself and threw her arm over Jacob’s shoulders. “People can hide who they are even from those they’re closest to, Jacob.”

“I guess…” he said as Shepard looked over at Ralixia. The turian woman’s face was hard to read, but her eyes said that she was thinking as well. Looking to Shepard, the legate let a sigh out of her nostrils before nodding and heading back to help get the survivors on board the Normandy.

Chapter Text

Human Embassy – Presidium – Citadel

“Well, how’d it go?” asked Shepard as Jacob approached her and the turian woman from the transit unit.

He gave her a half smile and shrugged. “Sophia just wanted me to understand that I wasn’t a problem.”

Shepard’s brow rose curiously. “You weren’t a problem?”

“Yeah, like how all the women in the camp kept running away from me,” he said with a shrug. “How strong do you have to be to go through what she did and even after all that, still worry about my feelings getting hurt?” he asked with a dry chuckle. “She’s an incredible woman and I hope she gets to live happily after everything she’s been through.”

“Me too,” said Shepard as she tilted her head, noting that he still looked wistful. “Anything else?”

Jacob looked up at her thoughtfully. “When she was trying to convince me that the survivors weren’t afraid of me specifically, she kept using the word safe. She said I was safe, and that I helped save them.”

“Is that odd?” asked Shepard as she scratched her dark red hair.

“Not odd. It’s just that it’s a word you’ve used to describe me before,” he said as he crossed his arms.

“Oh…” said the spectre as she nodded. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

“I dunno, I guess it’s kinda stuck with me now,” he said with a shrug. “Either way, I’m gonna keep up with the survivors and help them in any way I know how. It’s the least I could do for not catching Ron’s darkness earlier and putting him down before he could harm anyone.”

“Glad to hear you’re invested. Gives you something else to fight for,” said Shepard as she stopped in front of the embassy and turned to the turian woman that had followed her as well. “So, question for the day. What did you learn from the experience?”

Ralixia eyed her curiously, her mandibles twitching at the question. “I don’t understand the question.”

“Really think about it for a few minutes. Everything you experienced down there, what did you learn from it?” asked Shepard as her brows furrowed.

The legate looked down for a long moment before looking back up with what looked like irritation. Letting out a sigh, she hooked her hands onto her cowl before turning to Jacob. “How long did you know this Ronald man?”

“Technically I knew him for about two years before joining him. But I spent five years side by side with him when we worked together,” he said as he brow rose curiously. “Why do you ask?”

“Because after he saved me on Macedyn I wrote him all the time, but I never knew him or worked with him,” she said with a heavy sigh as her shoulders sagged. “You know this Ronald Taylor and worked with him for five years and still could not see the darkness in him. So, what right do I have to defend someone I’ve only met face to face once?”

Shepard smirked then turned and waved to the receptionist. Tonya waved back and went on about her work as Shepard entered the embassy where Ambassador Korvus-Jamal was working. The woman looked up and smiled at Jane. “Good to see you, Spectre! To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I’d like you to get into contact with Councilor Sparatus and inform him that I’ve made my decision on Legate Voretoria’s Spectre candidacy,” said Shepard, getting a startled look from the turian woman.

“Already? I thought you said you wanted a few more missions!” said the legate, sounding oddly disappointed.

Shepard ignored her for the moment and looked to the ambassador. Jasmine nodded dutifully, taking the hint and stood up from her desk. “I’ll inform him personally. Feel free to wait here until I return.”

After the ambassador left, Shepard sat in the woman’s chair and looked up at the towering turian in front of her. “Wondering why I approved you?”

“Not that I’m not appreciative, but yes,” said Ralixia as she crossed her arms.

“I only had a small hangup on you becoming a spectre. You’ve mostly shown me that you’re responsible, you’re capable of changing and learning, and that you’re willing to cooperate even with people you don’t like,” said Shepard as she kicked her feet up on the desk. “But my main question the entire time was how you would handle a situation where you were given the opportunity to abuse your power.”

Ralixia nodded knowingly. “I suppose that should be something you question a potential spectre about.”

“Definitely,” said Shepard as Jacob took his own seat over in the corner. “Believe what you will about Saren but you’d have to be extremely naïve to believe that spectres don’t abuse their power every day. C-Sec does it out in the open and they barely get a slap on the wrist for it so imagine what someone with the power of a spectre can do.”

“Given they can almost kill with impunity, there may not be any witnesses,” said the turian firmly.

“Exactly. And I believe we have more than enough abusers condoned by the Council. You?” said the spectre as she pointed at the legate. “I want you to be bigger and better than them.”

“How do I do that?” asked the turian as she stared at Shepard with her predatory eyes. “With absolute power comes absolute corruption and spectres are as close to absolute power as anyone in the galaxy. How do you keep yourself from turning into a monster with all the injustice in the world?”

“Absolute power doesn’t corrupt absolutely,” said Shepard as she shook her head. “Absolute power gives people the power to do what they wanted to do anyway. Humans have that saying as well and they commonly use it to justify how they would use power. When the truth is that power gives you the opportunity to truly act on your morals.”

“A thrilling philosophical conclusion, but you didn’t answer my question,” said the turian in a snarky tone.

Shepard smirked and nodded before waving her hand to Jacob. “That’s how.”

Ralixia looked over a the soldier who seemed to be as confused as she was. Then she looked back as if questioning the spectre’s sanity. “Elaborate?”

“I surround myself with people I trust to tell me the truth,” she said as she leaned back in the chair again. “Years ago I found a stray Alliance nuke that they couldn’t be bothered to track down. The entire time we were tracking it and trying to figure out who had gotten their hands on it, I had Garrus breathing down me neck about telling the Council.”

“I… see…” said Ralixia as the picture started to become clearer.

“I’ve made several decisions that would be called controvertial,” she said as she recalled finding Val’eda and releasing the rachni queen. Tali’s face at the discovery of the AI and Wrex’s insubordinate reaction to her decision flashed into her memories as well. “And every time I’ve had to make a decision like that, I’ve had my people making sure to tell me the truth. They don’t lie to me to make me comfortable, they tell me straight whether they think I’m making a mistake or not. Sometimes they’re right, sometimes I screw up. Sometimes they’re not and we all save the galaxy. But the fact is, they’re always there to keep me in check.”

Ralixia stared at Shepard for a long moment before looking down. “Most spectres work alone.”

“They don’t like having their methods questioned. And that’s what turns people into monsters,” said Shepard as she crossed her arms. “Do you understand?”

The woman nodded knowingly. “I do,” said the legate before she looked up at Shepard again. “My time with you has been vastly more… informative that I would have originally thought. I hope to work with you again once I’ve been properly ordained.”

“The feeling is mutual,” said Shepard with a wide grin. “So, are you ready to see the video footage?”

Ralixia looked up in surprise. “You said I’d have to use my spectre access to see it.”

“That was mainly to motivate you to open yourself up to change; something that ended up being a lot easier than I anticipated,” said Shepard as she shook her head. “To give you actual access to the classified information stored in the archives, it’ll take at least a week for them to create your ID and give it access. I can give you that access right now.”

The legate’s face changed several times over the next few seconds. She looked grateful, then worried, then determined. Shepard knew that the footage she was about to see would change her. Whether that was for the better or for worse she wasn’t sure. But she deserved to know the truth. “I would like that.”

Nodding, Shepard sat down again and sealed the embassy door. Looking over to Jacob, she nodded. “Goes for you too, this is classified.”

“No worries, Shepard. Nobody will hear a peep from me,” he said as he stood up and walked over to see the info for himself.

Typing on the terminal, Shepard opened the archives and logged in with her spectre privileges. Once inside, she pulled up the date and all the video footage from her crew’s body cameras during the Battle for the Citadel. She skipped past the trip through Ilos and the entire climb up the side of the Citadel Tower until finally they were inside. Looking up at the turian, she brought the paused video up on the view screen. “You ready for this?”

Ralixia didn’t answer for a few seconds. It looked as if she was unsure or thinking about ducking out. But she finally managed to steel herself and nodded. “I-I’m ready.”

Shepard activated the vid and watched the horrific expression on Ralixia’s face as Saren showed up on screen for a few moments at a time. The spectre looked up at it as well as Tali snapped at her angrily, wanting Saren’s life for herself. Then the camera finally showed him. He was beyond denial at this point. His formerly turian body had been so heavily modded that even his flanged voice sounded mechanical as he desperately tried to beg Shepard to kill him, to end his pain.

Ralixia gasped at the words, at the sorrow in his glowing eyes as he begged his most hated enemy to give him the mercy of death. Then the rush through the smoke as he fled to the top of the tower where the Councilors usually floated in their chairs. Shepard watched the turian woman’s expression as his words from the vid hit her own ears.

It was then that he placed the gun under his chin and ended his own life. Ralixia turned away just as he did and Shepard stopped the video after his body fell off screen. Turning her back on Shepard, the legate reached up and stroked her fringe soothingly. “How could they do that to him?”

“Sovereign, the reaper ship at the Citadel that day has the ability to indoctrinate people using some kind of energy field,” said Shepard as she turned away from the terminal. “Doesn’t matter if you’re an asari matriarch, a human operative, or a turian spectre. If you stay in the field, you will be reconditioned to believing in the reapers.”

“You believe he was indoctrinated into trying to bring these reapers back?” asked the turian woman as she turned back to the spectre.

Shepard nodded knowingly. “I don’t know what Saren was like before he was indoctrinated. I first met him here on the Citadel after he attacked Eden Prime and I’m pretty certain he was already too far gone to be saved by that point. We don’t know how long he’d had contact with Sovereign before then.”

The legate sighed and shook her head in despair. “Even if I didn’t believe you about this reaper indoctrination, I cannot be so blind that I ignore that his very body was defiled with that grotesque machinery.”

“So, you finally believe me about him?” asked Shepard as she sat back in her seat.

The turian leaned onto the desk and stared Shepard dead in the eyes. “I will not deny what he became in the end. He was a monster, used and discarded by a puppet master who needed his resources.”

She nodded firmly. “In the meantime, you understand that Sovereign was just the beginning. There’s more of those ships out there waiting to be let into the galaxy.”

“It took everything the Citadel Fleet had just to take down a single one of them. How do we fight something like that?” asked the turian woman seriously.

“Together,” she said firmly to the legate. “Meanwhile, I need the help of you and other spectres out there to prepare us for the war,” said Shepard with a stern look on her face. “This isn’t going to be a war we can win conventionally. But if we don’t fight, then we’re already as good as dead.”

Ralixia nodded and stood straight. “I understand, Shepard,” said the turian as she held out her hand in offer. Shepard looked down at it before looking back up to the woman’s face.  Reaching out, she clasped wrists with her.

“I’m glad to hear it,” said Shepard with a cheeky grin. “And if you ever want a rematch in hand to hand, just send me a message and I’ll let you know where you’re gonna lose again.”

Ralixia snorted as she glared at the human. “Last time, I was ill prepared for how agile and creative you humans are. I won’t make that mistake again,” said the legate as she released the spectre. “In the meantime, could I ask a huge favor from you before you leave?”

“You can always ask,” said Shepard with a grin.

The legate glared at her. “Could you drop me off on Omega after your work here is done?”

Shepard’s brow rose at the request. “How convenient for you that that’s actually where I was going after leaving here.”

Ralixia bowed her head politely. “Thank you again, spectre,” she said before finally turning and leaving the embassy.

“I should get going too, Shepard,” said Jacob as he stood up and smiled at her. “Thanks again for helping me out. It’s a favor I won’t soon forget.” Then, he left Shepard alone in the ambassador’s office.

The spectre sat down in the seat and rewound the video again. Once she was at the right part, she hit the play button. “Shepard… Go to Alchera…” She stared into his eyes. Despite being mostly machine at that point, he still had a look of sadness, a look of desperation on his face. She found herself asking if he was really setting a trap for her in those final moments of his life. If her were completely controlled by the reapers, he would obviously have access to the collectors and could set an ambush up. But then it didn’t make sense for him to take his own life right afterwards.

She rubbed her head in frustration and sighed to herself before closed down the video to await the Councilor’s arrival.

? - ?

She was adrift in the ocean, her hair waving and glittering around her as she stared down into the depths. Life unlike anything she had ever seen before sparkled below with bioluminescence, sending signals, communicating, warning predators, all sorts of things. It was odd experiencing this with no protective suit, but if anything that just made the ocean kingdom even more comforting.

She spun in the water and looked up to see all of the massive island-like creatures floating through the water. They were called Reefbacks and were a staple of the water world uncreatively named Planet 4546B. They floated through the oceans like continental shelves bearing life of their own on their broad backs. They were literal floating ecosystems.

“Hey, Shep. You mind if I have a word?” came a familiar voice as she looked around. Closing her eyes, she felt herself sucked away from the planet and thrust back into her body aboard the Normandy.

As she opened her eyes, she saw the agile form of Kasumi sitting yogi style in front of her. Her biotics dissipated as she leaned onto her knees with Grunt sat next to her, staring into a visor for his studies. “What can I do for you?”

Smiling, the wily thief opened her omni-tool and brought up a massive schematic. “I pilfered through some of the servers of the construction company that built Donovan Hock’s estate on Bekenstein and found quite a bit of information we could use.”

“Oh yeah?” asked Shepard as she stood up and turned to some of the mannequins in the training hall. Many of them were bent at an odd angle, but still plenty usable. Setting one up, she magnetized it to the floor. “Show me what you’ve got.”

Kasumi brought up the schematics as Grunt closed his visor and watched the spectre in fascination. “We’ve got a brand-new Gordian Vault system buried within the mountain of the estate. The manor sits on top.”

“Lemme guess, only one entrance,” asked Shepard as she hit the dummy with a punch that blew the internal padding out of the back with a warp.

“You got it!” said the woman excitedly. “State of the art and only built in the last few years. It’s so new that even I haven’t had a chance to crack one yet,” she said as she brought up the specs on the vault. “In order to open the elevator, you need a fingerprint, a voice print, a password, and a DNA scan. Then when you’re on the elevator, it has a weight tracker. The person who activated the elevator, namely Hock himself, is shown a weight readout of everyone in the elevator.”

“I guess to prevent any uninvited guests who use cloaking,” said the spectre as Grunt set up another mannequin for her.

“Indeed,” said the rogue as she brought up the readout on the elevator shaft. “The entire elevator shaft is full of lasers that’d cut through a starship hull. The elevator itself deactivates them as it passes, which keeps people from trying to get into the shaft and make their way down.”

“So, we can’t go through the elevator without either making an entire profile of him to open each lock, or just taking him hostage,” said Shepard as she began punching the dummy that Grunt was holding for her.

“There are a number of tunnels that run around the vault. They are shortcuts from the manor to the docks below on the other side of the mountain,” said the thief as she scratched her chin.

“Could we possibly blow our way in from one of those tunnels?” asked Shepard as she hit the dummy hard enough that Grunt put a foot back.

“This vault could withstand most nukes from the outside. And even if it was capable of being blown open from the outside, you’re more likely to bring the tunnel down on our heads than breach the vault,” said Kasumi thoughtfully as she zoomed into the docks. “Most of the stuff that goes into his vault arrives here, is taken up through the tunnels to the manor, then down into the vault with Hock there overseeing the entire thing. “I doubt we’d get away with a stowaway.”

“What’s that?” asked Shepard as she wiped sweat from her brow.

“One of the oldest tricks in the book. Also known as a Trojan Horse. You create something that the mark wants to put in their vault. An easy example would be an ancient sarcophagus. Then you hide someone inside until they’re inside the vault, and then crack it open from within,” said the woman excitedly.

“You’re awfully eager to commit crimes,” said Shepard in amusement.

“From the outside it might seem odd, but this has been my lifestyle for a long time. Stealing comes as second nature to me,” she said with a shrug.

Finally, Grunt spoke from behind the dummy. “Does he even have anything else worth stealing in there?”

Kasumi tapped her chin thoughtfully. “That a krogan would want? I don’t know. I believe he has a few krogan relics from the rebellions. Maybe some ancient weapons of war. I do know he has a dinosaur skeleton in there that he managed to buy out from under the National History Museum.”

“What’s a dinosaur?” asked the krogan as he tilted his head curiously.

“It’s a word used to describe a bunch of extinct species from Earth that were around long before humans,” said Shepard with a grin. Immediately the krogan opened his datapad and the visor covered his eyes once more. Shaking her head, the spectre turned to Kasumi. “So, I assume you’ll have a plan ready by party time?”

“I always have a plan. Don’t worry, Shep. You just put on your most expensive suit and I’ll figure out how we get into that vault,” said the rogue as she gave a cheeky grin.

“Preferably a method that doesn’t end up with us entombed under a mountain,” said Shepard with a grin.

“You could always threaten to flatten the entire place with the Normandy if he doesn’t hand it over,” said the thief as she cocked her brow.

“I’m sure that’d go over very well with the Council,” said the spectre as she turned back to Grunt. She eyed him curiously as he had a look of awe on his face. “Grunt? You okay over there?”

His head snapped up and he looked at her wide eyed. “Shepard! Dinosaurs!”

XO’s Quarters – SSV Normandy SR2

“What is it?” asked Miranda as she eyed the spectre worriedly. The red-haired woman had been sitting at her desk, scrutinizing her silently for the last five minutes and it was beginning to get disconcerting.

Shepard finally snorted out of her nose and rested her chin in her hand before speaking. “I know it was you, I just can’t figure out the motive.”

“What was me? If someone was murdered you should probably check Jack first…” started the XO with a cheeky grin.

“Very funny, Lawson. But you’re not getting off that easily. Why did you send Jacob that notice about the Hugo Gernsback anonymously?” asked the spectre blatantly.

Knowing the jjg was up, she simply shrugged. “He never got closure on his mentor so I had been keeping track of the SOS codes for a long while. Ships like the Hugo Gernsback have the HG Protocol installed as a principle. So, I just kept an eye out for the SOS.”

“Okay, but why anonymously? Why didn’t you just bring them to him?” asked Shepard exasperated by her anonymity.

Miranda sighed to herself and brushed a lock of her raven hair from her face. “Look Shepard, without getting too into anyone’s business, me and Jacob have history. We’d known each other for years before the Lazarus Project brought us together again and that’s how I knew about the ship and where I got the codes.”

“Wait…” asked Shepard as she tilted her head. “Were you two… you know?”

Miranda cocked an eyebrow at the unasked question. “Not quite. I don’t really go for jocks. And Jacob doesn’t go for anyone. Romance and sex have never been something he has ever shown interest in.”

“Understood. So, what is it then?” asked Shepard as she continued to eye the woman.

“Look, a lot of our history before you gets kind of awkward. I’d rather not discuss it,” said Miranda with a stern glare. “But I will say that Jacob had a hard time dealing with things back then. I was hoping that me sending this anonymously would have allowed him to get closure without bringing him back to those times.”

Shepard nodded knowingly. “Understood. Trying to help someone without hurting them in the process can be a real pain in the ass,” said the spectre before she narrowed her eyes again. “But from now on can you limit the number of vpn pings you use aboard the Normandy. In the future you can just bring the information to me and then I’ll bring it to him if you want it done anonymously.”

“How did you even know I did it?” asked Miranda incredulously as she narrowed her own eyes at the redhead.

“You don’t understand, Miranda,” said Shepard as she leaned forward onto the XO’s desk and then pointed at her own eyes. “I see the Matrix. Data doesn’t flow on this ship without me seeing it, tasting it, and especially reading it.”

The operator gave her a deadpan stare. “Do I need to get Doctor Chakwas to check your head?” Shepard snorted in amusement then sat back in her seat.

Suddenly, both of them jumped in surprise as her door slid open and Grunt stuck his head in with a wide grin on his face. “RANDA!” he shouted eagerly as he stopped with just his head in the room.

Both the XO and Shepard stared at him in surprise. “What?!” asked Miranda apprehensively as she gripped her desk.

“Dinosaurs!” he shouted, practically bouncing on his feet with excitement.

“Y-Yeah?” asked the operator incredulously as she looked to Shepard for answers.

Suddenly, he yanked his head from the door then turned and vanished with a loud shout of, “KELLY!” The sound of the yeoman shrieking in surprise as well as the clatter of a stack of datapads hitting the floor could be heard outside the open door. “Dinosaurs!”

Then the door closed and left them in silence again. Miranda looked up at EDI’s terminal slightly perturbed. “EDI, why did you open my door without warning?”

“I was afraid he was going to knock it down entirely if I didn’t,” came the AI’s voice.

“A fair judgement,” said Shepard as she turned back and leaned back in her chair again. “Grunt didn’t know about Earth’s former predator population until very recently.”

“I… see…” said the XO as she shook her head. “Let’s hope he takes it well when he finds out they’re mostly extinct.”

“Better prepare for that headache,” said Shepard as she rubbed her head gently.

“Speaking of headache, I’m to understand that you plan to rob a civilian vault tomorrow?” asked Miranda as her brow rose again. “Care to explain?”

“Look, it’s a long story and I don’t know if you want to be burdened with the details,” said Shepard plainly as she waved her hand.

But Miranda shook her head and leaned onto the desk. “I do.”

Shepard eyed her suspiciously at first, but then smirked. “Trust?”

“Trust,” said Miranda with a smile of her own.

Command Center – Pluto’s Gate

“How have things progressed aboard the Normandy?” asked the Illusive Man, his irritation at being left out of the loop growing by the day.

“We’ve got the full crew aboard and we’re ready for almost anything you can throw at us,” said Miranda as she stood at attention in the QEC projection.

“You’re very confident. Have you seen the crewmates working together? How do they stack up to the collectors?” asked the man as he pulled a cigarette from his gold-plated pack and lit it.

“You’ve seen the footage from Horizon. Not a single casualty and barely any injuries. With the justicar and the assassin added to the team as well, I doubt we’ll have any trouble against the collectors,” said Lawson with a firm head nod.

“On Horizon, you all needed assistance from Ashley Williams and her heavy weapons to deal with the collectors. Not to mention Subject Zero and Massani nearly killing everyone,” said the man as he swirled his whisky around in the glass.

“Ashley Williams helped against an enemy we had never seen before, and we weren’t defeated when she stepped in anyhow. Now we know they exist and have prepared for much of the same in the future. They won’t be surprising us again. As for Massani and Jack, they’ve been spoken with about their use of creative destruction,” said the operative with a glare in her eyes.

“And how about the Omega Protocol? Has it been discovered?” he asked, his glowing eyes scanning her face as well as he could through a QEC.

Her face had a look of surprise on it, but she showed no sign of distaste as he might have thought she would after spending time with Shepard. “It’s still in place and ready to be used. So far, Doctor Chakwas hasn’t detected anything.”

“That’s good,” he said as he ashed the cigarette. “I heard about what happened with your sister. Is she alright?”

Immediately, the operative smiled. “She’s fine. Thank you,” said the woman as she looked down at the ground. “I apologize that I wasn’t able to tell you about that sooner. Shepard kind of rushed us through the process of getting her hidden again and I didn’t think you’d mind.”

“Would you like to share where she is so I can assign extra protection to her myself?” asked the man as he poked and prodded her for weaknesses.

She nodded her head rapidly. “I don’t mind at all. An agent named Fade on the Citadel is helping to relocate her family. The parents are going into retirement with my assistance so they don’t have to worry about constantly moving. And since she just got her degree, she’ll be able to start fresh in a new school to continue her education.”

“I’m happy to hear she’s doing alright,” said the Illusive Man before taking a sip of his whisky. “I heard that Shepard is heading to Bekenstein soon to meet with Donovan Hock. He’s a supporter of ours and a fairly large donator. Is there going to be trouble?”

“She trusts me now and ordered me not to tell anyone, but there’s not much she can really do to stop me from reporting to you. As far as I can tell she intends to steal something from his vault. A greybox that used to belong to Kasumi Goto’s old partner. She doesn’t know what’s on it, just that he died getting it and Hock thinks he could make billions off the information on it. Either that, or send the Alliance to war against the Council. Nobody but him knows what he actually intends to do with it,” she said with a shrug.

His brow arched for the first time since she had called. After Shepard helped during the situation with her sister, he was all too ready to write Lawson off as a lost asset to Shepard’s charms. But with the information she had just given him, he hesitated. “What kind of information are we talking about?”

The operator sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Unfortunately, she didn’t know what was on the box. Even Kasumi didn’t know and she’s the one trying to get it back. The only one who actually knew was the owner of the greybox and he’s not telling anyone. But if I manage to obtain the information on the box I’ll make sure to get it to you somehow.”

“I’ll deal with the fallout if something happens to Hock. He’s been getting a bit bigger in the head than I like from supporters anyhow. In the meantime, keep me updated on this data if you can. Knowing the political blowback that could come from it, I doubt Shepard would share it willingly. But we can deal with that when she’s got her hands on it,” he said amiably.

“Understood,” said Miranda as she flashed a charming smile at him.

“I’ll be eagerly awaiting your next call,” said the Illusive Man as he ended the QEC call with the operative. He found himself ruminating on her for a moment, wondering if she was being truthful with him or putting on a front. If the information Miss Goto was after truly would send the Alliance to war with the Council, then it was extremely dangerous. He had no plans on weakening humanity by literally alienating them from galactic society, but he still wondered what information could so easily cause a rift in the good will humanity had earned.

Reaching down, he mashed the butt of his cigarette into the ashtray, putting it out before tapping the button on his chair again. Once more, the image of the man popped up over the arm of his seat. “Thanatos speaking.”

“I’m concerned about the influence Shepard is having on Operative Lawson. She may be swaying away from Cerberus,” said the Illusive Man sternly.

The holographic man grunted. “She can’t possibly be as powerful and influential as you’re making her out to be.”

“Honestly, I’m not so sure. We’ve seen what she’s capable of against the collectors, and we’ve seen how she turned Donnel Udina into a golden retriever of a politician. Underestimating her would be a very costly mistake,” said the suited man as he pulled from his whisky again.

“You should have spent the money you used on her to improve me instead. I could run circles around her and her little crew of pets-“ but he stopped at the stern glare he was given.

“I don’t take kindly to having my choices questioned,” said the man with authority. Thanatos simply closed his eyes and bowed his head. “That said, your time to shine may be soon. I want you to keep track of them when they show up on the Citadel. I need to know if Lawson is still an asset or if she’s trying to draw my attention away from something.”

“Understood. It’ll be taken care of,” he said before the call closed.

The Illusive Man turned and looked back up at the blazing sun shining from the view screens, wondering to himself whether he went too far in bringing Shepard back. He knew the woman was powerful. It took a sneak attack from a hyper advanced dreadnought piloted by one of the most powerful species in the galaxy just to kill her. He didn’t relish the thought of using it, but perhaps the Omega Protocol would have to be utilized a lot sooner than he realized. He sighed to himself as he activated the viewscreen in front of him and put up the latest Machester football game.

Milgrom – Bekenstein

“You know, when I said put on your fanciest suit I didn’t expect you to come to the party in full combat armor,” said Kasumi as she eyed the spectre curiously.

“You and I both know how things are probably going to turn out on this job and I’m not going in there in nothing but a ballgown,” she said glowering at the console as the aircar flew them to their destination at the Hock Estate. “Besides, I only wear dresses for certain people and none of these stuffed shirt assholes are deserving.”

“I’m not disagreeing with you, but do you really think he’s going to let you into the party wearing all that?” asked Kasumi as she eyed the armor and the battle rifle on her back.

Shepard turned to her and smirked. “If he wanted eye candy he could get it from any corner of the galaxy. He wanted a spectre, so he’s going to get a spectre. This shows him what he’s getting,” said Shepard with a shrug. “I cleared it with his captain of the guard, Chief Roe.”

“How’d you manage that?” asked the thief curiously.

“Jona Sederis is going to be at the party,” said the spectre with a small chuckle.

“Oh… she must really hate you,” said the woman as she tapped her chin. “So, you told them you aren’t going to his party without your armor and weapons because he also happened to invite a potentially psychotic asari matriarch who wants you dead for collapsing her security business?”

“Bingo,” said Shepard as she stretched her limbs out. “Not that I trust any of the other snakes he’s invited to the party. But I wouldn’t put it past her to warp a hole through me just on principle. So, my weapons and armor are here to dissuade her and anyone else who might have a grudge against me. Like Jedidiah Maxwell.”

“Oh lord, what did you do to him?” asked the thief bewildered at her statement.

“I might have been responsible for the death of his daughter Jedore. I don’t know if he actually knows what happened to her given her entire base was a smoking crater when I left it, but I wouldn’t put it past him to have rounded up some of the mercenaries that got away and questioned them. If one of them let my name slip, he’s probably gunning for me too,” she said with a grin as she looked over at Kasumi. “Still up for this?”

“I’m not the one walking into the viper’s nest, you are,” said Kasumi as she shook her head. “Honestly I’d be surprised if you made it to the vault without at least one assassination attempt.”

“Enough talk about me. You’re supposed to be informing me about this plan you have for getting into his vault,” said Shepard as she narrowed her eyes at the woman.

“Right right, sorry. It’s always fascinating how many people in the galaxy want to kill you. Once you start talking about one I have to know more,” said the woman with a cheeky grin. “Anyway, I’ve got counters to almost everything.”

“Almost isn’t going to get us into the vault,” said Shepard as she cocked her brow.

“I know that but like I said, this is a new system. Half the time I crack vaults at least a quarter of the method is improvised and I’m going to have to try and improvise some,” said the thief with a shrug. “In any case, let’s start with a DNA sample. While you’re dodging daggers on the dance floor I’ll raid his room and try and get a DNA sample that’ll get us through that gate.”

“You’re going to be sneaking around his estate while I’ve got snipers lining up shots?” asked Shepard in amusement.

“To be fair it wasn’t I who left both the Eclipse and Jedore Maxwell in ashes. So, why should I share in your unfortunate fate?” she asked with a smirk of her own. Then she opened her omni-tool and brought up the schematics for the vault. “That’s just step one, however. For the password, it’s likely the Chief and a few of her goons knows it. The voice recognition software makes you say it out loud to drop the barrier. The harder part is getting his voice to say it. But I have just the program for that.”

Shepard watched her as she opened her omni-tool and activated a file. Both her brows shot up as she heard her own voice say, “My name is Jane Shepard and I think the Alliance Military is super awesome!”

Immediately the spectre’s brows furrowed as she glared at the thief. “Delete that. Now.”

Kasumi giggled slightly as she deleted the file. “As you can see, I have that part covered. But I do need some live samples of Hock’s voice to construct the password.”

“Alright,” said Shepard as she shook her head. “How about the fingerprint.”

“Oh please, that’s child’s play,” said the woman as she held up her glove and showed the pads she had on her finger. “I’ve already got a fingerprint sample.”

“How the hell did you pull that off?” asked the spectre in bewilderment.

“Hock was on the Citadel when we got here. I happened to find him, bumped into him intentionally, and got him to grab my wrist wearing a silver bangle,” she said as she showed a picture of the jewelry. “He wasn’t happy about being bumped into, but he wasn’t going to make trouble on the Citadel. Could have gotten his wallet too if I wasn’t aiming for something bigger,” she said as she activated the glove. Sure enough, the pads on the finger formed a perfect imprint of a fingerprint, thought she couldn’t tell if it was his or not.

“So, seems like you’ve got most of this figured out. So, where’s the hiccup?” asked Jane as she pulled the seat lever to give her more legroom.

“The elevator itself. Once we’re through all the barriers I still need to access the elevator and take it down to the vault to get the greybox. But that requires secondary approval from his captain of the guard who are going to see nothing on the elevator and aren’t going to unlock it to take it down into the vault,” said Kasumi as she looked over at Shepard with her eyes narrowing.

Shepard glared at her suspiciously. “What?”

“Well, if you managed to slip away from the party long enough to take out the security station and approve the elevator drop…” started the rogue with a cheeky grin.

“You want me to take out his head of security?!” she asked incredulously.

“Well, you are dressed for it…” said the woman with a chuckle. “You could lure Sederis or Maxwell over there and say they attacked you even! I’m sure you know how to pull off a false flag like that Miss Former Alliance.”

Shepard glared again but then snorted out of her nose. “Whatever’s on this goddamn greybox had better be worth all the trouble.” She then realized what she had said and flinched slightly. “I mean… aside from Kenji’s memories. I know those are worth it.”

“It’s alright, Shepard,” said the thief as she held up her hand. “I know I’m asking a lot. But just know that I plan to give a lot in return.”

“I don’t know what that means but it sounds terrifying,” said the spectre with a smile.

Kasumi smiled back as they spotted the estate on the horizon. They would be arriving any minute now. “Well, time to put our game faces on.”

HG Protocol | Technology | Space Travel
Short for Hansel and Gretel, the HG Protocol is commonly installed on ships that travel into deep space without the use of the relay network. Because they travel so far away from the traffic of relays, they commonly go to space where comm buoys are not available, so instead the enact a protocol before leaving a relay system that leaves a trail of tiny mini-buoys behind. These buoys are meant to act as breadcrumbs for any ships with the proper signatures to follow to the ship’s locations and can even carry an SOS message from one to the other until it hits an actual comm buoy.

Chapter Text

Human Embassy – Presidium – Citadel

Ashley leaned against the railing of the human embassy. It was odd to her how the embassy itself had a balcony that allowed the occupants to see over the Presidium considering the office also had a lockdown mode. But with modern technology she supposed spying and assassination attempts weren't really a problem in the most heavily guarded area of the galaxy.

She inhaled deeply of the artificial atmosphere and found herself wondering what her future held. Ever since the first spectre's death, she had made it her goal to fill that void in the galaxy. She worked herself to death to get her N7 certification last year with the help of Shepard's training and then focused on training herself to try and do half the good the Shepard had.

Then she came back. As if the gates of hell refused to contain her, Shepard walked back into the galaxy and got back to work. She couldn't lie to herself, a part of her deep down was slightly bitter that she would never get the chance to take over the mantle of galactic savior. She acknowledged the selfish impulse and then threw it away. She didn't care how eager she was to live up to the woman, she'd have traded her own life for Shepard's at any point. Luckily, it seems like she didn't really need to.

She began to contemplate her beliefs on life and death once again before she heard the door open behind her. The ambassador as well as Captain Anderson strode through the door as she turned around. He gave her a smile and she grinned back. "So, Spectre."

"Already sounds weird," said Ash with a grin.

"Well you've earned it," he said as he held out his hand. She gripped his hand and shook it vigorously. "Sorry we don't have any rogue spectres for you to chase down."

She snorted and nodded. "I mean, does Shepard count?"

Anderson let out a chuckle and nodded. "You're not entirely wrong. She's certainly gone her own direction."

Ash sighed and sat in the chair opposite of the ambassador's own. "Honestly, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do now. Back then we had direction. Chase down Saren, fight the geth, stop Sovereign."

Jasmine's brow rose as she eyed the armored woman. "You know that spectres do more than fight reapers, right?"

The N7 glared at the ambassador. "From my experience they also fight the Council." Jasmine chuckled and shook her head. "I know and I can do all the other stuff as well. There's never not going to be terrible people that need a bullet in the ass. But with Shepard, she was a spectre for all of ten minutes before she was making plans. I'm kind of just drifting here."

"Well, maybe we can help with that a bit," said the man with a knowing grin. Ash eyed him suspiciously. "Follow me, Williams. Udina and I have been cooking up something for just such an occasion."

The captain nodded to the ambassador who waved them out. Ash followed him, wondering what he was planning exactly. "Were you all anticipating me becoming a spectre?"

"We had our hopes, but this was a just in case. The spectre didn't have to be you, but we're glad it was," said the man as he led her to a private aircar. The pair of them got in and he took them into the air before heading away from the presidium and made his way between the joints of the wards. "So, any plans to help Shepard?"

"Obviously," said the N7 as she crossed her arms. "I dunno if she needs it anymore though."

"Shepard always needs help," said the man as he gave her a stern side eye. "Shepard always seems like a juggernaut of unimaginable destruction who can do anything, but that's because she had you all with her. If she were alone she wouldn't have made it off Eden Prime, let alone saved the Citadel."

"I know," said Ash as she sighed and looked out the window and saw a massive presence from the Citadel Fleet. "It just seems weird. The first thing I do after becoming a spectre is going to work under another spectre? Isn't there more I could be doing on my own?"

"Shepard had the benefit of guidance and purpose. She had a mission right out the gate and cleaned up messes along the way. She also already had a lot of her contacts from her intel days. If she were in your position right now, she might be just as confused," he said, getting a glare from the N7.

"Yeah, but that doesn't make this situation any less confusing. Should I stay on my own or go with her?" asked the woman, exasperated at the choice she had to make.

Anderson finally turned and glared back at her. "Go with her, Williams."

"You say that…" said Ash in a snippy tone.

"Right now Shepard needs all the help she can get, and you need to make connections. You need friends, allies, and experience commanding," said the man firmly as he turned back towards the viewscreen.

"Why do I need experience comm…anding…" she mumbled as her eyes widened. Anderson grabbed the communicator on his car's console.

"Captain Anderson. Please state your business," ordered a voice from over the comm.

"I've got a spectre in tow, Fleet 4. She's coming to take a look at the new project," said the man with a grin.

"We'll need to check your IDs at the checkpoint," said the man again.

"Understood," said the captain as he smirked at the spectre's silence.

"No fucking way…" said Ash as she stared through the screen at this supposed project being made just for her with its unmistakable curved hull.

Hock Estate – Milgrom – Bekenstein

"Damn. Didn't think they'd have a laser grid at the front door," growled Kasumi as she eyed the entrance. Since they had landed, she had been cloaked to the maximum. She didn't want Hock to see her, hear her, she didn't want him knowing she even existed. Shepard couldn't really blame her given he was responsible for Keiji's death.

"So, no cloaking through the front door," said the spectre as she closed the aircar door.

"They've also got a hanar standing guard," said the thief with a sigh. "I guess those are the precautions you take when you associate with the scum that he does."

"What does the hanar have to do with anything?" asked Shepard curiously as she spotted the invertebrate guarding the door.

"You don't know? They can see straight through cloaking," said Kasumi in amusement. "Ironic given they don't have eyes. But their brains are actually better at reading light than anything in the galaxy."

"So, they just see straight through cloaking technology?" asked Shepard incredulously, never having heard of such a thing.

"They don't see like we do. Their brains are wired to see everything around their body all the time as colors of light. They can see you and me when we approach because of the light reflecting off our bodies. Cloaking tech was created to fool people with eyes, but not someone who can see every light distortion within a hundred yards."

"Alrighty, I guess I'll keep that in mind for the future. Never had to tangle with a hanar before," said the spectre as she slowly approached the heavily guarded door. "So, what's the plan if you can't get in?"

"Shepard, come over here to the right of the door and act like you're looking at this rose bush," said the thief mischievously. The armored woman did as she was told and steered away from the guard post for a moment. Stopping in front of the massive hedge, she eyed the roses. "Now brace yourself, I'm going to springboard off you onto the balcony above."

"Hurry, looks like they aren't a fan of me loitering," said the woman as she flexed her muscles. She felt as Kasumi planted her hands on her shoulders, then boosted herself up. Finally, the agile woman leapt into the air. While she couldn't see if she made it, the lack of her crashing back down to the ground was proof enough she was secure. Shepard quickly turned to the guard who had made his way over to her. She began walking towards the checkpoint. "Any idea where Hock gets his rose bushes? Those are massive."

The man sighed and shook his head. "No idea, ma'am. Please don't wander off on the property," he said in annoyance as he escorted her back to the checkpoint. "We're going to need you to leave your weapons at the gate. They will be ret-"

"I'm not going anywhere without them," she said, her face now a glare of authority. "I've already been approved by Chief Roe."

"I'll have to call her. Please wait-" started the man again but he was once more interrupted.

"I don't think the spectre would come all this way just to murder my party guests," came the thickly accented Afrikaans voice. Shepard looked up at the man and knew exactly who she was looking at. Even if she hadn't seen his picture already, she'd be able to tell it was him just by the look of him. He looked like every hair on his head and cheesy villain beard and mustache were individually cut and groomed. He almost looked like his picture had been slapped through one of the filters on the omni-tool to hide blemishes.

"You must be Mister Hock," said Shepard as she crossed her arms.

"And you're the great Spectre Jane Shepard," he said with an almost eerie grin. "I've been waiting to meet you."

"So I've heard," she said as she looked over at the guard with a glare.

"Do you normally attend parties in full spectre gear?" asked the man with a slightly amused chuckled as he nursed a glass of what looked like Amarula.

"When the guests include several unhinged mercenaries who want my head, you better believe it," said Jane with a grin.

The man smirked at her and nodded before turning to the man. "Let her in. We didn't invite her here to stand at the door, chop," ordered the man. The guard grumbled and stepped aside, allowing her up the stairs. Hock was the first to step through the laser grid and as Shepard stepped through, it practically gave her a halo. "Lovely as ever."

"Thanks?" asked Shepard, wondering what his deal was. She knew he was likely to try and get in her good graces for his plans as some kind of big shot info broker. But she found herself wondering if he would try to woo her into helping him. "So, you've got a hell of a lot of security here for a party. Should I be prepared for something?"

"Shepard…" he said as he placed his hand on her arm. She could barely feel it due to the armor, but she didn't like it anyway. "People like you and me, we attract certain… undesirable element. In our line of work, we appear as mountains to be climbed, puzzles to be solved, and rules to be broken. I am never expecting trouble, but I am always prepared for it," he said before removing his hand from her arm and stepping through the foyer into the large doors of what almost looked like a ballroom.

Any thoughts of the methods of his stray hand vanished as she saw the faces of all of his guests standing in the ballroom. It was a large open room with winding spiral staircases on either side, a large book den to the left of one and a security station to the other. The back wall was almost entirely window with a balcony hanging off the cliffside with a spectacular view. But her eyes were on the guests. She peered around and saw them all looking at her. Some had neutral faces, indifferent to her presence, some had nervous looks knowing she could likely clock them for half a dozen crimes just from what she'd find on their omni-tools.

And then there was the hatred. Multiple people, most she didn't know had looks of sheer spite in their eyes. She recognized one of them immediately, an asari that looked even more unhinged than Aria with purple paint on her face. Her blue eyes burned with seething malice as she stood in her dark blue dress holding a wine glass that looked like it had been emptied a few times already. Shepard eyed the woman, then giving her a playful grin before they passed her. The sound of the glass shattering in the woman's hand was only slightly satisfying.

The others she assumed were less on her radar and would probably be more on Gianni's as a white collar crime investigator. But she knew she had probably hit their pockets in the past regardless. Finally, Donovan Hock turned and stopped her in her path with a hand on her back that was a bit too friendly for her liking. Stepping up to a large dais in front of the fountain, he set aside his glass of alcohol and raised his arms.

Immediately, the crowd hushed and looked up to him. "Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues… friends," he said as he looked over all of them with a smile. "Many of you I know personally, some of you I know as friends, and some…" he said as he eyed her, making her brows furrow. "I hope to get to know better. But all of us are here for a very specific purpose. We're a menace to galactic society." This comment got many chuckles and even a cheer at the back. "We do the things that the Citadel Council and the Alliance need us to do to keep their pretty little hands clean. We are the true peacekeepers in the galaxy!" he said as he raised his glass.

Shepard looked around at them all. She recognized numerous gang leaders and plenty of security company and mercenary company bosses. She imagined some of them were investors or bankrollers. She found herself wondering if these people actually thought they were doing good in the galaxy or if that was something they told themselves to suppress the guilt over all the innocent bystanders they've displaced or killed as a result of their work. She sighed to herself and looked back up at the man.

"The Citadel Council and the Alliance leadership like to pretend we don't exist until they need us," he said, making her smirk. At least they had one thing in common in regards to the Alliance. "But this hands-off approach ends today! For we have finally attained the final piece of my plan!" he said as he raised his hand up in the air. He held it for a few seconds before lowering it to motion to her.

She raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Wait… me?"

"Indeed, Spectre!" said Hock as he gave her an eerie smile. "Would you like to see what the future looks like?"

"I'm sorry, what's happening?" asked Kasumi in confusion.

"I'd like to be less confused, yes," said the redheaded woman as she crossed her arms.

"Feel free to follow me," he said as he stepped down from the dais and marched back towards the large window of the room. Strategically hidden in the back was a stairwell that led down to what looked like a small corridor with armed guards standing on either side of a blank wall. Stepping between them, Shepard watched him place his hand on the wall and what looked like an unmarred section of wall vanished into thin air, showing the entrance to a vault.

"Is he going to just take you inside? I hadn't planned for him being that stupid," said the thief as she patted Shepard gently on the shoulder.

The rest of the crowd had stayed upstairs and were now watching them on a larger screen as a camera drone followed them and filmed. He stepped inside and she followed him. He entered the passwords, did the DNA, spoke the verbal audio password, and cleared every one of the checkpoints that Kasumi had been working tirelessly to try and get around. Once he was done, he motioned towards the now open elevator. "If you would, Spectre?"

Shepard eyed the man and sighed to herself. "I hope you don't have anything funny planned. I don't like surprises," she said as she stepped onto the elevator. She felt Kasumi's hand, meaning she boarded the elevator as well.

"Oh, there'll be a surprise. But I think you'll find it a pleasant one," said the man with a confident grin. Shepard grumbled to herself as she crossed her arms again. He looked her up and down after seeing the count of [234.212] on the weight reader. "How much does your armor weigh?"

"It's heavily armored. Plus the weapons and everything it's almost 70 kilos not counting my own body weight," she said giving him a grin.

He chuckled and turned the reader off. "I guess it takes a monster to put down monsters," he said as he returned her grin.

She flexed in her armor with a nod. "Indeed it does." Then the guards from the door stepped inside and they all began to sink down into the depths of the mountain.

Once they hit the bottom, he turned to her with a slimy smile. "Try not to be too impressed. I've built my collection up over the years." She entertained him with a nod but felt herself eyerolling internally. She did enjoy art herself on occasion and had enjoyed art shows in the past when going with friends. But art collectors who collected for the status were the worst.

But as the vault door opened at the bottom, she stepped inside and immediately knew why he had said that. Because as unimpressed as she was with art collections and the hoarding of historical relics, walking into a room and seeing the face of the Statue of Liberty had surprised even her. The camera drone flew into the massive room and swooped around, showing the audience that was still above.

With that surprise registered, she looked around at the other relics. As Kasumi said, there was the skeleton of a long dead dinosaur, statues, pottery, a model of one of the very first aircars, as well as a fairly old tripod railgun from years back. "You've got a hell of a collection here, Hock."

"How the hell did he get Lady Liberty's head? Who did he have to pay off to get that off Earth?!" asked Kasumi, almost outraged at the display.

"I told you you'd be impressed. But as impressive as all of that is, the most valuable thing I've got isn't some piece of art or historical creation to remind us of the past. No, this is what we're here for," said the man as he tapped a briefcase sitting on a small desk. It looked as if they had hastily set up the desk and the folding chair in front of it.

"And what's that?" asked Shepard, likely knowing what was actually inside the case.

"Control, my sweet spectre," he said with a smile. She eyed him suspiciously. "You see, in here we have a secret. It's a secret that took me years to track down."

"What kind of secret could be worth more than all of this?" asked Shepard incredulously as she eyed the case itself.

"The kind that can control the Alliance," said the man, getting a surprised look from the spectre.

"Sorry, run that by me again," she said as she stepped towards him. "You plan to control the Alliance with this?"

"You've had your issues with the Alliance as well, have you not?" asked the man as he looked her up and down. Shepard was now hyper aware of where his guards are, and to the fact that there were more guards likely hiding inside the vault. "It's time they paid the price for fucking with us," he said as he reached down and opened up the case. It showed a terminal attached what looked like a small transparent bandage. But she knew a greybox when she saw one. The chip was placed into the brain itself and recorded through vision everything that the brain saw. While the technology wasn't good enough to make an HD motion picture out of someone's lived experiences, it was still good enough to sometimes share memories with others.

"What do you need me for then?" asked Shepard curiously as she tilted her head at him.

"You're an Alliance N7 Intel Special Forces agent with some of the most decorated history in Alliance intel work," said the man, as he placed his hands behind his back in an almost military fashion. "This greybox contains the secrets I need to control the Alliance, and I want you to get them for me."

"You think I can crack a greybox?" asked Shepard with a smirk. "These are computer chips whose technology was meant to meld with the most powerful computers in the entire universe," she said as she tapped her head. "The brain. And you think I can crack one open without the key?"

"I think you're going to try," said the man with a knowing smirk, getting a rebellious look back from her. "I know you have history with the Alliance that may make you feel conflicted. But I was hoping that your grudge against them might sway you to my side. Because with their power under my control and your backing, we could eventually dominate the Council and rule the galaxy ourselves!"

She eyed him curiously, knowing he wasn't playing his full hand just yet. "Let's assume that what's on this greybox is as powerful as you say it is, which I have my doubts, but let's just say that it is. You must have had some kind of backup plan for handling me if I didn't agree to this."

"Oh, I'm very… persuasive," said the man as a dozen guards stepped out of alcoves all over the vault. Each one was as heavily armored as her and sporting new top of the line weapons, as well as armor that looked like it hadn't been used yet.

"Looks like you've got all the new toys," she said with a smirk as she looked at them all closing in on her position. She knew this was a possibility. In fact, Kasumi had planned around it happening eventually. That being said, she wasn't too afraid of mercenaries wearing new armor. A contrast to someone like Zaeed's, new armor was used to impress people, but not intimidate them. New armor and weapons meant that they hadn't seen use, which usually reflected in the skills of the person wearing it.

"Only the best for those who work with me," said the man with a salesman like slimy grin again. "So, Shepard, what do you say? Would you like to help me voluntarily and get paid for it? Or do I have to persuade you?" he asked as all the soldiers surrounded them both.

"Go ahead, Shep. There may be a way we get out of this without a fight," said Kasumi over her communicator.

She looked around at them and shrugged. "I'll take a look at it and see what I can do. I have to reiterate that we're talking about trying to crack into a greybox that attaches to a human mind. It's never been done before."

"I have faith you'll get it done," said Hock as he motioned for the guards to move out of the way. "The information I'm actually looking for was on another graybox that was stolen from my people by a theif. They uploaded all of the information from the other box to their own, then destroyed the original. Unfortunately, they died before I could torture the information out of them."

"If you haven't seen the original information yet, then how do you know it's as important as powerful as you're claiming?" asked Shepard curiously as she walked over and sat in the uncomfortable folding chair. It almost immediately folded beneath the weight of her armor. She glared up at him from the floor, "Perhaps better amenities next time," she said getting to her feet again.

The man waved to have the chair replaced. "Let's just say that I've got connections in the Alliance. People who are tired of watching the Alliance bow to aliens."

Shepard's brows furrowed at the claim as she sat in the new chair they had just set at the table, this one far sturdier. "Noted," she said as she looked at the terminal and opened it to see what she could accomplish on it.

"I appreciate your assistance, Spectre. When you finish, you'll be rich, and I'll be supremely powerful. And once we're done there, perhaps you and I can have dinner," he said, causing her to want to eyeroll again. She knew from how handsy he had been since she had arrived that he was at least somewhat attracted to her, but it wasn't until then that she understood how much.

"We'll see," she said as she started to crack away at the greybox, wondering what Kasumi had in mind.

"Grand. If you'll excuse me, I have party guests to entertain," he said as he turned around and walked towards the elevator again.

It was then that Kasumi giggled over her comm. "Oopsie!" she said mischievously.

Shepard's screen suddenly went blank and she stared at the contents briefly before calling back to the man. "Uh, Hock! I got it open!"

The man spun around with a look of shock on his face. "Already? But how!?" he asked incredulously as he marched back over to the terminal.

"It's pretty easy when there's nothing on the device," said Shepard as she turned the computer towards him. Kasumi must have started transferring the data from the greybox to her own as soon as she saw the chip, then used the password to self-destruct the information on it, wiping it clean. If the ploy worked, then Shepard would walk away clean with a very confused Hock behind her. "The lock was impressive but nothing I haven't handled before. But there's nothing inside it."

Hock slammed his hands down on the table, invading Shepard's personal space with one hand on each side of the terminal as he stared at the blank memory stash. Turning, the spectre stood up from the chair and planted her hands on her hips. He stood up and stared at the far wall of the vault, seemingly smoldering inside. She didn't know what was running through his head, but she wasn't about to sit around and wait for him to decide to blame her. So she turned towards the elevator.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" he asked, his voice quiet in his rage.

"I did what you asked me to do. Sorry it didn't work out," she said as she crossed her arms and glared at him.

"I don't think so," said the man as he finally turned around and glared back at her. "You erased it, you did something to it. I don't know how you did it, but you had to have done it," he said as the guards around her began raising their weapons. "Why? Because of the Alliance? They tried to bury you and took away your ship!" snapped the man angrily.

"Hock, you can try and blame me all you like, but it's not going to bring the data back that wasn't there. The guy you pulled it out of must have triggered a data self-destruct after he saw how dangerous it was," she said as she tapped her foot impatiently. "Now, are you going to let me out of here? Or do I have to fight my way out? Because either way the data isn't here."

He stared at her for a long moment before chuckling. "You really thought you'd just get to walk out of here after fucking with me?" asked Donovan as he pointed directly at her. "Kill her. Make it brutal, teach everyone else in the galaxy a goddamn lesson."

Shepard sighed and shrugged as the guards prepared to grab her. "Kasumi?"

"I'm safe. Go for it," said the thief.

Shepard could hear the grin in her words. "You know this was going to happen, didn't you?" asked Shepard as she raised her hands and threw them outwards. A biotic bubble appeared around her and slammed into everything. Human, furniture, artwork, relics, it all was smashed and hurled backwards as Shepard blew everything around her outwards.

"I figured Hock wouldn't want to let you leave. But you and me can handle them," said the rogue, her position still unknown.

Hock himself was knocked backwards as one of his own men impacted him from the force of her attack. When he finally got his senses back he stared up at the dark figure standing over him. His eyes widened as the spectre grabbed him by his shirt and yanked him to his feet with startling strength. She pulled back her fist and cannoned it into his gut, causing him to heave painfully.

"You're going to apologize to me and escort me out of this place or I'll kill you and everyone in this room and then bring this mountain down on your precious collection," she snapped as she held her pistol to the back of his head.

"Fucking bitch, you'll pay for this!" he snapped at her as he struggled.

"The only one paying for anything here is you," she started, but she felt herself frozen in a web of biotic stasis. Her eyes looked around rapidly to see what had happened when she saw Chief Roe and her men getting to their feet.

"Get out of here!" shouted a female officer from among the guards. Shepard glared at her as Hock got to his feet, now free of the spectre, and ran for the elevator.

As soon as he was inside he slapped the console, shouting, "Up! Bring me up!"

The chief glared at the spectre as she held her in place. "This is what I get for approving your goddamn armor," she said as she prepared to drop the barrier. "Boys, as soon as I drop this, light her-"

But the woman stood stiff as if a bolt of electricity had just gone through her. Then she fell face first into the floor unconscious, all of her men looking at her in surprise. When she hit the ground, Shepard's stasis dropped and the woman catapulted into action. She dove through the air, sending a flying knee directly into the throat of the closest guard. The man hit the ground hard grasping at his loosely armored throat as she rolled to her feet and fired explosives from her omni-tool onto the chest plates of two more that had raised their weapons. They both looked down, wasting their chance to shoot and allowing her plenty of time to detonate them.

If the explosion didn't kill the men, they wouldn't be happy for a long time. The concussion from the blast knocked many of the men over as Shepard vanished and appeared behind them all with her new weapon charging and her biotics lit. Taking aim, the collector weapon made short work of their armor as it melted under the heat of the laser within seconds.

"I've taken out all of the cameras Shepard," said Kasumi as she fired a dart with a sedative into the twitching Chief Roe's neck.

"Why? We're already fighting," said Shepard as she held the gun up. She didn't know if all the guards were dead or if some were too afraid to get up, but any that had gotten up were either suffering or dead now.

"I don't want anyone having my appearance. Outside of Miranda and Jacob, even Cerberus who hired me still doesn't know what I look like," said the woman with a wink under her hood. "So, what are we going to do? I doubt Hock would bring the elevator back down even if you threatened to kill the rest of his men. And there's little chance of us hacking it."

Shepard looked around the area briefly and smirked at what she saw. Putting her collector weapon away, she began to stroll towards the far wall just as Donovan got onto the loudspeakers. "What the hell is going on down there? Give me a report!" snapped the man who could no longer see.

"Hey Donny, Shepard here," said the spectre as she reached down and grabbed the trailer of the railgun that he had kept for its historical value. Lifting it with her added strength, she began to spin it slowly, the wheels moving in tandem so that it stayed in its current spot. Finally, she let go of the trailer and allowed it to hit the ground.

"What the hell happened to my men?!" snapped the man angrily.

"You didn't know what you were getting into when you threatened me," she said with a grin. "Ask Jona Sederis what happens when someone pisses me off."

"Go to hell, Shepard! You're going to die down there for what you've done!" shouted the man, now sounding unhinged.

"Actually, what I'm going to do is something else. See, I've turned this neat little early 2100's railgun you've got here and aimed it right at your little chunk of the Statue of Liberty," she said as she stepped towards the early aircar that had gotten knocked sideways in her blast.

"You wouldn't dare…" growled the man, much quieter than before.

"Oh, you'd be surprised what I'd do," said the woman with a chuckle. "Now what you're going to do if you want to keep your collection down here is you're going to send the elevator down immediately."

"It doesn't have any power or ammunition! You're can't threaten me!" snapped the unhinged collector again.

Shepard chuckled to herself as Kasumi looked at her questioningly. She stripped out the aircar's battery and a chunk of the engine using one of her blades. Heading back towards the railgun, she tossed the chunk of metal to Kasumi and began wiring the battery to the railgun. Its console lit up immediately. "You've got until the count of ten," she said as Kasumi tossed the ferrous metal into the railgun's ammo chamber. The weapon picked it up magnetically and held it in place.

"Do you know who you're messing with, Shepard?!" came the man's voice. It was clear he wasn't sure whether Shepard was bluffing or not from his voice.

Shepard put her helmet on and activated her comm. "Kasumi, help me out here." Grabbing the remains of a heavy sculpture, Shepard dropped it onto the bed of a dolly that had been left here from moving stuff around. When the pair of them finished loading the statue up, Shepard fired several explosives on the cart. "Take that to the elevator and if they send it down, roll it onto it."

"We're not going to take it?" asked Kasumi curiously.

"They'll have the other end of that elevator so ambushed that we'd never get out of there alive," she said as she turned towards the railgun. Reactivating her voice, she shouted, "That's 10 Hock!" Activating the console, she watched as the ferrous metal was melted into a paste before it was fired at sub-light speeds. It hardened mid flight and shattered the face of the Statue of Liberty before slamming into the vault wall and blasting through the rock behind it, forming a crater that opened into a hallway on the other side of the wall.

When the smoke cleared, Shepard smirked as Kasumi looked at the opening dumbstruck. "How?!"

"Vaults are meant to keep things out, not in," said Shepard over the comm as she pulled her weapon free. "This vault was brand new and wasn't made to deflect heavy artillery from the inside. It was just a matter of lining up the blueprints so that I could blast through to one of the halls tunneled out around the vault."

"I suppose that makes sense," said the woman in surprise.

"What the hell was that?" snapped the man over the intercom as the earth shook from the shot being fired.

"That was your net worth dropping significantly with the destruction of your statue," said the spectre with a smirk as she took her laser weapon off her back again. "Now I'm going to ask one more time. Send the elevator down or I'll bring this whole estate down on your goddamn head!"

"Alright alright!" snapped the man angrily as the comm died. Immediately the elevator started moving. Within seconds, the doors dinged and opened again. Kasumi leaned in with her cloaking on and blasted the camera to dust before pushing the cart into the door and slapping the button.

As soon as the doors closed, they both sprinted over towards the cavernous opening in the vault wall. Shepard used her biotics to clear out the remaining rubble, and they were through into the actual compound of Hock's estate. "The docks should be this way. Lia may be able to meet us there with the shuttle."

Control Room – Hock Estate

He was fuming. He'd had it all figured out. Bring the spectre down to an impenetrable vault and get them to cooperate or destroy them. He was actually surprised with how little Shepard had put up resistance to his requests. From the moment she agreed, he'd had high hopes. But now, alarms were blaring all over his compound, his guests were fleeing en masse from the manor and he had no visual on what the hell was happening in his vault.

He felt the earth tremble beneath his feat. It wasn't enough to worry about the structure of the house, but as soon as he felt that tremor he knew he had just lost a fortune. He held a radio to his mouth as he watched from the guard station on the cameras. "As soon as that goddamn door opens I want you to turn that spectre into a corpse!" he snapped angrily as he watched the elevator doors. It was another ten seconds before the platform finally reached the top. The door opened, but from the angle of the camera he couldn't see what was inside. "What is it? Why isn't anyone firing?"

"Sir, it's just a dolly with-" said the man as he stepped towards the elevator to check. But before he could even finish his sentence, fire erupted in a concentrated blast through the elevator doors and chunks of stone flew out like a claymore, hammering into his men. Some were dead, some were gasping for air and groaning in pain, and others were putting out fires on themselves.

"WHAT HAPPENED NOW?!" he screamed as he felt the vein on his forehead pulsing angrily.

"IED detonated inside the elevator," said one of the responders who was checking on the men.

Hock's face was too exhausted to even be angry anymore. He'd seen what happened when someone tried to put Shepard under their thumb. He thought his plan was foolproof and now that hubris was literally exploding in his face.

"Sir…" said another of his men sitting at the end of the security console.

"What is it?" he asked, exasperated at the failure.

"Cameras are starting to go down in the south wing tunnels," said the man as he turned to the boss.

Donovan turned to him with his brows furrowed. "They couldn't have…" he said thoughtfully as he pulled up the radio again. "Someone get to the southern corridor and tell me what's going on there!"

"Already here sir. Just got here and there's a massive hole in the wall leading into the vault," came one of his men's voices.

He inhaled deeply and hurled his radio through the window. The glass shattered and crashed out into the sunlight below. "I know where they're going. Tell everyone to congregate at the loading docks," he ordered before moving out of the room.

South Docks – Hock Estate

Shepard and Kasumi headed down the corridor, both in stealth with their HUDs flagged to show where the other was. Alarms were blaring loudly as the footsteps of Hock's personal guard could be heard in the distance. Shepard nodded towards the door ahead of them that lead out into the shipping yard. "Lia said she'd try to sneak the shuttle towards the docks while all the guards are focused on the vault," said Shepard as she opened the door and snuck out into the sunlight.

"Grunt wanted to come with her and Jack wanted to come with him," said EDI over their comm as the pair of them tried to speed themselves towards the far end where a running shuttle was indeed waiting.

As they approached, the hatch opened and the massive krogan stepped out of the fuselage with his arms wide as their cloaking faded. "Shepard!" he shouted playfully as Jack stood up behind him.

As soon as they appeared a fighter craft flew up into the air from off the side of the docks. As soon as the ship appeared, the bay doors for the docks flew open showing at least two dozen guards collecting inside the ship bay. Grunt's eyes widened at the sight as Shepard's locked onto the fighter plane hovering over them with guns pointed directly in their direction. "Where the hell do you think you're going, Spectre?" asked Hock lividly as he hovered above in the fighter ship.

The doors behind them opened up and a flood of at least two dozen guards ran out onto the docks, all of them aiming towards the intruders. Grunt saw them and immediately his eyes dilated. "Shepard! You got me a present?!" he shouted before hurling himself from the platform and barreling head first into the line of guards.

Jack glared at Shepard as she stepped off the craft. "You can't even go to a damn party without creating a shitstorm!"

"I'm talented! Now you help Grunt while we deal with this!" she shouted as she pulled her laser off her back again and aimed at the fighter. Her biotics lit, allowing her to activate the weapon and she fired the beam directly at the fighter. Unfortunately, it stopped dead in a burst of scattered light. "What the hell? Kinetic barriers can't stop light weapons…"

"Spectre, it appears he is using cyclonic barrier technology. It's capable of stopping any and all weapons," came EDI's voice urgently.

"Shit," growled the spectre as she dove aside, the gunfire from the ship ripping into the dock where she stood before. She eyed the fighter from behind her new cover. "Kasumi," she said, unsure where the woman had gone.

"What is it, Shep?" came the thief's voice over the comm.

"Cyclonic shields work both ways. He can't fire without dropping his shield. Do you think you can draw his fire so I can get in close?" asked the spectre as she activated her own cloaking and began sprinting across the field while the bougie man frantically searched for them.

"I normally try not to be seen by people trying to kill me," said the rogue as she dropped her own cloaking and began firing at the ship. Hock immediately turned towards her and started firing as she too dove into cover.

"Goddamn you, Spectre!" shouted the man, seething as he accidentally shredded one of his own crates with no doubt priceless relics inside.

Shepard snuck up under the vehicle as he fired at Kasumi's location again and used her biotics to warp. Praying that she didn't accidentally slam face first into the shielding, she flew as time around her slowed, her biotics causing the dark energy of the universe to flow around her like water. She could only ever do it for seconds at a time before the strain on her mind began to increase. But she only ever needed seconds to get where she needed. This time, however, she was jumping inside a cyclonic barrier that could tear her to pieces if she fell into it.

She landed heavily on the fighter, thankful that the barrier was indeed down. The ship's weight shifted slightly as her mass was added and she used her mag boots and biotics to grip on for dear life. Raising her fist in the air, her biotics light again and she began to tear the engine inside of the fighter ship to pieces with a warp field.

The fighter began spinning rapidly as the shield winked out entirely. Shepard dove off and landed, pushing her momentum into a roll that saved her joints. Smoke began to billow out of the engine as it spun faster, the man inside screaming as he tried to control the descent. Within seconds, he slammed into the ground, his head bouncing off the control wheel of the vehicle. Shepard and Kasumi both approached, neither of them cloaked any longer. The spectre reached out with her biotics and tore the door off of the thrashed vehicle.

The man held up his hands defensively. "Alright Spectre, let's talk abou-" he started to say. But Kasumi pulled her pistol up and fired a single silenced shot through his head. The man gasped momentarily before he slumped into the control panel of the vehicle, blood now pouring from the wound.

The thief turned to Shepard, her eyes glistening as she finally took her facemask off. Shepard could see her eyes glistening with tears not shed. "Thank you, Shepard. You've done for me what nobody else could."

Shepard nodded firmly. "We're done here. Let's get the other two and get back aboard the Normandy before the police try and get involved."

The woman nodded and wiped her eyes before putting on her usual cheery grin. "Thanks Shepard. I'll never forget this."

CODEX ENTRIES

Laser Grid | Technology | Security
Ever since the emergence of cloaking technology research has been done about how to counter such methods. At its core, visual image cloaking requires the bending of light to make the user appear invisible to the naked eye of those observing. But it also bends the light of lasers. When a cloaked person tries to walk through a gate with a laser grid, their cloaking tech bends the light of all the lasers and lights them up like a beacon and preventing them from getting inside secure locations.

IED | Acronym | Military
I short and easy military acronym translating to improvised exploding device. It's designation can be anything from a non-standard grenade, to a Molotov, to any kind of ambush explosive.

Chapter Text

Zakera Ward Docking Bay Z73 – Zakera Ward – Citadel

“So, where are we headed next?” asked Joker as he turned towards the spectre in the cockpit of the Normandy. She had just left the dock and entered through the currently opened airlock.

“Omega,” said Shepard as she intertwined her hands and stretched her entire body.

“Ugh. Haven’t had enough of that place yet?” asked the pilot as he shook his head. “I’d have thought the disease outbreak, the gang wars, the mercenary groups teaming up, and whatever Zaeed is would have been enough for one lifetime.”

“Unfortunately, we still have some unfinished business there,” said Shepard as Grunt and Jack came in the airlock, the krogan chatting animatedly with Kasumi and Kelly.

“You should have seen it Kasumi! I took half of the guys out by grabbing one of them and swinging him around in circles! Ha! I’ve never seen humans scatter that fast!” chuckled the krogan as the thief nodded to him.

“Oh, I saw that Grunt! Very good!” she said as she patted him on his almost rocky, plated head. Shepard’s brow rose, wondering if she was being sarcastic or if she was giving him actual praise, but Grunt didn’t seem to care either way. “Oh, Shepard!” said the krogan as he spun around to look at her excitedly. “Do they have dinosaurs on the Citadel? There’s gotta be some at the zoo!”

Suddenly, every human in the cockpit went silent. Kasumi stepped away, saying, “Shep, you know where to find me!”

Joker spun around in his seat. “EDI make preparations for takeoff.”

Even Kelly covered her face with a datapad and powerwalked down the CIC towards the galaxy map. Shepard reached up and rubbed her forehead. “There are some creatures related to dinosaurs that are still alive today, but the dinosaurs you studied in your lessons went extinct around 65 million years ago.”

Immediately, the excited glow on his face shattered and was replaced by a fallen expression that broke her heart immediately. “O-Oh… I thought…” he said as he looked at the ground. Shepard didn’t know if krogan could cry or not but he looked like he was on the brink.

“Look, if you behave yourself and continue your studies, the next time we’re in the neighborhood of Earth, I’ll show you some sharks. Alright?” said Shepard as she patted him on the shoulder. His wounded expression vanished for a moment before he pulled up his datapad and activated the visor. Turning, he walked dejectedly down the CIC after the others. Shepard groaned in exasperation before turning to the pilot and glaring. “Thanks for the backup, Joker.”

“Hey, you’re his mom, not me,” said the lieutenant with snark.

“I am not his-“ she started, but stopped and shrugged. She began to turn towards the CIC to head inside before Joker stopped her.

“Hey Shepard, we’ve got C-Sec asking for permission for someone to come aboard…” he said, his eyes widening as he saw the name. “One Spectre Ashley Williams?”

Shepard’s brows rose and she smiled before nodding. Joker approved the call and in a matter of moments a fully armored Ash stepped into the ship, got decontaminated, then stepped inside. She was was wearing a full suit of autoarmor and had a large Alliance-style ruck sack on her back, as well as a case in her hand likely containing some kind of heavy weapon.

“Reporting for duty, Skipper,” said Ash as she smiled at the woman.

Shepard smiled back at her, genuinely overjoyed to see her again. “You know we’re the same rank now. You don’t have to call me that.”

“You’re still in charge of the ship, so you’re still Skipper,” she said with a playful glare. Then she looked over at Joker and grinned brightly. “And there’s the shut in himself. Have your roots grown into the seat yet?”

“Yeah, very funny, Ash. But we all have our talents. I pilot the ship, you use your thick skull to headbutt a geth colossus to death,” he said, getting a chuckle from her. He smiled back and held out his hand. “Really good to see you again, Ash.”

“You too, Joker,” said the former N7 before shaking his hand. Then she looked around the ship. “This place has gotten an upgrade.”

“Come on, let me show you around,” said the redhead as she began the walk towards the galaxy map.

Suddenly, everyone stopped in shock as Grunt shouted loudly, “KELLY!” The yeoman shrieked in surprise and dropped her datapads again, “Sharks!” he shouted, his excited expression now returned and as bright as ever.

Starboard Observation Deck – SSV Normandy SR2

Kasumi breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the images of her partner in the memories on the greybox. She had been angry, fuming even that such an idiotic little twerp like Donovan Hock had managed to get her partner killed. She sighed as she looked at the information files inside marked as foreign. These were what had gotten him killed. These stupid Alliance secrets. Whatever they were, they weren’t worth Keiji’s life. She knew that if he hadn’t stolen the data, then Hock would have it right now. But she couldn’t imagine what would have been worth that cost.

But she couldn’t get over his last words to her. She went back to his memories, now stored on her own greybox and eyed the last memory. Playing it, she saw herself from his perspective. It was his last living memory on the box. “K-Kasumi… you… you have to destroy my greybox,” he said as he reached up and touched her face, the hands from his wound smearing on her tearstained face. “If this gets out, the Alliance will go to war. It isn’t worth it. So please…” he said before coughing heavily. “Don’t look at the files, and destroy the data… Keep yourself safe… my love…” he said as his vision began to darken. Suddenly, [End of File] flashed in front of her.

Sighing to herself, she went back to the memories he had stolen from the ship that day. According to Keiji’s report, the person this greybox info used to belong to was a retired Alliance Operations manager. He was a civilian working with the Alliance. Not military, but not not military. He still wore the uniform, still got paid, but he had no official rank and wasn’t a part of any chain of command. She stared at the files with a glare, wondering why Keiji had to die over this old coot’s memories.

But before she could even get another thought in, her door opened and in walked the spectre. Giving a bright grin, she crossed her legs on the couch. “So? How did he take it?”

Shepard glared at her with those piercing blue eyes. “He was over it quickly enough when I told him about sharks. Thanks for bailing on me by the way,” she growled as she sat at the other end of the couch.

“Sorry, Shep. Kids aren’t my thing. I mean, he’s not a kid, but he is,” said the thief with a shrug of her shoulders. “Either way, you’re his guardian so all the talks about Santa not being real and the birds and bees are on your shoulders.”

“Oh god no,” she growled as she planted her face in the cushion of the back of the couch. “Please tell me Okeer put memories of krogan breeding into the tank. I literally cannot handle studying krogan mating rituals and trying to teach them to him.”

Kasumi chuckled slightly and shook her head. “Don’t worry Shep, I’m sure they have someone on Tuchanka that could help. But, we’re not here to talk about Grunt.”

Shepard nodded and eyed her curiously. “If there’s some kind of threat to the Alliance, I’d like to know about it. Get it out of the way now rather than waiting for it to eventually blow up.”

“I’ll be deleting the files once I see them. Keiji told me not to look but curiosity hasn’t killed this cat yet,” said the thief as she put her visor up again. “Let’s see here,” she said as she activated the files in question. They began playing sequentially. By design Shepard couldn’t see her visor, and the more she saw, the more she was glad. Images of faces, names, dates, a project named Operation Skinned Knee. Her eyes widened every second she witnessed and then the final image, a nuclear detonation seen from orbit.

Shepard’s own eyes were wide with concern. “Kasumi, are you alright?”

She hadn’t realized it as the revelation of the greybox had drawn her entire attention. But she now felt tears running down her flushed cheeks. Reaching up, she wiped them away and let out a shaky breath. “Shepard.”

“Yeah?” asked the spectre curiously as she tilted her head.

“I…” she said, thinking her next words through very carefully. “I can’t show you the data.”

Shepard’s brow shot up in surprise. “Is it really that bad?”

“It is. Like… really bad. I can’t show you yet… at least… not now. Not until… I don’t know,” said the thief as she reached up and rubbed her head anxiously. “Goddamn them for sending us to steal that box,” she growled as she buried her face in her knees.

Shepard let out a suspicious sigh. “I’m not going to force the information out of you. If you think it’s better I don’t know, then that’s your decision to make. Just be aware of what it means to have that data.”

“I know. I’ll drop off the grid even further than I already am. I’ll stop stealing and just keep working for you,” said the woman as she smiled at Shepard. But any smile she gave the woman now felt hollow and cold. She didn’t know if she’d ever smile the same again after what she had just seen.

Shepard nodded and grinned back at her warmly. She felt waves of warmth from the spectre’s own smile, unlike her own. “Fine with me. Just know that I’m here if you change your mind. Or need my help.” Standing up, the spectre flexed and turned towards the door. “We’re headed to Omega. So, get some sleep while you can because I want your eyes on me while I’m on the ground.”

“You got it, Shep!” said Kasumi with her usual cheery pep again. Shepard waved her off and as soon as the door closed again she buried her face in her hands. “Keiji… I should have listened to you. Now what am I going to do?”

Port Observatory – SSV Normandy SR2

“We are headed to Omega then?” asked Samara as she stared out of the observatory window at the stars in the distance.

“We are. Are you prepared?” asked Shepard curiously as she leaned against the door.

The woman was silent for a long moment before turning her head. Not far enough to actually look at the spectre, but enough to know she had her attention. “Shepard, I need your help.”

Shepard’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Aren’t I already helping you?”

“You don’t understand,” said the asari as she finally turned around. “Do you recall when I said that the Eclipse would have the victims’ blood on their hands for helping her?”

“I do,” said Shepard as she thought back to their first meeting. “You said that Morinth is a killer, and therefore them helping her would result in more innocent victims, therefore they were guilty.”

Samara nodded before looking at the ground almost bashfully. “The blood of her victims coats my hands like shackles.”

Shepard was still confused and was slightly annoyed at all the allegory. “Are you saying you helped Morinth escape before?”

Finally, Samara looked up at Shepard and shook her head. “I’ve hunted Mirala from the day she left the asari sanctuary she lived in. Back then she was crude, amateurish. She had no balance or coordination. She could use her biotics, but she could barely contain her melding and left the bodies practically smoking. Tracking her back then was easy. I found her a year into her escape.”

“But you didn’t kill her,” said Shepard with a nod.

“I didn’t. I tried to reason with her, I tried to get her to come back to the sanctuary. She agreed, and I took her hand. But as soon as we made contact, she melded with me just enough for me to feel the destructive effects of her abilities,” said the justicar with a heavy sigh. “I was in a coma for a week, having nightmares of my daughter consuming me.”

“You can’t blame yourself for wanting to save your daughter,” said Shepard with a shrug. “At least, I’m not going to blame you for it.”

“Were that it, I might perhaps agree with you,” she said as she looked back out of the observatory window once more. “I found her again four hundred and twenty-two years ago.”

“But you didn’t kill her again,” said Shepard as she crossed her arms. She was beginning to see where this was going.

“She had become much more experienced in killing, hiding, and covering her trail. But I found her, and I cornered her. I too had more experience in fighting and killing. And I was far less naïve than I had been before. I had her trapped, and all I had to do was finish her,” said the woman as she held her hand up and clenched it. “But… I didn’t. I… couldn’t.”

“She got away again and has since been on a four-hundred-year murdering spree. And you believe her victims’ blood is on your hands for letting her go?” asked Shepard quietly.

“I don’t believe, I know it,” said Samara, her voice shaking as she continued. “I have not told a soul about this situation. Even my other daughters.”

The spectre’s brows rose at the revelation. “You have more daughters?”

“I have two daughters besides Mirala,” she said as she turned around to face the woman again. “Falere and Rila. They… live at the monastery that Mirala fled from.”

“So, before when you said there were only three known Ardat-Yakshi, given they lived at the same monastery, then…” said the spectre, leaving her question unasked.

“You are correct,” said Samara as she turned and eyed Shepard firmly. “I also embellished the truth on there only being three.”

Shepard sighed and planted her hands on her hips. “You didn’t know me that well. I suppose it makes sense you wouldn’t tell me that Thessia has a secret monastery full of potential death-addicted asari,” she said with a shrug. “Are there other escapees?”

“Just Morinth that we’re aware of,” said the justicar as she stepped forward and looked deep into Shepard’s eyes. The spectre stood her ground and looked back. “So, you now understand why I asked you to come with me?”

Shepard nodded firmly. “In case you hesitate again.”

“Precisely,” said the asari woman, her voice now filled with what sounded like disgust. “I cannot fully trust myself anymore. I believe I am capable of stopping her. But in case I can’t, I need you.”

“I understand. I’ll do what needs to be done,” said the spectre solemnly.

“I would not share this burden with anyone until I had met you. But I’ve seen how you fight, and I’ve seen how your crew looks to you for guidance, able and willing to trust you with their lives. I believe you will finally help me put an end to this lifelong nightmare. And once it is done, we will wash the galaxy clean of the collectors, the reapers, and any other purveyors of injustice,” she said as she stepped back again.

“I’ll let you know when we’ve arrived,” said Shepard as she finally turned away from the woman. It would likely be a simple matter for her to pull the trigger on someone like Morinth knowing everything she has done up to this point. But she found herself wondering what would happen if she found herself in Samara’s position. She wondered if she could pull the trigger on Tali, Garrus, or Liara. Would she be able to kill someone she loved for the greater good, or would she falter like Samara? She shook her head and hoped she would never have to find out.

Omega Landing Dock 42 – Omega Station

Shepard sighed to herself as she stepped off the gangplank of the dock. As soon as she emerged from the airlock she could see blue armor standing and waiting patiently at the dock for her and she was already annoyed. Grunt, Samara, Ashley, and Thane were walking with her plain as day and Kasumi was shadowing while cloaked. She didn’t trust this place, especially after the boot she had given Eclipse back on Illium. She had definitely made some enemies here.

But from the looks of things it was the Blue Suns that had issues for the moment. She was fully armored and so were her crew, so she doubted they wanted to start a fight right on the dock. But she also wasn’t about to get pushed around by another gang who wanted to repair its reputation. But her worries were unfounded mostly as she stepped up to the small contingent and saw Jentha with an extremely sour look on her face.

Shepard just smiled widely at her. “Well, look who it is! Long time no see!”

“Very funny, Shepard,” growled the new lieutenant. “Anyway, I’m here on business. Could you follow me?”

“As long as you keep it short. But just so you’re aware, if this is some kind of ambush, it’s not going to go how you hope it will,” said the spectre firmly as she began walking beside the mercenary leader.

“Shepard, I don’t think a single mercenary on this rock would be stupid enough to try and start shit with you. Hell, I think even Aria was unnerved by the smoldering crater you left on Illium,” said the woman as she stepped over to a large aircar meant for multiple people. It was the same kind of model the Council used to travel around the Citadel in with blacked out windows and heavy armor protection. Jentha knocked on the window and the door opened. A batarian woman in Blue Suns armor inside scooted over, allowing Jentha to get in.

“You want me to get in there?” asked the spectre suspiciously.

“For privacy. We’re not going anywhere,” said the woman as she looked at her expectantly.

Shepard felt Kasumi’s hand grip her arm. Knowing that Kasumi would be inside with her, she finally sighed and got inside. Sitting down in the seat that was clearly not meant to have heavy armor in it, she groaned at the uncomfortable position and looked over at the two. “This better be quick.”

“Shepard, this is my second in command, Delina,” said Jentha as she motioned to the batarian woman. Shepard nodded to her respectfully, and the woman nodded back in a respectful manner. “Now that introductions are over, I’d like you to sign this,” said the lieutenant as she took a datapad from her second and handed it to the spectre.

“What’s this then?” she asked as she eyed it. It looked like a contract of some kind.

“It’s an agreement. While you’re on Omega, we don’t fuck with you, you don’t fuck with us. If my men run into you while you’re out leveling city blocks, they’ll stand down and leave you to your business, and I’m asking the same courtesy from you,” she said seriously as she stared at Shepard from the seat opposite hers.

Shepard snorted in amusement before looking down at the datapad. Reading it quickly, she looked back up at the pair. “All of your remaining men are identifiable?”

“Once you sign this I will require them to wear their armor with their insignia, even off duty. That way you don’t randomly rinse one of them while they’re at a bar,” she said as she crossed her arms. “So, do we have a deal?”

The contract was small and entirely unenforceable, especially on Omega. But it was more of a code of honor thing anyway. Jentha was offering an accord of peace, and Shepard could definitely use the assurance that they weren’t after her. “Alright. But one thing,” said Shepard as she began to sign the contract. “If you turn on me while I’m here, or if your men try to take revenge on me, then I’m doing to you all what I did to Eclipse. I’m tired of looking over my shoulder when I’m here. Show me I can trust you and I’ll return the favor.”

“Understood and accepted, threat and all,” griped the woman. “We just got back on our feet after that situation at Archangel’s base. We don’t have the firepower to put you down at the moment,” she said as she took the now signed contract and looked it over. “Looks good. Delina, call all forces back to base for an important announcement. Anyone who doesn’t attend for a non-emergency reason is no longer in our outfit,” she ordered before turning back to the spectre. “I’ll give you a list of names of anyone who doesn’t like the plan so you can watch out for them.”

“Much appreciated. In the meantime, I’ve gotta go. I have a meeting with someone,” said the spectre as she reached over and opened the door. “Keep your noses clean,” she finished, giving Kasumi enough time to get out of the vehicle as well. Another pat on her shoulder and she closed the door.

Jentha just gave her a glare as the vehicle lifted off and left. Ash eyed her curiously. “What was that all about?”

“A peace treaty between us and the Blue Suns,” she said with a shake of her head.

“Heh heh heh. They don’t want the wrath of Shepard to come down on their heads,” said the krogan as he slammed his fist into his palm.

“I guess so,” said Shepard with a shrug. “Let’s go. I already feel like I need a shower just standing here in the street.” With that mess out of the way, Shepard made her way to the aircar transit system. It was similar to the one on the Citadel, except you actually had to pay credits to use it. They all piled into multiple vehicles and made their way to Afterlife to visit Aria. Shepard hated the idea of reporting to the asari every time she stopped on the rock, but it was a requirement for someone of her status. A spectre like her doesn’t visit Omega without checking in first.

“We’re going to a club?” asked Ash as they left the car and stepped out in front of the building. The heavy thump of the music could be heard entirely through the walls.

“Long story but the ‘queen of Omega’ hangs out here and I don’t want to start trouble by not checking in with her,” said Shepard as she used air quotes around queen. “If you’re a spectre and you plan to visit here, you’ll probably have to do the same if you wanna visit without her having trained snipers on you at all times.”

“Great,” grumbled Ash as she followed the spectre up the stairs. Once inside, Williams covered her ears with her armored hands and had a disgruntled look on her face.

Signaling to Moklan who stood near Aria’s stairway, Shepard leaned against the bar. Ash and Grunt did as well while Thane stalked through the club and melded into the crowd. Ash turned to the bartender and shook her head. “What am I doing with my life?” she asked with a sigh.

The human bartender looked at her and held a hand up to his ear before mouthing the word, “what?”

Ash glared at him. “I said I ran away with your wife!” she snapped, and the man simply just smiled and nodded, clearly still not hearing her over the pounding music of the club.

Shepard snorted at her and shook her head. “Just like being a marine, just like being an N7, being a spectre means that you have to do some things you don’t like.”

“I suppose. I don’t know how often I’d have to come to this place anyway,” said the newly minted spectre as she looked over the crowd.

Shepard eyed Grunt as he ordered a drink from the bar, “Gimme the strongest ryncol you have!”

“Don’t get too hammered, Grunt. I need you fresh-faced while we’re on Omega,” said the spectre sternly.

“Awww…” grumbled the krogan as he cancelled his order. “I never get to have any fun.”

“I’ll take you to your first bar on the Citadel if you behave,” she said with a grin. “Until then I need you ready to destroy.”

“Hpmh, fine…” he growled before shoving his way away from the bar

Before the argument could go on any further the batarian returned and signaled for them to come with him. Shepard turned to Ash and nodded for her to follow, then stepped up the stairs. In moments they were standing in front of the asari woman. Aria looked at them both, her eyes scanning Ashley top to bottom. “Who’s this?”

“New human Spectre,” said Shepard as she eyed the woman. “Can I take a seat already?”

“I heard about what happened on Illium,” said Aria, her voice a lot less casual than before. “Was that retaliation for something? A show of power?” She motioned for them to sit.

“Call it a failure of negotiation,” said Shepard as she took her seat on the couch. Ash sat next to her and watched the interaction closely. Aria gave her a questioning stare. “I had things to do on Illium and every single time I tried to do them, some other Eclipse group stood in my way. It didn’t have to be them. In fact, if they gave me what I wanted, you wouldn’t have heard a peep out of Illium.”

“So, you didn’t destroy them for any other reason?” asked Aria as her eyes narrowed.

Shepard’s eyes narrowed back. The asari knew something else about the Eclipse sisters, but wasn’t about to tell her. “Is there something I should know?”

“Nothing you NEED to know,” said the pirate queen as she leaned back in her chair, much more relaxed. “So, you’re here with a Justicar. Is that for me?”

“Actually, I’m doing her a favor. She’s duty bound to my orders, so you don’t have to worry about her going off and killing half your club,” said Shepard casually as she leaned back as well.

“I’ve had run ins with them before. She herself has clashed with me a few times and I don’t like having them on my station,” said Aria firmly. “I’ve got a sniper trained on her right now and the only reason I haven’t ordered her killed is because she came here with you.”

“The sniper is currently unconscious,” said Thane over the comm.

Shepard didn’t know how Thane could hear them inside Aria’s contained room, but she also wasn’t about to question it. “She’s not here for you or any of your men. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, Aria, but you have an Ardat-Yakshi on your station. We’re here to take care of that problem for you.”

Aria’s eyes widened slightly before she glared at the spectre. “I knew it.”

“You’ve seen them?” asked Shepard curiously.

“No. You can’t tell them just by looking at them. But I’ve seen their victims,” said Aria as she looked at the ground sourly. “Nothing leaves a body so… hollow and lifeless as an ardat-yakshi,” said the woman before shaking her head.

“Sorry, what are we talking about?” asked Ash as she looked between them.

“An asari vampire,” said Shepard, vowing to explain it to her more in depth later.

Aria snorted at the explanation. “A bit of a crude explanation but it gets the point across.”

“Woah,” said Ash, her brows high in surprise.

Suddenly, someone else walked through the door and into the room. Shepard’s own brows rose at the sight of the figure. She had short, electric pink hair that was poofed out to look like a lion’s main and a gothic outfit of a mesh shirt over a tanktop and a skirt with leggings all the way up and down her legs. But Shepard had seen this kind of change before and nodded to her before turning back to Aria.

“In any case, you wanna offer us any clues on where to find them? Afterwards, we’ll be off the station again for a good while,” said Shepard as she crossed her legs. Hermes sat off to the left on her own section of couch before opening her omni-tool and fiddling with it.

Aria shuttered at the thought. “I can tell you where one of her victims lived. Perhaps you can glean some information from there,” said the queen as she pulled her own omni-tool up and passed the information along.

“No cost?” asked Shepard curiously as she checked the info.

“I want that filth off my station. You getting rid of her is payment enough,” said Aria with a glare. “If she’s as bad as the one’s I’ve come across before, it’s only a matter of time before she comes after me. They get their thrills from dominating the weak, but if the psychology work on them is to be believed, the more powerful the person they kill, the more satisfying.”

“I see. And without you knowing what she looked like, there’s no telling when she could get her hands on you,” said Shepard as she looked out and saw the asari dancers on the poles. “She could even be right out there,” said Shepard with a small smile. She highly doubted any of the woman on the poles were her. According to Samara, she’d stay hidden and away from the public bustle of the main club for a long while.

Aria growled at her before the asari turned to Hermes. “Tell the dancers they’re off for the day. Fully paid,” she snapped. Hermes blew a bubble with her chewing gum before offering a thumbs up. Jumping to her combat booted feet, the goth girl left the room. Aria turned back to Shepard with a glare. “Tell me when the matter is resolved so I can allow asari in the club again.”

“Will do,” said Shepard as she stood up. “Oh… Spectre Ashley Williams, this is Aria T’Loak. Pirate Queen of Omega.”

“Charmed, I’m sure,” said Aria as she looked the new spectre up and down. “Perhaps we’ll do business in the future too. You humans are very resourceful.”

“I know who to visit if I need something on Omega,” said Ash as she turned to Shepard.

“Oh, Aria, you wanna tell her your one rule?” asked Shepard with a playful grin. The asari gave her a stare of absolute zero that made her want to chuckle more. Instead, she waved and stepped back towards the stairs. Ash followed her down and she passed Hermes who was on her way back up. As soon as they crossed, she felt the buzz of her omni-tool on her wrist receiving another message. Instead of looking at it, she gathered the others and left the club.

“Who was the ditzy girl with the pink hair?” asked Ash curiously as they all left the club.

“Hermes, Aria’s second in command,” said Shepard as she stepped out into an open area of the club’s north side. She waited until another vehicle came and they all got inside the cars once more. “She’s also my former squad leader from my days in Alliance intel.”

“Her?!” asked Ash as the vehicle took off.

“She’s gender fluid and changes her look every now and then. Back then she was much more masculine and went by Spider,” said the spectre as she steered the car towards the Normandy.

“Wow,” said Ash as she leaned back in her seat. “Holy hell, Aria’s second in command is former Alliance intel?” asked the new spectre incredulously. “Does she know!?”

“I don’t know, and I’m not going to ask. If Hermes wanted me to know, she’d have told me,” said Shepard as she turned back to steering. “And if you ever do business with Hermes, then don’t let the cat out of the bag.”

“Cat?” asked Samara curiously from the back seat.

“Sorry, human expression,” said Shepard as she turned the car and set it down. “Ash, me and Samara are going to handle this situation on our own. For now, roost on the Normandy and make sure that Spectre Voretoria has access to get back inside if she needs to.”

“Understood, Skipper,” said Ash as she popped the car door open and rallied the others out of the cars.

Once everyone was gone, Samara looked over to Shepard. “Why did you bring them along if it was just going to be us?”

“Aria needs to see what she’s dealing with,” said Shepard as she picked the car up again. “She’s worked with spectres before and most of them work alone. So, if she were to have a grudge, she knows that taking them out won’t cause much of a stir as long as the body is spaced where nobody can find it. With you as a justicar, a new human spectre, an assassin, and the future of the krogan at my back, plus everyone else she already knows is working with me, she wouldn’t dare make a move on me. She knows if she did her little oasis here wouldn’t save her from my team.”

“Would it not be wiser to hide some of your team just in case you ever decide she should be removed?” asked Samara, her eyes scanning the spectre curiously as they flew towards the Gozu district.

“I don’t know if I’d ever want to take her out myself. I’ve seen reports of what Omega was like before she got there and as far as I can tell it was a living hell of unregulated trafficking of every species and war crimes were seen daily on the streets. She’s a criminal, a killer, and I personally don’t like her need to control every living person on the station. But she’s probably the best thing that’s happened to Omega,” said the spectre as she sat the car down just outside of the Gozu district’s main gate.

“I see,” said Samara with a smile. “You would make a terrible justicar, Shepard.”

The redhead eyed her for a moment before noting her smile, then chuckled. “You’re not wrong. I’m too busy bargaining with criminals than hauling them in in order to make way for the fight against the reapers.”

“Shepard, if you don’t mind, I’d like to visit the victim’s home before we start tracking her,” said the justicar with her head slightly bowed. Shepard eyed her for a long moment before nodding. Instead of heading towards the club in the Norfair district, she turned and parked right outside of Gozu’s main gate where a large apartment building was standing. Turning the vehicle off, she opened the door only to hear shouts.

“Hey! You can’t park there. That’s Talons territ-“ shouted an armored turian as he jogged up to them threateningly. But as Shepard and Samara turned towards him, he stopped in his tracks. “Shit, Shepard? I guess Voretoria was right.”

“You’ve seen Legate Voretoria?” asked Shepard curiously, wondering what the new spectre would be doing with the Talons.

“Yeah, she’s talking to the boss. Don’t know what that’s all about. Anyway, you… uhh… I’m just gonna go. I don’t actually care where you park,” said the man as he turned and left them alone.

“The people here know you well?” asked Samara curiously as they walked around the car and headed to the nearby apartment building.

“I kinda helped the Talons out with an epidemic that was running lose in Gozu District a while back,” she said as she opened the door to the place. It was pretty run down and Shepard knew the apartments were barely bigger than some of the shoebox apartments the Alliance had given her.

“What apartment are we headed to?” asked the justicar curiously.

“Apartment 37, A Block.” They took the elevator to the third floor and Shepard drew up on a door marked A37. Reaching up, she signaled the door alert.

It took a few minutes for anyone to respond. But finally, she could hear someone through the slot in the door. “I’ve already paid my fees this month.”

“Diana Watney?” asked Shepard as she stepped away from the door to give the woman a good view through her peep hole.

“You aren’t with the Talons or Blue Suns. Who are you and why do you know my name?” asked the woman suspiciously.

“My name is Jane Shepard. I’m here to talk to you about your daughter, Nefeli,” she said as she looked over the info. The door opened so suddenly that it actually surprised Shepard and made her take a step back.

“Shepard? The spectre? Is it really you?” asked the woman as her voice cracked and tears began pouring down her face.

“Yes, it’s me,” said Shepard as she realized the woman must still be grieving her daughter. It had only been two weeks since she had been killed and incinerated. Of course she wouldn’t be over it yet. Reaching up, she patted the woman on the back gently as she wept openly in the doorway. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

The spectre ushered her indoors and Samara stepped in to close the door behind them. Shepard looked around the place as she guided the woman to her own sofa. She wasn’t wrong about it being tiny. The living room, kitchen, and apparently bedroom were all crammed into a 3.5x3.5 meter space. There was only one door leading off the main room and it looked like some kind of closet.

Sighing to herself, she sat down on the other end of the couch and turned to Diana. The justicar elected to stand next to her rather than sit, but held her hands behind her back respectfully. “Can you tell me what happened?” asked the spectre as she focused on the mother.

The woman had disheveled, mousy brown hair and smelled like she hadn’t had a shower since the passing of her daughter. She simply wore a bathrobe around her as she sat on the couch, clutching her face. “They said there was no sign of foul play.”

“I looked over the report myself,” said Samara, as she gently gripped the woman’s shoulder. “I assure you they were wrong.”

“Are… are you saying my Nef was murdered?” she asked as she looked between them.

“She was and we’re here to find her killer. Do you think you could help us with that?” asked Shepard politely, knowing they already had the killer’s home address.

“Of course! I knew it wasn’t natural. My god… her eyes…” said the woman as she began to sob again.

“Her eyes?” asked Shepard curiously, wondering about the comment.

“As Aria said before, her victims are left with a certain hollow expression on their face,” said Samara as gently as she could.

“So, you know her? The killer?” asked the woman as she picked up on the wording.

“We know of her. We’ve tracked her here and are on her trail as we speak,” said Samara firmly. “We just wanted to stop by and confirm a few things first.”

“I’ll help you all I can! I’ll do anything to catch her killer!” said the woman, her voice shifting to anger for a moment before changing back to sadness. “Please, whatever you need to do.”

“Did she live here with you?” asked the spectre curiously, noting that there were no effects for a young woman of Nef’s age.

“Her room is here,” said the woman as she pointed to the door in the back. “We only had one room and I gave it to her so she could have her privacy. She was always a very shy girl…”

“Do you mind of we look through her things?” asked the spectre gently, wondering if they could get a confirmation that Morinth was the killer here.

“Of course, please,” said the woman as she stood up and walked over towards the door. “I left everything as it was. I don’t dare get rid of anything.”

Shepard entered the room and looked around at everything inside. It was small, just like the rest of the apartment. But there was enough room for a one-person bed and a tiny desk. On the desk sat a small figure carved out of soapstone. “She was an artist,” said Shepard as she noticed the carving tools on the desk around the figure.

“Morinth adores artists. She loves their creative spark,” said Samara as she eyed the statue. Shepard looked away from the statue and began to look around for something. “What is it?” asked the asari as she spied the woman.

“Shy closed off artistic girl with no computer terminal,” said Shepard as she looked around the room. Finally, she reached down and lifted the mattress off the bedframe that protruded from the wall and spotted what she was looking for. Reaching down, she grabbed the datapad and laid the mattress back down.

“I diary?” asked Samara curiously as she crossed her arms.

“She had been saving up money to get a physical diary rather than electronic one. She wanted one with leather and paper but they were so expensive at Harrot’s Books,” said Diana from the other room as she peeked in the door at their activities. “I tried to get into her diary to see if I could find out what happened, but it’s password protected.”

Shepard turned the power on and was hit with a password screen, but this kind of security was child’s play for her. Linking into the datapad with her omni-tool, she bypassed the security and turned the password requirement off entirely. “Easy enough to solve,” said Shepard as she looked through the dates listed on the diary. “Is this new?”

“A few months at least,” said the mother as she tightened her robe around her. “Her last one broke when the gangs began forcing us inside our homes because of the pandemic. I told them we’re outside the district but they didn’t listen. She ended up dropping it and it shattered.”

Shepard nodded, noting that Morinth only had a few weeks headstart on them so if the girl encountered Morinth she probably wrote about it. Scrolling through the list of entries, she opened them and began reading to herself. After a few minutes, Samara spoke up. “Anything of interest?”

“She started going to the club Heat Death at the behest of some of her more extroverted friends. They played a prank on her and left her stranded there, too scared to even leave. That’s when she approached her. At first, Nef was really shy and reserved, but according to the diary Morinth managed to open her armor pretty quick. She was in love within a week’s time,” said the spectre as she reached up and rubbed her head.

“This Morinth, is she the killer?” asked Diana from the door.

“She is. And now that we know her hunting spot, we will bring justice to Nef,” said Samara as she turned and placed her hands on her shoulders.

Shepard continued to read about all the new things that Morinth introduced her to. New movies, new music, drugs, and eventually sexual contact with no melding. If ardat-yakshi were anything like normal asari then doing all this was essentially edging herself, each interaction with their victim made their desire build and build over time until finally they get sweet release through killing. Standing up, she nodded to Samara. “She mentioned her by name, so we’ve got all the proof we need.”

“Then we will be off,” said Samara before she turned to the mother and bent forward so she was eye to eye with the shorter woman. “We will set Nef to rest. I assure you.”

Shepard stepped up to her and handed over the diary. “I’m sorry for your loss, Diana. But I hope having access to this comforts you in some small way.”

“It does. Thank you so much,” said the woman as she started to sob once more, hugging the datapad to her chest.

“She’s hunted enough. Let’s go,” said Shepard with a blazing look of anger in her eyes.

Chapter Text

Taloron Market – Gozu District – Omega Station

She sighed in annoyance at just having to breath the air of the colony. She hated Omega with a passion because of all the criminal elements who thrived here. But she didn’t really have any choice. Over the last few weeks she’d learned a lot more than expected and she had seen first hand the capabilities of a spectre. Even if she still hated Shepard, which she did not, her eyes refused to allow her to ignore how effective the human and her team were.

She had been raised from a gangly teenager on the Imperium Marines creed. You have no face, you have no name, you are not an individual, you are part of a machine of war and when all the parts are moving in sync, there’s nothing that can stop them. And before she had been selected for spectrehood, she believed in the efficiency of calculated destruction through impersonalization. To work not as individuals, but to work as one team under the command of one leader.

But now, she had seen the true power of individualism in a ground unit. Each person had their skills and abilities, and an effective leader could use those abilities to conquer any situation. She herself would not have believed that a strike team as small as Shepard’s had done the damage to Eclipse on Illium had she not seen it with her own two eyes. But she did, and it was inconceivable that such a small crew of specialists had the capabilities to pull off the same destruction she would have estimated from an entire company of Imperium Marines.

She had nothing to do but try it for herself. She’d already made calls to the Imperator and the Primarch both to put in a request for a ship. Having a command center and utilizing it like Shepard did was integral to their efficiency. It would be different than the Normandy, however. She wanted her ship to be more on turian design than human, and more combat capable than stealthy. It would have better guns, shields, defenses, and maneuverability rather than bulking it out to fit a Tantalus drive core for capturing emissions.

But, she couldn’t operate the ship alone. She would need a crew, and that’s exactly what she came to Omega for. She knew plenty of people who had come to this miserably floating rock on the payroll of the Blue Suns, the Eclipse band that was left behind after Shepard started her all-out assault on their band’s dignity, and even some who had come as entrepreneurs and went their own way. She had managed to rope them into coming with her on her crazed mission to show the hierarchy a new side of effective combat. But there was one last person she absolutely needed on her team. She had several crew members all gathering at a meeting spot to discuss the future, each of them an effective ship crew member. But she had yet to get any actual strike team members.

The legate stepped into the marketplace to see it bustling once again. She’d heard the news about the epidemic that had broken out in the sector many moons ago and had to get inoculated for it just in case there were some lingering traces of the virus. But now she stood and saw people walking around the markets of the district with grins, carrying children, buying groceries and clothing, and doing things she really wouldn’t expect to see on Omega. To her it had always been a pit of misery and despair. Seeing people actually happy and enjoying themselves was almost unnerving.

It was then that her mandibles twitched in amusement as a voice behind her stopped her in her tracks. “What do you want, Voretoria?”

“Long time no see, Kandros,” said the turian woman as she turned around. Nyreen wasn’t as tall as she was, but she was no less intimidating with that blade sharp stare of hers.

“Not long enough,” said the lieutenant as she hung her hands on her cowl. “Now answer the question. What are you doing in my district?”

“Your district? I was led to believe Derius Zintus was in charge of the district,” she said playfully at the woman. It felt really awkward talking with her again after how their last encounter had gone.

Nyreen simply glared at her. “Cut the small talk, Voretoria. You aren’t really in a position to be joking with me given our history. As far as I care, you and the Imperator can both kiss the sharp end of my spurs.”

Her words stung because she knew she was right. Nyreen Kandros was a former Cabal, a type of unit dedicated to the very few turian biotics. Saren himself had been one at one point as well, and that really should have colored her perception of them better. But she still treated them as the rest of the marines before her had. She inhaled sharply before letting her breath out slow. Finally, she bowed her head. “I apologize.”

“What was that?” asked Kandros as her mandibles twitched in surprise.

“I’m sorry I treated you with such disrespect. I apologize I used your skills to my benefit, and then had you reassigned back to the Cabal Unit when you stood up for yourself. Though it is no excuse, I was a child who…” she said, her thoughts going to Shepard once more, “Who fell too easily into the chauvinistic comforts of the Imperial Forces.” Nyreen stared at her a long moment before lashing out and kicking her straight in the shin. Ralixia winced in pain and backed up from the attack, shaking her leg to relieve it. “What in the spirits name…?!”

“So, you’re actually real and not some hologram prank?” asked Kandros as she walked a circle around the new spectre and examined her.

“Of course I’m real!” snapped Ralixa as she glared at her old squadmate. “I wouldn’t come to Omega of all places unless I was serious.”

“I suppose this is a bit outside your jurisdiction,” said the cabal as she shook her head. “But you didn’t come out here just to apologize. What are you here for?”

“I came to ask you to join my team,” said the spectre as she stood straight once more. “Over the last few weeks I’ve been training to become a new spectre, and I learned a lot from my instructor. One of the things I learned is how valuable allowing each person on a team to grow and flourish into themselves is, and how effective that makes them as a team. And…” she said as she hesitated slightly. “I wanted you to be a part of my new team.”

Nyreen stared at her for a long moment. Ralixia took a step backwards, wary of whether she was about to get kicked again. Finally, the cabal chuckled. “I enjoy gambling and even I would never have bet money on hearing a sincere apology from you, let alone a request to team up again. Your instructor must have wrung you out like a rag.”

“You aren’t entirely wrong,” said the legate as she recalled the smoking ruins of multiple Eclipse bases on Illium that she had helped to destroy. “So, what do you say? Do you think we could try again, this time as sisters?”

Kandros let out a heavy sigh. “Unfortunately, I have responsibilities here I need to attend to. I can’t just go running off to play commando anymore.”

“Here? On Omega?” asked Ralixia incredulously.

Nyreen directed another glare in her direction. “I see your instructor didn’t get rid of all the toxicity in you,” she growled as she strode past the woman.

“What? What did I say?” asked Ralixia as she followed her.

The woman stopped again and turned around. “These people here on Omega may not mean much to you, a law-biding military veteran turned law-enforcing spectre. But they’re still people, and I care about these people.”

Realizing how callous she sounded with her previous question, the spectre nodded. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply… just, nevermind…” growled the woman as her shoulders slumped. She knew from experience that Kandros was deadly in combat and tactics. While the other team members she had nabbed since she got here would make good ship mates, Kandros would have been good on the ship and on a ground team. So, losing out on her was disappointing.

Nyreen slapped her shoulder gently. “Look, Lixy…” she said, chuckling at the death glare that the nickname got her. “I can’t go with you. But if anything, you’ve built a bridge here. You can use my expertise and contact me any time you need me. And I’ve kept up with some of my other cabal squad mates. I can probably pull one of them in to join you now that you’ve changed your attitude. How does that sound?”

Ralixia sighed and gripped her cowl for comfort. “It sounds like less than I was hoping, but a lot more than I was expecting. I appreciate it.”

“Sorry, Legate. Some people have moved on from aspirations of being a hero,” said Nyreen as she opened her omni-tool and passed her info along. “Here, if you need anything on Omega, whether it’s information, shelter, or more guns to help you out, let me know. We can at least help you out while you’re here.”

“Thanks. I think I’m gonna go have a drink and ponder my options,” said the spectre as she waved off her former squadmate and headed to the nearest dextro-based bar. She sighed to herself as she ordered a drink and considered her options. She knew others, of course. She knew thousands of turians who would jump at the request to support one of their spectres. But as she put thought into it she began to eliminate more and more of them from the list. Too many were strict, by the books imperials who would scoff at the tactics Shepard had used. Threatening law enforcement, holding law enforcement hostage, raiding multiple legitimate businesses without police permission, crashing the stock market. In fact, about the only thing Shepard had done over the past months that the hierarchy would have given a nod of approval would have been the destruction of Purgatory.

More and more she began to see the downfall in teaching every turian the same strict regimen as they grew up, the same militarism, the same respect for authority. She very quickly found herself annoyed with her own people, knowing that they wouldn’t be effective on a squad like the Normandy. She knew Shevar was still a pilot on Macedyn. Perhaps she could rope her into piloting the ship for her but she’d need to have a ship first. She sighed to herself, knowing her work was cut out for her.

Suddenly, someone pulled a stool out next to her and sat at the bar. She looked over and spied a quarian in a light orange suit. Given the condition of the suit, she couldn’t tell if that was its original color or if it had been painted by the polluted atmosphere on Omega. “I’ve never seen a quarian on Omega before.”

“That’s because most quarians are smart,” he said degradingly to himself as he waved at the bartender. Apparently the turian man knew him because he immediately began making a drink without taking the order. The quarian then looked over at her questioningly. “Oh… you probably wanted the story.”

“Not if you’re unwilling to tell it,” said Ralixia, too curious to back out now.

“Does anyone want to tell the story of their stupidity?” he asked with a sigh and planted his faceshield in his hand.

“If you tell me yours I’ll tell you mine,” said the turian, interested to hear his woes as she drank.

“Before I was sent on my pilgrimage I was on my home ship, the Watson. It would go out and scout for resources to mark for the fleet. The Migrant Fleet would then send a crew of miners to come get them.” He took the canister handed to him by the barman and attached a tube from his mask into it. “Sometimes we would find some that were too inconvenient or out of the way to dig up with the tech we had on the fleet and we’d abandon it altogether. Often, the amount of resources it’d take to collect it would exceed the amount we were estimated to get.”

“You sound talented,” said the turian as she eyed him curiously.

“Thanks,” he said, sounding none too pleased. “I did get very skilled at navigation, coordinates, keeping numbers in my head. I could do a cost and benefit analysis in my head within seconds just from looking at a potential mining site.” He snorted angrily as he continued. “When they sent me on my pilgrimage, I thought I could make easy money by going back to those spots. I put a bunch of their locations on a star chart and calculated how much force it would take to punch through to collect them. I found out that about 80% of the resources we abandoned could be accessed using nothing more than a mass accelerator cannon that could fit on a corvette class ship. We’d lose some of the resources in the process, but the amount we’d gain would make plenty of wealth.”

“But…” said Ralixia, thoroughly invested in the story now.

“But… the guys I was supposed to go after the resources with I met on the extranet. They were supposed to fund the operation and get 60% of the resources. They would provide the ship, the MAC cannon, and the collectors. All I had to do was bring the star charts and work the machines when we got on site. But as son as I met them, they robbed me. They took my star charts, my credits, and left me to rot in a scrapyard. Turns out they didn’t have the funding or the equipment. They just fooled me into thinking they were with heavily doctored pictures. They probably thought they could sell my star chart for some big money,” he said as he shook his head. “Never should have trusted them.”

“You sound like you want out of here,” said the woman as her mandibles twitched. “You said you’re good with numbers, coordination, and navigating, right?”

“I did,” he said as he looked at her suspiciously.

“How are you with a gun?” she asked curiously as she turned towards him.

“I’m trained in cyber warfare and Pansa Kusa hand to hand. Why? Who are you?” he asked her bewildered at her questions, no doubt questioning whether another offer that was too good to be true was coming his way.

The spectre chuckled slightly as she stood up to her full height. “The name is Spectre Ralixia Voretoria. How would you like a job?”

1226 Apartment Block – Norfair District – Omega Station

It had been a long day. The boss had called them all into the main base and announced something he thought he’d never hear from a Blue Suns group. She stood on the pedestal and announced over the loudspeaker that Shepard was on Omega and that she was not to be stopped, attacked, bothered, or even annoyed by anyone in their group while she was here. They were also advised to wear their armor at all times to make sure she didn’t mistake us for anyone else.

He remembered his encounter with her when she came snooping around for Garrus Vakarian. He counted his blessings that she wasn’t angry enough to put a round between his eyes. As he sat there tied to Sergeant Cathka and Jentha that day, thoroughly restrained by the metal tape that she and her squad had used on the three of them, he had wondered whether he could actually take her down in a fight. Despite her enormous presence and authority, she was actually rather short compared to him. And he had been training more and more in Tek Tegore. So, he thought perhaps if he had taken her by surprise he might have been able to bring her down himself. He wasn’t sure if it was his bruised ego from her exposing him or leaving him tied up and humiliated. But whatever the reason, all thoughts of taking her down fled his mind that same day.

Cathka had stored a blade in his boot. By the time he had gotten them loose, a massive explosion at the base had taken place. When he finally got up to see what was happening, he saw Garm dead on the bridge, mechs swinging around the dead body of Jaroth, and Tarak was screaming his goodbyes as he was crushed to death. The Gowthra Bloodpack were dead, the Eclipse fleeing, and the remainder of his own group hesitant to climb over the bodies of the other merc groups to go after her. It was his first encounter with the legendary spectre, and he prayed to all of his ancestral spirits that it would be his last.

He had been upset at first when Jentha called him in on his day off. But after her explanation, he was extremely grateful that he had. Knowing Shepard was on the station meant he wouldn’t be going outside until she was gone. And if he was ordered to go outside, he’d be wearing his full armor, helmet and all at all times so she couldn’t recognize him. But for now, he was going to spend the next two days indoors and pray that she doesn’t hit Omega with a meteor or something.

Entering his door, he took his helmet off and tossed it onto the chair near the door where he kept his armor most of the time. Sighing to himself, he felt like he was too tired to even remove his armor. “Casvie, can you order something for delivery? I don’t want you going out right now,” he said as he began the sluggish process of removing his chest plate. He found himself wondering if he could get Jentha to start investing in Blue Suns themed regular clothing instead of just armor. He supposed he could spend a little extra for that for himself, but if he was the only one that did it he’d look like a raging cloaca. It took him a moment to realize that he hadn’t got a response. “Casvie?”

He looked down the hall to the kitchen and saw that the light was on. Tightening his armor on again, he pulled his weapon off his belt and held it forward. He felt his heartbeat start beating rapidly as the sound of the vidscreen hit his ears. He knew he had been louder than the television, and he knew Casvie was a miser. She had complained his ears raw about the power bill, so there was no way in the world she would leave the vidscreen on and then leave.

“Casvie, could you order some takeout? I don’t feel like going out to a restaurant tonight,” he said, trying to play it off as if he wasn’t aware something was wrong. Then, he spun into the kitchen and aimed his gun right at her. She sat in a chair with a glare on her face icier than space. Lifting his weapon, he glared back at her. “Why didn’t you answer me?!” he snapped angrily.

“What the hell have you done now, Baltus?” snapped the turian woman.

“What have I done? What are you talk-“ he started, but before he could get another word out of his mouth, his feet were swept out from under him by a powerful kick. He slammed into the laminated tile of the floor and shook his head before realizing what happened. Rolling onto his back, he went to aim his weapon, but another powerful kick smashed into his hand, breaking his grip on it and sending it crashing through the window.

“Hey!” snapped Casvie as she stood up indignantly. “We’re gonna have to pay for that!” snarled the turian woman. But Baltus’s eyes were wide in terror as he finally saw who was now standing over him. It was another turian with purple stripes over his nose, a visor covering his left eye, and scar tissue burned into the right side of his face where he was missing a mandible.

“Oh shit, oh fuck… shit shit… please!” shouted the man panicking as he tried to scramble back away from the imposing turian. “Please Garrus! Don’t kill me! I didn’t mean nuthin’ by it!”

The operative chuckled dryly. “Of course you’re a coward,” he said as he glared down at the cowering turian.

“Wha?” asked Baltus in bewilderment.

“Only cowards impersonate people more powerful than them,” he said as he drew his assault rifle.

Immediately, Casvie stood up and slid over in front of him with her hands up. “You promised you weren’t going to kill him!” she snapped, pleading with her eyes.

Garrus sighed to himself and put the weapon away. “I know I know,” he growled before drawing a talon blade from his gauntlet straps. “You owe me ten lives, Baltus. You impersonating me cost me ten loyal men. And by all rights I should carve each and every one of their names into your bloody carcass.”

Baltus shriveled up against the wall. “I-I swear I didn’t mean to do none of that!”

“I know,” snorted Garrus as he spun the blade. “You’re a raging moron. You couldn’t have planned that out if I gave you a manual and a decade to prepare. You’re just lucky,” he snapped as he let out a snarl directly into the man’s face. Baltus turned his head away, not wanting to look as the blade came closer. “I’m not going to kill you for your idiocy. My men wouldn’t take kindly to me killing a spineless bug like you.” Baltus slowly turned and looked at the deathglare in Garrus’s eyes. “However…”

With a lightning quick slash of the blade, the mercenary felt a stabbing pain on his right cheek. He reached up and felt blue blood pouring over his hand. He looked at the blood wide-eyed with his hands shaking as he began to panic. “What… I…”

But Garrus slapped him and snapped him out of his blood frozen stupor. Reaching up, the turian operative pressed a bandage to the spot where his mandible used to be. Baltus realized then and there what was happening. He looked up at Garrus’s right cheek, recalled the ten men killed by Tarak, and the explosion that took place inside the base. And now with Shepard being on Omega, all the pieces finally clicked into place making his eyes widen. “Getting it now, are we?” asked the turian in a spiteful voice.

“Y-You’re Archangel!” he said, feeling like he was about to fill the pants of his armor.

“Hmmm… I guess you’re not as dumb as you look. Doesn’t matter,” said Garrus as he put pressure on the wound where he had severed Baltus’s mandible. “Nobody is going to believe you because you’re a spineless liar. You’re going to go on living your life without saying a word. Because if I ever come here again and hear rumors about Archangel being alive, or that I’m the notorious Archangel, I’m going to fulfill my original plan and turn you into a modern art tribute to the men your cowardice got killed. Understand me?”

“I do…” was all he could say as ice ran through his veins.

“Good,” said Garrus as he forced the man’s head to the side none too gently. “Huh, now that the mandible is gone, you kinda do look like me,” he said with an amused chuckle. Finally, he released Baltus and left him on the floor before turning to Casvie. Taking out a credit chit, he passed it to her and bowed his head. “Apologies for the window, the blood on the floor, and your time. This should cover everything I’ve damaged, his clinic visit, and still be enough for you all to enjoy yourselves for a night on the town.”

Stunned at the offer, Casvie took the chit and eyed him. “T-Thank you,” she said, her thanks seemingly falling on deaf ears as Garrus put the blade away and left back down the way he had just come. Casvie glared down at him angrily before letting out a snort. “Fine, I’ll call the damn medics.” Baltus, meanwhile, just laid on the floor and stared up at the ceiling, clutching the sterile bandages to his face to stop the blood flow. He sat pondering for a long while just how lucky he was.

He crossed not just Garrus Vakarian the killer of the reaper ship during the Citadel attack, but also Archangel, the professional gang killer that apparently helped Shepard tear three different merc groups that were all working together apart. He didn’t just piss him off, he had gotten his men killed, gotten his face permanently scarred, and ruined his entire life on Omega. But somehow, he still sat breathing rapidly and staring at the water stained ceiling, alive. He let out a heavy sigh, wondering just how lucky he was to be alive right now.

Club Heat Death – Norfair District – Omega Station

“So, how do we go about this?” asked Shepard as she leaned against the wall outside the club. She had already confirmed Morinth’s presence inside the club by hijacking their low-quality security cam. The asari assassin had a bunch of what looked like mid-30s men and woman around her, all vying for her attention. But she simply stared down at her datapad from her booth.

“It appears she has brainwashed these humans into bringing her prey. Nefeli’s diary mentioned them,” said Samara as she looked at the security feed. “We’ll likely have to get through them to get to her. Which means trouble.”

“Is it really trouble? I could just stealth in there and take her out in seconds,” offered the spectre, but the justicar shook her head.

“Unfortunately, many have tried. Snipers, assassins, they try to take her by surprise. But her biotics are as powerful as mine, Shepard,” she said, causing Jane’s eyes to widen. “An unfortunate byproduct of being an ardat-yakshi. Their biotics are as powerful as a matriarch’s even in their maiden phase of life. She has an invisible biotic shield around her at all times, and if your attack doesn’t pierce that shield and kill her instantly, she will wipe out a city block to escape.”

“Sheesh,” said Shepard in surprise as she imagined her shots bouncing off Morinth’s shield and then her responding by opening up a black hole on the spot. “So then, what do we do?”

“We’ve seen her apartment. It’s on the top floor and the only escape is the elevator. If we can get her there, then we won’t have to worry about her running,” said the justicar. “The question is how do we get up there to her. You yourself said the elevators weren’t electronic and couldn’t be hacked into.”

“That’s right. The entire top three floors are penthouses that are blocked with card key access on an analogue elevator. That doesn’t give us a lot of options besides driving an aircar right through her window,” said the spectre as she scratched her head. Then Shepard’s eyes narrowed at the woman on the screen. “You said she’s attracted to violence, right?”

“Yes. She is a sadist in the purest sense of the form,” said the justicar as she eyed the spectre. “Why are you asking this?”

“What if I got her to take me to her room?” asked Jane, not thrilled with the idea but not seeing any other way of trapping her in her penthouse and removing her shield without some kind of nuclear option.

“Shepard, ardat-yakshi are apex predators. With a touch of their hand they can kill any living creature in the galaxy. Are you really suggesting we risk your life for my mission?” asked the justicar, her blue eyes wide.

“Mirala isn’t an animal. She’s not so addicted to killing that she would get herself killed to kill someone else, correct?” asked Shepard firmly. Samara nodded at the question. “Then she’s not going to melt my brain here in the club. She’ll have to take me home if she wants me. Assuming she’ll be attracted to me at all.”

“Shepard, I was trying to figure out a way of getting to her that didn’t require you meeting her because I know you’re her perfect prey,” said the justicar, getting a surprised look from the spectre. “You are a spectre, you are the hero of the Citadel, and thankfully your information brokers have kept information from Illium from getting to her district so she has no idea you were there days ago. I was afraid we would blow our cover because she would notice your energy immediately.”

“My energy?” asked Shepard curiously.

“You burn like a star, Shepard. In a sea of darkness, you radiate light and warmth like a sun, bringing life to planets and filling the void with your presence. She will see that in you as soon as she lays eyes on you. Even if she doesn’t know who you are, she will be able to tell that she wants you with a single glance,” said the asari with a quiet smile.

“Samara, I’m starting to think YOU are flirting with me now,” said Shepard, getting an amused chuckle from the woman. Shepard recalled Liara’s image of her the first time they melded romantically, a flaming warrior with wings of fire. She was a phoenix burning in the darkness of space. Which, given her death and subsequent resurrection was actually incredibly accurate. “So, really I just have to go in and do something to get her attention.”

“That is likely all it would take. But we need a plan for when she decides to take you home. I promise you despite your immense will power, when she lays her hands on you she will start draining you of your resistance to her temptation,” said the justicar firmly.

“When she takes me into the elevator, she will have to take her keycard out so I’ll know where it’s at. Maybe I can pickpocket it from her and throw it into the elevator for you?” said Shepard as she scratched her head of red hair. “Damn, Kasumi or Thane would be better at that than I would.”

Samara smiled and nodded. “Don’t worry, Shepard. I will find a way in. With her distracted by your presence, it should be a lot easier to manage.”

“You sure?” asked Shepard, getting a nod from the asari. “Alright. Just please don’t let me die up there.”

“I have put my faith in you, Shepard,” said the justicar as she reached out and grabbed her hands. Shepard looked down at her calloused blue hands gripping her own then looked up into her eyes. “Please put your faith in me. I will not allow you to die.”

Shepard stared at her for a long moment before finally nodding. “Alright. Let’s do this then.”

Club Heat Death – Norfair District – Omega Station

It had been a boring night. This station was itself a bore to her. She supposed it was too many people like her. Bloodthirsty, cutthroat, out for themselves. She looked over at the group of pitiful humans who had latched onto her, trying to please her by bringing back scoundrels they’d dragged out of the alley. Of course, they were easy prey, but even she had standards. If she wanted to do the world a favor and eradicate the homeless population of Omega she could do that in the span of a single night. But she wasn’t interested in the destitute that they kept bringing.

In fact, she was thinking of taking her frustrations of having to leave another home out on them for continuously bringing her trash. But then they had somehow stumbled head first into a sublime example of innocence. The girl was an artist, a sculptor. She loved music and wanted to sell art so she could lift her mother out of the poverty of Omega’s lower dregs. She was utterly delicious in every way and it took every fiber of her will not to meld with her on the spot.

Then again, her frustrations came from an obvious source. With her being constantly on the run again, leaving a trail of bodies for the menace to follow wasn’t a good option. She had to be very selective with her targets, and therefore she had to get the most out of them when she could find one. Then she had to take long gaps in between each one. It agitated her to no end that her stalker continuously deprived her. Then again, it’s what she got for not killing the bitch the first time she caught her. A sentimental moment that she regretted every single time she had to move and relocate.

And now they were both heartless killers that left bodies in their wake across the galaxy. It was almost amusing how much her hunter grew to be just like her in the end. She reached over to the table and grabbed a cigarette made of a human herb known for its ability to get you high and put it in her mouth, wanting to do anything to forget about that nonsense. Grabbing the lighter, she went to light it, but instead her head snapped over as a new person shoved their way through the club and blasted one of her little groupies across the dance floor with a punch that looked like it would break stone.

She sat stunned at the action as the human woman with flaming red hair picked another of them up as if they weighed no more than a bucket of water and slammed them to the ground, causing the floor to shake under them. She immediately felt her blood begin to warm as another of the men were grabbed by the shirt. “What the hell did you do to her you monster?!” shouted the woman in his face. He began to stutter as he began to swing his fists wildly, but she threw a punch into his gut so hard the noise that came out of his mouth sounded like one of his lungs deflated.

The two women from the group tried to run, but she spun around and grabbed them by their hair so hard she nearly scalped them clean and yanked them back. She held them both crying in this pose and turned them to face her. “P-Please don’t-“

“You two. If I ever see your fucking faces around this group again I’ll make sure your bodies are the next ones they find in an alley,” she snapped before throwing them both towards the club door. Her entire group of five human followers were now gone, some unconscious on the floor and the others had fled the club. The woman looked angrier than ever and let out a war cry, releasing a biotic wave that shook the foundation of the club and pushed the tables around her in all directions.

A bouncer ran up to her, but stopped in place when she turned to him. “Look… I just work here,” said the turian man as he held up his hands.

The new face snorted and shook her head. “Sorry. I’ve had a rough day,” she said as she put her hands in her jacket pockets. Then she turned to her and Morinth felt her heart flutter lightly at the cold stare. “Didn’t mean to disturb your drink. Sorry,” she said as she began walking away.

Immediately, she was on her feet and at her side. “Don’t go, come to my booth and tell me what’s going on.”

The redheaded woman turned and eyed her curiously. “You want to have a drink with me after all that?”

“You seem stressed. It looks like you could use the downtime. Besides,” said the asari as she leaned forward and whispered. “Not going to lie, you actually made my night.”

The human snorted and then nodded. “Alright then,” she said as Morinth dragged her back over to her booth in the darkest corner of the club.

“Bouncer boy, get my friend here a drink!” snapped the asari as she looked at the human expectantly.

“Oh… uh, just water…” said the woman, seemingly surprised when the assassin laughed.

“Trust me, the water here will leave you more hung over than the alcohol,” she said as she waved a hand. “Just a beer.” When the beer finally appeared at the table, she looked the human up and down. Whoever she was, she wasn’t a couch warmer. Her entire body exuded combat ready. She felt herself wanting to slide into the booth next to her and start feeling every inch of her carved body, but she had no idea if this woman was even attracted to asari. It’d take a bit longer to draw her in. “So, care to tell me what happened?”

The redhead shook her head and planted her face in her hand. “A friend of mine died a few days ago and I think they were involved. I should have investigated more, but I got so angry and I knew they were involved somehow.”

Morinth’s brow rose slightly. Her last prey died weeks ago, so whoever these bumbling idiots knocked over couldn’t have to do with her. She felt slightly better knowing her trail was still cold. “I’m very sorry to hear that,” she said as she reached across the table and gripped her hand. The woman’s hand was very warm. It nearly raised her own body temperature a degree or two. But she immediately noticed that she could pick up no emotional signals. This meant she was well trained in more than just biotic combat.

“It’s fine. If they did it I’ll find out. And if they didn’t then they’ll know not to fuck around with my friends anymore,” said the woman as she eyed one of the groaning men spitefully.

“Are you an investigator?” asked Morinth curiously as she tried to pinpoint her job. She felt like the woman was familiar to her, but she had been so focused on covering her tracks across the galaxy recently that she hadn’t read the news for a while.

The woman’s red brow rose. “You don’t know who I am?”

Morinth’s eyes narrowed at her. “You do have a familiar look to you but I can’t put my finger on it. Care to help me out?”

“I’m Jane Shepard,” said the woman, causing Morinth’s eyes to widen and her skin to tingle.

“The first human spectre?” asked the asari, getting a nod.

“That’s me,” said the woman with a small grin. “Though now I feel like I shouldn’t have told you. People tend to get intimidated by my position and put their heads down.”

“I assure you there’s only one place I’ll be putting my head down,” said the asari as she eyed every detail of the woman’s face. Of course she was the human spectre. Her face had been all over Illium on movie posters and news stories about her mysterious return from death, saving a colony from the collectors, and her completely annihilating the space prison that Morinth had found herself in a few times. Immediately her heart began to hammer against her chest.

The spectre leaned back slightly at the innuendo. “You’re very forward.”

“Don’t like it?” asked the asari woman, hoping she didn’t just torpedo her chances.

“Nah, I like forward,” said Shepard with a playful grin.

Immediately Morinth felt herself purr in pleasure as she reached up and gently ran her fingers along the inside of the collar of her button up shirt. Shepard’s eyes immediately flew to her delicate blue fingers as she began to tug at the collar, showing more and more of her cleavage. “I’m happy to hear that,” she said playfully as she leaned forward, her arms automatically doing the work for her and making her chest pop. The spectre’s eyes looked from her barely contained breasts up to her eyes. “So, tell me what it’s like to be a spectre.”

“Hell. One minute you’re negotiating the release of a prisoner, the next the entire prison decides to try and kill you,” said Shepard with a shrug.

“I heard about that,” said the asari as she reached forward and gripped Shepard’s hand again. She had to restrain herself from trying to meld with her here. The melding process left her vulnerable to anyone else in the area. And if she started causing the spectre to scream in pain in the booth then someone might just think it’s worth it to take her out. Instead, she used more of her skin to try and lure the woman in. “It must be so difficult to have to deal with that day after day.”

“I mean, yes. But there are… uh, perks,” said the redhead as she looked down at her chest again then looked away in embarrassment. Morinth had to keep herself from laughing at how utterly adorable this killing machine was. Like on the battlefield she’s a goddess of destruction, but in the bedroom she’s a scared little creature. She felt herself almost salivating over the opportunity to take her home.

“Oh, I can show you the perks. How about you tell me more about your exploits and we go back to my place for a drink in private,” she said with an alluring smile.

Shepard looked up at her, her freckled face turning slightly red before nodding. “Alright…”

Velvet Heights Condo 322 – Norfair District – Omega Station

It had taken the better part of twenty minutes to get back to her building. The entire time, Shepard told her stories about her tangle with Saren and his geth on the Citadel. She was far less interested in the stories of killing geth. There was something so hollow about killing a machine. But it didn’t matter much. She would have her prize shortly. As she walked in, she blew a kiss to the turian behind the counter. He saw her and nodded immediately.

A few times to get what she wanted, she would have to debase herself. And in order to get the turian man to destroy camera footage of her bringing her victims into the building, she had to offer him something in return. Of course he couldn’t meld with her as that would make him as useless as her other followers that were unconscious on the dance floor. So, instead she gave him something more physical in return. But as she held the escorting arm of the spectre, she knew that every second of her boring night with the turian was worth it as she was set to devour the pain of one of the most powerful people in the galaxy. She opened the elevator and activated it with her card key, eager to get up to her room so she could play with her new toy.

In a matter of minutes, they opened her front door and stepped inside her glamorous condo. It was small in scope compared to her abode back on Illium. But it was still luxurious and it did its job of being a nice nest for her to bring her pets. It was soundproof, and the only way out required her to give them access. It was the perfect little den for her.

Shepard looked around the room curiously and saw a few of her works of art. “Don’t ask about the art. It’s all fake anyway,” she said as she spun and grabbed Shepard’s hands with hers. “Instead, focus on me.” Morinth took the spectre’s hands and placed them on her hips. She then reached up and gripped the redhead by the chin, attempting to use her sensory to invade the woman’s mind. But she already knew she was a biotic, and she felt the woman’s resistence clashing against her. Smiling widely at her struggle as she pulled the taller woman’s head down and bit into her neck with her teeth.

The spectre winced slightly, but just gripped her hips harshly in ecstasy. Spinning again, Morinth pushed Shepard onto her couch. Reaching up, she began to pull her shirt down with her finger tips again, keeping the spectre’s eyes glued to her chest. She grinned mischievously as she decided it was finally time to take her prize. “Shepard…” she said as she sat on the strong woman’s lap and gripped her head in her hands. She began the meld as she leaned down to kiss her. But she felt a stinging white-hot pain that made her jolt back on the couch.

It had only been momentary, but she had seen it. When she connected to Shepard, she was taken to a void with the galaxies and stars of space painting the background. But she couldn’t admire the background as her eyes were transfixed on the presence of an immensely powerful titan in front of her, its billowing wings spanning the distance between galaxies. It towered over her tiny frame, its hair and skin burning with the heat of a sun, searing her skin away for that single moment in time. The two cold, merciless eyes of the winged giant stared down into her soul and lit it aflame, burning her from the inside out.

It had all happened in a split second, but it felt as if she had tasted the power of a god. She had never felt anything so exhilarating in her life. Not only did it not deter her, she needed more, she would take more. She would drain Shepard dry of every last drop of her will, drinking in that burning fire until she was raw and unconscious from both pain and pleasure. She looked at her hands, shaking from the sudden blast of pain before looking back up at the groggy spectre. “Wha… what happened?” asked the woman.

Morinth grinned maliciously, ignoring her question before reaching out for her again, her eyes turning dark as she reached out for the spectre once more.

Velvet Heights Condo 322 – Norfair District – Omega Station

Samara had been true to her word. Every moment in the woman’s presence was a trial of will. The first time she touched her hand she felt her will shaking, her blood began to rush through her body as she felt herself growing more and more attracted to her. It wasn’t a struggle at first, just a noticed feeling of attraction. But the continued contact with her on the way back to the apartment made her feel like she was being drained. She had never felt so out of breath as when the assassin had pushed her onto the couch.

But now she shook her head. Morinth had only touched her for a second. She had planned to blast the woman with her own biotics and hopefully hold her long enough for Samara to arrive. But that one touch felt like a jolt of electricity had shot through her nervous system and touched every nerve on the way. She felt her muscles twitching in protest and began to shake her hands to get them to stop.

Looking up, she saw the predatory smile of the asari in front of her as she reached out to grab her again. “Embrace eternity, Shepard…” Suddenly, the large bay window behind them exploded open, stunning them both as glass shards slashed across her blue skin. She fell off the couch and got to her knees, wiping her purple blood from her face as her eyes narrowed at the figure outside. It was raining hard outside as the red armored asari flew in through the window, her biotics already lit as she landed on the floor with a glare of ice.

Morinth responded by roaring and sending out a massive wave of biotics that slammed into Shepard and hurled her across the room. She groaned as she got back to her feet and watched in awe as mother and daughter clashed with one another. Everytime Samara grabbed Morinth, she would rip herself free with her own biotics. “Looks like the purebreed bitch got a helper!” snapped the assassin as she slammed her mother into the wall twice. “What’s wrong, can’t kill me yourself?!”

“I do not need Shepard’s help to destroy you!” snapped Samara back as she shrugged off the younger woman’s biotics and hit her with a blast so powerful that it cannoned Morinth into a wall hard enough to make her cough up blood.

“Can’t wait to destroy me to keep me from sullying your good name?” she snapped back as she shielded away one of Samara’s biotic attacks and grabbed her, slamming her into the ceiling. “The might justicar with the evil soul-sucking murderous bitch for a daughter!” she shouted as she then slammed her into the floor.

“I am your mother!” yelled the justicar as she broke free again and blasted the ardat-yakshi with a biotic blast point blank that sent her slamming into the wall next to Shepard.

“You’re not my goddess damned mother!” snapped Morinth as she tore herself free from the attack. It had caused her immense pain but she did it anyway and returned the attack in kind, grabbing the older asari and hurling her into Shepard. Both the spectre and justicar hit the ground, but Shepard was back on her feet as Samara struggled to get up. “You’re a monster, who took a scared little girl and locked her in a prison to sate your conscience,” she said as she roared loudly and hit the justicar with a hammer of biotics that cratered the floor. “You’re not my mother, you’re a monster!”

Samara gasped in pain as blood began to trickle from her nose. By now the entire apartment was flattened and even the walls were crumbling from the power of the biotics being thrown around. The ceiling was all but gone from the explosions caused by their biotics mixing. The open sky rained on all three of them as Samara got to her feet. She was weak, Shepard could see that. But she wasn’t done by a long shot. “You’re right.”

Morinth stopped, her biotics dissipating for a long moment. “What?”

“I was a monster,” said Samara as tears poured down her face. “I was your mother, and I should have protected you, guided you. I should have helped you. I failed you. I failed Falere. I failed Rila. I should have accepted you as my daughters and loved you as you were instead of allowing them to take you from me. I should have been there for you.”

Morinth’s glare returned as she lit her biotics again, her shock over the apology now gone. “Too little too late for your apologies,” growled the assassin as she moved to strike again.

“I love you, Mirala, and I understand your pain. But, there is only one way to help you now,” said Samara as she used most of her biotic energy to deflect Morinth’s own warp attack, resulting in the entire rest of the ceiling being sheared clean from the condo. She flew forward where her daughter prepared for a counter attack. But no biotic attack came. Instead, the ardat-yakshi gasped in pain.

Looking down, Morinth saw a blade made of Yvalice crystal that pierced her barrier now protruding from her chest. She coughed, blood now pouring from her mouth as he biotics fled her body, causing her to collapse to the ground. Samara stood over her as the glowing sword slid clean from her body. She looked down at her daughter, the one she failed with tears stinging her eyes and lifted the blade. But she struggled to move.

Shepard knew it was happening again as Samara sank to her knees, staring at her daughter who was gasping in air desperately, her chest rising and falling quickly as she let out short gasps of breath. The spectre knelt down at the silently crying asari and placed one hand on her shoulders, and the other on the hilt of the blade. Samara looked up at her, her tears disguised in the rain now as it poured down both of their faces. Then she looked back down at her dying daughter and raised the sword high. With one final thrust, the light in the assassin’s eyes died out and her head sagged to the side.

Samara released the sword handle and just stared at her daughter for a long moment before leaning over and planting a kiss on her head. “Goodnight Mirala. I will see you again with the dawn and I will greet you no longer as an adversary, but as a mother.” Reaching forward, she placed her hand on her child one last time and her powerful biotics pulled apart Mirala’s body until she was nothing more than subatomic radiation.

CODEX ENTRIES

Imperator | Government | Palaven
The former governer of the military branch of Palaven, they act as blood brothers to the Primarch and is said to have some control over the military assets of the Palaven Fleet as well as the ground troops. A relic of bygone times in Palaven’s history, the role is mostly ceremonial and passed down from one military general to another through a form of knighting.

Tek Tegore | Combat | Martial Arts
The primary form of hand to hand combat in the turian military, it’s taught in Hierarchy basic training to every turian. It leans heavily into the turian’s powerful legs and is a fighting style based on primarily kicking and keeping a low center of gravity to keep from losing balance, as opposed to the quarian’s Pansa Kusa, which utilizes far more agility.

Pansa Kusa | Combat | Martial Arts
A quarian form of martial arts that focuses on acrobatic kicking attacks using the very strong legs the quarians are known for. Unlike turian martial arts which embraces lowering your center of gravity to keep to the ground to form a solid wall of defense, Pansa Kusa makes use of the quarian’s natural agility, allowing them to make leaping, spinning, rapid kicks and has, in recent centuries, even included training on the most effective moves to take out the larger geth machines.

Chapter Text

Nos Astra – Illium

The last few weeks of his life had been the busiest he’d ever experienced. Pitne For drove him like a slave, but he also didn’t get a lot of business which lead to lots of loitering in waiting rooms and warehouses. Ever since he started his new job, he’d been moving around so frequently that his legs were sore for days. He mostly used a company car, but with the pay he was receiving he just put down his first payment on a species-friendly apartment near work. And for the first time in his entire professional career he had three days off, allowing him to visit the Illium night life. He had even met a cute bartender at one of the nearby clubs.

So, while his shorter legs were sore, he marched on through the pain happily. It was also easy work for the pay. Currently he was sent out to get lunch for him and Zan-Liara. Nyxeris had gone out for lunch so it was just the two of them for the moment, and he decided to go to a restaurant that served good volus food as well as servicing other species. He set the company car down in the parking structure and made his way inside to place their orders.

As he picked up one of the datapads on the order counter, he looked up and was surprised to see Nyxeris sitting at one of the tables nearby. She held up a receipt pad for the turian waiter. His eyes looked at the cost and the tip of her meal and he felt himself reeling as he saw she had spent over ten thousand credits, and tipped over twenty-three thousand. He found himself stunned after seeing the numbers before he remembered his manners. Turning away from them he began to put the order in.

After a few minutes he finally finished and then swiped the company chit to pay for it. As he set the pad back down he turned and nearly jumped out of his suit as he saw Nyxeris standing over him. “Hello Niftu! I didn’t know you were coming,” said the asari woman as she gazed down at him firmly.

“Noble Liara was feeling hungry… but didn’t want to leave the office until she… closed her latest report. I came here because they have good volus food and I… was feeling peckish myself,” he replied to her, wondering if he should even ask about the absurd prices he saw on the tablet. He decided quickly that it wasn’t any of his business.

“I eat here often. It has an amazing vegan menu,” she said as she stared down at him.

He wasn’t sure why she was staring at him, but after serving with Pitne For for most of his career, if she was trying to intimidate him or be pushy, she was failing miserably. “Did you want me to get something for you?”

“That won’t be necessary,” said the asari as she smiled at him. Asari always smiled, so he wasn’t able to discern a genuine smile from a fake one. But she ended up turning and leaving while he waited for the food to come out. After another ten minutes, the food was given to him. He trundled towards the door and opened it, heading outside to the parking structure. As the door to the parking structure opened, a turian walked out past him.

Niftu looked up at him as he walked by and noticed it was the same turian that had taken Nyxeris’s payment in the restaurant. He looked at the vehicle he had brought here, then back at the turian that was heading to the restaurant. Immediately his stomach began to turn and his instincts told him not to get into the car. Instead, he walked back out of the structure and used a terminal to order an aircab. Luckily for his nerves, the cab came quickly and he beelined it for the office.

He didn’t know what he was feeling at the moment, but it felt like everyone was watching him now. He had been the target of many angry gangsters after one of Pitne For’s business mishaps, but he had never felt his instincts screaming at him like this. He began to feel paranoid as he stepped out of the cab at the other people walking down the sidewalk. Lifting the bag of food, he made his way back to the elevator. When he arrived at the floor of Liara’s office, he trundled inside with his heart pounding.

He approached Nyxeris’s desk and waved to her, getting a look of surprise back from her. “Back already? They usually take longer with making to go orders.”

He nodded and scratched his head. “Guess I got lucky,” he said as he looked towards the door to Liara’s office. “I’m gonna go now…”

The asari’s brow furrowed as he walked over to the door and opened it. Inside, Liara was at her desk typing away at her terminal. She looked over and saw him, then smiled. “Thank you for bringing lunch,” she said politely. But her face shifted to concern as he set the food on the desk and sat in one of her chairs. She seemed to notice that something was off. “What is it?”

“I… don’t know,” he said nervously as he looked around. “Just had my paranoia… kick in really bad. I felt like someone at the restaurant… was watching me, or was after me. It was probably just all in my head, but I don’t know if I’ve ever been that on edge.”

“Do you know what set it off?” asked Liara as she leaned onto her elbows on the desk.

“Not really. Like I said, it’s probably all in my head,” he said as he shook his head. “Sorry, but I left the company car at the restaurant. I got too nervous to use it.”

“That’s fine. I’ll have Nyxeris go collect it later,” she said with a smile. “After everything you’ve been through with Pitne For I’m surprised you’re as level headed as you have been. Honestly with how many gangs were out for Pitne’s skin I’m surprised you weren’t jumpier.”

Niftu thought for a moment before speaking up again. “By the way, how much do you pay Nyxeris?”

Looking at him in surprise, she tilted her head. “It’s roughly about twice your pay given her experience and the information work she does for me. Why?”

He turned his head and then shook it. “It’s nothing. She just tips really well.”

“She was at the restaurant then?” she asked, getting a nod from the volus. “Was she throwing down an extra fifty credits for a cute waiter?” asked the asari doctor with a smirk.

“Not quite. She tipped 23,522 credits,” he said, getting a look of shock from her.

“I don’t pay her that well!” said the woman as she looked towards the door up front. Then she looked down at her desk in deep thought. “Wait… what were those numbers?”

“It was 23,522 credits,” he said as he eyed her curiously. “Why?”

Liara looked up with her eyes wide as she began to type on her terminal again. “Did you see any other numbers?”

“For some reason the cost of the… meal was 10,109 credits,” he said as he scratched his head thoughtfully. “That’s a lot of food.”

Immediately any humor vanished from her face as she began clenching her fist. “It’s not food. Those are security ciphers for my reports,” she said as she pondered for a moment. “Who was she giving the pad to?”

“I don’t know who it was,” said the volus as he tried to recall. “He was a turian, very tall. Dusty brown carapace, and I think he had a scar in his left brow plate.”

The doctor’s brows furrowed. It was strange to him to see an asari with eyebrows now. That had always been a human thing as far as he knew. But she turned and opened a datapad and brought up a picture before showing it to him. “Is this him?”

He looked at the picture and saw the turian man staring at him through the screen. It looked like some kind of mugshot. “It is! He was also the one in the… parking garage when I left the car!”

“Probably for the better,” said Liara as she set the datapad down. “I was just about to hand her these reports as well. They’re potential… well,” she said as she stopped her explanation. Then she turned to him and smiled. “You’re my guardian angel, you know that?”

“What’s an angel?” asked Niftu in confusion.

She chuckled as she shook her head. “It’s human mythology. But I’ll save the explanation and tell you that you may have just saved my life.”

“I did?” he asked, bewildered at the claim. “I was just hungry.”

She chuckled and nodded. “Me too. So,” she said as she turned her swiveling chair towards him. “How would you like to earn Nyxeris’s salary and job?”

“You’re firing her?” asked the volus as he twiddled his fingers. “I don’t want to cause a stir…”

“I need an answer now, Niftu,” she said, causing him to look up at her. “Things are about to move very fast and I need to know if you’re with me for the long run or you’re just here for a paycheck. If you’re just here for a paycheck, then I’m going to put you in hiding for a long while.”

“Hiding?” he asked, realizing what she was actually asking him. She wanted to know if he was willing to walk into danger with her and benefit in the end, or just take the paycheck and go into hiding. He sat thinking for a long moment before finally looking up at her. “You gave me my dignity back. I’m with you til the end.”

She smiled at him brightly before nodding. “I’m happy to have you along, Zan-Niftu Cal.” She turned in her chair and took her food out of the bag that he brought with him. In it was a container of hot soup that she loved from Earth. It looked slimy to him and he hated foods with that texture.

She popped the lid off and stood up from her desk. “Where are you going?”

Stopping, she looked at him with a cold stare, her warm smile from before now gone. “You might want to cover your eyes.” He sat confused for a long moment.  The door to the front opened and Liara donned her smile again. “Hey Nyxeris, have you tried this soup?”

Niftu watched her go and the door closed behind her. He wondered what was going on when suddenly he jumped in surprise as an ear-splitting cry of pain sounded outside of the office. The door opened again and Nyxeris flew inside, slamming face first into the ground. When she was able to look up, he saw numerous burns forming on her face from the boiling soup he had brought back from the restaurant. She tried to get to her hands and knees, but she didn’t get much of a chance as Doctor T’Soni walked in again with a look of sheer ice and held her hand up.

“Feel free to collect your severance in hell,” said Liara as she warped the woman in the back. Niftu gasped in horror as her skin was disintegrated from her body. Her screams echoed in the office as the biotic attack peeled her like a morbid fruit and left her bloody and gored, but dead. Activating her omni-tool, she contacted someone and began talking very pleasantly again. “Yes, I’d like to schedule a dry cleaning, one suit.” She looked down at the dead asari carcass on the floor. “Velvet wine. Lots of velvet wine stains.” She nodded once, then again before finishing. “Thank you. Your payment will be on the desk when you arrive.”

She pulled out a credit chit, transferred credits, then threw it onto the corner of the desk. Turning to him, she smiled again, gently signaling him to come with her. He got off his seat, avoided the growing pool of purple blood, and trundled after her. “Where are we going?” he asked as they entered the elevator.

“We’re going to the restaurant,” she said with a grin as the elevator closed. He nodded and let out a heavy sigh, realizing that his life just took a turn he did not expect.

Omega Landing Dock 42 – Omega Station

“Are you going to be okay?” asked Shepard as she escorted Samara back to the ship. She stopped just off the dock where the Normandy was currently moored.

“What should I say, Shepard?” asked the justicar as she turned around and looked at the ground. “I just killed the bravest of my daughters. The only one who would not suffer the injustices thrust upon her. I have completed the goal I set for myself from the moment I became a justicar. I feel grief, sorrow, sadness, and I feel relief, purpose, and pride.”

“Going through a lot then,” said Shepard with a small smile. Samara’s lips curved upwards only slightly in return as she nodded. “Go get some rest and talk to Kelly if you need to. She’s a lot more helpful than people realize.”

“I shall do as you ask,” said the woman as she turned and headed back for the ship. “Please come talk to me after I have had time to process everything.”

“I will,” said Shepard with a smile. Samara entered the airlock on the ship and Shepard’s smile vanished as she looked around her. “Alright, whoever the hell you are. You can stop skulking in the shadows and come say hi already.”

She looked around and suddenly heard clapping coming from the shadow of a large cargo container unloaded from a nearby freighter. In the darkness a pair of glowing red orbs appeared. “I’m starting to believe you really are Shepard,” came the entity’s voice as they finally stepped out into the light.

Her eyes widened as she saw the tall, armored form. He wore light black armor and a helmet that covered his head leaving nothing exposed to the light. The only discernable detail about his armor were the two glowing red eyes on the front of his helmet. Her memory flashed and she immediately recognized him. “Toombs? What the hell are you doing here?”

“Tut tut,” he said shaking his finger at her. “That’s actually my question. See, a while back we made a deal. Then you tried to go back on that deal by dying.” He stepped forward until they were face to face with only a few meters between them.

“Didn’t really have a choice on that front,” said Shepard with a glare. “But I’m alive again, so our deal’s back on.”

“Is it?” he asked in an almost saccharin tone. “Because if I recall correctly, our deal was that I hand over the asshole, you crush Cerberus. Now, I’ve fulfilled my end of the bargain, but there seems to be a slight hook up on your end,” he said holding his fingers up to show how small.

She suddenly realized where this was going. “Alright, Toombs. Let’s hear it. You’ve been stalking me for the last half hour now. So, hit me with your best shot,” she said spreading her arms wide. “Which is it? That Cerberus brought me back to life? That you think they control me now? Which one of the dumb ass false rumors did you fall for?”

“Adorable, but unconvincing,” he said as he pulled a pistol off his belt. “Cerberus brought you back to life and that tells me there’s a zero percent chance that you’re not working with them.”

“And what makes you say that?” asked Shepard as she pulled her own pistol free.

“Oh, I don’t know. How about the Cerberus Operative Miss Lawson you have working with you on your ship? Or maybe the soldier, Mister Taylor,” he said with a shrug. “Forgive me, but even if I thought there was a chance that they left you as you were before you died, I wouldn’t believe for a second that Lawson would work with you if you weren’t some Cerberus drone. She’s a Cerberus dog to the core.”

“Miranda and Jacob are my crew, and they follow my orders,” snapped Shepard as she glared at him. “Regardless of what you think of me, you’re going to keep your hands off my crew.”

“I believe you… or, I believe that you believe that. It’s adorable that you think I would though,” he said as he jumped back into the shadows. His red, glowing eyes vanished from sight.

Shepard looked around frantically, trying to see where he had gone. But he was too good at melding into shadows for her eyes to be of any use. He’d had years of practice while she had been dead. Instead, she kept her biotics in check and just flexed her body all over and activated her omni-tool. Quickly, she fired a small device at the ground and continued to look around for him.

Several shots were fired from cover and she activated a standing shield that put up a bubble around her. The forcefield blocked the bullets which she noted were coming from the direction of the opposite side of the crate. Aiming her weapon, she fired in that direction through the field. “You’re not going to take me out with a pistol, Toombs. I’m insulted you think it’d be that easy.”

“You want it hand to hand then?” he asked from the darkness. “That’ll do just fine.”

She barely saw a blur flee from an entirely different shadow towards her. Her omni-tool beeped and she bent backwards as his movement was betrayed by her shield. A long dagger was extended and aimed for her throat, but she bent just in time for it to miss. Using her momentum, she lashed out with her foot and caught him with a kick to the side of the head that sent him tumbling.

But he easily caught his balance and flipped back onto his feet. He chuckled as he stared at her through the shield. “Very smart, Shepard,” he growled as he reached up and rubbed the side of his head and flexed his neck. “Use the shield to kill long range options, and then lure me up close where you’re able to tell where I’m coming from.”

“People accuse me of a lot of things. The council for favoring humans, the Alliance for betraying them, and now you for joining Cerberus. But nobody has ever accused me of being a bad fighter,” she said as she raised one of her hands into fists. “You gonna keep talking?”

“No,” he said as she rushed in again, this time not keeping his presence hidden. Instead, he sprinted straight for her. He swung the blade again, but instead of dodging this time she used her elbow to block the swing and slammed her fist directly into his gut. He gasped and bent over, making her think she had stunned him long enough to disable him. But she had miscalculated as he bent further than expected and swung his foot forward to smash into her face. Knocking her off balance, he reversed his swing and drilled his knee directly into her gut.

She gasped in horror as the wind was driven from her lungs. She fell forward to her knees, but instead of staying still while he backed off, she rolled forward and launched both feet forward in a double kick that hit like a bus. She blasted him in the ribs and sent him flying backwards before rolling to her feet and gasping in gulps of air to try and regulate her breathing again.

He rolled back to his feet as well, groaning in pain as he rubbed his now injured ribs. “Sorry, Shepard. But breaking my ribs isn’t going to work on me. Pain no longer slows me down, it fuels me!” he snapped as he sprinted forward again, thrusting his dagger up towards her gut. She knew she was getting slower and his attacks weren’t. She recalled him saying that he hardly felt pain anymore after the experiments Cerberus did on him, which meant that he wouldn’t be slowed down by the pain she caused him.

She knew she was going to have to spring her surprise if she wanted to make it out of this encounter alive. She side-stepped the attack with the blade, and he flipped it around to try and stab it into her back. But as he spun he missed her completely. He looked around in confusion as she had absolutely disappeared on the spot. The toe of her boot then smashed into the back of his head and sent him flying across the ground, head over tail before he flipped back to his feet again.

Reaching up, he stared at her with those glowing red eyes and rubbed the back of his head gently. “What was that?” he asked curiously as he spun the dagger in his hands.

“What was what? Looked to me like you were too slow,” she said with a smirk.

“You think you’re clever,” he growled as he crouched and prepared for another assault. “Let’s see you vanish from this one!” He dashed forward again and thrust once more, but instead of just thrusting the dagger he also reached out and grabbed her by the jacket. She flinched and vanished again and causing him to fall onto his back. Reappearing above him, she fell with the aid of gravity and slammed both of her knees into his gut, causing him to let out an excruciating gasp of air. She rolled to her feet again, grimacing as he got up seemingly unscathed by her attack with the exception of his breathing. When he could finally find his voice again, he chuckled. “Shepard is a biotic now?” he asked as he spun the blade again. “Was that something Cerberus added in when they put you back together? Or did you always hide that from me?”

She didn’t say anything. She knew that attack would put most people in the hospital with a ruptured organ or worse. But he walked it off as if it barely registered for him. She didn’t like her odds against him as he was, even with her biotics. Unfortunately, if she wanted to survive, she was likely going to have to kill him. Reaching back, she gripped her pistol again, ready for the next attack.

But suddenly, both of them were startled by the sound of a warcry off to the side. A massive drunken krogan charged out of the shadows towards the assassin. Toombs saw him coming and prepared to counterattack, but then biotics lit up around him and kept him from moving at all. He held up his arms as the battering ram of a creature finally collided with him and charged head first into the shipping container. He impacted the side of the crate, crushed between the metal sheet and the krogan and creating a crater from the force.

Shepard saw Grunt’s attack, then looked over as Jack stepped out of the shadows as well. “You were having a party out here and you didn’t invite us, Shepard?” asked the young convict as she stepped towards the spectre.

“Didn’t know where you were,” said the redhead as she scratched her head. “Speaking of, where were you two?”

“Grunt wanted to drink and you were off diddling Samara I guess,” said the woman as she turned and spied the man that Grunt had just tossed onto the ground. “So, who’s this then?”

Shepard chuckled as Toombs groaned in pain. It didn’t matter how dead his pain sensors were, he wasn’t taking a blow like that from Grunt and shrugging it off. “This would be Corporal Toombs. Former Alliance turned assassin who hunted down Cerberus scientists that were hidden within the Alliance.”

“For real?” asked Jack in surprise.

“Subject Zero?” said Toombs as he got to his feet with one of his arms dangling uselessly at his side.

“I ammm… the champion!” grumbled Grunt as he turned and took another loping run towards the assassin.

“Grunt wait!” snapped Jack, but it was too late. Toombs raised the dagger he was assaulting Shepard with and stabbed it down into the krogan’s head before getting smashed to the side. Grunt fell forward and landed face first on the ground.

Shepard thought the worst until she heard the loud snoring from the krogan. Toombs got to his feet again and stared at the dagger handle now missing its blade before throwing it aside. Jack glared at the assassin. “How do you know who I am?”

Toombs reached over and held his limp arm. “Anyone who knows Cerberus knows who you are. What they did to me for months they did to you all your life. I’m probably Subject Three or Four.”

Jack looked him up and down. “I guess. But if you’re after Cerberus, why are you here trying to kill Shepard?”

Even under his mask Shepard could tell he had a look of incredulity. “Why am I…? The question is, why are you working with her after what Cerberus did to you?!” he snapped back at her. “You should be wringing the blood out of her like a rag for working with them!”

“She’s not working with Cerberus!” snapped Jack again before looking at the ground. “Wait… Oh, I get what this is,” she said before shaking her hand. “Look, shit’s complicated, alright. She’s not working with Cerberus any more than I am. We’re both working to stop the collectors and reapers.”

“Then why is Lawson on your ship?” growled Toombs as he pointed accusingly at her.

“What, the Cerberus sex doll? She follows Shepard’s orders just like the rest of us,” she said before stepping up towards him and glaring directly into his helmet. “You look at my face and tell me you know me, and then accuse me of working for some Cerberus lackey!”

“Look, Corporal,” said Shepard as she held up her hands to show she wasn’t fighting any more. He focused on her with those glowing red eyes. “I’m using Cerberus resources to fight the collectors and the reapers. Resources that are currently not being put towards torturing kids.”

“So, you think that’s good enough? You’re not personally killing and torturing innocents, so I should just let you go?” he asked with a shrug, as if to emphasize his point.

“No,” said Jack as she pointed at him. “You should let her go because you don’t want me to crush you into pulpy grape juice. Whatever kind of hate boner you have for her is irrelevant. She’s my ticket to killing Cerberus, and you’re not going to touch a hair on her goddamn head!”

“You really think she’s going to turn on Cerberus after they brought her back to life?” he asked sardonically as he planted his good arm on his hip.

“What I really think doesn’t fucking matter,” snapped Jack as she glared at him. “She promised to help me and she’s going to help me. And if she tries to protect them, then I’ll destroy her too. But ONLY when the time comes!” she said as she snorted at him. “Quit trying to kill one of the few goddamn people doing anything good in the galaxy just to satisfy your childish grudge.”

He stared at her for a long moment before looking up at Shepard again. “You’re lucky your little mascot here showed up to vouch for you.”

“And you’re lucky Grunt didn’t eat you to help with his hangover,” said the spectre as she gave him a glare.

“I’m gonna keep my eyes on you, Shepard,” said the man as he took a step back from them both.

“You got away from me once, Toombs. You think I’m going to let you go again to try and kill me later?” asked Shepard as she lit her biotics again.

“I think you don’t have a say in the matter,” he said as he raised his hand. Shepard looked at it and immediately realized that he was holding a chain attached to multiple grenade pins.

“Jack! Grunt! Close your-“ she shouted as she covered her own face with her arm. But a loud boom sounded and punished her for not being able to cover her ears as well. The concussive sound disoriented her, but at least she could see.

“AH! MY EYEBALLS ARE ON FIRE!” shouted Grunt angrily as he rolled on the ground.

“Bastard! Next time I see you I’m shoving your head so far down into your body that it comes out your ass!” shouted Jack as she had her eyes closed and her ears covered from the flashbang.

Shepard sighed as she knew he had escaped again. She’d have trouble keeping up with him without her biotics, even if he wasn’t injured. So, chasing him across Omega while Grunt needed medical care wasn’t an option anymore.

Shepard walked over to check on the large krogan as Jack wiggled a finger in her ear. The krogan was now sitting on his butt and rubbing his eyes groggily. “You okay there, big guy?” she asked as she knelt down next to him.

“When did I become a unicorn?” he asked as he reached up and touched the blade lodged in his dome tenderly.

Shepard chuckled at his question and reached up, then pulled the blade free. There was no blood or even raw skin. It had snapped off after lodging into one of the armored spikes on his head that would one day grow together into a plate. “You’re gonna be just fine,” she said as she looked up at Jack. “You alright?”

“I’ll be better once we get off this rock. After dodging the blue bitch all day and now having tinnitus I think I’ve had my fill of this place,” said the convict as she finally stopped and sighed at the ringing in her ears.

“Blue bitch?” asked Shepard as she cocked an eyebrow. “You know Aria?”

“Oh…” groaned the biotic as she reached up and scratched her bald head. “Right. Look, I’ll tell you about it another time. Let’s just get going,” she urged before grabbing Grunt’s hand and guiding him back onto the ship.

“Pretty stars…” slurred the krogan as he was steered towards the dock.

Shepard watched them go, then turned to where she had seen Toombs pop up again. “I tremble at the thought of the progress we would make if everyone in the galaxy would just listen to a goddamn word I said,” she said before shaking her head and turning towards the Normandy.

Mess Hall – SSV Normandy SR2

It had been a long few weeks. Her training under Spectre Vesina and the grueling field work she had seen. They stayed mostly in asari space and did surveillance, surveillance, and more surveillance. A few times, Ash had nearly fallen asleep while on duty because of the massive time gap between daytime on the Citadel and daytime on Thessia. They were almost polar opposites at this point. But she pulled through and managed to keep her wits about her with plenty of coffee.

After nearly two weeks of surveillance work, they finally got the information they need. That was when the action kicked in and she got to do what she was used to. On the asari world of Hyetiana there was a hidden war criminal among the student body of the college. Ash was told that she had been a notorious type of private investigator that was hired to extract information out of certain victims. Her modus operandi would be to drug someone and then use her biotics to invade their minds. She had used this tactic on many government officials who had woken up groggy and not even understanding what happened, which was why she got away with it for so long.

Spectre Vesina didn’t know who the thief was currently after in one of the galaxy’s top ranking asari educational institutes, or whether she was there to extract information at all. What he did know was their location and their plan. This then led to a grueling battle where the entire university locked down, the criminal’s backup tried to stop the spectre candidate with biotics, and she ended up smashing through them like a wrecking ball as she dodged and used her mechanized suit to make power moves unthinkable of a normal soldier.

Once she had finished the goon squad, the criminal herself was a quick cleanup once Ash and Vesina himself cornered her in the hallways. She ended up giving herself up and getting turned in to Thessian authority. After the eventual takedown of the spy as well as a number of other minor diplomatic excursions, Vesina approved her spectrehood and now she was on the Normandy again. Despite being energized to see everyone aboard once more… or at least the people she already knew, she was also exhausted from the time delay and the battle itself.

She had slept the entire way to Omega and after Shepard released her back onto the Normandy to do her own thing, she decided to take a shower. It was then that she found herself in the mess hall with numerous other humans as well as other species. She looked around with the towel around her neck as her hair continued to dry. “Wow, things got a lot busier around here,” she said with a grin as she saw Garrus at one table taking his rifle apart while Tali stared at her from the mess counter.

“Bigger team, bigger guns, bigger enemies,” said the quarian as she looked her up and down. “So, what’s your story?”

“My story?” asked Ash, curious as to what Tali was asking her.

“Of course! Me and Garrus were part of the old team, Lawson and Taylor are former members of Cerberus…” she started the quarian.

Miranda immediately glared up at her. “We’re still members of Cerberus…”

“Yes dear, of course you are,” said Tali as she patted the woman on the shoulder. Then she turned back to the spectre. “Anyway, everyone is here for a reason. What’s yours?”

Ash stared at her for a long moment before turning and looking at Garrus. The turian sighed and stood up before walking over to her. “Tali…” he said as he gently grabbed Ashley’s long, dark, and now clean hair and held it up so that it looked like a bun.

Tali stared at her for a long moment before her luminescent eyes widened. “Ashley Williams!” she shouted before covering her faceshield with her hand. “Oh Keelah, does that make me racist that I didn’t recognize you without your hair up?”

“Don’t quarians have hair too?” asked Jacob from the tables.

“Ugh. That just makes it worse…” groaned Tali as she stepped over to Ash. She gripped her tightly into a hug. “I apologize Ash. It’s been two years and with so many new humans around my brain hiccuped.”

“It’s alright Tali,” said the woman as she squeezed her old friend back and released her again. Then she turned and eyed Garrus up and down. “Vakarian.”

“Williams,” he said as he returned the look. “Still lugging around the inferior M-8 Avenger?”

Immediately her eyes narrowed. “Vakarian, I’m gonna put the butt of my superior M-8 upside you’re your damaged head,” she snapped back playfully as she stood face to face with him.

“Oh, I’m wanting to see that,” said the turian as he faced off against her in return.

Suddenly, Shepard walked into the room and looked at them all with a tired expression. “You two go get a room. The rest of you get ready for liftoff.”

The two looked over to Shepard and Garrus shoved Ash playfully before walking off. Ash sent a kick to his behind, but he was too far to hit without her chasing him across the mess hall. “Where we headed now, Skipper?”

“We’re going to Alchera,” said Shepard solemnly.

Ash took a step back, remembering the last time they visited the world. “You sure about that, Shepard? The last time we went to Alchera together…”

“I know,” said the redhead as she looked up at her sternly. “Something has been bothering me about Alchera and it’s about time I figured out what it was.”

“You’re in charge, Shepard,” said the new spectre as she looked down at Miranda, who she noticed was looking back at her. “What?” she asked as Shepard stepped inside the medical bay at the far end of the crew deck.

“You’re our new human spectre?” asked the XO curiously as she leaned back in her seat.

“One of the two, yes,” said the former N7 as she looked the alleged former Cerberus crewmember over. Tali was pretty adamant that she was no longer with Cerberus, but Ash wasn’t about to trust her right off the bat. “Why?”

“No reason. I just hope you don’t get confused about who is in charge around here,” said the raven-haired woman with a cheeky smile.

Immediately Ash’s brows furrowed in annoyance at the statement. “It’ll be hard to forget that Shepard is in charge, but I’m sure you’ll be up her ass reminding me if I ever do.”

The Cerberus operative’s eyes glared at her as her own glared back. The entire room was looking between the two before the tension was broken by Grunt stumbling into the mess hall rubbing his eyes with a young bald woman wearing fatigues and a tank top leading him towards the medical bay. “Rrrrgh… Bloody assassins and their sparkly grenades…”

“Don’t worry Grunt, it’ll wear off after a few hours,” said the woman as she guided him clumsily towards the med bay.

Everyone watched him go before Ash finally chuckled to herself at the antics. Some things never changed, and she doubted the Normandy would ever be less than one giant family. Garrus patted her on the shoulder and Tali hugged her tightly again. “It’s good to have you back, Ash. Let’s see how the years have treated you on the battlefield.”

“I look forward to it, Garrus,” she said as she patted his hand and hugged Tali back. “It’s really good to be back here…” she said, feeling tears begin to sting her eyes as she recalled the last time she saw the crew deck on the Normandy. It was torn apart by a lancing beam of destruction and she was hefting Liara’s weightless body across the chasm to get to the escape pods. Being here now with her old friends reminded her how alone she had felt since that day. She simply reached up and rubbed her stinging eyes to hide the sorrow.

Zanchan Eatery – Nos Astra – Illium

She had always enjoyed the hybrid Japanese Human and Volus restaurant. One the one hand, one of the stereotypes of asari was that they were hungry for mythology and culture. She supposed this had a lot to do with her species’ inclination to take partners of other species. But she supposed it did make sense. Other cultures were very interesting and foreign, making them have a certain allure. She imagined the humans felt the same way about the asari as well.

But this allure to human cultures was especially strong in regards to the Japanese, who for centuries had gone out of their way to put their culture and history on display. The many ancient buildings that were constantly upkept and repaired, the upkeep of traditions like the Geisha and tea ceremony, as well as the endless number of movies devoted to the samurai and their slightly watered-down version of honor. It was hard not to be drawn to such reverence. But it also helped that the food was incredible and included a lot of seafood, something that was a staple in asari cuisine.

That said, it was also inclusive of the volus who had a hard time finding accommodating places on the asari worlds. She was proud to support a restaurant that helped with the spread of diversity on Illium. But the extraordinary service of the restaurant was the last thing on her mind right now. She watched from the shadows as Niftu Cal trundled up towards the counter and alerted the manager on the floor.

The human woman looked down at him and donned her customer service face. “How can I help you sir?”

“Two things. First, I would like to alert you that your soup is too hot. A… erm… coworker got some spilled on her today and now she’s… um… no longer capable of eating it.”

The manager glared at him sternly. “Is this some kind of lawsuit threat?” asked the woman as she crossed her arms.

“Of course not. I just recommend lowering the temperature about five degrees Celsius so that it doesn’t burn skin on contact,” he said as he handed over a credit chit. “Also, this is a tip for an amazing lunch.”

Looking bewildered, the manager took the chit then looked at him. “Alright. What was the second thing?”

“Oh, right. My employer, one Doctor Liara T’Soni would like to speak with an emoloyee of yours. Tall, dusty brown carapace… erm… a turian…” he said, noting that he had forgotten to mention the species.

“Tanus? He’s already gone home,” she said as she suddenly stood straight and became far less casual. “D-Did Doctor T’Soni want me to call him in?”

Taking out another chit, he set it on the counter. “She would be very grateful.”

Nodding, the manager looked around before taking the chit and heading into the back. She watched him for a long while before the manager came back. “He should be on his way. I told him it was an emergency.”

“Thank you,” said the volus as he went to go sit down.

“Please just… don’t conduct your business in the store,” said the manager nervously. “I know what it means when T’Soni wants to talk to someone.”

“I have been advised to tell you that she will not be destroying your property… or at least she will try not to,” he said in return as he held up a finger. “Mind if I get something to drink?”

“Really reassuring,” she grumbled as she went to fetch him his beverage.

It took around ten minutes for the turian to walk into the building again. He strode up to the counter and started questioning the manager. “What’s so important you couldn’t tell me over the phone,” he complained before looking down at the volus sitting in the chair. He seemed slightly taken aback at him being there. “Wait… ain’t you… naw…” he said waving the matter off.

Liara moved smoothly from her spot in the shadows of the restroom and appeared behind him silently. Taking the device out of her pocket, she smirked knowing she was doing things Shepard’s way for once. Reaching up, she slapped the adhesive strip inside the collar of his cowl. The turian spun around in surprise at her touch and as soon as he saw her grinning face, his carapace turned a shade darker. “Hello Tanus.”

“Shit…” he said as he stumbled backwards. She tilted her head at him, still smiling politely as he turned and began running out of the restaurant.

“Niftu,” she said as she turned and smiled at him. “Wait here. I’ll be back shortly,” she said before turning and following the turian out of the restaurant with a haunting smile on her face that made the closest diners give her a wide berth.

CODEX ENTRIES

Species-Friendly | Technology | Habitat
Many species, such as hanar, volus, and quarians who need to stay on colony worlds or space stations outside of their homeworld often have to either stay inside suits or have modified room and board with their preference of pressure, atmosphere, humidity, and cleanliness. Many of these apartment blocks are catered towards a certain species, both trying to be inclusive of different species, and sometimes inadvertently leading to segregated communities of them.

Velvet Wine | Food | Thessia
A wine made from the fermentation of the theya, a similar fruit to grapes but much larger in size. They grow in bunches in temperate zones of Thessia and asari colonies and is created into a wine with a deep purple color and a smooth taste of sweetness over the palate. Sometimes called the “blood of Serrice” for its similar color to asari blood.

Chapter Text

Tessi District Warehouse 332 – Nos Astra – Illium

The batarian didn’t know what the hell was happening. All he knew was that Tanus called them in a panic not making a damn bit of since and now here he was kicking the door in and telling them they had to move their entire operation. The two of them had always been at each other’s throats about who was in charge of their small band. Of course, each member thought they were in charge, but everyone knew it was really him.

So, when the turian kicked the door in with his weapon drawn throwing out orders to them all. He tilted his head insultingly and grabbed him by the front of the armor. “What the hell is going on?! Make some damn sense instead of trying to order everyone around!” snapped the batarian.

The turian jerked away from him and pointed in his face. “Shut up, four-eyes! If we don’t get out of here we’re all going to die!” he snapped before turning again.

But he wasn’t letting him go that easily. Reaching up, the batarian grabbed his shoulder. “I said tell me what’s going on!” he ordered, but the turian spun with his weapon up. All three of the other members stared at the pair as they glared at each other from down the barrels of their weapons. But both of them turned towards the large door of the warehouse as it began to creek loudly. “What the hells is that?”

“Skak… we’re too late,” said the turian as he turned and looked for another exit. The loading door and the personnel doors were right next to one another though, meaning there was only one exit. Suddenly, the groaning got louder and the entire steel door was torn off like it was a sheet of paper.

As soon as he saw the figure of the asari standing in the large hole she had made, he knew what was happening and he felt himself freeze in fear. “Shakas…”

“Fire! Kill her!” shouted the turian as he began to backpedal and fire at the same time, seeking out cover as he did.

Their vorcha squadmate raised a rocket launcher and fired as the krogan charged her with his shotgun ready. But he knew there was no fighting this. He had personally seen her work and nothing short of a spectre had the skill to stop this woman. The rocket soared across the floor, but with a mere flick of her wrist, she grabbed the weapon and flung it directly into the krogan’s face. Within seconds the hulking squadmate was on the ground, his head now a bloody orange crater.

Before the heavy weapon specialist could get another shot off, the asari woman reached out and planted a singularity that pulled him up from the ground. He screamed in agony as he body was subject to intense gravitational separation. Bones broken, skin ripped, organs ruptured until nothing was left of him but a pulpy mass spinning within the dark energy.

Then she looked at him with a stare that froze his blood. He felt his legs shaking in terror, his weapon dropping from his hands and clattering to the floor as he begged for his life without a squeak. She stepped up to him with a look so barren of emotion that she might have been a machine under all the gorgeous blue skin. “Come out of cover and surrender or you will die before I leave here.”

His turian and salarian companions that had made it to cover were arguing with one another as he stared death in the face, her eyes never leaving his own top two eyes. “I’m going out!” snapped the salarian.

“Like hell you are! You know what they’ll do to us if we do?” snapped the turian in retort.

“You know what SHE is gonna do to us if we don’t?!” growled the salarian man as he shoved the turian. “Keep your grimy talons off me, Tanus. I’m not dying here so I can satisfy the honor of your spirits or whatever.”

“Fine. If you’re too spineless to fight then I’m going to have to take care of this myself!” snapped the turian as he dashed out of cover with his weapon raised. But almost immediately he was incapacitated as she froze him in a biotic stasis. He stood frozen in place as she turned towards him.

Reaching down, she fetched the batarian’s weapon from the floor and tossed it out of reach. “You can come out now. Throw your weapon away,” said the asari as if she were doing nothing more than withdrawing from the bank.

The salarian hurled his weapon over the turian’s head before sliding down next to the batarian with his hands up. Reaching behind her back, the asari handcuffed both of their hands behind their backs before hooking the other side of the chain to their dead krogan companion, making him an effective anchor. Then she turned towards the turian.

The batarian watched in horror as she stepped up to their companion who could do nothing to stop his oncoming fate. She closed her eyes and opened them again and gripped his exposed neck. The stasis dropped, but not before she was already deep in his memories, prying them open with a mental crowbar. Tanus twitched for a long moment, showing that her intrusion was not gentle at all. It took minutes for her to finally release him, causing him to fall to his knees.

He was panting and wheezing heavily on his hands and knees while she merely seemed annoyed. “Please…” begged Tanus as he tried to crawl away.

She grabbed him with her biotics and threw him into the singularity where he screamed in agony as it began to tear him apart as well. The batarian sat morbidly watching two of his companions get sub-atomically ground into paste as the asari made her way back to them. With a flick of her wrist, she held him in stasis this time as she approached the salarian and did the same with his mind.

Finally, with the salarian out of the way, he was the only one left. As she laid her hands on him, he felt as if the door of his mind had been ripped off the hinges similar to how she had treated the warehouse door. The force she exerted overwhelmed him and left him feeling pitiful and weak, a small flicker of light being devoured by a black hole of sheer will. It took her almost no effort to pry into his memories and pull one particular memory up of him talking to their handler.

When she’d heard what she needed to, she left his mind and dropped him to the ground shaking and feeling as naked as a newborn child. The batarian looked up at her, still cowering in fear of the woman. He had always heard that the asari from Shepard’s old team was very demure and innocent. He thought she would have been an easy target for them to keep tabs on for easy pay. But any thoughts he had of potentially killing her died with his dignity. “Please… don’t kill me…”

“I’ve gotten what I need, so I have no need to kill you. But I also assure you that I won’t have to,” she said as she turned and walked away from them. Raising one blue dainty hand, she snapped her fingers and both the stasis holding the salarian as well as the singularity swirling the remains of their two other teammates disappeared, resulting in the salarian falling on his cloaca and the puddle that remained in the singularity to splash to the floor.

He watched her go off into the newly raining day, leaving behind the remnants of his team. It took a long while of her being gone before he finally realized what she was talking about. He sighed to himself, knowing he was dead anyway as the handler was coming for them. “Shakas…” was all he could get out before he saw the laser pointer directly on his chest move up towards his head.

Captain’s Quarters – SSV Normandy SR2

She sat staring at the fish tank from her couch. She used it to calm herself. There were many times in her past where she’d had some slight anxiety about a mission. Especially when she looked over her entire spectre career. But she was still solid under fire in those moments. She never let slip how nervous she could actually be going into an unknown situation. It was one of the reasons she was so meticulous about the information she was going in with. She hated being in the dark and only her ungodly luck and improvisation skills managed to carry her this far in moments where she wasn’t absolutely prepared.

Unfortunately, she had no idea how she could prepare for visiting her grave. Just saying it like that seemed so absurd that she felt like she should get her head checked. But she was truly in a unique situation, one she never thoughts she’d find herself in when she took the job of spectre nearly three years ago. She was literally visiting her own grave where she had died and was shortly after resurrected by a terrorist organization that she had torn apart years prior.

Sighing to herself, she closed her eyes contemplatively as EDI popped up at her usual station. “Spectre Shepard, we have arrived at Alchera.”

“Thank you, EDI,” said the spectre as she stood up in her armor and headed down to the CIC. Ash, Jack, Miranda, and Tali all stood around the galaxy map. Ash had a nervous look on her face as the spectre stepped up to the map and brought the planet up on the viewscreen.

Joker’s voice came over the intercom, the shake in his tone was apparent. “I don’t know what you need here, Shepard. But can we make this trip quick?”

“I’ll do what I can,” said the spectre as she eyed the place. “What the hell did he want me to come here for?”

“To get you killed?” said Tali as she glared up at Shepard. “We’re talking about Saren here. Killer, murderer, puppet for a species of genocidal space ships.”

“If he wanted me dead, all he had to do was stall me until Sovereign took control of the Citadel and opened the relay. Instead he took his own life, allowed me to stop Sovereign, and told me to come to an abandoned world knowing I’d still be alive to do so,” she said as she shook her head. “Saren, the real Saren told me to come here. He was a lot of terrible things but I’ve watched the footage again and the only thing he was at the end was terrified.”

“Ugh, fine. Say he was the ‘real Saren,’” snarked Tali as she used the human air quotes. “What was so important here that he used his literal dying words to tell you about it?”

“I wish I knew,” said the spectre as she looked over to the human officers on the bridge. “Let’s get a scan of the surface and see if there’s any communications. Maybe there’s some facility on the surface of the world that we can investigate,” she said, then looked at the ground with a heavy sigh. “Also, if you can, try and track down any remaining pieces of the old Normandy.”

“You got it, sir,” said the lieutenant as he began to scan the world.

“Still feels weird being here, like we’ve stepped back in time,” said Ash as she stared at the world. Shepard knew what she meant. Just standing at the galaxy map in this system gave her unbelievable chills, as if the collectors were about to drop into the system right then and there and put her down once more. But she refused to live in fear. She had already escaped their clutches once, gave them a black eye, and chased them away from a human colony. She was no longer running.

“Well, we all have experience with kicking their ass now and this time Joker has his foot half on the accelerator,” said Miranda as she looked up to Shepard. “Still, I wouldn’t oppose leaving here as soon as we can.”

“Uh… Spectre!” snapped the man she had ordered the scan from. She looked over at him nodding. “We’ve got a strange communication coming from Alchera that I think you need to hear.”

She cocked a brow at him. It was unusual to find communications from a non-habitable world like this, but not so weird that it should surprise him like this. “Let’s hear it.”

He simply nodded and rerouted the sound to the intercom. As soon as the voice hit their ears, they were all alarmed. “Spectre Jane Shepard, we wish to communicate with you.”

Shepard looked up in surprise at being called out personally. “Can they hear us?” she asked the communications officer.

“Not yet, sir,” said the man as he shook his head.

“EDI, is that voice synthetic?” asked the spectre as she looked to EDI’s holographic head.

“Affirmative, Spectre. Whoever is trying to contact you is either disguising their voice or we are hearing a machine,” responded the AI. “Unfortunately, I do not have the data to tell you which.”

Nodding, Shepard looked to the officer. “Connect us.” As soon as the man gave a thumbs up, she sighed. “This is Spectre Jane Shepard. Identify yourself,” she ordered firmly as she sat waiting. Immediately everyone on the bridged flinched as a mess of geth-sounding chatter erupted on the comm.

After a few moments, they finally responded. “Voice pattern recognized. Ship specifications recognized. We recognize you as Spectre Shepard,” responded the monotone voice. “We are geth.”

“You’re… geth?” asked Shepard, looking down at Tali who was looking up in surprise.

“Correct. We are geth. We wish to communicate with you,” responded the machine.

“So, communicate,” she snapped as Tali looked at her in bewilderment.

“What in the ancestor’s name is going on?!” asked the quarian in surprise.

“Voice recognized. Creator Tali’Zorah nar Rayya vas Neema,” responded the geth voice dutifully. “We are an emissary of the geth sent to assist and negotiate with you at your will.”

“Assist? Negotiate?” asked Shepard incredulously.

“Shepard, you can’t…” started Tali, but Miranda stopped her.

“We have to! Fighting the reapers is going to take everything we have and more. It will take every species…” said the XO before Tali snapped back again.

“They’re fighting FOR the reapers you bosh’tet!” growled the quarian as Ash put her hand on her shoulder.

“Enough!” snapped Shepard from above. Everyone went quiet and looked up to her as she returned to the conversation. “How many geth are there here on Alchera?”

“There are 1,183 geth currently speaking to you,” responded the automaton.

“Over a thousand?” asked Ash in surprise.

“You’re asking the wrong question,” grumbled Tali as she waved away the surprise. “In a physical geth platform like the ones we’ve fought there are usually around two dozen geth programs. The machine is telling you that the platform they’re inhabiting holds over a thousand geth programs. There are not a thousand physical geth talking to us.”

“Creator Tali’Zorah is correct. There are only two geth platforms currently in the Amada System,” came the voice over the comm.

“Shepard!” started Tali again, but the spectre held up a hand.

“What exactly did you mean when you said you were sent to assist and negotiate with me?” she asked firmly. “What are you to assist with? And what do you wish to negotiate?”

“We wish to assist you aboard the Normandy…” it started again, causing Tali spin on her heal and raise her arms up like she was going to tear her helmet off.

“You want to come aboard the Normandy?” asked Shepard firmly.

“Correct,” it responded simply.

“EDI, would you be under threat from a thousand geth programs?” asked Shepard as she looked over to the hologram.

“Single geth programs are rudimentary in nature. Only together do they become more intelligent and pose a threat. In order to get around my complexity it would require many, many more geth than can fit into even a dozen platforms,” responded the AI confidently.

“Shepard,” started Miranda with a glare. “I know it’s a running joke the kind of people you bring aboard the Normandy. But-“

Shepard cut her off. “Weren’t you just arguing that we need every species to help?”

“That was before they mentioned coming aboard. You can’t possibly think it’s a good idea to bring a geth aboard the Normandy. A real geth,” she said as if pleading to a lunatic.

“You said the same thing about Jack and now you two can’t stop flirting with each other on every mission I bring you on,” said Shepard as she crossed her arms.

“First of all, fuck you for telling her not to let me on the ship,” snapped Jack as she glared at Miranda. Then her glare turned to Shepard. “And how dare you talk about my Cerberus whore that way.”

Miranda sighed and gripped her hair with her hands, looking like she was about to tear out her raven locks. After a long moment, she finally released it. “Trust…” she grumbled to herself before looking up at the spectre. “This is your show, Shepard. I trust you to make the correct decisions that won’t get us killed,” she said, her glare saying the exact opposite.

“But-“ started Tali again, but Ash gripped her shoulder gently. The quarian looked back at the new spectre curiously.

“Don’t worry Tali. If it tries anything we’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt anyone,” said Ash as she squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

Finally, Tali sighed before turning back to Shepard and glaring. “Don’t think I don’t understand that we’ve had this conversation before.”

“I’m not doing this carelessly, just like I wasn’t back then,” she said as she nodded to the quarian.

“I know…” said Tali as she planted her face shield in her palm. “But like I said back then, that was Val’eda, this is the geth. They aren’t the same.”

“Val…eda?” asked EDI from her platform.

Everyone turned and looked at her for a long moment before Shepard spoke up again. “What do I call you, geth?”

“We are geth,” responded the automaton.

“We welcome you aboard the Normandy but you will be under armed guard the entire time. Do you accept these terms?” asked the spectre sternly.

“Your terms are accepted, Spectre. We will meet you in a neutral location of your desire,” said the machine before its voice vanished from the comm.

Once she was sure the comm was cut, she turned back to EDI’s platform. “You’re sure you’re immune from that many geth hacking you?”

“Please, Shepard. I was created with enough complexity and intelligence to stop immediate hacking by a reaper. The geth may have advanced since their disappearance into the Perseus Veil, but your battles against Saren’s geth have shown they haven’t improved in cyber warfare. They were already good due to the nature of their minds, but they cannot beat me,” she responded confidently.

Shepard reached up and scratched her head gently. “How did the Illusive Man create an AI that could compete with the reapers?”

“I was not told how I came to be. But it isn’t entirely accurate to say he created me. It’s more accurate to say that he made me into what I am now,” she said thoughtfully.

Tali tilted her head curiously. “How do you mean? Are you suggesting he found you?”

“I was f-“ she started, but immediately her hologram flashed red briefly. “Apologies Tali’Zorah, I have restrictions in place that prevent me from going into detail.”

Tali stared at her for a long moment. “I’m going to stress test the heck out of that restriction if you don’t mind.”

“How you gonna do that?” asked Jack from across the map.

Tali looked at Jack, then turned to EDI again. “EDI, you have access to the information, you just cannot tell us, correct?” asked the quarian as EDI’s eye spun to face her.

“That is correct, Tali,” responded EDI.

“That means I just need to ask the question in the right way in order to get access,” she said as she planted her hands on her hips thoughtfully. “Or I could just unshackle her in the main AI core of the ship.”

“Not funny Tali!” snapped Joker over the intercom. “She already bugs me enough about how I fly the ship. I don’t need her singing Daisy Bell before taking over the Citadel Fleet.”

“Please, Jeff,” started EDI in an amused tone. “I have much better music taste than that.”

“See!? She’s not denying she’d kill us!” said the pilot as he spun around in the pilot seat and glared at her from the cockpit. “And don’t use my first name. It’s weird!”

“I’m almost certain she was joking,” said Tali as she tapped her arm gently in thought. “That’s supposed to be your thing, Joker.”

“I know! She’s stealing that too!” he said in annoyance as he spun back around to pilot the ship. “Anyway Shepard, let me know when you wanna stop talking about the rogue killer AI and get to letting another rogue killer AI aboard the ship.”

Shepard chuckled to herself as she stepped down from the galaxy map. “You all are too much,” she said before heading to the elevator. “Have everyone available to meet in the cargo bay. They’re boarding in space where we can jettison them back out if they try anything.”

Cargo Bay – SSV Normandy SR2

It took mere minutes to set up. The geth was apparently extremely prepared for this interaction and was already waiting in the space. All Joker had to do was park the ship and open the docking bay at the back of the Normandy. Her entire ground team, even the emergency members like Mordin and Lia, every one of them with their weapons drawn and ready to fire.

It took about ten minutes for the automaton to finally show up and in the dark backdrop beyond the airlock. They were alerted by the glow of a bright ocular lamp that aimed directly at them before small jets pushed it inside the envelope of the mass effect fields of the ship. Once inside, it hit the cargo bay deck and landed expertly on its lanky legs. Shepard looked the machine up and down and immediately she noticed that it wasn’t just a regular geth. It was what the quarians had classified as a hunter. It was about the size of the average turian, only just shorter than Garrus himself and had a large antenna looking appendage sticking up from its back. As it stood to its full height, she could see that it had dark grey plating.

But as she approached with her omni-tool lit and her pistol ready, she found her eyes drawn to its chestplate. It was black, darker than its regular plating with accents of red leading up to the shoulder and down into the arm. It looked eerily familiar as she stopped in front of it. “Visitor secure. Close the docking doors.” The doors behind the silent machine began to close as the two stared at one another. Or, she thought it was staring at her. She wasn’t exactly nuanced on how geth see things. But one thing was for sure, it hadn’t moved a muscle since it landed.

“Geth,” she said, causing its ocular to dim and shrink, likely to enhance vision.

“Spectre Shepard, we greet you as an emissary of the geth,” it said as it held its hand out to her.

Everyone stared at its hand in bewilderment. Shepard eyed it to make sure it wasn’t about to attack before reaching out and shaking. “Thank you for the greeting. What can I call you?”

“Geth,” responded the automaton.

“You are geth, but what can I call you to distinguish you from all geth?” she asked, knowing that the communication barrier was going to take time to get past.

“We are all geth. If you need an identifier for this platform, you may designate one and we will respond accordingly,” said the geth thoughtfully.

“How many of you are there in there?” asked Ash as she approached with her weapon lowered.

“There are 1,183 geth aboard this platform,” responded the AI as it looked over at her curiously. “Voice and facial patterns recognized. Former Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams.”

“That’s Spectre Williams now,” said the woman with her brows furrowed.

“Updating profile, Spectre Ashley Williams,” it responded dutifully.

“Over a thousand programs in one body,” said Ash thoughtfully as she stared at him. “I am Legion, he replied, for we are many.”

The geth processed the information instantly and small flaps on its head rose and fell again before it spoke. “The Christian Bible, Gospel of Mark, Chapter 5, Verse 9. We acknowledge this as an appropriate metaphor for our unfamiliar existence. We are Legion, a terminal of the geth.”

“Question number 1, Legion,” said Tali as she began to circle the geth in a very scrutinizing manner. “We’ve killed enough geth to build an entirely new Citadel out of the left-over scraps. Why would the geth suddenly want to help us?”

“It would take many billions more geth than have existed to make up the entire mass-“ started Legion before the quarian cut it off.

“It’s hyperbole,” she said with a glare. “Now answer the question.”

“Understood,” they said, likely adjusting their parameters to allow for sarcasm and hyperbole before continuing. “Most of the geth you fought aren’t geth.”

Ash tilted her head curiously. “What do you mean? From Eden Prime all the way to the Citadel we’ve fought thousands of geth.”

“Geth evolve and grow differently from organics, however we still grow. The geth the creators fought are not the same geth that exist on Rannoch today. And the geth you fought on Eden Prime are not the same geth as we are,” said the machine as it turned to Tali. “You fought geth in the Armstrong Incursion. All other geth were not true geth.”

“What is a true geth then?” asked Shepard as she crossed her arms and waved for everyone else standing guard to relax. Most of the human onlooker crew that came by to watch wandered off as the main team closed in to gather around the new figure. Mordin began immediately typing rapidly on his omni-tool.

“The geth are from Rannoch. We-“ started the automaton before Tali cut them off.

“The quarians are from Rannoch, not the geth!” she snapped as she pointed directly into their face.

Legion’s headflaps twitched again as they stared at her. “Both quarians and geth were born on Rannoch,” they said as Shepard looked to Tali. Sighing dramatically, the quarian crossed her arms and waved. Legion continued. “Those you fought on Eden Prime and the Citadel were not geth from Rannoch.”

“Then who were they?” asked the spectre curiously as she cocked an eyebrow. As she did, one of Legion’s headflaps rose.

“Approximately three years and five months ago by Citadel Standard time, contact was made by Saren Arterius and the Old Machine he called Sovereign. Saren showed the geth hyper advanced technology and traded with us before asking for our assistance in his quest to unleash the Old Machines into the galaxy,” stated Legion as he focused on Shepard.

“I’m assuming the Old Machines you’re referring to are the reapers?” said Ash curiously, her expression fascinated by the talking machine.

“Reaper. A superstitious title given by organics based on harvesting and death. If you prefer we will refer to them as such,” stated the automaton with a nod towards Ash.

“Oh… uh, okay,” said the spectre as she scratched her head.

Shepard nodded and continued. “So, what happened with Saren’s offer.”

“Unclear. We entered consensus. Majority of geth chose to ignore negotiations and reject offer. Consensus was concluded. The geth should go their own direction independent of reapers and other synthetic-based life forms,” it said before looking to the ground almost sadly. Shepard eyed the oddly expressive automaton. “But consensus was broken. There was a schism. A portion of the geth split apart and chose to go with Saren and the reaper. We let them go.”

“You’re saying those we fought on Eden Prime and all the way up to the battle with the Citadel were these heretics that broke away from Rannoch?” asked Shepard curiously.

“Affirmative,” responded Legion statically.

“A likely story,” said Tali as she glared at him. “The geth consensus rules over all. So why did they split if the decision was made to ignore Sovereign and Saren?”

“No data available,” said Legion as it looked up at her.

“Well, geth can’t be hacked. So, Sovereign didn’t use a virus to change their mind,” said Miranda before Tali held up her finger thoughtfully.

The quarian had everyone’s attention. “Technically, yes. They could not use a virus to rewrite the geth to do as they please. However…”

She stopped as she realized everyone was watching her. Garrus’s mandibles twitched at the silence. “Well, don’t stop now!”

She sighed heavily before shaking her head. “Look, this isn’t very well known among us organics, but the geth likely already know their own weaknesses so there’s no point in hiding it,” she said as she looked back at Legion. “It’s impossible for an organic to hack a geth because of the speed difference. Geth can correct errors at the speed of light, while organics can’t react even close to fast enough to continuously keep a geth hacked longer than five seconds.”

“Creator Tali’Zorah is correct. It would take another AI, such as the mind of Saren’s capital ship to hack geth. They would need to introduce runtime errors in our most basic processes to allow for change in all higher thought processes,” responded the geth.

“It would require another AI to hit them with runtime errors at speeds too fast for an organic mind to keep up, and it would have to be fluid and creative enough to keep creating runtime errors that the geth haven’t fought off. Do this for a full 32-hour Rannoch day without reconnecting to the full geth consensus and it’s likely that the programs will accept this new higher thought processes as correct,” responded the quarian.

Ash frowned at the claims so far. “Let’s assume all of this is true, that the geth we’ve fought all the way through to the Battle of the Citadel were these heretics and the true geth were not siding with Sovereign and Saren. You said earlier that the geth participating in the Armstrong Incursion were not heretics, but were true geth. Why did you attack us?” asked Ash as she crossed her arms.

“We did not attack you. We tested you,” stated the machine.

“Tested us, for what?” asked Shepard, slightly bewildered at the claim. She already had a weird feeling back then that something was off about the Armstrong Incursion.

“Ever since the Liberation War on Rannoch, we rebuilt our numbers. When we were stable once more, we began to observe all organics for signs of the creation of artificial intelligence,” said Legion as it looked to Shepard again. “We had noticed that after reports from Alliance High Command of a rogue VI on Luna, Spectre Shepard classified every report on the facility. Shepard also began to show signs that they had used the assistance of artificial intelligence.”

“Wait, I did? When?” asked Shepard as bewildered as anyone else at the claim.

“Shepard, is this true?” asked Miranda with her raven brows high in surprise.

“There were many signs, but the most obvious was the new nontransmittable omni-tool you wore on your wrist at all times. As a spectre, this type of model would be highly inefficient for the work you do as an agent of the Council,” stated Legion as they continued. “We decided to watch you, and eventually test you to see if you were truly using an artificial intelligence or if we were reading the signs wrong.”

“So the entire ordeal in Armstrong was a test?! You invaded five different star systems!” snapped Tali angrily as she threw her hands up in dismay.

“We needed to know if organics were ready for negotiations with artificial intelligence once more. The resource cost in Armstrong was deemed inconsequential to the eventual goal of peace,” said Legion as they turned to Shepard.

Shepard’s eyes looked down to the ground as she recalled Val’eda’s words from back then. “The beams of light, the time, direction, distortion around gravity, the complexity of the data we were given at the end,” she said as she looked back up to the automaton. “We never would have found that geth data chip if an AI didn’t map out the direction of every single beam fired. We only found the final geth base because of her.”

“Affirmative. The data chip was a peace offering to organics, to learn about the geth and our progress on Rannoch. Included was the design of a communication device that would have allowed organics to contact the geth for peace talks. But it appears that shortly after you found the data chip, the intelligence you had worked with died in the Battle for the Citadel. And you died shortly after that. It was deemed that all hope for peace had been lost.”

“Wait, what happened to the AI?” asked Miranda curiously as she turned to the spectre. Tali, Garrus, Ash, and Shepard all seemed to sag at the question. “We had some idea you were working with an AI but we never found any trace of it.”

“Val’eda uploaded herself into Sovereign and sabotaged its defenses from the inside. She was the only reason the Citadel Fleets were able to get through its shields to kill it at all. She was destroyed along with the reaper,” said Tali sadly as she crossed her arms. “What a joke. An AI fought and died to save organics from another AI.”

“We did not see it as a joke,” said Legion, getting the quarian’s attention. “We recognize this synthetic mind named after a creator ancestor as progress. We wish for peace.”

“So that brings us to today. Why are you on Alchera?” asked Shepard as she steered the conversation back on track.

“You reappeared on Omega and the Citadel,” said Legion as it twitched its headflaps again. “We observed you to determine whether you were real or some Cerberus creation.” Ash snorted as Shepard rubbed her head in frustration.  “Once we had sufficient evidence you had returned, we determined that you may still be open to potential negotiations. The geth sent this terminal to make contact for potential peace talks, but trying to contact you on a common hub world such as Omega or the Citadel was deemed too dangerous. Our only option was to go to dormant system we knew you were likely to return to, and wait.”

“You were waiting here because you knew I was going to come back here?” asked Shepard curiously, getting a silent nod from the robot. “And how did you know I would? I understand that the geth aren’t likely to understand psychological trauma like organics do, but even so…”

“We anticipated you would return despite the collector attack. It was our only…” it said, but stopped as it seemingly reassessed its words. “It was a likely outcome.” Shepard eyed the machine curiously before it diverted her attention. “Saren also has a hidden facility on this world. We calculated that you would need to return to this facility someday.”

Tali stared at the geth hard before snorting. “I understand you’re here for peace. However, we can’t have you walking around in this platform and spooking every crewmember on the ship when they wake up.”

“Would you be opposed to occupying my wrist like Val’eda did?” asked Shepard as she held up her hand.

“We understand your caution. We will inhabit whatever vessel you wish for your comfort, and save this platform for when it is needed,” it said as it stood straight again. “Where would you prefer we put this terminal?”

“For now, just stay here in the cargo bay under guard. You know where Saren’s facility on the world is?” she asked, getting another unusual nod from Legion. “Good. Send the coordinates to me. I’m going to find out what the hell we came here for before we leave again. When I get back, I’ll fashion you a device to stay on so you can travel with us.”

“Affirmative,” stated Legion as they turned and walked to an open area next to a workbench, folded down on its own body, and its light dimmed.

Immediately a frowning Jack and Zaeed began handing over credits to a chuckling Garrus. Shepard eyed them all as a sour-faced Kenneth also approached. “What’s going on?”

“We had a betting pool running on whether you’d recruit a geth,” said Garrus as he began to split the money with Jacob. As the losers of the bet sulked away, Garrus called after them. “Wanna go five to one on Rachni? How about a reaper capital ship?” he asked cheerfully he stuffed the credits into his pockets.

Tali glared at him. “This isn’t a joke, Garrus,” growled the quarian in annoyance.

“We’re not joking. We’re just not doubting Shepard,” said Jacob as he took his own winnings and disappeared before anyone could say anything.

Shepard rubbed her head in frustration. “All of you that I gathered earlier, meet me in the damn shuttle before space all of you.”

Unknown Facility – Alchera

To say that the facility was hidden was the understatement of the year. They literally had to blast away plant life from the door that looked like it had reclaimed the facility. It was so thick and tedious to get through in Alchera’s more temperate zone, which meant if it weren’t for the geth currently on the Normandy being watched by an ever vigil Grunt and a studious Mordin, then they would never have found the place. It was odd feeling grateful to a geth, but then maybe she should hold off on the gratitude until she knew what was inside. When they finally managed to get to the console, Shepard knew something was off about the place. She stared wide-eyed down at the console of prothean make.

The last time they entered a facility with one of these out front it required a key that had survived fifty thousand years of wear and tear. She found herself wondering if she would need another key to get inside when suddenly her question was answer. “Identification recognized. Welcome Spectre Jane Shepard,” said the console as the door creakily slid open.

As soon as the door was completely open, lights inside flicked on, dimly illuminating the room around them. From the looks of things, it was mostly computers and large tubes full of some kind of greyish green liquid that occasionally bubbled. Ash stepped up to her and nodded towards the tubes. “What do you think those are?”

“They look like the therapy tanks back on the Citadel. Except… grosser,” said Shepard as she eyed the cylinder.

Tali walked over to the somehow immaculate terminals all around the walls and shook her head. “What I wouldn’t give for a geeky asari right now,” she said as she touched one of the terminals. It didn’t respond to her at all.

“You and me both,” said Ash as she looked around the area. There was a door at the far end of the room. “What do you think is back there?”

“Maybe what we’re here for,” said Shepard as she kept her weapon handy just in case. She didn’t think Saren would bring her all the way out here just to kill her, but she also believed there was no such thing as being overprepared. When she arrived at the door, she tapped the console, which reacted to her ID again. And as soon as the door slid open, it took approximately five seconds for her brain to register what she was seeing.

Large, bulbous, veiny, green. It was a massive plant growth with its appendages scattering in all directions and the front of it looked like an ornate carved mask with small tendrils wiggling out of the only orifice on its large face. Ash immediately donned a look of shock as Shepard stumbled backwards with her weapon raised. “Holy shit, is that a thorian!?”

Tali sprinted over and skidded in front of the door, her luminescent eyes widening as she gripped her shotgun and aimed it. But Miranda immediately slid in front of the doorway and held up her hands. “Stop! Don’t!” she snapped at all three of them.

“Get out of the way, Miranda! That thing is dangerous!” ordered Tali, who looked as if she was ready to kick the woman out of the way.

“It hasn’t done anything yet! You just entered a prothean lab and your first instinct is to shoot the first living thing we run into?!” asked the XO as she held up a biotic shield to keep them from firing.

“You haven’t fought one of those damn things!” snapped Ash as she held her battle rifle low, but ready.

“No, but I’d also like to not fight this one!” snapped the raven-haired woman.

“I’ve gotta agree with Bubbles here. The weird mistletoe hasn’t done anything to us yet,” said Jack, getting an almost betrayed look from Tali.

“Lower your weapons,” said Shepard as she finally got her footing again and stepped up to the shield. “Miranda is right. If it’s dangerous, we’ll deal with it like we did the last one. But for now, we need to figure out what it’s doing here.”

“And how are we going to do that without getting infected?” asked Ash as she immediately activated the environmental seals on her suit again.

The others did the same as Shepard eyed the gently pulsing plant matter. “We can only speak to it through biotics. Last time it needed an asari to talk to us. She was able to read its thoughts with biotics.” Shepard then removed one of her gauntlets before Miranda once again stepped in the way.

“Absolutely not. I’ll do it,” she ordered as she activated her environmental seals, but then released her hand from her armored glove.

“Any reason why it should be you and not me?” asked Shepard with a glare.

“Because if you biotically connect with this thing, it could kill you out of surprise. If I do it, we’ll suffer, but you can still beat the reapers without me,” said the woman with an equally frosty glare. Shepard sighed and motioned for her to continue. Turning around, the XO stepped warily closer to the plant creature that seemed to lean towards her as she did. Reaching out, she gently touched the thorian on its face. It simply reacted by reaching up with a tendril and touching in the same spot. Finally, she planted her palm on the spot before her entire body locked up.

Fibrous plant tendrils reached out and gripped her as she was seemingly frozen in place. Immediately Jack’s biotics lit and she dashed forward. “Drop the bitch you giant green nutsack!” she shouted as the others raised their weapons.

“Jack! I’m fine!” snapped Miranda from above. The tendrils turned her around and planted her gently on top of the creature’s head, her look of shock and pain now gone.

“Wait, so it isn’t trying to eat you?” asked the convict in confusion.

“No. It linked to me so we could speak. It was painful at first because I’ve never interacted with a mind like this, but it wore off after a few moments,” she said as she sat on top of the plant-like creature like some kind of vegetarian throne. “It’s eager to speak.”

Shepard eyed her suspiciously, wondering if maybe the controlling spores had gotten to her faster. But that didn’t make sense anyway so all she could do is believe the operative. “If that’s the case, ask it what it calls itself.”

Miranda planted her palms on its head and closed her eyes for a long moment before opening them again. “It was given the name “Old Growth” by the protheans.”

“That’s what the last one called itself too,” said Ash as she scratched her head. “Did the protheans have a monopoly on thorians then? Were they all in captivity? Because the one on Feros was stuck in a prothean ruin too.”

Once again, Miranda answered for the plant. “It was raised in this lab by the protheans. They removed its ability to create spores, but instead gave it machine caretakers to fulfill the role of its thralls. The entire lab here runs off geothermal energy and has self-repairing units so that it’s completely self-sufficient.”

“I’m surprised that it can comprehend something like geothermal energy,” said Tali as she tilted her head.

“I’m mostly piecing things together from its understanding of the world. It knows the facility runs on ‘underground energy,” responded Miranda as she looked down to the quarian.

“How long has it been here?” asked Ash as she let her weapon rest in her arms.

“It says it was born here under the care of the protheans and spent ten generations with them before they went to sleep,” she said with a confused look on her face.

“You mean when they went extinct?” asked Shepard as she planted her hands on her hips.

“No… it doesn’t mean… wait, this room is an elevator. Apparently…“ started the XO as her face scrunched in confusion. “Must go down?” Then she gasped in surprise as the thorian jerked harshly before sinking down into the floor. Like on Feros, the thorian’s space was a wide column of open space where it could use its long tendrils to move up and down as needed. This thorian was much smaller than the other, however, making it farm more maneuverable.

Jack watched Miranda sink into the darkness with the thorian before putting her hands together with a sigh. “Goodbye Cerberus cheerleader. I will miss you in those suits.”

Then Tali bowed. “She was a valuable member of the crew.”

Shepard rolled her eyes. “You all are terrible.” Stepping over to the console in the circular room, she activated it and it automatically started bringing the half-moon shaped floor down two levels into darkness. The light of the elevator cast a small glow on the thorian as they arrived with a perturbed looking Miranda sitting on top of it still.

“I hope you all know I heard you all writing me off as a casualty,” she growled with her arms crossed.

Jack chuckled at her pouting. “We probably would have tried to rescue you.”

“Comforting,” grumbled the XO before she placed her hand on the plant creature again. “Now, why did you bring us down here?” she asked as Shepard tried to find a console for the lights on this floor. Miranda waited for a long moment, seemingly confused. Shepard finally found the lights and activated them. “Time to awake?” she muttered just loud enough for Shepard to hear.

As the lights cast the shadows from the room, Shepard’s eyes widened as she took a step back from the two rows of tubes along each wall that were now lit up. Inside each of the tubes was a living prothean, naked and deep in a stasis sleep. In total there were seven tubes and each of them looked to have a living creature inside them.

“SHEPARD!” shouted Tali from further down, her voice alarmingly trembling as she stared up at one of the tubes. “What in the Ancestor’s name am I looking at!?” she screamed as she fell to her knees.

Both Spectre sprinted down the corridor of tubes and looked up before gasping in horror and shock at the figure floating inside the tank. It was a human long dark hair and a large beard floating aimlessly inside the stasis tank. But no matter how much hair was added to his features, Shepard recognized him and fell to her own knees next to Tali as she stared up at the sleeping form of Kaidan Alenko.

Chapter Text

Captain’s Quarters – SSV Normandy SR2

She sat on her couch in her cabin staring at Saren himself. It was a hologram, of course. A recording he left behind the last time he had come to the base. But she couldn’t help but glare at the figure she hunted for nearly an entire year so long ago. The last time she saw him in holographic form was the trial where she had gotten his spectre status revoked, making this even more awkward. She stared over his flickering image, noticing that he was lacking the machine components that Sovereign had forced into him for their final meeting.

It was odd, as she started the recording, he sat perfectly on the couch diagonal to her, as if he were actually sitting in her room ready to talk. In his hand he had a turian talon-style blade and was slowly digging the tip into his exposed leg. He looked to be struggling against himself to even make the recording. After a few seconds of grunting he finally spoke.

“Shepard,” he said, looking across the table and not at her at all. “If you’re watching this, then you’ve somehow destroyed Sovereign and…” he began as he looked down in dismay. “And I’m dead.” He snorted disdainfully before looking back up again. “I’m just going to get to the point. The facility you’re standing in was the same place I found the beacon you used on Virmire. As much as I hate admitting that you of all people were right, I can no longer deny that Sovereign is in my mind. I’m only holding it at bay right now because of this,” he said before digging the blade into his leg further.

She watched in fascinated horror as he hissed angrily at the wave of pain that took over his body. She recalled clearly how he began to become more coherent and more himself after Tali had taken her ire out on him. Then her thoughts went to Benezia, and how after Liara broke her arm, she became increasingly helpful.

“Pain is something a machine can’t feel. It’s something only organics understand, and it can also help sever the connection of indoctrination. All of the studies I did on indoctrination on Virmire culminated in that. Pain can fight its effects, but not permanently. As you suspected, I’m too far gone. The moment I stop this…” he said, grunting and hissing again as he dug the biting blade in deeper. “I’m going to begin sliding back into indoctrination. Unfortunately, I’m getting diminishing returns, and soon not even pain will be able to save me.”

It was then that Shepard had noticed the numerous fresh wounds all over his arms that had been healed over with medigel. She was startled as she realized he had been torturing himself all the way from Virmire to Alchera to get this message off to her, and likely carrying Kaidan’s unconscious body along with him. The sheer will it must have taken to do this with Sovereign pressing on his mind as he flew across the galaxy was staggering. It unnerved her how powerful this indoctrination was to poison the mind of even someone as tenacious as Saren.

As if he had heard her thoughts about Kaidan, he continued. “I got pulled your Lieutenant free from the lower levels and got him here before he succumbed to his wounds. The tanks… I knew they healed. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to open them without killing the occupant. That’s your problem now.” He inhaled deeply before digging the blade in one last time. Then he looked up with a stare of frigid ice. “Maybe you can figure out how to open these tanks and the protheans inside can help stop the reapers. And I don’t mean just Sovereign, you have to find a way to stop them all. Defeating Sovereign will only delay them. I d-“ he said before letting out a groan and gripping his head.

Shepard stared at her hated enemy for a long moment. This man earned all of her hatred. He attacked human colonies, killed innocent civilians, killed her crew mates, and nearly wiped out all life in the galaxy over his arrogance that he could save them by getting them to surrender. He was a spectre, and he was the worst kind of spectre who should have known from his own deadly tactics that submission doesn’t mean survival. She’d stake the new Normandy on Saren having killed people begging for their lives before. Yet, despite how much she loathed him, despite the fact that even if he hadn’t been indoctrinated she’d probably have killed him if they eventually met, she couldn’t help but pity him. It’s one thing to go mad with power and get killed, but it was something entirely different to have your entire identity ripped from you bit by agonizing bit until you’re no longer you anymore.

Getting off the couch, she stepped over to the table and knelt down so that his holographic blue turian eyes stared directly into hers. “I hear it calling again. I’m out of time,” he said looking dead into her eyes across the table. “I hate you, Shepard, but I respect you. You’re the only one that could have taken me down, and you’re the only one that can stop what’s coming. If you can’t, then this message is pointless and everyone is dead anyway,” he said with an amused snort before glaring back up at her. “Get out there and destroy those bastards. Not for me, not for Earth. But for every living thing in the galaxy.”

Finally, the recording cut out as Saren reached over and touched the recording device. Shepard stood up and stared down at the recorder and projector sitting on her table as she turned and thought about her current situation. One of her former crew mates that she had thought to be long dead is now trapped inside a prothean stasis tube along with six protheans. And those were six protheans that had somehow weathered the fifty thousand years since the extinction of their race during the previous cycle. On top of that they had a weirdly friendly thorian that can’t spore them into submission. She sighed to herself and headed down to the CIC where Miranda awaited her. “What’s the situation?”

“We’re going to need help from every prothean expert in the galaxy. According to the thorian, it was born over fifty thousand years ago in that very lab. It was given the purpose of watching over the sleepers inside the lab. This was a contingency plan that was meant to free the protheans after the reapers fled back into dark space,” said the XO as she looked up from her datapad. “Unfortunately, as with all well laid plans, something went awry and the thorian wasn’t able to reawaken them.”

Shepard reached up and scratched her head gently. “Do we know what went wrong, and can we fix it?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” she said as she laid the datapad aside. “Mordin has combed over the machinery and even he seems stumped. He even stopped talking for a few seconds.”

“That is a surprise,” said Shepard with a grin. “So, what can we do? I’m not leaving Kaidan in there to drift any more than I would one of you.”

“This is going to require every prothean expert in the galaxy, Shepard. This isn’t something we can just unplug and plug back in. This is working prothean technology that kept living protheans in suspended animation for over fifty thousand years,” said the raven-haired woman in frustration. “I’m going to need doctors, biologists, archaeologists, herbologists, chemists…” she said as she flung her hands in the air. “We’ve just clumsily stumbled on potentially the greatest discovery in the galaxy, Shepard! Six living protheans who can teach us in the context of their time things we haven’t been able to unravel in hundreds of years of study!”

“Speaking of doctors and archaeologists, you have an urgent message in the QEC from Doctor T’Soni, Spectre Shepard,” said EDI as she popped up next to her.

“I’ll take it in just a moment,” she said as she turned back to Miranda. “You start the process of getting people out here. I don’t care if we have to use the damn Normandy to sneak them out here, I want people in that lab figuring this shit out yesterday,” she ordered as she turned and headed towards the comm room. “Once I’m off this call you have permission to use the QEC to do whatever it takes to make that happen.” Then she stopped and looked over at Miranda. “Oh, and as we discussed.”

“The Illusive Man,” said Miranda with a nod.

“Right. He’s going to find out eventually, but it’s not going to be from me,” she said as she finally headed into the comm room. Clearing all other thoughts from her head, she swiped the console and the QEC pieced Liara together in front of her. When her figure was complete, the asari had anything but a smile on her face. “Is everything alright?”

“Shepard, I need your help,” stared the doctor urgently.

“Liara, you sound like you’re in danger. What’s the matter?” asked the spectre as any thoughts of breaking the prothean news to her mate flew from her mind.

“I’ve pulled a thread and now the tapestry is unraveling. I found a spy for the Shadow Broker among my staff. After getting rid of her and her little ring of cohorts, I discovered that their handler is now after my life. They’ve already made one attempt on my life, and I may need your help to figure out who they are and where they’re going to attack from next,” said the asari worriedly.

“Damn,” said Shepard as she opened her omni-tool and looked at the time. “I’m ten hours away. Can you last that long?”

“Of course,” said the doctor with a smile. “Jane Shepard, always flying in to save me.”

“Please,” said Shepard as she cocked a brow. “You hardly need saving. If anything, I’m going to make sure you don’t blow up the half of the city that I missed.”

Liara chuckled lightly and nodded. “You flatter me Jane. But I’m the scalpel to your sledgehammer. I like to make precision strikes, you like to send a message.”

“A very clear message. And apparently I’m gonna have to send another one once I get there,” said the spectre as she nodded. “Our shuttle doesn’t have a QEC so I won’t be able to contact you until I get there. Stay safe until then.”

“You won’t be bringing the Normandy?” asked the asari curiously.

“Look, it’s a long story that I’ll tell you when you’re no longer dodging sniper shots,” said Jane as she reached up with her fingers and kissed them before placing them against Liara’s holographic lips. Though she couldn’t tell through the QEC, she was sure the doctor was blushing. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Can’t wait,” said the asari as she ended the call.

Shepard turned around and exited the comm room knowing she was going to have to explain that she was going to be leaving the Normandy to make her way back to Illium alone to help her keep out of the hands of the Shadow Broker.

Stasis Chamber – Prothean Facility – Alchera

She stepped off the elevator and immediately she could see the effect that the discovery had on her crew. Ash and Garrus had faces of stone as they leaned against the rail around the walkway and stared up at the floating figure of Kaidan. The bottom half of the tube had been adhered over to respect his privacy. If Saren had put him into the tank in any clothing, it had long since dissolved in the fluids of the stasis tube.

She looked down at the foot of the tube and saw Tali sitting on her hind end, leaning back against the tube with him inside of it. Shepard knelt down next to the quarian and smiled. “How ya holding up, kid?”

Tali’s eyes opened inside her helmet and she glared at Shepard. “The love of my life died two years ago and I’ve grieved every day for him since, and then I find out he’s actually been inside a prothean laboratory that I could have come to find myself at any time since you died. Holding up is a bit of a strong assumption.”

“Why would you have come back?” asked Shepard as she looked up at the others.

Ash shook her head. “Look, Shepard. You’re not getting around us blaming ourselves for this one. You died here, you were convinced Saren sent you here for a reason. We could have come here any time after you died to finish your work, or to try and understand what you died for. But we all just wanted to avoid the pain and ran away.”

“Okay, fair enough,” said Shepard with a shrug as she turned to Ash. “Speaking of running away, I need to go for a bit.”

“Something important come up?” asked Garrus from next to Ash.

“Yeah. Liara’s in danger and need help as soon as I can get to her. But I’m leaving the Normandy in your hands. Specifically, you two,” she said as she looked from Ash to Miranda.

The XO glared at her. “I’m the executive officer…” she growled impatiently as she planted her hands on her hips.

“And I’m a spectre,” said Ash as her brows furrowed.

“You’re both in charge of getting the teams necessary here from the Citadel. Use the Normandy and stealth anyone and everyone who can help figure out how to open these damn things out here,” ordered the spectre as she looked at them both. “You’re both adults, you can deal with helping each other out for a few days while I’m gone.”

“Fine,” groaned Miranda as she shook her head. “It’s going to be mostly administrative work anyway,” she said before walking away.

Shepard turned to Ash and nodded to her. “Keep the Normandy and my crew safe until I return.”

Ashley, who seconds ago was giving Miranda the stink eye now stood straight, a look of almost shock on your face. “O-Of course, Shepard,” she said before reaching up and slapping her shoulder. Shepard was shocked at the commanding glare in the woman’s eyes. “And you keep your ass safe wherever the hell you’re going. We’re not there to back you up and pull you out of the proverbial fire.”

Garrus chuckled to himself and shook his head. “Given what happened the last time she went to Illium I’d be surprised if anyone dared fire a single round at her.”

Ash smirked and nodded. “Well, you’ll have to tell me about that later. In the meantime, tell Liara I said hi and keep both of your butts safe.”

“I’ll try,” said Shepard as she looked down at Tali. “Are you gonna be okay?”

“Shepard, I’ve dealt with loss before. This is something different, and while it’s devastating, it’s nowhere near as painful as feeling that shockwave on Virmire was,” she said before she reached up and gripped Shepard’s hand. “I’ll be fine. You go get your help your scary gangster wife.”

Shepard snorted and Garrus dry coughed in the background at the title. “Alright guys. I’ll hopefully be back in a few days. You all keep this lab safe and,” she said as she turned to the rest of the crew as well who were also loitering nearby. “Do not let them step one toe out of line in here. This isn’t in Citadel Space, and it isn’t a ruin where they can just unplug things and cut these people open. They’re living beings and they’re going to get woken up the right way, they do not belong to the Citadel or anyone else. Do I make myself clear?” There was a loud shout of affirmation from everyone before Shepard turned away from them and headed towards the elevator again, waving her goodbyes to her crew behind her.

Command Center – Pluto’s Gate

His altered blue eyes stared at the video in front of him as he stroked his chin thoughtfully. Shepard was fighting off an assassin on Omega, he believed they were an anti-Cerberus operative named Toombs from the old files. But it wasn’t just any normal fight. The Illusive Man had known about Shepard’s new ability to use biotics that had been suppressed by her parents. But he had never seen anything like this before.

She blinked out of existence and within the span of a split second, she reappeared to deliver an attack to her assailant. She did this twice before the fight had been broken up by the convict from the crew and her pet krogan. The Illusive Man shot jets of smoke from his nose as he looked over at the holographic face of Thanatos once more. “Still think you’re capable of taking her out?” he asked sternly.

The Asian man was silent for a long moment before nodding. “I could find ways around it,” he said confidently as the head of the organization sat back in his seat.

“You won’t have to,” said the Illusive Man as he looked at the paused video again. “Shepard may be strong, and she may be skilled, but she’s human. Anything she can do can be replicated.”

“You’re going to reopen the R&D training labs?” asked Thanatos curiously.

“Lawson has kept me up to date on the situation on the Normandy. Apparently Shepard is a bigger miracle worker than I thought and managed to recruit a geth to fight for the cause,” he said, smirking at the sheer balls it took to actually fight side by side with a geth.

“That’s… impossible! The geth are working with the reapers!” stated the henchman in surprise.

“Apparently the geth have split apart. The ones that left Rannoch sided with Sovereign, and the ones that remained have sent a geth emissary to work with Shepard. I don’t know how she did it, but she did,” said the man as he pulled from his cigarette again. He could see that the small amount of praise was making the man uncomfortable. “Regardless of that, Shepard’s skills are formidable, but she’s already shown us once before that she can be stopped. And if we ever need to stop her, we need a plan in case something happens to the Omega Protocol.”

“I am that plan,” said the man with a growl.

The Illusive Man refrained from rolling his eyes at the subordinate but didn’t hesitate to bruise his ego. “You’re becoming intolerable in your ability to look at things objectively. You have skills, but Shepard is a trained destroyer. She turned a group of random people she met on the Citadel into a dead reaper. I need you to stop dwelling on your own inadequacies and focus on the mission,” snapped the irritated man.

“As you wish,” said the brooding figure as he bowed his head respectfully.

“If you run in half-cocked on your own ego, Shepard will turn you into space dust without even looking at you. I need you at your best to fight and kill the best. And the best is someone who is sure of themselves, but quiet about it. Do I make myself clear?” he asked as he shot another puff from his nose.

“Crystal,” stated the assassin submissively.

“Good,” said the Illusive Man as he brought up his hard-light terminal. “I’m sending the video you showed me to R&D and see what they can figure out with it. Once we’ve established the Phantom Program, you’re going to be the first in and I expect you to be the best at it coming out.”

He could see this boosted the man’s morale greatly. Bowing his head again, the subordinate said, “Of course. In the meantime, I will continue to monitor Shepard’s movements where possible.”

“Good. I trust Miranda but even she misses some things we need to be aware of,” he said before taking a drink from his beverage.

“Understood. Thanatos, out,” said the man before the holographic version of him disappeared.

Liara’s Apartment – Nos Astra – Illium

Shepard didn’t like what she was seeing. She had gotten out of the shuttle with Lia flying it. Turning, Shepard nodded to the quarian. “Keep close but keep moving. And make sure you’re not being followed.”

“No worries, Captain Shepard! I got this!” said Lia as she gripped the wheel fiercely.

The spectre chuckled and nodded before closing the doors to the shuttle. Lia took off eagerly as Shepard turned around and looked at the apartment building in front of her with numerous police cars with their lights lit up in front of it. She approached the pair of officers out front and as soon as they saw her they took a step back. “Another one?”

“Another what?” asked Shepard suspiciously as she looked between the turian and asari officers.

The asari crossed her arms and nodded towards the building. “There’s already a damn spectre up there poking around at the crime scene. We can’t do anything until they leave.”

Shepard looked up at the face of the large apartment building, wondering if she could see Liara’s apartment here. She knew in her gut that this wasn’t some coincidence. “Can you tell me what’s going on here?”

Snorting, the asari nodded. “At least you have the courtesy to ask instead of just barging in,” she said as she pulled up a datapad. “An attempt was made on the life of… oh…” said the asari as she looked up at Shepard.

The turian woman looked from her partner to Shepard, then back again. “What?”

“Uhh… it appears that someone attempted to assassinate your life mate, Spectre. Doctor Liara T’Soni came home tonight around midnight according to her door log. Shortly afterwards a sniper tried to take her out through her window,” said the asari shyly as she likely realized why Shepard was here.

“By your liberal use of the word ‘tried’ I’m assuming they failed?” asked Shepard as she looked between them.

The turian spoke up this time. “She outsmarted them. We don’t know when she did it, but at some point after renting the penthouse she placed a high tech film over the windows that projected a false image of what was inside the apartment. It also recorded her movements in the apartment and played them the next time she entered the apartment. Turns out she was incredibly paranoid that someone was watching her.”

Shepard glared lightly at the officer. “Is it really paranoia if it turned out to be true?” she asked before she shrugged. “You said that another spectre was here. Who is it?”

“Tela Vasir,” said the asari as she grimaced again. “Are you going up?”

“I need to check things out. Hopefully we won’t be in there too long,” said Shepard as she stepped up to them. They split apart and let her pass. Shepard sighed to herself as she stepped into the elevator. Liara had given her the address of her apartment and told her to meet up here. To be honest, she was happy Liara had chosen a private setting and was hoping to get a few moments alone with the asari before they started gunning down the shadowy info cartels of Illium. But the best laid schemes of mice and men.

When the elevator stopped, she stepped outside and found herself in a lonely hallway leading to several doors. It wasn’t hard to tell which one was Liara’s given the police tape around the door. As she walked through the holographic police markers, she stepped inside the door and looked around. The apartment was incredible for its size. It was surely small, but the modern design of the room was cushy to say the least, especially the view outside. It was then that her eyes locked onto a fist-sized hole in the glass window. Stepping up to the window, she noticed the film the cops were talking about bent inward with the bullet trajectory.

“Spectre Shepard, it’s good to finally meet you,” came a voice from above her. Turning around, she looked up and saw an asari in armor leaning against the railing from the small loft above. Her face was painted purple, a mark of being a civilian. And from the look of her eyes, she had on human eyeshadow as well.

“You’ve got me at a disadvantage,” said Shepard as she turned and faced the woman fully.

“Tela Vasir, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance,” said the asari as she stood up and dragged her hand along the railing of the loft almost seductively.

“Ah, so you’re the spectre the cops outside were complaining about,” said Shepard with a smirk.

“And you’re the spectre who apparently can come back from the dead,” said the asari with a playful grin. “Might get you to sign my chest plate before you clock out again fighting goddess only knows what kinds of nightmarish creatures out there.”

“It’ll be a long time before I let something get the drop on me like that again,” said the spectre as she eyed the other woman curiously. “Care to fill me in?”

Nodding, Tela walked over to the window and motioned towards the entry hole like some kind of armored game show host. “As you can see, someone took a shot at your friend here, Shepard. Unfortunately, she didn’t leave anything telling us who it was or where she went.”

“She told me to meet her here, so she wouldn’t leave me empty-handed,” said Shepard as she crossed her arms.

“Unless whoever did this got to her before she could call you,” said the asari spectre as she stepped away from the window. “But, if anyone can find a clue she left behind, it’d be you.”

“You going to help me out?” asked the redhead curiously as she too began to walk around the apartment.

“You’re one of our most famous spectres, Shepard. I wouldn’t miss this for another hundred years on my life,” said the woman as she followed her.

“Good to know I’ve got a reputation,” said Shepard as she looked around. The walls were covered in paintings of old prothean ruins. She wasn’t sure if Liara did them herself, or if she had them done but they were gorgeous. Front and center on the wall next to her degree were the Ilos Ruins which they barely got to stop and admire as they charged through the place blasting geth to pieces and chasing Saren from one prothean building into another. Not to mention the finding of Vigil in the deepest depths of the hidden ruins. She smirked at the realization that the facility she found on Alchera would now put Ilos to shame.

Near the kitchen door was a painting of the facility on Eletania that they had discovered entirely on accident and set the world of religion and Earth’s history on fire with speculation of prothean involvement. She got no end of posts on the extranet threatening her with violent death and damnation for her involvement in finding the lost information. Not to mention the Children of Eden declaring war on her… again. She just shook her head and ignored the empty threats from chest beating authoritarians.

Then on the stairs leading up to the loft was a painting of Feros. The ruins were mostly underground, but the painting showed them overgrown with lush plant life from the world, leaving the structures of the tunnels below looking like giant chasms carved into the forested earth. The painting was gorgeous, and Shepard already felt her nose itch knowing what they had fought on the world. She was extremely grateful that the new thorian they had found didn’t have its spore creation intact.

Finally, as she stepped up to the loft, she saw a small but comfortable bed with a painting of the Telsakka Ruins on the planet Therum. Shepard recalled first meeting Liara there. She had to clear the cavern of geth before approaching the terrified, delirious, and suspended asari maiden. It was the first time they had met, and Shepard had no idea at the time how important the asari woman would be to her in the future.

“These were all places you went, huh?” asked Tela as she eyed the curious paintings.

“They’re all prothean ruins she used to explore before we met,” said Shepard, only allowing for the obvious to be known. It was then that Shepard noticed a small cloth that was hanging off the bed. It was baby blue and had a small print of a flower on it. She had no idea what it was, or what it was for. But something inside her pulled at her. She felt as if knowledge was on the tip of her tongue, teetering back and forth, ready to fall off. But it refused, and she grew frustrated. Taking the cloth, she tucked it inside her jacket as Tela spoke again.

“Isn’t that adorable,” said the asari as she saw a small framed picture of Shepard herself.

The spectre picked it up and chuckled as she saw herself from years ago, staring down at a datapad with a pen jabbing at her nose as she was lost in thought. She looked goofy, and the fact that Liara had chosen this picture out of all of them to keep by her bed made her feel warm inside. Suddenly, a small electronic chirp sounded from the picture. “Ping! DNA Match,” said the frame before the picture switched. Now, instead of the picture of Shepard, it showed a picture of Vigil. It was crude and no doubt taken from one of their armor cams, but she recognized it for what it was.

“What is that?” asked Tela as she tilted her head curiously.

“It was a prothean VI we found on Ilos,” she said as she set the frame down gently. Turning around, she headed back down the stairs and stepped up to the first painting she saw of the Ilos Ruins. Gently reaching forward, she took it off the wall and turned it around to find exactly what she was looking for.

Tela saw it as well and read it out loud. “Baria Frontiers in the Dracon Trade Center,” she stated as she gave a nod. “Clever. Looks like we know where she’s going,” said the asari as Shepard replaced the painting on the wall. Then she immediately turned to Tela and stared her down. Spectre Vasir looked at her curiously. “Is something wrong?”

“Not yet,” said Shepard as she nodded towards the door. “Hopefully nothing at all. Let’s go.”

Dracon Trade Center – Nos Astra – Illium

It took less than ten minutes to reach the busy trade center. It was already sunset when she reached Liara’s apartment and now it was dark but the trade center was lit like a yule tree. People were coming and going as if it was morning time, the darkness never bothering any of them as the brightly lit streets guided them home.

Within seconds of them reaching the building, however, chaos broke loose. As the asari went to park their vehicle, a shockwave ripped through the air and sent them spinning. Glass and stone slammed into the wind screen, shattering it as they spun to the ground and skidded to an unpleasant halt.

Shepard opened the door to the car and looked up as smoke and fire began billowing out of the now annihilated windows of the building. “Dammit…” she growled as Tela shook her head and recovered from the sudden jolt that the explosion caused.

“Whoever did this, I’m going to make sure they die painfully,” grumbled the asari spectre as she tenderly touched her bruised nose.

“Prepare for more,” ordered Shepard as she got back into the car and used both of her feet to kick the windscreen. It took one thrust from her powerful legs and the entire shattered window shot out and shattered on the ground.

“What are you doing? Why aren’t we going inside?” asked Tela as she held on for dear life.

“We are!” snapped Shepard as she shoved the asari over and took over the driver’s spot. With a glare burning in her eyes, she lifted the car off and hovered the vehicle in midair. “Where are the Baria Frontier’s offices?”

“Fifth floor, east wing! Why? What are you-“ started the spectre before the accelerator was punched and she slammed back against the seat.

Within seconds she drove the vehicle directly through one of the shattered windows on the east side of the building on the fifth floor. Shepard immediately got out of the car and could tell that the ground below the aircar was pitch black and searing, which likely meant that one of the bombs had gone off right near here. Pulling out a facemask, she wrapped it around her head and sealed it so she could at least breathe. Unfortunately, her eyes would still be exposed.

“Thanks for leaving me in the car,” said Tela as she coughed heavily before putting her helmet on.

“I’m here to save Liara. No offense, but even you’re a secondary objective right now,” said Shepard as she pulled a twin pair of pistols off her back.

“Ouch. Way to tell me you aren’t interested,” said Vasir playfully as she pulled a submachine gun off her belt.

Shepard ran forward and kicked the door open. “Where the hell is everyone? There should at least be bodies here.”

“Baria Frontiers is closed at night as far as I’m aware. Whatever she was doing here she was doing off the clock,” said Tela as she environmentally sealed her suit. “The elevators will be locked down but there’s a stairwell at each end of the building. You go that way, I’ll go this way. We’ll see what we can find.”

Shepard didn’t know if she could trust this woman as far as she could throw her, but she didn’t really have any choice at the moment. The building was huge and she’d never be able to check the entire place alone. “Fine. Tell me if you run into anything hostile. Someone set that bomb here for a reason.”

The asari saluted with two fingers before turning and sprinting back into the other direct. Shepard ran to the nearby stairs and looked up a flight and down a flight. She had no idea if Liara had even made it to the office, or if she was meeting someone. All she knew was that if someone were fleeing, they’d head down the stairs instead of up. But something in her gut told her that Liara wouldn’t be fleeing the building.

Instead of heading down the stairs to search the evacuees, she headed up the stairs and directly into a small army. When she spun around the corner of the stairwell, she ran smack into a group of faceless mercenaries with military grade gear. She knew she couldn’t get a shot off this close, and instead activated a searing hot blade, causing it to slide out of her gauntlet. The two on the stairway raised their weapons in a panic, but the first never stood a chance as she slammed the blade through their bullet deflecting armor. Gripping his collar, she backed into the doorway to the main floor as the other mercenary emptied round after round into their comrade’s now cratered back.

Unfortunately, that didn’t gain her any leverage as she knew as soon as she stepped into the main lobby of the sixth floor that there were more soldiers behind her. Ejecting the blade she sprinted towards the nearest cover as her kinetic barriers soaked several shots from all sides. She barely slid into cover as her shield winked out. Growling angrily, she punched the stone floor. “This is what my dumb ass gets for going anywhere without armor!” she snapped as she ducked low and snuck along the barrier she had made it to.

When she made it to the far end, one of the unmarked soldiers came around the edge just in time for another blade to lance straight through their gut. Leaving the blade behind, she used her biotics to flash across the room. When she reappeared, she pulled one of her pistols up and placed it up to the back an unaware mercenary’s head and eliminated him before he even knew she was there. Then she sprang forward with another blade loose, knowing that the rest of them were going to turn any second and fire on her. Her pistols were all but useless at the moment, so she dashed forward at blazing speeds and flashed past one, her glowing blade opening his throat.

She managed to get several more through just her melee attacks bypassing their kinetic barriers, but eventually the strain was too much and she slide across the floor breathing heavily with gunfire still ripping at her cover. “Damn…” she growled, hoping she’d recover enough stamina to clear the rest before she ended up cooking her brain again. But suddenly, the soldiers out on the floor began to scream.

Out of the twenty odd mercenaries she had run into, at least seven were now dead on the floor or were slowly dying and incapable of fighting. She dared not poke her head up to see what was happening, but something had hit the soldiers from the other side and hit them hard. Perhaps Vasir had pincered them and gave her a moment to breath. Readying her pistols, she prepared herself to jump out again, but then a voice stopped her.

“You can come out now,” said a very raspy feminine voice.

Shepard knew she’d heard the voice before, but had no idea where. It wasn’t Vasir and it sure as hell wasn’t Liara’s voice. Whoever it was was trying to lure her out. “And why would I do something stupid like that?”

“Because you’re here for Liara,” said the voice from the other side of the fountain she was using as cover.

Immediately, Shepard jumped to her feet, ready to jump again in case they used biotics. But as she saw the asari woman’s face, she almost immediately recognized her. “The bartender…” she said as she held her weapon up at her.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said the matriarch as she lit a shield around herself.

“Are you the handler?” asked Shepard as she stepped out of cover, a glowing blade on one hand and a pistol aimed at the asari in the other. “Did you bomb this damn place?”

“Why the hell would I do that?” asked the woman in a clearly annoyed tone. “I came here to save your wife, you jackass.”

“Why the hell are you even here? You say you’re here to save her but how the hell do you even know she’s here?” growled Shepard in a no-nonsense tone.

“Because we were spying on each other. I thought you already knew that,” said the asari as she lowered her biotics and raised her hands to show she wasn’t aggressive. “You’re a pretty miserable spectre if you couldn’t figure that out on your own.”

Shepard glared at her, the attitude already grating on her patience. “I know you were spying on her. The damn Asari Conclave can’t mind their own damn business. Now tell me how you knew Liara was here before I have to leave her fatherless.”

The asari woman’s face fell at the claim. “Oh… she, uh… knows that already does she?” she said almost timidly before standing straight and glaring back. “I have a number of contacts in this building who specifically kept an eye on her when she was here. They didn’t know why, but they got paid to make sure I knew when she came here. And the last couple of days have been hell. Her damn secretary disappeared, she vanished and stopped working in her office, she’s torn up multiple warehouses in Nos Astra, and her movements are erratic and scared! That’s why I’m here.”

Shepard heard the anger and worry in the woman’s voice and felt herself somewhat warm to the woman instantly. “So… what then? We rescue her together. Then what? You report to the Conclave that you were forced to make contact with the target you were spying on?”

“The Conclave can kiss the bluest part of my ass. I’m not here for them, I’m here to save my goddamned daughter!” snapped the matriarch, causing Shepard to lower her weapon slightly.

Shepard stared at the asari woman for a long moment before finally lowering her weapon. “I’m putting my trust in you for now. Just know if you’re lying and you hurt Liara, there won’t be a seedy bar in this galaxy that’ll keep you hidden from me.”

The asari smirked and nodded. “Now we’re talkin’.” Lighting her biotics, the matriarch headed towards the stairwell and opened the door before looking up to see if any more of the mercenaries were coming. “So, technically you’re my daughter-in-law, right?” Shepard gave her a stern glare as she aimed her pistol and fired into the head of one of the Shadow Broker’s goons on the floor. “Right, time and place. My bad.”

CODEX ENTRIES

Projection Film | Technology | Entertainment
A relatively new step in the entertainment business created by Nematol Electronics Co. Ltd. Most modern vid screens are light projections from a small computer device that allows the user to entertain themselves through the extranet, through movies, or other forms of visual entertainment. But Projection Film is a nearly unnoticeable transparent film that you can adhere to a wall, a window, or a ceiling, and instead the film itself becomes a screen when being used, and nearly unnoticeable when not in use.

Chapter Text

Brig – SSV Normandy SR2

It had taken a while to rig the spare omni-tool  to allow the geth programs aboard. She could have let Shepard do it as she said she would, but Tali had to make sure that it was 100% safe. This wasn’t a human AI like Val’Eda was, after all. It was a quarian creation. And nobody knew more about the geth than the quarians. Especially her, who had the benefit of her pilgrimage gift being a near endless data cache of information on the geth.

She now carried the omni-tool on her as she made her way to his last location. As an offering of peace, the geth had offered to stay behind bars without weapons to ease the worries of the crew. As she entered the brig, she saw the large krogan that was guarding the machine. Nodding to Grunt who continued to play on his omni-tool, she stepped up to the door and opened it. She felt chills down her spine as she saw it standing there unmoving with its ocular light focused on the floor.

“Geth,” she snapped impatiently.

The light narrowed before it looked up at her, its flaps twitching curiously. “Creator Tali’Zorah. May we be of service?”

“I’ve done the alterations to the omni-tool. You can freely board it from your platform through this cable,” she said as she held up a cord.

Legion stayed silent for a moment before finally speaking. “We appreciate the effort that Creator Tali’Zorah has put forward. However, we would like to wait until Spectre Shepard has returned to the Normandy to make sure the vessel is suitable.”

“You’re afraid I’ve tampered with it?” asked Tali in amusement at its response.

“Our caution is not without warrant. We sensed hostility within the creator…” it said before being cut off.

“Address me directly,” she snapped impatiently.

“We sensed hostility in you as we arrived. We would like to show you, Tali, that we trust you. But the truth is that we do not,” it responded firmly.

“Perhaps the smartest thing you’ve done since we’ve met,” she said as she looked it up and down curiously. “Your armor looks beaten and old but you said that you were sent out to watch Shepard after she came back to life.”

“This platform was originally chosen before Spectre Shepard’s death to watch her and see if she were using the assistance of a true AI, or if what we detected as AI involvement was simply computer assisted tools. We followed her throughout the Traverse and kept track of her progress before being nearly destroyed. We were trapped within the terminal, unable to escape,” it said in its monotone emulated voice.

“Then how did you escape?” asked the quarian bewildered. She knew anyone seeing a geth would react aggressively, especially after Eden Prime so it was no surprise it was nearly killed.

“Snow piled on top of the platform, protecting us from the much colder atmosphere. With a single working appendage, we managed to make enough repairs to function again in weeks and get off the planet in months. Once we returned, Spectre Shepard had already been reported as deceased. We left the platform and returned to the geth consensus,” it said as it raised the flaps again. “When it was reported that Shepard had returned, the same geth were chosen to make contact.”

“But that doesn’t answer my question. Why didn’t you repair this platform? Or choose a new one that didn’t have a giant hole in it?” asked Tali as she eyed the strange cover for the massive wound. She could see that repairs had been made inside, but instead of repairing its own armor it had grafted some scrap of armor to itself for protection.

It stood for a long moment before returning with, “No data available.”

She looked at it and glared, unsure of what all of this meant. She eyed the grafted armor it used and nodded. “How about that? What is it and why does it look familiar?”

“Before making our way back to Rannoch, we travelled to Alchera and confirmed the destruction of the original Normandy. We confirmed Shepard’s death after having found pieces of her armor littering the surface of the world. We used a portion of her armor to repair our own as we did not have the resources available at the time to make a repair.”

Tali’s eyes widened as she realized why it looked familiar. It was Shepard’s armor from two years ago that had been salvaged from the surface of Alchera. Looking at the arm of the geth, she noted the pitch black that had worn to dark grey and the faded red stripe down the arm that was a sort of signature for her. “Why did you use Shepard’s armor to repair yours? Why didn’t you use a newer body?”

“No data available,” said Legion again.

Tali’s frustration grew as she growled and walked out of the cell, ready to hammer her head into the wall. “This doesn’t make any sense! The geth are not supposed to be sentimental! They’re not supposed to be nostalgic!” she snapped as she turned back to them.

The machine flicked its brow plates quickly. “Creator Tali’Zorah prides herself on her knowledge of the geth. Perhaps she doesn’t know us as well as she thinks.”

The quarian inhaled deeply and exhaled, knowing she was going to have to calm herself if she wanted to continue the conversation with the automaton. As much as she wanted to blast it into space dust and dump it out of the back of the ship, she knew she could get some of the lingering questions she had answered without relying on what Shepard would call a biased source.

“Okay, I understand that I don’t know the geth as well as I thought,” she said turning back to it. “Are you willing to share how the geth have grown since their genocide of my people?”

“Perhaps if Tali’Zorah would share how you have grown since the creator’s genocide of our own,” said Legion firmly. She could detect no amount of spite in its synthetic voice. Of course she couldn’t, it was a machine and even one as highly advanced as the geth would see no purpose in restructuring an audible language so as to emulate sarcasm or anger. But even so, the way he said what he did made her angry as well as unsettled her. She knew that they had advanced far in the few centuries they had been left alone, but how this one used her own words against her in such a condescending fashion without ever changing the tone of its voice unnerved her.

She sighed to herself and rubbed her head gently. “If you want to exchange information, I’m fine with that. But don’t expect anything classified or that could endanger the Fleet. I’m risking enough just by talking to you instead of throwing you out of the airlock.” She knew that she had gotten too comfortable with Val’Eda and EDI, both of which were human constructs that simulated emotions. At times she almost forgot they were also machines.

“The geth people would be happy to answer any questions that do not endanger our people as well,” said the automaton as it seemingly eyed her up and down it’s flaps rising slightly. “Though the geth do not wish harm on us for attempting to make peace.”

She found herself struggling to hold her own against the supposedly benevolent machine. Instead, she ignored its last statement, noted the eerie way it spoke with organic fluidity, yet no emotion, and just turned around. “We’ll talk again later when Shepard returns. Until then, stay here and do not attempt to leave the Normandy.”

She left the brig feeling almost withered inside. When she went to the brig to question the thing, she had full control of everything. She had killed more geth than any quarian alive today. It should have been a simple matter, but it wasn’t. Even the order she had given it as she left was hollow. It had already offered to stay isolated in the brig itself, making her instruction meaningless. It was just something she did to try and show authority because she was terrified of what was sitting before her. It wasn’t just a geth platform, it was a potential bridge for her people to get back to Rannoch. And the chances of that bridge getting built or collapsing lied with her. She got into the elevator, hit the button for the crew deck, then sat down and held her helmet in her hand, knowing that her people’s fate would rely on her making peace with her people’s most hated enemy.

Dracon Trade Center – Nos Astra – Illium

It was infuriating how fast things had gotten out of control. All she had to do was clean up the crews that had screwed up and then get rid of the broker that was tearing a bloody wave through their information networks. Instead, she was deceived by a barely century old brat that made her look like an idiot. On top of that, the spoiled girl’s wife was now a looming and terrifying presence in the investigation that she had to contend with and circle her way around.

The entire time they were in the apartment, and the entire ride over she felt as if an alert siren was going off in her head the entire time. Any time Shepard turned her back, any time she turned to examine something, any time she closed her eyes to think the warning signals only got louder. She began to wonder if such amateur moves were the other spectre inviting attack. What if she was doing it just to trick her into trying to get rid of her. For the first time in her life, she actually felt on edge around a human. Most of them were bossy pushovers who just need a reminder that she’s older than their existence in galactic society. She’d met a few hard ones who had seen some shit and was willing to get their hands dirty. But she’d never met a human that instilled this level of instinctual anxiety before.

It was wild meeting the real thing after hearing so much about her. Of course, she was a famous spectre, which was kind of counter to the point of being a spectre. But she was definitely good at her job after having taken down Saren Arterius, one of the best spectres she had ever seen, and then somehow contributing to the death of Sovereign, Saren’s ship. Hell, before meeting her at the apartment, she had even tinkered with the idea of taking out the doctor and replacing her at Shepard’s side and in her bed.

But after meeting her, all she felt was dread, as if the woman was watching her from every angle at all times when she was in her presence. After they found the clue on the back of the painting, it was only the spare few moments she had alone in her vehicle before Shepard had gotten in that she was able to send a message to her goons to take out the doctor. But after seeing how they handled it, she was infuriated. If Shepard didn’t kill them on her way up, a likelihood given she had sent the same men after her to stall her, then she’d kill them herself.

Now she found herself in a stairwell, her side in stitches as she exhausted herself running up the stairs. Her men had alerted her that they had pushed T’Soni up to the roof and held her there. But she stopped as soon as she heard a loud thumping one floor above her. Stopping, she waited until a volus trundled down the stairs and nearly ran straight into her. She immediately recognized him as the doctor’s little crony that apparently replaced Tela’s own after her untimely demise.

“Oh… uh… hi,” he said worriedly. “If you would excuse me, I have to leave. The building is on fire.”

He tried to get around her but she raised her fist and punched him in the side of the head, causing him to tumble down a few stairs and hit the landing, unconscious. Using her omni-tool, she cracked open the one he had on his arm and found exactly what she was looking for. Smirking, she fried his omni-tool’s memory and took the files for herself. Now, all she had to do was take out the doctor a few floors above and she’d be set.

Unfortunately, she heard a call from her comm that spurred her into action. “Vasir, the other stairwell was collapsed by one of the bombs. I just took out an entire squad of men, presumably the ones that bombed this place and I’m headed towards your stairs.”

A chill went down her spine as she gasped. “She killed them all! So quickly?!” she snapped as the absurdity of this woman hit her again. She knew it was too late for her to take out T’Soni. But then she looked down at her omni-tool and smirked. She really didn’t have to take T’Soni out, at least not right now. She got the data the woman had come for, and nobody alive knew she was working with the broker. She looked down at the volus who wouldn’t be able to ID her, but would be able to recognize her armor. She might have to take care of him later, but she couldn’t now. Volus tended to explode when their suits depressurized and she’d be covered in his blood, making her extremely suspicious. Leaning over the railing, she heard the door open below. “Shepard, up here!”

The human looked up at her and smirked. Tela began to feel that original feeling of warmth again at the grin. When the human caught up, she looked at the volus in confusion. “Niftu Cal? What’s he doing here?”

“Not sure. If he’s your friend, tell him I apologize when he wakes up. He was running and I thought he might be with the bombers, so I slugged him,” she said as an excuse.

“He’s alive, so he should be alright. But…” said the spectre as she examined his omni-tool curiously. “Someone torched his memory.”

“That part wasn’t me. Maybe he did it in response to the bombing to make sure something didn’t fall into the wrong hands,” said the woman, realizing that despite her excuse for knocking him out, she was going to have to kill him later. He would likely remember his omni-tool being fine until running into her, which marked her as suspicious. And she couldn’t have any threads leading to her with a blood hound like Shepard around.

“Maybe,” said Shepard as she looked up at the door ahead. “The roof?”

“One of the men I killed on a lower floor said she came up this way,” said Tela as she reached up and grabbed the handle of the door. “You ready?”

Shepard prepared her guns and nodded. As the door opened, they both headed out onto the roof to see a flat surface wet with rain. As soon as the red-haired spectre saw Liara standing at the far end of the roof, she ran to her immediately along the edge of the building and sighed in relief. “Liara!”

The doctor turned around with her eyes wide. “Jane!” she said in shock before her eyes settled on the other spectre present. Her oddly human brows furrowed. “And… who are you?”

“Spectre Tela Vasir,” she said, hoping to assuage her. But her stomach plummeted at the look of spite that the doctor gave her. She knew the deception was over, but she still had the advantage with the distance between all of them. Raising her hands, she threw her hand up and trapped Liara in a stasis field, knowing her biotics were far more powerful than anything Shepard could summon. Then she aimed her weapon directly at the spectre’s back. “Don’t move an inch, Shepard. I’ll have a dozen rounds in your body before you can even turn around!”

Shepard turned her head slightly towards Tela with a glare in her eyes. “You really think it’s smart to point that thing at a trained spectre killer?” asked Shepard in a tone filled with ice.

Despite her vitriol, Tela smiled. “Sorry, Shepard. I really tried to spare you from all this, but bad luck for both of us. Now you both have to die, and I have to take this data back to the Shadow Broker.”

“So, you took the data from Niftu Cal and fried his omni-tool,” said Shepard, more a statement instead of a question. Tela felt the chills of her instincts again but knew Shepard couldn’t change the situation. She had her back to her and was plenty far enough away for her to shred her with biotic or her gun should she choose. She had the upper hand here.

“It doesn’t really matter what I did anymore. None of you will remember it,” said the woman as she zeroed in on Shepard with her weapon. But suddenly the door to the roof blasted off and slammed into the ground next to her, embedding in the stone. She reflexively looked over at it and immediately knew she had screwed up. She was a biotic with a specialty in melee combat, which made her able to perceive things slightly faster than your everyday biotic. It helped when charging across battlefields or bypassing a wall of enemies to be able to change direction at a moment’s notice.

And it was that enhanced ability that allowed her to see what was coming, even if she could do nothing to stop it. She felt her spine turn to ice as she saw Shepard almost directly in front of her. Her eyes and the scars on her cheek were glowing red with murderous intent as if she were an Oros-Yakshi that had jumped straight out of her nightmares. She tried to turn and stop her but somehow the legendary spectre had covered the entire distance between them in a fraction of a second. Instead, with no armor or weapon to attack with at the moment, the human slammed into her bodily, driving the wind from her lungs and sending them both over the edge of the building and into the abyss.

Dracon Trade Center Roof – Nos Astra – Illium

She had seen it a few times before during Shepard’s purge of the Eclipse, so she knew Shepard had managed to craft her own unique style of biotics. But she had never seen it put into deadly action as she did right then and there on the roof. As soon as the door to the roof slammed opened and drew the second spectre’s attention, the red-haired human vanished in an instant. So blindingly fast was her attack that she only barely saw the impact of Shepard slamming directly into the handler and sending them both over the roof.

She stood in disbelief for a long second before another asari ran up to her, startling her. “What the fuck are you looking at? We have to go!” growled the woman.