Whoever said that Noveria was beautiful was right. Gorgeous blindingly bright light shining on the steppes of snow; it provided a soothing mantle-- pristine, bleached, and smoothed visible paths: shiny and untouched, without taint from a distance. When the Normandy touched down, parking at the Port, the noises from the outside were contained. Though the storms that plagued the planet were ever constant-- it did not give the impression of dread. Despite that the winds were whipping against the thickened glass of the Normandy, Shepard watched dully as her vision of Noveria gave her the first impression of winter back home. She went immediately to her room to get a few things before setting ashore, turning off the monitor on her way out, and darkened the interior. The sound of the door opening and closing hushed soothingly, and kissed her senses awake.

Katerina Shepard moved lithely from her quarters past the mess hall, bounding the steps, passing her navigators and galactic maps to stand behind Joker's seat. She was always in top condition, her brisk exercise left her feeling agitated for the adventure. The air near the air tight exit from the Normandy was cool, the vents allowed for a natural oxygenated atmosphere, keeping moisture to a minimum considering how delicate the electrical controls were.

She was listening to the conversation between Joker and Noveria's Approach control. They told them they hadn't been expected, said that they would have to provide identification when they landed or find their vehicle towed. As hostile as the planet, the inhabitants didn't appear to be friendly with visitors. Perhaps it was why this place hid secrets that even she--Shepard was piqued to find out--but the mission objective was to find Saren. If they had any information leading to the rogue ex-spectre, it would make their journey easier.

Katerina reached down to press the communication panel which led to the lower decks, "Garrus, I want you and Wrex to gear up, we're going ashore."

She waited a moment to listen to the turian's soft smooth voice, "We're on our way, commander."

She stood by the exit doors, glancing to her right to see Garrus at the front, walking briskly with his weapons securely at his back. From behind him, clambering up with a sure gait was the krogan--and it never failed that the Normandy crew paused a little to see such a sight. Krogans weren't very common on the Citadel, much less on the Normandy, and Shepard figured it would be another month before everyone would be able to get used to such an ally around.

Wrex stood by the Spectre, crossing his arms, "Shepard," he nodded once, "not my kind of weather, but these fancy suits your merchant provides downstairs may just do the trick."

Shepard sympathized with the krogan--knowing that he was used to hot climates and severe volanic type atmospheres, "Sorry, Wrex, if we find a better suit for you, I'll get them."

"I'm not worried about it, Shepard, I'm content either way."

Katerina was pleased, knowing she had a reliable crew on her hands, and when the doors slid open, the three of them walked out into the contained, grey asphalt building of Noveria's Port Hanshan.

Wearing her Colossus X uniform, the suit actually saved her behind more than once when her team was being bombarded with geth everywhere on the Armstrong system. Now she had to find better armour for her two boys. Her credits were getting pretty low, after spending quite a bit over upgrades and new weapons. It would be all worth it, she knew.

At a distance, she eyed a row of security guards blocking their way to their destination.

The woman with dark hair stood with her weapon in hand, "We're here to secure your weapons, it's my authority to take all firearms."

Sparing the pleasantries, Katerina wasn't going to just hand her weapons over, and Wrex was already tense next to her. Garrus stood there, waiting for orders.

"I'm a Spectre, I have business here on Noveria, Spectre business."

A woman with blonde hair nearly spat out at the remark, her disdain plain on her face, "Ma'am," she addressed the dark haired woman, "that's a load of bullshit, and they mean to cause trouble."

Wrex's deep voice, threatening as it was, was even more ferocious when he's got his assault rifle pointing at the enemy, "You just try. I'm not giving up mine."

"I'm going to count to three." Matsuo said, her face neutral and stern, "one.."

Katerina gritted her teeth, "I don't think so."

Before Matsuo could even utter the next number, she was told to stand down. The voice over the loud speaker managed to lower the security guards' weapons. It was an unpleasant situation, and the Spectre and her companions would probably have to watch their backs here. As harsh as the weather looked outside, the people were not altogether friendly.

Katerina placed her weapon away, giving a nod to the head security officer, hearing the abrasive sting of the blonde who sneered sarcastically, "Get out of here."

When they were out of their sight, Garrus looked back once, "Nice bunch, I bet we'll be seeing them pretty soon."

Wrex grumbled, "I hope so. If they want a fight…"

The spectre shook her head, lifting her hand, "No, we need to get our business here out of the way first. We'll deal with them if they push us."

Garrus smiled, admiration seemed to sparkle brightly from his eyes, "Yes, ma'am."

They passed by some vending machines, housing a few items of food and drink, a couple of extranet machines decorated the entranceway and the steps leading to the front desk held lights from above. Katerina's blue eyes narrowed, her suspicion was clear: there are hidden cameras that were eyeing their every move. When they stepped past the lights, the sound of alarms went off. A woman in a fuschia dress came up from behind a receptionist desk, next to the oblivious man who was clearly concentrating on the monitor in front of him.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Gianna Parisini, I'm sorry about that. We're very tight here on security and every ship that lands here must be inspected. Anyway, I'm head secretary here for Anoleis. He's the one here conducting all personal businesses with anyone and everyone who comes through here."

Katerina was still bristling over the last encounter, "Someone pissed on your security chief's coffee?"

"She's just doing her job, she takes it very seriously." Gianna half smiled, but there seemed to be a faint tinge of disparagement there, but perhaps Katerina imagined it.

"Why so many security guards?"

"Some Matriarch came through here with an entire shipment of cargo that needed to get to Peak 15. We're just tightening the security around here, with all the -- .."

Garrus interrupted, "Saren's second in command here? Commander, should we inform Dr. T'soni?"

Katerina looked over at her friend, "Not right now. Later." Turning back to Gianna, "We need to see her."

"I'm afraid you'll have to ask permission through Anoleis, he's the only one who can get you to Peak 15. If you want to know where his office is, it's at the far end of the building."

"Thanks, I'll be going now."

Katerina turned to her companions, "Well, if she's here, we know that Saren's not far."

They took the elevator up; the three of them had been so used to the sound of the Citadel's news that their silence stunned them. As the doors slid open, the gathering of people in business suits turned towards the scene of a Spectre and her allies. Whispers were loud enough that they carried to Kat's ears.

She was about to walk down the stairs until she saw a glimpse of pink at the corner of her eye, and sure enough—a hanar stood there---a strangely jellied figure with slow movements Kat recognized. The one at the Financial district on the Citadel was quite a friendly merchant. However, their race tended to believe deeply in the Enkindlers. Paying no mind to the one that she had to send away by request from the c-sec officer, the preaching words of the hanar were completely lost on her. She'll have to visit this Noverian hanar later, because she rather liked them. But first things first: Benezia.

When she arrived at the fancy office belonging to the salarian, Katerina had never met anyone so rude. No, she had. But this salarian was terribly curt and implied that she was nothing of his attention and only met her because it was a courtesy.

She wanted to punch him.

But she held herself, supremely well she thought, and walked out of there empty handed. When she had passed the woman in fuschia, Kat was then again given the opportunity to make a deal with Lorik Quinn at the hotel lounge.

Needless to say, it didn't take long for them to visit the lounge, and before Kat could walk to the turian sitting there—lazily lounging and sipping what looked like an expensive drink—but an asari stopped her before she could continue.

"I have an offer—"

Kat blinked, "I'm not interested."

The Spectre was already surprised back on the citadel when the asari consort had given her a trinket and touched her face, taking her away to some private place—where she instantly and remarkably got unclothed and was proceeding to get something 'special'. Embarrassment stained her face remembering that incident and it didn't help matters much when the Dr. T'soni spied on her to get information on her past. Kat had to wonder if the asaris were so inquisitively and unexpectedly unashamed. It was a general observation, and no doubt her own race sent gossips of ill will—of how aggressive humans were---of how they're always wanting to get ahead and plant themselves where they weren't supposed to be. Indeed, she'd have to agree. Every race has something about them that makes them stand out. But, what the other aliens didn't know was that humans aren't any better than them or vice versa.

"The human at the bar? I'd like you to help me out. You're a dull stone, and I have credits if you do this…"

"No." and surprisingly, it was enough to stop the asari from continuing her offer. When Kat approached the turian, he seemed to eye the spectre indolently, "Why you're the spectre who has been setting tongues a' wagging, and we're not supposed to dally with you."

"Really? I'm not surprised." Kat leaned her hip out, hand on waist, "You're Lorik Quinn I presume? So you're taking a three martini lunch?"

He chuckled, "You mean my loitering here? If only that were so."

She liked his voice. It was sexy. Kat blinked and cleared her throat. She probably missed a lot of the conversation because Garrus was saying, "It's the extranet, it makes the young male species think things……" he seemed embarrassed and stopped.

"What? A Matriarch? Yes. That's who we want to see." What was wrong with her? Turians were indeed such fascinating….. "We were told that you may be able to help us get to peak 15."

"You do something for me, and I'll be able to provide a pass for you to get there. And the job is very simple."

Kat sat across from Quinn and a waitress passed by, asking if they needed a drink, and the turian offered kindly, "Do please get a drink, my compliments."

"My companions—" she started.

"Of course. I wouldn't be so rude to disregard them." He nodded to the former c-sec officer, and was surprised to set his eyes on the krogan, "It's rare to see a krogan around here."

Wrex harumped. Katerina supposed the old krogan would prefer to stand and not say anything, lest he said something to offend the turian. Not that it stopped him but she felt that they had no time to dawdle. As pleasurable as the scene with music in the background, drinks and food provided them--and as the atmosphere lulled temptingly, Kat perked at Quinn's last comment:

"And do try not to get blood on the carpet."

She had already drunk some of the martini that the waitress had provided and smiled at the turian, "If they're crooked, I don't have a problem with spilling a little blood."

"I may have underestimated you, spectre." He was overly pleased, leaning comfortably back, "I await your return."

When they were heading towards Quinn's office, it was Garrus who said something first, "Commander, you seemed to trust Quinn a little too much.Was that wise?"

Kat became mildly surprised—did she hear a little jealousy there?

"What would make you think that, Garrus?"

"His leering was making me uncomfortable."

Wrex chortled, "Don't worry, if he makes a pass at you, I'll be happy to knock him out."

Garrus wanted to roll his eyes, "I didn't mean…" he was starting to fluster, "I meant for the commander."

Kat smiled, setting her hand on the turian's arm softly."Let's just concentrate on the side quest. We want to get to Benezia as soon as possible."

She could feel Garrus's eyes on her back, but if she didn't keep her attention at the mission at hand, she'd be liable to tease her turian friend, and oh –how she enjoyed his company.

They weren't alone: there were security guards there before them. The place looked ransacked; as if they were going through his items---tables and chairs overturned, cabinets and drawers opened.

Kat managed to tell the security guard who appeared to be leading the group that they were doing illegal business. It helped with Garrus chiming in, "would you want to take that chance?"

Even when the few security guards made their way out, the trio felt something wasn't right.

Wrex grumbled, his weapon at the ready, "Enemy sighted. This is going to be fun."

"Take cover!" Kat yelled, ducking behind a large walled cabinet that was previously overturned.

The sounds of firepower recoiled in the air, banging against strong steeled walls and bounced against the barriers of the krogan's shield, who was managing to mobile himself some cover—but not without cracking out a few rounds of tungsten into the nearest sentient mark. He managed to eliminate one guard, but there were still those few running around firing shots when their targets were free.

Kat held on to her pistol—set it on red and moved out into the open, sliding herself so that the shots fired missed her by centimeters. She wasn't expecting one of them to be a biotic so a blast hit her full on-- just when she was about to slide between the desk and the wall.

She went down and the reality of being covered in a blue-gelled ball—trapped like a prisoner—holding her, it was not a good: Kat knew that this would be just a moment before the senses came back—when all the feeling came back to her motor skills.

She heard Garrus's concern, "Commander! No!" but he didn't have time to get to Kat. He was holding off a couple of guards who had climbed down from the upstairs office---shooting grenade launchers at him.

Wrex clobbered one more before he grunted to Garrus, "See to Shepard while I turn my barrier all the way on! I'll hold them off for awhile."

Just when Garrus reached to Kat, she was already free of her biotic shell and gasped, "I'm fine, Garrus." Without saying more, Kat motioned her turian ally to get up there and help Wrex. He was clearly glad to see Shepard unhurt and the way he moved to the front by Wrex, hiding behind a half broken cabinet and taking pot shots---the turian turned on the damping overdrive and sent the enemies falling.

When the smoke cleared, their enemies eliminated, they made their way to the upstairs, finding Lorik's personal office at the far end. Kat pushed her usual arranged dark blonde hair back, setting it behind her ears. She clicked on the terminal and received the evidence that Quinn was talking about.

"Amazing." Her blue eyes scanned the information greedily. "I have no doubt that our very hospitable Anoleis is corrupt, gentlemen."

Wrex was standing by the door, "I knew he was from the moment I set eyes on him—that little slimeball…...and commander, we've got company."

Kat looked up—seeing a group of people by where they had entered ---it was too dark to see their faces; they were shadowed and all she could tell were the fact that they were heavily armed.

"Great. I just love bad news."

Garrus moved by the krogan, "We can take them. It looks like I was right: We would meet up with them again."

Kat took a deep breath, pocketed the evidence into her suit, "Well then, we'll have to take care of business. Ready, gentlemen?"

"At your command, Shepard." Garrus said with a smile.

"Let's get moving." Wrex agreed in a low tone.

---