"So whatcha up to?" Jeff "Joker" Moreau, ace pilot of the Normandy, asked in a tone of voice guaranteed to make her spine crawl.

Trying not to give the man the satisfaction of a reaction, she replied coolly, "My job."

"Doesn't mean you can't chat, right?"

Keeping her hazel eyes focused on the screen, the nondescript woman with dishwater blond hair said, "Actually, it does. Some of us need to focus on our work."

He gaped at her for a moment, then said, more than a little indignantly. "Hey, what's that's supposed to mean?"

EDI, god bless her, chose that moment to intervene. The AI's icon popped up next to her workstation, "Voice stress analysis indicates that you are under some sort of duress, Kat. Is everything all right?"

Joker's face contorted in horrified disbelief, an expression that was more than a little amusing, as he asked, "You let that, that, thing, call you by your first name, but I have to call you Miz Indigo?"

Without looking away from her screen Kat replied blandly, "My friends get to call me Kat."

He shuddered then started to hobble away while muttering about women. And was that something about ship cancer? Now that the annoyance was gone, Kat sighed a little, leaned her head against the headrest of the chair and said gratefully, "Thank you for the save, EDI."

"You are welcome, Kat. Did you wish to file a harassment complaint? I have noticed this isn't the first such incident."

Against the Commander's friend? She may not know how crazy terrorist organizations dealt with such things, but she had a feeling it was much like what she dealt with in university. And the one thing she learned early on is that you don't fuck with the head admin's pets. Except, Cerberus was probably more extreme.

Not to mention the reputation Commander Richard Shepard had...

"Thanks, but it's not necessary. I think he'll back off now."

"If you're sure."

Kat couldn't help smiling at the doubt in the AI's voice, "Yes, I'm sure, EDI. I'm okay."

Even though the icon didn't have a face, she got the impression that EDI was studying her with concern. It was saying something that the only person she could call a friend on the ship was the shackled AI. Not that she ever had a problem with the concept of AIs, despite what the Geth had done in the past two years. She had a feeling synthetics were like flesh and blood races, they had their share of the jerks mixed in with the decent sorts.

Then again, the fact both of them were stuck on the ship in their own way probably helped start their friendship.

"Very well, Kat. But please don't hesitate to let me know if Mr. Moreau is getting to be too much for you to handle. I know what your opinion of Cerberus is, but they really don't want you dealing with a hostile work environment, our mission is too important to allow something that's fixable to jeopardize it."

She couldn't help but shake her head a bit. Yes, their mission against the Collectors was important, but her role was probably the least important. Given EDI's abilities, they really didn't need someone with her training in geological engineering to handle the scans for resources or deploying the mining probes. But they insisted that such a thing needed Mark One Biological Optics run by human intuition.

"Again, thanks, but I really don't think that's necessary. The shift I've been on lately generally minimizes our contact, which I'm guessing was the intention."

"Actually, it was to give you the time you needed to do a thorough scan of a planet without any interruptions to your duties or the other members of the crew."

Well, that wasn't the response she was expecting. The engineer had been wondering why she was suddenly doing what was considered the late night shift according to ship time. While she appreciated the quiet that let her focus on her work, she did miss the idle chatter that went on around her, even if she didn't have much to say.

It wasn't that she was all that introverted, it was just incredibly awkward to try to bond with people whose morals she was dubious about. Or working on a ship that was part of an organization she'd been rather vocally against. Why couldn't they have hired Blowhard Brian? That asshole would've fit in perfectly with his xenophobic look on life.

If she ever got her hands on the lying scumbag recruiter that got her into this position, not even the supposedly brilliant Miranda Lawson was going to be able to bring him back from the dead.

"Huh, well, that's good to know. So have you heard any good jokes lately?" She really wanted to change the subject as she ran her survey of the latest planet they had arrived at. It looked like a post garden planet, which meant the potential of finding Eezo.

"Have you heard the one about the turian, the human and volus walking into the bar?"

Kat grinned, that joke was old before humanity achieved spaceflight, but she was willing to roll with it. After all, part of the point was trading really bad jokes as a way for her to pass the time. That was until she realized what she was looking at on the scan. "EDI, am I seeing things?"

"If you're referring to the deposit of Element Zero on your screen, then you're not imaging anything. Deploying a probe now to confirm."

She couldn't help but goggle at the screen. If there weren't any bugs in the system, that was the largest deposit she'd ever seen. Kat really didn't want to go mucking with the system, but she was half afraid she was going to have to. Which meant going down into the area where that crazy biotic lurked. Joy.

And while she wasn't the most experienced engineer in her field, she kept up to date on current finds, the only other ones that were bigger were being mined by the megacorps. "EDI, can you run a diagnostic on the scanner?"

EDI replied somewhat primly. "There are no malfunctions in the software or the hardware."

"Sorry, EDI, I didn't mean to offend you. It's just that what's being picked up seems...impossible."

"No offense taken. The probe should be arriving at its destination shortly to confirm what was located. Perhaps you should take a short break?"

That wasn't expected, EDI usually left such things up to her. Which meant the AI thought that what was on the scan was correct. If so, she was going to be at her station longer than usual monitoring the excavation. Normally she didn't need to, but when it came to Eezo, no matter the quantity, she didn't do anything else, even though it could be mind numbingly tedious. But Eezo was so valuable, Kat wasn't about to take any chances.

After stretching her legs, seeing to various needs, she wandered back to her station with a giant cup of coffee in hand. By then the probe had landed and was transmitting the results of its survey. Giving voice to a low whistle, she said, "EDI, how is this even possible? I thought a deposit like this would've been snatched up by now."

"This area doesn't have a high amount of traffic. Legitimate or otherwise."

"You have a point, I suppose," she said dubiously as she continued to look through the information still streaming in from the probe as it sent out the remotes needed to start the excavation. Trying to be patient she opened a small window in her screen to read one of the journals she kept up with. While she couldn't communicate with anyone outside of the ship, they at least allowed access to online publications.

If it weren't Cerberus, this would be the perfect job. High pay, a chance to study a variety of planets without having to risk bodily injury, cutting edge tech she likely wouldn't have seen in years. Unfortunately, like most dreams that came true, this one had strings. Huge strings. No, more like ropes. Resigned to her fate for the moment, Kat drank her coffee, and while waiting for the dispatched remote machinery to complete their tasks, she resumed skimming the article she'd been reading.

Until the sensors on the equipment registered an anomaly. She couldn't quite tell what it was picking up. Focusing entirely on the remotes, she fiddled with the display with no success. Without prompting, EDI quietly said, "I'll notify Shepard."

Oh no, disturbing the Commander was the last thing she ever wanted. Kat had a huge amount of respect for the man, even before he became the first human Spectre, but he also scared the crap out of her. "It's still kind of late, or early, however you want to put it. I wouldn't want to wake him up for this."

"He's currently awake, Kat. But even if he was asleep, he'd want to know about this."

"Enough to disturb him now?"

"We can't afford to ignore anything that might help with the Collectors."

"Of course, but we don't even know what's down there. Unless you're getting something more than what I'm seeing on the monitor?"

"I'm not, but it's the type of interference that makes me think the Commander would be interested in looking into. Judging by the patterns, it's artificial in nature."

That put a whole different spin on things, "It's safe to say that you can't crack it?"

"That is correct, Kat."

The engineer had to keep her grin to herself, EDI sounded incredibly offended that she couldn't break whatever was jamming the sensors. "I know I wasn't successful at it, but can you work with the remots to get a better view? I really don't want to waste the Commander's time."

The AI didn't reply for the briefest moment, then coolly said, "I have already attempted that. The images were difficult to manipulate into anything useful, but I can verify there are some sort of ruins down there that don't match anything in my records."

Kat felt her gut clench in fear. The last time she'd run into something like that had been on a field study she'd been doing as part of her master's work. She still had nightmares about what happened. Trying to shake that off, she asked, "And the Commander would really want to go poking around in some dusty old ruin?"

Not that she thought dusty old ruins were boring, they could be pretty interesting, but for someone like Commander Shepard? Not so much.

"I think you misjudge Shepard, besides this isn't the first anomaly he's gone to investigate."

"Yeah, but all the others there'd been a clear signal you were able to pick up on that gave him something to act on."

In a rather firm tone, EDI said, "I've already forwarded my report to Shepard to decide. He says to continue your excavation for as long as you can and if we can get more information he wants to be updated."

Knowing when she was beat, Kat threw up her hands before going back to work.

-oOo-

"So tell me what we're dealing with here?" Richard Shepard asked EDI as he studied the very blurry images on the monitor in his quarters. He wasn't a big man, but had the hard lean body of a man who had been physically active all of his life, not just his military training. He'd never been a handsome man, but after all the combat he'd seen, not to mention the whole getting spaced and rebuilt by Cerberus deal, he had a face that could inadvertently scare small children. Adults too for that matter. "Aside from the fact you have an anomaly that you can't identify and no distress beacon."

"Aside from those images, any signals that come within approximately twenty-five meters of the ruins get jammed. The patterns are clearly artificial in nature and not a natural phenomenon from the material used to construct whatever the ruins had been."

He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, "And you ran this past Mordin?"

"Yes, his comment can best be summed up that he's not an archeologist. But he is intrigued."

Shepard snorted in amusement at the AI's phrasing. The salarian was a great guy, but sometimes he didn't know when to shut up. He propped his feet on part of the desktop then picked up the small sphere next to his terminal, slid the tab sticking out of it over a finger and began to idly twirl it off the string that emerged from it. "All right, it sounds like we need someone with at least a passing interest in strange ruins since I can't pry Liara off Illium and your sensors will be blocked by whatever is causing the jamming. And I don't remember anyone on the team who has even the vaguest interest in any type of archeology."

"That may not be entirely correct."

The way EDI phrased her reply made him grab the ball after its last spin and he looked at her icon. "Okay, what's up, EDI?"

"I may have someone that might have the qualifications you're looking for, Shepard, but there are complications that is best for a human to explain. I have explained the situation to Miranda, she will see you shortly."

When EDI abruptly withdrew, he stared at the now empty space in confusion thinking. What the fuck?

Wondering what was going on with the AI, he began to play with the toy with a bit more energy. A knock at the hatch cause him to put the toy away and to straighten up in his chair. "Come on in, Miranda."

The dark haired woman didn't give any sign if she'd been rousted out of bed or not. He stood up and gestured for her to take one of the other seats, "Thanks for coming so soon. I hope you weren't woken up."

"No, I was already awake and going over reports when EDI notified me of the situation," she sat down in the offered chair gracefully before crossing one leg over the other, "I will admit that I'm a little curious. A sizable deposit of Element Zero and ruins of unknown origin?"

He flopped back down in his chair and pursed his lips thoughtfully for a moment, "So you're hoping there might be something useful?"

"It certainly can't hurt to look. I know that we've gone into previous ruins, but those were part of digs that were already underway, a part of me wants to see something that no one has seen in who knows how long?"

"Fair enough," his fingers itched to play with the sphere again, but he resisted since the last time he played with it near someone, he almost brained them by accident, "So EDI informed me that we do have someone with some archeological training, but there's some sort of problem."

Miranda grimaced and sighed, "Yes, the only one who has the proper credentials to study these ruins is an unwilling recruit."

That, he didn't expect. "I thought Cerberus was careful to make everyone they brought to the mission knew what the deal was. And how did it slip past anyone?"

"I would like to know that myself, but I do know part of it is that she fit our requirements. The young woman in question, Katrina Indigo, actually comes from the same part of the Newark Sprawl that you do, Rick. And like so many others, lost her family in the same uncontrolled fire that claimed yours."

Shepard drew in a sharp breath, even now, after all he'd been through, that was still one of the worst moments of his life. He'd been off with some friends the night the inferno swept through the area, by the time he'd been able to get back, only ashes remained. Including his family. He shook his head, trying to clear his memory of the grief that led to his time on the streets. "Damn. That's a cold way of looking for someone."

She gave him a sympathetic look and her voice softened a little, "That wasn't the only reason of course. She's brilliant at what she does, I don't think there are many other people in her profession who could have done half as well at getting the resources we've needed with the limited equipment she has available for mining."

"Somehow I suspect it's more than that as well."

"Yes, she also has combat experience."

He raised an eyebrow at that, "She's former Alliance?"

"No... she seems to be one of those people that if something can go wrong it will. She's done a lot of fieldwork as a part of her studies, especially for her masters. There's been pirate raids, wild animals,

even an unknown alien species."

"What?"

Miranda flashed him a small smile. "The last field study she was on, the planet had been determined to be uninhabited. The team cracked open what seemed to be a likely resource node only it was a vault containing what could only be described as monsters. They had guards of course, in case of any raids, but most of them went down quickly. Probably because of her previous experiences, she joined in the defense. There were...a lot of casualties."

The Commander shook his head in a mixture of disbelief and admiration, "Damn, that's pretty impressive for someone who hasn't had that kind of training."

Miranda shrugged, "Like I said, previous experiences of things going wrong. There is a note by the recruiter she was interested in this position because there was less of a chance of being, and I quote, 'Getting chewed on by something with too many teeth'."

He felt a broad grin break out at that, "I think I can come to like this kid."

She smiled faintly in return, "I imagine you would, EDI speaks quite highly of her. While Ms. Indigo isn't happy about her situation, she's been quite cooperative."

"How do you think she'll react to going down to the surface with my team then?"

The dark haired woman mulled it over for a moment, "Probably not well, but I'm sure you can talk her into it, you seem to be good at that."

He grunted a little, great, why did they always think he could convince people into doing what they didn't want to do?

There was a bit of an itch of curiosity that he wanted satisfied though. "So these monsters. Think they might have something to do with the Reapers?"

"It's unknown. We obtained one of the corpses. The thing looked like a spider out of someone's nightmares. It was clearly engineered, but our scientists couldn't tell anything about its origins. A team was sent to investigate the vault to see what could be learned. By the time they got there the vault had been destroyed by a self-destruct mechanism."

Of course there was. It seemed like too many ancient ruins were full of the damn things. It'd make sense if those had been some sort of top secret military or science installation like the Prothean facility on Ilos. Yet that didn't seem to be the case of these places. "Spider of nightmares, huh? What? It was the size of my hand or something?"

Miranda's tone too bland. "Not quite. The body alone was the size of a horse."

"You're shitting me!"

"I wish I was." She shuddered a little. "The pictures I saw were bad enough. From the reports, there were apparently other shapes. No rhyme or reason to them except it looks like it was meant to induce fear responses in biological enemies."

Shepard nodded, that made a certain amount of sick sense. "Well, now I can understand where Ms. Indigo is coming from. Here's hoping that this place is empty of vermin like that."

Miranda shook her head. "Only you, Shepard, would call something like that vermin."

He smirked at her before he put together his plans for the coming mission.