It had been four months since the war with the Reapers had ended, a war that had lasted just over a year after the Crucible had evened the field out by disabling the barriers of Reaper ships permanently; nothing interesting had really happened since then. Shepard and Tali were in his cabin on the Normandy, lying on the bed looking up at the stars through the ceiling window when the message came.

"Shepard," Joker said over the intercom, "there's a report that's just come in down here that I think you should see."

Shepard sighed; lately he had been thinking of letting Tali know about how he wanted to finally settle down with her on Rannoch. After all he had done and been through so far in his career in the Alliance and as a Specter he was ready for that kind of life. He got up and made his way to see what this report had in store for him; shooting a glance back at Tali that told her all of his feelings about this whole upcoming situation more than words could.

The door of the elevator opened to the CIC, he noticed that Traynor looked like she had something particularly distressing that she was currently dwelling on in her mind.

"Is everything alright Samantha?"

"I'll be fine…. It's just…. I'll let Joker fill you in Shepard, you'll understand."

Shepard arrived at the helm of the Normandy; Joker gave him the report without a word, just a stare of disbelief and shock. Shepard I have some bad news for you, the report, obviously from Hackett started off, a couple of days ago we found out that one of your old team members who was with you mainly during your time with Cerberus, Jacob Taylor, has gone missing. We have an investigator at his house on Earth looking into things right now. He can fill you in on all of the details when you arrive, but I thought you'd want to know this; Dr. Brynn Cole was found dead in the house. Good luck Shepard, Hackett out.

After reading the report he just stood there looking at it with a frustrated and puzzled look on his face. Why would someone have done this? Where was Jacob?

"Joker, I think you know where we need to go. Set a course for Earth."

He left the room not sure of exactly how he felt one way or the other as he made his way back to his cabin to let Tali know about what had happened. Traynor gave him an understanding nod when he passed her and entered the elevator. The door opened and he walked back into the room and from the look on his face alone Tali could tell that something bad had happened.

"What happened Shepard? I can see you're upset about something." she asked, as he sat down next to her on the bed.

"I know you haven't exactly liked Jacob that much seeing as he used to be with Cerberus, but the report I just read says he's missing, that Dr. Cole was found dead in their house on Earth. I'm to go there to meet with an investigator that's been looking into it."

"Shepard, I don't know what to say," she started saying while turning to him and putting his hand in hers, " I'm sorry and I hope it turns out that Jacob is safe, I may not have liked him like you said, but he's a good man at heart. I'm coming with you when you go down to meet the investigator, it's all terrible...I just hope that we find the bosh'tet that killed Dr. Cole and find him."

"I do too Tali. And no, this is something I have to take care of on my own. I'm sorry, please understand this."

After a brief pause she looked at him and said, "It's fine, I understand. Just be careful if you find out who did it and decide to go off on your own... please."

"It's a deal then," he said as he reached over and took her mask off and kissed her.

When they arrived at Earth, Shepard went down in a shuttle alone; Cortez was with him but only to pilot the shuttle of course. He arrived at the house; the sight of a holographic police line greeted him at the door. He walked through it and found the investigator Hackett had mentioned who began to give him a rundown of what had been found so far.

"This window here near where we found Dr. Cole's body had been broken by someone as you can see. It looks like whoever killed her had jumped through it and had snapped her neck in an instant so it had to be someone trained just for things like this," they walked into the living room of the house, "a hand to hand struggle took place here and there are signs that biotics were used, more than likely from Jacob who was defending himself. Things get interesting if you take a look over here in the kitchen."

The door to the kitchen opened and on the floor were a few body bags.

"It seems the main assailant wasn't alone and whoever they were they came in numbers, more than likely more than what you see here; these are the only ones Jacob was able to kill. I've saved the best thing we found for last, it's in the basement."

They got to the basement door, the investigator insisted Shepard went down first. He opened the door, it was extremely dark and he couldn't see anything. Before he could find where the light was he was kicked in the back sending him down the stairs; his pistol landing somewhere nearby him.

"It was foolish of you to come here alone Shepard, I was expecting you to at least bring someone…..like Tali," the investigator said with a grin on his face, "I would have enjoyed putting you through that kind of pain before your end. This just makes everything easier though, and don't worry because after we're done with what we have planned for you, you'll soon be joining your friend Jacob."

Shepard started to get up as the lights flashed on. When he stood up fully he saw something on the ground in the corner; it was Jacob. He turned around to see the investigator right there behind him who then delivered a kick to his chest. Shepard slammed into the wall and lunged at him as soon as he recovered; a fist fight followed this. Whoever this guy was it was clear he had the upper hand in such a contest. He blocked a punch from Shepard while grabbing him and throwing him into the wall again; Shepard fell to the ground and saw his pistol next to him. He grabbed it and got up but unknown to him his foe had drawn a blade of sorts and stabbed him with it just as Shepard turned and shot at him. Shepard fell back into the wall as the man also fell, the bullet had found its target; his head. The blade had punctured his armor and skin by his shoulder but hadn't gone too deep. He pulled it out with a grunt of pain and threw it to the ground.

Holding his shoulder with his hand, he then walked over to the corner of the room to check Jacob; he had been stabbed multiple times and was gone. He made his way upstairs; the door to the kitchen was still open and he decided to take a look to see exactly who was in the body bags. He looked inside one and saw someone in an Alliance uniform. As he was examining the person, someone burst out from one of the other bags and began shooting at Shepard. One shot caught him in the arm as he dove out the door; he winced from the pain. He got up and fired off a couple of shots into the room as he ran out into the yard where he entered.

"Steve I need you to bring the shuttle here right now! And let Dr. Chakwas know I'm going to need to make use of her services when we get back to the Normandy." Shepard said over the comm.

Cortez arrived moments later, and with one last look at the house to see if the man was going to pursue him further, Shepard boarded the shuttle. Instead of answering questions all that had happened down there had created even more questions for him. Who were those men who had killed Jacob and Dr. Cole? What was the motive behind all of this? What did they want with him?