Nassana Dantius' body lay cooling on her desk in her not-so-secure private office as Shepard headed down through the empty office tower with her squad and her newest recruit, assassin Thane Krios, in tow. Garrus was still pointedly staring at the drell and his hand hovered close to his Phalanx pistol as if to emphasize his distrust of their newest specialist. Jack seemed more interested in checking out the drell's elaborate leather coat, or maybe she was checking out the man inhabiting the coat. Even though he was alien, as soon as the adrenaline wore off, Shepard had taken note of what Thane really looked like and was startled to realize that she considered him attractive, even if he was an alien. Maybe it was because of the way he moved, she mused. As they went down the elevator, she looked at Thane in the reflection of the polished elevator doors. Well-built, lean, sharp features on his face, those disconcertingly large, black eyes with a hint of green in them. From his movements, she could tell he weighed much more than a similarly built human and also remembered that drell had denser muscle tissue. For all that, he was unbelievably light and quick on his feet. She thought back to the way he dropped from the air shaft and dispatched Nassana's three guards and the woman herself in seven seconds flat. Coming back to herself, she realized she was still staring at Thane in the reflection, and he was looking back.

"Come on, kids. Let's head back to the Normandy and get our newest recruit settled in. Thane, do you want to stop and pick up anything first."

He nodded. "Since this will be a long term mission, I will need to gather my weapons and a few personal effects. If you give me the docking bay number, I can meet you there."

"Pfft. Nonsense. It'll go faster if we help transport your things."

"Forget it, Shepard. I'm no pack mule," Jack interjected. Garrus said nothing, but kept staring intently at the drell.

She could see Thane's hesitation and was about to cajole him further when he nodded. "Very well. I doubt I will need to return to this location again. Your help would be most welcome."

"What's the matter," Garrus drawled. "Don't want to show off your bolt hole?"

Thane was unruffled by the turian's provocative tone. "An assassin who is not very careful about covering his tracks is one with a very short lifespan. Old habits die hard. But come. It's on the far side of the city."

"Uh uh. I got better things to do than haul luggage across Nos Astra. I'm outta here, Shepard." Jack tossed her a desultory salute and headed down the street. "Catch you back on the Normandy later. Think I'll go explore the local nightlife for a while."

Shepard shrugged. "We lift at 0500 local time tomorrow, Jack. Be on board." Jack was already walking away and waved a hand halfheartedly. "Well, gentlemen, shall we?"

Thane led them through Nos Astra via automated taxi and subway before resorting to foot travel. By then, they were in the obvious slums of the city. Thane's path twisted around multiple times, even going through abandoned buildings, until Shepard was lost and would have had to rely on her omni-tool to get back to the spaceport. Just as she realized they had come in an elaborate circle around a rundown tenement, Thane stopped. He spent several seconds looking up and down the surrounding streets. "It's unusually quiet for this time of day," he noted.

"Good time to be sleeping off last night's bender for most of the inhabitants here," Garrus noted.

Thane made a noncommittal noise that might have been agreement as he looked around again. Shepard looked around as well, but didn't see anything out the ordinary. Still, if those two were wary, she would be as well. She waited patiently while Thane finished his surveillance, but was caught off guard when he suddenly walked across the street. Her lips thinned in a frown as she realized he wasn't used to working with a team. She'd have to bring him up to speed quickly if he was going to be an effective member of her squad. For now, she ceded him the point position as she fell back with Garrus and watched their surroundings.

Thane led them through a decrepit lobby. It seemed that no matter what the world or what the species, slums always smelled like piss and alcohol. This one was no different. Mixed in with it, though, was another scent, one very familiar to all three of them: blood and the ozone scent of recent biotic use. Without a word, all three of them pulled their weapons.

"Talk to me, Thane. Do you know what's going on?"

"No, Shepard. Too many possibilities. Could be a gang fight. Could also be mercs who managed to finally track me down. Could be mercs after someone else here."

Shepard and Garrus grinned at each other. "Gangs and mercs...my two favorite excuses for a fight. Well, sounds like we'll get a chance to work as a team sooner than I expected," she told him. "Garrus always has my right. You stay on my left. Other than that, stay alive and wipe 'em out." With that, she activated her tech armor and shouldered past Thane into the lead, using her omni-tool to scan for life signs.

Garrus chuckled as he told Thane, "Watch out for her fireworks, too. She makes a great diversion. They're all so busy watching her, makes it easy to pick them off." He turned serious. "Just make sure you watch her flank. I'm not losing her to an untried crew member who only looks after himself. Clear?"

Thane measured the intense stare of the turian before nodding solemnly. "Quite. You need have no fears on account of me."

"Better not," Garrus muttered as he checked his rifle scope. "Now let's go clean up this charming little bit of scumland." He looked back up at Thane, or rather where the assassin had been and harrumphed. He had already melted out of sight into the dark recesses of the lobby. It took Garrus a couple of seconds to determine the most likely hiding places and he finally caught a glimpse of the drell's leather coat in the morning sun shining through the dirt encrusted front doors. Then he focused his attention back on Shepard as she approached the deserted circular lobby desk

In her typical brand of bravado, she yelled out, "Come on out. I know you're in there. If you're unarmed, come out slowly and you'll be fine. If you're armed, head out the back if you want to live past the next five minutes. She had her Shuriken SMG out and aimed at a door opposite her across the desk. Her tech armor formed a glimmering orange outline floating over her hard suit, which was still gleaming white even after their long firefight through Dantius towers just a few hours ago.

Seconds passed like minutes as they waited, with Shepard getting more tense as they rolled past. She couldn't leave a potential enemy behind them, and if was mercs, they knew they had the upper hand. They could wait until she was forced to open the door, then lay into her with a hailstorm of ammo. Unfortunately, she couldn't ethically blow the door open in case it was a bunch of terrified people hiding back there. With a final check of her armor, she nodded to Garrus, glanced over the lobby looking for Thane, and then sidled up to the door. The building was so old, it actually had a door knob and some sort of fiber composite door instead of an electronic lock and sliding door mechanism. "Here's hoping it's the non-lethal option," she muttered to herself as she reached out to turn the knob.

With a quick twist, she opened the door and shoved it back into the room. That was the signal for all hell to break loose. Shepard caught a glimpse of Eclipse armor before she dove to the side and scrambled for the dubious cover of the lobby desk. The mercs were laying down enough ammo to make the doorway and surrounding area an absolute kill zone, but at the same time, they were constrained to that one area. Shepard reached down and grabbed her last inferno grenade from her belt and tossed it in the room. She counted silently as she stuck her SMG over the counter and fired blindly at the door, more in the hope of keeping the mercs confined than in hitting anything. She distantly heard the whomp of Garrus' rifle.

"Three...four!" A tremendous explosion followed by a gout of flame bellowed out from the doorway. Shepard took advantage of the explosion to roll out from behind the desk and unload her SMG on full auto into the room. Due to the blaze, she couldn't make out any life signs either visually or through infrared, but given that they were armored, she doubted the grenade actually took out any of them. She was counting on the fire damaging their armor enough that the hail of bullets from her team would finish the job on most of them. She fired two entire clips into the room, disregarding the return fire and counting on the two layers of armor to protect her. It was only when the flames died down and her tech armor whined in warning that she darted to the side to seek shelter and let her armor recharge while she reloaded.

Garrus was behind some crates that had been piled haphazardly against the side wall firing at someone on the second floor balcony. A bullet zinged by Shepard's head and buried itself in the wall beside her showering her with plaster dust. She sighted along the bullet's return path just in time to see an Eclipse Vanguard's head rock to the side from an exquisitely placed headshot. Quick mental triangulation determined that it was Thane who'd put the merc down, and that let her backtrack the assassin's general position. He was on her left, covering her flank as she'd ordered. She dismissed any further worry for him and returned her attention to the mercs remaining in front of her. She finally got a visual and counted five more mercs returning fire. They were hiding behind some crates in the room, which seemed to be a decrepit restaurant.

"Dropped one!" Garrus crowed on their comm as another Vanguard flew backward from the force of his sniper rifle. Shepard was regretting that they hadn't fitted Thane with a comm. It was understandable; after all, they'd only recruited him an hour earlier, and she wasn't in the habit of carrying spare communicator sets with her on missions. It was a habit she vowed to change next time out. "Engineer, Shepard," Garrus warned her. He knew of her deep and abiding hatred for them and their turrets.

"Crap. Cover me," she ordered as she broke from cover and ran to face into the room. She winced automatically as the Eclipse mercs fired and her armor whined, but she didn't let it distract her from powering up a throw that sent both engineer and partially erected turret flying hard into the wobbly dining furniture. She followed it up with bursts from her SMG to make sure the engineer stayed down. Garrus was firing over her shoulder to keep the rest of the mercs behind cover and reduce their firing rate. Even so, her tech armor whining ratcheted up to overload. She fired her last clip just as her armor overloaded, then sprinted back to the lobby desk. It was so full of holes now that it barely qualified as any sort of cover, but it afforded just enough protection for her to recharge her armor and swap out thermal clips. This was the last clip she had on her, and she hadn't had a chance to pick up anymore from the downed Eclipse mercs. Well, good thing she wasn't limited to just guns for offense.

The old hotel was severely short on high powered electronics that she could overload and use against the enemy, but she still had plenty of biotic power. Adrenaline was coursing through her body, making her nerves sing with the thrill of battle. Shepard tapped into that energy and threw a crate across the room at an asari Vanguard taking cover behind another crate, sending the merc crashing into the wall with a dull thud. She immediately followed it up with a warp to strip the asari of her biotic barriers. As soon as the barrier was weakened, Garrus fired a concussive shot to collapse it. Shepard readied another throw to try and crush the asari, but before she could channel the energy, the asari's head snapped backward with a perfect hole between her eyes. Shepard couldn't help the smile that crossed her face. Thane was as good as she'd hoped. Even without a comm, he was following her tactics and assisting them in the firefight.

Round after round was impacting her armor, coming from two remaining Eclipse troopers trapped in the dining room with her. Still grinning, she stayed in the open as she scooped up a thermal clip from a downed merc and brought her SMG to bear on them. She charged them and slid over the crates they were using as cover just as her tech armor reached overload again. This time, she had targets. The armor flared and pulsed as it discharged, staggering the troopers and knocking one of them onto his back. She fired her last burst at the downed trooper then dropped her weapon to extend blades from each omni tool, using the left one to block his weapon and knock it sideways as she punched through his armor and into his torso. He stiffened, and Shepard drew back to stab him again. As he went down, she turned to take care of the last trooper lying on the floor, but she started in surprise as she saw Thane standing beside her and firing the finishing shot. Damn, he moves fast, she thought as she started scavenging thermal clips and credits from the Eclipse mercenaries.

"Any more out there?" she asked.

"Negative, Shepard. Lobby is clear," Garrus announced over the comm at the same time as Thane shook his head. "There was a group on the balcony," he stated blandly, leaving the obvious unsaid.

Shepard stood up and finished shoving spare thermal clips into her belt. "Alright then, let's finish up what we came here to do. Lead on, Thane."

Without a word, the green assassin turned and led them up the stairs. Still on high alert from the firefight, they ascended six flights in the dimly lit concrete and steel stairwell that was littered with trash and other things that shouldn't be scrutinized too closely. The hallway they stepped into was covered in an ancient, filthy carpet, and only half the overhead lights were working. Thane led them to a door at the end of the hallway, to a corner apartment. Unsurprisingly, when she thought about it, the lights at this end of the halfway were out. Thane studied the door for a moment, looking for some sort of sign that it was still safe to go in, Shepard presumed. It looked very insecure, a simple wooden door with an ancient lock and key system. No need to hack the door; one good kick would knock it in. Shepard was surprised when Thane simply turned the knob, not even bothering with a key. "No lock?"

Thane stepped back, letting her see a second door set a couple feet inside the apartment hallway. This one was exactly what she would have expected from him. A sophisticated, and very sturdy, metal door with a complex electronic lock complete with biometric scanners stood in their way. "Clever," Garrus commented.

Thane hummed something that might have been a pleased acknowledgement as he keyed in his access code. The second door opened, and he gestured for Shepard and Garrus to enter before him.

The contrast between the shabby hallway and the polished apartment were astonishing. Shepard unconsciously paused just inside the main living space as she looked around. The mid-morning sun flooded the room with a honey golden light that made the polished wood floors gleam warmly. There was a mini kitchen to the side, not much upgraded from what came with the place, but sparkling clean and with a single porcelain mug sitting on the counter. There was no couch or chairs as such, but there were numerous low cushions and pillows scattered on some sort of woven reed mats. There was a low table made of reddish wood underneath the windows, and on it rested a foot high pyramidal structure that was intricately carved into whorls and curves that reminded her of waves surging and crashing. At the bottom, a pearly upturned crescent was inlaid into the wood with a large pearl cradled in its curve. Looking around, Shepard could see a small bedroom through an open door. At the back of the apartment a set of dimly glowing and translucent shelves held Thane's weapons. The way they were displayed turned them into works of art as much as tools of death. The effect of the place was spartan, yet still warm and comforting. There was no clutter, nothing out of place, yet everywhere she looked, there was a focal point: the pyramid artwork in the living space, some abstract paintings along the kitchen wall, the guns and knives in the back. Slowly she became aware of a faint and unusual spicy scent that permeated the room and wondered if it was from the food he ate or something uniquely drell.

Garrus had gravitated toward the guns and was appraising them professionally. He didn't say anything, but Shepard could tell he was impressed. One would expect the galaxy's best assassin to have only the best weapons, she thought. Turning further, she saw Thane still standing at the apartment entrance, watching them as they examined his living space. It suddenly struck her that they were probably the first people he had ever allowed into his private sanctum. She looked around the apartment again. Thane would have no reason to impress anyone. Everything in here was solely for his benefit. She realized she was looking at his inner soul, exposed. She looked back at Thane to see if she could read anything in his expression, but his face was calm and composed, giving no hint as to if he was discomfited by the sudden presence of strangers in his home. Or if he was, she was unable to read it from his alien drell features.

Suddenly, she felt awkward, as if she were intruding into something best left private. Grasping for something to say, she gestured at the pyramid and asked, "What's this?"

Thane walked over and delicately traced his finger from the top point to the bottom corner. "It is a symbol of Arashu, one of the old gods of my people. She is the goddess of life and birth and protection.

"A strange patron for an assassin."

"We are all born, and we all need protection at some point. Now it is my turn to provide that protection for others in her name," he answered.

Shepard thought back to the salarian workers he had sealed into the utility closets for their own protection. "Do you always take such care to protect the innocents on your assignments?"

Thane looked out the window and clasped his hands behind his back. "I do. There is no skill in indiscriminate slaughter. There is less honor in such. I am a weapon, finely honed to perform one task. To cause pain and suffering where there is no cause would be...dishonorable."

Shepard turned her gaze out the window to the skyscrapers of Nos Astra and thought back on her career. She certainly couldn't say that she'd been as careful as Thane in her past. No, there was definitely innocent blood on her hands. Hundreds had died on the Citadel alone during Sovereign's attack, yet she was still hailed as a hero. There had been others in her past, when she'd been more concerned with getting the job done than the collateral damage. But Thane, who only killed those who deserved death and took care to protect the innocents was named assassin, had to work in darkness and secrecy, hunted by both law and criminals alike. It was a comparison that didn't make sense and made her vaguely uncomfortable. She frowned and forced the thought away. "How much do you need to take?" she asked, once again all business. It was time to wrap up and get back to the Normandy, the only place left in the galaxy where she felt safe and comfortable, even it carried a constant subtext of threat from Cerberus. Suppressing a sigh from the never-ending stress, she looked at her newest recruit.

"Not much. My weapons, clothing, a few personal items. If you will excuse me?" He bowed slightly and turned to walk into the bedroom.

Shepard wandered over to Garrus. "So, whatcha think?"

Garrus ducked his head in a turian equivalent of a shrug. "So far, he lives up to expectations. It'll be good to have someone with his skill set on board."

Shepard cocked an eyebrow. "Really? I don't envision us actually trying to assassinate any Collectors."

He chuckled. "Just because your preferred style of fighting is like a klixen in a dance club doesn't mean there aren't other more...sophisticated options."

Shepard mock growled at him and kicked at a taloned foot, which he predictably shifted out of the way.

He continued in a more serious tone. "You're making enemies, Shepard. Not all of them will be willing to face you in combat. Some are going to want to take the easy route and just snipe you from a catwalk. With Thane along, maybe he can see the dangers we don't. Besides, we're going to need all the help, and firepower, we can get."

"Well aren't you Mr. Sunshine and Roses." She slumped against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest as she glared out at the morning sun.

"Just telling it like I see it, Shepard."

"Sometimes this seems like an impossible task, Garrus. We haven't even struck a single blow against the Collectors since Horizon, and even then, I wouldn't say we had a decisive victory. We stopped them from taking a few of the colonists, but now I not only have to worry about saving the galaxy, but dealing with various pissant merc groups."

"Hey. You're the only person in the galaxy to have defeated a Reaper. Those things thought they were invincible, and you showed them and us that they weren't. They've got weaknesses, just like any living thing. And if there's anyone who can convince the galaxy to stand together against these things, it's you."

"I know, Garrus. I'll drag the Council along kicking and screaming if I have to, but I'm going to knock some sense into their heads. It's just that I really don't need these petty thugs on top of everything else."

"Hopefully, our new recruit will be able to tap into whatever shadow network assassins use to set up targets and let us know if you ever get a contract."

Shepard glanced toward Thane's bedroom. "I thought you didn't like him. Why the sudden reliance on his access to resources we don't even know exist?"

"I never said I didn't like him. I don't trust him. Not yet. It's not like assassins are a common career path in the Hierarchy. He did well downstairs, and he's got a nice set up here. I'm a little worried about his death wish, though."

Shepard shook her head. "It's not a death wish. He doesn't want to die. He's just accepted that it's coming soon. There's a difference, Garrus." She paused and bit her next words off, unsaid. I know how he feels, she thought. But she didn't want to shake Garrus' confidence in her. "Hey, instead of standing around like warts on a krogan, let's see if we can help him pack. We can get him settled and maybe take in some of the nightlife in Nos Astra before we head out again. Maybe we can even pry Liara out of her office for a few drinks tonight."

"You're on, Shepard."

Two hours later, Shepard stepped out of her shower drying her hair. It felt good to finally get the battle grime off after that all-night fight through Dantius towers, then the mercs at Thane's place. She wrapped her towel around herself then laid down on the bed. It had been a long night, and she could do with a nap before heading back into Nos Astra with Garrus later this evening. Jack was still MIA, but she wasn't worried. Jack would show up just before liftoff, as usual. She had Thane settled into Life Support. Later, after her nap, she'd show him around the Normandy and introduce him to the crew. Jacob's attitude toward the assassin bothered her, but she'd deal with it later. Everything in the entire galaxy could wait until later at this point.

She could feel sleep stealing up on her, and she gratefully gave herself over to it. She rarely allowed herself naps, because she had enough trouble sleeping at night, but today she'd give in. As sleep pulled her under, she found herself thinking again about the handsome drell residing on the crew deck. He was intriguing. What was that saying? A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Something like that. He seemed so different from the rest of her crew of crazies and misfits. She hoped he'd fit in. Her last coherent thought was that she would like to unwrap the mystery and find the out who he really was.

Sleep finally claimed her. For once, it was merciful and instead of nightmares of suffocating, she dreamt perfectly normal random dreams, but with occasional tantalizing glimpses of an enigmatic green drell always just a few steps ahead. Her lips curved up in a gentle smile at the thrill of her dream chase.

A/N: I wanted to explore the parts of the Mass Effect story that weren't in the game. Why do the characters act the way they do? What do they do on downtime between missions? What do they say and do that make them into friends and lovers? So it's only with the rare exception that I will take scenes directly from the game, partly because we've seen them over and over, and there are other authors who've narrated them quite well. I didn't see any point in rehashing those scenes further.

In addition, there will be scenes in here to set up for a continuation of the story past the suicide mission. I will say here and now that I disliked a good deal of Mass Effect 3 and despised the ending. The DLC they put out didn't fix anything for me. Plus, I can't forgive them for their treatment of Thane in ME3. So I sat down to figure out another plausible ending for the Mass Effect story, and to do that, I needed to insert some other scenes, other races taking action, other things happening away from the Normandy and her crew that will be relevant much later on.

A good deal is written already, and the story mostly plotted out, but this will be a long story, and I'm a mom with a full time professional job and a lot of other things going on. So it will be a slow story. Hopefully, if it's decent, it'll get some good reviews and that will spur me to write faster.

Thanks and enjoy.