Two: Reunion

~*~

The Alliance had naming conventions for its ships. Frigates were named after battles, cruisers after cities, and dreadnoughts after mountains. Civilian craft had no such rules imposed on them, and tended to be whatever their owners preferred. Corporately owned ships tended to vaguely grandiose names such as ancient gods or some superlative concept like Adventure or Enterprise or Endeavour, borrowing notable names from humanity's pre-eezo space program. Privately owned ships tended to have more whimsical names, reflecting their Captain's personality.

The freighter that Kaidan had been forced to use as transport was called the PSV Kiss Me Marianne. Who Marianne was, Kaidan hadn't asked.

The man who had named her was a big bear of a man with a thick bushy beard and a Scottish accent. Incongruously, he had a fairly high pitched voice. Kaidan couldn't figure out if that was genuinely his voice or whether he was just putting it on for effect. He was a dementedly cheerful soul, and Kaidan had spent most of the outbound trip from the Citadel hiding belowdecks with the rest of the five-man crew who were relatively sane by comparison.

Captain Mike Blair was officially a private citizen, a freight-runner who spent most of his time moving luxury goods from the Citadel systems to the edges of the Traverse, close to the Terminus systems. His travels took him all over known space. More importantly, he was a man of discretion and who, after a word from Alliance Special Forces, would quietly drop people off where needed. In this case, that was Ilium, and since they were on approach, Kaidan had come up to the bridge out of curiosity, to watch their landing.

"Ever been to an asari world before?" The navigator, Mai Lee, was speaking to the helmsman, a kid called Fin who looked barely old enough to shave. Kaidan had no idea why they called him Fin when, according to his shipsuit patch, his name was Jimmy.

Fin had his eyes mainly focused on the helm readouts, but he was still able to shake his head. "Nope," he said, "First time."

"Here's a tip," Mai said, grinning, as she reclined in her seat and looked at him. "Don't let all the blue asses getting shaken in your face distract you, or you'll end up signed to some indentured servitude contract before you can sneeze. The asari are pretty, but they ain't stupid."

"Speaking from experience, Mai?" Kaidan asked, struggling not to grin at the sudden paleness that had overcome Fin's face.

She winked at him coyly. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Pay no attention to our Mai," Captain Blair said to Fin, who was starting to look a little wide-eyed, "And more to yer screens. I don't fancy becoming a wee smudge on the landing pad."

"Yes, Captain," Fin said hastily, bowing his head over the helm.

"And you, Mai," Blair wagged his finger in the navigator's direction. "Stop teasing the poor boy. You'll put him off pretty blue alien girls for life."

"Just means there's more for the rest of us," Mai smirked. She nudged Fin's chair with her elbow. "Oh cheer up and stop looking so miserable. I'll introduce you to Mirol. She's fascinated by humans."

Fin turned an interesting shade of purple and hunched further over his station.

Kaidan sat at an auxiliary monitoring station, the displays of which were dark, unneeded as they were during a landing. He was watching the descent on the forward monitors, and so almost missed it when Mai turned to look at him with a mischievous expression on her face.

"So what about you, Kaidan?" she asked, grinning cheekily, "Got anyone special waiting for you on Ilium?"

As far as most of the crew knew, he was just a passenger that their Captain was doing a favour for. If any of them had noticed the weaponry stowed in the hold, they were all smart enough not to mention it. He'd dug out an older set of armour, scuffed and a bit dented in places, but reliable and, more importantly, the sort of thing that would be expected of a mercenary who was reasonably successful. His hardsuit had been top of the line two years ago, and had been in storage on the Citadel when the Normandy had been destroyed, the only reason it hadn't burned up with the rest of his gear. Now it was just the top end of mid-range equipment. He'd had it recoloured and visibly scuffed before leaving to present a more convincing picture.

"Apparently no one as special as you have, Mai," he said, putting a lascivious twist on the word 'special', which earned a suppressed chuckle from Blair.

"Mirol's just a fun loving girl who's blue," Mai said. She gave him a shrewd look. "So if there's no one on Ilium, there's someone elsewhere, right?"

"Mai..." Blair said warningly, "Yer prying..."

"What?" She protested, the picture of innocence, "I'm just curious."

"No," he said, quickly, hoping to cut her off early, "There's no one special. There hasn't been for a couple of years."

At least, I don't think there's anyone special anymore...

He stared at the pictures of Nos Astra becoming easier to see as they descended through the atmosphere, and wondered who exactly he was trying to kid.

~*~

Kaidan hadn't come to Ilium because it was the gateway to the Terminus systems, or, at least, that wasn't the whole reason. It would certainly be easier to catch transportation from Nos Astra than it would be to take a direct ship from the Citadel, and it would be a lot less suspicious.

He was also there because Liara T'Soni was there, and he needed to speak to her. He was sure that she would have information that he needed to make his attempts to find Shepard much more fruitful. He could have gone to any information broker for aid, but the others would have charged, and word would have gotten out that someone was looking for the rumoured-to-be-alive Spectre. Liara would at least be discreet, and hopefully she wouldn't charge him.

It wasn't hard to figure out where to find her. An hour or two hanging out in the largest bar near the trading floor, drinking slowly and listening to the conversations ebb and flow around him supplied him with the information that Liara T'Soni was a local businesswoman of some repute, and her office held prime position directly overlooking the trading floor.

No one paid any attention to him, save for the asari bartender, who gave him a scrutinising look and just served him without a word. He had one drink, nursing it for the better part of an hour, before he tossed a fixed-denomination credit chit on the counter; the cost of the drink plus a rather hefty tip for the bartender. She gave him a warmer look after that, and the chit disappeared with a sweep of a cloth across the bar.

Kaidan made his way to Liara's office, outside of which was a desk. Sitting at it was a quarian female, her suit a colour that looked almost black in the pervasive blue light of Ilium. He guessed that it was actually red, if looked at under a yellow sun. He wondered if the suits had patterns on them that could only be seen using an enviro-suit's heads-up display.

He only realised he was staring when the quarian made a huffed sound of annoyance.

"Do I have something on my faceplate?" she asked, peevishly.

"Sorry," he said, with a rueful smile, "You don't see a lot of quarians in admin positions. Not many folks around here seem inclined to hire your people."

"My name is Erin'Zorah nar Hedron," the quarian said, icily, unable to break the social habit of her people to introduce themselves whenever they met someone new, in spite of her irritation, "And my people are perfectly capable workers."

"No! I didn't mean-" Kaidan cleared his throat. "I would never think that quarians weren't good workers. I know better. My name's Kaidan Alenko. I was shipmates with a quarian called Tali'Zorah. Is she a relation of yours by any chance?"

The tension seemed to abruptly leave Erin's shoulders; they sagged visibly. Even the irritation cleared from her voice. "Oh, you are a friend of Tali's? Yes, we are of the same clan. Not close family, by any means, but I suppose you would call us distant cousins. You were one of her shipmates aboard the Normandy?"

"I was," Kaidan answered slowly, not sure where she was going with the statement.

"I'm so sorry," Erin'Zorah said, and Kaidan was surprised at how genuinely sorrowful she sounded. "There's nothing worse than the loss of a homeship. Surface-huggers don't always understand, but I understand. All quarians do."

Kaidan was surprised at how his throat seemed suddenly tight. "I... thank you. Really. It means a lot." He cleared his throat, eager not to dwell on the subject. "So you're on your pilgrimage?"

"Yes," Erin said, leaning back in her chair slightly, "Though I did find myself running out of money fairly early on. Some... bad decisions about who I deal with for supplies and transportation. I had just enough money to make it to Ilium. I thought I'd wind up in some indentured contract until I tried Miss T'Soni's office. I'd heard she was... in the market... for a new assistant." Erin laughed wryly. "It turns out that she also knew Tali. She gave me a shot when I didn't have anywhere left to go. I owe her a lot for that."

"So, no idea what you're going to take back to the fleet yet?"

Erin sighed, and threw up her hands. "You know what Tali'Zorah brought back to the fleet? Information on geth evolution over the last three hundred years. How am I supposed to compete with that? I'm the first in our clan to go on Pilgrimage after Tali. You should have heard my mother." She thickened her accent, clearly mocking by impersonation, "'You know, your cousin Tali brought back data revolutionising our understanding of the geth. What are you going to bring back, darling?'"

Erin sighed heavily. "Keelah. Nothing's ever good enough for that woman."

"Mothers, huh?" he said, "Uh, listen, is Liara...?"

"Oh, of course. Let me check." Erin leaned forward, pressing her hand against the keypad. "Miss T'Soni, there's a human here to see you. Says his name is Kaidan Alenko. He doesn't have an appointment."

"Kaidan Alenko? Oh! Send him in."

Erin stood, coming around the desk and unsealing the door. "Please, go on in."

Inside the office, Liara T'Soni was standing looking out over the trading floor. When Kaidan entered, she turned, looking genuinely surprised. "Kaidan," she said, "I expected you'd come here eventually."

She held out her arms, and he willingly crossed the office to give her a heartfelt embrace. He'd not seen her in person since those awful days following the destruction of the Normandy, just before everyone went their separate ways, and he would have been lying if he'd claimed not to have missed her. They'd wound up leaning on each other a lot at that time, wallowing in a mutual sense of grief and loss. He didn't claim to entirely like the role she'd chosen to assume, an information broker with a serious reputation, someone not to be trifled with, but he still counted her as a friend.

He was relying on her friendship, in fact.

"Liara, you look well."

"And you look older," she told him, only semi-seriously.

He drew back, as if wounded. "Not that much older I hope."

"Humans all age too fast for my liking." Liara reached up, touched his cheek and smiled. "Have a seat. Do you want anything to drink?"

"No, thank you." He sat down in the chair reserved for visitors, while she sat down on the other side of the desk. It put a physical barrier in between them; he wondered if she felt more comfortable for that. "You expected me?"

"Shepard's alive," Liara said, simply, "And she's been on Ilium. Between your history with her, and the Council's undoubted interest in exactly what she's doing involved in Cerberus, I am surprised that you didn't come here sooner."

He leaned back in his chair, and smiled faintly at her. "The Council didn't send me," he said.

"Ah," Liara said, visibly filing that information away in the back of her mind. "So it was just Councillor Anderson then? From what I hear, he practically treats you like his own personal Spectre."

"Then you misheard." Liara, he realised, had spent so much time in the shadowy world of brokerage, where information was more valuable a resource than eezo, that she couldn't help but search out anything secret, something that no one else would know. She'd changed, he realised with a faint sadness, from the heartbroken scientist he'd last seen on the Citadel, just before she'd gotten on a transport for Thessia. "I take my orders from the Alliance, just like any other soldier."

"Of course." Liara tilted her head. "Then, if I may ask, why are you here?"

"The Omega 4 relay," he said, "The Alliance is concerned about rumours that it's been activated. Given that many human colonies have disappeared under very suspicious circumstances that seem to point to Collector involvement. If that's the case, and more Collectors are coming through the relay, of course they're going to investigate."

"Of course," Liara sat forward, propping her elbows on the desk and lacing her fingers together. "It certainly would be a matter of great concern for the Alliance. I have no doubt however, that such concern is only part of the story."

"That's the extent of the Alliance's concern. I'm fact finding for them, officially."

"Kaidan," she chided, "Don't treat me like a fool. You and I know better. I must admit that I find it somewhat dismaying that you feel it necessary to treat me with such caution."

He regarded her for a long moment, trying to frame what he wanted to say in a way that wouldn't have her trying to throw him off the office balcony with her biotics. "Alright," he said, "But this stays between us. I don't find you selling this off to the highest bidder, or I will come back to discuss the matter seriously."

Liara smiled, but it was a sad shadow of a proper expression. "The fact that you even need to add such a proviso to a conversation..." She sighed. "Agreed. Now please, tell me. It's Shepard isn't it?"

He nodded. "We received information that indicated she'd passed through the relay to confront the Collectors, but nothing after that. We've heard nothing. There's been no sightings, no rumours, nothing at all. We have no idea if she returned, we don't know if a Collector fleet is going to come looking for revenge, or if they're taken care of forever. It's not something we can afford to 'wait and see' about."

Liara's hands dropped to her console, bringing up various holographic screens that appeared, scrolled data, and then vanished again to be replaced by a different window. Liara's eyes only skimmed the information, as if she'd already thoroughly memorised everything in the files. "The last reports of the Normandy that I have put the ship somewhere near geth space. Less than a day later there are reports of the relay opening. Since then, there's nothing."

"Sorry." He held up a hand, stopping her. "I just... the Normandy?"

"Not the original, for obvious reasons. That's on Alchera, if you were so inclined to visit. I think there's even a monument there these days." Liara pulled up one screen enlarging it so that Kaidan could easily see it, and displayed a picture clearly taken in the Nos Astra docks, of a ship that clearly following the unique design fusion of turian and human aesthetics that had defined the Normandy. There was no scale, but judging from the docking port, it was much larger than the Normandy that Kaidan had served on.

"How the hell did she-?" He felt strangely unsettled by the sight of the ship, part of him insisting that the ship had been destroyed and had no business sitting in a dock somewhere. It was rather the same sense he'd had when he'd seen Shepard standing in the middle of a Horizon cargo storage area.

Liara shrugged fluidly. "Cerberus is a powerful and well-funded ally."

He felt cold and hastily looked away from the sight. Cerberus had resurrected the ship and its commander, calling them back from the dead. It felt unnatural somehow. Liara seemed to take pity on him, and banished the image to the electronic ether.

"When I was in the Terminus systems," he said, "It was a straight line to and from Horizon. I didn't exactly get a chance to sight-see. Any suggestions as to where I start looking?"

Liara drummed her fingers on her desktop. "The Council ordered Shepard to keep to the Terminus systems, and anyone who travels the Terminus systems winds up on Omega. It's the centre of trade, an interstellar hub. Everyone goes to Omega, and some never come back."

Kaidan wasn't even going to ask how she knew about the Council's assignments.

She gave him a wry look. "I don't mean to sound overdramatic, but there really is no way to overplay the danger than Omega poses to the unwary."

"I can handle myself," he told her.

"I know," she said, "But, as I said, there's no way to overplay the danger."

She leaned over to the intercom. "Erin, could you put together some files on Omega for Commander Alenko?"

"Yes, Miss T'Soni."

"Shepard was here," he ventured, slowly, gesturing to where the image of the Normandy in dock had hung in the air, "To see you?"

"No," Liara shook her head, and smiled, though it was a smile that didn't entirely reach her eyes. "I don't think she even realised I was here until I paid her docking fees. She was recruiting an asari Justicar and a drell assassin for her mission."

"A Justicar?" Kaidan frowned, "I think I've heard of them. A sect of ascetics who believe in the law above all, right?"

"More or less," Liara said, "You don't try and recruit a Justicar for just any mission. She never explained what she was planning, only said it had something to do with the Collectors."

"And you haven't seen her since?"

"Once or twice she returned for supplies, but she hasn't been back for several weeks."

Kaidan nodded thoughtfully and stared at the floating holograms displaying stock prices and share indices. He didn't tell her about the message he'd received.

Liara bit her lip in an endearingly human gesture of anxiety and said, "If... if you do find information about Shepard, whether she is alive or... or dead, please tell me. I couldn't stand not knowing."

"Of course," he said.

"And if she is dead," Liara continued, in a darker tone, "Make sure you find her body and bring it back. Far too many people have use for her corpse."

~*~

Erin'Zorah was waiting for him when he finally left the office.

"The files Liara wanted me to give you," Erin said, holding out an OSD.

"Thanks." Kaidan tucked the OSD into a pocket and looked at her thoughtfully. "Listen," he said, "If you ever wind up on the Citadel and need help..." He opened up his omnitool and forwarded a brief data package to her; his contact details. "Let me know."

She looked down at her own omnitool as it beeped, examining the file she'd received. "I..." She sounded genuinely shaken. "I... thank you. That's more than I could ever... thank you."

"You're Tali's family," he told her, looking into her faceplate, where he could just make out her eyes, "And Tali was a crewmate. I owe her a lot. Helping out her cousin is the least I can do."

Erin looked away, fingers twisting in the hood of her environment suit in a way that Kaidan recognised as embarrassment and audibly cleared her throat. When she spoke again, she sounded firmer. "I've arranged transport to Omega for you. Liara has left instructions to pay the fees and mask traces of your travel."

"Generous of her," he said.

He wondered if quarians smiled the way humans did. Certainly it sounded like she was doing so. "She can afford it." Erin moved behind her desk and sat down. "I don't know what you're looking for on Omega," she said, "But I hope you find it."

"So do I," he said.

~*~