Chapter 2

Citadel: Alliance Naval Intelligence Safe House #4

The two men sat in the modest apartment, tucked away inconspicuously in the middle of one of the Citadel's lower-class residential wards. Intended to allow Alliance covert operatives access to secure communications, Alliance information networks, and a small cache of supplies without requiring them to openly approach any Alliance military facility, it had been turned over to Alenko and Taylor by Admiral Anderson for use as their their temporary working headquarters.

Kaidan sat at the desk, multiple holo-displays open in front of him each scrolling its own individual fountain of data. Behind him, Jacob paced impatiently up and down the carpet.

"With all due respect, Commander, its been two days. We're burning daylight just sitting here. How many more data correlations can you run?"

"As many as I need to find a clear picture, Mr. Taylor. The Illusive Man is a formidable opponent. As soon as we start acting openly against Cerberus, our safety factor goes way down-"

"I didn't sign up for this to be safe, Commander." Jacob spat back.

"And I didn't sign up for this to fail, Taylor," Kaidan retorted, turning around to look at him. "Until we can start getting results solid enough that Admiral Anderson can take them to Alliance command and get us real backup, we will be all alone out there. You're supposed to be a professional, Taylor. Tactical evaluation: How long do we last by ourselves against Cerberus making a full-scale effort to kill us? And after we successfully escape and evade, if we do so, how much progress do we make on our mission after having been forced to break contact?"

Kaidan laid both palms flat on the arms of his chair, preparing to stand up if need be. Him and Jacob locked eyes.

"Not far enough… sir." Jacob grudgingly admitted.

"So until we can find a target that offers sufficient odds of success, we are staying right here. We will check our damn targets. We will wait for the computer to give us a damned firing solution. And we will not eyeball it. We are not cowboys shooting it from the hip!" Kaidan finished passionately.

Taylor stared at him expressionlessly for a moment, lip starting to twitch. Kaidan stared back… until, unable to restrain himself any longer, he snorted. Jacob's own deadpan mask slipped at that point.

"Are they still using that speech in boot camp, Commander?", Jacob said, chuckling.

"Practically word-for-word. They make instructors watch a training vid and rehearse it. I actually delivered it to a class at Staff College once, just to see their faces."

"Hah! But our joking around isn't getting us there any faster than our arguing with each other. So…"

Kaidan tapped a key to close out all the holodisplays, then rose up out of his chair and started pacing, as Jacob sat down on the couch and picked up his coffee mug. "So we ignore the churn here and go back, review it all from the beginning. Basic protocol: what does Cerberus do when they suspect a location to be compromised?"

"As I said before, they move out. They can't afford to do it on every little attack of nerves, but if the operator in charge of the cell even just has a strong hunch that the site is compromised, the Illusive Man won't chew them out for an emergency relocate."

"Check. But it occurs to me that if this is something Cerberus does routinely, then they have a drill for it. What's the procedure? I mean, exactly, in detail?"

"Each major operational site is expected to have at least two alternate sites in reserve, already plotted out and cleared of squatters at the start of a project. There's all sorts of abandoned refueling stations or outposts around. Uncharted worlds you can drop prefabs on. Things like that. And at the primary site, all personnel and equipment has to be ready to be loaded up and gone on 12 hours' notice."

"Hmmm." Kaidan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That wouldn't work for heavy equipment, would it? Or large, delicate installations. Things like shipyard cradles, industrial nano-foundries. What does Cerberus do with those?"

"Generally, we do heavy industry work off-site, through commercial fronts, and just buy finished equipment. For things like that done in-house, what we do with the gear during an emergency relocate is to abandon it. Or blow it in place, if its something whose capture intact would be a security risk."

Kaidan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Wouldn't that place an operation on hold until you could replace the specialized equipment in question? From your debrief, the Illusive Man is very generous with funding. Does he—"

"Hey, you're right." Jacob said thoughfully. "For things like that, redundant sets of gear and stores is purchased at the beginning of an operation. Better to have it and not need it than the other way around, that's his philosophy."

"But this equipment couldn't be stored at the alternate sites themselves, as Cerberus leaves those abandoned in space until they need them. That's just asking for every two-bit salvage artist in space to help himself as he wanders by. They'd need to store it somewhere else, through a 'commercial front', and ship it out as and when needed."

"I follow you. We know that Cerberus will have moved the facility where the Normandy pulled in for its post-mission shakedown, the one I defected from. But where they moved it to will need at least some of the same equipment as the base I left. And so…"

"You make up a list of what you can remember, of some of the things too large to take with them, that they'd need to have replaced as soon as they arrived at their new home. And the name of the vendors that your cell leader originally ordered that gear from. Then we go there, and see who made additional purchases of the same equipment sets… and where they were instructed to forward them."

"Off the top of my head, I can make up a list of several items that would fit that profile. But Miranda – Operative Lawson always handled the financial details herself for operational security reasons, so I wouldn't know who exactly where she purchased them from. But as security chief it was part of my job to monitor movements in and out, so what I can tell is you what planet she sent the transport to, to pick this stuff up."

"Well, don't leave me in suspense, Mr. Taylor."

"Illium."

Illium: Nos Astra Spaceport

"I am sorry, Mr. Francis." the prim young asari customs officer said calmly. "Your bodyguard's weapon is showing up on our scans as illegally modified. You are free to go, but he will have to remain here to answer additional questions."

"Well, I'm not going to be walking around 'the gateway to the Terminus Systems' without my personal security!", Kaidan Alenko said pompously, tugging a finger at the uncomfortable collar of his expensive business suit.

"Boss, this is bull shit." Jacob Taylor said coarsely, also wearing an expensive suit. Waving his hand at the customized Carnifex heavy pistol currently laid out on the custom officer's counter. "I've taken this baby here straight through customs on Earth without tripping a single flag. This is just a shakedown!"

"This is Illium, Mr. Hoskins." the customs officer frowned disapprovingly. "We do not indulge in the 'shakedown' here. We are dedicated to the principle of free and unrestricted commerce. But we still have laws."

"All right, all right," Kaidan said impatiently. "Ronald, let's go and answer their questions so we can get moving. I do not want to be late for my appointment."

"If you say so, boss," Jacob growled. The customs officer nodded at the security guard nearby, who escorted the two travelers back to her supervisors' desk. As 'Ronald Hoskins, private security consultant' blustered and stammered unconvincingly through an ever-increasing list of rationalizations as to why his personal defense weapon somehow managed to violate even Illium's lax carry laws, his 'business executive' employer stared impatiently around the office, then sat down at one of the desk chairs and started conducting a financial analysis on his omnitool, uncaring as to the plight of his employee. Eventually, 'Hoskins' yielded with ill grace to having his weapon confiscated by Nos Astra port security in lieu of charges, and he and his employer were released.

"Did you get it?", Jacob said, as they walked across the concourse. They stopped at a weapons dealer briefly to purchase a replacement weapon for Taylor, and continued on.

"Worked like a charm," Kaidan replied. "The customs supervisor was so busy rolling her eyes at your 'obnoxious human thug' routine that she never paid any attention to me sitting there. Took a few minutes to get through her office system's firewall without tripping a flag, but we've got the customs declarations for that particular transport you flagged, for the last time they cleared port."

"Which declaration will have the vendors' names on the bills of lading, meaning we know whose system to hack to find out what Cerberus front placed any replacement orders, and where they shipped."

"As to that… I'm hoping our next stop will be able to provide us that shipping information, without us having to do more hacking ourselves."

"Dr. T'Soni? Are you sure, Commander? According to the Illusive Man's dossier on her, she was in tight with the Shadow Broker. And I wasn't in the office with them when Commander Shepard met with her the last time, but she seemed… disappointed, somehow. Surprised, at least."

"I'm not going to let Liara find out that Shepard's dead from the newsvid or some intel report she pulls out of the Shadow Broker's network, Taylor. Our mission's too important to divert course across the galaxy for personal reasons, but if we have to be here anyway, then I can't avoid this."

"If you say so. But announcing ourselves and our mission to a galactic information broker doesn't sound to me like the best way to stay in the shadows."

"You said yourself, the Illusive Man's dossier on Liara recommended against recruiting her for your mission because of her ties to the Shadow Broker. If that isn't a solid indicator that his network has its interests opposed to the Shadow Broker's, I don't know what is."

"Point. But still… Shepard wasn't reacting like someone who'd just reunited with an old shipmate that I could see. Watch your back."

Illium: Liara's Office

"Please come in and sit down, Mr. Francis," Liara said icily, as she stood behind her desk staring out at the majestic urban landscape of Nos Astra. "What brings you to my-" Liara turned around, and her eyes widened in shock at the two men she saw standing there. "-office," she finished dazily.

"Will our conversation be secure, Dr. T'Soni?" Kaidan said, still maintaining his pompously affected businessman's voice, as him and Jacob let the office door seal behind them.

"Of course… my office has been upgraded with the latest anti-surveillance systems." Liara punched a control on her desk, and armored shutters dropped into place across all the exterior windows, as the barely subliminal hum of white noise generators became audible.

"Hello, Liara. It's been a long time." Kaidan said, softly.

"Likewise… Commander Alenko." Liara said softly, but levelly. "Congratulations on your promotion, by the way. That is, presuming you still work for the Alliance," she continued, with a meaningful glance at Taylor.

"So you do remember me." Jacob said. "And yes, he does. I'm done with Cerberus. The Alliance has taken me back… well, on probation."

Liara's expression softened into a small smile, as she sighed and slumped into her seat. The two men took desk chairs. "I am pleased to see that some things haven't changed," she told Kaidan.

"And some things have changed. I… don't want to pry, Liara, but the Shadow Broker? What happened to the Prothean artifacts? To studying the history of the galaxy?"

"The Reapers happened. Commander Shepard happened. It was time to… put aside childish things, and do things that needed to be done."

"What needed to be done?" Kaidan echoed, his voice thickening. "I've… got something that needs to be done, too. And… you're not going to like it." Liara leaned forward slightly in her seat, opening her mouth to reply, as Kaidan continued. "Liara… Shepard's dead."

Liara sagged back into her chair, limply. "Dead? Shepard is…" Her eyes narrowed, and Taylor's chair flipped over backwards as he shot across the room to crash into the sealed office door, held suspended several feet off the floor. Liara shot to her feet, her biotic corona crackling around her with rage, as Kaidan stood up and activated his own biotic barrier. Jacob gritted his teeth and groaned in pain, his own biotic abilities overwhelmed by Liara's much superior power.

"Dead! Dead! You… you did not! Cerberus did not have her brought back just to have her killed again! I did not… I…"

"Liara." Kaidan said softly, reaching out to lightly grasp her wrist. "It's not Jacob's fault. Calm down!"

"It was Cerberus' fault, I am certain of it! And Jacob Taylor was one of theirs! A principal agent in Shepard's resurrection and… and use! You might allow him to escape the consequences of his actions, but I will not." Jacob cried out in agony as Liara clenched her fist, tightening her mass effect field around him.

Kaidan's grip suddenly tightened, bending her arm painfully back. Shocked, Liara's concentration momentarily wavered and Taylor landed on the floor, breathing deeply several times and then forcing himself up to his feet, free to activate his own biotic barrier and assume a combat stance. Liara pulled loose from Kaidan's hold and stood crouched slightly behind her desk, her gaze flicking back and forth between the two biotically-active Alliance soldiers in front of her.

"Stand. Down." Kaidan said. "I've seen you lift a Geth Colossus, Liara, but its two-on-one here, and this is a really confined space. We don't want to fight." Kaidan continued on, passionately. "No one will win."

"Dr. T'Soni," Jacob stated calmly, as Liara swiveled her head back to look at him. "Commander Alenko can testify that I turned myself in to the Alliance without the expectation of any deals being made. It was his decision to give me a place on his mission against Cerberus rather than have me sent to prison for the rest of my life. I was entirely willing to go there… because you're right, I deserve to."

"Jacob's not lying, Liara." Kaidan said. "He threw himself on our mercy. And Commander Shepard was my… you know what she was to me. I'm still giving him a chance, because I need to. Can't you?"

Liara's barrier flickered off, and she lowered herself back into her chair. Sighing in relief, Kaidan and Jacob relaxed their own defenses… just as Liara's head fell forward onto her desk, cradled in her arms. A muffled sob broke loose from her chest.

"I know, Liara," Kaidan said, his voice choking. He stepped around the desk to lay a comforting hand on her shoulder. "The Commander was – she was…" His eyes closed painfully shut as tears started to leak down his face. Jacob stepped back and politely turned away to face the wall, allowing the two old friends to share their grief in private.

"I am… so sorry, Kaidan. You are right. It is not Jacob's fault. It is the Illusive Man's. And it is mine."

"Yours?" both men replied, in shock, Jacob turning around to face the desk again.

Liara looked at Jacob in surprise. "You did not know? But I… oh Goddess, it was hard enough to confess this once. But to you as well, Kaidan?"

Kaidan shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "Liara, I don't understand. Are you saying that you had something to do with the Commander ending up with Cerberus?"

Liara stood to face Kaidan, downcast, her eyes refusing to meet his. "That is exactly what I am saying. I am the one who originally found her body, two years ago. I am the one who fought the agents of the Shadow Broker at the time, when the Shadow Broker was hired to seize her body for the Collectors. And… I am the one who turned her body over to Cerberus, when they approached me with promises that they could make her live again. So it is my fault that they had the opportunity to make use of her, and, and dispose of her when they were done. All mine." She closed her eyes, tensed against Kaidan's explosion of wrath.

"Thank you." Kaidan whispered.

"What? You thanked me… how, how can you thank me? What I did was awful! I compromised everything I ever believed in, that Shepard believed in! I allowed-"

"You allowed…" Kaidan swallowed the lump in his throat and continued. "You allowed the bravest, the most decent woman either of us had ever known a second chance at life, when hers had been unfairly cut short. You allowed her another chance to save the galaxy. You weren't too wrapped up in your own self-righteousness to not help someone you loved, Liara. Its not your fault that her second chance at life was so short, that her potential was wasted by that bastard the Illusive Man and slain by the Reapers. You tried to save life, not take it."

"I… cannot let you say that of me, Kaidan. I have taken life, since you last knew knew me. Not just geth, or husks, or defending ourselves from pirates and slavers like on the Normandy. To fight the Shadow Broker, I have gone to dark places."

"N7 Special Operations goes to some pretty dimly-lit places ourselves, Liara. Commander Shepard and I had both been there before we ever met you. And we… I… might be sad that you felt you had to follow us there, because its always sad when innocence is lost. But I will never hate you for it. I don't have the right to. And I'm sure the Commander didn't hate you for it, either."

"No," Liara said whisperingly. "When I told her… she did not. I was… surprised, that she did not."

Jacob waited out the ensuing silence, then cleared his throat politely. "Pardon me, but… Dr. T'Soni, you said that you were fighting the Shadow Broker two years ago? Our intel dossiers on you for Project Lazarus had you pegged as his agent. That's why the Illusive Man recommended against your recruitment for the mission when Commander Shepard asked him, and I can personally testify that she did ask."

"But…" Liara wiped away her tears and frowned in concentration, her brilliant academic's mind tracing out the implications and connections as rapidly as Kaidan's intelligence-trained experience did. "The Illusive Man knew as a certainty that my interests and the Shadow Broker's were opposed. My giving up Shepard's body to him conclusively proved that by itself, let alone all the other available indicators. He deliberately released false information to his own subordinates… to you."

"Not just to me," Jacob stated angrily. "To Miranda as well. Us two and Commander Shepard all reviewed those dossiers together, and Miranda – Operative Lawson - was cell leader of Project Lazarus. I was just a high-end grunt, but she reported directly to the Illusive Man for everything, and her Cerberus internal clearance was about as high as it could get. If she was disinformed on this as well, then the Illusive Man was playing this one really close to his chest."

"He wanted to cut Shepard off from as many of her old sources of support as possible, so that she'd be dependent on him and him alone," Kaidan stated angrily. "I suppose Tali and Garrus were allowed in just to keep the pattern from being too obvious."

"Hell, we didn't even know that it was Garrus when we went out to pick him up," Jacob said. "Our intel was on a mysterious vigilante named Archangel out working on Omega Station. The Illusive Man was as surprised as we all were when it turned out to be your old turian buddy under the helmet. As for Tali'Zorah…"

"The Migrant Fleet has negligible political power in Citadel space or the Terminus Systems, and an inferior information-gathering capacity as compared to Cerberus or a major galactic power's intelligence service." Liara analyzed out loud. "Even as the daughter of a member of the Admiralty Board, Tali was not likely to bring any information or leverage that would have allowed Commander Shepard a credible chance of escaping the Illusive Man's… sponsorship… while still having sufficient backing to execute her mission against the Collectors. Given the terms on which he parted from C-Sec, the same would apply for Garrus. Which would adequately explain the Illusive Man's making no objections to his recruitment after the fact."

"Taylor, I'm thinking we need to bring Liara in on everything about what we're doing. She's already told us a lot we didn't know. And a fresh perspective might be invaluable."

Jacob opened his mouth to speak, then looked at Liara. Then back to Kaidan.

"Your call, Commander."

Author's Notes: The revelation that Liara is the one who turned Shepard's body over to Cerberus is canonical, from the Mass Effect: Redemption comic. The dialogue option to find out about it in-game is very easy to miss in ME2. It unlocks only after you finish all of Liara's information-gathering sidequests, and if not selected at the first opportunity (its at lower-left on the wheel), it disappears. Rather annoying, really, as its necessary information to the player to find out why Liara is acting so apparently out-of-character, and why she's so vengefully driven to destroy the Shadow Broker. She's feeling horribly guilty over having handed Shepard over to Cerberus to begin with, and is afraid Shepard will hate her for it, so you have to look very carefully in-game to see Liara's actual personality peeking out from behind her new mask of a cold, ruthless intriguer. But a mask is all it is.

And yes, the author's notes and the writing style are a bit verbose, aren't they? Next chapter should be more direct, but my strengths as a writer are more oriented towards characterization than they are towards action scenes. Still, the only real way to learn is by doing, so, onward!

And yes, I'm aware that in the comic Miranda knew perfectly well that Liara was helping Cerberus stop the Shadow Broker's agents from obtaining Shepard's body, as she was there at the time. Jacob wasn't there, however.