I included Sid's birthday. For those of you who don't know, Commander Shepard was born on the 11th of April 2154 so Sid is 3 years younger. As for the actual date, I figured it would be fitting as it is the date when the Mass Effect 3 demo releases.

Chapter 3

Sid climbed into the Mako and slid across the seat so whoever came in next could get in easily. Somehow, she had managed to be the first person to arrive. Even though Sid made a point to be punctual, she didn't like being the first one to arrive. It gave others the chance to size her up and possibly gain the advantage, depending on the situation. Usually, she preferred to have that advantage. But now that she was first, she was at a loss of what to do so she double checked her gear. Her pistol was on her left hip and her knife for this job was strapped to her right thigh. The black belt with the shield generators - that also doubled as her gun holster - was functioning and emitting a moderately strong shield. Sid's preferred style of fighting usually involved relying on evasion so her shields weren't that important to her. A few small round objects that could easily fit into the palm of a hand were also hooked onto her belt in small pouches.

With nothing left to check, she started to fidget. The minutes dragged by until the door opened and Lieutenant Alenko climbed into the Mako. He seemed surprised to find Sid already waiting there but he said nothing. The entire crew was curious about Sid yet they refused to ask her any questions, as if they expected her to shoot them out of annoyance. It was also pretty obvious that they had been kept in the dark about her relation to their fearless leader. Sid didn't mind that Jo kept it to herself, it certainly made her life easier. No impossible standards to be compared to, no painful questions about their history and no assumptions about how Jo became a Spectre while Sid led a life of crime. However, the Lieutenant's obvious interest in Jo led Sid to expect some questions about their familiarity with each other and how Sid came to join the crew.

"I'm Kaidan," the young man abruptly introduced himself.

She suddenly remembered that this was their first time having a conversation. She only knew his name because she had heard other people mention him in idle conversation, mostly about his biotics. "You can call me Sid."

They politely shook hands and then descended back into awkward silence. Lieutenant Alenko was uncomfortable in the silence and was searching for some questions to ask to help pass the time. Sid, on the other hand, was quite at home with the awkwardness. It was usually very telling the way people fidgeted and helped gauge how they worked under pressure. It was also a good way to learn their tells – for poker or when they were lying about something.

"What is it that you do?" Lieutenant Alenko asked politely. It was a reasonable question, given the varied backgrounds of all non-Alliance crew members and that they would be working together for the duration of Jo's mission.

Sid regarded Kaidan for a moment before answering. "I assist anonymous persons or parties that require their possessions to be safely and professionally relocated without needing to deal with the bureaucracy of port authorities."

She sat in silent amusement as she watched Kaidan try to figure out what exactly she had just said. The look of dawning comprehension was subtle but still worth it.

"Wait, you're a smuggler?"

Sid shrugged. "If you want to be simplistic about it, I suppose that's one way of putting it."

"But you don't see yourself as a smuggler?" Kaidan guessed.

Coming from him, the question was unexpected however that did not mean she was unprepared for it. "Not at all. Some refer to those within the profession as scoundrels and while it might be appealing to the man folk, I find the term to be demeaning. I am simply an invisible wanderer of space who just happens to make my services available for money."

Kaidan's eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "And the authorities believe this?"

Sid smirked. "What they believe doesn't matter. It's what they can prove." She paused for a moment. "And they can't prove anything."

Kaidan shifted in his seat uncomfortably. At first, he seemed curious to be working with a smuggler. Now it was as if working with an intelligent and careful criminal was suddenly unnerving. Sid found his discomfort to be confusing. At the very least, he should take some comfort in the fact that she was good at what she did and, for the moment, they were on the same side. It wasn't as if she was an insane serial killer. She wasn't about to start an argument with him though. The less anyone knew about the way she operated, the better. Sid glanced at the young man beside her and, judging his expression, he still had questions that he wanted to ask her. Before he could voice them, Jo arrived and took her place in the driver's seat.

When Sid noticed where she was sitting, she quickly buckled herself in and took a few moments to test the seatbelts. They weren't as strong as she would have liked but they would have to do for the time being. It wasn't as if she walked around with spare seatbelts in her pockets. Kaidan was giving her a weird look. Sid ignored him for the time being because she remembered the driving lessons back home and she wasn't taking any chances. Her actions went unnoticed by Jo, however, as she prepared for the Mako to be dropped. It wasn't long until they were cruising along the surface of Nepheron. Jo still believed that there was no mountain too high and no hole too deep to drive through. If all else failed, Sid supposed that if they needed a suspect to talk, they could always subject them to endure Jo's driving.

Soon, a large facility loomed on the horizon and it definitely looked out of place. Sid would have guessed that it was abandoned until turrets and guns started to fire at them. Between Jo's driving and the Mako's shields absorbing the shots from the turrets, Sid and Kaidan were jostled quite a bit in the back. It didn't take Lieutenant Alenko long to spring into action and take over the Mako's own turret. Sid decided to make herself useful and used the turret's targeting systems to call out the location of enemies for the lieutenant. The Cerberus personnel were no match for the Mako's superior firepower but Sid disapproved of the targeting systems. It was a bit sluggish at times and failed to take into account minor height differences on the ground. A few shots even went wide or narrowly missed. She doubted it was the lieutenant's fault. That would need to be tweaked at some point but that was a problem for another time.

Once silence followed their last rocket, Jo parked perpendicular to the facility, just off to the side of the only door. Jo, Kaidan and Sid clambered out of the Mako. It was hard to do so and keep your dignity intact. Sid had never been so happy to feel solid ground beneath her feet before and after a few steps, she took the lead. She used her omni-tool to bypass the doors. It didn't take long and she was almost disappointed by how easy it had been. Either they were an extremely arrogant terrorist organisation or their security was much better inside the facility. Even though she hoped for the former, she knew it would be likely to be the latter.

Jo took the lead again once the doors silently opened. The first room was empty and they used it to prepare themselves for the firefight that they all knew was coming. Even if Cerberus didn't know they were there, they soon would and it was doubtful they would be welcome. Jo took out her assault rifle, Sid her pistol which she used both hands to keep steady and Kaidan drew his own pistol but kept his left hand free in case they needed a biotic attack to help even the odds. Sid easily opened the next door and they followed the corridor, carefully placing one foot in front of another so they didn't make any noise and prematurely alert the Cerberus personnel to their presence. Although how they didn't realize their base was under attack with the amount of explosions that went on outside, Sid couldn't understand. Maybe the base just had really good soundproofing?

Jo nodded to Sid once she and Kaidan were in position and the younger Shepard opened the door. The Cerberus personnel in the room ahead seemed to be well trained and opened fire immediately as soon as the doors opened. Sid and Kaidan took cover behind the opened door and Jo was a little bit further ahead, using a crate for cover. There were some snipers attacking from a distance however a clear shot of them was impossible as they kept ducking behind their own cover. The others, Commandos by the look and fighting style of them, kept them on their toes. Sid started to get bored of this and holstered her pistol. This received an accusing look from Jo and an indignant expression from Kaidan. Jo's unspoken accusation offended Sid. Apparently, as soon as someone found out that Sid was a smuggler, then she was going to betray them. Rather than scoff or start an argument in the middle of a firefight, she chose to remain silent and reached into one of her pockets instead.

She pulled a round flat disk from her belt. It was a few inches thick and looked as though it could fit comfortably in the palm of her hand, bearing a strong resemblance to a smooth, slightly thick pebble. There was a simple switch on top and, once Sid activated it with her thumb, a small red light lit up just next to the switch. Sid leant around her cover and tossed the disk so it slid across the floor, coming to a stop just in front of a pair of Commandos. They looked down at the device to make sure it wasn't a grenade as the red light flashed quickly. Once the timer ran out, there was a soft beep and then…nothing. The Commandos started to laugh but they were quickly cut off by a high pitched sound and their shield generators exploded, stunning them momentarily. Sid took out her pistol and fired two shots in quick succession, killing them instantly.

Kaidan and Jo looked at Sid in surprise. The fact that the shot in the back that they were obviously expecting turned out to be a tactic to help them did not factor into their thought processes. Sid gave them a half shrug in response although she was slightly distracted while she thought about the minor bug in her device. Nevertheless, it did its job and it provided them with an opening which allowed them to move forward and find better cover. There were still three Commandos and three snipers left. Even though they had lost two team members, there was no gap in their defense. They clearly had some superior training, compared to the previous Cerberus personnel they had encountered that just ran around in circles firing their weapons, which led Sid to try to even the odds a bit again.

She reached into another small pouch that was attached to her belt, just behind her holster, and pulled out a small grey ball. It looked to be completely unremarkable in every way possible. Sid tightened her grip on her pistol with her left hand and, with her right hand, tossed the orb in the direction of the Cerberus personnel and fired at it when it was close enough. When it was hit, the orb exploded into a large cloud of thick, black smoke. The personnel started to cough and they had trouble seeing anything. This gave Jo and Kaidan the advantage they needed and, following Sid's example, opened fire on the flailing enemies. Apparently, the panic that rose with the inability to breathe would overcome any need to hide behind cover or return fire. The remaining Commandos and one sniper went down in a matter of moments once their shields went down.

Sydney had no idea how to take down the last two snipers. Her other devices still needed a lot of testing and weren't quite ready for this sort of situation. The knife was also useless for the same reason as her pistol: the snipers had some excellent cover. Jo, however, had come up with a plan and quickly gave Sid and Kaidan orders, using quick hand signals. There was hesitation in Jo's eyes and Sid realized that her sister wasn't sure if Sid would understand the hand gestures. There was obvious relief on her face when Sid nodded in understanding. Kaidan also nodded while Jo retreated and joined the biotic behind his cover.

Sid moved closer and aimed her pistol at the closest spot to where she guessed the snipers were and opened fire on the crates. They were still too well protected for Sid to actually hit them but, if anything, she was doing a perfect job of distracting them. Jo and Kaidan were careful to remain behind cover just in case they were spotted as they circled around so they appeared behind the snipers. While they were still distracted by Sid's suppressing fire, Jo and Kaidan started to shoot at them. Taken by surprise, they weren't able to properly defend themselves and they, too, were killed. Once they were certain that all the Cerberus personnel were dead, Sid emerged from her cover and went to retrieve her device. She picked it up and carefully examined it.

"Note to self: investigate the delay between timer and detonation," she murmured to herself.

Kaidan and Jo left their cover too as she spoke to herself. With a simple gesture, Jo ordered Sid and Kaidan to head down the only other corridor there. The corridor then formed a T-junction with a room to the left and another room to the right. They investigated the room to the right first. There were a few upgrades for their weapons that had been left lying around and they were able to replenish their supply of medi-gel from a dispenser near the door. After making sure there was nothing else of interest, they made their way to the last room. At the far side of the room was a computer terminal which Jo ordered Sid to investigate.

Sid approached the terminal and cautiously pressed a few buttons which resulted in a lot of frantic beeping. That usually didn't bode well and occasionally resulted in some or other hidden defense system to trigger, such as the room filling up with gas. She was not looking forward to experiencing that again so it did take her a few moments to realize that nothing of the sort was happening now. Once she released the breath she was holding, stepped closer to the terminal to investigate the source of the beeping.

"Dammit!" Sid cursed once she made sense of what the computer was doing. The console continued to beep and she continued to push buttons in a hurried manner.

"What's wrong?" Jo demanded as she and Kaidan approached for a closer look, although Sid doubted there was anything worth seeing, aside from lines of text flashing on the screen.

Sydney's omni-tool lit up, clearly receiving the files from the terminal. "The system is flashing itself," she answered irritably. Then, once she remembered that Jo didn't speak Geek, she simplified. "It's a security measure that deletes all the files on the system. I'm doing what I can to stall and download as many of the files as possible but they're also encrypted. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to download."

"Just get what you can. We'll worry about the encryption later," Jo ordered.

Her fingers continued to glide across the keys. Jo was impressed that her sister was able to keep such a cool head and probably would have told her if she wasn't so busy at the moment. Jo and Kaidan could do nothing other than stand behind Sid and watch in confusion. Kaidan had some skill with computers but everything he was seeing now was way over his head, if the frown on his face was any indication. After a few more minutes, Sid's typing stopped as did all sounds coming from the terminal. The screen faded to black and Sid's omni-tool stopped glowing. The room was suddenly very quiet. Sid pressed a few more keys on her omni-tool to see how much she was able to download.

"By the looks of it, I was able to download a good portion of the files, maybe just over half of what was on the system. Their encryption is pretty sophisticated though," Sid informed them, somewhat impressed with the level of security. These files must be important.

Jo folded her arms across her chest. "Can you crack it?"

"Maybe," she answered with a shrug. "If I had access to an advanced computer and if I had a few months with nothing else to do. I'm sure the Alliance could decrypt the files." She considered her words and then added "Probably."

"Well, that's reassuring," Jo answered sarcastically.

Sid raised an eyebrow. "They're a terrorist organisation, Jo. Did you honestly expect them to not protect some potentially incriminating evidence?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Sid could see Kaidan look from Jo to her and then back to Jo. Apparently, it wasn't every day that the fearless Commander Jo Shepard was struck speechless, especially by a smuggler that no one trusted or knew anything about. When they both realized that Sid had won their little argument, Jo led the way out of the facility, suddenly annoyed. Sid guessed that her crew members didn't usually argue with her or give her smartass responses.


Shortly thereafter, they were back on the Normandy. Shepard made her way back to her quarters so she could finish her report for Admiral Hackett. Now that she had all of the facts, it was much easier to complete it. As she finished it, she remembered that Sid still had the Cerberus files. Absently, she wondered if the smuggler was working some angle and planned to sell the files to the highest bidder. This line of thinking was suddenly interrupted when there was a knock at the door.

"Enter," Shepard ordered and the doors hissed open.

Sid raised an eyebrow again. "'Enter'? Way to make someone feel welcome."

"Well, if someone interrupts me while I'm working, I hope they have a good reason for it and therefore they don't need to feel welcome. Besides, this is an Alliance vessel. Not a pleasure cruise."

Sid was unconvinced. "Compared to some of the ships I've been on, this definitely qualifies as a pleasure cruise."

Shepard stared at Sid for a few moments. Was she intentionally trying her patience? "Is there something I can do for you?"

Sid regarded Shepard before adopting a very professional posture. "When we returned, you didn't give me a chance to give you the files I got from the Cerberus facility. It took me some time to find an empty datapad so I had to borrow one from Dr Chakwas. She would like it back as soon as you're finished with it."

Sid then handed Shepard the datapad. Shepard spent a few moments briefly scanning over the files and, as far as she could tell, they were all there. Then again, Sid was the only one who knew how many files had actually been downloaded and could probably delete any evidence of further copying.

"How do I know that you didn't keep a copy of these files for yourself?" Shepard asked suspiciously.

Sid was not surprised by the accusation. "What exactly do you expect me to do with them?" she challenged.

"I don't know, Sid. I'm not the criminal here. Maybe sell the files to the highest bidder or use them as leverage?"

Her suggestions seemed to amuse Sid. "That's assuming I could even break the encryption and that the files are actually useful. All joking aside, Jo, I didn't keep a copy for myself. As you said, I am a criminal and a smuggler nevertheless that doesn't make me a traitor as using those files for anything would be considered treason. Despite my history working for Cerberus, I am not a terrorist and do not share their beliefs."

Shepard was surprised. Why would Sid know that? It wasn't exactly relevant to smuggling.

Sid shrugged. "If I'm going to break the law on a regular basis then I may as well take the time to learn which ones I am breaking and the ones to stay away from. I rather enjoy living and would hate to die for someone else's cause."

"Is there any way to prove what you say?" Shepard asked, getting back to the point.

"You do realize that at some point you have to take what I say with a bit of faith?" Sid queried.

"And would this be one of those times?"

"And you say I'm impossible," Sid muttered under her breath and then sighed. "Yes, it would be."

Shepard and Sid regarded each other in silence. The Commander was trying to decide if it was worth it to trust Sid and how much she would lose if she did and Sid turned out to be lying. Sid didn't seem like the type of person who would commit treason. Then again, Shepard would have thought her little sister wasn't the type of person who would break the law either.

"All right, Sid. For old times' sake, I'll trust what you say this time," Shepard replied. "But if it turns out you lied to me, I will not hesitate to bring the full force of the law down on you."

Sid whistled in amazement. "As fun as that sounds, the threat is unnecessary. I entered into an agreement with you, Jo, and I will do nothing that could potentially break that agreement. I have a lot to lose and little to gain, it's true, but I will not do anything to jeopardise it otherwise I will lose everything and gain nothing. A smuggler always honours her agreements."

Sid certainly did have a point. However, if she was confident that she wouldn't get caught, then none of her words mattered. Apparently, she had said everything that she felt needed saying and left the room without another word, leaving Shepard alone once again. It didn't take much time for the report to be finished and sent to the Fifth Fleet, even with the large volume of files to upload. Shepard vaguely wondered if they had a better shot of decrypting the files if Sid handled it and not the Alliance analysts. Her skill with anything computer-related would definitely outshine the experience of Alliance veterans. That much had been true for years. But her loyalties were in question and so it couldn't be risked, especially with an organisation that Sid had admitted to accepting a job from was involved.

With all business done, Shepard realized that she was a bit curious about what Sydney had been up to the past few years. She had a hard time believing how much she had changed. Perhaps the Alliance's database on the victims of Mindoir could shed some light on what had happened. Sydney's file was outdated, Shepard was hardly surprised. There was a picture of Sydney when she was thirteen, the last picture they had before the Batarians attacked. Shepard was a bit surprised that they hadn't updated it since Executor Pallin was able to put two and two together. Perhaps there was also the possibility that he kept it secret, waiting for Shepard to inform the Alliance, and as a Spectre, her decisions took priority even over the Executor's suggestions. She quickly scanned the information.

Name: Sydney Rebecca Shepard

Date of Birth: 14 February 2157

Date of Death: 2170 (at age 13), during Batarian raid on Mindoir. Exact date unknown due to large numbers of casualties.

Cause of Death: Unknown. Remains were never recovered. Assumed to be dead due to lack of contradicting evidence.

Next of Kin:

Mr Henri Shepard – Father (deceased)

Dr Addison Shepard – Mother (deceased)

Mr Dax Shepard – Brother (deceased)

Commander Jocelyn Shepard - Sister

Occupation: Not applicable

Current whereabouts: Not applicable

Education: Junior high school; achieved exceptional test scores, most notably in Computer Sciences and Advanced Mathematics. Did not graduate.

Notes: Would make an excellent addition to Alliance analysts or perhaps Engineering Corps

Could prove useful in researching future decryption programs

Lack of social ties and a habit of walking around past curfew warrants observation

Shepard sighed in frustration. Somehow Sydney had managed to disappear completely and remain hidden, even from the Alliance's sight. Even though she had expected the Alliance files to have little information, she had hoped there would be a little bit more than what she already knew. And if the Alliance had nothing, then it was safe to assume that no one else would have any other information. Shepard was about to give up when another thought occurred to her.

Ghost.

So she did a general extranet search and was surprised by the sheer number of results. Apparently Ghost was quite the popular topic among conspiracy theorists, the majority of whom identified the smuggler as a male superspy – some said human, others said Turian. A Salarian blogger even had a theory that Ghost was a trained spy dispatched by the Human Systems Alliance in an effort to get weapons to their spies located on various planets. Another blogger, Volus this time, was convinced Ghost didn't even exist and that the story was conjured up by security companies to get more work. Shepard almost burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all. To certain groups, Ghost was a nuisance and to others, a myth. And judging from various reports, there were also many imposters whose skill just couldn't live up to the reputation and were either easily arrested or killed. These imposters helped keep Ghost's identity anonymous because no one knew who the real Ghost was until the job had been completed.

And there was a surprising lack of reliable information, either from reporters or official statements that had been released by the Alliance, C-Sec and other authorities. It appeared that Ghost was an apt name. Even the few official statements that Shepard could find had very little information. Ghost had managed to evade blockades and escape a couple of ambushes designed for capture as though she knew they were there and had expected them. There were also a few mentions of her ship which had been named The Machine for some odd reason. Shepard made a mental note to ask Sid about that one. There were also some reports that mentioned Ghost using other ships that either exploded or led the authorities on a wild goose chase until it ran out of fuel and revealed itself to be empty and controlled by a basic VI.

There was something that really confused Shepard: if Sid had her own ship, why did she need to steal the other ship that got her arrested by C-Sec? Ghost had done an excellent job of avoiding arrest so this seemed like a sloppy mistake that would attract C-Sec's question added to the list.

Even the official reports seemed to be mainly made up of speculation as no two reports had the same information, apart from a few minor things. The majority recognised that Ghost always seemed to get an early warning of any official moves made against her; she had superior understanding of how the Alliance operated; there was never any evidence left behind that could implicate her or connect her to other crimes; no one had been able to identify her and she had a ship named The Machine. Otherwise, they assumed that Ghost was male and there was some argument about what species she was, there was even a theory that she was a Batarian slaver.

The authorities had no DNA, no fingerprints and no identity. Even the ship had been bought through an alias that led nowhere and the registration was bogus, incriminating a corporation in Asari space that had no records of the ship. Shepard had to admit that Sid was good at what she did. And she knew how to keep a secret. Either that meant Shepard could trust her or it just meant Sid was a really good liar. Shepard now knew a tiny bit more than before and it didn't help her at all. She had more questions than answers and the only way they would get answered would be by asking Sid, who would either shrug them off with humour or probably fabricate some lie. Maybe answers would come with time so Shepard decided to wait and see what would happen. Perhaps if she backed off for a while, Sid would offer the answers of her own free will. It was certainly worth a try.