A/N - I'm so glad that there are still people out there reading and writing Mass Effect fanfiction! It is such a credit to the amazing production studio that Bioware is that, years later, the stories and characters stick with us, like old friends. It gives me hope for ME4 :-) As always, all credit for the universe and characters contained within my fics goes to them, and I thank them for it, and for allowing me such a richly appointed backdrop for my musings!
That being said, a personal thanks to those of you who have continued to follow and favorite me despite my long absence. It was heartwarming to hear from you, and I see there are new people on board now, too, so welcome! Special thanks to Jules Hawk, AngstyShenko, spaceconveyor, and the Guest reviewer (someone I know? been trying to figure it out!) for taking the time to share their thoughts with me! I appreciate the feedback and the assurance that this story is being well received. Since it is as close to original fic as I've ever come, going completely off the rails of the existing games and into the future my brain has dreamed up, I worry about it more than the other stories I've written...
Fridays look to be my best day for updates, so look for new stuff from me every week... My life is very full and busy atm, especially with the holidays approaching, but I have quite a bit written ahead on this story, a new chapter for Twist the Knife written and in proofreading now, and I'm toying with a new session of BBSG as well... So look for more from me soon! In the meantime, please enjoy the Shenko!
- Arin
Kat was bored. Well and truly out of her mind bored. She sat in the interview room and tried to find anything but the holes in the ceiling tiles to stare at while she waited for James to usher in their tenth interviewee. They had been at this since 0800, and she was frankly sick of hearing the same response over and over from in so many different voices. No matter how good a Commander Shepard stare she gave to the unlucky N candidate sitting across from her, the answer was always the same. No, ma'am, they had not seen anything on the firing range two days ago, other than their own target down range. No, they had no knowledge of how Captain Alenko came to be injured. No, they had not had any contact with any new persons or organizations before arriving in Rio, and no, ma'am, they had no idea who would want to harm Captain Alenko.
The answers were made all the more frustrating because Kat believed every single one of them. She hadn't risen to the rank she was and been chosen to lead the Alliance in the war against the Reapers without having honed her skills in judging people to a fine edge. Each of these promising young officers had already been thoroughly screened before being sent to the Villa, but even so, Kat had been prepared not to trust any of them. She watched every minute gesture, held every candidate's stare with her own intimidating one, and listened carefully to every response. None of them had been lying. And she was ready to tell James he could keep police work.
She looked up with resigned sigh as the door opened again, and prepared herself for another round of the same old same old until she realized that it wasn't James or another candidate at the door, but rather her assistant, bearing a lunch tray. She smiled in pleasure as Lieutenant Kristina Alvarez set the tray full of food in front of her with a quick smile of her own.
"Kris," she said with the relief she felt bleeding into her voice. "There's enough food here for two pregnant biotics. Sit," she said with a hand wave to the chair opposite her. She helped herself to the bowl of refreshing tropical fruit and took a bite and chewed slowly as the other woman complied with her order. A thought struck and she swallowed before she asked, "Not that I'm not glad to see you, but why are you here?"
"Major Alenko sends his regrets that he couldn't meet you for lunch," Kris replied, took a bite of her own, and swallowed before she added, "He got caught up with his students, something about a makeup advanced field test."
"Ah, right," Kat mumbled as she went back to eating. In between bites, she explained, "He left in the middle when he heard I was shot."
She smiled and relaxed as she ate her meal. If she couldn't have her husband's company, Kris would do just fine. She had been assigned to Kat shortly after she taken the instructor position and at first, their relationship had been rocky. Kat had stubbornly insisted that she was a combat veteran and had made it through the Reapers in one piece – mostly – so she didn't need a babysitter for this new assignment. It had taken several training runs, including the off-world ones involving combat before Kat had seen that Kris was more than just an administrative figurehead – she was a truly qualified combat marine in her own right. In the months since then, they had shed issues of mistrust and rank and become fast friends. In many ways, Kris reminded Kat so much of Ashley Williams that their friendship was both inevitable and bittersweet.
The fact that her assistant bore some physical resemblance to her long dead friend didn't help the comparison. Kris had the long dark hair of a true Hispanic, though her skin was several shades darker than Ash's had been, and her eyes were a mossy hazel that sometimes appeared brown, sometimes green. She was taller than Ash, almost the same height as Kat herself, and she was slimmer, but she still had the curves that screamed that she was very female. Of course, she also had the muscles that shouted she was a kick ass marine, too. Looks alone were similar, but her attitude was where the true comparison was sealed. She had a take-charge, no-nonsense, aggressive attitude that told anyone that knew her for more than a few seconds that she was a soldier first, a woman second. Kat often wondered if that attitude wasn't one of the reasons they had bonded so quickly after she had set aside her prejudices. In that, the similarity between all three women – Ash, Kat, and Kris – was clear.
"Must be nice having a man like that drop everything and run to your side," Kris said with a wistful sigh. "Of course, if I had one, I'd probably kick his ass and make him go back to work," she added with a self-deprecating grin.
"You could have any man you wanted and you know it," Kat pointed out as she narrowed her eyes at her friend. "And since when are you shopping for husbands?"
"Oh, I'm not," her friend hastened to correct her. She waved a hand as if to dismiss the topic. "Just something about your husband, and the way that he looks at you... Could make even the toughest girl melt," she added with a shrug and a grin.
"Hmmm," Kat agreed with a contented smile. "He does at that."
"Ok, TMI, Captain," Kris said with another grin. "I'm fine watching from the sidelines, I don't need the details."
"Call me 'Captain' in private again, Lieutenant," Kat growled with emphasis, "And I'll tell you enough to make you melt... in envy."
"Yes, ma'am," Kris bantered back and then shuddered in mock horror. "Besides, they don't make guys like that anymore," she added casually as she began to clear the remnants of their lunch from the table. She turned to deposit the trash in the receptacle behind the door just as it swung open behind the force of James Vega. She whirled with fire in her eyes as the tray went flying and sprayed fruit juice all over the front of her uniform.
Kat watched in first humor then interest as her two friends met. James' cheeks colored red when he realized his blunder, then turned an even darker shade of red as he moved his eyes down to survey the damage... and stopped. Seconds later, he must have realized he was staring because his eyes snapped back to Kris' face, and Kat noticed that her assistant didn't appear to have enjoyed the perusal – or the very male reaction. She stood, hands on hips, glaring at James. It took him three tries and a clear of his throat to finally open his mouth and mumble an apology. Kris stormed out of the room without response, though both Kat and James heard her muttering in Spanish as she left. Even after eighteen months in Rio, Kat's language skills weren't that great, but she clearly caught and understood "imbecile", "cabron", and "estupido".
"Great first impression, James," Kat said with a laugh when he finally turned back to look at her.
"Who was that?" he asked in a voice that sounded like he had been punched in the gut. He shook his head as if to clear it.
"My assistant," Kat answered him and she sobered a bit. She loved both Kris and James... but she wasn't sure she wanted to love them together. She mentally shrugged it off. Kris could handle herself and she wasn't too pleased with James anyway. She didn't need to worry. She changed the subject back to the business at hand. "Where's our next victim?" she asked James, giving him her best stare.
"I thought you might like a field trip first, Lola," he replied with a smile and a wave of his hand in the direction of the door.
She stood and moved to comply. "Field trip?" she asked as they walked down the hall.
"Yeah, to the range," he explained as he summoned the elevator. "I've already been over it, but maybe you'll find something new."
"Couldn't hurt," she agreed as they headed down the hall to the N1 range. Each classification was assigned their own training area, to prevent any scheduling hassles and to allow the candidates unrestricted access to the facilities at any hour. Of course, the N1 range had been locked down since her shooting. Not even instructors could override the Alliance MP lock, so Kat stood to the side of the door as James uncoded and opened the door. He motioned her in first and re-engaged the lock after he followed her.
In the anteroom, they donned the armor they were required to wear at all times on a live fire range. Though this one was locked down, caution more than anything caused them to take the time to follow the regulations as if the range were in use. Once they were suited up, Kat opened the door to the range itself. She couldn't prevent a shudder as the memory of that moment of panic she had felt when she realized she had been shot washed over her but she shook her head at James' look of concern. In the end, she had been through many more frightening experiences and suffered far worse injuries than the other day. As memories went, this one wasn't all that bad.
She began to walk slowly, letting muscle memory more than anything retrace her steps of the day of the shooting. On the first day of an incoming class, she always took them to the range. Each candidate was already an active Alliance officer with commendations and recommendations. They didn't need to pass any firearms qualifications to meet the program demands – a simple test was too remedial for them. Rather, Kat brought them here for her own personal evaluation. You could tell a lot about a person by how they handled their weapon and the process they went through in even this most routine of circumstances. And Kat had vowed when she took this assignment to never walk into combat with someone she didn't know again, if she could prevent it. So the first day, they came to the range to begin their acquaintance.
She stopped almost without thinking about it and looked around. As far as she could remember, right here behind what had been the last empty stall is where she had been standing when the bullet struck her. She had been holding her rifle, going through her standard checks, before she moved into the stall and prepared to fire. Perhaps it was gloating, but she always liked to open her range tests with a few rounds of her own. Candidates stopped seeing her as a pregnant woman once they saw her near perfect scores. Once she had fired off a clip, she'd then move down the line and stand behind each candidate, quietly observing them until she was satisfied that she had gotten a feel for their rhythm, then move on. Two days ago, the shooter had prevented her from even starting the familiar routine.
She peered down range, narrowing her eyes to see as far and accurately as she could, but she didn't any pockmarks scarring the target at the other end. It would have been fresh, hung for her in preparation of her range test. Some ranges had switched to purely electronic sensors, but Kat preferred old school. There was something viscerally appealing to being able to retract the thick plastic sheeting and trace the holes your bullets had made with your fingers. Primitive, but so much of real combat was. Why not have the test as close to the real thing as you could manage on a closed course?
She studied the markings on the wall beside the target and tried to decide if any were new. She always used this stall, so it wouldn't surprise her if she had memorized the few misses, but she wasn't about to trust her judgment. She turned to James, who was standing just behind her shoulder, looking in the same direction.
"You retrieved all of the slugs from the wides?" she asked, referring to the markings she had studied.
"Yeah, none of them matched the caliber your doctor said was used," he answered, and she nodded. It was the answer she had been expecting. The mention of her doctor gave her another thought.
"Did the doc say which was the entry and which was the exit wound?" she asked thoughtfully.
"You were shot from the front," James answered with a 'don't you know this already' look.
"Right, so why are we looking down range?" Kat asked as realization struck her. In all their careful interrogation, they hadn't actually talked about what direction she had been facing. A stupid oversight, though she wasn't sure she could have answered the question accurately before this field trip.
"Wait, you're saying you were facing the target?" James asked in confirmation. "Dios, I didn't think to question..."
"And I didn't think to clarify," she replied with a wave of dismissal. "The bullet would be... " she paused and searched a spot past his shoulder and pointed, "...there."
James saw the pock mark on the wall as if it were glaringly obvious now. He was still cursing his stupidity as he reached a hand out and traced the hole in the wall with his fingers. "Maybe you should be the MP, Lola," he said with a wince.
"Don't kick yourself, James," she said as she walked up behind him to study the bullet hole. "It's not every day your friend and training officer gets shot."
"I'll get the techs in here to dig this thing out and get it to the lab," James said as he turned to face her, "But now we have another problem."
"Yeah, how did someone shoot me from down range during a live fire exercise and with no witnesses?" Kat easily stated their dilemma.
"I have a feeling the Major's not gonna like this," James told her as he escorted her back to the anteroom to remove their armor.
###
The Major did not like it at all. Kat invited James for dinner, and the three of them went over their discovery as they sat at in the dining room, sharing their meal. Kat noted the look of concern come back in place over Kaidan's face and increase the longer the discussion continued. She was nearly relieved when a chime sounded indicating that someone was at the door, though they were not expecting any visitors. And having someone show up at their door was highly unusual.
Kaidan stood to answer the door and Kat shared a look with James. The tension may have been cut but it left curiosity in its wake. Kat felt much better when she recognized the voice that followed Kaidan back into the room. She looked up with a smile as she saw Kris enter with Kaidan right on her heels.
"Kat, Command asked me to deliver this re-" Kris broke off as she noticed the other occupant of the room for the first time. "Oh," she added in surprise, and a blush spread over her face before her eyes narrowed and her lips set in anger.
Kaidan met Kat's eyes with a question in his but she gestured with her hand to dismiss it. She'd explain later, she needed to head off a fight now.
"Kris, you had something for me?" she questioned her assistant casually, while she stood to block Kris' view of James.
"Right, I guess it's actually for Lieutenant Vega, but Command couldn't locate him," she threw an arch look over Kat's shoulder at Vega to enhance her pointed comment before she continued, "So they asked me to bring it here instead. Is your omni-tool malfunctioning, Lieutenant?" she asked in a deliberately casual tone.
James blushed and activated his 'tool. "I believe it was on silent, Lieutenant," he mumbled in a not-quite apology.
The look Kris sent him told everyone her opinion of that negligence. She sighed and moved on. "Just as well, Command didn't want to take a chance of the communication being intercepted, so they requested hand delivery," she explained. "Sorry for just showing up, but you were on the way home."
"You're always welcome here, Kris," Kaidan said with a welcoming smile, "You know that. Would you like to join us for dinner?"
"No... no, I can't stay," Kris immediately replied with a shake of her head that was just a little too much. "I'll just leave this with you and be on my way," she added as she handed the datapad she was carrying to Kat and beat a hasty retreat out of the room.
Kaidan watched her go in confusion, then turned back to his wife. "You are going to explain that, right?" he asked.
"James and Kris met earlier, it didn't go well," Kat summarized distractedly. She was too busy reading the report her assistant had delivered to give more explanation. Kaidan turned to James, hoping for further clarification, but Kat's next words sent any thought of awkward social situations flying out of his brain. "We have another problem. Ballistics says the bullet that shot me is not Alliance issue."
"So you were shot in the middle of an Alliance firing range on a high security Alliance base with only Alliance personnel on record as present, but the weapon wasn't Alliance issue?" James summarized.
"Right," Kat confirmed as she sank back into her chair and handed the datapad over to Kaidan so he could read it himself.
"There's only one person I can think of that could pull this off," Kaidan commented when he finished reading. "And I'm completely sure she wouldn't shoot you."
"Agreed," Kat said, easily following his logic. "But maybe Kasumi would know who would..." she said, tapping her nails on the surface of the table as she thought.
"Kasumi Goto?" James asked for confirmation that they were speaking of the infiltrator who had helped Kat during the Cerberus days, and then with the Crucible project during the Reaper War.
"One and the same," Kat confirmed with a grin. "Problem is, I have no idea where she is right now. No one has heard from her since London."
"So maybe she switched sides?" James guessed.
"No," Kat and Kaidan replied simultaneously. They met and shared a smile that was finally full and happy. They each had their own reasons to believe in Kasumi, but neither would doubt her.
###
James left them shortly after and Kat and Kaidan headed straight to bed. As they changed and prepared for sleep, they discussed and rejected several ideas for locating their sneaky friend. In the end, it was Kaidan that came up with the brilliant plan. What was the one thing no thief could resist? The perfect heist. Now they'd just have to find a way to create one real enough to lure her into the trap, clever enough to be able to catch her, and not break Alliance regs doing it. Still, Kat was very pleased with her husband once they had at least the beginnings of an idea. She turned to him and met his mouth in a kiss of thanks.
"I hope our baby gets your brain," Kat said with a huge smile when their lips parted.
"Let's hope for my sake the baby has its own brain," Kaidan joked.
She poked him in the ribs with her good arm. "You know what I mean," she said sullenly.
"I do," he replied and gave her a conciliatory kiss. "But it's not like you're dumb, Kat..."
"Ok, fine," she conceded with a sigh. "Then our baby will just be brilliant."
"And beautiful," he added.
"Or handsome," she muttered. "And hopefully that's beautiful girl or handsome boy," she rambled until he finally closed his mouth over hers to shut her up.