Notes:

FTL - Faster than light

IR - Infrared

Kena sa'ki - literally "the heart of evil" (Thessian); refers to Feron after his second betrayal

STG - Special Tactics Group (Salarian Special Forces)

Trail of a Killer

Rakhana SB-2

Livos

We need you to take the Rakhana to the Caleston Rift; you must find a researcher by the name of Garneau. He is working on a project that may have significant repercussions; he is on the trail of a potential Reaper killer. Do you remember the tales of the Leviathan of Dis? It now seems to be somehow connected to the Reapers; it is certainly more than merely a story to scare children.

Exercise extreme caution. We have reason to believe the Reapers are also hunting for this Leviathan; it is likely you will cross paths. This mission is strictly for data collection. Please do not place yourselves at unnecessary risk, but you must find Garneau; his information is critical to our investigation. I've attached what data we have to help you locate him.

Go with the Goddess.

Liara

Livos stared at the message and read it again before finally calling out to the other two commandos. "Going to be like Illium until we get another analyst to replace the kena sa'ki; it seems Dr T'Soni has decided to use us as a wet squad."

Sella Temi nodded. "Good. It beats sitting here with nothing to do but count ships that pass through. I realize monitoring relay traffic is probably important, but Goddess it's boring!"

Allia Vasia shrugged. "We go where we are needed. What's the mission?"

The expressions of both Sella and Allia reflected surprise when Livos stated they would be hunting the Leviathan of Dis... especially when she confirmed that she was dead serious. "Check your gear. It's only a double hop to the Caleston Rift before the hunt begins. Be prepared to move fast; apparently the Reapers are also interested, so there's a good chance we will see some action."

They emerged from the mass relay in the Balor system and breathed a sigh of relief when they verified no Reaper presence. Using the search parameters provided by Liara, they quickly scanned the system for Garneau. They did not find him, but did discover large deposits of minerals and a few critical items that would be extremely useful to the war effort. Progressing through the cluster in a clockwise pattern, they moved from Balor to the Talava system, then on through Solveig and Yakawa without the slightest hint of the researcher. They had been in the cluster for what seemed like forever and were becoming convinced the researcher Garneau was as much a myth as the Leviathan of Dis. Their attitude immediately changed when they dropped out of FTL in the Aysur system to discover a few small Reapers in orbit around a small mining colony on the Mahavid asteroid.

Captain Tanni looked at her two huntresses. "Never thought I'd say finding Reapers was a good thing, but it must mean we are now on the correct path. You have read the file provided by Dr T'Soni. Do you have any questions?"

Allia shook her head but grumbled, "I just wish I had listened more closely to my mother when she told us those old stories. Not that I would have believed them, but most tales have some kernel of truth to them. Anything would be better than what we currently know... which is virtually nothing."

Sella chuckled. "If it was the Leviathan we were looking for, yes. But it is not; it's this Garneau. That's why we need him; he is presumed to be the expert. I say we grab him and leave, before the Reapers decide to invade the mining colony."

Tanni nodded her head. "Agreed. I'm setting down on the landing platform; stand by to leave the ship, weapons-ready. If they are too many, we will leave... Dr T'Soni did tell us to take no unnecessary risks."

They cautiously disembarked and moved silently onto an open freight elevator to drop down from the landing platform to the main level. As soon as the elevator began to move, they heard a roar and the banging of metal. Allia stepped over to the elevator control panel and used it as cover as she sighted along her sniper rifle. As they dropped lower, a Brute and two Marauders came into view. Tanni looked at the sniper and whispered, "That does not meet my definition of too many. Give us time to dismount and get to cover, then let go. While they are focused on you, we will blindside them before they can get close." Her attention shifted to Sella. "Lifts and warps, with incendiaries I think, to burn through the armor."

Just before the platform ground to a halt, the commandos started moving; the first three creatures didn't pose too much difficulty, but the team was surprised by a second Brute as it descended a flight of stairs at the opposite end of the platform. Even so, they adapted quickly and, since the Marauders were already down, maneuvering to stay away from the Brute was not difficult. Allia had to abandon her sniping nest when the Brute charged her, but the three of them alternated fire and kept the beast confused as to which target it should attack first. Though it took more time than the other three combined, it finally went down as well and the commandos progressed toward the stairs from where the second Brute had emerged. They quickly discovered the steps led up to a small, mid-level platform and the main entrance to the facility.

As they entered, Captain Tanni expected those inside to be surprised by the sudden appearance of three Asari commandos, but figured the miners would welcome anyone who managed to kill the Reaper creatures that were literally banging on the door. Instead, they were met by an eerie calm and nothing but the standard recordings welcoming them to T-GES Mineral Works. Tanni glanced back over her shoulder at her two companions. "This feel as odd to you as it does to me?"

Sella glanced around nervously before answering sarcastically, "They seem awfully calm... Hello? A group of well-armed strangers just walked into a mining colony, weapons drawn... and no reaction from the natives?"

Allia glanced between the two. "You'd think they would have some type of reaction... anything but this... indifference."

Tanni frowned. "Stay sharp. Something is definitely not right here. Let's see if we can find Garneau and catch the early tide."

They worked their way to the reception desk and their approach finally got some attention. As one of the workers behind the counter looked up, Tanni asked, "You know you had Reapers at your front door, right?"

The guy showed hardly any reaction to the news, simply asking if the Reapers were still there.

Tanni was a bit confused by his apparent lack of concern. "Uh... No, we took care of them, but...

She didn't even finish her statement before the worker responded, "I see. Have a nice day."

Somewhat bewildered by the response, Tanni frowned in confusion. "Have a nice day? Is that all you have to say?"

Sella spoke quietly in her ear. "They sound like they are drugged... or... almost like Elcor... no emotional inflection whatsoever. I know we have not met many, but he is not speaking like a normal Human."

Tanni nodded almost imperceptibly as the worker responded. "Yes. You need more. Welcome to T-GES Mineral Works. How can I help you?"

The worker's attitude and lack of apparent emotion caused Tanni to sigh with frustration. "We are looking for a researcher named Dr Garneau. He would have arrived within the last couple of weeks. We need to speak with him."

The team got two separate responses. The only worker who had spoken to them thus far was blunt "We have no Dr Garneau." A second worker, however, asked, "Do you need to see a doctor?"

Tanni became impatient and growled at the man, "Yes. I need to see Dr Garneau!"

The first worker frowned. "I have told you. We have no Dr Garneau. We're done here. Please step away."

"Done? We are far from done. What are you people doing here?" Tanni's tone of voice betrayed her progression from impatience to anger. Sella stepped up to say something to calm her, but they received an unexpected break before she intervened.

The second worker had taken her question literally and answered it... providing them a way in at the same time. "T-GES Mineral Works is a small to mid-level supplier of tungsten to the galaxy. Are you here for the tour?"

Tanni instantly swallowed her anger and put on the best imitation of a smile she was capable of at the moment. "Why, yes. The tour would be lovely."

They were even more surprised when the worker passed a file to her omnitool. "The tour is self-guided. Please follow the directions. They will lead you to the various displays throughout the facility. There is a time limit; you must be complete within thirty minutes. The staff will guide you out at that time, whether or not you have finished the tour."

As the team stepped onto the elevator to begin the tour, they all looked at one another in bewilderment. Allia whispered quietly, "I think I can honestly say that was the strangest interaction I have ever had, with any species. Something is definitely wrong here."

They followed the tour path through the facility and, since it was self-paced, they were able to move quite quickly from one section to the next, departing each area as soon as they determined Garneau was not there. Everything they saw indicated the staff was busy completing a great variety of tasks, none of which had anything to do with mining, and every staff member they talked to told them to turn back, that they didn't 'belong' there. More disconcerting was how every person, whether Human, Asari or Turian, utilized almost identical verbiage.

Finally, in one of the rooms, Allia picked up a datapad that had belonged to Garneau; it contained an unsent voice message addressed to Dr Bryson.

Bryson, it's Garneau. I've had to go into hiding, and I need you to come get me. I found another one of those artifacts here. They're more important than we realized. It's in the mines-here's the navpoint. That's where I'll be. If something happens... I'm attaching a passcode that I hacked together. It'll open any security terminal. Bryson... something is very wrong here. Please hurry. Garneau out.

"So he is still here." Tanni frowned. "Why would they lie about that?"

Allia shrugged. "Probably for the same reason he had to go into hiding... whatever that was. But he gave us a passcode and we walked by a security terminal on the way in here. If we go back, I can open and review the logs; we will be able to see if they recorded what happened."

Tanni agreed it was the most likely way forward, so they backtracked to the security terminal and put their infiltrator to work. It wasn't long before Allia found evidence of an altercation in the mines, which was where Garneau had said he would be, and that the victim ended up in the medical bay. With the passcode hack and the patient file number in hand, they quickly made their way to medical, only to find the facility devoid of staff. Sella snorted. "Good thing we didn't need that doctor they asked about us needing to see."

Tanni wasn't in the mood. "Enough. I feel like we're about to wear out our welcome. Our clock has expired; I'm sure they are going to begin looking for us soon. Split up. See what we can find."

The team quickly reconvened in front of a treatment room that held a dead body; as they were speaking about the deceased and discussing the potential end of their investigation if he was their researcher, a man spoke from a blacked-out treatment room behind them. "If you are looking for Garneau, you have found him." All three commandos reacted and spun around. As soon as they had turned to face him, he continued. "I am Dr Garneau."

Tanni breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank the Goddess. Are you alright?"

Garneau sounded tired as he answered. "Yes... Only, I'm trapped in here. I was doing my research... until they attacked me for some reason. They didn't harm me, just confined me here."

"We are here following up on Bryson's research." Tanni tried to get a good look at the man, but the darkness in the room made it impossible. "We were hoping you could tell us about the Leviathan and why these artifacts are so important."

Garneau backed off. "They are not. The whole investigation is a dead end."

Tanni stepped up to the glass. "I understand if you do not wish to speak to us. You do not know us... But we don't have time for this; there are Reapers attacking the facility, so we need to get you and the artifact to safety."

Garneau became very agitated and mumbled to himself as he stared at the floor. "Reapers! The darkness must not be breached."

Tanni frowned in confusion. "Darkness? What are you talking about?"

Garneau suddenly threw himself at the glass in anger, his voice going deep and gravelly, sounding nothing like he did at the start of their conversation. He practically yelled, "Why do you pursue me?"

The commandos backed up and Sella reminded them about Hadley. "The briefing said the assistant was indoctrinated. I do not believe this man is truly Garneau at the moment."

He pounded on the glass again. "Leave the artifact! You will not take what is mine..."

Realization lit Tanni's face, Sella's comment making her understand that Garneau was either indoctrinated or somehow possessed. She stepped up to confront whatever was hiding within the man. "You! You killed a Reaper! We are here to ask for your help. Learn how you did such a thing."

The man growled, "You bring only death!" and the commandos suddenly had to wonder if the Human was a biotic; a loud noise rang out and the glass of his prison exploded outward into the hall they were standing in. As the commandos ducked and covered their ears to protect both themselves and their hearing, Garneau launched himself through the shattered window and ran out of the med bay, the commandos recovering and setting off after him as quickly as they were able.

Garneau used every trick in the book to slow his pursuers; as he went through them, he locked doors behind him, cut power and sealed hatches after climbing ladders; anything and everything he could to increase his lead. It suddenly occurred to Tanni that he was probably going after the artifact in the mines, so they diverted and selected an alternate route to bypass his roadblocks. They very nearly caught up to him on the roof, but Reaper creatures were starting to drop in force so the team either had to give up the pursuit or fight their way through. They were commandos; they elected to fight.

They were very happy to have Allia with them. While Tanni and Sella took care of the Marauders and husks that they recognized from the Broker reports, Allia utilized her high-powered sniper rifle to take out new creatures about which they had not been informed. The first new arrival must have been derived from the Rachni; it was a multi-legged creature equipped with powerful long-range cannons, but the soft sack that composed the majority of the body proved to be vulnerable to Allia's rifle and the creature was eliminated with surprising ease. The second wave, however, sent chills through the commandos. A pair of new creatures joined the fray which were obviously corrupted Asari; they announced their presence with spine-chilling wails and possessed enormous glowing eyes... Their crests were twisted and elongated to look like spikes on the tops of their heads, their whole bodies appearing stretched and emaciated. The worst attribute was their biotics... They were quite formidable, including a short Vanguard-like charge and barriers that augmented already very good armor; it took the concentrated fire of all three commandos to take each of them down.

Once again, by the time the commandos had worked their way forward, Garneau had left a couple of presents behind, this time in the form of small explosives that took out two of the power supplies required to open the door to the next passageway. Tanni was frustrated, "Tides! What else is this researcher going to do to delay us! We will need to fight off the Reapers while we escort the repair drone to the trouble spots."

Nothing new surprised them and the numbers thrown against them in the second wave seemed fewer than the first, so they were soon on their way... but Garneau's efforts to slow them had been effective and the commandos arrived too late to change the course of events. When they caught up to him, he was sitting on top of a rock that had been excavated from the mines; it still partially encased the artifact, which appeared to exactly match the description of the one Liara reported in Bryson's office. The researcher was already being surrounded by Husks and, even as the commandos started to pick off the Husks, Garneau, or whatever possessed him, repeated what he had said in the med bay. "The darkness must not be breached."

Garneau raised a shaking hand, displaying a detonator to the commandos as he growled out, "Turn back!"

Tanni yelled his name, but Garneau was already committed to his chosen path. Her eyes went wide as she watched Garneau push the plunger on the detonator; she yelled "Cover!" and threw herself backwards, twisting to land face down on the floor while protecting the back of her head and neck as best she could with her hands.

The bomb was not meant for Garneau. It was strapped to the backside of the artifact, which was easily destroyed in the explosion, but since Garneau was sitting practically on top of it, it killed him in the process as well. Tanni uttered an Asari curse as she pushed herself up off the floor and moved to confirm if Garneau was truly dead and that the artifact was indeed destroyed.

The captain was still examining the fragments as Sella excitedly shouted out to her from across the room, "Livos! You need to see this!"

When Tanni turned toward her, Sella pointed at the man close to Tanni and spoke quickly, "That was not Garneau." She continued, pointing at the corpse at her own feet. "This is... and he's been dead for a while."

"What?" A confused Tanni looked again at the remains of the man they had chased across the facility. "Then who is this?"

Sella shrugged, "No idea, but this is definitely Garneau. He has identification on him and a datapad with all the research data he had collected so far."

Tanni shook her head. "This makes no sense, but collect what he has and let us leave. Hopefully we can get past the miners and the Reapers without anyone else dying." As they turned to leave, a door in the back of the room opened and a small group of people staggered in, extremely confused and disoriented. After asking them a few simple questions, it was easy to determine the miners had been under the Leviathan's control for nearly ten years. They didn't recognize Garneau and had no memory at all of the time period while they were enthralled; they merely remembered darkness and cold. Other than that, they at least seemed perfectly healthy... but catching up on ten years would be difficult for anyone, especially considering what the last three years had brought.

Tanni scowled. "It is good we have the data, but we must talk to Dr T'Soni immediately. The implications are troubling. We came here knowing Leviathan could take over individuals and use them as puppets to do its bidding... but it appears to have controlled this entire colony!" She looked to her team. "Come, we must hurry."

Fully expecting to have to fight their way out of the mine and back to their ship, the commandos were pleasantly surprised to find the Reapers gone. Sella narrowed her eyes as she looked around suspiciously. "Somehow, the Reapers could sense when the artifact was destroyed. Certainly that must mean something, though I know not what."

Tanni shook her head as they climbed back in the ship and started prepping for takeoff. "I don't know either, but we will include that information when we send everything to Dr T'Soni. I agree; I also believe it important."

SSV Normandy SR-2

When Liara reached her office, the Normandy had just emerged from the relay at Skepsis in Sigurd's Cradle, meaning she still had a couple of hours of FTL time before they reached their destination in the Decoris system. She smiled at her compatriot, hard at work on one of the terminals. "Good morning, Riana. I'll be going on the ground mission with Shepard when we reach Sanctum, so my time is limited. What do I need to focus on?"

Riana grinned back at her, the lilt in Liara's voice telling her that all was well. "So... You enjoyed your downtime with Shepard?"

Liara blushed slightly at the commando's tone and laughed lightly as she responded. "Yes. It was a much needed rest." Liara couldn't help but smile at the memory as she continued, "And we did sleep, very well as a matter of fact."

"That is good!" Riana's smile faded a bit as she focused on the feeds. "There is something you need to see. I received a file back from Livos; their mission in the Rift is complete... and the results are somewhat disturbing. I haven't done anything with it yet, the system just finished the decryption and I only read through it once. I flagged it, so you will find it in your box without difficulty."

Liara immediately located the report and opened it, reading through it quickly. "Goddess! Who's closest to the Citadel?"

Riana nodded. "I see you understand what I meant. Fortunately, it is the Aletheia. I imagine Miranda and Judea should be capable of constructing the described 'shielding device' per Garneau's instructions."

"Yes, I agree." Liara wrinkled her forehead in thought. "Please send them the data and dispatch them immediately. While they are at the lab, they also need to follow-up on Dr Ann Bryson. See if they can figure out where she is, but make sure they know to not pursue her until we discuss it. We may send the Rakhana again... or Shepard may want us to take on the task, since the Reapers have definitely proven themselves to be on the trail."

When Riana acknowledged the task assigned to her, Liara turned to the drone. "Glyph. I need you to search the databases for Dr Ann Bryson and consolidate a brief history for our review."

Upon its acknowledgement, Liara called Shepard to the office. When Shepard walked in, concern was prominently displayed on her face. "Liara? We're only an hour out; it's time to get dressed-out for Sanctum. What's so important that it couldn't wait?"

Liara gave the commander a summary of what the Rakhana team had discovered and the look of concern on Shepard's face continued to increase in intensity the more Liara told her. When Liara finally finished, Shepard shook her head as she spoke, "Damn it! The thing destroyed a Reaper and can apparently indoctrinate, or at least control, multiple persons at the same time. I wonder..."

When she hesitated, Liara finished her sentence for her, just as concerned as Shepard. "... if it actually is a Reaper?"

Liara's blue eyes were cloudy and restless as Shepard looked at her and continued. "Exactly. But it doesn't matter if it is or not; we still need to figure out what the hell it's doing. If it's a rogue, why did it leave the rest? And how long has the damn thing been out here hiding?"

Liara frowned. "Rumors of the Leviathan of Dis have existed for centuries. We have stories that go back to shortly after the Asari became a space-faring species."

Shepard was surprised. "Shit! That's almost 3,000 years! How can something that powerful stay out of sight for so long?"

"If we continue on this path, we just may find out." Liara's forehead pinched even more. "Even though I understand the necessity, I still do not like that we are pursuing this." She paused only briefly as she closed down her system in preparation to leave. "But if we hadn't, we never would have discovered the danger of the artifact sitting right in the middle of the Citadel!"

They walked together to the doorway and Shepard spoke as they stepped out into the main crew deck. "Hopefully we'll hear back from Miranda soon and she'll have good news for us... but we need to get word out so people can recognize and destroy these artifacts. Or, at the very least, shield them."

Liara ran a hand across her crests in irritation. "And the rest of the report... I know I should have anticipated it, knowing the Reapers are already hitting outlying colonies."

Liara stopped and looked at Shepard, who easily saw the pain behind Liara's eyes. "You should have anticipated what, Liara? What else did Livos tell you?"

"The Reapers have corrupted what the commandos believe to be Rachni, the result of which is a multi-legged creature with two very powerful long-range cannons." Liara closed her eyes as she continued. "And they have taken Asari, Shepard! Livos said they are frightful to behold and their biotics are incredibly strong."

Shepard immediately stepped to Liara and enveloped her in a tight embrace, kissing her softly on the temple. "Damn them all to Hell! I am so sorry, Liara. Our victory will be revenge for every person they take, no matter the species. The Reapers will pay for their transgressions with their own deaths, I promise you."

Aletheia SB-1

Miranda scowled at the flash message she had received from Riana. She turned to Sellis Boni and spoke quickly. "Sel, I need you to take over for Judea for a bit and take us directly to the Citadel. Ask Judea to come back here, please... and tell her to bring her engineer's hat."

Sellis looked at the Human and spoke hesitantly. "I... do not believe she has such a device, Miranda."

Miranda chuckled. "Sorry, Human saying. I need her engineering expertise, Sel."

Sellis was even more confused and rubbed her forehead in frustration. "Human engineers have special hats?"

Miranda couldn't help but laugh aloud. "No. It's only a figure of speech. Someone like Judea who is an engineer, a pilot and a commando is said to wear many hats. They don't actually wear hats; it just means she holds many jobs with different responsibilities. Which figurative hat you are wearing merely references the job you happen to be working on at the moment."

Sellis shook her head. "You Humans like to complicate things and your idioms tend to translate literally, not figuratively. It makes them very hard to understand." With that, she disappeared forward to swap places with the pilot.

Judea walked back quickly and gently ran a hand down the Human's arm, stopping with her hand resting atop Miranda's. "Miri. What's up? Sel made it sound somewhat urgent... before she started muttering something about hats."

Miranda showed her the report she had received on the Leviathan artifact and explained what they needed to do. Judea's eyes didn't move off the report, but Miranda could tell when it was no longer the engineer's focus; Judea had read and absorbed the information and was now thinking about her options. After a few moments, Judea's started to nod her head slowly up and down and Miranda knew she was on to something. "Yes. Garneau is correct. It should be relatively easy with his specifications."

Judea stepped to her locker and pulled out a box of miscellaneous gear as she continued talking. "Your Dr Solus did something comparable to shield a ground team from the Seeker Swarms on Horizon; ingeniously simple. He tuned your personal shields to the particular IR signature that humans give off and blocked it from leaving your bodies. Without your bodies actively emitting an IR field beyond the shield, the Seekers could not see you. The hardest part of his research was figuring out exactly how they sensed Humans, so he knew what to block."

Judea turned to Miranda and continued. "According to his notes, Garneau has already established the wavelengths of the transmissions, which is the most difficult part of the process. With that task already complete, assuming his data is correct, my job should be easy."

Judea dug out a spare shield generator from the box she had retrieved and started removing the side-plates. "I can do the same thing with the artifact's signal. I can tune this personal shield generator to suppress the particular wavelengths at which the artifact emits and trap the signal inside the shield; it will act as a jammer. A very specific jammer, but a jammer none-the-less. Also, given that the required shield surface area is much smaller than what it is for the Human body, I can also adjust the shield size down significantly, which will proportionally increase the relative strength of the shielding."

"Give me an hour and I'll have it done. I'll configure a second one with a slightly larger field and we can activate them in tandem, to insure the field is strong enough, and also to provide a failsafe, should one or the other fail." Judea took advantage of their rare moment of privacy and stepped close to Miranda, ghosting her lips across the Human's cheek before whispering suggestively in her ear. "There are many things that work better in tandem than they do alone. I believe we should follow Dr T'Soni's example and make sure we schedule some personal time in the near future."

Miranda felt the heat crawling up her neck, but she didn't back away from the contact, grasping and gently massaging Judea's triceps as she whispered in the Asari's ear in response. "Yes. Well. Let's get this mission done and see where we stand, shall we?"

Judea grinned mischievously. "We'll have to stay and monitor the device for a little while, to ensure the artifact does not have the ability to modulate its frequency. If it has variable frequency capabilities, blocking it becomes significantly more difficult."

Miranda smirked and pushed back. "Yes, we will. But our time there will be spent trying to hunt down a certain Dr Ann Bryson, not kissing in the corner." Miranda grimaced. "Besides... shielded or not, I don't care to spend any more time in the vicinity of that artifact than necessary. The whole idea gives me the creeps."

Judea pouted. "I am not exactly sure how I feel about that. Is it that you don't want to spend time kissing me, or is it that you do not trust my work enough to believe it will protect you from potential indoctrination?"

Miranda raised her eyebrows. "It is neither of those things! It's just... We don't know exactly what the artifact does. We know there is more than one... are they merely indoctrination devices, or are they Leviathan's windows to the galaxy? I don't like the idea that Leviathan could be watching us through that thing and all we did was mute it, not blind it!"

The expression on Judea's face turned to disgust. "Eew. I did not contemplate that possibility. You're right. That is creepy."

Miranda's face also turned to a look of disgust. "And to think I supported the Illusive Man when he basically did exactly the same thing on the Normandy, with his bloody cameras everywhere." Her body physically shuddered at the thought.

Judea wrapped her arms around Miranda in comfort and gave her a quick kiss. "That was Operative Lawson, and that woman no longer exists. I must admit I am glad for the change, but it was a necessary period in your life. Otherwise, Shepard would still be dead and we never would have met. I am not sorry for what you once were."

Miranda ran her fingertips softly up Judea's neck fringes and the Asari shivered at her touch before pulling away abruptly. She turned a deeper shade of violet at Miranda's surprise. "Sorry. But you keep doing that and I won't have the devices ready for the Citadel when we arrive. I... I need to get to work."

Miranda smiled, knowing the effect she had on Judea. "No apology necessary. I was surprised, that's all. I'm not angry or anything."

"Good. That would be the last thing I wanted." Judea cast her one last smile before unpacking her tools and getting to work.

When they arrived at the lab, Judea took the two shield generators and walked directly to the case holding the artifact. She looked at the glowing globe as it sat perched atop a thin stand. "This will be simple. All I need to do it fasten the two generators to the stand and queue them for omnitool control. Anyone with access to the code will be able to turn them on and off." She glanced back at Miranda as she continued, "Though I can't imagine anyone wanting to shut them down, unless they were indoctrinated. And I would hope that anyone we give the code to is not indoctrinated, since it will most likely remain within the broker network. That would be very bad, indeed."

Judea quickly attached the devices to the post directly underneath the artifact and stepped back next to Miranda. She punched the code into her omnitool and they watched the two shield layers rise around the glowing orb. Once the shields were completely formed, the swirling lights within the orb dimmed and eventually went totally black, leaving the orb as dark as a starless night. Miranda shook her head, a concerned look on her face. "Damn thing's been here this whole time. I wonder how long it takes to indoctrinate someone..."

Judea shrugged. "I do not know, but from what happened at the mines, we know that anyone who was under its influence here should now be free." Judea activated her omnitool again, scanned for any signals in the designated range and found none.

Her fingers continued to fly across the haptic interface and Miranda finally asked what she was doing. "I have changed my mind about the need for a dual shield. Instead, I am reprogramming the outer shield as a sensor. If any signals emanate from the orb and penetrate the inner shield, at any wavelength, it will broadcast an emergency notification to the Broker network... And then it will implode, shrinking the field until it crushes anything within."

"You can do that?" Miranda was once again surprised by Judea's knowledge of electronic devices and her voice reflected her admiration.

"Yes." Judea made a face that Miranda couldn't recognize the sentiment behind. "I learned the trick from a friend in the STG. They use it for political assassinations. They infiltrate and replace the shield generator and then set up a situation that would cause fear. As soon as the target activates their shield for protection, it... crushes them." Judea shuddered involuntarily before finishing. "And then the program self-deletes and it looks like nothing more than a shield malfunction."

"Oh, God!" It took an amazing amount of restraint for Miranda to not yank her own shield generator off her belt. "I didn't think about... That's..." She stopped talking and looked at Judea in horror.

"Yes. I know. There are no words for that particular... application... of a shield generator." Seeing Miranda's involuntary twitch, Judea reached over and took Miranda's generator off her belt and scanned it. She then set it on the table and activated it remotely via her omnitool. The shield immediately formed itself around the table and held steady. Judea deactivated it and quickly clipped it back in its place on Miranda's waist.

"Yours is currently functioning normally." Judea's golden eyes met Miranda's still startled blues and her fingers once more flew across the interface of her omnitool. "There; I've passed you the hack. Now you can remotely test it before you put it on again..." Judea's eyes bore into Miranda's in emphasis. "Every time before you put it on."

Miranda's omnitool beeped and the unrest in her eyes settled down. "Thank you, Judea." She remembered to breathe as one last chill ran down her spine. "I guess we need to see what we can find on Dr Ann Bryson."

With a quick nod from Judea, they began to search the lab for clues, but Miranda's mind was still working on the feats Judea had just accomplished. "I have to ask. How did you hack my shield generator so quickly so you could control it remotely like that? I've never seen such a thing before."

Judea chuckled. "Every time my father and I designed a new ship model, we would buy store models and repurpose their flight controls. I spent my young life hacking into proprietary model ship flight control programs so we could link them to our flight simulator and control our model remotely. It was one of the first skills my father ever taught me, so I've had almost two centuries of practice."

"Have I told you lately how glad I am that you're on our side?" Miranda finally smiled again after the disconcerting conversation from earlier.

Judea grinned back and lowered her voice. "No, you haven't. Perhaps you'll have to demonstrate your gratitude a bit later."

Miranda chuckled and shook her head as they continued to hunt for clues on Dr Ann Bryson's whereabouts. By the end of their search, they had managed to piece together that Ann was the leader of Project Scarab and had jumped to the Pylos Nebula aboard a ship called the Icarus, which was capable of long-range FTL travel. They had also located a passkey to the project requisitions locker; the items missing indicated Ann had traveled to an arid, but hospitable, location. Miranda glanced at Judea and shrugged. "I don't see anything else. All we can do is put the data into a search program and see how many planets within the Pylos Nebula fit the given parameters. Let's hope it's not too many."