A/N: Short chapter, but moving it along. Sorry, I said I'd update more than this! Anyway, have two chapters tonight and possibly two or so chapters tomorrow. I figure that, as much as I love to have a review per chapter, I've written up to Chapter 46 so there's no excuse for my laziness.

Oh yeah, btw, this is going to be enormous. But not larger than 60 chaps, I know that.

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Chapter 6: Fixing the couplings

"Donnelly, check the drive core. I'm getting an awkward reading from it."

::Copy, Joker.:: the man's brogue managed to make Joker wince again. ::We're still tryin' to put in the FTA couplin's, so the balance is off.::

"Just fix it. I'd like us to have the Normandy up to speed while there's Collectors prowling about."

::We'll get on it.::

Joker leaned back in his chair, scanning through the security feed. Miranda was in her quarters, reading over files – whoever put security cameras in her quarters was to be commended. If that meant the Illusive Man, so be it. Jacob was doing crunches in the armory again – Joker scowled, quickly flipping to the next feed. Mordin was hard at work in the technical lab, humming under his breath. Mordin was fascinating to watch – the salarian moved with an unusual, graceful pattern, sometimes as if dancing.

Garrus was playing with the guns in the batteries again, Kasumi was reading in her observatory, and Zaeed was throwing knives at one of the signs in his cargo hold. Kaidan had apparently been in the starboard observation deck, probably thinking or geeking on his omni-tool or writing reports or something, Joker figured. Either way, he was now headed towards the mess, where Chakwas stood leaning on Gardner's counter and talking to him as he got the next meal ready.

He was about to find Shepard when feet sounded behind him. He turned as Tali's lithe form filled the doorway of the cockpit. "Tali! Good to see you again!"

"It's good to be back on the Normandy," she admitted. "I was wondering . . . well, how are you?"

"Pretty good. I got my baby back, we got the Commander back, we're running off onto a suicide mission . . . practically the same as before."

Tali laughed. "Indeed it is. At least this time we will not have to steal the Normandy."

Joker glanced at EDI uncomfortably. "I'm not sure Shepard's ruled that out yet."

EDI flickered. "Doing so would void all Cerberus support for the mission. Shepard would not risk this."

The pilot glared at it. "Yeah. Keep telling yourself that."

Tali leaned against the opening to the cockpit. "Is Kaidan still mad at you?"

"What do you think?" Joker scoffed. "I killed Shepard."

"True. And what about them?"

"Them?"

"Shepard and Kaidan."

Joker raised an eyebrow. "You're awfully concerned."

"I enjoyed winning that pool with Adams and Chakwas," Tali answered.

"Aw. You had to bring that back up. Why'd you have to bring that back up?"

"Because it isn't fair that they have to go through this because of Cerberus. Do we really think Shepard can handle that?"

Joker shook his head. "No. But you didn't hear the Horizon debacle either."

"The Horizon deba—oh, you mean when he called her a traitor."

He winced. "Heard about it, did you?"

"Garrus told me."

"I'm not surprised. I'm just kind of hoping they'll fumble it out."

Tali's omni-tool beeped. She glanced down and shook her head. "What is it, Donnelly?"

::We're having problems with the FTA couplin's. Can you give us a hand, ma'am?::

"I'll be right down, Donnelly." Tali sighed. "I'll talk to you later, Joker."

"Yeah. Get those couplings in – the Normandy's running a little hotter than usual."

"I'll see what I can do."

#

"Hello?"

Kasumi looked up, setting her book aside. "You're Tali, right? Shepard's friend?"

"Yes. May I come in?"

Kasumi motioned to her sofa. "Sure."

The quarian sank down, and both stared at each other for a few seconds. Tali rubbed a bit of engine grease off the arm of her environmental suit nervously. "I have a question."

"Sure."

"Well, I was asking around about something, and Doctor Chakwas said I should talk to you."

"About what?"

Tali paused, then took a deep breath. "Shepard's gonna kill me," she murmured. "Anyway, have you . . . is there a problem between the Commanders?"

"Between Alenko and Shep?"

"Yeah."

Kasumi made a face. "Well, it'd help if he hadn't essentially called her a traitor on Horizon and thought she was really Shep and not some weird imposter, and both of them weren't trying to pretend they weren't staring at each other when no one else is looking. Why?"

"Keelah," Tali groaned. "Because this ship is going to have a lot more problems if we don't get them talking."

Kasumi leaned forward on her knees. "Then we'd better get working on a plan, huh?"

"Thanks." Tali sounded relieved. "I didn't think anyone was going to help me."

"Please," Kasumi said, waving her hand. "This is me."

#

Kaidan sat in the mess, staring down at his plate. Gardner had finally stopped grumbling about having another biotic to feed, which was a relief.

As far as he knew, they were heading to the prison ship Purgatory. Who they were slated to pick up, he didn't know. Shepard had suddenly and solidly withdrawn, when a week ago on Haestrom she'd been perfectly – no, he reminded himself. This wasn't Shepard. This couldn't be.

Could it?

He wasn't blind to the glares some members of the crew were giving him, including Garrus. Granted, he didn't care – the turian had dropped off the grid to play vigilante, after all, and then hadn't bothered to let him know Shepard was alive – and he had his orders. He was to determine whether or not Shepard was authentic and to find out whatever she knew. That was it. He wasn't supposed to make the ship like him.

And yet, all he wanted to do was find Shepard and an empty room and make up for the two years they'd lost.

"Hi!" A chipper voice said, and he glanced up. The hooded woman who had been on Horizon with Shepard and promptly vanished until now sank down across from him. "I don't think we've met."

"Uh . . . no," Kaidan said.

"I'm Kasumi," she said, hood twitching as her head moved. "You've probably never heard of me."

"Uh . . . no," he repeated.

"And you're Commander Alenko. People say you were Shep's right hand man during the war." She paused. "I'm a fan."

"Uh . . . thanks." Kaidan felt himself growing progressively more confused. Who was this woman, why was she on Shepard's team, and why was she talking to him?

"Anyway, I'm pretty surprised Cerberus waited this long to find you." Kasumi motioned with her fork. "Granted, I'm also surprised Shep hasn't shot Lawson and headed back to the Alliance yet."

"Yeah," he responded tonelessly.

"Good thing she got her Spectre status reinstated, but I can't believe she deals with those guys. A blind pyjack should be able to tell Sovereign wasn't geth." Kaidan nodded. "Did you know the turian air-quoted her?"

"He did?"

"Yep. I thought Shep was going to explode." Kasumi chuckled. "Funniest thing I've seen in a while." She leaned forward on the table and started to open her mouth when Kaidan suddenly looked away from her, a brief flicker of concern shooting across his face. She turned to spot Shepard heading in a very purposeful and hurried manner towards med bay. "Shep?"

Shepard glanced over, hand over her throat. "Hey, Kasumi," she croaked.

"What's wrong?"

"Got bodyslammed by a krogan."

Kasumi watched intently as Kaidan reacted. "But there aren't any krogan on board!"

"He hitchhiked. In a way." She coughed.

"Shepard. Are you okay?"

A brief flicker of something unknown ghosted across the surface of the Commander's eyes. "I'm fine. Just need something for this throat thing." She disappeared into med bay. Kaidan's eyes lingered on the door briefly.

"Mhm," Kasumi murmured. Almost as if caught, he jerked his eyes back to her. Both of them were hard to read, but Kasumi was good at reading people. She had to be, with her job. So she smiled faintly. "Right-hand man indeed."

Kaidan returned to his meal, still nearly expressionless. "I don't know what you're talking about." Kasumi's grin widened.

Tali was right, and this was certainly going to be interesting.