Hey, everyone! Sorry I went totally missing in action. I moved across the country and I needed time to get a hang of things here. But I'm back!

Love,

Seraph

Ten.

~The Monsters in Dreams~

With my grandmother's rosary behind me, I promptly made my way up the hill with a dull pain in my heart over the whole thing. Hawkins was waiting at the top of the hill, looking a little scared. While I could relate to the kid, I wasn't going to baby him through this op.

"Hawkins," I said. He stood straight up at attention. "Let's head out." He wordlessly nodded and followed me out of the old camp. I kept looking ahead as Hawkins checked out the sides, as I ordered. We'd made it to the spaceport tram system that led into the colony, with no sign of the geth.

"Captain Shepard, come in," I said, my voice cold and demanding. I saw no signs of a ship or even the sound of a distant firefight.

"Chief..." her voice was interrupted by static. "...ams. Geth inb..." She didn't sound like she was in too much distress, but I was sure that the geth had something to do with my interrupted comm link.

"Captain Shepard, repeat that, Ma'am," I insisted, trying to keep my cool in front of the nervous corporal. Only static replied. I turned to Hawkins. "Where'd they go, Corporal?" Hawkins was feeling a little jumpy and barely stifled a small yelp when I addressed him.

"The eastern dig site, Ma'am." He clung to his rifle, his eyes darting around in search for geth. "I don't know where that is, though."

"I do." I pointed towards the road that led to the eastern dig site. "Let's move out."

Things were very quiet going out to the other dig site, just a couple clicks down the road. We didn't find any civilians walking around, but there were a few marines stationed along the road. All they did was salute and point down the road, knowing exactly who I was looking for. When I asked if their comm. links were up, they replied that everything was down, so they decided to hold their positions. I told them about the geth; they received the news with confidence, though; ready to kick some metal ass. They stayed, as I later instructed, to make sure that the geth didn't get the chance to get to the eastern dig site through that road and for the soldiers to watch out for stray civilians. I briefly allowed myself to wonder if Mr. Harper was still around. He seemed to see them coming before anyone did.

The eastern dig site sat on the edge of a quarry to the west, where prothean ruins were first unearthed on the colony. The quarry was abandoned for excavations the moment the ruins were discovered. Hanging off the edge of the quarry were homes for those who worked on the dig sites. Opposite the homes to the east, across a wide dirt road were the labs for the workers, blocking the view of the ruins below in a new hole dug into the plateau, even further east from the labs. The road ran north and south, stopping at a dead end on the southern end, which was populated by garages and maintenance buildings.

"The geth will likely focus on what's in the ruins," I said lowly to Hawkins. "The geth don't make any noise, Corporal. They don't even breathe." He profusely shook his head, looking even more afraid. How this kid made it this far as such a scardy-cat is beyond me. "Shit, okay. Just... we're going to split up around that lab building ahead." I pointed at the building fifty feet ahead. Deciding that it would be best to spell it out for him, I instructed, "You take the left, and I'll take the right. Our close-range comm. link should still be up, so you need to keep in contact."

"Yes, Chief Williams," he acknowledged.

"Move out." We quietly walked around the building, our weapons drawn. Before I cleared the shadow cast by the building, I crouched down and scanned the new area through my scope. The land sloped down into a dug out depression littered with ancient structures. The ruins themselves looked like a child's building blocks that had been knocked over. One could tell where once mighty structures had stood in most spots. The torn-up land stretched out for a few more miles across the large plateau beyond the ruins. There was no cover between the labs and the ruins, but there were plenty of hiding spots in them.

Hawkins hissed into his comm. link, "Hostiles at eleven o'clock!" Realizing that his eleven o'clock was different from mine, I moved my scope's view far to the left, just barely catching sight of the light of a geth behind a mix of concrete and vegetation. Then all movement halted. I assumed that they'd spotted us.

Right when I had thought that, though, gunfire rang out. I saw the flash of a grenade emanate from the vegetation that the geth had taken cover in.

"Open fire where that grenade went off!" I barked at the nervous corporal. He obeyed as I glanced around for more geth. What I found was Hannah's small squad popping up from the cover that the crumbling ruins provided, shooting down the geth that dotted the ruins around the squad. "Uhh, never mind," I quickly corrected. "Cover Shepard's squad!"

It was nearly a completely one-sided shootout. The geth weren't shooting back as much as we were, and they were only popping their heads out from cover for very brief moments. The whole thing felt like an arcade game. I waited until the geth numbers had thinned out before I felt it was safe enough to try and radio in, "Captain Shepard, come in."

"I'm lookin' right at you, Chief," Hannah's calm voice replied. I let out a sigh of relief. "We'll come to you."

I ordered Hawkins to keep them covered as they sprinted up the hill. Hannah had Cadence and several Eden Prime soldiers running in front of her. She wanted to make sure that everyone made it in one piece. I kept chasing off geth with my stream of bullets, making sure that no one shot the squad from behind.

Unfortunately, Hawkins wasn't doing as well of a job.

"Gahh!" Cadence yelled as he fell to the ground, his leg's armor smoking from the plasma that coated the geth's ammunition. Of course someone gets shot in probably the easiest firefight of my career, I thought. I cursed the jittery corporal under my breath. Hannah was just behind Cadence, shooting her way to him. There'd be no way she'd be able to drag Cadence from the hill on her own in a timely manner.

I had to think fast. "Cover me!" I yelled to the soldiers that had made it to cover. I sprinted out into the open towards Cadence just as Hannah reached him.

"God, Williams," she shouted, grabbing Cadence by the arm. I grabbed his other arm and we began to drag him up the hill. Her tone wasn't condescending when she said, "Just gotta be a hero." She covered her side and I the other, shooting away towards the geth; trying to not give them a chance to pop out and get us while we chugged up the hill. Finally, we made it. Dmitri and her soldiers took Cadence off our hands as we made it behind the row of buildings.

"Where the hell is everybody?" I asked Hannah. We stood in between the two rows of houses that were packed tightly together. The cover bought us time to recover.

"The geth attempted to disable the colony's weapon systems," she explained. "To the colony's forces, it was a bigger priority than a bunch of old rocks. We assumed that the attack on our systems was just a distraction from their target in the ruins. Before the long range communications went out, our scouts spotted a squad of five geth headed here."

Hawkins commented, "Feels like a lot more than five of 'em showed up, actually." I bit my tongue, still more than a little irked that Hawkins let Cadence get shot.

Cadence groaned out in a pained retort, "You're tellin' me!" He rested against a crate with medi-gel slathered all over his leg. I kneeled down to examine Cadence further, as Dmitri tended to him. I winced at his wound. It had turned into an oozing, charred mess; a mix of his armor material and flesh. The only reason why he wasn't screaming bloody murder was likely due to his body's natural endorphins blocking out the pain signals for the sake of survival. Good thing I had a strong stomach.

"We need to get out of this place," I concluded, standing up to look down the road. "There were soldiers along the road towards here. I told them to hold their position and they haven't shown up yet, despite the ruckus we just caused."

Hannah cut in, "Either they're following orders or the geth are approaching from that side, too."

"Soldier," I said to one of the Eden Prime marines. She obediently turned her attention to me. "Do the workers still keep those ATVs in that garage over there?"

"Yes, Gunnery Chief."

Hannah took over. "We'll take those, then. After that, we can take the trams anywhere." We began to move down the road, walking with our guns readied. I was more worried than relieved that the geth hadn't shown up yet. Maybe they only cared about the ruins behind us.

As if it were on cue, someone shouted, "Hostiles!" We turned our attention to the garage, just less than thirty feet away, to find a lone geth. It had stopped in between the garage and a workshop, without its weapon drawn, realizing that it had been spotted. Everybody stood still, weapons drawn and aimed on the geth. I glanced around for more of its comrades, expecting to be surrounded. None of them poked their flashlight heads out.

The geth tilted its head to the side, the gears surrounding its headlight spun. It was like it was thinking aloud; analyzing the people in front of it. As it inspected us, I spotted a fuel cell container sitting next to the garage door. There were enough spare pieces of machinery to do damage.

I looked over at Hannah, who turned to make eye-contact with me. I winked at her and she nodded.

"Move back," I began. "Slowly, everybody." They obeyed. The geth stood still, just staring at us.

A robotic, mechanical voice began to say, "Williams." It remained still as a statue.

I gaped, my eyes becoming saucers. "What the…"

"Gunnery Chief," it said. The geth was talking. To me. It said my name. I shook my head, trying to see if I was dreaming. Its head moved precisely in Hannah's direction. "Shepard, Hannah, Captain."

Everybody was too shocked to say anything. Well, except Hannah. "The fuck did it just say?" I almost felt bad for the geth that caught Hannah's attention. Almost.

"Locate," it indifferently continued. "Shepard, Commander." And then I realized why the geth were here; they were looking for the commander. Did they know he was dead? If they wanted Jethro, then why were they so passive during their search for him? Wouldn't they try to draw him out with dead civilians? I wasn't going to bother asking.

I saw more lights turn up in the near darkness. It brought friends. As each light popped into view, I had to think quickly. The geth that had the audacity to say something was standing just a few feet in front of a fuel cell that was just inside the garage.

I roared at the synthetic, "Locate this, you talking tincan!" I began to fire, not caring that I didn't have permission. "Hit the ground!" I shouted to my team. Just as everyone hit the dirt road, I only had to send a few bullets into the fuel cell before it exploded, sending the pieces of metal into the air. I dropped in time to not get hit by anything, but the geth and its friends weren't as lucky. They let out electric screeches that sounded like an old car suddenly hitting the breaks. From my vantage point on the ground, I looked up a little to see the geth strewn around on the ground. I jumped back up, ready to deal with their retaliation.

But they didn't retaliate. They were retreating.

The comm. system was back up, blaring through our helmets. "They're retreating! Repeat, the geth are retreating!" Roswell announced from miles away.

The ones that remained unscathed from the blast had already begun to make their way back behind the buildings. I saw the one that talked to me getting dragged away by its comrades; a gaping hole through its chest, with sparks jumping off of it and the arm just barely hanging on to the shoulder.

I don't believe that geth feel pain, but I doubt that losing half a torso wasn't a big deal for a synthetic. I went to look down my gun's scope but Hannah, right next to me, put a hand on my shoulder before I could finish it off.

"Let it go back to its buddies," she said. I didn't turn to face her, but I did keep it in my scope's sights. "Let us make an example out of that one." I nodded, agreeing that sending a half-dead geth back home would be a bit more satisfying than just killing it off. I watched the lights on the geth fade into the foliage behind the building.

Hannah began to bark orders over the reestablished comm. system, "Track the retreating geth, Roswell…" I began to boil in my own rage as I could now asses what just happened.

How dare it utter my name! My rank! Those things killed my precious 212 and took Kaidan away from me. And I'm sure that if it weren't for them, Shepard would still be with me. I wanted that damn thing to suffer. I hoped that it would limp around and never function normally again. I hoped that it would envy its unscathed comrades and never find peace. Every horrible thought and feeling the geth brought to me, I hoped fell upon that geth.

But it was just a robot and I didn't think that it could ever feel those things. But I wished that it would suffer just as I did.

Williams, Gunnery Chief.

Where was that damn geth? I could hear it, but it was nowhere to be seen. I trudged through my murky surroundings, darting my gaze every which way, desperately trying to find my way.

I tried to yell out, but I couldn't will my voice to work. So I kept walking. The ground below me began to get muddy, sticking to my bare feet, trying to hold me back. The mud gradually became submerged under clear blue water. I was lost, standing in shin-deep water that surrounded me from every side. The sky was filled with smoke, with no evidence of a sun anywhere.

Williams. There it was again. The voice came from my left. No, behind me. I twirled around in bewilderment, looking for that geth. Gunnery Chief. That voice; electronic and automated. I hated it. It was the culmination of everything I despised. How dare it say my name.

Chief. That wasn't a geth. No, no, no. This voice was low and raspy; almost gravelly; certainly human. Williams. I knew that voice.

"Kaidan?" I was finally able to yell out into the darkened smoky sky.

The geth's voice returned. Locate. I kept pivoting around in the water, looking for the source of the voices. Shepard, Commander.

"He's dead!" I screamed back at the top of my lungs, my vocal cords rattling. I fell to my knees, water rippling from my fall. "Leave me alone!" My hands balled up into fists, holding them to my chest.

Locate. Kaidan's voice again, mimicking the geth. He was so close. I felt his chilly breath on my ear as he said, Shepard, Commander. His breath, filled with the cold embrace of death, made me shiver.

"Kaidan, no," I sobbed. A set of familiar arms wrapped around me, my breath hitching at his touch. My hands moved to meet his that rested on my chest.

Locate Shepard, Commander, he insisted. Waves lapped against me; I looked up to find the source of the waves. A geth stood in front of me, staring at Kaidan and me. The inner workings of the geth twinkled a soft blue, exposed thanks to a gaping hole that went completely through its torso.

It let out a loud electric screech as the light on its head turned red. It charged into a red laser beam, reaching out to me. I looked down at my bare belly as the beam hit it. There was no pain when my flesh burned under the beam's heat. Kaidan's arms tightened around me. I concentrated on his embrace, squeezing his hands with all my might.

Find him, Kaidan said. I felt myself falling from his embracing, going face-first into the water. Just as fast as my head went under, he pulled be back up as I gasped for air, clutching my stomach. The geth continued to scream, accompanied by a disembodied growl that filled the air.

The water I was looking down at faded into the blacked-out glass of my sleeper pod. I caught myself breathing heavily, with my hands on my stomach.

It was fine. I was fine. Just a dream. I was back on the Kilimanjaro, safe and sound.

I brought up the time and realized that I didn't need to be up for another two hours, but I didn't want to go back to sleep anyway. I left the room full of occupied sleeper pods for the med-bay. The ship was quiet, considering how two-thirds of the crew was asleep. Not everybody was on the same schedule in space. Humans slept, but space-faring enemies didn't heed to our self-imposed night and day. I nodded at the few on duty marines that sparsely populated the corridors. They'd greet me back and ask about the last mission down on Eden Prime. I said that it was good to be back on Eden Prime to protect it and that I was glad to kick some geth ass.

It was nice to wander my way to the med-bay through the gargantuan ship. The Kilimanjaro was large enough for all the on duty soldiers and even a good number of their families. I never had to stay on a ship like this with my family as a child for very long. It was usually in transit to my father's next posting. As large as the ship was, everything inside it felt quite small. The barracks were anything but spacious or private and the family quarters were about as practical as they'd come. This was, understandably, to make space for the garages and the CIC; basically, everything that made a military ship, a military ship took priority.

I didn't mind it, really. But the stark contrast to the ship I missed made things a little difficult. Back on the Normandy, Garrus and I would sprint from one end of the ship to the other during really boring trips. Here, that was a no-go. Well, at least they had treadmills on the Kilimanjaro.

When I arrived, I noticed that, unlike the Normandy, the med-bay was huge on this ship. While people would ultimately end up in a hospital on the nearest space station if they were injured while serving on the Normandy, such a trip was unnecessary here. It had the capacity to see people all the way through treatment. Of course, I told myself, they didn't have Chakwas.

Cadence was sitting up in his bed; his leg bandaged up after it was operated on. He paid me no attention as I walked up to the foot of his bed and examined him. I pulled up a chair and sat next to his bed, leaning forward with my elbows on my knees. Still, he seemed to pay me no mind, not bothering to look up from his omni-tool.

Sure, he'd been a jackass to me before. But he was my lieutenant and I felt obliged to at least visit him. I always assumed that he thought that I had a chip off my shoulder from helping Shepard save the galaxy. Or maybe he didn't like that I was Hannah's apprentice. Hell, he may have even recognized me as General Williams' granddaughter. Whatever his qualm with me was, I decided to not think much of it. I'd dealt with judgmental superiors before anyway. Nothing new here.

"Thanks," he finally spoke. I looked up from his leg to his face, which was now paying attention to me. I didn't say anything. "For saving me, I mean," he clarified. I knew what he meant, but I still gaped a little, about to say something, but I forgot what it was. "The captain's good, but she wouldn't have been able to pull my ass out of there in time without your help." I replied to his compliment with a weak, confused smile.

"Thanks," I mustered humbly.

He quickly countered, "No! Really, like I said, thank you." I wasn't expecting this kindness. Quite frankly, I was expecting him to lecture me on letting Hawkins get him shot. "I was stupid to give you shit like that before." My interest piqued then. "You ran in there without a bit of hesitation. I understand why you were chosen to serve on the Normandy."

"I don't think you understand how I ended up there," I half-laughed to him, passing his observation off as flattery just to make up for his previous behavior.

"Actually, no. I do know."

"Oh?" I challenged.

He made a small grin that looked more like a wince. "I was working on Arctutus Station when Eden Prime was attacked."

"A comfortable posting," I commented.

"Comfortable, but not what I wanted." Personally, I would have taken that posting over Eden Prime in a heartbeat. "Corporal Jenkins died during that mission under Shepard's command." I never met Jenkins; I only ever saw his coffin. Captain Anderson transferred me to the Normandy since Jenkins' absence left a spot open on the ground team. "I was next in line for a posting on the Normandy."

I suddenly figured out what he was getting at. "Oh."

"Yeah." He shrugged his shoulders, looking away from me. "I was jealous, I guess. I saw you on the news vids right behind the commander and… damn." He shook his head, actually smiling this time. "I wanted to be there. Who was that girl in the pink and white phoenix armor kicking ass next to the commander?" I was trying not to blush. "Everybody on Arcturus was asking that."

"Were not!" I said, mirroring his smile. I couldn't believe that people were talking about anyone other than Shepard by then.

"Oh yeah!" he cheered back. "Everybody was cheering you on. You were living the dream, Chief." I felt my cheeks give in to a fiery blush.

"I never considered the idea…" I trailed off.

"Nobody really expects such sudden fame," he explained to me. "Besides, you probably convinced yourself that you'd never be able get that far." I raised an eyebrow. "I know about your grandfather."

"I don't think we need to elaborate that point," I deadpanned. He got the message.

"I'll drop it."

"Thanks." I moved us away from the subject. "How's the leg?"

He shrugged, looking at his wrapped up leg. "I'll be fine. Everything's burned to hell, but the skin is growing back and the bone was replaced last night."

"Fun stuff," I joked. "Never been burned like that, myself. That'll keep you off the field for a while."

"I'll be back in no time," he assured me. "Ever end up in the med-bay on the Normandy?"

"Several times over," I recalled to him. "I ended up calling the doctor on the Normandy 'mom' at one point, since I'd been in there so much." God, I missed Chakwas. "Usually wasn't serious. And when I did actually break a rib, I took my sweet time getting into the med-bay."

"Not a fantastic idea, Chief," he remarked.

"It was when we lost Alenko."

Cadence's demeanor darkened. "He was a good guy, Alenko. I'm sorry."

I inhaled sharply, looking up at the ceiling. "Soldiers die." I tried to act as though I'd moved on. Cadence saw right through it.

"This was no normal combat casualty," he guessed aloud.

"It was like… Sophie's choice."

"Never heard of it."

"Horrifyingly tragic novel. Don't ever read it," I began to explain. "It was about a mother named Sophie who was forced by the Nazis to choose between her two children." I sighed, remembering Kaidan's pleas to Shepard, telling him to go rescue me instead. "She had to decide which one would live in a concentration camp and which one would be killed immediately."

"The commander being Sophie in this case," he concluded.

"She ended up never forgiving herself; never accepting that she could never have saved them both." I remember everyone whispering the same thing about Shepard back on the Normandy. Everybody on the ship forgave Shepard. Well, except for himself.

"Do you ever blame yourself, Ash?" I didn't answer him at first; taken aback that he'd used my first name. I realized how much I liked hearing it. I felt like his equal… his friend.

I said matter-of-factly, "I did… at first. Shepard wasn't having any of it. He made it pretty clear that it was his decision." I could almost feel Kaidan's arms around me once more, just like my dream. "Of course, that's something I'll never shake off, no matter what Shepard said."

"Well, let me reiterate on his behalf," Cadence encouraged, a grin on his face and his arms crossed in a friendly manner. "Don't blame yourself. We need you around."

"Geesh, LT," I tried to deadpan. "You're quite the flatterer." I sounded much more flirty and a lot less sarcastic than I intended. Luckily, he didn't return the gesture.

"We're both off duty. Just call me Jeremy."

I nodded with a soft grin. "Jeremy," I repeated.

"Ash," he acknowledged, nodding at me. His words gave me a flooding sense of relief. Or drowsiness. Definitely drowsiness. All of that restless sleep was catching up to me quite quickly. I yawned, loud and shamelessly.

Jeremy took pity on me. "Go ahead and catch a few winks. I won't tell," he said. I chuckled softly, resting my head on his bed after I moved my chair closer. I wasted no time in dozing off again.

I noticed Jeremy's absence from the bed upon waking up. The bed hadn't been made, so I figured he was giving walking around a go. I checked the time; only an hour had passed, but there was no sense in sticking around an empty hospital bed.

I left the medical bay and made my way to where the duty roster was posted. The corridors were still quiet; empty, even. There were so many lonely corridors on the Kilimanjaro to get lost in, unlike the Normandy, where everything was basically in one place, with no room to spare for any empty corners to hide in.

The dull murmur of two voices in an argument softly echoed down the corridor. I didn't see anyone from where I stood, but there was another corridor that met the main one I'd been walking down at a T-intersection. Whoever was down the hallway must have been so entrenched in conversation that they didn't even notice my footsteps. I moved along with my back against the wall, not even daring to poke my head around the corner in fear of being discovered. One voice drowned out the other before silencing it completely.

"But what are you even looking for? Running from one end of the galaxy to another just for that?" a man demanded. The voice wasn't anyone I recognized. It wasn't any of my business, but I did the impolite thing and kept eavesdropping.

A woman argued, desperation in her voice, "But there was never a body! What about the unaccounted for escape pod?" I wondered what happened to the person she was looking for. Maybe she knew someone on one of the ships that I went looking for on the Normandy's last mission.

"He's dead. You need to accept that. Quit looking," the man ordered in a relentless tone. I wanted to turn the corner and tell the woman to not give up, but I resisted that urge.

"But, Lieutenant!" she cried.

He cut her off. "Go back to your bunk and I'll see you back on duty in half an hour."

I waited for the sound of footsteps, but they never came. No sounds of frustrated sighs or doors shutting. Whatever, I decided. I shouldn't be afraid to go down a corridor in my own ship. I pushed my shoulders back and stride around the corner with my chin up, prepared to pass right by the quarreling duo.

Instead, I was floored to find no one there. There were no doors for them to silently slip behind and there was no way they could have gone down the corridor far enough to turn the next corner. This wasn't right. I sprinted down the corridor, wanting desperately to find the man and woman that I knew I heard. This wasn't in my head. It couldn't have been.

Tears began to well up in my eyes as I began to doubt myself more and more with each step I took down the corridor. I couldn't even see anymore.

That's when I felt the wind get knocked out of me. I ran into something. Familiar arms were wrapped around me.

"Don't listen to him," cooed my gentle captor.

"Kaidan?" I sobbed into his chest. "What's happening to me?"

His voice, so soft and familiar, "Don't ever stop looking."

A metallic, automated voice interjected, "Locate." That damn geth again. "Shepard, Commander." I turned away from Kaidan to look upon the shredded up geth. It looked taller and more imposing than before, but its inner workings were still exposed. The laser charged up, with me in its sights. It made a loud beeping noise as the power of its weapon increased.

A disembodied growl filled the air as I screamed, "No!" The beeping was loud and unbearable as the geth shot me once again.

I sat in my seat when I woke up, breathing heavily with tears in my eyes. My omni-tool was beeping. Jeremy was there, still on the bed, looking like he had been woken up by the minor ruckus I'd caused. I looked away from him, hiding my face, and stood to leave.

"I think I'm back on duty," I commented, reading a message from Hannah.

"Sleep well?" he inquired sarcastically, already knowing the answer.

"No," I answered, looking away from him, wiping away tears that were running down my flushed face. "But thanks for asking. Get better, LT."

Hannah's door was unlocked when I arrived, so I just pranced on in as usual, trying to act undisturbed by nightmares.

An old and familiar raspy voice was speaking as I entered. "…After reading your report, I've found the situation to be quite unsettling."

Hannah replied to it, taking no heed to my presence. "You don't need to tell me twice. They knew my name; they knew the Chief's name."

"Then I think that we're both on the same page, Captain Shepard."

I decided to interject, "Excuse me?" Hannah turned around, her arms folded across her chest.

"Hackett and I are having a little heart-to-heart," she explained. I nodded to the hologram of Hackett in front of her. He returned the gesture. "Thought you'd wanna join."

"What's happening?" I asked.

Hackett answered, "We have reason to believe that the geth are searching for the commander's body. I've already sent my best frigates to go after them." I nodded, holding my hands behind my back, standing at attention. "But I won't let that be your concern, Chief Williams. It's taken care of."

"I'll take your word for it, Admiral."

He continued, "Last month I put you in the running for the N1 program." I gaped at him for a moment, not believing him at first. He said it so casually. Hannah began to laugh at me. I ignored her, trying to form a cohesive sentence.

Flabbergasted, I stuttered, "I… I, uhh… the N1 program? Sir?"

Hannah put a hand on my shoulder. "You've already done what most N7 graduates can do, and then some."

"In addition to your N1 training," he began to announce. "You're being promoted to Special Operations Chief." This was like Christmas. I stared blankly at the hologram in disbelief, my arms limp at my sides and my shoulders slumped, floored by the news.

Hannah leaned in close to me, saying lowly, "Congratulations, Ash."

Stifling the biggest smile I had in a while, I saluted, "It would be an honor, Sir!" Hackett's hologram saluted back, as did Hannah. "I never thought that I'd…"

"You earned it," Hannah assured me.

In his typical stoic manner, Hackett continued. "We will present you with your new rank and you'll start your N1 training in a matter of months."

"I'll start it now, if I could, Admiral," I insisted. "Skip the ceremony. Just send me the paperwork."

"It'll be sent over to you within the week. Your training schedule will remain the same, though. Until then, I would like to ask a favor of you."

"Anything, Sir." After the bombshell of good news he'd dropped on me, I was ready to kiss Hackett's feet.

I hung on to every word Hackett said, "Alliance intel has received word that a missing contact has shown up on Illium." Illium sounded like a decent place to do check in on someone. It wasn't some remote planet akin to the places we ended up visiting on the Normandy. Of course, the moment a mission was pinned as easy, it would always get complicated. I decided not to try my luck. "I need you to make contact with this person of interest and assure the Alliance that she's safe."

"Who am I looking for, Admiral?"

"Doctor Liara T'Soni."