They all soon sat down in the conference room and began to discuss everything they had learned.

"Commander? You look…" Liara gave him a concerned look. "Are you suffering any ill effects from the Cipher?"

"The Cipher shook me up a bit," Shepard admitted.

"I might be able to help you. I am an expert on the Protheans. If I join my consciousness to yours maybe we can make some sense of it."

"Do it. Hurry. We don't have much time," he said as he stood up.

"Relax, Commander." Liara approached him. "Embrace eternity!"

Once again images flooded into his head. They didn't appear to make much more sense than last time.

Liara actually staggered backwards a moment or however much time had passed later. "That was incredible! All this time. All my research. Yet I never dreamed…" She shook her head. "I'm sorry. The images were so vivid. I never imagined the experience would be so…" She swallowed. "Intense. You are remarkably strong-willed, Commander. What you've been through, what you've seen, would have destroyed a lesser mind."

Ashley leaned forward. "Come on. Get to the point. What did you see?"

"The beacon on Eden Prime must have been badly damaged. Large parts of the vision are missing. The data transferred into the commander's mind is incomplete."

"You sure you didn't come across any kind of clue or hint? Something we might have missed?" Shepard asked.

"Everything I saw you already know. You were right about the Reapers. The Protheans were destroyed by a race of sentient machines." She frowned, and touched her chin. "I think it's obvious there's a connection between the Reapers, the Prothean extinction, and the Conduit. But I didn't see anything that would help us find it."

"What the next move?"

"I was able to interpret the data relayed through your vision. What was there, at least. But something was missing." She tapped her fingers against her chin. "Saren must have the missing information. Maybe he found another beacon. If we can find the missing data from your vision I can—" She swayed slightly. "Whoa!" Her hand went to her head. Kaidan was immediately on his feet, medical scanner in hand. "I'm sorry. The joining is…" She sighed. "Exhausting. I should go to the medical bay and lie down for a moment."

Shepard nodded to Kaidan, who was giving him a concerned look. "Dr. Chakwas should take a look at you."

"That won't be necessary. I just need some rest. Somewhere quiet." Liara smiled reassuringly.

He knew that feeling. "We're done here. Dismissed."

Joker's voice came over before he could make good his escape. "I've sent off the Feros report, Commander. You want me to patch you through to the Council?"

"Patch them through, Joker."

"Setting up the link now, Commander."

"Commander, Exogeni should have told us about the Thorian. It would have made your job much easier," said the Asari Councillor

The Salarian Councillor glared. "You might have been able to capture it for study instead of destroying it."

"The Thorian liked to enslave minds," said Shepard. "Anyone who studies would've ended up as one of its thralls."

"Perhaps it's for the best, then." The Asari Councillor smiled. "At least the colony was saved."

"Of course it was saved." The Turian Councillor shook his head. "Shepard would go to any lengths to help a human colony."

Shepard narrowed his eyes. "Being human had nothing to do with it. They were in trouble."

"Admirable," said the Salarian Councillor. "But sometimes Spectres have to make sacrifices. I hope you're willing to do that when the time comes."

Shepard went down to have a word with Ashley and found that she was old in a conversation with a young teenage girl. The teenage girl clearly could see him, because she had a mischievous grin on her face.

"—Oh, before I go. You said you're serving with Commander Shepard now? We saw him on the news here. He's cute. Later, sis."

Ashley stood there for several long seconds before turning around. "Tell me you didn't hear that."

"Afraid I did." Shepard watched as red crept across her face.

"Oh, shoot me now." She ran a hand down her face. "One of my sisters." She pointed back at the face still visible on the screen. "That's Sarah. The youngest." She took a deep breath. "What's up? You didn't come by to eavesdrop on family mail?"

Half the time he walked by, she was checking the family mail. "Your family seems to be important to you."

"Yeah, we've always been close. My and my sisters, especially." She gestured to a picture of herself with three others. The family resemblance was quite strong. "With Dad on duty so much, I had to help Mom raise them."

"Did your father serve with the fleet?"

"Yeah. Took any crap posting he could get that offered space time." She then went to go on about how she had four sisters and how they moved around so much, because their father was dispatched in several places.

"You're lucky to have such a close family," said Shepard.

Ashley bit her lip. "Sorry. I forgot about your family situation."

"Or lack thereof," Shepard sighed. "Relax, Williams. I've dealt with it."

"Asked me to clear bunk of armed hostiles, no problem. Dealing with the foot in my mouth? Not so good with that."

She told him about her family, coming very close to bragging at several points. Then she told him about how she and Sarah had become close. The story involved someone getting taking away in an ambulance, which in retrospect made perfect sense. "The Williams women are a decisive bunch, Commander. We do things when we're ready. Not before, not after."

"Where was your father during this? Wasn't your family stationed near him?"

"Dad always wanted to serve in space. But he wanted us to have real ground under our feet. He'd say, 'Space is beautiful, but you can't raise a family there." Her eyes took on a faraway look. "I cannot rest from travel: 'I will drink life to the lees. All times I have enjoy'd greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those that loved me, and alone. For always roaming with a hungry heart. Much have I seen and known. Cities of men, and manners, climates, councils, governments…'" She smiled.

Shepard blinked. "I never thought I would hear you recite poetry."

Ashley narrowed her eyes. "Just because I can drill you between the eyes and hundred metres doesn't mean I can't like sensitive stuff. Just don't spread it around." Ashley smiled. "'Ulysses was Dad's favorite poem. Every time he shipped out, he recorded me reading it. He had a dozen versions when he retired."

"Does he still like it?"

"I sure hope so." Her smile became sad. "I read it to his grave every time I go home." She twitched a shoulder. "Dad passed on a few years back. He's probably still watching, though." She winked. "So behave."

"You mean from whenever we go to after death."

"Dead on, skipper. He is with God now?" She gave him a slightly self-conscious look. "That's not a problem for you, is it. That I believe in God?"

"Everyone has the right to believe what they want," said Shepard. "Say so in the Alliance charter. Only with fancier words."

Ashley smiled. "I'm glad you're open-minded about it. I've met a few people who are were really weird out by my faith. Because I worked in space, I can't believe in a higher power? Geez." She then gestured all around her. "Hello? Have you people looked out the window? How can you look at this galaxy and not believe in something?"

Shepard thought it was wise to change the subject. "What your opinion on the last mission?"

"A little spooky how you handle that Jeong guy. Didn't figured you'd know how to speak corporate."

"All you need to do is show them how getting what you want get somewhat they want," Shepard shrugged.

"You make it sound easy. Frankly, I just wanted to put a few rounds in him and leave."

Shepard went off to see Liara and she turned round to face him. "I get the feeling you want to ask you something, Commander."

"Maybe we could pick up where we left off. You were telling me about your interest in the Protheans?"

"Actually, I think I was talking about my interest in you." She sighed, and gave a small shake of her head. "And making a fool of myself in the process. As I said, I'm not used to dealing with people. Especially humans. I did not really know much about your species when we first met, Shepard. I found it hard to take humanity seriously. Your kind always seemed so rushed and high-strung."

"We don't have the luxury of time," Shepard pointed out. "An Asari can live for thousand years. We're lucky if we had 150."

"That is true," Liara nodded. "At first, I thought that was a weakness of your species. After spending time with you and your crew, however, I think it may be an advantage." She waved a hand. "You humans are creatures of action. You pursue your goals with an almost indomitable determination. It is an admirable trait, but also an intimidating one."

"You're scared of us?" Shepard noted.

"Unfortunately, the rest of the galaxy sees humanity as something of a bully. You run over anyone in your path to get what you want." She gave him an encouraging smile. "It's up to people like you to change their minds, Shepard."

"I'm doing the best I can, Liara."

"There is a reason the Council chose you to become a Spectre. They saw something special in you—" She nodded. "The best of what humanity has to offer." She looked down, and then back up at him. "I looked into your history. I know what you did on during the Blitz. It was a remarkable display of courage and heroism."

"You do need to go behind my back. I would've told you whatever you wanted to know."

She nodded. "I apologise, Commander. After our last conversation, I was afraid I would say something stupid again. I want to know more about you. To understand what made you into the man you are. There's something compelling about you, Shepard."

"You're interested in me because of my visions," said Shepard crossing his arms. "You just want to know more about the Protheans."

"I admit, your connection to the Protheans had something to do with my initial interest. But it has grown beyond that. You intrigue me, Shepard. But I'm not sure if it was appropriate to act on my feelings. I thought there might only be a relationship between you and Chief Williams."

"I care about Ash," Shepard admitted. "A lot."

Liara nodded. "I thought so. Still, I feel as if there is also some attraction between us, Shepard."

"I'm not interested in you in that way, Liara," Shepard admitted.

Liara blushed. "This is very embarrassing for me, Commander. Please, let's talk about something else."

Shepard decided that it was probably the best time to leave and save Liara from any more embarrassment.

Kaidan looked up from the table where he was restocking his medical kit. "Commander."

"What your opinion on the last mission?" Shepard asked.

"I'm glad there aren't many aliens like the Thorian. I don't think my stomach could take it," said Kaidan rubbing his stomach. "Hell of a deal you worked out with Jeong, though. If I ever get a speeding ticket, I want you to be my advocate."

"I want to know where the crew's at," said Shepard.

"Well, they know about the stonewalling you've had from the Council." Kaidan straightened.

"They deserve to know what up against."

"They're on your side. They're pissed about the resistance we're getting. Especially from 'our side.'" He sighed. "I'll have a better handle on all of it when my head stops hurting. Another L2 flare-up."

Shepard looked at him with great concern. "Anything I can do?"

"No, Commander. It'll settle down." He smiled. He shrugged. "It's rough sometimes, but they spike higher than a lot of L3s. I fared better than some after Conatix was through."

"I haven't heard anything from Conatix in a while."

"Yeah, they quietly disappeared," said Kaidan. "Broke up into bunch of little corps after they botched the training on Jump Zero. After first contact, Conatix was set up to track element zero exposures and develop implants for humans. Once we had an embassy on the Citadel, Conatix could bring in 'experts' instead of taking it slow."

Shepard asked a few questions about the experts. Biotics weren't his area of expertise. It sounded like a big mess. Secrets, so-called experts and important people who knew nothing, with a lot of scared kids caught in the middle. "I'm sure Conatix did what what they thought was best?"

"It wasn't best for us. They brought in an ex-military turian named Commander Vyrnnus. A real hardass. He basically had three passes to break us if it would turn out a decent biotic. It kind of spiralled from there, Commander."

"Did he ever face charges for that?"

"He got his, yeah," Kaidan nodded rubbing the back of his head. "But like everything else at Jump Zero, it was under the table. The less said, the better. Anyway. This is ancient stuff. I walked it off a long time ago. I should get back to my duties, Commander. We're here to make history, not re-hash it."

Shepard soon discovered the purpose of the trinket the Consort had given him. They had just investigated an ancient Prothean ruin and the moment he accessed it image is flowed into his mind.

He can make them all out, but judging from the perspective he had just seen through the eyes of a caveman who just witnessed a Prothean ship descending towards him. He began to wonder what influence the Prothean had upon the humans outside of Mars.

"Message coming in. Patching it through," said Joker.

Hackett's voice soon was heard. "I've received some troubling information, Commander. We need your help. Someone is killing former Alliance scientists. There have been four deaths in the past month."

"I'm happy to look into it, Admiral," said Shepard. "What can you tell me?"

"All four scientists worked on a classified project on Akuze," said Hackett. "There was a brutal massacre them there years ago. An entire unit was killed by thresher maws. It was classified as a natural hazard, but the project dates coincide with the attacks."

Shepard remember his aunt telling them about what happened on Akuze. "You think the scientists had something to do with the attack?"

"I'm not certain what I think. But it's worth investigating. There was one other scientist on the project: Dr. Wayne. I'm transmitting his last known coordinates. Good luck. Fifth Fleet out."

Along the way to the coordinate they managed to locate more metals and gases as well with other findings. Shepard soon was driving the mako to the corners that Hackett had given them, inside along with him was Ashley, Liara and Garrus.

"So what's the mission?" Ashley asked.

"Someone has been killing former Alliance scientists," said Shepard.

"What's the connection?" Garrus asked.

"The scientists were working on a classified project with links to a thresher maw on Akuze," said Shepard.

"I've read about that," said Ashley. "An entire squad was killed."

"You think that these scientists had something to do with it?" Liara asked.

"Is a possibility, but locating Dr. Wayne will clarify the situation," said Shepard. "That means we need him alive to testify in front of the Alliance."

"Let's just hope we get there before this killer does," said Garrus.

They followed the corners to an underground base and counted for mercenaries, but they were able to blast the way through them and soon entered into a chamber where a soldier was aiming a pistol at a scientist, who Shepard assumed was Dr. Wayne.

"Stay back!" the soldier warned. "I've got no grief with you! All I want is this bastard!"

"Please! He's a madman!" Dr. Wayne begged. "Mr. Toombs, you're insane! You need help!"

That was smart telling the man he was insane while holding a pistol right in his face. "It's Corporal! Corporal!" Toombs roared. "You don't get to lie! Not today! Today it all comes out!"

"What calm down?" said Shepard, he could see the man had suffered quite a lot judging by the scars on his face. "I'm listening, but I need you to put the gun down."

"You don't understand," said Toombs, his eyes watering. "I don't want to kill anyone. I—I want to go to sleep without screaming in my dreams! I want the people who sent me to Akuze brought to justice!"

Dr. Wayne looked at Shepard as if he was crazy. "Can't you see that Toombs is crazy? Shoot him!"

Toombs ignored him. "But if I can't get that, I'll have to settle for killing the man who took my life away."

"What did the doctor do to you, Corporal?"

Toombs breathed a little easier. "We were on Akuze when the thresher maws hit. My entire unit was wiped out. The thresher maws… the scientists were studying them. They let them hit our unit, just to watch! I woke up in a holding cell. The scientists were delighted I'd survived. Now they had someone to run tests on."

"What kind of tests are we talking about?"

"You can't believe Toombs!" Dr. Wayne roared. "He doesn't have any proof! I demand a fair trial!"

"Ever had thresher maw acid in your veins?" Toombs asked. "I have. They wanted to see what it would do. They're part of some organisation, Cerberus, that runs secret tests like this. They test me like a lab animal. This is justice. This man deserves to die." He then looked at Shepard with an indomitable focus. "So, are you going to kill me or not?"

"You're better than this, Toombs," said Shepard calmly. "You're not like them."

"Don't tell me who I am!" Toombs roared. "You have no idea what I been through! My unit died, and I was tortured for years! You can't judge me. You don't have the right."

"Toombs, if I could've helped you on Akuze, I would have. All I can do is help now," said Shepard slowly and calmly. "Let me."

Toombs stood there for a moment and then lowered the pistol. "Okay. I'm no murderer. They couldn't make me one. Just as long as he goes to trial. Maybe the screen will stop now. I don't know."

"Those bastards can't hurt you anymore," said Shepard placed a hand on his shoulder. He then reached for his communicator. "Joker, tell the Fifth Fleet we need a ship for pick-up."

"Aye, aye, Commander," said Joker.

They soon left the system and Hackett made contact.

"I reviewed your report of the situation, Commander," said Hackett. "I'm glad to see you are able to take Dr. Wayne in alive. Now we can put him on trial and get some answers. Corporal Toombs seems to have found some closure. Hopefully, with therapy, he'll have a normal life again someday. Thank you again for your assistance, Commander. Fifth Fleet out."

Shepard made his way down to the cargo bay and found, unsurprisingly, Garrus calibrating the gun on the mako.

"You see much action in C-Sec?" Shepard asked as he passed Garrus a welding tool.

"Well, not as much as you." Garrus shrugged. "But yeah, I've seen some interesting things."

"I bet you have. Anything in particular that stands out?" Shepard asked as he went underneath the mako.

"I remember this salarian geneticist I was sent to investigate. That case was a bit… Disturbing."

"What happened? Why were you investigating him?"

"I was tasked with tracking black market trade on the Citadel. Most of it's harmless. Nothing I needed to pursue. But during the course of my investigation, I noticed an increase in the trade of body parts. Organs, mostly." Shepard went slightly still at Garrus's words, then continued adjusting the suspension. "We usually get a few of those, but not the numbers I was seeing. We weren't sure if there was a new black market lab or if some freak was harvesting organs from citizens."

"You've seen this before on the Citadel?"

"Every so often, some lab sells unwanted parts through the black market. But they're not as bad as the psychos. I remember this one elcor diplomat we caught in my first year on the job. He was hacking people up and selling their organs. Had the station in a bit of a panic. But this case wasn't that clear cut. Turns out there was more going on than we first realised."

Shepard remove himself from the mako. "So how did you figure out what was happening?"

"First, we got hold of a sample and ran DNA tests. The weird thing was, the match led us to a turian who was still alive and was very convinced he'd never lost his liver. After a bit of digging, I discovered this turian worked briefly for Dr. Saleon, the geneticist." Garrus finished with his welding and washed his hands. "So I went to his lab, hoping to find evidence of cloned organ development. But there was nothing. No salarian hearts, no turian livers, not one krogan testicle."

Shepard blinked. "You're kidding, right? Why would anyone want krogan testicles?"

"Some krogan believe that testicle transplants can increase their virility. Counteract the effects of the genophage. It doesn't work, but that doesn't stop them from buying. They'll pay up to 10,000 credits each. That's 40,000 for a full set. Somebody's making a killing out there." Garrus shrugged.

"And the geneticist?"

"I brought in some of his employees for interrogation. To see if I could get them to talk. While I was interviewing one of them, I came across something suspicious."

Shepard's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You mean threatening. Was that really necessary?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, it paid off. One of my detainees started bleeding profusely during the interview. We offered to patch him up and he got frantic. Freaked out. I ordered a full exam, to find out what was going on. Our medics found incisions all over his body. Some of them fresh. That was our big break. These people weren't just Dr. Saleon's employees. They were test tubs. Walking, living test tubes."

"He was growing parts inside these people?" Shepard stared.

"Exactly. He cloned their organs right inside their own bodies. Then he harvested them and sold them off. Most of the victims were poor. He'd pay them each a small percentage of the sales, but only if the organs were good. Sometimes an organ wouldn't grow properly, so he'd just leave it in them. Most of them were a mess, but only on the inside—hidden so nobody could see it."

"I hope he got what he deserved."

Garrus gave him a frustrated look. "That's the worst part. We never caught him."

"Why not?" Shepard sat up straight. "What the hell happened?"

"He ran. Blew his lab, grabbed some of his employees, and headed for the nearest space dock. By the time I found out, his ship was already leaving. He threatened to kill his hostages if we tried to stop him."

"But you went after him, right?"

"I ordered Citadel defence to shoot him down, but C-Sec headquarters countermanded my order. They were worried about the hostages. Worried about civilian casualties if the ship was destroyed so close to the Citadel. I told them those hostages were dead anyway. He'd just use them to make more organs. But they wouldn't listen."

"It's not worth the risk," said Shepard. "You pursue the vessel and disable it. That's the best choice."

"They sent the military after him, but he got away just the same," said Garrus angrily. "Yes, they did. I went to Pallin and told him what I thought of him and his policies. He said if I didn't like it, I could quit. I almost did. All they had to do was disable that ship. Stop him from running. Maybe the hostages die, maybe they don't. But at least we stop the bastard responsible for it all."

"If you don't care about the fate of those hostages, then you're no better than he is," said Shepard firmly. "You're just a terrorist with a badge."

"Yeah. Maybe you're right," Garrus sighed. "It doesn't make it any easier, but I see your point." Garrus started putting his tools away. "I just wished I could have stopped him. That's all."

"Any idea what happened to Dr. Saleon?"

"I sent out feelers from time to time, hoping to find something. I thought I'd found him a while back. He'd changed ships and changed his name to Dr. Heart—his idea of a joke, I guess. I told the military, but they weren't convinced it was him. I got the transponder frequency for his new ship, but I just can't get anyone to check it out."

"I'll check out the coordinates when I get a chance," said Shepard.

"I was hoping you'd say that. But Commander, take me with you when you go. If it is Saleon, I want to be there when you find him."

They soon entered into the Kepler Verge and entered into Herschel System where the transporter Garrus had given him had located Dr. Saleon ship. Shepard boarded the ship with, Garrus, Ashley and Kaidan.

The moment they had entered they were attacked by a group of people who are spilling blood all over. They easily managed to kill them, though Shepard regretted it a great deal.

Garrus examine the bodies. "Looks like Saleon is doing more cloning organs."

"Then let's find a good doctor," said Shepard.

They wandered through the ship and eventually reached the science bay where a salarian was located.

"Thank you," he said placing a hand over his heart. "Thank you for saving me from those things."

"Commander. That's him. That's Dr. Saleon," said Garrus.

Saleon eyes widened. "What? My name is Dr. Heart. Please, get me out of here."

"Are you sure it's him?" Shepard asked.

"Positive." He then aimed his rifle at Saleon. "There's no escape this time, doctor. I'd harvest your organs first, but we don't have the time."

Saleon quickly backed away from Garrus. "You're crazy. He's crazy. Please, don't let him do this to me."

Shepard grabbed Garrus' rifle moved out of the way. "We'll take him in. Drop them off with the military."

Garrus stared at him. "But… we have him. We can't let him get away. Not again?"

"If he dies, we'll never know what he's been up to, or how he did it," said Shepard. "We'll take him in, interrogate him, and he'll serve his time."

"I've—Okay," said Garrus reluctantly. "You're right." He then glared at Saleon. "You're a very lucky Salarian. You owe the commander your life."

Saleon glared. "Oh. Thank you very much!"

Saleon then try to make a break for it, but Shepard pulled out his pistol and shot him in the back and he collapsed.

Garrus looked very annoyed. "And so he dies anyway. What was the point of that?"

"You can't predict how people will act, Garrus," said Shepard. "But you can control how you'll respond. In the end, that's what really matters."

"Yeah," Garrus nodded. "I didn't think I've met anyone like you, Commander." Shepard decided to take that as a compliment. "Well… I guess we're done here."

When Shepard returned to the Normandy he sat in to his cabin and accessed is computer and soon appearing on the screen was Rick.

"Hi John," said Rick. "I just heard what you did on Feros. I didn't get the full story, but it sounded as if you had more to content with than the geth."

"You can say that," said Shepard. "Have you found anything else on Cerberus?"

"Not much," said John. "Most of what I've been able to find out is highly classified, but it appears to be a black ops operation that was formed directly after the First Contact War."

"Why were they experiment on Alliance soldiers?"

"I don't know, like I said it's highly classified, but clearly even Admiral Hackett didn't know anything about this. I'll keep on digging on my end, but I can't promise anything."

"Just let me know if you find anything," said Shepard.

"By the way, I heard rumours on the grapevine that you have your eyes on a certain Ashley Williams," said Rick slyly.

"How can you possibly know that, you're not even on the same ship?" Shepard stared.

"True, but you have a lot of personnel on your ship and what you think they do in their spare time?"

"Look, you know as well as I do about the laws of fraternisation among crewmates," Shepard pointed out.

"I know, but I also know that you know and you don't seem to give a damn," said Rick. "My advice John, go for it."

"Thanks Rick, I'll take your advice under advisement," said Shepard shutting down his computer and shaking his head.