I awoke in the Normandy's medical bay. I could feel the IV still attached to my wrist. I wanted to roll over, get more comfortable, and go back to sleep. Instead, after a few moments, I struggled to sit upright.

Dr. Chakwas looked over at me. I looked at her face for any sign of hope, but found it unreadable. She walked over to me and offered my a glass of water. I took it in my free hand and drank. It felt cool against my burning throat. I handed the glass back to her.

There was silence for a moment.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, delicately.

I wanted to answer her. Make that, I tried to answer her.

No words came out.

I swallowed, shutting my eyes tightly for a few moments.

I looked over at the side of the table, the pieces of metal that were my artificial voice box were still sitting there. It took me a few minutes to get over the bitter disappointment.

I hadn't been born mute, but a freak accident had severely damaged my vocal cords when I was seven. I had needed an electronic aid to speak since then.

After the Normandy's electrical surge, I hadn't been able to speak. Dr. Chakwas finally had the time, during the hyper-jump to Nar Shadda, to put me under the knife and take a look.

It was clear the surgery had not been a success.

"I'm sorry, Kevin," she told me. She sighed. "I just don't have the parts to replace the voice box. I've asked Tali to try to jury-rig something, but we don't have much to spare. Anything that could have connected to the system already there. It's not just a speaker, after all."

Which meant the system that overloaded inside of me was going to be staying broken.

In a time with so many alien languages, so much translation going on, sign language hadn't caught on. Not being able to communicate with my fellow crew, my friends, hurt. You'd think I'd have been used to it by now.

I'm not.

There was a knock on the door. Chakwas looked at me apologetically and went to answer it. The commander walked in, looking directly at me.

"How did it go?" she asked. Her voice was quiet, maybe she didn't know I was awake.

Dr. Chakwas told her the same thing she told me, advising Shepard that I'd awoken.

Shepard walked over to me. "Kevin," she told me. "If I can find anything on Nar Shadda, I'll bring it back for you."

I know it's been mentioned here before, but I need to mention it again. There are reasons we followed Commander Shepard into almost certain death. She had a personal interest in each and everyone of us.

With her here, of course, we also felt that death was never certain.

She offered this without me asking. She offered this without me being able to ask.

I vowed to stop giving her such a hard time when I was acting as ship's journalist.

"We're here," she told me. "I want you to be ready to take down Grunt's story as soon as he comes aboard."

I nodded. I'd be ready by then.

The docking was uneventful. Captain Dar'co's word had been good. They got a private – independent – docking station. Joker guided the Normany down to his smooth landing. Shepard was ready to begin hunting down the fighting pits of Ko'Pa the Hutt.

The mission was getting off to a suspiciously good start.

She'd called upon Mordin and Jacob to accompany her for this particular mission. Mordin for his xeno-medical knowledge, even though he almost had to be dragged out of his lab. Jacob to counterbalance Mordin's tech skills with biotics. She would really liked to have Samara or Jack with her, but with the Asari gone and Jack MIA, she didn't have much choice.

The first step out of the Docking Bay almost blinded her. The entire causeway was covered with different colored neon lights, advertising just about any product imaginable. The most prominent were of shapely Twi-Lek forms. Both genders were represented, the females more than the males.

"Reminds me of Vegas," Jacob told them. "Not the mostly civilized part near the strip. The other part. The one the brochures don't mention. There's..." Jacob gasped as Shepard elbowed him. "Sorry. Went there after I made Lieutenant."

"Understanding now, Shepard. Won't be distracted," Mordin said. He reached into his lab coat and retrieved a rather ridiculous looking pair of sunglasses. "Sorry. Very bright."

From what they'd learned on the extranet, Ko'Pa's arena was a good distance from the docks. They had a bit of spending money from people they'd met on Hoth. While it wasn't a lot, it was enough for them to get a taxi ride to the 'Lower District'.

There was less neon there, but still not much in the way of natural light. The combination of the two produced a glare that was hard on the eyes. Lights on the Normandy were designed to be natural looking. This was anything but.

There were no fewer people down here in the lower district, if there were any tourists, they were well disguised. The population broke down into three categories. There were the heavily armed ones, probably gang members. There were others, armed with 'just' individual weapons like rifles. That made them civilians. The only unarmed people were the beggars. There were a number of those as well.

They made only light conversation. Shepard was confident they were well enough armed to avoid any gang confrontations as long as they looked like they belonged. The idea worked well enough. Nobody accosted them as they made it to the arena itself.

They circled around. There were several entrances, most of them closed and sealed off. One of them had guards in front. That looked like a good place to start. Shepard strode past them before they could react, and pounded on the door.

The guards, green pig looking things, unshouldered old fashioned battle axes. (Gamorreans was EDI's identification) Maybe not quite old fashioned, Shepard could hear the weapons humming. "I'm going to speak to your boss," Shepard told them. Two seconds later, EDI's voice echoed from a new portable speaker Tali had rigged.

They looked at each other in confusion. They were the epitome of dumb muscle. After a few minutes, Shepard could hear movement from inside the door. The door opened to a heavily armed and armored Twi'lek. He took in Shepard through narrow eyes.

He was obviously not impressed. "What do you want?" he asked. His otherwise smooth voice had a guttural edge to it. It made Shepard wonder if he smoked.

"I'm looking for someone," Shepard told him. "I..."

"You're a merc. Go find a war to fight in," the Twi'lek interrupted.

Shepard shoved herself against the door before he could close it. The guards reacted almost instantly, their vibrating axes up against Shepard's throat. She backed up, but only a half step. It was just enough room to allow Jacob to loudly take off the safety of his assault rifle.

"The person I'm looking for is here," said Shepard. Her tone was cool. The last time her voice was this frozen was when she was dealing with Tali's treason trial. "I'm not leaving without him. You can give him up peacefully, or watch as I bring this whole place down around your corpse"

The Twi'lek visibly blinked. "You're bluffing," he stammered.

Shepard decided this was a challenge best answered with the dramatic sound of her mantis. The sniper rifle had such a sound of... finality to it.

The Twi'lek froze, staring at Shepard. It was apparently not use to receiving directed threats. It worked his throat, trying to speak for several seconds before finally being able to spit anything more out. He swallowed, appearing to mentally calculate the odds he could get the door closed and barred before he got shot.

He pushed the door open instead.

"An extremely intelligent decision," commented Mordin.

Shepard and Jacob reset the safeties of their respective weapons, and followed the Twi'lek into the complex. It looked almost exactly like a human sporting complex's concourse. There was a sign for "Twin Tailed Treats". This was apparently fried dough, in the shape of of a Twi'lek's lekku. After passing the restrooms, there was another sign for "Gamorean Grub." Shepard tried not to think about this, according to EDI Gamorreans ate almost anything meat like. There was also what appeared to be a Souvenir Shop: "Wookie Wonders".

Shepard rolled her eyes and kept going. The Twi'lek was talking into a radio."

"Hmph," Mordin said. "Possibility of trap? No. Unlikely. Unaware of arrival. Unless..." he shook his head. "No. Too many easier ways. Could have trap for just such occasion. Possibly. Still. Should be careful, Shepard."

"I don't think he'll simply kill us, Mordin," She told him. "But I'm always careful."

After a few hundred meters, they arrived at what appeared to be an elevator. "Offices are up," The Twi'Lek said. "You're lucky. Ko'Pa is waiting for you."

"That's lucky?" Jacob mumbled.

Shepard shushed him.

The office they arrived in was a study in contrasts. It was, in all aspects, a very nice office. It was a bit larger than it would have needed to be for a standard sized humanoid. Ko'pa was hardly an average humanoid, of course. Shepard had seen pictures of him, and of Hutts in general, but she could honestly say that she could not have been prepared for exactly how slimy they looked and smelled.

Mordin, naturally, was fascinated .He spoke rapidly and Shepard had to fight to keep her focus on the Hutt.

It spoke in a slow, deep voice. The translation was fed into Shepard's earpiece. "What are you doing here, human?"

Jacob coughed, a loud hacking noise.

"I'm here for your slaves, Hutt," Shepard told him. "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings." she paused. "And Grunt is one of mine... I don't leave mine behind."

The Hutt considered her, and his large bulbous eyes drifted over the three of them. Then released as series of low guttural noises. It took Shepard a second to realize he was laughing. "These? Slaves?" He laughed again. "These are the refuse. Scum. People that broke the rules of Nar Shadda..."

Shepard gave him a cold look. "Don't lie to me, Hutt. Grunt was kidnapped from Talos. I don't know how he got here, but I know it wasn't by breaking any rules. I'll tell you what I told your lackey," Shepard said. Her voice was dangerously quiet. "Release your slaves, and I'll leave peacefully. Otherwise, this place is going to come down around your ears." Shepard coughed, she'd started to feel slightly woozy.

"Worthless threats. Nar Shadda belongs to the Hutts," he looked at Shepard, his form was starting to sway in her vision. "And you belong to me. Huh. Huh. Huh."

Shepard felt her her knees weaken. When The Illusive Man had rebuilt her, he had 'improved' a good deal a part of her. She was probably the only member of the human race that could use the Geth's Black Widow without it snapping her arm off.

She still breathed oxygen. Jacob slumped beside her.

Her final look at the Hutt was one of absolute fury.

Then it went dark.

The first thing Shepard saw when she awoke Mordin, leaning over her body, checking that she was OK. She struggled to sit up.

A cursory check revealed her sniper rifle was gone, the speaker was gone, her omni-tool was gone. She still had her earpiece.

Mordin provided her a small leather pouch. "Waterskin," he said, rolling his eyes. "Barbaric species. Haven't invented glasses."

"Or they're afraid we'll turn them into prison shanks," Jacob said, dryly.

"Shepard!" interrupted a familiar, deep, and welcome voice. There was a second question, spoken in the Krogan language.

"Yes, Grunt," she said, making a guess at the tone, and rose to her feet. "I'm awake," She rose to her feet, considering her surroundings.

"Honestly, I'm not sure what you expected to happen by threatening him," Jacob said.

Shepard shrugged. "Actually, I expected about this," she admitted. "It's why I brought the mantis, and not the widow. Mordin?" she asked.

Mordin smiled. He spoke in English. "Dumb brutes: Difference between Incinerate tech and Medical supplies: Vast."

"I can't believe they allowed to you to keep it," Jacob said, startled.

Mordin shrugged. "Told them: Required for Salarian survival." He mouth split in a wide grin. "True statement. Staying here: Death from boredom."

Shepard took a deep breath, and rose to her feet. She looked at the metal gate that separated her from the rest of the prison area. It wasn't anything she recognized. It was deeply set and looked strong. Shepard continued to breath deeply, and glanced at Mordin. "Don't suppose you have anything that could flash freeze the bars," Shepard asked.

Mordin shook his head.

"If this doesn't work, we'll see if your incinerate tech can melt them," she told him. She planted her feet on the stone floor, placed one hand each on adjacent bars, and pressed her entire weight in the gap. The entire prison was staring at her, awestruck. Her not-quite-human muscles burning from the strain, the metal bent slowly, surely. After a few minutes, there was a larger gap between the bars.

Mordin mutely passed her back the waterskin, and Shepard emptied the rest of it.

"Guards alerted: Probable. No. Merely possible. Cameras: No direct line of sigh," Mordin told her. "Haste still recommended."
Shepard nodded, and after another minute, resumed her assault on the bars. After another few minutes, she fell back to the floor, spent. Mordin squeezed his way out through the gap, and looked around quickly.

Grunt was shouting at him, pointing to a small cupboard near a small door. Mordin sprinted to it, and considered it for a moment. He mumbled something to himself. He tapped something, and a short burst of flame scorched the cupboard. Mordin stared again, then nodded to himself. He opened it, and withdrew a key ring.

The effect was immediate, a loud cheer went out through the prison. Shepard made a quieting down gesture with her hands and she stared meaningfully at the camera. She was ignored. Every single prisoner in the jail continued to call toward Dr. Solus, clearly begging for their freedom.

There came a short rumbling growl. A large furred creature (Shepard had seen something like it before, but could not remember the name) in a cage near a much larger door stood. He looked around the entire prison. He met the eyes of every single prisoner and as they did, the other prisoners slowly silenced.

Mordin hurried back over to Shepard's cell, unlocking it. "Planned this, didn't you?" accused Mordin.

Shepard smiled her response. "Get the others," she told him. She pointed at Jacob, Grunt, then at the large furred creature that had taken control. "Start with them."

Mordin nodded, and began quickly moving to the cells. Just as Grunt had reached her, Shepard could hear an alarm sounding, probably from nearby. "Getting in is half the fun," Shepard mumbled.

Grunt said something to her in Krogan, slapping her on the back.

Shepard staggered forward a moment, then tapped her ear. "I'm sorry, Grunt," she told him. "Lost my earpiece."

Grunt shrugged. "I can speak English." He snorted. "Don't know about the rest of these."

"Can't speak Krogan anyway," Jacob quipped. "You ready to make a run for it?" he asked. "It's going to be a hot time. I've got my biotics, and Mordin has some of his tech, but if they come with guns..."

"I know," Shepard said. "Not much we can do about it."

After a few minutes, every single prisoner had been released. The Wookie (that was it), made another growling noise charge of the prisoners. He pointed at the larger of the two doors.

"No," Mordin told him. "Exit: Other way."

The wookie was insistent.

"Shepard," Grunt said. "They keep weapons in there, for arena fights."

"Ah," Shepard mumbled. "That would do it."

Mordin moved over to unlock the larger door. He tried to lift it, and grimaced. "Problematic! Mechanical door. No power: no support."

It took the physical strength of the wookie, Shepard, and Grunt together to lift the gate even partially open. Jacob and Mordin ducked under the gate, and tossed out all sorts of goodies, an assault rifle, some sort of large axe, what appeared to be a crossbow.

"Epitome of laziness: Complete genre blindness," Mordin complained from the other side. "No stories of slave results?"

The wookie growled questioningly.

"Just as well," Shepard said, snorting. "If they'd banned weapons we'd be forced to rely on Tae Kwan Do, and that wouldn't end well."

There was the sound of a moments worth of flame. Then small packs, like battery packs, flew under the gate.

"We're coming out," called Jacob unnecessarily. He and Mordin reappeared under the gate.

"On three," Shepard said. Mordin helpfully held up three fingers. "One. Two. Three!"

The wookie evidently got the idea. The gate crashed to the floor without any fingers being squashed. The wookie immediately picked up both one of the packs, as well as the crossbow.

Grunt took something that looked like a shotgun, Shepard something that looked like an assault rifle. It took some fumbling (and some help from the Wookie) before they managed to get the charge packs into the weapons.

What that meant was their host, Ko'Pa, had had the chance to set up a defense..

This defense came in the form of a large number of things that looked like Loki Mechs. "Mordin!" Shepard yelled over the din, "keep the unarmed out of line of fire!"

"Copy, Shepard! Preferable to holding the line!"

The next few minutes were a blur to the commander. She had direct memories of the wookie having a bad habit of aiming for the head. She had thought everyone would know center of mass was the easier shot to hit. Granted, knocking out the optics was a kill shot, but it was a much smaller target.

Grunt... Grunt was angry. He didn't abandon his shotgun, but he did use it in a less orthodox way than Shepard was using her assault rifle. On the other hand, when propelled by an angry krogan, the chest of a Loki was no match to whatever these shotguns were made of. He was going to have a ton of nasty energy burns for Dr. Chakwas and Mordin to look at.

Jacob was throwing around mechs like ragdolls,

Shepard hadn't used an assault rifle in a while, she much preferred a sniper rifle. On the other hand, this assault rifle had next to no kick. The energy being fired didn't seem quite as powerful as the mass effect driven slugs in a standard gun. More than enough here.

"Caution!" Mordin shouted. "Rear attackers!" The sound of flames roared. "Nevermind! Flammable." He paused. "Or inflammable! Forget which. Doesn't matter!" He never got tired of that joke.

Shepard looked around as they climbed a stairwell, emerging into the concourse.

Another swarm of of mechs met the team, but they were not to be denied. Following the Krogan's example, she didn't give the mechs a chance to aim, and was even more aggressive.

She kept expecting there to be some kind of large mech, or actual guards to block their final escape. But they kept fighting around the concourse until they found a "Fire Exit". The wookie went first, Mordin holding the door open.

The all clear sign, apparently, was universal. As soon as the wookie waved a big furry paw at them, the other freed prisoners took off in all directions from the Arena. Why there were no guards, Shepard had no idea. Maybe not even the Hutt would dare fire on unarmed people in public, and it was public. There was a number of people milling around, curiously watching the mass breakout.

One of those people was Miranda. She, quietly, led them away toward the taxi stand. "We were nervous when EDI lost connection, but there wasn't much we could do about it. At least... have we picked up a spare?"

The wookie was walking behind them, looking all the world like he was part of their little crew. Shepard tried to dissuade him, but he simply shook her head, then pointed at her and Grunt,

"I'll speak for him, Shepard," Grunt told her. "He's a valiant fighter, and extremely intelligent."

Shepard winced. Exactly what would Joker say?

"You know, what I really thought this ship was missing?" Joker asked as they reboarded the Normandy.

Shepard gave him a dark look.

"I thought it was missing our very own walking feather duster," Joker continued, completely unabashed. "It'll mean a lot less work for the crew if you just have him wipe..."

"Joker?" EDI's voice came from the console. "Would you like me to display what upset wookies have been known to do? They can shatter the bones of healthy humans. And they've been known to..."
"Thanks, EDI," Joker said. He turned back to meet Shepard's disapproving expression. "Jacob's with him in the conference room."

"Thank you Joker. EDI, tell him I'll be there momentarily. I've got something for Dr. Chakwas."

"Shepard," EDI continued, "We received two messages while you were planetside. The first was routed through the Imperials, but it's from 'The Three'. On Talos. It is only video "

"All right? and the other?"

"From the Republic," EDI began.

"Like we're going to pay any attention to them, after the way they treated us and the Normandy," Joker said, hotly.

"It is not from General Garza. I think you're going to want to see this."

Shepard raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "All right,"

The first message was simply a series of pictures of an abandoned village on Talos. An abandoned village. And a single husk. Shepard winced. The reapers had followed her here.

The second message was from a planet known as Alderaan. Husks had apparently appeared in small squads, with what appeared to be heretical geth. It almost appeared they were looking for something.

"They've had a couple of small firefights," came the report. "But only to cover their retreat. The senate has ordered Garza to keep her hands off, and that you are to be given full authority to do whatever investigation you need."

A knock came on Samara's door. She acknowledged it, and Master Oteg walked in. "I wish we had the opportunity to help everyone that asked for our help. Especially during this war." He began, looking into Samara's eyes. "This one they are willing to make time for. There's a trafficker. A Zabrak by the name of Danq. The council has received information on his whereabouts, and wants you and Jedi Guardian Cetra to track him down."

"What does he traffic?" Samara asked. She'd seen her share of drug dealers.

"Children," Oteg replied. Samara felt her blood run cold. "He's got a knack for identifying force sensitive children. He kidnaps them, and he sells them to the Sith."

Samara stared at him. With all that she'd been through, all that she heard about, the depravity of some people never failed to shock her.

"Absolutely," the Asari said. She rose to her feet, her voice remaining even, calm. "When do we leave?"