London. Earth.

Lieutenant Adam Rockwell of the Systems Alliance Internal Affairs fidgeted uncomfortably as he waited for the call to connect. It had taken weeks for him to gather all the relevant information without drawing any unnecessary attention. He just prayed that it would be enough.

He straightened up instinctively as his benefactor's holo fired up. "Sir," he saluted.

"Lieutenant Rockwell," the Illusive Man nodded his greeting. "I trust this is everything?"

"Yes, sir. The file I sent has everything you asked for. Sir."

The Illusive Man looked to the side, presumably reading through the file Rockwell had just sent him.

"The only one whose location I was unable to confirm was Dr Karin Chakwas," Rockwell added nervously. "And Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, of course, but he's almost on the verge of being kicked out of the Alliance. . ."

"Jeff Moreau and Karin Chakwas are on a mission for Cerberus," the Illusive Man absentmindedly said. Ignoring the younger man's shocked expression, he turned to him and asked, "How goes the other part of your assignment?"

"Not. . not that well, I'm afraid. Sir," he stammered.

The Illusive Man's face showed no outward reaction, his cybernetic eyes staring as blankly as ever. For some reason, this frightened Rockwell even more. "Explain."

"I-I did as you asked, sir. I made sure the entire Admiralty board received Shepard's video. I also passed on a message to the rest of our circle, instructing them to slander her reputation as much as they could. Unfortunately," he swallowed. "Unfortunately it's turning out to be much harder than we anticipated. Our factions are pushing to have her dishonorably discharged and declared a traitor to the Alliance, but the others are. . . well, ignoring us. It's almost as if. . as if someone is trying to counter us."

The Illusive Man took a long swig of his cigarette. "Hackett," he said firmly.

Rockwell nodded. "And Councilor Anderson too, I guess. They're currently among Shepard's most vocal supporters."

The Illusive Man remained silent, his blank stare unnerving Rockwell even more. More to break the uncomfortable silence than anything else, Rockwell spoke, "Sir?"

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

"Do you think. . . there's any way. . . we could. . ."

The Illusive Man stared at the stuttering man for a few moments. "I hope you are not about to suggest that we assassinate the Commander in Chief of Earth's largest fleet and humanity's representative at the Citadel Council over such a trivial matter, Lieutenant."

"Er. . I . . of course not. . ."

The Illusive Man took a small sip of his drink. "Misguided though their faith in Shepard may be, at the end of the day Hackett and Anderson are far too valuable to be harmed. Humanity will be in need of their leadership soon."

"Sir?"

"Never mind, Lieutenant. Now, regarding the data you submitted," he glanced sideways once again. "I need you to do another small favor for me."

"Anything sir!" Rockwell said earnestly.

"I need you to get Operations Chief Williams transferred to the colony of Horizon."

"Horizon. But why, sir?"

Rockwell regretted the words as soon as they escaped his mouth. But the Illusive Man didn't seem to be annoyed by his outburst. If anything, he looked thoughtful.

"I suppose there's no harm in telling you. You are aware that the Collectors are abducting human colonies?"

"Yes, sir."

"Our analysts have tried to predict the next colony the Collectors might attack for quite some time, and they feel it's just a matter of time before Horizon is hit. We also have a . . theory that the Collectors are obsessed with Shepard, and by connection her former team."

"So by posting Williams there, you're planning to kill two birds with one stone," Rockwell nodded in understanding.

"Precisely, Lieutenant."

"But why Williams, sir?"

The Illusive Man exhaled another cloud of smoke. "Our analysts believed that the chances of this gambit's success would be higher if we chose someone from Shepard's ground team, thus narrowing our choices down to Lt. Commander Alenko and Operations Chief Williams. But Alenko's been posted at Alliance HQ, and it would be difficult to provide a reasonable explanation to shift him groundside, especially to a far off colony like Horizon."

"And Williams has had plenty of groundside postings before, so it'd be much less suspicious," Rockwell finished.

The Illusive Man gave him a cold smile. "Precisely. That, and the fact that Alenko's biotics make him far more valuable to humanity than Williams."

Rockwell swallowed slightly. "Of course, sir."

"We will, of course, require a reasonable cover for Chief Williams' transfer," the Illusive man casually added.

Rockwell racked his brains for a suitable idea. "We could send her with a few defense towers, claiming the Alliance is trying to beef up security at Horizon," he suggested.

"An excellent idea," the Illusive Man agreed. "It might prove invaluable to the colony's defense if. . . no, when the Collectors decide to attack."

He took another puff of his cigarette. "I shall leave this in your capable hands, Lieutenant. Remember, humanity is counting on you." The call went dead before Rockwell could respond.

The young Lieutenant sighed and wiped his sweaty brow. For the first time in a long while, he wondered if he'd done the right thing by letting Cerberus turn him into their puppet.

But humanity needed someone to look after them, didn't they? Someone to protect them from the aliens? Was it so wrong that he was helping Cerberus do what needed to be done?

Shaking his head, he set about removing all traces of his communication with the Illusive Man.

The fact that he'd just doomed the lives of thousands of colonists just to test a theory for the Illusive Man did not even register in his mind.

Aria's apartment. Omega.

Aria T'Loak lounged on the sofa of her private residence. "Is this all of it?" she asked, staring at a OSD in her hand.

"It is, Aria," her subordinate confirmed.

"Alright. Tell them. . ." She paused as Grizz stepped forward. "What is it?"

"You have a call, Aria."

"From whom?"

He bent towards her, whispering her ear. Aria's expression remained unchanged, except for a slight lift at the corners of her mouth.

She turned back to the asari waiting on her. "Tell them to bring the shipment through. You and Anto will supervise it together."

"Understood," the asari bowed low.

"Good. Now leave me alone. That means you too, Grizz."

The Queen of Omega waited until everyone was gone before using her omni-tool to activate her private communications hub. She then sat back and sipped a cocktail as the holo fired up.

"Aria."

"Councilor," she tilted her head, the barest hint of mockery in her voice.

But Tevos didn't rise to the bait. "Your message said you had something important."

Aria smiled wryly. "Come now, Lismenea. Aren't you even going to ask how I'm doing?"

The asari Councilor narrowed her eyes. "I don't have the patience for your games, Aria."

"That's funny. I seem to remember a time when you enjoyed my games immensely," she teased.

Tevos shook her head. "This is a waste of time." She moved to cut off the call.

"Your golden girl was here a few days ago," Aria said loudly, causing Tevos to halt in her tracks.

"What?"

"Commander Jane Shepard. Systems Alliance. Your favorite human. Saved your blue ass a couple years ago when the geth attacked your beloved Citadel." Aria smiled wickedly. "Any of that ring a bell?"

"If this is your idea of a joke. . !"

In response, Aria simply transmitted a picture to the other asari. A snapshot from the surveillance footage of Afterlife. "I don't joke about such things, Lismenea."

Tevos closely examined the photo of the red-haired Commander seated on a couch next to Aria. "You are certain that is her?"

"I compared footage of her conversation and combat with STG files from the archives. It's her. No doubt about that."

"How did you even get access to the STG files?" Tevos pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. "Never mind. I don't want to know. What was she doing on Omega?"

"Recruiting, by the looks of things," Aria answered. "She was only here for a few hours. Long enough to pick up two people: Zaeed Massani and Mordin Solus."

Tevos squinted at the holo. "And her companions? Did you identify them?"

"The turian you might recognize: Garrus Vakarian. He was part of Shepard's old crew."

She nodded. "I remember him. He's former Citadel Security. He was the one who brought us the evidence of Saren's involvement with the Geth."

"The other two are Cerberus Operatives: Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor."

Tevos' eyes widened slightly. "Cerberus? You are certain?"

Aria nodded and sipped her drink. "There's a salarian on my station named Ish. He recognized those two right away. As for whether Shepard herself has joined Cerberus or not, I couldn't tell you. But she did arrive here on a frigate which looked a lot like her old ship, except for the Cerberus logo on it. Make of that what you will."

"Goddess," Tevos sighed. "This keeps getting worse and worse."

For a few minutes Aria contemplated the distressed asari in silence. Then she spoke. "If it helps, I think Shepard isn't working for Cerberus as much as she's working with them. My sources claimed she went to a lot of trouble to help as many people as she could while she was here, including aliens. Not the sort of thing a pro-human extremist does."

"I suppose that certainly is some comfort," Tevos sighed. "At this point, I'm willing to take whatever I can get." She fixed the Queen of Omega with a neutral expression. "Thank you, Aria. You have no idea how much you've helped me just now."

"Don't thank me, Councilor," Aria said dismissively. "You of all people should know I don't do things for free."

"Of course," Tevos nodded. She waited a few more moments before asking, almost hesitantly. "How is Liselle doing?"

"She's fine," Aria replied, the grip on her drink tightening slightly. "Doing great, in fact. Kid's all ready to join the family business." She gave the other asari a predatory grin. "What can I say? She takes after her mother, after all."

"Must you really involve her in your line of work, Aria? Couldn't you have found something better for her to do?"

"She's my daughter, Lismenea," Aria said sharply. "My daughter. Do you honestly expect her to do any less?" She drained her glass. "And where do you get off lecturing me on how I should raise my kid, anyway!?"

"She's not just your child, Aria," Tevos said flatly.

"She's not? What a surprise! I recall you saying something very different all those centuries ago," Aria sneered.

Tevos closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "That's not fair," she said quietly. "You know things weren't that simple back then."

"Oh please. Spare me that load of elcor-dung!" Aria snarled. "You threw me and our child away for the sake of your political career! You were so scared of those old crones at Thessia finding out that you had a pureblood for a daughter that you turned your back on a one-year old baby! How is any of that not simple?" She shook her head in disgust. "And people say I'm a heartless bitch!"

"Aria, I. . ." Tevos halted and bowed her head. Doing her best to disguise the anguish in her voice, she whispered, "Do you really think I've never wished that things had turned out differently for us?"

Aria did not reply, merely turning her back on the other asari. For some reason the cold dismissal hurt more than any of her barbed words.

For a few minutes the room was silent, until Tevos spoke. "Do you remember that time, a century ago, when Liselle and her mercenary friends attacked a transport ship belonging to the NDC? Did you ever wonder why they never pursued her to Omega?"

Aria did not answer.

"Or that time when Liselle ran afoul of the Eclipse sisters on Ilium? Or the time when. . ."

"Stop. Just stop," Aria snapped. She turned around to face the asari Councilor. "What's the point you're trying to make?"

"The point is," Tevos said, glaring at the mother of her child with eyes full of unshed tears, "that you're not the only one who watches over our daughter."

And she disconnected the call.

Aria spent a few minutes glaring at the spot where her hologram had been.

On Omega, information was power. Aria had, over the centuries, maintained a strict policy to never hand it out for free. And yet, when it came her, she simply couldn't help herself.

Why? What was the point? After all these centuries, after all the different partners she'd been with? Since when the hell had she become so. . . so fucking sentimental?

Aria sighed and mixed herself another drink, before practically falling backwards into her sofa.

Fuck feelings. They were nothing but a waste of time.

Normandy SR2.

"Commander, you have new messages on your private terminal."

Shepard resisted the urge to scowl at her yeoman, choosing to simply nod politely before stepping forward to check on her messages. Bad enough the Illusive Man's agent was keeping tabs on her every move, now she had to go and rub her nose into it as well.

For that was what all this really was. Oh yes, Commander Shepard was much too smart to not see through to Kelly Chambers' true intentions! Any ordinary person might have observed this exchange and simply assumed that it was a diligent yeoman doing her job. But Shepard was much too intelligent and world-weary to not see the truth.

This was a power-play, an assertion of dominance at its simplest. By telling Shepard that there were unread messages on her private terminal, Chambers was effectively reminding her that she had full access to her privacy whenever she wanted.

Look at this. I control such a personal aspect of your life. I control you! That was the real message Kelly Chambers was ending across. She was effectively reminding Shepard that she was the person incharge, that it was at her mercy that Shepard had command of the Normandy.

Damn. Who knew gingers could be so evil?

One of the messages in her inbox caught her attention. It was from Anderson! And it seemed like he was asking her to meet up with him on the Citadel.

Shepard stepped up to the galaxy map, frowning slightly. On one hand she really did want to catch up with her mentor and sort out matters with the Council, on the other hand they were barely a day's journey away from Korlus where they had to pick up Okeer.

She debated asking Joker to change course before dismissing the idea immediately. They were much too close to their target now, and there was nothing in Anderson's message that hinted at any urgency. Besides, Shepard privately thought it would be best to have a krogan warlord in her corner before she dropped into the Citadel on a ship belonging to a bunch of pro-human terrorists.

Decision made, she nodded to herself and turned around, only to nearly run head-first into her yeoman.

"Er. . . something you need, Chambers?"

The girl shot her a bright smile. "I told you to call me Kelly, Commander."

"Er. . . right. Kelly." She swallowed. "What do you want?"

Chambers continued to fix her with that unnerving smile. "You haven't been sleeping well, have you, Commander?"

Shepard nearly had a heart attack.

She knows! She knows I was up all night playing Galaxy of Fantasy 3 on my giant holo screen! Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod. . . .

The part of her mind that wasn't gibbering in terror worked furiously to figure out how Chambers could possibly have known that. She'd been careful to remove every single surveillance bug in her room on the first day, and regularly used that AI blocking software whenever she needed a little bit of privacy.

Then how the hell did Kelly Chambers still manage to spy on her!?

It took Shepard a few moments to realize that the yeoman was still talking. ". . . pretty thoughtless of them, but I was brought in only after the construction on the ship was complete. And with our mission being as urgent as it was, there simply wasn't any time to modify it."

Shepard blinked slowly. "What're you talking about?"

"The skylight in your room, of course," she answered brightly. "The one over your bed? That's the reason you've been unable to sleep, isn't it?"

"Er. . . well, I. . ."

"It's alright, Commander. There's nothing to be ashamed of." Chambers patted her arm reassuringly. "You died in the vacuum of space, after all. It's pretty understandable that you would be still be suffering with a little bit of PTSD."

Shepard privately thought that the idea of her suffering from PTSD just from looking at space through a window above her bed was pretty ridiculous. She was a spacer kid, for crying out loud. She'd spent more of her life on ships than she had planet-side; not to mention she'd experienced things in her N7 training which were far worse than being spaced.

Naturally, she had no desire to explain that to the evil ginger before her.

"Erm. . . right," she nodded. "The skylight. It. . . er. . keeps me awake at night. So, yeah. . I haven't been sleeping much."

"I understand, Commander. If you want to talk about it, I could perhaps schedule a private session. Just the two of us."

A private session!?

Shepard had a sudden vision of herself strapped to an operating table with Chambers smirking down at her evilly, buzzsaw in one hand and a control chip in the other.

"I'll remember that," she squeaked. "Thanks. . . Kelly."

The yeoman shot her another bright smile before walking back to her station. Shepard stiffly walked out of the command center, exhaling a loud sigh of relief only when she was out of earshot.

Crazy former-Spectres she could handle, galaxy-annihilating cuttlefish AI she could fight, but dealing with someone like Kelly Chambers was beyond even her skill.

Maybe we should put her in a missile and launch her at the Reapers. See if they'd still want to annihilate us after dealing with her for five minutes. . .

Sighing once again, Shepard marched off towards the cockpit. Perhaps chatting with the witty pilot for a while would help take her mind off her problems.

Meanwhile down on the crew deck, Garrus Vakarian was preparing to deal with some problems of his own.

"EDI," he called out. "Is XO Lawson in her office?"

The AI's blue orb popped up next to the wall. "She is, Gunnery Officer Vakarian. Shall I alert her that you wish to see her?"

"Ah. . . no, that'll be fine. Thanks, EDI. Oh, and call me Garrus; Officer Vakarian is my dad."

EDI's orb blinked once, as though the AI was trying to process the ramifications of his unusual request. "Understood. Logging you out, Garrus."

Rolling his stiff shoulders, Garrus walked out of the Battery, nodding his hellos to the crewmen and giving Chakwas a brief smile through the Med Bay windows. He then halted outside Miranda's door, took a deep breath and knocked.

The doors swished open to reveal the brunette typing away at her console. Without waiting for an invitation, Garrus calmly strolled in, stopping before her desk.

"So," he cleared his throat and glanced around. "Nice office you have here."

The Cerberus Operative didn't respond, continuing to type away at her terminal as though he wasn't even there.

Garrus decided to try again. "Do you have a few minutes to talk, XO Lawson?"

"No, I don't," came the terse reply. "I'm quite busy."

"I just want five minutes of your time. That's all."

The woman stopped typing and sat back in her chair, crossing her arms and fixing him with a baleful glare. "Then please get to the point quickly. Some of us have actual work to do, Officer Vakarian."

Garrus suppressed a heavy sigh. He and Miranda had never been particularly close in the previous timeline, but they'd respected each others' skills enough to at least have a professional conversation. Seeing such open hostility in the human woman's gaze was. . . troubling, to say the least.

But there was nothing to gain by dwelling on the past. Garrus knew Miranda Lawson well enough to know that the woman absolutely abhorred weakness. If he wanted to get through to her, he'd have to push harder.

He casually took a seat opposite her desk, noting the slight narrowing of her eyes as he made himself comfortable. Leaning back as much as the human-shaped chair would allow, he crossed his own arms and regarded her coolly.

"You and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of things," he began slowly. "And frankly, I don't care if we ever do. But taking out your displeasure on Shepard isn't going to help in the slightest."

"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about," she deadpanned.

"Stop trying to act stupid, Lawson; it doesn't suit you." He smirked slightly at the expression of stunned outrage on her face. "We both know we have issues, and we both know that those issues mean nothing compared to the importance of this mission. It's best we talk about it now before one of us does something we'll all regret."

Miranda closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You're right, we have a lot of issues we need to. . . discuss thoroughly. Why don't we start with the most urgent one?" She leaned forward slightly. "Why don't we start by discussing the time when you threatened to destroy my sister's life about half a year ago?"

Garrus fought hard to keep his face impassive. "I'm not sure I know what you're talking about."

"Stop trying to act stupid, Vakarian; it doesn't suit you," she snarked back. "We both know you were working for the Broker well before Shepard regained consciousness. You were there when your boss threatened to reveal Oriana's existence to my father! Just admit it!"

"I. . ."

"In fact," she interrupted him. "I would even go as far as to say that you were the one who suggested the idea to the Broker to begin with."

"That's ridiculous!"

"No. No, it isn't." She got to her feet and leaned across the desk threateningly. "You forget, Garrus Vakarian, that I've been doing wet-work for Cerberus for the last two decades. During that period I've defied the Shadow Broker countless times, the most recent one being when I rescued your dear Commander's body." Her eyes narrowed further. "If the Broker really wanted to hurt me through Oriana, he would have done it then."

"Then there was the Broker's strange request. Why would he demand that I not install a control chip in Shepard's brain? Someone like the Broker who thrives on information, who thrives on control would be looking for ways to exploit the situation to his advantage; not revealing his hand with such brazen threats."

The frostiness in her voice seemed to make the entire room grow colder. "The only person who would make such a move is someone who actually cares about the Commander, someone who is willing to do whatever it takes to protect the people he cares for. And out of all of Shepard's associates, the only person capable of going so far is you, Garrus Vakarian."

Garrus was impressed in spite of himself. He had been on the other side of the table long enough to recognize a good interrogator when he saw one. He decided it was best to come clean. "Alright. You got me. I was the one who advised the Broker to threaten your sister."

"However," he narrowed his eyes. "That does not give you right to take the moral high ground, especially considering that you were trying to stick a control chip in my best friend's skull."

Miranda drew herself up in outrage. "I had every right to consider that! Shepard. . ."

". . . owes you nothing!" he snarled. "Get this through your damn head Lawson, Shepard never asked to be brought back from the dead! She's paid her debt to humanity and to the galaxy a thousand times over! She died as a soldier doing her duty; and let me tell you right now, whatever anyone else may think about that, Shepard has never once thought of herself as being too good to die."

Miranda crossed her arms and turned away dismissively. "That's all well and good, Vakarian," she sneered. "But Cerberus spent billions of credits to bring her back. Billions! We had every right to secure our investment!"

Garrus got to his feet, and the expression on his face was so terrible that Miranda actually took a half step back. For the first time since he'd entered the room she realized just how tall he was, and how threatening a seven-foot tall armored turian could possibly be.

"Shepard is nobody's investment," he said, the coldness in his voice putting even the Ice Queen of Cerberus to shame. "All the credits in the galaxy wouldn't be enough to repay her for what she's done. And you would do well to remember that!"

His sudden outburst seemed to have flustered her slightly, but Miranda wasn't one to back down easily. "Shepard is vital to the fight against the Reapers. The entire galaxy is counting on her to do what needs to be done when they do decide to attack us directly! If treating her like an investment does the job, then it must be done."

He grimaced slightly when she turned away once again, her jaw still set in that stubborn manner. He really hadn't wanted to turn this into an argument, but the woman was just so damn infuriating. . .

Calm down. The rational part of his mind (that always suspiciously sounded like Shepard) said. She's not the enemy.

That's right. As annoying Miranda Lawson could be, she wasn't the enemy. Far from it, in fact. Whatever else she might've done in the past, the fact remained that this was the same woman who had spent two decades putting herself in harm's way just to give her sister a chance to live a normal life; a sister who, incidentally, did not even know of her existence. This was also the same woman who, in the previous timeline, had single-handedly infiltrated Cerberus' biggest bio-weapons facility and fought their most dangerous assassin to a standstill. She died trying to save her younger sibling, and even then she'd managed to help Shepard by giving them the location of the Illusive Man's base of operations.

No, Miranda Lawson was a good woman. A better woman than most gave her credit for. Maybe it was time she realized it herself.

Then inspiration struck him. "So you're saying," he said slowly. "That the ends justify the means?"

"Precisely."

"I see. That's a great way of thinking," he drawled. "But correct me if I'm wrong, that was what your father was thinking when he created you and your sister, wasn't it?"

It was an extremely low blow, and Garrus knew it. But he also knew that it was the only way he was going to get through to her. It was way past time that someone showed her what she was slowly turning into.

Miranda looked like she'd just been slapped. "What did you say to me?" she whispered dangerously.

"You heard exactly what I said, Lawson. Don't pretend you didn't."

"Get out." Her face was flushed red with anger, her entire body quivered with barely-suppressed rage and the tell-tale signs of biotics were dancing on her clenched fists. "Get out of my office!"

Garrus turned around and walked away, pausing at the door for a parting shot. "You know, for someone who claims to have spent her entire life running away from a megalomaniac, you're really doing a good job of becoming one yourself."

He turned his head to give her a sidelong glance. "Talking about control chips and taking away people's free will for the greater good. Henry Lawson would be proud of you, Miranda."

And he left, leaving the Cerberus Operative to sit down heavily in her chair, feeling more stunned and upset than she'd ever felt before.

Sleep would not come easily to Miranda Lawson that night.

AN: So yeah, pretty serious chapter this time round. Hope the Shepard and Kelly scene made up for it though :)

To clarify, I'm not hating on Miranda at all. If anything, I actually like her a lot, but I despise the fact that Bioware chose to ignore the potential her character offered. Her desertion of Cerberus at the end of ME2 is a bit too sudden for someone who's worked for the organization for so long, especially since she spends the entire game spewing their dogma. Hence my attempt at showing a more realistic transition in this story. Miranda's change of heart will be slow and gradual, and will be influenced by various plot-points as well.

Of course, Miranda will continue to act as a foil for the crazy Commander, just like Ashley was to Garrus in OMITF (seriously, just go back and count the number of times she says "Dammit, Vakarian!" in the first fic).

I must confess, I'm not particularly a TevosxAria shipper, but the fanfiction community has spoiled me. Not to worry though, their romance won't overshadow our lead couple. This is a Shakarian fic through and through.

Also, I'm sure you guys have noticed that I've changed Alenko's rank to Lt Commander instead of Staff Commander as it is in the game. I did this because it's completely unrealistic to assume that Alenko, who was a Lieutenant in ME1, would advance two whole grades in a span of only two years, especially since a promotion to Staff Commander requires one to serve as an LC for at least three years (in the US Navy anyway). There's also the fact that Shepard herself, for all her accomplishments, is only an LC at the start of ME1.

Next up: Tevos unearths more disturbing news about the asari government. Meanwhile, Shepard and co take a trip to Korlus to retrieve the next member of their team.

Stay tuned :)