A/N: Thank you all for reading, following, and favoriting this story, and extra special thanks to those who left a review on the last chapter. I always love to hear your thoughts and reactions and ideas! :)

I'm sorry that this chapter took this long to post. Health and RL issues made writing difficult at times, plus, as I've found, it's not that easy to come up with logical and believable plotlines for an AU story. :D

Great big thanks to Suilven for her help with this chapter!

The Deh'Lan's mess hall hadn't exactly been designed with interspecies conferences in mind, but it served relatively well for the purpose. Jondum Bau, Mordin Solus, and Lorik Qui'in settled down around the table while the rest of the team huddled behind their chairs, eyes focused on the holographic display that hovered over the administrator's arm.

The only person missing from the gathering was Captain Kirrahe. He stayed in the kitchen with an air of disinterested detachment, trying to look as inconspicuous as he could as he slowly stirred the pot of salarian tea he'd been brewing for the last several minutes. This wasn't his mission, after all; as much as he disliked not being in charge, he was here merely as a passenger and an observer. If he happened to catch a little bit of information here and there while he waited for his chance to talk to the administrator, that was nothing more than a happy coincidence.

He stole a quick glance at the group as he lowered the heat on the cooking unit. Lorik Qui'in was scrolling through a long list of arrivals on his omni-tool at the moment, muttering barely recognizable words under his breath as he carefully read each ship name on the screen. Finally, he jabbed a triumphant finger at a line that glowed brightly among the rows of data he'd been going through.

"Oh, yes," he said, "here it is. That vessel did dock here recently. Dr. Bones leased one of our facilities at Peak 16."

Garrus huffed out a derisive snort. "So he's Dr. Bones now? That bastard has a really sick sense of humor."

Bau gave his young protégé a hum of agreement, but otherwise didn't comment on the name change; there were more important matters to discuss at the moment, after all. "What can you tell us about this Peak 16?" he asked, leaning closer to the omni-tool's display as the administrator pulled up a map of the port and its vicinities.

"It's a complex of several smaller lab, office, and lodging suites some distance from Port Hanshan, cut into the side of the Ightraye Mountains." Lorik poked one of the icons on the map, which brought up a three dimensional holographic image of the structure. It looked like a giant, mutated octopus, with a central hub and several tentacles branching off in different directions, all ending in an oddly shaped, but well isolated, compound. Lorik pointed at the one situated on the north side. "Dr. Bones leased this one. Suite Number 5."

Shepard blew out a small whistle. "That's supposed to be small? Seems pretty extensive to me. Just how big is his company?"

"Back on the Citadel, he had four guards and twelve other 'employees'—whose job, of course, was nothing more than being his walking, breathing incubators," Garrus said, folding his arms across his chest as he leaned back on one leg. "Dealing in black-market organs, especially if you have readily available, warm bodies on which you can perform those harvests over and over again, is an extremely profitable business, so he probably has even more people now. Judging by the size of his clinic on Omega and the place here, I wouldn't be surprised if he's doubled, or even tripled, his workforce since his Citadel days."

Bau's lips pressed together into a thin line as he considered all this. Having such valuable "employees" under close watch, protected—and no doubt, confined—by those hired guns, made perfect sense for Dr. Saleon's business but, as far as this mission was concerned, the presence of all those civilians on site made things much more delicate and complicated than he would have liked.

"Do we have any data on the size of his workforce and their distribution within the compound?" he asked, blinking his large eyes at the administrator.

Lorik Qui'in waved a dismissive hand in the air. "We don't keep track of details like that. All that matters to our investors is whether or not a client pays their bill. If they can refrain from destroying the lab they're renting, all the better. As for the location of his people within the building, I have no idea. We only provide the space and some of the equipment, but it's up to our clients to furnish and use the rooms as they see fit."

"So, the barracks could be in any of these rooms."

"Indeed."

Mordin tapped his chin, head tilted in deep thought, as he surveyed the layout. "Only one entry point. Would be difficult to get in unnoticed. Firefight more than likely soon after arrival. Would prefer not to shoot civilians when that happens."

Shepard leaned forward and dragged her finger along a vertical shaft that shot straight up from the back of the complex to the surface of the mountain the building had been cut into. "What about this?"

Lorik's mandibles flared out in an amused smile. "That, my dear, is a shuttle chute. I don't recommend jumping down that hole to get in—it would most certainly end in death."

Shepard's brows knitted into a frown. This little piece of information was not exactly welcome news. "They have shuttles back there?"

"Yes. For emergencies. Otherwise, the place could become a deathtrap if there were a fire or... some other kind of disaster, and the tunnel to the central hub were closed off."

"Dammit," Garrus groaned. "That's not good. Once that son of a bitch smells danger, he'll try to grab one of those shuttles and run." He scratched the back of his neck as he pondered this possible setback. He'd waited too long to catch that bastard; he wasn't about to let him slip through his fingers again. "Can we hack into the hatch controls somewhere to prevent them from opening when he tries to fly out?"

Lorik's eyes unfocused for a moment as he searched his memories about the security and maintenance features of their facilities. This wasn't really his area of expertise, but he seemed to remember something from a tour of one of the complexes that he'd visited when he'd become the new administrator of Noveria. "I believe so. Every compound has a central control room. If you can get to that in time, you might be able to lock down the hatch controls."

Mordin gave a couple of quick nods. "Yes, yes. That would work." He pointed at the holographic structure still shimmering in the air. "Which one's the control room?"

Lorik's mandibles flicked out in a patient smile. "I don't know. Like I said, it's up to every client to set up their facility in the way they desire."

Bau shook his head in frustration. "Not good enough. If we don't want to waste time running around all over the place, we have to know where we need to go. I'd also like to get more intel about the location of the civilians. Maybe we could lock them in their rooms to keep them out of the line of fire—or just avoid their area altogether, if at all possible."

Lorik's fingers thrummed out a few nervous beats on the table as he considered his options. Finally, he raised his gaze from the map to glance at the small group around him.

"Well, there is one way to do that. However, I'd appreciate it if you kept it to yourself that I helped you with this. I don't think the Board of Directors would be very pleased if they found out that the idea came from me. My situation is a bit tenuous as it is, what with the smear campaign one of my predecessor's loyal lackeys has been waging against me." He flashed a toothy smile at Shepard. "As you humans say, he's been a fly in the lotion since I took office."

"Give me his name and location, and he won't be a problem anymore."

The administrator's head whipped around to gape at the salarian in the kitchen. "Are you suggesting killing him?"

"Not necessarily, though that can be arranged if that's what you want," Kirrahe said calmly as he put down his mug, steaming with the finally ready tea, on the counter. "Or, I can just make sure that certain files about his criminal activities are discovered and exposed to the authorities."

Lorik Qui'in's mandibles pulled tight into his face, his good-natured smile gone, as he considered the offer. "And what's this going to cost me?"

Kirrahe's lips stretched into a pleased grin. Things had gone even better than he'd hoped. All he had to do now was to reel in his catch. "Oh, just a few favors. Maybe we can have a small chat after your meeting," he said, waving a hand in the general direction of the table and his shipmates around it. "I'm sure we can work out something mutually beneficial."

Lorik gave him a nod, which Kirrahe returned with a small dip of his head before he picked up his mug to dump its contents into the sink. The tea had been a good excuse to spend all this time in the kitchen, but the brew, after being on the stove this long, was absolutely unpalatable.

"So," Bau called out, leaning forward to catch the administrator's attention, "you were saying that you had an idea?"

"Ah, yes." Lorik turned back to the holo image above his arm, and dragged a finger from one suite to the next, highlighting the trail in glowing red. "Every area of the complex is connected by a network of vents. It's a tight fit, but I think it would be possible for a smaller person to climb into one of them and crawl, undetected, from one place to another. And, as luck has it, one of the suites that is next to Dr. Bones' compound is vacant and available for rent right now. So," he continued, glancing about at the small group around him, "you could take a trip there under the pretense of checking it out for your company's purposes, then one of you could get inside the vent system, crawl over to your target's location, and do as much scouting through the grates as you desire."

There was a moment of silence in the room, all eyes focused on the red line blinking brightly on the map as they digested the suggestion, until five heads turned in amazing synchronicity in the lone human's direction.

Shepard let out a resigned sigh. "What?"

Not that she didn't know what was coming. Oh, she knew it very well. But that didn't mean that she couldn't drag her feet at least a little bit about it.

"Well," Garrus started, mandibles flared in a cheeky grin, "you're the smallest. So it will have to be you. I hope you're not scared of small dark spaces."

If not for the audience, Shepard would have probably punched him in the arm. Or the stomach. Or the side—wherever his armor had enough give to let him feel it. Under the circumstances, though, all she could do was grit her teeth and grind out, "If I were, I never would have made it through the N7 training. I'll be fine."

"Excellent," Bau said. "The three of you can leave this evening."

"I can give you a pass for the garage," Lorik offered. "You can take a shuttle or one of our ground vehicles there." He made a swipe on his omni-tool's interface with a finger and pulled up a map of the road from Port Hanshan to the complex. "This is the route you're going to take. Oh¸ and there's one more thing."

Shepard downloaded the map to her own device before she looked up into the administrator's twinkling eyes. "Yes?"

"Don't get caught. Also, if you get injured in the vents, do try to keep the blood off the carpet in that empty suite. I'd still like to rent that place sometime."

Shepard shook her head in feigned indignation, but she couldn't hold back an amused snort.

"I'll do my best."

~ooo~

The recon mission started out well enough. They found the vacant suite without any difficulty and entered with the access code Lorik Qui'in had provided for them.

The administrator had been adamant that they would have the whole place to themselves; no maintenance crew or any other personnel were scheduled to make a visit that day, and any uninvited guests wandering by and trying to get through the doors would be thwarted by the encrypted locks.

Nevertheless, none of them had made it this far in their careers by ignoring the possibility that, even during the most basic of operations, things could go seriously awry, so they decided to get as far away from the entrance as they possibly could before Shepard would make the attempt to open up one of the vent panels and climb inside.

As an extra precaution, Wrex stayed behind in the entry area as a lookout while Shepard and Garrus walked deeper into the compound.

The place was expansive, and it took them quite some time to finally come to the last room. It appeared to have been used as a lab; it looked clean and sterile, with a few large metal tables that had been bolted to the floor and a couple of computer consoles that were still attached to a built-in desk and covered with a heavy plastic sheet to keep the dust out.

They glanced around, searching for the vent grates, and stopped in their tracks when their eyes traveled up to the ceiling. The vents were all up there, high and unreachable—it was going to be a bitch trying to get inside.

Shepard scratched the back of her neck and huffed out a frustrated sigh. "Garrus, I think we'll have to get up on a table and you'll have to give me a lift."

Garrus's mandibles flared out in a smirk and he made a wisecrack about his human teammate's pitiful height, which she reciprocated with a glare and a threat to send him into those tunnels and leave him there if he got stuck, but they eventually clambered up onto one of the tables and he hoisted her up until she could reach the grate and pull it off.

She almost dropped the damn thing on his head when the room suddenly came alive with the loud, obnoxious blare of a klaxon, and the eerie red flashing of an alarm that blinked urgently under the white sheet draped over the computer consoles.

With an annoyed grunt, Garrus swiftly re-deposited his squadmate on the table, then jumped off and launched himself at the computer.

It took him less than five seconds to turn the alarm off; however, the consequences of the breach of security that the removal of the grate had apparently triggered was going to take much longer to deal with.

Shepard stood frozen for a while, still holding the grate in her hands, as she watched Garrus's fingers fly over the input keys. "What the hell was that?"

"Well, your boyfriend forgot to warn us that removing a grate could trigger some security measures. It looks like we're under lockdown now." Shepard ignored her teammate's jab about Lorik Qui'in and herself and glanced at the door. The lock had, indeed, turned red. "There might be other things going on, too. I won't know until I've hacked into the system and found out."

"Shit. Do you think anybody else has heard that awful noise?"

Garrus's fingers stopped their dance as he glanced up at her. "I don't know. But, I doubt it. It was most likely only to alert the people working here."

She gave him a thoughtful nod. "Okay." She finally put the grate down and gestured for him to join her on the table once again. "Come on, help me get up there. I'll do my scouting while you work on the lockdown. Hopefully, you'll be able to fix it by the time I get back. I'd rather not spend the rest of my life here."

"Wouldn't be my idea of fun either," Garrus groused as he walked over to the table and pulled himself up onto its surface. He was relatively certain that he would be able to turn off the security system and open the doors but, if that wasn't possible, they could probably contact the administrator and ask for an evac once they were done with the mission. Shepard, however, didn't have to know that. If she stewed a little bit over the possibility of getting stuck here, and then was impressed by his skills at handling the situation and rescuing their skins, well… he didn't exactly have a problem with that.

He made a scaffold for her with his hands, and hoisted her up when she took hold of his shoulders and stepped onto the impromptu platform. She pulled herself up into the opening, cursing at the "goddamn stupid dress" that got caught for a second before she could climb all the way inside, and disappeared into the darkness.

~ooo~

One hour.

Shepard had been gone for one hour, and Garrus had been pacing for the last half of it.

He'd managed to hack into the system and get everything under control in twenty minutes. Good thing, too, since, as it turned out, part of the security measures for any kind of breach in the old lab was for the computer not only to lock the doors, but also to turn the heat off and freeze whatever abomination might have gotten loose in the room. Even with the built-in heat regulator in his armor, it had started to get really, really cold in there.

Wrex had come by at one point; he'd heard the alarm and, once it was clear that no army was going to charge in through the entrance in response, he'd decided to check and see "what the hell they were doing in that damned place."

Everything was still locked down then, and they were sticking to the radio silence they'd agreed on for the duration of the mission, so all they could do was to shout at each other through the thick, metal door. After a while, the krogan had had enough and lumbered back to his post in the lobby, and Garrus was left alone to cuss and curse at the blasted code until he'd managed to decrypt the lock and turn the heat back on.

Everything was calm and quiet—for exactly five minutes. Then, as if in mockery of his previous efforts, the alarm started to blink in urgent red on the computer's display again.

Garrus rushed to the console, ready to rip the whole thing out in frustrated rage, but stopped short when he read the automated warning that kept flashing up on the screen: There was a blizzard heading their way, and it was strongly advised that everybody in the facility seek shelter, stay off the roads, and, most importantly, keep out of the sensitive areas that would get locked down during a power outage. Areas that, as a precautionary measure, would get their heating turned off to prevent any dangerous life forms from escaping.

Garrus grabbed the edges of the desk as he glowered at the text. If that blizzard hit and they lost power, no hacking skills were going to be able to turn the heat back on. Those few minutes he'd spent while the temperature kept dropping in the lab had made it abundantly clear how unpleasant that would be.

He wondered how close Shepard was to finishing her mission. If she made it back before the storm hit, they could get out of here and wait it out in another room that, even with the power gone, would hopefully stay warm and cozy. He cocked his head and listened carefully for any sign of the human, but heard nothing except the rush of his own blood in his ear canals as his heart hammered wildly in his chest.

He really, really didn't want to get caught in a cold room again.

A quick glance at the door reaffirmed that it still glowed a reassuring green. He could walk out right now, while he had the chance, and, should the worst happen, he could return with Wrex and they could try to pry open the door… while Shepard stood there on the other side, shivering and slowly turning into an icicle.

He shook his head and began to pace. There was no way he could leave her here to freeze to death. She might be annoying sometimes, but she was still his teammate. Besides, she wasn't so bad. In fact, she was smart, funny, a good fighter, and, for a human, not half bad looking.

He stopped in his tracks and let out a frustrated sigh as he ran his fingers over his brow plates. She'd better get back here before he got any more of these crazy ideas. He resumed his pacing and didn't stop for half an hour, when he finally heard a clank up above and Shepard's head appeared in the opening she'd disappeared into.

"Hey," she said. Her face looked dirty and her voice sounded tired, but there was a satisfied smile on her lips. "Give me a hand?"

Garrus hurried over and climbed up onto the table. Shepard turned around and started to lower herself, feet first, and he grabbed her by the waist to help her down.

He tried not to linger over the fact that his hands could almost fully encircle her waist, and he put her down gently on the metal surface.

"Oh, good, I see you managed to lift the lockdown," she said, jerking her head at the door.

Garrus gave her a quick nod before he hopped down to the floor. "Yes. For now. But, we'd better hurry before—"

He didn't get to finish that sentence. The room filled with the loud blaring of that damned alarm once more before the noise suddenly cut out, the room fell dark, and that cheery green glow turned to an ominous red again.

Damn.

A/N 2: So, now you know the other reason they just had to come to Noveria. ;)

Thank you to Candle in the Night for the suggestion to include those lines from Lorik Qui'in about "a fly in the lotion" and "keep the blood off the carpet" – I hope you liked them. :)