Disclaimer: You've figured it out by now, right? I only own Maranka.

Note from the Shadows: I am -so sorry- about the lateness of this update, I have no excuse. So, to make up for it, I'm going to make this a really, really long chapter, I swear. My longest yet. And maybe you'll even learn some of Mara's past! I did cut it short before the mission was done, lest I go nuts.

[Chapter Eight: He's... Not dead?]

This place... Was amazing. I hadn't been so high up and realized it since I was back home... "You called this place Aliem, right?" I asked Shepard over my shoulder, leaning over the railing to look down. The view was simply breath taking. Shepard chuckled from behind me. "Illium, Matea. It's the gateway between the Traverse, and the rest of the galaxy."

"It's amazing," I said honestly, turning to look at her. "Why are we here again, though?" I asked, tilting my head a little. "My old colleague, Liara T'soni, contacted me, saying she needed help. I'm going to talk to her. You feel free to do as you wish." I nodded at her. "Be safe, Shepard."

I watched Shepard walk away quietly, then looking around. "So much to look at... What should I look at first..." I muttered. My gaze fell on some kiosks, and I approached them. "I suppose I could browse a little..." I said softly

I heard whispering around me as I browsed the kiosks, admiring the fish. I twitched in annoyance- surely they were used to seeing me by now! I turned around, prepared to berate them, and stopped, eyes widening in shock and horror.

Standing nearby, approaching me, was a young woman, a few feet shorter then myself. Her brown hair was held back in a formal bun, her catlike purple eyes looking up at me. Like myself, she had brown skin and markings- hers were curvier, showing that she was still in her childhood. She looked so much like me at that age... except, a bit less harried, though she did seem as worried as I was back then.

I approached her quickly, worried. "What are you doing here?" I whispered to her. She looked up at me, blinking those large purple eyes. "Are you Maranka?" she asked, disregarding my question. I stiffened, and crossed my arms. It wasn't that long ago, after all, that I had been fleeing my people. "Who wants to know?" She fidgeted a little. "Maranka's niece."

I blinked. Wait... A niece? Since when did I- oh, right. Grandmother sent me a letter about my niece a while back, I'd forgotten. I relaxed. "Keanead, does your husband know you're here?" I asked her, wrapping my arms around her. Geex... She had to be at least thirty-seven by now, yet this was the first time I got to meet her in person. She nodded, relaxing when my words confirmed my identity. "Yes, Dri Maranka. He and Padre helped me to get here." She looked around nervously. "Come on, we can't talk here, Dri Maranka. I've got a hotel room, it's safe to talk there."

My ears twitched with every word she said in Darkling. Lady bright, but it has been so long since I conversed in the mother tongue! "Alright, let's go." We walked towards the apartments, neither of us noticing the woman moving behind us.

Inside the room, Keanead sealed the door, the holographic touch pad turning red, and turned to me. "A drink, Dri Maranka?" she asked politely. I shook my head, standing by the wall. "You don't need to be so formal, Keanead. Why are you here?" She paused, and looked up at me again. "You'll want to sit down for this, Dri Maranka..." she said softly, motioning to the couch. Puzzled, I sat down smoothing my cape. "Kea?" She looked at me, as if memorizing me, and I fidgeted nervously. Whatever was wrong, I could already tell it wasn't going to be good. "Kasin Riados... Is alive."

...What. How... but... I thought... My eyes widened in shock, my hands shaking in my lap. "That's impossible. He- Kasin cannot be alive!" My voice shook as I looked at her in horror. She shook her head slowly. "He's alive. And looking for you again..." She trailed off, but even through my horror, I could tell there was something else. "Keanead... What has he done?" She hesitated, visibly wary of telling me, but after meeting my eyes, sighed. "He's still in Millinium, currently. He's taken a young girl by the name of Lana, we think, as a hostage. The only reason we know this, is her familiar is running around the city, trying to find her." My breath hitched, and I covered my mouth in horror. Dear, sweet little Lana... I'd only seen her a couple of times, but I had offered her clothes and a safe place to sleep a few times. That poor child... The hand in my lap clenched into a fist, a soft purple glow covering both hands. "You are certain he is still in Millinium?" I asked quietly. Keanead nodded slowely. "Dri Maranka, you need to leave this universe before he finds you. He's not even interested in bringing you home anymore- he just wants to kill you."

I shut my eyes, taking a deep breath. "Go home, Kea," I said softly. "Dri Manaka, you can't seriously be thinking of sta-" "Keanead Matea. Go home." I cut her off, opening my eyes. I noticed my currently glowing hands, sighed, and took a few deep breaths, the glow fading. Keanead looked me over, memorizing my features, with the look of someone who is afraid to see a loved one die. As if she would never see me again. My blood ran cold as I considered the possibilities of the future, but my mind was set.

Keanead nodded finally, turning away and unlocking the door. "Goodbye, Dri Maranka..." she said softly, watching me leave. I simply shook my head at her, watching the bright flash of green light as she disappeared. "Goodbye, Keanead..." I muttered, turning away- and stopping when I saw Jack standing in front of me, looking at me with her arms crossed. I blinked, then sighed softly.

"How much did you hear?" I asked quietly. "All of it. Who's this Kasin guy, and why are you so scared of him?" I bristled slightly, not wanting to talk about Kasin. MY fists clenched at the very thought of that... That -murderer-. "None of your business. And for the record, I'm not scared of him." I brushed past her, taking a few calming breaths. "Suit yourself. Are you going to run off, like the kid suggested?" I paused. "No. I promised to help you people, and I meant it. I'll this through to the end." She was behind me now, not having come forward. "I see. Are you going to tell Shepard?" I hesitated slightly. "I don't know. Maybe. If I think he's going to be able to find me here. Are we done with the game of twenty questions, now?" I could almost feel her smirking behind me. "Sure." I shut my eyes, walking away, back to the kiosks. Damn it, but I was determined to browse!

A few minutes later, I heard Shepard coming up behind me. "Matea. We're going to Liara's apartment in a few minutes to plan a rescue mission, we could use some back up. Mind coming with?" I turned around, shrugging. My mind was still racing, trying to fathom how it was possible that Kasin was alive. I saw Thane Krios standing beside her, but said nothing of it. "Great, let's go."

We arrived at this 'Liara' person's apartment a few minutes later, and were confused to see holographic police tape covering the door, and what were evidently cops going over the scene. "What's going on?" Shepard asked the one closest to the door. "This area is sealed off. Please step back, ma'am," the Asari answered. "Sealed off? Why?" Another Asari aprroached from behind the woman. "Someone tried to kill your friend, Commander Shepard. Thank you, officer, your people are dismissed."

Shepard crossed the line, and after a moments hesitation, me and Thane followed. "You can't do that!" The officer protested. The other woman looked back over her shoulder. "Already done." The rest of the officers cleared out, leaving us alone with the woman. "Tela Vasir, special tactics and recon," she said as way of greeting. Shepard looked at her, confused. "A spectre?" The woman just nodded. "So, I assume you were visiting your friend this evening, Commander." "Liara was following a lead on the Shadow Broker." The woman tilted her head, and approached us again. "The Shadow Broker? Dangerous enemy to have." Shepard shrugged. "What are the facts so far?" "About twenty five minutes ago, someone took a shot at T'soni. Note the bullet holes." She pointed over her shoulder with her thumb, and I followed it's direction to a few bullet holes in the glass. "She stuck around for almost four minutes before leaving the building. Whatever she was working on, it was important." The woman chuckled softly at the end. "If Liara's not here, where is she?" Shepard asked. "If I knew that, I wouldn't be sifting through her crap. There's no blood, no body, it looks like T'soni got away." Was that a hint of dissapointment I heard? "The sniper didn't plan on her kinetic barriers. Clever girl. Paranoid, but clever." She shook her head with a slight smirk. "Did the police find anything when they arrived?" "Just the mess and the bullet holes. I gave them a gold star for finding the bullet holes." I smirked slightly, hiding it behind my hand. "Liara was expecting me. She would have left a message here... Her office wasn't safe." "I'm not surprised. Illium is just Omega with fancy shoes." Omega? The mage girl who killed the Sisterhood? Why would she have fancy shoes? She hates shoes more then I do! "I haven't found anything useful for tracking her down yet. You knew T'soni better then I do. Where would she have hidden her backups?" Shepard shrugged. "Let me take a look around." Shepard walked around, examining stuff, and finally paused when he came to a picture of the Normandy beside Liara's bed. He picked it up, and the image changed with a soft ding. "The image changed when you touched it. It must be keyed to your ID." Vasir remarked, coming up behind him. "It's a prothean dig site. Liara did leave a message." I stood off near the wall, pretending to have a clue about what was going on, and still running the conversation with my niece over in my head. "There are a few prothean looking objects around the apartment. Let's see what we can find."

Shepard examined a few objects, stopping in front of what seemed to be a pile of rocks. He touched the screen, and a tray came out, a small disk with glowing red lines on it. "Vasir. I've got something here." Vasir stood and approached as Shepard picked it up. "Backup disk. Let's try it on her teminal."

A few minutes later, we stood in front of a screen, and a Salarian appeared on the screen. "It looks like she recorded a call." "What have you got for me, Sekat?" we heard a womans voice say- presumably, Liara. "It was tricky, but you paid for the best. I can narrow it down to a cluster, maybe even a system." "How soon can you have it?" "It shouldn't take long. Come to my office. Baria Frontiers, in the Dracon trade center." I noticed Vasir narrow her eyes, and look sideways. Hm... "Gotta say though, T'soni, you're making me nervouse. How big is the trouble that could come out of this?" The salarian- Sekat, I assmumed- crossed his arms. "Relax, Sekat. I'll see you in a few hours." The message cut off.

"This must be important. The Shadow Broker's people already tried to kill her once." Shepard sounded oddly worried. Just who was this Liara girl, anyway? "I know where the Dracon Trade center is. My car is outside." "Let's go." I fidgeted a little, and I think Krios must have noticed. "Commander. Matea and I can take the taxi, if you would prefer." I discreetly sent him a grateful glance as Shepard nodded.

When we were in the Taxi, the drell looked at me curiously. "Would you care to explain your nervous reaction, miss Matea?" he asked calmly. I tried not to fidget as I looked down. "I'm not good with cramped spaces," I answered after a minute. Krios looked at me again. "You were fine on the way over," he remarked.

I took a deep breath. "You and Shepard- I trust you two. You wouldn't let me suffocate. That woman? Every warning bell I've got is yelling 'no'. I don't know her, I have no reason to trust her, and to her I am an oddity." Like I was to Kasin, I thought, but didn't add. Best to stay quiet about that.

We arrived just in time to see an explosion on the third floor of the building. "Liara's in there!" Shepard shouted, as a chain of explosions went off. We heard screams, saw bodies go flying... Me and Thane ran to catch up to Shepard. Or, Thane did, as I just stood in horror. "This, is problematic." Thane muttered. I felt my hands making the Lady's Symbol, without realizing it. "Mata shiende moto..." I muttered.

"They just took out three floors to make sure she's dead!" Vasir cried. "I'll grab the sky-car and seal off the building from the top!" Vasir was already running back to the vehicle. "We'll start at the bottom and work out way up!" Shepard called back. "Just leave some for me!"

We worked our way through the building, the others bent other to avoid the smoke. Shepard and Vasir were speaking over the coms as we went, and for the last half of it, we were fighting our way through mercenaries. We got to the the door in time to hear a gun shot. When it opened, Vasir was there, oddly calm, and there was a body of a salarian nearby. "Dang. If I had been a few seconds sooner, I could have stopped them."

Shepard kneeled in front of the body. "Is this Sekat?" Shepard asked. "Must have been." Shepard looked around. "No sign of the data Liara mentioned. It'sa dead end." "Aw. Speaking of which, did you find your friends body?" We heard a click.

"You mean this body?" A young- well, she looked young- Asari stepped into view. She held her gun in front of her, approaching Vasir, while Shepard stood to the side. Huh, that was Liara? Shepard moved in the way. "Liara! This is Vasir. She's a spectre." Shepard looked stunned by Liara's next words. "This is the woman who tried to kill me." I was... Momentarily confused. I thought Asari didn't have genders! Then again, I guess everyone calls them female... "You've had a rough day, so I'll let that slide. Why don't you put that gun down?" Vasir was obviously attempting to remain cool and detached, but I could hear her words speed up slightly towards the end.

"I saw you. I doubled back after I left, I watched you break into my apartment." I muttered to Thane, "See? The warning bells never lie. She tried to suffocate us after all." His lips didn't even twitch, damn. "You didn't know where Liara went, because she hid the message. You needed me to find it for you." Shepard was scary when she was angry, how had I not noticed this before? She pulled her gun out, as did Thane, while I let my hands start glowing. Vasir shrugged. "Thanks for the help." "Once she had my location, she signalled the Shadow Brokers enforcers. They bombed the building to take me out. She found Sekat, took his data, and killed him. I'm betting she still has the disk on her."

"Good guess. Not that you'll ever see what's on it." Vasir held up a disk in one hand, hiding the other behind her back. "...You pureblood bitch!" She flung her hand forward, and with it came the window, shattering as it flew at us. Liara flung her own hand forward, a blue shield forming around us. Not bad, I thought, but it could use some work. I'd bet anything that you couldn't shoot through it. Vasir started running, and Shepard ran after her, tackling her. They both fell through the window. Liara jumped down moments later, while me and Thane looked over the edge. Liara was chasing Vasir, and Shepard was lying on the ground. Thane and I jumped down, moving to help Shepard.

We fought our way out of the building, coming in time to see Liara shooting at Vasir, who was hiding behind a vehicle. Vasir glanced at us, then brought up her omnitool, and punched something in. Her car.. Yeah, just gonna say car... Flew over to her. She ran off the edge, jumping in. "Damn it!" Liara exclaimed, putting her pistol away as we ran up. She was getting into her own car. "I'm fine, by the way. Thank's for asking." Shepard quipped as she sat down. Me and Thane piled in the backseat, me making myself smaller then usual to fit.

The car took off slowly, while I just sat still and wished I was anywhere but here.