"Williams, do you have a minute?"

"Uh, sure," Ashley answered as she looked at Shepard as the two were taking the elevator back up from the engineering bay. "Something wrong?"

"Not here," Shepard said and nodded in the direction of the sleeping pods as the elevator came to a halt. Ashley frowned but followed, tugging at the end of the sleeve of her service uniform.

As they reached the end of the sleeping pods, Shepard glanced around before nodding. Ashley was on guard, the entire thing felt conspiratorial to her and she kept her gaze towards the sword on Shepard's belt.

"I didn't want to say this in front of everyone, and you're the only one here I can really share this with," Shepard explained, keeping her voice to a hushed whisper.

Ashley simply folded her arms. "Why's that?"

"Let me explain, and hopefully you'll understand why," the Knight Hospitaller inhaled, as if mentally bracing herself before she continued on. "It's the vision from the beacon back on Eden Prime. It's still going on in my head."

Frowning in confusion, Ashley raised an eyebrow. "Uh, so you still see that? Probably a side effect of the beacon. I'm not sure…"

"If I should keep it quiet? Maybe," Shepard admitted as she closed her eyes and shook her head. "But… they act up whenever I hear that recording between Saren and Benezia. When they talk about those 'Reapers'. I'm still not sure what it is, though, but… I think the visions are about whatever Saren's working for."

"Wait a moment, are you saying the beacon gave you a vision of the Reapers that Saren's on about?" Ashley asked incredulously, understanding why Shepard refused to bring it up earlier.

"I don't know," Shepard explained as she put a hand on her head, "but I think the vision is about the Reapers attacking… or doing something. Organics being slaughtered by synthetics, like pigs at a butcher's. I can't make sense of it, but… I just have this feeling."

"So you didn't overload your amp and have headaches from that, did you?" Ashley asked as she remembered that Shepard had left when they did their theorizing. "You were really seeing those visions again."

Shepard simply nodded, seemingly ashamed.

Ashley had two things in mind. One side of her wanted to go to Nihlus immediately with this. She wanted to say that the reason she wanted to tell the Spectre was because it was potentially mission important and that they needed to find a way of figuring it out. Yet, Ashley knew herself better than that. She really wanted to get Shepard in trouble, to make her look crazy, ill suited for being a Spectre. To win, essentially. All it takes is one comment, she realized, and you've put a stain on the Empire and scored one for the Alliance.

But there was another part of her that realized the situation Shepard was in, sympathized with her. Shepard had no one to turn to - Nihlus was supposed to be evaluating them and outright saying 'I'm having visions' would hurt her candidacy, maybe even bring some sort of dishonor to her family depending on how that worked in the Empire. Anderson and Kaidan, even Doctor Chakwas, they were all Alliance operatives. Tali was a childhood friend, and would you tell a friend that you were seeing things? And if Shepard did call her family while they were in range of New Syracusae's temporary comm buoy, would she want to tell her parents she was seeing things? To say nothing of Garrus and Wrex, neither of them she knew very well.

"Okay Shepard… I just have one thing to ask," Ashley said. "Why me?"

"I'll be honest, I'm not even sure if I should have shared this with you," Shepard admitted dejectedly, "but, I'm out of options."

"But why me and not Nihlus, or even call your family about it?" Ashley asked. "They'd be probably be more sympathetic about it than me."

"Maybe," Shepard said as she glanced down the double row of sleeping pods, "but Nihlus is supposed to be evaluating us and would you tell your family you're seeing visions?"

"Fair point," she admitted as she considered that prospect.

"But you? You're my partner as a Spectre candidate, and well…" she trailed off briefly before finishing. "You are a professional."

"So you were hoping that I wouldn't just run to Nihlus and tattle?" Ashley asked as she let her arms drop to her side.

"A bit, but I felt like I had to tell someone. I'm not sure if I'm going crazy, or if I just need to deal with it and wait for it to go away."

"I understand," Ashley said, "No one here trusts you because of your family. They just see your family name, they don't see the woman you really are. Telling them this would just confirm their suspicions."

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked with a frown.

"You remember how my grandfather was the one defending Shanxi?" Shepard nodded and Ashley continued. "Well, growing up I had to deal with that. The Alliance dropped the charges, but there were a lot of people who still blamed him for Shanxi. They completely ignored how outclassed he was, how he was stuck with the cards he had. And I had to grow up as the granddaughter of 'the traitor who betrayed Shanxi to the aliens'."

"That bad?" Shepard asked in surprise. "I thought your grandfather gave the turians a good fight given the odds he had and conducted himself honorably."

"Yeah, well, you can't undo reputation with the wave of a hand," Ashley said with a shrug. "But that's what you're up against here. People on this ship see you as this knight from a theocracy and immediately make presumptions from our own history, they don't judge you by your own merits. They see the noble, the knight, the praying, but not the person beneath it. Visions… well, that'd just make them think you're crazy, y'know? Believing in something that belonged in the stone age."

Shepard pursed her lips briefly. "So… you're not going to tell Nihlus?"

Ashley, much to her surprise, shook her head. "No, not unless it becomes important to the mission. But if this gets worse we really should tell him."

"Well, if it gets very bad and I can't, at least you know now," Shepard glanced towards the mess hall again. "Thank you, this means a lot to me."

"You're welcome. We should probably head back before someone wonders what we're doing."

"Go ahead, it's getting close to time anyways."

Ashley simply nodded and walked away. She was still trying to understand exactly what prayers a set number of times per day achieved, how it made someone a better person.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Five Minutes Later

"Ow, ow, OW!" Ashley could hear Jenkins complain as she entered the medbay and saw Jenkins sitting on one of the gurneys.

"Okay, what did he do this time?" she asked Chakwas, who was grinning as she applied some medi-gel on small burns on Jenkins' hand.

"He just tried his new toy," Chakwas explained with a practiced deadpan, "and learned why weapons development is done in secure and safe environments, not on a ship with real people shooting."

"Hey, it worked..." Jenkins muttered.

"For one shot, before the heat slagged the internals," Chakwas added. Ashley shook her head. Jenkins' weapon project was known amongst the crew, even if nobody expected anything to come out of it. There was even a betting pool as to how many times it would explode in his face.

"Jenkins, try to be more careful next time," Ashley chided gently. "We can't have people getting hurt on the Normandy. The geth do a damn good job at it already, might as well not help them," Although she was okay with the idea, she realized now that she would have to pay far closer attention to it than before. If it became too dangerous for people to be around him working on it, she would have to completely halt the project.

"Understood, ma'am. Next time I'll be sure set up a stand and remotely fire it."

"And make sure you don't blow a hole in the hull; set up an extra range barrier if you need to."

"That too," Jenkins laughed. Ashley nodded, glad to see that he had not been hurt too much.

"How bad?" Ashley asked.

"Minor burns," Chakwas explained offhandedly as she activated a display on her omni-tool and quickly filed what looked to be a report. "Nothing too serious, he was smart enough to wear his hardsuit when he tried it. Otherwise… well, I'm not sure how bad it would be."

"And how's the hardsuit?" Ashley asked, noticing that Jenkins had removed it already.

"Just a few scratches."

After Chakwas was finished filing the report and shut her omni-tool down, Ashley turned to her.

"Doctor, could you leave us for a moment? We have some things we need to discuss," she asked Chakwas, who merely nodded and left the infirmary. Jenkins looked distinctly uncomfortable as he stood back to his full height.

"Right. First thing first, I want you to understand this is not an official reprimand. Just a friendly warning between comrades, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," Jenkins nodded, looking worried.

"Take care what you say when around Imperials, or to that matter anyone. I do not want any of them thinking we are ignorant of their culture or consider them..." Ashley paused, considering how to put it.

"Inferior?" Jenkins supplied cautiously.

"Not the word I would have used, but yes. We don't want to look condescending."

"I understand. Never really met any Imperials until now and most of what I know come from the extranet."

"You'd have better luck at asking random people for rumors, if you want anything accurate," Ashley said with a grin, shaking her head. Jenkins simply shrugged, though he was grinning too.

"Yeah, pretty much," Jenkins admitted before he paused, glancing at the wall briefly before turning back to her. "Though, those soldiers we worked with weren't really that different. Sure, there was the religious stuff, but beyond that... if not for the armor, you might as well have been in a random Alliance marine unit."

"Despite what the conspiracy theorists say, they're still human."

"Yeah..." Jenkins fell silent. Feeling that she had made her point, Ashley patted Jenkins shoulder.

"Just think before you say something. You're a good soldier and I'd hate to have to send you to another command due to diplomacy."

"Thanks," Jenkins said. Ashley nodded and left, leaving Jenkins sitting in the medbay with his thoughts.

"Commander," Chakwas said as Ashley stepped out.

"Something wrong, doctor?"

"No, but if you see our new recruit, could you ask her to stop by? I need to talk to her about medical matters."

Ashley froze, realizing that she had not considered the possible complications medically by bringing Tali aboard. "Er, is everything alright?"

"I think we'll be fine, so long as we don't need to take the suit off and keep it off. But if we get to that stage, the Normandy is not equipped to handle that," Chakwas explained sternly. "If it gets that bad, we will need to transfer her elsewhere for treatment. The best I would be able to do is stabilize her until then."

Ashley nodded. The Normandy was a human warship built for stealth, not a medical frigate with the advanced facilities required for intensive treatment. "I understand; I'll go find her."

XXXXXXXXX

"I'll talk to you later when I have the chance," Tali said as their time ended.

"Please try to at least send an e-mail," her father said. "We're both worried."

"I'll be fine, father," Tali answered as she smirked, "I'm with Etel, remember? Besides, these Alliance marines aren't that bad. They've been nice to me so far."

"Still, be careful."

"Love you too, dad," she retorted as she hung up and the hologram fizzled out.

"... and we're out," Joker said over the intercom. "So uh, are all quarians that paranoid, or is it just because of what happened?"

Tali rolled her eyes. "How would your parents react if you went missing for a few days and it turned out you were in the middle of a warzone?"

"Touche. Anyways, I better see about getting us out of the system," the pilot answered before the intercom cut out. Tali turned to walk out, but saw Kaidan walking in.

"You need to use the terminal?" Tali asked as the Alliance biotic stopped.

"Nah," he answered, "I wanted to talk to you."

Tali paused, frowning as she looked at him. "You did?"

"Yeah; you settling in alright? I know the commander gave you the tour, but we did kinda pull you in on short notice."

"It's been fine so far," she answered with a shrug. "Probably going to take a bit of getting used to. How loud are the ship's engines? I barely heard anything when we left orbit."

"Very quiet," Kaidan said with a slight smirk. "I can't share the details, but this isn't an old tramp freighter where the stuff rattles."

"Huh. My parents would have had a hard time with that," she said as she shook her head at the memories.

"Why? Wouldn't loud engines be a bad thing?"

"Normally, but apparently on the Flotilla silent engines meant something was broken. My parents used to leave a music player on at night just so they could sleep."

Kaidan paused, shifting his weight from side to side as he curled his lip. "You uh… aren't going to have a problem, are you?"

"No, I never really had that problem. I don't remember much about life on the Flotilla and they grew out of it eventually," she gestured along the hallway out of the briefing room and the two started walking out. There was a shake through the Normandy as it began to liftoff from the spaceport, but otherwise the ship had run through the takeoff procedure smoothly.

"Benefits of growing up on terra firma, huh?"

"Terra Firma? Not that racist party of hacks, right?" Tali asked incredulously.

"Oh, sorry," the biotic verbally backpedaled as they started walking down. "Human saying; Latin actually; 'firm earth'. Solid ground, y'know? It's where they got the name."

Tali nodded. "Yeah, I guess. I dunno; I mean, growing up wasn't exactly easy on Akko given that the planet was undergoing geological engineering, but it was nice to not have to worry about a hull breach."

"I can imagine. I grew up on Earth, but I've spent enough time in space I actually qualify for the spacer seats in the Alliance parliament."

"Really?" Tali asked curiously. "Huh; how does that work anyways? Spacer seats, that is. The Empire doesn't really have anything like that since most of our spacers are either merchants working for a guild or the military."

Before Kaidan could answer, Williams walked up to them as she was standing outside of the medbay. "Hey, Tali," Williams said, "Doctor Chakwas asked me to send you her way when you had some time. Also, if you need somewhere quiet, Shepard's in the back of the sleeping pods."

"Why?" Tali asked curiously before activating her omni-tool and glancing down and realizing the time. "Oh. Right. Uh, thanks, Commander."

"No problem," she answered. "Hey Kaidan, you have a moment?"

"Sure," Kaidan said.

XXXXXXXXX

"Spectre Kryik, uh, what can I do for you?"

"Relax, Servicemen Emerson," Nihlus said calmly as he looked at the Normandy's requisitions officer.

"Uh, okay," Emerson said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, Spectres make me a bit uneasy."

"Understandable, but I need to talk to you about special munitions, such as the Sledgehammer rounds I use for my shotgun," Nihlus pulled his shotgun from its holster and let the serviceman look at it. Emerson nodded slowly, putting a hand to his chin as he looked at the weapon briefly.

"So, gearing up in full now?"

"Not for me, I already have most of my kit. For the rest of the crew. A war is starting, and we need full capability for the missions we're pulling. Standard issue won't cut it."

"I understand," he said. "I've been maintaining some arms dealing to supply the Commander with some gear. That Katana IV she uses as a shotgun? Got it through me."

Nihlus tilted his head. "I take it the Alliance has some loose regs?"

"More a pragmatic acceptance, though that might explain my unease with high ranking authority figures," Emerson glanced towards the weapons lockers across the bay where Wrex was leaning. "Standard issue gear is issued out to our soldiers for free of course - the Alliance wouldn't be intact if soldiers had to buy their armor and weapons. But that's only for the standard issue."

"Anything above that, a soldier has to buy themselves," Nihlus finished, nodding slowly.

"Not quite, the Alliance does bankroll the special forces with better gear because of the situations they get sent into, but for the average soldier in a frontier platoon… yes."

"Not the best way to operate, but it at least gets the job done. The Alliance is okay with non-standard weapons?"

"There's some regulations, they need to be on par with the Alliance's standards at minimum and the tracer system needs to use the Alliance's standard. Otherwise, free game… if they can pay for it and the Captain approves," he explained with a shrug.

"Fair enough," Nihlus said, "but you can acquire the special munitions we need?"

"Easily, I've got the license access for Aldrin Labs, Hahne-Kedar, and Arikae Industries and all three of them work on ammo kits. Though if you want to go through another provider, I'll need to borrow your license access."

Nihlus nodded. "Good, I should be able to supply some credits for the team as a whole to use in kitting out."

"Um, couldn't we just have the Council bankroll it? I mean, you are a Spectre," Emerson asked, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Would probably simplify it a lot."

"We could ask, but Spectres are supposed to operate independently," Nihlus explained. "Common misconception; everyone assumes the Council bankrolls Spectres entirely. That's actually far from the truth; the main thing they give us is authority to do what is needed."

"Why? Wouldn't it be a good idea to give the elite the resources they need?"

Nihlus paused a moment before shrugging. "There's reasons why Spectres are supposed to supply themselves."

"Alright," Emerson said as he glanced to the lift briefly. "I'll take your word for it, but the credits are going to have to come from somewhere."

XXXXXXX

"So," Kaidan said as he folded his arms after listening to Ashley's explanation. "Jenkins burned himself with his project?"

"Yeah," she answered as they sat across from each other in the mess hall. "You think it'll continue to be a problem?"

"Probably, but as long as he tests it safely now that he's learned his lesson, he shouldn't have any major issues."

"Let's hope he did," another voice behind Ashley cut in. The two turned to see Anderson holding a cup of coffee. "At ease," he said before either of them could stand. "I just wanted to bring you two up to speed. We're heading back to Alliance space; Admiral Hackett doesn't want us hanging around in Imperial space longer than we have to."

"Did you run into trouble with the Imperials?" Kaidan asked.

"Yeah, one of those female Imp knights said you guys got held at the customs station," Ashley added as she remembered the end of the battle.

"We were, but not unreasonably," Anderson said. "They didn't buy it at first. In fact, the ensign who was overseeing our call thought it was some sort of trick. He wanted to board us and search the ship top to bottom."

Ashley clenched her fist. "I'm guessing you told him where to stick that idea?"

"More tactfully than that," Anderson said with a smile as he took a seat. "Luckily the station commander was around and had a cooler head. He told the ensign to stand down. He did have us stay within the station's guns, though I don't blame them for that."

"You don't?" Kaidan said in surprise.

"Well, Joker volunteered to fly like a maniac to get us clear if needed, but I didn't think we had to. They were just doing their job and trying to not start a diplomatic incident without also compromising the border," Anderson shrugged. "I don't begrudge them for that, even if I would have decked the ensign if he tried to board us by force."

Or shot him, Ashley suspected as she looked at the N7 Captain. Anderson was more diplomatic than some Alliance soldiers, but when his crew was in trouble she had seem him become surprisingly lethal, going for the killing blow until a threat is over. He rarely showed that, though, thanks to being assigned to ship or base assignments while she was in the field for him. And she held no doubts that had that ensign tried to use weapons, Anderson would of retaliated and Joker would get to dodge perimeter defenses again.

"So, what about those ladies who bailed us out?" Kaidan asked. "They didn't look or act like standard troops. Another one of those knight orders?"

"As far as I can tell," Anderson admitted with a shrug. "They arrived about an hour after we did. Communication was a little slow since we needed to let the ensign try to get things together."

"I wonder how many soldiers died at New Syracusae because of the delay," Ashley wondered aloud as she shook her head.

"Probably less than if that knight fleet didn't arrive while passing through," Anderson gently chided. "Again, I don't blame them for not trusting our word."

"I guess. Kinda weird seeing an all-female group of knights though," Ashley admitted before she realized something. "Wait a minute, have we ran into any male knights from the Empire yet?" The other two shrugged as Jenkins came out of the medbay.

"At ease," Anderson said as Jenkins was about to snap to attention as he turned towards them. "Actually, have a seat Jenkins. How're you doing?"

"I'll be fine," he said as he took his seat. "Definitely doing it remotely next time," he glanced around. "So uh, Commander, how'd that meeting go with the Duchess? You didn't mention much about that."

"Oh, pretty well all things considered," Ashley said as she realized she had forgotten to fill them in on what had happened. "Though here's the punchline: Emperor Baldwin showed up by holo."

The other three's eyes went wide as Ashley explained what had happened there and summarized the subsequent conversation in the command center. As she finished, Jenkins was curling his lip in disgust.

"I can't believe that asshole was demanding you bow," Jenkins said. "Seriously, you're not even an Imp! I don't give a rat's ass if they think their big E's the ruler of all mankind, he ain't."

"Easy," Ashley said with a smirk at Jenkins' independent streak, "it wasn't even the emperor himself demanding it; it was one of the local generals. Baldwin told him to shut up about it."

"Still…" Jenkins said, "it is sort of implying that we're under their rule."

"In fairness, he is their head of state," Kaidan said thoughtfully. "Still, should probably follow Hackett's Guide to that."

"'Salute anything you can't eat or kill'?" Anderson supplied with a smirk.

"I was thinking 'don't be an ass', but that works too," Kaidan admitted as he shrugged.

"Yeah, who wants to be a donkey?" Jenkins grinned.

"Regardless," Ashley cut in as she tried to sober the conversation, "we're going to need to figure something out if this happens again. We can't really afford to do it Imperial style since that comes with a lot of connotations that Udina would hang us for."

Anderson nodded. "Agreed. Unless you hear from me or a superior officer, just give a salute or lower your head. Show some respect for rank, but nothing more. Or better, let Shepard and the quarian handle the pleasantries since they're actually Imperial."

"Yeah," Jenkins said as he glanced down the hall where the two were. "About that… why would quarians join the Empire?"

"That's something you should her ask yourself, Richard," Anderson said, using Jenkins' first name. "I know you're not a fan of the Empire, but there's some questions that you should just ask. Don't be annoying about it, if they don't want to talk about it don't press them, but you'd be better off getting to know them than just relying on what you stumble on."

"Besides," Kaidan said, "other species are just like us; they're all different, all..." he paused, "I don't want to say human since that's not right…"

"People, maybe?" Ashley supplied.

"Yeah, maybe," the biotic shrugged as Shepard and Tali were standing up. "But if you really are uncomfortable around them, I'd just keep my distance and keep it polite."

"Think I'll do that for now," Jenkins said as he stood up. "I mean, they're more like us than I thought, but it's still centuries of difference. And catch up, in some areas."

Ashley shook her head as Jenkins walked away as the two Imperials were coming back from the bow end of the sleeping pods. "He's learning," Kaidan said thoughtfully. "I think it'll just take some time."

"I don't blame him, though," Ashley admitted.

"Blame who for what?" Tali asked curiously, jolting Ashley from finishing her admission. "And do you have any food? I haven't eaten in a while."

"Should be some dextro-amino rations," Anderson said as he gestured to a set of lockers on the wall of the medbay. "Though you may need to prepare them yourself."

"Thanks," Tali said as she walked off and Shepard glanced around.

"So, where're we headed next, Captain?" she asked.

"Alliance space. The brass wants us out of Imperial territory ASAP," Anderson explained, "Safety precaution given the mission's over."

Shepard nodded. "Thank you again for helping me with this. I know, it wasn't the mission, but…"

"It did help us greatly," Anderson said with a nod.

"Mind, we were damn lucky in that regard," Ashley pointed out. "I mean, we're not going to be this lucky all the time. How long were the odds?"

"Astronomical," Kaidan said. "Though, in hindsight it does make sense. But without that, yeah, I never would've guessed we would win this big against Saren."

"Still," Anderson said seriously, "we should try to keep our detours to a minimum, at least while we have active leads. When datamining, maybe we can, but…"

"... but while we have destinations, minimize detours," Shepard finished with a nod. "I understand, Captain. And again, thank you."

"You're welcome, Knight," Anderson said with a nod as he rose. "I should get up to the bridge and make sure Joker hasn't gotten us into a race with some customs frigate."

"A race they would lose, Captain," Joker cut in by the intercom. "But no, you're fine. We should be at the relays in a few hours then its a few relay jumps until we're back in Alliance space."

"Good," Anderson said with a nod.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fifteen Minutes Later

"Hey guys, listen to this!" one of the crew members shouted to the group in the mess hall, using his omni-tool to route the radio to the speakers.

"So, tell us Jill, what's the latest news?" a male voice asked, before a woman answered.

"Well, as it turns out, the heroes of Eden Prime have not been resting on their laurels. Recent reports indicate that our brave men and women have expanded their work area."

"The what of Eden Prime?" Ashley asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Interesting, what else can you tell us?"

"Just yesterday, the Imperial colony New Syracusae was under attack by the geth, much like our own Eden Prime. Yet, our heroes rushed to the defense of the colony!"

"We actually stumbled on it..." Etel muttered, earning a chuckle from Kaidan.

"That's quite a distance to go."

"Quite so, but Alliance marines never run from a battle."

"Last I checked there were three Alliance marines and about an army worth of PDF and Imperial Army troops. You could at least credit them," Tali added bitterly.

"It's the Alliance News Network. Of course they will talk about the Alliance's marines," Etel said, before gesturing Tali to quiet down.

"So, I assume that the colony was saved?"

"Indeed, with the help of SSV Normandy, the local fleet was informed of the attack. The counter-attack took the geth by surprise."

"There's a reason Alliance Marines like to take shots at the ANN camera drones," Ashley remarked, earning a chuckle from the crew and the two Imperials with them.

"Well, let's hope that our heroes keep up the good work, the galaxy is a big place."

"Indeed."

"Now, in other news, the latest product line of..." the voice veered off as the crewman turned the PA off.

"So, heroes, eh?" the cook asked, leaning over. "Can I get an autograph? I bet I could sell it for good credits and then get some real food for once."

"Oh, shut it," Ashley said, though there was no malice in her voice. "You couldn't make real food even if we hired a professional cook do it for you."

"Barbarians, no respect for the one who has to work with RMEs..."

"At least RMEs are something edible," Kaidan quipped.

"Still, who the hell came up with that 'heroes' crap?" Ashley asked.

"If your news network is anything like Nod News Corporation... Most likely someone at finances or in the military," Etel said.

"So, the propaganda machine is starting up?" Kaidan asked.

"Probably," Ashley answered with a sigh. "They need to distract people from the horrors of war, so they use whatever they can to make it seem heroic. I guess we were the best choice."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Several Hours Later

"Coming out of the relay now," Joker said as Anderson stood behind him, nodding to himself. The blue fog that surrounded a ship during relay travel - the blue shifting of mass effect fields - faded away as the ship finished slowing down to sublight and they arrived near the relay where an Alliance cruiser and several wolfpacks of frigates were waiting.

"Incoming transmission from the Alliance patrol," Joker said.

"Put it through, "Anderson ordered.

"SSV Normandy, this is the SSV Moscow, flagship for the 63rd Scout Flotilla. Rear Admiral Mikhailovich is to come aboard to speak to your captain in person."

"Understood," Anderson answered as Nihlus walked up behind him.

"An inspection?" Nihlus asked coolly.

"Possibly. But if it is, we have nothing to hide."

"No," Nihlus admitted as the Normandy glided up towards the Moscow.

Anderson paused thoughtfully, activating his omni-tool. "Williams, could you report to the bridge?"

"Aye aye, Captain," she answered.

The Normandy was in a holding position and a docking tube from the cruiser extended and latched onto the ship's airlock. Joker was reading off numbers, but Anderson tuned it out as he prepared to face the Rear Admiral and Ashley arrived, giving him a nod. As soon as the docking tube was secure and the airlock pressures had normalized, it opened and a grizzled man of middle age walked on board flanked by two marines in full armor with pistols in hand.

Not that that would help, Anderson dryly noted to himself as Nihlus had his shotgun on his armor, even if he was missing the more cumbersome parts of it.

"Attention!" Ashley said as she snapped to attention. Anderson also saluted.

"At ease," Mikhailovich said as he returned it. "Captain Anderson, you are aware that you, your crew, and this ship were slated for the 63rd Scout Flotilla after shakedown, correct?"

"Yes, Admiral."

"And yet you allowed the Council to get their claws, paws, tentacles… whatever, on your crew, and on our ship?"

Anderson noticed both Ashley and Nihlus tensing in response before he continued on. "I'm aware, sir, but the orders came from up top per the Spectre evaluations."

"Ah yes, the Spectre evaluations," he glanced at Ashley and Nihlus. "I don't begrudge the politicians permitting this, it is a tremendous opportunity to allow the Alliance to remind the galaxy what humanity truly is, but I do begrudge the security risks."

"I take it you're here to ensure that those risks are sealed?" Anderson asked.

"Correct," Mikhailovich said with a nod. "This will not be a full inspection, though I will be doing such once the Normandy has been put more thoroughly through its paces. Wait here, I will not talk long."

"I understand, take as much time as you need." Anderson said. Mikhailovich nodded and gestured to his two guards to follow him.

"I could have used Spectre authority to get us through faster," Nihlus noted.

"Just because we can doesn't mean we should," Anderson answered with a shrug. "Besides, we did just come from Imperial territory."

"True enough," Nihlus admitted with a shrug as they waited for Michailovich to finish.

It did not take very long, though the admiral looked quite annoyed. "Everything seems to check out," the admiral said coldly, "though I do disagree with the broad freedoms you've given the non-Alliance crew."

"They're barred from the drive core and the only reason we allow them through the CIC is because that's where our main airlock is," Anderson pointed out immediately. "Besides, the crew is aware that they aren't allowed to access vital systems of the ship so if they tried to do so it would be spotted."

"Very well," Michailovich said as he rubbed his chin. "No Imperial listening devices or trackers were found either. Moscow, is the hull scan complete?"

"Yes sir," an ensign from the cruiser answered.

"Anything?"

"Negative; the hull is clean save for carbon scoring and the usual particle debris."

"Very well. Good hunting, Captain." The Alliance personnel exchanged salutes and Nihlus gave Michailovich a brief nod before the Rear Admiral left with both his body guards.

"He looked unhappy," Ashley remarked as the airlock disengaged.

"He's always angry," Anderson explained as he shrugged. "And he's not much for sneaking around with a warship like this either, he prefers fighting the enemy directly."

"Normandy, you are clear to proceed," a voice said on the radio - the officer who had told them to await the Rear Admiral.

"Understood, Moscow, we copy," Joker answered as he began checking the airlocks.

XXXXXXXXXX

Half an Hour Later

"Haven't been in Imperial territory for a while," Wrex commented as he and Etel were in the engineering bay doing final touches to repair their armor and fixing the smaller, more intricate parts. Meanwhile Garrus was on the other side of the bay working on his sniper rifle.

"Really?" Etel asked curiously, looking at the krogan. "Any stories to tell?"

"There's no story," the krogan bitterly answered. "Go ask the turians if you want stories, or one of the Alliance types. I'm sure they've got stories you'd be interested in."

"Krogan live for centuries," she pointed out, surprised at the response. "Don't tell me you haven't had a few adventures?"

"Well there was this one time where the turians almost wiped out our entire race," he looked at her blankly, "That was fun."

Etel winced. "I remember learning about that. Mind, humans almost had it just as bad."

The krogan growled, "What humanity went through wasn't even close."

"No, we were lucky," she admitted, "but we got played around with by higher powers too. I mean, the batarians found us killing each other with iron swords and spears, the salarians found the krogan in a similar situation. And we both got grabbed to serve them; the salarians grabbed the krogan for the Rachni Wars, the batarians wanted slaves."

"And I suppose the batarians also sterilized you?" the krogan growled angrily, "Making it damn near impossible to reproduce?"

Etel paused, about to comment about the fact the genophage only reduced it to one in a thousand rather than outright stopping reproduction before she bit her tongue and shook her head, rocking on her heels briefly as she understood she had hit a touchy subject. "No, I guess not."

"Look, I don't expect you to understand, but don't compare humanity's fate to the krogan. Especially with the Systems Alliance around." Wrex growled before turning back to his armor, though the wide field of vision krogan had meant she was still in his line of sight. "Though… I suppose we are both products of the galaxy shitting on the little guys."

"Humanity was just fortunate enough to not get the short stick," Etel admitted before she curled her lip. "It isn't too hard to shit on the galaxy and get away with it. I mean, the batarians might have to lie about how good their economy is, but they're still running around doing their shit, and the Citadel…" she trailed off as Wrex simply nodded.

"Still controls the Krogan DMZ with their fleets." He closed his eyes before sighing. "Not that it matters anymore, even if it does mean it's easy to get abused without justice. I gave up on the krogan a long time ago."

"Why?" Etel asked with a frown. "They're still alive. And killing a krogan calls for anti-tank weapons half the time."

"Maybe. But it's not the genophage that's killing us," Wrex explained. "We're killing ourselves just fine. The genophage just meant we can't absorb the blows. No one's interested in staying in our home system anymore."

"Why's that a bad thing? Almost every other species left their home planet and prospered. For God's sake, the Empire never even knew where it was for a thousand years and we managed to make a place for ourselves amongst the Citadel." She glanced behind her as she saw Garrus taking the lift back up. "My family is even responsible for getting a planet ready for more widespread colonization!"

"Exactly: other species go out to colonize. Krogan go out to find fights. We've lost hope, Shepard." Wrex looked pained, much to Etel's surprise, like it was something that had happened to him personally. "No one wants to stick around to try and put our civilization back together. So we leave, hire ourselves out to be the trophy bodyguards or for whatever murder someone wants done, and don't look back." The krogan shook his head slowly.

"I understand," Etel said as she turned her attention back to the armor. She never expected a krogan to point out the fault in his fellow krogan in regards to them dying out. There was more to Wrex than met the eye…

"Though," Wrex said suddenly, jolting her from her thoughts, "there was one time when some Imperial preachers came to Tuchanka. Brave souls, coming to face the wildlife there to spread their word to a populace armed to the teeth and little love for outsiders."

She winced. Missionaries who went to Tuchanka to try and bring the Faith of Abraham to the downtrodden krogan clans tended to have high casualty rates. "What happened to them?"

"They lived, for once, but that was because they ran into me after a horde of wild varren. Interesting bunch, taking the loss of their friend to those vermin with pride and hoping to achieve something greater," he gave a sad smile, or what Etel thought was a smile. "They didn't convert anyone, they almost never do, but they tried for quite a while until they had to return home."

"Why are you telling me this?" Etel asked with a frown.

"I only just remembered, and you did ask if I had interesting stories. I figured it'd be something you could relate to."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, Williams."

Ashley turned to see Garrus walking into the Normandy's sleeping pods just as she was about to get into one. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"No, just curious about something," Garrus admitted. "This about normal for a human tour of duty?"

"Uh, fighting a rogue Spectre, his asari matriarch friend, and an army of synthetics backed by scary bug aliens from who knows where, all under the command of another Spectre?" Ashley retorted in surprise. "No, they didn't really cover that in basic."

"Though I'm sure Palaven has some contingency for that; or the elcor," Garrus said, though the rigid facial features meant she couldn't tell whether he was joking or not.

"I don't suppose they'd be willing to share?" she asked to distract herself from that line of thought.

"Let's not involve the bureaucracy, that's half of why I left C-Sec."

"Fair enough," Ashley answered. "So, where'd you learn to be an impressive a sniper? I'm pretty sure that's not standard issue for police officers."

"Mandatory military training," Garrus explained. "All turians in the Hierarchy and most of the Terminus colonies do it."

"Really?" Ashley asked curiously. She had heard about the turians being extremely militaristic, but she had never seen it up close before.

"Yup. When a turian's fifteenth birthday comes, he gets boot camp. No exceptions, male and female," Garrus answered. "They put us through basic and then run a series of proficiency tests. Turns out I had a natural gift with the sniper rifle and for electronics, so they specialized me in that and sent me off to the field."

"I'm aware," she said with a slight smirk as she leaned on the sleeping pod. "Every turian's been through basic training and been a soldier in the field."

"Believe it or not, that's actually a common misconception," Garrus pointed out as he leaned on another sleeping pod. "We don't all get sent to the frontlines. The turian military isn't just soldiers and naval crew, but also police, firemen, civil engineers, administrators, even sanitation workers."

"Huh," Ashley said in surprise. "I thought the turians leaned on the volus for economics."

"We do, but that's mostly because wheeling and dealing isn't something we're institutionally adept with. There's turian merchants, don't get me wrong, but on a whole that's something of a weak spot."

"So everyone serves a tour or two in the military, no matter where, and once done they get their official citizenship?"

"Well, they move up in where they are, but they're still citizens. Though how long you serve varies depending on where you serve. In the field like I was, only one or two tours in peacetime. Other services are far longer, though most of the tenure is based on the risk involved, so even complicated jobs might be lengthy in service time just due to the lack of risk."

"Sensible," Ashley said with a nod. "Keeps the bitterness towards the fobbits down."

"Fobbits?" Garrus asked in confusion.

"Portmanteau of forward operating base and hobbit," she supplied. "Slang term for the people who aren't on the front line getting shot at but are in the field; think Adams or Chakwas."

"What's a hobbit?" Garrus asked again, still confused.

Oh, right, Ashley realized. "Fictional species; mostly human, just half as tall and hairy feet, from Lord of the Rings, a staple of literature from two hundred, three hundred years ago. Characterized as not liking to leave home or go on adventures."

"Ah," the turian sniper said with a nod. "And what about those who stay on Earth stamping out armor plates?"

"That's a cruder term," Ashley elaborated as she stifled a yawn, "REMF, or rear echelon mother-fucker. I personally prefer 'fobbit' since it's a little more refined and it doesn't have the unfortunate connotations."

"Turians use the term barefaced for politicians. Refers to not having any facepaint," the turian gestured to the blue marks on his face.

"What's with that anyways?" Ashley asked, "Some sort of colony thing?"

"Yeah, colony markings from before the Unification War; mine were from the Parthia Colony."

"So how was that colony anyways?" Ashley asked curiously. "I was born on Sirona, near Sol, but I got bounced around a lot by personnel division when my dad served so I never really stayed in one place."

"Couldn't tell you, I grew up on Palaven," Garrus explained. "Parthia was destroyed in the Unification War but was recolonized a century ago, my grandfather was part of the group that restarted it. It's still small and developing, but my mother wanted to raise us on Palaven rather than the frontier, and the rest is history."

Ashley paused, curling her lip to fight down an embarrassed blush for making the assumption. "Sorry."

"It's okay, common misconception just like the military," he paused, glancing back towards the mess briefly. "I know that some Imperials tend to incline towards the house colors of whoever's in control of their territory, but what about the Alliance?"

Ashley shrugged. "The most you see is someone wearing a UNAS or European Union flag printed on their shirt or something. The Empire and other aliens kinda pushed national issues we have to the side."

"I take it the Empire's a sore subject amongst the Alliance?"

"For various reasons," Ashley said as she shrugged, stifling another yawn. "Not really in the mood to talk about it right now, though. So, why'd you leave C-Sec anyways?"

"Justice," Garrus explained. "Same reason why I joined, I guess. I wanted to stop people from hurting innocents and make the galaxy a better place. But I couldn't do it within C-Sec; the rules and red tape kept letting dirty men walk away and then do more damage. So, here I am."

"The rules are there for a reason, you know," Ashley pointed out. "Heck, some human nations had the burden of proof on the accused rather than the accuser centuries ago. Take a guess how many innocents go down in that case."

"Maybe," the turian admitted thoughtfully, "but if it let's a mass murderer walk away, shouldn't the rules be bent?" Ashley stifled another yawn, fighting off how tired she was getting and Garrus glanced at her. "Sorry, didn't mean to keep you up; I got my shut eye a few hours ago."

"It's okay," Ashley said as she slid into the sleeping pod and tried to get comfortable in it. She was used to military bunking, but even she had to admit that she missed having a nice horizontal bed at home as she dozed off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Half an Hour Later

"Captain Anderson," Nihlus said as he walked into the captain's quarters. "Sorry to wake you, but I have something."

"It's okay," Anderson said as he was sitting on the bed, the normal crew uniform instead of his full officer's kit on, "It takes me a while to fall asleep anyways. What do you have?"

"The datamining VI found something, a lead to follow."

Anderson's eyes went wide and he nodded. "I'll get everyone to the briefing room."

Several minutes later, and once Anderson had his full dress blues on, the ground team was gathered in the briefing room. Nihlus looked over the team. Tali and Ashley were both groggy, having been asleep when the call came. Kaidan and Jenkins were more or less awake, though they looked ready to sleep as well. Wrex, Etel, and Garrus were all awake.

"Sorry to wake you all," Nihlus said, "But with the information from New Syracusae I was able to adjust the VI with more precise data and we have a lead to follow."

"Where to?" Etel asked.

"Therum, in the Knossos System of the Artemis Tau cluster. It's an Alliance mining colony," Anderson explained as he stepped forward. Nihlus nodded to him, ceding this part of the briefing to the ship's captain. "I'm not sure how aware of Therum's history all of you are, but those resources were a critical part of kickstarting the Alliance's presence in the galactic economy."

"So the geth are hitting our resources?" Ashley asked, scowling.

"Not yet," Anderson explained as he raised a hand. "And hopefully not at all. However, we must be prepared for that so I want you to make sure your arms and armor are fully repaired before we get there."

"Who'll be leading us this time?" Etel asked. "Williams?"

"I'll be taking the lead on this one," Nihlus explained, leaving Ashley to raise an eyebrow briefly before shrugging. "We'll be operating fairly far from the actual colony. Specifically, our target is Liara T'Soni."

"Who?" Garrus asked. Nihlus looked to Anderson, and the captain nodded.

"Matriarch Benezia's daughter, and an archaeologist specializing in protheans," Nihlus elaborated, linking his omni-tool to the briefing room's display to show a profile of their target. The official image for legal identification of the young asari was the main focus of it, while basic information such as her date of birth or driver's license was on the side of the screen.

"We taking her out or capturing her?" Ashley asked as she studied the profile. Jenkins seemed to be focusing on the picture rather than the briefing data.

"Neither," Nihlus said.

"I thought you said that she was Benezia's daughter, wouldn't she be working with her mother in this? At the very least I figure we should interrogate her for what she knows," Ashley noticed Wrex scowling at her. "Something wrong?"

"Just because she's family doesn't mean she's involved," the krogan rumbled darkly. Nihlus tilted his head towards the krogan. Is this a piece of this battlemaster's history cropping up here? the turian Spectre wondered.

"Williams is correct, though," Etel chimed in, "we should at least talk to her about this. She may be innocent in all of it, but we should make sure."

Nihlus nodded. "This is not intended to be a smash and grab, a kidnapping, or even an assassination. From what we know she has had no contact with her mother so I am running on innocent until proven guilty. However, if she is actually in league with her mother or part of this we will use lethal force if necessary to prevent her from being a threat later on."

"But until then we're going to talk to her?" Kaidan said.

"Exactly, Lieutenant," Nihlus said as he adjusted the file. "According to the information the VI datamined, she's at an archeological dig site on the other side of the planet from Therum's capital. In the event the geth or their Collector allies show up, I want you all to be fully prepared for combat. Any questions?"

"What do we do if she's in league with Saren?" Ashley asked. "I'm assuming capture if possible, kill if not?"

Nihlus nodded. "In the event she is working for Saren, I would prefer to capture her for interrogation, but if it's a choice between letting her go and killing her, shoot to kill. But only if she proves to be working for Saren, otherwise I want to be as unthreatening as possible for a heavily armed team of specialists led by a Spectre."

"Let's hope it doesn't go that far," Kaidan said. "If she's innocent in all this, maybe she can help us figure out what Benezia's angle is. We have Saren's, but do we have hers?"

"Hmmm," Wrex grumbled. "If she's not on board with Saren, she may even be willing to help us."

"I doubt it," Ashley said. "I mean, it'd be hard for me to go after my own mother; family's important, you know?" Etel and Tali both nodded in agreement.

"Regardless, it will take us the better part of a day to reach Therum," Anderson explained. "So I want the lot of you to get some sleep and be fully rested for the mission as soon as your equipment is fully repaired. Especially you, Jenkins."

"Yes sir," the marine said bashfully.

"Any other questions?" Nihlus asked.

"Um, yes," Tali said as she raised her hand weakly. "Is there anything we should be aware of heading into Alliance territory?"

"Not really," Ashley said, "you'll be with us on official business. As long as you don't go snooping around, you probably won't run into too much trouble."

"Right. Any environmental concerns?"

"High temperatures," Anderson elaborated as he brought up a file on Therum itself for the briefing screen. "I'd advise all of you to check the heat ablation on your armor; we should have some mods for that in the armory. Not necessary, but highly recommended."

"Also," Nihlus said, reaching for a set of data slates on the console, "I was going to hand these out later but since you're all here." He began passing them out as he walked around. "I've asked Servicemen Emerson to set up an order of special munitions for us. All the information you need is on these slates, so pick what you feel you'll need and we can figure out what we can get and what we can't." He handed the last data slate to Jenkins and walked back to the front of the briefing room.

"Is that all?" Anderson asked and no one else had any questions. "Very well then, dismissed. We should be at Therum in 1400 hours."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

End Chapter

Author's Notes:

Yes, the crew is talking about Liara as if she is a potential enemy. At this stage of the story they don't know her at all, so she could be anywhere from an ally, to an innocent in the crossfire, to a deadly adversary.

Also, UNAS = United North American Nations, one of the nations mentioned by Bioware as an Earth government containing the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Most of the information on it came from Kasumi's DLC in Mass Effect 2.

Also, I would like to thank RheasHelm, The Anguished One, scottusa1, reality deviant, and Kudara for their reviews.

The Codex Entry below is an explanation on the special munitions, primarily drawing from the actual descriptions in-game that explains how each ammunition works and condensing it into one overall explanation.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Codex: Weapons - Small Arms - Special Ammunition

Standard mass accelerators used in small arms shaves a shard of metal from an ammunition block and then launches it out of the barrel via magnetic forces. However, early mass accelerators were unable to utilize special ammunitions without going back to the original style of bullets, bringing ammo back as a concern. It seemed to be a paradigm argument until asari and salarian scientists managed to develop new modifications for their weaponry, which quickly proliferated throughout the galaxy.

Modifying weapons to mimic special munitions used in the past is done through various methods. The simplest method available is to is the long standing option of simply using a different metal for the ammunition, tungsten being a popular choice while polonium has favor amongst assassins. Another option is a secondary system which attaches a head to the bullet while it is being flash forged in the rifle itself, with rounds designed to shred organic matter typically using this method. Incendiary and cryogenic use a mix of mass effect fields and a coating (either cooling lasers for cryogenics or thermite pastes for incendiaries) to cause an on-impact burst with the desired effect. The wide range of effects and methods makes this a useful tool to those who can afford it or have access to such weapons.

However, despite this great versatility these specialized munitions are often only issued to special forces operatives on a regular basis due to expense and maintenance requirements. The common soldier usually has to buy it with their own money unless their mission role calls for a specific type of ammunition, and even then typically have to spend much of their time maintaining it. Because of this vastly increased maintenance time, specialists in a squad such as engineers or support biotics tend to forgo such even in special forces units in order to focus their time on sharpening their other skills and the equipment they need to use.

Scaling up these special munitions is extremely rare due to the effects rarely matching up to the increased cost for large munitions or are too ineffective for combat usage. As a result, such special munitions are rarely used on vehicle mounted weapons and are never used on starships or even fighter craft.