I don't own the Mass Effect.

Chapter 9: The Negotiations

Nyreen Kandros casually leaned onto one of the display cases in the store, her hood twisting as she examined the sniper rifle contained inside. "You didn't' have to close the place just to talk with me."

I shrugged minutely, not bothering to move from where my back was resting against the cashier's cage. "Third is our slowest shift, not really losing much."

Her mandibles might have quivered slightly, though the angle made it hard to tell. "And you don't want me poking around upstairs."

That drew another Asari shrug from me. "Would you let me poke around your place?"

"Point accepted." A clawed hand rose, palm up. "No desire to use your patio?"

"Most of my customers still think I'm a Batarian, which means I'm stuck wearing a helmet whenever I go out there." One of my hands tapped my armored chest. "Getting in and out of this crap all the time is annoying enough, I'll take a petty excuse to talk with you down here with the rest of it off."

"I almost wish that we were friendly enough to talk about why you chose to conceal yourself as a Batarian." She sounded honestly amused. "Perhaps someday we might be."

"Doubtful." I kept my tone light enough to not offer insult, but honestly I had absolutely no desire to get wrapped up in her crusade to liberate Omega. Or franchise its citizens, or whatever her long-term goal actually was. My life was complicated enough without adding that kind of thing to my plate. "If we were drinking I'd be all right with spending more time talking about nothing, but since we aren't you mind if we skip ahead to why you're here?"

The hood rippled as she nodded slightly. "Hiring you and your people to maintain a field engineering post during our attack on the True Son's base in Tuhi. You are willing to do so?"

"Not really." I admitted, the cage rattling as I leaned my head back. "We're arms dealers, not mercenaries."

Nyreen turned towards me slightly, her voice lowering as she spoke. "Everyone on this station is a mercenary, MacKeanen. I wish that wasn't the case, but it is the truth that we live with right now. Everyone has been forced to fight for one cause or another. Some for credits, others for causes, more because they're forced to."

She pushed away from the case, still talking. "The first, I'm sure, holds no interest. I doubt a few thousand more would interest you one way or the other. Your masters, whoever they are, must pay you very well to willingly come to Omega."

They certainly did. "No comment."

Her mandibles might have quivered slightly in amusement. "I'm still not sure what you and Trisren's end game is, but whatever your cause might be likely does not leave you room for another. And I would not forsake my own principles to force you to join us."

I grunted quietly. "But there's forms of payment beyond credits, and you already know what I want."

"For Bern to leave you be."

My head dipped into a tight nod. "His people tried to follow Rane'li when she and another employee made a supply run to the Blades."

This time there was something like an annoyed growl from the gang leader. "You are sure?"

I nodded again. "Confirm with Trisren if you want, she had two of her people intercept them before they could try anything."

"You assumed that they were going to."

It was my turn to let out a low, vibrating sound. "I don't appreciate my people being stalked Red. And I've read the White Tiger's extranet page. If there are any anti-Batarian slurs that those people don't know I'd be surprised. I honestly have no idea why you bothered allying yourself with them."

"One can't throw away a gun simply because it has a few blemishes." Her hands fell to her hips as she shook her head. "Not on Omega at least. Bern is largely a good man, and his packs do a lot of good in their territory."

"So long as you aren't Batarian." I countered. "They've kept their mouths shut when they shop but I don't know how long that's going to last. Sooner or later one of them is going to snap at me for speaking their language, or Rane'li because of what she is."

"I'm not blind to the potential problems that you killing them would cause." I didn't know whether to feel flattered or worried that Nyreen didn't doubt who'd win that particular shootout. There was a somewhat ragged breath before she resumed speaking. "Twenty thousand for your people's assistance, and I'll get Bern to leave all four of you be. As much as I would like to limit his racism further, that's beyond me right now."

"Which I understand. I'm not looking to start a crusade or something, I'd just rather he and I be separated by a few light years."

Her mandibles shifted again, and some of the severity left her voice. "I don't know about light years, but I might be able to talk him into swapping some territory to move him away from this place."

I grunted before nodding. "That sounds workable to me. Even split between the four of us, we'll all be armed but if anyone tries to order us into the fight..."

"None of my people will be that stupid." She assured me. "And I'll make sure that you are assigned to an all Talon group. We'll need tech mine reloads, armor repairs, and weapon tune ups, that kind of thing."

That sounded simple enough. Not that I'd ever run anything like that before, but she didn't need to know that. Honestly I was pretty sure that the True Sons were more or less done for in this part of the station even without the Talons taking out their base, and if we weren't exactly military-level efficient I couldn't imagine it seriously affecting the battle. And besides, so long as the bloody White Tigers stopped sneering at me and Rane whenever they stopped by the store, a few hours fixing things didn't seem like that big of a deal.

"Assuming the Tigers actually do shape up after this, I'll put in a discount for uniformed Talons." I waved a hand around the store. "To make up for the credits."

"It would have to be quite a discount to cover twenty thousand, even with the prices you charge."

"That's the literal price of quality Red. Twenty percent, same as the Eclipse."

Her head dipped politely. "More than fair of you. Conditional on them actually leaving your people alone?"

I took a few moments to mull it over before responding. "Conditional on you getting them to move away. If they show up as customers and do something stupid that's hardly your fault."

"My thanks." Another head bob was followed by her glancing around the store again. "One of my lieutenants will be in touch tomorrow. We currently have their location encircled but I am not planning on beginning the attack for a few days yet."

My face pulled into a frown. "No offense Red, but that doesn't exactly sound smart. They'll have plenty of time to fort up."

"And also plenty of time to lose people to desertion or other gangs poaching their members." She pointed out. "While I detest their message and methods, many of their people are young and simply made a mistake. They deserve some time to contemplate if they truly want to remain."

Oh, right. "I hear you."

We exchanged a few more meaningless pleasantries after that, mostly her assuring me that everything that her people had bought was still functional and that the store was apparently becoming a go-to location for Talons to buy their equipment. I supposed that was a good thing, given that it helped insure she and they would have a vested interest in keeping us all alive. On the same token though, it was weird to be selling weaponry to gangsters, even nominally good ones like the Talons.

Pushing that aside, I bid Nyreen farewell and waited for the door to lock before sighing and raising my voice. "Thoughts?"

"You're a terrible negotiator boss." Illyan called down the stairs, the steps creaking as she trotted down them a few moments later. "Could have at least gotten us thirty or forty."

"The money wasn't the point." Rane corrected her as she followed the Asari down. "And Red knew as much before she even arrived. Desiring a higher price would have been nothing but greed and would have likely cost us much of her goodwill. The Reyja'krem agreed, hence why he didn't make such an attempt."

I grunted as I worked at the cage's latch, opening the door before joining the two females. "I meant thoughts on what we're doing here. And whether or not she can actually get the Tigers to stop shadowing us."

"Oh. Should have been more specific boss." The big Asari made a thoughtful clicking sound with her tongue before shrugging, "We're going to be well behind the Talon's lines, so much as you can say that on Omega. And I guess we're being paid well by this place's standards, not seeing any real problem with playing mercs for a day."

Nodding, I glanced over at my lover.

The lowborn shrugged in much the same way as our companion. "Even if the True Sons find a way to approach us, our equipment is far superior to theirs. I cannot admit to being enthusiastic about the plan, but if it means that we won't have to deal with Bern or his people it is likely a worthwhile endeavor."

"Assuming that Bern agrees."

"Assuming that." Rane agreed. "If he doesn't, things could become problematic."

Illyan grunted as her shoulder hit the wall, a leg crossing the other as she leaned against it. "You think he suspects that we aren't actually arms dealers?"

"I know he does, the question is what he thinks we are." I brought a hand up to rub tiredly at my face. "If he convinces himself we're an SIU front we could be in trouble. Smart or not, he hates Batarians enough that he might try something stupid."

"Like attacking us." The Asari groaned.

"Like attacking us." Shifting my gaze, I caught Rane's upper eyes with mine. "Rane, you're off supply runs to Tris until he's handled."

Her copper toned lips thinned slightly. "Confining me to our building, Reyja'krem?"

I tried not to wince as I nodded. "Just until the fight, I'll be staying in as well. I haven't heard anything from Red or Tris saying that he has a problem with Voya or you, Illyan, so hopefully he won't give either of you any problems."

"If he does try sending people to follow us around again, can we beat them up a bit boss?"

"If you think you can stop Voya from killing them, be my guest. Speaking of, she still sleeping?"

Rane shook her head slightly. "She was making tea before we came down."

That drew a quiet grunt. "Everyone in favor of staying closed for the rest of the shift?"

Unsurprisingly, neither alien female seemed the least bit upset with that particular idea. Killing the lights on the floor, the three of us headed back upstairs. Passing through the heavy door at the third floor entrance as quickly as possible to minimize the amount of crap coming in, Voya glanced up from where she was sipping her tea through a straw in her half-mask.

Illyan promptly began to summarize what had happened as she joined the Quarian on the couch, bringing the flatscreen up on mute before flipping through what channels that Omega offered. While they did that, I headed for the bedroom to get out of my armor and wasn't terribly shocked when Rane trailed after me.

Between the pair of us it didn't take long to get the heavy crap off of me, stacking it roughly on one of the armor racks that we'd managed to squeeze into the bedroom.

"Did I alleviate the insult by pointing out that I'm also going to be stuck inside?" I asked as she handed me my chest plate, letting me hang the thing as I spoke.

Her lower eyes blinked as her head tilted a bit to the left. "You did, although honestly there wasn't much insult to take. I understand that you're protecting both me and the mission, not attempting to shelter me."

I grunted, at least mildly relieved that I hadn't upset her. "What are your plans for the shift?"

Rane's lips twisted slightly in annoyance. "Trying to fix Glitch. Again. There has to be a subroutine that Voya and I haven't found yet because his targeting system reset to the corrupt defaults."

"That crap again?" When she nodded, I could only groan. "Athame's ass, was hoping that we were past that. Maybe you could reset it and install the VI you were making for my armor, whenever Trena gets it here."

"It has to get here first." Her head dipped into polite deliberation as she handed me the forearm plates, letting me resume packing things away. "Until then I think it's best to keep trying to fix it as is."

"Not disagreeing, just offering a thought." Warm fingertips brushed against my cheek, making me smile slightly before accepting the armor's backplate. "How long you think that'll take?"

I caught her biting her lip in thought when I turned back around, "Four hours? I'd rather do the job properly and not have it trying to shoot us when we turn it on."

I snorted. "I'd rather not have either of you shot by our own mech either. Take your time."

"As you say, Reyja'krem." She paused for a moment, handing me the last bits of armor before speaking again. "What are you going to be doing?"

One of my hands waved at my tiny desk. "Have to call Aethyta, she didn't say why. Odds are that she's going to yell at me for putting us into a fight. Once that bit of fun is over with, need to get back to rehabbing and working out."

"Pillars. You're going to spar with Illyan, aren't you?"

"Just today." The idea of the massive Asari hitting me the day before we went to a brawl, planning on actually fighting or not, didn't strike me as a particularly intelligent thing to do. "Just exercising and stretching isn't going to get me fully ready again."

The lowborn nodded slightly, "Just be careful, please. I don't want to come upstairs to find the pair of you bleeding on the living room floor."

My skin flushed slightly. "Illyan isn't Trena. And that was one time."

"That it only happened the one time is proof that the Pillars do provide miracles." Her arms crossed defiantly when I tried to give her an arch look. She resumed talking only when I gave her a slightly abashed nod to accept the point. "Speaking of Trena, I don't suppose that you have had more luck than I in getting her to stop asking about our private life?"

"No." I could only groan. "Just try ignoring her, talk like she hasn't said anything. Sometimes that seems to work."

"I'll have to try it." Rane murmured, leaning in so that she could gently press her lips against the left side of my neck. "Will my Reyja'krem be awake in four or five hours?"

"If he isn't he would trust that his lover would wake him up." Reaching back I pulled her around, smiling at the the way her lower eyes lidded as I leaned in to kiss her. I enjoyed the earthy taste of her lips and mouth, with just hints of vanilla flavor from the Chehala leaves that she smoked, before regretfully pulling back. "Agreed?"

"Agreed." Her breath was warm, as was the hand she brought up to touch mine for a long moment before sighing and stepping away. "I will keep you updated on our progress with Glitch. If Dorvahn stops by, should I send him here?"

I mulled it over for a moment, "Yeah. If I'm still stuck on the call make sure Illyan is the one who does it."

"Of course." She gave me a small smile and a formally polite nod before slipping out of the room.

Which left me alone to stare at the desk, sighing as I forced my legs to shuffle the rest of me in its direction.

A few moments later had the console open, my fingers striking the glowing keyboard as I jumped through the dozen and a half hoops required to establish the secure line from this particular computer to the one built into my boss's desk back on Illium. After re-verifying my password for the third time, the screen finally flickered to a bar displaying the connection status. It cut out a moment later to let me see Aethyta lounging in her chair, the familiar backdrop of Nos Astra at twilight behind her actually making me miss the fucked up place.

"Aethyta."

"Kid." There was a dull clatter as she tossed a tablet onto her desk, looking as if she was equally as tired as I was. "I already heard from Tris that you're being dragged into the fighting. Do I want to know why?"

One of my shoulders twitched as my head dipped that way. "You read my report on the White Tigers?"

Her image gave me a mild glare. "I've got seventy two reports waiting for me to bloody read them right now kid. You aren't my only agent."

Rolling my eyes, I proceeded to give her the short version of what was happening. It didn't take long, largely because Liara's father wasn't stupid. She only asked pertinent questions as pertinent times, otherwise letting me get on with the business of telling her what things looked like from my point of view.

"...the deal with Red is simple enough. We help her out here, she works out a trade with the Tiger's Alpha to swap some territory around to get him out of our district entirely." I finished, "Also giving her the same discount as the Eclipse provided that they actually make the deal work."

The old Matriarch grunted, her eyes locked on her own console as she took notes. "Remind me to throw whoever missed that into the ocean. A local gang with anti-batarian rhetoric is the kind of crap the advanced team should have known, we could have put you up somewhere else."

"Bit late for that now. Appreciate the sentiment though."

There was another annoyed sound before she sighed. "You think the Talons will go through with trading territory like that?"

"I trust that she'll make the effort." I hedged slightly, "Red seems to have a practical head on her shoulders, even if she's a bit of an idealist."

"Rare combination. Well, if Tris says you're up for it, and you say you're up for it, I'm not going to second guess your plans from here. If they don't stop following you and your girl around, what are you thinking?"

"That I would really rather that they do stop." A slow exhale escaped my nose. "I don't want to start a fight with another gang, and Red made it clear that she needs Bern and his packs more than she needs us right now."

"As far as anyone there knows, the Blades are just dedicated customers correct? Athame's ass don't tell me that's already gone to shit."

"No, that's still fine. He doesn't suspect anything about Tris as far as I know. His focus is entirely on us." I grimaced. "My main worry is that he might think we're some kind of SIU team or being paid by the Hegemony in prelude to a move on the station. If he gets wind of the stuff we're doing to support Voya he might work that into his prejudices and suspicions."

"If they don't go for the territory exchange, you might have to start making your stalkers vanish until he gets the point." Another grimace was my response to that. "It's Omega kid. Killing is a form of conversation there."

"I've noticed." Less noticed and more heard. None of us left the store if we could help it, heading out only to run supplies to Trisren or to buy things we needed. But those brief glimpses combined with the gunshots that tended to sound randomly throughout the day gave us a pretty good idea of just what kind of place we were living in.

And this was one of the better districts. I had no desire to head deeper into that station, into the areas where the Blood Pack held court.

Shaking myself a bit, I shifted the topic. "Did Trena recognize anyone from the images you had us going through?"

"No." Aethyta's lips twisted. "Which means the bitch is probably doing it by proxy. One of her daughters maybe, or someone recruited into the cult that you mentioned."

So we had aboslutely no idea which one of them that it was. Lovely. "Were you able to pull anything else from their omni-tool?"

"Nothing besides the orders to eliminate you and T'laria, and to make it look like a domestic accident." Blue fingers drummed slowly on her desk. "What we have had more luck is in finding out anyone else that your mystery Matriarch may have affected."

That made me sit up a bit straighter. "You found someone else?"

"No. Our searches for any humans with your condition keeps turning up nothing unusual." She shook her head slightly. "But once we stopped being such goddess damned idiots, we might have come up with something. A few old friends are running searches on businesses or similar partnerships limited to one Asari and one human, started or modified to that combination over the least few years."

I mulled that over for a few moments. "You think she's pairing people she," brings over, "experiments on with other Asari? Like Trena and I?"

"Given that you were just a test subject, newer ones are probably stuck with her followers." Which made sense. It would let her stay more up to date on how they were adjusting to the new universe, as well as making it easier to eliminate them if the whim struck her. "So far we've turned up a dozen plus on the Citadel alone, I've got a few old friends that I trust looking into their stories to see if there's anything unusual."

"Most are probably legit." I nodded slowly in thought. "Asari and human romance is hardly uncommon. Which is probably why she picked humans to mess with."

"I doubt it's her only reason, but it's definitely helping her keep her shit beneath the waves." Aethyta let out a long sigh. "I'll brief you when I know more kid. T'laria should have more on her mission in a few days, probably after your fight is over with."

"Guessing that's going to be another vidcall?"

"You, her, Tris, probably a few other groups I've got looking into that crap. You'll all have filters on, keep the cells secure, but some of them have found data that might be related." Her head dipped a bit as she shrugged. "Early indications are that both the Blue Suns and the Hegemony were up to something on Illium in the right timeframe to be involved."

It was my turn to twist my face into a scowl. "Not exactly fond of the Suns or the SIU. Any chance we could just get rid of both?"

She gave me an arch look. "Kid, if it's the SIU that means we might have to track down the youngest Balak, take him alive, and drag him back here. If it's the Suns, we'll need someone to break into Vosque's retirement mansion on the far side of the Terminus and do the same. Assuming that they would even be the ones we'd need to capture."

One of those would be damn near impossible. Trying to do both of them would be... something not worth even thing about. "Right, idiot, sorry."

A hand waved in a forgiving manner. "Don't worry about it. Keep me updated kid, will give you the frequencies when I have a set time for the briefing."

"Got it." I flicked off the line as she reached out to do the same.

Just when you think the tide is finished, the water rises a few more bloody feet. My fingers rose to pinch the bridge of my nose as I let out a long breath. It didn't track that the mercenaries would work with the Hegemony in the hotel hit, but that meant that both of the groups of assholes had been doing something on Illium. So if one had been behind the attack, what the fuck had the other been up to?

"Worry about it later Cieran." I muttered to myself, pushing my way out of my chair and up to my feet. "Like when you get more data."

Stretching my neck, and trying not to groan as a few cracks reached my ears, I grabbed my cane from where I'd left it resting against the wall. Thusly armed, I shuffled back out into the hallway and then on into the living room.

"Done with your super-secret call to your boss boss?" Illyan barely even glanced up from where she was laying on the couch, her long frame occupying the entire thing.

"Yes, and super-secret? Have you been watching kids shows or something?"

She stuck her tongue out at me.

I could only roll my eyes, "Athame's tits. You really are more childish than Erana, you know that right?"

This time I got a pair of rude gestures, one from each hand.

"Turn that stupid thing off and help me move the table."

Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she did at least heave herself up into a seated position before flicking off the game that she'd been watching. "Why we moving the table? I'd figure the couch would be more comfortable."

I blinked, not quite fully processing it right away. "The couch would be... oh shut up and help me move this thing dammit. We need to start sparring again."

"Oh. Yeah, probably a good idea." Not bothering to wait for me she simply leaned out and planted a broad hand beneath the small table, easily heaving the thing upwards as she stood. Meeting my mutters about showing off with chuckles, she moved the short piece of furniture into the kitchen before pushing it up against a wall. It was mostly out of the way, though I could easily imagine myself banging my shin into the stupid thing when I tried to get to the fridge.

Of course, I had bigger, more immediate concerns. Asari shaped concerns.

Illyan cracked her massive knuckles before rolling her neck out, motes of dark light appearing around her arms as she stretched. "You mind if I lead boss?"

"You usually do." Trying to grimace as I settled my weight evenly on both legs, I brought my heavy cane up in a one handed grip like a fencer might. "Remember we don't have a doctor, so try not to break me."

Blue lips pulled back a bit from her teeth. "You want me to take it easy on you? Talk Rane into letting me spend a sleeping shift with the two of you."

"Not happening." I took a half step back as she slowly advanced, massive arms raised in a ready position. "But I might consider giving you some more time to go see the Blades."

"Herani is already seeing someone." One of her arms snapped forwards, a quiet grunt escaping her when my cane snapped to hit her forearm. A quick step back was followed by her shaking the limb out, but she subsided when I wasn't stupid enough to think that she was actually hurt. "Someones actually."

I snorted, shifting my weapon into a more secure two handed grip. "The twins? Seriously?"

"Athame's tits, I barely gave you anything."

She shot forwards before I could reply, throwing three quick punches that I only barely deflected away before following it up with a snap kick at my good shin. I couldn't avoid that one, but I did manage to at least take the hit directly instead of letting her go for my ankle or knee.

Hissing slightly at the stinging pain, I side-stepped another punch before lowering my shoulder and driving inside of her reach. It was her turn to grunt in pain as I slammed first my elbow, and then my body, into her chest and drove her backwards. Knowing the amount of agony that I'd be in if I stayed that close, I snapped the hilt of my cane up towards her chin as I stepped back, forcing her to snap her hands up to save her face instead of leaving them free to grab me.

I resumed speaking once we had a good meter between us again, as if we hadn't just been fighting. "First, you said that she was seeing someone. If they were anyone but Turian, or maybe human, that wouldn't stop you."

"Point." Illyan shook herself out again, the pair of us warily beginning to circle one another in the small space. "And making it clear that there was more than one did the rest?"

"Pretty much." Electing to try and go on the attack, I tried feinting left before lunging with my good leg and striking for her right leg.

She didn't fall for it in the slightest, batting my weapon aside before dropping down into a crouch and shooting forwards in something like a wrestling take-down. This time there wasn't any chance of me getting away as a broad hand grabbed my shoulder and yanked me in. I tried to hit the pressure point just under her arm only to be heaved up and over her for my trouble, my back slamming into the floor a moment later.

"Can't feint left boss, not hard to tell that's your bad side." I gasped for air as she lifted her weight off of me, stepping back to give me room to get up. "If you're going to try you got to commit more to sell it."

"Got it." Trying not to groan as I stood back up, I accepted my cane again when she offered it to me. She gave me all of five seconds to get ready before she came at me again, the floor groaning as we began sparring in earnest.

Secure Communications Log

Omega – Illium RI pipeline

User 2: It's about time that you called me Rane.

User 1: We've been busy lately Trena, and you talk with Cieran daily.

User 2: Daily for station-time isn't the same for us stuck on an goddess-given planet.

User 1: If you want to talk with him more I'm sure he wouldn't mind.

User 1: Unless you just want to ask him questions about our sex life. In which case I doubt he would oblige you.

User 2: Neither of you is any fun since you got on that station. At least if you were here I'd be able to get you both honest enough to tell me the details.

User 1: You mean drunk enough.

User 2: That's what I said. Athame's ass girl, it's not like he and I haven't talked about that before. Or walked in on each other by accident.

User 1: Do you have any knowledge on resetting a combat mech's VI? Entirely, not just specific systems.

User 2: Don't change the subject girl.

User 1: Do you have any knowledge on resetting a combat mech's VI? Entirely, not just specific systems.

User 2: Seriously? Just copying the same bloody line?

User 1: Do you have any knowledge on resetting a combat mech's VI? Entirely, not just specific systems. Please.

user 2: I seriously hope you're getting this mouthy with him. All that polite crap gave me headaches, data packets on the way.

User 1: Cieran finds it endearing. And thank you.

User 2: You can thank me by answering my question.

User 2: Rane.

User 2: The second you two get back here we're hitting the bars and not leaving until you're both puking your guts out.

User 1: Ghai wouldn't let you.

User 2: Athame's fucking-

User 1 has disconnected.

Next up is Chapter 10: The Assassin

Heh...heh..yeah... sorry about this taking so long. Work didn't cooperate as I thought it would around the holidays, leaving me stuck rushing to get a lot down instead of being able to take it easy like I thought I would be able to. Throw in working on a few other personal projects, the constant tug of gaming addictions, and you get a bit of a delay..

I have set a few New Years resolutions for myself, one of which is finishing this particular story before the year is half out. The others are doing the same for my Bleach story, as well as actually writing a story in my original sci-fi verse. I've been expanding the background on it since I was in grade school... feel like I really should get around to actually writing a full story or two there.

That update out of the way, this chapter goes into a bit of the why they are becoming involved at all, despite none of them really having honest desire to fight the True Sons (in this circumstance anyway). Given how their plans usually go, I'm pretty sure most of you can guess as to how well their idea of not being involved will be.

Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."

Thanks, Kat

Review Responses:

MoonBurner → Glad to hear from you, and glad that you've enjoyed it so far.

Lfan8 → Just what happened to Cieran will definitely be explained. I've gone through a few iterations but think I might finally have it worked out. As far as Shepard goes... it does seem like Aethyta would send someone to protect Liara if she knew what would happen, doesn't it?

Envy34 → Hopefully this chapter cleared it up a bit.

Fan-Rei → The Terminus vs Flotilla Quarians dynamic will be explored in the future. For now it's enough to know that neither group is fond of the other.

BJ Hannssen → I really have no idea... I just kind of sit down and try to get the crap in my head onto the page.

5 Coloured Walker → I really hate that contraction. Gets through all the time...

griezz → She might have already sent someone by, low-profile like, or maybe they simply aren't high profile enough for her to really care yet. Either way, Aria will make her personal appearance sometime later in Act 2, though we might be hearing from her agents before then.