Chapter 20: Shadowlight, Part I

"I want to help you," Ryder said earnestly.

Tajix did not respond beyond a brief twist of painful bitterness that flashed across his face, but his melancholy eyes remained fixed on the table between them. It was Tajix's apportioned time before the heat lamps in the medical ward before he was lead back to his 'dungeon', which was a somewhat smaller and dingier room that was easy to guard from all sides; for the moment, he was free, or as close to it as he would be in the foreseeable future, though that still meant that his wrists were bound and there was a guard on the door. Evfra had ordered a rotation to keep the man nourished and healthy, but more importantly, it was also a perfect opportunity for Ryder to interview him. Her next move was contingent on what would be said here, because what she planned was definitely a risk.

"Tajix, I believe you," she tried again. "But we need to know everything about the communications exchanged in the time period, from the point where you got into this mess until we returned here – you've got to help me out here."

"It's all in the system," Tajix said quietly.

Ryder suppressed a sigh of relief; that was the first sentence she had gotten out of him since entering the room. "I know, but your system of encryption is complex. I need the cypher that identifies the participants."

"You have an AI, do you not?" he asked.

"Yes, and yet a string of seemingly random numbers doesn't identify who sent any given message," Ryder pointed out. "Tajix, this could clear your name, prove to Evfra once and for all that you were used by Firaan!"

That bitter look came and went again. "I scrambled those messages… I didn't want Evfra finding out about my failure."

"That should be easy enough to fix."

"You don't understand, Pathfinder – I scrambled the entire system. If I merely deleted the messages or tampered with only those…" he trailed off, gesturing helplessly with his hands as far as he could with the bindings on them.

"It would be like drawing an arrow to them," Ryder finished.

Ryder chewed her lip. It was a little problematic that Tajix had the ability to tamper with the entire system effectively enough that his communications with the scavengers and the ship headed for Havarl would remain disguised in plain sight and that he'd done so; or rather, the real problem was that there was nothing to say that he hadn't planted evidence long ago framing someone else. Evfra was right, Tajix still technically couldn't be eliminated as a suspect and thinking that far ahead was exactly the sort of thing she expected from Firaan. Still, the messages were their best chance at laying a trap for him. It wasn't an elegant solution, but SAM's proverbial fingers were on every single transmission in the corrupted database; if Tajix tried to manipulate Firaan's message instead of simply uncovering it and downloading it, they would know for sure that he was their quarry.

Aloud, she said, "It can't be that hard to reconstruct them."

Tajix frowned. "If I do, how does that prove my innocence? Wouldn't tampering with them again just incriminate me?"

"There's a specific message somewhere in there that I'm after. You wouldn't be trying to restore what you damaged to keep your secret, but finding and reconstructing that one message, I can give you a time window within which Firaan sent word to Aya, anything before that or sent to anywhere else is immaterial to the investigation at this point. That includes the communications you tried to hide."

Tajix wordlessly raised his wrists, eyes meeting hers for the first time.

"We'll get to that," Ryder nodded. "But first, I need to know if you might have seen anything. I'm certain that Firaan was physically here around when you were communicating with those ships. Think hard, is there anyone you can think of who could have sent a message about my release?"

"Your release?" Tajix frowned. "I wasn't here after Evfra released you, either."

"Yes, but you tampered with the comm system! I suspect that Firaan knew about it and made use of your actions."

"I don't see how that would help me… or you," he sighed.

"First, you've cracked the system and I would be very surprised if you didn't leave backdoor access just in case your plan failed. Second, you have the same level of understanding now and that's where Firaan miscalculated, because he would never suspect that I would let you near evidence like that while you are a suspect."

Tajix held her gaze expressionlessly. Ryder smiled; it was confirmation enough.

"Your best chance now is to cooperate with me and help us hunt down the real culprit. You have access to the system in a way that only SAM could match, but more importantly, you have the means to obscure senders, which means you also have the means to uncover senders."

"I'm not sure that is possible," Tajix frowned. "I did not keep an uncorrupted copy, some of the information might be unrecoverable. My messages certainly are, but as I said, I scrambled the entire system. If I had known to look for someone…" he shrugged, eyes falling to the table again. Ryder's heart went out to him; his intentions had been good ones, provided he didn't really turn out to be Firaan, but he had unwittingly turned himself into a very convincing scapegoat.

"Before Evfra accused you there was no reason for you to suspect anyone," Ryder said gently. "You might have been beside him the whole time and you wouldn't have known who to point a finger at, I'm not expecting you to. But if you saw anything out of the ordinary, any clue that might help us…"

Tajix was silent for a long moment, turning her words over. "What am I looking for?"

Ryder smiled. "Firaan sent a direct communication to Saar on Aya sometime after I was released, most likely shortly before we returned to Aya. It's the only instance that he has used Resistance channels as far as we know."

"To Saar?" Tajix frowned. "Why him? Is he a collaborator of some sort?"

"No, he wanted to kill me." She shrugged a little when Tajix gasped. "It didn't work, obviously. I don't think Saar is working with Firaan, he merely… dislikes how much influence I have over Evfra, he feels that I threaten the Resistance."

He nodded. "Saar wouldn't understand that kind of love and would definitely feel threatened by it, even without knowing the extent."

Ryder gaped at him silently, heart seizing her throat in shock. She was glad she hadn't reacted instinctively like jumping up or blurting a denial that would most certainly confirm what he just said, but mostly that was because she was just too stunned to move or speak. Tajix knew? How was it even possible? But if he knew, who knew who else might know or suspect; the thought dizzied her and it took all her willpower to regulate her breath to something approximating calmness.

Tajix noticed her reaction anyway and looked a little embarrassed. "I am sorry. I know it's a secret, and rightly so. I just tend to get preoccupied with puzzles and well… Evfra has been acting differently, especially around you." He shrugged modestly. "I didn't have time to do very much else except think about this, eventually I couldn't come up with any other answers except that one."

"You…" Ryder swallowed. Her throat felt very dry all of a sudden. "Have you told anyone about your… suspicions?"

"No one has talked to me apart from you," Tajix said a little sadly.

"I thought Evfra interviewed you," she frowned.

"He did. But he was talking at me… he thinks that I am this Firaan."

Ryder crossed her arms, feeling flustered. "Well, I… thank you for… I'm not confirming anything, you understand, but just a rumor of something like that could…" abruptly she realized that this was perhaps not the best subject to crack her teeth on with their investigation's prime suspect; believe in his innocence or not, she couldn't prove he wasn't Firaan just yet. Not to mention the fact that Tajix had just proved to her beyond a doubt that he was intelligent enough to be a legitimate suspect if he had pieced all that together from the few times they had all three been in the same space.

"Of course," Tajix smiled slightly. "I wish you no harm, Pathfinder." This time she thought the strongest emotion she could read in his eyes saw gratitude; was that because she said she believed in him or that she was talking to him at all? Perhaps it was both.

Ryder cleared her throat. "I'll arrange for your escape. I cannot let you free officially, but I will make sure you have access to the comm system. Find the message and wait for me there, I will come for you and we will find Evfra together." She took out a small device she had stowed in her gauntlet and slid it across the table to him. "I assume you used the maintenance access point near the docking area, not the central command?" Tajix nodded. "When you draw close to it, press this," she indicated the center of the device. "Your guard will be rendered unconscious. I will draw away the other one so no one will suspect your absence."

Tajix nodded again, gravely this time, and she stood to leave, hoping that he understood what an enormous trust she was placing in him with that gesture. She hesitated a moment, wondering if there was a way to remedy her clumsy handling of the lieutenant's theories on her relationship with Evfra, but she decided that the only thing she could accomplish at that juncture was to put her foot in her mouth again. Without another word, she left, trading places with the guard waiting at the door.

Pathfinder, I am monitoring Initiative ships approaching, SAM said.

"Then it's begun," she said and just then the proximity alarms went off. She went to find Evfra, ignoring the looks she gathered as she moved quickly through the rocky, white tunnels. "SAM, can you make a convincing message for that guard?"

Yes, Pathfinder. However I need direct access to a communication terminal, SAM replied.

"Alright, we can do that." She kept moving, eyes peeled for any kind of access point, but she ended up meandering right up to the heart of the command center before she found what she was looking for. Across the room she spotted Anjik narrowing eyes at her; whatever Evfra had revealed to her about their plan, it clearly hadn't changed the woman's mind about Ryder since the last time she had been here as a prisoner of the Resistance. She stepped closer to an unused station, only temporary vacated judging by the data on the display, and touched the panel lightly. No one had a direct line of sight to what she was doing beyond standing there, except if someone came in behind her, but she felt sweat trickle icily down her neck anyway.

Accessing, SAM intoned. Connection successful. I am sending the message.

"The rest is up to him," Ryder murmured and rounded the block of ice that raised the giant holo of Voeld above the rest of the room, trying to casually put distance between herself and the terminal without arousing suspicion.

There, she found Evfra staring up at the holo, surrounded by a handful of officers giving out orders or monitoring the information streaming in from the vanguard. His eyes immediately went to her and she thought she saw his shoulders relax a little; though, it was difficult to tell in that poor illumination. She stepped up to him and nodded, trying to make it an offhand gesture while at the same time trying to impart meaning to him that her meeting with Tajix had gone well.

"They're not responding to our hails," one of the officers stationed there said to Evfra suddenly, eyes glowing as they swallowed the information on the luminescent screen in front of him. "The vanguard is standing ready to strike on your order."

"Let me try," Ryder requested, trying to inject formality into her tone. It helped that her mind was preoccupied by whether or not Tajix was already on his way to the comm systems or if he would delay his departure to soak up a few more rays; for once being near Evfra didn't completely rob her of sense. Though, she did feel as though a knot had untied in her middle.

Evfra studied her a moment, as though weighing the request; they both knew he would let her do it, but he had to create at least an appearance of weighing the question. Unfortunately, that was the moment Ashae chose to join them and the look the lieutenant gave her drew Ryder's full attention. It bothered her how close the woman was to the Resistance leader, but she restrained herself from stooping to drawing even closer to Evfra herself; Ryder was not in a competition with her, after all. Still, the fact that the lieutenant felt comfortable enough to step up right next to Evfra like that to glare at her made her feel a reckless desire to snuggle into Evfra's arms in front of everyone, rumors be damned.

"Do that, and it's guaranteed the Initiative will strike at us," Ashae sniffed. Clearly she had heard Ryder's request.

"I don't see how," Ryder remarked through a clenched jaw, trying not to glare a hole into the woman.

Ashae knew what was going on and yet she still publically challenged it, making it difficult for Evfra to go ahead without causing more rumors they didn't need; not to mention that the fact that apparently the woman felt her suspicion and their rivalry was more important than uncovering Firaan. Not that she knew the full extent of who he was and what he was responsible for so far; all the lieutenant knew was that they had a saboteur in their midst and Ryder and Evfra had a plan to flush him out, but that should have been more than enough.

"You're here," Ashae said flatly. "You see all our preparations and defenses. You could cripple the vanguard protecting us by feeding the right information to your forces. What other reason do they have to be silent? You said that you made sure they would respond to us, well, they're not responding."

"They're silent because they don't hear me," Ryder sighed. She had sincerely hoped that the woman would at least dial down the conspiracy theories after being included in their plan, but it seemed that nothing would ever fully convince her.

Ashae turned to Evfra. "When she betrays you, remember that I warned you."

"Enough, the decision is made," Evfra said impatiently, gesturing for Ryder to step closer.

"Send this," she instructed the officer trying to establish communications, tapping her omnitool. The officer glanced at Evfra for one final approval before following her instructions, but other than that he did as she asked without protest.

Ryder waited.

"We have an answer!" the officer exclaimed, giving Ryder an impressed look.

"SAM, can you patch them through to the comms here?" Ryder asked, hiding her relief. She was certain that anyone from the Milky Way would understand that message, but with all the suspicion growing between the Initiative and the angara lately she was grateful they didn't think it a trick and bothered to respond in the first place. She hoped that meant Cora had succeeded in her mission.

Yes, Pathfinder, SAM answered.

"Ryder?" a familiar voice crackled through.

"Is that you, Kandros?" Ryder asked, surprised. "You're personally leading my uh… rescue?" Ashae hissed, but Ryder ignored her.

"Yeah. That's the only way I could make sure it was done right."

"I believe you," Ryder replied wryly. "I think you'll want to come on down to the Resistance headquarters here, we should talk."

"Probably a good idea. Send the coordinates," Kandros said.

Ryder looked to Evfra, not wanting to be bypassed by the officer again, who took the hint and nodded at the man to send the information. She gave Ashae a cool look, then without another word left their midst. As she walked down to the lower level she hesitated, glancing around; for a split second she was sure that someone was watching her. She shrugged it off and headed for the hangar bay. I'm probably seeing Firaan in every shadow… she mused.

"Will someone shut off that alarm?" Evfra growled behind her in irritation.

Despite herself, Ryder's composure slipped and she smiled fondly, though she supposed it did not matter if anyone saw. She was a little surprised that Evfra didn't follow her to meet Kandros, but much more that Ashae didn't insist on posting a guard to her, but she supposed at least on Evfra's part it might have been a little suspicious while there was still a chance for a battle to break out. Although, making her way through the cool tunnels she did notice quite a few glances linger on her a little too long to be coincidence. Had Ashae really posted guards everywhere? Perhaps that was the only way Evfra would allow it; still, it made her both angry and uneasy. There was too much of a chance that fighters told off to be vigilant would notice Tajix, and the last thing they needed was for him to be discovered escaped and poking around the comm system.

Once reaching the hangar bay, Ryder waited patiently for the first few minutes, but it didn't take her long to start slowly pacing up and down, arms crossed as she lost herself in her brooding thoughts. She itched to know if Tajix had escaped already, if it had been successful in the first place, and if he had found anything, but it was too soon to go looking for him; besides, she still had to set a few last things in motion. Again she felt as though eyes were on her and the sensation made her shoulder blades itch, so when she turned around yet again to pace to the other end of the hangar and she came face to face with Tiran Kandros, she jumped, blinking at him and unravelling her arms.

"Pathfinder," he nodded in greeting. "I'm glad Harper wasn't wrong. I'd hate to have to attack our only allies in Heleus."

Ryder grinned. "Kandros, welcome to Voeld." Looking around, she gestured him to the side where they wouldn't be overhead. "The angara and the Initiative have a common enemy, as I'm sure you've guessed."

"I thought so," Kandros replied simply, mandibles flexing as his gaze swept the hangar, assessing everyone in it. "I assume it's not the kett, this doesn't seem their style."

"From what we know," Ryder shrugged. "According to Evfra you can't pin them down on style in that sense. But in this case we know for certain that there is one person behind a lot of the chaos going on lately, we suspect he is a kett sympathizer but all the evidence seems to point to an angaran in the Resistance."

"You might have mentioned this when you were on the Nexus," he said, sounding a little exasperated. "It would have saved me the trouble of making this trip to rescue you when you clearly don't need rescuing. Unless you do," he added, eyeing her.

"No, I'm fine, really," Ryder said hastily. "I know, I'm sorry, at the time I didn't know enough. But you're right, I should have said something. I…"

Pathfinder, I am monitoring a communication from Vetra on Kadara, SAM interjected.

"What did she say?" Ryder asked, then frowned. "Are you in direct contact with her?"

No. However, she has made use of the same communication network Firaan exploited and relayed a message to Initiative channels I monitor, SAM replied.

"Clever," Ryder smiled. "She would turn that to her advantage."

Her message states that a rumor began circulating Kadara Port that Firaan is being harbored by the krogan colony on Elaaden. She also mentions that several known Roekaar agents she had been watching slipped away after hearing the news.

Ryder focused on Kandros again, an idea striking her. "This might work out better this way, Kandros. I have a friend who does need your help; at least, I think he will."

"My unit is ready to go, just tell me where I'm needed," he looked satisfied at the prospect.

Ryder smiled. "In that case there is not a moment to waste. I think our enemy has made his next big play."

She spent a few more minutes in discussion with the militia leader, giving him as many details as she could about the situation and their suspicions and answering his questions. Then, finally he was on his way and Ryder ran back through the hallways; at long last it was time to find Tajix. Clearly Firaan had just sent that message not long ago and with two messages to hunt, one recent and uncorrupted… she could almost feel the noose tightening around Firaan's ankles. Tracing back her steps to where she had last seen the lieutenant, she followed the path from there to the spot where he would have had to make his move; sure enough, a little searching lead her to an alcove where she found the sleeping guard, still unconscious. It was a dark and cramped space with poor illumination, but there was enough light to make out the thick cables tunneling through rock and ice and the panels that would give someone access to the system.

There was no sign of Tajix, however. "SAM?" Ryder asked, feeling a little nervous as she looked around. If nothing else, the guard was a clear indication that the plan had been a success and this was the right place to access the comms, but she didn't see any trace of the man.

Scanning, SAM replied. Pathfinder, Tajix may have been injured. There are traces of angaran biomatter in the vicinity of the interface.

"Injured?" Ryder asked with alarm, but just then a footstep crunched behind her and she swiveled, blinded a little by the strip of brighter light behind the figure slipping in after her.

"That was very clever of you, making Tajix sneak around on my trail. I didn't realize what he was up to at first… a pity I killed him before I thought it through. Well played, Pathfinder."

Firaan. Instinct screamed at Ryder to get out, but she was trapped. "You killed Tajix?" she asked faintly, heart clenching painfully, but she didn't have time to grieve as the figure stepped closer and she finally made out his face. "You? You are Firaan?"