SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE & CHARACTER PAGES

-CHAPTER START-

Normandy II, Deck Three – Life Support Room

"Shepard" Thane greeted. "I'm glad you've come. I need your help with something."

"Is it your Kepral's Syndrome acting up?"

"No, no. Though I supposed that is a part of it. My mortality has me… dwelling on things. …I had a family once. I still have a son. His name is Kolyat. I haven't seen him for a very long time."

"How long has it been since you talked?"

"Ten years. He showed me some of his schoolwork and asked if we could 'dance crazy'. We did that when he was younger."

"Did something happen to your family?"

"I abandoned them. Oh, not all at once. Nothing dramatic – no sneaking out in the middle of the night, no final argument or slammed door. I just… did my job. I hunted and killed across the galaxy. "Away on business", my wife would tell people. I was always away on business."

"You never mentioned this before. Why now?"

"When my wife was murdered, I… attended to that issue. I left Kolyat in the care of his aunts and uncles. I have not seen or talked to him since."

"That's not the choice I expected. Why didn't you raise him yourself?"

"I spent ten long years hunting and killing the entirety of the organization responsible for murdering my wife. I couldn't take him along for that. …My body is blessed with the skill to take life. The Hanar honed them in me. I have few others. I didn't want that life for Kolyat. I hoped he would find his own way. If he hated me, so be it. He would not have shared the path of sin. I've used my contacts to trace Kolyat. He has become… disconnected. He does what his body wills."

"You'll have to explain that one to me."

"Disconnected. The body is not our true self; the soul is. Body and soul work as one in a Whole Person. When the soul is weakened by despair or fear, when the body is ill or injured, the person is disconnected – no longer Whole."

"Is Kolyat hurt?"

"Something happened that should not have: he knows where I've been, and what I've done. I don't know his reasons, but he has gone to the Citadel. He has taken a job as a hit-man. I would like your help to stop him. He is… This is not a path he should walk."

"You don't hire a raw rookie for a contract killing."

"I'm afraid someone may have seen we share a name, and assumed we share skills. I don't know why he would accept the task."

"To be closer to you, maybe?"

"…That thought haunts me more than any other."

"What made him go to the Citadel?"

"Years ago, I prepared a package for him. A relic of my ill-spent life. I had Volus bankers store it and arranged for delivery when I die. He acquired it early. I don't really know how. I did wet-work on the Citadel around the time his mother died. That may be why he went there."

"I'll get us to the Citadel as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Shepard. I'll be meditating until you need me."

-SCENE BREAK-

The Citadel, Zakera Ward, C-Sec Office

Shepard, Thane, Tali, and Kaede F. walked up to Bailey.

"Hey, Shepard" the C-Sec Captain said. "What's up this time?"

"My associate here is trying to find his son" Shepard replied. "We think a local criminal may have hired him."

"Should be easy. We don't see many Drell here." He started looking through his console. "…There we go. One of my men reported a Drell recently. And he was talking to Mouse. Interesting."

"Mouse?" Thane asked.

"A petty criminal. Probably not the guy who hired your boy, but a messenger. He's a former duct rat, runs errands for anyone who'll pay."

"He's a what?" Shepard asked.

"A duct rat. It's local slang for the poor kids who grow up on the station. When they're small, they tend to play in the ventilation ducts, where adults can't get to them."

"That can't be safe" Tali said.

"It isn't. Every couple of months, we pull a little body out of the ducts. Lacerated by fan blades, broken by a deadfall, suffocated by vacuum exposure… Those are just the ones we know about. More just disappear. Maybe they get sucked into space. Maybe they fall into the protein vats the Keepers run. Mouse survived long enough that he can't fit in the ducts anymore. He was one of the smarter ones… or luckier ones."

"What sort of trouble has Mouse been getting himself into?" Shepard asked.

"Odd jobs for shifty people. Duct rats take whatever's available to get by - data-running, fencing stolen goods, selling illegal VI personalities. Actually, he was selling one of you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. When you erased a file, it would say 'I delete data like you on the way to real errors'."

Tali stifled a chuckle. "That's pretty… extreme, Commander."

"Laugh it up, Tali."

"Buggy, though" Bailey said. "It crashed every half-hour. The error message was about how the galaxy was at stake, and you should fix the problem yourself."

"…I've heard enough."

"Mouse is usually upstairs, outside the Dark Star. He works out of a public comm. terminal." He turned to Thane. "It sounds like your boy's running with the wrong crowd."

"I agree" Thane replied.

"If Mouse can't get you in touch with your son directly, he'll know who can. I'll help you if you need it."

"You don't know us that well, Captain" Shepard said. "Why are you going so far to help us?"

"I've worked Zakera for two years. Every day, kids turn to crime because they've got no other choice – because their parents don't care. …You're trying to save yours."

"…He faces a dark path" Thane said.

"We better hurry, then."

As the group walked way, Thane spoke quietly to Shepard.

"You didn't tell him Kolyat plans to assassinate someone."

"Bailey's a cop. He'd try to stop Kolyat, and one of them could end up dead. I don't want that."

"Yes, of course. Thank you, Shepard."

The quartet headed upstairs to the next level of Zakera, heading for the Dark Star Lounge. Outside it, in a corner, a younger man stood going over a datapad, while talking with someone over comm.

"Yeah, sure" he said. "I can get you two cases by the end of the day."

"You Mouse?" Shepard asked.

The turned around. "Who wants to kn- Oh, shit! Krios?-! I thought you retired! …And Commander Shepard? I thought you died! What do you want with me?"

"Easy, Mouse" Thane said. "You're not in trouble with us."

"How do you know Thane?" Shepard asked.

"Krios? He didn't… Uh, I-If he didn't say anything, I won't either."

"When we heard the name," Thane said, "I didn't think it could be the same Mouse. He was a contact on the Citadel when I was active. He and some other children would gather information on my targets."

"You put children in danger to spy for you?" Shepard asked.

"Children. The poor. My people's word for them is "drala'fa": the ignored. They're everywhere, see everything. Yet they are never seen." He then turned to Mouse. "You gave another Drell instructions for an assassination. Who's the target?"

"I-I don't know" Mouse replied. "I didn't ask. 'Cause the people I work for? They can make me disappear. I'd like to help you, Krios. You always done right by us. But I ain't gonna die for you."

"Look, you know Thane" Shepard said. "He wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. Do it for him."

"I want to. He was always nice to us… But these people ain't nice, Krios."

"Nobody's gonna know you talked to us."

"I swear that you won't be named" Thane said.

"All right… all right. He came with that holo you took of me, said he wanted a job. I ran through your old contacts to see who might give him a shot. The guy who offered was Elias Kelham."

"Tell us about Kelham."

"Human. Moved to the Citadel about ten years ago. He was little people when you were here, Krios. He got big after the Geth attack. Lots of the big guys from before got shot by the Geth or squished by chunks of starship. All in them big fancy apartments up on the Presidium. Now he runs the rackets on the lower end of the Ward. Shin Akiba. He's seriously bad news."

"You did good, Mouse" Shepard said.

"Yeah. Hope I live long enough to pat myself on the back."

"Kelham will never know" Thane replied.

"I hope not. I'm out of here, Krios. Next time you're in town, just don't bring the family."

After he left, Shepard turned to Thane. "That can't have been easy" he said.

"Mouse knew more about my life then Kolyat ever did. …I was the only good thing he had back then. But I left him, as I left Kolyat."

"Don't blame yourself."

"If I don't, who will? We must carry the weight of our decisions, Shepard. You, of all people, know this."

"Let's head back to Bailey."

They headed back downstairs, back to the C-Sec post.

"Did you talk to Mouse?" Bailey asked. "Did you get the name of the guy your boy is working with?"

"Elias Kelham" Shepard replied.

"Kelham. Shit… Ah, look. This is awkward. Kelham and I have an… arrangement. He doesn't cause too much trouble, and 'buys tickets to the C-Sec Charity Ball' from me, and in return I ignore him."

"He pays you off. You were eager to help us before. What about now? Is it too 'inconvenient'?"

"I said I'd help. It's just… There'll be repercussions if I don't handle it right. He and I… give each other space. It keeps the peace. I'll get some of my people to bring him in and set him up in a private room. You can interrogate him yourself. I'll stay out of sight. If I'm lucky, Kelham will believe that I had nothing to do with it."

"Bring him in. We might not have much time."

"I'll make it happen. Wait here."

-Mini-Break-

Team Shepard watched as two officers hauled in a mid-aged man in a dull-green suit, bringing him into one of the rooms. Shepard followed, stepping up to the door guard as the door shut.

"We've got Kelham" he said. "Tell Bailey we're ready."

The officer saluted and walked off, and a few seconds later Bailey came up.

"He'll expect me to get him out of this" he said.

"Not today, I think" Thane replied.

"Captain?" one of the officers radioed. "His lawyer's here. Bet Elias has his VI set to page him if C-Sec gets within ten meters."

"I'll stall him. You folks get in there, and work fast."

As Bailey walked off to deal with the lawyer, Thane spoke to Shepard.

"We should question him together, keep the pressure on. Thoughts on how we approach it?"

"I plan to improvise" Shepard replied. "No plan survives contact with the enemy, anyway."

"I suppose that's true. This will be difficult. If we're too gentle with him, his advocate will get past Bailey. If we're too rough… well, we need him alive."

"Trust me."

"I place my faith in you, Shepard."

The quartet walked into the private interrogation room, finding Kelham strapped to a chair.

"Get me out of these restraints, Bailey" he said. "Pretty funny, bringing me down here like this. …Who the hell are you people? Two humans, a Quarian, and a Drell? The hell is this?"

"Bailey has nothing to do with this" Shepard replied. "We just want a few answers, off the record."

"'Off the record' in a C-Sec interrogation room. Sure."

"You hired an assassin. Who's his target?"

"I want to see my advocate. You folks are in way over your heads. Bailey won't let you touch me."

"Bailey doesn't know you're here. But he will… after we're done."

"What, kid – you gonna bore me into confessing? You ain't shit. Come on, hit me. I dare ya. …No, huh? Didn't think you have the balls."

"Think carefully, Elias. I want to catch the assassin, not you. Why stick your neck out for him?"

"You want me to confess to putting a contract on someone. You think I'm stupid?"

"I get the name, I walk out, you never see me again."

"I got no reason to believe you."

"How about this? You tell us the target, you never see us again… and Bailey drops his price 30 percent."

"Yeah? Can I get that in writing?"

"I don't think either of us want this in writing."

"…All right. I ain't goin' to jail for the tadpole. And I do love a bargain. Joram Talid. Turian running for office in the Zakera Ward. He messes with legitimate businessmen. I'm gonna stop it."

"Where and when?" Thane asked.

"His apartment, the 800 blocks. You better hurry-"

"What's going on here?" the lawyer barged in. "Get away from my client!"

"You…" Elias looked to Shepard. "You played me!"

"I've enjoyed our chat, Elias. Thanks for the intel."

"This isn't over… Why do you care about all this, anyway?"

Thane turned to him. "If you had hired anyone else to kill Talid, I wouldn't care. But you hired my son. And I want to stop him from walking the same dark path I did."

"Who are you to do this?" the lawyer asked. "We'll sue you so hard-"

"Commander Jason Shepard" he called up the Specter symbol from his Omnitool. "Citadel Special Tactics and Recon."

"A Spectre? Shit…"

"What?" Kelham asked. "What's it mean?"

"Spectres are the Council's agents, above the law. I can't do anything to them, Elias."

As Team Shepard walked out, Bailey came up to meet them.

"What's the story?" he asked. "Why did Kelham hire the boy?"

"To assassinate a Turian named Joram Talid" Shepard replied. "You know him?"

"Joram? Yeah. You might've seen his posters around. He's promising to end organized crime on the Ward. But the thing is, his message is all mixed up in race politics. He's anti-human."

"Are things so bad that people can openly campaign as anti-human?"

"Before the Battle of the Citadel, the alien population thought we were violent upstarts. Look what's happened since then. A human fleet guarding the station for months, C-Sec filled with humans… Anderson does what he can, but some people have lived on the Citadel since before humans had FTL travel. They see it as a coup."

"Can you get us to Talid?"

Bailey nodded and then turned to one of his officers. "Sergeant! Get a patrol car. These two need to get to the 800 blocks."

"Yes, sir!"

-SCENE BREAK-

"There he is" Shepard pointed out a Turian wearing white, accompanied by a Krogan bodyguard. "How do you wanna play this, Thane?"

"Follow Talid on the maintenance catwalks. Tell me what he's doing. The Krogan bodyguard will make him easy to follow."

"Where will you be?"

"The darkest corner with the best view."

Shepard nodded, and then made his way up to the catwalks. Within a few minutes, he found himself over Talid as the racist Turian tried to convince a couple Salarians to vote for him.

"I'm on him, Thane" Shepard radioed. "He's talking to some voters."

"Understood."

"You're in position?"

"Yes."

Talid started moving, and Shepard followed along the catwalks, through a small maintenance area and over another pack of people.

"Have you got him?"

"Looks like he's talking to another voter."

"Any sign of Kolyat?"

"No."

"I'm moving to another position ahead of him."

Shepard rounded a 'corner', following Talid and his bodyguard as they entered another, blue-lit section of the marketplace. Talid stopped outside a place called Aquila, where his Krogan bodyguard went in and started pestering the (human) merchant. After about a minute, the duo kept going, eventually entering a club.

"I don't have a good angle. What's he doing?"

"His guard's talking to the bartender. Looks like a shakedown. …Damn, that Turian on the floor can dance…"

"Focus, Shepard."

"Right. Sorry."

Talid moved deeper into the club, stopping to talk with a pair of Krogans.

"What now?"

"He's meeting a couple of mercenaries. Looks like the same group his bodyguard comes from."

"He looks nervous. Could be he's noticed you."

"Or maybe he saw Kolyat in here somewhere."

"Also a possibility. There are obstructions ahead. I'll try to go around. Don't lose him."

Shepard kept moving, passing into another storage area.

"Hey!" a stock-boy noticed him. "Who are you? What are you doing back here?"

"Citadel Spectre" Shepard displayed the organization's symbol from his Omnitool. "I'm trying to stop an assassination. I need to pass through here now."

"O-Of course, sir. Sorry. Go right ahead."

Shepard hurried through, following Talid and his bodyguard out into an open area. He came out just in time to see a pistol-wielding Drell sneaking up behind Talid.

"Kolyat!" he shouted.

This drew the attention of all three, with Talid and his guard finally noticing the armed assassin behind them. Kolyat quickly recovered, gunning down the Krogan as Talid ran, then pursuing the Turian inside. Shepard leapt down, and he & Thane followed close behind. They came into Talid's apartment, finding the Turian kneeling, hands behind his head, with Kolyat's pistol pointed at him. The duo walked up, Shepard's gun drawn.

"Kolyat…" Thane spoke.

"This…" Kolyat said angrily. "This is a joke. Now? Now you show up?"

At this point, Bailey and another officer came in, weapons ready. "C-Sec" Bailey said. "Put the gun down, son."

"Get out of my way" Kolyat replied. "I'm walking out. He's coming with me."

"They'll have snipers outside" Thane said.

"I don't need your h-"

A gunshot rang out, as Shepard shot the lamp behind Kolyat, distracting him. He then ran forward, punching Kolyat and knocking him away, his gun being dropped.

"Talid, get the hell out of here" he ordered the Turian.

As the politician left, Bailey turned to his officer. "Take the boy into custody" he said.

"You son of a bitch!" Kolyat growled at Shepard.

"Your father doesn't have much time left, Kolyat" Shepard said. "He's trying to make up for his mistakes."

"What, so you came to get my forgiveness? So you can die in peace, or something?"

Thane walked up to him. "I came to grant you peace. …You're angry because I wasn't there when your mother died."

"You weren't there when she was alive. Why should you be there when she died?"

"Your mother… They killed her to get to me. It was my fault."

"What?"

"They murdered her to hurt me. After her body was given to the deep, I went to find them – the trigger-men, the ringleaders. I hurt them, and eventually killed them. When I finally finished and went back to see you, you were… older. I should have stayed with you."

"I guess it's too bad for me you waited so long, huh?"

"…Kolyat. I've taken many bad things out of the galaxy. You're the only good thing I ever added to it."

A few tears ran down Kolyat's face.

"This isn't a conversation you should have in front of strangers" Bailey said softly. "Boys, take Kolyat and his father back to the precinct. Give them a room and as much time as they need to talk."

"I'm surprised you're letting him do that" Shepard said.

"…You think he's the only man who's ever screwed up raising a son? …I have to get back to the precinct. Come on, I'll give ya a lift."

-SCENE BREAK-

Zakera Ward, C-Sec Office

Shepard paced back & forth through the office, Tali and Kaede watching.

"They've been in there a while" he said.

"Kid's been through a lot" Bailey replied. "I ran some searches in the C-Sec archive. About ten years back, a bunch of real bad people were killed. Like someone was clearing house. The prime suspect was a Drell. We never caught him."

"Ten years is a long time. Whoever was responsible probably doesn't exist anymore."

"…Yeah, I guess you're right about that."

At this point, Thane finally came out of the private room.

"How'd it go?" Shepard asked.

"Our problems… aren't something I can fix with a few words. We'll keep talking, see what happens."

"Your boy shot some people" Bailey told him. "No one I feel sympathy for, but there it is."

"I watched those guys shaking down businesses and threatening humans" Shepard said.

"But he can't just get away with it."

"The kid wants to make a difference. Give him community service."

"Community service for attempted murder? What jury would agree to that?"

"None that I've seen. This would have to stay out of the judiciary. Strictly within C-Sec."

"…Interesting. I'll think about it." Bailey got up to shake Thane's hand.

"Thank you, Captain" the Drell replied.

-SCENE BREAK-

Normandy II , Deck Four, Engine Room

"Hey, Tali."

"Oh! H-Hey, Shepard."

"Have you got time to talk?"

"Yes. I'd like that."

She bid him to follow her into the drive-core room.

"I've been thinking about the last time we talked. I'm sorry. I was unprofessional and I wasn't thinking rationally. I was being stupid. And selfish."

"You've never been selfish. If anything, you've spent too much time thinking of the ship or the Migrant Fleet and not enough thinking of yourself."

"That might be true for Humans, but Quarians are different. We can't just… We have to think of other people. Always. If we don't think about the needs of the whole crew, people could get hurt. Maybe even killed. You deserve to… be happy with someone. I can't do that. No matter how much I… I could get sick, jeopardize the mission."

"Are you saying we could die if you were together?"

"It's always a risk. Maybe the reaction would be minor. Maybe it would put me down for a few weeks. Or maybe it would kill me. But… That's not what I'm concerned about, Shepard. I don't want you distracted. I don't want my desires to hurt this mission. It's too important."

"And if you weren't jeopardizing anything?"

"If it were just me? You risked your life to save the colonists on Feros. Nobody else could have saved them. I've watched you stand strong against everything the galaxy threw at you. I've watched you for so long… and I never imagined you'd see past… this" she ran her hand along her helmet visor.

"Tali, if you're scared, I don't blame you. But I don't want anyone else. …I want you. And I'll do whatever I have to do to make this work."

"I… I-I wouldn't blame you if… but… Oh. Thank you. You don't know what that… Thank you, Jason. …Give me a little time. I'll do some research, figure out how to make this work."

"What can you do? Can I help?"

"There are a few ways to temporarily improve my immune system – immuno-boosters, antibiotic injections, that kind of thing. I'll spare you the details. But trust me, I've got plenty of motivation to figure something out."

"Do your research quickly, Miss vas-Normandy. Captain's orders."

"A-All right. Yes. Definitely. Until then I should, you know, do something. Repairs. For the mission. So, um… what's next?"

"Rescuing some factory workers on Zorya. Zaeed says he has a stake in this one…"

-CHAPTER END-

Next Time: Zaeed's Loyalty Mission