Girls' Night Out - Tasale system

"I got it," Vakarian announced curtly.

"Alright," Shepard approved. "Let's see what she has in store for us…"

After a few seconds of scrolling down the screen, Garrus observed: "This… is a contact log. Voice records and some notes. Stretches back some seven years." Aaliyah saw the Turian glance at the door to make sure it was properly closed and locked, then tap on one at random.

The first voice they heard had been clearly mangled by some software into something that could not belong to any known sentient race, but it still was understandable enough:

"Vasir, what an unexpected surprise," the voice spoke dryly. "To what do I owe the pleasure this time?"

"I'm looking for a Hegemony agent," the Asari said without preamble. "He's been giving the Alliance all kinds of trouble on the Skyllian Verge. It has transpired that he's gotten his hands on critical data about their defensive dispositions. We want it."

A brief pause, then: "I know who he is. He hasn't sold that data to me. But I can point you in the right direction if you want to contact him without intermediaries."

"That's exactly what I want. Now name your price."

"One of my sources has to disappear. The STG is on to her. I want you to help stage an 'accident' she could not possibly survive and find her an obscure corner where she can retire to."

"That's too much to ask for just a hint on where this agent is."

"I agree," the mangled voice allowed. "Our previous arrangement for this kind of exchange stands. You may ask for a similar deal in the future."

They heard her exhale heavily. "Alright… last time it worked out fine. I accept."

Vakarian paused the audio. "I know of this. It happened almost six years ago."

"Did she get the data?" Shepard asked keenly. "What was it about?"

"Foreknowledge about when the Arcturus fleets would rotate, and progress reports on the construction of the orbital defenses on Elysium."

She had to search her memory for a few instants. "We were deployed there for two months. The briefing had claimed that there were 'indications that a raid was imminent.'"

"Probably you scared someone off," Garrus guessed. "I don't know if there was an operation on our side, but the Batarians are always looking for chinks in your armor."

The bastards hate us more than they hate you. "But who was she talking to?"

They checked a few other logs. They all were recordings of conversations between Vasir and the owner of that mangled voice. Vakarian hesitated: "I'm not sure… but probably this is the first time someone catches the Shadow Broker on tape. After a fashion."

"I have heard rumbles about that name… he's kind of the all-time king of the information brokers, if I got that one right."

"You got that one right," the Turian confirmed. "He—supposing it's a he, disguising your voice is child's play—he's got sources and contacts everywhere, but nobody's ever gotten a hint on who he actually is. This is all hush-hush, but I heard the last time the STG made a concerted effort to expose him, they had to cease the operation before they had gotten anything meaningful because a third of their sources in Citadel and Terminus space dried up."

Shepard's eyes bulged out briefly. "Nobody has that much juice."

"Nobody you know of. He's a slippery bastard."

She thoughtfully nodded. The obvious question would be what kind of capabilities this information broker could have on Alliance space. As always had been the case, the weak link on any security system was the human component; that problem had been greatly mitigated by the advent of AIs, but the only way to eliminate it outright was to cut humans entirely out of the loop, which was simply out of the question.

Not to mention that it would create a dangerous Achilles' heel if someone ever discovered a vulnerability on the AIs themselves.

"Is it usual for the Spectres to deal with him like this?"

"Well, you have a saying for this, I understand… 'you're barking up the wrong tree', is it? Impossible to say, every Spectre is a law unto herself. A contact like this is as black as black operations come, but you know that in this line of work you're always meeting and dealing with the most unlikely of people." The Turian arched his eyebrows. His voice dripped with irony: "How do you think our kind of, er, 'business relationship' would look in the eyes of most of our respective fellows?"

"Point taken." Another thoughtful nod. "She must have been one hell of a source for him if he dealt directly with her. It was quite the security risk for both sides. But then, both would keep logs of their conversations, as a way to hedge their bets, right?"

"To 'hedge their bets'?" Garrus repeated in puzzlement.

"Er… it's a figure of speech from gambling. When you 'hedge your bets', you leave yourself a means of retreat open. You protect yourself against loss by supporting more than one possible outcome from a move. It's not spot-on for this, but close enough."

"Oh." He stared briefly at Aaliyah. "Your language is full of crazy twists, but they all end up making sense in the end. It's fascinating, actually."

"That's the kind of wording that drove omnics nuts. They tried to get the literal meaning of things and would rack their, er, heads when it didn't make sense."

The parallel between himself and the AIs shocked Garrus for an instant. If they were more or less equal in that regard…

"Let's check the last log," he proposed, realising they were getting off track. Shepard nodded.

"I'm calling in my last favors," the mangled voice said in a tone that allowed for no compromise. "There's someone I need eliminated outright. A Quarian. I don't have exact details on where she's hiding, but I know she went to Nos Astra."

"What's her name?"

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

Two whole seconds of silence followed.

"This Quarian has critical information for the Compact," Vasir pointed out. "We need her. We need what she knows."

Again, a pause.

"Are you implying that you refuse to carry out this assignment?" the voice asked. Shepard felt shivers.

"Ask me something else," Vasir tried to contemporize. "Anything. The mission of the Compact—"

"—is too important. Yes. I know." The voice became even lower. "It would be a shame if the Council discovered what you and your fellow Spectres have been up to."

"That was a cheap shot," the Asari retorted coldly. "We're trying to stop a war here—"

"—and that would interfere with my business," was the unforgiving reply. "I want the target eliminated. I didn't say you can't interrogate her beforehand. But I want her killed. Fail to comply and there will be consequences." As there was no immediate acknowledgement, the voice demanded: "Do you understand?"

Vasir took a long while to answer. "Yes. I understand."

"Good."

Vakarian stopped the audio. "He compromised her," he noted unnecessarily.

"And she carried this for us to find in case we stopped her?"

Garrus bowed his head. "It's a dangerous thing to cross a Spectre." He dropped his voice dangerously. "Someone's going to find out first-hand."

Shepard nodded her agreement. "I'll leave this part to you, then. I'll go and check up on our guests."

"No, I should go too," Vakarian said quickly. "If the subject comes up, Jaenna should hear from me what… happened to her daughter. Plus, she's been my source for years."

"That makes sense." In another context, she would have been happy to leave that responsibility to him, but since Shilu'Vael had been under their joint command, Aaliyah felt it was her own business as well.

But first things came first. "Mercy," she keyed the AI, "place a call to Erinyes and scramble it through every cipher available. All operations under Tela Vasir's jurisdiction are to be frozen and all personnel affected are to be temporarily isolated until we can ascertain she has not compromised anyone else." She did not really like to deliver this alert digitally, not even through a quantum entanglement communicator —a device that, by its very design, was tamper-proof—, but the AI-managed ciphers at her disposal were so advanced that not even other AIs had been able to crack them without two months of continuous, uninterrupted work. Astounding things had been revealed to members of both sides of the Compact, but nothing had given her reason to think the Council had access to anything of the caliber required to tackle that cipher.

"Understood, colonel."

They went next to the cabin they had allocated to their guests. The door slid open immediately after the first call.

"Yes?" It was the younger one, Vasir's target.

"The name is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, correct?" Shepard asked.

"Yes. Tali'Zorah is enough."

Garrus asked politely, "Is Jaenna alright?"

The girl nodded. "She just fell asleep. Don't worry, she has blocked the input on her suit—we can make all the noise we want and she won't hear a thing. It's been a hectic day for her."

"But not for you?"

"Well—I've been used to that for weeks already." She shifted her weight between her feet. "Not that I liked it. I haven't thanked you for getting us out of that mess."

"I couldn't ignore the call and live with it," Garrus admitted. "I've known Jaenna for years."

She walked back into her cabin and sat on her bunk bed. "Still, I think this is no courtesy visit. Have you come to collect?"

Shepard stared past the helmet and into her eyes. "You're smart. We heard you found something on your travels."

Tali'Zorah hesitated a little before replying. "Yes. I… I still don't know what gave me away. But this is what I found." She tapped her omni-tool a few times and forwarded the data over to both of them. "I believe you should know a few things before you try to make sense of that. I found this on the memory core of a Geth. Normally their data storage devices self-destruct on capture, but I managed to isolate this one almost intact. I had to do some conversion work to translate the data into a workable format, but I've sent you both the raw data and the processed files in case you want to do it yourselves later."

"It's appreciated. Mercy?"

"Yes, colonel?" the voice rang on the speakers for the Quarian's benefit.

"I have work for you. Process this and see if you can come up with anything she missed."

"I doubt it, Shepard. I'm not used to Geth ciphers. I'll try."

"I ask only for that. Thank you."

Tali'Zorah eyed her oddly. "Your data retrieval specialist?"

The Starwatch colonel decided to be blunt. "Mercy is our onboard AI."

As expected, Tali straightened up as if propelled by a spring: "A—a what?!" She gasped. "Are you telling me that an AI is conning this ship?!"

"Our resident pilot got injured during your rescue."

That deflated her. "Oh… well, I… I guess it's understandable, it's the Alliance gimmick after all," she stammered. "But… you really took a hell of a risk, going to a Citadel world with that aboard and all…"

"We accounted for it," Garrus pointed out. "Still you're correct. It could have gone wrong in any number of ways."

The data Tali'Zorah had obtained was a series of star charts, and logs which the Quarian had translated from the inintelligible Geth language into something readable…

"In the name of all gods…" Garrus breathed.

"Holy SHIT!" Shepard reread the lines several times to make sure she was understanding correctly. "Rachni eggs!? He found the egg of a goddamned Rachni QUEEN?!"

Tali lowered her head and wrapped her arms around herself. "I'm sorry… I should have made this information available to you earlier, but…"

"But you understood that no one would care about you once you had given away your one bargaining chip. And you had all those mercs hot on your trail." If the Turian had been a human instead, his face would be flushed with a livid, burning, embarrassed red. She was absolutely right, of course. After centuries of having been reduced to vagrancy because of the mistake that had cost them their homeworld, Quarians shared the bottom of the pole with the vorcha and other dregs.

The girl's voice was nigh imperceptible. "Yes."

This also begs a question, Shepard realised. Clearly this is what we need to stick it to that Saren bastard. And the Shadow Broker knew. If he was so interested in murdering this girl, then does it mean that… he's in league with Saren? Then why did he allow Vasir some wiggle room to question her?

"It's not too late to act yet," she reassured Tali now. We have urgent things to do now. That's for later to figure out. "Furthermore, you've gotten this data to the people best suited to act on it. Come with us." She stood up: "Mercy, get me either Jondum Bau or Avitus Rix in Erinyes. Now. I'll take it in the briefing room."

"At once, colonel."

The Citadel - Council promenade

Donnel Udina had walked those halls many times, but he always had been escorted there by a team of Alliance marines. This time, instead, the people walking slightly ahead of him were two Spectres, and behind him followed their aides, which to onlookers was, at least, highly unusual. He noticed those glances. Look! They finally caught the human plotting against us! Sure, you tell yourselves that, he thought wryly.

Just you all wait.

The Spectres keyed Avina: "Jondum Bau and Avitus Rix, requesting an immediate audience with the Council."

"Welcome to the Promenade!" the VI said with its characteristic empty cheerfulness. "The Council is currently holding a meeting behind closed doors and cannot be interrupted."

"Then record my words and pass them over verbatim to them," Bau growled: "The Spectres bring dire news and urgent matters that need to be dealt with straight away!"

"At once. Please stand by."

The undercurrent of whispering and conversations became even more subdued as those present noticed the rough tone on the Salarian's voice. Bau was reputed to be a smooth operator, and he could only behave in such fashion because the tidings he brought required the immediate attention he demanded.

Apparently the Councillors understood the same, because Avina gestured behind her and down the hallway: "The Council will receive you now. Please come in."

"Thanks."

Rix grunted with amusement. "That was effective."

Bau nodded his agreement sourly. He had been replaying what he would say over and over in his head. That Saren was toying with the kind of things that had almost consumed the galaxy was beyond his mind to put into words, but would the Councillors see it that way?

Behind both Spectres, Udina guardedly appraised the members of the supreme ruling body of the Citadel. As with the people who had seen them walk in, that he was being escorted there by Bau and Rix came to them as noteworthy, but that was all they let on.

"We understand you bring urgent news," the Salarian councillor began. "We're listening. What demands our attention?"

Rix stepped forward. "Saren Arterius has gone rogue," he announced. We've wasted enough time beating around the bush. "We have conclusive and incontrovertible evidence attesting to that. He is consorting with enemies of the Citadel and has the plans and the means to again unleash a catastrophe that almost consumed our galaxy once."

He then gestured at Udina. "Our diplomatic mission to the Geth yielded troubling news," the human chargé d'affaires detailed. At once all murmuring died. "Saren was among them, aboard the same vessel he used to lay waste to Elysium. We do not know how he achieved it, but there has been a schism on the Geth collective. A sizable number of them are now his to command." He paused for an instant and looked around him: the silence was thundering, and there were pale faces everywhere. "We were able to confirm this recently, through the joint efforts of Alliance and Citadel operatives, when we rescued a young Quarian girl who stole information from the Geth. The data she provided shows that Saren has come into possession of an ancient Rachni vessel carrying multiple queen eggs." This time the silence was shattered by exclamations of shock.

"Would those present please hold your comments!" the Turian councillor boomed. The stern request had the desired effect. Then he glared stonily at Udina: "We are used to hearing outrageous tales from you, but this one is almost offensively so. A joint operation between Alliance and Citadel personnel? In what kind of universe those things take place, mister Udina?"

"We authorized it." Bau's interruption again caused all whispering to cease. "Nihlus Kryik, Tela Vasir, Avitus Rix, Gavius Surrakar, Shilyna T'Perro and myself."

"Kryik and Vasir were severely injured during the rescue of the Quarian who provided confirmation of Saren's treachery," Rix informed. "They are being treated as we speak."

The Spectres had managed something seldom before seen. They had forced the Council into a stunned silence.

After a few instants spent to apprehend what they were being told, Melara the Asari councillor spoke: "Your actions could be misconstrued as colluding with parties hostile to the Citadel, mister Bau."

"Yes, they could be seen that way," the Salarian agreed, "but those of all six of us? It's no secret that miss T'Perro and I are at odds on many things, and yet she gave her support. I should note she joined in on the condition that she would get to monitor all of our actions and would have unlimited power to report our operations to you if we ever acted against Citadel interests."

The councillors and the Spectres exchanged glares. Linron, the Salarian representative, asked slowly: "Do we want to know what kind of Citadel secrets or assets have you exposed to the Alliance in this fashion?"

Udina and Rix —to the surprise of the first— both clenched their fists at that.

"Your line of discourse invites us to believe this Council is too fixated on the Alliance and ignoring a threat much more immediate—"

"One of us has turned rogue!" Rix stormed, interrupting the diplomat. "Saren is plotting to unleash horrors we should know all too well, and we are being questioned about sources and methods! Each minute we spend here chasing ghosts is one more minute we allow him to develop his plans! Nihlus, the most decorated of us, almost got himself killed confirming this. His sacrifice deserves more from you than doubting our loyalties!"

"Avitus, don't forget yourself," Melara snapped severely. "You will understand that the relations between the Citadel and the Alliance are at their lowest point since the First Contact War. This cannot be disregarded, however dangerous the actions of a rogue Spectre could be."

"Our relations are at their lowest point in no small part because of your antagonistic attitude, councillor," Udina shot back. "Ambassador Goyle presented you with evidence of Saren's crimes mere hours after the disaster on Elysium, evidence you either ignored or outright strove to subvert. But now it is your own elite agents who bring forth confirmation of our previous assertions." He paused for effect. "I can understand that you would seek weak points in my words and ways to dismiss my arguments, in light of our less than amicable relationship. But you would do your citizens an ill service if you did the same with people sworn to protect their interests."

"You always were very good at wordplay, mister Udina, but policy is not built on witty retorts," Linron pointed out coldly. "It should go without saying that the fact that this 'evidence' was obtained as a result of a 'joint operation' taints it. Would you take it at face value were our roles reversed? Still, we cannot ignore the fact that not a small number of Spectres stand by it, but if it turns out to be true, that Saren has turned to them proves that synthetics will always pose a threat to the rest of the galaxy. Whether they are omnics or Geth."

"The Geth would have remained on the Perseus Veil if only Saren would have let them be. As your agent Avitus Rix posits, every minute spent dawdling and arguing favors him. Neither humans nor omnics are your enemy, councillors! Here, we bring proof of that. We are prepared to exculpate the Council from any responsibility on the Elysium raid. Saren probably co-opted Hierarchy personnel to plant false flags, and was very successful at that, but his ultimate goal was another."

"And only now you tell us? You could have started from there," Paratus the Turian quipped. "Still, that's good news. Would you care to enlighten us?"

"Saren was after a Prothean relic we unearthed during the foundation of a new colony. The relic was moved for security reasons to the Starwatch installation on Elysium. Somehow Saren learned of this.

"The artifact was destroyed during the attack, but with the assistance of Dr. Liara T'Soni we managed to reconstruct the information it contained. She has prepared a report for your perusal on the matter, but I can summarize the important bits for you."

"As I recall, Dr. T'Soni was conducting excavations in one of your colonies," Melara observed.

"That is correct. As a matter of fact," Bau pointed out, "a mixed team of Alliance and Citadel personnel dispatched to recruit her had to fend off an attack on part of Krogan mercenaries enlisted in the Blood Pack. Prior to this we had received information that her mother, Matriarch Benezia, had interest in forcibly extracting her from Alliance space, but as events unfolded it became clear that she wanted to deprive us of her aid." And how did she know her daughter could be of use to us? he asked himself. She could not have known unless she had sources inside the Compact… Vasir can't possibly have been her mole too.

"And you believe she would have arranged for that by placing a bounty on her own daughter's head?" Paratus stopped just short of scoffing at the idea. "That's callous."

"Callous or not, the data we got says that's what she did," Rix replied dryly.

"It would be useful to corroborate whether that's the case," Melara suggested. "Udina, later we will examine T'Soni's report, but right now I'm interested in hearing your summary of it."

A nod. "The Protheans left several devices like this one scattered across the galaxy, all containing the same message. It was a warning against an invasion. Those of you versed on them know that their sudden disappearance while at the zenith of their power is an enigma that has puzzled archaeologists for centuries, and this message is the answer to that enigma.

"The Protheans and their vassal states were annihilated by extragalactic invaders they called the Reapers, invaders that cull the sentient races of the whole galaxy every 50,000 years — and their ships were identical to the vessel used by Saren to attack our colony.

"With that being said," Udina stated with finality, "if the message of the Protheans can be believed, there is only one logical explanation for his actions. Saren is now in the service of those invaders, is laying the groundwork for their next round of culling, and is actively seeking to keep everyone in the dark about this."

Girls' Night Out

When Tracer awoke, two people were waiting in the med bay next to her:

"Welcome back, Lena," Anika smiled warmly.

"Doctor… doctor Ziegler? Shepard?"

"I'm happy to have you back, girl. How are you?" To hell with rank and stuff.

The Overwatch legend looked at both women, then her eyes stared idly at the ceiling again. "How am I…? Alive, I guess. What happened to me?"

"It was a bomb," Aaliyah replied. "Apparently it went off right next to Nihlus. He's made of stern stuff: he made it, by the skin of his teeth, but he made it. You had major internal injuries yourself. The doc worked like a demon to patch you up."

There was no mark on Lena of all the work Anika had done on her, not even a pallor on her face; her skin and muscles were as supple and vigorous as ever.

Ziegler beamed. "Don't mention it. Anything for you, Lena."

"You owe her a drink or some cake," Shepard commented with a grin.

Tracer was not that far gone that she did not find their concern touching. "Alright. What will it be? Would some lemon pie do? Or some Rosy Lee with scones?"

Anika giggled, relieved and happy to see her friend healthy and in high spirits. "I'll accept a serving of lemon pie and a tea."

"When we get to Erinyes I'll bake you some pie myself. As for the tea, well… be grateful auntie Lena has a private reserve. Otherwise…" She wrinkled her nose. "Otherwise you'd have to put up with that watered down brew they serve on the mess hall. Can I get some decent clothes on? I hate this gown."

"By all means. Your flight suit and jacket are in the locker," Ziegler pointed. "Your chronal core was damaged, but that's what we got spares for. We'll see to it at home."

Tracer got off the bed and gave Anika her best smile. "What would I do without you."

The Swiss returned the smile. "We'll be outside. Take your time."

Lena locked herself inside the small bathroom. Then Shepard's earphone buzzed. "Yes?"

"How is she?" It was Reyes.

Aaliyah blinked in surprise. "In a good mood," she replied slowly. She harbored almost no appreciation for the man, and what little she had had come from cold, dispassionate acknowledgment of his unique skills —and his astonishingly lethal application of said skills— and reluctant reflections on everything he had done since that fatidical first encounter on the Cabeus crater. The disagreeable conclusion had been that he deserved at least some credit and thanks. But that did not imply she had to accord him any degree of sympathy.

Gabriel himself knew this, and also knew that even if his interest in Lena's health was genuine, whatever kind of respect there could have once been between them had been irretrievably soured by his many, many, many screw-ups. To name one, not once, but twice had he been responsible for the disbanding of Overwatch. Lena Oxton, loyal to a fault to the principles espoused by the agency he had once led, would never forget that betrayal.

He briefly wondered why he had bothered to ask. Then he recalled what he himself had told Shepard: vengeance was a cruel mistress, but memory was an even harsher judge.

"Good." And that was it.

Anika noticed her expression. "What was that about?"

"Reyes… asked how Lena was."

The women stared at each other in confusion for a few seconds.

"What would he gain out of it?" Ziegler pondered.

"I'm asking myself the same," Aaliyah replied in doubt, in part wanting to conceal a thought. She had glimpsed Reyes' torment, and her own reaction had angered her.

But who else could I tell about this?

"Look," she spoke reluctantly, "I think… I think he's seeking redemption, in his own way. And I hate myself for believing it."

Tracer then walked out of the bathroom, fully dressed. "What is it that you hate yourself for believing?"

Shepard swore to herself. "I have reason to think Reyes wants to ditch the Reaper act."

Lena gave her an odd glance. "Once I would've said that if he wanted 'redemption' I'd be happy to oblige, but now…" Her face became empty. "Now I don't care either way. Good luck with that, says I. If anything, good news for us. Less bodies to explain away."

Both Anika and the Starwatch colonel were baffled by that, but only briefly. There was spirit in Tracer yet, but she was still jaded.

"How did it turn out? I hope spending… how long was I out?"

"Two days," Anika answered. "Yes, the mission was successful, but we had two more casualties, Nihlus and Vasir." Carefully she withheld the role —they believed— the Asari had played on her injury.

"There is no such thing as light casualties in my book, but I'd say what we got was worth the price." Shepard quickly related what she had learned from Tali'Zorah, again withholding Vasir's deeds. She wanted to interrogate the Spectre before revealing that.

Again, Lena's reaction was rather subdued. "It's the full monty alright," was her only colorful comment. "So what happens now? We go to the ivory tower and hope the guvners get their act together?"

"Bau and Rix should be presenting our findings to their bosses… right about now. So for the time being we get to Erinyes ASAP. Hopefully we'll have news before then."

Tracer shrugged. "Okay… since it's time to kick our heels, then might as well grab some coffee. Hope you blokes haven't seized the opportunity to raid my reserve."

Aaliyah laughed heartily at that. "Nobody here would dare."

They made their way to the mess hall. There were two clocks on the wall, one of them set on the Greenwich Meridian Time, and the other on the Galactic Standard Time. The first read 10:37 AM. Astrid and Zaeed were there on separate tables. Both noticed the women as they walked in:

"Shepard!" the mercenary hollered. "Can I get a minute of your valuable time?"

The edge on Massani's voice did not escape the Starwatch colonel. She gestured Anika and Lena to join Martinsson on her table, then took a seat in front of the mercenary.

"Sorry to intrude," Zaeed said almost maliciously in a tone that belied his words. "You plan on holding on to me for much longer?"

"Honestly," she admitted uneasily, "I don't know. If everything pans out, not for long."

"And that depends on what?"

Her first impulse was to say he was not cleared for that, but on second thought, she decided she could tell him that much: "The Council ruling in our favor so we can operate openly."

The man did not laugh, staring at her for some long instants instead. "If that's what you're waiting for, I hope you can pay for all that time."

She returned that stare with a smirk. "I have some spare change."

"You're very confident." His glare softened and became slightly curious: "I'd like to know what's it that you're gambling on, but that's beyond my pay grade, of course. So instead I'm going to liven up your day some. Here, read this."

That intrigued Shepard. Someone had sent Zaeed a message asking explicitly for her, by name.

She was being invited to a meeting on the Citadel itself.

"You know who sent this?"

Again the malicious glint. "I could."

Aaliyah was not impressed. "Consider it buying goodwill. I heard you have beef with the Blue Suns boss, right? Who knows, if things go our way, we could help."

Massani let out a brief, hoarse laugh. "Nice try, girl. Goodwill doesn't pay for supplies."

"No, you're right. It gets them for free sometimes." She looked at the message again. Why is the meeting supposed to take place on the Citadel? I need a diplomatic placet from the Council to even set foot in that place. Wheels turned in her head for a few moments, then: "Either someone made a gross mistake, or that someone is better informed than we are."

"What can I say? You pays your money and you takes your chance."

She replayed the events of the past few days on her head. If the Shadow Broker was as well connected as she had been led to believe, then she could assume it was already known to him or her that a highly placed asset had failed her assignment and was quite likely in custody of someone who could threaten his or her operations.

And it would be in the best interests of the Broker to neutralize that threat. To that end, a meeting would have to be, um, brokered. By the Broker itself? No, probably an intermediary. And someone so connected wouldn't make so glaring a mistake of suggesting a place where I'm not allowed.

I'm making too many assumptions. She tapped her omni-tool. "Mercy, I want Garrus and Lawson on the briefing room."

"Yes, Shepard."

"Astrid!" she hollered next. "Come on, there's business."

Anika and Lena turned their heads around. "You need us, luv?" Tracer asked.

"Not right now. If this develops into something I'll tell you. You catch your breath." Then she stood up and looked at Zaeed. "Come with me."

When Massani, Martinsson and Shepard entered the circular room, Miranda and Vakarian were already there. She gave them both a polite nod. "Something came up. Zaeed here got a message for me."

She had expected the sinuous Lawson to speak out first, but Astrid surprised her: "Why not reach you out directly?"

"I can think of several possibilities," she answered. "One, whoever they are, they don't know how to contact me. Two, they are sending another message in this fashion: they know Massani is temporarily working for me, and they know he's with me." She looked at each of them in the face: "If this unknown party was your agency—" she fixated her eyes on Miranda "—I find it hard to believe that they couldn't reach me without intermediaries. So I'm going for the second one."

Garrus agreed with a nod. "I wouldn't say nobody noticed our last adventure."

Miranda also agreed. "Your logic seems solid. What did the message say?"

"I'm being invited to a meetup on the Citadel."

Martinsson blinked. "You'd need clearance from the Council for that."

"My thought, exactly," Shepard concurred. "But I highly doubt it's an official meeting. I surmised this someone knows it, and the fact that I'm being invited there is another message in itself: this someone is connected enough that knows which way the Council will lean. Zaeed here—" she glanced at him "—has some indication about who could it be."

"The Broker has a few agents we know of on the Citadel," Garrus pondered. "He or she knows we're onto a few of those, and uses them as a way of exchanging messages with us when there's business to be had. A Volus specialized on financial services openly operates on his or her behalf. He goes by the name of Barla Von."

That earned him a stony glare from Massani. Shepard noticed it. Too late, Zaeed. She looked next at Miranda again: "Anything else your… people would know on this?"

She shook her head. "Nothing Vakarian hasn't already said. The Broker is remarkably circumspect on its dealings."

"Does the message say where you're supposed to meet?" Garrus asked.

"Yeah, the Silver Coast Casino."

Author's note: kudos to BrokenLifeCycle and kyro2009 for asking the right questions and making the right comments to keep me writing.