'What would my mother do?' Thought Amelia T'soni from her hiding place inside her wardrobe, where she had remained since witnessing the elder T'soni's capture at the hands of the creature from her dream. Even thinking of the flame haired wraith that had burst into their home made her shake with fear. It had been her nightmare made flesh. Now here she was, hunched under a pile of scarves and waterproof jackets, watching the seconds tick slowly by on the back lit screen of her watch. She didn't even have the smallest clue as to what she was supposed to do in this situation. Which brought her back to her earlier thought.
'What would my mother do?'

"Get captured by a horrible monster." She whispered under her breath, then pulled her knees up to her chin and fought back a sob. Not because she was afraid to show emotion but because she knew if she started crying she would no be able to stop. Something needed to be done. Another thought drifted unbidden into Amelia's mind. 'What would my father do?'

Of course Amelia had never met Elizabeth Shepard but Liara had been forthcoming with stories of their adventures together and the extranet had provided her with details of some of her more violent and extreme outings. Commander Shepard had been a figurehead during the Reaper war and a prominent feature in Amelia's lessons on modern history so she had grown up with a fairly accurate picture of who her father was, at least on the outside. She knew exactly what Commander Shepard would have done.

'Charge in, rescue the hostage and save the day!' Thought Amelia, springing to her feet, scattering socks and trousers in all directions.
Bounding swiftly through the shattered remains of the apartment she found herself in her mother's bedroom with no memory of getting there. With a mighty shove (and a little help from a negative mass effect field she proudly generated all on her own) Amelia moved the chest of drawers aside to access the matted steel panel behind. After she pressed her palm to the reader plate the panel slid upwards into the wall, revealing a small cavity with room enough for two armchairs, a food cooler, a storage case and a code locked arms locker. Amelia had never actually been inside the safe room but Liara had been careful to drum an emergency drill into her daughter from a young age, not that it had helped either of them in the end. Ignoring the arms locker for now Amelia instead picked up the small transparent wristband atop it and slipped it over her hand. With a whoosh of dated sound effects the omni-tool came to life, projecting a glowing orange holographic gauntlet around her fist. She gave herself a minute to get familiar with the microcomputers clunky layout then retrieved the code to the locker (0-4-5-4). The container popped open, inside were several pistols and what looked like a submachine gun. Amelia didn't know the first thing about weapons so she scanned them with her new toy. The omnitool identified the closest pistol as a M-3 Predator, no longer in production. She took it gingerly and with some effort, it was very heavy. She also took a spare ammunition block and a compact kinetic barrier belt which she buckled about her slender waist. She felt the sudden desire to look at her reflection, to prove to herself that she was up to the challenge her newfound confidence had layed before her. On the way to the bathroom she snagged a silver studded leather belt from one of the drawers and hung her new gun from it like a bandoleer.

Amelia walked up to the bathroom mirror with her gaze firmly on the floor. She took a few steadying breaths to psych herself up.
"Amelia T'soni: space badass." She said with forced enthusiasm. She looked up. She didn't look like a space badass, she looked like a scared green eyed girl wearing a belt like a sash and holding an oversized gun. She had heard a lot of stuff during the break in. Stuff she wasn't sure how to process right now. Truth be told her brave plan to stage a rescue had been more of a distraction than a true intention. Something to keep her thoughts ocupied.

"Hello! Anyone there?"

Amelia squeaked, her courage suddenly deserting her. She hadn't heard the door open yet someone had let themselves into the apartment. Looking around with a feeling of finality she saw that there was no where to hide, even the shower curtain was semi-transparent.

"Hello I'm coming in. I'm friendly."

Amelia thought briefly about drawing the pistol but that would only place her in greater danger. She knew it was coming but the knock at the bathroom door still made her start badly. A segmented gloved hand pushed open the door, followed by the rest of a heavily armoured woman who's face was entirely hidden behind the green faceplate of her helmet. Amelia must have made a terrified expression because the woman quickly pulled off the offending armour piece, revealing an asari who looked to be in her late maiden stage with purple skin and an eye patch covering one of her close set brown eyes.

"I'm Karla, what's your name?"

Amelia balled her hands into fists to stop them shaking and blinked fiercely. "Amelia T's- Amelia."

The newcomer put a large hand on Amelia's shoulder with a whine of motorised joints and smiled in a way she probably thought was reassuring but in reality reminded her of a wolf.

"T'soni right? those are some famous parents you've got. Is your mom home?"

Amelia felt her lip begin to quiver and bit down hard to try and contain it. Too hard, all it did was bring the tears to the surface. "She's- I'm not..."

Karla looked immensely uncomfortable, obviously dealing with emotional adolescents was not something she was used to.
"Um Beck get in here!" There was a clatter from out in the hall as a younger, unarmoured asari came scampering into the room. "Ma'am?" Karla said nothing, instead silently motioning to the weeping girl. Beck's face momentarily crumpled in sympathy then she stooped and bundled Amelia into a tight hug.

"Shh Shh it's alright, it's alright Tyanei."

Tyanei (a small white asari flower known for its fragile papery petals) was such an obscure choice of pet name that the next whimper caught in Amelia's throat, transforming into a loud hiccup. With one arm around her shoulder Beck steered them both through the demolished living room and sat her at the kitchen table.
"So why don't you tell us what happened here."

Amelia looked at Karla questioningly. "Do you work for my mother?" They looked like the type of people Liara often dealt with, the kind that she tried to keep hidden from her.

Karla and Beck exchanged a meaningful look. "Not... directly. But I think we want similar things. Do you recognise this woman?" Karla called up a picture of Shepherd and projected it onto the tabletop. Amelia nodded vigorously.

"She came here, attacked my mom." Just like Shepherd asked Amelia retold the details of the attack, omitting nothing.

Karla lent back in her chair which creaked under her armoured bulk. "I had a rough idea of what was going on but to hear it all spelled out..." The look of wonder was quickly replaced by one of thunderous fury. "Liara T'soni is the shadow broker?"

Amelia recoiled, more than a little intimidated. "You didn't know?"

"Of course I didn't know! If I had-" She bit off the remainder of her reply. She had thought her grudge against the broker had been long buried but she was now realizing the wound was still fresh. More than two hundred and sixty years ago she had been manipulated by an agent of the shadow broker into killing a turian. She had done twenty five years of hard labour on a turian penil coloney as a result. Now she thought about it the truth made a lot of sense. She had always assumed the shadow broker had to be an asari to take such a long term approach to galactic affairs but Liara T'soni was famous for being the young asari lover of commander Shepard, barely more than a hundred at the time. T'soni could not be the same shadow broker that had assured her imprisonment.

"Sorry I snapped. I really do want to rescue your mom. Will you come with us? You know her better than any of us, you must know a few places she might have been taken. Besides this is starting to seem like a family affair. So, will you help us help your mother and stop your weird clone, robot, dad thing?"

Beck rolled her eyes at this. "Real convincing boss."

Amelia swallowed. The overhead lights suddenly seemed very bright. "I don't know how I can help anyone... I'm not what I need to be."

Karla stood and extended a hand to help the girl to her feet. "With our help Amelia you will be."
For a split second Amelia considered turning Karla down, calling the police and dealing with all this like a normal person. Then she took the hand and let herself be led along. She could do all those things, but she wouldn't. She always did as she was told.

N/B: see chapters 3-4 of the previous story (Mass Effect Wake) for a slightly more detailed account of Karla's initial run in with the shadow broker.