A/N: And here we go with more of this story! So... yeah. We're off to do more things with these guys! So let's do it!

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jodie sighed in relief as she stepped off of the berth. She rubbed the back of her neck, the pain having subsided substantially by that point.

She pulled a shirt over her torso, seeing that the medical equipment had done its job. Of course, it was not ideal, and Jodie knew the tissue would scar, but it was healed and cleaned of infection. And with the next few days, Jodie felt confident that she would be able to take it easy enough that she did not have to worry about opening the wound again.

It also helped that Aiden was an active part of the healing process.

"He sure helps people heal quick, huh?"

Jodie nodded, turning to Sura as she sat on the couch by the make-shift berth. "Yeah, he does," Jodie said. She adjusted the shirt, shaking her head before looking at Sura. "He can even save people from mortal wounds." She paused. "He can't bring people back, though. My life would've been very different if he could."

"I'll imagine," said Sura. She then crossed her arms. "Now that we've been attended to, though, we have a lot we need to talk about."

"We do, don't we?" Jodie asked as she stepped off the berth. "Let's get to it, then."

Sura nodded, and then the two of them exited the rec room. They walked down the hall over to the sleeping area, Jodie opening the door and seeing everyone else assembled in there. She sighed, seeing Valentine glaring at the geth while Kasumi glanced at it from time to time. Ashley simply paid it no mind, preferring to turn her gaze at Jodie. Jodie looked around, sighing in relief at the fact that they had all made it away from Alchera.

She saw no trace of the captured alien, though.

"Where's the other guy?" Jodie asked.

"In the science lab," said Kasumi. She shrugged. "I bound him up with a few things." She then turned to Sura. "I may have raided your supplies to help... cuff him up."

Sura sighed. "At least you actually put the damn things to use," she said. "Let's hope he doesn't know how to pick one of those things..."

Kasumi smirked. "Oh, that won't be a problem," she replied. She then turned her attention to the geth unit. "This guy, on the other hand..."

"Yeah, what about this guy?" asked Valentine. "I didn't sign up to work with a damn geth."

"Neither did I," Jodie replied.

"We have already agreed to Williams-Gunnery-Chief's terms," Legion stated.

Valentine frowned. "What terms?" he asked.

"Well, I told it down on Alchera that if it made any move to stab us in the back, I'd throw it out the airlock with a hole in its head," Ashley replied.

Valentine glared at the geth. "I don't trust it to keep its word," he said.

"This unit is presently outnumbered by a ratio of six to one," said Legion. "Assuming that everyone follows Williams-Gunnery-Chief's terms, this unit would stand no chance of survival. Any move to betray this ship would serve no purpose."

"I bet he'll be singing a different tune if that other guy breaks free," said Valentine.

"We believe Shepard-Supreme-Commander poses a threat to the existence of the geth," said Legion. "Compiling data from what we have gathered and from what Holmes-Anomaly has told us, an alliance with them would serve no purpose."

"I say we at least give it the benefit of the doubt," said Kasumi as she leaned back. "I mean, it is right. We can very easily kill him if he becomes a liability."

"I suppose that's true, but these guys just tried to take over the Citadel," Valentine replied.

"The heretic geth," Legion corrected.

Valentine stood up, glaring at the machine. "And the difference is...?" he asked.

"The heretic geth look to the Old Machines for the future," Legion replied. "The true geth do not."

"The Old Machines?" Jodie asked as she leaned forward.

"You mean the Reapers," said Ashley.

"Yes," Legion replied.

"Huh." Jodie leaned back, rubbing her chin. "Didn't go with the Prothean name..." She then shook her head. "But I think we should give it a chance."

Valentine and Sura both sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that," said Valentine as he rubbed the back of his head. He then pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his breast pocket, before running his hand through his hair. "Fine. So what've you got?"

"This," said Legion, lifting its hand and opening its omni-tool. "We have showed this file to Holmes-Anomaly and others." Kasumi and Valentine's omni-tools beeped at the same time, and then they both opened their omni-tools.

"A corrupted message?" asked Kasumi. "Huh." She then opened something else on her omni-tool. "I get the feeling we're going to want to know what it says. I'll get on trying to fix what I can."

Legion nodded. "This platform will allow Goto-Thief to work," it said. It then turned to the others. "We may also be able to analyze the weapon Holmes-Anomaly picked up."

Jodie looked at the hilt she had gotten from the man on Alchera. "This?" she asked. "Are you sure?"

"This platform was built with the latest scanners," Legion replied. "Your ship lacks the resources to analyze this weapon."

Jodie nodded. "I... Just as long as you don't use it to hurt anyone," Jodie said.

"You know what happens if you do," Valentine added.

Legion nodded. "We will exercise caution."

Sura nodded, before standing up. "And then there's the matter of our prisoner," she said. She shrugged, looking at the others. "So where is he?"

"He's in the other room," Kasumi said. "I slipped him some sedatives when Valentine was pulling us into the planet we're on now, he should be out for a little longer."

"Good," said Sura. The others stood up, the cop looking at the thief. "Be careful not to find my personnel records when you're fixing that message."

"You won't have to worry about a thing," Kasumi replied. She then nodded. "See to that prisoner you have."

Jodie nodded, and then the group minus Kasumi exited the room. They then walked over to the lab room, Jodie entering and sighing at the shutters that were still erected. The artificial light was good enough for the room, though, and she could see very clearly everything that was laid out.

It was thus that she saw a clear space in the corner of the room. There he sat, still done up in the armor that Valentine had fought him in. However, he was bound with his arms behind his back, and the group could plainly see that his feet were bound as well. Jodie frowned, thinking of at least two ways that he could escape if he were to get his hands out from behind his back; however, as it was the figure did not stir, and his head remained slumped forward.

"Well, it's better than nothing," said Sura. "We need to find a better place to keep him bound, though, and we'll probably also need better bindings..."

"We can probably rig something around here." Valentine conceded. "There isn't really a good place to keep him held up, honestly, but we can do our best by improvising. Let me get back to you on that." He then shook his head, leaning towards him and gently pulling his head back, his hand resting on the breathing apparatus. "Huh, turns out this is a breathing mask. Interesting." He nodded, yanking up on the mask. "Now let's see what-"

And then, the whole group let out a gasp of surprise. Valentine himself even took a step back, dropping the mask on the floor as he did. Jodie leaned forward, looking at the new alien curiously.

The man had a scaly face, one that looked like the scales on a salmon. He had three strange flaps of scales on the back of his head, and the nose seemed to be segmented into ridges. She found the mouth seemed to come directly under the nose, the mouth in a perpetual downward curve. She then leaned forward, seeing a couple of flaps on the side of his face: they looked similar to gills, but Jodie had the feeling they were not gills. She admired the creature's head for a second, before noticing that the gill-like flaps extended down to the sides of the alien's neck.

She then stepped back, looking at the others. "Have you ever seen anything like this?" she asked.

"No..." said Sura. She leaned forward, breathing in in shock. "Goddess... What I wouldn't give to take a DNA sample off of him."

"DNA sample?" asked Kalo.

"Yeah," said Valentine. "Dress a drell up in enough prosthetics, and you could get him to look like this. DNA is the only way to prove something like this."

"Ah," said Kalo. "I suppose that is fair." He then leaned forward. "Keelah, I never thought I would be one of the first in this galaxy to see a new species this close before..."

"Not technically new," said Jodie. "But this kind of first contact..." She took a shaky breath in. "I'm nervous."

"Join the club," said Sura.

"We will find answers," said Legion. "This possibility is inevitable."

Jodie nodded. "I hope so," she said. She then nodded. "Well, I guess we wait for this guy to wake up. Until then, we look at everything else we managed to find."

Legion turned to the table. "We will analyze this weapon," it said. "Others are welcome to stay if you want."

"I think I'll stay, make sure it's not up to any funny business," Valentine said.

"Ditto for me," Sura said.

Jodie nodded, rubbing the back of her head. "I need to go get some fresh air," she said. "Valentine, the air outside is breathable, right?"

"It wouldn't be a very habitable planet if it wasn't," Valentine replied.

Jodie nodded. "I'll be outside, then," she said. "I need to go collect my thoughts."

And with this, Jodie walked out of the lab. She paused for a moment as she left, but then shook her head before resuming her walk to the airlock.

Jodie jumped down onto the arid ground beneath them. She had placed a breathing apparatus on before leaving the ship, and stepping outside Jodie felt perhaps a little chilly. The rocks beneath her feet shifted as she took a couple of steps away from the Lying Bastard, but as Jodie walked a little further away she saw the terrain get rather jagged. It was certainly not mountainous, but as she walked off, she wondered how Valentine had managed to land the craft in the first place.

She kept walking, climbing up a rock or two as necessary. She then sighed, sitting down on a rock, the rock somewhat elevated from the ground beneath her. She glanced back, seeing that the Lying Bastard was still within view, before turning her attention up to the sky.

"Sanctum," she whispered. She chuckled dryly. "Some sanctum this is, right Aiden?"

The entity clicked harshly, Jodie sighing as she looked back up at the sky. "Well, if nothing else, they won't suspect we're here," she said. "If Valentine's comments about piracy are any indication, they won't try to follow us here."

Aiden gurgled uncertainly, but Jodie shrugged. "We'll be fine," Jodie reassured him. "I hope."

And with this, she sighed, turning away from the Lying Bastard and looking up at the skies above. She looked at the clouds and the way they hovered above, darkening the area around her. She sighed, brushing some of her hair back. She tapped her feet against the rock she sat on, looking on for a long while.

After a while, though, she heard footsteps behind her. She turned, seeing Kalo approach as he began climbing up the rock to her level. "Jodie," said Kalo.

Kalo could not see it, but Jodie smiled under the breathing apparatus. "Kalo," she said. "What're you doing out here?"

"I needed to get away from the geth," he said. "It is so... odd, being around that thing. Especially when it calls you 'Creator'." He then sat next to Jodie, looking up.

"Yeah, that is weird, isn't it?" she asked. She then sighed, looking over at the quarian. "It doesn't look like it wants to hurt anyone."

"That is what troubles me," said Kalo.

Jodie looked at Kalo. "I noticed you were silent when we were talking to Legion on the ship," she said. "Why?

"I... Keelah, Jodie, I have so many doubts." He looked to the rocks surrounding them. "I know I have to give it a chance, but..." He shook his head, turning his gaze back to Jodie. "I still think you may have made a mistake. I worry that it will stab us in the back if given the opportunity."

"I don't think it will," said Jodie.

"It is constantly calculating for its own self-interest," said Kalo. "Do you not think at some point that it will find a time when betraying us is statistically in its favor?" He then turned away from Jodie. "It said it directly, Jodie. When will self-preservation put Shepard's forces over ours? When will it put its own survival over our own lives?"

"I don't know," said Jodie. She then turned to Kalo. "But I trust that Legion will be up front with us. It's been up front with us so far."

"I do not," said Kalo. He shook his head. "Dammit, Jodie, they forced my people off our homeworld. Billions were killed in that war. And if that thing is to be believed, it did it for self-preservation." He shook his head. "You cannot expect me to just forget that." He then turned to Jodie, the lights behind the mask a little dimmer than usual. "Do you not feel that you can be too trusting?"

Jodie sighed. "Sometimes," she said. "But this is not one of those times, I think."

"But you were taken advantage of once," said Kalo. "You told me that story yourself, Jodie. It seems strange to me that you would open yourself up to that again, especially with a geth!"

Jodie paused, looking over at the quarian. She considered the question carefully, pulling one of her legs up and tapping her knees against it. She regarded Kalo with a soft expression, sighing as she glanced to the side.

"People can surprise you," she said with a shrug.

Kalo shook his head. "You are an enigma wrapped in contradictions," he stated. "How does one that puts so much trust in an individual become so paranoid of a group?"

"I guess I just have better experiences with individuals," Jodie said. She looked to the side. "People can surprise you." She shrugged. "Give Legion a chance, Kalo. I won't ask you to forget what happened, but don't you think he at least deserves a chance?"

The quarian paused, looking out to the rocky terrain of Sanctum. He sighed, shaking his head and looking up at the sky. "I hope your trust in this geth does not backfire on us," he replied. After a few seconds, he sighed. He then turned his gaze towards the ground, rubbing his arm. "If you will pardon my vernacular, this whole situation is very fucked up."

Jodie chuckled. "I think that's the first time I've ever heard you swear," she said.

"It is a situation that warrants it," Kalo replied. "The admirals never prepared me for this."

"Nobody could," said Jodie. She then gently patted Kalo on the shoulders. "Much like nobody prepared me to deal with people that masquerade as humans."

Kalo nodded. "I suppose that is true," he said. He then sighed.

They then sat in silence, Jodie's hand gently squeezing Kalo's shoulder. They both sat there in silence, gazing out at the landscape around them. Jodie scooted closer to Kalo, bumping up next to him. Kalo simply grunted, but other than that he made no other mention of Jodie's closeness.

And then, Jodie's omni-tool beeped. Jodie blinked, taking her hand off of Kalo's shoulder and opening the omni-tool. She then shrugged, noticing that she had a call coming from Sura.

She accepted the call. "Hey," said Jodie. "Anything change?"

"Our guest is up," Sura said. "Just thought you'd want to know."

Jodie nodded. "We'll be right there." she said.

"We?" Sura asked.

"I am out here," Kalo said, loud enough that it was caught by Sura.

"Ah..." Jodie could imagine Sura's nod. "Well, the both of you should get over here. I think you definitely want to see this."

And with this, the comm link closed. Jodie looked at Kalo, nodding.

"Well, let's not keep them waiting," said Jodie. "Come on."

They turned, gently getting off the rock and making their way back to the Lying Bastard. And as they did, Aiden let out a low whistle in curiosity.

Jodie and Kalo walked into the room, Jodie taking off her breathing mask as she stepped in.

As Sura had said, their new alien friend was awake. He glared at Jodie as she entered, though Jodie kept her distance. The alien's eyes were rather strange: Jodie noted that the pupils were all-black in the present lighting, but she was able to see the whites of his eyes. The ridges above his eyes functioned like eyebrows, she noticed, and she found herself drawn into those eyes. Sura and Valentine stood close by, Valentine keeping his pistol aimed at the alien. Legion simply worked impassively on the nearby work bench, acting as if nobody else in the room was there.

The strange alien scoffed, and then he simply remained silent. Jodie nodded, walking as close as she dared and kneeling in front of him.

"So he woke up," she said. She then looked over at the alien. "How're you feeling?"

The alien remained silent. He simply glared at Jodie, his gaze intent on her.

Jodie nodded, standing up. "So he won't talk."

"No," said Sura. The asari shrugged. "He's probably mad we took away his only option to keep him from talking for sure."

"Sura found a poison pill between his teeth," said Valentine.

Kalo leaned forward. "Poison?" the quarian asked. "Why would he put that in his mouth?"

"Well, think about it," said Valentine. "You've been captured by the enemy, and the information you have is so sensitive that even your capture is a risk you can't afford." He shrugs. "There's a reason it's a favored tactic with black ops groups."

Jodie nodded. "I've heard of that," she said. She shakes her head. "Do you think even if he did speak, we'd understand him?"

"No," said Valentine. "He was speaking gibberish to me when we first fought. He wasn't really speaking." He paused, looking at us. "Though, I get the feeling he'd understand us."

Jodie frowned. "Why?"

"You remember that artificial intelligence I mentioned that took over the ship?" Valentine asked.

Jodie nodded, and then her frown deepened. "It spoke English to you," she said.

"Yep," Valentine replied. "So if that could talk to us in a way we could understand, they can translate us. And that puts us at a disadvantage."

Jodie nodded, looking at the alien. "Does he have anything we can get translation programming off of?" Jodie asked.

"We have offered to perform a full-body scan of Prisoner."

Jodie turned to Legion. The geth simply kept working at the sword, Jodie turning to Valentine and Sura and seeing them glare. Jodie turned back to Legion. "You have?"

"It did," said Sura. "You would have to mind control me to get me to say I'd trust that thing to tell the truth, though."

Jodie crossed her arms. She then turned to the geth, seeing it dismantle another part of the sword. The geth continued working at its station, before Jodie sighed.

"Run the scan," Jodie said.

Valentine sighed. "Sure, let the machine run the scan," he said. "It won't decide it's self-preservation is more important than us!"

"Valentine." Jodie gave him a stern look as Legion looked up from his work. "It offered. We're taking that scan."

The geth blinked, before turning to the alien on the floor. The geth then stepped forward, opening its omni-tool and looking at the alien.

"Scanning now," it said. It then held its hand out, far enough away that the alien would not be able to lunge forward.

A scanning line then appeared over the alien, scanning him. As soon as it did, the group saw an orange hologram sitting out from underneath one of the aliens' flaps. It looked small enough to be some kind of hearing aid, though Sura and the others only frowned as they saw it.

Legion stood by as the scanning leg detected nothing else of interest on the alien. "Scan complete," said Legion. "We have identified one listening device on our subject's ear."

Kalo nodded, before leaning down and grabbing his knife from where it was sheathed by his ankle. "Hold this for me, please," he said to Jodie.

Jodie took the knife, Aiden gurgling softly as Kalo then leaned over the alien. The quarian then gently lifted one of the flaps, the alien quickly rattling off some gibberish in protest. However, Kalo nodded, his other hand getting close. Jodie could see the quarian jimmy his hand in there a little, and then the quarian pulled back.

"It was there," Kalo said, holding a small hearing device. Jodie noticed it was not unlike her own translator, and she leaned forward as Valentine and Sura did the same.

"Huh, it wasn't kidding," said Sura. "It even looks like your average translator." She then looked over at Jodie. "So you think it has their languages?"

"Possibility exists," Legion said. "Goto-Thief has piece of written language with them. This unit proposes that Goto-Thief try to extract language information from translator before returning it to our unknown guest."

"Oh, so we steal his languages and give it back," said Sura.

Valentine frowned. "Well, to be fair, it'd make interrogations very interesting if we tried to conduct them when he can't understand us," he said. He then smirked. "Though you're welcome to try interrogation by the hokey pokey."

Jodie snorted in amusement, before turning to Legion. "Valentine-Pilot is correct," said Legion. "We will let Goto-Thief extract from this translator."

Valentine turned to the geth. "So you're not going to do it?" he asked.

"We calculate it will increase unit cohesion if we let someone else analyze it for us," said Legion. "You trust Goto-Thief more than this platform."

Valentine sighed. "Well, I can't argue with that," he said. He then walked over to Kalo. "Kalo, can you get that to Kasumi?"

"Of course," the quarian said, holding his hand out to Legion.

The geth deposited the earpiece in Kalo's hand, the quarian nodding and walking out of the room. Jodie then squatted in front of the alien, tapping her hand against her knee. "We'll know your secrets soon enough," she said. "And when we do..." She paused, looking at the alien as he glared at her.

She nodded, standing up. "Keep watch on him," she said. "As soon as Kasumi's done with everything, we'll try again."

"Sounds good to me," said Valentine. He then nodded to Sura.

The asari glared at Legion, before turning her attention back to the prisoner. "This better be worth it," she said.

Jodie nodded. She exited the room, casting one look back to the prisoner as she stood at the door.

No sooner had Jodie sat down in the rec room when she heard the door open to the side.

She looked up, seeing Legion at the door. The geth platform entered, regarding Jodie before it stepped inside.

"Holmes-Anomaly," said Legion.

Jodie frowned. She shifted where she sat on the couch, looking up at the geth unit. "You know, you've called me that all the time," she said. "Why?"

"We have questions," said Legion. "They pertain to why we call you Holmes-Anomaly." The geth then stepped in, the door closing behind it. "We detect... signs of life around you."

Jodie blinked in surprise. "You what?" she asked as Aiden chirped in surprise.

"The geth researched Holmes-Anomaly's past," the geth said. "We cannot find it. We thought nothing of it when the collective sent this unit out to the galaxy. However, with proximity, we have detected a second, much weaker sign of life. With less advanced scanners, this platform postulates we would not have detected this life sign at all. We cannot explain it. We cannot see the source."

Jodie blinked, her pupils widening. "Could it mean...?" she asked. "Could it mean they all see Aiden too?" She paused, looking up at Aiden. She breathed in unsteadily, her hands wringing together as thoughts rushed into her head.

Could they really have seen...? she thought. But if they did...?

She shook her head, sighing. "No, someone would've mentioned it by now." She then turned back to Legion, exhaling as her hands stopped wringing themselves. "Well, you've heard me mention Aiden."

"Yes," the geth replied.

Jodie nodded. "He's that second life source." She sighed. "And he's the thing I told you was classified. It's how I know about Shepard..." Jodie paused, before looking up at the geth. "Legion, do you know what 'supernatural' is?"

The geth's head plates moved up. "No," said Legion. "Clarify."

Jodie nodded. "It's what we call a plane of existence beyond our physical perception," Jodie replied. "It's... you know the Bible, right? God would be considered 'supernatural', as would most of those miracles."

The geth's flashlight head seemed to focus slightly, before the geths' head plates returned to their normal position. "We have stored that data in our data banks," it said. "Why is Holmes-Anomaly speaking of the supernatural?"

"Because that life sign you're reading is supernatural," she said. "His name's Aiden, and he's..." She paused. "Well, he's some kind of entity, and he's been attached to me for as long as I can remember."

The geth's head plates moved again. "We cannot quantify this," it said.

"You know when the ship started moving underneath us when we were escaping?" Jodie asked. She paused. "That was Aiden's work. He possessed the pilot to do those things. What you probably saw when you first saw me was also his work."

The geth's head plates moved again, returning to their original positions. "Is it a threat to the geth?" it asked.

Jodie shook her head. "Only if you try to attack me, Legion," she said. "If the geth aren't trying to hurt me, you'll have nothing to be afraid of from him."

"We will store this in our data banks," said Legion. It then walked to the window. "Do the others on this ship know?"

Jodie nodded. "They have to," she said. "Aiden's existence changes everything. I wanted to keep him a secret, but after everything I found out about Shepard, I can't." She sighed. "And speaking of which, I need to talk to Kasumi... She... didn't take it so well when I told her. It's a long story."

"We have posed our query," it said. It then turned to the door. "We will return to analyzing the weapon you took."

Jodie nodded as she stood up. "Go ahead," she said. "And keep an eye on our guest while you're at it."

"Affirmative," Legion said. It then exited the room, the door closing behind it. Jodie then nodded, standing up herself and leaving the rec room. She then turned over to the sleeping quarters, tapping her hand against it and entering.

She saw Kasumi sitting at her bunk bed, looking at the translator that Kalo had taken off of the alien. Jodie stepped in, Kasumi turning her attention to Jodie breifly. Kasumi's brows furrowed, and then she turned back to her omni-tool, her eyes narrowing in concentration.

Jodie stepped in, looking at Kasumi. "Hey," she said.

Kasumi remained silent. She did not even acknowledge Jodie had said anything, instead typing more things quickly.

Jodie sighed, stepping into the room and sitting in her own bunk. She then placed her hands on her knees, closing her eyes as she hugged herself. Aiden clicked uncertainly.

Jodie closed her eyes. "I'm sorry."

She heard Kasumi stop immediately. "For what?" Kasumi asked.

Jodie leaned back. "I know you're angry at me about how I revealed Aiden," she said. "I'm sorry."

Jodie opened her eyes in time to see Kasumi close her omni-tool. Jodie could not make out Kasumi's expression under her hood as jumped onto the floor and walked over to Jodie. "Keiji was a good man..." Kasumi said. "He died a while ago. I've been looking for his greybox ever since. I never thought I'd ever get to hear his voice again, and that..." She shook her head, looking at the ground. "To have it aired out like that..."

Jodie nodded. "I should've done it in private," she said. "I'm sorry I put you on the spot like that."

Kasumi shook her head, looking at Jodie. "Did you even know about Keiji?"

"No," Jodie replied. She shook her head. "Aiden doesn't tell me these things. But that isn't an excuse, and it won't ever be an excuse. I should've been more careful broaching that subject to you, and I'm sorry."

Kasumi looked down. "I don't know if I can forgive you for that just yet," she said. "I still miss Keiji so much..."

Jodie nodded. "I don't blame you," she said. She turned to Jodie. "From what I saw when he possessed my body to talk to you, he seemed like a good man."

"The best," Kasumi whispered. She sat there, and it was only then that Jodie placed a hand on her shoulder. Kasumi did not shudder when Jodie's hand made contact, but rather leaned into the contact.

Jodie nodded, patting her shoulder. "Have you managed to look at the translator?" she asked.

Kasumi shook her head, re-opening the omni-tool. "No," she said. "But, I did manage to clean the corrupt file."

"Oh." Jodie looked on as Kasumi opened it. "So it's a real file."

"It's as genuine as they come," said Kasumi. She shrugged. "Funny thing; the data corruption was a lot worse than you'd think."

"Really?" asked Jodie.

"Yes," Kasumi replied. "It's a miracle that geth managed to save the whole message, actually." She smirked. "But we have a written form of it now. Now that I have it, I should be able to look at that translator now."

"Good," said Jodie. She opened her omni-tool. "The file?"

Kasumi nodded, and immediately sent the file to Jodie's omni-tool. "There you go," she said.

Jodie nodded. "Thanks," she said, opening her omni-tool and looking at the file. "I'll pass this on to the others."

"You should probably read it first," Kasumi replied. "It's... interesting."

Jodie nodded, opening the file and reading it:

"Supreme Commander Shepard,

We are pleased to report that we have made progress on infiltrating Cerberus' ranks. We have several exion units inside Cerberus' systems now; They are busy acquiring data on where their base is, where their intel centers are... We will have a location for all of these things soon. It will come down to resources. We'll have them soon, Commander. All you have to do is give the order to attack, and we will bring those monsters to justice for what they did.

As for the Council, we are monitoring them very closely now. Their actions over the next few weeks will determine how we approach them. We know the general parts of how we wish to approach them, but the specific manner shall be determined soon.

We will be in touch, Commander.

-Operative Yurol"

Jodie frowned as she read this. "Do you have a time stamp?" she asked.

Kasumi nodded. "Yep," she said. "Why do you need it?"

Jodie frowned, before standing up. "When it was sent is just as important as what was sent," she replied. She then exhaled. "I'll be back. I need to go get the others."

Sura and Legion were not in the room. However, Valentine, Ashley, and Kalo all occupied the room. Valentine opted to stand next to Kasumi's bed, while Ashley and Kalo all sat on Jodie's side of the room. They all got the message from Kasumi, all of them reading it. Kasumi had started work on analyzing the translator,

Valentine adjusted a new pair of sunglasses, before he then closed his omni-tool. "Hm," he said. "Seems like they are trying to keep themselves hidden."

"Yeah," said Ashley. She then shook her head, sighing. "You have the time stamp, right?" Ashley asked.

"Right here," said Kasumi as she paused her own work and opened the message. She leaned forward, showing Ashley the time stamp. "When was it sent?"

Ashley squinted, reading the time-stamp listed. "Damn..." She grit her teeth. "He would've received that the day before the Normandy was destroyed..."

"Huh," said Kasumi. She then closed the message, returning back to work.

"So they had just made headway with Cerberus," Jodie said. She shook her head, looking at the others. "And he's talking about taking them down."

"Just like he wanted to on the Normandy," Ashley said. She looked over at the others. "He really wants to take them down."

"I'm more concerned about his line on monitoring the Council," said Valentine. "If they're going through all this trouble to take down a terrorist organization, what's up with the Council monitoring?"

"You think they are pondering taking the Council out as well?" asked Kalo.

Valentine frowned, pushing his sunglasses onto his face. "I don't know," he said. "But if you really look at it a certain way..." He shook his head. "We'd need to know why they want to take down Cerberus so badly, though."

"It sounds like they're motivated by revenge," Jodie said. "That's not enough?"

"I'm at a loss to know what the hell kind of revenge would cause them to be suspicious of someone who probably didn't have any hand in whatever it is Cerberus did against them," Valentine replied. "We can't all just assume that they killed his father."

"I guess so..." said Kalo. He turned to Valentine, standing up. "Do you think perhaps Cerberus...?" He paused, shaking his head. "Never mind."

"What?" asked Ashley.

"It is a dumb possibility," said Kalo as he sat down. "It is dumb, and I do not know why I thought it. Forget I said anything."

Valentine pursed his lips, shaking his head before looking over at Jodie. "So this is what we have..."

Jodie sighed. "I think..." The dream she had after Saren's defeat came back to her full force, and she took a sharp breath in at the recollection. "I think... we may need to go to their galaxy..."

"Go to the heart of the enemy?" asked Valentine. He then chuckled, giving Jodie a small smile. "Now our leader really is insane."

"You got a problem with that?" asked Ashley.

The pilot shrugged. "Well, I suppose if we did want to get intel, that would be one way to get it," he said. "Go to the heart of this galaxy that they inhabit and get the information from them. It's actually not so bad an idea." He sighed. "Only question is, what's waiting for us on the other side?"

"I don't know," said Jodie. "But it's seeming like we need to go there with as much information as we've gathered..."

"We'll figure that out," said Ashley. "We have a prisoner. We'll get him to talk eventually." She then looked at Kasumi. "Right?"

"Yep," said Kasumi as she closed her omni-tool. "I think I've extracted all the data from the translator. The software's isolated the languages not on our translators." She then smiled, handing the alien's translator back to Valentine before re-opening her omni-tool. "You'll be getting a patch to add those languages to your software right... about..."

And then, the omni-tools of everyone in the room pinged. Jodie nodded, opening her omni-tool. "All right," she said. She then looked at Valentine. "Make sure Sura and Legion have that translation patch as well. We'll start interrogating him as soon as we can."

Valentine nodded. "Of course," he said. "I'll just return this to him while I'm at it."

Kasumi smiled. "Now the fun part, right?"

"Yeah," said Jodie. She then looked over to Valentine, standing up and nodding. "Let's go and-"

And then, Jodie's omni-tool beeped. She paused, looking up to see the indication was for a message.

She paused, frowning at the sender. "Oh..." She sighed, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, you might have to prepare the interrogation. I'll be just a second."

Ashley frowned. "New friend?" she asked.

"Yep," said Jodie. She then smiled nervously at Kalo. "Especially since my old pen-pal is right over here."

Kalo blinked. "Old pen-pal?" he asked.

Ashley chuckled. "Long story," she said. "We'll tell you when we're not about to interrogate an enemy." She nodded. "We'll wait for you to finish reading that."

"I'll reply to it later," Jodie said as she opened her omni-tool. "I'll be there as soon as I read it. Get him ready to be interrogated."

"You got it," said Kasumi.

And with this, everyone but Jodie filed out of the room. As soon as they did this, Jodie sighed, opening her omni-tool as she leaned against the wall. She smiled, looking up at Aiden before turning her attention back to the message.

"Jodie,

You're fine with that, right? Just making sure.

Well, I guess here I am. Or something. I thought I'd take you up on that, see if you'd actually reply. You're probably busy, though. Eh, this was probably a stupid idea.

I'm at the Citadel now. It's quiet, I guess. I just sit in my room all day now that I can't talk to you. It gets very boring pretty quickly. All I can do now is do homework. Ah, well.

Maybe you'll reply, maybe you won't. Just do something so I know where we stand.

-Kolyat"

Jodie sighed, rubbing the back of her head. She then closed the omni-tool, looking up at Aiden. "Remind me to reply once we do that interrogation."

Aiden clicked once, and then Jodie sighed. "Well, here goes nothing," she said.

Jodie stepped into the room, seeing everyone in the room close to where their prisoner stood. Jodie nodded, walking up to the alien as he glared up in disdain.

She then nodded to Sura, who simply crossed her arms. "Well, let's do this, yeah?" asked Sura.

Jodie nodded, before kneeling right by the alien. "So, let's make one thing very clear: we know you can understand us," said Jodie.

The alien glared at Jodie, but Jodie simply held her gaze. He frowned, watching as Sura leaned over him. "We also know you're not afraid of death, so we can't exactly use the threat of that," the asari said, tapping her fingers against the bulkhead. "However, we don't exactly need that. Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I can always go into your mind and get the information we need directly from your brain."

"But we're not going to do that," said Jodie. The alien turned to her in confusion. "Not unless it's a last resort." She then shook her head, looking at their captive. "Besides, I think we can get you to talk."

"I still think it's a long shot, but I'm giving her a chance to prove me wrong on that," said Sura. "So go ahead and prove her wrong."

Jodie crossed her arms, looking at the alien. "I know you can understand me," she said. "Now, can we understand you?" She leaned forward. "Talk to us."

The alien glared, looking up at Sura. He said nothing for a few seconds, his eyes narrowed at everyone around him. He remained silent, his glare turning towards everyone else.

Jodie leaned forward. "You can tell us, or we can get it from your brain," said Jodie. "What'll it be?"

The alien remained silent, his glare lessening somewhat. He simply looked up, his mouth working open and closed as he pondered on how to answer.

Sura sighed, shaking her head. "Come on, buster, we haven't got all day," she said. She then paused, rubbing her chin. "Or I guess we could call you Buster in the meantime. You gotta admit, humans have it made when it comes to coming up with nicknames for people. That's just one of the many good things about-"

"You lie."

Jodie blinked, looking at the alien. His expression had evolved into a furious frown, and his glare was trained right on Sura. He had leaned forward the slightest bit, and Jodie found she was able to look at his hands, where they lied unmoving behind his back.

"Oh?" Sura asked, tilting her head at the alien.

The alien breathed in. "You speak as if humans have anything good to say for themselves," the alien said, his voice smoothly flowing from one word to the next. "They do not. They only know how to destroy."

Valentine sighed. "Man, you really need to lay off on the angsty teenage poetry," he said.

The pilot was met with glares from everyone else in the room, barring Legion. "Valentine, this is not the time," said Jodie. She then turned to the alien. "So we can understand you. Good. Your translator was useful."

"You're not getting anything more off of me," said the alien. "You may torture me all you want, but I have been trained to resist all kinds of torture."

Kalo looked over at Valentine nervously, but the pilot was already leaning forward. "That's assuming we want to torture you," Valentine said.

The alien frowned, looking at the pilot. "You do not?"

"There'd be no point," said Jodie. "We found the poison pill in your jaw." She shook her head. "We told you already: we know you're not afraid of death. If you're not afraid of that, there's not much more physical harm we can do to get you to talk."

"Not that you'd get good information from it, anyway," said Ashley. "After all, you'd just say anything to make the pain stop, right?"

The alien reared his head back, looking rather confused. Jodie shook her head, looking at the alien. "You are our prisoner, let's get that right," she said. "But we're not going to torture you. If you don't give us the information we need, we're going to have her look into your mind, so we'll have it no matter what. But I'd rather we hear the information from you first."

"I don't like invading minds without consent," said Sura. "It tends to lead to trauma."

"So you know what our hard way is," Jodie said. "So we can either invade your privacy, or we can do this the easy way. It's your choice."

"You have no power over me," the alien replied. "You cannot keep me bound here."

Legion clicked. "There are seven on this ship opposed to Prisoner," it pointed out. "We also note that Prisoner has not seen all of our capabilities. Probability of escape is rather low, barring a careless mistake."

"Machine's got a point," said Valentine. "You'd need to catch us off guard, and we'll be keeping an eye on you so that you don't do that."

The alien frowned, glancing down at the ground. He said nothing, but the slight shift of his shoulders told Jodie everything she needed to know.

Jodie nodded, standing up slowly. "So I guess now we run into our first question: what are you?" she asked.

The alien sighed, gritting his teeth angrily. "Spirits be damned..." he whispered. He then looked up, glaring at Jodie. "I am what is known as an aqueron."

"Aqueron, huh?" asked Sura. She then looked him over. "Hm... Aquatic life, hm?"

"You will not get much more than that about my species," he said. "Nor about the others."

"How many others are there?" Jodie asked. "We saw the human-like guys, and we saw that AI that took over the ship."

"Electronic entity," the aqueron replied. "AI is a crude term."

"We saw the AI take over the ship," Valentine insisted as he leaned forward. "So those are the famous articians."

The aqueron blinked in surprise, looking up at Valentine in shock. "How do you know their name?" he asked.

"We found it out," said Jodie. "That's not for you to know how I got that, though. What's important is that we know what Shepard was."

"And speaking of Shepard..." Jodie leaned forward. "What were you doing around Alchera? Why were you at the Normandy's crash site?"

"That is not for you to know," said the aqueron.

Jodie shook her head, before Sura leaned in. "Invasion of privacy, remember?" the asari asked. "You were obviously looking for something down there. And it can't be any information."

"So what were you looking for?" Jodie asked.

The aqueron glared at the others in the room, remaining silent. He stayed quiet, his lips curled downward and his brows furrowed as he glanced at the floor.

Finally, he grunted. "Shepard's body," he said. "We were searching for Shepard's body."

Jodie nodded. "I see," she said. She then stood up, stepping back. "Did you find it?"

"No," said the aqueron. He then looked up.

"So Shepard's body was still there?" asked Sura.

"At some point," said the aqueron. "But we haven't had any luck finding it. Last I heard from Command, it may already have been taken away before you came."

Jodie glanced at Sura. "Why would people want to take away the body?" she asked.

"Well, maybe someone else knows," said Valentine. "And maybe they want to do an autopsy, find out what that is." He then looked down at the aqueron. "I assume that's what you were doing."

The aqueron paused, before looking down. "Yes," he said.

Valentine shrugged. "Well, at least we didn't disrupt the search," he said.

Jodie nodded. "Hm..." She paused, looking at the others. "You were planning on taking it home, right?"

The aqueron chuckled darkly. "It is so obvious, no?" he asked humorlessly.

"Yeah," said Jodie. She paused, before standing up. "I'm sorry, we got a little off track. How many others are there from your galaxy?"

The aqueron frowned, glaring at the wall as he shifted his posture. He remained silent for a few seconds, Sura shifting her position as she looked down at him.

"Three," he said. "Not counting the ones you already know."

Jodie nodded. "Glad you're cooperating," she said. "What are they?"

The aqueron paused. "You will never meet them here," he said. "You would know them if you saw them."

"That doesn't answer the question," said Sura as she leaned forward. "What are they?"

"You do not need the information about them," said the aqueron. "After all, you will never go there."

"Says who?" asked Jodie.

The aqueron turned to Jodie, his eyes narrowing. "You cannot be seriously considering..." he said.

"We are," said Jodie. "If we can't find the answers we seek here, we're going there."

The aqueron paused, shaking his head. "Such audacity," he whispered. He then looked up. "You will have an extremely difficult time entering that galaxy . Even if you knew the password-which you do not-they will shoot you on sight."

Valentine leaned forward. "So there's a password involved?" he asked.

"Yes, but I doubt your knowing it would do any good," said the aqueron. "Only captains are told. I do not know the password." He then looked up at the asari. "You can check my mind, but you will not find it."

"That a challenge?" asked Sura.

"No," said the aqueron. "It is a matter of impossibility, as I do not know it myself." He then paused, looking up at the asari.

"So then where is it?" asked Kalo.

The aqueron paused, looking away. "We have seen many ships pass by our wormhole," he said. "I have even heard tales of some of the people that poured into it."

"People poured..." Jodie turned away, looking away.

The aqueron then looked at the geth. "Your friend here would know where it is," he said. "They were dangerously close to the wormhole for a lengthy period of time."

Legion's headflaps moved. "We do not know what Aqueron-Prisoner refers to," it said.

"Were there not a network of geth around there?" asked the aqueron.

Legion paused, Jodie looking at the geth in surprise. "Not true geth," Legion replied. Its headflaps moved, looking up.

"A network of..." Jodie said.

And then, something occurred to her. A news report, a mission...

She turned to Ashley, seeing confirmation as realization dawned on her, too.

"Those geth outposts!" Ashley said.

"Geth outposts?" asked Kalo. "What do you mean?"

"At one point, we were assigned to take out some geth outposts," said Jodie. "It was where Tali got her Pilgrimage gift. I wasn't on the ground team during those missions, but..." She then turned to the aqueron. "Was Shepard dispatched to take that one close to the wormhole out?"

"From what I heard, he was," the aqueron replied.

Jodie gasped, looking back at Ashley. "We were close to the wormhole..." Ashley said. Jodie felt her heart rate spike, and she shivered.

"My God..." Jodie said. "We were so close to his home..."

"Imagine that," Ashley said. She then pushed herself off the wall. "And it was one of the ones vessels vanished through," said Ashley.

"I am not to know," said the aqueron. "But the wormhole is in one of those four systems."

And then, Jodie breathed in, remembering a news report she had heard around that time. "The Armstrong Nebula," she said.

The aqueron turned to Jodie, his eyes again widening in shock. "How did you guess?"

Jodie bit her lower lip, looking at the aqueron. "Educated guess," she replied. "Heard it over the news once. Thanks for the confirmation." She then sighed, turning over to the aqueron. "So all we need is a password, then. And then we relate it to them."

"You will never last even with the password," the aqueron replied. "You do not know the layout of the galaxy."

"We'll handle that when we get there," said Jodie. She then nodded. "This is already a lot of information. Thank you for your cooperation."

The aqueron simply glared at Jodie. He then turned away, training his gaze on the bulkhead.

Sura then nodded. "Well, there's nothing else to see here, folks," she said. "Get out. I'll keep a watch on this guy, along with the machine."

"Affirmative," Legion added.

Jodie nodded. "Take care of him," she said.

And with this, she exited the room, followed by everyone except Sura and Legion. As soon as the door opened, Valentine crossed his arms.

"Well, that was productive," he said.

"Indeed it was," said Kalo. "That was more information than I thought we would get."

Jodie shrugged. "It's a lot, but it's still not everything he knows," she said. She then shrugged. "We can ask him those questions another day. It's better not to fatigue him out with really long interrogations."

"You really want him to trust us," said Valentine.

Jodie lifted her hand, gesturing at Valentine. "You don't think it'll be more productive?" she asked. "He'll talk more easily if he trusts us."

"Good luck," said Valentine. "I mean, did you hear some of what that guy said? You'll have a hell of a time convincing him to trust us."

"Doesn't mean I won't try," said Jodie. She then shook her head. "And even if we can't get him to trust us, we have a foolproof way of getting that information. If it comes down to it, I'm not afraid to use that."

Valentine paused, and then nodded. "Just making sure you know what you're getting into," he said. He sighed. "I'm gonna go chill. If you guys need me, I'll be in the rec room."

And with this, Valentine crossed the hallway. They all watched him enter, and after a few seconds Kasumi walked in after him. The door closed behind them with a rather decisive click, and nothing else was really said in that hallway.

Jodie sat in her bed, finishing the typing of her message.

"Do you think we will have information soon?"

She glanced up at the bunk above her. She smiled. "Maybe, Kalo," she said. "We got a lot from our interrogation today."

"We need a password to get there," Kalo replied. "How are we ever to find it, though?"

Jodie shrugged, finishing her message. "We'll figure that out as we go," she said. "But hey, we've got a starting point now. That's better than nothing, right?"

"I suppose it is," said Kalo. He sighed, and Jodie saw his hand hang over the edge of his bed. "I suppose from here we will just have to see what happens."

"Pretty much," said Jodie. She then pulled her arm back, looking at the message she had typed out.

"Kolyat,

I'm here. I think you'll find I'm a much more reliable person than that when it comes to replying back to people I know. You can ask my quarian friend about that sometime.

At least you have something stable in your life. Take it from me: that's about the best thing anybody can ask for. You never know what you have unless you don't have it anymore. I'm sure life isn't that bad for you.

Anyway, I am a bit busy, but I don't really have a wealth of stuff to reply to. So... Well, I guess this message is to let you know that I'm here, and that I'm listening.

Hope you reply soon,

Jodie."

She sighed, looking up at Aiden. The entity clicked, and then Jodie shrugged. "I suppose that's true, Aiden," she replied.

Jodie then sent the message, settling her head in her pillow.

"Aiden?" asked Kalo.

"How did you guess?" she asked.

"The silence," he said. "I feel ridiculous speaking to Aiden because of that. It is hard to speak to silence." He then paused. "Um... no offense intended, Aiden."

The entity clicked a couple of times, Jodie shrugging. "He says none taken," Jodie replied. "He's used to people not knowing he's there unless he announces his presence."

"It must be a strange existence," said Kalo. Jodie heard the bedsheets ruffle around Kalo. "How do you manage it, Aiden?"

"He has me," Jodie replied. "It keeps him from feeling completely alone, but even he has his moments."

"I cannot imagine he would not," said Kalo. The quarian sighed gently, and then Jodie saw his face mask peer over the edge of his bed. "Do you think...?" He paused. "Do you think Aiden is unique?"

"I know he is," Jodie replied. "No other entity acts like him. Most of the time, they're... violent." She shook her head. "Well, when they come into contact with humans, anyway." She shook her head. "Honestly, I'd be happy never to battle another entity. Some of them can get particularly violent."

"They can?" asked Kalo.

Jodie sighed, placing her hands behind the back of her head. "Yeah," she said. "There was one time I was trying to hitchhike across the country, actually. I came across a ranch run by a Navajo family during that time..."

And then, Jodie proceeded to tell Kalo the story of her encounter with Ye'iitsoh.