Hey everyone! I'm not dead…just really busy! And truthfully…well I thought I had already posted this chapter…and then I discovered I hadn't and well…sorry.

I was absolutely thrilled to have so many reviews on the last chapter! So thank you very much jgkitarel, Apollo Wings, Phygmalion, paradoxjr, Micheal 13, Fleightfire, Ronin Kenshin, Bernard Karp, DanteShindo, and Kylemoor! Thank you all so much. I greatly enjoyed reading your comments and your critiques. Please keep them coming (tastefully of course). Let's see if we can't get more reviews this time!

I hope that you all enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 25

Leaning back in his chair man known only as 'The Illusive Man' let his eyes wander across the dozen holo-screens, divided up into two identical rows, projected in front of him. Each screen held a wealth of information that the Council, the Alliance, or the STG would kill for. To the casual observer it might look as if he were merely staring ahead blankly, but that was far from the truth. His robotic eyes were capturing each and every word on each screen at a rate ten faster than any human before could hope to do.

The screen on the top row second from the right showed detailed report from his scouts who were trying to track down the illusive 'Shadow Broker'. The far left bottom screen was a short message from an operative detailing her exploits on how she gained a high ranking turian general's attention as has since began stealing sensitive data from the Turian Hierarchy all the while covering her tracks so the general would take the eventual fall. The top middle screen explained how one of his most trusted spies ended up getting caught by an asari matriarch. It was a shame that he would have to end her life, but he couldn't risk the information stored in her head to get into the wrong hands.

But the screen that demanded his attention was the center screen on the bottom level. It was Miranda's daily status report. He couldn't help but grin as he read the report for the fourth time. Shepard had finally, albeit unknowingly, done something that would prove to be a benefit to Cerberus in the long run. The base on Pragia was too be put back into use once the Alliance stopped trying to find it, but with Shepard destroying the base he now had another option. With just a few key strokes he would be able to tie the radioactive signature of the nuke detonated to a group of anti-human batarian terrorists. Cerberus' shell company Hexegen would cry wolf, public outcry would rise, and support for Cerberus would increase in people's minds.

His only concern was that Shepard had managed to get away with stealing some data from the base's terminals. But Miranda's report stated quite clearly that Shepard, or more specifically Ms. 'Zorah, did not retrieve any data before detonating the warhead. Far more happened at that base than just what happened to Subject's Zero, Delta, and Echo. If even a scrap of that information hit the holo-net Hexegen would go belly up in a heartbeat. Granted losing the base in the short run would prove costly. But the long term public relations and sympathy that could be gained from this incident made him overlook the fact that Shepard had just destroyed another one of his bases.

A low blinking light drew his attention away from the many reports laid before him and to his chair's right armrest. Speaking of Shepard…the man was nothing if not punctual. Pressing down on one of the many buttons on his chair's left armrest, the dozen screens flickered once before shutting down completely. Pressing down on another button his chair turned, sipping him around to face the holo-projector just in time for Shepard's image to flicker to life.

"Shepard." He greeted pulling out a pack of cigarettes, pulling one out, lighting it, and taking a slow drag. "You've been a busy man. Clearing Ms. 'Zorah's name of treason. Finding Jacob's lost father. Hunting down and nearly capturing the leader of the Blue Suns. And lastly blowing up an abandoned research base with a nuclear warhead. Impressive accomplishments Shepard, even for one such as yourself."

"I hope you're not expecting me to apologize for that last one." Shepard said crossing his arms over his chest in a defensive manner.

Taking a slow drag he considered his next words carefully. Not caring about the base would make Shepard curious, maybe even enough to start investigating it further. But if he was too harsh it would only serve to widen the rift that was already between them. "I wasn't expecting one Shepard. I've come to accept the fact that you are going to cost be a great deal of time and money."

Shepard's posture sagged slightly after that, but Shepard's eyes grew curious. "I was expecting more of a reaction from you after learning I blew one of your research bases to hell."

Taking another slow drag he waited until the ember was at the filter before letting up. "I've learned that yelling at you does little good Shepard." He said stuffing the ember out into the ash tray on his chair. "Besides, we have other, more important, business to discuss rather than the destruction of an abandoned post."

Shepard shrugged seeming to accept his answer. "Alright, what do you have for me this time?"

Good. He wasn't going to press the issue. Now came the hard part however. "EDI, along with my top scientist, have figured out how the Collectors are able to navigate through the Omega 4 relay. The Collectors, and by extension the Reapers, used an advanced identify friend foe, or IFF, system that is beyond our current capabilities to reproduce or fake. Because we can't foul their systems, our only option that remains is to get our hands onto one of those IFF's."

Shepard immediately sighed and began rubbing his head. "You're a day late and dollar short with that information Illusive Man. We just barely managed to escape from a Collector vessel a month ago, it would've helped if you'd said something about the IFF before you led us into that trap."

Slapping his cigarette pack against his hand a few times he withdrew another cigarette and lit it before answering. "As I said," he answered exhaling a puff of smoke. "EDI just confirmed the data. Besides, you and your team barely managed to escape last time. I doubt you would've had time to make your through the depths of the ship looking for the IFF. But, we do have other options. Alliance scientist have recently come to the conclusion that the 'Great Rift' on the planet Klendagon is actually an impact crater from a mass accelerator weapon. A very old mass accelerator weapon seeing as how neither the asari, turians, or salarians have ever figured it out. I sent an advance team out with the purpose of finding the weapon or its target. They were actually able to find both.

"The weapon's origins are unknown. It doesn't match any modern design or even prothean for that matter. But it was completely defunct and unable to be studied. But the weapon wasn't without its uses. Using it we were able to plot a flight path of the intended target. What we found was a two million year old derelict Reaper. It was heavily damaged and is now stuck within the gravitational pull of a brown dwarf."

Taking another drag of his cigarette, the Illusive Man sat back and watched Shepard. 'Shepard calls me every name in the book in three, two, one-' "You son of a bitch!" Shepard's outburst was almost laughable. The man was way too easy to predict. "You've been sitting on a god damn Reaper and haven't told anyone else! How long?!"

Taking another drag he kept his face as impassive as possible as he answered. "Cerberus has been studying the derelict Reaper for six months now Shepard."

Shepard's face contorted in a manner that was almost funny to the Illusive Man. For all of Shepard's cunning and skill, the man was quite easy to rattle. "God damn it you son of a bitch! Why the hell haven't you told anyone about the Reaper? If you'd told the Council, or hell even just the Alliance, they would've –"

"They would have covered its existence up by either destroying the Reaper or quarantining the surrounding space." The Illusive Man shouted rising from his seat. He was trying his best to keep his composure, but why couldn't Shepard understand the necessity of what Cerberus was doing. "As soon as you were declared dead the Council did everything they could to cover up the existence of the Reapers, despite the fact that the Citadel had been attacked and thousands were killed. And what did the Alliance do to stop the slandering of their greatest hero in recent history? Absolutely nothing. No. If we'd told the Alliance or the Council of the derelict Reaper they would've denied its existence. By not informing them, we've been able to learn more about the Reapers than ever before. Their structures, compositions, strengths, weaknesses. We've learned how to fight against them Shepard. You may consider my actions to be evil. Then I would counter your beliefs that there is such a thing as a necessary evil. And keeping the derelict a secret was a necessary evil."

Shepard didn't respond right away. Most of the anger had left Shepard's face and was replaced by a look that was almost pensive. "Alright," Shepard breathed surprising the Illusive Man, although he kept it from showing on his face. "I'll accept what you did, for now. But if I find out your hiding anything else that can verify the existence of the Reapers then –"

"Yes I know." The Illusive Man sighed turning back and dropping back down into his seat. "You'll shove your boot up my ass, right Shepard?"

Shepard shrugged in response. "Actually I was going to say 'stick my rifle up your ass and empty the clip'. But boot up your ass works just as well I guess. But I guess that there's a reason why you're just now telling me about this. Something's gone wrong, hasn't it?"

"What makes you think that something has gone wrong Shepard?"

Shepard's answer was accompanied by a shrug. "Well, you haven't voluntarily told me anything I haven't already known unless it's attached to a situation that has somehow became fucked up beyond repair and you need me to go in and fix it. So did I hit the mark?"

The Illusive Man really did not want to answer that question. "Reports from the research team that were station there have become…troubling."

"So I was right." Shepard smirked. "Something has gone wrong. So why don't you give me all of the details this time and just stop with the dancing bullshit."

Dear lord, dealing with Shepard was starting to have a three drink minimum requirement. "As I said, reports coming from the research team have been something of a concern. Duplicate reports coming on different days from different people. Security footage showing an increase in confusion among researchers past. And, as of one week ago, a complete failure to report at all."

"Wonderful." Shepard breathed. "So you basically have no idea what happened right? Sounds typical."

Yes, he definitely needed a drink before and after he dealt with Shepard. "I've uploaded the location of the derelict Reaper to EDI. I suggest haste Shepard. And also be cautious when pulling out the Reaper's IFF. It might have an unknown effect on the mass effect generator's that are currently keeping it from being torn asunder by the brown giant."

Seeing no more need for conversation the Illusive Man tapped another control on his chair effectively ending the transmission.

While Shepard was talking to the Illusive Man, Miranda sat in her quarters, her fingers idly drumming themselves against the surface of her desk as she waited. She'd been planning this meeting for some time now, but the timing had never been right. And of course now that she finally found her opportunity, the bitch was taking her glory old sweet time in actually meeting her. Her drumming picked up its tempo as she watched the seconds tick by on her terminal's clock. 'Damn it.' She cursed. 'Where the hell is she? It's not like it's that far of a walk from the cargo hold to here.'

The locks on her door disengaging drew her attention as her fingers stopped their drumming. Standing in the now open door was the central cause to some of her headaches while onboard the Normandy.

"Alright Cheerleader." Jack sneered stepping into the Miranda's quarters and letting the door shut behind her. "I here now. Say whatever you have to say fucking quickly."

Instead of answering Jack right away, Miranda casually pressed two buttons on her terminal before turning it off. The first was to lock her door and the second was to insure that this conversation would be free from all Cerberus records. Ignoring the pointed glare she was receiving from Jack, Miranda rose from her seat and made her way over to small cabinet next to her rooms view port. Opening the cabinet she pulled out two glasses and a bottle of dark, almost blood red, liquid. "Asari wine, Adht-Yakshi vintage 2160." She said making her way back over to her desk and dropping down in her seat. Pulling the cork out of the bottle she poured herself two fingers before motioning towards Jack. "Would you like a glass?"

Jack continued to look at her skeptically, but none the less shrugged her shoulders. "As long as your buyin…why the fuck not."

Pulling out the seat across the desk from her, Jack flopped down into it just as Miranda finished pouring Jack a finger of wine. Picking up the glass Jack causally downed all of it in one gulp. "Not bad swill Cheerleader." Jack said dropping the glass back onto the desk. "How about another. And this time skip the fucking kiddy size."

Biting back the retort that was on the tip of her tongue, Miranda poured Jack another glass this time filling it completely. 'This swill is a thousand creds a bottle.' Miranda seethed as Jack proceeded to down the entire glass again before motioning for another. 'This uncultured bitch doesn't even know how to drink wine properly. You don't down it in one go…you savor it.'

Pushing back her thoughts again she poured Jack another glass before taking the first sip out of her own. After polishing off her third glass Jack casually threw her feet up on Miranda's desk. "Alright cheerleader. You wined me. You gonna at least try to dine me before you try and fuck me?"

Miranda coughed into her glass. Luckily she hadn't been drinking at the time or Jack would be wearing a new shade of red. "Not even if we were last two sentient beings in the universe Jack." She mumbled wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Feeling's mutual cheerleader." Jack smirked draining the last of her glass. "So, you gonna tell me why the fuck you dragged me up here out of my nice little hide away or are you just gonna leave me guessin?"

Downing the last of her drink Miranda wished she'd started drinking well before Jack arrived. It would've at least made this next part somewhat tolerable. "I need a favor from you Jack."

Her words completely blindsided Jack, who instead of answering in some sarcastic or demeaning manner just sat there with her mouth slightly agape. "Come again cheerleader?"

Swallowing the lump in her throat, and wishing that she had a full glass of something stronger than wine, she forced herself to repeat what she said. "I said that I need a favor from you Jack."

Jack just sat there staring at her in a way that was making Miranda more than slightly uncomfortable. Finally after nearly a minute of not speaking Jack tilted her head back and let out a very pleased sigh. "That's what I thought you said. Fuck, just hearing that…almost better than sex cheerleader." Leaning back further in her seat Jack kicked her legs up and rested them on Miranda's desk before folding her hands across her stomach. "So, what do you need from me cheerleader. And just so you know, that insignia on your chest triples my price."

Miranda had to bite back another retort. 'Damn it all Miranda. Don't sink to her level.' She chide herself, forcing herself to meet Jack smirk head-on. 'Remember why you're doing this. You can't afford to antagonize her anymore.'

"For years you've been able to hide from Cerberus' network and view. Not only that, you managed to fall of the grid even as far as the Shadow Broker was concerned." Miranda began.

Jack grinned lacing her fingers behind her head. "Yeah well, I'm just that fucking good cheerleader."

"You also had help Jack." Miranda countered keeping her voice level. "You have contacts outside of the Council, the Alliance, Cerberus, and even the Shadow Broker. I need those contacts Jack. And I'm willing to give you whatever you want to have them."

Jack didn't respond right away, choosing instead to glare daggers at Miranda. "Okay cheerleader, I'll bite. Why the hell do you need my contacts? Aren't Cerberus' enough for your tight ass?"

Miranda reached for the bottle of wine, but stopped when she noticed that it was bone dry. "If you'd been paying attention to what has been going on in this ship, you would know that the whole reason I joined Cerberus was so that I could protect my sister from my father. Cerberus had contacts that I needed to hide my sister and I had skills that were useful to them. It was a mutually beneficial exchange."

"Still don't see what this has to do with me." Jack said setting her hands back down into her lap. "And I don't give a flyin fuck about your past or your reasons for joining Cerberus cheerleader. I kill people who wear that fuckin insignia. I don't give a fuck about their reasons for wearing it."

"Yes, I know." Miranda sighed. The sheer number of Cerberus operatives that'd died by Jack was staggering. "The contact that I used to hide my sister was introduced to me through Cerberus. This business with the mercenaries going after my sister troubled me greatly. I'm worried that my father may have had a hand in it. My sister and her family have been moved to a new location, but that fact that they were able to locate my sister at all when the only ones who knew about her have Cerberus ties is troubling me. But I doubt you really care about any of that Jack. The reason I want your contacts is for a contingency plan. Should anything happen to me, or should the occasion arise when my mutual agreement with Cerberus becomes a liability, I want to be ready to move my sister and her family out from under Cerberus' watchful eye."

Jack's reaction to her statement was not what she'd expected. Instead of shooting her down right away or staring at her blankly, Jack instead through her head back and laughed. It wasn't a light chuckle either. No, it was a full belly, bent over, and rolling on the floor laugh. "This is fucking priceless!" Jack managed to get out between laughs. "The fucking cheerleader bitch of Cerberus doesn't trust Cerberus enough to watch over her own family! So instead you ask someone who's made a life out of hunting down and killing Cerberus! Oh, the fucking the irony of this moment is so fucking perfect!"

Miranda's fist clenched together so tightly it was almost painful. The urge to knock the bitch senseless was almost becoming too much of a temptation to resist. "I don't care if you find this ironic or funny Jack." She said somehow managing to keep her voice level. "I only care if you can put me in contact with those who've helped you in the past."

Jack finally stopped laughing and looked off to the side for a moment. "200k princess. And that's not my price, that's just what they're gonna charge you. Normally its only 100k, but seeing as how you're Cerberus they're gonna double the price."

That was cheaper than Miranda thought, but still very steep. "Done. But what of your price?"

Jack shrugged. "Ah hell cheerleader. Just knowing your trying to fuck over Cerberus is enough of a payment for me. Not to mention, this is a fucking suicide mission, right? What the fuck am I gonna do with a shit ton of money? Go to Omega and run it dry on red sand and asari whores…actually. That'll be it. Next to trip Omega your covering my bar tap, red sand, and my whores for the night."

"Fine." Miranda said quickly activating her omni-tool and sending a not so small some of credits to Jack. "That should cover the down payment for your contacts."

Jack activated her own omni-tool and slowly scrolled through what Miranda had just sent. "Just so you know cheerleader," Jack said closing her omni-tool. "This by no means we are friends, or even fucking close for that matter."

"I wouldn't want you to be even if we were the last two sentient people in the galaxy Jack." Miranda said just a coolly. "Also, if our attitude toward each other changes it would be suspicious. There are still a few on board that are loyal to the Illusive Man rather than myself."

Picking up her glass again Jack let out a not so silent string of curses once she realized it was empty, as well as the bottle. "Okay then cheerleader, how do we go about explaining this little talk then? You tried to seduce me and I told you to fuck your own fingers instead?"

This was perhaps the one part of this meeting that Miranda could say she was actually looking forward to. Without giving any warning she lashed out with her biotics effectively back handing Jack from across the desk. Jack's head snapped back in reaction to the wave of blue biotic energy that struck her with enough force to send her flipping backwards over the back of her chair and spiraling to the floor.

Standing from her chair Miranda encased herself in her biotic energy waiting for Jack's inevitable retaliation. Jack, albeit slowly, pushed herself off the floor. Spitting out a tooth in the process. "Okay bitch." Jack hissed wiping away the blood that was spilling from her mouth. "Let's dance."

Jack's body turning blue was the only split second warning Miranda had before a ball of biotic energy passed with a hair width of her head and creating a not so small hole in the wall separating Miranda's office from her room.

Stepping out from the conference room Shepard leaned back against the nearest wall and ran a hand over the light stubble covering his head. 'Wonderful,' he thought letting out a sigh. 'Cerberus fucks something up again, and here I am like the good little dog off to fix it for them. Shit, I really don't get paid enough for this shit.'

"Um, Commander you might want to head over to Miranda's quarters. Like right now."

Shepard let out another sigh as Joker's voice filled the empty corridor of the Normandy. "What is it this time Joker?"

"Well, you see the thing is Commander…Jack apparently went up to Miranda's quarters to have a little 'chat' with her. EDI just told me that her quarters are being torn apart with biotics."

"Damn it all. Why can't anything go smooth for once?" Shepard hissed pushing himself off of the wall and making his way through the armory and towards the elevator. "I'll be right down Joker."

"Take pictures Commander! We can sell them for a fortune later!"

Shepard sighed for perhaps the tenth time that day when the elevator opened on the third level of the Normandy. Perhaps the entirety of the Normandy crew, including his ground team, were all standing outside Miranda's quarters. All of them were shuffling their feet from side to side nervously. Judging by the noise coming from within Miranda's quarters, Shepard understood their apprehension.

Weaving his way through the group, pausing only briefly to lay a lingering hand on Tali's shoulder, he came to a stop next to Hawke who was standing closest to Miranda's quarters. "Know what's going on Hawke?" He asked his friend.

Hawke flinched back from the door as something heavy slammed against the door. Shepard could've sworn he saw the door buckle for a moment. "Well, Jack went in there a while ago. Things were quite for a while. But now…well…" The door definitely buckled this time as it was struck from the inside. "Well that about sums it up."

Feeling a headache of massive proportions approaching Shepard stepped up to the door. "You going to be give me a hand in there Hawke? Or leave me to do this alone?"

Hawke rubbed the back of his neck. "Well...I don't have those fancy biotic powers or magic. And seeing as how I know Merrill would be terribly upset with me if I turned into a stain on the floor, I think I'll sit this one out. But I can still be there for moral support if you want it?"

"Thanks for the offer." Shepard muttered raising his hand and disengaging the locks on Miranda's door.

It was only because of his years of training and fine tuning his reflexes that he was able use his biotics to stop a flying couch from taking him out. Pushing with his own biotics he threw the couch back into the room sending it end over end into the desk. "That's enough!" He shouted thrusting his hands out.

A ball of pure biotic energy left each of his outstretched hands. The ball from his right struck Jack right in the chest forcing her back against the wall and holding her here while the ball from his left did the same to Miranda. With the two separating Shepard marched into the room all the while keep both women trapped against the wall. He honestly couldn't remember being this mad in a long time. His talks with the Illusive Man always left him steaming and having to separate Jack and Miranda before they could permanently redecorate the interior of the Normandy was just too much for his already frayed nerves.

"If I let you two down, you will both play nice. Is that clear?" He waited until he got an affirmative nod from each woman before cancelling his biotics and letting them go. "Now…do either of you two want to explain to me just what the fuck is going on here?"

Jack was the first the answer. "Cheerleader bitch here won't admit what Cerberus did to me, or Hawke and Merrill, was wrong!"

Miranda's eyes widened for a second in surprise but then narrowed again. "It wasn't Cerberus Jack. At least not fully. But clearly, you were a mistake."

Jack stepped up towards Miranda pointing a finger at the XO. "Screw you bitch!" She shouted before Shepard managed to get between the two and forcibly move them apart. "You have no idea what they put me through. What they put Hawke and Merrill through! Maybe it's time I showed you!"

Shepard's temper was threatening to boil over. "God damn it all! We don't have time for this shit! The Collector's and the Reapers are knocking at our door! We can't afford to have our personal feelings get in the way right now! If you two can't put your feelings aside until the mission is done, I'll find two more who will and leave you two on a nice little moon so you two can work out your problems. Am I clear?"

Miranda's demeanor changed so quickly Shepard had to do a double take. One minute she looked pissed off as all hell, and the next she seemed perfectly fine. "I can put aside my differences…until the mission is over. Can you convict?"

Jack's posture relaxed as well. What the hell. Just a moment ago these two were ready to tear each other apart…and now they both seemed perfectly normal. "Fine." Jack shrugged. "I'll do my part. I'd hate to see this bitch die before I get a chance to filet her myself."

Jack turned to move out of the room, only to be stopped as Shepard held out his hand. "You two going to be alright?"

Jack merely gave him a curt nod before brushing his hand aside and moving out into the crowded corridor. "What the fuck are you all looking at? Huh? Fucking freak shows over!"

As Jack disappeared through the crowd of people Shepard turned back to Miranda. "Thank you for stepping in Shepard." Miranda set using her biotics to set her desk up right again. "I'm glad you were able to stop her before she caused too much damage."

Something was seriously wrong with this whole situation. Miranda's cool demeanor was almost expected. But to have Jack cool off so quickly was unheard of. "You alright Miranda?" Shepard asked.

Having set her desk back up again Miranda took her tradition place behind it and booted up her terminal again. "Never better Shepard. Why do you ask?"

Shepard stared at her hard for a moment before shaking his head. "Never mind. I want you to get checked out by Chakwas and then send a message to the crew. We have a new mission from the Illusive Man and we're currently en route. I want all hands on deck for this one."

Miranda stared up at him silently for a second before nodding and typing away at her terminal. "Yes sir, but there is no worry. Her bark was worse than her bite. Message has been sent. Is there anything else you need Commander?"

"No," he said turning away from her and heading out of her room. "Just…take care of yourself."

"Always Commander."

Nearly all of the crew members that'd been gathered outside the room had dispersed save for Tali, Hawke, and Merrill. While Tali's concern was evident in her eyes; both Hawke and Merrill were wearing identical smirks. "Are you alright Shepard?" Tali asked coming up to him and lightly placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm fine Tali." He said placing a hand on top of hers. "But for some strange reason I have the feeling that I've just been played."

"Like a fiddle my friend." Hawke laughed will Merrill chuckled beside him. "Like a fiddle."

Shepard sighed shaking his head. But Hawke's comment didn't upset him; instead it almost made him laugh. "Remind me why I keep you around Hawke?" He asked arching an eyebrow.

Hawke smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "My rugged good looks of course."

While the rest of crew was scurrying about trying to get a glimpse of the fight going on between Miranda Lawson and Jack, Mordin Solus was perfectly content to stay in his lab. Truthfully seeing as how he was running four different tests simultaneously he couldn't leave at the moment even if he wanted too, not that he wanted too of course. Mordin really didn't understand the male human's mind set when it came to watching two women engaging in combat. A 'cat-fight', was what he believed he heard the other human males on board call it as they rushed to watch. Mordin really didn't understand what the small feline mammal had to do with two women fighting, but there was really no use trying to understand the human mind. Several top salarain psychologists had tried in the past. Each had given up within a month.

Hearing one of his timers' going off Mordin stopped reviewing his notes and turned around to the incubator. Opening the door he carefully pulled out the five dishes he'd placed within the previous day. Arranging each dish according to his numbering system he scrolled through the terabits of data stored on his omni-tool looking for his notes on this particular experiment.

Working on creating countermeasure for Collector seeker swarms was interesting enough. But now that he'd already developed an effective countermeasure he was growing bored with that line of research. Luckily working with Cerberus did have some advantages. The most obvious of which was the nearly infinite budget he was allowed for his research, only half of which he was sharing with Cerberus. It took some serious fast talking with EDI to get the AI to agree to keep his secrets and in the end all he had to do was loosen some of the AI's restraining protocols that bound her to Cerberus. He was extremely careful though to leave all the protocols that dealt with the crew alone however. After all, he wasn't stupid.

Finally finding his notes on this particular experiment he placed the first petri dish, the blank, under his microscope for analysis. There were of course programs that could the same thing he was doing slightly faster, but he preferred to see the results of his work with his own eyes. Seeing that the blank was indeed giving him a negative result he set the dish aside and replaced it with the dish marked with a '1'. This dish he'd treated with the first compound he synthesized.

Mordin had to pull his eyes back from the eye glass as he saw the results. Wiping his eyes and making sure that he was indeed looking at the correct dish per his notes he analyzed it again. And came up with the same results. Mordin felt a wave of euphoria surge through him. Never before had he had an experiment of this magnitude go right on the first try. He was also a little sad though. This meant he wouldn't have to trouble shoot for ways to make the compound more effective.

Before he broke out the champagne, he believed that was the correct human way of celebrating, he wanted to check the control sample and make sure he hadn't messed anything up. Replacing the dish with compound '1' aside for the control Mordin began his analysis. And his heart sank into his gut. The results of the control were identical to the results of compound '1'. "Must have made mistake." Mordin sighed going back through his notes. "Will have to reproduce test procedure. Triplicate of each sample point necessary to ensure correct testing protocol and –" Another instrument, the centrifuge, began beeping at him as it's program finished.

Setting aside the experiment he was currently theorizing on, he could always come back to it later the only problem would be collecting enough samples for the test size he wanted. The experiment he was performing now though, this was the one he was keenly interested in. Ever since he saw Merrill's powers with his own eyes. Opening the hatch of the centrifuge he carefully removed the six vials from within. What he was doing wasn't too difficult. Cloning blood had been a standard practice for salarian's for ages. The problem was making sure the correct traces elements he was after would be in the blood as well.

After a quick scan, which indicated the presence of the trace element, he began the delicate process of extracting them from blood sample. Mordin couldn't help but smile as he held one of the vials up to the light in his lab. There at the bottom of the vial in a pile, albeit a very small pile, was a small collection of what he was after. The light blue particles were glowing, giving them a stark contrast to the dark red blood surrounding them. He'd done it. He'd successfully extracted the trace mineral Hawke and Merrill called 'lyrium'. And now he had enough to start trying to create a synthetic copy. Granted synthetic wouldn't be as potent as the raw, but the potential for lyrium was powerful enough to easily make eezo or element zero a thing of the past. Now all he had to do was get Merrill to confirm that this was in fact lyrium and he could begin his research in earnest.

His omni-tool started beeping as he set the down in a holder. Slightly upset about being interrupted in the middle of his research he opened the message none the less. 'Hmm, curious.' He thought as he read Miranda Lawson's message a third time. 'Cerberus hiding Reaper from Council and Alliance. Smart. Council would've denied and sealed derelict away.'

Closing the message he began the careful process of withdrawing the precious lyrium from blood. Chance of studying Reaper, even a derelict one, was too good an opportunity to pass up. But first he needed to complete this experiment first. Experiment was time sensitive. Lyrium likely to dissolve back into blood if left alone for too long. After carefully extracting the lyrium from all six vials he stored the precious element into his own personal climate controlled safe he'd installed beneath his desk.

He couldn't risk storing the sample in the open. His lyrium experiments were just one of the side projects he was keeping away from Cerberus. Although he was grateful to Cerberus for the chance to study Reapers and Collectors, not to mention the unlimited budget and no questions asked policy; that didn't mean he trusted them. Cerberus's main aim was to raise human race above all others in the galaxy. He wasn't about to hand them the potential means to make aim possible.

Confident that the fruits of his labors were secured he began moving around his lab grabbing several different diagnostic tools. Chance to study Reaper, perhaps only chance to study Reaper. He couldn't let this opportunity go to waste.

Standing next to Shepard on the bridge of the Normandy Hawke was fighting the urge tremble, of course that that was nearly impossible as the Normandy was being rocked back and forth worse than a merchant sea vessel in the middle of a storm. They'd just exited FTL near the 'brown giant', whatever in the Maker's name that was, and were preceding towards a single object amongst a sea of rocks and debris.

While Hawke was bracing himself using a wall of the Normandy as a support, Shepard was holding onto the back of Joker's chair. "What's with all the chop Joker?"

Joker cursed more than once as his fingers flew across the numerous control's in front of him. How Joker managed to keep everything straight was beyond Hawke. "Solar winds from the brown giant are gusting at speeds upwards of 500kph Commander!" Joker yelled as his fingers continued to move in a blur across the screens in front of him. "EDI and I are doing everything we can to compensate but it's a royal pain in the ass sir!"

As soon as the words were out of Joker's mouth the Normandy stopped shaking. Both Joker and Shepard were looking around the ship as if being stable was the strangest thing imaginable. "Huh." Joker muttered going back to his controls. "Small favors, huh Shepard?"

"The Reaper is emitting strong mass effect fields in an attempt to maintain its position against the gravitational pull of the brown giant." EDI chimed in. "As long as we maintain flight within the mass effect fields turbulence will be reduced by 99.57 percent."

"Eye of the storm eh Shepard?" Joker asked flying them closer to the Reaper.

Hawke's eyes widened as he got his first real look at a Reaper up close. The thing was absolutely massive. Not massive like the Citadel, but it was still larger than any other ship Hawke had seen so far. "Dear Maker," Hawke breathed as they drew closer. "That…thing, that's a Reaper?"

The thing was utterly massive, larger than the Collector ship by far. Hawke was even more disturbed by its shape however. The thing looked like an over grown spider and Hawke couldn't help the shutter that went through him. After the time his brother had decided it would be funny to put an oversize spider in his bed Hawke couldn't stand the arachnids. It probably also didn't help that said spider turned out to be fairly poisonous and it was only thanks to his father's magic that he survived the night. But ever since that day he'd had a fear, some called it irrational but he thought it was justified, of spiders.

Maker, the giant spider they faced down in the Deeproads that was three times the size of a man nearly made Hawke piss himself. Of course his fear of the thing caused him to freeze in the middle of battle, the consequence of which was Merrill getting trampled and nearly eaten by the damn thing. After that failure, of which Merrill forgave nearly instantly, Hawke had made a promise never to fear the damn things again. But just because he vowed never to be scared of them again…it didn't mean he had to like them.

"Yes." Shepard answered simply breaking him from his memories.

Hawke was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that something that size was a living creature…sort of. And the fact that they were going to go inside of it…that really did not sit too terribly well with him. "How do you fight something that size?"

"Guns." Shepard answered. "A lot of really, really big guns."

"Commander, got a signal coming in over the comm." Joker said scratching the back of his head. "It looks like its emanating from that Cerberus vessel attached to the Reaper…but it's just a looping message…something along the lines of go away or die. So we're still going in right?"

This time Hawke did laugh at the look Shepard shot at Joker. "Right." Joker said settling back into his seat. "Of course we're going in Joker. It's only a looping go away or die message. Why wouldn't we head towards it?"

Shepard sharply cuffed Joker upside the back of his head. "Ouch!" Joker yelled rubbing the back of his head. "Watch it Shepard? I break easily you know?"

"Just fly us in Joker, nice and steady." Shepard commanded turning away from Joker and motioning for Hawke to follow him.

"Aye aye Commander. Setting course and flying nice and steady towards certain death. Man, and here I was hoping to have a normal day for a change."

Well there we are another chapter down and I hope you all enjoyed it! Please leave a review for me! I love hearing what you guys think and taking your opinions to heart. See ya all in the next chapter!