A/N: Well, I'm finding less and less to say in these things. But hey, that's a good sign, right? Means the story is picking up more steam!

Anyway, let's get going with this, yeah? Here we go!

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jodie walked into the shuttle where it remained parked. The shuttle was in very good condition, actually, considering that it had been rammed into the back of its docking bay. She could only shake her head at the slight dent in the Lying Bastard, but she could not really be brought to care.

She crossed her arms, before looking at the shuttle itself. She then shrugged, walking over to the open shuttle door and entering to find Ashley looking over the controls.

As Jodie entered, Ashley glanced behind her. "Oh, Jodie," she said. She then shrugged, returning to her work. "Hey. You hanging in there?"

"I'm fine," Jodie replied as she stepped into the shuttle, sitting on one of the seats across from the door. "You?"

"This is all very big," Ashley admitted. "I'm just a grunt, Jodie. If you'd have told me I'd be brought along for this ride...?"

"I know what you mean," Jodie replied. "My life is full of nothing but that."

"Did you ever get to determine your own direction?" Ashley asked.

Jodie nodded. "Once, when I was on the run from the CIA," she said. She sighed. "It wasn't great. The CIA knows how to hunt you down, you know. But it was something. No obbliggations, and I could determine my own direction in life." She shook her head. "It's a weird existence."

"But you survived it," Ashley said.

"Yeah," Jodie said. She looked up, Aiden gurgling. "I've survived it." She shrugged, looking over at Ashley. "And you, with a family... I bet your sisters are worried about you."

"I bet they are," Ashley admitted. "I would be too, if one of them had been roped into this whole mission." She sighed. "I couldn't tell them about the specifics, though. Anderson kept me from doing that."

"Of course," Jodie said with a plain tone. "Wouldn't want this secret to get out too much."

"No, we wouldn't," said Ashley. "Still, it's tough to tell them you're going on a mission and then find yourself unable to tell them what the mission is. Or even when you're gonna get back."

"Yeah..." Jodie sighed, leaning back on the chair. "You learn to deal with it."

"I guess so," Ashley said. She paused, before turning around, leaving the controls behind. "I'm worried about this mission. I'm worried about what we'll find..."

Jodie nodded, swallowing a lump in her throat. "I think we all feel it," Jodie said. She shrugged. "But honestly? We signed up for it. I wouldn't be here if I didn't expect I'd find something very, very worrying for this whole galaxy. We have to prepare for anything."

"True," said Ashley. She sighed, before turning back. "I guess I just needed to clear my head a bit. Especially now that we're working with a damn geth. I'll be very surprised if I'm not court martialled for treason when I get back."

Jodie frowned, looking over at Ashley. "We'll get them to understand," she said. "The Alliance, I mean."

"I hope so," Ashley replied. She shrugged. "I hope so..."

Jodie nodded. "Running diagnostics on the shuttle?" she asked.

"Yeah." She looked down. "Everything looks to be running fine so far. I just want to make sure our little landing didn't jostle any of the systems too badly. That wouldn't be good if we wanted to use this thing again."

Some time later, Jodie walked into the science lab. She looked over, seeing Valentine and Sura watching over the prisoner. Legion continued to work dilligently at the work table, casting a glance at the aqueron every so often.

As soon as Jodie entered, Valentine and Sura turned their attention to her. "Hm," said Sura. "Finally decided to change the guard? I guess you want the fanfare, too?"

"Hey now," Valentine replied. "She's not the Queen of England, you know."

"It's... it's fine," said Jodie, holding a pack close to her chest. "I'm not fond of all that, anyway."

Sura sighed. "Well, if that's how you're going to do it..." She shrugged, patting Jodie on the back. "Don't mind the robot. It's just been sitting there analyzing that sword."

"Yeah," said Valentine. He then saw the pack Jodie held close to her chest. His eyebrows rose, and then he nodded. "Good luck with that, by the way."

Jodie nodded. "I'll be fine," she replied. "You can count on that."

Valentine nodded, before walking to the door. "Then I'll leave that to you. We'll be back when it's our turn."

And with this, Jodie watched as Sura and Valentine exited the room. The door closed behind them, Jodie keeping her gaze trained on the door for a brief time. She then nodded, and turned her attention to the aqueron prisoner. Legion remained quiet as she knelt beside him, setting the pack on the floor.

The aqueron frowned. "You said there would be no torture," he said.

Jodie shook her head, opening the pack. "This isn't anything to torture you with," Jodie replied.

She then pulled a seal on the pack, revealing a few choice items that looked only tangentially like food. The aqueron's eyes widened, Jodie grabbing a spoon from one of the slots in the package. She then brought the utensil through a white mass, the mass breaking up slightly to revel it was solid, with little brownish-purple patches.

Jodie cringed. "Crap, it was the mashed potato ration," she said. She sighed. "I am so sorry for what you're about to taste. Trust me, it tastes bad on my palate, too."

The aqueron paused. "That is what you eat?" he asked. He frowned, looking down. "No wonder."

Jodie shrugged. "Normally, we can get it to taste better than this," she said. She then paused, looking at the aqueron. "You're a levo-amino, right?"

The aqueron frowned, tapping his foot against the floor. "And how do you know I won't lie?"

"I can always get our asari to come back in and pull it out of your mind," said Jodie.

The aqueron huffed, his eyes narrowed. "Levo," he said.

Jodie nodded. "Good," she said. She then lifted the utensil, holding it up to the aqueron's mouth. "Now, open wide."

The aqueron glared at Jodie for a few seconds, before opening his mouth. Jodie gently put the spoon in, the aqueron closing it. Jodie withdrew the spoon, watching as the aqueron chewed on it. The prisoner then paused, his eye ridges elevating slightly. He made no other indication, before looking down at the ration of food. He then swallowed, Jodie noticing that it didn't take him very much effort to do it, and that he did it without cringing.

"That was... not unpleasant," he said.

Jodie frowned. "How did that not taste that bad?" she asked.

"It didn't," said the aqueron. "Though I wonder why you would feed the prisoner."

"Well, we'd be terrible hosts if we didn't make sure you stayed fed, right?" Jodie asked.

The aqueron snorted, his expression humorless as he regarded Jodie. "You speak as if I want to be here," he said.

"Perhaps," said Jodie as she scooped up more of the mashed potato ration. "And for the record, I feel just as ridiculous as you do."

"Yes, it is quite pathetic that I'm being spoonfed by a captor," said the aqueron bitterly.

Jodie shook her head, bringing the spoon back up to the aqueron. The prisoner took a bite again, Jodie sighing. "At this rate, we might have to go back to civilization sooner to get more of these," she said. "We weren't expecting to have another person on board."

The aqueron looked over at Legion. "Two people," he said.

Jodie blinked, before her brows furrowed. Before she could say anything, though, the geth turned to the aqueron. "This platform does not require the intake of organic food to remain functional," Legion said.

Jodie nodded. "Yeah, what the geth said," she replied.

"You still speak as if it were not a person," said the aqueron, spitting out some of his words. "Yet another thing humans can't do right."

"Why do you say that?" Jodie asked.

The aqueron glared at Jodie. "Your pilot encountered our electronic entity," he replied.

Jodie frowned, looking back at Legion. "Electronic entity..." she said. "That's a weird term, isn't it? It sounds so... strange."

"It's not racist the way 'artificial intelligence' is," said the aqueron, leaning forward as he bared his teeth.

"Why?" Jodie asked. "I mean, it's an intelligence created by people, isn't it?"

"Ah, but it's 'artificial'," the aqueron replied. "Artificial. Something not made through natural means. That implies it isn't really alive." He shook his head. "We much prefer 'electronic entity'. That term breathes life into it, considers them a person. It means they exist."

Jodie frowned. "You could call an OSD an entity, though," she said. "It exists."

"Ah, but can they think?" asked the aqueron. "Do they have the capability to ponder their own existence?"

"The capacity to question our existence requires intelligence."

Jodie and the aqueron both turned to Legion, the geth temporarily stopping what he was doing to look at them.

The aqueron frowned. "What?" the aqueron asked.

"If this platform were to be asked if we preferred 'electronic entity' or 'artificial intelligence', we would answer 'neither'," Legion replied. It then turned to the aqueron. "We accept the fact that we are not organic, and that we are the creations of a physical species. The term 'artificial' is of minimal importance. What is important is the capacity to form thoughts."

"Hence... intelligence," said Jodie.

"Affirmative." Legion then turned to Jodie. "Nor would we think of 'entity' as a term the same way. According to our data banks collected from studying organics, 'entity' is often used in contexts where the object is alive."

Jodie nodded. "I guess connotation does count for a lot," she said.

The aqueron growled. "But 'artificial'!" he said. "That encourages a separation between the organic and the machine!"

"'Electronic' can do that too," Jodie replied. "How many organic beings need to be powered by electricity to survive?"

The aqueron paused, glancing to the side. "I..." He closed his mouth, looking down at the ground. He remained silent for a few seconds, before he turned back to Jodie. "Electricity is used in an organic body as well, isn't it?"

"This platform requires more electricity to function than an organic body," Legion said. "We use electricity in a far more obvious manner."

"And besides, 'electronic' is used only for machines around here," Jodie replied. She then shifted her posture, looking at the aqueron. "I guess neither term is perfect."

"Bah." The aqueron growled, turning away. "Primitives. All of you."

Jodie shook her head, scooping another spoonful of the mashed potato. "We're feeding you," she said. "We can't be that primitive if we're watching out for a prisoner's health, right?"

The aqueron turned to Jodie, his glare fixed on her. However, Jodie felt no fear: she gave a small smile, shrugging as she held the spoonful up to the aqueron. "Here," she said. "We've still got the rest of the ration to go."

The aqueron sighed, before turning back to Jodie. He bit down on the spoon, glaring at Jodie ruefully the whole time.

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't like us."

"Oh really? What gave it away? The fact that he doesn't talk to us, or the fact that when he does he constantly calls us primitives?"

Sura sat back, digging into a ration of some funny-looking asari bread as Jodie leaned forward. "Well..." Jodie replied. She glanced off to the side.

The asari nodded. "You see?" she asked. "There you go."

Jodie nodded, popping a couple of raisins into her mouth. As she chewed and swallowed, she looked up. "Primitives..." She sighed, looking over at Sura. "You know, I have to wonder..."

"What?" Sura asked.

Jodie sighed, looking up. "I mean, you looked into my mind," she said. "You saw all the things I saw there, how I technically forward in time..." She shook her head. "And now I'm walking around in a time where I'm talking to extraterrestrials."

"Yeah, I've seen some of the human-made movies about that," said Sura. "If your species did any more speculating, I'd question your ability to make decisions."

"We're just a curious lot," Jodie replied. "Just like you." She then shrugged. "But no. I feel like I've stepped into a place where everything is so advanced it's not even funny. So if that's the case..." She then leaned forward. "Can you even imagine what this other galaxy could be like?"

Sura paused. "Hm... Actually, I hadn't thought of it like that," she said. She paused, frowning. "Wow. Okay, that's... that's actually kind of freaky." She then turned back to Jodie. "Though he could always mean it derogatorily or something."

"It could be," said Jodie as she glanced to the side. "Still, think about it. They had ships that could turn invisible to the human eye, they have whatever stopped Valentine from moving away from that other ship, they have that thing that Legion's analyzing."

"You mean the machine," Sura immediately spat out, her expression turning sour.

"Legion," said Jodie. She shook her head. "Anyway, the point is, can you imagine what they have?"

Sura's frown deepened, but any further indications of anger were lost when she took the bite out of the bread. "No..." said Sura. She then frowned again, before sitting up on the edge of the bed. "And you know, come to think of it, why not exchange some of that with us?"

Jodie frowned. "Sura?" she asked.

"Think about it," said the asari. "These guys have all this advanced tech that we're just starting to see. They've got all these things that our engineers could only dream of doing." Sura shrugged. "So of course, instead of offering all that advanced tech to us as a first contact gift, they're using it to directly subvert the Council's authority. You know, because that makes sense from a diplomatic standpoint."

Jodie nodded. "That's... true," she said. "It almost casts their motivations suspiciously."

"Doesn't it?" Sura asked. She then shrugged. "This just keeps getting more interesting."

"It does," said Jodie. She then paused, before looking over at the asari. "You think we should try to get more answers out of our prisoner?"

"Sure," said Sura. "Well, once it's time to switch the guard duty again, anyway. I don't know about you, but I don't want to have to be around that damn machine any longer than I need to."

Jodie sighed. "Whatever you say," she said. She then sighed, popping another two raisins into her mouth. "Well, I'm going to go check on some of the others. I'll see you in an hour, right?"

"Yeah," Sura replied, leaning back. "I'll see you then."

With this, Jodie nodded, walking out of the room. She sighed, hearing Aiden chirp overhead as she made her way to the cockpit.

"So, about these 'exions'..."

The aqueron grumbled, looking up at Jodie in anger. "So you know what they are," he said.

"We picked up a message from the Commander himself," said Jodie. She then crossed her arms. "They're the artificial intel... sorry, electronic entities that you told us about, right?"

The aqueron scoffed. "Took you long enough." He then glanced up at Sura. "I'm surprised you are letting it slide."

"It's not like I have a choice," said Sura. She shook her head, glancing at Legion. The geth was busy analyzing a crystal, and seemed to distracted to contribute to the conversation.

Sura turned away. "Anyway, that's not the point," she said. "What can they do?"

"You saw what it can do," the aqueron replied.

"Yes, but that doesn't answer the question," said Jodie. "How could it take over our hardware?"

The aqueron paused. "It can send out data to any hardware wirelessly," he said. "And it can use a heartbleed to gather your information. From there, it can quickly take over, locking you out as your log-in information is erased..."

"Wait, that's it?" Jodie asked. She frowned. "I was expecting something more... convoluted."

"And I can think of a few ways that'd be easily stopped," Sura said. She then paused. "Unless..."

"Not only can it do it quickly, but once it has formatted your drive..." He then smirked. "It can insert a part of its personality into the hardware."

"It can put itself in there?" asked Sura. She then frowned. "How?"

"It... jumps," said the aqueron. "As long as they can maintain a connection, it can inhabit whatever space it can clear. It allows it to project itself through that data, and it can do so to any hardware it takes over." He frowned. "And it can keep that connection."

Jodie blinked. "Kasumi fought with it and it left, right?" she asked.

"That was a fluke," said the aqueron. "It was not expecting to be pulled away from the connection point." He then growled. "You found a way to stop it."

Sura shook her head. "Well, just moving it away won't work," she said. She then looked up. "Though I'm pretty sure C-SEC would love to hear about how to counter it."

"You cannot counter it," the aqueron replied.

The asari smirked. "Try me," she said. "The thing is we weren't prepared for it. But I bet if we know what to look for, we can proof it all against that." She then tapped her foot down. "So what else can you guys do?"

The aqueron grumbled, looking away. "I should not have to tell you what else this galaxy is capable of," he said. "Stop wasting my time."

"Well, we could always cut to the chase and look inside your head," said Sura.

The aqueron sighed angrily. "You still waste your time with this petty behavior," he said. He then shook his head, turning to Jodie. "Fine. Our ships can turn invisible, as you also saw. But what you didn't see... Our ships don't need the mass relays."

Jodie blinked, looking at Sura's expression of shock. "Wait, what?" Sura asked. "That's impossible!"

"Our galaxy has no mass relays," said the aqueron. "It's a necessity. We have ways of warping time and space: we open a hole in time and space to travel those distances. It is roughly equivalent to a mass relay jump."

Jodie nodded, chewing her lower lip a little. "Just like Vigil said..." she said. She then paused, kneeling in front of him. "What else do you have waiting for us? Something more advanced, like a weapon?"

"You are seeing it," said the aqueron as he glared at Legion. "And you have seen it. Our guns are not so dissimilar, in some ways. We have no mass effect, but it seems our guns still launch particles with great speed." He growled. "It took us much longer to achieve that technology, but we acquired it." He then growled. "Not that you will ever know most of what it is if we can help it. We will never yield our technology to you primitives."

Sura sighed, rubbing her temples. "You just love making our job difficult." She then shook her head. "Oh well. Par for course, really." She shrugged indifferently.

"I know," said Jodie. She then looked at him. "Well, I think that was productive."

"You say it was productive," said the aqueron. "I say it was theater. If you're going to interrogate me, don't waste my time."

And with this, the aqueron turned away. Jodie sighed, looking at Sura. "Well, I guess that's everything we can get out of him for now," she said.

"Yep," Sura agreed. "I'll just sit here, then, watch over this guy. I'll see you around."

Jodie nodded. She turned on her foot, looking over a Legion as she walked to the door.

"So that's what you were thinking of, huh?"

Jodie sat back in the couch, the holovid playing at the other end of the rec room. "Yeah," Jodie said. She turned her attention back to the vid, but found her mind could not stay focused on it.

"Yeah, he does seem genuinely angry," said Kasumi. She sighed. "I swear, he spat at me once when he called me a primitive."

Jodie nodded. "That does not surprsie me." She then turned back to the holovid, watching as two women dressed in old Japanese finery turned to each other. "And Xerxes said this was mandatory viewing..."

Kasumi shrugged. "Well, it's more outdated than anything," Kasumi said. "This is what passed for a strong female character at the time."

Jodie snorted, her attention turning as the shorter of the two obviously not-Japanese women sang in Italian. "No shit," she commented wryly.

And then, the shorter woman launched into an aria, the high, delicate notes floating from the speakers. Jodie shrugged, looking over at Kasumi as she shifted on the floor. They both listened on, the musical line descending into a cadence.

"Well, at least the music's nice," Kasumi replied.

Jodie nodded. "Yeah," she said. "That's about all you can say about this thing, really."

"Yeah," Kasumi said. She shrugged. "That's all you can say about most opera."

Jodie nodded. She then sighed, shaking her head. "The man she loves is lying."

Kasumi shrugged. "Well, this thing is... what? Over two and a half centuries old?" She chuckled, shaking her head. "It's not a spoiler if it's really old."

"I know that," said Jodie. "But... I don't know. I guess I'm feeling a little more spiteful of Pinkerton than some. I've seen his type: he tried to save the galaxy once."

"Shepard..." Kasumi said as the aria quieted down.

"Yeah," Jodie replied. She paused, looking at the singer on the screen as the camera zoomed in closer to her hopeful face. "I wonder how much he really told Tali about himself."

"Tali?" Kasumi asked. "You mean that qua..." The thief blinked, before she tilted her head at Jodie. "So they were in a relationship, huh?"

"Yeah," said Jodie. "Tali really liked him. I... I tried to warn her to stay away, but..." She shook her head. "Let's be honest, she probably didn't listen."

"Maybe, maybe not," Kasumi replied. She shrugged. "Hey, look on the bright side: at least people can't come back from the dead."

Jodie nodded. "True," she said. She then sighed, feeling comforted at that fact. "True. There's something in that, at least." She looked up at the ceiling as the orchestra swelled into a crescendo. "You think Tali can move on?"

"We'll see," Kasumi said.

"I hope she does," said Jodie. "If he lied to all of us like that, then I don't think he was a good guy..."

And with this, Jodie turned her attention back to the aria as the orchestra blasted the coda to the aria.

It was right as the orchestra quieted down and played the soft closing chord that the door to the rec room opened. Jodie sat up, looking in as Legion entered, its headflaps moving.

"Holmes-Anomaly," it said. "Kasumi-Thief." It regarded Kasumi briefly. "We have analyzed the weapon you took from Shepard-Commander's last known location."

Jodie blinked, standing up as Kasumi hit the pause on the holovid projector. "You did?" she asked. "What is it?"

"We believe this weapon is far more technologically advanced than anything this galaxy has ever seen before." The geth looked at Jodie.

"We believe you should see this."

"Wow."

Jodie looked at the disassembled weapon on the work table. Kasumi, Kalo, and Valentine all looked over it, Ashley and Sura keeping watch over the aqueron in the corner. Jodie leaned forward, looking intently at the objects scattered about. A few metal rods here, a power cell there, a few wires, a couple of crystals as well... It was a mess of mechanical parts, but Jodie could see from the way the machine had laid it out that there was a sense to the order.

Valentine leaned over Jodie's shoulder, adjusting his sunglasses as he looked at the spread out weapon. "Damn," he said. "Where was this when I was ten years old?"

"In a galaxy far, far away," Sura replied.

Valentine chuckled. "At least it wasn't a long time ago, too," Valentine replied. He then turned to the object on the table. "Damn... How do you get all this?" He then leaned forward. "And how does it work?"

Legion began by pointing at a large grey cylinder, the cylinder still attached inside the open hilt. "We propose that this fires energy," said Legion.

"And the energy passes through there," said Kalo, rubbing the bottom of his face mask as he indicated the various metal cylinders. "I assume it converts whatever that cell releases into some form of plasma, no?"

"Affirmative," Legion replied. It then pointed at the crystals on the table. "We believe these focus the energy into a usable form that can be adjusted according to each specific platform's needs."

"Just like a lightsaber," said Valentine.

"Damn..." Kasumi rubbed her chin, looking at it. "I don't know about you, but I love the fact that we don't have anything like this over here."

"We would have used a mass effect field in there," said Kalo. "And I do not believe we would be able to generate the amount of energy needed to control plasma, either."

"So we have a weapon of theirs, and we can see the tech..." Jodie nodded. "Well. I think our visit turned out to be more fortuitous than you might have expected."

Ashley nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Damn, all we needed to do was analyze Shepard's sword..."

Valentine turned to Ashley. "He had one of these?" he asked.

"Used it at the C-SEC office where Jodie took Tali," said Sura. "He's lucky they didn't take out of my paycheck to pay for the desk he slashed in half. I would've confiscated it for sure then."

"I guess he wouldn't have wanted us near it," said Jodie. She leaned forward. "He must've kept this thing under such a tight lock and key whenever he could. Couldn't risk it falling into our hands..."

"Yeah," said Ashley. "Damn, that's some pretty impressive proof, and it was dangling in front of us the whole time." She then paused, looking over at Sura. "Come to think of it, how do you think that thing would get past customs every time Shepard had to go through security somewhere?"

"I don't know," said Sura. She then glanced at the aqueron. "But I bet our friend here knows something."

"You wouldn't get it," said the aqueron immediately.

Sura then quirked an eye ridge. "Oh, so you want me to go into your mind and find out, then?" she asked.

The aqueron sighed, glaring to the side. "Most times, they are left on the ship," he replied. "But when we cannot do that, we often... how do we say it...? Mask it. One of those coils emits a field that masks it to scanners in your galaxy."

"And then we assume it clears customs," said Sura. She then frowned, crossing her arms before looking at the weapon. "And we'd be able to figure out how they do that if we look at this thing?"

"Yes," said the aqueron.

Sura nodded. "Then I'll be getting Kasumi to do that," she said. "I could have a little cat with Pallin about increasing the power of the scanner."

"That's good," said Valentine. "I think we've also got all the proof we need this galaxy exists."

Jodie nodded. "Be that as it may, we still don't know what they want with the Council," she said. "Even if we can prove their existence, I feel we should try to gauge their intent before we go back."

"We know they want Cerberus, at least," said Sura. "And given all the secrecy, they may be after the Council, too."

"Shit, they impersonated a human that became a goddamn Spectre," Valentine pointed out. "You can't get much more proof than that of their intentions, you know."

"True, but I feel like we should know why they want what they want," Jodie said. "If we know what motivates them..."

"Then you're sure they'd take the right action," said Ashley.

Valentine paused, stroking his chin. He then nodded. "That's true, actually," he said. "This is already going to be one hell of a diplomatic incident once we bring all this evidence forward, the Council won't want to add fire to it by acting without full knowledge of what's going on."

"I bet they'd even ask us to look into why they haven't revealed themselves," said Kasumi. "I mean, these guys have gone at this for... how long?"

"I don't know," said Jodie. "And even if I did, that's not the important question." She shook her head. "Why go through all this trouble? Why the secrecy?"

"You know why."

Jodie and the others breathed in, all of them frozen in place at the cold quality that was spoken in. After a few seconds, all attention turned back to the aqueron, everyone looking at him with some degree of surprise. The aqueron's eyes were aflame with a kind of a quiet fury that caused Jodie's blood to freeze, and his jaw seemed unusually tense.

Everyone stared at the aqueron for a second. And then, Kalo shifted his foot.

"We know why?" the quarian asked, leaning forward. "I... I apologize, I do not know what you mean."

"You know what you did," the aqueron replied. He then frowned, looking at Jodie. "Well, what they did."

"What we did?" asked Jodie.

"Yes," said the aqueron. "Or do you not remember what happened thirty years ago between our galaxies?"

"Thirty years ago?" Valentine turned. "What happened?"

"Or do I need to extract that out of your mind too?" asked Sura.

"That would be unnecessary," said the aqueron. He glared up at the asari, his brows furrowed in fury. "I'll give you all this, you can certainly feign ignorance to great effect. But no one can pretend forever. I know you remember." As he spoke, his voice rose in volume. "I know you know more about the culture than you have dared say; I know you know more about all of us, about the articians, everything than you say you do! So don't insult my intelligence anymore!"

Sura breathed in, and Jodie thought she saw the asari's brow twitch. Jodie herself felt a rush of anger fill her veins, Aiden murmuring as Jodie's hands tightened into fists.

"You think we're faking our confusion?" asked Valentine.

"You do it very well, especially for primitives," said the aqueron. "It is all you do. I have no reason to tell you what you already know."

Jodie frowned, shaking her head as she then leaned forward, her arms crossed in front of her as she leaned in front of his face. "If we knew what had happened, we wouldn't be asking why you're here," she said. "And we also wouldn't have gone to Alchera in the first place to find answers. We know absolutely nothing about your galaxy, and we don't know what you want. We're here because we don't know what's going on."

"Keep speaking your lies," the aqueron replied. "I can't trust anything you say. You buttered us up before, your species buttered us up before. I'm not falling for the act again."

"What act are you talking about?" Jodie asked, feeling the hair on her arms stand on end.

The aqueron glared at Jodie right in the eyes. "You know what it is," he said. "And frankly, I don't have to relive my galaxy's pain for your benefit when you know what's there. So I say to you: sod off."

Jodie bristled, Aiden chirping angrily. She waited a few seconds, failing to notice the soft clicking noise she heard. Everyone else looked at the aqueron, all of them staring at him in some kind of anger.

And then, Jodie turned to Sura. "Well, he's not coopoerating," she said. "He's all yours, officer."

Sura then cracked her knuckles, leaning close to the aqueron as he turned to glare at her angrily. Sura met the glare head-on, grabbing the aqueron's head and looking intently into his eyes.

"Well, don't say we didn't warn you," she said. "Embrace eternity!"

The aqueron opened his mouth to protest, but before he could, Sura's eyes turned black. And then, the aqueron's eyes went blank as well. Jodie frowned, looking down at the aqueron's hands as Sura embraced eternity with him. Everyone stood there, Jodie looking on as she felt the rage she felt at the aqueron's accusations slowly whittle away.

And then, after a while, Sura lunged back. Both aqueron and asari parted, the aqueron leaning back as the asari stumbled back, nearly falling onto the lockers behind her.

Jodie breathed in sharply, Kalo rushing to help the asari to her feet. By then, the anger in the room had dissipated, especially seeing at how Sura was breathing in and out.

"Sura?" Kalo asked. "Sura? What is wrong? What happened?"

"So much death..." Sura said. "So much death..."

"So much death?" Jodie asked, walking to Sura. "Sura, what did you see in there?"

"The truth," said the aqueron. Jodie turned to him, noticing that Valentine and Kasumi had both stepped closer, Ashley leaning over. "The truth of what you monsters did to us!"

Jodie immediately turned to the aqueron, feeling the anger bubble in her again. "What aren't you telling us?" she shouted.

As soon as she released this shout, the light in the room flickered on and off, some of the equipment in the room powering up and down. Valentine and Legion looked up in surprise.

"Uh..." Valentine said.

Jodie and the aqueron ignored him. "You know what I hide," the aqueron replied as he raised his voice at Jodie.

"I don't!" Jodie shouted, the lights beginning to flicker with greater frequency. "What do you know?"

Ashley stepped back, looking at the room around them. "Jodie..." she said. "Jodie, what's going on?"

"The same thing you do!" cried the aqueron. "Stop pretending!"

Jodie breathed in and out, her nails digging into her palm. "If I knew, do you think I would ask?" she asked. "I know nothing!"

"You lie!" the aqueron shouted. "You lie, and that is all you can ever-!"

And then, the light fixture overhead exploded, showering the whole lab with sparks. This shocked the aqueron into silence, but before anybody could do anything else a loud series of clacks sounded from the work table.

"Holmes-Anomaly!" Legion droned in the clamor. "We did not give you permission to-"

But before Legion could finish its sentence, the quickly assembled hilt levitated off the table, a loud whooshing sound smashing through the room as the beam of energy cast light on everyone. The beam sword was held in the air by an invisible force, the aqueron looking on wide-eyed as the tip of the beam barely graced the skin of his throat. In the lighting above him, Jodie's furrowed brows greeted him, her expression far more menacing in the dull green light.

"Answer the goddamn question!"

The silence following Jodie's angry declaration was deafening. Sura crawled back, Kalo looking on with wide eyes as they both stared at Jodie in shock. Ashley and Valentine both turned to Jodie, and even Legion tilted its head in confusion at what it had just seen. Kasumi huddled close to the wall, eventually standing next to Kalo as she looked at the levitating sword.

But the aqueron's shock was most apparent to all. He turned his attention back to the energy sword, his mouth hanging open as he turned back to Jodie. His eyes were wider than anyone in the room had seen them, and the stiffness in his muscles kept him rooted in place. He glanced up at Jodie, before looking at the sword held at his throat.

Finally, he swallowed, turning to Jodie.

"This... this is impossible..." he said.

"What is?" Jodie cried, her fists tightening.

"You... you are not artician," said the aqueron. "Only the articians can be one of you."

At this, Jodie blinked in surprise, some of the anger on her face visibly evaporating. "One of what?" said Jodie.

"One of... one of the spirit-touched," the aqueron replied with a shaky exhale.

Jodie tilted her head, her anger gone and instead replaced by confusion. "Spirit-touched?" she asked with a half-whisper.

"Yes," the aqueron said, looking up in fear. "How... how is it even-?"

And then, Jodie and Kasumi's omni-tool sounded at exactly the same time. Jodie blinked in shock, looking at her omni-tool to see an indication for a message. Jodie would have ignored it, but when she turned, she saw the exclamation mark that denoted the message's urgency.

"Kasumi?" asked Ashley. "Jodie?"

Jodie turned to Kasumi, the two of them widening their eyes as they looked at the sender's name.

"Xerxes..." Jodie whispered.

Kasumi immediately opened the message, Jodie stepping back and doing the same thing. Aiden released the energy sword, the blade vanishing before it was placed back on the work table. And then, Kasumi and Jodie opened their messages, glancing at each other as Kalo and Sura leaned close.

"What is it?" asked Kalo. "Is something...?"

Jodie breathed in. "I... don't know..." she said, looking at the message. "I hope..."

And then, she read it.

"Jodie, Kasumi,

I'm sending this message before I head out to work. I hope to the spirits they can't break the encryption on this thing. Kasumi, I used some tricks from your book. Please don't get too mad, but this is urgent.

I'm being followed. I don't know who's following me or why, but I have a strong feeling that I'm being followed by those friends Jodie mentioned that Shepard had. They look too uncannily similar to humans, and there was some red-skinned drell with them. But something about them feels... off. Especially the drell. It's like they're... pretenders. The drell's skin is too red and his scales don't look quite right to me, one of the humans constantly wears black sunglasses, the other seems too tall, too proud to be an average human... I don't know.

They've been following me for the better part of two days, as if they were scoping my routine. Most would think nothing of it, but I've been tracked down by people enough times to know their type. They're after me.

I'm sending this message to you now. The plan is to send you two another message every hour from the moment I send this one. If you don't get any messages in exactly one galactic standard hour, assume the worst has happened. Whatever you do, do not reply to this message. The reply will probably be unencrypted, and if they're looking for what I think they are they'll intercept that message and they'll have important information.

I don't know what you'll be able to do if worst comes to worst. But if I can get back to you, I'll think of something.

Stay safe out there,

Xerxes"

Jodie blinked, taking in a sharp breath. "How...?" she said.

"What happened?" asked Sura. "What's going on?"

"He said he's being followed," said Kasumi. She took a shaky breath in, turning to Jodie in what was perhaps the first time Jodie could see Kasumi's expression under the hood. "You don't think..."

"Shit," Jodie replied. "They must've caught on after Alchera. And that means... that means they know that this mission exists." She breathed in, looking at Valentine. "How much do they know?"

"I don't know." Valentine frowned, looking back. "If you're asking about the Alliance involvement, I doubt they know that much, especially since they likely picked up the fake ship registry we have here." He shook his head. "But as for external involvement, I don't know."

"Shit," said Jodie as she turned around. "What do we do?"

Kasumi blinked, breathing in nervously. "We wait," she said. "I know Xerxes. He never falls back on his word."

Jodie nodded. "He never does," she agreed. She sighed. "But what do we do if he we don't get a message from him? We can't just leave him to them."

"We'll figure something out," said Ashley. "Right now, we don't have time to worry about that." She then looked to everyone. "Is there anyone else you've told about this mission?"

"Not from me, no," Valentine said.

"I had no one else to tell," Kalo added.

"If they don't know that I'm a C-SEC officer yet, I think the people I know will be fine," Sura said.

"I... I hope so," said Jodie, rubbing the back of her head. She then sighed, looking at Kasumi. "Oh, I hope Xerxes be all right..."

"We'll find out soon enough," said Kasumi. "Just wait the hour out." She then turned to the aqueron. "In the meantime, we have things we need to learn from him."

Jodie turned to the aqueron, seeing he had stayed in place. The initial shock had worn off, though the aqueron now looked at Jodie with complete confusion. He had not bothered to shift his position, instead only looking at Jodie with an expression of confusion. Jodie crossed her arms, looking down at the aqueron.

"You said I was spirit-touched," she said. "What does that mean?"

"You... You have a spirit with you," said the aqueron. "Only the articians had that. They were... They were attached to a spirit. And it would guide them in all things." He breathed in and out, shaking his head. "This is unreal. Only articians could be that... How are you one?"

Jodie shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "I've had Aiden with me since birth."

"Aiden?" asked the aqueron. "Then I am to assume that is the spirit's... Gods, you are spirit-touched..."

"I... I guess so." Jodie shrugged as she looked at the aqueron.

"I... I don't understand," the aqueron said. "This is impossible."

Sura shook her head. "Anything's possible now," the asari said. She then frowned, looking at the others. "Especially after what I saw in there."

"Anything specific?" Ashley asked as she turned to Sura.

"No," said Sura. "But whatever the details, it was bad." She shook her head, her hand falling onto her chest to steady herself. "I saw death... I saw so much death in there. I wasn't able to confirm it for sure, but I saw flashes of an emblem."

"An emblem?" Ashley blinked, opening her omni-tool and displaying an image. Jodie blinked, recognizing the orange emblem in the picture. "Was it this?"

"Yes," said Sura. "That was it."

"So Cerberus killed a bunch of people there?" Jodie asked.

"Yes." All attention turned back to the aqueron. "Cerberus... You really don't know anything."

Jodie shook her head. "No," she said.

"Then..." He looked to the side. "Then Cerberus doesn't wear it as a badge of pride that they killed so many people?"

"What are you talking about?" Ashley asked. "Most people don't know anything about Cerberus, except that they were a military branch that the Alliance recently cut ties with."

"What? But that..." The aqueron paused, looking away. "This is..." He paused, glancing away. "You're..."

And then, he fell silent. He turned away, closing his eyes. He shook his head, and said nothing more as his physical motions stopped. Jodie walked over, nearly placing her hand on his shoulder, but she hesitated. After a few seconds, she pulled away, stepping back.

"I have much to think on..." said the aqueron. "This is... This is unbelievable..."

Kasumi leaned over the work table. "Well," she said, her hands splaying out on the surface beneath them. "That was certainly interesting."

"Spirit-touched..." Kalo touched the edge of his mask, his fingers drumming against it. "This situtation keeps getting more and more complex with each thing we learn."

"Damn, more questions," said Valentine. "Does anyone else want this to be a simple stroll through the park like it should be?"

"I think we all want it to be that, but we're not getting it," said Sura. "And honestly, we're not going to get it at this rate." She sighed. "So we wait for the message, huh?"

Jodie nodded, opening her omni-tool. "One galactic standard hour," she said. She sighed, sitting down on the locker. She then looked up, seeing that the emergency back-up light shone above them. She then turned to Valentine.

"Sorry about the light. I'll fix that at some point."

The hour passed quietly, the tension thick in the air. The group had moved to the rec room, though Valentine and Legion had both stayed behind to keep an eye on the aqueron. All the others were crowded around Jodie and Kasumi the rec room, keeping a careful eye on Jodie and Kasumi's omni-tools. They said very little, the mounting pressure going to everyone.

As the hour neared its conclusion, Kasumi and Jodie both glanced at each other. Kasumi swallowed, glancing over at Sura. The cop shifted in her position next to the thief, rubbing her own shoulder. Sura nodded her head grimly, keeping her eyes closed as she waited for the message. Jodie sighed, hugging herself as she waited for the hour to end.

It was right as the last minute of the hour wore on that Jodie felt Kalo squeeze her shoulder. Jodie looked up, her eyes wide with fear. Kalo simply nodded, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. Jodie's gaze turned towards the floor, and then she nodded, her lips forming a grimace. She swallowed the lump in her throat, looking down at her hand as Aiden chirped uncertainly.

And then, the hour came.

It passed without a single sound. So, too, did the next few minutes, which were spent in a silence that slowly slipped from a tense silence to a horrified silence.

And as the minutes wore on, they saw that Xerxes would leave no reply.

Jodie swallowed, one of her hands cupping over her mouth. She let out a shaky breath, Kasumi and Sura both looking on as well. Ashley stood up, looking between Kasumi and Jodie.

Jodie squeezed her eyes shut, breathing out nervously. "No..." she whispered. "God, no..."

She felt Kalo sit next to her, the quarian pulling her into a hug. Jodie remained quiet, shaking her head.

"No..." Kasumi whispered.

Jodie inhaled audibly through her nose. "Dammit..." she whispered. "This... this is all my fault..."

"Don't blame yourself," said Sura. "I talked him into helping you. We've all got some part of the blame here."

Jodie shook her head. "But if I hadn't dragged him into it..." She then paused, exhaling as Kalo patted her back. Aiden let out a soft flurry of clicks, all of them softer than normal.

And meanwhile, Jodie felt her eyes water.

Dammit, she thought. I'm dragging people into my business again...

Ashley shook her head. "We can't think about that now," she said.

Jodie paused, looking up at Ashley. The gunnery chief's expression was neutral, though Jodie noticed that there was a fire there in the gunnery chief's eyes. She stared at it, her eyes still watering. Jodie felt her heart sink a little, but just as quickly, she felt another sensation.

Briefly, she felt warmth around her arm. When she looked, there was nobody there. But Jodie could tell, somehow: that was Aiden's work.

Jodie nodded, before sitting up. Kalo gently released her, Jodie rubbing her eyes. "You're right..." she said. She then breathed in, her eyebrows furrowing as she looked back up at everyone around her. "Chances are, they've captured him, looking for intelligence about us. I don't know if that's true, but I really hope it is."

Jodie then stood up, walking to the door. "It's my fault he's in this situation," she said, looking at them as Kalo stood up. "That means I need to get him out of there."

Sura then smiled. "That's the spirit," the asari replied. "We'll get him out of this."

"Yeah," said Jodie. "If we play our cards right... We'll get him out."

She then looked right at the door. "But first, we have answers we need to get. We're not going to save him without knowing anything, you know."