A/N: It's been quiet on the comment front lately, I hope y'all are still reading and enjoying. This chapter, hopefully, addresses some of the questions regarding why Aila was so willing to ditch her helmet as soon as she could, as well as giving us a much overdue tender moment between Aila and Regala. If you like it, let me know! If not, lemme know why!

The mood within the Normandy's briefing room was somber as everyone dealt with EDI's findings. Well... almost everyone... Ashley and Miranda were displaying the tell-tale signs of a hangover and were most likely focusing on staying mostly coherent. Aila expected any number of outbursts to break the heavy silence, but was caught completely off guard as Grunt began to chuckle, eventually escalating into a room-shaking laugh.

Shepard was just as bewildered as she was, apparently, and shot a curious glance at Tali before clearing his throat, "Something you want to let us in on, Grunt?"

Grunt's voice still shook with amusement as he clapped Garrus on the shoulder, "Twice they've tried to attack the galaxy, getting their tails kicked both times. Even varren are smart enough to not stick their tails where it hurts."

Tali raised her hand, "While I'm tempted to agree with you, Grunt, this isn't anything like the last two times. The first time, we had an entire fleet backing us up against Sovereign. And while we didn't have a fleet the second time, we weren't fighting a Reaper; just genetically altered protheans."

"We didn't have either EDI or Eva last time, Tali." Shepard looked at Aila, "She was the one who exposed that scout ship's weakness, does she have anything on the dreadnaughts?"

Before Aila could answer, EDI's orb flashed and was replaced by Eva's avatar, holding a scale version of a ship, "Before you ask, EDI is letting me use a communications channel. I'm not actually in the Normandy's systems." She held the model up and let go, causing it to float and spin slowly, "This... is holographic model constructed using the blueprints and data within my systems. With the exception of the control vessel, all ships were built exactly like this." She pushed the model aside and snapped her fingers, causing another model to appear, this one looking exactly like a Reaper, "And this, based on what data I could find, is what a Reaper looks like today. As you can see, they've added these appendages here, re-adjusted the flight trajectory, and added an outer shell." As she spoke, the Reaper model dis-assembled, until it looked exactly like the first one.

She shrugged, "The point I'm trying to make is that we got lucky with the scout ship. These Reapers, their configuration is... well, it's basically a whole new ship." She waved her hand and the models disappeared, a scrolling line of code replacing them, "Now, before you get all depressed on me, all is not yet lost. The coding that serves as the base for their AI and is present in everything not organic is familiar. I managed to grab snippets here and there as I was battling the scout's defenses and merged it with the Reaper-specific coding within EDI's program."

Eva winced slightly and glanced at Shepard, "Okay, so I might've lied about not being in the Normandy's systems, but I swear I didn't change anything." The only sound in the room was Aila's forehead slapping into her hand. Eva laughed nervously and held up a finger, "Okay, before you deactivate me, let me finish. This coding here..." she selected various lines and segments of code, dragging them off the scrolling portion and causing them to float in mid-air, "are more or less exactly what we, in some cases I, programmed into the ship all those years ago. This means that, while the ship is different, the actual technology hasn't advanced very far at all. Right now, I'm downloading what I was able to transfer from my station regarding the Reapers to EDI's storage. Hopefully there will be something of value in there."

She waved and disappeared, EDI's orb replacing her shape, "I have begun sorting through the data from the Illusion. And no Shepard, Eva didn't change anything or install anything in my coding. She accessed everything in read-only mode."

Shepard nodded and leaned forward on the table, choosing his words carefully, "The council, most likely, won't want to act on this data. Not only would it inconvenience them, but the Reaper's location is going to make getting help period tricky." He brought up the galaxy map and pointed to a flashing dot on the edge of the galaxy.

"That's deep in geth territory..." Reg leaned in, narrowing her eyes, "Actually... it's completely on the other side. I've only heard stories about the edge of the galaxy, legend says that only one exploration vessel actually returned from that space. When it did the crew was... changed..."

Miranda leaned heavily on the wall, rubbing her forehead and wincing, "Changed? How so?"

Regala shrugged and stood up, "Some stories say they were schizophrenic and talked gibberish. Others, that they were hollow shells devoid of any soul. One or two tales have them coming back as psychotic animals. Regardless, one of the oldest laws in our books strictly prohibit activating the Ten'Hula Relay."

"'Ten'Hula' is literally translated as 'Forsaken'" Tali clarified, "I don't think it's even in our star charts anymore, that entire system was ruled off-limits."

"So... is it like the Omega 4 relay? You need the IFF to get through?" Garrus was trying, and failing, to hide his confusion.

Tali shook her head, "No. It's a standard relay, just like the ones we use every day. The problem isn't the relay, rather what's on the other side."

"The Ten'Hula relay has not been activated since the war with the Creators." Legion commented, "Consensus was achieved that accessing the relay would not produce anything of value. The creator's fear regarding the relay was also taken into consideration in the decision."

"Legion. Do the geth-"

"Co-ordinates have already been downloaded to this platform." Legion interrupted, "Transfer to EDI in progress."

"Even the toaster is cutting you." Jack laughed, "Losing your touch, o fearless leader?"

Legion looked slightly confused, "Observation of organic habits, specifically those of Lawson and Zorah'Ambassador, indicate that interruption of others is acceptable in times such as these."

Everyone jumped slightly as Shepard's fist slammed into the table, "Enough! I am the captain here, and everyone will treat me with the respect that position deserves. That includes you Tali. We have a Reaper in our galaxy, our focus should be on that and NOT on disrespecting me. Am I clear?" He didn't bother waiting for acknowledgment before barking out orders, "EDI, make contact with the council. Aila, get back to the Illusion and stand by. And this time, keep a leash on your digital pet. Finally, Miranda, Ashley? Get your asses down to Dr. Chakwas and tell her I need both of you fit for duty by tomorrow."

"Captain Shepard."

"This had better be good, EDI."

"We are receiving a transmission from Noverian Executive Board. Shall I put them through?"

Ashley and Tali exchanged curious glances, then both turned to stare at Shepard.

"This should be... interesting." Shepard muttered, "Okay EDI, patch them through."

Her hologram vanished and was replaced by five smartly-dressed individuals; two asari, a human, two salarians and a turian. The human spoke first, "Captain Shepard. My name is Travis Licomber. On behalf of the Executive Board, I would like to extend an invitation to meet the board face-to-face. Docking fees will be waived, of course."

Shepard leaned back, crossing his arms and adopting an expressionless face, "I thought the board hated Spectres. Why the invitation?"

"We do not hate Spectres. What we hate is their operation outside the law. Noveria is a safe-haven for companies to perform research the short-sighted politicians on the Citadel seem to think shouldn't take place."

"Like genetically producing Rachni? That was a winner." Ashley's snarky remark drew an amused glance from Miranda.

"The Peak 15 incident was regrettable, and violated the Board's mandate regarding genetic experiments. Binary Helix has been appropriately fined, I assure you. Shepard, we are extending the invitation for one simple reason; one of our share-holders has relayed data to us regarding Saren, the Citadel attack and your part in both. Additionally, the data contains some... worrying implications. Implications we would be remiss to ignore."

"So you're saying you believe in the Reaper threat and are willing to help me?" Shepard looked incredulous.

Travis smiled slightly, "Captain. The board exists to protect our clients interests from any and all threats. This mandate demands that we treat all threats, regardless of their probability, the same. Whether or not we believe what you say doesn't matter; we are obligated to lend whatever assistance we deem necessary. Additionally, your actions in the past have benefited Noveria greatly and saved our planet from some terrible PR debacles. Our star internal affairs agent, Ms. Parasini, has spoken very highly of you in both of her reports."

"Okay, you've caught my attention. I'll make my way to Noveria as soon as I can. But I do have two conditions." Shepard held up two fingers, "First, I need a second docking berth for another ship. Second, I want to meet this share-holder that forwarded that information to you."

The board engaged in a brief discussion, before Travis cleared his throat, "The first one is granted, we will reserve a second bay. As for the second demand, we cannot expose our share-holders without their permission. We will have to contact the individual and go from there."

"Alright. I'm intrigued enough to pay you a visit." Shepard decided, indicating to Aila and Regala that they should head back to the Illusion. Aila quickly saluted and shoved Reg out of the room, setting a quick pace back to the docking bay.

As they reached the elevator, Reg gave Aila a curious glance, "Why the hurry to leave, Aila?"

"Did you see how angry he was just now? I want to get off this ship as soon as possible!" Aila giggled, dragging Reg out of the elevator and to their waiting shuttle, "Plus, aren't you looking forward to visiting Noveria? I hear it's lovely this time of year."

Reg scoffed and settled into the pilots seat, "Yeah... I can see it in a brochure 'Be sure to visit beautiful Noveria during the summer month, when the temperature can reach a balmy positive centigrade during the peak noon hour!' They'd have tourists everywhere..."

"Aila? Can I voice a complaint?" Eva's holographic image was waiting as the door to the captain's quarters slid open, looking mildly annoyed.

Reg snorted, "If she says 'no', will it stop you?"

"Do you know how bad an idea this is?" If Eva heard Reg's remark, she ignored it, "Noveria, from what I can gather, has a reputation for putting profits above everything else, and they're outside anyone's jurisdiction. Not the best place for a fully-conscious AI and two quarian's with nano-tech in their veins to visit, don't you think?"

Aila threw herself onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling, "Two reasons why I'm not overly worried: first, we're going there with Shepard. Noveria might be outside the council's jurisdiction, but not to the extent that they'd cross a Spectre. Secondly, unless someone tells them about either you or us, I don't really see how they can find out. Reg and I will wear our helmets the whole time and you can act like a standard VI."

Eva raised an eyebrow, "And if they run invasive scans?"

Propping herself up on her elbow, Aila smirked at Eva, "What. Are you saying you can't out-smart our technology?"

"Hah. I could make them think this ship is running on steam power if I wanted to." Eva laughed, "I was referring to you. The nanites are extremely hard to detect, but not impossible. Even for this galaxies level of technology. Standard body-scanners won't pick up anything, but advanced medical ones will."

Reg finished stowing her gear and jumped onto the bed next to Aila, "We'd have to consent to a medical examination in order for that to happen, Eva. Even the most paranoid security measures wouldn't justify a scan of that... nature... what are you doing?" she jerked her head away from Aila, who was tugging on her face-mask.

"What? I'm taking your helmet off." She smiled sweetly, tapping Reg's mask with her thumb. "I know it's tradition and all, but why do you still wear this?"

The helmet hissed as Reg snapped it off, running her hand through her short hair and shuddering slightly, "Aila, our kind has worn these helmets for over 300 years. I've worn it for 24 myself. I can't just stop like that." she snapped her fingers and shook her head slightly, "It's just... weird. I can't help but shake the feeling I'm flirting with disaster by taking it off."

Aila slid her gloves off and ran her fingers over Reg's skin, causing the older quarian to shudder and close her eyes slightly. Aila giggled and kissed her nose, "I know that feeling. I still get flutters when I think about it too much, but... those helmets... I always felt like they held us back. Like the other species didn't trust us because they couldn't see our faces, read our expressions. Almost like, no matter what we tried, we'd always be untrusted purely because of the suits. Thats why I ditched the helmet as soon as I could, I wanted to fit in. To start on even ground with humans and turians, rather than have to work just to reach a neutral opinion."

She blinked and sat up quickly, snapping her fingers, "I just remembered something!" She sprang out of the bed and dove into her dresser, rooting through the various knick-knacks stored therein.

Reg chuckled and ducked a flying shirt, shaking her head slightly, "Where did you get all these clothes?" She squeaked slightly as a lacy pink thing slapped her nose.

"Kassie and Kelly. Evidently they have more clothing than the rest of the crew combined, so they insisted on setting me up with the 'joys of clothing' as they put it." She threw a dress over her head, and leapt up, "Aha! This is what I was looking for!"

She spun and surveyed the clothing strewn everywhere, shrugging slightly, "Eh, I'll clean it up later. By the way, you'd look amazing in that. Kassie called it a 'thong'."

Reg was stretching the undergarment experimentally and cocked her eyebrow, "It looks... uhm... uncomfortable... and not very concealing. At all."

Aila giggled and stuck her tongue out, winking playfully, "Exactly!"

"Exactly what? 'Exactly', it's supposed to be not concealing? Or 'exactly' it's supposed to be uncomfortable. Because this little string looks like it'd cause... issues." She held the thong up by the string in question and winced slightly, "Especially if you dropped something..."

Aila shrugged, "'Exactly', it's supposed to be revealing... and as for the string, well..." she wiggled slightly and looked down, shrugging, "It takes some getting used to, but isn't too uncomfortable." She noticed Reg's look of disbelief and giggled, shrugging her shoulders innocently.

"So... something you want to show me, or are you just going to stand there and undress me with your eyes?" Reg grabbed Aila and yanked the cloth out of her hand, examining it closely. It was a dark red, nearly the color of her suit's cloth and covered in an ornate gold stitching.

The bed shook slightly as Aila leapt onto the bed, kneeling behind her and hugging her close, resting her chin on Reg's shoulder, "While I was on the Hudson, one of my closest friends, Lalia, followed an earth religion called "Islam". Part of her religion involved only allowing her husband to see her hair, and wearing what she called a 'hijab' in public. She said some Islamic followers hide their faces as well. Anyway, she saw a correlation between her hiding her hair and how our kind only allow loved ones to see our faces, even though the reasoning was different. She also pointed out how the covering we wear to hide the back of our helmets and her hijab looked extremely similar. Anyway, when I left, she gave me this." she took the cloth Reg was holding and unfolded it, holding it in a hood shape, "This particular hijab has a facial covering too. Now watch this."

She turned Reg's face so that it was facing straight ahead, then gently put the hood on, tucking it into her suit and draping the cloth over her face. She crawled in front of Reg and pulled her hood up, spending a few moments to adjust and tweak things before sitting back and smiling, pointing to the mirror on the desk, "Tell me what you think!"

Reg jumped off the bed and walked over to the mirror. Her normal hood covered most of her head, and the hijab concealed most of her face, only exposing her eyes, nose bridge and small slivers of her forehead and cheeks. The result was rather striking, the dark red blending in with her hood and bringing attention to her bluish skin and purple eyes.

Aila stood behind her, up on her tip-toes so she could see over Reg's shoulder, "See? You can keep your face hidden and still get used to going without the helmet. As you get more comfortable, you can simply cover less and less." She demonstrated this by reaching up and adjusting the covering, exposing Reg's nose, then her forehead and finally her whole face.

Aila squeaked in surprise as Reg spun, pulling her into a tight embrace and kissing her deeply. Aila was panting slightly by the time their lips parted, her face flushed and an adorable dark purple hue. Reg smiled and pulled the cloth off, holding it tenderly, "Thank you..." she rested her forehead against Aila's and sighed, "You've given me two gifts now, I'm falling behind."

"Well..." Aila winked mischievously, "Wear that thong for me and we'll call it even."

She dove behind the bed, narrowly avoiding the palm of Reg's hand, "Oh you bosh'tet! You're horrible!"

A/N: Thanks to the folks on the Bioware Social board for giving me the hijab idea, makes more sense than continuing to wear the helmet for all but the most traditional or uncomfortable quarians (Veetor, for example, will probably always wear his helmet). Anyway, read, judge and review! Please! I rate my self-worth by view numbers and reviews... -.-