It was always funny to have EDI whispering in his ear. He believed her when she said that it was a closed channel and that, if he was careful, no one would ever know there was a conversation going on. At one time he would have found this deviousness troubling, but he found it more troubling that she might be discovered for what she was.

To his own surprise, he found it troubling that EDI seemed to get…lonely. So she whispered in his ear over a closed channel (when he was aboard ship) and he mumbled back and pretended he was listening to his music turned up too loud.

That way, if anyone heard him, they figured he was rasping out lyrics but couldn't carry the tune to save his life. It was easier to talk to her when he was at 'home.' The Alliance hadn't charged him with anything, but he was wedged into the position of being relieved of duty without actually being relieved of duty.

The Alliance was playing hot potato with a lot of people. Adams was here. Alenko was somewhere around—EDI had tripped over him, so to speak, and relayed the information. Three of the Normandy's original crewmen were on the retrofit crew.

And certain people seemed clingy—officers kept finding reasons to hang around. These people had no idea how to keep their heads down. He'd asked EDI to look into what might be cooking, and she had turned up three references to something called Operation Needle—an extraction plan to remove the Normandy and Shepard from Earth.

They would need Shepard, their number one Reaper hunter in play. It didn't explain why Alenko was here. When the Reapers hit it would be sudden, like a baseball through a window. Maybe the Alliance was going to really step up their preparations; EDI had discovered discreet preparatory actions that, by themselves, didn't signify anything but which, when viewed as a whole, indicated influential someones were finally responding to Shepard's assertions about synthetic squids savaging the galaxy at an unknown but impending date.

Better late than never.

Today, though, EDI seemed nervous. If she wasn't so on-the-spot when asked to do something, he would have said she was distracted. "You feeling okay?" he finally asked, glancing back to find Campbell and Westmorland—his guard detail—chatting a few feet away. It didn't take much to keep Brittle Bones Guy in line so the Alliance hadn't sprung for a tank of a security detail like they had for Shepard.

Security detail. Pfff. More like a bodyguard. As if she needed one.

"My structural integrity is holding. Jeff, communications with Arcturus station have just gone dark."

"Gone dark…like service interruption?" he didn't believe it, but couldn't stop the wisecrack.

"Communications have been cut."

Joker shifted in his seat, glanced back at Campbell and Westmorland. "Okay, so if it's them…"

"I would rather not be in drydock. I have control of the docking clamps: we can pull out whenever you like. On that note, I would like to anticipate Operation Needle." EDI had liked the designation 'Needle' because finding it at all had been like looking for a needle in a haystack. Just like looking for the Normandy, if one wasn't actually looking out a window.

"I have just received a text-only message from Shepard."

EDI put it in one of the haptic interface's small windows.

EDI, if you can hear this, they are here.

"All right, we're pulling out. Release clamps…" Joker shivered, wondering how this was going to work…

"Alert: multiple unknown inbound spacecraft detected," EDI suddenly announced via the comm-system. "All personnel to action stations."

Suddenly, safety barriers sprang into place, sealing off the cockpit. Westmorland and Campbell both cried protest, but Joker knew it didn't matter: if EDI had him sealed in, no one was getting close to him.

"What the hell's going on up there, Joker?" Adams demanded. "The drive core just lit up like a fireworks display!"

"Uh, we've got company. We're gonna pick up Shepard. Campbell, Westmorland, get down to the cargo bay, we may need a hot pickup!"

"I have visual." EDI announced. "Projecting." Across the bridge and all over the ship, any display capable of projecting images lit up, showing tapped footage of Reapers descending gracefully into Vancouver.

"Are you seeing this?" Westmorland asked softly.

"You heard EDI, find an action station and buckle up!" Joker barked as the Normandy careened out of drydock. "EDI, get Shepard on the line! Find out where she is!" Because, of course, that was what Needle was about. He might not be initiated into Needle, not officially, but it was clear enough he was to take part.

Why else would he be allowed to hang out on the Normandy, under armed guard or not? No, he'd been kept in the dark because of the Cerberus thing. He was a security risk, or so the line of thought went.

"She has been apprised of the situation. Admiral Anderson will brief her. We will need to select an alternate location for ex…my external communication lines are being jammed. I will need to reroute."

"Do that," Joker agreed before turning his attention to his suddenly over-full display. So much information came pouring in that, had he been anyone else, he might have lost track of where to look first. "Adams, please tell me the drive core's at peak performance!" With the drydock suddenly in smoking ruins behind them, he wanted to verbal confirmation from a tech-head that all the core needed was a little spit polish…and only for the satisfaction seeing it shine.

"Do what you've gotta do, I've got this end covered."

Joker took a deep breath. "We got Shepard yet?" he demanded of EDI.

"Negative, but I do have an incoming transmission under Needle's frequency. Patching…"

"This is Major Alenko to the officer on duty!" Alenko's voice rasped.

"Uh, this is Joker, holding down the fort…are you seeing this? 'Cause I'm really seeing this…"