I don't own the Mass Effect.

Saga IV: The Wild Hunt

Returning Home

Date: 11-06-2184

Location: Heavy Cruiser Reliant, Interstellar Space, Asari Republics

I stood on the bridge of the Reliant, my arms folded behind my back as I stared at the view-screen. Right now all it showed was the bow camera's viewpoint, an endless field of stars punctuated by far away nebula and the burning orbs that were stellar clusters. In normal situations, I might have even found the view soothing... as it was, it didn't even take the edge off, to the point where the bridge was utterly silent behind me.

Or maybe it was the fact that I didn't have most of my armor on, accommodating the medigel patches and bandaging around the wound in my side and left arm, leaving me bare above the waist except for the war gauntlets I'd kept on. The appearance of my scarred and battered body had drawn more than a little attention, combining with my long hair to have at least two of the Batarian women on duty staring at me more often than their screens.

Still, if nothing else, the silence made it easy to hear the door hiss open, several pairs of booted feet echoing as Petrovsky arrived, likely with an escort of our marines. I could only assume that they'd also brought Lawson with when I heard the quiet whir of a hover chair drawing closer.

Not turning around, I simply listened to them approach, speaking when I was sure that they were nearby. "Lawson. Did you know about the Justicars?"

There was an almost hesitant pause before her weak voice replied, "No. If I had, I would have requested anti-biotic specialists for my team."

I considered that for several breaths, then nodded slightly. I believed her, at least in the case of the latter. She might have tried to disguise who they were, but she would have had them. And her reaction to their presence had seemed entirely genuine... but I'd wanted to ask one more time, just to make the separation between her and her superiors clear.

"General," I continued, "You had questions."

"Yes." Petrovsky replied smoothly, "I cannot help but notice that we have already been traveling longer than required to reach the rendezvous point."

"Yes." I nodded once, "We are proceeding at a slower speed."

"...may I ask why?"

One of my bare shoulders twitched, sending long hair shifting. "You can ask."

An awkward silence followed, the General clearly not knowing how to respond to my blasé attitude.

"Kean." Lawson spoke up hesitantly, "Your casualty report?"

My eyes closed as I let out a ragged breath, "Illyan is still in surgery. Five marines dead, seven injured. Yours?"

"Four dead, nine injured." She replied, "Far less than my projections... there were far fewer guards present than I believed."

And far, far less than I had, even with the addition of the husked forces present. "We will discuss that in a few minutes. First, I wish to continue to speak with the good General about his and Harper's repeated efforts to betray us."

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage." The General spoke calmly, "None of my measures were put into place given that you did not break the agreement first."

The technicality infuriated me on an almost primal level, and I had to fight not to clench my gauntlets into fists. "Would you care to explain the presence of the Justicars?"

"I'm afraid that I am not an expert on Asari-"

"Shut. Up." The words snapped out, and I needed several more deep breaths to return my voice to something close to level. "Justicars are celebrities.If your agent on planet didn't report their presence, they are so grossly incompetent as to warrant execution."

"I do not-"

"Further." I cut him off again, some of the cold anger bleeding out into contempt. "Benihi is a backwater colony with a minimal, low-abiding population. So unless a dozen Ardat-Yakshi decided to start a cult there, there is no reason for a Justicar to be present, never-mind two."

"What are-"

"Meaning." Armor creaked as my fists clenched. "Someone tipped off the Order. Someone who knew we were coming."

Miranda sucked in a pained breath, "It could have been Krom..."

"Yes, because he would want to be on a world with the perpetual threat of execution hanging over his head. He's unstable, not a fucking moron." One of my arms rose to forestall her next comment, "My... apologies Frankenstein. My anger is directed at Harper and Petrovsky. You don't have the temperament for a betrayal, even if your own plans likely worked into theirs."

"Kean." Petrovsky cut in, his own voice hard. "What are you insinuating?"

My right arm waved vaguely, even though I still did not turn to face them. "Several things. Your primary plan was simple... if I'd followed Lawson's concept, it would have been easy to have your fighters destroy the hanger with our shuttles, leaving us trapped for the Justicars. They wouldn't have bothered interrogating or arresting us, leaving your involvement hidden."

"Your proof?" He asked.

"You had to have known there was little chance I would go with her plan, but why not make the attempt?" I rolled a shoulder, "And the time it took me to concept a new one with the pair of you gave your pet AI more time to try and infiltrate our ship's systems."

There was something, maybe a heavy inhalation from Lawson. She was a bitchy ice queen, but cold-blooded betrayal wasn't something she took to easily. She'd probably been kept in the dark about her superior's intentions, just as she often had been in the game.

Or she was surprised I knew about EDI... one or the other, if not both.

"I'm assuming that your secondary plan relied upon your ships." It was a fight to keep my breathing even as I continued, "If Joa had followed your orders and entered atmosphere, you could have easily taken out our engines and left this ship at the mercy of the Republics fleet... and again, left us trapped for the Justicars to deal with. It's also why there is a large fleet waiting for us at the main rendezvous point, one powerful enough to easily disable or destroy us."

Petrovsky made a musing sound, "Interesting theories. Your proof?"

"Joa." I raised my voice, "If you could."

"Sensors, give us the actual bow view." The Captain raised her voice, sounding viciously pleased as she did so.

Ahead of me, the screen flashed and updated... and Miranda let out a pained sound at the sight of a Terminus dreadnought, its white paint gleaming against the darkness of space as it sat surrounded by a field of debris. Against its bulk, the attended supporting fleet was hardly noticeable, except for the tiny flashes where they captured or destroyed escape pods and evacuation shuttles.

Personally I was assuming the former, the bitch commanding the freshly completed Blood Tide didn't strike me as the type to bother with prisoners.

"Two extra cruisers, an additional destroyer, and four more frigates. All destroyed." I remarked as the sensor data began to appear, identifying the wreckage for what it was. "Plus all of your initial ships excepting the Suffern... I would assume that was most of Cerberus's available warships, I can't imagine that Harper will be pleased."

Petrovsky actually stepped up beside me, his eyes wide as he stared at the data. They closed slowly as he took in a deep breath, a calming motion of his own. "You gave us your word."

"Yes. I did." I replied coldly. "That you would go free. That I would work with you to achieve our objective. I fulfilled my end of the deal, and I will allow the pair of you and your flagship to depart... Even though I have the evidence of your own fucking betrayal right there."

The General spoke into the quiet that followed, his voice filled with forced calm. "I had emergency measures in place, in case of betrayal, yes. As did you. We would both have been fools not to be prepared. Those ships were merely to be present in case you refused to release me."

My curled fingers clenched more tightly at the flat lie, the already weak wall of resistance within me cracking. "No, they weren't, and we both know it."

Petrovsky stared at the data for a few moments longer, looking at the remains of his fleet before turning around and taking several steps back. "I would appreciate it if your people turned over copies of the omni-tools you retrieved from the colony, and then allowed us to depart... assuming that you actually do intend to keep that part of your promise."

I let out a slow exhalation, ignoring his request and his insinuation entirely. "Everything you do is calculated, measured. The Justicars were a factor you would not have relied upon, but the remainder of these plans... were yours. Meaning you have made a significant miscalculation when it came to allowing yourself to be kept on this ship."

I could practically hear him frown, then there was the soft sound of a boot scuffing the floor as he stepped back, recognizing the tensing muscles in my back and arms as my self-control disintegrated. "I am your guest, Commander."

"Guests." I stated quietly. "Do not attempt to murder their hosts."

And then I was twisting around, hard light cracking to life around my gauntlets as I surged towards the older man. He tried to get his hands up into some kind of stance, tried to step back away from me, but managed neither before my right fist connected with his jaw.

It broke audibly as the tech plating detonated, his scream of pain becoming guttural as he recoiled. The sound shifted to a wheeze when my other fist connected with his ribs, he must have had armor beneath the uniform because I heard the characteristic sound of shattering plates rather than the his ribs cracking. I followed it up with a strike to his other side, then stepped to my right before lashing out with an armored boot to drive his knee sideways.

He went down without a sound, his lungs evidently having run out of air. An arm tried to rise to block the follow-up his instincts knew were coming, but that just gave me a new target. Seizing his wrist and forearm in both hands, I hauled him onto his belly before planting a foot onto his shoulder. A pull and twist ripped the limb out from its socket, and I was rewarded with another muffled scream.

My lips twisted in a wordless snarl as I shoved him away, his body limply rolling onto his back. A twist of my fingers deactivated my gauntlets as I approached him, the footfalls and his moans the only sound in the room.

All of my fury at what had happened on that planet, at being forced to abandon our mission, of watching Illyan go down beneath the Justicar's biotic assault, all because this stupid fucking asshole and his goddess-damned boss couldn't cooperate for one fucking day! It had even been in their fucking best interests to bloody work with us, but hey just had to fucking give into their goddess-damned compulsion to betray everyone and every-fucking-thing!

We'd had the fucking son of a bitch! If we'd known about the fucking Justicars, or if they hadn't been present, this could have been over!

Kick number one was aimed at his face, shattering teeth. Numbers two through five were into his ribcage, each growing progressively more vicious until I was rewarded with the sound of more bones breaking.

"If..." The snarl came out as I stepped back, even though I had no idea if he was coherent enough to hear me. "I had not given you my word, I would throw you out of an airlock you treacherous fucking keshin."

Spinning on a heel away from him, I spared a single glance for Miranda and almost immediately regretted doing so. She looked horrified, her eyes wide as she stared at me, her wounded body shrunken back in her chair. Grigor stood beside her, holding the plasma bags refilling her system, his posture cringing as two marines kept guns against his helmet. Four more stood in a loose circle around them, their body language varying between shock and satisfaction.

"You... weren't involved." I closed my eyes, trying to force the turbulent waters into stillness before I snarled at her as well. When I realized that that wasn't about to happen, I jerked myself into a turn before stalking back towards the front of the room. Staring out at the dreadnought, I pushed my my arms behind my back once again, clasping my left wrist in my right hand to try and forestall the trembling rage.

"Frankenstein..." Pausing, I let out something like a snarling sound as I held back from saying anything more vicious, "Get that... thing off of this ship."

"What about the data?" She asked quietly."An equivalent exchange was part of the agreement."

It had been, and if nothing else she had a quad for asking despite what I had just done in front of her. Then again, this was the same woman who'd calmly held her own guts closed so that they could be bound closed, and who'd also refused painkillers before hanging onto my legs as I dangled outside of a flying fucking aircar.

I might have loathed the organization she was involved in... but she'd more than earned my respect personally.

"I am no longer interested in any data you can provide." I growled, not so much as turning around.. "I have no faith that it is hasn't already been modified, and I am keeping the information we retrieved as repayment for the attempts to betray our agreement."

There was a very long pause before she spoke again, "I... understand. We will return to our ship, with your permission."

I'd already told her to get lost, so I merely twitched my head forwards slightly. No one spoke as footsteps clattered and echoed, the marines probably grabbing the bleeding mess that was Petrovksy before hauling him behind Miranda as they pushed her out.

The quiet hiss of the door heralded another wave of absolute silence, broken only by the low hum of electronics and the careful shifting of the bridge crew as they maintained the ship's systems. Perhaps five or ten minutes of it passed, my anger not abating as I stared at the broad image before me.

The silence broke with a feminine sigh, Joa's voice cool as she snapped at her officers to start FTL prep. Their resulting chorus of system checks and readiness alerts obscured her approach, and I glanced back as she spoke.

"If your girl hadn't made it," The ship's captain kept her voice low as she moved to stand beside me, "Would you have still let them go?"

"Lawson." I replied flatly, "Wasn't involved."

Dark eyes narrowed, "And the male?"

My fingers twitched as my upper lip pulled back, "Would have been taken to Xentha, to be introduced to Mirala."

The Asari pirate's eyes lidded as she regarded me, "You are much hotter when you let your anger out. And without a shirt on."

"Joa, I'm really not in the mood for that." I replied tersely.

"Just saying." She gave me a grim little smile, flicking her eyes up and down me before spinning on a heel and strutting back towards her command chair. I followed her slowly, feeling the pain of my wounds bleeding through the painkillers thanks to the shit I'd just done. "Your mother is still holding, by the way."

I grunted, slowing to a stop beside her throne, "Let her through."

Ahead of us, the main screen flickered once again, showing my mother's cold features as she sat in a command chair of her own. "Ul Kean."

"MacKinnon." I gave her a tight nod. "Congratulations on the promotion. How did target practice go?"

"Well enough." The Lady Warlord's newest Admiral allowed, "Not quite the shake-down run I had in mind, but I will admit that it was quite satisfying."

I snorted quietly, "Careful, you sound like you're close to having an emotion."

A dark eyebrow rose as her lips pursed, "You will hold up to your end of the deal?"

"Assuming Ayle doesn't kill me for agreeing, yes." She was bound to be less than pleased for agreeing to hold training exercises with the Academy's upper years for the next five years... but we'd needed the back-up, and Leska's price had been higher. "I'll talk with her when we return to Omega and put her in touch with your bondmate."

"Very well." Her chin twitched in a nod, "If there is nothing else, my battlegroup will return to Xentha."

Tilting my head once, I motioned for the signal to be cut. Whatever officer was responsible for that did so, the main screen flipping back to the default view. Joa promptly started snapping out orders to get us back to the pirate relay we'd used to get here in the first place. It took a few minutes to wait for the Cerberus shuttle to clear our shuttle bay, but it had barely exited our proximity before Joa gave the order to hurl us into FTL.

"Should be back on Omega in ten days" She informed me as she settled in her chair, stretching out and yawning openly. "Illium in five, we'll discharge at one of the Eclipse stations there. You want to wait for us or catch one of their ships?"

"We'll wait. I don't think that Ayle will be on Omega until around then anyway." I felt my shoulders slump slightly as my energy continued to wind down, "After-action briefing in your wardroom in an hour. Have someone question those prisoners, make sure they aren't going to die before we get to Omega. In the meantime, I'm going to go check on my people."

Joa grunted, "I'll handle it. See you in an hour."

I dipped my head politely before turning, walking out of the bridge. A shadow detached itself from the wall just outside of the door, a petite Quarian falling into step beside me as I slowed my pace for her shorter legs.

"You did a number on him." Voya remarked, her wide eyes flicking up to me. "That's not much like you."

"We had him." I hissed air between my teeth, "And fucking Harper was behind those Justicars being there, I fucking know it."

"You're sure?" She asked calmly, keeping her voice level. It was an old routine between us... logical thoughts always worked to calm me down, from either anger or stress, and she'd been with me long enough to know it. Even if I'd already done the thinking part, stating it aloud gave me more time to recover.

"Yes." Crossing my arms, I started yanking my gauntlets off before I gave into the urge to hit something else. "It would have solved all of his problems. We'd be dead, we'd be identified, he pins the whole thing on us and conceals his involvement. And if we prove to be competent enough to pull the mission off, we probably never even know that those two were in the city."

"Leaving us with no idea that he'd tipped them off." Her head cocked to one side, forked tongue briefly appearing to lick her lips. "And if we'd had Krom captured... they would just need him, since he knows everything you do."

I nodded with a small grunt, tucking one gauntlet under an arm while I worked on the other. "About what I assumed. Figure Harper had the Justicars as his ace in the hole, with Petrovsky's military solution as the main plan. Gives him T'Ravt's daughter, Krom, and lets him kill us as a known security risk, only after getting some use out of us. If I hadn't known about EDI it probably would have bloody worked too."

Especially with the size of the goddess-damned flotilla they'd assembled. Athame's ass but I hadn't even imagined Cerberus would have a fleet hat size... if we'd come back alone, we'd have had no chance of making another jump to FTL before they could have taken out our engines, even without EDI compromising us.

Voya's upper lip curled, likely as she worked out just how the AI could have left us drifting and helpless, waiting to be boarded by Cerberus troopers before being blasted to pieces once they retrieved their targets. "That thing would have enabled them to accomplish whatever they wanted."

"Easily." I muttered. "We need defensive VI's on this ship, shit we should have thought about that."

"We were kind of busy setting up your mother to ambush them." She reminded me. "And harassing the old bitch to give us everything she had on that colony, and she didn't know about the damned Justicars either."

"And I'm going to bitch her out over that." My lips twitched slightly as I finished getting my other gauntlet off. "I'm guessing they got to the colony only after we'd left, so she wouldn't have been able to warn us, but the notion that she didn't know that they were en route is..."

"Worrying." Voya hissed the word.

"Yeah." I agreed softly, glancing down at my hands and finding them to be relatively stable. "Thank you."

The petite Quarian gave me something close to a pleased smile before turning her head forwards again, falling silent as we kept moving. We stopped at my quarters just long enough for me to get out of the rest of my armor and to pull basic fatigues on. I'd intended to depart that way, but Voya had all but threatened me at gunpoint to make sure that I took a brief shower and downed more painkillers.

I thusly arrived in medical fifteen minutes later, my still wet hair tied in a loose ponytail, nodding a greeting to the tired Turian doctor sitting near the entrance.

"Commander Kean." He rose to his full height, giving me a small nod. "Doctor Itherius, formerly from Xentha. A pleasure to meet you."

"Same." I tilted my head a hair to the right and forwards to acknowledge him, making a mental note to talk with him again later. With how often we got wounded, it would be prudent to know him better. "Report?"

"The wounded are all expected to make it." An arm waved as he turned, his pace slow as we neared the neat rows of medical beds. Voya elected not to follow, instead settling in next to the door to wait. "Lancer T'Donna has bruising in the back of her skull from impacting the shuttle, I want to keep her overnight for observation but she seems to have evaded any brain damage."

A slow breath of relief flowed out of me, "The warpfire?"

"Her left eye was too damaged to be saved, her visor shattered from the strain. I removed it and cleaned the area, she should be able to regenerate it within a few weeks." His mandibles flickered, "There was significant burn damage, but her armor blunted the worst of it. She will have permanent burn scarring on her shoulder and scalp, unless she elects for cosmetic surgery later, but there wasn't any major tissue damage."

"Is she awake?"

"No sir," He stopped, nodding towards the final bed on the end, Illyan's large frame visible though half her head was wrapped in bandaging. "She's sleeping off the surgery to remove her eye. I will let you know as soon as she awakens."

"All right." It was hard not to go over to her, so instead I focused on the other beds. "Everyone else?"

"Three with minor wounds, four more severe." The Doctor turned, nodding slightly towards one of the beds. "Unit Commander Aya ul Vessen, lost her left forearm, and she'll need cybernetics in her right leg and right arm. She also... lost one of her eyes."

That explained the utterly dead expression on the young Batarian woman's face, her three remaining dark orbs staring at nothing in particular while a plain bandage covered where her lower left one would have been.

It took me a few breaths before I realized that the Doctor was staring at me with an expectant expression, and a quick flick of my eyes to Voya had her rolling her eyes before pointedly nodding at the girl. More casual glances revealed the other wounded, those who were awake, all watching me while trying to make it look like they weren't.

I really wasn't in the mood to be a morale booster, not with the simmering anger still lurking beneath the surface waves in my mind... but I was the commanding officer, even if it was Joa's ship. It was, unfortunately, my job.

Fighting down a sigh, I carefully stepped forwards, moving over to lower myself into the chair next to the bed. She didn't seem to even notice me until I shifted the seat a little, turning her chest a little so that she could see who it was.

Her pale maroon skin lost even more color, her throat working as she immediately dipped her head to the left. "Honored Reyja'krem."

"None of that." I admonished reflexively. "Commander or Reyja'krem if you can't use my last name, but leave off the honored crap."

Her three eyes blinked several times, "But... I mean... I..."

"Do you prefer Aya or Vessen?" I asked, seeing that she wasn't going to have an easy time of that. Lowborn then, most likely. Midcaste tended to have an easier time adjusting to my blasé attitude about my title.

"...Aya, honor..." She swallowed and corrected herself, "I mean, I prefer Aya, Reyja'krem."

The more she spoke, the more familiar her voice seemed. "You were the one to locate Krom, weren't you? And the one who first reported the indoctrinated?"

All of her eyes lowered, her head shifting tiredly to tuck her chin against her neck as she leaned it to the left in shame. "I am sorry, Reyja'krem. We couldn't-"

"You got those wounds fighting him off, didn't you?" I interrupted quietly, reaching out to grab her chin and pull it back to a neutral position. "Did you destroy his mechs after we pursued him?"

"I..." Her expression became complicated, her lower eye locked onto my hand as I let go of her chin. "Um..."

"Did you?"

"We... we did, honored Reyja'krem."

I felt my eyebrows go up. The mechs that Krom had been with weren't anything on Glitch's level, but they'd still been gladiator machines run by vicious programs all the same. "How many of you were there?"

She swallowed, "My half-unit, we-"

One of my hands rose, my own posture shifting to show surprise. "You took out all three of his mechs with just the five of you?"

"I... yes?"

"Huh." I cocked my head to the left, dipping it forward in respect that turned her skin from pale to practically bleeding as she flushed. "Most impressive. We need to come with some kind of awards or medals... consider yourself at least getting a month's leave for your unit."

"But..." Her mouth moved a few times, "Reyja'krem, we didn't... didn't stop him-"

"I didn't stop Krom either." My eyes closed as I forced down a surge of anger at the memory, "I can't hold you accountable, catching him wasn't your objective. In either case, my Lancers and I didn't stop him, and that was our actual mission."

Aya didn't seem to know how to respond to that, simply swallowing and clearly still more than a little confused at my praise.

"When we arrive on Illium, I want your unit to remain." Shaking myself, I slowly rose to my feet. "Ayle and Nynsi keep hinting that they want me to create new Lancer detachments, or at least have a larger organization. If you and yours are good enough take out Krom's guards, you're more than good enough for more specialized assignments. Get patched up then take some leave, we'll discuss your new post in a month once I figure out what it is."

Her mouth worked open, then closed, then open, then closed, "But... I'm...my eye..."

"Think on the Pillars of Knowledge and Strength before you worry too much over it." I replied, giving her polite and respectful bow of my head. "Recover well, I'll talk to you in a month, Unit Commander."

By that point the poor girl was so out of it that she could only tilt her head by reflex as I turned away, walking calmly back towards Voya and the Doctor only after looking back to see if Illyan was still asleep. When she proved to be, I sighed and waved for Voya to follow as we got moving.

"We don't need another Rane." Were the first words out of Voya's mouth, coming out before the door had even finished closing behind us.

I rolled my eyes, "I know what I'm doing, and I'm better at shooting people down."

"Good." She narrowed her own wide, glowing orbs at me. "Because we don't need another Rane."

"Yes, yes. I just thought that Ayle wants me to do more, and Vessen needed the morale boost. Win-win. Did they really take those mechs out?"

"And only lost one person during that fight." She confirmed. "Shyeel wanted to talk with you about her, but that shouldn't be necessary now. What are we going to do with them?"

"Probably keep them as a supporting unit for us." I mused, "That'll give us more than just Glitch to take a flank or stop Krom from bolting the next time we find him."

Voya let out a quiet sound, "And after we're done with Krom?"

I grimaced. "Depends on what the fuck we're even doing. I'm trying not to think that far ahead right now... where is Shyeel, anyway?"

"Wardroom, going over Krom's omni-tool." She lifted her chin, "Which is where we're going now."

One of my eyebrows went up, "We are?"

My companion gave me a small shrug, "You can go sit in your cabin and brood for twenty minutes if you'd prefer."

"I wouldn't be brooding. I'd be smashing a punching bag to pieces." I corrected her, "Or building a bomb or something."

"For you, both of those count as brooding." She stated, "I didn't listen to you tell me shit I already knew just to see you stew some more, so stop being a bosh'tet, shut up, and move your pale ass."

I did, though I rolled my eyes a little. The latter earned me a sharp pain to my unwounded side when she punched me, turning her prim little nose up even further as we walked. Five minutes of that resulted in us arriving at the senior officer's wardroom, finding Shyeel and Vishin already present.

Waving for the Batarian male to stay seated as I dipped my head in response to his own tilt, I collapsed into a chair and let my eyes fall closed.

"Wake up." Joa admonished a few minutes later, a hand smacking the back of my head as she walked past.

I glowered out her bleary outline as I opened a single eye, having been just about to drift off and not at all pleased to be knocked out of that pleasant state. "Excuse me?"

She rolled her eyes, "Wake up person whose hot-ass girlfriend I want to sleep with, and whose own attractiveness is rising nearer to a level where I'd consider having sex with him as well."

The fingers on my left hand twitched as I opened my other eye so that I could glare at her. "I want you at the sparring room tomorrow morning, I don't think we've evaluated your hand to hand yet."

"I'll look forward to it." The ship's captain replied with a grin that faltered when I gave her one of my own, already wondering just how much pain Voya could put her into. From the way the Quarian preened a little where she was sitting next to Shyeel, she didn't have any issues working out my less than subtle plot.

"I still need some time on this." Shyeel drew our attention before Joa could ask why I was smirking, her scarred visage still locked on the omni-tool she was fiddling with on the table. "Recap first?"

"Fine." Correcting my posture to something less uncomfortable, and less potentially insulting to Vishin, I nodded to him. "Captain, go ahead and start."

He obligingly began recapping everything that had happened after we'd departed the hanger. They'd had to repulse two attempted attacks from the local guards, both of which Glitch had fought off on its own, before helping the other team scavenge what they could and escort the former prisoners to our shuttles. Vishin had honestly, if abashedly, admitted that the worst they'd really had to deal with was keeping Glitch from killing the Cerberus agents.

His subordinates hadn't been so lucky. Vessen's unit had gotten off the worst, with her wounds and three dead total; thanks to having the shit luck to run into the indoctrinated before anyone else, and then right into Krom's gladiator-mechs. Still, that they'd come out as intact as they had spoke further to the young woman's skills, and Vishin didn't have any problems with me deciding to second the unit for side-operations in the future.

Once I'd admitted that I currently had no idea what said side-operations would be, I just wanted the option open, he'd given me a small grin. Vishin, at least, had started to relax in my presence, unlike most of the other Batarians on board, and my casual attitudes seemed to amuse him.

From there, we'd moved onto Voya, who'd elaborated on the state of the prisoners that we had rescued.

"Thirty-two Batarians, twenty-four humans." She stated succinctly, "All taken from independent colonies in the Traverse over the last twelve months. All due to be... processed."

Joa grunted, "They stable?"

"Pleased to be alive." Voya shrugged. "If nervous and unsure about who we are and what we're going to do with them."

Everyone glanced at me, and I shrugged in turn. "We'll let them loose on Omega, or Illium. Whichever they prefer to get off on."

The ship's Captain nodded, "Works for me. Mind if I ask for volunteers? We're still short on crew."

I waved a hand in permission. "Anything interesting about the naval engagement?"

"No." The purple skinned Asari shrugged, "Neither frigate was expecting combat, we took them down quickly. As for the Cerberus fleet, the data the Blood Tide sent indicated that they showed up already inside knife range. Credit to your mother for good positioning... and a lot of worries about how Cerberus pulled off that tight of an arrival spread. One cruiser went down to repeated broadsides in the opening seconds, and most of the rest didn't last much longer. A few ships managed to recover and rabbit to FTL, maybe a third of them total."

Voya leaned forwards onto the table, looking decidedly unhappy that there'd been even more ships, and that they'd gotten away. "Chances they'll make it?"

"Likely." Joa mused aloud, "They're probably pulling back to an empty system, goddess knows there's enough of them around us. They'll discharge on whatever rocks they find, then wait a few days to make sure we're gone before they slink back to the relay."

The Quarian licked her lips, glancing at me. "Think they'll come for revenge?"

I mulled over that for a few breaths. "Yes... but it'll be subtle, long-term. Harper won't know how many of his agents I'm aware of, and that'll make him wary of sending his elite assassins. Probably why their main plan relied on EDI... they must not have thought I knew about her. He'll want a freelancer, or to bring someone new in and assign them to it."

"Which will take time." Vishin nodded slowly, "Still, it couldn't hurt to alert the other Commanders sir."

"Handle it... and put a report together on the agents you worked with." I added, "Second it to Ayle and Nynsi, and recommend they give it to their Senior Captains."

"Yes sir." He replied, already making a notation in his omni-tool. "Are you going to go over your own encounter, sir? We were only there for the end."

I grimaced at the reminder of the stunt I'd pulled to save my own ass, and felt another ripple of anger as Krom's mocking laughter ran through my head. Still, it wasn't something I could avoid talking about, so I launched into my own recap starting with when we'd split up on the second floor of the mansion.

Shyeel looked up when I finished, her expression enigmatic. "You blasted two teenaged maidens into a raging river?"

"Yes." I admitted, drumming the fingers of one hand on the table, making a mental note to talk with Illyan for more than a little while on the subject. "It was the only thing I could think of to stay alive for a few more seconds."

She eyed me for a few breaths, then nodded once, accepting the statement and not passing judgment. "Think Krom survived?"

My fingers continued their drumming, "I'm assuming they both did, but we'll confirm with the old fish. Personally I'm betting that the crew of that yacht came out once the shooting stopped, and convinced the cops to let them bring T'Ravt aboard for treatment. Krom would have gone with if the locals didn't recognize him... he or the crew probably had an excuse or alias for him even if someone did."

Blue lips pursed. "And then?"

"Either they're already his people, or he'd kill them and take the ship back to the Terminus. He mentioned wanting to bring the bitch to Ganar for some reason."

"He wants to interrogate her." Shyeel murmured, flicking through what looked like messages. "This omni-tool... shit, it's a cheap model, probably meant to be disposable, but it's got some useful data on it."

Voya half-closed her wide eyes in annoyance, "Paranoid keshin, probably keeps switching models to make sure no one can steal it and learn too much. We should do that."

I grimaced at the hassle, but couldn't deny that it made sense. "We'll see. Shyeel, what do we have?"

"Messages from an unknown sender, probably the Matriarch, offering Krom a deal. Her daughter puts his brain back together, he repays her with..." She frowned, eyes flicking back and forth as she read. "The location of eighteen and nineteen."

My hands rose to let my finger tips touch each other as I processed that, my anger finally simmering into the deeps as curiosity about this puzzle replaced it. "Now that is interesting... what about Ganar?"

"Like I said, he wanted to interrogate either the Matriarch or someone close to her. Whoever Krom could get a hold of... ah, here it is. She's been feeding him information on targets, but that information dried up a while back and he's not happy about it." Her head cocked to one side. "Time matches when the old bitch did her thing."

Meaning that the Matriarch had been paying or subverting the old Shadow Broker into supporting Ganar with intel, but she hadn't been able to secure the Terminus portions of the network after Aethyta had killed the Yahg. With the war turning against him, Ganar would want every advantage he could get his hands on, and losing his intelligence sources probably had him furious.

Well, more furious than usual.

"Anything else in there?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Notes to the employees that you killed, mostly about their pay and plans about when and how to betray T'Ravt's daughter."

Which would probably be interesting reading if not terribly relevant anymore. Of far greater import was the notion that Krom knew where two more of us were... and the Matriach did not. That was interesting... very, very interesting.

Joa flicked her eyes as I fell silent again, her eyes narrowed. "You want to explain some of this crap to those of us not filled in on your background?"

"No." I admitted, "But we'll have to go over it. Free up your tomorrow afternoon, and make sure to bring a bottle of something strong. You'll need it."

She blinked, "I will?"

"It's the kind of data that we'll kill you for, if you reveal it." Voya admitted, her smile not at all friendly. "Your mother would do worse."

More blinking came from the pirate, before being followed by a glance at me. "Kean?"

"There's terms to knowing it." I sighed. "And yes, if you run around screaming about it... this isn't just Terminus politics. We'll talk about it tomorrow, for now, let's wrap this crap up."

The rest of the discussion passed quickly, largely focusing on our plans for the trip back to Omega. Voya and Shyeel would be going over all of the other omni-tools we'd taken from the dead, trying to find out anything else even if we weren't confident. If nothing else, we might find something we could give or trade to Aethyta. Joa would obviously be running her ship, while Vishin would make sure his people were recovered while he worked on his reports.

I, being the upstanding Commander that I was, would likely be doing as little as possible so that I could take care of Illyan... and probably tinker with my equipment when she didn't need me.

Everyone began filing out once we were done, excepting Joa, who pointedly eyed me in a silent request that I remain. Sighing, I stayed seated as well, waiting until Vishin closed the door behind him before speaking again.

"What do you want?"

Joa quirked her mouth a little, an expression of displeasure. "This is.. starting to sound a bit beyond what I thought I was getting into."

I stared at her, then couldn't hold back a snort. "That is a severe understatement. You want to quit?"

"Shaaryak would skin me alive, after how much she put into this ship." It was her turn to drum her fingers on the table, "And you have some powerful allies who could make life difficult for me if I did."

"I wouldn't send anyone after you." I stated simply. "I'm not into forced servitude."

"I know that, and that you wouldn't, but your allies do not share your odd sense of honor." She countered, "And... shit. My sister and mother told me that a storm was coming, something worse than anything I'd seen before."

"Likely true." I admitted quietly. "Based on what I know."

Silent staring followed that, the quiet lasting for several breaths before she spoke, "In your honest opinion, on your word, am I better staying with you, or heading for the dark rim?"

I didn't do her a disservice by replying right away, making it clear that I was actually taking the time to think about her question before exhaling. "Staying. There isn't a place in the galaxy that will be safe, better to have the knowledge and allies that staying will give you."

A single finger tapped up and down repeatedly before she nodded slowly, "And you'll give me the full details tomorrow?"

"Provided you agree to the terms we set before hand." I nodded, "If I wasn't exhausted, I'd do it tonight."

Her demeanor shifted, the serious expression fading into her usual sultry amusement. "We could definitely do it tonight, and I could learn things in a more pleasant fashion."

I stared at her for a few moments, "Even without Illyan present?"

"She's obviously more attractive than you," She rolled a shoulder in a shrug, then reached up to cup her own chest. "She's got these, after all. But I've always been a scar girl, and you have plenty of those... I always like to hear the explanations as I trace them with my-"

"Enough, enough." I sighed as I rose from my seat, "Athame's fucking ass... it's like having Trena around again... shit, you two are never allowed to talk. I'll see you in the training rooms in the morning."

Internal Log Files; SR-1 Normandy

Shepard: Are you sure?

Bau: As sure as I can be, given how many false leads we've had, but given how many Rachni have been seen on the world, it is only logical that the Queen is there.

Shepard: And Sovereign is already on its way... along with Saren and a giant Geth fleet. Exec, can we wait for Victus and still beat them there?

Pressly: Negative ma'am, we're closer but that... Reaper can cover a lot of distance. We'll be lucky to get there at the same time as it.

Shepard: Dammit... all right, get us moving. That Queen is the only being who knows how to get to the Mu Relay, we are not letting Saren or Sovereign get to her. I want the ground team suited up and ready for a combat drop, our objective will be to find her and extract her. Bau, are you coming with?

Bau: Of people will be prepared, and I can leave a corvette behind to direct the Hierarchy's forces. Better they show up later than never... that is a human saying, yes?

Shepard: Close enough. You want to tell the Council, or should I?

Bau: Do you intend to actually speak to them, or merely cut the line when they start bickering amongst themselves again?

Shepard: I take this shit seriously, all I ask is the decency that they do the same.

Bau: Make the call while I transfer back to my own ship, I'll see you on planet.

Next up is Interlude IX: Calm Before the Storm

And here we are, at the end of the the fourth saga. The next interlude will take place as the ship returns to Omega, and will set up the last saga while also covering Cie's continuing issues with what went down on Benihi.

Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."

Thanks, Kat

Review Responses:

griezz → Hopefully this chapter's com logs answered a little more for you, in terms of what Shepard and Bau are doing (along with Saren and Sovereign.)

Thedarknesswithin96 / Marcusss → Cie's not exactly thrilled with his own actions either, and knows they were on another level than he usually operates on... but he wanted to survive and had to make a snap decision. As he noted, he'll be talking with Illyan about it.

BJ Hanssen → There's a definite reason I borrowed Logical Premise's nullification device/grenade concept. Even if you assume that shields can block biotic strikes, or at least blunt their effects, they're still extremely ridiculous especially when combined with skill and experience. There's a reason my lethality ratings for Terminus personalities is all-biotic up at the top.

Tusken1602 → Cie and Miranda are going to have an... interesting relationship in the future, and this was very much not the last time that they're meeting.

Aelund → Because someone tipped them off... and that was a good question. ;)

envy34 → They'll be many things, but incompetent fools they are not.

Tallygirl02 → The Justicar who focused on him definitely won't be forgetting the black-armored pirate anytime soon. Make of that what you will. ;)