I don't own the Mass Effect.

Act III: The Traverse

Chapter 10: Next Steps

Date: 05-27-22186

Location: SBS Reliant, deep space, five light years from Freedom's Progress, Attican Traverse

Our plans changed shortly after we lifted off from the planet, receiving overlapping transmissions from Omega, Chambers' shuttle, and T'Soni's shuttle in such rapid sequence that I had to put the latter two on hold while I listened to Trena's report on what the fuck had happened starting the day before yesterday and lasting into this morning.

Someone, either the Matriarch, Illusive Man, or a Geth scanning program, had realized that we'd been trying to quietly setup an ambush for the Collectors and warned the bugs. They hadn't known exactly where we were, so they'd dispatched small Geth flotillas to hit a number of colonies across the Traverse. Horizon, Ferris Fields, Sudeten, Cali's Retreat, Hainan, Pike's Place, and Nagato had all been attacked as a result. Most had mostly seen light recon forces, the Geth largely restricting themselves to exchanging a few ranging shots with the locals, scouting out the defenses before pulling back.

The exceptions had largely been the worlds that we were on, with the Third Regiment smashing the Geth into paste on Nagato with trivial losses. The First and Second had had rougher times on Sudeten and Hainan, having been hit by groups that had included cruisers loaded with plenty of combat platforms, but the arrival of our allied Ha'diq had seen the attackers destroyed in fairly short order. Unfortunately, that had also informed the Collectors of just where we were, and Trena had grumpily reported that the satellites that we'd left near Pike's Place had gone dark six hours after the fighting had really gotten going.

Ghai hadn't seen any point in sticking around since the Collectors had obviously gone after easier prey, and had ordered her forces back to Omega while releasing the Ha'diq to resume their usual operations. The sole exception had been the Reliant and a few escorts, which she'd dispatched to link up with us at Freedom's Progress to provide back-up if we'd needed it.

Since Korolev and Chambers both wanted to talk with me in person as well, I'd asked them both to accept guest status aboard, then directed Joa to take us out into the middle of nowhere so that we could talk with far more privacy than the crowded Sahrabarik system would have offered.

"So that's that then." I sighed, settling back into my seat in the ship's main lounge. I hadn't wanted to deal with everyone, especially considering just who they all were, and so had restricted the initial conversation to just myself, Aethyta, and Chambers. "The Collectors know we're after them, and our predictive schedule is fucked. It did seem like it was correct, Hainan and Sudeten got hit by the largest attacks, but now we're back to sailing without stars."

The old Matriarch on my right grunted, setting down her small glass of ice-wine. She was still pale, and definitely shouldn't have been drinking, but I wasn't about to stop her. "Shit. At least your band gave the Geth a beating, maybe that will slow their operations down a bit."

I grimaced, "Doubt it, but possible. Either way, I'm too low on cash to just keep my fleet sitting around Horizon or Freedom's Progress to wait for another attack, and I'm not confident we could take a Collector flotilla even if you decided to throw money at me."

Chambers pursed her lips a little, a finger slowly running around the edge of her own glass. She'd surprised me by going with a very hard Turian brandy, slamming a good half of it back before forcing herself to slow down. "What are you going to do then? You're... our only real ally, we might need your ships when the time comes."

"I know." Picking up my own drink, a small glass of straight rum, I sipped at it and then sighed. "I might be able to work side-mission clearance into a contract, but most of the fleet would still have to be committed elsewhere. I need a time-frame."

The psychologist grimaced. "When?"

"Soonest." I replied simply. "I can give you an Omega week, I can go through another refit and supply run to delay a bit, but after that... I need income."

"All right." She sighed, reaching up to rub at her forehead. "I'll converse with Miss Lawson and see what we can do. Speaking of, she wants to visit her."

My left hand rolled dismissively. "They aren't hostages, Frankenstein can come by whenever she thinks she can get away with it."

Aethyta pursed her lips, "Stupid risk to take, if either of you kids cares what I think."

I snorted and glanced at her, "This is coming from the old fish that got her ass ambushed."

"Fuck off." Liara's father growled before throwing the last of her wine back, "Can we get this over with? I have a network to put back together."

"Fine." Shaking my head, I leaned back as casually as I was comfortable doing, which wasn't all that much, "What does Korolev want?"

"To talk with you, alone." Aethyta rolled a shoulder, "And yeah, she's still... weird."

I grunted, not really sure what that was about, and glanced at Chambers. The Cerberus operative sighed and brought her omni-tool up. "It's not good. They exposed her to a Reaper artifact, some kind of little pyramid, for six and a half hours across the week."

The Matriarch frowned, "That was enough?"

Chambers rolled a shoulder in an Asari shrug. "They... found baselines through quantitative testing. Salarians and Drell are indoctrinated in four to five hours, Humans, Quarians, and Batarians are gone in eight to ten, and Asari last an hour or two past that. Krogan peaked at sixteen hours close association, and the one Elcor they managed to bring in lasted for thirty."

I lifted an eyebrow at the last. "Cumulative then? They do similar tests with an orb?"

"Yes for the first," She exhaled. "Entirely different for the second. If it's active, you've got a couple of seconds before it takes you. Strong willpower, like Miss T'Donna showed on Benihi, can be enough to destroy it or flee, but... your odds aren't good. They had range tests scheduled for next week."

Aethyta shook her head, "I'm sure Aria's psychopaths have already worked that out."

"They're not doing indoctrination tests." I grimaced slightly, taking another sip from my rum."Security reasons, not moral, but I know she was exchanging some data with the Illusive Man a few months ago."

"And slaves." Kelly murmured quietly. "Given in return for the data on the project. Taking advantage of his gambling nature against her paranoia."

"Not surprised." It was my turn to rub at my forehead, my mind not liking the reminder of just who I worked with and occupationally for. "What else do you have on Korolev? What were they trying for?"

Green eyes blinked, then she seemed to shake herself before bringing up the appropriate notes on her omni-tool. "Counter-Indoctrination research. One of the scientists theorized that one type might override the other, and if the timing was precisely correct, the individual might be freed from both. She was subject zero of that concept... it did work to reclaim some of her buried memories, apparently, but mostly it just made her an unstable, ranting mess."

Aethyta frowned. "Memories... what kind?"

"Those logs were lost." Kelly shrugged again, "We'll have to ask her. Or rather, Kean will."

Grimacing, I nodded slightly, not looking forwards to that conversation. "The logs say anything about whether or not she's too far gone?"

"A prototype scanner, probably from Aria's scientists, confirmed she's still Levi-taken." Chambers pursed her lips as she glanced at the information, "They... think that it was providing her with some kind of resistance to Reaper indoctrination. Most subjects show early signs, almost become entranced by the artifact, but she and the Asari they tested became violently ill and... erratic almost at once. We stopped them before they could do more advanced testing, but it was definitely planned to look more into that concept."

There was a humming sound from Aethyta, her good eye narrowing. "What about the other way around? Reaper crap put near an orb?"

"No response." She shook her head, "The Leviathans were apparently aware of the testing, when they tried putting a Reaper thrall near the orb it just shut down and their husks went crazy to try and kill the thrall. After that, it wouldn't even indoctrinate anyone so they tried to... well, jump-start it, but didn't get anywhere before we arrived."

I snorted quietly. "The shrimp wanted them to know about their enemies, but didn't want them to know much about themselves."

Aethyta's lips twisted. "Yeah. Fuckers. Anything else girl?"

Chambers made an unhappy face. "Plenty. This was their main lab, but there was a good dozen more spread across the galaxy all conducting more focused experiments. I still have to go over most of it, but there was at least one station that was apparently showing promise in anti-indoctrination research using captured Rachni drones before..."

The Matriarch rolled her eye, "The Queen sent a swarm to massacre the morons?"

"Yes." Chambers winced as she nodded, "Still, it's an avenue you might want to explore with Miss Korolev, or yourself, Mister Kean."

I pursed my lips, covering the expression with another slow pull from my glass. I trusted Ghai implicitly, and had faith that she'd fix my brain eventually... but any extra data could at least help her. "Considering how busy I'm going to be, that's probably a better avenue for Korolev and T'Soni to look into."

Aethyta frowned at me slightly, then shook her head and flicked back the last of her wine. "Anything else?"

There was a long sigh, then the Cerberus traitor duly began to go through the quick-notes variation of what Prometheus had been up to. As Liara's own spies had indicated, it had been the Illusive Man's primary attempt to understand the Leviathans and prove that humanity could be useful to them... while also gaining sufficient understanding of the creatures so that they could be betrayed sooner or later depending on the circumstances.

It had been Prometheus agents, specifically the Heracles cell, who had diverted the Butcher to the Ferris Fields mission to let the Matriarch take a stab at him. The same group had evidently begun hounding all of Shepard's old associates not long after. Three of her old N7 buddies were already dead, having been given false intel that turned a routine Hegemony recon run into a suicide operation, and most of the SR-1's surviving crew had been discharged and scattered thanks to the influence of a political cell.

Of course, the main targets had been her old ground team. Williams had barely survived a combined Cerberus-Matriarch hit squad disguised as pirates, and was still recovering on the Citadel. Tali's adventure on Haestrom had been followed up by an equally abysmal mission to Vekkesh, where she'd once again been hounded by both Geth and husks as soon as they'd identified her, and she evidently hadn't left the safety of the Migrant Fleet since. Wrex was being ignored thanks to the difficulty of even getting a team to Tuchanka, but both T'Soni and Vakarian were priority targets.

Most annoying was the news that Heracles had a team of seven agents on Omega, skulking about in Tuhi, using a QEC transmitter to evade Elder's usual communications sweeps. They were evidently waiting for Jacqueline to expose herself outside of our wall, and were trying to find a way into Illium Minor via the warrens in the meantime.

I took special care to note down the location of their safehouse, and had Chambers forward me images and descriptions all of seven.

In better news, we did have the location of three different Matriarchal facilities in the Republics that Aethyta assured us she would handle, and the names of several Republic officers who were evidently on the old bitch's payroll. They'd evidently been the ones to deliver the orb to Cerberus, and the humans hadn't been so stupid as to not note who had dropped it off.

We also had massive amounts of broken research data, on both types of indoctrination as well as potential interactions between the two. Less wholesomely, we had a lovely set of of lists about the variations in husking methodology and just what it did to the individual in question, as well as how long it took and how much agony the subject seemed to be in during the process.

"Just forward us that crap." Aethyta grunted when Kelly got that far, "I'm not going to read it sober, and I'm short on time as it is. You two can talk about whatever secret crap you want, I'll go find Korolev and get her up here to chat with you kid."

"All right." I replied, collecting my glass and Chambers' while the Matriarch stood up. She limped off without another word or even a glance back at us, which didn't surprise me at all. I refilled our drinks and then returned to the red-head, settling back into my chair while she quietly thanked me for the brandy.

"So." I spoke after two or three tense minutes of silence, punctuated only by occasional drinking. "I really hope you're not waiting for me to reassure you about what you did or anything like that, or speaking to the morality of the shit we just waded through."

She actually snorted at that, "Oh god no, I'm just... contemplating the nature of clarity, I suppose."

I blinked. "Do I even want to know?"

Chambers shrugged a little, "I joined Cerberus because I saw where humanity was going, what the other races could do to us, and I didn't want those things. I wanted us to be able to stand on our own, as respected allies instead of as servants or worse. Anything more than that was impractical for any number of reasons... but... I guess I underestimated how much bigotry can trump intelligence, or common sense, or even just basic decency."

"Yeah." I took a fortifying drink from my glass, "Spend some more time in the Terminus, you'll stop underestimating idiocy really quickly."

"Yes... but my point is that I dreamt of major changes, of hope and cooperation and respect." She seemed to sigh. "I saw the galaxy as it was, and wanted to help make it what it could be, and I thought that Cerberus could be a positive change agent. I like to think that kind of dream is noble, in its own way... but you spend too much time dreaming, you forget to wake up and see what's around you. I should have taken a page from your book."

I snorted softly. "I wouldn't recommend that to anyone, to be honest. Why?"

"There is a clarity to your perspective." Chambers glanced up at me, smiling almost sadly. "A practicality. What you can change, you change. What Aria or Sederis would kill you for changing, you don't. You've accepted limits, boundaries, and you rarely push them. That's the difference between you and people like Shepard."

"Or Vakarian." I muttered the name, the shook my head and sighed. "Chambers... Kelly. Stop playing the what-if game, the only place that gets you is the bottom of that glass, and then the bottle after that. Even if you'd been more focused, spied on the other projects more, you probably couldn't have done anything. You'd have just ended up an indoctrinated thrall like anyone else who got too mouthy."

"Intellectually, logically, I agree with you." Her glass rose, and she took a small sip. "Emotionally, morally, I'm a mess who just wants to get black-out drunk and find something male to sleep with."

I snorted, "I'm sure there's plenty on the ship who'd be willing. You want to skip to that part, or you think we can go over the plan before Korolev gets here?"

"I would rather skip it, but we do need to go over the plan again, yes." She exhaled, setting her glass down and leaning back. It took her a moment to regain her composure, but not as long as I'd have assumed. "We've co-opted a few cell groups, and the news that we were rescuing slaves and then experimenting on them will probably bring in quite a few more. Especially from the Corsairs."

I rolled my eyes. "Are any of those idiots not in Cerberus?"

"Sixty percent of the Captains take orders from Petrovsky, give or take." She rolled a hand in the Asari motion for an obvious fact, "The last government helped us there, with their short-sighted policies and idiotic budgets. They make up about half of Ajax Cell right now, and the rest is about what you'd expect. Lots of light ships, only a few heavy cruisers, ground troops more suited to fighting against Council targets and pirates than your heavy infantry. Most of our fleet is retro-fitted Alliance ships that were supposedly decommissioned at various times, and is scattered across the Traverse and Alliance on assignment."

I nodded slowly, seeing the logic. Why build a new ship when you could probably bribe some Alliance officials to get old ones for practically free? Especially if you had the tech and the time to retro-fit them up to modern standards later. "Did you call her then?"

Kelly nodded in turn, "Yes, the plan remains the same in principle, provided that our actions remain undetected. She or I will contact you via the usual channels when Lazarus is complete and provide you with the location of the station, it's expected to occur in two months."

Two months... that would probably be enough time for Lawson's little rebellion to spread pretty far, but it was going to be annoying as fuck from my perspective. "You remind her that I can't exactly work for free right now?"

"Yes." She grimaced. "She'll be able to re-route funds to pay your standard rates plus fifty percent once we make our move, but we can't do anything before without revealing our hand."

"Understood." Fuck. Maybe... we would offer our services to both sides in the Black Spire-Ghet's Retreat conflict, and charge heavily for combat bonuses. A short fight would let us actually get some experience in fleet actions, and I wasn't particularly sympathetic to either side in that fiasco. Whoever paid more would see us work for them for a short time, then we'd pull back, refit, and be ready for Cerberus.

Shit. I didn't like that plan, but there was no way the other colonies would accept a meager two month contract, not for what we demanded in compensation.

"If," Chambers resumed, "Things go badly, you'll get the codeword along with the locations of Lazarus and two mustering stations in the Traverse; Minuteman and Firelance. She wants you to hit the latter two first, that will take out the main groups supposed to secure Lazarus in case of emergencies and might deceive the General as to your real target, then move to help secure Shepard."

I grunted. "You have more details on that?"

"That's all she gave me." She winced a little, wordlessly admitting that she wasn't much of a military mind and had just been relaying information. "You can probably ask for more data in code, but she did ask that we wait at least two or three weeks before risking even that level of communication again."

"All right." The sound of a door opening punctuated my words, and I glanced up to see Nikita Korolev walk into the lounge. Her tanned skin was a bit paler than normal, her dark hair long and tied back in a Terminus style braid rather than the short-crop I'd seen her with last. She was dressed in an ill-fitting pair of slacks that had been rolled up around her ankles, along with a black work-out shirt bearing the Silver Blade, and had a slight limp as she moved. "Please forward me all of the data you have, and send any analysis you think is relevant when you think its safe to do so."

"I will." Chambers rose from her seat, politely bowing in the Batarian fashion. "On the other matter... you know where I can find someone, and do you mind if I take the bottle?"

I snorted, rising to politely return her bow. "Take it, and go on up to the bridge. I'm sure Joa can tell you everyone who'd be open to that on board. Tell her why I sent you, she'll probably get a laugh out of it."

She gave me a tired grin that only barely reached her eyes, "Thank you."

With that she turned away, stopping at the bar to grab the entire bottle of brandy, not quite ever looking at Korolev as she departed. I sighed as I noticed that my fellow experiment was not quite murderously glaring at the Cerberus agent so much as she was openly picturing what Chambers would look like while she eviscerated her. Only once the shorter woman had left did she seem to shake herself, walking over to collapse into the chair that Aethyta had departed from earlier.

"Ciarán." She smiled as she sat down, "It's good to see you again."

I nodded noncommittally in return, "Korolev. What do you want?"

The Chosen One actually seemed to pout a little. "We can't catch up with old... wait, no." Her eyes narrowed, and she shook her head slowly. "No. You don't remember, not like we... not like I do."

My expressionless stare morphed into a frown. "You're still not all there, are you?"

"No." She admitted bluntly, reaching up to rub at a cheek. "It's... hard to tell which of us is... in control. I'm Chosen Nikita, the result of the Matriarch's stupid Process. Cynical Nikita is in here too, she's what's left of... who I was before, the one who likes you. The Reaper pyramid made me remember... some of it."

I pursed my lips. "And... what? You want to tell me how shitty it was? I'm pretty sure I can imagine."

Brown eyes went flat, her expression becoming remote. "No. You can't. I can still hear Tuya screaming, pounding on her cell walls as they made us watch you go through it. I... don't know what I sounded like when they cut open Jaime in front of us, but it was... probably worse. It broke us, me."

"Tuya?"

"Team Five." A brittle smile appeared. "We were the best. You, me, Jaime, and Tuya. We thought we were being trained to support Republic operations in the Traverse, to blend in where Asari couldn't. That kind of thing. Instead... we started to get suspicious, tried to break out, and... she accelerated the process a bit."

I exhaled slowly, then threw back the last of my rum. "Korolev-"

"I know, you don't want to remember." Her head shook as she spoke, her eyes lowering. "God, I don't want to remember, much less have to relay it to you...no, that's not why we're here."

"Then why are you here?"

Teeth appeared as she bit her lip. "We wanted to... I wanted to ask... if I could stay with you, for a while."

That hadn't been anything close to what I'd been expecting, and I blinked repeatedly as my body shifted to show Batarian surprise. "...what?"

"You're the only other one left." She swallowed, "The only one who even comes close to... knowing what it's like. Liara tries, bless her, but I'm still all screwed up from the stupid compulsions and I can't..."

I held a hand up, "You know them?"

"Bitch told me exactly what she was going to do to me before she put me under." Tanned lips actually curled angrily, her entire posture shifting, and I grimaced as I realized it was her other personality moving in. "I... can't really disobey an Asari, not easily, and almost never directly. I was forced to fall in love with Garrus, to the point where I physically couldn't tell Liara how I feel about her. I remember everything from what happened to me since I joined Shepard, and if you say the right code phrase I just babble it all out and then forget that I said anything."

I couldn't help but wince. "...more than that?"

Tears actually appeared as she glanced down, her shoulders hunching and the pitch of her voice changing to something younger, more vulnerable. "Yes. Two code phrases, one to... activate a deep beacon on the SR-1. To reveal it to the Collectors. The other was... to shoot myself if I got off the ship, to dispose of me so that another agent could be brought in for the next stage. Tali...stopped me, grabbed my gun when... when she realized what I was about to do. I... I tried to... Wrex stopped me from hurting her, but don't even remember trying, another block... stopped me from remembering the attempt, so I could still be useful later... they... only told Liara about it, trusted her to... protect me from myself."

I just kind of... stared at her, my brain utterly becalmed for once.

I mean, I'd known that T'Ravt was a fucked up piece of driftwood who needed to die horribly, but... fuck. Suddenly I felt like the lucky one, even though my life expectancy was worse than hers. Being compelled to become life-partners with Trena, forgetting my past, and knowing that I could die of seizures and insane anxiety attacks in the next three to five years was absolutely nothing in comparison to that level of crap.

"I... can we have some of that?" She pointed a shaking finger at my empty glass.

Blinking, I shook myself and nodded, standing up and heading over to the bar. Grabbing another glass, and the entire bottle, I brought it back and carefully poured her a small measure of the Illium Rum.

"Take it slow." I murmured as I pushed it to her, "Asari rum is bitter if you try and throw it back."

She nodded, taking a tiny sip. "Thank you, Ciarán."

"Cieran." I corrected absently, "Ciarán is what my bitch of a mother named me, and I'd rather not associate with her more than I have to."

Korolev blinked, "You... found her then? You always told us how you weren't sure if you loved her for getting you out of that life, or wanted to murder her for being such a shit mother that living on the streets was a better option."

I snorted quietly, not at all surprised. "I'm guessing the latter was closer to how I actually felt, I was probably trying to be polite. I don't care for her much these days, or one of my half-brothers. The other is tolerable enough, if... a bit hero-worshiping."

There was a quiet sound. "At least one of them is all right. My family is dead, pirate attack. They had me and two other girls from our settlement stripped down, ready to be... used when the Matriarch showed up. Everyone else had similar stories. Last second saves, freed from abusive slavery, that kind of thing. I think you were the only one that was actually unplanned, a side-pick up from a mission to annoy her sister that happened to come with a bonus."

"Easy shell game to set up, for her." I shook my head, sipping from my drink. "Establishes loyalty, makes you feel like an ass if you ask questions or make demands."

"Yeah. You and Tuya were suspicious from the start, but we didn't really have any idea how bad it was." Her head shook, "We don't even know what happened to her... or Jaime."

I winced. "Krom... Kerensky, was a friend of ours?"

"I loved him." She replied simply. "Even when he flirted with Zero to make me jealous, or trolled you and Tuya about how angsty you both were, or... did any number of other stupid, male things. We know... I know you killed him, but... how...?"

Exhaling heavily, I took a long pull from my glass. "Illyan broke his neck over a railing in Afterlife. Considering what Aria planned to do to him, that was at least quick. He was mad, you know that right?"

"I know." Her head lowered again, her cup rising and then falling as she drank slowly. "He was... she didn't mind, that he went crazy. She wanted to punish us for trying to leave, and knew that the ninth effort probably wouldn't end well. You were... I think you were the first stable one, you and twelve. They stopped for a while, after the two of you, then started on the ones she sent to the Citadel. Did... you find out anything about the others? Is there anyone else? There should have been twenty, at least from our group."

I leaned back in my chair, considered trying to lie given her obviously emotional state... then decided to just sail in my usual waters. "From what we were able to pull from his omni-tool, Krom and Zero broke out Eighteen and Nineteen at some point, and did something to hide them. So far as I know, the Matriarch is still looking for them, and Aethyta hasn't been able to find them either. No idea on Twenty, but I'd assume that he or she will show up after Shepard is revived to try and take your place as an inside agent."

Korolev bit her lip, her voice shifting back to cool, collected tones. "God knows how many compulsions that poor idiot will be loaded down with... dammit. Tuya might still be out there, she wasn't one of the dead on the Citadel. I'll recognize her if the Matriarch tries to use her, at least."

I nodded, "What does she look like?"

"Full name is Enkhtuyaa, she's Mongolian." Something like a wicked smile appeared. "Tall, built, exotic, a very take charge personality. Your type of girl."

"Don't tell me..."

"I don't know if you loved her," She shrugged, still smiling a little, "But you definitely had sex often enough."

Oh goddess... I rubbed at my forehead tiredly, the last thing I needed right now was another ex-lover causing problems, and with my luck she'd prove to be the next Chosen One. "Let's just circle back. You want to stick around instead of going off with your friends?"

"My friends..." Her head shook again. "You mean the person I'm actually in love with, but who loves Shepard because I couldn't tell her that? And also the person I'm in love because I was compelled to be against my will? I think... I need some space from them, right now."

I regarded her levelly, then let out a long, tired sigh. I didn't know her, not like she evidently knew me. Had known me. Whatever. But... she was a young woman in obvious pain, and I'd never been much good at just brushing that aside, especially when it essentially cost me nothing to accept.

"Was I a chivalrous idiot who struggled to say no to women back then too?" I asked tiredly.

"Yes." The faint smile returned. "Your mother, your actual one, liked to read you old human stories about knights. I think she changed a bunch of it around to make it more Batarian, bodyguards protecting warrior queens instead of helpless princesses, but it definitely stuck with you."

I snorted quietly. Well, at least now I knew where that irrational complex came from. "You can come with if you want to, but you'll probably have to work for a living. You're a detective, right?"

"Yes, but we can handle any kind of reporting and analytics," Her mouth twisted a little, "That was my... training, in the program."

"All right. I might put you to work in our support body, they handle governmental and economic crap." I tapped my glass with a finger, thinking. "I might also ask you to meld with my mind healer, Ghai T'Laria. She's been helping me stay stable, might help you get a handle on... which one of you is actually running things."

Korolev snorted quietly, and nodded. "We would both appreciate that. It's... not exactly fun to be looked as if one is crazy."

That drew a small smile to my own face, but I continued on. "Also, I might still have to send you off with T'Soni at least once. Aethyta tell you about the Rachni angle?"

"Yes." She grimaced a little, "I don't think the Queen can really heal indoctrination so much as the Rachni are just really, really resistant to it... but I guess anything is worth trying."

"Exactly." I nodded, "If I do have to send you, I'll see about sending a bodyguard team with to keep you safe."

"Thank you. About... us, you and I, not me and... I mean, the two of us friends, I mean." She licked her lips a little. "I know you don't remember me like I do you, but... we'll spend time together, right?"

I exhaled slowly again, trying not to process the almost desperate notation to her words, and how quickly she seemed to go from cool logical to over-emotion. "It likely won't be one on one sessions like this, but yes, I won't just ignore you once we arrive. If I'm busy, your best bets to vent and just talk are probably with Voya or Jacqueline."

There was a definite wince. "I... don't think that Chi likes me very much."

"Voya doesn't care for many people, no." I admitted, "But she respects people who get back up no matter how shitty their pasts were. So long as you don't give in and start a pity-party, she'll tolerate you and be willing to listen. And I'm sure you know Jacqueline."

"...you mean Jack?" She blinked. "Wait, does she actually let you call her that? She didn't let anyone but Shepard call her that on the Normandy. She threatened anyone who tried."

I lifted an eyebrow, "And how did that go when she threatened Shepard?"

"Shep beat her senseless... oh." Her head shook, "You're training her too then?"

"When I have the time." I grimaced. "Being a Warlord doesn't give me as much free time as you'd think. Speaking of, I have to get up to the bridge to handle crisis number... four. You should go tell the old fish and T'Soni that you're staying, then have the deck officer down there get you a stateroom. You'll probably live on the ship until we can find a room for you at headquarters. I'll message you once I get a schedule worked out."

"All right, and... thank you." She stood, bit her lip, then tried to bow as Chambers had. She mangled the normally smooth motion and didn't tilt her head appropriately, but I respected the effort enough to stand up and return the gesture.

We parted ways after exiting the lounge, me flagging down a passing sailor and having him escort Korolev back to the hangar while I turned in the opposite direction for the bridge. My usual shadow arrived shortly into the trip, stretching her arms above her head in a very self-satisfied motion as her throat let out a mewling noise. She'd already removed her helmet and armor in favor of a light suit and a clear mask around her nose and mouth, her usual wear for on board a mostly but not entirely clean ship.

I snorted softly, glancing at her in time to see her grin, fingering the dog tags that had been added to her necklace. "Someone's happy."

"Very." She all but purred, proving her good mood by actually moving to press into my side as I walked. After a few steps I took the hint and gently slid an arm around her shoulders, "I'm going to diversify, I think. Add a belt to go with the necklace so I can spread them out a bit more."

"It is getting a bit crowded." I agreed, glancing at the necklace in question. "Any news?"

She rolled a shoulder, "Nothing particularly important. The soldiers are in good moods, easy victories against the Geth improved morale. Sailors a bit less so since they didn't get a chance to prove themselves."

"They'll get their chance." I exhaled as we reached the nearest bank of lifts, stepping into them. I started to fill her in on the basics of what had gone down in the first meeting, including my concept to fill the next two months until Lazarus was completed. After that we moved into what Chambers had indicated, that they intended to stick to the original plan while gathering more allies, while we waited in the wings as support.

"It won't be that simple." She muttered as we approached the bridge, her hair rustling a little as she shook her head. "Lawson can plot all she wants, but we both know that we're going to have to go with the backup plan."

"I know." I sighed, "We'll have some time to plot it all out, and I'm going to get all the data I can from her. I'm more annoyed that we won't be able to deal with the Collectors very well, but not much we can do about that."

Voya let out a quiet sound of agreement, then glanced away as we neared the two guards outside of the command center, both of the Turians staring at us in something like shock. I expected her to separate from me, but instead felt her awkwardly slide an arm around my waist, her chin rising in something like a challenge to the two men.

"Voya'chi vas Xentha." I muttered as they opened the door for us, both of them twitching a little as if they were trying not to both laugh and cringe. "Are you claiming me right now?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She replied, though I saw her forked tongue run over her lips in a sign of nerves as we entered the bridge proper. The usual quiet chatter of officers on duty was broken as Joa heard our approach, turning around with an annoyed expression on her face. As usual she'd disdained a shirt, sticking with just the uniform's pants and a dark navy bra... and she'd actually sewn her Senior Captain's rune onto the left cup.

I sighed, resisting the urge to pointlessly tell her to put a goddess-damned top on, and settled for just shaking my head and wondering how I always ended up in situations like this.

"Cieran, you're bloody late, Massa's been..." Her voice trailed off as she blinked, staring at Voya and I as if we were a new kind of life-form. "...huh. Damn."

I blinked, not really having expected that response. "Joa?"

The ship's captain sighed, "One minute boss." Turning away from us, she glared at her first officer, the stately Turian's mandibles slowly shifting into a smile. "Stop grinning like an idiot."

Civ Lexu chuckled deeply, but restrained his facial appendages even as he held up a hand. Joa irritably pulled out a credit chit from a pocket before slapping it into his palm, and he silently put it into one of his own before falling into an at-rest position.

Beside me, Voya let out an irritated sound somewhere between a hiss and a growl, her hair rustling as she twitched her head rapidly. "Joa."

"What?" The purple skinned Asari rolled her eyes as she waved us towards the front of the room. "A bet was a bet, if you haven't already jumped him you're going to tonight from the way you're hanging off of him."

Voya's wide eyes narrowed dangerously as her voice lowered. "Cie, do we really need her?"

"We do." I sighed. "So make sure she survives whatever your plan is. Joa, are we ready to go?"

"Mostly, Cerberus told me they're staying with until Omega, they'll leave from there, so we're just waiting on the Broker shuttle to detach." She rolled a shoulder as she sat down in her command chair, Voya and I finally separating and moving to stand nearby. "Massa's been demanding an ETA, she's blood raging about some crap that Shaaryak did. Wants a private meeting with you as soon as you're both on Omega."

I grimaced. Trena had implied as much, but I hadn't been sure if it was the truth or just her exaggerating. "Any ideas as to what?"

The Asari grimaced. "From what Ghai told me, the 'throw the bitch out of the company' level kind of crap."

...oh goddess. Sucking in a heavy breath, I fought the urge to rub at my face or otherwise show weakness. "Well... shit. That's going to be a fun meeting to get through on top of everything else. I'm going to try and find you a short-term shooting war, by the way. Something to blow off some steam."

Joa blinked, then actually grinned a little. "That's not a bad idea. Lot of my girls are starting to get a little irritated at just shuttling ground troops around and threatening idiots away. Where?"

"Figure I'll start a bidding war between Black Spire and Ghet's Retreat, loser sees you take the fleet and blow apart everything in the system."

"They'll pay out of the ass for that... I like it." The grin became a smirk as she leaned back in her chair, "You mind if I spread the word on that? Might buck up morale a bit to know you're going to actually commit us to some action."

"Go for it." I rolled a shoulder, "Probably just the Captains for now though, in case crap doesn't pan out and we have to find another source of employment."

"Hierarchy, maybe?" Voya suggested, "Plenty of pirates stupid enough to attack them that we could obliterate."

Joa shrugged, "True enough, we'd be doing the galaxy a favor by clearing out people that moronic. You going to stick around for the jump or no? It's not a long trip back but I think Ven took in a big food contract from Aria through our docks, so it might be a bit before we can move in."

"Lovely... I'll be in my quarters, let me know if there's another crisis so I can delegate it to someone else."

Snorts went up from around the bridge that, though from the way Joa rolled her eyes she knew I was being entirely serious. I smirked a little as I departed, Voya quietly following alongside me. She refrained from moving closer this time, having evidently pushed her boundaries enough for one day. Neither one of us spoke on the short walk to the stateroom, stepping inside and locking the door behind us.

She wasted no time in removing her half-mask, tossing it aside irritably as I collapsed into the room's bunk.

"I know that look." Her voice was annoyed as she walked over, "What else happened?"

"Korolev is coming with us." I exhaled, throwing an arm over my eyes. "The shit they did let her remember... a lot of crap, apparently. She's so fucked up that I'm normal in comparison, and doesn't want to be around T'Soni or Vakarian right now."

There was a startled pause, then a tired, mewling groan escaped her. "Tell me."

I did, recounting the entire conversation. By the time I was done, she'd sat down beside me, and let me put my head in her lap, one of her hands resting on my chest while the other lazily played with my hair. It was an ideal position, from our combined points of view, satisfying her need to always be in control of the situation, while still letting me be physically close to her.

"And of course you let her come with." She sighed as I finished. "You seem to have an obsession with collecting damaged females to surround yourself with."

I sighed quietly. "Could you not state it like that? You make it sound like I'm trying to build the galaxy's most screwed up harem or something."

Voya snorted softly. "What are we going to do with her long-term?"

"Fuck if I know." I shook my head a little, reaching up and running a finger along the thick scarring on her neck. Her eyes closed slowly at the touch, her body going still. "Let her stay around until she's healthy enough to decide what she wants to do next."

A hand slowly rose, wrapping burning fingers around my wrist as she pulled it away. "You know I don't like that being touched."

"I know." I replied quietly, "I just... don't know how you survived it."

"Yes you do." She murmured. "Hatred, rage, and cursed luck that wouldn't just let me escape into death."

I winced a little, "Voya..."

Her head shook as her hips rose, tilting to deposit me onto the bed. She shifted herself around, swinging a muscled leg over me before settling to sit on my thighs. "That was then, not now. We've been over this."

Exhaling, I reached up and gently touched her shoulders without exerting any pressure. Her large, glowing eyes narrowed, but she huffed and lowered herself down. "We have, but you know me. I worry about you."

"Bosh'tet." She muttered the word even as she turned her face, rubbing her left cheek against my goatee in a slow motion. "I'm not the one who had his soul violated by a Matriarch who decided to play god."

"I'm not the one who can remember a year of slavery." I reminded her quietly, letting my eyes lid as she slid to my right, running her mouth and face over the skin on my neck. "You had it much worse."

She went still for a long moment, then seemed to sigh quietly. "Stubborn, idiot male. Why do I love you, again?"

"My good looks?" I suggested.

That earned me a snort, and a soft bite to my neck before she pulled back. "I'm still adjusting to your ugliness."

"Are you now?" I lifted eyebrows as I reached over, grabbing her right hand. Before she could stop me, I slid it down and then under the left side of my shirt, pressing it against the scars that covered that side of my body.

Voya's thin lips pursed as she almost unconsciously ran her small claws over them before stopping as she realized what she was doing. "One or two attractive attributes doesn't make you handsome, merely barely acceptable."

Snorting quietly, I shifted my free hand to trail a finger over her shirt, careful to move slowly and obviously. "I don't remember you complaining when you were telling me to do things to these, and to stop being so slow about it."

The skin around her eyes darkened rapidly as she swallowed, "Such a male, I was hardly that aggressive with you either time I let you touch me."

I hummed in agreement, letting my arms go limp at my side as I relaxed. "True, but we never did get to finish what we started when Liara interrupted us last week, and you do seem to like directing things."

Her black, forked tongue appeared as she licked her lips, and I felt a subtle shift to her hips. "I... are you sure? I still don't want to go beyond touching one another, perhaps... your lips, and I didn't know if you would mind me... you... you keshin. Shyeel talked to you, didn't she?"

I blinked at the sudden accusation. "...no? I was just assuming from what you seemed to like the first two times, and how you were acting before we were interrupted."

"Oh." She pursed her lips, "That's... all right then."

"Should I talk with-"

"No!" Her voice all but snapped the word as she shifted her weight back a bit, letting her hands grab the hem of my shirt. "No. Neither one of us has to do that, I... you really just guessed that I...?"

"That you seem to really like it when I ask you what to do?" I murmured, hefting myself up enough for her to pull my shirt over my head and arms. "That seemed easy enough. It go farther than that?"

Her throat worked as she swallowed, a hand once again idly running over my many scars as she stared down at me. "Yes."

I lifted an eyebrow. "How far?"

"I don't like causing pain, or dominance games, but..." She licked her lips again, "But I do like being in control. Very in control. It's... would you... I want..."

While she tried to find the right words, I carefully reached out and touched her shirt, pulling it up slightly. She didn't resist, shifting herself a bit to let me pull it up and over her head, revealing the bare skin over her muscled stomach, and the soft layers of white hair covering everything else.

Voya let me stare for a long few breaths, then abruptly reached out and wrapped a hand in my hair. I grunted softly as she gave it one hard tug, evidently checking her grip, then she leaned in closer. "I... you like females leading, but are you sure?"

"Voya." I sighed, leaning forwards slightly and gently kissing her. "Just shut up and tell me what to do already."

She shuddered a little, then let out a low, pleased sound as she pulled on my hair, forcing me back down to the bed, something almost wickedly excited in her expression. "Sacred ancestors... but there are times when I adore you, Cieran. Now shut up and attend to me."

End Act III: Traverse

And here we finish Act III of this particular story. The goal was to create a story much like Terminus, where old plotlines are closed and numerous others are prepared for a coming trilogy. In a way it's sad, I'd have loved to have filled the massive time skips in this story with training montages and lots of secondary points of view... but considering how long it's taken us just to get to the start of ME2, dragging it on farther didn't seem right.

Originally I had planned for just one epilogue chapter, which would be a flash-back to just what happened on Illium between Cieran, Liara, Ghai, Miranda, Kelly, and Genosa... but I think that's going to have to be a story only referenced, or perhaps put in a TWF chapter, or perhaps as a prologue to Hellhounds. Instead we'll likely just have a single extremely teasing preview for Hellhounds, which will probably drop sometime in June.

For those curious as to the next three stories and their pacing in regards to canon; take ME2, ME3, all six AR stories, add a bit more AU, and throw it all into a blender. The game plan, in order to cover more of the galaxy-wide plot, is to rotate back to the Einherjar format. Every chapter will contain a primary section (Cieran's point of view), along with a rotating secondary POV. Interludes will break up the acts, and will likely be entirely from secondary POVs.

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."

P a treon Zach_K2V

Thanks, Kat