Author's note: I have to apologize once again for taking so long with this. At least the gap between chapters wasn't a year like the last one, but still. The latest event in the neverending cavalcade of whimsy that is my life: about two weeks ago, someone stole my fucking car and I've been trying to get a loan to get another one so I can keep my shitty job and keep paying my rent. Haven't succeeded yet, so now I'm down to waiting for my tax return so I can make a big down payment and hope the dealership will let me finance the remainder. As you might imagine, it's been kinda hard to focus on writing, and I had to devote my creative energy to finishing an original novel to submit to DAW Books to have the slight chance of maybe getting published and getting a supplementary income going, before getting back to work on Freelancers.

Another wrinkle is the weird tangent the chapter started going off on, which I had to scrap and start over. I intended it to be one scene, and it ended up being almost a whole chapter in itself. So I'm thinking I might spin it off into a side-story just so it won't go to waste. Might even turn into a mini-series of its own, depending on how it plays out. Anyhow, I'll try not to be too sporadic about finishing new chapters and posting them, but things have been pretty chaotic recently... o_O

"Well, here's where the magic happens." Chula stepped aside to let her parents enter Dr. T'Lura's lab. She took a quick look around and found the asari scientist's team huddled around a console and staring at the monitors above it. Still finding records from the archives Malcolm's husband stumbled across on Bekenstein, Chula guessed.

"Good morning," Malcolm said. Chula turned to the left and nodded to him and Benny as they walked over from another console. "Glad to see you again."

"Likewise. Did you all actually get any sleep, or did you pull another all-nighter?" Chula laughed softly. She hadn't expected to get any rest, herself after Valeria insisted everyone get some shuteye so they wouldn't be fighting their own fatigue while dealing with the newest crisis, but she'd conked out seconds after flopping onto the bed in her motel room.

"Tried to sleep, but couldn't." Benny glanced at Dr. T'Lura and smiled. "Aside from Raena falling asleep at her desk, I think the others haven't even taken a break. We came back to the lab and found them still at it."

"I don't think we'll be able to drag them away from it," Malcolm added, "so I'm gonna have some food delivered for breakfast. Want anything?"

"Thanks, but I'm good. Had a quick meal right after I got up." Chula waved a hand at the scientists. "How terrified should I be of what they've found since the last records we saw?"

"It's more of the same, for the most part." Malcolm crossed his arms over his chest and looked like he was trying not to shiver. "It's not all bad, though. The archives included info on weapons and propulsion systems aliens in previous fifty-thousand-year cycles experimented with when they were fighting the Reapers." He pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the communications console he'd just stepped away from. "We know a few people who know someone who's interested in taking a crack at it and seeing if it leads anywhere."

"Fascinating stuff," Benny added, grinning. "Gravimetric propulsion, fusion beam cannons, and something called a quantum-discharge weapon. My favorite is the file Raena's team found on using artificially-generated black holes as power sources."

Malcolm grinned and slipped his arm around Benny's waist. "So, are these the new recruits you told us about last night?"

"Yep. My parents, Seeva and Eriya." Chula hadn't told him the exact circumstances leading to their presence here, only that they needed a second chance. She didn't want to hurt their shot at redemption and figured disclosing the magnitude of their fuckup should be up to them.

"Glad to have you onboard. The more people we can get to join up, the faster we'll be able to get in front of this thing." He reached out to shake their hands. "I just hope seeing what we've found doesn't scare you off. How much do you know?"

"Not a great deal," Chula's father said. "We know the Reapers have been harvesting a sentient species and wiping out others all over the galaxy every fifty thousand years for millions of years, if not longer. No one has figured out why, as far as I'm aware. We know only a handful of people believed the Reapers were even real until recently, but the Council has finally started to make plans to prepare for the next invasion."

"The ship that brought us to the Citadel encountered a Reaper," her mother added. "It stayed nearby long enough for the Normandy to perform detailed scans, then it left without attacking us."

"Commander Shepard sent you a copy of the scans," Chula said. "The first thing the Council or any military would do is classify those files, but he thought you needed to know what you might be getting into, and to keep far away if you ever run across one of those things. The one we ran into was probably malfunctioning from all the battle damage it had, so there's no guarantee any others wouldn't open fire immediately."

"Well, that sounds like fun." Malcolm pointed at the console to the left of Dr. T'Lura and motioned for them to follow. "I'll see if Raena's team got the new info yet, and you can show your parents what we've already found."

"I'll point 'em in the right direction." Benny leaned over the console and poked at the hard-light controls. "I'll start with my favorite - a battle during a previous cycle with a whole fleet of Reapers. Whoever was fighting them lost, but they gave 'em hell."

Chula stuck her hands into her pockets and glanced at her parents as the familiar record began playing on the screen. The unknown alien species had built the biggest mass accelerator weapon the galaxy had ever seen and a single shot had drilled through eight of the enormous, squid-shaped monstrosities without slowing down. The huge metal projectile had continued on and eventually slammed into the planet Klendagon, carving a deep rift across one entire hemisphere.

They made the Reapers pay for it, but in the end they were harvested anyway, and every other technologically-advanced species was exterminated. A chill rippled up and down Chula's spine. Where would the galaxy be if all those species hadn't been wiped out? If even a handful of them had survived over the past few million years, we could be living in a golden age right now. The whole galaxy might've been united and the technology everyone took for granted might've been beyond anything we can imagine. We could've been living in a Type III civilization, assuming something else hadn't gotten in the way.

She turned back to her parents as the playback finished. They stared at the monitor, their glowing eyes open wide, and finally reached out to grasp each other's hands. At the same time, T'Lura drew in a slow breath and leaned back in her chair, having just finished skimming the scan results Shepard had sent.

"Fuck."

"I'm told the scans were pretty thorough," Chula said. "Think someone can find a weakness in the Reapers that can be exploited?"

"Should be able to find a few." T'Lura hunched forward and fixed her eyes on the information in front of her. "I remember how Sovereign's attack on the Citadel two years ago ended. Its kinetic barriers were impervious to everything the fleet threw at it, but the shields finally dropped for some reason - something Commander Shepard did, I assume - and conventional weapons started tearing it apart. The Normandy finished it off with a single shot. If we can figure out a way to knock their barriers out, it should just be a matter of blasting 'em until the right spot is hit. And we should be able to figure out exactly where to hit 'em from this sensor data."

Chula nodded and cocked her head at her parents. "So, you guys still up for this?"

"This is something we need to do to make up for our mistakes, but it sounds like we'll actually have a decent chance." Seeva nodded slowly and looked back to Malcolm. "My wife and I are ready to do whatever you need us to."

"Cool. Our associates have been putting together some teams to search for other information depositories and even start exploring parts of the galaxy where there are no mass relays. If we can get some of these propulsion systems to work - ones that don't depend on standard FTL drive cores and mass relays - who knows what we'll be able to find."

Eriya nodded. "I've heard people back in the Migrant Fleet kicking around the idea of exploring places with no relays since only a fraction of our galaxy has been mapped out and inhabited. I've never heard of anyone actually doing it, but there's so much out there that none of our civilizations have ever seen."

"Exactly." Malcolm smiled and rubbed his hands together. "Plans are already being drawn up for a new Explorer Service Vehicle fleet. Just thinking of the things we might see out there makes me giddy. It'd be worth going even if we didn't need to fight off the Reapers. But until someone gets any of those new drive systems to work, we'll start by tracking down more of the archives like the one Benny found. Some of the records Raena pulled out of it have coordinates where others were hidden, assuming no one else has already dug them up. We'd like you to join one of those expeditions."

"We're looking forward to it." Eriya glanced at Seeva. "Like we were saying last night, it'd almost be like starting a new Pilgrimage."

"Yes. It could be quite an adventure." He put his arm around her.

"And we'd also like to hire Chula's crew for a few of these expeditions whenever they're available, so you might bump into her on occasion." Malcolm turned to smile at her. "I'm sure I know someone who knows someone who can get you a new ship, or at least loan you one for the duration of the mission."

"Something came up last night that we have to deal with, but I'll let my crew know. If we don't pick up another job after this one's finished, we'll be glad to take you up on your offer."

"Awesome!" Malcolm shook her hand and grinned before turning back to her parents. "Okay, shall we get started?"

"A moment, please." Her father stepped forward and hugged her. "I wish the circumstances were different, but it was good to see you again."

"You, too." Chula embraced her mom and then stepped back. "Be safe out there, you two."

"You, as well. If you're going to be hunting down an assassin …"

"It'll be Valeria's op, and she's a Spectre. We'll just be providing tactical support, but we'll be as careful as we can." Chula tried to laugh it off. "We'll all be neck-deep in the shit sooner or later, anyway, so the sooner you guys find something we can use, the better."

"We'll do our best." Eriya gave her one more quick hug while Seeva turned back to Malcolm. "Take care."

"You, too." Chula stepped back and laughed softly as her father appeared to shift mental gears instantly.

"Mr. Takahashi, something just occurred to me. The Reapers use the same kinetic-barrier technology that every other species uses, since it's all reverse-engineered from tech they left for us to find. The thing is, it's designed to stop solid metal projectiles - again, Reaper tech that we've all discovered and based our own weapons on. Barriers aren't designed for directed-energy weapons like the ones you mentioned. Fusion beams and whatever else. It's possible they'd drain their shields much faster than mass-accelerator weapons, or they could even bypass their shields entirely. It's definitely worth looking into."

"I was just thinking the same thing," Dr. T'Lura said. "We should make those data files top priority."

Better leave them to it. Chula waved and stepped back into the hallway. On with business.

"How is she?" Lia waited outside the door to Magnum's room while a nurse pushed a cart into the hallway. Sidonis stopped beside her and leaned over for a quick peek inside.

"She's awake," the nurse said. "Been asking to see one of you, actually."

"So she's okay, then?"

"She'll be stuck here for a while longer, but she'll be fine." The man glanced over his shoulder and shook his head. "Which is amazing, given the severity of her wound. If that metal rod had hit just a few millimeters to the left, it would've pierced her heart. She's certainly tough."

"You have no idea," Sidonis said. "The rod came up through the floor when our ship was destroyed, and she fell on it. Everyone was afraid to lift her off it because it was so close to her heart. So she pulled herself off it. Had one of the geth platforms on our ship stand over her and hold its hands out. She grabbed on and lifted herself off the spike." He shivered. "I'll never forget the way she screamed, but she kept at it until she was free."

"Jesus." The nurse shuddered and pushed the cart across the hall. "I'll get out of your way. You can see her for a few minutes, but she needs to rest."

"Thank you." Lia stepped into the room and Sidonis nodded at another door.

"I'll check on Kenn and see how he's doing. And make sure he knows about your client's offer."

"Okay. See you in a few minutes." Lia walked on into Magnum's room and found her reclining on her bed. She caught a glimpse of bandages under the hospital gown and Magnum's left arm was in a sling. She blinked a couple of times and then smiled.

"Hey, Lia." Her voice was barely above a whisper. She glanced toward her wound and added, "I don't remember much after I got spiked, but I assume I'm not dead yet?"

"Far from it. I'm told you'll be okay once you've had time to recover."

"That's a relief. One of the doctors might've … might've already told me, but … I was probably too … out-of-it to really hear it." Magnum's eyes closed for a few seconds and then fluttered open again. "Is everyone else okay?"

"We're all fine. Just a little shaken up. The Sulaco's gone, though. We're looking into getting another ship."

Magnum sighed and rubbed her hand over her face. "What the hell happened?"

"Admiral Daro'Xen knew about the stealth ship we were investigating. It was a secret project she and Admiral Han'Gerrel were working on together. She demanded that we turn over the two geth platforms onboard and had the Sulaco fired upon when we refused. It's pretty obvious she just used that as an excuse to get rid of us and stop Valeria's investigation before her involvement could be uncovered."

"That bitch isn't still running around, is she?"

"Valeria arrested her, we met with the Admiralty Board and blew the whole thing open in front of the whole Migrant Fleet, and then Commander Shepard helped us track the stealth ship down. The crew was taken into custody and we towed the ship to the Citadel. Gerrel realized he made a mistake and is cooperating with us. The Council has finally started cooperating with Shepard, and they're planning to send copies of the ship's schematics to all the governments in Citadel space to help prepare for the Reapers." Lia took a slow breath and shook her head. "Then, last night, we discovered someone put a hit on Valeria and Irving, so that's the latest thing we're having to deal with. Val's looking into it and coming up with a plan."

Magnum snorted and then winced at a pain. "Can't stay out of trouble for … five minutes … can you?"

"I guess not." Lia tried to laugh it off. "It keeps life interesting."

"Sure does." Magnum's eyes remained closed for a long moment. "S … sorry. Whatever medication … they have me on … is … kicking the shit outta me." She fell silent and her breathing remained steady. Lia waited a moment longer to see if she'd wake up again, then turned to the door.

Should let her get the rest she needs. At least I can let Chula and the others know she'll pull through. Lia stepped into the corridor and took a step toward Kenn's room, but stopped when her Omni-Tool beeped softly. She brought its interface up and found a message from Chula, with a file attached. She played it back and Chula's voice came from her helmet speakers.

"Here's a copy of the info Malcolm's team has found so far, in case Kenn's interested in joining up once he's out of the hospital. Oh, and since you mentioned the 'escort' you were with the other night has a quarian client on Illium, you might forward a copy to him in case it's something she wants to check out. There are indications of at least one other archive on Illium and some on several other asari colonies, and at least one on Thessia itself. If she's been on Illium long enough to be one of his regulars, it could mean she got stranded there during her Pilgrimage and this might help her get back on track."

I should do that before something else comes out of nowhere and derails everything. Lia turned around and headed for the lobby, stopped at the nearest comm terminal, and began composing a message.

"Thanks for the assist," Valeria said once Chula, Lia, Dakka, and Quint had joined her in the empty corridor in Bachjret Ward. "It's really not necessary for you to jump into a fight that isn't yours, but I'm glad to have the company."

"We want to help," Dakka said, and the others nodded.

"Thank you," Valeria said again, more softly this time.

Chula tipped her hat and got down to business. "What've we got?"

Valeria glanced at her Omni-Tool interface and double-checked her jammer app to be sure it was still scrambling any nearby transmissions. Even if Bidox Omt had no idea she was coming, someone in his line of work would be an idiot if he didn't tap into local surveillance cameras and send out his own drones. Once she was satisfied, she nodded over her shoulder at the door at the far end of the corridor.

"I did a little digging and tracked our fixer down to this business district. He's got a store selling sexbots, but that's just a front for his even sleazier operations. He probably won't be in the shop, but he has an office upstairs. I should be able to slip through the door if a few of you distract the employees. Even if he's not there, I should be able to find something that points us in the right direction."

"So … I guess we'll have to pretend to be shopping for synthetic sex companions." Lia chuckled. "The fun never ends."

"We can tell the sales people we're working for Fornax." Dakka grinned. "Since Valeria had to go back into the Spectres and Irving isn't gonna stay on without her, they're losing two of their fan-favorite performers. We can probably sell the clerks on the idea of us buying sexbots in bulk as a cost-cutting measure. Well, long enough to keep their eyes off Valeria, at least."

"I guess that would work."

"I'd be surprised if they didn't buy it for at least a minute or two. Organic-on-synthetic porn has been trending upward recently." Chula noticed the others staring at her and shrugged. "So I've heard."

Dakka laughed and rubbed her hands together. "Well, what're we waiting for?"

Val nodded and took point. The others followed her through the door and down a narrow street lined with restaurants, vehicle dealerships, gun shops, used spacecraft parts dealers, and a wide range of other businesses. The stores grew shadier as the team continued walking, turned a corner onto a dead-end street, and reached Bidox's "establishment."

"Wow." She stared at the storefront tucked into the corner and shook her head slowly. A huge, holographic sign floated above the entrance with words - the store's name, she presumed - cycling through different languages. And beside it was a pair of stylized silhouettes of a krogan bending an asari over and railing her from behind. As she recovered from the shock, Valeria noticed a faint circuitry pattern on the asari figure.

"Huh." Dakka pondered the sight for a moment. "It's almost too subtle, isn't it? I mean, I barely even noticed it."

"Keelah," Lia muttered. "Even if we weren't here because this guy hired someone to kill Valeria and Irving, seeing this would make me want to kick his ass just on general principles."

"I know the feeling." I'm gonna need a shower after being in there. She strode up to the door. "Let's get this over with."

The doors parted and she took a quick look around the warehouse-sized chamber. The rear wall had a single door and the other three walls were lined with … display models. Some appeared human, a few were turian, several were quarian, and one was salarian. Most were asari. One section on the right had a variety of bots without artificial skin, apparently for customers who didn't even want the illusion that they weren't actually banging a robot.

A dozen humans and one turian were scattered around the room, perusing the bots and the accessories on shelves and tables in the center of the room, all of them ignoring each other with an intensity that Valeria could practically feel compressing the air in the room.

One of the humans, who appeared to be in his mid or even early teens, glanced up, spotted Val and the others, and his face turned red. He hurried up to the counter, placed an order, and paid for it. She noticed the asari behind the counter had huge breasts and an impossibly narrow waist.

Huh. Might be a synth with a virtual intelligence installed.

"Thank you," the sales clerk said with a cheesy smile and the kind of polite yet cheerful yet almost monotone voice that could only come from a VI. "Your purchase will be delivered this afternoon."

"I wonder how he's gonna slip it past his parents," Quint said under his breath as the kid hurried past them, hiding his face by pretending to comb his fingers through his hair on the way out the door.

What a fine establishment, not even bothering to check ID and verify the customer's age. Valeria decided to let it go since it wasn't the reason she was here. Besides, she figured this was better than the kid getting involved in gang activity, buying drugs, or getting hold of a gun and joining a merc team. Which wasn't as likely here as it was in the Terminus Systems, but she'd seen it happen often enough there for it to cross her mind now.

"Hah." Dakka nudged Quint's shoulder and pointed at the more robotic models. "How much you wanna bet Joker would like to get one of those for EDI? Well, it'd really be for him, but she'd be the one piloting it around."

Quint snickered and shook his head.

"Welcome," the clerk said. "Is there anything I can help you find?"

Dakka clapped her hands together and jogged up to the counter. "Yes, as a matter of fact. We're from Fornax. We're losing two of our biggest stars and we've been scouting around for potential replacements. Among the options we're considering is a number of bots like the ones you're selling. Would you mind showing us a few of your most popular models and giving us an overview of their preinstalled apps? If we like what we see, we'll be making a large purchase."

"I would be delighted!" The synthetic asari sauntered around the counter and led them over to the quarian-lookalikes.

Nicely done, kid. Valeria waited until the clerk had reached the wall and the others stood behind her, ensuring she wouldn't catch a glimpse of Valeria from the corners of her optics, then she stepped quietly up to the door behind the counter. She glanced around at the other customers and found every one of them keeping their eyes pointed straight ahead. Val held in a chuckle, opened the door, and darted through. She closed it gently behind her and crept over to a set of stairs at the end of a short, narrow corridor.

She paused at the door at the top of the stairs and scanned it for life signs. The Omni-Tool detected a single volus instantly.

Well, how about that? Caught him without any bodyguards. She loaded another app, hacked the lock, and the hard-light button in the center of the door changed from red to green. She tapped it and the door slid aside. Three meters away, a short and almost spherical volus at a desk snapped his head up to stare at her and a sharp gasp interrupted the rhythmic sighing sound volus normally produced via their envirosuits' breather packs.

She stepped into the office and let the door close. He stared at her for a few more seconds before speaking, his words interrupted periodically by his breathing.

"Who the hell - hhhhhhh - do you think you are? - hhhhhhh - You can't just barge - hhhhhhh - in here like that!"

"Bidox Omt?"

"- hhhhhhhhhhhhh - hhhhhhhh -"

"I'll take that as a 'yes.'" Valeria strode up to his desk and leaned on it. Bidox recoiled from her as she continued, "Last night I had a fascinating conversation with an associate of yours, a dim-bulb human named Garrett Watson. Ring a bell?"

"I - I d-don't know what - hhhh-hhhh - you're talking about!"

"I just want to know who hired you to find that pathetic excuse for an assassin to go after me and my husband. Tell me, and I'll be on my way."

He continued staring for a few more seconds and took a step back. "I … hhhhh - can't! He'll kill - hhhhh - me!"

"Once I get my hands on him, he won't be your problem anymore. Or anyone else's." Valeria pulled her knife from her belt and he backed up again. "Name. Now."

"- hhhh-hhhh - hhhhhh - hhhhhhhhhh …"

She growled and lunged around the desk, expecting Bidox to back up against the wall. The average volus's greatest fear was probably a suit puncture. Thanks to the extremely high-pressure atmosphere of their homeworld, they couldn't survive in environments most species considered normal - and it was a nasty way to go.

He surprised her by lunging forward and hitting a button on the side of his desk. The floor opened under him and he plunged through a circular hole.

What? Valeria stared into the opening and glimpsed him sliding down a chute. She darted over to the window and found another hole in the sloping roof. Bidox emerged and rolled toward the street. Val shook her head, sheathed her knife, and activated her Omni-Blade app. The superheated blade sprang from her Tool's mini-fabricator and she cut into the wall around the window. A kick popped the window out like a cork and Val let the blade dissipate and launched through.

Bidox reached the edge of the roof, clamped a hand on, and dropped out of sight. Valeria threw herself forward, landed on her hip, and slid after him. She grabbed the edge, flipped, and dropped to the alley she and the others had walked into just a few minutes ago. She glanced over her shoulder and found Chula and the others staring for a fraction of a second and then rushing for the door, leaving the synthetic clerk smiling blankly at empty air. Val faced forward, scanned the alley, and spotted Bidox waddling past the storefront next door.

She shook her head, sprinted after him, grabbed his arm, and held the tip of her knife to his neck.

"Guess you found him," Chula said.

"Yep. He's not exactly being cooperative. I am … displeased." Valeria turned Bidox around to face her and waved the knife in front of his eyes. "All I have to do is poke a little hole in your suit and your skin will split wide open. If the puncture is small enough, your guts will squirt through it like Silly String. Feel like answering my question now?"

"Alright! Yes! Just don't - hhhhh - kill me! - hhh - Please!"

"Whether you live or die is entirely up to you. Choose your next words carefully."

"Lantim Akos! He's the one - hhhhhh - who wanted you and your - hhhhh - husband killed!"

"Huh." Valeria glanced at the others. "Name seems familiar, but I can't quite pin it down."

"He's a merc. A turian. - hhhhhhh - Not in one of the - hhhhhhh - three big corporations. Runs his own - hhhhhh - independent crew."

"That's a start. Give me everything you've got on him. Everything. Send the info to my Omni-Tool." Valeria leaned down to shove her face right into his. "Once I finish with him, I'm coming back here, and I'd better not find you here. It's time for a career change. Is that understood?"

"Y-yes!" He woke his Omni-Tool with a shaking hand, gathered the files, and sent them over. Val turned away from him as if he'd already ceased to exist.

"Okay, guys, let's go hunting."