Hey readers! Sorry for the lateness of this. I can only write for so long each day, and some days not at all. The snow trapped me inside last night, so I had a lot of time. This is the first part of this chapter. It would be too long to post in one go, so I will be posting again on Sunday. Guaranteed.

Enjoy this!

Thank you to QuietFire for your guest review! I hope your had time to adjust your eyes to sunlight after reading!

"Check those fucking coordinates again!" Zaia yelled to the cockpit, pacing like a trapped varren in the cabin of the Angel. They had been running around this fucking system for three days now, looking for anything at all that wasn't empty fucking space.

"I have! There's nothing wrong with the coordinates! I'm heading back to the originals!" Draga yelled back. Zaia bit her lip so hard that she drew blood; this is not what she needed to be doing right now. Chasing this fucking pathetic bitch who sent troops after Stryd was a frustrating waste of time, but she couldn't lose the trail. This was the only clue she had right now as to the people who were after her. This is the only way right now that she could bring the fight to them.

Yet here she fucking sits, useless as a fucking hanar without tentacles, twiddling her shadows cursed thumbs while her daughters were in danger. That fucking waste of flesh Temujin, someone who she still could not believe had made it to Director of the N7, had made a direct threat against Vasha and Imali. Hackett had come through and told them this information, along with telling them that he was on his way to Earth to take the fucker prisoner.

As much as it fueled her anger more, she had a sneaking suspicion that the fucking Alliance had let Khan slip through their fingers. Hackett would have contacted her by now if they'd taken Khan. There wasn't a place in the galaxy, save the far rim, from which would take Hackett three days of travel to get to Earth. Of course, Alliance dreadnoughts, frigates and cruisers were undoubtedly slower than the Angel was.

That only meant that that piece of shit was now loose on the galaxy, and shadows alone know what fucking assets he had under his stubby little thumb. She should have killed him when she had the fucking chance.

"Shepard, we have searched up and do–"

"Kira, I swear to everything if you do not shut up I will cut your tongue out and space it!" She snapped. She couldn't even think straight, she was so angry. It confused her. Her anger usually came from Woedes, or even jump started an attack, but this was neither. She was just...angry. And the fact that she was angry and didn't understand why made her angrier.

Was she angry because she was chasing ghosts out here in the middle of the Attican Traverse? Was she mad because Temujin Khan was threatening her daughters? Was she mad that her fucking handlers were apparently still alive, meaning that Anderson and the Alliance had lied to her all these years?

In her bones, in her flesh she knew that Temujin was the source, but at the same time it wasn't him. Another part of her found the highest flaw was with Hackett and the fucking SA. Then she was also angry about this fucking chase in the middle of nowhere. Everything was making her angry, but nothing was claiming all of her attention. That was the worst part. She knew what she should be focused on, but she wasn't focused on it. And it pissed her off.

"The information from Stryd says that this part of the Traverse is a high traffic bandit passage...but we haven't seen a single ship..." Draga said from the cockpit, her voice even over the comm. Shepard glared at the small speaker that projected the pilots voice, blaming it and its incompetence for allowing Draga to impart such useless information.

"That information is correct, Draga." Stryd rumbled from his corner, the huge krogan looking yet bigger in the small space of the Angel.

"You have said that seven times..." She growled under her breath, her words not meant to reach anyone. She continued to pace, wondering what exactly these coordinates were supposed to mean. They said that Stryd should be taken there when he was successfully caught by Paussey and his goons. Considering that they're all dead, save the two that Zaia let go, that wouldn't be happening. They had brought the krogan along because, when they found whoever was here, they would need Stryd as a bargaining chip. At this point, if they met anyone.

Who was Paussey supposed to meet out here, and how was he supposed to meet them? Shepard pulled the file back up on her omni, reading through it for what seemed like the thousandth time since getting out here. There was something hidden in it that told them where they were supposed to go, and she didn't know what it was.

Maybe it was something that was told to Paussey by word, and they never got it before Vega killed him. The little fuck was still alive when Zaia had gotten back after her botched infiltration of the warehouse office. Vega had been taking his time, allowing Magnus to share in some punishment for the death of their comrade.

No sense in dwelling on that. The damn coordinates pointed them to a spot in the Traverse, but there was nothing fucking there. She had ordered Draga to fly to every variation of the coordinates that the flight VI could possibly come up with, and every single one had come up empty. So now, as far as she knew, they were floating pointlessly, trying to find something that they can't.

The only reprieve she had had over the past days were the talks with her daughters that she had been able to indulge in. The two of them never ceased to cool her off and even make her happy enough to not be boiling in her own anger. She had chosen to ignore the fact that although she had ordered Shozar to deliver the bracelets, and he had informed her that he had done just that, neither Liara nor her daughters had said anything about them.

Of course they didn't. It was foolish to think that she could earn some smiles from something as stupid as fucking bracelets. She was regretting ever having them made. Liara probably thought she was being superficial.

The asari had been, as she said it, 'working harder than the Goddess' to collapse every protection measure she could on the girls without them knowing it. The two of them had talked for a good three hours after their call with Hackett, and they'd come to the decision that Vasha and Imali should not be aware that they could be in possible danger.

Liara had already placed commandos into stakeout points at their schools, discreet enough that neither girl would recognize them. While they were away from the estate, both girls had constant eyes on them. Not surprisingly, Zaia was not comforted, at all. The fact that she wasn't even on the same planet as them right now bugged the shit out of her.

"Uh...Z?"

"Draga, what the fuck have I said about calling me that!?" She screamed at the door of the cockpit, stomping up to it.

"Plenty, but you should know that we're being hailed by a frigate...and a frigate sitting right on the coordinates you found." Zaia's anger switch flipped as she banged on the door. It slid open, allowing her to lean over Draga's shoulder, glaring out the front windows of the Angel.

Just as she said, a frigate floated in space, its engines set to a low burn. The main comm of the infiltrator was beeping, and the VI had painted the signal as coming from the frigate ahead. Shepard narrowed her eyes at it, trying to see if she could discern anything. The colors and emblem were unmistakable.

"Revenant..." She growled. How the fuck were these mercenary bastards involved? She had done enough recently to know that this group had their slimy claws spread all over the galaxy. From their huge presence at the Zande, to their attempts to recruit her as Talon, to all the other times she had heard their name. They were making moves that pointed to a lot more than just a merc group.

She jutted her chin at the comm. "Answer them. Play along." She ordered as she turned around, holding a finger to her lips for Kira. She didn't much need to tell Stryd to shut his trap. He was an experienced being when it came to dealing with mercenaries and secret operations. The Banshee nodded, pursing her lips as if to reassure Shepard that she would keep quiet.

Draga opened the channel. "Identify." She said quickly.

"Revenant frigate Orocos. Identify."

"Private craft, Fallen Angel. Orocos, you're sitting on our destination coordinates. Are you the contact?" Shepard glanced down at Draga, silently impressed by how official and impartial she sounded. Exactly how a hired pilot would sound.

"Is prisoner Hun Stryd in your possession?" Zaia turned around and nodded to Stryd. The krogan pretended to be incapacitated, laying carelessly on the floor of the Angel while Zaia snapped a picture. She sent it to Draga who immediately sent it across the link to the frigate.

"Yes."

For a few minutes, the channel remained silent. The ship made no moves to leave, and nor did it engage weapons. If this went sour, they would be turning around and running. The Angel wasn't equipped like the Normandy had been. There was only a single main gun, and it might as well be a cap gun compared to the Thanix Cannon. That tiny little gun would hardly dent the shields of a frigate. It wasn't a ship built for combat.

"Confirmed. Standby. Coordinates incoming." Shepard and Draga shared a glance. This was just a way point for the real drop point. Maybe they intended for this frigate to blow the shit out of someone if they arrived without Stryd. Possibly thought that Paussey would fuck this up. Well he did.

The computer beeped and a set of numbers appeared on it. "Fallen Angel, confirm coordinate received." Draga read off the coordinates. "Confirmed. Welcome to Revenant." The frigate jumped to FTL mere seconds after they bid farewell.

"Hmph." Shepard grunted. This was good, even if in a roundabout way. They had a heading now, and even better, in a macabre way, Zaia knew who she was dealing with. And she knew she could kill as many of them as her fucking heart desired. And that was a lot.

That was the deal that was offered to Paussey. A small time gang lead on the Citadel who obviously wants more than he has. Revenant wants numbers, so they offer him a million credits and membership in the new order in exchange for him taking Stryd.

"Get those in the ship, and let's get this done," She growled, turning around to get her Crystal from the kitchenette. Draga grabbed her wrist, pulling her back with a glare.

"I don't need to...the computer knows these coordinates..." She trailed off, watching her screens.

"How the fuck does it know them?" Shepard snapped.

"Because..." Draga pulled up an image on the hologram projector. "We've been there before." Zaia eyes narrowed as she looked at the rotating planet of Tuchanka, her eyes zeroing in on the highlighted spot.

"Dezzshaa." She hissed, her mind heading back to the Zande, and the tattoo on her neck. It was practically a hive for merc activity, but...Revenant was not in power there. Sklaven, and it's fucked up leader Kimmvo Schlauss, were in power.

"Shepard, you cannot take me to Dezzshaa." She whirled around, her glare settling on the krogan. His face was down and serious, his reptilian eyes set in stone.

"Why not?" She demanded. They needed him on this ship in order for her to get what she wanted. The krogan searched her eyes for a moment.

"I have...enemies there..."

"Wake the fuck up, Stryd. We all have enemies in Dezzshaa. It's an underworld there. Nobody has friends, and everyone has enemies." She snapped.

"My enemies would stop at nothing to take me..."

"I do not give a fuck, Stryd! You were a crimelord for I don't know how many years, of course you have enemies, you pussy! Who the fuck are you so scared of anyway?" She couldn't believe that Stryd was talking to her about this. He was a krogan for fuck sakes! She didn't know a single krogan who shied away because his enemies might be somewhere!

"Urdnot Wrex." Oh fuck.

"How the fuck did you piss off Wrex?" She deadpanned.

"It is...an old grudge. Wrex is...my brothers son." Shepard felt her mouth drop open.
"So, you mean to tell me that Wrex is your nephew?"

"His father and I were...brothers by combat. Siblings of fire. We did not share blood, but we were brothers. I helped him assemble the shattered pieces of clan Urdnot and bring them back together again..." Stryd explained.

"Get to the fucking point, Stryd." She growled dangerously.

"When his father began to get...paranoid, Wrex asked for my aid in changing him. In saving the clan..."

"What did you do?" Kira interjected, voicing Zaia's unspoken question.

"I abandoned the clan."

"You abandoned the fucking clan." Shepard rolled her eyes furiously, slamming her hands on the counter. Anything else, and she might have been able to convince Wrex to look past it in lieu of helping her find her daughters. Anything else. Stryd was a fucking deserter, and even worse, Wrex's fucking uncle. Or step uncle. Whatever the fuck he was, there was no way Wrex would ever look past it.

"Do you even have a fucking clan!?" She yelled. He shook his head.

"Once, I was Urdnot Stryd. Now, I am only Stryd. Hun is simply the name I used, because I knew that clan Hun was long dead." Her plan of using Wrex and Grunt to rip Dezzshaa apart had itself been ripped apart, effectively leaving her with no useful way into the crime nest. Shepard ran a hand through her hair, trying desperately to not freak out and kill everyone here. A dead Stryd would be what she needed right now...which gave her an idea.

"Fine...Draga, head to Omega."

"Omega? Like, the station?" The pilots voice came back curiously. Shepard rolled her eyes again.

"Yes, the fucking station!"

"You got it Z." Zaia glared at the open cockpit, clenching her teeth at the nickname, her fingers twitching for a blade. She squashed it, shaking her head and pointing at Stryd.

"You told me that you know Aria," She said icily. "So you are going to pay her a visit and make a few...purchases." The krogan cocked his head at her.

"We have a tense partne–"

"It's this or a body bag, Stryd. Pick." She hissed, her eyes hot and her temper burning. The krogan nodded slowly and silently.

"Good. Now..." She gestured to herself and Kira. "We'll be needing armor...and Aria happens to be the only one who has it..."

XXX

"How are you feeling?" Jack asked, sitting in her soundproofed classroom, Marcus and Sarah sitting there with her. The three of them had been cleared to go back to life as normal the day after the attack, but both students had been notably...different, the past two days. A few different professors had been speaking about how the two of them were acting funny. Around her though, they had been pretty damn close to spiteful. Finally, she had cracked and asked them to stay after class to speak with her.

"We're fine, Jack...really." Marcus reassured her. He exchanged a brief glance with Sarah before both of them stared at the floor again. Jack jumped off her desk, wincing quickly at the smart in her side. The bullet that had caught her was little more than an annoyance now.

"Then what's with the attitudes recently?" She crossed her arms, standing in front of them.

"What attitude?" Sarah asked, staring up through her bangs. Another something new about her. She never wore bangs, usually preferring a pony tail. Worrisome, because everyone knew how much she hated things being in her eyes.

"Not listening. Acting like idiots in class. Acting like idiots in the halls. That isn't you two, so what's going on?" She looked at each of them equally. They stayed silent, staring at the floor, sneaking looks at each other for small moments. Jack understood the effect of having to deal with something mentally, but this was different. If they were just quiet and reserved, that was one thing. The two of them had literally been acting like run of the mill punks.

"Don't feel like answering?" They both shook their heads, not looking at her. She rubbed her eyes, thinking of how best to deal with this.

"Listen guys, I know what it's like to be shocked, or stunned, or whatever. The last thing you want to do is shut people out or try to overcompensate. You need to talk to people about it. You know you can trust me, so s–"

"Can we?" Marcus interrupted. Jack snapped her eyes to him, narrowing them.

"Excuse me?"

"Can we trust you, Jack?" Marcus was glaring at her now, his eyes accusatory, his mouth set in a thin line.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She demanded. This time, Sarah was the one who spoke up.

"You always said that we could trust you. That you would protect us from everything. That no student would ever get hurt on your watch. That's what you said. We were both in the hospital, Jack! And you let the people who hurt us walk away! And worse yet, you are one of them" Jack jerked her head. This is not what she was expecting at all, but it was a fucking hole and a half. She couldn't tell them that she killed nineteen people, and how could she even begin to explain this shit about her being one of them! They were mad now, but if she told them that...she couldn't even guess what the repercussions would be.

"I had to get you two to safety! And I am not a mercenary! I'm a teacher!" She exclaimed.

"Really!? Is that what you are!? You let people sneak up on us and shoot us full of...something, probably some sort of plan to get us to batarian slavers or something!" Sarah yelled, tears coming to her eyes. "I haven't slept since then, Jack! I can't sleep! I'm afraid they will come back! I'm afraid you'll come after us! Nobody is doing anything about it!" She ran out of the classroom, tears rolling down her face.

Marcus cast one hateful glare at Jack before chasing after her. Jack stood there, absolutely stunned. She couldn't even fathom what had just taken place. Sarah and Marcus blamed her for what happened down on the planet! She whirled around, a biotically charged foot slamming against the desk, sending it crashing away in pieces. Her skin burned with anger, sadness, hatred and helplessness.

How could she tell them that she hadn't let their attackers walk? How could she tell them that she had killed nineteen people keeping them alive? The official reports, as of now, were that those responsible for the attack were still at large. Discovery Police was looking into it but in all reality, considering that Jack had killed most of the suspects on scene, the only lead they had was her.

She hadn't told them the name that she got. Amata. She'd told Miranda, and she had gone straight from the room and called Liara. Jack knew of Liara's little side hobby as the Shadow Broker. If anyone could figure out who Amata was, it was her.

"Jack?" She whipped around, a vicious retort hanging at her lips and ready to lash out at whoever had come in here without her permission. The words died on her lips when she found herself looking at Becca. She took a moment to do her best to quash her anger, trying to keep her voice and temper down.

"What is it, Becca?" She ground out. The girl leaned to the side, staring at the shattered remains of the desk, her eyebrow cocked.

"Um...what happened in here? I was walking down the hall..."

"Are you ever in class?" Jack snapped, despite herself. Nearly all the fucking time, Becca was just 'walking down the hall'. She had just been walking down the hall when the call came into the security here and had gotten Miranda. Walking down the hall seemed to be her hobby of choice.

"Well, no...it's Friday, and last period was twenty minutes ago..." The girl shied away as she mumbled the words, and Jack felt a new wave of angry guilt wash over her. In her stupid anger she'd gone and said something stupid, possibly alienating another student.

"Sorry. I uh...had an itch..." Jack smacked herself inwardly, silently swearing her brains out for the horrible excuse she grabbed to explain the desk. Or what was left of it. Becca nodded, whistling quietly.

"Do...do you want me to get Dr. Lawson or..."

"Why would you want to get her?" Jack asked, cocking an eyebrow. That was an interesting comment. Becca held up a finger, turning to go look around to see if there was anyone else around. Jack, not in the mood to deal with this crap, snapped her fingers, her door sliding shut. "You were saying?"

Jack's eyes narrowed, seeing the look of terror that fell over the girl, her eyes flicking between the door and Jack. "Don't hurt me!" She cried, backing against the door, her voice shaking. Jack threw her hands above her head, screaming in frustration.

"Why the fuck does everyone think I'm going to hurt them all of a sudden!" She yelled at the room. Frantically, Becca clicked through her omni, and then tossed it to the floor at Jack's feet. She looked up at the girl as she bent down and picked it up, activating it and reading the email that had been sent to her.

Her eyes widened as her mouth went dry. Her stomach fell away as she read a step by step account of all her illegal actions before and after the Reaper War. It detailed how she had been a murderer. It had an account of how she had ran roughshod with Shepard as a mercenary for Cerberus. It was written like an article for the extranet.

"Where did you get this?" She asked, her voice hollow. Becca swallowed hard.

"It was sent to the students a while ago...we thought you knew..." Jack wasn't listening as she sent a frantic message to Miranda to come see her. Now. Right now. Immediately. As fast as possible. This was a smear she had to fix. Nobody would ever trust her again after seeing this.

"Becca, you need to listen to me. This isn't me. Not anymore. You ha–" Her door slid open, and officers piled into her room.

"Professor Jack! Put your hands where we can see them! You are under arrest!" The turian lead yelled, his shotgun trained on her. Becca started backed away from them, towards Jack, but an asari rushed forward and grabbed her pulling her past the line of officers.

Jack threw her hands up, falling to her knees, knowing when she was fucked. She had no problem killing a bunch of mercenaries, but this entire situation was lost if she went and killed police officers. She might be able to get some leeway. Ultimately though, she was fucked, as was her life at Grissom.

The officers approached slowly, their guns primed and pointed. She could already feel the biotic dampeners they wore affecting her, feeling like a thick straightjacket over her body as it suppressed the natural flow of her biotics. Behind the line, behind where Becca and a growing crowd stood, she saw Miranda round a corner.

Jack squeezed her eyes shut and dropped her head to her chest, silently apologizing to her lover. Her shitty decisions in life had led to this moment. It was her fault, and now it would hurt Miranda. It was easy to do all the shit she did when she didn't have anyone else to care about. Now though, she felt the pain and stupidity of every single one.

She felt the turian grab her wrists roughly, clamping on simply massive gauntlet cuffs, they fuckers so heavy that Jack couldn't lift her arms at all.

"What is the meaning of this?" She glanced up, seeing Miranda, Utilo, Tyson, Perez and several other of her fellow professors standing at the door.

"We have found evidence that Professor Jack, along with being connected to hundreds of crimes from several years ago, is also the person who murdered Professor Paloma T'Nirra. Please step away." The turian said officially. Jack would have rose to her feet if she could, but these monster cuffs prevented it.

"I didn't kill Paloma!" She yelled, wincing as her cuffs shocked her.

"Even if you weren't lying, you are still under arrest for ten murders, along with numerous counts of assault and larceny." The turian turned a cold eye on her, his mandibles flicking in irritation. He gestured to his officers and they grabbed Jack, dragging her out into the hall. Looking around, Jack saw tons of faces that she had taught. Kids she had laughed with. Kids she had helped get a hold of their talents. She shut her eyes again, not willing to look any of them in the eye.

"I would like to see proof, officer." Thought she couldn't see, Jack knew Miranda's business voice when she heard it.

"And you are?" The turian sounded nearly...arrogant.

"Doctor Miranda Lawson. Jack is my wife." A murmur shot through the gathered crowd of students, and Jack herself opened her eyes and whipped her head around to stare. Miranda flitted a smile at her before resuming her stern face. "By the laws written within the Discovery Code of Laws, as immediate family, I have a right to demand evidence before incarceration."

"I trust you have...documentation to support this?" Miranda pulled up her omni and went through it, pulling up a file and showing it to the officer.

"Ah...I see...well...er...we have no physical evidence here with us, it is down on the planet."

"Then I want those cuffs off now." Jack shook her head mentally. Miranda always had a plan, even now, twelve years removed from her days with Cerberus. She might just get Jack out of this. Temporarily.

"One moment, Dr, Lawson..." The turian began, opening his own omni and searching for something. "You were interviewed recently, and you yourself said that Jack has no immediate family. Care to explain?" The turian asked, crossing his arms on his plated chest.

"I lied. I was under no compulsion to divulge the extent of mine and Jack's relationship under the circumstances." Miranda shot back. When was she fucking interviewed?

"So...you admit that you that you withheld information from Discovery Police in an active investigation?"

"Information that was not relevant to the case being investigated." Jack smirked inwardly. Very few people could win an argument with Miranda. She never had, and she'd had a lot of fucking practice.

"Your relationship with this...crimina–"

"Professor." Miranda growled. The turian glared at her, as if daring her to interrupt him again.

"Professor, was necessary to assess her psychological state, which was and still is a part of the investigation. Therefor, you, Doctor Miranda Lawson, are also under arrest for obstruction of justice." He signaled and two officers approached Miranda, pulling out normal biotic cuffs. Miranda offered no struggle, instead holding her hands out to them as they put the cuffs on. Jack's eyes widened and she drove to her feet, fighting the sheer weight of the gauntlets.

"Get your fucking hands off her!" She hissed, lurching over and slamming her side into one of the officers, going to the floor with the asari. Her cuffs began to electrocute her painfully, and she had to grit her teeth to keep from yelling in pain. The asari she had taken down leaped up from the ground, drawing a pistol and aiming at the panting biotic.

"You do whatever you want to me, but keep your hands off her." Jack growled between deep breathes. The gathered crowd murmured again, and she might have heard a quiet cheer for her somewhere, but she wasn't paying attention, her eyes boring holes into the asari officer. She took a hesitant step forward, and Jack bared her teeth in a bestial snarl. If it weren't for these cuffs, that asari would be a smear on the wall.

A soft hand pressed to the back of Jack's neck, bringing with it a surprising wave of comforting energy. Like a biotic massage coursing through her body. Miranda's touch had always invigorated her, but this one had a little something extra behind it. Mi must know what these cuffs are doing to her. Strange. Jack could have sworn the biotic dampeners would be affecting Miranda just as much. Apparently not.

"Jack...come on. Don't make this any worse..." Her gentle voice worked through the anger and pain, reaching Jack and pulling her back to normalcy. She struggled to her feet, standing with her back as straight as she could. A few years ago, these officers would have never got the cuffs on. She wouldn't let them embarrass her any more than she already was.

"Fine..." She muttered, casting one more burning glare at the asari officer. "Touch her again, and not even these cuffs will stop me from tearing you limb from limb." She growled. Jack smirked wickedly to herself, seeing the officer swallow in fear. Exactly what she should be doing. That was the kind of respect that Jack demanded.

"Do you see, students and professors? This is the kind of...temperament and violence that Jack has in her pocket..." Jack snapped a glare on him. She was already in the slam. Might as well throw out the truth.

"Fine then. Tell them what happened to the people who attacked Sarah and Marcus on the planet." The turian officer's previously smug look fell, and Jack saw her advantage.

"Tell them. Come on. If I'm such a criminal, then it shouldn't be a problem to tell them about my crimes." She spat the last word, the very idea of what she'd done there being a crime laughable in every way. "How many people attacked me, Sarah and Marcus? Huh?"

"Er...nineteen..."

"Oh yeah? nineteen? How did you get to that number?" Jack snarled venomously, looking around at the gathered students and teachers, showboating, but also looking for two students in particular. Two whom she knew were here somewhere.

"Um...we...we are not permitt–"

"By counting the smears and bodies on the field!" Jack yelled out walking around the edge of the crowd. She felt another shock come through her cuffs, but she ignored it, focusing and feeding off the stunned silence of the gathered audience.. "Tell them how me, Professor Jack, killed nineteen of the people who thought they could fuck with my students! Tell them!" Her scanning eyes finally alighted on Marcus, standing in the back, Sarah right next to him.

"That's right. They have no one to charge because they're dead! I said I would kill for my students, and Jack doesn't fucking lie!" This time, the shock that came through the cuffs set her back rigid and her vision white, electrocuting her into unconsciousness.

XXX

"Sir, we have just received report that the krogan Hun Stryd has been captured and is being transported to Dezzshaa, as you requested." Amata reported, walking into the office that had so cleverly been designed to imitate his old office in Rio. Temujin Khan sat, his hands steepled, planning his next move. He had been forced to play his hand early, thanks to that infuriating biotic Jack.

He had not anticipated that a single biotic, while protecting students, could still decimate his teams. Even Amata had come back to him in failure. He would have to change her tune some more. His foolish lie to Hackett, as a direct result, pushed his plan ahead to a place it wasn't meant to be yet.

That stupid old admiral thought he was still in Rio, but in fact he had left the planet in short order once Amata reported her failure. The loss of nineteen agents meant nothing to him. They were expendable and unreliable, which is why his plan must succeed. Humans were too soft. He couldn't rely on them.

All these years he had been planning and plotting, setting up the playing field exactly as he wanted it, and now it was fucking jostled because he made a miscalculation. He should never have gone after the biotic. He had surmised that the effect would have been greater on Shepard, seeing as she only recently reunited with the tattooed professor.

He should have gone after the quarian first. Much less chance for such a royal fuck up with her. Of course, they would have needed to infiltrate Rannoch, but with all the crowds, and the building, who would notice if one suited person was gone?

That ran into a snag as well. The fucking turian was there with her, and he had found out that the first of the Puradomes was in the middle of being settled. No way he could have ghosted a team inside to recover Tali'Zorah vas Normandy.

As such, he had to move things along. Now he sat in his secret office on Ilium, orchestrating his plans from the safety of the relative lawlessness of this world. It was like another Omega. Just...prettier. Revenant was doing it's part well, and giving him eyes and ears where he couldn't go. At that tune, he had thought of his current move. The complete social destruction of Jack, and as a bonus, she was still being brought to him alive. Now, even if she escapes, that human will never know the comfort of a normal life.

"Good. Send a message to Schlauss. I want that krogan, and I don't want him and his pathetic hounds getting into a pissing war with Revenant over a prisoner. What was the payment promised to Stryd's captors?"

"One million credits, sir." Amata responded immediately.

"Send that to Schlauss as payment. Tell him to kill the captors when they arrive in Dezzshaa. What about that asari who gave up the intel?"

"She has been inducted into Revenant as an upper level lieutenant."

"Good. Tell her to meet Stryd in Dezzshaa. I'm sure he would love a reunion." He laughed, thinking of just how much pain he is going to inflict on that krogan for his information. With the natural healing of krogan, he might have to take his time. He so loved torturing people that a krogan would be a nice toy.

"Yes sir."
"Get out of here. Send in one of my pets. Oh, and the new one. Can't wait too long on that one."

"Yes sir." Amata answered, briskly leaving the office. A moment later, a quarian female and an asari entered his office, both naked. He ran his eyes hungrily up the quarians body.

"You know, you really are a beautiful people. It's a shame you die so quickly out of your precious suits...you're quite expensive."

I hope you all enjoyed it, and I will be seeing you again on Sunday! I will be responding to reviews now.