Author's note: The stolen-car situation hasn't changed except to snowball into something even worse. Had to write this chapter just to get my mind off all that crap for a while. In more hopeful news, I decided to try an experiment with one of my newer novels, "Game Over." I'm serializing it at Tapas . io, with new "episodes" posting every Saturday at 10pm. So if you enjoy my stories here, have a look at some of my original work. You'll find it under the user name "Feel Boss."

"Hey, Val." Irving grinned and let out a relieved breath as he glanced back and forth between the icon in his comlink app and the sparsely-populated corridor ahead of him. He knew she could handle anything that got thrown at her, but that didn't mean he never worried. All it would take was one lucky shot from an enemy weapon and he'd never see her again. "Find what you were looking for?"

"I did. Bidox went out of his way to cooperate once I, heh, 'explained the situation' to him. Gave me everything he had on the guy who hired him."

"Good." Irving turned the next corner, stepped through a hatch, and walked onto the docking bay. "So, who's the sorry bastard who's about to get his ass kicked?"

"Lantim Akos. The name kind of rang a bell, but I'm pretty sure I've never met him."

"Huh." Irving hurried out of the path of several turians coming in from their ship and cocked his head. "Wasn't Akos the name of the guy who ambushed us in our hotel room when we were promoting one of our Fornax vids?"

Valeria drew in a slow breath. "Holy shit, how'd I not make that connection? Yeah, Caminus Akos."

"So it's personal, then." Irving had never forgotten that afternoon. He and Val had found the guy in their motel room, waiting for them to arrive. Caminus Akos was one of those people still holding a grudge over the First Contact War and had blown a gasket when he found out that a human and a turian were making porn vids for Fornax and had even gotten married. He tried to stab her, but she beat the shit out of him and jammed his own knife into his spine. As far as Irving knew, Caminus was still in prison and still paralyzed.

"Looks that way. Lantim is probably his brother or some goddamn thing. I'm looking Caminus up now. Ah, Lantim's his son. And Caminus died in prison two months ago. Teriffic." Valeria sighed. "His kid's definitely out for revenge. And he's got his own mercenary crew operating in the Terminus Systems - over two hundred people."

"Wonderful. Since that's where he recruited them, I bet they're a fun bunch."

"Oh, yeah. I've skimmed a few of their dossiers. They're a real pantheon of winners." Valeria grumbled something under her breath. "It's only a matter of time before Akos tries again. I need to track him down and nip this in the bud before anyone else decides to take a run at us. Where are you?"

"Docking bay on Level 27 of Zakera Ward. I'm meeting a shuttle that's coming in. Brace yourself, Val … it's your parents and your little brother and sister."

Silence stretched out for at least five seconds before she groaned softly and whispered, "Oh, fuck me."

Irving tried to hold in a laugh. She'd probably be happy to see her young siblings, Galadin and Actana, but her parents had always … disagreed with their marriage. They hadn't disowned her as most of her family had, but they'd never masked their contempt for him. They probably hadn't even notified her that they were here, but Irving had set his Omni-Tool to alert him whenever they were near his and Val's current location.

Val sighed again. "Okay, I'm on my way."

"I'll escort them to the Rapid Transit dock near the landing bay."

"I'll meet you there. I love you."

"I love you, too. See you in a few minutes." Irving signed off, glanced around, and spotted her parents and siblings stepping out of a commercial passenger shuttle. He took a deep breath and strode toward them.

Well … here we go.

They spotted him a few seconds later and he waved. Their kids waved back but Desentos and Lithia just stared coldly at him. He sighed again and tried to maintain a pleasant expression.

"If you're here on business unrelated to Valeria, we won't pester you. If you came here to see her, she'll meet you right over there in a few minutes." He pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the Rapid Transit terminal.

"We did come here to see her," Desentos said, keeping his tone barely civil.

And not me. Message received loud and clear. Irving managed to keep a smile on and motioned at the terminal.

"Right this way, then. I just talked to her a minute ago and she's on her way."

They followed him silently and he fought the urge to roll his eyes. When they reached a row of Rapid Transit vehicles and several empty spaces waiting for aircars to dock, the next few minutes passed with Val's parents eyeing him sidelong while staring at the empty ports. Val's young siblings kept exchanging amused glances.

Finally, her little brother heaved an exaggerated sigh and said, "If the tension in the air were radioactive, we would've turned into giant tumors on legs by now."

Irv snickered and then tried not to wither under the parents' glares. He grimaced and rubbed a hand over his face.

"I've always been willing to get along with you guys." He shrugged. "But if you're unwilling to meet me halfway, even for your daughter's sake …"

"She made her choice." Valeria's father finally turned to scowl directly at him. "She has to bear the consequences of that choice."

"The First Contact War happened before Val and I were even born. Isn't it just a little bit unreasonable to expect either of us to have the same perspective on it as people who lived through it? Do you think it's rational to want us to hate each other because of something that happened before we even existed?"

Val's father opened his mouth, but something caught his attention before he could speak and he scowled over Irving's shoulder. "What is this?"

Before Irv could turn around the barrel of a gun jammed against the back of his head and a low, gravelly voice snarled into his left ear.

"You're coming with us. All of you."

"Never a dull moment, huh?" Chula laughed, but it sounded forced. Valeria shrugged.

"At least you're not the only one who doesn't get along with her parents." Val leaned on the elevator wall as they waited for it to take them to the docking bay. "With us, it's been going on ever since they found out Irv and I worked for Fornax. For one thing, they never considered it 'real work.' Which I guess I can understand. It's not really 'work' if you're enjoying it as much as we did. But we were earning a living without hurting people or being shot at all the time." She rolled her eyes. "Then they lost their goddamn minds when they found out we were dating. And when Irving and I got married, half of my family kicked me to the curb instantly, and half of the rest turned their backs on us as time passed."

"That's fucked-up. I'll never understand why anyone does that. What's wrong with letting people just be happy?"

"Hostility left over from the war complicates it, I suppose. There are still humans and turians who hate each other just because their grandparents killed each other in a war that lasted only a few months. That kind of anger and resentment can turn people racist. Then it's not just individuals who hurt and killed one another in a war, it's the entire species who's to blame for everything, even things that are completely unrelated."

"Yeah. A bit like everyone being assholes to my people just because our ancestors accidentally created AI, tried to wipe it out in a panic, and were driven from their homeworld when the AI defended themselves."

"Pretty much." Valeria sighed. "Bad enough to have to deal with that crap on a daily basis, but to have this whole other problem with Akos trying to have me and Irving assassinated just because I didn't let his daddy murder us …"

"The humans have a saying that fits. 'When it rains, it pours.'"

"Yeah, and I'm afraid it's just getting started. Being 'celebrities' gave me and Irv some measure of protection. Now that word seems to have gotten out about me rejoining the Spectres, Akos decided to come after me, and it's only a matter of time before more old enemies come out of the woodwork. Spectres are often on their own during their investigations, so someone like Akos could surround you with hundreds of mercs and you wouldn't have any backup."

"Excellent job selling me on the whole Spectre career path." Chula laughed again, a little more genuinely this time, and Valeria chuckled.

"I'd understand if you wanted to opt out. I walked away from the job, myself, two years ago, and the only reason I'm back in is because I wasn't given a choice. But if you want to stick with it, you'd have the option of continuing to work with the team you've got now. Shepard had his whole crew on the Normandy after he became a Spectre, so it wouldn't be that out of the ordinary."

"That's good to know. I'm definitely interested in working with you and learning more about the job, but I'd like to stay with my crew. These guys are my friends and our ship was my home."

Val winced. "I still feel awful about what happened to it. My investigation led to the Sulaco's destruction."

"It's not your fault. These things happen. We'll find another ship sooner or later and things will be back to whatever passes for normal these days."

"That's another thing this business with Akos is getting in the way of. I should be helping you get a new ship instead of fighting off this dipshit." The elevator stopped and the doors parted before she could continue. She sighed again and walked across the docking bay.

Chula's Omni-Tool beeped and she glanced at its interface. "Hmm. Message from Yutani asking the crew to meet her and Weyland here in three hours. She didn't say why." Chula cocked her head. "Well, she just said it's a 'surprise.' Huh."

"Sounds like the geth are doing a pretty good job of figuring out how we organics do things."

"Yeah. Planning a 'surprise' wouldn't have even occurred to them when I first met them." Chula shrugged, looked up, and nodded at the shuttles ahead of them. "Ah, there's Irving. I'm guessing that's your family."

"Yeah." Valeria slowed her pace and squinted at the group roughly fifty meters away. "They have their hands raised like someone's …" Her parents stepped toward the shuttle and Val spotted an asari, two humans, and two batarians aiming submachine guns and assault rifles at them. "Oh, shit!" She burst into a sprint as the mercs herded everyone into the shuttle and closed the hatch.

"I've alerted C-Sec," Chula called out as her Omni-Tool interface faded and she caught up with Valeria.

The shuttle vanished in a blinding flash and a roaring bang that pierced Valeria's head like a knife. The shockwave from the explosion slammed into her and everything became a mess of blurry images and muffled screams. When her vision cleared, she found Chula pawing flaming shrapnel off and trying to pick herself up. The girl's glowing eyes seemed almost wide enough to fall out of their sockets.

Val noticed dimly that she was back on her feet and stumbling toward the wreckage, though she couldn't remember getting up.

"No," she whispered. "No, no, no, no!"

Somewhere in the distance, Chula mumbled, "I can't … I just … just … wh-what happened?"

Valeria tripped over a piece of wreckage, regained her balance, and stared at what was left of the shuttle. The whole thing had been blasted wide open. Irving … her mom and dad … her little brother and sister …

Wait. Something's not right - aside from the obvious. She kept staring at the pieces of twisted metal and melted plastic as her mind slowly pulled itself together.

"No bodies," she muttered. "There … there should be at least five burning corpses. Even more, if the other passengers hadn't gotten off yet."

Chula scanned the debris with her Omni-Tool. "You're right. There's nothing organic here at all. But we saw them get into the shuttle."

"Distraction. They must've had another hatch on the opposite side." Valeria sucked in several deep breaths. "Or … underneath. They used the explosion to keep our eyes on the shuttle while they slipped away with my family and whoever else was onboard."

Chula reached out and gently grasped Val's arm. "We need to clear out and let the fire suppression team and C-Sec do their jobs."

"Yeah." Valeria took another long breath. "Yeah. Yeah, okay." She turned and staggered away. She eventually came to a stop and just stood there until Chula led her over to a bench.

"So," Chula said very quietly. "Akos?"

Valeria nodded slowly and clenched her fists. "Akos."

"You sure you wanna be in on this?" Captain Bailey asked.

"I'm sure." Valeria's ice-cold tone sent a shiver up and down Chula's spine. Val's entire demeanor had shifted when the message came in an hour ago. She and Chula had been in the middle of reporting the incident to Citadel Security when one of Lantim Akos's minions sent a brief message directly to her Omni-Tool telling her to turn herself over in exchange for her family.

"It's not a good idea to go into a situation like this when you're emotionally involved. Just sayin'."

"They'll kill my family whether I hand myself over to them or not. I've done my research on Akos. He doesn't leave witnesses. So I'll need to find out from his thugs where they're being held. You just keep innocent bystanders from wandering into the middle of this." Valeria stared at Bailey for a moment before turning her attention back to the warehouse floor below the catwalk on which the three of them stood. "These bastards are mine."

"Fair enough. For what it's worth, I was in a similar position after Cerberus took my son, so I'd do exactly what you're doing now. I just had to bring it up because of regs."

"We've got movement," one of Bailey's men reported over their encrypted comm channel. "Sending their positions to your HUD."

Bailey grunted softly and pointed at the stack of shipping containers in the far-right corner. "Five of 'em are waiting right there. They've got cargo modules stacked four-high on either side and behind 'em. Cuts off any escape route, but it also shields them from gunfire from three directions."

"Any sign of my family?"

Bailey shook his head.

"You gonna be okay with this?" Chula put a hand on Val's shoulder. "You've talked before about hating how the job turned you into a killer. You might be put into a position where you'll have to …"

"I know." Valeria closed her eyes and took several long, slow breaths as if to prepare herself. When she opened her eyes, something else glared out from them.

A cold sensation flooded Chula's guts and her heart pounded. She backed away from Valeria and watched her turn without another word and head for the stairs. Chula turned to watch the mercs and gripped the rail in front of her to keep her hands from shaking.

What the fuck just happened? Chula focused on the mercs and tried to keep her breathing steady. She managed to almost pull herself together over the next few seconds, but her voice still quivered slightly. "Those look like the same guys we saw abducting Val's family."

Valeria stepped into view and strode across the warehouse floor, weaving between the stacks of crates and shipping containers on her way to the spot where the mercs waited. She'd put her helmet on while descending the stairs and was now just a figure in black armor with red trim. She stopped in front of the mercs and spoke in a casual yet frigid tone.

"Where are they?"

"They're being kept in a safe place to make sure you cooperate," the asari said with a smirk. "Come along quietly and our boss will let them go once he has his hands on you."

"No."

"What?"

"I know how Akos works," Valeria said as calmly as one would discuss the weather. "He'll kill them right in front of me just to hurt me before he finishes me off. So here's how this is gonna go down. You're gonna tell me exactly where my parents, siblings, and husband are being held, then you're gonna turn yourselves over to C-Sec."

"Wrong." The asari stepped forward and a blue biotic glow appeared around her body. "You're coming with us now or your whole family and two dozen other hostages are dead."

"Last chance. Answer my question or I'll put you down and find them myself. If Akos is stupid enough to kill my family, I'll never stop hunting him. When I find him, I can call in a few favors and have a Kilimanjaro-class dreadnought enter orbit directly over his head and fire its main cannon on his position. He and his whole crew and everything for a thousand kilometers around him will be glassed."

"Ugh, I don't have time for this shit." The asari pulled a set of restraints from a belt pouch and stomped over to Valeria. "Get on your knees and -"

Chula barely noticed the knife in Val's hand a split-second before she plunged it into the asari's chest. The merc's scream echoed around the warehouse and her knees buckled. Valeria hauled her up and kept the body between her and the other mercs while she yanked the knife out and, in a single motion, spun and threw it behind her.

A man grunted and a body thumped on the floor. Chula turned, glanced around, and finally found a batarian in a hooded cloak sprawled next to a sniper rifle, Valeria's knife hilted in his upper-left eye socket.

"Shit," Bailey snapped. "How did we miss that one?"

Valeria heaved the asari's body into one of the humans and raised her left arm. Her Omni-Tool interface appeared around her forearm and an electric arc snapped into his chest. His body stiffened and his rifle's and armor's systems shorted out before the bolt jumped to one of the batarians less than a meter away. Val charged the remaining human before they collapsed.

Another Tool interface appeared around her right arm and a silicon-carbide blade sprang from the device's microfabricator. Heat waves distorted the air around the blade as she swept her arm upward and sliced him open from crotch to neck. His deafening scream ended abruptly and the flesh and clothing on either side of the wound caught fire.

Valeria lunged again and had the tip of her Omni-Blade at the last merc's throat before the other's body dropped. The batarian stumbled backward until he bumped into the shipping container behind him. He trembled but held still otherwise, seeming to forget the shotgun in his hands. Val tugged on the gun and he released it and raised his hands.

"One last time," Valeria said, moving the blade to the left side of his neck. "Tell me where they are or I'll cut your fucking head off - slowly."

"They're on the way to Bekenstein!" He tried to flinch away from the blade. "He set up a compound a few kilometers outside Polchinski Valley. His whole crew is based there. He's going to hold the hostages in his command center, where he can keep a close eye on them."

"I'll take a look. If I find out you lied to me, I'll take you out into deep space where no one will ever find you, stuff you into a spacesuit, and shove you out an airlock. You'll have about sixteen hours to reflect on all of your poor decisions before you run out of air."

He stared at her for several seconds before he shook his head. "I - I'm telling you the truth. I swear I am."

She contemplated him for a few more seconds, then she cocked her arm back. All four of the merc's eyes opened wide and he gasped.

"No!"

She let the blade dissipate, clenched her fist, and rammed it into his face. The impact smashed the back of his head into the shipping container and he crumpled to the floor. Val walked over to a smaller crate, leaned casually against it, and glanced up at Bailey.

"They're all yours, Captain."

"Thanks. Take 'em into custody, guys." Bailey watched his team converge on the unconscious mercs and chuckled.

Chula stared at Valeria, shook her head slowly, and muttered a long, drawn-out, "Fuuuuuuuck."

"Hey, guys." Dakka and Quint joined the rest of the crew at the long window above the docking bay. She stopped beside Chula, glanced at Quint, and reached out to touch her shoulder. "Hey. You okay, Chula?"

"Huh? Oh, hi. I'm, uh … yeah, I'm fine. Just …" Chula glanced over at Valeria and shivered. "At least she seems to be back to normal."

"Normal? What'd we miss?"

"It's a long story. Someone kidnapped Valeria's family a few hours ago and … and now I understand why she's so afraid of herself."

"Wait," Quint said, "what happened?"

"We're waiting for a ride to Bekenstein. I'll explain on the way there."

Dakka nodded. "Okay." She gave Chula another pat on the shoulder, slipped her hand into Quint's, and walked over to Valeria. She found Val talking softly with her grandmother-in-law - who, Dakka couldn't help noticing, was back in her combat armor and holding her helmet under her left arm. She put her other arm around Valeria and held her for a moment.

"Thanks, Nana," Val whispered.

"Well, you appeared to need it. So did I. But try not to worry. We'll bring 'em all back safe and sound."

"I hope so." Valeria glanced up at Dakka and a haunted look crossed her face as she looked around at the others. "Thank you for joining me. I can't ask you to help out after everything assisting me has cost you already, but …"

"I can't speak for anybody else, but I'm in." Dakka grinned. "And I don't even know what the hell's going on yet."

The others nodded or voiced their agreement. Val bowed her head for a moment and then spoke softly.

"Thank you."

"Anytime," Quint said. "Chula mentioned you were waiting for a ride to Bekenstein? Did we get a ship already or is someone giving us a lift?"

"I'm not sure. Weyland and Yutani asked us to wait here for a 'surprise,' so I assumed they arranged for transportation."

"We have a new ship," Yutani said, turning to point at the window. "Construction began after the SSV Normandy returned from its mission to the center of the galaxy. Legion informed us that it was completed and is en route."

"Wow," Lia said softly. She stared at both geth units and then turned to gaze out the window. "It's … is it a replacement for our ship?"

"It was not intended for us, but that has changed. We have been in contact with Legion and have been informed that Legion has explained the recent conflict to the geth and they have agreed to give us the prototype."

"Wait - Legion told the rest of the geth about our stealth ship attacking them?"

"Legion began the conversation by informing them of the Admiralty Board's cooperation as well as their concerns about us. They have agreed to cooperate in peace efforts with the quarians. Their first step is to give us this vessel and ask the crew of the stealth ship to join us."

"Whoa." Chula cocked her head. "Some of them probably need to work with you to see how wrong they were. I wouldn't bring Captain Vuto'Galon aboard, though. That guy isn't firing on all thrusters."

"Acknowledged."

"Hmm." Dakka turned to her and nudged her shoulder. "Maybe your parents would like to sign on?"

"Hah. Working on the same crew with my parents. That could be … interesting."

Valeria nodded slowly. "You could work part-time for the exploration project Malcolm is putting together while taking on your usual freelance jobs. Once I've dealt with Lantim Akos, I'd be happy to help you search for more of those information depositories."

"Sounds like fun."

"The new ship is approaching." Yutani pointed again and everyone turned to watch. A few seconds passed before Dakka spotted it.

"Oh … holy shit." It had the same dark paint job as any other geth ship but didn't have the usual insectoid shape. Instead, this one was roughly the same configuration as the Normandy, but bigger. A lot bigger. Three or four times larger, she guessed. Dakka laughed. "It was inspired by the Normandy?"

"Correct. Its intended purpose was to assist in the fight against the Reapers if they invade. We are building more to be shared among the other species of the galaxy."

"That's wonderful." Dakka reached over to put a hand on the synthetic's shoulder. "Thank you."

"You are welcome."

Dakka watched the ship settle into its docking port and noticed the name in large block letters on the starboard side.

Sulaco.

"How about that?" Chula sounded on the verge of tears. "We're home."