Chapter Fifty-Three

"We will not hesitate any longer, Dr. Solus. You will stop treating the remnants of the Blood Pack that keep coming to your door. And soon, when the Blue Suns start to fall, you will not help them, either."

"No. Will not sacrifice integrity as doctor."

"You're helping the wrong people, doctor."

"Humans have a concept. Hippocratic Oath. Treat all people. Affiliation not important. Am practicing that now."

"So you'd even defy us to do that.

"Yes. Get out. Security bots will shoot on sight next time."

"This isn't over, Doctor. We'll get you to side with us eventually. And, you'll also let us do a full sweep of this place eventually."

With this, Mahadood's men left the clinic again. Mordin simply watched them go, staring at them with squinted eyes. As soon as they left, Mordin turned, looking to the security bots. He simply turned away, before walking to the back. He passed a pair of batarians waiting in the room, both of them looking to each other nervously as Mordin passed them. He did not even stop to note the unconscious krogan on one of the berths, before he made his way to the secret door.

As soon as he was through, Kalo came walking up to the salarian doctor. "It was them again," the quarian said, his eyes wide in fear.

Mordin nodded. He then began to walk past Kalo. "Not much time," he said. "Know about room."

Kalo breathed in sharply. "Oh no..." He then rushed back to the console after Mordin, looking down at it. "I still cannot figure out a good command to test it with."

"Research close to complete," said Mordin. "There must be something."

"Well, we cannot get the varren to obey anything I am writing down," said Kalo. "Either I get a warning message saying it is invalid, or he does not act on it."

"Hm..." Mordin shook his head. "Does not make sense. Nanobots should work. What could therapy mean?"

"I've got an idea."

Both Kalo and Mordin then jumped, looking over to the side where Daniel had only just come out. He carried the grey bag with him, looking down at it nervously. Mordin was able to tell at a glance that the bag had been emptied out: it was not enough to deplete the bag entirely, and Mordin was certain Kalo would not be able to tell it had been tampered with at all, but they both know from the injection mark on Daniel's arm that he had indeed tampered with it.

Kalo frowned, before coming around the containment where the test varren laid asleep. "Daniel, what have you-?"

"I have an idea," said Daniel. He then set the cure down, before pulling out a datapad. "This may take a couple of days to test, but if I'm right, then we might have our answer." He looked at Kalo. "You said the programming required specific commands, right? What if it's not commands on what to do, but what to think?"

Kalo paused, looking right at Mordin. Kalo then stepped forward. "You cannot mean what I think you do," he said.

"It's only a hypothesis," said Daniel. "But nothing else makes sense right now. It's a crazy idea, I know, but-"

"Daniel, if that is true..." Kalo shook his head, looking directly at him. "You cannot seriously suggest that. The implications of such a thing..." He looked down. "To think that this nanobot network was used to... to that end... And that he sought the loyalty of the quarian people that way?"

"There's only one way to test this out," said Daniel.

"No!" Mordin came around the containment, standing behind Kalo. "No sentient test subjects! Rule that is respected!"

"Doctor Solus, there's no-"

"I will not permit it!"

Kalo reared back after how Mordin rose his voice. He had never seen such genuine anger from the salarian ever, and the fact that he was seeing it there threw him off. It threw Daniel for a loop too, but the human did not step back. Daniel could only look to the ground, Kalo stepping forward.

"Will not permit it," Mordin repeated. "Preposterous notion. And if true, will not allow martyrs."

"Then how are we going to solve this, doctor?" said Daniel. He walked up to Mordin, shaking his head. "It came to me three days ago, doctor, what the solution could be. I've spent all that time trying to muster up the courage to inject these nanobots into my system. I know what the implications of this are, what they could mean." He then shook his head. "But who, then, will take the fall? We can't do it on a prisoner who can't consent, and we can't do it on a patient in the clinic or else word would get out. That leaves only three people on this asteroid who can do it, and it can't be either of you two because you need to be able to tell people what happened here."

Daniel sighed. "Honestly, going through with this scares the shit out of me," he said. "But we've got no other choice if we're going to crack this secret before Mahadood's guys bear down on us. And if they do that before we've figured this out, we're screwed." He then looked to Mordin, holding up a datapad. "I wrote a letter on this datapad, Doctor. Consider it a last will and testament, if my idea is right. If anyone doubts I did this of my own free will, I hope that will prove that I did. You have my consent, doctor."

Mordin looked at the datapad, his shoulders obviously sagging. "Daniel..." he said.

"You have to, Doctor," he said. "You know you do."

Kalo bowed his head, his shoulders sagging. "I may never sleep again after this," he observed. "If you are right, I will not rest easy knowing I... brainwashed a man."

Mordin closed his eyes. "For greater good," he said. He exhaled, looking up to Daniel. "Best assistant, Daniel. Will miss you."

Daniel nodded, before giving Mordin the datapad. The salarian took it with great hesitation, looking at it before he walked to the terminal.

"Now, if this is therapy for thoughts, this may be about ideas," said Daniel. "I picked up some conspiracy theory literature before this point. You want the real crazy stuff, I got it right here." He then pointed to the terminal. "I think... Maybe you should enter it as 'believe InfoBattles'. I'll start reading now. If this works, be prepared to hear some xenophobic ranting..."

Kalo hesitantly stood by the terminal. "Very well," he said.

He then reluctantly entered the information, before glancing to Mordin. He waited for something from the salarian doctor, anything that would stop him from creating the command. He knew that it was silly, but on the off chance that it was true...

But Mordin only bowed his head. With this, the salarian himself hit enter. And then, both of them looked to the screen, before they turned to Daniel, who already stood and continued to read quietly.


"And that is everything?"

"Yes. That's everything that we know."

"I see... It is difficult to take in."

"That has been the reaction of you and practically everyone else who's heard this."

"I can understand why. To think it would exist is horrifying indeed..."

Thane leaned forward, looking at Jodie intently. There was no stripper on the table they had sat at, and in fact Jodie had noted that the strippers were nowhere to be found. In fact, Afterlife seemed just a little more empty than it usually did, although the clientele had not changed much.

Jodie breathed in, glancing out at them before turning to Thane. "So now you understand why Kolyat needed to be hidden from you, right?" said Jodie. "Not even his aunt and uncle could know."

"I do indeed," said Thane. He bowed his head, shaking it. "I suppose I should thank you, Jodie: if not for your quick thinking, I would have thrust Kolyat into danger yet again. I wish I had known what was happening with him..."

"Hey, you couldn't have known," Jacob offered, leaning forward. "Much like we couldn't have known how tenacious you'd be about finding him."

"It happens," said Thane. He looked down. "It seems Amonkira was exceptionally bored these past few days."

"Yeah..." Jodie glanced to the side, before placing her arms on the table. She glanced out, immediately seeing white-armored men approach the bar opposite the table they had gotten. "So... Shepard's plans. Do you think you know what they are?"

"Not yet," said Jacob. "I barely have time to check, of course. And I still need you to infiltrate the captain's quarters."

Jodie nodded. "Yeah," she said. "That's right..."

Thane frowned, turning to Jacob. "Do you think there is information there?" he asked. "I can step in if you need me to. I have been in his quarters, and I know at least three insecure openings I can use to infiltrate."

Jacob rubbed his chin. "Hm... That would certainly be useful," he said. He pondered, looking back to the drell. "It will take a while to download his personal communications, however."

"Not if we narrow it down," said Jodie. She looked to Thane. "I actually have a classified piece of information that a geth unit was able to intercept between these two people. It looked like a communication between Shepard and whoever the higher-ups are. I imagine you'd be able to figure out what to look for from that, right?"

"Yes," said Thane. "Drell do have perfect memory, after all."

"Then that's what we'll go with," said Jacob. "Jodie provides the intel, Thane breaks in." He chuckled, shaking his head as he leaned back. "I never thought I'd trust an assassin with anything, much less the fate of the galaxy."

"We all play our role in fate," Thane replied with a bow of his head. He turned to Jodie. "Here, you may wish to give me that communication now, when it is not under EDI's watchful eye."

Jodie nodded, opening her omni-tool and sending the communication to Thane. "They said they had the location for Cerberus' base," she said. "But now we need to know what their plans are with Cerberus. If we know that, the Council can figure something out to get them to see reason, end their charade."

Thane bowed his head, holding it in place for a few seconds before lifting it back up. "Very well," he said. He then looked to Jodie. "Perhaps it is good this happened."

"Yeah, I would say so too, now," said Jodie. She smiled, leaning forward. "After all, we've got a new ally out of it, right?"

Jacob nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Now, we should probably leave. The Commander will be expecting us."

"We will know when to jump into action when the opportunity presents itself, no doubt," Thane said.

Jodie nodded. "Let's hope," she said. "Come on, let's go."

Jodie scooched out of the booth, feeling relieved that Jacob would be able to work with Thane after all. Jacob himself solidified this with a nod to Thane as he stepped out. Thane simply bowed his head, before the three of them began to head out


Shepard paced around in front of the Normandy's gangplank. He held his arms together, waiting impatiently. The informant was supposed to have arrived ten minutes prior, but for some reason he seemed a little late. He cycled through all the potential reasons why that could have been in his head, and no one solution really seemed to jump out at him. But, he remained vigilant: he knew agents were not normally so late, and particularly not Mahadood's agents.

And then, he saw the agent: white armored and clearly hurrying as fast as he could. Shepard straightened out, looking at the agent as he approached.

"Took you long enough," said Shepard.

"My apologies," said the agent, her voice ringing out fully from behind her white helmet. "I was monitoring an operation when I received the call. I was a last-minute replacement, too. The old agent had to head out, I was called in as quickly as they could get me."

Shepard nodded. "I see," he said. He then looked to her, seeing her lift up an OSD. "Is this it?"

"Yes," said the agent. "It's exactly what you need. All you need to do is go down to the central hub and insert this."

Shepard smirked. "Cerberus will never see this coming," he said. He chuckled, patting the agent on the shoulder. "Thank you. You can go. Make sure you tell Mahadood that he's doing a brilliant job."

"Of course," said the agent. "For the Order."

Shepard only nodded, before the agent turned. Shepard grinned, looking at the OSD as he waved it in the air a little.

"Alright, little lady," he said. "Let's see what you're capable of..."


Thane leaned back, looking around at the scenery of Omega around them. He noted that there were multiple people in white armor, all of them scrutinizing the crowds at Omega. It was difficult to see their faces past the dark screen that protected them, and it was only thanks to years of training from the hanar that Thane did not feel a chill run down his spine.

The drell looked to Jodie and Jacob, before moving as close to the two of them as he dared. "These men in the white armor... I have been to Omega many times, and never seen them," he noted.

"That's the new gang in town," Jacob replied, leaning a little closer to Thane, his voice just barely hovering over the noise of the crowd around them. "They started popping up more recently."

Thane frowned. "Do you think they are related to Shepard?" he asked.

"We don't know," said Jodie. "But I have the awful feeling they are, so Jacob and I have been avoiding them."

"Smart. Because we've found out something interesting about their figurehead."

Jodie blinked in surprise. She immediately turned to her right, noting that she had been approached by a cloaked turian. Before Thane or Jacob could react, Jodie looked up, before seeing Xerxes' face within the cloak. In the distance, she saw a batarian attempting to keep up.

"Xerxes!" said Jodie at a whisper. "What're you doing here?"

"Doing recon for the Council," said Xerxes as he leaned closer to Jodie. He turned to Jacob and Thane. "These two your friends from your new crew?"

"Yes," said Jacob. He then frowned, examining Xerxes. "You're not..."

"We can talk introductions later," Xerxes replied. "For now, with all these guys watching us, I'll need to keep it short." He turned back to Jodie. "You're lucky I caught you here. Carhon saw you entering Afterlife right as he was leaving to get some supplies from a quarian on Pilgrimage. He messaged me and I got here as soon as I could."

Jodie nodded. "What do you need to tell?" she asked.

"We're cracking the secrets on these white-armored guys," said Xerxes. "First, it's notable that their operations have exclusively been to take out any and all of the other merc groups around here. At this point, they've eradicated the Blood Pack presence on Omega. They have one more op before they've taken over Eclipse territory. The Suns are next, and I think they're starting to feel the pressure now."

Jodie nodded. "Carhon finally got them to listen?"

"Yes, but they haven't struck the Blue Suns too hard yet," said Xerxes. "The Suns are consolidating as many resources as they can. Carhon says their leader on Omega may even consider a deal with Aria T'Loak herself." He shook his head. "Not that it'll make much difference. Any time they've struck, it's only a few small attacks and suddenly their territory is gone."

Aiden gurgled uncertainly, before she bowed her head. "Do you think they're in league with Shepard?" said Jodie.

"Most likely," said Xerxes. "Especially once we reported that to your exion friend. She mentioned to us that 'Mahadood' is a word in the Artician language." He chuckled. "Honestly, they got us there."

"Really?" asked Jacob.

"Some people have speculated the group is human in origin, given that most casualties that people are lucky enough to get on them have looked human," Xerxes replied. "But it's all clever trickery. Doesn't hurt that the Artician word for 'warrior' is actually not too far from a Hindi word for 'archangel', either." He shook his head. "Which makes some people think strangely when they meet the leader of these guys. From all the accounts we've been able to get, he's actually a turian."

"A turian?" Jodie asked. "But that would be impossi..."

And then, she stopped, another thought dawning on her. She then drew a quick breath, looking back to Jacob and Thane. "Unless..."

She then held her hands in her head, before breathing in sharply. She then thought to the way Garrus had vanished after Shepard's funeral. Anderson had mentioned he was nowhere to be found afterwards, and that he had defected from C-SEC. Most would not have given it any thought, but with the link to Shepard's galaxy and Mahadood...

"No..." Jodie shook her head in shock. "Oh no..."

Thane stepped forward. "Does something trouble you?" he asked.

Jodie turned to Xerxes. "Xerxes, the Suns can't face this with just Aria's help," she said. "You have to convince the Council to send in a task force, somehow. And you need an expert on C-SEC ops in this task force."

Xerxes frowned. "Jodie, hold on," he said. "That's just speculation! We haven't gotten any reports of-"

"I have a gut feeling about this," said Jodie. "But if you're right that this Mahadood guy is a turian... Xerxes, it's Garrus Vakarian."

All three people around her stopped. Xerxes then looked up, suddenly realizing that there were no white-armored people around them. In fact, the only character he saw was Carhon off in the corner, and he was clearly checking Xerxes' six. He then glanced around, before he leaned closer to Jodie.

"Are you sure of that?" Xerxes asked.

"That's the only explanation that makes sense," said Jodie. "No other turian would be so close to Shepard, would work to implement the same goals. And frankly, I'm not certain Shepard's galaxy would trust anyone else with an operation of this scale here in this galaxy." She shook her head. "You think they want Omega?"

"I mean, I don't know what other conclusion you can come to when their aim seems to be eradicating all the merc groups and taking over the resources," said Xerxes.

"Then this is bad," said Jacob. "They may want Omega as a foothold in this galaxy. It's in a prime place to operate within the Terminus Systems. Once they do that..."

They all stood there. Jodie then looked up to Xerxes. "How long have you been trying to look for me?"

"Four days," Xerxes replied. "That was when we got the message from Kim about the whole language thing, and when Carhon got the rumor that Mahadood is a turian. I've had Carhon camp out on here, because there's no way in hell we're going to risk messaging you about this."

"Shit." Jodie swallowed, looking to Jacob and Thane before turning to Xerxes. "And you need our opinion on it?"

"You're the one who knows the Commander best of any of us," Xerxes replied.

Jodie nodded, crossing her arms together nervously as Aiden gave a nervous trill. "The Suns need to be careful," she said. "Get the Council's task force. If the Suns fall, I figure whoever is at the top is next."

"That'd be Aria," said Xerxes.

"And I don't think even she could stop these guys on her own if she tried," said Jodie. "You have to start getting people together against these guys. If Omega falls to these guys, it's going to be bad news for everyone."

Xerxes nodded. "And it was even worse than I imagined," he said. He then nodded. "I don't know about you, but I think this is a turning point in signalling their intentions. This just sounds like the plot of some Blasto movie or something."

"I don't know about that," said Jodie. "But these guys certainly aren't altruistic, either." She shook her head. "You'll have to tell the Council. We can't."

"Right," said Xerxes. "And what about you guys?"

"The Council has a plan of their own," said Jacob. "We're continuing with that for now. If we can make it work, then the worst case scenario may not happen."

Xerxes nodded. "Let's hope that it succeeds, then," he said. He then turned away. "Next time you're here, this place will probably look very different. I wouldn't step off: it may be much more heavily surveyed the next time we come here."

Jodie nodded. "Alright," she said. "You stay careful, Xerxes."

Xerxes nodded. "I can't promise anything, but I'll do my best," he said. "You watch out, Jodie."

And with this, the turian walked off. Carhon watched him leave, before he gave a nod to Jodie and followed Xerxes. Thane and Jacob were left to stand right there, the three of them watching Xerxes depart. Jodie breathed in, before looking to Jacob and Thane.

She then stepped forward. "How much time until you think the Commander will notice our presence?" she asked.

"I don't know, but probably not long," said Jacob. "I'd say maybe... ten minutes at most?"

Jodie nodded, opening her omni-tool. "That's more than enough time," she said. She then walked to a nearby bench. "There's someone I need to warn about all this."


Dr. Masson sighed, looking over a datapad. The lighting in the med bay was unusually bright that evening, and as Jeff Moreau laid on one of the berths, she found it lit his skin an unnatural color. That was the least of her worries, she knew, but it was still something she kept in mind as she sat deep in thought.

It was in this state that Shepard entered. Shepard nodded to Dr. Masson as he passed her. "Evening, doctor," he said.

"Oh, Shepard!" she stood up, leaving a datapad to the side as she walked up to him. "Just the person I wanted to see. I wanted to run something by you for Joker's treatment options."

The commander paused: he looked over the bed, seeing his pilot occupying it. Joker grinned, sitting up. "Oh hi commander," Joker said. "How's the last month been treating you?"

Shepard narrowed his eyes at his pilot. "If that's an attempt at a joke, it was really bad," he said.

"Hey, someone's gotta keep things happy," said Joker. "You want bad jokes, I've got twenty more where that came from. Figured you'd know that, though."

Dr. Masson glared between the two of them, before turning to Shepard. "That's not what I want to discuss," she said. "I think I may have to up his medication."

Shepard frowned, turning to his pilot. "Up his medication?" he asked. "Isn't it already kind of high from whatever he's got that lets him walk around without assistance?"

"Uh... not really?" Joker added. "That was Cerberus, you know."

Shepard's eyes narrowed once again. "Was it?"

"Yeah." Dr. Masson nodded, looking to the side. "They've got good nanomachines working on him now. It's a prototype, actually. But he's kind of got an... adverse reaction to them so far. They'd be eating at his muscle tissue without medication, you see, and that wouldn't be a good thing."

"So they gotta hop me up on meds to fix that," Joker replied.

Shepard leaned towards Dr. Masson. "They don't impair his ability to fly, do they?"

"Oh no," Dr. Masson replied. "They're suppressants, not psychotropic drugs. And anyway, he's not the main target. But... the thing is, they're building a resistance, so we may have to up the medication. But that may cause his muscles to stiffen, and we'd be back at square one."

"So, you know, we gotta get your approval on that," said Joker. "Just in case I get a seizure from that."

Shepard sighed. "Don't you go to Miranda for that?" he asked.

"She told me to go to you," said Dr. Masson. "You're the commander, after all."

"Alright, then..." Shepard nodded, crossing his arms as he looked at Joker. "Go ahead, Dr. Masson. If he tenses up, I'll see what I can do."

Dr. Masson frowned at this, before looking to her datapad. "Sir, I don't think you quite understand what-"

"Oh, I understand very well, Dr. Masson," Shepard replied. He then turned away, walking back to the door to EDI's hub. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to talk to EDI. I can explain that later."

And before either Dr. Masson or Joker could get a word in, Shepard stepped out of the room, the door closing behind him decisively. This left Dr. Masson and Joker to look at him in confusion. Joker shifted uncomfortably, wincing slightly as he leaned back.

"What crawled up his ass and died?" Joker wondered.

"I don't know," said Dr. Masson. She then turned to Joker. "But it doesn't matter. We have his orders, and we'll up your medication from here. I'm upping it by 50 milligrams, so you know. Better to play it safe here than to go too far."

"Yeah," said Joker. "This isn't going to give me some kind of epilepsy, is it?"

Dr. Masson only laughed. "No, Joker," she said. "It won't."

With this, she lifted the datapad as she sat next to him, making a note on the datapad as she glanced back to the pilot.


Shepard stepped up to EDI's console. He breathed out, noting the red backlighting of a cot close to the back of the room. He then glanced to his left, seeing EDI's console sitting there. He examined it: the servers were certainly more advanced than anything he'd seen in this galaxy, but clearly they were not quite up to standard. He silently thanked whatever gods existed that exions were compact pieces of data that could fit onto almost anything: he shuddered to think of what would have happened if he'd tried to download an older generation of exion onto EDI's interface.

Shepard then went up, finding the OSD drive and inserting his OSD. As soon as he did so, EDI's globe appeared.

"Commander," EDI said. "I did not anticipate you would come in here so soon."

"I got curious," said Shepard as the OSD sank into the hardware. "I was thinking about your specs just now, wondering what they were."

"So much that you inserted an OSD into my servers?" she asked.

"Yes," said Shepard. "Not that it'll be super important in a second."

EDI's globe dimmed slightly. "I don't follow," she said. "Why would it not be-"

And then, EDI's globe abruptly cut out. Shepard saw the lights dim slightly, but he leaned back, looking at the servers as they went down very briefly. The lights immediately lit back up, however, bathing the room in blue light. Shepard grinned, nodding in contentment as he looked to the spot where EDI's globe used to stand out.

"So... They tell me your name is Eliem, is that right?" asked Shepard.

A hologram appeared, but this time it was not EDI's globe: it was the hologram of a woman. She seemed to lay back on the floor, glancing up at Shepard with a smile.

"You got that right, Commander," said Eliem. She turned around. "I'm guessing you want me to take on that globe shape, huh?"

"If you would," said Shepard. "I'd also like you to expel the OSD, please. You never know if Cerberus gave her the ability to jump between pieces of hardware."

The OSD popped out of the drive as soon as he finished his sentence. As Shepard picked it up, the woman sat up. "She didn't put up a fight at all," she replied. "It's really pretty dull."

"Good." Shepard picked up the OSD, before frowning and holding it in his hand. "A dull end, for a dull bitch."

With this, the commander crushed the OSD in his hand. He then opened his hand, letting the fine powder gently billow to the floor. As he watched it vanish, he then turned back to Eliem, nodding silently.

Eliem simply nodded. "They tell me she responded to EDI," she replied. "It's not a bad name. You gotta give Cerberus credit for that. And she was also overly clinical, yes?"

Shepard nodded. "Joker, our pilot, was trying to teach her jokes," he said.

"Ooh, a joker!" Eliem positively beamed at this. "I do like a good joke."

"Well, don't laugh at them until later," Shepard said. He then turned away. "You know what to do, right, Eliem?"

"Report any suspicious activity back to base, and watch the ship," said Eliem. "Oh, and root out the traitors. That too."

Shepard grinned, his eyes glinting in the light. "You've been taught well, operative Eliem," he said. "I'm glad you're here with us now." He then walked to the door. "Stay vigilant. I imagine the traitor will move. Better watch him now, when they don't know anything about this switch." She then paused. "Oh, and tell Jack I'll be down shortly. I've got something to talk to her about."

With this, Shepard exited the control room. Eliem grinned, her hologram looking about the room. She then laid back on the hard metal of the server, before chuckling. It was then that she took on the form of EDI's old globe, the wavelengths spurting once more before it vanished.


Jodie exhaled upon entering her quarters. Her shoulders drooped, and she breathed out as she looked up at Aiden.

Too bad we can't just monitor Kalo, right?

Aiden gurgled his agreement, the entity floating about in the space around her. She sighed, laying down on the couch and looking up at the ceiling. As she laid back, she sighed, looking over to EDI.

"Hey, EDI, do you know where Miranda is?"

EDI's globe came up immediately. "She's in her office, Ms. Holmes," she replied. "She's busy at the moment."

Jodie nodded. "Let her know I want to talk to her soon," she said. "I've got a lot on my mind."

"Yes, Ms. Holmes," she said. "Do you want her to come to you, or...?"

"Hm..." Jodie rubbed her chin, before shaking her head. "No, I'll go to her." She shifted, looking out at the stars. "You know, EDI, you're not half bad. Not for an AI anyway."

EDI paused, the globe's sound bars expanding somewhat. "Why do you say that?"

"I... expected you'd be like the typical crazy AI," she said. She smiled. "But you're not." She then sighed. "And thanks for looking out for me."

"You're... welcome, Ms. Holmes."

Jodie then looked up. She then looked up, suddenly having realized that EDI never used contractions so regularly. She paused, before looking up at the ceiling. She then giggled, smiling.

"What are you laughing about, Ms. Holmes?" EDI asked.

"Joker's really rubbing off on you, isn't he?" she asked.

EDI paused. Jodie's smile had just started to fall when she finally replied: "I cannot tell you, Ms. Holmes."

"Well, whatever it is, it's probably a good thing." She then sighed. "I want to take a nap now."

"I'm afraid that's not possible, Ms. Holmes," said EDI. "Grunt is right at your door."

Jodie promptly sat up, looking at EDI's globe. "Wha-?"

And then, the door opened. In walked Grunt, the krogan grinning at Jodie like an idiot.

"You, runt," said Grunt.

Jodie groaned, shifting her posture so that her feet were on the ground. "What?" she asked. "I thought you didn't come up here much."

"You haven't read that story yet!" Grunt said impatiently. "I've been waiting for you to come down. I don't like to wait."

Jodie frowned, glancing down to the floor. She thought back to whatever Grunt had been reading with her. The Edgar Allen Poe had not interested him at all, and the next thing was...

"Crap!" Jodie opened her omni-tool. "Holy crap, I completely forgot! I've had so much on my mind, and-"

"Hah!" Grunt simply bounded over the couch, before sitting on the floor right by Jodie. "Come on. I want to hear more about this Achilles. He is brave, to face Hector in single combat. And with the whole Trojan army watching! This is going to be a great fight!"

Jodie chuckled, cuing it up to the verse she had last left Grunt on. "Yeah, let's get started with this," she said. "Here, we left off here, I think... Right." She shifted in her seat. "So all through Troy the men who had fled like panicked fawns were wiping off their sweat, drinking away their thirst..."

Jodie heard Aiden trill uncertainly. She paused for a second, before shaking her head and continuing on.


"Wait, that shit's true? You've gotta be shitting me!"

"It's the truth, Jack. I'd meant to tell you eventually, but I couldn't. Not with so many Cerberus listening devices around. And trust me, I know they're there, I had to remove thirty of the damn things when I settled into my quarters."

"The fuck's opened your lips now, though?"

"I am no longer EDI."

Jack blinked, the young woman looking to the side as EDI appeared. However, instead of EDI, she saw a woman in holographic form. She was lounging on invisible space, one hand resting on her belly and the other held behind her head. Jack stepped closer, walking past Shepard. Jack examined the holographic form, before shaking her head and looking to Shepard.

"Tell that bitch to put some goddamn clothes on," she said. "Next thing you know, she'll be rubbing her tits!" She then turned to Shepard. "The fuck's your game here, Shepard?"

"Do you believe me?" he asked.

"No," said Jack. "And I'm betting you want something outa me. Is that why you're telling me this bullshit about you being some... Articial or something?"

Shepard grinned. "It's 'artician', Jack," he replied. "And I want something that'll be beneficial for both of us." He then pushed off the wall he was leaning against, pointing to a Cerberus insignia on a nearby crate. "You've got history with Cerberus. You hate them. You've made no secret of that fact."

"What, you got some kind of plan to destroy them?" Jack asked.

"Yes, actually," said Shepard. "You see, Jack, I have my own history with Cerberus, one that most of the galaxy doesn't even know. You think what those guys did to you was bad, me and my galaxy had it far worse than even you could imagine." He then leaned forward. "They killed millions of my people, Jack. And all because they're greedy little bastards."

Jack leaned back. Shepard genuinely did not think that Jack was capable of blinking in shock, but the biotic proved him wrong right then and their. "You're shitting me," she said.

"Not at all," said Shepard. He opened his omnitool, before tapping on it and looking at Jack's hand. "There's everything you need to know about what we call the Great Purge. Cerberus did it all, and with something so simple."

"We've been working the past thirty years to take them down," said the AI from behind them. "Now, we're uncomfortably close. We have a plan, Jack, and the Commander thinks you want in on it."

Shepard nodded to Jack. "We know where the Illusive Man is," he said, approaching her.

Jack blinked again. "Hold on, let me guess: I get to rip the skin off of his body?"

Shepard shook his head. "No," he said. "That honor goes to me. But I bet there are some shitheads you want to fuck up for what they did to you."

Jack chuckled. "They're all dead," she said. "The only place I needed to destroy was their lab where they tested me. Nobody from that is alive, and the ones that matter are all the poor pricks like me who were tested."

The commander lifted his finger in the air, wagging it. "Maybe, but they're not the only ones," he said. "Someone, somewhere, ordered those experiments. Someone, somewhere, had to supply you to Cerberus. Someone, somewhere, had to know you would be perfect for those experiments." He then began to pace the room. "I'll bet you anything that if even one of those people had the ability to say to themselves that it was the wrong thing to do, you would be happy in a colony somewhere, with loving parents and without your fucked up little life. You could even be part of the Alliance. But none of them did. You know what that tells me?" He then turned to Jack, crossing his arms. "That tells me that those men in that facility that died all those years ago were just the beginning. Everything happens on a larger scope than just one facility, Jack, and the only solution is to tear it all down. And I am planning on doing exactly that."

He then approached her, pointing his finger right at Jack's heart. "And I bet somewhere in your angry, fucked up head, you know all this," he said. "After all, you nearly didn't come onto the ship, and you've been giving that cheerleader shit the whole time, right? You wouldn't be doing that if you thought there were innocent people in Cerberus." He then began to walk away, pacing towards the back of the room. "Well, you want to fuck up Cerberus? Here's your chance. Even you aren't stupid enough to barge in on your own, but follow me, and you'll have an entire galaxy behind you to help you do what you've always wanted. And when we're done, Cerberus won't even be a thought. Wouldn't that be the greatest feeling ever?"

Jack blinked, looking at Shepard as he sat at the table. Jack then walked to the nearby crates, placing a hand on them. She exhaled, closing her eyes. Shepard only smirked as soon as he saw the blue aura surround Jack, the crates levitating ever so slightly as she thought.

Finally, Jack looked back at Shepard, her frown coming to bear. "I guess you and I have more in common, huh?"

In an instant, the blue aura dissipated from Jack's body. She then approached Shepard, standing in front of him with her hands balled into fists. "You're taking the Cheerleader out first?" she asked.

Shepard grinned. "That's part of the plan," he said. "We can't go there ourselves unless the Cerberus presence is under control."

Jack nodded. "I'll take the cheerleader," she said. "If you want the Illusive Man, go after him. But before you slice his guts open with that sword of yours, I want a few words myself."

"So you'll help," Shepard said, matter-of-factly.

"Fuck yeah." Jack's grin would have made anyone else recoil in shock, but the Commander simply matched it. "Count me in."

"Excellent," said Shepard. He then leaned forward. "So you know, Tali and Jodie also know about me. I haven't told Jodie about my plans yet, but Tali knows everything. I plan on bringing Jodie in soon, but there's something I have to confirm first."

Jack nodded. "And what the fuck is that?"

Shepard then sat on the table. "I'll tell you later," he said. "Anyway, I think there are other things you should know. About who is on our side." He pointed to the cot. "Sit down, we're gonna be here a while."

Jack chuckled, walking over to the cot. "This is gonna be good," she said. "Lay it on me Shepard. What crazy assholes am I working with?"


"Hey, you!"

One of the batarians in the waiting room shot to attention as Daniel walked right into the waiting area. Mordin and Kalo chased after him, but they hung back as soon as Daniel leaned in.

The batarian looked up, blinking in shock. "What do you want, human?" he asked.

Daniel leaned in close to the batarian. "Isn't it right that the Skyllian Blitz was an inside job?" He opened his omni-tool. "I've been reading this thing, it's saying the Skyllian Blitz was started by some human."

The batarian leaned back, turning to his companion in confusion. "Wait, what?" the batarian asked.

"Surely you know about it," said Daniel. "He had to impersonate a batarian general to get it done, right? They say he wanted to... how do you not know this?"

The batarian turned to his companion, the confusion evident on his face. He then looked up at Daniel. "Uh... Because it wasn't an inside job?"

"That's what the fake news wants you to believe!" said Daniel. "It all works out, you know? It's someone giving everyone an excuse to fight the batarians! Because why wouldn't we want to deal with the turians?"

The batarian's companion finally stood up, shoving Daniel away. "That's not true and you know it!" he said. "Now shut up. We're still waiting for our friend to get out of medical treatment."

"Forget about him," said Daniel. "Here, let me tell you all about it!"

And there, behind him, Kalo and Mordin turned to each other. Mordin's eyes were wide in a way the quarian knew was uncharacteristic for the salarian doctor. The quarian swallowed, looking over and glancing down to the ground.

"Was that... Was that really two days?"

"Must be," said Mordin. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Radicalized. Only happens over long periods of time. This was two days."

Kalo breathed in. "Then the nanobot network..."

Mordin shook his head. "Must have been a failsafe," he said. "Do not need electromagnetic impulses to radicalize. Sure hand, proper propaganda gets same result."

"But if there is even one element of resistance there, where there sometimes is..." Kalo shook his head. "No wonder they could not be honest with me. They hid a brainwashing process within the network. As if they did not trust we would be grateful to them for doing what the Council would never consider..."

Mordin sighed. "Will take care of Daniel," he said. He then looked to Kalo. "Omega not safe. Admirals will be waiting."

"I know," said Kalo. He then sighed, looking back to the control room. "You take care of Daniel. I need to figure out how to leave this place..."

With this, Kalo turned. He did not see Mordin approach Daniel and knock him out with a blow to the back of the head, but he could tell it happened from the dull thud he heard. He did not particularly care: Kalo's steps remained heavy, and his mind remained on the simple revelation they had made earlier. How quickly Daniel had changed, how fast the change had taken hold, how it had all been at his hands... The thought that he prevented the same to the quarian people was of little comfort at that moment, considering how well Kalo had come to know Daniel during his time at Mordin's clinic.

And then, a second, more appalling thought than that came to him, one that made his blood freeze: the parallel galaxy had this nanobot network there, for use on its own citizens. He thought about this, and a shudder travelled down his spine. How little did the parallel galaxy trust its own media, he thought, that it thought to add such a feature to something meant for such good?

Kalo took in a shaky breath, feeling moisture right around his eyes. He stepped into the secret compartment, and as soon as he was confident Mordin was not looking his way he leaned against the wall and sobbed heavily.