"Alright. You got the basics at breakfast," Shepard announced, pulling up a hologram. "Now we get to the heavy stuff: I'd like to introduce you to Cronos Station."

"That why it's called Thunderbolt? Like disposing a titan?" Traynor asked.

"Probably. Or as in 'we come down like a—'" Shepard shrugged, shoving aside the pressure of we have to make this work.

Part of her felt jangled from the stims after an all-too-short night…though part of that shortness had been a late bedtime, preferring to stint herself a little on sleep to spend the time with Alenko. She didn't think there would be much time for such moments, certainly not for such weakness, now that the ball was rolling. She felt as if she needed to cram a lifetime of 'I love you' into a few short hours, to make sure there was nothing left unsaid.

Just in case…

She shook herself mentally, shoving 'just in case' and all feeble sentiments into little airtight crates, and shoving them into a disused corner, marked 'do not open.' Right now, she needed to believe that this was just the first step towards victory, because if she didn't, if she couldn't, no one else could or would.

So she set aside Jalissa Shepard the woman, and forced herself to be nothing more than Capt. J. A. Shepard. To be the N7. To be the Spectre. To be the tip of Hackett's spear, and sink herself viciously into whatever enemy at which she was pointed. And right now, the target was much to her liking, because she felt certain that little shit Kai Leng was infesting the station like a roach, and she was going to find him, crush him, and move on.

Those were certainly things she could do. It wouldn't be without cost, it wouldn't be easy, but if there was one thing she'd noticed, it was that Leng had avoided, in one way or another, coming up against her head-on. Which meant whatever he said or pretended, he didn't want her close enough to take a swing at him. Some part of him knew there was a class difference between them.

She managed an easy smile. "This is the station we tracked Kai Leng to," she indicated the hologram. "It's located in the Horsehead Nebula, a hop skip and a jump away from our favorite world—"

"Noveria," Alenko, Garrus, Tali and Liara all answered.

"Yeah. The un-nosiest of un-nosey neighbors," Shepard sighed. "It's been double and triple checked, this is it. With any luck, the Illusive Man will be here…and so will Kai Leng."

"We're about due for some luck," Garrus said grimly, drumming his fingers on one arm, talons clicking.

"We're about due for a change in our luck—if it wasn't for bad luck, we'd have none at all," Tali mumbled.

"This is a multi-team assault. Commander Sheffler will be acting as our decoy, causing as much property damage and, hopefully, drawing off as many of the forces on the station as he can. Meanwhile, I'll be taking a three-man team through, priority one, recover the Catalyst data; priority two, kill or capture the Illusive Man—"

"Kill," half the room said flatly.

"—that would be my ideal, too," Shepard admitted. "And three, kill or capture Kai Leng if he's there. I don't think we'll be dealing with the elements that consider surrender a viable option," she added, approving the hopeful looks on the faces of those who had known Thane. "Fortunately, Hackett's not too eager for prisoners at this point."

Neither was Shepard. She felt sure that if the Illusive Man and his command cadre—whatever that might be—were out of the way, Miranda would happily begin salvaging his remaining resources. She wouldn't rebuild Cerberus, but something that would allow her to pick objectives and make them happen? One needed capital for that, and if Miranda had her way, either the Shadow Broker would have some healthy competition or would end up in a very galaxy-beneficial arrangement. Miranda was too independent for an actual partnership.

Hackett's first impressions of Miranda still made Shepard grin: 'I can see why you two get along so well.'

"I would like to be part of the ground team," EDI announced.

Shepard wondered at this specific request, then decided she didn't really. They rarely discussed EDI's origins; maybe EDI was curious and hoped to learn something about herself, though Shepard hoped EDI was self-actualized enough to know it wasn't where a person started, but what they did with their lives that mattered. Maybe it was just EDI wanting to prove she was in no part Cerberus' creature, whoever had built her and her hardware.

"Good, because we may need your technical expertise."

Tali nodded no offense taken.

"Javik, since the data was originally in the care of a Prothean custodian, I'd like you to come along as my subject matter expert," Shepard continued.

"Third spot goes to Spectre Alenko," Shepard finished, not missing the momentary shadow of relief that crossed Alenko's features.

There was no sentiment in this decision: after Liara, he was her best biotic, and she'd rather have two than one. Also, he would be extremely well-motivated to stick to the mission if anything went wrong, or if the team had to split up. And if anyone could keep the Illusive Man from squiggling out of the line of fire, it would be Alenko.

"Garrus—you're the lead hat—Tali, Vega, you'll wait in reserve on the station, in case there are more forces than the teams can deal with, but mostly to keep our extraction point clear," Shepard continued. "I leave the details to your discretion."

Garrus nodded.

"Cortez, I want you to drop us off, then hang around close-to. Be ready to pick us up on short notice."

"You don't think he's got a self-destruct protocol on that thing, do you?" Cortez asked, shifting uneasily.

"Pretend he does."

Cortez nodded approval, though he still looked worried.