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Everyone had made themselves comfortable in the living room by the time Shepard came downstairs, freshly showered and, she hoped, no longer smelling of fish. Tali pointed the cone of her visor up toward Shepard while she was still on the stairs. "You know, Shepard, back during my pilgrimage I used to walk around near that sushi place and watch the fish through the window," she said mournfully. "I knew they'd never let me inside, but I'd think to myself, someday, when I've proven my worth to the galaxy, I'll go there for dinner. And then, you broke their floor."
Shepard frowned down at her. "Do they even have food you can eat there?"
Tali shook her head, sighing. "Not the point, Shepard. Not the point."
Javik nodded thoughtfully. "Commander, in my cycle when we fled combat by falling through tanks containing aquatic animals, we usually …" He stopped. "Oh, that's right. We never did. You are a trailblazer."
The joke, an extreme rarity from the Prothean, cracked the whole room up. Except for Brooks, who seemed to have trouble following the conversation. Shepard supposed she was happy all her friends were enjoying this so much … except for the twinge in her side where she was afraid a rib was cracked beyond the ability of medi-gel to insta-heal it, and the annoyance of being shot at and made a spectacle of on her first day of shore leave, when she could have been having a nice dinner and then coming back here to spend some blissful hours in the hot tub with Kaidan.
"The restaurant has made the news," EDI reported. "Civilian casualties have been restricted to fish."
"Anyone else want to weigh in on this evening's activities?" Shepard snapped.
"I think it's a valuable lesson for all of us, Commander." Cortez looked up at her, all innocence. "Never have dinner with Joker. It just won't end well."
That got a big general laugh. Shepard wasn't sure she found the situation any more amusing when the jokes weren't aimed at her, but she took a deep breath and tried to calm down and enjoy the moment, rather than being a wet blanket.
"What was it, Shepard? Five minutes before someone started shooting at you? I think you're missing the point of shore leave."
"I didn't miss anything, Garrus. Clean head-shots, time and again. If you'd been there, we could've settled once and for all who's the best shot in the galaxy."
"Who cares who's the best shot? No one's ever taken down a shuttle like that before." Wrex straightened proudly. "One krogan, five bad guys, no waiting. Heh. I still got it."
"Yes, you do," Shepard agreed affectionately. "I've never been so happy to see someone." She squeezed Kaidan's shoulder as she moved past him to take the last empty spot on the couch, so he would know she had been just as happy to see him in the skycar lot.
"Nice of Anderson to supply us this cool secret hideout to hang out in," Garrus said. He turned his head to glance at the giant windows, through which the busy skycar lanes could be seen and heard easily. "Unless the bad guys look in the window."
"Well, let's hope they're geth, then," Joker said.
"I don't suppose anyone would like to know what I've found out about the gun?" Liara suggested, with a slight edge to her voice.
"I would." Shepard's tone left no room for further shenanigans.
"I called in some favors, which led me to a casino owner named Elijah Khan. He's long been suspected of using his profits to smuggle weapons onto the Citadel. Immediately after the attempt on Shepard's life, Khan made an interesting call." She pulled up the audio on her omni-tool. Khan was speaking to an unknown person who was clearly using a voice modulator, refusing to sell the person any more guns now that the latest shipment had been all over the news after the incident in the sushi restaurant. And he threatened to go public with what he knew about the gun buyer if they gave him any further problems.
"What about the mercenaries?" Shepard asked. "Did you get anything on them?"
"They're a private military corporation called CAT6. That's an Alliance nickname for dishonorable discharge, so we're looking at mostly Alliance rejects. Most seem to have criminal records, histories of steroid abuse, and other charming features. More likely to have been hired by our identity thief than by Khan."
"Khan didn't sound too friendly to whoever he was talking to. Maybe he could be persuaded to pass that info on to us," Garrus suggested.
"That's assuming he didn't immediately jump to the conclusion that Shepard was looking for revenge and start shooting at her," Tali said.
"People do seem to do that a lot," Kaidan agreed.
"The casino has a panic room; likely he'll be hiding out there," Liara suggested. "EDI can give us programs to hack the doors, but the cameras and the guards require a more personal touch."
"So we go in quiet. Small team. No gunplay."
"That lets you out, Shepard." Wrex grinned.
"Hey! I can be quiet. If necessary."
Liara pulled up the layout of the building. "Glyph has already purchased us tickets to a charity event being held at the casino tonight, so it only remains to determine who will go with Shepard. Someone needs to be able to crawl through the air shaft to bypass the security gate and get to the storage room where the panic room's door-camera can be disabled."
Everyone looked at each other. EDI or Tali would be the best choices, but both of them carried too much tech; they'd be too easily detected by security sensors. Everyone else was too big.
"Anyone know if Kasumi's on the Citadel?" Shepard asked.
"I think she's working on the—elsewhere." Liara caught herself before she mentioned the Crucible in front of Brooks.
"Shame. Well, then." Shepard looked at Brooks. "Looks like you're in."
"What? Me? No. I mean … me? I managed to get shot just talking to you! Now I'm supposed to hack my way into a safe room?"
"That's about the size of it," Liara said coolly. "Unless you think you can't handle it."
"Of course I—I mean, I can give it a try."
"Excellent." Liara looked at Shepard, a twinkle lurking in her blye eyes. "That just leaves one last hurdle to get us inside."
"Do I want to hear this?"
"No, you really don't." The twinkle turned into a full-blown grin. "Black tie required."