Ashley emerged from the lobby of her apartment building, pausing at the wide entryway to observe the busy concourse beyond.

Hours still before she was due to start her shift in the Alliance Naval Command Operations Center or ANCOC on the Presidium, she was dressed in civilian clothes—slim fitting trousers, a long-sleeved athletic V-neck top and a pair of sturdy boots. A stylish hip-length synthetic leather jacket completed her outfit. She zipped the coat halfway up her chest, effectively concealing the M-3 Predator pistol hanging snug at her side, holstered in the rig strapped around her shoulders.

Tapping the subtle biomechanical node affixed to her right temple, she activated her Ariake Technologies enhanced reality visor, its semi-opaque holo-display instantly wrapping around her eyes. The ubiquitous computing device was a civilian model popular with the human residents of the Citadel, allowing her to avoid the added attention her Alliance issue combat headset would attract. But she'd modified the Ariake setup with a number of military-grade enhancements, giving her access to a wide range of secure networks and tactical features.

She focused her attention on a tiny icon projected on the inside of her visor and blinked out a rapid command, triggering the facial recognition and threat detection software. Taking a long, deliberate look to her left and right, the system's embedded VI tagged every face in the crowds passing by outside her building, cross-checking the images against half a dozen databases and encyclopedias, scanning for known criminals, mercenaries, government operatives, or anyone else who might pose a risk or who seemed out of place.

Once she'd agreed to work alongside Anita Goyle and the woman's unusual band of special operatives, Ashley had become exceedingly cautious about her everyday movements, even when she was simply traveling back and forth from her residence to the local neighborhood markets. Given her long and well-documented history with Shepard, the ambassador felt she had good reason to develop a certain healthy paranoia, sure that some form of surveillance from interested parties was inevitable now that she'd assimilated back into Admiral Kaneda's staff. As they stressed to Ash, everyone who worked for the man was being watched now, regardless of their position at ANCOC.

She didn't need a lot of convincing to become more wary about her activities, both on and off duty. She could see for herself that the general atmosphere on the Citadel was becoming edgier by the day. Every major galactic race with a presence on the station had ramped up their espionage activities after the Reapers had shown up. Everybody was watching everyone else more intensely than ever.

The icon on her visor's display remained green—no imminent threats detected—and she began to move, joining a throng a bodies advancing along the pedway. The facial recognition program and threat detection algorithms would continue to run in the background, constantly vigilant of her surroundings while she ploughed ahead.

For as long as she could remember, Zakera had always been one of the busiest wards on the Citadel, especially in and around the popular neighborhood Ashley's apartment building bordered. It was home to the trendiest clubs, popular restaurants, and some of the most successful shops and markets on the station. Naturally, just about everyone who'd chosen to live full time on the station wanted to be near that action. But ever since the war had broken out and displaced refugees began pouring in, the ward had become almost claustrophobically full, teeming with every major species in the known galaxy.

Snaking along the crowded pathway, Ashley brushed by a group of asari lingering out front of a local café. She shook her head in disgust, catching a snippet of their conversation as she passed them. Thessia along most of the asari holdings throughout the galaxy still hadn't experienced the sting of the Reaper advance. They still felt at ease arguing over where to have lunch.

A pair of C-Sec officers approached from the opposite direction, a turian male and human woman, casually patrolling through the crowds. Though the local law enforcement presence on the station had increased steadily since the Reapers arrival, most of the units still looked woefully ill-equipped to deal with threats beyond basic domestic disputes and petty theft. She eyed the light body armor the officers wore as she passed them, thinking it looked far too flimsy to withstand anything more powerful than a low-powered handgun. If the enemy ever managed to get inside here, it would be a bloodbath.

Further up the concourse, she spotted the entrance to the nearest rapid transit station. She glanced at the tiny clock readout in the corner of her display and picked up the pace, striding purposefully toward the transportation hub.

She reached the wide entrance a few seconds later, bypassing the elevators and jogging down the steep flight of stairs that brought her a level below the main street and into the brightly lit terminal.

The Reapers' initial charge into the galaxy's core had left the station cutoff from several key manufacturing hubs and mining facilities and the ongoing siege of Palaven along with the loss of Earth had eliminated dozens of traditional shipping lanes. Even for a place as wealthy and generally self-sufficient as the Citadel, resources were becoming a problem.

One result of those resource shortfalls was that skycar travel, as a means of getting around the station, was steadily becoming less common. Already, more than a thousand X3M standard models had been removed from service, seized by local authorities by way of emergency measures passed by the Council. The vehicles' raw materials were simply more valuable to the community than the convenience they afforded passengers and operators.

The majority of travelers on the Citadel were now getting around the station using the older and significantly less luxurious high-speed tram lines. The hundreds of kilometers of tracks that connected the Wards and the Presidium were located just below "ground" level and above the mapped Keeper tunnels. In the last week alone, the hub stations—twenty-three scattered throughout each Ward—had experienced an increase in traffic by over five hundred percent.

Ashley blinked through a menu on her visor's display as she crossed the wide boarding platform, shouldering her way through more crowds of people. The train she was looking for was highlighted a second later, pulsing with a brief outline of color. She shifted her route a fraction to avoid a trio of lumbering elcor who were disembarking from another tram, dashed the last few meters across the platform and stepped through the open doors.

Her partner for the day, Kasumi Goto, was already waiting inside, leaning against a poll at the far end of the tram car. Ashley paused just inside the doorway, quickly scanned the occupants of the car, and joined the other woman.

"I thought you might stand me up for a minute there, Commander," Kasumi said, her tattooed lips curling to form a mocking smile. "Oversleep?"

Ashley smirked. After just a few days of working together, she'd already grown accustomed to Kasumi's near-constant sarcasm. "Funny. It's getting so crowded around here, I can barely walk to the corner sushi joint without getting trampled by a fucking krogan. How far is this place anyway?"

"Factory District, way down in the Nobetti Quarter. Six stops from here. It's kind of a cesspool over there, at least by Citadel standards."

"Great."

A welcoming, feminine voice that sounded suspiciously similar to an Avina terminal issued from the tram car speakers, announcing the train's next stop as the passenger doors slid shut. All along the walls, high-definition displays flashed to life and began to cycle through news stories and advertisements. Ashley grabbed the poll Kasumi was leaning against with one hand just as the tram gave a gentle jerk, initiating its travel along the magnetic tracks. Seconds later, they were accelerating smoothly, rapidly moving toward their destination. She glanced out one of the long, rectangular windows of the car, watching the tunnel go by in a blur of light.

It had been nine days since Ambassador Anita Goyle had appeared at Ashley's apartment.

Finding one of the Alliance's most well-known political figures at her door had been surprising enough. Learning that she was operating a shadow intelligence agency on the Citadel, one that she wanted Ashley to join, had left her stunned.

She'd spent the rest of that morning furiously sifting through official Alliance records, looking to learn all that she could about Anita Goyle while she considered her next move.

Ultimately, curiosity—and boredom—had driven her to the ambassador's Tayseri Ward address the very next day.

Goto had been there, greeting her at the door as if she was some long lost friend. A severe looking drell man by the name of Thane Krios had also been present. Unlike Kasumi, he'd maintained his distance, watching her with a quiet intensity that had given Ashley the chills. She knew she was right to feel that way. She recognized them both from the Alliance intelligence briefs she'd seen months earlier, the ones that had detailed their partnership with Shepard during his time with Cerberus. She was well aware of exactly what the drell's specialty was.

When Goyle had joined them in the expansive foyer of her apartment a moment later, she'd quickly sensed Ashley's threatened, edgy state. She'd diffused it immediately, reassuring her they had no interest in harming her. After all, it had been Shepard himself who'd insisted she be brought into the fold.

For her own part, Ashley wasn't entirely sure about any of it. But she was also getting sick and tired of being left out of the loop. And, if she was honest with herself, she was feeling lonely. The regret of refusing to join Shepard that day on Horizon still hounded her. She didn't want to feel that all over again. She brushed aside her hesitation and dove in.

Goyle, Kasumi and Krios spent much of the rest of that first day bringing her up to speed on all the missions, past and present, the private intelligence outfit was involved in, most planned and led by Miranda Lawson.

They gave her an entirely new perspective on what had taken place on Arcturus Station months earlier, including a significantly more detailed account of the attempted bio-attack that had nearly been successful in spreading a truly horrific pathogen on that doomed station. It had taken her some time to wrap her head around that piece, realizing just how much Alliance Intelligence had withheld from the official account she'd previously had access to.

Kasumi went on to describe their raid on a secret pharmaceutical lab on Sanctum where they'd tracked down and captured the double agent and a key figure in the Bahak incident, Amanda Kenson. Afterward, a trail had led the group halfway across the galaxy, to Gellix, where they encountered a group of refugees who provided more proof that things within Cerberus were changing rapidly.

There was more—a lot more. Half a dozen covert actions and ongoing operations on the Citadel, including surveillance they'd placed around a number of high profile people, including Councilor Udina and Admiral Kaneda.

They introduced her to a Cerberus defector, Brynn Cole, who was escorted by a hideous-looking man by the name of Massani. Less than two minutes after meeting him, Ashley was convinced he was the foulest individual she'd ever had the misfortune of meeting. But the others all seemed to trust him without question and mostly ignored his vulgar demeanor.

Cole had given Ashley a taste of what she'd experienced while working for Cerberus and what had ultimately driven her to flee. She'd provided a rare glimpse into the organization's internal dynamics as well as the Illusive Man's steadily growing obsession with all things Reaper and his insistence that his people push past so-called moral and ethical boundaries in the pursuit of some truly frightening goals. After an hour of that, she'd put a hand up to keep the woman from going on. She'd heard plenty and was starting to feel physically ill.

Goyle's candor about her group's activities had surprised Ashley. Though she was certain she'd been the subject of an extensive background check, she was still a stranger to the ambassador and didn't fit the profile of the others working for her.

Perhaps Shepard's word was enough to carry the day for her. Or, maybe it was just yet another opportunity she'd have to attribute to Admiral Anderson's patronage. In the end, it didn't matter. She felt honored that a woman like Ambassador Goyle had chosen to trust her. She wasn't about to let someone like that down.

However, Goyle and the others had chosen to remain cagey about one thing—the fate of the traitor and Cerberus agent, Doctor Kenson. Ashley figured she could hazard a guess as to why that was. Given what she'd already learned from Kasumi and the others, paired with her own knowledge of the situation, it seemed a safe bet that Lawson had executed the woman.

There had been a time, not very long ago, in fact, when that sort of thing would have deeply troubled Ashley. But after Horizon, after Richter, after the Persephone, and especially after Earth, she'd been desensitized to just about any form of atrocity she could imagine.

She decided she didn't really need to know the details and didn't press the subject, happy to allow Goyle and the others their secrets, well aware that they were determined to protect Lawson. Besides, she had her own secrets to keep.

Afterward, they'd thrown her into the deep end without hesitation, setting her to work immediately.

There was no official position offered or oath of service to recite. It was simply expected that she was with them now, ready to follow the ambassador's lead. They all understood Ashley arrived at that Tayseri Ward address completely of her own free will. She could have easily ignored the invite, put her head down, and merrily continued on at ANCOC, choosing to remain ignorant of what was hiding just below the surface.

But she didn't. She was finished with that kind of willful ignorance, determined to push forward, regardless of the consequences.

At first, the abruptness of it all had given her pause. She'd only just recently regained her footing—and her health—after Mars, the memory of a painful recovery still etched deep in her mind. And now she was being thrust back into a world of espionage she barely understood, asked to work for a shadow organization that was almost certainly illegal on one level or another. Not to mention the fact that Krios, Massani and Goto were all straight-up mercenaries at best, thieves and killers at worst.

She couldn't deny it was more than a little unsettling, feeling light years away from the regimented structure of her old unit or the familiar comforts of the original Normandy.

But it was also thrilling.

Her goal was to get back to the Normandy. That hadn't changed and she wouldn't waver from it. But until Shepard returned with the ship and made good on his promise to reinstate her as XO, she was determined to do something.

Besides, working with Goyle and her merry band of weirdos seemed a hell of a lot more interesting than the logistical admin support work she'd been assigned at ANCOC.

"You get your fam all taken care of?" Kasumi asked after nearly a minute of silence, rousing Ashley from her reveries.

"Yes," she said, breathing a clear sigh of relief.

Ashley's mother and sisters had arrived safely on the Citadel a few days earlier. They'd been among several thousand refugees who'd made the trek from Elysium, travelling on civilian and navy ships that had broken off from Captain Navarro's so-called Exodus Fleet. The joy she'd felt once she'd learned they'd made it off Earth and were on their way was the most powerful emotion she'd ever experienced. She was still busy thanking God, knowing full well it had been nothing short of a miracle they'd been among the select few who'd managed to make it off their homeworld during the Reaper invasion.

"Anita stepped in and helped me secure a really nice two bedroom apartment just down the street from my building. They're comfortable."

"Yeah, the old lady's good like that," Kasumi said with a wink.

Ashley nodded her agreement. At a time when tens of thousands of refugees were crowding into auxiliary cargo docks on the Citadel, erecting tent cities or creating makeshift homes inside empty shipping containers, a clean and comfortable Zakera Ward residence was an unheard of luxury. She was deeply indebted to Goyle.

"How 'bout that hunk fighter pilot boyfriend of yours? Any more word from him?"

Ashley smirked. "Uh huh."

Kasumi glanced up at her expectantly before giving a little shrug, seeing that Ashley wasn't going to offer anything further on the subject. "Well, I hope you guys get a chance to hook up soon. You're carrying around a lot of tension, Williams. Getting laid would do wonders for you."

Ashley opened her mouth and stared at Kasumi, but then quickly snapped her head forward again. She's not wrong.

Ashley had been thinking a lot about Edge lately. After she'd convinced herself that he'd been killed during the invasion, the priority vid-comm request that had woken her in the middle of the night a few days earlier had come as a shock. She'd stared back at his grinning face for a good ten seconds, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, disbelieving. The emotion overwhelmed her a moment afterward and the tears flowed. Big time.

They'd all made it. The people she loved the most in this world. Her mother. Her sisters. Edgerton. Shepard. She felt unbelievably, undeservedly blessed.

She glanced up at the nearest vid screen as dramatic intro music blared from the overhead speakers, announcing a breaking news story.

"… And this just in from the krogan DMZ: Council sources confirm a major victory scored against the Reapers…"

It wasn't actually just in. It was the same story that had been looping regularly through all the major news outlets over the last few hours. Fragments of stock footage from Tuchanka, probably decades old, spliced together with more generic images of Alliance and turian warships while one talking head or another described the dramatic battle that had taken place there the previous day.

Kasumi followed Ashley's gaze and made a dismissive noise. "Not a peep from the mainstream media-heads about what Shep and the gang did on Tuchanka," she said sourly. "I mean, can you believe that vid? That man is certifiably nuts. Sure, it was amazing and brave and all that, but come on. Honestly, I think the guy needs professional counseling."

Ashley nodded. The real footage from the Battle of Tuchanka had dropped on the Extranet even before the corporate media had reported on the battle. She'd seen the vid at least a dozen times since, captivated by the images of Shepard and his squad advancing across the desolate surface, wide-eyed when he managed to lure the massive thresher maw to the equally huge Reaper destroyer.

Kasumi was right. Anyone willing to pull off a stunt as an insane as that had to be at least a little unhinged. But then again, she couldn't help but feel jealous over missing out on it.

The interior doors separating their tram car from the one connected behind it hissed open, drawing Ashley's attention. Two men from Udina's recently established special security force stepped through the gap and began to advance methodically up the center aisle, throwing mildly hostile looks at the passengers as they went.

Udina had dubbed his private little army Human Alliance Security and Tactical Response, or HASTR. They were his answer to the special operators that the turians and asari maintained on the Citadel and were held distinctly apart from both C-Sec and the Council Spectre corps.

Almost immediately after news of the Salarian coup had broken, Udina had rammed an emergency resolution through the Council, allowing him to establish the paramilitary force, ostensibly to beef up security on the Citadel and provide tactical support for C-Sec in the event that some sort of civil unrest took hold of the station.

He'd made a compelling argument at a time when the other councilors were far too preoccupied with the situation on Sur'Kesh and the escalating Reaper War to put up any meaningful opposition. Just days later, several dozen well-equipped men and women, all human, were suddenly operating on the Citadel, patrolling key areas of the Presidium and Wards. Over the following weeks, Udina had somehow managed to swell the ranks of HASTR to more than a two-hundred strong.

One of Ashley's first assignments from Goyle had been to find out how the councilor had managed the sudden surge of manpower. With her security clearance at ANCOC, it hadn't been difficult to discover that a good deal of them came from Alliance military backgrounds. Of those, most had received early discharges for one reason or another, some highly dishonorable. A lot had spent time working contracts along the outer rim, managing colonial security or providing protection for corporate assets. More than a few had long criminal records that had recently been wiped clean, amnesty for past offenses granted as long as they signed Udina's contract. Essentially, they were a bunch of mercs. Guns for hire.

So far, they hadn't made the best of impressions on the local population. Their appearance was part of the problem. The Council had stopped short of allowing HASTR to work on the Citadel outfitted in full battle armor, but they'd conceded to powered exoskeleton rigs and the carrying of light arms in addition to a myriad of non-lethal crowd control weapons.

They were operating on the fringes of Citadel law, harassing and detaining civilians with the thinnest of justification, disregarding long-standing agreements of mutual respect among the races, and thoroughly intimidating the much less well-equipped C-Sec personnel.

She wasn't naïve. She knew that war tended to breed uncomfortable situations for the public when governments struggled to properly protect them from the enemy—and each other. But this brand of militarization on the Citadel felt deeply wrong and counter to what the unique, massive space station was meant to symbolize.

Ashley eyed the two HASTR operatives warily as they continued their march through the tram car, the foot plates of their exoskeletons clattering harshly on the metallic floor. Most of the other passengers averted their eyes meekly as they passed, shrinking back against either side of the aisle, eager to make way for the bulky men.

"Easy, Williams," Kasumi said under her breath, touching her arm with a gently restraining hand. "We're just two girls out on the town."

Ashley inhaled, fighting the urge to reach for her weapon concealed beneath her coat. She didn't trust the HASTR agents. And they were walking directly toward her.

The lead man's gaze found Ashley, settling on her for a long moment. He and his partner both wore enhanced reality tactical visors that were undoubtedly busy tagging every passenger on the train against their own facial recognition databases.

Her heartrate began to quicken. Her identification wouldn't be a mystery but she wondered if the operative's enhanced personal scanners would flag the pistol holstered at her side. Technically illegal for her to carry off-duty, it might earn her some unwanted scrutiny.

She sized him up as he approached: Hard-shell body armor over black combat utilities adorned with the HASTR emblem—two crossed swords set against the silhouette of the Citadel. The slender arm and leg struts of his exoskeleton were a dark carbon gray joined by multiple articulating joints. It was an expensive, adaptive combat model, affording the man significantly enhanced strength and agility. He looked to be in his mid-forties, salt and pepper hair cut high and tight in a military style, deeply tanned, weathered skin visible beneath his beefy Hahne-Kadar tactical visor.

Drawing nearer, she smelled the feint scent of mineral lubricants coating the exoskeleton's joints mixed with the man's musky perspiration. He was cradling a modified crowd-control shotgun in front of him, thick muscles and veins bulging from under his rolled-up sleeves.

He paused a few feet from her, examining her in a way that felt more like leering. "Commander," he said after a few seconds, giving a curt nod before continuing his slow procession up the car alongside his partner.

Ashley watched them until they disappeared through the hatchway and into the next car. "I fucking hate those dicks. Strutting around the Wards like they own the place. They're nothing but a bunch of mercs and Spec Ops washouts."

They reached their stop a minute later and stepped out onto another busy boarding platform, shouldering past passengers trying to take their places on the train. Another steep, wide stairwell brought them to street level where they emerged in the heart of Zakera's Factory District, a part of the ward that was decidedly less fashionable than where they'd departed from in Ashley's neighborhood.

Ashley glanced around at the drab surroundings and frowned. There were no brightly lit storefronts here or inviting local cafés. It was a distinctly industrial place, utilitarian, and totally lacking the stylishness of other parts of the Citadel. A few human men and women dressed in cheap coveralls were loitering near the entrance to the station, wearing vacant expressions, probably high after indulging in one illicit substance or another. Another group of batarians were huddled around a makeshift table setup outside an abandoned storefront, playing a dice game of some kind. Ashley half expected to spot the door to Chora's Den, but knew the seedy bar had never actually reopened after that part of Zakera had taken major damage during Sovereign's attack. The other passengers that had exited the station with her and Kasumi were busy scattering in various directions, eager to get to their places of work or just to escape the immediate, vaguely threatening area.

"I told you this neighborhood was a dump," Kasumi said. "Come on. It's this way."

Ashley easily matched the petite woman's determined pace, focusing on the minimized map in the bottom corner of her display as she strode along, urging it to expand. A pale blue line appeared overlaid upon it, indicating the path to their destination a few "blocks" deeper into the district.

They'd arrived here, at least in part, because of Miranda Lawson.

After Admiral Kaneda had not only seen fit to leak the news of her presence on board the Normandy but also take it upon himself to personally inform Ashley of the fact, Goyle's suspicions had been ignited. That the man clearly had a covert source of some kind on the ship was disconcerting enough, but what seemed to be a personal fixation on the lone Alliance frigate and its crew hinted at something even more troubling.

Kasumi had set out to investigate the man further, infiltrating his residence and a number of his personal accounts with ease. But other than the fact the man enjoyed the company of high priced escorts, asari mostly, there was little of interest to be found.

Ashley's day job at ANCOC and the security clearance that went along with it allowed them to take the investigation to the next level. She'd hesitated at first, not thrilled to be taking part in a potentially treasonous action, but Goyle had proven persuasive. Besides, Ashley couldn't deny her own concerns. Ever since he'd visited her at Huerta and shared the news about Lawson and hinted that she could take Shepard's place on the Normandy, she'd known there was something seriously off about her senior commanding officer.

The data mining algorithm Kasumi had supplied Ashley with was incredibly advanced, but discreet in its operation and practically undetectable. It spent more than three days parsing through the immense data stores of the ANCOC systems, gradually and carefully burrowing into Kaneda's secure terminals and files.

Most of what had been harvested and smuggled out appeared to be more mundane information. But Goyle had a team of analysts working for her, people Ashley had yet to see or meet, waiting to attack the data. Within hours, they'd identified a long pattern of exchanges and transactions between Kaneda and none other than Councilor Donnel Udina himself.

For weeks, even before the Reapers had arrived in the Milky Way, the two men had been collaborating to route massive amounts of credits from Alliance accounts through a series of middlemen and front companies. More recently, evidence showed they'd been skimming funds earmarked for refugee relief on the Citadel and using the profits to secure dozens of vacant warehouses and defunct manufacturing facilities scattered throughout the various wards.

Ashley had been furious when she found out and had pressed Goyle to take the evidence straight to Admiral Hackett and the other Councilors. But Anita wasn't ready, instead counseling patience. They needed to determine if the men were simply embezzling funds for their own gain or if a different motive was in play. More importantly, she wasn't convinced the conspiracy ended with Kaneda and Udina. Exposing the two men would almost certainly force other collaborators to go to ground, preserving their anonymity. Besides, what may have been a massive abuse of power still didn't explain Kaneda's preoccupation with the Normandy's activities. Nevertheless, they had found a trail that needed following.

Days went by while the analysts monitored the men's activities, compiling more evidence, working to untangle the web. Meanwhile, Ashley and Kasumi were put to work in the field, scouting the properties that Kaneda and Udina's dummy companies had bought up. They were on their way to number three on their list.

A little more than two hundred meters from the transit station, Ashley came to an abrupt halt, her visor alerting her to a presence in the distance. "Movement ahead," she said, blinking out a zoom command.

"Whatcha got?"

"Workers and some heavy loaders," Ashley said, stepping to her left and into the cover of a vacant storefront entryway. "Looks like they're moving some heavy shipping containers into the warehouse from an auxiliary transport tunnel." She consulted the local Citadel schematic through her visor, tracking the tunnel's origin. "It connects all the way out to the old Banning cargo docks."

"That place isn't supposed to be active. Hasn't been for decades."

"I know. Time to do your thing."

"Gotcha," Kasumi said, activating her personal cloak and vanishing.

"Comm check."

"Loud and clear. Patching you into my view."

On top of a personal camouflaging unit more advanced than anything of the kind she'd ever seen, Ashley had learned that Kasumi also possessed a bleeding-edge ocular overlay. The surgically implanted device was virtually undetectable and granted the master infiltrator the same level of enhanced reality displays conventional tactical visors and helmets offered. How she'd managed to acquire all of that exotic tech or what else she might still be concealing, Ashley had no idea.

"Confirmed," Ashley said as the feed from Kasumi's overlay appeared in a window inside her visor. "Clear to advance."

Almost perfectly invisible or not, Kasumi moved cautiously up the street before leaping onto an elevated walkway running parallel to the ground level pedway. She paused for several seconds, glancing around while her personal scanners checked for proximity detection equipment, and then continued her advance toward the warehouse.

"Two HASTR jerks standing guard outside."

Ashley narrowed her gaze on the vid feed, spotting the pair of Udina's private soldiers maintaining a standard position near the main doors of the building. They looked bored, observing the activity going on around them, but were rigged in the same type of exoskeletons as the men she'd seen on the train. "I see them. Use caution entering the building. There may be more."

"Copy that."

Ashley unzipped the front of her jacket and pulled the compact Predator pistol from the holster at her side, crouching lower in the doorway. She wasn't in danger of being spotted at this distance, but a feeling was beginning to tickle her nerves. Holding the gun in her hand was a comfort.

There hadn't been any activity at the other two locations they'd scouted, both located in Tayseri Ward. Another warehouse there had been packed full of food and water rations and an ancient, long-retired micro-fabrication facility was practically bursting at the seams with crates of multi-purpose spare parts and other basic materials.

Maybe Kaneda and Udina were simply hoarding supplies for future transport to human worlds in need. It could be a plausible explanation, but Ashley wasn't buying it just yet.

Ashley kept watching Kasumi's feed as the thief inched along the elevated walkway. Once she got closer to the building, another pair of HASTR operatives came into view, standing guard at another corner of the structure. She waited a few seconds, considering her next move, scanning the perimeter.

"I think I'll hitch a ride."

Ashley opened her mouth but then quickly realized her meaning. Emerging from the nearby tunnel was another large trundling loader carrying more hardened storage containers. A moment later, it passed almost directly below Kasumi's position. She leapt onto the top of the containers, landing with cat-like grace, and then dropped to her belly just before the vehicle passed through the huge main doors of the warehouse.

Ashley watched from Kasumi's perspective as the vast, brightly lit interior of the warehouse came into view. It was a much larger space than the previous two locations but appeared to be filling up fast. More than a dozen shipping containers like the one Kasumi was currently riding were already stored inside, lined up in neat order and stacked in twos. A handful of technicians in heavy-duty coveralls were directing the heavy machines brining in the cargo, checking and securing locking mechanisms while three more rigged HASTR soldiers looked on.

"What are all these assholes doing here?" Ashley whispered, mostly to herself.

Kasumi answered her anyway. "I don't know but let's find out. I'm going to pop one of these containers and see what's so important."

"Roger that. Be careful."

Before the loader came to a halt, Kasumi jumped to her feet, sprinted to the edge and swiftly bounded on top of a stack of containers already lined up near one wall of the structure. Spinning around, she scanned the area around her one last time, her overlay tagging everyone inside the building and running a predictive motion routine that would help her keep track of their movement even when they were out of sight. She then slinked back to the opposite end of the container and carefully dropped the five meters to the floor, landing with a gentle thud.

She chose an adjacent container, one partially concealed by the next row over and with its access doors facing away from the rest of the warehouse. She approached and examined the lock.

"Can you bypass it?" Ashley said, eyeing the locking mechanism from Kasumi's perspective.

"Piece of cake," she said, activating her Omni-tool and accessing one of the hundreds of breaching protocols stored on it. The program cycled through its routines for several seconds before an illuminated touch panel on the heavy door changed from red to green and elicited a barely audible click. "We're in." Kasumi glanced around one more time before carefully pulling back on the handle, cracking the door open just wide enough for her to slip through the gap, and then quickly pulling it shut behind her.

The interior was pitch dark except for a few dim lights shinning from a console at the opposite end of the container. She deactivated her cloak and cranked up the light output from her Omni-tool.

"Shit," Ashley said, startled.

Kasumi's face was just inches away from a security mech's head, its glossy black faceplate staring back at her. "It's okay," she said calmly. "It's not online." She stepped further into the container, shining her light around to take in the entire space.

There were sixteen bipedal synthetic humanoid security droids lined up along the walls, eight on either side of the container, each turned slightly toward the doors and connected to some sort of integrated power supply.

"Are those LOKI Mech's?" Ashley said. "They look different."

"Yeah," Kasumi said slowly, moving down the narrow center aisle of the container, inspecting the mechs. "Definitely some kind of modified LOKI chassis. Tactical variants, I guess. The armor looks different." She knocked her knuckles against the chest plate of one of the mechs. "Heavier for sure," she said, raising her Omni-tool, initiating its multipurpose scanning function.

The typical Hahne-Kedar LOKI Security Mech was equipped with light armor and weapons to keep costs and manufacturing time down. Merc groups had been using them as cheap assault units for decades, but they weren't designed to operate in overly hostile or demanding environments. These, however, looked significantly more robust. Kasumi's Omni-tool confirmed the characteristically thin ceramic armor had been replaced with a hardened ablative material, similar to what was used on high-end turian battlesuits. The mech's internal power supply was also heavily upgraded, three times what one would expect to find on a unit of its size.

"They have mini-fabricators embedded in the arms," Ashley said, scrutinizing the data Kasumi's Omni-tool was gathering and transmitting. "But that isn't any Hahne-Kedar tech I'm familiar with."

"Did you see this?" Kasumi said, shifting her focus.

"What the hell?" The emblem of the Systems Alliance was clearly stamped on the side of the mech's head.

"It's the same with all of them," Kasumi said, gazing around the interior. "Looks like a weapons locker on the back wall too."

"Check it."

It took another several seconds for Kasumi to bypass the locker's security bolts. Once she defeated the lock, the doors rolled open to reveal a collection of modified assault rifles and shotguns. More than two hundred thermal clips were stored below the weapons as well as a variety of thermal, fragmentation and flash-bang grenades. All standard Alliance military ordnance.

"Anything come across your desk at ANCOC to suggest these things were coming in?" Kasumi asked.

"No. Nothing. I've never even seen models like these. I can't even think of any facility in unoccupied Alliance space capable of manufacturing them." Ashley was chewing her lip, deep in thought. That bad feeling she had earlier was getting worse. "We need to check another container, see if it's the same."

"Roger that. I'm on it."

Carefully navigating between the rows of equipment and the ongoing activity, Kasumi managed to slip undetected into two additional containers, finding the identical setup of sixteen modified LOKI Mechs present in each one with a corresponding and fully stocked ordnance locker at the back.

"This isn't right," Ashley said while Kasumi stealthily slipped out of the third container, re-securing the lock. "C-Sec has always resisted deploying mechanized security on the station. The Council would have to unanimously agree to bring in combat-equipped mechs. It would have been news."

"I'd say Udina's bypassing that particular technicality," Kasumi whispered into her com, watching as a group of HASTR agents patrolled nearby.

"Yeah. I guess... Let's not press our luck in there. Come on back."

"Copy. On my way."

Ashley split her attention between monitoring Kasumi's retreat from the warehouse and accessing Alliance military and civilian shipping manifests, searching for any clue to where the combat mech-packed containers had come from. Thirty seconds later, she flinched. A relatively simple query using only her modest, mid-level security clearance had uncovered several records clearly showing that Udina's office had brokered a transport deal with a private firm, authorizing the purchase and storage of the mechs and weapons on the station.

"Look at this," Ashley said as Kasumi rejoined her in the alcove a few minutes later, forwarding the data she'd found to her partner's overlay.

The shift in Kasumi's gaze told her she was studying the records. "Okay… this is definitely weird. I'm finding it really hard to believe that this information was here before today. We have automated search algorithms running around the clock against all the publically accessible civilian databases. This would have been easily flagged. But the timestamps all say the containers came in four days ago."

"I know. It doesn't make any sense. They're clearly taking steps to keep the mechs out of sight, but these logs were simple to find once we had a reason to search for them."

Kasumi refocused, shooting Ashley a pointed look. "They wanted this information to be found."

"What? Why?"

"Someone's being setup for a fall."

Ashley was about to press her further when a harsh, low grade rumble coursed through the station's superstructure, feeling like a terrestrial earthquake, vibrating the floor beneath their feet.

"Um, what the heck was that?" Kasumi said.

"I don't know," Ashley said slowly. "The only other time I've ever felt a tremor like that was… Well, it wasn't good."

The urgent voice of Thane Krios broke through their shared com-link a second later. "Kasumi, Williams, report status."

"Still on-scene, Thane," Kasumi answered. "Just completed our recon of the site. What's happened?"

"A reactor overload in a freighter moored at the Keel Docking Station in Zakera Ward just triggered a massive explosion."

Ashley's face went pale. "What? That's not supposed to happen—ever! There are dozens of safeties in place."

"Yes, I'm aware. It's too early to know what to make of it. But you need to evacuate the Factory District immediately. Containment fields around Keel are beginning to fail. Emergency crews are responding but projections indicate radiation leaks could expand to your present location."

Ashley's thoughts went straight to her family, an instinct telling her to get to them. But then she calmed herself. Keel Station was at the far end of the Ward arm, completely opposite of the neighborhood she and her family lived in. They should be safe. "What's the damage look like, Krios?"

"Extensive. We're still trying to gather data. I'm sending Kolyat out to deploy micro drones to the area now."

"Okay," Kasumi said. "We're bugging out and will head straight back to base. And Thane, tell Anita we need to speak with her as soon as we get there. We've found something new."

"Understood. Travel safe. I have a feeling this is only the beginning of whatever's happening."

Ashley scowled. Yeah, you're not alone, fella.

"Hey, hold up," Kasumi said and gestured back toward where the two HASTR agents were visible in the distance, guarding the main entrance to the warehouse. "Those guys must have gotten the alert about the explosion by now but they haven't flinched. Nothing. They're just standing there like they don't have a care in the world."

Ashley turned to look, blinking out a command to zoom in with her visor's enhanced optics. "Yeah… Or, like they're not surprised by it." She glanced at Kasumi. "This whole thing stinks. Come on, let's go."

SSV Kilimanjaro, high orbit over Tuchanka

When Miranda, Shepard, Garrus and Kahlee stepped through the hatchway leading to the SSV Kilimanjaro's cavernous main flight deck, they found more than a hundred Alliance, turian and krogan officers and dignitaries already present, gathering for Captain Navarro's promotion ceremony to get underway. They paused to survey the scene, looking around with quiet reverence.

The big dreadnought had survived some of the bloodiest combat on the first day of the war in Sol when she and the rest of the First Fleet fought desperately to defend the Charon Relay. The Normandy's delegation had been treated to an up close view of the lingering signs of that doomed effort during the shuttle flight over from Yazora Station before landing in one of the Kilimanjaro's auxiliary launch bays. Massive swathes of the dreadnought's armored outer hull had been melted away by Reaper energy weapons fire, the forward communications tower had been sheared clean away from the superstructure, and one of her enormous main engines had been shattered so thoroughly that it looked completely unsalvageable. From the daily fleet status updates, Miranda knew that nearly twenty percent of the ship's interior was still open to vacuum and inaccessible.

But Admiral Ines Lindholm was one of the most prideful officers in all the Alliance Navy, not to mention the second highest ranking surviving human military leader after Steven Hackett. She'd obviously rallied the captain and crew's effort toward preparing her flagship for the day's event, determined to project a powerful, professional image of the Alliance as its newest war hero was recognized and news of their recent victory at Tuchanka was formally announced to the galaxy.

A few stubborn scorch marks remained on the flight deck surface, but the rest of the huge compartment looked almost pristine, polished and freshly painted. Fourteen gleaming Kodiak drop ships were lined up in neat order along either side of the deck and several Dragonfly assault ships, bristling with ordnance, were close by, situated near a small temporary stage that had been constructed for the ceremony. A podium featuring the Systems Alliance emblem was centered on the stage and flags representing the newly formed military coalition of human, turian and krogan races were hung on the wall behind it. Several rows of temporary, folding chairs were arranged close by and a small group of correspondents, Diana Allers among them, were gathered near the back, busy readying their cameras and equipment.

"Hard to believe this is the same ship we saw on the ride over," Garrus said.

"You're not kidding," Kahlee said. "Lindholm must have really been cracking the whip during the trip here."

Miranda breathed in, still feeling mildly awkward about her status with the Alliance Navy. Her mind drifted to the last time she'd found herself on an Alliance dreadnought flight deck, after barely escaping with her life from Grissom Academy and still with a sizable price on her head. She'd been at the mercy of Navarro's crew that day, anxious to see if she'd be identified and thrown into shackles. Or, if some overzealous navy officer Cerberus had wronged in the past decided to simply execute her on sight.

It was still a jarring reality for her, being accepted, however unenthusiastically, within the official Alliance ranks. She'd spent most of her adult life working against these people, opposed to the very core of their philosophies. It was a difficult mindset to shake.

Shepard gave her a confident nod. "Relax. We're all on the same team here."

Miranda tipped her head slightly. "Of course, Captain."

A pair of marine officers who evidently shared some history with Shepard and Garrus emerged from the crowd, greeting them enthusiastically. They had a laugh over some kind of inside joke before the four of them wandered off to carry on their animated conversation.

Kahlee gave Miranda a wry smile and shrugged. "Boys."

Miranda snorted a soft laugh just as she turned her head, hearing her name being called. Approaching from another corner of the deck was the unmistakable form of Captain Jill Dah, her six foot three inch frame further enhanced by the high-heeled formal boots she wore with her dress blues.

Miranda made to stretch out her hand to greet her when she caught a glimpse of Kahlee in the corner of her eye, remembering she needed to salute her superior officer. She mimicked the Commander, snapping off her own crisp salute, thinking to herself that she probably wouldn't ever get used to that sort of thing. "Captain Dah," she said out loud, "I hadn't realized you'd arrived in-system."

"Barely made it in time. But we're just passing through. The Dunkirk and the rest of the flotilla are heading to the Citadel to reinforce Kaneda's local defense fleet. Commander Sanders," Dah said, giving Kahlee a respectful nod and the tiniest hint of a warm smile. "It's good to see you again. I was pleased when I heard you'd come back to the Navy."

"Impending galactic-wide war has a way of doing that. It's nice to see you too, Captain Dah."

"Major Lawson," Dah said, turning to Miranda. "May I have word in private?"

"I'll go save us some seats near the front," Kahlee said, taking the hint and giving Dah a nod, "Captain." She turned and waded off toward the rows of chairs, disappearing amid a sea of formal uniforms.

Dah glanced down at Miranda and smirked. "Pretty ballsy showing up here wearing those heels and that skirt, Lawson," she said. "Not exactly a regulation ensemble."

Miranda shrugged, indifferent. "I'm meeting them halfway. What can I do for you, Captain?"

"Walk with me," Dah said, abruptly turning and stalking off down the flight deck.

Miranda frowned, cocking her head briefly to the side before chasing after the tall woman.

After she'd first encountered the veteran Alliance Navy officer back on Noveria, Miranda had made a point to better understand the woman who'd managed to steal Shepard away from her at the last moment. Dah's history with Admiral Anderson was long and intriguing, stretching all the way back to their service together during the First Contact War. Sometime afterward, they'd been posted together to the SSV Hastings, both of them making names for themselves on board that infamous frigate. She'd been among Anderson's ground team the day they'd responded to a distress call from the planet Sidon where, in many ways, the trajectories of their lives were changed forever.

Anderson had gone on to meet Kahlee Sanders, Anita Goyle, encounter Saren Arterius, and become the first human Council Spectre candidate. His destiny to become one of the most important figures in Alliance history was sealed while Dah endured a long, painful recovery from the wounds sustained on Sidon at the Citadel's Alliance Navy Hospital.

But Jill Dah's story hadn't ended when a batarian rifle had nearly cost her a leg. The woman who'd earned the mildly derisive nickname 'Amy' from the other marines she'd served with had proven an uncommonly driven soldier. She'd clawed her way from the NCO ranks, successfully applying for a coveted spot at the Alliance Navy Fleet Operations School at Arcturus Station.

She'd received top marks there, proving she was much more than the simple grunt most of her peers took her for, and rapidly advanced to an XO post on board an aging frigate. Her suddenly soaring career led to more opportunities and responsibility, eventually taking her all the way to the rank of Colonel and command of the Geneva -class cruiser SSV Athens. It had been the culmination of years of determined work and sacrifice.

But just over four years ago, her world came crashing down when her wife, another rising star in the Navy's officer corps, was killed during an ambush launched by batarian and krogan pirates operating out in the badlands beyond Omega.

Dah managed to forge orders from the Admiralty and took the Geneva out in pursuit of the criminals, cornering them at their stronghold built into the mined-out remnants of a class-3 asteroid. She turned the full might of her cruiser's arsenal on them, obliterating the base, leaving no survivors. But the battle leading up to the retribution she'd sought had been vicious, costing the lives of three sailors under her command.

By all rights, the episode should have ended her career and landed her in prison. But Anderson and his network of well-connected allies within the navy had stepped in, shielding Dah from the worst of the fallout. She was stripped of her command and demoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, busted back to an XO role on board another frigate limping toward the end of its service life.

A near war with the geth followed by an alarming increase in Collector activity helped bring Dah back into favor within the navy. Suddenly, her combat experience and aggressive nature were in demand again, returning her to a command position on the Dunkirk.

Miranda gave the captain a sideways look as she matched her stride. Dah was no longer the Amy the Amazon who cracked skulls with the fiercest of Alliance Marines, but she was still no one to be trifled with. There was a deep well of barely suppressed rage pent up inside her, making her unpredictable and dangerous.

"As I mentioned, after the Dunkirk makes port at the Citadel she'll be absorbed into Admiral Kaneda's command. However, my Executive Officer, Bill Lannister, will be assuming command of the ship at that time. I'll be transferring directly to the new fleet yard at Bekenstein. They're giving me the Boudicca."

"Congratulations," Miranda said.

The fourth of the seven planned ships of the Jon Grissom dreadnought class, the SSV Boudicca had been significantly behind the construction timelines of her three sister ships that were just entering service. From what Miranda understood, given the ship's barely space-worthy state at the time, it had been a minor miracle the navy had managed to extricate her from the shipyards at Terra Nova when the Reapers blitzed through the system, laying waste to every piece of military hardware in their path. Commanding one of the most powerful Alliance warships surviving in the galaxy was a massive step up in responsibility and prestige from the Normandy SR-1 class frigate Dah would be coming from.

Dah gave a thin, feral smile. "It's going to be a helluva an upgrade in firepower from the pop guns I've had access to on the Dunkirk," she said, as if reading Miranda's mind. "Well, at least it will be once they finish putting the big bitch together. From what I've gathered, the shipyard facilities the corporatists on Bekenstein put in orbit for us are working overtime to get her ready but it'll still be a couple weeks until she's set for deep space trials and comprehensive weapons tests. Obviously, we'll be cutting some corners with the testing but I'd still like to be fairly confident the first time I fire the Thanix guns at a Reaper I don't end up taking out half a solar system with the bastard."

"I've spent some time on Bekenstein," Miranda said. "The business of war isn't their specialty but funding won't be an issue there. Nor any lack of motivation. It's an incredibly wealthy planet and the conglomerates based there have a vested interest in seeing that their trade routes are maintained and their partners are saved from annihilation." She shot Dah a reassuring look. "It's not the responsibility they would have hoped for, but I'm certain you'll get the resources you need."

"There's going to be hell to pay if I don't. I've wasted far too much of my time chasing ghosts along the frontier. I need to be in this fight and find some Reapers to kill. Soon."

Miranda nodded, knowing Dah had spent months tracking the remnants of the SAIS forces that had scattered to the wind following the failed attack on Arcturus Station. It was a duty a warrior like her was bound to resent sooner rather than later.

Dah came to an abrupt stop and squared her shoulders toward Miranda. "I'll come straight to the point, Lawson," she said, leaning forward in her aggressive manner. "Other than Shepard, you know this enemy better than anyone. I'll need someone with that kind of knowledge and expertise. I haven't filled the Boudicca's XO post yet. I want you to take it."

Miranda blinked. "Me? I'm flattered, Captain, but I hardly think I'm qualified for a job like that. That's a massive vessel, hundreds more crew than the Normandy and vastly more complex."

"I don't have time for your contrived humility, Lawson. You're not the only one who does her homework on people. I know perfectly well what you're capable of and the measure of your intellect. The post's well within your wheelhouse. I also know that Ashley Williams is retaking the XO spot on the Normandy once you and Shepard find your way back to the Citadel. That puts you out of a job. Besides, it's not as if there's an overabundance of seasoned, qualified Alliance officers available right now. The Reapers have seen to that. I know it's unorthodox, but we're living in strange times. Nobody in Command will question it. I've already seen to that."

Miranda sighed, meeting Dah's fierce, penetrating gaze. "Under different circumstances, I would strongly consider your offer. But there are some things I need to see to. Important things that can't be done from the bridge of a dreadnought. I'm honored, Captain. Truly. But I cannot accept."

Dah nodded slowly, keeping her eyes locked on Miranda. "Fair enough," she said after a few moments of intense silence. "I figured you'd have more cloak and dagger shit lined up, but you were still first on my list so I had to ask. If you wrap up whatever it is you've got planned sooner rather than later, my offer still stands. Like I said, it's still going to be some time before we're ready to get underway."

Miranda nodded but said nothing further, still a little taken aback by the unexpected job offer.

"Oh, and Lawson, there's something else. The R&D black site where we took that Reaper human-hybrid and the pathogen samples recovered from Arcturus, it was raided and destroyed a few days ago. No survivors."

"Shit. Reapers?"

Dah shook her head. "Doesn't match their MO. Too small a target. And weapons signatures don't match up with what we've seen the Reapers packing." She glanced around, as if worried someone might overhear her. "I'm actually not even supposed to know about it, but I've still got friends in Navy Intelligence. They're scrambling to figure out what happened and if the body and the rest of the material were extracted before the base was incinerated."

"Do you have a theory?"

Dah shrugged. "Not my area of expertise, Major. But I think it's yours so I figured you ought to know." She glanced over to where the crowd was beginning to fill in around the stage. "Looks like this thing's about to finally get started. Good luck with whatever you're planning, Lawson. I hope you find what you're looking for." She turned on her heel and marched back along the deck.

After Navarro's promotion ceremony finished and the long string of speeches finally concluded, Garrus split off from the other Normandy officers for an impromptu meeting with the turian delegation that had made the trip over. Rather than abandon their crewmate to find his own way back to the ship, Shepard, Miranda and Kahlee took the opportunity to visit the Kilimanjaro's officer's lounge which, thankfully, had been spared from any significant battle damage.

Like the Normandy and just about every other warship operating within the Alliance Navy at the time, Admiral Lindholm's flagship blatantly disregarded regulations forbidding alcohol onboard, resulting in a surprisingly well-stocked bar. The trio had navigated their way through a host of other visiting officers that had had the same idea after the ceremony and claimed a small table in the corner.

"Well, I don't know about you two, but I am damn happy to know we have that particular krogan on our side," Kahlee said, sipping a glass of real Kentucky bourbon, neat. "I mean, honestly, I have no idea how Wrex managed to work in references to pyjak recipes while somehow inspiring confidence that the krogan are going to beat the shit out of the Reapers. It was impressive."

Shepard laughed. "He definitely knows how to play to a crowd."

"Precisely just the sort of performance the Admiralty likely hoped for," Miranda said, raising her martini glass to her lips. "Consider the propaganda campaign phase of this war well underway."

"Well, I can certainly see the value of it," Kahlee said. "People are scared out of their wits over the Reapers, even if they've only heard rumor or seen the sporadic vid footage. A little hope that we've got some reinforcements eager to help can go a long way. Hopefully it will inspire more of the races to fall in line and get onboard with a unified resistance."

"Agreed," Shepard said, tipping his pint glass of beer toward Kahlee. The yeoman tending the bar had told him it was something they brewed right there on the Kilimanjaro, one of several variations they took pride in. He took a long pull, savoring the hoppy flavor, deciding he'd need to bribe someone on the dreadnought to get them to forward the recipe over to his own people. The stuff they brewed on the Normandy was trash compared to this. "Speaking of reinforcements, I understand you finished your eval of our newest crewmember."

Kahlee cringed slightly, taking another sip of her drink before answering. "Yes," she said cautiously. "But again, I need to stress that it's been a long time since I worked in the AI field, Captain. I'm really not the best person to assess EDI's current state."

Shepard waved off her hesitation. "I'm familiar with your credentials, Commander. I know it's been awhile, but you're still by far the closest thing to an authority on artificial intelligence research we have on board. I'm just looking for your opinion. Plus, I trust you. I want to be discreet about the recent developments concerning EDI for as long possible."

"I think that would be wise, Shepard," she said and then drew in a deep breath, looking as if she was steeling herself for something. "Well, I think she's amazing. I can't overstate her unique nature. Before she took control of the android's body, EDI was already the most complex form of localized AI I'd ever come in contact with and it wasn't even close. But this new physical manifestation has taken that to a whole other level. Truthfully, it's more than a little unnerving."

"EDI was already essentially self-aware after all her shackles were removed. What's the concern now? That she's mobile?"

Kahlee shook her head. "It's not just that she's capable of moving beyond the bounds of the Normandy in a physical sense. In a way, she was always capable of that sort of untethered exploration, given her ability to infiltrate other systems and technological environments separate from the ship, wirelessly transmitting her reach. It's how she's able to interact and explore the world now. Now, she's capable of doing that using a human form. A form that her artificial mind already seemed to idealize. Essentially, she gets to see things like you and I do, adopting a way to perceive her surroundings through a radically different perspective than what was available to her before."

"And that's a bad thing?" Shepard said.

"No, not necessarily. However, on a side note, did you know that physically she's practically indistinguishable from a typical human female? And I'm not just talking superficially to the naked eye. Unless she was subjected to a clinical-grade brain scan, her reproduction of an outwardly biological form is so complete that only the most highly advanced biometric scanners are capable of raising a red flag." She frowned. "Really, the best tipoff that she's synthetic might be that she looks too good. Flawless. I mean, nobody looks that good." She glanced at Miranda. "Well, almost nobody."

Miranda rolled her eyes. "But you're concerned by something other than her obvious utility as an infiltration unit, Commander."

"Yes. Or, well, not necessarily concerned as I am simply intrigued." She chewed her lip for a moment. "Maybe this is a little scary after all. Simply put, I don't think this is EDI's end state. And I'm not just talking about basic personality development. I mean, I believe we're seeing something more akin to genuine evolution, distinctly similar to any typical organic form we're familiar with. Only, it's greatly, massively, accelerated."

Miranda and Shepard shared a look.

"Okay, look," Kahlee said. She set her glass down on the table between her and the others and activated her Omni-tool. A small, rotating blue and white orb of light with thousands of intricate tendrils weaved throughout it was projected above her outstretched arm. "Exhibit one, a prime example of the height of artificial, positronic-based neural arrays from the late twenty-first century on Earth, before this sort of research was banned by global treaty. I think we're all familiar with this guy—it's foundational content from academy history courses and I know you appreciate this stuff perfectly well, Miranda."

Kahlee made a swiping gesture, replacing the first hologram with the projection of another example of an artificial brain structure. "Here's another. Care to offer a guess?"

"Geth," Miranda said coolly.

"Correct. Way, way beyond what human researchers achieved back in the day in terms of raw processing capabilities, but still clearly in the same ballpark." She tapped out another rapid command, bringing a second hologram alongside the geth brain pattern. "Now, here's the composite data that your team's suit scanners pulled during your encounter on Mars, when the Coré program was still active in the android's body. Doctor Cole and her team created this model after they'd had a look at her dormant body and compiled all your mission data. This is another leap forward but it still looks pretty geth-like, right? At the very least, it was inspired by the same principles."

Another quick swipe and the geth example disappeared, replaced by yet another brain activity simulation, one familiar but clearly far and away more complex than the previous three models she'd displayed.

"Human?" Shepard offered.

Kahlee slowly shook her head. "No, but close. This is EDI, Shepard. Or, more specifically, the instance of EDI inhabiting that body. After just one day, she's radically influenced the manner in which its artificial brain processes stimuli, mirroring the most elegant, complex form known to humankind—a sentient, organic, humanoid mind."

"She's manipulated her own neural network architecture?" Miranda said. "To what end? To mimic human physiology?"

"Yes, I believe so. Which introduces a whole other set of variables that we have no real way to predict the outcome of."

"You're going to have to elaborate a bit more, Commander," Shepard said.

"Okay, think of the amount of our brain's theoretical capacity we have access to. It's limited, right? We can only access a fraction of our potential. With various augmentations, whether geared to exploit innate biotic abilities, the old neural net combat enhancers, cognitive adaptive VR units, whatever. It's all geared toward amplifying that small percentage we, as a species, can exploit. But for EDI, who's to say her artificial mind, that synthetic brain that's at least superficially almost indistinguishable from yours and mine, won't have those limitations, those barriers to her cognitive development.

"Her raw processing power before this shift, before she took over the body, was one thing. It was a static equation, something that could be quantified in terms of technology and capacity we're familiar with. It was all based on the hardware, regardless of how exotic the tech might be, local to the Normandy or the remote systems she could exploit for short durations. But now…" She deactivated her Omni-tool and retrieved her glass from the table, throwing back the last of her bourbon. "Now, those system-based limitations no longer apply."

Miranda shifted in her chair and glanced over at Shepard. He seemed to be taking a minute to absorb what Kahlee had told them, letting the full weight of it sink in. She wondered if his trusting nature would allow him to consider the possibility that while EDI, at this point in time, was clearly aligned with their goals and remained obedient to his command, that that might not always be the case. She had veered over toward a more temperamental state, one that might become as unpredictable as their aggressive friend, Jill Dah.

For her own part, Miranda found the entire situation immensely troubling. The field of AI research wasn't her specialty, but she understood more than enough to appreciate the perils a fully self-aware synthetic being, one with immeasurable cognitive potential, could pose. There was a reason such strict, multi-species treaties had been enacted to limit the application of true artificially intelligent systems. There were simply too many instances over the course of the known galaxy's history that illustrated the unpredictable nature of creating artificial life, the Reapers being the most recent—and devastating—example of the peril.

It was precisely that sense of foreboding that had prompted her to react so stridently all those months ago, after learning Moreau had removed the embedded shackles from EDI's core subroutines. Nobody else in the Normandy's conference room that day, except maybe Mordin, seemed to quite understand the implications of that action.

"Well, she's unique," Shepard finally conceded. "There's no question there. But we're still just talking about a single synthetic life form, not hundreds of thousands like the geth started off with."

"Yes, for now," Kahlee said. "But what if that's not always the case? What if we're merely witnessing the beginning of something rather than the end stages of the process? Maybe I'm swinging too far off into speculation here, but consider the nanites in EDI's body that were able to perfectly regenerate the living tissue grown around her exoskeleton and that govern all her simulated metabolic functions. For all intents and purposes, that tech is utterly alien to us, capable of manipulating matter at the subatomic level in ways we've never seen achieved before. Cole made that clear in her analysis but couldn't definitively explain how Cerberus had achieved such a stunning leap forward."

Shepard looked at Miranda and then back to Kahlee. "She thought it was tech harvested from the Collector base. So, essentially, Reaper-based."

"Right. Given what we know, that's easily the most plausible explanation. And after what they did to Paul Grayson, Cerberus more or less announced they were gearing up toward all kinds of new applications for the technology. But what I'm getting at is this; EDI has graduated from making conscious decisions based on observed human behavior and morals to proactively altering her core-level algorithms in order to interpret her surrounds and stimuli in a fashion more akin to human experience than that of a supercomputer.

"I don't think that she's merely trying to mimic human behavior and physiology. I believe her ultimate goal is to become human. With that body and its capabilities, with all the possibilities and sensations it offers her, we've graduated from a conversation based in metaphysics to something far more tangible. She is unique and I honestly have no clue how to predict her ceiling moving forward." Kahlee paused for a dramatic moment. "You'll scoff at this, but some form of procreation may even be feasible."

Shepard choked on his beer and coughed. "Hold on. You're telling me you think EDI might be able to… What? Have a baby some day?"

Kahlee gave him a pleading look. "I don't know, Shepard. I just don't know. That's my point. After just one day of inhabiting the synthetic body, she's managed to drastically alter the manner in which those nanites interact, diverging from what we previously believed they were capable of. The most obvious physical manifestation of this can be seen in the subtle changes she's affected to the android's facial features. She only vaguely looks like the Eva Coré Doctor T'Soni first met on Mars now, right?

Miranda and Shepard nodded their agreement. It had started of subtly, but soon after the confrontation with the Reaper invaders in the Normandy's Shuttle Bay, EDI had clearly altered the cosmetic appearance of the synthetic body's face and skin tone. Even her hair color had changed, shifting toward a light shade of brown and away from the rare blonde she'd sported previously. She still resembled an attractive human woman—just a different human woman now.

It raised an interesting question: Who was Coré meant to resemble really? With the obvious care that was taken in crafting her appearance, Miranda suspected that she was at least in part based on someone the Illusive Man had known, someone he felt a connection with. The synthetic's physical proportions were indeed near perfect matches to her own, but there had been no resemblance in the face where the original Doctor Eva was concerned.

Miranda and EDI had crosschecked the android's original appearance against every human facial recognition database that still survived but they'd turned up nothing. And other than the fabricated history created for the infiltration unit, the name Eva Coré didn't seem to exist anywhere in the archives, as if it had been carefully and intentionally purged from existence.

"So am I saying she'll eventually be able to completely recreate all the biology involved with the human reproductive process?" Kahlee continued. "No, not really. But the idea she'll ultimately get around to exploring the possibilities of some form of procreation isn't as far-fetched as you might have thought before yesterday. It's a mistake to think of her as just a super intelligent sex-bot with a winning personality. Her potential is far more than that."

Miranda shot Shepard another pointed look. She couldn't tell if he was amused or simply smiling incredulously. But she was certain he never expected their little bar-side discussion to deviate to this point. "This is all highly theoretical," she said, reassuring herself as much as Shepard.

"Absolutely," Kahlee said. "Deeply, deeply hypothetical. Again, I'm only speculating. I can't say for certain what the future holds for EDI's development if there even is anything beyond her current state. Nobody can. But there's one thing that is certain, and this is important; whatever it is she ultimately becomes, whatever it is she may choose to create in the future, it's entirely in her own hands now. She's the master of her own fate, even if she hasn't quite caught onto that fact yet."

Kahlee's words hung in the air for a moment before a soft, rapid tone sounded from Miranda's Omni-tool receiver. She glanced down at her arm and triggered a tiny display. "Speak of the devil," she muttered softly. "Go ahead, EDI."

"Miss Lawson, I've finished compiling and evaluating the post-mission data captured from the ship's modified internal environmental sensors."

"You've discovered an anomaly?"

"Affirmative, Major. The results align with your earlier suspicions."

"Very well. Keep the subject under surveillance. We'll be back over shortly."

"Understood, Miss Lawson. Logging you out."

Miranda glanced at Shepard who was shooting her a quizzical look. "The side project we discussed," she said. "We should go. I'll fill you in along the way."

SSV Normandy, Yazora Space Station, Tuchanka geosynchronous orbit

A little less than half an hour later, Miranda strode into the Normandy's med bay to find Lieutenant Mallory and Doctor Chakwas busy inventorying the recent batch of medical supplies they'd received from the hospital ship that had arrived with Admiral Lindholm's First Fleet.

With the ship's heavily damaged Shuttle Bay temporarily offline for repairs, Miranda and the others had been ferried over to and from the Kilimanjaro by way of one of the dreadnought's auxiliary shuttles. She was still wearing her borrowed dress blues and dark skirt when she stepped through the doors, not bothering to stop and change on the way down after transitioning through the old salarian space station. Her high heels clicked sharply on the deck plates, announcing her arrival.

Chakwas looked up from where she was seated at her desk and smiled. "Hello, Miranda," she said. "How was the ceremony?"

"Fine," Miranda said in a clipped voice. "The Captain would like to see you in his Ready Room off the CIC, Karin."

The doctor gave her a questioning look and opened her mouth to speak before Miranda cut her off.

"Immediately, Doctor."

From the rear of the compartment, Mallory glanced over his shoulder toward Miranda but then quickly returned his attention to sorting through the medical supplies, his back toward her.

Chakwas frowned and then pushed back from her desk, straightening her uniform as she rose to her feet. "Very well," she said, eying Miranda as she exited.

Miranda stood silent in the middle of the med bay for several seconds, staring at Mallory's back, before she finally spoke again. "It was rather convenient, your assignment to Karin's staff on the Citadel just ahead of the Normandy's arrival."

Mallory turned around to meet her gaze, looking surprised that she hadn't left with Chakwas. "Beg your pardon, mum?"

"I was remarking on the convenience of your status on the Citadel, Lieutenant. Before you joined the crew."

He frowned slightly and placed the package of trauma kits he'd been handling in the nearby bin, turning to face her. "I'd call it more fortuitous, actually," he said and shrugged. "Being separated from my unit was a blow, but an opportunity to serve aboard the Normandy, under Shepard's command, that's a rare chance. Right place at the right time and all that."

Miranda gave a thin, cynical smile. "There's no need to be coy, Lieutenant," she said. "We both know there was more to it than that, don't we?" She took several steps toward the man, putting her hands on the edge of the medical exam table separating them.

He was tall, lean and muscular, outweighing her by at least seventy pounds. But she'd rarely felt intimidated by a man's bulk or assumed physical advantages. Her extreme self-confidence negated it. The return of her biotic powers fed that self-assurance.

"I'm sorry, Major. I don't think I understand where you're going with this."

She ignored him. "The admiral's effort to obscure the order was sloppy. Once I'd had reason to further investigate it, discovering that Kaneda himself had seen to placing you on Doctor Chakwas's team on the Citadel was a relatively simple matter. An odd use of his time, don't you think? The Alliance is bracing for imminent war and he feels compelled to ensure a very specific spaceborne marine EMT is moved to a key position alongside a well-known confidant of Shepard's. Convenient."

An almost imperceptible shift in the focus of Mallory's eye told Miranda he was checking something on his ocular overlay.

After EDI and Miranda had refined the ship's airlock scanners and biometric sensors, identification of the man's cybernetic augmentation had quickly followed. Another brief period of monitoring allowed the ship's AI to isolate the encrypted signal he'd been using to access the Normandy's secure internal network and communication protocols.

Miranda touched her finger softly against her right temple. "Your overlay won't be able to interface with the ship's networks any longer," she said. "Clever, piggybacking the internal environmental and life support systems to plant your access. But we've patched that particular exploit now."

She walked around the edge of the exam bed, coming closer to the big marine. "Funny that there was nothing in your official records about the ocular implant. Nor did you feel compelled to reveal its existence to your new commanding officers. That's certainly not standard equipment for soldiers in your field. Of course, there's nothing standard about the device in your head, is there? That particular variation is quite unique."

She took a final step toward him, backing him against the wall, near the hatchway to the AI Core. "How long have you been working for Cerberus, Lieutenant? Did they recruit you after your unit's skirmish with the batarians landed you in hospital at the Citadel or does your history with them stretch farther back than that?"

Mallory's expression of feigned befuddlement shifted dramatically. "I don't know what the fuck you are talking about, Lawson," he spat, dropping all pretense. He looked her up and down, the disdain he apparently felt for her suddenly palpable. "If there's anyone on board this ship who ought to be suspected of being a spy, it's you. The gall you have, wearing that uniform." He jabbed a thumb into his chest. "I was hand-selected by the admiral to provide the oversight that was so obviously needed here. He knew Shepard couldn't be trusted to operate with the Alliance's best interests in mind. He knew his Cerberus whore would eventually resurface to pull his strings again."

Mallory made to take a threatening step closer to Miranda but was then thrown back hard against the bulkhead by the force of her flaring biotics. The aura of pulsating electric blue energy around her obscured the sound of the AI Core hatchway doors sliding open near the stunned man. In a blur of movement, EDI's android form emerged from behind him, seizing his shoulder with one hand, restraining him with ease.

Miranda allowed her biotic field to dissipate a fraction and glanced at EDI, giving her a nod. She was glad to see Doctor Chakwas had provided her with a fresh set of standard issue Alliance Navy BDUs, well-tailored to her synthetically perfect figure. Her hair seemed to be migrating even further from its previous golden blonde state to a warmer deep brown, adding to a progressive softening of her newly adopted, more delicate facial features. She looked younger than Eva Coré had as well, passable for a young woman around twenty-five years of age or so.

"I think we've provoked enough of an emotional range from our Lieutenant here to create a baseline."

"Confirmed, Miss Lawson. Detecting any further deception will not be an issue."

If Miranda's sudden display of biotic power hadn't been enough to deter Mallory from offering any further resistance, EDI's iron grip on his shoulder certainly was. He slowly raised his palms out in front of him in a symbol of surrender. "Easy now. I was only following orders."

"I'll be the judge of that, Lieutenant," Miranda said matter-of-factly, the remaining biotic energy bleeding off her body. She patted the surface of the nearby exam bed with her right hand. "Now, up you go. Time for a checkup."

He hesitated for a moment, casting a furtive glance behind him at EDI.

She tilted her head slightly to the left and gave him a surprisingly expressive look, as if daring the man to test her. He didn't. Instead, Mallory submitted and wisely climbed onto the bed.

Miranda placed a hand on his chest and applied firm pressure. "Lie back," she said, securing a bio-monitoring sleeve around his arm.

The Med Bay doors hissed open a moment later and Doctor Chakwas marched back in, flanked by Shepard and Garrus with James Vega trailing close behind. She knew they'd been bringing her up to speed on the situation just outside the doors, detailing the telltale Cerberus code signatures that Miranda and EDI had identified, exposing the Lieutenant for the mole they'd been searching for.

Chakwas wore a dark look as she approached the exam table and tapped out a series of rapid commands on the nearby console. The medical scanner's mechanical arm extended out from the wall and began a sweep of Mallory's body, pausing longer at his head to perform a more intensive imaging scan of his skull.

Mallory kept his gaze fixed on a point on the ceiling while the machine did its work, refusing to meet the accusatory glares raining down on him from Garrus and Vega. But his elevated blood pressure numbers and racing heartrate were projected clearly on the readout situated above his head, revealing the stress he was feeling.

Chakwas exhaled heavily. "The ocular overlay is indeed as advanced as you suggested, Miss Lawson," she said, making a quick swiping gesture with her hand, sending the imagery of Mallory's skull though the holographic projector above the bed. "It's certainly not any Alliance application I've seen. And there's the QEC device." She shook her head, studying the intricately designed technology embedded in the man's brain. "I've never seen anything like it."

Miranda clenched her jaw, remembering the first time she'd seen this particular form of micro bio-technology. It had been only moments before she'd thrown Kenson from the Cassandra's airlock. "I have," she said.

The scans she'd captured with her Omni-tool that day had been fairly rudimentary, but they'd been sufficient enough to aid in recalibrating the Normandy's internal sensors, allowing EDI to identify the transmitter's signal after Mallory had forwarded his latest surveillance brief through an encrypted data packet.

"There is no longer any doubt," EDI said. "These scans confirm several distinctive manufacturing signatures, along with the unique nature of the personal QEC node. The technology was developed by Cerberus."

Mallory snapped his gaze toward her. "No way," he said. "I was wired by Admiral Kaneda's people. He met me there himself, right before the procedure. It all happened on the Citadel, in a lab at the Alliance Navy Hospital. He said the intel I gathered would route straight to Navy Intelligence."

"Facial and voice analysis confirms the Lieutenant is answering truthfully," EDI said, glancing at Miranda and Shepard.

Miranda sighed. "I'm afraid you're an idiot, Lieutenant. You may have believed you were here to pass along information about Shepard's dubious use of his authority or the influence of his Cerberus whore to your heroes in Alliance Command, but actually, you merely served as yet another of the Illusive Man's unwitting pawns. Congratulations."

He stared up at her, suddenly at a loss for words. The defiance in his eyes was fading fast, realization crashing down on him.

"Wait, there's more," Chakwas said. "Look at this." She was gesturing up at the high-res holographic imagery of Mallory's brain, the cybernetic enhancements embedded in his skull and situated around his ocular cavity clearly evident. "You see these microscopic fiber optic leads from the QEC receiver to his frontal lobe and sensory cortex. There's no reason for them to be there. They have no obvious application with his overlay and aren't required to activate communication."

Miranda leaned forward, studying the imagery. "Behavioral modification?"

Chakwas nodded. "That would be my guess, yes."

Mallory was staring up at the image. "I'm no bloody puppet." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

"Maybe not yet, Lieutenant," Miranda said. "But it appears you wouldn't have even realized it if you had been. Can you remove the device, Doctor?"

"Not without killing him. Or, at the very least, reducing him to some form of a persistent vegetative state. This is incredibly invasive work. I honestly have no idea how they managed to implant it all without doing significant damage to his higher cognitive functions."

Shepard had been standing next to Miranda throughout, his thick arms crossed in front of his chest. He glanced over at her, meeting her gaze, an unspoken thought relayed between them: If they hadn't caught this when they did, there's no telling when Mallory might have been triggered to do more than simply monitor and report on what was happening on the Normandy. It would have been Kelly all over again, only worse.

He placed his hands on the bed and leaned in, bringing his face in close to Mallory's. "I don't care if thought you were being a patriot or if you had some idea there was more going on with Kaneda than you're letting on. Your time on my ship is over. When you wake up, you'll find yourself in the brig on Admiral Lindholm's flagship. I'll leave it to her to decide your fate, Lieutenant." He looked over at Chakwas and nodded.

She was already clutching the injector in one tightly clenched fist. She jabbed the device forcefully into Mallory's neck, exercising none of her typically gentle bedside manner. He gave a sharp intake of breath and then fell unconscious.

"Garrus, Vega, I want you two to personally transport him over to the Kilimanjaro. Sedated or not, I'm not taking any chances with that tech in his brain. Last thing we need is for him to be switched on and turned into some kind of human drone. I'll call ahead and explain the situation to Admiral Lindholm, let her know what she'll be dealing with."

"Aye, Captain," Garrus and Vega said, both regarding the unconscious man with a mixture of resentment, hostility and pity.

"I'll have him ready for transport in just a minute, Captain," Chakwas said.

"Thanks, Doc. Miranda, you're with me."

"Of course, Shepard." She gave Chakwas a comforting smile, squeezing the other woman's arm before following him out of the med bay.

They marched straight across the Crew Deck and over to the central lift, storming past a group of maintenance specialists who quickly jumped out of the way of their captain and XO.

"This is bad, Shepard," Miranda said once the elevator doors slid shut. "With Kaneda complicit in some sort of conspiracy with the Illusive Man—"

"I know. We'll have to play this carefully though. There's no telling how many others working at Fleet Ops on the Citadel have been compromised."

"And then there's Udina, John. You remember Anita's report about the extent of the councilor's integration with Kaneda's office. We won't be able to trust anyone in the embassies either, not until we figure out how deep this thing goes."

"Looks like we'll be cutting our Tuchanka holiday short then. Begin recalling the crew and making preparations for our departure. We need to get back to the Citadel and sort this out for ourselves."

"Shame," she said with a wry smile. "I was so enjoying it here."