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When Shepard came downstairs, relieved to be back in more comfortable clothes, EDI and Brooks were nearly ready with the analysis of the drives recovered from Khan's office.

"We found an encrypted communication from a few days ago," Brooks said. "Just need another minute to crack it."

"A whole minute?" Joker asked from his seat near the large table they were using for their council of war. "EDI here could shave that down to five seconds."

"I thought it best to allow Staff Analyst Brooks a chance to improve her decryption skills."

Next to Brooks, who was still bent over the monitor in front of her, Liara looked up and across the table at Garrus.

Joker tsked at EDI. "You know that means you've lost your chance to show off."

"Like she needs it!" Brooks exclaimed. "You're the crew of the Normandy; you're legends to the rest of the Alliance."

That remark was mostly met with silence—most of the assembled company wasn't particularly interested in being a legend—until Wrex broke it chuckling loudly. "You bet your ass we are! That's why everyone's always shooting at us!"

"Funny," Garrus drawled, "I thought that was just Shepard."

"No, it's Wrex. The bigger the target, the bigger the, uh, target," Tali said.

"Are you saying I've gained weight?" Wrex took a step toward the table, and on the other side, Tali stepped back.

Liara put a hand on his arm. "Now, now, Wrex, it just means there's more of the legend to love."

Wrex groaned. "You don't know the half of it. I had to leave Tuchanka just to get away from all the ladies lined up to get a load of the legend."

"Must be rough," Vega sympathized.

"Sonny, you have no idea."

Brooks had watched this back-and-forth with fascination, her eyes following the flow of the conversation. "You see what I mean? The camaraderie, the friendship? I think that's your secret weapon."

Shepard winced. Something about Brooks felt so over-the-top. "It's all just part of the job."

Garrus tilted his head. "Wait, job? You mean the rest of you are getting paid for this?"

Before anyone could pick that up and run with it, Shepard raised a hand to forestall it. "Brooks, you have something?"

"Yeah. Wow. Those mercs who were after you? They bought a lot of weapons. Like, big ones."

Kaidan frowned at the 3D image that appeared in front of them. "Mechs? What do they need with that kind of firepower?"

Liara's little assistant Glyph appeared before anyone could speculate on what the mechs were for. "I have just monitored the Commander's Spectre access code in use at the Citadel Archives."

"The Archives?" Shepard asked.

"The Council keeps sensitive information there. Real hush-hush stuff. Even my old C-Sec clearance never got me in. Not for lack of trying," Garrus added.

Liara called up her omni-tool. "The Archives are going into lockdown. Whoever's using your clearance code is there now."

"Then we find our own way in," Shepard said, turning to head for her gear. "Get ready—" She stopped short, seeing a volus standing there in her kitchen holding a box that smelled absolutely divine. She looked over her shoulder. "What's with the volus?"

"Pizza." Vega shrugged. "I got the munchies."

"Double pepperoni," the volus clarified.

"Great. Vega, pay the volus, and you better hope there's enough to go around, because who knows when we'll get the next chance to eat."

"Commander—" Vega began to protest, then thought better of it. "I'm on it."

"You know, these Archives are huge. You'll have a lot of ground to cover," Brooks pointed out. "Shame you can't bring everyone."

"Who says we can't?" Shepard snapped. "All hands on deck for this one."

Her team responded with whoops and grins. Amidst the chaos of everyone grabbing their gear, Liara stepped up to Shepard. "Joker can't go," she said quietly.

"Of course not."

"Then maybe we should have him look to his ship."

Shepard frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Think of what someone could do with your command codes."

It did make sense. The fastest and easiest way off the Citadel was on the Normandy—if you had the commander's codes. But the Normandy was in the middle of a refit, not ready to be flown off at a moment's notice.

She said as much to Liara, who shook her head. "Better safe than sorry."

Brooks appeared just then, having changed out of her party gear, and Liara moved away from Shepard, stopping briefly by Joker's side to speak to him. Shepard watched with curiosity, wishing she could get Liara alone to hear exactly what the asari's concerns were. But Brooks had attached herself to Shepard now that she was geared up, so there was nothing to do but trust that Liara knew what she was doing.

All those who could share in the pizza grabbed a slice—fortunately, Vega had thought to get an extra large, although it seemed evident that he had expected to be able to eat most, if not all, of it himself. Garrus and Tali split a packet of dextro field rations, and then they all headed out.

It was strange to be walking through the entrance to the apartment building at the head of such an assembly of heavily armed individuals, but it also felt pretty damned cool.

Shepard hit her comm. "Emily, you should really get over here for this." She gave the reporter a brief outline of the situation, over Brooks' vociferous objections.

"I'll meet you at the Archives, Commander. I wouldn't miss this for all the eezo in the galaxy!"