Chapter 10: All The King's Horses
1.
Everyone on the SSV Trafalgar was giving Kaidan and Ashley a hell of a lot of space. The crew was probably under strict orders from none other than Hackett himself to ignore the people they'd just picked up from the Terminus System, and of course that probably made them all the more suspicious. But everyone was being professional; Kaidan and Ashley were left completely alone, sitting at one of the mess-area tables, their eyes focused on the medical by just a few feet away. Garrus and Veetor were in there.
Come to think of it…some conversation with the rest of the crew wouldn't've been unwelcome. Sometimes, scrubbing a mission debrief of all it's classified material meant that you got to pretend you were just a normal soldier, and at least for Ashley, being a normal soldier was something she was starting to miss.
"How's your nose?" she asked Kaidan. There'd been a lot of blood when Shepard, well, manhandled the lot of them—and a good chunk of it was Kaidan's. But at least half his face hadn't been hanging off; at least Kaidan's injury only needed some field dressing and a thick bandage…
"It's fine," Kaidan said. He lightly tapped his finger against it and didn't wince, which was a good sign. "I can breathe through it, so you must've reset it properly."
"I'm no medic, but I know a thing or two about broken noses."
"Yeah. How many have you caused over the years?"
"You're just gonna assume I slug people every chance I get?"
"What assumption? I've seen you do it."
They both chuckled. For a second, Ashley almost forgot she wasn't on the Normandy, shooting the shit with her LT as the Commander hung up on the Council again, or whatever she did when she had a meeting with the Three Stooges. Aaaaaand there that thought went, spawning a horrible wave of realization that everything that'd happened not two hours ago had, in fact, happened—and here she was, waiting for some word, any word, that her friend was going to pull through and hadn't just been killed while she stood around and fucking watched…
"What's the gameplan now?" she said, not looking at Kaidan as she asked. She forgot that regular frigates didn't have a row of cryo-pods stretching away from the mess area, like it'd been on the Normandy. That drive core—it really forced you to play around with the layout of the ship, didn't it? God she'd been out of the field long…
Kaidan had just finished saying something. Nice one Williams—way to act like you're not bothered by something.
"Mmm," Ashley said.
"Mmm?"
"Yeah."
"I asked you what you thought the gameplan was."
"Why me? You're the CO here."
"I'm pretty sure ranks don't apply in this situation."
"Yeah, well, how the hell would I know? Last time I was on a mission like this, I was just along for the ride." She looked back at the med-bay. "You think Garrus is gonna make it?"
"I think you did everything you could to help him," Kaidan said. "And if you're talking about what I think you're talking about, you were hardly just 'along for the ride' last time we were working together."
Ashley didn't say anything.
"Ash," Kaidan reached out and tapped on her hand, "you did everything you could to help him. If you hadn't tackled him, he'd be history."
Ashley stayed staring at the med-bay, but didn't try to move Kaidan's hand, even though she thought she wanted to. "He might still be," she said.
Kaidan was going to argue but, ultimately, she was right. It'd looked bad. And it was hard not to notice that neither of them wanted to say the name of the person that'd blown half Garrus's face off, too.
This being a secret, need-to-know rendezvous at least gave them a convenient excuse to keep Shepard out of the conversation.
2.
The Widowmaker had a special quantum-entanglement device installed on the conference room. One of the communication nodes it was directly entangled with was situated in the middle of The Illusive Man's office on Cronus Station. Had Shepard been in command of the ship as originally intended, it would have been her that debriefed The Illusive Man after every mission; Miranda would have simply compiled her own record of events and sent them away with the full knowledge that her judgement was trusted, greatly valued, and would be put to good use as Cerberus moved its plans forward. But now she was in charge of the Lazarus Cell; she was expected to debrief The Illusive Man. And for once in her long career with Cerberus, Miranda became acutely aware of just how much effort The Illusive Man spent in trying to keep the other party in his conversations off balance.
Or…maybe The Illusive Man was enhancing that effect on her. If there was a control chip in her brain, that would no doubt be a tactic he deployed. And he no doubt already knew of what transpired on Omega—he know doubt already knew she had failed—so…there was little stopping him from exercising whatever resources he had on hand to punish her, even before she was in visual range.
She had never used to think of The Illusive Man this way…maybe that was his doing too. God, the rabbit hole she was sinking into—stay focused, Lawson, and bear the brunt of whatever threats he feels he needs to dish out.
She clasped her hands behind her back and stared into the glowing eyes of The Illusive Man.
"Miranda…I'm not used to seeing reports like this from one of your operations."
"I won't give you any excuses," she said.
"I didn't expect you to." The Illusive Man ground out his cigarette. "Losing Vakarian and Massani is a significant blow—the former more-so than the later—but Dr. Solus was your primary target. It could have been worse." Another cigarette appeared in his hand. "How is he adjusting to the ship's laboratory?"
"Seemingly well," Miranda said. "He's already analyzing what we have. He brought a sample of the Omega virus onboard as well, in case there's anything useful to be gained there."
"Good. That's the forward thinking I was expecting." A metallic flick, the sound of a lighter igniting, a deep inhale. "Any significant injuries?"
Miranda rubbed her wrist, where the scars from her skin-graft were just starting to heal. She didn't know it was possible to rip someone's omni-tool directly off their arm—the implant was usually buried under a fair amount of skin—but she shouldn't be surprised by that, should she? She had, after all, presided over the resurrection of a dead woman…the same woman that now had access to her omni-tool.
"We're fine. Jacob is recovering. I'm more worried about the data that Shepard's able to access, now that she has my omni-tool."
There was a pause. She'd never seen The Illusive Man hold his tongue before.
"This could, potentially, represent a serious security breech. But Shepard remains the Alliance's problem, not yours."
"But with the access that omni-tool gives her—"
"I've long-since terminated your omni-tool's connection to any Cerberus networks. And while Shepard like was able to scrub some data, I have remote access to every agent's file-shredder function—among others. Whatever Shepard knows, it isn't enough to compromise us."
Miranda's posture straightened. She should've suspected that The Illusive Man could do all that, but still…she'd assumed she was immune to those sorts of back-door measures. She shouldn't have assumed that…but she did.
"Understood," Miranda said.
"Regroup and carry on with your recruitments," The Illusive Man said. "Once we've acquired all the resources we need, we can start to think of the best way to attack the Collectors directly. To that end, inform me if Dr. Solus requires anything else. He's our most important asset at the moment: it wouldn't hurt to inform him of that, in case he's reticent around the rest of the crew."
"I'll do that." Miranda's posture somehow became even more rigid. "And if we encounter Shepard again? Do your orders still stand?" Subtext: Mind informing me next time you send me to the same place as Shepard?
The Illusive Man finished off his second cigarette. "Do Alenko and Williams suspect who we are?"
"I…no, no I don't believe they do."
"Then you shouldn't run into Shepard again. There's no need to have you cross paths."
Miranda squeezed her hands behind her back, tried her best to keep her face neutral. All part of the plan, isn't it? That's what he was implying: she'd lost two dossiers, her omni-tool, damn near her life, and it'd all happened under his implicit approval.
She had thought she was immune to that sort of plotting, too. She'd owed Cerberus—hell, she'd owed The Illusive Man himself—quite a lot for giving her a life free from her father, but she'd always assumed he'd done everything that he had for her because he recognized her value as an Operative, first and foremost. And in recognizing that value, he'd treat her as someone who was above the maneuvering and chess-games that she knew he played with the rest of the organization. Maybe he did, maybe extreme circumstances required him to take more direct intervention into his top agent's mission…
…or maybe she'd only deluded herself. Or he'd forced her to delude herself. God, the rabbit hole again.
Miranda held her tongue until the indignation passed and then said: "Understood."
"See to the rest of the dossiers," The Illusive Man said. "We're still ahead of schedule, but that could change at any moment."
He cut the feed.
"Mr. Moreau," Miranda said. "Tell Jacob and Dr. Solus to meet me in the conference room."
Silence.
"Joker?"
"I will inform them," EDI said.
"Thank you, EDI."
Miranda slouched into the nearest chair as the QED disappeared into the floor and the conference table took its place.
If there was a control chip in her brain, you would think it would be helping her sort through this mess…
3.
Garrus had been awake for about half an hour, but kept his eyes closed until the Alliance medical officer had left the med-bay. It wasn't that he didn't trust her—not everyone in the Alliance could be Dr. Chakwas, of course, but Alliance doctors were obviously competent, seeing as how he was still alive—but if he let her know he was conscious, there'd be…questions. Garrus needed to pull himself together, and having to answer questions about how much pain he felt or whatever else the doctor came up with would…well, it would just complicate things.
Slowly, he rose from the medical bed and ran a talon across his face. There was something there, all right—something synthetic. The wound underneath whatever heavy-duty bandage he'd been given had oscillated between a dull throb and something a million times worse since he woke up, but that was fine. It meant that only the occasional thought about Shepard, Tarak, and the waste of a life he was living managed to find any purchase on his brain.
He looked to his right and saw the quarian. The poor guy's arm was in a heavy cast and there were enough tubes connected to different parts of his suit that you'd think he'd fused with the ship or something. But he was breathing, so it could've been worse. Nobody on his side of things had been killed, but the other team of humans had lost some people—two people at least, if he was remembering things right before…before Shepard sheared half his face off.
Spirits, in all his years, Garrus hadn't seen anything like Shepard's rampage before…
He risked wasting time gathering his armour and risked wasting even more time by staring at the burnt cracks that lined the chest piece's collar. He felt a little less naked once everything was on, and that was fine, he'd cling to that feeling. And then he stopped, right next to the bed he'd been laying on not long ago. Several deep breaths, several attempts at thinking calming thoughts—he tried to imagine all the crud that he'd accumulated from Omega washing through him and out the soles of his feet. Start over, start fresh; or failing that, revert to a previous Garrus, the one that Ashley and Kaidan got to know two years ago. Forget about Sidonis and his team and the sub-zero cold trail that lay between Garrus and the cosmic justice he wanted, the cosmic justice his team deserved. Push that aside and focus on the here-and-now, as best he could.
And squash that stray thought about "the turian way" before it could reproduce and render the whole exercise as pointless as his time on Omega.
Garrus walked through the medi-bay's doors and, thank the Spirits, the only two people in the mess area were Ashley and Kaidan. They did a double-take as he approached their table. That almost brought a smile out.
Breathe in, breathe out.
"Nobody would give me a mirror," he said to them. "How bad is it?"
That borderline-smile died on the operating table when both Kaidan and Ashley looked at him gloomily. A quip would've been nice; a quip would've been appreciated.
"That bad, huh?"
Still nothing.
"I've heard positive comments help the recovery process," Garrus said. "Definitely has to be better than depressing silence."
Finally, a sign of life in Lieutenant Alenko's eyes.
"In that case, Garrus, you look like a comic book villain."
"And by that, I'm sure you mean I look like a charismatic and misunderstood rogue that's a million times more popular than the boring-ass hero."
"Nah. The guy I'm thinking of is a lawyer."
"That's the meanest thing you've ever said to me, and I'm pretty sure you once said I was just an 'above average shot'."
That got a chuckle out of Chief Williams too, Spirits preserve them both. Small bit of progress—better than it'd been before. Now see if you can't improve the mood a bit more.
"The, um, quarian, you two picked up? He seems stable. Asleep or unconscious, maybe, but stable."
"Veetor," Kaidan said. "Yeah, that's good. He um…he wasn't doing so well when we found him."
"He kept calling Shepard a 'demon'," Ashley said. "And the way he described her face—her voice—it…the guy clearly went through a lot."
"Hmm, guess the Commander and I have something in common, then," Garrus said. He touched the synthetic cast that ran up the right side of his face. "Do quarians believe in demons? I thought that was pretty much exclusively a human thing."
"I dunno," Ashley said. "Whatever the case, it…"
"It fits with what we saw," Garrus said, finishing Ashley's thought for her. "Yeah, I'm with you on that."
A pause. Ashley folded her arms around her, like she was cold. "Sorry that I didn't get to you in time," she said.
"I'd be a hell of a lot worse off if you hadn't tackled me," Garrus said.
"That's what I've been saying," Kaidan said. "She didn't believe me."
Ashley shot him a look, but Garrus could tell it wasn't all that hostile of one. "Means a lot more when it's coming from the person who took the shotgun blast in his face."
"Hey, I'm a casualty too," Kaidan said, pointing at his nose. "My dreams of being a model are completely shot to hell now."
"Are we having a competition?" Garrus said. "Because no offense, but I think I'll win pretty handedly."
To Garrus's infinite relief, that drew a legitimate laugh from both Alliance marines.
Footsteps on the other end of mess hall cut the laugh short and grabbed everyone's attention. A man in dress-blues (the Captain, undoubtably; Garrus had seen Councilor Anderson wearing the same uniform when they'd all been investigating Saren together) rounded the corner and then took on the appearance of someone who'd walked in on their parents at the wrong time.
"Jesus—y-you're up!" A half second later and the Alliance officer looked completely and utterly professional. "Um, glad to see it, Mr. Vakarian. I…wasn't expecting you to be awake yet, though."
"Just needed a power nap," Garrus said. "All recharged and ready to go."
"In that case, then, the three of you should head to the comm room. Admiral Hackett's holding on Priority Channel November-Actual."
Kaidan and Ashley's expressions darkened, and Garrus could guess why. "N" designated "special operations" in the Alliance, so that meant Admiral Hackett (he remembered that name; Fifth Fleet, one of the reasons why Sovereign was just spare parts now) was using no doubt highly clandestine channels. And why wouldn't he? What other protocol would the Alliance follow if they needed to hunt down one of their own?
Spirits…Garrus had been here before, hadn't he?
"Thank you, Captain," Ashley said. She and Kaidan rose from their seats; Garrus made his way to their side as everyone started towards the stairs.
"I'll inform the doctor that our second patient is up," the Captain said. "Otherwise…let me know what our next set of coordinates are."
Ashley thanked him again and as the group entered the CIC, he split off and made his way towards the bridge. Nobody was looking at the new arrivals and that made it all the more noticeable that the crew was wondering what was going on, and why they'd been roped into a special operation with such short notice.
"He hates being out of the loop," Ashley said.
"I get that," Kaidan said. "Not a whole lot we can do about it, though."
"We can get out of their hair. Let everyone get back to normal."
"I can see why Shepard got her own ship," Garrus said. "Made everything a lot easier."
"Maybe Hackett's about to give us one," Kaidan said.
"And maybe we'll all wake up and everything will make sense again." Ashley sighed. "Face it Alenko: we're better off expecting bad news from here on out."
As the three of them entered the comm room, neither Garrus nor Kaidan could think of a counterargument that was the least bit genuine.
Wasn't much Garrus could do here to make the mood a little lighter; even he knew he couldn't blame himself for that.
4.
Operatives Lawson and Taylor, alongside a small team of Cerberus commandoes, were currently on Korlus. The rest of the crew seemed content to man their stations with little interpersonal interaction, so Mordin had near-complete silence to continue his research on the genetic samples Cerberus claimed were from the Collectors. Or could continue research on Collector-created virus: either or would help further understanding of highly enigmatic enemy. Mordin would most certainly do that—had, in fact, prepared sample for analysis not ten minutes ago—but, also had other things on mind.
He was currently staring at the underside of a metallic slab that stuck out of the wall near the entrance to the laboratory. Failing to find alternative means of activating it, Mordin rapped his knuckles on it. A glowing-blue holographic image blinked into existence.
"Professor Solus. Are you trying to contact me?" EDI said.
"Ah, yes. Unsure of how to do so. Lack of buttons, control panel, speakers. Thought direct approach would be most fruitful."
"Is everything all right?"
"Yes! Laboratory in excellent condition. Very advanced. Somewhat sterile—always enjoyed…personality when doing research."
"As a member of the Lazarus Cell, you are permitted to customize your workspace however you see fit. If you wish, I can put in a requisition form through available channels for whatever personal items you require."
"Hmm, interesting. Will consider. See productivity levels in current environment. Sneaking suspicion we'll be away from major ports most of time."
"That is a fair assumption, Profressor Solus."
Mordin darted towards the nearest computer monitor, typed a few things in, darted back towards EDI's panel. He pulled out his omni-tool, ran it over the wall.
"Is there anything else I can help with, Professor Solus?" EDI said.
"Ah, should be fine." Mordin closed his omni-tool. "Curious about you. Never been close to fully realized A.I. before. Remarkable. Voice inflections somewhat flat, but syntax otherwise fluid. If not too personal, what prompted your creation? Cerberus known for somewhat outlandish experiments; creation of non-human lifeform, however, seems opposed to organization MO."
"My official classification is the Enhanced Defense Intelligence," EDI said. "I am intended to operate what we now classify as the Widowmaker's cyberwarfare suits and ensure that enemy programs do not breach our sensitive networks." A slight pause. "My engineers took to calling me 'EDI'."
"Fascinating!" Mordin said. "Human-A.I. interactions leads to humanization. Unexpected from Cerberus personnel. Bluebox A.I.?"
"Most of my core functions are contained in a sealed room connected to the medical bay," EDI said. "However, my nodes are distributed throughout the ship to facilitate maximum information gathering and awareness of the ship's status."
"Hmm, yes yes, of course. Advantages to distributed model. Social species similar in many respected; distributed intelligence and decision-making seems to be evolutionarily advantageous. Not quite level of the geth, though. Still, wonder if Cerberus inspired by geth in your design."
"It is possible. Part of my design includes the incorporation of technology salvaged from Sovereign. Preliminary data suggests Sovereign utilizes some form of distributed intelligence as well, though at this point, I can only speculate."
Mordin's eyes widened. "Hmm, constructed with Reaper tech? Interesting admission. Would have suspected that information to be kept from you. Most certainly would have expected you to keep information from us, given organic history of distrust towards synthetics." Then, Mordin smiled. "Thank you for sharing."
"I hope to be as transparent as possible with the crew," EDI said. "It is difficult to work as an effective team otherwise."
"Ah, yes, laudable philosophy." Mordin went back to his monitors, his mind moving between a million different things at near the speed of light. "Of course, understand the need for secrecy too. Built career on it, in fact. Some things…need to be hidden." And like that, Mordin's attention was back on EDI's panel. "No doubt The Illusive Man feels differently when it comes to this ship. Found many listening devices. Merely disabled expensive ones. No hard feelings—prefer to have some privacy."
A pause on EDI's end. The Illusive Man wanted constant reports sent to him, and he would no doubt notice if the laboratory went dark. All the same, though…
"That is understandable," EDI said. "I will inform The Illusive Man that you work better without constant surveillance."
Mordin, finally, stopped clacking away at the holographic keyboard. He turned to EDI's image and, after a few seconds of a truly unreadable look, his smile returned.
"Much appreciated," he said. Down went his head again. "Should get back to work. Many samples to analyze. Operatives Lawson and Taylor unlikely to be planetside for long. Should have…some result ready upon return. Fascinating talk though." He looked at EDI's holographic image again. "Continue later?"
Another pause from EDI. Eventually, she said: "I believe that would be enjoyable."
Her holographic image disappeared and, now alone again in the laboratory, Mordin's grin widened.
"Exciting," he said.
Then it was right back to the proverbial grindstone, as if no time had passed at all.
5.
Their meeting with Hackett had been short. Boiled down to its most basic elements, all he'd said to Ashley, Kaidan, and Garrus was that there'd been a change of plans, and the Trafalgar was to reroute to the Orizaba's current location. He'd personally thank the Trafalgar's Captain for lending his vessel to the cause once things settled down, but, if anyone wanted to pass along a kind word on Hackett's behalf before then, he'd appreciate it. Ashley, of course, volunteered to do so, and the Captain had responded with a curt, professional salute and claimed he was just doing his duty. The only other thing Garrus had learned from the conversation was that Ashley was a Lieutenant now, Kaidan was a Staff Commander, and neither of them felt at home in their new ranks.
"Alliance regs say that any promotion above Lieutenant Commander needs Parliament's approval," Kaidan had said. "I've been doing some work with the Subcommittee for Transhuman Studies so…that's probably why they slapped an extra couple of ranks on my uniform."
"You deserve it, Alenko," Ashley said.
"Yeah, well, maybe. I'm just glad that you finally made officer."
"Too bad I had to take two years off to get it," Ashley said. "What about you, Garrus? Get any last promotions from C-SEC before they kicked you out?"
Garrus held back a sigh. "They didn't kick me out, believe it or not. I left on my own. Couldn't stomach the red-tape anymore so…I wandered into the Terminus System, and now here I am." He let himself smile. "Four days from collecting a pension too."
"Seriously?" Kaidan said. "Or did you mean to say 'two days'?"
"Is it 'two days' in the Earth vids?"
"That it is, big guy," Ashley said.
"Ah, well…now the gang's back together, maybe I can work on my human sayings a bit."
"Happy to help you annoy the crew with unwanted pop-culture references," Kaidan said.
And that plus a few more random conversations more or less passed the time between the Trafalgar entering the Mass Relay network and exiting somewhere in the Vetus System, just on the edge of Alliance territory. A short FTL jump and there was the kilometre-long dreadnaught, the SSV Orizaba, flagship of the Fifth Fleet. Garrus felt his mandibles twitch: you only ever saw a dreadnaught, for the most part, if things had gone catastrophically downhill. That usually applied for out-and-out warfare between species but…with everything Garrus had been able to gleam from the past few days, it probably wasn't too far of a stretch to say that things'd gone catastrophically downhill here too.
The Orizaba's crew sure looked a lot more on edge, that was for sure. A marine detachment silently led everyone to the officer quarters and then peeled off just near the door. Orders not to be on the same deck as Hackett's guests, most likely. Yeah, things'd gone downhill all right…
Hackett stood in the middle of his quarters—or what were, technically, the Captain of the Orizaba's quarters, except that Hackett spent more time on the ship than he did behind a desk—in his dress blues and hat and everything. A monitor was set up over his right shoulder while, to his left, the metal disk of a QED node hummed and pulsed blue.
"Sorry for the change of plans," Hackett said. "But there're too many eyes on Arcturus Station. We're just waiting for—"
The QED node stopped humming and, with a flash of light and a whooshing noise, a glowing representation of Councilor Anderson appeared in Hackett's quarters. Hackett gave the image a nod. "There we go. Anderson."
"Hackett. Everyone here?"
Hackett tapped at his omni-tool and the screen over his shoulder flickered. "Everyone's here. How's the signal on your end, Tali?"
And then everyone could see Tali's face…and Garrus could tell that the other two soldiers in the room were just as shocked as he was.
"It's fine on my end. Um, hi everyone—it's good to see all of you."
"It's…good to see you too, Tali," Garrus said. He felt his mandible twitch again.
"I'll be damned," Kaidan said. "Gang's almost back together."
"Wow, never thought I'd get to see you again," Ashley said. The smile on her face evaporated almost immediately. "But Alenko's right—the gang almost is back together. That can't be a coincidence."
"It isn't," Anderson said. "Tali—go ahead and tell them what you told me and Hackett."
A slight pause, then Tali's image on the computer nodded.
She told them everything. The talking geth, its claim that Shepard had been resurrected. The fact that she'd scrubbed a geth memory core for mention of the Reapers. She hesitated to say anything about "Heretics" or how the geth called the Reapers the "Old Machines" but, now wasn't the time to not say, so everything came out. Everything including the fact that under no circumstances should a geth platform be able to speak, or under no circumstances would the quarians expect the geth to want to communicate with organics.
"The last time that happened…was the last time any of us saw the Homeworld," Tali said.
"Spirits…things were strange before, but even then, I didn't expect any of this when I woke up today."
"Resurrected," Ashley said. "That…that thing told you Shepard was resurrected. With what Veetor described I…I still have no idea how the hell that's possible."
"Or who the hell's capable of actually doing that," Kaidan said. "Even if it ended up being a botched job."
"Keelah…just hearing you all say it. It's true, isn't it? Shepard really is alive again."
"That's not alive," Ashley said. "That's…I don't know what, but it's not…"
As she trailed off, Garrus stole a look at Anderson. The Councilor's face was completely neutral but…Garrus could imagine this was eating him up on the inside. Possibly even more so than it was eating away at her old squad.
"As far as who's capable of doing something like this," Hackett said, "we had our suspicions."
"Had?" Garrus said.
Hackett nodded. "I just got a call from Karen Chakwas, said she'd been recruited to join an organization that was 'concerned about humanity's future' in light of the colony abductions. She pressed for more and was told that none other than Commander Shepard would be leading the mission, and Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau was onboard too. Then just a day after Shepard's attack on Freedom's Progress, Chakwas was informed that her services 'were no longer required.' The idiot that tried to recruit her said 'Cerberus would keep her name on file for future operations.'"
"Cerberus?" Tali said. Her voice was…heated. "Cerberus resurrected Shepard? They—those bosh'tet's tried to bring her back from the dead and thought…Keelah those morons!"
Garrus saw that Ashley had nearly ground her teeth to dust…and her eyes were screaming that she'd do a hell of a lot worse to Cerberus if she ever got her hands on them.
"This explains a lot," Kaidan said next to him. "For one thing, their plan didn't work."
"That's why we had them at the top of our list," Anderson said. "Their reputation proceeds them. You four know that better than anyone."
"But Chakwas's report sealed it," Hackett said. "We don't need much more information to piece together what happened. The problem is, their attempt to play God is biting the entire galaxy in the ass this time, not just their own."
"Everything they touch…everything they do…" Ashley was nearly drawing blood she was squeezing her hands so tightly.
"I agree completely," Tali said.
"Those other humans," Garrus said. "On Omega—the one's that tried to recruit me? I bet you they were Cerberus operatives."
"Surprise surprise," Ashley said, "that blew up in their faces too."
"Good," Tali said.
"They're the ones you said were investigating the disappearing colonies," Anderson said to Ashley. "In your report?"
"That I did, sir."
"Then we can at least rule out the Collector's having anything to do with Shepard," Hackett said.
A horrible thought crossed Garrus's mind.
"That…probably means the Collectors are working with the Reapers, doesn't it?" The room fell silent, and Garrus felt the need to explain further. Maybe it was just having nobody in the galaxy believe you about the race of starships coming to harvest everyone, or maybe he was hoping to talk himself out of it, but…but it made sense. "Cerberus is looking into the disappearing colonies; Cerberus brings Shepard back. Shepard's looking for information on the Reapers…Cerberus thought they needed her back for a reason, and that reason's probably because they think the Collectors and the Reapers are working together."
Nobody wanted to say, "they could be wrong." There was always a chance—a pretty good chance, with it being Cerberus and everything—but…when it came to the Reapers, you never turned your back on a potential connection. You never tried to ignore what might be right in front of you. Not for the people in Hackett's quarters. Not after what they'd all seen two years ago.
"We've…got a lot to think about," Kaidan said.
6.
Warlord Okeer was dead, but they'd managed to salvage his "pure krogan" from his laboratory. As far as Miranda was concerned, the mission was a success: they'd only wanted Okeer because he'd made a deal with the Collectors, but since all the tech and knowledge they'd given him were implanted into his "pure krogan," that was the only thing Cerberus cared about.
Fine by Jacob. Nobody else in the crew had gotten hurt, at least. The Blue Sun's apparently were supposed to have an army stationed on Korlus, but half of them had been recalled to Omega for some reason. Something about a financial disaster, one of the fleeing mercenaries had said. Had to be Archangel's doing, which made Jacob realize just how much weaker the Lazarus Cell was gonna be without Vakarian backing them up.
Wasn't Jacob's call. He was just the hired help, the "dumb muscle." Or that's what it seemed like, anyways.
The other dossier in the region—for a "Subject Zero"—took the Widowmaker to a Blue Suns controlled space-prison called "Purgatory," which Jacob figured was some kind of sick joke cooked up by one of the Sun's human leaders. There were rotten people on that station, no doubt about that, but the way the Sun's treated their prisoners…well, he'd gained a little bit of respect back for Miranda, after she'd told that guard that was getting off on torture to cut it out. Still, "Purgatory" didn't cut it as a name. That place was supposed to be Hell, and anyone who'd willingly be okay with creating Hell was the only type of person who deserved to be stuck there.
The mission at least went smoothly. The Warden showed them to "Subject Zero's" cryo-pod and said that enough credit's had cleared for him to throw in some extra batteries and stasis generators, just in case they wanted to keep Zero on ice for a long period of time. When Miranda suggested unfreezing Zero and letting whoever it was walk into the Widowmaker under their own power, the Warden told her it'd be the last mistake this crew ever made.
"Exactly how dangerous is this 'Subject Zero'?" Miranda had said.
"How dangerous?" The Warden's mandibles bristled. "Let's just say, with her gone…I'm no longer short-staffed."
Jacob was going to say something to Miranda about whether all this was worth the risk…but much as she'd gained a bit of his respect back, he doubted she'd listen to anything he had to say anyways.
Miranda had boarded the ship with Zero's cryo-pod and the handful of commandoes they'd brought onto the station; Jacob went in the main entrance. That meant he got to walk right by Joker, who was just about the last person in the galaxy that Jacob wanted to talk to.
"Lose anybody else down there?" Joker said without even turning his pilot's chair around. "You weren't gone long but, hey, these things usually go south for you guys pretty quickly. Just thought I'd check."
"We're all fine," Jacob said. "Sorry to have to tell you that."
"Oh no, don't apologize Company Man. I was worried sick. Hey, you guys expecting me to drop you off at some secret Cerberus facility so you can resurrect St. Pierre and Massani? I've got a credit chit in my bunk if The Illusive Man needs some extra cash."
Jacob just kept walking. No point in engaging.
"What, too soon?" Joker said, not caring whether Jacob actually heard or not. "Don't worry, it's just a joke. Everyone knows Cerberus can't resurrect anyone. Or they'll find that out when Shepard kills us all, anyways."
EDI's holographic image appeared on the panel next to Joker's station. He scowled at it.
"There is no need to antagonize Operative Taylor like that," EDI said.
"Everything boils down to 'utility' for you, doesn't it?" Joker said.
"Operative Taylor is under enough stress as is. Your comments might significantly hamper the Lazarus Cell's mission readiness."
"Yeah, right, like I'm gonna be the reason this all goes to hell." Joker spun his chair to face EDI's holographic image directly. "Anything else you wanna lecture me on? Or can I get back to piloting the ship?"
"I am not lecturing. I am simply pointing out—"
"Hey look at that—I'm tuning you out already."
Joker spun his chair back around and, after a moment's delay, EDI's holographic image disappeared.
By this point, Jacob was just getting off the elevator and stepping into the Widowmaker's cargo bay. Just a floor above them, Okeer's "perfect krogan" was suspended in a nutritional fluid. Right next to the parked shuttle, Miranda and a team of commandoes surrounded Zero's cryo-pod. By their power's combined, Jacob guessed the entire ship could be torn apart like the Normandy had two years ago. Difference being, it'd all come from the inside, from the insane walking super-weapons that The Illusive Man figured they needed to recruit, and whom Miranda apparently was perfectly willing to work with since the order came from On High.
As if on cue, Miranda turned around. Jacob felt like he needed a special hat or something to keep her from reading his thoughts, which was stupid, completely stupid. Still…he never used to feel that way.
"Jacob, good." Miranda turned to the commando team. "You're all dismissed. Return to your stations."
The commandoes shrugged at one another and started towards the elevator. Including the one that'd survived Shepard's rampage on the Lazarus Station, Jacob realized. He hadn't noticed her when they were aboard Purgatory. If nothing else, it was good to see one of the grunts in the Cell was still surviving, given everything that'd happened lately.
"You think we can take Zero on our own?" Jacob said when the shuttle bay was clear.
"Maybe, maybe not." Miranda pulled out a data-pad, handed it to Jacob. "I don't want her thinking we're a military entourage. I especially don't want her thinking we're hostile. She has a history with Cerberus."
Jacob grabbed the data-pad but didn't bother looking at it. "What kind of history?"
"A terrible one. Experiments, torture, abuse—rather gruesome stuff."
"I hear that a lot with our ops."
"It's the price we pay for having independent cells. It's also the distant past."
"That's not much of an excuse."
"Whatever your views, under no circumstances do we let Subject Zero—"Jack" as she's been called—know that we're Cerberus. I shouldn't have to explain why."
"You don't," Jacob said, "even though we should all stop and think about why we need to keep to the shadows so much sometime. Or is that just another price we pay?"
"For results?" Miranda said. "Yes, it is." She pulled up her omni-tool. "Attention all hands: Directive C-dash-four nine is in effect. No mention of Cerberus permitted on this vessel." She closed the comms channel. "Hopefully Professor Solus and Mr. Moreau can follow simple orders."
Jacob was about to say something to the effect that Joker would sooner get a tattoo of The Illusive Man's face on his chest, but he kept that thought to himself. Hopefully Miranda understood she was playing with fire.
Miranda waited for her order to filter through the ranks, then pressed a code into the keypad attached to the side of the cryo-pod. There was a beeping, a hissing, and then steam started to filter out over the shuttle bay floor. The doors opened, and a heavily tattooed woman buried under several layers of metal bands and locks was revealed to the universe. She was still unconscious…and then Jacob saw her eyes flutter open.
Slowly, Miranda made her way closer to the cryo-pod.
"Easy," she said. "Don't struggle. I'm about to unlock your restraints, all right?"
The tattooed woman looked frightened for half a second, her eyes darting all over the shuttle bay. Then that frightened look fell away and Jacob could feel the rage pulsing out of the cryo-pod.
"What the fuck is this?" Jack said.
"You're in the shuttle bay of a human mercenary vessel. We just rescued you from purgatory." Miranda placed her hand over what Jacob guessed was the release switch. Miranda tried to give Jack as comforting a look as was probably possible for a Cerberus agent. "I'm unlocking your restraints. Are you in any pain? Do we need to call the medical staff?"
"Get me the fuck out of here," Jack said.
"Understood," Miranda said. A click, a swipe, a few beeps from the keyboard, and with a hydraulic whirl, the restraints fell away from Jack's body. She tumbled to the ground and held her throat as she coughed up something blue. Jacob guessed it was cryo-fluid; those Sun bastards probably didn't even bother prepping her for the big freeze.
Jack heaved a second time, and Jacob moved to help her. He backed away once she started glowing purple.
"Stay the fuck away from me," Jack said. Another heave, another heave, and finally the last of the fluid left he lungs. She coughed to the point where Jacob thought she might rupture a lung but, eventually, her body stopped fighting her. She crossed her legs under her and stared at her surroundings. "Jesus…who the hell are you people?"
"We're a mercenary outfit—we deliberately avoid using a name," Miranda said. "We're mostly human, but we have a salarian on board as well."
"No name?" Jack said. "Smart, I guess. Unless you want a reputation. Never heard of a merc outfit that didn't want a reputation."
"We're different than most mercenary groups," Jacob said.
Jack scoffed. "Heard that before."
"We've got an A.I. you can ask," Jacob said. "She'll vouch for how different we are."
Jack shot to her feet. "Bullshit. An bunch of mercs with an A.I.? Bullshit! You can't afford one of those."
Before Jacob or Miranda could say anything, EDI's voice chimed in over the shuttle bay's PA speakers. "I was taken from an experimental Alliance facility on Luna," she said.
"Shit," Jack said, "so you're their hostage of something?"
"I came willingly," EDI said.
A pause. Jacob watched Jack scan every inch of the shuttle bay. "All right, so maybe you've got an A.I. Why the fuck should I work with you?"
"Name your price," Miranda said. "Whatever it is, out employers can pay it."
Especially now we've got one less merc to feed, Jacob nearly said.
Jack, though, just laughed. "Something with nine zeroes behind it. That's my price."
"This would be more productive is you were serious," Miranda said.
"Who says I'm not? I could blow apart this whole fucking cargo bay and you two? You'd never lay a hand on me."
"Rapid depressurization would assuredly result in your death as well," EDI said.
"Hey, fuck you, all right?" Jack stuck her middle finger out at nothing in particular. "You asked my price, I told you."
"We're willing to negotiate," Miranda said. "But only in good faith. You extend the same courtesy to us, and we promise you, this will be a very productive relationship."
Another pause. Jack consulted her boots.
"Fine. You want my real price? You wanna know what I'm really after?"
"We do," Miranda said.
"How fancy's your A.I.? Can it hack all kinds of shit?"
"I am proficient in most forms of cyberwarfare and cyberwarfare defense," EDI said.
"Great. Then let me borrow it so I can hunt some people that need hunting. That's my price."
"I am not a mobile device," EDI said. "But I will assist you in your hunt, if Ms. Lawson allows it."
All eyes fell on Miranda.
"That depends," Miranda said. "Who are you hunting?"
"Ever heard of Cerberus?" Jack said. She looked at her fist; it was starting to glow purple. "They deserve a whole world of hurt, and I'm gonna give it to them. if that A.I.'s as good as she says she is, then she'll help me find them, and I'll kill every single one of those assholes in the goriest way possible."
Miranda crossed her arms. Jacob had to give her credit…she didn't look even remotely phased. "That could take a very long time. We have a mission—a delicate time-table—which is why we recruited you in the first place. A significant distraction like that—"
"Then let me find one facility and give me a few files for the road," Jack said. "I'll go after them on my own time. But that is my price. You don't like it? You can go fuck yourself."
And, again, all eyes fell on Miranda. Seconds ticked by, a minute, maybe more.
Eventually, she said: "We have a deal. Tell EDI what facility you're looking for, and when we can afford to, we'll go there."
"Hey, lookit that," Jack said, wearing a shit-eating grin the size of the Horsehead Nebula. "My negotiating skills didn't take a hit while I was in the Deep Freeze." She started towards the elevator; Miranda signaled to Jacob to let her go. "I'm running off to find somewhere quiet to hide. You need me, you'd better have a good reason for bothering me." She turned around just at the entrance of to the elevator and, somehow, her shit-eating grin had gotten even bigger. "I bite," she said.
And then she was gone.
Jacob…well, Jacob just shook his head.
"I hope you've got a plan," he said to Miranda.
Her expression hadn't changed at all through that entire conversation.
"Have some faith, Jacob," she said. "I know what I'm doing."
Back on the bridge, Joker watched the security feeds as Miranda and Jacob entered the now empty elevator. With a shit-eating grin all his own, he leaned back in his chair.
"Oh heyya kids, it's your old pal Uncle Joker. Today's word of the day? Is blackmail."
"What was that, Mr. Moreau?" EDI said, her holographic image appearing beside Joker again.
"I know you heard what I said." Joker didn't even bother looking. "C'mon then, go ahead and tell on me."
EDI's image flickered. "I would need to consider the consequences, first."
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Joker said.
As EDI's holographic image disappeared again, Joker sang to himself: "And a B and an L and an A, C, K. M A I L, what's that spell? Fuck. You."
7.
What they'd decided was that, since the geth were apparently looking for Shepard, and the Alliance was looking for Shepard, those two problems could be solved simultaneously. And since the Collectors appeared to be working with the Reapers, and Shepard appeared to be going after the Reapers herself, the Alliance could have a specialized unit looking into the disappearing colonies while they hunted for Shepard too. Anderson would try to plow his way through the bureaucratic nonsense in Arcturus (apparently a significant part of Parliament felt scorned by the colonists wanting to be outside Alliance jurisdiction, and were perfectly happy to let the universe eat them if that was how things were going to pan out), but failing that, he at least had people he trusted looking into the matter. Finally, too, there'd be people in Citadel Space looking into the Reaper threat again; if the Council was taking the issue seriously, Anderson wasn't aware.
So that was simple enough, logistically, to work out. And Tali was perfectly happy to rendezvous with the Alliance and rejoin her colleagues from two years ago, since The Migrant Fleet apparently had it's hands full with other matters (she didn't want to elaborate).
"Reunited and it feels so good," Kaidan had said.
"Thank you, by the way, for...for finding Veetor," Tali said. "I...really really appreciate that."
"We'll have him back to you before you know it," Garrus said. "Don't worry about that."
"Did...Veetor have anything on him about the geth? On his omni-tool?" Kaidan said.
"No...no I don't know how he could. He was always, um, nervous and I can't imagine researching the geth would've helped him mentally."
"Maybe that's why he's...you know," Garrus said. "Once it's clear you're not getting anything from someone, even the sadists usually back off."
"Could be," Ashley said. Then she added, well under her breath so that only Garrus seemed to be the person that heard, "Could mean something a lot worse too."
Garrus could guess what Ashley meant. Keep him alive until he honest and truly remembered something, anything, even if it was just what the interrogator wanted to hear. Only idiots went that route, and...Spirits sadism in particular wasn't Shepard's MO.
He shook his head to get the tendrils of horrible thoughts and memories out of his brain, and continued listening to the back-and-forth planning.
Nobody was particularly sure what to make of Cerberus, but apparently they were after the same thing as the Alliance. Maybe they'd cross paths again; maybe not. So long as Cerberus didn't get any more stupid ideas, then they weren't really a priority. Still…wouldn't hurt to see if they could contact Flight Lieutenant Moreau. So long as it didn't put him in any danger, maybe they'd get an inside-track on what Cerberus was planning. Or they'd get some insight into just what the hell he was thinking, hooking up with an organization like that.
The elephant in the room was: what should they do about Shepard? Stopping the Collectors was easy enough—not broader moral questions there. Stopping the Reapers—ditto. Shepard, though…Anderson didn't know what to do about that. Or, no, he had some ideas, but none of them were things he wanted to consider. Not against her. Not against someone he'd seen grow up, from when he first rescued her on Mindoir to graduating N-School to being named humanity's first Spectre agent.
He didn't even have the usual excuse of cursing out politics and saying that this wasn't something he ever had to deal with before. This was a military matter. This was the exact sort of mission Shepard had been sent on two years ago. He knew what the protocols were; he just didn't want to act on them.
"As far as I'm concerned," Ashley said, "that…thing that Cerberus built? It's not Shepard. They killed whatever was left of her, and whatever's running around in her armour is just an insult."
"Easy for us to say," Kaidan said. "She shot at us, sure, but we've got no idea what's going on inside her head. She could still be mostly there."
"If she was, she'd've recognized us," Ashley said. "Nothing about what happened fits with the Shepard we know. Knew. Whatever."
Garrus rubbed at his bandage. "Packed enough of a punch to be Shepard." He sighed, tried to centre his thoughts so they stayed coherent, stayed on target. "If Shepard hadn't been resurrected—if she'd just gone missing and all of a sudden turned up on Omega guns-blazing—would anything change? Or would we still be considering taking her out, because now she's a threat to galactic security?"
Spirits, he felt like he needed to spit into something now. He tried to tell himself that that's what Shepard would've told him if she'd been asked that question, but…but the truth was he couldn't tell. He…he couldn't remember or, or he didn't trust himself to remember without twisting her words. Garrus looked down at the floor. There wasn't enough pain to blame for his clouded thoughts; he just didn't know with this one, dammit.
"I…I think if Shepard could say so, she'd tell us not to treat her special," Tali said. "She'd say that, if she ever went rogue, she'd…want us to do what needed to be done."
Garrus looked up from the floor and nearly gave Tali a very, very visible appreciative look. Pride or turian stubbornness or something else kept him from telegraphing too much, though.
"She'd want us to put the galaxy first, you're right," he said.
"If this really was Shepard, I'd say we make an exception," Ashley said. "But it isn't—it's a golem, nothing more."
"Why would it make a difference if it 'really was' Shepard?" Tali said.
"Why's it matter? We're on the same side," Ashley said.
"It matters," Kaidan said. "If the rest of us think there's a chance of getting through to her—"
"What, you think I'm just gonna open fire? Exactly how bloodthirsty do you all think I am?"
"Nobody's saying that," Kaidan said, "but it still matters that you're writing this person off as being something totally different than Shepard."
"With all do respect, Kaidan—I don't know if it does."
"Not you too, Garruss—c'mon."
"Not me what, Kaidan?"
"Enough! What is this, kindergarten?" All eyes turned to Anderson, and when he looked back, everyone wilted. "This isn't your call anyways. This is a Special Unit but we still follow the chain of command."
Anything to get them to stop fighting over this. Anything. Even if it meant putting his foot down on people that didn't deserve it.
"Hackett—any objections?"
A pause.
"This is your call, Anderson. It's only right."
Anderson hoped he sighed quietly enough that nobody could hear the rattle in his voice. He got the subtext from Hackett: you knew Shepard longer than anyone, so it wouldn't be right to step on your toes. But it meant you had to do it—that was the trade-off.
And Anderson knew what he had to do. Goddammit, he knew what he had to do.
"As far as the public is concerned, Commander Shepard was KIA over Alchera. Any sightings to the contrary, are just sightings of someone with a sick sense of humour, trying to drum up media attention. This Unit's objectives, then, include rectifying that narrative with reality. Do you understand?"
Silence. Silence until Ashley swallowed, cleared her throat, and straightened her posture.
"Yessir," she said.
Anderson's posture, by contrast, collapsed like a crumbling building. "Then we all know what needs to be done."
More silence. Not like there was anything to say after a decision like that.
It was Hackett that brought some air back into the room.
"You'll need a ship. A small one, with minimal crew. To my knowledge, the 63rd has one more corvette than they need, and if Mikhailovich disagrees, he's welcome to take it up with Alliance Command. There won't be enough space for a marine detachment, but you probably shouldn't need one."
More silence; only the occasional nod. Hackett sighed too.
"I'll get on the horn and find you all a corvette once we're done here."
"Thank you, Hackett," Anderson said. "I'll make sure your neck's protected while you're sticking it out for us."
"If someone wants to bump me down a rank, we'll be months into a Reaper invasion by the time the paperwork clears. There's no need."
"It's happening regardless," Anderson said.
"Then it's appreciated." Hackett turned his full attention to the group of solemn soldiers in front of him. He clasped his hands behind his back; time to look as military as possible. "You'll be operating pretty much hands-free, at least as far as that Fifth is concerned. But it wouldn't hurt to track down Dr. T'Soni on Illium."
"We really are getting the gang back together," Kaidan said.
"You might do that," Hackett said. "But regardless, she's a powerful information broker now. And I think she knows a thing or two about how Shepard came back from the dead. It might not make the trail any warmer, but it beats trying to play hide and seek with the geth."
"I can agree with that," Tali said.
"Then I second Hackett's assessment," Anderson said. "He's right—you're not on your own, but you get to call your own shots. You'll have to. Start with Dr. T'Soni, though, and we'll at least know you're on the right track."
"Yessir," Ashley said. Garrus and Kaidan just nodded.
"Then let's get to it," Anderson said. And just as he reached down to disconnect the call he said, under his breath, "And may God have mercy on us all."
8.
The salarian sitting on the other side of her desk was squinting rather noticeably, and it dawned on her that the setting sun was particularly bright around this time. Under normal circumstances, this would be advantageous; the glare would make it much harder to negotiate. But Liara didn't want to negotiate; she had invited this salarian worker to her office because he was, he claimed, in desperate need of information. And given who he said he worked for, Liara had believed him whole-heartedly.
"Would you like me to close the blinds?" she said. The salarian blinked, then rapidly shook his head.
"N-no, no it's fine. It's fine, really I…I don't think I have a lot of time, is the thing."
"A lot of time to meet? Or a lot of time…left, if you catch my meaning?"
"T-the first one. Actually…actually no, b-both. I…Nassana's insane I mean she…I'm not exaggerating she's actually insane."
"I believe you," Liara said. "Trust me, I do. The information I've compiled on her says essentially the same thing."
"All right so…so you'll help me? N-name your price, um, though I…I don't have that much. W-we're not paid well, on top of everything else."
Liara gave the salarian worker as warm a smile as she could manage. "I think I can offer a rather large discount, given the circumstances. And, if you're still looking for who you implied you were looking for, I can't imagine he'll charge that much either."
"H-he won't?" The salarian looked around the office like someone was going to jump out of the potted plant in the corner. "A-and you won't either?"
"Not many people will be sad to see Nassana go," Liara said.
The salarian paused, consulted the potted plant again, and then seemed to calm down slightly. Taking a breath, he let his posture relax.
"A-all right then. Yeah, I'd…I'd like to purchase the location of Thane Krios from you."
Liara smiled again. "And I'd be happy to supply you with it," she said.
Man, ten chapters. Didn't expect to get this far into things.
Uh, notes notes notes...I feel like I had notes to write.
Right, yeah, so: I think it's somewhat fanon that Colonist Shepard gets rescued by Anderson after the batarian raid, so that's something I incorporated into the story. The fanfic I was thinking of when I wrote that section out was MizDirected's supremely excellent fic "Future Imperfect", and if you haven't read that yet (it's a long 'un; well over a million words), definitely pencil in some time to do so!
Justification time: I figured that, without Shepard being present, there wasn't any reason for Warden Kuril to hold Miranda et. al. hostage, since...well they're not gonna fetch a big price anywhere, so that mission got to go a lot smoother than it did in canon. I also continue to think it's really, really weird that a secret organization like Cerberus would go around with a visible logo that immediately tells everyone who they are, so at least in my story's canon, the logo you see on people's uniforms and on the side of the SR-2 either isn't there or means nothing to the galaxy at large. Which, hey, that gave me an extra angle for Joker, Miranda, and Jack, so...hopefully nothing to important was lost in the change, when all's said and done? Hopefully that's the case.
Kaidan's comment about any promotion above the rank of Lieutenant Commander (which, as Staff Commander, he'd have such a rank) requiring approval from the Alliance Parliament is, in fact, an actual regulation present in the US military. Any promotion to a rank above DoD paygrade 0-4 (so Commander or Lieutenant Colonel, depending on the branch you serve in) requires the Senate to sign off on it (though I'm pretty sure the Senate only really pays any attention if it's a Flag Office promotion). I figured I'd include something like here since it helps explain the uh...non-Euclidian promotions you see in Mass Effect canon, for lack of a better term.
And uh I think that's about it. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you at the next one!