A/N: While this is waaay too late to do anything about it, I happened upon an op ed piece I think may be the best analysis of what's wrong with the ME3 ending and I'd like to recommend it to you here: doycetesterman dot com/2012/03/mass-effect-tolkein-and-your-bullshit-artistic-process/ (paste that into your browser's address bar and edit that as should be obvious.)

And now, back to our story:

*** Urdnot Wrex ***

Sol Halvorsen had been wearing an ARA for most of his life. It wasn't as invisible as an ARO, but it didn't require brain surgery, either. It meant he took some crap from the rest of Fist's crew about being a cyborg (which was less true than if he'd gotten an ARO,) but his short fuse had given him a reputation. Nobody said anything about it anymore.

As he stepped into the clinic, the red-haired doctor was walking their way. "Hello, and welcome to the Medical Clinic," she said, "How can I—" She stopped as she noticed that all four people who had just entered now had weapons in hand. That almost always meant that they had just been in a fight. Then she recognized the taller man. "Oh…Sol." The brutish man had never actually threatened her, but he made her uneasy. "Who's hurt?"

Sol waved his henchmen forward, spoke over his shoulder to one, "Shut this place down, Dex." He turned back to the doctor. "Nobody…yet," he said. "We're just here to make sure it stays that way. Did you see a quarian in here today?"

"Well…yes, about three so far," the doctor stopped walking, "Why?"

Sol held up a data tablet showing a still of a quarian in a gunsight. "This one. You seen her?"

Chloe squinted at the image. "I know you can tell better by suits, but I haven't had—"

"Don't have time for this, doc." He held the tablet closer. "Have you seen this one?"

"I think so, but why are you—"

Sol interrupted, "Did you treat her?" His men made their way around the half wall and started scanning the beds with their omnitools.

"Of course…if that was her, but—"

He stepped closer to the doctor, "Where is she now?"

"I sent her to your boss…to Fist!"

Sol grinned with malice. "Good answer. Now here's the trick. We don't want no one else finding out about it. You understand?"

Chloe took a step back, using a one-handed gesture to her omnitool to signal for C-Sec help.

No network.

She started to panic. "What? What do you mean?"

He took another step closer, lowered the tablet, put his face up closer to the doctor's. "I mean people might come asking. And when they do, you don't know nothing about it…got it?"

Dr. Michel pointed up at one of the cameras. "They won't need to ask, they'll know she was here. If they come and ask—"

Sol put his hand on his holstered sidearm. "Then you don't remember. We don't want this getting pointed back to Fist, see?" He drew the weapon, but kept it near the holster. "You don't tell no one else, right?"

"No, no…of course not!"

"'Cos it'd really be a shame if you had accidentally let it slip…"

"I didn't tell anyone, I swear!"

"That was smart, doc. Now if C-Sec comes sniffing around, you stay smart, right? Keep your mouth shut or we'll—"

# # #

As Garrus approached Dr. Michel's clinic, he noticed that the network connection had dropped almost to zero. His fringe contracted reflexively. Network reliability on the Citadel was legendary; if the network failed, it meant someone was deliberately jamming it.

He drew his pistol and glanced at Shepard. "We've got a problem."

Shepard stopped behind him, looking around at the ceiling and walls. His ARO switched modes and put color-coded callouts on potential threats. With a gesture, neural implants accelerated his awareness to 2x so he had time to analyze the world as he dropped his hand to his sidearm but did not draw it. "What? What do you mean? How do you know?"

"Network jamming; always means trouble." He turned to Shepard. "Wait right here so you don't activate the door; give me thirty seconds, and then go in." He pointed at the clinic door and explained, "I have another way in, but I'll need a few seconds to get to it."

Shepard's ARO added a 30-second countdown timer to his view as he drew his sidearm and watched it decompact. "Thirty seconds," he said. "Clock is running."

Vakarian turned and ran back the way they had come.

"Shotgun?" Ash was holding her Banshee.

Shepard nodded. "No…and double-check your targets; remember, this is a clinic." He glanced in the direction the turian detective had gone. "I hope he knows what he's doing."

"What are we going to do?"

"Wait twenty seconds, switch to firefight, and go in with weapons hot. Saren may already have people in there with the quarian. We'll have to protect her, so find her as fast as possible." Shepard looked from his pistol to Ash's assault rifle, and then up at her. "Hey, thanks for the help back there at the taxi stand."

"What…that gangster?" She shook her head. "Forget it. He needed his head ventilated." She refreshed the weapon's ammoblock. "Ready when you are, sir."

When the timer rolled down to zero, Shepard switched to Firefight Mode, accelerated to 6x, and stepped up to the door. As it opened, he heard someone inside speaking; it sounded threatening.

"…if C-Sec comes sniffing around, you stay smart, right? Keep your mouth shut, or we'll—"

At the sound of the door, Fist's men turned to find Shepard and Ash stepping through the door, weapons out.

"Who are you?"

Two of the attackers jumped into cover, another fired from the hip; Shepard saw the one who had been talking grab the doctor with his right hand, positioning her as a shield.

"Hostage!" Ash yelled, raising her weapon to her shoulder.

One of the thugs fired across the room at them twice; the bullets shattered, fragments deflecting cleanly away from the military-grade shields.

Officer Vakarian leapt from the small garden opposite the door into cover behind a pillar. "Let her go!" he barked.

"Hold your fire, boys." Sol turned to the turian. "Not the way I see this happening, Vakarian." He put the muzzle of his large but relatively underpowered pistol under Dr. Michel's left ear. "Now all you friendly people put down your weapons and take a nice, easy step back."

Officer Vakarian had also been wearing an ARA for some time, but only since joining C-Sec. His salarian partner Myvas Iliop had been modifying such devices almost since hatching. So as Shepard was distracting Fist's chief enforcer, Vakarian's ARA was allowing him to target the human's weapon hand through the rest of his body.

The shot perforated Halvorsen's right shoulder, continued up and forward through the hand that was holding the pistol. Doctor Michel shrieked briefly as the man jerked to the left and fell away.

Ash raised her weapon to her shoulder. "Freeze!" Sol landed with a solid thump. "Weapons on the ground; hands on your heads! Now!"

Officer Vakarian still had his Predator aimed at the fallen Sol Halvorsen. "Perfect timing, Shepard. Gave me a clear shot at that bastard."

"Glad it was a clear shot; I don't think I'd have taken it. You could have hit the hostage." Pistol in both hands, he kept it trained on the middle of the three standing thugs.

"Sometimes you get lucky, but luck was not a factor." The turian put a talon to the ARA monocle. "I count on tech." He turned to the white-clad human. "Doctor Michel, are you hurt?"

"No, I'm okay…thanks to you. All of you."

Shepard nodded toward the three men. "Williams, stay on those guys until C-Sec gets here."

The turian looked up sharply. "Hey, C-Sec is here."

"Sorry, detective. I should have said C-Sec backup. You two keep these guys covered." Shepard quickly replaced his pistol on its hardpoint and waved his omnitool over the fallen man. "You know this guy?"

Officer Vakarian did not look down. "Name's Halvorsen. He's a local troublemaker, works for the owner of that club we just left. I'd bet a month's pay he's mixed up in the Saren case." Vakarian checked that the other human had the minions well covered, and glanced down at Shepard briefly. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to save him." The round had passed mostly through non-critical tissues on its way to the man's left hand, but had perforated his trachea, and Shepard lacked the specialized equipment that was required to do a really professional, scarless job. His ETVI was advising another scan so it could send designs to his fabricator, but Shepard was noticing that it would take as long for him to make them as it would for medical professionals to arrive.

Vakarian didn't take his eyes off the henchmen in his gunsight. "You know…if you just let him be, he might bleed out before help arrives. You'd be doing a service to the galaxy."

Shepard frowned, but didn't answer or look up as he rolled Halvorsen onto his back and sat on the floor, elevating the man's shoulder with his knee.

"You want me to lock these guys up?" Ash did not look away from the three men. "I can fab some handcuffs for 'em. By the time backup gets here, I can have 'em booked and cooked."

"As you are, Chief. We'll let the local authorities handle as much of this as we can." Shepard began fabricating a 30-centimeter syringe attachment for the medigel pack's injector end. "Doctor Michel, I know those men threatened you. But if you tell us who they work for, we can protect you." He waved his omnitool precisely over the injury, then looked up when he realized the doctor had not replied.

Doctor Michel took a deep breath, visibly calming herself. "They work for Fist. They wanted to shut me up, keep me from telling C-Sec about the quarian."

"Detective, does this have anything to do with the investigation into Saren?" Shepard grunted as he tried to reposition the injury so it was as straight as possible.

"I think it might. Doctor Michel, tell us what happened."

Dr. Michel was still feeling the effects of a burst of adrenaline; her voice trembled subtly. "About an hour ago, a quarian came to my office. She'd been shot, but didn't know by who. I could tell she was scared, probably on the run. She asked me about the Shadow Broker. She wanted to trade information for a safe place to hide."

Shepard pushed the flexible needle into the injury, stopping when it reached the trachea. "Where is she now?"

"I put her in contact with Fist. He's an agent for the Shadow Broker."

"Not anymore," Vakarian interjected. "Now he works for Saren, and the Shadow Broker isn't too happy about it."

Doctor Michel turned in surprise. "Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker? That's stupid, even for him! Saren must have made him quite the offer."

Vakarian nodded once. "And do I know it! That quarian must have something Saren wants desperately. Something worth crossing the Shadow Broker to get."

Shepard applied medigel along the entry path as he withdrew the syringe, and his omnitool showed the nanotech was already at work. He looked up at the doctor before repeating the process on Halvorsen's left wrist. "What else can you tell us about the quarian?"

"I'm not sure. Like I said, she wanted to trade information for a place to hide. She didn't…" The doctor seemed lost in thought for a moment. "Wait a minute. Geth. Her information had something to do with the geth."

"She must be able to link Saren to the geth," Vakarian turned to Shepard, "There's no way the Council can ignore this!"

Satisfied with his work, the Commander climbed to his feet. "Hope I didn't steal your show, Doctor," he looked down at the fallen man, "If you need to clean up my work, I won't be offended."

Chloe looked down at Halvorsen, then knelt next to him. "What? Oh, no…not at all. I've gotten so used to handling cases that can walk in, it was stupid of me to stand there and make you do it yourself." She waved her own medical omnitool over the man. "But I think I would have wanted to shoot him first, too."

The door hissed open and two C-Sec officers entered, weapons drawn.

"Over here," Vakarian said, stepping sideways toward the door as he spoke. "We've got an injury, but since he was shot in a clinic, he's probably going to make it. I've got to pursue; can you guys handle cleanup?" He looked toward the other C-Sec officers. "Eddie. Ah, I mean Officer Lang."

"Hi, Garrus. Glad I was close when they called. Sure thing, go. We've got this covered." He moved across the room, lifting a pair of cuffs off his belt.

Ash replaced her Banshee on her SmartPak as soon as the other C-Sec officer had a weapon trained on the three scruffy men. She spoke toward the XO. "We can't fool around," she said, following the turian toward the door. "If the quarian went to Fist's, we need to get to her quick!"

Shepard nodded, looked at the C-Sec detective. "Time we paid Fist a visit."

"This is your show, Shepard. But I want to bring Saren down as much as you do. I'm coming with you!"

"What? You're a turian. Why do you want to bring him down?"

Garrus was unconscious of the fact that his fringe contracted as he spoke; he was angry, and spoiling for a fight. "This isn't the first time I've seen people die, and the Council acts like there's nothing wrong. I couldn't find the proof I needed in time for my investigation, but I knew what was really going on. If Saren really did incite the geth to attack your colony, he's a traitor to the Council, and a disgrace to my people!"

"Well…aren't we all fired up and ready to go?" Ash folded her arms.

"You don't know the half of it." The turian looked to Shepard. "Don't forget, we aren't the only ones going after Fist. The Shadow Broker hired that krogan bounty hunter to take him out, remember?"

Ash nodded, "Yeah, we saw him in the bar. Even as krogan go, that is a krogan you do not want to mess with."

Shepard paused thoughtfully. "Normally, I'm not one to turn down help, but a mercenary will have his own agenda. We can handle this on our own. I don't want this guy killing people before we find out what they know."

"But after…?"

Shepard turned to Ash, ready to give his Killing is not what we do talk before seeing her expression; she was joking. "Not if they were helpful," he said after a pause.

Vakarian was still trying to move the investigation ahead. "Looks like he's still at the C-Sec academy." His ARA monocle continued to scroll data past his left eye.

As he turned to face Vakarian, Shepard's ARO displayed a message:

K. Alenko: The krogan is contracted to kill Fist, not Saren. At least for the moment.

"Looks like Fist accused him of making threats," Vakarian said. "We brought him in for a little talk. If you hurry, you can catch him at the Academy before he leaves."

"Hopefully Alenko and Jenkins can delay him," Shepard answered. "We need to get to Fist now, or intercept the quarian before she does."

"Come on, I know a shortcut through the markets." The turian made for the door. "Thanks again, Eddie. Sorry I can't stay for the afterglow."

The cheerful C-Sec officer waved a right-back-atcha gesture at the turian. "Glad to help, Garrus. Good hunting."

# # #

As the two humans stepped out of the elevator at the C-Sec Academy, Kaidan's VI had identified the krogan, and his ARO displayed a callout: Urdnot, Wrex. Address as "Wrex" unless clan is an issue.

They started across the lobby toward the krogan as Kaidan continued to read the VI-generated social brief; he was looking in the krogan's direction as he did so. Normally, such focus would have been interpreted as a challenge by a krogan, but over the centuries of interacting with aliens, Wrex had grown relatively more cosmopolitan. He said, "Yes, human?"

Kaidan's VI faded the overlay to near transparency as he focused on the krogan. "Sorry…I was reading. One of our colonies was just attacked, and we think it was instigated by a Spectre. To shut him down, we need to get evidence against him. Barla Von said to talk to you."

Wrex hunched over slightly to put his head level with the human's and answered quietly, "Barla Von is a wise volus. We may share a common goal, human."

Kaidan folded his arms. "Enlighten me."

"I've been hired to kill the owner of Chora's Den. A man named Fist. He did something very foolish."

Kaidan darkened his omnitool gauntlet and glanced toward Richard. The younger soldier was still gawking at the krogan. Turning back to the bounty hunter, Kaidan continued, "What could be so foolish that it warrants killing this Fist person?"

Rich turned suddenly toward the Lieutenant, blinked in realization, and lit his gauntlet.

The krogan continued to speak quietly. "He betrayed the Shadow Broker. A quarian showed up here on the Citadel; she was on the run. She needed protection, so she went to Fist. He promised to set up a meeting between her and the Shadow Broker. Instead, he contacted Saren, sold her out. Probably killed her."

"Killed her? Why?"

"The quarian had something that links Saren to the geth. The Shadow Broker was buying it through Fist, but Fist reneged on the deal, sold it to Saren. Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker." The krogan squinted at Kaidan. "Besides, the Shadow Broker is hurting Saren by killing Fist. Kill prey quickly, but let an enemy see his death in you."

Kaidan's ARO displayed: Krogan proverb.

"Shouldn't you be trying to kill Saren?" Kaidan glanced toward Rich, and then back quickly; with his arms akimbo, the younger man was standing just a little too casually, his gauntlet still aglow.

The eye facing Kaidan blinked in disbelief. "Kill Saren?" The krogan chuckled. "Heh. I'd love to, but not for so little. Saren is a hard target. Do you even know who Saren is, human?"

"He's a Spectre," Kaidan shrugged. "We're trying to get the Council to revoke his status. We want him brought to justice."

The krogan tilted its massive head just enough to let Kaidan know that this idea verged on the insane. "Justice? From the Council? There is no justice but what you fight for, human. The sooner you learn that, the sooner you'll realize that the Council has no interest in justice."

Kaidan shook his head and shrugged. "Well, maybe this was a bad idea. We're trying to get evidence against Saren."

Wrex seemed amused at this. "And what…I'm just a hired gun?"

"That's not what I mean. You're trying to kill Fist, and we're trying to get this quarian's information. But that info is what the Shadow Broker was after in the first place. Even if we save the quarian, the Shadow Broker will still want the intel, and might try to kill us if we get it. And you'll be the one to do it."

"You think I'll stab you in the back?" Wrex chuckled again, "You humans. You scheme like salarians." He turned to Rich, pointed at the Corporal's omnitool. "That's spelled W-R-E-X. I hate it when aliens leave off the sound of the rushing wind character."

Rich looked up at him, then quickly at Kaidan, and then back at his gauntlet in embarrassment.

Wrex turned back to Kaidan and continued, "Someone just paid off Fist. The job must already be done, and the quarian dead, because the Shadow Broker is acting like he's in a blood rage about it." He pulled a PET off his belt, held it up for Kaidan to see. The krogan ideographs it displayed were quickly covered with translations by Kaidan's ARO:

Assignment per previous communique:
Proceed to Chora's Den, pick up quarian plus omnitool from Agent Fist.
Verify presence and data integrity of Saren's presence on Eden Prime.
Deliver quarian plus omnitool and any other required resources to Agent Von.
Provide armed escort to location to be given by Von.
Fee: GCr 129,000 plus expenses, GCr 25,000 up front, balance upon completion.
Urdnot Wrex: Accepted.

Fee in escrow pending delivery.
Update: Quarian assumed terminated. GCr 25,000 advance payment transfer complete.
New contract: Terminate Agent Fist. GCr 343,000 upon completion.
Urdnot Wrex: Accepted.

Fee in escrow pending confirmation from Citadel morgue.

Wrex paused to let Kaidan read it, then explained, "But if Fist hasn't already killed her, you can still get her. The Shadow Broker's not after the quarian except as a way to get leverage on Saren. See? I'm no threat to you, I'm just out for Fist. And if he's killed your quarian, you should be after him, too."

Kaidan pointed at the device. "How old is this update?"

The krogan turned the terminal so he could read from its display. "A few minutes ago."

Richard had watched this exchange intently. "Sir, I don't think we want to kill Fist even if he has killed the quarian. And if he did, her omnitool may still have the evidence. But we'll need him to tell us where it is."

"Don't worry about Fist," Wrex interrupted, "That's my job." He turned to the right and pushed past Kaidan, heading for the elevator.

The two Alliance soldiers exchanged a look; Kaidan lit his gauntlet as Rich's eyes widened in alarm. "Uh…wait! Mister Wrex, sir. Uh…" He leapt after the krogan only to find himself facing armored teeth. "You can't kill him! We need his information!"

Wrex looked down at the human and sighed. "Listen Tiny, if I don't kill him, my rating goes down. The contract and payment gets handed to someone else. I lose twice, and he's still dead." The krogan glanced toward the elevator. "But how about this: When I find him, I'll just squeeze out of him where the quarian or the omnitool is before I pinch off his head. Everybody wins."

"Except Mister Fist."

"Heh…right. Well that's his own damn fault, isn't it? Here's an important safety tip…" Wrex leaned up close to Rich's ear and rumbled, "Don't…cross…the Shadow Broker." He gently tapped the Corporal's torso armor with a single finger in time with the next three words, not enough to push him, but to drive the point home, "Very bad idea."

The words hung in the air for a moment, and then Wrex turned for the elevator again.

Rich looked at Kaidan once more, then back at the krogan. He stepped a foot into the elevator door track to prevent them closing. "How…did you know…I mean, why did you spell your name out for me?"

Wrex sighed. "You were messaging someone, right? And it was about me, right? So I was letting you know that I knew."

"But how did you know?"

"Been at this for a loooong time, Tiny." Wrex reached out and casually shoved Rich away from the door with one hand as he punched the Door Close key with the other. "Can't tell you all the tricks."

The elevator door closed between them.

# # #

Kaidan flinched as he saw the young Corporal turn away to take on the massive krogan. He gestured for RTM.

Found the krogan. We can stop him, but it'll take bullets. Lots of bullets.

The delay was brief before Shepard's reply: Very funny. No bullets. Did you find out where Saren is?

Kaidan messaged, The krogan isn't after Saren directly, just after his agent, a guy named Fist who owns that bar we were just in. Chora's Den.

Wish the volus had just said so, Shepard replied. I wonder if he sent us to the bounty hunter so he could stop us?

Kaidan continued, Don't know. But he confirmed that Fist had a quarian with intel that compromised Saren. Fist was going to sell to the Shadow Broker, but then sold to Saren instead. The Shadow Broker wants Fist dead. But Fist may be the only way to get the quarian, or her intel. We have to get Fist before the krogan kills him. The krogan's on his way up there right now. We're taking a taxi, so we might get there before him.

Shepard's reply came back, Let's hope. We're on our way to Fists's bar now. Looks like the quarian's there.

# # #

Within the elevator far above the humans, Wrex manipulated his omnitool. The RFID tracer he had applied to the young soldier was returning a signal, and it showed them still on the Customs level of C-Sec Diplomatic Entry.

The humans weren't trying to hurt him, or even stop him directly, but the grizzled old krogan knew a delaying action when he saw one. The baby human – the baby! – had tried to face him down. Quite a quad on that one, he thought. The heart of a true fighter.

The signal began to move; the wrong way at first, but quickly. They had taken a taxi.

Wrex shook his head. Well, maybe that's okay. They'll fight their way through the guards who are surely there to stop me, and then I'll charge in when they find Fist and close the contract.

He pulled his PET off his belt again, spun through messages and located his exchange with the Shadow Broker.

I'm headed to Fist's place to make the hit. You want that quarian if she's still alive?

Considering that answers usually came back instantly, the Broker seemed to actually be thinking about that. Quarian's omnitool worth GCr 130,000 bonus. Geth cores worth GCr 40,000. Quarian finder worth GCr 100.

Got it. You still want this stuff delivered back to Barla Von?

Yes.

# # #

When Fist had gotten the message from Sergeant Eason about the krogan, he had closed the club. He knew it would take some time to get disrupted customers happy, but the firefight outside had helped justify it. He knew his own operation had had nothing to do with that, so he cheerfully offered up all the camera recordings to the C-Sec VI that had called and asked for them.

But some of his own staff had been confused at the unexpected call to close off-hours; some of the back rooms were still booked and in use; and one didn't disturb such clientele lightly.

Godo, the quick-thinking salarian, had simply switched the lights off at the control box. Emergency lights in the back hall had switched on, and in just a few minutes, the denizens of the "backstage" club, in varieties of disheveled or hurriedly-donned attire trickled into the curving hallway. Fist had made the final sweep himself, offering apologies, rain checks and discounts to the more belligerant customers.

Dead customers weigh ten times normal on a ledger, he thought, and they take years to pay off.

On the way back to his office, sealed the "backstage" area's access, and checked on the hit team in the back alley with a tap on his omnitool. Finally ready, though Zaf and Umi were still arguing like chipmunks.

# # #

Tali was still sitting at the table eating because she'd been snooping the network and it slowed down her eating. She didn't mind that it made her look like a slow eater; it meant she knew her environment better. But it was a minor surprise when the door to Fist's office opened, and his head poked out. "Hey. Is your suit EVA-ready?"

Tali looked up from her meal. Was I so focused that I missed his walking by? "What?"

"Is your suit EVA ready," he repeated. "There's a krogan bounty hunter on his way here who's after your head. Name's Wrex. Anyway, I know we can stop him, but the timing is important for you to meet the Shadow Broker, and you don't want to be seen getting there." He pointed to the door behind him. "That leads outside, but it's well within the Kiggs field. You'll need to crawl to the service area just spinward of the airlock. Your suit will help you if you lose your way, but…well…don't take this the wrong way…do you have your EVA card?"

"Certainly," Tali jumped up from the table, started toward him. "It's a Flotilla rating, but that's easy to translate. I'm EVA-4 in the Flotilla, but I haven't gotten a Council certification. It's just a formality compared to what we do, but–"

Fist interrupted, "Okay, whatever, but you really have to hurry. I know it'll take a few minutes for you to get over there, but it will keep you safe because hardly anybody knows you can get there from outside anyway." He had moved over to the door that led to his balcony, touched the key.

Tali stepped out the door, looking to both sides. "This is incredible! You have your own external access with its own Kiggs field?"

Fist put a hand on her shoulder to get her to move out of the door. "I wish. This is just a side effect of being so close to the ward arms."

"But I thought the field was emitted only to the inside."

"No, it's all over, out to about seven meters from the ward arm panels. Even the Keepers don't need air to work outside, but hardly anyone notices." He pointed to one of the four-legged aliens a hundred meters distant, slowly crawling its way along the outside of the Ward arm.

Tali gasped. "But that's…that's not…the power consumption must be…"

Fist shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It works." He pointed spinward. "All you have to do is traverse this wall to the end. See that edge right there?"

Tali nodded. "I have emergency magnetic crampons, I just can't use them for more than..." she paused while manipulating the conversion controls by thought, "about fourty-three minutes. The power draw is too high. But I can make it over to there, no problem."

Fist pointed to the left. "Just past that corner is a thing like a long, flat umbrella. It's on a one-meter arm, so be careful if you get too close."

"A power and logic network node?" Tali drew the shape in the air before her with fingers on either hand. "Shaped like this, but about as big as me?"

"Yeah. Just past that is a singlet airlock. You can get back in there. The service corridor is accessible from two directions; the Shadow Broker will meet you there. I will get there as soon as I can. If I can shut down this mercenary quickly, I'll just walk over. It's actually a little farther for me inside than it will be for you outside. So don't worry if I don't get there quickly." Fist glanced nervously to his right, pointed back toward the Maw. "But be really careful, okay? If you lose your grip, you'll get pulled to the Maw. It's like automatic garbage disposal." He lit his omnitool gauntlet, read the message. "Aw, crap. It looks like that krogan is almost here. You'd better get going."

"Singlet airlock just past the PLN node," Tali chirped. "I'll see you when you get there." She grabbed the lateral bar and stepped over the edge of the balcony. She didn't hear the gunfire that erupted from the club's main floor as she did.

*** Glossary ***

ARA: Augmented Reality Appliance

GCr: Galactic Credits

Maw: A low-gravity point of attraction at the Nebula end of the Citadel. Its design intent seems to have been to keep the Traffic Control lanes free of debris. Its gravity well is not steep, but - in conjunction with the gravity of the white dwarf at the heart of the Widow Nebula - it does manage to keep the local space clean. Matter that falls into the Maw is directed into a chamber where all test probes have been destroyed. It is speculated that this is a molecular furnace that supplies the Citadel with raw materials for its own ongoing construction and maintenance. (non-canon)

PET: portable extranet terminal, an interstellar-capable device for extranet access even on remote worlds.

Singlet airlock: An airlock just large enough for a suited humanoid to fit inside. Its small size gives it a very quick cycle time.