2. Ships in the night

Shepard stopped at the bar and scanned the crowd. Then she felt a tap on her shoulder and spun around.

"Just me, Commander. And I have what we wanted." Tali'Zorah, features hidden behind the violet mask of her environmental suit but sounding pleased, held out a data-chip.

Shepard took it. "We got wings?"

"We do. Just pass that to Joker, he'll need to put it in the pilot's control desk before anything'll start working for him."

"You got it. What we got then, Tali?" The pair began walking for the exit, side-stepping dancing Asari and drunken Batarians as they went.

"I managed to get the Livefleet to lend us a small freighter, well armoured and fitted with more than a little firepower. We even have two engineers to help us, should anything go wrong."

"You know them?"

The Quarian hesitated. "No. But they came highly recommended."

Shepard glanced at her, trying to make out some kind of expression, but the only thing she thought she saw was a slight tension in her body, a flicker of movement from the white eyes behind her visor's glass, just for a moment. "Who by?" She asked the question with some suspicion.

"You don't need to worry about them, Shepard. Really." Tali's voice became a little awkward. Shepard had heard the same tone before, usually when Tali was talking about the Quarian Admiralty, her government, who had recently seen fit to exile her. Politicians who didn't have a clue again, reflected Shepard.

"Okay, Tali, I trust you. C'mon, let's move out."

They left Afterlife and crossed the entrance hall, heading for the docking bay. As they walked Shepard asked for some more on the engineers. "So, they have names, these two people of yours?"

Tali nodded. "Ra'tel and Zeyah. They're already aboard with Joker. He was trying to get the ship to work for him without that chip when I saw him last."

"Figures. Any ship turns to jelly in Joker's fingers. He says." Shepard managed her first real laugh for a long time. Tali just shook her head.

The ship was called Jeeya, an ancient Quarian goddess of Harvest, Tali said. It was tight, compact, and easy to hit your head on. The roof was low and space at a premium. Usually the vessel was a mere ship to ship transport, designed to carry materials both natural and synthetic. Directly below the circular Control hub and pilot's station hung a pair of massive , currently empty, containment units. Aft of the hub was engineering, the central mass effect core and the airlock. Finally, a bulky group of propulsion engines stuck out at the back of the ship, an unattractive but hefty show of strength. The ship was neither sleek nor shining as the Normandy had been, and it looked more like a cream coloured miniature mass relay up-ended rather than a silver bullet, but it suited purpose and was the best there was on offer.

Shepard met the two engineers and found them to be polite, if distant. They had probably not taken this detail out of choice. Working for a disgraced exile and a trigger-happy human female wasn't an attractive prospect for most self respecting Quarians. Ra'tel said he had actually served with humans before, but when questioned on his opinion of the experience he merely reeled off a line about it being "not a problem". Zeyah was apparently something of a rookie and once the mission was over she had the unappetising, to Shepard at least, prospect of Pilgrimage ahead of her. After the meeting Shepard left Tali with them and returned to the control hub.

Wearing his familiar black cap and a sandy jacket that had seen better days, Joker was dug into the low-slung pilot's seat, which was almost built into the front of the room. His legs were almost concealed and brittle as they always had been, Shepard felt a twinge of concern before the young flyer dismissed it from her mind with an uncharacteristic grumble when he glanced up at her arrival. "Jeez, Commander, this is not cool. Why the hell do Quarians have all the important things on the frickin' ceiling? Tell me, please. And from here you look taller than I saw you last. Way taller." He returned to his work and began rattling his fingers across a keyboard of glowing amber pads above him, looking irritable. "I miss EDI," he muttered and scratched his beard.

"You should ask Tali about it. I don't know that much about Quarian design, only that they have a great knack of making things work that shouldn't."

"Like Geth," Joker said caustically.

"Not here, Joker." Shepard gave him a reproachful look and the pilot, despite concentrating on his work, sensed it and held up a hand in apology. "Sorry, maa'm, that was out of line. But I do miss EDI. Ah, here we go." A golden holo-image appeared in front of him, with more control indicators showing upon it. Joker grinned, swiped a finger over two of them and the engines boomed into life, before settling into a deep, low monotone throughout the ship. "Where to?" he asked.

Shepard handed him the coordinates. "Abandoned Cerberus ship. I want to know why. And why it was going to Vana."

"Cerberus again? Do we really want to know?"

"Yeah," Shepard said grimly, "we really do."

Joker flexed his hands and swiped the holo-control again. "Okay then. Setting course for the nearest Mass Relay. ETA: 62 minutes. Better tell Tali and the others, I haven't figured out the ship's com-system yet."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Thought you could operate any ship in the galaxy, Joker."

Joker looked up again. "Hey, I can fly anything. I didn't say I could operate a Quarian radio. Not yet, anyway."

Shepard feigned surprise at this. "I can."

The pilot pulled his cap down over a furrowed brow. "So not cool."

Jeeya dropped out of the Vular Mass Relay in a splash of blinding white and electric blue. An instant later it slowed to a gentle drift against inky black. Only a litter of distant stars coloured its cream body. Then it flashed white again and sprinted away again into light-speed. Some time later Jeeya reappeared, this time a short distance shy of a damaged shuttlecraft, floating upside down, scarred by pulse-cannon fire. It was also in the middle of a debris field, consisting of warped, blistered, shredded metal and interior core components. They scattered away off of the decelerating body of Jeeya with a light clatter. Something clunked against the hull and the ship rocked for a second.

"Shit, it's a mess out there," Joker said, shutting Jeeya's propulsion engine down. "No harm done, though. Quarian's build 'em strong."

"Damn straight, Joker," Tali agreed, appearing at the hub. "What's the situation, Shepard?"

"Joker's the expert, Tali. Aren't you, Joker?"

He turned around in his chair, legs shifting awkwardly and causing him some effort. "Hell, yeah. Okay, I think I know what happened to the Mercs."

"Their ship was destroyed," Tali said.

"Well, yeah, totally. Interesting thing is the energy signatures left behind, though."

"Which are?" Shepard asked patiently.

Joker swiped the holo-control over his desk and a series of charts and line graphs flashed in various colours. "See these readings? They tell the tales. One: The cannon signature is Turian. Two: There was a fire-fight aboard the shuttle before it got wasted. Three, and most clearly: There's the remains of an engine signature from a Turian dreadnaught. Trust me, I know these things. Studying engine sigs used to be kind of a hobby of mine." He looked up dreamily. "Good times."

Shepard shook her head, winced and looked at the steel floor, only seeing bad ones ahead. "Christ. The cannon, I'm guessing Thanix, right?"

Joker nodded. "Good guess. Same as we got for the Normandy. But it must have been modified. Not in the way you'd usually think, mind. No, they would've had to weaken the beam a little. Otherwise there'd be two destroyed ships here." He thought about this. "Guess they wanted to go get something. Like we do."

Shepard ran a hand through her hair and sighed, then turned to Tali. "We're going aboard. You're with me, see if you can get something out of the shuttle's computer systems. Ship's log, encrypted files, that kind of crap."

Tali folded her arms. "Shepard, respect my field, please. I don't mind when you blow things up do I?"

Shepard shrugged. "What's to mind about?" Then, when Tali said something under her breath in Quorian: "Sorry, Tali. Look, let's just get over there, huh?"

The Jeeya aligned with the left side of the shuttle and Shepard and Tali entered via its airlock. They found a wrecked ship with bulkheads intact but upside down and at crazy angles. The cockpit could be seen a short distance below them, and most of the rest of the ship was the compartment where they now stood, uneasily, on the end of row of footlockers. The only light came from a smattering of broken controls in the wall alongside the airlock.

"Be better in Zero-G," Shepard observed, "We're going to have to frickin' climb down there otherwise.

Tali wore the glowing yellow glove of her omnitool as ever, and began to type into it immediately. "Prepped?"

"Do it." Shepard closed the visor on her helmet and activated her crimson N7 spacesuit's oxygen feed.

There was a loud hiss and the already dark ship now lost not only its air and gravity but also the light of the wall controls. Only shadowy shapes visible at very close range remained. Tali,safe in her own natural environment suit, decided to take the lead this time, saying she wanted to have a look at the cockpit. Shepard told her she wanted to examine the rear compartment first, then tapped a switch on the left side of her helmet. A small circle of light illuminated the space in front of her. Only then did she see the first Eclipse Mercenary. Or at least, the top half of him, melted into a blast hole in the wall opposite her.

The lower half of what had been a Salarian had apparently vaporised; A hit at point blank range would do that to you with most assault rifles, especially so to the thin and wiry frame of one of his species. Shepard took a breath and looked right. A second, intact but just as lifeless Salarian, in the same grainy red and white livery as his comrade, was slumped over a table against the rear wall, but with gravity gone, he was beginning shifting in his seat. Shepard pushed up on a workbench towards him and was hit on the visor by a slow moving pistol. She let it spin away and drew up close to the sagging Salarian. The killer shot had gone straight through his midriff, giving an instant death. Looking around, Shepard expected to see at least one other body, specifically a Cerberus one. But there was none. Further, closer inspection showed multiple laser scarring around the compartment. Yet still there were just these two dead Eclipse. She found the chest pockets of the alien's suit and with some distaste, rummaged inside. The contents were nothing more than dust, an empty thermal clip and some credits. Then she noted his utility belt, flapping gently. Carefully she unhooked it from him, and one by one, inspected the various compartments. It was the last that produced a result.

Then Tali's voice called up from below. "Commander, you need to see this."

"Can't you tell me, Tali? I got something too."

"No, you need you see it now, it's from the ship's computer. I've managed to get it operational but I can't download the data. The system's too badly damaged and it's degrading fast."

Shepard turned and pushed down to her Quorian shipmate. A few moments later she was at her side and watching a grainy green monitor flashing first an image and then a few lines of ship's log. They focussed on the latter first. It read: CSH-254, cl050511: En route to Marta Faculty. We have it, but I fear the Primarch is now aware of the operation. As a result I am activating Agent Arturlus,with order to complete the delivery should I be unable to do so myself. I have no doubt in his abilities, despite my superior's misgivings.

The green screen blinked and the image reappeared. Shepard's lip curled down with the same distaste she had felt cleaning out the dead Salarian. It was the Cerberus emblem, spattered with black blood.

"There were two people here, Shepard," Tali said, indicating the twin seats at the control desk. "Not just the Captain."

"No sign of either of them. Turians must've caught up and taken them."

"Assuming it is Turians," Tali suggested there could be an alternative.

There wasn't. "No, you read the log, you heard what Joker said about those signatures. Cerberus took something from them, maybe off Palaven, even. I wouldn't put it passed the bastards."

"What about Eclipse?" Tali asked. "If this ship was damaged when they arrived, the Turians must've already left, and according to your theory they took the crew with them. So the question remains, who killed the mercs? There shouldn't have been anyone else around."

Shepard shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted.

"One other thing," Tali finished, "Who the hell is Agent Arturlus?"

"Sounds Turian to me," Shepard replied, reflecting Tali's perplexed tone.

Tali's voice pitched high. "With Cerberus? You can't be serious. If Garrus could hear you now, Shepard."

Shepard knew the Turian sharp-shooter would be the most likely to back his suggestion, though. "Garrus understands war, how dirty it is, how it taints people. They can change. Or bad apples can go unchecked in the chaos. So yeah, I think there's a Cerberus spy on that dreadnaught."

Tali's body language stiffened, angered very briefly. "You'd rather Garrus be here?"

Shepard was annoyed by the reaction, but she kept her voice calm. "That's not what I said or meant. I'm very glad you're around, Tali. You're my friend and we wouldn't know any of this shit if it weren't for you. But cool it, yeah?"

Tali relaxed. "Sorry Commander."

"No problem. Tell Joker we're going to follow the dreadnaught's signature as far as we can."

"What about this Faculty?"

"Later," Shepard murmured, "I want to talk to this Arturus." She looked up the shuttle to the silhouette of the dead Salarian at the table. "Whoever did that I expect to come to us, sooner or later."

"Oh good," Tali said, wiping some dust from her visor.

"I'm sure it will be."

"You said you found something too, Shepard?" Tali recalled.

Shepard thought about it, nestling in pocket. "I did. Right now, though, I want to be in the shadow of a dreadnaught."