2185
Citadel/Widow Nebula

After dealing with Harkin, Shepard, Garrus, and Thane had wound up with time on their hands before the meeting with Sidonis. Shepard was worried about Garrus and had thought it would be best to get him away from where the meeting was supposed to take place on Zakera Ward, and had leapt on Thane's suggestion of a cafe in Bachjret Ward that he had visited before, that catered to levo- and dextro-amino customers. It had taken a lot of coaxing to get Garrus to order something, but he eventually had, even grudgingly admitting that it was good.

They were still in no rush to get back to Zakera, and when they saw a group of C-Sec officers moving past them at a fast clip, they paused to observe the rapidly growing crowd around one of the warehouses nearby.

"Should we take a look?" Shepard asked.

"I don't know, Shepard, we don't need any more trouble…" Garrus began.

"If C-Sec's there, they've already got it under control, most likely," Shepard said.

"Most likely," Thane said in his gravelly voice. Shepard thought she might have detected a hint of amusement there. "That leaves room for us to be drawn in."

"Come on, guys," Shepard said. "Aren't you the least bit curious as to what's happening?"

Garrus sighed. "Fine, fine. We'd better not be late."

"We won't be, Garrus," Shepard assured him, feeling a little flutter in her stomach. His nervousness was making her nervous. "It's not like I'm going to walk up and introduce myself and ask if I can help."

They were almost to the commotion when Shepard heard a familiar voice rising above the din, and she almost laughed out loud. "Call Councilor Valern," Mordin was saying. "No time for this. Have to get the girl home."

A few steps more and Shepard could see that there was a young salarian - the girl in question, presumably - clinging to Mordin as though her life depended on it. Besides Mordin stood the Doctor, taking out some sort of black ID and waving it in a turian C-Sec officer's face. "What part of Special Undercover Operative do you not understand?" he asked.

"I don't know of any undercover operations in this district," the turian officer said.

"That's because I'm not part of this district, I'm -" The Doctor threw up his hands in exasperation. "Look, will you just step aside and let us go?"

"You busted an organic trafficking ring here on the Citadel," the turian said. "I don't know about Jones, here-" he nodded to his human partner- "but I have a lot of questions about how you did that."

"They were bosh'tets, that's how!" Tali said, coming to stand beside the Doctor. "We busted them in a matter of hours. You should be ashamed that we did it so quickly. Or did you not care about the people vanishing? Were they just transients, like me?"

Shepard, Garrus, and Thane exchanged a glance, and then Shepard broke out laughing. She opened a call to Anderson on her omni-tool. "Anderson? I don't know what your salarian counterpart was up to today, but he managed to involve some of my crew, and they're now right in the middle of C-Sec bureaucracy. Could you let Valern know so he can get this straightened out before we leave?"

"What the hell are you talking about, Shepard?" Anderson asked.

"I'll be honest, sir, I haven't the faintest," Shepard said. "But we're in Bachjret Ward and something is happening with my crew and C-Sec. Just let Valern know, will you?"

"All right," Anderson said. "I'll see if that scaly bastard feels like giving me answers while he's at it."

"Good luck with that, sir," Shepard said, and closed down the call. She sighed. "Much as I'd like to stick around to figure out what was going on here, I think it's time for us to be going back to Zakera." She turned around and headed back the way they'd come, the other two falling in behind her.

One minute, they were getting absolutely nowhere with C-Sec.

The next, the highest-ranking officer, a turian, raised a hand to his earpiece (if that was the right term - did turians even have ears?) and barked out "What? Are you sure?" There was a pause, and the turian shook his head. "All right, sir. If you say so." He lifted his head up and nodded to Mordin. "They can go."

"But, sir," the human officer said, "we're not done with them-"

"This is above your pay grade," the turian said gruffly. "And mine too, apparently. They can leave."

"About time," Tali said crossly, turning her omni-tool off and moving to join Mordin and the Doctor.

"Thank you," the Doctor said to the turian, trying not to sound too peevish. He had just been doing his job, after all. It wasn't his fault that today his job had involved the Doctor.

"Just get out of here before I change my mind," the turian replied, waving a hand at them as he turned away to continue processing the former captives.

Laran was quiet as they made their way out of the area, only speaking again once they'd entered the elevator that would take them back to the commercial district. "Is my father mad at me?" she asked Mordin.

"Suspect he will be relieved to see you," Mordin replied. "Mad later. Possibly. Would worry more about dalatrasses."

Laran cringed visibly. "Maybe - maybe they'll be so disappointed that they won't want anything to do with me anymore," she said after a minute.

Mordin shook his head. "Doubtful. Females too important."

"I wish I'd been born a boy, then," Laran said sulkily. "So I could just go work with computers and no one would want anything from me."

"Dalatrasses want things from boys too," Mordin told her. "Must bring honor and prestige to our clans. If no honor in computers, encouraged into other matters."

Laran sighed. "I hate them."

The Doctor was now wearing a small smile. It seemed that some traits were universal across species. "The trick is," he said, "to make them want the same things that you want."

Laran twisted her head to look at the Doctor. "How do I do that?" she asked.

"I'm not an expert in politics," the Doctor said. "But it seems like there would be some overlap between computers and politics. In two senses, I think. When you're hacking, you're looking for the weak spot - and in politics, you often have to find the other person's weak spot, to make them give you what they want."

"What's the other sense?" Laran asked, her eyes wide, paying close attention.

"To use your computer skills to help politicians," Tali said, picking up the thread. The Doctor nodded, giving her permission to continue. "You're not going to be a dalatrass overnight, after all. You could learn to write programs that the dalatrasses would find useful. Like financial ones." She inclined her head slightly, a gesture that the Doctor guessed was in lieu of a smile. "Quarians know something about duty to one's family as well. Everyone has to contribute in some way."

"Running away from problems rarely solves them," Mordin offered. "Must confront them head-on. Father loves you. Would probably help."

"But - if he lost me - will the dalatrasses prevent him from seeing me again?" Laran asked, getting fearful again.

"Won't let that happen," Mordin assured her.

"Nor will I," the Doctor said.

"Or I," Tali added.

"But you don't even know me!" Laran said. "Why would you help me?"

"Because you deserve our help," the Doctor said.

"I'm nobody special," Laran said.

"Course you are," the Doctor said indignantly. "Is there another salarian girl named Laran that loves computers? You're one of a kind. That makes you special."

"Oh," Laran said, and buried her head against Mordin's neck again. It seemed like he'd given her something to think about. Maybe they all had. That was all to the good.

When they reached Garid's apartment building, the salarian was already waiting for them outside. Laran started running when she saw her father, leaping up into his arms and clinging on the same way she'd been clinging to Mordin moments earlier.

"Will let Valern know girl is home," Mordin said as they watched the father-daughter reunion. "And suggest ways to make dalatrasses happy. Don't want girl trying to run away again."

"I think that was a proper scare," the Doctor said. "I don't think she'll run away again. But she might cause trouble in other ways."

"Solus name not without pull," Mordin said. "Owed a few favors. Can call in if necessary. Nephew doesn't need favors. Already has career. Where else will favors go?"

"Your retirement?" Tali asked lightly.

"Shepard said, low survival odds," Mordin reminded her. "May not be retirement to speak of."

And just like that, they'd wandered onto a topic none of them wanted to discuss in great detail. The silence fell as Garid came over, Laran clutching his hand tightly. "I can't thank you enough," Garid said. "I don't know what I would have done if - Thank you. If there's anything that I can ever do -"

"Not needed," Mordin said, waving a hand. "Laran's safety and happiness - enough reward."

"Still," Garid said earnestly. "Please keep it in mind."

"We will," the Doctor replied. It never hurt to have favors to call in. And, he suspected, Garid would be hurt if they refused.

"Should be going back to the ship," Mordin said. "Not sure how much longer Shepard will be." He paused. "Will keep in touch. Want to hear how things go."

"Really?" Laran said.

"Of course," Mordin said, nodding decisively. "Smart girl. Bright future."

Laran brightened visibly at that - as Mordin had probably meant her to. "I won't let you down."

"Good," Mordin replied. "Don't worry. Will speak with Valern if there's any trouble."

As the trio turned to leave, the Doctor looked back over his shoulder to see Laran clinging to Garid as a swarm of salarians descended on them, no doubt with a million questions and recriminations. The Doctor wished he could help, but he suspected he wouldn't get anywhere with this group.

"What's her future, really?" the Doctor asked. "Is she going to be able to follow her love for computers?"

"Don't know," Mordin said. "Hope so. Will lend what help I can. Females sequestered and isolated for a reason. So few of them. Clans get upset when females at risk. Future of clan rides on them."

"Hardly seems fair to girls like Laran," the Doctor said.

Mordin sighed. "Possibly right. Salarian system built around our biology. Ninety-nine males to every female. No system is perfect. Sometimes … anomalies happen."

"Next time she runs, she could come to the Normandy," Tali said. "We'd help her."

"May mention that in message," Mordin said after a long pause.

By the time they got back to the Normandy, Shepard was already there, leaning against the airlock with a worried look on her face. She pushed off the wall, and her expression eased a little. "Good, you're here. We can get moving."

"Get everything accomplished?" Tali asked.

Shepard nodded. "We did. What about you guys? Anything interesting happen?"

"Just the usual," the Doctor replied breezily, causing Mordin and Tali to give him sideways glances. Well, for him, it was quite true. Wherever he went, he seemed to wind up in the middle of interesting situations…

"Uh huh," Shepard said dryly. "So the usual involves claiming to be a special undercover agent of C-Sec on a mission from Councilor Valern to break up a slavery ring?"

"How did you know that?" Tali asked, amazement evident in her voice.

Shepard laughed. "I'd love to draw this out, but … I just happened to be part of the crowd that was gawking at the commotion you created." She grinned at Tali. "I may also have put in a call to Anderson to make sure you weren't tied up in red tape for the next three years."

"Much obliged, Shepard," Mordin said with a decisive nod. "Despise red tape."

Shepard laughed, again, and then her expression dropped again. The Doctor hadn't the faintest clue what was going on, but Tali seemed to. "Go on ahead," the quarian said to the Doctor and Mordin. "I'll catch up in a minute."

Once the other two had left, Tali folded her arms across her chest and turned to face Shepard. She was almost tempted to take her mask off so that she could glare at Shepard, even if it would make her sick for a week. "What's going on?" she asked instead, making her voice firm.

"What makes you think that something is going on?" Shepard asked.

Tali kept her mask pinned squarely on Shepard's face, and eventually the human relented. "All right. It's Garrus. I … I kept him from killing someone. His old team member who betrayed them all. He wanted to kill Sidonis, and I couldn't let him."

"It sounds like you did the right thing," Tali said. "Killing Sidonis wouldn't bring his old team back."

"But he just sounded so … hurt, when he finally let Sidonis go," Shepard said, hunching up her back and looking at the floor. "I did that."

"No, Shepard, he did that," Tali said. "He was so focused on revenge that he couldn't see any other way. You did what you had to do. In time, he'll see that."

"I hope you're right, Tali," Shepard said. "And - thanks. For listening."

"Thanks for letting me listen," Tali replied, reaching out to touch Shepard's arm. "Shepard, you're my friend as well as my captain. No one else would have done as much for me as you have. Any time you need to talk, you know where to find me."

Shepard raised her head and smiled, covering Tali's gloved hand with her own. "Thanks, Tali. It's good to be reminded of that." She hesitated. "While we're talking like this … do I have any right to be dragging you along with me, when there's a chance none of us will be able to make it back?"

"I didn't have to come, Shepard," Tali said. "None of us did."

"I know, I know," Shepard replied, "but - I care about the people coming along for the ride. You and Garrus especially."

"Are you the only one permitted to risk her life for a good cause?" Tali asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"It's not your race that's disappearing," Shepard countered.

"But it is my race that's threatened by the geth, who were working for the Reapers," Tali said. "If the Reapers come back, we'll be first to be attacked. And the Reapers are coming back. It's not your fault that charging off into the unknown is your best option."

"You're not helping," Shepard protested, but she was smiling, which Tali considered a big improvement.

"Think of it this way," Tali said. "If you have people you trust at your back, you're more likely to make it out of the Omega-4 Relay again."

"I can always use more bright-side thinking," Shepard admitted. "It helps to offset everything else I learn falling into the doom-and-gloom category."

"It's not all doom-and-gloom, Shepard," Tali said. "Just try to remember that every once in a while."