Retrieval Team Jawa was between missions at the moment. The Brothers were in the gym trying to keep up with Battery, Jaun was in the 'football pitch' in vehicle bay seven, and I was down in the 'Playpen'. I'd had an idea on one of our last missions watching Juan use his Omni to fabricate a length of Det-cord. I wasn't sure about the rate or scalability of Omni-fabbed explosives, but something the size of an M-203 or AG-36 would make for a good start.

After two hours I had a couple of those ideas narrowed down. With what I had on hand (namely my Batarian Back-alley special Omni-tool) and a 200ml canister of Omni-gel, I could get five grenades of any type I wanted, with a ROF of 12 shots a minute. Not really that impressive if I did say so myself. I headed back to the workbench to try a redesign, but found a Ghost standing at the terminal.

Having lived on the Spirit of Fire for some months, I had learned how to tell a Ghost from everyone else. He wasn't wearing the ghost bandana or anything pretentious like that, but the man standing in front of me, all five and a half feet of him, was a Ghost. "Can I help you with something?"

He looked up through wire-frame glasses, and I realized he wasn't a Ghost, but the Ghost. The founding seven were as close to living legends as we had. "Captain Lee!" I said in surprise; snapping a quick salute.

There was a somewhat tired look on his face. "August, for now. I'm in need of a recovery specialist, and your name was at the top of Arc's short list." He turned and started walking away. "Come on; this is cutting into 'father-daughter time' with June."

I closed my file, scrapped the prototype and rushed after the wiry man. We wound our way through the heart of the ship, until we reached the auxiliary Combat Information Center. August motioned for me to go first into an adjacent office, and then shut the door once he had followed me inside. The room was already occupied with three other people: Intelligence Director Schultz, Head of R&D Dr. Helix, and my own case officer Bene Said.

Said gestured to one of the seats across from Shultz. "Assalamu, Hiram. Please have a seat."

I sat down. "Assalamu." I noted that August didn't take a seat, though he didn't look like he was trying to be intimidating. He was just very fidgety. "I feel like this conversation is either going to be very good, or very bad."

Director Schultz raised an eyebrow, then steepled his fingers. "This conversation? No. The mission it is about? Very much so. How much do you know about Illium?" he asked.

I grimaced at the memories. "Not much, sir. I was only there for a few days." I looked absently at a wall. "They have good Wi-Fi, but it's loaded with state monitoring software. Crime is pretty bad and their police are more concerned with maintaining Illium's illusion of peace, rather than actually maintaining the peace." I looked around at the various people in the room with me. "It's basically a caricature of the 80's idea of a Corporate led State."

August gave a snort. "You should go to work for their tourism bureau." He nodded to Schultz and Helix. The Doctor tapped a control on the conference table, and a hologram of a Quarian appeared. "A week ago, another Traveler showed up on our search program. She's on Illium, in Nos Astra like you were."

Said leaned into the table. "We had scheduled a pickup when someone snatched her. She got a burst message out." The hologram shifted from the portrait to a video.

"I don't have much time, but someone's coming after me! I don't know why! The only activity I've had was to confirm if the research I have has been continued or-" Crash!

The video became a jumbled mess of Asari and Batarians in uniforms rushing in and seizing her before someone grabbed the recorder.

Doctor Helix shut the hologram off. "The research she mentioned is in various fields of medicine; specifically, Bacteriophages and CRISPR technology. As with the papers you provided," Helix pointed at me, "we can find no other records of this research anywhere. This information is vital to combating numerous medical issues-"

"To say nothing of the potential diplomatic boon it would offer in any dealings with the Migrant fleet." Schultz carried on. "We need this data. You are our resident Illium expert, and you have experience with this specific scenario: the salvaging of critical information."

August must have seen my face twisting into the beginnings of a scowl. "We do want to rescue the 'Damsel-in-distress', and we will if we can but our priority is retrieving the data."

I pursed my lips in thought. "I know someone in the city who might be able to provide limited help. If we can't extract our Traveler, she might be willing to house her until a proper recovery team can be sent."

Schultz glanced at August before looking at me again. "Can this person be trusted?"

I shrugged helplessly. "Last time I saw her I gave her a shotgun and she didn't shoot me in the face with it. Beyond that, vetting her would be your schtick. Her name's Kala D'Lano. She has, or had, an apartment in midtown west."

August gave me an unreadable look. "Schultz's people will look into her. If she's not a security risk, we'll consider her as an option. Otherwise, we stick with the op as stated: go in, secure the data, attempt to extract out Traveler, and exfil."

I wasn't happy with prioritizing information over a life, but I understood the calculus involved: one life wasn't worth the millions that could be potentially saved. "Alright. So, do I get a fancy do-rag?"

"No." The three founders all said at once.

Said rolled her eyes as I shrugged. "Eh, worth a shot." I looked at Said. "So, what do I tell-"

She held up a hand. "I'll tell the rest of your team what they need to know. This isn't a deniable op or anything, but we are compartmentalizing it for the time being."

Schultz stood, and so did the rest of us. "You'll be posing as Mercs for this one, so head down to the armory and get kitted out, then meet August in Hangar Five in two hours."

Since we were not going as a GST team persay, I wouldn't be taking my normal hazard suit. Instead, I was directed to the armory to be issued a GP Plate/Shield carrier and helmet set. I did manage to get authorization to bring my utility-Omni-tool and one of the Tech Armor projectors from my armor. I figured I could tinker with it and have it generate a sort of Pavise or Riot Shield if I needed to bunker down to work.

I was also issued one of the now standard 12.7mm Mass Effected chem-rail assault rifles. I noted the underside universal mount. I waffled for a bit on what I wanted to attach until I decided to stick with what I was passably good at.

It took some finagling, but I managed to convince the Armory Chief to let me at their omni-fabricator. In my time on the Fire, I had gained a bit of a reputation for outlandish and overpowered designs, so they were quite surprised when what I cranked out was an active-power cooling unit.

"I'm the machine gunner for my team." I commented over my shoulder. "Last thing I want is this beast to overheat while I'm trying to lay suppressive fire." I then loaded up on C-Mag type drums of mixed SLAP-T and Raufoss. We were playing the part of Soldiers-of-Fortune going up against corporate security, so I felt a little better about potential cries of 'Crimes against Sapients'. As an afterthought, I loaded the armory program for the ammunition into my utili-omni and snatched up every Omni-gel canister they'd let me take.

Once the armorers finally shooed me out, I headed down to the starboard hangar to meet up with August with fifteen minutes to spare. "Sorry, sorry! got sidetracked in the armory." He quirked an eye at me, and I chuckled. "Old military adage: fifteen minutes early is on-time, and-"

"And on-time is late. You get all set up?"

I kicked the wheeled crate behind me. "All set up for a Nos Astra vacation."

He nodded just as FO Latoya came out of the hangar area. "Well, she's topped off and ready to go."

We headed in to find what looked like any other Kodiak shuttle. "To quote a certain farm-boy we all know, 'what a piece of junk!' This is our ride to Illium? Cause the last time I made this trip in one of these it wasn't really a comfortable ride."

"Comfort isn't the point, anonymity is." We both boarded the shuttle. "Everybody and their cousin uses these, so it shouldn't raise too many eyebrows for Schultz's contacts who will get us into Illium. By the way, he said his contacts should have a dossier on Kala by the time we get there. If she checks out, you'll make contact and try to make arrangements in the event we can't exfil our own."

I grimaced but stowed my gear and settled in for the ride. I glanced over when I heard a child's voice. August was grinning sappily at a hologram of a little quarian. "I take it that's June?"

He jerked slightly and looked ready to shut the hologram off, then simply nodded. His position on this mission was suddenly much clearer; this wasn't about humanitarian calculus or diplomatic advantage. This was about a father moving Heaven and Earth for his little girl. I nodded and focused on making sure my own kit was secure, giving him what privacy I could.

The ride to Illium was a day and a half, with each of us alternating shifts at the controls. By the end of the flight I was completely stir crazy, almost wishing we'd taken a Starbug here.

Almost.

August handled the traffic control officer and the landing. There was a ping from the com as we were preparing our gear to head out.

"Looks like Kala checks out. I'll get us set up at our staging area while you make contact." He loaded the safe houses address onto my Omni. "You were also right about the Big-Brother state here. The Wi-fi is riddled with tracking software. We'll operate on time-tables until we're mission go."

I nodded while putting a loose coat on. I was surprised when he handed me a large briefcase. I watched as he picked up another. He pressed a button with his thumb and the case fell away revealing what looked like an MP5 with an extra thick barrel. "You're gonna make me feel all self-conscious for not getting you anything."

He snorted. "Help me get our girl's data out of here and I'll call it even."

I arrived at Kala's place without incident and with two hours until I needed to meet back up with August. I already had a full translation program loaded onto my old crappy Omni, but I left it off for the moment as I knocked on the door. There was some shuffling from inside, and the sound of something solid being moved before Kala's voice sounded from inside.

It was terse and the meaning was clear: piss off.

I took a deep breath. "Are you Kala D'Lano?" I intentionally mispronounced it. There was another rustling sound and the door shot open revealing a wide-eyed Kala, and the shotgun I had left with her. She swiftly hugged and dragged me into the apartment at which point she began punching me in the chest while yelling at me. It took me a few tries to get her to calm down enough to let me turn my omni back on. "Okay let's have that again, maybe with less punching this time."

She stared for a moment then gave one more punch. "I've been worried sick!" She collapsed into a chair with her arms crossed over her chest. "You arrive out of the blue to give me my sister's pendant back, fight off those thugs, then get snatched up by those... who were they anyway? And why were the thugs chasing you? Or were they here for me? What's going on?!" By now she was thumping the armrests of her chair.

"May I sit down and explain as much as I can?" She stared at me for a moment then huffed and motioned to a low couch. I sat down and faced her. "I'm pretty sure the thugs were after me; I got your sister's pendant, along with a few other items off of a pair of Batarians who tried to murder me in an alley the day I arrived."

She grimaced "I think your translator is glitchy. The word is 'mug'."

I shook my head. "It's working fine. I didn't have anything on me, visible or otherwise, to entice a mugging. They came into the alley for the sole purpose of killing me. I have a theory about why, but it's not one I'm willing to dig too deep into. The thugs from the hallway," I gestured to her apartment door, "were likely members of the same group. As for the two scary humans, well that's a different story and one I can't really get into. Suffice to say, I didn't intend to come to Illium, and they were here to get me out and to safety."

"If they were getting you to safety, then why are you back?" She leaned forward in curiosity.

"Because I'm not the only one. I'm here to try and help another get off world, or at least out of harm's way until we can get a proper extraction team to pull her out."

"Her?" Kara arched an eyebrow at me.

I debated teasing her, but didn't think now was the time. "Yes her." I pulled a still up on my Omni. "She's a Quarian. She gave her name as Ziva'Lorah."

I saw a war of emotions cross Kara's face. I knew there was a chance she'd turn me away; anti-Quarian prejudice was a matter of course on Illium.

Her expression softened. "Is she in some kind of trouble?"

I sighed internally. "Yes. She's being held, in fact. We're trying to get her out but this is all off the cuff. We're at least going to break her out. That's where I was hoping you could come in."

She gave me an arch look. "Oh I see how it is." The corners of her mouth twitched into a grin. "You disappear for months at a time, only to show up on my doorstep and ask me to take care of your other woman." She huffed in mock hurt.

"I know, I'm the worst human friend you have." I placed my hand on my heart and hung my head.

She snorted a laugh and stood up. "You're my only human friend, so I'll let it pass if..."

I stood up as well. "If?"

She crossed the distance between us and pulled me into a kiss. I was certainly caught off guard, and my mind began to wander. I wrangled it back on track just before she broke the kiss and looked at me oddly. She shook her head and straightened my mussed coat. "You sir, owe me a date. At the least, you owe me your name."

I barked a laugh. "My name's Hiram Abiff, and it's a date the next time I'm not on Illium for work."

I turned to head out to meet August when she stepped up beside me. "Hiram," I pause to look at her, "what's, 'the pass or token of the pass'?"

I was brought up short by the old Masonic challenge phrase. I looked into her eyes and only saw confusion. I took a chance and gave her a peck on the lips. "If you don't know, then I'm afraid I can't say." I put my hat on as I stepped out of her apartment. "I promise to keep in touch more." With that, I headed out to whatever special hell August had in store for us.

A/N: While I grind through my Writers block for the main story, Ian and I decided to do a little collaboration for this mini-arc on this story.

This first Chapter was written only by him, the second chapter will be written by me; and the third chapter will alternate between the two of us. I think it turned out rather well all things considered.

Current link to my discord (as of this writing) is /U9vgbyx

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