The sight of ships passing by docking bay D24 was something that always used to relax Shepard. He could trace it back to when he invited his shuttle pilot Lt. Steve Cortez to watch ships fly by as a means to help him deal with the loss of his husband during a Collector attack. Unfortunately this time Shepard wasn't feeling relaxed. He had just gotten his first serious lead to locate the mystery backer and he needed to get going. The only thing that was keeping him from leaving was the fact that Ashley hadn't arrived yet. He couldn't understand why she would be late. Their apartment was closer to the docking bay than Kelly's was so she should have been at the docking bay waiting for him and Chakwas when they arrived. While Chakwas went on board the Normandy, Shepard remained in the waiting area. The only time he wasn't watching the elevator for Ashley was when he checked his omni-tool for the time.

Shepard was about to use his omni-tool to call Ashley when the sound of elevator doors opening forced him to look up. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Ashley who was on the other side of the doors. It was also then that Shepard saw why Ashley took so long getting to the docking bay. Stepping off the elevator with her was a familiar turian and quarian. The turian was carrying a large bag over his shoulder.

"Garrus, Tali," he said pleasantly surprised, "what are you two doing here?"

"Bailey called me at C-SEC HQ," said Garrus, "He said that officially Kelly's case is closed and her death is going to be ruled as natural. But he felt that since Kelly was my friend I deserved to know the truth. As soon as I heard that the mystery backer was involved with this and that you were going after them, I called Ashley and asked her to pick me and Tali up on her way here."

A sly smiled appeared on Shepard's face as he crossed his arms, "I take it then that you want to come with us?"

"You bet. I know this backer has been a pain in your side for a while now and I've always felt bad that I wasn't able to help you with your search before. Well I'm ready to help now. So do I have permission to come aboard Captain Shepard?"

"You didn't quit C-SEC again so that you could come did you?"

"No. Not this time. I asked for permission to take some time off to help you two. Initially they refused. Fortunately by that point Ashley showed up and when she heard they wouldn't let me come she pulled the Spectre card."

Ashley smiled, "I told his superiors that Garrus' skills were needed for an important Spectre mission and that he was coming with me whether they liked it or not. I took their silence to mean that they weren't going to argue."

Shepard chuckled, "a man would have to have a death wish to say no to you Ash. Well if everything is settled then permission granted. Welcome aboard Garrus."

Garrus smiled and shook Shepard's hand.

"What about you Tali?" Shepard asked. "Are you coming as well?"

"I wish I could," Tali said sadly, "but I'm needed at the embassy. But there is no way that I'm going to miss seeing my fiancé off."

"I understand," Shepard said, "Well the rest of the crew is aboard and we should probably get going. Ash and I will leave you two alone to say goodbye. Congrats again to both of you on the engagement. See you on board Garrus."

With that, Shepard offered his arm to Ashley who happily took it and the two of them proceeded to board the Normandy. Once they were out of sight, Garrus turned to face Tali and took her hands. The two of them just looked at each other unsure of what to say. After a few seconds of silence, they embraced.

"Be safe out there Garrus," Tali whispered as they broke their hug but still kept their hands joined, "there's no telling what you and the others are going to be up against out there."

"When did that ever stop us before?" Garrus replied in an attempt to lighten the mood.

He realized it wasn't working when Tali bowed her head and a tear appeared in her eye. He gently placed a hand on her chin and lifted her head back up so that their eyes locked again.

"I'll be fine. If there's anyone you can trust with my life, it's Shepard and Ashley."

The encouraging words got Tali to make a small smile. Seeing Tali smile was always a beautiful sight for anyone who was not used to seeing her without her mask. Even for Garrus who had seen Tali's unmasked face more than anyone, the sight of her smile was always a beautiful thing.

"Do you have any idea how much I want to kiss you right now?" said Garrus.

"Probably as much as I want to kiss you, but we promised we'd wait until the wedding."

Unfortunately for Garrus and Tali, quarians had weakened immune systems as a result of their living on clean ships during the three hundred years they were exiled from their homeworld by the geth. They were so bad that, as Tali once mentioned to Shepard, a single kiss had the potential to put her in the hospital. If quarians wanted to show intimacy with each other, the best they could do was link their suit environments. Sadly because Garrus was a turian, Tali couldn't even do that. Even the one time they tried to be intimate with each other in the Normandy's main battery, before being interrupted by Shepard, was still somewhat awkward as they couldn't kiss because of Tali's mask. Garrus had repeatedly tried to explain to Tali that she didn't need to prove her love to him physically because he already knew how much she loved him. Even so the romantic in Tali wished that they could share a kiss and that she could feel the warmth of Garrus' body against her own.

Thanks to the improvements the geth had made before being destroyed by the crucible, the quarians' immune systems had gotten significantly stronger. In the more than two years since the end of the Reaper War, quarians could go longer periods without masks and were close to being able to go without their suits altogether. Shortly after Garrus had proposed to Tali but before the lunch date with Shepard and Ashley, Tal had heard from her doctor that her immune system was now strong enough that she could kiss Garrus with no health risks to herself. Garrus wanted to kiss her right then and there to celebrate but Tali stopped him. Ever the romantic, she suggested they wait until they were married. That way, their first kiss as husband and wife would be more special since it would be their first kiss ever. Garrus was initially sad about waiting but then he smiled and said "well we've waited this long so I guess we can wait a little longer."

But now that Garrus was getting ready to leave with Shepard and Ashley, it was really hard for him to want to keep that promise.

"You're right. Well, that's just another reason for me to come back to you alive. I love you Tali."

"I love you too Garrus."

With no more words to say, Garrus began to step away from Tali. Their hands began to break away the further Garrus stepped back. When they finally broke away, Garrus picked up his bag and entered the docking tube to board the Normandy. He stopped when he was about halfway in the tube and turned around to get one last look at Tali. What he saw made his smile grow bigger. Tali was blowing him kiss. He pretended to catch it and blew one to her as well. "That'll do" he thought. He then gave her one final wave and turned to board the Normandy.

Inside the comm. room on the Normandy's combat deck, Shepard was patiently waiting for a call he patched to go through. Once he and Ashley boarded, he asked Ashley to give Garrus a quick tour of the ship while he went to the comm. room to make one private call before the three of them would meet in the war room to go over the files the mystery backer left him. While Garrus had served on the Normandy in the past, it was best that he get reacquainted with the crew and meet the few new faces that had joined since the end of the Reaper War. Besides, Shepard knew that Garrus was going to want see the main battery again. The amount of time he spent calibrating it when he was on the crew practically made it his baby. Shepard couldn't help but smile as he thought about the hard time Ashley was going to have when she had to eventually drag him away from it.

Suddenly Shepard heard a chime that indicated that his call had been answered and the holographic image of his friend Samara appeared. Samara was a member of an order of asari peacekeepers called justicars. Shepard first met her when he recruited her for his mission against the Collectors. It was during that time he learned that she had three daughters who were Ardat-Yakshi. In fact it was on that mission that Shepard found himself in the unfortunate position of having to help Samara kill her oldest daughter Morinth who had chosen not to live in isolation and had been killing people for four centuries. He knew that it needed to be done but it was still hard for him to watch his friend having to do something that no mother should ever have to.

He didn't cross paths with Samara again until during the Reaper War when he was asked by Asari Command to investigate a distress signal coming from what he eventually found out was the Ardat-Yakshi monastery. A short while into the mission, Shepard walked into a room to see Samara battling Reaper soldiers. Samara explained that she came to find her other daughters Falere and Rila. With Shepard's help, she was able to find them but they discovered that Rila was already in the process of turning into a banshee. Knowing there was nothing they could do for her, Shepard and his squad fled the monastery with Samara and Falere while Rilaa stayed behind to detonate a bomb that destroyed the monastery and all the remaining Reaper creatures inside.

Since the war had ended, Falere began rebuilding the monastery with Samara dropping by from time to time to help. To Shepard's knowledge, Falere was still the only Ardat-Yakshi in existence. This was why he found himself having to make the uncomfortable call to Samara.

"Shepard," Samara greeted with smile, "this is a pleasant surprise. How are you and Ashley doing?"

"We're fine thank you," Shepard replied, "but unfortunately I'm not calling for a personal chat. To be honest I wish I didn't have to make this call at all."

Samara's smile disappeared, "what's wrong?"

Shepard sighed before he spoke again, "Kelly's dead. She was murdered by an Ardat-Yakshi."

"What?" Samara gasped. "Are you sure?"

"I'm afraid so. Samara….I hope you understand that I need to be thorough….I wish I didn't have to ask you this…but…"

"You want to know if Falere is still at the monastery."

"Yes, I'm sorry Samara."

"It's okay Shepard. You don't have to apologize. Your caution is understandable. Falere is still at the monastery. Last time I saw her, she and the other students were doing fine."

"So I guess Falere isn't the only Ardat-Yakshi left anymore?"

"I'm afraid so. As long as there are still asari who mate with other asari, there will always be a risk of more Ardat-Yakshi being born. There are three other students at the monastery now. I've met each one of them during my visits and I can vouch for them. There's no way any of them could have killed Kelly."

"Well I'm relieved to hear that Samara but unfortunately that means our killer is an Ardat-Yakshi that is unaccounted for. As far as you know, have there been any newly discovered Ardat-Yakshi that didn't choose isolation?"

"There usually are a few but they get put to death if they refuse isolation. It's hard to imagine how one could have avoided that. Let me make a few calls to Asari Command. They would never admit to any none asari if an Ardat-Yakshi escaped but they will surely talk to me. If I find anything that can help you, I'll let you know. Farewell Shepard and I'm sorry about Kelly. I know you two were close friends."

"Thank you Samara, Shepard out."

When Samara's image vanished, Shepard leaned against the railing that separated him from where Samara's image had been. He pondered over what they had talked about. It was an enormous relief to know that Falere had nothing to do with Kelly's death. On the other hand though it meant that Kelly's killer still didn't have a face or a name for him go off of and unless Samara found something it was going to be near impossible to figure out the killer's identity. All Shepard could think of was that it would be so much easier if the asari would just let the rest of the galaxy know that Ardat-Yakshi's existed. Then at least Shepard could have access to records of all Ardat-Yakshi who were on the loose.

Deciding it was best not to dwell on the asari's habit of keeping important secrets from the rest of the galaxy, Shepard turned on the intercom and told Ashley and Garrus to begin making their way to the war room so they could go over the intel. While he waited for them to arrive, he began placing another call. If intel was going to be the subject of the meeting then there was one person he had to have involved in the meeting. It barely took a few seconds before his call was answered and Shepard now found himself greeted by the holographic image of his friend Liara T'Soni.

"Shepard," she said, "I assume you are calling about Kelly."

Of course she already knows, Shepard thought. Considering the fact that Liara was the Shadow Broker, it was hard to keep anything secret from her. Shepard figured Liara probably had agents in C-SEC and they told her as soon as the call came in about Kelly. Shepard proceeded to bring her up to speed on what he and Bailey found out at Kelly's apartment. When he had finished, Shepard didn't know which part surprised Liara the most, the fact that Kelly was murdered or the fact that it was an Ardat-Yakshi who killed her. The surprise on her face quickly turned to tension when Shepard brought up that the mystery backer was involved. It was understandable though. The mystery backer seemed to be the only person that she could not find out anything about despite her Shadow Broker resources. She told Shepard that she was at his disposal.

It was at that point that Ashley and Garrus peaked into the comm. room to let Shepard know they were ready in the war room. After exchanging quick greetings with Liara and after Shepard transferred Liara's call to the war room, the trio gathered around the holographic table in the middle of the room and Shepard pulled out the picture frame he found in Kelly's apartment. He filled everybody in about the video message that the backer had left him on the frame. Everyone showed a similar look of anger to the one Shepard did when he first heard the message. No doubt it was for the same reason too. The group unanimously agreed with Shepard's theory that the message was a taunt against him. Shepard proceeded to sync the frame with the holographic table so that the contents could be projected for Ashley and Garrus to see. He also set it up so that Liara could watch everything they did with the frame in real time from where she was. When the sync was complete, Shepard tapped the file icon and the files were displayed on the table's holographic surface.

The first file that got Shepard's attention was labeled "Alliance News Articles". Shepard clicked on that icon first. He figured that maybe the articles would give him a hint as to what the backer's next target would be. After glancing at the headlines, Shepard was able to notice a pattern. All the articles were covering Alliance research on biotics. Specifically they were covering the controversial initiative to find a "cure" for biotics.

Shepard had heard about the research a few months ago when it started. For the most part, the prejudice humans had against biotics had decreased thanks to the heroic efforts of biotic soldiers during the Reaper War. Despite that, there were several small factions that felt that since biotic abilities in humans were not natural occurrences, then it was a violation of the natural order for humans to have them. So the Alliance decided to look into ways for people who did not wish to have biotic abilities to be able to remove the eezo nodules in a person's nervous system that allowed them to generate mass effect fields. From the most recent article, it sounded like the Alliance was close to developing a working procedure though the specifics of what the procedure was and how it worked were still classified.

Once everyone had the chance to look through the articles as much as they wanted, Shepard opened a new file. This one had the file name "Blueprints". As the name suggested, there were several blueprints inside. At first glance it appeared that each blueprint was for an individual floor of a particular structure. While the name of the structure wasn't listed on any of the blueprints, the notes about the rooms and the "A" shaped logo in the upper right corner of each blueprint gave an idea of what kind of structure it was.

"This is an Alliance research lab!" Ashley exclaimed. "But these types of plans are usually highly classified. How could the backer have gotten their hands on it?"

"She's not kidding Shepard," said Liara's voice over the intercom, "even with all my resources I've never been able to get access to these types of plans. I can't believe I'm saying this but whoever this backer is, they've got access that rivals even mine."

"Who is this person?" Shepard thought.

Shepard had already known that the mystery backer was a powerful and influential person. They would have to be in order to fund the three plots he had stopped previously. Besides that, the salarian who called himself Avot Yuless from the Buckingham Palace hostage crisis tried to scare Shepard by talking about how powerful his employer was before he died. Now Shepard had learned that the backer not only had access to confidential Alliance documents but documents that even Liara, the best information broker in the galaxy couldn't access. Shepard couldn't help but wonder if this person could even rival his former foe the Illusive Man.

"You know what I think," Garrus said taking Shepard out of his train of thought, "I bet the backer is going to fund a raid on the facility to steal the biotic cure for another one of their clients. Based on everything we've seen in the files it seems like that would be the logical conclusion."

"No," said Shepard, "the backer is not doing this for a client. They said in the message that everything they're doing now is part of the final phase of their own master plan that they've been running parallel to the other plots. So if they aren't stealing the cure for someone else, it would have to be for them. But why would they steal it in the first place and how does it connect to everything else they've done?"

"If I had to guess," said Liara, "depending on how the cure works, there are a few ways it could be used in a threatening way."

"Liara's right," Ashley joined in, "biotics can give any fighting unit an edge. If the backer takes them away, and if they have biotic troops of their own, they could take on anyone."

Shepard shook his head, "but nothing the backer has done up to this point indicates their goal is to launch any kind of assault or invasion. This is about something else."

"Like what?" Ashley asked.

"I don't know. Unfortunately I don't think we have anything to speculate the matter any further. It doesn't matter though because the point of the backer giving us these hints was not to tell us their target or motives. All they want us to know is where they are going to strike next. We know from the blueprints that it's an Alliance facility. Based on the articles we can assume that it is whichever one is doing the research on the biotic cure."

"Makes sense but how do we figure out which facility it is?" Garrus asked. "Nothing in the files tells us the location or how the backer was able to find it."

"Leave that part to me," Shepard replied, "all I need to do is make one quick call to Councilor Hackett and I'm sure he can get us the location in less than half an hour. Are there any final questions?"

"Shepard," said Liara, "I want to come with you."

The request surprised Shepard. He knew that Liara was a strong combatant but since the end of the Reaper War she hadn't seen any action. You practically had to drag Liara away from her office where she ran her operations. Shepard couldn't even remember the last time she had expressed interest in joining him on missions.

"Why?" Shepard asked.

"The mystery backer has been frustrating me ever since we found out they existed. For the past two years I've been trying to help you find them with no success. I'm supposed to be able to get you any information, anytime you need it but this person has been able to evade every attempt I've made to locate them. Now we finally have a solid lead to pursue and if you're going after the backer, I want to be there when you catch them."

"All right, we'll take all the help we can get. Where are you right now?"

"Closer than you think. Once I get Feron situated to watch over things while I'm gone, I'll take a shuttle to meet you in the Serpent Nebula."

Shepard couldn't help but laugh. Liara had a habit of being cryptic sometimes so it didn't surprise him that she didn't tell him where she was coming from. Still he was glad that she could join them. After confirming the meet, Shepard ended the call with Liara and dismissed Ashley and Garrus so that he could make his call to Councilor Hackett. He wanted to talk to him as soon as possible so that Hackett would be able to find the location before Liara arrived. Time was of the essence and the minute Liara was on board the Normandy, Shepard wanted them to be on their way.

The asari formerly known as Serena was trying her hardest to keep her eyes focused on what she was watching through her binoculars. The thing that was making it hard for her to focus was the constant nagging coming from the human male standing next to her. If it wasn't for the fact that her employer insisted that the guy was important to the plan, she would have gladly put a bullet in the guy's head to shut him up. At the same time she understood why he was nagging her. She didn't like to play the waiting game either. Of course she knew it was worse for the man because this target was the one he was in charge of and he was personally looking forward to handling it. Unfortunately they had their orders. They were not to make their move until they heard from the boss.

"This is my operation," the man said, "the boss said that I'm in charge. Yet ever since we got here, you've been practically ordering me to sit on my ass and do nothing."

"You will be in charge once the mission actually starts," the asari growled, "but the mission can't start until we get the "go" from the boss. Until then we wait."

The man let out frustrated sigh as he picked up his own pair of binoculars and looked in the same direction the asari was. From where they were they had a perfect view of their target and the majority of the security that they would have to deal with to get to it. It didn't intimidate him though. He and the asari had gone over the plan so many times they had the steps memorized. They accounted for as many possible complications as they could. He was ready. Now if only the boss would give them the go ahead.

Suddenly the asari's omni-tool appeared and made a chime to announce an incoming transmission. Both she and the man almost dropped their binoculars as their adrenaline began to brew in anticipation of what this call might be about. The asari switched on her comm. and the two were greeted by the distorted voice of their employer.

"Any unusual activities happen since our last conversation?"

"Negative Boss," the asari replied, "the target is still in sight and security still has no idea that we're here."

"Excellent. By my estimates Shepard should be close to figuring out where you are. Of course by the time he does it will be too late to call in the warning. You are a go. The mission is yours Corporal."

"Thank you Boss, I thought you'd never ask. We're moving out now."

As soon as the call ended, the man raised his hand and then pointed towards their target like a commander issuing a charge. In response, a large group of heavily armed troops came out of the cover they were hiding in and slowly moved with the man and the asari as they made their way towards where the man pointed.