Nestled at the L5 Lagrangian point of the hydrogen-helium gas giant, Themis, and lit up by the glow of the red giant star it was named for, Arcturus Station was an impressive sight to behold. Thirty-six light years from Earth, the station served as the seat of the Systems Alliance Parliament and the primary hub for all Alliance military traffic from and to the Sol System.

A Stanford Torus design, the station actually consisted of two prominent and distinct rotating wheels. The outer torus contained the living habitats, agricultural, commerce, entertainment, and civilian starport facilities for the more than forty-five thousand permanent residents of the station. The Parliament chambers and associated governmental facilities also resided within the massive five kilometer diameter ring.

The smaller inner wheel served as the Alliance Naval personnel residences and fleet training facilities. Both torus structures were connected to a large central axis that housed the Alliance Navy Command and Control Center, Fleet Headquarters, and the military spaceport facilities.

Guarding the primary routes to Earth and situated near an array of mass relays, the station was an imposing sentinel that bristled with the most advanced defensive systems available to Terran forces and served as the home port to the Alliance's Fifth Fleet.

As the Cassandra fell out of FTL, Miranda adjusted the ship's course and eased her into a gentle, sub-light velocity, watching with one eye as the enormous space station grew nearer. To her right, Oriana was strapped into the co-pilot's seat, leaning forward against the restraints and gazing through the forward viewing ports with a look of keen interest.

Miranda glanced over to her sister and nodded. "Go ahead," she said with a brief smile.

Oriana returned the nod, keyed the little starliner's comm and spoke with calm and precise confidence. "Arcturus Station Tower, this is diplomatic flight two-three-six-one, designation Cassandra, transporting Ambassador Anita Goyle. Requesting docking authorization and instruction."

While they waited for the reply, Miranda experienced a fleeting sense of doubt as she wondered if their hastily arranged flight plan would pass muster. After learning the nature of the threat they were racing to avert, Goyle had immediately reported in with Admiral Anderson and contacted an old colleague in the Alliance Parliament to arrange for a last minute meeting on Arcturus Station. Anderson had fast-tracked their clearance to the station and had recalled Captain Dah's task force to support them. But Dah's squadron was busy patrolling along the outer reaches of the Terminus, searching for the remaining rogue warships that had originally intercepted the Normandy, and would be at least several hours behind the Cassandra. Given the time constraints and the still unknown reach of the conspiracy, it was up to Miranda's team to take the lead in intercepting and stopping the threat.

Complicating matters further, the Systems Alliance Intelligence Service still maintained a significant presence on the station and enjoyed broad support from some very high profile and influential Parliament committees. Admiral Hackett's influence was near supreme within the Naval-specific sections of Arcturus and he knew full well the level to which the SAIS had been compromised, but purging their presence from the civilian governmental quadrants was a delicate matter. The drama was still playing out and it left Miranda's little off-the-books team, operating undercover and outside of official Alliance channels, to take the point in confronting a plot that threatened to bring the foremost human governmental entity in the galaxy to its knees.

The irony was inescapable. She was approaching the nerve center of Systems Alliance power not as the terrorist she'd been portrayed as for so many years, but as an operative determined to prevent an impending disaster that would cripple the Terran organization she'd spent much of her adult life attempting to subvert. John better be bloody grateful for this one, Miranda thought to herself.

Then Oriana's eager smile pulled her back into focus as clearance from Arcturus Flight Control came back along with instructions to approach the designated diplomatic ports along the outer torus. And once again, they were heading into the unknown with only fragments of viable intel at their disposal and limited manpower.

Unfortunately, the wounds Thane suffered while heroically battling Dorian Logan's gang and protecting Oriana had been more severe than Miranda had first thought. His condition had forced him to be admitted to Huerta Memorial, under the discreet care of a doctor there that Liara had recommended. Kolyat had remained behind as well in order to look after his father and keep their Citadel operations base running. And as it was, explaining the presence of two drell men within Ambassador Goyle's entourage would have been tricky and certainly would have aroused suspicion that they couldn't afford to attract. So now it was up to Miranda, Kasumi, Oriana—and Jack— to tackle the immensely vital mission.

Closing to within a hundred kilometers, Miranda studied the Alliance space station a little more closely as the Cassandra's passive sensors pulled in data. The massive station was clearly undergoing some significant refurbishment. Her skilled eye immediately recognized that the military-specific centers of Arcturus were getting the lion's share of the attention from the numerous mechs swarming about the structure, busy reinforcing armor plating and adding additional point defense missile emplacements and GARDIAN laser turrets. Additionally, there was a large construction scaffold where the Naval Fleet School and personnel facilities were located. The expansion efforts looked both impressive and rushed at the same time.

Two new dreadnoughts were also clearly visible within the Alliance Naval shipyard facility as the Cassandra skirted along the station's perimeter on their final approach. The enormous warships looked to outclass even the Kilimanjaro and Everest class vessels and appeared to be nearing completion. A third massive vessel, by the looks of it an Enterprise class carrier, was in an earlier stage of construction and likely another six months from commission.

All this activity, combined with the presence of the Fifth Fleet, which was currently conducting exercises less than two million kilometers away, made for an utterly awe-inspiring display of human military strength. Miranda easily recognized the intention of holding a peace summit here. The Alliance wants the batarian envoy to witness this first-hand.

By all reliable reports and measures, the Systems Alliance military outclassed the Batarian Hegemony in nearly all aspects. The batarian propaganda was regularly ridiculed as being akin to that of the old Soviet Union of the early to mid-twentieth century or for having the bluster and arrogance of the Eastern Block nations of the late twenty-first century. But once all the rhetoric and laughable claims were stripped away it became evident that there was a rapidly growing gap of technological sophistication and overall military capability between the two rival species.

Still, hostilities with the Batarian Hegemony had been steadily increasing over the last two months across nearly all the frontier systems. To this point, the Alliance Navy had exercised considerable restraint, focusing primarily on the defense of human settlements and assets, as the Systems Alliance government and Citadel Council tried desperately to avoid an all-out war.

But Cerberus forces had been aggressive in wielding their offensive military power—which seemed to be growing at an exponential rate. The Illusive Man had directed a sweeping strategy of hit-and-run strikes against batarian colonies and some of the Hegemony's weaker military outposts, and in the process, winning a considerable amount of popular support from human colonists spread throughout the Terminus. Even a minority of turian, salarian, and volus were beginning to view the human splinter organization more favorably as they took the fight to the batarians and curtailed a good deal of the piracy and slaving operations that had targeted multiple species, not just the humans along their borders. And now, with the seizure of Omega and that station's vast resources and strategically important location, Cerberus seemed poised for even greater gains.

Being intimately familiar with the Illusive Man's strategic vision, Miranda understood the strong and influential orbit he'd directed Cerberus into. They were the white knight fighting to protect human colonial interests along the frontier while the Systems Alliance largely sat idle, apparently impotent or unwillingly to act. And while she still felt the man had a genuine desire to protect humanity's interests within an increasingly dangerous galaxy, she easily realized the more central goal was to advance the popularity and legitimacy of Cerberus as a viable option for human governance—both abroad and at home.

The excessive show of strength against the batarians only emphasized further the vulnerability of humanity's traditional galactic leadership. After the resounding success of the Collector campaign and piggybacking on Shepard's popularity along the frontiers, prominent human colonies—especially those that had maintained particularly frosty relations with the Alliance—were inching ever closer toward officially aligning their governments with Cerberus. The threat to the Alliance was very real.

But the question she couldn't quite find an answer to was how this strategy improved humanity's ability to combat the impending Reaper threat. The Illusive Man wasn't stupid. He understood, like few others in the galaxy, the menace closing in on them all. But did he truly feel that humanity was better off with Cerberus leading the war effort while alienating their strongest allies or was there something more at play here?

The man's fascination with Reaper technology was no secret. But was it possible he might actually welcome the Reaper arrival—at least at the proper time and place—in order to harvest their advancements for his own gain? She knew her former boss's hubris knew few bounds, but the idea he might actually be manipulating events just to put himself into a more influential position ahead of the Reaper arrival was both stunning and frightening. That's not the organization I had devoted my life to, she thought bitterly. But she also knew they were still missing crucial pieces of information that could potentially shed light on the true Cerberus motives.

Logan had helped fill in some of the gaps. The Illusive Man's manipulation of the Systems Alliance Intelligence Service had been masterful. Already weakened in the public eye by the lack of response to the Collector threat and paired with the apparent defection of Commander Shepard to Cerberus, the SAIS actions were effectively undermining the Alliance from within. The turmoil the clandestine service was nurturing only served to accelerate the crumbling of a political infrastructure that, in Miranda's opinion, already appeared badly outdated, reactionary, and far too willing to adopt a policy of appeasement.

In fact, Miranda's view on the current and historical state of the Alliance wasn't all that different from what it had been during her Cerberus days. She still felt there was something deeply flawed about the quasi-democratic arrangement and the archaic way the government conducted business. The decaying state of the organization that claimed to advance all of humanity's interests had been troubling to her long before her defection from the Illusive Man. And while she had grown to deeply respect Anita Goyle and felt that David Anderson was a man willing to make the unpopular decisions called for from time to time, she still regarded the Alliance with a wary eye.

But Goyle was no fool. She had been all but forced out of active politics when she was succeeded by Donnel Udina as ambassador to the Citadel Council. Her opinions had become unpopular and she was viewed as a destabilizing voice to the Council and one that hadn't sufficiently moved the Alliance toward integrating more fluidly with the other major galactic civilizations.

Miranda knew that Anita had fought vigorously against acquiescing to a series of asari, turian, and salarian stipulations that were designed to effectively curb humanity's growth and expansion beyond the Sol System. It was a deck that was heavily stacked against Earth and Goyle understood more than most of her peers just how precarious a position humanity was in and the intricacies of the Council races' motivations. Still, if people like Goyle were somehow brought back to the forefront of the Alliance, perhaps there was still hope for the institution.

Bringing the Cassandra into a soft starboard bank and lining up their final approach, Miranda keyed the intercom to the back cabin and advised the rest of team of their imminent arrival.

As they circled around the huge station and drew nearer to the other side of the primary torus, Oriana suddenly pointed toward a vessel moored at a relatively quiet section of the military docks. "Miranda," she said in a hushed voice, "look. Is that…?"

Following her sister's gaze, Miranda swallowed when she recognized the Normandy's unmistakable silhouette. She studied the sleek frigate for a long moment, transfixed by its clean lines and aggressive profile, while she allowed her mind to briefly carry her back to what seemed like a whole other life. "Yes," she finally said to Oriana. "That's the Normandy."

Kasumi arrived in the cockpit a moment later and grinned cheerfully. "All right you two, are you ready for operation Girls' Night Out?"

Oriana laughed as she looked over her shoulder and beamed at Kasumi. "Oh my god, yes! Let's definitely call it that."

Miranda rolled her eyes and turned her head to shoot Kasumi a mock glare. "Would you mind?" she said and gestured to the ship's flight controls. She'd already transferred the primary maneuvering protocols over to Arcturus Flight Operations, but still felt more comfortable having a human pilot monitoring the docking process from her ship's cockpit. "It's time for me to go put on my new face," she said and then stood up to slip past her friend.

Kasumi nodded and climbed into the pilot's seat. "Wait 'til you see Jack," she said and snickered. "I think she might have a future career as a sexy Librarian."

Miranda let out a snort, having an idea of what she meant, and gave them a quick wave as she made her way aft.

While Kasumi could rely on her advanced personnel cloak to slip through most security checkpoints on Arcturus and Oriana's cover was a straightforward enough thing to craft, both Jack and Miranda were wanted criminals and would be easily recognized throughout Alliance space. With the aid of facial recognition and biometric scanners, even the most inept civilian or military policeman could easily identify the women if they were careless enough to simply waltz onto the station without first properly altering their appearance and taking steps to overcome the numerous internal sensors that would match them to the criminal databases.

Fortunately, along with her custom armor set, Miranda's Citadel drop box had contained an extensive assortment of both digital and hard copy alternate ID documents and one of the most highly advanced appearance alteration kits every created, complements of Cerberus R&D.

Miranda and Goyle had already uploaded the necessary identification profiles to the Alliance networks and vetted them through the Parliamentary databases. Now, it was time to match their physical appearances to the intricately crafted false identities.

During the flight to Arcturus, Kasumi had been busy at the back of the ship helping Jack with her transition. Now, Miranda found herself feeling a little eager to see the result of the master thief's handy work.

Making her way along the fore-and-aft corridor and into the craft's central common area, Miranda froze and her jaw dropped as she came face to face with the woman she knew was Jack but looked entirely different from the hotheaded biotic she was familiar with.

Thanks to the skin pigmentation concealment and alteration tools, there was no visible sign of the woman's numerous tattoos. And in the place of Jack's partially shaved head and ponytail was flowing red hair that stretched down nearly to the small of her back and done up in a contemporary, but stylish manner. Her eye color had been altered from their natural brown to a somewhat subdued hazel and the shape of her nose and brow had also been changed subtly. Finally, in the place of the studded leather jacket, tight fitting top, cargo pants, and combat boots was a silky white blouse, long, fashionable maroon skirt, and a matched slim fitting blazer. All in all, she looked rather attractive in a conventional sense. Kasumi was right on target, Miranda thought as she studied Jack and struggled not to laugh out loud. Classic sexy librarian.

"Not one fucking word, cheerleader," Jack said as she eyed Miranda with her typical hostility, cutting right through the otherwise convincing disguise.

Miranda closed her mouth and smiled slightly, tilting her head to the side. "You look quite nice, Jack," she said, unable to resist.

"I told you! Not a goddamn word."

Anita cleared her throat and looked toward Miranda. "How much time do we have, Miss Lawson?"

Miranda pulled her amused gaze away from the fuming biotic and looked over to Goyle, instantly adopting a more serious expression. "We'll be docking within a few minutes and should have clearance to disembark soon after."

"Excellent. Then I believe you'll need to prepare."

"Right. I'll just be a moment," Miranda said and then walked further aft, toward the Cassandra's largest cabin, which she'd claimed as her own. She shot Jack another wry look as she passed and then disappeared to the back of the ship.

A few minutes later, after the ship had been secured at the primary diplomatic arrivals section of the Arcturus civilian port, Miranda joined the rest of the women at the airlock. She had changed her hair color to a light, golden blonde, altered her eye color, darkened her overall complexion several shades, and changed into a trendy, but professional looking slim fitting suit, but otherwise still looked familiar to her colleagues.

Jack glowered bitterly at her as she stepped into the compartment, looking cross over how seamless and natural Miranda's transition appeared to have been.

Kasumi glanced at Jack before giving Miranda a knowing look and stifling another fit of laughter.

The chance to alter Jack's appearance so dramatically had been great fun for their cheerful master thief. But the true heavy lifting of both Miranda and Jack's disguises was being managed by the series of delicate subdermal bio-emitters each woman had implanted in their wrists and at the back of their necks. It was bleeding edge Cerberus Shadow Works tech that effectively masked their biometric readings and completely altered their DNA signatures—at least as far as any known identification and security scanners were concerned.

Meanwhile, Oriana, who was looking back and forth between her big sister and Jack with an amused expression, was dressed in her typically trendy attire, not having needed any significant disguise other than the forged identification documents they'd uploaded to the Alliance databases. Her raven-black hair was cropped at the shoulders and she'd applied her typical treatment of eyeliner and mascara to create the smoky eye effect she favored but that Miranda still found a little too provocative for her teenage sister. But, all in all, other than being just as eye-catching attractive as her older sister, she appeared unremarkable and wouldn't need to fear any undue scrutiny.

Kasumi then engaged her cloak, fading away before their eyes, and the five women stepped through the Cassandra's airlock and began their short trip through the boarding tunnel that led down to the terminal.

Waiting for their party at the base of a short flight of stairs was a slim woman of Asian descent, wearing a professional looking suit and holding a data tablet. She quickly approached the group and addressed Anita. "Ms. Goyle," she said smartly and bowed. "I'm Melina Okabe, assistant to Member of Parliament Kenyatta. He asked me to extend his warmest greetings and to escort you to his office along the main governmental concourse."

Goyle nodded and gave the young woman the polite, practiced smile of a veteran diplomat. "Thank you, Miss Okabe," she said and gestured to the other women standing next to her—at least the women that were present within the visible spectrum. "These are my aides, Miss Flanagan and Miss Watson and my grandniece, Oriana. Please, lead the way."

"It's lovely to meet you all." Okabe bowed again to the group and then gestured ahead through the terminal. "Please, we can expedite your clearance through Port Security and then proceed to the government district."

The group set off toward the Security checkpoint at a brisk pace but then Miranda felt Kasumi tug gently at her elbow before speaking quietly to her over the comm link implanted in her right ear.

"There's a problem," Kasumi said. "Look up ahead, past the big guard with the shaved head. Those are Declan 5000 Series disruption field nodes. It's the only countermeasure I know of that will detect and scramble my cloak. They must have installed them recently."

Miranda looked over to where Kasumi was indicating and spotted the grouping of unspectacular, rectangular shaped devices lining the walls around the security checkpoint. She wasn't familiar with the equipment but knew better than to question Kasumi's judgment about such things. "Damn," she said under her breath.

This was a significant problem. There was no practical way for Kasumi to simply return to the Cassandra and adopt a disguise as Miranda and Jack had. The woman's camouflaging tech was far more advanced than a typical tactical cloak, consisting of a series of highly advanced, surgically implanted nodes spread throughout her entire body. She could disable the power that kept the nodes operational, but these scanners would still likely detect the tech's presence if she attempted to pass.

Miranda cursed again silently to herself. Kasumi's ability to reconnoiter the station unseen was crucial to their success, but now she had little choice but to return to the Cassandra and provide basic comm support for the others.

"I'm out of the game," Kasumi said dejectedly. "I'm sorry. I'll backtrack to the ship and setup on comms from there."

Miranda nodded slightly, unable to voice her response out loud. But it didn't matter. She knew there was nothing that could be done for it and that Kasumi didn't need direction from her on how to proceed. They had planned to send Kasumi up ahead to the Parliament Chambers and adjacent offices, where the summit was set to take place, in order to scout for any obvious signs of a dispersal method for the pathogen. But now their margin for error had just shrunk even further.

Ahead, Goyle and Oriana passed through the Security checkpoint, escorted by Okabe, without any issues. Jack turned slightly toward Miranda and shot her a glare that was only slightly tempered by her altered appearance. "This shit better work, cheerleader," she said under her breath, her lips barely moving.

Miranda nodded her forward impatiently and watched as the guards briefly scrutinized Jack as they glanced down at the identification and transit information their terminals spit out. After a brief moment, they casually waved Jack through and motioned for Miranda to approach. She gave the two men at the station a casual, unconcerned smile before she too was processed through to the station's interior. A second later she was alongside Jack again, striding through the busy concourse a few feet behind Goyle, Oriana, and Okabe and heading for the station's primary monorail line that linked all the sections of the outer habitat ring.

The central concourse of the larger habitat torus looked much like a significantly more cramped, smaller version of the Citadel's Presidium. There were a few open park spaces scattered about and several water features to help the occupants of the station feel a little more comfortable suspended in the vastness of space, but Miranda still found Arcturus to be a relatively cold and dreary environment.

And now the signs of a steady military buildup and heightened alert posture were just as evident within the massive space station as they had been while approaching Arcturus. The concourse was bustling with mostly civilian foot traffic, but Miranda also observed a significant amount of uniformed Alliance troops mixed among the crowds. She noted most of the Alliance Naval personnel were wearing the more formal smocks that were required when transitioning from one duty station to another or when reporting to the academy and training facilities.

These were largely young men and women she was seeing, no doubt new recruits destined for the Arcturus Fleet School or Marine Space Combat Training facility. Clearly, the Alliance was handling a massive influx of personnel onto the station, requiring the use of the civilian transportation hubs, and working toward a war footing as rapidly as possible. Looking around at the fresh, young faces of the recruits, Miranda briefly wondered if they had any clue about the nightmares that awaited them out in the black of space.

Stepping onto a monorail tram car, the five women were rapidly transported away along the outer habitat ring and toward the Parliament chambers and offices. Miranda shook her head slightly as she watched the blur of humanity go by as they passed several other rail stations along the way to their destination. This place is ripe for an attack, she thought gravely. With so much sudden growth and the heavy influx of new personnel, there were bound to be slips in security or corners cut as the Alliance scrambled to react to the numerous galactic threats closing in on them. If they had been sensible enough to properly consider Shepard's evidence of the Reaper threat almost three years ago all this chaos could have been avoided.

Arriving in the governmental district a few minutes later, the women stepped from their rail car and Okabe led the group up a long flight of stairs from the monorail station to the main concourse level bordering the Parliament chambers and offices. Anita ascended the steps with an arm interlaced with Oriana's, who was keeping pace with the older woman and ensuring she didn't overexert herself during their hectic travels. Miranda smiled at the sight, unable to conceal her affection for her sister and the woman who had taken them both in. If all else fails, I will not stand to have those two threatened by this insidious plot, she resolved to herself.

Exiting the brightly lit stairway, Miranda paused for a moment at the top of the flight of stairs and cast her eyes around the environment, keeping a wary eye out for any suspicious activity. Taking in the area, she frowned slightly at the typical austereness of Alliance design and construction. A far cry from the elegant and powerful architecture found in government structures on Earth, the Systems Alliance Parliament offices were rather drab. And though the various offices and chambers took up nearly ten percent of the available habitat space in the primary torus of Arcturus, the space still seemed cramped and stifling.

In recent years, the structural engineers and designers for the station had attempted to incorporate some of the more visually pleasing environmental elements found on the Citadel's Presidium and within the sweeping embassy and Council facilities, but the place still remained largely utilitarian and lacking any kind of warmth that might help one forget they were standing on a massive space station dozens of light years from Earth.

Striding through a short breezeway and then into a larger, slightly more spacious lobby, Okabe keyed in her code to the Member of Parliament's door and then led her visitors into the comfortable office space. Sitting at a large desk at the opposite end of the office was a dark-skinned, older man. He looked up from a data tablet he had been studying, smiled broadly at his guests and rose to greet them at the center of the office.

As he approached them, Miranda noted the man was quite tall, at least six foot six. And though he appeared to be in his late sixties, there was vitality and strength in his movements that seemed to hint at a life filled with accomplishments that went well beyond the Parliamentary chambers. She recognized the distinctive man immediately.

"Anita," the man said, smiling even more broadly and offering his hand to Goyle. "It is wonderful to see you again. How was the journey?"

Goyle accepted the man's hand and smiled back warmly. "Fine, just fine, Robert, thank you," she said and then gestured to her companions. "Robert, this is my grandniece, Oriana, and my personal aides Jacquelyn Flanagan and Melissa Watson."

"Welcome, welcome," the MP said to the women.

Member of Parliament and current Secretary for Colonial Terraforming and Agricultural Affairs, Robert Kenyatta was an unmistakable figure. A towering man not only in physical stature but in political reputation as well, he traced his lineage directly back to the famed Kenyan statesman, Jomo Kenyatta, and exuded the same brand of timeless authority and gravitas his ancestor had generations before. He was well known for bucking party lines, ruffling feathers in the Parliament and rarely shied away from controversial stands. Still, he was a solid believer in the Systems Alliance and a steadfast advocate for its expanded role in galactic politics.

Being a strong supporter of humanity's expansion into the galaxy and an outspoken ally of quasi-independent colonial governments, Miranda was well aware that Kenyatta had been a frequent recruitment target for the Illusive Man. But the MP had always rebuked the gestures, rejecting Cerberus as an extremist organization despite what appeared, at least on the surface, to be some very clear parallels in ideology.

Miranda had no trouble understanding why Goyle had been adamant that the man could be trusted. He was about as incorruptible and self-confident as anyone she knew of within the Systems Alliance. Well, almost anyone, she smiled.

Kenyatta allowed his gaze to pass over the women attending Goyle and smiled warmly, shaking each of their hands in turn. He paused an extra moment with Oriana. "I understand you're attending university back in New York. How are your studies?"

"Oh, very well, thank you," Oriana replied without hesitation. "It's so exciting to see the station here, though. It really is breathtaking."

Miranda looked on confidently, knowing her sister had thoroughly absorbed her cover even in the very short amount of time they had to prepare. She's a natural at this.

Kenyatta laughed boisterously and looked over at Goyle. "She's as gracious as she is lovely, Anita," he said and then glanced back at Oriana. "Thank you for speaking so courteously about our drab little wheel in space. I'm afraid it pales in comparison to the wonders of the Citadel, which I understand you're now familiar with." He glanced around at the group and made a wide sweeping gesture with his arms. "And I'm afraid our friends within Alliance Navy Command are hell-bent on cramming an ever-growing amount of future sailors and marines into our already cramped spaces."

"Yes, we couldn't help but notice the influx of new recruits arriving on station, Secretary Kenyatta," Miranda spoke without a trace of her Australian accent. "Can the station support so many additional souls?"

The MP gazed at Miranda with a knowing look. "It's uncertain, Miss Watson. But Admiral Hackett and his colleagues are doing their best to expand the facilities here as rapidly as possible, as I'm sure you noticed on the way in."

Miranda smiled back at the tall man and nodded, wondering how much Goyle had shared with him about the Reaper threat that was undoubtedly the primary impetus for the military buildup. She was also curious to learn what Kenyatta's true impressions were concerning the seemingly universally respected Admiral Steven Hackett. Though the MP was generally a strong supporter of the military, she distinctly remembered reading Cerberus intelligence reports that indicated some kind of rift between the men. For her own part, she still wasn't entirely sure she trusted the man that had sent the Normandy so heedlessly into Bahak. That personal errand had torn both Miranda and Shepard's worlds apart. I will never forgive that man, she thought bitterly.

Kenyatta then turned to his assistant and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Melina, why don't you take the rest of the afternoon for yourself?" he said. His tone was friendly but the statement was clearly more of an order than a request. "Ms. Goyle's visit is unofficial and Parliament business has concluded for the day in advance of the peace talks. I'll see you back here tomorrow morning."

The small woman bowed slightly, not even entertaining the idea of questioning her superior. "Of course, sir. Thank you." She then promptly said her goodbyes to the group and departed the office.

Once the door slid shut behind his young assistant, Kenyatta's expression immediately became more serious. "How imminent is the threat, Anita?"

"Imminent," Anita said resolutely. "And we believe the summit will be the target. Admiral Anderson has taken steps to delay the delegations at the relay, but we can't keep them away indefinitely without the risk of alerting the conspirators and possibly prompting them to strike sooner than planned."

Kenyatta shook his head slowly as he stared back at Goyle. "I still don't fully understand this, Anita. Are these people looking to provoke a wider conflict between the Alliance and the Hegemony? We're already well on our way to that as it is."

"It's a bit more complicated than simply escalating a border skirmish, Mr. Secretary," Miranda interjected. "This conspiracy is aimed at destabilizing entire civilizations. The conflict with the batarians is simply an opening move within a much larger game."

He narrowed his gaze on Miranda and nodded slowly. Kenyatta was clearly intrigued by what she was suggesting but also understood now was not the particular moment to press for a more detailed explanation. "And you're sure we can't enlist the help of Arcturus Internal Security or the Parliamentary Police to assist?"

"We can't risk it, Robert," Goyle said. "Over the last two months we've been systematically tracking the activities of the rogue SAIS elements and I can tell you they have wormed their way into an alarming number of institutions. We have reason to believe the biological weapon they plan to release here has already arrived on the station. If that's accurate, the local authorities have surely been compromised to some extent."

"So, it's just us then?"

"David is sending some people that can be trusted but they're still some time away," Goyle explained. "So, yes. As of now, it's just us."

"And we're already without a key operative," Miranda said, her tone growing more commanding by the minute. "We don't have much time. For now, we need get Oriana setup on your terminal here and linked in to our ship. May we?" she said and gestured to a desk equipped with a computer in the corner.

"By all means…"

Miranda looked to Oriana who gave a curt nod in response to the unspoken command and scurried behind the desk.

The younger Lawson girl then immediately began to tap out commands, deftly inputting several advanced cryptographic protocols from her Omni-tool and rerouting the data transmissions from the computer through numerous dummy terminals in order to conceal their origin within the Parliamentary offices. Satisfied with the process, she then quickly accessed the station's structural archives and brought up a detailed schematic of Arcturus.

Miranda walked around the desk and peered over her sister's shoulder, studying the display. "We'd planned to send another operative into the Environmental Master Control Center in order to access the station's internal sensors and scan for a very specific bio signature," she said. "But that's no longer an option. We'll need to utilize an alternative method to locate the pathogen."

"And you have an idea of how to accomplish this?" Kenyatta asked, gazing more curiously at Miranda.

"I do, yes," she said, looking up from the terminal. "When will Mr. Adams arrive?"

Kenyatta's eyes flicked to the clock on the wall and then back to Miranda. "Should be any moment now. I confirmed with Admiral Anderson just after Ms. Okabe met you at the arrivals terminal."

Oriana then glanced up from her work at the computer terminal. "I have our Tac-link synced and comms established with the Cassandra. Kasumi, how do you read us?"

"Loud and clear, kiddo," Kasumi's voice echoed over the comm implanted in Jack and Miranda's ears as well as the terminal's speaker. "What's your status there?"

"We're secure, Kasumi," Miranda said. "Jack and I will be moving out shortly. Can you establish communications with our backup and advise them we're commencing operations? Transmitting off station from this location is too risky."

"Affirmative," Kasumi said. "I'll let 'em know and get an update from the Alliance-types ASAP."

The door chime then sounded within the office, causing the group of women and Kenyatta to look toward the entryway in unison as a sudden tension descended within the room. Miranda shot a look at Jack, silently instructing the biotic to be ready.

The MP then stepped over to the security terminal near the door, checked the imagery from outside, and then turned back to the women. "It's fine. It's him," he said and granted access to their visitor.

A man dressed in Alliance Navy standard issue dark blue BDUs and carrying a large duffle slung over one shoulder then walked through the door and snapped off a crisp salute to Kenyatta. "Sir, Senior Chief Greg Adams reporting as requested by Admiral Anderson."

The brief moment of tension in the office evaporated and Kenyatta gave a pleasant smile to the man. "As you were, son," he said and then gestured to the women in the room. "We're all friends here."

Miranda didn't waste a second, immediately striding around the desk and rapidly closing the distance between her and Adams. "The Normandy is docked in the Naval Shipyard," she said tersely. "I need you to get me onboard?"

Adams hesitated, his mouth hanging slightly open and clearly a little taken aback by the blonde woman's abruptness. "The Normandy?" he said apprehensively and shooting a quick glance over to Kenyatta. "I don't know… It was my understanding I was here simply to help you blend in while you tracked down some rogue Intelligence-types that Commander Shepard had tangled with. Admiral Anderson didn't say a damn thing about getting you into the secured military docks."

"We've had to adapt our plans," Miranda said impatiently as she fixed the man with her best Ice Queen expression. "Everyone on this station is at risk and we have precious little time for your soul searching."

Adams frowned at the aggressive woman and opened his mouth to protest but was cutoff when Goyle stepped closer and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Please excuse my colleague's brusqueness, Chief," she said kindly while shooting Miranda a disapproving look. "I know what we're asking goes beyond what Admiral Anderson had originally requested of you. But I also know he conveyed the urgency of the situation we're here to address." The tone of Anita's voice turned stern. "I can appreciate how unorthodox this request is and the awkward position we're putting you in. But I really cannot stress enough the severity of the threat we're attempting to avert. So I'm asking you, will you help us?"

Adams gazed back at Goyle for a long moment and sighed. "Yes, ma'am," he said and glanced back at Miranda. "The Normandy's in the middle of a pretty sizable refit at the Iron Works here on station before she's slated to be sent back to Earth orbit to get polished up at the Yeager Advanced Naval Weapons Station. It's a Level 5 security area of the yard, but I'm assigned to the project and should be able to get you through with what Anderson asked me to bring." He then dropped the large duffle he was handling onto the floor and unzipped the top. Rummaging around in the bag, he produced two sets of neatly folded Alliance Navy issue BDUs and two pairs of boots and handed them up to Miranda. "I hope the Admiral got your sizes right," he said with a wry grin.

Jack had remained silent as she stood off to the side, looking decidedly awkward in her disguise, but then quickly stepped forward and snatched one of the uniforms from Miranda. "At least these look more comfortable than this shit I'm wearing," she said. "I don't know how you wear crap like this, cheerleader."

Miranda shot Jack a disdainful look as Kenyatta and Adams both looked a little taken aback by the red-headed woman. "Thank you, Miss Flanagan. We better get changed then," she said and then glanced back over at the MP. "A restroom we can use?"

Kenyatta was still staring thoughtfully at Jack but then shook himself to acknowledge Miranda. "Of course," he said and pointed toward another door in the corner of the room. "Just through there."

Miranda gave a curt nod and then turned to go, taking a firm hold of Jack's elbow as she passed and directing her toward the adjoining room.

As the two women swept into the small restroom, Jack pulled her arm from Miranda's grip and rounded on her. "The Normandy?" she scoffed. "What? You want to steal your precious Cerberus ship back or just reminisce about playing house with Shepard there?"

Miranda returned Jack's glare with one of her own. "Don't be daft, Jack. There's no taking that ship from the Alliance now. But the Normandy has one of the most powerful AIs ever developed onboard. And we're going to use it to identify and isolate the pathogen's signature before it's too late."

Jack stared at Miranda for a moment, looking both cross and a little confused. "EDI? Goto said that the Chambers bitch fried the thing."

"It's true Kelly was successful in disrupting EDI long enough to leave the ship dead in the water for a time and render us vulnerable to the SAIS boarding party," Miranda said matter-of-factly as she pulled off her suit blazer and began unbuttoning her blouse. "But I had a good look at the code before I was dragged away. I'm confident EDI's higher functions were never in danger of being permanently damaged and that she would have recovered after a sufficient amount of time."

Jack shook her head slightly before she began stripping off her own clothes, angrily tossing her jacket and blouse aside as if they'd caused her actual physical pain. "And you don't think the Alliance has fucked with it since she's been here?"

Miranda shrugged. "I'm sure they've tried. But EDI has extensive contingency protocols embedded within her AI core. She's designed to essentially melt away into the Normandy's sub-systems and mask her detectable AI signatures should the vessel be compromised," she explained before kicking off her high heels and slipping out of her slacks. "To the Alliance, she would appear as nothing more than a highly advanced VI. Their techs would surely have attempted to extract and purge all Cerberus data and algorithms. But in response, EDI would simply produce terabytes of dummy and obsolete data while sheltering her vital systems and any sensitive information."

Jack stepped a little closer to Miranda, eyeing the other woman intensely. "And what if you're fucking wrong? We'll we walking right into the most heavily guarded section of this giant tin can. Not sure if you noticed the wanted posters flashing on the vid displays back at the security checkpoint, but both our faces were front and center."

Miranda's lip curled into a thin smile as she looked back at Jack. "I saw them," she said indifferently but feeling an odd sense of pride to be featured on the Arcturus Station security feeds. "And I understand the risk. But EDI's our best shot at preventing everyone on this station from being infected with that pathogen and falling victim to god-knows-what it's designed to do to them. That includes us, Jack. Our covers will hold." She said firmly and looked over at Jack before suddenly realizing they were carrying on their little sidebar while standing in their underwear. "Now hurry up and get dressed, would you?"

Jack allowed a wicked smile to play on her lips and she leered exaggeratedly at Miranda. "What, no time for a pajama party?"

Miranda shot her reproachful scowl.

"Relax, princess. You're not exactly my type," Jack said and glanced down at Miranda's body again. "But, I will admit, you do have some pretty fantastic tits."

Miranda groaned and reached down to pull her Alliance-issue BDU trousers over her long, milky-white legs. "Oh my god… Would you just put your bloody clothes on?"

A few minutes later, the two emerged again, looking striking in their Alliance Navy BDUs with the sleeves rolled up over their elbows and the cuffs of their trousers tucked into the standard issue boots.

Oriana whistled softly as she looked up from behind the terminal she was still sitting behind. "Wow. Look at you two," she said and let out a girlish laugh before quickly looking back down at her terminal. "I think we've identified the shuttle that came from Bekenstein. But we're totally locked out from the security records and feeds that could tell us who was onboard and where they might have went."

Miranda nodded, unsurprised by the news. She then turned and gave Adams and expectant look. "Anything else in that bag of yours for us before we get on our way?"

Adams was gawking a little foolishly at the two women that now looked like a pair of unusually attractive Alliance Navy Ensigns. He finally shook himself and stepped over to hand them both a Predator heavy pistol he'd pulled from the duffle. "I have a third sidearm," he offered.

Miranda gestured over to her sister. "That can remain with Oriana," she said as she accepted the pistol, briefly inspected the weapon, and then secured it snuggly within the integrated holster on her uniform's belt. "Oriana, no venturing out, please. I need you here with Anita and on that terminal."

"Understood, Miranda… Uh, I mean, Miss Watson," Oriana said, instantly going red and cringing slightly before she directed her eyes back to the terminal.

Miranda met Adams' puzzled gaze and then glanced over to Kenyatta who was standing a little off to the side with Goyle and looking on with interest. Alright. Maybe not such a natural just yet, after all.

"I had already guessed that was you, Miss Lawson," Kenyatta said and shrugged. "These are indeed fascinating times for the Alliance."

"Clearly," Miranda said quietly and then shot another scolding look at Oriana before turning back to Chief Adams. "Lead the way."

Author's note:

I had intended for this little diversion to Arcturus to be a single chapter, but it was rapidly growing out of control so I decided to split it into two parts. So Chapter 19 ends up being a bit of a transitionary phase instead of a full-out mission sequence. But the second half is nearly complete, so Chapter 20 is just around the corner.

For the detailed-oriented folks out there: I went more with the Codex description of the station, which states it's a Stanford Torus design, rather than the few images we see in the comics (which look nothing like a ST).

I'm also going to be playing around a bit with some of the ranks and other military details in this fic. So Adams is now an NCO with the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer instead of yet another Lieutenant (there are just way too many lieutenants running around the Normandy in canon ME3).

Props to GhostWriter83, by the way, for setting the standard in mixing in a greater level of military realism and detail.