Disclaimer: The Mass Effect universe is the property of Bioware/Electronic Arts. No infringement of these copyrights is intended as this is a not for profit fan fiction work.

Rewrite Notes: Still inspired by the Beyonce song "Save the Hero," from the album I am…Sasha Fierce. This is where the impact of actually populating the galaxy with trillions of beings and keeping Humanities numbers the same come into play with a drastic change of the setting from canon.

Reference Works: Warlord Leorne Saris at luckyfk (dot.) deviantart (dot.) com (slash/) art (slash/) Commando (dash - ) 485417974; my Batarian Codex Changes; my Terminus Systems Codex Changes

Revision History: 10/28/2017; 11/22/2017 (removed all references to the ship looking turian made); 12/01/2017 (changed the name of the mercenary group protecting Okeer as humans do not have a significant presence on Korlus)

Part 1: Chapter 2:: 16 hrs Post Awakening: Normandy SR2/Cerberus Space Station

The - formerly deceased - first human Spectre Amanda Shepard was pretty sure she was supposed to be impressed. After all the dramatic scene had been so carefully set with the sleek hunter lines of the new Normandy SR2 being lit up in deliberate sequence as it slid into the viewing bay berthing. A new Normandy, almost twice the size of the original frigate, gleaming new and shiny in white, black and gold, and branded with the Cerberus logo on the forward stabilizers. She could almost hear the notes of some suitable theme music playing in the background.

Shepard closed her silver hued eyes, ran one hand through…ok, over the two-day long fuzz on her head. When she had awoken in the Cerberus station she had been completely bald, her carefully kept auburn hair long gone over the years of her body's reconstruction.

"You don't look as pleased as I had hoped," Joker's voice sounded uncertain from where he stood beside her.

"No, no I'm ecstatic," Shepard commented as she opened her eyes, "absolutely looking forward to either being jumped by the Batarians or League forces. Either would take the ship, one would make us mindless slaves and the other would probably just kill us out of hand rather than go through the trouble of capturing us alive." She wouldn't have known about the latter had it not been for Tali on Freedom's Progress pulling her aside and sharing the information with her. Cerberus had been making friendly with the asari of the League of the Terminus over the past year or so. Kidnapping them, taking them to a hidden base on Trident, which was an Asari world with a sizable Human population under the control of asari Warlord Leorne Saris, and then injecting them with some biotic suppression drug. Afterward the Cerberus scientists had coerced their asari victims to use their biotics until they suffered cerebral hemorrhages and then died ugly deaths from continuous seizures. Warlord Saris had been the first to offer a standing bounty on any proven member of Cerberus caught in her territory. The other asari Warlords had quickly followed suit, and now the entire League had standing bounties for any member of Cerberus caught in the Terminus systems whether they were handed over to League forces dead or alive.

"What? Why?" Joker seemed shocked.

Shepard raised one eyebrow as she turned toward him, "To which?"

"The League," the pilot burst forth as if that should have been obvious to her - which of course it was actually.

"I guess Cerberus hasn't been sharing much of what they've been up to lately," Amanda observed as she activated her omni-tool and transferred a few of the video files that Tali had given her. She was mildly surprised that they hadn't been scrubbed from the device, but then perhaps that would have been a little too obvious while Cerberus was trying to persuade her to play along nicely with them.

"I hadn't heard about this," Joker looked sick as he watched the Trident news reports, "honestly I hadn't, or I would have said something," he hung his head.

Amanda glanced over at him with an inaudible sigh. Even if she didn't believe him, and she actually did, she needed him to pilot this ship. "I believe you Joker," she reassured him, "I'm sure they've kept you in a news blackout as much as possible, didn't want you running back to the Alliance."

"Yea," he still hadn't looked up, he shook his head, "this is going to be a problem, a big one."

Her lips set in a frown, Shepard nodded, "From what I can tell we are going to be primarily operating in the Terminus without any backup in case we get in trouble and this ship broadcasts human supremacists and their technology up for grabs to the first one who is strong enough to take it and us. Normally I'd hope that any random League patrol ship would just let us pass by, but with what happened on Trident… Now they will attack us as well - one look at that Cerberus logo and they would see credits and a chance for revenge wrapped up in one shiny enticing target." She let out a frustrated sigh, "Probably alert every other League ship in the area as well, making it that much harder to escape."

Shepard leaned forward, wrapped her hands in a crushing grip around the railing in front of her, and a snarl formed on her lips. "Shit fuck", Shepard growled vehemently under her breath, then louder "Why not just hand us over to one or the other and at least get something out of it? Last I heard several Batarians were willing to pay up to fifty million credits to claim the first human Spectre as their slave." She had heard that warning from one of her N7 buddies, Lt. Nate Jackson, who operated fairly regularly out in the Terminus Systems just after she had been inducted by the Council. "Should be a really interesting experience, except for…oh wait after they inject us all with their chemical concoction to lobotomize us we won't have enough self-awareness left for it to really matter to us."

"It's supposed to be really fast," Joker offered quietly as he subtly cringed away from her anger. "The ship that is," he amended quickly as she shot a disbelieving glance his way.

"Good, because it looks like we will be doing a lot of running away," Shepard growled. "Too bad that slavers like to setup ambushes right off a relay jump." She shook her head, her expression hardening in resolution, "This won't work, I refuse to put everyone in danger like this. I don't fucking care if Cerberus likes it or not. At the very least it needs a different paint job to get rid of the just out of the shipyards look. Something scuffed up, and in subdued colors as if it's been in service for years."

Shepard sighed and shook her head, "That won't help that much though, the ship's outline, as much as I like it, is unfortunately distinctive. Its unique, not really Turian and not really Alliance. Maybe we can do something with the right paint, fuzz the outline both by LADAR and eyeballing it," she mused, "make it more difficult to identify." She frowned in thought, "What about the shuttles? Might be easiest to just use a shuttle as much as possible and keep the ship close enough for emergencies, but out of immediate sight."

"One UT-47 Kodiak Drop Shuttle," Joker answered when she finally stopped speaking.

"That won't do," Shepard sighed, even though it was about what she had expected. "Our best bet in the Terminus Systems is to just not to be noticed whenever possible, and only a few human colonies or human PMC's like the Blue Suns would use a Kodiak." She straightened, "That's how we always did our Special Forces operations out here, used either non-standard gear that didn't immediately stand out as human made or used asari or turian gear. Used a shuttle most of the time too for the same reason," she added thoughtfully, "hard to stay covert and under the radar with an Alliance frigate hanging around. The fewer people notice you or the fact that you're human, the better your chances of a successful mission. We're just too rare as a race out here. Last I heard there were about 600 non-humans for every human in the Terminus Systems. We stick out like a sore thumb sporting a fluorescent yellow band-aid," Amanda paused to share a wry smile with Joker at the all too truthful jest. "We can get a shuttle off the Terminus markets, turian or asari doesn't matter, and use it whenever possible. Blend in, look like every other merc and do our best to not even advertise our species."

Shepard grimaced, "I guess I'd better go speak to Miranda about this," she commented, her tone turning sour. Honestly, she wasn't looking forward to speaking with the Cerberus operative, the two of them just seemed destined to disagree with one another. It had begun upon their first meeting, or at least the first one Amanda had been awake for, when Miranda had killed Wilson instead of keeping him alive for questioning, then progressed to the dramatic argument the two of them had had just before leaving for Freedom's Progress over the other woman wanting to implant her with a control chip -thankfully that suggestion had been turned down- and then continued on Freedom's Progress over the fate of the quarian Veetor.

Freedom's Progress. Even if it hadn't been before, the reality of how it would be to be associated with Cerberus had been driven home by her unexpected meeting with Tali upon that frozen planet. The quarians with Tali had responded with instant hostility upon seeing the Cerberus symbol upon Miranda and Jacob's armor. If Tali hadn't been there, Shepard was certain the situation would have devolved into a firefight between the two groups despite her best efforts to diffuse the situation. Still though, speaking with Tali had been a very welcome piece of familiarity in this… strange and confusing renewed existence she had woken up within.

"Whatever happens Shepard… it's good to have you back," the genuine emotion in Tali's tone had struck Amanda hard, making her wish that the younger woman had decided to take her up on her offer. It would be nice to have someone around she could trust not to stick a knife in her back if she didn't do what they wanted.

At least she had been able to protect the traumatized young quarian who had witnessed the Collector's attack on the colony, and shown Tali that she hadn't been lying when she said she was working with Cerberus only out of necessity. The entire encounter had left her feeling slightly hollow however, and driven home the loneliness of her current situation.

Lifting her arm and twisting her wrist activated the holographic interface of Shepard's omni-tool, and a few commands later revealed the current location of the Cerberus officer. "Alright," she looked up at Joker, "I'm off to discuss this with Ms. Lawson," she commented briskly.

Joker's eyes widened, "Luck Commander," he offered as she turned to leave.

Shepard paused, turned her head to meet his gaze with a knowing smirk, "Yea, thanks."

Goddess she wasn't looking forward to this, Amanda thought as she strode down the corridor, stifling her wince and flare of embarrassment as she thought of their earlier pre-Freedom's Progress argument. Seeing the shock, momentary fear, and then wary understanding in Ms. Lawson's eyes almost made it worth it though. Amanda was fairly certain that the Cerberus operative had thought she was going to threaten her with the pistol Amanda had drawn until the end of the barrel had settled underneath Shepard's own chin.

"I'd rather splatter my own brains past all chance of you reassembling them, than be controlled with a mind chip." Shepard had vowed grimly, flicking off the safety and settling her finger firmly around the trigger. She had waited a moment to make sure her message was understood before thumbing the safety back on and then lowering the weapon to re-holster it. "But then I'm sure your employer suspected as much which is why he told you not to." Her pale grey eyes, hard and unyielding, had locked with the other woman's, "Remember this; to you I may have been your project, your subject to salvage, but that ended the moment you woke me up. I'm a person, not a thing to be controlled. Why don't you pause and think for a moment about how you would like it if someone did that to you." There had been a reaction then, an obvious flinch that she hadn't expected from the cold woman, but she hadn't given Miranda a chance to respond before turning on her heel and leaving.

Her actions had been more than a bit melodramatic, but then her emotions had been running high ever since Jacob had informed her it had been two years since she had died - and then she had found out who exactly had spent so much time and money bringing her back from the dead.

Yes, the galaxy was inarguably a dangerous place. Yes, Humanity was vastly outnumbered by almost everyone else. Yes, there were actual very dangerous foes out there like the Hegemony, the Expansionist faction of the Hierarchy, as well as numerous other groups that saw the Systems Alliance as merely something in their way or as a ripe target for exploitation. In fact, several of her missions as a Special Forces operative had specifically been targeted at just these groups. Taking out their resources and targeting their essential personnel for surgical strikes aimed at destabilizing them among other things. Missions designed to either eliminate them as threats to the Systems Alliance, or reduce their ability to conduct operations against the Systems Alliance. Never once while she had been out in the Traverse or Terminus however, had she seen any sign of Cerberus personnel running the same types of missions.

As far as Shepard knew, she had never run into any Cerberus related operations until she had been inducted as a Spectre and sent to hunt down Saren. Then all of a sudden, she was running into Cerberus cells and their activities everywhere. Once, before she had firsthand experience of their operations, Shepard might have been inclined to turn a blind eye to their activities provided they resembled the types of missions she had carried out in the past. The reality though had been quite an eye opener, starting with the discovery that Cerberus was responsible for luring thresher maws to attack the colony on Akuze from a survivor of that attack, one Corporal Toombs, whom they had captured and experimented upon until his escape from them. Then there had been her investigation into the cause of the deaths of Rear Admiral Kahoku's men at his request, an investigation that had led to her discovering that Cerberus had planted a false distress beacon to lure his troops into a thresher maw nest - their reason to prevent those Alliance forces from acting on intelligence they had found regarding Cerberus illegal activities. Then Cerberus had gone after Kahoku, eventually tracked him down, and then tortured and murdered him.

That had been quite enough for Shepard's opinion of the human survivalist paramilitary organization to shift from neutral to considering them to be a clear and present danger to Systems Alliance personnel and interests. However, that hadn't been the last of her run ins with the terrorist group, on Chasca a Cerberus team deliberately turned the entire colonist team into husks in order to study them. Shepard's last Cerberus discovery had occurred while following the trail back from the rachni infestations at Listening Posts Alpha and Theta, and finding out that the rachni in question had escaped from the Cerberus facility on Depot Sigma-23 where a science team had been experimenting on them. Prior to that discovery Shepard had been almost convinced that somehow, despite what she and the rachni Queen had shared telepathically, she had made a disastrously wrong decision in letting the Queen go on Noveria. But no, it had been Cerberus again, their reckless behavior resulting the deaths of nearly an entire brigade of Alliance soldiers. At that point Amanda had been convinced that Cerberus interpretation of the word protection did not at all agree with her interpretation of it, rather the opposite actually, and the entire group needed to be rounded up and put in padded cells for everyone's protection from them - including themselves.

Yes, she understood how and why groups like Terra Firma and Cerberus existed and drew a significant amount of support for their publicly stated goals of putting Humanity first to ensure human survival in a hostile galaxy. A large percentage of humans, especially those who were born on Earth and had never been anywhere else, were simply frightened of the rest of the galaxy, and in such an environment it was easy for such fear-mongering groups to recruit members, and even gain the covert support of elements in the Systems Alliance government and military. However, the truth was that Cerberus was a dangerous terrorist organization, and no smooth words from the Illusive Man about only doing what was necessary to protect humanity and keep it strong would ever make her forget what she had actually witnessed of their activities.

Shepard would never forget the discussion on 'hard choices' her group had during N7 training. Their trainer had made a clear distinction between being able to make actual hard decisions and twisting your thinking to justify choosing a hard decision when other equally valid options were available solely so you could point at a bunch of dead bodies, often civilians, and boast about being able to make the hard decisions. That was sociopathic level thinking and would promptly get you in front of judiciary board and incarcerated if you were responsible for any deaths or in the case that everyone got lucky and lived, Category 6'ed out of the military. Ever since then anyone who boasted about being able to make the 'hard decisions' had set off very loud alarm bells in her mind and earned her cautious wariness of them. The ends rarely justified the means, and history had shown that people who thought that way were responsible for some of the most inexcusable atrocities ever committed throughout human history. Cerberus was right there with the worst of them, making unnecessary 'hard decisions' that resulted in needless deaths, tarnished Humanities reputation galaxy-wide, compromised their ability to work with their allies, and generally made things more difficult for the Systems Alliance rather than in any way making them easier.

Shepard stopped in front of Miranda's door, closed her eyes and dipped her head, going in all worked up about Cerberus and their supposed 'protection' of Humanities interests would do her no favors. Deep measured breaths, focus only on the breath, focus only on the movement of breathing in and out - let your mind calm. One final breath then Amanda opened her eyes, took a moment to stretch her head from side to side to get rid of the lingering tension in her shoulders, and then waved her palm over the door's sensor. As the seconds stretched on, Amanda began to wonder if her omni-tool had been correct, then just as she was about to double check the door slid open. An office lay beyond, with Shepard's quarry sitting behind a long, multi-tiered desk strewn with pads and folders.

The Cerberus operative in her skin tight black and white armored jumpsuit barely glanced up from where she was typing away at her keyboard, "May I help you Commander."

Shepard's brow rose at the crisp tones, this was going to be such a wonderful conversation she could tell that right now. Still…she stepped though the doorway, "I had some questions about our expected area of deployment for the next few months."

That was enough for Miranda to actually glance up at her with a slight frown, "All of the previous colony attacks have taken place in the Terminus Systems, I wouldn't expect that to change."

"Who's our backup in case we run into slavers or bounty seeking League ships?" Amanda queried as she crossed to the nearest chair and slumped down in it.

That stopped Miranda from typing as she finally gave her full attention to the Commander. "The Normandy should be able to outrun any of them. Mr. Moreau is an excellent pilot, and of course there is that fact that our stealth capabilities are slightly more advanced than the original Normandy."

Shepard made a show of considering this, then slowly nodded, "So we are going to spend all of our time running and evading and hoping that some ambush, especially a coordinated one by one or more League fleets, doesn't eventually catch us off guard?"

Miranda pursed her lips and scowled at her, "What is this actually about Commander."

Shepard smiled, she was pleased that the other woman had seen though her vague attempt at acting, she hadn't really put much of an effort into it after all. "Trident, the League, slavers - us painting an unnecessary target on our backs by dangling what is obviously an advanced Cerberus warship in front of various Terminus groups who have every reason to either see us as a quick buck or have every reason to hate us," she responded.

The Cerberus operative's expression soured, "Trident was a mistake, that cell was given strict instructions for their research protocols and they ignored every one of them." One russet brow rose, but before Amanda could say anything… "Yes, I know how that sounds," Miranda admitted her dark eyed gaze meeting Amanda's own, "but I've seen what they were authorized to do and I know what they actually did on Trident. Too many join Cerberus out of simple bigotry and that cell had an unfortunate concentration of them."

"And no one noticed this? Checked up on them?" Shepard knew her disbelief was seeping into her tone.

"We are now, all cells were reviewed after what happened on Trident," the dark-haired woman assured Shepard.

Much to her own surprise, Amanda was actually inclined to believe the other woman. Or at least believe that was what Miranda believed, or really wanted to believe one. "In any case," Shepard offered after a moment, "we have to deal with the fallout from it especially the standing bounties."

The Cerberus officer shook her head, "There's no hiding…"

"Of course there is," Shepard interrupted her, "I can name off at least six things that would be purely cosmetic changes and one that wouldn't cost very much."

Dark brown eyes narrowed, "And what would those be," Miranda inquired, her tone edgily questioning.

Shepard paused, allowing a hint of true regret to show though, "As much as I'd love to keep it, Normandy is too distinctive a name, as is the SR2 designation. Unfortunately the ships outline is pretty unique, so it will be hard to hide that but some anti-reflective paint in matte colors will make it harder to discern both by LADAR and the Mark-1 eyeball. Choose a non-descript name for her and make the necessary registry and IFF changes. The Cerberus logo and bright color scheme need to be replaced with basic grey and black, like most of the no-name Terminus mercenary group ships. The Kodiak needs to be replaced as well; it's too unusual out here, you'll need to replace it with something turian or asari made thats well armored and reliable. Since the ship is so distinctive, we're going to want to keep it out of sight and use the shuttle as much as possible. If there are any interior Cerberus logos which can be seen by someone walking by or delivering cargo, they need to be removed as well. Same thing for the crew, no Cerberus marked clothing, they can choose what color and style jumpsuits they want for replacements but nothing distinctively Cerberus related."

Shepard couldn't help but give a groaning laugh at what was next, "And finally we need to get a hold of that god-awful armor we used for N7 operations out here," she waved one hand, "Jacob's probably familiar with it. It's definitely not going to win you any beauty or brawn, for that matter, contests, but it blends in well and makes it damn difficult to tell the species or even sex of the person wearing it. Make sure you get all the options they have for shoulder guards, hip guards and shin guards, they're mainly decorative, but that's the point. You mix and match them, paint them up and everyone looks like their wearing slightly different armor instead of everyone suspiciously looking alike."

Miranda did not look convinced, "You expect that to actually work? At some point, at the very least they're going to notice we're a ship full of humans, and that will be enough to raise suspicions."

"I expect it to help," Shepard corrected her, "and at least delay that day." She sunk further into the chair, "And I need to go to the Citadel."

"The Council has disavowed your warnings," Miranda coldly stated, "and the Alliance has gone along with them."

"So I've heard from your boss," Shepard admitted, through sheer force of will keeping her calm facade even as visions of throttling Sparatus danced through her head. "Still, even if we can't get any official Alliance support, perhaps Councilor Anderson can do something to allow us to passage through League territories…maybe even get my Spectre status reinstated even if only on a probationary basis."

"That…might help," Miranda reluctantly admitted, "the League Warlords are," the dark-haired woman grimaced, "rightfully incensed with what happened on Trident and many of the humans that owe them allegiance are eager to prove their loyalty. There is a substantial chance that they might reveal our presence to the Asari if they become aware of it."

Shepard snorted softly in wry amusement, "You mean they made pledges of allegiance and loyalty to Warlord Saris' Lineage, as well to her personally, and the fact that Cerberus had facilities on Trident at all and were allowed to operate out of there for apparently years has made her question whether or not she was wrong to allow humans to settle Trident. Now they're desperate to make sure nothing else happens which might offend her and get them kicked off Trident altogether." One brow rose at the other woman's surprised look, "We did a quite a few operations out here, got several briefings concerning the various Warlords of the League of the Terminus. The Terminus asari are very feudal in their thinking, very much the way they were on Thessia some thirty thousand years ago. One Lineage rules an area or territory, with the ruling Warlord leading the Lineage. If you want to move in, you make some very binding oaths of loyalty to the Warlord and her Lineage. If you break them, you are a traitor and an oath breaker, and the Warlord will either order your death or permanently exile you depending on how the exact nature of your transgression."

Amanda paused for a moment, allowing her thoughts to coalesce before continuing, "The humans on Trident called their oaths into question by not turning in Cerberus in the first place. If they give Warlord Saris any more reason to doubt their loyalty, they could find themselves very quickly declared oath breakers and instead of her forces protecting them they could find themselves exiled and facing her forces when they come to throw them out." One glance confirmed that she was on the right track, "Not only that, but what happened on Trident made the other League Warlords suspicious of the humans in their own territories didn't it?" Miranda's expression was carved in ice now, "So now we have the situation that if any colonist anywhere within League space doesn't turn us in, and a Warlord found out about it, at best it would get their entire family turned out, at worse it might even get their entire human settlement forcefully removed from the League. Does that about sum up the situation?"

"That seems accurate," Miranda agreed, her voice clipped and expression stony.

"So, someone will turn us in, out of sheer self-preservation if nothing else." Shepard knew she had over-made her point by more than just a bit, but damn it, Cerberus evidently hadn't changed a bit in the past two years. No matter what they claimed to be doing, they seemed to consistently manage to do more harm than good to human interests wherever they went. She snorted in abrupt macabre humor, please Goddess let her not end up pulling a Saren because of something 'brilliant' Cerberus did in her reconstruction and end up helping the Reapers instead of fighting them.

She looked up to find Miranda watching her with an angrily offended expression, not wanting to get into it further she just shook her head, "Ok, focusing on what we can do vs the many obstacles in our way. How many fully independent human colonies are left in the Terminus now? Freedom's Progress was one of the largest ones I recall."

Miranda frowned at the change in subject, but seemed to accept it as she replied, "There were only a few independent colonies to begin with. We believe the Collectors began with a new colony called New Dehili, then they attacked Trafager, Jiawey, and New Auckland before they attacked Freedom's Progress. The only completely independent colonies they haven't yet attacked are Horizon and New Canton."

Shepard nodded, "And Systems Alliance aligned Terminus colonies?"

"Sondara, New Queensland, Cai-Shen, Ferris Fields and Fehl Prime were already attacked, and the Alliance is in the process of rebuilding them. Cyrene and Hange Prime are the only Alliance colonies that have not yet been attacked."

"Hmm," Shepard considered the information, "We need intelligence on the defenses for Horizon, Cyrene and Hange Prime then, the Collectors will most likely go after the least defended one next. Only after they attack all three would they probably consider going after a world like Trident, especially since all the asari Warlords have mutual aid pacts with one another."

"I already have that information," Miranda said as she turned back to her data terminal, "I'll send it to your omni-tool."

"Good," Amanda was dutifully impressed, and when the file arrived a moment later, "Thank you, I'll take a look at this later." Shepard was reminded of something else that was important, "By the way, how are we doing on building up our ship numbers to meet our Council requirements?"

The dark-haired woman's eyes narrowed on her, "The actual shipbuilding is proceeding well, but the increased taxes are stifling economic growth and both business and the average citizen are starting to complain about them. But then that's what the Council apparently wanted," bitterness was apparent in Miranda's tone, "for us to admit that we aren't able to meet the obligations of our Council seat and as a bonus silence the Volus and Elcor's regular petitions."

Shepard simply looked at her, none of this was unexpected.

The Cerberus operative's dark eyes narrowed even further, "You knew."

Shepard snorted, "Of course we knew, promoting the smallest economy out of all official Council races to be the fourth Council member without making any provision for us to provide any less military forces than the Asari or Salarians? We knew, but we needed an excuse to increase military spending and we knew the Senate would bury their heads in the sand about the reality of it to get that spending increase authorized. Then they would be trapped. Sure we would have to go in debt to the Republics, but better in debt than dead in a few years." Shepard's lips curled upward in smile that showed a bit too much tooth as she felt a sense of vindicated satisfaction, "What that also means is that the Alliance, or at least some of the Alliance, has not gone along with the Council's disavowing of my warnings. They're still preparing for the Reapers. I need to go see Anderson," she repeated her earlier assertion.

Miranda leaned back in her chair and bowed her head, her expression considering, "It will take several days to make the changes you have suggested, and I can't say right now how long to get the armor. In the meantime, the Illusive Man has sent over four dossiers for you to look at information about specialists he suggests you recruit for the mission. I'd suggest we go after Mordin Solus, a well-respected salarian professor currently located on Omega, we need to develop counter-measures to the Collectors immobilization technology, however…"

Shepard filled in for her, "Aria is one of the Warlords who has a bounty out on any Cerberus personnel caught within her territory - dead or alive, which makes us targets of not only her forces on the station but also any merc who wants to make some quick cash."

"Yes," Miranda agreed, "we can proceed with two of the dossiers without crossing into League controlled Terminus space. The one for Doctor Okeer and Jack, no last name known."

After the other woman sent her the information on the dossiers she had mentioned, Shepard took a moment to quickly look them over.

Dr. Okeer

- Millennia of combat and strategic experience
- Rumored familiarity with Collector technology

A brilliant and brutal krogan warlord who fought in the Krogan Rebellions, Dr. Okeer has become obsessed with saving the krogan people from the genophage and is believed to have contacted the Collectors in an attempt to gain technology to that end. He is currently in a Ragar Kolo camp on Korlus, though the nature of his relationship with the batarian and krogan mercenary group is unknown.

Jack (no last name known)

- Exceptional biotic ability
- Note: Criminal background, currently in custody

Jack is rumored to be the most powerful human biotic ever encountered. Very little additional data regarding Jack is available, except that the subject has a history of violence and should be approached carefully. Currently, Jack is being held on the Turian prison ship Purgatory. Cerberus has negotiated for the prisoner's release.

"Alright let's go for Jack first then, if the ship still isn't ready, we can go ahead and pick up Dr. Okeer," Shepard decided after reviewing the two files. This Jack seemed like a simple pickup, and then he or she could assist them on Korlus, which would give Shepard the opportunity to see how they operated in combat conditions. "Let's head out at 1000 hrs tomorrow morning," she decided, that should give them enough time to get ready and make the transit to this prison ship.

"Very well Commander," Miranda responded, "I will pass along the time to Jacob."

"Thank you," Amanda replied as she rose, "see you tomorrow morning." She headed toward the door and then paused just in front of it before turning back, "Miranda... for the ship name MSV Menrva."

The other woman frowned, "Menrva?"

"It's Etruscan for Minerva," Shepard informed her.

Miranda's brow rose in comprehension, "The Roman Goddess of Wisdom?"

Shepard smiled back, "And strategic warfare, seems apropos."