Notes:

Amantia - lover (Thessian)

Breá Ber'ah - Combined form meaning beautiful and strange lover; Breá being a close lover, somewhere between Amantia and Siame (Thessian)

CGC - Center for Galactic Cooperation

Grá mo chroí - love of my heart (Gaelic)

Ionúin Álainn - beautiful beloved (Gaelic)

LEAP - League of Earth Alliance Patriots

Nara - literally "bearer"; one who shoulders another's burden, aids others (Thessian/Source: CDN)

QEC - Quantum Entanglement Communicator

SDU - Standard Duty Uniform

Siame - "one who is all", a loved one cherished above all others (Thessian/Source: CDN)

An Exercise in Futility

T'Soni Country Estate, Armali Republic, Thessia – 11 Sep 2188

After a short Monday-morning visit with the Galactic Council to brief them on the continuing security preparations for the dedication ceremony on Earth, Liara and Riana had once more secreted themselves away in the Broker office to continue their meticulous work in an attempt to build dossiers on the 57 names that remained on their suspect list after their cross-referencing had been complete. After another three days of extraordinarily long hours, they had completed only brief sketches of a dozen persons of interest when Shepard walked through the door, delivering lunch for the two Asari.

At first, Liara barely glanced up… but realization slowly dawned and she suddenly paused in her work as she looked at the Spectre in surprise. "Goddess… Is it lunch time already?"

Setting the food down on the closest workbench, Shepard answered, "Yes… past, actually. It's almost 1400, Grá mo chroí." Taking a few more steps to close the gap between her and the exhausted Asari, Samantha reached out and drew Liara into her arms. "I know this is important, but you need to take breaks, Blue. You and Riana are driving yourselves to exhaustion… you have to rest and eat something, or you're going to miss something important."

Liara's shoulders drooped in resignation as she fell into the comfort of her Siame's arms. "I know… but there is just so many names!" She laid her head in the crook of Shepard's neck and closed her eyes as she continued in a whisper, "And it is not only us. Miranda and Oriana are working the list as well, but no matter what we do, it is slow going. The frustrating part is having to wait on the queries. There is simply too much information to go through. The target organizations have been quiet the last two months – exceedingly so – yet I know their meetings must be continuing… and that really bothers me. They are obviously making a concerted effort at keeping information from slipping out, as if they actually do have something to hide."

"Who is 'they,' Liara?" Feeling both the physical exhaustion and the mental anguish radiating from her Ionúin Álainn, Shepard tightened her embrace as she asked the question in a quiet voice, meant to be soothing. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect.

Liara pushed away, shaking her head in disgust. "That's the whole point! It seems to be all of them, so we can't pinpoint any one organization! It would greatly decrease the number of persons we have to focus on, if I could just figure it out. My biggest fear… as you suggested… is that they truly are cooperating; a joint effort could prove extremely deadly, no matter how prepared the security teams."

"We will figure it out, Mistress." Riana had stepped to her side and placed a gentle hand on her upper arm, a worried frown on her face as she turned Liara toward the food awaiting them. "But Nara is correct; we must take a break and eat. The queries will continue to process while we do so… and our eyes need to rest a bit after staring at those screens for so long." Her attention shifted to Shepard. "Thank you, Captain. I had no idea it was already midafternoon, or I would have insisted Mistress Liara take a break."

"No harm done, Riana." Shepard smiled and handed her one of the plates. "We're eating now."

As they sat down to eat, Shepard told them about her morning spent at the QEC. "I talked to Hackett again and attempted to impress upon him how seriously I felt about the threat from Douglas Walker. It took a bit of time, but he finally acquiesced… or at least pretended to. He did say he would give the exterior security details and routes another look… but, like you, Liara, I'm not sure how serious they are taking the threat that man poses. Lindholm seemed to pay a bit more attention… and promised to enhance the facial recognition screeners throughout the city. She figures the best way to counter his threat is to find and track him before the event."

"At least you got some traction with them, which is more than I can say." Liara glanced up from her food and managed a small smirk for her bondmate. "When the great Captain Shepard speaks, people have a tendency to pay a bit more attention than they do to her Asari lover."

Shepard chuckled softly and smiled. "You know that's not true. Hackett trusts you implicitly and knows how much you contributed to our winning the Reaper War." Her smile faded as she added, "I think he's just as tired of all this follow-on bullshit as the rest of us are."

Vancouver B.C., Earth, Sol System – 12 Sep 2188

Max and Nina had the undivided attention of Tim Stafford, Jana Cantrell and (most importantly) Zoë Lawrence. Using his omnitool, he placed a 'still' capture from a news vid concerning the upcoming building dedication. Images of the four principal guests had been superimposed over the background.

Everyone looked expectantly at the Illusive Man's former chief assassin; she looked at each of them in turn before offering her opinion. "Based on Walker's vitriol concerning who he called Human lackeys, I seriously doubt the Turians coming here for the dedication and reception will be targeted. My money is on Osoba, Hoffman, Trost and Hackett being the primary targets – any one of them or, God forbid, all four." Lowering her voice to a near-deathly whisper, she continued, "What we need to determine is which of those four would be seen by Terra Firma as the most important leader for humanity's peaceful coexistence with all the other races in the galaxy – if we can determine the answer to that question, we'll know who the primary target is, even if Terra Firma doesn't actually spell it out for us."

Nina had caught the look from her boss and quickly spoke up. "I'll get to work confirming their arrival times and where in the complex they will be staying." Standing, she made several entries in her omnitool.

"At this point, we can't afford to rule anything… or anyone… out." Zoë stood as well, looking to Nina. "So, to be safe, we'll need to cover all our bases. I will still need you and Max to confirm the Turian guest list as soon as possible, Ms Delacroix." Turning to her 'second', she said, "Jana, I would like for you to develop a plan for Atlas to provide a credible warning to the people in the Alliance who are responsible for these people's security, from orbit to ground, their time on the ground and their return to orbit. Once the Turians leave Vancouver for their homeworld, our own diplomats will be following." Pausing to glance around at everyone, she concluded, "The best possible outcome for this would be that all of our VIPs have a pleasant stay during the upcoming event, without anyone from Atlas having to be physically involved… but I'm not so damned naïve as to think we can avoid making a personal appearance, either. Knowledge is power, people. Let's be powerful."

Everyone murmured agreement with her words as they stood and left the meeting room. Zoë sighed in frustration, thinking, I don't know how in Hell I'm going to be able to remain on the sidelines. There are too damned many unknowns in play. With a mental shake of her head, she slowly trailed after Jana and Tim as they left for their offices. Nina and Max had already disappeared down the passageway, no doubt returning to their research stations. It looked as if it was going to be a long afternoon. Hell. It's going to be a long couple of weeks!

Chiroquol, Serpent Nebula, At Large – 13 Sep 2188

"Excuse me… Ms Lawson?"

The sounds coming from Barla Von's rebreather should have given away his approach long before he spoke, but Oriana was concentrating so hard she had failed to note his arrival and almost jumped off her stool when he spoke. "Apologies. I did not intend to startle you… though I suppose this current business has us all a bit on edge."

Taking a deep breath to calm her suddenly racing heart, Oriana turned to face the Volus as she replied, "No worries, Barla… I'm just focusing on patterns, trying to figure out what we're missing." She shook her head in exasperation. "There has to be something here… something we're just not seeing."

Surprising the Human, the rotund Volus had to suppress a chuckle before he could answer. "Oh, there most definitely is, my dear Broker. I believe there is an old Earth saying…" Oriana could hear the humor in his voice and knew he was smiling as he continued, "… something about following the money?"

She immediately gave the little financial specialist her undivided attention and her voice rose an octave in her excitement. "You found something? A pay-off? From who to whom?"

"While you have been focusing on the list, I have been working to track down another of Liara's concerns." Barla Von raised his arm and typed a quick command into his omnitool. "It is much too complicated to explain, so, please… check your incoming message screen."

Oriana spun her chair around and brought up the indicated program, immediately opening the newest message in the inbox. She read through the transaction listing and frowned. "How in the galaxy…? This is an extremely… convoluted… trail. How did you ever manage to link these transactions?"

"Convoluted, indeed." Barla Von's voice sounded rather smug. "Terra Firma's mistake was to not split out the sum's final destination. Had they left them broken and sent to multiple accounts at the far end, I likely never would have managed to trace it. But, by sending a cool, even, million credits, broken into multiple quantified payments via various routes and stops… but all ending at the same account for the unchanging total? That was the mistake that led to my discovery."

"So, who is this Damien Wintergreen?" Oriana flipped screens to the 'persons of interest' listing and confirmed the name was not on the list. "I have nothing on him… yet the name sounds familiar for some reason."

"The list in front of you is only of Alliance personnel with dubious connections," Barla Von answered quickly. "Wintergreen is one of the many aliases used by ex-Terra Firma operative Douglas Walker."

"Oh, God, that's right! I remember that now!" Oriana's eyes lit with recognition. "Thank you, Barla. I need to get on the Broker net right now and get this information to the group. This is our first positive confirmation… well, as close to a confirmation as we're likely to get, anyway… that Walker is definitely on the payroll for the upcoming event." She frowned as she added, "The only question remaining is who his target is."

Barla wheezed in agitation. "If only that was truly the solitary question which remained. We would be in a much better position than we are at present."

"I stand corrected." Oriana's expression matched Barla Von's tone of voice. "We still have a lot of work to do… and time continues to remain our true enemy."

T'Soni Country Estate, Armali Republic, Thessia – 13 Sep 2188

When the update regarding Walker came in from the Chiroquol, Riana sent a quick note to Samantha Traynor, asking her to come to the Broker office. All the regular Broker agents were already maxed out with trying to determine if any of the Alliance personnel assigned to the headquarters were a potential threat, so they needed Traynor to employ her analytical skills (along with the special access that accompanied a member of Spectre Shepard's crew) to assist Barla Von in his search for Walker's current location.

Answering promptly with an 'On my way!' text, Traynor jogged from the Knight Shade to the house, happy to have an excuse – any excuse, whatever it might entail – to see Riana. The past two weeks had been agonizing; the Asari had mostly been absent from their bed, crawling in very late and gone again the next morning before Traynor was awake. Samantha was moving fast enough she had to concentrate on where her feet were landing so as not to trip and fall, so didn't really take the time to think about why Riana may have summoned her.

She entered the house and made her way downstairs, finally entering the passcode and staring into the retinal scanner to enter the office. The door slid to the side to reveal both Riana and Liara chattering excitedly about finally getting a break. "Sounds like good news! About damned time, if you ask me. Both of you have been working way too hard."

Riana smiled and turned to the new arrival, placing a quick peck on her lover's lips before saying, "Thanks for coming so quickly, Breá." She glanced quickly at Liara before continuing, "There is something we need you to help us with."

"Absolutely!" Traynor paused briefly and added, "Especially if it means I get to work with you again… at least for a little while." Her voice dropped to a near whisper as she bemoaned, "I have really missed you these past couple of weeks, Ri."

Riana's face immediately fell, and she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Traynor's waist. "And I have missed you… but what we are doing is extremely important… and I am afraid we only have two terminals here, so you will need to work from the station on the Knight Shade…"

A bit angry with herself for not thinking of it sooner, Liara sighed, "I truly am sorry. With our link, Shepard and I are almost always together, sharing emotions and discoveries, quite literally as fast as thought. I completely failed to consider the impact this increased workload would have on your relationship."

"You're both being silly." Traynor exclaimed as a distant memory popped unexpectedly into her head. Splitting her attention between the two Asari, she explained, "As long as we are at the Estate and within the confines of the actual Broker office, any one of us can simply shift to our omnitool." She looked at the surprise on their faces. "Liara… You've worked on your omnitool in here many times… Did it never dawn on you why or how Riana could pass those summaries to you while you were working?"

Liara's lack of understanding brought a frown to her face. "I know the unique encryption algorithm devised by you, Judea and Miranda made it possible to send data outside the net…"

"Oh, bollocks! How in the galaxy did we muck that up?" Traynor gaped at her, open-mouthed, for a moment before collecting herself enough to continue. "This whole time, you didn't know?" She stepped over to Liara's side. "Open your omnitool and go to your message system, please." Once the Asari did so, Traynor pointed to a small icon in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. "If you are within the physical boundaries of this office, you can tap that little button that looks like a screen refresh icon…"

"Goddess!" Liara exclaimed, seeing her full file listing suddenly available on her omnitool. "What happens if this is open and I walk out of the office? Does that not compromise the entire network?"

"Absolutely not. First off, the opening screen is only a generated listing of available files… an index… so, no hard data has yet been transferred." Traynor grinned. "Select one of the files and it will download and open… into a specially designated temporary directory that is firewalled off from the routine memory of your omnitool. Any changes you make are automatically saved to a temporary version on the mainframe and once you save and close the file, it is securely wiped from your omnitool. Of course, that also means that if you forget something, you'll have to download it all over again." Traynor's eyes opened wide as she continued excitedly, "The coolest thing is that once you leave this room? Everything disappears! The files, the index… the entire program. Not even the icon shows up!"

She smiled, obviously enjoying the looks of incredulity from the two Asari as she finished, "It is controlled entirely by physical location – you have to be standing within this office and you must have gained access via the standard entry protocols, or it won't work. Once you walk in, the program contains recognition software that connects to our specially encrypted omnitools and confirms an authorized person is operating it. If both of those conditions are met, then it automatically loads the access software to your omnitool. As a security measure, it also deletes the program and wipes the entire memory segment when you leave."

Curious, Liara opened a file and walked toward the doorway. Tapping the haptic interface, the door retracted; accompanied by Traynor, she stepped through and gasped. Her screen blanked out for only the briefest of moments, returning with her standard 'home' screen. "That is positively remarkable! How did we not know of this, Specialist? How could you possibly have forgotten to tell us about something so amazing?"

"I have no idea!" Traynor giggled. "It really is an exceptional program… but with everything going on… all the preparations, setting up the new ships, moving all the equipment, Shepard's kidnapping, the bonding, the honeymoon…" She shrugged and stated, "I simply forgot!"

Liara turned back to the entryway retinal scanner and, after the system had processed her identity and opened the door, reentered the office. She reopened her messaging screen and smiled. "This is wonderful, Samantha! Thank you! I will have to be sure to pass on my gratitude to Miranda and Judea as well!"

Traynor couldn't help but grin at the Asari; it was the first time Liara had ever used her given name… likely due to the sharing of her first name with Spectre Shepard. She shrugged off the praise as she followed Liara back into the office and replied, "Bottom line is that we can all work right here; no one needs to go out to the ship just to find an available terminal." Traynor's eyes traveled back and forth between the two Asari, ending with a wink for Riana. "So, with that resolved, what is it you need me to do?"

Serrice, Thessia, Athena Nebula – 14 Sep 2188

"Thank you for coming so quickly, Spectre." Even after Captain Lydia D'Naga dropped her eyes, she still felt the accusatory stare of Asari Spectre Moises T'Dura. "I… I freely admit that I felt threatened by the Niaso family and put my own life above those I am sworn to protect… and three Asari citizens ended up dead as a result. I… I have no excuse."

"Don't be a fool." T'Dura narrowed her eyes and spoke earnestly. "Such a sacrifice would have meant nothing. If you were dead and the lieutenant had been in charge, the slaughter could have been worse… much worse. It is impossible to prove either way, but perhaps your presence prevented a greater travesty." T'Dura sneered, "Besides… if you were dead, who then would testify against the actions of Matriarch Galalina and Lieutenant Niaso?" The Spectre laughed, a grating, unpleasant sound given the circumstances. "I still find it difficult to believe you actually had the foresight to use your omnitool to record the entire conversation!"

"That was pure instinct." Lydia scowled and explained, "I didn't like Galalina the minute she walked into the Guard briefing room and announced her appointment. To me, she seemed… arrogant... and entitled, as if she was better than any of us, simply because she had lived longer than the rest of us in the room. Then, when she forced her child upon us – a daughter who, by the way, is too inexperienced and utterly unqualified for the job of the Serrice Guard Deputy Commander – that was when I began to suspect the matriarch was looking for a way to oust me and move her progeny into my position. It made me wonder what she was up to; why she needed me out of the way."

"Which is all speculation, of course, and completely useless to me." T'Dura skewered her with an icy glare. "Whether or not you value your life above that of a civilian citizen is of no matter to me… though, if you help me and I am successful in my hunt, I will put in a word for you with whoever is selected as the new Defense Minister. I can ensure you are only put on probation instead of being fired outright for gross dereliction of duty."

D'Naga looked at her in shock. "I thought you believed I prevented a greater tragedy?"

"I said 'perhaps'… but simply being present, breathing the same air… that does not change the fact that you failed… miserably so, at doing your Goddess-be-damned job of protecting innocent civilians. If you had resisted the illegal order, the opposite could have happened just as well. It may have brought attention to the matter and the whole disaster could have been averted. But I am no seer… and my conjecture, one way or another, makes no difference in this matter in the least." Snorting derisively at the captain, the Spectre snarled, "All I know for certain is that Minister of Justice Galalina issued an illegal order to prevent free assembly… which you blindly followed. Your actions from that point forward provide only for mitigation, not clemency, for your crime."

"I did not follow that order willingly! You can ask any of the officers who questioned the order and spoke to me in private. They agreed that, given the chance, Lieutenant Niaso would likely put a bullet in my back if I did not at least pretend to follow her mother's directive… so, I told them we had to do our best to gain control of the crowd peaceably… and then Niaso…" Tears came to the captain's eyes as she continued, "… then Niaso fired that first shot… I think she was attempting to kill Huntress Mendaras, who was subsequently spirited to safety by some of her compatriots."

"And the attempt on Mendaras' life was the act that spurred the brawl… that led to your complete loss of control of the situation." The Spectre crossed her arms and queried cynically, "So, what did you do then?"

"That was when we had our first injury; I believe… I hope… Minister Galalina is unaware I am the one who put her daughter in the hospital with a concussion… but it was too late," D'Naga seethed. "The crowd went crazy… and the first to die was simply someone who fell and was trampled in the panic. The other two were extremely powerful biotics who appeared to be simply spoiling for a fight." She shook her head and continued, sadness reverberating through her speech. "Those on the detail had to react, mostly to protect themselves. I didn't want anyone hurt, so I ordered a withdrawal, after which most of the crowd dispersed on its own… all but those two troublemakers; the other two injured Guards were those who were in direct conflict with the pair of them. Most of the other injuries were collateral damage from the biotics exchanges as people tried to flee… running and falling and such, in their haste to get away."

"So, you attempted to pull back from an out-of-control crowd instead of issuing a suppression command?" T'Dura scowled at her with disapproval. "What in Goddess name were you thinking?"

Anger started to swell in the Guard Captain and she snapped, "I saw far too many commandos under my command give their lives uselessly in the war against the Reapers." She paused only long enough to get control of her voice again and continued resolutely, "We were on the ground during that damned occupation, playing tag with Marauders, Cannibals, Brutes… So, you have a lot of damned nerve to stand there and tell me I made the wrong choice when I decided to pull back… trying to avoid a confrontation which would have only served to make things worse and cause unknown innocent casualties! I surpassed my limit for violence and death a long time ago… and I certainly had no desire to shoot down civilians!"

T'Dura laughed, actually laughed, at the captain's statement. "Well, you're certainly no coward, I'll give you that… giving sass to a Spectre like that when your future… and possibly your very life… hangs in the balance."

D'Naga glowered and growled, "And you certainly don't invoke any confidence in your search for justice… by first accusing me of following an illegal order, and then questioning why I chose the non-violent response when things went sideways!"

"I know it has been a few decades, but think back to your commando training, Captain." T'Dura smirked at D'Naga's questioning look. "It is simply an interrogation technique, that's all. Don't look so offended, it's just a way to put you off your game and get more truthful answers if you happen to be spinning me a story… or answering me with what you think I want to hear."

"I guess it's my fault for not realizing I was being interrogated." Lydia's scowl returned as she continued with a discontented growl, "You have absolutely no reason to categorize me as a hostile witness."

"I had every reason to treat you in any manner I saw fit… until I was confident you acted in good faith, which I now believe you have." T'Dura's eyes narrowed in thought for a moment before she continued, "You could greatly improve your situation… and I imagine it would also please you tremendously… if you and your loyal Guard members aided in the arrest of Minister of Justice Galalina and Lieutenant Alestia Niaso… as well as Defense Minister Rahula."

"Rahula?" The Guard Captain's eyes widened in shocked surprise. "The rumor mill says she was cleared by the Justicars!"

"Pshhh!" T'Dura scoffed in disgust. "The Justicars have given certain members of the Asari ruling class a false sense of security! They may not have broken Asari Law, but those who knew of the Beacon and hid it from us have violated Council Laws forbidding such hording of Prothean technology. The delay in determining its location prolonged the war and nearly cost Shepard the recovery of the information she required to fire the weapon that ended the battle… Every day, Council citizens died under the Reaper onslaught, and I am prepared to hold every member of the Defense Council who knew of, and failed to report, the existence of that Beacon accountable for those deaths."

Systems Alliance Headquarters, Earth, Sol System – 16 Sep 2188

Boris Sutton had been a member of Atlas for less than half of the full decade he had spent in the Alliance Marines; as such, he could still fit comfortably into his SDU – which he was currently wearing in order to blend into the background of military people walking about or working near the newly rebuilt Alliance headquarters building.

Tim Stafford had tasked Sutton with clandestinely surveying the grounds and, if possible, the dedication and reception venues. He wanted to know sightlines, access points, surveillance equipment, and how difficult… or easy… it might be for somebody hell-bent on killing one or two VIPs to get in, find and eliminate their targets, and get back out unscathed.

After viewing the building from all four sides, Boris felt fairly certain the Alliance had hardened the design considerably from its original configuration. Given the ease with which one wing had been collapsed by a LEAP-affiliated assassin the previous year, it looked as if the architects had designed this replacement building to be much more resistant to an attack using planted explosives. Sutton, having had some training in earthquake-resistant building design, could detect subtle differences in the appearance of the exterior walls… doorways were smaller, their openings reinforced. Windows were fewer, and existing areas of glass were smaller overall. The overall impression was of understated strength without obvious departure from Alliance norms.

With his cloaking generator engaged, Boris made his way in the shadows beside two of the inner walls that surrounded the open-air parade grounds. The dedication of the building and the follow-on reception would take place in here, under several large, portable canopies set up to insure dry conditions for the expected 85 to 120 dignitaries and guests. The main gate – actually a 5-meter high by 4-meter wide opening in the 11-meter high wall – would serve as the only way in and out of the facility; all the other entrances and exits around the building would be sealed during the festivities.

Looking past the top of the outer wall, Boris noted there was only one building tall enough to look down into the far reaches of the parade grounds. The angle for a sniper shot would be a bit extreme, but not impossible. I need to visit that building, thought Boris. Have to see how much trouble it would be to get to the top floor, find a good hiding space and set up for a shot. Then we just need to alert the authorities and let them do their damned jobs.

Satisfied with his reconnaissance so far, Boris carefully left the same way he had entered, making sure the sharp-eyed sentries at the gate were both looking at where he was not walking. After getting well clear of the facility, he stopped in the shadow of a doorway, disengaged his cloaking generator and double-timed it to the NorthAm Bank Building, standing tall just three city blocks to the southwest.

Atlas Headquarters, Vancouver B.C., Earth – 17 Sep 2188

Zoë looked at Boris Sutton expectantly as she asked about his recon mission the previous day. After showing her the parade grounds and the view of the bank building to the southwest, he showed her how easy it had been for him to gain entrance to the vacant offices in the tower. "There's a terrace – a balcony that runs around three sides of the floor. Here's the view from the northeast corner. I scoped the distance to the portion of the parade grounds that can be seen from that vantage point, Ma'am… It's just a whisker under 2550 meters, barely inside the effective range of an M-98 Widow anti-matériel rifle."

"Damn! That would be quite a shot for anyone that could pull it off." She looked at Tim as she said, "My shots into LEAP's upper floor were only 547 meters with an M-92 Mantis. I don't know of anyone – any human, that is – that has used an M-98 at that kind of range – if the son of a bitch isn't locked to some sort of support, the recoil would break your damned shoulder."

Tim glanced from Zoë to Boris. "I was with her when she took out Wendell Coffey and Lyle Bradshaw with that M-92. I expect she could have nailed them at twice that range. But 2500 meters?" Stafford shook his head in denial. "Seems like something only a synthetic – a SILC platform – would be able to pull off, and the SILC are assisting with reconstruction everywhere in the galaxy."

Boris held up his hand briefly before saying, "Access to the terrace up there is all too easy. The building managers need to lock that upper deck down, permanently… or at least until they have trustworthy tenants in those offices."

Jana, having remained quiet up to this point, said, "I'll see that it's taken care of, Boris, and there will be guards up there during the ceremonies… our people, so we can trust them."

"If anyone not cleared for that level attempts to get in there, they need to be detained… if they resist, disable them; and make damned sure you have at least two of our people up there with active cloaking generators, Jana." Zoë looked at everyone for a moment before adding, "If someone does manage to eliminate our visible guards, our cloaked people will have to stop that someone."

Shifting her attention to Nina and Tim, she said in a quiet voice, "With time so short, what are we doing on the ground?"

Before either of them could answer, Boris coughed, cleared his throat, and said "I'll be at the dedication ceremony, Ms Lawrence, and the reception afterwards. I know what to look for. We plan on placing the Québécois twins – Émiléda and Melina Cousineau – in the kitchens." Upon seeing eye rolls from Nina and Zoë, he continued, "Yeah, yeah… I know French chefs, even if they're from Quebec, are a cliché straight out of a cheap spy thriller, but they have good heads on their shoulders and their close up hand-to-hand skills are rather terrifying to behold.

"Have either of the Cousineau sisters been involved in this kind of assignment, Mr Sutton?"

With a heavy sigh, he shook his head slightly. "This will be a new experience for both, Ma'am, but their trainers rate them quite highly. And Melina was on the streets in Montreal during the riots that took place after the Reapers invaded. Seems a faction of our Cerberus brethren decided that surrendering themselves to the bastards was preferable to starving or freezing to death in a destroyed city in the middle of January. Bastards were probably indoctrinated. Anyway, Melina and others disagreed with their insistence that everyone follow them. She killed six men… gutted them… and maimed another seven in order to free Émiléda from their clutches. She told me they had her sister trussed up in chains, along with a number of others."

"I take it they joined us after we declared that Cerberus was dead?"

Boris nodded. "You're the reason they came to us, Ma'am. Like so many others, they were tired of the xenophobia espoused by members of Cerberus, Earth First, Terra Firma and others, and they are committed to seeing Humans peacefully coexisting with all the other races."

Zoë leaned forward, placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her clasped hands. "Okay, Mr Sutton… As they will be expected to remain in the kitchen area in the lower level, I sincerely doubt they'll be subjected to the same intense scrutiny as the visitors coming through the main entrance. Make sure their travel cases are outfitted with false compartments so they can sneak a couple of combat knives past security."

Boris looked at Nina. "Ms Delacroix, can you obtain a pair of chef's tool cases for them. They'll need the expected compliment of chef's tools. And set them up with clothing that's not too flamboyant… they're successful French chefs, but not too successful, okay?"

Zoë observed, "There are bound to be metal detectors at all the entryways, so they'll probably not be able to bring in more than one would expect a chef to own."

"They won't be prohibited from keeping their omnitools, Ma'am… recipes have to be readily available… omnitool is the preferred method for storage. That and their skills at hand-to-hand combat should be all they'll need."

Jana took the opportunity to speak up. "There are confirmed reports that a new Spectre-flagged vessel has been sighted at the Alliance Docks." Using her omnitool, she displayed a vid-frame capture on the large screen behind Zoë's chair. "It appears very similar to an Asari heavy corvette, but it's longer overall. Unfortunately for us, it was designed and constructed by a private firm on Thessia; we have been unable to discover any of its specs – its propulsion capabilities… armament… type of hull plating or armor – but knowing her captain, my guess is that it is easily equal or superior to a standard Asari destroyer… maybe even a frigate."

As Zoë studied the ship displayed on the adjacent monitor – SPECTRE emblems boldly emblazoned on the vertical tail – she asked, "That ship is here… now?"

"Yes, but it hasn't been here the entire time." Jana's chuckle was light as she looked meaningfully into the midnight-black eyes regarding her. "I was going to add that the vessel, christened Knight Shade, set down at the Alliance VIP docks on the 4th of the month. Given what we've discovered and who's on the guest list, Spectre Shepard will most certainly be attending this party… she and her team disembarked as soon as they arrived."

Cantrell cycled the vid-still image to display the heavy corvette in the specially designed docking cradle. "I'm sure they made initial contact with the event planners, told them about certain requirements for the protection of Council employees, including the Ambassadors who will be in attendance… and who knows what else… before returning to the CGC. Now, they're back and inspecting the venue yet again, and I'm fairly confident that Shepard is here to review the constantly evolving security plans with the Alliance team responsible for the event."

Zoë leaned back in her chair with a heavy sigh. "With Shepard involved, the Alliance security plans may have been superseded by Spectre authority… I imagine her primary goal will be to guarantee the safety of Councilor Osoba, but anything concerning security of the Council-related VIPs could fall under her purview." Glancing at each of the people before her, she settled her gaze on Cantrell once again as she continued, "Shepard and her team being here will be a blessing and a curse, Jana. Unlike our people, she and her Spectre team will be armored and armed… conspicuously so… and will have free run of the facility and the parade grounds. We will have to exercise a great deal of care to remain unnoticed."

Zoë continued to look at each of them in turn as she concluded, "Atlas staying away is not an option, people. This is our city… our planet! Shepard may be one of us, but she's a spacer, and we've all had access to the crew list she submitted to the Council; of her entire crew, only five are Human… including her. Our presence there may make a profound difference in any number of ways, but it's important that we demonstrate that as Humans, we can handle our own problems. We need to exercise an extreme amount of care to ensure our presence has only a positive effect. Let's complete our research, get the Cousineau sisters embedded in the kitchens and place the rest of our plans in motion."