Summary: The Normandy seeks out Haliat's ship and crew in the Satent system.

a/n: Thanks to Ladyamesindy and Chyrstis for their wonderful beta assistance with this piece they are absolutely amazing.

22 Infiltration

/1/

Garrus paced the width of the alcove in front of Shepard's door uncertain how he felt about the current situation, and about bringing it up to the commander. He was not a permanent part of the crew, he knew. Like the other aliens on board-Wrex, Liara, and Tali-he assumed his presence temporary. Every time he looked around the ship he discovered subtle and overt reminders of that fact. The human faces surrounding him clearly marked him as other, but the commander never made him feel like an outsider.

"Have Alenko and Adams head the group heading over to the London," he heard Shepard say. From the way her voice carried and played off the metal, Garrus guessed she was either in the stairwell or at the top of it.

"You're not going over, Commander?" Pressly asked.

"Not even if Lindholm engraved the invitation herself."

Both officers shared a quick laugh. The turian heard the swish of the door to the CIC, but there was no sound to signal the commander's approach, only her appearance a few seconds later as she turned the corner.

"Vakarian," she said in that jovial way she usually did.

"Commander, can we talk? Privately?"

There must have been something in his tone that gave him away. Her head tilted just that much and her sharp eyes narrowed, reminding him of his father's. It was uncanny the way this small human female seemed to be able to channel the most intimidating turian the C-Sec officer ever encountered. It was an impression he knew was heavily tainted by the terse relationship he had with his father, even when they did not see eye to eye Garrus always respected him.

"Sure." Shepard pointed at the door behind him. As they entered, she strode past him, tossing the datapad she had brought down from the bridge with her onto the desk along the wall. "What's on your mind?"

Garrus clicked his teeth together for a moment trying to decide how to word it. "I don't like this, Shepard."

Her eyebrows raised in question. "What might that be?" she asked, challenging him.

The turian knew he might be overstepping, but any other time an issue arose the commander heard him out; he merely hoped that would be the case this time around. "I don't like being kept in the dark."

Shepard nodded and crossed her arms, her glare easing slightly. "I'm sure. But of all the non-Alliance crew on this boat, I assumed you would be the most likely to understand that orders are orders. You served with the Hierarchy. You surely must understand that sometimes the choice is made for me."

Crossing his arms, his jaw tightened. "Why now?"

"I think it is less about the timing. Alliance Command- Well, no. Let me rephrase that. Admiral Hackett gives me a lot of leeway on the missions he forwards from other officers in the Fleet. He knows me; trusts my judgment. But not every officer has the same faith in me or my decision making abilities as the admiral."

"So you're saying it was someone that disagrees with your crew selection?" Garrus asked cautiously.

"I'm not sure it is as simple as that. This officer and I have crossed swords before. I've pushed her in the past, much farther than she likes to be pushed, which makes her more inflexible with me. It was likely more about the fact that she was ordered to seek my team out for this at all, more than the makeup of it. If I had to guess, the order to limit mission participation was her attempt to rile me," Shepard confided.

Garrus understood the phenomenon, he and Executor Pallin had a similar relationship towards the end of his tenure at Citadel Security. "If I may be so bold, what happened?"

Shepard laughed and gestured toward the table. "Sit. One thing I've noticed, across the board, is that when an officer reaches a certain level, they don't like to be challenged, even when they need and deserve to be."

"On that we can agree." He took the seat across from the commander and pressed his hands against his thighs as he sat rigidly straight.

"Let's just say that this particular admiral and I did not see eye to eye on a lot of things, which led to ruffled feathers and a bucket of bad blood between us."

"Come again," Garrus replied quickly.

"Umm… bad blood. Just … uh … ill will, a lack of trust and respect, I guess. She doesn't think I'm a capable officer and doubts my abilities in the field, to the point that she has questioned not only my command in the past, but also my commission as an officer."

"Ah. Sounds like C-Sec."

Shepard nodded. "We all have a little red tape here and there.

Garrus shook his head. "Sometimes it's more trouble than it's worth," he muttered, thinking aloud.

"How so?"

"All too often it gets in the way. Lets the scum of the galaxy slip through the net so they can keep doing what they do."

Shepard leaned forward and folded her hands together on the top of the table. "This sounds more like a specific complaint, than a general observation, Vakarian."

The turian looked up at her. "Maybe it is." He weighed it for a moment then decided to chance it. "A few years back there was a big push to curb the black market trading on the Citadel. There was always a little of this or that running around, but we discovered there was a massive increase in the organ trade on the station. I don't mean a few body parts here and there-I'm talking major influx of organs-human, turian, krogan, even quarian, which are very hard to get your hands on. It was so marked that we at C-Sec were worried that there could be a lab breach somewhere, or worse, someone running around hacking up victims and disposing of them in the bowels of the station."

"Damn."

"We ran genetic testing on some of the evidence-standard operating procedure. Found that the donor of a turian liver we seized was alive and kicking, which was odd given that turians only have the one and it's tough to survive without. Eventually, we linked him to a salarian geneticist named Saleon. His lab was completely clean so we brought some of his people in for a chat."

"Get anything?" Shepard asked, leaning forward attentively.

"In a manner of speaking-one young kid started bleeding profusely during the interrogation. Medical checked him out and he had incisions all over his body."

"What the hell?"

Garrus snorted. "My thoughts exactly. They ran some tests. Found out that these employees were being used like living test tubes."

Shepard's eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly.

"The good doctor was cloning their organs, growing them inside these people. Then he would harvest them and pay them pittance compared to what he was getting for the organs."

Garrus shook his head, clasping his hands together tightly as he continued. The situation still riled him and turned his stomach. "I remember this one quarian. He was on his pilgrimage and got himself in a tight spot. The doctor had cut into him more than fifteen times. There was nothing the doctors could do for him. They removed the extra organs that had not grown properly, but it was too late. He died a few days after the surgery. His body just could not recover from what Saleon had done to him."

"Wait. So if it did not work right, he just left whatever went wrong inside these people?" The commander grimaced at the prospect.

"Yeah. Lost five of the seven employees we found due to complications from the deformed organs that he just left inside them."

Shepard rubbed her forehead slowly, eyes closed. "Tell me you got that bastard."

"Had him dead to rights. Got the warrants, went to his lab, but it was completely destroyed. He kidnapped about a half dozen of his remaining employees and managed to get his ship out of docking before we could lock it down. Defense forces refused to shoot him down because of the hostages."

Her hand continued to move across her forehead as a far off, troubled look settled over her. "Tough call."

"No," Garrus shot back. Shepard looked back up at him, her brow lowering over her eyes. "Easy call. He had already killed five. With his track record, best guess said at least half the people he took were dead already, but just didn't know it yet. And he'd get more living test tubes if he got away. So more would die. It was an easy call. They were just too scared to take the shot. Said the ship was too close to the station."

"They were right."

"What?" His hands pressed flat to the table top and he leaned towards the small human. "How can you say that?"

"If the ship was too close to the station the explosion wouldn't just kill Saleon and his hostages, the debris could have blown back into one of the wards-into people's homes, into markets, public spaces. The number of people that could have been hurt or killed was too much to risk."

The turian stood quickly. They were wrong. She's wrong. Stopping Saleon was worth the chance.

"I get it, Vakarian. I really do. I've been on both sides. I've taken the risky shot and gotten lucky, and I've had to let the big ugly walk because it had to be done, or worse, because it was orders," Shepard said as she stood. "Did you ever find his ship?"

"Eventually. Not soon enough. Bastard changed his name to Dr. R. Heart."

Shepard groaned lowly.

"Exactly. I think it was his idea of a joke. He got his hands on another ship and equipped it to keep right on working. I've found traces of his work on the Citadel since, but not in the quantities he put out before."

"Do you know the name of the ship?"

When he glanced over at her, there was a moment when the tension in his back eased up. "MSV Fedele. I even have his transponder codes."

A lightness washed over him, when the mischievous smile curled over the human's face. "You know, with those codes, I could get some extra eyes on this, so to speak. Put out a request to Fleet to inform me if anyone happens across that boat. Never hurts to look, you know?"

"Thanks, Shepard."

Nyx turned toward him and crossed her arms over her chest. "I can't promise we'll find him. But I'll pull the strings I have."

"I appreciate that. I'd just like the chance to give this guy what he deserves." His gaze turned back to her when she laid a hand on his arm.

"I'm not promising that either. We'll check it out. And address the situation we find."

"Shepard," Garrus replied, his shock evident.

The commander shook her head. "This isn't about vendettas or vengeance, Vakarian. We'll investigate, and deal with the situation we find, as we find it."

The turian stared at her, his anger threatening to boil back up. "But you're a Spectre. You have the authority-"

Her hand went up, palm toward him and he stopped cold. "Not going there. I know Spectres have free reign, and that's exactly what's got us out here in the first place."

Shaking his head, he knew she was right. Saren. "I'm sorry, Shepard. I did not think-"

"Nope. It's tough to be in that place. You don't think I haven't jumped someone for what I thought was a bad call? I'm just not quite ready to start cribbing from Saren's playbook, if you catch my meaning. But we can see about dragging this salarian Dr. Frankenstein in and handing him over to C-Sec."

"It's Dr. Saleon actually."

"It's … never mind," Shepard replied with a shake of her head as she bit back a laugh, even so she couldn't help but smirk just a hair, at herself and Garrus.

"Commander," Pressly's voice called over the intercom. "We'll be in orbit on Klensal in thirty minutes."

"Thank you, X-O." Her hand came down on Garrus' shoulder. "Send me a copy of those codes and give them to Pressly as well. I'll leave order for him to put out the request to Fleet and I'll touch base with a few old friends beyond that as well. We'll see what shakes loose."

"I appreciate it, Shepard."

"You're welcome, Vakarian. Could you let Wrex and Williams know we're in the window?"

"Sure thing," he replied, straightening to leave.

From everything he had seen since meeting Shepard on the Citadel she was a human of action, not of paperwork. Or at least that was what he thought until now. That conversation smacked of one he had with his father at C-Sec. Again Garrus noted how uncanny it was that the commander seemed to remind him of the man who he felt pushed him into a certain mold his entire life.

Deep down he was still embarrassed about letting his emotions get the better of him, but Saleon and people like him, used and abused people that had nothing. It was indecent and it grated Garrus to his very core. No matter how he tried to bury it, he could still recall that young quarian-KarShan nar Yaska. He was probably about Tali's age when he died, that thought served only to make it sting a little more sharply. For a moment he wondered if Tali knew him or his family, wondered if C-Sec had successfully gotten word to the Migrant Fleet of his passing, and he wished once more he had sent his own condolences to the man's people.

Garrus inhaled sharply. No. If we … When we find Saleon. Once he's placed in custody, then perhaps I can in good conscience offer my sympathies. He headed up the stairs toward the bridge to get the codes to the navigator as quickly as possible. Perhaps he would be lucky and someone would spot him soon.

/2/

The Normandy was orbiting the dark side of Anedia, having discharged her drives. The possibility that the pirates might have made a last stand in the Satent system came of nothing. When the Alliance frigate arrived in system there was no trace of the vessel, which was no surprise to anyone, really. Pressly leaned over the console Serviceman Tanaka manned. Where could they have run to? he asked himself before returning to the star charts.

The entire combat team milled around his bridge, looking for possibilities. The krogan seemed to have had the best idea so far when he suggested grabbing the next pirate vessel that happened through this system and getting what information they could from that crew. The commander had nixed the idea with a seasoned response; it could take weeks to see another ship out here, at least one that was not volus or turian.

The recon patrol had arrived about fourteen hours after the request reached fleet, given where they had been that was the quickest they could arrive. And that ship had been run off rather quickly by the turian forces protecting the interests of the Vol Protectorate in that system.

"Joker," Shepard called from down the bridge. The XO and the pilot both turned toward her. "Get us out of this system, before a turian patrol happens upon us."

"Yes, ma'am. Any preferences?" the pilot replied.

"Anywhere I won't get shot on sight sounds good."

"I think I can manage that. Relay system it is."

The navigator returned to the CIC and caught up to the commander at the perch, joining her there. "This is worse than looking for a needle in a haystack, Commander."

"Tell me about it." Shepard pulled up the galaxy map and the two of them stared at the overall view of the relay system. "What's on your mind, Pressly?"

"We have orders for the Armstrong Cluster, yet we're chasing after a now missing pirate vessel," he all but whispered. "If we have the transponders, we can just post them out and wait for a response from the Fleet."

The commander turned slowly and looked up at him. "You really think that if they knew anything about Haliat's plan to taunt the Alliance that they will go within a hundred light years of an Alliance held system, or even one with Alliance interests? The window on these guys is closing and we need to get lucky. Otherwise, they are going to get away scott free."

"I might have some good news," Garrus said carefully from the commander's left. "I made a request, as a C-Sec officer on behalf of a Spectre. Hope you don't mind, Shepard." The commander dismissed the aside. "There are two patrols monitoring traffic at the Pylos Nebula relay. The only reports of movement in and out of system in the last fifty hours have been us and the Alliance vessel."

"Alenko, that data from the Grizzly, what was the timetable on the Etamin's last known?"

Pressly took the turian's news into consideration, while the commander seemed to be chasing the same breadcrumb the navigator chomped at. He manipulated the galaxy map and studied the image before him.

Five systems. Satent and Nariph are out, no trace there. Zaharin? No, not there, he told himself as he inspected the system. It was a virtual wasteland, no place to hide. And surely that is exactly what they want, some place to lay low until they think it is safe to peek out of whatever hole they have found. They have to be here somewhere. From reports, he knew Dirada and Kriseroi both had heavy pirate activity, so they might run for either, trying to hide amongst the rest of the trash.

Tapping at his omnitool, Pressly pulled up the reports logged by the Alliance, it was just a rough estimate of the number of reports filed and complaints made by Alliance vessels about mercenary and raiding activity. Dirada's number of reports had risen in the last two months. Going back farther, the officer noticed the raids seemed to follow a set pattern of movement through the Pylos Nebula. If the trend held, in about two weeks the pirates would move back toward Satent to attack when the volus export cycle was set to begin again with fervor. And for the last two months, and, foreseeably, the next three Kriseroi, the farthest system from the relay would be virtually quiet.

All the attention would be on the systems with active raiding. And here, where it is quiet, there are no eyes. "The unseen is too often forgotten," he muttered to himself.

"Come again," Shepard replied, turning toward him.

"If your commander didn't check in, and you expected someone might come looking for you, you would find a rock to crawl under, right?"

Everything stopped in the CIC and everyone, including the commander, stared at him. Clearing his throat, Charles straightened a little more, squaring his shoulders. "We know they are not in Nariph or Satent. That leaves three remaining systems, two are known for a lot of pirate activity."

"What about the third?" Shepard asked quickly.

"Small system, no major developments on any of the planets there. Nothing tempting for pirates to be interested in."

"Could be a perfect place to go unnoticed."

"True," Pressly agreed as he leaned toward the map, zooming it in to show the location of the systems within the cluster. "Except that it is sitting very close to Dirada, which has had an influx of complaints about piracy in the last few months. So presumably they would need to discharge their drives in Dirada to reach Zaharin to hide out, possibly opening them up to scrutiny."

With a sweep of his hand, the interface scrolled right. "But sitting over here, all on its own is Kriseroi. Almost no reported activity in the last two months."

"Why?"

"This system seems to run on the cycle set by the Vol Protectorate's ingress and egress from Satent. The other systems see increases almost as if the pirates were moving with the seasons, like birds migrating. They spend two to three months harassing volus interests here. Then about the same amount of time in Dirada before moving on to Kriseroi. The volus season is about to start again, which means that the Etamin could well have another three-month window of quiet in this dark little corner of the system." Pressly pointed toward the system sitting all on its own on the map.

"And three months is almost long enough to let them think they might be forgotten or written off for dead," Nyx agreed, zooming out the galaxy map to take in the entire cluster.

"Exactly, Commander."

"I like the way you think, Pressly."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Mr. Moreau."

"I heard, Commander. Course adjusted and we're going to be at the max when we hit that system," the pilot announced.

"When we get close I'll have Tanaka find us a place we can discharge, hopefully very quietly," Pressly assured, leaning toward the officer's shoulder.

"Excellent. Keep me apprised of our progress," she told Pressly. "Vakarian, see if you can't convince the turians out here to play nice and pass over any information on all the systems out here."

"All, Shepard?" the turian asked.

Pressly watched a calculating smile curl across the short woman's face. "Yes. All. I really don't want anyone else tagging along for the ride. I'd rather this be as much of a surprise as I can muster, and bringing along friends will kind of ruin our stealth factor."

"Understood."

"Nice job, X-O." Shepard nodded at him, wearing a look that bespoke the truth of the sentiment.

Shepard stepped down off what the bridge crew called the perch or the pedestal in equal measure. It really did only have one purpose beyond setting the commander of the deck above the rest of the crew serving there in the CIC-it held the controls for the galaxy map and gave the clearest view of the entire bridge. Of course, Pressly had come to appreciate the design element and the effect it seemed to have not only on the officer standing atop it, but also on all the crew forced to physically look up at them. Even Shepard towered over most of the crew from that point; Pressly felt a bit gargantuan when she left him there. He glanced around a moment, surveying the deck before stepping down himself.

/3/

The commander stretched her arms over her head, not stifling the big yawn that accompanied the action, as she crossed the deck toward the galley. Tali'Zorah watched her movement at first, until another drew her attention. When the blonde passed the troublesome viewing station, Kaidan's head rose slightly. His eyes tracked her and finally came to rest on the woman as she filled a large mug with what Tali learned was the favored beverage aboard the Normandy.

The metal spoon rang against the ceramic as Shepard stirred her cup; it was the only sound on the deck in that moment since most of the crew had turned in. When she turned, Tali bit her lip when she noticed Alenko's attention turn toward her then quickly back to the terminal that seemed to be perpetually on the fritz.

A tired groan accompanied Shepard's arrival at the table. "Can't sleep?" the officer asked the quarian.

Tali grinned, though only she knew it. "No. I'm still not quite used to the quiet."

Shepard, who had been reverently bowed over her cup as she sipped at the hot liquid, looked up at Tali with obvious surprise. "Wait a minute. You are having trouble sleeping because it is too quiet."

The quarian giggled. She knew it must seem odd, especially to Shepard who often mentioned how much she liked to find a calm quiet space just to hide away and breathe for a few moments. "On the Flotilla, things are loud and can be chaotic. Usually quiet means something is wrong."

Kaidan's chuckle turned both females' attention toward him. Tali noticed his cheeks redden at having been caught eavesdropping. Then she noticed Shepard smile into her coffee cup. The quarian sighed lightly remembering the conversation she had with the commander prior to their most recent trip to the Citadel.

"You were saying," Shepard prompted.

"Oh, yes. Quiet usually means something has stopped working and needs to be repaired. Sometimes it is innocuous, but not always." Her eyes flitted to the lieutenant, who seemed to be having trouble keeping his attention on his task. She could not stifle the giggle that burst out of her when she heard his sharp hiss at the circuit that sparked at him. That man might do well to reconsider working on electronics when distracted, she thought as she noticed Shepard shaking her head lightly.

In some ways she understood completely, but it seemed silly to her to fight against something they both seemed to want. She tried not to think about it too hard. No matter her thoughts on the matter, she knew it was not her decision to make.

"You know," Shepard said, setting her mug down quietly, "I could see if Adams or one of the twidgets might be able to put together something that might help. You know? For when it's just too quiet."

"I thought about that but it's not quite the same. The sound wasn't just auditory, you can feel it too, like a pulse. Like the Normandy's drive core does, it is just so much more subtle than anything I'm used to."

Nyx nodded knowingly. Most of the team knew well how conscious Shepard was of the pulse and low hum of the power plant of the ship. It neared the status of an inside joke between the humans and aliens she worked closely with-the commander and her humming.

Tali tilted her head a moment. "Why do you call the engineers twidgets?"

"Huh?" the officer asked.

"You always refer to the engineering crew as twidgets. Why?"

"I … uh … It's just what I've always heard them called."

"Those categorized as such," Kaidan interjected as he closed the panel he had been working in, "like to think it's short for technical wizard."

"So it is a compliment?" Tali queried, looking from the lieutenant to the commander.

"Depends on who says it," Alenko clarified. "And the way it's used, really."

"Very true. There are some that don't hold those with that skill set in high esteem. Just like there are those who are overly cautious about biotics. Hell, I worry more about the gun nuts," Shepard said as her eyes moved to the left and her smile widened.

"Love you too, Skipper," Ashley grumbled lowly, her voice still carrying a trace of slumber. "How long til we get to this backwater system?"

Shepard tapped her wrist. "Helm, ETA, please."

"Just over three hours, Commander," a female's voice replied.

"Thank you-" her eyes shot to Alenko, who mouthed the standby pilot's name "-Ensign Draven."

Once the connection was broken Shepard shook her head and stood. "Can't believe I blanked on her name. Damn. Obviously not enough sleep. Thanks for the save, L-T," the commander said as she started across the deck.

"Anytime," he replied, trying to bite back the grin.

Tali hazarded a glance at Williams who seemed to notice it too. The chief shook her head at her mug, wearing a look that mimicked the quarian's thoughts.

/4/

Wrex stared at the layout of the vessel. It was one he knew well, very well. He had spent four years based off a ship like this. He tromped toward Shepard and increased the magnification on an area of the ship in the bowels of the boat. "For a covert entry this is going to be your best option. Most people don't realize it, but this disposal chute is completely vulnerable," the krogan said in a low grumble to the small human on his right.

"How so?" Shepard asked quietly, setting one foot on the railing. She leaned against that raised leg as she stared at the screen, with her head tilted slightly to one side.

"It's almost self-contained, electrically speaking. The alarms won't sound when the exterior is breached, though the interior hatch will lock down while the outer is open, but the shaft is wide enough for even a krogan to comfortably maneuver. You can easily short the controls for the inside mechanism from within the tube, even if you aren't tech savvy."

"It is a long way from our target."

"True. But, if once you're in, a second force kicks in the front door; we can draw most of the attention there, while you waltz right in through the back."

"Except that then I'm racing a clock."

"Not really, Shepard," Tali said stepping toward them. "The Migrant Fleet has a few vessels of this make. Their main servers are housed on this lower level. We could potentially reach them before anyone is aware of our presence. Once we reach that room, I could …" The quarian stopped and looked at both of them.

"She would be the best choice," the krogan pointed out. "Fastest hands on the ship, and if she's at all familiar with the architecture and the systems. That's a point on our side."

Shepard nodded, chewing at her bottom lip for a moment. The krogan had noticed the habit among several of the humans and wondered about it, because it did not seem to only accompany deep contemplation which is what he attributed it to in the commander's case. "Vakarian, how do you feel about dark, enclosed spaces?"

"About how anyone feels, Shepard," the turian replied in a beat.

The room buzzed with light laughter.

"Just tell me you're not going to freak out if I stuff you in a barrel," Shepard bit back, rolling her head to the side and glancing at the tall alien.

"No. I should be fine. Why? What are you thinking?" He and the others gathered around Tali, Wrex, and Shepard.

When the krogan felt the slight weight on his shoulder, he glanced right. Shepard winked then patted his arm lightly. "Wrex, here, has a stellar assault plan. Two teams, infiltration and distraction. Tali, Garrus, and I get to crawl through the long dark tube with hopes of reaching the server before anyone knows that we are there. While you four will kick in the front door, make a ruckus, and take in a little target practice. Wrex, here, has an intimate familiarity with these types of vessels, so that's going to come in very handy."

"Not that intimate, Shepard," the krogan chided.

As the room hummed with laughter, the commander rounded the krogan. Stopping at his other shoulder and crossing her arms. "I want you to move in pairs-Wrex-Williams and Alenko-T'Soni. Your styles mesh, so that will be an advantage. If possible, I'd like whoever is running this vessel taken alive."

The human looked up at the battlemaster, but he did not notice it until the back of her hand tapped his chest.

"I mean it, Wrex. Anyone who looks like they are giving orders, I want them subdued and detained where possible."

He understood her reasoning, though he disagreed with the soundness of the proposal.

"Standard procedure, Shepard?" Alenko added. "Anyone who surrenders is secured?"

Wrex tried not to grumble too loudly when she agreed; he knew she would. It was one of the things he never understood about the humans he worked with. They seemed to enjoy lording their achievements over the people they stepped on rather than just crushing them. With krogan it was much easier. You want what they have, wipe them out and take it. The way humans toyed with their prey felt tiresome to him.

"You good with that, Wrex?" Nyx asked.

"It's your ship. Your call. Your funeral," he groaned, glancing over at her.

"Indeed. Wrex will lead the assault team."

As Shepard stalked toward the door, the krogan noticed that he was not the only one surprised by the assignment. Too many times the lithe officer had assured him that he was part of her team, but the differences seemed too stark. She always took counsel from her combat team, but there just always seemed to be this distinction between some of the crew and himself, which he attributed to the scene in the wards with Fist.

It struck him as suddenly as the memory of that first operation together came back to him. He had overstepped her parameters and acted on his own orders. In that moment she had not faulted him for that, though she did voice her disapproval for the maneuver. He had not been able to reconcile that response with the fact that regularly when they encountered criminals near the Terminus they left none alive. Suddenly, standing there in the Normandy's comm room, the difference seemed entirely clear, and he knew this was a test. Shepard told him time and again he was part of her team, now it was his turn to show her she was correct.

The krogan crossed his thick arms over his chest. When he glanced over at the door, the commander met his eyes. When she nodded at him, he returned it, telling her this was her mission, her rules. As such, he would operate by them.

/5/

"Commander, can I just say I really don't like this plan?" the pilot said on the team's encrypted channel.

"You can say it all you like," Nyx replied. "Now, open the damn bay."

The commander shook her head as the groan came across the channel. Sometimes her pilot was a strange mix of overprotective and petulant child, which depended on the day, really. Vakarian and Williams walked carefully and slowly down the ramp taking considerable care in the depressurized bay.

"Take your time and get them close, please. Williams, you're first."

"On it," the chief replied, her tone belying the fact that her concentration was centered elsewhere.

Shepard hated ship insertions, especially covert ones, too many things could go wrong from the first step to the last. If these shots were more than six inches too far apart, they would not be able to get the quarian on board. If this group of pirates was as paranoid as those she encountered on the last mission of this nature she ran, they could all go up in ball of fire if the wrong guy got to the right button in time. Nyx shook her head clear.

This is not the time to reminisce about near-death experiences. Her hands ran over her gear and harness again. As much as she loved the stars, loved space, she was never a big fan of dangling weightlessly in the cold void-that part of it never appealed to her, though she had always managed it just fine.

As her hands moved toward her shoulders a little tug pulled her backward a step. Then Kaidan stepped in front of her. His eyes started on the harness as he yanked at the straps to make sure they were snug; he had done the same with Garrus before the bay opened and Tali'Zorah as well. With a quick turn of her head, Nyx noticed the quarian standing very still, her hands clasped together tightly in front of her.

"You good?" Alenko asked, setting his hands on Shepard's shoulders and looking down at her.

"As good as one can be when about to trade the comfort of a ship for the dark sea," she replied, trying to keep her tone light and mask her own worry. She knew once they got the hatch open and got on the other vessel she would be much more relaxed. It was the trip from ship to ship that had Shepard on edge.

"Perfect shot. Nicely done, Vakarian," Williams said over the channel. She shook the turian slightly as the two of them turned to stow the large mounting cannons.

Shepard guessed he was at least as nervous as she was with this prospect. No one was particularly keen on this type of insertion-it always looked better in the vids, and even then it was never as nerve wracking. She tapped Kaidan's armored shoulder with the side of her fist. "See you on the flipside," she called to the team as she moved toward Engineer Adams who was assisting the quarian and the turian with attaching the various leads to Vakarian's harness. When she joined them, the process continued.

"You doing all right there, Tali?" Garrus asked quietly, placing his hand on her shoulder. Shepard could not help noticing how huge it seemed on the petite alien's small frame.

"Just the first time I've done something like this, ever, really," she revealed, her voice barely wavering.

"You'll be fine. We've got you," he assured her.

"Yeah. No worries. I've only ever dropped, like two guys," the commander said weakly.

Tali's squeak was not the reaction the officer was expecting.

"Shepard," Garrus barked.

"I'm kidding," the blonde assured, setting her hand between the quarian's shoulder blades. "I've never dropped anyone. And I'm not about to start now."

"You are not funny, Nyx," Tali assured as they walked to the lip of the bay.

The Normandy was belly to belly with the Etamin. To a third party it might look a lot like some weird mating strategy. Nyx had done this more than a dozen times, but each time her stomach tightened sickeningly, dipping and swirling around itself. She took a deep breath as she clipped the line to the harness, tugging on it forcefully to ensure a good lock and seal on both ends.

"Let's do this, Vakarian."

/6/

The comms were completely silent. Garrus understood why. The rest of the team was just as concerned about this climb as the two making it. The height disparity between them was something he and Shepard had worked out on dead climbs in the gym over the past day and a half after finalizing the plans for the assault. They both adjusted their climbing speed and style to adjust to one another since the two had to keep a certain range of distance between them given the fact that they were essentially dead dragging Tali with them.

As they clung to the mounts, waiting for the quarian to hack the hatch, he remembered this was the easy part. The next climb was going to be the real test. Tali would be able to help on that climb, but once they reached the top, again he and the commander would be sharing her body weight to allow her the free use of her hands to pop the hatch.

When the backdoor, as Wrex called it, opened, Garrus scrambled through in order to help Tali up. As Shepard grabbed the lip, the turian crouched and grabbed her wrist. The officer released the mounts which were loosely tethered to the still hovering Normandy. With the release of the second, he pulled the human through.

"Only way out now is the front door," Nyx said as Tali resealed the evacuation hatch.

"Nothing between us and it except a few dozen heavily armed and paranoid pirates," Garrus added.

"You let us worry about them. You just get that pretty face of yours into the server room, turian," Wrex chided over the radio.

They all chuckled lightly. "You heard the man. Time to get this started."

Thankfully the tube was wide enough that they did not having to climb with Tali's dead weight, not that it would have been all that much, but he knew it would make things easier in the long run. When they did have to take her full weight, it was only for a fraction of the time they had allotted for her to hack the hatch. The three of them unhooked their harnesses before opening the interior access-Shepard and Garrus would be the first ones out.

"Remember. Quick and quiet," Shepard all but whispered over the comms, emphasizing the statement as she drew the blade from her boot. The commander wanted to avoid open gunfire if at all possible to maintain operational security as long as they could manage.

"I know," Garrus replied, pulling his own blade-the military-issue Talon all turians received upon their enlistment into mandatory service with the Hierarchy. He had not used it in years, but he kept it. Like so many other turians he remembered his years in the military with an odd mix of fondness and hatred.

After the commander pointed upwards, Tali engaged the controls for the heavy plate closing off the tube. Garrus watched the little human jump lithely through the opening as soon as she had enough space. He was quick on her heels and exited just as she guided the lifeless batarian's body to the ground noiselessly.

"Alarms?" he asked.

"I don't think so. He was … shall we say … preoccupied," she noted as she tapped the power button on the console in the corner.

The image stopped, freezing two asari in place as they hovered over one very excited batarian. Before Tali emerged from the tube, the console was blank. Nyx stood in the doorway, pistol in one hand, knife in the other. He knew that once they entered the hall the only one with a gun out would be Tali and the shot would be hers if they were spotted at a distance. Anything up close in the tight passages would be handled by the turian at the head of their stealthy pack, or the human walking drag.

Tali silently directed them through the corridors without incident. Garrus narrowed his eyes as the door came into sight. He was more than surprised that they managed to creep through the lower deck unnoticed. The chirping little yelp caused him and Shepard to turn towards their third, in time to see the petite quarian elbow a burly batarian in the ribs. When her feet touched the ground, the man still clinging to her back, she whipped her head back. Releasing her, his hands went to his face with a loud groan, which prompted Shepard and Vakarian to move.

Garrus fell onto the assailant, burying his talon deep into the batarian's chest, while Shepard put herself between Tali and anything else that might be in the little alcove. When Vakarian stood, he handed the quarian her gun, which had fallen to the deck. Shepard dragged the body out of the walkway and cleared the thin access way. During the commander's short absence, Garrus set his hand on Tali's shoulder and nodded. She returned the gesture emphatically, though he could feel the barest tremor in her body, for which he could not fault her. He was not entirely sure that being grabbed by a beefy batarian pirate would not have made him a little jittery, too.

Even with the radio clear and secure, they only spoke minimally. When Shepard returned to the corridor shaking off her own blade, the quick motion of the officer's hand lined them back up and put them on the move again. The last ten meters brought no more surprises.

The three took up positions at the door, if they were lucky there were two or fewer men in this room, if they were not, then the silence they had maintained thus far was going to be broken in a big way. With the curt tip of his chin, the turian signaled his preparedness.

Garrus took a long slow breath. It's just a few pirates. Nothing you can't handle.

Tali triggered the hatch and Shepard passed through it first.