Bioware owns All! Again thanks must go out to Star582 for her help in keeping me grounded in reality and only touching fantasy instead of trudging through with gory muck and mire...okay Carry On!

The Hunt

Breakfast was now a pleasant thing Kaidan noticed. Shepard got her food herself and ate it all, he no longer had to poke and prod her to eat. She would even smile a bit as she enjoyed her food. Things were finally back to normal, for now at least.

Kaidan, Garrus and Adams had tried to get a better look at the item they had found. Every time they tried to move or remove a piece from the inside of the item, the field would activate. They were able to figure out the range it had pretty quickly without a further incident, but for now, that is all they were able to accomplish. They may have to give it over to an Alliance lab, but then they wouldn't get any info from it because it would be deemed classified. Kaidan and Adams weren't giving up that easily.

The Search for the Attackers hadn't been going too well, they weren't picking up any trails even from the debris field location. Shepard had them crossing back and forth across the areas that they had found trails in previously trying to find something. It had been three days now and they were coming up empty. He kept waiting for her anger to return, but she seemed extremely calm lately. Although it was a nice change from her recent behavior, it also seemed a bit unusual. Shepard finished her breakfast and told him he'd see her later, gave him a wink and left the mess. Yeah, she was in a good mood, it was really unusual, given the circumstances.

Shepard went up to the cockpit to see if they found anything today. Garrus and Joker must have gotten up early, because she missed them at breakfast. She walked into the cockpit expecting them to groan at her, she was disappointed.

"Good Morning Shepard." Garrus said.

"What's up Commander" Joker tossed at her.

"So have we found anything yet Garrus?"

"No nothing yet." he said waiting for the thunder, but none came.

Shepard slid into the seat behind Joker. "Hey Garrus, would it be faster if two people searched the area?"

"Yes it would be, but everyone else is busy."

"I'm not busy. I am caught up on paperwork and have nothing else to do."

"I don't know Shepard..." Garrus scratched his head.

"You set it up, I'm just looking right, I won't press any buttons I will just move the scanner and check the readings, and I can help."

Garrus thought about what she was saying, with two people searching the area it would go twice as fast, and if she just looked for the numbers that were in the range of the trail that they were looking for, he could check her findings. He got up and went over to the console she was sitting at.

"Okay Commander, let's set you up." He set her controls to cover the opposite side of the quadrant from the one he was checking. He pulled up the numbers of the trail they had been searching for on an overhead screen. "These numbers are the trail indicators we are looking for, the variances are light so any trail that starts with these five numbers here we should check out. You know how to use the scanner, so you know what to do. If you see something similar to those numbers you let me know and I will check it out."

Shepard moved the scanner and then stopped "Like that?" She pointed to the screen in front of her.

Garrus looked at the numbers she was pointing at. "Yes exactly like that, Commander you just found the trail." Bending down in front of her, he was almost sitting in her lap. He started tapping away and transferred the locations to his and Jokers' terminals. "Joker, follow that trail" he said as he went back over to his terminal.

"Well my job is done here, guess I will go for a run." she said. Neither Joker nor Garrus answered her so intent on what they were doing. She shrugged her shoulders and left them alone.

Kaidan walked into the cargo bay and headed to his workbench. He had a gyro hyper casing for one of the FTL drives in his hands. It had to be disassembled and the circuit board rebuilt. He set it out on his workbench and turned to get his tools out of his locker. Setting up the tools on the bench he looked up and saw Shepard on her treadmill running. She wasn't running at a frantic pace like she had been, but a more comfortable lope really. He smiled to himself as he removed the outer casing of the gyro. Damn he thought to himself it figures this stupid ship would have an old AL6 type gyro, no wonder Adams asked me to do this for him. I am going to have to take this whole thing apart just to get to the circuit board. He took a deep breath and let it out. Well there is nothing else to do but to have at it. He got to work.

Finally removing the last capacitor that was blocking the circuit board, he rubbed the sweat from his forehead. He put the capacitor down and looked over at Shepard. She was reclining in her chair with her feet up on a crate she had moved next to the desk just for that purpose. She had a data pad in her hand that she was reading. He saw that she was running her hand back and forth in the space under her neck. That meant she was reading one of her nineteenth century romance novels, probably Jane Austin. It wasn't like she hadn't read them a hundred times before, she just liked them. He looked at her face and saw the joy there; yes she was really enjoying that book. He started to imagine going over there and taking her in his arms.., he shook his head. He looked back at the circuit board. Yeah, if something doesn't change soon I might have to wake her in the middle of the night to take another 'shower' with me This ship is really cutting into my Shepard time. He set to removing the circuit board from its housing.

Shepard and Kaidan entered the cockpit having been summoned by Garrus.

"Shepard I found something." Garrus said, pointing to the screen in front of him. "It looks like a freighter... yes, the MSV Rocklin, but it's just sitting dead out there. The trail leads up to it, pools a bit then goes off beyond it. It seems really fresh."

"Well we have to get over there." Shepard said.

"I don't know Shepard, the last time they left a dead ship they came back and destroyed it." Kaidan said.

"Yes, but you had time to examine it first. Whatever reason they leave the ships and come back to them for, we should have some time." She answered. "Let's go, come on Garrus, hurry."

They were in their armor in record time. Entering the air lock of the ship the first thing Shepard noticed was the strong taint of blood. It permeated the air and coated her tongue. "They are all dead" she said.

"Yeah, I smell it too. This is going to go the way of the last one, I can see it now. Let's count bodies and see what's up here." Kaidan suggested. "Move fast, we don't know how much time we have."

"I'll go download the pilot's logs and see what I can find there." Shepard told them and she sent them in different directions to cover more ground."

She had just gotten the last three logs downloaded to an OSD as Jokers voice came over the comm. "Commander I am getting readings that there is a buildup of the trail signature beyond the ship. I think they are coming back... we need to move."

"In a minute." she said putting another OSD into the terminal. Kaidan came running into the cockpit.

"No, now!" he yelled at her.

"Just one more..." but he grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder and ran for the airlock.

"Kaidan put me down I just wanted..."

"No! These beings have us outgunned, any delay and we will be dead." He threw her down in the Salice's airlock hit the door and yelled in his comm "FTL out now, Joker, we're all aboard."

"We're clear." Joker's voice came over the comm. "That was close, but I don't think they got a bead on us, they weren't quite in range, so we should be safe. It's only because I was looking for it that I noticed it at all."

"Good job, Joker" Kaidan said "thanks."

Garrus and Kaidan cringed at the stream of curses that Shepard let loose as the decontamination ran its course. Heads turned towards them from the few crew members that were in the area when the door opened to the ship proper, but she kept her spew going all the way to the bedroom to change out of her armor. Kiadan followed at a slower pace. He turned when he realized that Garrus wasn't following him "you coming?" he asked.

"No, I think I will wait until the coast is clear."

"Yeah, thanks." Kaidan continued to the bedroom.

Shepard had stopped cursing and was sitting on his bed with her armor half on and half off. When he walked through the door she jumped up and went back to removing her armor and putting it in her locker.

"You know we didn't have any time to lose." He said to her. She didn't say anything so he continued. "They have an advantage over us, we can't take any chances. The Normandy was no match for these beings; the Salice is even less equipped to take them on." He paused as he took his chest piece over his head. He noticed she was almost finished dressing and he had missed it. He liked watching her get dressed (although undressed was better). "Shepard, you have to see the logic of my argument here."

She finished putting on her boots, got up, strode right past him and out of the room without saying a word to him. Now that was odd, usually he was in for at least a ten minute shouting match, where he would have to work to calm her down or give in. He usually gave in. The fact that there was no shouting match bother him more than the match would have.

Garrus came in the door "that was fast."

"Yeah, she didn't say anything." Kaidan told him.

"What do you mean she didn't say anything?"

"Not one word, from the time I came in until the time she left."

"Did you try to explain?" Garus asked.

"Yes, she didn't respond."

"Okay, does that bother you as much as it bothers me?"

"Yes, Garrus, yes it does." Kaidan told him as he left the room.

Kaidan walked into the cargo bay and looked around for Shepard, she was no where in sight. He was about to turn around and look somewhere else when the doctor came out of the med bay and called to him.

She came over to him "If you're looking for Shepard, she is in med bay."

"Yes, I was, thanks Doc. Is she sick?"

"No she said she just wanted to use my terminal. I am going to wash up before lunch, see you there?"

"Sure Doc, see you there." He headed into the med bay. She was sitting at the terminal and had an OSD loaded up.

"Well they didn't have any warning. The ship just came up on them and they lost all systems. There is nothing after that." He pulled up a chair and sat next to her, she pointed at the screen "it shows here that they have a crew of twenty and Garrus said he only found nine. How many bodies did you find?"

"Six, three in the bedroom, three in the mess."

"With the two I found it the cockpit that leaves Seventeen, it's what I thought."

"What?"

She started working on the terminal "just let me pull up the record for the MSV Rocklin and see if my theory is correct." the screen flashed several times as she searched for the information that she wanted. "Yep I was right, they had three biotics on board, and they are all gone. I think they attacked that ship because it had biotics on board."

"Well that isn't much of a stretch, considering what we know. There didn't seem to be much of a fight put up, none at all in fact. They could have used that stasis field generator thing to freeze the crew and then they just killed them."

"It might have just been an attack of opportunity. They just happened to run across the Rocklin, were able to scan for biotics and then boarded the ship. All supposition of course."

"You think they attacked the Normandy because I was on board?" Kaidan asked her.

"No, they didn't try to disable the Normandy and board her, they attacked without warning. They weren't trying to get you, they were trying to destroy the ship. I think they went after the Normandy because they are working for, or with, the Reapers. They destroyed the Normandy because she destroyed Sovereign. That's my theory anyway." She sat back in the chair.

"That sounds like a well thought out supposition Commander," he said formally as he turned in his seat to face her. "Would you care to expound on the details and the intricacies that brought you to that conclusion?" He pulled her towards him and started running his lips along her neck, feeling her shiver in his arms as his lips touched her. He paused to add softly, "I would be most interested in your thought processes."

She leaned into him and he felt her pulling the back of his shirt out of his pants. She let out a small gasp as he worked gently at the spot just below her ear. Her bare hands slid under his shirt, making their way up his back and his body warmed at her touch. He worked his way slowly around her neck, and then slid up her chin to her mouth savoring the scent of her. He felt her hands kneading at his back. A small moan escaped her lips opening them just enough for him to invade them with his tongue. Her tongue met his in a little dance as he drank in her taste, running his hands down her sides and pushing them under her bottom to give her a little squeeze. She pulled back and looked in his eyes, a dreamy look on her face.

"I would love to continue this to what I think would be a most enjoyable conclusion, but we need to go to lunch."

He dropped his head into her chest and groaned, then took a deep breath to drink in her smell. He lingered there for a moment before he said "I really would like to have some time alone with you."

Shepard stood up and caressed his cheek with her hand before dropping it to his shoulder. "Let's go eat." She patted his shoulder and walked towards the door. Then she stopped and turned towards him. He stared longingly into her eyes as she said to him "You find the time and the place and yes, Kaidan, I'd like that." He smiled and got up and followed her out the door.

They walked into the mess and Joker, Garrus, Dr. Chakwas, Liara and Wrex were already there Shepard motioned to Kaidan to sit down and she went and got their lunch putting the bigger biotic portion in front of him.

"Okay it time to play; what do we know, what can we prove." Shepard said as she sat down. "They are after biotics."

"Know, but can't prove. The biotics twins were taken by batarians, the four colonists by vorcha the only ones that can tie it together is us. The Citadel is not known to take anything we give them as proof." Kaidan said. "And the last four from the Rocklin, well that ship is probably history now. There is no proof that they were taken except that we counted bodies and theirs were missing. Again we're back to us being the proof."

"Yes it's so nice to know that the team that saved the Citadel can't be trusted to give evidence" Wrex said.

Nodding her head in agreement Shepard said "they use a stasis field of some type to incapacitate their victims."

"Well we can prove that someone is using it. We can't prove who. We can't prove how effective it is. From what little we have learned it would have to be up close and personal. That means that it's some hand held device. If we do give it in as evidence we lose it forever." Garrus said.

"I can prove that the lasting effects of said field are minimal based on Kaidan's recovery." Dr. Chakwas said.

"Alright and this is something else we know. They stopped the Rocklin dead in her tracks, cut her systems off cold." Shepard said.

"Well we can prove that from the OSD, but the Rocklin's scanners weren't state of the art." Kaidan said.

"Which means they may choose to discard that proof as unreliable." Joker said.

"They can claim a system power outage, that had nothing to do with the ship on the scanner, and that it was coincidence." Wrex said.

"Next item, the attackers are working for or with the Reapers." Shepard said waiting for the reactions.

"Well they do have bio-organic tech" Garrus said.

"Their weapons are definitely above ours." Joker pointed out. "But I don't think that makes an automatic jump to Reapers."

"But they could see the Normandy even though our stealth systems were engaged." Liara said "Sovereign didn't see the Normandy when we went to Ilos."

"Right, which fits with my theory that the attackers were looking specifically for the Normandy." Shepard said.

Everyone started talking at once and it took a few minutes for it to die down.

"Why do you think that Shepard?" Joker asked. "Why come after the Normandy?"

"Because our stealth systems were engaged the attacker had to be looking for us, as in visually. They wouldn't have any reason to use a visual check unless they were specifically looking for the Normandy. My theory is that they wanted to take down the Normandy because of Sovereign. This, for me, puts them in league, somehow, with the Reapers."

She looked at the faces at the table all deep in thought about what she had said. She felt Kaidan's hand on her thigh rubbing it to comfort her, or maybe himself, he had heard this theory before, albeit, not too long ago.

"So once more we are stepping into the gates of hell." Garrus says.

"Figures, this time I'm bringing marshmallows." Joker quips.

"If what you say is true, we all have big targets painted on our backs" Dr. Chakwas told them. "Anyone that was on the Normandy could be on their target list."

"They would especially be after Shepard." Liara pointed out.

Kaidan looked at Shepard. "Liara has a point, which means that they could be looking for you as well as biotics."

"I don't see the point. I couldn't have done it without all of you. It makes no sense to go after me. It makes more sense to go after the Normandy. She was a symbol and they wanted her taken down." Shepard said.

"But Shepard, you're a symbol too." Wrex pointed out.

Shepard shook her head. She didn't want to think about that now. "Never mind that now. Let's just get back on point."

Kaidan gave her leg a squeeze. "Okay, you suspect it, but you can't prove it." He said bringing them back to the topic at hand.

"So what do we have?" Garrus asked.

"As usual, we have a whole lot of nothing!" Shepard said totally dejected.

"Not nothing" Dr. Chakwas corrected her, "just not enough."