Shepard wondered around Nos Astra and then finally made contact with an asari, who matched the description of the locket he found. She was immensely grateful and gave him a few credits for his troubles.

Shepard then ran into another asari, who gave a message from the rachni queen. The Queen apparently was building ships in order to combat the Reapers, who she believed were the ones that started the Rachni Wars. Shepard was slightly concerned, but those concerns faded away when the asari mentioned that the rachni rescued her and that queen knew it wasn't time for the galaxy to accept.

Shepard then encountered another person he met on Noveria. It was Gianna Parasini, whose eye widened when she saw Shepard.

"Shepard? The news said you were dead! What happened?" She then raised her hands before Shepard could say anything. "No, wait, properly classified. Forget I asked. You'd just have to lie. It's been a couple of years. I'm Gianna Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs. You helped me nail Administrator Anoleis."

"Happy to help," Shepard smiled. "What happened to Administrator Anoleis?"

"He made the one mistake Noveria won't tolerate: he got caught taking their money. He's doing a few years in white-collar prison. More importantly, he won't be working in the field again." She then adjusted the seat next to her. "Sit down. If I remember right, I owe you a beer."

Shepard sat down and a waiter placed a beer in front of him. He began to drink that Gianna curiously.

"What brings you to Illium?" she asked. "You know, that you can talk about?"

"You ever heard of the Collectors?" he asked and she nodded. "They're attacking human colonies. I'm going to stop them."

Gianna stared at him eyes widened. "Damn, Shepard. For me, a tough job involves more paperwork."

Her eyes then fell to an asari merchant standing in front of a vendor. "Hey, listen, I just remembered. I've got to go. Talk to you later? And don't forget to drink your beer."

Shepard noticed that she had left a note and looked at it. Apparently she was trying to bust an asari merchant that was smuggling schematics from Noveria and she asked him to get it to show in the good stuff.

Shepard decided to do just that and made his way to the asari merchant. Using his diplomatic skills he was able to get both a discount and get her to confess that she had something that was not publicly available yet.

Gianna then appeared out of nowhere and had no doubt recorded the entire conversation. The asari then walked off to find her lawyer.

Shepard then re-joined Gianna when she dealt with all the paperwork and jeeps that they're relaxed. "Hermia is going to be a very poor woman very shortly. Thanks for the help, Shepard. I love nailing asari. So ageless and superior—then you get them, and they squeal like schoolgirls."

"It must be nice having a job you really enjoy," Shepard smiled.

"I wanted to be a cop, or C-Sec, but my family had bills. I needed the money a corporate job brought in. Besides, in this job, you don't see things that make it hard to sleep at night. White-collar crime is nice and clean. Hell, at least this time I had to wear heels and a dress."

"It's been a pleasure, Gianna," said Shepard as they got to their feet.

"You too, Shepard. See you around." She then made her way over towards him. "Ah, hell with it."

She then kissed him on the cheek and smiled at him. "Much better than an autograph. Take care of yourself, Shepard."

"Seryna?"

"Who wants to know?" She didn't even look up from her paperwork.

"Name's Shepard. Liara T'Soni said you might have information on Thane Krios."

She stood, and turned toward her co-worker. "Tana. Cover for me." She started walking then gestured for Shepard to follow her. "Over here." She stopped in an out of the way area. "Yeah, I know who Thane Krios is. I might have passed him some information, but I didn't hire him. What do you want to know?"

"Maybe you can help me find him."

Seryna laughed. "I can tell you, but he won't stop him. When he contacted me, I checked up on him. The man never gives up a job. I ran security for Nassana Dantius. Then I found out she was having people killed to cover up her dirty secrets." Seryna smirked. "She fired me when I confronted her. Her loss. I might have been good enough to stop Thane from taking her down."

"Why does that name sound familiar?" Shepard frowned.

"She was a representative on the Citadel a few years ago."

"Right. She had me kill her sister—the slaver." Shepard nodded.

"I thought that was just a rumour." Seryna shrugged. "Well, you know what she's capable of, then. She has even more power here in Nos Astra. She uses it to keep her friends in check and her enemies dead."

"So where do I find Thane?"

"The Dantius Towers. Penthouse level of Tower One." Seryna pointed at a building off in the distance. "There's a second tower, still under construction. If Thane is smart, he'll go in from there."

"It doesn't sound like Nassana's just going to let me in." If Seryna had a schematic or an idea for an entry point, it would save them time.

"She's as smart as she is paranoid. No one's getting in or out of there without a fight." Seryna looked around before looking back at him. "I can get you in, but you'll only get one shot. You'd better be ready."

"You're just offering your help? No strings attached?" Shepard gave her a skeptical look.

"You're going to look for Thane. Nassana's mercenaries will try to stop you." Seryna waved a hand. "At the last, you'll distract her guards. Take a little fire, give Thane a clear shot. I didn't hire him to kill Nassana, but I won't shed any tears when she gets what's coming to her."

Seryna was only able to fit three people in her skycar so we need took Garrus and Jack with him. It was soon darting flying towards the towers.

"The towers are heavily guarded, and you'll find more resistance closer to the penthouse." Seryna glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "So, this assassin—you planning to stop him?"

"I'm just here to make sure he survives."

"Hmm…" Seryna nodded. She maneuverer the skycar through traffic at a speed just a hair shy of ludicrous. "There they are: the Dantius Towers." She nodded at the buildings. "You'll have to get up the second tower and cross the bridge to the penthouse. Her mercs will fight you every step, but it's your best chance."

Shepard nodded. "We might find him before it goes that far."

"Maybe." She shrugged. "At least you'll know where he's headed."

"All right. Let's do this."

"Hold on." She dove through the traffic, swung a hard left followed by a harder right, and landed them next to a rather overblown fountain. Then she popped the door for them. "Don't linger too long; they'll be here to greet you soon enough."

He nodded, and closed the hatch before looking up at the tower. She took off, vanishing quickly back into traffic.

They headed for the door, and saw a couple salarians cowering inside. Shepard blinked as mechs came in, shooting the unarmed salarians down as they fled. He slung his rifle off his shoulder and saw Garrus do the same thing as Jack started to glow. "Move!"

"Help…" The wounded salarian gasped.

"He's still alive." Garrus sounded surprised.

Shepard couldn't blame him. The salarian was sitting in a puddle of his own blood. "I can't feel my legs…" He wheezed. "My chest is killing me."

"Who did this to you?" He knelt next to the wounded man. "And why?"

"We were just night workers! Nassanna…" The worker gasped. "Sent them after us…" He coughed. "She sent the mechs to round us up, but we didn't hear…" He managed a small shake of his head. "They just started shooting…"

"They just attacked you?"

"Yes… we were too slow. It was horrible. Everyone… screaming…" He twitched. "The mercs said there was no time. Nassana wanted us out of the way… immediately. Then… the dogs…" He spat out blood.

"He's not going to make it if we don't help him." Garrus clicked his mandibles.

"I can't breathe… please… help me…"

Shepard touched the controls on his omnitool, and applied a dose of the medigel. "Here. That should ease the pain and keep you alive until help arrives."

"He doesn't know where the assassin is." Jack shook her head.

"Take your time." Shepard helped the salarian back to his feet.

"I think I'm… better…" The salarian winced. "Find the other workers. Help them."

They made their way deeper into the tower taking down mechs and mercs as they went. They only stopped when they heard voices above them, no doubt from several floors up.

"Hey—I think he went in here."

"Well, go get him."

"You go."

"Get your ass in there. Nassana's not paying you to stand around."

"Fine… But I…"

There was a thud followed by silence. Then the body of a trooper fell from the floor and landed in front of them. Shepard glanced back at his companions. "Call it a hunch, but I think our assassin may be in the building."

"He must be skilled if he took them down fast," said Garrus examining the body.

"That's why we're recruiting him," said Shepard.

He hacked the lock on a door to find a room full of… Shepard sighed. Unarmed salarians. "Please… don't kill us! We'll go… we'll go…"

"Hey, look…" One pointed. "They're not Eclipse." He gave Shepard a hopeful look. "You're here to help us…" The salarian blinked. "Right?"

Shepard holstered his sidearm. "It's one reason I'm here. Come on out. It's safe enough."

"Thank you. We are in your debt."

Shepard looked at the salarians. "Maybe you can help me. I'm looking for someone. Not a merc—he's on his own."

The first salarian rubbed his jaw. "Well, whoever sealed us in here…"

"When he found us, I thought we were dead. But he just closed the door and locked us in."

"Looked you in?" Garrus glanced at Shepard. "Sounds like our assassin was trying to keep them safe."

"Assassin?" The first salarian started fidgeting.

"Here for Nassana, I bet." The other one nodded. "She's got it coming. You treat people like this; it always comes back to bite you in the ass."

He got some intel from them. Fastest way up and through and what little they could tell him about the mercenaries. "I wouldn't stay here too long. It should be safe down on the lower floors."

"I was just thinking the same thing." The first salarian rubbed his forehead. "Let's go, everybody."

"Thank you." The second salarian turned back to him. "And tell your assassin to aim for her head…" He shook his head. "Because she doesn't have a heart."

"This assassin is not who I expected," said Shepard looking at Garrus.

Garrus nodded. "He certainly doesn't target innocent bystanders."

"I still don't get the motive," said Jack. "I can understand killing Nassana, but he's not doing it for the money and he's storming this tower on his own."

"Maybe find out what we catch up to him," said Shepard.

"I haven't heard from Teams Four or Five. Don't worry, my team is always ready to go. I don't know where he is, not yet. Don't worry about it. We don't need any reinforcements. I'll take care of it. It's under control. I'll go down there myself."

Shepard watched the mercenary talk into his radio as they walked up. He glanced over his shoulder to look at Garrus, who just shrugged. Jack responded the same way when he looked at her. Shepard gave a shrug of his own, and walked to within a few feet of the oblivious mercenary before pulling out his sidearm. "Turn around, very slowly."

The mercenary stood there for a moment. "Damn it." He turned around.

"Have you seen the assassin?" Shepard took another step toward him.

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be wasting my time talking to you." The mercenary shook his head. "You're not one of Nassana's mercs. Who are you?"

Shepard leaned in closer towards him. "As I questions, and I'll let you go."

"Look pal, even if I knew where he was, I wouldn't tell you." The man held up his hand.

"Not the answer I was looking for." Shepard took another step forward.

"I've got nothing more to say to you. If you shoot me, my team's right through there… they'll be all over you."

Shepard then pulled him closer. "Is a little information really worth dying over? Is Nassana?"

The merc looked at him. "No… I suppose not. Okay, look… last I heard, the assassin was down on the mezzanine. But the team on the bridge think they might've spotted him. Nobody knows for sure."

Shepard gestured his head towards the elevator. "Get out of here."

"I'm going," said the merc and headed over towards the elevator.

"He owes you one," said Garrus. "Anyone else would have killed him."

"Yeah, why didn't you?" Jack asked.

"We needed information," said Shepard.

"True," Garrus nodded. "Sounds as if our assassin is all over the place."

"Well, we know where he is heading, just a question of getting there first."

As Shepard made his way along the corridor he spotted a storage disk on the ground. He picked it up and discovered that the contained a list of genetic information for a salarain family. He shrugged and placed it in his pocket.

Shepard was able to hack into another vault and there stood another group of salarians and a dead merc.

"Are you guys all right?" Shepard asked.

One of the salarians then pointed the gun at them. "Get back! Get back… I'll shoot."

"Relax," said Garrus. "Don't do anything you'll regret."

"I don't want to hurt you… but I will. I said get back! I'll do it! Please… don't make me do it."

"Hey, I'm not the bad guy here," said Shepard calmly. "What's your name?"

"I… I'm Telon. Don't… come any closer."

"Telon, I'm Commander Shepard. I don't work with the mercs, and I don't want to hurt you. I'm here to help."

Telon looked at him for moment. "I… all right… here…" He then handed Shepard the pistol. "I… don't feel so…"

Telon then collapsed.

"Telon!" a salarian cried running out of the vault. He looked up at Shepard. "He's my brother. I just want to see if he's all right. Are you the ones who… shot the merc?"

Shepard shook his head. "It wasn't me. Your brother didn't do it?"

"No. Telon was standing here with me."

"What happened exactly?"

"The merc founders and shouted at us to move. We panicked, and he shouted more. I thought he was gonna kill us… then… his head just exploded. Telon picked up the merc's gun, but we were too afraid to leave. Then you showed up."

Garrus looked impressed. "A perfect headshot with no collateral damage. Very impressive."

"There are still mercs up here," said Shepard. "You should get to the lower levels."

The salarian then got onto his feet. "No need to convince me." He then helped his brother up. "Telon… come on, get up."

"Can we go home now?" Telon asked hopefully.

"Yeah, we're getting out of here." The salarian then looked to Shepard. "Thank you."

It was clear that the assassin was helping the workers as much as he could and they were actually gaining on him. They came up a ramp and looked out across the bridge. Mechs. Mercenaries. Rocket launchers. Wind. And no railings.

"I don't these conditions," said Shepard.

"They could be better," Garrus nodded.

"Okay, I'll sneak behind their ranks and see if I can't hack into those rocket launches. Garrus provide cover and Jack you're a distraction."

They nodded and Shepard activated his cloak.

The plan worked like a treat. Shepard was able to sneak behind their ranks and managed to hack into the rocket launcher causing them to fire upon the mercs. Jack cause a bit of mayhem with her biotics tossing anyone she could get off the ledge and Garrus took out the leaders.

They then made their way to Nassana's office and found the asari herself standing there. She turned and was quite shocked to see Shepard.

"Shepard? But…" She stared. "You're dead."

"I got better." Shepard shrugged.

"And now you're here to kill me." She put a hand on her chest.

"You really are paranoid, aren't you?"

"Don't patronise me, Shepard."

"Charming as ever." He smirked.

"I'm sure you find this all very ironic." She walked toward the window, then looked back over her shoulder at him. "First you take care of my sister, and now you're here for me." She turned, and walked back toward him, keeping the desk between them. "Well, you made it this far. Now what?"

"You really think I'm here to kill you?"

"Do you have another reason for destroying my tower? Decimating my security?"

"I'm just looking for someone."

"You expect me to believe that?" Nassana glared at him. "Is it credits? Is that what you want? Just tell me your price. We can make this problem go away"

Shepard then heard a sound above them and he had a pretty good idea who was causing it. He simply folded his arms. "All the credits in the world won't make this problem go away, Nassana."

"Who the hell gave you the right to play god?" She folded her arms. "I may not be perfect, but look at you." Nassana gestured at him. "We both kill people for money. What's the difference?"

Shepard narrowed his eyes. "You kill people because you think they're beneath you; they're in your way. I kill people when they leave me no choice."

"You've got a choice. You don't have to do this. I can tell you…" Her guards finally became aware of the noise in the ducts, and starting pointing their guns in various directions. "What?"

"I heard something." The asari among them replied.

"Damn it. Check the other entrances! You…" She actually pointed at him. "Stay put." Shepard would have rolled his eyes, but the assassin chose that moment to drop down from the ceiling and start killing her guards. Quick and efficient and without her noticing. "When I'm finished dealing with this nuisance, you and I are going to…" She then heard the sound of gunfire and turned to find the assassin killing her guards. "Who…?" She gave him a confused look before he shot her in the chest.

The assassin laid her back gently on the desk, and folded her arms over her chest. Then he clasped his hands together and stood there with his eyes closed.

Garrus looked very impressed. "Impressive. You certainly know how to make an entrance." The assassin ignored him.

Shepard walked closer, giving the assassin an appraising look. The man was a drell, green skinned and vaguely reptilian though still capable of passing for human in really bad lighting. Shepard never really meet a drell, the one that many in the galaxy normally they spend most of their time in hanar space.

He carried fairly minimal weaponry, but his hand to hand skills were apparently formidable. "I was hoping to talk to you."

"I apologise, but prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken." The assassin's voice was gravely.

"You really think you deserve it?" Shepard frowned.

"Not for her. For me." The assassin secured his sidearm, then walked around the desk toward Shepard. "The measure of an individual can be difficult to discern by actions alone. Take you, for instance. All this destruction…" He looked around the room. "Chaos." He waved a hand. "I was curious to see how far you'd go to find me. Well…" He met Shepard's eyes. "Here I am."

"How do you know I was coming at all?"

"I didn't. Not into you marched in the front door and started shooting." The assassin walked past Michael to give Garrus and Jack appraising looks. He did a pretty good job of ignoring the fact that Garrus was still pointing a rifle at him. "Nassana has become paranoid. You saw the strength of her guards force. She believed one of her sisters would kill her. You were a viable distraction."

Shepard narrowed his eyes. "You used me. So you could can kill her!"

"I needed a diversion; you needed to speak with me." Shepard looked at Garrus and gestured his head. Garrus nodded and lowered his sniper rifle. "You suddenly fulfilled your end of the bargain." He then turned and looked at Shepard. "What would you like to discuss?"

"Someone's been abducting human colonies. We're going to stop them. We only know the culprits—a race called the Collectors."

Thane turned towards the window and closed his eyes. "I've heard of them." Thane turned to face him. "Attacking the Collectors would require passing through the Omega 4 relay. No ship has ever returned from doing so."

Shepard shrugged. "They told me it was impossible to get to Ilos, too."

He smiled. "A fair point. You've build a career on performing the impossible." He looked back at the window and closed his eyes again. "This was to be my last job." He glanced at Shepard. "I'm dying. Low survival odds don't concern me. The abduction of your colonists does."

If it was possible that Doctor Chakwas could do something. "I haven't heard. Is there anything I can do?"

"Giving me this opportunity is enough. The universe is a dark place. I'm trying to make it brighter before I die." He then looked back at Shepard. "Many innocents died today. I wasn't fast enough, and they suffered. I must atone for that. I will work for you Shepard." Thane held out his hand, and Shepard took it. "No charge."

"I've heard impressive stories, Krios. Sounds like you'll be an asset to the team." Jacob folded his arms. He glanced at Shepard. "That is, if you're comfortable having an assassin watch your back."

Thane spoke up. "I've accepted a contract. My arm is Shepard's."

"Uh-huh." Jacob gave him a sceptical look. "Don't know about you, but I'm loyal to more than my next paycheck."

"Obviously he is, too. He's doing this mission gratis. What's your concern?" Shepard narrowed his eyes at Jacob.

"I don't like mercenaries. An assassin is just a precise mercenary."

Thane remained calm. "An assassin is a weapon. A weapon doesn't choose to kill. The one who wields it does." He turned his eyes toward Shepard. "Where shall I put my things? I'd prefer someplace dry, if anything is available."

EDI's hologram appeared. "The area near the life support plant on the crew deck tends to be slightly more arid than the rest of the ship."

"Ah. An AI?" Thane nodded. "My thanks." He bowed before taking his leave.

"He seems quite civil," EDI said.

Shepard turned to face Jacob. "We need all the help we can get. He's not what I expected in an assassin. He may surprise you."

"Yeah. And he may not." Jacob frowned.

Ashley walked up to Rick, who was looking down from the observation deck is a group of scientists were examining the remains of the Collectors they had gathered.

"Have they found anything, sir?" Ashley asked.

Rick shook his head. "No. However, it is hard to tell with all the bullet holes in their bodies. I think Shepard did it too good of a job."

"Are you sure we'll find anything?" Ashley asked.

"No one really gotten a close look at a Collector before. Heck, some people don't even believe they exist, but this is a perfect chance to find out more about their biology and maybe when they come from."

"Has there been any word on Shepard?" Ashley asked.

"Some rumours that he's been sighted at Illium, but the rumours about him being alive have spread immeasurably. Thankfully most people believe that he is undercover and both the Alliance and the Council have spread a rumour that he is infiltrating Cerberus to destroy them from within."

Astrid crossed her arms. "I wish that was true."

"Maybe it is, but there's no denying that the Collectors are the bigger threat. Anderson has already got the Council to notice their actions, we can only hope that it's enough."