Hera looked out at the stars through the cockpit canopy. In holos and games, the stars always streaked by during flight, but out here, in real space, the ship might not have been moving at all. The stars were just too far apart.

Too far apart, like some other things. She sighed. Her eye caught on a holo of herself and Liara clipped to the panel. "Hey, lady," she said, her finger touching the surface. "I miss you." What was Li doing right now? She was suddenly struck with a desperate need to know – just to hear her voice, just to say . . . anything. Her hand started to reach for the comm – but then she clenched her fingers. "No," she whispered, dropping her head and closing her eyes. "What would I say, anyway?"

Just then, the comm buzzed. Hera raised her head, startled, staring at the panel. She glanced at the hatch behind her, then grabbed the headset and put it on. She was very aware of her heart beating – pounding, really –as she took the call.

"This is the ASV Jack, receiving. Go ahead." Her voice barely shook at all.

"Hello, Hera." Liara's voice spoke into her ear. "I did not know if I should call, perhaps I might be interrupting, but I wanted to know how . . . how the mission was going."

"Hey, Li. Liara," said Hera, hating the sound of her too-raspy voice. "We're doing okay. Garrus is with me, and we have Dude, too. On to Illium next." Like it was the weather report. Like it was just a check in. Didn't Liara know what she really wanted to say? Couldn't she read between the lines? "I, uh, caught a bullet in my shoulder, but other than that –"

"You WHAT?!"

"It's okay," Hera lied. Goddess, she hated to lie to Liara, but she didn't want her to worry – and more, she didn't want her to think Hera wasn't up to the task. "Just a graze. Already put some gel on it." Well, that part was true, anyway.

"I do not like this, Hera. You are putting yourself in harm's way for me, and if harm should befall you, I . . . I, well, I could not forgive myself for letting you go. You are not as . . . "

"Young as I used to be?" Hera clenched her jaw. "I know." Yeah, but you are, Dr. T'Soni, she thought.

"I am sorry, Hera," and Hera could hear that she was. "It is just . . . I do not want you to take any unnecessary risks."

"Yeah. Fine. Okay," said Hera. Her eyebrows had drawn together, but her throat felt raw.

"Well," said Liara, and Hera could tell by her tone she was searching for a way to change the subject. Ah, Li, I know you so well. "How is Garrus doing?"

Hera relaxed a little. "He's okay. Better, actually. I'm glad he's with me."

"That makes two of us. You two have always been good for each other."

"Huh." Hera considered. "Yeah. I guess that's true." Mostly. But sometimes, he really pisses me off.

"You need someone to watch your five."

"Six, Li."

"Six, right." Hera could hear Liara's smile on the other end of the line – and it broke her heart. Dammit, Li. What I wouldn't give to go back to when we were both young. When I could smile back.

"She sure is bossy." Dude nodded towards the cockpit.

"Well, she is the boss," said Garrus. "And she's earned it. But yeah, sometimes, she can be a little . . ."

"Irascible?"

Garrus looked at Dude. "Good word. Yeah. And sometimes, she forgets to look at the big picture. Especially when she's in it."

"She doesn't like me."

"Well, she doesn't like what you do, yeah. It's nothing personal."

"I kinda think it is."

"Hmm."

"So, man," said Dude. "You and her. You been together a while now, right?"

"Together?"

"Well, I figured, you know . . ."

"What? No. No!" said Garrus. "I mean, we've been friends for decades, but . . . no."

"Coulda fooled me. You act like you're married. For, like, ever."

If a turian could blush, Garrus would have been beet red at this moment.

"Yeah . . . no. I was married, but . . . she died."

"Sorry, man."

"Thanks." Garrus took a breath. "Yeah. The commander and I . . . we're just, you know, friends." But once, you felt something else, right? a little voice in the back of his mind piped up. Just after Liara came back, all those years ago?

"Shut up."

"Geez," said Dude, taken aback. "All I said was 'sorry'."

"Oh . . . no. I didn't mean you. Just had a weird thought go through my head."

"Oh, yeah, man. That happens to me, like, all the time. Weird thoughts are where I live. Speaking of which . . ." He pulled a small glass pipe and a bag of weed from inside his jacket. "Gonna have a few hits and some good dreams. Care to join me?"

"Maybe later," said Garrus. "So, what's your story, Dude? How'd you end up out here?"

"Who says I'm ending?" Dude broke off a green nugget and shoved it into the pipe with this thumb.

Garrus smirked. "Fair enough."

"Well, believe it or not, I don't actually know where I was born." He put the pipe to his lips and flicked his lighter. The green nugget turned bright orange.

"Really?"

Dude held up a hand as he inhaled, then held his breath, counting on his fingers. Finally, he blew out a cloud of blue smoke. "Heh heh, yeah. See, it was in some colony or other, don't honestly know which . . . but when I was six, we were attacked by some mercs. Wiped everybody out but me."

"Your parents?"

"My mom, yeah."

"Sorry. How'd you survive?"

"Tsokay. I knew the place, knew where to hide. Knew how to hide. And when they left, I was on their ship."

"Gutsy."

"I guess. It was the only way out. Couldn't have stayed in the colony – it was dead as . . . dead. So I stowed." He took another hit. "And I watched. And I learned."

"What'd you learn?"

"How to do what they did. How to not get caught. And how you can't trust anything. Except what a coin can get you."

"Hmm. When I was younger, I felt much the same. Not so much about the money, but the . . . trust."

"And now?"

"Now? Well." The turian considered. "I've learned to trust a few things. Not many, but . . . a few."

"Like her?"

"Who, Shepard?"

Dude nodded and blew out another cloud.

"Yeah, I trust her. She pisses me off sometimes, but . . . yeah. Without a doubt. I trusted Tali – my wife – too. She . . . well, she never pissed me off."

"Sounds like a great lady."

"Yeah," sighed Garrus. "Yeah, she was. The best lady."

"Cool. I never had a best lady. Lotsa ladies, sure, and a fella that one time, but nobody seemed to really get under my skin enough to make me, you know, follow when they hit the door."

"Funny. With me, it's the exact opposite. A very, very few – but they always got under my skin." Including a certain Commander, right? Garrus shook the thought away and continued. "But then, I'm not terribly casual."

"Really? You seem pretty relaxed to me."

"It's an act. Years of undercover work."

"Right. You're a cop."

"Used to be."

"Once a cop . . ."

"Maybe. But I – well, maybe I wasn't such a good cop. Kept breaking rules."

"A-ha. My kind of cop. Let's play. You arrest me. What happens next?"

Garrus raised an eyebrow. "Hmm. I find out where you're getting your jobs. And your stash."

"How?" Dude took another hit. He closed his eyes, imagining the scenario.

"I play nice. For a bit. You tell me what I want to know?"

"Maybe. Depends. What's in it for me?"

"You don't go to jail. I don't break your wrists. For starters."

"I need more. How bad you want the real bad guys?"

"Bad enough to get what I want. And I don't care about you at all."

"Okay. I make you a deal. I'll tell you what I know, you let me out, set me up with enough cash to hide. Just in case you don't get those guys. Or they got others watching their back."

Garrus considered. "Deal." He held out his hand.

Dude looked at the turian, then shook his hand. "Okay. Deal."

"But I need to be able to get to you again. You're a witness. And you got intel."

"Aw, fuck. You're turning me into an informant."

"I make it worth your while. You help me get the bad guys, I'll keep you out of the slam. With a little spending money to boot."

"Better make it more than a little. I can't do my job if people think I'm a snitch."

"We got a lot of snitches. I'll float their names. You'll be safe. But if you help me, and we get these guys, I'll up your share."

Dude inhaled deeply, coughed once. "Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Garrus grinned. "Great fuckin' movie."

"Li?"

"Yes?"

"I'm . . . I'm taking care of things. Of . . . of you. Okay?"

She heard Liara sigh over the headset, and somehow, that was the worst. "I know you are, Shepard. I . . . I have to go."

"Okay. See you." Hera hit the comm switch, cutting off the transmission.

She called me Hera at first, then Shepard later. What's that about?

"Sorry, Blue," she muttered. "Things are just so . . . different now."

Different how? said a voice in her head. You love her. She loves you. Why is it so goddamn hard to talk to her?

Because you're pushing her away with everything you say and do, another voice answered. And if you keep trying to reach her now, you're just going to make it worse. Let her be. Let her go. Let her . . . grow. Your time is at an end. Hers is just beginning.

She still wants you, said the first voice. She wants to share these moments with you.

Ha! said the second. You're an old lady. She's still a maiden. What can you possibly offer now?

"Shut up," she said.

"I didn't say anything."

She jumped in her seat and turned around. Garrus stood there, looking perplexed.

"Oh, sorry, Garrus. Uh, not you. I didn't hear you come in." She looked out the canopy again, trying to sound nonchalant. "How long you been there?"

"About two seconds." Garrus looked around at the empty cockpit. "Talking to yourself, are you?"

She looked back at him. "Well . . . yeah. So?"

"So nothing," he said, settling into the copilot's seat. "I do it all the time. Just make sure you don't tell yourself any jokes you've heard before. They're just not as funny the second time."

Hera smirked. "Heh. Yeah. Will do." She looked beyond Garrus, through the hatchway. "Where's our guest?"

"Dude's finally taking his nap. And it'll be a long one, the amount of pot he smoked."

"Did you –"

"No, not yet. Still kind of, you know, on duty." He pointed at her shoulder. "How's it feel?"

She considered lying – again – but knew he'd see through it anyway. "Hurts like a bitch, G. Can't even move the damn thing now."

"Uh-oh."

"Yeah."

"Poison? Radiation?"

"I don't know, but it wasn't just an ordinary round. I medi-gelled the hell out of it, but it might as well be water for all the good it's doing. And it's getting worse."

"We've got to get you to a med-center. Now."

"We're on a schedule here – "

"And how much good are you going to be with one arm?"

Hera couldn't argue. "Fine. Dammit."

"Sorry."

"I wish I'd been just a little faster. Ten years ago – hell, five years ago, that merc would be collecting flies."

"Well, we aren't quite what we used to be, are we?" He indicated his robotic arm. "Still pretty good, though. Still breathing. And we got our man."

"Such as he is."

"He's all right."

"He's a waste."

Garrus narrowed his eyes at her. "What makes you say that?"

Hera shrugged. "He's got no scruples whatsoever – only beholden to the bottom line, remember? And he's not even thinking clearly . . . ever, as far as I can tell."

"He helped us back there."

"Sure, because he knew which was the wind was blowing. He was just saving his own ass. We'll find out what he knows, then we cut him loose."

"You've become jaded in your old age, Shepard."

"You've been jaded since you were born, Garrus. What makes you like him so much, anyway?"

Garrus considered. "Hmm. Just a feeling, I guess. Wouldn't necessarily trust him, but I think there's something under all that crap you see. Plus," he added. "I dig his taste in music."

"Dig?"

"It means I like it. Come on, Hera – you grew up on Earth, in – let's say – a seedy world."

"I ran with gangs, Garrus. I did a lot of things I wish I hadn't."

"Fair enough. But you must have picked up some of the slang."

"I'm . . . better than that now."

"What, you want to be so good you don't have to shit?"

Hera glared at him. "Are you gonna be like this the whole goddamn –"

Suddenly, the ship lurched violently, and they both felt a rumble from below deck.

"What the –"

Another explosion, and the ship veered to port.

Garrus had already energized the weapons systems. "On our six," he said, all business. He looked at Hera. "Can you fly with one hand?"

"Can I – are you kidding? I can fly with no hands!"

She quickly switched over to manual control while she kicked off her boots, then slid down in the pilot's chair and began evasive maneuvers – with her toes.

Garrus raised an eyebrow. "Very impressive . . . and flexible."

"Shut up and shoot, G."

"On it."

Garrus fired several blasts as Hera took Jack into a steep dive, cutting power to the engines at the same time. Jack flipped end over end as the three pursuing ships shot past. Then the engines reignited and Jack gave chase, the attacking ships now within range of the forward cannons.

Garrus fired again and one of the ships – a design neither Hera nor Garrus had seen before – disintegrated into superheated metal confetti.

"Nice shot," said Hera.

"Nice flying," said Garrus.

The two remaining ships split up, each trying to get behind Jack again. Hera cut power to just the starboard engine this time.

Jack spun around and Hera started the engine again, now heading on a collision course with the oncoming ships, closing the distance faster than they could get a firing solution.

Garrus's eye went wide at the approaching ships. "Hera - !"

"Fire, Garrus – NOW!"

Deadly blasts erupted from Jack's weapons. The closer of the attacking ships exploded. But Garrus couldn't target the second ship in time, and although it tried to veer away at the last second, it collided with Jack.

It was only a glancing blow, but at space travel speeds, glancing is enough. The attacker went into a flat spin as electricity arced across its hull and gases erupted from torn conduits. When the two met, there were a couple short flickers of sparks, and then the ship disappeared into a ball of flame which winked out of existence almost immediately, leaving debris still spinning into the cosmos.

Jack shuddered as the impact rippled through her hull. Garrus and Hera's bodies strained against their flight harnesses as the ship groaned, resisting its new trajectory. Warning lights flashed across the main panel as klaxons sounded.

"Damage!" shouted Hera.

Garrus looked at the monitor. "Losing oxygen, engines down, hull breach, weapons –"

"Get a helmet on and fix the air and the breach, NOW!"

Garrus raced from the cockpit, snagging a rebreather on the way through the hatch.

Hera struggled to bring the engines and weapons back online, rerouting power from nonessential systems, but to no avail. She initiated a hard shut down of the grid, then froze as she glanced out the canopy.

"Oh."

Garrus isolated the damaged oxy-lines and bypassed them. He grabbed a torch from the emergency station and began welding the breach, still hemorrhaging precious air into the vacuum of space. Who the hell were those guys? he thought.

"Garrus," Hera's voice, strangely calm, came over his helmet's speaker.

"Getting there, Hera," he replied. "Thirty seconds."

"Garrus," she said again. "We've got company."

He froze. Something in her tone, that icy composure, put his every nerve on alert. They were in real trouble.

He finished the weld. "On my way."

Garrus arrived in the cockpit less than a minute later. "What is it, Hera?"

She glanced at him over her shoulder, then nodded out the canopy. Garrus followed her gaze – and his jaw dropped.

"Oh, hell."

The ship outside was gargantuan. Roughly cylindrical in shape, its hull – if you could call it that, it seemed too organic to call a hull –a dim brown, it dwarfed Jack.

"Hera, I think that thing has its own weather system."

"Not to mention gravity. It's caught us."

"Like a spider trapping a fly. Is it –"

"Yeah. Collectors."

"I thought we –"

"Yeah. Me too. Guess not."

Jack began to move steadily towards a cavernous opening in the side of the Collector ship.

"Here we go," said Garrus.

"Get your weapons," said Hera. "Load up. I'm not going down without a fight."

"Will do. But, Hera," he said. "If they wanted to kill us, they would have done so already."

She considered, then nodded. "Okay. Be ready for anything."