Chapter Two

Just outside the Shadow Broker Base, Hagalaz, Normandy Shuttle, 2206 h

Garrus Vakarian was generally, like most of his turian species, weary of trust. He was one of the few aliens that Shepard knew would always watch his back in times of trouble and also very happy to be part of Shepard's team once more. His dry, self-deprecating humor usually got the squad through the most sticky situations they ever faced.

And Jack…well, she was something else. Put a kid through the hell that she went through, and it's no wonder that she became a blood thirsty, cold-blooded killer. But Shepard liked to think of himself as a trainer teaching his young tigress. He never knew what she was going to do next. At first, she was easy to predict, but recently, she'd shown a lot of mercy in situations that she previously would have without a second thought never do so.

The ride over was a quick ten minutes, but in the first three minutes, no one spoke. It was oddly Garrus who broke the silence. "So, Shepard, you got any idea why Liara wants to see you in person?"

"In her message, she said that she had some rather sensitive topics to discuss. We still aren't sure if Cerberus has access to my channels or not," he replied.

"Why would she mention them first, though?"

"I'm not sure, Garrus. I know that she'll be happy to see you, though. It's been a long while since you've seen that brainy beauty, hasn't it?" He playfully punched the rugged turian in the arm.

"Humph, yeah, she was extremely friendly towards me when we first saw her on Illium. She also didn't have any trouble planting a large kiss on you right in front of us, either," the turian said with a roll of his eyes.

"Who cares? As long as Cerberus lost a shit load of money on that Darwin project, that's just fine with me," Jack snarled.

The Normandy shuttle hugged itself closer to the Shadow Broker's large shuttle bay, and the hangar bay doors closed quite normally after they were inside the ship. "I still don't like this, Shepard. Why'd you make me leave my weapons on the Normandy? I'm feeling slightly naked without Janine or Betty on my back," Garrus confessed as they stepped out of the shuttle. "Thelma's on my table disassembled for cleaning."

"Don't worry, Garrus. I'm packing heat," Jack told him and pointed to the shotgun attached to her hip with her thumb. She paused for a moment and made eye contact with the turian. "You named your guns?"

"I'm surprised you haven't," Shepard retorted. "Got any suggestions, Garrus?"

The alien shook his head no and held up his hands. "None that would avoid a biotic punch or kick to my groin."

"I'm almost starting to like you…" Jack grinned and laughed.

Shepard's face became incredulous, and he checked that his ankle holster was hugging his leg just enough to be slightly uncomfortable. As much as he trusted Liara, he knew that trouble would always follow her constantly. Although she was very protected and cut off from the rest of the galaxy now, he still brought a little protection just to be sure. As they reached the docking bay door, he entered the six digit code that she changed weekly. At least he thought it was the right code…it flashed red and angrily beeped at him. "Incorrect code," stated the VI.

"That's funny," Shepard mused to himself and tried the same numbers.

"Hello, Shepard," Liara's face suddenly appeared on the flat screened monitor above the door. "I'm sorry, I must not have given you the updated code for this week. Just a second, I'm unlocking the door now." As the lock mechanisms turned, the door opened its hydraulic seals quickly and shut right after they went through it. "Would you mind leaving Garrus and Jack outside, please? I really need to speak with you privately."

"Fuck, no, Blue!" Jack yelled. "You've got something nasty up your sleeve, and I just know it!"

"Jack, you've gotta learn to start to trust people," Shepard chided the biotic and touched her arm gently. He briefly glanced at Garrus, whose eyes told him to be careful. "I'm going in alone."

"And you should trust my instincts, Shepard. I know you trust the cheerleader's."

Without another hesitation, Shepard went through the inner doors to the Shadow Broker's central operating chambers. Jack rolled her eyes and leaned on one of the door's support structures. "Hey Garrus, I got an idea of what I wanna call my shotgun."

"I wasn't really looking for trouble, Jack, I-" Garrus threw up his hands in surrender and began to back away slowly.

"Relax, dumb ass. If I wanted to kill you, I could've done it already," she scoffed and fixed one of her shoulder straps. "I think I might call it the Cerberusbitchinator."

"Ah…I know I'm gonna regret asking this, but…why?"

"I've still got a score to settle with Miranda for what she said about me a while back. And this gun is gonna rip her to shreds like a stuffed toy. Can't wait to see her remains splattered all over that office."

"You know Shepard would never let that happen, Jack…-"

"Eh, one of these days, he'll get bored of that whore and dump her like a hot brick. And on that day, she's gonna meet her worst fuckin' nightmare," the serial killer announced with an evil grin. "I can't decide if I'd rather do her in the stomach or shoot her little fucking perfect legs off first. Wonder what's more painful."

"You ever wanna do some target practice, just let me know. You look like you're ready for a fight at any minute." Garrus' eyes turned to large pools of fright.

Jack's grin disappeared and her eyebrows furrowed. "I'm always ready for a fight. Why?"

"I don't mind releasing some tension sometimes on the Normandy. We unfortunately don't have a combat lab there like on the turian ships. Maybe I should ask Shepard to take us to one so you could see the sparring facilities. I bet you'd enjoy using them."

"You fight each other before doing a big mission, huh?"

"We don't usually go in with murder on our minds, no. But the matches can be kind of brutal and long, depending upon the referees."

Jack pounded one fist into the other. "Maybe I should take that bitch on in one of those. I'll crush her bloody, broken body to the floor!"

"Okay, then. I think I've heard more than I wanna know about your quote healthy rivalry." Garrus shook his head and waved her off with his hand.


Shadow Broker Central Ops, 2222h

The amber glow of the gargantuan holographic monitor seemed to keep Liara so entranced that she did not turn around as Shepard walked in. She was, as usual, wearing armor that perfectly accentuated all of her gorgeous asari aesthetic curves and was completely lost in her work. Liara was multi-tasking with her omni-tool and the holographic monitor, moving the windows of information with one hand perfectly and scanning with the other. It wasn't until Shepard physically touched her on the shoulder that she gasped and jumped. "Oh! Shepard, I am so sorry. I didn't even hear you come in, I…became so enraptured with this one report…-"

"That's quite all right, Liara," Shepard beamed. "I had to admit that I was admiring the scenery, too."

The asari maiden blushed and drew him in for a long, steamy kiss. "Shepard, aren't you a bit concerned about this?" she inquired afterward.

"About what?"

"Well…what about Miranda…-"

"I've taken down my share of Spectres, Geth, the old Shadow Broker, and the Collectors, Liara. Besides, I don't think Miranda wants a long termed relationship."

"You sure do live dangerously, Shepard," Liara said with a smile. "I must admit that your cavalier attitude towards life scared me about you at first. But then I grew to like it."

"Glad I changed your mind," he winked and drew her over to the couch. "You don't mind if I distract you from work for a little while, do you, Miss Shadow Broker?"

She shook her head with a sigh and sat down next to him. "I really wish you wouldn't call me that."

"Why? Would you prefer the 'Ms' title instead?" His arm casually wandered behind her as he turned to face her.

"I still can't tell when you're joking or not, Shepard."

"Well, that large, crafty, hot mind of yours must be doing something right, because I was. Don't the Asari have any jokes?"

"I'm afraid that they might not translate very well, and even then, I can't tell one."

"Even a short one?"

"You have your talents, Shepard, and I have mine. Unfortunately, those do not include my sharing of hilarious anecdotes."

"Would a melding amend that situation?" His left hand crept up from where he'd been hiding it and tenderly squeezed her right breast. Before she could cry out in surprise, Shepard moved right into her mouth with an open mouthed kiss. All that came out was a muffled sigh as he leaned into her.

Desire rushed back into Liara as one hand grasped the back of his neck, encouraging him to keep going. The other stroked his hair. Suddenly, as he broke away from her lips and was about to assault her neck, he stiffened and halted in mid-action.

"Mmm…what's wrong?" Liara inquired breathlessly.

"I thought I heard something." Shepard pulled away from her and cautiously checked his surroundings.

"The console does make some strange noises from time to time. It took me about three days to get used to it."

"No, I don't think that the noise was electronic." He arose from the couch and smoothed out a wrinkle on his pants. "Maybe I'd better not return to the Normandy smelling like a bouquet of flowers. One whiff of this from Goldstein, and the whole ship starts talking."

"Would it be so bad for your crew to know that you're only human and have needs just like them?"

"Maybe, but I'd rather not hear about it while I'm trying to eat a meal in the mess, especially breakfast. I'm not sure why, but the Normandy men love to talk about sex that time of day more than anything." He gave her a lecherous grin. "It's not just your species we fantasize about, you know. Anyhow, what's up? Your message said that you couldn't tell me anything more over the extranet. You also look a bit more tired than the last time I saw you."

"I didn't get much sleep last night," she admitted and nodded. "I'm still categorizing all of the Broker databases…sometimes I feel like I'll never get this library of information the way I want it."

He waggled his eyebrows. "Guess we'll have to find a way to cure that problem in a bit."

"There are never enough hours in the day for me to accomplish what I'd like to do," she lamented. "Would you believe that I've actually put some thought into cloning myself?"

"I don't think I could handle more than one Shadow Broker at a time," Shepard said with a chuckle. Although if the shoe were on the other foot…

"According to some conversations I've heard from other males of your species, it would actually be quite feasible…"

Shepard blinked hard. Did she just…?

"But apparently not in this universe," she deadpanned.

He cleared his throat nervously and scolded himself for his lewd train of thought. "Seriously, though, Liara…what can I do for you?"

"Well, I-" Shepard spun around, as his augmented hearing once again came into play. Liara studied his face and jumped up from the couch to quickly go to the computer system. "Okay, now you have me worried. That's twice in the last minute."

Before Liara could access any base security system data, an Asian-looking man garbed in black armor wearing a pair of goggles dropped his cloaking field revealing not only himself but also a Shadow Broker mercenary in complete body armor. "Thank you for the distraction, Doctor," the man spoke and bowed his head slightly. "You've proved yourself quite useful as I'd hoped."

"Useful? Who are you?" Her eyes caught a small yellow symbol on his chest plate, and she eyed the treacherous mercenary whose hands pumped up a shotgun.

"What the hell is going on?" Shepard shouted and his hand reflexively went down to his ankle holster for his gun. The Asian man somersaulted down the stairs and swept his leg under Shepard before he could draw it. Shepard fell to the floor, recovered, and then lunged at his attacker. However, the well-trained man fluidly avoided the biotic charge, and let Shepard crash into one of the ship's newly repaired pillars. He gave one final blow to Shepard to daze him by sending his elbow to the base of Shepard's unprotected neck. The powerful ex-Alliance soldier fell to his knees and tried to gather his breath.

The ninja removed something from his belt and was about to secure the device to Shepard's wrist when he became distracted by the Shadow Broker mercenary being flailed like a toothpick across the room by Liara. "You will regret your idiotic decision!" she fumed and a blue biotic field encompassed her entire body.

Outside the Broker's office, all parties heard rapid gunfire begin as well as some rather loud battle cries from Jack.

Once she witnessed that the mercenary was momentarily incapacitated, the asari turned her attention immediately to the Asian man. He did a few impressive acrobatic flips to avoid her attacks and held up a shield to deflect the bullets that came from Shepard's pistol. Suddenly, the mercenary recovered from the ground, picked up his fallen shotgun, and raced towards the fight.

"Liara, look out!" Shepard bellowed and threw out a massive shockwave towards the soldier. The attack knocked him backward slightly, but he still kept his hold over the gun and let out a couple of shots.

The ninja took this time to cloak himself again as Shepard's head darted around the room. Liara composed a barrier around herself as she witnessed the merc re-load his shotgun. "Shepard, get in!" she exclaimed.

Foolishly, Shepard ignored her plea and charged towards the mercenary with a mighty shout. He slammed his armored assailant into the wall as Liara watched. She also kept her wits about her, when a concussive shot toppled her barrier. The ninja re-appeared, grabbed her, and slapped an electronic device around her wrist.

The asari grunted, twisted around in confusion, and attempted to create a field of singularity upon him until the bracelet pulsed red. It immediately sent her to the floor writhing in pain, and her cry told Shepard that she was in danger. He ignored the comatose traitor and loaded his pistol with his one spare clip. The man laughed, avoided his shots easily, and cloaked himself again.

"Who are you?" Shepard demanded as he felt a sword press against the back of his neck.

"I represent someone you betrayed not so long ago, and now it's time for you to repay your debt." His hand went inside of his coat to retrieve another bracelet from a pocket.

"I've got a lot of enemies, asshole," the ex-Alliance soldier barked. "Knock off the mystery. Liara, what's going on? What's the matter with you?"

"Oh, you'll understand who it is in just a moment," the man replied and attached the bracelet to Shepard. The sword disappeared from the back of his neck, and the ninja sheathed it with an overconfident smirk. Shepard whipped around, charged up his implant, and was also sent to the ground in agony. He dropped the gun, and Liara arose. She rolled towards the fallen pistol, to which the ninja immediately picked up and aimed at Shepard.

As if on cue, seven Cerberus assault troopers strolled in through the door. Jack was wearing a collar around her neck that had a crimson pulse around it. The soldiers had Garrus' hands and arms bound together. Shepard saw the uniforms and inwardly cringed. Goddamned Illusive Man's grudge is bigger than I thought.

"There were twelve of your soldiers, were there not?" the Asian man spoke again.

"Yeah, well, we couldn't get the goddamned collar on this one fast enough," one answered and shoved the butt of his rifle into Jack's back. "Crazy bitch."

"And the goddamned alien somehow got a hold of one of our assault rifles," another replied.

"So those things can…disarm biotic powers?" Shepard wondered.

"Indeed you are observant, Commander Shepard. The Illusive Man wanted to take you alive," the Asian man nodded. "It's a newly developed weapon called the Ochrana. The first field tests have worked very well, I can see. The Illusive Man will be pleased."

"Why now? The Reapers have made it patently obvious that their next target is Earth, and humanity will not only need my help, but also Cerberus' help! This is not the time!"

"You can ask him that when you see him."

"No!" Liara screamed, ran towards the ninja, and he shot her in the shoulder with the confiscated pistol. "Shepard!"

"You son of a bitch," Shepard spat, took a step towards his attacker, and once more received his own gun being shoved into his face.

"I won't let you have him!" The asari yelled. "Take me instead! I've got information, tools for the Illusive Man's use-"

"Liara, listen to what you're saying!" Shepard interrupted her. "Don't you dare sacrifice yourself for me. I'll be okay."

Her eyes made contact with his fierce stare. His dark eyes told hers that this was not up for conversation, as if he were her direct superior again.

"Let's go. I'm not being paid to stand around and talk. I've got a delivery to make," the ninja cut him off.

"Like hell you do!" Feron exclaimed from the Broker vid theatre and held up a sub-machine gun in a threatening position. One of the assault troopers retrieved two small round objects from his belt and threw them at the drell's feet. An all-consuming field of smoke enveloped the entire Cerberus party just as Feron let off a couple of rounds. He immediately withheld his fire as he coughed, inhaling the tear gas.

Shepard placed his hands over his head in surrender. "Whoever you are, you're a dead man," he growled at the ninja.

"No one lives forever," the ninja responded coolly and gestured with Shepard's gun that he wanted to move. "Nice to finally meet the asari whore. Does she blow as well as Miranda?"

"Aw, you fucked her, too, Shepard?" Jack rolled her eyes. "You sure do get around, Commander."

Liara roared in anger once again, trying to summon a biotic field but collapsed.

The drell rushed forward with the gun, but was immediately sent to cover as the Cerberus troops opened fire upon him. The Cerberus party took this moment to make a hasty exit with their captives.

Feron left his position of cover and ran over to Liara. He activated his omni-tool upon her shoulder, and she regained consciousness with a sigh. "Oh, what happened? Are they gone?" she demanded.

"Unfortunately, yes," the drell nodded and helped her to her feet. He activated his omni-tool and passed it over her shoulder to apply some medi-gel."They took Shepard and his squad mates with him. I apologize for not coming here sooner. I had to defuse a couple of bombs that were outside of the vid theatre." Feron sheathed his pistol, walked over to the mercenary, picked up his shotgun, and checked the clip. "Should I dispose of this quisling?"

"How many other agents are present on the ship?" Liara wondered and staggered over to her super computer.

"No one else has survived, Liara, I'm sorry. One of these bombs went off while two were trying to defuse it, and everyone else…" He lifted his hand in defeat and let it drop by his side. "Well, they were eliminated by the Cerberus troops."

"Don't kill him, not just yet. I need information. And we have a lot to do." She stiffened, regained her composure, and activated her own omni-tool.

"You want to rescue Shepard, don't you?"

"Yes. But I know that the two of us won't be able to do it alone."

"What action do you suggest we make next? I have a feeling that it isn't safe to stay here any longer." He crossed the office and lay the shotgun down on the ground.

"Yes, I know, and I was wondering if this would happen someday, especially since Shepard cut ties with Cerberus. I just didn't count on it so soon," she sighed and began to move windows around on the holographic screen frantically.

"What is that?" Feron gestured to the bracelet, which had ceased to pulse red.

"I don't know, but you saw what it did to me and Shepard. It's another reason why I want him alive," she motioned to their prisoner with her head. "I'm going to back up as much information as I can from this console and sabotage our back-up servers. Then I need to call the Normandy. Start packing up as much equipment as you can after you question the traitor. If you get something out of him, good, if not, then deal with him."


Normandy SR-2, De-Briefing Room, 124h

"Who would be calling us at this hour?" Miranda mumbled to herself she strolled inside. The salarian scientist Mordin was also there and when Miranda saw the holographic image of Liara T'Soni appear, her heart skipped a beat. Oh, no.

"Please forgive the late hour, Dr. Solus, Miranda," Liara apologized.

"Mmm, contrite apologies not necessary. Was just comparing some strands of interspecies' DNA. Did you know that Batarians have 59 chromosomes?" Mordin rattled away in his quick speech. "Interesting fact that compared to asari, who have 54, comparing that to humans, who have 46, and-"

"Spare us the biological prattle, Mordin," Miranda coldly spat. "What is it, T'Soni?"

"I'm afraid that the Illusive Man has captured Shepard, Garrus, and Jack. I tried to stop it, but, he had inside help…from someone I thought I could trust."

I know how that feels, Miranda thought. "What? How? That's impossible!" she exclaimed.

"I need to show you," the asari answered and held up her right hand. "Cerberus has developed some kind of new countermeasure against biotics. Every time I tried to use one of my powers, I'd receive an enormous migraine and the device sent a shock throughout my entire nervous system!"

"Cerberus already has a countermeasure to biotics; the Omega E. That proved to be most effective against them ten years ago," Miranda argued and shook her head.

"Mmm…grim news indeed," Mordin interjected with a nod. "However, would like to make a point. Omega-Enkaphalin effects only temporary. Biotic powers can be restored to specimen within three Citadel days. Salarian STG developed weapon against Omega E called Beta Tetracycline in 2180. Was unfortunately not in group that developed it; was assigned to genophage modification instead. Hmm…would be most interested in meeting you, Doctor T'Soni. Sorry I wasn't there the last time you came aboard the Normandy, was visiting my nephew. Miranda?"

"I suppose so, if you think it's necessary, Mordin." Miranda's hand went to her hip.

"Then it's settled. I'll be there in ten minutes," Liara stated and closed the channel.

Mordin hummed happily to himself as he returned to his next door lab. Miranda wasted no time and strode into the armory where Jacob was doing abdominal crunches. The stereo was on at full blast playing a mildly irritating house beat, and Miranda shut it off. "Sorry, Jacob, we need to talk…now."

"You know," he sighed and wiped some sweat from his brow with a towel, "that was one thing that used to drive me nuts about you. You never asked me to turn the music down or to even change the type. You just would walk over and shut it off, just like that."

"This is more important than your damned workout music," Miranda snapped. "Cerberus has gotten to Shepard."

"What?" Jacob straightened up and stood. "How?"

"We'll be finding out in a few minutes. Liara T'Soni's coming aboard to explain herself. Thought you might like to know."

"Do I have time for a quick shower?"

"For the kind of ones you take, sure. I'll let you know when she's in the debriefing room. I'm going to let everyone else know, too."


Ten minutes later…

Tali hugged Liara on her way in. "I wish we could be meeting again under better circumstances," the quarian told her. "You must feel awful."

"More than you know," Liara responded gently. It took all the emotional strength that she had not to begin to cry at that moment. They broke their sisterly hug as Miranda, Mordin, Grunt, Thane, Zaeed, Kasumi, and Jacob joined them.

"All right, let's have it," Miranda said coldly. "Didn't Jack and Garrus go with Shepard, too?"

"That's just what I was going to tell you. The Cerberus soldiers captured the two of them as well. As powerful of a biotic like Jack is, they even made her submissive with this device." She pointed to the pulsing bracelet.

"Wow, doesn't Jack have those L5x implants installed?" Tali broke in. "I thought that those were pretty brand new technology."

"Not powerful enough, I guess," Jacob replied and shook his head. "Should've figured that the boss would be pissed off as all get out when Shepard blew that Collector base up instead of giving it over to him."

"You said that someone betrayed you. Was it one of your agents?" Miranda steered the conversation back on topic.

"Yes. We were caught completely off guard. Feron tried to help us, but-" Liara started.

"He's the drell who gave us the intel about Shepard's body," the Aussie recollected for everyone else's benefit. "Doesn't surprise me that he flipped sides. You shouldn't have trusted him nor let him stay on the base."

"Feron didn't betray me, it was someone else! What was I supposed to do after we freed him, throw him out an airlock? I owe him my life!"

"Actions of Dr. T'Soni irrelevant now. Need to focus on current problem," Mordin commented and waved his hand in the air.

"Says the morally challenged scientist who worked on the genophage project," Jacob muttered. "Got any more pearls of wisdom?"

"Nobody would be talking about this if I'd gone with the battle master. That stupid human and the rest of his kin would be piles of meat and blood," Grunt stated and pounded his fist on the table. The piece of furniture now had a perfectly shaped depression from his actions. "You, you're his mate. Why didn't you tell him to take me?" he gestured with his head towards Miranda.

Although her insides fumed at the krogan's contemptuous remark and aggressive conduct, her exterior did not show it. The last thing Miranda needed right now was an angry krogan in a small room. The table could retract to the floor, but there were still plenty of fragile objects in the debriefing room. Repairs to this room were not a high priority compared to some others, especially since Shepard made his final conversation with the Illusive Man only last month. Her eyes caught a stray bucket of tools that a negligent crew member left behind, most likely before a dinner break. She made a mental note to take disciplinary action after finding the responsible party later.

"Please, stop this! This is no time for fighting, we need to find Shepard!" Tali shouted.

"Agreed. This is getting us absolutely nowhere," Miranda nodded. "Blaming one another won't help us find Shepard, and we're at a complete disadvantage of both time and data. Not many people know about my separation from Cerberus, so I could possibly use a few of my contacts there…"

"I have an agent in Cerberus who could do some recon for us," Liara suggested.

"Wouldn't that arouse suspicion towards her, though?" Tali inquired.

"She's a very deep cover operative…has been working for the Shadow Broker network for the past three years, and also has been with Cerberus for a total of six. I'm sure she'd take the necessary precautions…"

"What about asking Aria t'Loak for intel?" the taciturn drell assassin suddenly spoke up. "I heard that she had a run-in with Cerberus recently that went particularly badly for her."

"No way. I trust that asari about as far as I can throw a space freighter," Jacob argued. "She's a manipulative, conniving-"

"Gave Shepard plenty of good information about Samara's daughter Morinth and pointed him towards Vakarian. That's something to start," Mordin offered. "Don't have to trust her, just use her for intel. Might be faulty, might not be. But, we are at an impasse."

"That's fair. I'd rather not make another visit to Omega this month, though. The first two times made me feel sick enough," Jacob said.

"I'll go. I've got some unfinished business there, anyway," Zaeed declared. "Want some company, Thane?"

"I'd be honored," the drell responded with a slight bow.

"While we're branching out for help, perhaps we should call in a favor with one of the human colonies that Shepard helped…Zhu's Hope on Feros, perhaps?" Miranda wondered. "I'll go ask them myself."

"That is an excellent suggestion, Ms. Lawson," EDI said and appeared. The AI's blue interface startled everyone but Mordin, who seemed moderately jovial. "Apologies to interrupt your meeting, but there is a video communications channel coming in from Noveria to Shepard's private terminal. As you requested, all communications from Shepard's terminal were routed to yours, but since this is a live signal, I thought that it was appropriate to intervene. The caller is a Ms. Gianni Parasini, a woman who identified herself from Noveria Internal Affairs. She requested to speak with Shepard. Shall I ask her to leave a message instead?"

"No. Interface us, please, EDI," Miranda ordered. I'll take all the help I can get.

"Very well, Ms. Lawson," the AI replied and opened the channel.

"Hello, Shepard…oh…" Parasini's chocolate face crumpled up. "Who're you? Do I have the wrong address?"

"No, you don't. This is the Normandy, but unfortunately, you're not able to speak with Shepard," Miranda began.

"Why not?" Parasini's tone changed to suspicion. However, as she looked around the room and saw Liara as well as Tali, she relaxed a little. Perhaps these aren't pirates. I recognize those two.

"He's been kidnapped, and it's a long story as to how that happened," Miranda shot a dirty glance at Liara. "But as far as we know, Cerberus has him."

"Mmhmm, very interesting. Isn't that a Cerberus uniform?" Parasini's eyebrows rose as she gazed upon Miranda's shoulder.

"That's another long story I don't have time to explain," Miranda replied. "Will you help us? Cerberus has made some kind of new weapon to use against biotics. We can't remove this one," she gestured to Liara, who held up her wrist once more. "And Noveria's got lots of companies that probably owe Shepard for eliminating Matriarch Benezia and the rachni problem."

"You're right, they do," Parasini agreed. "Shepard's certainly stuck his neck out for me a couple of times, too. I was actually going to ask him to do it again, but it looks like it's my turn to return the favor now. I'd be happy to assist in any way possible, now that I have some say with the companies. Bring your device on over to Noveria, Dr. T'Soni, wasn't it?"

"Yes, right away!" Liara exclaimed.

"Would prefer to accompany Dr. T'Soni, Miranda," Mordin butted in. "Perhaps I can also be of some assistance."

"Right, that's good. The Normandy can be there first thing in the morning," Miranda announced and Parasini's image disappeared as the call ended. "In the meantime, let's all try to get some sleep for the night. Since Samara's gone, Liara, you can stay in the starboard observation room on the crew deck."

"Thank you, Miranda," the asari responded quietly.

"Come on, Liara," Tali said and took her by the elbow. "I'll show you where it is."