"Do you find it wise to recruit a man named Jack, referred to as the world's most powerful human biotic convict on his dossier, who must have killed a great amount of people, to live on our ship?"

Garrus wanted to be sure he didn't sound crazy here. Mordin laughed a little, examining the ball-point pen Shepard had set on the table next to her. The warden had led them to this room to await Jack's arrival. Shepard hoped this would be an easy trade-off, but this was taking too long. The crackle of an intercom brought Shepard's attention upwards.

"Commander Shepard is in out-processing. Her crew is expendable. Take her alive!"

Garrus shook his head, loading his rifle.

"Why are we always expendable? I'm the Archangel, you know! I could be worth a few credits to the right people," he muttered, ducking down under cover. Shepard laughed a little and did the same.

"Adjacent hallway contains control room. Can access Jack's cell and release from there," Mordin pulled his pistol and shot the first person through the door with ease, surprising Shepard and Garrus.

"We may have to include him in our little game!" Garrus shouted between shots as they made their way from the room.

"No thanks, Vakarian," Shepard replied as she leapt up on a Blue Suns merc rushing her, cracking his helmet with the butt of her sniper rifle and throwing him back for a clean head shot.

"Mordin's STG, he'd sweep us if we let him. I prefer just knowing I'm better than you."

"Do not excel in long-range shooting. Always been-"

Mordin stopped long enough to sweep the leg of an incoming merc and blast him point-blank

"-the up-close and personal type."

"You scare me, Solus. You really do," Garrus said, stepping over Mordin's victim. Mordin just smiled, loading his pistol for another go.

They came to the control room quickly; between the three of them these men were like picking off varren in a barrel. Mordin stepped up to the console and pressed a few buttons, they could see from the window what his work was doing. A large cloud of cryogenic ice filled the room, tossing guards around the structure rising from the ground off their feet.

"That is… not a man…" Garrus said slowly, and he was right. Jack was not a man. She was a scantily clad overtly tattooed woman. And her biotics were blowing guards away by the dozens.

"Subject Zero is loose! Contain her! GET SHEP-"

Garrus shot the intercom speaker above them, silencing the Warden for now.

"Let's have some fun. You're keeping count, Shep," Garrus said, reloading. Shepard sighed.

"Why do I always have to keep count?"

"Welcome aboard the Normandy SR-2, Jack. My name is Miranda, I'm Shepard's second-in-command."

Jack scoffed at the woman before her.

"This cheerleader is your second? Where's the rest of the squad?" she said to Shepard, who couldn't help but smile at the comparison. Miranda was not as amused.

"Jack has been granted access to Cerberus' files," Shepard said, dropping her amusement.

"Excuse me? You do not have authorization to do that," Miranda was close to being on her last straw with Shepard.

"Hm." Shepard let the quiet simmer as she pretended to really think about Miranda's statement.

"Does that shoe… fit well on the other foot?"

With that, Shepard left the comm room, a laughing Jack behind her.

"You really shouldn't mock the woman, Shepard," Garrus said, leaning against the door in the hall outside "We need her just as much as anyone else."

"Listen, Shep; I think you're a completely sick and twisted person and all. That's why I respect you. I mean, the way you took out that Blue Suns merc with his own shotgun; just wow," Jack said, taking a moment to admire the memory "But I will never respect that Cerberus puppet, and I don't agree with you on needing her, scar-face."

Garrus shrugged. Miranda was here for a reason, he figured. And she was only trying to help. Upon further thought, he could understand why Miranda and Jacob had snuck off at night and tried to finish a dossier without her. Shepard had not been fit for action before, and there wasn't a lot of time to waste on trying to pull her out of herself.

"Mr. Vakarian, can I speak with you?"

Miranda was in the comm room doorway, looking at him. She wore a mask of expression, and he wondered what it was she wanted. Garrus nodded, following her inside.

"Call me Garrus, Miranda. Mr. Vakarian was my father, and even he didn't care much for being called that. What can I do for you?"

Miranda took a few steps forward and grabbed a chair.

"Take a seat, Garrus. There are some things we need to discuss."

Garrus took the seat across from her, and waited for her to speak.

"I'm going to be frank with you, I know about your rendezvous with Shepard last night. Jacob came to me after seeing you come down from the commander's cabin. We used her distraction with you to obtain the Krogan."

He wasn't sure how she wanted him to respond. Shepard had not regarded their hook-up the night before, and he was sure it was best if he didn't either.

"We stayed up talking, about what your people did to her. Jacob took a little too much out of context from our conversation," he replied brusquely.

"What my people did to her? We brought her back to life so she could save the universe as she had intended to. We would not stand a chance without her."

"But at what cost? You saw the woman you got from what you did."

Miranda stood suddenly, her face flushed full with anger.

"We were the ones who got her to this point! What did you two talk about all night last night? The good old times; the old crew; your memories of the journey you had together? Doubtful. She doesn't actually know who you are. She doesn't remember anything before now. Did she tell you that when you talked all night?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Garrus couldn't wrap his head around what was being said. That Shepard didn't know who he was? This could not be true. Not after what they'd shared the night before.

"She knew who I was when she saw me," Garrus replied, unable to hide his belief in her statements.

"Of course she did. She's been shown pictures of your face. She's been told how she met you, who you were before she met you; that you were a member of her crew and that you were a crewmember she lost her life for. Eventually, these basic facts jogged her thoughts on you a little. If I recall correctly, it was that you were a particularly up-tight and you always watched her as she walked away. But she doesn't remember anything you've ever said to her, or how she used to feel about you. We'd rounded through almost the entire crew when we put her into that psychosis. It was unintentional, we didn't know that-"

The door opened, and a grave-faced Shepard entered. Garrus sat up in his chair, not realizing how engrossed he'd been in Miranda's admission.

"We're on our way to a small human colony on the outskirts of council space called Horizon. The Illusive Man has just informed me that it will be the next colony to be targeted by the Collectors. Mordin is developing a counter-measure for those seekers we saw on Freedom's Progress, so we can stop them from harvesting the colony. We'll be there in a few hours. So suit up, both of you. You'll be my esteemed guests," she said, turning and leaving again. Garrus got up and followed her out.

"Shepard, I need to talk to you."

"I can't, Vakarian. I've got to help Mordin get his supplies together."

She was walking fast, passing through people to keep him back. But Garrus managed to grab her by the arm. She spun around.

"Shepard, I need some clarification."

"Now is not the time," she replied quietly, feeling the eyes of many people on their growing spectacle. She was not able to look at him.

"Why didn't I become a Spectre?"

The question was the first to come to his mind. He remembered that conversation well, because he'd never really discussed his father with anyone but her. The confusion that swept across her face only stayed there for a moment before it was masked again in frustration.

"Neither you nor I have time for twenty questions, Officer. Now please, let me get back to my work," she yanked herself from his grip and retreated into the med bay, leaving him standing in the dining hall.

Miranda was right. Shepard didn't remember him.