XxX-XxX-XxX

Official Supporters:

Compulsive Reader, The Impossible Muffin

Adeptus Militaris, Wilger

Commissioner, Gib, Death Daddy, Le Spork, Polemoduke

If you want to be on the Supporter list, PM me for details or join our private server for details. Hope you enjoy reading my stories, please leave me a comment to let me know if you did, or where I can improve. Link here, where able to be seen : /2UZncAm

Second link here, remove ( and ) and it SHOULD work : D(i) (slash)kfhkfUb

I have a kofi account now, too, under this name for those interested.

Beta(s) :

XxX-XxX-XxX

Requested By :

Espacole and Spork

XxX-XxX-XxX

The first of Anderson's target sites wasn't actually a planet. Instead, the coordinates lead to an asteroidal ring around a gas giant out in the Terminus Systems, secluded on the other end of the system from the Relay. Not quite hidden, but sequestered deeply enough into the rings for it to be obvious that the owners didn't necessarily want to be found, it was a dark mass of half a dozen small, black and grey asteroids linked by a web of support struts, walkways and open-space conveyor belts carrying huge crates and hunks of rock slowly along to whatever ends the pirates, or their slaves, inside were pursuing.

From here, it looked so small…

"Battlemaster." Pyrrha turned from her viewing window to look over her shoulder, leaning against the edge of the window bulkhead, as Grunt joined her. Quietly, he asked, "Is something… Wrong?"

"Just… Thinking." She sighed, turning back to the window and frowning. "Boarding a station like this… So much can go wrong. What if the station comes apart? What if we can't save the hostages? What if-"

"It will be dealt with when, if, it comes." Grunt cut her off with a huff, rolling his shoulders slowly and sighing. "Even if they end up dead, it's better than being enslaved."

"Is it?"

"Yes." Grunt nodded, voice flat and firm. She flicked him a look, one brow raised, and he said, "I would die a hundred times before I spent a single day as someone else's toy. And… I wouldn't leave anyone else to that, either."

"Death is no kind of salvation." Pyrrha murmured, turning away again as she thought - about his words and her own - before she finally nodded and said, "But… I suppose whatever comes for them after would be better."

"One day," Grunt rumbled, "you'll tell me what you're hiding."

"You already know about-"

"Not Penny." She turned and Grunt had turned as well, watching her closely with one of his large eyes and frowning deeply. "I can tell. I know what Aura is, and where it comes from. We all do. And I know what Polendina is. We all do. But… You're keeping something back, still. From all of us. Something bigger than either of those."

"Grunt, I…"

"I'm not forcing your hand, Battlemaster." Grunt went on, blinking slowly, "But carrying whatever you are, all alone? Not good. We are as kin and clan, now. You can trust me."

"Wouldn't that extend to your entire clan, too…?"

"If it was dangerous to them. Or helpful." He nodded, face completely open and honest. Or, well, as open as his ever was, at least. Quietly, he went on, "But Urdnot Wrex would back you, too, if only because of the power you've shown. And your alliance to him, through me."

"I already told him about-"

"The God you serve." Grunt rumbled, "Not how you met him. But, given what a god is…"

"You have a guess." She sighed and closed her eyes, aware of the recording devices that could very well have slipped by Mordin's search net. Quietly, she asked, "Why do you want to know about this?"

"It seems important." He rumbled, "To you. To get the weight off your shoulders."

"You know me so well…?"

"Not as well as I might prefer." He rumbled a laugh when she turned and gave him a look, both brows raised, and then he went on. "My role is to aid you. Battle, life, doesn't matter. You are as my blood. And I can tell there's a… Weight on you. It has to be some kind of secret."

"Why?"

"Because fighting doesn't weigh on you." He answered, pupil narrowed to an analytical slit. Like a cat appraising something, wary and curious, "And saving who you can is something you've learned to deal with. You and Shepard are better than before, and you've helped the Geth. Everything, coming up Nikos. But something else has to be pressing down on you. So, by process of elimination…"

"It has to be a secret." She sighed, smiling and saying, "You are very intelligent, Grunt. And very perceptive."

"Perceptiveness is survival." He rumbled, "I only want to help you, Battlemaster."

"I know, just…" She sighed, returning to the terror of being listened in on. Recorded. It wasn't likely, she knew, that listening devices had slipped Mordin's net. But it was always possible. And so the paranoia was still there, of course, in spite of the logic. But… She was a Huntress.

Should fear ever have motivated her actions? The answer was obvious…

She was about to responde, mind made up, before EDI cut in, breaking the silence in her usual cool, gentle way. "Urdnot Grunt, Ambassador Nikos, you are required in the shuttle-bay. Operations will begin shortly, and the Commander wishes all members of the assault present for seal checks ahead of time."

"Do you have to call me that…?"

"My Cerberus Protocols require that I respond to other organisations' high ranking personnel by their rank and title, as appropriate, Ambassador Nikos." EDI answered with, Pyrrha could swear, something like a smile in her voice. But, before Pyrrha could respond, she went on, "Launch time is ten minutes from now. Please, ensure you are ready for the operation."

"I will." She sighed and turned, smiling at her Krogan companion as he rumbled unhappily - for the first time going into a fight, too, to her mind. Chuckling, she laid a hand on his shoulder and reassured him, "I am alright, Grunt. You do not need to worry for me."

"It's literally my job." He huffed, rolling his eyes and adding, as he moved for the door. "We'll talk after the mission."

"Alright." She nodded, following after him.

XxX-XxX-XxX

Kasumi sat in her seat on the shuttle with her knees pressed together and her hands collapsed tightly into fists in her lap. Shepard was sitting across from her, right by Garrus, and both were watching her. Zaeed was sitting beside her, with Pyrrha on his other side, and after a few minutes of the Kodiak shuddering he sighed and turned to her.

"Kid, breathe."

"Oh, I'm definitely doing that-"

"No, you're hyperventilating." The old man sighed, wrapping an arm around her and growling as he squeezed his arm around her. "Feel that?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Focus on it." He grunted, squeezing her harder and going on, "Whenever you get scared, focus on something you can feel. Then think about every op you been on- Especially the last goddamn one. You survived that one, you'll survive this one, too. So, deep breathin', focus, and remember."

"Yeah…"

"And don't forget," he chuckled, "you got Commander goddamn Shepard here, too."

"Yeah… Yeah." She nodded, taking a few deep breaths and calming down. Zaeed withdrew slowly and she turned, smiling through the open-front glass mask she wore and said. "Thanks, old man. And, uh, sorry. I just…"

"You ain't a merc." He chuckled, "And after the last op, everyone's a bit anxious."

"At least there ought not be any giant fleshy monsters here…"

"Ideally not." Shepard chuckled, shaking her head at the whole matter and sighing tiredly. Moving on, she asked, "You are sure you can get us in. Right?"

"As long as you can find us an access panel, I can get us an entrance." Kasumi promised, chuckling a bit of her nervous energy out and sighing. Smirking, she added, "Hell, we get lucky, I might even be able to disable cameras around it. Let the Normandy come in on its own."

"That would solve some problems." Shepard nodded, "But we don't need to. Our intel says it should just be a skeleton crew here. Only a dozen guards. The site serves more as a fuel and loot depot. And since there aren't any ships in-system…"

"We'll be fine." Zaeed grunted, "Smash and bag op. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy."

"God, you're old…"

"Shut it, kleptobrat." He grunted, huffing a short little laugh when she and Pyrrha both laughed at him for it.

"Angling for the drop, no sensors lighting us up. Red light." Their pilot called across the internal comm-lines, the lights inside blinking from the pale bluish-white to a bright red as a visual cue. After a moment, the door slid open across from her and they all stood, Shepard and Vakarian stepping to the edge with the other three of them behind them. After a moment, the shuttle stopped and the lights flashed to green and the pilot grunted, "Green - go."

They didn't so much jump out as step, pushing off the edge of the platform for a bi of momentum to get them moving across the few yards between the Kodiak and the smooth, mismatched grey, white and black plated hull of the base. Shepard and Vakarian landed first, spreading out so the impact wouldn't make much noise inside, and then stood and turned to catch them as they came. Once they were on the hull, and ran a last, quick check on their mag-boots to make sure they were all safely affixed, Shepard waved the Kodiak off. And turned, leading them up along the hull towards a section of plating that had been pushed out a bit, with a mess of wires and cables protruding from it and running just about a yard or so to a little comm-assembly fixture, with a handful of dishes and cones set up on little stilts and protruding out into space.

Kasumi knelt at the open panels and brought out her Omni-Tool, scanning it and humming, "Delta security access… Upper right quadrant… Internal access… What the hell even is this mess?"

"Want a second set of eyes?" Shepard asked, kneeling beside her and bringing her own Omni-Tool up when Kasumi shrugged and waved for her to join in. Humming, she said, "Typical pirate crap. It's only really working because all the different systems jammed together make a mess that's hard to punch through…"

"Can we move this along?" Zaeed grunted, pacing around them and kneeling behind her, watching the asteroids around them warily. "Never know when some fuckin' snub or something will come drifting by. Waiting out in the rocks, power down, good trick…"

"Yeah, just…" Kasumi sighed, "Gimme a sec, chief."

The base's security was as much of a jumbled mess as she'd described. But, over it all, there was an Asari superstructure to the data - little more than information relay systems, fiber optic communication cables, and embedded command codes. She pulled one and it was dated nearly fifty years old, from an Asari 'reconnaissance craft' named the Fargo. On a hunch, she ran the code through the fiber optic layout and-

"Aha!" She chirped, smirking behind her mask and holding up her arm, "Full access to the base's systems, right here."

"Seriously?" Vakarian chuckled, "That's-"

"Good shit!"

"You have cameras?"

"They don't have a lot of them, but yeah." She nodded, flicking through the secure-net and skimming over what passed for their station security protocols. Humming, she explained, "Skeleton crew, like your said, Commander. Three in a small control bunker. The rest are in some quarters 'round the other side. Security is in the middle, and on this side is… Well, manufacturing."

"Manufacturing?" Nikos asked quietly, "What could they possibly be making?"

"Weapons an' armor." Zaeed filled in, humming thoughtfully, "Place like this? Perfect for bringin' stolen crap. Swap a few pieces out, sand down registry numbers where ya need, mod alien weapons so you can read it… Had a few similar back in the Suns."

"Only similar?" Shepard asked. When he nodded, she asked, "What was different about yours?"

"Paid my people." He grunted, "And didn't keep 'em in boxes out in space neither."

"Boxes out in…" Kasumi turned, following the man's sightline as he raised his rifle and pointed at the large crates suspended along the struts leading out to the other asteroids. Heart starting to speed up, she brought up her Omni-Tool and checked the internal net. Quietly, she said, "The outer asteroids are dorms, and anyone that misbehaves goes in the boxes… Neither are rad-shielded and…"

"Goto?"

"They don't have a med-bay for the slaves." She murmured, stomach churning painfully. She pushed it down, though, taking a deep breath to keep herself from getting nauseous, and forced herself to go on, "Anyone gets sick, they… Put them out an airlock."

For a long moment, they were all silent, just… Processing what Kasumi had said. Then Nikos stood, pacing over to look at the hanging crates and smaller, attached asteroids. Quietly, she asked, "How… How close were Penny and I to being right here? In a… Box, out in space?"

"You were on Omega." Shepard answered simply, "You were both a hell of a lot closer to something like this than a lot of people get."

"I see…"

Another moment passed and Shepard grunted shortly, "Goto, handshake control authority over to me."

"Alright…" She did as she was told, connecting into Shepard's Omni-Tool and copying over the network mapping and code links. It was a more complicated job than one might expect, since she had to copy over what was more or less a map of a pile of spaghetti. But, finally, she nodded and said, "Okay, you have it."

"Good." She input a simple command with a flick of her hand and, under her feet, Kasumi felt the entire station tremble. A dozen yards or so, just around the curve of the base, she watched debris fly away and stood, turning to the woman as she sighed. "I vented the station. Joker, send the Kodiak around for-"

"You vented it?!" Pyrrha suddenly cut her off, and Kasumi turned to watch the woman shake her head slowly. "Just like that?"

"For slavers? Yes." Shepard nodded, "Just like that."

"But…" She let her head dip, "You couldn't have offered them a chance to surrender?"

"If she'd given 'em the heads up, they'd have threatened to space the slaves. Or just run for their shuttles, if they have 'em, and spaced 'em on principle." Zaeed cut in quietly, shrugging when Pyrrha turned to him. "It's pirate shit. Pirates aren't the nicest. Commander did us a favor savin' us the shoot-out. Might not be honorable, or whatever, but…"

"I get the gist." Pyrrha sighed, turning as the Kodiak came back into view. More brightly, if only a bit, she said, "At least we can save the civilians. Right?"

"Atta girl." Massani grunted weakly, "Find that silver lining."

"I suppose…"

"Hey." Kasumi grunted, grabbing onto the suddenly forlorn looking woman's shoulder. She hesitated for a moment and turned to her, head cocked in question, and Kasumi smiled gently, as reassuringly as she could manage, "Let's… Grab a bite and a drink when we get back, yeah? Unwind a bit, celebrate an op that went well.."

"That…" She hesitated, then nodded, "That sounds lovely, Kasumi."

"Great." She smiled, "Hope you like rice, 'cus I'm gonna crack out the fryer."

"Joy." She chuckled, stepping on board with Kasumi in tow and asking, "Shall I invite Penny, too?"

"Well…" The thief shrugged, dropping onto her seat with a grunt. How was she so tired after something so short? Had to be the space walking - she hated that as much as the spaghetti code. "Actually, I'd prefer you didn't. Penny doesn't strike as the 'drinking' type."

"Fair enough, I suppose…" Pyrrha chuckled, "Though the image does make me laugh."

Kasumi snorted, imagining the little ginger slurring and flopping around on a couch, walking about something silly, and nodded, "Yeah, fair."

"Just mind your drinkin', Red." Massani grumbled, "Last thing you want's a hangover. Or does your magic BS help with that?"

"I have drunk before, Zaeed." Pyrrha chuckled, relaxing into her seat just a bit more. "And… Aura can help a bit, yes, if you know how to apply it."

"When the hell are you going to teach me that part?"

"When you can block more than a five hit series." Pyrrha chuckled, wagging a finger at the Turian, "You lack focus, and that leaves you open."

"I'm twice your age you know…."

"Age doesn't equal experience." Kasumi offered, smiling and holding up a hand.

"O-Oh!" The redhead gasped when she noticed it, realized what she wanted, and slapped her hand against Kasumi's. The wiry thief winced and shot her a look, cradling her hand and massaging the wrist the other woman had bruised, and the warrior chuckled awkwardly. "I-I'm sorry! I forgot you didn't have Aura, for a second there…"

"Why does that mean you turn a high five into a slugging match?"

"It's just my natural strength."

"Uh huh…" Kasumi rolled her eyes, "Well, you get to pay for drinks then."

"I thought you just… Had whatever you were wanting to share?"

"Well, yeah." Kasumi chuckled, "But I'll have to get more."

"Ah." Pyrrha nodded slowly, "I… See. That makes sense I suppose?"

"Well while you two do… Whatever this is." Shepard sighed, shaking her head and turning to speak to the other two while Kasumi held up a hand, gesturing in confusion, "Vakarian, Massani, I want you checking the floaters. EDI, you, Tali and Legion scrub their data stores for any of the connections the Councilor was hoping for. And once that's done, we're on our way to site two."

"Aye." They all chorused.

XxX-XxX-XxX

So, this begins the next proper arc. Might seem a meandering entry - and kinda is, I'm sick, lol - but mainly it's meant to establish two things. One, the character oriented - rather than conflict oriented, ala the Geth-Quarian war - plot moving forward. And two, the missions Anderson handed them passing by in the background. Most won't be so simple, but the first was, because… Not every ME2 mission was complicated lol.

Anyway, if you have tips or thoughts or opinions, I'm here.

XxX-XxX-XxX

FPSxDisaster :

Glad you like it!

Guest W :

The crew know. Mainly for security based 'might have to fight the robot' reasons lol.

Lea Roseunwulf :

You're reading too much in this instance - she was just happy to be back with her best friend after WEEKS.