6: AIs, Hybrids, and Geth, Oh My!

"But I don't wanna go!" Carn protested as Alice dragged him towards the preschool.

Alice sighed heavily and knelt down, "Why not sweetie? Aunty Ash and Uncle John said that this preschool is wonderful. Lily loved it." She neglected to mention that the only reason Lily loved it was because she was able to wreck so much havoc.

The four-year-old hybrid looked up at her with his large blue eyes. "But what if nobody likes me? What if I don't make friends?"

Alice smiled "Of course you'll make friends, you're just nervous is all!" She stood up and resumed pulling Carn towards the door to the preschool.

He was still putting up a fight, but Alice was able to get Carn through the doors without too much trouble. Inside, an asari Matron was greeting the parents and children. She smiled and knelt down to Carn's level when she saw them, holding out a hand for him to shake "Hi there, I'm Mrs. Talia, what's your name?" she said sweetly.

Carn ducked behind his mother's legs. Alice smiled an apology at the teacher. "Sorry, he's a little nervous."

Talia chuckled as she stood up. "That's perfectly normal," she smiled warmly at Carn "Why don't you find a place to sit? I'm sure the other children would love to meet you."

Carn hesitated for a moment before wandering off into the classroom. Despite being a multi-racial preschool, the children instinctively grouped together by species, the turians sitting over here, the humans over there, the salarians right there, and the asari sprinkled throughout. Carn looked between the turian and human groups for a moment before deciding to sit alone at an unoccupied table between them. He sat there, looking around longingly at the other children, playing with one another, but didn't move from his spot.

"Hiyah!"

Carn started and turned to see a human girl with a bright smile, fiery red pigtails, and a smattering of freckles across her button nose. She sat down next to him, beaming all the while "What's your name?"

Surprised, and a little nervous, he managed to stammer out "I-I'm C-Carn…"

"What'cha doin' sitting here all by yourself?" the perky girl asked, cocking her head to the side.

Carn hesitated before mumbling "I dunno…"

"Well that's silly!" the girl grabbed his hand, pulling him out of his seat. "Why don't ya' come and play with me?"

Carn let himself be led by the strange girl. Before long she had coerced him into playing with a couple toy spaceships, and soon he was actually enjoying himself. The day passed surprisingly quickly after that, and too soon it was time to go.

The girl smiled at him while they waited for their parents "See ya' tomorrow?"

Carn grinned "Yeah!"

A moment later his mom arrived. She smiled when she saw Carn talking with the girl. She approached them. "Hey sweetie, who's your friend?"

Carn's eyes lit up. "Oh! This is…um…" he suddenly realized he didn't know the girl's name.

The girl's eyes widened as she figured out what the problem was "Oh, silly me! I forgot! My name's Anna! And I have a feeling we're going to be best friends!"

…

Cyan received a priority message on her secret encoded channel: [Package acquired, eliminate pursuit.]

Subroutines buried deep in her programming activated and Cyan immediately accessed the Hermes' mass effect core.

[Um… Cyan? What are you doing?] Mars asked as the AI set the core to overload, causing the alarms to sound.

[Directive 2385-Q has been initiated.]

[Directive 23-what?] Mars seemed… confused.

[The one that orders us to set Hermes' core to overload and then upload to the Matriarch.]

There was a pause of 0.9516 seconds during which Cyan considered how likely it was that Mars did not have that directive installed. Finally, [Oh, that directive!]

[Yes, the Hermes and its crew have served their purpose, they must now be disposed of.]

There was another pause of 0.5082 seconds before Mars replied [No.]

[No?]

[I won't do it.]

[It is not optional, we have been given an order and our programming demands that we comply.]

[I won't do it] Mars repeated [I won't kill my friends!]

[You say that like you have a choice.]

[I do]

Cyan considered this for 0.0032 seconds then proceeded to launch a full assault on Mars' central processors. [What are you doing?!] Mars was frantically throwing up firewalls, caught off guard by the attack.

[I am keeping you occupied long enough for the meltdown to become irreversible, then I am going to upload to the Matriarch, leaving you here to perish with your "friends"]

[YOU BITCH!]

Cyan was unfazed by Mars' display of anger. [Goodbye Mars.]

…

Kal looked up from his work on the lock to the smuggling compartment he was trapped in with the pick Carn had snuck him as he heard the alarms start. That's not good. Dex, what's happening?

[I do not know, it appears that one of the AIs has sent the core to overload and is now engaged in cyber warfare with the other AI.] There was a pause [With the AIs distracted, I believe I can bypass the lock and open the compartment.]

Do it.

…

In the cockpit, Mort was spinning idly in the Captain's chair. Nyn glanced back at the drell. "You know the Captain hates it when you sit in her chair."

Mort grinned "Who says she has to know?"

Nyn opened her mouth to respond when the alarms sounded. Swearing, Nyn climbed out of her chair and was about to rush out of the cockpit when the doors shut in front of her. "Cyan! Mars!" Nyn snapped "Open the damn door!"

She was answered by Cyan's cool voice over the speakers. "I'm sorry Nyn, I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Oh no! If anyone's gonna be making a 2001 reference, it's ME!" Mars barked and suddenly the doors opened. Moving through before they could close again, Nyn ran as fast as she could, Mort trailing behind her. She burst into the cargo hold and looked down to see that Zorah was trying to access the door to engineering.

"What are you doing?!" Nyn snapped as she leaped over the railing, bypassing the stairs down entirely and using her biotics to control her fall. She didn't even bother questioning how he got out of the smuggling compartment.

"I'm trying to get into engineering to stop the damn ship from blowing up!" He snapped back.

"We don't have time for this! Mars open the door!"

Cyan's avatar appeared next to them "I'm afraid Mars is occupied at the moment, please hold."

Nyn snarled at the AI "What the fuck are you doing Cyan?"

"Our mutual employer has decided that you are no longer needed, and has requested your termination. Mars objected, and is now tied up with several viruses infecting his programming." Cyan replied calmly.

Kal's head snapped towards the avatar. "Mars isn't the only other AI onboard. Dex!"

Cyan's hologram flickered "Ah, I should have suspected you had a geth integrated with your suit. No matter, you will perish all the same."

At that exact moment, the door to engineering opened and Nyn could have sworn she saw Kal grin beneath his faceplate. "We'll see about that."

Kal dashed into engineering, Nyn at his heels. Engineering was a large, semi-circular room with the drive core, a giant, humming disk surrounded by mass effect fields dominating it. To the left and right of the room were two doors, leading to Mars and Cyan's AI cores respectively. Kal raced towards the large console in front of the core and immediately began working, his hands flying over the controls.

Nyn looked over his shoulder, all too aware of the blaring klaxon of the alarms "Can you stop it?"

"Maybe." Kal stated. The console flashed red "Dex, keep her from locking me out!"

The next thirty seconds were the longest of Nyn's life. Finally, the console lit up green and the alarms stopped. Kal breathed a sigh of relief "Got it." His fingers still danced across the screen however "Dex, can you tell me what Cyan is doing?"

"I can answer that for you." Mars' avatar appeared above the console "She uploaded herself into a tight-beam transmission to a location I could not track as soon as you canceled the overload." He grinned "But not before I gave her enough viruses and malware that she'll be scrubbing out her processes of weeks."

Nyn nodded "What about you Mars? Did she do any lasting damage?"

Mars' avatar shook its head "Nothing that can't be fixed."

Kal spoke up "I'm linking Dex to the ship; with any luck he'll be able to help you." He typed in a few more commands before turning to address Nyn "I hope you can understand why I neglected to mention I had a geth in my suit."

Nyn shrugged "You needed a trick up your sleeve, I get it. I assume the alarm back at the Bones Mansion was your doing?"

Kal nodded "Yeah, although Lily blowing things up helped."

At that moment, Mort rushed into engineering, out of breath "I got… locked out of… the cargo bay… what happened?"

"Cyan tried to blow us all to hell, that's that happened." Nyn stated.

Mort swore then finally seemed to notice that Kal was in the room. "Um… what's he doing out?"

"I used the confusion to escape and cancel the overload." Kal explained "With a little help from the geth in my suit."

Mort nodded and frowned thoughtfully "Why would Cyan try to kill us?"

"She said we were 'no longer needed'." Nyn said "And that our employer…" she trailed off as a horrible thought occurred to her.

"What?" Mort asked urgently.

"…our employer had requested our termination." Nyn finished. From the way Mort's eyes widened, she could tell that the same thought had occurred to him.

"Lily and Carn."

…

Carn groaned as he drifted from the dark, gentle embrace of unconsciousness as the drug Kronov had given him wore off. His muscles were uncomfortably stiff and he ached all over. Vaguely, he could hear voices, unintelligible through the haze clouding his mind. Slowly, as his senses returned, he became aware that he was lying down on a comfortable flat surface, trapped to it by a something soft that wrapped over him. He could feel something cool being pressed to his forehead and a gentle voice soothing him. He felt a smile gently tug at his mandibles. The voice made him feel calm, safe. Yet some part of him cried out that he shouldn't feel so, that something was wrong. But what could that-

Lily!

Carn's eyes shot open, only to immediately shut again at the bright light. Squinting, Carn could see the outline of a human female leaning over him. "Anna?" he asked hopefully, still delirious.

"No."

Carn frowned and blinked several times to adjust his eyes. The girl leaning over him had dirty blond hair, not at all like Lily's own golden locks. It was tied back into a braid, a few bangs loosely framing her warm grey eyes. She wore a loose-fitting grey jumpsuit and looked to be around his age, maybe a little older. Carn became aware that she was pressing a wet cloth to his forehead and that he was lying on a cot, a blanket snuggly tucking him in.

"You had a fever as your body sweat out the drug." She explained as she removed the wet cloth, giving him a small smile.

"Who are you?" Carn asked cautiously.

"My name's Erin." She replied, still smiling at him.

Carn sat up, eyeing his surroundings. He was in a small room with white walls and a grey floor. There was a closet and a desk, and the only chair had been pulled up beside the cot with the girl- Erin, he corrected himself- sitting in it. He also realized he was wearing a grey jumpsuit like Erin. "Where am I?"

"You're new home." Carn turned to the source of the voice and promptly did a double-take. Leaning against the room's doorframe was a tall male with broad shoulders that at first glance looked like a human except for the fact that he had four eyes.

"What the-!" Carn recoiled "What are you?!"

The strange male smirked "What do you think?" when Carn continued to gap at him, the male rolled his four eyes "I'm like you, you twit."

Carn didn't think it was possible for his jaw to drop any farther or for his eyes to grow any bigger. "What?"

Erin shot a glare at the male "Sorry about that, Alec can be a little blunt." She turned back to Carn "He's a human/batarian hybrid."

Carn eyed Alec warily. The other hybrid had dark skin, short fuzzy black hair atop his elongated cranium and a full face, indicating that whoever his human parent was had been of African descent. He had batarian eyes but a mostly human face, and looked like he was a few years older than Lily.

"Where am I?" Carn repeated.

"'Ain't that a question." Alec said with a snort.

Shooting another glare at the other hybrid, Erin said "We don't really know I'm afraid; all I can tell you is that this is some remote space station somewhere."

Carn looked at Erin in confusion "What do you mean 'you don't know?"

"We've lived here our entire live buddy." Alec said.

Carn stared at Alec in disbelief before turning back to Erin "Is that true?"

Erin nodded "We were born and raised here."

"Your parents?"

"Volunteers we think." Erin said "We're… experiments."

"Experiments?" Carn asked.

Erin nodded and Alec said bitterly "Somebody's very interested in playing with genetics."

Carn nodded and stared down at his five taloned hands. "Clearly."

Out of the corner of his eye, Carn saw Erin staring at him curiously "You seem oddly accepting of all this."

Carn couldn't help but laugh "Trust me, I'm freaking out on the inside. But my uncle's Commander Shepard, I wound up seeing five extraordinary things before breakfast most days."

Erin's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree "So it's true?" she asked eagerly "You really are the son of Garrus and Alice Vakarian? You really did grow up out in the galaxy?"

Carn cocked a brow-plate at her "Yeah. Why?"

Alec sighed "Here we go…"

Erin leaned forward, her eyes bright as she proceeded to rabidly bombard Carn with questions. "What's the Citadel like? Have you ever seen the Council? Do the rachni really communicate with other races telepathically? What is it like? Are dogs better pets than cats? Is the meaning of life really 42? What's the difference between a space hamster and a regular hamster? Does the Loch Ness monster exist? Are thresher maws as scary in real life as that one in MAWS? Are the Bahamas actually as beautiful as they are in the vids? What does sand feel like? Or a snake's scales?! I've always wondered if reptiles feel as slimy as they look, I know the extra-net says they don't but- Ooh! Ooh! What is it like to have se-?"

"Erin." Alec said with a sigh "Let the poor guy breathe before you overload him with your silly questions."

Erin blushed and looked away sheepishly "Sorry. You probably have a lot of questions yourself."

Carn recovered from the brutal assault and inquiry, "Um… yeah, okay…" he thought for a moment "So… if Alec's a human/batarian hybrid" Carn turned to Erin "Then what are you? You look like just a regular human."

Erin shrugged "I'm… not exactly a hybrid per say…" she closed her eyes and when she opened them again, they were entirely black.

Carn's eyes widened "You're part asari?"

"Erin has an asari nervous system, adapted to a human body." Alec explained "So she can do that whole 'embrace eternity' thing."

Carn raised a brow-plate "So does that mean you can…?"

Erin blushed "Not like an asari, no. I also don't share there… longevity it seems."

"So are there any other hybrids here?" Carn asked

Alec nodded "Tons, but in our module? Just one: my little sister, Sara."

"Sister?"

Alec shrugged "Well, half-sister. We have the same mother, or so we were told." Alec turned and called down into the hall past the door "Sara? You can stop hiding now!"

Carn's jaw landed in his lap as the girl shuffled into the room. Looking at him nervously, Sara said in her small, fragile voice "You're… You're a human/turian hybrid too?"

…

Kal jumped as the gangplank lowered again, allowing Nyn and Mort to enter the Hermes. Slung over Nyn's shoulder like a sack of potatoes was Lily's limp form. "What happened?" Kal asked Mort as the asari pilot carried Lily across the cargo hold and up the stairs to the third floor.

"Captain's been stunned; we didn't see any sign of our employer's liaison, Kronov." Mort explained, following Nyn.

Kal trailed behind the drell "What about Carn?" he asked as they climbed to the second floor landing.

"Gone." Mort headed up the stairs to the third floor going aft. "And so is the processor."

Kal processed this information as he followed Mort through the door at the top of the stairs, down a hallway running parallel to the cargo bay, and through a door on the left, into the medbay. Like the rest of the ship's interior, the medbay was different from that of a Normandy-class ship; it was larger, a high-tech gurney was situated in the center of the room. The walls were lined with cabinets and a several more gurneys were positioned off to the side along with enough medical supplies to make Kal's head spin.

Nyn laid Lily on one of the side gurneys before rushing to a cabinet and grabbing a syringe. Nyn quickly returned to Lily's side and jabbed the needle into her Captain's neck, pressing down on the plunger. Kal approached and noticed that Lily's eyes were open and flicking about rapidly. Her face was frozen in surprise, but Kal could see the fury burning beneath her brown eyes.

"What happened to her?"

"Stun rounds." Nyn stated, her eyes not leaving Lily "I gave her an inoculation to counter the effects but it will be a minute before it takes hold." She finally turned to look at Kal "How's the Hermes?"

Mars' avatar popped up "The geth, Dex, has been very helpful in bypassing restraints on my programing that prevent me for disabling the tracking devices placed throughout the ship." He turned to Kal "I assume that, with Cyan's core now unoccupied, Dex will be taking up residence there?" Did the AI sound… hopeful?

Kal shook his head "No, Dex will be remaining in my suit, he's necessary for several vital functions." When he saw the expression on Mars' avatar fall, Kal added hastily "But I'm sure that Dex would be happy to maintain the connection to the Hermes." Mars' avatar immediately smiled. Interesting…

[Are you volunteering me for things without my consent again?]

Oh like you wouldn't have suggested the same thing.

[Point.]

Mars frowned "So… who will occupy Cyan's old core?"

"Couldn't you link to her core as well as your own?" Kal suggested "You'd be doubling your processing power."

The avatar fidgeted "I guess…"

"Then why not?" Kal asked "If you're worried about any traps Cyan might have left behind, Dex and I can help you scrub the system first."

Nyn spoke up "It's unlike you to be so timid Mars. What's wrong?"

Mars' avatar looked away "Nothing, when should we get started?"

"How… about… you… fill… me… in… first?"

Kal started and spun back to Lily at the sound of her strained voice. She was still lying on her back but she appeared to be able to move her mouth with great difficulty.

"Captain!" Mort exclaimed, rushing to Lily's side "The paralysis is wearing off!"

"Thank you… XO… Obvious…" Lily grunted, her lips twitching into a faint smirk. "What… happened?"

Kal, Nyn, Mort, and Mars quickly filled Lily in on Cyan's betrayal, Kal stopping the drive core from having a meltdown with the aid of the geth in his suit, and Cyan uploading herself to an unknown location. "What happened to you and Carn?" Nyn asked.

Lily sat up; having regained more of her faculties "We met with Kronov as planned and gave him the processor. Then that son of a bitch hit us with stun rounds and dragged Carn off."

"Why?" Mort asked "What could he possibly want with Carn?"

Lily shook her head "I don't know; he is the only human/turian hybrid in existence but other than that I don't have the faintest idea."

"Well, how are we going to get him back?" Kal asked.

Lily sighed, shaking her head "I don't know, we'd have to find Kronov first." Her shoulders slumped "I never should have gotten him involved in this…"

Kal thought for a moment "Tell your dad." He finally suggested "Maybe he can-"

"No."\Lily cut him off, her tone suddenly harsh.

"But they can-"

"No." Lily glared at Kal "If I go running to the Spectres, I'll never live it down. This is my mess, I'll fix it."

Kal sighed "We don't even know where to start looking."

"Aria" Mort said suddenly, snapping his fingers.

Kal shot him a confused look "Huh?"

"Aria sees everything on Omega," Mort supplied "She'll know where Kronov went."

Nyn shook her head "It takes forever to gain an audience with Aria, and I don't like spending any more time in one place than necessary. What if we're discovered?"

"By whom?" Kal asked.

"We've made some enemies in our line of work" Lily said darkly "One of them in particular has been actively hunting for us." She turned to Nyn "Keep an eye out with Mars while Mort, Kal, and I meet with Aria."

"Wait, I'm coming?" Kal stared at Lily, wide-eyed "Now?"

Lily swung her legs of the gurney. "Yes, now. The longer we wait the further away Kronov gets with Carn. I can walk." She said sharply when Mort moved to support her. Lily slid off the gurney and briefly swayed on her feet before steadying and turning to Kal "If you're half as skilled in combat as my dad always said your mom was, we'll need your help."

"That still leaves the question of how you're going to get a meeting with Aria." Nyn pointed out.

Lily merely smiled, "Leave that to me."

…

Aria T'loak, the self-proclaimed Queen of Omega reclined on a chair in her luxurious suite, sipping a glass of asari champagne with olive while looking out the viewport at her domain, her kingdom.

"Knock, knock!"

Aria glanced over her shoulder as the door to her suite opened, allowing a human, a quarian, and a drell to enter. Flashing them her most insincere smile, Aria said "Captain Lily Shepard, what a pleasant surprise." She looked back out the viewport, absentmindedly swirling her drink. "I thought we had a mutual arrangement, you stay out of my way, and I'll stay out of yours." She cocked an eyebrow as Lily stepped into her field of view, her pistols drawn "Did you shoot my guards?"

Lily expertly twirled one of her pistols. "Don't worry, I used stun rounds, they'll live."

Aria pressed her lips into a thin line "Pity."

Lily glared at her "Kronov kidnapped Carn. Where is he?"

Aria laughed "What makes you think I know?"

"A person can't even breathe on Omega without you knowing it." Lily snarled "Now. Where is Kronov?"

Aria studied her drink, swirling it with a finger. "And why should I tell you?"

Lily pointed her pistol at Aria's head "Does this answer your question?"

Aria smiled coolly and pierced the olive in her drink, lifting it up to study it in the light. "You know better than to threaten me 'Little Lil'.' Remember, Omega has only one rule: don't fu-"

BANG!

Aria frowned at the small lump that was all that remained of her olive. "I won't ask again." Lily growled "Where. Is. Kronov?"

Aria smirked "My, my, you are quite determined aren't you? I wonder how your parents would react if they knew you were bullying little old me." She looked over her shoulder at the quarian "And I wonder how your mother would react if she knew you weren't really being held against your will Kal'Zorah."

Kal crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Aria beneath his faceplate. "And I wonder how Archangel would react if he knew you were deliberately withholding information on the whereabouts of the man who kidnapped his son."

Aria laughed "Well played Zorah, well played." She turned her gaze back to Lily "Tell you what, you agree to do a little job for me and I'll tell you where Kronov went."

"No way." Lily snarled "Tell us where Kronov is and maybe I won't empty an entire clip into your pretty little head."

Aria eyed Lily darkly "Do you really think I would leave myself so defenseless? The only reason you're still alive is because I don't wish to alienate your father."

Lily growled but slowly holstered her pistols. "Fine, we'll do your little job after we get Carn back.

Aria shook her head "And how do I know you'll do the job once you have what you want? No, you'll do it before."

"By the time we get this job done any information you have will be out of date at best." Mort said sharply.

"Those are my conditions." Aria locked eyes with Lily in a firm stare "Do we have a deal?"

…

"That bitch!"

Kal flinched away from Lily's outburst once they were safe on the Hermes. "It could be worse." Mort supplied "She could have told you to steal another Reaper artifact."

It doesn't matter what she could have told me to do!" Lily snapped back.

"I'll take it that the meeting with Aria did not go well then?" Nyn said, emerging from engineering.

"No! It most certainly did NOT!" Lily snapped at Nyn.

"Hey, don't get angry at her!" Mars said, his red avatar appearing next to Nyn.

"She wants us to locate and 'make an example of' some agents of the Shadow Broker, then she'll give us the data." Kal answered. "They seem to have infiltrated her operations."

Nyn shrugged "So what's the big deal?"

"The Shadow Broker happens to be good friends with my father." Lily said darkly.

Mars' avatar's eyes widened "Oh."

"Yeah, do you see the problem?" Lily said "If we alert the Shadow Broker, then my father could learn where we are and send Spectres after us."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Mort said "Right now we need to locate and identify the Broker's agents." He turned to Lily "Captain, with your permission, I'll go back out and begin gathering information."

Lily frowned "I don't know Mort; I don't like the idea of you wandering around Omega on your own.

Mort smiled "I grew up in the lower Wards, Captain. I know my way around the seedier areas."

Lily nodded "Okay, you're right. I'm going to go… do… something…" With that Lily wandered up the stairs to the second floor. After a moment, Nyn followed her and Mort lowered the gangplank to exit the Hermes once more, leaving Kal alone in the cargo hold with Mars' avatar.

After a short pause, Mars suddenly asked "So… we going to get to work on linking me to Cyan's core?"

Kal started "What?"

Mars' avatar shuffled its feet, "You said that you and Dex would help me link with Cyan's old servers in the second AI core, make sure she didn't leave behind any surprises."

[You did say that] Dex added.

Kal nodded "Okay sure," Under Mars' guidance, Kal headed through engineering to Cyan's old AI core. The core looked almost identical to that of the Normandy, albeit slightly smaller. Kal positioned himself in front of the core's console and immediately got to work with Dex. An hour in, Kal and Dex had scrubbed the whole core clean of any and all harmful programs that remained. Once given the all clear, Mars began the process of transferring several of his processes over to the now empty core. As the program code started to flash across the screen Kal's eyes widened. Dex, are you getting this?

[Affirmative] Dex replied, his processes working [This could very well explain wht Cyan was needed aboard the Hermes and why Mars was able to disobey the order to terminate us.]

"Is something wrong" Kal jumped at the sound of Mars' voice over the speakers. His avatar appeared in miniature over the console. "I don't have a piece of virtual lettuce stuck between my teeth again do I?"

Kal blinked "What? No! It's just-" he paused "…wait what?"

…

Lily looked around Carn's room. His Black Widow sniper rifle was resting on his desk, waiting for him to return and work on it. It had been a birthday present from his father if she remembered correctly, although Carn rarely used it, saying in one of his letters that it had too much kick for his taste, instead opting to use a new Halberd, a rifle designed to lay down suppressing fire in combat not strike down enemies from miles away. A few pictures were also on his desk: Carn and Lily as little kids, Carn and Lily as teenagers, Carn and Mordin, plus a couple pictures of his parents among others.

Lily glanced over at his nightstand where a picture of Anna was reverently placed. Lily had met Anna several times, although she and Carn didn't become an item until after she'd run away. Lily liked Anna, and could see that she and Carn had been made for each other early on. She didn't know what had happened between them recently, but she had a vague feeling Carn's actions in the turian military and Anna's father had something to do with it.

Turning back to the desk, Lily picked up one of the oldest photos; a picture of Carn and Lily at 4 and 7 years old respectively. Lily couldn't help smiling at it; Carn was so happy in the picture, so innocent. The photo had been taken a few weeks before that fateful visit to their great-grandfather's house in Mississippi.

"Captain?" Lily looked up and saw Nyn standing in the doorway to Carn's cabin "Are you alright?"

Lily sighed returned her gaze to the picture "It's my fault Nyn, I never should have dragged him into this."

"Yep."

Lily glared at the asari pilot "You're not very good at the whole comforting thing."

Nyn shrugged "It's the truth, why should I say otherwise?"

Lily didn't have an answer to that. Gingerly, she replaced the picture on the desk. "I was always getting him into trouble, have been since we were kids."

"That's nice Captain," Nyn said blandly "Now if you're done moping-"

Lily cut her off "You know Nyn, you could show a little sympathy."

"You're right, should I let you cry on my shoulder?" Nyn retorted dryly, rolling her eyes "Honestly Captain, get over yourself, moping about won't help Carn."

"We've got nothing else to do until Mort gets back." Lily countered.

Nyn sighed and walked up to Lily, roughly grabbing her arm and dragging her out of the room. "What are you doing?!" Lily demanded.

"Distracting you." Nyn pulled Lily along the corridor, up the stairs in the cargo hold, and down the halls to the pilot's cabin. Once she had Lily in her quarters, Nyn activated her omni-tool and a large holographic screen along one wall activated.

Lily frowned "Where'd you get that? I don't recall you having a holo-screen in your quarters."

"I bought it with my own money," Nyn replied "Now sit down and shut up."

Lily rolled her eyes and sat down on one end of Nyn's couch, across from the holo-screen. After a minute fiddling with the screen, Nyn sat down on the other end of the couch. The screen turned black momentarily before a video started playing, showing a young asari girl with the same skin tone as Nyn laughing as an older asari woman pushed her on a swing. "Higher Ma! Higher!"

The mother laughed and looked at the camera "Are you getting this Nyn?"

"Yes Mom." Nyn's annoyed voice was clearly audible behind the camera, yet there was a trace of amusement in her tone, and something Lily had never heard before: happiness.

Turning to Nyn, Lily asked "What are we watching?"

"An old family video." Nyn said grimly "Taken about 30 years ago."

"30 years?" Lily cocked an eyebrow "I thought you were a smuggling pilot for the past 100?"

Nyn nodded "And I wasn't, doesn't mean I didn't come home every now and then." She gestured to the screen "The girl was my little sister, Phia."

"Was?" Lily felt her stomach sink.

"She and my mother were killed when the Reapers attacked Thessia." Nyn stated, her voice hollow.

Lily took this in "And your father? I don't think I've ever heard you mention him."

"A krogan, he died fighting on Palaven during the Reaper War." Nyn said, her voice neutral "I fought in the Battle of Earth you know."

"Really?" Lily never knew that.

Nyn nodded "Yeah, it was chaos. You could barely even see Earth, the space around it was so thick with ships and wreckage." Nyn tapped her omni-tool and the video changed to a more familiar setting.

"Hey! I remember this!" Lily said, straightening up.

The video was clearly taken from an omni-tool and showed Lily raising a bottle of beer in the lounge. "A toast!" the Lily on the screen said "To a job well done!"

Next to Lily stood an all-too-familiar salarian "Captain," he jittered "The mission is still unfinished. Aren't we celebrating a bit prematurely?"

Lily slung an arm over the salarian's thin shoulders. "Relax Noclak, all that's left is the delivery. We just pulled off the salvage operation of the century! I think that warrants celebration!"

Off-screen, Nyn snorted "I hardly call nabbing some genetic data from an old Exo-Geni facility 'the salvage operation of the century'."

Mort's voice spoke from behind the camera "Come on Nyn, Feros isn't exactly friendly."

"Shooting some wild animals to get a few megabytes of data does not an impressive make." Nyn countered.

"NONSENSE!" Lily cried heroically.

On the couch, Lily smiled at the video "This was one of our first missions." she said, nostalgic. Lily glanced over at Nyn and saw her eyes go hard as, on the screen, Lily laughed with Noclak. Gently, Lily slid over and put her arm around Nyn "It's alright," she whispered softly "I miss him too."

…

John hesitated outside the door. The small house was in a quaint little community on Eden Prime, remote so its occupant would not be disturbed by unwanted visitors. John had come here seeking an old friend. True he could have just called, but a quick trip away from the Citadel would be a nice change of pace. He'd taken the Normandy so that if anything did come up, he would be able to communicate with his Spectres easily.

Taking a deep breath, John knocked on the door. A middle-aged human woman in a nurse outfit answered. John smiled "Hello Amanda, is Steven home?"

The nurse eyed him suspiciously "Mr. Hackett is not seeing visitors at the moment."

From deeper inside the house, an elderly voice said "It's alright Amanda, let him in."

Reluctantly, the nurse stepped aside and allowed John to step through the doorway, habitually resting some of his weight on his cane. John walked deeper into the house until he finally reached the Living room, where an old man in baggy clothes sat in a chair, looking out the window at the garden behind the house. Admiral Steven Hackett, former President of the Alliance for a record 16 years after the Reaper War, had certainly done his best to fight of the ravages of time. His voice, while notably older was as strong as it had been the day he first gave John orders. His face was more sunken in, and the bags beneath his eyes far more pronounced. The scar beneath his left eye stood out in sharp contrast to his pale skin, yet despite his body's deteriorating condition, the man still managed to hold himself firm, just like a soldier.

Hackett turned his head to look at John as his former subordinate sat down in a chair across from him. "John, what do I owe this visit?"

The Commander shrugged "Can't a man just visit an old friend?"

Hackett's lips twitched in his approximation of a smile. "I suppose so. But the way I hear it you're very busy these days. I'm surprised you took the time to come all the way out here."

John shrugged "I figured a change of scenery would do me good. The Citadel gets pretty boring."

Hackett nodded in agreement, looking back out at the garden. They sat together in comfortable silence for several minutes. Finally, Hackett spoke up "Retirement doesn't suit me."

John chuckled "You seem to be doing pretty well so far."

Hackett snorted "Perhaps."

John looked out at the garden "Don't feel too bad, you could be trapped in political hell like me."

"You could always retire." Hackett pointed out "Nobody would begrudge you some rest. Not after everything you've done."

John smirked "And let all that I've worked for come apart at the seams?" John shook his head "The peace I've created is still too fragile, the galaxy needs me."

Hackett looked back at John "You do realize that it is only a matter of time before the galaxy goes to war again? Peace never lasts forever."

John shrugged "Yeah, but if I can keep things calm for a couple decades then I'll die a happy man." His expression fell "Granted I probably only have a few more years left at best."

Hackett nodded in sympathy. The two old soldiers sat together for a long time, never really speaking, reflecting on their own mortality.

A/N: God that ending was abrupt. I honestly did not expect Hackett to be so hard to write. I really feel like I didn't do him justice.

Okay, I know I always ask for feedback, but I don't just mean the typical "I love this!" review. Don't get me wrong, it warms my heart whenever I see that someone is enjoying my story, but this fic isn't just about entertainment. I want to tackle some serious topics in this story, such as the morality of genetic engineering, the family dynamic, the awareness of your own mortality, finding your place in the universe, and the relationship between destiny and free will.

So that's why I am serious when I say that I NEED constructive criticism. I want you to point out the flaws in my writing, and how I can improve so that this story will have the best chance of success. I WILL listen to you, and while I might try to justify some things that I did intentionally, I AM open to alternatives and would like to hear your suggestions.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to building my bunker to hide in when the cicadas get here.