Crap. Nash hated this mission from the start. It stank worse than a walk of shame on Omega. Hell, it stank worse than a night of shame on Omega for that matter. But seeing Kaidan made her realize how fast time was passing.

Some men age and get beer bellies, or go bald on their heads and gain more hair everywhere else. And some men age like fine wine. Kaidan- Spectre Alenko- was most definitely the second case. His head was fully grey, but his hair had not thinned. The new lines on his face attested to his new experiences. And he sill looked good in combat armor.

Nash knew her hair was more grey than red anymore and her eyes had permanent bags beneath. And she was senile, getting distracted in a firefight. Her trigger finger was not distracted thankfully.

Though there was no cover in the alley, but with Kaidan and Tinea holding barriers, Nash and Sidonus made short work of the remaining gangsters. She used her repeater and he used his modified assault rifle.

"Grab the unconscious one who got the mouthful of glass and take him back to the ship. Scans say he's our man. I'll meet you there." Nash ordered.

Sidonus picked up the man, and but Tinea looked unsure. "Don't you need our support, Captain?"

"Double time it. The Illium legal system is impacted and the Union won't front the money for bail - or bribes." They left, and Nash finally faced Kaidan.

He spoke first. "Commander Shepard. Who brought you back this time? I don't think galactic affairs are so bad as to necessitate your resurrection…" He smiled. The two moved as if by accord away from the mess they had just created.

He was distinguished-looking. That was the word she had been reaching for earlier. "Spectre Alenko, I believe we are investigating the same case." She glanced around, keying something into her omni tool. They were back on the main walkway, far enough away from the crime scene. She released a neural shock.

Kaidan staggered, and then fell.

Nash bent down next to his ear. "I was never here. No one will believe you if you tell them. And you better not follow me."

Kaidan awoke. He wasn't behind bars, but the situation wasn't much better. He faced a brightly pigmented Asari in a police uniform.

"Spectre Alenko. It's odd for you to be on Illium, near an especially bloody crime scene, with no backup. Where is the Normandy? And your crew?"

"Uh. I'm sorry, I need a minute to place myself…" Where the hell was Shepard? Was that woman Shepard at all?

Kaidan kept a mental snapshot of Shepard. It was something he left forgotten only to call it up in the quiet moments before bullets started to fly. It was from a happy memory: she was laughing from something he just said, with her head thrown back. Her hair blew in a phantom breeze. Everything Shepard ever did was with all her effort - including her laughter. Even in that moment of levity she was ready for war in full battle armor and equipped with four guns.

In his memory, she was untouched by time.

"I'm Commissioner Anaya. You are on Illium, making a mess in my district. I hate messes. You better have a good reason for this…" She crossed her arms.

"Look, I'm here on top secret Spectre business. I came incognito, so the Normandy had to stay behind. And I need your help."

"Let me guess - the sooner I help you, the sooner you leave my district," said the Asari.

"Exactly." Kaidan thought for a moment. "I need to ground every ship in Nos Astra. I'm looking for a Union Ranger, but if she gets off planet the trail goes cold."

"I don't exactly have the authority to do that, Spectre."

"No, you have to be clever. Say that there are unsafe solar patterns occurring or something. It doesn't have to continue for very long. I need a few hours at most to collect some information. Can I use your QEC?"

"You're lucky we have one at all. One of my assistants will help you." The Asari frowned.

"Thank you, Commissioner."

"I'm not going to say 'you're welcome,' because I don't like Spectres in general. Things go to sideways to hell when you types show up. Don't take it personally, but if I see you around here again I'm booking you. But never mind that. I just had a thought."

"What is it?"

"It seems suspicious that a particularly famous Spectre such as yourself is sent on an undercover mission. Without support, on a non-council world. Don't you agree?"

Nash flew up the ladder from the cargo hold to the bridge. "Tiny, get us out of here. I've got some heat."

"Bit of a problem with that," said the pilot. He turned around. His obese form overflowed out of the chair. Tiny was a former Alliance pilot kicked out of the service for extreme, rapid weight gain. He blamed a bad metabolism, but Nash knew his discharge was timed almost perfectly with a new Alliance policy preventing pilots from having extranet access at the helm controls.

She saw him kick an extra large bag of cheese puffs under the helm console. Maybe it was just his metabolism. "Murphy is ashore. Actually Murphy sneaked ashore and I had the ship track her movements." He winced. The crew never liked giving bad news to Nash. She tended to break things.

Happy thoughts. Harbinger, on fire, falling into a black hole. "Shit." That was restrained enough. "I can't leave that naïve puppy here alone. Ready everything, we'll leave the second I toss her sorry ass into the cargo hold. Tell Tinea and Sidonus to keep our prisoner under lock."

"Aye."

"Ok Kaidan, I'm running a search algorithm on the training statistics of the Terminus Rangers. The records are surprisingly well encrypted… Can I ask why I'm doing this?" Out of all the old crew Liara had changed the least. She was always willing to toss some information to an old crewmate when he asked. Having a friend as the Shadow Broker had its benefits.

"Spectre business. Sorry Liara, you'll have to figure it out when you hack my mission reports."

"Kaidan. You seem troubled. Can I do anything? I haven't seen you in seven years now, since your divorce!"

He ran a hand over his face. "I just... get me that information. I'll come visit when this mission is up."

The Asari smiled. "Ok, judging by the data the best shot out of the Union Rangers is a Captain Rose Nash. Active duty since 2191…"

"Do you have anything else? Bioinformatics, or the name of her flagship?"

"Sorry Kaidan, I was distracted. These records are very impressive. It appears she operates out of a small freighter called the Safe Harbor. I'm uploading the relevant information to your omni tool... Oh."

"What is it?"

"I found a picture of her, Kaidan."

"Liara…"

"Look, if I find anything else useful I will send it to you. Go and catch her, ok?"