En route to Palaven

"Excuse me, Ms. al-Jilani?" a voice from behind both of them said from nowhere. Both women turned to see a smiling Japanese woman in an Alliance uniform. However, what made her stand out was not her pale and immaculate skin, with a mop of immaculate black hair, but the unusual purple tattoo on her lip and chin.

"Yes? Can I help you?" Khalisah asked.

"I heard the scuttlebutt that you've been interviewing people that knew Shepard, that true?" she asked.

Khalisah nodded. "I am. Why do you ask?"

The woman smiled more broadly. "Well, just so happens that I was working with Shepard during her campaign during her hunt for the Collectors."

Both Khalisah and Varicia blinked. The former looked through her data pad but didn't find any notes of an alliance agent that fit the woman's description in front of her.

"You're not going to find any records of me. I'm off the books, however, I've been given clearance from the higher ups to answer any questions you may have," she said with a smile.

Khalisah, wanting more notes from her campaign aginast the Collectors figured it wouldn't hurt, despite the misgivings she had about this woman's mischievous smile.

"Could I have your name, please?"

The woman smiled brightly. "Youkaiko Ishikawa."

K: So, how exactly did you come into Shepard's squad?

Youkaiko Ishikawa, Professional Infiltrator: While I can't give away all the details, suffice it to say that I was able to obtain assistance from Shepard for a favor.

Kasumi, as their air car drew closer to Donovan Hock's residence, stole another look at her guest in the back seat. She could not help but appreciate all the hard work she did to have the perfect assistant/bait/partner.

Nora Shepard was in a dress. Not just any dress, but a dress that left her shoulders, back, and one of her legs bare, made of silk that was similar to the color of her hair. Her hair, usually braided and in a bun behind her head or cut short, draped over her shoulders and back like an obsidian waterfall that fell to her waist.

For one of the few times in her life, she also wore a white shawl that seemed to fit into the persona of 'Allison Gunn'. She was a master mercenary with a falsified record that showed her ruthless efficiency, high success rate, luxurious lifestyle, and unflappable professional attitude.

"Gotta say, Shep," Kasumi said with a small whistle, "you look great. Hock won't be able to keep his hands off of you."

Nora's already noticeable frown drooped deeper. "He touches me once, he's pulling back a bloody stump."

To Kasumi's dismay, the glowing scars and red eyes seemed to put off the idea that she was supposed to be an alluring distraction, however, the fact she had been able to get Shepard in a dress in the first place was a miracle in it of itself.

"Think that can wait until we find it and get it back?" she said with a sad smile.

Nora let out a long-suffering growl. "Fine. However, if he tries to get fresh, then all bets are off."

"There we go!" Kasumi chirped happily, "I'm sure you've got the smooth moves to keep his hands off until we can access his personal vaults."

"I can't believe you talked me into this. I'm as far from high society as you can get, Kasumi," she groaned, "it'll just be a matter of time before someone or something blows my cover. And I certainly hope my armor and weapons are there already, because when the shooting starts, I'm not going to be in a good mood."

"Don't worry, Shep. Like my mother once said, 'A moment of patience, gives ten years of peace'," the thief said unconcerned.

"I wonder if she's ever heard of diminishing returns," Nora grumbled dourly as she adjusted the shawl that was making her breasts itch.

"Well, she also poisoned my father from time to time to make sure he wouldn't philander. She promised him the cure upon his swift return home from work," she pointed out as a matter of fact.

Nora balked at the revelation. "Really?"

"Of course not, silly!" Kasumi tittered to Nora's relief, "it would just make him impotent."

"Didn't need to hear that," Shepard mumbled as she massaged her temples.

"Ok, we're here. It's show time!" Kasumi said as her cloak activated and the air limo slowly hovered to settle upon the ground in front of the entrance.

Nora took one last deep breath, then slowly, with practiced, and hopefully, convincing grace, stepped out of her limo and pretended to appraise the mansion in front of her as though it were merely her summer home or a condo she would use to throw parties if she had the kind of money Donovan Hock apparently had.

"Ah, Ms. Gunn. We've been expecting you," the well dressed and equally smug man said as he stepped out of the home.

Here goes nothing, Nora told herself as she walked forward and accepted his outstretched hand. "A pleasure to meet you at last, Mr. Hock."

K: So, what was it that Shepard needed to help you retrieve?

Y: That's a secret.

K: And what was the purpose for Shepard helping you?

Y: That's a secret too.

K: And how are you affiliated... let me guess, that's a secret too?

Y: You learn quickly, Ms. al-Jilani. As did Shepard.

Nora was suspicious of the fact that for most of the night, Kasumi was popping in and out everywhere, just at the right place and at the right time. Suspicious, she went back to her room and heard Kasumi's voice, but not talking to her.

"Oh! Why, hello there, panties!" she quickly dashed into her room to see the distorted outline of a cloaking field, hunched over the opened dresser drawer.

"Hey, Shep," Kasumi answered, unperturbed at the fact that she was found.

"You're going through my wardrobe?" Nora said incredulously. She had assumed that Kasumi had some sort of standards.

She reappeared and turned around with a hand on her hip and a smirk on her face. "Really, Shep, I go through everyone's clothes. It says quite a bit about them."

"And you can't just mingle like regular... what am I saying, you'd find that boring," Nora said with a weary sigh.

"Bingo!" Kasumi tittered excitedly, eager to find more treasures during the victory party. "Oh, by the way," she pulled out a particular article from behind her and held the latest treasure she had discovered in Nora's drawers with an ever growing smile, "you have excellent taste in lingerie, Shep. Bet Liara appreciates that. "

Nora's eye twitched, however, she kept her cool and folded her arms. "I like the texture of silk. Is there a problem?"

Kasumi's grin only grew more mischievous. "None whatsoever."

K: I... see...

Y: Shep's the kind of friend you can depend on, and even better, she's a great sense of humor!

"Ms. Ishikawa told us you wished to speak with us?" another voice asked from behind as Khalisah and Varicia turned to see another pair of individuals in Alliance uniforms.

The women with her hand on her hip, nodded her head. "Miranda Lawson," she inclined her head to her partner, "this is Jacob Taylor. We were informed that you were doing interviews on Shepard's squadmates, correct?"

"Yes," Khalisah answered, hoping that the woman did not seem as dangerous as she appeared to be. In fact, she could have sworn she saw this woman with Shepard while she was on the Citadel last.

"Well, here we are. Both of us, including Ms. Ishikawa, were with Shepard during her campaign against the Collectors and to a lesser extent, the Reaper Wars. If there's any questions you'd like to have answers to, we can answer them."

"That seems... surprisingly generous. We've normally had to go through a lot of hoops to get people to meet with us, let alone answer any questions," Khalisah responded, slightly cynical.

Jacob cracked a smile. "Not every day you get a chance to tell people what kind of person Shepard was as you worked with her."

"We would be happy to have you," Varicia said as she began to set up the drone she had requisitioned.

Miranda Lawson; Former Cerberus Head of Research and Development: Upon the news of Nora Shepard's death in 2183, I was tasked with the revival of the individual we saw more than a soldier. She was an icon. A symbol. A badly needed one.

K: Why is that?

M: While, at the time, Cerberus felt that while it and Shepard disagreed on a good many things, they did agree that they saw the Reapers as a threat when most people did not or were not aware.

K: I can only imagine what your introduction to each other must have been like, considering the first thing she learned about you were not flattering.

M: Believe me, it was unpleasant. In fact, calling it unpleasant was an understatement.

Miranda, with her hand on her hip, glowered back at Shepard, who towered over her, growling like a caged animal that had been poked one too many times. The glowing orange scars and the heated red eyes almost dared her to blink.

She had seen what had happened when Shepard had woken up.

She had seen it on the monitors from where she was and how she fought. On the side of those images, she saw the slack jawed and stunned looks of both Jacob and Wilson and she was in agreement with them, partially.

They had awakened a monster.

The augmentations and improvements to her body were working far too well. She had done more damage to the station than the haywire security mechs did. She had not only, with her biotics alone, had taken down most of the mechs, but she had utterly destroyed an Atlas Heavy Mech by herself, unarmored, and without conventional weapons.

At the moment, she seemed more angered over the fact that she wasn't the one that shot Wilson in the neck before she had a chance to murder the man himself.

"Are you done yet, Shepard?" she said, unafraid of the fact that the woman in front of her was ready to tear her apart.

"What was the point of shooting him if you couldn't find out how or why he did this?!"

"Lack of time," she stated as a matter of factly, "restraining him is impossible, given that the facility's on its last legs."

As if to prove her point, a heavy rumble shook the docking bay and tossed all of them off balance.

"Furthermore, Cerberus doesn't deal well with traitors," she ended curtly.

Nora held on to a door frame. "Fine. What about other survivors?"

"There aren't any. Wilson made sure that the security mechs took out everything with a pulse. Out of the fifty-four staff members on this station, there's only you, myself, and Jacob. And unless we want to be caught in the blast, we best get on the shuttle and be off! You're far too valuable to die here."

Shepard gave her another glare, but relented. She quickly walked up and shoved Miranda out of the way and into the shuttle. They exchanged another glare as Jacob took the far seat as the other two women sat across from each other.

"Just be grateful that Jacob here told me you were Cerberus. It would have ended a lot worse if he hadn't," she said evenly as the Kodiak was released from its restraints and then made a break for the atmosphere shield and into space.

Miranda then turned to Jacob and smiled, "oh, Jacob. So trusting. So naive."

"It's because of him you're still breathing, Lawson. So get off his back," she tossed him a look that said that she knew he was in trouble for telling the truth, however, she could respect that and the fact that he had all the marks of a marine like herself.

The smile vanished off of Miranda's face. "Are you certain of that?"

"Miranda, stop. Just let it go. It's not worth it," he said with his arms folded.

With the possibility of another fight gone, Nora slowly edged herself to the corner seat, curled up, and kept her eyes on Miranda as she turned on her omni-tool to fill in some report.

The tense silence continued well into the next hour as Miranda then finished her work on the omni-tool, then asked, "since we have the time, we could still do a few questions; Shepard, to make sure your memories are still intact."

Nora answered her nothing.

"First off, you remember the date in which you were date you were made a Spectre for the Council?"

Nora still said nothing.

"What about the names of your squadmates during the hunt for Saren?"

Silence.

Growing increasingly irritated, Miranda then pressed, "Shepard, are you listening to me?'

Only the smooth and almost inaudible sound of her breath going in and out answered her when both Miranda and Jacob had realized she had fallen asleep. The battle on the station had taken out more of her than she realized.

K: I can only imagine how well it must have gone the longer you worked together.

M: Actually, it did smooth out after a while. She still didn't trust me, though. However, we both came to an agreement that until the Collectors were taken care of, we would maintain our professionalism.

K: Was there a turning point? Or did nothing change during the time you two worked together?

M: There was. There was a personal problem I couldn't handle on my own. It was out of our way and frankly, it took us away from our mission. However, the time that Nora Shepard took out of that for me, and for the rest of us, had earned our loyalties.

Nora and Miranda looked at Orianna speaking with her adopted family from the other side of the crowd. The former looked over to see Miranda smiling for once at the sight of her sister, happy and completely unaware.

"Aren't you going to talk to her?" Nora offered solemnly.

Miranda shook her head. "No. She deserves to live better than I did. She deserves..."

"Miranda," Nora interrupted, "you actually have a sister. Some of us aren't so fortunate. Moreover, Orianna has a sister that cares for her enough that she did what she had to do in order to protect her. I think she deserves to know, at least, whom her sister is. If she wants to be your sister still, even after all that you've done, then be the sister she wants and deserves."

Miranda, for once her confidence shaken, turned to Nora, who was still tired and exhausted from fighting off Henry Lawson's men. Shepard inclined her head in Orianna's direction, silently prodding her to do something she had been scared to do for so long.

"The Normandy will be waiting for you when you're done. Take all the time you need," Nora said as she turned around and left Miranda, scared and excited as she took the first tentative steps forward towards her sister.

She then turned and saw Shepard vanish into the crowds. She then quickly turned to see Orianna and her family about to leave.

"Excuse me!" she called after them and hurried her pace to catch up.

K: That's surprising. I mean, considering your affiliation with Cerberus and all.

M: True, however, it was the fact that she assisted me with something outside of Cerberus was how we were able to eventually work together and possibly even be friends.

K: Good to hear.

M: The only thing I truly regret was discovering something I kept to myself and hid from everyone, even Cerberus, and not letting Shepard know about it until the Reaper War started.

"Shepard, I can't thank you enough for helping me find my sister," Miranda noted as they pulled themselves out of the flow of human traffic in the loading bay.

"But that's not what this is about, is it? Did you find her?" Nora asked as she looked around to make sure they were not being followed.

"No. In fact, it's something I've wanted to give you for a while. Consider it a repayment for the good you did for me," she said as she pulled out a data pad from her pack and handed it to Shepard.

"What's this?" she said as she started to read through the news articles that were dated from the mid-2150s.

"During our time in the Lazarus Project, I made a very, very meticulous search about you, where you came from, your genetic history, and so on. This is information I kept for myself. Just in case. The Illusive Man knew nothing about it, since it was not entirely relevant to the Project itself," she said with her arms folded.

"Yes, but what's the point? I'm a Sand Dropping. I don't see-" she then paused when she noticed a pair of names; Benjamin and Nara Kahue*. She then scrolled down a few more pages to see her genetic print, taken from the general world wide database, then the pictures matched to prove something Nora never knew for her whole life.

She looked up to Miranda and whispered, "I... I have a family?"

The former Cerberus operative nodded. "Deeper in the data pad, there'll be reports of you missing from the massive flood that hit San Diego in 2158. Somehow, you were separated from your family, relocated from there due to a logistical error, and wound up not too far north into the slums of Old Los Angeles. Despite the best efforts of your parents, you were never found and presumed dead."

Nora's breath began to accelerate. She found her birth certificate. She was named Kaiolohia Kahue. Her birth name meant 'the Calm Sea'. She had a family!

She then gasped, remembering the fact that the Reapers were scouring Earth. "Are they ok? Are they-"

Miranda smiled and held up her hand. "They're fine, Shepard. They relocated to one of the smaller colonies in the Traverse. The Reapers have been only hitting the heavily concentrated planets, and systems. Which means they still have time. We all still do. Thanks to you."

Miranda had a feeling that Nora Shepard would have happy with the news. However, she did not expect the larger woman to take her into her arms and swing her around happily, proclaiming, "I have a family!"

K: Was she ever able to find her family?

M: Yes. And frankly, I'm glad she did. Because she helped me find my sister, it seemed only right that I help her find hers. There are so many families that have been separated because of the war, I'm glad that I was able to help rebuild one.

(Author's Note: The names of Shepard's family, to protect them from hostile elements, were ultimately changed in the first published edition of the publication.)

Jacob Taylor; former Alliance Corsair, former Cerberus Head of Security on Project Lazarus: For almost two years, it was hard to see Shepard being reconstructed. I flew more than sixty missions with the Alliance Corsairs and I'd seen my fair share of unpleasant sights, but seeing a human being on a table, half dissected, half reconstructed with machines was an unsettling sight.

K: You were there when Shepard first awoke, were you not?

J: I was.

K: Was your first impression of her the same as Miranda Lawson's?

J: It was similar. Yes.

Nora's glowing red eyes narrowed at Wilson's protestations as she slowly edged towards the first aid pack, returned with the medi-gel.

After it was administered and Wilson up on his feet, Shepard turned again to the black and gold insignia on the wall. Jacob could tell she was trying her hardest to figure out where she had seen that before. Her long black hair, which spilled over her face and down her back, made the almost Amazonian woman look half-way feral. She hadn't found her armor yet, her skin was littered with glowing orange scars from the biogel meant to hold her together, and she was breathing steam, no doubt her metabolism was going overboard because of the L5 implant that raised her biotics to obscene levels of power.

"Come on, we got to get out of here," Wilson said.

"Wait," Jacob interrupted. He then turned to Nora, "Shepard, I know you got a lot of questions, however, there's something I think you need to know."

"Taylor!" Wilson shot back, "are you crazy?"

"We won't be able to make it out if she doesn't trust us!" Jacob shot back as he put his gun away and raised his hands as if to indicate himself unarmed, "Shepard, I know this probably won't sit well with you knowing this, but better to tell you now rather than later." He inclined his head towards the logo on the wall. "If you've seen that insignia before, it's because you have. We're part of Cerberus; the Project Lazarus Division."

"Cerberus..." Nora croaked, her voice somewhat dry from all the combat, "Cerber..." her eyes then went wide, her teeth bared, and before either man could react, she vanished in a flash of biotic light, charged Jacob, and pinned him to the wall.

"CERBERUS!" Nora snarled, her body exploding with immense dark energy in the room.

Aware that if he didn't try and calm her down, he was a dead man, Jacob yelled, "Shepard! Listen to me! I wouldn't have told you if I didn't think you'd trust me! Please!"

To his good fortune, his words did reach her. She let go and took several steps back from him, however, the almost uncaged animal still regarded both of them with suspicion as she started to look around as if expected another attack.

"Shepard. I know Cerberus has a bad reputation. However, right now, we need to get off this station before it blows up. Can you trust me at least until we're off?" he said with his hands still open.

There was a tense moment of silence as Nora looked to both him and Wilson. However, reason seemed to have won out, since Shepard had the moment to think before she nodded. "Fine. For now, I go with you. But know this; I don't work with terrorists."

He finally lowered his hands and let loose a breath of relief.

K: Wow. She sounded rather… belligerent.

J: For good reason. If you were dead for two years and suddenly found out that you were revived by an organization that you hated, you'd be in a bad mood too.

Nora roared as once again, she tore through the projectiles in a biotic charge that decimated the latest squad of Loki Mechs. With most of her momentum, she was able to grasp the last mech's head and drive it into the wall. However, not before she overloaded it with her biotics, grabbed it by its limp arm, and swung it around, violently, into yet another group of mechs.

Wilson and Jacob were doing their best to keep pace as Shepard charged once more ahead, seemingly overcome with an insatiable lust for destruction as she shattered her barriers in the middle of another squad. The resulting displacement of energy sent more mechs sprawling away and into the walls at breakneck speeds.

"Shepard!" Wilson yelled as he and Jacob panted as they finally caught up, "slow down! Your body's still not completely recovered! You're barely holding together-"

"No!" she bellowed back as she tore off the head of the last Loki mech in the squad. Then, the sounds of an Atlas Heavy Mech from the next room broke them from their argument. Wilson dove for a pile of crates as Jacob joined him. Nora sped the other way as he tried to overload it shields, but they were too powerful as it was.

Obtaining Shepard as a target, it raised one of its arms and the gatling gun began to spin.

Nora growled like a wild animal as she charged instead of taking cover. She could see the angle the gun was going to fire and all probable trajectories, and the instant the stream of munitions sped at her, she adjusted slightly to make every shot miss her.

When she had reached the mech, it stopped firing and attempted to swipe her down with the other arm. However, it missed and she leaped upwards, swung herself on its arm, and onto its shoulders. Being unable to aim upward, Nora raised her hands high, gathered a significant amount of dark energy, then pierced her reconstructed and reinforced hands through the outer enamel and protective casing of the mech's neck.

When she got a good hold on the base of the head, she snarled loudly and started to pull upwards. Feeling the already intense strain, more orange tears began to open up on her arms, almost threatening to explode as they reached up to her shoulders and the top of her back. Nora threw her head back and with a primal roar, summoned the strength to literally rip the head of the heavy mech off and throw it away. She leaped forward and rolled to a kneeling position as the headless body of the mech tumbled to the ground and lay still. All the while, noticeable clouds of steam expelled from her mouth with each deep breath as the dark energy field around her body slowly dissipated along with her fatigue.

Both Wilson and Jacob's faces were masks of shock and horror as they wondered which to be more scared of; the mechs or Nora.

K: My goodness. It sounds like Cerberus did more than revive her.

J: Yeah. They improved her body. From what I understood, more than half of it was artificial when she woke up. She was ready to tear herself apart in the fight because she wasn't all there and aware of the strain she was placing on it.

K: There had to be experiences that go against this particular grain, otherwise you wouldn't be talking to me.

J: Yeah, well, like with the rest of the crew, Shepard went out of her way to earn our trust, despite the fact that a few of us were Cerberus. She needed us. She wanted us on her side. And she got it. *He begins to smile and look to the side* In more ways than one. *At this point, Ms. Ishikawa smiles back and waves at him*

"Hey, Shep- I mean, Commander!" Jacob called after her when she was on her way to the elevator. He gave her a quick salute and she returned it immediately, as old habits died hard.

"What's on your mind, Taylor?" she asked as she slowly clasped her hands behind her back. There was also the slightest hints of a Cheshire smile on her face.

"I know what you saw and what Kasumi said, however, I just wanted to say that-" he attempted to apologize before Nora interrupted him.

"Don't worry about it," she said calmly.

"Commander?"

"Taylor, we're not Alliance now. We're more or less mercenaries. While I can understand, and appreciate, your adherence to protocol, I'm not going to bust your ass for fraternizing with Kasumi."

She let go of her hands as she continued, "In fact, I'm glad you did. When she and I went to retrieve the objective from Donovan Hock, it hurt her a lot, the memories, I mean. By all rights, she could have easily left the Normandy without any of us knowing why. I wouldn't have blamed her. She's got some heavy baggage in there, something I understand all too well, but the fact of the matter is, you have qualities that kept her here. She's gotten better because of it. I can tell. What has really helped is you becoming the stable element she needs and wants. I won't tell you what to do Jacob, but all I will say is that if she's willing to put her trust in you, then all I would ask is that you do the same for her."

"Uh, commander, we both decided to give it a chance after she read me her haiku about me. I just wanted to ask you if we could stop by Nos Astra when we go to Illium next for our next shoreleave."

Nora blinked, realized that she had been caught off guard. When she had walked in on them with Kasumi sitting on Jacob's lap, in a warm embrace, she had assumed that they were dancing around the idea of a relationship. However, it seemed that she was not that great a judge of character on things like this.

"Um, sure."

"I want to thank you, though, Commander. You kept putting Kasumi and I together in missions on purpose, didn't you?"

"Well, yes. You two worked well together. With both of us using our biotics to draw fire, it'd allow Kasumi to whittle them down from behind," Nora said slightly shocked, trying to make sense of the situation.

"Regardless, Commander, thank you. It wasn't easy as I thought to let the whole deal with my father go, but you helped more than you'll ever realize," he said amid another salute before he turned around and went his way, which left Nora Shepard slightly stunned and silenced, which hardly ever happened.

J: It seemed like a complete one-eighty, but when she was able to get help from the on-ship psychologist, Kelly Chambers, she seemed to change for the better. She changed back into the person that became Humanity's first Spectre. She also became a friend that I'll always be grateful to.

Youkaiko Ishikawa: And because of her, we're getting married!

K: I... wait, what?

J: *he smiles* Jumping the gun a bit, aren't we?

Y: The ring I saw in your locker says otherwise! *she then embraces and kisses him* I knew putting on the Marilyn Monroe dress would do the trick!

(Author's note: Mr. Jacob Taylor and Ms. Youkaiko Ishikawa are, at the time of this writing, on their honeymoon in parts they refused to disclose. )