"How come Haku gets her own room?" Michael whined.
"Because you have the television." Shepard said.
"Could I at least have a pillow or something?" Michael asked.
"You fall asleep before I can give you one!" Shepard said. "Shut up and pilot the ship. I need to find out more about this girl."
"How?"
"Extranet."
Shepard walked over to the terminal, and quickly searched for Isabella, finding a profile on her in C-Sec records.
"Isabella Auditore-Carmine." Shepard read. "Black hair and brown eyes. A very serious girl, eighteen years old, and accused of murder, stealing, and red sand dealing."
Shepard sat back, sighing and looking at the photo on the screen. "Auditore. Meaning a listener, referring to a judge. Italian last names are descriptive, meaning that her family had a judge in the past."
"You know that much about Italians?" Haku asked, reading over Shepard's shoulder. "Pretty girl, by the way."
"She's much like a foil to Michael. Same background, but where Michael is funny, Isabella's serious. Where Michael is a gunman, she turns others against others, then kills them both when they're weakened." Shepard said. "She was adopted by drug dealers. She fought her way up to the top, but used her daddy's name, making it seem like she was just the child of criminals. Surprisingly, her father adapted well to the role, and is a competent crime boss."
"How do you know that?" Haku asked.
"I learned it during less-than-legal information gathering. I would tell the law enforcement in Omega, but that wouldn't benefit me, not to mention the fact that there are no police or any other sort of establishment." Shepard said. "Isabella is an amazing criminal."
"You sound happier talking about her than talking to Mike." Haku noted.
"Hm." Shepard said, not knowing how to respond.
"Why does her name have a hyphen? Shouldn't she just go by her guardian's name?" Haku asked.
"Isabella recently requested her name be changed to Isabella Auditore instead of Isabella Carmine. It will be approved, of course. She's an adult now, and who would want a criminal's name? Of course, it had a deeper meaning. She's going to strike it out on her own, and, by my guess, she'll take over Omega before she's thirty. She won't go after Aria at first, though."
"At first?"
"You can't put two money-obsessed killers together." Shepard said.
"Who do you think will own Omega in the end?" Haku asked.
"My money," Shepard said, "is on Isabella."
"Can we really let Mike date a girl like that?" Haku asked.
"We'll see what will happen." Shepard said, taking a neutral stance.
Haku shrugged. The Commander would make the right choice in the end, she believed. "So, how are we going to get to her?"
"I researched her before making the decision to help Michael." Shepard said. "Her birthday is soon, and we'll meet her there."
"Crashing a party? How cliché." Haku smiled. "So, Commander, what's your plan?"
"It's exceedingly simple," Shepard admitted. "I talk to her while Michael waits in the wings."
"What do I do?"
"I would say provide cover, but this is a party. Enjoy yourself."
"Hm."
"What?"
"That isn't exactly what I expected my Commanding Officer to say."
"Neither of us are in the Alliance anymore," Shepard said. "There are no rules, no ranks, and, the best of all, no Udina."
Shepard chuckled at his joke, and Haku laughed. It was well-known among all species that Shepard hated Udina.
Haku patted Shepard on the back.
"I'm going to go take a nap." Haku said, smiling at the Commander. "I'm proud of you."
Shepard was surprised. Even Shepard's father had never said he was proud of him. "Why?"
"Because you're a good man, even if you're stuck on revenge. You've changed just a little."
"Shouldn't I be thanking you?"
"You're already taking me to dinner later."