"Hey, you look like you could use this."

Shepard was sitting on a hard plastic bench in some kind of waiting room at the top of the station. Stark, gray, the room had nothing to offer save a triptych of windows showing the black of space and the cool, blue and violet planet the platform orbited.

She was hardly admiring the view. One arm draped over her lap, the other one planted elbow-first on her knee, her fingers threaded through her still too-long hair. She'd tied it back again but as the length was uneven, several strands had slipped loose and hung over her cheeks.

Her thoughts a million miles away, when the voice came she only glanced up, blinking dumbly.

It was the Boy Scout, Taylor. In his hands he held two insulated mugs of coffee, one extended in her direction. Never one to turn down free brew, Shepard bobbed her head and accepted it.

"Thanks," she murmured.

"Hey, a person finds out they died and were nailed back together by a bunch of terrorists, the least they deserve is joe, don't you think?"

Her smirk was faint, distracted, and she sniffed at the mug as he sat down next to her. "Not Irish?" she lamented.

"No, sorry. You gotta work harder to earn an Irish," he joked lightly. He was grateful to see that smirk reappear, distracted and wane though it was. He'd take a smirk over a fist to the face any day.

As she sipped at the brew he jerked his chin toward a door on the far side of the room. "Miranda go inside?"

"Yeah, she's chatting with your boss," she snipped. "Guess he arrived just a few minutes ago. Sǐ pì yǎn."

"That's Chinese, wasn't it?"

She grunted an affirmative, taking another sip of her coffee.

"Huh. I didn't know you were Chinese."

"Not," she replied.

"Oh."

Before he could decide whether or not it would be wise to ask her how she had learned it, the far door opened and Miranda emerged.

"Shepard, he's ready for you."

"Oh, he is," she sniffed sarcastically, then passed Jacob her mug. "Sorry, Boy Scout. His Highness has summoned me, I must depart."

Taking the mug he rose as she did, an old habit his mother had made sure was deeply ingrained. Manners, always, especially around women. You took off your hat inside, you held out chairs, and if a lady rose from a chair you always rose right along with them…even if that lady was a trained N7 marine that technically outranked you.

As he watched Shepard head toward the far door he stepped up beside Miranda, shaking his head. "I got ten creds on Shepard breaking his nose."

"He's not actually here, Jacob," Miranda reminded him.

"Doesn't matter. I saw her in action, remember? She wants it bad enough, she'll figure out a way."

As the door slid shut silently behind her, Shepard moved down a short set of stairs and into a small room.

A small, notably empty room. Its only feature was a softly humming holograph pad.

"You have got to be kidding me," she growled, before striding forward onto the pad. Sensing her weight and her body heat, the grid activated and the room around her was replaced by a holographic projection of another room. A man sat in front of her, grandly posed in front of an enormous set of windows that displayed an almost dangerously close sun.

He wasn't a bad looking guy, she supposed. Sharp suit, middle-aged, and he wore both well. His fingers rested on the rim of a cup that held what looked like brandy, a smoke sending lazy curlicues up into the air.

"Shepard," he greeted. Immediately she looked around, as if expecting someone to be behind her.

After a moment, his brows knit. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for Dorothy and Toto," she replied dryly, looking back at him as she folded her arms. "Seriously…all you need are some fire-jets and dramatic music, Mr. Oz."

"Good to see you haven't lost any of your sarcasm."

"Good to know I wasn't even worth you showing up in person."

"Shepard, you are worth a great deal to me," he told her calmly. "But surely you, of all people, can understand the need for certain…security."

She grunted. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with, all right? Apparently you spent more money than most governments can even print just to bring me back. Tell me why so I can tell you to fuck off and go home."

"I know you don't care for Cerberus, Shepard. You've had some difficulties because of us in the past. But Cerberus is fighting for humanity. Its advancement, its security, and its evolution."

"Killing marines by planting a distress beacon in the middle of a thresher nest…how is that advancing the cause of humanity?" she demanded.

"Shepard, unfortunately I don't have the time to explain to you all of our successes…or our failures. I am the first to admit that mistakes have been made in our past…we learn from our failures, and we progress. It is how anything, individual or society, grows and flourishes. Right now, the biggest mistake we could make would be in not acting."

"Go on."

"Cerberus believes the Reaper threat is real," he stated. "The Alliance, the Council, the governments of the other worlds across the galaxy…they would all like to believe that they are safe, that the story was a myth or some wild tale, or that the danger has been thwarted…but we both know it's not. I have seen more than enough evidence to convince me of the Reapers' designs and the very real danger they pose to not only humanity, but every other sentient species in existence. For now, thanks to you, the Reapers are still trapped in dark space, but it seems they are using others to forward their own agenda."

"What others?"

"Over the last two years, while you have been sleeping, entire human colonies have gone missing. There are no signs, no traces of what happened to them and no bodies are left behind. No other races have suffered losses, just us. The Alliance would like to chalk them off to random slaver attacks or other such nonsense and refuse to investigate them further…I know better. Someone, somewhere…is kidnapping our border colonies, commander. Every man, woman and child. Thousands have already gone missing, and if we don't stop them, thousands more will follow."

He took a drink of his brandy and looked at her intently. "All I am asking of you is to go to the latest colony to have been abducted. See for yourself, with your own eyes, what is going on. Afterward you can make your own choice…return to the Alliance and face months of debriefings and interrogation, tied up in red tape as they try and figure out exactly where you've been the last two years, or…"

As he took a draw on his smoke, the cherry brightened, illuminating his eyes in a way that revealed they were cybernetic.

"…or you can take advantage of our enormous resources to go after the missing colonists and their abductors. Unlimited funds, a ship and crew, and free reign. No red tape. No hoops. It will be your decision."

Her brown eyes darkened even further as she brooded over what he'd said, the muscle in her jaw flexing slightly. She wasn't convinced. Even if what he said was true, then damn straight she would go back home. The Alliance might try and tie her up with red tape but she was still a Spectre. She'd bludgeon the fuckers into reinstating her and getting her after those abductors, and fuck Cerberus.

"Just head down to this last colony and have a look around, that's all?"

"That's all. If you do that, and still want to leave, I'll pay for your shuttle back to Alliance space myself. You'd be back on Earth in less than twenty-four hours, and you would never hear from us again."

She pursed her lips, then bobbed her head. "Fine. But first there's something I want to know."

"Of course."

"Where is Liara T'Soni?"

"Yes, Miranda told me you'd been asking. I'm not entirely sure," he told her. "After your death she fell off the grid for a while. Recent intel suggests she is working for the Shadow Broker, subversively. As such she is probably using a number of aliases and her exact whereabouts are well-hidden."

"Liara?" Shepard scoffed. "Liara hasn't been subversive a day in her life! What could she possibly be doing for the Broker?"

"People change, Shepard," he shrugged. "I am just repeating what intel I have been able to glean. If I hear anything more on where she might be or what she might be doing, I'll pass the information along to you. To show my good faith, I'll even do so if you decide to go back to the Alliance."

"Yeah, I'll believe that when I hear it," she grumped. "Fine. If I'm going to this colony I want to go as soon as possible."

"Miranda is preparing transportation to Freedom's Progress as we speak. You can be underway immediately."

It was said so idly, and yet his words had an immediate effect. Shepard abruptly straightened, eyes first narrowing and then widening as she dropped her folded arms. Her face, still pale from too much time under artificial light, grayed even further.

Not bothering to speak, Shepard turned and vanished as she strode out of the holographic grid's reach.

Reaching out to the console on his chair, the Illusive Man switched off the pad, then activated a file. A woman's face appeared as he took a slow draw on his cig, his cybernetic blue eyes implacable.

She was an older woman, stout, with short gray hair and a charming, grandmotherly grin. She beamed sightlessly up at him before he exhaled, the cloud of smoke washing the image away.

The cool night sky was brilliant, distant stars like chips of ice behind the sailing cliffs. Tall, graceful trees meticulously planted and trimmed, waved gently in a slight breeze scented with fruit. The small cluster of prefabs and squat, stick-built structures were lit warmly, a cheerfully inviting oasis in the otherwise dark landscape.

The wind picked up suddenly, whipping in strong eddies and down-blasts as the shuttle drifted in, lowering to the tiny concrete landing pad at the edge of the colony. Barely had it settled than its door was lifting open, disgorging a figure in a hard-suit.

Miranda hadn't yet had the chance to do anything about the rest of the clothing, but she had managed to make sure that Shepard's hard-suit had been cleared of any Cerberus insignia. Quickly painted, it bore a matte, dull appearance. Miranda and Jacob's suits, however, were still emblazoned over the chest and arm-guards with the yellow, white and black insignia.

As she emerged from the shuttle behind Shepard, Miranda dropped a HUD eyepiece down in front of her right eye. "Infrared isn't showing any heat signatures larger than rodent life in the immediate area," she reported, even as Shepard unshipped her rifle and moved off of the landing platform, heading to the small gate that led into the colony proper.

"Where's she going?" Jacob asked, looking at his companion. Miranda only shook her head grimly and followed, leaving Taylor to trail along behind, both pulling weapons as well.

Even hurried, Shepard moved like a seasoned marine, scanning every corner, constantly noting possible ambush points, shifting shadows, and areas of cover. As if she had been to the colony before she trotted down a set of stairs into a small plaza. Empty tables and benches dotted the plaza, lights strung festively overhead. Trays, plates, and cups littered the tables, some still half-filled with food or drink, giving the impression that the whole party had simply stepped away for a moment.

"Kind of creepy," Jacob murmured. "Looks like they just vanished in the middle of dinner-"

Miranda nudged him with an elbow, then indicated the commander. He looked over just as Shepard vanished into a doorway, and the pair followed after her.

The door was to a house, one of the few stick-built structures. A small cottage, plants and flowers draped from the rooftop, which had been covered with dirt and sod to double as a garden. As Miranda and Jacob stepped within, the man slowed and stared around him.

The place was decorated in warm, soft, and round. Overstuffed cushions topped cozy looking chairs perfect for old friends to visit. Several books, the really old-fashioned kind with actual paper and bindings, were neatly stacked along low shelves. A vid screen near one wall was on but dark.

At the top of the shelves were several electronic picture frames, silently displaying images for several seconds before shifting to new ones. A boy, beaming at a birthday party, his head shaved and the bright lines of surgical incisions still visible. The same boy, there on a beach, silhouetted against a setting sun the color of oranges as he threw a handful of crumbs up to hovering sea-gulls. Another of him, scooting toy trucks across the floor.

Then a girl, older…fifteen or sixteen, with brooding brown eyes half-seen under lengths of black hair. She was smiling at the boy as they both sat in sand, bathed in sunlight and pushing together the beginnings of a sandcastle. The smile threw him off but it was a second look at the eyes that brought realization.

"Shit…Miranda-"

"I know," she said softly, and gestured toward the back bedroom door.

Shepard was within, her helmet off and resting on the bed. She was staring up at a huge framed image that dominated one wall…herself, age eighteen, in her full dress uniform.

That was the day she had taken her oath, had been sworn into the Alliance marines. As she watched, the image slowly faded, replaced by another. She heard the other two enter but didn't look around as the next picture took shape…herself, Wrex, Tali, Garrus, Ash, Kaidan and Liara, all caught in the midst of a salute, faces solemn as they honored Matriarch Benezia.

Shepard's eyes fixed to the asari's sad face and her brown eyes seemed to grow slightly brighter, a touch more gloss.

The picture lingered only a few seconds, and then shifted again. This time it was of her and Paul, mugging for the camera with their arms around each other's necks. As it appeared, she heard Miranda softly clear her throat.

"Commander," she murmured.

"Did you know about this?" Shepard asked in a low, rough voice. Her eyes dropped from the picture frame to the shelf beneath it. Fresh flowers had been left there in a vase. To its left was a velvet stand holding a ribbon and a medal…a Mori Purple Heart, inscribed with her name. The award, created when the Alliance had been formed, was based on the old Purple Heart that used to be given for injury or death in combat. That Purple Heart was now only given for injury, a small oak leaf cluster added to the ribbon for each subsequent qualifying injury the soldier might endure during their career. Shepard had one such Purple Heart with several clusters. Or, she had. It was probably a chunk of melted metal somewhere among the wreckage of the Normandy.

The Purple Cross was now awarded to the families of soldiers killed in combat or during war time. The Mori Purple Heart was only given to the family of a soldier who had died in combat while preserving the lives of others.

To the right of the flowers was Shepard's commendation she'd earned on Torfan. She'd given it to Nan because she couldn't stand the sight of it herself. Propped against it was a small OSD.

"I found out just before you did," Miranda replied as Shepard picked up the OSD, regarding it. There was no label, nothing to indicate what it might hold or why Nan would have put it there. "She may still be alive, Shepard…that's why we're here. To find them and bring them home, and to stop this happening to anyone else."

Opening one of the small pouches on her hard-suit belt, Shepard slid the OSD into it and snapped it shut. Turning she went to the dresser, opening a tiny jewelry box there. Dipping in, her gloved fingers withdrew with a tiny gold cross on a chain. Winding the chain around her wrist so it couldn't be dropped, she pulled her helmet on again and locked it down.

"Let's go," she snapped, striding out and leaving the other two to follow.

The mech collapsed, shuddering with a low whine, half its chest gone. Gripping the front of its face plate, Shepard wrenched its head to the side, baring a roughly stenciled FP etched on the side of its neck.

They had only gotten a third of the way through the colony, finding only empty houses, abandoned activities. Tools lay where they were dropped. Meals sat half-prepared or half-eaten. Doors stood open but valuables remained untouched. There were no signs of struggle, no signs of combat damage. Until the mech appeared out of nowhere, they'd come across nothing moving but the wind and themselves.

"This mech belongs to the colony," Jacob said, noting the stencil. "What was it doing, shooting at us? It should recognize us as human."

"Someone had to have hacked it," Miranda commented as Shepard straightened. "That means there's someone still here, hiding. There have never been surv-…people left behind before."

She changed what she'd been about to say at Shepard's sharp glare. Using the word 'survivor' implied the missing were, in fact, dead.

"Then let's find them," the commander ordered. "Do we know how many mechs the colony had as security?"

"Not many," Miranda replied, checking her omni-tool. "The colony must have been doing really well to even afford mechs…ah, here we are. Colonial Affairs has the inventory list for Freedom's Progress. There's only four small mechs and a single heavy. Anything further they would have had to purchase on the black market, and likely for more creds than CA would have charged them. They're controlled by a small security prefab on the far end of the main square. We'll have to get there to shut them down."

"Bullets will shut them down," Shepard grumped, "but whoever hacked them is probably hiding in there. We need to get there."

"This way, it's the most direct route," Jacob nodded, pointing to the left. "We'll have to cut through the water filtration offices but I doubt it'll be locked down…nowhere else in this place has been."

They headed off, crossing a small storage yard before spotting the filtration offices. As they neared, a second mech appeared, lifting its weapon and then sailing up into the air as Jacob snagged it in a biotic bubble.

Like shooting goddamn balloons, Shepard thought as she aimed and fired, taking out both its power unit and its main processer in two quick shots. As Jacob let it drop, Miranda suddenly spoke up.

"Shepard, be careful," she warned, and gestured toward the offices. "The building is well insulated but my HUD picked up a slight temperature variance…there may be someone inside."

"Check. Lawson, go left. Taylor, right. Flank and I'll bring down the door."

They moved forward, nothing but ghosts for all the sound they made. As the two Cerberus agents readied themselves beside the door Shepard swept in, her aim instantly focusing on a face plate as the door slid aside.

Quarians? They were quarians, all straightening in surprise as the marine entered. She counted six of them as they started to reach for weapons.

"Don't do it," she warned sternly as Miranda and Jacob came up beside her. Almost at the same moment, a seventh quarian rushed in from some back room, immediately holding up her hands.

"No, stop! Everyone, hold your fire!"

It was hard to pick out an individual quarian from a group…not impossible, but hard. Gender was easy to determine but their environmental suits, unless extremely distinct, covered up most clues the other races used to recognize folk. If a quarian were a close friend, however, then subtle cues in stance and body language, habits of motion or idiosyncrasies could be a dead giveaway.

For Shepard, it was the voice that did it.

"Tali?"

The girl focused on her, head inclining slightly. She was clearly surprised, and confused. "I...yes, but…do I know you?"

Straightening a little, Shepard lowered her rifle slightly, holding her one hand out palm forward before lifting it and unlocking her helmet. She drew it off and as her face was bared, she could almost see the young quarian blanch.

"Keelah, it's not po…it can't be…Shepard?"

For Shepard, seeing Tali standing there was the first good thing that had happened since Joker's voice had suddenly shouted over the comm back on the Normandy. It was an anchor, a small bit of reality in this crazy fucked up bad dream. Finally, here was someone she knew and trusted, someone familiar.

Finally, here was a goddamn friend.

"Yeah, it's me," she said, then nodded toward the other quarians who were still holding their weapons to bear. "Mind asking your friends to lower their aim? I don't want to air them out but I will."

"Try it, Cerberus," the lead male hissed with surprising venom, prompting Tali to slap him lightly in the chest.

"Shut up, Prazza! I'm in charge here! Lower your weapons. Shepard isn't Cerberus."

Half the guns lowered but Prazza and a pair of the others didn't budge. "Then why do her two little lackeys have the Cerberus insignia painted all over their armor?"

"Lackeys?" Miranda blurted indignantly.

"I don't know, Prazza! Shepard wouldn't…I don't know! Just put your guns down!"

Slowly the remaining weapons lowered. Tali stepped between the two groups a bit more fully, just in case, and returned her attention to her old friend.

"Shepard, it…it really is you, isn't it? They told me that you had-…that you were dead."

"It's a very long story," Shepard replied. "But yeah, it's me. C'mon. I spent two weeks teaching you how to play poker so you could steal all of Joker's creds, remember?"

"Yeah," Tali's voice held both nostalgia and relief. Stepping forward she abruptly hugged the commander tightly. Shepard, keeping her rifle pointed at the ground nonetheless wound her other arm around the quarian and squeezed back.

"It's good to see you too," she said, understanding.

A moment later Tali released her, stepping back. "I'm sorry, that was…inappropriate of me," she said. "I just…when I heard you had died I…it felt like I'd lost a member of my family."

She shook her head, then her eyes widened noticeably, even behind her faceplate. "Does Liara know you're alive?"

"No, I don't think so. Do you know where she is?"

"I…no, no, I-I talked to her, briefly, just after I got the news. We fell out of contact. Keelah, Shepard, if she knew you were alive-!"

"This is all very fascinating but don't we have work to do?" Prazza snapped.

Shepard and Tali's combined glares must have had nuclear power, because when they snapped around and looked at them, he seemed to melt slightly, taking a step backward.

"Bosh'tet though he is, Prazza is right," Tali shook her head. "Why are you here, Shepard?"

"We're investigating the missing colonists. Have you seen any of them? Or anything that might indicate what happened to them?"

"No. We're here looking for a quarian, Veetor. He came to this colony on his Pilgrimage. He sent out some kind of…garbled distress message a few hours ago."

"He must have been taken with the rest of the colonists."

"He wasn't. We saw him briefly when we landed…he ran into the colony and hid. I think he's the one that's hacked the mechs. The colony's heavy is parked just outside the security office. We were just trying to come up with a plan to deactivate or circumvent it when you came in."

"He ran?" Jacob blinked. "Why would one of your own people run from you?"

"Veetor was…always a bit flighty. Nervous. He may also have been injured in the attack, or his suit compromised. If he's ill, has a fever, he could be delusional," Tali replied.

"He's also the only witness to what may have happened here," Miranda told Shepard.

"Sounds like we have the same goal then, Tali," Shepard nodded. "How many entrances does that courtyard have?"

"We are not working with Cerberus!" Prazza snapped.

"We are working with my friend," Tali shot back angrily. "If you don't like it you can go sit on the ship like a little baby fishat'ai! We can't get past that heavy alone."

"Give Shepard a fire extinguisher and she could do it all on her lonesome," Jacob joked. Tali blinked at him.

"A…fire extinguisher?"

"Another long story," Shepard snorted, then pointed at the map they had spread out. "So how do we do this?"

"W-well, the heavy is right here," Tali replied, moving over and pointing at the map. "There's two main access points to this square…here and here. I can take my team to the eastern side. If you come in from the west we can hit it from both directions. It should go down pretty quickly with that much fire on it."

Shepard glanced at the map and then nodded. The path around west was a bit of a longer route, but there were only three of them as opposed to the quarians' seven. They could move faster. Clapping Tali on the shoulder she turned back and picked up her helmet. "All right. Be careful, by our count there's still two smaller mechs roaming about."

"We already took them out," Tali promised. "It's just the heavy now."

"Cake," Shepard murmured, giving her friend a lopsided smile before she pulled on and locked down her helmet. "See you on the other side."

As they left the filtration offices and headed toward the other side of the colony, Miranda shook her head. "The quarians don't like us. This could be trouble."

"You mean the quarians don't like you, Cerberus," Shepard snorted. "And probably for a good fucking reason."

"I know Tali'zorah is your friend, but she's a quarian first," the woman continued, ignoring the insult. "Can we trust her?"

Shepard stopped and turned to the operative, glaring. "I trust her with my goddamn life," she retorted. "She's earned it. The jury is still out on you."

"I saved your life, Shepard, remember? Twice as I recall," Miranda returned hotly. "If I hadn't woken you early you would have died in that bio-bed-"

"You saved your investment," Shepard shot back. "Your pet project. And so long as you keep looking at me and seeing nothing but your 'work', then we have nothing to discuss. I give the respect I get, Lawson. If I'm a piece of meat to you, then you're a piece of meat to me, and you'd best think long and hard as to what that means when the shit hits the fan."

{Shepard!} Tali's frantic voice suddenly interrupted, breaking over their suit receivers. Immediately Shepard turned away, replying.

"Tali? What's wrong?"

{Prazza and the others ran on ahead! They think that you're going to take Veetor back to Cerberus. I told them you would never do something like that but they didn't listen. Oh, Keelah…they've reached the mech, and it's tearing them apart! You have to hurry!}

Shepard immediately broke into a run, charging along the path to the now distinct sounds of gunfire and screams of pain. She could hear Jacob and Miranda both running just on her heels as she rounded a corner…and came face to face with a blank wall.

"Fuck! Tali! There's a goddamn gate blocking the route! It wasn't on the map!"

{I got it, Shepard, one second…}

The wall suddenly moved outward an inch, and then rumbled aside. As soon as there was room Shepard ran into the courtyard.

Three quarians were down, scattered like broken dolls, and it was clear they weren't going to get up again. Even as Shepard caught sight of the mech and lifted her weapon, the heavy crushed a fourth beneath its foot, a ton of weight all but turning the poor woman into paste.

Wildly Shepard gestured to the right, shouting at Miranda and Jacob. "Take cover and hit it!"

A rocket bloomed with fire and in the glow Shepard saw Tali turn and duck into a doorway. A breath later the explosion took down half of the building in a rain of concrete, plastic, and dust.

"Tali!"

{I'm…I'm all right, Shepard, I'm not hurt,} came the relieving reply. {I can't get back into the courtyard, I'm going to have to work my way around.}

The last two quarians fell even as Jacob and Miranda opened fire. As the mech swiveled to focus on them Shepard unhooked a grenade from her belt, set the button, and then stepped into a crouch, swinging her arm as if bowling. The grenade skipped along the ground and rolled right beneath the looming mech.

The heavy barely had time to fire toward the two Cerberus agents before the grenade went with a cough. Not nearly enough to damage the heavy, the blast was just strong enough to shift its center of gravity. Unable to compensate fast enough, the heavy toppled to its side with a resounding boom.

Its arms came to bear as Shepard leapt out of the dark, a primeval cry escaping from between her grit teeth. The heavy fired into the air, each flash of flame playing over her helmet in a staccato. From the angle and the limitations of its own joints, the heavy was unable to actually hit her.

She landed on its chest, one foot planting on its neck to stop herself from sliding forward. In three seconds, she had unloaded enough ammo into its faceplate to overheat her thermal clip.

The heavy stopped firing, its guns whirring a moment before its arms collapsed to its sides, lifeless.

Climbing off the thing, she popped her thermal and then hit the radio.

"Tali, the heavy is down. I'm sorry but…it doesn't look like any of the other quarians made it. We're heading into the security office."

{I'll be there in two more minutes,} Tali panted. {Remember, Veetor isn't thinking clearly. I don't know what he'll do. He could be armed. Please, don't hurt him if you can help it.}

"I promise," she replied. Jacob had already moved ahead, working on getting the office door open. As Shepard strode after him, Miranda paused, regarding the dead heavy silently a moment before following her two companions.