AN: Sorry for the long delay, atop of ME3 there was the fact I didn't much like the Noveria levels so writing these chapters came slow. Seriously, screw you, you cold, corporate chunk of rock. You'll notice I kinda went off the rails a little bit here *cough* mostly because it made it a bit more fun, at least for me...and also I think Tali and Wrex have been neglected.

It was a much more curious and less confrontational captain that greeted Liara and Tali when they walked out of the docks not long after, talking softly over what information they'd gathered. They stopped when Stirling came forward, looking them up and down disdainfully. Matsuo waved her back and gestured. "Your commander came through a while ago. You may follow."

Liara frowned. "Is there a problem?"

"No problem, miss, there was a bit of confusion when she first arrived. I've never met a human Spectre before."

Stirling muttered something under her breath.

"Oh, I see. Yes, of course," Liara said, nodding in understanding. "That's understandable, as she is the first."

"Yeah, right," Stirling muttered not so quietly this time. Matsuo shot her a warning look and moved to allow Liara and Tali to walk past. Stirling glared at them. "At least she hasn't killed anyone or blown anything up yet."

"Oh, that stuff doesn't usually happen on the way in," Tali said without thinking. Liara tugged on her arm to hurry her through the door when she saw both humans flinch a bit. The quarian glanced over her shoulder. "I...probably shouldn't have said that, should I?"

"Probably not...no matter how true it is."

They were led through another security checkpoint by a woman named Gianna Parasini, who told them Shepard had gone to visit the Administrator. She also confirmed Benezia was still there at some place called Peak 15. Liara felt a sick swoop of apprehension in the pit of her stomach. A part of her had actually been hoping her mother had already left.

They almost walked right into disaster. Liara's eyes widened as she saw an asari crossing a plaza on the way to the elevator. She grabbed Tali and dragged her behind a wall, ignoring the quarian's surprised yip.

"Shh..." Liara looked at her in warning, peering around a corner as the asari woman glided into one of the buildings, her arms folded behind her, glancing around with the unconscious arrogance some of her kind wore like a cloak. To Liara's relief, she had not noticed them. She let out a breath as the asari disappeared and hurried toward the elevator that would take them to the administrator's offices.

Tali peered around her. "Who is she?"

"She's been a follower of my mother's since before I was born," Liara murmured. "I grew up with her around constantly. She knows me. I can't risk her seeing me."

"And alerting your mother..." Tali said, nodding.

Liara had a sudden thought and cursed herself for not taking note. "Did you see what offices she went into?"

"They looked like they were connected to Binary Helix. They're on our list," Tali said, sounding excited.

"Their focus is genetics," Liara said, nodding. "Shepard definitely needs to know."

"We have to find her first." Tali said. Like all quarians, Tali had grown up in the patchwork of ships that made up the Migrant Fleet, so she had an uncanny sense of direction, easily finding her way though the offices and memorizing routes with a speed Liara found dizzying.

As it turned out, they didn't need to do much searching to find Shepard. As they came up to the offices, they heard a familiar voice. Not quite yelling or drawing attention but enough to let them pinpoint where it was coming from.

"Ashley," Tali said.

The human woman looked severely pissed. She was pacing in a waiting area overlooking another plaza on the lower deck. Kaidan was seated on a chair, making an effort to calm her down, and Garrus was standing at the railing, his arms crossed over his chest and his mandibles drawn tight against his mouth in annoyance. "The odds are people here are going to be nervous about having a Spectre around. He has to allow them in by the agreement, Williams, but he's not going to like having any Spectre around here," he was saying as Tali and Liara came up. Liara glanced around but didn't see Shepard or Wrex anywhere.

Ashley stopped pacing to spear the turian with a glare. "That's bullshit. If Shepard was a turian or an asari, he might not have liked it but he wouldn't have dared speak to her like that. The first words out of that frog eyed bastard's mouth was to call her a 'colony rube', you going to look me in the eye and say he would have had the balls to say that to any other Spectre?"

Garrus opened his mouth and then closed it, glancing away.

Kaidan looked up and shook his head at Liara's questioning glance. "The administrator was less than cooperative, to say the least."

"He all but spit in her face," Ashley said angrily. "If it had been me, I'd have shot him right there and then. Bastard."

"Which is why she's a Spectre and you're not," Garrus muttered.

Ashley turned her wrath back on him. "Listen, turian..."

"Ahem." They all turned as Shepard and Wrex came around the corner. The commander nodded to Tali and Liara and focused on Ash and Garrus. "You guys want to continue that fight, wait until we're back on the ship."

"Apologies, Commander." Garrus straightened up.

"Yes, ma'am," Ash said, making a visible effort to rein in her temper.

Shepard sighed. "He was trying to establish dominance and yes, he probably wouldn't have tried it so aggressively if I wasn't a human. The first human Spectre would have to deal with this kind of crap no matter who it was. It's not personal, it's just the way it goes. No use in getting upset over it."

Tali nodded. "That's one thing anyone on their Pilgrimage learns pretty quick outside the Flotilla. When you're faced with ignorance at every side, there's not much you can do but rise above it. I went to the Shadow Broker because no one else would listen to me." The quarian shrugged.

Ashley looked slightly chastened and nodded. Shepard laid a hand on Tali's shoulder and squeezed briefly, reminded that the kinds of prejudices she faced as a new species of Spectre was nothing compared to what Tali's race faced every day outside the Flotilla. "So, we all should keep in mind that the Spectre status probably isn't going to add much weight here. It's probably best that we try and cause as little trouble as possible." She moved forward. "Garrus, Kaidan, I want you two to look into getting us a garage pass. If he won't give us one officially, we'll just have to get it unofficially. Bad weather or not, we're heading to Peak 15." She gave an exaggerated sigh, trying to dispense the remains of the tension. "Even if my poor, frail little human body must freeze to do it."

"There's plenty of ways to keep you warm, commander," Garrus piped up, then made it worse by adding: "Believe me, I know plenty."

The turian blinked as they all stared at him for a moment. Ashley and Wrex both snickered at nearly the same time. Kaidan could actually see Garrus go over what he'd just said and realize the moment he figured it out. Shepard, trying not to embarrass him further, was clearly biting her tongue to keep some kind of comment back, her eyes sparkling with humor. Kaidan cleared his throat and moved forward. "We'll keep you informed, Commander. Think we'll follow up on that Parasini woman's suggestion."

"Good idea. We won't be far, we're going to check out a couple things with the corporations Saren has investments in," Shepard said.

Garrus waited until they were well out of earshot before running a hand over his fringe, muttering, "Shoot me. Just put a pistol to my head and fire."

Kaidan kept his expression neutral with some effort. "Let's have a word with this Qui'in guy."

Corporate espionage was not something Tali had ever thought she would add to her list of skills. In fact, it was a concept she had trouble wrapping her head around. In many ways, Noveria represented the antithesis of what her people believed. Instead of working together and sharing knowledge and resources, everyone seemed focused on sabotaging and gaining advantage over one another. Which made no sense to her; it seemed to work against all they wanted to accomplish.

Not that Shepard actually intended for them to play into Noveria's game. All they wanted was confirmation on who was working behind the scenes of Binary Helix. Normally, that probably would have taken a great deal of time. Luckily, they had one up on the corporations: most of them had no experience at all dealing with a quarian.

Liara had surprised them all by offering to go into the Binary Helix office once her mother's follower had left. She didn't expect to get any information out of the secretary guarding the front desk. That was Tali's job. Or rather, to get information out of the console on the secretary's desk.

She was nervous as she followed Liara into the office. She'd reminded Shepard about the kind of contempt people generally had for quarians, especially in places like this.

"Use it," the commander had replied simply.

The woman behind the desk was an asari. Her eyes flicked over them as they entered, assessing. When they settled on Tali, she saw a flash of surprise cross her features before her face settled into a mask of icy disdain. Liara, to Tali's surprise, planted her feet and gave it right back, adopting a demeanor of cold command so at odds with the woman Tali knew it was rather shocking. Well, if Liara could play a part, Tali thought she could too.

Use it... Tali let her posture slouch, hoping she looked properly submissive and anxious. Liara kept snapping orders to her over her shoulder, which gave her the excuse to fiddle with her omni-tool, flinching a bit with every harsh word as she fell into the part.

This was actually kind of fun...especially when it became apparent the secretary was falling for it.

Liara wrangled with the secretary over information...Tali lost track of the argument, focusing on angling her omni-tool just so and keeping behind Liara so the secretary wouldn't notice her. She glanced at the woman to make sure she wasn't alerted. One nice thing about her helmet was people had no idea when she was watching them or not. As long as she didn't turn her head, the asari had no way to pinpoint where she was looking without looking close into her faceplate, which few people ever did.

She ignored the main files, focusing on getting past the defenses for the ones deeper in, carefully using a program she'd designed herself to slip past their defenses and copy them to a datapad in Shepard's hands they had synched to her omni-tool earlier. It wasn't as hard as she had expected it to be; their defenses were fairly rudimentary, at least to her. They were human designed and while there might be a couple of races in the galaxy that could create something she couldn't hack, humans weren't one of them.

She thought she had a bit of a right to be smug, frankly.

Tali straightened up a bit as Liara turned and pulled her out of the office, huffing. They crossed the plaza to where Ashley and Shepard were waiting for them, sitting across from each other in chairs set in a comfortable seating area. Shepard was busy with the datapad and Ash was polishing her gun, possibly to taunt the security personnel that passed them by.

"Did you get anything?" Liara murmured, looking over at her.

"I think so. That was impressive, by the way. I was almost fooled."

Liara looked slightly embarrassed. "I copied my mother," she admitted sheepishly.

"She must be a scary woman." Tali regretted the words immediately as Liara looked away.

The asari was silent for a few moments, finally speaking so quietly it was almost a whisper, "Not all the time..."

Shepard looked up as they sat down. "Ladies, that was beautiful. I feel privileged to have witnessed it."

"Did we get anything useful?" Tali leaned forward eagerly.

Shepard smiled slowly. "Check it out..." She sent the files back to Tali's omni-tool.

Ashley had paused, gun still out, and was looking around, her expression troubled. "Commander?"

"Mm?" Shepard kept her eyes on the datapad.

"...Where is Wrex?"

Shepard's fingers stilled against the datapad for a moment. When she lifted her head, she was attempting to look innocent...which was scary enough all three of them started staring at her. "He's taking care of a hunch I had is all. I really don't think Saren would have sent the Matriarch here without backup..."

Urdnot Wrex moved silently through the warehouse where Liara's mother had stored the crates she hadn't taken with her to Peak 15. Personally, he thought Shepard was wasting his time and her own, but he was tired of scaring all the little corporate pyjaks scurrying around. Although there was a certain satisfaction in hearing them stop mid-chatter as he passed.

He was amused to hear a few people even in this bastion of industry whispering about 'space magic' and how the new human Spectre might use it to figure out their dirty little secrets. Biotics notwithstanding, Shepard's 'magic', in Wrex's opinion, was a mix of simple observation and refined intuition. He recognized it easy because he used it himself.

Who would have thought he'd have anything in common to someone related to Benjamin Creed?

Since Shepard's intuition had served them well, he had indulged her when she asked him to check out Benezia's supplies. Though he thought he might be better suited making sure Alenko and the turian didn't screw things up.

The krogan paused as he came across crates marked with Benezia's number. There were only a couple of them. The Matriarch must have taken the rest of them with her to Peak 15. He shot a casual look around to make sure there was no one in the immediate vicinity, then calmly smashed one of them open with a few biotically charged punches. The contents fell half out and got caught in the hole. Wrex stared at it for a long moment. He closed his eyes and shook his head, sighing. "And now she'll gloat for days." He reached out and dragged it out, letting it clatter to the floor.

"Hey!"

Wrex spared the voice a glance. Two dockworkers were moving toward him. The first one hesitated when he looked at him, pasting bravado over his nervousness.

"Damaging property is punishable by...holy shit..." The dockworker trailed off as he got a good look at the thing Wrex was looking over. "Is that a...?"

"Geth? I'd say so, unless it's a fancy coat stand with a flashlight on top of it." Wrex felt a faint vibration go through the thing and brought a fist up automatically as the light of the geth's eye suddenly flared. Before it could move, the krogan smashed in its head, putting a bit of biotic power behind it. The geth's limbs flexed spasmodically and Wrex hit it again, the crunch of metal echoing through the warehouse. He dropped it, shaking his aching hand as it went still, the sudden silence alerting him to the fact the other crate was shaking and something was knocking against it from the inside. He cursed. When you activated one, you activated them all apparently. He heard the dockworkers cry out in shock and their footsteps running away as a second geth smashed out of the crate. Wrex brought his gun around as it turned. It didn't have a weapon, but he knew all too well by now how dangerous they could be even without them. Hell, if there had been twenty or so more, he might even have been worried!

The geth twisted its limbs and Wrex realized it was one of those damned hopping ones that Shepard hated so much. Oh, she was going to love this. He lowered his gun in favor of biotics as the thing launched itself into the air, catching it in mid air and sending it spinning as he lifted his gun up once again and blew it out of the air. Two blasts almost tore it apart. Flexible but fragile little thing.

He released the geth and watched it clatter to the floor in several parts, turning his head to regard the stack of crates. There was no more movement, so the rest of them must not be Benezia's or they were filled with actual supplies.

He did some quick calculations based on the number of crates Benezia's manifest had listed. If she had a geth in each one of them...

The krogan tapped Shepard on his comm. "You were right, Shepard, looks like we've got an interesting time waiting for us at Peak 15."

"Oh, yay. You all right?"

Now that was just insulting. "You think a couple of geth could bring me down?"

"Ah, right, silly me. Meet us at Synthetic Insights, looks like Garrus and Kaidan have some trouble there. Oh, and bring one of your new friends there if you left one of them intact enough. We'll make it a party."

That finally got a chuckle out of him. He hefted the most intact geth over his shoulder. "My kind of party."

Evidence- already compiled and simply needing to be downloaded and brought out of the office -in exchange for a garage pass. It had seemed so simple.

It was Garrus's considered opinion that if Lorik Qui'in was going to throw a fit about the bloodstains on the carpet, they would simply point out it was his own fault for not realizing Anoleis was onto him. He'd known Anoleis suspected someone had the dirt on him...enough he'd shut down the entire office and put it under guard...but obviously hadn't realized they knew more than that.

Nor did he mention that half the guards seemed to be in Anoleis's pocket. Which, admittedly, was not Qui'in's fault; they should have expected it in a place like this... He peered around a potted plant as Kaidan dove behind the one across from him. A bench smashed into the floor where he'd been a second later. The biotic eyed it coolly then glanced around the plant to where Sargent Stirling was winding up with another round of biotics and yells. "Taking bribes and wearing herself out with fancy tricks. She's a failure as an officer and a biotic."

That didn't change the fact that she, along with another biotic and several other guards, was in between them and the door and every one of them had a problem with them getting out Synthetic Insights with the evidence they'd gotten from Lorik Qui'in's computer. Understandable, since it would probably implicate most, if not all of them, along with Administrator Anoleis.

Stirling yelled something again and footsteps warned Garrus a couple of the guards were rushing them. He judged his shields had recharged enough and spun out from behind the plant, sending out a pulse from his omni tool to overwhelm their shields. Kaidan lashed out with one hand and sent one of them flying backward with a biotic throw and Garrus focused on taking the second one down.

The turian shifted his focus beyond the guard's falling body, hoping to get a few shots in at Stirling before going for cover again...and stopped, staring.

Liara was standing at the entrance, one slender arm extended. Several feet in front of her was a swirling mass of dark energy that made the air throughout the whole area shiver. Stirling and the remaining guards were struggling as they were drawn toward it slowly. Stirling was lifted clear off her feet with a shriek, floating through the air.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Garrus glanced over, startled, to find Shepard had circled around the room to stand a few feet away, one pistol drawn as she watched. "Singularity. I'll never be able to pull that one off. And she makes it look so easy."

At Shepard's nod, Liara let the singularity go with a rush of air and the three guards collapsed to the ground, shields gone. The commander and Tali both moved at the same time, omni tools flaring with some kind of pulse that made the dazed guards jerk, then go still. Shepard moved forward cautiously and knelt to check Stirling's pulse.

Which, naturally, was when the administrator arrived.

Garrus cleared his throat to get her attention and Shepard looked up as Anoleis stalked up, backed by Parasini and a couple more guards. Their commander pulled her hand back and rose to her feet, all in one smooth movement that reminded Garrus of a predator about to strike. She glanced over her shoulder at him, murmuring, "Did you two get what you came here for?" At Garrus's nod, she turned her gaze back to the approaching salarian, starting to move forward to meet him. "Get it done."

Garrus didn't like leaving her, but Williams had already moved around so she was right behind Shepard and Liara and Tali had moved so they were flanking the group- something that was obviously not lost on Parasini or the decidedly nervous looking guards. Parasini sent him some kind of warning look but he ignored it, moving away from Shepard and following Kaidan's subtle move toward the door.

"I knew you were trouble, Shepard!" Anoleis stopped mere inches away from Shepard, shaking a finger in her face, which made Garrus want to pause long enough to grab it...and maybe break it. He kept moving, however.

"Quick, we'll get this back to Qui'in and get the garage pass while he's distracted," Kaidan said. "Gotta trust Shepard has an ace up her sleeve."

Now that was a human phrase that he actually understood. Garrus snorted. "When doesn't she?"

As they left Synthetic Insights, they met up with Wrex. Neither man found himself very surprised to see the krogan walking down the hall with a geth over one shoulder. He bared his teeth in a grin at them. "Think geth qualify as illegal goods here?"

Ace up her sleeve indeed. Garrus gestured behind him. "Why don't you ask the administrator himself? He's with Shepard in there."

Wrex grinned wider and moved past them. Garrus looked at Kaidan, who nodded, and the two headed for the hotel lounge. They'd get the garage pass and then come back ready to join Shepard in heading for Peak 15. No matter how many bodies they had to walk over.

Shepard crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back a bit as Anoleis snarled at her. "Killing security guards, breaking into private property...I don't know what you think Spectres are entitled to do, but I am in charge here and I won't have it!" He was talking so fast Shepard could barely make out what he was saying. "I'm having these two escort you back to your ship and you are to vacate the planet immediately. And be certain I'm going to file a formal complaint on behalf of the Executive Board about your behavior."

"That's fine." Shepard brushed past him easily and walked around the two guards and Parasini, loping toward the entrance with a casual, unhurried walk.

Anoleis turned to watch her, blinking rapidly, obviously flummoxed by her reaction. The little 'I know something you don't know' smirk on her face probably didn't help matters. "I..."

"We have what we came for. I apologize if we upset you getting the evidence we needed. I'm sure the next Spectre...or two...they send will be much more experienced and better at keeping to the rules than I am."

"Evidence?" Parasini spoke up at the same time Anoleis almost squeaked, "What evidence? What do you mean...more Spectres...?" The salarian started after her.

Shepard paused at the steps leading up to the door and turned to face him again. No more smirk, nothing casual about her posture now, she was all cold professionalism. "We had hard suspicion that Matriarch Benezia is in league with Saren Arterius, and now I've confirmed that. She is the official executor for Saren Arterius, and both of them are investors with Binary Helix. Saren Arterius is currently the most wanted criminal in the galaxy and he is to be brought in for crimes against the Alliance and the Council both." She paused, leveling those gray eyes right at Anoleis. "By whatever means necessary."

Shepard let those words hang in the sudden, ringing silence throughout the room. She'd been taking a bit of a gamble...she in truth had no idea if the Council would send another Spectre...but she was willing to bet almost anything Anoleis wasn't willing to risk it. She hid a smile as the noted the administrator was blinking rapidly, his hands twitching. She could almost see him doing a new scan of his options and finding them not to his liking. He could try and confiscate whatever she had but it was the same problem with the guards on Feros...the guards here were probably good for keeping the basic peace but up against a group of trained fighters...they only had to look at the unconscious bodies of their companions, two of them biotics, to see how trying to use force would go. The odds of anyone managing to bring them down before they got back to the Normandy with the evidence was slim to none and- more importantly -the odds of Anoleis himself surviving it were null, especially since he'd been stupid enough to come down here himself.

She didn't know if Wrex had been waiting just inside the door for the right moment (he had a flare for setting a stage, Wrex did) or if it was coincidence that he came in right then carrying the geth over his shoulder. The krogan lumbered up beside her and tossed the geth down on the floor with a crash, making everyone except Shepard's squad jump. One of the security guards Anoleis had brought with him actually let out a little scream. Shepard glanced down. "Oh, and look here. I think your scans missed a few things when you went over the matriarch's crates. Did I mention Saren is wanted for attacking human colonies with geth?"

"There were two of them in the storage area. The rest must either be on the docks or at Peak 15 with the asari bitch," Wrex said, his eyes fixed on Anoleis, one hand resting casually on his gun.

Shepard looked up. The glances the two guards exchanged were proof enough that even if Anoleis ordered them to attack, they weren't going to do it. Not with Wrex in the picture. But the salarian wasn't going to order it...she had him and everyone knew it. He didn't know what to do.

Now it was Shepard who moved in, coming up close to him, eyes locked on his. She spoke softly, her voice little more than a whisper. "I don't take any credit for knowing you're doing something you shouldn't be around here, Administrator, since you've been fairly obvious about that from the very beginning. I don't care what you're doing. I don't care about you at all. I don't even need you to help me: just stay the fuck out of my way. I'll get to Benezia and take care of this little geth problem, then I'll be out of your life and you can smooth things over with the Executive Board like nothing ever happened."

For a long moment, he stared at her, pride warring with practicality. But in the end, he caved, as she'd known he would. For all his bluster, there was something weak in him she'd picked up on right from the start. Which was probably why he'd gotten himself into all this trouble in the first place. He stepped back, straightening up and fiddling with the buttons on his sleeves, speaking in a voice that was a bit too loud, "Commander, I believe I might have acted a bit hastily. You may continue your business as long as you make sure to get it done...quickly."

Shepard smiled. "Thank you, Administrator."

"Should have kicked his ass, Commander," Ashley said as they walked back out into the main area.

"That could have gotten real ugly. At the very least, it would have brought more guards and spilled out into the corridors, which would drag civilians into the mix, probably including that nice turian mechanic we met on the way in and how could I do that when he was so helpful?" Shepard said. The geth's head had fallen off as they had rode the elevator up and she was carrying it under her arm while Wrex held the body, swinging it idly.

"What are we going to do with the geth?" Tali took the head, studying it as they walked.

"Turn it into a lamp?"

"I think that will require more repairs than its worth," Tali said.

"Oh, I know...let's set it on one of the toilets in the ladies' bathroom!"

"Shepard!" Liara's voice caught on a laugh.

"Oh, you're no fun. We'll just toss it in with the other bodies, we're obviously going to be meeting up with more of them." She looked up and spotted Garrus and Kaidan waiting for them. "Raiding corporate offices. I can't take you boys anywhere."

Garrus simply held up the garage pass.

"We saw the administrator pass by. He didn't look happy," Kaidan said, letting the question behind his words dangle unspoken.

"I managed to convince the administrator that things would go quicker if he just let us get our business done. Then things can go right back to normal." She studied the garage pass as Garrus handed it over.

Garrus and Kaidan exchanged a glance. "Actually, Commander, I think the administrator's normal days are pretty much numbered," Garrus said, looking pointedly at the garage pass.

Shepard didn't look surprised or perturbed. "Well, isn't that a shame." She spun the garage pass in her fingers and tucked it away, striding across the floor. "Well, that's out of our hands now. We have real work to do."

"Now you're talking, Shepard." Wrex said.

Shepard dropped back as they came up to the garage, falling into step beside Liara, who had grown quieter and quieter once the fighting had stopped. "Liara? Once we get out of the garage..."

"There's no turning back, yes...I know." Liara met her eyes for a long moment. "I keep telling myself it isn't really my mother...not the one I knew..."

"It isn't. You heard Shiala."

"I know, but..." Liara took a deep breath. "I can face her, Shepard. I have to. I owe her...and myself...that much."

Shepard's eyes searched her face, then the commander nodded once, walking beside her as they moved toward the garage that would take them to Peak 15...and Benezia.