Shepard went down to see Wrex, who was now modifying his shotgun again.

"So you'd rather be a mercenary then help your people," said Shepard.

Wrex placed the gun down and looked at him. "I'm a fighter. It's what I do."

"Aren't you at all worried about what will happen to the Krogan?" Shepard frowned, if his people were dying out he would do something to save them.

"What the hell do you want me to do about it, Shepard?" Wrex glared. "I'm tired of sticking my ass on the line and getting nothing for it."

"So you're just giving up your people?"

"I gave up on fighting for a lost cause." He closes eyes and looked down on the floor. "I'm not like you, Shepard. I'm no hero. Bottom line: killing for credit simplifies things."

"You ever think about helping your people?"

Wrex couldn't even look at him in the eye. "I try not to. But there's a lot of krogan mercs out there. I'm always running into them. Half the time I'm being paid to kill them. But that's just part of my job. You don't get to pick who your enemies are."

He found Ashely in the mess hall and was pouring out a glass of wine.

"Hey, skipper. Any interest in a small drink? It's a special occasion," she said as she poured a second glass.

He accepted the drink. "What's the occasion?"

"It's Armistice Day. When the First Contact War ended. My family always marks it." She shrugged. "Since I'm the only Williams on board, I thought I'd ask you."

He took a sip, and gave the glass an appreciative look. "Seems like an odd thing to celebrate. That was twenty-six years ago."

"In our family, it's not really a celebration. More like an obligation." She raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you don't know about my family. My commanders always find out. It's not in my files or something?"

Shepard had to admit that there was something unusual about her files. "There's almost nothing in your files. Technical scores and a list of crap assignments."

Ashley looked slightly uneasy. "There's a reason for the crap assignments. I'm General Williams' granddaughter. The commander of the Shanxi garrison in the War." She spread her hands. "The only human ever to surrender to an alien race." She sighed.

Shepard understood immediately. "I see. That's why you drive yourself so hard."

"'A Williams has to be better than the best, if only to avoid suspicion.' That's what my Dad told me the night before he retired." She squared her shoulders. "It takes a special kind of thickheaded to march into a job where your family's blacklisted. I did it anyway. I'm not going to let our name go down with Arnold and Quisling. Granddad deserved better than that."

"I should have figured this out myself," said Shepard. "I don't know how I can help you, though."

"Look at who I am, Shepard. Do you ever hear me ask for help? It's not that bad things don't happen to me, if you stay with me long enough maybe I'll tell you about some of them. But I deal with them myself. I don't need a shoulder to cry on. A knight to rescue me. Or a man to make me happy, this is who I am. I like her. And you better like to." She then looked at him curiously. "So, used to interested in me, baggage and all?"

"Everyone comes with baggage, Ash," Shepard shrugged. "The trick is finding a matching set."

Ashley laughed. "That's awful. Tell me you got that out of a fortune cookie. But hey, once we save the galaxy, maybe the Alliance will get its act together. Start acting like an actual government."

"The Alliance isn't perfect, but it does well enough," said Shepard.

"Have to disagree with you there, skipper," said Ashley. "Giving aliens the run of our most advanced ship? Kowtowing to the Council?"

"The Alliance should be able to stand on its own. We can't. Yet. Why not learn from the races who have been standing for the last thousand years?"

Ashley stated at him. "How can you say that, given everything we've seen out here? They're already acting like Saren is our problem. Already siccing us on the bare. The Council races will always think of themselves first. It's—" She paused, "human nature. We can't afford to trust them. Not if the survival of humanity is on the line."

"Ash, you believe in God. An infallible, all-knowing creator with a plan for the universe. You think the diversity of views in the galaxy wasn't part of that?"

"I don't know what, God intended, Shepard," Ashley shrugged. "I don't think humans have some divine mandate, if that's what you mean. I don't think we're superior."

"Humans are aggressive. We think fast, we moved fast. Wars have started because of our need for constant progress. The Council can balance that."

"That's—" Ashley pondered for a moment. "Huh. I guess I never thought of it that way. All 'big picture,' I mean." She then looked Shepard determinedly. "It doesn't make what happened to Granddad any better, though."

Shepard nodded. "What happened to your grandfather shouldn't have happened."

"Well. At least somebody knows that," Ashley smiled. "And a Star of Terra recipient, no less. Granddad must love that."

They soon made their way to Noveria and already they were having problems.

"Approach Control, this is the SSV Normandy. Requesting a vector and a berth." Joker's hands moved over the controls.

"Normandy, your arrival was not scheduled. Our defence grid is armed and tracking you. State your business."

Shepard and Joker exchanged a look. Joker rolled his eyes. "Citadel business. We've got a Council Spectre aboard."

It took several seconds before Noveria Approach Control responded. "Landing access granted, Normandy. Be advised: we will be confirming identification on arrival. If confirmation cannot be established, your vessel will be impounded."

"What a fun bunch. I think I'll take my next leave here." Joker toggled the controls to bring the Normandy in.

"I have a feeling that we can't just simply ask for directions," said Shepard.

"Yeah, I have a feeling that there's definitely going to be some shooting going on," said Joker

When they made their way outside they were stopped by a bunch of security personnel. He had a feeling he wouldn't have much trouble with the leader, but it was the woman on her left that made him concerned.

The leader held up a hand as they approached. "That's far enough."

"We're not here to cause problems," Shepard assured.

She shifted slightly. "This is an unscheduled arrival. I need your credentials."

"I'm a Spectre. My name is Shepard."

The other one, the blond woman, glared. "Load of horsecrap, ma'am."

"We will need to confirm that," said the captain. "Also, I must advise you that firearms are not permitted on Noveria." The captain set her feet, and turned to look at the blond woman. "Sergeant Stirling, secure their weapons."

The pretend-a-cops went for their weapons. And then actually looked surprised to find his team's weapons pointed back at them. Not only that, both Kaidan and Liara flared their biotics. One of the rentals actually took a step back. Kaidan glanced at Shepard. "We going to let them do this, Commander?"

The last thing they needed was a diplomatic incident. "Stand down. Their house, their rules."

"Aye, aye, Commander," said Kaidan.

They lower their weapons and Kaidan and Liara biotics eased off. The captain looked very relieved. The sergeant, on the other hand, looked disappointed.

The sergeant was about to grab their weapons when a voice over the intercom was heard. "Captain Matsuo! Stand down. We confirmed their identity. Spectres are authorised to carry weapons here, Captain."

"You may proceed, Spectre. I hope the rest of your visit will be less confrontational." She gestured at the steps behind her. "Parasini-san will meet you upstairs." She turned and walked away.

"Behave yourself." The sergeant said the words like she was issuing a challenge before following the captain.

He walked up the stairs to hear the familiar sound of him setting off alarms. A woman immediately began shutting the alarms down. "Weapons detectors. Don't mine the alarms." As soon as they were silenced, she nodded to him. "I am Gianna Parasini, assistant to Administrator Anoleis. We apologize for the incident in the docking bay."

"I appreciate your help," said Shepard.

"You're welcome. You understand our security chief was only doing her job." Parasini gestured at herself. "One of my duties is orientation of new arrivals. Do you have any questions?"

Shepard glanced up at the various automated defences. None of them were particularly impressive on their own, but the sheer number would have presented a challenge to bypass. "Pretty heavy security for such a small port."

"The Executive Board does everything in its power to protect the privacy of our client corporations."

She sounded like a VI. Something was slightly off. "I can't have my investigation hampered."

"Tread lightly. The board can bury you in litigation. You'd need an asari lawyer to see the case through."

"Has anyone unusual passed through here recently?"

"Unusual?" She shrugged. "An asari Matriarch passed through a few days ago. Lady Benezia."

"Benezia—?" Liara took a half step forward, her face shocked. "She is here?" Kaidan put a hand on her shoulder, and she stepped back again.

"Can I speak with her?"

"Benezia left for the Peak 15 research complex days ago. To the best of my knowledge, she's still there."

"Could you tell me how to get there?"

"You'll need to ask Administrator Anoleis for clearance to leave this port."

Judging from what he had witnessed so far Shepard wasn't very optimistic. "Where can I find the administrator?"

"His office is on the main level. Left at the top of the elevator."

"Understood." He inclined his head towards the door. "Can we go in now?"

"Of course. If you need any help, you can ask me at the administrator's office."

Shepard waited until she'd walked away before turning towards Liara. "She is here." Liara shook her head. "I can't believe it." She took a deep breath. "I imagine you want to talk to me, Shepard. About my mother."

"No I don't," said Shepard. "I trust you, Liara. You may not be military, but you're part of my crew."

Liara smiled. "Thank you, Shepard. That means a great deal to me."

Anoleis was not feeling permissive with wasn't at all surprising. When he left his office Parasini hissed at him. He approached her desk. "You've never worked in the corporate world, have you, Commander? You can't bludgeon through bureaucracy."

He could tell that she wanted something. "So it would seem. I need an alternative."

She leaned forward and lowered her voice. "Talk to Lorik Qui'in. You should be able to find him at the hotel bar. Can't say more. Not within earshot of Mr. Anoleis."

Interesting. She was acting nervous, but he was willing to bet it was exactly that. An act. "Talk to you later."

Lorik Qui'in proved to be a turian. A rather friendly one, for the most part. "Afternoon. Sit down, have a drink. What can I do for you?"

Shepard declined the drink politely. "Are you Lorik Qui'in? I've heard you might be able to help me."

"You are the Spectre that just arrived, are you not? What could an old turian like me possibly help you with?"

That was actually a pretty good question. "I'm trying to find a way into the garage. I have places to go."

"You need a pass." Lorik's mandibles clicked slightly. "How fortuitous." He settled back in his chair. "I'm the manager of the local Synthetic Insights office. For the moment, at least. Mr. Anoleis closed my office. He claims to be investigating reports of my corruption. The administrator is an interesting man. He has become quite wealthy since he took direct control of rents."

"I sense a connection there."

"Indeed." Lorik nodded. "I acquired evidence of Anoleis' actions. His hired goons are ransacking my office to find it. I suspect your goal lies outside this port. Mr. Anoleis would be disinclined to let you wander." He folded his hands. "If you recover the evidence from my office, I will give you my garage pass, as well as a sum of credits."

"You have a plan?" Shepard asked.

"I do. However, there is one other—what is that charming human expression? 'Fly in the lotion?' Violence against Mr Anoleis's thugs may be necessary. He has members of Hanshan's security teams searching my offices. He is paying them under the table. Ms. Matsuo is unaware of their outside employment."

"I'll focus on trying to get your evidence," said Shepard. "If I'm lucky, I won't have to fight anyone."

"Excellent." Lorin handed him a small imprinted card. "Here is my pass into our offices. It will activate the elevator. The evidence is on my office computer. This OSD contains an encryption key to access it. Slide it into the drive and it will auto-execute." He returned to his drink. "And do try to keep blood stains off the carpets, would you?"

"Freeze! Hanshan security. This office is sealed."

"Lorik Qui'in gave me a pass in."

The guard looked at him in confusion. "Qui'in? Are you working for him? He's under investigation."

"Anoleis is paying you to shake this place down." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Does Captain Matsuo know you're here?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who wants Qui'in. Anoleis has a varren up his ass about this guy," she said holding her hands up. "How about this? You pretend you didn't see us, we'll pretend we didn't see you."

With that most of the smart her guards left with her but just left the most foolish.

After downloading the evidence, he started out of the office only to find Sergeant Stirling. "I don't think you're supposed to be in here, Shepard."

"Do you plan on making me leave?"

"Leave? You think I'm going to let you walk out?" She shook her head. "Uh-uh." She put a hand on her sidearm. "Anoleis would throw you offworld for what you did here. I won't. You know what we did to cop killers on my world?"

"Being a cop doesn't give you the right to break the law yourself." Kaidan spoke up from his left. "You accepted bribe money."

"I didn't want to fight them. They fired first," Shepard pointed out.

"I don't care." She drew her sidearm.

He shot her before she could bring it to bear. The guards with her opened fire. Wrex rather casually grabbed one and sent him flying over the ledge to join the other one.

They walked out of the now in need of a remodel offices to find Parasini waiting for them. "Commander. There've been reports of noise form the Synthetic Insights office. Would you know anything about it?"

"It's probably Anoleis' thugs ripping the place apart," Shepard shrugged.

She stared at him for a moment. "Smart ass." Parasini took a deep breath. "I can work with that. Meet me at the hotel for a drink, before you talk to Qui'in. I'll be waiting." She turned and walked away.

"What do you suppose that's all about?" Ashley raised an eyebrow at him.

"I have a feeling that she is no secretary," said Shepard.

"Allow me to reintroduce myself. Parasini, Noveria Internal Affairs."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Why is an Internal Affairs agent here?"

"The Executive Board knows about Anoleis' corruption. I've been undercover for six months." She gestured. "I want you to convince Qui'in to testify against the Board. With his evidence, this planet can run profitably again."

Shepard would normally consider such an offer, but his mission was far more important than the affairs of this planet. "I need Qui'in's garage pass to complete my mission."

"You help my investigation; I'll provide whatever you need. Favour for a favour."

"Seems we'd help more people if we did as she asked," Kaidan said.

"Look, Shepard. I don't like this either. You Spectres play fast and loose with the law. That's bad for business."

"All right. I'll talk to Qui'in and see if I can convince him."

"Thank you. You know where I work. Come talk to me once you know if he'll play ball."

They then had the pleasure of watching Anoleis being dragged out of his office by a woman in a full skirt and heels. Parasini handed over the garage pass, and wished them luck.

"This is an outrage!" Anoleis glared. "I'll see that you never work in this sector again!" He can believe people actually used that line.

"Yeah, Yeah, get a move on," said Parasini.

"You! Shepard! I demand you place this bitch under arrest!"

"You have the right to remain silent. I wish to God you'd exercise it." Parasini dragged him out the door. "See you around the galaxy, Commander. I owe you a beer."

They made their way over to the garage and found that they had a welcoming committee. Geth started attacking them and no sooner had they finished dealing with them when the security guards rushed in. It figures that they would appear right after the fighting was finished.

"What did you do here, Commander?"

"Me?" Shepard stared. "I'm the victim here! The geth attacked us."

Immediately, she shook her head. "Geth? You expect me to—" He kicked the top half of one of the fallen geth. It slid, coming to a halt at her feet. Captain Matsuo blinked. "Where did they come from?"

"If I were to guess, Benezia packed them in the shipping containers she arrived with," said Kaidan.

"I do not believe that. We did thorough scans of those. There were no power sources, no element zero masses…" She frowned. "If Benezia-sama's containers were packed with thsoe things, there are many more out there."

"I need numbers, Captain. A dozen? A hundred?" He gestured at the dead geth.

"Dozens at least. They are machines. You can pack them tightly." She sighed. "I must report to the Executive Board. If word gets out about loose geth, there may be an investor panic."

They watched as she exited through the outer garage door.

Kaidan began pulling up his omnitool. "I'll tell Tali to…" He blinked. "Commander, what are you doing?"

Shepard was making his way over towards the mako. "Unless you have a better suggestion getting to Peak 15 during a snowstorm while fighting dozens of geth I'm open."

"Let's go," said Garrus lifting the hatch Shepard had just unlocked.