Chapter 2: Moving into Position

I don't see why getting to sit in business class is a big deal.

Yeah, you get to board the liner first. Sure, you get more leg room. Fine, the seats might have a bit more cushioning and you can get them to recline. Whoop-de-do: you get a complimentary glass of wine with your meal, a selection of premium e-magazines and dedicated washrooms. And that's on top of the extranet access and charge station for your electronics that's standard for all passengers.

Was that it? Or was there something I was missing? I turned to ask Miranda.

"Status, mostly," she told me. "Better food and drink, of course. Washrooms with a higher-end range of products, dedicated to a smaller number of passengers. It costs more, of course. But it may be worth it for the perks."

"I don't get it," I confessed. "Probably because I'm used to military transports. No padding. Cramped unless you're in the cargo bay. Loud and noisy as hell. Wanting to save those few extra credits for R&R."

"I'm used to first class or higher myself," Miranda admitted. "Nothing but the best for a Lawson. Though my travel with Cerberus and on the Normandy's Kodiak shuttle did expose me to... other levels of service."

"But you never liked it?"

Miranda shook her head. "It's more accurate to say I'm used to having certain resources at my disposal. First class seating is more likely to have some of those resources. Besides, after everything I've done and all the work I've put in, I like to think I earned it."

"There are a lot of people who more than earned it, but will never get above economy class," I pointed out. "Not to mention all the people who enjoy the luxuries of first class without doing a single thing to deserve it."

"I'll give you that," Miranda conceded. "But I'm not one of those people."

"True."

"Neither are you."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Come on."

She got to her feet. "Where are we going?" I asked, following suit.

"One of the perks of business class: you get access to the lounge," Miranda reminded me. "I'd rather continue our discussion there. More room. More private."

"Right."

The lounge was nicer than what I was used to. (1) Which means it had more than one colour (white walls, tables, counters and chairs that contrasted with the deep red carpets), actual cushioning (instead of the usual rock-hard military standards) and a fully-stocked bar (with decent beverages that were actually out in the open instead of hidden from nosy superiors or inspection officers). There weren't many people in the lounge, so Miranda and I had our choice of seats. We grabbed a corner table near the end so we could keep an eye on the rest of the room without anyone sneaking up on us. Old habits die hard, I guess. I ordered a cheeseburger alongside my water; Miranda ordered orange juice, chocolate milk and a whole wheat pita stuffed with chicken, cheese, lettuce, tomato and avocado. (2)

"All right," I said when the waiter left with our order. "What did Liara dig up?"

I should explain.

While I was out shopping, Miranda contacted Liara for any intel she could provide—while signing off on maintenance reports, changing her hair colour and putting on that jaw-dropping outfit. She changed back into something a little less conspicuous afterwards, mostly so her attire wouldn't bring the daily routine on the Normandy to a screeching halt. (3) Liara sent a reply just before we left.

"The Grand Mirage was built twenty-two years ago by a consortium of human and asari companies. It consists of three towers: two of which are two hundred metres tall, have 50 floors and 4044 rooms each; the other tower is one hundred forty-nine metres tall, with 36 floors and 3000 rooms. While relatively new by Illium standards, it's already become well-known for its numerous attractions, including a high-energy plasma fountain that creates hourly displays choreographed to music."

"Where is our room?" I asked before Miranda could give me the full tourist spiel.

"Tower Two, Floor 38, Room 3816. Outer room with direct line-of-sight to the starports at Nos Astra and one of the warehouse districts."

"And Liara managed to rent out one of those warehouses for our use?"

"Better," Miranda smiled. "She's secured an entire block of warehouses for our use, courtesy of the Shadow Broker. Plenty of room, weapons and surveillance equipment for the squad. One of the warehouses even comes with three skycars."

"I'm assuming the risk of discovery will be low, considering we got an entire block of warehouses?" I inquired.

"Try minimal. That particular warehouse district is primarily used for long-term storage by the locals. Tourists wouldn't be interested, as there are no historical, architectural, or culinary reasons to venture in."

"How about the local criminal or merc elements? Like Eclipse? A district like that sounds perfect for their needs."

"You would think so," Miranda conceded, her now-blonde hair moving ever-so-slightly as she nodded. "However, there are other warehouse districts with similar benefits. Districts that are also larger and placed in better locations. So we should be able to make our plans without any interference."

"Good," I nodded. As far as we knew, this was nothing more than a meet. Go to a specified location at a specified time, pick a package up and leave. Seems easy enough: except we still knew way too little about this meet. Who were we meeting? What was this package? Why was Cerberus so keen to get their hands on it?

We didn't have answers to any of those questions. So we needed a quiet spot to coordinate our efforts to get some answers. Not to mention conduct general surveillance, monitor local comm chatter, keep an eye out for any sudden flurry of activity that could be the only warning we'd get before the mission went south. It sounded like this base of Liara's met our requirements.

The waiter returned with our order at that point. We paused, let him put down our meal and leave. After a couple bites, we resumed our conversation.

"You know," I frowned. "If something goes wrong, we'll be on our own."

"Garrus will have people standing by on overwatch during the meet," Miranda reminded me, absently flicking a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. (4)

"True," I said. "Unless he gets distracted calibrating his sniper rifle."

Miranda's lip twitched. "I'm sure he can exercise some restraint."

"I'm just wondering how much backup we'll need on site, at the Grand Mirage itself," I pointed out. "If something goes wrong during the meet, we could be on our own until Garrus scrambles some backup. Hell, things could go downhill at any point during the three days before the meet?"

"We discussed this before, remember?" Miranda said. "Garrus will have done a tactical assessment by the time we arrive. The most efficient routes to get to the Grand Mirage, whether it's necessary to station squad members on site, how to sneak them in, and so on. I'm sure he'll also put some thought into establishing secure communications. We can't assume that our usual encryption will be enough. Not without doing some analysis of the local comm chatter. We'll also have to make sure that our communications go unnoticed."

Yes. It was important to make sure that no one tapped into our comm channels. It was just as important to ensure that no one suspected there were secret communications to begin with.

"We can talk about it in greater detail once we touch down on Illium," I said, feeling a little calmer now that I'd actually voiced my concerns. I never realized before how stressful it was to keep these concerns from showing on your face and freaking out the people who depend on you. It was nice to know someone else had thought about the potential problems and had made the same tentative plans to deal with them. "We're still making the detour, right?"

"Yes: after we land at Port Hanshan and take the skycar to the Grand Mirage, we'll settle in, then go out at the earliest opportunity. We'll rendezvous at the warehouse, get the sitrep from Garrus and plan our next move," Miranda confirmed. (6)

"Okay."

"Now can you please stop staring?"

"Huh?"

Miranda rolled her eyes. "I would have thought that a man of your experience in special operations wouldn't be so distracted by something so simple as a change in hair colour."

Oh. Right. That. Was I really that obvious? "Well… uh… um…"

"Yes?"

"Uh… I mean… you pull it off really well. Being blonde, I mean. The hair colour, not the stereotype. Not that I want you to change it permanently, because I like your natural hair colour. Unless you want to keep it blonde, of course…"

Oh geez. I knew the universe was in its natural state of equilibrium, because it was having way too much fun at my expense to put me out of my misery.

Miranda finally took pity on me, leaning forward and interrupting my babble with a peck on the cheek. "Thank you. That was the sweetest and most incoherent thing anyone's ever said to me."

"Buh."

The waiter came back to see how we were enjoying our meal. We assured him that it was fine—which was true, for civvie starship fare—and finished lunch. "Is there anything we missed?" Miranda wondered out loud.

"Well, there is one thing," I said slowly.

"What?"

"We're alone."

"Aside from all the other passengers and the flight crew."

"And we're on a passenger liner."

"Brillant. Do go on."

I raised my eyebrows and looked at her.

"Seriously?"

"What?"

"We just started a mission, we've just established how much we don't know and that's all you can think of?"

"Well…"

"There are other things to take into consideration."

"I know—"

"Like the location of all the security cams. We need to find their blind spots."

"—I just thought that—wait, what?"

"And the number of staff. Their routines, their rotations."

A grin slowly spread over my face. "As it happens, I've already started."

Miranda's grin matched my own. "So have I."

The rest of the trip went by quickly. Can't imagine why.

As expected, a fleet of dedicated skycars were waiting when we disembarked. We were directed to one of them, where a helpful chauffeur loaded our luggage. He flew us through the throngs of traffic and between the rows of buildings and skyscrapers—all lit up in neon against the backdrop of a stunning sunset. After a short while, we arrived at the Grand Mirage. I hope I gave him a sufficient tip.

The interior décor looked impressive, if the entrance hall was any indication. Warm yellow pastels and gold silk curtains complimenting gold-tinted metal furnishings—a sharp, modern and stunning contrast to the dark wood of the tables and paneling, as well as the black marble tile floor. Glass and crystal chandeliers, hovering in place thanks to their miniature element zero core. And the giant mirrors, carefully placed to show everything off in the best possible light.

Miranda and I were careful to play the part as we joined the line leading to the check-in counter. We commented on the latest news broadcasts, fretted about the weather and how long it would last, oohed and aahed about all the bright lights and tall buildings. Anything that made us look and sound like tourists. It's what Pillar and O'Connell would probably have done to blend in. (7)

At last, it was our turn. "Ben Pillar," I introduced myself to the front desk clerk.

"Katie O'Connell," Miranda added. "We have a reservation."

"Of course. One moment, please." The clerk took our passes and scanned it into the computer. She carefully peered at the screen before entering a few commands. Miranda was busy looking around the room. So neither of them noticed the slip, however brief, in my composure. It didn't have anything to do with her hair colour this time. This time, it was her accent. She'd dropped her usual Aussie accent, complete with all the rolls and other quirks of pronunciation, in favour of a distinctly North American accent. Possibly from one of the Northwestern megalopolises. Wherever it was, it definitely wasn't Australian, but it sounded completely authentic. Yet another hidden talent of Miranda's, one that she had naturally honed and perfected.

Thankfully, I'd processed that by the time the clerk looked up and passed over a pair of keycards, designed and formatted for loading into omni-tools or other electronic devices. Standard issue for most hotels and resorts striving for customer convenience and satisfaction.

I spotted a motion out of the corner of my eye. Turning around, I saw a bellhop approach us. Obviously he had been summoned by the clerk. "This man will take you and your luggage to your room," she said. "Welcome to the Grand Mirage."

"Thank you."

A couple minutes later and we were walking into our new home away from home. Miranda walked around and checked things out while I watched the bellhop manhandle our luggage in—he insisted on doing it himself. I tipped him for his trouble. From the look on his face, I might not have paid him enough. Note to self: look up appropriate tips on Illium.

"So what do you think?" I asked once the bellhop left—after receiving another twenty creds.

"Not bad, I suppose," Miranda shrugged, turning off her omni-tool. Judging by the beam of light that suddenly vanished, I figured she must've been sweeping the room for bugs. (8)

"'Not bad'," I echoed. "Really?"

Clearly, Miranda and I had different standards. I was not used to big comfy chairs and sofas, all draped in leather. Probably the real thing, not that cloned or synthesized stuff. I wasn't used to more black marble tiling, which quickly gave way to a thick, deep black carpet—and by deep, I meant that you didn't step on it so much as you sank into it. All the way to your ankles. Must be a pain to clean. I walked by the large glass table, which apparently came with several haptic computer interfaces around the edge and a holo-projector in the centre. There were lots of drawers and closets, all made of expensive mahogany wood. A solid and expensive looking safe. More computer consoles—and a complimentary basket of fruit—were stationed next to a bank of floor-to-ceiling windows and a retractable door leading to an outdoor patio.

Now I might have seen some of this luxury before, during all the cheering, parading and other PR crap I had to endure after Elysium. But that was years ago. And none of my prior experiences had seen this much luxury concentrated in one room. A room that was mine for the duration of this mission. Well, mine and Miranda's.

"Ooh!" I burst out, noticing something else. I opened the dark wood cabinet and… "Wow," I whistled. "Will you look at this vid-screen? Comes with 360-degree surround-sound and, let's see, 6000 channels? Local, system and galactic?"

As much as I wanted to start channel-surfing, I did want to check out the rest of the suite. The bed was huge, bigger than my bed—and that's saying something considering how much Cerberus put into furnishing the Normandy. Around the corner was a mini-bar, fully stocked with enough alcohol to incapacitate a normal human. For someone with a genetically enhanced constitution—like Miranda or even myself—it wouldn't knock him or her out, but it would certainly be a good headstart. The minibar was next to the kitchenette, all wrapped in dark granite and wood cabinets, and complete with microwave, coffee machine and a fully stocked fridge.

And the washroom was big. Like, really big. Maybe half the size of my quarters. Not as much marble this time, but a lot more granite. Granite floor. Granite countertops—yeah, there were more than one sink. Granite tiling in the wall surrounding the Jacuzzi. Crystal light fixtures scattered everywhere. All designed to look warm and inviting as well as modern and expensive.

"Hey, Miranda! You gotta check this Jacuzzi… out…"

I trailed off as Miranda approached me. Slowly. Inexorably. Like a cat stalking her prey. And I just stood there, all slack-jawed and mesmerized.

Miranda slowly dragged me over to the bed, a smoldering look in her eyes.

"I'm guessing you don't want to check out the Jacuzzi?" I said at last, my throat suddenly drying up.

"There's only one thing I want to check out right now," Miranda replied as her dress fell to the floor.

"There you are," Garrus said, noticing our arrival. "Right on schedule."

Little did he know that Miranda and I had actually left a little late. It was only a handy skycar rental, courtesy of the hospitality of the Grand Mirage, and Miranda's research into local traffic patterns that helped us make up for lost time. Not that I minded. Improvising and scrambling due to nonlethal and entirely pleasurable reasons was a nice change of pace. Especially when you could justify it as being essential to maintaining your cover.

I had to say: so far, I was really enjoying this mission.

"Nice to see you too, Garrus," I said, looking around. Now this was more like it. Not that I minded the luxurious accommodations of the Grand Mirage suite, but the warehouse was definitely closer to the kind of bases I frequented during my spec-op days. Plain concrete walls covered with chipped paint or no paint at all. Tiny panel windows set at regular intervals. Bare support columns and metal girders. Several tables scattered around, several of which were covered by weapons and datapads. On the far side, I saw a bank of skycars parked.

A closer look picked up a couple more details. The walls seemed a bit thicker than usual, if the doors were any indication. The overall support structure was a lot more extensive than most buildings. And the light streaming through the windows seemed a bit dimmer than usual, but the windows weren't polarized—probably because the glass itself was thicker, possibly reinforced. All of which suggested that this warehouse had been hardened to withstand attacks, which stood to reason considering who owned it.

The rest of the squad came over before I could do any more analysis. We exchanged a brief round of greetings, not to mention a lot of comments and compliments—and catty insults from certain squadmates. "Okay," I said after a couple minutes. "Let's get down to business. You guys got here long before we did. Was there any trouble getting clearance to land the Normandy?"

"Actually, we snuck into Illium using the shuttle," Garrus said.

That wasn't part of the plan. "How?" I asked.

"The Normandy dropped us off just outside the Tasale System," Kasumi explained. "Then we waited until we found a suitable freighter inbound for Illium, snuck underneath its belly and followed it in."

Using the freighter's mass and electromagnetic output to mask the shuttle from any sensors. "Little trick you picked up?" I asked dryly.

"You could say that," Kasumi shrugged. "Keiji did it all the time."

Ah. Right. (9)

"Liara gave us some advance notice of a pirate raid," Garrus continued. "The Normandy had plenty of time to get over there and ambush the pirates. Now she could have sent us to thwart any old band of pirates, but this band just happened to be in the Olokun system, the same system where a certain reporter was doing a news series on intergalactic travel. Does the name Emily Wong ring a bell?"

Sure did. When I first met her, she was an up-and-coming reporter doing various investigation pieces. I helped her on a story about organized crime on the Citadel and persuaded her to drop another one on traffic controllers. (10) Since then, she'd moved up the ranks and became a newscaster for Future Content Corporation. Which reminded me: she sent an e-mail requesting an exclusive interview. I'd yet to reply to that.

"If that's the case, I'm sure Ms. Wong will prominently mention the Normandy's heroic rescue," Miranda said, seeing where this was going. "Which means Cerberus will have less reason to suspect we're here to thwart this meeting."

"Works for me," I grinned. "By the way, where's the shuttle now?"

"Parked in the next warehouse," Jacob said, gesturing over his shoulder. "There's a sewer tunnel connecting the two, so we can get to it in a hurry if we need to make a quick getaway."

"Good," I approved. "Tell me you haven't been wasting time checking out the sights."

"We have not wasted any time observing local points of interest, Shepard-Commander."

"That's a good start," I replied with a straight face.

"How are we on communications?" Miranda asked.

"I had some time to look through the warehouse manifests," Tali replied, "and managed to cobble together a makeshift comm relay. We'll be able to encrypt our communications and talk freely without boosting our suit or handheld comms."

In other words, we wouldn't have to jack up our comm signals so high that Cerberus could pick us out with their eyes closed. "Good," I nodded.

"Tali's being modest," Garrus said. "What she built was the equivalent of any comm relay you'd find in a turian platoon."

"Really?"

Tali shuffled awkwardly, as if she wasn't used to the praise. "The Shadow Broker kept these places very well stocked," she said modestly.

"Not that well stocked," Miranda disagreed. She had picked up a datapad at some point and was skimming through some contents. "From what I see here, you would have had to do some highly skilled and very creative engineering to build a military-grade comm relay from these components."

"Well, um, I guess," Tali managed. Apparently the idea of receiving that much high praise from Miranda was unusual. Actually, come to think of it, it was rather unusual.

"We have been able to infiltrate the Grand Mirage's systems, Shepard-Commander," Legion reported. I guess it was understandable that they could take such peculiar developments in stride. "At present, we have acquired full access to 95.8% of all computers, surveillance cameras, keycard locks and other security systems."

"'95.8%'," I repeated. "What happened to the other 4.2%?"

"There seems to be a few rooms that are operating on a different system," Garrus said.

"Independent?" Miranda asked.

"I don't think so," Kasumi shook her head. "From what I've been able to determine, it's more like a sub-network operating within the Grand Mirage's main network. Tali and Legion did some checking of their own and they agree."

The two of them were nodding in unison. Kinda creepy, come to think of it.

"We're in the process of inserting a few more bodies into the Grand Mirage," Kasumi continued, "both for backup and to do some further investigation."

Oh good. Miranda and I wouldn't be going solo after all. "Who're the lucky guys?" I asked.

Kasumi pretended to activate her omni-tool. "Daddy?" she asked in a high-pitched voice. "It's me, Hoshi. Why do I have to go to the Grand Mirage? It's so last year. None of my friends are there. They're all on the other side of Illium, remember? Why do I have to go to the Grand Mirage? Why do you keep booking reservations there? I've already checked in and out there, like, three times."

She paused. "Three times," she repeated loudly.

"Four times, Miss Sakai," Grunt growled, albeit reluctantly.

"Four times," Kasumi sighed, sticking her lower lip in petulant defiance, the kind you normally see amongst celubtantes and rich spoiled brats these days. "And why do I have to have a stupid bodyguard? Bob's so boring—"

"Bokk," Grunt interrupted.

"—and he smells!" Kasumi continued.

"Kasumi is going in as a young human woman of some unnamed business empire," Garrus explained. "Lots of money, little sense. As you may have guessed from her story, she's checked in and out four times already. Grunt will pose as her bodyguard."

"Because, like, krogan bodyguards are totally in and totally hot!" Kasumi added, continuing that high-pitched tone. Grunt just let out another growl.

"Her long-suffering bodyguard," Garrus amended. "They'll check in tomorrow. We already have a reservation for Tower Two, Floor 49, in one of the penthouse suites."

"Which is eight times the square area of our room," Miranda said for my benefit.

Somehow, that didn't shock me as much as I thought it would. Could I be getting used to all this excessive luxury? Hope not. It would be quite a shock to return to the real world after this mission.

"Mordin will also check in two days from now," Garrus added.

"Bandam Siks, professional gambler," Mordin introduced himself, speaking much slower than normal—which was still pretty fast by normal standards. "I'm getting in a bit of practice before the Skyllian Five Poker Tournament next month."

Which explained his effort to slow his speech—and the fact that he was sporting two normal-sized cranial horns. That was one convincing prosthetic.

I was also happy to see that our backup was staggering their check in times so it didn't look like we'd all arrived at the same time. Though that did bring up one point: "Where did we get the credits to pay for you guys?"

"Funny you should mention that," Garrus said. "We've pooled our funds and, well, we're a bit short. But we have an idea on how to fix that."

Uh oh. I had a feeling that one of my credit accounts was about to get a lot lighter. (11)

For once, I was wrong. My accounts were safe. Go figure.

"How exactly did you find out about these guys?" I asked Garrus.

"We'd just landed on Illium and decided to walk around the area," Garrus replied. "Familiarize ourselves with the streets, the shops and so on. Then we saw this salarian all alone, talking to himself about how he didn't know what to do. Taking a page from your book, I stopped and asked if there was anything I could do to help. Turns out he'd been drinking at a bar and overheard two guys talking about a job."

"A job of the illegal variety, I take it."

"Smuggling people onto Illium, to be exact," Garrus confirmed. "We did some investigating, found the smugglers in question and followed them to this warehouse." (12)

"And this salarian didn't alert the local authorities because…"

"The guys were boasting that it was an easy job because they'd bought off one of the cops."

That would explain why Garrus was grinding his mandibles. And clenching his fists. And… "Uh… Garrus?"

"Yes, Shepard?"

"Please move your finger—talon—whatever away from the trigger before you shoot someone."

Tali poked her head in. "Shepard has a point, Garrus. Remember the reward? The one by the local police precinct? For a certain band of smugglers that just happens to include the two guys that the salarian was talking about? I'm pretty sure that reward was for bringing them in alive."

"You're sure?"

"Quite sure."

"But you might have been mistaken."

"No, I was not mistaken."

"Are you sure? Because it would be a shame to spare their lives when—"

"I have a shotgun."

Garrus turned to me. "She's sure. I'm sure. We're sure."

"Okay," I said straight-faced. "We'll wait for Kasumi to get back from her recon, disable their defences and do our best to take them in alive."

"Right."

"Sure."

Then there was an awkward silence. One that lasted right up until I leaned over to Miranda. "So you think that those two—"

"—there is a certain compatibility."

"And not just biochemically or genetically."

"No, it's not just that. They do complement each other."

"They do, don't they? Never noticed that until now."

"What are they talking about?" Garrus asked.

Tali just looked at him, then shook her head.

Kasumi came back at that point. Now she was the one grinding her, well, teeth. "Problem?" I asked innocently.

"Twelve smugglers—ten Eclipse, plus the other two. Plus the dirty cop. Mix of asari, salarians and humans."

"Good to know," I said.

"We've dealt with Eclipse before," Miranda recalled.

"And the odds were usually much worse," I added.

"But we never ran across Eclipse mercs smuggling kids," Kasumi bit out.

"Kids?"

"Yes. They were laughing about how easy it would be to snatch them up and… and sell…" Kasumi broke off, too angry to speak.

There was another silence. More tense than awkward.

"Sure you want to bring them in alive?" Garrus asked at last.

"Yeah," I said at last. "But we can still shoot them. Just a little."

"You're all heart."

"Kasumi, do they actually have any children with them?" Miranda asked. Only the eerily calm tone of her voice told us just how pissed off she was right now. Not that I could blame her.

"No."

Well, at least there was one upside to this development.

Kasumi gave us a breakdown of the bad guys and their location. More importantly, she gave us directions to the catwalks that would take us directly over the bad guys. We quickly formed a plan, split into teams and moved into position. "Team Two?" I queried over the comm.

"In position," Garrus replied.

"We move on three…" I said. "Two… one… GO!"

Samara and Thane hit an asari with their biotics, smashing right through her barriers. One of the human Eclipse mercs looked at her, then quickly reinforced his barriers. They were strong enough to withstand one concussive round. Unfortunately for him, Grunt, Zaeed and Garrus fired three. Meanwhile, Miranda, Kasumi and Tali deployed three EMPs, zapping eleven sets of shields—people have a bad habit of clustering together when they don't think they're gonna get ambushed.

Now that everyone had their defences stripped, it was time to make things interesting. Jack and Jacob used their biotics to yank six or seven separate mercs—plus the cop—into the air. Legion deployed a combat drone to distract the smugglers. Mordin set one of the Eclipse mercs on fire, sending him screaming into his salarian buddy.

That left one scowling asari. I pulled out my sniper rifle… just as an idea popped into my noggin. One quick eyeblink activated my HUD. A few nervous twitches boosted my helmet speakers to max. "Attention Eclipse mercs, naughty smugglers and the dirty cop!"

The asari's head snapped up. She glared. I was shaking in my boots.

"You have no shields," I told them. "Or barriers. (13) You have no numerical superiority and no high ground. Give up."

The asari gave me the finger with one hand. Her other hand started to glow, tell-tale sign of biotic activity. Before she could do anything, I activated my cloak, dialed back on the velocity of my sniper rifle, zeroed in… and… fired.

The bullet went right between the asari's eyes, slowing down just enough that all that kinetic energy blew outward. Her head exploded like a ripe melon, showering brain goop and skull fragments and blue blood all over her buddies. They all froze. No doubt they realized just how serious I was. Not to mention how hard it would be to clean their hardsuits.

"Anyone else want to object?" I asked brightly.

For once, everything went according to plan. Plan A, that is—the one where the bad guys actually survived. Kasumi placed an anonymous call, mostly for the novelty of alerting the local authorities about a crime in progress. We were long gone by the time they showed up.

"Garrus?" I asked.

"Yes, Shepard."

"What happened to the cop?"

"What do you mean?"

"You did separate him from the others," I reminded him.

Garrus had this grim smile on his face. "He may have picked up a couple broken ribs. And kneecaps. And ankles. And a fractured skull. Not to mention the possibility of a punctured lung."

I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "That's it?"

"He may have slipped and fell out of the window. Multiple times. Sheer coincidence, I'm sure."

I'm sure.

Miranda came up to us, lips curved ever-so-slightly in satisfaction. "The bounty was just deposited into the account number Kasumi provided."

Okay then. One problem down.

With our financial woes resolved, Garrus gave Miranda and I some OSDs. "Scanning programs," he said. "Courtesy of Kasumi. You can use them to scan for bugs. They'll also help us assess and confirm any weaknesses in the security systems, in case we have to retrieve this package from our Cerberus contact's quarters. Kasumi, Grunt and Mordin already have them."

"So what'll the rest of you be doing?" I asked.

Jack rolled her eyes. "Cooling our heels and getting fucking bored," she declared.

"Tali and Legion will be staying here to handle electronic surveillance and monitor comm chatter," Garrus said. "I'll stay as well to coordinate activities. Everyone else will be on standby, just in case you need a rapid reaction force."

No wonder Jack wasn't happy. Being forced to stay put must be driving her bonkers. Zaeed didn't look all that thrilled either. Jacob, Samara and Thane seemed to be taking it in stride. Good thing I'd considered that before Miranda and I ran out the door.

"Here," I dug into a pocket and tossed something onto the table.

Thane reached over and picked it up. "A deck of cards?"

"Something to pass the time," I shrugged.

"I brought a few books," Jacob said, tapping a datapad, "but I can always read them later."

"Strip poker!" Zaeed declared.

"No fair!" Tali protested. "I can't do that without getting sick! Or worse!"

As they bickered, Garrus and Kasumi saw us to the warehouse door. "By the way," Garrus said, "we dug up another interesting fact."

"One that you two might be interested in," Kasumi added.

They were way too casual about the whole thing. "Yes?" Miranda and I asked warily. And in unison.

"It seems that Pillar and O'Connell are usually paired together on missions," Garrus told us. "And they spend a lot of time in each other's company afterwards as well. From what we've been able to gather, they've been… involved for a while."

Oh.

"So I guess you two will have to act the part," Kasumi said, eyes dancing merrily.

Yep, all part of maintaining our cover.

As much fun as it was to be with the squad again, it was almost a relief to get back into the rental skycar with Miranda and lift off. Garrus and Kasumi were having way too much fun teasing us. Mordin too, once he found out what was going on. If we'd stayed another minute or two, who knows what might have happened? Clearly, it was time to go.

I took a circuitous route back to the Grand Mirage. We weren't in any hurry, and it was good tradescraft to prevent any nosy bodies from tracing the warehouse where my squad was holed up to the hotel where Miranda and I were staying. Or vice versa.

By sheer coincidence, my random wanderings took us over several places that we had visited before. We passed over Liara's old apartment—which was bigger than my hotel room at the Grand Mirage. I'd never fully appreciated how good the view was until now. (14) The first time I was there, I was trying to meet Liara and plan our next move to find the Shadow Broker and rescue Feron. How quickly things had changed…

We also went by Dantius Towers. The place where I'd gone to recruit Thane. The place where Nassana Dantius—a backstabbing asari who eliminated anyone who threatened her status or outlived their usefulness without a second thought—met her well-deserved demise. Both towers were now complete. I wondered what how the Dantius Corporation was faring now that the boss was dead. (15)

Another place we skimmed over was Nos Astra Starport. I glimpsed Miranda tense up imperceptibly at one point. A quick glance provided the answer—we had just passed by a cargo terminal. Specifically, the one we had fought our way through in order to rescue Miranda's sister. All those Eclipse mercs trying to ferry Oriana offworld and return her to her biological father. Niket, the one friend and link from Miranda's past, who turned out to have sold out for a paycheque and repented way too late. But it wasn't all bad. "Hey, wasn't that the terminal where you wound up meeting your sister for the first time?" I asked.

"Yes, it was," Miranda said, smiling at last. "Thanks to your encouragement."

"Eh, you already wanted to," I said modestly. "I just offered a push or two."

Miranda's smile just widened. Then it dropped. "Shepard! Look out!"

I jinked to starboard, just before running into a skytruck. "Sorry 'bout that."

"Please watch where you're going," Miranda groaned.

Eventually, we got back to the Grand Mirage. I found a parking spot and touched down without any trouble. Miranda found that surprising for some reason. As we got out, I noticed a batarian getting into a skycar of his own. He looked familiar for some reason. I thought about it, wondering where I…

…uh oh. I remembered now.

"Ben?"

Miranda had picked up on my sudden tension. Thankfully, she had the presence of mind to maintain her cover. "Just eager to check out the Jacuzzi, Katie," I said. "Come on. You gotta show me that new bikini of yours."

We quickly made a beeline for the nearest entrance. Hopefully that batarian didn't recogni—

"Hey!"

Keep moving. Maybe that batarian was talking to—"

"I recognize you! Stop right there!"

…

Aw, crap.

(1): I sometimes wonder if Shepard would still have the same decency and strength of character if he had grown up surrounded by such luxuries.

(2): It takes an incredible physical effort required to manipulate dark energy. As a result, biotics such as Miranda have to consume up to 50% more calories per day than non-biotics, along with energy drinks or some other means of maintaining blood sugar and electrolyte levels.

(3): I suspect that she also wanted to save it for Shepard and Shepard alone.

(4): A state where a person, unit or vehicle finds a position to observe both the terrain ahead and likely avenues of approach for enemy movement and provide covering fire if necessary. Ideally, this position will have sufficient cover as well as provide unobstructed lines of sight.

(5): An acronym for 'as soon as possible.'

(6): Short for 'situation report', which summarizes the present state of affairs.

(7): The fact that they didn't need to discuss or review that on the flight proved that both of them had ample experience with this sort of thing.

(8): A colloquial term for a covert listening device, employed for the purposes of surveillance, police investigations or intelligence gathering.

(9): No doubt Kasumi accessed Keiji's memories through her greybox.

(10): When Shepard was trying to find Tali, and the evidence she carried that proved Saren had gone rogue, he uncovered an OSD containing the files of a crime lord and Shadow Broker agent named Fist. He gave that OSD to Ms. Wong. A few months later, he ran across her again. Ms. Wong sought his help in planting a bug in Citadel Traffic Control to find proof that the traffic controllers were dangerously overworked. He convinced her that any evidence uncovered in this manner would be more likely to cost the controllers their jobs.

(11): Shepard had an unspecified number of unofficial and covert accounts, which he used to store any excess funds gathered from his unorthodox habit of scavenging, looting and blatant stealing. While several of those accounts were seized and shut down between 2183 and 2185—due to his status of being Killed In Action (KIA)—there were a number of off-books accounts that survived.

(12): This was a different warehouse district than the one Shepard's squad were set up in.

(13): Technically, they are the same thing. However, the kinetic barriers—colloquially referred to as 'shields'—generated by hardsuits do tend to be more susceptible to electromagnetic disruption than those generated by biotic manipulation of dark energy.

(14): One of my decisions for selecting that apartment was the view. A strange choice of criteria in hindsight, as I was often too focused on my work to actually appreciate it.

(15): Since the death of Nassana Dantius at the hands of Thane Krios, a furious internal struggle commenced to establish a successor.