Keta told Hannah she would meet her at hangar 56, saying it would be better if they weren't seen together. Hannah left Gem's alone, heading back to her apartment, feeling nervous and excited now that her meeting with Steven had gotten the ball rolling. She connected to Lucas through her omni-tool as she walked.
"Yes?" she heard Lucas on the other end.
"Lucas, I need you now."
"Tell me what you need me to do and consider it done." Hannah felt heartened at the sound of her friend's voice. She was glad someone she knew well was coming along on her mission.
"You're going to be gone for a while. Pack a bag and meet me at hangar 56 at 1430."
"Got it. I'll be there."
"And Lucas, the brass likes your new encryption. They're already using it."
"Awesome!" Hannah smiled at Lucas' youthful response. She didn't think Lucas would ever let himself grow old.
"Shepard out." Hannah ended the conversation right as she reached her apartment. She entered and threw together a few of her belongings. Then she stood in front of a full length mirror, considering her attire. This wouldn't be official Alliance business, so she didn't think she'd be required to wear her uniform. She pulled up her shoulder length red hair, twisting it into a bun on the back of her head to get it out of her way. She paused a moment, and a hand went to her neck as she fingered the silver chain she wore, tracing the chain down to the tiny rocket dangling from its center. Daniel, she spoke inwardly, gazing into the mirror, I won't let anything happen to her. I'll take care of her, just like I said I would. You can trust me. Hannah let go of the rocket charm, and turned to her closet, pulling out an assortment of comfortable clothes to take along and stuffing them into her bag.
Hannah headed towards the door, not wanting to be late, but tarried for a just a moment when a thought struck her. She sat down on the loveseat, pulling out her data pad and tapping a quick message to Jane.
Jane, I wanted to let you know I've gotten busy suddenly—you know the Alliance, all work, no play. I might not be able to respond to you often, but I wanted you to know I love you and I hope soon we can both get leave and hang out again. Take care. Your Mother, Commander Hannah.
Hannah reread the message, fully aware it didn't say what she really wanted it to say. If she somehow failed in this mission and Jane was assassinated, she felt the message should say more, go deeper, tell Jane all the things she'd never gotten around to telling her. She didn't want Jane to die and not know how much she meant to her, how much she would miss her.
Hannah stood up resolutely, pushing thoughts of failure aside. Jane wasn't going to die. She'd stop whoever was a threat to her daughter even if she had to give her own life in the process. Hannah tapped the send button and slipped her data pad back into her bag. She tromped to the door, exited, locking it behind her, and headed to hangar 56.
When Hannah reached hangar 56, it was empty except for an old man sitting on a crate next to several ships of a design she didn't recognize. The old man raised his head, pulling a cigar out of his mouth, and held out a hand to her.
"Hannah Shepard?"
"Yes?" Hannah asked, strolling forward and shaking his hand. He had a surprisingly firm grip for a man his age.
"I'm your pilot."
Hannah stared. The man had to be coming up on eighty with all the wrinkles on his face. Hannah knew humans were living longer, but she'd never met a pilot this old.
The old man's amber eyes twinkled. "I'm spryer than I look."
"Uh…I didn't mean any insult," Hannah apologized, understanding he'd read the uncertainty on her face accurately.
"None taken. I know I look worse for wear these days. But I've got the experience you need. Young'uns today don't have a clue."
Hannah heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Steven entering the hangar. He strode up to her, his face looking even more worn. "I see you've met your pilot." He reached out and shook the old man's hand. "Pat. Thanks for coming out of retirement."
"I've got some motivation," the man mumbled back as he shook Steven's hand. "I'm tired of spending my days playing shuffle board at the retirement center." He winked at Steven, who smiled at the joke.
Steven looked to Hannah. "This is Patrick Morales."
"Call me Pat, everyone does," Patrick stated, putting his cigar to his mouth and taking a long suck.
"I've known him since the First Contact War. You can trust him completely."
"Well, then, welcome aboard, Pat," Hannah said, hoping she'd warm up soon to the man who had left his retirement to ferry her around the galaxy.
"And these," Steven said, gesturing around the room at the five ships in the hangar, "Are prototypes. Small stealth ships we'd worked on a year back. The program was scrapped when the larger Normandy showed such success. Most of them were broken down for parts, but we still have these left. Your ship won't be big, but sufficient."
"We'll make do," Hannah said, staring at the ships in the room, excitement filling her. In a moment, she'd finally have charge over her own ship. True, only four people would occupy it, but it would still be her ship. "Which one will we take?"
Steven pointed at the one closest to her left. "The Agrippa."
Hannah ran her eye over the ship. It was miniscule compared to the Kilimanjaro and tiny compared to the Einstein. Actually, if Steven hadn't introduced her to the ship, she would have taken it for a merchant ship and not an Alliance vessel. "Marcus Vipsanius?" she asked.
Steven nodded. "All of them were named after famous military leaders from Earth's history."
The door behind them swooshed open, and Hannah and Steven turned to see who had entered. Patrick sat still, puffing away on his cigar, keen eyes observing the man striding through the door. Lucas walked towards them, carrying a duffle bag. He'd also changed out of uniform, looking much more relaxed in a pair of khakis and a red button down shirt.
"Sir," he said, stopping and saluting when he reached Steven.
"At ease, Lieutenant."
"Yes, sir." Lucas dropped his bag to the floor. "Which one's ours?"
Hannah pointed at the Agrippa.
"Not big, but I guess we don't need much."
Steven nodded. "I got you both leave for an indeterminate period of time. Mikhail's not happy about it, but he'll have to deal with it."
Hannah noticed someone else had silently joined their group, seemingly out of nowhere. Steven suddenly became aware, too.
"Welcome," he said quietly.
Keta nodded, her cape still covering her face. Hannah intuited she must have been in the hangar for a long while.
"I need to talk to station security," Steven mumbled under his breath.
"She's coming?" Lucas asked sharply. Hannah sent him a warning glance, but it was too late.
"She?" Steven asked, staring pointedly at Hannah, who smiled weakly and shrugged her shoulders. Steven took a breath. "I won't ask. You have your reasons and I assume they're good ones.
"We need her," Hannah said, amending Keta's gender to the correct one and addressing Lucas. "Why do you think she's here?"
Lucas answered Hannah, but his eyes were still fixed on Keta. "To meet with the admiral. But I thought that was it."
"Well, she's coming, Lucas, so lay off."
Lucas sighed and said, "Alright, Red, for you," but the contemptuous look he kept sending Keta didn't change.
Steven rubbed his hands together. "Since you're all here, I'll take you on board, show you around. I've scheduled your departure for 1530. Officially, you're a scientific vessel tracking changes in various stars around the galaxy."
Steven led the assembled group through the ship. It was as small on the inside as the outside. The bridge was the largest section. Behind it was a conference room that contained a circular table with a map in its center. A simple medical ward and engineering were combined. Only three rooms had been provided for crew to sleep in. Steven insisted that Keta and Hannah occupy their own rooms and directed that Lucas and Pat share the last room. Steven explained the ship wasn't designed for comfort. It was meant to function as an intelligence vessel, moving between stations and planets during covert operations. As such, it had been equipped with forward and aft turrets for use in an emergency. Still, Steven gave Hannah a direct command not to engage any other ships.
"Just don't get into any fights. Flee if you have to, but don't use your weapons unless it's your last resort," he advised as he left the ship, making for the door to the hangar. Hannah walked with him. When they reached the door and it slid open, Steven shook Hannah's hand.
"Find whoever wants Jane dead and I promise, we'll shut them down for good."
"Thank you," Hannah returned gratefully.
"Good luck." Steven stepped back and the door slid shut, Hannah hearing it lock behind her as she strode back to the Agrippa.
Pat had immediately taken over the helm, sitting in its seat, running his hands over the controls, becoming familiar with them. He demanded everyone stay out for the time being. He didn't want any superfluous noise to disturb him. Hannah acquiesced for the moment, telling herself she'd have to get used to Pat's gruff way. She, Keta and Lucas put their belongings in their respective rooms, then met in the conference room to discuss strategy.
Hannah handed the floor to Keta first. "Keta, you're the one who was hired. How do you suggest we proceed?"
Keta, who had dispensed with her cape and mask, rubbed her top eyes and then her lower ones. "Wait until they contact me again, then trace their signal." Her eyes swiveled over to Lucas. "I'm assuming you can do that?"
"Of course," Lucas came back haughtily.
Hannah lowered her head, sending him a warning look. Lucas raised his hands, placating Hannah.
"Then we head to the signal. It's the best place to start," Keta concluded.
"Sounds easy enough," Hannah said.
"For now," Lucas stated, his condescending tone obviously meant for Keta as he glared at her angrily.
"Lucas," Hannah blurted out, "What is your problem?"
Lucas thumbed on the data pad on the table in front of him, stood and shoved it into Keta's face. "This!"
"Ah," Keta intoned, a slight smile playing around her lips.
"Ah is right!"
"What is it?" Hannah asked. Lucas turned and handed her the data pad. He'd pulled up a file from the extranet. A picture of some kind of animal that looked like a cross between a rabbit and a rat with protruding teeth stared up at her from the screen.
"It's an animal," Hannah said, not quite seeing what the big deal was.
"It's not just any animal," Lucas huffed. "Read the description."
Hannah read: The grufax is a rodent found on Khar'shan. It is known for its lack of intelligence and tendency to destroy dwellings. Grufax are particularly fertile, mating almost constantly and able to produce up to twenty babies per litter. For this reason, they are killed by the thousands annually to reduce the population. In essence, grufax are unwanted vermin that make no contributions to the planetary environment.
Now Hannah's memory was jogged. Keta had called Lucas a grufax when they talked to her on the Citadel. Hannah looked up at Lucas' offended face and suddenly felt laughter welling up within her, amused he was so upset he'd been compared to a fertile rodent. She tried not to, but a giggle escaped her lips and quickly turned into a chuckle. Keta began to join in and soon she and the batarian were laughing loudly.
"It's not funny!" Lucas exploded.
Just then, Pat entered the room and his rough voice sounded loudly through the conference room. "What the…That's a batarian!"
Hannah couldn't help it. Her laughter heightened even farther, tears coursing down her cheeks as she stared at Pat's stunned face, eyes wide, mouth open, seemingly not knowing if he should grab a gun or make a run for it.
"Cool it," Lucas said, when the pilot reached for a rifle on the wall. "She's with us."
"Who is she?" Pat demanded, his heavy eyebrows creased in distrust.
Keta stood with her hand outstretched, but Pat backed up. Hannah stood up next to Pat.
"Pat, this is Keta La'ali. A friend and the one with the information that will lead us to the people that want to kill my daughter."
Pat slowly stuck out his hand, shaking the hand Keta had offered to him. He shook his head and whistled. "No one's gonna believe I met a batarian that wasn't trying to kill me."
"I am an assassin," Keta clarified, not wanting to be perceived as too soft.
Pat backed up again. "I guess I should get back to the helm."
"What did you come in here to tell us?" Hannah asked.
"Oh, yeah," Pat said, remembering why he'd entered in the first place. "Wanted to let you know it's all in good working order. We're ready whenever they give us the go ahead."
"Thanks."
"Yeah, alrighty then. You guys continue your meeting." Pat paced back towards the bridge, sending at backwards glance at Keta and muttering as he walked. "Batarian…I met a batarian…They won't believe this…I can't tell anyone at the retirement center…"
"So…" Lucas spoke, "about this." He pointed at his data pad.
Keta grinned. "Get over it."
"Hannah?" Lucas asked, wanting some help, a little defense.
Hannah sighed, looking to both Lucas and Keta in turn. "We're going to have to work as a team on this mission. I think you both need to bury the hatchet. Start afresh."
"Keta La'ali," Keta said, holding out her hand to Lucas, making the first gesture of conciliation.
Lucas considered, contemplating the batarian's slender hand, then held it firmly. "Lucas Cox."
Hannah crossed her arms over her chest, hoping her team could keep the good will together long enough to finish their mission.
The Agrippa took to space with no problems, exiting the hangar right on schedule. Pat was definitely a skilled pilot. Hannah felt almost no movement as he took off. He asked where they should lay in a course to and since Hannah didn't know yet, she told him to travel several kilometers, then let it drift until they had a heading.
Keta had informed Hannah that she'd been contacted fairly regularly, every three days or so. She hadn't received any contact in a couple days, so she figured they'd be in touch soon. Lucas had set up his equipment, connecting to Keta's omni-tool, ready for the call.
Waiting was the worst part. They sat around for several hours, everyone trying to alleviate the boredom. Pat and Lucas played a couple rounds of checkers on a game board, but Pat eventually decided to take a rest. He still hadn't quite recovered from the fact a batarian was living in such close quarters with him. He kept shifting his gaze to Keta and shaking his head in disbelief.
When Pat left, Lucas sat back, flipping through the news on his data pad. After a couple minutes, he threw the pad down and declared himself bored to tears.
"Red, up for some poker?" he asked seductively.
"No way," Hannah said, concentrating all the more on her own data pad. "I don't want to lose my life savings."
"Oh come on. How about we don't play for money?"
Hannah looked up for a moment. "I don't want to put up with you crowing over my defeat this whole mission."
Lucas sighed, picking up his data pad again and scanning through the news for the hundredth time.
"I'll play."
Lucas lifted his eyes to look at Keta. "You?"
"Why not? What else are you going to do?"
"You know how?"
"Teach me."
"O-kay," Lucas said, sounding like he wasn't too sure he wanted to play the game with the batarian, but forced to admit she was absolutely right—he had nothing better to do.
As her friends played, Hannah became lost in her own thoughts, skimming through maps and charts of the galaxy, refreshing her memory, and pondering who could be behind the contract on Jane. She wished she knew what Jane was up to, that Steven had been able to give her a small hint. She didn't know enough about Jane's life right now to speculate concerning specific enemies she may have made. She was pulled out of her long reverie when she heard a loud accusation fill the room, coming from Lucas.
"You lied!"
"I never said I didn't know how to play."
"You implied it!"
"You made that judgment. That's your fault."
Hannah stood up and approached her two companions sitting at the other end of the conference table. Playing cards and a pile of credits littered the table on their end.
"What now?" Hannah asked in exasperation.
Lucas pointed at Keta. "She told me to teach her poker. But she's too good. She knew beforehand."
"Keta?" Hannah asked. She felt like the mother of a little child all over again, mediating disputes and disciplining when necessary.
Keta smiled mischievously. "I can't help what he thought he understood."
Hannah's eyes widened as she counted the credits on the table. "Woah. Lucas, you lost that much?"
Lucas cupped his hands around the credit pile. "No, I didn't. Nothing counts since she cheated." He started to slide the credits back to himself when Keta reached out and gripped his wrists.
"I won. They belong to me now…grufax."
"Don't you call me that!" Lucas yelled out.
"I wouldn't if you didn't act like one!"
"Alright, both of you, I've had it!" Hannah shouted above both their voices. "Keta, let him take his money back. Lucas, now you know she's skilled, maybe you can learn something from her, ask her for tips or something."
"I'm never playing her ag…" Lucas began to proclaim when a sudden beeping filled the room, causing everyone to hush instantly. The dispute over the poker game was forgotten in sudden activity. Keta flipped on her omni-tool, looking down and then up to nod at Hannah and Lucas, confirming she was receiving an audio call from her contacts. She rushed over to Lucas' setup, sitting down next to his computer. Lucas took his place next to her, his hands on his computer panel, ready to trace the call. He nodded for Keta to answer.
Keta tapped on her omni-tool. "La'ali speaking."
"You're moving too slowly," a distorted voice strained out, eerily deep and slow. Lucas had funneled Keta's call through his computer's speakers so everyone in the room could hear the voice.
"Shepard moves quickly. She's in and out before I can catch up with her."
There was a moment of silence. "You only have three weeks left."
"It'll be done."
"We have a lot riding on this. You let us down, we'll come get the money we've already handed over to you."
"I understand."
"Shepard's heading towards the Attican Beta Cluster. We'll let you know when she's settled down again." The call ended abruptly.
Hannah looked closely at Lucas while he tapped his computer panel, his eyes intent on the screen. "Lucas?"
"Hang on." A minute went by. "They're tricky. It was scrambled quite a bit, bouncing all over the place…And…there!" Lucas pointed to the map in the middle of the conference table. A dot had appeared, lit up in red.
"All I could get was a station, though I have an ID number for the signal. When we get there, I can track it if it's in use, get us to a specific location."
Hannah leaned in to get a good look at the map. "Omega."
Keta snorted. "I should have guessed. We should have just headed there immediately."
"Omega? Great," Lucas said, making it clear through his tone that the fact they were headed to the criminal capital of the galaxy wasn't great at all.
Hannah had a little trouble waking Pat, who wasn't at all happy his rest had been cut short. Still, he stumbled to the cockpit and began the flight to Omega. He informed her it would take a while, up to a day at most, as they had to connect through several mass relays.
Hannah decided to try and get some sleep. When she passed through the conference room, she found Lucas alone, still tapping away on his computer.
"Where's Keta?"
"I think she decided to take a nap."
"I'm headed that way myself."
"Have a good rest, Red, you'll need it."
Hannah had almost made it to the door at the other end of the room, when she changed direction and turned on her heel. "Lucas?"
"Yeah?" He pried his eyes off his computer screen to look at her.
"Keta's had a rough life. She doesn't need you making it rougher."
"Oh yeah? So, you take the batarian's side, the alien you've only met a couple times over a friend you've had for years."
Hannah stomped over to a chair next to Lucas, plunking down in it and leaning in close to his face. "Seriously, sometimes I just want to throttle you, beat the crap out of you on the combat floor again like I did when I was your Lieutenant."
Lucas moved his hands away from his computer and pushed back in his chair, rubbing his neck. "Sorry."
"You should be," Hannah concurred.
Lucas sucked in a slow breath. "I've had something on my mind. I guess it's coming through in my actions, too."
"What is it?" Hannah asked, concerned.
"I contacted my son," Lucas explained.
"Oh," Hannah said, surprised.
"I figured if I was going to take on some criminal organization, I might as well let him know who I was before I died."
Hannah didn't exactly like the doomed way Lucas described their mission, but she understood his sentiment.
"And…"
"He wrote me back."
"Then what's wrong?"
Lucas sighed, running a hand through his muddy brown hair tinged with gray. He picked up his data pad, swiping through its screens until he found what he was looking for. He handed it to Hannah. "Read for yourself."
Hannah skimmed the long message. It was full of vitriol, laced with profanity and accusations, ending with an unequivocal statement that Lucas' son didn't want to hear from him ever again. When she finished reading it, Hannah looked up at Lucas. "I'm sorry." "Yeah," Lucas answered, looking down. "I failed him but good, didn't I?"
"Well, I'm sure a lot of what he said came from his mother," Hannah said, wanting to ease the pain her friend was feeling.
"Oh, sure, but I still messed up as a dad."
"Maybe now that you've broken the ice, maybe after he calms down, he'll be more willing to let you into his life," Hannah encouraged.
Lucas raised an eyebrow, obviously doubtful. "I don't think that's going to happen." He reached out to work on his computer again, but Hannah put her hand on top of his, getting his attention.
"You've been hurt, you've messed up. That's what I mean about Keta. She's been through a lot and you need to give her the same sympathy you want from others."
Lucas twisted his lips, thinking. "What do you know about her?"
Hannah stood up. "I don't want to presume to share her secrets with you. But I will tell you she was taken from her family at the age of five and taught to kill and if that beginning doesn't mess you up, I don't know what will."
Hannah marched towards the door that led to her quarters, hoping she'd left Lucas with some food for thought.