Joker was slowly making his way through the crowd of refugees in the converted Holding Bay to the enclosed area where the few surviving batarians had set up shop.
"Are you sure about this?" Cortez asked, glancing at his colleague. EDI was following a step behind, ready to step in if Joker needed help, or offer assistance if they got in any trouble.
"No", Joker replied, carefully navigating around a mixed group of refugees arguing with a turian C-Sec officer. "But I don't have any better ideas. Do you?"
Cortez's shoulders slumped a little. "No, I don't", he admitted reluctantly. "Still... hire a bounty hunter? How are we even going to find him in this chaos?"
"Liara's contact said he had been seen spending a lot of time down here." Joker gritted his teeth, reaching out for balance as someone in a hurry shoved past him. "We'll find him. We have to."
In the end it was he who found them.
A fight had broken out between a batarian merchant and his human customer over the price of a heating unit. As people flocked around the two combatant, and with C-Sec officers hurrying to the scene, Joker felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. His heart jumped in his chest and he whirled around awkwardly, one hand on the pistol at his hip, and found himself staring into the mismatched eyes and scarred face of Zaeed Massani.
"What the hell are you doing here, Joker?" The gravel-like voice was rough and gave no indication to if the man was happy to see him or not. Not waiting for a reply Zaeed eyed the dark-skinned man accompanying Normandy's pilot suspiciously.
"I'm Steve Cortez, sir", Steve said, not sure if he should salute or extend his hand in greeting. "I've heard a lot about you."
A wry smile that didn't reflect in Zaeed's eyes played over his lips. "Yeah, you're charmed, I'm sure." Then his gaze feel on EDI, taking in the very feminine looking shape of her and the smile widened and became more genuine. "What's this, you got yourself a shiny new toy to play with, Joker?"
"No..." Joker cleared his throat. "That's EDI."
"Hello again, Zaeed", EDI said in smooth tones.
The bounty hunter stared at the AI for a few seconds. "Damn", he said, letting his eyes slide over her curves. "You're a walking wet dream."
EDI smiled, artificial eyelashes fluttering a little. "Thank you, Zaeed. Your admiration is... flattering."
Zaeed leaned against the container that had been turned into an improvised med-bay, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I'm guessing you didn't come all the way down here just to show off EDI's new body. Is this about Shepard being kidnapped?"
Joker's eyes widened. "You know about that?"
"Of course. I've kept tabs on the kid ever since we met up during the incident with the Volus ambassador." Zaeed was probably the only one in the galaxy who could get away with calling Commander Shepard for 'the kid'. "I heard a rumour that some rich guy wanted to hire the Blue Suns to take on Commander Shepard. I know Vosque turned the offer down. I didn't think anyone would actually be stupid enough to take it."
"Well someone within the Suns did", Joker replied.
"Shepard's not an easy target. Especially not with that turian watching her back, and the rest of her as well I assume. How the bloody hell did they manage to get to her?" Zaeed wanted to know.
"Garrus wasn't with her", Joker said reluctantly, anger and guilt burning in his eyes, making his voice sound thin and brittle. "I was."
Kaidan felt the L2-implant tingle in the back of his neck as he activated it, producing biotic energy that rippled over his body before he let it disburse. He was glad he'd had taken Jondum Bau's advice and upgraded the amp and sealed it before he left the hospital, despite the risk the operation had posed to his health, and to his already rattled L2-implant. Not to mention the hole the procedure had left in his bank account.
The dark-eyed salarian had been appointed his mentor after he had received his Spectre status. He suspected that after Shepard's involvement with Cerberus, and her continued arguing with the Council, they had decided to not simply set a second human Spectre lose without some supervision.
To his surprise he had found that Jondum Bau was genuinely interested in helping him acclimatise to his new role. Perhaps it was the keen curiosity that all salarians shared, or maybe Bau was in himself kind-hearted and fair? What ever the case, Kaidan couldn't have asked for a better mentor.
Kaidan let his head drop back against the rusty wall behind him. The moment of glory and fame he'd experienced being chosen as the second human Spectre seemed far away. His mind went to Shepard.
Had she felt the same kind of loneliness that he did? The same heavy weight of responsibility on her shoulders
No doubt she had, he answered himself. No doubt that was one of the things that had made her turn to Garrus. She needed someone who could ease the heavy burden of duty, someone who reminded her that she was a human being, a woman, and not just the famous Commander Shepard. Funny, Kaidan thought as he closed his eyes against the red tinted darkness of the cell. That the one person who could do that was a turian...
Joker, EDI, Cortez and Zaeed were making their way to Normandy's docking bay when a salarian in black armour stepped into their path. "Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau?"
"Who are you?" Joker asked non-committally .
"My name is Jondum Bau. I believe you know General Kirrahe." He took a step to the side, gesturing at the lighter-skinned salarian who accompanied him.
"Hello again, Flight Lieutenant", Kirrahe's wide mouth curved upwards in a smile as he gave Joker a long-fingered, gentle handshake.
Joker couldn't help but to smile back. There was just something light hearted about the salarians. "It's good to see you, General. Shepard told me she ran into you on Sur'Kesh. It's good to see you got out of that mess alive."
"We know about Shepard's "disappearance"." Bau said, putting bunny-ear marks around the word, and cutting the greetings short.
Joker's eyes widened and he shared a glance with Cortez. "You know?"
Bau allowed himself a small smile. "Of course. I'm a salarian Spectre."
"We came to offer you assistance", Kirrahe added. "The STG has had a small reconnaissance team working on retrieving some... items from an abandoned laboratory on Pragia. They reported seeing unusual activities in a nearby sector. Not to mention the active FFI making communication to and from the planet's surface impossible. That really got their attention."
"We suspect you are planning to free the Commander and wish to help", Jondum Bau said.
"Why?" Joker couldn't help but to ask.
"Shepard assisted me in a matter of utmost urgency not long ago, not to mention the fact that my protégé Spectre Alenko was a part of the extraction team under Garrus Vakarian's command and has failed to report in. We believe they too have been captured by the same group that holds Shepard."
"Yeah", Cortez said, speaking for the first time since the salarians' had approached them. "Garrus' team managed to free Shepard. I was at the ERV to pick them up when they were attacked. They were swarmed by the Blue Suns, they even had air support. I was forced to pull back."
"It is not a good feeling having to leave men behind", Kirrahe said nodding knowingly. "Shepard fought along side of me on Virrmire. It was only thanks to her and her team that we made it out of there. She held the line with me and I would be honoured if I could do the same for her now. A team from the STG under my command will back you up."
"What about the Council?" Joker wanted to know. "They've been on the Alliance brass to reassign the Normandy and leave Shepard and the others for dead."
The two salarians exchanged a look. Then Kirrahe said with a wide grin. "Screw the Council. If they don't like it they can shove it up their cloacas."
With Garrus' words still caressing her ears, Shepard slid the knife back into the sheath held against her body by the waistband of the dirty wet sweatpants. After having made sure she could reach it and draw it quickly enough, she settled back against the cold wall.
Now all she had to do was to wait for that one perfect moment. For her shot at vengeance.
.
I've struggled a little with this chapter I have to tell you. I keep constantly being interrupted by people, work and stuff. I wish I had the time to re-write it and make it better but alas we must move on. Expect violence and torture in the next chapter.