There is no such thing as unlimited trust. At some point, all beings with free will can, and will, betray you when you're no longer pursuing the same goals. — Rachel Caine, Unknown

Ai'a me – a trusted friend and unquestioned ally (Thessian)
GST – Galactic Standard Time
Inamorata – A woman with whom one is in love; a female lover (Italian)
NDA – Non-disclosure Agreement
Siame – "one who is all"— a loved one cherished above all others (Thessian)
n'Tuj raugh – Hell (Batarian)
Stropharia – manure (Batarian)

• UNNAMED BAR, LOWER LEVELS · OMEGA STATION, SAHRABARIK SYSTEM •

K'ath Din'sari had the good sense to keep her thoughts to herself as she stalked away from the table where Ugrolya Rarfenak was talking with a dark, surly-looking greenish-brown unknown with pale yellowish stripes along his crest. Rarfenak was an arrogant sack of stropharia; he had all but accused her of personally watering down his glass of Batarian ale, then used the promise of a fifty-credit chit to order her back to the bar to draw down an uncut glass of the beverage. The more she thought of it, the angrier she became.

Din'sari had left Khar'shan less than eight months ago, hoping to make enough money on Omega to further her education in cryogenic preservation; she had been disappointed at the lack of available employment for batarian females on the station … well, dignified employment … good paying jobs that didn't involve lying on one's back or crouching on the edge of a bed in a small room somewhere in the bowels of the habitat section, ass in the air, arms supporting upper body while some smelly half-drunk male used her to satisfy his primitive urges.

She glowered at the pair as she stepped behind the bar; placing the empty glass in the washer, K'ath pulled a clean one from the overhead rack and set it under the spigot to the right of the one used for the majority of the bar's patrons. Pulling the tap towards her, she filled the glass with straight, uncut Batarian ale. Before the foamy head overflowed the edge of the glass, she dropped a few tiny crystals in the liquid, where they instantly dissolved as she brought the head of foam to the edge of the glass. A perfect pour … bastard would never know what hit him.

With her smile—insincere though it might be—firmly in place, she carried the full glass of ale to the table, glaring at the unknown male as she passed him. Too bad he didn't stay … I might have been able to toss him as well, she thought as she set the full glass on the table in front of Rarfenak.

Ugrolya grinned up at her as he immediately hoisted the glass and took a long pull of the frothy green ale. "Excellent!" He handed the fifty-credit chit to K'ath as he took another swig from the glass. Placing a ten-credit chit at the edge of the table, he said, "Please, bring me another glass drawn from the same tap."

"Of course, Sir. Right away." K'ath grabbed the credit chit and headed back to the bar. This is going to be easier than I thought.

• PRESIDIUM, CITADEL · WIDOW SYSTEM — 12 JULY 2180 •

Raesia Tevos, closely followed by Huntress Nizia Tenir and accompanied by Septivus Vulpez, strolled through the wide halls of the council section of the Presidium, each silent as they thought about their just concluded meeting with Salarian Councilor Valern.

Attempting to look at the positives from their meeting, Tevos quietly spoke. "At least he expressed gratitude for the recovery of the League of One medallion, Septivus."

"He as much as accused the asari of having something to do with the destruction of the Crystal Scarab and its crew, Mistress." Nizia took no satisfaction in having correctly predicted Valern's suspicious nature concerning the survival of Septivus after the freighter's destruction.

Tevos scoffed as she replied over her shoulder, "I don't think having Septivus along with us either helped or hurt us when we told Valern and his staff about that freighter. The Salarians were operating in a region notorious for the number of people committing acts of piracy." Tevos sighed as they reached the guarded rear entrance to their chambers. "We relayed the truth, and offered our assistance in hunting down those responsible. Valern believes their STG will be just a capable, so our part in all of this is done, except …" Tevos paused as she looked at Septivus, "for an introductory letter for our guest to present to the Thessia Guildhall, and instigating our own search for the figurine that went missing."

At the mention of the figurine, Septivus hung his head for a moment before looking up at the asari councilor. "It is quite likely to remain in the Terminus, Madam Councilor, at least until it can be sold. I suspect the Blue Suns will acquire possession of it first, after which they'll try to move it … make a profit on it. After that, …" he shrugged his shoulders as his sub-harmonics took on a frigid tone, "there is really no way to predict which of many paths it will travel. There are a lot of well-heeled antiquities collectors out there; most do not mind if some of their collection comes from sources that are, shall we say … questionable."

Tevos thought about this as she moved to sit behind her desk. "If it reaches Illium … someone will be waiting there to intercept it," she declared. Looking up at Septivus, she smiled as she said, "With the information you've made available to us, we'll find that figurine, Septivus. Thank you."

• UNNAMED BAR, LOWER LEVELS · OMEGA STATION, SAHRABARIK SYSTEM •

K'ath Din'sari had successfully spiked two glasses of Ugrolya Rarfenak's uncut batarian ale, and the difference in his attitude was really beginning to show. He had actually come over to the bar in order to talk to her. There were a few other people sitting about, but none so close she did not feel relatively safe in speaking with him, using the power of the alcohol reinforced drug to coax information from him.

It turned out he needed to broker a deal for a rare piece of asari art; he had two days in which to find a buyer willing to pay the asking price plus sales commission for the figurine Captain Kryllê Ghydgryz—the surly looking greenish-brown unknown that had been talking to Rarfenak—was offering to sell.

That something so small, not to mention unsightly, could be so highly valued … apparently, Rarfenak felt he had a number of buyers already interested in the piece. Din'sari didn't know anyone that well-heeled, but she did know a member of the Blue Suns that would pay her handsomely for information concerning the location of the dropbox where the figurine was currently stashed.

Ugrolya's head was buzzing, both from the alcohol in the ale—which he expected—and the crystalline additive K'ath had been surreptitiously adding to each glass—about which Ugrolya knew nothing; the drug would metabolize in the unfortunate batarian's system and leave no trace of its presence. While he was under its influence, Rarfenak would willingly sell his mother into bondage if he was asked to do so. K'ath needed to be careful not to overdo it—too much would render him unconscious.

The longer Rarfenak sat at the bar drinking ale, the more he liked this female. She was cute, and her provocatively cut, figure-hugging clothing allowed him to see tantalizing glimpses of her body … the more he stared at her, the more captivated he became. That she was using this to obtain information he would not be inclined to otherwise reveal failed to register on his befuddled brain.

"I know a fellow that might be interested in obtaining such a relic," she purred while using her fingers to stroke the back of the thoroughly intoxicated Rarfenak's hand. "I can have him meet you here, or somewhere close by." She put on her most beguiling smile as she wiped the surface of the bar with a damp towel.

He agreed to meet with her potential buyer near the club called Spirit World the next day. Handing her an ID chip to give to the buyer, he stood up, clumsily pushed back from the bar, said good night and made his unsteady way out the door.

K'ath looked at the ID chip before tucking it into a pocket inside her skirt. Glancing at the chrono over the door, she mentally noted it was almost closing time as an automated voice announcing "Last Call" sounded from the ceiling mounted speakers.

• ALLIANCE SPEC OPS TRAINING FACILITY, MARS · 31 JULY 2180 •

Xiùlán entered the quarters she shared with Samantha Traynor and immediately went to her desktop terminal as she shouted Traynor's name. "Sà mi!"

A distant "Coming …," could be heard from their sleeping and bathing area. In a few moments Samantha came out into their living area and walked up to Xiùlán, where she planted a loving kiss on her partner's cheek. "What's happening, Luv?"

Xiùlán glanced up at Sam, unhappiness evident in her expressive brown eyes as she brought up her extranet connection. "The program, Sà mi … it's being terminated!"

Traynor felt her gut clench into a knot. "Terminated? Why in 'ell would they do that?"

"It'll be easier if you just read this … it's an internal memo to regional commanders … something I was only able to discover because of the training I've received here." Xiùlán turned her view-screen towards her lover and waited as Traynor began to read half-aloud …

"The 'Ø' vocational code in the Systems Alliance military will be discontinued as of midnight 31 December 2180, GST. The 'Ø' designates covert operations, with proficiency levels of '1' through '7'. The goal of the Ø7 Program, begun shortly after the Skyllian Blitz, was to train teams of highly loyal commandos and operatives. Unfortunately, the heavy psychological training and conditioning to which the Ø7s were subjected often led to mild xenophobia, particularly towards batarians."

Traynor frowned as she paused to glance at Xiùlán, who chose not to comment as Traynor returned her attention to the announcement. "The Ø7 program's first major combat operation was the Battle of Torfan, where Ø7 commandos committed some of the most brutal actions of the conflict."

"Well, isn't that just a bunch of utter bullshit!?" Traynor declared. "N7 soldiers were every bit as brutal! Who was that lieutenant, Xiùlán? … the one in trouble for killing all those batarians? Shepard? Yeah, Lieutenant Shepard! Seems to me the batarians wanted her head on a pike and her ass burned at the stake! She's an N7! How'd the Alliance get all that crap to disappear?"

Xiùlán shook her head slightly as she encouraged, "Read on, Sà mi … it gets even better."

Traynor returned her attention to the screen. "Okay, where was I …? commandos … brutal actions … Okay, here … Since Torfan, the Alliance has been attempting to bury the project. Most of the Ø7s have since left the Systems Alliance military, with a significant number joining the human supremacist organization Cerberus."

"What the bloody fuckin' 'ell, Luv?! Our people, Alliance trained and conditioned … leaving? Joining up with goddamned Cerberus? How can that be happening? How many? Does anyone know?"

"There are no hard and fast numbers, Sà mi. And this announcement doesn't admit to it, but I'd bet a month's pay the Blue Suns are benefiting from these defections as well."

Sam thought for a moment before replying. "I'll just bet that's where Joesiar ended up … I seriously doubt he'd fit in with Cerberus."

"You see the problem, Sà mi? We'll just be through the program middle of next month," Xiùlán said in a weary voice. "We'll get our promotions, our certifications, maybe do a few missions … then we'll be done! Alliance will close down the program, and I guarantee we'll all be forced to sign NDA's before they ship us off to wherever." Leaning back in her chair, she used the thumb and fingers of her right hand to massage her temples.

Samantha was quiet for several minutes as the reality of the news sank in. "You'll be assigned to a warship," she said sadly. "I'll probably wind up on the ground or at Arcturus. We'll get split up, Luv." Sam looked around her and lifted her hands to shoulder level to indicate their quarters. "Once that happens, …" her voice hitched as a tear slid unbidden down her cheek, "we'll hardly ever see each other."

Xiùlán rose from her chair and embraced her companion. "Sà mi, it does not matter." She applied a kiss to the bridge of Traynor's nose. "This program is the reason we are even together. Our love is a by-product of all this. And look at what you have learned here. And I have learned so much, especially from you! We've each been good for the other, and I cannot imagine how lonely I would be or how alone I would feel if I had not met you! Do not worry, Sà mi. We'll get through this, and we'll do it together."

Traynor melted into Xiùlán's arms and hugged her tight. "I'm always amazed at how you can remain so calm, even in the face of bad news." She pulled back a bit so she could plant a kiss on Xiùlán's lips. "Just another part of the adventure our lives have become, right? So, what kind of ship do you want to be assigned to … frigate? … corvette?"

"Haven't thought that far ahead, darling," Xiùlán smiled. "I just want to finish up here, see what happens next. You? Where would you like to be assigned?"

Samantha thought for a moment before answering quietly, "Vancouver Naval Yard. It's where some of the really cutting edge research is taking place. It'd be a good place for me to make a real difference in communications technology."

"Then let's get out of here … go get some dinner. I have to study for my finals, as do you. We need to be better than the best if we're going to graduate with a high enough score to receive a good recommendation."

• 03 AUGUST 2180 •

Yuán Xiùlán was beginning her final exam—a covert exercise under the watchful eyes of Asari Huntress Aglyna T'Sega. Xiùlán silently advanced through the brush and low trees of a simulated environment designed to look and feel like a semi-arid plateau on a high gravity planet, with low humidity and relatively high daytime temperatures. In addition to evaluating Yuán's readiness for actual real-world operations, T'Sega was accompanying Xiùlán in this exercise; it had been designed to foster cooperation between the human operative and asari huntress, a goal that had been explained as occasionally necessary in the field. As Xiùlán had already become friendly with Aglyna, all that was left was for them to quickly finish the task at hand—infiltrate an enemy compound and extract a political prisoner.

The defenses were real enough: VI-controlled turrets would target and shoot them with non-lethal rounds; there were a number of booby traps placed at random in the main path towards their objective, and a few Marines were patrolling the area. Xiùlán's training officer had taken great pains to explain to her that seriously injuring or killing anyone was not an acceptable outcome for this exercise. She was free to render them unconscious as long as she didn't cause permanent physical injuries … using a modified 'sleeper' hold was acceptable; slicing them in two with an omni-blade was not.

Unfortunately for them both, no such constraints had been placed on the Marines, leaving both infiltrators at a slight disadvantage in an unarmed hand-to-hand fight. The best Aglyna could do was envelope them both in a biotic barrier that would deflect weapons fire or physical assault from outside for a number of seconds; the downside was neither of them could safely move beyond the shield's influence while it was active, and Xiùlán would be unable to fire her weapons for the shield's duration. During pre-mission planning, they had discussed this and decided that Xiùlán would target the most immediate threat before the shield dissipated; it would appear to shimmer from within as it thinned and disappeared, allowing Xiùlán to either fire the instant her shot would be effective or charge her opponent and take him or her down physically. In the meantime, Aglyna would cover her partner's six while she was so engaged.

Additionally, everyone's training weapons were equipped with micro-computers that could sense whether the targeted object was organic or not; an organic target would cause an instant modification of the weapon, significantly lowering the velocity of the round while preventing the weapon from firing at anything not protected by ceramic armor. Attempted headshots that would have been lethal under actual conditions would be recorded in the weapon's computer memory, even though the weapon would not fire the shot.

Xiùlán remembered just how much a non-lethal round could hurt after taking a rifle bullet in her chestplate during a moon base exercise her first few weeks in the program. She didn't intend to let that happen on this exercise.

They had the building's entrance in sight; two Marines were standing guard there, each about 2-meters to either side of the hatch; neither appeared to be aware of Yuán's approach, which probably meant the several other Marines were patrolling in the vicinity. Xiùlán had no trouble spotting the booby traps laid to hinder their progress—most were small charges buried in the soil with combination motion and proximity detectors for triggers.

As she and Aglyna were well-hidden in the sparse brush and tree-like shrubs, Xiùlán chose a trap on the far side of the building; activating her omnitool, she hacked the detector to detonate the charge ten seconds after being released from standby mode. She picked out three others, one more near her first choice and two on the far opposite side of the building entrance; using progressively shorter delay times for each, the timing of each explosion when they detonated would hopefully simulate someone or something progressively disturbing the detectors.

She hacked each of the three detectors in the immediate path to the entrance, setting them to go off progressively at half-second intervals. Looking at Aglyna, she smiled and winked as she said into her comm, "Here we go …"

They activated their cloaks as they rose and began trotting towards the entrance. Xiùlán had a haptic 'hammer switch' in her right hand—a near invisible extension of her omnitool; punching the 'switch' released the traps from standby, causing the ones at the rear of the building to explode in her chosen sequence. The explosions did little more than stir up a great cloud of dust, which would reveal the presence of the intruders if they walked into it; they also drew the attention of the two Marines that had remained hidden while patrolling the downhill parameters on each side. Xiùlán paused just long enough to aim and fire one round to the left as Aglyna fired to the right; each of them scored a direct hit in the chest plates of their respective targets. Additionally, Xiùlán had pulled her trigger while targeting the Marine's helmet. The gun had not fired, as designed, and Xiùlán had instantly corrected and targeted the man's chest. She was credited with a kill for the head shot and a down and out for the chest shot.

Xiùlán swapped her rifle for her shotgun as the pair continued their run for the main entrance; the two Marines were moving towards their downed buddies when Xiùlán triggered the rest of the hacked traps, now behind their position near the entrance hatch. The clouds of smoke and dust drew the attention of the other Marines, who immediately turned and ran towards the dust clouds.

By this time, Xiùlán and Aglyna had reached the front of the building; crouching on one side of the entrance, Aglyna raised her rifle and quickly took out the pair of Marines to their right, then quickly re-sighted and downed the two on her left. While Aglyna was defending their position and watching Xiùlán's back, the human was employing her hard-earned knowledge to hack into the complex haptic lock keeping them out of the building.

Gotcha, Xiùlán thought jubilantly as the device changed colors from red to amber to green. With a whispered "Let's go, Aglyna," Xiùlán readied her shotgun, rose into a semi-crouch and opened the hatch; leading with her shoulder, she virtually leapt into the entryway, encountering a pair of mechs. As they both raised assault rifles, one of the pair announced, "End this illegal action or be terminated."

As the human and asari were under no restrictions concerning mechs, Xiùlán's answer was to target the mech on her right as T'Sega hit them both with an overload. Xiùlán's shot took the head off the mech on her right; T'Sega followed up her overload with a warp aimed at the mech on the left. The biotic attack induced a violent vibration throughout the mech's structure, causing it to explode within seconds … Aglyna's instantly raised barrier prevented the flying debris from reaching either of them.

Xiùlán remained in a semi-crouch as she left the entryway and led them into a small, windowless room. Their objective was in the center of the room, seated in a chair. There was a black hood over the person's head, their arms were bound to the arms of the chair and their legs were similarly bound to the chair's front legs.

Xiùlán made a vee with two fingers on her right hand, pointed at her eyes, then pointed at the prisoner. T'Sega nodded understanding and began moving cautiously around to the back of the prisoner's chair as Xiùlán carefully investigated the rest of the room. Coming to a locked door, she used her omnitool to hack the lock—this done, she looked at Aglyna, who nodded again. Xiùlán squatted beside the door and reached around the frame, hitting the door with the butt of her shotgun.

The door swung inward, only to be shredded by a blast of bullets from an automatic weapon of some sort. Xiùlán grabbed a grenade from her equipment belt, thumbed the arming switch and tossed it into the room. The answering volley of bullets was short-lived … the grenade exploded, destroying the gun emplacement and whomever was inside with it. Xiùlán backed away from the door frame, performed a combat roll to her right and unloaded her shotgun into the room.

She cautiously walked up to the door and peered inside; she sensed she could have saved her ammo block, as there was nothing left inside except blackened walls and a destroyed turret. Turning back to see how Aglyna was doing, she said quietly, "Let's grab 'im and get outta here."

T'Sega had inspected the restraints holding their prisoner in place. "We have a problem, Ai'a me … I am unable to see it, but my omnitool has detected a seriously powerful explosive device in the seat of this chair. It appears to be weight sensitive, so any lessening of load on the seat will most certainly set off the charge." Aglyna paused, then continued with, "Of course, since this is an exercise and no one is supposed to be killed or seriously injured, it may only be a pressure switch with a dusting of explosive residue to fool our sensors."

Xiùlán took notice of Aglyna's use of the Thessian word for 'a trusted friend', but chose to say nothing for now. She looked questioningly at her companion as she indicated the hood over their subject's head. "It can be safely removed … there are no trip wires. Still, we should exercise caution. And we are running out of time. Surely there must be reinforcements being sent here in response to the explosions and gunfire."

"Agreed. So, let's just …" Xiùlán pulled the hood off their kidnap victim's head, nearly falling over in surprise as she learned the identity of the reason behind this exercise. "General Park! How in the hell …?" It turned out their victim was not real … just a very realistic representation of the general's face grafted onto a clothing store manikin, which explained the total lack of movement, the lack of any attempt to speak, even past a gag in the mouth. "Well, that is certainly special," Xiùlán huffed into her mic. "I guess they don't want to risk blowing up a living person, huh?"

Aglyna was studying the manikin, attempting to find a way to deactivate the trigger for the explosive seat cushion as Xiùlán cut the plastic ties holding it tightly to the chair. "I am unable to see any method of removing this … person's … weight … without triggering the charge. What do we do?"

Xiùlán brought up her omnitool. "Only thing we can do. We scramble everything. Shield your eyes, just in case I'm wrong."

Xiùlán activated a small program Traynor had insisted on installing. It would freeze any targeted electronic device, including detonators. For this pressure switch, lack of a load would collapse the circuit; Traynor's program would electronically 'freeze' the circuit in place for forty-five seconds, giving them enough time to get the general out of the chair and out of the room before it could activate. "Ready?"

T'Sega nodded once as she grabbed the manikin's arms. Xiùlán triggered the program, then nodded at T'Sega as she helped pull the manikin from the chair. "Damn! Thing's as heavy as a human!" The pair struggled to drag the uncooperative body back to the front of the entryway, far enough from the lethal chair. Aglyna grabbed the manikin around its waist and hung on as Xiùlán reopened the main entry door. Shields and cloaks engaged, the pair dragged their burden through the door, expecting to have to fight their way through more Marines. Surprisingly, all was quiet outside the building. All the soldiers they had downed on their way in were gone, replaced with markers on the ground to show where they had been KIA.

Yuán was damned if she was going to carry the dead weight of an unconscious person, which was exactly what the manikin was meant to represent. She reached behind her and unclipped her personal ME generator; hooking the device to the manikin's belt, she activated her omnitool and set it to negate 80% of the manikin's weight. Guessing the dummy weighed about 80 Kg. in Earth normal gravity, she figured it would weigh about 90 to 95 Kg. in this higher gravity environment; 19 to 20 Kg. was much more manageable slung over her shoulder.

Xiùlán shifted the awkward but now lighter manikin so she could lift it onto her right shoulder, grabbed her shotgun and looked at Aglyna. "It'll be up to you to protect us, especially from the rear. Raise your barrier and let's move."

T'Sega placed a hand on the human's backplate, brought up a biotic barrier and said, "Go!"

As they started to head back for the brush, they heard—and felt—a dull thud from inside the building. "Sounds like this general was expendable after all!" was Xiùlán's only comment. The pair trotted back to the tree line and crouched at the edge. "We have to make it another 25 meters in order to finish," Xiùlán panted. "Give me a minute …" she gulped down an energy drink as she caught her breath.

Her asari companion had dropped her barrier in order to be fresh for the final dash, so continued to look around, keeping silent watch on their four-through-eight as Yuán caught her breath. After a minute, Xiùlán nodded, then stood in a semi-crouch and shouldered their rescued prisoner as T'Sega raised her barrier. Both of them trotted back the way they'd entered the area, only to be engulfed in a massive cloud of dirt, dust and debris kicked up by a pair of explosives buried on either side of the trail. Aglyna cried out as the massive amount of debris rained down on her barrier—fortunately, it protected them from both the debris and the twin shock waves; the pair was shaken but unhurt, so ran the final several meters to their egress point. Xiùlán carefully set her burden down on the ground, retrieved her ME generator and plopped down beside the manikin.

Aglyna stood bent over nearby, panting from the exertion as she supported her upper body with her hands on her knees. "Obviously someone planted those charges after we entered the compound, Ai'a me … but I do not know what set them off."

Xiùlán grinned up at her. "Trip wire. Oldest and simplest actuator there is. Virtually invisible, even when you're looking right at it." Activating her omnitool, Xiùlán sent a message to the instructors monitoring their exercise informing them of their success in extracting the prisoner. She was so ready for a soothing shower and a hot meal …

• TECHNICAL SECTION—DOME THREE •

While her lover was working her way through the uncomfortable environment of the combat simulator, Samantha Traynor was moving through a server compartment—actually a 90 by 35 meter room housing a large number of servers. As it wouldn't be good for students to be trashing the servers on which the entire facility depended, these were not hard-wired to anything in the complex except the interfaces in the analysis office at the far end.

She had been tasked with hacking certain ones, which she would have to find by scanning output data strings from each nine-server group. Sam had quickly worked her way through a third of the groups when she was struck and thrown to the floor by a power surge from the first server in a group she had yet to scan.

Shit! That did not feel nice at all! she thought. She attempted to get to her feet, only to be hit by another power surge from the same machine. Dammit! Looks like I'm meant to crawl through this section. That's going to really slow me down. Thinking about her situation for a moment, she decided to raise her kinetic barrier and energize her cloak, just to see if that made a difference. She was still facing the source of the power surges, so rose slowly to her knees. Having done this with no reaction from the server, she slowly stood to her full height … still no reaction.

Traynor cautiously activated her omnitool while observing the server. Again, no reaction. She quickly hacked into its processor and inserted an electronic worm designed to take down any defenses that had been intended to keep people from traversing the compartment. While she had access to its programming, she queried its memory to see if any of the other servers were similarly equipped with proximity defenses; discovering several more along her intended path, she disabled the sub-routines in all of them, then removed the evidence of her intrusion, disconnected and began moving.

Traynor quickly worked her way through the rest of the servers, successfully hacking each of her assigned targets. When she reached the end, she logged into the last server that had been programmed to defend against intruders. Sam reactivated the defensive routine in all of the servers where it had originally resided, then added the sub-routine to additional servers near the start of the test course. Bastards want to play dirty … She then added a randomizer that would make the program skip around to different servers each time one was activated. I'll show 'em how it's done! she smirked to herself as she removed all traces of her intrusion and disengaged her omnitool.

Quickly hacking the door lock, she exited the compartment and relocked the door behind her, then left to find the people monitoring her exercise.

• NEAR SPIRIT WORLD BAR, LOWER LEVELS · OMEGA STATION •

K'ath Din'sari remained hidden in the shadows across the poorly lit alley from the entrance to the bar called Spirit World. She had directed a very intoxicated—and heavily drugged—Ugrolya Rarfenak to meet a potential buyer of an ancient artifact; Rarfenak was brokering the sale for another batarian—Kryllê Ghydgryz, a pirate captain that had been operating in the Terminus.

Din'sari had failed to inform Rarfenak the potential buyer was a member of the Blue Suns; the Blue Suns would not pay for anything they could obtain by subterfuge—failing that, their backup negotiating method would be violence. K'ath did not care how they worked it out, as long as she was paid by one side or the other for setting up the meet.

She held her breath and drew back a bit deeper into the shadow as she spotted Ugrolya strolling towards the bar's entrance. He was met from inside by a surly looking human as he attempted to enter. The man inside, whom K'ath had seen when she'd talked to her Blue Suns contact, pushed Rarfenak back, keeping him from entering the bar. After exchanging a few words, K'ath watched in amazement as the unknown man held up an ID chip, apparently the same one she herself had handed to a big turian just three hours before. What the n'Tuj raugh? … They've made some kind of switch!

K'ath didn't dare get involved at this point—she didn't know if the human had seen her when she met the turian to set up the meeting, and she was afraid she'd get Ugrolya injured or killed if either of them saw her. She continued to watch the pair, realizing as she did the human was not capable of successfully negotiating with a shrewd batarian such as Ugrolya Rarfenak. After talking for several more minutes, the human appeared to shrug his shoulders as he activated his omnitool. After making several entries, Rarfenak's tool illuminated in reply … Rarfenak made several entries, as if to confirm payment had been received; he then made a few more entries, shut down his omnitool, said a few more words to the human, then casually strolled into the bar.

The gruff looking human produced a cigarette from somewhere in his overcoat, lit it with a tiny flame from his omnitool, then proceeded to pace back and forth in front of the bar as he fouled his lungs and the outside air—itself not the freshest for being endlessly recycled—for several minutes, as if he was waiting for … something.

The 'something', it turned out, was an incoming message on his omnitool. Apparently satisfied with the message, he dropped his cigarette to the pavement, looked around the alley and then started walking to the southwest. On a whim, K'ath decided to follow him, flitting from shadow to shadow at a discreet distance. The human had neglected to thoroughly inspect the ID chip he'd been given by the turian; K'ath had inserted a tiny transmitter in one end. It would allow her to track its movements for a full day before the tiny power cell died.

• ALLIANCE SPEC OPS TRAINING FACILITY, MARS — 03 AUGUST 2180, EARLY EVENING •

Samantha Traynor set her loaded dinner tray on the table and slid into the bench next to Xiùlán. Bumping her upper arm companionably with her own, she said, "I am so glad all of that is done!" She looked up at Aglyna T'Sega, sitting across from Xiùlán quietly eating her own dinner. "I hear you and Yuán really excelled at dragging a dummy general out of a bad place." Traynor smirked as she added, "Sounds like you eliminated a few Marines and kicked up a lot of dirt"

T'Sega studied Sam intently for several moments before answering, her violet-tinged copper eyes partially hidden behind slightly narrowed lids. "We did. I found the entire exercise to be quite … interesting. It would be better if the Alliance had more trained biotics among their number, but I discovered Xiùlán's abilities nicely complement my own, and mine, hers. I would consider it an honor to work by her side again." T'Sega took several bites from her salad before continuing, "I understand you really … ahhh, what is the human expression? … busted their chops? … with your programming and hacking skills?"

Sam blushed slightly, glanced at Xiùlán, then looked back at the asari commando. "They told me they have never … never … had any student score higher on that server intrusion test. They even accused me of sabotaging the network so no one else could successfully navigate the damned thing … can you imagine?!" Sam rolled her eyes in an attempt to look like the innocent school girl she most definitely wasn't. "They actually had the nerve to accuse me of fucking it up so bad their programmers couldn't fix the bloody thing!"

Xiùlán chuckled as she added, "They gave Sà mi extra credit for going back in and restoring the original programming so they didn't have to take the system down for a cold-start." She looked at her lover, pride evident in her expression. "I expect they'll all be glad when you're on your way back to Earth, my love, and happy as hell you've chosen to stay in the Alliance."

Traynor smiled as she placed a hand on Xiùlán's thigh under the table. "You'll be coming with me, Luv. We'll have thirty days leave. I want to see the South Sea Islands … spend some time on a white sand beach, watch the ocean waves rolling ashore. Just you and me alone on an island in the Pacific. Sound good?"

"Can't think of anything I'd love better. We'll also need to pay a visit to Shanghai, see my parents, do some shopping." Xiùlán put her arm around Traynor's back so she could pull her close. "Can't wait to show you the sights, buy a few mementos, sample the local food and beer. We'll have a great time."

Traynor gave Xiùlán's thigh a gentle squeeze as she smiled and said, "I can't wait, Luv."

• ALLIANCE BASE, MARS · THURSDAY, 31 AUGUST 2180 •

SC1 Samantha Traynor ran to her lover as soon as the presiding officer declared them dismissed. "Xiùlán! … Xiùlán, we did it! … made it all the way through the program!" Sam grabbed Yuán around the waist and lifted, spun her around twice, set her back down and hugged her tight as she kissed her. "Eighteen stinking months, only made bearable because of you!"

"Wait a minute!" Xiùlán was finally able to pull back and catch her breath as she returned the hug. She nuzzled Sammy's neck and whispered in her ear, "It's been a long twenty months, Sà mi. We'd have been out of here in June if we hadn't gone on those extracurricular missions in the Traverse."

"Ah yes, how could I forget?" Traynor's brow creased and her eyes looked pained as she thought back to their second mission. "I'd say we received a right proper education at the hands of the four-eyed bastards, Luv. Won't ever forget the pain they caused me."

"Believe me, I won't forget either … I damn near lost you out there, Sà mi, and I never want to experience that feeling of despair again!" Xiùlán finished with, "Let's go finish packing our gear … we're departing for Earth tomorrow morning … with any luck, there'll be no need for either of us to ever return to Mars."