A/N: HOLY SHIT! Another chapter for Crucible Effect! I bet none of you expected this! Anyways, here's the chapter, sorry for so long a wait, and please read and review.

Nassana Dantius said, "How much is he paying you? Whatever it is I'll double it."

Sarah shook her head, and said, "He's not paying me anything. I just don't like you."

"So, you're going to let him kill me over a minor grudge?"

Miranda said, "I'm not sure I'd say that she's got a minor grudge. I think it would be rather substantial since you tricked her into killing your sister so that you could take over her criminal enterprises. Sarah typically doesn't like it when she's tricked into helping criminals. Especially slavers."

"So what! Aren't you supposed to protect people, Shepard?"

"What makes you say that?"

"You're a Spectre! Spectres are supposed to keep people safe."

"They're supposed to do the Council's dirty work to keep the majority safe. You aren't a part of that majority, Nassana." Shepard replied.

Then, just as Nassana began to respond Thane dropped down from above, broke the neck of one guard, killed another with a series of quick punches that collapsed several key internal organs, and fired a single round into Nassana's chest. As he lay her down on her desk and began to pray, Sarah said, "Thane."

"Prayers for the wicked should not be neglected."

"I don't think she deserved to be prayed for."

"Not for Dantius, for myself."

"I see." Sarah said, looking around for a moment.

Then, Thane said, "What was it you wanted to speak to me about, Commander Shepard?"

"You know who I am?"

"Of course. There are few who would be able to get a Cerberus agent and a turian to work together, and you are one of them. Why were you so determined to speak to me?"

"Human colonies are disappearing. We know the Collectors are behind it and I'm gathering a team to take the fight to them."

"Taking the fight to the Collectors would require travelling through the Omega 4 relay. No ship has ever returned from doing so."

"Everything comes to an end eventually."

"How do you intend to safely traverse it?"

"We'll find out soon enough." she replied.

"You mean you don't know?"

"I never said that."

"Commander, do you know a way to safely traverse the Omega 4 relay?"

"I've got a theory, but I don't want to share it until we've got solid data supporting it."

"I see."

"Who hired you to kill, Nassana?" Garrus asked.

"I did this job for free. No one hired me."

"Why?" Sarah asked.

"I'm dying. This was to be my last job."

"What are you dying from and is it contagious?" Miranda asked.

"I will speak more when we get to your ship, but I can tell you that my condition is not contagious, even to other drell."

"Good." the Operative replied.

-=0=-

In the Normandy's com center/war room, Thane said, "I will work for you Shepard, free of charge."

"Thank you, Thane." She replied.

Jacob then said, "Krios, I've heard about your skills. It looks like you'll be an asset to the team."

"Is something wrong, Jacob?" Shepard asked.

"I don't like mercenaries, and an assassin is just a precise merc."

"An assassin is like a gun, a tool of death for the one who paid for it."

"I know my gun won't kill me when I turn my back, I can't say the same for an assassin." Jacob replied.

"Jacob, we can trust Thane."

"What makes you sure, Shepard?"

"I know he can be trusted. He said that he'd work for me, so he'll not turn on us."

"What makes you think he'll stay on his word?"

"He will, Jacob." she replied, glaring at him, "And if you keep questioning my decision I will have to leave you here. Are we clear, Operative Taylor?"

"Yes, ma'am." he replied, walking out of the room.

"That was not necessary, Commander." Thane said.

"I can't afford to have a member of my team who doesn't trust the other members enough to not be looking at them more than the enemy in a firefight." she replied.

"I see. Where will my quarters be? I would prefer somewhere dry."

"The life support area tends to be slightly more arid than the rest of the ship." EDI said.

"An AI?"

"Yes, her name is EDI. She's a part of the team, even if she doesn't go down on ground missions."

"I see." Thane said, leaving the room.

-=0=-

Jack looked up from a datapad when Miranda walked in. "What do you want, Cheerleader?"

"I came to pick up a copy of the map of the Collector base Sarah made. I figured that it would make sense for me to become familiar with the layout."

"Why don't you ask her for one? Or did you two have a fight and break up already?"

"That's not it, she's busy making sure Jacob and Thane don't kill each other so I figured you would be the place to go to get one."

Jack fiddled with the datapad in hand for a moment, then tossed it to her. "If you aren't supposed to see this shit, you better not fucking tell Shepard I gave it to you."

"It won't be a problem, Jack." Miranda said, as she turned to walk out.

"Oh, one other thing, Cheerleader, you better be fucking careful when we go through again. Shepard wasn't the same after you died in the Collector Base."

"I'll do what I can not to."

"Good, because if you do die again, I'll find a way to go beyond the grave and force your ass back to life because Shepard isn't the same fucking person with you dead."

"Then I'll be sure not to. Dealing with you while I'm alive is enough of a pain in the ass."

"You're one to talk, Cheerleader."

Miranda nodded, and exited the room.

-=0=-

Meanwhile, EDI said, "Operative Lawson recently went to talk to Jack. I would advise going down and making sure neither of them hurt the other."

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Shepard replied as she stepped into the main battery.

Garrus turned around and said, "Shepard, I've found him. I've found Sidonis."

"Where is he?"

"You already know that." the turian replied.

"Just asking the questions again to prevent TIM getting suspicious."

"I already removed the cameras and listening devices."

"Better safe than sorry."

"Alright. He's on the Citadel."

"We'll go there as soon as we can."

"Thanks."

"It's not an issue." she replied, thinking back to last time when they'd found Sidonis.

-=0=-

The turian said, "Please don't let Garrus shoot."

"I won't, Sidonis." Sarah replied, looking to Garrus, and saying, "He's already paying for what he did. You need to let it go."

"He betrayed my team! He deserves to die!"

"He's already paid for what he's done."

"He still has his life. My team lost theirs. He needs to die."

"He's already paying every day for what he's done. Killing him wouldn't punish him, but give him a way out of it."

"Fine. Tell him he can go."

"You can go, but if you get on the wrong side of the law again, we'll find you and finish the job, we clear?"

"Yes, thank you. And Garrus, I'm sorry about what I did."

"Sometimes sorry doesn't cut it." he replied, and the sound of a single shot echoed even through the noise of the crowd, and Sidonis fell dead.

"Garrus, what the hell!" Sarah shouted, "You said he could go."

"Sorry, Shepard. It was the only way to make you get out of the way."

"Next time, if you say you're going to let someone go, let them go."

"Understood."

-=0=-

Sarah stepped out of the main battery, and was greeted by a man in black Cerberus armor and his entire face was covered by a Dragoon helmet. He said, with a synthesized voice, "I am the Illusive Man's observer of what is happening on the Normandy."

"I thought that EDI, Miranda, Kelly, and Jacob were supposed to be observers for TIM."

"He believed that they have been caught up in how you seem larger than life. I am here because I do not buy into the Legend of Shepard."

"Well, what's your name, Observer?"

"I am just the Observer, I need no name."

"I like to keep on a first name basis with my crew. If you are going to be on the Normandy you will have to pull your own weight and be a member of my crew. So, give me a name to call you or I will put a bullet through your head. It wouldn't be the first person wearing that kind of helmet I've shot."

"Fair enough. You can call me John."

"Well, John, you can stay in one of the sleeper pods."

"I would prefer to have a private room."

"We don't have one available for you."

"I seem to recall there being two observation decks. I would like one as my quarters."

"No can do. I already have members of the ground team who those rooms are planned for."

"I see. I will take the starboard observation deck. If any of your team would like it, I will leave."

Shepard glared at him, and said, "Listen to me, John, I don't care who you think you are. You could be my own father and I would still expect you to follow orders on my ship. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Shepard." he replied, "Where can I put my belongings where I can count on you not snooping through them."

"You can keep them in one of the lockers. Just mark it as yours."

"Thank you, Commander." John replied, the word Commander practically dripping with contempt.

"You're welcome." she replied, walking into Thane's quarters. She asked, "What can you tell me about your disease, Thane?"

"It is called Kepral's Syndrome, and it has infected approximately ninety percent of the drell from my generation."

"What causes it?"

"Rakhana was a very arid world, when the hanar rescued us and took us to Kahje our bodies have not been able to adapt to the large amount of moisture in the atmosphere. The moisture causes Kepral's Syndrome, which is a decay of our lungs ability to process oxygen. Eventually we suffocate."

"That must be painful."

"The final stages are excruciating. Fortunately so long as your mission does not take over a year it should not interfere with my ability to fight."

"Is there anything we can do to help? Perhaps find a cure?"

"The hanar are currently working on finding a cure, but it will not be found until after I am gone."

"Mordin may be able to find a cure more quickly. He's probably the greatest salarian geneticist alive at the moment. So, he might be able to find a cure before then."

"If a group of the wisest hanar scientists cannot find a cure before my time has come, then I doubt that Professor Solus would be able to."

"Alright. We'll talk later."

"Shepard." the assassin said as she walked out.

-=0=-

Ashley stood on the Citadel by Anderson, and asked, "Why'd you want to see me, sir?"

"You met with Shepard on Horizon, correct?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. Why?"

"You were one of her closest friends on the SR1, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Did she offer you a position on the new Normandy?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Why didn't you join her?"

"She's working with Cerberus. I'll never work with those traitors!"

"Shepard may be working with Cerberus, but she's your friend, Ashley, and she wouldn't do something like this without a reason."

"Sir, I think she may have gone insane. She was talking about time travel, creatures that look like reapers and created them who she'd spoken with in the future, and admitted to having fallen in love with one of the Cerberus Operatives on the Normandy."

Anderson nodded, and said, "If Shepard really is in love with a Cerberus Operative then that Operative will eventually turn her back on the organization for her."

"What if Shepard joins with Cerberus for her?"

"Shepard's not that kind of person. But, why would she admit to having fallen in love with a Cerberus Operative? How did it even come up?"

"Sir, a mechanic on Horizon was acting very strangely, and mentioned it, as well as how she had betrayed him and others by not using something it called the device. Shepard said he was possessed by something called a Leviathan, and if so, said Leviathan said that its species was the first, the apex race. I strongly believe that she is insane, sir."

"I doubt it." Anderson said, "But I suppose there's no way to be sure now."

"Actually," a cheerful voice said as Kasumi decloaked, "Shep's not gone crazy."

"Who the hell are you?" Ashley asked as she pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Kasumi.

"The name's Kasumi, and I'm a friend of Shepard. From the future, anyways. I'm not sure why she hasn't come to the Citadel yet. She came her pretty quickly last time."

"Wait, you're saying that Shepard isn't crazy?"

"Well, she's crazy about Miranda, but beyond that not really. As sane as anyone could be after what she's been through."

"So, those Leviathan things are real?"

"You bet. Those things are creeeepy. And I don't really trust them. There's something sketchy about them."

"What is sketchy about them?"

"They promised help on earth, but didn't help at all. And, they could easily have done something about Harbinger, but didn't. Oh, right! I just remembered something. We've got to find this lady." Kasumi said, bringing up an image of Maya Brooks.

"Who's that?"

"At least in the future she'll call herself Maya Brooks. She'll try to mess with Shep in the future, so I want to stop her before she can."

"Where do you think she'll be?"

"I don't know. I think she said that she gathered the dossiers for the mission Shep's currently on, so she could still be with Cerberus. I don't know for sure, though."

"Why should we trust you?" Anderson asked.

"Well, Dave," she said, "I know about your huge apartment here on the Citadel, so I could give the place's location up to a reporter that both you and Shep have a history of punching. One Kalisah Bint-Sinnan al Jilani."

"You wouldn't dare..." Anderson said.

"You don't want to risk it, do you?"

"Alright. I'll divert some resources to finding this Brooks."

"Don't use that name, just call her a Jane Doe. And don't say why either."

"Fair enough." Anderson said, "How do we contact you?"

"Well, I figured that Williams and I would go looking too, that way I can have a little chat with her."

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

"I guess I'll just have to tell your very, very, very prudish, religious family about your little girlfriend on Horizon. Well, before she was kidnapped by the Collectors, anyway. Lillith, right?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Well, when I heard you survived Virmire, I assumed that you would act like Alenko did, so I did what I could to find some dirt on you to make sure that you'll actually help Shep."

Ashley glared at her, and followed the thief out of the room.

-=0=-

Sarah stepped into Miranda's office, and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Good. Looking at your Collector Base map. I think that we'll probably need to get more people than we had the first time if we're going to be able to easily handle the human reaper on foot. Perhaps find a way to build more reaper IFFs so we can take a fleet in."

"That would be helpful, but remember, the Collectors are going to end up capturing the crew, so we'll need to get through the relay as soon as we can."

"True. We could wait to install the IFF until after we've reverse engineered the tech."

"If we did that, there might not be any colonies left to save by the time its finished."

"True. I suppose we could stop by the Citadel and pick up a large number of C-sec agents to help us."

"Might take too long. You know how bad the bureaucracy is on the Citadel. I'm actually thinking the best way to get more help would be to find a way to get Ash to quit being upset about my using Cerberus's resources to fight the Collectors, and get some help from some people I met during the reaper invasion."

"Who are they?"

"I was thinking James Vega, Javik, and Nyreen Kandros."

"Who are they?"

"Vega's alliance, Kandros is a female turian biotic who was kicked out because of her biotics, and Javik is, you'll see when we pick him up. I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise."

"What is Javik? A krogan? A quarian? Turian? Drell?"

"You'll see." Sarah said, grinning. "But, I was thinking the best advantage we could get on the way to the Collector base are several unmanned fighter drones controlled by members of the ground team to take care of the oculi."

"That would be helpful, but where would we store them?"

"They're pretty small, so we could store 'em on deck five."

"But what about the shuttles so that we can go out on missions before that?"

"Well, we'll make sure to keep them small enough to leave them out of the way of the shuttles."

"Alright. What has Jack suggested?"

"She's had a couple of good ideas. She suggested equipping the Normandy with a pair of scaled-down prothean particle cannons like those used during their war with the reapers, and that we have several safe-areas on the ship that have quite a bit more armor than the rest where people could stay and not be in danger of getting killed by the enemy's attack."

"Do we even have the tech to make that kind of weapon?"

"One thing I learned while hunting Saren the first time was that it's good to have influence in large corporations. I've sent schematics of it to a couple of large corporations that have agreed to give me some for free since I enabled their development."

"You're taking hints from Saren?"

"Pre-Indoctrinated Saren. I'm not going to help the reapers."

"Good." Miranda said, putting down the datapad she'd been looking at. "What have you been doing since we got back to the ship?"

"First had to make sure Jacob doesn't try to kill Thane, then went to chat with Garrus, who told me he's found Sidonis, then had to deal with some Cerberus jackass who thinks that this is his ship, then went and talked to Thane about his disease."

"How's he doing?"

"Overall, no better than when we picked him up last time. But, I think that with some data I'm gonna forward Mordin after we help him with Maelon he'll be able to focus on helping him. If not, we'll just have to hope he lives long enough for the hanar to find a cure."

"Do you really think they'll be able to find one?"

"Only so long as Javik doesn't become their king before that happens."

Miranda looked surprised for a moment then started to say, "Javik's a..."

However, Sarah interrupted her, and said, "Don't finish that sentence. We don't want TIM learning anything he doesn't need to."

"Alright. What do you want to do now, Sarah?"

"I think you know the answer." She replied, winking at Miranda.

The Operative smiled and said, "I should have known that." before walking towards Sarah.

Then, the door opened, and John said, "Commander, the Illusive Man wants to talk to you."

"What does that chain-smoking piece of shit want now?" she asked.

He glared at her, and said, "You should show your employer more respect, Shepard."

"I don't respect a megalomaniacal, xenophobic, genocidal, reaper-eyed, old man."

"Well, maybe I will need to make you, Shepard." John replied lunging at Shepard.

Sarah sidestepped and slammed him into the ground. She said, "There's a reason I was made the first human Spectre, John. I'm the best at what I do, and with Miranda's upgrades, I'm even better."

"You are nothing but a girl scout. You can't do the real work, Shepard."

"You really don't want to piss me off, John. I'm letting you live because you could be helpful against the Collectors, but the continuation of this insubordination will lead to your removal from my ship. Or your death. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Shepard."

"Good." she said, letting him go. As she walked out, she thought, 'Cocky son-of-a-bitch, I'll definitely have to keep a close eye on him.'

-=0=-

Meanwhile, John said, "You did not interfere when Shepard had me pinned to the ground."

"My orders were to help Shepard accept working with Cerberus by showing that those cells that she encountered two years ago were the absolute worst that we have to offer. If I interfered to help you it would have made her think that I condone disrespecting your commanding officer and would have made so that any progress that could have been made towards convincing her to stay working with us after the Collectors are gone." Miranda replied, but thought, 'God, I can't believe I'm saying this bullshit. Hopefully we'll be done working with Cerberus soon.'

"Yet you did not object to her insulting the Illusive Man."

"I have learned that it does no good to tell her not to, she will not listen to it."

"And the fact that you were accepting Shepard's advances?"

"What Shepard and I do in our free time is none of your concern." Miranda replied.

"If it will compromise your loyalty to Cerberus, it is my business as my duty is to keep the ship loyal to their employer. Cerberus cannot afford to lose its best Operatives."

"Well, if the Illusive Man thinks that he needs another Operative here to keep the crew in line to keep Cerberus's best, then maybe he shouldn't have put some of those who would cripple the organization if they left under the command of Shepard who is known to gain the respect, loyalty, and friendship of anyone around her."

"He believed that you would be able to keep the crew in line, and would personally not become more loyal to Shepard than Cerberus."

"What makes him think I am?"

"Your recent change in behavior. The fact that you left details out of your report about the Horizon operation. Such as the strange behavior of the mechanic."

"I believed that he was simply driven insane from what he had just seen." Miranda replied, thinking back about what Sarah had told her on the drive to the Dantius Towers.

"The Illusive Man does not seem to agree."

"Well, he's wrong." Miranda said.

"I doubt it. Just admit that your loyalty has been compromised, Miranda, so we can work on fixing that problem."

"Listen, John, I am as loyal as I have ever been, and if you continue to question me I will take this up with the Illusive Man. Are we clear?"

"Yes. I hope that one day soon you will realize what has happened to you so that you can be helped."

"Just get out of my office." she replied.

He nodded, and walked out of the office.

-=0=-

Sarah stepped into the QEC, and asked, "What do you want to talk about, Jacky?"

"First off, don't call me that. Second, I want to know what the living hell you think you are doing, Shepard? I told the Observer that he could have any room he wanted on the Normandy that was not already taken. Why then, do you force him to use a sleeping pod? The Normandy belongs to Cerberus, and the final decision on how the crew is housed is mine."

"No it isn't, Jacky." Sarah replied, glaring at him, while he took a long draw on his cigarette, "The Normandy is under my command, so unless you want this going like the Vietnam and Korean conflicts of the 20th century, you will leave the handling of this operation to the people who are actually in tune with what is happening and knows how to keep the crew focused."

"I know how to handle a military operation, Shepard."

"You don't know how to handle this operation. I am the best fit person in the galaxy to handle this, so leave it to me and everyone will be fine."

"You say that, but what proof do I have?"

"Look back to my last mission, the one to take out Saren, the only way to kill a single member of my team was to nuke them. And, we're better equipped now. We have more numbers, more powerful weapons, and there won't be a large number of geth vessels dropping hundreds of geth platforms in the way."

"You say that, but why should I trust you? You've killed hundreds of my agents."

"The members of the Normandy crew are safe from dying, because I promise you TIM, they won't die. I have the situation here under control. So, why don't you quit questioning my methods, and let me do my fucking job, Jacky?"

"Listen to me, Shepard," TIM replied, his eyes twitching and he slammed his cigarette into his ash tray, "the Normandy is MY ship, and you will handle it how I tell you to!"

"No, I'll handle it properly, TIM. I'm not going to implant them with reaper tech, like you'd probably tell me to. I know what I'm doing, so trust me, you won't regret it."

TIM was quiet for a while, he took a deep breath, then said, "Very well, Commander. I will allow you to handle the Normandy as you see fit."

"Good." she replied, leaving.

TIM thought 'Perhaps giving her some more freedom to handle the operation will get her to trust Cerberus more.'

-=0=-

A/N: Alright! Just a couple of quick updates. First, I'll be trying to update this every one to two weeks. I'd give more frequent updates but I'm writing two other things that I don't want to let fall behind. Also, I am thinking about setting up a little forum where you guys can ask me questions about my fanfics and the characters. So let me know what you think about that. And this isn't an update, but I'm really, really, really, sorry about not updating this sooner.