A muffled bang woke Kaidan from a restless sleep. Looking around the dimly light room it took the Major a few seconds to realize the eel was hitting against the glass of the fish tank. Still groggy from the half-remembered dreams Kaidan slinks over to the tank and hits the feed button. Grabbing a small canister he lifts the lid on the hamster cage as well and could swear the eel was licking its lips looking at the small rodent.

A small green light flashing catches his eye as Boo munches. If it had been urgent EDI would have woken him but he was up and might as well read it.

Remote hacking attempt from dorms. Figured SPECTER was secure but added new protocols to the rest. EDI has cipher for Normandy. Sweet dreams –Tali

That girl really was playing with fire. After her attack on Plava by all rights she should be under guard if not back in the brig but Plava had said to let her go. Kaidan understood what it meant to want to give someone the benefit of the doubt but he hoped the Commando had made the right call with the younger one. Impulsiveness was a sign of youth, but backed with a temper and a grudge it could come back to bite one of them hard, and who knew what tomorrow might bring.

Going through his access codes Kaidan got to work since he was less than eager to return to fitful worried sleep. Even with the war on it seemed there was no end to the messages and reports from both the Alliance and the Council for him to waste redeye time on. Resetting all his security logs he was working less than a half hour when an incoming message hit his local account. Strange, he thought it was after 0300 even the late shifts should be done for the night while they were planetside. Bringing up the message he was instantly suspicious.

Major I know you're up. I think I found something you'll want to hear. –Shar

Kaidan gave the girl points for trying. He had seen the shock written on the girls face as she had viewed what was left of Omega on the promo vid. She had not bothered to watch the ending and no one had seen her after he had bid the crew and the Asari teachers a good evening. Plava had given her status reports as if the earlier events of the day had not happened, even with the work restrictions Karin had insisted on the Asari true to her word had no intentions of taking it easy.

Before he even knew what he was doing Kaidan had his boots on and was heading to the elevator. The worry Tali and Garrus had told him about Omega, as well as the attack on Plava had not made Kaidan any less nervous about Shepard's long radio silence. And now the young would- be hacker was trying something, this was too much. Kaidan was always a patient man but he was also the Commander of this operation and was not about to ignore a gut feeling.

Hitting the elevator and rubbing his temples Kadian has a sudden thought.

"EDI is Samara onboard?"

"No Major, she stayed with her daughter in the dorms. Shall I contact her?"

"No let them enjoy their time together. Who is on board and their whereabouts?" He hits the lift's stop button before the doors open to the crew deck.

"Javik, Tali, Garrus and Liara are all in their personal areas, biostats indicate they are sleeping. Plava is in the war room.

"Doing what?" He blurted out without thinking.

"Unknown, the message she received was encrypted."

"What message?" Suddenly he had a sinking feeling about the whole thing. Something she had said to him earlier about using herself as bait. Without thinking Kaidan hit the button for the CIC and wondered if he should have stopped on his way out the door to grab a pistol.

At the security door, Kaidan began cursing himself. Where Campbell and Westmorland were normally stationed was an armory chest. Now it was sitting hauntingly bare. When was the last time he had stopped to notice the chest? Since Vega had begun arms practice? Had the arms master taken them or had someone more recently. The soldiers gut instinct that Shepard always talked about was tight as Kaidan crossed the final threshold.

The doors opened and with a sigh, Kaidan saw Plava with her back toward him. She was still in the same clothes as earlier and he instinctively knew she had not slept yet. He also noted her wrist was now covered in a white web like material that was probably like a soft cast. She tilted her head indicating she had heard him enter but did not turn or greet him.

"Shar I know you sent the messages. Come out so we can talk." Her voice was not harsh like he expected but he came to stand beside her and could tell the Asari was tired. Not angry.

"Shar. I'm here let me see what you got." He supplied. Initially he had wanted to have Samara come with him just in case things got ugly but Plava did not seem concerned. Maybe the techs little toy had a downtime that he did not know about. Or maybe she was just confident that she was the only one Shar really was a danger too with her biotics out of commission. Either way it was a stupid move and he would reprimand her about unnecessary risks later.

The girl dropped down from some ductwork in front of them. As much trouble as the little brat had caused in the past day he wanted to reave her from across the room but taking one look at her and he had a sinking feeling, his anger evaporating. She looked exactly like Plava had said, a scared, angry little girl.

"Major I wasn't sure you would come. I sent Plava a message but I knew she wouldn't bother you in the middle of the night. I think I picked up on something you may want to hear. And EDI might be able to help…." Her fingers went to her omni and Kaidan tensed in spite of himself. He noticed Plava flex her injured hand out of the corner of his eye as well.

"I have been monitoring private channels out of the Talons and since the rock went dark two days ago I hadn't gotten anything until the reporter of yours dropped that promo vid. So I did some digging off her files." She avoided Plava's gaze. Apparently ANN network was easier to hack then Alliance or local chatter.

She pulled up an audio file with no apparent vid. It was beyond choppy and heavily distorted. The girl really was grasping at straws. The jumble was incomprehensible noise of static and screeching metal that he could not even make voices out of. It plays for several seconds when Kaidan could swear he heard something but it was distorted and choppy. There definitely were voices underneath it all and that was something since every other channel had gone dark for over 36 standard hours.

Plava had her head tilted, listening intently before nodding slightly. "Explosions muffle most of it. This is shuttle chatter I think." She looks to the younger Asari who nods encouragingly. "I've been gathering it all but I might be able to take some of it out. It's still messy." Shar adjusts some settings and there is a voice that comes through that makes both Asari's eyes widen. Whatever the word is must mean something to the two who survived the escape from Omega but was lost on the Major.

"Okay will one of you fill me in? What is an Adjuntant?"

A/N I'm baaccckkk! I can't believe it has been almost a month since an update! I am soooo sorry! Thank you to all the new followers who didn't give up on me 3 And of course all the readers who have been with me for the long haul! I am winding down my summer job so expect at least another update sometime soon.