Her mission on Omega wasn't going that bad. She got to talk with local self-proclaimed queen Aria who also gave her useful tips about the Archangel and Mordin. Then she and her squad were on their merry way to join the mercenaries to "kill" Archangel. Even though when she was redirected by some random Blue Suns member to stripper quarters it took all of her willpower to not slam the guy into the nearest wall and simply show her gun, saying it's way bigger than his.

Once in the mission zone, she got to meet all three mercenary group leaders and also, what was way more interesting, she found a datapad with information that all three of those mercenary groups wanted to attack Aria. Honestly, if she should pick who she wants in charge of Omega she is taking Aria, no questions asked.

The rest of the mission was a breeze, she reprogrammed one YMIR mech and electrocuted some batarian from Blue Suns - casual Monday for her.

Once they were finally at the Archangel's lair she was really excited when she found out that the famous Archangel is actually one of her former crew members Garrus. Aaaaand then she was significantly less excited when Garrus got hit in the face with a rocket.

Fortunately for everyone, Shepard didn't buy the brandy for Chakwas yet so she was completely sober and with the help of Miranda they managed to save Garrus's face to look just slightly worse than usual.

Unfortunately, she would swear she saw Jacob wink at her once Garrus was outside of the room so of course she left as fast as she could and instead went to read her emails. Among the usually boring things, she noticed one email that stood out for her. Admiral Hackett was asking her to visit Alchera to collect dog tags of everyone who died on the original Normandy. She kept watching the message, reading it over and over again before sighing and closing the terminal. She really didn't have the strength to do that right now.

So with one more deep breath, she decided to go to the elevator and to the main battery to talk to Garrus instead.

"Hey, Garrus!" She smiled as she saw the turian turning to her. "How are you holding up?" Just like that, the smile was exchanged for a worried expression as she pointed with her chin at his scarred face. "Still able to kick some ass with me?"

Garrus's mandibles moved in amusement as he spoke. "Even with just one arm, I can kick more asses than you Chloe!" He said teasingly.

Shepard laughed at his words. "Oh, it's on!"

Once her laughs died the turian turned uncharacteristically serious. "I'm more worried about you Chloe. Cerberus? Really?"

It made the commander sigh. "It wasn't my choice but no one else is investigating the missing colonies. Those are human colonies and the Alliance is not doing a shit! Plus you know - reapers are involved so…"

Garrus nodded to her words before sighing as well. "I get that.." he patted her back. "It's good to see you back though…even if you're with Cerberus. Good, I'm back here then because this just means you need Vakarian to get your back again!" His teasing tone was back, signaling that the serious talk was over.

Shepard grinned at that. "You've got mistaken! It's me who got your back!"

Garrus's mandibles moved in amusement.


After talking with Garrus she felt energized so she ran around the ship making her rounds once more. Once she got to the command center she noticed Sam was gone from her station. It made her frown and turn on her wheel to go back to the elevator, skipping talking to Jacob, and going to her cabin.

Shepard walked in just as Samantha walked out of the shower.

"Oh…hi! I…" She looked between the shower and then at Chloe. "I…I just realized I have a report to finish…"

Shepard's smile fell from her face, feeling bad that Sam was leaving just because of her and that she misunderstood their last conversation. "I…I can come back some other time, once you're finished. It's okay really!"

It made Traynor's eyes go wide. She definitely didn't want Shepard to think she was just using her for a shower or leaving because Chloe showed up. Actually, it was quite the opposite, now that she was here she wanted to stay really bad. "What? No! I mean…I-I…. I'll be back!" And then she quickly added: "Tomorrow!" She took Chloe's hand into hers and looked at her. "I just really NEED to fill this report right now…" There was something weird with her last sentence and it made Shepard frown.

Samantha softly squeezed Chloe's hand, watching her eyes for a bit longer before with a little sigh she pulled away. "Tomorrow…" With that, she turned away and left.

The commander watched after her, deep in her thoughts. It took just a few seconds before she went to the bathroom looking around and really her suspicion proved to be right as she saw a datapad, that definitely wasn't there before, on the sink.

A little frown showed on her face as she read through it.

Hi Chloe,

sorry for putting this here without you around but I don't think I could leave if I saw you in your room. I promised I will forward this message to you. BUT don't think I'm forgetting about the promised shower. I'll still hold you onto that!

Those words made the frown disappear and were instead replaced by a big smile on Shepard's face. She was glad that it really wasn't her who forced Samantha to leave.

Liara is waiting for you on Omega today. She will explain to you what this all means. At least I hope so otherwise I will have to make another datapad drop in your bathroom.

Just make sure Cerberus doesn't know. They might look all nice but once you stop being beneficial to them they'll replace you.

There was also an exact address where she would find Liara attached.

She reread it a few more times and every time her smile got bigger at the mention of Liara. The last sentence made her frown though, wondering if something like that happened to Sam. She stored the question about this for later and went to grab a quick shower before gearing up and going to Omega.


Fortunately, the commander came up with the plan in the shower. So once out of Normandy, she led Garrus and Jack towards the Afterlife club but before they could get there she turned to them. "I need something from you guys…"

Jack shrugged. "There are a few VIP lounges if you wanna fuck…"

"WHAT?" Shepard looked at her surprised because where in the world would that be the first idea on anyone's mind?

Garrus smirked, putting on his smoothest flirting voice. "I knew you dig scars!" He even winked at her. "I have reach so I hope you have flexibility…."

Shepard froze on her spot and all color drained from her face. Maybe she just should have taken Miranda and Jacob. She groaned and facepalmed at the mention of the Cerberus male. Who is she kidding? It would be worse than Garrus. "Not you too Garrus! This needs to stop."

Garrus's mandibles moved before he started laughing loudly.

The commander watched him confused before she once more groaned. "Sam told you about Jacob didn't she?"

The turian nodded while still laughing. "You should have seen your face, Shepard! I saw you facing the thresher maw while Ashley was throwing up after the ride in Mako and you didn't look half as scared as now."

Shepard hid her face in her hands. This was humiliating.

Jack to her credit just scoffed. "That asshole flirts with every chick on the ship." A little shrug followed. "Broke his nose like ten minutes ago…I bet even the Cerberus cheerleader did it because he keeps avoiding her "

Garrus frowns at her words. "I guess you mean Miranda?"

It made the convict roll her eyes. "Yeah keep up, scar face!"

Garrus was surprised by the nickname but still recovered relatively quickly. "Y-yeah…I saw Miranda avoiding him on purpose during lunch…"

Once again Jack rolled her eyes. "Yeah! She almost sat with me…WITH ME! I wanted to throw her against a wall just for that. Luckily for her the chick that has a crush on you…" She pointed at Shepard. "...saved her and dragged her away…"

Shepard was quite surprised by this whole exchange, but as she heard about the 'chick' that has a crush on her she cleared her throat. "Okay…okay can we go back to the point?" When the two looked at her questioningly she continued. "I need you two to cover for me." Before they could even ask she continued. "Look I'm about to visit someone and I would prefer if Cerberus doesn't know and as I know, you two hate Cerberus so I figured you'd be fine for that."

Garrus nodded his head not really minding covering for Chloe but Jack's eyebrow stayed up so the commander continued. "I'll pay for any alcohol you two will drink…just chill around and if anyone asks what we were doing back on the ship we'll just say some super important and secret mission for Aria. Got it?" Now both her squad mates nodded so she smiled and gave them thumbs up before leaving them in front of the Afterlife and going to the address Sam gave her.