Chapter 9

Comm Room – SSV Normandy SR2

The operative let out a heavy sigh as the projectors for the quantum entanglement communicator began to build the room she had seen many times before. The dark tiles of the floor mirroring the ceiling, the massive star projected onto the screens of the back wall, and the imposing sight of the Illusive Man's seat right in the middle. And there he sat with those dimly glowing eyes staring at her from his eternal throne.

"Lawson. Do you have an update for me?" asked the intimidating man.

"Quite a bit actually," she responded, her voice shifting between frustration and anger. "As you can probably tell, she's been classifying my reports herself and redacting a number of important details before allowing them to be sent off. And even when I try to encrypt the files I send you, she somehow manages to peel the encryption away like a damn banana peel and redacts the files anyway. It's like she's toying with me by letting me send reports at all!"

Nodding somberly, the Illusive Man did as he usually did during these conversations and lit himself a cigarette. She personally found the habit disgusting, but she wasn't about to tell him that. "Shepard has trust issues…"

"But she doesn't. She trusted a batarian addict on Omega more than she trusts either of us," growled the woman as she flexed her fingers like she wanted to strangle someone.

"Shepard is an anomaly for a reason. In the millions of potential cycles of extinction from the Reapers, I doubt there's been even a handful of individuals capable of destroying one of them," said the man as he leaned forward in his chair. "People like Shepard are born all the time, but they almost never live up to their true potential. We were lucky in this cycle to have found her. She had the right drive, the right history, the right training, and the right position to be able to do the impossible and kill a Reaper."

Miranda wanted to roll her eyes, but she knew better than to do so at him. "I know she's good at her job. In fact…" she said, practically spitting the next few words out. "She's incredible at it. I've seen her in action, and I doubt many would have been up to the task of dealing with Aria and those gangs in the way she did."

He nodded solemnly again. "I understand it's frustrating having to deal with her authority. And I'm no happier than you are about being left in the dark about the comings and goings of the Normandy. But the fact is that in order for us to get results, we have to give her room to stretch. And as long as she gets those results, I'm fine with accommodating her style of command."

Miranda reached up and rubbed her throbbing head with one finger as she tried to fight off a headache. "But…" he groaned softly. "She's an anomaly as far as luck goes, we know she had the perfect circumstances for being able to destroy Sovereign. But people don't need all of that when they can learn by example. If she's so great, then why isn't everyone doing what she's doing? Why isn't everyone leading the way she leads?"

The Illusive Man's gaze narrowed and Miranda could feel a small chill in her back as he tilted his head slightly. She suddenly realized she had unintentionally included him in that question as well. "People praise Shepard's leadership because she gets results. But keep in mind, Shepard is a prime example that we also get results. Shepard's leadership is needed because she can combat Reapers. We are needed for what comes after. Never forget that, Lawson."

She let out a breath and nodded. "Understood, sir."

"Now… tell me how things went on Omega," he ordered, returning to his relaxed demeanor.

Bio Lab – SSV Normandy SR2

"Fantastic. Always worked in grimy environments. Glare of data pads, lit by lamps, smell of lunch and pollution hanging in the air. Love to work in such conditions, but always love that new lab smell. Overwhelming," said the salarian as he wandered through the extensive laboratory.

Jacob chuckled to himself as he followed a frazzled Shepard and hyperactive Mordin through the tour. "Glad to hear it. Cerberus provided you with all the latest tools and technology you could ask for. We're also having the specimens transported from storage as we speak."

"Excellent! Excited to get started," said the salarian as he eyed Jacob. "Curious you work for Cerberus, but not so stiff when talking with non-humans."

Shepard saw the light-hearted smirk drop from Jacob's face in surprise. She felt herself smirk a little at the remark. The soldier shrugged lightly. "I understand Cerberus can seem like it hates aliens at times…"

"Hate too strong of a word," said the salarian as he tapped his cheek gently. "Cerberus cares little for other species, classifies them as less important. Less worth saving from destruction. More apt to say Cerberus thinks of other species as lesser. Still in habit of referring to them as "aliens" to their face."

A look of realization crossed Jacob's face and he raised his hands defensively. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Nonsense. Just joshing you. Giving hard time," said the salarian playfully as Jacob relaxed.

The soldier looked from Mordin down to Shepard who was holding back a laugh. "Damn Shepard, you both about gave me agida."

"Can learn to work with people. People important, organizations… not so much. But must understand, Cerberus a threat. Even more so with good people as apologists," said Mordin as he patted Jacob on the shoulder gently.

"Understood, doctor," said Taylor as he sighed. "I just want you to know that I have the utmost respect for you and your work."

"Not many know much of my work. STG, salarian government espionage, top-level clearance at one point. Retired now. Mostly volunteer work, as seen on Omega. Happy to help for such an important cause," said the salarian as he rambled jovially. "Heard colony abductions saw no signs of battle, no scars of war on infrastructure. Colonists vanish without trace. Curious if any theories are available on how this is possible."

"Small insect-like bio samples were taken from the colony of Freedom's Progress, doctor. They should be arriving shortly," came the voice of EDI over the lab's interecom.

The salarian looked around for a moment as if to see where the voice came from before going off into another process of elimination. "Unusual. Not yeoman, no need to be included in conversation. Synthesized voice, inflections of emotion, spoke without command. Maybe? No, perhaps… have to ask. Is that an AI?" he said as he gave Shepard an almost gleeful look.

Nodding firmly, Shepard looked up at the small holographic orb as it appeared above one of the tables. "The Normandy has an AI named EDI aboard."

"Fascinating! Eager to speak with you at length when have free time," said the salarian as he paced excitedly again.

"It would be my pleasure, Doctor Solus," said EDI in her monotonous voice.

"Well doctor, I'll leave you to your work. We're heading to the Citadel, so if there's any accommodations you need, inform EDI and I'll do what I can to make you comfortable," said Shepard with a smile, her third impression of the man making her like him a lot more.

"Music player, if you wouldn't mind. Don't like to store music on omni-tool. Helps with thinking, inspires creativity," he said with a grin.

"Understood," said the spectre as she headed for the elevator.

Human Embassy – Presidium – Citadel

"You weren't kidding about things changing here," said Garrus as he looked around the embassies curiously.

Shepard eyed the turian, who currently had his talons stuffed in his stomach pockets, making it look like he was wearing a hoodie. "You haven't been to the Citadel since the changes?"

"I left C-Sec shortly after you were declared dead. C-Sec almost immediately reacted to my presence with hostility rather than welcoming me back," he said with a sigh. "I guess being close to a spectre kinda sours law enforcement."

"Executor Pallin wasn't exactly a big fan of spectres when I talked to him before becoming one. I don't imagine many lower ranking cops like us much either," she said as she leaned against the counter.

Reaching up to itch his still bandaged face, he simply nodded. "A tale as old as time. Told to me over and over by my father," he said sourly. "C-Sec tends to think that spectres have too much freedom to do as they please. And I can't exactly say they're wrong with how the whole Saren case was treated."

"They're right," she said, getting an odd look from the turian. "Spectres have almost no accountability. And we've seen how easily the Council wave off war crimes as "minor indiscretions" for who knows how many of them," she said using air quotes.

"You don't like the freedom?" asked Garrus curiously.

She shook her head. "I love the freedom; but it's give and take. There's a line you eventually approach when it comes to becoming a spectre. It's the line of necessity."

"I'm not sure what you mean," said the turian as his remaining mandible twitched.

"Think of it like this. When you're tasked with saving the galaxy, there are some situations where it's necessary to step over the line. If a terrorist has a button that'll program the Citadel to explode killing millions and they have a history of violence and social media posts about being remembered forever, and they've taken a hostage, as gut-wrenching as it is, sometimes you have to take that shot."

"Wait… but with Doctor Saleon you-" he started, his eyes narrowing.

"Every time someone crosses that line, Garrus, the next time they approach it, it gets easier and easier to cross until one day the line just vanishes, and thee person stops looking for other solutions. That's what happened with Saren before Sovereign turned him, and it's what happened to you," she said nodding towards him.

"Me?" he asked incredulously.

"The things you told me leading up to asking me to go after Saleon painted a clear enough picture. Abusing suspects, breach of the right to privacy and bodily autonomy, and more I'm sure. The line for you was back before you ever had evidence on Doctor Saleon. And you had crossed that line so many times that executing Saleon was considered justice to you," she said, her expression placid to keep him from thinking she was judging him harshly. "That moment on his ship when you had the gun to his head, you stepped back over that line that you had forgotten was there. Even if you were angry about it, deep down you knew that if you pulled the trigger the line would have vanished for good."

"I see…" he said as he looked down at the ground for a moment. "So you're saying that you're always aware of the line, and you know when to step over it."

"Sort of," she said with a shrug. "It isn't mathematically possible to be aware of all variables without enormous amounts of hindsight, obviously. But," she said as she pointed her finger at him. "I always avoid approaching the line unless I have to. And when I'm forced to, it's always the hardest decision I have to make." She had a somber expression on her face as all of her career decisions ran through her head. "I'm aware that everyone doesn't remember the way I do. And that's why positions of power need unbiased accountability. Because the Council sure as hell isn't making sure all of their operatives have a conscience."

Garrus grinned at her. "Maybe you should be the new leader of the Spectres," he said playfully.

"Right. Can't think of a faster way to paint a target on my back than to put the newest spectre from the newest Council species in charge of all of their operatives," she said giving him a cheeky eye roll.

"You could probably take them all," he said as he flexed his neck. "I mean, you could with two human Alliance members, a former C-Sec officer, an archeologist, a ship engineer, and a krogan at your back."

"Let's hope it never comes to that," she said as she shook her head.

Finally, the door to the embassy opened and ambassador Korvus-Jamal waved her in. "We're ready for you, Spectre."

Shepard nodded to Garrus who opened his omni-tool as she headed for the door. "What did you need… me… for…" she said questioningly as she eyed everyone in the room. The ambassador stood by the door, but also what seemed like half the brass from Alliance High Command. Anderson, Udina, Admiral Hackett, and a dozen or so other admirals including Mikhailovitch who she remembered Ash verbally thrashing out on the docks. "Did I interrupt something?"

"Not exactly," said Anderson as he stepped up to her with a smile. "See, we're all here because of insubordination."

She looked at him oddly before looking at everyone else. Then her eyes focused on one face she knew very well. Only four people beat her father in Alliance seniority. Anderson was one of them, and two of the others weren't in the room. But directly in front of her stood the last, Fleet Admiral Freeman, who stood at the very top of the Alliance officer ladder. Her brows furrowed and she clenched her fist. Anderson would never lead her into any kind of trap, so she doubted this insubordination issue had anything to do with her. "Context please?"

"You see," started the ambassador as she stepped away from the door, the seal locking behind her. "Fleet Admiral Freeman here decided to hand down an order to us lowly civilians on the Citadel that we are to bar you access to the Citadel until your association with Cerberus has ended."

Shepard tilted her head as she eyed the fleet admiral curiously. "Is that right?"

"That's right," continued Anderson as he stepped forward. "And when the civilian sector told him where he can put his order, he decided to order those of us in the Alliance Military to do it for him. And that's were the insubordination comes in. You see," he said as he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I told him no. Then he decided to go to Admiral Hackett, and Captain Shepard, and anyone he thought would listen."

Admiral Hackett stepped in this time. "We all told him no, some more creatively than others. We told him if he had an order for you, to hand it to you himself. After all, you technically outrank all of us now."

Shepard smirked slightly as she looked at all of the admirals and captains behind Freeman. By now the room had separated into two sides. The side with her, and the side against here. She was slightly surprised to see even Mikhailovitch had come to her side. "Is that what this is? Your hype crew to help build your courage to stand up to me?"

The man glared fiercely as he stepped forward. "Spectre, with all due respect-"

"I think we're beyond respect here, Fleet Admiral," said Shepard as she cut him off. "You tried to strongarm half the humans on the Citadel into giving me an order you know they can't enforce. So, drop the formalities and tell me what you want before I just waste your trip here and leave early."

The man was as old as her father, but he looked half the age. That didn't stop him from snorting and weakly hiding his expression of rage. "Until the time when you have ended your partnership with Cerberus, we would rather you didn't make your presence in Citadel Space common."

"And if I say no?" she asked curiously, getting a sigh from some of the admirals behind Freeman. "What are you gonna do? Demote me? Discharge me?" she said with a bewildered smile. "Are you gonna give me an article 15 and dock my pay?"

Suddenly, one of the admirals, a man by the name of Terrance, burst out at her. "Who the hell do you think you are, Commander!" snapped the man as he rushed forward and pointed in her face.

Without even blinking, she chuckled amusedly. "Twice the officer you are with half the rank, Terrance. Any more questions?"

The man looked like he was ready to draw his fist back and hit her, but a combination of Hackett stepping up next to her and Anderson's voice dissuaded him. "Admiral, I'll say this once…" started Anderson as he stood on her other side opposite of her father. "If you ever approach Shepard like that again, there's no court martial committee in the galaxy that'll stop me from making you regret it."

"Are you threatening an admiral?" snapped Terrance.

But Hackett's voice cut back. "Are you? Because he speaks for me as well."

"Enough!" snapped Shepard, every eye in the room now on her. She stepped forward slightly, causing everyone to back away and give her space. Her eyes locked on Freeman. "Fleet Admiral, I get what this little party is about, alright?" she said motioning towards the men gathered behind him. "You want people to forget Cerberus exists. You don't want people who know about Cerberus to see me walking around with rumors flying about because you want to keep your dark little secrets under wraps."

"This isn't about making people forget," started the admiral. "It's about association! We don't want one of our former operatives to be seen working with Cerberus. It makes the Alliance look like it's working with terrorists!"

Before speaking again, Shepard turned her head towards the ambassador. "You have top secret clearance, right Ambassador?" Getting a nod, the redhead turned back to the admiral and shook her head. "No, Freeman. Having Cerberus operatives with an active top secret clearance makes the Alliance look like it's working with terrorists. Having an employee turnover of two percent per year from Alliance to Cerberus makes it look like you're working with terrorists." Eyes behind Freeman began to widen slightly as she took another step forward. "Having Cerberus supporters among the admirals of the Alliance makes it look like you're working with terrorists."

The silence in the room after her last statement made it seem like they were in the vacuum of space. She didn't know for sure who among them supported the organization, but she knew some did. Now, they thought she knew who they were. "You can't be serious."

"The Alliance tried to shut me down once, Fleet Admiral. When I have to deal with you all, I'm always dead serious," she said as she stood directly in front of him, as if urging him to try anything. "The Systems Alliance has a bad habit of trying to dodge repercussions for the things it does, for the things it allows. And if you think for a zeptosecond that I'm going to be the Alliance's loyal hound, then you're too stupid to be in charge. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," growled the Fleet Admiral before he turned and headed for the door with his group following him. The few officers that had joined her half of the kerfuffle greeted her, said their goodbyes, then left as well. Within five minutes, it was just her, Anderson, the ambassador, and her father.

Anderson shook his head and sighed as he made his way over to his desk. "The Alliance used to stand for something greater. Now it's just a bunch of bureaucratic bullshit."

The ambassador too went to her desk and chuckled at the man. "I'm hiring on the civilian side if you're looking at retiring."

"I don't think I could leave the Alliance. As much as I hate all of this political theater and authoritative squabbles, it's still my home," said the captain as he sat down and spun his chair towards Shepard. "Sorry to get you involved in all of that, Jane."

"Not like you had any choice," she said with a shrug. "He wasn't going to take no for an answer unless it came straight from my mouth."

Her father stepped forward in his usual militaristic stance. "I should get going as well. You've started a bit of a fire that I'll have to keep in control for a while," he said with no hint of malice in his voice.

Shepard looked at him and nodded firmly. "Hell…" she growled as she heard her omni-tool ping. Pulling it up, she eyed the icon for another email. Tapping it, it opened and revealed an obnoxiously glowing message. HAVING A BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE? IS YOUR OLD BOSS GIVING YOU A HARD TIME? Enjoy the rest of your day with conversation and tea by entering the password now! She glared at the message. "What the everloving…?"

"Something wrong, Shepard?" asked Anderson curiously as he looked up from his desk.

"No… just spam," she said as she put the email away.

The man chuckled and shook his head as he went back to his computer. "Try not to burn down half the Citadel when you figure out where it came from."

She smirked and two-finger saluted them both. "You got it. I'll see you two later. I've got a lot of shit on my plate to take care of."

Songtan South – Zakera Ward – Citadel

"Trust me when I tell you, she's not going to take no for an answer. We've already been through this scenario once with another quarian," said Garrus as he patiently tapped the table in the restaurant.

"But… the food here is so expensive! You couldn't possibly-" started Lia'Vael as she examined the menu through her visor.

"As I said, your best option is to pick something you think you'll like, then promise to yourself to pay her back later, then forget about the whole thing when you realize what you're actually in for by being on the Normandy," said Garrus playfully.

Lia looked up from the menu curiously. "What I'm in for? What do you mean? What happened?"

"The last Normandy exploded in the upper atmosphere of a planet with her on it," said the turian as he tilted his head towards Shepard. "Trust me, paying for a meal until your own credits start getting comfortable isn't that big of a deal."

"Keelah! How did you survive?" asked the quarian, all but abandoning the menu until Garrus picked it up and slid it back into her hands.

"I screamed at the planet so forcefully that it slowed my fall allowing me to land safely," said Shepard as most of her attention was focused on her omni-tool.

Lia looked between Garrus and Shepard for a moment. "Surely not…"

"Oh, right…" started Garrus as he leaned back in his turian chair. "Something else you're going to have to get used to; human sarcasm."

Shepard bit her lip as she stared at the symbols. They had switched up this time, but were still a mess of symbols from different languages. Greek, Alai, Turian Common, Batarian, some of them even switch to entirely different symbols from other languages as well. No doubt whoever sent this wanted her to figure out what the small image file meant and message them back. There was no file for here to hack, no encryption for her to crack, no nothing. Just an email with a small, animated image file.

She grunted and threw her head back in annoyance as the waitress approached. "What can I get for you?"

Garrus was the first to respond. "I'll have the Korean-style dextro bulgogi burger with those crunchy stick things."

"Understood," said the human woman as she looked up to the spectre.

"Just a bowl of bibimbap and some tea please…" she said before slumping onto the table.

After taking her order, the waitress turned to the quarian. "And you?"

"Oh… I… ummm…" said the young woman as she picked the menu up again. "It-It's so hard to choose!"

Nodding the waitress walked over and helped her out. "Sometimes we overthink things. Usually things are a lot simpler than we make them out to be," she said with a small smile.

Shepard cocked an eyebrow at the dark-haired woman curiously before shifting her eyes to the omni-tool directly in front of her face. The picture taunted her again as it shifted the symbols. But she did at least notice that the same symbols repeated in the same spots in the four digit pattern. Curiously, she stopped the image and zoomed in on it. "Hey Garrus, what is this?"

Looking over, the turian tilted his had to match Shepard's angled omni-tool. "It's a letter in Turian Common pronounced BA."

She paused it on another moment and held it up for Lia. "How about you? Can you tell me what this Khelish symbol means?"

Sitting up straight as the waitress took off with their menus, the quarian leaned forward slightly. "It's a word and letter I suppose. In more modern Khelish we switched to an alphabet system rather than character for ease of use. That specific one is 'kai,' which I think means egg in the old tongue."

Shepard stared down at the puzzle bewildered. "And that Turian Common symbol doesn't mean anything?"

"Not by itself, no," said Garrus as he eyed her from his relaxed position. "What is that if you don't mind me asking."

"Hold on…" said Shepard as she tapped the image and allowed it to play again. Then she paused it on an older Hindi word काई. Her software already translated it. "Moss."

"No thanks, I've already got food coming," said Garrus pleasantly as Shepard gave him a glare.

She turned back to her omni-tool and tossed the translation away, removing it from the screen. Then she looked up the word on the extranet. Then the realization nearly slammed her out of her seat as she saw it was pronounced 'kai.' She froze for a moment then began cross checking the other symbols in that same slot, only to find they all were pronounced the same but in different languages.

She started on the next slot with the Arabic symbol ب. Like the Turian Common letter, it was pronounced 'ba.' Finally having a lead on where the puzzle was going, she began to decipher all of the characters. Within seconds she had a clearer picture, but not an answer. "A-kai-ba-ra."

As she stared at the unusual sounds, a new waitress came by with their food. "Come on, Shepard. You've been glaring at your omni-tool for over an hour. Eat," said the turian as he inhaled the scent of the burger deeply. "Ah… can't find food like this on Omega."

Snorting, Shepard nodded for a moment before closing down the omni-tool. "Alright, you win." She pulled over her bowl of rice and numerous other ingredients then began mixing furiously before she looked up at the quarian and noticed her head sitting on the table as if she had passed out. "Everything alright, Lia?"

"It'sh sho good…" mumbled the young quarian as she lifted her head, revealing the tube hanging unceremoniously from her mask.

Shepard smiled brightly. "Good. Get used to it. My team needs to be ready for anything, so they're always fed and ready to go."

Garrus gulped down his first massive bite of the burger and leaned back to savor it for a moment. "I guess that makes every meal like a last meal, huh?"

"Quit trying to scare away the recruit," order Shepard with a smirk. "As he said, Lia, we've been through a lot with Tali, so we have a good handle on how quarian society works. If there's anything you need on the Normandy, let us know."

"Th-Thank you," said the young woman as she looked down at the tube in her hand. "I'm not used to such kind treatment from others. Especially from other species…"

"Lots to get used to today. Got a lot of work ahead of you, new girl," said Garrus before taking another ravenous bite from his burger.

"I'll do my best!" she responded, clenching her fists together excitedly.

"Good. Now eat your food so I can figure this damn puzzle out and move on with my life," ordered Shepard as she began to shovel the Korean dish into her face.

Captain's Quarters – SSV Normandy SR2

Shepard glared at the projection of the puzzle on the ceiling of her cabin. A-KAI-BA-RA was spelled out in front of her. She had wondered if it were some kind of out of sequence word in another language, but no matter what order she put the pieces in, she couldn't make anything of it. She only ever received the alert when she approached the Citadel, which meant they were likely located here. And they were apparently skilled enough to intrude on the conversation in the embassy.

Reaching up, she ruffled her hair as her brain ached at her attempts. Suddenly, she heard EDI speak from the door of her room. "Spectre, Operative Lawson would like a word."

"Here or in her cabin?" asked the woman.

"She is outside the door," responded the AI.

"Let her in," ordered Shepard as she looked away from the projection and leaned forward in her desk chair. Miranda entered the room and stood in front of the holographic fish tank that currently had numerous exotic fish swimming in it. "You rang?"

"Our intel department has readied the next dossier for you. I wanted to give it to you personally along with another reminder that you need to train your biotic skills one of these days," said the raven-haired woman as she gave her a stern glare.

"Yeah, I know…" said Shepard as she grabbed the datapad from the operative. Then a sudden realization hit her. "Damn. I had the perfect chance to corner the admiral today and it slipped my mind…"

"Well, telling the Systems' Alliance to get bent can be distracting. I'm proud of you for that, by the way," said the woman as she showed a genuine, if not small grin.

"Yeah yeah. I didn't do it for Cerberus, but thanks anyway," said the spectre as she began looking over the information she was handed. "Doctor Weyrloc Okeer. Krogan scientist…" she said, raising an eyebrow curiously. "Didn't think they had any of those left. Well known for work in genetics and embryology. Before disappearing from Tuchanka, was working on a cure for the genophage."

"We know he was one of the few dumb enough to scavenge from Virmire after you left your mark on it. Despite what the report says, he's actually put very little effort into actually trying to cure the genophage and seems to think there's a better way to handle things. What that could be is anyone's guess," said the operative with a shrug. "But if nothing else, his interactions with the collectors may be helpful."

"Anyone mad enough to fight off pirates and whatever geth remained to get at the rubble of Saren's compound might just be helpful," said Shepard as she scratched her chin thoughtfully.

"He was last seen working with a small army funded by the Maxwell Group and run by Jedore Maxwell. They're a fairly knew security company on the market. From the looks of it, they're trying to get a foot in the door with Okeer's help," said Miranda as she leaned against the latrine door.

"So, this Jedore likely isn't going to be too happy with us taking away her golden goose," said Shepard with a sigh, knowing another fight was on the horizon.

"Think you can negotiate your way out of this one?" asked Miranda sarcastically.

The spectre glared up at her. "Most of my negotiations end up in gunfights anyway. Don't see why the universe would treat this one any different," she growled before setting the datapad aside. Then another thought crossed her mind. "Speaking of dossiers, didn't you say you had one for a cat burglar?"

The operative sighed and stood straight again. "I don't know what to tell you about them. We sent them a message with the offer and they said they'd contact you. That's the last I've heard. We don't have a name or anything else that'd go into the dossier."

"They said they'd contact me?" asked Shepard as her eyes narrowed. Miranda simply nodded. "You know what kind of things they've stolen?"

"I mean, they mostly just take back stolen art or relics. But there has been a particular focus on Japanese artifacts such as the Tale of Genji transcription written by Teika. Apparently, an asari matriarch ended up with it in their collection before our friend lifted it from her vault," said Miranda, her tone almost reverent.

"Japanese?" asked Shepard as she looked up at the ceiling again.

"Something the matter?" asked the operative curiously at Shepard's odd behavior.

"Nothing. In fact, I think you've actually helped me out," said the spectre as she turned towards her computer.

"I'll take that as a win," said Miranda as she turned towards the door. "Meet me in the training room tonight!"

"Yes mom!" shouted Shepard in return before focusing on her computer. Once the door shut again, she opened her translation software. "A-kai-ba-ra. Sounds Japanese to me," she said as she typed the phonetics out in galactic. She didn't know the first thing about the language, but she had always been rather skilled at detecting what a language was by intonation and pronunciation. Finally, she finished and two words popped up on her screen. Akaibara : 赤いバラ: Red Rose.

Sitting back in her chair, she pulled up her email on her omni-tool and typed RED ROSE into the field before sending it. Within seconds she received a reply. [Glad it wasn't too difficult for you. Meet me at the Citadel Museum of Earth on the Presidium.]

Smirking, Shepard shook her head before getting to her feet and grabbing her hoodie.

Citadel Museum of Earth – Presidium – Citadel

She stepped into the large lobby of the newly built museum. She was greeted by several humans, but waved them off as she kept her eyes peeled for her potential target. She knew the person who had messaged her was likely the cat burglar they had been talking about, but she didn't know for sure and didn't want to end up falling into some kind of assassination trap.

Noting that in her head, she also had no idea what her target looked like. So, even if she wanted to look out for them, she wouldn't know who she was looking for. She felt her own anxiety building at the lack of information she was going off of here, but she knew this place was one of the most well protected places on the Citadel. They took security of historical artifacts very seriously, meaning she wasn't likely to get ambushed at least. Letting out a heavy sigh, she walked into one of the darker rooms with holographic displays and looked around. It looked as if this was a section of the more modern human history. It started with holographic projections of ships that the Alliance used prior to integrating into Citadel Space, then different colony worlds, and even showed the history of the Alliance's treaty with the Citadel Council.

Then she stopped cold as she saw a holographic form of herself staring back at her with a confident smirk. As she stepped up to the display, a voice began automatically reading the information listed. "Jane Shepard, N7 Alliance Intel Specialist, and first human to be inducted into the Council Special Tactics and Reconnaissance group. From a young age, Jane studied hard in college to master proficiencies in multiple languages of different species…"

She looked down at the display as the voice droned on about her young adulthood in the Alliance and noticed that her birthday was also listed. Her brow furrowed as she saw the date next to it, listing the day she had exploded on the Normandy. "Odd they haven't changed that yet. Want me to do it?" came a chirpy voice from the display.

Shepard's eyes snapped up to the hologram and noticed that it no longer showed her own visage, but instead found another woman with a hood hiding her features staring back at her. "I… uh… what?"

"Your death date. Want me to make it current? It's no trouble really," said the woman as she raised her holographic omni-tool.

"No thank you," said the woman as her eyes narrowed. "You're the one with the email then?"

"That's me. Sorry to make you play my little game. I like to make sure my partners are smart enough to utilize my talents, and are willing to put in the effort for me," said the woman with a cheeky grin.

Shepard squinted for a moment before realizing that the voice she heard was familiar. "Wait… you were…" she started as she pointed at the hologram. "You were the waitress in the restaurant?"

Letting out a small giggle, the shady woman nodded. "Guilty as charged. How'd you like my acting skills?"

"You've got talent," said Shepard with a small grin. "It takes serious skill or luck to sneak up on me."

"In your defense, you were kinda distracted. After all, I don't think they told you they were putting this display up given the whole being dead thing," said the woman who tilted her head. "So, word on the grape vine is that you're looking to secure my talents. Mind if I ask what for?"

Letting out a snort, Shepard began to think about how to tell the woman she wanted her on a suicide mission. "Well, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you it's easy…" said the spectre as she locked eyes with the woman. "To make a long story short, the collectors are harvesting humans. I think it's related to the reapers, and in order to combat the collectors and the potential reaper threat in the future, I want the most skilled people I can find. That includes you."

"Hmm, sounds dangerous," said the woman who tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"I'd be bullshitting you if I told you otherwise. It'll probably be more dangerous than anything I've done so far," said Shepard sternly. "If your answer is no, I'd understand. But know that I'm willing to compensate you."

"Sounds fun," said the woman with a smile.

Shepard's eyes narrowed. "You… have heard about the danger I've been in before right?"

"Of course! I'm a big fan! I even attended your inauguration into Spectrehood, though you probably didn't notice me pilfering information from the bigwigs at the time," said the woman playfully. "I'm not worried about the danger or the compensation. If you want my cooperation, you've got it. But I'd like your help in return."

"Quid pro quo?" asked Shepard curiously as she pocketed her hands.

"Precisely. See, there's something I intend to steal, and I need your assistance nabbing it," she started before holding her hands up. "And before you ask, it's nothing from the Citadel or anywhere else that'd get you bad press."

"It's something you can't get to yourself?" Shepard asked, wondering how difficult it could be that she wasn't capable with her own skills.

"Let's just say that there's special circumstances surrounding it," responded the thief. "In any case, it's not just some stolen colonizer display or anything like that. It's personal."

Shepard nodded knowingly. "You're willing to trust me with something that personal?"

The adorable rogue shrugged. "I don't have many options. You're one of the best in the game, you're a spectre, and you somehow manage to achieve the impossible. So, let's just say I'm willing to put money on you."

Snorting, Shepard found herself almost amused that this was the second offer of the same kind this week. "If you're willing to help me take on the reapers and the collectors, I'm willing to help you get your… whatever it is. But I'll need more details before I fully agree."

"I'll inform you more once I'm aboard your ship. In the meantime, could you stand here for a few minutes longer?" asked the woman.

Shepard's brow rose curiously. "Huh? Why do you-" she started, but suddenly a rush of people came into the room. Shepard spun around and saw security guards entering and looking around, startling a mass of kids who had come in to look at all the holograms. "Is something the matter?"

A human guard shook his head as he strolled up to her. "The cameras went out a few minutes ago. Normally it's just a bug but we're making sure nobody takes advantage of the situation."

Shepard then looked from the man back at the display and saw that the thief's image had left, and was once again replaced with her own. Then she looked down at a bunch of kids, most human, some salarian, and even an asari who were now staring dead at her. She froze like a deer in the headlights as they looked at the display of her, then back at her.

"Shepard!" shouted one of the children before they all rushed around her.

Suddenly, the security guard tensed as his communicator began blasting orders. "We've got a code blue in the European Renaissance room!"

"Son of a…" shouted the guard as he spun on his heal and dashed out of the room.

Shepard sighed to herself as she realized that the rogue had intentionally set things up so that Shepard would be a distraction. Patting the kids on the head, she just looked down at all the glowing faces. "The things I put up with for this galaxy…"