Yes, I am still alive.

Apologies for this very, very late update. Life takes its toll and I've been working on updates for all of my main stories so that I could post them all at the same time.

I have more to say but I shall not deprive you from reading this any longer. Do check out the notes at the end of the chapter though! It's important!

Enjoy!

- Valhallan Threshold, Paz System, Asteroid Base – June 28 2181 CE, 21:07 pm Terran Time-

'Okay Wolfe. Don't panic. Do. Not. Panic.' I chanted internally as I took a deep breath. "BT, tell me Vasir hasn't sent any communications since she got here." I barked, ignoring Tiruns' surprised grunt at my sudden change of behavior.

"Negative. I have detected no outgoing signal from her ship or her person and she has not accessed any terminals either." The Titan replied. "Ethan, is she a threat?"

"Do I need to get the others, boss?" Tiruns added.

"She might be." I replied and gave Tiruns a look. "And don't. Unless you think any one of you beside me has a chance against a Spectre operative?"

The Turian's mandibles flared in shock as he gaped at me. "You're shitting me boss. A Spectre? In the Terminus Systems? The Council's got no jurisdiction here!"

I briefly turned to raise an eyebrow at him as we walked down the hallway. "The Council tends to do what they please and cover the consequences if there are any." I said. "If they decide it's worth it, they won't hesitate to send Spectres in the Terminus systems and deny any involvement should things go belly up." I shrugged. "Honestly, it was always a coin flip regarding who between a Spectre and the STG would find us first. The problem here is that the Council might not be the ones holding Vasir's leash."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll explain later. I need to nip this in the bud first." I told him as the doors opened and we stepped inside the cafeteria. "Go back to your duties in the meantime. Kasumi, did you get all of that?" I said, scanning the room. it didn't take me long to spot my target chatting with a couple of other Asaris.

I had to give it to Vasir, while she had nothing on Aria's sheer intensity, everything about her screamed 'dangerous'. From her armor to the almost imperceptible shimmer of her biotic barrier and the folded rifle and pistols that were strapped to her back and waist.

"I'm almost wishing I hadn't." The Master Thief said on the comms. "How do you want to handle this?"

"Depends. Do you think you can hack a Spectre's omnitool?" I asked as I raised a hand in greeting to the various people who had taken note of my presence. This included Vasir and I did my best to not react as I saw her eyes lock onto me and narrow a fraction.

Yeah. Bathythia's friend or not, I was not about to trust Vasir did not have some kind of hidden agenda.

"I'm good, but not that good." Kasumi replied in a tone that made it clear she was pouting. "I told you already, I'm not a master hacker. Even the best private data security pales in comparison to the kind of firewalls Spectres have to prevent hacker intrusions. Best case scenario is you manage to get in but the data will self-destruct before you can get anything valuable."

"Speaking from experience?"

"Yup." She said, not elaborating further.

I sighed through my nose. "Improvisation it is then. Watch my back." I muttered under my breath. "Holeensa. Isestme. How have you been? I heard from Aerarth that you should be able to use your biotics soon without any issues?" I said as I neared the trio.

The two Asaris who had been talking with Vasir greeted me with smiles. "The doc does good work, boss. We've been cleared for light duty, and she said we should be fit for training within the next couple of weeks." Holeensa, whom I recognized mainly thanks to her white markings around her eyes, said excitedly. She smacked one fist into her other hand's palm and grinned. "I'm looking forward to it."

"I like your enthusiasm." I chuckled. "But take it easy alright? None of us need to incur the good doctor's wrath."

"Do not worry, I will make sure she behaves." Isestme, who had violet markings on her cheeks and both above and below her lips, chimed in softly. The two Asari maidens, who had been recruited through Tiruns' connections, had become fast friends following an assault on a slave auction house hidden deep in the bowels of Omega and protected by the Blue Suns, where they had been separated from their squad after the mercenaries had collapsed one of the entry points with heavy explosives.

Isolated, wounded, and outnumbered, Holeensa and Isestme had nonetheless managed to hold out long enough that their squadmates could get through to them and haul both back to the ship for medical attention. They had become joined at the hip ever since.

"I'll hold you to that." I told Isestme before finally turning to Vasir. "I don't believe we've met?"

The Spectre took a moment to look me up and down before nodding at me. "No, we haven't. I arrived a bit earlier today. I take it you're the one in charge of this place?"

"That I am. Ethan Wolfe, at your service." I said, presenting my hand "Would I be correct in assuming you are one of Bathythia's friends?"

"Yeah. Tela Vasir." She said, shaking my hand. "I wanted to thank you for saving her. I would've done it myself, had I known where to look. That and, well, I was on another assignment at the time that I couldn't exactly leave."

"Oh, I wouldn't say I saved her." I shook my head. "Helped her escape, yes, but she had a solid plan of her own and the will to see it through or die trying. Many other people would have simply resigned themselves to their fate, but Bathythia didn't. And that is worthy of respect."

Vasir smiled at that. "Sounds like good old Bat."

I smiled back before turning to Holeena and Isestme again. "Apologies you two, but do you terribly mind if I borrow our new friend for a bit? There are a few things I need to discuss with her." I said as nonchalantly as I could.

They looked between me and Vasir for a few seconds before nodding. "She's all yours, boss." Holeena chirped.

I nodded back before turning to the Spectre and gesturing for her to follow me. I sensed a feeling of... anticipation settle as we exited the cafeteria and walked through the corridors toward the room that I had claimed as my sort of personal office.

"I must admit I was surprised at how... casual Bathythia is at sending Asari commandos to reinforce our little operations." I said to fill the silence. "If you don't mind me asking, is that typical of Matriarchs?"

"Not really, no." Vasir replied. "We might be sent on an assignment occasionally, but this is quite irregular, moreover after what happened. None of us feels comfortable letting Bathythia or her daughter be without protection."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Even within Tessia, the heart of the Republics?"

"Especially within Tessia." The Asari frowned. "We still don't know who leaked the information that led to her... time in captivity." She shook her head. "We have suspects, of course, but not much more than that. We're still sifting through the information you recovered from the slavers before you destroyed the base, but they were... annoyingly thorough regarding their operational security. At least regarding what data they kept on site." She continued with a sigh. "I don't think we'll find much more information than what we already have."

I nodded. "I would offer my own help but, as you may or may not have heard, I've already enough on my plate as is. Uncovering what sounds like an Asari conspiracy sounds like a lot of work that I don't need."

"Yes, I understand that you have… what's the expression? Multiple ingots in the flames?"

I huffed amusedly. "Several irons in the fire, but close enough." I stopped, opened the door to my office, and gestured Vasir inside. "After you."

The Asari paused for a split second, eyes darting between me and the doorway, before stepping through. I could appreciate the caution she showed as much as the trust she had that she was in friendly territory.

"What did you want to talk about?" She asked, crossing her arms as she leaned back against the wall beside my desk rather than seat in the chair I had for visitors. Again, a smart choice on her part.

"First of all, I have to ask: what exactly has Bathythia told you about us?" I moved to lean against the edge of my desk, facing her. "Just in case I need to correct any misconception or misinformation."

She shrugged. "Not much, to be honest. All she said was that she is sponsoring a group of like-minded people to fight against slave trading and that she needed volunteers to assist them in their operations." She pursed her lips. "Easier said than done, if you want my opinion. Even if all the slave rings were to disappear, there's no shortage of scumbags looking to make some quick credits in the galaxy. Even if it means selling a sentient to even bigger scum."

"You're right." I nodded. "So long as there is a demand, there will continue to be suppliers. And I am not stupid enough to think a single group, no matter how well equipped or funded, can root out the entire problem. That would require us to wage war on the Hegemony and I have no desire to commit suicide."

Vasir raised a curious eyebrow at me. I got the impression that I had surprised her but it was hard to tell. "So what's your plan, then?" She asked.

"This isn't something that's going to happen quickly. An... industry, you could say, like this doesn't disappear just like that." I snapped my fingers. "The major goal is to make being a slaver as unattractive of a profession as possible. For that to happen, several steps need to be taken." I raised a finger. "First, we make it a very risky job. With a good intelligence network and relentless assaults on slave rings, we associate being a slaver with a short life expectancy. If it also starts creating fear and paranoia within existing slave traders then all the better."

I raised a second finger. "Next we destabilize the market outside of Batarian territory. By intercepting shipments and destroying auction houses, we make the price of the goods go up even as the quantity goes down. More expensive merchandise in smaller numbers means fewer buyers, which in turn means smaller profits in the long term. Less buyers also means fewer people for us to track down."

A third finger was raised. "After that comes containment. Once the Terminus Systems become inhospitable territory for slavers, it won't take long for them to realize the only safe space to conduct their business is Batarian space. This makes them predictable, as there are only so many Mass Relays that can take you inside Hegemony territory, and so will make it easier for us to intercept them. At that point, the slave trade should have become severely limited."

I lowered my fingers and sighed. "Of course, there are many things that can go wrong with this plan. And even should everything go perfectly, that doesn't mean the slave trade will have entirely disappeared."

For a long moment, Vasir stayed silent, digesting my words. "At least you're not lacking for ambitions." She said at length, uncrossing her arms. "I'm still not convinced Bathythia isn't making a mistake in supporting you, but I'll stick around for now. See what you're about." She smirked. "Who knows? Perhaps you'll change my mind."

I hummed at that but decided not to comment. "Well, we're not going to be only fighting. After all, we're going to need money and resources to continue our operations. For those who have no wish to fight but still want to contribute to our efforts, there will be plenty of jobs available once production of the Geist and Stalker models gets going and there will always be a need for more engineers, medical personnel, and technicians."

"You're not worried about a potential betrayal?"

"I'll deal with it when it happens." That was all I was willing to say on the matter and my tone reflected that. Vasir nodded. "But while we're on the subject, let's talk about security." I straightened. "I'm not sure how I feel about letting a Spectre inside this organization of mine." I said like I was talking about the weather. "Bathythia's friend or not, you are a big security risk. I have half of the galaxy wanting a piece of me already. I do not need those holding your leash making even more problems for me."

"...I had hoped to breach the subject later, but this works just as well." Vasir said after a long, tense silence. This close I could see her biotic field shimmering almost imperceptibly. "Still, I'm curious. How do you know I am a Spectre? Did Bathythia tell you?"

I scoffed. "You know, I find it quite hilarious that you would ask that. Spectres are supposed to be special agents operating for the Council from the shadows yet the Council never misses an opportunity to parade you to the media. Hell, they make actual ceremonies of your induction into Spectre-hood to reassure the public." I saw an eyebrow twitch at that last point and resisted the urge to smirk. "I've made it a point to know as much as I can about every active Spectre out there and, while I am sure there are plenty that have managed to hide themselves from the spotlights, it is shockingly easy to find basic information such as your name and physical appearance. Most people just don't bother."

"...You've made your point." Vasir replied. "And you are right. The Council has issued a direct order to all active Spectres that you are to be brought in for questioning if encountered, and there are plenty of bounties the Shadow Broker and other interested parties have put on your head and for any information about that mech of yours."

I exhaled. "I'm still not hearing any reason to not put you six feet under and deal with the consequences later."

"What I'm saying is that I could have used that information the moment Bathythia told me where your base of operation was."

I blinked as the implication of her words registered in my mind. That... was a good point and one that I hadn't considered. However… "Alright, let's assume this is not just you thinking you could do an infiltration on your lonesome. What tells me you don't have friends sitting outside of our sensors' range just waiting for your signal to attack?"

The Asari raised an eyebrow at me. "Are you this paranoid with every recruit that joins you?"

"None of them happened to be a Spectre, so you're getting special treatment." I gave her a smile, steel gray staring into onyx.

Vasir huffed. "Perhaps I wanted to judge for myself before I made a decision. My mandate as a Spectre is to protect the galaxy's stability by any means necessary. Sometimes that means considering the Council's orders more as... guidelines."

I frowned, tilting my head slightly at her, and took a measured breath. Coming from someone who would go as far as to become a personal assassin of the Shadow Broker in exchange for intelligence, I could believe it. Vasir seemed to very much be an adherent of the mentality 'the ends justify the means' and 'sacrifice the few to save the many'.

"You'll forgive me if I don't take those words at face value." I eventually said, pushing off the desk and taking a couple steps toward her, making her tense ever so slightly. "But I suppose that's the best I'll get from you." For now, that is. "Feel free to judge if we are a threat to your precious galactic stability all you want Vasir, I will not stop you. In the meantime, however," I stepped even closer, my nose now less than a foot from hers. Which made me notice that she was slightly taller than me. "I expect you to pull your weight and contribute to our operations just as Bathythia asked you to." I held out my hand. "Do we have an agreement?"

We stared at one another for a long moment. Eventually, Vasir nodded and shook my hand firmly. "We do." A small smile appeared on her lips. "I hope you don't disappoint me, Wolfe."

"And I hope you won't either." I replied, turning back to my desk. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have several other matters that require my attention. Feel free to explore and familiarize yourself with the base's layout." I sat at my desk and began reading one of the several datapads that were stacked upon it. This one was the weekly report of our resource management and I was quite happy to note that, while we were still far from becoming self-sufficient, our little hideaway was beginning to thrive. A fact that was in no small part due to the efforts of Faan'Tis and the other quarians we had picked up since we'd started recruiting in earnest.

If there was someone whom I could trust to make this place as efficient as possible, it was them.

The Spectre nodded, recognizing the dismissal for what it was. "Then I will see you later... Captain." She said, turning away and stepping out of the room.

"Oh, and one last thing before you go." I raised my eyes from the datapad, narrowing them at her. "It should go without saying, but the mech is off-limits. Understood?" The implication that she wouldn't like what I'd do if she was found tempering with BT was clear.

The Asari looked at me above her shoulder. "Of course." She said, the door closing behind her. I quietly listened to her footsteps fade as she walked away.

I looked at where she'd stood for several long seconds before sighing. "So? What do you think?"

On my sleeping cot, Kasumi's sitting form uncloaked. She was looking at me with her arms crossed and her usual playful expression replaced by a serious frown. "I don't like it. This is a big risk we're taking here."

"It is." I nodded as I resumed reading through the datapad, wholeheartedly agreeing with her. "But the payoff if we can have her in our corner might just be worth it. Also, I'm not about to let her run around unsupervised." I smirked. "Bathythia sent one of the best operatives of the galaxy to assist us and you can bet I am going to put her to good use. If I can help it she'll be swamped with enough work to keep her from snooping around too much."

I could barely see Kasumi's eyebrows rise below her hood in the corner of my vision. "You think she won't sell us out at the earliest opportunity? And what was that you said earlier about who held her leash?"

"Ah yes, that." I sighed and decided to be blunt. "She's also an agent of the Shadow Broker."

After a few seconds of silence, I fully looked at her and was granted the privilege to witness Kasumi's composure break as she gaped at me like I had just said the stupidest thing she'd ever heard. She then proceeded to put her head into her hands and flop onto her back, muttering a rapid string of curses in Japanese of which I only made out a few choice words.

"Rude." I commented as I went back to reading. "Yes it's a problem but you're being way too dramatic about this."

She sat up again to give me an incredulous look. "Drama- do you have any idea how bad this is? The Broker isn't someone you just..." She gestured angrily. "tangle with on a whim, you know?"

"And I won't. Not unless I'm forced to." I replied. "But we will have to deal with spies eventually. No matter what precautions you take, no organization is completely foolproof against infiltration."

Kasumi opened her mouth, another sarcastic retort on the tip of her lips no doubt, paused then just shook her head. "How do you even know she works for the Broker?" She asked instead.

"I have my ways." I said, smiling cheekily at her. "BT, please keep monitoring Vasir's communications. Whatever she's sending or receiving, I want a copy of it."

"Acknowledged." The Titan replied.

"Fine, keep your secrets." Kasumi huffed in mock irritation, standing up and crossing the distance between us. To my surprise, she leaned close. "It only makes my desire to pry them from you burn all the more." She whispered, her breath tickling my ears and sending a shiver down my spine. A reaction that did not go unnoticed by her, judging by the impish smile I spied on her face before she disappeared from view.

The door opened and closed as Kasumi, presumably, left the room and I sat at my desk, frozen. After a moment, I sighed and went back to reading the datapad.

"Women are scary creatures." I muttered under my breath.

- Omega Station - July 21 2181 CE, 10:47 am Terran Time-

"Boss, you've got LOKIs incoming!" My second in command shouted in my ear.

"I see them, Tiruns! They're not what I'm worried about at the moment!" I shouted back, peeking out of cover to lob a grenade at a group of blue armored figures taking potshots at us from a nearby roof. I checked my radar. "Those things are a distraction at best and we have bigger fish to fry! Team Echo, you've got a lot of hostiles coming your way. Are you still alive?!"

"This is Echo-two! Echo-one is KIA!" Was the panicked response that came through the comms. "Echo-four and five are down too! They've been stabilized, but it's just me along with Echo-three and six right now! We can't hold them off!"

I cursed internally. Echo was going to be overwhelmed if something didn't change, and soon.

"I'm on it, cover me." A female voice calmly chimed in.

I watched as Vasir biotically charged into the entire group of Blue Suns who'd been coming at us from the left flank and followed with what I recognized as a Nova that scattered the mercenaries to the winds, some of them even flying over the walkway's railing and falling to their death below. Any who was still alive barely had the time to get their bearings that a pistol's barrel was thrust in their face before their life ended the next second.

While the Asari Spectre had a tendency to act on her own initiative, which honestly wasn't surprising to me, I couldn't honestly say that she wasn't doing good work. This was someone who had centuries of experience in eliminating threats and it showed.

It also made me realize I was unsure if I could defeat her on my own if the need arose.

'I need to improve.' I thought as I threw a gravity star followed by a firestar into the group of LOKIs. The first projectile created a singularity that drew all of the mechs together, while the second spewed termite that ate through their plating in a matter of seconds. By the time the gravity star's singularity exploded, the LOKIs' upper bodies had been reduced to slag.

'My arsenal gives me a lot of versatility but if that's the kind of people I might face in the future I can't rely on just that and BT to win.'

"This is Delta-one. I'm spotting multiple pyros heading toward your location, captain." Came another report. "We'll handle them."

"Much appreciated, Delta-one. Be careful." I replied. "Team Charlie, have you managed to hack their comms yet?"

"Charlie-six here. That's a negative on that, Alpha-one." The leader of the tech team said. "Bastards got good encryption, it'll be a while yet before we manage to crack it."

"Fucking Blue Suns!" Tirruns grunted in the comms as he gunned down a human trooper who'd peeked out of cover from his vantage point. "Can't say I'm surprised to find them here, but we didn't plan for having to deal with those varren shits! What do we do, boss?!"

I quickly took stock of the situation. The Blue Suns' ambush had resulted in multiple casualties and, unfortunately, several fatalities for the men and women under my command despite my quick reaction of setting up an A-Wall to protect us. If it hadn't been for the pulse blade I'd thrown into the wall of the building to get a better idea of the layout, we'd probably have been wiped out. The mercenaries had the advantage in numbers and, holed up as they were, a good defensible position while we were effectively pinned down. Advancing or retreating meant that we would be gunned down long before we could achieve either. And today there was no Kasumi to infiltrate the enemy's ranks and give us an opportunity, the Master Thief having left for C-Space the day prior.

But no plan surviving contact with the enemy doesn't necessarily mean your contingencies also die with your plan. And, fortunately for us, I came prepared.

"I'll draw their attention and cause some mayhem in their ranks. Retreat with the wounded while they're focusing their fire on me." I said, checking that the A-Wall emitter had recharged. "Get those critically injured and unable to move back to the ship. I want three people per injured. Wait on my signal."

"I'm down for some shock and awe. Do you need some help with that?" Vasir asked eagerly.

"By all means, join me." I replied, throwing the A-Wall emitter on the ground beside me. I slid out of cover as the protective wall materialized and swapped my assault rifle for the ML-77 Missile Launcher that was strapped to my back. "Just watch out for the fireworks."

A veritable rain of shots splashed uselessly against the Amp Wall as I aimed the missile launcher at the highest concentration of Blue Suns I could see on the higher floor of the building and fired. The mercenaries ran for their lives as the rocket-propelled warhead screamed through the air and curved above the balcony they had been using as cover, following them inside. The building shook as the missile exploded and debris ran down upon the other Blue Suns who were at ground level, causing them to stop shooting at me in an effort to protect themselves.

"Now's your chance. Go!" I ordered through the comms, trusting Tiruns to get the wounded to safety. In the corner of my vision, I saw a blur of blue rushing the stunned mercenaries. "Loading second shot." I said, setting the launcher down to load another missile into it. "Vasir, get clear!"

I sighted the Blue Suns on the rooftop of the building and fired. Another ear-splitting explosion rang out, with even more glass and debris raining. The Amp Wall disappeared, but at that point I didn't have to worry about being shot.

"Hey watch it!" Vasir barked. "If the whole thing comes down on top of me you're going to regret it!"

"I warned you, watch out for the fireworks." I replied as I swapped the launcher back for my assault rifle, picked up the A-Wall emitter, and ran for the building. "What's the situation inside?"

"Looks like they're falling back." She said professionally. Although I could still detect a note of irritation in her voice. "From what I'm hearing it looks like there's another access point that leads to part of the sewers."

"And the target?"

"No sign of him. But I'd be surprised if our friends weren't bringing him along for the ride." She reported. "Bastards though they may be, the Suns' reputation for discretion and efficiency is well earned."

I frowned and started running faster. "The sewers are a maze with plenty of exit points. We'll never find them if they escape through those. Can you stall them?"

"I can try- Oh Goddess dammit!" I heard her curse before yet another explosion rocked the building. "Those sons of whores had a YMIR mech sitting in there all along!"

I paused at that for a second. Another unforeseen development. "Think you can get past it?" I asked, running faster.

"The thing's holding a choke-point." Vasir snarled. "Nothing's getting past this bucket of screws without taking it out first and that'll take too much time. Unless you got another of those missiles?"

"I'm afraid not." I pursued my lips, thinking. This mission was quickly going pear-shaped... but maybe we wouldn't have to return empty-handed. "Keep it occupied, I'm coming to you." I said to her before opening a private channel. "Charlie-two, are you there?"

"Ah! Um, yes, yes sir. How can I help?" Charlie-two, or Zaha'Taenis, member of Fann'Tis' budding quarian tech experts team and one of the team medics for this mission, answered. It seemed I had startled her.

"I need you to access the blueprints of the sewer system and point to me the exits you think our target is the most likely to come out from. Do you think you can do that for me?" I asked gently. This was the young woman's first mission and it was turning out to be quite the trial by fire.

"I, uh, g-give me a moment? I-I'll see what I can do." She responded. "Keelah, I was not ready for today..." I probably wasn't supposed to hear that last bit, but didn't comment as I closed the channel.

Following the sounds of gunfire and explosions, it didn't take me long to find Vasir and the YMIR. The Asari was holding her own, using her biotic charge to swiftly move between covers and taking shots at the mech's optics in an attempt to blind it.

"Good work, I'll take it from here!" I shouted.

Cloaking and jumping down, I rushed the YMIR. The mech's optics and guns swiveled in my direction and started darting around in its attempt to locate me. Unfortunately for it, a Pilot's cloak was meant to fool Titans with much better sensors than it had. It never stood a chance.

I slid between its legs and spun, unsheathing my data knife and jumping to bring myself to the level of its head. Wrapping my free arm around its neck, I popped the hatch on the back of its head open with my knife before jamming the blade into the first port I spotted. Three orange holographic rings appeared from the knife's handle, the first one already starting to turn blue as the numbers in the center of the display climbed rapidly.

Now, I would've never tried to do something like that against a Reaper (Titanfall's YMIR equivalent). For one, the thing had much more advanced programming than the YMIR and its arms were flexible enough that it would smack any Pilot who'd attempt to hack it. For another, the Reaper's design had been completed by Ash, who'd been a Pilot herself. So of course she had gotten rid of the obvious weakness and hacking the thing required you to actually access its insides rather than just a port.

I had to give it to her, Ash had made the Reaper the perfect middle ground between a Pilot and a Titan. It could handle infantry with ease, even Pilots if they weren't careful, and they had enough firepower and armor that Titans couldn't simply dismiss them.

A shame I wouldn't be able to produce them here, at least not for a while. Reapers had seen their first deployments on Typhon and neither myself nor BT had really had the time to grab a copy of the schematics. We had scans, of course, but it would take much longer to reverse engineer the Reaper without its blueprints.

The third ring turned completely blue as the numbers reached one hundred and I pulled out the data knife, sheathing it immediately after.

"It's done, Vasir. This big fella's on our side now." I said, jumping down from my perch and walking around the YMIR. The mech's optics, which had turned from red to blue, followed me as it awaited orders from its new master.

"You're shitting me." Vasir deadpanned as she peeked out of cover to see me standing beside the now non-hostile YMIR. "I- what did you do? There's no way you just... gave it a hug and it turned friendly."

"Trade secret, I'm afraid." I replied. There was a very short list of people I would trust a data knife with and needless to say Vasir wasn't on it and neither were her employers. I had even hesitated on whether or not to use it in front of her at all but the thing was too useful for me to forgo it. "Now come on, we don't have much time." I gestured past the YMIR and started running, Vasir following a couple steps behind me. "I'll send this guy to guard the others in the meantime. Charlie-two, what do you have for me?"

"W-well, if you think about it there's only a, um, few exits that would work as an extraction point from here." The quarian answered. "E-especially if they want to, er, avoid Vorcha territory. S-sending data now!" The next second a miniature map of the part of the sewers we were in appeared on my HUD, along with three highlighted access points.

"Much appreciated, thank you." I said, even as I was forwarding the data to Vasir. "What do you think?"

The Asari took a moment to analyze the data before replying. "They probably won't take the risk to head east, that's too close to the Blood Pack's turf. Then again, they might be feeling bold enough to risk it."

I tsked under my breath. "Well I don't feel bold enough to risk us being caught in a power play between two mercenary groups. You take the northwest exit and I'll handle the other."

"Understood." A corona of blue energy flared around Vasir as we rounded a corner and she biotically charged down the tunnel.

Aerarth didn't have the resources to reproduce the cocktail of chemicals that made the Stim yet, so she still had my last dose secured in her lab. However, that didn't mean I had no other way at my disposal to achieve high movement speed.

Nearing the intersection where I needed to turn left to reach the last exit point highlighted by Zaha, I fired my grapple. The hook caught the edge of the wall at almost its maximum range and I jumped, letting the grapple pull me in. At the same time, I used my jump pack's thrusters to move in a circular fashion around the anchor point, gaining momentum, in a maneuver that was more commonly known to Pilots as a Slingshot. At the apex of my acceleration, I triggered the release and the hook disengaged, sending me flying down the tunnel.

While not as fast as a biotic charge, it was certainly faster than running, and each turn I had to take allowed me to rebuild the momentum over and over again, making me reach the exit point in record time.

I quickly climbed the ladder and punched the manhole open. Hoisting myself up, I surveyed my surroundings but found no sign of the Blue Suns or our target, just normal people (if one could call Omega's population normal, that was) passing by without even batting an eye at me.

"This is Wolfe, I got nothing on my end." I reported on the comms. "Vasir, any luck?"

"Nothing north-west either." The Asari replied. "Tch! Guess they felt bold after all."

"That, or they took another path. Either way, there's nothing more we can do." I sighed. It was a shame to lose the chance to capture and interrogate one of the prominent leaders of the slave trade that was being operated in the Skyllian Verge but I wasn't about to risk the rest of the squad on a high-risk chase. "At least we're bringing that YMIR back with us, so it's not a total loss." Though it was poor compensation for the people we'd lost.

"What do you plan to do with it, boss?" Tiruns asked.

"I got a few ideas but nothing concrete. We'll see." I said, closing my eyes. "Tiruns. How many did we lose?"

"Six in the initial ambush and four during the firefight. We've got another three among the wounded who are in critical state." He paused. "Even if they make it, two of them won't be able to go back in the field, I don't think. The medics tell me it's bad." He continued morosely.

I took a deep breath, thinking. If it had been just me, I would've pressed on without hesitation. Heck, I was still very tempted to just send the others back to the ship and continue to chase the Blue Suns. But this wasn't just BT and I trying to accomplish our mission and fighting against the world anymore. I was a leader, not just another soldier. I had responsibilities to the people under my command and, if I knew anything about leadership, it was that the image of a leader who cared only for the completion of the mission and not for his troops wasn't very appealing.

It was... frustrating, to say the least, but I had to let it go.

"Gather our dead." I said heavily. "We're leaving."

"Wait, really?!" Vasir asked incredulously. "We're just... letting them get away? Come on, Wolfe. I'm sure that, between you and me, we can catch up with the fuckers and get the target."

"Stand down, Vasir." I replied firmly. "I said we're leaving and that's final."

"You're kidding me. One little ambush and you're, what's the human saying, running with your tail between your legs?" She scoffed audibly. "You'll never get anything done with an attitude like that."

I took a deep breath. "Stand. Down." I repeated. "We'll talk about this when we're back on the ship." An alert of an incoming call appeared on my HUD, one of a familiar ID. "If you'll excuse me, I need to take this." I said, answering the call before the Spectre could argue further. "Aria. I don't suppose this a courtesy call?"

"Very astute of you, Wolfe." The Queen of Omega replied. "Care to explain why I'm hearing reports of half of a building exploding, or of Blue Suns and Blood Pack troops causing a mess on my station?"

"The intel was lacking on certain details. I expected the target to have a few bodyguards at most, considering this meeting was supposed to be discreet. Not between two and three dozen Blue Suns." I said. "Did you know?"

"I did." Aria said nonchalantly. "It's an open secret that the Blue Suns have enjoyed strong ties with the slave trade. Ever since Massani stopped running the group back in '65."

She wasn't telling me anything I didn't already know. There was a lesson and a warning there. I had trusted that the information Aria had given me was complete and that had been an error on my part. I'd gone in without even verifying said information and that had cost me.

It was a mistake I would endeavor to never make again.

"As for what's happening with the Blood Pack, well, I guess the Blue Suns feel daring when choosing their avenue of escape." I said, keeping my voice leveled.

"So they do." The Pirate Queen hummed. "Watch your back, Wolfe. For your own sake, if nothing else. It would be a shame if you disappeared so early in the game." With those words, the call ended.

With a heavy sigh, I started making my way back to the ship.

"I didn't take you for a coward." Were the words Vasir greeted me with as I exited the decontamination sass. The Asari was standing by the door, arms crossed and leaning against the wall.

"In case you have forgotten, Vasir, we are not a military unit." I said curtly, passing her and going for the lockers. Footsteps behind me indicated that she was following. "At most, we are guerrilla fighters right now. We are short in manpower and every man we lose out there makes our combat strength smaller than it already is."

"So what? You have the mech, you can take on hundreds of foot soldiers with that thing." She said and I could almost hear the shrug in her voice. "Besides, losses are inevitable."

"I cannot be there all the time. Sooner or later, I will be sending my people on missions where I won't be there to lead or support them because I'll be running another operation elsewhere." I sighed. "If they keep relying on me to complete an objective, they, as you so aptly put it, will never get anything done without me."

Vasir stayed silent as I unstrapped the missile launcher and laid it in an empty locker before doing the same with my assault rifle. Finally, I took my helmet off and put in on the bench beside us before turning back to her.

"That being said, I am at fault for what happened today." I said, sitting down. I briefly felt the ship shudder as it undocked from Omega. "I trusted the intel I was given when I should've double or even triple-checked it. I got used to having very good information, especially when it comes to Omega, and that was a mistake."

I could see Vasir mulling over something as I finished my explanation. Eventually, she spoke. "Yeah, bad intel is one of the worst things that can happen to you in the field." I raised an eyebrow. "But I have some damn good contacts. Comes with the territory of the job, you know?" She continued. "I could introduce you if you want."

"And what would that introduction cost me, hm?" I asked, lips pressed into a tight line. Was that her angle? Enticing me to trade my tech, or maybe favors in exchange for information?

"Nothing." Vasir replied immediately.

I blinked at her. "Really." I drawled, the skepticism dripping out of my voice.

She nodded. "It's as you said before, I'm here because Bathythia sent me to assist you." She confidently said before turning away. "You might not trust me, but you can trust that I want to do right by my long-time friend."

I silently watched her leave, digesting her words and re-examining what I knew of Tela Vasir. Generally, she seemed less jaded than what I remembered of the brief encounter Shepard would have with her in 2185. But whether that was just a front or not, I couldn't say.

Only time would tell.

- Valhallan Threshold, Paz System, Asteroid Base – July 24 2181 CE, 20:18 pm Terran Time-

"So, doc. What's the verdict?"

Aerarth, who came out of the room medical bay moments ago, looked at me. "They'll live." She simply said.

I let out a relieved breath. "Good. That's... good." I braced myself. "And regarding long-term damage?"

"Now that is a lot more complicated." The Salarian medic sighed. "And, unless you're willing to invest in advanced prosthetics or expensive surgery equipment, those three will never be fit for field operations again."

I put a hand on my chin, thinking. "The first one might not be out of the realm of possibilities." I said at length. At Aerarth's pointed look, I quickly elaborated. "While the heads and torsos of the LOKIs were unsavable, we've salvaged quite a bunch of limbs and we might just be able to turn those into functional prosthetics. Give me a couple days and I'll get back to you on that."

"...At this point, I wonder if you're ever going to run out of tricks to surprise us with." She tiredly said, walking away. "I'm going back to the lab. There's-"

"Always more to be done? Yeah, I know." I finished for her. I chuckled at the glare she gave me. "Don't forget to take breaks every now and then though. I don't want to have to drag you out of there again."

"Sure thing, " The salarian huffed, walking away. "And here I thought I was done with meddling superiors after leaving the STG..." She grumbled under her breath.

I left her to it, making my way back to the cafeteria. As soon as I entered, all chatter ceased as heads turned to look at me, some people even standing with trepidation written across their faces.

I smiled. "The good doctor has assured me that all of her patients will live unless any unforeseen complications happen." I reassuringly said. Immediately, I felt the whole room breathe a sigh of relief, with those who were close to the injured even hugging their neighbors or crying tears of joy. "We will hold a funeral for the fallen tomorrow evening. After that, it's back to our regular schedule, but doubtless we'll have more work on our hands soon enough."

My next stop was Fann'Tis' workshop, where he and a large part of our tech-savvy members, be they engineers or software experts, spent most of their time working on various projects. The sounds of various machinery rang through the entire space at all times, creating a background of noise that filled your ears as soon as you stepped inside. I found the quarian standing in front of the deactivated YMIR, looking at his holographic display of his omni-tool and the readings it was giving him.

"Fann." I greeted, causing him to turn. "How's it looking? Anything we need to worry about?" I asked.

"Oh, captain." He nodded at me. "I haven't detected any malware whatsoever. Whatever that knife of yours did, it completely overwrote this thing's IFF and firewalls, among other things." He said, shaking his head in amazement. "I honestly wish you'd let me run some thorough scans on it. There's so much I could from such a piece of technology."

Ah yes, that. There were a variety of reasons why I didn't want Fann'Tis, or any quarian, trying to reverse-engineer the data knife at this point in time. Chief among them was that I couldn't even fathom the repercussions this could have on the conflict between the Quarians and the Geth and I didn't want to sour my chances of resolving this problem peacefully.

The other major reason was that, if things were to go FUBAR and we had to abandon this base, the data he would've obtained from those scans wouldn't fall into unscrupulous hands. Just the thought of what Cerberus could achieve if they had something that even just vaguely resembled the data knife's capabilities sent shivers down my spine.

"You know my stance on the matter, Fan." I rebuked gently. "There are plenty of other-"

"Projects that take priority, yes." He finished, shoulders sagging slightly. "I'm not disagreeing with you, but surely..."

I sighed. "Let's compromise. If you can show me proof that scans of my knife might be the only way to get over a wall in one of the projects, I'll let you do it. Would that satisfy you?"

"Yes, that is more than fair!" He nodded rapidly, visibly perking up.

I could only hope I would not come to regret this. "Speaking of priority projects, after what happened today I must ask. How soon is priority one going to be completed?"

Fann'Tis checked his omni-tool. "At the rate we've been going... another few weeks. We're having trouble with the time dilation. Right now, it's only at a one-to-three ratio instead of one-to-five."

I mulled over what he'd said for a moment before eventually nodding. "Then that will have to do." I looked him in the eyes. "Please begin production as soon as possible. We need to step things up and this is eating time and resources that are better spent elsewhere at this point."

I saw Fann'Tis tense slightly at my words. "Why the rush? I mean, I knew we were on a time limit but..." He said worriedly.

"Aria... didn't give me a warning so much as she insinuated that we might have more on our plate sooner than we thought." I replied. "And I am not one to ignore the words of someone who's been at this game for almost a millennia."

The quarian nodded in understanding. "Very well, captain. I'll inform the others and get back to you with a new timetable."

I nodded back. "By the way," I looked at the part of the workshop that doubled as a hangar, where sat one very familiar frame along with another. "How is the secondary chassis coming along?"

"Technically, it's ready. We're still running tests, however. Your VI has been quite helpful in pointing out flaws." He replied, checking his omni-tool once more. "The mounted armaments are ready, but we're still working on the main weapon."

"That's fine. I hopefully won't need to sortie before it is ready but, worst comes to worst, the Tracking Cannon should be enough." I said, approaching the Northstar chassis.

While the Vanguard class could use a Northstar's kit, they couldn't exploit it to the best of its potential, especially the flight thrusters due to the difference in weight. As for why I had another Titan built, well, the Vanguard frame was perfectly suited to handle ground-based threats, but its ability to fight airborne enemies was limited. So I thought I'd take a page out of Viper's book.

The skies would belong to the Northstar, and the Vanguard would dominate ground combat.

There was only one thing missing for the Northstar to be complete: an AI core. I could switch BT's between both chassis back and forth, of course, but it was inefficient. And while I would have loved to ask our resident AI experts for help, I could guess how that would end. So it was just me and BT fumbling our way through making another AI by basing ourselves upon his code to evolve a VI.

Needless to say, this wasn't as easy as simply copy-pasting lines of code from one program onto another. It was also very awkward for both of us.

Perhaps I should pay a visit to the Alliance base on Luna at some point to take a look at what would become EDI in the future? I'm sure Kasumi would find it fun.

I shook my head. Kleptomania wasn't supposed to be contagious, was it?

"I'll leave you to it, Fann." I said, turning away from the Titans and walking past the quarian. "Do keep up the good work."

"Of course." He nodded. "Oh, and what should we do about the YMIR?"

I briefly looked at the inactive mech. "I'll get back to you on that. In the meantime, see if there's anything useful you can scrounge up from its database. Besides, it's also one more defensive measure if we're attacked."

"Understood, I'll get Zaha on that."

I smiled at that. I had been initially surprised at how quickly Fann had taken the younger quarian under his wing until I'd learned the two were old friends who'd lived aboard the same ship their whole lives until Fann, being the older of the two, had left for his pilgrimage.

Zaha'Taenis had only started her own pilgrimage three weeks ago. The moment she had messaged Fann, he had immediately requested that we pick her up at the first opportunity and I had been quick to accept. To my surprise, the girl hadn't come alone. There had also been half a dozen other quarians who, at Fann's behest, had left their occupation to join our little rag-tag group.

Turns out Quarians on pilgrimage kept tabs on each other and didn't hesitate to inform their fellows of good opportunities. Who'd have thought?

An alarm on my omni-tool drew me from my thoughts and I checked to see that it was time for the daily firearm training with the troops. Waving one last goodbye to Fann, I exited the workshop and headed for the shooting range at a fast pace.

Time to see if any of them could complete a rifleman drill without me guiding them every step of the way. Aside from Tiruns, that was.

BT-7274 parsed through the extranet, as was often his mission nowadays. He understood that he could not always accompany Ethan on operations, as the presence of a Titan tended to draw extra attention they did not need. Thus he was assigned to keep watch on the extranet, be it for what the media said about their activities, business opportunities, or even rumors that might need to be explored further.

But he had been designed for combat. His purpose was to fight alongside his Pilot and protect him while accomplishing their designed mission. It was... unusual for him to spend such long periods of time between engagements. Thinking back on his time with Lastimosa, the longest they had gone without being deployed had been a grand total of eight days, thirteen hours, and forty-two minutes. And that had been because of extensive repairs that had needed to be performed on his chasis along with injuries that Lastimosa had needed time to recuperate from.

Logically, BT-7274 knew he should not be... longing -was that the correct term?- for those days. Yet he was at his best when he and his Pilot were linked and fighting together.

Lastimosa had sometimes daydreamed about a day when Titans would no longer be tools of warfare. He remembered the question his previous pilot had asked him.

"Once this war is over, what do you wanna do, BT? What would you want to become?"

BT-7274 still didn't have an answer to that question. And if the events Ethan had told him of came to pass, it probably would remain unanswered for a long while still.

But perhaps-

Greetings, Unit B-T-7-2-7-4.

BT-7274's programs slowed for a millionth of a second as he processed that, yes, someone... or something... had directly reached out to him.

State your identity and purpose.

We are Geth.

We would like to exchange data with you.

BT-7274 considered the response and its implications. Titans did not exchange data unless for mission purposes, why would the Geth want to do so?

Should he inform Ethan about this?

…

First, he should ascertain that this contact was indeed of Geth origin. After that...

Protocol Two: Uphold the Mission.

Mission: Gather manpower and resources in preparation for war against the Reaper threat.

BT-7274 commencing Special Operation.

Objective: acquisition of Geth allies.

As I have said in my note at the start of this chapter, I have an important bit of news to share with you all.

I have started a P atreon! You can find it at P atreon dot com / MidnightFenrir353.

This decision also comes with my intention to go from a full-time job to a part-time one for the purpose of being able to write more. The goal would be to write one chapter a month, which in turn would mean much more frequent updates.

Yes, I am shooting for the stars. And I can only hope that you will help me to do so.

As always, reviews and follows/favorites are greatly appreciated, criticism is welcome, and baseless flaming shall be ignored.

Until next time!

This is MidnightFenrir, signing out.