Kacey headed towards the Armoury, one of the two places she needed to go to. Both Jacob and Miranda wanted to talk to Kacey about something. She was happy to be out of that Briefing Room with Kelly; the conversation had made her extremely uncomfortable.

In her mind, her past did not matter. And it did not affect her in the present. It didn't matter who her parents were, how her relationship was with them or how her childhood was; she was an adult. She was way past all of that. It was better for her if it was dead and buried.

Jacob was busy working on a rifle when Kacey entered the room. Jacob always worked on keeping the firearms in top shape, with Garrus' sniper rifle being the sole exception. Kacey personally didn't mind it; provided that Jacob didn't rig hers to explode when she used it, she couldn't care less if he was the one, he did the upkeep. Although it was safe to say that the rest of the crew had the same idea.

"Jacob always did strike me as a bit odd. Compared to everyone else, he kept things very tight-lipped. I know that's rich coming from me, but for whatever reason, Jacob didn't want to talk about anything personal. He once mentioned he was a part of the Corsairs, but never did elaborate on the topic. Hell, he seemed surprised that I knew of them, but nothing about what it was like. He never once opened up, but this time, well, he couldn't really hide it anymore."

"Hey, Jacob." Kacey said in her commander voice, "You wanted to talk?"

"Commander?" Jacob jumped a bit as he turned around to face Kacey, "Sorry, I'm a little unfocused. Personal matter. It won't affect my duties."

"Yeah, cause I've never heard that before." Kacey said, her voice laced with sarcasm, "Jacob, it is one hundred percent going to affect your duties if you don't say anything now. And I can assure you I will not let the matter drop until you tell me."

"You that sure?"

"Ask Garrus if you don't believe me." Kacey said, "Or Tali for that matter. Or Joker. Last person to give me that excuse ended up spilling it within the next hour, although I admit they attempted to hide it."

"Hey wait. Were you referring to me?" Kaidan said.

"Well, I mean its kinda true." Kacey replied, "You did spill it pretty quickly."

"Okay fair."

"Okay, fine." Jacob replied, "As I said, it's a personal matter. I don't want to waste our time if it turns out to be a goose chase but…"

"But?"

"Well, I got pinged by a ghost the other night. Family." Jacob explained, "My private log got an update about the Hugo Gernsback, the ship my father served on. It sent an SOS last week, reporting a crash and requesting a rescue. Shepard, that ship went missing ten years ago. I hadn't talked to my father for three years before that. I've buried everything but a body. I'm not convinced it isn't just some automated distress signal ticking over. It's been too long."

Jacob's expression remained blank; Kacey studied him carefully before replying, "I'd think you'd be more excited that your father might be alive."

"He wasn't around enough for me to have bad memories." Jacob replied, a little bitter, "It's an old, well-healed wound. But if he's actually alive and needs help…*sigh* I also want to note that it's not normal procedure for distress calls to be routed to the Normandy. this was passed to my personal log through Cerberus filters."

"Sounds pretty suspicious to me." Kaidan mused.

"Oh trust me, it was." Kacey replied.

"Any signs that this was a Cerberus front?" Kacey asked, "Who passed this to you?"

Jacob scoffed, "I doubt the Illusive Man would let a direct operation stay cold this long. If there's any link, it's probably about money. Cerberus needs diverse holdings to fund projects like, well, you."

Kacey rolled her eyes; she wished that they'd stop hanging that over her head.

"And whoever sent this my way covered their tracks." Jacob continued, "Someone fishing for favours. Or thought it would get under my skin. Who knows with that bunch?"

"Sounds to me like you didn't get along with your father."

"He made no apologies; I'll give him that." Jacob said, bitter, "You make a mistake, you own up to it, even if you keep making it."

"What mistakes were those?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Out of everyone on this ship, you're the one I know the least about." Kacey replied, "I'm just curious is all."

"He wasn't around much, that's all you need to know." Jacob replied, "Whatever problems we had were a lifetime ago. I've had ten years to get to where I am. And as far as I know, he's still a ghost."

"Ghost or not, he's still you're father."

"Uh huh, tell me do you have a good relationship with yours?"

"Depends. How do you define a 'good relationship' with a corpse?"

Jacob paused. Kacey sighed before continuing, "We can spare the time to take a look, okay? Pass the coordinates to Joker and then we'll head out."

"I…appreciate that, Commander." Jacob replied, "I don't expect more than dusty old bones, but it'll be good to close the record."

…

"Miranda is an ice queen. She certainly was at first. I don't know what it was that caused her to be like that. She was genetically engineered to be perfect; but nobody truly is. She has flaws, but perhaps she found them to be unacceptable. She truly believed she was capable of doing everything by herself. But maybe she just needed to be reminded of her humanity."

"Shepard," Miranda addressed Kacey as she walked in, "I find myself in the unpleasant position of asking for your help."

"Way to boost my self-esteem." Kacey replied in a teasing tone. She could see the faintest smile across Miranda's face.

"It's nothing personal against you." Miranda replied, "I don't like discussing personal matters…but this important."

"Okay, talk to me."

"You remember what I told you about father…building a dynasty?" Miranda said to which Kacey nodded, "There was another reason I went to Cerberus for protection. I have a sister. A twin. And he's still hunting her. Cerberus has kept her safe. Until now. She's living a normal life on Illium, safe and hidden from my father."

"So, you think you're father has tracked her down."

"Precisely, Commander." Miranda replied, "My sources indicate he knows that she's on Illium. I've tried to keep her hidden without impacting her life, but I'm out of options. He's too close. I need to relocate my sister's family before it's too late."

"What do you know about your sister?" Kacey asked.

"She's my genetic twin." Miranda replied, standing up, "We're identical. But she deserves a normal life. And she's going to get it, no matter what."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Do you not also deserve a normal life?" Kacey asked.

Miranda looked at Kacey, a conflicted expression written across her face. Kacey knew she had struck a nerve, as Miranda thought about her response.

"That's a nice thought, but…" Miranda trailed off before sighing, "But this isn't about me, it's about my sister."

"Okay, fair enough." Kacey replied, carefully observing Miranda. She didn't buy it; she knew she had given the operative food for thought, "So, does your sister's family know about this? Are they okay with being relocated?"

"They know nothing." Miranda replied, "They're completely uninvolved. Normal. I told Cerberus and they're coming up with a positive reason to move the family."

"So, if that's the case then what do you need me to do?" Kacey asked.

"My father is extremely persistent. I'd like to go to Illium when Cerberus is moving the family to make sure none of his agents get too close." Miranda said, "My contact's name is Lanteia. She'll be waiting for us in the lounge near the Nos Astra docking bay."

…

"After that, I went to check on Thane and Tali. I hadn't spoken to either of them much since their arrival, so I figured I'd change that before I sorted out Jacob's problem."

Kacey had never entered the Life Support room until now. She didn't quite understand why the Normandy SR-2 had one. Like with many of the room on the Crew Deck, the Life Support room wasn't in the original Normandy, and Kacey was left to wonder why it was included.

As she entered the rather arid room, she saw Thane sitting at the table, looking out the window which oversaw the drive core. He was deadly silent, and simply stared off into the distance.

"Do you need something, Commander?" Thane's voice shattered the silence like glass.

Kacey wasn't as startled by the sudden sound of his voice; she figured that the best assassin in the galaxy would've picked up on her entering the room.

"Have a few minutes to talk?" Kacey asked, courteous.

"Certainly." Thane replied, his head turned slightly, "We haven't had a chance since I joined."

"When we met you, you said you were dying."

"Yes. I thought you'd want to know more." Thane said turning his gaze back towards thee drive core, "You don't have to worry about the rest of the crew. My illness is not communicable, even to other drell. It's called Kepral's Syndrome."

"What exactly is Kepral's Syndrome?"

"My people are native to an arid world. Most of us live on Kahje, the hanar homeworld. It's very humid and rains every day." Thane explained, "Our lungs can't deal with the moisture. Over time, the tissue loses its ability to absorb oxygen. It becomes harder to breathe. Eventually, we suffocate."

"Can't they do something about that?" Kacey asked.

"The hanar have funded a genetic engineering program." Thane replied, "They should be able to adapt us. The project has only been running for a few years. I don't believe my body will still draw breath by the time it bears fruit."

"Are you going to be all right until the end of the mission?"

"I should be fine for another eight to twelve months. The more time I spend in humid environments, the faster it progresses. I think its safe to say that by the time my body is incapacitated, we'll be victorious, or dead. Either way, I won't be a burden to you."

"Let's just hope it's the first one." Kacey replied, "Is there anything we can do?"

"No, thank you. It's being attended to." Thane replied, courteous, "If the finest medical minds in the hanar Illuminated Primacy can't solve the problem, I doubt your ship's medic could. Thank you for your concern. Trust me. This won't affect my performance."

"I can believe that." Kacey replied.

…

"Hey Tali." Kacey said as she walked into Engineering, "Is the new Normandy given you any trouble?"

"Please, Shepard. I'm a quarian." Tali said teasingly, "Give me a chunk of scarp metal, a circuit board, and some element zero and I'll have it making precision jumps. I was worried about working with Cerberus engineers, but they know what they're doing, and they've been very polite."

"Glad to hear it." Kacey replied, "Speaking of, do you have time to talk?"

Tali led Kacey down towards the drive core, presumably to avoid Ken and Gabby listening in on their conversation.

"We didn't really have time to chat while taking out geth on Haestrom, did we?" Tali said sombre, "I can't believe so many people died. Thank you again for getting Reegar out alive. Hmph, all for data about stars blowing up. I hope that Admiralty Board gets some use out of it."

"Have you heard any word about Kal'Reegar?"

"Yes, he sent me a message." Tali replied, "It looks like he'll make a full recovery. Any time you get a suit puncture, it's a matter of luck. Reegar got out with a relatively small infection."

"Good." Kacey replied, "So, are you settling into the new Normandy?"

"I like the quiet." Tali replied, reminiscent, "I miss the old faces, though. Pressely, Engineer Adams, all of them. Even Liara and Kaidan."

"Yeah, same here." Kacey said, half-heartedly.

"Sorry, Shepard." Tali said suddenly, "Garrus mentioned what had happened between you and Kaidan on Horizon."

"Hey, its fine." Kacey replied, "You don't have to apologise. We had a fight, that's all."

"He called you a traitor and thought you were lying to him." Tali replied, "I swear, if he says anything like that again I'll slap some sense into him."

"That explains why she hit me." Kaidan said.

"Yeah she wasn't happy." Kacey replied, "Although that reminds me that I've got to ask Garrus exactly what he told her. Because I think he might've exaggerated a bit."

"You and me both."

"Please don't. I appreciate the thought, but I don't think that'll help." Kacey replied.

"Fine." Tali replied, "Although I will say that, it doesn't seem right having Cerberus in charge of this ship. Are you sure this is the right thing to do?"

"Well I'm being blackmailed into compliance and after seeing what the Illusive Man did with Kaidan and Liara, I'm not taking any chances." Kacey said, "He used Kaidan as bait for the Collectors, he could've been taken by them and Liara could've been killed by those Shadow Broker agents."

"I understand." Tali said, "You're doing what you always do; look out for us."

"Yeah well, when once this mission is over, I'm expecting to be stabbed in the back." Kacey said, "So we better be prepared for anything."

"Just tell me how I can help, Shepard." Tali said.