Chapter 9:

Shepard's head hurt. The amount of data they had sifted through over the past few days was mind-numbing, and they had barely made a dent. The Lazarus data wasn't helpful much at all, except for a very early record citing some vague problem that they ran into. If that new problem was her pregnancy, then that meant Miranda knew...knew all that time and never told her. Shepard had a hard time believing her deceased crew member could have worked alongside her for months while keeping that big of a secret...but Miranda was always good at compartmentalizing.

Then again, that vague problem could simply be a complication in the procedure of bringing her back. And that was the true pain in the ass about this search...nothing could be confirmed. They were making guesses at information that was 90% missing. She felt like she was wasting her time. It was high time they found someone to interrogate, or at least intimidate.

Shepard looked up from her data station and watched Liara's sleeping form. She had slipped into an exhausted sleep at her computer and Shepard didn't have the heart to move her. She was working herself to death on this project, knowing how important it was, even putting off her other projects. Shepard didn't know how she got so lucky with the wonderful people in her life.

The Asari sprung awake wildly as a notification from the computer system went off.

"Oh Gosh!" Liara fumbled breathlessly as she scrambled to reorganize her data pads that had shifted in her sleep. "The algorithm is done," she announced to Shepard.

Shepard looked at her friend and just smiled.

"What?"

"You've got data pad lines on your face," she chuckled.

Liara gave her a look and scrubbed furiously at her blue cheek. "Why did you let me sleep!"

"Because you needed to. We both do."

"You go lay down. I need to know what this algorithm dug up."

Shepard stood and approached her friend's table, looking over her shoulder. "Was this the one to track the ships?"

"Yea. Remember that brilliant thought I had around our third stim?"

"Yea."

"Because I found you on Alchera, I know the exact date when your body was recovered. I also know exactly where and when your body was transferred to Cerberus, again, because I was there. I used that information as a marker to find the exact ship that I transferred your body to."

"Okay, so you've got my exact location pinpointed then."

"Yep. This should also be the last time that you and the yet-to-be-confirmed fetus were together."

"Oh."

"So you know how relays keep a log of all the ships that pass through them?"

"No."

"Well they do. The previous Shadow broker had that all set up, and now that it's mine...well…" Shepard noticed she looked much too happy about that fact, but it may have just been all the stims they had taken. "I fed that ship's information into an existing algorithm to track that ship and see what relays it hit from that point forward. Now we know exactly where it went and when."

"So we know where they took me?"

"Not really, but we have the means to find out now."

"Well that's a start." Shepard conceded.

"Hopefully when we figure out what relays they took you through, we can figure out if they stopped anywhere and how long it took them to get you to Lazarus station. From there we can track all ships coming and going from that relay and try to figure out which one is taking the fetus to Project LAMB. If it really existed," Liara quickly amended.

Shepard sighed heavily. "Do you think she knew?"

"Miranda?" Liara asked, guessing Shepard's thoughts.

"Yea."

"It's hard to say. I want to tell you no, but she was the head of the whole operation. Even despite how badly damaged you were, when they began reconstruction she would have been able to tell by your elevated hormone levels that you were pregnant."

"So then I'm back to 'I was never actually pregnant' or 'a crewmember I've worked beside for months did nothing but lie to my face.'" Shepard frustratedly spat.

"Well to be honest, I don't think I would have told you if I was in her position either." Liara admitted sheepishly.

"Really?" Shepard asked, more curious than truly offended.

"Yea. If you really were pregnant, you had no idea. Telling you after the fact might have done a lot of psychological damage when there was nothing you could have done about it. You weren't in the best place after they brought you back. You had to deal with your PTSD, you still do." Liara confessed in her typical heartfelt way.

"But keeping Hannah a secret! That's over the line!"

"Well that I'd be surprised if she knew about."

"Even as head of the medical team?"

"She was head of YOUR medical team. If they really started another cell, she probably wouldn't have any idea what happened after the fetus left your body. That's how Cerberus operates."

"Too bad no one else survived that base getting destroyed."

"Well, that's another angle I'm working on," Liara confessed. "We know only you, Miranda and Jacob got off during the attack, but that doesn't mean someone didn't transfer out during those two years you were being worked on."

"So there might be someone left after all?"

"It's a long shot, but it's at least an avenue worth pursuing," Liara said, trying not to get the Commander's hopes up.

"Well, I feel better knowing we have a start." Shepard conceded.

"Good. Now go get some rest. I'll call you if I find anything else"