While I may have brutally slaughtered my way through the Broker's ship, even going so far as to kill the Broker, it was actually a little disturbing how quickly everything seemed to go back to normal.

The Network was still operating, its agents reported in, clients made offers, juicy secrets exchanged, funds transferred from one hand to another, and the wheel of clandestine espionage kept spinning.

As far as the Galaxy beyond the ship was concerned, nothing happened.

But I did spend the next few weeks in intensive care following the battle. For most of it, I was bedridden. First in the medbay, then into an actual bed once all the surgeries were done.

Well technically after some people got rid of the old Broker's bed and put something I could use in its place.

I mean I know he was a hanar but did he really need a big tank of water…?

Regardless, the doctors say my recovery time, including all the physical therapy to get my hand working again, was just under a year.

Not the best, but not terrible.

Honestly, the worst part of all this was dealing with Aria and Liselle. It felt like they called every other day with the exact same questions.

How am I doing?

Am I safe?

And a dozen other things besides.

Liselle was more emotional than Aria, who was more of that stand offish dad sort of persona, but I knew where the pair were coming from. But man did it feel like I was being babied.

Like yes guys, I know to not push myself during recovery.

No, I am not going to do anything 'stupid'.

Yes, I do plan on coming home as soon as I am able to.

Ugh…

As much as I love them, there are times I want to strangle them.

Metaphorically of course!

But in the meantime, between calls and checkups, I was essentially stuck in bed, or at my desk. Though I was hardly twiddling my thumbs doing nothing.

Afterall I was THE Shadow Broker now!

The secrets of the Galaxy were now mine to snoop about as I saw fit!

Nothing could hide from my all seeing eye!

So of course, one of the first things I did was search myself in this database; like I feel anyone would once they took over what amounted to the Illuminati. As it turns out, all the Broker had on me was who my dad was, my name, my residence, my job, and that's it.

I didn't even have my own file, I was an addendum on Aria's file!

I'm not sure if I should be glad the all seeing eye of the Shadow Broker wasn't focused on me, or insulted that I seemingly wasn't important enough to get my own dedicated file. There was even a link to a list of potential mothers for me and Liselle, it was over one thousand individuals!

I mean I know it's because Aria's way more important in the grand scheme of things then me, but still!

At least I got the last laugh, jellyfish!

Or maybe he did, since I saw things that were not meant to be seen.

Like old archived footage of my dad in her early 'dancer days' on Omega pole dancing in nothing more than a thong for a crowd of rowdy Krogan. Beckoned towards a Krogan on a throne, and…

Nope!

Nope!

Nope!

I have never deleted something so fast in any of my lives.

I don't even want to know why the Broker had clips of that ready to go….

No, not going to think about it!

Mental scarring aside, while the Broker's Network was quite thorough and wide reaching, it wasn't as…impressive as I thought it would be.

Okay that is not entirely accurate.

The Broker's network- My Network was filled with mundane information. If I wanted to know the dirty laundry of any noteworthy politician, some spicy state secrets, maybe a bit of corporate espionage, or up to date info on what merc group or gang was up to in the Terminus, then sure it was at my fingertips. Mistresses, consorts, drug deals, bribery, corruption, every other type of scandel you can think of, anything about anyone that was worth knowing, it was all here in the files.

I knew the current Salarian dalatrass was pulling strings for her great grandson to be accepted into the STG despite scoring below their acceptance rate.

I knew about the investigation going on at Cipritine Armory involving the use of substandard materials in their latest run of the phaeston rifle line and how it all happened.

I knew about the potential induction of a new agent into the Spectres; even making my own notes to keep a close eye on Tela Vasir for obvious reasons.

I knew about three potential fathers of Liara T'Soni; one of them being correct.

I even knew about some secret romeo and juliet nonsense between prominent volus from two opposing tribes that threatened to upend several alliances on Irune.

And yet there was a disturbing lack of info on the things that actually mattered. Like the Reapers.

Most of what he did have on those space cuttlefish was related to the Prothean extinction. Seems like the Broker subscribed to the 'War in Heaven' theory, that the Protheans were wiped out in a galactic scale war with another powerful race, and felt the Reapers were the best fit for it. He even has a bunch of Prothean logs detailing Reaper invasions of planets and how they were overwhelmingly powerful, but he seemingly didn't know exactly what they were.

No notes about how the Relays and the Citadel were made by the Reapers, no mention of the Collectors being indoctrinated and genetically altered Protheans, hell there wasn't even a single mention of indoctrination!

While I had assumed the Broker would be oblivious to some stuff, like the Prothean beacon on Thessia or the locations of various reaper artifacts in the Galaxy, this was actually a little disturbing.

This needed to be fixed immediately.

First things first though, I need to get some things out of the 'way'.

It took a couple of weeks, but eventually I got what I was looking for.

Shadow Broker

We have completed our survey of the Dis system.

During our scans we discovered a massive object of undetermined origin on the planet of Jatar. After comparing its physical traits with the notes you provided us, we are confident that this is the starship you are searching for.

Details are enclosed in file.

On initial inspection-

I didn't even finish the message before opening the file.

Sliding across the room in my new 'rolling chair', slammed into my desk and opened the message's attachment. Skipping all the words and charts, I went straight to the video and image bits.

And yep! That is definitely a Reaper!

Big, cuttlefish-y, and very, very dangerous. Curled up in a fetal position in some crater on a dead rock. I hesitate to call the Reaper itself 'dead' since it's still capable of indoctrinating anyone near it, assuming my memories of Mass Effect lore are right. If they were, then this is the thing that causes the Batarians to collapse when the Reapers invade after indoctrinating their leadership.

Not sure how big a radius the 'indoctrination field' is, or even if it can pass through the vacuum of space, but I am glad I gave explicit orders to keep one hundred kilometers away from that thing.

But at least I knew it was still there and not in Batarian hands.

Now all I needed was that survey mission I sent for the other derelict Reaper to report back and we will be in business. Like with Dis, I may not remember exact planet names all that well in some cases, but there is only one brown dwarf in that system in the Thorne system, it shouldn't be that hard to find it.

I mean, narrowing down the search area to a single gas giant, in a single solar system, is pretty much the best you can hope for when looking at stuff on a galactic scale.

But that was something for later, right now I had to get to work.

First I needed to move them to a more 'secure' spot in space.

"Glyph!"

"Yes, Ma'am?" the drone, fizzled to life above my desk.

"Put me in contact with whatever agent organizes salvage and recovery of starships," I plugged my little VI into the network and with some delicious upgrades, courtesy of agents in Synthetic Insights, my Glyph was more than capable of managing the data flows of the Network. Sort of like the canon 'Info Drone' if I think about it.

"Of course, Ma'am, one moment please." With a cheery chime, his hologram blinked out of existence.

I waited less than half a minute before my comms flared to life.

"Yes, Shadow Broker?" I didn't recognize the voice, not that it mattered that much.

"I need a salvage operation organized for a dreadnought weight vessel of alien origin. But there are some hazards involved," I moved aside a window of the program modulating my voice and pulled up the 'Reaper Dossier' I had been working on. "Sending you the data now."

The agent was silent for a moment, no doubt going over the bonkers data I just slipped him. It was hardly the 'uncensored' truth of the Reapers, but more of a slimmed down version of the 'Codex' I wrote and left at home on a timer. The file I sent the agent basically boiled down to, 'reapers are dangerous', 'reapers are utterly alien', 'reapers were around during the time of the Protheans', and 'reapers ships can take over your mind if you spend too much time on or near them'.

"Uh yes, this…" he fumbled over his words, but tried to keep it professional. "This… Reaper ship, for a wreck of this size I'll need at least seventy-two hours to get the ships, and another forty-eight for the crews."

"Credits are no issue, hire as many people as you think are needed," given how many zeroes I've found in the Broker's personal account, I could probably buy entire star systems outright. Money would never be an issue for me ever again.

I heard the agent make a note on his end, "any time constraints I should be aware of?"

"None. While I would like this done quickly, given the scale of the ship and the 'effects' it can cause, I'd rather have this done properly than too hastily."

"And about those effects sir. This… indoctrination field, is there any defense to its…effects?" I could tell he was reading all the nasty effects I put in it as he was asking his question. Insanity, sociopathy, delusions of grandeur, all the fun stuff I remember indoctrinated people doing from the games.

"At this moment? Only distance," that was also something I was going to have to look into. Probably make some sort of facility to research ways to block whatever transmitted that signal. "But as you can see, the situation requires a 'deft' touch. "

"But how long would it last for, assuming some mistake is made."

"Forever."

"E-excuse me, sir?"

"Indoctrination is a permanent condition," I let my words sink in. "While stronger minds can resist its onset for a time it will eventually overcome them. And once that happens, there is no going back. I would recommend not testing if any of the crew you recruit have a strong enough will to resist."

Maybe the best thing about being the Shadow Broker, no one ever calls bullshit on what you tell them; no matter how insane it seems

"Y-yes sir."

"But I wouldn't worry too much, a couple of kilometers should be more than sufficient distance to insulate yourselves from the effects. It should also go without saying that actually boarding the craft would be a gross mistake."

"I…I understand, sir," I doubted he actually did, but I feel the point has been hammered in by now.

"Very good. Contact me when everything is ready to proceed. And know that if all goes according to plan, your payment will ensure you never have to work another day in your life."

"Of course, Shadow Broker," with that the line died.

Short, sweet, and to the point.

Now, onto the next person to ensure total secrecy of the operation. Dis was in Batarian space, and the Batarian state was obsessive in monitoring and controlling its internal borders. I have no doubt that any large-scale movement of ships into their space will be met with military force.

So let's fix that.

I pursued through a list of known Batarian contacts, finding the individual I needed to speak with at the very top.

"Glyph, send a message to the Batarian Hegemon, tell him I'd like to speak with him immediately."

"Of course, Ma'am."

You know, I shouldn't be surprised that the Broker has a major political leader on speed dial.

But while the Network had hooks in numerous states, only in the Hegemony did I have not just the leader, but multiple ministries under my thumb. Hardly a common thing, according to the last Broker's logs this level of influence was very new, but it was welcomed.

After all, I was going to need that connection to get that Reaper out of Batarian space quietly.

I had to wait ten minutes for the Hegemon to contact me.

"Shadow Broker, this…this is an unexpected surprise," the man on the other end sounded like he was trying to catch his breath. No doubt running from whatever he was doing before to speak with me. "What can I do for you?"

"A certain situation has come up that I would rather not be known by the Hegemony," I decided to get right to the point. "Your discretion in this matter is required."

"I understand, I'll make sure nothing is recorded," he quickly acquiesced. "But if you don't mind my asking, which poor bastard crossed your path?"

"Not that sort of discretion," I corrected the misunderstanding. "I need to ensure there is no evidence of a certain action I will be ordering in Batarian space in a short while."

"Actions? Broker, I've told you before, if something is too public I can't cover it up. Any mass casualty event is going to get picked up by the Army or Navy intelligence agencies no matter what I do."

"I don't have any intent of causing a scene," again, I try to reel in this guy assuming the worst possible thing, not that my choice of words was helping much I guess. "I'm preparing a large scale salvage operation in the Dis system, and I would rather it go unnoticed."

"Oh. Oh, that's more doable," I could almost hear the man sighing. "But if you don't mind my asking, what exactly are you planning on doing there? Salvaging hardly requires such secrecy."

"Something has piqued my interest, and I want it without having to alert half the batarian fleet that I am doing so," I refused to tell him that I was taking.

"O-of course, sir," it was almost intoxicating how servile my new persona made people. "Is there anything else I can do-"

"No, that's all for now, I'll contact you again when your part is required."

"Yes sir, I'll-" I cut the feed.

I sighed, leaning back in my chair, my quarters silent except for the humming of consoles and the weather outside.

Well that's stage one done with.

The first of many steps.

Shadow Broker

The operation to move the dreadnought from Jatar is complete. The wreck was moved via towing cables and automated scaffolding to avoid close proximity and potential contamination. It has been successfully brought to system KG-445 in the Valhallan Cluster as you instructed (exact coordinated enclosed).

One incident of note occurred. After transit was complete five workers (three batarians, two vorcha) were found entering the dreadnought to explore the superstructure. They remained inside for three hours before emerging with several pieces of salvage.

Following your guidelines, all five were executed and all materials they retrieved destroyed.

Awaiting Further instructions.

xxx

Broker Reply : Excellent. Funds have been transferred to your account. It goes without saying you'll never speak of any of this to anyone.

Broker's personal addendum: Note to self, find all workers who were involved with destroying Reaper tech and put them on long term observation. Not taking any chances with Reaper tech bullshit.

xxx

Eventually, all good things must come to an end.

The 'end' in this case being me going home.

My hand was fully healed, therapy aside, and my grip on the Broker's Network was solidified.

More importantly, I did need to head back home to keep my little 'codex' from being released onto the extranet. I mean I guess I could call and tell Liselle to do it, but then she might get nosey and look into it. Can't have that.

Not that I didn't have a dozen other things going on right now. Getting teams of scientists and engineers to start picking apart the Reaper I had to reverse engineer some better weapons against them, building the facilities they would need to safely work on this stuff, figuring out how to block out indoctrination, and all the other little things that would help galactic civilization as a whole survive the oncoming reaper invasion.

But as I have quickly found out, the Network can basically run itself so long as there is a Broker there for people to report in to.

So I said my farewells, wished my new workers goodbye, and impressed upon all of them that they did not want me to have to come back here and enforce my rule over them a second time. Also, the little white lie that the ship they were on would explode if I died.

With that, and my shuttle jam packed with enough bleeding edge equipment to run my new organization from afar, I made my way home.

However, this whole organization building thing got me thinking that I could really use a right hand to help me out. Someone who I could disclose everything about the Reapers to, what they really were (sans the Catalyst) and how utterly screwed we were if we didn't stop them.

And it couldn't just be anyone. They had to have experience with managing large, morally dubious organizations, had the common sense to not drink the 'Reaper Kool-aid' and start mucking about with their tech thinking they knew better, and most important of all they had to be someone I could personally trust.

Surprisingly, I didn't have to worry about 'who' for that long since the answer seemed pretty obvious in hindsight.

And if he doesn't work out, well we'll go from there.

"You want to run that by me again kid?" Patriarch barely believed what he heard. "You want to hire me?"

"Yeah," even over the comms, he could see her smile as she spoke. Her voice came in clear over all the thumbing music and talkative crowds of Afterlife. "It's a really cool thing I got going and I think you'd be a great fit."

"For what, exactly?" Last he heard, Aleena was off doing who knows what out in deep space, only to come back and claim she had a job for him. She got messed up pretty bad if Aria's mood the last few weeks was anything to go by. Seemed peppy enough now though.

"I can't say."

"You can't, or you don't want to over the comms?"

"Yeah, the second one!"

He groaned at her response. "Listen kid, I'm happy you want to help an old krogan like me, but I have a lot of work on my plate right now."

"Gossiping with your fan club isn't work," she countered, refusing to let up.

"Look, Aleena, I appreciate what you think you're doing, but I don't need any charity," especially from Aria's kid, but he kept that bit to himself. But that was more a matter of personal pride than anything with her.

"Oh no, no, no, none of that! You think I'm doing this just to throw you a bone out of pity?" Patriarch never heard that turn of phrase before, but he gathered what it meant all that same. "I'm asking you for help because I think you're the guy for the job."

"What the hell could you possibly be doing that someone like me could help with?"

"Hear me out tomorrow and you'll see."

"Aleena…"

"No, please just listen to what I have to say Patriarch. Just listen to it and if you don't like it walk away."

Maybe he was getting old, or too soft, but her pleading was slowly breaking down his resolve. Not to agree to whatever fanciful schemes she may be up to, but to at least humor her. "...damn kids…"

"Thanks Patriarch, I'll come by tomorrow!"

"Hold on now, I didn't agree to any-" she terminated the call. Grunting,he leaned back into his seat and nursed his growing headache.

Damn kids these days…

AN: A little short, but I am back! For any not aware of why this chapter (in most of my works in general) took so long, it's a long story. I've said it a bunch of times on SpaceBattles, so I'll keep it brief here.

TLDR: Some youtube channel plagiarized (that being outright copying my work wholesale) my "A Young Woman's Third Life as an Imperial Princess" story into an AI text to speech thing. I wasn't the only person this happened to, and honestly it's not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, but it did kill my interest in writing (for the most part) for a while.

But I'm back now!

Honestly I had no idea how this chapter was going to come out. I wanted it go keep going a bit more, but then it ran the risk of being a big cliffhanger (meeting Mama Tevos for example!) and I have gotten enough messages about those recently.

So I fiddled around a bit, going over the last bit in particular several times, before I just threw up my hands and said 'it's good enough' and that's what you have before you.

Honestly I'm, just happy to get something out.