"We're almost five minutes out, Commander." Cortez said.

"What exactly is on this asteroid?" Kacey asked.

"Mining facility." Cortez replied, "T-GES Mineral Works. Small operation. Could be a good place for Leviathan to hide."

"Maybe." Kacey murmured.

The trip had been much less tense than before, and Kaidan assumed it was because he was able to clear the air with Kacey. The scarlet-haired commander turned to face both him and Liara.

"We've all read EDI's notes on Bryson's lab." Kacey said, "Any questions?"

"Do we have any more information on what Leviathan could be?" Liara asked.

"No. The only thing we know is that it killed a Reaper."

"But we're looking for his assistant, right?" Kaidan said, "Doctor Garneau?"

"Yes. If we find him, we find Leviathan." Kacey said.

"Hopefully. It's never that simple, is it?" Kaidan laughed.

"Fingers crossed." Kacey said,

The shuttle landed promptly on the landing pad and Kaidan followed Kacey out of the shuttle. The mining facility seemed off to Kaidan; it sounded way too quiet, even for a small operation.

"Commander, I'm picking up Reaper signals." Cortez said.

"Damn." Kacey said, "Hang tight Cortez. Will be in and out with Garneau in no time."

"You are very optimistic today, Shepard." Liara mused.

"I'm trying to be more positive." Kacey said.

Kaidan could tell that she was at least half lying about that. He could tell she hadn't slept at all lately, but he hoped he could at least try to fix that. For all the talking the pair have done, nothing about Kacey's lack of sleep came up.

He followed across the landing pad and onto the small elevator. As they reached the bottom, a large growl echoed through the area.

"Scouting party." Kacey said, pulling up her rifle.

"A welcome committee? How kind." Kaidan replied sarcastically.

Kaidan shot at a Marauder while Liara used Singularity to kill the other. Kacey had already thrown a grenade at the Brute that was pounding on the door and used her Incendiary bullets to burn through the Brute's armour while Kaidan and Liara both used their biotics to kill the Brute.

"Let's get Garneau before the serious troops arrive." Kacey said.

"That wasn't the serious troops?" Kaidan said.

"It isn't serious until Banshees show up." Kacey replied.

"This facility is full of civilians. They must be terrified." Liara said.

"All the more reason to get inside." Kaidan replied.

After Kacey hacked the main door, the trio headed inside.

"WELCOME TO T-GES MINERAL WORKS." The automated voice said through the intercom, "ALL GUESTS NEED TO SIGN IN AT RECPETION."

There were people in the facility, but it was still eerily quietly. The place was unsettling, and Kaidan felt unnerved by how relaxed everyone was. Liara was also in shock by the enviorment, while Kacey remained expressionless, keeping a stoic mask on.

"They are awfully calm for people that had a Brute and two Marauders at their front door." Kaidan said.

Kacey walked down the walkway and observed a group of three chatting. After one of them noticed Kacey, Kaidan saw as their expressions turned blank, and they slowly turned to face Kacey. Kaidan noticed as she gave a questionable gaze at the trio before heading towards the reception, where two men were working.

"I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance." Kacey said, "You just had Reaper troops attacking your front door."

The receptionist looked at Kacey blankly, staring at her.

"Are they still there?" He said in an eerie and unnerving monotone voice.

It sent chills down his spine. Liara looked unnerved, but Kacey remained unfazed.

"I've taken care of them for now."

"I see." The other replied as monotone as the receptionist, "That will be all."

"That will be…?"

The two men went back to work. Kacey looked at Kaidan and gestured for him to press the green "Assistance" button.

"Hello...?" Kacey said.

"Yes, welcome to T-GES Mineral Works. How can I help you?" the receptionist said.

"Yes." The other said, "For the tour, please sign in."

"What's going on?" Kacey said, "You don't seem worried about those Reapers. You know something I don't?"

"T-GES Mineral Works is a small to mid-level supplier of tungsten to the galaxy." The guard replied.

"That's not what I meant."

"Are you familiar with the applications of tungsten?"

"Look, I'm looking for a researcher named Doctor Garneau." Kacey replied, "He would have arrived within the last couple of weeks. If he's still here, I need to speak with him."

"We have no Doctor Garneau." The receptionist replied.

"Do you need to see a doctor?" The guard added.

"How about I just go in and look around?" Kacey said.

"No." The guard said, "The access elevator is broken."

Kaidan saw that one of the miners broke the elevator deliberately, and Kacey narrowed her eyes. She seemed suspicious of something, that much Kaidan knew.

"And now…we're done." The receptionist said, "Step away."

"Step away." The guard repeated, "You don't belong here."

"Something is clearly wrong here." Kaidan whispered to Kacey, "Come on."

"Let's look around." Kacey whispered back, "Carefully."

While Kacey headed towards the elevator, Kaidan looked around at the miners. They seemed…fearful? He wondered why. Any mention of the Reaper led to an uncomfortable silence. And as he looked around, he wondered what had happened here.

"Commander. I found a repair terminal." Liara said quietly, "I'll set the drone to repair the elevator, but we will need to stay close."

Liara escorted the drone to the elevator, and all three of them waited while the drone worked. Kaidan noticed that Kacey was looking at something on the elevator.

"Looks like our Doctor went in here." Kacey murmured, "Come on, let's go."

Once the drone had finished repairs, the trio snuck into the elevator and headed up. Kaidan couldn't help but feel that James was right; something about all this felt off. Whatever Leviathan was it was something dangerous. And it clearly didn't want to be found either.

…

"What the hell is going on here?" Kacey said.

Unfortunately, upstairs didn't seem any better. If anything, it was worse than downstairs. The people up here were just like the ones downstairs: vague, monotone voices all of them saying that they shouldn't be here. It was creepy; and Kaiden didn't have high hopes. But that wasn't the only thing that was disconcerting; for a mining facility, the place looked an awful lot like a lab. Kacey approached one of the locked doors which had Garneau listed one the security list.

"THIS IS A RESTRICTED AREA." The computer beeped, "PERSONNEL ID NUMBER REQUIRED."

"Right let's split up and look for an ID number." Kacey ordered.

"Commander? Take a look at this." Liara said, ""Evolutionary implications of human biotics." Apparently, this was something that these people have been studying."

"Why?" Kaidan asked.

"No idea." Kacey replied, "But I intend to find out."

…

Hunting around for an ID number wasn't something that Kaidan intended to spend his day doing. All of the miners looked at the biotic with blank, unfeeling looks that would send shivers down the spines of most. Kaidan however, chose to ignore the miner's glares and continue his search. That search led him to a small storage room, where he found Kacey looking at a datapad.

"What's that?" He asked.

"Don't know." Kacey replied.

The datapad beeped after Kacey poked the screen.

"ATTENTION. COMM SYSTEM IS OFFLINE. THIS MESSAGE WAS NOT SENT" the datapad beeped.

"Bryson, it's Garneau." Garneau's voice rang out, "I've had to go into hiding, and I need you to come get me. I've found another one of those artefacts here. They're more important than we realised. It's in the mines—here's the navpoint. That's where I'll be. If something happens…I'm attaching a passcode that I hacked together. It'll open any security terminal. Bryson…something is very wrong here. Please hurry. Garneau out."

"So, he's still here?" Kaidan said.

"Looks like it." Kacey replied.

"Shepard," Liara said, entering the room, "I've found an ID Code."

"Good work, Liara" Kacey said, "Now then, let's get this door open."