11: The Agent

He had lost track of time in this place. There were no windows in here, for one. There was only one light, a fluorescent fitting that cast the room in a sterile white glow. The walls were covered with a plain wood-glazed texture, not genuine timber but some cheap material made to resemble as such. Aside from the table before him and the chair he sat upon, along with the vacant one at the opposite end of that table, the place was bare.

Kanen leaned back in his seat, his head pounding, the first stirrings of a fever apparent from the stifling heat that had begun to build inside his helmet. A wave of nausea crept through him then and he felt as if he was on the verge of throwing up, only for it to pass almost as quickly as it had come. The time was the least of his worries here, and he figured he might fiddle some more with his suit's systems only to remember that his captors had confiscated his omni-tool. This was only a minor setback, as the auxiliary controls were underneath a small panel at the left forearm of his suit, and he flicked that open to find a small, less sophisticated display that, upon laying eyes upon it, seemed to be communicating to him in a strange foreign language. None of the quarian text floating across that palm-sized display made any sense to him, at least for a moment, before the words finally registered in his head. By the ancestors, he was getting delirious.

Another dose of antibiotics was in order. Of course, they would take a little bit of time to kick in. He shut off the auxiliary display, closing its compartment, before he once again looked towards the solitary grey metal door at the other end of the small, plain room. An interrogation room no less, the kind reserved for those in serious trouble. And there was no doubt in his mind that he was in some serious trouble, and it seemed he had Natasha to thank for that. He cursed himself for having been so easily tempted by that woman, yet part of him could not help but feel it had all been worth it. Surely, he deserved a bit of fun now and then?

He had no idea where he was. The bastards had stuck a sack over his head as soon as he had been suited up, and they had bundled him and Natasha into a vehicle and driven them somewhere, before he had been deposited into this very room. The drive had taken about twenty minutes, which put them across town some ways, but of course he had no idea where that might have been. He did not even know where Natasha was, for he had not seen her since that blindfold had been put on. He had to assume she was in the building somewhere else, and from what little his captors had said back at the apartment it appeared these people knew her. All humans, of course. He had to assume this was some kind of mercenary operation, perhaps even Cerberus. After all, Natasha had stolen something from that organization so it made sense they would snatch her up to get it back.

He heard footsteps then, from just outside in the hall. He sat up, despite his throbbing headache, just as the door flung open and the blonde-haired man he had seen back at the apartment strode inside. He had a serious look to his youngish features, and he stormed towards the opposite end of the table before he planted both hands upon it and leaned forwards.

'Where's Natasha?' He asked the man. He saw the way in which the human's stern features narrowed a little further into a frown.

'Do you have any idea who she really is?' The human's voice was firm, underlaid with a slight hint of a threat.

'I get the feeling you're about to tell me.' Kanen swallowed, his mouth feeling a little drier than usual. 'But if it's all the same to you, I will have nothing to do with her from here on. I mean, getting picked up by you guys right after I've finally gotten laid for the first time in ages is a sure sign to me that woman's nothing but trouble. So, let me loose and I won't bother you again.'

The man watched him for a moment, saying nothing. His stern features betrayed no real emotion, and Kanen found the man's withering stare increasingly uncomfortable to bear.

'You wouldn't have any medicine good for a dextro like me?' Kanen asked him. 'Because I feel like shit.'

Now he saw something change on the man's face; it was the smallest hint of a smile, but it was a fleeting quirk of his mouth at that.

'Natasha Vasiya is someone we've spent a great deal of time looking for,' the man said. 'I was called in only recently when we learned she was here on Anhur. This safehouse, or outpost, if you will, has been here for much longer.' He stood up straight then, taking his hands off of the table. His expression appeared to ease, and Kanen felt some small measure of relief. No torture to come, or so it seemed. Nonetheless, he remained on guard.

'You, Kanen'Jaslek, have unfortunately been drawn into a matter far more complicated than anything Natasha has likely told you,' he continued.

'You know me?'

'It's our business to know who we're dealing with,' he said. 'You are Kanen'Jaslek, formerly Kanen'Jaslek vas Saralev. A Marine of the Migrant Fleet, or so was the case until about seven years ago.'

Kanen's mood soured then, and his eyes narrowed behind the faceplate of his helmet.

'Sounds like you know a little too much about me,' he said.

'Information is our business, Kanen'Jaslek.'

'Oh? Well, you have me at a disadvantage.' Kanen got the impression he was not a prisoner here, not really. It was simply a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was not sure whether he should be mad at Natasha or disappointed in himself for getting caught. 'Let me guess: you're not Cerberus, because I doubt Cerberus would be treating an alien prisoner as friendly as you are now. You're certainly not native to Anhur, you're not with the local constabulary and you definitely aren't working with the Governor. That leaves only a few feasible options, and the one that comes to mind first is that you're Alliance. Or rather, some branch of Alliance Intelligence, the kind that operates without wearing the uniforms or the emblems. Some kind of human black ops espionage operation, here to keep an eye on the state of this planet and its human citizens since the local government is corrupt and mostly useless in that regard.' Kanen offered the man a smile, not that it was easily visible through his helmet. 'How am I doing so far?'

'Remarkably well.' The man nodded his head, seemingly impressed. 'Your file did say you had good observational skills. Those would be necessary for someone like you with a list of enemies as long as your arm.' He paused for a moment, his smile fading. 'You did make a mess of that illegal fight club, by the way. Now those people were after a bounty, a bounty placed upon the head of Natasha. One that we're not able to properly trace the source of. Could be Cerberus, could be someone else.'

'Well, she did infiltrate a Cerberus facility and steal something of theirs.' Kanen shrugged his shoulders. 'They obviously want it back, whatever it was. She hasn't really told me much about what she did and I didn't want to ask. I feel like if I find out anymore I'm going to be put on a Cerberus hitlist somewhere.'

'Yes, that is a very real possibility.'

'Seeing as how you know my name, might I know yours?' Kanen proffered the question as lightly as he could, seeing as how he was the captive here, locked up in this interrogation room. That was what it was, there was no doubting that.

'My name is James Booker,' the man stated. 'I work with Alliance Intelligence, or more specifically, the Special Observation and Tactical Intervention Group.'

'I was right, then. Alliance Intelligence, off-the-record unit.' Kanen emitted a sigh, before he leaned back in his chair and attempted to relax. He found that to be a little too difficult here and now. 'The locals don't even know you're here, do they?'

'Secrecy is our best weapon. You do understand?'

'Of course, Agent Booker. You work in the shadows, and I'm just the unfortunate idiot who got swept up when you were out looking for one of your own.' Kanen narrowed his eyes, feeling more concern at the thought of Natasha than he had been expecting. 'How is she, anyway? Is she safe?'

'Natasha Vasiya is safe and sound,' Booker replied. 'However, she's due for a serious talking-to. As you can probably gather, I've been searching for her for a while. When one of our own goes rogue, it creates all kinds of headaches and a whole ream of paperwork.'

'Okay, so while you deal with her, I can go?' Kanen allowed himself to feel some small hope, even if the thought of leaving Natasha to her fate did not sit all that well with him. 'If I'm not needed here—'

'We'll be keeping you in custody for now, Kanen'Jaslek,' Booker interrupted. The firmness to his tone suggested that there was to be no argument with this. Kanen was not surprised at the answer, but that did not make it any less frustrating to hear.

'Can I at least get something for to eat? And maybe something to help with a fever?' He shifted where he sat, aware of a growing discomfort down someplace a little more private. 'And maybe something for a rash as well?'

'I'm sure we can help you with whatever you need to be comfortable,' Booker said. He started for the door then, pausing before it in order to look back at Kanen. 'We won't keep you too long, but it might be in your best interests to stick around.'

'What makes you say that?' Kanen was not entirely sure what he would do if he was released. Probably look for another job, for a start.

'The people after Natasha would know of you by now, if they didn't already. Evidently, the people at that fight club knew who you were and of your connection to her. There may very well be some very unfriendly people out there looking for you, all because they want to get to Natasha. If you stay here, there's at least some level of security between you and the outside world.'

The man had a point, Kanen knew this. It was a thought he had kept at the back of his mind since being brought here, one he had not been too keen on acknowledging. Now that it was out in the open, he had no choice but to realise the full extent of the trouble he had been dragged into. He was an avenue to Natasha, no matter how spurious that may have seemed to him. The mercenaries and gangsters and bounty hunters out there would not necessarily know this, and there was a chance he had a price on his head if only because of the mess he had made of that fight club. Agent Booker was right, and Kanen shrugged his shoulders once again.

'Okay, Booker, I'll wait and see.' Kanen shifted where he sat again, the discomfort at his groin becoming a little more intense then. 'I'll need a clean room if I'm to attend to myself. Some medi-gel would be nice, too.'

'Anything else?' Booker asked him. The quarian shook his head in reply.

Booker gave him a nod, before he turned on his heels and started for the exit. In a moment, he was gone, and once again the quarian was alone, left to his own thoughts and his own budding fever. It was the former he found he had the most disdain for, now that the notion of his life here being thoroughly upended had fully registered. All because of that damn woman. He wanted to hate her, but he knew he could not bring himself to do that. Besides, he had to harbor some hope that she might take him to bed again later down the line.

The Special Observation and Tactical Intervention Group was indeed a Human Systems Alliance black op, in the sense that only a handful of Alliance officials even knew the organisation existed. Funding was discreetly funnelled its way under the guise of so-called "special projects", a broad term that helped to cover just about anything the Alliance undertook that may have necessitated a low-key status. The headquarters for SOTIG here on Anhur was situated within an otherwise innocuous warehouse building, just one of many on the outlying edge of New Thebes, providing any outsider the image of a simple import-export company. This was not so unusual in the Terminus Systems, as many such companies were necessary to keep the economies of places like Anhur churning along. If one were to look up this particular company on the extranet, they would find a seemingly legitimate company that offered a full, proper service for one's shipping needs, albeit with the exorbitant fees that were necessary to pay for the security needed for shipping goods throughout the Terminus Systems. Piracy was rife, among other things.

The inside of the headquarters was comprised of a large office space, wherein several workstations were situated. The resident director's office was elevated above the main work floor at the top of a set of metal stairs. A corridor at the far end of the main floor led to the likes of the interrogation rooms, holding cells, lunchroom and amenities. There were no windows here, a necessary precaution for an operation such as this. A legitimate import-export office fronted the whole thing, complete with reception area and windowed façade. Near-literal window dressing made all the more necessary on a planet as dangerous as Anhur.

It was mid-afternoon. Natasha had found herself left alone in one of the interrogation rooms, her hands cuffed in front of her. Unlike Kanen, she was being treated like an actual criminal, and she knew full well that the things she had done had broken all kinds of laws. Alliance laws mainly, which did not necessarily count out here in the Terminus Systems. They would take no chances with a rogue agent like her, and so with little to do but wait she tried to get comfortable. This was easier said than done when handcuffed and seated on a cheap metal chair, but she tried nonetheless.

Agent Booker came in abruptly, catching her by surprise. He frowned her way as he approached the table. Natasha had only met the man in passing a few times, and from what she could recall from her days as an agent herself he did have a reputation of being, at times, a real hard sort. This was a man who suffered no nonsense.

He glared at her for an extended moment, offering her a withering, almost piercing gaze. He practically loomed over her from across the table. Natasha sighed, shaking her head slowly.

'The thousand-yard stare isn't going to work here, Jim. I was trained the same way you were.' Of course, Booker had many more years' worth of experience compared to her.

'And you've gone and used that training in all the wrong ways,' Booker stated, his expression easing slightly. Nonetheless, his eyes continued to watch her with some obvious contempt. 'You've left one hell of a trail through the Terminus Systems. How many fake credentials have you burned through these past two years?' He reached into a pocket on his jacket, and from within he pulled out a small wad of ID cards. He tossed them to the tabletop before her, and Natasha looked down to find about a dozen mugshots of her on a variety of IDs, all with different names.

'I like to keep people guessing,' Natasha remarked, looking back up at him.

'You stole a tactical cloak from an Alliance armoury on Shanxi…'

'They didn't need it there,' she interrupted.

'You blew up a medical clinic on Elysium.'

'It was a Cerberus front.'

'You killed one of our agents.

'A double agent for Cerberus.' Natasha sighed. She quirked one brow, trying to determine if Booker was truly angry or simply putting it on. 'It was self-defence. Bastard tried to shoot me.'

'And now you're here. Anhur.' Booker shook his head slowly, as if this was the part of the story he believed least. 'We had our eye on that Cerberus facility for some months. The turians made short work of it, but then someone made short work of the turians.'

'Yes, I see the "observation" part of the agency name is still relevant. Doesn't do much good for Cerberus' victims, all that observing.'

'This is the Terminus Systems, Vasiya. We can't just go charging into places like that and shooting things up. We need to be surgical in our strikes, you know this just as I do. If the batarians knew we were here, there'd be all kinds of trouble.'

'It's not like they don't have their own intelligence agencies working here.'

'That's true, but this is the game we have to play. We catch them, we kick up a stink before the Council. They catch us and they do the same. It's practically a war being fought behind the scenes, and Anhur's simply one battleground out of many.'

'You know one day we will be at war with the batarians?' Natasha asked, eyes meeting with Booker's. 'We can't be fighting amongst ourselves when that happens.'

'War is very unlikely, even with them,' Booker countered. 'The Council would intervene, in any case. Doesn't mean we can't do a little "tactical intervention" here and there. That's what makes your presence here all the more troubling. If you make a wrong move and the batarians get hold of you and find out who you really are, the consequences could be dire.'

'You know I'm more careful than that.'

'Maybe. I don't doubt your abilities, but even the best of us get unlucky eventually.' Booker pulled something else from a pocket then, a small circular device no bigger than his thumbnail. An optical storage device, and one Natasha recognized immediately.

'Is this what you pulled from the Cerberus facility?' He asked her. Natasha looked down then, unwilling to answer. Booker leaned in a little closer, his voice adopting a much harsher edge: 'Is this what you pulled from the Cerberus facility?'

They had confiscated it from her when they had brought her in. Natasha looked up again, nodding her head slowly.

'It's encrypted,' she said.

'I know. We've already taken a look.' Booker had not needed to ask her that previous question, but he had done so anyway, if only for proper confirmation. No doubt this whole conversation was being recorded. 'You wouldn't happen to have the encryption key, by any chance?'

Now Natasha did not reply. Booker sighed, before he slipped the OSD into his jacket again and took a step back from the table.

'Natasha Vasiya, do I need to remind you of the extent of trouble you're in? I don't mean the price on your head; I mean the fact that you went AWOL from your post on Elysium. You stole Alliance property, military-grade hardware at that. You killed an agent, and whether or not he was dirty is beside the point. You blew up that clinic, you killed several people doing it and you've proceeded to risk exposing covert operations in the Terminus Systems through your actions out here. Least of all, leaking information to the turians.' Booker narrowed his eyes. 'What were you thinking?'

'They did the heavy lifting for me.'

'That was sensitive information, information you not only gave to a quarian mercenary, but that was then sold to the turians. I presume the quarian was simply your way of keeping your own hands clean? Putting some distance between yourself and the transaction?'

Natasha did not answer. She hardly needed to, as it was clear Booker had it all figured out anyway. He shook his head again, this time less out of anger or frustration and more so from sheer disappointment.

'You had a whole career ahead of you, Vasiya. You got through the Academy within the top percentile of your class, you passed the Alliance Intelligence entry exams with flying colours. And now you've thrown it all away and for what? A crusade against Cerberus?' From the way Booker laid it all out, Natasha could not help but feel some level of aggravation. Not from the fact that she had seemingly thrown her life away, rather more towards the fact that she had allowed herself to get caught.

'I've been out there making a difference.'

'You've been out there making a damn mess, Vasiya. That's why you're here, now. You've got a whole list of charges attached to your name, and there's a good chance you'll be spending the better part of the next twenty years in prison. Thing is, I can offer you a deal, one that will have standing throughout all Alliance space. With it, you can come home again and not in handcuffs.'

Natasha met Booker's eyes once more. The man was sincere, and his expression had eased enough to make it clear that he would rather she accepted whatever deal was presented to her. However, she had a solid idea as to what the conditions of such a deal might entail.

'This data needs an encryption key,' Booker stated. 'It'll take months to crack it otherwise. You must have that key, somewhere. The first condition of any deal for your freedom would be the acquisition of that key.'

Natasha snorted in derision, a somewhat involuntary move on her part. She had not intended the gesture to be quite so loud, and she had to stifle a laugh as Booker simply glared at her in return.

'You're unbelievable,' she told him, allowing the annoyance she felt to seep into her voice. 'I do the dirty work and now you want to take what I've found for yourselves? I did what I did because Alliance Intelligence wasn't doing enough to stop Cerberus. They've killed so many people over the last few years, all the while you and everyone else here has been sitting on their hands "observing" the situation. Cerberus have been building up their forces for months now. The recruitment drive has been amplified tenfold. It's as if they're preparing for something big, and yet no one from A-I does anything to stop them. I've been running my ass ragged trying to get these bastards, and I'm damn close to getting a bead on their higher-ups. On that "Illusive Man" and his cronies. I won't let you take advantage of my hard work, not when it means you're probably going to lock me up anyway.'

Natasha watched Booker, defiance etched upon her normally gentle features. Booker frowned, yet he said nothing at that moment. If anything, he appeared to be studying her, trying to determine just how serious she was at simply not cooperating.

'They'll put you away for a long time, Vasiya. You know how they can get.'

'Bureaucrats, the lot of them. They don't like it when someone they previously thought they had a leash on gets loose. Control freaks, and I couldn't care less what they do to me. Thing is, Booker, I'm not going to be here for much longer. I'll get out, one way or another. You must know that already.'

'That remains to be seen.' Booker did not sound unconvinced; he was simply stating a fact here. Natasha may have been some kind of self-styled infiltrator, and he would not have put it past her to have a contingency in play in case of being captured like this. However, from Booker's experience one simply had to remain alert and be prepared for anything, no matter how outlandish.

'This is no doubt about your father,' Booker stated, and Natasha felt her mood sour further. 'The man died in a shuttle crash.'

'He died because he was close to blowing the lid on Cerberus operations,' Natasha countered, her voice becoming firm. 'That was no accident. They sabotaged his shuttle.'

'You can't be sure of that.'

'You can't be sure it was an engine malfunction, either.'

'The investigators concluded as much.'

'Investigators can be bought off.' She frowned up at him then, figuring that Booker neither believed nor disbelieved the notion of it having been a sabotage job. To him, it was inconclusive. He had read the files as part of his assignment to bring Natasha in. Sure, there were discrepancies in the official reports the investigators had made, but he had been unable to determine more than them simply being just that: discrepancies. Mistakes had been made throughout the whole thing.

'You think Cerberus' reach is that far?' Booker asked her.

'I know it's that far, even further. I went into that facility because I knew I had a chance to get into their systems. And I know that the data I recovered is the kind that wars will be fought over.'

'You've seen it yourself, then? Unencrypted?'

Natasha allowed herself to smile. For once, she knew something that the people at Alliance Intelligence did not. Booker hardly looked impressed.

'I'll tell you that what's on there would certainly explain why Alliance Intelligence has been so sluggish to do something about the threat Cerberus poses,' she told him. 'They have their claws in everything. People you thought were clean are anything but. With that data in hand, Booker, you have so much more power at your disposal than you realise.' She could tell, from the way Booker's eyes seemed to narrow, that the man was intrigued. Nonetheless, she decided against telling him about her own suspicions that she may have been used, that the intelligence she had handed to the turians through Kanen may have come from someone looking to take advantage of her skillset and her status as a rogue. From her perspective, she had succeeded in acquiring what she had sought for some time. Being captured and brought here was a setback, that was for certain, but it was one she would rectify given enough time.

'Are you willing to cooperate, then?' Booker asked her. 'The encryption key, for a start. And anything else you've found out about Cerberus.'

'Cooperate?' She shook her head slowly. 'The organization is compromised, Booker. I'm willing to bet good money that when you inform your superiors about how you've wrangled me in, they'll send word at some point to get rid of me altogether. Or that someone here might try and kill me, maybe stage it to look like a suicide. Cooperation is not in my best interests.'

'You really believe that?' Booker's voice carried a dubious tone. 'You really think that this place is truly that compromised?'

'I don't just think it, Agent Booker, I know it. Cerberus is everywhere these days, and eventually there will come a time when they can no longer be ignored.' Natasha made sure to add just the right amount of foreboding into her voice then. This was not difficult to do, given how she was being dead serious with her statements here.

'The encryption key is a secret I plan to cling onto for as long as possible,' Natasha added. 'Because the longer that knowledge stays solely with me, the less likely I am to die in mysterious circumstances. Please, Agent Booker, you have to see yourself in my position. What would you do if you'd been arrested by an organization you knew to be compromised?'

'SOTIG is not compromised.'

'But Alliance Intelligence is. And at the end of the day, your fancy black ops group is just a small wheel in that big, rusted machine.'

Booker sighed, evidently uncertain on what to make of what he had been told. His confliction was evident, etched clearly upon his features. Natasha did as she expected him to, and that was to postpone any decision making until he could better get a grasp on the full extent of what was going on:

'I'll leave you to think about it, Vasiya.' Of course, he would be out there doing his own digging around to try and determine who he should trust. Booker was smart enough to know that the claims of a rogue agent such as Natasha could not be dismissed entirely, not really. They spoke from experience, and her reasonings for going after Cerberus were sound, even if he did not buy into the "sabotage" claims.

'Don't think about it too long,' Natasha called to him, as he turned and started out of the room. 'I suspect the people out there who want me caught are already scouring this planet. And if they work out where I am, this whole place could be in real trouble.'

Booker was out of the room then, the door locking shut behind him. Natasha sighed, leaning back in her chair. The waiting game was the worst part of it all, and the handcuffs she had about her wrists provided an extra layer of discomfort she could have done without. Her mind wandered as she sat there, wandering towards thoughts of Kanen, of what that quarian might be doing now, of whether he was all right. Surely, she had not got him too sick? The thought of him dying from some disease simply because of their tryst was not one Natasha wanted to ponder, as ridiculous as it seemed. She did care about him, she had realised this much in the past twelve hours, and she cared more so than she might have otherwise admitted out loud.

'What do we have?' Booker stepped out onto the main operations floor amongst a flurry of activity, or rather as much of a flurry as half a dozen operatives could make. Upon the wall ahead of the clustered workstations was a large screen, and at the moment it was providing a real-time satellite feed of some forested, mountainous region somewhere on Anhur. There was a red marker there, denoting some point of interest that appeared to be moving along a remote highway.

'It's a beacon of some sort.' The operative standing before the desk at his left glanced his way then. She was a tall, slim woman with dark, wavy hair and a face that suggested an age of about thirty-five. Lena Rogers wore a simple navy blue cardigan and casual pants, her blue eyes regarding Booker with some interest.

'You get much out of Vasiya?' She asked him. Booker shook his head slowly as he continued to watch the satellite feed.

'She's stubborn, that one.'

'Yeah, she is. I worked with her before she went rogue. She was always a bit quiet, but if you got her started on something, well…' Lena trailed off, the implication clear. Booker barely paid her words any mind then, and instead watched the feed ahead. He could see the convoy of armoured vehicles at where the red indicator blinked. They were trundling their way along some mountainside road, the thick green canopy of a forest at both sides.

'We've analysed the signal. It's turian.' Lena returned her attention to the task at hand, as it was obvious Booker was in no mood for small talk. 'Some kind of personal beacon. Probably small, something you could hide real easy, like in a tooth or some-such.'

'Where's this feed coming from?' Booker asked her.

'Oh, we hacked into an Eclipse satellite left behind from the war. They don't get much other use these days.'

Booker had only been here a couple months, so he was not fully up-to-speed on the idiosyncrasies of this particular branch of the Special Observation and Tactical Intervention Group. Hacking a forgotten satellite left behind by a mercenary organization did make sense, given the ease their systems would likely have at cracking into such a device.

'This is somewhere far north, we're talking at least two-hundred kilometres from the city, well past any green zone of ours. The Nizeruek Mountains, or so the batarians call it.'

'Did you I-D the vehicles?'

'Armoured transports, batarian make. Not too dissimilar to our own in some ways. There are two six-wheelers and one four-wheeler, more of a buggy than a combat piece. We've identified the markings on them, and it looks like they could be part of Vok's forces.'

Salak Vok was the most notorious batarian warlord on Anhur, with the largest force at his disposal. That man had been fighting his own private war on the less populated and secured regions of the continent. Despite his many crimes, Salak Vok himself had proven very difficult to find. Perhaps here, up on that screen, was the break they needed to finally nail that bastard. The thought was certainly an appealing one to Booker, who had done his fair share of research prior to coming to Anhur. Salak Vok had a great deal of innocent blood on his hands.

'What about the signal?' Booker turned to the computer in front of her. Lena tapped a few commands into its holographic interface, bringing up another window upon the main screen. It was an analysis of the signal's wavelength, with various notes attached to it.

'It's in line with what we know the turian Blackwatch uses,' she told him. 'But it's operating on an unusual frequency, like it's intended for someone outside of that organization. This isn't a call to any turian forces in the sector, the signal doesn't reach much further beyond Anhur's atmosphere. This is a call to turian forces on Anhur, which could mean that the Blackwatch team that hit the Cerberus facility wasn't all wiped out by the batarians.'

'Have we any idea where they're headed?'

Lena adjusted the feed up on the main screen. It shifted further to the north-east, towards a relatively clear section of forest where a series of structures were apparent. There was a large one then, little more than a brown-toned rectangle when viewed from up high. At a glance, the place seemed inactive, abandoned even.

'That's the closest point of interest,' Lena told him. 'It's an old plantation that closed down during the Rebellions. They used to grow local fruit there. Booming business, or it was until the war wrecked the place and the orchards were burned.'

'Hardly looks like a batarian terrorist camp,' Booker remarked. However, as he continued watching the feed, he could not help but shake the feeling that there was more to what he was seeing.

'This satellite, does it have other vision modes?' He asked her. 'Infrared, thermal, that kind of thing?'

'It does.' Lena manipulated her terminal further. After a moment, the feed on the screen adopted a deep blue tone all over, wherein numerous white moving dots appeared across the clearings about the plantation. There were other structures there, made apparent through the thermal vision mode. They were little more than dark rectangles, but the white heated figures moving amongst them were plain as day.

'They must have some kind of jammer in play,' Lena suggested. 'I've seen that sort of thing before, but it's hard to pull off and very sophisticated. It'll interfere with conventional video feeds, but it won't disguise heat signatures.'

'Bastards probably got it gifted to them from their people back on Kharshan,' Booker said. He turned to her, and for the first time in what felt like days he actually found that he had reason to feel optimistic. 'You know, Lena, I think we may have found the first solid lead to Salak Vok's whereabouts in a very long time. And it looks like we have our turian friends to thank for it.'

'What are you suggesting?'

'I'm suggesting we organize a strike team immediately,' Booker said, and his status as acting director here would see it done. 'That includes putting to good use that gunship this office has had hidden away since it setup here. About time it got some action.'