Chapter 37

T'Soni Offices – Lavinia Trade Building – Nos Astra

It had been hours since Shepard went out to the market floor and retrieved a brand new omni-tool for Liara's volus assistant. The asari doctor herself had zonked out in her chair as the action-packed day wore down on her. But Shepard sat in one of the rolling chairs she kept as a spare and stared out the virtual projection of the city while Niftu Cal worked on his brand new omni-tool behind her.

She kept running Liara's explanation of the data she wanted through her head as she stared out at the beauty of the city. Something kept bugging her about the explanation of the algorithm, but she wasn't sure what it was. She had definitely heard of something like that before, but she wasn't sure if it was from her days back in Alliance intel or from one of her spectre connections. She kept trying to yank the information from her mind but it refused to budge. After about an hour of trying to piece the puzzle together, she grew frustrated and gripped her fiery hair in anger.

"Ugh! It's no use!" she snapped, wanting to slam her head into the vid screen to try and unlodge something.

"Actually, it's finished," said the volus as he got up from his seat.

As if possessed, Liara snapped out of her nap and stood up immediately. "You said it's done?"

"I did…" said the volus as he looked up at her. "You could have finished your nap."

"Apologies, but the longer this information exists outside of my head, the sooner it is to being destroyed again," said the asari as she moved her chair over to where the volus was seated.

"Oh, alright," he said before he opened up the display on his new omni-tool. "Anyway, it wasn't a lot of information. Most of the… time it took was just setting up the new… omni-tool to my liking," he said as he opened his background. Shepard immediately noticed a picture in the background of presumably a volus standing suitless in an icy landscape holding some kind of creature by a string.

"Is that a fishing photo?" asked Shepard as she tilted her head curiously.

"Oh… yes. It's a bit of a hobby… back home," he said as he opened the picture.

It was then that Shepard realized that this was the first time she had actually seen a volus without their suit on. It made some level of sense considering due to the pressure and temperature of their natural environment, they couldn't live outside of their own colonies or homeworld without a suit on. But even in media or textbooks she had never seen a depiction of a volus without a suit on.

To her they looked similar to molerats from Earth, except their rotund nature filled out any loose skin and covered it with a thin layer of brownish fur. Their face consisted of a pair of sharp, hare-like eyes that faced forward like most spacefaring species. They had a blunted snout similar to a seal with whiskers spiking off of their face from every angle. If she were to classify them just on appearance, she'd probably say they were semiaquatic mammals like otters. But she knew nothing of their actual origins.

Niftu himself had dark fur and was wearing what looked like small Arabic harem pants, as well as a vest while holding the line he used to catch the Irunian fish. She didn't know if it would be considered offensive if she called him cute, but she kept it to herself regardless. "Your own little slice of paradise, huh?"

"Indeed. I heard the Innuit people from Earth… have similar fishing traditions to the vol-clan. I was hoping to… visit someday and learn more about them," he said before shrinking the picture again and instead brought up the information he had just recreated. "Here are the coordinates for… the device you mentioned. I took the liberty of comparing them to star charts and I can say that Baria Frontiers managed to track the device to somewhere here on Illium."

"Do we have anything clearer than that?" asked Liara, her face frowning at how vague the answer was.

"Unfortunately, without retrieving the Cerberus… data you mentioned before, we can't narrow it down. Baria Frontiers was only about three… quarters done when the bomb went off in the trade center," he said as he closed down the data. "I can tell you it's here on Illium, and it's in Nos Astra."

"While convenient that doesn't help us a lot," growled Liara as she sat back in her chair and began thinking again.

It was then that Shepard decided to get more answers. "Can you tell me more about the data this algorithm was attached to?" she asked suspiciously as she sat down next to the asari.

Liara eyed the spectre curiously before nodding. "I'm not entirely sure. It was encrypted data on Cerberus. From what I could tell, it appeared on info broker networks for the first time around two years ago. Honestly, I couldn't tell you what was on it," said the doctor with a shrug. "Aside from already knowing more than I needed to about Cerberus… for obvious reasons, unencrypting the data itself was too demanding a task when all I needed access to was the location data from the algorithm." Shepard processed the information for a long moment, staring down at the desk as she did. Liara's eyes narrowed as she tried to understand her mate. "Jane, what is it?"

"Two years ago…?" she asked, getting a nod from the asari. Finally, like a crack in a glacier, it hit her instantly. Her eyes widened as she stood up, the recollection of her using the Cerberus data they had received from the Nepheron slamming into her like a speeding car. Barla Von had called her and asked her outright to send the data to him to pass along to the Shadow Broker. With her eyes wide, she looked around the office as she recalled the algorithm and the location data she had written into the program. Finally, her eyes locked onto what she was looking for.

Liara's brows furrowed worriedly as she stared at the redhead. "Jane, is something the matter? You don't look well."

The spectre reached over and grabbed a frame sitting on the woman's desk. It was stood up next to the picture of the pair of them training on the old Normandy that Garrus had snuck of them. She lifted the frame and looked through the protective glass at her former dog tags that had gone down on her original ship. Looking up at Liara, she took her blue hand and placed the frame into it. "Here."

The doctor looked down at the framed tags in confusion before looking back up at her bondmate. "I'm sorry, I don't understand."

"It was my algorithm I wrote with the data we obtained from the Cerberus cell we destroyed," she said, causing Liara to stand straight and inhale so sharply that it sounded like her lungs imploded. "I was asked by an agent of the Shadow Broker's to pass it along, so I wrote the program imbedded into it to send me location data for everywhere it went."

Liara collapsed back into her chair and stared at the framed object. It was blasted from the heat of reentry into Alchera's frigid atmosphere, but it was made to be nearly indestructible and kept all kinds of important data on the person wearing them. But the spectre had added a modified tag with extra storage into hers for the sake of keeping certain information safe for transport. "Right in front of my face the whole time…" groaned the woman as she rubbed her face in frustration. Then she stood to her feet and locked her eyes onto Shepard once more, a look of determination dominating her features. "Jane, may I ask a favor."

The look of sardonic tiredness on Shepard's face should have said everything, but she decided to spell it out. "Doctor T'Soni, are you asking me a question you already know the answer to?" she asked, more annoyed than playful this time around.

Liara giggled before nodding. "If this data contains what we're looking for, if it holds the Shadow Broker's location, there's only one way we're going to be able to get close enough to them."

"You want to use the Normandy?" asked Shepard curiously as she crossed her arms.

"I know you're busy fighting off the collectors and other reaper forces, and I know that collecting information to stop the reapers is the absolute first priority. But…" she said as she gave her best puppy eyes, making Shepard glare and squirm under her gaze. "Do you think I could convince you to make a detour?"

Shepard tried to laser through the woman's face with her glare to get her to stop with the begging look. But then she remembered what her ship was currently in the process of doing, and wondered exactly how telling the doctor was going to go down. "See… here's the thing…"

CIC – SSV Normandy SR2

Shepard smirked lightly as the elevator doors flew open and Liara immediately strolled into the CIC with a look of determination leveling on rage on her face. At first, the spectre had explained how Saren had somehow managed to fight off indoctrination long enough to save their old crewmate. She was surprised but pleased that she was going to be able to see him again.

However, it was what she told her next that started their flight back from Illium. It would have been an incredibly uncomfortable flight with all five of them packed into the shuttle that was meant for short-range trips. So, instead Shepard signaled her XO on the Normandy and asked to be picked up in the Tasale system. It was then a slow process to explain to her bondmate what else they had found on Alchera.

It was a long ten hours filled with the word goddess as they waited for the Normandy to arrive, and after it finally did, it looked as if Liara was about to kick the doors to the CIC open as if it were an oldschool hinged door. Shepard snirked as she watched the asari look around at all of the confused faces in the CIC. "Alright, where is Doctor Solus?" she demanded as she looked from one face to another.

The yeoman stepped forward and smiled brightly. "I can show you around if you like," she offered, getting a nod from the doctor. Shepard watched her being led off towards Mordin's biolab as Miranda approached with an eyebrow arched.

"I'd have thought she had other work to do, what with being in the top thousand richest asari now," she said with a small grin. "Then again, her passion was always in protheans."

"Yeah, about that," said Shepard as she nodded towards the back. "We need to have a chat."

"You're not in trouble, are you?" asked Miranda as she followed the spectre into the conference room for privacy.

Once inside the room, Shepard sealed the door and sat in one of the chairs around the table. "That depends on your definition of trouble," said the woman as she stared across the table at the XO.

Bio Lab – SSV Normandy SR2

She entered the lab and was immediately startled by the size of it. The doctor had seen a number of ships with biological and tech labs before, but they were mostly run of the mill affairs with enough equipment to do blood testing, make some artificial skin for injuries, and so on. But the intricate level of attention put into this laboratory was immense. In her work as an archaeologist, she would find every tool she ever needed to satisfy her work at dig sights.

But it was the salarian that seemed to be quietly singing to himself as he stood over a petri dish with a pair of goggles that she had come for. She felt slightly bad that she had basically dumped her father and Niftu Cal in the cargo bay and stormed ahead, but if what her bondmate told her was true, then this couldn't wait.

"-because I am an expert which I know is a tautology," he sang quietly to himself before raising his hands high and singing louder. "In four directions cardinal, I know the blot routinery. I problem solve with tools and guns and even farm machinery! I perfectly recall your genome purine by pyrimidine…"

Liara eyed the salarian curiously. She knew the song he was singing, as well as the song it was inspired from and neither of them had the lines he just said. "Excuse me…"

"Hmmm… rhyme required for pyrimidine…" he said to himself in a fast clip as he began pacing back and forth in front of the table. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, holding up a finger in success. "Ah, yes! I'll diagnose the cause of every symptom you're exhibiting!"

"Professor!" said Liara again, this time a bit more forceful.

Immediately the salarian man turned towards her and coughed gently. "Oh, apologies. Get lost in music. Bad habit. Sometimes causes… accidents," he said as he covered the petri dish with a sealing dome to make sure nothing escaped. "Really should separate hobby from work. But as I get older, want to sing more."

"I see that," said the asari as she smiled at him. "You were altering the rendition of 'I Am The Very Model of a Scientist Salarian,' correct?"

"Of course!" he said happily as he raised the goggles from his eyes. "Every few months, like to rewrite to include more and more of my work. Makes song personal, almost like autobiography in patter song form. Even included work on cure for collector swarm paralysis. Helped save Spectre Williams. Proud of work."

"I too am proud of my work," said Liara as she smiled at the charming professor. "In fact, I've heard that a project with a focus in my area of expertise crossed your desk recently."

"Ah, of course!" he said as she rushed over and grabbed multiple datapads. "Dr. T'Soni! Apologies, didn't recognize you at first. Human eyebrows new addition."

"That's alright professor. But Jane said that you were working on some kind of project with living protheans? Is it true?" she asked as she planted her hands on one of the unused tables.

"Unsure," said the salarian man as he offered her a datapad. She opened it and began reading. "Never heard anything like it. Sleeping for fifty thousand years. Unsure if life signs from machines accurate. Cannot scan for brainwave activity without opening tank, cannot open tank without killing inhabitant. Difficult situation. May simply be in unrecoverable vegetative state."

Liara's face fell as she read the report. "The protheans we discovered on Ilos were in a similar state. They had been cryogenically frozen for so long that their body was only being held together by ice. Their mind had been long gone, and only existed to pass along memories."

The professor nodded dutifully. "Cryogenic freezing barbaric. Lowering temperature to slow metabolism to halt, stops aging, stops biological and chemical processes. Pharmaceutically induced torpar. Good for short term sleep, days, months, up to a year. But long term much more difficult to maintain. Without constant monitoring and waking for small periods, low temperature begins to damage bodies. Salarians lucky in this regard."

She nodded as she looked up from the datapad. "Salarians go into hibernation from much colder temperatures."

"Indeed. This," he said as he waved his hand towards the datapad. "Much more sophisticated. Unsure if origin in prothean technology or if they learned from reapers as we did," he said before holding his arm up to tap his chin with one finger. "Liquid in tank has similar effect to body cooling. Freezes 99% of chemical processes in body of host but chemically instead of thermally. Unsure of long-term effects. But know from speaking with plant creature that taking host out of tank without rendering chemical inert would kill host. Violent chemical reaction as body begins to start up again."

"Messy business," she said as she read off the statistics for the protheans in question. "You don't seem to have a lot of information on the protheans in question."

"Know very little of prothean biology. Mainly learned from your works but have read many over years. But even most extensive biological studies had very little information. No prothean body found until Ilos. Even then, studies still ongoing," he said as he drummed his fingers on the table.

"You said earlier that you were speaking with a plant creature?" asked Liara curiously as she set the datapad aside.

"Thorian. Protheans nurtured in lab on Alchera. Very hardy. Only needs soil for nutrients. Can hibernate for ten thousand years at a time. Incredible! Vast sums of experience over eons! Imagine record keeping, putting in hands of intelligent plants!" he said excitedly before inhaling sharply. "Spores problematic. Protheans hormonally sterilized spore production. Probably for best."

"Goddess…" said Liara as she ran her hand over her crest. "First Jane's algorithm, then living protheans, and now a non-hostile thorian. A lot is happening," she said before looking back up at him. "If you like, I can assist with classification of the protheans. Protheans were sexually dimorphic as we are, and we appear to have three biological males and females."

"Ah! Excellent! Will note observations," said the salarian as he began taking notes.

"Two of them appear to be much older than the others," she said as she examined the datapad pictures again. "I wonder if we're looking at a Golden Record situation here."

"Golden record. Human time capsule. Sent with Voyager Space Probe," said Mordin as he tapped his chin again. "You believe these protheans were chosen because of age, sex, and other potential factors. If could not teach future species through education, then teach through exhumation. We study bodies, learn more about protheans."

"It's entirely possible. It also may be coincidence. But from the looks of things, these two on the ends were elders. Determining the middle-aged to younger is a lot harder given their biology," she said as she pulled open his notes on the tanks themselves. "Have you made any progress on creating a chemical to render the liquid inert?"

"Progress slow. Can't run tests on liquid without opening tank, can't open tank without killing host. Could sacrifice one subject to obtain sample of liquid, but understand questions of ethics," he said as he his eyes narrowed. "So close to samples, but unable to obtain. Must work with analysis of chemical compounds until further information acquired."

"Understandable," she said as she collected the datapads she needed and moved over to a section of the lab with multiple terminals. "I'll work over here using the data you've collected until we can return to Alchera."

He nodded, then returned to his work and his singing. "My knowledge is prodigious though I'm stuffy and professory. I'm fluent in the vorcha tongue and hanar luminescery…"

Command Center – Pluto's Gate

"Operative Lawson, I find myself lacking a sense of humor lately. So, if this is some kind of joke…" started the Illusive Man as he eyed her from his sitting position. Despite taking most of his calls in his chair, he actually preferred standing, as it felt like he was doing more even when he wasn't doing anything at all. But he had been too busy lately pulling R&D specialists from other projects to help work on the Phantom program.

He found himself plenty annoyed lately at Shepard's progress. Not that he wasn't thrilled at her progress against the collectors. But she had turned from an effective agent in the darkness, effective at range and capable in close quarters, into an absolute machine of death if anything hostile approached her. He knew if it ever came time to put her back in her grave, it would take a force of nature to do so, or extremely well-planned preparation. But he felt his tensions ease whenever Miranda came to update him.

"I'm aware of your sense of humor. But it's not a joke. I'm putting myself in danger of her finding out about this by doing it on the ship," said the XO as she looked around defensively. "If I tried to make this call about this topic on the Citadel, she would absolutely find out somehow. My only worry about doing here is EDI…"

"EDI does what she's told. She may be assigned to work on the Normandy, but she will not compromise Cerberus secrets," said the man again as he eyed her with his luminous orbs. "You say that Shepard has found the Shadow Broker, and now you all are headed to their location in a matter of hours?"

"That seems to be the case, yes," said Miranda, her voice almost sounding frustrated. "Why is this making me nervous of all things? I've fought collectors and reaper forces. I've fought things that have ended life in the galaxy probably millions of times, yet I'm still antsy about facing off against THE Shadow Broker, the most powerful info broker in the galaxy!"

"The reapers may be terrifying, but they're predictable. The Shadow Broker, on the other hand, is an unknown entity who would do more than just kill you and reanimate your corpse. They would go after your family, your friends, and even your associates," said the Illusive Man with a grin. "Do you have any idea how you're approaching the situation?"

Miranda shook her raven head and shrugged. "Honestly, she didn't even tell me where we were going. She's keeping it so close to the chest that she wouldn't even tell me how she found them. Just that we're going there, and to be prepared to fight. She'd probably mount my head on the front of the Normandy if she knew I were even telling you this."

"She's smart, but even the almighty Shepard can't have her eyes everywhere at once," he said as he pulled out his golden pack of cigarettes and lit one for himself. "Speaking of which, EDI."

"What can I do for you?" asked the AI over the call.

"This conversation, and Miranda being in this room right now are Cerberus 87C Classified. Nobody is to know she's here, so remove all camera footage that could implicate her," he ordered before puffing heavily from the lit stick.

"Understood. Data restricted, door logs altered, video footage corrupted," responded EDI in a dutiful tone.

"There. When we get off the call, ask EDI to help you track down any independent video cameras she might have placed. We can't have you getting compromised when we're on the cusp of getting access to the Shadow Broker," he said as he clenched his free hand into a fist. With access to the Shadow Broker's intel, he could all but eliminate the influence of every other species in the galaxy. He could steer galactic politics for the next 50 years and turn the galaxy into a haven for human dominance.

"Speaking of the collectors, we haven't heard from them for a few months. Any ideas what's been going on with them?" asked the operative curiously. "I'd have thought another colony would have been hit by now."

"We've only seen traces of their ship movements from the Omega 4 Relay. But from what we can tell, the damage they sustained at Horizon made moving around extremely difficult. I don't know if they've been hidden behind the Omega 4 Relay repairing this entire time, or if they're planning some other surprise for us. But stay prepared regardless. If they show their faces again, I'll know," he ordered with a nod of his head.

She smiled and nodded back. "Understood."

"Good. Stay radio silent until you manage to finish this Shadow Broker business, then when you think things have cooled down and Shepard is less focused on it, try to send me an update. It's very important that I know where things stand in regards to the Shadow Broker. It could mean humanity's future in harmony to have access to that information."

"Understood. I'll contact you when I believe we're comfortably far enough from it. And… if we don't return and the Shadow Broker kills us all, then I'd appreciate it if you could take care of my sister," said the XO sternly.

"She will never know a worry in the world," said the Illusive Man as he ended the call. As the operative faded, he sat with the knowledge she had just given him for a few moments before the most genuine smile he had let himself have in years crossed his face. "Perhaps I was too harsh with Shepard. She could very well end the reapers, but she could also contribute to the rise of humanity in a way she never imagined possible."

CIC – SSV Normandy SR2

Shepard stood armored and ready with nearly her entire squad standing in the CIC. Liara and Aethyta stood in Kelly's usual position while the human crew had been mostly sent to the crew deck. She stood over the galaxy map and looked at the Sowilo System that they had just entered, and it definitely fit all of the parameters.

After scanning the data from her old dogtags, she noticed the info collected had pointed out that this star system was a perfect fit for the Shadow Broker's location. While a regular info broker could get away with being secretive on Illium or the Citadel without too much fuss, having the system and connections of a broker this big required enough space that it'd be impossible to hide for long. Their service connections, IP and checkpoint tracing, all of them could be found with enough hard work from a determined enough agent.

No, what the Shadow Broker needed for privacy was an uninhabited system where all the comm traffic and noise from their dataflow couldn't be heard. Typically a planet to set up base on would be preferable, but that'd also be too easy to spot. So, having even inhabitable planets was not used as a filter, which left this system. Curiously, it had one barely habitable planet that had been all but abandoned due to the slow rotation. One side would bake in the sun, the star frying anything in its light while the far side froze into solid ice, leading to the flora of the planet adapting to hibernation in the over three-month long winter night and withstanding immense heat during the equal day.

The data showed that info packets from her tracking algorithm had been sent from this system over a hundred times. And with the system having been abandoned due to the only habitable planet being insufferably slow rotating, having that much traffic emanate from this system was extremely suspicious. With her suspicions guiding her, she stood on the dais and glared down at the galaxy map. "The buoy is near the relay, so wherever they're hiding it has to be within range of the buoy. If it's not, there have to be relays within the system that help them pass data along."

"Spectre," came EDI's voice from above.

"What is it EDI?" asked the woman as she looked up at the holographic display near her station.

"I have scanned the system and found over a dozen relays," said the AI as she brought them up on the galaxy map.

Shepard eyed them curiously for a long moment before nodding. "Those relays need to be within half an AU of another relay or the buoy itself. Which means we can likely trace them back to their point of origin. Line them up for me."

"Affirmative, Spectre," responded EDI as the many different relays were traced from the buoy near the relay. Some overlapped, which made sense as to make multiple lanes of traffic rather than just filtering everything through one lane. But even with the multiple lanes, everything went back in the same direction, to the world of Hagalaz.

Joker flew the ship closer as the line of relays that could only be found by specifically looking for them stopped at the atmosphere. "Mordin," called Shepard as she leaned onto the railing. "What do you think we're looking at?"

The salarian eyed the holographic map curiously. "Only speculation. Could be world base hidden underground. Well within range of last relay. But…"

Spectre Williams added in her thoughts as well. "But it'd be too easy."

Miranda gave a nod of her head as she too examined the data in front of her. "A simple scan would pick up the traffic coming from an underground facility. But we aren't picking anything up from the surface."

Thane spoke up next to her. "That either means they're currently offline, or they've discovered technology to mask themselves from such a scan."

But the XO shook her head in frustration. "If you try and mask your data usage against a scan like this you'd interfere with the data. It's more likely that we're just overlooking something."

"Spectre-Shepard," came the voice of the geth over the omni-tool she had on her wrist.

Everyone went silent as they remembered there was now a geth aboard the ship. Shepard looked down and nodded. "What is it, Legion?"

"The likely solution to your line of questioning is the storms," said the geth dutifully.

Everyone looked back at the galaxy map as it zoomed into the world and showed the one side being blasted with heat while the other froze solid, exposed to the darkness of space. But along the meridian of the day and night there was a small zone that was neither hot nor cold as it transitioned from day to night. This warring of temperatures resulted in constant storms as the violent clash of climate supercharged the air particles.

"You think they're hiding somewhere in the storms of the planet?" asked Shepard curiously as she leaned over and stared at the holographic display.

"Makes sense," started Mordin as he put on his thinking cap again. "Space station, even ship could drift through storm. Counter to lightning in storms could even power such vessel, keep it there indefinitely."

"With the correct orbiting vector, a space station could be kept in perpetual orbit with little to no outside assistance," came the geth's voice again.

This time, Tali spoke with a sigh. "It's right. A ship or station in the correct vector wouldn't even need a crew in order to keep it in that orbit. A sufficiently smart VI could steer the ship and run the defenses fine while the Shadow Broker does all the business."

"Then let's get scanning in these storms to figure out where this supposed vessel is. In the meantime, what do you think we're looking at in regards to opposition?" asked the spectre as she looked to the others.

"It can't just be the Shadow Broker, right?" asked Garrus with his weapon held aloft already. "As secretive as they are, they need other people there."

"Not necessarily," stated Samara knowingly. "In isolation, the Shadow Broker could very well have all of their needs fulfilled while allowing machines to do the rest."

"The Justicar is correct," chimed in Legion. "Automated crew members could handle all tasks deemed non-priority."

Jacob shook his head as he pictured it. "That means all maintenance on the ship, cleaning debris from the storm, and defense?"

Garrus nodded in response. "I suppose secrecy is key," he said, no doubt thinking about his own men and how one little slip up cost him everything. "They couldn't risk their men being compromised or getting even greedier."

"Likely to find automated defenses. Drones, mechs, even turrets. Unclear whether Shadow Broker themselves poses any threat, however," said Mordin thoughtfully.

"Spectre, we have spotted a ship in the depths of the storm," said EDI urgently, causing everyone to look up at her. "Unfortunately, any attempts to approach the ship will likely result in contact with the lightning storm. If you wish to enter, you will need to go in very fast, and the Normandy will have to stay out of range until a pickup request is received."

Jacob nodded at the information. "Don't wanna fry the Normandy in a lightning storm trying to get to the ship's surface. And I doubt the Shadow Broker is going to open a docking bay for us to land in."

Finally, Shepard closed down the display and stepped down from the dais. "Everyone get down to the armory and prepare. Even if the defenses are all automated, we're likely going to have to fight for our lives on that ship," she said before looking up at the holographic crewmate again. "EDI, see if you can find any kind of opening on the surface of that ship. I doubt it has any schematics available online, but see if you can scan for the location of the bridge."

"Understood, Spectre," said the AI as she began running scans.

Shepard turned to the rest of the crew before nodding. "Let's go."

The Eye – Hagalaz – Sowilo System

The wind blasted them ruthlessly as they stood on the outside of the ship. Shepard had to squint on occasion as lightning crashed all around them, striking the rods that the ship itself placed to absorb the incoming bolts. Even inside the mass effect field of the ship the wind still tore at them, threatening to hurl them off of the ship's hull and into the gravity well of the planet, a thought that made chills travel down her spine. She'd already had one bad planet reentry, she would really like to avoid another.

"Shuttle anchored, Spectre! Once you find a way to open the docking bay doors, I'll bring the shuttle closer," said Lia over the comms as she sealed the shuttle and locked it down to make sure the violent weather didn't send it flying off.

"Understood," said Shepard as she looked at the crew she brought with her. Unfortunately, the others would have to wait until they found a way to open the docking bay doors so that the others could enter as well. Having every member of her crew stomping around on the hull of the ship only invited disaster. "Check in."

"Good and ready," stated Aethyta as she hefted a heavy pistol she had received from the armory.

"I'm ready, Jane," said Liara who stood next to her father.

"Me and Tali are good and ready to take down another galactic threat," said Garrus eagerly as he held his long-range rifle ready.

"I can speak for myself, Garrus," growled the quarian before looking over to Shepard. "Uh… what he said."

"Kasumi already stealing stuff," came the woman's voice. Of course she wasn't visible at the moment. She rarely was anymore, which the spectre supposed was a good thing given her reaction to the data she saw on the greybox.

"Just don't let stealing distract you from our goal here," said Shepard as she held her own battle rifle ready.

Finally, the last of them stepped out from behind the shuttle. "We are prepared to assist," said Legion as he crouched down, allowing their limbs to adhere to the surface of the ship. Shepard didn't know if it was magnetic, vacuum, or something else. But she was determined to find out later.

"I don't know if I'm ever going to get used to a geth walking with us," said Garrus nervously as he stepped aside and allowed the platform to step up as well.

"You're telling me," grumbled Tali as she held her shotgun and glared at the machine.

"We could assist in disabling automated defenses found aboard the ship," said the automaton as they finally stood up like everyone else and looked over to Tali.

"You could also take over the entire ship and have access to every scrap of dangerous information aboard," snapped the quarian as she snorted.

"You assume the geth people do not already have all the information kept here," they snipped back, causing Tali to don a look of horror.

"Enough," growled Shepard as she turned and scanned the surface of the ship. "Spread out, look for the piston controls for these lightning rods. EDI said that the docking bay door can't open unless all five rods around the bay are active to keep lightning away from any entering or exiting ships."

"We will inform you if there are any maintenance entrances that we can fit through," said the geth as they turned to head off.

"I'll be going with you," said Tali firmly as she nodded to the others and began following the geth closely.

Garrus watched them go before he leaned forward. "They're gonna be best friends by the time this whole thing is over," he said, getting a chuckle from Shepard.

"You said that over the radio, bosh'tet," snapped Tali who was now out of sight.

"Doesn't make it any less true," said Garrus in amusement as he too wandered off towards one of the towering structures.

"Kasumi, you keep an eye on Garrus. Liara and Aethyta you two head off in that direction and see if you can find the controls for that one," she said as she pointed at a tower in the distance.

"You are going alone?" asked Liara worriedly as she eyed the spectre.

Jane nodded with a grin. "No worries. We'll probably only find some maintenance drones, if even that. Once we're all done, we'll converge on the last one near the door itself," said the woman as she saluted them. Turning away, she sighed to herself before heading off towards the tower farthest from her with the wind lashing against her like a massive jet of water.

Liara treated this little expedition of theirs like it was some diversion of their main priority of stopping the reapers and collectors. But Shepard knew it was a hell of a lot more than that. She knew that the asari was doing this for selfish reasons. Perhaps revenge, perhaps justice for Feron, or if he was alive, then as a rescue mission for someone who had stuck their neck out for her. But if they succeeded, Shepard could imagine only a few things that would help them against the collectors more. The Shadow Broker's resources and information would probably make her life as the one solely responsible for stopping the reapers a lot easier.

She adored her bondmate and her quest to rescue Feron, but she knew she had her own selfish reasons for doing this. This wasn't some detour like with Jacob's mentor or Samara's daughter. This was a part of the mission to stop the reapers. And if they succeeded, then even the Illusive Man's resources would seem paltry in comparison to the power she'd be able to wield against the oncoming threat of invasion.

Now, the job was simple. Get inside, find the Shadow Broker, and dispose of them. She might have felt guilty about kicking their door in and dethroning them if they weren't likely the single person with the most blood on their hands in the entire galaxy. Tali was nearly killed by their agents, Tela Vasir had killed countless in their name, and on top of all the death and destruction, they tried to sell her body to the collectors. Gripping her rifle, she glared at the mechs that could be seen patrolling near the tower she was heading to.

Honestly, it would have been simple enough to just jump in and stab through them with one of her blades or blast them through the back of the head. Unfortunately, due to the wind on the surface of the ship, jumping around casually with her biotics was no longer an option. Lowering her mass in this wind would send her catapulting across the star system, and that's if she even made it out of the atmosphere without getting hit by lightning. Instead, she had to rely on her old skills.

Reaching back, she put away her battle rifle and drew her sniper. As it unfolded, she ran a hand down it soothingly, feeling the weight of the long range weapon once more. "Time to work."

"We have mechs guarding the lightning rods. They look like Loki models, but they've been altered somehow. Be careful," came Shepard's call over the radio as the turian stared down his scope at the curious machines.

"I mean, she's not wrong. They just look mad," he said as he stared at the face display. Instead of the usual two circles that a Loki mech had, these had four straight lines slashing across their face, as if a batarian were squinting at him angrily. He was readying himself to pull the trigger when all the sudden the machine's head popped off and flew across the ship, bouncing the entire way. It's body slumped to the ground. "What in the spirits…"

"Hey Garrus, who is that Kaidan guy?" came Kasumi's voice over his private radio. "Tali seems to have a thing for him."

"We can talk later. I'm trying to get rid of these mechs," said the turian as he began focusing in on another.

"You mean this one?" she asked in her playful tone as the head of the second one also went soaring away, it's body falling flat immediately. "These are pretty heavily armored. I think they're equipped to stand up to lightning."

Garrus growled to himself before letting a snort out of his nose. "How do you know where I'm aiming?"

"I might be psychic," she said with a chuckle as she appeared small enough for him to see on his visor.

"Very funny," he grunted before restarting the device. While it warmed back up, he aimed at another mech and fired. The round didn't penetrate its cranium, but was hit hard enough that it lost its footing and went flying down the ship's hull anyway. "Kaidan was on our squad back when we were chasing Saren. He and Tali got real close."

"What happened to him?" she asked curiously as he witnessed her sear through another of the armored units' heads with her tech weapons.

"I don't think Shepard would mind if I told you the details, but I also don't want to risk it in case she wants this classified. So, I'll just suffice it to say that we were taking down a base that belonged to Saren. He got wounded, and if we tried to go back to get him, Sovereign would have nailed us to the wall then and there. There would have been no Battle for the Citadel if it weren't for him making the choice for us," he said sadly as he remembered the final call between the lieutenant and the commander. His order to Wrex to make sure Tali got aboard the Normandy was potentially the most emotionally painful thing he had ever felt, topped only by the news of Shepard's death two years prior.

"Ouch. That's rough," said Kasumi as most of the cheer left her voice. "I can only imagine what it felt like seeing him floating in that tank."

"I wasn't there, so I can't know for sure," he said as he fired his weapon again and nailed one of the confused and alert mechs right in its neck. The impact blasted its head off and sent it tumbling with all the others. "I just hope he doesn't have the same insecurity Shepard used to have."

"Well, it'll be a lot easier for him. He still has his original body. Though it might be a bit pruny after that long in a bath," she said before interjecting again. "Wait… turians don't prune like humans do…"

"I know what you're referring to," he said with a chuckle as he got to his feet and approached the incredibly short woman who was already working on the console. "Either way, just be kind to Tali. What I experienced when Shepard came back to life she's experiencing for the second time now."

"Hey, as a fellow girl dating a dead guy, I can easily relate. No worries," she said with a smirk through her mask before she finally hit the last button. Immediately the lightning rod within the station began to rise up into the air. Once it stopped, the translucent case around it lit up as well. And as soon as it did, lightning lashed out and struck it, lighting the casing even brighter.

"Our tower over here is done," said Garrus over the team radio.

"Understood. Head for the unmanned one and we'll meet you there soon," came Shepard's order through the comm.

"Confirmed," said the turian as he nodded his head towards their next destination. "Let's go before something tries to surprise us."

A/N: My description of the volus is based on artwork created by Jachnun on Reddit. Feel free to check out their amazing artwork for a better visual.
A/N: Also, thank you to AssaultSloth (the Mass Effect writer here on FFNet) for writing the lyrics to "Scientist Salarian" and The 8-Bit Big Band on Youtube for recreating it in orchestral form. Please read and watch them if you haven't already.