Mass Effect 1. Chapter 1

**second chance**

**please read through and though I hate to nag, I could really use some feedback.**

**I do not own any aspect of mass effect or the mass effect universe, they are property of Bioware. **

03:00 am Galactic standard time.

Cerberus Orpheus cell facility, Hades gamma cluster.

Commander Frank Rekki slowly began to edge open the door of the supply closet that had been his hiding place for the past six hours. He checked his cloak was at full strength before carefully stepping over the body of the unlucky Cerberus janitor that had stumbled upon him earlier into the hallway. The lighting was at its lowest setting, giving only a faint orange glow to see by. Deep below him, the stations fusion power plant hummed softly. Most of the non-essential Cerberus crew had gone to bed, Cerberus facilities using earths clock to dictate shift patterns.

But Rekki was not Cerberus. He was part of the Alliance special forces elite section 22, trained to go behind enemy lines, get the job done and get out before anyone even realised he was there. And he had to admit this was going to be tricky.

He edged along the far wall, crouching slightly so his footsteps made no sound. Moving swiftly from shadow to shadow, he eventually came to a corner. He stopped, checking if anyone was coming, and began to edge towards the door at the end of the hall. When he reached it, he was dismayed to find it was an elevator. He quickly weighed up his options. An empty elevator moving on its own would arouse suspicion, but he had no guarantee of when the elevator would next arrive, and even then it might not head to the right floor. He raised his omni-tool and checked his map.

Cerberus had captured a high-profile human politician, Gerrard Dumond, head of the unionist party. Dumond had actively campaigned for greater integration with the citadel council, and from what Rekki had heard he had garnered enough support to threaten even the Cerberus-backed Terra Firma. Upon Dumonds capture, they had sent a message demanding fifteen million credits as a ransom. But the systems Alliance does not negotiate with terrorists, and Cerberus could not be allowed to undermine the election process.

And so Rekki and his team had been sent to extract Dumond and blow up the station for good measure. It was high-risk, and there was not much time. He had little choice but to take the elevator and hope no one noticed. He pushed the button and the doors slid open with a soft whoosh. Frank drew his pistol and stepped into the deserted elevator. He pressed the button indicating the fifth floor and the doors whooshed shut again. As the elevator began its slow crawl downwards he thought about the rest of his team. Until they were in position, radio silence was maintained to avoid detection, so he had no way of where they were. As no alarms had been tripped he had to assume they were en route like he was. His headset crackled into life.

"Zulu-3 in position"

" I hear you ,standby"

Zulu-3 was Nigel Dawes, a close friend of Franks and a specialist in hacking security systems. His job was to clear the way to the target by blocking any attempt at a lockdown.

"I still think this isn't worth it" Dawes said dryly. He had raised a concern before the mission over the value of rescuing Dumond. The way he saw it, Dumond was asking for it by saying what he did and besides; he was wrong anyway. Dawes was no fan of aliens, Flat out refusing to even look at them unless it was down the scope of his rifle. Frank had expected him to opt out of the mission the minute he heard it involved targeting Cerberus, but he hadn't. He just kept moaning about it.

"damn it Nigel stay focused. You compromise us and I swear if Cerberus doesn't get you I will."

"Sorry sir" came the reply. "I just don't like killing my own kind."

Frank was about to give him another order to shut up when zulu-2 reported in. Zulu-2 , Lieutenant Christina Young, was the sabotage specialist, tasked with planting the charges to overload the fusion plant. The plan was to distract the stations staff with the explosion, possibly even force them to evacuate, grab Dumond in the confusion and exfiltrate. The fourth member of the team, Lt. Moreno, was left behind to guard the exit route, one of the stations escape pods. Only Frank needed to get in position now, then the attack could begin.

"Thank you zulu-2. All Zulus resume radio silence and hold position until instructed otherwise."

"Aye,aye"

The elevator beeped and announced that it had finally reached deck 5 – the holding level. Frank readied his pistol as the doors whooshed open, but there was no one on the other side. Relieved, he began to push forward , checking each cell for signs of the hostage. Again he came to a corner. He paused once more, this time hearing the squeak of boots and ceramic armour. He could see the cell Dumond was being held in, e56. Leaning out of the wall to get a better view , he saw two Cerberus operatives, clad head to toe in bone white heavy assault armour , each wielding an assault rifle.

This required more than a pistol.

Frank replaced the pistol and pulled out his shotgun, grasping it with both hands. He took a deep breath in. Already the adrenaline began to flow down his spine in anticipation of the coming battle. Another deep breath and he was ready.

" All Zulus mission is a g-"

He was cut off as the a loud bang rocked the station, causing the guards to stumble and the power to fail. As the lights flicked back on , Frank ducked into an alcove in the wall as both guards raised their rifles, checking left and right for intruders. Frank was grateful that his cloak was still holding out as they walked straight past. Something wasn't right. Young wouldn't blow the core that early, it must be something else. the Sirens rang out:

" _R__ed alert! _All hands to stations! We are under attack!"

Frank tapped into the guards comms, hoping for clues as to what was going on.

"we've been boarded!"

"Oh shit,who is it"

"not sure, looks like Asari commandoes"

_Asari ? What the hell are they doing here? _Thought frank. _Why couldn't anything be simple. _There were now six guards in in front of him, each crouching behind small , waist high barricades that had folded of the walls between each cell. Their guns were trained on the elevator he had just come through, in readiness for the frontal assault that could only be minutes away. Minutes Frank could no longer afford to wait.

He charged out from behind them, firing his first shot at the man closest to him and diving behind that mans wall. the guards began to turn around some firing blindly in suprise. The poorly aimed bullets bounced off his kinetic barriers , and his cloak held long enough for him to pick off two more of them. As it began to drop, he ducked back behind the wall. The two guards who had been watching the cell were advancing on him , the third kept him pinned down with gunfire. All he could do was wait for the third man to empty his clip, and hope to pick the others off while he reloaded.

The doors of the elevator whooshed open. One of the guards flew past him and slammed into the wall with a heavy clunk. His broken body momentarily glowed with the telltale icy blue light of a biotic attack. Frank reacted immediately, sensing an opportunity . he spun round and leapt up, unloading his shotgun into the dark figures before him. As the smoke cleared he counted eight bodies. Two Asari, six Human.

If anyone asked, Cerberus did it.

Rekki knew what would happen if anyone found out what had really happened; he would be Court-Martialed and likely executed . But he couldn't dwell on it, he still had a mission to complete and besides, there were no witnesses.

"SitRep," he panted. " Now."

Dawes was the first to respond.

"I've gained control of security systems. Just tell me which doors you need opened and I'll unlock them."

" have you seem any Asari?"

"No."

He sounded calm, almost cold . Something in his voice made Rekki suspicious. Dawes didn't trust any aliens, but he had a passionate hatred for the Asari. He had never fully explained why, and didn't like raising the subject. From what Frank had been able to gather from rumours though, it had something to do with his ex-wife. He was hiding something. Rekki was about to ask him what it was when the panicked voice of Lt. Young came over the radio.

" commander, this zulu-2. The energy spike fried my cloak and omni-tool and i'm on backup shields," there was gunfire in the background , and her voice kept getting drowned out by warp attacks and explosions. " I can't set off the charges."

"what?"

" like I said, my omni-tools fried, I can't set off the charges," there was an awkward pause. "i'm sorry." Rekki could tell she was scared. If the fusion plant wasn't destroyed, Cerberus would have no reason to abandon ship, putting the whole mission in danger. Worse still with her cloaking device offline she was as good as dead. if the Asari found her they would shoot her, Thinking she was with Cerberus . And if Cerberus found her...

Section 22 had never Lost an operative, and Rekki wasn't about to let his lieutenant be the first. He knew what he had to do.

"zulu-2 find somewhere safe and bunker down. Zulu-3, open cell e56 ASAP!" the cell door began to unlock, the three metal bolts sliding free. "all Zulus , I am retrieving the package."As the door swung open, he stepped inside.

The inside of the cell was even more dimly lit than the rest of the station. It was barren ,two small crumpled objects on the hippo-skin floor were the sole occupants of the room. One of the objects was Dumond. He was curled up in the fetal position, his bruise-coated hands firmly clamped over his eyes. as Frank reached out and shook him , he let out a little whimper, followed by what sounded like " just kill me."

"Mister Dumond I'm with the Alliance. I can get you out of here but you're gonna have to do exactly as I say." Frank said, trying to sound reassuring whilst conveying a sense of urgency. Dumond slowly raised himself to his feet. He was stooped, unable to raise his head above the line of his shoulders and his he held his whole torso far further than was normal. He had clearly been beaten. He took a few shaky steps forward then nodded his head as much as he could to indicate that he was ready to leave. Frank checked that it was still empty outside before helping the injured man out of the cell. They headed towards the elevator as quickly as Dumond could run.

Thankfully, it was still empty. Frank slammed his fist into the "close door" button . Safe for now, he handed his pistol to Dumond only to be met with a blank expression. "Don't worry,"he said, pressing the button for the engineering deck. " we're just taking a little detour."


	2. Chapter 2

As they entered the shuttle bay, Operative Kyran and his team of bodyguards were the picture of Cerberus discipline. Checking each corner and piece of cover they came to as they advanced towards the two Kodiak shuttles, they made damn sure there were no Asari waiting to ambush them. Kyran clutched the data disk in his hand with an iron grip. As well he should, for the information stored on the disk was worth more than his life if the Illusive Man found out he'd left without it. No-one outside Cerberus could be allowed to know about project Arachne, period.

He divided his bodyguard into two groups, sending half onto the shuttle closest the doors . As they opened, the eerie light of distant stars seeped in. With his face mask on he would be alright whilst he was still on the station, its powerful radiation shielding protecting him from the harsh conditions of the vacuum. The first shuttle's thrusters fired up, and it began to depart. Unbeknownst to its occupants it was to be a decoy , bait to lure the Asari frigate waiting outside away from his own shuttle.

He turned to the other shuttle and noticed something odd about it. It was facing the wrong way. It was standard practice for shuttles to be turned to face the exit in order to facilitate a quick escape if necessary, but this one was pointed towards the interior of the station. _How odd._

Another explosion rocked the deck and shook all suspicions from his mind. He had to leave. He gestured to one of the guards to open the shuttle. The door swung upwards and almost immediately something leapt out and knocked him right onto his back .The disk was thrown out of his hands and spun wildly across the room. He could feel bony knees pinning both his shoulders but before he could get a look at his assailant, two thick fingers jabbed him in simultaneously in the eyes. He heard gunfire, followed by the dull thud of bodies hitting the floor. Somehow he knew it was his men. A thin, cold edge pressed against his neck. He forced his eyes to open. As they regained focus, he began to make out the wiry frame of a Quarian female, clad in red and black.

Out of sight another Quarian, male this time, said something in their native language. For the first time, Kyran regretted never having learned it. The female cocked her head and pressed her mask right up against his face.

"Sweet dreams, Cerberus".

Kyran could hear the hatred even in her robotic voice, see it even behind her featureless visor. And then there was nothing.

...

Running down the stairs towards the fusion plant , Frank was oblivious to what was happening above him. He stuck to the inside corner of the stairs , keeping Dumond behind him for protection. The Asari attack had thrown the station into disarray, the civilian staff ran around desperately searching somewhere safe to hide. Every so often they stumbled across a firefight, the remaining troops making last-ditch attempts to hold back the relentless commandos, and had to work their way around . Every corridor seemed to run the entire length of the ship, Rekki knew if they didn't find Young soon, Dumond wouldn't be able to keep up. With hindsight, It might of been easier to leave Him with Moreno by the escape pod.

At last they came to the fusion plant. The doors had been thrown off their hinges, most likely by a biotic attack.

" Wait in there until I come for you" Frank whispered, pointing to a storage cupboard. Dumond nodded. Frank crept into the room. There were two Asari on the far side of the room, by the plant itself. They were wiring small charges into the plants cooling system , Oblivious to the fact there were already enough on the underside of the Reactor to rip the whole deck in two. No sign of the lieutenant. He walked deeper into the room, searching for a foot, a hand, anything that might be a concealed human soldier, but still there was nothing. Rekki's stomach began to sink, _where was she_?

Slowly it began to dawn on him. Lt. Young was too well hidden for him to see her , but presumably she had some sort of vantage point so she could see when he had arrived, and even if she hadn't she was too smart not to keep a line of sight on the Asari, however focused they were on their bomb. It wasn't her fault he hadn't turned his cloak off.

Hastily he flicked the off switch on his suit, materialising a few seconds later. The sight of an armed human appearing out of thin air came as a shock to the two Asari, But as they fumbled around to grab their weapons he thrust his omni-tool towards them, hurling a bolt of electricity that struck them head on, crackling fiercely as it contorted their bodies into grotesque , twisted sculptures . They fell limp to the ground, smouldering slightly. He checked their pulses. It was only meant to be a stun attack, but he knew from experience that it was more than capable of killing people by accident. Sufficiently reassured that he hadn't committed another war crime, he turned round see a small crate hidden underneath some work benches take a couple of steps forward. The crate began to rock back and forth comically, eventually falling open to reveal the lieutenant, dripping with sweat from having been in such cramped quarters . On the surface at least she seemed unharmed, although the scorch marks on her armour where her cloak had overloaded were unsettling.

"Glad to see you commander" she panted, walking over to the two unconscious aliens on the floor. She grabbed one of their omni-tools and began scanning the mass of tangled wires and blobs of plastic that had been planted on the cooling system. It wasn't the most sophisticated of bombs, but it would do for now. "I can set this to go off in seven minutes, that should give us enough time to reach the escape pod and get clear before it blows. Provided the elevator stays empty..."

Frank nodded and went to fetch Dumond.

...

_RED OVERHEAT REACH ESCAPES PODS ALERT._

The sirens and alarms were almost drowned out by the screams of the panicked scientists and the few remaining officers vainly trying to bark orders. Even the Asari had given up on their stupid raid and decided to flee to their ship, confused at how the station had managed to blow itself up.

_Dumb bitches_. Dawes thought to himself as he casually strolled amid the bodies and debris. _But they were always good at being a distraction_. They had made it so easy to copy the Arachne data he could have done it blindfolded. They had played their part admirably, just as the Commander had. Thanks to him there would be no evidence that there had even been a project Arachne.

He didn't even bother with the cloak as he made his way to the escape pod, he just casually mowed down anyone unfortunate enough to impede him. With a lazy swish of his submachine gun he downed a whole elevator full of soldiers before calmly continuing along the corridor. He smiled to himself, thinking of the things he would buy with the money from his new employer. Sure, crossing Cerberus was risky, but so confident was he that his brilliant plan to cover his tracks that he barely gave it a second thought. Nothing could go wrong.

The escape pod was in sight. Moreno was waiting for him, his rifle rested on a small barricade of crates he had built to stop the Cerberus staff from getting through. When he saw Dawes approach, he lifted the weapon off the barrier and folded it up.

"You'd better get inside Nigel, we only have three minutes left. What are you-" his eyes widened and his jaw dropped in shock as Dawes, still walking straight toward him, raised his gun level with his head. Dawes pulled the trigger twice, unflinching and kicked over the box-wall, stepping over it to enter the small escape craft. He strapped himself in and tapped in the launch codes. As he shut the door he allowed himself to smile a little. _Nothing could go wrong._

...

Frank, Young and Dummond arrived mere seconds later, only to see their exit route fly away. Dumond began rocking back and forth where he stood, his face turning an odd pale shade. A few seconds later he collapsed. Young quickly jumped over and caught him. She gave Frank a thumbs up to indicate he was still breathing. He looked over at Morenos body and lowered his head. Section 22 had lost its first operative, and if he didn't think of something soon, it would lose another three.

"zulu-3, this is zulu-1 do you read?"

Silence.

"zulu-3, this is zulu-1 do you read?

Still nothing.

"Nigel come in goddammit!"

The continued silence confirmed in Franks mind what he already suspected. There had been no word from Dawes since he had confirmed his position. He was almost certainly dead. Frank knelt down and closed Moreno's eyes, removing the look of surprise from his face. This had been a disaster. He fell back into the wall and sat down, waiting for the end. He heard footsteps running towards them. He grasped the handle of his shotgun, a righteous anger rising in him. At least he could take a few terrorist bastards with him . Leaping to his feet he whipped the shotgun from its slot and levelled it at the figure in front of him .

He was surprised to see it was a Quarian. A very familiar Quarian . He would recognise that pine-needle green and jet black exosuit anywhere. It belonged to Haro'Danar vas remora, head of the migrant fleet marines special operations office. A few seconds later he was joined by his daughter Sunni, dressed in the scarlet-black suit she had been awarded at the end of her pilgrimage. Frank lowered his weapon, rather embarrassed that he had nearly shot his friend.

" i'm sorry Harry, I didn't know it was you."

"T hats quite understandable, frank. It's been a while. I'd heard human eyesight deteriorates overtime."

Frank laughed. Lt. Young looked at him, confused.

"I'll explain later. Now Harry, any chance of a lift?"

the station shook once again, and the Quarian nodded and began to lead the way. The run to the shuttle bay seemed to take an eternity, each time Frank thought they were nearly there, another corridor appeared before them. The station was almost silent now, all the occupants now having either left or died , save for the ever louder roar of the overheating power plant. Frank lost track of time until they reached the shuttle, where everything seemed to happen quickly. He, Young, the Quarians , and the still unconscious Dumond all piled in to the tiny vehicle. As it took off and flew towards the nearest mass relay, he felt relieved to have made it out alive.

He began to plan what he was going to tell the brass.


	3. Chapter 3

14:00 earth standard time.

Systems alliance special forces HQ, luna.

Things were not going well. Rekki and lieutenant Young had been called to section 22's head office for "debriefing" after the Orpheus mission, but as they were accused of failure after failure it began to feel more like a trial. They were sat in front of a wide, tinted window that looked out on the luna surface. Under the window sat general Sopner, chief of operations. He was seething.

"are you _quite _aware of just _how _dire the consequences of this_ debacle_ are, commander?" he leaned right over his desk, glaring at Rekki with a face like an enraged bull. He spoke slowly and with intent, spitting a little with every word. "we could lose _everything _ambassador Udina has worked for if the Asari find out on-duty alliance special forces attacked their operatives, hell our seat on the council could be jeopardized because of _you_!" he pointed an accusatory finger at Rekki. Frank held his breath , hurriedly putting together a defense.

"It was entirely necessary sir, we would have had to abandon the entire mission otherwise. As far as I am aware I was the only person on the team to engage the Asari, and then only twice and whilst taking every precaution not to kill them. There were no other options sir."

" the commanders right," Young added. "or would you rather that he had allowed me to be shot to avoid detection?

The general slunk back into his chair, Glaring at the Lieutenant for a while before drawing his gaze back to Rekki. Frank allowed himself to smile a little internally. If all else failed, emotional blackmail might just see them through.

"Even_ if_ we ignore your stupidity with the Asari, and believe me we won't, there is still the issue of how Cerberus agents managed to overpower and capture your escape pod, resulting to the deaths of two of your squad. What the hell were you playing at?"

" no-one regrets their loss more than I but the official guidelines-"

"advise leaving at least two people guarding the exit point. If you needed more personnel you should have requested it beforehand."

" I did. It was denied."

The argument had reached stalemate. The general was damned if he was going to back down but Rekki 's freedom was on the line; If the generals report decided he was at fault he faced twenty years imprisonment. He could not afford to lose. The general picked his notes up of the table and reviewed them._ He's clutching at straws_, thought frank, hopefully.

"and so you had to be rescued by the godforsaken Quarians." Snarled the general, his eyes never leaving the holopad in his hand. _Shit._

"Haro'Danar is a long-standing friend and ally, both of myself and humanity, he was a member of the crew that helped us make first contact with the migrant fleet back in 2162, and I worked with him several times as part of the terminus outreach programme. His arrival was fortunate, but entirely coincidental."

He trembled slightly. Whilst the Quarians weren't enemies of mankind, they certainly weren't friends enough to be allowed to know about section-22. He had not only revealed one of the alliances most closely guarded secrets but he had done so willingly . The word treason began to form uncomfortably in his mind like a dark, angry thundercloud. The evidence was watertight, he was going down. A cold feeling slithered down his back. He could of sworn the general was licking his lips.

He exchanged a glance with lt. Young. She was clearly terrified. In some ways he felt worse for her than he did for himself. Sure , she would probably survive the worst because she was only following orders, but the shame of having her CO executed would kill her promising career stone dead. _Poor girl, she's only 24._

Salvation came from behind them. The door opened with its familiar whoosh to reveal Gerard Dumond, flanked on either side by medical staff. He was on crutches , and there was a boot wrapped around his left leg injecting medi-gel and pain killers into his wounds, but he was now standing fully upright and dressed in the well tailored, jet black suit that was stereotypical of career politicians. Frank could see now why people voted for him, for he gave off a sense of quiet authority, like a father figure almost.

"Mister Dumond do you have access to be here?" asked the general, bemused.

"Indeed I do. When I heard the people who saved my life risked losing theirs, I felt compelled to act."

" well thats understandable, mister Dumond, but this is a military matter, you cannot change anything"

Dumond smiled and carefully reached into his pocket, pulling out a holo-pad.

" I know. So I contacted an old friend of mine. He proposed an _alternative_ to execution."

He handed the pad to the general. Frank looked at it and caught a glimpse of the citadel seal on the side. General Sopners expression, before full of self-satisfaction, turned to one of disappointment and confusion.

"This is from councillor Anderson." He said flatly.

"indeed it is, general. When I told him of the commanders courage in rescuing both his lieutenant and myself, he felt he would be the perfect choice to fill a certain vacancy."

"This is ridiculous. Traitors are punished, not promoted."

"think of it as doing you a favour, you would no longer have the commander ruining your missions, and he would be free to be as cavalier as he liked."

Rekki felt confused. Was he going to be executed or not? What could the Councillor Possibly want him for? He needed to know.

" could you please explain?"

The general was the first to respond. He wiped his hand down his face as he spoke, not even bothering to hide his frustration. "it seems," he paused and swallowed. "it seems that mister Dumond has persuaded to councillor to put your name down for the spectres."

"What?"

He turned and looked at Dumond. The politician was doing his utmost to look statesmanlike, but it was difficult with a tube up his nose.

"Indeed. Shepards death was a tragedy, but we can't allow it to slow down our progress. We have to show the galactic community that a human spectre is not unusual, that it is natural that we should want an operative to act on behalf of a council which we, after all, are members of. I saw your potential commander, you rallied in the face of insurmountable odds and survived due to your willingness to co-operate with other species. A perfect representative of the human spirit at its finest."

The general muttered something foul under his breath. sat open mouthed. Rekki sat silent, his rational mind ignoring the hyperbole of the speech and trying to figure out whether becoming a Spectre was a good idea. He would have limitless authority, and could take the fight to the enemies of the galaxy without having to worry what species they were. On the other hand, he would have to gather all the intel he needed himself, and live off the land. And he knew that spectres couldn't hesitate to shoot their own species. Then he remembered the alternative was death, and decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

" When do I start?"

The general snorted In indignation. "You do not simply start, have to be evaluated by amother spectre first, and believe me they have much higher standards than mister Dumond has."

Dumond ignored him. He took the holo-pad off the general and handed it to Rekki. It momentarily showed a picture of the citadel seal before changing to a simple file, underlined words and bullet points giving details of Spectre duties.

" this should give you all the information you need for now, anything else you should ask your evaluator about," said Dumond. Frank nodded to show he understood. " speaking of which, you shouldn't keep her waiting"

"I don't quite follow you."

"She's waiting in the shuttle bay. Very punctual. Didn't seem to like being kept waiting, unusual for an Asari."

" an Asari ?"

" You didn't expect a Quarian did you commander?" the general butted in. "now get out of my office, some of us are still bound by paperwork."

Everyone but the general left the room, and Frank found himself walking through the lobby, the lieutenant and the politician on either side.

"I guess this is goodbye then." Said Young. She had gotten over the shock and now looked at him with wide, tired eyes.

"I guess so." He replied. He was not good at talking to people on a personal level, preferring to let his actions speak for him. he gave the her a comradely hug, aware that this was probably the last time he would have a squad member who he knew. Spectres didn't work in teams.

"Commander," Dumond interjected. He had one of his nurses hold the door open, and gestured for rekki to follow him through it. He gave Young a last look before silently following Dumond to the shuttle bay.


	4. Chapter 4

Frank had never seen a spectre before (apart from Shepard of course.) so he had only a very limited idea of what to expect. Dumond couldn't, or wouldn't tell him anything, he just kept telling him they would be there soon enough. He knew this one was an Asari, so he assumed she would resemble the commandos he had... met.

So when they finally came to a stop near the shuttle dock, he was amazed by what he saw. She was leant back against a shuttle, a suit of ceramic armour far heavier than that of any commando curled around her athletic body like a shell. Each plate was coated in a deep ocean blue lacquer, so reflective of the light that he could see every detail of the nearby shuttles intricate insignia, with the joints highlighted in block yellow. A matte grey spectre symbol sat across the chest, the wings on either side spread from shoulder to shoulder. On either hip sat a gun slotted into a custom quick draw slider, small dents on the tops of the thighs betraying their regular use.

And then there was her face. She held her head so that the chin gently tilted into the neck, so that shadows highlighted wide but perfectly curved features. As her piercing eyes fell dully on him with a bored stare, Frank thought immediately of a lioness, an image reinforced by her short, narrow scalp. With a graceful flick she threw her head back, momentarily revealing a dark blue scar on the underside of her neck. For some reason even that seemed elegant on her.

" you're commander Francis James Rekki?"

Her voice was unlike that of any Asari he had ever heard, it was fairly deep and had a slight nasal quality. If he hadn't known better, he could almost have sworn she was a Texan.

"Yeah, that's me"

"I heard they were going to execute you if you didn't agree to this, seems they'll hire anyone these days"

"Well, I'll take what I can get" he extended a hand out to her, but it was ignored. Frank realised his attempt to make nice had offended her.

"I don't discriminate," she told him bluntly "Positively or otherwise, so I'll be judging you on what I see. And I don't like heroes, especially when they get people killed. If you get into trouble don't expect me to haul your ass out."

It suddenly dawned on Frank that she had probably read all his reports, seen how badly his last mission had gone. She probably knew there had been members of her own species aboard that cursed station, and was certainly smart enough to work out that Cerberus hadn't killed all of them. For the first time he felt guilty, unable to hide behind procedure as the bare facts stared him in the face. He fought hard not to blush a little as well, embarrassed at his own stupidity. Dumond stood awkwardly, and not just because of the crutches. There was a pained silence.

It was the Spectre who finally broke the silence, swinging her hand out from behind her back and offering it to a surprised Rekki. Frank shook it. She had a strong grip, her smooth, icy blue digits firmly grasping his own calloused hand with total control. He had a lot to learn.

"Clianala t'Sooris" she announced, a sense of pride in her voice as she named herself. "But call me Clia in the field, much quicker."

Both men were taken aback by her sudden transition from hostile to friendly. She was being intentionally hard to decipher. Dumond seized his opportunity to leave.

"I had better let you get back to your ship, Miss t'sooris, I'm sure you have important work to be doing."

" Oh, I do, Mister Dumond, I do."

Dumond took off in the other direction, closely followed by his medical staff. Clianala mumbled darkly to herself, eventually spitting out the word "politicians" she turned to face Frank. She was a little shorter than he was, but had no trouble looking him in the eye.

"You're a soldier, right?"

"Yes."

"Good. So you'll have no problem doing as you're told. Let's get going." She opened the shuttle and gestured for him to enter. Inside he found two simple benches and, as he buckled himself onto one bench, the spectre sat directly across from him on the other. She didn't bother with the seatbelt, but instead shifted her weight biotically to counteract the shaking as the small craft took off. She was certainly powerful. "What sort of work did they have you doing before this? Before Orpheus?" she asked, ignoring a sudden jolt that threw Rekki sideways.

"Sabotage, espionage, tactical strikes, even assassinations. I don't know how much you've read-"

"I've read enough. I want your take on it."

"Well I-"he paused. He had never really thought about it before. He'd just been given orders and intel and told to get on with it. He had never had to think about the overall strategic value of his mission, that was a job for people like general Sopner. All he knew was that the jobs he did, the people he killed, it was all for the good of the galaxy. "I've done my share of wetwork."

Clianala nodded. "Good to see you're honest about what you do. I hate people who try to justify themselves, the kind with a big cause that makes it all alright. A Spectre doesn't pick sides."

"I understand" said Frank

"No you don't. I've seen it in everybody I've ever evaluated, they can't hack having that the only way to use the kind of power a Spectre has fairly and safely is to acknowledge you don't have an opinion .You don't think, you act. Maybe that's why I fail so many of them."

"I'm confused, what exactly do you want from me?"

The Asari leant forward, not once breaking eye contact with him. Her face stopped less than An inch from his, and her feline features filled his field of vision. Her eyes seemed to melt and flow into one. "Everything." She told him, repeating herself for absolute clarity. "Everything. Everything you have, and more. That's the only way to find out if your good enough to protect thousands of lives, or if you're just another criminal running from his punishment."

Frank lowered his eyes and Clianala reclined back against the wall, satisfied that she had broken through any ego her charge may have had. The shuttle was flying more smoothly now, having fully left the moons gravitational pull. Earths only natural satellite was now as distant from them as it was to the planet it orbited. Frank watched it as more and more of its visible surface was consumed by darkness. There was no going back now. Clianala was watching out the other window, searching the black for her ship. Like an island on the horizon it came gradually into view, at first little more than a silhouette but soon solidifying into clearly defined vessel of angles and curves. As they drew closer he could even make out the lights in the viewing ports.

Clianala rose to her feet, grinning proudly. With showman-like finesse she indicated to the ship with her right arm, pointing all five fingertips in unison. "Behold, human!" Frank unbuckled himself and joined her by the window for a better view. The ship was like nothing he had seen in the alliance fleet. It was far smaller than a frigate, if he had to guess, he would have said it was a converted freighter escort. The main body of the ship was fluted, like a chess piece knocked on its side. The front was rounded off to a blunt point , curled subtly downwards. On either side of the hull were mounted short wings for travelling through planetary atmospheres, small outlets for turning mounted on the underside. The whole thing was coated with a shining bright silver, highlighted by the same deep blue as it's owners armour " Her name is _Inquisitor_, In your language anyway. Isn't she beautiful?"

Frank said nothing. He didn't have to.

...

The majority of _Inquisitor_'s tiny crew was made up of Asari with the exception of the pilot, a Salarian. Clianala had explained that she didn't like VI's in charge of her ship, and that "Blink" as he was called was one of the few people with reflexes quick enough to keep the ship steady. The whole time they had been in the bridge the pilot hadn't said a word, merely nodding to show he knew they were there. Franks military instincts had told him this was insubordination, on an alliance ship refusing to speak to the commanding officer was a serious offense , but he was coming to realise that Clianala wasn't this man's superior, not in the military sense. She was his employer, and he was doing his job. Getting used to the lack of official protocol was harder than he had expected.

He undid all the seals on his armour and stepped out of it. He compacted it the way he had done since he had begun basic training all those years ago on Arcturus and laid it against the wall of his quarters. The room he had been given was of reasonable size, certainly larger than the sleeper pods he had been accustomed to. It was quite dark, only lit by a couple of strip lights, and it was very basic, only a bed, a couple of shelves and a toilet. _Like a prison cell_.

When he had first boarded Clianala had taken him on a brief tour of the ship's main facilities. It was smaller than he had expected, but it was clean and well run. The chief engineer was a stern, purple woman, but she clearly knew the vessel inside and out. The drive core she maintained was of Asari design, well protected by redundant coolers and suspension fields. Cerberus could have learned a thing or two, if only they were smart enough to listen. He had also met the ship's doctor, who had seemed friendly. Maybe too friendly if you asked him. all the time they had talked, it had seemed as though she wanted to take him apart to see how he worked. Having made a note to himself to never get injured if it could be helped, they had moved on to the armoury. It was well stocked but a little dusty, Clianala rarely using more than her pistols and Biotics in combat.

After the tour Clianala had left him in his room to get changed before she briefed him. Most of the crew was having dinner in the galley outside. Frank was very good at going without food, having spent days without a meal during his operations with Haro'Danar and his crew aboard _Remora_. The Quarians had been good to him, but they simply couldn't risk keeping levo-protein foods so close to their own rations. On those missions, he had simply had to sit it out until he could find a fuel station that sold supplies small enough to store in his bag . On one particularly long mission he had tied off the ends of a pair of under leggings and used them to store food, much to his squads amusement. He picked up a small bundle of clothes from the shelf and placed them on the bed, unfolding and checking each item one by one as he did so. He had been provided with a pair of leggings, which by the looks of things were in Asari size XL, a baggy black sweater that reached halfway down his thighs, and for reasons he couldn't quite fathom, a woollen hat. He checked how he looked in one of the shiny steel walls and was immediately reminded of on old picture of a fisherman he had seen in a history book. At least it was warm.

Now that he was ready, he opened the door and stepped tentatively out into the galley. It looked as though the crew had finished eating, as the doctor was the only other person in sight. She was sitting at one end of the table, reading a datapad. Frank looked down both sides of the room he was in and was dismayed to see that both of the far walls lead to doors. It occurred to him that Clianala had neglected to give him any directions to the briefing room. For a while he just stood there, lost, deciding which door looked like the right one. the doctor smiled and put down her holo-pad. She pointed to the door on the right.

"Thankyou doctor."

"my pleasure, commander."

_Too friendly by far._ He took the door on his right and found himself in a darkened room, a solitary spotlight illuminating a map of the galaxy that dominated the room. The map was covered by a thick glass screen onto which was projected a variety of notes, extranet pages and photographs. Such a magnificent setup must have cost a fortune. Opposite him stood Clianala, leaning into the table and scrolling through a file.

"I've got to get myself one of these" Said Frank. The spectre edged gracefully along the table, dragging the whole display along with her with a finger. She stopped right beside him, bringing the screen to a gentle halt. With a tap she brought up a picture of a planet, an elephant-grey world with swirling white clouds.

" How much do you know about Biotics?"

"Only the basics. Eezo particles in the central nervous system allow certain individuals to manipulate mass effect fields, varying in strength according to the individual. All Asari have it. Beyond that there isn't much I can tell you, other than that it makes someone a pain in the ass to shoot. No offense."

"None taken. That's pretty much all I know about how it works too." She minimized the picture of the planet and brought up a map of the Pylos nebula. "But it seems someone wants to know more , a lot more. A couple of weeks before I agreed to pick you up, the council asked me to look into a spate of attacks against ships ferrying passengers through Pylos. At first I assumed it was some new pirate gang but when I saw what had happened to the ships it became clear this was the work of professionals." She brought up an image of the inside one of the raided ships. Bodies lay in into corners, islands of flesh in a sea of brown blood , the product of many species having been executed together. Pirates tended to leave bodies where they fell, only moving a body if there was something underneath worth looting, but these people had been lined up whilst they were alive to make them easier to shoot. This was a clear sign that they had been murdered by someone who didn't want to be identified._ But if not pirates then who? Terrorists?_ Not likely. The whole point of a terror attack was that it was visible, to show what the terrorist was willing to do if they were ignored. _The geth?_ They had previously been sighted in the system, but why would they suddenly start attacking passenger ships. It made no sense.

Frank thought back to what Clianala had said."why do you think this has something to do with Biotics?" he asked, thoughtfully.

Clianala waved off the grisly image and brought up a block of text. It listed the names of all the passengers and crew of each ship, along with their species and a column marked " remains accounted for". He looked it over and saw about a third of the names had not been ticked. He began to see a pattern.

"notice anything?"

"all the unticked names belong to Asari !"

"exactly. My initial thoughts were Batarian slavers running a sex trafficking ring but then I noticed some of the bodies had been cut open surgically and high-grade amplifiers removed. That's what has me thinking someone has been abducting these people for experiments of some kind."

"Experiments? Why would someone want to do illegal research into Asari biotics, I thought it was already a well established field?"

"I know. It didn't seem right to me either. That's why I've made an appointment to see Forandas haaki, he's a specialist in Biotic genetics and I'm hoping he'll be able to shed some light on the subject." She dragged up a picture of an elderly Salarian . "unfortunately he's on Illium. I've told Blink to set a course for crescent relay, we should be there in about nine hours." Frank nodded. It seemed a reasonable place to start. "until then I suggest you get some sleep, that last thing I need is you passing out from exhaustion in the middle of the professors office."

He nodded again and exited the room, leaving Clianala studying data on the display table. The doctor was still sitting at the table, still reading the holo-pad from before.

" goodnight, commander," She said in a sickly sweet voice "Hope you sleep well."

As he entered his cabin, frank double-checked that he had locked the door. 


	5. Chapter 5

If Illium could be summed up on a word, it was bright. They had landed at midday at a port on the very edge of the habitable area, and the light reflecting off the windows and walls of the bleached white towers was such that they had been forced to purchase sunglasses in order to see where they were going. It didn't help that there were screens everywhere, some purveying news or information about the stock market but most just advertising. All around them people in finely made clothes glided past, talking loudly into their phones or making small talk with their companions. Every so often one would give him a strange look as though they were offended by his having the audacity to be on their bus. Perhaps they thought he was a prisoner, with Clianala as his escort.

He was grateful for his suits built in cooling systems on a day like this. It was nearly 30 degrees outside, and there was no shade. To make matters worse, Clianala had made him wear the damned hat. Haaki had called ahead and suggested they meet on the balcony of a restaurant on the forty-second floor of a large shopping complex. They were early. Clianala had taken a seat in the far corner, giving her a view of the whole plaza. Frank stood lent over the edge of the balcony looking out on the vast forest of skyscrapers, watching the steady flow of skycar traffic in the high canopy. Back in the alliance, he had only left human territory for missions, and rarely seen much more than the ruins of alien civilisations. It was all new to him.

He turned to see Clianala wave off a waiter, the unfortunate serving girl immediately complying with the spectres orders and scurrying back to her station. Scanning the room he noticed a small, withered looking Salarian edging towards their table. His skin was a dark grey that faded to white around his tightly pursed mouth . His eyes darted around the room , seemingly checking for an ambush. Frank returned to their table, taking a seat next to Clia. "he's here" he whispered to her, and she beckoned the frightened academic over.

"I thought you said you were alone," he squeaked. He pointed a finger at Frank. "who's this guy?"

"this "guy" is a spectre in training. You will show him the same courtesy as me and answer all our questions, clear?"

The Salarian continued to look at Frank with suspicion . He managed to mumble "clear" and began wringing his hands.

" what is it exactly you study professor?" asked Clia, ignoring the man's obvious discomfort .

"I'm something of an expert in the field of Asari inheritance, that is to say how different father species affect the way a child develops. For instance , those with Krogan fathers often develop foreheads that are nought point five millimetres thicker than those of others."

"wait, I was always taught that the fathers DNA didn't do much more than randomise the child's genetic makeup, are you saying it actually does mix with the mothers?"

"no, not quite. My experiments showed that although no hybridization actually occurs, the forming embryo's genes seemed to "mimic" certain aspects of the fathers, though only in tiny amounts. The forehead example I gave you was perhaps the most easily measurable trait, but I'm sure there are others. I was at the stage where I was ready to publish when my offices were ransacked."

"By whom?" Clianala inquired, taking notes down on an omni-tool.

"I don't know, most likely my discoveries contradict the teachings of some matriarch or other. For all their knowledge they can be unbelievably petty at times. Either that or... "

"or what?"

"my research shows that Asari DNA can be...manipulated, in Utero, by outside agents. If someone had the time, the talent, and the resources, they could develop a virus that could rewrite the genetic code of the entire species. I assumed I was the first to discover this, but what if someone else already has? The krogan genophage was developed with less! The implications..."

He didn't need to finish the sentence. They had all seen the devastation the genophage had inflicted on the Krogan, turning the saviours of the galaxy into disparate gangs of bandits and mercenaries. And the Asari were the cornerstone of the galactic community, keeping the peace between the more aggressive species like the Turians and much as it pained Frank to admit it, Humanity. The threat of such a thing was beyond anything he could imagine.

Clianala looked the Salarian right in the eyes , leaning close the same way she had to Frank the day before. Haaki wrung his hands with increasing speed , mumbling incoherently with horror at what he had inadvertently uncovered.

"Tell us everything you know professor, it might be our only chance."

_..._

From his vantage point overlooking the restaurant, Dawes could see the pathetic little Salarian spill his heart out to the spectre. He watched through the scope of his sniper rifle as the aged fool tried to warn the council about the "threat". He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead and licked the back of his hand. Normally he would quicker drink a glass of Ryncol than spend time on an Asari world , especially one as hot as this, but even a grunt like him understood that if the grander plan was to succeed total secrecy must be maintained at all costs.

He hadn't anticipated that there would be a human present, but he wasn't going to cry about killing some race traitor. Anyone stupid enough to wear a hat in this weather didn't deserve to live. Besides, it gave him ample opportunity to try out his new gun. High quality equipment was one of the perks he liked most about his new job. He wondered why he hadn't gone over to them sooner. He put it down to a vague sense of loyalty to the Alliance, though now he saw how they were little more than swindlers, collaborating with the aliens to serve their own interests.

He watched as the Asari leaned right into the Salarians face, her head eclipsing his in the crosshairs of the rifle. This was too good an opportunity...

...

"Alright, though there isn't much else I can tell you." Said Haaki, his face even more pale with fright. Frank had a bad feeling in his gut, the way he did when he was infiltrating a base without a cloak. He felt as though someone was watching them, waiting to attack. He looked at the buildings around them, but was met with nothing but glare and heat haze. Something wasn't right.

"Clia I think It'd be safer if we took this somewhere less public" he said as he put a hand on her shoulder. She leant back in her chair and turned to face him, giving him a look of irritation at having been disturbed. Mere milliseconds later a shot rang out, sending them both flying for cover. Haaki was thrown off his chair by the force of the bullet impacting his head. Rekki caught a glimpse of it before immediately looking away . The Salarians skull had been smashed open, chunks of brain peppering the floor of the plaza. The white walls and tables were now covered in a thin coat of dull brown blood. The other customers and staff ran to the door in terror, screaming as they fled . Only Frank and Clianala stayed put , pinned down by the mysterious assailant. Both had ducked under tables , weapons drawn. Frank was feeling pretty stupid for bringing a shotgun right now.

"Did you see the shooter?" Clianala called across from her position . She fired off a burst with her left pistol. The sniper replied with another shot that blew away half the table she was under. "looks like he's in the building on the left, the round one." Yelled Frank as he knocked over his round table to provide more cover. In the distance he could hear the wail of police sirens getting louder, closer. A third shot took away another chunk of Clianala's table, leaving her crouched behind little more than a leg. If the sniper fired again they were bound to hit her. Even with her biotic barrier at its strongest she wouldn't be able to stop a round travelling so fast , and even if she survived one shot, the sniper was sure to have another ready to finish her off.

Frank had to do something. If he could get the snipers attention somehow, maybe he could buy her enough time to get way. He tilted the table so that it was connected to the ground only by its rim. He began to turn the table by its legs, carefully rolling it in front of him as he tried to reach the trapped Asari. "What are you doing ?" she yelled, but Frank just kept on sliding his body along with his impromptu shield. Their assailant had clearly noticed , a bullet clipped the top of the table's circumference. The plan was working, for now.

He looked over to Clianala's position. He was almost there, just a few more turns and she would be able to roll across safely. He sped up, not knowing how long he would be able hold the snipers attention, at any moment they might decide to return to their principal target. In his haste to reach her he almost forgot to watch where he placed his feet, narrowly keeping his trailing leg from leaving the safety of the circle.

Suddenly he felt himself hit the floor with great force at least a metre away from the table, accompanied by a sickening crunch of bone. Most of his fingers were now broken from having been torn away from where he had gripped the table, but he figured that was the least of his worries. Still in shock, he placed his right hand on top of his numb left bicep. It felt wet. He brought the hand up to his face and took a look at it, only to see it was covered in blood. With great difficultly he rolled onto his side, determined to see if Clia was alright. True to her word she was making no attempt to rescue him but was crouched behind the half of the table that remained , taking pot shots at the round building.

Seeing that he was unlikely to be saved anytime soon, Frank started thinking up his last words. He had a vague feeling that he should say something profound or witty, but something told him no-one was really paying enough attention for that. Instead, he decided it would be easier just to swear madly at no-one in particular.

His cathartic rant was soon interrupted by the arrival of the police, whose sudden appearance seemed to scare off the assassin, as he heard no further shots. A pair of Asari paramedics were soon leaning over him, applying medi-gel to his arm and injecting him with painkillers that made everything seem blurry. He could just about make out Clianalas furious face through the drug-induced haze.

"Idiot, I told you I don't like heroes." She snapped before leaving to inform the authorities about what had happened. As he passed out Frank just about managed to retort "Your welcome".

...

As he made his way to the skycar he had parked waiting on the roof, Dawes began cursing his stupidity. The Spectre had escaped because he had allowed himself to be distracted by some chump turning a table. He tried to focus on the positives; the Salarian was dead , so he wouldn't be able to help the spectre any more, and the prat in the hat was unlikely to get up either.

He punched in the floor number on the elevator. He knew he would get a bollocking from his employer, but he couldn't afford to waste time thinking about that right now. Soon the police would be swarming all over this building, and if he didn't get a move on they would close off the vehicle access before he had a chance to get clear.

When he finally reached the roof, he hopped in to the waiting skycar and started the engine . he was just in time. As he took off a pair of patrol cars came in to land, and as he looked down on them through the window they began to set up a cordon to prevent the assassins escape. _Good luck with that, _Dawes chuckled as he sped off.

...

Frank woke up to find himself in the med bay of inquisitor, surrounded by machines that beeped and whirred quietly to themselves. His injured arm felt heavy , but at least he had feeling in it again. His mouth felt dry and his limbs sore, and his eyes had trouble adjusting to the bright light. A medical VI burst into life, informing him that "the patient is awake". He felt a cold, soft hand on his good shoulder.

"welcome back to the world, commander" the doctor soothed. He tried to sit up but found himself held down by straps across his chest and waist. "just a moment commander, we had to move the ship and Blink isn't exactly the most careful driver. Had to be sure you wouldn't roll off the table" _that was reassuring_ . she began to undo the Velcro that held the straps in place, gently pulling the off once they were undone.

"how long was I out for?" Frank asked, yawning. he raised himself up using his right arm and spun his legs around so that they his calves hung over the edge of the operating table. He looked at his left arm and saw it was in a boot similar to one he had seen on Dumonds foot. "about nineteen hours," the doctor answered, handing him a glass of water. "In my opinion you could have done with a while longer, but those incompetent paramedics wouldn't tell me how much anaesthetic they'd given you. I thought it best not to give you any more in case I overdosed you."

Frank gulped down his water, feeling its coldness all the way down to the bottom of his stomach. He shivered a little, and the doctor readied herself to catch him, thinking he was about to topple over. "Thanks, nice to know someone gives a damn about my welfare. So where exactly did the ship get moved to?" he asked _. _The doctor looked a little embarrassed , and began reading her notes off a terminal.

"Oh we're still on Illium, Clianala has just gone to supervise the police investigation. Apparently the post-mortem on poor professor Haaki suggests he was shot with modified Quarian rounds. Most intriguing I'm sure."

_Quarian rounds?_ He knew there were some deeply anti-citadel factions in the migrant fleet but usually people like Haro'Danar kept them in check. An exile perhaps? Or maybe just a mercenary who'd got them off some kid on pilgrimage. He hoped to god it was the latter. He pushed his feet on to the floor and stood up, still a little unsteady.

"I think I'll go get some air if that's ok doc" he could see that her cheeks were darkening slightly at having been called "doc". Could Asari blush?

"sure thing, commander," she answered, trying to sound tough. As he began heading towards the door he felt her hand on his shoulder once more. He turned to face her. She looked serious now, her eyes gazing into his. "I've known Clianala almost two centuries, and believe me she is grateful for what you did today, even if she doesn't show it. She trusts you commander, as do I."

Frank stood silent for a while, unsure of what to say. In the end he settled for a sincere "Thankyou.", before heading outside to ponder the days events.

...

He found Illium was much cooler at night, but no less blinding. The advertising boards gave the city a permanent glow, each one so bright they were actually quite hard to read. Frank stood leaning against the side of inquisitor, the slightly warm metal comforting in the cold, soulless city. He began wondering about the assassin, and whether Clianala had caught him of not. Whoever it was clearly wasn't a true professional, that was clear by the way he had passed up an ideal opportunity to kill the spectre in order to target him. That was enough to reassure him that it wasn't a Quarian special forces sniper, he knew from experience they didn't make that kind of mistake.

To his immediate surprise a two-fingered hand flew out from nowhere and clamped over his mouth, two pairs of strong arms pinning his hands behind his back. He writhed and struggled to break free but to no avail. He tried to call for help but the hand on his mouth was clasped too tight, he attempted to bite it loose only to be met with a jab in the eye. He felt his attackers place a thick bag over his head, acting as both gag and blindfold as they dragged him off to god knows where.


	6. Chapter 6

Though they would never say it to her face, the staff of the Illium colonial police department was glad to see the back of Clianala t'Sooris. In the time she had been at their headquarters she had managed to not only turn the traffic office into a war room but shut down three major skyways on the off chance the assassin might try to use them as a short cut to the spaceport and diverted nearly a hundred officers to the search. When they attempted to suggest that the assassin might be driven underground by all the attention she was drawing to herself, she had told them in no uncertain terms that if they failed to apprehend the "mad gunman" by the end of the day, she would order an official inquiry into what she described as their "many, many failings"

Her reign of terror did not last long however, and as it grew dark even she was forced to admit they were unlikely to catch the assassin today. Instead she contented herself with sitting in on Haaki's post-mortem and reading through the notes the police had made about the break-in at his offices. The autopsy discovered little more than that the Salarian had died of brain–loss, a fact she could probably have guessed by herself. The revelation that Quarian rounds had been used was helpful, but without DNA it told them nothing concrete about the identity of the shooter. The notes proved more useful. Haaki had been able to describe his research in more detail to the police and a full inventory of what had been stolen; some gene sequencing software and a machine that measured biotic field strength, confirmed her suspicions that someone was performing illegal experiments, if only she could find out where.

Now she was sifting through the CCTV footage of the building the shots had been fired from. It became clear that the assassin had arrived at his perch not long before he had started shooting. About ten minutes prior to Haaki's death, he had landed on the roof and spent about three minutes deciding which floor to use. The cameras on the roof didn't have an all too clear view, so she fast forwarded until the assassin entered the elevator. Making note of the time, she switched feeds to the elevator camera. There, clear as day, was a human male, clutching what appeared to be an anti-materiel rifle. The idiot had made no attempt to disguise himself, not even putting on a hat to hide his frankly unattractive features. She took a screen shot and made a mental note to show the picture to Rekki when she got back to her ship. Perhaps he would recognise the man.

Her radio burst on, Blink's voice even faster than usual, the way it did when he was nervous.

"Slow down," she said, slowly in order to set the pace of the conversation. She could hear Blink breathing heavily trying to slow himself down. The doctor's voice came over the radio, just as concerned as the pilot's.

"It's commander Rekki, oh goddess, He's been kidnapped!"

...

Frank found himself sat on a chair in the middle of a large room. His hands had been tied behind his back and a small cushion placed under his left armpit, presumably to prevent him from damaging the cast on his arm. His captors occasionally pressed the barrel of a gun against his neck to remind him what would happen if he tried to escape. He had no idea how long he had been in captivity, the only light coming through the minute gaps in the bag's material was artificial. He could hear them discussing what they were going to do with him. They sounded Turian, but with a distinct electronic edge, as though they were wearing visors. Frank spoke fluent Turian, but the way these people spoke it he could only make out snippets of conversation.

"Was this really necessary?" said one voice.

"Absolutely, until we find out whether he is working with Kahln or not he cannot be trusted"said another, female he thought.

"But look at his arm! Couldn't we have just tranquilised him rather than grabbing him like this?"

"His arm is precisely why we didn't tranquilise him. We don't know what kind of drugs they put him on."

"What about that Spectre? If she finds out about this we're as good as dead!" Said the first speaker. A third, calmer voice entered.

"Oh, good. I'm long overdue a haunting." Said the third speaker, jokingly. Frank was certain he'd heard someone make that same joke, a long time ago. But who? He remembered that whoever it was had explained the meaning to him at the time, that someone due a haunting had created a lot of ghosts. He continued to eavesdrop, all the while trying to recall who had told him the joke. It seemed important.

"Oh grow up," snapped the first speaker, sounding irritated. "When can we stop with this ridiculous charade?"

"Indeed, I don't see why we don't just take the bag off and have done with it." The second voice concurred.

Frank remembered who had told him the joke. He felt angry, resentful that he was being held like this by someone who was supposed to be his friend. Someone he would happily share any information he had with. Someone that, if it weren't for his spectre induction, he would probably have been executed because of.

"Haro'Danar vas Remora you're not fooling anyone with those voice modifiers. Let me out of this chair now you bastard!" he yelled, and the bag was ripped off. Haro, Sunni and another Quarian, whom he recognised as being called Bothar, were gathered in a semi-circle in front of him, Haro and Bothar stood, Sunni sat on a bed to his left, holding the bag. The room seemed to be in some sort of hotel, decorated with soft furniture and elegant lampshades. By the door stood a chest of draws, on top of which had been placed an unopened basket of complimentary levo-protein fruit. It was the most bizarre hostage situation he had ever been in.

"You better be planning on telling me what the hell is going on here." He said darkly. His throat was sore both from yelling and from having a bag tied over his head. His face was bright red and dripping with sweat. Haro took the bag from his daughter and folded it neatly before putting it in one of his suits many pockets. He pulled up a chair in front of Frank and sat forward, placing his elbows on his knees and pressing his fingers together to make a triangle. He pointed the tip at frank.

"You know I'd love to do that. I'd love if I could just tell you what I've been ordered to do, and why, like we used to. But we both know that's not going to happen. Maybe if you were still with the alliance, things would be different. Hell if you were still with the alliance I would never have been allowed to tie you to the chair. But since you started working for the Citadel well, the admiralty board designated you fair game."

Frank shook his head. Another relationship ruined by the politics of becoming a Spectre. He began to wonder if he'd made the wrong choice after all.

"I'll get straight to the point," The Quarian continued. "Back on that Cerberus station we found data relating to something called "Arachne". Now we know that was a Cerbeus project, nothing to do with you, but we also know someone using an alliance military issue omni-tool copied that data. That person then gave that data to a Quarian exile named Corvak'Kahln. Now seeing as lieutenant Young's Omni-tool was broken during the Asari attack on the station, and no-one else survived that mission, I think it only reasonable to ask whether you had anything to do with it?"

"I honestly don't know what you're talking about."

"Frank, I really want to believe that but if you didn't give the data to Kahln who did?"

"Harry I didn't take any data from that ship, and even if I had how could I have given it to a Quarian exile, I was with you remember!"

"Only as far as the edge of the system. As soon as we reached the mass relay you transferred on to an alliance frigate. After that we have no record of your movements."

"You cannot be serious!"

"Then you show up again on an Asari world and lo and behold, the only other person who could warn the council about the key points of the Arachne data ends up dead. Explain that!"

Frank laughed a little. He found it a somewhat ironic that Haro was accusing him of a crime he had initially suspected the Quarians of committing. He looked into Haro's mask, his small eyes barely visible but for a faint glow.

"I don't know who gave your exile that data, Harry, but it wasn't me. When I got back to Luna they were going to execute me, I only escaped because that politician we rescued convinced our councillor to recommend me for the spectres instead. That's why I'm here, I'm being evaluated and they want me to investigate some abductions related to illegal research. Haaki was going to explain what might be happening when we were ambushed. That's how I got shot. We're on the same side, you have to believe me."

Haro put a hand over his visor and wiped it down his face. "I wish I could."

With a violent BANG the door behind Haro was ripped from its hinges and sent flying across the room, smashing through the glass window behind them before falling hundreds of metres to the street below. The entire room was flooded with biotic blue light, the fruit basket, the lampshades and virtually everything else that was small and not tied down, including Sunni, was levitating. Clianala entered the room seemingly ablaze, an aura of sky blue fire raging around her. Her eyes were completely white, glowing brighter than supernovae. As though readying a whip she flung back one hand, pulling a screaming Sunni mere inches from her. She left the wretched Quarian dangling upside-down, helpless, two feet off the ground. A bad move, Frank thought. Like most Quarian fathers Haro'Danar would happily try kill anything that threatened his only child, but unlike most Quarian fathers he was more than capable of doing just that. He powered up his two Omni- tools, one on each hand, and let loose a pair of heavy incineration attacks that hit Clianala like a train, her barrier barely keeping the flames from her flesh. She stumbled backwards in shock, but kept control of her hostage.

Both she and Haro reached for their guns, the Quarian just reaching his quicker. With phenomenal concentration Clianala kept Sunni floating by thought alone as she drew both her pistols. She kept one aimed right on Haro's chest, the other pointed downwards at Sunni's head. Before the standoff could turn into a bloodbath, Bothar ducked under a table and crawled, un-noticed behind Frank's chair. He undid the cords holding his hands behind the chair and whispered "Stop this." Leaping to his feet, Frank stood quite deliberately between the two warring titans, hoping neither of them wanted the other dead enough to shoot through him.

"Harry, this is Clianala t'Sooris, she's the spectre evaluating me," he waved his hands downwards in an attempt to calm the pair down. "She's a friend." Haro checked his clip intake.

"Not from where I'm standing" he growled. There would be no chance of reasoning with him while his daughter was still hanging by her ankles. Frank turned to Clianala.

"Clia we can resolve this peacefully, just put Sunni down."

"Sunni? You know this Quarian?" she asked, a baffled look on her face. She lowered Sunni enough for her to right herself, but kept her firmly stuck within the field. He could hear the poor girl sobbing inside her suit.

"Yes, I worked with her and her father a number of times back in the alliance," he said, pointing at Haro. He breathed slowly, a technique he had learned in training on Arcturus to help break up fights. "They have information about the abductions."

"Which we will not be sharing until you give my daughter back and show me some evidence you aren't working for Kahln!" Haro barked, lowering his gun as a gesture of good faith.

"Who the hell is Kahln?" grunted Clianala. Haro'Danar remained silent. Clianala sighed in frustration and finally relinquished her hold on Sunni. The little Quarian scurried away and stood behind her father, desperately trying to regain some dignity. Bothar offered her some medi-gel but she refused, It was mainly her pride that had been wounded. Clianala put her own guns away, and Frank felt it was safe enough to let them approach each other. He left the former no-mans-land and took a seat on the bed. Having been shot and kidnapped on the same day, he felt entitled to sit down.

The others decided it would be less confrontational if they also sat down. Only Haro remained standing, having given the chair Frank had been tied up on to Sunni.

"Frank, I think I found our gunman." Said Clianala, holding up the footage from the CCTV camera for everyone to see. When he saw the instantly recognisable face of his former team-mate upon it, Frank was overcome by an intense feeling of cold. He felt slightly disorientated, as if the floor had been ripped out from under him. A thick, bitter lump formed in his throat . He had been stung, betrayed by one of his own. In a weird, twisted way it all made sense. Dawes had stayed on the mission not to help him, but to help Kahln obtain the Arachne data. He thought of all the things that had gone wrong on that mission; Young's omni-tool, Moreno's death, all sabotage? All so Dawes could make a quick buck. Clianala watched him intensely, waiting for a name. _She can wait a little longer_. He still couldn't quite believe his team-mate, his friend, could be willing to murder him, for whatever reason. In his head he imagined every moment he had spent with Dawes as a photograph and stubbed an imaginary cigarette out over his face, burning the traitors face from his memory.

"Dawes," he spat. "Nigel Dawes."

"Dawes?" said Sunni "wasn't he –"

"He was on my strike team, yes."

"Wait, I don't understand, why would one of your team suddenly decide to start working for a Quarian exile?"

"I don't know, Sunni. I just don't know. Maybe he wants to get revenge on the Asari for taking his wife. Maybe it's all just for the credits, who knows? It doesn't matter; we kill him just the same"

Haro and Sunni nodded in agreement. Clianala and Bothar remained perfectly still. None of them spoke for what seemed like an age, until Haro broke the silence. "I'm sorry," he started, trying to apologise to Frank for thinking he was the enemy, but Frank dismissed him with a wave.

"No need , Harry. No-one could have known that the truth would be this...messed up. I certainly didn't. "

Clianala decided it was time to move on. Pledging revenge on Dawes was all very well, but it didn't get them any closer to catching him. This was precisely why she kept herself detached from her work, didn't let anyone get under her skin. Besides, the Quarian had promised her information.

"You mentioned a Quarian exile, what's their connection to all this?" she asked. Sunni turned to answer her, keen to take her mind off things.

"The migrant fleet doesn't usually keep tabs on exiles. Once the fleet banishes someone they are no longer our responsibility."

"That's what usually happens," added Haro. "but Corvak'Kahln is a special case." He continued. "The man is poison. Back in the day he was one of the fleet's most talented scientists, we relied on his work to give us an edge. Trouble was, he wasn't an engineer but a biologist, and one of the few Quarians still performing research into medicine, new ways to keep us from getting sick. Absolutely vital given our immune systems. This meant he was given a level of power that... no-one should ever have."

"So why was he exiled?" asked Clianala, her notepad at the ready.

"one day one of the major home ships, the Moreh, had to be quarantined due to a viral outbreak. It happens. Kahln was ordered to develop a vaccine, and was provided with a sample of the virus to work on. After nearly a week with no word from Kahln, and nearly four hundred dead aboard the Moreh, The admiralty board sent a team, my team, to Kahln's lab ship to find out was going on. I'll never forget what we found.

Rather than test the effects of the virus on tissue samples, Kahln decided he would use his staff as test subjects. We found them stripped of their suits and locked in cells, either dead or nearing death; each deliberately infected and left to fester. He didn't even bother trying to cure them. We hauled him up before the admiralty board, hoping they would listen to our pleas to have him executed. He deserved it. Do you know what He said to them?

He told them his research had yielded a great gift for the Quarian people. The deluded bastard had turned the virus into a bio-weapon, thought he could use it as a bargaining chip. I remember admiral Zorah saying "Tell that to the families of the Moreh". They convicted him but no, they didn't have the strength to let us do the right thing with him. Instead, they let him loose on the rest of the galaxy, who already hate us for creating the Geth. So short-sighted.

Then a couple of weeks ago, we hear that he somehow managed to shake off our tracking teams. So the board says "Haro, go fetch", and we end up following this lead on a Cerberus project called "Arachne". I looked the name up on the extranet, some old earth legend about a woman who was so talented the gods changed her into an insect. Just the sort of thing Kahln likes. That's why we were on the Orpheus station."

Clianala looked up from her notes and Frank thought she was going to close on Haro, like she had with Haaki and himself. Instead she simply asked "What is Arachne?"

"Best I can tell, Cerberus also discovered that it was possible to influence Asari genetics using a virus, but they went a step further, creating a prototype that caused biotic failure. The problem was they couldn't figure out how to make it spread, and it was easily treated with regular biotics-enhancers. Kahln offered to help but Cerberus didn't want a non-human involved. I'm guessing that's when he hired Dawes to obtain the data for him."

Clianala nodded. "Mister Danar, it seems we share a common foe," she extended a hand to Haro. "If you're willing to forgive my earlier behaviour, I think we could work together"

Haro gave the Spectre an awkward handshake, cementing their makeshift alliance. The Asari went on to shake the hands of both Sunni and Bothar, the latter more cordially than the former.

"The problem is," said Bothar. "We have no idea where Kahln has his base of operations."

Frank smiled. "I think Clia might be able to help with that."


	7. Chapter 7

**Note: the second title change was made due to their being a number of stories with the same name.**

As it transpired, The Quarians had been in need of transport anyway. The_ Remora_ had been left with the migrant fleet to be re-fitted, and Harry 's crew had been getting by on chartered shuttles. Clianala had been hard pressed to find room for all of them, but it was eventually decided that the two males would bunk down in engineering, much to the protests of the chief engineer, with Sunni staying with the doctor in her quarters.

It felt good to be working with Harry once again. The man had a marvellous sense of energy that enabled him to invigorate those around him. He was like a child in a toy shop when he saw Clianala's map room, playing with every inch of the central table and its many features. The migrant fleet could never afford anything like this, every time he wanted something he had to either beg for it, steal it or make it for himself. Clianala had given Frank several murderous looks, but he assured her Harry was just taking inventory of their resources. Once he knew what he was working with, he would get straight down to business.

A quick check of the Pylos Nebula revealed that the number of habitable worlds Kahln could hide on was actually quite small. By comparing the position of each of the raided ships at the time of their being attacked with the nearby planets, they deduced that Kahln's base was somewhere in the Kriseroi system. The exact location was hard to pinpoint, there were several planets and large asteroids large enough to support a research facility, so in absence of anything else Clianala had suggested they make a sweep of the system using _Inquisitor'_s scanners. It wasn't the best strategy, if they were detected they could have a real fight on their hands, but it was about all they could do.

Next they discussed what sort of resistance they might face. There had been no survivors of the ship attacks, so they had no idea of the kind of numbers Kahln had at his disposal. As an exile his income was limited, but he clearly made enough as a freelance scientist to hire some sizeable muscle. Frank suspected most would be Ex-military types with a grudge against the Council, if Dawes was anything to go on. It made sense to recruit that sort of person, they would be more willing to work for less. They would also have less of an issue with committing the sort of atrocities Kahln was asking of them.

The plan therefore was to split up into small groups to minimize the risk of detection. Frank would take Sunni and Bothar on a frontal attack that would divert attention away from the others, who would attempt to free any prisoners and, if possible, find and kill Kahln. After that they would destroy the base from orbit using the ship's powerful mass accelerator cannon. They knew they would be outnumbered, and couldn't afford to take any unnecessary risks by going after Kahln or Dawes specifically. Whilst capturing or killing them sounded good on paper, it would be harder to do once they were under fire on the ground.

Their battle plan decided, Clianala had sent the co-ordinates to Blink and they had returned to their lodgings. All except Frank, who had decided to take a shower. He was still covered in blood, mostly his own but at least some of it belonging to the late professor Haaki. His hair was still slightly damp with sweat from the heat of the day and from his "kidnapping". He did not wash purely out of vanity however, it was likely the enemy base would be guarded by dogs or varren, both were capable of smelling tiny amounts of sweat on a person. This way he minimised his chances of detection. He didn't use soap either, any perfume it may have contained might have stayed on him and been even more of a giveaway. He changed out of his armour and hosed it down with the shower head, careful not to get any water on the inside through the large bullet hole in the arm. Leaving his armour to dry he changed into the leggings and sweater that constituted his entire wardrobe. When the mission was over, he thought, he would have to go home and fetch his own clothes.

He returned to his quarters via the galley, passing Sunni who was tucking in to some nutrient paste. Once, back on the _Remora,_ Frank had stupidly asked her if he could try some. Back then, before her pilgrimage, she had been much more mischievous and happily given him one of her spare field lunches. Even though he spent nearly a week in the med-bay, vomiting profusely, he had received no sympathy from Harry, who in his usual charming way told him it was his own stupid fault. Still, he had reprimanded Sunni for wasting rations, which was some compensation.

As he turned into his cabin and began to lock the door he almost didn't notice the doctor standing by his shelves. She was almost as surprised as he was, dropping the small cloth object she had been holding. As she stooped down to pick it up she gave him a sheepish smile. She was blushing again.

"Err... doctor... what are you doing in here?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Awkwardly she clawed at the floor for the object, missing it several times because she was looking at him rather than it. When she got a grip on it at last, she stood up and offered it with both hands to Frank. Now he could see it was a thin semi-circle of felt, he knew exactly what it was.

"I, uh, came to give You Your hat back, " she said, fighting the urge to just throw the hat at him and run away. "you left it in my erm,my-"

"Surgery?" Frank finished the sentence, stepping softly forward and gently taking the hat from her.

"that'll be the one" she said, giving him a nervous nod of her head.

"Well if that's all you came for maybe I should let you get back."

"No!" she blurted out, briefly grabbing his injured arm before reeling back, realising what she had done. Frank flinched, a stabbing pain shooting up the length of his arm and shoulder. He collapsed onto the bed letting out a groan. The pain was intense but fortunately fleeting, subsiding as quickly as it had appeared. "Oh goddess, I am so Sorry!," said the doctor "I didn't mean to do that, are you alright?"

Frank was fine, but hearing the distress in her voice he decided it would make her feel better if he let her take a look at him, rather than letting her go not knowing whether she had really hurt him. "It's ok, I think," he admitted, putting on a pained voice. "but I think you may have loosened the cast a little"

"Oh goddess I had better check that, you really don't want a wound like this getting infected."

She slid next to him and began checking the cast was still sealed, her deft fingers applying a precise amount of pressure along the rim. She put her hands on either of his arm and gently wobbled the cast, placing her head against his shoulder to listen for air escaping. She felt warm. The examination was far more painful than the original blow, but he gritted his teeth and waited until she was satisfied there was no lasting damage.

"well, I can't find anything. You're right commander, I should be getting back." She began to get up to leave but Frank stopped her, taking hold of her hand . "Wait." He felt as though he was begging. Their eyes met, and Frank realised he hadn't actually thought about what he was going to say.

"do you mind if I ask you something doc," he said. She sat back down again, and he could she was becoming more comfortable. "it's just...You've done so much for me and I don't even know your name."

"Soralya," she told him, a small, delicate smile forming across her face. She was no lioness. Her skin wasn't as shiny as Clianalas, it was more muted, like a that of a human. "My name is Soralya."

Soralya. He didn't why but he liked the name. He repeated in his head, getting a feel for the way it sounded. It was soft, gentle, if a little awkward. Much like the person it represented. They continued to talk for about half an hour, asking one another questions about their lives. As an Asari, Soralya had a lot more life to talk about, but she was fascinated by how much Frank had been able to achieve in such a short time.

She told him about her early life as an orphan on Thessia, and about how she had first met Clianala whilst working as a junior doctor in a Salarian clinic. Her then mentor, a former STG agent, was murdered by a krogan warlord after he refused to help cure the genophage. After an Intense battle in which both the spectre and the krogan had nearly torn each other apart with their biotics, Clianala had finally brought the brute down by decapitating him with a pillar. Seeing that she was severely injured, including a vicious cut on her neck, Soralya had offered to take care of her whilst she healed. She'd not left her since.

Then, as they began to run out of stories, there was a knock on the door. Frank left Soralya on the bed and opened the door a crack to see who it was. He was taken aback to see it was Sunni, tilting her head to check there was no-one else in the galley before pushing the door open. As she brashly stepped into the room, Frank tried in vain to hide the Asari behind him from her view. "Frank I have something Important to tell you," she caught sight of Soralya. "I... hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Not at all Sunni, we were just talking. What is it?"

The Quarian continued to look right at Soralya, who suddenly looked nervous again. " I'm not comfortable telling you this with her here, she's too close to Clianala."

"Sunni trust me, neither of us will tell Clia anything you don't want us to, will we doctor?"

The doctor nodded in agreement. Sunni seemed to be Reassured by this, though she continued to watch Soralya closely as she walked over and took a seat on the toilet. The tiny room was beginning to feel very crowded.

"Promise me none of you won't tell anyone outside this room what I'm about to tell you. Not my father, not Clianala, no-one."

"we promise."

"There's something my father hasn't told you about Kahln, something important. Kahln is the reason my mother is dead."

"what?"

When he and Frank had worked together, Haro had never talked much about his wife and out of respect Frank had never asked. All he knew was that she had also been a member of the special operations office and that she died a few years after Sunni was born. Haro had been left to raise his daughter by himself aboard _Remora,_ which wasn't easy as it was still a working warship all that time. It was amazing that Sunni seemed as normal as she was, though Frank knew she was perhaps a little too devoted to the security of the fleet than she should be.

" my mother was one of the very few Quarians with any form of biotic potential, probably the first anyone had seen since we left the Homeworld. It wasn't much, she could just about move objects, but the then admiral Gessa'xen, her captain, decided it was enough to give her to Corvak'Kahln for "training". What Kahln actually did was practically replace my mother's arms with synthetic implants to increase her biotic field strength. The number of surgical operations he put her through nearly killed her, either though infection or the sheer trauma of replacing flesh with metal. By the end of it she was a wreck, biotically powerful but physically weak.

Over the years she got worse, and by the time she died she could barely walk. It killed her in the end, one of the amplifiers fell out of place and collapsed an artery. This was long after Kahln was exiled, so no one knew what the hell to do to help messed her body up so much the medics had no idea what they had to work with. In the end they tried to by-pass the artery but it was to late,and all father and I could do was watch as her heart slowly stopped.

That's when dad made me promise that if he died before he could kill Kahln, I would do it. That's why I'm worried about this mission. You saw what he was like on llium, his need for revenge blinded him to the truth. I keep thinking that he'll see Kahln and go after him and... and he'll get himself killed. "

The room was silent as Frank considered this new information. He had always believed Haro wouldn't let personal issues interfere with his missions, but he knew that when people lost someone close to them they didn't act rationally. Not that he didn't sympathise, if he were in a similar situation and someone offered him the chance to kill the guy responsible, he'd take it, no questions asked. It was quite a conundrum, and the way he saw it there was only one solution.

"Alright, I'll talk to Clia, see if I can persuade her to let me go with her to find the prisoners, that way your father will go with you and Bothar on the frontal assault where you can keep an eye on him. If we're lucky I'll find Kahln before you do. And I promise you Sunni, if I do, I'll make sure you get a chance for some payback."

"Thankyou, Frank" Said the young Quarian. She wrapped her arms around him, careful to avoid his cast. As she released him Soralya helped her to her feet, supporting her tired frame as the pair of them began to leave.

"we really should get back to the med-bay." She said, doing her best not to yawn. "goodnight, commander"

"good night, doctor"

...

The next morning Frank found Clianala and Haro on the bridge, awaiting the results of the initial scans. Blink had set the ship into a stable orbit around a small gas giant , its epic, swirling bands of alternating deep blue and ghost white clouds filling the viewing screens. Frank had changed back into his armour, knowing full well that if they found the base their best chance was to attack immediately to avoid the risk of detection. Haro was using both his omni-tools again, this time with the more peaceful purpose of interpreting the scan data. His fingers moved as fluidly as those of a master puppeteer, filing through screen after screen with effortless speed. Clianala was calmly watching him, looking over his shoulder and checking for anything he might of missed. Frank took a deep breath, psyching himself up for what he was about to ask. He knew he had to be careful with Haro so close not to give the real intentions away, for Sunni's sake.

"Clia, I wanted to ask you something."

The Spectre didn't even look back at him and he realised he would have to make his request in front of everyone. This increased the chances that Haro would realise what was going on, but on balance it was a risk he had to take. People were depending on him.

"I've been thinking about our team layouts," he continued, building up to his main point. "I think it might be a better idea if I went with you instead of Harry." The Quarian looked over his shoulder at him, and for a moment he thought he had been caught out.

"Why?" Clianala asked, her eyes still not leaving the scan results.

"well, if you're going to evaluate me surely you need to be able to see me."

He could tell she wasn't impressed by his feigned self-interest, but he felt relieved as Haro'Danar started to laugh that they were both oblivious as to why he really wanted to change their plans.

"I like your style, Frank" Harry chortled "but I highly doubt you'd be able to hack the cells open, much less rig a power plant to explode without killing all of us"

"why not, I used to do it all the time back in the alliance and besides, you really think I'll do any better with the front door? "

"You know what, fine " Clianala said, visibly annoyed that her plans had been altered so early in the morning. "Do what you like. Just remember I'm still not hauling your ass out of whatever trouble you end up in. I really don't feel like being the noble sacrifice today." She vented a sigh of annoyance, beginning to mutter the foulest Asari curses under her breath. She was interrupted by the pilot who pointed to something In the scanner results. "what about that, that's about the right size isn't it ?" Blink suggested, indicating at a small blip detected on a nearby moon.

"Could be, let's rescan that area, narrow beam, see if it comes up again" answered Clianala, and the Salarian complied, hitting the buttons that activated the scanner. After a couple of minutes there was a loud pinging noise as the results began to reappear on the scanner. The LADAR showed small complex, less than two hundred meters across, and with no ships or vehicles near it. It looked deserted.

"Maybe there's more underground?" asked Frank, tentatively. Clianala was shaking her head. Everyone who was present continued looking at the building on the screen, unnerved by the sheer lack of activity.

"Let's hope not," Clianala whispered in reply "Let's hope not"


	8. Chapter 8

The moon they landed on was a bleak, barren place. It was a total vacuum, devoid of air, water, life, and charm. Where Luna had its ghostly pale allure, all this world had were endless expanses of soft brown dust that made a small crunch as it was trodden underfoot, like broken glass. Blink had set the ship down on the other side of a hill about a mile and a half from the base, forcing them to don spacesuits and trek the remaining distance on foot. Whilst this was easy for the Quarians, their environment suits already being airtight, it had been a struggle for Frank and Clianala to fit the helmets and respirators over their armour. Though the moon itself was quite small, the gravity of the massive planet behind it made climbing the hill a struggle.

As they reached the summit the base came into view. The scanner had revealed only a little about the bases appearance but now they could see it in its entirety, one large central building, tall and square dominating the landscape. It seemed to be a prefab, a warehouse or hangar designed for use on a colony world, its purpose now perverted by the madman it housed. Though there were disturbances in the dust where a large transport ship might once have landed, but with no wind it was difficult to tell how long they had been there. From where they were, it seemed as though there was no-one home. A solitary door illuminated by a panel that presumably allowed it to be opened from the outside, served as the sole entrance and exit.

"Well that puts paid to that idea," said Frank. "Looks like we're all going in at once." They continued walking, beginning the long journey down the hill. There was precious little cover, and they were forced to make long detours between various rock formations in order to remain hidden. As they closed in on the base, they began to notice long trails of footprints, presumably from patrols around what once might have been the perimeter. The building grew larger and larger on the horizon, and when they were within two hundred metres they stopped to check for security. Although there was no-one in sight, there might be trip mines or motion sensors designed to warn against nosey Quarian special forces.

Detecting nothing but a security camera over the door, they decided to approach the building from the side so as to avoid its gaze. The closer they got, the more footprints they saw, until the ground began to look like it had been trod flat by the sheer number of people traversing it. Most peculiarly, the uppermost layer of footprints all seemed to be leading away from the base. As they left behind the last piece of cover before reaching the facility they crept, knees bent , shoulders low to the ground to make themselves harder to spot. They lined up against the wall, edging forward little by little.

They came to a halt a just out of view of the camera. "Everybody ready?" asked Clia, drawing a pistol and taking careful aim at the camera. Once it had been destroyed, they would have only moments to utilise the element of surprise and break in. Frank looked back at the Quarians, who drew their weapons and nodded to indicate their readiness. He removed his own shotgun from its holster and checked the clip. He then tapped Clianala on the shoulder, careful not to upset her aim. "Go for it." He whispered. The spectre pulled the trigger almost immediately, only the slight recoil giving any indication that she had done so. With an eerily silent explosion, pieces of the camera were sent flying, the tiny amount of air trapped inside it burning with a brief flash of bright orange flame. They moved quickly, stacking up against the door ready to charge in once Haro had gotten it open.

To their surprise the doors slid open by themselves to reveal a large airlock chamber. As Frank cautiously took the first step inside, a friendly VI burst into life, informing them it was about to begin filling the airlock. The others followed him inside, baffled as to how easy it had been to get inside. As the doors closed behind them and air began to rush in, they readied themselves to fight off the mercenaries that were surely waiting for them at the other end of the corridor. _This has to be a trap_. Bothar even pulled out a grenade, preparing to throw it as soon as the other doors opened. The VI declared the aeration procedure complete._ Here it comes._

Unbelievably, the doors whooshed open onto another empty corridor. "What the hell is going on here?" Said Frank, more to himself than anyone else. As they pushed deeper into the base, they continued to be met with room after empty room, and though the signs of Kahln's experiments remained; rows of basic cells, cages, laying dormant and uninhabited, there was no trace of the monster himself. They found laboratories, each filled with a plethora of scientific equipment, but no scientists. They found operating rooms, many not even cleaned since the last unfortunate victim had passed through. Every now and then they found bulging containers marked "biological waste-please incinerate" that leaked a hideous, watery blue liquid that made them thankful they had kept the space suits on. Eventually they found what they presumed to be the main lab, as it contained several large computers for processing and modelling data.

Haro walked over to one of them, searching through it for signs of what might have happened, where Kahln might have gone. "This looks like Kahln's personal computer" said Haro, and the others gathered around to see what he had discovered. "It seems he kept an Audio log of what he was doing."

_**Log number 36**_

_I have at last managed to escape the shackles of my former life. In relocating here, I can at last continue research on my most important discovery without fear of being hauled off by those idiots in the special operations office .Do they think I don't know that they've been watching me since I left the fleet? I digress. It appears that the mimicking effect is much more pronounced than I first thought, causing changes in areas of the DNA that previously had not been observed. Better still, it means that if I could make my bio-weapon compatible with Asari physiology, I could target any system I desired. The reproductive is the most obvious, and something similar has been done before, but the lack of immediate affect might reduce the price .The nervous system perhaps? Food for thought._

_**Log number 40**_

_It seems my discovery is not as unique as I had hoped. The human-supremacist organisation Cerberus and their Arachne Project have also stumbled across this quirk of evolution, but the fools seem to think the best use of this incredibly valuable revelation is to develop a way to remove the Asari's inherent biotics, as though that was in any way likely to improve their species chances against them. No, my plan to undermine their population growth works much better. Take away their longevity, and their ability to reproduce with any species, and they're really a rather mediocre species._

_Still, I like the way this Cerberus operates. Their Illusive man certainly doesn't lack for leadership skills, turning a gang of less than three hundred people into a body rivalling the shadow broker in terms of scope, capable of threatening the millions strong systems alliance. Perhaps they would be willing to assist m , in exchange for a share of the profits from selling my virus? I think I shall contact the Illusive man myself, see if he is willing to listen to reason._

_**Log number 41**_

_Snubbed! I knew Cerberus was pro-human but I was unaware of just how ridiculous their policy towards receiving help from aliens is. Idiots. And they wonder why we view their species as primitive. No, there has to be more to it. They probably want to keep the virus to themselves, use it as their secret weapon. Perhaps it was foolish of me to believe that such a highly politicized organisation would be open to selling something so valuable on the open market. They have yet to learn the value of remaining objective, but that is their problem, not mine._

_Besides, I have a secret weapon of my own. It has cost me dearly, but I have procured the services of one Nigel Dawes, an alliance soldier. He has offered to steal Cerberus' Arachne data for me and destroy their research station, leaving me the only person capable of completing the project. Then we shall see whether the illusive man is still so hostile to the idea of receiving help from a Quarian. Dawes has suggested leaking Information about the Cerberus station to the government on Thessia, in order to use their commandos as a distraction. I will comply, though I am not entirely sure whether Dawes is acting out of a practical need to divert Cerberus attention from him in the field, or if he has allowed his pathological hatred of the Asari species to cloud his judgement. Only time will tell, I suppose. For now my work continues. Subjects three through to six have expired, most likely a result of-_

"skip to the last entry." Said Clianala. Harry nodded and pressed a button on his omni-tool, causing the log to jump forward two places.

_**Log number 43**_

_Dawes informs me that his mission on Illium was only a partial success. Though Haaki is dead, the Asari spectre persists. Worse, she seems to have acquired a helper. I shall have to be careful, it would be a disaster if they were to discover us at this point. I begin to tire of Dawes, at first I thought he was like me, detached from the banal politics of it all. But now I see he thinks of the project as the best way to revenge some petty wrong done to him. He is becoming increasingly unstable. This afternoon as we prepared to relocate to the new facility Cerberus has built for us, I found him beating subject fourteen to the point of unconsciousness with a length of cable, all the while yelling his crackpot theories about how they planned to "outbreed us all". I have put him under surveillance. Speaking of the move, I meant to ask our pilot about the route. Aite is far too close to Geth territory for my liking, but the facilities they've set out for us look simply marvellous. I like working with a budget. Have decided to leave this building unlocked, I realise eventually that Spectre will find it, but by the time they do so they power core will have burned out, obliterating every recorrrrr._

Even as the log spoke the power began to fail, the lights dying all around them. They were left standing in near-total darkness, the only light coming from the Quarians eyes. Frank switched on his omni tools torch function, closely followed by Clianala. "I hope we left all the doors open," he said. "Otherwise we're stuck in here."

"I think we did, all except the air lock." Replied Sunni, helpfully.

"You mean we're stuck in the dark with a finite amount of oxygen. Great. " grumbled Clianala. She began leading them on the long walk back to the front door, made even longer by being unable to see. "Not necessarily." Bothar quipped, clutching another grenade. They followed the spectre back down the labyrinthine maze of corridors and empty rooms, until they eventually reached the airlock. Fortunately only the door to the outside had been closed, though it looked far sturdier than Frank remembered. Harry and Bothar took everybody's grenades and placed them at the door's weak points, taking great care to rig them so that they exploded simultaneously for maximum impact. When the improvised bomb was ready, they retreated with the others to a safe distance. Harry had the detonator.

"I'm surprised you didn't think of this, Clia" he said jokingly.

"Believe it or not, we Spectres don't think explosives solve every problem."She countered, and for once Frank thought he saw her smile. Harry gave an amused nod and handed her the detonator.

"Then prepare for an education" he said gleefully. The spectre placed a finger on the button and, after a dramatic pause, slammed it with her palm. The grenades went off perfectly, creating a loud, bright and fiery explosion. Smoke Filled the room, and as it cleared they could see the door was bucked and dented, but still firmly in place.

"Ah," said Harry. "That wasn't supposed to happen." Clianala pushed them all back, a large smirk dominating her face. Across her body her biotics began flare up as she prepared herself. She stared intently at the door. All at once she thrust her arm forward, unleashing a massive warp attack that left a five-foot wide hole in the solid metal that made up the door. Frank stood agape as Clianala casually stepped through the hole, the self satisfied grin bigger than ever. It was hard to tell, but even Harry looked utterly stunned by what he had just witnessed. Clianala looked back over her shoulder with a deliberately poised turn of her head.

"Next stop, Aite."


	9. Chapter 9

There was no long discussion during the journey to Aite. Indeed, there was no discussion at all. Clianala and Haro had made quite explicit that they would be returning to the original version of the plan, including the original team layouts. Both Frank and Sunni had done their utmost to persuade their respective overseers to change their minds but they wouldn't have it. All they could do now was prepare themselves as best they could and hope everything went smoothly.

It was a cold, grey day on Aite. The skies over area they had landed in were overcast and leaden, though there was no rain. After saying a brief goodbye to Soralya, Frank had met up with his strike team and deployed a mile from the new base location. As soon as they were off the ship, Blink had taken off to drop Clia and Harry to the northeast of them. From now until the job was done, they were on their own.

They headed north, keeping low to the ground in case the enemy had ships or planes. They were fortunate enough to find a large woodland that took them right up to within a hundred metres of the facilities outer walls. This was most definitely Cerberus' handiwork, a large complex building that could house soldiers, scientists and supporting staff with ease, adorned with the wicked orange and black insignia of the insidious organisation. The perimeter was protected by thin sturdy walls of concrete and guarded by small groups of Fenris mechs and shock troops circled the complex, all under the watchful gaze of an ominous command tower. They slid into a small ditch that was knee- deep with water, watching the patrols pass and waiting for the signal from the others. Bothar clutched at his missile launcher, ready to blow the walls down at a moments' notice. Sunni loaded a full clip into the vindicator assault rifle she had taken from Clianala's armoury. It was factory fresh if a little dusty, and it hadn't taken her long to convert it from three-round burst to full automatic fire. Frank stood ready, gripping his loyal shotgun with both hands. He rested his bad arm on the top of the ditch, applying the tiniest amount of pressure on it so that it began to sting, enduring the mild pain to keep his mind sharp. When the signal came, he would be ready. He had to be.

...

Clianala and Haro had been set down on the edge of the woodland and made their way toward the base, eventually finding a small hillock, obscured from view of the base by a line of trees. Haro climbed one of them for a better view. What he saw was the usual Cerberus fare, large central building and several outhouses, presumably labs. What wasn't usual were the freight crates lined up against the back wall, and the rows of wire fences that separated the crates from rest of camp. In the far corner he saw one of the crate doors slide open, and he zoomed his visor in on that area. A Cerberus guard walked into it, emerging several minutes later with a group of emaciated Asari prisoners, each stripped and chained together. The guard hit one of the prisoners with a short cane, causing the terrified woman to stumble and fall over almost dragging the others down with her. The guard tried to haul her up, but dropped her and stood to attention at the sight of someone entering the fenced compound. Haro looked over to see the slender, dark figure of a Quarian striding towards the guard, accompanied by a small vanguard of troopers.

Corvak'Kahln. There was no mistaking it was him; his all-black environment-suit was topped by a hood, something rarely worn by most male Quarians. Haro knew it concealed a special, tinted-glass facemask that Kahln had been given by his old chum Gessa'Xen. _A nice trophy, _he plotted to himself. He reached for one of his omni-tools and activated a remote listening laser. He wanted to hear what the bosh'tet had to say for himself.

"Operative Paulson!," he called across to the guard. Haro snorted at hearing the voice again for the first time in nearly twenty-five years. Hearing it on the recording had been one thing, but it was so much more hateful live. "Find these subjects some clothes to wear immediately. I find their nudity... distasteful."

_Funny. _Haro thought, raging silently to himself._ You didn't seem to have any qualms stripping my wife down for your "research". _The Guard skulked off to look for something with which to cover the prisoners, grumbling to himself. "It was only a bit of fun." He groaned. Haro watched as Kahln flew forward and grabbed the guard, spinning him round and exploding in his face. "A bit of fun? I am not here to cater to your fetishes, operative! I will not allow MY work to be compromised so that morons such as yourself can have fun!" he threw the hapless guard to the ground before heading back into his labs. "Get out of my sight."

"Come on Harry we don't have all day!" Clianala called up to him, interrupting his spying. He zoomed out and switched off before beginning to dismount the tree. As he descended the tree he felt his body grow lighter, noticing a faint blue glow encompassing his entire exterior. He let go of the branches and floated slowly down to the ground, bending his knees and making a soft thud in the leaf litter as he hit the forest floor. "I must confess I enjoyed that," he thanked the Spectre, readying his omni-tool to give off the electrical charge that would signal Frank's team to begin the attack. In this weather, the Cerberus staff would mistake it for lightening. It would come as quite a shock to them when the "thunder" blew a hole in their outer wall. "Ready?" he asked Clianala, who had lowered her biotic field so that she could draw one of her pistols. She began to raise her barrier again, staring intently at the base.

"Hit it."

...

In the distance Frank saw the flash rise high into the sky. "Go! Go! Go!" he yelled, hauling himself out the trench, followed by Sunni, who fired off a burst that tore through one of the guards. As the metal dogs charged, Frank felled one with his shotgun, the small explosion from the machines power supply sending shrapnel everywhere. The other dog continued to bear down on them, closing the distance in order to administer its electronic "bite". Frank used his omni tool to overload its circuits remotely, and it fell impotently at his feet. Behind them Bothar launched a pair of missiles that shot overhead with a deafening roar, Impacting the wall and kicking up a vast plume of dust that nearly choked Frank.

Keen to avoid another potentially lethal embarrassment like the one at the airlock, Bothar had replaced the conventional explosives in the missiles warheads with some small fission charges. From what Frank could make out through the dust cloud this may well have been overkill, but he wasn't complaining. _Better than under kill. _There was no time to stand around however, as he knew that if they didn't divert the enemies' attention away onto his team, Clia and Haro would have no chance of freeing the prisoners.

Frank led the way as they ran towards the gap in the wall. It was wider than he would have liked, leaving far too much room for encirclement, but there was nothing he could do about that. As they crossed the line of the perimeter a lone Cerberus trooper tried to jump out from behind some rubble and grab him, but Frank knocked him back with the butt of his gun before finishing him with a point blank shot to the torso. He ducked behind the large slab of concrete the man had been using as a hiding place and gestured for the others to follow. Sliding in behind cover, they made it just before the arrival of a group of shock troops, who let loose a barrage of assault rifle fire. Grenades began to rain down around them, landing by sheer luck a safe distance away. Even more smoke and dust filled the air, and Frank was forced to cover his mouth in order to breath. Bullets continued to strike the slab, causing small but increasingly numerous cracks in its surface. Sunni was doing her best to keep the enemy from advancing on them, but it was clear that if they didn't move up soon, the slab would shatter and they would be sitting ducks.

Snatching up a fresh grenade from his belt, Frank pulled out the pin and waited three seconds, using his heartbeat as a reference. On the f of the fourth second he tossed the grenade. It flew in a high arc, exploding on the troopers at head height and knocking to the ground the few that weren't instantly killed. He vaulted the block and charged the enemy position, mowing down a pair of LOKI mechs that had come to reinforce it and taking cover behind some crates. He ejected the smouldering thermal clip from the shot gun and reloaded, checking to see whether the Quarians were behind him. They were. They found themselves in a sort of courtyard between the main gate, which they had bypassed, and the front entrance to the large building with the tower.

Mechs and troopers were converging on them from three sides, but their position was more or less secure and so long as they didn't run out of ammunition before the prisoners were rescued, they would be fine. Frank switched to his pistol, a large calibre model from Clianala's armoury that was well suited to the kind of medium-range engagement he was in. Bothar also changed weapons, shouldering the missile launcher for a Tempest submachine gun. In a single movement he stood up above the line of cover and unloaded nearly thirty rounds into a heavily armoured shock troop, burning through shields, armour and tissue with ease before ducking back behind the crate. Frank couldn't afford to do anything like that with his slow-firing pistol, so he took the more effective, if more difficult, approach of judging which of the advancing attackers posed the most threat before taking them out with well placed shots. Sunni took out the mechs by overloading them, occasionally spreading chaos among the enemy by remotely hacking them and disabling their IFF.

This strategy proved effective at keeping the enemy at bay for a while, preventing them from being encircled. A berserker would run straight at Frank, only to be taken out by Bothar. A trooper would try to snipe Bothar from range, only to be distracted by a hacked mech and miss their target, leaving themselves open to attack from Frank. But effective though the system was, it did nothing to prepare them for what happened next. As Sunni was frying the circuits of another fenris mech she noticed the shadow of a large, heavily built figure. Even before the massive metal body came into view she knew what it was, and got into cover just as a heavy machine opened fire on her. She could hear the sound of the bullets pinging inside the large crate she was hiding behind, and was grateful it was still holding together.

"YMIR!"

_..._

"Keep them off my back, I'll get the crates open." Yelled Haro, running into a small shed that was marked with yellow warning signs. A Cerberus shock trooper attempted to follow him in, but Clianala lifted her up and threw her at the electrified fence. The small detachment that had been guarding Kahln had been first on the scene when she had smashed the wall down, and were now in the process of trying to contain her until the situation at the gate had been dealt with. When she first engaged them she had counted eight. Three were now dead; possibly four though Haro had been unable to confirm. The remaining troops took cover between the crates, and a game of cat-and-mouse ensued, Clianala having to weave between the freight containers in order to pursue them. She had half a mind to just lift the crates up biotically and squish the cowards, but even she wasn't so heartless as to add to the suffering of the people inside.

She rounded a corner only to see a trooper at the far end of the crate, his back turned oblivious to her presence. She walked slowly and quietly towards him, keen not to draw his attention. He kept peeking out from the edge of the crate, thinking she would come from in front of him. As she drew close, a shot ricocheted off the metal of the crate just millimetres from her face. Both she and her surprised foe turned to see another trooper, pistol drawn and aimed at Clianala. With phenomenal speed she lifted the trooper closest to her before he had any chance to react and flung him at his colleague, the sheer wallop from the collision killing both of them outright.

_Two down._

In the shed, Haro was having an easier time of it. The small building on the surface turned out to be there solely to provide access to a long, narrow service tunnel, guarded only by lightly armoured mechs. Having said that, it was dark, and there were a lot of blind corners to contend with. Eventually he found the main control room, where he was greeted by a blast of gunfire from a pair of technicians. Taking cover behind a desk, he reloaded and took stock of his surroundings. The room was lit only by red light, making it hard to pick out targets. While he had to take out the armed technicians, he was worried that a stray shot might damage something he would later need. He folded down his Locust and switched on his Omni-tools, selecting the incinerate function. There was a reason he had taught himself to use two.

The pain of being hit by the thousand- degree fireballs sent the technicians screaming to the floor. Haro turned on his olfactory filters as the smoke from their charred corpses began to fill the room. He loaded up his favourite smell, clean linen, and set to work on opening the crates. He opened up a terminal and began searching for something to disable the locks. The operating system was of human design and therefore easy to take control of, within seconds he had shut down all the bases anti-ship defences, switched off the CCTV and disabled external communications. He continued searching for the door lock control, wary of the fact that every second he spent down here was time Frank's team had to hold off the enemy, not to mention that, up above him, Clianala was on her own. He could hear more mechs in the corridor outside, drawing closer. He decided it would be a good use of time to disable their IFF. Finding the appropriate file, he switched the robots targeting parameters from "non-identified personnel" (Anyone who wasn't Cerberus.) to "Identified personnel" (Cerberus.) He heard the machines footsteps get further and further away. So far as he could tell, he had only altered the LOKI mechs systems, any heavier robots with internal IFF would not change, but he hadn't seen any of those, he felt safe leaving it at that. Besides, he still had to get the crates open.

He finally found what he was looking for in an obscure file labelled as "containment." Most of the files inside were relating to shutting down the labs in the event of the virus getting loose, but in a sub-section marked "subject paddock" he found the code required to unlock the crates. Now all he had to do was locate the input device. He had the key, but where was the key hole?

...

The sudden mutiny of the LOKI mechs had lessened the load on his team, but Frank knew they weren't out of the woods yet, not by a long way. They still had the YMIR to contend with, and it looked as though Cerberus had sent most of its best soldiers to guard Kahln's research. Troops dressed in assault armour continued to pour on to them, and they were just barely able to keep them at bay. The heavy mech was still advancing on them, slowly but relentlessly. By working together they had been able to bring down its shields but it's circuits were still protected by thick armour that none of their weapons, save for Bothar's missile launcher, could penetrate. Bothar had tried several times to get a lock on the leviathan, but each time he was forced to abandon his attempts by heavy fire from the Cerberus shock troops.

Frank knew what they needed to do was distract the soldiers long enough for Bothar to aim at the robot, but how? The main group of troopers had taken position behind a small barricade that gave them a clear view of the battle field. The robot was on their left, his right, and seemed focused on Sunni's position on the far right. Bothar was in between them, using a small concrete wall for cover against the barrage of Cerberus gunfire. They clearly thought that he posed the biggest threat with his rocket launcher, and were virtually ignoring Frank. In his mind, the former alliance officer began to formulate a plan. He pulled out his shotgun and loaded it with a grenade, aiming for the thickest concentration of troops behind the barricade. He then checked Sunni still had the mech's attention, noting that he needed to act soon before it reached her.

He pulled the trigger and, even as the grenade flew out the barrel, charged from his position right at the barricade, using the cover of the smoke to switch back to regular buckshot. The Cerberus line collapsed, those hit by the blast dragging down those who were left standing. Time seemed to slow down as Frank flanked around the barricade, the noise of a fission-tipped missile annihilating the YMIR mech bolstering his already massive rush of adrenaline. One of the troopers who had gotten back onto his feet lunged at him, but Frank jammed the barrel of his gun right up against his visor, blowing it away along with most of his head. He continued to fire ferociously into the pile of Cerberus personnel, leaving behind a hideous sight when he finally ran out of ammunition. He dropped the empty shotgun in disgust.

There was a strange quiet, the distant sound of Harry and Clia's ongoing efforts to free the prisoners was the thing he could hear above the pounding of his own heartbeat. Sunni and Bothar finished off the few troopers that remained. All around them the LOKI Mechs seem to be uniting, forming ranks and marching en masse into the building that stood before him, searching for their former masters.

"What now?"Asked Sunni, lifting some more ammunition from a body.

"I say we go through this building, see if we can join up with the others" Frank suggested, pointing to the entrance with his pistol. The others nodded, and they headed up to the doorway. Frank waited a moment to let his heart finally settle. He had the same feeling he'd had on Illium, and began scanning the high windows in the tower. Concluding he was just on edge, he took a long stride forward to catch up with his squadmates. A heavy bullet smacked the ground right behind him, and he broke into a sprint, leaping indoors where the sniper couldn't catch him. _Not this time Dawes. Not ever again._

_..._

Dawes lowered his rifle. It was useless to him now the 'Hatman' and his new-found Quarian chums were indoors . How the bastard had survived was anyone's guess, and it wasn't really important right now. Finding him and killing him was. He snatched up his submachine gun, the same one he had used to kill Moreno a week earlier, and began to make his way down the tower.

He recoiled as a hissing noise in his ear announced more bloody orders from Kahln. "Dawes! Where are you!" the Quarian barked. "I have a Spectre beating down my door and all those guards Cerberus promised me have disappeared! Get the hell over here, now!"

"I have my own problems to deal with, in case you haven't noticed."

"Dawes, you're forgetting that if I don't sell my virus, you don't get paid. Now get over here and protect me like you're supposed to!"

Dawes sighed. "I'm on my way."

He began to really regret not finishing the job on Illium. He continued heading down the stairs, hell bent on ridding himself of Hatman and his cohorts. _Kahln can wait. He's safe enough in his lab for now._

_..._

Having dispatched another Cerberus goon, Clianala was beginning to feel tired. Although she was considered a powerful biotic even among the Asari, she had always had problems when it came to prolonged battles. She reached the final set of crates and saw the last of Kahln's bodyguards. She immediately took one out with her pistols, but was annoyed to see the other deflect her shots with a biotic barrier. The last surviving trooper grinned at her and threw a warp that knocked her face first into the dirt. As she picked herself up, wiping mud from her eyes and spat it from her mouth, she heard the man give a cocky laugh as he gloated. "Ha! Hope I didn't smudge your lipstick!" he mocked, not noticing that Clianala was back on her feet and mad as hell. She didn't even blink as she launched the singularity, watching as the deluded fool clawed at the air, his eyes bulging as he was crushed to death by the strength of it's pull. His muscles relaxed as he died, leaving his corpse floating like ragdoll in mid-air.

"Dumbass."

"Clia, its Haro, do you read me?" a voice announced on a nearby intercom. Clia rushed over to answer, leaning in close in order to hear Haro better.

"I hear you Harry, what have you got for me?"

"I found the Codes to open the crates, I'm sending them to your omni- tool now," There was a small beep from her omni tool to confirm this. "Unfortunately you'll have to use them on the terminal in Kahlns main lab, in the building opposite the shed."

Clianala looked over at the building. It was smaller than the one with the tower, but it was still quite large, about twenty-five metres wide. It was virtually windowless apart from a one tinted porthole that looked out on the crates. "I'm heading there now Harry, meet you inside."She said, before setting off at a jog for the laboratory. She found the door unlocked and open, as the last of Kahln's Cerberus-appointed lab assistants fled out of it. She stepped cautiously inside, turning the door handle with one hand and holding a pistol in the other. She walked slowly and quietly through the long, linear room, sliding her hips between the workbenches. The lab was set up in much the same way as it was in the other facility, but with newer equipment and more human-friendly layout. She could see the terminal not far from where her, on a desk in front of the window.

She jumped over the last table and slid over to the desk. Switching on the terminal, she placed her gun to one side so she could use both hands. The screen began to glow, and she tapped the application marked "door release" and was presented with a holographic keyboard in order to input the codes. She heard someone pick the gun up behind her. Snapping round to stop them, she felt a throbbing pain in her nose and temporarily blacked out as the top of the pistol smacked her across the face. She took a few stunned steps back, only to be tripped by her attacker, who seized her other pistol from its holster as she fell.

"It's ok, Dawes, as usual I have dealt with the problem myself."Kahln said into his radio. He threw one of the pistols across the room, keeping the other trained on Clianala. "I must warn you, Miss t'Sooris, that I am both willing and able to shoot you should you try to stop me." He said calmly, picking up a small, bronze coloured canister from the desk, which she realised must contain the virus.

"You know, it's really quite ironic," mused Kahln as he placed the canister safely in the pocket of his coal-dark suit. "Had you not decided to interfere, I would happily have allowed my remaining test subjects to return home alive, albeit incubating a test version of my virus. But no, thanks to you they will remain locked in those crates until they die of starvation, whilst I live comfortably on my own private moon and you and all those Cerberus fools rot on this pathetic world."

Clianala wiped her bleeding nose, out the corner of her eye she saw a shadowy figure enter the room. "You won't get far without Cerberus protecting you, especially if you kill me. They're all looking for you, you know. The Council, the Migrant Fleet, even the Humans now. You're finished"

The old Quarian laughed. "You think I need Cerberus to protect me? Dawes and I have a small ship hidden in the woods, with enough fuel to get us from here to Omega without stopping. And when I get there, the Collectors will pay me enough money for my masterpiece that I'll be able to hire the entire Blood pack to protect me for the rest of my life. No more will I have to rely on incompetents such as Dawes or Cerberus."

"You really don't give a damn, do you?" Clianala spat, playing for time. Kahln began waving the gun around wildly as he answered, pensively. "It's what comes of having spent you're life being told that, for some arbitrary reason or other, what you are doing is wrong. It's what comes of having you're very best ideas rejected, or censored, or discarded because people won't see how valuable they are. I've spent all my life being ignored, and now I can finally have a chance to rise above the vermin around me I have to take it. You understand that, don't you?"

"Hell, no."

Enraged, Kahln aimed the pistol right at her head and prepared to fire. Just as his grip began to tighten around the trigger Haro leapt over a table and knocked him to the floor. He pinned Kahln down by the knees and began punching him in the chest, breaking a rib with every powerful blow. "We ...are not...vermin!" he roared, reaching for the knife strapped to his leg to finish the job with. "My wife...was not...vermin," he continued, struggling to keep Kahln down with his other hand. "The Asari... are not...verm-arghh!" he screamed as Kahln broke free and smashed the glass of his facemask with the handle of Clianala's pistol. Kahln threw Haro off of him and bolted for the door as Clia crawled across to check he was alright.

She was old enough to remember what the Quarians looked like under their suits, but it had been a long time since she had seen one of their faces without a visor. Haro's face was severely cut up by the shattered visor, and one of his eyes had swelled up and gone dark. In a filthy environment such as this he would be lucky to survive for more than a couple of hours, if that. To her surprise he hauled himself up and leant over the desk. He spat out a fragment of glass and began to type the door codes into the terminal. "You'd better check on the prisoners, they'll trust you more than they will me," he panted; already his lungs were beginning to seize up. He ambled slowly towards the door.

"Are you going to be alright?" she asked. She knew his chances were slim, but it felt like the sort of thing she should ask. Haro stopped still at the door, placing an arm against the frame for support.

"I'm not going to drop dead just yet, if that's what you're asking, not while I can still be useful. I'll try and help you where I can, but if you have to, just leave me."

Clianala nodded. "Let's go."

...

Frank and his team moved quickly through the building, the mechs having killed or driven off most of the guards. The place was a wreck windows had been smashed, shelving units pulled over as their contents were hurriedly grabbed and looted. Everywhere the bodies of staff that couldn't get away in time or who had been unlucky enough to turn the wrong corner lay were they fell. Helping each other over the detritus, they had just about reached the centre of the building when they came to a seemingly deserted cafeteria, half-served meals sat abandoned on tables, chairs and benches overturned in the rush to reach battle stations.

A lone mech entered the room, holding its gun out in an attack position. It began advancing on the unmanned service counter at an aggressive pace, tracking an unseen enemy. Frank followed its line of sight. The counter was too high for him get a good view, easily high enough to obscure an armed man. He tapped his companions on shoulders, silently gesturing for them to take up positions either side of him. He ducked behind the front of the counter, quietly as he could and watched as the mech closed in. It seemed to approach painfully slowly, creaking and whirring as it marched noisily on. It got to within three feet of the counter when the hidden trooper leapt up, blowing its head off with a flurry of rounds. As he began to lower his weapon Frank jumped to his feet and grabbed him, hauling him over the worktop by his collar. Frank slammed the man against the metal of the counter, forcing him to drop the submachine gun, and pinned him there by the throat. He took a look at the man's ruddy, weathered face and recognised the short , thinning hair and beady eyes.

"Dawes?" Frank commanded, relinquishing his choking grip enough for Dawes to answer.

" Commander Rekki? But you're supposed to be... shit." Frank tightened his grip again and fumbled for his pistol, only for Dawes to knock it from his hand. He punched the traitor across the mouth and squeezed even tighter on his trachea. As Dawes continued to struggle, Frank raised one of his hands, palm open, and wiggled his fingers. Sunni picked up the pistol and placed it firmly back in his grasp. He pressed the firing end of the barrel between Dawes temples._ Don't think, Act._

He pulled the trigger. Dawes stopped struggling. He rose to his feet and wiped the sweat from his brow, placing the gun safely back in its slot. He took one last, long look at the body of his former friend. _A sad end, but he gave me no choice._ " We still have to find the others, come on." He said, but the others stayed put. "come on!" he repeated more forcefully. Before either Sunni or Bothar could say anything, the doors at the far end of the cafeteria whooshed open, and Clianala stepped in followed by one of the prisoners, who was dressed in a buttoned up lab coat stolen from one of the scientists. The Spectre had a sombre look across her face.

"It's Haro," she told them, bluntly. "He's hurt .Bad."


	10. Chapter 10

All thoughts of remorse for Dawes changed immediately into concern for Haro, and they ran off in search of him. Clianala lead the way, Closely followed by Sunni.

They found him laying against a fence post, surrounded by the prisoners and by the Loki mechs, who seemed to have formed a protective cordon. They pushed through the crowd and gathered around the dying Quarian, who was fighting for each breath. He seemed quite relaxed, his arms folded neatly across his stomach, rising and falling with a slow, gentle rhythm. Some of the prisoners were singing the Asari version of the last rites, a beautiful, mournful song. Frank took one look at Haro's broken visor and swollen eyes and knew they was nothing they could do.

And then it started to rain.

Clianala raised his torso onto her knee."Hold on in there Harry, we can get you out of here, I can call the ship and the doctor can treat you till we get you to the fleet, just...hold on."

Bothar scanned Haro with his omni-tool and placed a finger inside his mask, pressing lightly on the small bony area between the eye and the start of the nose. He shook his head. " It's a kind offer but...even if you're doctor had Dextro-safe antibiotics, I doubt he'd make it off world, let alone back to the fleet." Haro raised one of his hands and summoned up enough strength to speak. "Sunni," he croaked, his voice thin and broken "Where's Sunni?"

Sunni dashed to his side, placing a hand over his. "I'm here, Father." She said, working hard to keep herself together. Though she'd been expecting something like this, but the crushing finality was almost too much to bear. She couldn't take this, not again. Haro raised his other hand and pointed to the woods. He softly murmured something and Sunni had to lean right over his mask to hear what he was saying. Frank didn't know what Haro had told her, but he could guess by the determined nod Sunni gave as she listened that it was something to do with Kahln. Sunni snatched up her knife, the only relic she had of her mother and charged off into the forest like a hell-hound. Clianala tried to stop her but Frank pulled her back. As she fade out of sight, He knew there would be no stopping her.

"I...do not fear death," Haro managed to say, and attention returned to him. "but I will not let that bosh'tet outlive me."

...

Kahln continued to run through the forest, trampling the leaf litter underfoot with every stride. He didn't know why he kept running, it wasn't as if anyone was following him. There was still no sign of Dawes, which if anything came as a relief. He made a note to never allow himself to be duped into working with a human again. It was far too much hard work keeping their natural aggression in check. He wondered if he should have designed the virus to affect them rather than the Asari. It would certainly have opened up a larger market, but with their genetic diversity it would have taken more time. He decided he would just take the money from the Collectors and leave it at that. He'd done enough already.

A twig snapped behind him. _Probably nothing._ There were no large predators on this planet, and the herbivores were mostly harmless grazers. None the less, he sped up. The last thing he wanted was to reach the escape ship and have to fight some Cerberus oik for it, especially since he didn't have a gun. More noise behind him. There was definitely something out there. He sped up again, but he was old, and with most of his ribs broken he could only run so fast. He was kicking up dead leaves, sprinting to try and reach safety. Rain drops began to congregate on his visor, and he had to keep wiping it in order to see where he was going. He was almost safe, just a little further. Hearing swift footsteps closing in on him he gave up with the visor, running blindly for the tiny amount of extra energy saved that he could put into throwing one leg in front of the other.

It wasn't enough. He felt a searing pain as a heavy object, a person, landed squarely on his back, pushing him face first into the mud. Whoever it was pinned him down by sitting on him, grabbing him by the hood and pulled his head back at an unnatural angle so he could not fight back. Every breath Kahln took was agony, his lungs felt like they were on fire. He felt his attacker slice deeply into his suit, penetrating right down into the lowest layer of skin. To his horror, he felt a hand reach under the skin and tear it open, causing him pain beyond imagining. "For my Mother." The attacker screeched in the Quarian native tongue, and with what remained of his mind Kahln thought he recognised the voice, one of his patients perhaps? "For my Father." The attacker continued, tearing off his visor and pushing him face first into the thick, brown slime that covered the ground and shaking his face violently from side to side, forcing him to choke on the filthy ooze. "For Me." the attacker said, now calmer. She got off Kahln's back and walked down to his knees. Kahln screamed until he was unconscious as she started to hack through his kneecaps.

Sunni looked down at the mutilated body and admired her handiwork. In many ways Kahln hadn't suffered enough, but the main point was that he was dead. She had fulfilled her promise.

...

They had waited about an hour before Sunni returned, clutching Kahln's visor in one hand and her mother's knife in the other. Haro was still talking, and thanked his daughter for finally doing what so many had failed to do. Her crimson suit ran with blood, and Frank didn't even want to guess what she had done to Kahln when she had found him.

"At least we won," Haro joked, his famous sense of humour returning to him at the last. "That's a relief eh Frank?"

"I guess so."

"Oh Cheer up. You're not the one who's dying."

Frank chuckled and smiled a little. "You see Frank, much better." Haro coughed up a large lump of mucus, which Frank mopped up with a rag. "Thankyou. So Clia, does he pass or what?"

"With flying colours, Harry," the spectre answered. She knew becoming a spectre was more complex than that, but she hadn't the heart to tell him so. Though she hadn't known the Quarian long, she respected his skills and the way he was so willing to help others. And deep down, she felt guilty. If she had just checked the lab a little better, he wouldn't have had to jump on Kahln, and wouldn't be there, on the floor, dying. "With flying colours."

"Good. The galaxy needs more people like you protecting it Frank, especially since it won't have me," Haro said, coughing again. "people who like living dangerously."

He gave one more violent cough, and this time there was blood in the fluid. He was nearing the end. He beckoned Sunni and Bothar to him, and they listened against the gap in his helmet. "Your mother would be proud of you Sunni'Danar , as I am. Don't ever forget that. I'm not sure what She'd think about me bowing out surrounded by all these half-dressed Asari, but she'd be proud of you. Take care, and keep doing the fleet proud. Bothar, Old friend. It seems this is our last adventure together. Keep giving Gerrel hell for me, and tell them... tell them I want to be buried."

He summoned up the very last of his strength. "Thankyou, all of you." He said, and his voice tailed off and the lights in his eyes faded and went out. He stopped breathing. Over head, _Inquisitor_ made a pass over the base and prepared to land. Frank picked Haro up and as Clianala gathered the prisoners, he silently carried his comrade to the ship.

...

Six weeks later.

15:00 galactic standard time.

Mourners lodge,Tagaska Funereal World.

The skies over Haro'Danar's funeral were much the same as they were on the planet he had died on, grey and cloudy, with the ever-present threat of rain. Two Turian gravediggers stood at a respectful distance from the small crowd of mourners that was gathered around the Quarian's grave, waiting for the ceremony to finish so they could go about the business of filling in the deep trench his casket was placed in. They were an unlikely mix of species; three Asari, a humans, a Salarian, the rest were Quarian. Frank stood on one side of the priest reading the eulogy, Sunni and Bothar the other. Next to him, holding his hand, stood Soralya, next to her Clianala, her armour polished and waxed to perfection. He swore she never took it off. Next to her stood one of the Asari they had rescued, clutching a wreath to lay on behalf of the others, many of whom were still in hospital. Behind her Blink, who had not actually been invited, waited patiently.

Opposite them, on the Quarian side, the admiralty board (minus admiral Xen) and several members of the _Remora _crew had come to say goodbye to the illustrious captain. As was customary, any items not actually belonging to the deceased had been removed from the body. Those that did, and were not gifted to anyone in the deceased's will, were distributed among the needy. It had been a surprise to everyone that Haro had changed his will whilst aboard the _Inquisitor_, and Frank had been even more surprised that he was mentioned. However, before the will was read, there had to be a funeral.

The priest, a Quarian, had been given a speech to read by the admiralty board. It had been specially edited so as not to reveal the nature of Haro's work, but Sunni had made sure it gave full credit to the man's achievements, and ensured it didn't censor any of his politically awkward beliefs. " in the end," the priest concluded "his love of helping others claimed his life, his noble sacrifice ensuring a notorious felon was prevented from wreaking chaos upon the galaxy. Though he never saw his dream of a Quarian people once more protected by an embassy on the citadel, He won many friends and allies for his people, unto whom he was utterly devoted."

The speech was ugly and uncomfortably jingoistic, but Frank knew better than to interrupt. Better he was sycophantically praised than his name dragged through the mud. After the priest was done, they had gathered in the mourners lodge, a short archaic-looking building, for the wake and the reading of the will. Frank and Soralya found a small, comfortable couch to sit on whilst they waited for admiral Raan, the executor of the will, to be ready. Clianala was talking to Bothar by the window. It was the first time they had seen each other since they had returned Haro's body to the Migrant Fleet, and they had a lot to catch up on. Clianala had submitted her report to the council, recommending that Frank be admitted into the spectres, and his induction was in a couple of days. If he was honest, he wasn't looking forward to it. Spectres were expected to be self sufficient, but he had no ship, and the alliance were unlikely to provide one for someone they would have preferred to have executed. Clia had offered to let him use her shuttle while he got started but it was just on loan, He would have to find his own ship eventually. His only consolation was that Clianala had given her permission for Soralya to join him as, In her own words he "was the type that got shot. Often."

Sunni was on the other side of the room, thanking admiral Gerrel for attending. Although Bothar was the more experienced soldier, he had declined the offer to replace Haro'Danar as head of the special operations office , citing a wish to retire. And so Sunni had been given the job. It seemed strange to see the little girl who had once tried to poison him giving orders, but Frank knew Sunni was every bit as brave and as brilliant as her father, and far more ruthless. She would do fine in charge. He looked at Soralya. She looked pale. "would you like a drink?" he asked.

"No thankyou, I'm alright." She answered. "I think the admiral's about to start anyway."

Admiral Raan was indeed preparing to read the will, having finished her discussions with the fleets lawyers and financiers. Keeping such a large fleet running meant the Quarians needed almost as many civil servants as soldiers, and though their laws were relatively simple, somehow they always ended up bogged down in debate. Even something as simple as a will was a kafuffle, because the admiralty board had a say over how property was distributed in the fleet .In this case it seemed, there was something of interest. Raan beckoned her fellow admirals over to the ceremonial desk the funeral company had provided. Although Frank couldn't hear them from where he was sitting, he knew enough about Quarian body language to tell they were arguing.

Frank got up and walked over to the bar. The lodge was designed to cater for all different types of funeral party, including the wild ones. A selection of Quarian drinks had been brought from the fleet and laid out on a table, but he couldn't drink those. "Do you have anything human?" he asked the Turian behind the bar, who reached under the counter and pulled out something reassuringly brown. Frank paid for his drink and went back to his seat. Several more Quarians, Including Sunni , had joined the debate that was raging over by the desk. Clianala and Bothar approached the sofa from behind, confused as to what was going on.

"What the hell are they doing over there?" Clianala inquired.

"Keelah only knows," said Bothar. "maybe Haro owned something he shouldn't."

Admiral Raan raised a hand, apparently settling the matter. "Ultimately," she said in an imperious voice. "It is up to me as executor to decide what is in the best interests off the affected parties. And I for one feel we should honour the exact wordings of the will as it was at the time of Haro'Danar's death . Now if you could all step away we can get on with the proceedings." The crowd dissipated, a lot of irritated looking Quarians dragging their heels as they returned to their seats. Raan sat behind the desk, a holographic screen displaying details of the will for her to read off of.

"I, Captain Haro'Danar vas Remora Nar Moreh, being of sound mind, and revoking all other previous wills..."

"Get on with it Raan!"snapped admiral Korris. Sunni gave him a murderous look, but Raan simply carried on reading.

"to my daughter, Sunni'Danar, I leave; My Knife, that she may carry it alongside her mother's , my left Omni-tool, all modifications made to it being solely her property, to be copied only with her permission, I'm looking at you Zorah, and my gun.

To my long-standing friend Bothar'Rattan vas Remora, I leave my right Omni-tool, see above, and my bottle of wine from the homeworld, to be opened at his choosing."

Several more entries followed, mostly minor personal trinkets handed to collegues and friends. Frank had to stifle a laugh when he left Admiral Xen his "spare waste filter and backup eating equipment, hint,hint."

"And finally, to my Friend and ally Francis James Rekki, by way of apology for once forcibly abducting him, and to assist with his new duties as a Spectre, I leave my ship,_ the Remora_. Treat her well."

Franks jaw dropped in shock. Several Quarians were looking at him, envious that he should be given the grand prize off the will. Most of them were probably also annoyed that the ship they just had re-fitted had been handed to a human. _Sod them. What about Sunni?. _She was head of the SOO, and besides she'd been born aboard that ship, surely it was only right she take it? He looked over to her, but she simply nodded to him. "Take her Frank. _Remora _was my parents' ship, I need to start something new. I would be scared to use her the way I should, The way she deserves . That's why father gave her to you. I think he wanted you to carry on where he left off, go places he couldn't reach."

"I'm...honoured, Sunni," he said, rising above the resentment of the crowd. He stood up and embraced Sunni, Happy that at least part of Haro lived on through her. "I promise I'll do the best I can to do what your father would have wanted." He broke off the hug and stepped back, turning to admiral Raan. "Where do I pick her up?"

" The _Remora _is currently docked in orbit of this planet, the crew have already been transferred to other vessels. I will send the forms to transfer her registry over to you shortly."

"C'mon," said Clia "I'll drive you there." she said, heading for the door. She didn't do funerals. Frank said his goodbyes to Sunni and the admirals before he and Soralya followed the ill-tempered Asari to the shuttle. They left behind the artificial austerity of the mourning lodge and walked together through the rows and rows of graves. As they neared the ship they became aware that someone was following them. They stopped, waiting for the unseen figure to reveal themselves. Out of the mist emerged Bothar, his dust brown environment suit coated in a thin veil of dew. "Hello again," Frank asked "can I do something for you or have you just come to say goodbye? "

"I have a favour to ask you." he replied.


End file.
