John tapped his foot impatiently at the terminal. Forty-five minutes until departure and he, 042, and Bau were still the only ones at the station's shuttle bay.<br/><br/>The salarian tinkered with his omni-tool while waiting. Out of the artifact haul from Eden Prime, his choice was a mind uplink unit dubbed Electric Eye. Like most Prothean artifact implants, it was fully capable of safely and bloodlessly interfacing with the user's body. Electric Eye had flawlessly merged with Bau's nervous system and cybernetics, granting him unparalleled awareness and machine-empathy. With the starmetal datajack implanted in his neck, he could hardlink his mind to most conventional tech, plying datastreams as one would spelunk a library populated with defense turrets and robotic guardians. Long-distance Sabotage and AI Hacking programs granted temporary control over machines. With Electric Eye, he could see through their eyes, overwrite their base programming, and open up an entire planet's datanet. Thankfully, Bau had thought ahead and loaded his omni-tool up with all manner of security and hacking software--datanukes, assassin and shield VIs, and alarm suppressors, among others.<br/><br/>'Relax, Commander, it's not that big of a space station. They've got time.'<br/><br/>It would do no good to fuss. This incoming call would probably help pass the time anyway. Tapping the 'Answer' key on his omni-tool, John opened a comm channel. A familiar face greeted him on his retinal display.<br/><br/>'Shepard, still looking good, I see.'<br/><br/>A jest. An obvious one. Even through the low image resolution, he knew she looked tired, pained, bereft of the usual regal air that she usually carried. The Aratoht mission had clearly taken its toll on her.<br/><br/>She smiled weakly at him. 'We all know I look like crap, John. Hackett tells me you're at New Mombasa. Enjoying the return to civilization?'<br/><br/>'Civilian food, leg room, and a chance to see my folks again? Definitely. We bagged a load of hypertech out of Eden Prime. I tagged one of the pieces to be sent to the<span style="font-style: italic">Normandy</span>.'<br/><br/>Shepard lightened up slightly, speaking with a hint of her usual warmth. 'Yeah, I saw. Killer Queen, huh? Thanks, John. Love the gift. How's the family?'<br/><br/>'They're still kicking, thankfully. Mom and Dad wanted me to tell you, they say "hello". Still on trial?'<br/><br/>The Terrestrial sighed and rolled her eyes. 'Yeah. I don't blame them. Hundreds of thousands of batarians dead and a Mass Relay taken out of commission.' She briefly impersonated the turian councilor, air quotes and all. 'All to stop the "Reapers".'<br/><br/>'I saw the footage. Just for the record, boss, you did the right thing. If you ask any of us up here, we all would have done the same thing. I've got your back on this one.'<br/><br/>The corners of her mouth tugged upward slightly, giving her the faintest approximation of a smile. 'Thanks, John. Just like always, huh?'<br/><br/>'Well, aside from the time between your assignment to the original<span style="font-style: italic">Normandy</span>and that little incident with the Collector cruiser.'<br/><br/>'You know what I mean. I'll see you groundside?'<br/><br/>'If the end of the world doesn't happen in between, yeah. Hell, I might end up making an unexpected orbital drop if the Reapers hit the station anyway.'<br/><br/>Shepard snorted. 'Heh. Alright, I should go. The guards want to keep the call short.'<br/><br/>Her image winked out of John's display. Still on the comm, John opened a channel on the squad band. 'This is One to Two and Four. We're due for Vancouver Station in forty-one. Boarding starts in eleven minutes. Acknowledge?'